Strike date at seven hospitals set for 9 January after 98.8% vote in favor, with wages, staff ratios and health insurance key issuesAt least 12,000 nurses at seven hospitals in New York City are threatening to strike after their union contract expired at the end of last year. A strike date is set for 9 January.The nurses are pushing for the hospitals to implement and enforce safe staffing ratios, improve wages in line with inflation, and maintain health insurance coverage as opposed to proposed cuts by the hospitals. Continue reading...
With China’s government underplaying its domestic outbreak, it’s vital that other countries remain alert to new variantsAfter almost three years of trying to wholly eliminate the virus that causes Covid-19 from within its borders, the Chinese government has abruptly changed course. Now, the country is attempting to “live with Covid-19”. Testing is no longer required, and numbers of officially reported Covid-19 cases are at odds with scientific estimates of the situation.While official estimates suggest there are 4,000 cases of Covid a day, scientists estimate the number is more like 1 million. Official death tolls are similarly unreliable. The lack of transparency from the Chinese government, and the lack of trust in what it’s saying about its domestic outbreak, has prompted concern across the world. Continue reading...
Some high-profile mega-donors have fled, small-dollar donor stream that fueled his past runs is drying up, and he is accused of violating ‘soft money’ lawsWith his 2024 presidential candidacy officially kicked into gear, Donald Trump would seem poised to enter the Republican nomination race a step ahead: his Pacs and committees boast a war chest of about $95m, enough to give pause to the Republican candidates jockeying against him.But a scratch beneath the surface reveals a different reality. About $78m of the $95m cannot be directly used for Trump’s campaign, according to a Guardian analysis of the Trump fundraising web. Continue reading...
Cardinals are already thinking about a successor to Pope Francis - and the conservative faction may aspire to someone more traditionalAirlines usually upgrade cardinals to first class and offer them champagne. But when the leaders of the Roman Catholic church fly into Rome’s Fiumicino airport this week for the funeral of the former pope Benedict XVI, they may well forgo the fizz as a sign of their mourning. It’s hard to imagine, though, that they will refrain from engaging in the whispers and the politicking that is so typical of a gathering of top Catholic prelates. The funeral will be a time to remember and mourn Benedict XVI – but the plotting that will take place may resemble an episode of Succession.Benedict XVI was a renowned theologian and an enforcer of Catholic doctrine who earned the nickname “God’s rottweiler” for his pursuit of those he thought errant. He was a hero to conservative Catholics, but he will be most remembered for his dramatic resignation in 2013 – the first pope in 600 years to quit rather than die in office. He pleaded physical frailty. “Having before God examined my conscience over and over, I have come to the certain knowledge that my strength, due to the burdens of age, is no longer suitable for properly administering the Petrine office,” he wrote, but he lasted almost another 10 years before dying at the age of 95 on New Year’s Eve.Catherine Pepinster is a former editor of the Tablet and the author of The Keys and the Kingdom: The British and the Papacy Continue reading...
Ticketing debacles involving Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny have led to calls for parent company Live Nation’s stranglehold on live entertainment to be brokenTicketmaster and its parent company Live Nation had a calamitous 2022 – managing to anger everyone from Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny to Joe Biden and Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador. As calls grow for action to rein in the concert monopoly in the US and abroad, the company seems to have hit on a new strategy: spending big in Washington.Live Nation’s spending on lobbying jumped from about $250,000 in 2018 to nearly $1.3m in 2021, federal records show, and it may top that peak in 2022 and beyond. It has focused its lobbying campaign on the department of justice, as well as legislation aimed at greater transparency around ticket sales. Continue reading...
It remains to be seen if Republican Kevin McCarthy can win the speakership while Democrats’ leaders include no white menThe balance of power in Washington will shift when Republicans officially take control of the House on 3 January.Yet House Republicans begin the 118th Congress in a precarious position: their grip on power is fragile and their conference fractured. Continue reading...
