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After my first boyfriend died, Elverum’s Microphones and Mount Eerie helped me make sense of a bleak worldI first encountered the music of Phil Elverum in August 2010, a month after the death of my first boyfriend. That summer I spent hours sitting numbly in the park with my headphones on, listening to Elverum describe a landscape without colour or movement: “no black or white, no change in the light, no night, no golden sun”. That dissonance between internal and external worlds made sense to me as I watched children play and rollerbladers pass by in the sunshine as if everything was normal.I listened over and over again to his album The Glow Pt 2, released in 2001 under the name the Microphones, trying to make sense of the previous six months. I met Marc in my first year at university: a pretty, hyperactive French boy who shimmered into my life at a club night in Birmingham. I fell in love with his perfect sweep of sandy blond hair, the way he played piano with the exaggerated melodrama of his beloved symphonic metal and video game soundtracks and his habit of wrapping a USB cable around his neck like a protective amulet. Continue reading...

Worn Stories looks to unravel the tales behind the most treasured items in our wardrobes – but is such meaning and emotion easily conveyed via television?I am not a minimalist: I don’t want to live with extreme amounts of nothing. I like “things”, and I like my things, which means I have several boxes of clothes, bags and shoes in my possession that have accompanied me through the best part of two decades. One of the boxes is my best and largest suitcase. When I was still travelling fairly regularly, I would have to empty out the contents of the suitcase and pile them somewhere else for my return, a process that feels a bit like uncovering memories and repressing them again, two weeks later, with a zip that goes all the way around.Given the displacement of a series of house moves in my earlier 20s, the fact that I even still possess the navy corduroy American Apparel hotpants I wore to go clubbing at university (now, for users of the fashion app Depop, a vintage item), or the 70s-era yellow, white and purple-striped T-shirt I was wearing when I had an encounter with the far more colourful Iris Apfel, the interior designer, feels nothing short of miraculous. Today, I can recite what I was wearing to interview various figures in my former role as an editor at a fashion magazine, outfits carefully planned though liable to go awry, like when the zip on my green, chequered skirt broke off while meeting Chloë Sevigny. Continue reading...

If you’ve been saving it to pour over pancakes, here are some brilliant new options, including bacon lollies, mouthwatering aubergines and some very grown up Rice Krispies

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.This week: In a special tribute to Martin Woollacott, the Guardian’s former foreign correspondent and foreign editor, who has died at the age of 81, Alan Rusbridger reflects on his fondest memories of Martin and how this ‘giant of journalism’ should be remembered.From 2015: North Vietnamese troops who marched into the capital on 30 April 1975. It marked the most crushing defeat in US military history. Four decades after he reported on these events for the Guardian, Martin Woollacott reflects upon what it meant for the future of both nations

Musician Rebeca Omordia has spent years unearthing the classical music of a whole continent, culminating in the hugely successful African Concert SeriesWhile the Wigmore Hall has rightly garnered plaudits for keeping classical music alive during lockdown, another pioneering concert series has also beaten the odds with its series of online live events.The African Concert Series is the brainchild of my former duo partner, the pianist Rebeca Omordia. She has half-Romanian, half-Nigerian heritage. But while we would often discuss world-renowned Romanian classical musicians such as composer Georges Enescu, pianist Dinu Lipatti and conductor Sergiu Celibidache, when it came to Nigerian classical composers, we drew a blank. “There aren’t any,” said Rebeca. I told her there must be, and challenged her to find them. This was back in 2013, and her subsequent research has uncovered more than 200 composers of African art music, Nigerians among them. Continue reading...

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

New Zealand lizard expert Ben Barr, who spent years looking under rocks for the elusive Cupola, has finally found what he was looking forAfter two years spent turning over thousands of rocks in search of the Cupola gecko, New Zealand lizard expert Ben Barr had been starting to wonder: “Am I ever going to find this thing?”But this month, in the Nelson Lakes national park at the top of the South Island, he lifted another rock – and there it was. “I was totally euphoric. I was over the moon. I couldn’t believe it. I was screaming and yelling, it was incredible. I almost cried.” Continue reading...

The mortgage broker, who has admitted outraging public decency after the 2020 Melbourne crash, wants to avoid further jail timePorsche driver Richard Pusey has been described by a Melbourne judge as “probably the most hated man in Australia” for filming dead and dying police officers after a freeway crash.The mortgage broker wants to be spared further time in custody after admitting to charges including outraging public decency over the April 2020 Eastern Freeway crash in Melbourne. Continue reading...

