CORENEWS: June 2021

Senior Labour figures believe the party has only a 5% to 10% chance of holding the West Yorkshire seat of Batley and Spen in Thursday’s byelection, as Keir Starmer’s team brace themselves for a backbench revolt if the Tories take the seat.

The constituency formerly held by the murdered MP Jo Cox is being contested for Labour by her sister, Kim Leadbeater, in a contest marred by allegations of dirty tricks and intimidation.

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OpenStreetMap looks to relocate to EU due to Brexit limitations

Open-source UK tech company cites copyright issues, rising costs and prospect of more influence in EU

OpenStreetMap, the Wikipedia-for-maps organisation that seeks to create a free and open-source map of the globe, is considering relocating to the EU, almost 20 years after it was founded in the UK by the British entrepreneur Steve Coast.

OpenStreetMap Foundation, which was formally registered in 2006, two years after the project began, is a limited company registered in England and Wales. Following Brexit, the organisation says the lack of agreement between the UK and EU could render its continued operation in Britain untenable.

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Australia Covid: Queensland says Pfizer vaccine supply will run out in days

State health minister voices anger at federal authorities on vaccine rollout amid further outbreaks and a lockdown in Alice Springs

The Australian state of Queensland has just eight days of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine left, authorities warned on Wednesday, as confusion over who should receive the AstraZeneca jab continued and outbreaks across the country grew.

The state’s health minister, Dr Yvette D’ath, said the federal government had denied Queensland’s request for more doses of the Pfizer vaccine, despite having given another state, Victoria, 100,000 doses three weeks ago.

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Wolfgang Tillmans on space, Brexit and Covid: ‘Let’s hope we get on a dancefloor soon’

From tiny weeds to distant galaxies, the photographer likes to scrutinise the interconnectedness of everything. He talks about coping with lockdown – and living through his second pandemic

Wolfgang Tillmans and I talk on the phone on 23 June, which he calls the “fifth anniversary horribilis”, referring to the Brexit vote. He’s at home in Berlin: a day later, he will travel to the UK to install his new exhibition, Moon in Earthlight, in the seaside town of Hove. To conform to Covid protocols, he’ll be doing it on his own, without his usual assistants, carefully placing his photographic images around the space – a former Regency flat owned by his gallerist Maureen Paley.

These photographs range from an image of wet concrete pouring out of a nozzle to one of a root’s tendrils creeping along a gap in the pavement. They are presented in a variety of formats, from huge printouts suspended on bulldog clips to small photographs tacked to the wall. Like all his shows, Moon in Earthlight will serve as an installation in its own right, a manifestation of Tillmans’ tender scrutiny of the universe. It also includes a collection of astronomical yearbooks dating back to 1978, when the artist was a stargazing 10-year-old.

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Climate crimes: a new series investigating big oil’s role in the climate crisis

A new Guardian series examines attempts to hold the fossil-fuel industry accountable for the havoc they have created

As the impacts of the climate crisis multiply across the US, from intensified drought and wildfires in the west to stronger hurricanes in the east, a question is echoing ever louder: who should be held responsible?

According to an unprecedented number of lawsuits filed by US cities and states that are currently making their way through the court system, the answer is fossil fuel companies.

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‘I refuse to visit his grave’: the trauma of mothers caught in Israel-Gaza conflict

Many women have lost children, been separated from newborns or are unable to breastfeed and bond with their babies because of the war

In the last month of her pregnancy, May al-Masri was preparing dinner when a rocket landed outside her home in northern Gaza, killing her one-year-old son, Yasser.

Masri had felt the explosion’s shockwave when the attack happened last month, but was largely unharmed. Running outside once the air had cleared, she found her husband severely wounded and her child’s body covered in blood.

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The looming famine in Tigray is an avoidable catastrophe

The ruination of a once-thriving area of Ethiopia is the result of war and its associated crimes. The world needs to wake up

It is hard to believe it’s happening again, even harder to believe that so few people seem to know or care. A massive famine is unfolding in Tigray in northern Ethiopia. Five million people are in need of food aid, and perhaps 900,000 are already starving.

In other words, it’s looking horribly reminiscent of the start of the 1984 famine, in which a million people died, most of them in Tigray. Like the last cataclysm, this has nothing to do with “natural causes”. It’s caused by war and its associated crimes. This time, however, the man in charge is a Nobel peace laureate: the Ethiopian prime minister, Abiy Ahmed. A great weight of evidence suggests that his troops, and those of his Eritrean allies, are using hunger as a weapon of war.

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The climate crisis is a crime that should be prosecuted | Mark Hertsgaard

Fossil fuel companies lied for decades about climate change, and humanity is paying the price. Shouldn’t those lies be central to the public narrative?

Are you a fossil fuel industry insider? We want to hear from you

Every person on Earth today is living in a crime scene.

This crime has been going on for decades. We see its effects in the horrific heat and wildfires unfolding this summer in the American west; in the mega-storms that were so numerous in 2020 that scientists ran out of names for them; in the global projections that sea levels are set to rise by at least 20ft. Our only hope is to slow this inexorable ascent so our children may figure out some way to cope.

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How will the UK economy emerge from the shadow of Covid-19?

End of furlough, corporate sector debt and continuing crisis in other nations all mean it is too soon to get out the bunting

It seems likely that later this year or early next the economy will return to the level of overall activity we recorded at the end of 2019. But even if activity in aggregate returns to pre-crisis levels, with services and construction in the lead, neither manufacturing nor agriculture seems likely to do so. We also expect to see considerable regional variation in the short run, with the economic prospects of London showing most resilience and the Midlands and Northern Ireland looking particularly vulnerable. More importantly, the economy has lost about two years of economic growth and sectors that are so important to UK plc, such as hospitality and the arts, may bear the scars for some time to come. It is far too early to get out the bunting.

There are three specific areas to watch carefully in the second half of this year.

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A heatwave in Seattle? Extreme weather is no longer ‘unprecedented’ | Arwa Mahdawi

This is serious enough for the 1% to start building bunkers ready for environmental collapse

A few years ago, the author and academic Douglas Rushkoff got invited to a swanky private resort to talk to a bunch of obscenely rich hedge fund guys about the future of technology. He thought they were going to ask him how technology was going to improve the world, but they were far more interested in discussing the “Event”, their cutesy term for the collapse of civilisation. “How do I maintain authority over my security force after the Event?” one CEO, who had just finished building an underground bunker system, reportedly asked. The rest of the conversation, detailed by Rushkoff in a Guardian feature, continued in that vein.

That Rushkoff piece was published in 2018, but I’ve found myself thinking about it a lot over the past few days. Why? Because the Event is starting to feel imminent. If that sounds alarmist, just take a look at the weather. Severe storms have caused extensive flooding in Detroit. Canada just set its highest temperature on record: a village in British Columbia reached 46.1C (115F) on Sunday. The US’s Pacific north-west also broke heat records over the weekend, with Portland, Oregon, reaching 44.4C (112F). Seattle, which isn’t exactly known for its sunshine, just had triple-digit temperatures for three days straight, breaking another record. The US National Weather Service in Washington has called the current heatwave “historic, dangerous, prolonged and unprecedented”.

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Día 1: Abre la cuenta adecuada

By BY RON LIEBER AND TARA SIEGEL BERNARD from NYT en Español https://ift.tt/3x3MUGd

UK house prices rise at fastest rate since 2004 amid stamp duty rush

Nationwide says all areas of the country recorded growth, with London prices increasing by 7.3%

House prices in the UK are growing at the fastest annual rate since late 2004, with all regions picking up, according to Britain’s biggest building society.

The average price of a UK home rose 0.7% in June from May to £245,432, taking the annual rate to 13.4% from 10.9% – marking the highest annual growth rate since November 2004, said Nationwide building society in its monthly report.

