High turnover in the election office in Luzerne, Pennsylvania, exacerbated human errors, fueling anger and distrust - and is emblematic of a larger crisis facing electionsIt was the perfect story and Donald Trump pounced.In the final weeks of the 2020 election, officials in Luzerne county in north-east Pennsylvania had discovered nine mail-in ballots in the trash. Several of them were cast in favor of Trump, who had been railing for months that the election was rigged against him. William Barr, then the attorney general, briefed Trump on the matter before it was public and Trump immediately began spinning it. Continue reading...
Democrat Paul Tonko is pushing to halt a public health crisis' from engulfing the country - starting with a nationwide ban on adsAs Las Vegas prepares to host Super Bowl LVIII sports betting is preparing to celebrate its remarkable shift from the illegal fringes of American sports to the heart of its establishment. In Congress, one man is not cheering.Congressman Paul Tonko fears the industry has already gone too far. There's no limit to this," he told the Guardian. You can't have this wild west environment." So far Tonko is a rare voice of dissent in Washington, another arena where the new gambling establishment is gaining ground. Continue reading...
Macron is calling for unity, but the Israel-Hamas war has sparked a rise in hate crime that threatens a fragile social peaceFrench Jews were only partly reassured when more than 100,000 people, including the prime minister, Elisabeth Borne, and two former presidents, turned out to demonstrate in Paris last month against antisemitism and in defence of the secular republic. Why did the president, Emmanuel Macron, not attend, many asked? Where were the leaders of France's Muslim community? And where were the cultural, intellectual and sports celebrities so often eager to take a public stance on a worthy cause?Since Hamas fighters poured into Israel from the Gaza Strip on 7 October, slaughtering around 1,200 Israeli men, women and children, a wave of antisemitic attacks and hate speech has swept over France, home to Europe's biggest Jewish community (of around 440,000 people) and its largest Muslim population (of around 6 million people).Paul Taylor is a senior fellow of the Friends of Europe thinktankDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
The Israeli government is stripping away our freedoms - economic, physical, even the ability to celebrate. Yet the world looks awayIn the eyes of the world, there seem to be two kinds of violence against the Palestinian people. There are the genocidal horrors that have been unfolding in Gaza, in which Israel is erasing families, neighbourhoods and livelihoods. Then there is the other kind: the violence that Palestinians have been subjected to since the 1948 Nakba, overlooked and barely commented upon.Violence in the West Bank always seems to be placed into the second category, no matter how extreme. Yet in recent weeks, we have seen a marked escalation from Israel. Politicians seem to have decided they have free rein while this latest war plays out and all eyes are on Gaza. But look at the West Bank and you will see the actions of an increasingly totalitarian regime that is detaining Palestinians without charge, torturing prisoners and limiting physical and economic freedom in order to consolidate settler dominance.Layth Hanbali is a health researcher working independently and at Birzeit University in Ramallah, PalestineDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
In stinging opinion, judge Tanya Chutkan rejects idea that being commander in chief confers lifelong get-out-of-jail-free' passA federal judge on Friday rejected Donald Trump's attempt to dismiss his federal criminal case over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, ruling that he enjoyed no immunity from prosecution simply because it was based on actions he took when he was still president.The order by the presiding US district judge Tanya Chutkan simultaneously denied two of Trump's motions to dismiss - on presidential immunity grounds and constitutional grounds - setting the stage for Trump to appeal to the DC circuit and ultimately the US supreme court. Continue reading...
District attorney George Gascon says police believe the same person shot and killed three victims this weekLos Angeles officials say they think one person has targeted unhoused people after three back-to-back slayings. Although the mayor, police chief and district attorney stopped short of calling the suspect a serial killer, all of the victims were killed by someone who walked up to them during pre-dawn hours as they were sleeping, shot them and walked away.These are some of the most vulnerable people in our community and are being singled out - it appears to be - because of their status," George Gascon, the Los Angeles county district attorney, said during a press conference on Friday. Continue reading...
Trump's trial in Fulton county could be delayed until 2029 if he won re-election because of the US constitution, Steve Sadow saidDonald Trump's trial on charges that he conspired to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia would be delayed until 2029 if he won re-election next year because the US constitution prohibits states from interfering with federal government functions, his lawyer argued at a court hearing on Friday.I believe that the supremacy clause and his duties as president of the United States - this trial would not take place at all until after his term in office," the former president's lawyer Steve Sadow said. Continue reading...