Bernardo Catchura spent a last desperate night seeking treatment in the healthcare system he had spent decades campaigning to improve. His wife is still unsure how he diedIn their 15 years together, Maimuna Catchura had not known her husband to be ill. But one night in late January, 39-year-old lawyer, activist and musician Bernardo Catchura could not sleep, and complained of severe stomach pain.The pain forced Catchura from his bed at his house in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau’s capital. That night he would navigate the country’s medical care maze, visiting pharmacies, clinics and hospitals. Before the night was through, he even considered crossing the border into Senegal to get help. Continue reading...

After being refused entry to several countries on health grounds, the surviving animals were ordered back to Spain for slaughterRead more: Stranded cattle ship ordered to dock in Spain after ‘hellish’ three months at sea

I longed for novels about female desire - women empowered by sex and their expressions of lust. So I sat down and wrote my own

Twelve months after the pandemic struck the Guardian’s economic tracker reveals real risk of lasting damage

Electric vehicle policy announced as as power brokers hash out amendments intended to strengthen support for new gas projects. Follow live updates

The gigantic cargo ship the Ever Given blocked the world’s busiest shipping lane for a week. Michael Safi reports on what the costly nautical traffic jam can tell us about global tradeThe Suez canal, built in 1869, is a 120-mile strip of water that has been called a “ditch in the desert”. Nearly 20,000 ships pass through it a year, so when the Ever Given, one of the biggest vessels ever built, became wedged last week and blocked it, global trade through the canal ground to a halt.The Guardian international correspondent, Michael Safi, tells Anushka Asthana the story of the crash, including the efforts to free the ship and the impact the blockage had on the movement of trade across the globe. The retired Turkish mariner Alper Gergin explains why steering a ship of such as size is harder than handling a Boeing 747. Continue reading...

Kremlin says leaders discussed possibility of shipments and joint production amid shortage of doses inside EuropeVladimir Putin, Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron discussed Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine and its use in Europe on a conference call on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.Moscow’s statement said that among other subjects the Russian, German and French leaders discussed prospects for the registration of the vaccine in the EU and the possibility of shipments and joint production in EU nations. It did not say who raised the topic. Continue reading...

Irish restrictions to ease on 12 April; Turkey has recorded 37,303 new coronavirus cases in the space of 24 hours

Industry body report shows 70% decline in visitor numbers at British attractions last yearA “phenomenal” summer of culture in the UK without crowds, queues or inbound tourists beckons, tourism chiefs have promised, as new figures were published laying bare just how bad 2020 was.Bernard Donoghue, the director of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA), said there would probably not be another chance for people to experience the nation’s museums, galleries, zoos, castles, country houses and theme parks as they will be able to this year. Continue reading...

The rapper behind Montero (Call Me By Your Name) and Satan Shoes has fired back at conservative critics one by oneIt has been four days since Lil Nas X released the music video for Montero (Call Me By Your Name) and turned into the most controversial pop star on the planet. The video, which features the rapper sliding down a pole to hell before giving the devil a lap dance, has garnered criticism from conservative politicians and commentators, who say the song encourages devil worshiping and scandalizes young fans.In a note written to his younger self about the release, Lil Nas X (whose real name is Montero Lamar Hill) said he had created the video hoping to further normalize queerness. “I know we promised to never be ‘that’ type of gay person, I know we promised to die with the secret, but this will open doors for many other queer people to simply exist,” he said. Continue reading...

Statement signed by 12 other nations says investigation into virus origins not extensive enough

Reduced £205m offer at UN pledging conference comes with 90% of Syrians living in povertySyrians and aid organisations have warned that “lives will be lost” as a result of the UK’s decision to cut aid funding to the conflict-stricken country.The UN hoped to raise $10bn (£7.3bn) from governments and donors at a virtual two-day pledging conference for Syria that concluded on Tuesday – the biggest appeal yet to help both people inside and those displaced outside the country. The total amount of money pledged is going to be announced at 7pm UK time. Continue reading...

