Chief executive says findings are ‘extraordinary’ and that council must earn back city’s trustLiverpool city council has accepted the findings and recommendations of a damning report which found a “serious breakdown of governance” at the local authority, including reducing the number of councillors and changing the way they are elected.It also pledged to work with the commissioners appointed by the government to oversee some council departments. Continue reading...
French artist Xavier Marabout wins case and €10,000 in damages after Moulinsart contacted galleries displaying his artThe French artist who was sued by the Tintin creator Hergé’s heirs over his paintings that place the boy adventurer in romantic encounters has won his case after a court deemed them parodies.Xavier Marabout’s dreamy artworks imagine Tintin into the landscapes of Edward Hopper, including a take on Queensborough Bridge, 1913, or talking with a less-clothed version of Hopper’s Chop Suey. Continue reading...
From Jeffrey Tambor to Joss Whedon, high-profile accusations of improper behaviour are a minefield for TV makers – especially if the A-listers go rogueIn 2018, HBO breathlessly announced a brand-new drama from one of television’s most celebrated auteurs. The network was, it said, “honoured” to be providing a home for The Nevers, Joss Whedon’s long-awaited return to the small screen. A complex Victorian-era fantasy led by tormented female protagonists with supernatural powers, it had the Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator’s fingerprints all over it. Whedon would be writer, director and executive producer, and described his “odd, intimate epic” as “the most ambitious narrative” he had ever created.Then, in November the same year, Whedon abruptly abandoned his passion project. He attributed his exit to tiredness (“I am genuinely exhausted, and am stepping back to marshal my energy towards my own life”). In a statement, HBO said: “We have parted ways with Joss Whedon. We remain excited about the future of The Nevers and look forward to its premiere.” But behind the scenes, a reputation-destroying storm appeared to be brewing. In July last year, the actor Ray Fisher claimed Whedon had been abusive while directing the blockbuster Justice League. Then he was accused of being “casually cruel” and perpetuating a “toxic” atmosphere on the Buffy set by the actors Charisma Carpenter and Amber Benson. Michelle Trachtenberg, who was 14 when she was cast as Buffy’s younger sister, claimed that Whedon was not allowed to be in a room alone with her. (In February, HBO’s chief content officer Casey Bloys said that the company had received “no complaints or no reports of inappropriate behaviour” against Whedon. Representatives for Whedon did not immediately respond when approached for comment for this piece.) Continue reading...
by Vincent Ni China affairs correspondent on (#5HQXS)
While Covid-19 crisis has led to more positive reporting on Beijing, global news outlets have become more reliant on official viewsOver the past year, researchers who study China have begun closely scrutinising how the country is positioning itself in a world that its leader, Xi Jinping, has said is “experiencing profound changes unseen in a century”.Supporters say that as a major player in international politics, China’s viewpoint deserves to be heard. Opponents, however, worry that the world’s media are becoming too credulous of China. Continue reading...
An Indigenous New Zealand lawmaker was thrown out of New Zealand’s parliament for performing a Māori haka in protest against what he said were racist arguments.Rawiri Waititi told lawmakers in the chamber that he was forced to listen to a ‘constant barrage of insults’ directed toward Indigenous people. Speaker Trevor Mallard told Waititi to sit down, but instead he performed the haka, a traditional dance or challenge accompanied by a chant.‘Order. The member will now leave the chamber,’ Mallard told Waititi, which he did along with his co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer
Health minister would not be drawn on whether Aishwarya Aswath’s death could have been avoided over Easter weekendThe Western Australian government has apologised for a “failure” at a Perth hospital where a seven-year-old girl died after her parents’ desperate pleas for help were ignored.Aishwarya Aswath spent two hours waiting in the emergency department at Perth Children’s hospital during the Easter weekend after presenting with a fever and being triaged in the second-least urgent category. Continue reading...
