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Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024Eyewitness KenyaThe Guardian Weekly Founded in Manchester, England 4 July 1919Vol210 | Issue№ 18Guardian Weekly is an edited selection of some of the best journalism found in the Guardian and Observer newspapers in the UK and the Guardian’s digital editions in the UK, US and Australia The weekly magazine has an international focus and three editions: global, Australia and North America. The Guardian was founded in 1821, and Guardian Weekly in 1919. We exist to hold power to account in the name of the public interest, to uphold liberal and progressive values, to fight for the common good, and to build hope. Our values, as laid out by editor CP Scott in 1921, are honesty, integrity, courage, fairness, and a sense of duty to the reader and the community. The Guardian…1 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024SCIENCEAND ENVIRONMENTCANCERPersonal mRNA vaccine for melanoma begins final trialThe world’s first personalised mRNA cancer vaccine for melanoma is beginning phase 3 trials in hundreds of patients, as experts hailed its “gamechanging” potential to permanently cure cancer.Melanoma affects about 132,000 people a year and is the biggest skin cancer killer. Surgery is the main treatment. Now experts are testing jabs custom-built for each patient that tell their body to hunt cancer cells.A phase 2 trial found mRNA-4157 (V940) dramatically reduced the risk of the cancer returning in melanoma patients. A final trial has launched, led by University College London hospitals NHS foundation trust.SPACEVoyager 1 transmits data after Nasa fixes 46-year-old probeEarth’s most distant spacecraft, Voyager 1, is communicating properly again with Nasa after engineers worked remotely to fix the 46-year-old probe.In December…2 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024A pragmatic pathBeware the friend who is only trying to help. Not, perhaps, as a rule for life but certainly when it comes to the Israel-Palestine conflict and the clashes that battle provokes around the world. Often those who think they’re doing their bit serve only to make an impossible situation even worse.Last week began with an instructive example, when Gideon Falter, head of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, released a video clip of himself being steered away from one of London’s weekly Gaza demonstrations by a police officer on the grounds that: “You are quite openly Jewish, this is a pro-Palestinian march.” Falter argued that he had flushed out proof that the Metropolitan police regard the marches as an unsafe environment for visibly Jewish people, even though the Met allows them to…4 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024The elite force bearing the brunt on eastern frontTwenty-five kilometres east of the garrison town of Lyman, a desperate fight has been taking place for months on Ukraine’s eastern front. The once verdant Serebryansky pine forest has been reduced to burntout stumps, reminiscent of images from the Somme, destroyed by Russian attacks aimed at eliminating Ukrainian foxholes.Fearful that the frontline could crack last summer, Ukraine’s commanders deployed the Azov infantry brigade to the sector. Their task was and is to repel what Maslo, a 29-year-old staff sergeant with the unit’s 1st battalion, described as “constant assaults”. Occasionally the brigade makes counterattacks on foot.Poor visibility and a mismatch of equipment makes the fight harder. Maslo described a “more or less stable” artillery mismatch of five to one in favour of the Russians, though he believes it is closer to…4 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024On French coast, hope outweighs risk of death or RwandaThey could have been on a school trip. Fifty teenagers from Vietnam, dressed for the biting cold in puffer jackets, smart trainers and woolly hats, sat on the pavement by the bus shelter outside Gare de Calais listening to music and watching videos on their smartphones.They were waiting for a bus to take them back to a forest outside Dunkirk, on the north coast of France, where they have been staying with about 1,000 others. It had been a disappointing morning for the group. Their attempt to cross to England on a dinghy from Wimereux, a quiet town 30km south of Calais, had been aborted at the last minute by their handlers.Five people, including a seven-year-old girl, had drowned after being thrown from an overcrowded boat shortly after leaving the…4 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024Seoul manBrazil’s latest music sensation grinned from ear to ear as he moseyed down Copacabana beach contemplating his unusual rise to fame.