The Guardian
The Guardian
As a child, I roamed Dartmoor – and it shaped me. But across England, that freedom is being trampled on | Rosie Jewell
How can we expect people to care for the countryside if they are denied access to it? We must fight for our right to roamWhen people ask me where I’m from, I wryly tell them “the middle of nowhere”. So, imagine my surprise when I saw that my old landlord and the remote place where I grew up were making national headlines over a court battle for the right to wild camp on Dartmoor.Alexander Darwall bought the 1,619-hectare (4,000-acre) Blachford estate on southern Dartmoor in 2011. Dartmoor is the only place in England where wild camping is allowed, in designated areas, without permission from a landowner. Darwall successfully contested this right in court, arguing that the right to wild camp – as opposed to walking or picnicking – on the moors never existed. Then an appeal restored it. Now, he’s taking the case to the supreme court. Continue reading...
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Japan raises interest rates for first time since 2007
Shift makes Bank of Japan the last central bank to end negative rates in move that has ‘a lot of symbolic significance’ according to analystsJapan’s central bank has ended eight years of negative interest rates, in an overhaul of one of the world’s most aggressive monetary easing programmes that sought to encourage bank lending and spur demand.In its first interest rate hike in 17 years, the Bank of Japan [BOJ] said it was lifting its short-term policy rate from -0.1% to between zero and 0.1%, although analysts said a fragile economic recovery meant it would continue go slow with any further rise in borrowing costs. Continue reading...
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Who congratulated Putin on his election victory and what does it say about global alliances?
While the Russian election results were condemned in the west, the reaction across Asia, Africa and Latin America shows a new global dynamic is emergingAfter Vladimir Putin’s landslide presidential election victory on Sunday, western governments lined up to characterise the win as unfair and undemocratic.The elections underlined the “depth of repression” in Russia, according to British foreign minister David Cameron, while the US state department said the jailing and disqualification of opponents meant the process was “incredibly undemocratic”. Continue reading...
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Childcare expansion in England may not meet parents’ expectations, says charity
Survey by Coram found nursery costs and dwindling places will put pressure on government plansRishi Sunak’s plans to expand childcare provision in England are at risk of not living up to parents’ expectations as nursery costs surge and available places dwindle, a charity has warned.The cost of 25 hours a week for a child under two has risen by 7% on 2023, with the most expensive area being inner London where the average cost is £218 a week, the latest annual survey of the Coram Family and Childcare charity found. Continue reading...
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Death tolls mount as elephants and people compete for land in Sri Lanka
Conservationists plead for coexistence as shrinking forests drive conflict, with elephant deaths doubling in a decadeSetting out from home to collect firewood on a cool spring morning last year, Harshini Wanninayake and her mother had no idea only one of them would come back alive. The pair were walking to a nearby forest from Eriyawa, a village in north-west Sri Lanka, when they heard a loud rustling close by.“It came out of nowhere,” says Wanninayake. “The elephant was behind the thicket and took us completely by surprise.” Continue reading...
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Should forests have rights? – podcast
A growing movement of ecologists, lawyers and artists is arguing that nature should have legal rights. By recognising the rights of ecosystems and other species, advocates hope that they can gain better protection. Madeleine Finlay speaks to the Guardian’s global environment editor, Jonathan Watts, about where this movement has come from and why the UK government has dismissed the concept, and hears from Cesar Rodriguez-Garavito of NYU School of Law about how he is finding creative ways to give rights to natureCould 2024 be the year nature rights enter the political mainstream?UK government can never accept idea nature has rights delegate tells UN Continue reading...
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Bees move out while National Trust house in Wales gets new roof
Exclusive: Former owners of Plas yn Rhiw stipulated insects be protected so given temporary home while work takes placeWhen the 17th-century manor house in the far north-west of Wales was bequeathed to the National Trust, it came with a clear condition: the bees in the roof, which sometimes produce so much honey that it oozes through cracks in the walls, should be left alone.However, the ravages of the wind and rain mean the slate roof of the house, Plas yn Rhiw, on the Llŷn peninsula, needs to be replaced and so about 50,000 rare Welsh black bees have been given a temporary home while the work is done. Continue reading...
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Boost walking and cycling in towns and cities, urges UK government adviser
Chair of Office for Space says move would boost prosperity, health and personal freedom and could help solve housing crisisA leading government adviser on cities has urged ministers to make urban areas friendlier for walking and cycling, saying this would boost prosperity, health and personal freedom, and could even help solve the housing crisis.In a report that takes a notably different stance to Rishi Sunak’s recent “plan for drivers”, which seeks to prioritise car use at the expense of active travel and bus use, Nicholas Boys Smith, who chairs the government’s Office for Space, said cars “diminish liberty as well as enhancing it”. Continue reading...
