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The Guardian — page 121

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Coverage, page 121

page 121 of 148

Russia’s actions have strengthened European case for boosting defence spending, says Nato chief – as it happened

Mark Rutte said that Europeans ‘increasingly understand’ the need for their countries to take ‘greater responsibility for our own security’ Addressing German ambassadors, Wadephul repeats that the Russian threat “has reached our doorstep and it’s tangible.” He adds: “The Russian attempted attack at the airport in Leipzig is only the most recent incident in a string of constantly growing Russian aggression against Europe and against Nato. Russia and its partners operate with a global network against our interests and in favour of an own imperialist claim to great power status." Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Jakub Krupa10 Sept

I turned off my algorithm for 24 hours. Is this how social media used to be?

Thanks to a little-known feature in Instagram, I attempt to travel back to 2012, before everything on the internet was an ad Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast I have a confession. I love my social media algorithm. It is a perfectly curated window into my insane and inquiring mind. It knows precisely which videos will tickle me and which memes will gently distract me from the slow collapse of humankind. On Tuesday the Australian government announced “world-leading” reforms that would force social media platforms to allow users to opt-out of algorithms, dubbed “my feed, my way” . On the same day, I was delighted to be confronted with a video on Instagram of a woman accidentally spilling a bucket of eels on a Chinese train. Dozens of eels slithered among the passengers, who appeared not as surprised as I would have expected. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Caitlin Cassidy10 Sept

My mother-in-law buys overly girly clothes for my daughter. I try to be gracious but it kills me – do I tell her to stop?

There’s a risk in trying to get our girls away from frilly skirts that we swing all the way to a different kind of enforcement, writes advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith Read more Leading questions I am the mother of a six-year-old girl, and I have relatively progressive views about gender. Among other things, I try to give my daughter a choice of clothes that are practical – T-shirts, leggings – and that tend to be unisex in colour scheme. There are no overly fussy and frilly skirts and dresses in pink and sparkles in her wardrobe. As much as possible, I try to buy non-sweatshop brands. These choices are part of a world system of values I want to show my daughter – that being a “girl” is so much more than just wearing a frilly dress; that we can have well-made things without contributing to the suffering of others. My mother-in-law, on the other hand, loves buying these sorts of clothes for my daughter (her granddaughter). She is a kind and caring woman, and this is one of her love languages. These clothes are often gauche, overly feminine, expensive and poorly made. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Eleanor Gordon-Smith10 Sept

‘I don’t want to be here’: Andrew Hastie was a reluctant but ‘straightforward’ witness in the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation case

The Liberal MP and former SAS soldier is under attack from One Nation after complying with a subpoena to give evidence in the failed 2022 civil case Get our new political email , free app or daily news podcast “I don’t dislike Mr Roberts-Smith at all. I pity Mr Roberts-Smith. I pity this whole process. I don’t want to be here.” Andrew Hastie was a reluctant witness in the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation case. Hastie appeared only under force of subpoena in 2022: compelled to attend court, obliged to swear an oath, and to tell “the whole truth and nothing but the truth”. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s Politics, really newsletter here Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Ben Doherty10 Sept

Marvel’s Wolverine review – a gloriously conflicted lead is let down by crude, boring battling

PlayStation 5; Insomniac Games Logan is well realised by Liam McIntyre and some exquisite character art, but there are lapses in narrative and emotional arcs and some of the combat feels like a chore It was always going to be difficult to follow Spider-Man. Insomniac’s three games based around the web-slinger are masterpieces of superhero wish fulfilment, allowing you to swoop above a depiction of Manhattan alive with graffiti artists, roving journalists and gun-toting gangsters. If anyone should be up to the task, it’s Wolverine. A beloved Marvel stalwart, his life much darker and bloodier than Peter Parker’s, he seems the ideal protagonist for a moody action adventure. Yet somehow this well-made game falls short of its potential. Set years before the founding of the X-Men, Marvel’s Wolverine sees a disenfranchised Logan falling back in with Sabretooth and Mystique when their mentor Nathaniel Essex is kidnapped by mutant-hating billionaire Bolivar Trask. This archetypal tech bro has a disturbing plan for world domination and the X Team are out to stop him – but there is a secret buried in Wolverine’s past that’s about to cause an eruption. It’s a decent setup, filled with the sort of intrigue, violence and Freudian tension we expect from the X-Men. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Keith Stuart10 Sept

