From our archive: from festive pickles and homemade sweets to luxury biscuits and exotic oils, a a gift you’ve made yourself can make someone’s ChristmasA trio of presents that you’ll want for Christmas dinner: a ginger nut brittle to serve as is or to blitz into a toast-topping paste, crumbly cheese biscuits and an enticingly easy fig jam Continue reading...
One of northern England's best-known restaurants has been engulfed in flames after its thatched roof caught fire. More than 40 firefighters were called to the Michelin-starred Star Inn at Harome, North Yorkshire. 'It's been a long night so far ... I'm afraid we won't be open for a while as we are reduced to ashes,' said chef Andrew Pern, who tweeted footage of the fire. The 14th-century inn has regularly been cited as one of the best in the UK since the arrival of Pern 25 years ago Continue reading...
Exclusive: Deal is part of north-east regeneration scheme developed by property tycoons David and Simon ReubenHM Revenue and Customs has struck a deal to relocate tax officials into a new office complex in Newcastle owned by major Conservative party donors through an offshore company based in a tax haven, the Guardian can reveal.The department’s planned new home in the north-east of England is part of a regeneration scheme developed by a British Virgin Islands (BVI) entity controlled by the billionaire property tycoons David and Simon Reuben. Continue reading...
Campaigners claim Ankara is abusing its position as host, by pressuring the police body to harass dissidents living abroadHuman rights activists have accused Turkey of using its role as host of Interpol’s general assembly to push for a crackdown on critics and political opponents who have fled the country.The alert came after the Turkish interior minister, Süleyman Soylu, said his government would use the three-day event in Istanbul to persuade the international criminal police organisation’s officials and delegates to find, arrest and extradite Turkish dissident citizens – particularly those it labels terrorists – abroad. Continue reading...
The Atlanta rapper will answer your questions – ranging across his three-decade career – as he prepares to release his new album, The Big SleepoverOne of the American south’s greatest ever rappers returns. Big Boi’s new album The Big Sleepover is released next month and to mark it, he will be answering Guardian readers’ questions about the record and anything else in his long career, which you can post in the comments section below.The Big Sleepover pairs the Atlantan born Antwan Patton not with his most famous partner – André 3000 in Outkast – but another longtime foil, the vocalist and producer Sleepy Brown. Their collaborations stretch back to the early days of Outkast, when Brown sang the chorus to their breakthrough 1993 hit Player’s Ball. The track showcased what would become the signature Outkast sound, that would in turn influence an entire region: funk-driven, somewhat psychedelic, sometimes laidback, but absolutely rooted in the crisp, alert percussion of hip-hop. Continue reading...
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva gets a fist bump from Olaf Scholz and an invitation to the presidential palace from MacronIt was a welcome fit for a president.Republican Guards at the Élysée Palace. A standing ovation at the European Parliament. A front-page interview in Spain’s top newspaper in which the visiting dignitary was hailed as a “cyclone” of energy. Continue reading...
The people of Tiny and neighboring First Nations are fighting the expansion of the quarry pits to keep their water pristineSome of cleanest water in the world fell to the ground about 70 years ago, passing through smoggy skies that stuffed the droplets full of ash, soot, vehicle exhaust, chemicals and heavy metals.It percolated through gravel, glacial silt and permeable rock and eventually gushed from a hose and into a pitcher held by Bonnie Pauzé. Continue reading...
Police say they are ‘hopeful’ of finding remains of campers who went missing in Victorian high countryA 55-year-old Melbourne man has been charged with the murders of Victorian campers Russell Hill and Carol Clay.A crime scene has been established in the state’s alpine region with police focusing their efforts on finding the pair’s remains. Continue reading...
But that didn’t alter the fact his long-promised federal integrity commission legislation is not yet in the parliamentNotwithstanding the wildness of the penultimate sitting week, the circumstances were unusual across the board. A Liberal MP, rather than threatening to cross the floor of parliament, first signalled she would do so, then actually did it.Bridget Archer’s objective seemed simple and clear: shame colleagues into actually proceeding with the federal integrity commission the Coalition had promised, but studiously not delivered, for the best part of three years. Continue reading...
