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Briefly Noted Book Reviews
Mon, 29 Apr 2024 10:00:00 +0000
“Knife,” “A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages,” “Neighbors and Other Stories,” and “Butter.”
Match ID: 0 Score: 80.00 source: www.newyorker.com age: 2 days
qualifiers: 45.00 travel guide(|s), 35.00 travel(|ing)
‘I don’t have a travel buddy’: More older adults are flying solo by choice
Wed, 01 May 2024 11:46:00 GMT
Solo senior trips are on the rise, and travel companies see an opportunity.
Match ID: 1 Score: 35.00 source: www.marketwatch.com age: 0 days
qualifiers: 35.00 travel(|ing)
What we’re reading: writers and readers on the books they enjoyed in April
Wed, 01 May 2024 10:07:40 GMT
Authors, critics and Guardian readers discuss the titles they have read over the last month. Join the conversation in the comments
I have been travelling a lot this month, back and forth between London and Devon and my mum’s house in Scotland. Train journeys feel like permission to read. The Quick and the Dead by Joy Williams has been on my shelf for years, but I finally finished it while on the tube two weeks ago. What a writer! Her mind is like cold, alien moonlight. She goes to the heart of the things we don’t talk about.
Continue reading...A 30-mile route has opened up along this spectacular river that’s great for beginners but has challenges for more experienced paddlers too
It was a morning of brooding green banks and dark skies on the River Tweed. Heavy rains had hit southern Scotland and the waterway had turned into a fast flood, with the deluge sweeping our two-seater canoe downstream through farmland and fishing beats as fast as a salmon escaping a rod and reel.
The river, usually easy to navigate and at times only a few feet deep, had swollen fat, the rush of water pushing out in oily swirls that ambushed us. Our pace was frenzied, the spray cold and fresh. But my mood was upbeat because this was why I had come: to see the Anglo-Scottish borderlands from a new perspective.
Times are changing on the Tweed. A world-class salmon fishing river in a valley with a recent history of hosting blockbuster events, including last summer’s UCI mountain bike world championships, the waterway is now looking to canoeing for its latest lure. The Tweed Valley Canoe Trail officially launches today (1 May) and, open to the thrill of a gentle paddle as much as whitewater, I had come to the Borders for a two-day preview of the 30-mile route on its upper reaches.
A devoted father with a zest for life, he was given an indeterminate sentence in 2006. He is still locked up – and losing hope that he will ever be released
In 2006, Martin Myers got in a scrape over a cigarette. He asked a young man if he had a spare fag. The man declined to give him one. Myers came from a well-known Traveller family. The man, Myers says, made a derogatory comment about Travellers, so Myers gave up the niceties. He threatened to punch him if he didn’t hand him a cigarette.
The young man ran away. He then went to the police in Luton and told them what had happened. The police were familiar with Myers. He had previous convictions for dangerous driving, assault, theft and burglary. Myers was arrested, charged and convicted of attempted street robbery. On 8 March 2006, he was given a tariff – the minimum time he could serve – of 19 months and 27 days.
Continue reading...Councillors, mayors and police commissioners across England and Wales are facing voters this week. What’s at stake? Helen Pidd reports
This week voters in more than 100 local authorities in England and Wales are heading to the polls. And Labour are predicted to win big. Helen Pidd travelled to Accrington in Hyndburn, where the local authority has an equal number of Labour and Conservative councillors, to see what people there thought about the local elections.
What she found was a more complicated picture than predictions of a Labour landslide suggest. She found the Conservative council leader in a surprisingly confident mood – and the local Labour politicians unwilling to speak to her. She also met voters in the town who told her of their discontent with Labour over its approach to the conflict in Gaza and that it was the Green party who would be picking up their votes.
Continue reading...Figures for England obtained by Lib Dems show that 500,000 people in ‘very urgent’ need travelled to hospital without ambulance in 2023
Growing numbers of seriously ill people are making their own way to A&E in what has been called an “Uber ambulance crisis”, because 999 response times are too slow.
A&E doctors said that while they understood that people are acting out of “desperation”, they are taking a serious risk with their health, especially if they are driving themselves.