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England expects? Facing Germany again sets nerves jangling

Gareth Southgate’s team have looked strong but any game with Tuesday’s Euro 2020 opponents brings up past heartaches

It is a fixture rich in history, controversy, tears and trauma and at 5pm on Tuesday will cause a nation to stop and brace themselves to go through it all over again. England v Germany is upon us and, make no mistake, it matters.

Hence the nerves that have been shredded since last Wednesday, when Germany’s 2-2 draw with Hungary in Munich confirmed them as England’s opponents in the last-16 of the European Championship. Joachim Löw’s side are far from the force that won the World Cup seven years ago but they are still Germany and for a generation of England fans that automatically leads to a sense of dread.

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Poll: 6 in 10 GOP voters favor new $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan, boosting Biden’s hopes of a big bipartisan win

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Biden: Americans can be proud of the infrastructure deal

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US envoy: Children in conflict taught to commit war crimes

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Supreme Court declines to take up major transgender rights case over bathroom ban

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Brazil to redeploy troops to Amazon to fight deforestation

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Australia offers all adults AstraZeneca to speed up rollout

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Nissan to create thousands of UK jobs in battery investment

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Missouri GOP still pressing to ‘deliver the knockout punch’ to Planned Parenthood

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‘A Form of Brainwashing’: China Remakes Hong Kong

By BY VIVIAN WANG, ALEXANDRA STEVENSON AND LAM YIK FEI from NYT World https://ift.tt/3dkpFQz

Boom Times for Lawyers as Washington Pursues Big Tech

By BY CECILIA KANG AND DAVID MCCABE from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/3x5NFyv

Dry Run for Ranked-Choice Count May Hint at How N.Y.C. Mayor’s Race Ends

By BY ANNE BARNARD, KATIE GLUECK AND JEFFERY C. MAYS from NYT New York https://ift.tt/3h3kkiU

Training the Next Generation of Indigenous Data Scientists

By BY SABRINA IMBLER from NYT Science https://ift.tt/3dqq043

‘It’s Tough to Get Out’: How Caribbean Medical Schools Fail Their Students

By BY EMMA GOLDBERG from NYT Health https://ift.tt/2TgoavS

Billions needed to protect Glasgow from climate effects, report says

Study says 2m in Clyde area – due to host Cop26 – face severe disruption without urgent investment

Nearly 2 million people living in the greater Glasgow area face severe disruption from climate heating unless billions of pounds are invested in protecting homes, businesses and transport links, a report says.

A study on the impacts of climate change on the Clyde area estimates about 140,000 of its poorest residents will be the worst affected by increased heatwaves, flash floods and droughts, as they are the least equipped to cope.

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Cambridge hospital’s mask upgrade appears to eliminate Covid-19 risk to staff

Use of FFP3 respirators on coronavirus units at Addenbrooke’s ‘may have cut ward-based infection to zero’

An NHS hospital which upgraded the type of face masks used by staff on Covid-19 wards saw a dramatic fall in hospital-acquired coronavirus infections among those workers, by up to 100%, research has indicated.

Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge upgraded the masks from fluid resistant surgical masks (FRSMs) to filtering face piece 3 (FFP3) respirators, with the change made in late December in response to its own staff testing data.

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Why women are more likely to suffer from long Covid | Susan Evans and Mark Hutchinson

Men are more likely to die from the coronavirus but for women, a stronger immune system comes at a price

When Covid-19 burst into our world, the initial focus was on how to prevent death. Older men were more likely to die from the virus than young people or women, and it became clear that not all humans suffered or died at an equal rate. Covid-19 infection was fatal in some and asymptomatic in others.

Throughout human evolution, this has been the situation. A new infectious threat arises, and humans with an immune system best suited to resisting the infection survive.

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‘You can’t cancel Pride’: the fight for LGBTQ+ rights amid the pandemic

Lockdown hit LGBTQ+ communities hard but even as Pride events are called off there is hope and a promise that the parades will return

This month, for the second year in a row, there will be no Pride parade in San Francisco, arguably the city most laden with history and symbolism for the LGBTQ+ community.

It is a decision Fred Lopez, who took over as executive director of San Francisco Pride at the beginning of last year describes as “heartbreaking”.

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As we lose respect for our politicians, democracy itself is taking a hit | Polly Toynbee

Matt Hancock had to go. But the vitriolic byelection in Batley and Spen shows the dangers of vilifying MPs

A senior politician plunges Icarus-like out of the sky – a reminder that few careers carry such high risk. Why would anyone do it?

On the first rung of that political ladder, Labour candidate Kim Leadbeater faces the electors of Batley and Spen on Thursday. No one knows the hazards better than she does, standing for the West Yorkshire seat where her sister Jo Cox was brutally murdered. This campaign has turned unexpectedly vicious and abusive. And on top of that we’ve seen the explosive entry of George Galloway, now leading his renamed Workers Party of Britain, divisively targeting the “Muslim” vote.

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How should our kids end the school year? In Belgium they’d sing drinking songs | Emma Beddington

Not everyone enjoys sports days and prize-givings. But the alternatives are often much, much worse

A second school year is drawing to a close without sports days, prize-givings and summer fetes in their usual form, and without parents in attendance. If Covid rates in schools in my neck of the woods are any indication, half the kids will be self-isolating, anyway, but it’s sad to see the year fizzle out without a proper acknowledgment of how stoically staff and students have faced a grim succession of challenges. The thought of all the exhausted teachers finding creative, celebratory ways to mark the end of the school year makes me wish I could give each one a present of a month wrapped in cashmere blankets in a Swiss sanatorium.

I don’t feel nostalgic for these events myself. In their brief time in British education, my sons have tried their utmost to keep me away – too embarrassing – but the equivalents we experienced while living in Belgium have had a lasting psychological impact.

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The children’s graves at residential schools in Canada evoke the massacres of Indigenous Australians | William Pengarte Tilmouth

Until there is truth-telling in Australia about the colonisation process, reconciliation remains superficial

First Nations people across Australia are mourning with Canadian First Nations families as evidence mounts of hundreds of deaths of children at residential schools.

We are standing with our Canadian First Nations brothers and sisters on these recent horrific discoveries.

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China releases videos of its Zhurong Mars rover

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Dozens of people with COVID-19 were likely on Mount Everest this climbing season

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A 'heroic' man who took down a gunman was fatally shot by a responding officer while holding the suspect's weapon, police say

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UK defence secretary and military chiefs self-isolate after Covid contact

Defence secretary and heads of Royal Navy and RAF all isolating after Gen Sir Nick Carter’s positive Covid test

The defence secretary and six of the UK’s most senior military commanders have been forced to self-isolate after Gen Sir Nick Carter, the head of the armed forces, tested positive for coronavirus.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed in a statement to the Guardian that Carter, chief of the defence staff, had tested positive for Covid-19.

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Will vaccination become part of the back-to-school ritual? | Emma Brockes

A chasm is emerging, particularly among parents, over how to deal with Covid risk in New York

There is a new, and presumably temporary, pastime in New York, which is to list the ways in which the city is back. Exhibit one: calling your favourite neighbourhood restaurant for a table and being told, flatly: “We can get you in at 5pm or 9pm.” Exhibit two: below 14^th Street, queues round the block to get into a tiny space for the privilege of paying $25 for a double gin and tonic. And exhibit three: an assertion by the city’s major corporations, and after 18 months of apparent humility in the face of employee distress, that staff need to get their asses back in the office.

This week, Morgan Stanley became the latest company in the city to lift pandemic restrictions on in-person work, providing employees and visitors to its offices are vaccinated. This is, increasingly, a requirement by the city’s biggest private employers; earlier this month, Goldman Sachs announced that employees would have to be vaccinated to enter its buildings, while JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America have asked staff to provide their vaccine status on a voluntary basis, prior to what they hope will be a majority return to the office.

