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UK parents: share your experience on the impact of online content on children

Kate Winslet used her Bafta speech to ask the government for more protection against ‘harmful’ content on social media. Winslet who won best actress award for her role in I am Ruth , which explores the relationship between mother and child (played by daughter Mia Threapleton) dealing with mental health pressure from social media. Winslet called on “people in power” to “criminalise harmful content,” telling the ceremony: “I Am Ruth was made for parents and their children, for families who feel that they are held hostage by the perils of the online world, for parents who wish they could still communicate with their teenagers, but who no longer can.” The online safety bill , which is progressing through the House of Lords, requires social networks to protect children from harmful content, with fines of up to 10% of global turnover for those services that do not comply. We would like to hear from parents on how they feel about the impact on children of online content that could be deemed offensive, disturbing or harmful. What issues have you experienced? We will contact you, if we wish to take your submission further and before we publish. Town or area is fine eg. Your age and what you do Your details are helpful so we can contact you for more information. They will only be seen by the Guardian. Your details are helpful so we can contact you for more information. They will only be seen by the Guardian. Please do not share names of other individuals Add any extra information here Contact us on WhatsApp at +447766780300. For more information, please see our guidance on contacting us via WhatsApp . For true anonymity please use our SecureDrop service instead.

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It’s time to root out toxic Tony Danker and his creepy cronies, the old boys’ network must be dis

YOU can tell a lot about a ­person by their reaction when they are told it’s time to go. And Tony Danker , who was dismissed as director-general of the Confederation of British Industry after allegations of misconduct , didn’t exactly cover ­himself in glory this week. Rather than just accept the fact that it was time to go, he embarked on a bit of a bizarre comms blitz to defend himself. Dripping with self-pity, he summoned his best cliches when he told the BBC: “I’ve been around the block, I know the way the world works. But it’s so clear — I’ve been made the fall guy.” He moaned that his reputation has been “totally destroyed” because, as a result of his sacking, his name has been wrongly associated with separate allegations, by more than a dozen women, of serious sexual misconduct at the CBI before he joined. The allegations led to a mass exodus from the CBI, with more than 50 leading businesses including John Lewis , BMW and Tesco pulling out, and the group suspending its operations until June. So, if this intolerable behaviour by senior CBI figures was rife before Tony took over, what exactly was the £376,000-a-year director-general doing to change the obviously toxic culture there? It seems he was trawling the private Instagram accounts of junior members of staff, messaging some 200 individuals to “build rapport”, inviting some to send him family pictures and generally making a number of staff queasy with his messages. According to Brian McBride, president of the CBI, Danker was being “selective” with his account of the allegations against him and was given his marching orders. Tony apparently also forgot to mention that the majority of colleagues he invited to a select Christmas karaoke party in 2021 were women under the age of 35. The bottom line is that asking multiple younger and more junior women out for drinks and karaoke, and sliding into their Insta accounts, is not boss behaviour. At 51, the father-of-two should be young enough to know the rules and boundaries of the modern office. But rather than accept that he had behaved badly, he appears to be in a froth of self-righteous indignation that he was dismissed simply for making staff feel “uncomfortable” — as if having a creepy boss should still be seen as a rite of passage for young women in the workplace. The fact that other men at the CBI might have behaved even more badly is no defence, but in some ways this case is indeed a red herring. What the whole episode has done is to lift a rock to reveal an appalling, misogynistic culture at the organisation which claims to represent 190,000 British companies and which bills itself as “The voice of business”. If more than a dozen women have said they have been victims of serious sexual misconduct in a workplace then that often means there are dozens more who haven’t felt able to speak up, which is horrific. Unfortunately, the sordid revelations about the CBI are just the latest to engulf important institutions, including the Met Police and the Fire and Rescue Service, where misogyny, sexism and racism are said to be rife. Toxic environments won’t fix themselves. Organisations like the CBI, founded on the old boys’ network, need to be dismantled and rebuilt from the ground up — preferably by a team of both women and men who can create a culture of equality. In the wake of Tony Danker’s departure and the raft of further damaging allegations miring the CBI, three other members of staff have been suspended and its board has promised a “root and branch” review of its culture. It is the very least its business clients should expect before the organisation can once more claim to speak for British companies. ELEVEN years after committing despicable attacks on teenage girls, rapist Fabian Henry still hasn’t been deported to Jamaica . It seems the large part of the hold-up is thanks to Sir Keir Starmer who, along with other politicians, opposed a flight to send him home. Henry was jailed for attacking a 17-year-old girl twice and for abducting and raping a 15-year-old. He was among 25 Jamaican nationals taken off a February 2020 deportation flight at the last minute, after the Labour leader signed a letter demanding the cancellation of “all further deportations”. And so he is still with us. Thanks for that, Keir! PM Rishi Sunak hit the nail on the head when he referred to him at PMQs as “ Sir Softy ”. Starmer is so soft I fear crime levels would soar under a Labour government – which really is the last thing we need. MOST of us have enormous sympathy for doctors and nurses working in the NHS . But within minutes of RCN nurses rejecting a five per cent pay offer, doctors were pushing to co-ordinate strikes. A post on an online junior doctors ’ forum read: “We can co-ordinate strikes and really disrupt, and we won’t have the, ‘Well, the nurses accepted five per cent, do you think you’re better than nurses?’ stick to be beaten with.” This is morally wrong – and would cause havoc, delays to already-long waiting lists and needless deaths. I understand the idea of a strike is to make a point, but to co-ordinate it with the sole motive of causing maximum harm to people in need is just plain nasty. I’VE got more fabric in my napkin than in the extremely itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny bikini that Demi Moore wore in recent Instagram pics. But, oh boy, doesn’t she look great? And, as they say, if you’ve got it then you might as well flaunt it. I know I would. I AM very glad to hear that Strasbourg judges’ ability to block Rwanda removals flights will be overridden by new UK laws. It’s absolutely right that Home Secretary Suella Braverman is able to disregard the European Court of Human Rights ’ attempts to obstruct deportations. The Home Office will introduce amendments to the Illegal Migration Bill to allow the Home Secretary to ignore European judges’ “pyjama injunctions” – so-called as they are granted so late. About time. HOW does this one work, then? A new report says Chinese researchers may have begun developing two Covid vaccines in November 2019, just before the official start of the outbreak. A 300-page document compiled by the US Senate suggests Chinese researchers started work on a vaccine programme long before most of the world had heard of this particular coronavirus. But the most shocking part of the report is that it concludes the pandemic most likely came from a lab leak and was the result of a “research-related incident” in Wuhan. It’s vital that we know for sure how Covid began in order to prevent similar outbreaks in the future. If it was developed in a lab then China must be held responsible. ISN’T it funny how divided the world can be over a little bit of body hair? Actress Rachel McAdams was branded “nasty”, “tasteless” and “gross” for merely posing for a photoshoot with a bit of under-arm fuzz. She responded by saying that “looking your best” is “different for everyone” – which is true. But the real point is this: her body, her choice.

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Keir Starmer has a blank piece of paper where his policies should be – it will be no surprise if Tories w

FORGET the polls and the focus groups. This is the week we’ll find out for sure if voters believe Sir Keir Starmer has what it takes to be PM. Elections are the only real test of public opinion. Thursday’s town hall skirmishes will reveal who is on track to win in 2024. After 13 years of Tory chaos, coups and convulsions, any self-respecting Labour leader with a clear plan of action should be a racing certainty. Yet Starmer is struggling to look like an outright winner, leaving Rishi Sunak with a faint hope of leading a shock fourth-term Tory government. The “Rishi bounce” — a combination of competence and stability — has persuaded voters to think twice about switching sides. But an even bigger factor is the blank sheet of paper which represents a Starmer-led Labour administration. The biggest blank of all is Starmer himself. He is rarely mentioned on the doorstep and, when he is, there are more questions than answers. What would he do on taxes and public spending? Or crime and punishment? Would he stop illegal immigration? Can he really define a woman? As for more bread-and-butter issues, whose side is he on? Is it the politically motivated wreckers who are crippling public services? Striking doctors and nurses or terrified patients? Militant teachers or innocent children robbed of a decent education? After a torrent of twists, U-turns and policy somersaults on everything from crime and punishment to Covid and lockdown, voters have no idea what Sir Keir really stands for. Asked to sum him up, focus groups range from the bland (“grey”, “wooden”) to the abusive (“insincere slimeball”). This is no surprise, remembering his erstwhile support for both ultra-left Jeremy Corbyn and the EU’s “free movement of people” — aka mass immigration. Fortunately, the nature of this week’s elections provides a glimpse of how life might be lived in a Starmer-led Britain. In Labour towns and cities, tin-pot tyrants meddle in every nook and cranny of our daily lives, from kids’ sex education to trans issues , race and diversity to policing priorities. London motorists vow revenge for Mayor Sadiq Khan’s cash cosh on White Van Man , charging a huge £27.50 a day in congestion and “clean air” fees to enter our gridlocked capital. Birmingham City Council faces a backlash for fiercely opposed road closures. Car- parking fees across the country are steepest under Labour. More than 8,000 council seats fall vacant this week. Six months ago, amid the Liz Truss ruins, Labour were more than 20 points ahead in the polls and tipped to grab 2,000 seats from the Tories. Today they would be lucky to gain half that number. Anything less will boost Tory hopes of survival. Voters still feel bruised, but any protest votes are likely to go to Lib Dems. This is bad news for Labour. Political analysts Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher say Labour cannot afford to be seen as just another protest party. “Labour requires a swing larger than Tony Blair achieved in 1997 just to register the slimmest of parliamentary majorities,” they said in The Sunday Times. “Anything less than significant gains in a wide variety of English councils will suggest that ambition is out of reach. “It will not be enough for electors simply to search for the best way to punish the Tories. Labour needs to show it is winning back support on its own account.” Devoid of ideas of his own, Starmer is now pinning all Labour hopes on the cost-of- living crisis, with soaring food prices right at the top of voters’ priorities. Sir Keir believes he can win simply by asking the killer question: “Do you feel better or worse off after 13 years of Tory rule?” But voters with long memories will recall the election of 2000, when Gordon Brown was defeated after 13 years of Labour rule. His departing Chief Secretary Liam Byrne left a note on the desk of incoming Chancellor George Osborne . “I am afraid there is no money left,” he wrote. Just eight words. But as a verdict on Labour in power, they could fill Starmer’s blank sheet of paper.

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Wednesday briefing: Are standardised tests failing children?

Good morning. Almost everything about adulthood stinks, but it has one important benefit: nobody can ever make you take another exam. Who among us looks back fondly on turning over a sheaf of paper to find out which particular gaps in your knowledge are about to be ruthlessly exposed? And who doesn’t feel a shiver of sympathy for the children going through the same thing today – and gratitude that at least this time, it isn’t you? Year 6 pupils in England, who sat their key stage 2 tests (widely known as Sats , or standardised assessment tests) last week, might be justified in feeling particularly hard done by: they face far more onerous assessment than their counterparts across the rest of the UK, and can look to 10 and 11-year-olds in comparable systems from Canada to New Zealand for proof that another approach is possible. In the aftermath of the coronavirus crisis, and after the alarm was raised over a particularly brutal English test last week that was said to have left some pupils in tears , those worries look particularly salient. Today’s newsletter, with the Guardian’s education correspondent Sally Weale, is about the long-running fight over Sats, and why so many teachers and parents are calling for an overhaul. You may now look at the headlines. You have five minutes to complete this newsletter. Do not use a calculator. Housing | Tenants and campaigners have warned Michael Gove not to create a “back door” for unfair evictions as private rented sector reforms are unveiled on Wednesday . The overhaul will ban no-fault evictions but strengthen landlords’ rights to throw tenants out for antisocial behaviour, which could mean renters being given a two-week notice period for antisocial behaviour evictions. Taiwan | Free nations must commit themselves to a free Taiwan, Liz Truss has said on a visit to Taipei , in which she called for an “economic Nato” to tackle Beijing’s growing authoritarianism. Truss, the most senior British politician to make the trip since Margaret Thatcher, drew a rebuke from China’s UK embassy, which said the visit would only harm Britain. Media | A leading Mirror journalist allegedly blackmailed the company as it attempted to cover up phone hacking , the high court has been told. Lee Harpin, who held a number of senior roles at the People and Sunday Mirror, was alleged to be a known phone hacker whose understanding of illegal behaviour at the newspaper group caused anxiety at board level. Harpin denies the claims. Asylum | Ministers are removing basic housing protections from asylum seekers under new rules designed to move tens of thousands out of hotels and into the private rented sector. The changes would exempt landlords from regulations governing everything from electrical safety to minimum room sizes. Education | The University of Oxford will cut its ties with the Sackler family , whose wealth came from addictive opioid drugs. The family’s name will be removed from two galleries in the Ashmolean Museum and a university library as well as several staff positions. Dismay about the difficulty of Sats is now as predictable a part of the academic calendar as a terrible school play – but it feels especially acute this year. Last year’s results revealed the gap between the scores obtained by disadvantaged children and others had grown since before the pandemic, when they were last taken, leaving the biggest difference between the two in a decade . And after the Department for Education responded to anger over an English test last week, reported to be so hard that some teachers struggled to understand the questions, by saying that it was “ designed to be challenging ”, schools minister Nick Gibb promised to review the paper in question. “They do have to test a range of ability to make sure we can show what proportion of children are exceeding the standards and so on,” he said. “But we don’t want these tests to be too hard for children. That’s not the purpose.” So what is the purpose? “The government would say that up until the pandemic, taking a rigorous approach has in general narrowed the gap between disadvantaged children and their wealthier peers,” Sally Weale said. “But that approach has stalled. And there is real worry that they will find it very difficult to catch up.” How are Sats supposed to work? The key stage 2 assessments are billed as a way to measure how well schools are doing, and to identify any problem areas for pupils ahead of their secondary education. In theory, they’re not meant to be a source of stress for the children who take them. “The assessments only include questions on things that children should already have been taught as part of the national curriculum,” the government’s education hub says . “Children shouldn’t be made to feel any unnecessary pressure when it comes to the KS2 assessments.” The exams are calibrated to be a reliable guide to what children have learned, with questions going through three cycles of reviews by teachers and experts before being trialled on 1,000 pupils each time. That process is supposed to avoid any disadvantage for particular groups of pupils and to make sure they produce a range of marks that accurately measures a full range of abilities – since there’s little point in a test that leaves the bottom quartile all scoring zero, or the top one all getting full marks. “They’re supposed to provide a picture of a school’s performance that helps parents know what kind of school they’re choosing, and to see how individual kids are doing,” Sally said. “The idea is that it’s just based on what they’ve been doing all year. It’s meant to be fairly pain-free.” UCL research in 2021 supported that argument: it found little difference in the well-being of children who had taken them and those who had not. Those who defend the existing system might point to news yesterday that pupils in England have risen to fourth place in the world rankings of literacy among nine- and 10-year-olds – beating the US and every other country in Europe. While that measure is taken before the Sats, Prof Alan Smithers, of the University of Buckingham, argued : “Although there are sometimes cries of pain from parents and teachers about the Sats test, there’s no doubt that they set clear objectives for primary schools, and that is reflected in our position on the international scene.” What do critics say? The argument against Sats is not, typically, that there is no need for assessment of children’s progress: it is that high-stakes external tests that matter so much to schools are bound to create perverse “teach to the test” incentives that drive out what many parents value most about education, and consign children to an “exam factory” at too early an age. They also say that quite often, as in the recent English test, they’re simply too hard. One measure of that: when a group of MPs and peers (pictured above) took a sample test in maths and English last December, they scored lower than the average results achieved by 10-year-olds . (You may think that you’d quite like more than 44% of MPs to be up to year 6 maths, but the point still stands.) “Even if the department says that they aren’t meant to be this way, you hear many stories about kids having revision at lunchtime, or getting homework during half term, or being sick from the stress, and so on,” Sally said. “The news of this recent test will have added to that argument. It feels like a judgement to parents and pupils, and the argument is that it drives a lot of the joy out of a period in education which is supposed to be about enriching children’s lives and making them love education.” The National Education Union says that the UCL research fails to take into account how Sats have changed in recent years. Ninety-five percent of headteachers say too much time is spent preparing for the test, and 90% of teachers are unsatisfied with the system. You might see a vested interest in teachers rejecting a system that demands a lot of them. But parents tend to agree: 95% said Sats had a negative effect on their child’s well-being last year. Nor do parents typically use them to choose a school: Ofsted reports and local reputation are considered much more important, and 85% say they don’t use Sats at all. As for pupils: almost half of year 6 children said they spent most of the year doing practice papers, 60% said they were worried about the exams last year, and one in 10 said they were having trouble sleeping as a result. (You can see all these figures and others in this briefing (pdf) by the campaign group More Than a Score.) What would an alternative look like? There are plenty of suggestions from critics – but most centre on replacing Sats with something new. Under Jeremy Corbyn, Labour promised to abolish them altogether , though did not say what the alternative would be; the party doesn’t currently have a stated position on the issue. The EDSK thinktank argues that more frequent, shorter assessments run online that automatically give pupils questions adjusting to their performance would make the process less burdensome for schools and pupils alike and provide a fairer measure of progress. The British Educational Research Association suggests removing the tests – and league tables – and instead using a test of a sample of pupils alongside questionnaires for schools, parents and pupils for a broader measure of success. Any alternative would be more popular with teachers and parents. Nonetheless, the government does not appear likely to abandon the current system, which it sees as one of the tools it will use to get 90% of pupils to expected standards in reading, writing and maths by 2030. That looks a tall order: last year, that target was hit by just 1% of schools. Sign up to First Edition Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you through the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning after newsletter promotion Zoe Williams has an entertaining meeting with Loreen (above), who won Eurovision for Sweden for the second time at the weekend, and finds a beaming, self-mocking balladeer with a rich life story and political convictions. “I don’t like the word ‘political’,” she says. “It’s so small – I wish there was a bigger word for it.” Archie President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador is the most popular leader in Latin America, in part because of his draconian treatment of gangs and the resulting fall in crime. Luke Taylor reports on the innocent young men being caught up in the crackdown. Archie It has been three months since a train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, spilling more than 116,000 gallons of toxic petrochemicals. Like many residents, Zsuzsa Gyenes is still displaced, unable to return home, and is calling for accountability for those responsible. Nimo Marina Hyde has every last detail of the byzantine Phil and Holly drama on This Morning . Stop lying to yourself and read it. Archie “Stealth wealth” and “quiet luxury” are the latest fashion phrases dominating social media. But in the Atlantic, (£) Amanda Mull asks whether this trend is actually taking off in the way many seem to be suggesting: “Stealth wealth seems to be more of an imagined trend than anything else – inspired by a mistaken, stylised notion of how the wealthy live their glamorous lives.” Nimo Champions League | Inter reached the final of the competition after a 74th minute goal from Lautaro Martínez (above) secured a 1-0 win against their bitter rivals Milan on the night, and a 3-0 aggregate victory. While Inter will be underdogs against either Manchester City or Real Madrid in the final, Jonathan Liew wrote : “This is a club that has always done its best work in the shadow of doubt, that is most dangerous at the moment when you dare to write it off.” Cricket | Jofra Archer will miss a third successive summer, and a second successive Ashes series, after scans revealed a recurrence of a stress fracture to his right elbow . Rob Key, the ECB’s managing director for men’s cricket, said the fast bowler was “pretty distraught” at the news. Championship | Luton fans celebrated on the pitch after a 2-0 win over Sunderland in the playoff semi-final second leg secured them a place in the final. Goals from Gabriel Osho and Tom Lockyer turned the tables on Sunderland, who had won 2-1 at home in the first leg. “We had to mix it up and be horrible and dirty and that’s how we won the game,” Lockyer said. Our Guardian print edition splashes this morning with “Alarm as ministers target housing standards to cut asylum hotels bill”. Housing issues of a different kind lead the Times’ Wednesday edition – “Starmer: I’ll allow more homes on green belt”. “PM: You must let us deport illegal migrants” – that’s t message from Rishi Sunak to European judges, says the Daily Express . “Can’t afford a sandwich? Hard cheese” – the Daily Mirror calls out “more right-wing cruelty” as, it says, former MP Ann Widdecombe declares “no one has a right to cheap food”. The Daily Telegraph has “Free speech is at risk in trans row, Oxford dons tell students”. “We’re NOT guns for hire Harry” – that’s the Sun’s headline for its story about the court case between the prince and the Met over payment for his security. “Working from home fuels UK’s sick note crisis” says the Daily Mail , while the i has “Bird flu spreads to humans in the UK”. The top story in the Financial Times is “ChatGPT chief sees AI manipulation of US elections as ‘significant’ concern”. Has Ukraine’s spring offensive begun? Ukrainian officials claim their forces have retaken land around the eastern city of Bakhmut and shot down Russian missiles targeting Kyiv. Luke Harding reports on the state of the war A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad This picture essay collects images from a new exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art of works by female artists who have highlighted the evolving political and social landscapes of countries with large Muslim populations. One photograph (above) features the actor Iman Vellani, known for her television role as comic-book character Kamala Khan, AKA Ms Marvel, in a series that focuses on girls and women in the US and Lebanon. Another features the photographer’s daughters, inspired by their evolution from girls to adults. The two girls, Darine and Dania, gaze confidently at the camera, their personalities emerging through their body language and what they are wearing. Others highlight the plight of a transgender woman in Iran, the dispossession of Palestinian women who live in a perpetual state of occupation, and a moment of togetherness in Nigeria as girls gather around a circle of candles on their classroom floor to exchange stories while Boko Haram unleashed attacks on the country. The exhibition centres the experiences of marginalised women and celebrates the achievements of female photographers who have been able to capture their stories. Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day – with plenty more on the Guardian’s Puzzles app for iOS and Android . Until tomorrow. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply

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Press freedom should not be subject to the whims of MPs

The House of Commons will today hold a general debate on Ukraine, the first for several weeks. It is right that the military, diplomatic and political implications are regularly discussed in Parliament. This is the biggest geo-political crisis in Europe since 1945 and the conflict is turning into a proxy stand-off between Nato and Russia. What does this mean for our foreign policy and defence budget; should countries like Finland be brought into Nato; do we need to revisit the Strategic Review entitled Global Britain in a Competitive Age published last year? We will be living with the ramifications of the past two months for the next two decades. Such a debate will also elevate the gaze of our MPs to weightier matters than “partygate” and the latest subject to foment discord, the furore over Angela Rayner’s legs . Great offence has been taken by the Labour deputy leader and other MPs about a story in the Mail on Sunday suggesting she was distracting Boris Johnson during Prime Minister’s Question Time. It is extraordinary that this has been elevated into a cause celebre when so much else is going on. The anger of parliamentarians is also being directed at the messenger rather than the tawdry source of the claim. MPs are even demanding that the Commons pass of the story’s author should be removed and Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, has requested a meeting with the newspaper’s editor to “demand an explanation” . Last week, a Labour MP called for the pass of the sketch writer of The Times to be withdrawn because of the “unacceptable” content of an article. Are newspapers now expected to tailor their reportage to the whims of what MPs consider appropriate?

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Donald Perkins obituary

The particle physicist Donald Perkins, who has died aged 97, made seminal discoveries about the structure of the proton, and nuclear interactions at extreme energies, and first proposed the use of beams of pion particles in cancer therapy. His career spanned the birth of particle physics, as it emerged from studies of cosmic rays in the 1940s, through its maturation in the final decades of the last century, to the climactic discovery of the Higgs boson in the 21st. He played key roles throughout. When Perkins began research in 1948, the electron, proton and neutron were the only known fundamental particles whose role in building atoms was understood. The pion, a particle predicted to carry the strong force that binds atomic nuclei, had recently been discovered in cosmic rays by Cecil Powell of Bristol University, and it was in Powell’s group that Perkins began his research career. Powell had pioneered the use of photographic emulsions to study cosmic rays. The technique involved going to high altitudes, such as the Pic du Midi, or using specially adapted weather balloons, to get best access to the rays. Perkins’ supervisor was GP Thomson, who had been active in the second world war, and Perkins asked him to arrange for a flight from RAF Benson in Oxfordshire to take his photographic emulsion up 30,000 feet and fly it around for several hours. During the next few years Perkins obtained several significant images of pions in action. He was the first to observe the nuclear capture of the negatively charged pion and obtained evidence that the pion is unstable. With Powell and Peter Fowler, Perkins published an encyclopedia of emulsion images of the interactions of cosmic rays, The Study of Elementary Particles by the Photographic Method (1959), which was the state of the art in the field. In 1961, Perkins and Fowler first suggested the use of pion beams as a cancer therapy. Discoveries in cosmic rays inspired the birth of high-energy particle physics using terrestrial accelerators, which led to the discovery of a veritable zoo of particles. That most of these are not fundamental was suspected, but not until 1968 was there direct evidence that the proton, and by implication others, are composed of more fundamental particles. The breakthrough had come from experiments at Stanford, California, where electrons were used to probe inside the proton and neutron. That the fundamental constituents are quarks, however, was only established in 1972, thanks to an insight by Perkins. Among the avalanche of particle discoveries had been that of the neutrino, in 1956. This electrically neutral sibling of the electron fascinated him. After becoming professor of elementary particle physics at Oxford University in 1965, where he built the modern department of nuclear physics with Denys Wilkinson and Ken Allen , Perkins began to use beams of neutrinos, at the Cern laboratory in Geneva, as probes of the proton. There he was directly involved in two breakthrough discoveries that inspired the modern standard model of particles and forces. Perkins was well informed about the Stanford experiments with electrons and immediately, in 1968, convinced a newly formed collaborative team using Cern’s Gargamelle bubble chamber that beams of neutrinos could provide a complementary view of the proton’s inner structure. This idea dominated the neutrino programme at Cern, and by 1972 their data enabled the electric charges of those constituents to be measured. The result: the proton and neutron are built of quarks, bound together by gluons. By 1973 this had inspired development of the modern quantum chromodynamics theory of the strongly interacting particles, a key foundation of the standard model. The strong nuclear force was understood, but the weak force, whose most familiar role is in fuelling the sun and in causing forms of radioactivity, remained an enigma. A novel theory, uniting the weak force with the electromagnetic force, now received its first confirmation thanks to Perkins and the Gargamelle group. Neutrinos are a unique probe of the weak force. They were known to pick up electric charge when interacting with protons, but the emerging theory uniting electromagnetic and weak interactions required the existence of a previously unseen consequence of the weak force in which neutrinos bounce off protons unchanged. The Gargamelle experiment played a leading role in establishing the existence of these “neutral currents”, which paved the way for eventual confirmation of the unified theory and Nobel prizes in 1979 for its theoretical creators, Sheldon Glashow, Abdus Salam and Steven Weinberg . At the time of their award, the agents of unification, the massive W and Z bosons, were not yet discovered. The Gargamelle results, much driven by Perkins, were deemed sufficient proof by the Nobel committee. Perkins was a member of Cern’s scientific policy committee from 1981 to 1986, and latterly its chair, a period when LEP, the Large Electron-Positron Collider and precursor to the current Large Hadron Collider was being built. With the standard model established, the long march to find its fulcrum, the Higgs boson , began. Perkins’ graduate textbook, Introduction to High Energy Physics, first published in 1972, is now in its fourth edition and continues to educate and inspire new generations of particle physicists working at the Large Hadron Collider. Born in Hull, east Yorkshire, Donald was the son of Gertrude and George Perkins, teachers of, respectively, English and maths. Educated at the city’s Malet Lambert high school, he went on to Imperial College London, where he gained a BSc in physics in 1945 and his doctorate in 1948. He was a senior scholar of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 for three years, before becoming an associate in physics in 1951 at the University of Bristol. After a year at the Lawrence radiation laboratory, at Berkeley in California, he returned to Bristol in 1956 as a lecturer in physics, appointed a reader in 1960. He was at Oxford University, where he was a fellow of St Catherine’s College, from 1965 until his retirement in 1993. Having been elected fellow of the Royal Society in 1966, he won the society’s Royal Medal in 1997. He was made a CBE in 1991. Perkins married Dorothy Maloney in 1955. She died in 2021, and he is survived by their two daughters, Venetia and Michele. Donald Hill Perkins, particle physicist, born 15 October 1925; died 30 October 2022

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‘Paris agreement’ for nature imperative at Cop15, architects of climate deal say

The architects of the Paris agreement have urged world leaders to reach an ambitious sister deal for nature at the Cop15 biodiversity conference this December while warning that limiting global heating to 1.5C is impossible without protecting and restoring ecosystems. On biodiversity day at the Cop27 climate conference in Egypt, Christiana Figueres, Laurence Tubiana, Laurent Fabius and Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, who helped design the Paris agreement, said that Cop15 would be an “unprecedented” opportunity to turn the tide on nature loss. It follows scientific warnings that humans are driving the sixth mass extinction of life on Earth, with 1m species in danger of extinction . The biodiversity summit takes place in Montreal, Canada just two weeks after Cop27 in Egypt, where governments will negotiate this decade’s targets on preventing biodiversity loss. Despite the ominous scientific warnings about the health of the planet and the consequences for human civilisation, no world leaders are scheduled to attend the meeting, which clashes with the football World Cup in Qatar. In a separate announcement, a group of nearly 350 scientists, Indigenous peoples, businesses and NGOs have urged presidents and prime ministers to prioritise the nature summit. “Leaders must secure a global agreement for biodiversity which is as ambitious, science-based and comprehensive as the Paris agreement is for climate change. Like the Paris agreement, it must encourage countries to pledge and also ratchet up their action commensurate with the size of the challenge,” said the joint statement by the designers of the Paris climate agreement. “There is no pathway to limiting global warming to 1.5C without action on protecting and restoring nature. Only by taking urgent action to halt and reverse the loss of nature this decade, while continuing to step up efforts to rapidly decarbonise our economies, can we hope to achieve the promise of the Paris agreement,” it reads. “It must be inclusive, rights-based and work for all. And it must deliver, through the whole of society, immediate action on the ground – our future depends on it,” it continues. Figueres, Tubiana, Fabius and Pulgar-Vidal said that humanity’s “accelerating destruction of nature is undermining its abilities to provide crucial services, including climate change mitigation and adaptation. As with climate change, it is the most vulnerable communities who bear the greatest impacts of biodiversity loss, from loss of food security and livelihoods to decreased climate resilience. The climate and nature agendas are entwined.” On Tuesday, ministers from about 30 countries met in Sharm el-Sheikh at a side event co-hosted by Canada and China to discuss the draft nature agreement, formally known as the post-2020 biodiversity framework. Sticking points in negotiations were discussed by governments, including financial backing for the agreement. At Cop15, China is overseeing a major UN agreement for the first time and holds the presidency, although its leaders have played a modest role so far, prompting fears that the biodiversity summit could be nature’s “Copenhagen moment”, a reference to the conference where climate talks fell apart in 2009 . Cop15 was moved from China to Canada after several pandemic-related delays and no world leaders have been invited by Beijing amid fears they are trying to downplay the event so as not to embarrass Xi Jinping , who is not expected to attend. Helena Gualinga, a Kichwa indigenous youth climate leader from Sarayaku, Ecuador, said Cop15 was a “once-in-a-decade opportunity to agree a global deal for nature” and leaders needed to attend and produce an ambitious final agreement. “Nature and the future of the climate is at stake, and we will not be safe until leaders are held accountable. For generations, my community has coexisted with nature, while witnessing extraction and deforestation of our territories devastate wildlife, nature and people. Our existence is our resistance, when we uphold our Indigenous rights we safeguard key ecosystems for the planet. We only have this decade to turn things around, yet governments are failing their responsibilities. Cop15 in Montreal is a once-in-a-decade opportunity to agree a global deal for nature, and we need leaders to show up and deliver,” she said. Scientist Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research said nature was crucial to keeping global heating within 1.5C of pre-industrial levels. “To have a 50% chance of achieving 1.5C and thus limiting tipping point risks, global greenhouse gas emissions must be cut by half by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050,” he said. “Critically, these pathways rely on the continuing capacity of nature to operate as a carbon sink and to buffer against the worst impacts of climate change – 1.5C is not a goal, it is a biophysical limit. Nature is one of the best climate solutions for remaining within that limit. An ambitious global framework for biodiversity at Cop15 that addresses root causes of decline of the global commons is urgent and necessary.” Find more age of extinction coverage here , and follow the Guardian’s biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on Twitter for all the latest news and features

GOOD

You be the judge: should my girlfriend stop taking free samples from the same shop?

Irene goes to the same place every day for free hot chocolate – it’s so embarrassing My girlfriend Irene and I have different attitudes when it comes to customer service and free samples. I think this is down to the fact that Irene is from LA. Americans aren’t really bothered about stuff like going into the same shop every day for a free sample, whereas as a Brit, I find it supremely embarrassing. Irene goes to one shop every day to get a free hot chocolate. We live in a small town where everyone knows everyone. When we’re in town, before we head home she’ll always say, “Oh shall we just pop in here and see what free samples they have?” There’s always this feeling in my gut of “no, not again,” because she does it so often. The people who work there must recognise us. Sometimes when we go into the shop, there’s a sign saying that the free hot chocolate isn’t ready yet as the machine needs to start up. It’s uncomfortable because we’ll have to linger and pretend to browse, as if we actually want to buy something. When in actual fact, we are simply waiting for the free hot chocolate samples to start. Irene goes there so often that I bought her some hot chocolate from that shop for Christmas. I thought: “Well, she must really like them, so maybe I should spend some actual money here, too.” She says that my purchase more than makes up for all the freebies she’s taken, but I’m not so sure. Fundamentally I don’t have a problem with taking freebies. If I’m in a shop and they’re giving out snacks or samples I’m happy to take one or two. The issue is if you keep going to the same place all the time, knowing that the staff probably recognise you as “that person who comes in for freebies every day”. That really makes me feel uncomfortable and embarrassed. But Irene also asks for samples of things in pubs and ice-cream shops, even when they aren’t really on offer, so I think it’s in her nature. We’ve been together for a year and a half and I’ve seen her do that several times. I’ve bought the shop’s products as a result of going in for the samples, so what’s the problem? My first line of defence is that this was a much bigger issue last year, and now I’ve calmed down. I went for a lot of samples in the lead-up to Christmas because I knew Mike was going to be buy me some hot chocolate mixes and teas from the store as a present. I felt like because I’d asked specifically for them, it was OK. I’ve also bought more tea from the shop myself, so I feel like I’m a loyal customer, even if I help myself to lots of samples. I’m also careful to tell people there that I do buy the products. Nobody has ever recognised me in there, and I haven’t recognised any of the staff. If they said something, I would stop because that would be embarrassing, but I never see anyone twice as they have a massive rotation of staff. It certainly doesn’t hurt their sales because I bring friends there and introduce them to the samples. Everyone loves the hot chocolate, and they always go and buy more. Had I never tried those samples, I would not have started buying from the shop. One time, I remember my friend Rose, along with Mike, saying “This is embarrassing” when I went for another freebie after going a few times earlier in the week. Mike actually refused to go into the store with me. He is unfailingly polite and gets embarrassed easily, often by my Americanness. Once, in John Lewis, I asked if they could wrap a gift and everyone laughed. But I don’t always know how things work in the UK. I’m not really a big free sample person. I don’t actively sample a lot of things, so I disagree with Mike. I only started doing it with the hot chocolate because I felt like I needed a sugar boost and a tiny bit of joy during the dark English winter. Maybe me being American explains everything. Those free hot chocolates are very popular in our town, though. Last time I was in there, there was a queue to get a sample shot glass, so it’s not like I’m the only person doing it. And if the store didn’t want us to try these samples, they wouldn’t promote them like this, would they? Should Irene stop hitting the same shop for free hot chocolates? Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion I’ve worked for two companies that offered samples, and the assumption was you’d only ever convert 10% into paying customers, which would be more than enough to make it worthwhile. Plus the regulars bring their friends, so Irene is good for business. Jonathan, 41 Mike’s embarrassment is his own problem – Irene isn’t forcing him to get her freebies. Let her make her own decisions and have fun. She’s making the most of an opportunity to have something nice in her day. Maybe Mike should join her to see what all the fuss is about . Charlotte, 25 Chances are the business owner can afford to gift a few little hot chocolates without a purchase being made – they wouldn’t be doing it otherwise. So let Irene enjoy these little free treats. Kristina, 34 I have sympathy with Mike and resonate with that feeling of having to be polite. I know my girlfriend would do this without hesitation, and I’d feel like Mike. However, the samples are free, it’s a great advertisement for the company and you are actually buying their products . Euan, 27 While repeated sampling might seem against the spirit of the endeavour, at the end of the day this is a capitalist enterprise. They’re increasing footfall and advertising their product. Irene is just playing her part . Aengus, 43 In our online poll below, tell us: is it time for Irene to stop taking free samples? This poll is now closed We asked whether Barry should stop vaping so much . 91% of you said yes – Barry is guilty 9% of you said no – Barry is not guilty

GOOD

MPs and peers do worse than 10-year-olds in maths and English Sats

MPs and peers tasked with completing a year 6 Sats exam have scored lower results on average than the country’s 10-year-olds. MPs including Commons education select committee chair Robin Walker took part in the exams, invigilated by 11-year-olds, at a Westminster event organised by More Than A Score, who campaign for the tests to be scrapped. Only 44% of the cross-party group of parliamentarians dubbed the Westminster Class of 2022 achieved the expected standard in maths and just 50% had achieved the expected standard in spelling, punctuation and grammar. Across the country, 59% of pupils aged 10 and 11 reached the expected standard in the Sats tests of maths, reading and writing this year, down from 65% in 2019, the previous time the tests were taken. Detailed figures published by the Department for Education in the summer revealed disadvantaged children had a steeper fall than their better-off peers. Walker took part in the Big SATS Sit-In Westminster alongside his Conservative colleagues Flick Drummond and Gagan Mohindra; Labour MPs Ian Byrne and Emma Lewell-Buck with the Green party’s Lady Bennett to experience the high-stakes nature of the exams. More Than A Score hope the politicians will take the high-pressured experience away with them and realise that “the exams only judge schools but do not help children’s learning” at that age. “The exams were absolutely terrifying,” Byrne said, “the mental impact such pressure would have on these young children is immense. Sats at this level must be scrapped. I’m delighted so many cross-party colleagues could experience this pressure too.” Walker, the new chair of the education select committee acknowledged a need to reform exams for 10 to 11-year-olds, but refused to back dropping the exams altogether. “There will always be a place for testing but that cannot be the be-all and end-all to accessing the most opportunity. Ultimately, it’s not just about testing but it’s how we develop their love of reading.” His comments were welcomed by Drummond who said a lot of the terminology used in the grammar exam was “unnecessary”. “We should have assessments but they shouldn’t be at such high stakes, wasting six months or more. It was quite a hard test and we need to acknowledge what will actually be useful for the future. We’re not educating young people to pass tests, we should want to give them a love of learning.” A YouGov poll commissioned for the campaign group found 8% of parents and headteachers agreed that preparing for Sats and other tests should be the bottom of their priorities in the classroom. It also found 60% of parents felt intense nature of the exams harmed children’s mental health. Sign up to First Edition Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you through the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning after newsletter promotion Alison Ali from More Than A Score said: “This is more than a test of maths and English capabilities, it’s an opportunity for MPs to put themselves in the shoes of 10 and 11-year-olds … they will see how absurd some of the questions faced by children are, how these absurdities influence and narrow the whole curriculum and how they are only used to judge schools not to help children’s learning.”

GOOD

Labour to restore whip to Neil Coyle after suspension over drunken abuse

Labour is to restore the party whip to Neil Coyle after the MP was suspended for drunken abuse and making racist comments to a journalist. Coyle was suspended in February last year after a complaint by Henry Dyer, a political reporter for the Insider website who now works for the Guardian, about the behaviour of the MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark in London. The MP previously had a complaint of sexual harassment upheld against him over an incident at a Labour conference. The decision over Coyle’s readmission was confirmed on Wednesday by Labour’s chief whip, Alan Campbell. Campbell is understood to have told a parliamentary Labour party committee that independent investigations into Coyle’s conduct had been undertaken by Labour and an independent expert panel under the independent complaints and grievances scheme, which was set up by parliament and investigates complaints about inappropriate behaviour. In March, Coyle was suspended from the Commons for five days. The MP was found to have breached the Commons’ harassment policy with drunken behaviour in its Strangers’ bar last year. Coyle was found to have engaged in “foul-mouthed and drunken abuse” towards a junior parliamentary assistant employed by another MP. The independent expert panel said this was “shocking and intimidating for any complainant, particularly a junior member of staff”. In the second case, Coyle was found to have “used abusive language with racial overtones” towards Dyer. On Wednesday, Campbell told the PLP committee that he had been clear to Coyle that the behaviour described in the reports was completely unacceptable and had met him a number of times and sought reassurances about his future conduct. While suspended, Coyle undertook two programmes regarding managing alcohol and stopped drinking entirely, according to Labour sources, who said the chief whip had also said to the MP that drinking did not excuse his behaviour. The committee also was told the party recognised the efforts Coyle was said to have made to address his drinking and to change his behaviour. In a statement published last year by Insider, Dyer, who is from a British Chinese background, said Coyle referred to China as “Fu Manchu” and told him he looked like he was involved in giving money to the Labour MP Barry Gardiner, who received large sums from a woman who later was accused of being a Chinese agent. Dyer said he had subsequently encountered Coyle around parliament and felt a “sense of discomfort”, and decided to inform the Commons speaker, Lindsay Hoyle. Coyle, who has spoken about quitting alcohol for a year and has pleaded for the Labour leader, Keir Starmer , to readmit him to the parliamentary party, accepted he was “drunk” on both occasions. In an apology in the Commons when news of his suspension was announced, Coyle said he was “ashamed” of his behaviour. “I wish to specifically apologise to the two complainants who were subject to my drunk and offensive behaviour and attitude,” he said. “I cannot apologise enough for the harm and upset caused, and I’m ashamed of my conduct, frankly. It should not have happened.” After news that Coyle would have the whip returned, the Labour grassroots movement Momentum said: “It is shocking and disgusting to see Labour readmit someone found to have engaged in racial and sexual harassment. The NEC must immediately move to bar Neil Coyle from standing as a Labour candidate at the next election. “This shameful act exposes a system which is not fit for purpose. When loyalists can engage in such abhorrent behaviour and be punished with nothing more than a slap on the wrist, the Starmer leadership’s claims to independent and robust disciplinary processes lie in tatters. “It’s time to end this dangerous, politicised abuse of the Labour whip, and enact a truly independent process.”