Continue reading...We would like to hear from those who have travelled direct to A&E instead of waiting for an ambulance
Whether it’s taking a taxi or public transport, we would like to hear your experience of travelling to A&E without an ambulance.
What was your reason for going and how did you get there? Were you travelling on your own or with family? If you called 999, what happened and were you told how long it would take for an ambulance to arrive?
Continue reading...The far right are on the march in Germany and the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany has become the most popular party in several states. Immigration and a sense of being economically left behind have been driving factors in the rise in popularity but the Green party and the federal government’s climate policies have also borne the brunt of public anger. The Guardian travelled to Görlitz, on the German border with Poland, to find out to what extent Germany’s green policies are fuelling the far right
• How climate policies are becoming focus for far-right attacks in Germany
Continue reading...A large takeaway flat white will already set you back £5.19 in London and other cities aren’t far behind. If cafe owners aren’t getting rich off our caffeine habit, who is?
It was one of those London museum cafes where buggies block the entrance and children trail veggie straws across the floor. The queue of parents stretched to the door and the staff appeared frazzled. I ordered an iced oat milk latte. “That will be £4.50,” said the server. I remember the sensations that follow acutely.
Shock. How much? Regret. I don’t want it. Self-recrimination. Why didn’t I check the price? Embarrassment. If I say I don’t want it, everyone will hear. Acceptance. I’ll pay for it, but I’m never ordering here again. I drank every sip of the coffee, waited for the ice to melt, and drank that, too. I was out of sorts for the rest of the day.
Continue reading...For years, the political establishment opportunistically railed against sex trafficking. Then came Pizzagate.
The post QAnon Was Born Out of the Sex Ad Moral Panic That Took Down Backpage.com appeared first on The Intercept.
A measure passed by the House seeks to block Americans from traveling to Iran on U.S. passports.
The post House Responds to Israeli-Iranian Missile Exchange by Taking Rights Away From Americans appeared first on The Intercept.
The web has become so interwoven with everyday life that it is easy to forget what an extraordinary accomplishment and treasure it is. In just a few decades, much of human knowledge has been collectively written up and made available to anyone with an internet connection.
But all of this is coming to an end. The advent of AI threatens to destroy the complex online ecosystem that allows writers, artists, and other creators to reach human audiences.
To understand why, you must understand publishing. Its core task is to connect writers to an audience. Publishers work as gatekeepers, filtering candidates and then amplifying the chosen ones. Hoping to be selected, writers shape their work in various ways. This article might be written very differently in an academic publication, for example, and publishing it here entailed pitching an editor, revising multiple drafts for style and focus, and so on...
The White House brushes off accusations of hypocrisy, courting TikTok while seeking to ban it.
The post As Biden Cheers TikTok Ban, White House Embraces TikTok Influencers appeared first on The Intercept.
The state says EMTALA, a law barring discrimination in emergency medical care, interferes with its abortion ban.
The post Idaho Goes to the Supreme Court to Argue That Pregnant People Are Second-Class Citizens appeared first on The Intercept.
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.
Continue reading...Ships evacuating 12,000 islanders over fears that side of Mount Ruang might slide into sea and cause tsunami
Eruptions at a remote Indonesian volcano have forced more than half a dozen airports to close with ash spreading as far as Malaysia, according to officials, while authorities rushed to evacuate thousands due to tsunami fears.
Mount Ruang erupted three times on Tuesday, spewing lava and ash more than 5km (three miles) into the sky and forcing authorities to issue evacuation orders for 12,000 people.
Continue reading...As someone who is unable to vote in the UK’s local elections, I hope my peers don’t waste the precious gift they’ve been given
Local elections are coming this week. After receiving far-right leaflets (“Close the borders! Pause all immigration!”) through my letterbox and paying taxes to an underwhelming council, I can’t wait to vote – except that I’m not eligible. As an immigrant with no settled status, voting isn’t one of my rights.
And while most of my friends here can vote, many say they won’t. My best friend, for example, keeps his electoral registration up to date, but rarely goes to the polling station.
