Indholdsfortegnelse for 30th April 2021 i Guardian Weekly

Idriss Déby Chad’s autocratic leader who was killed from wounds said to be sustained in battle against rebels in the country’s north. He died on 20 April, aged 68. Analysis, p19 Jim St einman The American songwriter and composer who masterminded Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell, one of the biggest-selling albums of all time. He died on 19 April, aged 73. Christa Ludwig German mezzo-soprano lieder and opera singer. She died on 24 April, aged 93. Les McKeown The Scottish lead singer of Bay City Rollers, whose Bye Bye Baby was a UK number 1 for six weeks in 1975. He died on 20 April, aged 65. Alber Elbaz The Moroccan-Israeli fashion designer who was a favourite with celebrities for his work for Lanvin. He died on 24 April,…

Looking out over a sea of jostling, maskless faces gathered at a political rally in West Bengal on 18 April, the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, proudly proclaimed that he had “never ever seen such huge crowds”. A mask was also noticeably absent from Modi’s face. That same day, India registered a record-breaking 234,000 new corona virus cases and 1,341 deaths – and the numbers keep rising. On Monday, there were another 352,991 cases, the latest record-breaking total, with 2,812 new deaths. In the week to 25 April, India recorded a cumulative 89% increase in Covid deaths compared with the week before, and a total of 2.2 million new cases – the highest seven-day increase of anywhere in the world. Total confirmed infections have passed 17 million. Hospitals across the…

The death in battle last week of Chad’s unloved dictator, Idriss Déby, has pushed the Sahel up the west’s political and media agenda. The global attention span for this desperately poor, unstable and ill-governed region is chronically short. And yet the Sahel is, or soon could be, everyone’s problem. A vast, arid swathe of sub-Saharan Africa that comprises Mali, Niger, Chad, Mauritania and Burkina Faso (the so-called G5 Sahel), plus parts of neighbouring countries, the Sahel is where the world’s toughest challenges collide. The spread of jihadist terrorism, claiming record numbers of lives and posing a possible threat to Europe, is the most closely watched phenomenon. But corrupt and repressive governance, colonial-era hangovers, external interference, environmental degradation, climate change, Covid-19, poverty and malnutrition – and the resulting conflicts, refugee emergencies…

Boris Johnson is isolated in Downing Street with no longstanding trusted aides and at risk of becoming “uncontrollable”, Tory sources have said after he allegedly personally briefed against Dominic Cummings following confirmation that the prime minister had to foot a £58,000 ($80,000) refurbishment bill for his flat. Several insiders who spoke to the Guardian described Johnson’s two closest advisers – the cabinet secretary, Simon Case, and Downing Street chief of staff Dan Rosenfield – as insufficiently politically experienced to handle the toxic briefing wars in No 10. “The prime minister is being failed here,” one said. “There need to be interventions from his team but that isn’t happening. These are the moments when it matters – having people who can say no. He is surrounded now by people he doesn’t…

The guilty verdict on the former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for killing George Floyd signalled a key moment for policing and for the battle for racial equality in America. Observers have talked about this case marking a watershed between the way law enforcement was held to account in the US before George Floyd was pinned by the neck under Chauvin’s knee, and after. First, the Black Lives Matter movement – already battling for an end to disproportionate police killings of Black people, and for justice and equity – drove a massive new civil rights uprising that spread from Minneapolis, across the US and internationally. The demonstrations expanded to include other deaths of defenceless Black people at the hands of police or racist agitators both in the US and abroad.…

News travels swiftly through Havana, bumping against people, then rolling on. Cubans have a phrase for it: la bola en la calle, the ball in the street. Raúl Castro’s announcement earlier this month that he is to retire and bring 62 years of Castro rule on the island to a close caused barely a ripple, even if it sent waves around the world. Cubans were expecting it and, for those battling to buy food in what are increasingly tough times, there was scepticism about what difference it would make. “I don’t think there will be any significant changes in the near future,” said one man. “Not as long as the old guard casts its shadow and influence.” He was instead following news that chicken had been spotted at a shop…

