Indholdsfortegnelse for 27 May 2022 i Guardian Weekly

Albanese seeks a reset to help nation ‘grow up’ Page 24→ A class of children in Novyi Bykiv sat listening to their teacher, his voice competing with the sound of plastic sheets flapping in the window frames. Asked if they were happy to be back in school, the class of fifth-grade students chorused: “Yes!”. They may not have windows, electricity or textbooks yet, but lessons in this village east of Kyiv have been back under way for two weeks now, after a major cleanup operation following the departure of the Russian army. Novyi Bykiv was one of a series of settlements occupied by the Russian army as part of Vladimir Putin’s failed drive towards the capital from three directions. For a month the residents lived in terror, with executions and…

Over the almost six months of Partygate, the same narrative has played out repeatedly: just as Boris Johnson seems to have put the saga behind him, new images emerge to refocus everyone’s minds, with a corrosive effect on the prime minister’s image and ratings. Last Thursday, when the Metropolitan police inquiry formally closed with just one fine for Johnson, Conservative MPs were exchanging admiring – or in some cases exasperated – messages about how the “greased piglet” had slipped free yet again There was still the full report to come from the senior civil servant Sue Gray. But supporters of the prime minister were clear – a single fine for a brief appearance at an impromptu birthday celebration did not merit a leadership challenge. Time to move on. On Monday,…

In a move that could provide some income for homeless people and clean up the streets, the Catalan government is looking at paying €4 ($4.25) to anyone who hands in a pack’s-worth of cigarette ends at a recycling point. The cost of the proposal would be covered by a 20-cent levy on each cigarette, its proponents say, which would nearly double the price of a pack from about €5. A similar levy on plastic bottles and aluminium cans introduced in New York City in 1982 has provided homeless people with a small but steady income “We want to put a stop to the present situation where around 70 % of cigarette butts end up either on the ground or in the sea,” Isaac Peraire, the head of the Catalan waste…

While Kamal Patel was probing through the reams of user data on examine.com – a website that calls itself “the internet’s largest database of nutrition and supplement research” – before a planned revamp later this year, he discovered that the most searched-for supplement on the website was curcumin, a distinctive yellow-orange chemical that is extracted from the rhizomes of turmeric, a tall plant in the ginger family native to Asia. Patel concluded that this was probably because of curcumin’s purported anti-inflammatory properties. “An astounding number of people experience inflammation or have inflammation-related health conditions, and curcumin and fish oil are two of the most researched supplements that can sometimes help,” he says. This consumer interest in curcumin hasn’t gone unnoticed by the “wellness” industry. Besides its use in pill supplements,…

Earlier this month, Adarna House – a children’s book publisher in the Philippines – publicised a special offer on social media: 20% off a #NeverAgain book bundle. The selection includes a Tagalog translation of This is a Dictatorship, a book originally published in Spain when the country was transitioning from the Franco-era. What seems like a mundane moment of online marketing was in fact a significant political act. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, the son and namesake of the late dictator, had just won the Philippines’ presidential election by a landslide. Marcos Sr was one of the dictators identified in the book, alongside Nicolae Ceausescu, Idi Amin, Pol Pot and others. Under Marcos’s two-decade rule, thousands were killed, tortured and “disappeared”. The Philippines became a kleptocracy as the Marcos family and their…

In a dark rehearsal space, three actors run lines. “Are you OK with the word disability?” starts Simon Laherty. “I don’t think it describes me,” Sarah Mainwaring retorts in a steady voice. The third actor, Scott Price, strokes his beard, then puts a finger in his hot chocolate and absentmindedly sucks it. “Look, I am a disabled person,” he says, his words racing. “I am proud, and I don’t want to have to weave my way around language.” The trio are members of the internationally lauded, Geelong, Australia-based Back to Back Theatre, an ensemble who are neurodiverse or have a learning disability or both. Their latest, group-devised work, The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes, casts a wry and acute glance at the slave labour forced on people with learning…

