Police declare mass casualty incident' due to the number of injuries, and say boat that caused accident fled the sceneA boat crashed into a ferry transporting 45 people on the final day of a sand-sculpting festival in Florida, killing one person and injuring at least 12 others, officials said.
Musk's Doge targets National Labor Relations Board with cuts and terminated leases as union speaks outDemocrats have warned that cuts to the US's top labor watchdog threaten to render the organization basically ineffectual" and will be catastrophic" for workers' rights.The so-called department of government efficiency" (Doge) has targeted the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for cuts and ended its leases in several states. Continue reading...
The demonstration outside the Tesla showroom in west London was one of the smallest I have seen. But everyone who passed by was keen to show their supportPark Royal is the worst underground station in London and therefore the world. You come out of a stubby 1930s entrance hall that must have been cute once, right on to a dual carriageway. There's a hotel on the other side of the road, and a tourist will most likely approach you, asking how she's supposed to cross, and your answer will be just a sub-verbal collapse into nothingness. There is no obvious way to cross the road. This place was built for cars, and if you're not a car, you're stuck in a tube station now. There is actually an underpass, but that's no excuse for dystopian urban planning.I was there helping the Stop Trump Coalition make a video before the US president's state visit, whenever that might be, and they were there to see Tesla Takedown, which is not as antagonistic as it sounds, just a score of people, one dressed as a shark for some reason, holding signs that said: Honk if you hate billionaires." Tesla drivers were honking as they drove into the showroom. It wasn't the easiest thing to guess, a year ago, that you were buying an ad for the values of Elon Musk, nor what those values would transpire to be. Continue reading...
Cliona Ward, who had returned from trip to Ireland, held over criminal record from almost 20 years agoAn Irish woman who has lived legally in the US for four decades has been detained by immigration officials for the last week because of a criminal record dating back almost 20 years.Cliona Ward, 54, was detained at San Francisco airport on 21 April after returning from Ireland to visit her sick father and is being held at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) facility in Tacoma, Washington. Continue reading...
Democratic governor of Illinois declares Republicans cannot know a moment of peace' in New Hampshire speechIllinois's Democratic governor, JB Pritzker, scorched Donald Trump's administration Sunday night, calling for mass protests" and declaring that Republicans cannot know a moment of peace" during a fiery speech in New Hampshire that immediately sparked presidential speculation.It's time to fight everywhere and all at once," Pritzker said to a ballroom filled with Democratic activists, officials and donors. Never before in my life have I called for mass protests, for mobilization, for disruption. But I am now." Continue reading...
Woman, who requested anonymity, says a group of 100 men' followed her, shouting threats and kicking herA Brooklyn woman said she feared for her life as she was chased, kicked, spit at and pelted with objects by a mob of Orthodox Jewish men who mistook her as a participant in a protest against Israel's far-right security minister.The assault, recorded by a bystander, unfolded Thursday near the global headquarters of the Chabad Lubavitch movement in Crown Heights, where an appearance by Itamar Ben-Gvir set off clashes between pro-Palestinian activists and members of the neighborhood's large Orthodox Jewish community. Continue reading...
A coalition fixated on intelligence is staking the US economy on AI - which will devalue the very skills the right fetishisesOne thing that Donald Trump and his Silicon Valley partners share is an obsession with IQ. Being a low-IQ individual" is a standard insult in the president's repertoire, and being high-IQ" is an equally standard form of praise for those on the tech right. Yet in the drive for US supremacy in artificial intelligence - signalled by the $500bn (375bn) Stargate project announcement in the White House and an executive order to integrate AI into public education, beginning in kindergarten - there is a hidden irony. If their vision for our economic future is realised, IQ in the sense that they value will lose its meaning.IQ testing arose at a time when the US and other industrialised nations were worried about the health of their populations. Recruitment campaigns for the Boer war in the UK, and then the first world war elsewhere, showed male populations that were unhealthier than their fathers' generation. Industrial work seemed to be triggering what looked like a process of degeneration, with a fearful endpoint in the subterranean Morlocks of HG Wells's classic novella, The Time Machine. Intelligence tests were a way to salvage the diamonds from the rough and find a new officer class - and later a new elite - to guide mass society from the slough of despond into a braver future.Quinn Slobodian's latest book is Hayek's Bastards: Race, Gold, IQ, and the Capitalism of the Far RightDo 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...