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Empire of the ants: what insect supercolonies can teach us
People have long drawn comparisons between ant societies and human ones – but in fact they are a reminder of how limited our influence on the world really isIt is a familiar story: a small group of animals living in a wooded grassland begin, against all odds, to populate Earth. At first, they occupy a specific ecological place in the landscape, kept in check by other species. Then something changes. The animals find a way to travel to new places. They learn to cope with unpredictability. They adapt to new kinds of food and shelter. They are clever. And they are aggressive.In the new places, the old limits are missing. As their population grows and their reach expands, the animals lay claim to more territories, reshaping the relationships in each new landscape by eliminating some species and nurturing others. Over time, they create the largest animal societies, in terms of numbers of individuals, that the planet has ever known. And at the borders of those societies, they fight the most destructive within-species conflicts, in terms of individual fatalities, that the planet has ever known. Continue reading...
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S6 Ep 6: Daniel Foxx, playwright
Sliding into Grace’s sitting room this week is rising star and multitalented comedian, playwright and musical theatre creator, Daniel Foxx. Bringing his concoction of gunk meant only for solo consumption in the small hours, there’s nowhere left to hide. Buckle up and join Grace and Daniel as they go on a tour of the ins and outs of life in the fast lane – or is that the M6 at 1am?Daniel shares his different incarnations – from coming out age 11 to donning a string of pearls post-lockdown. His observational obsessions have helped to feed his viral hit The Supervillain’s Gay Assistant and Grace and Daniel unpick its threads with scurrilous delight. Oh, and there’s a modern-day love story involving Tinder and trains. Scoop it all up with love and a crunchy lentil curlNew episodes of Comfort Eating with Grace Dent will be released every Tuesday Continue reading...
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Missing migrants’ families say they were asked to pay hundreds for information on relatives
Families say they were promised details of relatives’ whereabouts after contacting people they thought were linked to NGO in SpainFamilies of people who disappeared on the perilous journey from Africa to Europe have said they were asked to pay hundreds of euros in exchange for information about what had happened to their loved ones.In interviews with the Guardian, three families recounted how, as part of their searches for missing relatives that had gone on for years, they had made contact with people they believed to be connected to an NGO in southern Spain who said they were able to help them. Continue reading...
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Ruling further erodes climate activists’ right to protest in England and Wales
Court of appeal’s removal of ‘consent’ defence means defendants on trial for criminal damage can no longer use itIt took a matter of minutes in the court of appeal, where demonstrators were strangely absent, for the dial to shift once more on the rights of protest in England and Wales.The decision taken on Monday by the court of appeal to, in effect, find in favour of the attorney general, the Conservative government’s premier legal officer, has removed a defence for climate protesters that had been available on the statute books since 1971. Continue reading...
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‘It’s a really big threat’: Portuguese communities on the rise of the far right
After scapegoating minorities and migrants, the Chega party appears poised to play a prominent roleFor years, Evalina Dias has diligently worked to combat racism in Portugal. But just how much remains to be done was brought into sharp relief last Sunday, she says, as the far-right Chega party – led by a politician whose views have been described by one opponent as “often xenophobic, racist” – catapulted into the country’s top echelons of power.“I couldn’t believe it,” says Dias, a board member with Djass, Portugal’s Association of African Descendants. “We had no idea that there were so many racists in Portugal. It’s like they were hidden.” Continue reading...
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The people who started again in their 90s: ‘I was in the closet for 95 years. Then that door blew open!’
It’s never too late and you’re never too old – at least according to the nonagenarians who are coming out, completing PhDs and publishing their first books in their 10th decadeThe moment Maybelle Blair took a decision – one she didn’t know she was about to take – she says she “felt like all the blood rushed away from my head, down to my toes. I didn’t know what was happening”. Blair, the former baseball player in the postwar women’s league which inspired the 1992 film A League of Their Own, was on stage at the 2022 Tribeca film festival in New York, since she had been involved in Amazon’s TV adaptation. She looked around and wondered why she was still hiding. Although her sexuality had not been a secret among her teammates, she decided there and then to publicly come out at the age of 95.“Out of the clear blue sky, I just blurted out ‘I want everybody to know’,” she says. “I was in the closet for 95 years. That old door blew open. I was sitting there, my eyes wide open, mouth open probably. I thought, ‘Oh my God, after 95 years, you said that?’ And I did. I wasn’t afraid any more because I was so old and it really didn’t matter, except for my family, what people thought.” Continue reading...