Woolworths increased prices of at least four ‘family staples’ during ‘Price Freeze’ promotion

Exclusive: Analysis shows cost of chicken fillets, potatoes and donuts rose during supermarket giant’s three-month promotion Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Woolworths raised prices for popular items – including a 33% mark up on chicken fillets – within days of promising to freeze prices on 300 “family staples” for three months to help customers with the cost of living. Pricing data, compiled by comparison website CW Scanner and provided to Guardian Australia, shows the supermarket chain increasing the prices of at least four key products after starting the three-month “Price Freeze” promotion on 1 May. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Catie McLeod Consumer affairs reporter10 Sept

Kimberly Akimbo review – hilarious musical about a sexagenarian teen is one for the ages

Hampstead theatre, London Maria Friedman plays a 15-year-old with a rare ageing condition in a heartfelt and funny show that manages to sustain its sweetness It’s a bizarre concept for a musical: a girl with a rare condition that causes her to age four times faster than her peers, in a family so dysfunctional that she’s the normal one. Meanwhile, the musical highlights are songs about cheque fraud and scurvy. And yet, somehow, through all this artifice and elaborate setup comes a show so sincerely heartfelt, one that is genuine, hilarious and utterly endearing. Kimberly Akimbo started out as a play, in 2001, by Pulitzer prize-winner David Lindsay-Abaire, adapted into a musical with composer Jeanine Tesori (Shrek, Fun Home, Caroline, or Change) in 2021. It was lauded on Broadway, where audiences fell for its feels and kooky charm and it won five Tony awards . Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Lyndsey Winship10 Sept

Why David Beckham will have my vote for the US Soccer Hall of Fame | Pablo Iglesias Maurer

The Englishman has gotten no shortage of recognition, but his contributions to the American game deserve an official title Sign up for our free newsletter here Next spring, when the US Soccer Hall of Fame welcomes its newest class, there will be pomp and circumstance. The hall, which sits in a corner of Toyota Stadium, home of Major League Soccer’s FC Dallas, will feature the enshrineds’ signature red jackets. There will be glad-handing and speeches from players and coaches, misty-eyed reflections on their upbringings and their careers. Many involved will be American-born soccer legends, of course. Yet every once in a while, a player whose footprint extends well beyond the borders of the United States graces the stage. Such may be the case next year when the hall potentially welcomes English legend David Beckham into the fold. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Pablo Iglesias Maurer10 Sept

Why David Beckham will have my vote for the US Soccer Hall of Fame | Pablo Iglesias Maurer

The Englishman has gotten no shortage of recognition, but his contributions to the American game deserve an official title Sign up for our free newsletter here Next spring, when the US Soccer Hall of Fame welcomes its newest class, there will be pomp and circumstance. The hall, which sits in a corner of Toyota Stadium, home of Major League Soccer’s FC Dallas, will feature the enshrineds’ signature red jackets. There will be glad-handing and speeches from players and coaches, misty-eyed reflections on their upbringings and their careers. Many involved will be American-born soccer legends, of course. Yet every once in a while, a player whose footprint extends well beyond the borders of the United States graces the stage. Such may be the case next year when the hall potentially welcomes English legend David Beckham into the fold. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Pablo Iglesias Maurer10 Sept

NHS reports busiest ever summer as heatwaves drive up hospital admissions

Record demand for A&E units, ambulance services and NHS 111 shows extreme heat having unprecedented impact on health, experts say The NHS came under its most intense strain ever as a result of the summer’s five heatwaves, amid warnings that extreme heat is having an unprecedented impact on human health. A&E units, ambulance services and the NHS 111 telephone advice line all experienced record demand for their services in England in June, July and August as Britain experienced record temperatures. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Denis Campbell Health policy editor10 Sept