Founded 1821 Independently owned by the Scott Trust Political hubris met pandemic reality in India last week. At the beginning of March, the Hindu nationalist government of Narendra Modi claimed the country was in Covid-19’s “endgame”. India is now in a living hell. A new “double mutant” variant, named B.1.617, has emerged in a devastating coronavirus second wave which has seen hospitals run out of beds and oxygen. Mortuaries are so full that bodies are left to decompose at home. Charities warn that the dead risk being left on the streets. On Monday India recorded 352,991 new Sars-CoV-2 infections. More than 2, 800 deaths were recorded in the previous 24 hours. Yet little more than six weeks ago, Mr Modi, with not even 1% of the population vaccinated, signalled that pre-pandemic…

The story of land art is generally believed to be a tale of white men descending on what they thought of as the empty canvas of the American west in the 1960s with bulldozers and big ideas to make their work. But what of the women who were also making their mark? “Today, land art appears as an almost perfect distillation of the art world’s history of male privilege, with its conviction that man is entitled to space to roam, to make his mark,” critic Megan O’Grady wrote in 2018. “It is one of the contemporary art movements most urgently in need of reconsideration.” A forthcoming exhibition at Lismore Castle in County Waterford, Ireland, centred on the work of the late Nancy Holt, hopes to redress that balance. Light and…

One summer’s night, at a concert in a small Welsh town, Helena Attlee finds herself blown away by the sound of an exotic stringed instrument. After the encore she hunts down the performer, Greg, who plays with one of Britain’s major symphony orchestras, to find out more about his instrument. Greg tells her that his violin was once owned by a Russian named Lev, and that he thinks it may have been made in the Italian town of Cremona, birthplace of the famous luthier Antonio Stradivari. Attlee inspects the body, expecting to find a resplendent antique. Instead she discovers something worn, matted with the sweat of many generations of musicians. The two agree this violin’s “voice” is unique. And yet, Greg reveals, the auctioneers have declared it “worthless”. For Attlee…

NOTES & QUERIES I know you think you understand what you thought I said… What are thoughts? Where do they come from and where do they go? All you are is sense perception and memory. Memory is tied into language and thought. But you remember very little of what you take in through your senses. So thoughts are probably fleeting, unexpressed memories. IanRod65 viatheguardian.com • They cost a penny. The best ones are the ones I am thinking. I can’t begin to know yours. Doreen ForneyPownal, Vermont, US • Thoughts are microscopic brain socks. They get lost all the time, sometimes for ever, but often turn up for no apparent reason in a place you never expected. idontcareanymore viatheguardian.com Biomechanist crushed What is the worst email you sent to the…

Last week’s virtual climate summit at the White House gave Joe Biden a forum to announce that the US would slash emissions by half by 2030. Other countries, including the UK, made commitments to move more quickly towards net zero. Now, ahead of the vital Cop26 summit in Glasgow, attention turns to other big polluters to confirm their plans to curb their carbon output and help to keep global heating below 1.5C. Environment correspondent Fiona Harvey looks at the progress made last week and what more needs to be done. The big story Page 1 0 → Since our last issue the pandemic in India has accelerated beyond crisis point. Hundreds of thousands of daily cases are seeing hospitals too full to take critically ill patients and oxygen supplies dwindling. Our correspondent Hannah…

MALARIA Trials give 77% efficacy for vaccine against disease A malaria vaccine has been shown to be highly effective in trials in Africa, holding out the possibility of slashing the death toll of a disease that kills 400,000 mostly small children every year. The vaccine, developed at the Jenner Institute of Oxford University, showed up to 77% efficacy in a trial of 450 children in Burkina Faso over 12 months. The hunt for a malaria vaccine has been going on the best part of a century. The Oxford vaccine is the first to meet the World Health Organization goal of 75% efficacy against the mosquito-borne parasite disease. Larger trials are now beginning, involving 4,800 children in four countries. ANTHROPOLOGY Cave study shows how lack of light affects sense of time…