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Barr describes his break with Trump and ‘bulls***’ claims of election fraud

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Trump at Ohio rally: 'I told you so'

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Oh deer! Nude sunbathers who fled animal fined for lockdown breach in Australia

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Toyota is the top donor to the 'Sedition Caucus' of Republicans who wouldn't certify Biden's win

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Michigan boat captain finds 1926 message in a bottle

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Two disturbances in the Atlantic. One could reach the southeast coast as depression

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Leave the gators alone. Photos on Facebook draw game wardens’ attention in Fort Worth

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US and Canada heatwave: Pacific Northwest sees record temperatures

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He Felt Like Running: 100 Days, 100 Ironman-Length Triathlons

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Bienvenidos a la era del trabajo híbrido

By BY BRIAN X. CHEN from NYT en Español https://ift.tt/3xWVbMg

Black Workers Stopped Making Progress on Pay. Is It Racism?

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V&A insists it has ‘responsibility’ to tell truth about collections

Museum responds to government letter urging alignment with its stance on ‘contested heritage’

The Victoria and Albert Museum has responded to government pressure to align with its stance on “contested heritage” by insisting that it has a responsibility to accurately explain the nature of its collections, including items it said were looted by British forces.

The V&A was responding to a controversial letter from the culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, in which he suggested that bodies could lose government funding if they fail to toe the line and warned against “actions motivated by activism or politics”.

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Damaging ‘fly-shooting’ fishing in Channel sparks concerns

Small-scale fishers say mostly EU fleet is devastating catches with method that nets entire shoals of fish

The UK has been accused of allowing a fleet of mainly EU “fly-shooting” fishing boats “unfettered access” to the Channel, without a proper assessment of the impact on fish populations, the seabed or the livelihoods of small-scale fishers.

Organisations representing small-scale fishers on both sides of the Channel have warned that the fleet is having a “devastating” effect on their catches. They are calling for a review of the vessels’ UK licences until an impact assessment has been carried out.

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Draught wines: French vineyards rediscover the power of horses

Working horses not only outperform tractors on tricky terrain but provide a natural way to improve health of soil and crops

It’s early morning and the air vibrates with the sound of birds and frogs at the L’Affût wine estate in Sologne, north-central France. Draught horses Urbanie and Bambi are slowly working their way between rows of vines. Carefully guided by their owner, Jean-Pierre Dupont, and his son, they each pull a cultivator that drags up grass growing between the grapevines.

Several times a year, Urbanie and Bambi can be seen working at L’Affût, often to the surprise of passersby: working horses can be deemed obsolete, relics of a time before the mid-20th century’s mechanisation of farming.

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‘A heartbreaker and a heart mender’: how Sapphire’s Push birthed a new American heroine

Twenty-five years after Sapphire’s novel Push was published, Tayari Jones salutes its groundbreaking heroine, Precious

In the Reagan years, I was a teenager, more reader than writer, when I discovered the work of Sapphire. As a college student, I hung out with a cluster of intense, arty types, sharing battered copies of chapbooks, zines and small-press volumes. My good friend Angela passed me a sheaf of xeroxed pages by an author who called herself Sapphire. What I remember most clearly was a poem from the point of view of Celestine Tate Harrington, the quadriplegic boardwalk singer who fought the city for custody of her child. The poem was defiant as the speaker focused less on the joys of motherhood and more on ownership of her sexuality. Angela speculated that Sapphire would likely never receive her due in the world of letters, because she had chosen as her subject the people whose bodies are stigmatised, whose families are pathologised, and whose very lives are held up as everything America rejects. “She is a hero,” Angela declared, and I nodded in solemn agreement.

Some critics were appalled by the very idea of this story being held up as an important work of literature

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Oliver Twist’s London spotlit in new exhibition and walking tour

Charles Dickens Museum opens new display, which will encourage visitors to follow in the author’s footsteps around the nearby sites that inspired the novel

When Charles Dickens was writing Oliver Twist in 1837, he required a suitably horrible magistrate to preside over Oliver’s trial for pick-pocketing. Dickens knew exactly who to base the character on: a notorious Mr Laing, who worked in Hatton Garden, down the road from the author’s London home on Doughty Street.

Dickens asked an acquaintance to “smuggle” him into Laing’s offices. The man would go on to appear in the novel, thinly disguised as the dreadful Mr Fang, a man of “flushed face” who, “if he were really not in the habit of drinking rather more than was exactly good for him, he might have brought action against his countenance for libel, and have recovered heavy damages”.

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My English will never be ‘perfect’ – and that’s what keeps a language alive | Nesrine Malik

As a child, I mixed English with Arabic. Now I know there’s no such thing as a fixed language that belongs to one special group

My first day in an English-speaking school was miserable. It was full of little humiliations: the kind that with the hindsight of adulthood seem trivial but in childhood plant the seed of a feeling of inadequacy that one can never expel.

My family had just moved to Kenya, where English was the official language. I was seven and could not speak a word of it, having grown up until that point in an Arabic-speaking country, and been educated at an Arabic school.

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Even the best job will never love you back. So where do we find our life’s purpose? | Zoe Willliams

The pandemic has made everyone think about what really matters, and it isn’t ‘hustle culture’, working around the clock or pledging yourself to your employer like a serf

Everyone’s fixated on offices. Will we ever return? Will the extroverts return and the introverts stay at home? Will the high performers go back and the coasters stick to Zoom? Or will it be the other way round? Maybe anyone with a sense of purpose and direction can work from their bedroom, perched on an ironing board, and you only need IRL colleagues if you’re aimless and chaotic. But that conversation is actually standing in for (and masking) a more profound one about work itself. “Hustle culture” – working all the time, finding your fulfilment and identity there, pledging yourself to your employer like a serf, having a side-hustle to plug any gaps, configuring yourself as an instrument of productivity – has taken quite a hit over the past 18 months.

Some of us have been forced by catastrophe to think about what really matters. Some have realised that, for all that we loved our job, our job didn’t love us back. Some have worked so hard that we’ve forgotten what the point was, and emptied the tank of drive and ambition. And some have had such a prolonged period of inactivity that our muscles of activity for activity’s sake have simply atrophied.

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Elton John and John Grant: ‘We help each other. We are both complicated people’

The pop legend and the US indie star have long been friends and fans of each other’s music. With Grant staying chez Elton and about to release a new album, the pair sat down to discuss politics, homophobia – and why Elton should never write lyrics

It’s a boiling hot day in rural Berkshire, and a man in navy satin Gucci shorts has just walked into his library. It’s all ornate chairs, wooden globes and Buddhist statues, its oiled shelves lined with books about history, the arts – and tons about music. The scene is one of airy tranquillity, the perfect place for two culture-loving good friends to hole up for a chat.

One of them isn’t here yet – he’s popped to the bathroom after having his photo taken – but Elton John can’t stop raving about John Grant. “We have so many things in common – photography, art, music – it’s as if we’ve known each other for ever. And he’s fun!” Grant wanders in shyly in a pink baseball cap, weathered Talk Talk T-shirt, and glossy white DMs. “Much more fun than his records are anyway, haha.”

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Chased and heckled, but Jo Cox’s sister is unbowed in election fight

George Galloway has mounted an aggressive campaign in Batley and Spen. Can he prevent Labour winning?

It has been a testing few weeks for Kim Leadbeater, the Labour candidate in Batley and Spen, and her campaign team is looking for some light relief.

Leadbeater is the sister of the area’s former MP Jo Cox who was murdered in the constituency by a rightwing extremist in 2016, a few days before the EU referendum. Now she is trying to carry on the work that Cox had only just begun by retaining the seat for Labour in Thursday’s byelection.

