Exporters move away from traditional Dublin to Britain routes to avoid Brexit red tape
Volumes of goods shipped directly from Ireland to the EU on new Brexit-busting ferry routes have rocketed by 50% in the past six months as exporters seek to avoid travelling across land through Great Britain, according to official data.
Figures published by the Irish Maritime Development Office (IMDO) show significant traffic diverted away from the traditional routes between Dublin and Britain to some of 32 new ferry services direct to ports such as Le Havre, Cherbourg and Dunkirk in France and Zeebrugge in Belgium.
A suburban South Australian shopping centre has created a buzz after it falsely attributed a quote about bees, written on a plaque in a bathroom hallway, to the famous British naturalist Sir David Attenborough.
The plaque, labelled “honeybee propaganda”, has now been removed after Attenborough himself intervened.
She wants us to be faithful to one another, and I want her to feel loved and valued. But I also want more for myself
I’m a man in my early 20s and I’ve been in a stable, loving, monogamous relationship with my girlfriend since we were in secondary school. While she is fully aware of my bisexuality (and seems completely fine with this), I would also consider myself polyamorous – which she finds much harder to accept. I frequently have strong sexual and romantic feelings for other people, which I once brought up with her in an attempt to be as open as possible. I wanted to emphasise that this did not detract from my feelings for her. She was initially (and understandably) upset, but seemed happy to stay with me as long as we remained “faithful” to each other. This leaves me in a situation where we are happy together, but where I am left feeling incomplete. I have never been in a serious relationship or had sex with anyone except my girlfriend. The whole world of casual sex and dating is alien to me. I want her to feel as loved and valued as she deserves, but I want more for myself, too. I don’t know whether to feel greedy and ungrateful, repressed and frustrated, or all of these things at once.
Labels can scare people, especially if they do not truly understand what they mean. You are both in the very early stages of your sexual journeys, so it could be useful to recognise that you have a lifetime of adult exploration and experimentation ahead of you. Clarification is important. Ideally, you might share more of your thoughts and feelings about your sexual styles and identity with each other, but be careful to do it in a non-threatening way, always affirming your positive general feelings for each other. Try to clearly express your own feelings and beliefs about who you are sexually – taking into account that, while you can be very sure about your sexual orientation quite early in life, when it comes to sexual styles there can be a meaningful difference between fantasy and what you are prepared to act out in reality. Encourage her to express her feelings about whatever you share, and listen carefully to any concerns she might have about your compatibility.
Pamela Stephenson Connolly is a US-based psychotherapist who specialises in treating sexual disorders.
If you would like advice from Pamela on sexual matters, send us a brief description of your concerns to private.lives@theguardian.com (please don’t send attachments). Each week, Pamela chooses one problem to answer, which will be published online. She regrets that she cannot enter into personal correspondence. Submissions are subject to our terms and conditions: see gu.com/letters-terms.
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Last week, a new variant of Covid-19 was detected by scientists in South Africa. Since then, additional cases have been reported beyond southern Africa, including Belgium, Canada, Israel, Australia and the UK. And with the WHO warning that the Omicron variant poses a very high global risk, scientists around the world are scrambling to uncover clues about its transmissibility and how effective the current coronavirus vaccines will be against it.
To find out what we do know about Omicron and what it could mean for the coming weeks and months, Madeleine Finlay spoke to the Guardian’s science editor, Ian Sample.
Archive: BBC; DW News; CBC News; Global News; CNBC Television
New data from England shows that of those pregnant women in hospital with Covid, 98% are unvaccinated
Lucy Chappell is the chief scientific adviser for the Department of Health and Social Care
As an obstetrician, I know first-hand the highs and lows that women experience when having a baby. It can be hugely rewarding for many and a daunting experience for some. Over the past months, the pandemic has added a great deal of uncertainty to the experience of pregnant women and those considering becoming parents.
We know how dangerous the virus can be for pregnant women. The data published over recent months has been heartbreaking. Between July and October in England, one in five Covid patients receiving NHS treatment through a special lung-bypass machine were pregnant women who had not had their first jab. Around one in five women who are hospitalised with the virus need to be delivered preterm to help them recover – and one in five of their babies need care in the neonatal unit. New data from England shows that of those pregnant women in hospital with Covid, 98% are unvaccinated.
Lucy Chappell is a chief scientific adviser for the Department of Health and Social Care and honorary consultant obstetrician at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
Sources tell Guardian Trump pressed lieutenants at Willard hotel in Washington about ways to delay certification of election result
Hours before the deadly attack on the US Capitol this year, Donald Trump made several calls from the White House to top lieutenants at the Willard hotel in Washington and talked about ways to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s election win from taking place on 6 January.
