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Vacationers are increasingly looking for short-term rentals that may be haunted on online platforms like Airbnb and VRBOAdrienne Parks and her husband, Bill Bowman, moved into their New Orleans Queen Anne-style Victorian house on Halloween in 2005. But it had a long history before them. Built as a single-family home in 1884, the 5,500-sq-ft structure became a boarding house in the 20th century before falling into disrepair. In the 1980s, a couple purchased it and decided to restore the building to its original glory, ripping out sheet rock and tearing out the drop ceilings. Years later, the property found its way to Parks and Bowman.Not long after moving in, Parks took a walking tour of her neighborhood, which happened to be led by one of the home's previous owners. They made a stop at the house. Continue reading...

The 90s were a decade of carefree optimism and comically low stakes. Matthew Perry's death brings us crashing back into the nowIn 2004, the author Damian Barr published Get It Together: Surviving Your Quartlerlife Crisis. Barr would go on to write poignant and beautiful books (including the memoir Maggie and Me) but this wasn't either of those things. It was more of a fun, generational howl: how's this stuff supposed to work? How are you supposed to become an adult in these conditions? The dream of life in your 20s - flailing around not sure what to do, mooching from one dead-end job to another but still managing to afford a gigantic, lovely flat in the centre of everything, failing romantically, hilariously, while it all turns out for the best, never feeling anxious for no reason or as if you're slipping through the sieve of polite society, too small and weightless to remain in the in-crowd - well, that dream was cracking a little. As Barr put it in a radio interview, the question, essentially, was this: what if Friends, which by then was in its 10th and final season, wasn't very true to life?Definitely, the economic winds were changing: wages in the UK started to stagnate in 2003; in the US, graduate wages had been falling since 2000, and health cover cut for young employees, both graduate and not, since 2002. All of this, plus climbing student debt, was dwarfed by the 2007-2008 financial crash, after which everyone got much poorer, much faster. But the casual 90s elision between young" and carefree" was already not true by the mid-00s.Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Campus police sent to university center after series of antisemitic comments were posted to online message boardA Jewish student center at Cornell University is under guard after several online threats were made against students, as the White House warns of a rise in antisemitic hate across the nation.On Sunday, campus police at the university's location in Ithaca were sent to guard Cornell's Center for Jewish Living after a series of antisemitic comments were posted to an online message board, the university's newspaper first reported. Continue reading...

The IDF's strategy within Gaza is becoming more targeted than expected, suggesting Netanyahu is responding to US pressureThe Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, declared over the weekend that Israel had embarked on the second stage" of its war against Hamas in Gaza. What did he mean - and is the Israeli government any closer to its objective of wiping out" Hamas?While the desire to destroy Hamas is still present, I believe that the goalposts have moved. A combination of American pressure and an Israeli recognition of the operational complexity of a fully fledged ground invasion has pushed the government to narrow its set of objectives, perhaps making them more achievable.Bilal Y Saab is an associate fellow with Chatham House and senior fellow and director of the Defence and Security Programme at the Middle East InstituteDo 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...

Lives can still be saved, but time is running out for the international community to provide effective help

Joseph Czuba charged with murder, attempted murder and hate crime in death of Wadea Al-Fayoume and wounding of his motherA man accused of murder, attempted murder and a hate crime in an attack on a Palestinian American boy and his mother pleaded not guilty on Monday following his indictment by an Illinois grand jury.Joseph Czuba, 71, is charged in the fatal stabbing of six-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume and the wounding of his mother Hanaan Shahin on 14 October. Authorities said the victims were targeted because of their Muslim faith. Continue reading...

Eighteen people killed and 13 injured in attack in Lewiston on Wednesday, as investigators search for precise motive for shootingResidents of Lewiston return to work on Monday, the morning after coming together to mourn those lost in Maine's worst mass shooting.They gathered on Sunday evening, hugging one another, singing a rousing rendition of Amazing Grace, and seeking guidance out of these dark days from leaders who talked of hope, healing and the power of prayer. Continue reading...