“Samba brings me joy and makes me happy,” the 59-year-old crooner said in Portuguese, as he posed for photos in the shade of palm trees.The entertainer in question isn’t your average Rio samba star. In fact, he’s a South Korean diplomat from a very different seaside metropolis on the other side of the globe. But Lim Ki-mo, Korea’s Busan-born ambassador to Brazil, has sung his way to stardom since being posted to the South American country three years ago, with a series of viral performances in which he has belted out Brazilian hits.Last month, Lim’s singing career hit new heights as he took the stage at one of Rio’s most…4 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024In his Maga heartlands, Trump is a victim not a defendantIn one US, he cuts a diminished, humbled figure. “He seems considerably older and he seems annoyed, resigned, maybe angry,” said broadcaster Rachel Maddow of MSNBC after seeing Donald Trump up close in court. “He seems like a man who is miserable to be here.”But in the other US – that of Fox News, far-right podcasts and the Maga (Make America Great Again) base – the trial of the former president over a case involving a hush money payment to an adult film performer is playing out very differently.Here, anger at what is seen as political persecution meets another emotion: sublime indifference. Barely a handful of Trump supporters bother to protest each day outside the court in New York, a Democratic stronghold.The divergence ensures that, with TV cameras not permitted…4 min
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Guardian Weekly3 May 2024的目錄Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024‘My babies came back to me’FOR SARA MELGAREJO, the wait at Santiago airport was agonising. The 65-year-old had travelled about 30km north from San Bernardo, a working class suburb of the Chilean capital, for the reunion. She walked the length of the building trying to calm her nerves, holding her breath for the arrival of the two children she had spent the last 40 years believing were dead. “My heart was racing and my body was trembling,” she says, “ but I felt pure joy.”Siblings Sean Ours, 40, and Emily Reid, 39, walked into arrivals together, having arrived on a flight from the US. Even though they had never met Sara in person, there was no question that she was their biological mother – they share the same eyes, the same infectious smile.“When I saw…17 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024Devi SridharAvian flu, or H5N1, is making headlines in the United States. The past few years have seen concerning signs of it spreading across the world – whether in chickens in Britain, sea lions in Peru, or Caspian seals in Russia. This time, it is has been confirmed in American cows, and the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the risk of it spreading to humans is of “ enormous concern”.While it is early days, the hypothesis is that in late 2023, a single cow was infected by coming into contact with infected birds’ faeces, or having infected dead birds in its feed. This began cow-to-cow transmission, and potentially even cow-to-bird transmission. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has also confirmed one human case of H5N1 in a…4 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024CultureWorld in motionVenice. Terrible. Foreignerseverywhere, and it is even worse during the bien-nale. Marked by unrest and protests, the 60th Venice Biennale leaves us uncertain of art’s ability to draw us together in a world in crisis. It is filled with the clamour of conflicting voices and doubtful purpose.On posters and on the sides of the water buses, written in neon and hung in the entrances to the central pavilion in the Giardini and to the Arsenale, the phrase Foreigners Everywhere, written in languages living, endangered and dead, is ubiquitous. Dangling in a roofed-over section of the medieval dock, the words multiply, reflecting brightly in the waters below with a cheer that belies a general unease. Often muttered in under-the-breath complaint, Foreigners Everywhere also celebrates difference, and the multiplicity of voices that…9 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024Art of the dealIn 2020 Inigo Philbrick was arrested by the FBI on the Pacific island of Vanuatu and brought to Manhattan in handcuffs. He was wanted for his part in one of the biggest art frauds in history. Still only in his early 30s, he was accused of duping art investors into parting with around $86m. Lawsuits were piling up, accusing him of forging legal documents, double-dealing priceless artworks and refusing to pay enormous debts to people he still called friends. Found guilty and banged up in jail, he was eventually shipped out to a low security prison to serve seven years. In the end he got out after three.In this exhilarating book, Orlando Whitfield tells the story of his former friend’s downfall in thrilling detail. Inigo and Orlando start out as…4 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024BOOKS OF THE MONTHMy Mother’s TonguesBy Uma Menon, illustrated by Rahele Jomepour BellWritten by a 16-year-old author, this richly textured picture book is a moving celebration of immigrant multilingualism: languages “woven together like fine cloth” until “the seams are invisible”.We Are the Wibbly! A Tadpole’s TailBy Sarah Tagholm, illustrated by Jane McGuinnessA hilarious, original picture-book account of one bemused (and ungrammatical) egg’s journey from frogspawn to frog.The Magic CallalooBy Trish Cooke, illustrated by