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Sign here, please: a memoir of autograph hunting and obsession

As a schoolboy, Adam Andrusier was passionate about collecting the autographs of the rich and famous, then later it became his full-time career. But what was he hoping to find on all those scraps of paper?

It was 1989. I had my schoolbag over my shoulder, a blank piece of card in one hand, a ballpoint in the other. An autograph pen pal of mine had informed me that Paul McCartney would be performing an unplugged session at a recording studio in Wembley, so I hotfooted it there after school. McCartney was autograph royalty, a god. Ultra-tricky through the mail, he signed very little and his squiggle on a piece of paper was worth £100 even back then. The guy could literally write his own money.

If this worked out, I mused, if I actually met a Beatle after school, I’d surely have arrived. It would be like that scene in The Ten Commandments when Charlton Heston comes upon the burning bush on Mount Horeb. “I am here,” I’d announce humbly, just like Charlton. He and I had both been born into bondage-type situations, after all – his, the ancient Egyptian kind, mine more modern Jewish suburban. I’d be scared at first; I’d hide my face from the orange Beatle haze, but then I’d fall to my knees on the Wembley industrial estate and cower in the presence of true greatness.

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Euro 2020: buildup to Netherlands v Czech Republic and Belgium v Portugal – live!

Get the latest prior to Sunday’s last-16 clashes
Can Belgium’s world-beaters win a major trophy?
Email Daniel with your thoughts or tweet @unitedrewind

8.57am BST

I love the smell of toadying in the morning. It seems that tournament hosting relies on keeping Uefa sweet as much as it does infrastructure. A real turn-up for the books there.

8.49am BST

Perisic’s tournament behaviour really is something. He’ll be a huge miss for Croatia, especially if Spain really have found form, formation and personnel. That said, it’s hard to see either beating France in the quarters, who it’s hard to see Switzerland beating in the last 16.

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Beers, tears and bad luck: Anderton and Butcher on England v Germany

The former England players on ‘scraps’ in Spain and the planned golden goal celebration that never came to pass

It is probably the greatest goal celebration that never happened. “It was one of those things when you are messing about and had kind of been mentioned in passing,” says Darren Anderton. “We all knew the new format of golden goal and we all thought: ‘Wouldn’t it be hilarious just to run off the pitch?’”

Eighty seconds of extra time in the Euro 96 semi-final between England and Germany had elapsed when the Tottenham midfielder’s big moment arrived. Reaching Steve McManaman’s pass just before Andreas Köpke, Anderton watched in despair as the ball cannoned off the inside of a post and somehow ended in the goalkeeper’s arms.

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Federico Chiesa’s extra-time missile makes Italy believe in miracles again

Juventus winger on as a substitute pierces dense fog of attrition with a goal to bring the Azzurri’s Euros back to life

There was no sense of inevitability as the ball landed at Federico Chiesa’s feet. No real feeling of grace. An agonising, attritional 95 minutes of football had seen to all that. Like tired boxers in a 13th round, Italy and Austria were simply circling each other, waiting to see whose legs gave way first. The awkward high bounce, forcing Chiesa to control the ball with his head to prevent it from going out of play, simply reinforced the notion of a game in which nothing had worked and nothing would work.

And then in a shuffle and a swing of the left boot the ball was burying itself in the Austria net, and Chiesa was being buried in a flurry of blue shirts, and in a fleeting instant Italy’s Euros were alive again.

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Julian Alaphilippe allows France to dream of escaping the Badger’s shadow | William Fotheringham

Thirty-five years after Bernard Hinault’s Tour de France win, the world champion carries slim home hopes

On Monday, the Tour de France’s mini-tour of famous cycling locations in the bike racing heartland of Brittany takes it through Plumelec and up the legendary Cadoudal hill. The ascent will be brief and probably inconsequential, but after a weekend full of reminders of French cycling’s glorious past it will serve as yet another reminder of a far longer and more existentially painful battle: the 35-year hiatus since the home nation won its Tour.

In 1985, Plumelec was where Bernard Hinault won the prologue in front of 100,000 baying fans, the first stepping stone towards the “Badger’s” his fifth Tour win, the last victory for a Frenchman.

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Texas governor plans to resume construction of Trump's border wall with or without Biden's help

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‘The pope needs to apologize.’ Unmarked graves near schools roil Canada.

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Chauvin sentenced to 22 years and six months for the murder of George Floyd

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Belarus dictator floods EU with migrants in retaliation for sanctions

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She flew into Miami from LA to see her parents — the night before condo collapsed

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Politics latest news: Matt Hancock and Gina Coladangelo's relationship under scrutiny

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Florida building collapse: Fifth body found in survivor hunt

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Missouri’s anti-abortion governor at odds with anti-abortion activists on Medicaid bill

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The search continues. Here are some of the people missing after the Surfside condo collapse

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Death toll rises to 4 in Miami-area condo collapse, 159 are missing

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‘He Was Smiling and Went Straight to the Booth’

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Traffic-light system of ‘eco-scores’ to be piloted on British food labels

UK government and major brands back bid to help consumers assess environmental impact of products

A new traffic light system on food and drinks packaging is being launched to allow consumers to make more environmentally friendly choices.

The scheme has been put together by Foundation Earth, a new non-profit organisation backed by the government, global food giant Nestlé and British brands including Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, the Co-op and Costa Coffee.

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Man leaps from moving plane at Los Angeles airport after trying to break into cockpit

The passenger was taken to hospital after jumping from the aircraft as it was taxiing to the runway

A passenger has been taken to hospital after jumping out of a moving plane at Los Angeles international airport, authorities say.

United Express flight 5365, operated by SkyWest, was pulling away from a gate shortly after 7pm Friday when the man unsuccessfully tried to breach the cockpit by pounding on the door.

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Sunday with Gabby Logan: ‘Seeing my children play sports is one of my joys’

The TV sports presenter on working too much, missing going out and taking her son to watch Andy Murray winning Wimbledon

What’s your Sunday morning routine? The same as every day, but it happens 45 minutes later: walk, breakfast, coffee, papers. Otherwise, mornings are rarely the same. With lots of sport happening, I could be waking up in the city I’m presenting from.

Do you work? Quite a lot, I enjoy the variety. But after the 2012 Olympics I totted up that in that year I’d worked 47 out of 52 Sundays. That’s why I turned down the presenting gig for Match of the Day Two: I’d have got home at 3am every week, missing all sorts of work and pleasure for a whole season.

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Hostels from hell: the ‘supported housing’ that blights Birmingham

The private hostels are meant to care for vulnerable homeless people. But as crime soars, users suffer and neighbours despair, questions are being asked

Ela Sozeri felt hopeful when she was sent to a privately owned hostel in Birmingham, where support staff promised to help get her life back on track. She dreams of one day setting up her own craft business but has been held back by mental health problems and spells of homelessness. Yet her stay soon turned into a terrifying ordeal, which left her and her boyfriend cowering in their rooms in fear.

“When they showed us around, they told us we would get daily contact and support. But we actually didn’t get any [proper support],” she said. “We’ve only had problems here because the other tenants were heroin and crack users. We’re here because of emotional difficulties and having nowhere to live – not for drugs or anything like that.”

