Innehållsförteckning för 28 July 2023 från Guardian Weekly

The Guardian Weekly Founded in Manchester, England 4 July 1919 Vol209 | Issue№ 4 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.…

Against the tide Spain pushes back, page 13 → Bloc party The rise of Europe’s right, page 14 → The Spanish Socialist leader, Pedro Sánchez, ruled out a return to the polls following last Sunday’s inconclusive snap general election, insisting a new government can be formed after his ruling coalition was narrowly beaten by the opposition conservative People’s party (PP). Numerous opinion polls had suggested the PP and its potential allies in the far-right Vox party would comfortably win enough votes to topple the government of Sánchez’s Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE) and its partners in the far-left Unidas Podemos alliance. The conservatives finished first with 136 seats in Spain’s 350-seat congress but found themselves up against a resurgent PSOE, which finished second with 122 seats. The Vox party, heavily…

Italy Giorgia Meloni became western Europe’s first far-right postwar prime minister after her Brothers of Italy won nearly 26% of the vote in last September’s elections (up from 4% in 2018). Her strategy since has been focused on normalisation – economic orthodoxy, support for Ukraine, good relations with Brussels – while quietly pursuing her culture war at home. France Marine Le Pen scored a record 41.46% in last year’s presidential election, and her far-right National Rally (RN) went on to win 89 of the 577 seats in parliament, an 11-fold increase. As the biggest single opposition party, it is striving to show discipline and responsibility in an effort to further sanitise its image and bury longstanding accusations of racism and xenophobia. Four years out from the next presidential election, polls…

‘Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy.” The priest dabbed tears from his eyes as his sonorous voice emerged from loudspeakers hastily assembled outside his devastated cathedral, the incantation competing with the crash of debris being loaded into trucks and the drilling of repair works on neighbouring buildings. This was the second time that the vast, sand-yellow Transfiguration Cathedral, which sits in the heart of Odesa’s Unesco-listed historic centre, had been attacked: in the 1930s, it was torn down during Joseph Stalin’s atheism drive. Last Sunday morning, the rebuilt version was hit during a Russian airstrike. A missile blew a large hole in the roof, collapsed the altar and left several walls charred by fire. It was one of several strikes on the southern port city in the…

Successive heatwaves threaten nature’s ability to provide food, say researchers, as they warn of an “unseen, silent dying” in our oceans amid record temperatures scorching the Earth. Heatwaves are ripping through Europe, the US and China, with the global hottest day ever recorded at the start of July, endangering human life as well as the land and sea it depends on. “Our food system is global,” sa id John Marsham, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Leeds. “There are growing risks of simultaneous major crop losses in different regions, which will really affect food availability and prices. This is not what we’re seeing right now, but in the coming decades that’s one of the things I’m really scared of. The 2018 European heatwave led to multiple crop…

Fear, anxiety and resignation stalk Nepal’s domestic airports. Norwegian tourist Wal-demar Wergeland is relieved to have landed safely at Kathmandu’s domestic terminal. He admitted he was worried about flying in Nepal. “We did a lot of research before we made up our minds to travel by air,” he said. In the city of Siddharthanagar (also known as Bhairahawa), Nepali folk singer Alif Khan said he stopped taking flights to his performances after a recent deadly air accident. “I started travelling by bus, but I got frustrated by the long traffic jams and landslides on the way. So even though I’m scared, I’ve started flying again,” he said. Nepal has a reputation as one of the world’s most dangerous places to fly. All Nepali airlines have been banned from operating in…

It became known as the winter of discontent. After the Labour government tried to freeze wages to stem inflation, Britain was convulsed by labour strikes and disruptions in public services, leading to a fierce political backlash that swept Margaret Thatcher’s Conservatives into power. Forty-five years later, a summer of strikes is disrupting industries from coast to coast in America. Unions have launched or are threatening stoppages that could affect everything from airline travel and parcel deliveries to car manufacturing and film and TV production. They could also disrupt the economic growth that Joe Biden wants to campaign on in 2024. “It takes him off message because strikes are visual, strikes are hot video, and they’re a focal point for media,” said John Zogby, an author and pollster. “It becomes lame…

One news story defines this summer: the fact that average global temperatures have reached record-breaking levels. Baking European weather is seared into our consciousness; as wildfires spread across the Greek island of Rhodes, thousands have been evacuated. In the US, China and no end of countries besides, the idea of planetary heating as a looming threat whose worst effects might yet be averted feels like it is turning to ash. In the UK, unfortunately, there was, last week, a political story whose parochialist absurdity is off the scale: Conservative voices undermining the fragile cross-party consensus on reaching net zero by 2050 and calling for many of the UK’s tilts at climate action to be slowed or stopped. The reason? The results of three parliamentary byelections – and, in particular, the…

