Innehållsförteckning för 12 May 2023 från Guardian Weekly

The Guardian Weekly Founded in Manchester, England 4 July 1919 Vol208 | Issue№ 19 Guardian 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…

‘You cannot stop it’ ‘Father of AI’ says fears about technology are misplaced Page 13 → For the common good The US and UK remind tech companies of responsibilities Page 14 → An eminent, elderly British scientist lobbed a grenade last week into the febrile anthill of researchers and corporations obsessed with artificial intelligence or AI (AKA, for the most part, a technology called machine learning). The scientist was Geoffrey Hinton, and the bombshell was the news that he was leaving Google, where he had been doing great work on machine learning for 10 years, because he wanted to be free to express his fears about where the technology he had played a seminal role in founding was heading. To say that this was big news would be an epic…

SUDAN Aid workers race to get food to refugees Page 19 → The price of liberation is high. In the village of Posad-Pokrovske in southern Ukraine, a place once on the very frontline of the war, almost every house is damaged by shell fire. Outside a blue-painted church, Father Viktor Kravchuk, 61, has laid out the sheets, quilts and clothes he has rescued from his ruined house to air in front of a little cemetery. Kravchuk tells the story of the village, describing the brief Russian occupation there at the beginning of the war and how after the Russians were pushed out, it became a frontline position for Ukraine’s soldiers, who were hit by Russian shells for months. It was only last November, the priest says, when the Ukrainian army…

The UN is in a race against time to get food to Sudanese refugees crossing the border into Chad before the rainy season, as neighbouring countries struggle to cope with the numbers of people fleeing the civil war. More than 110,000 people are estimated to have crossed into other countries as patchy ceasefires fail to stop deadly clashes between Sudanese army troops and a paramilitary rival that have killed hundreds and forced more than 330,000 from their homes. But aid workers warn there are serious questions, in a region suffering acutely from hunger and already hosting sizeable refugee populations with vastly decreased funds, over what awaits new arrivals. In Chad, the imminent rainy season threatened to cut off remote border regions and food stocks needed to be “pre-positioned” in strategic…

When Dr Harold Young, an eminent Belizean political scientist, takes visitors around Belize City, the first stop is an unremarkable building whose basement entrance is partly shrouded by creeping pink bougainvillea. Its padlocked gates and broken windows back on to a car park in the city’s historic centre. The building is known in the former British colony as the erstwhile headquarters of a TV station and production company once owned by the Conservative peer Michael Ashcroft, who has sprawling investments around Belize. But the building also serves as a reminder of the brutality of British rule. “It’s the last remnants of a holding dungeon for slaves,” Young said. “Before they were put out for sale.” Unlike the island states in the Caribbean, where plantation slavery underpinned the colonial economy, enslaved…

Walk down any busy street, and you’re bound to find dozens of candy-coloured plastic cylinders littering the ground. Millions of these disposable vapes are thrown away every month in the UK. And hidden inside each one is a lithium battery – made of a material crucial for the transition to renewables. I try not to make a habit of vaping, but it’s far too easy to pick one up when they’re eyecatchingly displayed right next to the chewing gum in every corner shop. For weeks after my impulse purchase, the vape lay next to my bin. I knew I had to recycle it, but how do you actually go about doing that? I soon found myself falling down a blueberry smoke-filled rabbit hole. There was no clue on the packaging…

What’s the best food for a Eurovision party? Claire, Manchester, England, UK Our favourite song competition is back, and Claire’s snack game needs to be strong. “Vine leaves are always great – you can get really good ones in jars and tins,” says Greek-Cypriot cook Georgina Hayden, the author of Nistisima. “Or do a big platter of hummus jazzed up with a fancy topping” – lamb mince fried with cinnamon, cumin and a little chilli until really crisp would be just the ticket. “Toss through some pine nuts and raisins, spoon it over the hummus, add lots of parsley, a drizzle of olive oil and some paprika, and tuck in.” Another winning snack is keftedes, which are “deep-fried meatballs, which is just what you want alongside a drink, right?” For…

Despite the sunshine, a bitter wind from the east scythes across the exposed wooden deck of the bridge and whistles around the massive arch of ironwork that once swung open to allow ships to pass. Pont Abermaw – Barmouth Bridge – carries the Cambrian Coast railway over the Afon Mawddach, on its journey south between Machynlleth and Pwllheli, as well as providing a path for walkers and cyclists. As I watch, the train eases on to the bridge and trundles past me. The railway has a modest single track and carries equally humble two-carriage trains, yet these form a vital strategic service for many on this coast. Children ride the train to school and older folk take it to the next town for their weekly shop, while others revel in…