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10 of Britain’s best farmhouse hotels

Hoof it down to one of these lovely farms for gourmet cooking and a room with a moo

This bastion of natural wine-making near Romney Marsh (left) is still rooted in its 13th-century farm with fruit trees and livestock – including chicken, goats, sheep and mangalica pigs – alongside 10,000 vines. There are also 11 comfy bedrooms situated in an old hop barn, a pizzeria and a restaurant with a strong vegetarian menu. The desserts are delicious, too – especially the rhubarb poached in Tillingham rosé wine.
• Doubles from £165 B&B, tillingham.com

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Giant horses’ heads and 10-metre sculptures: massive art to see right now

After a year of squinting at art in books, online or as NFTs, it’s now time to immerse yourself in the UK’s most colossal artworks

Modern Toss on Big Art

One aspect of art you really cannot get at home – not by looking at it online or even in the most XXL of art books, and especially not with the screenlocked world of non-fungible token artworks – is the sheer, sensual thrill of bigness. It is time to think big, see big and feel big.

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‘I had threats to my life’: how mob attacks on social media are silencing UK teachers

A British offshoot of a Trump-supporting network is among those targeting educators they regard as ‘woke’

When Gemma Parker, a secondary school teacher, tweeted about teaching students about racism earlier this year, she wasn’t prepared for the flood of abuse she unleashed. A rightwing activist group flagged her as a dangerous teacher, and within hours she had been labelled a “Nazi sympathiser” and a “child abuser”, as thousands of people waded in to attack her.

“I was teaching a class and I kept getting calls from friends asking if I was all right. When I finally checked there were thousands of responses.”

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Germany, England’s deepest rivals? In reality it’s not a rivalry at all | Barney Ronay

Our national team is a minor cast member on European stage, and militaristic jingoism is only damaging to ourselves

“ACHTUNG! SURRENDER.” The Daily Mirror’s front page on the morning of England v Germany at Euro 96, the last big Wembley occasion a bit like the next big Wembley occasion, made a huge impression at the time.

And not because it was particularly inane or stupid, although it was also those things, but because people liked it. It was (kind of) funny in canned-laughter sort of way. Mainly, it said all the things.

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Wimbledon’s greatest show on turf promises to bring back joy of summer

All England Club says there will be a ‘reassuringly familiar’ despite two years without a single ball struck, strawberry devoured or Pimm’s imbibed at SW19

“When people walk through those gates into this magical place, we want it to look and feel reassuringly familiar,” says Wimbledon’s chief executive, Sally Bolton, as she prepares to raise the curtain again on the greatest show on turf. “In our hearts we want to bring back the joy of summer – because that’s what our fans told us they missed last year.”

It is almost two years since the harmonic twang of ball on strings was last heard on Centre Court, when Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer in a seesawing five-hour epic worthy of Cecil B DeMille. But on Monday, Wimbledon returns – not only to fulfil its traditional role in the apex of the British sporting summer but as a symbolic staging post on the road back to normal life.

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Texas governor plans to resume construction of Trump's border wall with or without Biden's help

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'I make no promises' on new restrictions, CDC Director Walensky says

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Child sex abuse victims accused of lying by police

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Tucker Carlson's attack on Gen. Milley is 'confirmation' Trump wanted 'massacre' of protesters, David Frum argues

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Man who Kansas City, Kansas, police shot while responding to domestic disturbance has died

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International pressure mounts against Nicaragua's crackdown on government critics

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He tried to commemorate erased history. China detained him, then erased that too

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Who is Bob Onder? The senator at the center of Missouri’s Planned Parenthood fight

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At the Surfside condo collapse, what’s the difference between rescue and recovery?

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Kansas City man gets life sentence in strangling of 24-year-old neighbor, prosecutors say

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Invasive worms emerging after Texas rains. Whatever you do, don’t cut them in half

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George Floyd murder: Derek Chauvin sentenced to over 22 years

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Republicans are terrified of educated, curious, open minds. You know, people who can think | Opinion

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Met police brace for ‘busy weekend’ of major London protests

Dance music acts along with anti-lockdown, anti-austerity and climate activists will all converge on capital

Some of the UK’s leading dance music acts are expected to join a protest march in London calling for the government to scrap Covid restrictions on nightclubs, as the capital gears up for a weekend of mass demonstrations.

Anti-lockdown protesters, anti-austerity campaigners and environmentalists will also stage protests in London on Saturday and Sunday, and the Metropolitan police said they were preparing for “a busy weekend”.

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Actor Rafe Spall talks about his weight struggles

Actor addresses pressures facing men and women in entertainment industry in Guardian podcast

The actor Rafe Spall has spoken candidly about his struggles with his weight throughout his acting career, and the pressures of losing weight to look like a “normal guy”.

Speaking on the Guardian podcast Comfort Eating with Grace Dent, the actor, who has appeared in films including Men in Black: International and Just Mercy, spoke about a recent “big-profile” job he did for television where his weight became a concern for production staff.

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Banks must guarantee access to cash for everyone, says Age UK

Millions of older and vulnerable people cut off from ATMs and banking services, charity finds

Banks must move swiftly to guarantee access to money for everyone as the cash system in part of the UK veers towards market failure, a national charity has said.

Age UK warned that millions of UK citizens are cut off from cash and banking services. The lack of facilities is causing many to fall victim to financial abuse after being forced to rely on others to make transactions on their behalf, the charity found.

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The Oxford vaccine: the trials and tribulations of a world-saving jab

Amid bemusement from scientists at the deluge of often undeserved criticism, the Guardian pieces together the story behind the vaccine’s successes and failures

In January 2020, when most of the world slept soundly in ignorance of the pandemic coming its way, a group of scientists at Oxford University got to work on a vaccine to save the planet. They wanted it to be highly effective, cheap, and easy to use in even the poorest countries.

Prof Sarah Gilbert, Prof Andrew Pollard and others pulled it off. With speed crucial, they designed it and launched into trials before bringing in a business partner. The giant Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca would manufacture it, license it around the world – and not make a profit until the pandemic was over.

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10 best British campsites with a summer festival vibe

There aren’t many festivals on this year but these family-friendly sites have a party atmosphere, fun activities, great food and low-key gigs

Music is a big deal at Nesta, a yurt site created by a duo who organise the Shindig festival. Firepit serenades, lounge bar beats and acoustic sessions by bands who usually play the summer festivals (and at the Bell Inn, one of Bath’s best-loved music venues) bring the party here. This summer’s acts include Baka Beyond, a fusion of African rhythms and Celtic tunes. Wood-fired hot tubs, yoga sessions and massage therapists, plus sustainably sourced food and drinks in the bistro and cocktail bar (open to locals) supply the daytime festival vibes, and at weekends kids can join forest school sessions. The site is near Frome, in the grounds of Critchill Manor.
• 22 June-31 August, from £88 a night for a yurt sleeping four, nestacamping.co.uk

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Ravinder Bhogal’s picnic recipes for tomato polenta cake and rhubarb almond bars

A savoury sandwich sponge you can adapt with vegetables, and rhubarb frangipane cakes with a pinch of pink peppercorns

The past year has been no walk in the park, but as the weather gets warmer, picnics are just what we need; they inspire nostalgia and hark back to simpler, more innocent times. Dust off your wicker basket, find some bucolic scenery to stare at, claim a patch of sunlit lawn, and indulge in some seasonal, blanket-friendly fare.

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Quienes madrugan podrían tener menos riesgo de depresión que los noctámbulos

By BY NICHOLAS BAKALAR from NYT en Español https://ift.tt/2SwbHUA

Some GB Olympic athletes still refusing to have Covid vaccine, BOA claims

Anson: ‘People have right to choose but it’s not helpful’
BOA had said was on track to ensure all were vaccinated

The British Olympic Association is still trying to convince some athletes to get vaccinated against Covid-19 before next month’s Tokyo Olympics, chief executive Andy Anson said.

The BOA said earlier this month it was on track to ensure all athletes and staff were fully vaccinated before the Olympics. The Tokyo Games, delayed last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, will begin on July 23.

