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Portrait of Lenin and spy tools among items snapped up at auction by group planning UK exhibitionIt depicts the Russian revolutionary leader in characteristically serious mood, staring across Red Square, perhaps, and rendered with more than a touch of kitsch.But while a Soviet-era oil painting of Vladimir Lenin, which sold for nearly $2,000 at auction in the US, might capture the man as many know him, its buyers are not exactly Bolsheviks. Continue reading...

Social distancing has reminded us what a crucial role touch plays in our wellbeing, says social and cultural historian Joe MoranWhen was the last time you touched someone you don’t live with? One day last March, probably; you’re not sure of the date. Did you shake hands with a new colleague at work? Did your coat brush against another commuter’s on the train? Did someone bump your elbow and mutter an apology when rushing past you on an escalator? If you’d known that was the last time you’d make contact with the body of a stranger, you’d have paid more attention.And what about the 8.2 million British adults who live on their own? Many will have gone nearly a year now without so much as a pat on the arm from another person. Touch is the sense we take most for granted, but we miss it when it’s gone. Psychologists have a term for the feelings of deprivation and abandonment we experience: “skin hunger”. Continue reading...

Lawyers for Stuart Page say no findings of hacking or misuse of private information made against himA British private investigator and security consultant whose company has just completed a four-year contract to protect the UK’s embassy in Tel Aviv is linked to a string of telecommunications hacking complaints dating back more than 20 years, according to high court judgments.A court judgment that touches on the career history of Stuart Page – the 69-year-old founder of the private security and intelligence firm Page Group – noted last May that the businessman “operates in a world of covert surveillance in which agents acquire confidential information unlawfully”. Continue reading...

After a tragedy where a man was killed by a fire in a tiny home, the city has blamed the man who built the structuresFor the thousands of homeless people who live in Toronto, winter represents the most challenging and dangerous season. Heavy snowfall crushes tents and cold rains leak through them, damaging belongings and soaking sleeping pads.When Khaleel Seivwright surveyed the city’s housing crisis last autumn, he hoped that his background in carpentry could be of some help. Within weeks, his tiny wooden houses began appearing in city parks. Continue reading...

After initially enduring criticism over its handling of restrictions, Chile moved to secure vaccines from a range of suppliersChile has administered more than 3.1m vaccine doses in just three weeks to emerge as a global leader in Covid-19 inoculations, trailing only the US, UK, UAE and Israel in vaccination doses per 100 people.Having initially endured heavy criticism over its handling of pandemic restrictions, Chile has moved quickly to secure vaccines from a range of suppliers and aims to have 80% of its population immunised against the virus by June. It has already vaccinated 16% of its 19 million citizens at hospitals, schools, stadia and municipal buildings throughout the country. Continue reading...

Device thought to be Hermann bomb used by Nazis was found on building site near Exeter UniversityStructural damage has been caused to a number of properties in Exeter following the detonation of a second world war bomb, police have said.The device, believed to be a 1,000kg Hermann bomb used by the Nazis, was discovered on a building site on private land to the west of the University of Exeter campus on Friday morning. Continue reading...

The pandemic exposed gender inequality, shattering the fragile jigsaw of support that allowed women with children to work. Radical action is necessary to prevent women’s rights backsliding a generation“It is so hard, I cannot describe it.”“I burned out, completely.” Continue reading...

Tens of thousands sign petition to investigate mechanism that allows Queen to vet draft lawsMore than 50,000 people have called for a parliamentary investigation into an “unfathomable” mechanism that allows the Queen to vet draft laws before they are approved by the UK’s elected representatives.They have signed a petition supporting an urgent investigation by a House of Commons committee as they are concerned that the “royal family has a worrying and undemocratic ability to influence the government behind closed doors”. Continue reading...