The former president first told the lieutenants his vice-president, Mike Pence, was reluctant to go along with the plan to commandeer his largely ceremonial role at the joint session of Congress in a way that would allow Trump to retain the presidency for a second term.
This list is drawn from votes by Guardian music critics – each critic votes for their Top 20 albums, with points allocated for each placing. Check in every weekday to see our next picks, and please share your own favourite albums of 2021 in the comments below.
Families facing severe hunger are wading through crocodile-infested waters in search of water lilies to eat. Susan Martinez and photographer Peter Caton return with Action Against Hunger to find that the dire situation they reported on in March has only worsened
Desperate families in flood-ravaged villages in South Sudan are spending hours searching for water lilies to eat after another summer of intense rainfall worsened an already dire situation.
People have no food and no land to cultivate after three years of floods. Fields are submerged in last year’s flood water and higher ground is overcrowded with hungry people, in what is quickly becoming a humanitarian crisis.
Nyanyang Tong, 39, on her way to the Action Against Hunger centre with her one-year-old son, Mamuch Gatkuoth, in Paguir
The UK government has accepted advice from its vaccines watchdog, the Joint Committee on Vaccines and Immunisation (JCVI), for one of the biggest immediate changes in the Covid jabs programme. Here is what has been decided and why.
The deterrent of more trips to the fridge is no match for a powerful thirst. Perhaps it’s time to take a leaf out of Liz Hurley’s book
For years, wine glasses got larger and larger; the hospitality protocol was to fill them to the widest point of the glass, which was about a third of the way up, typically 250ml. The home drinker might fill them halfway, which was more like half a bottle. Everybody knew they weren’t very practical, but there was a double jeopardy in that, if you’d just necked half a bottle of wine in a single glass, you would forget they didn’t fit in the dishwasher and break them trying. Then you’d have to buy more, and the next generation of glasses would be even larger.
Post-lockdown, according to John Lewis, there has been a surge in demand for smaller glasses. Instinctively, I wouldn’t call the John Lewis glassware shopper the barometer of the national mood; like the Marks & Spencer underwear-shopper, these are people who have looked ahead to a time when they might need a glass, or some pants, and carefully balanced quality against value for money. Regular people wait until they have run out of these things, then buy them on an emergency footing, in a garage. And yet, John Lewis was the first retailer to report a run on ironing boards in 2020, and it was only much later that it was discovered that young people were using them as a desk.
The governing body is pushing to make the game more welcoming for women – but is change happening fast enough?
Towards the end of the Queen’s Gambit, the Netflix show that helped supercharge the new chess boom, Beth Harmon crushes a series of top male grandmasters before beating Vasily Borgov, the Russian world champion. Fiction, though, remains sharply separated from fact. As Magnus Carlsen was reminded before starting his world title defence in Dubai last week, there is not a single active woman’s player in the top 100 there is not a single active woman’s player in the top 100 now that Hou Yifan of China, who is ranked 83rd - is focusing on academia. The lingering question: why?
For Carlsen, the subject was “way too complicated” to answer in a few sentences, but suggested a number of reasons, particularly cultural, were to blame. Some, though, still believe it is down to biology. As recently as 2015 Nigel Short, vice president of the world chess federation Fide, claimed that “men are hardwired to be better chess players than women, adding, “you have to gracefully accept that.”
The world is awash with products flavoured like the festive feast, whether you fancy turkey in your gyoza or on your pizza. Are any actually nice to eat?
Something has gone badly, wildly wrong in the world of Christmas cuisine. Where Christmas dinner used to be a once-a-year extravagance, the concept has become nebulous and all-encompassing. “Christmas dinner” is no longer a meal – it is a flavour, spread indiscriminately across every foodstuff imaginable in a desperate bid to seize upon good cheer.
There have long been Christmas dinner sandwiches, but now we also have Christmas dinner crisps, Christmas dinner pizza, Christmas dinner pasties, Christmas dinner soup. And, while the thought of someone sullenly microwaving a bowl of Christmas soup barefoot in their kitchen between Zoom calls on a Thursday in November is genuinely the most dispiriting thing you could think of, it is possible that some of these products are actually good. There’s only one thing for it: time to put on a novelty jumper and try them all at once.
The emergence of Omicron has prompted widespread speculation that it may be more resistant to Covid-19 vaccines than existing variants, including Delta. But what does that mean for the average double-vaccinated person?
All the vaccines currently available in the UK work by training the immune system against the coronavirus spike protein – the key it uses to infect cells by binding to the ACE2 receptor. Omicron possesses more than 30 mutations in this protein, including 10 in the so-called “receptor-binding domain” (RBD) – the specific part that latches on to this receptor. Delta has two RBD mutations.