Joyce Yang is a freelance writer based in London
Continue reading...  | submitted by /u/CaraxesTheBloodWyrm [link] [comments] |
Freedom to Write index says there are 107 people in prison for published content in China, with many accused of ‘picking quarrels’
The number of writers jailed in China has surpassed 100, with nearly half imprisoned for online expression.
The grim milestone is revealed in the 2023 Freedom to Write index, a report compiled by Pen America, published on Wednesday.
Continue reading...The famed scholar on why reducing Hamas to a terrorist label sanctions Israel’s war on Palestinians.
The post Judith Butler Will Not Co-Sign Israel’s Alibi for Genocide appeared first on The Intercept.
Elene Naveriani’s film tells the story of a middle-aged single woman in a remote Georgian village whose life is changed for ever after a near-death experience
Here is a marvellously tender story of loneliness and love which starts with a bigger bang than most thrillers. Etero, played by Eka Chavleishvili, is a middle-aged single woman in a remote Georgian village who is out walking near a steep ravine, collecting blackberries for the cakes she likes to bake. She looks up, transfixed by the beauty of a blackbird – having been, we are perhaps invited to assume, only waiting for this moment to arrive – when she loses her footing and disappears from the frame; film-maker Elene Naveriani switches the viewpoint to something terrifying and vertiginous: straight down to a near death experience.
Etero sees her own corpse in a parallel universe of her own stricken imagining, but this heartstopping near-miss, together with the unwelcome new symptoms of what appear to be menopause, coincide with what could be a whole new lease of life. While listlessly minding the family shop, Etero receives some stock from flirtatious new delivery driver Murman, played by Temiko Chichinadze, and soon she is having a gloriously passionate, sensual and thrillingly secret affair with this man. And in the long stretches of solitude while he is away, now filled with gorgeous wondering instead of dullness, the film shows how Etero must now absorb the paradox – what has ended is not her life, but her 48 long years of virginity. Her life has not been easy. She has desperately missed her late mother, who died of cancer when she was just three months old. But now life has repaid her with a miracle.
Continue reading...Cian Ó Cíobháin’s show, ‘one of the most radical in the world’, has been beguiling listeners in Irish for 25 years. Others, from Warsaw to Lyon, offer similar musical adventures
In the early 2000s, trudging through the static of mainstream radio, I stumbled upon RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, the Irish-language outpost of Ireland’s national broadcaster – and a programme that flipped the script on radio as I knew it. Presented by Cian Ó Cíobháin from the Atlantic-hugging Galway coast, a fair stretch from my home in rural Northern Ireland, An Taobh Tuathail (“The Other Side”) still feels like a portal to a far-flung realm.
Broadcast every weekday since May 1999, Ó Cíobháin expertly blends leftfield music: it has championed ambient and electronic pioneers such as Mexican composer Murcof and the late Japanese musician Susumu Yokota, and spotlighted the curveballing instrumentalism of Irish artists including cellist Eimear Reidy and revered Limerick producer Naive Ted. Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys is one of many artists to have hailed An Taobh Tuathail’s influence, calling it “one of the most radical radio shows in the world”.
Continue reading...New figures show nearly 14% of all houses in Japan are empty – but this real estate glut is attracting growing interest from foreigners
As the declining population continues to impact Japan’s society and economy, the number of vacant houses has topped nine million – enough to accommodate the entire population of Australia at three people per dwelling.
Government figures released on Tuesday show the number of empty houses, known as akiya, as of October 2023 was up by more than half a million since the previous survey in 2018.
Continue reading...Silencing of a film-maker documenting the widespread 2022 demonstrations against Covid controls is part of rising suppression of press freedom
In November 2022, thousands of people took to the streets across China to protest against the government’s strict Covid-19 controls in an unprecedented wave of civil disobedience. They were thought to be the largest protests since the 1989 pro-democracy Tiananmen Square demonstrations when, at its height, a million people are estimated to have gathered.
It started in Shanghai with a vigil mourning victims of a deadly apartment fire in the western Xinjiang region, which saw some of the country’s most intense lockdowns.