Stephen Cottrell says the nation has learned to live with wrongs when it should be trying to change themBritain needs to reset its compass in a political climate in which “we’ve learned to accommodate things that we know are wrong”, the archbishop of York has said.Stephen Cottrell, who was enthroned in October, told the Observer: “Our compass has slipped; we’ve allowed ourselves to believe that things can’t change, that this is just the way the world is. Politics has, I think, shrunk. There’s a loss of vision about what the world could be like.” Continue reading...

Though a hundred thousand people have died, initial predictions were far worse, giving rise to many theories on ‘the African paradox’

Sarah Henderson says she forwarded federal police email from woman alleging she was raped by a man now in parliamentLiberal senator Sarah Henderson has referred a rape allegation against an unnamed Labor member of parliament to the federal police.Henderson announced the move on Sunday evening, citing AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw’s advice that allegations of criminal conduct should be referred to the police immediately. Continue reading...

Andrew Edwards urges government in open letter to reopen talks to renegotiate an EU-wide visa system for arts workersA British opera and theatre designer has told of an “intimidating” post Brexit experience in Schiphol airport in Amsterdam which nearly cost him his first paid job since the pandemic started a year ago.Andrew Edwards says the “roadblock” he experienced is a foretaste of the “humiliation” to come once Europe reopens its borders with musicians, crews, and crafts people working in the arts now required to have paperwork to ply their trade in each country. Continue reading...

Imagination, energy and a surrealist streak have made Lakeith Stanfield one of Hollywood’s most unusual – and sought-after – stars. Here, he talks about his toughest role yetTo spread the word about his anarchic, brilliantly batshit 2018 comedy Sorry to Bother You, the actor Lakeith Stanfield adopted an anarchic, brilliantly batshit strategy. He went to one of his favourite stores, Iguana Vintage Clothing, in Los Angeles, and cleared out every wig they had. Then he drove around cinemas in Hollywood, bought tickets for the film, stashed them inside the wigs, and hid them outside the cinemas.“Then people engaged in it, on a wild goose hunt,” explains Stanfield, his voice deep and languid. “There’s a lost art in being able to have fun with a film in the release. But it was a film that I thought was fun, right? So I wanted to have fun, and I wanted people to engage in that fun with me. Also I loved the movie so much, I wanted people to see it for free.” Continue reading...

Human rights abuses cut little ice with holidaymakers who rush to the beachHow many abducted and imprisoned princesses would it take for British tourists to turn their backs on Dubai? Three? Four? Ten? Because two “disappeared” princesses doesn’t look like being enough, even now that a secretly filmed account by one of them, saying she had been captured, assaulted, drugged and repatriated, has appeared on the BBC – corroborating the fact-finding judgment of a UK judge, published a year ago.Sir Andrew McFarlane accepted, following claims by lawyers for Princess Haya, a fugitive ex-wife of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum of Dubai, vice-president of the UAE, that his daughters Latifa and Shamsa had both been forcibly returned to Dubai after escaping in 2018 and 2000 respectively. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, it emerged, was withholding information that might shed light on Shamsa’s rendition from the UK. Continue reading...

They’ve ditched the shaven heads but, despite recent setbacks, they remain a threat, says film-maker Christian SchwochowInside a university auditorium in Prague, a young man in a crisp black shirt and white trainers is railing against the pro-immigration politicians he holds responsible for a recent Islamist terror attack in Berlin. To build a safer Europe, he yells, “we have to get rid of those responsible for these murderous policies”.A woman in the crowd voices her support with a shout of “Sieg heil!”, but he is quick to shut her down: “That was yesterday.” Like-minded movements of the future will succeed by remaining outwardly respectable: “We can protect the foundations of Europe by occupying them,” he proclaims, his blue eyes sparkling, “by becoming economists, teachers, judges.” Continue reading...

As museum prepares to celebrate Lewis Carroll’s heroine, ties to mysticism and magical societies have come to light in a new work, Through a Looking Glass DarklyGreat art spawns imitation. And great weird art, it seems, spawns still weirder flights of fancy. Lewis Carroll’s twin children’s fantasies, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There have both inspired a string of adaptations, artistic and musical responses down the generations.Now, as the Victoria & Albert Museum prepares to celebrate Alice and her cultural influence in Curiouser & Curiouser, a landmark exhibition next month, a new book containing unseen original images is to expose the secrets behind the darker world of the second Alice story. Continue reading...

