Innehållsförteckning för 21 June 2024 från Guardian Weekly

The Guardian Weekly Founded in Manchester, England 4 July 1919 Vol210 | Issue№ 25 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 Guardian…

 Far right? Hard right? Radical right? Or just plain right? The success in the recent EU elections of parties such as Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National (RN – the rebadged Front National) and Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has generated a debate about whether the label “far right” should be retired because, as Spectator editor Fraser Nelson argues, many parties that carry that moniker are “now mainstream in a way that wasn’t the case 15 years ago”. Such parties are, for Nelson, better categorised as “new right”. It is true that the term “far right” is thrown around too promiscuously and that, in power, far-right politicians often rule not like latter-day Mussolinis but rather as technocrats with a reactionary edge. What is missing from this argument, though, is the recognition…

In 2019, Aviv Kochavi, then the chief of staff of Israel Defense Forces (IDF), delivered a bullish speech. The IDF, he proclaimed, is “all about victory”. Assessing that the primary threats to Israel’s security were from nonstate actors such as Hamas and Hezbollah, Kochavi would the following year usher in a new operational doctrine titled “decisive victory”. It envisaged “swift, offensive operations relying on the use of smaller units supported by massive firepower”. Nine months into the Gaza conflict that followed Hamas’s surprise attack in southern Israel on 7 October, the state is fighting on two fronts simultaneously. But the promise of a “swift” or “decisive victory” has proved illusory. And in the midst of USled international pressure for meaningful ceasefire talks and a hostage-for-prisoners deal, backed by the passage…

“Get Brexit done” was the promise, repeated to the point of tedium, that took Boris Johnson’s Conservatives to a landslide victory in Britain’s 2019 election. But the subject – for so long the defining issue in UK politics – has barely featured in the current campaign. Keir Starmer, whose Labour party is 20 percentage points ahead on the average of opinion polls, hardly mentions Britain’s relationship with the EU. Anand Menon, the director of the thinktank UK in a Changing Europe, said: “There is an underlying nervousness because Starmer is felt to be vulnerable to attack as a former remainer, anti-Brexit, and Labour needs to hold on to pro-Brexit leave voters.” Although the Brexit referendum took place in June 2016, resulting in a narrow 52% vote in favour of leaving…

Just over three years ago, Asma’s* future contained many possibilities. Aged 15, she was at secondary school. After that lay the prospect of university and then onwards, striding forwards into the rest of her life. Like many Afghan girls, she understood that education was her route out of the isolation and repression that had constricted the lives of her mother and grandmother under the previous Taliban regime. She was part of a new generation of Afghan women who had the chance to build independent and economically autonomous lives. In May 2021, a few months before Taliban militants swept to power, Asma was in class when bombs began exploding outside her secondary school. She woke up in hospital to learn that 85 people, mostly other schoolgirls, had been killed. By the…

When big history is self-evidently being written, and leaders face momentous choices, the urge to find inspiration in instructive historical parallels is overwhelming and natural. “The only clue to what man can do is what man has done,” the Oxford historian RG Collingwood once wrote. One of the contemporary politicians most influenced by the past is the Estonian prime minister, Kaja Kallas, and not just because of her country’s occupation by Russia or her personal family history of exile. Kallas lugs books on Nato-Russian relations, such as Not One Inch, with her on beach holidays. And in her hi-tech office at the top of the old town in Tallinn, she argued this was a 1938 moment – a moment when a wider war was imminent but the west had not…

Swipe. Swipe. Swipe. For a while I was swiping so much I was barely thinking. Dating apps had hijacked my fingers, brain and evenings. I’d swipe, mindlessly and without looking, under the table at group dinners or during TV ad breaks. “This is modern dating,” I’d tell myself. “It’s a job. I have to keep on going. This is the key to my happy ending.” For months, this was my normality. But the lifelong romance I was looking for never materialised. As I sat on my sofa on yet another night ready to swipe until I ran out of steam, I decided I’d had enough. Even if my screen was flooded with likes or messages, my forays into dating app culture had rarely ended with in-person dates. I’d spend hours…