Essex council’s focus on visitors to KFC branch on 19 November raises questions over how long variant has been in country
Officials investigating one of the first cases in the UK of the Omicron coronavirus variant are searching for potential contacts as far back as nine days ago, raising questions over how long the new variant has been in the country.
Essex county council said targeted testing was focused on customers, staff and delivery drivers at a branch of the KFC fast food chain in Brentwood on 19 November and those who attended a church two days later.
Ralf Rangnick has plenty to consider, Eberechi Eze needs time and Watford may have a goalscorer to give hope
The good news for Ralf Rangnick is that no manager, whoever it might be, could possibly extract less from Manchester United’s squad than has been the case over the last few months. Ole Gunnar Solskjær was rightly held responsible for this – though it is worth noting that had Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw given him performances that were as good as poor, he would still have a job. In any event, a difficult run for United ends with Arsenal on Thursday, after which they face an easier programme that should, in theory, leave them well-placed to secure a top-four finish. The decision Rangnick must make is whether to change as little as possible and simply improve what’s there – the lower-risk, lower-reward option – or introduce further complexity into an already busy period by introducing the style in which he wants United to play as soon as possible, in the knowledge that it might make things worse before they get better. Daniel Harris
Manchester United’s new interim manager would have been watching closely as his soon-to-be players did their auditions at Stamford Bridge
As Cristiano Ronaldo prepared to come on to the pitch with an hour gone at Stamford Bridge, having already performed a dutiful kind of warm-up, idling along the touchline like a venerable old don taking a stroll on the chamomile lawns, a large book of laminated diagrams was waved in front of his nose.
Ronaldo, to his credit, made a decent show of having a look. Two decades into one of the great elite level careers, CR7 is not too proud for your diagrams. But there might have been a temptation to grab that folder and scour the hand written notes, to look for a sign, a prognosis of his own future in this mid-season revolution.
A spate of top-flight departures shows the lack of job security but the pressure is even more intense in the lower leagues
The reality for every manager is that you will get sacked at some point in your career, but that does not stop you feeling sorry for colleagues when you see it happen to them. You learn very quickly that it is starkly different to life as a player: a run of sub-par performances on the pitch might see you dropped to the bench, but if you’re the guy in the technical area then every bad period of results ramps up that feeling of uncertainty.
It has been a brutal spell for some managers in the Premier League recently, culminating in Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s departure from Manchester United, and that gives you food for thought. You look at your own situation when you see others losing their jobs: you realise you are fortunate but also understand how quickly that can change.
Former Granada coach has immersed himself in the Premier League and Championship since leaving the Spanish club
“There were almost tears in my eyes, bloody hell,” Diego MartÃnez says. “Friday night, the first game I’d been at with fans for 18 months. Brentford-Arsenal, back in the top division after 70-something years. Everyone singing Hey Jude, a cappella. Just the walk to the ground, the tube. The people. That’s where it started. Tottenham – Totnúm, no? – Chelsea, West Ham, Watford. Fulham, taking photos of it all. Those wooden seats, by the river. Wonderful. Everton, Liverpool, Man City, United …”
Four months earlier, MartÃnez had taken Granada to Old Trafford to face Manchester United, leading them from the second division to a first appearance in Europe and reaching the quarter-finals of the Europa League. But this time was different: this time the stadium was full and, having decided to take a step back in the summer, now he sat in the stands not on the bench. What does a manager actually do when he’s not working? A question starts a conversation but doesn’t necessarily end it, and if there’s something that emerges it is not just him, it is us. And, the Spaniard insists, there is still something about English football.
Regulators push universities to remove oversubscription loopholes after surge in higher A-level grades
Universities in England risk breaking competition laws if they add loopholes letting them withdraw offers from students at the last minute if courses are oversubscribed, ministers and regulators have told vice-chancellors.
For the last two years, the surge in A-level grades allowed more students than forecast to meet their offer targets, and some universities withdrew offers when it became clear that courses would be oversubscribed.
New M1 Pro and Max chips, larger screen, long battery life and more ports make for huge upgrade
Apple’s MacBook Pro has been given its biggest upgrade in power, ports and screen quality since 2016, ticking almost every box on the wishlist of eager Mac users.
But the new 14in and 16in models are no longer machines for the average consumer. Costing from £1,899 ($1,999 or A$2,999) they are workstation laptops for creative pros and developers and priced accordingly. They leave the excellent £999 M1 MacBook Air as Apple’s foremost consumer laptop.