Conservative US Catholics like Steve Bannon look to win war that lasts decades' with pope antithetical to FrancisOnce the papal conclave starts, the cardinals choosing Pope Francis's successor will be strictly shut off from the world until a new pope is named. But the coming days before the conclave begins on May 7 will see competing factions of Catholics, including many laypeople, campaigning in the Vatican and the US to influence the church's future - none with more urgency than those discontented with Francis's liberal reign.American Catholics will fight to play a central role. Soon after the news of Francis's death reached faithful the world over, the American counter-revolution mobilized, Vatican watchers say. Red-eyes to Rome were booked. Long-distance phone calls were made. Various cardinals likely received sudden dinner invitations. Continue reading...
Democratic House leader and New Jersey senator protest on steps of US Capitol over proposed Republican budgetHakeem Jeffries and Cory Booker held a sit-in protest and discussion for more than 12 hours on Sunday on the steps of the US Capitol in opposition to Republicans' proposed budget plan.Billed as an Urgent Conversation with the American People", the livestreamed discussion between the House minority leader and the New Jersey senator came before Congress's return to session on Monday, where Democrats hope to stall Republicans' economic legislative agenda. Throughout the day, they were joined by other Democratic lawmakers, including the senator Raphael Warnock, who spoke as the sit-in passed the 10-hour mark. Continue reading...
People found scrambling away with the money after it fell when the back door of a truck openedA security truck in Chicago accidentally dropped several bags of cash on its rounds that resulted in scores of passersby making off with $300,000 as they scrambled to leave with the money lying on the street.In a police report last week, the incident was described as beginning when the back door of the truck - operated by Brinks Home Security - opened by unknown means" as it drove down South Austin Boulevard in the city. Continue reading...
Using fitness and sports as an entry points to their neo-Nazi ideologies, youth club' chapters are proliferating across USA national network of American neofascist fight clubs is endorsing youth-oriented offshoots aimed at grooming the next generation of racist activists.So-called active clubs" have proliferated across the US and are a combination of fitness and mixed martial arts groups that often espouse neo-Nazi and fascist ideologies, openly taking their historical cues from the Third Reich's obsession with machismo and European soccer hooliganism. Continue reading...
The first major overhaul since 1979 seeks to simplify the map's old illegible squiggles - but faces opposition from change-averse New YorkersThe New York City subway map has always been tricky to decipher. Unlike those in cities from Boston to London to Tokyo, the longstanding New York map hews fairly closely to the image of the city aboveground.Central Park is clearly depicted, as are the individual bodies of water within it; you can see the shape of each borough and the rivers and ocean framing them. Overlaid across it all is a tangled web of subway lines, daunting to the first-time visitor - especially when it comes to distinguishing between local and express trains. Continue reading...
Zelenskyy, Starmer, Macron ... they all had his ear at Pope Francis's funeral. But he is just as easily swayed by the elevator doormanThe most recent diplomatic effort to find a way to stop Russia's invasion of Ukraine took place at the most unlikely of events: the funeral of Pope Francis. The image of Presidents Zelenskyy and Trump leaning toward each other, under Carlo Maratta's late-17th-century painting, The Baptism of Christ, rekindled hopes that the US might, at last, hear Kyiv out. Would this unexpected setting make Trump's compassion, so frequently expressed for the loss of human life, real? And could it lead to a better strategy for ending this criminal and brutal war?The goal of Kyiv and the coalition of the willing - a group of 31 nations that back Ukraine in its fight against Russia - is to distance Trump from what has become a dangerous rapprochement between the Washington and Moscow. But this will be an uphill battle - Europe and Kyiv are trying to fight their way to Trump's ear just when the US is backing Russia's position. Continue reading...