With hundreds of thousands of people unhoused, government red tape prevents properties from going to housing non-profitsThe US does not have enough housing for unhoused people or for migrants. Yet each year the federal government, the nation's largest single owner of real estate, identifies dozens of empty buildings it owns that can be made available to help with the problem. Few end up housing or helping those in need.Why isn't the government tapping into this reserve to help fix some of the most pressing social issues of our time? Continue reading...

Major poll shows Trump 27 points ahead before first Republican primary vote but Haley climbs to 16% alongside Ron DeSantisDonald Trump maintained his huge lead in the crucial early voting state of Iowa in a major new poll by NBC News and the Des Moines Register but Nikki Haley is now emerging as his closest challenger.The former US president has a 27-point lead in Iowa three months before the first vote of the Republican primary as he attracted 43% support. But Haley, the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador, climbed 10 points to 16%, sharing second place with Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor whose campaign has long been seen to be stalling. Continue reading...

All three promoted clubs are in the relegation zone this season. Their struggles reflect a wider problem in the modern game

No one should be squeamish about a state such as Qatar acting as a broker and bringing Hamas to the tableThe BBC reporter was aggressive. How could Qatar possibly play host to representatives of Hamas during the present Israel/Gaza conflict? The Qatari official patiently explained that his country had long acted as an intermediary. It organised prisoner swaps, humanitarian aid and peace initiatives. It negotiated the recent Israeli and US hostage returns. It had mediated conflicts in Afghanistan, Chad, Libya and Sudan. The BBC's challenge might have been, why were these mediations often unsuccessful? But no: the implication was that they were improper.If there is now to be a way out of the Israel/Gaza conflict, it will need intermediaries, as these wars almost always do. This year is the 50th anniversary of the Paris accords that ended the Vietnam war. It is the 30th of the Oslo accords that achieved peace, for a while, between Israel and Palestine through Norwegian auspices.Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

These hampers full of useless clutter are destined for landfill - they have nothing to do with the true spirit of the seasonHow can you tell if a husband loves his wife? In the month of October in the year of 2023, the answer seems to be: he got her a boo basket". Popularised via a TikTok hashtag with almost 400m views, a boo basket is a collection of Halloween treats stored inside an oversized hamper. There are sweets and chocolate in there, naturally, but there are also mugs, candles, teddy bears and ornaments themed around the spooky season. This is what to get your wife in a boo basket, and yes, you do want to get her a boo basket," says a creator in a video with 2m views. Girls, send this to your husband." Another video with almost 16m views is captioned: If your boyfriend hasn't made you a boo basket yet he doesn't love you."Whatever the Halloween Scrooges (boo-ges?) might say, Halloween didn't originate as a cynical, commercialised American import. Europeans have been celebrating it since the middle ages and trick or treating is itself medieval (especially if your neighbour gives you a box of raisins). It's not that we don't have a long tradition of spooky celebrations here in the UK - it's just that we once used to carve faces on turnips, but now have Marks & Spencer selling us 20 glass pumpkins. This year, Halloween spending in the UK is expected to surpass 1bn for the first time. Two decades ago, we only spent 12m. Continue reading...

The activist Elaine Brown, former chair of the party, is leading an $80m affordable housing project in West OaklandIn the early hours of 28 October 1967, the co-founder of the Black Panther Party, Huey Newton, was pulled over by police as he was driving along Seventh Street in West Oakland, California. A scuffle ensued and shots rang out, puncturing Newton's abdomen, killing a police officer, John Frey, and wounding another.All bullets found at the scene were police-issued, yet Newton was arrested as he was being treated for gunshot wounds in hospital, and sent to jail. His prosecution and 1968 trial sparked the Free Huey" protests that spread across the country, transforming the Panthers into a nationwide Black power organization demanding an end to police brutality, equality in housing and employment, and an economic revolution. Continue reading...