Billions of these tiny plastic pellets are floating in the ocean, causing as much damage as oil spills, yet they are still not classified as hazardous
When the X-Press Pearl container ship caught fire and sank in the Indian Ocean in May, Sri Lanka was terrified that the vessel’s 350 tonnes of heavy fuel oil would spill into the ocean, causing an environmental disaster for the country’s pristine coral reefs and fishing industry.
Classified by the UN as Sri Lanka’s “worst maritime disaster”, the biggest impact was not caused by the heavy fuel oil. Nor was it the hazardous chemicals on board, which included nitric acid, caustic soda and methanol. The most “significant” harm, according to the UN, came from the spillage of 87 containers full of lentil-sized plastic pellets: nurdles.
On the organisation’s 50th anniversary, former head of photography at Greenpeace International talks about the motives behind the creation of its picture desk
Fifty years ago, on 15 September 1971, a ship named the Greenpeace set out to confront and stop US nuclear weapons testing at Amchitka, one of the Aleutian Islands in south-west Alaska.
Two years later a small boat called the Vega, crewed by David McTaggart, Ann-Marie Horne, Mary Horne and Nigel Ingram sailed into the French nuclear test site area at Moruroa, French Polynesia in the southern Pacific Ocean. Photographers had been using their images for years to publicise situations around the world. But Greenpeace was a young organisation pioneering a new kind of activism: this was the moment they began to realise that capturing images of what they were doing and seeing would play a vital role in their work.
Gaga rules in Ridley Scott’s at times ridiculous drama based on the true-life sagas of the Italian fashion dynasty
“The most Gucci of them all” is how Patrizia Reggiani described herself in a 2014 interview and, judging by this entertainingly ripe, comedically tinged tragedy, she has a point. Variously known as “Lady Gucci” and “Black Widow”, Reggiani became the centre of a very 1990s scandal involving lust, money, fashion, murder… and a clairvoyant. To that tabloid-friendly cocktail, Ridley Scott’s latest “true story” potboiler adds a dash of pop superstardom, with Lady Gaga (Oscar- nominated for her close-to-home performance in A StarIs Born) relishing the chance to find the human cracks beneath a larger-than-life, femme fatale surface.
Adapted by screenwriters Becky Johnston and Roberto Bentivegna from the nonfiction book by Sara Gay Forden, House of Gucci charts a crowd-pleasing course from the Milanese party scene of the 1970s to a high-profile, end-of-the-century trial. At its heart is the doomed romance between Patrizia and Maurizio Gucci, the latter played behind stylishly studious glasses by cinema’s sexy nerd de nos jours, Adam Driver. “I want to see how this story goes,” says Patrizia, embarking upon a twisted fairytale romance with the grandson of Guccio Gucci that starts with masked balls and talk of midnight chimes and pumpkins and ends with family back-stabbings, jealous rages and deadly rivalries.
The idea of manager as a charismatic leader steeped in a club’s DNA is no way to run a football club – unless you’re Barcelona
As Manchester United go to Chelsea on Sunday, there may be regrets for roads not travelled. Six months after United appointed Ole Gunnar Solskjær as manager, Chelsea also turned to one of their own. But they were far more ruthless and, despite the affection in which Frank Lampard was held by fans, they sacked him in January. The improvement under Thomas Tuchel was immediate and, 10 months on, Chelsea are European champions and top of the Premier League.
Would United be in a similar position had they turned to Tuchel earlier in the year? Probably not. The job Tuchel has done has been remarkable, but he is building on solid foundations: Chelsea are well-run and have recruited sensibly, in part funded by an academy that is now producing first-team players.
Soul-searching in the aftermath of Juventus setback has reinvigorated Chelsea with Manchester United next up
“It was a moment to shake things up but not in a crazy way,” Thomas Tuchel says, looking back on the fallout from Chelsea’s 1-0 Champions League defeat at Juventus on 29 September. And yet it was certainly in a forensic way, heavy on soul-searching and argument. So perhaps a little crazy? “It’s not about being super angry or blaming somebody but it was the moment to turn every stone and this is what we did for the next days in the coaching office,” the manager adds.
“To find the mix between being honest and critical but also supportive, to show a way out of this in which we believe and which suits us. With the help of the team, with the openness of the team and the mentality, we did it.”
Ex-England spinner on the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal, the highs and lows of being a cult figure and his own mental health battles
“I liked your article on Azeem Rafiq,” Monty Panesar tells me with a glint in his eye before we have even sat down. “But I want to challenge it.” Always nice to meet a reader. Albeit, these days Panesar has something of a vocational interest. He is still best remembered as one of England’s greatest modern spinners, with 167 Test wickets and a broad popular appeal based not just on his talent but his sheer enthusiasm for the game.
