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Machines have already taken over the drudge work. Now they’re coming for the fun stuff. This may focus mindsIf there’s one thing Hollywood screenwriters know how to deliver, it’s a snappy one-liner.“Pay your writers, or we’ll spoil Succession,” read one of the placards paraded outside movie studios in Los Angeles this week, as thousands of film and television writers went on strike. “Pencils down, middle fingers up,” said another. Closer to the bone, however, was a placard reading: “Wrote ChatGPT This.” For the plot twist is that this strike isn’t just over money. The Writers Guild of America also wants to establish some ground rules preventing studios from using artificial intelligence to generate scripts in ways that cut humans out of their own creative process.Gaby Hinsliff 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...

Medical examiner confirmed on Wednesday that 30-year-old Black man died from compression to the neckPressure was mounting on police, prosecutors and the New York mayor, Eric Adams, on Thursday as protesters, advocates and even Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized the lack of action over the death of Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old Black man and Michael Jackson impersonator who was placed in a chokehold by another subway rider.Adams has heightened police presence in subway stations in an attempt to curtail crime, while endorsing involuntarily hospitalizing people experiencing homelessness with mental illness and using police to remove people suffering from mental illness from subway stations. Continue reading...

Supreme court justice did not declare Republican Harlan Crow’s support for schooling of boy Thomas raised ‘as a son’The Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow paid for the great-nephew of Clarence Thomas, who the conservative supreme court justice raised “as a son”, to attend a private boarding school in Georgia.“Harlan picked up the tab,” a former school administrator said. Continue reading...

In the race to create the new Instagram, rivals morph into each other, losing what makes them special in the first placeTechnology writers are sadly (some gleefully) announcing the latest admission to the social media morgue: the formerly ascendant photo-sharing app BeReal.The app had been a huge success, jumping from 1m to 20m users in just seven months. Central to its success was its positioning as the anti-Instagram, a platform trading on authenticity that offered a glimpse of our friends’ “real” (read: mundane) lives. But its active daily users more than halved between October 2022 and March 2023, down from 20m to 6m. Its expected demise not only forces us to ask how “authentic” a photo-sharing app can ever be, but whether we actually want the authenticity it sells. Continue reading...

Crowds of people gathered in the Broadway-Lafayette subway station in New York on Wednesday to protest after the death of an unhoused Black man who was apparently having a mental health episode on a train. According to police officials, Jordan Neely had been harassing passengers on the subway and making threats when he was placed in a minutes-long headlock by a former US marine. By the time the train pulled into Broadway-Lafayette, Neely was no longer conscious. Footage shared on social media showed Neely on the ground with a man's arm around his neck. A second man held his arms and a third held down his shoulder. Neely's death has led to outrage over the treatment of homeless people and the mental health crisis in New York City. The man who placed him in the headlock was released without charge while a police investigation continues

The stadium that’s prompted the Athletics’ move to Las Vegas was just as outdated and unfashionable as advertised. Naturally, I loved itOakland-Alameda County Coliseum, the fifth-oldest stadium in Major League Baseball and the home of the A’s since 1968, has been called baseball’s last dive bar. A brutalist concrete doughnut short on grandeur and long on character, seated next to a Bart station at the center of an industrial waste land, no one could ever mistake it for the sport’s revered old cathedrals such as Boston’s Fenway Park, Chicago’s Wrigley Field or Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.When I paid the princely sum of $2 for a ticket to a recent Wednesday afternoon game against the Cubs, the stadium was just as cavernous, threadbare, outdated and unfashionable as advertised, managing to combine all the regrettable features of the dozen-plus cookie-cutter multipurpose stadiums that popped up throughout the US in the 1960s and 70s. Schoolkids in loosely assembled groups scampered excitedly through the aisles and about the large swathes of empty outfield seats. The trough-style urinals in the men’s rooms were leaky and rusted and the stained-concrete concourses stank of stale beer. All in all, the last place you’d take someone you were trying to impress. Naturally, I loved it. Continue reading...