There seems to be little accord about what saving the reef means and how that is to be achievedAs part of the coverage of Labor’s first budget, the ABC provided analysis of the nation’s winners and losers. In it, the Great Barrier Reef was listed as “neutral”. The reef received no additional funding beyond the commitments Labor had made during the election campaign.It is striking that an ecosystem – a more-than-human place – could be listed alongside major economic and social concerns such as families, the Pacific, NBN and the ABC itself. It is a testament to the importance of the reef to our national identity, but also how dire things have become for that environment in the last four decades. Continue reading...
Text exchange between then communications chief and fellow White House aide reportedly reveals exasperation at Capitol riotHope Hicks, a former key ally of Donald Trump, texted another White House aide “we all look like domestic terrorists now” as the then president’s supporters overran the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.The fear was expressed in a message sent by Trump’s former communications director to Julie Radford, chief of staff to his daughter and senior adviser, Ivanka Trump, on the afternoon of the deadly Capitol riot. Continue reading...
Rebel tour has lost momentum heading into 2023 leaving those tempted by the riches promised facing an uncertain futureIt is telling that discussion around Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to the Saudi Arabian league focuses on the player’s inexorable slide towards footballing oblivion. Ronaldo was unveiled at the end of a year in which at least 147 people had been executed in Saudi Arabia, according to the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights. Ronaldo’s 526 million Instagram and 106 million Twitter followers will now be afforded updates from Al Nassr as football obsessives debate his on-field decline. The Saudis have bought one of the game’s iconic figures, meaning goals and assists barely matter. Neither does the source of Ronaldo’s weekly wage. Sportswashing works.Newcastle United’s charge into the upper echelons of the Premier League and the hero worship afforded to Eddie Howe as a direct consequence will be regarded in the Kingdom as another success story. The Saudi Arabian grand prix is normalised. If Tyson Fury fights Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia in March, a boxing world will shrug its shoulders. Continue reading...
Families are in desperate straits, the security situation is worsening – but the Taliban’s priority is punishing half the populationThe Taliban’s relentless campaign against women is not only a matter of rights, but of survival. It is not only cruel and oppressive, but deadly. In a country already on its knees, where 97% of the population live in poverty, two-thirds need humanitarian assistance, 20 million face acute hunger and parents sell kidneys to feed their families, it has made life still more desperate. By banning women from working for NGOs, they are denying essential, life-saving services to women and children. Almost all the large aid agencies have suspended operations and the United Nations has paused some “time-critical” programmes. Major world powers have urged the Taliban to immediately reverse their “reckless and dangerous” decision, while UN agency chiefs described female staff as key to every aspect of the humanitarian response.In many cases, these staff – who number in the tens of thousands – are also the only breadwinners in their households. Denying them their salaries ensures that women, children (and, incidentally, men too) will starve. The Taliban’s earlier decision to bar women from universities – and reportedly even primary education – means that no more female doctors or teachers will be trained. Teenage girls have already been kept out of school for almost a year and a half. Continue reading...
New York politician who admitted making up much of his life story is facing calls for him to quit, even from within his own partyA crescendo of bipartisan outrage will accompany the swearing in on Tuesday of George Santos, one of the Republican party’s most controversial new Congress members who has admitted large parts of his biography are a fantasy.The New York politician, caught in lies over his family background, education and work history, is facing calls to step down from several senior figures within his own party before he even sets foot on the floor of the chamber. Continue reading...
Bryan Kohberger is not expected to resist extradition to Idaho to face murder charges over stabbings of four studentsBryan Kohberger, the criminal psychology graduate accused of murder over the deaths of four University of Idaho students, will appear in a Pennsylvania court on Tuesday ahead of his extradition to Idaho.Kohberger’s public defender, Jason LaBar, has said his client will not contest his extradition because he is “eager to be exonerated”. Labar has also said that his client “should be presumed innocent until proven otherwise – not tried in the court of public opinion”. Continue reading...
