Opinion In Gaza
and Israel, side
with the child
over the gun
Naomi Klein
page 23
Thursday 12 October 2023
theguardian.com/us
Published in New York, United States
Steve Scalise on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. It remains unclear whether Scalise can secure the support of the majority of the House. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA
Republicans nominate Steve Scalise to
replace McCarthy as House speaker
Joan E Greve and Lauren Gam-
bino in Washington
House Republicans nominated Steve
Scalise to be the next speaker on
Wednesday, a week after the unprec-
edented ouster of Kevin McCarthy.
But a handful of objections to Sca-
lise’s nomination left House Repub-
licans unable to move to a final floor
vote, making it unclear when a new
speaker might be elected.
By a vote of 113 to 99, Scalise,
currently the second-ranking House
Republican, defeated a challenge from
congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio, the
chairman of the judiciary committee
and a far-right firebrand.
Still, the resultfell well below the
217-votethreshold needed to be elected
speaker on the House floor, where
Republicans chaos and division trig-
gered 15 rounds of balloting before the
caucus united behind McCarthy earlier
this year. The timing of a potential floor
Environment Politicians, not public, drive U-
turns on green agenda, says UN biodiversity
chief
vote to elect Scalise remained uncer-
tain on Wednesday afternoon, when
the House held a brief pro forma ses-
sion and then went into recess.
If all 433 current House members
participate in the vote, Scalise can
only afford four defections within the
Republican conference and still win the
speakership. As of Wednesday, at least
10House Republicans said they were
not prepared to back Scalise, with sev-
eral more still undecided.
“Obviously we still have work to
do,” Scalise said after winning the
nomination. “We need to make sure
we’re sending a message to people all
throughout the world that the House is
open and doing the people’s business.”
Emerging from their conference
meeting on Wednesday afternoon, a
couple of Jordan’s allies, including
Congresswoman Lauren Boebert of
Colorado, indicated they would still
support Jordan in the floor vote.
“We had a chance to unify the party
behind closed doors, but the Swamp
page 48
and K Street lobbyists prevented that,”
Boebert said on X, formerly known
as Twitter. “The American people de-
serve a real change in leadership, not a
continuation of the status quo.”
Even as his allies rallied around him,
Jordan appeared ready to support Sca-
lise on the floor. According to a source
with direct knowledge of the situation,
Jordan plans to vote for Scalise and
has encouraged his colleagues to do the
same. Jordan also offered to deliver the
nominating speech on Scalise’s behalf,
the source said.
That encouragement has not yet
swayed some of Scalise’s detractors.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a hard-right
Republican from Georgia, said she
would not support Scalise because of
concerns over his health, as the con-
gressman is undergoing chemotherapy
treatment for blood cancer.
“I will be voting for Jim Jordan on
the House floor,” Greene said on X. “I
like Steve Scalise, and I like him so
much that I want to see him defeat
cancer more than sacrifice his health in
the most difficult position in Congress.”
Some members on Tuesday had
suggested they would prefer an alter-
native – or McCarthy. But McCarthy,
who recently suggested he would be
open to reclaiming the gavel, said on
Tuesday that he asked his caucus not to
re-nominate him for the job.
Leaving a meeting with Scalise on
Wednesday, McCarthy reiterated his
plans to support his former deputy.
Of the Republican holdouts, McCarthy
said: “Steve’s going to have to talk to
them all, see what the concerns are. But
I’m supporting Steve.”
Republicans’ tenuous grasp on
power was on full display last week,
when McCarthy became the first House
speaker in US history to be ejected from
office. Eight Republicans, led by the
hard-right congressman Matt Gaetz of
Florida, joined with House Democrats
to remove McCarthy as speaker.
But Gaetz said Wednesday that he
was “excited” to support Scalise on the
floor, telling reporters, “Long live Speak-
er Scalise!”
Until a new leader is chosen,
the Republican congressman Patrick
McHenry of North Carolina will con-
tinue serving as the acting speaker
while the House remains unable to con-
duct other business.
Republicans hope they can choose
a speaker by the end of the week and
avoid the spectacle that unfolded in
January. A quick election would allow
Republicans to turn their full attention
to the situation in Israel, following this
weekend’s attacks staged by Hamas.
On Tuesday, the Republican chair
of the House foreign affairs committee,
Michael McCaul of Texas, and the
panel’s top Democrat, Gregory Meeks of
New York, introduced a bipartisan reso-
lution expressing support for Israel. As
he entered the conference meeting on
Wednesday, Scalise said the resolution
would be his top priority if he ascends
Continued on page 2

2 Headlines
Continued from page 1
to the speakership.
“The first order of business under
Speaker Steve Scalise is going to be
bringing a strong resolution express-
Republicans to introduce resolution to ‘rid
the House of George Santos’
Martin Pengelly in Washington
New York Republicans in the US House
on Wednesday moved to expel one of
their own: George Santos, the serial
fabulist and accused fraudster who
faces new charges under a superseding
federal indictment.
“Today, I’ll be introducing an expul-
sion resolution to rid the People’s
House of fraudster George Santos,” the
GOP congressman Anthony D’Esposito
said in a post on social media.
In response, Santos said he was
going nowhere, asking his “fellow
Americans” to “stay strong … and trust
that the process will unfold as it
should”.
D’Esposito said the resolution was
co-sponsored by Nick LaLota, Mike
Lawler, Marc Molinaro, Nick Lang-
worthy and Brandon Williams – all
House Republicans from New York.
Santos won his own New York seat
last year, in midterm elections that saw
the House swing to Republican control
in no small part due to success in the
Empire state.
Santos’s résumé swiftly unraveled,
as news outlets reported allegations of
wrongdoing beyond the mere “embel-
lishment” to which he admitted, even
bringing into question his actual name.
Santos remained defiant and party
leaders, beholden to a narrow majority,
chose not to act against him.
That stance endured even after
Santos pleaded not guilty in New York
in May to multiple charges of fraud,
money laundering, theft of public
Afterglow of cataclysmic collision between
two planets seen for first time
Ian Sample Science editor
The warm afterglow of a worlds-shat-
tering collision between two massive
planets has been seen for the first time
after astronomers trained their tele-
scopes on a distant sun-like star.
The cataclysmic event is believed to
have destroyed a pair of ice giant pla-
nets that slammed into one another to
produce a shower of debris and a hot,
spinning object potentially hundreds of
times the size of Earth.
“It would be very spectacular,”
said Dr Matthew Kenworthy, a co-lead
author on the study at the Leiden
Observatory in the Netherlands. “The
energy of the collision would turn the
remnant into something resembling a
star, fainter than the main star in the
system but about seven times larger in
size, visible all through the rest of the
ing support for Israel. We’ve got a very
bipartisan bill, the McCaul-Meeks reso-
lution, ready to go right away to express
our support for Israel,” Scalise told re-
porters.
Meanwhile, Democrats once again
George Santos on 30 June 2023, in Central Islip, New York. Photograph: John Minchillo/AP
funds and making false statements.
Last week, Santos’s former cam-
paign treasurer pleaded guilty to
fraud. Then, on Tuesday, a superseding
indictment introduced 10 new charges
against Santos relating to allegedly
stealing donors’ identities and charg-
ing thousands of dollars to their credit
cards.
Santos now faces 23 criminal
charges. As reported by CNN, on
Wednesday he told reporters: “I’m
pretty much denying every last bit of
charges.” He also said he would not
resign and still intended to run for re-
election.