Sophie BassThis fabulous Rapunzel retelling features a magic wishing callaloo plant, a selfish thief and a dauntless girl with beautiful curls, inspired by stories of enslaved Africans who wove patterns and escape maps into their cornrowed hair. A wonderful text-rich picture book for readers of 5+.The Life-Changing Magic of SkateboardingBy Sky Brown, illustrated by Shaw DavidsonThis welcoming, joyous 7+ handbook…2 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024№ 265 Chipotle chicken with black-eyed bean salsaPrep 25 minMarinate 1 hr+Cook 1hr 10 minServes 6-8GLUTEN FREEIngredients8 chicken thighs3 onions (500g), peeled and cut in half through the root, then each half cut into three lengthwiseFor the marinade200g jarred roastred peppers (drained weight)½ tsp ground cinnamon1 ½ tsp ground cumin5 chipotle chillies (20g), soaked in 200 ml boiling water for 30 minutes, seeds and stalks removed4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed3 tbsp white-wine vinegar2½ tsp brown sugar2 tbsp olive oil30g dark chocolate, roughly chopped20g coriander leaves, roughly chopped, plus 10g extra to garnishSalt and black pepperFor the bean salsa400g tin black-eyed beans, drained3 tbsp lime juice2 tbsp olive oil20g coriander, finely choppedTo serveCooked white rice2 limes, cut in halfFine sea salt and black pepperI’ve gone chipotle-heavy in this mole-inspired recipe. The chilli chills out a bit during…2 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024CHESSGukesh Dommaraju’s Candidates victory – becoming at 17, the youngest ever Candidates winner and world championship challenger – is a historic achievement.Teenagers have previously had an indifferent record in the Candidates. Only Bobby Fischer in 1959 and Magnus Carlsen in 2006, both then 16, have been younger than Gukesh, and both were also-rans.Garry Kasparov, who was the previous youngest Candidates winner at 20, called the result “an Indian earthquake in Toronto” and added “the children of Vishy Anand are on the loose” in a reference to India’s previous world champion, who mentored Gukesh.Gukesh’s career has been marked by a consistent rapid advance since 2019, when he became a grandmaster at 12 years seven months, the third youngest in history after Abhimanyu Mishra of the US and Sergey Karjakin of Russia.3917…1 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024Global report1 UNITED STATESPro-Palestinian protesters take over campus buildingDozens of protesters took over a building at Columbia University in New York, barricading the entrances and unfurling a Palestinian flag out of a window in the latest escalation of demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war that have spread to college campuses across the US.Video footage showed protesters on Columbia’s Manhattan campus locking arms in front of Hamilton Hall early on Tuesday and carrying furniture and metal barricades to the building, one of several that was occupied during a 1968 civil rights and anti-Vietnam war protest. The hall’s takeover came nearly 12 hours after a Monday 2pm deadline for the protesters to leave an encampment of about 120 tents or face suspension.Universities across the US have been grappling with how to clear out encampments,…11 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024UP IN ARMSStudent protests on US university campuses over Israel’s war on Gaza showed little sign of letting up last weekend, with protesters vowing to continue until their demands for US educational bodies to disentangle from companies profiting from the conflict are met.In what is perhaps the most significant student movement since the anti-Vietnam campus protests of the late 1960s, the conflict between pro-Palestinian students and university administrators has revealed an entire subset of conflicts.The drone of helicopters over New York’s Washington Square Park last Monday previewed the arrival of the strategic response group (SRG), the New York police department’s specialist counter-terrorism and political protests division, which set about arresting more than 120 New York University students and faculty members who had been circulating on a campus sidewalk to the chant of:…7 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024SpotlightENVIRONMENT Plastic threat to Galápagos wildlifeFor the Israeli communities evacuated from the country’s far north in the aftermath of 7 October, there is no longer any doubt about whether full-scale war with Hezbollah in Lebanon is going to happen. For most people, the only question is when.Nissan Zeevi, 40, has spent the past six months working as a first responder in Kfar Giladi, a kibbutz that grows apples and avocados. His wife and two young boys are living near the Sea of Galilee and have yet to come home; it’s just him, bulldog Joy, and his M16 rifle, keeping an eye on the Lebanese villages and Hezbollah outposts clearly visible from the garden, just a few kilometres away.