The person, who is as yet not been identified, is in critical condition and a guard who attempted to intervene was injuredA protester with a Palestinian flag self-immolated on Friday outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta, injuring a security guard who attempted to intervene, authorities said.The person, whom officials did not identify, is in critical condition, the Atlanta police chief Darin Schierbaum said at a news conference. The guard's condition was not immediately clear. Continue reading...
Adam Smith of Washington state calls spray-painting of garage sadly reflective of the coarsening of the political discourse'A Democratic congressman says his home was vandalized on Thursday night by people advocating for a ceasefire in Israel and Gaza".Adam Smith, a US House member from Washington state, called the vandalism to his home in the city of Bellevue sadly reflective of the coarsening of the political discourse in our country, and is completely unwarranted, unnecessary, and harmful to our political system". Continue reading...
John Turscak, 52, accused of stabbing Chauvin, convicted of George Floyd's murder, 22 times in prison in Tucson, ArizonaA detainee at a federal prison was charged on Friday with attempted murder in the prison stabbing of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd.John Turscak stabbed Chauvin 22 times in the law library at the Tucson federal correctional institution in Arizona with an improvised knife, prosecutors said. Turscak, 52, told correctional officers he would have killed Chauvin had they not responded so quickly, according to prosecutors. Continue reading...
Christian Ziegler mentioned in heavily redacted police documents that includes the word raped', reports sayThe chairman of Florida's Republican party, Christian Ziegler, is reported to be under investigation for sexual battery - a potential political bombshell in a state that Donald Trump and Governor Ron DeSantis call home.According to heavily redacted police department documents, Ziegler is mentioned in the context of an active criminal investigation" after an individual reported being sexually battered" at home in Sarasota on 2 October. Continue reading...
Sharing walls or floors in apartment buildings means sharing noise, but it doesn't have to lead to conflictSix years ago, in the haze of new motherhood, Adrianne Wright found herself facing an unexpected problem: a disgruntled neighbor.Her daughter had been born nine weeks premature. There was a lot going on, understandably, from getting used to this new chapter to dealing with some of the health complications that she was experiencing, with [...] noisy machines at home to monitor breathing." The last thing Wright, the founder of the communications agency Think Rosie, wanted was to receive noise complaints from the neighbor living below her brownstone apartment in New York City's Park Slope neighborhood. Continue reading...
Empire actor loses bid to overturn conviction after he was found to have lied to police about 2019 hate crime attack he orchestratedAn appeals court upheld the disorderly conduct convictions on Friday of the actor Jussie Smollett, who was accused of staging a racist, homophobic attack against himself in 2019 and then lying about it to Chicago police.Smollett, who appeared in the TV show Empire, challenged the role of a special prosecutor, jury selection, evidence and many other aspects of the case. But all were turned aside in a 2-1 opinion from the Illinois appellate court. Continue reading...
The House voted on Friday to expel the Republican George Santos, of New York, after a critical ethics report on his conduct that accused him of converting campaign donations for his own use. He was just the sixth member in the chamber's history to be ousted by colleagues. The expulsion push is the latest chapter in what has been a spectacular fall from grace for Santos, a first-term lawmaker initially celebrated as an up-and-comer after he flipped a district from Democrats last year and helped Republicans win control of the House. Here is a look back at some of his claims which proved untrue
by Paulina Velasco in Jacumba Hot Springs on (#6GP97)
At the US-Mexico border site, called open-air detention centers by some, migrants face harsh weather in makeshift tentsIt's 8am on a chilly fall morning when the U-Haul pulls up at the US-Mexico border wall in Jacumba Hot Springs, California.Dozens of people emerge from makeshift tents and from around small bonfires to welcome it, and line up for some of the water bottles and peanut butter jelly sandwiches its volunteers are carrying. Continue reading...