EXHIBITION Disney’s magic kingdom hides its dark side Page 55 → MEN ARRIVE ON CRUTCHES, two in wheelchairs, through a wintry dusk at the monumental neo-Renaissance opera house in Lviv. About 100 seats tonight have been reserved for serving soldiers, who enter the lobby – a fin-de-siècle wonder – in military fatigues. The coat check looks like a barracks locker room after they visit. A contingent of 40 cadets from the city’s emergency firefighting department duly arrives, disarmingly young. For most, it’s a first night at the opera. The occasion marks the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – a concert dedicated to the troops who have fallen during this first, monstrous year of war, and the innocent civilian lives lost. But also to “The Invincible”: a homage in music…

Tom Parfitt is full of questions, guilt and regrets; a good man. Brought up on a Norfolk farm, Russia lover, adventurer and correspondent, this complex narrator is both at the heart and at the edge of a remarkable attempt to uncover the wildest and least known frontier of Europe. Brave, stubborn but amusingly self-effacing, he sets himself a 1,600km walk from the Black Sea to the Caspian, along the string of mountainous republics that make up Russia’s southern border. Across dramatic landscapes, he engages with a timeless world of shepherds who graze their flocks in the “mystical” highlands in summer, only to return to a patchwork of ethnic and religious communities in winter. Parfitt unravels how the Caucasus form “a landscape of unfinished histories”. He runs into bears, wars and…

UKRAINE Fury as Russia rains missiles down on Odesa Page 18 → As footage emerged last week of two women in the state of Manipur being forcibly stripped, paraded naked, publicly molested and allegedly gang raped, everyone from prime minister Narendra Modi to the chief justice of India publicly expressed their shock and disgust. Breaking his long silence on the conflict that has been raging in the northeastern state for months, Modi declared that “what happened to the daughters of Manipur can never be forgiven” and that “the entire country has been shamed” by the attack. Yet, as many were keen to emphasise, the incident in the footage was not new, isolated or unknown to the authorities. Since violence erupted in early May, between the majority Meitei and minority Kuki…

The bright red bottle of Sting, an energy drink, catches Sunita Devi’s eye when she finds her local shopkeeper has run out of the biscuits she hoped to buy to fuel her son through his homework. She cannot read the English label, but 10-year-old Ajit says it sounds healthy. “Stimulates mind, energises body,” the bottle proclaims. It’s the type of marketing that helps shop owner Vasu Gupta sell energy drinks – mostly to families who have migrated from the countryside to a slum in Govindpuri in the Indian capital, Delhi. But the drink, which is made by PepsiCo India, is not quite as beneficial as it sounds. A 250ml bottle contains 17g of sugar – a third of the daily intake recommended by the World Health Organization, although there…

One day, the forest floor might be filled with leaf litter, soft decomposing logs and tiny tree saplings. The next, the logs flush with gilled oyster mushrooms, rivers of brightly coloured waxgills or puffballs – white orbs, as big as footballs, suddenly appear in the undergrowth. Such is the curious world of New Zealand’s fungi, which like the island nation’s flora and fauna, have evolved in isolation into more than 20,000 unusual and endemic species. Most fungi are too small to be visible, and of those that you can see, most aren’t mushrooms – they’re lichen, moulds, mildews, rusts and smuts. They grow in a mix of shapes and sizes, from delicate light-green wisps and glistening jellies, to bright orange lattices and gnarled black tongues. The giant puffball can grow…

More than 150,000 people have been murdered since Mexico’s current president took power, and Hipólito Mora suspected he would join them. “I knew this day would come,” the lime farmer turned vigilante rebel wrote in a farewell message to be published in the event that it did. Mora’s premonition was proved right. He was killed in a blizzard of nearly 1,000 bullets in one of Mexico’s most violence-stricken states at the end of June. Hours after Mora’s incinerated truck was towed from the crime scene, the 67-year-old’s trademark hat was placed on his coffin at a wake most people were too afraid to attend. “We want justice. This cannot go unpunished,” his brother, Guadalupe Mora, said. The murder of Mora – whose campaign against the cartels had made him a…