Evangelicals say president is in step on core issues such as abortion and Israel - and they're backing him all the wayWhen asked about Donald Trump's Easter morning post wishing a happy holiday to the Radical Left Lunatics ... fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners" to the United States, Jackson Lahmeyer, an Oklahoma evangelical Christian pastor, said: Isn't it terrible that they are wanting to do that?"Lahmeyer, the founder of the Pastors for Trump organization, was not bothered by Trump's extreme and divisive message on the Christian religious holiday, because, he said: You cannot unify with evil." Continue reading...
Prosecutors say more charges are possible against Kai-Ji Adam Lo, who was arrested at the scene. Plus, Heather Graham on family, ageing and creepy' film-makersGood morning.The suspect in a car-ramming attack that killed 11 people and injured dozens at a Filipino heritage festival in the Canadian city of Vancouver yesterday has been charged with eight counts of second degree murder, prosecutors have said.What has the prime minister, Mark Carney, said? Just two days before a national election, Carney said the attack had left the country shocked, devastated and heartbroken". Vancouver's interim police chief, Steve Rai, described the carnage as the darkest day" in the city's history.What else did Trump say? Despite the comments on Crimea, the US president expressed newfound sympathy for his Ukrainian counterpart yesterday, saying he wants to do something good for his country" and is working hard". Continue reading...
by Wilbert L. Cooper of the Marshall Project on (#6WXG9)
As Trump administration fights diversity, some officers fear for future of policing as they observe culture shiftsAfter the murder of George Floyd, protests pushed some police agencies to bring in a new class of professionals including Colleen Jackson to help make departments more representative of and responsive to the communities they serve.Hired as the first chief diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) officer in Shaker Heights, Ohio, in 2021, Jackson has assisted in a hiring process that swore in a class of women, Black and Asian American recruits and has surveyed residents on their experiences with the police. She is now organizing an event to bring together young residents and Black officers that she hopes will lead to safer interactions on the street. Continue reading...
Tragically, the president's second term is already more lawless and more authoritarian than any in US historyIn his first 100 days back in office, Donald Trump has made a strong case that his second term will be by far the worst presidential term in US history. So many of his flood-the-zone actions have been head-spinning and stomach-turning. His administration seems to be powered by ignorance and incoherence, spleen and sycophancy. Both he and his right-hand man, Elon Musk, with their resentment-fueled desire to disrupt everything, seem intent on pulverizing the foundations of our government, our democracy, our alliances as well as any notions of truth. Tragically, Trump's second term is already more lawless and more authoritarian than any in US history.The worst and most dangerous part of Trump's agenda is his war against our democracy and constitution - defying judges' orders, deporting people without due process, suggesting he will run for a third term, calling to impeach judges who rule against him, pardoning hundreds of January 6 criminals, gutting federal agencies and firing thousands of federal employees in flagrant violation of the law, and banning books from military libraries. (One wonders, will book burning be next?) Underlining just how dangerous and lawless Trump is, he is talking publicly about of disappearing US citizens to foreign countries where they could be locked in prison forever. For those who care about democracy and basic freedoms, this is DefCon 1 stuff. Continue reading...
The Trump administration is creating a chilling effect on independent reporting and public dissentThis week is World Press Freedom Day. That used to be a time when we pointed fingers at governments that kept journalists from doing their jobs - places like Turkey, where reporters are imprisoned for libel, or Saudi Arabia, where government censorship is a part of daily life. From our privileged perch here in the US, we highlighted the struggle of journalists suffering under authoritarian rule. But this year, the ones suffocating aren't halfway around the world - they're right here at home.In my 20 years as a media lawyer, I've always seen the United States as the gold standard for press freedom - a model admired by journalists around the world. But in just a few short months, the Trump administration has severely undermined those protections, creating a chilling effect on independent reporting and public dissent. Today, the White House is waging an increasingly hostile campaign against the press, pushing to control coverage in ways that go far beyond anything we saw during the president's first term. Continue reading...