Campaigners call for historic sports venue in Madrid to become a world heritage site after its €38m restorationBeneath a pale-blue late-winter sky, and behind an elegant but unassuming facade, one of Madrid’s great unsung survivors sits waiting, once more, for news of the latest in a long and improbable series of metamorphoses.Since its inauguration 127 years ago, the Frontón Beti-Jai, built at the height of the Spanish capital’s love affair with the Basque game of pelota, has echoed with the crack of leather-stitched balls, with cheers, screams, the thrill of invention, the gunning of thirsty American engines and, most recently, the chirping of the birds who nested in its almost terminal decay. Continue reading...

Behind the numbers: the policy of giving as many first jabs as possible is already cutting hospital admission ratesWe should by now be familiar with the idea of a vaccine’s efficacy, but last Monday three analyses of vaccine effectiveness were published. Despite the confusing similarity, these are different concepts: efficacy is measured in tightly controlled clinical trials, effectiveness is how well a vaccine works in the messy real world.In trials, healthy volunteers are put in vaccinated and control groups at random – this ensures the groups are comparable and differences in outcomes must be due to the vaccine. If we simply compare people who have been jabbed with those who have not, they will differ in all sorts of ways: older and other higher-risk people will be first in the queue, while communities that are hesitant to be vaccinated may also be at higher risk. These confounders can lead to systemic bias in estimating effectiveness. So, studies use elaborate statistical analysis to make fair comparisons. Continue reading...

It goes against conservative instincts, but another £100bn should be spent on improving the prospects of those worst hit by CovidIt’s time we talked about “K”. Britain, it’s now commonly agreed, will be climbing out of our economic nadir in the months ahead even if the rate of recovery is unclear – but what worries thoughtful economists, notably but not only the new US treasury secretary Janet Yellen, is its Covid-dominated K character.Essentially winners from the pandemic – the better-off, hi-tech companies, leading brands, the healthy, those whose work held up over lockdown and live in prosperous neighbourhoods – are going to do even better, moving up the upward-sloping part of the K. Continue reading...

Employees at Uline, owned by billionaires Dick and Liz Uihlein, have filed numerous safety complaints, investigation findsEmployees at a private Wisconsin company owned by two top Republican donors in the US have faced significantly higher rates of Covid-19 infection and have filed numerous complaints about workplace safety to federal authorities, according to a Guardian investigation into Uline.Related: Billionaires backed Republicans who sought to reverse US election results Continue reading...

How can the west continue to do business with the man who approved Jamal Khashoggi’s murder?As details emerged of the gruesome 2018 murder in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul of the exiled dissident and journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, most observers became convinced it could not have happened without the approval of the all-powerful Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. The US intelligence report, published last week, definitively supports that conclusion.Joe Biden is to be commended for making the CIA’s findings public after they were blocked by Donald Trump. The US sanctions imposed on Saudi government employees involved in the killing, and new measures to curb foreign agents who harass dissidents abroad, are welcome. But Biden’s too-pragmatic decision not to penalise Salman himself, the plot’s ringleader, and, in effect, let him off the hook, is dismaying. Continue reading...

A year after the city was engulfed by violence, victims are harassed into silence by police and find the law has turned against themFor a year, Irfan has remained almost entirely in his house, too terrified to leave. A Muslim living in north-east Delhi, he says that his powerful Hindu neighbours, many belonging to the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), are keeping a close watch on him. Jobless and afraid, he spoke in whispers of his fear of being “eliminated” at any time.“I take a safe route to occasionally leave my house to see my lawyer,” said Irfan, who requested a pseudonym for protection. “I know that BJP leaders and their followers are after me so I move around very carefully. I have to stay alive at least to see those who attacked me are brought to justice.” Continue reading...