Sandra Day O'Connor, the former US supreme court justice, died at 93 in Phoenix on Friday of complications related to advanced dementia and a respiratory illness, the court has announced. O'Connor was the first woman to serve on the US supreme court, paving the way for future female justices. She voted on a range of issues including abortion, affirmative action and campaign finance
The Israelis' goal of destroying the enemy risks slipping further out of reach the more they pursue itAnd on the eighth day, the war began anew. After a week of joy and relief for those Israeli families reunited with loved ones held hostage by Hamas, and of respite from Israeli bombardment for the people of Gaza, seven days of rolling ceasefires came to an end this morning. No more hugs, no more quiet. Instead, the war between Israel and Hamas is back on, presenting once more what moral philosophers refer to as a tragic choice" - a dilemma where there are no good options, only two different routes to disaster. In fighting Hamas, Israel faces just such a predicament - and yet there are too many, among both those who defend Israel and those who denounce it, who refuse to see that.Start with those who believe that the massacre by Hamas of more than 1,200 Israelis on 7 October gives Israel the moral licence to respond however it sees fit, subject to almost no limitations. In this view, the horror of the October attacks, the sadism and cruelty of the killing, torture and rape, crossed every moral red line and so Israel can do whatever it takes to defeat those to blame. Not as revenge, but as prevention - to ensure that Hamas cannot make good on its vow to stage another 7 October, and another and another, until Israel is eradicated.Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Actor paid $15,000 for an exam proctor to change her daughter's answers on the SAT and spent 11 days in prison in 2019The actor Felicity Huffman says she paid to have her daughter's college testing scores raised - breaking federal law and getting imprisoned over it - because she felt pressed to give her child a chance at a future".Huffman, an Emmy winner who starred in the TV series Desperate Housewives, expressed that sentiment in an interview published Thursday by the Los Angeles news station KABC. The interview marked the first time Huffman discussed her role in the 2019 scandal that ensnared dozens of prominent, well-connected parents across the US accused of illicitly plotting to get their children into college. Continue reading...
UAW, representing 400,000 in the US and over 580,000 retired workers, makes announcement as military operations resumeThe United Auto Workers, one of the US's largest labor unions, has come out in support of a ceasefire in Israel and Palestine as a temporary ceasefire ended on Friday with Israel resuming military operations in Gaza.The UAW is now the largest union to have called for a ceasefire. It represents 400,000 workers in the US and more than 580,000 retired workers. Continue reading...
The fight between two of America's most powerful governors, billed by Fox as The Great Red v Blue State Debate', mostly hurt DeSantisOn Thursday night, Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, reminded the US why he will never be president. His voice grates, his visage a cross between a squinted grimace and scowl. He looks like Manuel Noriega, the ex-Panamanian dictator, without the scarring. On a personal level, he lacks humor, warmth, wit, or uplift. He is ham-handed, an awkward social warrior.DeSantis comes across as too hot. This is the guy who picked a fight with Mickey Mouse, his state's largest employer. He holds degrees from Yale and Harvard, but repeatedly flashes clouded judgment. In other words, there are plenty of reasons why he is getting walloped among Republicans by Donald Trump. Continue reading...
Ruling clears way for Trump to face lawsuits from police and lawmakers seeking to hold him responsible for violenceA US appeals court on Friday ruled that Donald Trump must face civil lawsuits over his role in the 6 January 2021 attack on the Capitol by his supporters, rejecting the former president's claim that he is immune.A panel of the US court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit found that Trump was acting in his personal capacity as a presidential candidate" when he urged his supporters to march to the Capitol. US presidents are immune from civil lawsuits only for official actions. Part of the lawsuit was filed under the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act, a Reconstruction-era law, which makes it illegal to prevent an officer of the United States from performing their duties through threats or intimidation. Continue reading...
State attorney general Ken Paxton files suit despite medical consensus that vaccine prevents severe infection and deathThe attorney general of Texas is suing the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, alleging that it exaggerated the effectiveness of its Covid-19 vaccine and deceived the public.Ken Paxton announced the lawsuit on Thursday after filing it in Lubbock state district court in north-west Texas, the Texas Tribune reported. Continue reading...
Biden administration has informed Israel that Washington will impose the bans in the next few weeksThe Biden administration has informed Israel that Washington will impose visa bans in the next few weeks on Israeli extremist settlers engaged in violence against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank, a senior state department official said.Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, in his meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and his war cabinet have let them know that the United States will take its own action against an undisclosed number of individuals. Continue reading...
Former supreme court justice died in Phoenix of complications related to advanced dementia and a respiratory illnessFormer US supreme court justice Sandra Day O'Connor died at age 93 in Phoenix on Friday of complications related to advanced dementia and a respiratory illness, the court said in a statement.O'Connor was the first woman ever to serve on the US supreme court. Continue reading...