It can take years to properly evaluate if a prospect works out. But here are a few early takes on the ups and downs from this year's selection processGrading NFL drafts right after they happen is like grading a meal after you order it: all you know is what was said on the menu. That said, drafts do tell you a great deal about how NFL teams think about themselves at a particular point in time - what they need, where they're lacking, and how they want it all to come together. Whether right or wrong in the end, there's no more clear indicator of team philosophy than the annual three-day exercise, and that's why it's important beyond the players who are actually selected.While it will be years before we know how wise each move was in the 2025 draft, here are those who benefited most and least, as well as the decisions we feel are worthy of applause, and the ones that had us shaking our heads. Continue reading...
From the Canadian elections to universities and civil society, the campaign to turn the tide against anti-liberal nationalists is at last underwayLiberals of all countries, unite! Just as anti-liberal powers outside the west are becoming stronger than ever, the assault on everything we stand for has been joined by the United States. Against this massed onslaught of anti-liberal nationalists we need a determined fightback of liberal internationalists. Canada's election this week can contribute a strong mounted brigade.A core insight of liberalism is that, if people are to live together well in conditions of freedom, power always needs to be dispersed, cross-examined and controlled. Faced with the raw, bullying assertion of might, whether from Washington, Moscow or Beijing, we now have to create countervailing concentrations of power. In the long history of liberalism, a free press, the law, labour unions, a business community kept separate from political power, NGOs, truth-seeking institutions such as universities, civil resistance, multilateral organisations and international alliances have all served - alongside multiparty politics and regular free and fair elections - to constrain the men who would be kings.Timothy Garton Ash is a historian, political writer and Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Centrists won't beat Reform UK by echoing its messages. They should emphasise the true unworkability of policies like BrexitIn the middle of an election or the early stages of an administration, populist politics can feel like a liberation. The unsayable is said. Political rules are broken. Constitutional restrictions are flouted. Populist rallies are boisterous, seemingly uninhibited, with enemies of the movement taunted or intimidated.For many voters, and even some activists and politicians, conventional politics can be boring, with its careful rhetoric and predictably choreographed campaigns, its compromised and complicated centrist policies. Populism promises something much more visceral, with larger-than-life leaders and dramatic national goals: make America great again", take back control". Digital media, with its constant hunger for brevity and straightforward narratives, is a perfect environment for populism's seductive claim that politics is actually quite simple.Andy Beckett is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
by Jarosław Kuisz and Karolina Wigura on (#6WXCZ)
Our political history is one of catastrophe, communism, and developing powerful antibodies against oppressionIn 2016, one year after the rightwing populist Law and Justice party won an overall majority in Poland, there was a knock at a door. The mother of a young journalist opened it. To her astonishment, it was the security services looking for her son. No details were provided. Thus began an informal campaign by the authorities against the media and civil society in Poland, including our thinktank, Kultura Liberalna. After hearing the news about the journalist, we called Aleksander Smolar. The legendary anti-communist dissident, who ran his own NGO, told us that the security services were also trying to arrange informal" meetings with his staff. And he comforted us: Don't worry, we've had a playbook for this kind of situation since the 1960s."At that moment, we almost travelled back in time. We spoke about responding to this new regime as if we were once again under communism. What is striking in retrospect is that we all knew what to do. Our eastern European political culture, shaped by historical catastrophes, has developed some antibodies against oppressive power. Over the past centuries, the state has often been wiped off the map or occupied by foreign aggressors. Adversity sparks initiative.Jarosaw Kuisz is editor-in-chief of the Polish weekly Kultura Liberalna and the author of The New Politics of Poland: A Case of Post-Traumatic SovereigntyKarolina Wigura is a Polish historian and co-author of Post-Traumatic Sovereignty: An Essay (Why the Eastern European Mentality is Different) Continue reading...