So which country has the highest target? Well, it’s complicated. The UK has committed to cut emissions at a faster rate than other developed nations, with a target of 68% by 2030. That’s measured against emissions in 1990; over the past few years, emissions have been reduced, so measured against the 2018 baseline, for example, the cut needed is smaller. But the UK’s emissions are small in global terms, only about 2% of global emissions compared with 15% for the US. So cuts of 50% to 52%, compared with 2005 levels, by 2030 announced by the US will have a greater impact. The EU has pledged cuts of 55%, compared with 1990 levels, and has put the target into legislation this month. The differences between the US, the EU and…

The catastrophe unfolding in India appears to be the worst-case scenario that many feared from the Covid-19 pandemic: unable to find sufficient hospital beds, access to tests, medicines or oxygen, the country of 1.4 billion people is sinking beneath the weight of infections. With the global supply of vaccines unlikely to pick up until the end of this year, international leadership is required. Despite the best intentions of the World Health Organization and the vaccine-sharing Covax initiative to fairly distribute jabs, the pandemic may require a period of tightly focused firefighting. Difficult and sometimes unpopular decisions must be made. That will require countries to look beyond their own health crises to see that the pandemic could still get much worse without intervention. Experts have repeatedly warned that allowing the virus…

Hundreds of ordinary people suspected of supporting opposition politicians in Uganda have been snatched off the streets by security services in the worst wave of repression in the east African country for decades. Many suffered systematic torture, detention in harsh conditions in often secret prisons and without access to relatives or lawyers. The abductions, which were described in detail to the Guardian by survivors and relatives of victims, have led the UK and the US to express concern through diplomatic channels. Victims of the crackdown include teenagers, a well-known international boxer and a 63-year-old businesswoman. Some appear to have done no more than vote for political parties seeking to remove Yoweri Museveni from the presidency. Museveni, 76, has been in power for 35 years and has long been perceived as…

Shukran Best Kebab, the finest Turkish restaurant in the Seven Sisters area of north London, according to some people, although it is surrounded by fierce rivals to the throne, joined Deliveroo two years ago and back then it seemed like a no-brainer. “Life as a small, independent restaurant is hard and the profit margins are slim,” said Huseyin Kurt, Shukran’s owner. “We wanted more customers and money coming in and Deliveroo seemed to offer that. I didn’t think there was a downside.” Within a few days of signing a contract with the company, a shiny new tablet computer arrived on which orders placed via Deliveroo appeared out of the ether with a satisfying ping. The sense that something was wrong dawned gradually. Kurt, a gregarious, bearded man in his early…

1 Among multiples of 11, the number 1001 is palindromic (reads the same if the order of the digits is reversed); 1012 is not. How many 4-digit multiples of 11 are not palindromes? 2 Wordpool Find the correct definition: HYPOBULIC a) in the shape of a hypobulab) lacking in willc) wanting too littled) excessive 3 Jumblies Rearrange the letters of NATIONALISED to make a single word. 4 Dropouts Replace each asterisk with a letter to make a word: T*A*S*E* 5 Glam and Glamour Identify these artistes differing only in the letters shown: *L*** band **** singer (with thanks to Brett Ascott, Putney) 6 Missing Links Find a word that follows the first word in the clue and precedes the second, in each case making a fresh word or phrase. Eg…

Saudi Arabia The kingdom has announced a slew of environmental initiatives, including plans to generate 50% of the kingdom’s energy from renewables by 2030 and to plant 10bn trees. Analysts say achieving serious cuts in Saudi emissions would require significant changes that will be politically unpopular. Earlier grand announcements including plans to build massive solar farms have also failed to translate into meaningful action. But the Gulf state appears to be recognising that weaning itself off fossil fuels is becoming a political and economic imperative, as well as an environmental one. Michael Safi South Africa South Africa published a draft updated NDC last month, with ambitious targets to limit its annual greenhouse gas emissions to 398-440 MtCO2e by 2030, but many campaigners and analysts raised significant concerns about its continuing…

