Innholdsfortegnelse for 13th August 2021 i Guardian Weekly

Richard Trumka Powerful US union boss who rose from the coalmines of Pennsylvania to preside over the AFL-CIO, one of the largest labour organisations in the world. He died on 5 August, aged 72. Brian Henderson Newsreader in Australia for Channel Nine until 2002, and before that the host of the black and white TV-era music show Bandstand. He died on 5 August, aged 89. Ilona Royce Smithkin Polish-born American artist, model and performer who, with her orange hair and long fake eyelashes, became an unlikely fashion brand icon in her 90s. She died on 1 August, aged 101.…

China’s regulators are on the march again, pushing one of the country’s most valuable technology companies, Tencent, into fresh curbs designed to limit the time children spend playing its video games. The announcement led to a collapse in Tencent’s shares, but the measures will be eyed with mild jealousy by many western parents. Minors playing the hit title Honor of Kings will only be allowed to play for one hour a day, and two hours on holidays. Children under 12 will also be blocked from in-game purchases. Such restrictions are nothing new. Honor of Kings already limited the time young players could play, though with slightly more generous limits. In 2018, it even began trialling a technology that it called the “midnight patrol”: using facial recognition to identify young players…

Moira Hunt hasn’t seen her mother in more than 18 months. Hunt and her husband, Shane, live in the UK but are from Australia, where Moira’s mother is about to be admitted to hospital. In her 70s, she has had to cope with the pandemic and her own illness without her daughter by her side. Shane has also, despite a family crisis, been unable to go back to Sydney to see his father and relatives. Moira and Shane can go home, but would need to shell out $13,900 each for plane tickets, and then another A$ 3,000 ($2,200) for hotel quarantine, even though they are fully vaccinated. They also had to prove they have a “compelling reason” to travel. Shane can just about stomach the separation, but the unfairness of…

A hardline president has taken charge in Iran. An inexperienced government in Israel is threatening military action against Tehran. A shadow war is being waged in the Gulf. Iran’s ally, Hezbollah, is firing missiles into Israel from chaotic Lebanon. Bitter words fly in London over hostage s. US fears grow that the Vienna nuclear talks have failed. Deal or no deal, it’s suggested, Iran may soon be able to build an atomic weapon. This is a perilous, portentous moment in the Middle East, specifically for the multifaceted conflict between Iran and the west. Ebrahim Raisi, sworn in as president this month after a rigged, boycotted election, offered scant ground for optimism. “Tyrannical” sanctions imposed by Donald Trump must be lifted, he said. But he offered no plan and nothing in…

The treatment of female celebrities in the first decade of the century has been subject to much dissection – those who spent their teens watching it through the lenses of the paparazz i and the women’s magazine have come of age, and those who suffered in the camera’s glare, most notably Britney Spears, continue to suffer. So despite being set in 2008, Other People’s Clothes, the debut novel from Berlin-based American Calla Henkel, feels timely. The book follows Zoe and Hailey, two American art students on a year abroad in Berlin who sublet a flat from Beatrice, the author of bestselling potboilers, and suspect that she is spying on them as fodder for her next novel. And so they begin to perform, putting on flamboyant parties, their li ves becoming,…

In Europe’s ongoing migrant crisis, much media attention understandably focuses on Mediterranean sea crossings from North Africa. But our big story this week focuses on another deadly passage, from Africa’s western coast to the Spanish Atlantic territory of the Canary Islands. While official death rates are comparatively low, concerns are growing that undocumented fatalities on this extremely dangerous crossing could be many times higher. Sam Jones reports from Gran Canaria. The big story Page 10 → As extreme weather-fuelled wildfires continued to blaze in several parts of the world, a major new report from hundreds of top scientists laid bare the severe extent of our damage to the Earth’s climate and the disaster looming if the slim chance to avert global heating above 1.5C is not grasped. Environment editor Damian Carrington analyses…