Across 1 Pests (informal) (9) 8 Room where martial arts are practised (4) 9 Denigrate (9) 10 Boss (4) 13 December deliveryman? (5) 15 Quality of being funny (6) 16 Gary ___, English actor and film-maker, b. 1958 (6) 17 City state of ancient Greece, famous for its military prowess (6) 19 Number one’s stand-in (6) 20 Something submitted in a competition (5) 21 Informal valediction! (2-2) 24 Carnivorous mammal of the Eurasian tundra – Hugh Jackman’s role the X-Men film series (9) 25 English pop duo of the 1980s – a big hit! (4) 26 Street vendor (6,3) Down 2 Secret place of seclusion (4) 3 Expression of open-mouthed astonishment (4) 4 Incrustation that forms on teeth and gums (6) 5 Expression of agreement (6) 6 Cheers! (7,2) 7…

The name Geoffrey Hinton was little known outside the tech industry until last week, when the so-called “godfather of AI” gave an interview after leaving Google in which he warned that machine learning is leading us into uncharted territory. So is now the time to get properly frightened about the capabilities unleashed by machine learning? Technology writer John Naughton in this week’s big story says an unequivocal yes. Our technology correspondents also report on efforts by the US, UK and EU to pause and evaluate this galloping tech revolution. The big story Page 10 → Britain spent last weekend watching avidly or determinedly avoiding the exuberant display of ancient ceremony around the coronation of King Charles III. Our coverage takes a fondly amused look at all the pageantry, personalities and gold braid with…

In a speech on Red Square as part of Russia’s Victory Day celebrations, Vladimir Putin claimed Russia wanted to see a peaceful future, and said the entire country was behind what Russia calls the “special military operation” in Ukraine. The president walked from the Kremlin to Red Square to be greeted by ranks of military personnel at the start of celebrations to mark the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany. Putin told Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine that the “whole country is praying for them”, as he used his Victory Day speech to defend his invasion of Ukraine. Putin drew parallels between the second world war and fighting in Ukraine. “Today, civilisation is again at a decisive, turning point, a real war has been unleashed against us again,” he…

The Metropolitan police has defended the arrest of antimonarchy protesters during the coronation despite announcing that no charges will be brought against them. The London force said it expressed “regret” that six demonstrators from the Republic campaign group were arrested last Saturday. Graham Smith, the head of the group, said it was considering legal action and demanded an inquiry into the conduct of officers. In a statement, Scotland Yard said on Monday it believed items found alongside a large number of placards could be used as “lock-on devices”. “The investigation team have now fully examined the items seized and reviewed the full circumstances of the arrest,” the statement added. “Those arrested stated the items would be used to secure their placards, and the investigation has been unable to prove intent…

‘The monarchy had no dignified grounds to accept the Star of Africa, let alone parade it’ In South Africa, as across the African Commonwealth countries, last Saturday’s coronation of King Charles III prompted mixed reactions. There was much interest in Pretty Yende, the South African soprano who sang at the beginning of the ceremony, and some high-profile public figures sent their best wishes to the monarch. Thuli Madonsela, a popular lawyer and activist widely respected after her leadership of the country’s public corruption watchdog, offered “congratulations to HM King Charles and Queen Camilla on their coronation” in a tweet. “It was wonderful to see our peerless opera star @PrettyYende shine during the coronation,” Madonsela said. However, others took a more combative stance, with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a populist…

When Femi Claudius Cole decided to form a political party, to address what she saw as Sierra Leone’s slow economic development and poor governance, she knew it would be tough. But the former nurse could not have predicted quite how gruelling it would be: spending time in jail and fighting for her reputation. The Unity party, registered by Cole in 2017, failed to win any seats in the 2018 general election. But she persevered and co-founded the Consortium of Progressive Political Parties, an opposition alliance in 2021. “People thought that once I lost, I would disappear into thin air – they didn’t know me,” she said. In July 2022, women organising a rally to protest at the soaring cost of living asked for her backing, and she agreed, allowing them…

It claims to be the most trusted name in news. But CNN’s live Q&A this week with Donald Trump, the former US president, has been condemned by critics as a marriage of convenience: an ailing network looking to boost ratings and a disgraced 76-year-old candidate seeking rehabilitation. For millions of voters not yet paying attention to the 2024 election, the show is likely to be a wake-up call: Trump is back and the current favourite for the Republican party nomination, despite two impeachments and one criminal indictment. And for the US media, it could be a warning from recent history: will Trump exploit cable news’s insatiable thirst for outrage, dominate political discourse and surf a wave of free publicity all the way to the White House? Treating Trump like any…