Labor’s Linda Burney says migrants ‘have consistently been left behind and neglected by this government’The Coalition’s proposal to force migrants to wait four years for family and carers payments has been labelled “unusual” and “harsh” by the federal opposition.The $671m cost-cutting measure was the largest saving in Tuesday’s budget. It sets up a political fight with Labor which could try and block the changes which will require legislation but won’t deliver substantial savings until 2024-25. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker Political correspondent on (#5HQSR)
County court judgment puts prime minister at potential risk of bad credit rating and action by bailiffsBoris Johnson has had a county court judgment issued against him for a debt that has not been repaid, official records show, placing the prime minister at risk of not only a bad credit rating but potential enforcement action by bailiffs arriving at Downing Street.The official register of county court judgments for England and Wales shows that Johnson had a judgment against him in October last year over an unpaid debt of £535. The register does not give details of to whom the debt is owed. Continue reading...
by Calla Wahlquist (now) and Amy Remeikis (earlier) on (#5HQB6)
Coalition budget delivers $30bn in tax breaks and money for fossil fuel projects but no measures to help struggling universities or clean energy projects. Follow all the latest news and reaction to the 2021 federal budget as it happens
Cox’s character in the revenge thriller given deep voice of Roberto Pedicini, sparking backlash over European dubbing of trans actorsThe Italian-language version of Emerald Fennell’s revenge thriller Promising Young Woman has come under fire for giving trans actor Laverne Cox a male voice. Scheduled to hit theatres across the country on 13 May, the release has been pushed back after a clip of Una Donna Promettente was posted by Universal Pictures Italy on 6 May. In the since-restricted video, Cox’s character, Gail, talks to protagonist Cassie, played by Carey Mulligan, in a distinctively masculine tone. The Orange Is the New Black star was given the deep tones of voice actor Roberto Pedicini. Italian viewers couldn’t believe their ears, immediately taking to social media to voice their outrage.“I think this dubbing choice was a straight-up act of violence,” Italian trans actor and voice actor Vittoria Schisano tells the Guardian. “It’s insulting. I’d feel bullied if I were [Cox],” she added. Schisano dubbed Cox on Netflix documentary Amend: The Fight for America, and was the Italian voice behind trans character Natalie on the latest season of Big Mouth. Her most recent project is Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon, where she voices General Atitaya. Schisano says she doesn’t know any other trans voice actors in Italy and wasn’t even asked to read for Cox’s role in Promising Young Woman. Continue reading...
Languishing in a lunch rut? Extremely bored of omelettes? Here are some super-fast, super-tasty alternatives – from crab crumpets to a roast pepper delight
Nick Bailey begins action against force over trauma he continues to suffer three years after being exposed to nerve agentThe police officer who was poisoned in the Salisbury novichok attack has lodged papers in the high court suing Wiltshire police over the trauma he continues to suffer three years after being exposed to the nerve agent.Nick Bailey was critically injured after coming into contact with novichok when he entered the house of the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in March 2018. Continue reading...
Author, who usually writes poetry, beat two previous winners to the prestigious NZ$57,000 book awardA collection of short stories has won the top prize at the Ockham New Zealand book awards – only the second time a collection has won the fiction prize in the awards’ history, and the first time in over a decade.Airini Beautrais won the NZ$57,000 Jann Medlicott Acorn prize for fiction for her collection, Bug Week & Other Stories. Beautrais has published several books of poetry, but Bug Week is her first work of fiction. She was nominated alongside two previous winners of the award – Catherine Chidgey and Pip Adam – as well as a past nominee, Brannavan Gnanalingam. Continue reading...
by Bethan McKernan, Jamie Macwhirter, Meital Miselevi on (#5HQNF)
More than six years after Houthi rebels seized Yemen's capital and forced its government into exile, a bloody civil war still rages across the country. Despite a Saudi-led bombing campaign that has destroyed Yemeni infrastructure and crippled its economy, the Houthis remain in control of most of the country's population centres.The Guardian's Middle East correspondent, Bethan McKernan, explains why a new Houthi offensive could heap more misery on the millions of civilians caught in the crossfire
Peter Brathwaite knew Bobby (Don’t Worry Be Happy) McFerrin but not his father Robert, the first Black man to sing at the Met. He celebrates a trailblazer and an inspiration
Rawiri Waititi had accused the opposition of racism and was asked to sit down by the speaker, but instead performed the ceremonial danceMāori party co-leader Rawiri Waititi has been thrown out of New Zealand’s parliament after denouncing rhetoric from the opposition as racist and performing a haka.Waititi said the opposition was inciting racism across New Zealand through its stance on Māori healthcare. The haka is a ceremonial dance for Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand – it can represent a challenge, and is sometimes performed in moments of conflict. Continue reading...
