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‘I believed I was one of the cool kids’: Ingrid Persaud on her journey from legal academic to artist to novelist
Sat, 15 Jun 2024 10:00:18 GMT
The Costa-winning author describes her creative career, from embracing the arts scene in London to finding her voice as a writer in Barbados
It was the end of the 1990s, and I was in my 20s working as a legal academic at King’s College London, but I wasn’t in love with the law. I needed a change. During a sabbatical, I saw a newspaper advert for a foundation course at the Slade School of Fine Art. In a moment of madness I applied.
I arrived at the entrance interview, my hands swinging. Apparently, it was customary to offer a portfolio for scrutiny. Unfazed, I said I didn’t have one. Nor did I mention that Mrs Ali, my high school art teacher, expressly forbade me from pursuing the subject, citing a basic lack of talent. But she was 4,000 miles away in Trinidad, unable to stop me now. I told the interviewers I was enthusiastic. Would that be enough? I still don’t understand why, but they took a chance on me. I started a week later.
It was a baptism by fire, with long life-drawing sessions followed by group critiques. Every lunchtime I cried into my sandwich. My sketches were stick figures compared with the brilliantly rendered drawings my classmates produced. Mrs Ali was right: I didn’t have an artistic bone in my body. But I’d already paid a couple of thousand in fees, so contracted with myself daily to show up just one more time. The days became weeks that morphed into months. Eventually, I was hooked.
I emerged from those intense months of immersion in art and its history convinced that this was my calling. That crazy decision made me quit my job. It took me back to university, only I was now a Goldsmiths College art undergrad. This was followed by a masters in fine art at Central Saint Martins in London. Oh, and somewhere along the line we had twin baby boys.
Continue reading...A school in west London is trying to give children their childhood back – by extending its hours from 7am to 7pm. Will it work? Helen Pidd reports
From the isolating effect of the Covid pandemic, to austerity and the cost of living crisis, schools are on the front line of the problems facing the communities that surround them. And on top of those challenges in recent years worries have been going of the effect that mobile phones and social media are having on the mental health of pupils. Now, one school has decided to take drastic action.
For the last seven weeks, All Saints Catholic college in Ladbroke Grove has been opening its doors to children from 7am to 7pm. It’s part of a pilot scheme running for 10 weeks with the aim of addressing some of the problems teachers have seen grow over the past few years. The school is in the shadow of Grenfell Tower, many children are eligible for free school meals – and it is thriving. Now it wants to help parents ensure their children do their homework, play games and socialise face to face.
Continue reading...Public polling is a critical function of modern political campaigns and movements, but it isn’t what it once was. Recent US election cycles have produced copious postmortems explaining both the successes and the flaws of public polling. There are two main reasons polling fails.
First, nonresponse has skyrocketed. It’s radically harder to reach people than it used to be. Few people fill out surveys that come in the mail anymore. Few people answer their phone when a stranger calls. Pew Research reported that 36% of the people they called in 1997 would talk to them, but only 6% by 2018. Pollsters worldwide have faced similar challenges...
The board had proposed appending a statement that would have undermined a Palestinian scholar’s article. The students rejected it.
The post Columbia Law Review Is Back Online After Students Threatened Work Stoppage Over Palestine Censorship appeared first on The Intercept.
As Julia Louis-Dreyfus tackles the death of her on-screen daughter in recent fantastical drama Tuesday, Guardian writers look back at the death scenes that ruined them
Major spoilers ahead
“Have you seen death in your bed?” bellows Julianne Moore’s unfaithful gold digger, wracked with guilt and hurtling toward a full breakdown as the husband she’s never appreciated draws his final breaths. The cold, horrifying fact of mortality covers Paul Thomas Anderson’s skyscraping Magnolia, the first film he made after watching his own father succumb to cancer, an experience he channeled into the plot strand concerning Jason Robards’ ailing Earl. As he withers away in his Los Angeles mansion, sifting through a lifetime of regret, his mistakes return to him in the form of the virulent misogynist son stunted by his dad’s neglect. Tom Cruise delivers the best acting of his entire life as the long-estranged Frank in their confrontation, his open-wound emotionality a leveling gesture of naked vulnerability from Anderson, but Robards matches him with crumbling-statue Shakespearean gravitas that gives way to a cowed, fearful smallness in the face of eternity. Infirm during the shoot, he’d pass away one year after the film came to theaters – along with Philip Baker Hall, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ricky Jay, another one of the ghosts haunting this heaving outpouring of grief. Charles Bramesco
Continue reading...At the Tribeca premiere of Wise Guy, a documentary about the legendary show, cast and crew laughed and reminisced
David Chase selected Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ to soundtrack the final moments of The Sopranos in part because he liked the lyric about how “the movie never ends, it goes on and on and on and on”. (His decision was sealed when he floated the idea to his writers’ room and everyone reacted in uniform revulsion.)