WHEN CARMEN VALENCIA WAS FIVE YEARS OLD, troops came banging on her door. Her mother grabbed a long machete. “I had no idea what was going on, but I thought, if they come in here, they’re going to kill us,” she recalls. Now 78, Valencia has lived most of her life on Vieques, one of the Caribbean’s most picturesque islands, under the thunder of bombs. They roared from navy planes just over the hill by her mother’s house, leaving the smell of smoke hanging thick in the air. She was even more frightened of the troops, who would stalk her neighbourhood looking for women to harass. Valencia and her whole family are US citizens. Vieques is part of Puerto Rico, a US territory. She wasn’t living in an enemy country…

The biggest illusion – and utility – of royal events such as the coronation is that we are somehow a part of them. We are, of course, in a way; we need to be for the institution of monarchy to have any meaning at all. But not as equals: the royal family gives us nothing, and we in turn legitimise it, give it meaning and audience and pay, through subsidies and tax exemptions, for its ability to wow us. The monarchy does provide a service, but not to us. It is to an entire system of political decline and economic inequality that cannot withstand closer scrutiny, and so it must be embellished and cloaked in ceremony. And it was ever thus. The historian David Cannadine, in an essay on the…

In 2014, Victoria Belim came across a strange entry in her great-grandfather Sergiy’s notebook: “Brother Nikodim, vanished in the 1930s fighting for a free Ukraine.” Who was Nikodim? She had never heard the family talk of him. And why had he vanished? The mystery was made more urgent by Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea and the renewed fight for a free Ukraine. Having left at the age of 15, first for the US, then to settle in Brussels, Belim desperately missed her homeland. Now she had a reason to go back: not just to visit her grandmother Valentina but to discover the truth about Nikodim. Valentina lived in a village in central Ukraine, where Belim had spent happy years as a child, and was delighted to have her granddaughter back.…

Across 8 Rolling in it as the result of my agitation (4-2-2) 9 Police team taking top off chain guard (5) 10 Mark wastes comeback (4) 11 Provided inverted crannies designed for gnomes? (10) 12 Place associated with fever epidemic (6) 14 Alight one more time on bench (8) 16 Mouthy thing elected Conservative – is nothing right? (7) 18 One tree in the French island (2,5) 21 Fancy decaff tea – not one that’s pretentious (8) 23 Fruit makes pop star extremely randy (6) 24 Intermission. It’s not good for a server (5,5) 26 Mere game? (4) 27 Odious ultimately servile character, one lacking initiative (5) 28 Tip when carrying table: middle of leg is joined (8) Down 1 The one that ended in disaster was the first to…

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1 COVID-19 Coronavirus no longer a global health emergency The Covid-19 pandemic, which has sickened or killed almost 800 million people over three years, no longer constitutes a global health emergency, the head of the World Health Organization has said. The WHO first gave Covid its highest level of alert on 30 January 2020, and its panel has continued to apply the label at meetings held every three months. While the WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced last Friday the UN health agency was downgrading Covid’s alert status, he also delivered a stark warning about its persistent threat. The disease still killed someone every three minutes, he said. Meanwhile, a Chinese citizen journalist who disappeared three years ago while reporting on the Wuhan coronavirus lockdown – and was later…

POLITICS Labour tells staff to prepare for No 10 after local elections Keir Starmer has told Labour staffers to prepare for government after local election results that suggest he could be on course to become the next prime minister. The Labour leader told aides last Friday the party would win the next general election. Speaking at the party’s headquarters, Starmer said: “Doesn’t it feel good to be back on the march? Doesn’t it feel so worthwhile? Doesn’t it feel good to win?” Labour gained 536 seats and took control of another 22 councils as it became the largest party in local government for the first time since 2002. It took advantage of a routed Conservative party, which lost more than 1,000 seats. However, analysis by Sky News’s Michael Thrasher has…

The UK and US have intervened in the race to develop ever more powerful artificial intelligence technology, as the British competition watchdog launched a review of the sector and the White House advised tech firms of their fundamental responsibility to develop safe products. Regulators are under mounting pressure to intervene, as the emergence of AI-powered language generators such as ChatGPT raises concerns about the potential spread of misinformation, a rise in fraud and the impact on the jobs market, with Elon Musk among more than 27,000 signatories to a letter published last month urging a pause in significant projects. The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it would look at the underlying systems behind AI tools. The initial review will publish its findings in September. The US government also…