Next week, after 14 months of closure and despair, the arts are reawakening. But the damage caused by Covid runs deep – and recovery is by no means assured“If we had to close down again,” says Andrew Lloyd Webber, “we couldn’t survive.” Webber is staging his new musical Cinderella, with book by Oscar-winner Emerald Fennell, in a full-capacity theatre in July, having already delayed its premiere twice. He has mortgaged his house in London and will be selling one of his seven theatres. “It cost £1m a month to keep them dark,” he says. “You can’t just lock them up and throw away the key. I don’t run the theatres for profit and there wasn’t a reserve.”Across the UK, the arts are reawakening after over 14 months of unprecedented disruption. As venues reopen – dates differ across the nations, though 17 May is a key date in Scotland and England – there will be much to celebrate, and many delights in store for audiences. But the pandemic hit culture and entertainment more severely than any other part of the economy, including hospitality, throwing fresh light on already deep inequalities. Continue reading...
When he applied to university in the 80s, Brown was told to leave the UK. Decades later, finally awarded a law degree, he set about helping people who had been targeted by the Home OfficeIn the summer of 1982, Anthony Brown, then 21, was hoping for an acceptance letter for a place to study law in London. He had worked hard for his A-levels in computing, maths and physics at North Trafford College in Manchester and was full of energy and idealism. After his degree, he planned to join the police, to help counter the violent style of policing he had seen in television coverage of the recent Brixton riots.Instead, he received a letter from the Home Office telling him he was in the UK illegally and needed to report to Manchester airport for deportation. Brown, who was born in Jamaica but moved to England as a six-year-old in 1967, had been classified as an immigration offender. It was immediately clear that he was not going to be able to start a law degree. Continue reading...
Three recruitment staff suspended as police commissioner labels alleged discrimination ‘completely disappointing’Two hundred men missed out on joining the Queensland police force because recruiters discriminated against them in favour of women, a new report states.The Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission has said the state police service’s 50/50 recruitment strategy resulted in discriminatory practices being used against male candidates. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Costs of War study looked at losses suffered by Nato allies over 2001-17, finding UK lost 455 livesBritish and Canadian troops were more than twice as likely to get killed in Afghanistan as their US counterparts, according to a study that looks at the scale of the sacrifice made by Nato allies over the course of the 20-year war.The UK also gave more to Afghanistan than the US in the form of economic and humanitarian assistance as a percentage of GDP, the study published on Wednesday by the Costs of War project at Brown University found. Continue reading...
by Denis Campbell Health policy editor on (#5HQDH)
Lockdown was reason behind sharp fall in number of people treated by NHS for injuries outside the home, say researchersLockdown led to the smallest number of people on record being treated by the NHS for injuries caused by violence away from the home, a study shows.The closure of pubs, clubs and other venues that sell alcohol as part of the bans on social mixing was a key reason for the sharp decline in serious violence, the researchers say. Continue reading...