There’s more to the 19th-century reformer than Tommy Lee Jones’s portrayal for Spielberg. Bruce Levine’s book is a startThaddeus Stevens deserves to be better known. A leading radical Republican of the Reconstruction era, he is perhaps best known for Tommy Lee Jones’s portrayal in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln. In his new biography, though, Bruce Levine dismisses the movie’s story of Stevens and his mixed-race housekeeper Lydia Hamilton Smith as lovers by writing that “no firm evidence substantiates it”. Similarly, Jones’s line “Trust? Gentlemen, you seem to have forgotten that our chosen career is politics,” falls into the category of “too good to check”.Related: The Rope review: Ida Wells, the NAACP and a slim thread to a murder Continue reading...

Your relationship sounds unworkable and toxic, says Mariella Frostrup. Find someone you can confide in or get professional helpThe dilemma My boyfriend’s work ground to a halt as a result of the pandemic, and his weed-smoking habit has expanded within that void to become a lifestyle. He buys, sells and grows the stuff, meaning that he’s meeting strangers on a daily basis, often in our home.My initial response was anger that he could so readily endanger my health for the sake of a habit I despise. Then I began to wonder if he was struggling mentally, so I tried to be more supportive. But it became clear he is just doing it for fun (I think he thrills at the criminal element). He comes from a wealthy family and my salary is ample to cover our bills if he falls short, so this isn’t a necessary earner. Continue reading...

Explosion heard for miles around and leaves crater the size of double-decker bus

Labor leader says Scott Morrison must satisfy himself ‘the current make-up of the cabinet can continue’Anthony Albanese has said a historical rape allegation against a current cabinet minister is a “test” for Scott Morrison, who must satisfy himself it is appropriate for the man to continue in his current position.While agreeing that police were best to investigate the complaint of sexual assault, which allegedly occurred in 1988, the Labor leader argued on Sunday that Morrison must separately “assure himself … the current make-up of the cabinet can continue”. Continue reading...

Officer to undergo facial surgery after responding to a domestic violence call-out in Sydney’s south-westA police officer will undergo facial surgery after a man allegedly incited his dog to savagely attack the sergeant during a call-out in Sydney overnight.Police were called to an address in Georges Hall, near Bankstown, about 1:30am on Sunday following reports of a domestic-related incident. Continue reading...

Miller alleges bullying when media adviser while she and Tudge were in consensual affair, and during employment with CashFormer Liberal staffer Rachelle Miller has engaged lawyers to bring a workplace harassment suit against the now education minister, Alan Tudge, and employment minister, Michaelia Cash.The suit, to be run by Gordon Legal, relates to Miller’s allegations she was bullied when working as a senior media adviser while she and Tudge engaged in a consensual affair, and during her subsequent employment with Cash. Continue reading...

In a new book, Francis says he expects to die in Rome, not his native Argentina, either as ‘active or emeritus’ popePope Francis expects to die in Rome, still the Catholic pontiff, without returning to spend his final days in his native Argentina, according to a new book titled The Health of Popes.In an interview granted to Argentinian journalist and physician Nelson Castro at the Vatican in February 2019, the pope said he thinks about death, but does not fear it. Continue reading...

Head of child abuse and sex crimes squad will meet with principals to discuss ‘issue of sexual violence’The heads of hundreds of private schools across New South Wales will be briefed by the boss of the police sex crimes squad this week as the sector scrambles to address concerns raised by a new viral petition has gathered more than 3,000 testimonies of alleged sexual assault committed by high school students.The Sunday Telegraph reports the new head of the state’s child abuse and sex crimes squad, Stacey Maloney, will speak to principals from hundreds of private schools this week in a bid to address growing concerns following the release of the petition. Continue reading...