GOOD

Look at what hedge funds really do – and tell me capitalism is about ‘rewarding risk’

Coming up with economic policy is a difficult, unforgiving task. To make the best of it, it helps to work with an accurate model of how the economy works. If you use a misleading model and act on it, you can’t reasonably expect good outcomes: in that scenario, we end up, as JM Keynes warned in the 1930s, with “madmen in authority”, acting according to the precepts of “some defunct economist”. But that’s exactly where we are. One of the most deeply held and frequently heard propositions about capitalism is that it revolves around private companies and individuals taking risks. When, earlier this year, the US government arranged a rescue package for Silicon Valley Bank, for instance, among the many objections to it was the claim that the rescue contravened capitalism’s risk norms. “The US is supposed to be a capitalist economy,” said the billionaire Ken Griffin, founder of the US investment firm Citadel, “and that’s breaking down before our eyes.” Capitalism, Griffin argued, is about taking risk. If returns are achievable without taking risk – the apparent message of the bailout – then, for Griffin at least, it is no longer capitalism. This view of the world directly informs wide swaths of economic policymaking today. When business confidence ebbs and investment declines, an increasingly common policy response is to “de-risk” business investment – usually by subsidising it or guaranteeing returns. The prime example in recent memory was the US’s Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the kernel of which is a package of tax credits designed to make private investment in clean energy less risky. But examine the economy, and it becomes clear: capitalism has become less and less about corporate risk-taking in recent decades. To be sure, many businesses do take significant risks. The independent small business owner who opens a new cafe in London generally faces intense competition and massive risk. But as political scientist Jacob Hacker has argued , business in general has been enormously skilled in recent times at offloading risk – principally by dumping it on those least able to bear it: ordinary households. Paradoxically, the best example of a business usually regarded as being fundamentally about risk-taking but which in fact is not, is Ken Griffin’s own: alternative asset management, an umbrella term for hedge funds, private equity and the like. (“Alternative” here means anything other than publicly listed stocks and bonds.) Asset managers are anything but marginal, exotic firms – they manage more than $100tn of clients’ money globally and control everything from Center Parcs UK to your local Morrisons. But let’s look at what asset management companies in places like Britain and the US actually do. Three considerations are paramount. First, there is the matter of whose capital is put at risk when alternative asset managers such as Citadel, Blackstone and KKR invest. In large part, it’s not theirs. The proportion of equity invested by a typical hedge or private equity fund that is the asset manager’s own is usually between 1% and 3%. The rest is that of their external investor clients (the “limited partners”), which include pension schemes. Second, consider how an asset manager’s investments are designed. For one thing, its own financial participation in, and management of, its investment funds is usually through a vehicle (the “general partnership”) that is constituted as a separate entity, precisely in order to insulate the firm and its professionals from liability risk. Furthermore, the fund and its manager is generally distanced from underlying investments by a chain of intermediary holding companies that protect it from the risk inherent in those investments. In leveraged buyouts, where money is borrowed to help finance a deal, the debt goes on to the balance sheet of the company the fund has acquired. This means if trouble arises in repaying the debt, it is not the investment fund that is on the hook, still less its manager. Third and last, fee structures also distance asset managers from risk. If a fund underperforms, they may earn no performance fee (based on fund profits), but they do have the considerable consolation – a form of risk insurance, if you like – of the guaranteed management fee, usually representing about 2% of limited partners’ committed capital, year after year. Essentially, management fees pay asset managers’ base salaries; performance fees pay bonuses. In short, then, it would be far-fetched to suggest that what hedge funds and the like do amounts substantially to risk-taking. The only meaningful risk they themselves face is that of losing custom if fund returns prove underwhelming. In reality, the business of alternative asset management is less about taking on risk than, in Hacker’s terms, moving it elsewhere. So when things go wrong, others bear the brunt. This can be the employees on the shopfloor of a retailer owned by private equity who find that they’ve shouldered the risk when they’re told they’re being laid off. It can be ordinary retirement savers, who find they have a meagre pension because the alternative funds in which their savings were invested by the asset manager have tanked. Why does this matter? Because unless elected policymakers understand how risk is produced and distributed in modern economies, they will not be in a position to act appropriately and proportionately. That is why vague talk from politicians of being “pro-business” or “entrepreneurship” mean so little; the point is to learn from economic realities as they actually are, as opposed to how economics textbooks say they could or should be. There is one very obvious policy recommendation for alternative asset management that flows from our understanding what they actually do with “risk”: taxing them more. The main performance fee earned by alternative asset managers is “carried interest” – effectively, a profit share. In the UK and US, most asset management firms pay tax on this revenue at the capital gains rate, rather than the usually higher income tax rate. This is because the asset manager has typically been understood to be “taking on the entrepreneurial risk of the [investment]” – a standard justification for taxation as capital gain. But as we have seen, this simply does not hold water. In 2017, the New York Times called the beneficial tax treatment of carried interest “a tax loophole for the rich that just won’t die”. It’s time to close it. In fact, the recent confirmation by Keir Starmer’s Labour party that it would do exactly that if it wins power was one of the few genuinely progressive and sensible economic policy moves it has made while in opposition. Brett Christophers is a professor in the Institute for Housing and Urban Research at Sweden’s Uppsala University and author of Our Lives in Their Portfolios: Why Asset Managers Own the World

BAD

A Brighter Tomorrow review – Nanni Moretti’s new film is bafflingly awful

Nanni Moretti is the Italian director who will always have a place in our hearts, not least for his masterly The Son’s Room (2001), in my view the greatest Cannes Palme d’Or winner of the century so far . And more recently his cinephile comedy Mia Madre (2015) was tremendous. But his new film in competition is bafflingly awful: muddled, mediocre and metatextual – a complete waste of time, at once strident and listless. Everything about it is heavy-handed and dull: the non-comedy, the ersatz-pathos, the anti-drama. It is effectively a film within a film, both as dull as each other. Moretti himself plays Giovanni, a high-minded film director with a failing marriage who is struggling to shoot his passion project about the Italian Communist party standing up to the Soviets over the Hungary invasion of 1956 – although a smirkingly ironic and evasive final title card indicates that A Brighter Tomorrow can’t even commit to deciding if all that was worth celebrating or not. Giovanni’s wife and longtime co-producer Paola (Margherita Buy) is paying the household bills with a side hustle producing a crass gangster flick for a crude up-and-coming film-maker, and this pains Giovanni so deeply that he actually trespasses on location when this film’s grisly mob execution is about to be filmed and stops everything to lecture them on how crass it is and why what they’re doing isn’t as good as the murder scene in Kieslowski’s A Short Film About Killing. Is he supposed to be a shrill, self-important idiot who deserves to be booted off the set? Well no: this presumably is a comic hero whose unfashionably high standards and chaotic midlife angst are supposed to be adorable. Meanwhile, Paola is seeing a therapist and confesses she’s thinking of leaving him. Mathieu Amalric phones in a grinning, sweaty performance as Giovanni’s dodgy producer Pierre, who is wheeler-dealing behind the scenes to raise the cash. There is a lot of perfunctory sub-Fellini circus business and a lot more peevish and redundant grumbling from Giovanni about the state of the cinema business today, featuring an easy-target scene in which Giovanni is forced to take a meeting with blockheaded Netflix suits who complain that his movie doesn’t have enough WTF moments. Actually this is one long WTF moment, for the wrong reasons. There is also the now traditional scene in which an ageing cinephile attempts to show a classic movie to his teen kid who isn’t interested – although it’s incidentally pretty baffling that Giovanni goes on about his other idea, to make a movie version of John Cheever’s short story The Swimmer, without mentioning the classic Eleanor and Frank Perry version starring Burt Lancaster. Moretti tries for some unearned sentimental endorsement by featuring classic Italian songs, and on the same everything-including-the-kitchen-sink basis, gives us a wacky walk-on from architect Renzo Piano in the Woody Allen/Marshall McLuhan style, and a final parade of movie-legend cameos which only make the film look blandly self-congratulatory. I’m sure the future will be brightened by another, better Moretti film – this one is best forgotten.

BAD

IPL 2023: the state of play, stars so far and how England players are faring

Not much, just the first 68 games. The IPL is a curious beast: the biggest tournament in cricket, the richest in any ballgame, the greatest show in Asia – and yet eminently missable . Its bosses at the Indian board still haven’t worked out how to give it meaning. It works for the players and coaches, who get massive fees and two months of further education. To most cricket lovers, though, the teams still feel like mere franchises and the story of each game is written in invisible ink. This is cricket – nobody’s ever winning till they’ve won. The best team has been Gujarat Titans, top of the table for the second year running. They were the only side to win eight of their first 12 matches, which is especially impressive as (a) they are the holders, so the hunted not the hunters, and (b) they were founded in 2021. At the bottom of the pile, two teams have had a stinker: Sunrisers Hyderabad, coached by Brian Lara, and Delhi Capitals, captained by David Warner. The other seven have been much of a muchness, all winning six or seven of their first 12 or 13 games. Looking at the table, you might deduce that Twenty20 is 50-50. As Jeff Beck sang, they’re everywhere and nowhere, baby. There are plenty of them, but they are often on the bench. It’s quite an achievement to render Ben Stokes invisible, but Chennai Super Kings have managed it. England’s Test captain has played two games, making 8 and 7 and bowling one over (none for 18); after six weeks without a start, he found the CSK coach, Stephen Fleming, calling him “batting cover”. Joe Root has been almost as hard to spot, playing three games for Rajasthan Royals, bowling two overs (none for 14), and batting just the once. He made 10 and, like a true Englishman, took part in a right Royal collapse, 59 all out in 10.3 overs. The most visible has again been Jos Buttler , England’s white-ball GOAT. Opening as usual for Royals, he has returned to earth after last year’s stratospherics, with more ducks (five) than fifties (four). England’s next superstar, Harry Brook, has also been a model of inconsistency, scoring 100 not out in one innings for Sunrisers Hyderabad and scraping 63 for eight in the rest. Jason Roy, Phil Salt and Liam Livingstone have played about half the time and been respectable, but there have been only two English regulars apart from Buttler. One is Moeen Ali, who has had a quiet time with Chennai Super Kings. The other is Sam Curran, who moved from one set of Kings in Chennai to another in Punjab. He has sparkled with the bat but struggled with the ball. Curran’s most memorable day came when Shikhar Dhawan was injured and he took over as captain. Typical. We send them our seasoned captains – Stokes, Buttler, Root – and the only one they want is somebody who has never led a professional team. Among the batters, one young blade and one veteran. This year’s meteor is Yashasvi Jaiswal, 21, Buttler’s opening partner for Royals. This year’s grand old man is Faf du Plessis, now 38 and captaining Royal Challengers Bangalore. You could think he had his hands full being Virat Kohli’s boss, but he has also found time to be the first man to 600 runs. Among the bowlers, it’s been the year of the leggie. The first three players to reach 20 wickets were Rashid Khan of Titans, Yuvendra Chahal of Royals and Piyush Chawla of Mumbai Indians. The most incisive seamer has been Mohammed Shami of Titans. In a list dominated by India’s big names, Rashid is the only overseas bowler making hay. Sign up to The Spin Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week’s action after newsletter promotion Only one has enhanced his reputation: Mark Wood, whose 11 wickets have come at the phenomenal strike rate of one every nine balls. At the other end of that scale was Jofra Archer, who needed 60 balls for each of his two wickets before succumbing to yet another stress fracture . They left India early, Archer for Belgium to see a doctor, Wood for Durham to await the birth of his second child. This year the teams are allowed to bring on a sub – a full one, allowed to bat and bowl. Some sages declared this the end of the all-rounder, as the side batting second could simply replace a tailender with a specialist batter. Which goes to show you never can tell, because all-rounders are still thriving – the great Ravi Jadeja of India and his apprentice Axar Patel and Mitch Marsh of Australia, now better at bowling than batting. On Tuesday. That’s when, after 70 league games, we get the first of the four knockouts. But you could just wait for the final on 28 May, clashing with the climax of some other Premier League. Money. The IPL media rights for 2023-27 raked in $6.2bn, which makes each game worth $15m. That’s $4m more per match than Premier League football. The franchises are so rich that they are now buying up franchises in other countries and aiming to tie the best players to 12-month contracts, thus putting another nail in the coffin of Test cricket. So it’s not just about money: power is involved, too. In this league table, sport comes a distant third.

GOOD

Australian Olympic boxer Harry Garside charged with assault

Olympic boxing medallist Harry Garside has been charged with assault after being arrested on his return to Australia from filming reality TV series I’m a Celebrity. Garside was taken into custody at Sydney international airport on Tuesday. Police launched an investigation into reports of an alleged domestic violence-related incident in 1 March at Bellevue Hill in Sydney’s east, a New South Wales Police spokesperson said. Garside has been charged with common assault (DV) and told 7 News he would defend the charge, as he left Mascot police station. “Of course, me and my lawyer will release a statement in the coming hours,” he told a reporter late on Tuesday. He is due to appear at Downing Centre local court on 24 May. Garside won bronze for Australia at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and has won seven Australian national boxing championships. The champion men’s lightweight boxer intends to compete for Australia at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Garside recently appeared on the ninth season of I’m A Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here! He was runner-up to former champion netballer Liz Ellis. The finale aired on Sunday night.

GOOD

Fairbuds XL review: the excellent noise-cancelling headphones you can fix yourself

On first impressions, the Fairbuds XL are just another set of big, plush noise-cancelling Bluetooth headphones. But their novel design allows them to be easily dismantled for simple at-home repairs, making them some of the most sustainable on the market. Produced by repairable and Fairtrade electronics pioneer Fairphone, the £219 (€249) headphones follow in the footsteps of the modular Fairphone 4 . All products from the company are aimed at being better for the planet, the workers making them and your wallet. Out of the box they look and feel like a regular set of well-made headphones with nicely padded ear cups and a cushioned vegan leather headband. But they break down into nine modular components using a standard small Philips screwdriver, all of which are available to buy from Fairphone should a fix be needed down the line. The outside caps unclip, revealing a removable battery like the good old days of Nokia dumbphones. The ear cushions twist off for easy replacement when they wear out. If that wasn’t enough, the headphones are made from more than 80% recycled plastic, 100% recycled aluminium and tin, and 100% Fairtrade gold, while Fairphone tops up the wages of the people putting the devices together to a living wage. The Fairbuds XL are comfortable to wear for extended periods with well-balanced weight and good padding. The ear cups swivel a little to adjust to the side of your head and clamp with just enough force to hold them in place. They are splash resistant in case it rains and fold down for travel, coming supplied with a recycled nylon bag to keep them safe. The right ear cup has a noise-cancelling button and an excellent control joystick. Press and hold the stick for three seconds to turn the headphones on and off, double press to hear the battery level. Press it in once for pause/play, left and right for track skip or up and down for volume. It is simple and effective. The one thing the headphones are missing compared with competitors is a sensor to detect when they are removed to pause the music. But I can live without that. Weight: 330g Dimensions: 190 x 180 x 70mm Water resistance: IP54 (splash) Drivers: 40mm Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.1 with multipoint, USB-C (charging and audio) Bluetooth codecs: SBC, AAC, aptX HD Battery life: 26 hours (ANC on) The battery lasts a good 26 hours of listening with noise cancelling active and fully recharges in about 2.5 hours via the USB-C port, which doubles as a wired audio input too. An optional USB-C to 3.5mm cable is available from Fairphone for €12.95, but there is no analogue 3.5mm socket on the headphones. The headphones have Bluetooth 5.1 with multipoint, meaning they can connect to two devices at the same time. They support the standard SBC and AAC Bluetooth audio formats, but also support Qualcomm’s high quality aptX HD, which is common on Android phones. Call quality in quiet environments is excellent. They were still pretty clear in noisier places, suppressing background sounds well, but my voice broke up slightly around really loud sounds. The Fairbuds XL have surprisingly good sound for a new entry into headphone market, helped by the company’s collaboration with pro-audio tuning firm Sonarworks . On their default “Amsterdam” profile, they produce a nicely round sound with reasonably deep bass, nicely warm mids and detailed highs. They handle complex tracks well with good separation between tones and render most music genres with aplomb. They can sound a little narrow and clinical at times, lacking a little rawness or aggression with some tracks, but overall they are nicely tuned. There are several other sound presets to choose from in the app, but not a full equaliser. The sound is slightly affected by the noise cancelling when active, sounding a bit wider with bigger bass with it turned off. The noise cancelling is decent, dulling the rumbles and noise of a commute well. Sounds coming from certain directions were handled better than others, which was noticeable when turning your head. They manage higher pitches such as typing and background chat in an office a little better than many, but can’t quite replicate the cone of silence produced by the best in the business from Bose and Sony. The ambient sound mode is reasonable, sounding quite clear if a little muted. Certainly good enough to have a conversation or listen out for an alert. The Fairbuds XL have a two-year warranty. The battery is expected to hold at least 80% of its original capacity for more than 500 full charge cycles and can be easily swapped with spares or replacements costing £17.95. Other modular components include: a £69.95 right speaker, £34.95 left speaker, £17.95 headband, £17.95 headband cover, £13.95 cable, £13.95 ear cushions and £5.95 outside covers. The headphones contain 100% recycled aluminium and tin, more than 80% recycled plastics and 100% Fairtrade gold. The firm also tops up the pay of its contract manufacturing workers to a living wage. The Fairphone Fairbuds XL cost £219 (€249.95) and come in green or black. For comparison, the Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless cost £310 , the Sony WH-1000XM5 cost £349 , the Bose QC45 cost £250 and Urbanista Los Angeles cost £169 . The Fairbuds XL prove that good, wireless headphones can be made more sustainably and in a way that is easy to fix and maintain without huge compromises. They are well made, comfortable to wear for long periods, have excellent controls, the battery lasts a long time and you could carry a spare one if you wanted to. They connect to two Bluetooth devices at once, support high quality audio standards and sound great. They even have pretty good noise cancelling and are weather resistant despite being modular. The headphones lack a sensor to pause the music when removed and won’t trouble the very best from Sennheiser and Sony for sound quality and noise cancelling but they do better than rivals around the £150-£200 mark. In effect, you’re paying about £50 more to be as ethical and sustainable as possible with your headphones purchase. But given the parts that wear out are readily available for reasonable sums and are easy to replace, they could last significantly longer than other models. The big question is: why aren’t all headphones designed like this? Pros: decent sound and noise cancelling, 26-hour battery life and removable battery, comfortable, Bluetooth 5.1 with aptX HD and multipoint, USB-C charging and audio, great controls, modular design you can fix yourself with readily available parts, more ethical manufacturing. Cons: slightly more expensive than rivals for the design, no 3.5mm headphone socket, no full EQ, no pause on remove.

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German economy in recession after high prices take toll

Germany has fallen into recession, fresh figures have revealed, after high prices took a bigger toll on the country’s economy than originally estimated. Updated data released by German’s federal statistical office on Thursday showed gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 0.3% in the first quarter compared with the previous three months, which also recorded a contraction. The revised numbers confirm that the German economy shrank for two straight quarters – the technical definition of a recession – after a 0.5% drop in the three months to December. Initial estimates released in April had suggested that Germany had narrowly avoided a recession, merely stagnating with 0% growth. “It took a couple of statistical revisions, but at the end of the day, the German economy actually did this winter what we had feared already since last summer: it fell into a technical recession,” said Carsten Brzeski, global head of macro at the Dutch bank ING. The statistics office said that while private sector investment and construction grew at the start of the year, this was offset in part by a drop-off in consumer spending as higher prices forced households to pinch their pennies. “The persistence of high price increases continued to be a burden on the German economy at the start of the year,” the statistics office said. Overall, household spending dropped 1.2% in the first quarter, with shoppers less willing to splash out on food, clothes, and furniture. Government spending also dipped by 4.9% compared with the previous quarter. Overall, Brzeski said the overall drop in GDP was “not the worst-case scenario of a severe recession but a drop of almost 1% from last summer. The warm winter weather, a rebound in industrial activity, helped by the Chinese reopening and an easing of supply chain frictions, were not enough to get the economy out of the recessionary danger zone,” he added. The economist warned that the drop in purchasing power, weaker industrial sector orders, rising interest rates, as well as a slowdown in foreign economic growth in countries including the US would all likely lead to weaker economic activity for Germany in the months ahead. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion “On top of these cyclical factors, the ongoing war in Ukraine, demographic change and the current energy transition will structurally weigh on the German economy in the coming years,” Brzeski added.

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‘I can’t track him down to return his family album’: the things our exes left behind that we can’t bear to get rid of

Gwynne (left), now 38 and a producer in New York We met in 2007, when we were both living in New York. I had just moved from Kansas and Paul was a friend of a friend of my sister’s, who I was living with at the time. He was a Brit, working for a totally shady company that went door to door around all the pharmacies in New York City. He lived in an apartment that the company rented for him and three other guys, who spent their days going between pharmacies. Paul would come to New York on a travel visa, for three months at a time, then fly back to England for a bit, then return. We dated for a year. He was the most wonderful human being; everybody loved him and wanted to take him under their wing. He just had a way of winning them over; not in a scammy way – he was just really likable. But he wasn’t making much money, and sometimes his employer neglected to pay him at all. One day they stopped paying the rent on the apartment and he had nowhere to live. I had just moved into my own place and I said he could live with me for the months he was in the US. He brought this family album with him. It’s mostly pictures of him as a baby, him with his mum. It was one of the only things he had with him from home and he left it behind. The last time he left for England was the day after my 25th birthday, when we had been out all night, partying. I was so hungover that my purse was stolen, and with it my phone and his number. It soon became clear that Paul’s company had gone bust and he didn’t have a way to come back to the US unless we got married. I thought about it for a few months and decided that I didn’t want to get married right now. We’d been talking over email and Facebook, but I called him over Skype and said it wasn’t going to work out. We were both really upset, but Paul was so sad that he vowed to quit social media so he wouldn’t have to see me – and he stuck to his word. I cannot find the dude at all. I’ve tried several times over the years to track him down to return the album, but without success. I asked my sister to ask the friend who’d introduced us, but his number was no longer in service. I emailed an old email address and that didn’t work either. I’ve searched for his name, his family members’ names that I could remember – I even asked for advice on Reddit. It’s all come up empty. I feel so bad if I hurt him in such a way that he wanted nothing to do with social media for the rest of his life. I have nothing but positive things to say about Paul. Dating an Englishman set me up to meet my now-husband online in 2009, six months after Paul and I broke up. Like him, Ricky is from Essex and supports Arsenal. He has looked through the album and said: “I have that same shirt.” The album has moved with me to three apartments, and I’m determined not to take it to the next one. People have said to me, “Why don’t you just throw it away?” but these are pictures of his family – even if he doesn’t want it, his mum probably does. I’ve been carrying this with me for 15 years now, and he should have it back. This is my best shot. If this doesn’t work out, we’re throwing it away. Ron Tipan (left), now 42 and a project coordinator in Belgium I’d been living and working in Chicago for almost 10 years. I wasn’t happy, I needed a change. I decided to quit my job and travel, and hopefully get some experience working in communications. I left the US in December 2010, thinking it would be a six-month trip. Mostly I travelled around South America, working and volunteering at different NGOs. I went to Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, then Peru. I found an organisation fighting poverty in Arequipa, in the south of the country, and immediately felt good working there; I ended up staying for three months. That’s when I decided to continue travelling for as long as I could. It was also when I met my ex. She joined the organisation a bit later than me. She was from Belgium and we’d talk English together. But it was not until she was about to leave that I realised she liked me in that way – I’d just thought she was being friendly. It started out as a fling. We got to know each other and travelled around Peru. There were no expectations that it would be for ever, but the feelings grew stronger towards the end. I went from thinking it was just a fling to thinking she could be the one. Even I was surprised by how it developed. I can’t remember exactly when she gave me the bracelets [recreated here by Eva Grinaway], but she told me she’d made them. I put them on my wrist and they are still there, more than 10 years later. At that time I had other bracelets, too, which I’d bought myself, but none of them lasted this long. She went back to Belgium and I continued to travel. I think the decision to break up was mutual – the distance was just too much to overcome. Plus we were just at different points in our lives. I deleted a lot of her emails, and even unfriended her on social media, but I’ve never taken the bracelets off. They have become a part of me. I did end up in Belgium, but not because of her. When I saw her last, on New Year’s Eve 2014, she had the bracelet I’d given her in her wallet, but she has a family now – I don’t expect she still has it. I thought about cutting mine off at one point, but then I thought: why? They’re not bothering me. They’re a memento of that time, but more to do with me than with her. Now I look at them and am reminded of when I was travelling and really enjoying life. The experience changed me in a lot of ways – I cannot imagine myself being the same person now without it. Tania Hall (left), now 53 and an editor in London For 30 years, I have carted around a well-loved paperback of Mediterranean Cooking – by Lady Arabella Boxer, of all people. I met its owner when we were both in our first year of university in Auckland, living in student halls. He was English, but his mother had moved to New Zealand a few years before. We became good friends, bonding over our shared love of 80s horror films – and then boyfriend and girlfriend. Our first date was to see The Fly – very romantic. After a year of dating, we got a place together and played house. He was a great cook, particularly of vegetarian food and Middle Eastern dishes, and this cookbook was a real staple. We were intensely in love, but 35 years later I can look back and see our lack of maturity: we were just crazy teenagers, with our whole lives ahead of us. I was the person who ended it. We had been going out for a reasonable amount of time, about two and a half years, but I wasn’t ready to settle down. I don’t remember consciously taking the cookbook, but it found its way into my box of things when I moved out. Then I kept intending to return it, but I just found it so useful. I don’t know whether my ex didn’t notice it was missing, or if he didn’t want to ask for it back, but it’s travelled with me to the UK and back, twice, and all over New Zealand. Now it’s falling to bits, the pages are yellowed, it’s held together with sticky tape – but it’s still useful. I don’t think I could bear to part with it now, just because it’s been with me for so much of my life, literally nourishing me. It has nothing to do with my ex: oddly, I don’t think it ever really did. So much water – and olive oil – has passed under the bridge. I’m now happily married to someone who’s benefited from this cookbook a lot. I’d be happy to buy my ex a shiny new copy. Jack Highton, now 28 and a research scientist in London I installed Tinder in 2019 to find a girlfriend. After about three months of dating I matched with Rina. She had come to Britain because she was from Goa, which used to be part of the Portuguese empire and meant she had a European passport. She said she was Portuguese-Indian, which I found interesting and wanted to find out more. We talked about her job, at a pharmaceutical company, and about her church. She was Roman Catholic and I’m Anglican. That was on my profile as well – that’s probably why we matched. We kissed at the end of the first date and very quickly became a couple. She gave me the charm a few weeks in, along with a fridge magnet. I’d gone on a work trip to Slovenia and brought her back some trinkets, so she gave me some she’d brought from Goa in return. I was living on my own in a student dorm at that point and I hung the charm on a cupboard handle. Our relationship progressed nicely: we went on a lot of dates and walks, and we were quite intimate. However, because of her faith, there were limits to how intimate we could be before marriage. I understood that and was respectful – but after a few months, I started to think very seriously about the future. Catholicism and Anglicanism have a lot in common, yes, but I think her view of religion was a little more strict than mine. I was conscious that if we kept dating, then the time would come for me to meet her family and the commitment would become serious. She’d said that they had already been very sceptical about her dating a white British boy. We both wanted the same thing: to find someone to marry relatively young. The question was: was she the right person? At the root of it, I think, there was a barrier. We talked about intellectual things like science and religion all the time, but I felt after dating her for four months that I didn’t really know her deeply. That, for me, was why we broke up. I don’t know if it came as a surprise, or if she felt the same way, because we weren’t having those in-depth, soulmate conversations. I sent the difficult message asking to meet after work: “We need to talk.” That phrase warned her what it was going to be about. It went surprisingly well, actually. We met in a park, I brought her a box of chocolates, and I explained why I wanted to end the relationship. I got more visibly upset than she did, actually. She said she was glad we’d met up to do this and that I’d respected her boundaries around intimacy. After that, we had a long hug and went our separate ways, quite literally walking into the sunset. Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion I eventually returned to Tinder, refreshed my profile and started talking to Belle, who’d just moved to London from Hong Kong. We met up and there was strong chemistry straight away. We got married in July 2020 after a whirlwind romance. I lost the fridge magnet when we moved house recently, but the charm remains as a nice reminder of my four months dating the girl from Goa, and a pleasant time in my life. I think it represents the journey of finding someone to marry, trying to get to know them deeply and also developing yourself as a person: what it is you’re looking for, emotionally and intellectually. It’s the journey that led me to Belle. We hang the charm in a cupboard in the living room, on display along with other paraphernalia. Belle of course knows its story. I think she finds it quite sweet. Katie Dore, now 40 and a sailor on a boat near Montpellier, France I got married when I was in my 20s, young and naive. We were both working on a navy ship, that’s how we met. I left the navy and came ashore, and found my life sliding into a slot that I didn’t want it to. When you’re young and in love, you don’t address the big questions. I didn’t understand why anyone would want kids – still don’t – and he didn’t understand why anyone wouldn’t. His idea of what he wanted out of life was definitely different from mine and we grew apart. We probably would have split up sooner if he hadn’t been absent half the time. He would go away for four to six months, come back, turn my life upside down, and then go away again. I had one life; university sailing club while he was away. When he came back, he expected me to drop all that and stay in while he played computer games in his underwear and drank lager. I eventually realised I wanted to have adventures myself. We had been together almost a decade, but it didn’t feel like it. The divorce wasn’t the worst – we didn’t have kids, which helped – but he was so disagreeable that it became a case of just signing the paperwork and walking away. I left the house with only what I could fit in a rucksack. That was liberating: off I went, to whatever I wanted. I have no idea how I ended up with the marlin’s spike. It folds into a penknife and is used to split rope into strands, so you can splice them. I never thought about giving it back at the time, because I’d left so much of my stuff behind. Since then I’ve lived in a motorhome, on a boat, gone across Europe on a motorbike – all the things I wanted to do. I joined a sailing club, where I met my now-partner. He said he wanted to go off cruising and I thought: “That’s cool.” I consider myself very lucky that we found each other. Now here we are, on a boat at the entrance to the Mediterranean, having come all the way through the French canals, planning to disappear over the horizon. It’s warm at the moment, beautiful sunshine, blue skies, clear water. I look back on that time and think how frighteningly easy it is to be pushed into a life you don’t want. It seemed to be the harder I fought against it, the tighter the noose got. I’m determined not to let that happen again. I don’t want anything to push me back. The marlin’s spike is quite useful on the boat, but I have thought about returning it when we make it to the other side of the planet, from Taiwan or somewhere. No letter, nothing – just the knife on his lanyard so that he knows it’s his. Mariusz Grocki (left), now 34 and a medical physicist in Nottinghamshire We met at secondary school back in Poland, when we were both 14. I’d been asked to attend extracurricular classes in physics before representing the school in a competition. I went to the first one and it was just me and her in the classroom. I only knew her by name: she was our school’s top student. That day we met, I didn’t manage to solve any problems the teacher gave us because my hands were shaking and I was just trying not to stare at her. It was like being hit by a train – and I was kept under that train for several years. She was only interested in me on and off. I was so madly in love with her that, when it came time to go to upper secondary school at 16, I applied for one in a different town so that our paths wouldn’t cross every day. I’d just had enough. Then one day, when we were both 18 and in our final year of high school, I bumped into her. We stopped to chat, then she asked if I’d like to meet up. We started going for walks around town. Back in school, I hadn’t understood why I felt that way around her; now I understood it was love. One day I just decided to be honest with her. On one of our walks, I gave her a single red rose and said what I felt. She was completely silent and we turned back for home. Then, while we were waiting at the pedestrian crossing, she grabbed my hand. It was bittersweet; I’d rather have known what she was thinking. It took her quite a long time to make a decision, then we were together for several months and went to each other’s proms. It wasn’t perfect. I wasn’t the best boyfriend but I respected her boundaries, and I often felt as if she was punishing me for wanting to be with her. I was so tormented, I couldn’t prepare for exams. It was a hard decision to dump her – I don’t think of myself as a heartbreaker – but it came down to a choice between our relationship and my mental health. I don’t know if the breakup hit her hard because I only saw her once afterwards, and it was very awkward. She had brought the DVD of V for Vendetta to my house, but we’d never gotten around to watching it and when we met up to exchange our things, I brought it with me. She said she didn’t want it back – that she wasn’t interested in seeing the movie and she didn’t want it reminding her of me – so I took it to university. I was about to turn 19 and due to study physics. I went to visit my future student accommodation with my brother who already had a friend living there. When she opened the door, my hands started sweating and shaking, and I couldn’t help but stare. Because of my ex, I knew what was happening and was determined not to mess it up. At 24, she was a bit older than me, but we started spending more time together, chatting about music, cooking meals in the shared kitchen. I spent most of my summer holidays learning how to cook, to prove that I didn’t need looking after. One night she wanted to watch a film. This was before Netflix: I dug out the V for Vendetta DVD, which I still hadn’t watched. V wears a mask for the whole film, and we made a bet on who the actor was. She guessed Sean Connery; I said Hugo Weaving. Whoever lost would have to sort dinner. I had seen Weaving in The Matrix and The Lord of the Rings a hundred times, so I was confident. Boom: sure enough, there was his name in the credits. She said, “What do you want me to cook?” I said, “No, I want us to go out for dinner.” And so I talked myself into a date. We realised very quickly that this was it. It felt honest and open in a way that it had never felt with my ex. We got married in 2012 and our daughter is now almost seven. We always rewatch V for Vendetta in the autumn, around our anniversary, but the DVD is in storage – we don’t have a way of playing it any more.

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Gill Dorer obituary

My mother, Gill Dorer, who has died aged 78, was, among many things, director of services at Arthritis Care, a member of the General Medical Council (GMC), a director of the charity Relate and a magistrate. She sat on the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy’s (CSP) fitness to practise panels, and on many employment tribunals. Born in Southgate, north London, Gill was the younger child of Vera (nee Powell), a secretary, and Archie Fielder, the owner of a textile business. The family moved to Finchley, and Gill went to the North London collegiate school in Hampstead Garden Suburb. On leaving school, she worked in the personnel department of Shell. Gill met Brian Dorer, an IT manager, in London in the early 1960s. They married in 1965 and, shortly after, moved to St Albans in Hertfordshire. They had two girls and in 1975 the family moved to Wheathampstead. Gill went back to work in 1981, managing the St Albans branch of Relate, the beginning of a long association with the charity. Gill and Brian divorced in 1987. In the mid-1990s Gill was promoted to become Relate’s director for the east of England. Then, around 2000, Gill took on the role of director of services at Arthritis Care, a charity that represented a condition she was very familiar with. She managed the three hotels run by the charity – she loved visiting them and getting fully accessible rooms. In the course of this role, her own experience with medications was recognised, and she developed a long and productive research relationship with Leeds and Bradford Universities. My mother ended up with four journal publications to her name – a source of huge pride as she had not gone to university. Her colleagues said that she made a difference in how researchers, policymakers and professionals regarded patients, and their views. Gill also spent may years serving as a magistrate – both in St Albans and in Littlehampton, West Sussex, to which she moved in 2006. She had a compassionate approach to social justice and always tried to come to the right judgment for all, especially when sitting in the family court. Over the last 10 or so years, her health and mobility changed greatly, and while this brought her many challenges, she was still able to hold on to things that gave her pleasure. She joined the U3A – the University of the Third Age – and, after trying a few different groups, settled on current affairs, where she made a number of new friendships. The group remembers her joy in researching topics for discussion, never shying away from more controversial ones. Gill is survived by her children, Claire and me, her older brother, Colin, and two grandsons, Bill and Henry.

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A local’s guide to Brighton: the best galleries, museums, restaurants and pubs

Travel blogger Ellie Seymour ( ellieandco.co.uk ) has been based in Brighton for nearly 20 years. She is the author of the guidebooks Secret Brighton and Secret Sussex You can’t visit the seaside city of Brighton without having fish and chips, and where to get the best is hotly debated. One of my favourite spots is the city’s oldest: Bardsley’s of Baker Street opened in 1926, which has a tiny dining room full of music hall memorabilia. I try to support independent restaurants, and love Bincho Yakitori , a buzzy, inexpensive Japanese near the seafront serving small plates cooked over fire. The covered Open Market is a global feast – Korean, Japanese, Greek, Mexican, Indian, a French bakery, homemade hummus and falafels, plus handmade chocolates and sausage rolls. Then there’s Tilt Kitchen at Fiveways, north of the centre: this unsung veggie hero serves mouth-watering toasties, heaped salads, fragrant soups, gooey brownies and much more from a postage stamp-size open kitchen. For my blog and guidebooks , I have trained myself to see my surroundings differently, and spot urban curiosities we usually rush past. I love finding ghost signs , and there are some beautiful examples here – like one for the old Western hotel above the Paris House bar on Western Road. Brighton is a well-known artists’ enclave, and packed with galleries. Fabrica , in a former chapel, hosts three contemporary art shows a year, and Phoenix Gallery holds 12 free shows a year across two huge spaces, and has a cool coffee bar , too. In May and November Brighton holds Artists’ Open Houses , with work on display in private homes and studios. The bohemian North Laine draws big crowds but a great, quieter area for a wander is Seven Dials, a leafy neighbourhood a 10-minute walk from Brighton station. Despite its proximity to the city centre, it feels off the radar. Don’t miss diminutive cactus emporium Hi Cacti , with its cheerful yellow shopfront; Dog and Bone Gallery , the city’s smallest, inside two red phone boxes; and Anna’s Museum , a miniature natural history museum in a shop window. The best coffee in the area is at Puck. You can’t walk 10 minutes in Brighton without passing a club, bar or pub. Those in the know head to the Jolly Brewer near London Road station. It’s run by Zack and Matt, the most welcoming landlords in Brighton, and the kind of place you go to have just the one but end up making new friends and leaving at closing time. Another favourite is the Hand in Hand in Kemp Town, where you can play “toad in the hole”, where metal discs – “toads” – are thrown into a slot on a wooden box. There’s jazz on Sundays, and unusual beers from their microbrewery, Hand Brew Co. I also love the Duke of York’s cinema at Preston Circus. It’s in a beautiful Edwardian building, with a pair of stripy can-can legs protruding from the roof. It opened in 1910 and claims to be the UK’s oldest surviving purpose-built cinema. With its seafront and piers, Brighton is more about blue space: the view over rooftops down to the sea from Hollingbury Hillfort is one of the best in the city, especially at dusk. However, the city is also on the fringes of the South Downs national park, and I head for the hills when I want some nature. In next to no time, you can be on a blustery hike and exploring tiny hidden villages. I am always drawn to Streat, a 15-minute drive from the centre of Brighton, even though it’s minuscule. It is a good base for a walk up and over the hills to Ditchling, and has a hidden honesty food box, Suzy’s Streat Food , filled with homebaked treats. I love directing people to the small Artist Residence hotel (doubles from £105 room-only), where I once had a mini staycation. It overlooks the sea on Regency Square and is full of vintage charm.

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Hollywood hypocrites fawn over ‘wife beater’ Johnny Depp but they’d never do that for female abuser, says U

NO one can deny that a seven-minute standing ovation for a man found by a judge in an English High Court case to be a domestic abuser is quite an achievement. Premiering his new film, Jeanne du Barry, at the Cannes Film Festival , Johnny Depp lapped up the warmth and applause from the audience and fans alike. This was his first red carpet appearance since his victorious US court case against his ex-wife, Amber Heard , who was found guilty of defaming him as a wife-beater . Not a bad little comeback, huh? The adulation for Depp was not entirely due to his acting performance as critics seem divided about his portrayal of Louis XV, so it has to come down to a heartfelt welcome back into the fold from a population of humanity with very short memories. As if winning his case of defamation against Heard, who gave countless examples of his atrocious conduct and made allegations of violent, coercive, denigrating and manipulative behaviour wasn’t enough, people are now — literally — rolling out the red carpet for Depp. He’s a hero. He hasn’t even had to show any signs of rehabilitation — they just love Johnny. And yet, this was the man who — among other things — talked in texts about wanting to rape his wife, burn her body and drown her to make sure she was dead. He claimed they were made in jest. Who wouldn’t want to be in a relationship with a man like that? What a catch. And this is pretty much the point: Men behaving badly are not only attractive but they are so easily forgiven. Society would have us believe that bad boys are where it’s at. They are risqué, and risqué is sexy. Bad boys have edge. They are not dull like the nice men who might treat women well and with respect. No, life is about adventure, and what better adventure than being headbutted ? (He claimed it was accidental.) Granted, Heard and Depp’s relationship was a highly toxic one and while many might claim her behaviour was far from angelic, it’s important to point out that often relationships like this quickly spiral into situations which are so far removed from decency that it has no semblance of normality for those in it or even bystanders. In an abusive relationship, you have simply two choices: You cower or you fight back, and the latter is nigh-on impossible — not least because any grasp of reality has left you. But isn’t it shocking to think that only five years ago we were all rocked by the stories that came out of the #MeToo movement? Men may have been shocked but, of course, many of us women had sat quietly on stories of abuse and denigration for decades. Lifetimes, even. It really felt like the movement would bring about substantial changes, not just in attitudes, but in behaviour. Misogyny was finally in the spotlight, not just the stars of Hollywood and beyond. I remember feeling hugely relieved and comforted by the movement because it spoke many of the things I’d wanted to say or had whispered under my breath for decades. It was a true reflection of many of the experiences I’d been forced to endure during my life as a woman — and for the first time, I had real hope that change would come about. Permanent change. And yet, here we are. Only this week, actress Ruth Wilson has talked about how the City of Angels has no “moral backbone” — it remains as “fickle” as ever post #MeToo. She says it has become no more than a box-ticking exercise and change has not been substantive. Depp may have won his case in the States but not his case against this newspaper, who stated he was a “wife beater”. The judge here found 12 of the 14 alleged incidents of domestic violence had occurred. Across the pond, however, Heard became the enemy — public enemy number one, in fact. Mocked globally, across social media , where she was swiftly established as a meme and a joke. No one wanted to believe her here because . . . well, because Johnny is handsome, a bad boy, and if anything did happen, it was because he was under the influence of drink and drugs. In short, was he being excused? And people wonder why women don’t speak out. Women don’t speak out because the patriarchy is still very much alive and kicking. What’s more is that Heard was somehow seen as a bit too woke during the trial . She was a representation of a wokeness which misogyny has had enough of. #MeToo might be one thing — but for God’s sake, women, don’t push it! Of course, Johnny isn’t the only bad boy who hasn’t just made a seamless return to glory and normality but is being rewarded for it (he will remain the face of Dior Sauvage in a new £16million deal). The list of men who have succeeded in recovering their careers after claims of abuse, violence and drug-taking is nigh-on endless. Will Smith smacked a man in the mouth on live TV . Then there was Mel Gibson . What about Roman Polanski , who raped a 13-year-old? He was also patted on the back by the Cannes Film Festival not so long ago. There are more names and they don’t all have their roots in Hollywood, even though #MeToo does. No, this is bigger than the world of showbiz. This is the ongoing, relentless, soul-destroying fight women face on a daily basis in their pursuit of equal treatment. Men, put quite simply, are judged by a different set of rules to us women. And don’t I know it. In the summer of 1998, following a short, volatile relationship with footballer Stan Collymore , during a work trip to Paris , he dragged me to the floor and kicked me in the head. You know the story. But did you really believe it? I didn’t bring the story to public attention — luckily for me, there was a TV camera crew in the pub where the attack happened, otherwise I might not still be alive. I cannot say whether I would have spoken out at the time because I was in shock and I simply didn’t feel the world was ready to be supportive. I was programmed by society to believe that I might not be believed. And sadly, in many respects I was right. I heard stories, rumours that doubtless would have made their way to social media had it existed in those days. Like Amber Heard, I would have become a meme myself. Apparently, I “provoked him”. I was “asking for it”. I hadn’t “behaved appropriately”. For which read: I brought it on myself. None of it was true, of course. The feeling of doubt and shame that hung over me during that time and beyond was palpable. I found it nigh-on impossible to shake that damaging trope that women ask for it, that women who are abused are weak and stupid, that we must have done something to deserve violence against us. It loomed large in my mindset. I certainly didn’t feel an ounce of guilt over the situation, despite Collymore calling me and asking me, furiously, if I was happy for him to take full responsibility for the “incident”. And yes, I was. Yet his accountability only needed to last a few weeks, maybe a couple of months at most — until people’s memories became blurred by misogyny and prejudice against me. It wasn’t long until he was back in gainful employment. Because everyone deserves another chance, right? So while Depp is lapping up all the forgiveness, flattery, sycophancy and worship in the South of France , where is Heard? She’s living in Spain , raising her two-year-old daughter , largely away from the limelight. While she says she is excited about working and filming again at some point, she’s been left exhausted and disappointed about her mistreatment and has lost faith in the American legal system. No doubt she must have lost faith in some aspects of humanity, too. Because, fundamentally, while Johnny went touring with the late Jeff Beck, she has been ostracised, castigated and judged. This is sorry evidence that, despite how far we think we’ve come with equality and since #MeToo, very little has actually changed. Women who speak up with allegations are punished and treated as something other — the best we can hope for is to be ignored. And conviction statistics in this country reflect that. After my attack, I was offered a platform by a number of women’s charities to lend my celebrity status to raise awareness about violence and abuse. I didn’t take them up on their offers because predominantly, I didn’t feel I had been victim enough — there were women who had suffered much worse than me. Also, because 25 years ago, the prospect of speaking up and speaking out felt uncomfortable, and perhaps even pointless in the face of such misogyny and inequality. I wish I could say I feel differently today but the hero’s welcome Depp received in Cannes proves that my feelings might still be depressingly true.

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Archbishop of Canterbury to criticise small boats bill in House of Lords

The archbishop of Canterbury will make a rare intervention in the House of Lords to join dozens of peers condemning the government’s flagship asylum bill. Justin Welby will argue against measures championed by Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman that seek to criminalise people seeking refuge in the UK if they arrive on small boats. The illegal migration bill is expected to face a series of demands for significant changes. Almost 90 peers are listed to speak at its second reading on Wednesday, with the chamber sitting earlier, from 11am, to allow for the many contributions. The draft plans, which cleared the Commons last month, will change the law so that those who arrive in the UK without permission will not be able to stay to claim asylum and instead be detained and removed, either to their home country or a third country, such as Rwanda. It will be the first time that Welby, the most senior cleric in the Church of England, has publicly criticised the legislation. He has previously criticised the way the debate over refugees has been conducted. Speaking in the Lords in December , Welby urged politicians and the public to reject the “shrill narratives that all who come to us for help should be treated as liars, scroungers or less than fully human”. His comments were widely thought to be criticising Braverman, who has previously described the increasing numbers of people coming to the UK to seek asylum as “an invasion”. The home secretary has more recently claimed that many of those arriving have “heightened levels of criminality” – a claim she said was backed up by conversations with senior police officers but no data. Braverman and the justice secretary, Alex Chalk, last night called for the Lords not to block the government’s radical immigration plans. Braverman said: “The British people want us to stop the boats. That is exactly what this bill will help us do. It has been designed with the assistance of some of the country’s finest legal minds to ensure it delivers for the British public in a manner consistent with rule of law and robust to legal challenge. “We are committed to ensuring that this legislation passes through parliament as soon as possible, and urge the Lords to back the bill, so we can get on with stopping the boats.” Chalk said: “This bill gives us the robust but fair legal framework needed to remove illegal migrants swiftly and curb last-minute challenges, while ensuring proper opportunity to appeal remains. “The rule of law is undermined if immigration rules set by parliament are not upheld.” Sign up to First Edition Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you through the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning after newsletter promotion Peers are expected to call for the law to be altered to ensure more safe and legal routes are opened for those escaping war. Critics have pointed out that the bill will oblige the home secretary to detain tens of thousands of migrants every year. It includes provisions that would limit the ability of the European court of human rights to prevent the deportation of asylum seekers. The clampdown has been prompted by Sunak’s pledge to “stop the boats” bringing people across the Channel. More than 6,000 people have been detected making the crossing so far in 2023. The government plans to use disused military camps and a barge as accommodation centres. But critics argue the flagship immigration policy breaks international law and threatens modern slavery protections. In a rare parliamentary move, the Liberal Democrat Brian Paddick, a former senior police officer, has proposed a so-called fatal motion to the bill, aimed at stopping it in its tracks at its first parliamentary hurdle. However, the attempt is destined to fail without the support of the main opposition.