Nelson, who surveyed people door-to-door, is prioritizing Medicaid, education and high-speed internet for all householdsFabian Nelson didn't have a campaign platform when he announced his candidacy for Mississippi's house of representatives. He knew, though, that his community's needs would be central to his mission.When people are running for office, [they can be] very selfish and say: Oh, I live here and this is what I need,'" he said. But what you need is not necessarily the best thing for the community." Continue reading...
The Sussexes-friendly author swears he never name-checked Charles and Kate. The truth? Look, it's very hard to nail downA hugely intriguing week in Dutch publishing mishaps, as the Netherlands' edition of a new book about the royals names King Charles and the Princess of Wales as the two family members who supposedly speculated about the skin colour of Prince Harry and his wife Meghan's then-unborn son. The opus in question is Endgame by Omid Scobie - officially, a Sussex-friendly journalist; unofficially, a jacquard polo shirt influencer of quite substantial importance. Asked about the raging drama, Scobie declared: To be honest, I've been operating a bubble of no emotion for the last 10 days." Which you'll know was the exact same thing Lytton Strachey said in the week of publication of his volume on Queen Victoria. Nothing becomes a contempo historian like the I can't even" of it all.But we race ahead of ourselves. The details - I want to say facts, but I somehow feel that judgment is best reserved for now - are these. Omid Scobie, who increasingly looks like a felt-pen drawing of Omid Scobie, has this week published Endgame, which the publisher says is a penetrating investigation into the current state of British monarchy". Go on. An unpopular king, a power-hungry heir to the throne, a queen willing to go to dangerous lengths to preserve her image, and a prince forced to start a new life after being betrayed by his own family ... this is the royal family's endgame. Do they have what it takes to save it?" You get the gist. For anyone who ordered the word salad, he recommends the Windsors move forward with growth". Continue reading...
Experts advise the city's first AAPI female bookstore owner on a plan to reopen Yu & Me Books in its original location in ChinatownFor Lucy Yu, who runs what's believed to be New York City's first Asian American woman-owned bookstore, losing her brick-and-mortar business was akin to losing a child. But since 4 July of this year, when a blaze engulfed the Chinatown building that housed Yu & Me Books, the 29-year-old has had little time to process her grief.Within hours of the blaze, she shifted into rebuild mode: right after firefighters brought the fire under control, Yu and a friend ran into the store and hauled inventory into plastic bags and tarps. They salvaged a couple thousand books from the wreckage, just under half of the collection. The effort left Yu coughing and short of breath for the next two weeks. Continue reading...
Chapter 11 protection is designed to give an organization time to reorganize its finances to pay its debts but victims of clerical abuse feel frustrated by a lengthy and opaque process
Horserace polling can't tell us anything new about who will win the electoral college - but the existence of an anti-Maga majority is clearNow that Thanksgiving has passed in America, and everyone's Trumpy uncle is on his way back to his conservative state, we still have our catastrophizing Democratic cousins to contend with. Triggered by the drumbeat of horrific poll results, they are panicking that Joe Biden is too old and unpopular to prevent a second Trump administration from taking power.These cousins, and perhaps you too, are suffering from the latest strain of what I call Mad Poll Disease. It's a perpetual state of anxiety - spread by the media's obsession with using polls to forecast the outcome of the next election, instead of empowering voters with all the information they need to decide what they want that outcome to be and act, or vote, accordingly. Continue reading...
I sold most of my possessions and gave up my home in anticipation of my departure. It might sound stressful, but it was liberatingWhen I heard about a round the world cruise last year, taking in 135 countries and docking at 375 destinations over three years, I was the first person to sign up for it. I chose a seventh-floor cabin with a balcony, setting me back $562,000 (444,000).I had been preparing to set sail last month, from Miami. As the date approached, I started packing the four small cases I was planning to bring aboard with me and then had them sent to the port, ready to be put on the ship. But we hit stormy seas. First, the cruise operator told us our boarding destination had changed, from Miami to the Bahamas. Days later, we were told the cruise was cancelled entirely.Meredith Shay is a retired flight attendant from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, US. As told to Lucy Pasha-RobinsonDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
Worries that gambling addiction has spiked in the US as legal sports betting booms have led to calls for increased regulationThe United States is heading into a quagmire, if not crisis" of gambling addiction among young people, according to counselors and clinicians - prompting calls for a regulatory crackdown.Treatment clinics are grappling with an influx of patients in their teens and early 20s and helplines are reporting record levels of calls. Continue reading...