Ukraine downs 18 drones, two of which are found to carry pro-Russian slogans, as Ukrainian residents prepare for curfew after night of heavy shelling. Plus, the dazzling, troubling history of California superbloom tourismGood morning.There’s been another night of substantial Russian missile attacks and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities, which has become something of a pattern in the last week or so after a period of relative calm. In the aftermath of Russia’s claims that Ukraine targeted the Kremlin with its own drones and tried to assassinate Vladimir Putin, Moscow launched a wave of kamikaze drones mainly targeting Kyiv and Odesa.What has Volodymyr Zelenskiy said about the Kremlin attack? He has denied Russian claims that Ukraine was involved in a drone attack on the Kremlin that Russia says was intended to kill Vladimir Putin. Zelenskiy said on Wednesday: “We don’t attack Putin or Moscow, we fight on our territory and defend our towns and cities. We leave it to the tribunal.”What else is happening? Zelenskiy will have a meeting at the international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague during a visit to the Netherlands today, the court has said, Reuters reports.What did Sandy Senn say? “We told them: ‘Don’t take us down this path again for the third time in six months – you will regret it.’ And so we made them regret it,” said the state senator of the male Republican senators continuously pushing abortion restrictions in her state – including in an earlier attempt this year to make abortion a crime punishable by the death penalty. Abortions remain legal until 22 weeks in the state, which has become a safe haven for abortion in a region with increasingly limited options. Continue reading...

American workers are more productive than ever, but aren’t feeling the benefit. Let’s learn from Europe and reduce our hoursIn 1938, as a result of a massive grassroots effort by the trade union movement, the Fair Labor Standards Act was enacted by Congress to reduce the work week to 40 hours. Back then, the American people were sick and tired of working 80, 90, 100 hours a week with very little time for rest, relaxation or quality time with their families. They demanded change and they won a huge victory. That’s the good news.The bad news is that despite an explosion in technology, major increases in worker productivity, and transformational changes in the workplace and American society, the Fair Labor Standards Act has not been reformed in 80 years. The result: millions of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages, with the average worker making nearly $50 a week less than he or she did 50 years ago, after adjusting for inflation. Further, family life is suffering, as parents don’t have adequate time for their kids, life expectancy for working people is in decline, and increased stress is a major factor in the mental health crisis we are now experiencing. Continue reading...

The US justice department has acted appallingly in the Assange case. If he can be prosecuted, so can journalists everywhereLet’s help the Biden administration celebrate this week’s World Press Freedom Day by asking it about the one case officials don’t want to talk about: the US justice department’s dangerous prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.Now, I know Assange is a polarizing individual who millions of Americans, especially liberals, have incredibly strong and negative feelings about. I’m not here to change your mind about Assange the person, but if you care about press freedom, it’s important you change your mind about Assange the legal case. Continue reading...

Human Rights Watch follows lead of Pentagon, FBI and CIA to insert its messages into popular film and TV cultureHuman Rights Watch (HRW) has decided to take on Hollywood to improve the visibility and awareness of humanitarian issues in popular culture.As part of the move, the advocacy group has signed up with a talent agent firm, Activist Artists Management (AAM), to provide “scripted and unscripted content in film and television”, an HRW statement said. Continue reading...

