Innehållsförteckning för 29 September 2023 från Guardian Weekly

David McCallum Scottish-born star of The Man from UNCLE and NCIS. He died on 25 September, aged 90. Matteo Messina Denaro Italian Cosa Nostra mafia boss who had been in hiding since 1993 and was arrested in January. He died on 25 September, aged 61. Giorgio Napolitano Former president of Italy. He died on 22 September, aged 98. Eno Ichikawa Japanese Kabuki actor. He died on 13 September, aged 83. Geir Lundestad Historian and director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute. He died on 22 September, aged 78. Ruth Fuchs Double Olympic javelin champion for East Germany and politician. She died on 20 September, aged 76. Lou Deprijck Belgian singer who wrote the 1970s hit Ça Plane pour Moi. He died on 19 September, aged 77.…

Almost two weeks after the Libyan port city of Derna was devastated by floods, Hassan Ben Faid sat on the floor of a secondary school classroom that will, for the foreseeable future, be his home. A pen in hand, he started drawing his house and then, stroke after stroke, the rising levels of water, the dead and the drowning. “The water came fast and we escaped to the roof. I was so afraid,” he said, his voice loud and clear. Hassan is only seven years old, but, sitting next to his parents and siblings, he was determined to share his story. “When we finally left, we had to walk through a lot of water,” he said. “I tried to step on the mud only but sometimes there were bodies too.…

As world leaders gathered at the UN climate summit in New York, a topic sparking lively discussion on the margins was Rishi Sunak’s “no-show”. “There were a lot of people asking why he hadn’t come,” said one British source who attended. “Most other world leaders were there.” The UK was, however, briefly represented at the New York event last week by Prince William, who was in town to announce the winners of the Earthshot prize, his environmental charity. While the prince was on stage with the likes of Bill Gates and former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg, discussing the importance of combat-ting global warming, diplomats and officials were distracted by a news alert on their phones. The BBC had been leaked details of how Britain’s prime minister was about to…

“The rule of law shouldn’t only apply to those with the biggest bank accounts It came as little surprise that the darker corners of the internet were ablaze with conspiracy theories last week, after Russell Brand used his YouTube channel to call the allegations of sexual assault and rape against him a “coordinated attack” and a “serious and concerted agenda” to control his voice. But questions were raised about the timing. Toby Young, associate editor at the Spectator, asked if there was a “more innocent” reason why the Times, the Sunday Times and Channel 4 Dispatches had “waited this long to produce their findings”. Others wondered why it had taken so long for the story to be published. The reason, according to multiple experts, is simple: publishing stories like this…

The dangerous state of many schools built partly from reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) has been big news in the UK recently. However boring concrete might seem, our civilisation almost literally stands or falls on it. Concrete is a hi-tech substance at the forefront of materials research. One dream is to make it self-healing: able to repair its own cracks. And modern research is drawing inspiration from an ancient source – the unassailable concrete of the monuments, aqueducts and harbours built by the Romans more than 2,000 years ago. Couple this with ingenious ploys such as entombing live, crack-sealing bacteria inside concrete, and research in this area could transform the way we build. As the Raac saga shows, concrete failure can pose lethal hazards and be very expensive to put…

WHAT’S IT LIKE TO BE ELON MUSK? On almost every level it is impossible to imagine – he’s just too much. Musk is the hands-on head of three mega-companies, one (Tesla) wildly successful, one (SpaceX) madly aspirational, one (Twitter/X) a shambles. He has plenty of other businesses on the side, including The Boring Company (which makes hi-tech tunnels), Neuralink (which makes brain-computer interfaces), and his current pet favourite xAI (mission: “To understand the true nature of the universe”). He is the on-again, off-again richest human being on the planet, his personal net worth sometimes fluctuating by more than $10bn a day as the highly volatile Tesla share price lurches up and down. He is the father of 11 children with three different women, which to his own mind at least…