In Peter Jackson’s latest epic, the moments of inspiration and interest are marooned amid acres of meandering chit-chat. What a schlepThe Beatles’ 1970 album Let It Be and its depressing accompanying documentary were always bugbears among the former Fabs. John Lennon dismissed the music as “badly recorded shit”; Paul McCartney was so horrified by the album that he masterminded a new version in 2003, shorn of the additions by Phil Spector, whom Lennon employed as a producer without telling McCartney. None of the Beatles turned up to the documentary’s premiere; Ringo Starr objected that it was “very narrow” and had “no joy”.Peter Jackson’s Get Back is a documentary series designed to address Starr’s concerns. It shows a broader, ostensibly happier, picture of the band’s doomed 1969 project to write a new album, rehearse the songs and perform them live in the space of two weeks. Whether the Get Back sessions hastened the Beatles’ demise remains moot, but a preponderance of footage featuring songs sung in funny voices, mugging to camera and in-jokes can’t stop the initial sessions at Twickenham Studios from looking like misery. Continue reading...
When we feel extreme fatigue most of us focus on sleep problems. But proper relaxation takes many forms. I spent a week exploring what really works“Are you the most tired you can ever remember being?” asks a friend. Well, yes. I have it easy – my caring responsibilities are limited and my work is physically undemanding and very low stakes – but I am wrecked. The brain fog, tearful confusion and deep lethargy I feel seems near universal. A viral tweet from February asked: “Just to confirm … everyone feels tired ALL the time no matter how much sleep they get or caffeine they consume?” The 71,000-plus retweets seemed to confirm it’s the case.But when we say we are exhausted, or Google “Why am I tired all the time?” (searches were reportedly at an all-time high between July and September this year), what do we mean? Yes, pandemic living is, objectively, exhausting. Existing on high alert is physically and mentally depleting; our sleep has suffered and many of us have lost a sense of basic safety, affecting our capacity to relax. But the circumstances and stresses we face are individual, which means the remedy is probably also individual. Continue reading...
• Reconstruction after Covid: a new series of long readsDespite Thatcher and Reagan’s best efforts, there is and has always been such a thing as society. The question is not whether it exists, but what shape it must take in a post-pandemic worldIn March 2020, Boris Johnson, pale and exhausted, self-isolating in his flat on Downing Street, released a video of himself – that he had taken himself – reassuring Britons that they would get through the pandemic, together. “One thing I think the coronavirus crisis has already proved is that there really is such a thing as society,” the prime minister announced, confirming the existence of society while talking to his phone, alone in a room.All this was very odd. Johnson seemed at once frantic and weak (not long afterwards, he was admitted to hospital and put in the intensive care unit). Had he, in his feverishness, undergone a political conversion? Because, by announcing the existence of society, Johnson appeared to renounce, publicly, something Margaret Thatcher had said in an interview in 1987, in remarks that are often taken as a definition of modern conservatism. “Too many children and people have been given to understand ‘I have a problem, it is the government’s job to cope with it!’” Thatcher said. “They are casting their problems on society, and who is society? There is no such thing!” She, however, had not contracted Covid-19. Continue reading...
The 25cm-tall robots that sing, dance and do kung-fu used as teaching aids in 300 childcare centres across SeoulSeoul has started trialling pint-sized robots as teaching aids in kindergartens – a pilot project the city government said would help prepare the next generation for a hi-tech future.The “Alpha Mini” is just 24.5 centimetres tall and can dance, lead sing-a-longs, recite stories and even teach kung fu moves as children mimic its push-ups and one-legged balances. Continue reading...
by Virginia Harrison, Rajeev Syal, Angelique Chrisafi on (#5SAQ7)
Boris Johnson renews calls for France to agree to joint patrols along its coast, while Emmanuel Macron urges UK not to politicise the flow of migrantsBritish and French leaders have traded accusations after at least 27 people died trying to cross the Channel in the deadliest incident since the current migration crisis began.In a phone call with Boris Johnson on Wednesday night, French president Emmanuel Macron stressed “the shared responsibility” of France and the UK, and told Johnson he expected full cooperation and that the situation would not be used “for political purposes”, the Élysée said. Continue reading...
Officials hope three-day weekend will help reduce toxic pollution levels in country’s second largest cityPakistan has ordered private offices and schools to remain closed on Mondays in Lahore in the hope that a three-day weekend will help reduce toxic levels of smog in the country’s second-largest city.The directive, issued by Punjab relief commissioner Babar Hayat Tarar, aimed to act “as a preventive and speedy remedy” during the winter smog season and will last until 15 January. Continue reading...
by Vincent Ni, China affairs correspondent on (#5SANT)
Analysis: experts say emphasis on the west and international diplomacy obfuscates the original allegationDespite endless speculation from international press in recent weeks, there has been barely a mention of tennis star Peng Shuai’s bombshell allegation against Zhang Gaoli, the country’s former vice-premier, in domestic news coverage. Outside the country, the event was initially referred to by the editor of the official nationalist tabloid Global Times, Hu Xijin, only as “the thing people talked about”.“For some years now, China has responded to negative global attention either by giving an unconvincing explanation, or by stoically pretending the criticism isn’t there,” Zhang Ming, a retired professor of politics at Renmin University told Reuters this week. Continue reading...