San Francisco experiences second wettest day on record as one person found dead in submerged vehicle near Highway 99Flood warnings and watches were in effect on Monday in parts of northern California in the aftermath of a powerful “atmospheric river” storm that drenched the state over New Year’s weekend.A new weather system was predicted by afternoon or evening, but the National Weather Service said the rain would be modest until the arrival late on Tuesday of another strong atmospheric river, a long plume of Pacific Ocean moisture. Continue reading...
Republican ‘Never Kevins’ say series of concessions to rightwingers are ‘insufficient’ to secure supportThe final hurdle to Republican Kevin McCarthy’s years-long quest to secure the speaker’s gavel grew even more formidable on Monday as a sizable group of House colleagues from his own party said they were not yet ready to support him.The nine Republican rebels made the announcement after the California congressman made a series of concessions on Sunday to try to shore up the support of conservative hardliners ahead of Republicans assuming control of the US lower chamber on Tuesday. Continue reading...
Ground crew worker employed by American Airlines subsidiary involved in accident while aircraft parked at gate in MontgomeryA US ground crew worker has died after being “ingested into the engine” of an aircraft while they worked a shift at an airport in Montgomery, Alabama.The National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement to Insider that the tragic accident happened while an American Airlines Embraer 170 was parked at the gate with at least one engine on. Continue reading...
The one positive to come out of Philadelphia’s second consecutive loss is that Hurts’s stock is now higher than everThe phrase “Jalen Hurts is the MVP” began trending on Twitter on Sunday. You would think that would be good news for the Philadelphia Eagles, but it was Gardner Minshew who happened to be starting that afternoon. Instead of clinching the top overall seed with a win, the Eagles lost to the New Orleans Saints 20-10, thanks in no small part to uneven quarterback play.The one positive to come out of the loss for Philadelphia is that Hurts’s stock is now higher than ever. It’s not that it was necessarily undervalued before, of course. Throughout this season, Hurts has officially made the leap to one of the game’s elites. He has passed for 22 touchdowns – and 3,472 yards – while rushing for 13, and that’s while missing two games. Continue reading...
The arguments against imprisoning children are well established, yet still we lock up those who have been failedOne morning when I was 14, I met my older brother as he came out of prison. His frame was more filled-out than normal, after a few months of regular meals. We walked into town and he told me he was serious about not going back inside this time. An hour later, on the high street, the police stopped us and searched him. I knew my brother didn’t want me to protest to the officers. If I did, the police might target me too. Even if they didn’t, I would just be left scolded by my own futile indignation. I let my anger sink and waited for it to be over.For the past six years I’ve taught philosophy in prison. My presence there also sometimes requires tact with officers. I recently had to smooth things over with a guard because some of my students had laughed at him for not being able to pronounce “philosophy”. I wanted to make sure he would still unlock the men in time for the start of my class the next week.Andy West is the author of The Life Inside: A Memoir of Prison, Family and PhilosophyDo 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...
Americans report having less sex, fewer friends and a loss of trust in each other and society. What’s going on?Ever since a notorious chart showing that fewer people are having sex than ever before first made the rounds, there’s been increased interest in the state of America’s social health. Polling has demonstrated a marked decline in all spheres of social life, including close friendships, intimate relationships, trust, labor participation and community involvement. The continuing shift has been called the “friendship recession” or the “social recession” – and, although it will take years before this is clearly established, it was almost certainly worsened by the pandemic.The decline comes alongside a documented rise in mental illness, diseases of despair and poor health more generally. In August 2022, the CDC announced that US life expectancy had fallen to where it was in 1996. Contrast this to western Europe, where life expectancy has largely rebounded to pre-pandemic numbers. Even before the pandemic, the years 2015-2017 saw the longest sustained decline in US life expectancy since 1915-18, when the US was grappling with the 1918 flu and the first world war. Continue reading...