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I took my kids to the playground without bringing my phone – and it was a revelation

It is a truism of parenting that it goes so fast, but as anyone who has been forced to sit on a bench and watch their children run tireless circuits of the playground knows, sometimes it goes so slowly you feel as if you’re losing your mind. I know people who will do anything to avoid playground duty, will beg their friends to coordinate so they don’t have to do it alone, or will discreetly wear headphones throughout so that, while maintaining eyes on their children, they can listen to a podcast and be entirely mentally absent. As the weather heats up and we crawl out of our screen-dependent winters, New York playgrounds are alive with the shriek of, “Joshua, 10 minutes!” I have fought with the Joshua-10-minutes tendency for years. The urge to cut short the visit – to the playground, the park, the toy aisle at Target – came on strongest when my children were smaller and could still be a danger to themselves. Somehow the combination of mindless repetition (on the slide, on the swings) and the need for hypervigilance in case someone fell off something induced a state of almost exquisite boredom that I occasionally think has an equivalence in, for example, bag checkers at the airport: the job is monotonous in the extreme but the consequences of not doing it properly can be dire. That particular dynamic has changed over the years as the requirements for my involvement have evolved. These days, long periods will pass in which nothing is required of me at all, punctuated by the occasional request – “watch this! That wasn’t it; that wasn’t it either” – that I check in to witness someone doing a cartwheel. If I wanted to, I could disappear into back-to-back episodes of my current podcast obsessions, You’re Wrong About and This Is Actually Happening , and at the beginning of this spring, I did. The experience felt simultaneously like an amazing win and vaguely like cheating. To be present/not present when you’re cleaning the house is one thing; yet to mentally absent oneself from one’s kids – to be always projecting forwards in anticipation of this particular moment being over – has started to feel like missing the point. I should add that, in general, and when it doesn’t involve swings, I am very good at doing nothing. I could sit looking at the wood grain on a table for a long time and be more or less content. There is copious literature on the necessity of boredom for children, mostly mentioned these days in the context of warnings about overscheduling and screens. There is less about the usefulness of “boredom” for adults, and what there is tends to be found in the literature of time-maximisation, where boredom is often framed as an aid to creativity or achievement. In and of themselves, these idle periods have no apparent value. But increasingly they strike me as the solid matter of life and the moments I’ll look back on with the deepest nostalgia. I’ve been having this sense for a few years now, but it’s pathetic that what has sharpened revelation is the experience, twice in a row, of accidentally going out without my phone. After the panic subsided, I sat in the sunshine while my children rode their bikes up and down and then ditched them to play in the sand. I watched a barge make its way up the Hudson. I pointed out two sparrows enjoying a sand bath. (What even is that?) I could have been listening to the real-life story of a woman who survived a home invasion, but instead I eavesdropped on some young people playing volleyball farther up the sand. I felt very happy that I was neither young nor under any obligation to play volleyball. When the reflex urge to shout “Guys, 10 minutes!” surfaced – because, realistically, how long can I be expected to just sit here? – I did the wildest thing and resisted it. “Don’t bring your phone,” they both say now when we go out. There are limits to this lassitude, which the other day nearly caused us to miss the last ferry off Governor’s Island. And I do occasionally worry that, taken to an extreme, I will one day relax into a formless blob of inactivity that I will never fully be able to pull out of. The funny thing is that of the two experiences of boredom, fighting it was the one that delivered the greatest sense of dead time, of passively waiting for something to end. The other – phoneless, rooted in minor-league bird watching – felt as active and urgent as only the best use of one’s time can. Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here .

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Spanish police make arrests over ‘hate crimes’ targeting Vinícius Júnior

Spanish police have arrested three people in connection with the racist abuse suffered by Real Madrid’s Brazilian forward Vinícius Júnior during a match with Valencia on Sunday, and detained a further four suspects over an effigy of the player that was hung from a bridge in Madrid four months ago. In a brief statement on Tuesday morning, the Policía Nacional said three young men had been arrested in Valencia over the “racist behaviour” that took place during the match at the city’s Mestalla stadium. The announcement came hours after the force revealed that four people had been arrested on suspicion of hate crimes relating to the hanging of an inflatable dummy dressed in Vinícius’s strip from a bridge in the Spanish capital on 26 January. The dummy, which was accompanied by a huge banner reading “Madrid hates Real”, triggered an investigation that led to the arrests of four men who allegedly belong to the ultras faction of a Spanish club and who were already known to specialist officers. The abuse directed at Vinícius has reopened the debate over racism in Spanish football – and in wider Spanish society – with the player himself saying that Spain is now known “as a country of racists” in his homeland. “Racism is normal in La Liga ,” he wrote on Twitter. “This championship which was once that of Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Cristiano and Messi now is that of racists.” Valencia received a five-game partial stadium closure and €45,000 (£39,000) fine on Tuesday night. A Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) statement read: “The competition committee has sanctioned Valencia CF with the partial closure of the Mestalla stadium for five matches, more specifically the Mario Kempes south stand, following the events that occurred during the First Division National League Championship match between the local team and Real Madrid CF. “It is considered proven that, as reflected by the referee in his minutes, there were racist shouts at Vinícius, a Real Madrid CF player, during the aforementioned match, altering the normal course of the match and considering the infractions very serious. “In addition, an economic sanction of €45,000 is imposed on Valencia.” Luis Rubiales of the RFEF said the abuse showed “a real problem” with racism and called for zero tolerance. “We have a problem of behaviour, of education, of racism,” he said. “And as long as there is one fan or one group of fans making insults based on someone’s sexual orientation or skin colour or belief, then we have a serious problem.” Valencia said it had banned one of its fans for life and was looking to identify others. “The club has analysed all the available footage, working alongside the authorities as rapidly as possible to clarify what happened,” it said in a statement. Real Madrid said it strongly condemned the incident, which it believed to be a hate crime. “These events represent a direct attack on the social and democratic model of coexistence of our state based on the rule of law,” the club said. Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, urged Fifa and La Liga to take “serious measures” after the scenes at Valencia. “We cannot allow fascism and racism to seize control of football stadiums,” Lula said. “It’s unjust that a poor kid who’s done so well in life, who may be on his way to becoming the best in the world – he’s certainly the best at Real Madrid – gets insulted at every stadium where he plays,” the Brazilian president said while on a visit to Japan for the G7 meeting. The racist behaviour was also condemned by Spanish politicians. The prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said there should be zero tolerance for racism in football, adding: “Sport is based on the values of tolerance and respect. Hatred and xenophobia should have no place in football nor in our society.” Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the leader of the conservative People’s party, said racism and sport were “totally incompatible”. Real Madrid’s Italian manager, Carlo Ancelotti, said the racist abuse – during which Vinícius was repeatedly called a “monkey” – highlighted how “something bad is happening in this league”. The Spanish league has made nine similar formal complaints over racist abuse against Vinícius over the past two seasons, most of which have been shelved. Fans have been fined and banned from stadiums, but so far only a Mallorca supporter may end up going on trial for allegedly racially insulting the Brazilian during a game. The first trial of a fan accused of racial abuse in Spanish professional football is expected to happen at some point this year in a case involving the Athletic Bilbao forward Iñaki Williams, who was insulted by an Espanyol supporter during a match in 2020 .

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New rail strikes targeting FA Cup final and Epsom Derby amount to a spiteful punishment beating for the

THE new rail strikes are even more ­spiteful than we’ve come to expect. Britain is used to walkouts orchestrated by unions both to extract more money and cause chaos for the Tories they despise. Aslef’s latest timing amounts to a punishment beating for the public . So much for working-class struggle! These stoppages, led by £151,000-a-year Mick Whelan, target ordinary people heading to the FA Cup final and the Epsom Derby . Train drivers are far from badly paid. They average £60,000 plus overtime. They have been offered two rises on top, of four per cent each. Most workers would take that. To Aslef it’s “risible”. These militants are 1970s throwbacks wedded to archaic working practices which boggle the mind in 2023. To them, railways exist not to serve customers but to create jobs for union members. Bring on driverless trains. THE Tories’ proposed betting crackdown is muddled, authoritarian and likely to do more harm than good. It is well-intentioned enough — a bid to reduce problem gambling . But, while we have every sympathy for addicts, they ­comprise only about 0.2 per cent of the millions who like a flutter. Now anyone losing £125 in a month or £500 in a year would face financial checks and even tougher, albeit unspecified, ones if they lose £1,000 in a day. Why? We don’t vet people when they get hooked on other legal pursuits. Where next would this intrusion spread? Meanwhile maximum stakes for online slot machines would be £2 if you’re 24, but £15 from 25. When did 25 become the age of responsibility? The Government has been panicked into this latest nanny-statism by anti-gambling crusaders. Addicts will swerve it via black market websites, probably making their plight far worse. Who would this plan really help? WE’RE not sure it’s happened before — but we agree with Lib Dem chief Ed Davey. Why does a Police and Crime Commissioner blow public money on ANY social media staff, let alone three? And since these elected penpushers have swallowed £100million in three years nationwide — and crime remains rampant — why do they still exist? WE’RE happy to hear Commons leader Penny Mordaunt praise the Sun campaign , with FairFuel, to end rip-off pump prices. The “PumpWatch” regulator we back would be a powerful tool to shame profiteering forecourts. The Treasury is said to be in favour. Enough talking, then. When will the Government launch it?

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GPs and pharmacies are the very heart of our communities. Here’s how we’ll transform them

PEOPLE sometimes talk about their GP as if they were a close friend or even a member of the family. When I was growing up, that was the reality. My dad was a GP and Mum ran the local pharmacy. They were at the heart of our community, the friendly face of the NHS and the first port of call for anyone worried about their health. That’s still the case today. Our GPs are doing a brilliant job and they are seeing more patients than ever before. But as we recover from the pandemic , services have come under real strain and people are struggling to book appointments. Sun readers know how frustrating it is to be stuck on hold to your GP practice when you or someone in the family desperately needs to see a doctor, or even if they just need a routine appointment. It’s a common scene in homes up and down the country at 7.59am every morning as people get ready to dial their GP, hoping to beat the queue. And when access to primary care is difficult it has knock-on effects across the NHS, with many who cannot get GP appointments left with no option but to turn to A&E. You deserve better than that. Our NHS deserves better than that. So we are going to change things under a new plan I’m setting out today. Backed by £1.2billion of government investment, we are going to transform GP and pharmacy services in England, delivering on my promise to cut NHS waiting lists. Under this plan, millions of patients will receive quicker, more convenient access to NHS care from their high street pharmacy, leaving GPs free to help the patients who need them most. No longer will you have to wait to see the GP for common conditions like a sore throat, ear ache, shingles or sinusitis. For the first time ever, pharmacists will be able to prescribe medicines themselves. We have 11,500 community pharmacies, run by pharmacists who are skilled, qualified healthcare professionals. So it makes perfect sense to give them a greater role in helping people with these kinds of routine conditions. It is a simple change, but I know it will make a huge difference. By providing a further 2.5million blood-pressure checks in community pharmacies, tens of thousands more people will be at lower risk of a heart attack or stroke. This could be a potential life-saver by helping to tackle the rising problem of cardiovascular disease. By enabling more pharmacies to prescribe oral contraception , we will make life easier for around half a million women who will no longer need to wait to speak to their GP or a practice nurse. That means no more jumping through hoops each time you run out of pills. And by giving people the ability to self-refer for services like physiotherapy, hearing tests, and podiatry, we will help around half a million people a year to get the support they need more quickly. These are sensible, practical steps, which will make a real difference to people’s everyday lives — and help ease the burden and make the NHS more efficient. Together, these measures will free up around 15million GP appointments over the next two years. And it doesn’t stop there. We are also providing GPs with the practical help they need to manage high demand. It’s time to say goodbye to old-fashioned analogue phone systems that keep you waiting for hours on end. They will be replaced by new user-friendly online services to book appointments, get health questions answered and access records. We will put an end to the 8am rush to book a GP appointment, and people will no longer be asked to call back another day. Instead, if your need is urgent, you will be assessed the same day and get an appointment that day if you need one. If your need isn’t urgent, you will get an appointment within two weeks. All of this is on top of our work to train up thousands more doctors, nurses and pharmacists, and our decision to increase funding for general practice to a record £11.5billion. This plan will not just help GPs and pharmacies to deliver better care, it will also have a ripple effect across the NHS. This plan is comprehensive and will help to deliver one of my five priorities to cut waiting lists so people can get the help they need more quickly. That’s what I, this government, the Conservatives will continue to do for you. We are getting on with the job at hand to deliver on your priorities. I know many Sun readers will be marking the 75th anniversary of the NHS later this year. It will be a huge celebration, an outpouring of affection for this institution that says so much about who we are as a country. But it must also be a moment to pledge our determination together to keep improving, keep modernising and keep looking for ways to serve patients even better. That’s what the plan I am announcing today is all about.

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After the earthquakes, it’s women and girls in Turkey feeling the aftershocks

In Turkey’s southern province of Hatay, one of the most ravaged cities in the recent earthquakes , 25-year-old Alev Altun, the mother of two young children, became homeless in one night, like thousands of others. Having nowhere to go, she agreed to take refuge in the house of her ex-husband, on his invitation, assuming it would be safer to stay with the father of her children than alone in a tent or in a building at risk of collapse. While she was sleeping, her ex-husband allegedly poured scalding water all over her, shouting she should be grateful that he had not killed her. She remains in intensive care at a local hospital, with severe burns to her head, face and body. Hers is one of the many harrowing stories of women and girls in crisis zones. Women suffer disproportionately in the aftermath of disasters. While tens of thousands of people have lost homes and jobs, women continue to work ceaselessly in makeshift tents and containers set up for displaced survivors – finding food or trying to cook, washing or cleaning where water is available, constantly providing for others. In traditional, patriarchal societies, the entire burden of looking after extended families is on their shoulders. According to organisations on the ground , a large number of women were found dead – and occasionally pulled out alive – in children’s rooms buried under piles of rubble. When the tremors began, they ran to save their children and babies. Unicef says the number of children who have died in the earthquake “is likely to be in the many thousands”. There are 356,000 pregnant women across the earthquake-affected areas. Of these, an estimated 39,000 are expected to deliver babies in the coming weeks. For every affected woman and girl, but especially for pregnant women, the lack of toilets and cleaning facilities is a major source of distress. Growing up in Turkey , I have been told many times to be quiet about and ashamed of the female body, and especially menstruation. Still to this day, one of the widespread definitions of the word “dirty” ( kirli ) in Turkish dictionaries is “a woman who is menstruating”. When I was younger, often when I bought a sanitary product from a market, I would watch the cashier immediately wrap it in some old newspaper, hiding it as if it was a scandal. Once, in Istanbul, I was scolded by a male grocer when I asked out loud in front of everyone where the period products were. He used a word I have never forgotten, ayip – shame. In this sexist culture, female survivors of earthquakes find it very difficult to ask for sanitary pads. There is an assumption that within the broader picture of devastation and destruction, such matters are a trivial concern. They are not. Action Aid has said that the situation for women and girls and marginalised communities “is becoming increasingly alarming”. In times of war and disaster, the rights and freedoms of women and minorities always become casualties to the “more important and urgent issues” of realpolitik. The humanitarian organisation Plan International has reported that, “Our experience shows that children, especially girls, women and the poorest families, are most at risk of exploitation in a disaster like an earthquake. Women and children in the disaster zone will be at risk of exploitation and abuse, should they find themselves once again displaced.” LGBTQ+ communities find the situation extremely hard. Sexual harassment and violence is a growing threat for many who remain vulnerable in homophobic and transphobic environments. There are reports from human rights organisations that it is harder to find a tent or access aid if you are a single woman. Hate speech is never far from the surface. Wars, disasters and earthquakes also disrupt education. In Turkey and Syria, girls are much more likely to be pulled out of school. Turkey already has one of the highest rates of child marriage in Europe. Yet instead of helping women and minorities by implementing the Istanbul convention – the treaty designed to combat violence against women – the government under Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has done the opposite, withdrawing from the convention and targeting both feminists and LGBTQ+ activists. Erdoğan has repeatedly said that women cannot be equal to men and gender equality is “ against nature ”. Crisis times bring out both the best and the worst in humanity. While we have seen a profoundly moving outpouring of help and support from civil society, there is a correlation between the lack of democracy, lack of accountability and high levels of corruption and nepotism in a country and the scale of suffering in natural disasters. Turkey’s AKP under Erdoğan is not only antidemocratic and authoritarian, it is also blatantly macho and misogynist. Sadly, anti-refugee rhetoric has also proliferated in Turkey after this crisis. In Mersin, Syrians staying at a dormitory were kicked out , saying they had to make way for Turkish citizens. Refugees have been put on buses and dumped on the streets. Even those who were trying to help with rescue efforts have been assaulted in some places. In times of distress, instead of questioning the incapacity and structural mistakes of a government, it is easier to turn to the next vulnerable group and take it out on them. Meanwhile, on the other side of Turkey’s border in Iran, girls are being poisoned . In at least 26 elementary and high schools, more than 1000 girls have reportedly been targeted in chemical gas attacks. Women and girls have been the leading voice in demanding social change, equality and freedom in the country. The bravery of Iranian women is remarkable: this is why they are being targeted by the regime. We often hear that the world is presently suffering from multiple crises and therefore relief and aid efforts cannot be expected to continue for too long in one place. It is, however, possible to look at it from a different angle. Whether in Turkey, Syria , Afghanistan, Iran or war-torn Ukraine … as we mark International Women’s Day, women and girls and minorities across the world are suffering and struggling disproportionately. Gender-based relief efforts are essential to rebuild better and fairer societies. Studies show that when women are given financial aid and psychological support, they use this leverage primarily for their families, their children and their communities. There never has been a more urgent time for global solidarity, and especially, global sisterhood. There never has been a more urgent time to say out loud that we can both dearly love and care for our own countries or our adopted countries and at the same time be citizens of the world, citizens of humankind. Elif Shafak is a novelist and political scientist Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here .

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Paralysed man walks using device that reconnects brain with muscles

A man who was paralysed in a cycling accident in 2011 has been able to stand and walk with an aid after doctors implanted a device that reads his brain waves and sends instructions to his spine to move the right muscles. Gert-Jan Oskam, 40, was told he would never walk again after breaking his neck in a traffic accident in China, but has climbed stairs and walked for more than 100 metres at a time since having the operation. “A few months ago, I was able, for the first time after 10 years, to stand up and have a beer with my friends,” said Oskam, who is from the Netherlands . “That was pretty cool. I want to use it in my daily life.” The “digital bridge” is the latest from a team of neuroscientists in Switzerland who have a longstanding programme to develop brain-machine interfaces to overcome paralysis. The project aims to use wireless signals to reconnect the brain with muscles that are rendered useless when spinal cord nerves are broken. In a previous trial, Oskam tested a system that recreated the rhythmic steps of walking by sending signals from a computer to his spinal cord. While the device helped him take several steps at once, the movement was quite robotic and had to be triggered by a button or sensor. For the latest update, Prof Jocelyne Bloch, a neurosurgeon at Lausanne University hospital, installed electrodes on Oskam’s brain that detect neural activity when he tries to move his legs. The readings are processed by an algorithm that turns them into pulses, which are sent to further electrodes in his spine. The pulses activate nerves in the spine, switching on muscles to produce the intended movement. “What we’ve been able to do is re-establish communication between the brain and the region of the spinal cord that controls leg movement with a digital bridge,” said Prof Grégoire Courtine at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. He said the system could “capture the thoughts of Gert-Jan and translate those thoughts into stimulation of the spinal cord to re-establish voluntary leg movements”. The device does not produce swift, smooth strides, but Oskam said the implant, described in Nature , allowed for more natural movements than before, because standing up and walking were initiated and controlled by thinking about the actions. The signals stimulate muscles needed to flex the hip, knee and ankle. The device also appears to boost rehabilitation. After more than 40 training sessions with the implant, Oskam, who did not sever all the nerves in his spine, regained some control over his legs, even when the device was turned off. Courtine believes that reconnecting the brain and spine helps to regenerate spinal nerves, recovering some of the patient’s lost control. While the work is at an early stage, the researchers hope that future, miniaturised devices will help stroke patients and paralysed people to walk, move their arms and hands, and control other functions, such as the bladder, which is often affected by spinal cord injuries. Arm and hand movements may be more difficult, as they are more complex than walking. With Oskam showing progress more than a decade after his accident, the team is confident that other patients with more recent injuries could fare better. With Oskam “it’s more than 10 years after the spinal cord injury”, Courtine said. “Imagine when we apply the digital bridge a few weeks after spinal cord injury. The potential for recovery is tremendous.”

GOOD

Banned British sprinter CJ Ujah cleared of deliberately taking drugs at Olympics

The British 100m sprinter CJ Ujah has been cleared of deliberately taking banned drugs by the Athletics Integrity Unit and the World Anti-Doping Agency, and will be free to return to competition next year. Ujah led off Team GB men’s 4x100m relay team as they won silver at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 only to test positive for two prohibited substances, ostarine and S-23. It led to the British team being stripped of their medals and Ujah facing a four-year ban. However, on Monday , the AIU confirmed that Ujah would now be banned for 22 months after a thorough investigation found in his favour. He still has to serve a reduced ban as, under Wada’s strict liability rules, an athlete is responsible for everything they put in their body. Speaking exclusively to the Guardian after this newspaper broke the news, Ujah revealed that it was a contaminated beta alanine supplement – bought off Amazon for £10 during lockdown – that caused his positive test in Tokyo. “Obviously I made a mistake,” he said. “But people make mistakes. I am not a cheat.” Ujah also acknowledged that he did not check the brand he chose was approved by Informed Sport, which guarantees a product is batch-tested for prohibited drugs before going on sale, and therefore he had no defence when he tested positive. “I think complacency set in,” he said. “During the pandemic I relied a lot on Amazon, rather than using the people and resources around me. It was just convenient, with next-day delivery. And I didn’t think anything was wrong with it.” “Many athletes see supplement education as a box‑ticking exercise,” he added. “And while I’m not going to call anyone out, a lot of athletes use supplements that are not Informed Sport because they don’t think anything bad could happen to them – until it does.” In a statement the AIU confirmed that it accepted Ujah’s positive test was not caused by a deliberate attempt to cheat: “The AIU and Wada were satisfied that the sprinter’s anti-doping rule violation was not intentional as a result of his ingestion of a contaminated supplement and the applicable two-year period of ineligibility was reduced by two months on account of how promptly he admitted the violation,” it added. The decision means Ujah will be free to compete again on 5 June 2023, giving him two months to prove his fitness before potentially returning to the British team in time for the world championships in Hungary. However, the head of the AIU, Brett Clothier, warned athletes to understand the consequences that could arise from taking supplements and to pay better attention to the relevant rules and athlete education programmes. Clothier said: “In this case, after a thorough examination of the facts, we were satisfied that Mr Ujah did indeed ingest a contaminated supplement, but he was unable to demonstrate that he was entitled to any reduction in the applicable period of ineligibility based on his level of fault. “Taking supplements is risky for athletes as they can be contaminated or even adulterated with prohibited substances. Athletes owe it to their fellow competitors to be 100% certain before putting anything into their body. If there’s the slightest doubt, leave it out.” The British relay team automatically forfeited their Olympic silver medals in February when Ujah did not challenge his adverse analytical finding at a court of arbitration for sport hearing

GOOD

UK immigration stats: headline figure will not tell the whole story

The release of official statistics is often the focus of political scrutiny, but the latest annual figures for overall net migration to the UK, due Thursday at 9.30am, are sufficiently anticipated they have prompted two separate policy announcements already. On Tuesday, Suella Braverman rushed through a plan to reduce the number of people arriving via student visas by greatly limiting the scope for them to bring along family members. A day later, Keir Starmer used every one of his prime minister’s questions allocation to lambast Rishi Sunak over the likely size of the statistics, and to present Labour ideas he argued would incentivise employers to train UK staff rather than bring workers in from overseas. Immigration has long been a highly charged debate in UK politics, but with the end of free movement after Brexit, the Conservatives’ hope was that the argument on formal migration would be largely settled, with debate focusing on people arriving via unofficial routes such as small boats. Instead, the near-46,000 arrivals who crossed the Channel this way will be only a small fraction of the total for net migration, which some have forecast could get into the high hundreds of thousands. The last available figures showed the number stood at 504,000 in the year to June 2022, compared with 173,000 in the 12 months to June 2021. Those released on Thursday will be for the calendar year 2022, and are likely to be higher still. What is going on? The short answer is this is the result of unexpected one-off factors and long-term choices. In the first column comes one obvious bulge: the arrival of refugees from Ukraine and from Hong Kong. Similarly, the impact of Covid has skewed figures, with more shorter-term arrivals such as students coming after the pandemic, given very few arrived during 2020 and 2021. But more significant is the effect of government policy, not least the fact it became easier for many non-EU nationals to come to the UK to work after Brexit, with restrictions on skills and minimum salaries lowered. In the longer term, there has been an official willingness to rely on overseas staff to fill gaps in industries facing shortages, notably health and social care, rather than tackle wage and working condition issues that might make the roles more appealing to British staff. And, at least until this week, there has been a tolerance for universities targeting new overseas markets for students, who pay high fees but, when studying for masters or doctorate qualifications, can be in their 30s with dependants. As with all migration debates, officials describe it as a generally polite battle of wills between departments eager to fight their corner over the economic boosts from migration, particularly education, agriculture and the Treasury, and a Home Office led by Braverman, who has publicly called for significant cuts in the numbers coming. Whatever Thursday’s final figure was, said Rob McNeil, deputy director of Oxford University’s Migration Observatory, it would be “in part because of geo-political events, things like the invasion of Ukraine, the crackdown in Hong Kong and Covid, but there are also lots of policy choices involved”. He added: “All this doesn’t mean we are necessarily at the spike of the peak yet. That’s not to say that we aren’t, it’s just that we can’t predict it. In the longer term, you might expect the figures to broadly return to the pre-Covid norms, but we can’t say that with any certainty.”

BAD

Tory pledge to build 40 ‘new’ England hospitals likely to be delayed until after 2030

The health secretary is set to signal a major delay to one of the headline promises in the last Conservative manifesto by suggesting the delivery of 40 new hospitals in England is likely to be pushed back until after 2030. In a move that will spark anger among MPs who wanted “spades in the ground” before the next election, government sources said Steve Barclay would make the announcement on Thursday. The pledge to build and fund “40 new hospitals over the next 10 years” was one of the major headlines of Boris Johnson’s pitch to the electorate in 2019. Sources indicated the government had been ready to make the announcement about the probable delay for some time, but it was repeatedly pushed back because of fears about a backlash from Tory MPs. Instead, Barclay is expected to commit to prioritising five hospitals where roofs and ceilings are most at risk of sudden collapse because they are made from reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC). The cheaper, lightweight form of concrete was used in the building of many schools and hospitals in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s but is now well past its intended 30-year lifespan. The risk is so acute that some hospitals have deployed steel stilts to stop ceilings and roofs from falling down. The Queen Elizabeth hospital in King’s Lynn in Norfolk – which is widely used by constituents of the former prime minister Liz Truss – has deployed about 1,500 such supports, for example. Tory MPs in marginal seats were hoping progress on new or improved hospitals could be pointed to in the run-up to the next election, as evidence of their commitment to the “levelling up” agenda. But the news is likely to lead to fresh claims that Rishi Sunak’s government has ditched the legacy of his predecessor-but-one. When Johnson made the claim in 2019 that he would deliver “40 new hospitals”, he was accused of being misleading, as critics said the bulk of the projects involved rebuilding of existing hospitals or consolidation. The scheme came with a promised spending package of £3.7bn. However, NHS Providers, which represents hospital trusts, said at the time the real cost of building 40 new hospitals would be more like £20bn. Construction costs have soared since 2019, especially as a result of shortages of labour and key materials. In the aftermath of Covid, Johnson used the policy as evidence of his commitment to “build back better and deliver the biggest hospital building programme in a generation”. Sign up to First Edition Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you through the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning after newsletter promotion Barclay is expected to make clear in his oral statement to MPs whether those five hospitals will be given five of the eight places in the New Hospitals Programme or if they will be added to it, taking the number of promised “new” facilities to more than the long-promised 40. Those five had previously applied to NHS England for £332m of extra funding between them to tackle their RAAC problems, New Civil Engineer disclosed last October. The risk posed by RAAC which has gone past its intended lifespan was highlighted dramatically in 2018 when the flat roof of a primary school in Essex collapsed without warning. No one was injured because it happened at a weekend. But the incident focused attention in the NHS on the danger to patients and staff of the same thing occurring in a hospital. Barclay is also expected to clarify whether the £3.7bn budget for the hospital renewal programme will be expanded, especially if any or all of the five most beset by RAAC problems are added to it. A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We are investing £3.7bn for the first four years of the new hospital programme and remain committed to delivering all 40 new hospitals by 2030 as part of the biggest hospital building programme in a generation. Our new national approach to constructing hospitals will see them built more rapidly and give value for money. “We remain committed to eradicating reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete from the NHS estate by 2035 and protecting patient and staff safety in the interim period.”

GOOD

The Guardian has called everything from gardening to the countryside racist – but the real problem is t

A PRETTY cast-iron rule in life is that people are what they accuse you of. Nowhere is this truer than in the modern Left’s obsession with calling everyone else a racist. If you believe in controlled borders you are a “racist”. If you believe in limiting immigration you are a “racist”. If you are proud of your country and its history then you are a “racist”. That’s at least according to the modern Left, which seems to believe everybody is guilty of racism except themselves. So how to explain the behaviour of the Left’s in-house organ, the poorly-selling but still influential Guardian ? This is the newspaper most beloved of those who work at the BBC . It is the one that, in all sorts of ways, sets the weather for our nation’s obsessions. In recent years it has denounced as “racist” everything from gardening to the British countryside. Nothing good about our nation can exist without being denounced as “racist” by The Guardian. Yet it is The Guardian’s own behaviour that can be seen as “racist”. Take, for instance, the paper’s attitude towards anyone in the Conservative Party who is from an ethnic minority. The Guardian can for ever be found denouncing these people. Why? They believe they should all be leftists, and that if they are Conservatives they are “sell-outs”. It is this sort of thinking that led the paper to demonise Priti Patel when she was Home Secretary. Just one example of this was when the paper’s cartoonist depicted her as a bull, with a great ring through her nose. The image was not just ugly and dehumanising but obviously racist. The fact no one at The Guardian noticed this is a stunning thing in itself. Or take the more recent example, when the paper’s Sunday edition, The Observer, published a letter by Diane Abbott claiming that only black people can experience racism. In Abbott’s weird world, Jews, like ginger-haired people, might experience “prejudice”, but only black people can experience racism. Apart from the bizarre desire to set up a racism competition, perhaps Diane could explain what the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust were. Victims of mere “prejudice”? Of course, Abbott has had the Labour whip withdrawn for her ignorant comments . But still it is remarkable that no one at the paper thought to either go back to her and check if she meant this or had no other worries about printing the letter. Then we come to this past weekend, and the cartoon published in a paper which calls itself “the world’s leading liberal voice”. The cartoon depicted the resignation of BBC chairman Richard Sharp . Sharp is Jewish, though that is no reason why he — nor anyone else in public life — should be immune from criticism. Personally, I hate almost all attempts to censor or limit what a free Press should print, draw or say. Yet The Guardian’s cartoon on the Sharp resignation was not just criticism or lampooning. It was outright anti-Semitism. Martin Rowson, the cartoonist in question, depicted Sharp in the most ugly, stereotypically “Jewish” way imaginable. Dr Goebbels would have loved the work. Sharp is shown as dusky, with great, ugly, protruding facial features. He is seen carrying his box of possessions away from the office. You’d have thought that the box, if it said anything, would say “BBC”. But no, strangely, the box said “Goldman Sachs”, the Jewish-founded bank that is such an obsession of modern-day anti-Semites. Sharp used to work there, but that is irrelevant to his current predicament. Bizarrely, the box has a squid in it, another anti-Jewish trope where Jews are meant to have their “tentacles” around everything. There is also a head of Rishi Sunak in the box, implying that Sharp also somehow “controls” the Prime Minister. To his side is a slaughtered pig, surrounded by blood. The Guardian has since withdrawn the cartoon and the cartoonist apologised. Elsewhere there has been silence from the paper’s contributors. All these pious men and women who always berate the rest of us, preaching from such a very high pulpit, have been silent. I have not seen a single Guardian journalist distance themselves from what their paper published. So what are we to make of this? As I say — The Guardian is what it accuses everyone else of being. Modern Britain is the most tolerant country in the world. We are the country where immigrants actually have the best chance of succeeding. We are the country which actually hates racism. Which is one reason why we mind when people accuse us of it. But the people doing most of the accusing are the ones who are most guilty. I never did listen to The Guardian’s moral hectoring. After this weekend, I suspect a few more people will feel the same way. US Presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis has been in the UK in recent days. Though it’s his first trip he even described it as feeling like his “second home”, which is nice to hear. After all, it isn’t as if Joe Biden has made any special effort to be particularly nice about this country. For example, his administration made it plain from the outset that there would be no trade deal with the UK, something which (for all his flaws) the President before him worked on. In fact, the DeSantis trip had a bigger purpose. The Florida governor has not yet announced he is running for the Presidency. But his arrival in the UK was a big “tell”. His critics sometimes say he is not a foreign policy person, and while he has been a superb governor of Florida, he needs to start appearing on the world stage. So yes, we may have been used to help bolster DeSantis’s image at home. But I am perfectly comfortable about that. It would be good to have someone back in the Oval Office who thinks well of our country. Most importantly, it would be good to have someone who can actually push through that big, beautiful trade deal that both our countries so desperately need. IN recent years eco-zealots have kept insisting that we should all stop eating meat. Farting cows and various other excuses have been trotted out to claim that if we eat meat we are killing the planet. Other food options offered to us have ranged from fake vegan “meat” to insects. Thanks, but no thanks. Now almost 1,000 academics have signed a joint letter saying that eating meat is actually good for us, and that there are nutrients in it which we need. Who knew that the image of the sickly vegan had some truth to it? According to the letter’s signatories, livestock farming is too important to “become the victim of zealotry”. Too late, I suspect. The generation coming up has been taught that the planet is about to burn up and it’s your fault if you eat a steak. Good luck turning around that story – or reprogramming the generation which has been brought up on it. STRANGE event in Los Angeles, where a female concertgoer apparently had a “full body orgasm” during a performance by the LA Philharmonic. The orchestra was performing Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No5 when, in a brief pause, the woman let out her titanic cry. Everyone heard, though the band played on. You can hear the recording. I like a Tchaikovsky symphony as much as the next man. Though perhaps not as much as the next woman. I HAVE railed here before about the people who used Covid as an excuse to work from home for the rest of their lives. While a bit of flexibility is good in some jobs, we all know there are workers who have just been taking the p**s for the past three years. The knock-on effect of them not turning up to the office is clear. Businesses that relied on office workers have been shuttering. Parts of cities that used to be heaving midweek are still strangely quiet. So I’m not sure how I feel about the latest way to woo people back into the office. These include extra time off for your birthday, so-called “duvet days” and also free doggy daycare. The last is the result of a 24 per cent rise in pet ownership during the pandemic. On the one hand, I’m for whatever is needed to get this country back to work again. On the other, I can’t help feeling that we’ve become this lazy, soggy, wet-blanket of a country. How adult do we expect to be treated? I mean “duvet days”. How old are we? Try a little bit of coaxing, sure. But some stick wouldn’t hurt in many cases How about: “Come back to the office or you’re fired”? Or would that just make people need more “duvet days” and comfort animals?

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This is no victory day for Vladimir Putin

At the outset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine , May 9 was seen by many analysts as the likely end of the operation. The assumption was that Moscow’s overwhelming military would soon subjugate its neighbour, forcing a surrender and the removal of the government in Kyiv to be replaced by a pro-Kremlin leadership. This was to be completed by today, when Russia commemorates the victory of Soviet forces over Nazi Germany in 1945. Not only has Vladimir Putin failed to conquer Ukraine but his army has become bogged down in a war of attrition in the east and is losing ground even there. He underestimated the resilience and courage of the Ukrainian people and the unity of the West in the face of aggression, while grossly overestimating the competence of his military. Putin was not alone in this. Nato also thought Ukraine would not last long, yet all these received wisdoms now have to be revised – with considerable geo-political ramifications. So far, despite what by any measure is a disaster for the Kremlin, the regime has managed to convince a credulous population that the “special military operation” has been going to plan and that any setbacks are the result of having to confront the might of Nato, not just Ukraine. But this line is hard to hold as the casualties mount up and Russia counts the cost of destroyed hardware. Soon, the impact of economic sanctions will start to be felt by the Russian people. Many mothers have already had to bury their sons and, as the death toll grows, it becomes harder for Putin to maintain that a military success is taking place in Ukraine. No doubt at today’s Victory Day parade, Russia will deploy large numbers of personnel to march through Red Square, but are they capable of fighting effectively? Western planners fear Putin will formally declare war on Ukraine in order to mobilise reservists to increase the deployment to the Ukrainian war substantially. But in doing so he would be admitting to his people that the stories they have been fed for weeks about a Russian triumph were false. As the atrocities continue – with the deaths of scores of people sheltering in a school the latest – the Kremlin is at a crossroads. It needs to decide whether to cut its losses or to increase both the misery of the Ukrainian people it purports to be defending and the vast cost to Russia. Whatever Putin does, this is not his victory day.

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One in five people in UK suffer from misophonia, researchers find

If the sound of someone chewing gum or slurping their tea gets on your nerves, you are not alone. Researchers say almost one in five people in the UK has strong negative reactions to such noises. Misophonia is a disorder in which people feel strong emotional responses to certain sounds, feeling angry, distressed or even unable to function in social or work settings as a result. But just how common the condition is has been a matter of debate. Now researchers say they have found 18.4% of the UK population have significant symptoms of misophonia. “This is the very first study where we have a representative sample of the UK population,” said Dr Silia Vitoratou, first author of the study at King’s College London. “Most people with misophonia think they are alone, but they are not. This is something we need to know [about] and make adjustments if we can.” Writing in the journal Plos One , the team report how they gathered responses from 768 people using metrics including the selective sound sensitivity syndrome scale. This included one questionnaire probing the sounds that individuals found triggering, such as chewing or snoring, and another exploring the impact of such sounds – including whether they affected participants’ social life and whether the participant blamed the noise-maker – as well as the type of emotional response participants felt to the sounds and the intensity of their emotions. As a result, each participant was given an overall score. The results reveal more than 80% of participants had no particular feelings towards sounds such as “normal breathing” or “yawning” but this plummeted to less than 25% when it came to sounds including “slurping”, “chewing gum” and “sniffing”. However, Vitoratou noted not all those reporting a response had misophonia. “While there are a lot of sounds that irritate many people, people with misophonia express different emotional responses,” she said, noting this could include anger and distress or panic. To dig deeper the team carried out clinical interviews with 55 of the participants, 26 of whom were self-diagnosed as having misophonia, allowing them to determine a cut-off score for participants strongly affected by triggering sounds. This score was used to glean the proportion of the whole group, and hence the UK population, similarly affected. While it is not yet possible to give a definitive diagnoses of clinical misphonia disorder, the team said 18.4% of participants experienced misophonia to an extent that it was a significant burden on them. Sign up to First Edition Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you through the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning after newsletter promotion What is more, the team found no difference by sex. “Before it was thought that maybe it’s more prevalent in females,” said Vitoratou, adding the team was now carrying out further research into misophonia, including whether there were different types. Vitoratou added only 14% of those deemed highly affected by misophonia had heard the term before. “There are lots of people out there experiencing this and they don’t even have a name for it,” she said. “That’s heart-breaking.”

GOOD

Premier Inn owner surpasses pre-Covid profits as travellers seek deals

The owner of Premier Inn has said profits have surpassed pre-pandemic levels as the UK’s biggest budget hotel chain benefits from a surge in demand from cost-conscious holidaymakers. Whitbread, which runs almost 900 hotels in the UK and Germany as well as restaurant chains including Beefeater, Bar & Block and Brewers Fayre, said it would benefit from the scale of its business as small operators succumb to a combination of labour shortages and cost inflation. The company beat analysts’ expectations, reporting £375m in pretax profits for the year to 3 March, up from £58m in 2022 and 34% more than the year ending February 2020. Investors cheered the results, which were driven by a 544% increase in adjusted annual profits at Premier Inn UK, sending Whitbread’s share price up 5% and making the company the biggest riser in the FTSE 100. “The recovery in market demand in conjunction with a structural decline in the independent sector has provided a helpful backdrop,” said the Whitbread chief executive, Dominic Paul, who took over from Alison Brittain last month . “We believe that operational challenges created by labour shortages and cost inflation may put further pressures on the independent sector, creating structural growth opportunities for Premier Inn across the UK. The budget branded hotel sector has consistently delivered attractive rates of room growth and has also proven its resilience during economic downturns, as guests trade down to lower cost alternatives.” Whitbread, which also announced a £300m share buyback and raised its final dividend, said that demand continues to be strong; UK sales were up 17% year on year in the first seven weeks of the company’s new financial year. Premier Inn UK reported a 50% increase in total revenues to £2.5bn, fuelled by increased occupancy, an expansion of the business and a 54% increase in average revenue for each room, from £38.69 to £59.45 year on year. In January, Whitbread said it intended to raise room prices to help offset cost increases of £60m because of soaring inflation in its last financial year. Total costs rose from £1.24bn to £1.6bn year on year. The company said higher levels of occupancy helped drive a 40% year-on-year increase in food and beverage sales, but spend remains 4% below pre-pandemic levels. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion “Despite an increase in spend per head, customer volumes at our branded restaurants, that are focused at the value-end of the market, remained below pre-pandemic levels,” the company said. “The return to economic normality post pandemic with the removal of travel restrictions and the release of pent-up demand boosted demand for hotel rooms at Whitbread and provided a tailwind to its bottom line,” said Victoria Scholar, the head of investment at Interactive Investor. “The cost of living crisis and the squeeze on household budgets have also driven more customers towards its budget low price point offering.”

GOOD

Central banks ‘risk losing trust if they cannot tame inflation’

Central banks risk losing public trust if they fail to bring down high rates of inflation found across the developed world, according to the boss of the body that advises them. Agustín Carstens, the director of the Bank of International Settlements, said central bankers needed to maintain a tough stance against inflation or else risk a new generation of consumers who had never experienced rapidly rising prices losing faith in their independent role. Speaking in Brazil, Carstens also warned that the recent run of bank failures seen in the US and the reckless use of cryptocurrencies could undermine trust in the financial system. In an unusually hard-hitting speech, the BIS boss said he was concerned that governments would undermine political institutions by spending their way to prosperity, saying the likelihood was that an increase in government budgets would be self-defeating and contribute to inflation. “The consequences of the state abusing the privilege of issuing money can be disastrous,” he added. Central banks should continue to fight inflation with high interest rates to maintain trust in their institutions, he said. “The trust gained can be lost if society doubts the central bank’s commitment to the objective of maintaining price stability. This is one of the reasons why the recent rise in inflation in virtually every country is a cause for concern, he added. He said the knock-on effects of a loss of confidence can “result in severe financial instability, with very high costs for society in terms of economic growth, employment, inequality and wealth”. Carstens, a former boss of Mexico’s central bank, did not name individuals or countries but appeared to have a harsh word for any politicians that questioned the independence of their central bank and the primary purpose to keep inflation low and stable. Liz Truss was widely criticised for putting forward proposals when she was prime minister last autumn to curb the independence of the Bank of England . Carstens’ comments are also likely to be seen as a shot across the bows of the UK’s central bank should it consider cutting interest rates before inflation has fallen for a sustained period. The collapse of Silicon Valley bank and the merger of Credit Suisse with UBS after the former found itself in financial trouble must be avoided he said to maintain trust in the financial system, he said. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion Though he warned that in many countries 50% of lending was managed by non-banks, including hedge funds and insurance companies, where regulation was weaker than the rules governing the banking system. “The need for greater supervision and regulation of the non-bank sector has become more pressing in the light of recent episodes of instability,” he added. “Instability stems from the sector’s interconnectedness with the traditional banking system and the tendency of different forms of non-bank intermediation to generate opaque and excessive leverage as well as substantial liquidity mismatches. Upsets in this sector can result in systemic financial crises.”

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John Sentamu forced to step down from C of E after failing to act on abuse claims

The former archbishop of York has been forced to step down from duties after failing to act on allegations of sexual abuse. John Sentamu last week rejected the findings of a report that found he failed to act on disclosures that a C of E vicar repeatedly raped a teenage boy in the 1980s. He claimed the report’s author, an experienced safeguarding investigator, had a “fundamental misunderstanding” of the responsibilities of bishops and archbishops. In a statement on Saturday, the Diocese of Newcastle said Sentamu, an honorary assistant bishop, would be required to step down from ministry duties indefinitely. It said: “Following the publication of the independent lessons learnt review into the Church of England’s handling of allegations against the late Rev Trevor Devamanikkam, and the response of those criticised, the Bishop of Newcastle, Helen-Ann Hartley, having taken appropriate advice, yesterday required Lord Sentamu, honorary assistant bishop in Newcastle Diocese, to step back from active ministry until both the findings and his response can be explored further. “The archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, is fully supportive of this decision. The Diocese of Newcastle remains committed to the highest standards of safeguarding which seeks always to place victims and survivors at the heart of this vital work.” The C of E commissioned the report to examine how it handled allegations by Matthew Ineson that he was repeatedly raped as a teenager in the 1980s by Devamanikkam, who later killed himself. In 2013, Sentamu acknowledged a letter from Ineson which detailed the sexual abuse with the words: “Please be assured of my prayers and best wishes during this testing time.” The C of E is not expected to impose sanctions on any individual as a result of the review’s findings.