Police say the boy was on a football field at the time of the incidentA nine-year-old boy has died after apparently being struck by lightning on a football field in Blackpool, police have said.Officers from Blackpool police were called shortly after 5pm on Tuesday to fields near to School Road after reports a child had been injured. Continue reading...
by Ben Beaumont-Thomas and Laura Snapes on (#5HQ4E)
Dua Lipa, the Weeknd, Elton John and more are playing the biggest night in British music to an actual indoor crowd of thousands. Follow the red carpet and ceremony here10.09pm BST[muted swear words]10.08pm BSTAn unrecognisable, blonde Maisie Williams presents this award, naming Swift “one of the biggest names in the history of music ... an inspiration to people all around the world”. In a VT, Selena Gomez says she’s “the same girl I met when I was 15 ... generous, kind and cares so deeply about her fans.” Ed Sheeran says “fans are constantly getting a different side of her and it’s a very difficult thing to do time and time again”; Zoe Kravitz says “nobody works harder”; Annie Lennox calls her “exceptional and I truly love how she uses her platform to advocate for women and the LGBT community.”And here she is, thrilled by the presence of Maisie Williams (“anyone who knows me at all knows that Game of Thrones is my life”) and Annie Lennox on the VT (“my soul left my body”).“I wanna thank the Brits and anyone who decided that I would be up for this incredible honour. i’m really proud to be part of this musical community especially in a year where we needed music so much – and what we needed even more was the help and support of the NHS and the key workers that are here for us tonight. Thank you for everything you’ve done for us.”We all know what happened next – the world changed and I ended up putting out three albums instead. Making Folklore and Evermore was one of the most unique, cathartic, extraordinary experiences I’ve ever had.”I wanna thank my friends and family, who know exactly who they are, whose opinion of me never changed whether my stock was up or down. If there’s one thing that I’ve learned it’s that you have to look around you every day and take note of the people who’ve always believed in you ... Never take them for granted. There are so many incredible artists in this room tonight and a lot of people watching who have goals and ambitions for yourselves. I need you to hear me: there is no career path that comes free of negativity. If you’re met with resistance that probably means that you’re doing something new. If you’re experiencing turbulence or pressure that probably means you’re rising and there might be times where you put your whole heart and soul into something and it is met with cynicism or scepticism. You cannot let it crush you: you have to let it fuel you because we live in a world where anyone has the right to say anything about you that they want at any time but please remember that you have the right to prove them wrong. I love you all. Thank you so much for this beautiful honour, thank you to the Brits, this is amazing. Continue reading...
Report says killings during British army operations in Belfast in 1971 were unjustifiedTen people killed in Belfast during a British army operation in 1971 were unarmed, innocent civilians and posed no threat to soldiers, an inquest in Northern Ireland has found.The damning findings in a long-awaited coroner’s report implicated the army in an atrocity to rival Bloody Sunday, potentially galvanising a new push to prosecute army veterans. Continue reading...
Wednesday: promise of tax cuts, funding for aged care, mental health services and childcare. Plus: Victorian man Covid-positive after finishing quarantineGood morning. We’ve got all the news from last night’s budget for you this morning – with funding for aged care, mental health, child care, plus tax breaks and much more. If you’re all caught up, we’ve also got a lovely story about Scottish highland cows, plus all the important news from the world while you were sleeping.Josh Frydenberg has declared “team Australia” is “coming back” from a grim Covid recession using his budget to extend tax cuts for business, and workers and provide a multibillion-dollar boost to aged care and mental health services. There’s also an attempt to woo women with a $1.7bn investment in childcare, $20.5m for the implementation of the Respect@Work inquiry report and funding to build skills in industries dominated by women. You can read Frydenberg’s full address (and between the lines) here, helpfully annotated by Katharine Murphy, who had plenty to say about the implication of this year’s budget for a potential election. “I’m not sure I’d go as far as this being an election budget, but this is, absolutely, a keeping your options open budget,” she said. If you’re not sure where to start, head to Guardian Australia’s handy breakdown to choose what matters to you. Continue reading...
Minister says country ‘shaken up’ by killing of Caroline Crouch, 20, while husband tied up and dog hung from banisterThe Greek government has offered a €300,000 (about £257,000) reward to try to track down the culprits behind the murder of a British-born student in her suburban Athens home.The reward was publicised hours after Caroline Crouch, 20, was strangled in front of her baby daughter by armed burglars who had bound her husband, Babis Anagnostopoulos, to a chair after breaking in. The intruders also killed the family’s dog, leaving it hanging from a banister in the house. Continue reading...