I have struggled with depression and anxiety since my teens and have had therapy and been on medication on and off since I was 17 (I am now 37). I’m aware of deeprooted low self-esteem and shame. I feel worthless. I never want to draw attention to myself and have a paralysing fear of confrontation. I have managed to maintain a few close friendships, have worked in the past, and am married with two kids. So I appear “successful” on the surface. Things really spiralled when I had my children, specifically my youngest child, two years ago. My anxiety went off the charts and my thoughts went very dark. Covid probably had an impact, too. My world has become small. We have moved countries three times in recent years as…

Peak District, England This is an intriguing landscape, not just because it’s a rare point of union for three counties: Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire. As much as it’s a real place, it exists as a meme on social media, and come the bank holiday, is thronged with people. I’m not sure why they come. Recently I was stopped by a carful, who asked for directions. When I told them they would have to park a kilometre away and walk, they drove off. However, I went on to have an experience at Three Shires Head that suggested there is something magical at play here. Three birds of prey – red kite, peregrine and buzzard – were playing together over the River Dane. Had you seen such a constellation there when I…

Short supplies Weighing up the impacts of food insecurity Page 12 → APOCALYPSE IS AN ALARMING IDEA, commonly taken to denote catastrophic destruction foreshadowing the end of the world. But in the original Greek, apokálypsis means a revelation or an uncovering. One vernacular definition is “to take the lid off something”. That latter feat is exactly what Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, achieved last week, possibly inadvertently, when he suggested Britain was facing “apocalyptic” levels of food price inflation. In fact, Bailey was talking as much about the drastic impact of Ukraine-war-related rises in food costs and food shortages on people in poorer countries. “Sorry for being apocalyptic for a moment, but that is a major concern,” he said The cost of living is a problem in Britain.…

Troops evacuated More than 260 Ukrainian soldiers have been evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, appearing to cede control of the city to Russia after 82 days of bombardment. Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Maliar, said 53 heavily wounded soldiers were evacuated to a hospital in the Russian-controlled town of Novoazovsk. More than 200 others were transported through a corridor to Olenivka, Maliar said. It was unclear how many soldiers remained in the steel plant, but Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said: “We hope to save the lives of our boys.” Ukraine has said it will not agree to any ceasefire deal that would involve handing over territory to Russia, as Moscow intensified its attack in the eastern Donbas region last weekend. “The war must end with the complete…

The last Christmas Island forest skink was named Gump. She lived in a spacious cage filled with rocks, soil, logs and a ready supply of fresh invertebrate food in the island’s national park. Her namesake was Forrest Gump – they were both solitary individuals who, despite being mild and unassuming, experienced momentous events while remaining unaware of the exceptional courses their lives had taken. The Christmas Island forest skink (or whiptail skink) used to thrive on its island home, an Australian territory off the coast of Indonesia. In 1979, researchers documented that they were its most abundant skink. These lizards were, visually, fairly nondescript. Not too small, but by no means large, they averaged about 20c m in length, with a slim body covered in brown-yellow scales. As recently as…

When Scott Morrison won Australia’s federal election in 2019, it seemed like the country would never emerge from the climate wars that had begun a decade earlier. Morrison had taken the prime ministership late in 2018 after conservatives in the ruling Liberal-National Coalition deposed Malcolm Turnbull, in part for his attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Australia’s energy sector. After taking the top job, Morrison went on to weaponise climate action, falsely branding a modest policy by the Labor opposition to impose new vehicle emissions standards as a “war on the weekend”. Morrison’s stylised “war” was potent hyper-partisan politicking in a sprawling continent where electric vehicles are viewed through a prism of range anxiety. Morrison, a pentecostal Christian, characterised his 2019 victory as a “miracle”. But the victory triggered…

Smoke curls into the air, a drum beats, the dance begins a chant is raised. Ten metres away, cars howl past on a busy road, drivers unaware of the sacred ritual taking place in the centre of a bustling South African city. Francisco Mackenzie, a chief of the Cochoqua community of the Khoi people, talks of ancient beliefs and battles five centuries ago, against invaders from overseas. He points to the iconic skyline of Table Mountain, and then to a nearby building site. “This is where we come to venerate our ancestors and the great spirit creator and to renew our nation’s ties. That is where the first battle of resistance took place. But money is always disrespectful of nature, traditions and culture,” he told the Guardian. The money in…