Several thousand Germans head to Crete and Balearic islands as pandemic third wave spreads across EU

Political earthquake rattles country already grappling with one of the world’s worst coronavirus outbreaksJair Bolsonaro’s crisis-stricken administration has been rocked by the sudden sacking of Brazil’s defence minister and the subsequent resignation of the heads of all three branches of the armed forces.The commanders of the Brazilian army, navy and air force – Gen Edson Leal Pujol, Adm Ilques Barbosa and Lt-Brig Antônio Carlos Bermudez – met with the president’s new minister on Tuesday morning and reportedly tendered their resignations during a dramatic and heated encounter. On Tuesday afternoon the defence ministry confirmed all three would be replaced, a political earthquake that rattled a country already grappling with one of the world’s worst coronavirus outbreaks. Continue reading...

Ship likely to be centre of protracted legal battle over what caused it to run aground in the Suez and who is to blameAfter hauling its 240,000-ton bulk down the Suez canal a week after blocking the essential waterway, the container ship the Ever Given is likely to become the centre of a protracted battle over who will pay for its rescue.The 1,312-ft-long ship was aground on the banks of the Suez Canal for a week, causing an estimated £7bn loss each day in trade owing to ships stuck on either side, and up to £10.9m a day for the canal. “We managed to refloat the ship in record time. If such a crisis had occurred anywhere else in the world, it would have taken three months to be solved,” said Osama Rabie, the head of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA). Continue reading...

Lady Hallett vows to carry out ‘fearless’ inquiry into death of woman poisoned with nerve agentThe role the Russian state played in the death of a Wiltshire woman who was poisoned with the nerve agent novichok is to be investigated in detail at her inquest.Heather Hallett said she would carry out a “fearless” inquiry into the death of Dawn Sturgess including digging into who directed the operation to bring novichok into the UK. Continue reading...

Latin American countries scramble to protect themselves from a country where nearly 60,000 people are expected to die in March aloneIt has long been regarded as a soft power superpower, the sun-kissed, culturally blessed land of Bossa Nova, Capoeira and Pelé.But Brazil’s shambolic response to coronavirus under far-right president Jair Bolsonaro has cast Latin America’s largest country in an unfamiliar and unpleasant role: that of a Covid-riddled, science-shunning, politically-unstable outcast on whom many regional neighbors are now shutting the door. Continue reading...

Football fans are asking leaders of the game difficult questions, and it all started with a club north of the Arctic Circle“Tromsø IL thinks it is time for football to stop and take a few steps back. We should think about the purpose of football and why so many love our sport. That corruption, modern-day slavery and a high number of workers’ deaths are the fundament to our most important tournament, the World Cup, is totally unacceptable.”This surprise statement, released by Norwegian top-flight club Tromsø on 26 February, from a city located north of the Arctic Circle, quickly gained national traction. In the days and weeks that followed, six more leading clubs – including the three biggest and best-supported, Rosenborg, Vålerenga and Brann – followed suit, urging the Norwegian FA to formally boycott the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Fourteen of 16 supporters’ groups in the top flight are joining the demand. Continue reading...

Time for a clearout: use up leftover fridge-lurkers, pulses and grains with recipes you haven’t tried beforeGot a culinary dilemma? Email feast@theguardian.com

Survey of experts in relevant fields concludes that new variants could arise in countries with low vaccine coverageThe planet could have a year or less before first-generation Covid-19 vaccines are ineffective and modified formulations are needed, according to a survey of epidemiologists, virologists and infectious disease specialists.Scientists have long stressed that a global vaccination effort is needed to satisfactorily neutralise the threat of Covid-19. This is due to the threat of variations of the virus – some more transmissible, deadly and less susceptible to vaccines – that are emerging and percolating. Continue reading...

The government’s plan to unlock England moved a step forward on Monday 29 March. Here’s what comes next

Queensland Liberal defends ‘completely dignified’ photo of woman bending over but apologises for ‘feelings I’ve caused’Under-seige Morrison government MP Andrew Laming says his online behaviour has been “re-invented into harassment” and that the “facts are on my side”, claiming he only ever asked “hard questions” but apologised “for how it’s made people feel”.The Queensland MP, who asked for privacy as he takes a month’s paid leave as he undertakes “clinical counselling”, and courses in “empathy and appropriate communication”, has explained his side of the story in a 16-minute interview with his local radio station. Laming has said he will not stand at the next election, but said he had no plans to leave the parliament until his term was completed. Continue reading...