Depressed kingpin Tony’s attempts to self-improve, compromised wife Carmela’s delicate program of rationalization, the capitalistic churning of America – it all continues ad infinitum, and last night at the Tribeca film festival’s premiere of the documentary Wise Guy: David Chase and the Sopranos, it was clear that the saga of New Jersey’s top “waste management consultants” wasn’t over, either.
Continue reading...
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are the most popular digital assets today, capturing the attention of cryptocurrency investors, whales and people from around the world. People find it amazing that some users spend thousands or millions of dollars on a single NFT-based image of a monkey or other token, but you can simply take a screenshot for free. So here we share some freuently asked question about NFTs.
NFT stands for non-fungible token, which is a cryptographic token on a blockchain with unique identification codes that distinguish it from other tokens. NFTs are unique and not interchangeable, which means no two NFTs are the same. NFTs can be a unique artwork, GIF, Images, videos, Audio album. in-game items, collectibles etc.
A blockchain is a distributed digital ledger that allows for the secure storage of data. By recording any kind of information—such as bank account transactions, the ownership of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), or Decentralized Finance (DeFi) smart contracts—in one place, and distributing it to many different computers, blockchains ensure that data can’t be manipulated without everyone in the system being aware.
The value of an NFT comes from its ability to be traded freely and securely on the blockchain, which is not possible with other current digital ownership solutionsThe NFT points to its location on the blockchain, but doesn’t necessarily contain the digital property. For example, if you replace one bitcoin with another, you will still have the same thing. If you buy a non-fungible item, such as a movie ticket, it is impossible to replace it with any other movie ticket because each ticket is unique to a specific time and place.
One of the unique characteristics of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) is that they can be tokenised to create a digital certificate of ownership that can be bought, sold and traded on the blockchain.
As with crypto-currency, records of who owns what are stored on a ledger that is maintained by thousands of computers around the world. These records can’t be forged because the whole system operates on an open-source network.
NFTs also contain smart contracts—small computer programs that run on the blockchain—that give the artist, for example, a cut of any future sale of the token.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) aren't cryptocurrencies, but they do use blockchain technology. Many NFTs are based on Ethereum, where the blockchain serves as a ledger for all the transactions related to said NFT and the properties it represents.5) How to make an NFT?
Anyone can create an NFT. All you need is a digital wallet, some ethereum tokens and a connection to an NFT marketplace where you’ll be able to upload and sell your creations
When you purchase a stock in NFT, that purchase is recorded on the blockchain—the bitcoin ledger of transactions—and that entry acts as your proof of ownership.
The value of an NFT varies a lot based on the digital asset up for grabs. People use NFTs to trade and sell digital art, so when creating an NFT, you should consider the popularity of your digital artwork along with historical statistics.
In the year 2021, a digital artist called Pak created an artwork called The Merge. It was sold on the Nifty Gateway NFT market for $91.8 million.
Non-fungible tokens can be used in investment opportunities. One can purchase an NFT and resell it at a profit. Certain NFT marketplaces let sellers of NFTs keep a percentage of the profits from sales of the assets they create.
Many people want to buy NFTs because it lets them support the arts and own something cool from their favorite musicians, brands, and celebrities. NFTs also give artists an opportunity to program in continual royalties if someone buys their work. Galleries see this as a way to reach new buyers interested in art.
There are many places to buy digital assets, like opensea and their policies vary. On top shot, for instance, you sign up for a waitlist that can be thousands of people long. When a digital asset goes on sale, you are occasionally chosen to purchase it.
To mint an NFT token, you must pay some amount of gas fee to process the transaction on the Etherum blockchain, but you can mint your NFT on a different blockchain called Polygon to avoid paying gas fees. This option is available on OpenSea and this simply denotes that your NFT will only be able to trade using Polygon's blockchain and not Etherum's blockchain. Mintable allows you to mint NFTs for free without paying any gas fees.
The answer is no. Non-Fungible Tokens are minted on the blockchain using cryptocurrencies such as Etherum, Solana, Polygon, and so on. Once a Non-Fungible Token is minted, the transaction is recorded on the blockchain and the contract or license is awarded to whoever has that Non-Fungible Token in their wallet.