The probable demise of abortion as a federal right in the US will be a “catastrophe” for women in low and middleincome countries, with an emboldened anti-choice movement likely to raise the pressure on hard-won gains, doctors and activists have warned. The leak this month of the US supreme court’s draft majority opinion, which argued that the 1973 ruling effectively legalising abortion had been “egregiously wrong from the start”, stunned and enraged many Globally, pro-choice figures – many in countries with restrictive abortion laws and high levels of social stigma around reproductive rights – warned that Justice Samuel Alito’s words would “send a really clear message” of inspiration to anti-choice groups. “I’m sure the pro-life or anti-choice movement in [Uganda] must be hoping and praying that the Roe v Wade…

TEN DAYS BEFORE MY FATHER DIED, he suffered a small stroke and fell. Or perhaps he fell and then had the stroke. Either way, it surprised me when people asked what was the cause of death. I mean, he was 98! Wasn’t that cause enough? I visited him shortly after his fall, I visited him shortly after his fall, flew down from New York with Amy and Hugh. Gretchen and Paul met us at Springmoor, but he was essentially gone by then. There was a livid gash on his forehead, and he was propped up in his bed, which seemed ridiculously short, like a cut-down one you’d see in a department store. His eyes were closed, his mouth was open, and behind his lips swayed a glistening curtain of spittle.…

The backlash to the #MeToo movement was always coming. We know this because a backlash has followed every single step forward feminists have ever made. This backlash was always going to be big, too. Not only did #MeToo threaten a status quo that props up powerful men, it threatened these men personally, and – as it seemed to some – with reckless caprice. “If somebody can be brought down by accusations like this,” a White House lawyer said after Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations against Brett Kavanaugh were made public, “then you, me, every man certainly should be worried.” It wasn’t just men who were worried. The idea that systems that previously treated only women, minorities and lower-class men unfairly might be capable of doing the same to high-status men was…

What salads are satisfying enough for dinner? Matthew, Birmingham “Big, beautiful salads are such an important category,” says Melissa Hemsley, whose latest book, Feel Good, has just been published. And, she says, they can be achieved with just beans, bread and a bit of prep. “Roast butter beans, maybe with some harissa and honey, to get them nice and sticky. Crouton the hell out of a baking tray of old bread. Roast any veg you’ve got. Batch-cook maftoul, quinoa or wild rice for bulk. And make good use of eggs.” The beans and croutons could then form the base of a caesar-tahini salad. The next day, “toss tomatoes with cannellini beans or chickpeas, with a sticky, harissa-maple dressing, then smash whatever croutons you’ve got left over into breadcrumbs.” Gelf Alderson,…

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1 UNITED STATES Biden pledges defensive support for Taiwan Joe Biden said the US would intervene militarily to defend Taiwan if it came under attack from China, in an unusually forceful statement that drew a defiant response from Beijing. Speaking on the second day of his visit to Japan, and against the backdrop of growing concern over Chinese military activity in the region, Biden said the US’s responsibility to protect the self-ruled island was “even stronger” after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “That’s the commitment we made,” Biden said, after he told the Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, that Washington backed Japan’s permanent membership of a reformed UN security council and Tokyo’s plans to beef up its security The US president said any attempt by China to use force against Taiwan…

POLITICAL UPHEAVAL & REVOLT Scarce food, combined with price increases, electricity blackouts and shortages of petrol, cooking gas and medicines, provoked a political crisis in Sri Lanka this spring that serves as a discomfiting template for countries facing similar problems. Months of protests culminated in the resignation of the prime minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa, but even his scalp did not prevent unrest turning violent. Desperate, Sri Lanka obtained a bridging loan from the World Bank to help pay for essential imports. Last Thursday, it defaulted on its debt for the first time ever. Double-digit inflation that left many Pakistanis unable to afford basic foodstuffs was also a major factor in the fall from power earlier this year of the prime minister, Imran Khan. His attempt to cling to office created a…