If a recipe specifies kosher salt, is somebody having a laugh, or is there a gastronomic reason to use it? Pablo, Lancaster, England, UK Kosher salt is not actually “kosher” (as in, it’s not religiously treated). Historically, the name stems from the Jewish practice of removing surface blood when dry brining meat (such as with brisket), and that process is known as kashering. Because of this kind of salt’s larger grain size, it dissolves more slowly and evenly, which in turn ensures a more even brining. It also doesn’t contain any additives or preservatives, so has a very clean, er, salty taste. In practical terms, then, the coarseness and consistency of kosher salt grains also mean they are easier to handle and hold in your fingertips. This gives the cook…

✱ All solutions published next week Across 9 Subject described by improper noun, an option to consume? (2,3,4) 10 As aging rocker, grossly hirsute originally, I’m tearing my hair out! (5) 11 Brace having held one log that’s loose, shelter built in the woods (7) 12 Wrong content in parcels, send a batch back (7) 13 With that, odd number is even for the present time (4) 14 First of fruit dark, like a kiwi, say? (10) 16 See 15 Down 17 A bluebottle stuck in prune drink (7) 19 Someone choosing anagram of ‘Chile’ in flier? (10) 22 Floor was whiffy when rear wiped (4) 24 Song and dance don’t stop? (5-2) 25 On the podium if not after flipping, gymnastic star gets medal, finally (7) 26 Scrap approach…

1 GLOBAL SECURITY Nuclear weapons spending reaches record high Global spending on nuclear weapons increased by 13% to a record $91.4bn during 2023, according to calculations from the pressure group International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (Ican). This is up $10.7bn from the previous year, driven largely by sharply increased defence budgets in the US, at a time of wider geopolitical uncertainty caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war. All nine of the world’s nuclear armed nations are spending more, Ican said, with China judged to be the second largest spender with an $11.9bn budget, well below the $51.5bn attributed to the US. Russia is the third largest spender, at $8.3bn, followed by the UK ($8.1bn) and France ($6.1bn), although estimates for authoritarian states or the three countries…

It is 8pm on Sunday 7 July. Polling stations have just closed after the second round of snap French parliamentary elections – the country’s most momentous ballot in living memory – and the first estimations flash up on the nation’s TV screens. President Emmanuel Macron has lost his gamble. The National Rally (RN) of Marine Le Pen has more than trebled its tally of deputies in the assemblée nationale to just over 290: an absolute majority. France’s next government will be far right. According to current polling, this may not – by a whisker – be the most likely outcome of the vote taking place less than three weeks before the start of the Paris Olympics. But it certainly could be. RN has the momentum, and Macron is on the…

The apartment at 24 Liubovi Maloi avenue was an eerie ruin. Its roof and outer walls had disappeared. In one corner, a row of suits hung in a wardrobe. There was a TV, a coffee cup, a maroon jacket on a peg. And a black-and-white photo album with old family snaps taken in communist times. The flat’s inhabitants – Svitlana Vlasenko and her grownup daughter, Polina – were not coming back. The Russian missile that fell on their building on a Friday night killed them and six of their neighbours. Twenty-six people were injured, two of them children. The street in Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv, was not near any military objects. It was a quiet place of flower-beds, communal benches and a sandy play area for children. Residents walked their…

Sudan is facing a famine that could become worse than any the world has seen since Ethiopia 40 years ago, US officials have warned, as aid deliveries continue to be blocked by the warring armies but arms supplies to both sides continue to flow in. With much of the world’s attention focused on Gaza, the scene of another human-made famine, Sudan is already the worst humanitarian crisis in the world and is slipping towards a disaster of historic proportions, with far less media coverage and global concern. A UN humanitarian appeal for the country has received only 16% of the funds it needs. “We need the world to wake up to the catastrophe happening before our eyes,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US ambassador to the UN, told reporters. She was speaking as…

The ancient Cornish language has been declared dehwelans dhyworth an marow – back from the dead – amid a rise in popularity thanks to Covid-19 and a critically acclaimed psych-pop star. There has been a significant rise in the number of people learning Cornish since the pandemic lockdown forced classes online, according to the volunteer network An Rosweyth. “We have people in America, Australia, Mexico, Spain, Turkey,” said Emma Jenkin, its support officer, who added that her last online lesson had “a couple of people in Cornwall – but mostly people are dotted all over the place”. There had been a “huge influx” of people wanting to learn Cornish during the pandemic. Younger people are taking up lessons as a result of its recent revival in popular culture. The singer-song-writer…

