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If extradited, a US conviction could mean life in prison for the Wikileaks founder. Plus, the groundbreaking stories of Black astronauts

From Pedro Neto's star turn to a bizarre appointment, we hand out honors (and dishonors) from the Premier League weekendDarwin Nunez is a cackling delight. Every game is an adventure. Every finish, must-watch television. Continue reading...

When it arrives, the flood of money from new sources into basketball will not be a shock, but American business as usualBooming team valuations, feelgood social justice and anti-racism initiatives, and repudiation of anyone standing in the way of the league's expansion into markets across the globe: values, in both senses of the word, have been at the core of Adam Silver's 10-year tenure at the head of the NBA, and it's never been entirely clear whether those of the ethical variety matter more to the league's commissioner than numerical ones.On the one hand, Silver has won plaudits for setting up the NBA's social justice coalition, the group established in the wake of the George Floyd protests to advocate on behalf of the league for criminal justice reform and an end to racial inequality, and forging a path for professional basketball as a socially conscious sport amid the culture wars and toxicity of the Trump era. On the other, he's put distance between the NBA and franchise figures with outspoken views on foreign policy - none more so than Daryl Morey, the former general manager of the Houston Rockets who almost got the NBA kicked out of China after tweeting his support for Hong Kong's pro-democracy protesters in 2019 - and cultivated an institutional image of geopolitical neutrality to repair the league's post-Morey reputation in China. Liberal pieties and accommodations with illiberalism have mingled seamlessly in Silver's NBA. For every Donald Sterling, forced to sell the Los Angeles Clippers in 2014 after he was caught on tape being racist, there's an Enes Freedom, the former New York Knicks star who was pushed to the sport's fringes a few years ago for being a little too vocal in his support of China's Uyghur minority. Continue reading...

The new wave of Palestinian protesters are heirs to giants such as Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, CLR James and Rosa ParksHistory is often written by ordinary people dedicated to a cause in the pursuit of peace and justice. Israel's reign of terror over Palestine since the 7 October attack by Hamas has seen the rise to prominence of several such activists using social media to highlight the graphic truth of the horrific suffering there.Railing against the state propaganda machines, people such as Motaz Azaiza, Bisan Owda, Plestia Alaqad, Hind Khoudary and the veteran journalist Wael al-Dahdouh have brought shocking, heart-rending images straight to our phones. Pictures of weeping parents kneeling over the tiny, bloodied corpses of children have stirred up deep anger against Hamas, the Israeli government and its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and at the complicity of the US, UK and EU governments. Continue reading...

Colorado Springs officers say they arrested 25-year-old after shootings that killed a student and another personA suspect was arrested on Monday on murder charges over the shootings of two people who were found dead in a dorm room last week at a University of Colorado campus in Colorado Springs, police said.The Colorado Springs police department said they arrested Nicholas Jordan, 25, without incident on two counts of first-degree murder in a case involving people who knew each other. The victims were identified as Celie Rain Montgomery, 26, and Samuel Knopp, 24, a student at the university about 70 miles south of Denver. Continue reading...

Moses Robinette was convicted in a civil war-era brawl - but Biden's predecessor gave him a reprieveJoe Biden's great-great-grandfather was charged with attempted murder after a civil war-era brawl - but pardoned of any wrongdoing by Abraham Lincoln, a newspaper said on Monday, reviving on the US holiday of Presidents' Day the often contentious issue of presidential powers to grant pardons.Citing documents from the US national archives, the historian David J Gerleman wrote in the Washington Post that Biden's paternal forebear Moses J Robinette was pardoned by Lincoln after Robinette got into a fight with a fellow Union army civilian employee, John J Alexander, in Virginia. Robinette drew a knife and sliced Alexander. Continue reading...

The ex-president is scrambling to come up with $450m after the judgment in his fraud trial as the next case loomsDonald Trump was already reeling from multiple legal setbacks when a New York judge last week handed the former president a staggering defeat in his civil fraud case, ordering him to pay roughly $450m to the state after finding him liable for conspiracy to manipulate his net worth.The decision by Justice Arthur Engoron capped a bad legal week for Trump, who had watched his lawyers attempt to get access to sealed filings in a classified documents case in Florida and then watched his lawyers lose their attempt to delay his first criminal trial in New York. Continue reading...

