The director’s death aged 65 is a huge blow for British cinema, whose very best qualities – of wit, intelligence and subtlety – Michell exemplifiedRoger Michell was the TV and movie director who had a midas touch with actors and with a particular type of English material: witty, literate, poignant and romantic. Michell was a master at directing anything on the continuum between Jane Austen and Richard Curtis, and knew what animated both.Related: Roger Michell – a career in pictures Continue reading...
Vigil and walk planned as south London community tries to come to terms with suspected murder of 28-year-old schoolteacherIt was quiet in Cator Park on Thursday morning. Every now and then, someone would pass by, jogging or walking their dog, breaking the stillness across the green space in south-east London flanked by the new-build apartment blocks of Kidbrooke Village. Its serenity jarred heavily with the sight of press and police, and the sound of a helicopter overhead.Several passersby approached the police cordon along Cambert Way, pausing to lay flowers, reflect and read tributes left in memory of Sabina Nessa. The 28-year-old primary school teacher is thought to have been murdered as she walked through the park on her way to meet a friend at the Depot bar last Friday – a journey that should have taken her five minutes. Continue reading...
by Hosted by Jane Lee. Written by Rafqa Touma. Recomm on (#5PXD2)
Celebrating a birthday, within Covid guidelines, was enough to put three 18-year-olds in quarantine. Then one ended up in hospital unable to breathe or walk. Gabrielle Jackson, Guardian Australia associate editor of visual and audio, recommends this piece by Rafqa Touma about teenagers suffering from CovidYou can read the original article here: ‘I wasn’t certain I was going to leave hospital’: Sydney teenagers tell of terrifying Covid experience
The cheeky 00s revival speaks volumes about cultural re-appropriation and the emergence from lockdownThe idea of what’s “sexy” has been going through something of a metamorphosis in fashion of late. Since the pandemic shuttered any semblance of flesh-bearing and instead saw virtually everyone opt for chunky, tie-dye jogging bottoms, there has been an effort to bring sexy back. The widely predicted “vaxxed and waxed” Hot Girl Summer was delayed, but recently, we’ve seen a heap of celebrities baring more than usual, whether in bodysuits or in Love Island-inspired “pin tops”. Continue reading...
With clone emperors in haute couture and exotic wolf-lizards poised to attack, Foundation and For All Mankind herald a new era of ravishing spectaculars. Can they do for sci-fi what Game of Thrones did for fantasy?
Warnings issued that Kemi Badenoch’s messages could drive black supporters away from Tory partyThe equalities minister, Kemi Badenoch, has been criticised after leaked messages revealed she claimed not to “care about colonialism”, amid warnings that Conservatives could haemorrhage support from the black community.Badenoch, whose brief was recently expanded to include a junior ministerial position in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, reportedly wrote: “I don’t care about colonialism because [I] know what we were doing before colonialism got there. They came in and just made a different bunch of winners and losers. Continue reading...
Westminister’s bilateral aid axe falls heavily on education, gender and equalityDetails of the cuts of more than 40% in the UK bilateral aid spending programme have been set out by the Foreign Office for the first time, including huge cuts to humanitarian aid, girls’ equality and climate.It is the first time the government has outlined how the aid axe is intended to fall in 2021 as ministers cut the aid programme from 0.7% of UK gross national income to 0.5%, a decision now endorsed in a vote by MPs, but not peers, and likely to remain in force for many years. Continue reading...
Across a decade of rolling threats, from the eurozone to Brexit and Covid, Germany’s outgoing chancellor focused on holding the EU togetherIt was Monday 13 July 2015 and dawn had broken when Angela Merkel said it was all over: Greece would be leaving the eurozone. After 15 hours of all-nightcrisis talks, it looked like disaster. Merkel gathered her papers and was heading towards the door. If the summit had ended at that moment the history of the European Union, its fragile currency and Merkel’s legacy would be very different.But the drama took another turn. Donald Tusk blocked the exit. Throughout the night, the French president, François Hollande, had been cajoling the German chancellor to think again. Now Tusk, European Council president, refused to let her leave, persuading her to reconvene with him and Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras, warning of the stakes for the EU. “In five years in the discussions between Hollande and Merkel it was a unique occasion in which Hollande really won the battle with Merkel,” Pierre Sellal, then France’s ambassador to the EU, said. Hollande helped convince Merkel not to run the risk of ‘Grexit’, suggested Sellal: “It was Pandora’s box, the consequences of which were impossible to predict.” Continue reading...