“ The Iron Dome was a strategic mistake,” said the agro-tech entrepreneur during…5 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024‘Peace is over’Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, praised US politicians last week for approving a long-delayed military aid package, but said western allies needed to recognise that “the era of peace in Europe is over”.As Joe Biden signed the bill that will provide $61bn in military aid, Kuleba said: “Hallelujah.” Ukraine had identified seven Patriot air defence systems it could use to protect civilians in major cities outside Kyiv. One had been obtained from Germany, while four more had been located, Kubela said, adding that two more were in his sights.Cities such as Kharkiv, which has been repeatedly bombed this year, could “live in peace and their industrial production continue”, he said, as long as Ukraine’s allies adopted a more hard-headed approach to helping his country.Kubela said Ukraine’s allies should switch from…2 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024Holyrood chaosWhen Humza Yousaf was elected leader of the Scottish National party last March, it was after a contest that exposed profound policy divisions in the party.It could be said that the end of the SNP’s partnership with the Greens, and the chaos that ended with Yousaf’s resignation on Monday, was telegraphed by those divisions.Those faultlines will demand the new leader’s immediate attention. Just as crucial, in an election year when the SNP is forecast to take heavy losses at the hands of a resurgent Scottish Labour party, is how to communicate that the SNP is genuinely focused on voters’ concerns as well as on rebuilding cross-party trust at Holyrood in minority government.Support has coalesced around John Swinney, who is known for his steeliness and quiet charm.While many believe the party…2 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024The three-coffee ritual that fuels a nation’s daily grindDrinking coffee takes time in Ethiopia, a nation of caffeine lovers. In her village in Kafa, Ethiopia’s coffee heartland, Hagre Bekele starts by roasting the raw green beans over an open fire. Then she grinds them by hand and brews them in a jebena, a bulbous, long-necked clay pot. The drink is ready when the coffee boils and almost overflows.Her son, Abraham, serves the drink in small cups, filled to the brim, alongside thick chunks of bread and handfuls of roasted grains, a snack called kolo. When the first cup is drunk, Hagre brews the grounds twice more. It is considered rude not to offer three cups. She also burns incense: its aroma enhances the coffee’s taste, and some believe it keeps bad spirits away.The process lasts about an hour.…4 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024Shock and oreThe world’s largest mining company has a problem. Australia’s BHP has set out its intention to snap up the rival miner Anglo American in a multibillion-pound deal that would reshape the global industry. Its proposed £31bn ($39bn) takeover plan has already been rebuffed as a lowball offer that undervalues the company. But Anglo’s deep roots in South Africa could be a far more sensitive issue to address.Africa’s most advanced economy was built on mining. For more than 150 years since the first discovery of diamonds, gold and coal, the industry has remained South Africa’s economic lifeblood. Today it is the world’s fifth largest producer of coal and diamonds and the 10th largest producer of gold.As a result, Anglo American has held a role at the centre of South Africa’s fortunes,…3 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024OpinionGordon BrownBy the time of the European parliament elections in June, this year’s rightward ebb in European politics will have turned into a tidal wave. Ultra-nationalist demagogues and populist-nationalists are now leading the polls in Italy, the Netherlands, France, Austria, Hungary and Slovakia, and running second in Germany and Sweden. There are two hard-right groupings in the European parliament – Identity and Democracy and European Conservatives and Reformists. Between them, they could secure as much as 25% of the June vote. But even more ominously, in almost every part of Europe including Britain, these factions are forcing the hand of the traditional centre-right parties – which, one by one, are capitulating to ever more extreme anti-immigration, anti-trade and anti-environment positions.The rightward shift is, of course, a western and not just European…4 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024The GuardianViewFounded 1821 Independently owned by the Scott TrustClimbing Everest used to be an even more dangerous pursuit than it is today, requiring huge bravery, endurance and skill. Even then the mountain could kill. A century ago, it claimed the lives of two of Britain’s finest climbers, George Mallory and Sandy Irvine.The world’s highest mountain succumbed to human challenge when Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay carried the flags of Britain, the UN and Nepal to its summit in May 1953. Sporadic trips involving handfuls of explorers continued over succeeding years.But the slopes of Everest have since been transformed. Its peaks and ridges are now regularly flooded with tourists vying to reach its 8,849-metre summit. In 2023, more than 1,200 people – paying fees of $50,000 a head – attempted the feat.