The British papers reflect the horror of the worst migrant Channel disaster of the crisis, along with anger at how the boats are allowed to set off at allThe front pages of Thursday’s papers are dominated by the deaths of 27 migrants in the Channel with the coverage veering from sombre reporting to accusations that the French authorities did not do enough to prevent the tragedy.The Times’ main headline says “Dozens of migrants drown in Channel dinghy tragedy” and features a photograph of migrants preparing to launch a boat from France on Wednesday. Continue reading...
Sweden’s first female prime minister, the Social Democrat Magdalena Andersson, has resigned less than 12 hours into the job when her coalition collapsed. Andersson said a decision by the Green party, the junior party in the coalition, to quit had forced her to resign from the post. 'I have asked the speaker to be relieved of my duties as prime minister,' Andersson said. 'I am ready to be prime minister in a single-party, Social Democrat government.'
by Eva Corlett in Wellington and Tess McClure in Chri on (#5SAJ4)
New National party leader will be chosen next week, with former Air New Zealand boss Chris Luxon a favourite for the jobJudith Collins, leader of New Zealand’s opposition National party, has been toppled after months of poor polling and a shock move to strip a political rival of his portfolios.MPs voted to end Collins’ leadership at a crisis caucus meeting on Thursday. The meeting was prompted after Collins demoted Simon Bridges, a former party leader and one of her rivals. Late on Wednesday night, she stripped Bridges of all of his portfolios, citing an inappropriate comment made by Bridges in 2017 in front of a female colleague– where Bridges says he discussed “old wives tales” about how he and his wife might produce a female child. Collins described the comment as “serious misconduct”. Continue reading...
Ban will include social media ads and include anything likely to have particular appeal to young people, says watchdogCosmetic surgery clinics are to be banned from targeting adverts for procedures such as breast enlargement, nose jobs and liposuction at under-18s, in a crackdown by the UK advertising watchdog.New rules will bar ads on all media – ranging from social media sites such as Facebook, TikTok and Instagram to billboards and posters, newspapers, magazines and radio as well as social influencer marketing – that are aimed at under-18s or likely to have a particular appeal to that age group. Continue reading...
by Dan Sabbagh Defence and security editor on (#5SAFR)
Cross-party group overseeing spy agencies pushed Boris Johnson to let it publish report before ChristmasA frustrated intelligence and security committee – the parliamentary body that has oversight of Britain’s spy agencies – was forced to make a public complaint in order to persuade Boris Johnson to let it publish its annual report before Christmas.The cross-party group had warned on Tuesday that Johnson had been so slow that there was a risk it would not be able to release the latest review before the end of year recess, echoing a previous row when No 10 had sat on its Russia report. Continue reading...
‘Priceless’ artefacts recording details of the famed expeditions of the 1910s were discovered in the vaults of New Zealand’s meterological service“Priceless” artefacts linked to Antarctic explorers Ernest Shackleton and Capt Robert Falcon Scott have been unearthed in a surprise discovery within the dark storage room of New Zealand’s meterological service.Metservice staff came across a set of logbooks from some of the most famous Antarctic expeditions while preparing to move buildings in Wellington. Continue reading...
Eighteen-year-old’s body was found seven miles from her home three days after she went missingAt 6pm on Saturday, Bobbi-Anne McLeod took the short walk up the hill from her family’s terraced home in the Leigham area of Plymouth to a bus stop. The 18-year-old was due to catch the number 50 into the city centre and then stroll about eight minutes to her boyfriend’s home. She never got there.A passing driver, Stuart Fullard, 54, said he saw McLeod sitting on a metal rail at the bus stop. He noticed her because she was dressed distinctively in ripped jeans with fishnet tights underneath and because she looked so young – McLeod was less than 5ft and could have been mistaken for someone much younger. Fullard has a daughter himself and said he felt nervous for her in the drizzly dark. “But she didn’t look as if she had a care in the world.” Continue reading...
Collin Reeves, 34, is accused of killing Stephen and Jennifer Chapple as their children slept upstairsA former soldier has been charged with the murder of a husband and wife who died at their home in a Somerset village as their children slept upstairs.Collin Reeves, 34, is accused of murdering his neighbours Stephen Chapple, 36, a teacher, and Jennifer Chapple, 33, who worked in a coffee shop. Continue reading...