The bill gives citizens the right to sue anyone who helps someone who seeks an abortion, as in TexasAn anti-abortion bill that would ban abortions after an embryonic heartbeat is detected, about six weeks, and allow citizens to sue doctors who perform them, modeled after Texas’s abortion ban SB8, was introduced in Florida on Wednesday.Filed by the Republican representative Webster Barnaby, the bill allows people to sue practitioners and others who aid people seeking abortions up to six months after an abortion was performed versus only four months allocated in Texas’s SB8. The implications of the bill have alarmed many concerned about the role of anti-abortion vigilante lawsuits. Continue reading...
If a judge does not intervene by 30 September, those selected for the program will become ineligible: ‘We are left behind’Thousands of Afghan families who were selected for US visas are stuck in the war-torn country, as the US government’s failure to schedule their visa interviews ahead of a final deadline puts them at risk of missing their opportunity to leave.If a US judge does not intervene by 30 September, more than 2,100 Afghans who were selected for the diversity visa program last year will become ineligible for such a visa. Continue reading...
by Lisa O'Carroll Brexit correspondent on (#5PX34)
Airlines may turn away EU nationals with settled status due to complex residency rules, says BrusselsConcerns have been raised that EU citizens living in the UK may not be allowed to board flights into the country because of confusion created by new government rules over ID cards and passports.From 1 October, EU citizens who do not have the post-Brexit right to live in the UK will not be able to use EU, EEA or Swiss national ID cards to enter the country. Continue reading...
She was on a major label, hanging out with Dua Lipa – but being sidelined behind the scenes. Now independent and thriving, the UK musician has a cautionary tale for women in the music industryThe pandemic temporarily spelled game over for emerging pop stars: who could compete for headlines and livestreams with the likes of Dua Lipa? For Connie Constance, it stalled a career she had only just jump-started. A few months earlier, the Watford-born songwriter broke ties with AMF, then an imprint of Virgin EMI, the major label that released her 2019 debut album, English Rose, when she felt sidelined. She spent the last of her money on a trip to Los Angeles, writing songs, networking and restoring her musical confidence. Back home, her manager secured a distribution deal that would allow her to start her own label. She was raring to go. “Then Covid came in and I was like: ‘No!’” she hoots, thrusting her hand towards her webcam. “What? How is this happening!”In lockdown one, writing songs became difficult again. “The lyrics that were coming out were just so dead,” says the quick-to-laughter 26-year-old who was born Constance Power, video-calling from her boyfriend’s place in London. So she left music alone and “made loads of mansions on Sims 4”. Then a host of social issues bubbled up – Black Lives Matter following the murder in the US of George Floyd, Marcus Rashford’s free school meals campaign – that spoke to a woman who once said she found politics boring. Continue reading...
Contest to lead ruling party and country appears to be two-horse race between Taro Kono and Fumio KishidaThe race to become leader of Japan’s ruling party and the next prime minister is too close to call ahead of next week’s party election. It is a rare moment of uncertainty after almost a decade during which Shinzō Abe became the country’s longest-serving prime minister until he was replaced last year by his close ally Yoshihide Suga.When Abe abruptly announced his resignation last August, citing the recurrence of a chronic health problem, the identity of his successor was never in doubt. As Abe’s chief cabinet secretary for almost eight years, Suga had proved a loyal lieutenant, perfecting the role of taciturn spokesperson in his daily encounters with the media. Continue reading...
Soon to be seen as the father of Venus and Serena Williams in the Oscar-tipped King Richard, Smith has lent his everyman charm to comedies, sci-fi and even a buddy movie pairing a cop with an orcWill Smith has made many more than 20 films, but the economy of critical pain means this must always feature at the bottom of any list of any length. A horrifyingly cutesy, toxic dramedy with Smith as the tech entrepreneur, who loses his child to cancer and then starts writing impassioned letters to abstract concepts such as Death, Love and Time. Continue reading...
From 30 September, people aged 12-17 visiting France from the UK must present a vaccine passport to access most public places in the countryFrom 30 September, people aged 12-17 visiting France from the UK must present a “passe sanitaire” (vaccine passport) to access most public places in the country. Previously, this was only required for people aged 18 years and older.The UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) does not recommend that most 12 to 15-year-olds get vaccinated and, for the time being, is only backing offering a first dose to 16 and 17-year-olds. This may pose practical problems for many UK-based parents, whose only option would seem to be paying for PCR tests. Continue reading...