You can sell your work and creations by attaching a license to it on the blockchain, where its ownership can be transferred. This lets you get exposure without losing full ownership of your work. Some of the most successful projects include Cryptopunks, Bored Ape Yatch Club NFTs, SandBox, World of Women and so on. These NFT projects have gained popularity globally and are owned by celebrities and other successful entrepreneurs. Owning one of these NFTs gives you an automatic ticket to exclusive business meetings and life-changing connections.
That’s a wrap. Hope you guys found this article enlightening. I just answer some question with my limited knowledge about NFTs. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to drop them in the comment section below. Also I have a question for you, Is bitcoin an NFTs? let me know in The comment section below
More than 100 leaders at two-day conference to discuss Kyiv’s proposals to end war – but Russia and China absent
More than 100 leaders, including the US vice-president, Kamala Harris, and the presidents or heads of the EU, South American, Middle East and Asian countries, will gather in Switzerland on Saturday for one of the most ambitious attempts yet to forge a peace plan for Ukraine.
The summit comes as G7 leaders gathering in Italy clinch a new deal for a €50bn loan for Ukraine, securitised through use of the windfall profits from the interest on Russian central bank assets frozen by the EU and other western nations after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Continue reading...Civilian aircraft have been cleared from Pyongyang’s airport and there are signs of preparations for a possible parade in Kim Il-sung Square
The US and South Korea have warned Vladimir Putin against forging closer military ties with North Korea, as speculation grows that the Russian leader will visit the secretive state in the coming days.
Putin is planning to meet the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, in a reciprocal visit following Kim’s weeklong trip to Russia last September, media reports said. During that trip, the two leaders are believed to have agreed that North Korea would receive Russian help with its space programme in return for providing Russia with armaments for the war in Ukraine, in violation of UN resolutions.
Continue reading...US says Tsav 9 activists have blockaded key crossing, set trucks on fire and injured drivers as hunger spreads inside Gaza
The US state department has imposed sanctions on Tsav 9, “a violent, extremist Israeli group”, for blocking convoys taking humanitarian aid to Gaza, and attacking trucks.
The US said Tsav 9 activists began blockading a key crossing, Kerem Shalom, at the start of the year, and later set trucks on fire and injured drivers and Israel Defense Forces soldiers, as hunger spread inside Gaza.
Continue reading...Hundreds of Cubans queue for hours to visit naval vessel as tensions rise between Russia and United States
Where once vast American cruise ships disgorged mojito-thirsty holidaymakers into the crumbling streets of old Havana, now lurks the eerie darkness of the Russian nuclear-powered submarine Kazan.
“It looks like a dead whale,” says Adolfo García, as he queues under the scorching sun. The Kazan is off-limits, but García is hoping for a tour of the second of the four Russian naval vessels that have just docked in the Cuban capital, the frigate Admiral Gorshkov.
Continue reading...Grassroots Democrats seek to make ‘judicial activism’ a driving voting issue, but swing voters have other priorities
“Look at me, look at me,” said Martha-Ann Alito. “I’m German, from Germany. My heritage is German. You come after me, I’m gonna give it back to you.”
It was a bizarre outburst from the wife of a justice on America’s highest court. Secretly recorded by a liberal activist, Martha-Ann Alito complained about a neighbour’s gay pride flag and expressed a desire to fly a Sacred Heart of Jesus flag in protest.
Continue reading...Former pop star is credited with encouraging Nigel Farage to stand for MP and has helped raised millions for Trump
As Nigel Farage swaggered into a Chelsea townhouse on Wednesday night for the biggest Donald Trump fundraiser this side of the Atlantic, he was ebullient about the night ahead. “It’s a Holly party – you can guarantee it’s going to be enormous fun,” he told reporters.
The Holly in question, the former actor and pop star Holly Valance, has rapidly risen to become radical-right royalty.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed. For more on this story, you can read our full report:
Joe Biden released a statement in light of the supreme court’s latest decision on bump stocks, saying:
“Today’s decision strikes down an important gun safety regulation. Americans should not have to live in fear of this mass devastation.”
“I have used every tool in my administration to stamp out gun violence. I nominated the first Senate-confirmed director of the ATF since 2015. My administration ensured that the ATF has the funding it needs to address emerging firearm technologies like machine-gun conversion devices and ghost guns that pose a unique and acute threat to public safety.
Notwithstanding this decision, my administration will continue to take action. I took on the NRA and signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act – the most significant gun violence reduction legislation to pass Congress in nearly 30 years. My administration established the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, made historic investments in mental health to support people in times of crisis, and expanded background checks to keep firearms out of the wrong hands.”