…2 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024‘I’m expecting a miracle’‘Something should happen in a concert,” says Patricia Kopatchinskaja. “I don’t know what. But every time, I’m expecting a miracle. I’m not very humble about this!” If audiences have learned to expect inspiring and surprising things from this restless and unpredictable violinist, that’s nothing compared to the standards she sets for herself. On stage, Kopatchinskaja is an impish presence, a coiled spring that could unwind in any direction. In conversation, she talks seriously and softly, yet every so often an idea forms that especially pleases her and her eyes get a mischievous glint – a look that, in performance, means she and her fellow musicians are about to make something happen.The musician is happiest at the centre of eclectic ensemble programmes that encourage us to listen actively and to be…4 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024Fault linesThree people, none of them the author, emerge from this book looking prophetic. One is her constituency agent in Norfolk. Told she is thinking about running for the Tory leadership, he tells Liz Truss it would be for the best if she lost. Another is her husband, Hugh. He faithfully backs the tilt at No 10, but predicts her prime ministership will “all end in tears”. The third is the late queen, who concludes the formalities appointing Truss as prime minister with the warning: “Pace yourself.”“Maybe I should have listened,” muses the author, one of the very few acknowledgments she offers to the reader that she might have got the odd thing wrong.The ostensible purpose of this book is to help those of her rightwing persuasion to “heed the warnings…4 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024My brother’s bullying still affects me. How can I deal with it?When I was a child I was bullied by my older brother. I am 41 now and I think this has really affected me throughout my life. He always picked on me, called me stupid, fat, ugly, worthless and told me I was never good at anything. This went on every day until I moved abroad to live with my grandmother at the age of 17.My parents never punished him or made him stop. I resent them for it. I’ve spoken to my mum a few times in recent years, but it’s a bit too late now and I don’t want to make her feel guilty.My brother’s life isn’t easy now. He is in a difficult marriage and has a child with additional needs. Our relationship is not great and…3 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024QUIZ1 At about 3,900 square km, A23a is the world’s largest what?2 Which sugar doesn’t come from plants?3 Who, in 1954, was the first black woman to have a UK No 1 single?4 What was the subject of the legal case Tennessee v Scopes?5 What is the only dwarf planet within Neptune’s orbit?6 Which US president vowed, “I’m not going to eat any more broccoli”?7 Which 1819 novel cemented the modern legend of Robin Hood?8 In AI computing, what is an LLM?What links:9 Black Hill; Grindslow Knoll; Bleaklow; Kinder Scout?10 Ceiling Painting; My Mommy is Beautiful; Sky TV; Wish Tree?11 Michael J Fox; Ulysses S Grant; David O Selznick; Harry S Truman?12 Devon (sea); Surrey (land); Lincolnshire (air)?13 John Gielgud; Audrey Hepburn; Andrew Lloyd Webber; Tim Rice; Elton John?14 CSK;…1 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024COUNTRY DIARY WOLSINGHAMFrom a distance, the pavement seemed to be crawling with enormous caterpillars, but these are unripe male catkins at my feet, torn down by stormy weather from a Lombardy poplar’s twigs 12 metres above my head. High winds have gifted me the most colourful catkins in our tree flora. They are as long and broad as my fingers, densely packed spirals of purple stamens: unexploded pollen bombs.So much pollen. There must be at least 100,000 pollen grains per catkin, and there are still plenty left on the tree. Enough to make a hay fever sufferer’s eyes water.Every spring, catkin-bearing trees flood the air with pollen, triggering another annual epidemic of sneezing for about 20% of the human population whose immune system is triggered by proteins that leak from the pollen…1 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024United KingdomSCOTLANDHumza Yousaf resigns as SNP first ministerHumza Yousaf stepped down as Scotland’s first minister on Monday after failing to secure enough cross-party support to survive a major crisis with the Scottish Greens.His resignation threw the Scottish National party(SNP) into crisis, a little over a year after he took office, with the party’s former leader John Swinney quickly emerging as the favourite to replace him. Swinney, who quit government after Nicola Sturgeon stood down in February 2023, confirmed he was “giving very careful consideration” to standing as a unity candidate, after coming under intense pressure from senior figures inside the SNP.In a hastily arranged speech in Edinburgh, Yousaf admitted he triggered the crisis by unilaterally scrapping a government coalition deal with the Scottish Greens last week, leading to the Greens demanding…3 