NHS reports busiest ever summer as heatwaves drive up hospital admissions

Record demand for A&E units, ambulance services and NHS 111 shows extreme heat having unprecedented impact on health, experts say The NHS came under its most intense strain ever as a result of the summer’s five heatwaves, amid warnings that extreme heat is having an unprecedented impact on human health. A&E units, ambulance services and the NHS 111 telephone advice line all experienced record demand for their services in England in June, July and August as Britain experienced record temperatures. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Denis Campbell Health policy editor10 Sept

NHS reports busiest ever summer as heatwaves drive up hospital admissions

Record demand for A&E units, ambulance services and NHS 111 shows extreme heat having unprecedented impact on health, experts say The NHS came under its most intense strain ever as a result of the summer’s five heatwaves, amid warnings that extreme heat is having an unprecedented impact on human health. A&E units, ambulance services and the NHS 111 telephone advice line all experienced record demand for their services in England in June, July and August as Britain experienced record temperatures. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Denis Campbell Health policy editor10 Sept

The best office chairs in the UK for all-day comfort and support, tested

After months of testing and countless hours seated, our endurance sitter picked the best office chairs for every budget • The best gaming chairs – tested What’s the most important thing when you’re spending hours in front of a computer? Is it having the fastest internet? The sharpest screen? The perfect keyboard? No. When you’re spending most of your day on your bottom, the most crucial element is what’s directly underneath. With a good office chair, you can handle a long working day without any feelings of discomfort. With a bad one, you can expect backache, neck ache, tender glutes and assorted nagging pains. Who wants to return to work when the last day left you feeling achy and decrepit? Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Stuart Andrews10 Sept

Two forehands, no backhands: meet the US Open’s fascinating ambidextrous experiment

Teo Davidov doesn’t hit backhands. He serves from both sides. The 16-year-old from Denver is treating the tennis world to a wildly unorthodox style – and proving it’s more than a parlor trick Teo Davidov always has the upper hands. An amiable junior prodigy from Denver, the 16-year-old was the oddest sight at this year’s US Open, the only player in the tournament – man, woman or junior – who hits only forehands. To be clear: it’s not that he doesn’t have a backhand or can’t hit a backhand. He’s ambidextrous and so he doesn’t bother with them. It’s nothing personal. “To be honest, I like the traditional backhand-forehand,” he says. “I like the classiness of it. I like hitting backhands myself just to play around, just for fun.” He hits those from both wings, too. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Andrew Lawrence at Flushing Meadows10 Sept

Two forehands, no backhands: meet the US Open’s fascinating ambidextrous experiment

Teo Davidov doesn’t hit backhands. He serves from both sides. The 16-year-old from Denver is treating the tennis world to a wildly unorthodox style – and proving it’s more than a parlor trick Teo Davidov always has the upper hands. An amiable junior prodigy from Denver, the 16-year-old was the oddest sight at this year’s US Open, the only player in the tournament – man, woman or junior – who hits only forehands. To be clear: it’s not that he doesn’t have a backhand or can’t hit a backhand. He’s ambidextrous and so he doesn’t bother with them. It’s nothing personal. “To be honest, I like the traditional backhand-forehand,” he says. “I like the classiness of it. I like hitting backhands myself just to play around, just for fun.” He hits those from both wings, too. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Andrew Lawrence at Flushing Meadows10 Sept

My plea to MPs: this is the final chance to save the assisted dying bill. Make your mark on history | Polly Toynbee

Any MP not voting for it on Friday will condemn thousands of us to die in agony. The public is hugely in favour too, so do the right thing Once in a while, footsoldiers of the House of Commons, you are able to make history by leaving your own indelible footprints on the social fabric. Eras with a Labour majority always leave a legacy of progressive freedoms – whether on abortion, capital punishment, divorce, gay rights, racial discrimination, gender equality or, last time, civil partnerships. But tomorrow is your final chance to bequeath one of the last freedoms over our bodies: the freedom of the dying to choose when to depart them. The terminally ill adults (end of life) bill, which goes for a second reading vote in the Commons tomorrow, gives anyone who is dying the right to request and be provided assistance with ending their lives. If it fails to pass, that’s the end of it for the rest of this parliament: future parliaments may be less progressive. So please, MPs: turn up and vote on Lauren Edwards’s bill , to ensure this Labour era leaves its own great social-reforming milestone. Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Polly Toynbee10 Sept