“Weapons of war have no place on the streets of a civil society. That is why Democrats and Republicans alike supported the federal government banning bump stocks after they were used to fire over 1,000 rounds into a crowded music festival in Las Vegas, killing 60 people in the deadliest mass shooting in American history.
Unfortunately, today’s supreme court ruling strikes down this important, commonsense regulation on devices that convert semiautomatic rifles into weapons that can fire hundreds of bullets per minute.
While the supreme court has once again rolled back progress, we will not allow the victims and survivors of 1 October to be forgotten. President Biden and I fought to pass the most significant gun safety legislation in nearly 30 years, but our work is not done. We are calling on Congress to immediately ban bump stocks. We do not have a moment to spare nor a life to spare.”
The regime is allowing a reformist to run because it wants to ensure more of the same. It will take a better offer to win back the people
The death of Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, in a helicopter crash last month was a shock. The 63‑year‑old hardliner was not only expected to run for a second term, but to be part of the looming transition: the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is 85 and has health problems. Some had even thought Raisi might succeed him.
Yet the repercussions have been muted. The first round of the presidential election is scheduled for 28 June, but no one expects Raisi’s replacement to bring significant political change. The regime’s priorities are continuity and stability. It knows it may soon have to reckon with the hostility of a second Trump administration and it faces widespread discontent at home, following the suppression of the massive Woman, Life, Freedom protests. The evidence of recent years suggest that it is more worried about conservative consolidation at the top than legitimacy from below.
Continue reading...Wisconsin city will host Republican national convention next month, a key swing state Biden won in 2020
US Democrats have seized on Donald Trump’s dismissal of Milwaukee as “a horrible city” by trumpeting the unflattering description on advertising hoardings – a month before the city in the swing state of Wisconsin hosts the Republican national convention, where the former president is set to be the party’s presidential nominee this November.
Trump reportedly made the comment in a meeting with congressional Republicans in Washington on Thursday, his first return to Capitol Hill since extremist supporters broke into Congress on 6 January 2021, to try to stop Joe Biden’s victory over him.
Continue reading...On Tuesday, Hunter Biden was found guilty on all three criminal charges relating to buying a handgun while being a user of crack cocaine. His father – the president – was firm in his support for his son, but also in his belief in the justice system.
After Donald Trump was convicted in a New York court last month, rightwing pundits and Republican politicians were lining up to accuse the Biden administration of rigging the justice system for political advantage. Yet now the courts have convicted Biden’s own son.
Jonathan Freedland is joined by Susan Glasser of the New Yorker to look at how the right has decided to spin this latest historical conviction.
Archive: ABC News, CBS Chicago, CNN, C-SPAN, NBC, Reuters
Continue reading...“One side or the other is going to win,” Alito told a person he thought was a right-wing activist.
The post Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Caught on Secret Audio appeared first on The Intercept.
Dan Osborn, running as an independent, has racked up endorsements in a race that could help determine Senate control in 2024.
The post UAW Endorses Nebraska Underdog Threatening to Unseat a Republican Senator appeared first on The Intercept.
Ahead of the peace summit in Switzerland, German chancellor Olaf Scholz said Putin’s comments were intended as a distraction
Three people were killed and five others injured by Russian shelling in Ulakly village in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, local governor Vadym Filashkin wrote on Telegram on Saturday.
He said the village was hit by cluster munitions, adding that administrative buildings, a private house, a shop and eight cars were damaged.
Continue reading...German has won over fans and brought fresh air to an association that struggled with entrenched structures
When the Austrian Football Association’s sporting director, Peter Schöttel, mustered the courage to make perhaps the most important call of his tenure, he was in his car on the motorway, making his way to a game. It was spring 2022 – and turbulent. Austria had failed to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar, finishing a disappointing fourth behind Denmark, Scotland and Israel. They had another chance through the Nations League playoffs but lost 2-1 to Wales in their semi-final. The brief euphoria of the delayed Euro 2020, where they were narrowly beaten by the eventual champions, Italy, in the last 16, was long gone. Schöttel needed to take action.
“I just made the call,” Schöttel recalled on the podcast Von Spiel zu Spiel. He was looking for a new coach, mainly considering candidates who had worked in the Red Bull stable. He got a number from Christoph Freund, who was then the sporting director at RB Salzburg and is now with Bayern Munich. Schöttel dialled and somewhere in Manchester Ralf Rangnick picked up.