Continue reading...Zhang Yongzhen stages sit-in protest, as government attempts to avoid scrutiny over handling of outbreak
The first Chinese scientist to publish a genomic sequence of the Covid-19 virus, in defiance of government orders, staged a sit-in protest after claiming he was locked out of his laboratory over the weekend.
Zhang Yongzhen, a virologist, said in an online post on Monday that he and his team had been given a sudden eviction notice from their lab, and guards had barred him from entering it over the weekend. The post, published on Weibo, was later deleted, Associated Press (AP) reported.
Continue reading...Six people have been killed and more than 200 injured in attacks by bears over the past year
Japan is to trial an AI bear-warning system after a record number of attacks on humans over the past year as the animals struggle to find their staple foods.
A pilot system in Toyama prefecture, central Japan, will monitor live feeds from government, municipal and private security cameras to identify bears on the move in areas close to people, and send instant warnings to relevant local authorities, police and hunters. AI will also be used to monitor bears movement patterns and try to predict their future whereabouts.
Continue reading...Leader says ‘it’s not been easy’ as he stands aside five years after controversially realigning the country with China
The Solomon Islands prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare, has announced he will not stand as a candidate when lawmakers vote this week for a new leader, and his political party would instead back former foreign minister Jeremiah Manele.
The two major opposition parties in Solomon Islands struck a coalition deal on Saturday as they vie with Sogavare’s party to form a government after an election delivered no clear winner.
Continue reading...Deal to use mapping data from web search giant Baidu is a big step towards launching driver assistance tech in world’s biggest car market
Elon Musk’s visit to China has reportedly reaped immediate rewards with a deal for Tesla to use mapping data provided by web search company Baidu, a big step in introducing driver assistance technology in the world’s largest car market.
Musk made an unannounced visit to China over the weekend. The billionaire posted a picture of his meeting with the Chinese premier, Li Qiang, on X, the social network he took over in 2022.
Continue reading...All-rounder has switched roles and counties over the years but is now the country’s top wicket taker – with England ambitions
The Spin is, admittedly, late to the tale. We’re up in the scorer’s box at the Oval, two days on from Surrey’s County Championship victory over Kent, two days away from the visit of Hampshire to close April’s proceedings. Cameron Steel has already spoken to the Times and the Cricketer about his 20 wickets for the defending champions at 12.15 after three rounds, his leg-spin making him the leading wicket-taker in the country. After we’re done talking, a Cricinfo journalist will run through a set of similar questions for the 28-year-old.
Yes, in a county side consisting of England internationals, Indian Premier League starters and clutch overseas pros, Steel – a polite, unassuming all-rounder largely unknown beyond the shires – is the man to speak to at present. “I could never have expected the stats to be the way they are,” he says. “But I’ve felt as though it’s been a long time coming for my bowling to get to this point.”
Continue reading...Asio director general Mike Burgess had referred to expulsion of foreign operatives in 2021 speech but did not name country behind threat
The Australian government has vowed to guard against foreign interference after reports that two Indian intelligence officers were forced to leave the country in 2020.
Australia’s domestic intelligence agency, Asio, has previously alleged that a “nest of spies” from an unnamed country had sought to cultivate politicians, monitor diaspora communities and obtain classified trade information.
Continue reading...Meta has threatened to pull WhatsApp out of India if the courts try to force it to break its end-to-end encryption.
Like countless other hostilities, the stealthy Israeli missile and drone strike on Iran doesn’t risk war. It is war.
The post Israel Attack on Iran Is What World War III Looks Like appeared first on The Intercept.
Parties clash over communal issues in increasingly charged campaign amid concerns unseasonably hot weather affecting voter numbers
India has held the second phase of the world’s biggest election, with prime minister Narendra Modi and his rivals hurling accusations of religious discrimination and threats to democracy amid flagging voter turnout.
Almost 1 billion people are eligible to vote in the seven-phase general election that began on 19 April and concludes on 1 June, with votes set to be counted on 4 June.
Continue reading...Evidence points to Absolute Standards as the source of a lethal drug the Trump administration used to restart federal executions after 17 years.
The post “Little Home Market”: The Connecticut Company Accused of Fueling an Execution Spree appeared first on The Intercept.
The White House brushes off accusations of hypocrisy, courting TikTok while seeking to ban it.