The fall was sharp, and often painful, and though he maintains he is still good enough to play county cricket, he has begun to map out the next chapter of his life, taking the first steps towards a career in journalism.
Less than a week ago, cabinet minister Nadhim Zahawi took to the airwaves to predict that such was the progress of the vaccine programme, Britain would be the first big country to use vaccines to end the pandemic. Hours after he made those comments, scientists 9,000 miles away detected a worrying Covid variant that , just days later, prompted Boris Johnson to announce emergency measures that he had hoped would never be reintroduced.
The speed at which Omicron’s initial discovery has led to the detection of cases around the world and the imposition of new restrictions has been startling. It is also a sign of desperation in Downing Street to avoid a lapse back into more severe restrictions, such as those the prime minister was forced to introduce – with great reluctance – last Christmas.
Previously unseen treasures from the charity’s history on the frontline are going on permanent display at its London HQ
A quilt stitched with coded messages by allied female prisoners of war and a lamp believed to have been used by Florence Nightingale are among the “objects of kindness” that are to go on display for the first time this week.
Locked away in the archives of the Red Cross for decades, the rare artefacts bear witness to the kindness and resilience of women in wartime and have never been seen by the public. Now they will be exhibited by the Red Cross when the charity opens a museum at its headquarters in London on Wednesday.
Less than a week ago, cabinet minister Nadhim Zahawi took to the airwaves to predict that such was the progress of the vaccine programme, Britain would be the first big country to use vaccines to end the pandemic. Hours after he made those comments, scientists 9,000 miles away detected a worrying Covid variant that , just days later, prompted Boris Johnson to announce emergency measures that he had hoped would never be reintroduced.
The speed at which Omicron’s initial discovery has led to the detection of cases around the world and the imposition of new restrictions has been startling. It is also a sign of desperation in Downing Street to avoid a lapse back into more severe restrictions, such as those the prime minister was forced to introduce – with great reluctance – last Christmas.
Gaga rules in Ridley Scott’s at times ridiculous drama based on the true-life sagas of the Italian fashion dynasty
“The most Gucci of them all” is how Patrizia Reggiani described herself in a 2014 interview and, judging by this entertainingly ripe, comedically tinged tragedy, she has a point. Variously known as “Lady Gucci” and “Black Widow”, Reggiani became the centre of a very 1990s scandal involving lust, money, fashion, murder… and a clairvoyant. To that tabloid-friendly cocktail, Ridley Scott’s latest “true story” potboiler adds a dash of pop superstardom, with Lady Gaga (Oscar- nominated for her close-to-home performance in A StarIs Born) relishing the chance to find the human cracks beneath a larger-than-life, femme fatale surface.
Adapted by screenwriters Becky Johnston and Roberto Bentivegna from the nonfiction book by Sara Gay Forden, House of Gucci charts a crowd-pleasing course from the Milanese party scene of the 1970s to a high-profile, end-of-the-century trial. At its heart is the doomed romance between Patrizia and Maurizio Gucci, the latter played behind stylishly studious glasses by cinema’s sexy nerd de nos jours, Adam Driver. “I want to see how this story goes,” says Patrizia, embarking upon a twisted fairytale romance with the grandson of Guccio Gucci that starts with masked balls and talk of midnight chimes and pumpkins and ends with family back-stabbings, jealous rages and deadly rivalries.
Soul-searching in the aftermath of Juventus setback has reinvigorated Chelsea with Manchester United next up
“It was a moment to shake things up but not in a crazy way,” Thomas Tuchel says, looking back on the fallout from Chelsea’s 1-0 Champions League defeat at Juventus on 29 September. And yet it was certainly in a forensic way, heavy on soul-searching and argument. So perhaps a little crazy? “It’s not about being super angry or blaming somebody but it was the moment to turn every stone and this is what we did for the next days in the coaching office,” the manager adds.
“To find the mix between being honest and critical but also supportive, to show a way out of this in which we believe and which suits us. With the help of the team, with the openness of the team and the mentality, we did it.”
Ex-England spinner on the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal, the highs and lows of being a cult figure and his own mental health battles
“I liked your article on Azeem Rafiq,” Monty Panesar tells me with a glint in his eye before we have even sat down. “But I want to challenge it.” Always nice to meet a reader. Albeit, these days Panesar has something of a vocational interest. He is still best remembered as one of England’s greatest modern spinners, with 167 Test wickets and a broad popular appeal based not just on his talent but his sheer enthusiasm for the game.
The fall was sharp, and often painful, and though he maintains he is still good enough to play county cricket, he has begun to map out the next chapter of his life, taking the first steps towards a career in journalism.