An artist’s impression of the huge, glowing planetary body produced by a planetary col-
lision. Photograph: Mark Garlick/University of Bristol/PA
stellar system.”
The discovery came about after
an amateur astronomer responded to
a social media post from Kenworthy
about a star known as ASASSN-21qj.
unanimously nominated their leader,
congressman Hakeem Jeffries of New
York, during a closed-door caucus
meeting on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters on Wednes-
day, California congressman Pete Agui-
The same morning, Citizens for
Ethics and Responsibility in Wash-
ington, a watchdog group, said Santos
was the only member of the current
Congress who has not yet filed a man-
datory personal financial disclosure.
Consequences can include fines and
civil or criminal penalties.
Expulsions, however, are rare: only
five House members have ever been ex-
pelled: three for fighting for the Confe-
deracy in the civil war and two after
being convicted of crimes including
fraud and bribery.
Kevin McCarthy, the speaker
ejected by hard-liners last week, had re-
Kenworthy was looking for shadows
cast by giant rings around planets as
they cross the face of their parent
star. ASASSN-21qj, which lies 1,800 light
years from Earth, piqued his interest
The Guardian Thursday 12 October 2023
lar, the Democratic caucus chair,
said Republicans’ “self-inflicted chaos”
spoke volumes about their governing
priorities.
“Israel, policy, friendship, alliance,
strength, national security: that is what
sisted attempts to add Santos to that
list, instead referring him to the House
ethics committee.
On Wednesday, as Republicans
voted to make Steve Scalise of Loui-
siana their nominee to succeed McCar-
thy, Lawler told CNN: “It takes two-
thirds [of the House] to expel a member
from Congress. There were not two-
thirds votes back in May when the ini-
tial expulsion resolution was brought,
which is why it was referred to the
ethics committee.
“Myself and my New York col-
leagues wanted to allow the time for
the investigation to be handled. But
because in December 2021 it suddenly
and inexplicably dimmed.
On reading the post, Arttu Sainio,
a volunteer citizen scientist for Nasa,
checked past observations of the star
by Nasa’s Neowise mission, an infra-
red space telescope. He found that 900
days before the star dimmed, Neowise
saw a steady and sustained brightening
of infrared light from the same location.
“I was looking for something com-
pletely different,” Kenworthy said. “The
infrared brightening told us something
unusual had happened in the neigh-
bourhood of this star, and so it took
us down this new path.”
After a detailed analysis of the
observations, the astronomers con-
cluded that the blast of infrared radi-
ation came from a hot new object or
“synestia” created by the collision of
two planets nearly as large as Neptune.
Based on the infrared readings, the vast
the Democratic caucus talked about
this morning,” Aguilar said. “What the
Republican conference is talking about
are rule-changes and who’s in charge, so
a dramatic difference.”
with the guilty plea of [Santos’s] trea-
surer, admitting to the very scheme he
has been now twice indicted on, with 23
felony counts, he cannot serve.
“I’ve said repeatedly since Decem-
ber he needed to resign. I believe that in
the absence of his resignation, the time
to act is now … it’s clear with his trea-
surer’s guilty plea what occurred, and as
far as I’m concerned he should not be a
member of Congress.”
Santos issued a statement.
Republicans, he said, “must remain
steadfast in our commitment to
upholding due process and respecting
the constitution”, which he called “the
cornerstone of our democracy and the
guiding light that ensures justice and
fairness for all”.
Santos added: “An expulsion of
myself as a member of Congress
before being found guilty from a crim-
inal investigation will set a dangerous
precedent. This will do nothing other
than erase the voices of the electorate.
Let us not succumb to the distractions
and let the political games take prece-
dence over the people’s welfare. We
must stay focused on the task at hand,
working diligently to address the press-
ing issues that affect the lives of our
constituents.
D’Esposito said in a statement that
Santos’s “many deceptions coupled
with the ever-expanding legal case
against him further strengthen my
long-held belief that he is unfit to serve
in Congress”.
Computer simulations of the intense heat
and bright vapour as the two ice giant pla-
nets collide in a distant space system 1,800
light years away from Earth. Photograph:
Jingyao Dou/University of Bristol/PA
spinning object had a temperature of
more than 700C for about three years.
Continued on page 3
Thursday 12 October 2023 The Guardian
Continued from page 2
It will eventually cool and form a new
planet around the star.
According to details published in
Nature, the star began to dim about
Caroline Ellison says she felt ‘relief not to
have to lie any more’ after FTX collapse
Victoria Bekiempis in New York
and Dani Anguiano
On the sixth day of Sam Bankman-
Fried’s fraud trial, Caroline Ellison, his
ex-girlfriend and colleague, described
how relief washed over her when
the FTX cryptocurrency exchange col-
lapsed.
Ellison, the former CEO of Ala-
meda Research, the hedge fund asso-
ciated with the company, broke into
tears as she described FTX’s final days
in testimony Wednesday. Shesaid that,
during last year’s cryptocurrency crash,
Bankman-Fried directed her to illegally
appropriate FTX customers’ money
and lie to its many lenders.
“This was kind of something I’d
been dreading for so long … and I just, I
felt a sense of relief that I didn’t have to
lie anymore … that I could take respon-
sibility,” Ellison said.
Ellison offered an inside look at
FTX and Alameda’s collapse in her tes-
timony and shed light on how her rela-
tionship with Bankman-Fried affected
both.
The two had broken up in early
2022, and Ellison said she was avoiding
social settings and one-on-one conver-
sations with Bankman-Fried when the
crash started in May 2022. Ellison said
she was worried that the crytpo down-
turn would bring down Alameda be-
cause many of the hedge fund’s lend-
ers had open-term loans, which meant
they could call them – and ask for their
money back – at any point. The crash
left Alameda in the lurch after the value
of its crypto assets evaporated.
Lenders started to call loans in
June. Alameda was obligated to repay
them immediately. It was billions of
dollars short, Ellison said. She testified
Tennessee mayoral candidate accused of
refusing to condemn ‘literal Nazis’
Erum Salam
A candidate running for mayor in
Franklin, Tennessee, has been accused
by the members of the city council
of refusing to condemn “actual, literal
Nazis”.
Gabrielle Hanson was at a candi-
dates’ forum on 2 October when she
received a visit by members of the Ten-
nessee Active Club, a hate group known
for promoting white nationalism. Mem-
bers of the council, referred to as alder-
men in Franklin, rebuked Hanson for
enabling such hate groups, according to
local news station WTVF.
“I’m not going to denounce anybody
Headlines
2.5 years after the afterglow began as
a massive cloud of fine impact debris
drifted across the face of the star.
“It’s the first time we’ve seen the
afterglow from such an event,” said
Simon Lock, another co-lead author at
Caroline Ellison exits court in Manhattan on Tuesday following her first day on the stand. Photograph: Andrea Renault/Zuma Press Wire/
Shutterstock
that Bankman-Fried blamed her for the
financial disaster, yelling at her in the
penthouse apartment they shared.
“Sam started saying … it was a big
mistake, and that it was my fault, and
that I was largely responsible for the
financial situation Alameda found itself
in,” Ellison said.
Ellison also prepared various docu-
ments showing Alameda’s financials.
Around the time that loans were being
recalled, as Alameda was getting a cash
injection from FTX, the hedge fund
owed FTX around $10bn. The federal
prosecutor Danielle Sassoon asked El-
lison about her mental state at the pros-
pect of repaying loans with money she
didn’t have.