GOOD

Putin doesn’t care that 20,000 of his soldiers are dead, he’ll get more – unless powerful forces in Moscow

IN the struggle for freedom in Ukraine, a crater-strewn quagmire called Highway T0504 is taking on historic significance. It is the last route out of the city of Bakhmut for the country’s troops, whose fierce resistance has taken the lives of an estimated 10,000 Wagner Russian mercenaries in the past six months, according to new US intelligence. Under intense artillery fire, Ukrainian forces make perilous thunder runs up and down this strategic stretch of road from Bakhmut to the safety of nearby Kostyantynivka. It enables them to bring in supplies and take out casualties from a city that both the Russian president, Vladimir Putin , and his bloody private Wagner Group army are determined to claim. These mercenaries have so little regard for their men that they shoot them dead if they dare to turn back when faced with Ukrainian bullets and bombs. Intelligence suggests that 60 to 70 per cent of Wagner’s ground troops will die in every assault — when often the aim is just to dig a trench a bit closer to opposition lines. It is clear why Putin is engaged in such World War Two -style warfare, conducting a siege reminiscent of Stalingrad — although in this case it is the Russians who are the attackers. Putin is in desperate need of victory, however small or tactically insignificant it may be. His once-feared army has attacked Vuhledar and Avdiivka and tried to push west from Kreminna over the winter, but it has failed to make any significant advances. Figures released by the US National Security Council this week suggest that 20,000 Russian personnel have died in the past six months across the front line, with another 80,000 badly injured. With spring already here, only Bakhmut offers the hope of success. The question many observers have been puzzling over is why Ukraine continues to defend a city which, to all intents and purposes, is lost to the enemy. Ukraine’s military never gives out figures for its casualties, but there are suggestions it has been losing between 100 and 200 troops a week in Bakhmut. While that is far fewer than the Russians, those losses are painful. Many think the Ukrainians view the fight for the city as a way to deplete Putin’s forces. But I wonder if they want to deny Russian troops a morale-boosting victory ahead of a spring offensive. I am sure the Ukrainians will launch an assault on the invader’s stretched defences very soon. Last week Nato announced it had delivered 98 per cent of the weaponry it had promised to President Volodymyr Zelensky . Ukraine has been given 230 main battle tanks, which is enough for two armoured brigades if they have the armoured fighting vehicles, armoured personnel carriers, artillery and air power to support them. Those two armoured brigades will give them the capacity to punch through a 30-mile front, but the whole line dividing the two sides is about 650 miles long. The Russians have built powerful defences in the south of eastern Ukraine, suggesting they think that is where the attack will come. Many commentators in the West are sceptical that Zelensky’s forces are capable of achieving a decisive victory. But there are no such doubts in this defiant nation. When they talk of victory, it is not just propaganda, they believe they can win. Ukrainian politicians are worried though that the West will cool on support if there is a continued stalemate. They fear that the longer this war drags on, the more likely it is that their allies will push them to the negotiating table. Anyone who thinks that withdrawing military support would end the conflict is gravely mistaken. Without Western aid they would fight a guerilla war which would continue for two generations. There is no hope either that Putin will be deterred by suffering 100,000 casualties in half a year. He can still find more men to send to the front even without another hugely unpopular national mobilisation. The Kremlin has opted for a “crypto mobilisation” where extra forces are mobilised through various means. The Russian authorities are determined to pull in anybody who avoided the draft last time and have made the latest annual 130,000 conscription virtually unavoidable. But morale among troops is poor because Russia doesn’t feed or supply them well. If Ukraine does rout Putin’s forces this year, then powerful forces within Moscow may finally turn on their defeated leader. That sounds optimistic, but it is what the government in Kyiv believes. Don’t rule it out because they have a habit of proving their doubters wrong. That’s why road T0504 could go down as the most famous road in this conflict. Deny Putin a boost today and tomorrow both he and his dispirited forces could collapse

BAD

Carmelo Anthony’s flawed genius hit different because I saw his faults in myself

I wasn’t prepared for Carmelo Anthony’s retirement announcement . One, because I thought he would, and should, play a few more years. He was still in game shape and could bring a veteran scoring presence to any team in the NBA. The second reason is because I am in the middle of the most consequential separation of my adult life with the woman I still consider my soul mate. As with Anthony, or Melo, as he is known affectionately by his fans, there was no obvious inciting incident. Melo and the game seemed to drift apart and neither could give the other what they wanted. The same can be said for my former partner and me. The video Melo released showcasing his amazing journey from the gang-infested streets of Baltimore, to the mountaintop of Syracuse, to becoming the ninth leading scorer in NBA history broke me. I had yet to cry for the ending of my relationship, but Monday’s news brought my grief to the fore: one of our favorite rituals was watching the NBA and cheering for the Knicks together. She was not a Knicks fan before we met. Our first date was watching the 2016 NBA finals at Hooters. Watching her cheer for LeBron James and the underdog Cleveland Cavaliers in the glow of a 100 televisions over a pitcher of Miller Lite was the moment I fell in love with her. When we spoke for the first time on Monday morning, it was to discuss where I would be moving. I asked her if she would help me find an apartment, as she was so much better than me at finding a deal. As the tears welled in my eyes, I apologized and told her that I was trying to be strong but that my favorite player was retiring, pushing me past my breaking point. The first year we dated, Melo was still on the team, surrounded by players far inferior to him and under the misguided “leadership” of Phil Jackson, who disgraced Melo at every turn. Knowing how much both of them meant to me, she gifted me a loving and empathetic “I’m sorry.” My partner was there when Melo was traded from the Knicks to Oklahoma City. We watched his abrupt exit from OKC after just a season, then again, a failed fit in Houston. We cheered together for his resurgence in Portland. And then hoped he would finally win it all with his buddy LeBron in Los Angeles. There’s no hidden irony in Melo’s career ending the same day as our relationship. Like Melo, it had been fading for some time. The acknowledgment that neither Melo nor I would experience the intimacy of winning was an unspoken understanding. That Melo never won it all in the NBA was one of the reasons I defended him with such vigor. I have always loved an underdog story, and Melo’s was one of the best. I kept a signed copy of his book, Where Tomorrows Aren’t Promised, by my bedside. For those who have escaped poverty and are learning how to be, it was my Bible. Melo’s mistakes, chasing the bag, and “love him or hate him” persona resonated with me, perhaps too deeply. Knicks fans have a mantra, “Once a Knick, always a Knick.” With Melo, it was more than that. He was the one player I would always go to war for. I saw so many of my failures in him. He was a player who never won it all and will be remembered in equal measure for his failings. In that, too, I relate. I might not have married the girl of my dreams, but I take solace in knowing I’m not the only one who has fallen short of their goals. Melo entered the NBA at the height of the one-man isolation circus. His off-the-dribble skill set fit perfectly in a league with Tracy McGrady, Allen Iverson, Vince Carter, and Kobe Bryant. But as the league evolved and superteams were formed in Boston, Miami, and Los Angeles, Melo chose the road alone, choosing the bag over free agency and teaming up with his 2003 draft class buddies, James and Dwyane Wade, in Miami. As the league continued to change, it left Melo behind. No longer were teams looking for the next great gunner, but instead, those who could plug and play within a team identity. No longer could you be the first option as a scorer. You had to play defense and make your teammates better. Those were two skills Melo never prioritized. His game had been enough. And why not? He had experienced winning the NCAA championship as a freshman at Syracuse while making the playoffs all eight seasons with the Denver Nuggets , who drafted him third overall. Like Melo, I, too, suffered from main-character syndrome. Growing up without any control over your circumstances, unable to escape trauma, poverty and environmental violence, can breed that kind of egocentric mindset. As an adult, I willed my existence to serve my needs, giving me the power I never had as a child. It caused me to be selfish and bend the world around me to my needs. This type of thinking can whisk everyone around you into a chaotic frenzy. For Melo, it created four teammates standing idly by while he unleashed one of the greatest bags of offensive tricks ever seen. For me, it created two different relationships, one for each of our point-of-views. Ultimately, we went from a team to separate people, and nobody won. But Melo’s seemingly unbreakable charm, the almost angelic naivety that his way would always win, was my favorite attribute of his. It’s the one trait I made for myself. It could be called arrogance or gall. It could create heroes or brutes. These binary perceptions embody the two drastically different responses to Melo’s legacy, as they reflect the differing points of view when a relationship dissolves. As a Knicks fan who started watching in 2002, I have only known pain. So for me, Melo arrived in New York as an epiphany. An All-Star 10 times, seven of his selections, including the NBA’s scoring title in 2013, were in a Knicks jersey from 2011 through 2017, the prime of his career. As a Knick, Melo provided my only glimpse of success in two decades: he averaged 24.7 points, seven rebounds, and 2.3 assists while making the All-Star team every season. Only eight other players have walked onto an NBA floor and scored more points than Melo. Only eight. This, as well as his three Olympic gold medals with Team USA, are just two of the reasons he was voted on the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team by his peers. Another reason is he never ran from the smoke. He took on every challenge by himself, for better or worse. Melo will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer when his time comes. But that won’t make up for how current coaches and executives have chosen to keep him out of the league. No one has stuck up for him, allowing him to go all season without a call, forcing him into a retirement outside of his own terms. There was no farewell tour or magic moment at the Garden. There was just a letter to those he loved that he was done. Melo was always the same, on and off the court. He never ran from the media, carrying a team, questions about his intentions, or difficult matchups. And like most of our lives, it didn’t turn out how he wanted. When I watched Melo on the court, I watched more than a player, but a fully realized person, flaws and all. Melo isn’t my favorite player just because of how good he was. He is my favorite player because he is the most relatable.

GOOD

$209bn a year is what fossil fuel firms owe in climate reparations. We want that paid

The truth is out, and it lays bare big oil’s plunder of the environment for commercial greed. Academics now estimate that the 21 top fossil fuel behemoths are liable for an estimated US$209bn annual reparation bill arising from their exploitation. But what’s more scandalous is that the governments and private investors that have set off an existential timebomb may not be held accountable, despite compelling evidence that they were complicit in the turbocharged, steroidal race for industrial expansion and dominance. For centuries now, Caribbeans of African descent have seen their demands for reparations arising from transatlantic chattel slavery blunted by former European colonial states on the basis that too much time has passed to establish social justice. However, that claim cannot be advanced in the face of an unfolding climate change apocalypse. Earlier this week, the United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, visited Jamaica and rehashed his lament that developed states had failed to fulfil their pledge of $100bn in climate mitigation financing . But the fact that he took that same line in 2022 and 2021 is proof, to us, of the impotence of his secretary generalship. That places the burden on vulnerable developing states to lobby more vigorously as a bloc. In conversation with me this week, Johnny Briceño, the prime minister of Belize , insisted that that major fossil fuel producers “have a moral and legal responsibility to the rest of countries suffering from climate change”, citing sea-level rise, more frequent and destructive hurricanes, warming waters and eroding coastlines as clear evidence of the dire consequences. The effects across the Caribbean are clear and irrefutable. The climate emergency is not merely an academic argument posited by tree-huggers; it is having sweeping socioeconomic impacts on people’s quality of life. Along Jamaica’s south coast, leisure seekers and vendors at popular beaches such as Hellshire in the east and Alligator Pond farther west have seen the coastline recede by up to 30m over two or three decades. Besides spells of extreme heat, the island has been in the throes of a months-long drought that has had severe implications for water supply and caused agricultural prices to spiral. Briceño believes that it would be logistically easier to extract climate justice through a special state-imposed tax in major developed countries that have fostered the greenhouse gas-emitting industries which have left a scorched-earth trail of destruction. And he is confident that corporate firms have the budgets to bear that cost. But the nub of the problem is who pays, and who will collect? There are several key issues that complicate the matter of climate reparations. Will the major fossil fuel producers based in the US and Europe yield to moral persuasion or other arm-twisting overtures? We cannot say. Those deep pockets, slicked with oil and cash, have for decades influenced government policy and will deploy the muscle of lobbyists to delay, or deny, a day of reckoning. Will oil and gas producers in the Middle East and Russia view any climate reparations policy that affects their companies as western geopolitical mischief? Armed with data and balance sheets, big oil will also argue that economic development in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Asia could not have been achieved without environmental consequences, and that the world is a net beneficiary of those investments. Even so, despite the difficulties and the apparent persuasiveness of those arguments, global powers must be pressed to take action now to right historical wrongs. Big oil’s appetite for expansion, with new horizons emerging in states such as Guyana, means that its unchecked march may trample the safeguards necessary to maintain environmental harmony. According to the Climate Accountability Institute , the global fossil fuel industry could be responsible for $23tn in lost GDP from climate impacts cumulatively by 2050. But Caribbean governments could also help themselves by imposing a reparation tax on major global oil, gas and coal investors operating in their territories. It can be done. It must be done. Failing to make polluters and despoilers pay their due would be a historic moral failure. André Wright is a former news and opinion editor at the Jamaica Gleaner Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here .

GOOD

ABC news chief regrets not defending Stan Grant earlier amid racist attacks

ABC news chief Justin Stevens says he regrets not defending Stan Grant earlier as the Q+A host faced racist attacks on social media fuelled by what he described as a “relentless campaign” against the ABC’s coronation broadcast from News Corp. Stevens accused News Corp of targeting the ABC because it was “trying to chip away [at] people’s sense of trust in what we do because we threaten their business model”. “I regret not doing this sort of interview 10 days ago,” Stevens told Raf Epstein on ABC Melbourne in response to Grant’s announcement he was stepping down from Q+A after Monday night. Grant targeted ABC management itself for a lack of support and accused the rightwing media of telling lies and distorting his words after he received “grotesque racist abuse” on social media and distortion and lies in the rightwing media. “I am writing this because no one at the ABC – whose producers invited me on to their coronation coverage as a guest – has uttered one word of public support,” he said. Stevens said he had apologised personally to the Wiradjuri journalist - as did the managing director , David Anderson – and he urged News Corp and other media critics to “come after me” rather than target ABC presenters like Grant, Tony Armstrong, Leigh Sales or Lisa Millar. “I’m the person who’s responsible ultimately for the journalism and the decisions,” he said. “I’m saying stop going after people for doing their jobs.” Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup The Australian, Sky News and radio broadcasters Neil Mitchell and Ray Hadley denounced the broadcaster for hosting a panel discussion about the impact of colonialism on Indigenous Australians and the relevance of the monarchy in 2023. Much of the commentary focused on Grant. Stevens said sections of the media engaged in a “piling on” “with a clear agenda” and that they played a part in “amplifying and giving agency” to the racist trolls on social media. He said the level of scrutiny applied to the ABC is not in the public interest and gave the example of a journalist from the Australian asking questions about an Indigenous ABC journalist after they had “pored over their social media”. News Corp has been approached for comment. Stevens earlier addressed a gathering of Indigenous and non-Indigenous staff outside the ABC in Sydney who were among staff across the nation to rally in solidarity with Grant. Other staff showed their support on social media. Racism is abhorrent. I stand with my friend and colleague Stan Grant. pic.twitter.com/KAcRbyBBHK They held signs and chanted “I stand with Stan” and “We reject racism”. Grant’s ex-wife, the SBS journalist Karla Grant, said the abuse had ramped up when he became Q+A host. Sign up to Guardian Australia's Morning Mail Our Australian morning briefing email breaks down the key national and international stories of the day and why they matter after newsletter promotion “The ABC management did nothing about it up until the last couple of days,” Grant told Guardian Australia. “It’s been quite hard for him to have to walk away from the job that he loves. But enough is enough.” The complaint about a lack of institutional support has prompted the ABC’s primary advisory body on issues relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, the Bonner Committee, to ask Anderson to review how the ABC handles Indigenous staff who are subjected to racism. Anderson announced the review on Sunday. Journalists are gathering at the ABC studios in Sydney in solidarity with Stan Grant. pic.twitter.com/oxL0iE4KC0 The newly appointed head of Indigenous news at the ABC, Suzanne Dredge, spoke to the gathering in Ultimo, which included supporters from the Indigenous public broadcaster NITV. “We want this to be a turning point for the ABC, for First Nations journalists, the media as a whole and for the Australian community,” Dredge said. Staff at ABC Southbank standing in solidarity with Wiradjuri, Dharawal and Gurrawin man Stan Grant. #IStandWithStan #WeRejectRacisim pic.twitter.com/mpYR9Gwqb9 “We need to call out racism and do more to address this awful blight on all of us. The impact it has on First Nations communities across the country is devastating. We know First Nations and diverse journalists are targeted more than anyone else on social media.” Grant’s wife, the ABC journalist Tracey Holmes, and Sales, Jeremy Fernandez, Norman Swan, and NITV reporters Lowanna Grant and Lola Forester, as well as Grant’s family, attended the Sydney rally. Stevens acknowledged the First Nations journalists present. “We know you’re hurting,” he said. “And we are here to say we stand alongside you. You are not alone.”

GOOD

Michael Vaughan returns to BBC cricket coverage for Ashes summer

Michael Vaughan is to return to the BBC and play a key part in its cricket coverage this summer after being earlier this year cleared of making a racist remark during his time as a player at Yorkshire. The former England captain will broadcast on England’s first home Test this year, against Ireland at Lord’s, and for the Ashes series that follows it, with the corporation announcing that he will be contributing to their Test Match Special radio commentary and be among the guests for the Ireland Test’s highlights programme, to be broadcast on BBC Two on 1 June. Sign up to The Spin Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week’s action after newsletter promotion Vaughan was dropped from the BBC’s coverage of the last Ashes series, in Australia in 2021-22, after he was accused by Azeem Rafiq of making a racist comment before a Yorkshire game in 2009. Though he was initially included in the corporation’s plans for last summer’s Test coverage, once it emerged that he had been charged by the England and Wales Cricket Board with bringing the game into disrepute, in connection with that same incident, BBC Sport’s Black, Asian and minority ethnic group intervened, sending an email to staff at the corporation that described his involvement as “totally inexcusable” and “a shocking miscalculation”. The former England captain announced the following day that he would “step back from my work with the BBC for the time being”. But charges against him were dismissed in March by the ECB’s Cricket Discipline Commission. He had been accused of telling a group of four players of Asian descent that “there’s too many of you lot” before a Twenty20 game, but he consistently denied doing so and the CDC members concluded they were “not satisfied on the balance of probabilities that these words were spoken by Michael Vaughan at the time and in the specific circumstances alleged”. After that decision Vaughan said he had been “brought to the brink of falling out of love with cricket” butthat the outcome of the hearings “must not be allowed to detract from the core message that there can be no place for racism in the game of cricket, or society generally” and added: “I remain keen to help bring about positive change in any way that I can.”

GOOD

Whatever comes next, Bayern Munich must rip it up and start again

One of German football’s primary cliches is that of Bayern-Dusel – an undeserved helping of fortune that would help them somehow get it over the line in the last knockings, however well or badly they had played. A sense of inevitability. If you make your own luck in this game, though, Bayern Munich have not made nearly a good enough job of manufacturing any for themselves in recent weeks. For the champions, licking their wounds after Saturday evening’s stark, humbling home loss at the hands of RB Leipzig, Borussia Dortmund’s Sunday teatime victory at Augsburg was almost irrelevant, even if it did mark the chasers becoming the leaders with one game of the season to go – definitively taking the title’s fate out of Bayern’s hands. The mood, the level of introspection in Munich barely left a window for acknowledging Edin Terzić’s team doing their bit and getting set to take the title on next Saturday’s final round. This penultimate weekend of the Bundesliga had the feeling of a pivotal moment going back weeks; Bayern facing their most accomplished opponent in the run-in (and an opponent with something to play for) in Leipzig, with Dortmund travelling to a struggling team in Augsburg, just an hour to the west. For it to go quite this well for the latter, and quite as badly for the former, is more of a shock. BVB had their own psychological hurdles to jump. The sense that they were not used to dealing with the pressure of a genuine title race had grown in recent weeks as they tossed away a two-goal lead to 10 men at Stuttgart and failed to beat another cellar dweller at Bochum, the latter being when they last held pole position. There were nerves to conquer. Again they had the numerical advantage from the first half, when Felix Uduokhai was red-carded for dragging back Donyell Malen as he went through on goal. Dortmund had dominated a team still aiming to guarantee their Bundesliga safety – the shot count was 12-1 at half-time – but the jitters really started to creep in after Sébastien Haller put them in front with a smart finish from an angle. After a few scares, Haller’s second and a Julian Brandt strike finished it meaning if BVB beat Mainz at home next week, they will be champions. “It’s not magic,” said Haller. “It’s a lot of work.” For a team that was sixth at Christmas it is not far from miraculous, which is exactly how Terzić described Haller’s comeback from cancer . Yet it is Leipzig’s first win away at Bayern that will continue to resonate, and not just for what remains of this extraordinary season. It meant plenty for Marco Rose’s team too, ensuring their return to the Champions League next season when coupled with Union Berlin’s Saturday loss at Hoffenheim. They had trailed to Serge Gnabry’s wonderfully taken first-half goal but after Konrad Laimer – who will join Bayern in the summer – had thrashed the visitors level with 25 minutes to go, they didn’t even have to reach their best to find a path to victory. The manner of the equaliser was a case in point. Leipzig broke from a Bayern corner and as Jamal Musiala lost the ball to Laimer, they were briefly four-on-one, such was the lackadaisical nature of Bayern’s organisation. It wasn’t the slickest counter that Rose’s men have authored this season but once they did score, it felt as if there was only one winner. Leipzig had gently knocked on the door and watched as it fell off its hinges. After they took the lead from Christopher Nkunku’s penalty – the first of two Bayern conceded, taking them to nine penalties faced in the Bundesliga this season, a small window into their frequent defensive indiscipline – Mathys Tel had a half-chance, saved by Janis Blaswich. Yet the best opportunity fell to Nkunku, squandered on the break – again. Bayern were managing the feat of leaving themselves open on the counter while creating little in the way of chances. Dominik Szoboszlai wrapped it up with a second spot-kick. The talent is there for Bayern as ever, but the lack of leadership is striking. After David Alaba, Robert Lewandowski, Thiago and company (and with Arjen Robben and Franck Ribéry watching on, casting a shadow of the strength of will of Bayern past), the brand known for their winning DNA just didn’t have the personality to react here. Again. “The [Joshua] Kimmich, [Leon] Goretzka, [Leroy] Sané and Gnabry generation stands for sporting mediocrity in the national team, and they won’t make Bayern advance,” chided Kicker’s Frank Linkesch in an editorial. When the club’s supervisory board meet on 30 May there will be a bill to pay, and the only question is who will be emptying their pockets. Oliver Kahn is under the greatest pressure though it cannot be ruled out that he and the sporting director Hasan Salihamidźić will split the burden. Continuity is generally a good thing, and has been one of Bayern’s greatest strengths not just in the last 11 years, but going back to the 1990s, when Uli Hoeness and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge began to work in tandem. That principle assumes, though, that there’s something worth hanging on to. Whether that is the case now is something weighing heavily on Munich minds. The increased presence of Hoeness at matches hints at a return to power and his good relationship with Thomas Tuchel suggests the coach will continue, even if the decision to fire Julian Nagelsmann looks increasingly misguided . The rebuild promises to be painful and expensive, with an elite defensive midfielder and centre-forward the minimum requirements. As Süddeutsche Zeitung’s Philipp Schneider noted, even Heidi Klum had her say, filming a stressed-looking Kahn from a few rows behind in the Allianz Arena and posting on Instagram (she would keep Kahn but get rid of Salihamidźić). This is full-on, inescapable, everybody’s-talking-about-it water cooler chat in Germany. And there are many more conversations to be had before Bayern are pointed back in the right direction. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion Hertha’s relegation was finally confirmed by Keven Schlotterbeck’s stoppage-time headed equaliser for Bochum, which keeps the latter in the playoff spot. The Berliners still matter, as evidenced by a gargantuan crowd of 70,692 gathered at Olympiastadion for the last rites (“tell the mercenaries to piss off”, said one banner in that crowd) but they face a long road back. Freiburg 2-0 Wolfsburg, Hoffenheim 4-2 Union Berlin, Werder Bremen 1-1 Köln, Schalke 2-2 Eintracht Frankfurt, Hertha Berlin 1-1 VfL Bochum, Bayern Munich 1-3 RB Leipzig, Mainz 1-4 VfB Stuttgart, Augsburg 0-3 Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen 2-2 Borussia Mönchengladbach Schalke had an incredible start against Eintracht Frankfurt with Simon Terrode, playing his last home game, heading them in front after 48 seconds but begin the final day second bottom after a 2-2 draw, needing to win at Leipzig to have any chance of escaping. Stuttgart, who owed their 4-1 win at Mainz to an impressive turn by substitute Chris Führich, are out of the bottom three. On Friday night Freiburg, arguably, were the heroes of the weekend, with their deserved 2-0 win over Wolfsburg setting up the rest of the programme – not least motivating Leipzig to dig deep and ensure their top-four place. It is either Union or Freiburg who will take the final Champions League place; it will go to Berlin if Union beat Werder Bremen, barring a huge turnaround in goal difference.

GOOD

Greek PM’s election win driven by recovery from economic crisis

If voters handed the prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s conservative New Democracy party a thumping 20-point win and its best result since 2007 on Sunday, it was at least partly because they credited him with steering Greece to economic safety. Three mammoth bailouts totalling €280bn averted disaster during a decade-long crisis that reached its peak in 2015, and Greece only emerged from a draconian regime of spending controls ordered by its international lenders last summer. The human cost was immense. Unemployment peaked at 27.5% – and at 58% for the under-25s – as Greece’s economy shrank by 25% in what economists now agree was a downturn that hit the country as hard as the Great Depression of the 1930s hit the US. In the five years from 2008 to 2013, Greeks became on average 40% poorer, according to data from the country’s statistical agency analysed by Reuters. By 2014, disposable household income in Greece had sunk below 2003 levels. With unemployment soaring, many households became reliant on the pensions of older family members to survive – but repeated cuts left 45% of pensioners receiving monthly payments below the poverty line of €665 by 2015. That year, one in five Greeks were assessed as experiencing severe material deprivation, more than double the 2008 figure, and almost 4 million people – more than a third of the population – as being “at risk of poverty or social exclusion”. An estimated 800,000 Greeks had no access to medical treatment after losing their health insurance through unemployment during the crisis. Cases of severe depression almost trebled and, according to a study in the British Medical Journal, the suicide rate rose by 35%. Greece also suffered a devastating brain drain. The population declined by 400,000 between 2010 and 2015, with a 2013 study finding more than 120,000 professionals – including doctors, engineers and scientists – had left since 2010. A subsequent study found that of all those who fled the country, about 90% had a first degree, more than 60% a master’s degree, and 11% a PhD. In his first four-year term, Mitsotakis – a 55-year-old Harvard-educated former banker – oversaw unexpectedly high growth, a steep fall in unemployment and a country on course to regain its investment-grade credit rating after years of “junk” status. Greece’s GDP has now more or less returned to where it was when it first defaulted in 2010. Unemployment has more than halved from its peak, and taxes have gone down – and pensions and the minimum wage up – for the first time since the crisis began. Sign up to This is Europe The most pivotal stories and debates for Europeans – from identity to economics to the environment after newsletter promotion The conservatives say they have overseen the country’s largest infrastructure programme since 1975, with more than 2,300 projects under way across the country, including motorways, airports, ports and marinas. Things are still far from perfect. The severe recession and years of emergency borrowing left Greece with a huge national debt – it reached €400bn last December – and hit household incomes so hard they could take another decade to recover. Crippling austerity – tax rises, public sector wage controls, pension cuts – left many exhausted and sunk into private debt, low wages and job insecurity; last year, almost half of all Greek households could barely get by on their monthly income. But even if Europe’s cost of living crisis is biting harder in Greece than elsewhere, the country is still a long way from where it was a decade ago, when despair turned into riots on the streets – and for that, voters appear to have thanked Mitsotakis.

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Nvidia gains $185bn in value after predicting AI-driven boom in chip demand

The value of the US tech company Nvidia has soared by a quarter after it predicted a boom in demand for its computer chips to meet the needs of artificial intelligence products such as ChatGPT . Nvidia’s share price rose by 25% in early trading on the back of the announcement, and gave it a market valuation of more than $940bn (£760bn) after stock markets opened on Wall Street on Thursday, up from $755bn on Wednesday evening. The share price had already more than doubled over the course of 2023, amid huge optimism over the rapid progress of generative AI products. These require massive datacentres full of semiconductor chips to operate. The hype was kicked off late last year after the startup OpenAI revealed ChatGPT, a chatbot capable of producing extraordinarily human-like answers to users’ queries – albeit with problems around accuracy . So rapid has the development of similar technology been in recent months – including realistic pictures, audio and video – that even AI experts are unclear about the potential capabilities and dangers of the technology. Nvidia had struggled in 2022 with a slowdown in demand for its graphics chips. It also failed to buy UK-headquartered chip designer Arm from Japan’s Softbank, after competition regulators blocked the deal. However, its share price easily surpassed its previous all-time high of $333.76 from late 2021 when US markets opened on Thursday. In early trading it reached $385.84 a share. Companies across the economy are racing to show how they will incorporate AI into their existing businesses. Some analysts warn that an AI tech bubble may be forming, while chip companies are also increasingly caught up in the geopolitics of the US and China amid tit-for-tat restrictions on semiconductor exports. Jensen Huang, the co-founder and chief executive of Nvidia, said this week that the US risks causing “enormous damage” by restricting trade. Last October, the Biden administration introduced export controls that cut China off from certain semiconductor chips made anywhere in the world with US tools. On Sunday, Beijing responded by telling operators of important infrastructure in China to stop buying products from the US chipmaker Micron Technology. Nevertheless, the rush for AI has provided a huge boost to businesses such as Nvidia which provide the hardware needed to run complex models with billions of inputs. On Wednesday, the company reported revenue of $7.2bn for the three months to the end of April, 10% above predictions from analysts. Yet it was the forecasts of huge future sales that fixated investors. Nvidia forecasted revenues of $11bn for the three months to the end of July – more than 50% higher than the $7.2bn predicted by Wall Street. Nvidia “absolutely blew away prior expectations”, wrote Matt Bryson, an analyst at the investment bank Wedbush Securities, in a note to clients. “Off the top of my head, I can’t remember a semiconductor/hardware company as big as Nvidia (multiple billions in sales) ever surprising with a guide this much higher versus expectations in my 20 years covering technology stocks.” Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion Mark Lipacis, an analyst at the investment bank Jefferies, said he expected Nvidia’s growing data centre revenues to surpass the combined sales of central processing units from Intel and AMD, two of the stalwart chipmakers. Huang said he expected his company to benefit from a huge shift in data centres towards more specialised chips made by his firm as companies raced “to apply generative AI into every product, service and business process”. He said Nvidia was “significantly increasing our supply to meet surging demand” for its data centre products.

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The Guardian view on American-Chinese relations: looking beyond governments

Richer and more complex stories lie behind dominant narratives, as the British Museum’s fascinating new exhibition, China’s Hidden Century , reminds us. It challenges the conventional wisdom that the country’s “long 19th century” was solely a time of decay and decline. It documents domestic turmoil and aggression and plunder by foreign powers – notably Britain – but also resilience and innovation. By looking beyond the Qing court, it includes individuals, ideas and possibilities that complicate our understanding of China’s identity and trajectory. Alongside splendid imperial robes, visitors see a cook’s uniform. They hear not only Empress Dowager Cixi’s words, but those of the feminist and revolutionary martyr Qiu Jin . At a time when hostility towards the west and especially the US is growing in China, and vice versa, looking beyond headlines and politicians to other parts of the story is crucial. When intergovernmental relations hit the rocks, the contacts between societies and individuals – whether through tourism, academic discussion or shared cultural interests – are even more important. They can offer a less pressured and public space for exploring options. They can help to build understanding and prevent escalation. Conversely, domestic nationalism can make it harder for governments to pull back in a crisis even if they wish to. As the American and Chinese scholars Scott Kennedy and Wang Jisi warn in a recent report on academic exchange, Breaking the Ice : “Less connectivity is not only a product of worsening ties, it also has contributed to the decline of relations ... A rise in estrangement reinforced fears about the other side’s motives.” Gallup says that the proportion of Americans with a favourable view of China has plummeted from 38% in 2018 to just 15% this year – a record low. While it is extremely hard to gauge public opinion in China, the business intelligence firm Morning Consult says it found that 66% of adults saw the US as an enemy or unfriendly, while 64% of Americans believed the same of China. A decade ago, 15,000 Americans were studying in China; in the 2020-21 academic year there were just 382 . (The US has seen a less dramatic decline in Chinese students.) Severe pandemic restrictions were primarily responsible – but numbers were already dropping, and there is little confidence that they will return to anywhere near the old levels. China’s detention of two Canadians after Ottawa arrested Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, at the behest of the US, its sanctioning of academics over criticisms of human rights abuses in Xinjiang and the introduction of Hong Kong’s draconian national security law have made scholars and others understandably reluctant to travel there. Even businesses, which have often sought to push back against tougher US action, are having second thoughts . Economic stagnation and governmental attempts to “derisk” supply chains are key, but recent raids at high-profile consulting firms that help foreign businesses assess investments have highlighted concerns about staff safety. On the US side, the surge in anti-Asian hate , the targeting of Chinese scholars for scrutiny and now state legislation banning or restricting land purchases by Chinese nationals have all made it less attractive. Dr Kennedy and Prof Wang note that non-governmental exchanges are necessary though not sufficient to stabilise ties, and urge both sides to restore connections “across the entire span of the two societies”. The aim is laudable. It will, however, be extremely hard to realise. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here .

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Fubar review – Arnie’s a natural comedian in this unstoppably daft crime drama

It is painful for a parent to realise that their darling daughter has grown up into a foul-mouthed, substance-abusing brawler. So Arnold Schwarzenegger isn’t exactly pleased when it happens to him in this unstoppably daft hokum. When Schwarzenegger – AKA undercover CIA agent Luke Brunner – arrives at the baddies’ lair in Guyana for his final mission, there is unpleasantness going on in a makeshift boxing ring. As he approaches, he realises that one of them is a woman. And not just any woman, but one so complacent in her sense of imminent victory that she is smoking a cigarette mid-bout. He has, he realises, seen that woman before. But where? We cut to Arnie in closeup, as unreadably impassive as that moment 40-odd years ago when, having arrived from elsewhere on the space-time continuum, he stood butt-naked before a red-necked yokel and said: “I need your clothes, your boots and your motorcycle.” We cut back to the smoking woman whose thighs are by now pinning her foe in a chokehold. “How’s my ass taste, bitch?” she asks, hopefully rhetorically. Brunner has heard that voice before. Of course! It’s his daughter, Emma, whom he thought was a straight-A student and accomplished violinist who spent downtime being geeky with her twee fiance. Instead, she seems to enjoy developing muscles that could break not just walnuts but a henchman’s neck. Their eyes meet. Both look furious: he, because of her cussing; she, because she is a government agent and this old fart is going to blow her cover. But there is probably also another reason for their wrath: both realise how much family therapy is in their future. Fubar is as high concept as Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, Mr & Mrs Smith or Meghan and Harry’s Netflix series. Like those, it involves an unlikely pair who have to battle some pretty ripe MacGuffin while working out their issues. Essentially, Brunner should have been raising his daughter instead of spending the past 40 years making America (stand and salute if you aren’t already) yet more full of itself, a lifestyle choice that cost him his marriage and meaningful relationship with his offspring. Both have been concealing from the other that they were agents. Now they must not only deal with their baggage, but retrieve a suitcase containing WMD with which a high-IQ paranoid megalomaniac with daddy issues intends – yawn – to hold the world to ransom. But surely, you ask, isn’t Arnie too old to be in the field despite the overwhelming gerontocratic nature of recent US presidents suggesting oldsters can do anything? That’s a good point or it would be, but for the fact that Schwarzenegger has for decades specialised in playing buff assets near the end of their shelf lives. In Terminator 2, after losing his arm and most of his face in a fight with a superior model, he allowed something like human emotion to overcome his cyborg circuitry, adding sadly: “I need a vacation.” Here, he is at the end of his tenure, dreaming of reuniting with his wife and taking her for a world tour on his predictable sounding tragic-bloke-retirement-boat. Instead, he is roped into that most venerable trope: the old hand who has his retirement cake snatched from him to do One Last Job. Yet again, Schwarzenegger shows the viewer that he is chiefly a comedian. Hence Twins with Danny DeVito, Kindergarten Cop and now this. Only those who failed to realise this truth cast him in straight roles such as Conan the Barbarian or California’s governor, lead parts that have seen him come unstuck. Sign up to What's On Get the best TV reviews, news and exclusive features in your inbox every Monday after newsletter promotion The backstory doesn’t make a lick of sense. We are to believe that, years ago, Arnie bumped off the current whacko’s dad, paying for the fatherless lad’s expensive education, and yet the boy grew up to become even more evil than his father. Perhaps, Fubar is intended as an allegory of CIA incompetence, showing that the agency starts as many fires as it puts out. If that’s true, then better that the CIA be wound down and the world’s megalomaniacs go about their business. Only one problem. For years I’ve been undecided as to whether Bruce Forsyth or Arnold Schwarzenegger is the catchphrase king. Arnie offers the call and response of “Nice to see you! To see you nice!” while Brucie’s “Hasta la vista, baby,” was recently repurposed by our useless last-but-two prime minister before he was terminated, too. Or maybe it was the other way round. Here, sad to report, Arnie’s catchphrase is the following: “That’s it, and that’s all.” He repeats it endlessly, though why is beyond me. When all those years ago he said, “I’ll be back”, I had hoped for something better. Fubar is on Netflix

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How training dogs to chase bears might just save a grizzly or two

The dog is moving through the grasses of the open meadow, closely followed by bear biologist Carrie Hunt, who is observing his reactions as he sees the grizzly bear carcass for the first time. “Find it,” says Hunt, encouraging the two-month-old puppy. The puppy’s ears and tail are up as he approaches the bear cautiously, but with the confidence that Hunt is looking for in a bear conflict dog. This is a Karelian bear dog, a hardy breed from Finland known to be fearless and capable of standing up to large mammals such as brown bears and moose. People once used the dogs to hunt big game in regions that now are part of Russia and Finland. Today, in Montana , Hunt is using the dogs to keep bears alive. Hunt founded the Wind River Bear Institute in 1996, where she trains Karelian bear dogs to scare away bears that get too close to human settlements and that would otherwise be killed. “I wanted to make things safer for bears and people,” she says. Karelian puppies undergo a series of tests in which trainers teach them the right behaviours and evaluate their personality and how they react in situations that involve stuffed bears and cougars placed in the field. Just 20% of a litter will make the cut as bear conflict dogs, where a wrong move or slightest hesitation can lead to serious injury. “We are looking to figure out which ones have the right stuff. It is important for the safety of the people we are placing the dogs with,” says Nils Pedersen, director of the institute. “What we want to see is a dog that has an intrinsic motivation to hunt and find anything new and scary.” When they are ready, the dogs are deployed across North America – for example, working with the Alaska fire service to keep firefighters safe on callouts and at the same time reduce the number of bears that are killed each year. Between 2020 and 2022, dog handler Greg Colligan worked with one puppy on its first assignment helping to resolve conflicts between people and grizzly bears in Alaska’s Denali national park and preserve. “He was integrated into almost every facet of what we do as a wildlife management crew,” says Colligan, former lead wildlife technician for the park. “He helped us detect bears and push them out of an area if we needed to. He was key to everything we did.” Karelian bear dogs are increasingly being used by wildlife and land managers not just in the US, but in Canada and even Japan to encourage social distancing between humans and wildlife. In North America, bears live in landscapes where the human footprint is expanding . As a result, people and predators are forced to share space, setting the stage for increased human-wildlife conflicts. Bears may be tempted to visit human-dominated areas with easy to access food sources such as rubbish bins, chicken coops, bird feeders or fruit trees, especially in the summer and autumn, when they need to store energy for hibernation. With warmer temperatures resulting from the climate crisis and more human foods readily available, bears may even delay hibernation . In Nevada, an increase in the black bear population is colliding with a growth in urban development. Game biologist Heather Reich reports that between 1987 and 1991, the Nevada Department of Wildlife received an average of 14 calls reporting conflicts with bears a year. Between 2007 and 2011, that number grew to more than 500, and in 2022, 1,450 calls were received. Reich attributes the latest surge to a late spring frost that killed the bears’ natural resources such as berries. “This drove bears down into urban areas searching desperately for food,” Reich says. Clayton Lamb of the University of British Columbia studied demographic data for more than 2,500 brown bears in British Columbia over 40 years and found that in human-dominated landscapes, for every bear that lived to 14 years, 29 did not. By contrast, only four died during the same period in a wilderness area with no people to contend with. The animals that were able to survive in human-dominated areas had adopted a nocturnal lifestyle to avoid people. “If a bear can learn to live near people, they can survive, but very few bears make it to adulthood and figure out how to live in that landscape,” Lamb says. In Nevada, wildlife managers first tried to scare human-habituated black bears away with noise makers and rubber bullets, but that did not always work. “The bears very quickly learned that was not that scary and that nothing bad happened,” Reich says. In 2001, the wildlife department started employing Karelian bear dogs. Now, when a problem bear ventures too close, Reich and her colleagues catch the animal. Then, when the bear is released, the dogs chase it away in a brief pursuit. “For the bear, it is a really bad experience,” Reich says. Bears are naturally wary of canids as coyotes and wolves can kill their cubs. “The dogs have a body language, an animal-to-animal conversation that speaks much stronger to the bear than I can,” Reich says. The lesson taught by the dogs is one that the bears seem to remember. A study of black bears in the Tahoe Basin led by Mario Klip, environmental scientist at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, found that bears that had encounters with Karelian bear dogs became more nocturnal, were less active in winter, and spent less time in urban areas. “The dogs make me a better biologist because they allow me to keep bears in the landscape as long as I possibly can, rather than having to kill and remove them,” Reich says. With their keen sense of smell, bear dogs can also detect the presence of a bear early, allowing wildlife managers to take preventive measures while staying safe. “They allow me to do things with bears that I couldn’t do as a single human,” Reich says. “We have bears that den under homes. It feels a lot better crawling under these buildings with the dogs to help flush that bear out than me alone.” Ultimately, while the dogs can help save a bear’s life, humans must also do their part by securing garbage in bear-resistant containers or installing electric fences. At the Wind River Bear Institute, Hunt places an emphasis on “bear shepherding”. “It is about teaching bears and people the correct behaviours so they can live in the same area,” she says, but that will only work if people remove the lure of garbage and other temptations. As Karelian bear dogs are generally people-friendly, they can help educate people about the need to adopt behaviours that will reduce conflict. “People want to talk to you when you show up with the dogs,” Colligan says. “The dogs are a way for us to connect with bears in a human-bear conflict situation, but they also allow us as humans to connect to each other.” Find more age of extinction coverage here , and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on Twitter for all the latest news and features

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Builders picking Lotto ball 39 had best chance of winning UK national lottery in 2022

Builders were once again the luckiest by employment type among national lottery players in a year when more than one millionaire was made each day. The trade was followed by teachers, drivers, retail workers and administration staff, said Camelot, operator of the lottery. In a roundup of facts for 2022 Camelot also found the number 39 was the Lotto ball cropping up most often in jackpot-winning combinations; it made 17 appearances. Other “lucky” numbers included 21, 13, 50 and 58. But perhaps it would be wise to avoid number eight as this ball appeared least often in winning selections – coming up just five times. If astrology is your thing then Cancerians clearly have the Midas touch, coming in as the top star sign for winners. Leo and Aries were the joint-second luckiest. Throughout 2022, 375 players become millionaires, sharing £1.3bn between them. In the EuroMillions draw on 10 May, Joe and Jess Thwaite, from Gloucestershire, won £184m, becoming Britain’s biggest ever national lottery winners. However, they were knocked off the top spot just months later when an anonymous ticket-holder scooped £195,707,000 in a July EuroMillions draw. More than £4.5bn was paid out in prize money, with 782 players winning at least £50,000. Andy Carter, Camelot’s senior winners’ adviser at the national lottery, said: “It’s been the busiest year of millionaire-making, including creating the biggest winners we have ever seen. Supporting our amazing players through these life-changing events is a privilege.” The national lottery said it had raised a total of £47bn for good causes, with more than £1.9bn being raised in the last reported financial year to March 2022. Camelot said: “From helping projects making a difference in communities across the country to supporting our athletes at this year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, every national lottery ticket bought helped to fund hundreds of thousands of good-cause projects.”

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University of York’s favourite mallard is a dead duck, fear staff

Long Boi, the grand old duck of York, is presumed dead after going missing for several weeks, leaving behind grieving students at his favourite university watering holes. The 70cm-tall drake was celebrated at the University of York for his unusual height and gregarious nature, delighting students with his appearances around campus for several years. The university – where alumni include the former Times editor John Witherow and the comedian Harry Enfield – described the duck as “a much-loved character” but said that after two months without a confirmed sighting it had been “forced to conclude” that Long Boi had passed away. “We appreciate this is not the resolution that many people were wishing for, but hope that acknowledging his passing allows us to focus on celebrating his life and commemorating the time he spent with us,” the university said. “During his time on campus, Long Boi brought joy to staff, students, alumni and visitors to York. Our beautiful campus and wonderful grounds team provided a rich life for him during the four years he lived with us.” Like many influencers, Long Boi first found fame on social media; his Instagram account, @longboiyork , has more than 60,000 followers. By 2021, he had been discussed on late-night US talkshows and was championed by the BBC Radio 1 presenter Greg James. James paid tribute to the mallard on Thursday’s Radio 1 breakfast show, announcing plans for a quack-a-long ceremony. “It’s not a minute’s silence because that’s not what Long Boi would have wanted,” James said. The duck inspired a range of merchandise, including Valentine’s Day cards reading “I long for you” and Long Boi fanclub T-shirts, alongside “University of Long Boi” stickers. But Long Boi was not the only animal with academic honours. At the University of East Anglia, a ginger cat named Sylvester regularly attends lectures and has its own T-shirts on sale through the students’ union.