Packed into the back room of a feminist bookshop in Madrid, 17 women hunched over their laptops, chatting and laughing as they passed around snacks. Every now and then a hearty burst of applause punctuated the sound of typing, each time marking a milestone as the group chipped away at what is perhaps one of the world’s most pervasive gender gaps. Just under a fifth of Wikipedia’s content, including biographies, is focused on women, while women account for just about 15% of the site’s volunteer editors. “The numbers are pretty terrifying,” said Patricia Horrillo, who for much of the past decade has spent her spare time working to tackle this gap, cultivating a community of Wikipedia editors dedicated to publishing content focused on women. The result is Spain’s Wikiesfera, one…

‘Look at me, look at me,” said Martha-Ann Alito. “My heritage is German. You come after me, I’m gonna give it back to you.” It was a bizarre outburst from the wife of a justice on America’s highest court. Secretly recorded by a liberal activist, Alito complained about a neighbour’s gay pride flag and expressed a desire to fly a sacred heart of Jesus flag in protest. This, along with audio clips of Justice Samuel Alito and a stream of ethics violations, has deepened public concerns. The Democratic congressman Jamie Raskin has described a “national clamour over this crisis of legitimacy”. A recent poll for the advocacy organisation Stand Up America suggests the supreme court will play a crucial role in voters’ choices in the 2024 election. Nearly three in…

No drama Starmer. No surprises at last week’s manifesto launch, no rabbits, no hats. Some in the audience are getting restless. Reporters yawn, or laugh, when the Labour leader says, for the millionth time, that his father was a toolmaker who worked in a factory. A voter at last Wednesday’s Sky News debate told him to his face that he was a “political robot”. The complaint is not only about style, but substance too. Opponents on the right lambast the lack of plans and policy detail; on the left they condemn the dearth of radical ambition. Those complaints all miss the same point. Starmer’s boringness is not a bug: it’s a feature. Those puzzled by Labour’s giant poll lead – thinking it odd that Starmer is ahead despite being so…

The hero of Kevin Barry’s new novel, The Heart in Winter, is a dope-fiend Irishman haphazardly subsisting in the mining town of Butte, Montana, in the 1890s. Tom Rourke has a poor excuse for a job as assistant to a poor excuse for a photographer, and earns drink money by writing letters for illiterate men luring brides from the east. His spare time is spent haunting brothels, racking up debt through his opium habit, and writing songs along the lines of: Ain’t got a dime / But the sun’s gonna shine / Coz we’s all bound for heaven / On the Cal-i-for-nee line. In his own mind, he is “set apart from the hoarse and laughing crowd. He wasat a distance of artistic remove from it was what he felt.”…

Across 1 Golf club – Hollywood actor Adam (6) 4 German subs (1-5) 8 Sacred choral music (5) 9 Breed of terrier (7) 10 Compunction (7) 11 Mother-of-pearl (5) 12 ‘Jaws’ director (9) 17 Shout joyfully (5) 19 Act of retaliation (7) 21 Thick, sweet paste (7) 22 Impoverished (5) 23 Showing effects of heat or exercise (6) 24 Vessel for e.g. wine (6) Down 1 Affectedly modest (6) 2 Narrow strip of land (7) 3 ‘___ the Dragon’, Bruce Lee film (5) 5 Girl who does good turns for others (7) 6 Montezuma, e.g. (5) 7 Israeli money (6) 9 Feel suspicious (5,1,3) 13 Prosthesis, sometimes (7) 14 Plant root used in traditional medicine (7) 15 Birds – Jonathan and Taylor? (6) 16 Nairobi native (6) 18 Asian feline…

ELECTION 2024 Labour and Tory NHS plans ‘tighter than austerity’ Labour and the Conservatives would both leave the NHS with lower spending increases than during the years of Tory austerity, according to an analysis of their manifestos by a health thinktank. The assessment by the Nuffield Trust of the costed NHS policies of both parties, announced in their manifestos last week, says the level of funding increases would leave them struggling to pay existing staff costs, let alone the bill for massive planned staffing increases in the long-term workforce plan agreed last year. The Nuffield Trust said “the manifestos imply increases [in annual funding for the NHS] between 2024-25 and 2028-29 of 1.5% each year for the Liberal Democrats, 0.9% for the Conservatives and 1.1% for Labour. “Both Conservative and…