The Broncos are looking to become only the fifth team since 1990 to reach the postseason after losing their first three gamesAs the regular season draws to a close, we'll take a look each Friday at a game likely to affect the playoff race, along with the teams whose fortunes are rising and falling. And, so we don't neglect the also-rans, we'll see which teams are in the hunt for next year's No 1 pick. Continue reading...
Republican Ron DeSantis and Democrat Gavin Newsom finally went head to head on Fox News after months of trash talkThe American media billed it as a slugfest" and the Vendetta in Alpharetta". Ron DeSantis's campaign hyped it with a tale of the tape". In the era of politics as entertainment, everyone had an interest in turning a debate between two US state governors into something resembling fight night in Las Vegas.After all, it seems the Elon Musk v Mark Zuckerberg cage match is not going to happen, so Florida governor DeSantis v his California counterpart Gavin Newsom on Fox News in prime time on Thursday would just have to do. Continue reading...
Before a World Cup final defeat to the US in the 90s, Chinese women's soccer was a powerhouse. Now, the nation is plotting for greater success in the 2030sSporting history is littered with Sliding Doors moments, instances when future fortunes pivot on one swing of a bat, one toss of a ball or one swipe of a boot.So named for the 1998 movie in which alternate realities of Gwyneth Paltrow's lead character's life play out simultaneously, diverging at the point at which she did or didn't get on a tube train, the most consequential example of a Sliding Doors moment in the history of women's soccer came on 10 July 1999 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. Continue reading...
Another health advocate has said the phenomenon is genuine - and take it from me, it is. But not in the way she's suggestingYou don't need a man to tell you man flu is real, although he still will. And now health advocates are agreeing with us: nutritionist Jenna Hope, author of the new book How to Stay Healthy, is perhaps the most recent to argue that men really do suffer more than women when they're ill. When we look at the evidence we find that the female immune system is actually stronger than the male immune system," she told the Times. Women have higher levels of progesterone and oestrogen, she says, which tend to support the immune system, while men have higher levels of testosterone, which suppresses immunity.But when we talk about man flu, are we really talking about an increased sensitivity to symptoms, or just a decreased ability to stop going on about them? The term man flu" has always suggested exaggeration, not least because the illness in question is almost never flu; it's usually just a cold.Tim Dowling is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
A former NFL star has attacked ESPN's coverage of allegations against the player as showing racial bias. But the reality of the matter is far from black and whiteNBA player suspected of improper relationship with minor" is the kind of headline that usually stops the press. But little about this curious case involving Josh Giddey has gone by the book. For a tipoff, it was the league itself - not one of its sleepless scoop hounds - that broke the news over last week's Thanksgiving holiday weekend that it was investigating allegations of an improper relationship between the Oklahoma City Thunder swingman and an underaged girl. In a social media post, a user said a girl who features prominently in photographs and videos with Giddey was as young as 15. Giddey turned 21 last month. I'm dating Josh!" she screams in one snippet. We don't have to talk about it!"But even as the league office appears to be treating the matter with utmost seriousness and local police are launching their own investigation too, the league-wide reaction has been oddly restrained - perhaps because Giddey has yet to miss a start as a result. Giddey barely addressed the matter when the news broke. I understand you guys want to know about it," he said last week, but right now, I just don't have anything to say." Thunder coach Mike Daigneault has been just as reluctant to comment on the allegations or pull Giddey - a leading scorer, rebounder and assist man - from the OKC lineup, filing it under personal matter". Continue reading...