Letters for publication weekly.letters@theguardian.com Please include a full postal address and a reference to the article. We may edit letters. Submission and publication of all letters is subject to our terms and conditions, see: THEGUARDIAN.COM/LETTERS-TERMS Editorial Editor: Graham Snowdon Guardian Weekly, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU, UK To contact the editor directly: editorial.feedback@theguardian.com Corrections Our policy is to correct significant errors as soon as possible. Please write to guardian.readers@theguardian.com or the readers’ editor, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU, UK Lessons to be learned after flooding in Libya The flooding in Derna is no doubt the result of the climate crisis and may well have been prevented by competent governance (Big story, 22 September). But few people know that during Muammar Gaddafi’s tenure there was a…

My dad died unexpectedly a few months ago and I can’t shift the resentment I feel towards some of my oldest friends, who have barely been in touch since it happened. I understand that death is a scary subject and that people might worry about saying the wrong thing. Yet I still feel a bit wounded by the lack of contact after my dad’s funeral. Three months on, I’ve finally heard from a couple of them via text about unrelated matters. In response, I’ve been the version of me that they know – the one where I’m fine and not up to my neck in grief. I suppose I don’t want to lower the tone with my tales of woe, and they didn’t ask. I haven’t even begun to unpick…

QUIZ Thomas Eaton 1 Which magazine was founded to campaign against the Corn Laws? 2 What is the only US state without bald eagles or coyotes? 3 Which saint’s head is on display in Siena? 4 Which fast food company sponsored egg experiments in space? 5 How many deities lived on Mount Olympus? 6 Which Jacobite heroine hosted Boswell and Johnson on Skye? 7 Which sport’s world champion is awarded the Sid Waddell trophy? 8 What is the largest lake that is wholly within Switzerland? What links: 9 BBVA; Movistar; Santander; Zara? 10 Because the Night; Blinded by the Light; Fire; Pink Cadillac? 11 Huaorani; Kayapo; Tupi; Yanomami; Yuracaré? 12 Hetty Sorrel; Gwendolen Harleth; Dorothea Brooke; Maggie Tulliver? 13 Cobblers; Hatters; Robins; Sulphurites; Tractor Boys? 14 Brief Encounter; The Seven…

The Guardian launched its new Europe website last week with an exclusive investigation into the dangerous levels of air pollution being measured across the continent. The research found that 98% of Europeans live in areas with highly damaging fine particulate pollution that exceed World Health Organization guidelines, and for almost two-thirds the pollution levels are more than double the safe recommended levels. Matthew Taylor and Pamela Duncan crunch the numbers, while Gary Fuller looks at the causes – and potential solutions. Then our new Europe environment correspondent, Ajit Niranjan, reports from smog-choked Belgrade. The big story Page 10 → Thousands of ethnic Armenians were fleeing the breakaway territory of Nagorno-Karabakh this week after the Azerbaijani military reclaimed full control of it in a lightning offensive. Andrew Roth reports from Goris, a resort town…

GEOLOGY Scientists find ‘missing ingredient’ of pink diamonds Scientists say they have found the “missing ingredient” for pink diamonds – some of the world’s most expensive stones. More than 90% of all the pink diamonds ever found were discovered at the Argyle mine in north-west Australia. Hugo Olierook, a researcher at Curtin University and the study’s lead author, said two of the three ingredients for forming pink diamonds – carbon and pressure – were already known. The missing ingredient was the volcanic event that sent the diamonds shooting up to the Earth’s surface. The study was published in the journal Nature Communications. ARCHAEOLOGY World’s ‘oldest wooden structure’ discovered Researchers have discovered remnants of what is thought to be the world’s oldest known wooden structure, an arrangement of logs on the…