Continue reading...From Kaun Banega Crorepati to Lot’s wife, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz
1 Which archipelago was the first Unesco world heritage site?
2 Which Oxford philosopher devised the trolley problem?
3 What was raised from the Solent in 1982?
4 Which company had 13 employees when Facebook bought it for $1bn?
5 What is the largest living reptile?
6 The TV show Kaun Banega Crorepati features in which film?
7 What branch of the US armed forces was created in 2019?
8 Which singer said, “It costs a lot of money to look this cheap”?
What links:
9 Jeffrey Archer (FF8282); Imran Khan (804); Nelson Mandela (46664)?
10 Gibraltar; Hamilton; Jamestown; Stanley?
11 Chioma Nnadi; Edward Enninful; Alexandra Shulman; Liz Tilberis?
12 Orpheus and Eurydice; Lot’s wife; Bob Dylan film?
13 England (10); Germany (1); Italy (20); Scotland (54); Spain (36)?
14 Born Genoa; died Valladolid; buried Seville?
15 Cliff Booth; Cameron; Jane Gardner; Sonny Hooper; Colt Seavers?
President’s move viewed as ‘Russian roulette’ after far-right support reached record high in European elections
France’s prime minister, Gabriel Attal, stared ahead with his arms folded while another minister covered his face with his hands as Emmanuel Macron gathered top government figures at the Élysée last Sunday to make the shock announcement that he would dissolve parliament and call a snap legislative election in the wake of a win at the polls by Marine Le Pen’s party. The mood, said Attal, was “grave”.
One senior centrist figure said this week they had not slept properly since the announcement of a campaign that will be the shortest in modern French history at barely three weeks. Some party supporters said their world had been turned upside down. “We’re going to get out there and do our best,” said a government minister.
Continue reading...Authorities caught up with woman alleged to have sailed dinghy to off-limits shore after she posted videos about it
A Dubai-based influencer has been fined €1,800 for trespassing on an off-limits pink-tinged beach in Sardinia before sharing a series of video clips and photos of her escapade on social media.
The woman arrived by dinghy on the shore of Spiaggia Rosa, a beach famous for its pink sand on the tiny Sardinian island of Budelli, allegedly ignoring all the prohibition signs, according to reports in the Italian press.
Continue reading...The Tottenham midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur has apologised to his teammate Son Heung-min after appearing to say that South Korean people “all look the same” on a TV programme in Uruguay.
In a short clip from Por La Camiseta, the host Rafa Cotelo asks the Uruguay international for a Spurs player’s shirt. “Sonny’s?” replies Bentancur, before adding: “It could be Sonny’s cousin too … they all look the same.”
Continue reading... submitted by /u/mepper [link] [comments] |
Final communique omits references to protection of gender identity and sexual orientation, and to safe abortion access
Italy’s far-right government has denied that it removed references to abortion and LGBTQ rights in the final declaration of the G7 summit in Puglia.
In the declaration, published late on Friday, a reference to the protection of the “gender identity and sexual orientation” of the LGBTQ community did not appear, although reference had been included in the final declaration of the G7 in Japan last year.
Continue reading...War in Gaza, protests in Buenos Aires, a thunderstorm in Omaha and high temperatures in Athens: the last seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists
Continue reading...Concerns set out over supply of materials with military applications, and impact of subsidies on global market
China’s role in providing assistance to Russia in its war against Ukraine, and its “harmful overcapacity” in the production of cheap goods, have been targeted by G7 leaders despite misgivings from Germany.
On the second day of the annual summit, being held in Puglia under the Italian chair, the US drove home a 36-page communique that condemned Chinese subsidies for products such as solar panels and electric cars which it said were leading to “global spillovers, market distortions and harmful overcapacity … undermining our workers, industries, and economic resilience and security”.
Continue reading...Russian president’s new ultimatum comes as foreign envoys meet in Switzerland to discuss western-led peace plan
Vladimir Putin has demanded that Kyiv cede more land, withdraw troops deeper inside its own country and drop its Nato bid in order for him to end his war in Ukraine.
Putin’s fresh ceasefire demands were issued as envoys from more than 90 countries, including Ukraine, convene in Switzerland this weekend to discuss a western-led peace plan. Russia is not invited to the conference and Putin’s remarks on Friday are likely to have been timed as a spoiler to that summit.
Continue reading...Star who led a sometimes scandalous life celebrated with blue plaque in home town of Budleigh Salterton
She was regarded as Britain’s answer to Sophia Loren and Brigitte Bardot, leading a glamorous and sometimes scandalous life in Italy and the US. This weekend Belinda Lee, who died in a car crash in California in 1961 aged 25, is being celebrated in her home town, the rather less glitzy Devon seaside resort of Budleigh Salterton.