US president says face-to-face meeting at Vatican improved relations with Ukrainian president and demurs on trust in Vladimir PutinUS President Donald Trump has said he thinks Volodymyr Zelenskyy is ready to give up Crimea, despite his Ukrainian counterpart's previous assertions on the Black Sea peninsula that was annexed by Russia in 2014.Speaking to reporters at an airport in New Jersey on Sunday a day after meeting with Zelenskyy at the Vatican, Trump said Oh, I think so," in response to a question on whether he thought Zelenskyy was ready to give up" the territory. Continue reading...
Trump expresses newfound sympathy for his Ukrainian counterpart, saying he wants to do something good for his country' - key US politics stories from Sunday 27 April at a glanceDonald Trump appears to have warmed to Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the two presidents met at the Vatican, with the US leader emerging from talks with a plea for Vladimir Putin: stop shooting".Trump on Sunday said Zelenskyy wants to do something good" for Ukraine and is working hard", adding he was also surprised and disappointed" that Russia continued to strike Ukraine after discussions between his peace envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Putin. Continue reading...
Noem's purse was nabbed on Easter Sunday and reportedly contained about $3,000 in cash, her keys and identificationTwo suspects have been arrested in connection with the theft last week of the US homeland security secretary Kristi Noem's purse as she ate at a Washington DC restaurant, officials said Sunday.Noem's purse was nabbed on Easter Sunday and reportedly contained about $3,000 in cash and her keys, driver's license, passport and homeland security badge. The homeland security department said Noem had cash in her purse to pay for gifts, dinner and other activities for her family on Easter. Continue reading...
by Joanna Walters in New York and agencies on (#6WWKS)
Lawyers in both cases, one in Louisiana and another in Florida, say clients arrested at routine Ice check-insThe Trump administration has removed a two-year-old US citizen from the country with no meaningful process", according to a federal judge, while in a different case the authorities deported the mother of a one-year-old girl, separating them indefinitely.Lawyers in the two cases, the first in Louisiana and the second in Florida, say their clients were arrested at routine check-ins at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) offices and were given virtually no opportunity to speak with them or family members. Continue reading...
Andreas Kalcker, prominent peddler of chlorine dioxide remedy, to appear at Truth Seekers Conference' in MiamiDonald Trump's private golf resort in South Florida will next week host one of the world's leading purveyors of chlorine dioxide, a potentially life-threatening form of industrial bleach that is claimed without evidence to be a cure for cancer, Covid and autism.Andreas Kalcker is among 50 listed speakers at the Truth Seekers Conference", a two-day event opening on Thursday at the US president's resort, Trump National Doral Miami. The event features several anti-vaxxers and other conspiracy theorists who have been brought together by the far-right commentator Charlie Ward. Continue reading...
The Chinese will see this high tariff level is unsustainable for their business,' says Scott BessentThe US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said there is a path" to an agreement with China over tariffs after he had interactions with his Chinese counterparts last week in Washington.I had interaction with my Chinese counterparts, but it was more on the traditional things like financial stability, global economic early warnings," Bessent told ABC News's This Week on Sunday, explaining that he had spoken to the Chinese during International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington. I don't know if President Trump has spoken with President Xi," he added. Continue reading...
He's got name recognition and gravitas. But he lacks ideas for how to heal the fissures in Canadian societyMonday's Canadian federal election is likely to determine the economic future of the country for years to come. Someone should inform the Conservatives and the New Democratic party (NDP). On 6 January this year, Justin Trudeau announced his resignation as prime minister and leader of the Liberal party, which had been in power since 2015. His resignation came amid plummeting support: the Liberals hadn't formed a majority government since 2019 and on the day Trudeau resigned, the party netted its lowest approval rating at 20%. After a truncated leadership race, Mark Carney became Canada's prime minister and leader of the Liberal party. He is now on the brink of retaining his position.Pierre Poilievre, on the other hand, leader of the official opposition Conservative party, has seen his party's fortunes ignominiously drop from 44% support when Trudeau resigned to 37% on 9 April. This is a battle of leadership, and while for two and a half years Poilievre seemed on course for victory at the next election, the re-election of Donald Trump in November reoriented politics. Poilievre has been flatfooted and unable to adjust to the new environment. Now he is struggling to retain his own seat.Erica Ifill is a political columnist based in Canada Continue reading...
