The Guardian — page 43

Coverage, page 43

page 43 of 108

Prima Facie review – fiery one-woman play is flattened into a bland movie

Toronto film festival: Cynthia Erivo takes on the role Jodie Comer made famous for a pointless adaptation of a story about rape and retribution that loses the power it once had Suzie Miller’s award-winning 2019 play Prima Facie employs a familiar narrative device: a hotshot London barrister finds herself on the other side of the bar, subject to the very legal tactics she once so ruthlessly employed. Not as a defendant, but as the accuser in a rape case. We’ve seen versions of this before – a powerful figure suddenly caught in a struggle against a system they helped perpetuate – but Miller’s play distinguishes itself by putting the onus on to one actor. Prima Facie is premiering at the Toronto film festival and is seeking distribution Continue reading...

The Guardian•Richard Lawson in Toronto14 Sept

Sydney Sweeney under fire for ‘sexualising women’s sport’ in sports prediction ad

Actor appears naked in ad while mock playing various sports ‘A kick in the face,’ says Olympic champion swimmer Ariarne Titmus Olympic athletes have come out in force to condemn a sports betting advert featuring actor Sydney Sweeney in various states of undress, while showcasing the real skill, strength and beauty of women’s sport. The campaign, for US sports prediction market company Novig, depicts Sweeney in minimal to no clothing while she pretends to play several different sports. Continue reading...

The Guardian•Jo Khan14 Sept

Country diary: Notice anything wrong with this ripe, succulent plum? | Claire Stares

Langstone, Hampshire: My garden is full of Victoria plums, but they’re not supposed to be crunchy inside This summer has been challenging for the fruit trees in my garden, with intense heat and a lack of rain causing poor cropping, premature ripening and pre-harvest drop. While my dessert and cooking apples have produced just a handful of stunted, crab-apple-sized fruit, and my quince is bare, the Victoria plum growing next to the greenhouse is the exception. Its branches are so heavily laden that several have snapped under the weight. Continue reading...

The Guardian•Claire Stares14 Sept

Rise in abuse of election candidates is ‘changing politics’ in England

Electoral Commission finds abuse, particularly of women, minority ethnic and disabled people, is affecting candidates’ behaviour Abuse and intimidation of election candidates is “a serious and growing concern”, the Electoral Commission has said, as a review of this year’s local and mayoral elections in England revealed a surge in threats to those who stood. More than half of the candidates for Labour or Reform UK reported abuse while those most likely to be targeted were women, people from minority ethnic backgrounds and those with disabilities. Continue reading...

The Guardian•Ben Quinn Political correspondent14 Sept

‘I’ve never been more terrified!’ Carly Rae Jepsen on motherhood, stardom and her horniest album ever

Call Me Maybe made the singer-songwriter famous – but also confused. Who was she? Who was her music for? Fourteen years later, about to release the double album Day and Night, she finally has some answers Carly Rae Jepsen is as bubbly as ever as she comes down for breakfast at Manhattan’s Hotel Chelsea. She’s one of those pop princesses, like Kylie Minogue, whose voice and demeanour remain unchanged whatever the situation. And she feels at home at this New York landmark where, last year, she married the musician and producer Cole MGN. That a wedding at the Chelsea would need to be kept to about 100 people was an immediate selling point. “I loved that it was smaller,” she says. “It felt big to me! I didn’t even get time with all the people that were there.” We’re here to talk about her new album, though, which comes out 14 years after the song that made her world-famous. Born and raised in the city of Mission in British Columbia, Jepsen had come third on Canadian Idol in 2007, and then released a low-key folk album called Tug of War in 2008, before dropping Call Me Maybe four years later. It became the bestselling global single of 2012; her second album, Kiss, came out in the same year. Now, at the age of 40, she has six more studio albums under her belt. The latest, Day and Night, is her take on marriage and motherhood. And, in its own way – which is to say, a bit coy, a bit breathy – it might also be Jepsen’s horniest album to date. Continue reading...

The Guardian•Juan A Ramírez14 Sept

Democracy v the machine: the birth of the digital age and the warnings that were ignored – podcast

Many hoped that the march of technology would usher in an egalitarian utopia – but some foresaw the threat it would pose to liberal society. Why did nobody listen? By Jill Lepore. Read by Laurel Lefkow Read the text version here Support the Guardian today: theguardian.com/longreadpod Adapted from The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State by Jill Lepore, published by Allen Lane on 25 August . To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com Continue reading...