What we long suspected is now scientific fact: there’s a magic chemical connection between mood, strength and longevityExercise, in whatever form, and for however long, just makes life feel better. I feel it myself after a walk up Arthur’s Seat here in Edinburgh, a jog around the Meadows, or a sweaty hot yoga session in Leith. The physical benefits of movement such as lowered blood pressure, reduced risk of diabetes and cancer, and healthy ageing, are well-known, and we’re beginning to understand more about the mental health benefits as well.One of the most interesting health research projects of the past decade or so has looked at how exactly exercise makes us feel good. Research shows that there appears to be a clear scientific reason, that we can see at a cellular level. When muscles contract, they secrete chemicals into the bloodstream. Among these chemicals are myokines, which have been referred to as “hope molecules”. These small proteins travel to the brain, cross the blood-brain barrier, and act as an antidepressant. They do this by improving our mood, our ability to learn, our capacity for locomotor activity, and protect the brain from the negative effects of ageing. This has been referred to as “muscle-brain cross-talk”.Comments on this piece are premoderated to ensure discussion remains on topics raised by the writer. Please be aware there may be a short delay in comments appearing on the site. Continue reading...

Company still has defamation lawsuits pending against two news firms and several persons it has accused of spreading liesWhen Dominion settled its closely-watched $787.5m defamation lawsuit against Fox last month, its lawyers made it clear that the company would continue to pursue legal action against those who spread false claims about the company and the 2020 election.The company still has major defamation cases pending against Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Patrick Byrne and Mike Lindell – all allies of Donald Trump who were some of the most prominent figures that spread election lies involving the voting machine company on television and elsewhere after the 2020 election. Continue reading...

The USA forward on aiming for a third successive World Cup title, motherhood and why England are one of the biggest threats to the defending championsThe US have won the Women’s World Cup twice in a row – wresting it from Japan in 2015 before beating the Netherlands in the 2019 final. Should they prove victorious in Sydney on 20 August, they will be the first men’s or women’s team to win three consecutive World Cups.But the road is treacherous. The word “unconvincing” floats perniciously around their preparations, at a time when women’s football has never been more competitive. Europe in particular is stronger than ever before. Continue reading...

This very British circus is low down the US news agenda, but still they are enjoying it. It will be a good day for Charles lookalikesOne of the more startling aspects of living abroad is adjusting to the reduced importance of things considered very important back home. I remember the moment I realised that little below the level of a change in prime minister or an act of terrorism would make the news list in the US. It was like the first time you see one of those maps produced by countries that aren’t Britain and in which Britain isn’t at the centre of the universe. (The Australian one really blew my mind on this front.)In the US, nobody cares who Suella Braverman is – to be fair, a sentiment shared by a great number of Britons at home – or who’s in and out at the BBC. I once heard an American publishing executive refer to Britain as a “small foreign market”, triggering a similar out-of-body experience, plus some apparently unshiftable residual jingoism. As they say, how very dare you.Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

The inquiry into the death of Manuel Paez Terán has been marred by contradictory information released by officialsAttorneys for the family of Manuel Paez Terán found out last week about the results of a test to determine if there was gunpowder residue on the slain environmental activist’s hands from a local reporter calling for comment.Civil rights attorney Jeff Filipovits said he was “totally caught off guard” by the call, especially since the Dekalb county medical examiner’s office – the agency that released the results to the media – had told him and his team two weeks earlier that those same results weren’t yet available, and wouldn’t be for some time. Continue reading...

Peace is simply not possible in my garden. If I snooze, I lose. The green tide just keeps coming and I can never beat it backTelevision gardeners are a serene species. A snip here, a bit of potting there, their spades breaking earth rich and dark as they murmur wise and loving words. The soundtrack is as soft and gentle as the songs of the birds a-chirping their gratitude from the bushes and trees. All is well in the gardens of the television gardeners.Cut to any gardening show I might present. There would be no birdsong for a soundtrack, only heavy metal, as brutal as the sound of my spade hitting another unmovable rock. When Lemmy got Motörhead together he said its music would be, “loud, fast, city, raucous, arrogant, paranoid, speed-freak rock’n’roll. It will be so loud that if we move in next door to you, your lawn will die.” Yes, Motörhead’s sound will be just the ticket for my gardening show. Not for me the standard vibe of working with nature. It’ll be man v nature, a battle with only one winner, which won’t be me.Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster, writer and Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Our reform committee is flawed, excluding many on the anti-monarchist side, but a republic is getting closer“Enough is enough.” Those were the words of Rastafari Ras Iyah V, former chair of the Nyabinghi administrative council, after the death of Queen Elizabeth.Why had Jamaica declared a 12-day period of mourning for someone who was such a reminder of British exploitation of African ancestors? Continue reading...