Long before Partygate, Boris Johnson was known among colleagues for the superpower of survival: the extra ordinary ability to shrug off setbacks that led his Eton contemporary, David Cameron, to liken him to a greased piglet Last weekend, as scores of junior colleagues reeled from the news that just one of the 126 fines for Partygate was levied on the prime minister, his supporters were celebrating what appeared to be another great escape. Shortly after finishing a call with the Ukrainian leader, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, last Thursday morning, what Johnson had long been telling friends was formally confirmed to No 10: he will receive no further fines, aside from the one he was handed for sharing a birthday cake with colleagues in June 2020. With a well-timed announcement of structural changes…

It is twilight in Las Horquetas valley in Patagonia’s northern Aysén region. Several cars have pulled over beneath sandy cliffs on a wide paved road. Just metres away, three deer graze unperturbed in the glow of the car lights. The Patagonian huemul (Hippocamelus bisulcus), or South Andean deer, is the most endangered hoo fed animal in South America. It stands 80-90cm tall with deep inset eyes and furry antlers. Fewer than 1,500 survive today – two-thirds are found in Chile and the remainder in Argentina, where the huemul’s principal habitat is lenga forest and scrubland. They exist in fragmented groups of 101 known sub-populations, with 60% of these comprising only 10-20 individuals, and suffer from poor genetic diversity. The huemul was first brought to the attention of the wider public…

With monkeypox being detected in countries from the US to Australia and France to the UK, what is the situation and is it a cause for concern? What is monkeypox? Monkeypox is a viral infection typically found in central and western Africa. A few cases are sometimes diagnosed in other countries, including the UK where the first case was recorded in 2018. There are two forms of monkeypox: a milder west African strain and a more severe central African, or Congo, strain. In Australia and the UK, it is thought the recently diagnosed individuals have the west African strain. According to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), early symptoms of monkeypox include fever, headache, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes and chills, as well as exhaustion. “A rash can develop, often…

Every day, for the past 20 years, Joyce Naserian has laid out her handmade curios near an entrance to the Maasai Mara park to sell to passing tourists. Her earnings have helped the 46-year-old feed and educate her four children. In northern Kenya, about 1,200 semi-nomadic women earned more than 9m Kenyan shillings ($77,000) selling beadwork to visitors at 43 community wildlife conservancies in 2020. Selling the beadwork was a solid money earner for these women. But that was before Covid. The collapse of eco-tourism during the pandemic has spelled disaster for conservation initiatives and livelihoods in Kenya and beyond. Cuts have plunged communities into poverty, leading to a rise in poaching and the illegal wildlife trade. Reuters reported that in the first three months of 2020, the African continent…

NICOLE CURATO The ominous return of the Marcoses Page 47→ For the past few years, scientists have been frantically sounding an alarm that governments refuse to hear: the global food system is beginning to look like the global financial system in the run-up to 2008. While financial collapse would have been devastating to human welfare, food system collapse doesn’t bear thinking about. Yet the evidence that something is going badly wrong has been escalating rapidly. The current surge in food prices looks like the latest sign of systemic instability. Many people assume that the food crisis was caused by a combination of the pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine. While these are important factors, they aggravate an underlying problem. For years, it looked as if hunger was heading for extinction.…

Few artists are as strongly associated with a single painting as Edvard Munch is with The Scream. Even before its endless memeability became apparent it was as much a fixture of popular culture as of art history. But there has always been more to Munch than his most famous work, and a new show at London’s Courtauld Gallery gives a rare chance to trace his wider career. The exhibition comes from the collection of Norwegian industrialist Rasmus Meyer, who discovered Munch’s work in the early years of the 20th century and became an avid supporter and collector, going on to buy paintings directly from Munch’s studio, the paint almost still wet. This is the first time his collection, held in the Kode art museum in Bergen, has been shown together…

To be a musician is to learn to live with paradox. That is the conclusion that Jeremy Denk, a first-rank American concert pianist, has come to after more than 40 years of work on his playing. In classical music, there are always more details to be finetuned and technical challenges to be overcome, but the obsession with total mastery can also be what keeps you from obtaining it. Denk’s credentials are impeccable: in addition to being awarded a MacArthur fellowship, he has toured the world, plays regularly at Carnegie Hall in New York, and topped the Billboard classical chart with his recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. In 2014, his take on Beethoven’s final piano sonata was chosen by BBC Radio 3’s Building a Library as the best recording made to…