Records obtained by the Guardian show women in California prisons routinely report abuse, but few officers face consequences, even when there is substantial evidenceWomen incarcerated in California state prisons have filed hundreds of complaints of sexual abuse by staff since 2014. But in that time frame, only four officers have been terminated for sexual misconduct, according to data obtained by the Guardian. And only four guards have been confirmed to have faced criminal charges for their behavior.One of the guards who was prosecuted, Gregory Rodriguez, has been accused of assaulting and harassing at least 22 women at the Central California Women's Facility (CCWF). He retired while under investigation and is awaiting trial on nearly 100 charges. He has pleaded not guilty. Continue reading...

Military strikes include area near Al-Azhar University in Gaza City. Plus, Matthew Perry's troubled life and foreshadowed deathGood morning.Israeli troops backed by tanks have expanded their operations in Gaza amid reports of fierce air and artillery strikes in the enclave's north, as nearly 40 trucks entered through the territory's southern border yesterday.What do we know about the operations? Israel's self-declared second phase" of its three-week war against Hamas militants has largely been kept from public view, with forces moving under darkness and a telecommunications blackout cutting off Palestinians. Hamas said its Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades were engaged in heavy fighting ... with the invading occupation forces".What has Joe Biden said to Benjamin Netanyahu this weekend? In a call with the Israeli prime minister yesterday, Biden underscored the need to immediately and significantly increase the flow of humanitarian assistance to meet the needs of civilians in Gaza", the US said.What have the prosecutors said? The defendant has capitalized on the court's administrative stay to, among other prejudicial conduct, send an unmistakable and threatening message to a foreseeable witness in this case," they said in their brief. Unless the court lifts the administrative stay, the defendant will not stop."What did Trump say about Meadows? Prosecutors complained about Trump's post on Meadows that questioned the credibility of Meadows' testimony and suggested that anyone who testified against him under limited immunity from prosecution - such as Meadows - were weak or cowardly. Continue reading...

My late husband Rob was a heroin addict, but that does not define who he was. And nor should it for the Friends actorWhen I heard the news about Matthew Perry, there was a moment of quiet, of inner collapse, like the moment a souffle gives up on itself. I wasn't thinking about Friends, and without wanting to sound like an emotionless sociopath, it's rare for the death of a celebrity I don't know to prompt anything more in me than the sadness felt about the loss of any life.But I was thinking about his life viewed through the lens of addiction, and what he carried with him, and how it never left him. How his friends and family must have felt, having wanted the best life for him, having been caught in the maelstrom of chaos only to see his life snuffed out at the age of just 54. It is a feeling that only those who live with addiction themselves, or who love those who do, will know. Continue reading...

A country-hopping career is the worst of all worlds. Now, I view those laptop-on-the-beach snaps with knowing scepticismYou can't run away from your problems, so the old adage goes. Yet in March last year, boarding a one-way flight from London to Bogota, I gave it my best shot. I had just turned 30 and was feeling the societal pressure to settle down, like my coupled-up friends whose lives seemed to be bifurcating away from mine, and to progress in my career. But I wasn't ready.Two years earlier, I had left my office job to became a freelance writer, moved into a one-bed flat and split up with my long-term partner. Any one of these things might have been cause for celebration - each was a positive step for me - but the unexpected successive Covid lockdowns that followed rendered my new lifestyle lonely and stagnant, rather than exciting and opportunity-filled. And so, after the lost years of the pandemic, and with no dependants, I wanted to embrace the freedom I had failed to make the most of. Continue reading...

Republican governor is anti-abortion, anti-trans and a nightmare' for DemocratsIt looked, sounded and felt like the start of a US presidential campaign. The stakes are high and the consequences couldn't be greater," said Glenn Youngkin in a glossy video that showed the Virginia governor walking in Ronald Reagan's footsteps at the 40th president's library in Simi Valley, California, complete with Air Force One and a fragment of the Berlin wall.The ad, It's Time to Usher in a New Era of American Values," was released by Youngkin in May, fuelling speculation of a White House run that never came. With Republican candidates struggling to stop the Donald Trump juggernaut, rumours that he could yet be drafted as the party establishment's alternative have not gone away. The make-or-break moment for Youngkin could come on 7 November when Virginia goes to the polls. Continue reading...