This isn't some ghoulish competition, where any empathy shown to dead Israelis leaves less available for PalestiniansThere is no such thing as a perfect victim, but a million ways to be an imperfect one. She was drinking. Her skirt was too short. She went willingly back to the footballer's mansion, or up to Harvey Weinstein's hotel suite, so what did she think was going to happen? Maybe she was a teenage runaway, or a sex worker; he was a good boy, or a much-loved celebrity. There is a long list of reasons rapists get away with it, but it all too often starts with a jury's refusal to listen to a woman they have already decided for some stubborn reason not to like. Remember that, as we come to the distressing picture now emerging of alleged multiple rapes and sexual assaults by Hamas fighters amid the atrocities of 7 October.This week, the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, finally called for what he described as numerous accounts of sexual violence during the abhorrent acts of terror by Hamas" to be vigorously investigated".Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnistInformation and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.htmlDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
The dereliction of Boris Johnson and his allies is daily being laid bare. The key is to remember what they did and hold them to accountIn so many ways, the Covid inquiry feels as if it is going very badly for the Tories. Seemingly every session in the plain, low-ceilinged, rather severe room next to Paddington station in London confirms more of our worst suspicions from the time of the pandemic about the Conservatives' performance in government. That Boris Johnson, many of his ministers and some of his most senior advisers were disastrously unsuited to dealing with one of the most lethal crises Britain has ever faced is becoming ever clearer, question by question, document by document.The lead counsel for the inquiry, Hugo Keith KC, sometimes uses phrases such as failings in the heart of the government" when he is questioning ministers and ex-ministers - and even more ominously for them, when he is summarising or making observations about their answers. It's hard to see at this stage how the inquiry's report, the first part of which is currently scheduled for publication early next summer, can be anything other than damning. And Johnson and Rishi Sunak - or Dr Death", as one of the government's most senior scientific advisers called him during the pandemic - haven't even been interrogated by the inquiry yet. Johnson is scheduled to appear next week, with Sunak expected soon afterwards.Andy Beckett is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
A lasting legacy of racism, oppression and colonialism is laid bare at a powerful exhibition in Cambridge. Confronting it can help us build a more equitable worldGone and forgotten until it comes around again next October, Black History Month is challenging for those who argue that a people's history should not be confined to a mere four weeks. Genuine comprehension of history fosters an appreciation for the crucial principles of equality, diversity and inclusivity. All are pivotal in cultivating peace within our societies, and their absence manifests in racism. But racism isn't limited to a specific month.Racism encompasses prejudice, discrimination or antagonism directed against others based on their racial or ethnic affiliation, typically targeting minorities or marginalised groups. It stems from the belief in distinct characteristics, abilities or qualities attributed to different races, often to establish a hierarchy of inferiority or superiority. Continue reading...
I asked ChatGPT to improve my latest novel and lost no sleep over the results. But I do worry about diverse voices being crowded outThis summer two worlds - literature and technology - collided. News stories began appearing about authors suing OpenAI and Meta for using their works to train their large language models without consent, without credit and without compensation". I read them with increasing curiosity, and then I found a review of a novella, Death of an Author, which was 95% machine-generated". I put down my quill and stared out of the window, wondering if my tried and tested productivity hacks of taking the dog for a walk or soaking in a hot tub were no longer going to cut it in this frightening new world.Be brave, I told myself. Experiment with these new technologies or prepare to be replaced by a monkey with an iPhone and a writing app. I lay on my bed and opened up Laika, one of the free creative writing tools I'd read about. Perhaps my latest novel, Love Marriage, could have been vastly improved with this genius tool. I pasted in the first paragraph: In the Ghorami household sex was never mentioned. If the television was on and a kissing-with-tongues scene threatened the chaste and cardamom-scented home, it was swiftly terminated by a flick of the black box. When Yasmin began her first period, her mother had slipped her a pack of Kotex Maxi pads and murmured instructions not to touch the Qur'an ..."This is an edited extract from Monica Ali's 2023 PEN HG Wells lecture, hosted by English PEN in partnership with New Writing North. The full version of this piece is published in PEN Transmissions, English PEN's literary magazineMonica Ali is a novelist, whose latest book is Love Marriage Continue reading...
When I interviewed him last year, the late Pogues legend was truculent, moody, wilfully silent - and immensely likable. I will forever cherish our strange meetingShane MacGowan and I sat in near silence for two hours last year. We were at his home, just outside Dublin. I'd been warned by his wife, the writer Victoria Mary Clarke, that he was depressed and anxious, not really in the mood to talk. But nothing could prepare me for this. He scoffed at my questions or snorted with contempt. He looked at Victoria despairingly when I asked about his mix of Englishness and Irishness. God, these questions are fucking ..." He decided the sentence wasn't even worth finishing. I tried to talk about his most famous song, Fairytale of New York. It pisses me off when people always talk about it," he said in that famous mumbled slur. I asked if people were right to refer to him as a genius. Probably, yeah," he said. What made you a genius? God! Fucking ridiculous question!" He had a point.Sometimes he just laughed, like a snore. Chhhhhhhhhhhhhh." Throughout, he slurped his gin and tonic noisily from an oversized glass. Schhhhhhlrrrrp. Continue reading...
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