Fourteen questions on general knowledge and topical trivia plus a few jokes every Thursday – how will you fare?The quiz master remains on holiday, but before he departed he left behind a crumpled up piece of paper behind a filing cabinet with 14 questions written on it which has taken ages for some poor soul at the Guardian’s office to type in. As ever, the questions are on general knowledge and topical trivia, there’s a hidden Doctor Who reference to find, there’s a picture of the divine Kate Bush, and one question is for no readily apparent reason formatted with anagrams. Have fun – let us know how you get on in the comments.The Thursday quiz, No 22 Continue reading...
Medieval plazas, fortresses like film sets and seafood straight out of the net feature in your pick of these lesser-known destinationsI stopped in Salamanca for lunch when driving from Madrid to Lisbon and ended up staying there for a week, caught up in the lovely atmosphere of the city. Its graceful red sandstone architecture, with two cathedrals and splendid university buildings dating from the 15th century, gives the city the quality of an alfresco cultural living room – where academics, students and locals live on a sort of dreamy, theatrical open-air film set. Street names are hand-painted in scarlet on signs and the youthful population creates a hedonistic vibe at night when darkness descends. By day, check out the Plaza Mayor and the lovely Doll Museum.
Referral to prosecutors comes as UK told plan to end Troubles prosecutions ‘could breach international law’A former police officer of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) has been referred to public prosecutors in Northern Ireland in relation to a series of potential offences including the sectarian murder of three brothers.John Martin, 24, Brian, 22, and their 17-year-old brother, Anthony Reavey, were shot by the notorious loyalist Glenanne gang at their home in County Armagh in 1976. Continue reading...
Activist Bill Browder warns of global reach of controversial law after being contacted by Foreign OfficeBritain has warned some Hong Kong critics in the UK about travelling abroad, according to high-profile human rights advocate Bill Browder, highlighting concerns about the cross-border reach of the Chinese region’s national security law.Browder, a well-known lobbyist for the use of sanctions against foreign governments involved in human rights abuses, said he was contacted by the UK Foreign Office earlier this month after he was named in a Hong Kong court during a foreign collusion case. Continue reading...
European human rights commissioner warns Northern Ireland secretary that amnesty is ‘deeply problematic’Boris Johnson’s plan to impose a statute of limitations to end all prosecutions related to the Troubles before 1998 could be in breach of international law, a European human rights commissioner has told the government.Dunja Mijatović of the Council of Europe has written to the secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Brandon Lewis, saying the UK’s proposals appear indistinguishable from an unconditional amnesty for those not yet convicted. Continue reading...
We’re among the thousands boycotting the UN food summit – it’s been hijacked by corporate interests while the voices of small-scale farmers go unheardThursday’s UN food summit proposes to help solve the world’s nutrition crisis, with 800 million people going hungry and 1.9 billion labelled obese, by better aligning food systems with development goals. But it won’t achieve any of this. The summit was hijacked early on by powerful corporate interests – but people are resisting.Hundreds of social movements and civil society groups across the world representing small-scale and subsistence food producers, consumers and environmentalists are protesting about the summit for being undemocratic, non-transparent and focused only on strengthening only one food system: that backed by the big corporations. Civil society bodies active at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), for instance, are running a massive grassroots boycott of the summit, and there is a website and several actions dedicated to it. Grain, a small nonprofit group campaigning for biodiversity-based food systems, shut down its website and social media in protest on Thursday and many other organisations are holding their own protests around the world. An online alternative forum in July, running in parallel with the pre-summit meeting in Rome, attracted about 9,000 participants. This week, even more are expected. Continue reading...
Special rapporteur says children as young as 20 weeks old are being seized by military in bid to force suspects to hand themselves inMyanmar’s military junta is systematically abducting the relatives of people it is seeking to arrest, including children as young as 20 weeks old, according the UN special rapporteur for the country.Tom Andrews told the UN Human Rights Council on Wednesday that conditions in the country have continued to deteriorate and that “current efforts by the international community to stop the downward spiral of events in Myanmar are simply not working”. Continue reading...
As pandemic widens inequalities, many developing countries spend more on debt than health, study saysMore than 100 countries face cuts to public spending on health, education and social protection as the Covid-19 pandemic compounds already high levels of debt, a new report says.The International Monetary Fund believes that 35 to 40 countries are “debt distressed” – defined as when a country is experiencing difficulties in servicing its debt, such as when there are arrears or debt restructuring. Continue reading...