Morgan Stanley and TD Bank hope for aerospace and weapons boon after a 7% value increase from start of Israel-Hamas conflict

Juvenile prisoners were routinely punished by fellow inmates at the Alcatraz of the south', according to a new lawsuitOn his 16th birthday, Charles Chuck" Daniel was put behind bars.Then, six months later, in the summer of 1996, he would find himself transferred to Louisiana's Angola prison - referred to by some as the Alcatraz of the south" - to serve out a 149-year sentence for attempted murder and armed robbery that in effect amounted to life imprisonment. Continue reading...

Its chaotic response to events in Israel reveals an EU weakened by division - to China and Russia's advantageThe outbreak of the worst violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades, triggered by Hamas' horrific attack on 7 October and Israel's disproportionate military response, marks a turning point in the unravelling of Europe's role in the world.Only a few months ago, the story was one of Europe, slowly but surely, acting as one. After Russia invaded Ukraine, Ukrainian courage and US military support enabled Ukraine to stand. Washington's assistance far outstripped what Europeans collectively could muster. But as the war dragged on, European governments rose to the challenge. Continue reading...

San Francisco have lost three in a row but even with a downturn in form, their recently concussed quarterback should have been benched for the dayOK, so maybe Brock Purdy isn't the second coming of Joe Montana. With the Hall of Famer in attendance at Levi's Stadium on Sunday, Purdy sputtered in a 31-17 loss to the surging Cincinnati Bengals. Once again, he was a turnover machine, throwing two interceptions on back-to-back passes and also losing a fumble. It's a troubling trend for the former Mr Irrelevant, who started the season running Kyle Shanahan's offense so effectively. In the first five games of the season, all of which San Francisco won, Purdy threw nine touchdowns and zero interceptions. In the last three games, all of which San Francisco have lost, he's thrown five interceptions to three touchdowns.After the game, Shanahan offered a mixed review of his quarterback: He made some bad picks there at the end. I thought he was one of the reasons we were in the game today. Some of those throws he made were unbelievable." Continue reading...

After 15 years with a much-loved but often demanding whippet, part of me is enjoying the peace. But you can have too much quietI'm getting used to not having a dog, but it's possible I haven't really accepted he has gone. Surely Oscar must be lurking in his bed somewhere? He has been for the past 15 years, so that feels logical. Certain times of day are harder: there is no obvious end to work in the early evening, when I usually took him out, and at bedtime my husband is lost without the ritual cry of Pipi!" with which he summoned Oscar for a last pee for over a decade.My worst is morning walk time. I have replaced it with a dogless health-trudge round the streets, but that has meant breaking the news to the other dog walkers. They have been lovely - grown Yorkshiremen have hugged me and expressed emotion - but inevitably the question comes: so, are you getting another? Continue reading...

The order prohibits Trump from targeting the special counsel prosecuting his case or witnesses who might be called to testifyDonald Trump was once again bound by the gag order in the federal criminal case charging him with conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results, after a judge on Sunday reinstated restrictions prohibiting him from attacking prosecutors, court staff and potential trial witnesses.The US district judge Tanya Chutkan also denied the former US president's request to suspend the gag order indefinitely while his lawyers appealed. Continue reading...

Country continues to grapple with high levels of deadly gun violence, driven by easy firearm access and poor gun controlAt least eight people are dead and more than 50 others injured after multiple shootings across the country over the Halloween weekend.In Texas, three people were killed and three others injured at a Saturday night party in the small city of Texarkana, after rifles were pulled out during a fist fight. The suspected shooter, a 20-year-old male, remains at large, according to the Texarkana police department. Continue reading...