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England Women begin tour of New Zealand with victory in opening T20
England 160-4; New Zealand 133-5 | England win by 27 runsCaptain Heather Knight makes 63 from 39 balls in DunedinCaptain Heather Knight paved the way for England Women to win the opening T20 international against New Zealand by 27 runs.Knight hit 63 from 39 balls as England reached 160-4 in Dunedin before bowling two tight overs as the visiting attack put the brakes on New Zealand’s reply. Continue reading...
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Only seven countries meet WHO air quality standard, research finds
Almost all countries failing to meet mark for PM2.5, tiny particles expelled by vehicles and industry that can cause health problemsOnly seven countries are meeting an international air quality standard, with deadly air pollution worsening in places due to a rebound in economic activity and the toxic impact of wildfire smoke, a new report has found.Of 134 countries and regions surveyed in the report, only seven – Australia, Estonia, Finland, Grenada, Iceland, Mauritius and New Zealand – are meeting a World Health Organization (WHO) guideline limit for tiny airborne particles expelled by cars, trucks and industrial processes. Continue reading...
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Elon Musk replies to post by far-right Austrian linked to Christchurch terrorist after X account restored
Founder of Identitarian Movement, Martin Sellner, preaches superiority of European ethnic groups and was banned from Twitter in 2020Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastA far-right Austrian who received donations from and communicated with the Christchurch terrorist prior to the 2019 attack has had his X account restored, with X owner Elon Musk replying to one of his tweets.The founder of the so-called Identitarian Movement, Martin Sellner, who preaches the superiority of European ethnic groups, was banned from Twitter in 2020 under the former management along with dozens of other accounts linked to the movement amid criticism over the platform’s handling of extremist content.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Continue reading...
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Why are Indian and Nepali men ending up on the frontline in Ukraine? - podcast
Thousands of young Indian and Nepali men are being killed on the frontlines of the war in Ukraine. Their families want answers. Hannah Ellis-Petersen reports from DelhiHemul Mangakia grew up in Surat, a city in the Indian state of Gujarat. At 23 he was looking for opportunities and a way to make his mark on the world. So when he came across a video on YouTube posted by a recruitment agent in St Petersburg, Russia, he was intrigued. The man on the video said there were openings for security guards in the historic city. The pay was up to £2,000 per month. The chance was too good to miss.As Hannah Ellis-Petersen, the Guardian’s south Asia correspondent, tells Michael Safi, this is a scene that has played out hundreds, maybe thousands of times in recent months. The young men, mainly from India and Nepal, fly to Russia on the promise of lucrative work and are then pressured into signing a different kind of contract: one that enlists them in the Russian military and pushes them to the frontline of the war in Ukraine, where many are now dying. Continue reading...
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US and Japan push for ban on nuclear weapons in space with UN security council resolution
UN chief António Guterres says risk of nuclear war has escalated and that ‘humanity cannot survive a sequel to Oppenheimer’The US and Japan are sponsoring a UN security council resolution calling on all nations not to deploy or develop nuclear weapons in space, the US ambassador has announced.Linda Thomas-Greenfield told a UN security council meeting that “any placement of nuclear weapons into orbit around the Earth would be unprecedented, dangerous, and unacceptable.” Continue reading...
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In the busy waters between China and Taiwan, the de facto border is being tested
After a fatal capsize off Kinmen island, China has rejected the existence of the prohibited waters line, which has been tacitly respected since the 1990sMotoring across the calm waters of the South China Sea, Taiwanese captain Lu Wen-shiung recalls the old days, when Chinese and Taiwanese fishers used to meet behind rocky headlands, anchoring their boats out of the authorities’ sight, to share a meal. There was less surveillance then, and the two sides were more friendly, fishing the same waters, occasionally selling to each other on the sly.“We were like brothers, we had a good relationship, they would even cook for us,” he says. “But … now the control has become more strict, the [Chinese] coast guard will call me if the boats are too close.” Continue reading...
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Peter Navarro: US supreme court denies Trump ally’s bid to avoid prison
Justices find ‘no basis to disagree’ with lower court’s ruling after Navarro, former Trump trade adviser, convicted of contemptThe US supreme court on Monday denied a request by Donald Trump’s former aide Peter Navarro to avoid prison while he appeals his contempt of Congress conviction for defying a subpoena from a panel that investigated the 2021 Capitol attack.Navarro, who served as trade adviser during Trump’s presidency, is set to become the first senior member of his administration to be imprisoned for actions related to the attempt to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss. Continue reading...
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Second man charged with stealing Dorothy’s Wizard of Oz ruby slippers
Jerry Hal Saliterman, 76, of Minnesota allegedly threatened to release a sex tape of a woman if she told anyone about the caperNearly five months after an ailing man with a history of theft admitted to stealing the shining shoes worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz, a second person has been charged in the caper, according to the Associated Press.Jerry Hal Saliterman, 76, of Crystal, Minnesota, was charged with theft of a major artwork and witness tampering. He did not enter a plea when he first appeared on Friday in a US district court in St Paul, Minnesota. He was released on his own recognizance after the hearing. Continue reading...