In the aftermath of the Turkish earthquakes, the offices of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development party (AKP) in Kahramanmaraş were deserted, the front doors tied with a cable. A board bearing the party logo and “AK parti” was propped against the broken glass door. Office furniture was piled high, evidence of a cleanup after two powerful quakes shook the city and much of south-east Turkey, jolting an area considered a bedrock of support for the AKP. Nearby residents said they had seen little of the local AKP officials after the disaster. “They escaped!” joked Mehmet, who declined to give his full name, perched on a sofa inside a furniture and homewares shop. Sparkling pots and pans sat next to new fridges, destined for the homes of people trying…

As the soft drizzle in London gave way to a downpour, Charles was crowned king in Westminster Abbey, and the feeling came over many, if not all, that some things are the more marvellous for being a bit silly and unfathomable. Queen Victoria spoke of the “disturbing oscillation” of the gold state coach, a phrase that speaks just as well to the events of last Saturday. If the coronation was ludicrous, it was also magnificent; if it reduced you to laughter, it may also have made you cry. A drum horse called Apollo would not behave, skittering sideways determinedly. But in the diamond jubilee state coach – this one comes with both suspension and air conditioning – in their white ermine capes, cosy together on their quilted bench, their majesties…

For centuries, the infant school in Champorcher, in the Aosta Valley, has been an integral part of the community, with the sound of children’s voices in the playground providing a beacon of hope for the mountain village’s survival. In September, however, the school fell eerily silent. It was forced to close after only two pupils enrolled. “When a school closes, a village dies,” said Stefania Girodo Grant, the headteacher of a cluster of schools including those in Champorcher. “Because the future of a village depends on births.” Empty cots in maternity units had already become the haunting symbol of Italy’s dramatically declining birthrate. The number of births reached a historic low of 393,000 in 2022. Now classrooms are emptying across the country as the demographic crisis moves up the age…

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen or heard women lauded for their strength whenever they are recognised for anything outstanding. Some argue there’s nothing wrong with this – after all, it is evidence of women’s hard work. However, there is no evidence, historical or otherwise, that shows women not working hard. Women aren’t working hard, being strong or audacious in a vacuum. Women are strong in a world where they consistently have fewer resources, less power and less influence than men. Additionally, the spotlight tends to shine on the few already uplifted women, with multiple societal privileges, such as belonging to dominant races, socioeconomic classes, religions and citizenships of global north countries. On the rare occasions it illuminates women without racial privilege, power or class, it…

Towards the end of Traffic, an account of the early years of internet publishing, Ben Smith, the former editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed News, writes that the site’s failings had come about as a result of a “utopian ideology, from a kind of magical thinking”. No truer words, perhaps, for a business that, for a decade, paddled in a warm bath of venture capital funding but never fully controlled its pricing and distribution, a fundamental business requirement. A pioneer of the internet news business, BuzzFeed News, which walked away with a Pulitzer prize for international reporting in 2021, said it was shutting down on 20 April after shares in the company had tumbled 90% since it went public. Jonah Peretti, the chief executive, said the company could “no longer continue to fund”…

NESRINE MALIK Rot papered over by coronation bling Page 48 → US efforts to counter Chinese military expansionism and political influence in the Indo-Pacific took another significant step forward last week with an agreement to deepen defence and security ties with the Philippines. Yet US president Joe Biden’s success in developing bilateral and multilateral alliances may have more to do with wariness across the region about Beijing than a sudden desire for closer partnership with Washington. Many people in smaller, traditionally non-aligned countries, worried about getting caught in the middle, would probably prefer their governments not to take sides at all. This rerun battle for the Pacific looks disturbingly like the warm-up for a second cold war. Beijing’s often harshly enforced claim to sovereignty over most of the South China…

At the start of this marvellous, engrossing and illuminating study, Julian Bell poses a simple question, one that will recur throughout the book: “What is nature?” Easy to ask, yes, but not so easy to answer. The word “nature” itself comes, of course, from the Latin natura, which Bell translates as “having-been-born-ness”, and which he allies with “physics” from the Greek physis, “‘whatever grows’ or ‘whatever has a body’”. This version of nature he sets against the godly supernatural, and against the mind and consciousness. By now we are on page two. However, we should not be daunted. Things will become simpler as we go on. Given the author’s Bloomsbury antecedents – he is the son of Quentin Bell, the art historian, nephew and biographer of Virginia Woolf – we…