The idea of manager as a charismatic leader steeped in a club’s DNA is no way to run a football club – unless you’re Barcelona
As Manchester United go to Chelsea on Sunday, there may be regrets for roads not travelled. Six months after United appointed Ole Gunnar Solskjær as manager, Chelsea also turned to one of their own. But they were far more ruthless and, despite the affection in which Frank Lampard was held by fans, they sacked him in January. The improvement under Thomas Tuchel was immediate and, 10 months on, Chelsea are European champions and top of the Premier League.
Would United be in a similar position had they turned to Tuchel earlier in the year? Probably not. The job Tuchel has done has been remarkable, but he is building on solid foundations: Chelsea are well-run and have recruited sensibly, in part funded by an academy that is now producing first-team players.
The artist insisted he did not paint Standing Male Nude, but three specialists have concluded it is his work
Almost 25 years ago, a Swiss art collector bought a Lucian Freud painting – a full-length male nude – at auction. He then received a call from the British artist, asking to buy it from him. The two men did not know each other, and the collector politely refused, as he liked the picture.
Three days later, he claims he received another call from a now furious Freud who told him that, unless he sold it to him, he would deny having painted it.
Brash piles provide safety from predators and place to breed for animal now hailed as ‘ecosystem engineer’
Symbol of Easter and scourge of Mr McGregor, the rabbit may be the cute hero of children’s books but its rapid reproduction has traditionally made it a pest for farmers and gardeners.
Now, however, with British rabbit populations are being decimated by disease, the humble bunny is being hailed as an “ecosystem engineer” and landowners encouraged to create innovative “rabbit hotels” to revive its numbers.
The leaders of Idaho’s Christ Church are making concerted efforts to enter mainstream amid complicated financial arrangements
The son of pastor Douglas Wilson of the controversial Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, and a close associate have made significant inroads into mainstream culture in America with a successful streaming cartoon based on a book published by the church’s own imprint.
The Guardian has previously reported on how the church, which aims to create a theocracy in the US, has increased its power and influence in its home town, while also campaigning vociferously against efforts to curb the coronavirus pandemic. Those developments come amid a broader rise in the right wing across the US.
Millions of workers have been leaving jobs that offer long hours and low pay – and for many the release has been exhilarating
One morning in October, Lynn woke up and decided she would quit her job on the spot that day. The decision to quit was the climax of a reckoning that began at the start of the pandemic when she was first laid off from a job she had been in for three years.
“I’ve always had the attitude of being a really hard worker,” Lynn said, explaining that she believed her skills made her indispensable to this company. “That really changed for me because I realized you could feel totally capable and really important when, really, you’re expendable.”
Ahead of leaving Channel 4 News next month, the veteran broadcaster talks about becoming a father again at 74, being thought of as ‘a mad, bonkers, lefty oddity’ – and journalism today
Even before the pandemic, I used to find TV newsrooms, on the rare occasions I had cause to visit them, anticlimactic: hoping for (if not exactly expecting) the adrenalised mayhem of Network or Drop the Dead Donkey, their preternatural quietness always bemused me. But in the age of Covid, things have, it seems, moved up a notch. At ITV’s headquarters in London, the hush is almost eerie. Many people, if not most, still seem to be working from home. The building brings to mind some sleek new hotel in a city unpopular with business travellers. Lifts move silently up and down. The atriums are cold and empty. As I sit and watch and wait, only rarely does a human being cross the expanse of grey carpet.
But then Jon Snow appears, looking like a giant kingfisher in his suit of teal corduroy, and I cheer up a bit. Is he presenting Channel 4 News tonight? The crisp shirt and rainbow tie suggest that he is. “Yes, I am,” he says, though he can’t tell me what will be on the programme; uncharacteristically, he missed the meeting. “I went for a haircut.” A pause. “Not because you were coming. I booked it a long time ago.” His hand goes to his head, and then to the knot of his tie, which he waggles a bit before sitting down. At this point, two things strike me. First, there is his restlessness; he needs settling. Second, that it is very strange indeed that a journalist of his experience and standing should turn up with a minder. Will she be sitting in on our interview? Apparently, she will, and every so often, he will suddenly address a remark to her, rather than to me, his eyes sliding beyond my shoulder to where she sits on a sofa.
At the start of the second world war, authors asked themselves if they were going to write about their unprecedented times, or if they should be doing something more useful – joining the fire service, becoming an air raid warden. The phoney war, with its uncertainty and dread, proved hard to write about, but the blitz brought new experiences and a new language that demanded to be recorded or imaginatively transformed. Elizabeth Bowen began to write short stories, somewhere between hallucination and documentary, that she described as “the only diary I have kept”. Set in windowless houses populated by feather boa-wearing ghosts, these are stories that take place in evenings “parched, freshening and a little acrid with ruins”.