Joining Mom and Dad can work as long as you know what you're bringing - and what you're giving upIt happens all the time. And not just in Hallmark movies.The son or the daughter pooh-poohs their family business and moves away from the heartland to pursue their fortune in New York or Chicago. Then - penniless and more than a little hungover - they return to their home town, hat in hand. Continue reading...
From humble beginnings, the 50501 community is one of many coming together to resist the president and his policiesIt started with a Reddit post.50 PROTESTS - 50 STATES - 1 DAY," the user who goes by Evolved Fungi wrote, kicking off a movement that has since drawn hundreds of thousands to the streets in protests against Donald Trump across the country. Continue reading...
Having fled here from Chile after Pinochet seized power in 1973 my father feared the state's arbitrary power to turn lives upside down. His outlook has never felt more relevantDon't open the door to nobody," my father warned throughout my childhood - right up until the day he died. He trusted no politicians, no organized religion and definitely no strangers knocking unannounced.Lately, his words echo louder than ever. Continue reading...
From Samuel Pepys to Joan Didion, many literary greats wrote for no one but themselves - then found posterity pawing through their secrets. Trust me: you don't want to know my innermost thoughtsA few years ago, a friend asked me to be her literary executor". We were both, I think, tickled by the grandiose sound of it, as if I would be playing off competing bids from the Bodleian and the New York Public Library for her juvenilia and early drafts (she is not actually primarily a writer). What she wants, though, is quite serious: I am to destroy her diaries when she dies.That is because they aren't meant for anyone's eyes but her own. Whatever is in there (I don't know, didn't ask), it was never meant for public consumption. Many diarists feel that way: Sheila Hancock wrote about destroying decades' worth of hers: Maybe this vicious, verging-on-insane woman is the real me, but if it is I don't want my daughters to find out."Emma Beddington is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Event took place with no Trump, no comedian and notably fewer politicians or Hollywood stars than in past yearsJournalists rallied in defence of press freedom on Saturday, insisting they are not the enemy of the people" at a Washington media gala snubbed by Donald Trump.The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) dinner was a muted affair with no US president, no comedian and notably fewer politicians or Hollywood stars than in past years. Continue reading...
The president's clashes with the judiciary over immigration have launched a constitutional crisis. We're headed toward a collisionDonald Trump issued his declaration of war against his enemies within" at the Department of Justice on 14 March. Thus the president launched a constitutional crisis that encompasses not just a group of migrants snatched without due process and transported against federal court orders to a foreign prison, but a wholesale assault on virtually every major institution of American society.We will expel the rogue actors and corrupt forces from our government. We will expose, and very much expose, their egregious crimes and severe misconduct," he pledged. It's going to be legendary." Continue reading...
From wellness farms' to expanded involuntary commitment policies, the US is embracing psychiatric incarceration under the guise of compassionAcross the country, a troubling trend is accelerating: the return of institutionalization - rebranded, repackaged and framed as modern mental health care". From Governor Kathy Hochul's push to expand involuntary commitment in New York to Robert F Kennedy Jr's proposal for wellness farms" under his Make America Healthy Again (Maha) initiative, policymakers are reviving the logics of confinement under the guise of care.These proposals may differ in form, but they share a common function: expanding the state's power to surveil, detain and treat" marginalized people deemed disruptive or deviant. Far from offering real support, they reflect a deep investment in carceral control - particularly over disabled, unhoused, racialized and LGBTQIA+ communities. Communities that have often seen how the framing of institutionalization as treatment" obscures both its violent history and its ongoing legacy. In doing so, these policies erase community-based solutions, undermine autonomy, and reinforce the very systems of confinement they claim to move beyond. Continue reading...