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Amazon and Google investigated by UK regulator over fake reviews

CMA will decide whether consumer law was broken by not taking sufficient action to protect shoppers

Amazon and Google are to be investigated by the UK competition watchdog over concerns the tech companies have not done enough to tackle the widespread problem of fake reviews on their websites.

The Competition and Markets Authority, which began looking at the issue of fake reviews on major platforms two years ago, will now seek to determine whether Amazon and Google may have broken consumer law by not taking sufficient action to protect shoppers from fake reviews.

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No one should be penalised if they want to carry on working from home | Gaby Hinsliff

Unless men also ditch the commute, flexible working is bound to be held against those who embrace it

If dating can sometimes feel like hard work, then playing Cupid is evidently no picnic either. Whitney Wolfe Herd, founder of the dating app Bumble, has just given her entire company a week off to recover from what one senior executive (in a swiftly deleted tweet) called “our collective burnout”, following similar gestures at Facebook and LinkedIn.

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Kevin McCarthy will reportedly meet with police officers injured on Jan. 6

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Border Patrol chief who backed Trump's wall ousted

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Pelosi announces committee to investigate the January 6 insurrection

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Photos: Miami condo tower collapses; almost 100 people missing

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Missouri Gov. Mike Parson says he is not convinced Kevin Strickland is innocent

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A 2015 police investigation of Stephen Smith’s death mentions the Murdaughs multiple times

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Pfizer and Moderna’s COVID vaccines do not affect male fertility, new UM study says

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Delta plus India: Scientists say too early to tell risk of Covid-19 variant

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Staving Off GOP Attacks, Democrats Show New Urgency on Crime

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Everything you want to know about COVID-19 booster shots

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‘Entirely preventable’: Nearly all COVID deaths in US are now among unvaccinated

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They Seemed Like Democratic Activists. They Were Secretly Conservative Spies.

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Why Are Australian Homes So Cold?

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Conan O’Brien Bids Farewell to Late Night

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Coronavirus live news: people booking green list holidays from UK should be aware of ‘risk of things changing’ – Shapps

Japan to give 1m vaccine doses each to Taiwan and Vietnam; UK test and trace system ‘still missing targets’; Hawaii to drop virus test, quarantine for vaccinated domestic travellers

7.55am BST

The other thing that has been pursuing Grant Shapps in questioning on the airwaves this morning has been the overnight front page story from The Sun which claims that during the course of the pandemic, the UK’s health secretary Matt Hancock has been involved in a relationship at work.

Ooooof Grant Shapps struggling to explain why Matt Hancock shouldn’t resign over his affair. “Eeerrrr, ooooohhh, erm it looks like it happened after the unlock stage.” Eventually says he does have confidence in the health Secretary #timesradio

7.52am BST

The other key thing that Grant Shapps, the UK’s transport minister, discussed on Sky News this morning was the touted idea that people who have had two vaccine shots may be permitted to travel to amber list countries more easily. He said:

We’ve met with the scientists and we’ve discussed this and we think that later in the summer, if you’ve had both vaccinations, then we may well be able to treat a location which is currently an amber country, as if it were a green country from the point of view of the double fully vaccinated, individuals. So that means you’d be able to come back, take the single test which is what you have with the green list, and not have to quarantine.

We need more information and data on this and there are some difficult issues to resolve as well, with regard to what happens for children, for those who can’t be vaccinated, and of course giving everybody the opportunity to have those vaccinations. I thought it was right to give people an indication and also direction or track that we were seeing and what we think might be possible.

Grant Shapps tells #KayBurley the govt. "thinks later in the summer" Brits who have had both vaccines will be able to return from an amber list countries and not quarantine.

He adds though more information is needed to resolve "difficult issues".

Live: https://t.co/NyurkkG1gg pic.twitter.com/Dkko5CoAIz

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‘We were never a priority’: Zimbabwe Covid ‘hotspots’ face strict lockdown

Tighter restrictions in 12 mostly rural areas come as health service struggles to cope with third wave of infections

Zimbabwe’s government has designated 11 rural areas across three provinces Covid-19 hotspots this week after a sharp rise in cases. The measures come as the country battles to contain a third wave of coronavirus.

Mashonaland West, Masvingo and Bulawayo provinces have been put into strict localised lockdowns to contain the spread of the virus. The government had already declared hotspots in three other regions, the first in May and two others in early June.

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‘Something happened here’: Roswell prepares for Pentagon’s UFO report

City leaders hope big news could bring a tourism surge as the town grapples with the pandemic economy

On the eve of the release of the Pentagon’s highly anticipated report on unidentified aerial phenomena, life here in one of the world’s UFO hotspots was exceedingly normal.

Downtown’s alien souvenir shops and the International UFO Museum welcomed a steady stream of visitors escaping their pandemic malaise on Thursday as coronavirus restrictions continued to loosen in New Mexico.

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Fast & Furious 9 review – Vin Diesel and crew kick Isaac Newton’s ass

The gang are back for another bout of deafening and magnificently silly, gravity-defying action, leaving plot logic in the dust and driving their cars into space

After nine films, the gigantic steroidal humungousness of the Fast and Furious franchise has finally rolled over me like a tank. This deafening fantasia of internal and external combustion delivers outrageous action spectacle magnificently divorced from the rules of narrative or gravity. There is one shot of a car driving up the far side of a rope bridge that has been cut and whose loose rope-fronds are collapsing behind the car into the abyss. I think we can include Isaac Newton among the people who are getting their asses kicked here.

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Picking fights has served Johnson’s Tories well – but it’s a strategy that may backfire | Andy Beckett

The divisive style of Britain’s most dominant incompetent may lose its appeal as his voters feel their incomes shrinking

Until last week’s Chesham and Amersham byelection, politics seemed incredibly easy for Boris Johnson’s Conservatives. However disastrously they governed, the political outcomes – in opinion polls, elections, and control of the national conversation – were consistently favourable. Johnson has arguably been Britain’s most dominant incompetent ever.

In our often-sour old democracy, politics is supposed to be difficult, especially for parties in their second decade in office, when disillusionment has usually set in. But the government has seemingly defied this convention, as it has so many others.

One of the keys to its unlikely ascendancy has been a willingness to pick fights. Liberals, lefties, lawyers, remainers, antiracists, Scottish nationalists, the EU, Channel 4, the BBC, even the Oxford students who voted to take down a photo of the Queen – no potential enemy has been too large or too small, it seems, for the government to leave it in peace.

You could say there has been a frankness about this appetite for confrontation. In some ways politics is always about conflict, between interest groups and philosophies as well as parties. Before Johnson, prime ministers such as Tony Blair and David Cameron often sought to play these conflicts down – “We’re all in this together,” as Cameron liked to say – in order to appeal as widely as possible. Yet since 2015 the Conservatives have found that they can win elections with the strong support of only a few large sections of the population, principally older white voters and inhabitants of rural and smalltown England.

Out of this realisation the Johnson government’s strategy of confrontation has emerged. Overseen by his trusted adviser Munira Mirza – a former member of the abrasive but surprisingly rightwing Revolutionary Communist party, who is now head of the Downing Street policy unit – this strategy claims that the best way to mobilise these groups of sometimes anxious and resentful voters is to tell them that their country and values are being undermined by subversive forces.

As a government source recently told the website Tortoise: “Boris thinks that he and Munira are in the same place on this as the vast majority of the public, and that every time there is another row about statues or Churchill or white privilege, another Labour seat becomes winnable.” If the Conservatives capture the west Yorkshire seat of Batley and Spen from Labour next week, as is widely expected, then the Tory culture warriors will feel further vindicated.

Their aggression seems to bewilder what remains of centrist Britain. From the Tory remainers who lost their seats in the 2019 election to Keir Starmer, with his ineffectual “constructive opposition”, our politics is strewn with reasonable people who haven’t come to terms yet with its change of tone.