JOHN HARRIS The Earth burns and politicians just squabble Page 48 → In the UK, prime minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Keir Starmer are both putting faith in five-point plans. Never knowingly undersold, China’s government announced last week that it’s going for a 31-point strategy. Earlier this month, there were alarmed faces in Beijing at the news that its GDP had improved by 0.8% in the second quarter of 2023, prompting a sense that China’s economy needs a rapid boost. For the past few years, the private sector has been a target for high-profile crackdowns by the Chinese Communist party (CCP), worried that companies such as Tencent and Alibaba were enjoying too high a profile. Now, it says it wants to make the atmosphere for entrepreneurs “bigger, better, and…

How do you celebrate the centenary of the second-biggest media company on the planet? This October marks 100 years since Walt Disney founded his eponymous film studio and began producing silent shorts known as the Alice Comedies. Though the mouse who needs no introduction was not created until 1928, Disney is capitalising on the anniversary of the far less recognisable Alice with a concert, a merchandise collection and a “multi-sensory friendship experience” for over-18s. The jewel in Prince Charming’s crown, however, is a touring exhibition. Disney100: The Exhibition is made up of 10 galleries, organised not chronologically but thematically: in one you can learn about music, and another is all about theme parks. Guests can see hundreds of props and costumes as well as play with interactive installations – press…

Across 1 It requires a truly consistent performance from its cast (9) 6 Finish filming western with pop music (4) 8 Book about our deceptive barrier causes fuss (8) 9 From casual perusal, telescope finally picked out a star (6) 10 Food chain: bear comes first, though not invariably top (6) 11 Oil perhaps to be seen from ocean liner? (8) 12 Dramatic family union abandoned? Here’s a pill! (6) 15 When depressed, you could find it helps to get over the threshold (8) 16 Hairgrip made of copper with reverse catch (5,3) 19 Head driller and surrogate parent (6) 21 Iced preparation used in horse health scheme (8) 22 Hardline leader breaks up rubbish party (6) 24 Life of a celebrity that’s been shot (6) 25 After a number…

Across 5 Object of an experiment (6,3) 8 Nose (informal) (4) 9 Coalition (8) 10 Skilful (6) 11 Work in the kitchen (4,2) 13 Parody (4-2) 15 Place of worship (6) 16 Flap hanging below the waist in formal male wear (4-4) 18 Domestic worker (4) 19 Free from blame (9) Down 1 Part of an unhealthy diet (4,4) 2 All in one piece (6) 3 Looking unwell (6) 4 Oral exam (4) 6 Persist in spite of difficulties (7,2) 7 Hair band (9) 12 Person with whom one has a profound affinity (8) 14 Inscribed plate marking a notable person or event (6) 15 Muslim leader (6) 17 Send an SMS message (4) Solution No 16,592…

1 CLIMATE EMERGENCY Clear link between deadly heat and burning fossil fuel The human-caused climate crisis is undeniably to blame for deadly heatwaves that have struck Europe and the US, analysis by scientists has shown. Both would have been virtually impossible without the global heating driven by burning fossil fuels. Another searing heatwave, in China, was made 50 times more likely by the climate crisis. The results make it clear that human-caused global heating is destroying lives, making the need to cut emissions more urgent. Such heatwaves were no longer rare, the scientists said, and would worsen as emissions kept rising. A report by leading climate scientists in March, endorsed by governments, said: “There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for all.”…

POLITICS Byelection losses increase chance of an early election Rishi Sunak is being urged by senior Conservatives to call an election in the first half of next year, with the plan said to be “gaining traction” among campaign strategists who believe it may be the Tories’ best chance to stem losses. In the aftermath of last week’s byelections, which resulted in a 21-point average swing against the Tories, some party insiders suggested May 2024 could be an “economic sweet spot” – providing the best window for “damage limitation”. Sunak came under pressure after the defeats in North Yorkshire and Somerset, despite the Tories pulling off a narrow win in Boris Johnson’s former seat in west London. The results caused some ministers to privately push the government to soften its net-zero…

How did the conflict in Manipur begin? Manipur, with a population of slightly more three million people, has been embroiled in an ethnic conflict since May, between the majority Meitei community and the minority Kuki tribe. India’s north-eastern states have a history of ethnic rivalries dating back to before independence. Recent tensions were driven in part by the state government, which is controlled by the Meiteis. It had been accused of pursuing policies that discriminated against Kukis, including forced evictions. The spark for the violence was a court ruling in March that granted the Meiteis “scheduled tribal status”, entitling them to the same economic benefits and quotas in government jobs and education as the minority Kukis, as well as allowing Meiteis to purchase land in the hills, where the Kukis…