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024‘WE’RE VERY WELCOME’A woman is standing next to a group of Holocaust survivors and their descendants in Trafalgar Square in London, live-streaming her challenge to the pro-Palestine marchers on her phone. “Why will none of you condemn Hamas?” she repeats several times.Most of the marchers ignore her, preferring instead to show their appreciation for the group of 11 survivors who oppose Israel’s actions in the war in Gaza.But this is a march of thousands of people and one protester, probably in his 50s, takes the bait, yelling about “you bloody evangelical Christians” and knocks her phone out of her hands as she turns to film him. “Where are the police?” she calls, and in the commotion ends up on the ground, cutting her leg on some broken glass. Some of the marchers…4 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024Rising hopesWhat is happening with ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas?There has been a recent flurry of activity around the talks, with an uptick of optimism about progress. According to Barak Ravid of the news site Axios, the Israeli proposal is for a potential deal with Hamas for a ceasefire in exchange for the release of hostages and talks over the “restoration of sustainable calm” in Gaza.Hamas has also broadcast several proof-of-life videos of hostages who may be expected to be exchanged at some point during a deal, which could increase domestic political pressure on Israel where the hostages’ return is a potent issue.The language is instructive. “Sustainable calm” suggests a solution somewhat short of the “total victory” repeatedly touted by the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed to…3 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024Growing tide of plastic threatens Galápagos speciesAs our small fishing boat slows to a halt in a shallow bay south-east of Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz, in the Galápagos Islands, a green turtle surfaces next to us, followed by a second, then a third a few metres away. A spotted eagle ray glides underneath the vessel.The skipper, Don Nelson, steps on to the black volcanic reef, slippery with algae. We follow, past exposed mangrove roots and up on to higher ground. Pelicans swooping into the trees and small birds, perching on branches, ignore our approach.This remote archipelago still hosts the unique species such as giant tortoises and finches that inspired the naturalist Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution almost two centuries ago, and it is impossible not to be struck by the apparent harmony with which animals coexist…7 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024Preserving the shoes of StutthofAt the foot of a pine tree, Grzegorz Kwiatkowski bent to touch the black, moist shapes nestling amid the fungi and leaf mulch. “I’ve been monitoring this area now since 2015, and always hope I won’t stumble upon anything any more and that one day the entire area will have been cleared,” he said. This, however, was not that day.The 39-year-old poet, scholar and rock musician was walking in the forest just metres from the perimeter fence of what was once the Stutthof Nazi concentration camp in the German-annexed territory of Poland, and is now a memorial site in Sztutowo, a village 38km east of Gdańsk on the Baltic coast.What he was looking for – and what, over the course of two hours in mid-March, he found – are shoes:…7 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024Love at first swipeA class-action lawsuit filed in a US federal court last Valentine’s Day accuses Match Group – the owners of Tinder, Hinge and OkCupid dating apps, among others – of using a “predatory business model” and of doing everything in its power to keep users hooked, in flagrant opposition to Hinge’s claim that it is “ designed to be deleted”.The lawsuit crystallised an ocean of dissatisfaction with the apps, and stimulated a new round of debate over their potential to harm mental health. But for scientists who study romantic relationships, it sidestepped the central issue: do they work? Does using the apps increase your chances of finding your soulmate, or not? The answer is: nobody knows.“The science isn’t there,” said sociologist Elizabeth Bruch of the University of Michigan, who has studied…6 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024Into the woodsTHERE ARE A LOT OF HUMANS. Teeming is perhaps an unkind word, but when 8 billion people cram themselves on to a planet that, three centuries before, held less than a tenth of that number, it seems apt. Eight billion hot-breathed individuals, downloading apps and piling into buses and shoving their plasticky waste into bins – it is a stupefying and occasionally sickening thought.And yet, humans are not Earth’s chief occupants. Trees are. There are 3tn of them, with a collective biomass thousands of times that of humanity. But although they are the preponderant beings on Earth – outnumbering us by nearly 400 to one – they’re easy to miss. Show someone a photograph of a forest with a doe peeking out from behind a maple and ask what they…20 