White House prepared to send weapons that could strike inside Crimea if Congress approves $60bn aid packageJoe Biden's White House is prepared to send long-range tactical missiles to Ukraine if Congress approves a new funding package, according to a US media report on Monday.Citing two unnamed officials, NBC News said that the administration was willing to send a variant of the missiles - known as Atacms (army tactical missile systems) - if a new $60bn aid package approved by the Senate, but held up for now by congressional Republicans, becomes law. Continue reading...

North sees strong winds while central coast at risk of significant flooding' as storm moves south toward Los AngelesThe latest in a series of wet winter storms gained strength in California early on Monday, with forecasters warning of possible flooding, hail, strong winds and even brief tornadoes as the system moves south over the next few days.Gusts topped 30mph (48kph) in Oakland and San Jose as a mild cold front late on Saturday gave way to a more powerful storm on Sunday, according to the meteorologist Brayden Murdock with the National Weather Service office in San Francisco. Continue reading...

Ex-president links Russian opposition leader's death to his own political grievances after criticism from HaleyDonald Trump has offered a belated acknowledgement of the purportedly sudden death of Alexei Navalny, three days after the Russian opposition leader collapsed in one of Russia's penal colonies. But Trump failed to join with - or acknowledge - international outrage at Navalny's political nemesis, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our country," Trump posted on his Truth Social network. The former US president and presumptive Republican White House nominee added: It is a slow, steady progression, with CROOKED, Radical Left Politicians, Prosecutors, and Judges leading us down a path to destruction." Continue reading...

His awkwardness is on another level, and the beauty and professionalism of the actors doesn't helpLove" would be a strong word, but I like the Baftas, hard. I don't care especially who wins, I could take or leave the acceptance speeches except where they're phenomenal (Samantha Morton), but the photos - all those magnificent faces that only actors know how to make: the I'm so surprised to have won on this completely unsurprising occasion" face; the of course I don't mind not winning, the winner who won is, by happy chance, much more important to me than myself" face; the knowing side-eye, the straight-down-the-lens candour, the beaming sincerity. These are faces only the pros can perfect. If the rest of us tried any of them, we'd look like we just got caught shoplifting.And into this Bafta array, as its president, steps Prince William. This job was not really optional for him. The only time in the organisation's history that it hasn't been led by a member of the royal family is when it was David Attenborough, who is like royal-plus. William, grinning at rising stars Phoebe Dynevor, Ayo Edebiri, Sophie Wilde and Mia McKenna-Bruce, hits the summit of his endearing awkwardness. In the great schism of the princes, in which all right-thinking Britons were supposed to pick a side, everyone who chose the elder and who was not motivated by fervour against the wokerati, misogynoir or keenly felt anti-Americanism was really responding to Prince William's self-consciousness.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. Continue reading...

The Russian president believes that now is the time to prepare for his ultimate goal: taking Ukraine. He cannot afford even limited oppositionIt is difficult not to equate the untimely death of Alexei Navalny with the death of Russian opposition. With just a few weeks before the sham election scripted to result in Vladimir Putin's appointment for a fifth term as Russia's president, Navalny's death foreshadows a grim post-election future for Russia, Ukraine and the world.Within Russia, Navalny will be irreplaceable in his ability to connect, to charm and to mobilise. With most of his allies now in exile, and the Kremlin's stranglehold on the digital public square tighter than ever, the very avenues Navalny navigated to reach the hearts and minds of young people are fast disappearing. It is hard to see where a successor would emerge from. And so the Russian opposition has no leader, no focal point to unite behind, no face to represent it, no voice to speak on its behalf.Olga Chyzh researches political violence and repressive regimes. She is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of TorontoDo 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...

Late-night host gives justice, under fire over undisclosed donations, 30 days to accept offer, which includes a tour busThe late-night talkshow host John Oliver has offered to pay Clarence Thomas $1m annually - as well as give him a $2m tour bus - if the Republican judge resigns from the US supreme court.Oliver made the proposal on Sunday's episode of his HBO show Last Week Tonight, saying the supreme court justice had 30 days to accept or it would expire. Continue reading...

Governor's signature marks end of long fight over legislative lines and greatly reduces the Republican bias baked into current mapsThe Wisconsin governor, Tony Evers, has signed into law a pair of new state legislative maps, undoing a Republican gerrymander that has shaped Wisconsin politics for more than a decade and giving Democrats a chance at winning control of the state in future elections.It's a new day for Wisconsin," said Evers at a press conference on Monday to cheers from a room of anti-gerrymandering activists. Continue reading...