As a beaming Rishi Sunak appeared for a fleeting early-morning media clip in Ruislip’s Rumbling Tum cafe in west London last Friday, anyone tucking into their fry-ups who was unaware of the results of last week’s three byelections could have been forgiven for thinking that the prime minister had secured a huge breakthrough. “The Labour party has been acting like it’s a done deal – the people of Uxbridge just told all of them that it’s not,” he told the film crew in his brief visit. “When confronted with the actual reality of the Labour party, when there’s an actual choice on a matter of substance at stake, people vote Conservative.” It was a bold claim for a leader who had just seen his party suffer an average swing against…

A wildfire crept – and then sprinted – towards Fox Creek, a community of fewer than 2,000 in north-west Alberta in May. At one point, the crackling wall of flames and thick black smoke moved more than 48km in a single day, prompting frantic evacuations from the town. “It was terrifying,” said Angela Martineau, a paramedic. “I was told it was going to be on my doorstep at this time, then at this time… [There were] a lot of anxieties and emotions for those first six days.” But unlike other locals who threw belongings into suitcases and fled, Martineau and her husband, Wade, stayed to face down the blaze as volunteer firefighters, determined to help save their community. Canada’s record-breaking wildfires have forced more than 120,000 people from their homes…

One day in 2020, close to the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, Matt Rickett realised he was checking weather apps all the time. He immediately understood why: “Everything felt so unpredictable, so out of control,” he said. “Just knowing that something was going to happen, tomorrow, that people said was gonna happen, was reassuring.” The next year Rickett, who lives in Austin, Texas, decided to stop using social media: “I didn’t like the control it had over my life,” he said. “But I still had the energy, the need to look at my phone, for some reason. So I got even more into weather.” He checks apps roughly every couple of hours. After much trial and error, he’s decided he likes Weather Underground and Foreca the best. He also uses…

WE THOUGHT IT WOULD LAST A DAY, TWO AT most. When the sound of gunfire began to ring around parts of Khartoum early one Saturday in April, calls from family and friends in the city sounded relatively little alarm. People were hearing that there had been skirmishes near the airport, and reported seeing pickup trucks ferrying troops at speed across the city. Those nearer central Khartoum said they heard the sound of artillery, but others said there was no gunfire, only loud explosions, and speculated that perhaps they were the result of military training exercises. A minority suspected it was the start of a clash between two military factions that had been jostling for power for months, but no one could foresee the scale of what was about to happen.…

The decision by the Australian state of Victoria to pull out of hosting the Commonwealth Games issues a broader challenge to sports leaders, governments, athletes and citizens around the world. This crisis goes beyond the growing indifference to the purpose of the event, originally founded as the Empire Games in 1930. The Olympics faces a similar struggle with only two bids for the 2024 Summer Games, with Paris and Los Angeles awarded 2024 and 2028 respectively, and Brisbane being the only city bidding for 2032. In the race for the 2022 Winter Olympics, at least five potential host cities, all western democracies, withdrew from the bidding process after voter referendums or public polling indicated a lack of local support, leaving only Beijing and Almaty in the running. The old model…

How do I use summer fruit – apricots that refuse to soften, cherries, figs, etc – in savoury dishes? Simon, Bristol, England, UK In its raw state, stone fruit can so often disappoint – it’s rare to catch, say, a peach or apricot at its perfect moment. For this reason, Dee Rettali, co-founder of Fortitude Bakehouse in London, suggests turning up the heat. “Apricots baked with capers is a good one, and really nice with rice or a chopped salad.” It couldn’t be simpler: halve and stone the fruit, then pop them in the oven with a little water and oil, and roast until softened. Once they’re cool enough to handle, chop into small pieces, then “get some good gherkins and capers, chop them finely with sea salt and pepper,…

I’m delayed setting out on my rounds this evening, enchanted by a green woodpecker perched opposite the house. It is dipping its beak, dining on ants, each bob revealing a yellow flash. I stop to share this with Lee who is painstakingly reinstating a drystone wall that runs along the bridleway to the Lower Mill. “Dry” has invariably been our theme of nightly conversation since works began. There was once a ford in Long Dean which was recreated with last winter’s deluge, but we recall it wryly now. Though we’ve had glowering skies, rain has failed to fall meaningfully here. My eye catches the roller, lying redundant – we never did get to employ it before the ground dried solid. Nor is there hope of driving in fence posts. They’ll…

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