Yoweri Museveni is one of Africa’s most enduring rulers. The 76-year-old former bush fighter has defied calls for his retirement, saying his six successive elections victories demonstrate his continuing popularity. Once seen as a reformer who would put right the wrongs of brutal former leaders such as Idi Amin and Milton Obote, now Museveni, below, is accused of many of the same abuses as his predecessors. Born in 1944 into a cattle-keeping family in Ankole, western Uganda, Museveni came to power in 1986, and has long been seen as a staunch ally of western powers and a force for stability in a volatile region. During the 1990s, Museveni was one of a new generation of reform-minded African leaders. Uganda’s economy grew fast, school enrolment increased, and the country’s effective campaign…

‘Just imagine,” tweeted Pete Buttigieg last October, “turning on the TV, seeing your president, and feeling your blood pressure go down instead of up.” Joe Biden’s first hundred days in the White House appear to have been successful in lowering the nation’s blood pressure after a white knuckle ride with Donald Trump. The mood change in Washington is tangible. “I found myself for the last four years waking up in the morning and feeling quite happy and then this dark cloud would come over my head and I’d think: something’s wrong,” recalled Sally Quinn, an author and journalist. “And then I would think, Donald Trump got elected president! My God. That’s gone now and honestly, it’s like it never happened. “Everybody I know is just calmer and, of course, Biden…

In 2008, a satirical blog called Stuff White People Like became a brief sensation. The conceit was straightforward, coupling a list, eventually 136 items long, of stuff that white people liked to do or own, with faux-ethnographic descriptions that explained each item’s purported racial appeal. While some of the items were a little too obvious – indie music appeared at #41, Wes Anderson movies at #10 – others, including “awareness” (#18) and “children’s games as adults” (#102), were inspired. It was an instant hit and before long a book based on the blog became a New York Times bestseller. The founder of the blog was a PhD dropout named Christian Lander. In interviews, Lander always acknowledged that his satire had at least as much to do with class as it…

The beguiling urban designer Thomas Heatherwick has, along with just about everyone else, spent many hours walking alone in empty streets over this past year, wondering what happens next. One of the thoughts that has bounced around in his head on those walks has been this: “Many people are realising that they may hardly have to go anywhere ever again.” A consequence of that realisation – the conclusion drawn from working and socialising and shopping at a kitchen table – will, he believes, cause “a lot of hard-nosed businessmen” to confront a question fundamental to his thinking since he set up in practice 27 years ago. “What might make people want to come to this place?” Heatherwick is talking to me from his studio in King’s Cross, London, an area…

We are first introduced to 45-year-old Nic as she collects random detritus on her way back from work at the local discount department store: behold the empty bottles, advertising pamphlets, Lose Weight and Lost Pet posters and a doll’s bonnet. They will all find a home nestled closely between her other scavenged items; among the waterfall of clothes, mountains of newspapers, and jagged terrain of vases, lamps, trophies and innumerable other sundries. These are her love objects and the circumstances of their provenance provide a rich backstory that colours Nic’s otherwise plain life. Her 20-year-old uni student niece, Lena – with whom she shares a weekly gossipy lunch – is the closest relative Nic allows into her closed, self-sufficient life. When Nic has a bad fall and emergency services have…

Prep 5 min Cook 15 min Serves 4 as a side • VEGAN • GLUTEN FREE Ingredients 2 large or 3 smallish mangoes – you’ll need 650g flesh in total, once peeled and chopped4 tbsp rapeseed or sunflower oil1 tsp black mustard seeds10 fresh curry leaves1-2 green finger chillies, finely chopped½ tsp turmeric½ tbsp ground coriander¾ tsp salt1 tsp sugar250ml coconut yoghurt1 x 160ml tincoconut cream This is a very simple, elegant curry from the heart of Kerala. It’s hot, tangy, sweet and creamy all at once. It reminds me of Aditya, a chef I worked with at Gymkhana in London, who cooked it for me one night. He talked about this curry as if it were a rare creature, and said he’d had an exceptional version of it only…