UK PM says it is time for the world to ‘grow up’ and ‘listen to scientists’ in speech to general assemblyCop26 must be a “turning point for humanity” in just 40 days’ time, Boris Johnson has urged in a call to arms to fellow global leaders ahead of the climate summit in Glasgow.Addressing the UN general assembly in New York on Wednesday evening, Johnson warned it was time for humanity to “grow up”. Continue reading...
The Hollywood star made his comments as he accepted the San Sebastián film festival’s highest honourNobody is safe from the “instant rush to judgment” handed out by today’s cancel culture, Hollywood star Johnny Depp said Wednesday at a Spanish film festival where he accepted a lifetime achievement award.Depp, who last year lost a libel case against a British newspaper that labelled him a “wife-beater”, was responding to questions from journalists at the San Sebastián film festival in northern Spain. Continue reading...
The third dose will also be available for those considered high risk, however there was not enough evidence for broader authorizationThe US Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday authorized a booster dose of the Pfizer and BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for those ages 65 and older and some high-risk Americans, paving the way for a quick rollout of the shots.The booster dose is to be administered at least six months after completion of the second dose, and the authorization would include people most susceptible to severe disease and those in jobs that left them at risk, the FDA said. Continue reading...
The ‘godfather of modern Black cinema’ is best known for the film Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song!Melvin Van Peebles, the groundbreaking playwright, musician and movie director whose work ushered in the “Blaxploitation” wave of the 1970s and influenced film-makers long after, has died. He was 89.His family said in a statement that Van Peebles, father of the actor-director Mario Van Peebles, died Tuesday evening at his home in Manhattan. Continue reading...
Singer’s lawyer says in court filing that she consents to move but the first step should be her father’s removal from arrangementBritney Spears has said that she agrees with her father that the conservatorship that has controlled her life and money since 2008 should be terminated.The singer’s attorney, Mathew Rosengart, said in a court filing on Wednesday that she “fully consents” to “expeditiously” ending the conservatorship. Spears’s father, James Spears, requested to end the controversial arrangement in early September. Continue reading...
Email sent by officials potentially compromises safety of Afghans who may be eligible to relocate to the UKA second data breach by the Ministry of Defence in the space of a few days that could compromise the safety of Afghans has emerged.Defence officials sent an email that had the email addresses and some names of 55 people, which could be seen by all the recipients. Continue reading...
Khadija Okkarou had accused members of a ‘dangerous gang’ of kidnapping and torturing her for two monthsEleven men accused of kidnapping and gang-raping a Moroccan teenager have been each sentenced to 20 years in prison, the victim’s lawyer said on Wednesday, in a case that stirred national outrage.Khadija Okkarou, then 17, went public about the abuse in a video posted online in 2018. It was a rare move in the conservative north African country. Continue reading...
Analysis: Joe Biden has cleared the decks to focus on China. But how imminent is the danger?It may have been an inelegantly, even ineptly, executed pivot, gratuitously alienating key allies, but by leaving Afghanistan and forming the Australian, US and UK security pact in the Indo-Pacific, Joe Biden has at least cleared the decks to focus on his great foreign policy challenge – the systemic rivalry with China.Yet the concern now is how quickly this rivalry could escalate, especially in Taiwan. The linchpin of the US alliance system in south-east Asia, Taiwan is the biggest island in the “first island chain”, the group of islands that keeps China blocked in. It is China’s next target, and as the former British prime minister Theresa May pointed out, no one quite knows if the west is prepared to fight to save Taiwan or whether the new tripartite pact in some way places a new obligation on the UK to come to the country’s defence. Continue reading...
During the White House daily press briefing on Wednesday, press secretary Jen Psaki was asked for additional details about Joe Biden’s call with the French president Emmanuel Macron today, after which it was announced the French ambassador would return to Washington.Psaki noted that the phone call between the two leaders lasted about 30 minutes, and she said it was a “friendly” conversation. “[Biden] acknowledged that there could have been more discussion,” she said.
US and Australia not going back on cancelled €56bn submarine contract despite talk with French leaderFrance has agreed to return its ambassador to the US and Joe Biden has vowed not to cut Paris out of key future defence decisions in the Indo-Pacific after a phone call designed to calm French fury after he struck a submarine deal with Australia and the UK behind Emmanuel Macron’s back.In a joint statement, issued after the phone call ended a five-day standoff between the leaders, the two men agreed to meet in Europe in late October, probably at the G20 summit, to discuss how to improve consultations in future. Continue reading...