For the foreseeable future, international courts provide the only realistic prospect of justice for SyriansThere are few regimes as cruel as the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad. There was seemingly no limit to what it would do to sustain his grasp on power, including dropping chemical weapons and barrel bombs on civilians in territory held by the armed opposition, and starving, torturing, disappearing" and executing perceived opponents. The victims numbered in the hundreds of thousands.Since December, Assad is gone, toppled by the HTS rebel group that now controls the interim government in Damascus. The leader of the interim authorities, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has promised a far more inclusive and rights-respecting rule. The jury is still out on whether he will live up to those vows, but one place where he has fallen short is in satisfying the Syrian people's quest for justice. Both he and international courts could play a role.Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch, is a visiting professor at Princeton's School of Public and International Affairs. His book, Righting Wrongs: Three Decades on the Front Lines Battling Abusive Governments, was published by Knopf and Allen Lane in February. Continue reading...
The quarterback had to wait until the fifth round to be drafted. He now has to fight for his place on the Browns and prove those who briefed against him wrongWith the 144th overall pick in the fifth round of the 2025 draft, the Cleveland Browns ended Shedeur Sanders' precipitous slide down the board, and gave him an NFL home.This was not at all what anybody outside the league expected. Based on Sanders' tape alone, he looked like a second-round talent, which - based on quarterback prospects over time - could have shoved him into the first round, given the importance of the position. Continue reading...
Most of us, with our lumpen faces, fragile bank balances, and bobbled polyester clothing, fall out regularly. That doesn't have to be a bad thingSomebody give George Clooney a medal. In an interview with CBS a few days ago, the actor claimed he has never, in 11 years of marriage, argued with his wife, the human rights lawyer Amal Clooney. Let's just accept it to be true that you can be married to a lawyer for more than a decade and never find yourself in an argument. And in this case, I suppose, why should it not be? These are some of the most beautiful people in the world. On top of this, they are extremely rich. They can have houses and holidays wherever they want. They can buy whatever clothes and dinners they choose. What would you have to argue about if you lived such a gilded existence?And actually, I do find myself wondering about that quite often these days, especially when I see the strange spectacle of enormously wealthy and successful celebrities arguing with strangers online. Maybe the fact this does happen is evidence that, for some people, even in a life with no material problems, artificial grievances can always be invented. Still, I can dream that I would not end up like that, and that if I was that rich, I would never argue. In fact, I simply would not have a phone. I would live a life surrounded only by beauty. I would buy new socks and new peach silk underwear every day. I would spend every minute of my days smiling calmly. And if I did run into problems with my partner, I would simply employ someone - let's call them a relationship tension expert - to work things out on my behalf.Rachel Connolly is a writer and the author of the novel Lazy CityDo 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 US constitution protects incompetence. But don't underestimate the self-destructive power of the president's own hubrisTyrants come to a sticky end, or so history suggests. Richard III and Coriolanus made bloody exits. More recently, Saddam Hussein went to the gallows, Slobodan Milosevic went to jail, Bashar al-Assad went into exile. Libya's Muammar Gaddafi was run to ground in a sewer. Tyranny, from the Greek turannos (absolute ruler"), is typically fuelled by hubris and leads ineluctably to nemesis. Tyrants are for toppling. Their downfall is a saving grace.Tyranny, in its many forms, is back in vogue, and everyone knows who's to blame. To be fair, to suggest similarities between the aforementioned abominable individuals and Donald Trump would be utterly wrong. In key respects, he's worse. Measured by willingness and capacity to harm the world's poorest and most vulnerable, wreak global economic mayhem and threaten nuclear annihilation, Trump is uniquely dangerous - and ever more so by the day.Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentatorDo 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...
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