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Eleven things you shouldn’t miss in more than 1,000 pages of 2023 federal budget papers

This year’s budget is made up of 997 pages of spending and revenue measures across four budget papers, along with a 74-page glossary, 48 press releases, a 15-page speech, plus sundry fact sheets, bills, portfolio budget statements and explanatory memorandums. In short, it’s a lot of reading, even for a six-hour lock-up . So we found reprieve in a search of interesting bits that might otherwise get overlooked. Here are 11 of them. The pandemic turned Australia’s population predictions upside down with the first outflow of migrants since the second world war. Though the last two years saw immigration pick up again, it is not predicted to return to the level forecast before the pandemic until 2029-30. And when that happens, the total population is expected to be 2.5% lower than pre-pandemic forecasts (because fewer babies are being made). Australia’s overseas spy agency, Asis, will get $468.8m to modernise. What that means, we don’t know, and they’re probably not allowed to tell you (without also killing you). Perhaps it’s moving from wiretapping landlines to digitised espionage – but whatever it is, it’s not cheap. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Most of us are familiar with scam text messages about missing toll payments or parcels delivered to the wrong address. The government is cracking down on them with $86.5m over four years, including a $58m national anti-scam centre, $17.6m for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to identify and take down phishing websites and other websites which promote investment scams, and $10.9m to establish and enforce an SMS sender ID registry to impede scammers seeking to spoof industry and government brand names in message headers. Higher taxed tobacco will pay for new anti-vaping campaigns that will roll out over the next four years . There’s $63.4m in the advertising campaign and $29.5m for support services to help people quit smoking and vaping in a move to stamp out the habit. The government talks a big game about Australia’s involvement in the global space industry but we will continue to float by the US and Russia as a mere speck following the budget. The Australian Space Agency will get $34.2m over three years – probably as much as Nasa spends on paperclips each year. Questacon – the highlight of every year six student’s trip to Canberra – will get $59.7m over four years and $15.2m a year ongoing for upgrades and to boost Australia’s Stem education and science engagement. High hopes are held for much of that funding going towards gold-standard refurbishment of the vertical slide. Say farewell to dreams of cheap post-pandemic travel. The cost of leaving Australia by sea or air will increase from $60 to $70 a passenger from 1 July 2024, which is expected to raise $520m over five years. Even Alan Joyce would blush at that kind of cash grab. Sign up to Guardian Australia's Morning Mail Our Australian morning briefing email breaks down the key national and international stories of the day and why they matter after newsletter promotion The National Measurement Institute (it may surprise some readers that Australia has a National Measurement Institute) will get $51.2m over two years to make sure our metres, litres and kilograms add up. Anthony Albanese was in Hobart to announce $305m in funding for the Hobart stadium , so it’s not exactly a surprise that this was enshrined in the budget papers. Though delightful to some AFL supporters, many in Tasmania believe the money could be better spent on their severe housing crisis. There’s also $3.4bn over 10 years for the 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games, including $2.5bn to develop Brisbane Arena and up to $935m for new or upgraded venues. Politicians will get additional funds for “frontline electorate staff resources”. The measure also increases funding for politicians’ travel expenses, as it “extend(s) the nominated traveller expense entitlement to every parliamentarian”, with a total cost of $159m over four years. Say goodbye (we wish) to online echo-chambers of hand-picked false-facts: $7.9m will be invested into the Australian Communications and Media Authority to combat online misinformation and disinformation in an effort to reduce the spread of false content on global digital platforms. And our good colleagues at the Australian Associated Press will get $5m over two years. Australia’s national broadcasters are also leaving this budget better funded, with $6bn going to the ABC and $1.8bn to SBS – including $45m dedicated to content for Chinese- and Arabic-speaking communities.

GOOD

Bashar al-Assad seizes his chance for a comeback after Syrian earthquake

Walking through Aleppo in Syria last month, Bashar al-Assad did not look like a man shouldering the fate of a nation. As he posed for photos with locals, who queued to meet him inspecting damage from the earthquake that had devastated parts of northern Syria , Assad appeared to show as much relief as concern for victims. The country’s grinning leader seemed to realise a moment had finally arrived. Within days of the disaster, international aid chiefs were clamouring for an audience and asking the Syrian president for permission to reach even worse hit communities outside government control. Global bodies were once again deferring to Assad as the sovereign leader of a unified state. Within days, so too were Syria’s neighbours, as foreign ministers from the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Egypt, and officials from other Arab states travelled to Damascus for an audience, under the pretext of offering condolences. The symbolism, however, fed a seismic shift of a different nature. For the first time in more than a decade of war and chaos, throughout which Assad had been a pariah in the eyes of his regional rivals, he was now being courted as a solution to the crisis that had earned him the tag in the first place. The man who had presided over the disintegration of his own country , the exile of half its population and an economic ruin almost unmatched anywhere in the world for the past 70 years, had clearly been granted a comeback. A 20 February state visit to Oman, complete with red carpets, motorcades and flag-lined streets, reinforced his return. Syria’s readmission to the Arab League will probably follow later this year, cementing Assad’s rehabilitation. “This has been a long time coming,” said a regional intelligence figure, who refused to be identified. “The case could no longer be made that the region was safer with Syria encouraged to remain rogue.” Just what Assad has been expected to forgo, or any political leverage his renewed friends may hold over him, remains unclear. Senior UAE and Saudi Arabian officials are known to have pushed hard on two issues; separating Syria from Iranian influence and stopping the export of vast amounts of the drug Captagon , a trade name of the synthetic stimulant fenethylline hydrochloride, to neighbouring states. In March last year, Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, and the UAE’s president, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, set the scene for the shift now taking place, inviting Assad for an informal visit to the UAE . Both men spelled out what was expected of Assad, positioning him as a wayward leader who could be invited back into the fold, if he changed his ways. One year on, little appears to have changed except in regional attitudes. A drug industry backed by Syria’s most important institutions continues to transform the country into a narco state, rivalling Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel for the scale of state involvement. With revenues from the widespread export of homemade pills nearing $6bn – a figure rivalling its gross domestic product – there seems little on the economic horizon that could prise Syrian leaders away from such a bonanza. Last month, Emirati officials intercepted 4.5m Captagon pills hidden in cans of beans. The Italian authorities, meanwhile, ordered the arrest of a Syrian citizen, Taher al-Kayali, whom they accused of coordinating a shipment of 14 tonnes of the stimulant, destined for Libya and Saudi Arabia in 2020. Italian police say they are certain the drugs came from Syria and could be linked to the Iranian-backed Shia militant group Hezbollah. During a trip to Jordan last week, the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, was lobbied heavily by the country’s monarch, King Abdullah, to put more pressure on Assad to stop the Captagon trade, which regional and western intelligence officers believe is being orchestrated by his younger brother, Maher al-Assad, and facilitated mainly through the Syrian army’s 4th Division, which is under his direct control. Abdullah also emphasised the role of Iranian militias in the drug trade across southern Syria, which has posed formidable problems for Jordan’s border forces and now also offers a lucrative trade in Iraq. Just how Assad might pivot from Iran, when it remains so central to his fortunes, remains a moot point. That demand was further clouded on Friday by a surprise detente between Riyadh and Tehran, which had been at odds throughout the post-Arab spring years in which Syria, Lebanon and Yemen have often been battlegrounds for wars fought by their proxies. The fact that Assad has reached the point of rehabilitation is in no small part due to the backing he received from Iran, which has used the insurrection against him to consolidate a bridgehead in Syria through which it can deepen its support for the most important arm of its foreign policy - Hezbollah in Lebanon. Prising the leader of two decades from the arms of Iran, in such a context, would be almost existential for one of his main guarantors. “It is not a risk he could take,” said the regional official. “The Emiratis and the Saudis haven’t thought this one through.” Another demand made of Assad – serious negotiations with the Syrian opposition to reach a political solution and encourage the safe return of refugees – appears equally dubious. Even during the darkest years of the war, in which Assad was twice saved from defeat by his backers, discussions with opposition groups were never taken seriously and any agreements between both sides were centred on which part of Syria defeated communities should be exiled to. Repeated western- and Russian-backed gatherings in Geneva and Astana in Kazakhstan since 2013 failed to generate real momentum, and demands for political power-sharing have never taken root. Brutality and fear have been used to reinforce Assad’s police state, largely with impunity. His foes were once centre stage at the UN demanding that he be held to account for his atrocities. The lesson he can take from the heated words then and the welcome he now feels is that he can sweat anyone out – without changing his ways. Syria being restored to its rightful status as a historical centre of regional influence has been a mantra that Assad has stuck to for the 23 years he has been president and was a core belief of his father, Hafez al-Assad, whose death in June 2000 paved the way for the unlikely leader. In almost always refusing to meaningfully negotiate, Assad has learned one of his father’s core lessons. In seeing the results of this intransigence, he would probably divine wisdom in the elder Assad’s views. A European ambassador in the UAE said: “The Turks, Russians and Iranians are all impatient for influence and to them it doesn’t matter if Assad stays around in a weak country, much of which he can’t speak for. If they can’t influence malign behaviour, it doesn’t matter. “To them, more important is reaping a reward from the ruins on their doorstep. I think the Gulf states now feel the same.”

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GPs in Australia ask for all contraceptives to be subsidised and end to abortion ‘postcode lottery’

All contraceptives should be government subsidised, Medicare rebates for IUD insertion should be increased and larger quantities of contraception pills should be dispensed at once to make abortion and contraception more accessible , the peak body for general practitioners says. In its submission to the Senate inquiry into universal access to reproductive healthcare, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners said there were significant barriers to reproductive care, particularly in rural and remote communities. The president of the RACGP, Dr Nicole Higgins, works as a regional GP and said cost was a key barrier to abortion services and the government could do a lot to improve affordability. “In Mackay, where I am, if a woman presents for an abortion later than nine weeks or has a failed medical termination they have to go to Brisbane which is 1000km away, at a cost of $650 plus flights and accommodation,” she said. There were also barriers for rural GPs who want to provide these services, she said, including hospitals being too far away, the unavailability of a gynaecologist to provide backup and difficulty accessing drugs. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup The RACGP wants medication for medical termination to be added to the “prescribers bag”, where drugs are provided to GPs under the pharmaceutical benefits scheme without charge, for use by patients in emergencies. “We also need to do more to improve access to and affordability of the full range of contraceptive options,” Higgins said. “Firstly, allowing greater quantities of contraceptive pills to be dispensed in one go will make a huge difference for those who need it. “Many newer forms of contraceptives such as the new progesterone-only pill and vaginal ring are not listed on the PBS, meaning only those who can afford to pay for a private prescription can access them and it’s out of reach for most.” But the RACGP opposes programs in some states which allow pharmacists to prescribe repeat scripts for the hormonal contraception pill, despite Canada, New Zealand and the UK having similar programs and despite evidence that it removes barriers to access and prevents unplanned pregnancies . The RACGP wants IUD insertion to be made more affordable, and financial support for GPs to train in surgical abortion and long-acting reversible contraception procedures. The RACGP submission also calls for nationally consistent legislation for medical and surgical termination. Western Australia, for example, is the only state yet to fully decriminalise abortion performed by qualified practitioners . A Monash University-led study published on Friday in the Australian Journal of Primary Health found abortion services and advice is limited, even in areas where public hospitals provide abortion services. Sign up to Guardian Australia's Afternoon Update Our Australian afternoon update email breaks down the key national and international stories of the day and why they matter after newsletter promotion Led by a GP registrar, Dr Sonia Srinivasan, the study found there was inadequate information to support GPs in referring women to abortion services and that most public services direct referrers towards private providers. The study also found there is little transparency surrounding whether abortion services will be provided and under what circumstances, especially in rural and regional areas. Srinivasan said she would like to see the Senate inquiry consider how to collect national data on abortion. “We still don’t have that good national data, unlike other countries,” she said. “We have little information about how many abortions are done throughout the country, whether they’re done in the private or the public sector, and what the out-of-pocket cost is for women.” There also needs to be standardised national guidelines around abortion care and referral pathways, Srinivasan said. “What we want is for access to abortion not to be a postcode lottery that depends on where you live,” she said. “Wherever a woman needs an abortion in the setting of an unplanned pregnancy, she should know she’ll receive accessible, timely, affordable, and appropriate care and standardised guidelines are essential to that.”

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Labour government would invest more in NHS England, says Starmer

Keir Starmer has signalled that a Labour government would pump more funding into the NHS in England as he outlined his plans to make the health service “fit for the future”. The Labour leader agreed that he was prepared to put his “money where [his] mouth is” on investing in the future of the health service. He told the BBC: “Yes, money is part of the answer and the NHS is always better funded under Labour”. Some Labour MPs are concerned that Starmer is too cautious over his spending plans. They argue that the health service will not be able to “get off its knees” without substantial investment and that the public would expect that. Before a speech in Essex to launch the latest of his five “missions” for government, Starmer acknowledged that Labour would need to pour more money into the NHS . “So far as the money is concerned, firstly, wherever we have made a specific commitment we are setting out in terms today how we will pay for that,” he told the BBC. “But also I do want to emphasise, I ran a public service for five years, I do know that if you put more money in the top you do get a better outcome, so money is of course part of the answer, but we have also got to change and reform. “And if we go down the path of prevention, that actually will be far better for people’s lives and their health but also, actually, in the long run cost a lot less.” He promised to set out a comprehensive breakdown of Labour’s funding plans for the NHS in advance of next year’s election, depending on the state of the public finances at the time. However, after his speech, Starmer sidestepped questions on exactly how the party would fund wide-ranging NHS reform in the longer term. He denied that he had not set out where the money would come from, highlighting that Labour has said it will pay for “the biggest workforce expansion in NHS history” by scrapping non-dom tax status, which could raise £3.2bn a year. While there was little mention of Labour’s social care plans, Starmer stressed they remained a priority. A review commissioned by the party from the Fabian Society last summer will report next month on how a new “national care service” could be structured and funded, according to a spokesperson. A Labour source admitted there were some details yet to be announced about the party’s spending plans in the run-up to the next election – including on areas such as health – but stressed this was because “we don’t know the full extent of the fiscal situation we’re going to inherit”. Starmer said the health service was “on its knees” and “at the next election, the NHS is on the line”. He promised to ensure the health service meets targets that are being missed, including a seven-minute response time for cardiac arrests, a four-hour wait to be seen in A&E and planned treatment within 18 weeks. Sign up to First Edition Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you through the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning after newsletter promotion Further aspirations – stemming the number of deaths by suicide and reducing cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks and strokes by a quarter – may not be achieved until the second term of a Labour government. Although Starmer ruled out imposing a sugar tax to deter people from eating unhealthy food and contributing to growing problems with obesity, he was urged not to be deterred by fears of “nanny-statism”. Dr Aveek Bhattacharya, research director at the Social Market Foundation, said Labour should be “more open to regulating the availability of unhealthy food and drink, minimum unit pricing of alcohol, and higher taxes”.

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Martin Lewis: ‘We must stop calling it a student loan’

The consumer finance champion Martin Lewis has highlighted the impact of the new arrangements for student loans, saying some school-leavers may no longer consider a degree is worth the cost. “There is a fundamental misunderstanding about how student loans work, because they are demonised as debt, but under this plan they will work far more like a graduate tax. For most people, it will be like a 9% additional tax burden above the £25,000 threshold. “Many university-leavers will end up repaying more than double what they do under the current conditions. In practice, the majority of graduates will be paying their student loans for most of their working lives. “What we have to do as a society is decide where the pendulum should swing between the individual who benefits from their education and the state. This is a clear shift away from the state and towards the individual paying for their own education “There are many people who, even under this system, will be paid back by the increased earnings they have. There will equally be quite a chunk for whom it is no longer good value. It’s going to cost you more, so it has got to be worthwhile. “If university is right for you, then under this funding model, while it will be more expensive than it was before, it still does enable people from lower-income backgrounds to go to university. “We should stop calling it a student loan. This is a tax. It is a hypothecated, limited form of taxation. “We should rename this. This is a graduate contribution system. “Students will be repaying under the new plan for 40 years compared with the current 30. The amount that is owed does not dictate what you repay each year. All it dictates is when you clear it off. The interest rates are lower, but the main beneficiaries of this will be the highest-earning graduates because they will pay off their loans more quickly. “Those on lower to middle incomes are going to pay a lot more because they are repaying for longer. And those on the highest incomes are going to repay more quickly, and are going to pay less. “Most people will be clearing their loans in years 30 to 40. A lot of the numbers are based on modelling, but we won’t know how it works for quite a long time. The aim is that the state pays less.” The headline of this article was amended on 14 May 2023 to clarify that the view that Martin Lewis expressed about the student loan is that “it works more like a tax”. An additional comment was added to reflect his rview that it should be more accurately named a graduate contribution system.

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Potential antidote found for toxin in world’s most poisonous mushroom

Scientists believe they have found a potential antidote for a potent toxin found in the world’s most poisonous mushroom , the death cap. The death cap mushroom, Amanita phalloides , is responsible for about 90% of mushroom-related deaths globally. Its principal toxin is a peptide called α-Amanitin, a type of amatoxin which results in liver and kidney failure. Chinese and Australian researchers have identified that indocyanine green, a dye currently approved in the US for use in medical imaging, appears to block the toxic effects of α-Amanitin. The study’s corresponding author, Prof Qiaoping Wang of Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, China, said that previously no specific antidote existed for death caps “because we know little about how mushroom toxins kill cells”. In tests in mice as well as human cell lines in the lab, the scientists found that indocyanine green was able to prevent liver and kidney damage that was induced by α-Amanitin. It also improved the probability of survival after poisoning. “While the results are promising, further clinical experiments are needed to determine whether indocyanine green has similar effects in humans,” Wang said. A fungi expert and the chief scientist at Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens, Prof Brett Summerell, who was not involved in the research, said death cap mushrooms were “extraordinarily dangerous and toxic” and were often mistaken for other mushrooms because of superficial similarities. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup “The death cap can in the early growth stages resemble some of the straw mushrooms, which are … popular, particularly in a range of Asian cuisines,” Summerell said. “In those early stages it can be quite difficult to differentiate the mushrooms,” he said. “It’s a white creamy colour. As they get a bit older you can start to get a greeny-yellow tinge to them in the death caps. “Death caps have an association with the roots of oak tree, so if you see something that’s under an oak tree, that’s really when you need to be careful and suspicious.” While the toxins found in some other mushrooms can be degraded by heat, death cap toxins are “robust throughout cooking”, he added. Sign up to Guardian Australia's Afternoon Update Our Australian afternoon update email breaks down the key national and international stories of the day and why they matter after newsletter promotion “Mushroom poisoning is the main cause of mortality in food poisoning incidents worldwide,” the study’s authors note. Αlpha-Amanitin exerts its toxic effects on cells by inhibiting specific enzymes required for protein production. To work, the toxin relies on a protein in the body called STT3B. Indocyanine green appears to work by inhibiting the function of STT3B. The researchers found beneficial effects in mice treated with indocyanine green four hours after poisoning with α-Amanitin, but not in mice treated only eight or 12 hours after they were exposed to the toxin. “This may be because [α-Amanitin] has caused irreversible damage … which is unable to be salvaged,” the researchers concluded. “This suggests that [indocyanine green] should be given as early as possible during treatment.” The research was published in the journal Nature Communications . This article was amended on 17 May 2023. An earlier image was said to show death caps mushrooms but showed both a death cap mushroom and a yellow-staining mushroom. This has been replaced.

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Inequality starts before birth – so child benefits should too

By the time children start school in the UK, those from low-income backgrounds are already an average of four months behind their peers in terms of educational development. The gap only widens from there. By the end of primary school, it’s nine months. By the time they take their GCSEs, 18 months. Inequality grows exponentially throughout childhood, gaining momentum with every year a child gets older. That’s why it has been so refreshing to see childcare and the early years firmly back on the political agenda since the spring budget. But interventions in the early years of a child’s life may already be too late. We know that inequality starts much earlier than nursery: it starts in the womb. From the moment they are born, babies in low-income families are more likely to have a medically low birth weight and be born prematurely. Tragically, they’re also more likely to die within 28 days of birth . Inequalities are established well before children even qualify for the chancellor’s free childcare. This has long-term consequences. Babies born small or early are more likely to have health problems in later life. Premature babies start nursery and school weeks or months younger than their peers, putting them at an educational disadvantage from the start. Poor health at birth has a ripple effect, culminating in poorer adult health and lower adult earnings. The postwar welfare state was founded on the principle of providing a safety net “from cradle to grave”. Today, policies to support children still typically start at birth. But should they? We know that the cradle is too late to tackle some of these inequalities that start in the womb. Could interventions during pregnancy be the answer? Some countries are beginning to consider this. In 2022, Italy introduced a new, universal child allowance that starts in the seventh month of pregnancy. In the US, the Mitt Romney campaign has called for the child tax credit to be paid to pregnant women. My research , published this week in the Journal of Health Economics, shows that health inequalities starting at birth could be tackled by a simple, low-cost intervention: starting child benefit payments during pregnancy. The evidence that this works does not come from another country but from the UK, where we did this in all but name for a short period between 2009 and 2011. The last Labour government, shortly before the end of its term in office, introduced the health in pregnancy grant : a universal cash transfer equivalent to three months of child benefit. A lump sum of £190 was given to all pregnant women who visited their GP or midwife in the third trimester of pregnancy. My research shows that this relatively small sum led to significant improvements in babies’ health. Average birth weight increased, while the proportion of babies born prematurely fell. The biggest winners were low-income, young mums. On Mumsnet , women reported using the £190 in a range of ways to reduce stress and promote wellbeing, whether by reducing their overdrafts, covering large expenses like pushchairs, or investing in antenatal swimming classes. This evidence wasn’t available at the time and the policy fell victim to austerity, scrapped just two years after it was introduced on the grounds that it was a gimmick that would be spent on “booze, fags, bingo or plasma screen televisions”. Universal cash with few strings attached was seen as a risk rather than an opportunity. We now know that it wasn’t a gimmick. Starting child benefits in pregnancy should instead be seen as a low-cost, effective option for any chancellor looking to tackle inequality and boost economic growth. Small, early interventions have ripple effects that can reduce inequality in the long run. This makes them highly cost-effective. My research indicates that the health in pregnancy grant will increase lifetime earnings for the babies who benefited from it by three times more than the cost of the policy. Similarly, recent Institute for Fiscal Studies research has shown that Sure Start – which provided universal parenting support, preschool and antenatal advice in children’s centres across the country – saved £5m of NHS spending by improving children’s health. Investing in the health of future generations means better labour market outcomes, more growth and more tax revenue for governments to spend elsewhere. A little, invested early on, goes a long way. Looking back at which policies worked in the past can help us innovate in the future. By building on the principle of “cradle to grave” and updating it, given what we know now, we can make progress on inequality. Over the last decade, the gap in birth weight between different social classes has tripled in size . What is true of child benefit also applies to wider government action: the earlier we start the better. Mary Reader is a research officer at the London School of Economics

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Distance runner given eight-year ban for doping after Covid story unravels

The New Zealand distance runner Zane Robertson has been given an eight-year ban for doping after his claim that he was mistakenly injected with EPO after seeing doctors for a Covid jab was exposed. Robertson, who won a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and has competed in the past two Olympics, initially tested positive for EPO at the Great Manchester Run in May last year – which left him facing a four-year punishment. However, the 33-year-old tried to escape censure by telling the authorities that the banned drug had only got into his body after he visited a Kenyan medical facility to get a Covid-19 vaccination – only to be given treatment for Covid instead. Robertson, who holds the New Zealand national record at the half marathon (59min 47secs) and marathon (2:08:19), also claimed that he had told the doctor that he was an athlete who could not be given anything on the prohibited list. Robertson also supported his evidence with sworn affidavits from two Kenyan doctors, but his case began to unravel when the vice-president of the medical facility in Kenya told anti-doping investigators that the marathon runner was “not administered EPO at the facility, that he had not attended the facility on the alleged date … and the patient number on the notes was not Mr Robertson’s.” “In light of the additional evidence collected and filed by Drug Free Sport New Zealand, Mr Robertson has chosen not to rely on the evidence he originally filed and no longer seeks to contest the sanction for the anti-doping rule violations,” the 14-page report into his case stated. The sanction means that Robertson, who retired in February, cannot compete again until 2030. “His actions go against everything the New Zealand Team stands for,” said Nicki Nicol, the chief executive and secretary-general of the New Zealand Olympic Committee. “We condemn all forms of doping. Every athlete has the right to compete on an even playing field and Robertson’s actions have undermined the integrity of sport.” Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend’s action after newsletter promotion Prior to the 2016 Olympics, where he came 12th in the 10,000m, Robertson had expressed his frustration at doping in Kenya where he had spent much of his career training. “It’s disturbing that I can see these things unfolding before my eyes yet those athletes continue to race on,” he said.

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Nuclear fusion ‘holy grail’ is not the answer to our energy prayers

You report on the alleged “breakthrough” on nuclear fusion, in which US researchers claim that break-even has been achieved ( Breakthrough in nuclear fusion could mean ‘near-limitless energy’, 12 December ). To go from break-even, where energy output is greater than total energy input, to a commercial nuclear fusion reactor could take at least 25 years. By then, the whole world could be powered by safe and clean renewable energy, primarily solar and wind. The claim by the researchers that nuclear fusion is safe and clean is incorrect. Laser fusion, particularly as a component of a fission-fusion hybrid reactor, can produce neutrons that can be used to produce the nuclear explosives plutonium-239, uranium-235 and uranium-233. It could also produce tritium, a form of heavy hydrogen, which is used to boost the explosive power of a fission explosion, making fission bombs smaller and hence more suitable for use in missile warheads. This information is available in open research literature. The US National Ignition Facility, which did the research, is part of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which has a history of involvement with nuclear weaponry. Dr Mark Diesendorf University of New South Wales As someone who once wrote a critical report for the European parliament on fusion power back in the late 1980s, I hate to rain on Arthur Turrell’s splendid parade ( The carbon-free energy of the future: this fusion breakthrough changes everything, 13 December ). It is indeed good news that the US National Ignition Facility has got a “net energy gain” of 1.1 MJ from an inertial confinement fusion device using lasers. In this regard, what is really valuable is that the community can now concentrate on this type of reactor, rather than other designs like the tokamak. However, I am prepared to bet that a true fusion power station is unlikely to be running before my grandchildren turn 70. After all, it has taken 60-odd years and huge amounts of money to get this far. Dr Chris Cragg London Arthur Turrell writes that achieving “net energy gain” has a psychological effect akin to a trumpet to the ear. Well, it might do to him but not to me. Yes, it’s a fantastic achievement for those scientists and engineers who have worked to achieve this proof on concept; well done them. But it will make not one jot of a positive difference to the challenges my children and grandchildren will face as a result of the climate crisis. We only have years to achieve the changes that are necessary to avoid social catastrophe due to what’s happening to the biosphere, and that’s assuming it’s not already too late. Even the optimists understand that it will be decades before fusion power can contribute to the grid, regardless of this achievement. Meanwhile the headlines that followed this result, Turrell’s psychological trumpet, simply serve to reassure and detract from the urgency of what needs to be done now. Dick Willis Bristol It is great news that scientists have succeeded in getting more energy out of fusion than they put in. It brings to mind a quote from a past director of the Central Electricity Generating Board: “One day you may get more energy out of nuclear fusion than you put in, but you will never get more money out than you put in.” Martin O’Donovan Ashtead, Surrey Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication .

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Nine out of 10 people in Syrian camps have been displaced multiple times

Nine out of 10 people living in the squalid camps for the internally displaced in north-west Syria have been made homeless multiple times, according to a new survey. February’s devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria, which killed tens of thousands of people, compounded an already desperate situation with an estimated 98% of Syrians living in camps left without safe shelter, according to a report by Action for Humanity (AFH). The Syrian civil war, which marked its 12-year anniversary on Wednesday, forced an estimated 1.8 million people into 1,420 camps within Syria. The survey of 263 internally displaced families in north-west Syria found that 92% of internally displaced households had been made homeless multiple times since the conflict began. Two-thirds (64%) had been displaced between four and seven times, while 23% said they had been displaced eight times or more. Hani Habbal, from Aleppo, works as a frontline responder in northern Syria, overseeing humanitarian projects for AFH. He said: “As a Syrian, the past 12 years have been heartbreaking for me. So many of our people have been killed, injured and lost their homes.” On top of that, the earthquake then “destroyed or damaged their accommodation or made them feel that it was unsafe”. Habbal added: “Many have lost their homes multiple times. When the war started, people were in places like Damascus, Dara, all across the country, and were displaced when the fighting came to their town or village. They fled for their lives to places like Aleppo, like Raqqa, to be displaced once again to places like Idlib, only to be displaced once again when fighting arrived there. “In some extreme examples, people have had to leave their homes over 20 times. Can you imagine a life where you and your family have been forced to be homeless, in fear of your lives, four, five or six times? This is the reality for millions of people in north-west Syria.” David Miliband, the head of the International Rescue Committee, attacked the international community’s “loss of attention” to Syria. “Limbo is no lifestyle for millions in the north-west,” he said in a statement. “The earthquake in February was a reminder that a forgotten crisis is not a resolved crisis. It exposed the graphic truth about life for those left stranded by the war: they are at the mercy of events, trapped by circumstance and vulnerable to shocks.” As well as concerns over violence, exploitation and child labour in IDP camps, the UN said in November that people are under threat from deadly strikes in the conflict.

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Academics condemn ‘threats’ against Oxford Union in Kathleen Stock row

A group of Oxford academics claim “coercion and financial threats” are being used to force the Oxford Union debating club to cancel an appearance by Kathleen Stock. Stock, a former university professor who argues that transgender people cannot expect all the rights afforded by biological sex, is due to speak at the Oxford Union later this month. Her appearance is opposed by several LGBTQ+ groups and student organisations in the city. In a letter published in the Daily Telegraph , the group of academics said they “wholeheartedly condemn” a decision by the Oxford University student union (OUSU) to bar the Oxford Union from having a stall at the freshers’ fair, which the group say is an attempt to cut the Oxford Union off from recruiting new members as a result of the invitation to Stock. “This is dangerous territory. Universities exist, among other things, to promote free inquiry and the disinterested pursuit of the truth by means of reasoned argument. To resort to coercion and financial threats when unable to secure one’s preferred outcome in debate would represent a profound failure to live up to these ideals,” the letter states. The 45 signatories include the author Richard Dawkins; Timothy Williamson, the university’s Wykeham professor of logic; Nigel Biggar, a professor of theology; and Prof Carl Heneghan, director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine. OUSU said its decision was unconnected to Stock’s appearance and that the motion passed by its student council related to “longstanding” concerns about student welfare. “The motion was unrelated to Dr Stock’s intended talk. It did not mention Dr Stock or any other speaker at the Oxford Union, instead citing longstanding concerns relating to alleged bullying, sexual harassment, discrimination and data privacy breaches which affect students,” it said. “The motion was democratically passed at a meeting of students, following a debate which also did not mention Dr Stock. We are committed to freedom of expression and freedom of speech and will defend the right of people to have controversial and unpopular ideas debated as an integral part of university life and the student experience.” The Oxford Union is a private club, independent of the university, and bills itself as “the world’s most prestigious speaker and debating society”, with a 200-year record of debating controversial topics and inviting high-profile speakers. It relies on donations and corporate support as well as membership fees paid by current students of nearly £300. Sign up to First Edition Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you through the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning after newsletter promotion Since the 1980s, the union has been an incubator for Conservative politicians, with Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Michael Gove among those elected to the union’s governing body during their student days at Oxford. Matthew Dick, the Oxford Union’s current president, said he was not sure what the financial implications of the OUSU’s decision would be. “We existed for nearly 150 years before the university’s student union was created, and I believe we will be here after them as well,” Dick told the Oxford Mail .

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As an ex-BBC presenter, I want to hear a vision that goes beyond cut, cut, cut

Do we still think public service broadcasting matters? For those of us who do, these are worrying times. “The public service broadcasting system is undoubtedly facing an existential threat,” warns the former chair of ITV and much else, Peter Bazalgette. ITV, he reveals, has not yet decided to reapply for a new public service broadcasting (PSB) licence because it does not know what the terms will be. He and many others await the new broadcasting bill , which, they hope, will ensure that when their services are placed on a digital platform they do not own – such as Amazon, Apple, Samsung, LG, Sky and Virgin – they will be given “prominence” and not charged ridiculous amounts. If not, says Bazalgette, ITV has plenty of non-public service broadcasting options. Elsewhere in PSB-land there is heartening news, for it now seems unlikely that the broadcasting bill will propose privatising Channel 4. But what next? Who knows. Could someone please offer an inspiring vision of what its contribution to public service broadcasting should be in the next 40 years? I understand why independent producers opposed privatisation with such vehemence – it threatened their businesses – but what about inspiring content? Does anyone have a vision of the future to compare with that which Jeremy Isaacs, its founding chief executive, displayed all those years ago? And then there is the BBC, the public service mothership just turned 100 years old. But what is its vision for the next decade, let alone the next century? Two noble baronesses hit the nail on the head very forcibly in a recent House of Lords debate. “It remains unclear what the BBC wants to be, beyond being a significant player in this global media world,” said the Conservative peer Lady Stowell, chair of the communications committee, who once worked for the BBC. She wanted to know “what it will do more of… continue to do … stop doing”. Lady (Dido) Harding, also a Conservative peer, fired a warning shot across the bows of Broadcasting House, saying, “No investment proposal should be approved without a compelling long-term vision and plan.” The implication was clear, she hadn’t seen one. But then, neither have the rest of us. It’s a creative vision thing: is there such a thing at and for the BBC ? There is certainly a business vision, as there should be. The BBC board is now top heavy with bankers and business people. The chairman, Richard Sharp, tutored Rishi Sunak at Goldman Sachs. The corporation’s future as a big, international business is pretty secure. A commercial version of it could survive without the licence fee, but is that what we want? Contrary to what the Daily Mail constantly argues, the BBC is now a very efficient business, not least because of the herculean efforts of its director general, Tim Davie, who, while cleverly blunting government allegations of bias, has been faced with a 30% cut in real spending power. With inflation rampant, further cuts are in the offing, which will follow already announced cuts in essential elements of its public service offering, including news, local radio and the World Service. But no one voted for that. All this is happening without the people who pay for the corporation, the licence-fee payers, being consulted. The oft-used slogan “It’s your BBC” is in danger of ringing hollow. The BBC has never been very good on consultation or accountability, as I know from my many years presenting Radio 4’s Feedback, where all too often there was little feedback. When it came to inviting executives on to the programme, the press office would often intervene, saying, “We don’t think this is the right time to say something on this subject.” I would reply that the right time was whenever the listener wanted an answer. (There were some wonderful exceptions, such as the departing controller of Radio 3, Alan Davey , who would always come on and answer anything. He got it. Well, he had been – inside and outside the BBC – a very public servant.) When it came to inviting presenters and producers on to Feedback, requests also had to go through the press office, and if an interview took place a press officer would usually be present, at their insistence. The good producers, and there are a lot of them, would roll their eyes at being chaperoned. And I got the impression that some press officers were a bit embarrassed by their role as “minders”. Davie has said he is determined to improve accountability, and I am sure he is sincere, but he then presses on with his business plan – and those cuts – as though he were running a commercial business, not this much-loved, publicly owned, publicly financed institution. Of course, someone has to take decisions, we can’t all vote on what has to go, but surely we would have a right to expect the ability to discuss priorities? For example, Radio 4 Extra may go online only , thus depriving some older listeners of a service they greatly value, while leaving them with many other, much more expensive, services they could well do without. They had no say. The BBC director of speech radio, Mohit Bakaya, says, rather mystifyingly, that the online move of 4 Extra is “not a done deal”. Maybe protests could tip the balance. BBC Four, which originally commissioned the wonderful series Detectorists, is also to go online and become an archive channel only. Again, no consultation. BBC local radio is being decimated, despite its role in serving so many communities. Truly, to use Bazalgette’s phrase, an existential threat, and with a new year we need new thinking: pause the BBC cuts now, postpone the debate on the privatisation of Channel 4 and ensure ITV remains a public service broadcaster, while conducting a proper cross-party inquiry into the future of the public service media and how to pay for it. We have, by accident and design, created a landscape and a tradition of public service broadcasting in this country that is very special. We must be vigilant of it. It would be careless, not to say criminal, to let it slip away. Roger Bolton is a former BBC executive and journalist. He presents the podcast Roger Bolton’s Beeb Watch This article was amended on 2 January 2023. An earlier version said that the BBC was blunting government allegations of impartiality when it should have said allegations of bias.

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South Korea’s truth commission to investigate dozens of foreign adoptions

South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission will investigate the cases of dozens of South Korean adoptees in Europe and the US who suspect their origins were falsified or obscured during a child export frenzy in the mid-to late 20th century. Thursday’s decision opens what could be South Korea’s most far-reaching inquiry into foreign adoptions, as frustration over broken family connections grows, and now grown up children demand government attention. The adopted South Koreans are believed to be the world’s largest diaspora of adoptees. In the past six decades about 200,000 South Koreans – mostly girls – were adopted overseas. Most were placed with white parents in the US and Europe during the 1970s and 80s. After a meeting Tuesday, the commission decided to investigate 34 adoptees who were sent to Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and the US from the 1960s to the early 1990s. The adoptees say they were wrongfully removed from their families through falsified documents and corrupt practices. They were among the 51 adoptees who first submitted their applications to the commission in August through the Danish Korean Rights Group, led by adoptee attorney Peter Møller. The applications filed by Møller’s group have since grown to more than 300, and dozens of adoptees from Sweden and Australia are also expected to file applications on Friday, which is the commission’s deadline for investigation requests, Møller said. The investigation will probably expand over the next few months as the commission reviews whether to accept the applications submitted after August. Cases that are seen as similar will probably be fused to speed up the investigations, commission official Park Young-il said. The applications cite a broad range of grievances that allege carelessness and a lack of due diligence in the removal of scores of children from their families amid loose government monitoring. During much of the period in question, the country was ruled by a succession of military leaders who saw adoptions as a way to deepen ties with the democratic west while reducing the number of mouths to feed and removing the socially undesirable, including children of unwed mothers and orphans. South Korea was a rare country that enforced laws aimed at promoting adoptions, which allowed profit-driven agencies to manipulate records and bypass proper child relinquishment. Most of the South Korean adoptees sent abroad were registered by agencies as legal orphans found abandoned on the streets, a designation that made the adoption process quicker and easier. But many of the so-called orphans had relatives who could be easily identified and found. Some of the adoptees say they discovered that the agencies had switched their identities to replace other children who died or got too sick to travel, which often made it impossible to trace their roots. The adoptees called for the commission to broadly investigate agencies for records falsification and manipulation and for allegedly proceeding with adoptions without the proper consent of birth parents. They want the commission to establish whether the government was responsible for the corrupt practices and whether adoptions were fueled by increasingly larger payments and donations from adoptive parents, which apparently motivated agencies to create their own supply.

GOOD

Recipes for Ramadan: Sally Mousa’s qatayef (folded pancakes), five ways

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan ends this weekend when the sighting of the new crescent moon heralds the start of a new lunar month. The previous month of fasting is followed by the three-day festival of Eid al-Fitr, a time for gifts, new clothes, feasting, and for visiting friends and family bearing trays of home-baked sweets. If you’re Lebanese, or have Muslim friends to visit, you may like to bake maamoul biscuits or jam crescents . You may also like to try these Palestinian pancakes. They’re sold on the streets during Ramadan but are a real treat to make at home. – Jane Jeffes, founder-producer, Recipes for Ramadan Qatayef is one of the most popular desserts of the Levant and it’s traditionally only eaten during Ramadan. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning It’s like a sweet dumpling or little folded pancake. Traditionally, these are stuffed with unsalted akkawi cheese (a white Palestinian cheese with a texture similar to fresh mozzarella), walnuts, pistachios or coconut, then deep-fried and doused in orange blossom syrup (qater) or rosewater syrup. There is also an uncooked version called assafiri qatayef that is filled clotted cream (qashta). Sometimes you will see them shaped into a horn, filled with qashta, and sprinkled with pistachios. Whatever the shape, they’re a sweet way to end the daily Ramadan fast. One of the greatest sights and aromas of the holy month is walking past street vendors in ancient cities like Jerusalem – they expertly and speedily pour batter into rows of perfectly sized pancakes on a huge hotplate. Similarly, visit any pastry shop and you will be mesmerised by little pancakes bubbling away. Being Iraqi, I didn’t grow up eating qatayef. It’s a dessert I discovered after I married my Palestinian-Jordanian husband. For him, Ramadan is simply not Ramadan without qatayef. Living in Sydney away from his family in Amman, my husband craved his mother’s home-cooked food, and so – bearing in mind that we married in 2004 before iPhones and Zoom – I was emailed photos of handwritten recipes from his mother and sister. These recipes didn’t have measurements for the ingredients. Arab mums are absolute masters in the kitchen and there’s a special saying that applies to their craft: “The hand of the free is a scale.” Meaning they know these dishes so well, they are perfect every time without measuring a thing. When I had my girls, making qatayef together became our own Ramadan tradition. My husband loves the traditional cheese filling but my daughter and I realised dark chocolate and coconut made for a heavenly combination – our very own Bounty qatayef! Another version has a stuffing of chopped-up Snickers. In this recipe I’m giving you both the traditional versions (with cheese and walnut, and cream), and my Bounty and Snickers versions. And, while qatayef are typically deep-fried, I’ve discovered the texture is superior in an air fryer. The measurements for the fillings are approximate. Usually you buy (or make) a big batch of qatayef, prepare enough for at least the first half of the month, then freeze them. You can obviously eat as many or as few as you like but, for the larger stuffed ones, about three a person is a generous portion to work on. It’s hard to stop at one! The method for each version of qatayef is similar. Generally speaking, it involves making or preparing the pancake, making the filling, stuffing the pancake, freezing to set, and frying them. Different variations will have different filling ingredients, and some also have specific syrups, which you can see below. For the qatayef pancakes (to make your own, though they can be bought fresh from an Arab bakery or grocery store) ½ tsp active dry yeast 1¾ cups warm water , plus 2 tbsp extra 1 tsp sugar 213g plain flour 100g fine semolina 1 tbsp powdered milk ½ tsp baking powder Pinch salt 1 egg , beaten Vegetable oil , for deep-frying or brushing Slivered or ground pistachios ( or nuts of your choice), to garnish For the cheese and walnut filling 300g sweet akkawi cheese (from Arab bakery or grocery store) 1 cup chopped walnuts 2 tbsp sugar 1 tsp orange blossom water For the cream filling 100ml ashta or clotted cream (preferably from an Arab bakery or grocery store – it should look thick and layered) For the Bounty filling ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips ½ cup de siccated coconut 2 tbsp sugar For the Snickers filling 1 bag miniature Snickers bars For the ater (orange blossom syrup, for the cheese-walnut and cream qatayef) 1 cup sugar 1 tsp orange blossom water 2 tsp lemon juice For the chocolate syrup (for the Bounty and Snickers qatayef) ⅓ cup cocoa powder ⅓ cup sugar ¼ cup milk or light cream If you are making the pancakes from scratch, do this first. Stir together the yeast, warm water and sugar and leave the mixture to stand for a few minutes until it becomes foamy. Whisk together the flour, semolina, powdered milk, baking powder, salt and egg to make a thin batter. Cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest for one to two hours in a warm place until the mixture becomes bubbly. Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat. Pour one-quarter cup of the batter into the pan and use the back of a ladle to swirl the batter into a thin pancake. (If the pancake is too thick, it will be difficult to fill.) When tiny bubbles form on the surface of the pancake, the surface is no longer shiny, and the bottoms are a light golden colour, the pancake is ready (it only needs to be cooked on one side). Transfer to a plate, top with a piece of baking paper, and cover with a clean tea towel. Repeat with the remaining batter, stacking the pancakes with baking paper in between each pancake, and keep covered with a clean tea towel as you go. Leave to cool, then cover with plastic wrap to prevent pancakes from drying out – this is the key to perfect qatayef. When it’s time to fill the pancakes, the edges need to be pinched together. If the pancake is dry, the edges won’t seal. To fill your qatayef, line a number of small trays with baking paper – the trays should fit your freezer. For the cheese and walnut filling, drain the akkawi of any excess moisture in a colander. Combine the walnuts, sugar and orange blossom water in a bowl. For the Bounty filling, combine the chocolate chips, sugar and coconut in a bowl. For the Snickers version, chop the miniature Snickers into small pieces. For the cream filling, do not fill these just yet. Reserve some qatayef to fill just before serving, alongside the completed cheese and walnut, Bounty and Snickers qatayef. To fill your qatayef, take each pancake and place bubble-side up. Place about a teaspoon of your chosen filling in a line in the middle of your pancake. Fold the pancake in half to enclose the filling and, starting from one corner, pinch the edges to seal. Be careful not to overstuff or the pancakes will break open. It’s best to add a conservative amount of filling; at the middle point when sealing the edges you can add a little more filling if necessary. It should look like a pillow. Repeat with the remaining pancakes and your chosen fillings. Arrange the filled qatayef in one layer on the lined freezer tray place in a freezer bag, securely closed, then freeze for at least two hours. (For ease, each freezer tray should only hold one type of filling.) It’s important to freeze the qatayef so they hold their shape and don’t break open when fried. For the cheese and walnut or cream-filled qatayef: combine the sugar, a half-cup water, orange blossom water and lemon juice in a small, heavy-based saucepan. Bring to the boil and boil until the syrup is clear. Set aside. For the Bounty or Snickers qatayef: in a heavy-based saucepan over medium heat, combine all the syrup ingredients and bring to the boil; remove from the heat and set aside. To fry the qatayef, remove from the freezer and allow to thaw for about 15 minutes. To deep-fry the qatayef: pour enough oil into a deep pot until the oil is about 5cm deep, and gradually heat to about 180C – the oil is hot enough when a cube of bread browns in about 20 seconds. Gently slide in a few qatayef at at time, taking care not to overcrowd the pot. When they are golden-brown on one side, turn over to fry the other. Place on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb excess oil and repeat with remaining qatayef. To oven-bake or air-fry: brush each qatayef with vegetable oil and place in the oven or air fryer at 180C for about six minutes, turning them halfway through. The timing will depend on your appliance, so do keep checking them. For the traditional cheese and walnut: immediately after cooking dip the qatayef into the ater for a couple of seconds. Place on a serving plate and garnish with pistachios or nuts of your choice. For the cream-filled qatayef: take your fresh (un-fried) qatayef, and fill with about a tablespoon of cream. Fold over to enclose the filling, and pinch the edges to seal. Place on a serving plate and garnish with pistachios or nuts of your choice. For the the Bounty or Snickers qatayef, place on a serving plate and drizzle with the chocolate syrup. Serve immediately with coffee or tea. Sally Mousa is an Iraqi-Australian public speaker and radio and television presenter This is an edited piece from Recipes for Ramadan , which has more than 65 Australian-Muslim recipes and stories from 23 countries. Follow the project on Instagram , Facebook and YouTube

GOOD

Oxford University cuts ties with Sackler family over links with opioids

The University of Oxford will cut its ties with the Sackler family, whose wealth came from addictive opioid drugs, removing the family’s name from buildings, galleries and positions funded through their donations. The university’s governing council approved the measure to strip the Sackler name from two galleries in the Ashmolean Museum and a university library as well as several staff positions, following an investigation earlier this year by Oxford’s new vice-chancellor, Prof Irene Tracey. The move follows sustained criticism of Oxford’s retention of the names, as major institutions such as the British Museum and the V&A removed Sackler titles after recognition that the funding was connected with the family’s ownership of the now bankrupt Purdue Pharma, manufacturers of the addictive OxyContin painkiller. The university said: “Oxford University has undertaken a review of its relationship with the Sackler family and their trusts, including the way their benefactions to the university are recognised. “Following this review, the university has decided that the university buildings, spaces and staff positions using the Sackler name will no longer do so. These review outcomes have had the full support of the Sackler family.” As part of the decision, the Sackler library has been renamed the Bodleian Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library. Three staff posts supported by the family’s donations will also drop the Sackler title, including the Ashmolean’s keeper of antiquities. The university also said that “all donations received from the Sackler family and their trusts will be retained by the university for their intended educational purposes. No new donations have been received from either the family or their trusts since January 2019.” However, the university will retain recognition of the Sackler gifts on a plaque at the university’s Clarendon building and on the Ashmolean museum’s donor board “for the purposes of historical recording of donations to the university”. Tracey, a professor of neuroscience who specialises in pain perception and anaesthetics, launched the review before the Financial Times revealed in February that the university maintained its links with the Sackler family, extending invitations to events such as the Oxford-Cambridge boat race, and continuing to accept donations even as Purdue became embroiled in legal action over its role in the US’s deadly epidemic of opioid addiction. In 2019 the Louvre in Paris removed the Sackler title from the museum’s oriental antiquities wing, while the Serpentine Gallery said it would no longer accept donations from Sackler trusts. Other institutions followed, including New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2021. Last year George Osborne, the chair of the British Museum, announced it would remove the Sackler name from all galleries, rooms and endowments supported by the family’s trusts, saying it was time to move “into a new era”.