Speaking the language has become a global symbol of solidarity with the victims of Vladimir Putin’s aggressionLast autumn, I started to learn Ukrainian. After a reporting trip to the country, I felt that on my return, I really should try to be less than totally linguistically helpless. The Ukrainian Institute in London offers group and individual lessons remotely with highly qualified teachers but, perversely perhaps, I decide I would like to learn from an instructor based in the country itself. I am recommended a friend of a friend, an internal refugee from the capital now living in Ivano-Frankivsk, western Ukraine.Olya Makar, who manages to make her Zoom lessons fun and exacting, is carrying on her work despite many setbacks. Owing to Russian missile strikes on the country’s energy infrastructure, she has electricity only for three two-hour blocks a day – supposedly according to a schedule, but one that can shift unexpectedly – and a patchy internet connection. We reluctantly have to cancel a couple of sessions. Continue reading...
The Democrat who defeated a hard-right extremist in the midterms to be the next secretary of state doesn’t mince wordsOn 5 January, when Adrian Fontes will be inaugurated as the secretary of state of Arizona, there will be no luxuriating over his appointment, no glitzy made-for-media plans for the first 100 days.“I don’t have time for those kinds of things, I’ve just got to get to work,” he said. Continue reading...
From familiar faces to breakout Republican stars, 10 contenders for Trump’s vice-presidential pick for his third White House runDonald Trump, the former US president, is making a third consecutive run for the White House. But there is a job vacancy this time: his running mate. No one thinks it will be former vice-president Mike Pence after the pair fell out over the 2020 election and January 6 insurrection. Trump, a 76-year-old straight, white man who needs to broaden his appeal, might look to a person of colour, a woman or a young person for 2024 (or all of the above) – or he might not. Here are 10 potential contenders:Tucker Carlson Continue reading...
While it’s easy to mock these young men, we need everyone on board if we are to fix inequalityAs far as viral TikTok content goes, Flynn Martin’s controversial rant started out unassumingly: a young white guy sitting in his car, baseball cap and grey T-shirt, speaking conversationally. He meanders for the first few seconds with caveats and prevarications, but his next sentence sets the app aflame. “Is it actually OK,” he drawls “to be a white straight male? Because I was born this way.” Cue thousands of stitches and duets ripping Martin to pieces.I watched the original TikTok video – which has since been deleted, along with his original Phlinmartin account – with a sort of sick fascination. As he ranted about emasculated feminist men, who he characterised as being fat and unfit, I wondered what had caused Martin to snap and spew this nonsense out on the internet. Continue reading...
Authorities are investigating whether the 19-year-old suspect was inspired by radical Islamist extremism, an official saidA man wielding a machete attacked three police officers at the New Year’s Eve celebration in New York City, authorities said, striking two of them in the head before an officer shot the man in the shoulder.Authorities were investigating whether the man was inspired by radical Islamist extremism, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the matter. Continue reading...
Adam Kinzinger said in an interview the former president should be charged with conspiracy over the insurrectionRepublican congressman Adam Kinzinger said in an interview on Sunday that he believes the Department of Justice “will do the right thing” and bring criminal charges against Donald Trump for his role in the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.“I think he will be charged, and I frankly think he should be,” Kinzinger told CNN’s State of Union political talk show on Sunday morning. Continue reading...
From same-sex marriage protections to veterans’ aid, Joe Biden’s party used its thin majority to deliver many campaign promisesIn January, Democrats will lose their unified control of Capitol Hill, ending a remarkable legislative streak that saw the party deliver on many of their campaign promises.While Joe Biden and his party did not accomplish everything they set out to do, Democrats in Congress spent the last two years marshalling their thin majorities to pass consequential legislation that touches nearly every aspect of American life from water quality to marriage equality. Some of the most notable measures even earned Republican support. Continue reading...
Nine people were injured while gathering for the Moon Pie Over Mobile event in downtown, police saidOne person was killed and nine hurt in a shooting a few blocks away from where thousands were in the streets for a New Year’s Eve celebration in downtown Mobile, Alabama, police said.TV news footage showed police officers running and on horseback rushing to the area where the shooting took place about 45 minutes before midnight Saturday. Continue reading...