When lockdown hit last March, some writers offered their services as delivery drivers or volunteered at Covid test centres. Others attempted to make progress with preexisting projects, blanking out the new world careering into being in front of them. But nothing written in the past 18 months can be entirely free of Covid, with its stark blend of stasis and fear. And now, as we see the work made by writers who confronted it head on, questions emerge. Do we really want to read about the pandemic while it is still unfolding? Do we risk losing sight of the long view in getting too caught up with the contemporary?
Apple is offering repair kits from next year so the Guardian spent a day in a specialist shop to see how it’s done
When fixing an iPhone screen, you have to be careful with the heat gun – the clue is in the name.
If you overheat the handset you can damage the insides even before you can lever off a cracked screen, let alone replace it with another. And then you have to remember which screw is which.
The comedian and broadcaster on a near fatal heart attack, his fear of rats and flashing his bum from a train
Born in Birkenhead, Paul O’Grady, 66, found fame as the drag queen Lily Savage, who became presenter of the TV gameshow Blankety Blank in 1997. After retiring the character in 2004, he was given his own chatshow, The Paul O’Grady Show, which won a Bafta in 2005 and ran until 2015. He has just published his first children’s book, Eddie Albert and the Amazing Animal Gang: The Amsterdam Adventure, and there will be special Christmas episode of his new ITV show Saturday Night Line Up. O’Grady has a daughter and lives with his husband in Kent.
When were you happiest?
When I hit 30 and managed to get a council flat in London. It was in the most terrible state, but it was bliss to have a flat of my own.
It was the day after the London Bridge atrocity that the writer discovered she knew the man responsible. Two years later, she reflects on that time and the fallout that followed
It wasn’t until the morning after the terror attack at Fishmongers’ Hall, London, in 2019, that Preti Taneja realised she knew the perpetrator. Her partner read out his name from a news report over breakfast: Usman Khan. The 28-year-old had taken the creative writing course she led in HMP Whitemoor, a high-security category A prison, two years earlier. The report said he had been shot dead by police, after stabbing five people, two fatally.
Khan had been an enthusiastic student, keen to show off his literary knowledge as well as his writing. When he was released in December 2018, he was encouraged to continue working with the prison education programme Learning Together, which brings students into prisons to learn alongside people who are incarcerated.
From smartphones to tablets and headphones to laptop bags, there is plenty to choose from
If you are stuck for ideas for Christmas gifts this year and looking for something more exciting than socks, here are some gadgets that might be just the ticket.
From folding phones, headphones and VR headsets to smart speakers and eco-friendly phone cases, all of these great gadgets are excellent, built to last and won’t end up languishing in a drawer or, worse, the bin.
An ‘extraordinary’ campaign is credited for Palazzo Adriano’s stellar uptake – even if topping 100% is a statistical quirk
While European governments weigh up new mandates and measures to boost the uptake of Covid jabs there is on the slopes of Sicily’s Monte delle Rose a village with a vaccination rate that defies mathematics: 104%.
The figure is in part a statistical quirk – vaccine rates are calculated by Italian health authorities on a town or village’s official population and can in theory rise above 100% if enough non-residents are jabbed there – but Palazzo Adriano, where the Oscar-winning movie Cinema Paradiso was filmed, is by any standards a well-vaccinated community. A good portion of the population has already taken or booked a third dose and since vaccines were first available it utilised its close-knit relations to protect its people.
New eligibility rules are not without risk but they offer players new pathways and reflect the reality of multiple identities
When World Rugby announced that eligibility laws would be changing this week I found myself joking that I’m actually available to play for Nigeria now. Joking because it’s just a little bit too late in the day for me – I’m not sure I’d be selected! – but it got me thinking whether there is something I can do to help grow and develop the sport in a country I have huge affection for, the place where it all started for me.
I hope I’m not the only one because the change opens up so many possibilities for current players but also for people to help in other ways. I hope this rule really instigates a positive mindset in people. The world is a smaller place – more and more players and ex-players will have roots or heritage in more than one country – and it is something to be celebrated. Since rugby went professional there has not been much diversity in the teams at the top end of the world game but hopefully this is the start of something that can change that.
Brazilian is the world’s longest-serving next-best footballer but his moments of genius are increasingly rare
Who weeps for Neymar? Not many people. Except perhaps Neymar himself, who cries a lot and not always out of sadness. A quick internet search of “Neymar tears” reveals 4.73 million hits, from Brazil tears to Barça tears, to brave tears, sad tears, tears as Neymar greets [insert celebrity friend], to full, cinematic hot salty snot-washing tears. So, so many tears.