Keyregional powers including Brazil, India, South Africa and Saudi Arabia failed to sign up to a joint communique issued at the end of a Ukraine peace conference in which more than 80 countries and international organisations endorsed its territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s invasion. Speaking at the end of the two-day summit in Switzerland, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, welcomed the “first steps toward peace” but acknowledged that not all attenders had come onboard, saying that Russia was trying to divide the world. He said the final communique remained “open for accession by everyone who respects the UN charter”. About 100 countries took part in the conference in the resort of Bürgenstock, but Russia was not invited and China snubbed the event. Amid modest expectations ahead of the event,…

Post haste Firefighters work below a smouldering hillside left by a wildfire in Gorman, California, last weekend. Strong winds pushed flames through dry brush in the mountains north of Los Angeles. The blaze, dubbed the Post fire, was only 2% contained last Sunday, with no injuries reported at that time. The cause was still under investigation. Los Angeles county’s first major wildfire of the year swiftly grew to nearly 60 sq km, one day after it forced the evacuation of at least 1,200 people from the Hungry Valley recreation area. In northern California, a separate wildfire prompted the evacuation of an area near Lake Sonoma. The fire sent up a huge plume of dark smoke 130km north of San Francisco. It had been hoped a wet winter might delay fire…

Deep in the Norwegian mountains, amid a vast expanse of bright snow and howling winds, Toralf Mjøen throws a piece of meat into a fenced enclosure and waits for a pair of dark eyes to appear from the snowy den. These curious and playful arctic foxes know Mjøen well. He has been the caretaker at this breeding facility for 17 years, going up the mountain daily to feed them at their enclosures near the small village of Oppdal, about 400km north of Oslo. But Mjøen’s familiarity with the species stretches back much further, from his years working at his father’s fox farm, where the animals were bred for their fur. Now, years after the fur farms have been shut down, the arctic fox has become a symbol of conservation in…

Tommy is, without doubt, the head of his household. If he wants the air conditioning on, he simply glares at the unit on the wall. If he wants an early night, he’ll miaow for the TV to be silenced. But, until now, Tommy has been living in violation of a law that bans cats from much of Singapore’s housing. This year, the 34-year-old ban will be overturned, allowing the city’s many fugitive cats to breathe a sigh of relief. Tommy’s owner, Adam, who spoke under a pseudonym because he is breaking the regulation, says he can’t understand why the ban existed in the first place. “Normally for cats, they’re not a problem. Maybe a dog [could be a problem] – they’re noisy, and if a dog bites you’re in trouble,”…

Where vast American cruise ships once disgorged mojito-thirsty holidaymakers into the crumbling streets of old Havana, now lurks the eerie darkness of the Russian nuclear-powered submarine Kazan. “It looks like a dead whale,” said Adolfo García, as he queued under the scorching sun. The Kazan is off-limits, but García was hoping for a tour of the frigate Admiral Gorshkov, the second of the four Russian naval vessels that had just docked in the Cuban capital. The warships sent a cold war frisson when they arrived shortly after sunrise on 11 June: a demonstration of Russia’s ability to operate in America’s back-yard just two days before Joe Biden, the US president, signed a 10-year security pact with Ukraine. “The Russians seem interested in sticking a finger in Joe Biden’s eye,” said…

The response of Mette Frederiksen, Denmark’s centre-left prime minister, to being physically assaulted in a Copenhagen street was dignified and very human. “I’m not doing great, and I’m not really myself yet,” she admitted last week. The attack had left her feeling shocked and intimidated, she said. Frederiksen suggested her experience was the culmination of some broadly familiar trends: proliferating social media threats, increasingly aggressive political discourse, a divisive Middle East war. “As a human being, it feels like an attack on me. But I have no doubt it was the prime minister that was hit. In this way, it becomes a kind of attack on all of us.” This idea that elected politicians – and the democracies they represent – are everywhere endangered by rising personalised violence is backed…

We know we won’t see them, but we are here for the beavers. After extinction in the UK 400 years ago, and reintroduction in Argyll and other sites from 2009, they were brought to the Cairngorms national park last December. They are settling well, but nocturnal and elusive. It is after 9pm when we drop down a steep bank to a waterway all but hidden in the undergrowth. Giant larches rise above a tangle of rowans, birches, aspens, bird cherries and willows. The spaces below are filled with shrubs, rushes and long grasses, everything growing into and out of one another in wild abandon. In the soundless and secretive flow of the stream, we hear a splash. Too hefty for a duck, more like a flop and afterwash. Then nothing.…