Exclusive: The street artist’s latest work saw 60 people parade through Lake Cawndilla in NSW, holding aloft enormous portraits of local farmers and leaders as they fight to save Australia’s vital river systemThe mood around Lake Cawndilla in western New South Wales on Saturday is funereal but defiant, as a procession of around 60 locals parade through scrub and sand around its banks.They carry between them a series of 30m-long cloth figures: three local citrus farmers and prominent Baakandji artist William Badger Bates. Continue reading...

Government data shows 19.6m get first jab and up to 770,000 inoculated a second time

Biden’s announcement comes after Saudi exiles express shock over lack of sanctions against Mohammed bin Salman over killing of journalistPresident Joe Biden said on Saturday that the US would make an announcement on Saudi Arabia on Monday, following an intelligence report that found that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had approved the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018.Saudi dissidents have expressed anger and disbelief that while the US has officially confirmed the long-suspected view that Prince Mohammed “approved” the killing of the journalist, he will escape punishment. A declassified intelligence assessment released on Friday concluded that the heir to the throne “approved an operation to capture or kill Khashoggi”. Continue reading...

The Sussexes are the latest in a line of celebrities to try to rebuild their image by talking to the chatshow queenYou could have forgiven the British royal family for giving primetime, tell-all interviews a wide berth for the foreseeable. The evisceration of Prince Andrew by the BBC’s Emily Maitlis in 2019 managed to achieve the near-impossible: making the Duke of York appear more dubious and less sympathetic.But if we have learned one thing about the Sussexes, Harry and Meghan, it’s that they are intent on doing pretty much the opposite of what the other royals want them to do. So next Sunday, 7 March, a 90-minute special, Oprah with Meghan and Harry, will air on the US network CBS. There is also understood to be a bidding war between UK broadcasters – though not the BBC – for the interview, which, it is promised, will be “intimate” and “wide-ranging”. Continue reading...

Surge in cases expected as schools reopen and charities report 70% rise in demand for servicesA surge in child mental health cases is expected to emerge as schools reopen next week, amid warnings of a “crisis on top of a crisis” hitting vulnerable children during the pandemic.Paediatricians, psychologists and charitable groups providing mental health support all told the Observer they were seeing increasing demand and warned of another surge as lockdown is lifted. Several reported longer waiting lists for young people in need of help. Continue reading...

With the right incentives, many believe Australia can still ride the electric revolution, reviving its car industry and slashing emissions at the same timeWalking around the old Holden factory site in Elizabeth, Paschal Somers points out each piece of machinery to explain what it does and how it could be brought back to life.Though the massive factory complex in suburban Adelaide closed down three years ago, General Motors abandoned most of the machines to the site’s new owners when they sold the land, and they are still sitting there idle. Continue reading...

Photography collective Oculi’s first group project gives a glimpse into the lives of 12 members and the people they share their lives withConor Ashleigh – photographerMazie Turner was more than just my creative mentor; she was a friend, an aunty, a collaborator and above all one of my greatest inspirations. Since passing away in 2014, Mazie has never been far away.This January I made the most of a summer in Australia and headed north on a road trip. I visited Mazie’s two eldest granddaughters Mali and Lily, both of whom I had often photographed a decade ago as part of my project Baby in a Chapel. I was amazed to see how Mali and Lily had grown and flourished in the seven years since I saw them last. Mali was entering her final year of high school, and she had become a talented and articulate young woman. Continue reading...

The bestselling author on their memoir about growing up gay and black in the US, helping others to find healing, and the power of non-binary young adultsGeorge M Johnson is a writer and activist whose first book, All Boys Aren’t Blue, is a memoir about growing up black and queer in America. The book is aimed at young adults and catalogues in candid style the author’s experiences of both trauma and healing, from childhood bullying to teenage sexual abuse, to their relationship with their family and changing understanding of their masculinity and sexuality. It was published in the US last year to widespread acclaim, reviewers describing it as a “gamechanger”, offering “a deep but clear-eyed love for its subjects”. It has been optioned for television by actor and activist Gabrielle Union. Johnson lives in Newark, New Jersey.When did you know you wanted to write your story?