The media have been much happier. Confrontational ministers attract audiences, from Twitter to the Today programme. Meanwhile the rightwing press, which has been picking fights with liberals and lefties for decades, seems delighted to see the Conservatives so wholeheartedly joining in. In their coordination of attack lines, the relationship between the party and these newspapers feels as close as it has ever been.

This aggression also seems to suit the times. Ever since the 2008 financial crisis, much of our politics has been a search for scapegoats, for people to blame for the ending of the relative prosperity and stability of the 90s and 2000s. Attacking the liberal left is a good way of drawing attention away from the real causes of today’s deep environmental and economic crises: Conservative free-market capitalism and the consumer appetites of voters themselves.

And yet there is something a bit too neat and self-satisfied about this Tory strategy. There are no magic potions in politics: the effects of new tactics always wear off after a while. The unexpected loss of the Tory citadel of Chesham and Amersham to the Lib Dems may be a sign that aggression is starting to repel. Voters there preferred Sarah Green, a remainer who emphasised her record of “helping individuals facing injustice”. After years of polarised, exhausting politics, it would not be a surprise if voters elsewhere also began to find less divisive figures appealing again. The relatively consensual politics of the 90s and 00s was itself partly a reaction against the red-toothed Conservatism of the Thatcher era, with its constant hunger for “the enemy within”.

At the G7 in Cornwall this month, there was another sign that Tory aggression may be reaching its useful limits. Johnson’s plans to use the gathering as an advertisement for “Global Britain” were partly ruined by his government’s argument with the EU over Northern Ireland. Like all rows between Britain and the EU, this may play well with Tory voters. But to see it in only those terms is shortsighted and parochial. Not all politics is national; relations with other countries also matter. If Britain is seen as untrustworthy in trade negotiations, that will affect the economy and ultimately voters’ incomes.

Blair sometimes made the mistake as premier of trying to reduce politics to the governmental, to efficient administration. Johnson is making a different but equally large error: trying to reduce politics to the electoral. And as he may discover if the post-Brexit trade deals he promised don’t happen, elections can be influenced by external factors. Culture wars and government flag-waving may attract new voters, but they may melt away if a clumsily nationalistic foreign policy makes it harder for them to pay their bills.

By picking fights, the Conservatives also assume that their chosen enemies are weak and will remain so. Yet the balance of forces in a society isn’t static. Today’s left-leaning millenials, so derided by the Tories, will become decisive voters in future elections, like generations of young people before them. Unless they drastically change their views, it’s hard to see what Conservatism can offer them.

Finally, all the current, outwardly-directed Tory aggression feels like a premonition of – or a way of delaying – the battles likely to come within Conservatism itself: between its northern and southern voters, its free-spending ministers and fiscally cautious ones, its free-marketeers and economic interventionists, its reactionaries and social liberals. In Chesham and Amersham, some of these tensions burst into the open, and the Tory vote disintegrated.

Divisive politics, when it’s successful, is about drawing lines: between your party and an electorally sufficient mass of supporters, on the one side, and your enemies on the other. Johnson’s government is doing that well for now. But if lines start being drawn within your own party, politics gets harder. When that happens – and the Tories’ acrimonious history since Thatcher suggests it soon will – Johnson’s days of easy dominance will feel like a distant world.

Andy Beckett is a Guardian columnist

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Opinion: Anti-death penalty group opposed SC drug company shield law it now wants

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I have ‘pandemic brain’. Will I ever be able to concentrate again?

When lockdown hit, I became distracted, unfocused – and overwhelmed. But there are ways to recover

I can pinpoint the exact moment that I realized my brain was still broken from the pandemic.

A few weeks ago, while riding the train, I decided to send off a few overdue email replies. Fast forward 45 minutes, and there I was: sitting cross-legged on my destination platform, email forgotten, frantically toggling between tabs. It was, by now, a grimly familiar experience of my pandemic-era cognitive performance.

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Malta and Balearic islands set to be added to England’s travel green list

Relaxation of England’s amber list rules pushed back to August over fears of rush for second jabs

Travellers’ hopes of a European summer getaway will be boosted with the expected addition of Malta and the Balearic islands to England’s travel green list.

The move, likely to be announced by transport secretary Grant Shapps on Thursday, is conditional on ministers signing it off at a Covid operations committee meeting.

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‘Her body is her business card’: Sweat director Magnus von Horn on the world of online influencers

The Poland-based Swede’s new film, inspired by a Snapchat fitness motivator, explores the contradictions and freedoms of a social media existence

Magnus von Horn makes a confession few film-makers would admit to: “Some of the things I saw on social media were more moving than what I saw in the cinema.” Cinema and social media are currently the best of enemies: competitors for our precious attention, at opposite ends of a spectrum of cultural prestige, perhaps, but more similar than they would like to admit. Like so many of us, Von Horn admits to spending too much time on his phone but, unlike most of us, he turned his screen addiction into art by turning cinema’s lens on to social media.

Von Horn’s new film Sweat focuses on Sylwia, a driven young Polish “fitness motivator” (played by Magdalena Koleśnik) with some 600,000 followers online. We first find her leading a group workout in a shopping mall, bouncing around in pink Lycra, shouting words of encouragement through her headset: “We can do it!” “I’m diving into your beautiful energy!” “I’m super, super proud of you!” She loves her fans and they love her back. And through her regular online posts, she keeps them not only motivated to be as fit as she is, but abreast of all aspects of her life – making a shake in her kitchen (with her sponsor’s products), unboxing freebies; even carrying her shopping up the stairs is a broadcastable moment.

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'What is rightfully ours': Socialist candidate India Walton upsets incumbent Democratic mayor of Buffalo

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Milley defends U.S. military teaching of critical race theory

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Travel row escalates between Nicola Sturgeon and Andy Burnham after meeting

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Ethiopia's Tigray crisis: Heavy casualties reported after air strike

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Rideshare driver shoots, kills passenger after argument erupts in car, Georgia cops say

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Someone spotted a package at a Keys state park. It was filled with drugs, police said

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UN Afghan envoy Deborah Lyons alarmed at Taliban gains

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Why perpetual COVID-19 vaccine boosting 'isn't an ideal option'

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River Nile dam: Egypt new African allies

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One person killed, 3 hurt in California driver's rampage

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Vanessa Bryant, families of helicopter crash victims reach settlement in wrongful-death lawsuit

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A Louisiana Woman Allegedly Hired Four Teens to Murder Her Ex Girlfriend’s New Boyfriend

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The Abandoned Houses of Instagram

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Climate watchdog says Britain lacks a strategy to meet its goals.

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Catch up: Buzzfeed is said to be on the verge of announcing a SPAC deal.

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‘I deserve to have a life’: Britney Spears asks court to end conservatorship

Singer directly addresses the court: ‘This conservatorship is doing me way more harm than good’

Britney Spears has called for an end to the “abusive” conservatorship that has governed her life for 13 years, delivering an emotional speech to a Los Angeles court and saying: “I just want my life back.”

Spears addressed the court during a hearing on the unusual legal arrangement that has stripped the singer of her independence since 2008. The conservatorship has given her father, Jamie Spears, control over her estate, career and other aspects of her personal life.

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Striking images: the 20th century, as told by Guardian photographers – in pictures

From the Irish civil war to anti-apartheid protests, a new exhibition delves into the legendary Guardian picture library

It was in 1905 that the Manchester Guardian published its first ever photograph, of the Angel Stone in Manchester Cathedral. Three years later, the paper hired its first staff photographer, Walter Doughty. In many ways the story of photography at the Guardian mirrors the story of the 20th century itself. And it’s a story that’s currently being told in a new exhibition, The Picture Library, at the Photographers’ Gallery, London, opening this week.