The post As Biden Cheers TikTok Ban, White House Embraces TikTok Influencers appeared first on The Intercept.
For the first time, government military spending increased in all five geographical regions, Sipri thinktank finds
Global military expenditure has reached a record high of $2440bn (£1970bn) after the largest annual rise in government spending on arms in over a decade, according to a report.
The 6.8% increase between 2022 and 2023 was the steepest since 2009, pushing spending to the highest recorded by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) in its 60-year history.
Continue reading...Supporters worry Khan’s life is in danger and with good reason: The military has a long history of killing deposed leaders.
The post Chuck Schumer Privately Warns Pakistan: Don’t Kill Imran Khan in Prison appeared first on The Intercept.
Despite eventual visa backflip by authorities, ABC’s south-Asia correspondent Avani Dias left after being made to ‘feel so uncomfortable’
The south-Asia correspondent for Australia’s national broadcaster, Avani Dias, has been forced out of India after her reporting fell foul of the Indian government, in a sign of the increasing pressure on journalists in the country under Narendra Modi.
Dias, who has been based in Delhi for the ABC since January 2022, said she felt the government had made it “too difficult” for her to continue to do her job, claiming it blocked her from accessing events, issued takedown notices to YouTube for her news stories, and then refused her a standard visa renewal.
Continue reading...Opposition says prime minister targeting Muslim minority with ‘hate speech’ and violating election rules
India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, has been accused of hate speech during a campaign rally where he called Muslims “infiltrators” who had “many children” and claimed they would take people’s hard-earned money.
The opposition accused Modi of “blatantly targeting” India’s 200 million Muslim minority with comments made while addressing voters at a speech in Rajasthan on Sunday.
Continue reading...Thousands of civilians flee as resistance fighters fight to flush out soldiers holed up at eastern bridge border crossing
Fighting raged at Myanmar’s eastern border with Thailand on Saturday, both governments said, forcing 3,000 civilians to flee as rebels fought to flush out Myanmar junta troops holed up for days at a bridge border crossing.
Resistance fighters and ethnic minority rebels seized the key trading town of Myawaddy on the Myanmar side of the frontier on 11 April, a blow to a well-equipped military struggling to govern and facing a test of battlefield credibility.
Continue reading...For years, the political establishment opportunistically railed against sex trafficking. Then came Pizzagate.
The post QAnon Was Born Out of the Sex Ad Moral Panic That Took Down Backpage.com appeared first on The Intercept.
A Jewish boy’s life splits in two and follows two different paths in this novel of trauma and enduring love in Nazi Europe
‘Where did they all come from, Jens? All those Nazis … ” So wonders 18-year-old Max Spiegelman to his best friend Jens Arnstein, as they prepare to leave Austria for Switzerland. It is 1938 and Nazi Germany has just annexed Austria into the German Reich. The two boys – both Jewish – are struggling to comprehend the actions of their fellow countrymen, seemingly so happy with the new order and the resulting persecution of the Jewish population. “Were they always like that? Did they always hate us? Even when they were smiling and giving us our change and wishing us a good evening?”
The Two Loves of Sophie Strom vividly and engagingly provides the answer in at least one case: that of Max himself. And it depends on little more than chance. One night, in 1933, as people whisper darkly about “those new laws in Germany”, and Brownshirts roam the streets outside, Max dreams of his house burning down with his parents inside. He wakes to smoke and flames, but manages to get himself and his parents out in time. In this moment, his life – and the narrative – splits in two: in one Max survives with his parents, flees to Paris, and joins the French Resistance, and in the other he is orphaned, changes his name to Hans, and joins the Nazi party.
Continue reading...Keith Davidson takes stand as judge fines ex-president maximum financial penalty for violating gag order – and threatens jail time
Donald Trump was confronted with the details of how the former lawyer for Stormy Daniels, the adult film actor, secured the $130,000 in hush money at the heart of his criminal trial in New York, after being found to be in criminal contempt of a gag order prohibiting attacks on witnesses.