The new outbreak is the predictable result both of recent grievances and accumulated injusticesTen children were among 28 killed in Gaza in the Holy month of Ramadan, while two Israeli women were killed as Israeli air strikes pounded the territory and Palestinian militants fired rockets. In Jerusalem, Israeli police fired stun grenades, teargas and rubber bullets at one of Islam’s holiest sites, leaving 300 Palestinians injured. Could this get worse? Yes. The prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has vowed to increase the intensity of attacks. Israel and Hamas have fought three wars as well as periodic battles. Though they often prepare their exits, events can have a momentum of their own.The tinder was the decision of Israeli authorities to prevent Palestinians from gathering at the Damascus Gate following night-time prayers during Ramadan, as they normally do; a spate of intercommunal violence; and plans to evict hundreds of Palestinians from the homes they have lived in for decades in Sheikh Jarrah in occupied East Jerusalem, giving them to Jewish settlers. Under Israeli law, Jews who can prove a title from before the 1948 war can claim back properties in the city. This cannot be justified when no similar law exists for the Palestinians who lost their homes. The evictions have been described by a UN rights body as a possible war crime. Aggressive tactics used by police there and at the al-Aqsa mosque reflect a culture of impunity. And only at the 11th hour, when the damage had already been done, was Monday’s provocative ultra-right march rerouted away from the Muslim quarter of the Old City. Continue reading...
Ruth Gilligan’s thriller about eight men who cull cattle in rural Ireland wins £10,000 for books that ‘best evoke the spirit of a place’Ruth Gilligan’s literary thriller The Butchers, set in the Irish borderlands during the BSE crisis, has won the Royal Society of Literature’s Ondaatje prize for books that “best evoke the spirit of a place”.Gilligan’s novel beat titles including James Rebanks’ memoir of his family farm, English Pastoral, and Nina Mingya Powles’ poetry collection Magnolia, 木蘭 to the £10,000 prize. The Butchers opens with an ancient curse that decrees that eight men must touch every cow in Ireland as it dies, and follows a group of eight men as they roam rural Ireland in the 1990s, slaughtering the cows of those who still believe in the old ways. The novel unpicks the mysterious death of one of the Butchers, whose corpse is found suspended from a meat hook. Continue reading...
Readers respond to the former prime minister’s hope for a middle way for Scotland rather than independenceLike Banquo’s ghost, Gordon Brown returns to haunt the independence debate in Scotland (Many Scots don’t want independence, but a more cooperative union, 9 May). And much like said spirit, he has come to represent not salvation but bad portents, because the last time he appeared was with “the vow” to deliver greater autonomy for Scotland within the union, in the hope of puncturing greater aspirations just prior to the referendum in September 2014. Then came David Cameron’s Downing Street “English votes for English laws” speech the day after the result, followed by the illusory promises of the Smith report. But here’s Brown again, heaving into view.The truth is that either the vow wasn’t delivered on or the crumbs it offered weren’t enough for an ever greater number of people in Scotland who see the union for what it is: not a partnership of equals but an anachronism predicated on Scotland being forever subjugated to the Conservative-dominated political direction of travel down south. Continue reading...
Architect known for his flamboyant, postmodernist buildings in Chicago, Berlin and cities around the worldStanding on a corner of downtown Chicago as a dazzling rocket ship of mirrored glass and salmon pink steel, the James R Thompson Center, more than any other building, encapsulates the flamboyant oeuvre of the German-American architect Helmut Jahn, who has died aged 81 in a cycling accident.The glitzy government building, originally known as the State of Illinois Center, is a fitting monument to the larger than life architect, as exuberant as it is divisive. Continue reading...
Jury finds Pontins staff in Suffolk failed to follow policy while restraining Paul ReynoldsA father-of-three who died at a Pontins holiday park would have lived had he not been restrained by the neck and placed in a prone position by security staff there, an inquest jury has found.Paul Reynolds, 38, from Colchester, died in hospital two days after the incident at Pontins Pakefield in Lowestoft, Suffolk, on 14 February 2017, in which he became involved in an altercation with another guest. Continue reading...
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