The Guardian•Written by Jill Lepore and read by Laurel Lefkow. Produced by Nicola Alexandrou. The executive producer was Danielle Stephens14 Sept

The desecration of DC: from a giant arch to a nuke-proof bunker, Trump’s legacy-building blingfest is an architectural atrocity

A bloated ballroom, a six-storey military HQ, a helipad-cum-cocktail patio, a gilded angel on a giant arch honouring himself … our architecture critic deplores the decorator-in-chief’s mutilation of Washington When you have a developer as US president, you might expect some zhooshing up of the capital. A few buildings renovated, maybe some parks replanted. But when you have a megalomaniac builder in charge, things can get out of hand. A decade ago, when Donald Trump was first elected, I asked what it might mean for the US to be led by a real estate tycoon whose career had left a trail of broken promises, angry buyers and endless lawsuits, with rules flouted, heritage trampled and the world pockmarked by a fleet of aspirational towers clad with a flimsy veneer of luxury. The answer is worse than I could have imagined. With the air of a nightmarish Hollywood sequel, Trump 2 has seen the president’s true architectural ambitions unleashed: The Blingpire Strikes Back. As America’s self-styled decorator-in-chief, Trump has not only overseen the gilded mutilation of the White House, but embarked on the Mar-a-Lagofication of Washington DC itself, applying his gold paintbrush to statuary, daubing ponds with flaking pool liner, and brewing plans for a colossal triumphal arch – all procured in a blizzard of no-bid contracts . And, in true dodgy salesman style, this programme of bauble-building is turning out to be a high-profile decoy for deeper damage being wrought elsewhere. Continue reading...

The Guardian•Oliver Wainwright14 Sept

We greet the news that AI could extinguish us with a glazed indifference. What is the way out of this nihilism? | Brigid Delaney

There are several answers, and none of them will be provided by tech. One thing we must do is identify the ingredients for human flourishing To imagine the future as being almost entirely bleak has somehow crept into the collective this year. Last week I was having coffee with an old friend. He was telling me about what his kids wanted to study when they went to university, when he suddenly broke off, stared into the middle distance and said, “I wish I never had children.” Continue reading...

The Guardian•Brigid Delaney14 Sept

The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd review – Amanda Seyfried compels in wrenching prison drama

Toronto film festival: Tim Blake Nelson writes and directs a challenging, and unsettling, look at empathy and forgiveness that strikes a haunting note There are troubling questions posed in Tim Blake Nelson’s effectively glum prison drama The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd, a film that will rank among the most overwhelmingly feel-awful experiences of this year’s Toronto film festival . It’s a story told in a disarmingly folksy manner with plucked guitar strings and down south homespun wisdom before it quietly reveals itself to be about something far more serious and startling, elements of an escape thriller but mostly an unsettling moral drama. It’s likely to upset and enrage some but even those who might feel offended will at least feel something , a quality not to be sniffed at during a festival that can often pick politeness over provocation. It’s the new film from actor turned writer-director Nelson, whose work has often tended to confront and dissect difficult issues. He went to Auschwitz in The Grey Zone, transported Shakespearean tragedy to high school in O, and handled both rape and suicide in his debut Eye of God. It’s a fine line between grimness for the sake of grimness and being unwilling to shy away from grimness, and at times I wondered whether I was being overly prodded, whether certain scenes were bordering on exploitative. I left rattled by what I’d seen and what I was being forced to reckon with, but I think Nelson just about justifies himself and how far he goes partly because he does, in crucial moments, avoid showing more than is needed. The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd is premiering at the Toronto film festival and is seeking distribution Continue reading...

The Guardian•Benjamin Lee in Toronto14 Sept

Alan Jones told prominent athlete ‘I would like to be kissing you all night’ after alleged assault, trial hears

Alleged victim tells court he froze and was ‘in disbelief’ after broadcaster kissed him on corner of his lips at public event A prominent athlete froze and was “shocked and embarrassed” when Alan Jones kissed him on the side of his mouth at a public event, the broadcaster’s trial at Sydney’s Downing Centre has heard. The witness said the kiss on the corner of his lips happened years after Jones sent him a weekly bouquet of flowers after he had complimented the flowers on Jones’s dining table. He said Jones’s driver would drop the flowers at his home every week. Continue reading...

The Guardian•Amanda Meade Media correspondent14 Sept

Satellite images show extent of damage to major Saudi pipeline, amid global oil supply fears

Saudis yet to provide details about damage from drone attack to key east-west pipeline to Red Sea that could affect 4% of global oil supply Saudi Arabia will run out of oil ⁠stocks for export if it ⁠doesn’t restart a drone-damaged major pipeline to the Red Sea within days, leading to the loss of up to 4% of global supply, Saudi oil buyers and traders said. Satellite photos released on Sunday night appeared to show a pumping station on the key 1,200km (745-mile) Saudi east-west pipeline charred and badly damaged, after drone attacks on Friday. Continue reading...

The Guardian•Mark Saunokonoko and agencies14 Sept

Peptide user tore oesophagus after using counterfeit product, Australian regulator warns

TGA issues alert after person was hospitalised after believing they were taking experimental weight loss drug retatrutide Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A patient who tore their oesophagus after taking a counterfeit version of an experimental weight loss drug has prompted Australia’s medicines regulator to warn of serious risks of such products. The concern relates to retatrutide, a type of drug known as a peptide . Retatrutide has not been approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) or regulators overseas, and it cannot be legally prescribed or sold in Australia. Continue reading...