Governor claims groups said they are part of this Hamas movement' and violated state laws prohibiting antisemitismThe Florida governor and Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has amplified and defended his call to ban pro-Palestinian groups from colleges in the state, rejecting claims by 2024 rival Vivek Ramaswamy that such restrictions were a shameful political ploy" and utter hypocrisy" that amounted to a violation of free speech rights.This is not cancel culture," DeSantis hit back in a interview on NBC's Meet the Press before locking Palestinian rights supporters in with supporters of Hamas. DeSantis went on to claim that pro-Palestinian groups on state campuses had themselves said in the aftermath of the Hamas attack that they don't just stand in solidarity, that they are part of this Hamas movement". Continue reading...

Speaker can currently be ejected by any Democrat or Republican who introduces motion to vacate' followed by majority-wins voteRepublican House speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday he isn't afraid" of changing the rules governing how the speaker can be removed from the post by any one member, Democrat or Republican, who introduces a motion to vacate" followed by a majority-wins floor vote.The rule was adopted earlier this year among a number of concessions to the Republican far right agreed by Kevin McCarthy to win the position. He was then brought down by Florida Republican Matt Gaetz who used the rule to force a vote against him after McCarthy made a budget deal with Democrats. Continue reading...

Commerce department cites foreign policy interests and says it will review risk of firearms' diverted' to violate human rights'The US has stopped issuing export licenses for most civilian firearms and ammunition for 90 days for all non-governmental users, the commerce department said on Friday, citing national security and foreign policy interests.The commerce department did not provide further details for the pause, which also includes shotguns and optical sights, but said an urgent review will assess the risk of firearms being diverted to entities or activities that promote regional instability, violate human rights, or fuel criminal activities". Continue reading...

Lawyers for Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri claim UK intelligence was complicit in his ill-treatment' by the USThe UK's intelligence agencies are facing a fresh judicial investigation into allegations that British spies were complicit in the CIA's post-9/11 secret torture and rendition programme.The investigatory powers tribunal (IPT) has said it will open a second investigation into allegations that the intelligence services were involved in the mistreatment of a prisoner detained by the US. Continue reading...

Departure could help Republican candidates but DeSantis and Haley, as well as Ramaswamy and Christie, still hugely trail TrumpMike Pence's surprise withdrawal from the Republican presidential nomination race on Saturday is part of natural winnowing of the crowded field, rivals of the former vice-president said Sunday - and one that could help their quest of candidates to wrestle the nomination from overwhelming frontrunner Donald Trump.In the end, the race is narrowing, which everyone said it would," said former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, one of Trump's fiercest Republican critics and one of four who have qualified for a third TV debate next month in Miami that may not have included Pence, who, he told CNN's State of the Union, had run a tough race, a good race". Continue reading...

Jake Sullivan's comments are a marked softening of the Biden administration's hardline support of IsraelThousands of Palestinians killed in Israel's attacks on Gaza over the past three weeks did not deserve to die", according to the US national security adviser, in a marked softening of the Biden administration's hardline support of Israel.In an interview with ABC News on Sunday, Jake Sullivan, the White House's chief security adviser, said Hamas is hiding" behind civilians but that doesn't lessen Israel's responsibility under international humanitarian law and the laws in war to do all in their power to protect the civilian population". Continue reading...

Family sued after Sarah Katz died last year after drinking Charged Lemonade, apparently unaware of soda's high caffeine contentPanera Bread restaurants have displayed new warnings about its highly caffeinated lemonade, days after a lawsuit filed by the family of a university student who died after drinking the beverage.Sarah Katz, an Ivy League student with a congenital heart condition, died last year just hours after drinking Panera's Charged Lemonade, having apparently been unaware of the soda's extremely high caffeine content, according to the wrongful death suit. Continue reading...

Jews will inevitably connect the trauma of Hamas's 7 October attack with the trauma of Nazi massacres

From magazine editors to Hollywood agents, supporters of Palestinians experiencing widespread rebukeA rising number of prominent US figures have faced discipline over controversial public comments they have made about the Palestinian cause, as attacks by Israel on Gaza after the 7 October massacre of Israelis by Hamas fighters intensified.David Velasco, the editor in chief of Artforum magazine, was reportedly fired after the magazine published an open letter in response to the war. Continue reading...