With City third in the Premier League table and a tricky run of games ahead, Pep Guardiola must find solutions to a series of nagging questionsThe assumption had been that Manchester City would beat Chelsea on Saturday and follow that up with victory over Brentford on Tuesday to move top of the Premier League table. They had won 11 in a row and there seemed no reason to think that would not become 13 and more; that's just what City do at this time of year.The only hope for their challengers seemed a tough run of games in March, when City face Manchester United, Liverpool, Brighton, Arsenal and Aston Villa in successive league games; perhaps that run was a hurdle that could hinder City's charge for a fifth Premier League title in six years. The question was how far ahead they would be by then. Now, though, so long as Liverpool beat Luton at home next week, City will not start that vital run of games with a lead. Continue reading...

Survivors of a mass shooting have publicly shared video contradicting police claims that victims were armed and part of a confrontation'Two years after an attacker shot five volunteers before a Black Lives Matter march in Portland, Oregon, killing a 60-year-old woman and leaving one of her young friends paralyzed, a new visual investigation of the attack reveals that the assailant tried to provoke a stand-your-ground situation, daring three women to fight him, before suddenly opening fire when they refused.Research agency Forensic Architecture collaborated with survivors on a reconstruction of the attack, analyzing helmet-camera video recorded by one of the victims, police radio traffic obtained through public records requests, and the testimony of 11 witnesses - including the volunteer armed guard who stopped the rampage by shooting and disarming the gunman. Continue reading...

Five others also hurt after altercation between two groups but it is unclear of any victims fired shots, police sayAt least one person was killed and five others were wounded in a shooting at a Waffle House restaurant in Indianapolis early Monday morning, capping a weekend of US gun violence days after a deadly mass shooting at a celebration for the Kansas City Chiefs' win in Super Bowl LVIII.Indianapolis police said they went to the southside Waffle House about 12.30am after a total of six people were shot there. The violence began as an altercation between two groups, but it was not immediately clear if any victims fired shots, authorities said. Continue reading...

Our shared memories - the concerts, favourite songs, matching outfits - will last foreverIt is 10:51 am on Sunday morning and I have just a few minutes to try to secure Taylor Swift Eras tickets for her last show in Melbourne. I am watching the clock count down on the Ticketek Marketplace website, refreshing the browser every few seconds. Next to the last date for the Melbourne leg of the tour, two greyed-out words state none available".Ticketek allows 10 minutes before the website times out. I have discovered it is more like 15 minutes and, in that time, you are desperately hoping someone out there is selling tickets at the precise moment you want to buy them. It is a narrow window and, so far, I am out of luck. Continue reading...

Alexei Navalny's wife accuses Russian authorities of murdering him. Plus, Israeli minister gives Rafah attack timeline

Boxer tells the Guardian it's time for president to grant clemency to those in prison and end cannabis prohibition once and for all'The former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson has urged Joe Biden to follow through on his commitment to correct our country's failed approach to marijuana" and give clemency to the thousands of nonviolent cannabis offenders still languishing in federal lockups.President Biden has the power to effect real change - he can right these wrongs and grant clemency to those who are sitting in prison for cannabis offenses," Tyson told the Guardian. We know the failed war on drugs was wrong and no one should be sitting in jail for cannabis. It's time our country moves forward and end cannabis prohibition once and for all." Continue reading...

Rare letter valued at $45,000 that lay undiscovered in desk drawer for years bears 16th president's signature days before his deathOne of the last documents ever signed by Abraham Lincoln, which for years lay undiscovered in a desk drawer, is being offered for sale, valued at $45,000.The 16th president signed the document, a treasury appointment for Allen Gangewer, an anti-slavery campaigner in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Washington DC, on 11 April 1865 - the day he made what would turn out to be his final speech. Continue reading...

Lobbying firms work double-duty, representing political interests of victims and perpetrators of climate change in state capitalNew research reveals that dozens of New York universities, hospitals, museums and non-profits are employing lobbyists that also work for fossil fuel companies, which some say is blatantly aiding and abetting" climate crisis.New York's wealthiest lobbying firms work double-duty in the state capital, representing the political interests of both the victims and perpetrators of the climate crisis, according to a new report from F Minus, a database of state-level lobbying disclosures released last year, and LittleSis, a project created by the non-profit corporate and government accountability watchdog Public Accountability Initiative. Continue reading...