The Guardian•Melissa Davey Medical editor14 Sept

AI isn’t going to end humanity ... right? – podcast

A series of figures in the tech world have been warning about – and even resigning over – the existential threat posed by AI. How worried should we be? With technology editor Robert Booth Ten per cent. That’s the risk, more or less, claimed a high-profile AI developer last week, that the technology wipes humanity out in the next decade. And he was not alone – over the last few months there has been a string of warnings, resignations and even stories of AI companies losing control of their bots. Continue reading...

The Guardian•Presented by Annie Kelly with Robert Booth; produced by Eli Block, Alex Atack and Brian McNamara; executive producer Sami Kent14 Sept

Onwards and Sideways review – Rhys Ifans and Laura Linney lift solid Parkinson’s drama

Toronto film festival: Shakespeare in Love director John Madden’s feelgood – and bad – comedy-drama is powered by excellent performances and authenticity So far at this year’s Toronto film festival, I have seen three films involving someone with dementia and two featuring someone who has Aids. It’s not just a sign that the lineup could perhaps benefit from some more light relief but also that certain conditions and illnesses still tend to be covered more often than others on screen. Last year’s festival saw Scottish hit I Swear bring an unprecedented level of awareness to people who live with Tourette’s and while there’s perhaps less of an obvious edge to John Madden’s more politely framed comedy-drama Onwards and Sideways, it too acts as both narrative movie and potential educational tool. Our knowledge of Parkinson’s is usually restricted to the celebrities who have it, from Muhammad Ali to Michael J Fox to, most recently, Carly Simon, but for many of us, it’s still seen in an abstract way, a handful of symptoms we know about, but so many more that we don’t. Continue reading...

The Guardian•Benjamin Lee in Toronto14 Sept

Israeli minister threatens to strip Israeli film-makers of citizenship over Gaza documentary NAZA

Miki Zohar accuses Oscar-winning directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor of ‘treason against the state’ ‘They know the house they are bombing is full of children’: NAZA’s directors on their devastating film about Israeli intelligence Israel’s culture minister has called for the Oscar-winning Israeli directors of NAZA , a documentary about the country’s mass killing of civilians in Gaza, to be stripped of their citizenship, accusing them of “treason against the state”. NAZA, which was produced by the Guardian, is named for an acronym used by Israel’s intelligence service to indicate how many civilians it expects to die in an airstrike on Gaza. Continue reading...

The Guardian•Sian Cain and agencies14 Sept

Motorcyclist’s death reignites debate over potholes on Victoria’s ‘deteriorating’ roads

Coalition says potholes must be fixed ‘as a matter of urgency’ after 71-year-old crashed and died on Western Highway at Trawalla, west of Ballarat, on Sunday Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Emergency services were called to Trawalla, west of Ballarat, shortly before 1pm on Sunday after reports a motorcycle had struck a pothole. The 71-year-old rider, from Ballarat, died at the scene after reportedly losing control on the Western Highway, near Trawalla Road. Continue reading...

The Guardian•Australian Associated Press and Benita Kolovos14 Sept

Mary Gaudron, first female judge of Australia’s high court, dies aged 83

Legal pioneer remembered as an advocate for equality and champion of women in the workplace Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Mary Gaudron, the first woman appointed to the high court of Australia, has been honoured for her contributions to the legal landscape after her death at the age of 83. Gaudron was appointed to the high court in 1987, aged 44, and served until 2003. Continue reading...

The Guardian•Australian Associated Press14 Sept

One Nation vows to cut migration by 750,000 sparking fears for key industries including aged care

New immigration policy has attracted bipartisan condemnation with Labor warning it would damage construction, aged care and agriculture Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our new political email , free app or daily news podcast One Nation says it will cut the number of temporary migrants in Australia by more than 750,000 over three years, targeting international students and the family members of skilled migrants in a “net-negative” plan. But Labor has said it would cause sweeping damage to construction, health care, aged care and disability sectors, and the Liberals have cast doubt about whether any modelling underpinned the figure. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s Politics, really newsletter here Continue reading...

The Guardian•Tom McIlroy Political editor13 Sept

Missing US hiker, 70, found injured on remote island after week-long search

Craig Berg was hypothermic but alert when located on Isle Royale by Michigan police and officials during solo hike A 70-year-old hiker who had been missing for a week on a Michigan island was rescued on Saturday, according to the US Coast Guard. Craig Berg was located on Isle Royale with the help of backpackers, Michigan state police troopers and local officials. Even though Berg was found injured and hypothermic, he is “alive and alert”, according to a statement posted to the Isle Royale national park’s Facebook page . Continue reading...

The Guardian•Keely Aouga13 Sept

Queensland woman falls to her death at Bali cliff popular with tourists

Twenty-nine-year-old Queenslander was visiting the area on a holiday, Nusa Penida police say The death of an Australian woman in a cliff fall at a popular Bali tourist destination has been described as “incredibly sad”. Police say the 29-year-old Queenslander was found stuck on the side of Kelingking beach cliff on Saturday morning, local time. Emergency services rushed to the scene but she fell further before they could reach her. Continue reading...

The Guardian•Australian Associated Press13 Sept