The direct examination of the lawyer, Keith Davidson, is expected to continue on Thursday when the trial resumes. Here are the key takeaways from day nine of People of the State of New York vs Donald J Trump:
Continue reading...Evidence points to Absolute Standards as the source of a lethal drug the Trump administration used to restart federal executions after 17 years.
The post “Little Home Market”: The Connecticut Company Accused of Fueling an Execution Spree appeared first on The Intercept.
Nigeria has gotten billions in U.S. security assistance, even as its counterterrorism campaign has a massive civilian death toll.
The post Biden Says He Told Nigeria to Kill Fewer Civilians — but Nigeria Keeps Killing Lots of Civilians appeared first on The Intercept.
The state says EMTALA, a law barring discrimination in emergency medical care, interferes with its abortion ban.
The post Idaho Goes to the Supreme Court to Argue That Pregnant People Are Second-Class Citizens appeared first on The Intercept.
A measure passed by the House seeks to block Americans from traveling to Iran on U.S. passports.
The post House Responds to Israeli-Iranian Missile Exchange by Taking Rights Away From Americans appeared first on The Intercept.
Rights chief also warns Britain will be ‘judged harshly by history for its failure to help prevent civilian slaughter in Gaza’
The UK has been accused by Amnesty International of “deliberately destabilising” human rights on the global stage for its own political ends.
In its annual global report, released today, the organisation said Britain was weakening human rights protections nationally and globally, amid a near-breakdown of international law.
Continue reading...The White House brushes off accusations of hypocrisy, courting TikTok while seeking to ban it.
The post As Biden Cheers TikTok Ban, White House Embraces TikTok Influencers appeared first on The Intercept.
Supporters worry Khan’s life is in danger and with good reason: The military has a long history of killing deposed leaders.
The post Chuck Schumer Privately Warns Pakistan: Don’t Kill Imran Khan in Prison appeared first on The Intercept.
If the courts agree to vacate the conviction, Lucio will have spent 16 years on death row for a crime that never happened.
The post A Prosecutor Asked Texas to Kill Melissa Lucio. Now He Says She Should Be Freed. appeared first on The Intercept.
The blanket suspension of student protesters casts “serious doubt on the University’s respect for the rule-of-law values that we teach,” 54 law professors wrote.
The post Columbia Law School Faculty Condemn Administration for Mass Arrests and Suspensions appeared first on The Intercept.
The smears spurred Austrian police to raid Islamophobia scholar Farid Hafez’s family home. Then the terrorism charges fell apart.
The post Lawsuit Links Wild UAE-Financed Smear Campaign to George Washington University appeared first on The Intercept.
“Yes I’m a Republican and I exclusively supported John through the Jewish community for his principled actions supporting Israel.”
The post Since October, Sen. John Fetterman Has Been Building a Roster of Republican Donors appeared first on The Intercept.
U.S. military service members interviewed for a congressional inquiry said intelligence reports about how bad the situation is were being suppressed.
The post U.S. Troops in Niger Say They’re “Stranded” and Can’t Get Mail, Medicine appeared first on The Intercept.
The university suspended three students out of hundreds participating in an on-campus encampment to protest the Israeli government.
The post Columbia Suspends Ilhan Omar’s Daughter One Day After Omar Grilled School Administrators appeared first on The Intercept.
The famed scholar on why reducing Hamas to a terrorist label sanctions Israel’s war on Palestinians.
The post Judith Butler Will Not Co-Sign Israel’s Alibi for Genocide appeared first on The Intercept.
The Department of Education is probing claims that the school discriminated against Palestinian and Arab students amid Israel’s war on Gaza.
The post “Kill All Arabs”: The Feds Are Investigating UMass Amherst for Anti-Palestinian Bias appeared first on The Intercept.
The blanket suspension of student protesters casts “serious doubt on the University’s respect for the rule-of-law values that we teach,” 54 law professors wrote.
The post Columbia Law School Faculty Condemn Administration for Mass Arrests and Suspensions appeared first on The Intercept.
The university suspended three students out of hundreds participating in an on-campus encampment to protest the Israeli government.
The post Columbia Suspends Ilhan Omar’s Daughter One Day After Omar Grilled School Administrators appeared first on The Intercept.
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