To cover the shortfall, Alameda
used FTX customers’ money but did
Downtown Franklin, Tennessee, where a Confederate statue stands. Photograph: Evelyn
Hockstein/Reuters
the University of Bristol. “We’ve seen
debris and discs before, but we have
never seen the afterglow of the pla-
netary body that’s produced.”
Astronomers are now keen to
follow up the observations to confirm
not tell them, Ellison said, an action
she described as “Sam’s decision” that
she “thought was wrong”. She repeat-
edly said that Bankman-Fried had set
up a system to shuttle FTX customer
funds to Alameda to cover loan ex-
penses and make investments, all with-
out notifying FTX customers, in her tes-
timony the day before.
“I was in sort of constant state of
dread. At that point, I knew we’d have
to take the money from our FTX line
of credit,” Ellison said. “Every day I was
worrying about the possibility of cus-
tomer withdrawals from FTX and the
possibility of this getting out.”
Sassoon also asked Ellison about
Bankman-Fried’s philosophy on rules.
According to Ellison, “He said that he
was a utilitarian and he believed that
what they suspect has unfolded. If the
dust cloud continues to orbit the star,
then in about five to 10 years the cloud
will have moved to one side of the star
and astronomers should see the star’s
light reflected from the dust with the
the ways that people try to justify rules
like ‘don’t lie’ ‘don’t steal’, under utilita-
rianism didn’t work.” He also warned
FTX employees and executives about
“not putting stuff in writing that could
get us in trouble”, she said.
This viewpoint began to affect her
own, she said.
“It made me more willing to do
things like lie and steal over time,” El-
lison said. When she started working
at Alameda, she wouldn’t have believed
it if people had told her that she’d lie
on balance sheets and steal from cus-
tomers, she testified. On a Google Doc
Ellison made amid the collapse, the
header was “Things Sam is freaking out
about”, which included “bad PR in the
next 6 months”.
Ellison testified on Tuesday that
their right to be whatever it is they want
to be – whether I agree with what they
do in their personal life or not,” Hanson
said in response to her critics.
Hanson told her colleagues “you
reap what you sow”, in reference to the
divisions within the community. She
also noted that these were “spiritual
repercussions”.
On social media, Hanson empha-
sized that she did not invite the group
to the debate and is “categorically” not a
Nazi, nor does she support nazism.
Brad Lewis, a leader of the Ten-
nessee Active Club, said was at
Hanson’s request that their group
showed up in her support.
Alderman Matt Brown said during
3
largest ground-based telescopes, Ken-
worthy said.
It may also be possible for the James
Webb Space Telescope to detect infra-
red radiation from the dust and the new
planet created in the collision.
she committed multiple crimes at
the direction of Bankman-Fried while
working for Alameda. Bankman-Fried
faces seven fraud and conspiracy
counts for allegedly cheating cus-
tomers out of $10bn. He has pleaded
not guilty.
Ellison’s testimony also offered a
glimpse at the inner workings of FTX
and Bankman-Fried’s carefully curated
public persona. He cultivated rela-
tionships with reporters and main-
tained a Twitter presence as part of
his effort to present himself as a “very
smart, confident, somewhat eccentric
founder”, Ellison testified.
He put little effort into his appear-
ance, Ellison said, dressing sloppily and
rarely cutting his hair.
“He said he thought his hair had
been valuable,” she continued, saying
Bankman-Fried had kept it astray since
his time as a trader at Jane Street. “He
said he thought he’d gotten higher bo-
nuses because of his hair.”
Ellison and Bankman-Fried were in
an on-again-off-again romantic entan-
glement starting in 2018. The two re-
sided in a $40m Bahamas penthouse
with other FTX executives at the time
of the exchange’s collapse.
In addition to their opulent
accommodations, they were both as-
signed “luxury company cars” while in
the Bahamas. But, with PR in mind,
Bankman-Fried switched his vehicle.
“He said he thought it was better for
his image to be driving a Toyota Co-
rolla.”
Ellison pleaded guilty to wire fraud
and conspiracy charges in December
2022 for her role in the stunning col-
lapse of FTX and Alameda.
Tuesday’s forum: “To be silent is to be
complicit. To not take action is to allow
this behavior to root. We cannot allow
this kind of hate to take hold in Frank-
lin or else we have lost everything.”
Brown also called for a vote to cen-
sure Hanson.
Joining Brown, Alderman Beverly
Burger asked Hanson: “Is it your mis-
sion to divide our city? Because you’re
doing a bang-up job of it right now.”
Another member, Brandy Blanton,
called the spectacle involving Hanson
“embarrassing” for Franklin.
“To end up on HBO, to end up on
MSNBC, and not for the good stuff – and
Continued on page 4

4 Headlines
Continued from page 3
it’s all traced down to one source,” she
said.
Speaking directly to her colleagues,
Hanson said the Tennessee Active Club
showed up because they are an “anti-
Utah women accuse ex-chief of anti-child
trafficking group of sexual assault
Edward Helmore
Five Utah residents have filed a law-
suit alleging that Tim Ballard, the
former head of an anti-sex trafficking
group, sexually assaulted and emo-
tionally abused women employed to
take part in the organization’s efforts
to rescue victims of sex trafficking.
The lawsuit, filed in Salt Lake
County, Utah, names Ballard, Operation
Underground Railroad, the organi-
zation he headed until he stepped
down in August over similar claims, as
well as its board members, as defen-
dants.
“Defendant Ballard, intentionally,
knowingly or recklessly, committed
battery and sexual assault of Plain-
tiffs, as all sexual touching was done
under the Couples Ruse in order to help
save trafficked children and women,”
the lawsuit alleges.
The complaint comes after Vice
News reported allegations of sexual
and business malfeasance, a rebuke by
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints that accused Ballard of trying
to exploit his friendship with a senior
church apostle for “personal advantage
and activity regarded as morally unac-
ceptable”.
Ballard has emerged as something
of a conservative hero after the re-
lease of The Sound of Freedom, an
anti-sex trafficking thriller based on his
experiences that has taken more than
$100m at the box office.
The suit claims Ballard allegedly
abused five women during what he
called the “couples ruse”, inviting
women to pose as his “wife” to fool traf-
fickers during rescue missions and then
allegedly coercing them into sharing a
bed or showering together.
“Ballard claims that the couples
ruse was an undercover tool to prevent
detection by pedophiles when Ballard
would not engage in sexual touching
of the trafficked women offered up to
him in strip clubs and massage parlors
across the world,” the lawsuit states.
Dementia risk factors pose more danger for
ethnic minorities, finds study
Andrew Gregory Health editor
The most common risk factors for
dementia appear to have a more pro-
nounced effect in black and Asian
people, a study suggests, prompting
calls for greater efforts to tackle health
inequalities.
The number of adults living with
antifa” group, and “the dark web is
showing massive antifa activity”.
Blanton said she supported the
suggestion to censure Hanson.
A joint statement released by the
council said: “We, the board of mayor
and aldermen, are deeply concerned
Tim Ballard at the premiere of Sound of Freedom on 28 June 2023 in Vineyard, Utah. Photograph: Fred Hayes/Getty Images for Angel
Studios
The 30-page lawsuit continues:
“Ballard soon began abusing the
couples ruse and eventually used the
ruse as a tool for sexual grooming” and
used his relationships to coerce the
women “into sexual contact”.
Separately, Suzette Rasmussen, an
attorney for the women, told Deseret
News that Ballard had subjected several
women to “sexual harassment, spiritual
manipulation, grooming, and sexual
misconduct” during their involvement
with the anti-trafficking organization.