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£58bn plan to rewire Great Britain expected to spark tensions along route
‘High-capacity electrical spine’ to run onshore from north-east Scotland to north-west EnglandA £58bn plan to rewire Great Britain’s electricity grid to connect up new windfarms off the coast of Scotland is expected to trigger tensions with communities along the route.National Grid’s electricity system operator (ESO) has mapped out power “motorways” across Great Britain to allow for the biggest investment since the 1960s. Continue reading...
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‘Sneaky’ fees add up to 25% to UK music ticket prices, says Which?
Consumer body calls for a crackdown on ‘bewildering’ range of extra charges at big ticketing sitesLive music fans are losing out because of an array of “sneaky” fees that can add up to 25% to the cost of concert and festival tickets, research from the consumer body Which? has found.With booking open for big summer gigs, the lobby group has called for a crackdown on the “bewildering” range of extra charges that some of the UK’s biggest ticketing websites impose. Continue reading...
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24 in 2024: salsa parties, stinky tofu and being queer in Taiwan
Social media manager Noya Lee says gen Z struggles with ‘everything’ but going straight into the workforce has given her confidenceRead more from our 24 in 2024 seriesTwenty-four in 2024 is a series on the lives, hopes and fears of 24-year-olds around the world in a year of election uncertainty, conflict and climate change. Continue reading...
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Emma Raducanu pulls out of Miami Open with lower back injury
Briton was due to face China’s Wang Xiyu in first roundLate withdrawal another injury setback for 21-year-oldEmma Raducanu has pulled out of the Miami Open due to a lower back injury. She was due to face Wang Xiyu of China today in the first round.Britain’s 2021 US Open champion made an encouraging showing at Indian Wells last week, losing 6-3, 7-5 against the world No 2 Aryna Sabalenka in the third round. Continue reading...
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New Zealand v England: first women’s T20 international – live
Updates from the first T20 in Dunedin (Tuesday 12am GMT)Get involved! Email Tanya with your thoughts Susie Bates wins the toss, leading New Zealand for the first time on home soil. “With the games we’ve played here in the past, the wicket gets better and better so we trust in our seam attack. My job is to lead from the front, we’re focused on the cricket we want to do, the brand of cricket we want to play.”Heather Knight “This is a great place to have a bit of prep, enjoying Queenstown. A slightly different group but great to give girls an opportunity who have been on the fringes. Lauren Filer is making her T20 debut today, runs in and bowls quick, hits the deck hard.” Continue reading...
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Whites Only: Ade’s Extremist Adventure review – a woeful failure to challenge racism
Ade Adepitan is a charming presenter, but his ‘chilled-out’ approach to entering a ‘whites-only’ South African town is utterly feeble. At points, his passivity is borderline offensiveNot every attempt at documenting real events ends up fulfilling its intended purpose. Capturing the Friedmans started as a sweet tale about clowns and ended up lamenting harrowing crimes. Metallica’s Some Kind of Monster was planned to be a couple of infomercials, not a nuanced portrait of the poisonous effects of fame. Tom Cruise went on Oprah to chat on the sofa and discuss his love for Katie Holmes in a totally normal way.In the case of Whites Only: Ade’s Extremist Adventure, Ade Adepitan’s attempt to see if “racial separatism can ever be justified” becomes a cautionary tale for black people who think they can one-of-the-good-ones themselves out of white supremacy. Continue reading...
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Tell us: how did your relationship survive infidelity?
Many consider sexual affairs to be the ultimate dealbreaker, but some couples can overcome these transgressions. If that is you, we want to hear how you did itGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailCheating is often regarded as the mother of all relationship crimes, but it doesn’t always result in a couple calling it quits.We want to hear how you navigated the fallout from a sexual betrayal. What motivated you to try to work things out? And how did you find your way back to a place of trust and togetherness? Continue reading...
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‘What’s the big deal?’: London Black Out night welcomed despite No 10 concerns
Theatre evening that encourages Black-only audience dubbed ‘divisive’ by Downing Street gets seal of approval from puntersStephen, an international education consultant, goes to about 20 theatre shows a year. “It’s a lot compared with most Londoners,” he says, “and every time, it’s the same crowd. It’s very white and it’s a shame – theatre is for everyone.”On Monday night, he was going to see Blue at the Seven Dials Playhouse during one of its Black Out night performances. On these nights “the Black community is invited to enjoy the show and welcome to linger after the performance with the playwright, cast and director”, the theatre’s website says. Continue reading...
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