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During Covid, to be 'vulnerable’ is to be told your life doesn't matter | Frances Ryan

The tragic death toll was all too predictable, in a system that decided old and disabled people weren’t worth keeping safe

“Who do we not save?” In marker pen brainstormed on a whiteboard, these five words – from a government meeting in the early days of the pandemic and leaked last month by Dominic Cummings – say much about this government’s catastrophic handling of the pandemic and the real value it places on the so-called most vulnerable people.

Think back to last spring, when ministers declared that their priority was to keep disabled and older people safe. Matt Hancock promised to throw a ring of protection around care homes. Boris Johnson thanked disabled people for their “sacrifice” of shielding for months. In reality, these were the very people who would disproportionately go on to die. About 42,000 care home residents in England and Wales have died of Covid, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), although the true number is thought to be higher. As of February 2021, 61,000 disabled people had lost their lives to the virus – accounting for almost 60% of total Covid-19 deaths in England.

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The Batley and Spen byelection will reveal the depth of Labour’s predicament | Jane Green

Uncertainties and local factors in the 1 July byelection mean the party will not be able to relax even if it sees off competitors

A lot rides on Batley and Spen. Labour will be desperate to buck its recent trend of poor electoral form against the Conservatives. If it can’t, the depth of its predicament will be further highlighted. But even if it can, the party won’t be able to breathe a sigh of relief. Because Batley and Spen has a number of local factors that make it different to the national picture. While a defeat for Labour would be especially terrible, a win may not indicate the party has turned the tide in terms of its electoral hopes. These local factors also makes it a particularly difficult contest to call.

Labour’s national predicament can be summed up as a party caught in a pincer movement. On one side, Labour has been losing voters to the Conservatives, who united the leave vote behind them. The Brexit party stood in Labour-held seats in 2019. We then saw the impact of the collapse in the Brexit party in the Hartlepool byelection, where a Brexit party to Conservative swing proved instrumental and notionally placed further red wall seats in play in a general election. On the remain and left side, Labour is losing voters in England to the Liberal Democrats and the Greens. A Liberal Democrat recovery can place Labour seats in jeopardy in Labour-Conservative marginals, siphoning off Labour votes – unless Liberal Democrats vote strategically for Labour against the Tories. This pincer movement is also in evidence in economic terms. At the constituency level, Labour lost more voters in 2019 in areas of higher deprivation. The Liberal Democrats made their greatest gains in areas higher in affluence.

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The Biden administration whiffs on its vaccination goal. Good.

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Driver shot in face during road rage encounter, suspect arrested, NC sheriff says

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Woman arrested in NC massage business sex sting previously ran spa in Horry County

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SLED reopens investigation into Hampton SC teen’s death after Murdaugh murders

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A Joyful Surprise at Japan’s Oldest Zoo: The Birth of Twin Pandas

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Your Steak Is More Expensive, but Cattle Ranchers Are Missing Out

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The Gospel of Rebecca Minkoff

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Milan Men’s Wear Shows Signs of a Renaissance

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Hong Kong’s Apple Daily, symbol of pro-democracy movement, to close

Tabloid founded by Jimmy Lai targeted by police raid last week and will print final edition on Saturday

Apple Daily, Hong Kong’s pro-democracy tabloid targeted by a national security police raid last week, is to close and will print its final edition on Saturday, the company board has announced.

The paper and its activist founder, Jimmy Lai, had become symbols of the pro-democracy movement, and a thorn in the side of Hong Kong’s government and police.

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Persimmon and Aviva to refund leaseholders after UK rent inquiry

Housebuilder and insurer agree to make payments after watchdog uncovers evidence of overcharging

Thousands of leaseholders will be refunded unfair ground rents and allowed to buy the freehold of their property at a discounted price after a crackdown on property developers by the competition watchdog.

Persimmon Homes and Aviva have agreed to offer the refunds after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) uncovered “troubling evidence” that leasehold homeowners and prospective buyers were overcharged and misled by the UK’s biggest housebuilders.

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Philippines' Duterte warns he'll jail people who refuse the COVID-19 vaccine

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Little River women among six charged in massage parlor sex sting in North Carolina

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Worse than Hitler: How Stalin orchestrated World War II

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Crowd shouts 'rot in prison' as Greek husband who killed Caroline Crouch arrives at court

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Texas Senator Ted Cruz on Democrats’ voting rights bill: ‘Hell, no’

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A second TV news reporter lost her job this week after announcing on-air that she'd be speaking to Project Veritas

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Jimmy Kimmel: Trump Can’t Take a Joke

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Gove rules out ‘foolish’ Scottish independence vote before election

Minister says prime minister’s focus is recovery from pandemic ‘for lifetime of this parliament’

Michael Gove has said he “can’t see” Boris Johnson granting a new referendum on Scottish independence before the next general election.

The Cabinet Office minister – who is responsible for countering the push for independence – said the prime minister’s focus was completely focused on recovery from the pandemic “for the lifetime of this parliament”.

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Tim Berners-Lee defends auction of NFT representing web’s source code

Creator of the world wide web says digital asset is ‘totally aligned with the values of the web’

Tim Berners-Lee has defended his decision to auction an NFT (non-fungible token) representing the source code to the web, comparing the sale to an autographed book or a speaking tour.

The creator of the world wide web announced his decision to create and sell the digital asset through Sotheby’s auction house last week. In the auction, which begins on Wednesday and will run for one week, collectors will have the chance to bid on a bundle of items, including the 10,000 lines of the source code to the original web browser, a digital poster created by Berners-Lee representing the code, a letter from him, and an animated video showing the code being entered.

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Poo overload: Northern Ireland could be forced to export a third of its animal waste

Country looks to export excess manure from intensive pig and poultry farms to combat rising pollution and emissions

A surge in pig and poultry farming in Northern Ireland has built a multimillion-pound industry, feeding British consumers chicken and pork. But it is creating a climate and pollution headache for politicians.

After a decade of growth, the country has a poultry population of 25 million and pig production has risen to almost 1.5 million, with most of the meat exported to Great Britain.

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Who does Unesco think they are? Listing the Great Barrier Reef as ‘in danger’! After all we have done for it! | First Dog on the Moon

We are not angry, we are disappointed. And angry

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Second homes are a gross injustice, yet the UK government encourages them | George Monbiot

The underlying reason for Britain’s housing crisis is not lack of supply. It’s because greed has been allowed to displace need

How big would our housing crisis be if it were not for second homes? It’s a question almost no one in public life wants to ask, let alone answer. But it becomes more urgent every day.

By a second home, I don’t mean one continuously rented to another household. I mean a property used either as a personal holiday home or as a place to stay while working away from your main home: in other words, a luxury that deprives other people of a necessity.

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People are quitting their jobs in record numbers. Companies should take note – and treat them better | Arwa Mahdawi

Labour shortages are causing widespread disarray. Perhaps employers might consider something radical: paying people more and exploiting them less

Got an advanced degree? Twenty years of experience in your field? The ability to drop everything to respond to work emails? Great! Then you meet the qualifications for an entry-level job paying miserable wages. But you’ll need to have a gazillion interviews and write a thank-you letter after each one to have any chance of getting it, of course.

That’s an (only slightly exaggerated) reflection of what the job market has looked like for a long time. Wages have been stagnant for decades. Companies have been demanding more, and offering less: the power has been very much in employers’ hands. Now, in the US at least, the power balance may be shifting; people are quitting their jobs in record numbers. Almost 4 million Americans quit their jobs in April: the highest numbers since government record-keeping for labour turnover began in December 2000. Meanwhile, in the UK, a lot of people are seriously thinking about quitting – one study found 38% of employees are looking to change roles in the next year.

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