Lee, the daughter of a hotel owner and florist, left the town – dismissed in a Noël Coward play as a place of potted palms with a damp golf course – in search of fame and fortune. She found it in London, continental Europe and Hollywood but was also saddled with a degree of notoriety over events in her private life, such as having relationship with a married aristocrat.
Continue reading...Three flavours of Buldak chicken ramyeon have been banned by authorities in Copenhagen, but seriously, how bad could they be?
There are flames spreading up my nose, across my forehead and down my throat. My tastebuds have been vanquished, my mouth is a chamber of fire. I have signed a waiver once before for a taste test. Where is my waiver today?
This is level three of Buldak’s range of spicy ramyeon, also known as “fire noodles”. It’s one of three varieties of instant noodles manufactured by South Korea’s Samyang Foods, and recalled this week by Danish authorities for being too spicy. According to Denmark’s national food agency, the high levels of capsaicin in the noodles carry a risk of acute poisoning for consumers – particularly children.
Continue reading...Mozilla, the maker of the popular web browser Firefox, said it received government demands to block add-ons that circumvent censorship.
The post Firefox Browser Blocks Anti-Censorship Add-Ons at Russia’s Request appeared first on The Intercept.
Public polling is a critical function of modern political campaigns and movements, but it isn’t what it once was. Recent US election cycles have produced copious postmortems explaining both the successes and the flaws of public polling. There are two main reasons polling fails.
First, nonresponse has skyrocketed. It’s radically harder to reach people than it used to be. Few people fill out surveys that come in the mail anymore. Few people answer their phone when a stranger calls. Pew Research reported that 36% of the people they called in 1997 would talk to them, but only 6% by 2018. Pollsters worldwide have faced similar challenges...
The legendary presenter has an absurd, vampy time noseying around wildly decorated houses in quite possibly the best property show ever. All hail the Llewelyn-Bowennaissance!
I am starting to feel sorry for Channel 4, because they are never going to make a property show I like, no matter how many times they try. This is simply because of the economic reality I live in – I don’t own property and I’m starting to think I never will, thanks woke – and that makes it grating and tedious to watch other people on TV build houses, or renovate houses, or Grand Design their houses. They tried with George Clarke, but I loathed him. They tried with Kevin McCloud and, while I like and fear Kevin, I hated anyone he ever interacted with on screen (“Heh, yeah: I’m going to do the barn myself” – go to work!). They did that show where Sarah Beeny lives in the countryside and I quite liked it as long as I didn’t think about it too much. But, fundamentally, I will always struggle to find interesting what someone did with their kitchen.
Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, then, a final roll of the dice, who this week takes us around a series of outrageous homes in Outrageous Homes (20 June, 10pm, Channel 4). To qualify as an outrageous home you basically have to decorate in a way that when people come over they say this sentence out loud: “Wow, yeah – you’ve done a lot here, haven’t you?”, and every week we get six of them. Episode one takes us into a £5m mansion made in the eternal honour of Treasure Island; a western-themed garden made out of junk; a groovy homage to the 70s; a make-do-and-mend festival of colour; an almost but not totally mosaicked house; and a semi-frightening house turned aquarium. Llewelyn-Bowen goes to about 60% of these houses, lets a second unit deal with the rest, and has an enormous amount of fun just not really caring about it at all.
I, for one, welcome the Llewelyn-Bowennaissance. In the 90s we didn’t really know what to do with him – smooth model face, ruffled shirt cuffs, calling Shakespeare “the Bard”: has anyone like this existed before! – but watching him bully Handy Andy into ruining a succession of people’s living rooms was one of the best things on TV. Then he went low for a bit, did a lot of formats that started with the word Celebrity, grew a resplendent goatee and started posing with his hands really firmly on his hips. But what LLB does, like almost nobody alive, is have an absurd, vampy amount of fun on camera. His iconic “It’s Larry!” entrance from the reboot of Changing Rooms a couple of years ago is just a taste of what he brings to Outrageous Homes: the first line of voiceover in the series is “Hail, glorious people of the United Kingdom!” He describes the show as “a celebratory frolic” through the nation’s front rooms; he keeps making homeowners pose with him in absurd still situations while he throws to an ad break; he does a to-camera piece in a chip shop (why?) which starts with the pleasingly erratic sentence “Hobbies: discuss!”. When I was in Year 9 we had a few classes with a substitute teacher who was clearly in the midst of a mental lapse where he no longer cared at all about geography, and Llewelyn-Bowen is bringing a lot of that energy to the screen (that’s a compliment).