In some instances, the lawsuit
claims, Ballard flew women who would
be posing as his wife or partner to Utah
to hone an impression of sexual che-
mistry and ask them to perform lap
dances, take part in couples massages,
engage in various sexual acts short of
penetration, and encourage the women
to get Brazilian waxes.
He would also visit Salt Lake valley
strip clubs, the lawsuit alleges, and
pay for lap dances, drink alcohol and
take pills – all paid for using Operation
Underground Railroad (OUR) funds.
dementia worldwide is on course to
nearly triple to 153 million by 2050. Ex-
perts say the disease presents a major
and rapidly growing threat to future
health and social care systems in every
community, country and continent.
Researchers have long known that
some of the biggest risk factors for
dementia, such as high blood pres-
sure and diabetes, are more common
and disturbed by the events that un-
folded at Monday night’s candidate
forum for the upcoming city elec-
tion. Individuals identifying as neo-
Nazis and self-admitted supporters of
Gabrielle Hanson threatened our citi-
zens and members of the media during
Ballard is alleged to have reaped $14m
for activities with the not-for-profit
groups named in the suit.
In a statement, the organization
said it “categorically denies the alle-
gations as they relate to OUR”.
The suit also alleges that Ballard
probed the women’s commitment to
the Mormon church, as all of Ballard’s
accusers are Mormon. Ballard allegedly
asked them: “Is there anything you
wouldn’t do to save a child?” It also
claims that Ballard took ketamine and
issued prophesies dictated from the
Mormon prophet Nephi that he would
become a US senator, US president
and, ultimately, a Mormon prophet who
would be able to usher in the second
coming of Jesus Christ.
The Vice report, denunciation by
his church, and subsequent legal action
has severely challenged Ballard’s stand-
ing. He was once appointed to a post on
a public-private anti-trafficking council
in the Trump administration, counted
the former president as a friend, and
hosted Trump on his podcast. Ballard
in ethnic minorities.
New research suggests that not only
are some risk factors more common
in ethnic minorities, they also have a
greater impact on their risk of devel-
oping the disease compared with white
people.
The study, published in the journal
Plos One, did not establish why. But re-
searchers said it appeared the impact
The Guardian Thursday 12 October 2023
and after this important civic event.
“Our city has always prided itself on
fostering a welcoming environment for
all residents. We firmly believe that our
city’s strength and success is built upon
the contributions of a diverse citizenry
made up of people from all walks of life,
has also said he is weighing a run
for Mitt Romney’s soon-to-be-vacant
Senate seat.
On Tuesday, Ballard responded to
the allegations in a statement to De-
seret News.
“Mr Ballard vehemently denies the
allegations brought by these unnamed
women,” the statement said. “He looks
forward to vindicating his name in the
courts where evidence, and not unsubs-
tantiated accusations in the media, de-
cides the outcome.”
The lawsuit also brings into ques-
tion Ballard’s relationship with the Utah
attorney general, Sean Reyes. Reyes
participated in a rescue operation with
the group, the suit alleges, and backed
Ballard for a Senate run.
The lawsuit claims that “Reyes has
repeatedly vouched for OUR and Tim
Ballard” and claims that “complaints
and criminal investigations were pour-
ing into his office regarding the impro-
prieties of OUR and Ballard.”
In a statement on Monday, the
attorney general said his office had
of risk factors such as diabetes and
obesity were “magnified” among some
ethnic groups.
A team led by Naaheed Mukadam,
of University College London, studied
the relationship between risk factors
and dementia using health data for
865,674 adults in England between
1997 and 2018.
The research team found 12.6% of
backgrounds and beliefs.
“We will not tolerate any form of
hatred, intimidation or violence di-
rected at our residents, media repre-
sentatives or anyone else attending
or participating in the democratic
process.”
not received criminal complaints or re-
quests for investigation alleged in the
lawsuit.
“I am shocked and deeply saddened
by these allegations, but these women
must be heard to ensure all credible
evidence can be presented,” Reyes said.
“Such evidence should be appropriately
considered by any tribunal that can
weigh them against contrary evidence
or defenses of the accused.”
Ballard previously denied that the
“couples ruse” was a front for sexual
contact with women involved in the
anti-trafficking stings. After the alle-
gations first surfaced, he released a
statement through the Spear fund –
which is named in the lawsuit – that
“the latest tabloid-driven sexual alle-
gations are false”.
“They are baseless inventions de-
signed to destroy me and the move-
ment we have built to end the traf-
ficking and exploitation of vulnerable
children,” the statement added.
The lawsuit also claims that Ballard
used the anti-trafficking organization to
commit fraud. “OUR was making stag-
gering profits as Ballard opened ‘for
profit’ companies, defendants, which
were alter-egos of OUR and Ballard and
that allowed Ballard to line his pockets
with the widow’s mite.”
But the allegations against the sex-
trafficking activist also threatens to
draw in the Mormon church directly.
The lawsuit alleges that Ballard claims
that church president M Russell Ballard
(the two are not related) “had given Bal-
lard permission to do the couples ruse,
as long as there is no sexual intercourse
or kissing on the lips, and had given him
a special priesthood blessing as such.”
But in the lawsuit, the women said
it was their “reasonable belief and in-
quiry” that when the church leaders
learned of Ballard’s couples ruse and
how it was being used, they moved to
excommunicate him. The church has
not confirmed that Ballard’s member-
ship, the Mormon term for excommu-
nication, has been withdrawn.
the cohort developed dementia. About
16% were white, 8.6% were south Asian,
12.1% were black and 9.7% were from
other minority ethnic groups.
They assessed risk factors asso-
ciated with dementia among the pa-
tients, including obesity, diabetes, sleep
disorders, high blood pressure and
Continued on page 5
Thursday 12 October 2023 The Guardian
Continued from page 4
dyslipidemia – an imbalance of lipids
that can cause heart disease.
High blood pressure was associated
with a higher risk of dementia in black
people compared with white people,
while south Asian people there was a
higher risk associated with sleep dis-
orders, diabetes, low HDL cholesterol
and high blood pressure.
Compared with white patients, high
blood pressure had 1.57 times more
impact on dementia risk in south Asian
people and 1.18 times more impact in
black people, the researchers said.
The team said their research could
explain “previous findings of greater
susceptibility, earlier age of dementia
onset and shorter survival after demen-
tia diagnosis in minority ethnic groups”.
The authors added: “We found that
not only are some risk factors for
dementia more common in minority
ethnic groups but that the impact of
some of these risk factors is even
greater than in the white population.
So we need tailored dementia preven-
tion, taking into account ethnicity and
risk-factor profile to ensure dementia
prevention is equitable.”
Birkenstock shares fall 12.6% after landing on
the US stock market
Zoe Wood and Callum Jones
Shares in Birkenstock fell 12.6% after
landing on the US stock market, va-
luing the German shoemaker at $7.5bn
as investors bet there was less mileage
in consumer demand for its cork-soled
sandals, which have become an un-
likely fashion success story.
On Tuesday evening the footwear
firm priced its shares at $46 ahead of
the first day of trading in New York,
where it is using the symbol “BIRK”.
That figure was in the middle of the $44
to $49 guidance provided last week and
valued the company at $8.6bn (£7bn).
The shares promptly fell as trading
commented on the New York Stock Ex-
change, however, and closed at $40.20
on Wednesday.
Birkenstock executives, including
its chief executive, Oliver Reichert,
waved the shoes aloft as they launched
the stock market float on Wall Street
earlier on Wednesday.