After Airbnb host’s TikTok video on the theft went viral, she started an auction that raised more than $1,500 for nonprofitWhen an Airbnb host in Virginia realized that a painting in one of her properties had been stolen and replaced, the internet came together to investigate the unlikely mystery.Speaking to the Washington Post, the host, Amy Corbett, said she first noticed the swapped painting while conducting a Zoom meeting in the rental property. A black-and-white map that hung in the living room had been replaced by a multi-color painting of an airplane propeller. Continue reading...

Trips to see play at Houston’s Main Street Theater cancelled over ‘concerns raised about age-appropriateness of the performance’A school district in Texas has canceled a planned field trip to see a theater production of James and the Giant Peach after parents complained about the play’s cross-gender casting.Last week, Spring Branch independent school district announced it was halting all field trips to see James and the Giant Peach at Houston’s Main Street Theater due to “concerns raised about the age-appropriateness of the performance”. Continue reading...

Police captured the alleged gunman, identified as 24-year-old man, and say all five people shot in hospital building were womenPolice have captured the suspect in a shooting at a medical building in midtown Atlanta that killed one person and injured four others, officials said.Authorities apprehended the alleged gunman, who they identified as 24-year-old Deion Patterson, Wednesday evening, north of the city in suburban Cobb county after an extensive manhunt. Continue reading...

Video shows Jordan Neely kicking as he was held for nearly three minutes in death ruled a homicideA 30-year-old Black man who regularly danced in the Times Square transit hub was killed on Monday by a rider who put him in a chokehold on the New York City subway.The confrontation took place as an F train traveling north reached the Broadway-Lafayette station in SoHo. Witnesses say Jordan Neely, recognizable to some New Yorkers as a Michael Jackson impersonator, was behaving erratically at the time. Video footage captured by Juan Alberto Vazquez, a freelance journalist, and shared on Facebook, showed Neely kicking as he was held down by passengers. Continue reading...

The attack on Monday has been called a semi-sanctioned vigilante response to homelessness and the mental health crisisA protest on a downtown Manhattan subway platform over the death of a man suffering an apparent mental health episode aboard a train turned into an angry confrontation over policing and social welfare priorities in New York City on Wednesday.Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old unhoused man who had at one time earned a living in the city as a skilled Michael Jackson impersonator who performed in Times Square, died on Monday afternoon after a confrontation with a fellow passenger. Continue reading...

Lawsuit alleged newspaper sought out niece Mary Trump and persuaded her to join ‘insidious plot’ to obtain Trump’s tax recordsA judge in New York has thrown out Donald Trump’s 2021 lawsuit accusing New York Times reporters of an “insidious plot” to obtain his tax records.The former president has also been ordered to pay all attorneys’ fees and legal expenses the Times and its reporters had incurred. The lawsuit alleged that the newspaper sought out Trump’s niece Mary Trump and persuaded her “to smuggle the records out of her attorney’s office”. Continue reading...

David Breaux would lend an ear to people over the years, asking for their insights into what compassion meansResidents of the California university town of Davis are mourning the loss of a man they say was known for spreading compassion and love to anyone he came across.David Breaux, dubbed “Compassion Guy” by his neighbors, was stabbed to death on the morning of 27 April on the same park bench he sat on for years, lending an ear and his heart to people who would talk with him. Continue reading...

Jurors shown tape of deposition taken before case came to court in which Trump dismissed ‘the most ridiculous, disgusting story’Donald Trump has described the accusation he raped the advice columnist E Jean Carroll as “ridiculous” in a deposition played to a New York jury on Wednesday.The former president also said he could not remember when he was married to his various wives, but could find out. Asked if he had affairs while married, Trump said: “I don’t know.” Continue reading...