GOOD

Giro d’Italia: Geraint Thomas holds firm as Filipo Zana earns home stage 18 win

The Italian road race champion, Filippo Zana, outpaced Thibaut Pinot in a dramatic two-man final sprint in Val di Zoldo on Thursday to clinch his first grand tour win on stage 18 of the Giro d’Italia. Pinot led the dash for the finish line after a typically swashbuckling performance in the Dolomites, only for Zana to launch the decisive effort from behind, scoring victory on his home roads in the region of Veneto. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend’s action after newsletter promotion In the general classification, Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) moved up to second, 29sec behind Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos), who marked his 37th birthday by ticking off another stage in the maglia rosa , successfully defending his lead against attacks on the attritional final climb from Roglic and teammates. João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) dropped to third, 39sec behind Thomas, while the Irishman Eddie Dunbar (Jayco AlUla) moved up to fourth, 3min 39sec behind the overall leader. Pinot had the consolation of retaking the lead in the king of the mountains classification. “It was a decent day,” Thomas said. “To gain time on Almeida and not get dropped by Primoz, it was a good day, a solid day for sure. I felt pretty good, pretty in control. Primoz, he likes to go hard, then take it easy, then go hard. I gave him a few turns, then I wasn’t sure how he was feeling. “In the last two kilometres he [Roglic] really squeezed on it again, he was super strong, but I was pretty happy with how it was,” Thomas added. “Obviously it’s nice [to gain time] but Primoz had a bad day the other day and Almeida did today. I’ve just got to keep being consistent day by day, climb by climb.” A furious start to the day had seen a high average speed and numerous attacks but no breakaway was formed until the first of the day’s five categorised climbs, the category-one Passo dello Crosetta. Roglic and Jumbo-Visma worked to control the race before Team Ineos fired things up towards the top of that first climb and temporarily distanced the Slovenian GC contender. What was initially a seven-man breakaway had a six-minute advantage around the halfway mark but that was reduced to 4min 25sec when the reduced peloton crested the Forcella Cibiana with 20km remaining. Warren Barguil (Arkéa–Samsic), Derek Gee and Marco Frigo (Israel–Premier Tech), Aurélien Paret-Peintre (AG2R Citroën) and Davide Gabburo (Green Project–Bardiani–CSF–Faizanè) had also been in the group of escapees, but it was ultimately left to Zana (Jayco AlUla) and Pinot (Groupama–FDJ) to fight it out on the final ascent. Friday’s stage 19 is a 183km trip from Longarone and Tre Cime di Lavaredo, an even harder day in the mountains, with another five categorised climbs including three category-ones and over 5,000m of climbing.

GOOD

Can you solve it? Succession

Today’s puzzles are about succession, with a lower case ‘s’. (Apols to readers hoping to find a discussion of the TV series. Although I have made an attempt at making one of the questions relevant.) First down the runway is Japanese puzzle master Nob Yoshigahara’s masterpiece, one of the most perfect brainteasers of all time. 1. Nob job What number goes in the circle with the ‘?’? (No, the 7 in the final circle is not a mistake.) For the remaining questions, what number comes next in each sequence? Name the successor. 2. Think Roman 0, 0, 0, 0, 4, 9, 5, 1, 1, 0, 55, ... Hint: write out one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, ...and look at the title of this puzzle. 3. Golomb’s sequence. 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 8, 8, 9, 9, 9, 9, ... Named after the eminent mathematician Solomon Golomb (whose work inspired the game Tetris), this is an extremely pleasing pattern once you spot it. Hint: think about why are there two 2s and two 3s? 4. The elevator sequence 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, … Another puzzle is why this sequence got its name. 5. The flagpole sequence What number comes next, i.e after THIRTEEN? 6. Eban numbers 2, 4, 6, 30, 32, 34, 36, 40, 42, 44, 46, 50, 52, 54, 56, 60, 62, 64, 66... I’ll be back at 5pm UK with the answers. PLEASE NO SPOILERS. Instead discuss your favourite sequences, or maybe even your thoughts as to the solution of Succession. UPDATE: Please read the solutions here Thanks to the Online Encyclopaedia of Integer Sequences and Eric Angelini for inspiring today’s puzzles. I set a puzzle here every two weeks on a Monday. I’m always on the look-out for great puzzles. If you would like to suggest one, email me . I give school talks about maths and puzzles (online and in person). If your school is interested please get in touch.

GOOD

Manchester Arena attack survivor demands ‘truth’ from MI5

A man left paralysed by the Manchester Arena attack has said he wants the truth and not “excuses” from MI5, as it faces damning criticism from an inquiry into the atrocity. Martin Hibbert said he wanted to know “why it happened and how it happened” when the inquiry publishes its long-anticipated final report about the blast on Thursday. However, Hibbert, who was at the Manchester Arena with his daughter, said he feared the full picture would remain secret because much of MI5’s evidence was heard in private for national security reasons. The 46-year-old said he believed the security services had “messed up” and that multiple red flags had been missed regarding Salman Abedi, who killed 22 people and injured scores of others when he detonated a bomb in his rucksack in the foyer of the Manchester Arena on 22 May 2017. Hibbert told the Guardian: “I want to know how this atrocity happened. I want to know why my daughter won’t do the things she wanted to do and why she’ll probably be in a wheelchair for the rest of her life and be brain damaged. I want to know why I’m in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. “I want to know the truth so that we can move on. I don’t want an apology because that’s not going to bring anything about. If they were sorry, they would have said it at day one – this happened and we hold our hands up. They’re only holding their hands up because it’s there in black and white.” Hibbert was on a “daddy daughter day” with his 14-year-old daughter, Eve. They were standing just 5 metres from Abedi when he triggered the blast at the end of an Ariana Grande concert and are believed to have been the closest people to the bomb to survive. The Manchester Arena inquiry, chaired by Sir John Saunders, will on Thursday publish its third and final report, focusing on the preventability of the attack and the radicalisation of Abedi. In hearings held behind closed doors in 2021, MI5 officers admitted they had enough intelligence to regard 22-year-old Abedi, from Manchester, as a threat to national security and open an investigation. One MI5 officer, known as Witness J, told the inquiry that Abedi should have been questioned on his return from Libya, four days before the blast, which could have stopped the atrocity. However, the witness said this would have required surveillance and for Abedi to have been classed as a “very high priority” threat. MI5 is also expecting scrutiny into its monitoring of Abedi’s extremist connections. Hibbert, who raised almost £1m for the Spinal Injuries Association after scaling Kilimanjaro last year, said he did not want to hear “excuses” or an apology from the security services. He said he wanted “the truth” and for the government to commit to implementing any recommendations made by Saunders. “It won’t surprise me if they blame [a lack of] staff and money and the amount of terrorists they were looking after. I don’t want to hear that. I don’t want to hear excuses. I want to know why it happened and how it happened, and how it’s not going to happen again. As hard as that will be to read, I want to know.” He added: “It’s like we’ve seen with Hillsborough: it’s alright saying we’ll learn from it but even after the 7/7 bombings the recommendations after that weren’t implemented. The same recommendations will probably be said in this report. “When are the emergency services and the government and the state going to act on these recommendations so that if this does happen, we’re ready?”

GOOD

‘A gamechanger’: new meningitis vaccine hailed as major step

An effective, affordable meningitis vaccine has been successfully tested in Africa, raising hopes for the elimination of a disease that kills 250,000 people a year . The NmCV-5 vaccine, developed by the Serum Institute of India and global health organisation Path , will protect against the five main meningococcal strains found in Africa, including the emerging X strain, for which there is currently no licensed injection. Vaccine trials were conducted among 1,800 people aged from two to 29 in Mali and the Gambia in 2021, according to a report published on Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine . Researchers found that NmCV-5 generated a strong immune response against all five strains. Meningitis is caused by bacteria or viral infections that inflame the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. At least 60% of deaths occur in Africa, particularly along the “meningitis belt”, which stretches from the Gambia and Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east. According to research, people in Africa are twice as likely to suffer serious long-term complications from the disease than people in high-income countries, due, among other factors, to late diagnosis and treatment. The cost of available vaccines, which protect against four strains of meningitis, are currently too high for most African countries, which need tens of millions of doses. The MenAfriVac, rolled out in 2010, substantially reduced cases of meningococcal A, but large-scale epidemics linked to the other strains are common in Africa . NmCV-5 will be available in the coming months. Protection against the X strain is particularly important because it has the potential to spread rapidly and there are currently no vaccines to prevent or control it, say researchers working on the new vaccine from the Medical Research Council Unit the Gambia at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and the Centre for Vaccine Development in Mali. Ed Clarke, a co-author of the study, said: “We are excited about the results. We expect NmCV-5 to provide children and young adults with reliable protection against meningitis caused by the meningococcal bacteria in Africa .” It should be “gamechanging for epidemic meningitis control in the ‘meningitis belt’”, he added. “We look forward to seeing the vaccine rolled out in the region as soon as possible.” The World Health Organization wants vaccine-preventable meningitis reduced by 50% and deaths by 70% by 2030. Ama Umesi, also a co-author, said: “Epidemic preparedness is the way forward in providing available, affordable and accessible vaccines relevant to regions prone to meningitis outbreaks. “Having meningitis vaccines should be a public health priority to prevent catastrophic outcomes during an outbreak, and would be a gamechanger in the fight against meningitis.”

GOOD

Inflation is set to fall sharply and the weather’s looking up – let’s be thankful for small mercies

NOT long ago almost no one under 50 had any memory of the horrors of inflation. What a grim lesson the last two years have been. The average family has paid an estimated £5,455 extra to stay afloat thanks to the effects of Covid and war. Inflation wrecks economies. It makes eating, heating and driving much pricier, ­hammers savings and ultimately hikes borrowing costs too. It sparks mayhem as unions strike for pay rises employers cannot afford. Small wonder the sluggish and inept Bank of England , tasked solely with keeping a lid on it, is copping so much flak. But there IS some good news: Inflation is widely predicted to fall sharply this week when new figures are released. Admittedly only to the upper levels of the last big spike in 1990-1991. But the downward trend is welcome. Light, then, at the end of the tunnel. And, on cue, the weather’s looking up too. Let’s be thankful for small mercies. FOR years the Left has claimed mass immigration makes us richer. It’s a myth. That, at least, is the verdict of Prof Brian Bell, an expert from the independent Migration Advisory Committee. Increasing the population does raise national GDP, he says. But it doesn’t make us individually better off — the only measure anyone cares about. And the downside to our population explosion is obvious: It has helped send rents and house prices into orbit. Property cannot possibly be built fast enough for 800,000 net newcomers a year, especially with our absurd planning restrictions and cynical politicians championing NIMBYs. Meanwhile the pressure has helped push public services beyond breaking point. Our finances are just inadequate to scale those up as fast as we need. Yesterday Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves admitted that immigration is too high. She said Labour would train up as many of the five million jobless Brits as possible instead of importing workers. Quite right. To convince voters, though, she’ll first need a word with Labour chairwoman Anneliese Dodds. She has called for MORE immigration. THE footling EU diktat on bendy bananas could be binned today with zero damage. It is the definitive pointless edict we should axe post-Brexit. But Remainer civil servants are stonewalling, despite Tory ministers’ orders. Why? We can think of two reasons. One is they refuse to hand Brexit a symbolic victory, even one that minor. The second is they are guarding as many EU rules as possible for the Labour Government they long for. If they get that, they will leap into action enacting Keir Starmer’s “closer ties with the EU” . . . the prelude to rejoining. What a truly rotten bunch.

BAD

Porsche may withdraw backing after DP World Tour suspends LIV Golf rebels

The DP World Tour is on a possible collision course with one of its tournament sponsors after suspensions handed to LIV rebels ruled Paul Casey and Martin Kaymer out of next month’s European Open in Hamburg. Both former Ryder Cup players had entered the event; Casey is an ambassador for Porsche, the title sponsor, while the double major champion Kaymer remains one of Germany’s most high-profile sportsmen. There are serious doubts over whether the German luxury car manufacturer will continue its backing of the tournament, which began in 2015. Casey and Kaymer were among 26 golfers hit with sanctions, including tournament suspensions and fines ranging from £12,500 to £100,000, on Thursday after not being granted releases to play on the LIV circuit while members of the DP World Tour, formerly the European Tour. A sports arbitration panel ruled in April that the Tour was well within its rights to issue such penalties. The fines are expected to largely be paid, partly on the basis that some of the golfers involved may want to return to the DP World Tour in the future. However, the suspension element – and particularly its timing – carries broader ramifications. “The total cumulative suspension imposed on any single player for breaches in the period 22 June 2022, to 2 April 2023 is a maximum of eight Tour tournaments, comprising a combination of one- or two-week suspensions,” read a Tour statement. “The suspensions imposed relate to regular season Tour events [ie excluding major championships] and will run consecutively, effective from the Porsche European Open from 1-4 June 2023 – the first tournament chronologically on the Tour schedule whose entry list remains open.” When that list closes next Thursday, Casey and Kaymer will no longer be in the field for the $2m tournament. Kaymer, who has battled a wrist injury in recent times, has been a consistent supporter of mainstream Tour events in his homeland. Casey did not feature in Germany last year due to fitness troubles of his own but has been a brand ambassador for Porsche since 2020. The 45-year-old Englishman won the European Open in 2019. A spokesperson for Porsche said: “We heard about the individual sanctions of the Tour against players. But as those are individual we do not know so far what this means exactly to each player and are in contact with the Tour and the managements.” Regarding its association with the tournament, the spokesperson said: “The Porsche European Open is a great event. We are in discussions about the future of the event with the promoter and the Tour.” The DP World Tour may be unconcerned. Through its alliance with the PGA Tour, prize funds are guaranteed and certain to grow over multiple years. Still, any loss of sponsors encourages the belief that the DP World Tour has been materially harmed by LIV’s arrival. Henrik Stenson, who was stripped of the Ryder Cup captaincy after signing with LIV, has become the latest European to resign from his home continent’s Tour. Stenson follows the lead of Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Sergio García and Richard Bland by terminating his membership, with others certain to do likewise. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend’s action after newsletter promotion “They left me with no other choice so I have resigned,” said Stenson. “That’s it. I don’t really feel like it will do any good to dig into this too deeply. I’m appreciative of what the tour has done for me over the years. But they have chosen how they want to view the future and we have obviously done the same. Unfortunately, they don’t go together at this point.”

GOOD

The Spin

May creaks into June. The first block of the County Championship is in the can, the sun’s meek rays gather a little more strength and the damp English loam begins to sweat. So too the collective palms of the England cricket fan. A conjoined pulse quickens as thoughts, daydreams, hopes and fears become inordinately focused on that first ball at Edgbaston in three weeks’ time. That’s for the men. England’s women get under way at Trent Bridge seven days later – a first five-day Test on home soil. Two Ashes ding-dongs running side by side. Twice the action and for now, double the chatter. We’ve had Ollie Robinson talk about handing Pat Cummins’s boys a “good hiding” and Lauren Winfield-Hill declare that Meg Lanning’s Australian side – one of the greatest teams in modern sport – have “scars too”, adding for good measure that: “They can wobble, they can be fractured.” The response from Australian quarters has been disconcertingly muted. Even Glenn McGrath was seen to heavily caveat his customary 5-0 pre-series prediction this time around. Emboldened by the success of the past year, Ben Stokes’s team have been looser lipped than an England side might normally be before an Ashes series. In a recent Sky Sports interview with Nasser Hussain, Stokes chuckled away when reminded of Robinson’s remarks. Nasser though could barely hide his twitchiness, admitting that the England side of his era – mental toughness and batting lineup at times as fragile as a glass dandelion – wouldn’t have dared to have a pop at the domineering Aussies – the very thought had Hussain shifting in his seat. In fairness, both sides have given as good as they’ve got over the years. “We have come to beard the kangaroo in his den and try to recover those Ashes,” England’s Ivo Bligh declared in 1882: 141 years of cricketing jibes have been traded ever since. Early exchanges were steeped in the struggle between empire and colony but as the series have stacked up through the decades, the accompanying pre-series pronouncements have become a fabric of Ashes folklore. “This is war, same as usual,” Matthew Engel wrote the day after the Australians’ plane had landed on English tarmac in May 1985. Allan Border had barely peeled off his flight socks and David Boon’s walrus moustache was likely still lank with Castlemaine XXXX when the then Guardian’s cricket correspondent mentioned the three letter “w word”. The late Martin Amis would no doubt have rolled his eyes and railed against the cliche of the Ashes “phoney war” and the perpetual volleys served up every couple of years. In truth, the comment churn can often be more likely to induce a sneer rather than raise a smirk, but in a way to react wearily is to miss the point and, well, the fun. The slurs and slights are all part of the show – they heighten the rush of Ashes nostalgia and anticipation. Pick a series at random and you can enjoy the barbs: from Jeff Thomson declaring he loves the sight of haemoglobin spilt on the popping crease before the 1975 bout, to Nathan Lyon announcing he was relishing the prospect of “ending careers” before the 2017 series. No one is above getting stuck in – when the seemingly permanently good-natured Mark Wood is channelling his inner Kevin Keegan in declaring he would “love to stick one up ’em” in the run up to an Ashes series opener, clearly anyone can get carried away with this thing. Most players have got in on the act at some point and with the passage of time some pronouncements can seem ridiculous, prescient or even poignant. We should probably just enjoy it all while we can, not only because of the distant but ominous death knells of Test cricket but also, this year more than any other, because it is all going to be over in a flash. The 2005 men’s Ashes series – the greatest in many minds – unspooled like warm honey from a spoon during that summer. The Twenty20 and one-day international matches in June serving to feed narratives and build tension as the whole tour kept the country rapt as it wound towards its finale and the fifth Test at the Oval in September. This time round it will all be over by the end of July. The men’s and women’s contests are packed together – six Tests, three ODIs and three T20s in less than eight weeks. This will be the Ashes on warp speed – the speculation, selections, matches and analysis all bleeding into one big mulch. Less an unspooling and more a binge. By the time August arrives it will be time for the Hundred to take centre stage in the prime months of the summer. You might well be riveted by the prospect of a representative of Welsh Fire throwing shade at London Spirit or a plucky Southern Braver declaring that “those Northern Superchargers have got no bottle” but, let’s face it, you probably won’t. Sign up to The Spin Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week’s action after newsletter promotion Time then to embrace the verbals that the Ashes inspire. The sheer longevity and ridiculousness of them. Go on, park that cynicism and relish Aussie goader-in-chief Stuart Broad’s latest wheeze why don’t you. Broad, no stranger to stirring up some Ashes controversy, clearly loves the circus. In the past few weeks, Marmite’s freshly yeasted brand ambassador has already chalked off the 2021-22 series as “void” and talked up a “new” delivery he’s been working on especially for “Steve [Smith] and Marnus [Labuschagne]” that sounds remarkably similar to an outswinger. Less phoney and more baloney. One man who would surely be loving Broad’s act is Shane Warne, a fan of a pre-series “new” delivery unveiling himself. Zooter anyone? This will be the first Ashes series since Warne’s death. There’s that poignancy. So sit back and let the phoney war wash over you. Read the stuff, watch the videos, debate the issues, keep tongue firmly placed in cheek, embrace the noise and enjoy the ride. It’ll all be over sooner than you think. This is an extract from the Guardian’s weekly cricket email, The Spin.

GOOD

Search History by Amy Taylor review – sharp and pacy cautionary tale for the extremely online

This review begins with a confession: I’m a lurker. I once found a website through which you can watch people’s Instagram stories without them knowing; multiple times a day, I typed in the name of the ex of the man I was seeing. I searched everything she posted – photos of food, selfies, songs – for hints about their relationship, which I hoped would tell me more about him. I knew it was unhinged but I couldn’t stop. Even after my relationship with the man ended, I continued to mindlessly look at his ex. I felt as though I knew her. Ana, the late-20s protagonist of Australian writer Amy Taylor’s debut novel, does the same thing when, having fled to Melbourne from Perth after a bad breakup, she begins a relationship with Evan, a man she meets not on the apps but at a bar. She tries to savour the IRL-ness of it all – but, when Evan adds her on Facebook, she finds a photo of his ex, Emily, and discovers that the woman died a year earlier. Down the rabbit hole she goes, while pretending to Evan she knows nothing. He won’t talk about it, anyway. Search History joins the crowded field of “extremely online” millennial novels, often by and about women. These books hinge on being relatable – whomst among us has not spent a night balled up on the couch with a cheap bottle of plonk, flattened by another bad date? Do any of us actually have unique experiences? Ana is the typical white millennial woman: she works at a tech startup with a plant-filled office and communicates in gifs and memes. Like many people her age, she’s cynical and disaffected, which directly clashes with the Ted talk culture pummelled at her by friends and colleagues. (Looking at a motivational quote calendar on the office fridge, she thinks to herself: “I would begin to wonder if there was a dream of mine I’d left neglected somewhere, while I wasted my life performing the uninspiring task of being employed.”) The world within Ana’s phone is just as real and vivid as the physical world around her – indeed, it’s where many of her key discoveries happen. The novel explores the gamification of relationships, as well as the way in which instant access to information about strangers has demystified the dating process. As Ana burrows more deeply into Emily’s life through her static, perfect feed, she is haunted – like the nameless narrator in Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca – by the past lover. Her imagination runs wild to fill in the gaps, and she shrinks in the shadow of a figure who becomes so twisted in her mind that it almost becomes a fiction. Her behaviour becomes erratic and unjustifiable – some parts are genuinely difficult to read. The author employs smart stylistic choices – Ana’s ex, with whom she had an entire life, is never named, while Emily, a woman she never knew, is rendered in full colour. Evan is given very little personality or detail; we know that he’s some kind of finance bro and comes from a wealthy family, but other than that he could be anyone. Taylor zooms in on the singular obsessiveness that can overtake a dopamine-flooded brain in the early days of infatuation. Her writing is sharp and self-aware, standing in contrast to some of the more rudimentary novels in this field. A concurrent thread throughout Search History hints at the dichotomy of desiring men while also fearing them; the dangers of being a woman in the world snakes through. In the novel’s first chapter, Ana goes on a date and has sex that teeters on the border of consent. A week later, she watches a stranger on the bus deliberate over how to word a rejection text message, and then watches as a reply appears, spiky with anger. Sign up to Bookmarks Discover new books with our expert reviews, author interviews and top 10s. Literary delights delivered direct you after newsletter promotion Ana is scared to go for walks alone at night. When she and Evan encounter a drunk woman at a party and a man claiming to be her boyfriend tries to take her home, Evan brushes off Ana’s concern. Passing interactions in her social groups embody the casual putdowns women receive from their male friends. Flashbacks to Ana’s adolescence show how early women are socialised to crave male approval, particularly sexually. It’s not just danger but inequality in general: a point about men being able to ask for a raise more easily makes its way in, too, but has no real relevance to the rest of the story. These points do, at times, feel shoehorned, or at least sidelined by the central Emily plotline – and for readers of this genre, it may feel a little didactic; a little like preaching to the choir. Still, Search History is a pacy, compulsive read that illustrates the double-edged sword of living in an information-rich world. By the end of it, I felt exhausted and embarrassed thinking back on my past behaviour but also somewhat comforted knowing that maybe this is just how it is for us now. I made a mental note to log off more often – but I know I won’t. Search History by Amy Taylor is out now through Allen & Unwin

GOOD

Luton’s Kenilworth Road is crumbling but deserves a Premier League chance

Shortly before 8pm last Tuesday, a remarkable act of transfiguration took place at Kenilworth Road. At that precise moment, Luton’s cramped and crumbling old stadium, with a capacity barely above 10,000, became a raging, roaring, hot-headed monster. The noise barely stopped for the next 90 minutes, at which point Luton’s players had seen off Sunderland and were heading to a playoff final at Wembley – and the jokes and sneers about their old ground had resurfaced again on social media. Does Kenilworth Road deserve to grace the Premier League? If Luton can get past Coventry on Saturday, the only answer is a punchy and unqualified yes. Sure it is no looker. Unlike Craven Cottage, also built in 1905, it will never attract the love of the blue plaque heritage brigade. The wooden main stand is so tight in places that you have to duck your head when you go to the toilet, while the away fans’ entrance in the Oak Road End looks down on residents’ gardens. Yet give me it over any soulless, out-of-town ground any day. Now Luton face their biggest sliding doors moment since being relegated on the eve of the Premier League in 1992. This, however, isn’t just a story of Luton Town but of Luton the town, too. For decades it has been a put‑down, a punchbag, a punchline to an easy joke. It is a perennial visitor to books like Crap Towns II and lists of the most awful places in the country. As someone who was born and raised in Luton, I know it has plenty of rough edges. But scratch a little deeper, amid its struggles and chronic lack of investment, and you find hope that Saturday could really transform the town as well as the club. It boils down to football economics 101. Promotion to the Premier League remains the most valuable prize in the world game, the sporting equivalent of hitting the Euromillions jackpot, with around £170m on offer in broadcast revenue and parachute payments even if Luton go down after one season. Most of it would be spent on a new £100m stadium, slap-bang in the middle of the town centre. There is talk of an economic boost, regeneration, renewed optimism. There is something else worth stating here. We hear a lot of gushing pronouncements about how much football clubs mean to their communities, especially in times of success or peril. Mostly, though, we are just guessing. But in Luton’s case we actually know. That’s because in 2009, the year the club tumbled out of the Football League, academics found that 47% of Luton residents believed their quality of life would be reduced if professional football in the town ceased. That is a remarkably high figure given many people do not care that much for sport. What’s more, the academics found that 53.5% of respondents to a survey also said they would pay more in council tax to keep the club from going bust. “This tells you the community has a stake in the club too,” one of the report’s authors, David Forrest, told me. “It doesn’t just belong to the owners or the fans. It belongs to the town.” What makes Luton’s story even more remarkable is that they often had to take the accountancy equivalent of smelling salts as they tumbled down the divisions. During their worst period of financial peril and strife they went into administration three times, had 40 points’ worth of deductions, and endured four relegations. Yet they have endured. It helps, of course, that they are no longer a vessel for dreamers or mad-eyed schemers. Some fans still shudder at the mention of the former chairman John Gurney, who talked of building a 50,000-seat ground with a “Teflon roof kept up by air pressure” to host Formula One and NFL matches at the same time the club were crashing into administration. He also launched a “manager idol” telephone vote among fans, at 50p a pop, during his disastrous 55-day reign. Before him there was David Kohler, who dreamed of a 20,000-capacity “Kohlerdome” by the M1 with a pitch placed on a hovercraft that would have been moved in and out of the stadium on match days, while Luton’s chairman in their glory days, David Evans, even called for cat-o’-nine-tails used on hooligans. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion True, every club has its stories of misfortune and woe. But Luton’s have been so ridiculously farcical they could have been penned by Groucho Marx. It was Evans who banned away supporters in the aftermath of Millwall fans tearing up the stadium in 1985. For decades that was the source of much of the antipathy towards Luton but, in a surprisingly sympathetic Guardian column at the time, David Lacey backed the club. As he pointed out, they were “trying to recreate an age” where it was safe to watch football – and fans could “wear their colours without fear of being abused or attacked, and if they were visiting supporters they were not marched to the ground by the police like prisoners-of-war”. Times have changed. Attitudes towards Luton, too. But more than 35 years later, one thing has remained resolutely unchanged. As Simon Inglis put it in his 1987 edition of The Football Grounds of Great Britain: “Until you have been to Kenilworth Road you cannot appreciate how cramped is ‘cramped’.” That much is true. As, hopefully, Erling Haaland, Harry Kane and the rest of the Premier League’s biggest stars will soon find out.

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John Cooper obituary

My grandad, John Cooper, who has died aged 96, was an electrical engineer. Throughout his life and work he was open to new ideas and embraced education and other cultures. His own life experiences fostered a deep concern for the welfare of others. Born in Reading, John was the eldest son of Maurice, a master draper, and Agnes (nee Bradley), an upholsterer. He gained a scholarship to Reading Blue Coat school, and left at 14, after passing his exams early, to support his family. He initially worked in telecommunications, joining the Post Office telephone engineering department in 1942 and the cable manufacturer Telcon, based in Greenwich, London, in 1949 – for whom he installed a large aerial cable on top of the Shot Tower on the South Bank for the Festival of Britain – before putting himself through night school to qualify as an electrical engineer. John loved the opportunities this gave him to travel internationally. He designed and oversaw the installation of complex television networks, including in Madrid, Johannesburg and on the QE2 Cunard liner, collaborating with engineers from many countries and expanding his knowledge of different cultures. His experiences inspired him to return to evening classes in his 40s to learn Spanish. In 1981 he set up his own consultancy, which designed the television network for the Queen Alia airport in Jordan. He met Rene Harding while they were both “digging for victory” on a farm in Kent in the aftermath of the second world war; they married in 1951. Family was vitally important to him, and he and Rene had three daughters: Helen, Alison and Barbara. As someone who had had to leave school early, John valued the opportunity of education and saw all of them attend university and further study. His engineer’s mind meant that he continued to embrace new technology. After Rene died of heart failure in 2015, this became a lifeline for him to keep in touch with others. Central to this connection, especially during the pandemic, was the daily sharing of the Guardian puzzles with three generations of his family. John remained active throughout his life. In his youth he had been a successful amateur footballer, including playing for Putney Athletic. After retiring to the Isle of Wight in his 70s, he joined a walking club, and organised and led the Christian Aid walk. In his 90s, he took up cycling on his e-bike. He had a photographic memory, and became the family archivist and keeper of its history. He was never without a project, and always ready with a few lines of humorous verse at the milestone events of his friends and family. His youngest daughter, Barbara, died in 2018. John is survived by Helen and Alison, eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

GOOD

A moment that changed me: I was in my 20s and depressed – then my mother moved into my bed

The first night back from the hospital, I tried not to cry. In the dark, I squinted at the wall clock. The thick black hand hovered around the three. I lay propped up against pillows and towels. My baby’s body was hot and furious. Her little head fit in the palm of my hand. I was convinced I was holding her wrong. That if I could do it right, she would feed and rest and grow up healthy and strong. But my grip felt weak and wobbly. This might have been because I’d had a C-section and they’d cut through several layers of my flesh. Or because I am generally clumsy. She wept and wept. I thought about how much I loved her and how uncertain I had been about becoming a mother. Achy, bloated and exhausted, I was not sure I’d made the right choice. This had nothing to do with her and everything to do with me. I did not feel cut out for the task of mothering. I had the support of my family. My partner’s work had given him generous paid leave. Entering parenthood, I had as much safety and stability as anyone could. Despite all these advantages, I was failing to give my daughter the two things she needed: food and sleep. My nipples were cracked and bleeding. When her small mouth latched, I wondered if she could taste the blood. Earlier in the evening, I had fondly called her “our little vampire” . Isn’t it strange, I thought, that milk is just blood transformed by the body? But that commonplace miracle was faltering. My milk was behind schedule . I was struggling to make enough to meet her needs. I had been told to persevere until it improved. I’m sorry, I thought. I’m so, so sorry. I had tried to prepare. I had read about the pros and cons of breastfeeding, of dummies, of rockers, and of co-sleeping – about which I’d been unsure. My understanding was that co-sleeping had risks but that done properly it could be safe. We had bought a bassinet, but I was open to the idea of bed-sharing. It hadn’t occurred to me we might just be co-crying instead. From the darkness a memory came seeping out. For me, there is a point when I’m so tired that thoughts and memories become extremely vivid, almost superimposed over what is actually happening, like waking dreams. I saw my mother, lying in bed next to me, her hair falling over her face. I could hear her sigh and see the way her eyebrows drew together as she slept, as if puzzling through a point. This memory came not from childhood but from a time in my early 20s. I had relapsed into the depression that haunted my teenage years. Although I had tried to hide its return, I had been found out. And my mother decided to move into my bed. She didn’t offer me a choice about it, but nor did I argue. I wasn’t up to resisting. But I remember thinking it was ridiculous. What was sleeping in my bed supposed to do? For years I had been plagued by an insomnia that would in part inspire my third novel, The Sleep Watcher . I’d spent long nights wandering my childhood home in the isolation of the dark. In my 20s, I still struggled with sleep. So I lay awake and watched my mother snooze. She couldn’t make me less sad. She couldn’t grant me sleep. She couldn’t even keep me safe – I was an adult, and in the daylight hours I had to go and be alone in the world. Still, she slept there until she thought I was well enough to spend nights by myself. As this memory played out, I realised that my mother and I had been co-sleeping. In the face of not being able to do anything else for her adult child, she had chosen to be there through the night. And it did help, if not in any obvious or instantaneous way. Her body had anchored me in the knowledge I was loved. The proponents of co-sleeping argue that separation occurs naturally – there’s no way you’ll end up in the same bed with your adult child. But I guess there are exceptions. Steeped in darkness, I promised my daughter: I will do everything I can to soothe your pains and solve your sorrows. And if all else fails, I will be there as long as you need me. In the months since, there have been easier and harder nights. There have been times when I have questioned my worth and strength. I’d be lying if I claimed that in that one moment I solved parenthood. But when I feel overwhelmed I remember that night and my promise to her. And the shame I feel about not being a good enough parent eases, because I know that at least I can do this for her. Lately, she has slept peacefully in her crib. But friends warn me this could change any day. I know the world may have new sorrows in store for her. Sadly, a mother’s kiss can’t cure every wound. Co-sleeping did not cure my depression. Still, it mattered. I didn’t understand what my mother was doing for me until almost a decade later. But her love gave me a safe place inside which to struggle. I will try to do that for my own child. I hope that even when my efforts have no visible effect, the love may soak into my daughter’s skin and fortify her in some future year. The Sleep Watcher by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan is out now (Sceptre ). To order a copy, go to the Guardian bookshop .

GOOD

Fears for England’s frog and toad population after drought

Frog and toad populations in England have been devastated by climate breakdown, conservationists fear, after the drought dried up their breeding ponds last year. Usually at this time of year, ponds are full of jelly-like frog and toadspawn . But conservationists have found the habitats to be bare, with no amphibians or their young to be seen. Kathy Wormald, the chief executive of the amphibian charity Froglife, told the Guardian: “We are receiving a lot of reports of no amphibians – frogs, toads and newts. We are also getting reports from our toad patrollers of lower numbers migrating, but we will not know for definite until later in the year when we have all of their data. “We have noticed a steady increase in low numbers being reported by the public over the past few years. We think that the variable climate patterns, with warmer winters but then cold well into the spring months, when they would migrate to the ponds, is having an impact on their behaviour patterns.” Rare natterjack toads have been struggling due to changing weather patterns, with populations devastated. Emily Lake, who looks after the toads at the Cheshire Wildlife Trust, said: “Changing weather patterns and lack of rain means we are seriously worried for the long-term survival of the natterjack toad colony at Red Rocks nature reserve on the Wirral. “Rare and protected natterjacks live in the sand dunes, spawning in shallow freshwater pools, fed by rainwater and runoff from surrounding land, and where pools are warmed by the sun. However, over the past few years with changing weather patterns and drier winters the ponds are not filling up properly over winter.” She said last year was particularly devastating because the lack of fresh water caused the natterjack pools to be filled with saltwater, and all 41 toadspawn strings in them were lost. “The passionate group of Our Dee Estuary citizen science volunteers who monitor the natterjack toad pools for spawn and tadpoles were visibly upset at the devastation of the potential natterjack population last year,” Lake said. “We hope that a few brave toads are spawning in small pools amongst the reedbeds. However, this is risky. The tadpoles of common toads, also in the reedbeds, will eat natterjack tadpoles who are competing for the same habitat.” Rangers at the National Trust said they had also noticed a lack of frogs, toads and their spawn this year. Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion A spokesperson said: “There are some places, like Felbrigg in the east of England, where they have noticed a lack of frog or toad spawn in the pond in their walled garden, which has traditionally had rich amphibian populations in the past years.” The team at Sheringham Park, a National Trust park in north Norfolk, said that abstraction of water for farming due to the drought had drained the ponds in which the frogs and toads usually spawned. They said: “It has largely been an average year, but then given the lifespan of adult toads it would take several years for any major change to be noticeable. What we do have is ponds that are still dry from last year, so there is a considerable reduction in habitat. This is also due to abstraction rather than just lack of rain. Restoring such ponds and indeed creating new ones is incredibly important for amphibians and a wide range of other species.”

GOOD

US banker paid £73m dividend in 2021 after firm won millions in UK Covid contracts

An American banker was paid a £73m dividend in 2021 after his firm won hundreds of millions in Covid contracts, figures show. Banks Bourne, the sole owner of the medical company Tanner Pharma, took the sum from Tanner’s UK division, Companies House records show. While Tanner Pharma, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, registered profits of £1.4m in 2019, this figure hit £38.8m in 2020 and £64m in 2021. According to the company’s latest accounts, released in March, this financial growth was largely driven by a Covid windfall, with the firm paid huge sums by the UK government. Turnover increased from £192m in 2020 to £468.5m in 2021, or by 144%, the latest accounts state. They say “this increase was largely the result of higher-volume contracts” with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) as the company “supported the UK government’s urgent response to Sars-CoV-2 pandemic”. Tanner Pharma’s profit margin therefore was 19.8% in 2020 and 13.7% in 2021. Government records show that in 2020 and 2021 Tanner Pharma was awarded contracts worth £865m from the UKHSA and the DHSC for the provision of lateral flow tests. The largest contract during this period was valued at up to £243m – more than 84 times the firm’s total turnover of £2.9m in 2019. The company’s accounts show that it earned 98.3% of its turnover in 2021 and 93.7% in 2020 from the UK government. Tanner Pharma continued to be awarded UK Covid contracts in 2022, with its largest single contract coming in February 2022, worth up to £595m for the provision of lateral flow tests to the UKHSA. In total, the firm was awarded UK Covid contracts worth just shy of £1.5bn – the fourth largest total of any firm. The firm’s 23 employees were paid an average of £248,521 in 2021, up from £213,500 in 2020 and £84,110 in 2019. It does not appear that Bourne took a dividend from Tanner Pharma in 2020. The government has been faced with repeated accusations of misspending in its awarding of Covid contracts, with parliament’s public accounts committee saying that the government lost and risked “unacceptable” billions of taxpayers’ money in its Covid response. The Liberal Democrat health spokesperson, Daisy Cooper, said: “These profits raise more serious questions about the government’s inability to get good value for taxpayers’ money. “It is now critical that these contracts are scrutinised as part of the Covid inquiry.” Tanner Pharma acted as a supplier of lateral flow tests on behalf of several key government suppliers. The government revealed in June 2021 that Tanner was distributing lateral flow tests on behalf of Orient Gene, based in Zhejiang, China. None of these firms were part of the UK Rapid Test Consortium, an industry group formed to help increase the government’s procurement of lateral flow tests. The Good Law Project previously revealed that Tanner Pharma had supplied some tests that were unusable, but the value of these tests and the reason they could not be used is unknown. There have been numerous controversies surrounding the sums of money afforded to middle-men and facilitators during the Covid procurement process – not least the payment of more than £21m in taxpayers’ money to a Spanish middleman who helped in the sale of personal protective equipment to the UK government by a Florida-based jewellery designer. There was also criticism of the government’s rapid testing programme, with the NAO finding that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) wasted £5.8bn on lateral flow tests and PCR tests procured by the test-and-trace programme. Bourne is the founder and chief executive of Bourne Partners, a “financial services firm specialising in the pharma, pharma services and consumer health sectors” that invests in companies as well as advising on acquisitions and external financing. He was previously the vice-president of Wachovia Securities, a bank bought by Wells Fargo for $15.1bn (£12.1bn) in 2008. Bourne says he has “invested in more than 200 private companies/assets since 2000”, and is described on his LinkedIn page as the founder and chair of Tanner Pharma stretching back to 2003. A Tanner Pharma UK spokesperson said: “Tanner Pharma UK Limited was contracted by the DHSC to distribute Orient Gene lateral flow Covid-19 tests for use in the United Kingdom, requiring additional investment in expanding our operations and distribution channels. “These tests were among a minority to be evaluated at Porton Down as having both very high specificity and very high sensitivity against viral loads associated with infectiousness. We are proud to have successfully delivered over 480 million reliable and accurate testing kits as part of the emergency response to the pandemic.”

GOOD

Coronavirus treatments: What progress is being made?

Vaccines have transformed the pandemic, but there is still a huge need for drugs which can treat Covid. Immunity from vaccines can wane, and access is still a major problem around the world. Also, new variants emphasise the possible need for a back-up. There are now many drugs that target the virus or our body in different ways: These are all needed at different stages of the infection. They range from dirt cheap to spectacularly expensive, and some are more resilient to new variants than others. When you catch Covid, your body releases a flood of chemicals to warn that you're under attack. This chemical alarm is called inflammation, and is vital for rallying your immune system to boot out Covid. But if you don't get rid of the virus quickly, then inflammation can spiral out of control and eventually damage vital organs such as your lungs. It's this excessive inflammation that kills. An anti-inflammatory steroid that already existed before Covid - dexamethasone - was the first drug proved to save the lives of people with Covid. It's given to seriously ill patients with breathing troubles - it cuts the risk of death by a fifth for patients on oxygen, and by a third for those on ventilators. It is also so cheap that it has become the go-to drug around the world - with everywhere from Brazil to China using it. Other anti-inflammatory drugs have been shown to work, including the steroid hydrocortisone and baricitinib , which is normally used in rheumatoid arthritis. There are more advanced and targeted anti-inflammatory drugs such as tocilizumab and sarilumab . Tocilizumab has been widely used in hospitals in China, India and Australia. These are also effective, but up to 100 times as expensive as dexamethasone. This has restricted their use - although they are still cheaper than an intensive care bed. Anti-inflammatories work best later on in the disease, but an asthma drug called budesonide has been shown to help vulnerable people with early Covid symptoms recover more quickly at home. An anti-viral directly targets the ability of the coronavirus to make copies of itself inside our bodies. Such a drug keeps levels of the virus in the body low, so there is less of it for your immune system to deal with. Both Paxlovid and molnupiravir are best taken soon after symptoms appear. Pfizer expects to make 80 million courses of Paxlovid by the end of 2022 and has said it will allow generic makers in 95 low-income nations to produce and distribute it at cost price. Merck is allowing Indian generic drug firms to turn out molnupiravir cheaply for 100 low and middle-income countries. Another anti-viral, remdesivir , is given through a drip and cuts recovery time from Covid. The third approach is to give people an infusion of antibodies that can attack the virus. These stick to the surface of the coronavirus and mark it for destruction by the body's immune system. The body makes its own antibodies when it is attacked by coronavirus. The most effective of these have been studied in the lab, grown and given to patients. This is known as monoclonal antibody therapy . These therapies are often reserved for seriously ill patients who are struggling to make their own antibodies. A different monoclonal antibody treatment called Evushield , made by AstraZeneca, is recommended for some vulnerable people to hopefully prevent disease before they show any signs of being infected. This is known as prophylactic therapy. Anti-inflammatories should work against all variants because they target our own bodies, rather than the virus itself. There is more concern about whether monoclonal antibodies would work with new variants, as they rely on being a close match for the virus. If a new variant is heavily mutated then it theoretically makes the drugs weaker. However, GSK says it has tested its therapy against the Omicron variant and it remains effective in laboratory studies. Anti-virals are expected to hold up against the variants seen so far. None of the mutations seen in Omicron should affect the ability of the drugs to work. However, if the drugs are used widely then there is the potential for drug resistance to emerge. A number of drugs have been heralded as potential therapies for Covid - sometimes with no sign that they actually make any difference. Ivermectin has been controversially promoted for use in many parts of the world, despite no evidence that it works. Taking antibodies from survivors' blood - known as convalescent plasma therapy - has been touted, but has not reduced deaths. There was also speculation that drugs used to treat malaria and HIV might work, but this has come to nothing. Follow James on Twitter

BAD

Leonard Cohen could shake it off like Taylor Swift

Re long concerts ( ‘They’re an endurance test!’ Will Taylor Swift begin the era of the three-hour concert?, 23 March ), I recall Leonard Cohen’s gig at London’s 02 Arena in 2013. He played for more than three hours, around 30 songs, with no costume changes – just a few doffs of the hat. He was 78. Graeme Evans Highgate, London Anyone finding a three-hour concert a bit long should probably avoid Max Richter’s Sleep – it’s 8.5 hours, and worth every penny. Alan Wilkinson St Albans, Hertfordshire In our early 20s, we were hitchhiking just the wrong side of the motorway sign on a slip road. The policeman who drew up got out his notebook and asked for my occupation. As I was no longer a student, I answered, “Nothing”. When the inevitable summons arrived, I was cross to be described as “housewife” ( Letters, 27 March ). Caroline Cole Huddersfield, West Yorkshire After some 11 years in office, Margaret Thatcher’s resignation honours list contained seven peerages. You report ( Liz Truss criticised for ‘stunning lack of humility’ over reported peerage plans, 25 March ) that Liz Truss intends to recommend four peerages, one for every 10 days of her premiership. By that measure, Mrs Thatcher could have nominated approximately 400. Nigel Siesage Leicester Readers touched by Bob Davenport’s “In Memoriam” notice in the Guardian’s print edition, about the victims of the Carville Street gas explosion in Gateshead (Announcements, 27 March), can find further details in a 1933 Pathé Newsreel item on YouTube – “Peace hath her heroes no less renowned than war”. Martin Smith Bristol Richard Kuper is correct in his letter ( 27 March ) regarding parabolas and circles, but we must give the remarkable writing of Barney Ronay some geometric licence. He was describing the skills of the wonderfully talented footballer Bukayo Saka, who seems capable of doing just about anything and brings a big smile to my face. Alan King Chingford, London Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.