After plodding away successfully
for decades the Birkenstock brand hit
the big time during the pandemic when
the shift to working from home saw
shoppers seek out companies that of-
fered both comfort and heritage. With
workers now back in the office, more re-
Jada Pinkett Smith says she and Will Smith
have lived separately since 2016
Guardian staff
Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith have
been living separate lives since 2016,
the actor revealed in an excerpt of her
Headlines
‘This is not just a public health problem, it is a political problem too. We need a national prevention strategy that tackles health inequa-
lities,’ said the head of policy at Alzheimer’s Research UK. Photograph: John Stillwell/PA
David Thomas, the head of policy
at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: “It’s a
shocking truth that people from ethnic
minorities face an increased risk of a
number of health conditions, and this
The IPO aims to raise about $1.5bn for the 250-year-old orthopaedic shoe brand. Photograph: Ethan Swope/Getty Images
laxed dress codes mean there has been
no need to switch back to traditional
work attire.
This relaxed mood helped Bir-
kenstock shift 30m pairs last year, with
sales up almost 30% to £1.1bn, resulting
in a bottom line of £162m.
With a customer base that is 72%
memoir and in a clip from a Today
interview with Hoda Kotb.
Pinkett Smith discussed the status
of their high-profile marriage in her
new book Worthy, saying that though
the pair have not technically divorced,
impacts their ability to live a healthy
life. Recent research has shown that
dementia is no exception – people from
south Asian and black communities
appear to be more likely to die from
female, Birkenstock is also benefiting
from a change in mindset among young
women who no longer subscribe to
high heels and delicate footwear as a
feminine ideal.
The initial public offering is raising
about $1.5bn for the 250-year-old ortho-
paedic shoe brand. A third of it will be
she and Smith are no longer roman-
tically together. In an interview with
Hoda Kotb on Wednesday’s Today
Show, the 52-year-old star said she and
Smith have no plans to legally divorce.
“I made a promise that there will
dementia, and at a younger age too.
“These latest findings suggest one
reason why: the impact of risk factors
like high blood pressure in increasing
an individual’s risk of dementia appears
used to repay debt with the rest going
to the private equity owner L Catterton,
which acquired a majority stake in 2021.
As part of the company’s sales pitch
to investors, Birkenstock’s chief execu-
tive, Oliver Reichert – who became the
first non-family member to run it when
he took the helm in 2013 – set out plans
never be a reason for us to get a di-
vorce,” she said. “We will work through
whatever. And I just haven’t been able
to break that promise.”
Still, she confirmed to Kotb that
the pair “live separately” and have for
5
greater in both south Asian and black
communities.
“It will be important to understand
why this effect is greater, as doing so
would open up an enormous oppor-
tunity to reduce the personal and so-
cietal impact of this heart-breaking
condition. But this is not just a public
health problem, it is a political problem
too. We need a national cross-govern-
ment prevention strategy that tackles
health inequalities.”
Meanwhile, the findings of a second
study, also conducted by UCL, sug-
gest that people with early Alzheimer’s
disease, the most common cause of
dementia, have difficulty turning when
walking.
The small study, involving about
100 people and published in Cur-
rent Biology, found those with early
Alzheimer’s consistently overestimated
their turns and had a greater variability
in their sense of direction.
Sian Gregory, of the Alzheimer’s So-
ciety, said problems with navigation
were thought to be some of the ear-
liest noticeable changes of the disease,
so the research provided “valuable in-
sight”.
to sell other types of shoes, including
clogs, trainers, shoes and boots, as it
looks to end its reliance on sandals.
However, analysts have warned that
the shoemaker is making its debut as
a public company in difficult market
conditions. Investors are worried about
the gloomy economic backdrop and de-
clining consumer confidence, as well as
the poor performance of initial public
offerings by other footwear brands such
as Dr Martens, which has suffered a col-
lapse in value since its 2021 listing.
“It’s clear there is some caution
among investors about the path ahead
for the brand,” said Susanna Streeter,
analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, who
pointed to the “disappointing trajec-
tories” of Dr Martens and Allbirds since
their respective arrivals on the market.
“Investors who want to buy may
have to buckle up for a potentially vola-
tile ride ahead,” Streeter added, as “a
spurt of uncertainty often follows high-
profile listings.”
It comes after a handful of high-
ly-anticipated arrivals on the market
tested demand after a prolonged slump
in activity. While the chip designer
Arm Holdings and grocery delivery
app Instacart initially enjoyed robust
debuts, they both came under pressure
on Wednesday.
several years before Smith, 55, slapped
Chris Rock at last year’s Oscars over
a joke about Pinkett Smith’s alopecia,
in an incident that made international
Continued on page 6

6 Headlines
Continued from page 5
headlines.
In a separate interview with People
also published Wednesday, Pinkett
Smith opened up about the Oscars
slap, which got Smith banned from
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences for 10 years. “I thought, ‘This
Fat Bear Week: female bear 128 Grazer wins
after ‘stuffing salmon in her face’
Adam Gabbatt
A large female bear, described as boast-
ing a combination of “skill and tough-
ness”, has been crowned the winner of
Fat Bear Week, the annual competition
to see which Alaskan bears can pack
on the most pounds before hibernation
season.
The victorious bear, called 128
Grazer, beat competition from 11 other
bears in Katmai national park in Alaska
to clinch the title in an online vote.
In doing so, 128 Grazer joins a
vaunted list of Fat Bear Week winners,
some of whom she defeated on the way
to victory.
“Congrats to the 2023 Fat Bear Week
champion, 128 Grazer!” the National
Park Service said in a Facebook post.
“With a dominant performance …
Biden under pressure to refreeze $6bn in
Iranian oil money after Hamas attack
Robert Tait in Washington
Joe Biden is under pressure from fellow
Democrats to refreeze $6bn of Iranian
oil revenues released last month as part
of a prisoner exchange deal amid accu-
sations that Iran played a key role in
last weekend’s deadly attack on Israel
by the Palestinian group Hamas.
Five Democratic senators up for re-
election next year have joined Repub-
lican calls for the US president to effec-
tively renege on the agreement that led
to the release of five Americans held
captive by Iran unless it is proved that
the country’s theocratic regime was not
involved in Saturday’s assault, which
killed more than 1,000 Israelis.
The clamor comes even as US intel-
ligence sources have sought to dampen
speculation of close Iranian involve-
ment.
Although the White House has ac-
cused Tehran of being “broadly com-
plicit” due to its long-term financial and
logistical support for Hamas, US offi-
cials have said multiple pieces of intel-
ligence indicate that Iran’s leadership
had no prior knowledge of the devas-
tating onslaught launched from Gaza,
and that it may have caught them by
surprise.
That has failed to reassure some
Democrats gearing up for tough chal-
lenges from Republicans in 2024.
“Until I have full confidence that
is a skit,’” she told the magazine. Like
many viewers, she did not think Smith’s
slap real. “I was like, ‘There’s no way
that Will hit him.’” It wasn’t until her
husband returned to his chair that she
“even realized it wasn’t a skit”.
Pinkett Smith recalled asking
Smith, who went on to win the best
actor Oscar and delivered a tearful
128 Grazer was crowned winner of 2023 Fat Bear Week. Photograph: Katmai national
park and preserve
Grazer’s resilience and strength is the
epitome of Katmai’s brown bears.”
Winning the title was no easy task.
Along the way, 128 Grazer faced off
Joe Biden at the White House on 11 October. Photograph: Shutterstock
Iran did not play a role in these barbaric
terrorist attacks on the Israeli people,
the United States should freeze the
$6bn dollars in Iranian assets,” wrote
Tammy Baldwin, a senator for Wis-
consin, on X, the platform formerly
called Twitter.