The Battersea Poltergeist is just one of many surging up the charts. Its creator, and others, explain why the pandemic has led people to seek out scary storiesBy his own admission, Danny Robins has always been “obsessed with ghosts”. “I think it might have been growing up with atheist parents,” says the writer and broadcaster, who co-created Radio 4’s lauded Sir Lenny Henry vehicle Rudy’s Rare Records, among many other works. Among them is the 2017 investigative podcast about the paranormal, Haunted. “As a kid, I was very aware of the absence of belief,” he continues. “I think I might have just wanted to be part of a club. To be part of a club of believers.”Now in his early 40s, Robins is trying to recruit as many believers as possible to the club via his new docudrama podcast, The Battersea Poltergeist. Available on BBC Sounds, it tells the story, beginning in 1956, of a bizarre 12-year-long haunting that resulted in Shirley Hitchings (just 15 at the start of it all) and the victim of the titular spook, fleeing to Bognor Regis. A poltergeist in Enfield in 1977 may have inspired Hollywood, but it’s south-west London’s one that put in the longest shift. Continue reading...

Servier accused of covering up potentially fatal side-effects of the Mediator diabetes drugA French court has fined one of the country’s biggest pharmaceutical firms €2.7m (£2.3m) after finding it guilty of deception and manslaughter over a pill linked to the deaths of up to 2,000 people.In one of the biggest medical scandals in France, the privately owned laboratory Servier was accused of covering up the potentially fatal side-effects of the widely prescribed drug Mediator. Continue reading...

Tony Barry resigned his second job after tribunal president said it was ‘not appropriate’ for him to also work as a lobbyist, robodebt hearing told

A grand jury indicted Johnson on charges of ‘wilful torture, wilful abuse, and cruelly beating or otherwise wilfully maltreating a child under the age of 18’Steven William Johnson, the drummer with Grammy-winning rock band Alabama Shakes, has been arrested on charges of child abuse.The charges include “wilful torture, wilful abuse, and cruelly beating or otherwise wilfully maltreating a child under the age of 18”. Continue reading...

Norwegian Refugee Council says move to pull funding for its legal support programme will leave many in ‘destitution’Tens of thousands of Syrians will no longer receive legal support, leaving many “in utter destitution” without documents they need to work, travel or return home, after the British government pulled £4m in funding from a charity programme, according to its director.News of the cut to a Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) project supporting refugees and internally displaced Syrians, comes amid reports of a planned 67% aid reduction in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) budget for Syria, which would place hundreds of thousands of lives at risk. Continue reading...

To remake society after the pandemic, we must swap Insta self‑improvement for something more radical, argues author Sam ByersAcross much of the west, March is a milestone both surreal and distressing: a full year of life in Covid-19’s shadow. Twelve months ago, we couldn’t imagine what we were about to experience; now we can’t process what we’ve endured.This was a year of seemingly irresolvable contradictions. Our grief was collective, yet rituals of communal mourning were denied us. We hymned the “global effort” to produce a vaccine, then recoiled into vaccine nationalism the moment that effort bore fruit. Even as Zoom held us together, Covid denial and conspiracy theories in the family WhatsApp tore us apart. Continue reading...

Corruption watchdog investigates allegations former minister hired planners to lobby councillors, which he deniesA New South Wales MP has been accused of seeking to influence local councillors and council staff to make planning decisions in order to benefit his family’s property holdings, an inquiry by the state’s anti-corruption watchdog has heard.John Sidoti, the former minister for sport who announced earlier this month that he would sit on the crossbench pending the investigation, is accused of hiring town planners to lobby Canada Bay council during a review of zoning regulations in the inner-west Sydney suburb of Five Dock. Continue reading...

From Simon Hopkinson’s classic roquefort salad to Meera Sodha’s paneer butter masala, this versatile ingredient is given a starring roleThe first thing I ever “cooked”. When Mum let us grate cheddar on to day-old bread. Eyes level with the electric grill. Watching the alchemy, seeing the cheese become molten, stringy. The early magic of making your own tea. I still crave Jeremy Lee’s cheese straws, and now I can bake my own. Chef Tim Siadatan has shared Padella’s perfect pici cacio e pepe, Alex Jackson his brilliant aligot. Simon Hopkinson offers his elegant roquefort salad, Tomos Parry his famous cheesecake. We have Marcella Hazan’s definitive parmesan risotto and Kitty Travers’s ricotta ice-cream. Plus, of course, the ultimate toastie. All the cheese pleasers. From OFM to you. Continue reading...

After bottles were recovered in top shape from a world war one wreck, winemakers have started to exploit the sea’s cool, dark environmentSlipping into the chilly waters of the Baltic sea, the divers descended more than 60 metres to where the masts of the Jönköping lay strewn across the seabed. They glided past the wounds left when the Swedish schooner was sunk by a German U-boat in 1916 to home in on the rare treasure they had come for: thousands of bottles of 1907 Heidsieck champagne.Related: Champagne found at sea turns out to be world's oldest vintage Continue reading...