GOOD

Stock market reforms would ‘pass greater risk to investors’, FCA says

The UK’s financial regulator has warned reforms to stock market listing rules will pass greater risks on to investors in British companies, as it presses ahead with changes designed to reverse a decline in London’s position as a top financial centre. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on Tuesday night said it plans to abolish the stricter “premium” class of London stock market listing, and make it easier for company founders to keep control of businesses using US-style “golden shares”, among a series of big changes to City regulations. The changes are part of a push by the Conservative government to arrest the decline of the London stock market since the global financial crisis and lure new companies to list here. There were 2,101 companies listed on London’s main market in 2003, but that number has fallen to 1,097 today, according to London Stock Exchange data. The average number of companies floated has fallen from 177 a year before the financial crisis in 2008 to 66 a year in the period since then, according to the data company Dealogic. The prime minister, Rishi Sunak, a former City financier, commissioned a 2021 review into the UK listing regime that had proposed many of the new changes. The government in December unveiled a separate plan for sweeping deregulation for banks and insurers . The FCA chief executive, Nikhil Rathi, who previously led the London Stock Exchange , acknowledged that the aim of helping the UK economy grow would mean higher risks for investors because there will be fewer checks on listed companies, in a foreword to a consultation paper published on Tuesday night. “Access to a potentially wider range of companies listing will provide greater opportunities for investors in UK markets and help create jobs and growth,” wrote Rathi alongside Sarah Pritchard, the FCA’s executive director of markets. “But we must be upfront that these changes we are proposing to the listing regime will mean passing greater investment risk to investors and greater responsibility on to shareholders to hold the companies they own to account.” The FCA has put forward proposed changes for formal consultation, with a view to introducing the rules by the end of the year. They include allowing more dual class share structures – sometimes known as “golden shares” – meaning company founders will be able to keep control of listed companies for 10 years via special voting rights. The food delivery company Deliveroo only chose London to list its shares in 2021 after dual class shares were first allowed, while Matthew Moulding, the chief executive of the online beauty retailer THG, has hung on to the company’s dual class share structure despite pledging to give it up after investor pressure. Other changes include removing a requirement for shareholder votes on acquisitions and related party transactions – which had been seen as a barrier to listing by some companies – and the removal of rules requiring startups to earn revenues for three years before listing. Within the City of London’s financial services industry there is a broad consensus that the UK has been losing out to New York in particular. Sunak personally lobbied for the chip designer Arm to pursue a listing in London before it chose New York , while recent departures from the London Stock Exchange’s FTSE 100 index include the building materials company CRH, and the plumbing and heating equipment supplier Ferguson. Even the oil company Shell considered leaving London. The London Stock Exchange’s current boss, Julia Hoggett, has been among the most prominent advocates of reform to make listing easier, which could also benefit her business. However, some senior figures in the financial services industry have criticised aspects of the reforms. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion Richard Wilson, chief executive of Interactive Investor, an investment platform, said he strongly supported making the UK more competitive, but added that “eroding shareholder rights risks undermining market standards, and this is not the right answer”. Wilson particularly criticised dual class share structures, which are favoured by US tech founders, who can raise money while keeping control of their companies. “One share, one vote is a bedrock of shareholder democracy and we are concerned to see that the spectre of dual share classes, which we have actively lobbied against, still looms large,” Wilson said. Andrew Griffith, the economic secretary to the Treasury, said the changes were “an important step forward by the FCA in improving the international competitiveness of the UK as a place to list. “We are the largest financial centre outside the US but we recognise that companies and investors have a choice and it is important our rulebook keeps pace with practices elsewhere while still benefiting from the high-quality reputation of our markets,” he said. Chris Hayward, policy chair at the City of London Corporation, which lobbies for financial services, said the reforms “will signal the UK is open for business”.

GOOD

Revealed: almost 1,000 rapes in prisons in England and Wales since 2010

Nearly 1,000 rapes were reported to have taken place in prisons since 2010, exclusive data obtained by the Observer from police forces in England and Wales can reveal. A further 2,336 sexual assaults were reported to police in the same period, and experts warned that the true figure for both crimes may be far higher because not all attacks would be reported. In response to the Observer’s findings, Andrew Neilson, director of campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform , said there has been “minimal research – and a worrying lack of coherent and consistently applied policies – in relation to consensual and coercive sex behind bars”. The investigation comes amid growing concern about the safety of prisons , both for those who are incarcerated and for prison staff. Prisons face continuing issues with overcrowding , staff reductions and budget cuts , fuelled by more than a decade of austerity measures from successive Conservative-led governments. The impact of austerity has left English prisons “unable to provide safe environments for rising prison populations”, according to research by Nasrul Ismail, a lecturer in criminology at Bristol University . As of September 2022, just over half (52%) of prisons in England and Wales were overcrowded, said a government report. The government last year announced a £500m funding injection to create thousands of new prison places for men and women. There are just under 90,000 people in prison in the UK. At the same time, prisons are struggling to recruit and retain staff. The government has launched an inquiry into staffing problems in the prison system after the number of prison officers and custodial managers fell by 600 in 2021-22. Losing staff puts safety at risk. Neilson said that the Howard League had called for staff to be given more training and guidance, “but we know that many experienced officers have since left the workforce and prisons have struggled to recruit and retain people to replace them”. The figures obtained by the Observer saw a notable increase in reported rapes and sexual assaults in the years after 2016, correlating with the period when austerity began to bite. Cuts to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) budgets totalled £2.4bn by 2015-16, according to contemporary analysis by the Prison Reform Trust . Durham constabulary received three reports of sexual assault in 2010 – this increased elevenfold to 33 in 2018. Humberside police saw reports of sexual violence double from five to 10 between 2015 and 2018. Cumbria police recorded a similar rise: the number of reported sexual assaults jumped from one in 2014 to eight in 2016. The increase in reports also correlates with eruptions of prison violence, including the 2016 Birmingham prison riot , which involved more than 500 . Other forces saw a rise in reported rapes and sexual assaults during 2020 and 2021, when the country was coping with the coronavirus pandemic. Greater Manchester police received 18 reports of rape in 2020, and Wiltshire police received reports of four rapes in 2022 and three in 2020 – after receiving only three in the previous seven years combined. Sign up to First Edition Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you through the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning after newsletter promotion While this investigation has used police reports to measure sexual violence in prisons, other data sources demonstrate that violence and assault rates across the prison estate remain high. The most recent safety in custody statistics published by the MoJ recorded 20,993 assaults in the 12 months to December 2022, of which 12% were considered “serious assaults”. These include sexual violence. The number of serious assaults saw an increase of 19% from the previous year. There were 195 prisoner-on-prisoner sexual assaults recorded in custody, 26% lower than the 265 recorded in 2019. Sexual violence is an issue across the male and female prison estate. Speaking in 2020, Lord Keen told the House of Lords there had been 122 sexual assaults in women’s prisons over the previous decade. The MoJ confirmed that the number of prisoner-on-prisoner assaults, including sexual ones, has fallen by more than a quarter since the year before the pandemic. A Prison Service spokesperson said: “We take allegations of sexual assault extremely seriously and refer all incidents to the police for investigation. Our £125m investment in security measures is making prisons safer, while we have also introduced round-the-clock prisoner helplines and body-worn cameras for all frontline staff.”

GOOD

Donald Trump to publish delayed Middle East ‘peace plan’

Donald Trump will unveil his much-delayed Middle East “peace plan” alongside the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu , on Tuesday amid Palestinian protest and a rising global chorus of doubt about its timing and substance. The US president said on Monday that he would announce the plan at noon Washington time (1700 GMT). “And it’s a very big plan,” Trump said after private meetings with Netanyahu and his election opponent, Benny Gantz, in the White House. The choreography between the US and Israel has been interpreted as a convenient distraction for both Trump, who faces an impeachment trial , and Netanyahu, who faces three criminal corruption indictments and an uncertain election campaign. Unconfirmed leaks have reported that the measures would be extremely favourable to the country, allowing it to annex much of the Palestinian territories , including Jewish settlements, and all of contested Jerusalem. The Palestinians may be granted some form of self-rule, but under tight restrictions. Israeli settler leaders who accompanied Netanyahu on his trip appeared to confirm some of those details, complaining that Palestinians should not be allowed any type country, even if it was territorially broken up and without an army or an airport. “[Netanyahu] tried to sell us on the idea that it wouldn’t really be a Palestinian state,” said David Elhayani, a prominent settler figurehead, according the the Times of Israel newspaper. He added the plan include large economic incentives to the Palestinians. The Palestinian prime minister called on Monday for world powers to boycott the initiative. “This is a plan to protect Trump from impeachment and protect Netanyahu from prison. It is not a Middle East peace plan,” Mohammad Shtayyeh told a cabinet meeting. The crisis appeared to bring a rare display of unity from rival Palestinian factions, Hamas in Gaza and Fatah in the occupied West Bank. The two parties, long-time enemies who fought a short civil war in 2007 for control of Gaza, agreed to hold an emergency meeting in Ramallah to discuss a joint response. Protests were planned in the Palestinian territories for Tuesday and Wednesday, raising the chance of clashes with Israeli troops. The Israeli military said it had reinforced security in Jordan Valley, a large section of the West Bank that the Israel government intends to annex. Donald Trump has unveiled his much-touted Middle East peace plan , tweeting a map showing his vision for an even further depleted Palestinian state than that envisioned by the Oslo peace agreement in 1993. The key points of the proposed plan are: Near an Israeli army checkpoint at the northern edge of Ramallah, dozens of teenage boys with scarves wrapped around their faces pulled tyres covered in petrol into the road. “Do you have a lighter?” one asked. “We’re doing this because they are going to steal our land,” said another. Two ambulances were parked by the side of the road. Hundreds of Palestinians waited in their cars behind the small protest to get through the checkpoint to their homes in other parts of the West Bank during the school rush. Ihab Marwan, a 35-year-old teacher who was passing by on his bike, said the demonstration would have no effect. “This will last two or three days. After that, they will be gone,” he said. “It breaks my heart.” During a tour of the valley on Monday, Israel’s interior minister, Aryeh Deri, said he was gearing up for the move, which Netanyahu already promised in an election pledge in September. “We’ve started to prepare for an annexation – we are getting the paperwork ready,” Deri said. Tuesday’s attention-grabbing announcement is sure to overshadow Netanyahu’s indictment woes back home. Earlier in the day, Netanyahu withdrew a request for parliamentary immunity from the charges . He made the move just hours before Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, looked likely to form a committee that was expected to rule against it. Washington also invited Gantz to make sure whoever becomes Israel’s next leader after the 2 March election will be on board in advance. Gantz later said he would work to implement the plan. Few political aspects of the proposal have been disclosed, apart from an economic conference last summer that sought to raise money from Gulf countries to fund it. The plan was drafted by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, with input from the US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, a vocal supporter of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. The Guardian understands that, unlike previous attempts that have focused on getting Israeli and Palestinians leaders to find common ground, Washington’s new plan is dozens of pages long and has been drafted as a set of detailed suggestions. Sensitive issues that have tripped up past efforts, such as the rights of millions of Palestinian refugees and their descendants, will be addressed. Trump’s administration has promoted itself – especially to a large section of US evangelical voters who ardently back the Jewish state – as the most pro-Israel in the country’s history. Washington has already implemented a number of historic changes in the region. It reversed decades of its policy by refraining from endorsing the internationally backed two-state solution. It has also recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital , cut millions of dollars in aid to Palestinians, and announced that it no longer views Israeli settlements in occupied territory as “inconsistent with international law”.

GOOD

Camelot refused to help me save my sick uncle’s funeral plan

My widowed uncle is receiving palliative care for brain cancer and is no longer able to handle his affairs. His daughter had power of attorney (POA) but she died of cancer last year, and the rapid decline in his health left no time for me to become the replacement guardian. The issue is, he has a funeral plan that is paid by direct debit from his bank account every month, and will be voided if we miss a payment. Because he no longer has money coming into his account, I have been trying to stop all other payments to ensure it remains in credit. But without POA his bank won’t let me manage direct debits, or even tell me his balance. I have been approaching companies, working out who’s who from one of his old bank statements, and have been able to stop payments for his TV, phone and internet services with no problems and much sympathy. In fact, everyone has been helpful except Camelot despite explaining that the monthly £18 could empty his account and affect his funeral plan. Staff say it cannot be cancelled because of “data protection” and wouldn’t even tell me if his account was active, which could have saved a lot of anguish. I offered to forward his hospital report but it would not accept this and wanted to speak to him directly. It suggested I pay money into the account to cover it. I am prepared to meet payments for the funeral plan but not for lottery tickets. AG, Broadstairs You were understandably very upset by the way the national lottery operator dealt with this and say that, in contrast, you were able to shut his Postcode Lottery account with one phone call. In the end you were able to log on to your uncle’s online account and cancel the payments yourself. Camelot says: “We’re really sorry AG didn’t have a good experience, especially given the difficult circumstances. There are obviously checks and processes to which we have to adhere to ensure that, with millions of national lottery players, we only follow the instructions of the correct account holder. “However, an exception should clearly have been made on this occasion, and we’re very sorry that her case wasn’t handled more appropriately. We have written to apologise, and will learn from this and aim to do better in the future.” We welcome letters but cannot answer individually. Email us at consumer.champions@theguardian.com or write to Consumer Champions, Money, the Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Please include a daytime phone number. Submission and publication of all letters is subject to our terms and conditions

GOOD

Can we still handle the truth? Journalism, ‘alternative facts’ and the rise of AI

We all have moments in life when we know something big is happening, that we are stepping into a new and consequential experience, and our mind takes a mental Polaroid, an intensely clear snapshot of what that moment looks like and how it feels, and then stores it away in a file marked “important”. Well, my mind does anyway, and in my professional life so far there have been three. It’s late 1987. I’m nearing the end of a cadetship at the Canberra Times and it is finally my turn to work in the newspaper’s press gallery bureau at Old Parliament House. I had chosen the Canberra Times over other opportunities because I figured it would be the fastest path to being a political reporter, the only kind of reporting I was really interested in; and here I was, on a sunny spring morning, walking past the roses and straight in the front door of that white building I’d seen every night on the news, because I worked there. I had to pause to calm my nerves. All I could think was: “Now I can start.” It was more than a decade after Watergate, but like most reporters of my generation that investigation was an already mythologised touchstone for the power of journalism to effect change. I absorbed that quote from Woodward and Bernstein: “All good reporting is the same thing – the best obtainable version of the truth.” From the starry-eyed perspective of an excited cadet, that idea seemed simple. Over the next 36 years, I came to understand how slippery and difficult it could be. As the waves of financial and technological change battered and shifted how and what we did, when the very concept of truth as the foundation of public debate was challenged, achieving the best obtainable version of the truth became very complicated indeed. In the late 1980s, the news cycle still moved with the sun. Papers dropped on the lawn in the morning and we had until the evening to file news for the following day. There was more time to ask questions and talk to contacts. More time to think. And as we all know, in those days, the media held a near monopoly on the attention of readers, a commodity that ensured those “rivers of gold” in advertising revenue kept flowing. This manageable tempo made it easier to find and test information, but the gatekeeping role also conferred on publishers considerable power to shape public opinion and determine which ideas, and whose ideas, got to be heard, how the obtainable version of the truth was portrayed and framed. News could be angled to suit the commercial or ideological interests of owners or toned down to ensure no advertisers complained. All the big mastheads in Australia held that traditional gatekeeping power, but it was wielded most overtly by News Corporation, an organisation I had joined as a junior reporter in 1989. As successive governments approved mergers that steadily reduced the number of publishers and increased concentration in media ownership over the ensuing decades, urged on by the editorial columns of some of those same papers, concern that power was being exercised in a way that harmed Australia’s democracy eventually grew to the point that more than 1 million Australians signed a petition supported by two former prime ministers, from opposing parties, calling for a royal commission. But that’s all to come. Then, as now, there were diligent reporters at the Australian working hard and breaking news, and then, as now, it took an editorial view on issues and politics, as it is entitled to. But, as has been extensively traversed over the years, including in Robert Manne’s 2011 Quarterly essay Bad News , the exercise of power did at times appear to override the truth. The organisation’s coverage of global heating is an obvious example. It highlighted the views of climate sceptics long after the science was clear and those views were discredited, fomenting doubt and confusion to back an editorial position often in favour of Australia delaying effective domestic action, a goal that sadly, it helped to achieve. The positioning became too much even for James Murdoch at the height of the 2020 bushfire crisis, when he and his wife, Kathryn, released a statement saying they were “particularly disappointed with the ongoing denial among the news outlets in Australia given obvious evidence to the contrary”. The power of publishers to influence the news was of course not a new phenomenon. As evidenced by the Guardian’s reckoning with the connections of its founders with enslavement through their commercial ties to the cotton trade, it had long been the case. In the 1800s, the Manchester Guardian’s editorial columns deplored the existence of slavery in the US, but then failed to support prescriptions to end it. As the global editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner, wrote in our editorial series on the issue “Cotton Capital” , it is “difficult to avoid the conclusion that the commercial interests of the founders may have influenced the paper’s editorial policy”. The establishment of the Scott Trust in 1936 as the Guardian’s sole shareholder has protected our editorial independence since that time. Coming back to Australia in the 1990s – press gallery bureaus were big enough for reporters to have specialist rounds and there was healthy competition for quite detailed policy coverage across all mastheads. But over time, I also saw how some senior reporters sacrificed fully scrutinised assessments for easy exclusives from politicians with whom they were close. When I was appointed political correspondent for the Australian in 1994, a senior press gallery colleague invited me to coffee to inform me that “they”, by which I believe he meant some of the blokes who held most of the senior roles in the press gallery, didn’t think I would cut it, because I didn’t understand how it worked. To succeed as a political correspondent you had to “do favours and be owed favours” he said, develop sources who would help you, and you them. I was, he said, far too straight down the line, too much like Michelle Grattan. I continue to admire Michelle Grattan and the many other press gallery reporters who are straight down the line. Sources and trusted relationships are necessary to do that job, but never at the expense of fairness and facts. Getting too close to sources is a danger, and not only for the politics beat. For me the unbearable pressure point came when I briefly returned to the Australian in 2009 and was assigned to cover the Copenhagen climate conference. For several days running I was asked to leave the meeting with 150 world leaders and 20,000 delegates with the fate of a global agreement to reduce emissions hanging in the balance, to travel across the city to the Copenhagen Climate Challenge. This was a gathering of a handful of climate deniers including the Australian geologist Prof Ian Plimer who said he was in Copenhagen to try to stop the world engaging in the “global collective madness” . The request, I was told, was being made in the interests of “balanced coverage”. Eventually, along with a few other Australian reporters, I went and filed a gently sassy sketch, having discovered a few old fellows drinking fruity lexia at lunchtime and talking about how the weather had seemed much hotter when they were lads. I believed, given the overwhelming heft of scientific evidence, that continuing to elevate the views of climate deniers was distortion, not balance. And yet it’s still happening. A 2022 report by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue found Australia’s Sky News channel has become a central source for climate science misinformation around the world. But, if we dismiss that view of balance and objectivity as an extreme example of false equivalence, what is the alternative? I fall back on the simple formula from Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel in their 2007 book, taught in most journalism schools, The Elements of Journalism. They make the case that objectivity is not something required of each journalist personally, there should be no expectation that we come to our desks devoid of all views or thoughts or opinions, but rather it is something required of the method each journalist applies in conducting their work. Objectivity means employing observable, repeatable methods of verification. It means always following the facts. Our methods have to be objective and, as far as possible, transparent to our readers. We should care deeply about where the truth lies. But we have to be clear about how we go about finding and assessing it, how we amend or change or correct a story when new information arrives or when we have got something wrong or when our assumptions are challenged. It can be elusive and we need to document the hunt. As Alan Sunderland, the journalist and former ABC executive, wrote in Meanjin in 2019, “regurgitating the views of others without assessing their factual basis is not journalism. Balancing a smart well-informed view with an ignorant ill-informed view and giving them the same weight is not journalism. Failing to care about where the truth lies is not journalism.” We all come to this task with life experiences that inform what we know and how we view the world, our gender, our background and education, our race or ethnicity, our sexual orientation, and those experiences make a newsroom richer and better able to tell stories, find sources, understand what is going on around us. I don’t want reporters to leave their true selves and experiences at home. We can’t possibly see what we need to if we are only looking at the world through the eyes of middle-class white folk. And at the moment, Guardian Australia has a way to go on that front. At the same time no view or perspective can override the facts, or result in us refusing to consider a different point of view, or not telling a story because we wish it wasn’t true or because it challenges something we believe. It can never mean we only include the sources who agree with what we think if there are reasoned alternative views. And yes, that does involve judgments on our part, which we need to be able to defend. It makes it all the more important that we never rush to pre-emptive or ill-informed judgment on social media. Truth might be hard to pin down, but it is not just what we want it to be. Shying away from stories because we wish the world was otherwise is doing the audience just as much a disservice as pulling punches to protect a friendly source. As Rosenstiel said in a 2020 Twitter thread on the issue: “If we mistake subjectivity for truth, we will have wounded an already weakened profession at a critical time. If we lose the ability to understand other points of view we will have allowed our passions to overwhelm the purpose democratic society requires of its press.” That exchange came as both the media and democratic society were changing at dizzying speed. Digital platforms were eroding the gatekeeping power of the old publishers and upending their business models. Some politicians didn’t just spin, they lied. And then they attacked the press for calling them out. They advanced “alternative facts”. Some news organisations began reporting falsehoods as facts, and then found themselves unable to stop doing it because their audience now believed so completely in the falsehoods. Attaining the best version of the truth kept getting harder. But again, I’m getting way ahead of the story. It’s early 2013, almost exactly 10 years ago, as it happens. I’m sitting with Katharine Murphy on the grass beside the big pear sculptures outside the National Gallery. We’ve both been offered jobs at the soon-to-launch Guardian Australia by Katharine Viner, who was Guardian Australia’s launch editor: me as political editor and Murph as my deputy. In the UK, with its billion-pound Scott Trust and, at that stage, 190-year history, the Guardian was an institution for the ages. But Guardian Australia was a philanthropically funded experiment. I was, at the time, chief political correspondent for the Sydney Morning Herald, Murph was at the Age and the then Fairfax chief executive, Greg Hywood, had told us we were mad, that the Guardian might be a good brand in some suburbs in London , but the only news brands that would ever have any clout in Australia were Fairfax and News Corp. In other words, Australia’s concentration of ownership could never be broken. We knew he might be right. It was a risk. But we had the chance to prove him wrong, and if we did we would be helping to create a new voice, and an unashamedly progressive voice; not partisan, but happy to plant a stake for the truth. In a last-ditch attempt to dissuade us from resigning, Hywood had sent an executive to Canberra to have coffee with each of us that weekend; a nice bloke who we met, one after the other, and then we regrouped there on the lawn by the pears. We each typed our resignations, counted to three and pressed send. I was attracted to the idea of a digital-only offering at a media organisation at the forefront of working out how to manage a news cycle which no longer moved with the sun, but rather changed by the minute. This was a time when we were optimistic about the possibilities of how digital journalism could help us understand our readers and learn from them. It was a time when Facebook and Twitter were useful places to get information, talk to people who would otherwise be out of our view, discuss and debate and distribute our news. We were still hopeful about this new town square, and there were good reasons to be. The media’s gatekeeping power was being challenged. Being factchecked and challenged in real time, facing competition from bloggers and startups, seemed like a potentially positive kind of shake-up. But we could see we were facing big changes. And a lot has changed. We still do benefit from interaction and challenge and ideas from readers but over time the social platforms became addictive traps. We depended on them for distribution even as the migration of eyeballs to their sites eroded our revenue base. Virality favoured the uncomplicated, the emotional and the dogmatic. Nuance seldom went viral. The logic of online interaction, the algorithms that favoured emotional extremes, the news sites that monetised clicks by feeding readers the ultimately unsatisfying sugar-hit of titillating easy consumption, it all formed a cycle, a kind of centrifugal force that pushed online debate towards ever more toxic extremes and an increasingly polarised readership. Civilised disagreement was swamped by divisiveness and anger and people entered closed-loop information systems impervious to alternative ideas. Some politicians fomented and capitalised on the whole mess and the polarisation corroded trust, that essential glue in a democracy, including trust in the press. In 2018 Trump’s erstwhile strategist explained a plan to push this democratic destruction even further. “We got elected on Drain the Swamp, Lock Her Up, Build a Wall. This was pure anger. Anger and fear is what gets people to the polls,” Steve Bannon told Bloomberg’s Michael Lewis. “The Democrats don’t matter. The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.” The news cycle was already moving too fast, already angry and partisan, but flooding the zone went further, aiming to deliberately overwhelm people with conflicting information to the point where they gave up on ever finding the truth, or turned off news altogether, or chose to blindly follow a side, a team. And once people identify with a side, once opinions become integrated into an understanding of personal belonging, they are heavily and instinctively motivated not to assess available information but rather to seek out information that supports their team view, which, on the internet, is always possible to find. I think many of us know good people who disappeared into that vortex during the traumatic years of the pandemic. And so we spin into a polarised world where there are chunks of the population that can’t tell fact from fiction, where a president can convince 40% of the population he won an election that he obviously lost, and encourage some of them to stage an insurrection. In an essay for a conference about authoritarianism and faultlines in democracy , Jelani Cobb, the dean of the Columbia journalism school, wrote: “The crisis of American democracy has been facilitated by the crises confronting American journalism. “Hindered by declining revenues, a diminished public trust, a shrinking labour force, and the emergence of a sophisticated disinformation ecosystem, the press, as the debates over the COVID vaccines and the 2020 election indicate, has had difficulty convincing many Americans of basic facts.” How do we hold on to the truth if the best obtainable version of the truth no longer forms guardrails of public debate and disagreement? How do we filter a firehose of disinformation, or factcheck a torrent of lies? These were questions I was soon going to have to deal with in an entirely new way. But again I’m jumping ahead in the story. Sign up to Guardian Australia's Afternoon Update Our Australian afternoon update email breaks down the key national and international stories of the day and why they matter after newsletter promotion It’s now May 2016. A crisp clear evening, the sun just setting, and I am standing outside Parliament House, waiting for a lift. The tufty-haired gang-gang cockatoos are hanging from the nearby trees, noisily eating red berries, my proximity not deterring them at all from their feast. Katharine Viner, now the Guardian’s global editor-in-chief, calls from London to offer me the editorship of Guardian Australia. It was a call I’d been hoping for but I was momentarily overwhelmed. We were still so small and the task was so big. A few years before this, Nine Entertainment had been allowed to merge with Fairfax, concentrating the major media market even more than before, shrinking the sources of Australian news (other than us) from five to four – Nine, News Corp, Seven West Media and the ABC. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission at the time it approved the takeover acknowledged that that deal reduced competition in the market for Australian news and information, but said it did not reduce competition sufficiently to be in breach of the law because “other players, albeit smaller, now provide some degree of competitive constraint”. The first listed “other player” was us, Guardian Australia. Could we be competitive enough to make a real difference? The first challenge was financial. With the digital platforms eating away at advertising revenue we launched reader revenue, a slightly counterintuitive plan to ask readers to pay for something when they didn’t have to. It is now more than half our revenue. A few years later, the news media bargaining code also forced Google and Facebook to the negotiating table to do deals with publishers, including us, a model that jurisdictions around the world are seeking to replicate. The second challenge was how to grow. We needed more journalists and deeper expertise. Some generous philanthropy helped us bring forward expansion plans, we turned a profit and paid back the philanthropic loan that had helped us launch. We expanded a little more, and then the code helped us grow again. When we started we had about 20 editorial staff, about 40 in total including commercial and operations. Now that stands at 167. The third, and by far the trickiest, was how to steer the course. If readers were overwhelmed, perhaps some information could be framed differently, as explainers, inserts in stories to quickly give context and background, data representations, lists of the main points. If some readers, young readers for example, were never going to come to our painstakingly curated news site, then we needed to present our stories as podcasts, or insert our news into their social media feeds. When we do, they consume it. There are ongoing regulatory questions about TikTok , but with minimal resourcing we are reaching more than 2 million viewers a month with quite serious topics. Last year, for example, we had 1.5m views to an explainer about the conflict in Tigray. But how to navigate a polarised world, where we could factcheck misinformation all day and never report on the issues we consider important and where countering an untruth can help to draw attention to it. These are judgments to be made every day. But there are also reasons for hope that we might be able to hang on to fact-based debate. In Australia at least, the pandemic seemed to shock politicians out of their reflexive divisiveness and governments responded with an unusual degree of cooperation. Our job was made easier because, for the most part, Australian decision-makers followed expert advice and sidelined the shrill voices urging them to do otherwise. And readers responded to the pandemic with a seemingly insatiable need for information – they reached for the best available facts and knowledge provided by all the mainstream news sites as something solid to cling to as our former lives and plans dissolved into uncertainty. And it turns out, this more measured fact-based discourse enhanced trust in institutions. Social cohesion, as measured by the Scanlon report and trust as measured by the Reuters Digital Media report, and our own Guardian Essential poll, all rose. People reported greater trust in all institutions, including the media, although the latest reports suggest the Covid trust bump might now be waning somewhat. Meanwhile, Anthony Albanese has so far made a better fist than some of his predecessors of delivering on the promise to “change the way politics operates” by dialling down the temperature of the public debate, implementing his policies and empowering his cabinet, and the polls suggest the electorate likes this too. Voters are also responding to the kitchen-table politics template set by Cathy McGowan when she won the seat of Indi in 2013, and followed with such stunning success by the teals in 2022; they like the grassroots doorknocking campaigning of the Greens, and the community conversation strategy that was so successful in the same-sex marriage plebiscites, and is being re-employed by the yes campaign in the referendum for a First Nations voice to parliament. Perhaps calmly talking things out and respectfully discussing differences can prevail over traditional campaigning tactics if we can bypass the commercial and technological pressures incentivising division. And, as Judith Brett examined in her book From Secret Ballot to Democracy Sausage, Australia has a degree of inoculation from the polarisation infecting politics elsewhere by virtue of a system that compels people to at least turn up to vote. I’d add our shaky and very inadequate but still extant social safety net as another brake on the worst extremes of inequality that fuel an entirely justifiable mistrust in existing institutions and systems. Taken together, I think there is room to hope that we can hold on to factual discourse in Australia, that evidence-based policymaking has somehow re-emerged from more than a decade of leadership coups and sloganeering. But now it’s 2023 and I can sense another Polaroid moment coming. I’m just not quite sure what it is yet. Or whether the picture will be real . Artificial intelligence, AI, is developing faster than we can keep up with it . In essence, our ability to train computers to learn in a way that imitates human knowledge and behaviour is developing exponentially. In recent months a new form of AI has captured the global imagination. Generative AI tools synthesise new content from existing content, whether that’s text, video, code, imagery or audio. They are built on Large Language Models which ingest billions of pieces of information and intellectual property from across the web, identify patterns and respond to our prompts, suggestions and questions. This gives them an incredible facility for language which is perhaps their most dazzling trick: we can talk to them and instruct them as we would another person and they talk back to us in fluid and seductive ways. Many of us would have experimented with one of those chatbots like ChatGPT (the initials stand for Generative Pre-trained Transformer). About 100 million people around the world have done so, and have been amazed at the incredible speed with which it produces highly plausible-sounding answers and boggled by the possibilities of the technology. For us in journalism there are many potential uses and some very obvious dangers. It’s an opportunity and a potential threat and it’s happening whether we like it or not, and so very fast. As a simplistic example exercise which I could factcheck very easily, I asked ChatGPT to write a profile of me. I must say it was very flattering, but it got a couple of things wrong, including my birth year, the year I started journalism, where I have worked, when I was awarded a Walkley award and what it was for, apparently I won the award for covering the Goss government’s first budget in 1995, when I have actually never covered Queensland politics and anyway the first budget was in 1990. The mistakes went on, culminating in the “fact” that in 2018 I was apparently awarded “the Press Freedom Medal by the Australian Journalists’ Association” in recognition of my “outstanding contribution to the defence of media freedom and the public’s right to know”, which would have been lovely but the AJA has not existed as a standalone entity since 1992. While I think the press council might occasionally award a similar-sounding medal, I have certainly never won it. It was all written in a highly credible emulation of real human prose. But ChatGPT is not human, it has no critical faculty and certainly no commitment to the truth. It doesn’t know what the truth is. It is basically predictive text on hyper-steroids. As Melissa Heikkilä said in the MIT technology review in February: “AI language models are notorious bullshitters, often presenting falsehoods as facts. They are excellent at predicting the next word in a sentence, but they have no knowledge of what the sentence actually means. That makes it incredibly dangerous to combine them with search, where it’s crucial to get the facts straight.” As our head of editorial innovation, Chris Moran, wrote : “The question for responsible news organisations is simple, and urgent: what can this technology do right now, and how can it benefit responsible reporting at a time when the wider information ecosystem is already under pressure from misinformation, polarisation and bad actors.” The opportunities are exciting, but as Moran says, the concerns extend beyond how the media uses ChatGTP. We are also worried about how ChatGTP and other programs use us. For example, ChatGPT provides citations to books and academic papers and articles, but some of them are also made up, including citations to nonexistent articles allegedly published by the Guardian. These fabrications are termed “hallucinations” but that really is anthropomorphising things; the computer models do not have brains that temporarily lose their grip on reality, they have no actual understanding at all. This raises obvious questions, including how we respond to the fact that these large language models are crawling the web, including all of our licensed content, without recompense, to chew it up and spit it back out in a kind of huge information terrine that may at times completely falsify our work, or provide what appears to be an alternative to our work which is in no way the best obtainable version of the truth and may well be false. Newsguard, a company that gives trust rankings to online news companies, found 49 websites that appeared to be publishing hundreds of articles a day that look like news stories but seem to have been written by AI with little or no human oversight, specifically to generate advertising revenue, complete with apparently AI-generated “about us” pages, disclaimers and copyright notices. The obvious potential is for a torrent of unreliable information that would leave Steve Bannon in the shade, vast quantities of articles, books and reviews so laced with mistakes and falsehoods that we completely lose sight of where truth lies and consumers of news and information are even more baffled and overwhelmed and potentially misinformed than they were before. As Emily Bell, director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University’s graduate school of journalism and Guardian board member, wrote this year: “The real peril lies outside the world of instantaneous deception, which can be easily debunked, and in the area of creating both confusion and exhaustion by ‘flooding the zone’ with material that overwhelms the truth or at least drowns out more balanced perspectives. “This is all moving so fast it is more like a blur than a moment of clarity.” Through all of this it seems the need for factual, quality news is greater than ever. The flood of non-information makes the assembling and digging for facts, the critical analysis of information, the reporting of things that need to be known and would not be, but for our work, even more important than before. We do it as part of a community of readers now, open to suggestions, correction and debate, we distribute our work in different ways, and we urgently need to find new ways to distinguish it and stand by it amid the emerging tsunami of misinformation. Unlike an algorithm, we care about where the truth lies and we must make the loudest possible case for its importance. Because the principles and essence and purpose of this job are the same as when I was a baby reporter walking into Old Parliament House for the first time and I am as excited by it now as I was back then. It feels good to be able to say that after 36 years. I’m also privileged to lead a team of incredibly talented, innovative, determined and principled reporters and editors who very regularly have better ideas about how to fulfil our mission and confront these issues than I do. Which is just as well, really, because the task has become a lot more complicated than I had ever anticipated. Lenore Taylor is the editor of Guardian Australia This is an edited version of the 2023 Brian Johns lecture, delivered on 11 May. The lecture series was established by the Macquarie University Centre for Media History and the Copyright Agency to honour the contribution of Brian Johns AO to broadcasting, publishing, digital media and the arts

GOOD

Andy Murray withdraws from French Open as Daniil Medvedev wins in Rome

Andy Murray has withdrawn from this year’s French Open . The second grand slam of the year begins next week, but after struggling to find his best form on clay recently, the Scot will prioritise a busy grass-court schedule in the build-up to Wimbledon. Murray was beaten in the first round of the Italian Open and earlier this week made another early exit on clay after losing to Stan Wawrinka at an ATP Challenger event in Bordeaux. The 36-year-old is understood to still be considering which tournaments to target and they may include Surbiton from 4-11 June and then Queen’s from 19-25 June. Wimbledon is scheduled to start on July 3. Murray had struggled for form on clay after proving he was physically in condition to take on the world’s best players with some marathon matches at the Australian Open at the start of the year. The former world No 1, bidding to revive his career after major hip surgery in 2018, came through two five-set victories over Matteo Berrettini and Thanasi Kokkinakis before losing to Roberto Bautista Agut in the third round. Murray beat Tommy Paul in the final of the ATP Challenger event in Aix-en-Provence at the start of this month – his first title in nearly four years – after first-round exits in Monte Carlo and Madrid. But that was followed by his disappointments in the Italian Open in Rome and another Challenger event in Bordeaux. British women’s No 2 Jodie Burrage has also withdrawn from the French Open, where she was due to participate in qualifying, after failing to recover in time from a niggle. With Emma Raducanu sidelined long term following operations on both her wrists and an ankle, 106th-placed Burrage was set to be Britain’s highest-ranked woman in Paris. She is hoping to return for the grass-court event in Surbiton beginning on 4 June and will overtake Raducanu after the French Open irrespective of her results. Meanwhile, Daniil Medvedev beat rising Danish star Holger Rune 7-5, 7-5 in the Italian Open final on Sunday for the first clay-court trophy of his career. Medvedev is known for his prowess on hard courts, with 18 of his previous 19 titles coming on that surface — with the other on grass in Mallorca. He is the 2021 U.S. Open winner and has had a spell at No 1 in the rankings. But the 27-year-old must now be considered a contender when the French Open starts on Sunday. There’s room for a new champion at Roland Garros after 14-time winner Rafael Nadal announced last week that he won’t be competing in the tournament because of a hip injury that has sidelined him since January. After his win yesterday, Medvedev said: “I didn’t believe much I can win a Masters 1000 on clay in my career because usually I hated it and I didn’t feel good on it, nothing was working. Before this tournament already in Madrid and Monte Carlo I was not feeling too bad. I didn’t have any big tantrums and was like ‘OK, let’s continue’ and here I felt amazing in practice. “But then you need to play the toughest opponents in the world and try to make it. I’m really happy that I managed to do it and prove to myself and everybody that I’m capable.” Rune, 20, who eliminated six-time Rome champion Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals, should also feel confident for Paris. He was also the runner-up to Andrey Rublev at the Monte Carlo Masters last month and then won a clay title in Munich. The world rankings out on Monday see Medvedev rise to No 2, Carlos Alcaraz at No 1 and Djokovic down to No 3 - and these will also be their seedings for the French Open.

GOOD

Dark energy could be created inside black holes, scientists claim

Nothing sucks more than a supermassive black hole, but according to a group of researchers, the enormous objects found at the heart of many galaxies may be driving the expansion of the cosmos. The radical claim comes from an international team who compared growth rates of black holes in different galaxies. They conclude that the spread of masses observed could be explained by black holes bearing cores of “dark energy”, the mysterious force behind the accelerating expansion of the universe. Instead of dark energy being smeared out across spacetime, as many physicists have assumed, the scientists suggest that it is created and remains inside black holes, which form in the crushing forces of collapsing stars. “We propose that black holes are the source for dark energy,” said Duncan Farrah, an astronomer at the University of Hawaii. “This dark energy is produced when normal matter is compressed during the death and collapse of large stars.” The claim was met with raised eyebrows from some independent experts, with one noting that while the idea deserved scrutiny, it was far too early to link black holes and dark energy. “There’s a number of counter-arguments and facts that need to be understood if this claim is going to live more than a few months,” said Vitor Cardoso, a professor of physics at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen. Scientists first proposed dark energy in the late 1990s when measurements of distant stars revealed that the expansion of the universe was accelerating. The discovery posed a problem for astronomers, however: given that gravity should be slowing the expansion, what could be driving it faster? As a placeholder for a solution, researchers came up with dark energy, an unknown force that works against gravity. In its simplest form, dark energy matches the “cosmological constant” that Einstein came up with in 1917. He introduced it as a fix in general relativity to keep the universe from collapsing, but later ditched it, calling it his “greatest blunder”. In the latest work, researchers compared black hole masses in young galaxies, where stars are still forming, with black hole masses in giant but dormant galaxies, where no more stars are born. In younger galaxies, black holes can grow by swallowing nearby stars and other material, but in the older galaxies, there is little left for them to suck in. The scientists found that the black holes in dormant galaxies were seven to 20 times more massive than expected, a finding they say points to another process by which the black holes are growing. In two papers published in The Astrophysical Journal and The Astrophysical Journal Letters , the researchers say the findings could be explained if black holes grow as the universe expands. This could be the case with black holes that are theorised to contain dark energy in their cores, the authors argue. “The importance of this work is that it’s taken the theories about black holes with dark energy cores and linked them for the first time to tangible observations of the universe,” said Chris Pearson, a co-author on the study and Astronomy Group Leader at STFC RAL Space in Oxfordshire. “These black holes are expected to grow in mass as the universe expands.” If the scientists are correct, they will have solved the puzzle of the origins, if not the nature, of one of the most mysterious forces in the universe. But far more work is needed before it will gain acceptance. Among many questions remaining is how black holes can pull everything nearby towards them while simultaneously driving the universe apart. Sign up to First Edition Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you through the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning after newsletter promotion “There are most likely more mundane explanations,” Cardoso said of the results. “The relation this work investigates between black hole mass and universe expansion rate is somewhat naive…and not supported on fundamental principles.” “What this study could also say is something as simple as ‘black holes evolve differently today than they did billions of years ago’,” he added. “It’s much, much too early to think that black holes are in any way related to dark energy.” Farrah agrees there is more to do. “We certainly haven’t proved anything here,” he said. “The evidence makes this idea worthy of scrutiny and further test, but it will take a lot more work to confirm or refute it.” Ofer Lahav, professor of astronomy at University College London, who is involved in galaxy surveys of dark energy, said: “Given the mysterious nature of dark energy, which has been considered in different incarnations for over a century, it is healthy to consider fresh ideas like this, and to think how they can be falsified.” This article’s headline was amended on 16 February 2023 to be more consistent with the text.

GOOD

At least 12 people dead after crowd crush at football stadium in El Salvador

At least 12 people have died with more than 100 injured in a crowd crush at a football stadium in El Salvador on Saturday, the Central American country’s government has confirmed. Alianza FC and Club Deportivo Fas were playing the second leg of their playoff quarter-final game at the Estadio Cuscatlán in San Salvador, the country’s capital, when play was suspended after 16 minutes. “The Salvadoran Football Federation deeply regrets the events that occurred at the Cuscatlán Stadium,” the country’s football governing body wrote on Twitter. “It also expresses solidarity with the relatives of those affected and deceased in this incident.” The federation added that it would immediately request a report on the incident while also suspending the tournament after Saturday’s events, calling for a meeting with the national security commission for sport venues on Sunday. The Estadio Cuscatlán is one of the largest stadiums in Central America and has an official capacity of more than 44,000 fans. Footage posted online showed severe overcrowding outside an entry gate, with officials claiming they would investigate reports of fake match tickets being sold. The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, said the national civil police and the attorney general’s office would conduct a thorough investigation into the events at the stadium. “Everyone will be investigated: teams, managers, stadium, box office, league, federation, etc,” Bukele wrote on Twitter. “Whoever the culprits are, they will not go unpunished.” Officials added that about 500 people had been given medical treatment at the stadium, with around 100 of those transferred to nearby hospitals. The country’s health minister, Francisco Alabi, said that most of those injured are in a stable condition and that there have been no reports of deaths from hospitals. The Spanish clubs Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid both posted messages on Twitter after news of the tragedy broke. “Real Madrid wishes to express their condolences and affection to the loved ones of the fans who passed away at the Cuscatlán stadium in El Salvador, and their desire for a swift recovery for those affected by this tragedy.” Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion “We regret the enormous tragedy that occurred at the Cuscatlán stadium in El Salvador and we convey our deepest condolences to the families and friends of the victims,” Atlético Madrid wrote. “Rest in peace.” Last October, a deadly crowd crush killed 135 spectators at Kanjuruhan stadium in East Java, Indonesia. Many were crushed as they fled for exits after police fired tear gas into the crowd during the game between Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya.