ANIMALS Macaque troop gets first alpha female in its history In a rarely seen phenomenon in the simian world, a nine-year-old female known as Yakei has become the boss of a 677-strong troop of Japanese macaque monkeys at a nature reserve on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Yakei’s path to the top began in April when she beat up her own mother to become the alpha female of the troop at the Takasakiyama natural zoological garden in Oita city. Yakei then threw her 10kg weight around among the males and roughed up Sanchu, the 31-year-old alpha male who had been leader of “troop B” for five years. Wardens carried out a “peanut test”, putting out nuts for the group and seeing who ate first. Sanchu backed away and gave…

250 Deaths recorded this year (up to 8 August) on the Atlantic route to the Canary Islands from West Africa. But it is thought the true number of fatalities is far higher 1,922 Estimate of the actual death toll on the route between January and the end of June this year 7,418 Number of migrants and refugees who have arrived in the Canary Islands this year 23,023 Number of migrants who arrived in the Canaries in 2020, most of whom arrived in the last three months of the year 7,000 Number of reception places set up in six camps across the islands SOURCES: INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION FOR MIGRATION; CAMINANDO FRONTERAS…

Greece Some of the worst blazes in Europe have been raging amid blistering temperatures. Evia, Greece’s second largest island, was under severe threat and thousands have fled their homes. Already, the extent of the destruction is greater than previous fire seasons. In the 10 days to 7 August, nearly 57,000 hectares were burned in Greece, according to the European Forest Fire Information System. The average area burned over the same period between 2008 and 2020 was 1,700 hectares. Turkey Blazes have swept through swathes of the southern coast for around two weeks, killing at least eight people. Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes, and fire has devastated vast tracts of pine forest and agricultural land. Rain brought some respite last weekend. Italy Fires continue to…

When the Nigerian government suddenly banned access to foreign exchange for textile import companies in March 2019, Moses Awa* felt stuck. His business – importing shoes from Guangzhou, China, to sell in the northern city of Kano and his home state of Abia had been suffering along with the country’s economy. The ban threatened to tip it over the edge. “It was a serious crisis: I had to act fast,” Awa said. He turned to his brother, Osy, who had begun trading bitcoins. “He was just accumulating, accumulating crypto, saying that at some point years down the line it could be a great investment. When the forex ban happened, he showed me how much I needed it, too. I could pay my suppliers in bitcoins if they accepted – and…

I HAD A FEELING I COULDN’T IMMEDIATELY PLACE. I WANTED TO GO OUT BUT WASN’T ALLOWED. Shelves were emptying at the nearest supermarket and, instead of fresh fruit and vegetables, I was eating British comfort food – sausages and mash, pie and beans. My freedom to make decisions like an adult was limited. I wondered when I’d see my mum again. March 2020, first week of the first lockdown: I was 53 years old and felt like I was back at boarding school. Which wouldn’t have mattered but for the fact that, at a time of national crisis, my generation of boarding-school boys found themselves in charge. My first night at Pinewood school was two days after my eighth birthday in January 1975. A term earlier David Cameron had left…

Henry must face up to its responsibility to the Earth It is good to hear that “Henrys are relatively robust and easy to mend” (“Hello, sucker”, 6 August). However, before getting carried away by their robotic smiles, we might remember that vacuum cleaners, along with their inseparable companions, fitted carpets, are both by-products and heavy users of fossil fuels. The wooden floors the latter replaced can be hand-swept far more quickly, quietly and effectively, with minimum cost to the planet – and also without backache. Is the sale of 14m Henrys a cause for celebration, or rather a prompt to think more deeply and radically about the impact of our everyday activities? Sr Margaret Atkins Cumbria, England, UK Britain is unrealistic over its Brexit negotiations Regarding “The Northern Ireland mess…

Fredo The second Fredo album in the space of six months begins in portentous style. There’s an extract from an 1852 speech given by the former slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass – a speech that contrasted the celebration of “freedom” on 4 July with the lot of the slave – followed by church y sounding organ that recalls Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor. “I know labels don’t want it to end this way,” offers the rapper on the chorus, “but I had to tell them it’s independence day.” It’s the kind of bullish declaration of freedom an artist might make had they recently quit, or been dropped by, a label, but the advance stream of Independence Day arrives from Sony, bearing the logo of RCA, which has released…