If both parties ignore the uncomfortable facts, politics will be flooded with dangerous conspiracies and betrayal mythsThis year will mark the 50th anniversary of a musical masterpiece that continues to speak illuminating truths about the impossibility of the human condition, and how people from these islands tend to cope with it. Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon was released in March 1973, as the last traces of postwar optimism gave way to mounting economic strife and international tension. The response it offered was twofold: a call to empathy and mutual understanding, and the pointing-out of a national trait that this writer – among many others – has probably quoted far too much. It comes nearly six minutes into a song simply called Time: “Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way.”As a new political year begins, those nine words seem more apposite than ever, and they snugly fit one defining fact of our national predicament: that the wreckage of Brexit is all around us but our politicians will still not acknowledge it. The evidence now encompasses reduced trade, diminished investment and the fact that the UK has been the only major economy not to have returned to its pre-pandemic size. Brexit has resulted in a hit to tax revenues estimated at an annual £40bn – enough to have prevented 75% of the spending cuts and tax rises that were announced in November. Continue reading...
Setbacks notwithstanding, we are better today than we were 50 years ago, 20 years ago, even a year agoIt was quite a year. Some of the regressive forces undermining our democracy, polluting our planet, widening inequality and stoking hatred have been pushed back.This is a worthy accomplishment and cause for celebration. It offers hope that the Trump years are behind us and the hard work of building a decent society can resume. Continue reading...
by Edward Helmore in New York and agencies on (#67CA4)
State becomes sixth to pass legislation since 2019 and gives New Yorkers access to an alternative, green method of burialNew York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, on Saturday legalized natural organic reduction, popularly known as human composting or terramation, after death.The legislative move makes the state the sixth to do so since 2019 and gives New Yorkers access to an alternative, green method of burial deemed environmentally friendly. Continue reading...
Glen Matlock went into the late fashion designer’s store looking for a pair of shoes and found a career in music and rebellionI walked into Let It Rock, looking for a pair of brothel creepers. I’d been in there a bit too long and some guy says: “Can I help you?” I said I was looking for work. I’d been fired from my part-time job in the trouser department at Whiteley’s. He told me to call Malcolm and Vivienne. That’s how I started out in the shop. They probably thought I was just some straight kid, which I was.A month or two later, I asked Vivienne to ask Malcolm if he’d give me a reference for art college. She said: “Really? I don’t think you’d want to ask Malcolm because he’s been thrown out of every college in London.” Straightaway I was more interested in them and they were more interested in me. Continue reading...
Cadillac Frank and his cronies knew a thing or two about apt monikersI like nothing better than a good obituary and last week the Times carried an absolute belter devoted to Francis Salemme, a mafioso boss, who had the wonderful nickname “Cadillac Frank”. Among his associates and family were Stephen “the Rifleman” Flemmi, Frank “Frankie Boy” Salemme and Robert “the Cigar” DeLuca.It reminded me of one of the best lines ever written. It was in a biography of Al Capone and the time he was banged up. The governor, clearly a tolerant type, allowed Capone to form a band. And the line? “Sitting in on drums was Machine Gun Kelly.” Perfect. The mob does have the best nicknames.Jonathan Bouquet is an Observer columnist Continue reading...