Reform advocates condemn raft of measures expected to pass under new far-right governorLouisiana's Republican-dominated state legislature is poised to enact a swathe of new criminal justice measures as a special legislative session convenes on Monday, leaving reform advocates concerned about soaring rates of incarceration that may follow.The session, called by the state's new far-right governor, Jeff Landry, will consider two dozen items including broad restrictions on parole eligibility, measures to resume executions, the lowering of the age limit for adult prosecutions, and changes to post-conviction procedures often used to remedy wrongful convictions or excessive sentences. Continue reading...

Caring Across Generations, run by key US labor activist, accused of poor management and of retaliation against union organizersFormer employees of Caring Across Generations, a high-profile caregivers association run by one of the US's leading labor activists, and backed by celebrities including Megan Thee Stallion and Bradley Cooper, have accused the non-profit of reducing staff to tears due to poor management, and of retaliation against union organizers.CAG, an offshoot of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, is focused on a national campaign to create better care systems for domestic caregivers and recipients, rallying around the tagline Care can't wait" - but some workers say that emphasis is not reflected internally at the organization. Continue reading...

NHS midwifery is in crisis and unmedicated birth in vogue, but doing it at home without medical support is simply dangerousCould you do a poo like this?" There's a sentence I will never forget. I was in my second trimester and doing a hypnobirthing course. The question is supposed to be a metaphor for childbirth: being surrounded by doctors with clipboards would apparently make you too tense to poo, or give birth. To which my rejoinder was, Well, surely it depends how much you need to go."Other than National Childbirth Trust (NCT) classes - in which the instructor told us that the ideal birth is at home, without pain relief (not their official line, they say) - this was my first glimpse of the anti-medical approach to childbirth. I thought about it again when I read about the concerning rise of freebirthing" - when a woman gives birth at home without assistance from a doctor or midwife - and the fact that the Royal College of Midwives has stated that midwives are understandably concerned about women giving birth at home without assistance, as it brings with it increased risks to both the mother and baby". Continue reading...

I was looking forward to a magnificently white winter, with school closures and an otherworldly hush. The weather had other ideasI was excited to experience a Boston winter - being in snow country was a genuine attraction of our trip here - and last week looked set to deliver. The headlines were threatening me with a good time (predicted to be heaviest snowfall in two years" and pre-emptive school closures ran in ticker tape across the TV screen). Cars started sporting snowplough attachments, and the yoga teacher ended class not with namaste but with an ominous: Good luck with the storm."My husband and I were giddy as toddlers. Would there be six inches of snow? Twelve? When I wake up at 4am," my husband said gleefully, studying his weather app, it should already be white." At the shop he asked, in all seriousness, if we should buy a sledge before they all sell out".Emma Beddington is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

He may have made a good president, but he miscalculated. The Russia in which that could ever have happened no longer existsThe candle that cast at least a little light in Vladimir Putin's darkness has been snuffed out. The official report claims Alexei Navalny died". Between he died" and he has been murdered", there is a difference the size of Russia. My country no longer exists.A Russia that so casually destroys its finest is not a country you can live in. In a land you can live in there is no space for this kind of criminal regime. The state that goes under the name of the Russian Federation, which visits death and malignancy on those who live in it and on the world at large, simply should not exist. Continue reading...

For so long the reef did not exist for professional female competitors but moving there has proved the tide is turningAcross the boundless world of surfing, there is no beach break as notorious as Banzai Pipeline on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, the ultimate proving ground for surfers. Among many of its seductions, Pipeline promotes the purest brand of surfing: the art of barrelling.The waves are so large that, as they begin to crash down on to the ocean, a tunnel often forms inside them. Surfers spend years trying to perfect the technique of barrelling; entering those tunnels, picking the correct line once inside and hurtling at breakneck speed to the exit before the wave crashes on them. Continue reading...

A suspect in the shooting also died, officials say, and another officer was injured responding to call for help in BurnsvilleA desperate call for help from a home in suburban Minneapolis early on Sunday turned deadly for two police officers and a firefighter who were fatally shot at the scene, according to officials.A suspect in the shooting also died, officials said. Continue reading...

Michigan representative tells state voters to pick uncommitted' option over White House support for Israel's strikes on GazaThe progressive US congresswoman Rashida Tlaib has called on her fellow Michigan Democrats to vote uncommitted" in the state's presidential primary election - at the expense of the party's incumbent, Joe Biden - in late February.Appearing in a video posted to X on Saturday by Listen to Michigan, a political campaign to encourage the state's voters to vote uncommitted" in the 27 February primary, Tlaib justified her stark display of displeasure with Biden by alluding to Israel's military strikes on Gaza, which local authorities say have killed nearly 29,000 Palestinians since last October. Continue reading...