One suspect turned himself in to police after deadly fight between two groups in a street with large number of revelersA fight between two groups turned deadly in Florida when a shooting in a Tampa street during Halloween festivities resulted in two deaths and 18 people hospitalized early Sunday morning, police said.Officers responded to the shooting in Tampa just before 3am on the 1600 block of East 7th Avenue in the Ybor City area, the Tampa police chief, Lee Bercaw, said during a press conference at the scene. Continue reading...

In my lower moments I have been haunted by feelings of shame, yet some of the best parents I know have lived with anxiety and depressionI've been having a tough time with my mental health lately. Anxiety and low mood have been compounded by my son's repeated night wakings, and after settling him I have been lying wide awake, heart racing with adrenaline. Averaging three hours of sleep a night, it was inevitable that I would burn out with exhaustion eventually, requiring time off work.Just typing these words, and the thought of you reading them, makes me feel shame. Shame that I haven't coped better, shame at the burden it has placed on others, and shame that I'm feeling this way, when, considering the pain and trauma others are facing, I am lucky. That feeling of shame always creates in me an impulse to write. When I first started this series, mere weeks after giving birth, a female journalist I have known for years suggested that I was too vulnerable to be doing so. Yet if we never create work from a place of vulnerability, I am not sure what writing is for.Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnistDo 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...

Moderate Democrat Brandon Presley is taking on a Republican incumbent with a racist past and links to a $77m scandalOn a hot Saturday in late September, a couple hundred Mississippians drove to a clearing off Martin Luther King Jr Road. They stayed in their cars, enjoying a few moments of cool air-conditioning before filing towards the field's few shaded areas.Chrystal O'Neal, of nearby Fayette, grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, while volunteers filled tables with chips and beverages. What distinguished the gathering as a campaign event were the copious signs, all reminding those assembled that they were there to hear from Brandon Presley, the Democratic candidate in Mississippi's upcoming gubernatorial election. Continue reading...

US response to mass shootings is extremely frustrating', but David Hogg and Trevon Bosley call on youth voices to effect changeFollowing 2023's deadliest mass shooting in the US that occurred in Lewiston, Maine, earlier this week, young gun control activists are once again speaking up against the failures of lawmakers amid an all too familiar tragedy.On Wednesday night, a gunman opened fire at a bowling alley and a restaurant in Maine's second most populous city, killing 18 people including a 14-year-old boy. Continue reading...

As California prosecutes a prison guard on 96 charges, survivors behind bars say officer abuse is so widespread it feels inescapable: All I know is how to survive'Latasha Brown sat at a picnic table in the visiting area of the California Institution for Women, just out of earshot of a guard standing watch. It was a hot morning in July and the 42-year-old spoke softly.There's liberty in deciding not to live in fear any more," she said. Continue reading...

Now and Then may be the band's final song, but the appetite for books, exhibitions, films and TV series about the Fab Four seems never to wanePerhaps the real surprise behind this week's release of the final" Beatles song, Now and Then, is not that Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr wanted to resurrect the band one last time - uniting them with the crystal clear" voice of John Lennon from a 1970s home tape, a feat enabled by technology Peter Jackson developed for his 2021 Get Back documentary - but that there remains a seemingly insatiable thirst for all things Fab Four.It is now 60 years since Beatlemania engulfed first Britain and then, via America, the world. No one then imagined that in 2023 we would still be entranced by the group. The shelf life of pop acts was measured in months, or at best years - the Beatles themselves didn't make it past their 1970 break-up. Yet this month sees a fresh surge of interest. Accompanying Now and Then are expanded versions of the Red and Blue compilations first issued in 1973, Philip Norman's biography of George Harrison (to go alongside his tomes on Lennon and McCartney), and an Apple TV series, Murder Without A Trial, examining the 1980 killing of Lennon outside his New York home. Continue reading...