While air pollution is largely invisible, the health implications of breathing tiny PM2.5 particles is increasingly well known. We explore each of the five sources, which need structural solutions, as well as what you as an individual can do. 1 Home heating Burning solid fuel is the most polluting way to heat homes. The health cost of air pollution from home heating across Europe was estimated at €29bn ($31bn) a year in 2018. The availability of fossil gas since the 1970s meant many homes in western Europe turned away from solid fuel, leading to large improvements in air quality. For the past two decades, this trend is being reversed with the rising popularity of wood stoves as aesthetic items. In eastern Europe, home heating with coal remains popular. Studies across Ireland…

Azerbaijan’s military victory in the extended 35-year conflict over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh is a notable geopolitical setback for Russia, traditionally Armenia’s partner and ally. Moscow’s post-Soviet strategy has often been to stoke conflicts to weaken its near neighbours, creating crises in Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. But on this occasion the Kremlin has had to adapt to Azerbaijan’s rising power – showing a willingness to sacrifice an old ally. At the beginning of the month, before the current crisis, Nikol Pashinyan, Armenia’s prime minister, rued that his country’s historic “99.999%” dependence on Russia as security partner had amounted to “a strategic mistake”. By then it had long been clear Russia had become embroiled in a quagmire in Ukraine – and so would be unable to prevent Azerbaijan from finally…

Only 22% of people trust Rishi Sunak to tackle the climate crisis after his announcement that he will weaken the UK’s net zero policies. An exclusive poll for the Guardian found that fewer than a quarter of Britons trusted the prime minister to take on the challenge while 53% said they did not trust him and 19% said they did not know. The polling company WeThink also asked respondents whether they thought forcing landlords to insulate their homes would benefit them, and 55% said it would. Sunak has dumped plans to fine landlords who do not update their homes to acceptable energy efficiency standards. The Guardian poll questioned 1,313 people on 21 September and is weighted to a nationally representative population. WeThink is a member of the British Polling Council.…

MUSIC The prisoners finding freedom in gospel songs Page 55 → Beckett was not speaking from the top of a mountain but from the depths of his soul IN 1969, SAMUEL BECKETT AND HIS WIFE learned that he had won the Nobel prize in literature in a telegram from his publisher. “Dear Sam and Suzanne,” it read. “In spite of everything, they have given you the Nobel prize. I advise you to go into hiding.” Both were notoriously celebrity averse. Suzanne described it as a “catastrophe”. Beckett declined to give a Nobel lecture, and refused to talk when a Swedish film crew tracked him down to a hotel room in Tunisia. Into this temporal void, a new psychological biopic has poured a monumental reckoning, in which the 63-year-old playwright scrambles…

MUSIC Scarlet Doja Cat, Kemosabe/RCA From the start, hip-hop has thrived on rivalries and disputes. In recent months Doja Cat has opened up a new frontier in hip-hop conflict: even in the rap world, going to war with your own fanbase feels extraordinary. It started when fans questioned her choice of boyfriend – social media star J Cyrus, who has been accused of emotional abuse. “I NEVER WILL GIVE A FUCK WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT ME… GOODBYE AND GOOD RIDDANCE MISERABLE HOES,” the rapper wrote. It looks nuts from the outside, but there’s something very serious at its centre. This is the era of the stan, the diehard fan given to an alarming degree of entitlement. Doja Cat’s most recent single Paint the Town Red is an escalation of hostilities,…

Members of subcultures can suffer for their allegiance, few more so than goths. The 2007 murder of Sophie Lancaster, targeted by teenagers because of her clothes and hairstyle, was an appalling example. Thankfully, the response is more often one of simple bemusement – perhaps an understandable reaction to adults dressed in trailing black gowns, top hats and complicated whorls of dark eye makeup. Goth is an alternative lifestyle that finds beauty in the dark and melancholy aspects of life, using music, literature and cinema as guideposts. It can be a fashion preference, but for the fully committed, it’s a design for life. Lol Tolhurst, a longtime adherent, believes it is “a way to understand the world” – and as relevant a form of cultural rebellion now as it was in…