He didn't understand lack of civility. He didn't understand attacking another person,' says Patti Davis of former US presidentThe daughter of former president Ronald Reagan has hit out at contemporary White House politics, saying she thinks her late father would be appalled" by the personal tenor of current political discourse.I think he'd be appalled ... it was just more civilized," Patti Davis told NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday. He didn't understand lack of civility. He didn't understand attacking another person. ... He didn't understand cruelty. And that's what we're dealing with now. Continue reading...

Pastor of St Patrick's Cathedral condemns service for Cecilia Gentili after she was celebrated as being mother of all whores'The Roman Catholic archdiocese of New York City has condemned a funeral service for the transgender activist Cecilia Gentili at Saint Patrick's Cathedral after congregants cheered her for being celebrated as the mother of all whores".The packed funeral - organisers reported 1,400 mourners - took place on Thursday, 10 days after the Argentinian-born Gentili, 52, died at her Brooklyn home. Continue reading...

Game's administrators said their website only showed John Cheeks's numbers as the winning combination by mistakeA man who thought he had won a $340m Powerball jackpot is suing the lottery after the game's administrators said their website only showed his numbers as the winning combination by mistake.Washington DC resident John Cheeks purchased a Powerball lottery ticket at the center of the dispute on 6 January 2023. Although Cheeks did not see the Powerball drawing the following day, he saw his numbers posted on the DC lottery's website two days later. Continue reading...

Kathy Hochul says law-abiding businesspeople have nothing to worry about' after question on state's commercial climateThe New York governor has told business owners in her state that there is nothing to worry about" after Donald Trump was fined $355m and temporarily banned from engaging in commerce in the state when he lost his civil fraud trial Friday.In an interview on the New York radio show the Cats Roundtable with the supermarket billionaire John Catsimatidis, Kathy Hochul sought to quell fears in some quarters that the penalties handed to Trump for engaging in fraudulent business practices could chill the state's commercial climate.This article was amended on 18 February 2024 to correct a misspelling. An earlier version referred to venal" rather than venial" sin. Continue reading...

Experts say new DoJ program intended to track backgrounds of federal police unlikely to solve problem of wandering officers'A new US justice department database intended to track the backgrounds of officers working for federal law enforcement agencies like the FBI and ATF is unlikely to solve the problem of police with checkered pasts moving between departments, defense attorneys and reform advocates warn.Announced in December, the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database (NLEAD) will compile reports of misconduct by federal law enforcement officers, after legislation to create a national catalog of complaints against police at all levels of government was blocked in Congress. Continue reading...

Republican candidate says Trump either sides with Putin ... or he just doesn't think it's that big of a deal'Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley on Sunday criticized her party's leading contender for the White House nomination, Donald Trump, for avoiding meaningful comment on the death of Alexei Navalny, the imprisoned political nemesis of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.Either he sides with Putin and thinks it's cool that Putin killed one of his political opponents - or he just doesn't think it's that big of a deal," Haley said Sunday on ABC News This Week. Either one of those is concerning. Either one of those is a problem." Continue reading...

Lawsuit alleges late-night host misrepresented himself to induce Santos to create videos ridiculing' his gregarious personality'Former congressman George Santos alleged in a lawsuit filed Saturday that late-night host Jimmy Kimmel deceived him into making videos on the Cameo app that were used to ridicule the disgraced New York Republican on the show.The lawsuit filed in US district court for the southern district of New York names Kimmel, ABC and Walt Disney Co as defendants. A Disney representative listed as a media contact for the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show didn't immediately respond to an email from the Associated Press seeking comment. Continue reading...

Giving yourself a circuit breaker will allow you to come back to the worries in your life with a creative, useful approachI don't know about you but I am worn out. Lately I have spent a lot of time worrying about friends and family and fretting about the world in general. At some point, however, I realised that all this angst had no good place to land. I was going around in circles, unable to act yet unable to disengage.I know I am not alone - many friends and co-workers are struggling to sleep and function amid what many consider extraordinary times. Continue reading...