Having forced draconian lockdowns on his people, China’s supreme leader is now expecting them to believe that the virus is no worse than a coldIn the chaos of China’s Covid exit wave, China’s supreme leader, Xi Jinping, has been curiously absent. His last public pronouncement on China’s “dynamic zero”-Covid policy was in his speech to the 20th party congress in October: “We have adhered to the supremacy of the people and the supremacy of life, adhered to dynamic zero-Covid,” he told delegates, “... and achieved major positive results in the overall prevention and control of the epidemic and economic and social development.” It was, he insisted, overwhelming evidence that the policy was correct and that the party cared deeply for the people.Xi used his New Year Address yesterday to urge more effort and unity as the country enters a “new phase” in its approach to the pandemic. Until his remarks, the defence of his policy U-turn had been left to others. As distressing images of body bags stacked in hospital corridors, patients on intravenous drips by the roadside and hearses queueing outside crematoriums circulated on social media, hapless officials indignantly denied “rumours” of pandemic deaths, repeating claims that China managed the virus better than other countries, demonstrating the superiority of China’s political system, and insisting anyone who says otherwise is either an ill-intentioned foreigner, a traitor to the people or a paid provocateur. They insisted that the reversal was a rational, science-based and well-prepared decision or, as the nationalist mouthpiece Global Times put it last week: “The changing virus variant, accelerated mass vaccination and enhanced medical resources all laid out the foundation for a long planned and orderly Covid response adjustment.” Continue reading...
Fresh evidence shows how the lives of terminally ill people can be wrongfully cut shortWe inhabit a world in which the answers to thorny moral questions are too often cast in black and white. Nuance is for losers: stray too far from your tribe and you’re accused of aligning yourself with rightwing religious fundamentalists or lefty woke warriors.Very little truly fits these social media-driven straitjackets. So it is in the case of assisted dying.Sonia Sodha is an Observer columnist Continue reading...
Taiwan, North Korea, Iran and Palestine are all potential flashpoints that could distract western attention from the invasion in 2023It was a good year to bury bad news – and bad deeds – as a clutch of dictators, assorted killers and repressive or anti-democratic regimes can testify. In Myanmar, Yemen, Mali, Nicaragua, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia and Afghanistan, to name a few crisis zones, egregious abuses and unrelieved misery attracted relatively scant, perfunctory international scrutiny.The main reason for 2022’s blinkered perspectives is, of course, Ukraine, Europe’s biggest conflict since 1945. This is not to say war-torn Tigray or Guatemala, strangled slowly by corruption, would otherwise have made global headline news. Hard truth: western interest in developing-world conflicts is generally limited.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...
Leaked messages show an unhealthy link between social media and state securityHalf the room is jumping up and down, screaming “Gotcha!”. The other half shrugs its shoulders, muttering “So what’s new?”. Welcome to the war over the so-called Twitter Files.Over the past month, Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, has made available to a handpicked group of journalists internal documents and conversations that took place before his takeover. They are mainly discussions about who and what should be moderated or banned, ranging from the Hunter Biden laptop story to the question of whether to remove Donald Trump from the platform. The journalists have made public selected slices of the data through a drip feed of Twitter threads.Kenan Malik is an Observer columnistDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...
Suspect, 28, accused of killing four students will waive his extradition hearing and will be brought to Idaho to face chargesBryan Kohberger, the 28-year-old criminology graduate student charged first-degree murder in the macabre killings of four University of Idaho students, plans to waive an appearance in court in Pennsylvania on Tuesday where Idaho prosecutors will request his extradition, his lawyer indicated on Saturday.Pennsylvania’s Monroe county chief public defender, Jason LaBar, said on Saturday that he plans to tell a judge there on Tuesday that Kohberger will waive his extradition hearing there so that he can be quickly brought to Idaho to face the charges and is eager to be exonerated. Continue reading...
Can the US revitalise its infrastructure? Is the US ready for a gay president? And does Buttigieg still plan to run one day?From Pete Buttigieg’s old office in South Bend, Indiana, you could see the hospital where he was born, churches built for Irish and Polish immigrants and a factory that made cabinets for Singer sewing machines. “This was the Silicon Valley of its day,” the then mayor told the Guardian in February 2019.Nearly four years later, Buttigieg is occupying a loftier perch. As America’s transportation secretary, his framed photograph sits alongside those of Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris in the lobby of the Department of Transportation. Continue reading...