Magdalena Andersson quits on day one after the Green party withdraws support for her budgetSweden’s first female prime minister, the Social Democrat Magdalena Andersson, has resigned less than 12 hours into the job when her coalition collapsed, plunging the country into further political uncertainty.Andersson said a decision by the Green party, the junior party in the coalition, to quit had forced her to resign. She added that she had told the speaker of parliament she hoped to be appointed prime minster again as the head of a single-party government. Continue reading...
Cases under ‘foreign agents’ law mark attack on civil society and attempt to recast Soviet historyRussia may dissolve Memorial, the country’s premier human rights group, in an attack on civil society and symbolic reversal of the freedoms won by dissidents at the fall of the Soviet Union.A supreme court case, to be heard on Thursday, may mark a watershed in Vladimir Putin’s campaign to recast Soviet history by banning International Memorial, which began meeting in the late 1980s to shed light on atrocities and political repression under Stalin and other Soviet leaders. Continue reading...
by Mark Brown North of England correspondent on (#5SA2N)
Andy Burnham warned plans would ‘fail generations to come’ as he urged Downing Street to engage in talksMayors and council leaders in northern England have refused to give up on a new high speed east-west rail line, calling for talks with the government to discuss alternative funding models.A meeting of politicians on the board of Transport for the North, the statutory body created to advise the government on the region’s transport needs, was held on Wednesday in Leeds . They discussed the announcement by the government of its new integrated rail plan, which has been condemned as a “betrayal” of the north. Continue reading...
Two-time Olympic gold medallist enlists as alarm grows over war that threatens to engulf Addis AbabaThe two-time Olympic gold medallist Haile Gebrselassie has announced he is enlisting in the Ethiopian military to fight an insurgency that threatens to attack the capital, Addis Ababa.Gebrselassie, who set 27 long-distance running records, told Reuters he was joining up on Wednesday. The Olympic silver medallist runner Feyisa Lilesa would also enlist, local media reported. Continue reading...
With shock eliminations and rushed challenges, the third series hasn’t compared to previous brash, irreverent outings. It’s time to bring back the authenticity – and the joyIn recent years, RuPaul’s Drag Race has become a mainstay of international TV, with outposts from Spain and Australia to Thailand and Canada. The UK version debuted at the end of 2019 to much acclaim, with two more series filmed in London and Manchester following in quick succession. The third – currently airing on BBC Three – has seen a number of twists on the format, however, with shock eliminations and surprise saves, and lip-syncs used to separate both the top and the bottom of the pile. It’s the closest the UK series has felt to its US counterpart, but in doing so it risks losing the subversive, cheeky charm that made it so irresistible.In fact, the first two series of Drag Race UK were worlds away from the heavily produced and polished US series. Embracing the camp irreverence of its queens, it allowed them to shine on their own terms, relishing their rough edges and quintessentially British pop culture references (think EastEnders, Gemma Collins and, er, Margaret Thatcher). Breathing new life into Drag Race, it struck the balance between revering and ridiculing the franchise. It also celebrated queer people and shared their stories in a way that many shows struggle to do, with British drag celebrated on the global stage. Continue reading...
When Rana came to Britain from India, aged 16, he encountered racism for the very first time. Soon he was dedicating his life to the fight to end itBalwinder Rana was 16 when he first spoke to a white person. It was 1963, on a sunlit but freezing spring day, and he had just landed at Heathrow airport, after taking his first plane journey, on his first trip outside Punjab, India. He had arrived to join his father and his brother, who had moved to England two years earlier.“How long are you staying here?” the white immigration officer asked. “It’s up to my father,” a sheepish Rana replied. Continue reading...
IAEA head says failure to gain renewed access to sites casts doubt over chances of restoring 2015 dealThe head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog has said he has failed to reach a deal with Iran over renewed access to key nuclear sites after talks in Tehran.Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the failure was seriously affecting the agency’s ability to do its work and the chances of a restoration of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Continue reading...
Parents wanted a second child to act as bone marrow donor to their son but ended up with moreA hospital in Belgium has been ordered to compensate a couple for their “shock” and “impoverishment” after they ended up having three children by IVF treatment owing to a mistake at its fertility clinic.It is the first time the Belgian courts have found that a healthy child can be the cause of loss to parents. Continue reading...
On 6 December 1921, the treaty ended the war of independence and provided for the establishment of the Irish Free State as a self-governing dominion within the British Commonwealth. See how the Guardian reported events7 December 1921 Continue reading...
by Guardian readers, Rachel Obordo and Alfie Packham on (#5S9EW)
It’s the biggest album of the year – and Guardian readers are split on whether Adele’s latest magnum mope-us is raw or overdoneIt’s so upfront and honest. You know exactly the story she’s telling, and even if you haven’t experienced divorce yourself, you feel every word of it. Her voice is sounding better than it’s ever done, using so much more of her range – just listen to Love is A Game. Gone are the lofty metaphors that hint at heartbreak, replaced with extremely raw and naked lyrics that welcome you in to her experiences. I think it’s much more poetic than before. Best album so far. Continue reading...