Continue reading...Zone will be 20km off the coast and exclude areas significant for little penguin and for southern right whale migration
The federal government has given the green light to an offshore windfarm zone south of Sydney, making it Australia’s fourth such zone to be declared.
Announcing the project in the Illawarra on Saturday, the climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, said the move would bring thousands of new jobs and help “power Australia’s clean energy future”.
Continue reading...Stephen Kwikiriza is one of 11 campaigners against EACOP targeted by authorities in past two weeks, rights group says
A man campaigning against the controversial $5bn (£4bn) east African crude oil pipeline (EACOP) is recovering in hospital after an alleged beating by the Ugandan armed forces in the latest incident in what has been called an “alarming crackdown” on the country’s environmentalists.
Stephen Kwikiriza, who works for Uganda’s Environment Governance Institute (EGI), a non-profit organisation, was abducted in Kampala on 4 June, according to his employer. He was beaten, questioned and then abandoned hundreds of miles from the capital on Sunday evening.
Continue reading...The draconian restrictions on asylum-seekers owe a lot to Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, but the path was paved by Democrats.
The post Joe Biden’s Cruel Border Shutdown Follows in Clinton and Obama’s Footsteps Too appeared first on The Intercept.
Activists suing the Biden administration over Gaza policy are demanding the judge recuse himself over the sponsored trip.
The post A Federal Judge Visited Israel on a Junket Designed to Sway Public Opinion. Now He’s Hearing a Gaza Case. appeared first on The Intercept.
Twelve jurors in New York have presented their fellow Americans with a simple question: are you willing to elect a convicted criminal to the White House?
On Thursday, Donald Trump was found guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records in a criminal hush-money scheme to influence the outcome of the 2016 election. The verdict makes him the first president, current or former, to be found guilty of felony crimes in the US's near 250-year history. Regardless, the conviction does not disqualify Trump as a presidential candidate or bar him from again sitting in the Oval Office.
Trump, who opted not to take the stand during the trial, has denied wrongdoing, railed against the proceedings and ahead of the verdict compared himself to a saint: “Mother Teresa could not beat these charges. The charges are rigged,” he said on Wednesday. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, is expected to appeal the verdict.
The Guardian’s Sam Levine has been in court over the last several weeks covering all the developments – here are three testimonies he found most memorable.
Could Trump go to prison? Here’s what happens next after the guilty verdict
The U.S. has trained 15 coup leaders in recent decades — and U.S. counterterrorism policies in the region have failed.
The post After Training African Coup Leaders, Pentagon Blames Russia for African Coups appeared first on The Intercept.
H. A. Hellyer and Murtaza Hussain discuss the current discord and complex history between the Israeli government and Egyptian military.
The post Rafah Clash Exposes Roots of Egypt and Israel Tension appeared first on The Intercept.
In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, revealed the tactics and traits that help him face the daily frustrations of leading a country at war for more than two years.
Within a ceremonial room inside Kyiv’s presidential compound, Zelenskiy spoke for nearly an hour with a Guardian team, including the editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner. The interview took place during perhaps the toughest time for Ukraine since the early days of the war. Russia is on the offensive in Kharkiv, an advance that follows months of delay in the US Congress over the passing of a major support package, limiting Ukraine’s battlefield capabilities
Continue reading...Andrew Bailey’s office has a losing record of fighting against exonerations recommended by local prosecutors — but it’s not giving up.
The post Missouri’s Attorney General Is Waging War to Keep the Wrongly Convicted Locked Up appeared first on The Intercept.
Jonathan Haidt’s bestselling book blames social media for a decline in teenage mental health. But is he right?
When I was 13, two of my friends were arrested for shoplifting. Along with two boys in our year, they had decided to bunk off school – our suburban grammar school renowned for its academic excellence – and get the train to a shopping centre nearby. The day had been going well until they reached HMV, where a security guard asked them about the CDs they had hidden in their coats. Cue a call to the police, and some time in a cell at the local police station. By the end of the day, news had travelled to the rest of us via an SMS on our Nokia 3310s and we gathered at one of our houses to discuss the situation. Most of us were crying.