My family is in Lagos. I’m in London – and there’s no chance of a flight home. Zoom does many things, but it can’t give hugs

Informal games are a lifeline while the Premier League is locked down, but at what risk to players?Sweaty and tired, the players tussle before the winning goal is scored on a red-dust pitch at the No 1 ground in Mufakose, a township west of Harare. The football fans start up a chant on the touchline, triggering a frenzied response from opposing supporters, who break into rapturous song.This parched pitch and others like it have become a source of livelihood for some Zimbabwean footballers, struggling to earn a living during the Covid-19 pandemic’s lockdown regulations. Continue reading...

Property investors have railed against last week’s policy changes, which sought to dampen skyrocketing house pricesNew Zealand’s government is playind down the impact of its housing policy changes on rents, despite economists warning that they are likely to rise in response.In a report responding to the housing policy changes announced last week, the ANZ Bank identified “the big negative externality [as] the possible impact on renters – the very people the government is trying to help into the housing market”. Continue reading...

Skiing is a beacon of hope for the brave young women who have taken up the sport at Bamyan Ski Club amid political turmoil in the countryIt is 6.30am and Nazira Khairzad, 18, and her older sister Nazima, 19, are sat with their family trying to eat the spread of breakfast laid out in front of them, despite their nerves. It is the start of the two-day Afghan Ski Challenge in the central highland province of Bamyan, and the women’s race is kicking off in just a few hours’ time. Not only are the pair the ones to watch but, as soon as they are on the slopes, they are one another’s direct competition.“I’m nervous but I think I have a good chance of placing first this year,” says Nazira. “That’s what I’m aiming for.” Continue reading...

With Wet Wet Wet, Pellow was one of the biggest-selling musicians of the 90s. But heroin and alcohol soon became a problem. He talks about heroes, love and conquering his demons

Rememberingtheoscars.com

It’s hosted opera greats, suffragette rallies, Hitchcock films, sports events, sci-fi conventions – and, of course, the Proms and countless rock gigs. Artists from Led Zeppelin to Abba recall their moments on the hallowed stageThe Royal Albert Hall is 150 years old today (and the Guardian was there to see it opened by Queen Victoria). With a design based on a Roman amphitheatre, stacked balconies pack the audience close to the action – and at a capacity touching 6,000, the number of visitors entertained at the London venue runs to many millions. But what is it like to play as a performer? We asked artists and sportspeople for their memories of being centre stage at the iconic venue. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Home Office refusal to disclose how many women are in same position as Shamima Begum prompts actionThe Home Office’s refusal to disclose the number of women who, like Shamima Begum, have been deprived of their British citizenship after travelling to join Islamic State is under investigation by the information commissioner.The watchdog said it would step in after the government refused to share the data with a human rights group concerned about the conditions of British women and children detained in camps in north-east Syria, where conditions are dire. Continue reading...

Leaders rally in support of ‘father of Italian language’ after withering comments in German newspaperItalian political and cultural leaders have sprung to the defence of their much-revered poet Dante Alighieri after a German newspaper downplayed his importance to the Italian language and said he was “light years” away from William Shakespeare.In a comment piece in Frankfurter Rundschau, Arno Widmann wrote that even though Dante “brought the national language to great heights”, Italian schoolchildren struggled to understand the antiquated verse of his Divine Comedy, which was written in 1320. Continue reading...

Suicide rates among Japanese women rose sharply during the pandemic, prompting calls for support for low-income householdsThe coronavirus had barely begun its surge across the globe when Ayako Sato was told that the nursery where she worked would temporarily close as part of Japan’s efforts to curb the outbreak.The mother of two teenage daughters expected a few weeks of belt tightening, believing it wouldn’t be long before she was working again. Continue reading...

Workers from South Africa, UK and France feared to be among those ambushed while trying to flee besieged town of PalmaAs many as 60 people – mostly foreign citizens – are unaccounted for following a deadly ambush on their convoy by Islamist militants in northern Mozambique.According to recordings of security calls reviewed by the Guardian describing the aftermath of the attack, only seven vehicles in a convoy of 17 made it to safety after the attack on Friday, with seven confirmed dead and many injured in the recovered vehicles. Everyone in the other vehicles is assumed dead. Continue reading...