The former Brazil international came to know Pelé the man, his patience and humility: ‘He was warm, close’Pelé called me his idol once. That was the day I played with him, the only time I did, and it was my most emotional moment with him. It was a benefit match at the Maracanã in April 1979, with 140,000 people there after flooding in Minas Gerais. Flamengo against Atlético Mineiro. “My idol!” he called me; that was him, that was his humour, his character, always embracing you. He played with us – Zico and I were in the Flamengo team – and playing with him was like a dream, especially when I played him a pass. I mean, caramba, I gave the ball to Pelé!Pelé was the greatest for everyone from our generation. It’s hard to express what he meant to us. He had been the best for me from an early age, and thinking of him always brings to mind my grandmother. Santos used to play their big games at the Maracanã rather than in São Paulo: games against teams such as Garrincha’s Botafogo, or Milan. Continue reading...
Women say banks enabled and ignored red flags about the financier’s sex traffickingJPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank have asked a US judge to dismiss lawsuits by women who accused Jeffrey Epstein of sexual abuse and said the banks enabled and ignored red flags about the late financier’s sex trafficking.The banks, in papers filed on Friday night in Manhattan federal court in New York, said they did not participate in or benefit from sex trafficking by their former client, and that the unnamed women failed to allege violations of a federal anti-trafficking law. Continue reading...
2022 saw a stunning reverse on reproductive rights in the US but there were also victories for women – and the plain bizarreLet’s start on a positive note, eh? Because there were a few victories. 2022 was a crummy year in many respects for women but it wasn’t all bad. In terms of reproductive rights, for example, Colombia decriminalized abortion and India’s supreme court extended access to abortion to unmarried women.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...
Thunberg’s funny exchange is a reminder of the connection between machismo, misogyny and hostility to climate actionOn 27 December, former kickboxer, professional misogynist and online entrepreneur Andrew Tate, 36, sent a boastfully hostile tweet to climate activist Greta Thunberg, 19, about his sports car collection. “Please provide your email address so I can send a complete list of my car collection and their respective enormous emissions,” he wrote. He was probably hoping to enhance his status by mocking her climate commitment. Instead, she burned the macho guy to a crisp in nine words.Cars are routinely tokens of virility and status for men, and the image accompanying his tweet of him pumping gas into one of his vehicles, coupled with his claims about their “enormous emissions”, had unsolicited dick pic energy. Thunberg seemed aware of that when she replied: “yes, please do enlighten me. email me at smalldickenergy@getalife.com.”Rebecca Solnit is a Guardian US columnist. Her most recent books are Recollections of My Nonexistence and Orwell’s Roses Continue reading...
A ‘cost of living crisis’ is a sign our society has gone fundamentally wrong. It’s time we stopped reducing people to calculations of costA few weeks ago, a friend reminded me of that old song, All My Trials: “If living were a thing that money could buy / The rich would live and the poor would die.” Which, of course, they do. Just how many unnecessary deaths will result from the lethal combination of extreme cold and soaring energy costs this winter remains to be seen, but no one needs an economics degree to work out that the figures will be weighted towards those who lack choices and resources.It is not just that insecurity literally threatens lives; it is also that all those things financial security makes possible – the freedom to celebrate, to plan for your children, to give gifts to people you love – become monstrously complicated. Living with any fullness or imagination recedes over the horizon when choices are all about survival. Who goes hungry – you, or your child? How many jobs can you take on to keep the family fed without wrecking your physical and mental health?Rowan Williams is a former archbishop of Canterbury Continue reading...
Clarence Thomas’s wife says couple did not discuss challenges to Biden’s election victory, in testimony released by January 6 panelThe conservative activist Ginni Thomas has “no memory” of what she discussed with her husband, the supreme court justice Clarence Thomas, during the heat of the battle to overturn the 2020 presidential election, according to congressional testimony released on Friday.Thomas, 65, recalled “an emotional time” in which her mood was lifted by her husband and Mark Meadows, then Donald Trump’s chief of staff, a transcript of her deposition with the congressional committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol showed. Continue reading...
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