It was but one dramatic moment in a lawless year. In year 7 we had been a fairly risk-taking group, but in the spring of year 8, a new girl joined our school and her arrival set things on fire. Beside the shoplifting habit, there was a lot of alcohol, stolen from parents’ cupboards or bought for us by strangers on the high street or by older siblings. We drank where teenagers have always drunk: in parks at night or during unsupervised parties at home. Blacking out was not uncommon, and more than once someone ended up in A&E. There was a lot of smoking, too, cigarettes and weed, and a lot of arguing about boys and each other (more crying there, too).
Continue reading...Juneau agrees deal with industry body to curtail visits but critics say it does not go far enough to protect quality of life
Alaska’s capital city is to limit the numbers of cruise ship passengers arriving at the port amid concerns over tourism’s growing impact, but a leading critic of the industry has said further measures to protect Alaskans’ quality of life are needed.
Located on the Gastineau Channel in southern Alaska, Juneau has a population of 32,000 and last year received a record 1.65 million cruise ship passengers – a 23% increase from the previous high.
Continue reading...At the start of a 3,000-mile journey down the Amazon, our writer witnesses the benefits of community tourism projects on a less crowded option to the Inca Trail
‘It’s very simple,” Bruce says. “If travellers go far, on long-haul journeys, they should go for longer.” I’m sitting in a Peruvian mountain village with Bruce Poon Tip, founder of G Adventures, a Canadian travel company with a mission. Below us on a narrow rocky terrace, a group of brightly dressed women in bowler hats are chatting while they work. Some are spinning alpaca wool, others are knitting, and a couple are weaving narrow strips of cloth. “Travellers need to connect with locals,” Bruce continues, “but they should also bring economic benefits to communities.”
I am in South America on a mission myself. I want to see how, or if, tourism can help with the huge challenges of social inequality and the climate crisis. I’m taking Bruce’s advice about travelling for longer to heart: I am going to loop south through Bolivia, then start a 3,000-mile journey down the Amazon to where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean. En route, I want to see how the individual tourist can support worthwhile projects, particularly with Indigenous peoples, and also enjoy a wonderful experience.
Continue reading...Sheffield demonstration comes 40 years after notorious police action against striking miners
Campaigners are to gather at Sheffield City Hall for a rally to mark 40 years since the notorious “battle” of Orgreave during the 1984-85 miners’ strike, and call for the full truth about the scandal to be addressed.
On 18 June 1984, an estimated 8,000 miners who had travelled to picket the plant at Orgreave, South Yorkshire that made coke for the steel industry, were met by massed ranks of 6,000 police officers. With force unprecedented in mainland Britain, mounted police charged their horses at speed into the crowd, and officers using batons and short shields beat many miners over the head.
Continue reading...2016 Euros was last tournament where people could travel freely, making it hard to judge how current fans will behave
German police have spoken of concerns about an intelligence gap in the level of aggression of the latest generation of England football fan, as supporters gather in Germany for the first post-Covid Euros.
England’s Sunday evening tie against Serbia in their first game of Euro 2024 has been designated as “high risk” due to a heightened threat of violence between two groups of supporters with a history of thuggery.
Continue reading...“I felt helpless watching my family dying and not able to help them. It is a nightmare that I will never wake up from.”
The post These “Tent Massacre” Survivors Couldn’t Afford to Leave Rafah. The Next Israeli Attack Nearly Wiped Their Family Out. appeared first on The Intercept.
From properties close to picturesque cycling routes to a London new-build, these homes will tempt city dwellers into the saddle this National Bike Week
Continue reading...“One side or the other is going to win,” Alito told a person he thought was a right-wing activist.
The post Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Caught on Secret Audio appeared first on The Intercept.
British Museum will host treasures from Samarkand in a bid to dispel cliches of camels, spices and bazaars
A monumental six-metre-long wall painting created in the 7th century, and 8th-century ivory figures carved for one of the world’s oldest surviving chess sets, are among treasures set to be seen in Britain for the first time.
The items will travel from the ancient city of Samarkand to the UK for an exhibition opening in September, as part of the first-ever loan from museums in Uzbekistan to the British Museum.
Silk Roads will be at the British Museum from September 26 2024 to February 23 2025. Tickets go on sale on Monday.
Continue reading...Ahead of the election in India, the Guardian’s video team travelled through the country to explore how fake news and censorship might shape the outcome.
Almost one billion people are registered to vote. The country's prime minister, Narendra Modi, has been in power for more than 10 years, and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) is seeking a third term.
But critics of Modi and the BJP say his government has become increasingly authoritarian, fracturing the country along religious lines and threatening India’s secular democracy. At the same time, the space for freedom of speech has been shrinking while disinformation and hate speech has exploded on social media.
From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors. You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays.
From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors.
You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays.
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