Serial killer known as the Yorkshire Ripper had been warned by prison authorities that he was vulnerablePeter Sutcliffe, the convicted serial killer known as the Yorkshire Ripper, refused to be shielded in prison in the months before he died from the coronavirus, an inquest has heard.Sutcliffe had been warned that he was vulnerable to Covid-19 by authorities at Frankland Prison near Durham. Continue reading...
The German chancellor has been an anchor of stability in turbulent times. Her departure raises big questions about the futureWhen Angela Merkel’s successor is identified in elections this Sunday, that person will be the first new holder of Europe’s most powerful elected office for 16 years. The mere change of leadership will be a shock for the whole continent. Germany is the EU’s foremost economic power (although France sees itself as a political equal).That strength has generally been wielded with deference to the wider European interest. Or rather, the two interests have been conflated. A culture of atonement for the past has made Germany especially committed to the EU’s founding mission – peace and prosperity by means of cross-border integration. For the continent’s smaller members, that has sometimes felt like integration on terms dictated by Berlin, especially when it comes to budget austerity. European solidarity is the key to German foreign policy, but aversion to public debt is its sacred economic creed. That has made for uncomfortable diplomacy within the eurozone. Continue reading...
His closeness to Trump has not helped and if agreement were struck by 2024 it would be considered rapid progressThree reasons. First, Britain exports more to the US than to any other country. When added together, the countries of the European Union count for more, but almost 15% of the UK’s goods exports went to the US last year. The US is also the No 1 country for UK services exports. Continue reading...
by Haroon Siddique Legal affairs correspondent on (#5PVWQ)
Former health secretary said ministers were worried if they paid compensation to haemophiliacs it might set a precedentA push in the 1980s for compensation for haemophiliacs infected with Aids through contaminated blood was “doomed to failure” because of opposition from Margaret Thatcher and the Treasury, a former health secretary has said.Norman Fowler, who was secretary state for health and social security between 1981 and 1987, told the infected blood inquiry that ministers were worried if they paid compensation to haemophiliacs it might set a precedent. Continue reading...
US president outlines plan at Covid summit, bringing America’s global donation to over 1.1bn doses amid backlash over boostersJoe Biden has announced that the US will donate an additional 500m Covid-19 vaccines to low- and middle-income countries around the world, bringing America’s total global donation to more than 1.1bn doses.The US president outlined the plan on Wednesday at a virtual coronavirus summit where he urged world leaders to “go big” in tackling the pandemic and closing the vaccination gap with poorer nations. Continue reading...
Controversial proposals for Tübingen are an attempt to deter car use in the city, with larger vehicles paying the mostThe mayor of the southern German city of Tübingen has attracted praise and scorn alike for a new plan to increase parking fees by 600% in an effort to discourage cars – especially large ones – from the city.Boris Palmer, a member of the Greens party, has won initial support for his proposal, which would see the annual parking fee for SUVs rise from 30 euros to 180. Continue reading...
Kidbrooke community wants to honour primary school teacher’s life despite feeling shocked and scaredFriends and neighbours of Sabina Nessa, a teacher who was found dead at the weekend, have described feeling scared and overwhelmed following her suspected murder, but determined to honour her life with a peaceful vigil.The community of Kidbrooke in Greenwich, south-east London, have organised a vigil at 7pm on Friday evening in Pegler Square, Kidbrooke, inviting those who cannot be there in person to light a candle on their doorstep at the same time. Continue reading...
Minsk accused of abandoning migrants at frontier in attempt to put pressure on EUFour people stranded on the border between Poland and Belarus have died in recent days, officials have said, amid continuing allegations that Minsk is abandoning migrants at its frontier in an attempt to put pressure on the EU.Polish authorities said three people, including an Iraqi man, were found dead, from hypothermia and exhaustion, on the Polish side of the border on Saturday, and the body of a woman was seen on the Belarus side on Sunday. Continue reading...
Actor shares personal experience to draw ‘flames of controversy away from vulnerable women’Uma Thurman has railed against the “horror” of Texas’s draconian new abortion law and called for the ban to be lifted, as she opened up about an abortion she had as a teenager.Writing for the Washington Post, the actor described her abortion publicly for the first time, calling it her “darkest secret”. She wrote about how she was “accidentally impregnated by a much older man” in her late teens and decided to terminate the pregnancy. Continue reading...