Four other Democrats in the Senate
so far have echoed the call. They are Joe
Manchin of West Virginia, Jon Tester of
Montana, Jacky Rosen of Nevada and
Bob Casey, the senator from Pennsyl-
speech, if he was OK when the two were
finally alone after the show. “I’m going
to be by his side,” she said, “but also
allow him to have to figure this out for
himself.”
“We’re still figuring it out,” she told
People of the state of their marriage
now. “We’ve been doing some really
heavy-duty work together. We just got
against 747, a two-time Fat Bear Week
winner, described by Katmai national
park as “typically very fat” by the end of
week.
vania.
“I wasn’t supportive of the initial
$6bn transfer,” Manchin, a known mod-
erate with a track record of mirroring
Republican positions, told reporters.
“We should absolutely freeze these Ira-
nian assets while we also consider addi-
tional sanctions.”
Last month’s unfreezing of reve-
nues from oil sold by Iran to South
Korea – originally frozen by the Trump
administration in 2019 due to sanctions
The Guardian Thursday 12 October 2023
deep love for each other and we are
going to figure out what that looks like
for us.”
Following the slap, Smith resigned
from the Academy’s board and ac-
cepted his 10-year ban from its events,
including the Oscars. “I betrayed the
trust of the Academy,” he said in a
statement. “I deprived other nominees
128 Grazer made it through three
rounds of voting before facing 32
Chunk, a “mountain of a male” with
a “prominent posterior”, according to
Katmai.
Fat Bear Week works by allowing
fans to vote for one of two bears. The
victor then moves on to the next round,
to face off against a different bear.
128 Grazer proved to be a real favorite
among Fat Bear Week voters, who were
rapt as she “stuffed so much salmon in
her face”, Katmai said.
“Grazer’s combination of skill and
toughness makes her one of Brooks
River’s most formidable, successful,
and adaptable bears, who is well pre-
pared for winter,” the National Park Ser-
vice said.
128 Grazer was introduced to the
Brooks River, in Katmai national park,
in 2005. Since then the bear has
imposed under its “maximum pressure”
policy towards Tehran – had already
been fiercely criticized by Republicans,
who claimed it projected weakness and
said the funds could be diverted to
finance terrorism.
After Saturday’s attack, Donald
Trump, the former president and
2024 Republican frontrunner, inten-
sified that criticism by falsely por-
traying the money freed in exchange
for releasing the five prisoners as “US
and winners of their opportunity to
celebrate and be celebrated for their
extraordinary work.”
The couple married in Baltimore in
December 1997 and share two adult
children together, Jaden and Willow,
in addition to Smith’s son Trey from a
prior marriage.
A slimmer 128 Grazer. Photograph: Cour-
tesy L. Law/Katmai national park and pre-
serve
“become one of the best anglers” in
the region, and has raised two litters
of cubs.
A “particularly defensive mother”,
128 Grazer has been known to attack
larger, male bears to defend her cubs,
and some larger bears will actively
avoid her, according to Katmai.
taxpayers’ dollars”, which he said had
helped fund the Hamas assault.
The White House dismissed the
claim as “total lies” and “disinfor-
mation”.
Administration officials say the
funds, which were released to a bank
account in Qatar, have not been
touched since they were unfrozen.
They were released on condition that
they were used only for humanitarian
purposes, such as buying medicines
and medical equipment.
Janet Yellen, the US treasury sec-
retary, speaking at the annual meetings
of the International Monetary Fund
and the World Bank in the Moroccan
city of Marrakesh, said the adminis-
tration could reverse the decision to
unfreeze the money if evidence of
Iran’s involvement emerged.
Republicans have voiced skep-
ticism over the intelligence notes of
caution about an Iranian hand, even
though they have been echoed in some
Israeli quarters.
Don Bacon, a Republican sen-
ator for Nebraska, accused the Biden
administration of being “in denial”
about Iran’s role, while the South Caro-
lina senator Tim Scott, a candidate for
the Republican presidential nominee,
said Biden had “blood on his hands”.
Thursday 12 October 2023 The Guardian
Key Republican wears scarlet ‘A’ T-shirt after
vote to oust McCarthy
Oliver Milman
Nancy Mace, a Republican member of
Congress who was a key vote in oust-
ing Kevin McCarthy as House of Repre-
sentatives speaker, has donned a white
T-shirt with a red letter “A” on it to sym-
bolize her being “demonized” for her
decision.
“I’m wearing the scarlet letter after
the week I just had, being a woman up
here, and being demonized for my vote
and for my voice,” Mace told reporters
on Tuesday, adding: “I will do the right
thing every single time, no matter the
consequences.”
The large red letter A is an apparent
reference to The Scarlet Letter, the 1850
novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne in which
the protagonist, Hester Prynne, has to
wear a scarlet letter A – for “adultery” –
for having a child out of wedlock.
Mace, who has been a Republican
representative for a South Carolina dis-
trict since 2021, has come under scru-
tiny for being one of a small group of
Republicans who sided with Democrats
to oust McCarthy, who dramatically lost
Supreme court conservatives appear
skeptical South Carolina Republicans
discriminated against Black voters
Sam Levine in New York
The supreme court’s conservative
majority appeared skeptical on
Wednesday that South Carolina Repub-
licans discriminated against Black
voters when it redrew one of the state’s
congressional districts to make it frien-
dlier to the GOP.
During two-hours of oral argument
on Wednesday, the court’s conserv-
ative justices aggressively poked holes
in a three-judge panel’s ruling ear-
lier this year finding that Republicans
had unlawfully moved around 30,000
Republican voters out of South Caro-
lina’s first congressional district to
make it more Republican. Chief Jus-
tice John Roberts, a key swing vote
on the court, seemed unconvinced by
the evidence the lower court had ac-
cepted, saying at one point the chal-
lengers were asking the court to em-
brace arguments that “would be break-
ing new ground in our voting rights
jurisdprudence”.
A decision reversing the lower court
would leave South Carolina’s map in
place in a major win for Republicans,
who control six of the state’s seven
congressional districts. Meanwhile, re-
quiring the state to redraw the map
would likely make its first congres-
sional district, represented by Repub-
lican Nancy Mace, more competitive.
The central question in the case,
Alexander v South Carolina Conference
of the NAACP, is whether South Caro-
lina Republicans violated the US consti-
News
Nancy Mace at Capitol Hill on Tuesday. Mace said she voted against McCarthy for his breaking of promises. Photograph: Mandel Ngan/
AFP/Getty Images
his speakership last week.
Mace said she voted against McCar-
thy for his breaking of promises, such
Voters cast their ballots on 3 November 2020 in Columbia, South Carolina. Photograph: Sean Rayford/Getty Images
tution when they drew new lines for
Mace’s district after the 2020 census. In
order to make it more safely Repub-
lican, they added conservative coun-
ties to the district and removed 30,000
Black voters in Charleston – 62% of
those in the county – into the neigh-
boring district. Republicans have de-
fended their actions by saying their goal
was political and that they did not con-
sider race when drawing the districts.
Much of Wednesday’s hearing fo-
cused on evidence, specifically expert
reports, that the trial court had ac-
cepted as proof that Republicans relied
as on the expansion of contraceptive
access for women, and has since de-
cided to support Jim Jordan, a hard-
too much on race in their draw-
ing of maps. John Gore, an attorney
representing South Carolina Repub-
licans, sought to convince the justices
that the lower court had made a “clear
error” in how it evaluated that proof.