The good news is you can also get a more cheering 18 million hits for “Neymar happy”: cue for a series of wonderful beaming grins and winks and million-dollar smiles. Some people have that glow about them. I once saw a woman faint in an airport departure hall after coming unexpectedly face to face with Bill Clinton – please, no comments – who has the same sense of human event glamour. Clinton just kind of giggled, a laugh of recognition – yes siree, ma’am, that’s what I do – as his victim was led away.
Heavier ground could finally make an appearance in Saturday’s action, which would be good news for the eight-year-old
Storm Arwen is expected to deposit the most significant rainfall for several weeks on Newbury racecourse before the Ladbrokes Trophy Chase on Saturday, which adds an extra layer of uncertainty to the task of sifting a value bet from a long list of possibilities.
Second-season chasers have a strong recent record in this historic handicap, though, and it seems likely to go to an up-and-comer again this year with at least half a dozen plausible candidates towards the top of the betting.
Had Tim Paine’s captaincy ended under more illustrious circumstances would this question even be asked?
It has been more than three and a half years since Steve Smith’s captaincy of the Australian men’s Test team ended in tears. A fair bit has happened since then – enough that the ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town that cost Smith his job feels as if it was from another era entirely.
At the time of the investigation into Smith’s role in the incident, Cricket Australia ruled that “any consideration of future leadership would be conditional on acceptance by fans and the public, form and authority among the playing group.” With Smith announced on Friday as the Test vice-captain, alongside new captain Pat Cummins, the governing body clearly believes these criteria have been fulfilled.
There’s a wide choice of options, from credit cards to buy now, pay later services such as Klarna
Buying festive gifts used to be so simple but the march of technology, Covid and other factors have shaken things up and led to a dizzying array of payment options.
Buy something on the fashion website Boohoo, for example, and you can choose from seven ways to check out: credit and debit cards, PayPal, Amazon Pay and four different “buy now, pay later” companies.
Travellers to tiny islands in Vanuatu claim to fulfil a local belief that a mysterious figure from afar will one day bring prosperity. What are they hoping for?
In life, Claude-Philippe Berger styled himself the “traditional king of Tanna”, an island of 30,000 people in Vanuatu. Berger, who was born in 1953 in Casablanca and claimed to have once been a diplomat, first visited the islands in 2011, in hope of veneration. What he found was a South Pacific of the imagination: champagne-coloured beaches, rose sunsets, the rumble of volcanoes. Yet Vanuatu is also threatened by a rising tide, and cyclones regularly hit its scarce infrastructure and fragile agrarian economy.
Later, living in Nice as a supposed king in exile, Berger adopted the studied lifestyle of an obscure European royal: swathed in a blue sash and medals, he could be found cutting ribbons at provincial art exhibitions, or hosting boozy soirees in San Remo, where he and his “royal house” would engage in energetic lobbying of Ni-Vanuatu politicians to have his island throne restored.
Investors have salivated over the Illinois automaker – but juggernauts like Ford and GM still have plenty of advantages
Normal, Illinois, a town of just 55,000 people, could be the future of car manufacturing, according to Wall Street traders, at least. Six hours’ drive away in Detroit, home of the US auto industry for more than 100 years, they are not so sure.
The town gained international attention earlier this month after the Amazon-backed Rivian, an electric vehicle startup, went public in one of the biggest stock market debuts since Facebook. Despite the fact that the company has delivered only about 150 trucks, Rivian is now valued at about $100bn, more than either Ford or General Motors, which produced about 10m vehicles between them in 2020.
During the final funeral service Lee Soon-ja says sorry for the pains suffered during her husband’s reign
The widow of South Korea’s last military dictator has issued a brief apology over the “pains and scars” caused by her husband’s brutal rule as dozens of relatives and former aides gathered at a Seoul hospital to pay their final respects to Chun Doo-hwan.
Chun, who took power in a 1979 coup and violently crushed pro-democracy protests a year later before being jailed for treason in the 1990s, died at his Seoul home Tuesday at the age of 90.
Congress members float the idea of offering the 18-year-old internships as experts say their use of him is ‘a very dangerous thing’
Wearing suits and ties, the two men give the camera smiles and thumbs up. One is Donald Trump, former president of the United States. The other is Kyle Rittenhouse, who killed two people at an anti-racism protest. And behind them is a framed photo of Trump meeting the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
The mesmerizing tableau emerged from the ex-president’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida earlier this week. It was, in effect, the coronation of Rittenhouse as a future star of the rightwing media, Republican party and “Make America great again” (Maga) movement in their crusade against liberalism.