The center’s season should go down as a validation of The Process, a breakthrough made sweeter by the Sixers remaining undefeated through the first two rounds of the NBA playoffsFor a good chunk of the 2010s it was an open question in the NBA as to whether Joel Embiid, who was crowned the league’s Most Valuable Player this week, was even worth the bother. For a solid three years the Philadelphia 76ers tempted fate while aggressively trying to lose games just to put themselves in position to land the freshman center with the third pick in the 2014 draft, effectively reinventing the practice now known as tanking. And when the Kansas product went on to miss his first two seasons because of a bum foot, hoops purists praised the basketball gods for serving the Sixers their just deserts.All the while general manager Sam Hinkie encouraged fans to “trust the process”. But they couldn’t help but wonder if Embiid, a master troll, was winding them up by only showing flashes of his great potential. Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal were most prominent among the critics who had dismissed the seven-footer as a “Tall Man”, the bad word for the big-man scorer who forgoes his obvious size advantage close to the basket to chuck away with abandon from beyond the three-point arc. Continue reading...

The former Olympic and world champion sprinter, Tori Bowie, has died at the age of 32, her management company confirmed on Wednesday.The American won three gold medals on the global stage. Her first came as part of the USA 4x100m relay team at the 2016 Olympics. 2017 was even more successful: she added another relay gold at the world championships in London and won individual gold in the 100m. Bowie won two other Olympic medals: a silver and bronze in the 100m and 200m respectively at Rio 2016.Born and raised in Mississippi, Bowie played basketball as a girl before her talent on the track became apparent when she won state titles in the 100m, 200m and long jump.

Stephanie Scott and supervisor Mark Nichols replaced by heavily Republican township in rebuke to extremismIn a rebuke to election denialism and extremism, a small, heavily Republican township in Michigan successfully recalled a clerk who has been accused of elevating election denialism and her ally on the township board. The outgoing clerk, Stephanie Scott, and township supervisor Mark Nichols were replaced by Suzy Roberts, a retired auto industry worker and Randy Johnson, who works in the local school district, respectively.Since 2020, Adams Township and the surrounding county of Hillsdale have become an unlikely focal point in Trump allies’ fruitless search for proof of fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Scott, the local clerk, was stripped of her election administration duties by the Michigan secretary of state after refusing to turn over voting equipment for regularly scheduled maintenance. State police later initiated an investigation when part of the voting machine went missing and again when Scott was accused of sharing confidential voter data with a third party. Continue reading...

Focus of Serial podcast had 1999 murder conviction overturned but judge in March reinstated conviction on procedural groundsThe case of Adnan Syed, which inspired the hit podcast Serial, took another turn on Tuesday when a Maryland appeals court denied a request to reconsider the reinstitution of his conviction and life sentence for murder.The case involves the 1999 murder of Syed’s high school girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, who was 18 when she was found strangled and buried in a Baltimore park. Syed was 17 at the time. Continue reading...

Jury selection proceeds in federal trial of Robert Bowers, accused of killing 11 people at Tree of Life synagogue in 2018The man charged in the deadliest attack on Jewish people in US history has lost another bid to get the death penalty removed as a possible punishment.Jury selection is under way in the federal trial of Robert Bowers, who is charged with 63 criminal counts in the killings of 11 people on 27 October 2018 at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, where three congregations gathered. Continue reading...

Allred, a rare Democratic congressman in Texas, says he has ‘taken down a lot tougher guys’ than Republican senatorThe far-right Republican Texas senator Ted Cruz will be challenged for his seat next year by Colin Allred, a former NFL linebacker who launched his campaign on Wednesday with a video referencing the January 6 attack on Congress by Trump supporters Cruz called “peaceful protesters”.“I’ve taken down a lot tougher guys than Ted Cruz,” Allred said. Continue reading...