Roberts appeared wary that the
challengers hadn’t offered any direct
evidence of discrimination or alter-
native maps to explain how Repub-
licans could have achieved their stated
goal without taking race into account.
Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch
also seized on the lack of alternative
maps to show that the challengers in
right Ohio representative, to be speaker.
On Sunday, Mace told CBS that she
was voting for Jordan due to his “values,
the case had not overcome the pre-
sumption of good faith that lawmakers
were entitled to.
“At least as a practical matter, in a
case where this no direct evidence or
virtually no direct evidence, there is no
way in which a plaintiff can disentangle
race and politics,” Alito said.
But Ketanji Brown Jackson, one of
the court’s liberal justices, questioned
whether plaintiffs would ever be able to
produce that kind of evidence.
“I wonder if it is reasonable to say
that such evidence could exist in a sce-
nario where there is no majority-minor-
7
his work ethic” but then declined to
engage when asked about allegations
that Jordan ignored sexual abuse that
took place on the Ohio State University
wrestling team when he was an assis-
tant coach there.
“I’m not familiar or aware with that,”
Mace said. “He’s not indicted on any-
thing that I’m aware of. And so I don’t
know anything and I can’t speak to that
… I don’t know anything about that.”
Mace has been considered a rela-
tive GOP moderate, having previously
criticized Donald Trump and called for
him to be held accountable for his
actions. However, her latest maneu-
verings around the McCarthy removal
have led to suggestions she is now
aligning herself more with the right
wing of the party.
In August, she said that Joe Biden
was “the most corrupt president in
US history” and that she supported
an impeachment inquiry into the
president, after previously cautioning
against such a move.
Mace’s office did not immediately
respond to the Guardian’s request for
comment.
ity district,” she said. “In a situation like
this, where that is not the case, where
the state is saying instead we are trying
to achieve a partisan tilt…are you saying
we have to have a smoking gun?”
Leah Aden, an attorney with the
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational
Fund (LDF) pointed to a wealth of other
evidence the plaintiffs had offered to
prove race had predominated when
Republicans drew the lines. The lower
court had accepted an expert analysis
showing that race was a better pre-
dictor than partisanship of whether or
not an area was moved out of the first
congressional district.
She also questioned how the Black
voting age population in the district
wound up remaining the same – 17.8%
– after more than 190,000 voters were
moved around if lawmakers had not
been considering race. Challengers in
the case argue that Republicans re-
moved Black voters in Charleston to
make room for Black voters from more
conservative areas.
The court’s three liberal justices all
appeared in favor of upholding the
lower court’s decision striking down
South Carolina’s map. At the start of the
argument, Justice Elena Kagan pointed
out the court’s precedent did not re-
quire challengers to propose an alter-
native map.
Jackson pressed Gore to explain
how the percentage of Black voters
could have remained the same if law-
makers were not considering race.
Continued on page 8

8 News
Continued from page 7
“Thousands of people were moved in
and out of that district, how do you ex-
plain that consistency?”
Gore responded only by saying that
the Black share of the voting age
population had shifted throughout the
mapmaking process, and that “people
were being moved around but not very
many”.
The three liberal justices said Gore
was encouraging the supreme court to
second guess findings from the lower
court that Republicans hadn’t even
rebutted at trial.
The question for the court, Jackson
said, wasn’t whether they would reach a
different conclusion from the evidence
the trial court considered, but wheth-
er the judges had made a clear error in
evaluating it.
The three-judge panel had ruled in
January that Republicans had under-
taken an “effective bleaching” of the dis-
trict, deliberately sorting Black voters
based on their race. That kind of racial
Texas executes man despite appeals over
evidence and lethal injection drugs
Associated Press
A Texas man who unsuccessfully chal-
lenged the safety of the state’s lethal
injection drugs and raised questions
about evidence used to persuade a jury
to sentence him to death for killing
an elderly woman decades ago was ex-
ecuted late on Tuesday.
Jedidiah Murphy, 48, was pro-
nounced dead after an injection at
the state penitentiary in Huntsville for
the October 2000 fatal shooting of 80-
year-old Bertie Lee Cunningham of the
Dallas suburb of Garland. Cunningham
was killed during a carjacking.
“To the family of the victim, I sin-
cerely apologize for all of it,” Murphy
said while strapped to a gurney in the
Texas death chamber and after a Chris-
tian pastor, his right hand on Murphy’s
chest, prayed for the victim’s family,
Murphy’s family and friends, and the
inmate.
“I hope this helps, if possible, give
you closure,” Murphy said.
He then began a lengthy recitation
of Psalm 34, ending with: “The Lord
redeems the soul of his servants, and
none of those who trust in him shall be
condemned.”
After telling the warden he was
ready, Murphy turned his head toward
a friend watching through a window
a few feet from him, telling her: “God
bless all of y’all. It’s OK. Tell my babies I
love them.”
Then he shouted out: “Bella is my
wife!”
As the lethal dose of pentobarbital
took effect, he took two barely aud-
sorting violates the US constitution’s
14th amendment, which guarantees
equal protection under the law.
There have also been allegations
that Jim Clyburn, one of the most
powerful Democrats in Washington,
condoned adding Black voters to his
district and assisted the legislature in
coming up with a plan. Clyburn has
strongly disputed those allegations and
filed a friend of the court brief urging
the supreme court to uphold the lower
court’s finding and strike down the first
congressional district.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh appeared
interested in Clyburn’s role on Wednes-
day, asking Aden about a draft map
he proposed that had a lower Black
voting age population in district one
than Republicans ultimately adopted.
Aden said Clyburn’s proposal was “irre-
levant” because he was only proposing
a partial map that ultimately did not
determine how voters were sorted.
The US supreme court has long
prohibited racial gerrymandering – sort-
ing voters into districts based on their
The death chamber at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas. Photograph: Paul Buck/
AFP/Getty Images
ible breaths and appeared to go to
sleep, The pastor stood over him, his
left hand over Murphy’s heart, until a
physician entered the room about 20
minutes later to examine Murphy and
pronounce him dead at 10.15pm, 25 mi-
nutes after the drug was given to him.
The execution took place hours
after the US supreme court overturned
an order that had delayed the death
sentence from being carried out. The
high court late on Tuesday also turned
down another request to stay Murphy’s
execution over claims the drugs he was
injected with were exposed to extreme
heat and smoke during a recent fire,
making them unsafe and leaving him at
risk of pain and suffering.
The fifth US circuit court of ap-
peals on Monday had upheld a federal
judge’s order from last week delaying
the execution after Murphy’s lawyers
filed a lawsuit seeking DNA testing of
evidence presented at his 2001 trial.
race with no legitimate purpose –
but it also said in 2019 that there is
nothing the federal courts can do to
stop gerrymandering for partisan aims.
Kagan noted this was the first racial
gerrymandering case that had come to
the court since that decision.
A ruling approving South Caro-
lina’s redistricting approach could give
lawmakers much more leeway to use
partisanship as a pretext for unconsti-
tutionally moving voters based on their
race. That could be a boon to law-
makers in the US south, where voting
is often racially polarized.
While the current conservative
court has been extremely hostile to
voting rights in recent years, litigants
have had some success in similar racial
gerrymandering cases. In a 2017 case,
for example, the court struck down two
North Carolina congressional districts
because Republicans in the state had
relied too much on race with no legi-
timate purpose.
“The sorting of voters on the
grounds of their race remains sus-
But the state attorney general’s
office appealed the decision, with the
supreme court ruling in Texas’s favor.