Clint Hickman, who helped lead Arizona's largest county through the pandemic and 2020 election, has faced endless harassment for the last few yearsFor Clint Hickman, an official who helped lead Arizona's largest country through some of the most difficult moments of the pandemic and the 2020 election, the current moment in American life feels like the right one to quit.Amid yet more tumult and tense division in American public life, the Maricopa county supervisor announced this week that he's not running again, choosing instead to prioritize his family - and get rid of the endless harassment that's been a feature of his job the last few years and put him more than once in the national spotlight. Continue reading...

Focus on Biden's age, over-correcting Trump coverage and staff layoffs are few troubles ailing the media before 2024 electionsIt was the most watched US TV broadcast since the 1969 moon landing, an unrivaled platform for any politician - let alone one down in the polls and battling against an implacable foe like Donald Trump.Yet, last Sunday, Joe Biden turned down an interview ahead of American football's showpiece, the Super Bowl, missing out on an audience of 123.4 million people. Instead the 81-year-old president joined TikTok, the social media platform of choice for teenagers, and posted a lighthearted video that praised the mother of player Travis Kelce - boyfriend of singer Taylor Swift - for her great chocolate chip cookies". Continue reading...

Former president is enjoying some success in courting sceptical funders but some, such as Peter Thiel, have spurned his advancesDonald Trump's efforts to court and cajole rightwing billionaires into financing his presidential campaign are bearing fruit as even sceptical conservative mega-donors face up to the prospect he will again be the Republican candidate.Trump is winning back some donors who supported him four years ago but then gave their money to the former US president's primary rivals this year, fearing he will again lose to Joe Biden in November or the chaos that will ensue if he wins. But some other former ultra-wealthy supporters, including the tech billionaire Peter Thiel, have spurned Trump's advances. Continue reading...

New research reveals different political ads work in different times and different placesThere are so many elections this year but how to go about winning them? Labour has a sub-optimal, but impressively consistent strategy: waiting (usually a decade and a half in opposition).It's paying off again with huge swings to them in last week's two byelections. But this approach requires patience and most parties around the world are less keen on waiting that long. So they spend a lot of time and money trying to win, which means election adverts. In the US, TV ads are centre stage. In the UK, those are largely banned (even GB News is meant to be providing news when Tory MPs interview each other) but online ads are big business. Continue reading...

The Russian opposition leader's final message - to be scared of nothing' - should be heeded by the west following his deathIt will be days if not weeks and months before we know some version of the truth of what happened in a grim Siberian jail to Alexei Navalny, the greatest leader Russia never had.But, it's the timing that sent a chill down many people's spines. Because this wasn't any old Friday in February. It was the first day of the Munich Security Conference, a key global summit attended by world leaders and the Nato secretary general. And top of the agenda this year is the threat to Nato itself. Continue reading...

The viral success of John Galliano's merkin is a sign of progress - but let's not get too excitedI watched this video clip maybe 20 times, a closeup of a merkin being made, light brown human hair being threaded through silk tulle. This was behind the scenes at the Maison Margiela haute couture show, designed by John Galliano, in which corsetted models were made up to look like porcelain dolls and wore luxurious merkins under their sheer black skirts. Historically, I have lost large cuts of time to videos of ingrown hairs being extracted, enjoying something quite animal and orgasmic about the eventual release, and while this video had similarities, the aim was not, of course, hair removal, but instead hair introduction. A pubic wig was being created and in the meditative space between each threading, I thought about the state of body hair.An advertisement for an at-home hair-removal laser kit had just popped into my emails, one in a list of top Mother's Day presents", the suggestion being that I might this year thank my mum for giving birth to and raising me with the gift of a thousand small shocks to her armpit, thigh or vulva. This device sat comfortably among its fellow gift recommendations - a candle, a bottle of rose - a shrine to femininity, motherhood, or hairy alcoholics whose houses stink, whichever cost more. Continue reading...

Societies are robbed of subtlety and depth when racism is conflated with the borrowing of ideasThe future music of this country must be founded upon what are called negro melodies. This must be the real foundation of any serious and original school of composition to be developed in the United States." So wrote the Czech composer Antonin Dvoak, in an 1893 essay, a year after he had moved to America to teach at the newly created National Conservatory in New York.Almost half a century later, a precocious Harvard student by the name of Leonard Bernstein wrote his undergraduate thesis on The Absorption of Race Elements into American Music". Searching for a national" basis for American music, he found it in Negro music". If an American is a sensitive creator," Bernstein wrote, jazz will have become an integral part of his palette, whether or not he is awareof it." Continue reading...