Investigation also found three franchises in four states employed a total of 305 children working more than legally permitted hoursA US department of labor investigation uncovered child labor violations at three McDonald’s locations in Kentucky, which included finding two 10-year-olds working unpaid, sometimes until 2am.The three McDonald’s franchisees cited in the investigation own a total of 62 locations across Kentucky, Indiana, Maryland and Ohio, and were found to employ 305 children working more than legally permitted hours and performing job tasks prohibited by law for their age. Continue reading...

Companies’ shares plunge in London and New York after Chegg report that ChatGPT has hit revenuesThe artificial intelligence race is already producing losers. On Tuesday, education companies trading on the London and New York stock exchanges saw hundreds of millions wiped from their valuations after Chegg, a US firm that provides online help to students for writing and maths work, said ChatGPT was affecting customer growth.The firm said it had seen a “significant spike” in students using the technology, and withdrew its profits guidance for the rest of the year, warning revenues had already been hit. It shares almost halved in value. The ripples were felt in London, where education giant Pearson’s stock closed down 15%. Continue reading...

Florida governor has ‘lavished the industry with favors and benefits while everyday Floridians suffer’, key report saysRon DeSantis, the rightwing Republican governor of Florida and a likely 2024 presidential candidate, has handed favors to his big-money donors in the insurance industry at the expense of cash-strapped residents of his state, a new report claims.The report, “How Ron DeSantis sold out Florida homeowners”, draws on contributions from the American Federation of Teachers union, the non-profit Center for Popular Democracy, the voting rights group Florida Rising and the dark money watchdog Hedge Clippers. Continue reading...

Pornhub says law that requires websites to verify users’ ages with ID raises privacy concerns and puts ‘children at risk’Blocked from one of the most popular internet pornography platforms, residents in Utah, one of the most socially US conservative states, have been searching for workarounds.MindGeek, which runs Pornhub, cut access to its content in Utah on Tuesday, in protest of a state law that requires websites to verify users’ ages with government-issued ID. Pornhub said the law was ineffective, raised privacy concerns and “put … children at risk”. Continue reading...

Yes, there are sobering risks, but also potential for huge advances. We need to agree some global rules of the gameAI tools like ChatGPT are everywhere. It is the combination of computational power and availability of data that has led to a surge in AI technology, but the reason models such as ChatGPT and Bard have made such a spectacular splash is that they have hit our own homes, with around 100 million people currently using them.This has led to a very fraught public debate. It is predicted that a quarter of all jobs will be affected one way or another by AI and some companies are holding back on recruitment to see which jobs can be automated. Fears about AI can move markets, as we saw yesterday when Pearson shares tumbled over concerns that AI would disrupt its business. And, looming above the day-to-day debate are the sometimes apocalyptic warnings about the long-term dangers of AI technologies – often from loud and arguably authoritative voices belonging to executives and researchers who developed these technologies.Ivana Bartoletti is a privacy and data protection professional, visiting cybersecurity and privacy fellow at Virginia Tech and founder of the Women Leading in AI Network Continue reading...

District court judge says it is outside his authority to overrule Republicans who silenced Democrat Zooey ZephyrZooey Zephyr, the transgender state lawmaker silenced after telling Republicans they would have blood on their hands for opposing gender-affirming healthcare for kids, was barred from returning to the Montana house floor in a Tuesday court ruling hours before the legislature wrapped up its biennial session.A district court judge, Mike Menahan, said it was outside his authority to overrule lawmakers who voted last week to exclude Zephyr from the house floor and debates. He cited the importance of preserving the separation of powers between the legislative, executive and judicial branches. Continue reading...