The human price of Qatar’s World Cup dream. Plus, Canada’s flood pains.Get the Guardian Weekly delivered to your doorAround a year after the stunning announcement, in 2010, that the tiny, oil-rich Gulf nation of Qatar would host the 2022 football World Cup, the Guardian journalist Pete Pattisson began investigating why dozens of Nepalese workers repatriated from Qatar back to their families had never made it home alive. It was the beginning of nearly 10 years of reporting by the Guardian into the often brutal conditions faced by hundreds of thousands of migrant workers tasked with building Qatar’s state-of-the-art stadiums, as well as the roads, hotels and infrastructure needed to host the biggest sporting event on Earth.With a year to go until the tournament kicks off, Pattisson considers what has really changed for Qatar’s migrant workers, while David Conn asks what the most controversial World Cup in history will tell us about shifting global influence, power and wealth. Continue reading...
The internal disunity is noisy enough to create the impression the prime minister isn’t in full command of his troopsOn Monday, news photographers returned chuckling after an early assignment because the defence minister, Peter Dutton, had been seen smiling, spontaneously, in daylight, apparently without effort.Dutton smiling is a persistent Canberra in-joke. Back in 2018, when the right faction came for Malcolm Turnbull, and Dutton was the candidate, the hard man of the Liberal party thought – and said – he needed to smile more and “maybe show a different side to what I show when I talk about border protection”.Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Continue reading...
Police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters demanding the prime minister step down, amid reports of lootingPolice in Solomon Islands have used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse hundreds of protesters, who allegedly burned down a building in the parliament precinct, a police station and a store in the nation’s capital of Honiara, amid reports of looting.The protesters marched on the parliamentary precinct in the east of Honiara, where they allegedly set fire to a leaf hut next to Parliament House where MPs and staffers go to smoke and eat lunch. Continue reading...
The Nobel laureate’s tale of a coup in 1950s Guatemala speaks to our timesThis is the kind of novel that mocks the give-it-10-pages, I-need-to-be-grabbed-because-life-is-too-short school of reading. Even those of the trust-the-artist, persevere-and-stand-fast persuasion should prepare to be tested. I confess: I was confused, bewildered, lost. I wrote down the names of the characters. I backtracked. I cross-tracked. I re-tracked. The shape of the narrative only really began to declare itself around page 90. But then … oh, what an engaging education Harsh Times turned out to be, and how I came to look forward to my time in its company.I should not have doubted a master. Now 85, Mario Vargas Llosa has won numerous literary prizes, from the Nobel down. He ran for president of Peru in 1990 and has a serious claim to be the pre-eminent Latin American writer of his generation. He has written myriad plays, novels, much journalism and nonfiction. In many ways, he is the embodiment of what a great novelist should be: unafraid to write panoptic political novels about the fate of nations and the clash of political ideologies; intellectually capable of encompassing such scope; artistically skilful enough to suffuse it with resonance, torque and drama; and all of this without losing the immersive kinesis of individual stories taken from all points on the compass of the human character. Continue reading...
by Helen Pidd and Weronika Strzyżyńska on (#5S9A1)
Pedestrians call them ugly and a nuisance but council says money is sorely needed after years of cutsEarlier this year, Manchester city council declared ambitions to become a pedestrian paradise. “We want walking to be the main way people get around the city centre,” proclaimed the town hall’s transport plan. “Pavements and public spaces will be high quality, well-maintained, green and accessible – catering for everyone, no matter what their age or mobility.”Yet this autumn, 86 mysterious grey boxes were plonked on pavements across the city which did pretty much the opposite. Measuring more than a metre across, the metal monoliths obstructed the footway, failing what transport engineers call “the double buggy test” while upsetting wheelchair users and aesthetes alike. Continue reading...
by Helen Davidson in Taipei, and agencies on (#5S9A2)
Beijing urges Washington to stick to the ‘one China’ principle amid rising tensions over TaiwanChina’s government has accused Joe Biden of “a mistake” in inviting Taiwan to participate in a democracy summit alongside 109 other democratic governments.Taiwan was included in a list of participants for next month’s Summit for Democracy, published by the state department on Tuesday. Taiwan is a democracy and self-governing, but Beijing claims it is a province of China and has accused its government of separatism. Continue reading...
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