1 Show that the difference of the reciprocal of two consecutive whole numbers is always the reciprocal of a whole number but the sum of the reciprocals of two whole numbers never is. 2 Wordpool Find the correct definition: COQUELICOT a) poppy red b) poached egg c) the sound of a cockerel d) seashells 3 Jumblies Rearrange the letters of THIN ALBUMS to make a word. 4 Dropouts In each case replace each asterisk with a letter to make a word: *V*A*I*N 5 Wordcentre Identify this (OK, not very frequent!) 14-letter word from its centre: ****TOMATO**** 6 Cryptic Offensive words for sailor to use (5) 7 Missing Links Find a word that follows the first word in the clue and precedes the second, in each case making a fresh word…

Have you been podiuming over the past few weeks? This is either winning a medal (so stepping on to the podium) at the Olympics, or it’s shouting hoarsely into an uncaring gale that “podium is not a verb”. In ancient Rome the podium was the raised platform around the arena that seated the emperor and other VIPs (from the Greek podion, literally “little foot”, meaning “base” or “pedestal”). Adopted into English in the 18th century, a podium was the projecting base of a wall or column, and latterly a raised platform or lectern. It was applied to the familiar three-tiered sporting structure only in 1948. the verbing will still attract its critics, such as those who also claim every four years that “to medal” is not a verb. But do…

Nightly rituals can mean we fail the screen test Why am I always tired on the sofa, but wide awake once I go to bed? Because whatever you were doing on the sofa wasn’t tiring enough. Cathy Montague Shaftesbury, Dorset, UK • I find that the refreshing taste of toothpaste, combined with the glaring bathroom light and the pressure to get a good night’s sleep, means that I’m more awake than ever. Wuffinch via theguardian.com • The television slows our brainwaves down and lulls us into a soothing state of mild hypnosis, leaving us very docile and receptive. This is why advertisers pay so much for your time and attention. kikibudd via theguardian.com • I think it is genetic. My dad loved to fall asleep while watching TV and would…

British charities have criticised a “shameful” lack of safe alternatives for migrants after the number making the life-threatening journey across the Channel between France and England in small boats this year surpassed 10,000. The total includes at least 482 people who succeeded in crossing the Dover strait last Wednesday on 21 boats – a record for a single day. The UK home secretary, Priti Patel, has vowed to make the crossings “unviable” and the government’s nationality and borders bill would criminalise migrants who attempt illegal routes into the UK rather than entering via settlement schemes. However, humanitarian groups have warned such measures will not solve the problem. Responding to the latest figure, which stands at more than 10,200 according to PA Media, Tim Naor Hilton, the chief executive of Refugee…

For Filipe da Silva, hitting the streets was about staying alive. “Unfortunately, Brazil elected a murderer,” the 28-year-old declared as he and thousands of fellow protesters streamed through the seaside city of Fortaleza last month to decry the president’s bungling of a Covid epidemic that has killed more than half a million people. For Eduardo Ramos, joining the largest protests in Cuba’s post-revolution history was about demanding political freedom and voicing anger at the hardships created by the pandemic. “Millions of people like me have lost their youth,” complained the 18-year-old Cuban, who scrapes by hawking avocados and mangoes after Covid robbed him of his $20-a-week job collecting bus fares. Da Silva and Ramos were marching against systems of different stripes: Jair Bolsonaro’s far-right administration in Brazil and the communist…