Trauma specialist Dr Leslie Lebowitz likely to explain advice columnist’s behaviour during and after alleged attackA clinical psychologist, Dr Leslie Lebowitz, was expected to tell a New York jury on Wednesday about the harm caused by Donald Trump’s alleged rape of the advice columnist E Jean Carroll.Lebowitz, a trauma specialist, was also called to explain aspects of Carroll’s behaviour during and after the alleged 1996 attack, including her failure to scream or call the police, that Trump’s lawyers have attempted to portray as evidence she fabricated the incident. Continue reading...

Studio profits have increased by 39% over the past 10 years – yet the average writer’s salary has gone down by 4%On Tuesday, the Writers Guild of America, or WGA, was forced to go on strike. The reason is, as always, economic. The major Hollywood studios have changed their business model from broadcast to streaming. Once we watched our favorite TV shows by satellite dish; now we watch them over the internet. It doesn’t really change the work, however.The studios are, of course, entitled to change their business model. Their goal is to maximize profits – and they’re doing a great job of it. The resulting change has increased studio profits by 39% over the past 10 years. Yet in that same time period, the average writer’s salary has gone down 4%. The pie has gotten larger, but writers’ share of that pie has significantly decreased. Ultimately, the way screenwriters are compensated for their work needs to be updated: we’re being paid according to the old business model, not the new. Continue reading...

With the queen gone, Charles faces an uphill battle to convince a struggling public this is all still worth it“King Charles III” does not roll off the tongue. Almost eight months after he became monarch, and on the eve of his coronation, it still seems difficult to utter this title in full acceptance and seriousness. But of course, it is very serious. It is bank holiday, Westminster Abbey, 1,000-years-of-history, many-millions-of-taxpayers’-money serious. Although we are reminded that this is a less lavish coronation than Elizabeth II’s, it occurs amid dire economic circumstances, of which ordinary people are bearing the brunt. They may be feeling compelled to ask: “Is it worth it?”Admittedly, the queen was a tough act to follow. There she was, a constant powdery fixture, waving and smiling when appropriate, addressing the nation from one mansion or another when required, brightly adorned in colourful, near-fluorescent hues as if to prevent us from forgetting her existence. Her head was on the money in crowned profile. We were aware of her every time we used a cash machine, this white-haired great-grandmother dutifully serving in luxury at the expense of the very note you have just extracted from said cash machine, not to mention the financial legacies of empire and colonialism. The morality of the arrangement was always dubious, but the staid undeniability of tea and the queen as two tenets of Britishness endured – sweet, mild, harmless, even while associated with some of the unresolved crimes of history.Diana Evans is the author of A House for Alice and Ordinary People Continue reading...

Single-use e-cigarettes send tonnes of valuable lithium to landfill in the UK. Why not ban them, as Australia did?Take a walk down any busy street, and you’re bound to find dozens of candy-coloured plastic cylinders littering the ground. Millions of these disposable vapes are now thrown away every month in the UK. And hidden inside each one is a lithium battery – made of a material crucial for the transition to renewables.Last month, I found myself buying an Elf Bar disposable vape on a night out. I try not to make a habit of vaping, but it feels far too easy to pick one up when they’re eyecatchingly displayed right next to the chewing gum in every corner shop. For weeks, the vape lay next to my bin. I knew I had to recycle it, but how do you actually go about doing that? I soon found myself falling down a blueberry smoke-filled rabbit hole.Emma Snaith is deputy audience editor at the Guardian. Continue reading...

The world is becoming more dangerous for journalists. On this World Press Freedom Day, there are ways to helpJodie Ginsberg remembers an important lesson from her decade as a Reuters foreign correspondent and bureau chief: there simply is no substitute for being at the scene.“The first and most important source is what journalists see in front of them – their ability to give a firsthand, eyewitness account,” says Ginsberg, now the president of Committee to Protect Journalists, the non-profit advocacy organization based in New York City. Continue reading...

Ashley Riefner has travelled from the US to Denmark via Finland while being her own spokesperson, agent and advocate

World Press Freedom Index report warns disinformation and AI pose mounting threats to journalism. Plus, the shocking history of British royal crowns