GOOD

Covid vaccines: How fast is progress around the world?

More than 11.8 billion doses of coronavirus vaccines have been administered, in at least 197 countries worldwide. However, there are vast differences in the pace of progress in different parts of the world. Some countries have secured and delivered doses to a large proportion of their population - but others are some way behind. With an aim to give doses to nearly every adult around the world, this is the largest vaccination programme in history. Overall, China and India have administered the highest number of doses, with more than 3.3 billion and 1.9 billion respectively. The US is third, with around 587 million. Many poorer countries are relying on deliveries from Covax, a scheme led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, together with the WHO and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), which is trying to ensure everyone in the world has access to a Covid vaccine. Covax had planned to deliver about two billion vaccine doses globally by the end of 2021, but downgraded its supply forecast as a the result of global export bans, production challenges and slow regulatory approval processes. The scheme has now distributed more than one billion vaccines. The vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech was the first approved by the WHO, followed by several others. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is now the most widely used around the globe. Unlike Pfizer's jab - which has to be kept at an extremely cold temperature (-70C) - the Oxford vaccine can be stored in a normal fridge, which makes it easier to distribute. Most governments have started with doses for the over-60s, health workers and people who are clinically vulnerable. After priority groups have been vaccinated, there is a wider rollout among younger age groups. The Pfizer vaccine has been approved for everyone aged five and over in the EU, US, UK and other countries. Children aged between five and 11-years old receive a smaller dose of the vaccine than those aged 12 and over. The Sinovac vaccine is being used for children as young as three in China and Colombia. Early studies suggest the Omicron variant of coronavirus is better able to evade vaccine protection than previous strains, though vaccination still offers strong protection against serious illness and hospitalisation. A third 'booster' dose of a vaccine does appear to offer protection against infection from Omicron and at least 157 countries have begun booster vaccination programmes. Worldwide, more than 100 possible vaccines are undergoing trials to test their efficacy and safety. Our World in Data , a collaboration between Oxford University and an educational charity, collated the information in the map and table above. Population figures have been sourced from the United Nations' mid-2021 estimates provided by Our World in Data.

BAD

Kissinger at 100: how his ‘sordid’ diplomacy in Africa fuelled war in Angola and prolonged apartheid

The men who sat down for dinner at the Hotel Bodenmais in West Germany on 23 June 1976 were exclusively white, although the issue to be discussed was the path to majority black rule in Rhodesia . At the table was John Vorster, prime minister of apartheid South Africa. With him were ambassadors, diplomats and security officials. Pride of place, however, was reserved for the US secretary of state, Henry Kissinger, who opened the proceedings with a racially tinged joke. It was a dinner that took place in the midst of a frantic two-year period when the world’s most high-profile diplomat – who had dismissively ignored Africa for much of his time in office in the Nixon and Ford administrations – was taken with a sudden interest in the continent. Then, armed with a dangerous cold war logic, he applied himself to successive crises in Ethiopia, Angola and Rhodesia in the search of a quick fix to burnish a reputation that was beginning to be eclipsed. As Kissinger turns 100 on 27 May, his interventions in Africa have once again come under the spotlight, not only for the multiple failures that emerged from an approach befogged by deception, secrecy and browbeating, but for the long-lasting and dangerous consequences of his efforts in southern Africa in particular. In the space of a handful of years Kissinger would be involved in a murky intervention in Angola that would complicate the emerging conflict there that followed Portugal’s withdrawal after a coup in Lisbon. He became the first US secretary of state to visit South Africa in three decades, delivering prestige to the apartheid regime in the aftermath of the Soweto massacre in 1976 , when scores of demonstrating schoolchildren and others were gunned down by police. And while he would strong-arm Rhodesia’s pariah prime minister, Ian Smith, into making a declaration that he would accept majority black rule, it would be a failed initiative undertaken in questionable faith and underpinned by his own sympathies for the white-minority communities who were ruling Rhodesia and South Africa with racist policies. The consequences, as historians point out, were a hugely prolonged war in Angola and an added lease of life for apartheid. In a scathing memoir, written for American Diplomacy in 2010, the former US ambassador to Nigeria, Donald Easum, who served as the assistant secretary of state for African affairs, delivered a withering assessment of Kissinger, describing African ambassadors and representatives at the UN as “routinely rebuffed and neglected” by the secretary of state’s office, and his “disdain” for black Africa. Kissinger would become engaged by events in Angola where, after a leftwing military coup in 1974 against Lisbon’s Estado Novo dictatorship, the new regime immediately stopped all military action in the African colony, leading to independence in 1975. Concerned that the Marxist-Leninist People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) – one of the combatants in the civil war that followed the coup – would sweep to power, opening the way for Soviet influence, Kissinger moved to engage with Africa. In his memoir, Easum summarised Kissinger’s ambition: “He was determined to seize in Angola what he considered a timely opportunity to display America’s (and Henry Kissinger’s) strength. “He believed that defeating the MPLA, which he considered pro-Soviet, could expunge the image of a flabby United States in retreat after Vietnam. Moreover, he thought he could do it on the cheap with clandestine CIA collaboration. He was soon to be proved dead wrong.” If Angola was important – not least after the Cuban intervention to support the MPLA after South Africa invaded and its forces drove almost to the capital, Luanda – it was because Kissinger believed that should Angola fall, neighbouring states could follow, including Rhodesia, ultimately threatening South Africa. “He had a reputation for being a strategic genius,” says Nancy Mitchell, a historian and author of Jimmy Carter in Africa: Race and the Cold War. “But if you study what Kissinger did in Angola and Rhodesia, it really sheds a light on the weakness of his entire policy in Africa but also in the Middle East and Vietnam. He misread the situation in Angola from the start. He never expected the Cubans to intervene.” Echoing Easum, Mitchell sees the period of Kissinger’s diplomacy in Africa as “very sordid” and damaging, not least his whirlwind tour of African leaders in 1976 – which saw him fleetingly meet Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere and Zambia’s Kenneth Kaunda among others – leaving behind a legacy of distrust. “He really dismissed the whole continent of Africa until he thought he could get a reputational gain by intervening in Angola and saving it for American influence. “He didn’t study Africa. He went in with a very typical racism of the time, a contempt for all developing countries, and thought he could get an easy victory, which he needed after the collapse of South Vietnam,” said Mitchell. “He even said it about himself when he quipped to a British Foreign Office official that it was a mixture of extreme arrogance and naivety.” Sign up to Global Dispatch Get a different world view with a roundup of the best news, features and pictures, curated by our global development team after newsletter promotion As Mitchell points out, while Kissinger spent hours in talks with Rhodesia’s and South Africa’s white leaders, on his whistlestop tour of black leaders he either failed to meet key players, such as Samora Machel in Mozambique, was unaware of the importance of others – including Robert Mugabe, whose Zanu-PF forces were threatening the white regime in Rhodesia – or spent a mere seven minutes with Joshua Nkomo , Mugabe’s chief rival. The consequence was that the leaders of the “frontline states”, who Kissinger needed to persuade to buy into his plan for majority rule in Rhodesia, were either unimpressed or deeply distrustful, undermining his efforts from the start. There was another issue: Kissinger’s innate sympathies with white minority rule seen through his Eurocentric prism. As Peter Vale, a historian at the University of Pretoria, wrote in a recent essay for the Conversation , where he described Kissinger’s record in Africa as “dismal” and said he “neither ended colonialism nor minority rule in the region”. He wrote: “Kissinger’s interest in southern Africa in the mid-1970s was predicated on the idea that balance would return if the interests of the strong were restored. He failed to understand that the struggle for justice was changing the world – and diplomacy itself.” Speaking to the Guardian, Vale described the meeting at the Hotel Bodenmais and what it portended. “The conference was a bunch of white men sitting in Germany. He saw Africa in terms of Europe and as a subtext of European diplomacy.” That was perhaps nowhere more obvious than in his visit to South Africa, where he persuaded a tearful Ian Smith – in town for a rugby match – to agree to majority rule. As Vale points out, he met only one black South African figure who was critical of apartheid. His visit, he says, was the “high point of apartheid’s diplomacy”. “What were the harms?” Vale asks. He suggests the visit to South Africa “probably extended the life of the apartheid regime” while contributing to a significant military mobilisation around Angola, which South African forces would invade again in 1987, leading to the battle and siege of Cuito Cuanavale . Nancy Mitchell agrees. “I think it is very plausible [that Kissinger’s diplomacy in Africa] gave apartheid more years,” she says. “Since it was felt that Mozambique was also going, the idea was to have a white buffer. It was felt important for white South Africa to stay stable because of trade and minerals. Much of it was a deliberate attempt to buttress South Africa.” Perhaps the last word should be left for the late Donald Easum, whose memorandums – and those of many other seasoned colleagues in the state department Africa bureau – Kissinger ignored. “It is impossible to know what might have resulted had Kissinger accepted the policy stances toward Angola of the first two Africa bureau assistant secretaries he hired. “It is in any case difficult to imagine that their recommendations would have resulted in the kind of nightmare – for Angolans, for US prestige, and for himself – that his bludgeoning of the bureaucracy provoked.” As Easum notes sadly, it would take “until 2002 for peace to come to that war-racked, landmine-strewn nation”.

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IVF works for the lucky few. After a decade, I finally realised I wasn’t one of them

Is it possible to become addicted to fertility treatment? When does spending tens of thousands of pounds on IVF with no guarantee that it will actually work become a gambling problem? These are the questions I am searching for answers to as I meet virtually with a doctor from a top London fertility clinic. “Women are a mystery,” he jokes. I smile politely into the tiny camera on my laptop. I had been considering treatment with his clinic and we have spent the last hour running through my history of infertility, or rather, in my case, incomplete fertility. My husband and I have been trying for nine years to have a baby. I’m quite good at getting pregnant, especially when we first started trying, but I can’t seem to stay pregnant. I don’t know why. And as it turns out, neither do the experts. I have spent years seeking their help, and because IVF wasn’t available on the NHS in my area, I have paid thousands of pounds along the way in my relentless pursuit of pregnancy. IVF can be an invaluable blessing, and I know so many people who have benefited from the treatment. But there are no guarantees. Despite the tremendous costs associated with private IVF treatment, according to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority , the average live birth rate for IVF patients under 35 is around 32% per embryo transferred. For patients older than 35, the stats decrease significantly by age. Those are pretty bad odds for success, but like thousands of women in the UK, I tried my luck. Early in our journey, we were labelled as a case of “ unexplained infertility ”. And while that sounds as if it should be an anomaly, in reality at least 25% of infertility cases in the UK today are classified as unexplained, a mystery. For me, “unexplained” is the worst diagnosis of all. If I had one of the common causes of infertility, such as polycystic ovaries , irregular periods or endometriosis, or if my husband had a male infertility factor, we could target the problem and treat it. But after all the tests – and we’ve had them all – we are painfully, extraordinarily, normal. One clinic was honest in its assessment that it could not identify why our pregnancies wouldn’t last, and advised me not to continue the physical burden of IVF. It refunded us part of the cost when its treatments weren’t successful. Others were not so kind. Treatment at the most expensive clinic I went to, a Harley Street stalwart, left me physically bruised, financially depleted and none the wiser. My final interaction with them was a 15-minute consultation, weeks after my failed cycle, in which the doctor shuffled through my papers and said: “It should have worked, we did everything right. Try again.” And so, I did. But after further unsuccessful cycles, I started to realise that IVF treatment is more art than science. My experience was that IVF is experimental, each clinic offering different cocktails of medicines, treatment plans and “add-ons”. I tried every option available to me. Cycle after cycle, I gained weight, lost control of my moods, and for years I was anchored in a constant state of grief. But the urge to keep trying refused to disappear. Despite my efforts not to fall for the promise of IVF again, curiosity and temptation got the better of me. Maybe another clinic could help? Maybe it could offer something new, something different, that the others couldn’t? And so, I found myself speaking to this new doctor on my laptop. “You are too young and too healthy to give up,” he said. He suggested a strategy and a three-cycle package for us to consider. And so I tried again. I was meticulous in execution but despite our “excellent” graded embryos and my healthy uterus, the cycles failed. It was a painful reminder that this is how the fertility business works. I could be tempted to pay thousands to treat an undiagnosed condition. A schedule of appointments, injections and procedures could offer me a comforting, yet false, sense of control in an otherwise bewildering experience. IVF clinics are a business first and foremost, and the private fertility industry in the UK alone is worth more than £320m annually . The model relies on patients like me trying, failing, then paying to try again. And again. And again. Until it works. Maybe. It’s not just the private clinics. Beyond sparse regulation, the booming fertility market is a free-for-all, crowded with pseudoscientific products aimed at desperate women. Ovulation kits, fertility smoothies, maca powder, royal jelly, prenatal supplements, acupuncture, massages, coaches and countless pricey pregnancy tests – I’ve paid for them all. It’s irresistible when the one thing they sell above all else is hope. It took me nearly a decade, but I realised that IVF works for the lucky few, and I wasn’t one of them. And so, I finally quit. I conceded that the toll it was taking on my body and my mental health was not worth it. I had vanished. My identity, my time, the light inside of me, all diminished. I decided I needed to regain control of my body. I am considered a case of “unexplained infertility” because there are gaping holes in the scientific understanding of how life is created, why miscarriage happens and why some of us struggle to conceive, even in the best of circumstances. My doctor was right, women’s health is still too often shrouded in mystery. It’s fair to say that my IVF days are over. But I won’t give up hope of having a healthy baby one day. I also hope to see change in the fertility industry. I hope that assisted fertility becomes a less traumatic experience for patients; that more regulation is put in place to curb the ever-rising costs of treatment, and that “success rates” are calculated on personalised data based on patient diagnosis. I also hope for fairer marketing practices that would allow patients to make more informed choices, and for continued research to develop treatments with more promising success rates. Above all, I hope that society wakes up to this silent crisis in women’s health happening all around us. Simran Chawla is a higher education marketing professional and a writer

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The Guardian view on Johnson’s legacy: Sunak is trapped by his own complicity

There are many lessons still to learn from the pandemic, but there is no mystery about Boris Johnson’s conduct. He broke the rules of lockdown and lied about it. The exposure of his behaviour drained public support away from him and his party. Those facts are not altered by news that fresh allegations relating to the use of the prime ministerial country retreat at Chequers have been reported to police. A Tory faction is outraged on behalf of their former leader, insisting that he is the victim of a conspiracy – a “ witch-hunt ” conducted by a liberal “ blob ” operating through the civil service. This sinister entity is said also to have targeted Dominic Raab, who resigned last month over claims of bullying, and Suella Braverman, who is alleged to have breached the ministerial code by trying to involve department officials in the handling of a speeding ticket. After days of dither, the prime minister on Wednesday accepted the home secretary’s defence – that she was only concerned about security protocols, but accepted points on her licence and a fine once it was clear that no bespoke alternative was possible – and declared the case closed . Rishi Sunak can expect no gratitude from Ms Braverman and her supporters. The prime minister’s indulgence will confirm to disgruntled Tory MPs that he is pliable, not that he is ideologically sound. The suspicion is that the whole business has been confected by the home secretary’s enemies. They are numerous when defined as the set of all people who disagree with her or think she is incompetent. Meanwhile, acolytes of Mr Johnson are especially ill-disposed to the current prime minister because they recall his resignation in July 2022 as instrumental in their hero’s downfall. The events of last summer have been woven into a martyrdom myth that charts Conservative decline from a loss of faith in the unique election-winning powers of “Boris”. That narrative ignores all the evidence – enough available at the time and more that has subsequently come to light – that Mr Johnson was unfit for office. The persistence of the denial testifies to ethical and intellectual debilitation in the Conservative party. It is also a symptom of Mr Sunak’s weakness. A leader with robust authority and a clear sense of governing purpose would have more effectively repudiated Mr Johnson’s legacy. The incumbent prime minister struggles with this task for various reasons. He was elevated to Downing Street to restore financial credibility and basic governing competence, in the aftermath of Liz Truss’s short and calamitous reign. But relative stability turns out not to be sufficient for a polling renaissance, and Mr Sunak lacks a more coherent agenda. His support in the wider party has shallow roots. He was defeated by Ms Truss in last summer’s leadership contest. Most problematically, he served loyally as Mr Johnson’s chancellor for the very period that he would now prefer to see fade from memory. Mr Johnson and his supporters won’t let that happen. The Covid inquiry, now engaged in dispute with the government over disclosure of evidence, won’t let it happen. Mr Sunak tried to sell his leadership as a restoration of integrity and capability in office, but his bluff has been called. He cannot exorcise the ghosts of rotten Tory government when he is one of them. This will surely turn out to be problem for the country as well as the party.

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Vladimir Putin’s latest strategic miscalculation

Among the many strategic blunders made by Vladimir Putin in attacking Ukraine, arguably the biggest was to assume that it would stop the expansion of Nato. It has had the opposite effect, with Finland and Sweden, both traditionally neutral countries, now ready to sign up to the alliance. They have seen what has happened to a Russian neighbour deemed by Moscow to have stepped out of line and are understandably alarmed that the same fate might be visited upon them. Finland has historical cause for concern given the invasion by Soviet forces in 1939 which they managed to repel for months before being forced to cede 10 per cent of their territory. Red Army casualties were huge and its poor performance in the field encouraged Hitler to invade Russia in the belief it would be easily defeated. Finland retains conscription and could field an army of 280,000 tomorrow – four times the UK’s capacity. Sweden’s neutrality dates to the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Though it was theoretically abolished with its accession to the European Union in 1995, Sweden has remained non-aligned in regard to foreign and security policy. Both countries were visited by Boris Johnson for talks today about what such a move might entail and to sign mutual security pacts. The immediate implication will be to stretch Nato’s borders with Russia by another 800 miles, from Turkey to the Arctic Circle. A decision by both countries is imminent, reflecting the geopolitical upheaval caused by an invasion carried out ostensibly to stop Ukraine joining Nato, even though such an eventuality was seen as improbable. Now all states within Russia’s malign orbit will be concerned for their security if they are outside the alliance, notably Moldova. The Baltic states, which have long felt threatened by Russian revanchism, are firmly in Nato and rely on Article 5 protection – that an attack on them would represent a casus belli for the entire 30-nation bloc. Neither Finland or Sweden would receive that guarantee until their application has been accepted. Until that point, there is a moment of vulnerability with Russia threatening the Finns with “a military technical response” if they do try to join. Given what we have seen in Ukraine, Nato should expedite their requests to accede. They are entirely compatible with membership and will bring significant expertise to the bloc.

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Ban smoking and tax fruit juice, says George Osborne

Smoking should be banned and the sugar tax extended to include fruit juice and milkshakes, George Osborne has said. In 2016, the Conservative former chancellor announced a sugar tax on soft drinks such as Coca-Cola and Irn Bru, claiming the money would be used to provide more sports funding for primary schools. It was not levied on milk-based drinks or fruit juices. Now Osborne believes Rishi Sunak’s government should go a step further and tax biscuits and cakes, and raise the legal age for tobacco to help reduce levels of obesity and cancer. Last year, New Zealand introduced a steadily rising smoking age to stop those aged 14 and under from being able to legally buy cigarettes in world-first legislation to outlaw smoking for the next generation . Discussing a potential smoking ban, Osborne told the Times Health Commission: “You basically phase it out. Of course you’re going to have lots of problems with illegal smoking but you have lots of problems with other illegal activities. “It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to ban them and police them and make it less readily available. I thought that was a compelling public health intervention.” Earlier this year, Labour said it was considering plans to phase out smoking for young people. Other areas under consideration include minimum alcohol pricing and the soft drink and junk food industries . The shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, said in January: “The New Zealand government are doing it. We want to see how that works … We’re going to have to think radically. What the government have done to the NHS is a disgrace. It’s going to take time to fix it and fresh radical thinking and that’s what Labour’s about.” When Osborne introduced the sugar tax as chancellor, he faced heavy criticism from Conservative backbenchers, who described the idea as “illiberal and patronising”. The Tory MP Will Quince described the move as “nanny statism at its worst”. Osborne told the Times the “anti-nanny state Conservatives” were “not worth listening to”. Likening the sugar tax to the smoking ban in pubs or seatbelt laws, he added: “They have all been opposed at the time by vociferous lobbies. It’s taken quite a lot of political courage by the different administrations to get them done. But no one now would reintroduce smoking in pubs and no one now would say you shouldn’t wear a seatbelt.” Osborne said radical healthcare reform could only be achieved by a Labour government as the Tories were “absolutely terrified when it comes to the NHS because its going to be constantly accused of things in a secret plan, so it’s actually rather timid in regards to healthcare reform”. Sign up to First Edition Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you through the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning after newsletter promotion He cited Tony Blair’s government as “far and away the most audacious and productive period of health reform” in his political life. The government target of getting the adult smoking rate down to 5% or under in England by 2030 is widely expected to be missed without drastic action. The charity Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) has estimated smoking costs the NHS £2.4bn and a further £1.2bn for social care. Welcoming Labour’s proposals the charity’s chief executive, Deborah Arnott, said: “Tackling smoking is key as it is still a leading cause of premature death and disease, responsible for half the difference in life expectancy between rich and poor.”

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Trump’s pre-election diplomatic offensive glosses over awkward realities

The White House was festooned with the flags of four nations. There were trumpet blasts, multiple signatures on various pieces of paper, and much weighty talk about blood and history – everything you might expect from a peace deal. And not just any peace deal. The agreements signed in Washington on Tuesday were titled the Abraham Accords, implying a epochal reconciliation between Judaism, Islam and Christianity, three faiths with shared Middle East ancestry. Benjamin Netanyahu had brought the rhetoric to match, with lines for the occasion seemingly borrowed from a biblical blockbuster. “This day is a pivot of history. It heralds a new dawn of peace,” the Israeli prime minister declared. The host and master of ceremonies, Donald Trump , also delivered his quotes with a cinematic ring, albeit from a quite different movie. “This is peace in the Middle East without blood all over the sand,” the president said. “It’s been blood all over the sand for decades and decades and decades. That’s all they do, is they fight and kill people, and nobody gets anything.” Just whose blood might be involved was glossed over. The other signatories of the “accords”, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain, had never been at war with Israel. They are Gulf monarchies from the high-end enclaves of the Arab world, who have exchanged intelligence and technology with Israel as wall as a mutual fear of Iran, for several years already. The “peace agreements” involved three Middle Eastern governments putting an official seal on once furtive friendships, in a brash ceremony honed to benefit Trump, part of a broader diplomatic flurry that is part of his reelection campaign. Israel’s real enemies, Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, had no less enmity as a result of the accords. By way of a reminder, as the documents were being signed, the sirens were going off along the Israeli coast, and six people were injured by rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. The conflicting Israeli and Palestinian claims on territory and security, the impasse which had prevented diplomatic breakthroughs in the past two decades, was overcome in Tuesday’s White House deals simply by being ignored. The UAE had claimed to have secured a pledge from Israel not to annex the West Bank, all least for the time being. There was no mention of that in its Abrahamic agreement, which focused on potential fields of economic cooperation. Bahrain’s version was even thinner. The kingdom had agreed to join the spectacle a few days earlier, and its agreement to Israel amounted to a single page of vague aspirations, one of which was “continuing efforts for a just, comprehensive, enduring resolution of Israeli-Palesitnian conflict.” “The loser here is definitely the Palestinian cause and the two state solution. It’s a surrender of the Palestinians,” Randa Slim, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, said, adding that the accords stripped them of even the appearance of Arab solidarity. “I don’t see how they can enter into negotiations and exact any serious concessions, now that they have been denied the one strong negotiating card they had at their disposal.” The Abraham accords was at least a docudrama loosely based on some real-life issues. A taboo, however tenuous, had been broken. Israeli journalists and diplomats mingled freely with their Gulf Arab counterparts, and there will no doubt be an upside from economic cooperation. The same can not be said for the other “peace deal” inked recently at the White House. That involved actual former adversaries, Serbian and Kosovan leaders , but next to no substance. Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vučić, and Kosovo’s prime minister, Avdullah Hoti, walked away on 4 September with separate documents, which restated agreements already made between the two sides, such as infrastructure projects that were already under way. The new element was a tie-in with the Middle East. Both parties agreed to move their embassies to Jerusalem, which appeared to come as a surprise to Vučić. On hearing Trump announcing it at the elaborate Oval Office ceremony (also cast as a breakthrough between two ancient rivals), the Serbian leader thumbed through the documents in front of him and cast a bewildered look to an aide standing off camera. A few days later, his office let it be known that Serbia would not be keeping its end of the Jerusalem bargain if Israel recognised Kosovo, which had also been part of the deal. Trump’s pre-election diplomatic offensive has not been all theatre, however. Talks started in Doha at the weekend between the Afghan government and the Taliban, a fraught discussion between real adversaries about very real issues, brokered by the US. But the timing has been dictated by Trump’s campaign calendar. His insistence on withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, no matter what the consequences, gave the Taliban what it had been seeking all along and presented the government of president Ashraf Ghani little choice but to negotiate, with a weakened hand. The talks can still collapse, or Kabul could be forced to negotiate away basic freedoms, including women’s rights. “In some respects, the Afghanistan talks are the most substantial of them all, in war and peace terms,” Daniel Serwer, senior fellow at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, said. “But you have to be realistic about what it is. We’re losing that war and [the US negotiators] found a way to use withdrawal of troops as leverage on the government of Afghanistan. So if I were an ally of the United States, I might not be looking at that in a completely positive light.” The consequences, for good or ill, will play themselves out after the election. Meanwhile, the Doha dialogue is being deployed by the White House as yet another example of how Trump slices through problems that were beyond his predecessors. The reelection campaign is making much of his nomination for the Nobel Prize, skating over the fact that all that took, under the idiosyncratic rules, was the support of a single maverick right-winger in the Norwegian parliament. Even though the resulting campaign advertisement misspelled the award as the Noble, the fanfare seems bound to help Trump’s bid to stay in the Oval Office. It is foreign policy, reputed to be of little weight in a US election contest. But it is also show business, at which Trump excels.

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I really do love my kids – but being away from them is utter bliss

Much of the thought behind this column is to balance the highs and lows of parenting, celebrating its joys as much as I lament its tedium. I have mined the latter for laughs as much as any parent, but I hope I’ve put across that, for all the easy jokes about how terrible parenting can be, it’s also genuinely enjoyable, not just in some theoretical, ‘love conquers all’ kind of way, but in the real, tangible, non-sentimental sense of actual enjoyment. Being a dad has, I hope I’ve made clear, given me more wrinkles from smiling than frowning. And, basically, I hope I’ve built up enough goodwill that I can afford to write the following: being without my children for four days last weekend was truly, truly wonderful. Mick and Maria got married in Galway, in a beautiful ceremony attended by many of our favourite people. In January, we decided we would take this run solo and my in-laws agreed to mind the kids. We hatched alternate plans as backup. Then our daughter’s sleep training finally took. Plans became bookings became a schedule, and we set off for four days and three nights of childlessness. Four days is as long as we’ve ever been away from our son and a good deal longer than we’ve been apart from our daughter, so it would be customary to say we were worried about leaving them. I find that ‘worried’ is not quite the right word, but ‘ecstatic’ might get a little closer, as everyone who met us there will testify. There’s something unspeakably gauche about being child-free at a wedding. For one thing, you find yourself mentioning it to everyone, in the manner of an elderly aunt and uncle who’ve returned from Marbella with breathless stories of tapas and Orangina. ‘We took a dip in the pool this morning,’ you’ll say to deeply unimpressed, childless friends. ‘Together!’ you’ll add, all but wiping tears from your eyes. We drank and danced and stayed up late, collapsing into bed with the shocking, nerve-shredding pleasure of knowing we could sleep for as long as we want without child services becoming involved. We ventured into Galway city for lunch with pals, walking its pretty streets, starry-eyed, like Ariel from The Little Mermaid . Our friends wisely kept their distance, as we clapped buskers and pointed moronically at things in shops, astounded by all the quotidian joys of our newfound independence. Delighted not to be carrying either small people, a buggy, or the 12kg ballast of baby accessories which has accompanied us outdoors for the past five years, we held hands like young lovers and generally made tits of ourselves. We returned, refreshed and ebullient, to find our kids had hardly noticed we’d gone. Perhaps we chafed at this, I can’t recall. I think I was too busy smiling. Did Ye Hear Mammy Died? by Séamas O’Reilly is out now (Little, Brown, £16.99). Buy a copy from guardianbookshop at £14.78 Follow Séamas on Twitter @shockproofbeats

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I'm disabled but was told I won't receive critical care if I get Covid. It's terrifying

Towards the end of last year, I’d just got my life back on track after a long stay in hospital. I was discharged with round-the-clock care that transformed my life. I am disabled and the care package I was on before I was admitted to hospital didn’t provide enough support; I was admitted to a ward with problems associated with a lack of care, including malnutrition and serious pressure sores. But then I was given a personal health budget from my local authority, with responsibility for employing care workers, rotas, management, training and everything else you can think of. As a result I got off benefits and into employment – but then Covid struck. By February I was alert to the threat that coronavirus posed to me. I’m in a wheelchair. I use a ventilation machine at night and by early March, I could see that if I were to catch Covid-19, I’d be in serious trouble. I had to furlough one valued care worker because she also worked in a busy shop. I felt the risk was too high. Another went abroad and unfortunately got coronavirus there, though she returned safe and well. I had to make it clear to the other four members of my team that if they had the slightest hint of symptoms, they weren’t to come in. This was difficult because I can only pay statutory sick pay, which isn’t enough to live on. I have a really supportive team so was relieved when they accepted this. At the end of March, I discussed the risks with my GP, who made it clear I was in a very difficult situation, where the factors that made me extremely vulnerable to coronavirus would also put me at low priority for critical care if services were overwhelmed, and that, if necessary, ventilators would be prioritised for people most likely to survive. I was left feeling devastated. I did as much research as I could around how to treat people with coronavirus. I did everything I could to set up intensive care-level treatment in my flat, for fear that I would catch it at a time when services were too overwhelmed to treat me. It was a terrifying and frenzied period. Some of my care workers fell ill with suspected coronavirus and I found my rota couldn’t manage if someone was off sick for three weeks. I requested that for every shift someone worked, they do another on call in order to ensure I had cover when people were off. This ate into people’s weeks and risked them overworking if others went off sick. As a result, I was without care for a number of hours on several occasions. It’s a really significant risk for me to be on my own. I struggled to get personal protective equipment (PPE) for my staff. I spoke to the council, which had very limited PPE. I was lucky that my girlfriend managed to source some. I made shifts 24-hours long instead of the usual 10-15 hours in order to minimise handover and potential exposure, and everyone had to change into clothes I provided on entering the flat. I really struggled. I felt resentful because after I was in hospital last year, I got out and had a short period of having a care plan that worked for me and let me live a normal life for the first time ever. Coronavirus hit and I was inside for three months. Now I feel as if I no longer know what’s safe. I don’t know if things are getting better. The world is opening up but when is the next wave of the virus coming? I’ve started going out late at night, since shielding ended. I’ve tried to develop a new normal but it’s really stressful. I’m terrified – if I catch Covid-19, will any of my care workers come in? They’ve all got people in their lives that they won’t want to infect. I honestly don’t know what I would do in their situation. I am so appreciative of my team. Some of them worked incredibly long shifts when another person called in sick. This pandemic has shown the absolute dedication of so many people who work in care but I feel let down by support services, the local authority and the government because of the lack of preparation, support, and information. There’s been a network of disabled people swapping tips and we all feel the same. There’s a lot of misinformation and panic going around. We’re not being given accurate and honest information, or the resources we need to protect ourselves. The media and wider society never talk about how many deaths of disabled people there have been from coronavirus. The disabled people’s movement has been highlighting for years about how care homes are used as a way of warehousing people until they die. This pandemic has underlined how afraid I am of being put in a care home – something I have been threatened with, due to the cost of my care package. In a care home I may not have survived this. In my own home, so far I’ve stayed safe. Some details have been changed If you would like to contribute to our Blood, sweat and tears series about experiences in healthcare during the coronavirus outbreak, get in touch by emailing sarah.johnson@theguardian.com

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We smile at an unexpected windfall, and daydream all the harder when times are tough

I didn’t plan to begin my Friday morning with a little light Googling of new cars. I can’t afford to buy one myself. But having dived down this unexpected rabbit hole, I was at least able to confirm my hunch that Joe Thwaite, who with his wife, Jess, has just won £184m on the National Lottery , could – and doubtless will – do a lot better than the Skoda Superb Estate when he comes to upgrade his battered Hyundai. According to What Car? , if space is a luxury, the Superb is indeed one of the world’s most luxurious vehicles. However, size isn’t everything. Road roar could be a problem. The Thwaites, newly released from the need to budget, as well as from the scorn of any Alan Partridge-types they may know, should seriously consider “a premium German or Swedish badge”. More than half a century has passed since Viv “spend, spend, spend” Nicholson and her husband, Keith, won (and immediately began to lose) the equivalent of more than £3m in today’s cash on the football pools – and yet, our fascination with those who become rich overnight thanks only to a ridiculous ridiculous stroke of luck remains more or less undimmed. Even stranger, perhaps, we continue to cling to the conviction that no good can come of such financial lightning bolts. You can’t buy happiness, we tell ourselves, even as we think of the most miserable couple we know, bound together only by the punitive cost of a separation. In my newspaper, a picture of Jess and Joe Thwaites spraying an obligatory bottle of champagne all over the invited photographers came with a helpful list of some of the wretched disasters that have, since the National Lottery’s inception in 1994, befallen its biggest winners. Suffice to say that the bloke whose new swimming pool was invaded by a squatters seemed to me to have got off quite lightly. But alas, the truth is that money can buy happiness – or at least it can make the possibility of it vastly more likely (a broken heart is still a broken heart). Economists in this area tend to talk of the meeting of “basic needs”, something that makes the correlation between income and happiness strong up to about £60,000 a year, and weaker thereafter. But more recently, the study of groups of lottery winners has revealed that, relieved of financial worries, they are also more content. In 2019, two economists, Andrew J Oswald, of the University of Warwick, and Rainer Winkelmann, now at the University of Zurich, even asserted that, according to their research , the more money someone won, the more pronounced the positive effect this was likely to have on their state of mind. Additionally, neurologists have found that those who give a proportion of their ill-gotten gains away have increased activity in the reward areas of their brains, a fact that may help to explain why some people describe philanthropy as akin to an addiction. We fixate on hoary stories of reclusive, drug-addicted Gettys, but the richest and most generous man I’ve ever met – I was seated next to him at a dinner at a museum to which his foundation regularly made major donations – exuded a serenity so palpable it seemed almost to be wrapped around him, like a (cashmere) shawl. Do people spend more, or less, on the lottery when times are hard? We don’t know what’s happening right now, but my guess is that we’re spending more. During the last recession, in 2009-10, sales of both tickets and scratchcards rose, with the result that the Heritage Lottery Fund found itself with an extra £25m a year to distribute. We daydream all the harder when life is tough. This cost of living crisis feels radically different to others, in the sense that the link between being in work and keeping your head above water seems to be all but utterly broken – a paradox that encourages not only fatalism, but fantasy, too. If you can hold down three jobs, and still be on the bones of your behind, doesn’t logic – or the lack of it – dictate that a quick corner shop flutter might release you from this crushing half-life forever? The struggle to pay one’s bills and to feed one’s family is painfully real for large numbers of people in this country. But the situation, in other ways, has an air that is crazily unreal; we are living in a satire so clunky and ill-written, we can hardly be bothered with it. The day after the Thwaites announced their win to the world, Rishi Sunak, the man whose job it is supposed to be to help those in most need, if not to fix the economy, was revealed as one of the 250 richest people in Britain (he and his wife, Akshata Murty, have a joint fortune of £730m). Tell me: in which do you feel most inclined to place your trust? In the EuroMillions draw, or in a man who, as if he’d bagged the jackpot himself, will be spending £13,000 a year to heat the new pool at his home in north Yorkshire? Still, some ancient part of me persists in holding fast to the idea that – somehow! – money should be earned rather than won, and this is why I’m inclined to make Skoda jokes; I’m willing the Thwaites not to be sensible, the better to bolster my puritan narrative. One thing about writing for a living is that sometimes, small, unexpected sums turn up: a piece, written long ago, is sold elsewhere; a tiny royalty arrives. Whenever this happens in our house, my husband, sounding even more Scouse than usual, says, gleefully: “Money for jam!” and looks about for the champagne. This isn’t really the case, of course – it’s not for jam: work was done, and usually it was pretty ill-paid work – but I always feel guilty. I can’t help it. I think of DH Lawrence’s coal miner father who, on being told how much his son had been paid for The White Peacock , is supposed to have said: “Fifty pounds! An’ tha’s niver done a day’s hard work in thy life.” Then again, I suppose this is what separates the vast majority of us from those who currently run the country. Fifty quid, even now, is a bonus. We feel like swindlers, even when we’re as honest as the day is long. Rachel Cooke is an Observer columnist Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 300 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk

BAD

Alberto Dainese sprints to Giro stage win as Geraint Thomas holds on to lead

Alberto Dainese timed his sprint to perfection in a breathless finish to win Wednesday’s stage 17 at the Giro d’Italia, a 195km ride from Pergine Valsugana to Caorle. The Ineos Grenadiers rider Geraint Thomas continues to lead the overall standings, 18 seconds ahead of João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) with Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) in third. The Team DSM rider Dainese held off Jonathan Milan (Bahrain Victorious) in a mass sprint to prevail by a few centimetres, with Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla) taking third. “In the last metres, I was really digging so deep. I was really on the limit and I saw Johnny coming. I couldn’t throw my bike because I was really on the limit but it’s nice to get a few centimetres in front and get the win,” Dainese said. “In the last five days, I was quite sick with stomach issues. Today was the first day I was feeling OK, like 80%, and to win after such a struggle in the last five days is insane.” Mark Cavendish, who announced on Monday that he will end his 17-year career as a professional cyclist at the conclusion of the season, also appeared to be in contention for the stage win, but faded in the final kilometre. A four-man breakaway comprising of Thomas Champion (Cofidis), Charlie Quarterman (Corratec-Selle Italia), Diego Sevilla (Eolo-Kometa) and Senne Leysen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) had earlier built an advantage of over two minutes. Leysen attacked with 22km to go and put in a valiant performance as he battled a challenging headwind, but he never stood a chance as Movistar and Groupama–FDJ took control of the surging peloton, which swallowed up the Belgian rider with 5km left. Thomas safely retained his race lead as the Giro heads towards its conclusion. “It was a crazy bunch finish. Luckily it didn’t rain that much today,” said Thomas, who turns 37 on Thursday. “We are all safe and ready for the next three stages. Wearing the maglia rosa on my birthday will be definitely nice, I hope I can keep it until Rome.” Thursday’s stage 18 takes place on a mountainous 161km route from Oderzo to Val Di Zoldo, with two category one ascents.

GOOD

Lee Rigby’s mother remembers ‘gentle, imperfect’ son 10 years after murder

Lyn Rigby, the mother of the murdered soldier Lee Rigby , says she speaks to her son every morning and can still feel his presence a decade after he was killed. Fusilier Rigby, 25, was killed on 22 May 2013 by terrorists near his barracks in Woolwich, south London. His attackers, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, were found guilty of his murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Lyn Rigby told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that her son would never be forgotten, and that she wanted to use his legacy to do more for bereaved families. “I still speak to Lee, usually at the nighttime when I get time to myself, when everybody has gone to bed,” Rigby said. “I’ll sit and light a candle, and look at Lee’s picture and just talk away to him. Sometime I’ll laugh, sometimes I’ll cry and sometimes I’m angry. I just do it every single morning when I open my eyes. I have a picture of Lee in the bedroom and I’ll speak to him every morning. That gives me a focus to get up and to carry out what I’ve got to do that day.” Rigby said she believed her son was able to hear what she was saying. “Things happen in the house, things can fly off the windowsill or the mantlepiece and there’s nothing to explain why this has happened. I do feel warmth in the nighttime and feel that Lee is there, sat next to me, giving me a hug and telling me that he loves me,” she said. “For the table, when we have family occasions and all get together for a celebration there’s always an empty chair there for Lee at the dining table.” After his death, the Lee Rigby Foundation was set up as a support network for bereaved military families, and has fundraised to provide caravans for the families to use. “Lee was a very gentle soul,” Rigby said. “He wasn’t perfect – he had his awkward and stubborn sides – but he had a heart of gold and would help anybody. He would want me to do this, and to carry on in Lee’s name for the bereaved families. I think Lee would be proud of what we are doing.” Rigby said her most treasured memory of Lee was him throwing Coco Pops cereal down the stairs when he was a toddler. “It just sticks in my mind – as I said, he wasn’t perfect, he had his days when he was very difficult at times,” she said. Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London , said: “My thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends and colleagues of Fusilier Lee Rigby on the 10th anniversary of his senseless murder. We will never forget the appalling events of that day and on behalf of all Londoners, I want to extend deepest sympathies to his loved ones and all those impacted by his death. “London will never be cowed by terrorism and Londoners will always stand together in the face of hate and division and those who wish to harm our way of life.”

GOOD

Who says clothes aren’t a matter of life or death? In Succession they’re both

In the days after my mother’s death, I spent a lot of time online looking for shoes to wear to her funeral. Not an obvious reaction to grief. But while I had a dress – a black one with pretty red peonies that I kept rolled up in my bag when her illness began to accelerate during the summer – we were in lockdown so the shops were shut, and I wasn’t going to wear Birkenstocks. Eventually, I found some brogues on eBay and, after wiping them with Dettol, tried everything on. I looked nice, put together. But this was the problem. Looking “put together” seemed like the wrong response when I felt anything but. On the day of her funeral, I wore my mother’s navy skirt suit. It was too big and I was too hot, but for both reasons felt much more appropriate. I was reminded of all this after watching Shiv Roy walking behind her father’s coffin in the most recent episode of Succession . Even in deep grief, she was forced to look the part: powdered nose, hair done, a black pantsuit with a Disney villain neckline and a string of establishment pearls. In short, a scion and a firebrand – not a grieving mother-to-be. Death is a great leveller until it isn’t. Succession is not a show couched in realism, however tangible the sibling dynamics often feel. It’s a show about appearances, and within that, clothes. No one eats, shops or – despite the pregnancy – seems to have sex. The only constant is what these awful people wear, which remains largely unchanged throughout all four seasons. Except for Shiv, who, as the only daughter of an unfathomably rich and powerful rightwinger, is under more scrutiny than most. In the first series, she was a long-haired power liberal in Fair Isle knits from H&M (H&M!) and dresses from Ted Baker. Now she is in buttoned-up Max Mara waistcoats and Ralph Lauren houndstooth jackets, betraying herself as a woman not in control, but trapped in a doom loop of familial discontent, lies and daddy issues. The main change of course is that she’s pregnant, a fact that she has been trying to hide until now. As someone who is also pregnant, though a few weeks behind, I think managing this has been the costume department’s greatest challenge, and success. The first trimester is fine. By 20 weeks, there’s no escape. And yet no elastic waists and tent dresses for Shiv! Instead, long blazers to hide her bump, low-cut tops to distract and a clever taupe Skims bodysuit to keep that bump under wraps. Night sweats getting you down? Just tong your hair (on that – I’ve noticed continuity issues this season, with her hair going from straight to wavy mid-scene, which suggests they’re thinking about Shiv’s hair as much as I’m thinking about my own). Twitter certainly had fun mocking Shiv’s sad ponytail at Connor’s wedding. But as anyone familiar with pregnancy hormones knows, second-trimester hair has a will of its own. One of the hardest things for a pregnant woman to do is to confront this bodily shape shift while trying to maintain their identity. Most keep their pregnancies a secret for at least 12 weeks for fear of miscarriage or complications. These dangers are real – roughly 10% to 20% of known pregnancies end in miscarriage – and most of us would rather not risk sharing news early only to have difficult conversations later. This silence isn’t much fun. But even after this point, the risks continue and can be compounded by judgment and career retaliation – all while you try not to vomit on the hour. In the case of Shiv, that judgment is coming from her family, the tabloids and all those people who told her she’d be a terrible mother. Roman’s joke about her weight is the least of it. Caught between these duelling realities, it’s little wonder she’s gone turbo-Tom-Ford-Girlboss. It’s also little wonder she’s aligned herself with an alt-billionaire from Sweden: a country where parental rights are light years ahead of the US. The many cultural differences between Alexander Skarsgård’s Lukas Matsson and the Roy brothers are also signalled in their clothes, which set the scene long before they begin negotiations (though you could definitely envision Kendall wearing the Swede’s gold bomber jacket from the Tailgate party during his existential phase in season two). The overall aesthetic of the show has been distilled into “stealth wealth”. This aggressively bland look, which loosely translates as “cashmere and baseball caps indoors”, is more of a nebulous marketing term than an actual trend – to me, it looks like expensive normcore. For Shiv, though, it’s become a uniform and a life raft, a way of showing her skin remains in the game even if there’s a baby the length of a carrot growing within it. We dismiss clothing as superficial but it often says a lot about who we are or at least who we want to be. This is the paradox of fashion. And it is particularly true for women, especially when we are trying to keep a handle on the vast movements of life and death. Morwenna Ferrier is the Guardian’s fashion and lifestyle editor Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here .

GOOD