ONE FRIDAY IN APRIL 2016, as the polarising US presidential race intensified, and more than 30 armed conflicts raged around the globe, approximately 3 million people spent part of their day watching two reporters from BuzzFeed wrap rubber bands around a watermelon. Gradually, over the course of 43 agonising minutes, the pressure ramped up – the psychological kind and the physical force on the melon – until the 686th rubber band was applied. What happened next won’t amaze you: the watermelon exploded, messily. The reporters high-fived, wiped the splatters from their reflective goggles, then ate some of the fruit. The broadcast ended. Earth continued its orbit around the sun. I’m not mentioning this story to suggest there’s anything especially shameful about spending 44 minutes of your life staring at a…

DEV PATEL WAS ENJOYING THE RIDE, BUT PEOPLE WERE SAYING THE HORSE WAS TOO SMALL. It was the winter of 2019. Patel was in Ireland, preparing for his latest film, The Green Knight, in which he spends long periods on horseback. The Green Knight is directed by the American filmmaker David Lowery, who, while casting around, “got hooked on the magnificent image of Dev in armour, astride a horse,” he told me recently. The armour looked good in rehearsals, but the horse? “I was like, ‘Look! It’s amazing! Look how good I am!’” Patel recalls. “And then I’d watch the video back and be like, ‘OK, this is really embarrassing.’” The horse’s name was Sparkles. “She looked like a Shetland pony. I would sit on her and, literally, my toes…

Divers investigating an underwater canyon off California made a startling discovery in 2002. They found a dead whale that appeared to be wrapped in a crimson, shag-pile carpet. Closer examination revealed this shroud was made of red worms, previously unknown to science, which were eating the whale’s skeleton. Subsequent research showed these acidsecreting creatures were all female and inside each was a tube containing a harem of dwarf males. These were carried around to provide fertilisation when the worms encountered food, such as a whale carcass, and wanted to start breeding. Scientists named the new genus Osedax, which means “bone-devourer”. Were there more such bone-devourers? they wondered. Answers came swiftly. In waters off Sweden, they discovered Osedax mucofloris – literally “bone-eating snot flowers” – while the species Osedax jabba was…

‘The appearance of simplicity is not the same thing as simplicity itself,” thinks the narrator of Intimacies after discovering her Dutch boyfriend, Adriaan, is married. Similarly, while Katie Kitamura’s writing is of the Orwell-approved “clear pane of glass” school, the cumulative effect of her deft, spare sentences is paradoxically confounding; what appears to be a straight path somehow becomes a labyrinth. Adriaan admits to having a wife. “But I don’t know for how much longer,” he tells the unnamed narrator. “Is that OK?” In fact, very little in this addictively mysterious novel is OK, from the “complex and contradictory” nature of T he Hague, where the narrator has moved from New York, to her work as an interpreter at Kitamura’s version of the international criminal court. Here, despite her skill…

Prep 15 min Cook 40 min, plus cooling Serves 12 • VEGAN• DAIRY FREE Ingredients For the cake 500g plain flour350g soft light brown sugar1 tbsp baking powder1 tsp bicarbonate of soda¼ tsp sea salt160ml olive oil – I like to use extra-virgin here360ml whole oat milk1 tbsp apple cider vinegar2 tbsp vanilla paste200g fresh blueberries6 tbsp blueberry conserve For the elderflower cream 200g plant butter, at room temperature250g icing sugar, plus 1 tsp extra for dusting3 tbsp elderflower cordial1 tbsp ground coriander When I think about my perfect summer, I think of meals shared outside with friends and family that involve fruit-and cream-filled cakes. If you’re vegan or have a dairy allergy, however, you’re often left eating something entirely different. I wrote this recipe for a celebratory cake so…

TEBAY Cumbria, England The wind drops about 6pm and we feel the full force of the sun on the clipping trailer. We had started gathering the sheep at 9am, and ha d been clipping ever since. My job is to move the sheep through a series of pens and up a ramp to the trailer. Each sheep weighs about 70kg and pushes back with great force. My knees and thighs are very bruised. The clipping shears buzz constantly and every couple of minutes there is a bang as another sheep comes through the gate. Once they are sitting on their bottoms, though, the sheep do not struggle. They go into a sort of trance and allow themselves to be moved gently from left to right by the clipper. It must…