My plea to MPs: this is the final chance to save the assisted dying bill. Make your mark on history | Polly Toynbee

Any MP not voting for it on Friday will condemn thousands of us to die in agony. The public is hugely in favour too, so do the right thing Once in a while, footsoldiers of the House of Commons, you are able to make history by leaving your own indelible footprints on the social fabric. Eras with a Labour majority always leave a legacy of progressive freedoms – whether on abortion, capital punishment, divorce, gay rights, racial discrimination, gender equality or, last time, civil partnerships. But tomorrow is your final chance to bequeath one of the last freedoms over our bodies: the freedom of the dying to choose when to depart them. The terminally ill adults (end of life) bill, which goes for a second reading vote in the Commons tomorrow, gives anyone who is dying the right to request and be provided assistance with ending their lives. If it fails to pass, that’s the end of it for the rest of this parliament: future parliaments may be less progressive. So please, MPs: turn up and vote on Lauren Edwards’s bill , to ensure this Labour era leaves its own great social-reforming milestone. Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Polly Toynbee10 Sept

The Eleventh Hour by Salman Rushdie audiobook review – stories with levity and laughter

The author explores themes of legacy, mortality and loneliness in the first work of fiction since his near-fatal attack Five short stories and five readers make up Salman Rushdie’s collection, The Eleventh Hour, his first work of fiction since the near-fatal attack in 2022 where he sustained life-changing injuries. These tales find the author exploring legacy, mortality, loneliness and the ageing process. In these potentially bleak themes, Rushdie finds levity and laughter, as well as profundity. Late, read by the actor Naveen Andrews, is a ghost story set in King’s College, Cambridge, where an honorary fellow, SM Arthur, wakes up dead in his college room and wonders if he will be trapped there for eternity. He meets a lonely but very much alive Indian student, Rosa, who is stuck at college for the holidays. Sid Sagar reads The Old Man in the Piazza, an allegory about free speech and how “we have become bar room moralists. Does the thumb point upward. Does it turn down? … We are all now gladiators in the Colosseum of the Thumb.” Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Fiona Sturges10 Sept

The Eleventh Hour by Salman Rushdie audiobook review – stories with levity and laughter

The author explores themes of legacy, mortality and loneliness in the first work of fiction since his near-fatal attack Five short stories and five readers make up Salman Rushdie’s collection, The Eleventh Hour, his first work of fiction since the near-fatal attack in 2022 where he sustained life-changing injuries. These tales find the author exploring legacy, mortality, loneliness and the ageing process. In these potentially bleak themes, Rushdie finds levity and laughter, as well as profundity. Late, read by the actor Naveen Andrews, is a ghost story set in King’s College, Cambridge, where an honorary fellow, SM Arthur, wakes up dead in his college room and wonders if he will be trapped there for eternity. He meets a lonely but very much alive Indian student, Rosa, who is stuck at college for the holidays. Sid Sagar reads The Old Man in the Piazza, an allegory about free speech and how “we have become bar room moralists. Does the thumb point upward. Does it turn down? … We are all now gladiators in the Colosseum of the Thumb.” Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Fiona Sturges10 Sept

English winemakers expect ‘vintage year’ after record-breaking summer heat

Hot weather means sweeter grapes, but outlook gloomier for beermakers, as drought diminishes barley harvest English sparkling winemakers expect their earliest grape harvest and a “vintage year” after a scorching summer quickly ripened grapes. However, beer sellers have warned of a potential shortage after record-breaking temperatures and a drought hitting much of England has caused poor yields of barley. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Helena Horton10 Sept