Half of young Americans are skeptical of US support for Israel, and campus protesters demand a ceasefire in GazaUneasy lies the head that wears a crown.On Wednesday night, Joe Biden basked in the pageantry of a state dinner - white-jacketed violinists, golden chandeliers dotted with pink roses, a vivid wall display of 3D paper flowers. But soon after toasting the Australian prime minister in a pavilion on the White House south lawn, the US president had to step away to be briefed on a deadly mass shooting in Maine. Continue reading...

Sex-averse puriteens' are more interested in nomance than happy ever after. Perhaps it's a form of teenage rebellionA new US study from the University of California surveying 1,000 young people aged from 10 to 24, says that the majority of those aged between 13 and 24 want to see less sex on screen. Gen Z has become weary of shows such as Euphoria and The Idol. They're bored with oversexualised storylines.According to the study, gen Z is also tired of romance. Relentless love narratives. Friends getting together. The One". Love triangles. Meet-cutes. The endless cheerleading for coupledom as the zenith of on-screen human achievement. Continue reading...

Agreeing to Donald Trump's claims about the rigged' 2020 election ensures your fealty by making you complicitWhy do seemingly serious people repeat crazy political lies? This was the question the American anthropologist and political scientist Lisa Wedeen explored when she studied the Syrian dictatorship in the 1990s.She was struck by how people who were usually rational in private would repeat the utterly absurd slogans of the regime, such as claiming that the dictator Hafez al-Assad was the greatest chemist in the world. Continue reading...

Safeguards are vital even if artificial technology helps unlock the answers to our biggest questionsWill it destroy us, or will it save us? An age-old debate between tech optimists and tech pessimists that has played out over centuries as the steady march of human progress delivers new technologies, from the wheel to the printing press to the smartphone. Today it is a conversation being conducted with increasing urgency about artificial intelligence.The optimists point out that history has proved the doomsayers wrong countless times. Take the printing press: the 15th-century Catholic church worried that the spread of information would undermine authority and stability across Europe; some intellectuals worried that information would be dangerous in the hands of the plebs; craft guilds opposed the democratisation of their skills via manuals. In the end the printing press did enable harms - the publication of a witch-hunting manual in 1486 paved the way for centuries of persecution of women suspected to be witches - but they were utterly dwarfed by its enlightenment benefits. Modern-day luddite is not a particularly attractive mantle, and at the first global AI safety summit, being hosted in the UK this week, there will be a lot of industry pressure on the politicians attending to drop the doomerism and join the cool gang. Continue reading...

For more than 150 years hatemongers have felt powerful by making the public feel vulnerable and afraidFor more than 150 years, we have been living with terrorism. Like an inherited illness, it is passed from generation to generation. Waves of violence succeed one another. Early anarchists, fascists, 1960s revolutionaries, hijackers of the 1970s, militant nationalists in the 1980s, Islamist extremist or extreme rightwing hatemongers, all are variations on a dismal theme.Decades of security strategies and debates over definitions have come to no conclusion about the elusive root causes" of terrorism. Since the 9/11 attacks of 2001 we have seen the most sustained research effort ever made. This has led to much deeper knowledge and innumerable thwarted plots, but not a foolproof answer as to how we can prevent a relatively small number of individuals causing massive disruption, loss of life and instability on a planetary scale with a single act. Continue reading...

Once a concept is established it becomes harder for opponents to mansplain it awayDid you know that grooming" only began to be used in courtrooms in the 1990s? Before then, the word was seduction". And did you know that the term revenge porn" was only coined in 2007? Over a decade too late," writes Sarah Ditum in her new book Toxic, to be of any use in explaining the injury done to [Pamela] Anderson."Reading about the ills of 90s pop culture this week - Britney Spears also has a new memoir out - I was struck by a recurring theme. Of the many forces that helped push us out of that particularly misogynistic decade, a non-trivial element, I think, was the invention of new phrases to describe what was happening to women. Slut-shaming", body-shaming" and, of course, revenge porn" - these synthetic words had yet to take off when Lindsay Lohan and Amy Winehouse were being bullied by the media on a daily basis. And this, I think, mattered. Continue reading...