Bird with knife attached to leg ready to take on opponent inflicts fatal injuries to man’s groinA rooster fitted with a knife for an illegal cockfight in southern India has killed its owner, sparking a manhunt for the organisers of the event, police said.The bird had a knife attached to its leg ready to take on an opponent when it inflicted serious injuries to the man’s groin as it tried to escape, officers said. The man died from loss of blood before he could reach a hospital in the Karimnagar district of Telangana state earlier this week, local police officer B Jeevan told AFP. Continue reading...

The author and eminent climate scientist on the deniers’ new tactics and why positive change feels closer than it has done in 20 yearsMichael E Mann is one of the world’s most influential climate scientists. He rose to prominence in 1999 as the co-author of the “hockey-stick graph”, which showed the sharp rise in global temperatures since the industrial age. This was the clearest evidence anyone had provided of the link between human emissions and global warming. This made him a target. He and other scientists have been subject to “climategate” email hacking, personal abuse and online trolling. In his new book, The New Climate War, he argues the tide may finally be turning in a hopeful direction.You are a battle-scarred veteran of many climate campaigns. What’s new about the climate war?

Public were not able to attend funeral but thousands signed online book of condolences

A second world war-era plane flew over the funeral service in honour of Moore, who raised almost £39m for NHS charities during the first coronavirus lockdown. An honour guard fired three volleys as Moore’s coffin was carried into the crematorium by six soldiers from the Yorkshire Regiment. After tributes to Moore by his family, a bugler played the Last Post

Susan Michie cites evidence from previous vaccine rollouts, saying people should not drop their guard

Officers intensify use of force, firing teargas and rubber bullets at people protesting against coupA woman has reportedly been shot and killed as police in Myanmar escalated a violent crackdown on anti-coup protesters, firing teargas and rubber bullets and detaining dozens of people.Police intensified their use of force just hours after the country’s ambassador to the United Nations gave an emotional address calling for international action to restore democracy and protect the people. Continue reading...

Spanish officials recommend 864 cows that have been at sea for two months are no longer fit for transportMore than 850 cattle that have spent months adrift in the Mediterranean are no longer fit for transport and should be killed, according to a confidential report by Spanish government veterinarians.A lawyer for the cattle ship’s management company told the Guardian on Saturday that he planned to resist the move, even as a video from the port appears to show preparations being made to unload the cattle. Continue reading...

Anas Sarwar said becoming Scottish Labour leader was the greatest honour of his life, and pledged to rebuild the party. ‘I know Labour has a lot of work to do to win back your trust,’ Sarwar said. ‘I’m sorry we haven’t been good enough.’Sarwar, 37, faces a battle to save Labour from what polls suggest could be another humiliating Holyrood election in May. After losing every Scottish and UK election since 2007 to the SNP, including losing all its MEPs in the 2016 European elections, Labour has since gone through seven Scottish leaders. Sarwar will be its eighth

The poet explains how researching her history led her to tell the story from three perspectives: the birth mother, the adoptive mother and the daughterIn one way, I’d been writing the poems in The Adoption Papers for my whole life. I’d been making up an imaginary birth mother and father with my adoptive mother for years, since I was a kid. She would say of my birth father: “I’m picturing a Paul Robeson figure, Jackie, perhaps with a bit of Nelson Mandela mixed in.”In another, I started writing the book when I was pregnant. It’s difficult when your writing infiltrates your life and vice versa, difficult to work out what actually happened and what didn’t. Your imaginative life is your reality. Continue reading...

Sarwar wins snap election triggered by surprise resignation of Richard Leonard six weeks agoAnas Sarwar has won the Scottish Labour leadership contest after a snap election triggered by the surprise resignation of Richard Leonard six weeks ago.Sarwar, a former deputy leader of Scottish Labour backed by a majority of the party’s parliamentarians, defeated the other candidate Monica Lennon, a less experienced MSP backed on the party’s left, winning 57.6% of the vote. Continue reading...