‘When I was 18 I had an incident with a powerful male comedian in his 30s,” said Lucy (name changed), a female comic in her early 30s. “It was really harrowing and triggering. But when I raised it with other comics at the time they just encouraged me to use the incident as comedy material.” This experience, Lucy said, demonstrates why comedians are reluctant to come forward about inappropriate behaviour, harassment or abuse. “If you’ve created a society where we all laugh at that behaviour, or are expected to laugh at that behaviour, you’re going to make people feel like their feelings don’t matter, that their interpretation of the event is flawed or they’re being oversensitive. I felt great shame for years, while that male comedian went on to do…

After years of speculation, Rupert Murdoch has revealed his chosen successor. The keys of his global media empire, including the role of chairman of both Fox Corp and News Corp, have been handed to his eldest son, Lachlan. Lachlan Murdoch, 52, gains sole control of a group that has reshaped the media landscape across continents and radically altered politics in the UK, US and Australia. The move is the fulfilment of a promise first indicated in 2019, when the elder Murdoch named Lachlan as heir to his business. “This is Lachlan’s best chance to prove to investors and his family that he is the best option for the future,” said David Folkenflik, NPR’s media correspondent and author of Murdoch’s World: The Last of the Old Media Empires. But he warned…

Property taxation in the eastern German state of Thuringia would normally be a subject of strictly local concern. But a vote this month to cut stamp duty in the regional parliament in Erfurt made national headlines. Ignoring a cross-party taboo on collaborating with the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party, local Christian Democrats and liberals co-opted its support to force the measure through. Loud condemnation duly followed. But with the AfD running second in national polls, there are grounds for fearing that this will not be the last occasion on which the cordon sanitaire surrounding the party is breached. The Thuringia vote is just one sign of changing and volatile times in European politics, as the radical right expands its influence. New PopuList research in 31 countries finds almost one-third of…

Gina Kaminski Saves the Wolf By Craig Barr-Green and Francis Martin Gina isn’t happy with hot, smelly school – and now the story of Red Riding Hood has three big mistakes in it. It’s up to Gina to visit fairytale land and put them right in this warm, engaging picture book with a self-reliant autistic protagonist. Mama’s Sleeping Scarf By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (writing as Nwa Grace-James), illustrations by Joelle Avelino Chino misses Mama while she’s at work, so Mama gives her the silky scarf she ties round her hair at bedtime to play with. A joyful, acutely observed picture-book account of adventures with family, a beloved soft toy, and, of course, Mama’s scarf. The Oak Tree By Julia Donaldson and Victoria Sandøy As a tiny acorn grows into a…

Cook 35-40min Serves 4 Ingredients 1 pumpkin (1kg unpeeled weight) 60ml olive oil 1 tbsp za’atar 1 tsp dried chilli flakes 65g couscous 20g coriander 10g parsley leaves For the dressing 4 tsp date syrup 1 clove garlic 5 tbsp olive oil Juice of ½ lemon 1 tsp grain mustard It would be a herculean task to count how many recipes for roasted vegetables have appeared in my Observer column over the past 30 years. The first was in the opening one – red peppers with garlic and olive oil – and over the years there is barely a vegetable that hasn’t had its edges charred in my scorching oven. There is no doubt that date syrup and za’atar turned up more regularly after my trips to the Middle East and in particular those to Lebanon. The slight…

Across 1 Prolonged start of hibernation gently refreshed bears (7) 5 He was a lopper of sweaters! (7) 10 Clubs not taking part in the end get beaten (4) 11 Could this influencer create corrupt hoax? (4,6) 12 Detailed part of brutalist edifice (6) 13 Trainer’s work assignment could be regularly returned (8) 14 Lake with small peninsula is wider than it is deep (9) 16 Horny guy, for example, runs round middle of brothel (5) 17 12 days of fasting announced (5) 19 Stigma attached to boring hunk related to us (9) 23 What connects wise men from the east during religious observance? (8) 24 Vessel from which missiles are launched (6) 26 Despise blue watch straps (4,4,2) 27 Brand behind cycling (4) 28 Famous people’s feet? (7) 29…