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024Mihir BoseI thought I knew Britain in 1969, when I came to this country from India to study at Loughborough University. But I quickly realised that was not the case. For me, the last half-century has been a long process of learning. At times this was very painful. Once, I even feared for my life at the hands of football racists. I have also seen the UK reinvent itself as a much more caring, welcoming place. However, we still have some way to go to become a truly diverse society.My initial surprise was to discover that, on their little island, the British did not live as they had done in India during the Raj. Not only were bathrooms not en suite, but many homes even had outside loos. The dinner jacket…4 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024Opinion LettersWRITE TO USLetters for publicationweekly.letters@theguardian.comPlease include a full postal address and a reference to the article.We may edit letters. Submission and publication of all letters is subject to our terms and conditions, see: THEGUARDIAN.COM/LETTERS-TERMSEditorialEditor: Graham Snowdon Guardian Weekly, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU, UKTo contact the editor directly: editorial.feedback@theguardian.comCorrectionsOur policy is to correct significant errors as soon as possible. Please write to guardian.readers@theguardian.com or the readers’ editor, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU, UKThe profligate Rwanda bill benefits no oneAs Rishi Sunak and his band of merry sycophants finally force their Rwanda bill through (UK report, 26 April), it strikes me that we don’t know who it actually benefits. The prime minister claims it will deter small boats crossing the Channel, even as the Conservatives…4 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024ReviewsFILMChallengersDir. Luca GuadagninoCould cinema be witnessing the birth of a stunning mixed doubles partnership? Last year, Korean-Canadian film-maker Celine Song gave us Past Lives, a movie about a South Korean woman in the US, married to a white American writer, reconnecting with her Korean childhood sweetheart. Now Song’s white American husband Justin Kuritzkes has written this uproarious screwball dramedy of straight sex and queer tennis.Luca Guadagnino directs with style and Zendaya is devastatingly cool as Tashi, a former superstar tennis player turned coach, now married to her single client: Art, played by Mike Faist. He is way off his game these days, going out to patently inferior players, but Tashi comes up with a plan: Art will slum it on the inferior ATP Challenger Tour to match with some no-hoper…2 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024Rock and a hard placeOlwen Flattery, a thirtysomething academic with a razor-sharp wit and a soft spot for hard liquor, tries to impress on a roomful of Galway undergraduates the aeons of tectonic convergence it took for the Earth to reach its current form, versus the terrifying speed at which we “needy, grabby, arsony narcissists” seem bent on destroying it.Olwen soon grows frustrated by the confines of the lecture theatre, the inability of words to convey her urgent message. She mounts her bike and leads an unofficial field trip to the Atlantic coast, where she lets the rocks do the talking. And that night, after dinner with her partner (and a few hefty gins), she mounts her bike again and cycles out of her home, out of the county, out of her life.Unfortunately for…2 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024A new leaf: how to use up a head of lettuce without making saladHow to use a whole head of lettuce before it turns – no salad, pleaseWe’re talking about how to apply heat here, because raw lettuce is all about salad (unless you’re using the leaves to cradle mince or mushrooms, which is also an excellent shout). Braising is as good a place to start as any, says Farokh Talati, head chef at St John Bread and Wine in London. Cut the lettuce in half through the root and season, and get a cast-iron pan on the heat. “ At the restaurant,” Talati says, “I’d use beef dripping, but you could fry bacon in vegetable oil instead, then lift it out and use the fat in the pan; or, for vegetarians, just use olive oil.” Once the fat is smoking hot, pop…2 min
Guardian Weekly|3 May 2024The Weekly cryptic No 29,364✱ All solutions published next weekAcross1 Person managing port in other bars with a rum shot (7,6)10 Jobseeker right behind tech company, receiving its trademark letter? (7)11 Casually treat husband after i.e. pinching guy’s bottom (3,4)12 English books absorbing love poet (5)13 Delete account over a new delivery method (9)14 Scraps of paper I’m obliged to include in sort of map (5)16 Show jazz inspired by heavy metal - it’s what good consumers prefer (4,5)18 Refrain from TV? Seem agitated in skimpy undies (5,4)19 Teacher from the east greeting wise person there (5)20 Threats of attacks from Salah et al defending poorly later (3,6)23 Kid close to Ayers Rock (5)24 When uncovered, unearthly changes are captivating (7)25 European city with Scot going on the tube (7)26 If not upset, BBC…1 min