In their filings, Murphy’s attorneys
had questioned evidence of two rob-
beries and a kidnapping used by prose-
cutors to persuade jurors during the
penalty phase of his trial that Murphy
would be a future danger – a legal find-
ing needed to secure a death sentence
in Texas.
Murphy admitted he killed Cun-
ningham but had long denied he com-
mitted the robberies or kidnapping. His
attorneys argued these crimes were the
strongest evidence prosecutors had to
show that Murphy would pose an on-
going threat, but that the evidence link-
ing him to the crimes was problematic,
including a questionable identification
of Murphy by one of the victims.
Prosecutors had argued against the
DNA testing, saying state law only
allows for post-conviction testing of
The Guardian Thursday 12 October 2023
pect even if race is meant to func-
tion as a proxy for other (including
political) characteristics,” Justice Elena
Kagan wrote in a footnote in the major-
ity opinion.
“This case stands for the propo-
sition that you cannot use parti-
sanship as a guise to harm Black
communities,” said Antonio Ingram II,
a lawyer with the NAACP Legal Defense
and Educational Fund (LDF), which
is representing the challengers in the
case. “You cannot use political goals
or interests in order to harm Black
voters. Black voters cannot be colla-
teral damage to craft partisan gerry-
manders.”
To bolster their argument, the chal-
lengers retained a statistical expert,
Harvard professor Kosuke Imai, who
produced 10,000 simulated maps that
did not take race into account. None
of those 10,000 simulations produced
a lower Black voting age population in
the first congressional district than the
plan Republicans adopted.
The justice department also filed a
evidence related to guilt or innocence
and not to a defendant’s sentence. They
also called Murphy’s request for a stay
“manipulative” and say it should have
been filed years ago.
“A capital inmate who waits until
the 11th hour to raise long-available
claims should not get to complain that
he needs more time to litigate them,”
the attorney general’s office wrote in its
petition to the high court.
Prosecutors said the state pre-
sented “significant other evidence” to
show Murphy was a future danger.
In upholding the execution stay, the
fifth US circuit court of appeals had said
another case before it that was brought
by a different Texas death row inmate
raised similar issues and it was best to
wait for a ruling in that case.
Murphy had long expressed re-
morse for killing Cunningham.
“I wake up to my crime daily and
I’ve never gone a day without sin-
cere remorse for the hurt I’ve caused,”
Murphy wrote in a message he sent ear-
lier this year to Michael Zoosman, who
had corresponded with Murphy and is
co-founder of L’chaim! Jews Against the
Death Penalty. Murphy is Jewish.
Murphy’s lawyers had said he also
had a long history of mental illness and
was abused as a child and was in and
out of foster care.
Zoosman said Murphy’s repentance
should have been considered in his
case but “the reality is we don’t have
a system that’s based on restorative jus-
tice. We have a system that’s based on
retributive vengeance.”
Murphy’s lawyers on late Tuesday
afternoon also asked the high court to
brief urging the court to uphold the
lower court’s ruling and strike down
congressional district 1. “The court per-
missibly found that race predominated
in the drawing of CD1 because map-
makers relied on race to achieve their
partisan goals,” Elizabeth Prelogar, the
solicitor general, wrote in a brief.
Ingram, the LDF attorney, said that
the map South Carolina Republicans
had implemented would ultimately
make it harder for Black voters along
the coast of the state to get someone
to advocate for them on issues like
climate change. He noted that voters
in Charleston, near the coast of South
Carolina, who were being attached to
CD-6, were being annexed into a largely
inland district.
“This is about Black voters not
having champions in their own
communities that are responsive to
their needs that are influenced by their
electoral power to really advocate for
federal allocation of resources without
things that will improve their quality of
life.”
Jedidiah Murphy. Photograph: AP
stop the execution over allegations the
lethal injection drugs the state would
use on him were possibly damaged
during a 25 August fire at the Huntsville
prison unit where they were stored.
The supreme court denied that request
without comment, in line with similar
rulings by a federal judge and a state
appeals court.
Murphy was the sixth inmate in
Texas and the 20th in the US put to
death this year.
Tuesday marked World Day Against
the Death Penalty, an annual day of
advocacy by death penalty opponents.
Although Texas has been the
nation’s busiest capital punishment
state, it had been seven months since
its last execution. Public support and
use of the death penalty in the US has
been declining in the past two decades.
Three more executions are sche-
duled in Texas this year.

10
Ex-Ohio State wrestlers say Jim Jordan unfit
for speakership for ignoring sexual abuse
scandal
Martin Pengelly in Washington
Former Ohio State wrestlers who
accuse Jim Jordan of ignoring sexual
abuse when he was a coach said the
hard-right Republican should not be
elected speaker of the US House.
“Do you really want a guy in that
job who chose not to stand up for his
guys?” Mike Schyck, one of hundreds of
wrestlers who say they were assaulted
by a team doctor, told NBC News. “Is
that the kind of character trait you want
for a House speaker?”
Another former wrestler, Dunyasha
Yetts, told NBC: “He doesn’t deserve to
be House speaker. He still has to answer
for what happened to us.”
Jordan, 59 and a founder of the
hard-right Freedom Caucus, is com-
peting for the speakership with Steve
Scalise, the majority leader from Loui-
siana, after the historic ejection of
Kevin McCarthy by disgruntled right-
wingers last week. Jordan has secured
the endorsement of Donald Trump, the
presidential frontrunner whose suppor-
ters orchestrated McCarthy’s defene-
stration.
Before entering politics, Jordan was
an assistant OSU wrestling coach from
1986 to 1994. Former athletes have said
he ignored rampant sexual abuse by Ri-
Illinois man sets world record for 53-year
career teaching social studies
Ramon Antonio Vargas
When Paul Durietz taught his first
social studies class, Richard Nixon had
yet to resign as US president and the
American military was at war in Viet-
nam. The Beatles had also not split, and
29-year-old Pelé had just captured his
third soccer World Cup title.
Durietz has educated students
through a lot of history since then, and
now he has the Guinness world record
for longest career as a social studies
teacher to show for it.
The 76-year-old from Gurnee, Illi-
nois, told the organization known for
maintaining a database of more than
40,000 world records that his story is
a testament about the good that can
come if people “keep working on what
[they] love to do in life”.
“It may turn into a world record,” Du-
rietz remarked to Guinness in an inter-
view published Monday.
Durietz said his parents’ lineages
helped spark his interest in history as
well as the social studies.
His father, Alfred Durietz, fought
in the Battle of the Bulge during the
second world war and earned a Purple
Heart medal for his service. The young-
er Durietz said he was captivated by his
old man’s tales of “going into German
bunkers and finding helmets, [German]
News
Jim Jordan, who is bidding to become the next House speaker. Photograph: Leah Millis/Reuters
chard Strauss, a team doctor who died
in 2005.
Jordan has long denied helping
orchestrate a cover-up. On Tuesday,
a spokesperson told NBC: “Chairman
Jordan never saw or heard of any abuse,
and if he had, he would have dealt with
it.”
But Jordan also refused to co-
Durietz told Guinness World Records his story is testament that good comes if people ‘keep working on what [they] love to do’. Photograph:
Courtesy of Guinness World Records
Luger pistols and uniforms”.
Meanwhile, his mother, Opal Pem-
broke Durietz, was a relative of Eng-
land’s earl of Pembroke.
The result was for Durietz to de-
velop a fascination with both world
wars as well as the middle ages. And
by the time he was 11, after numer-
ous conversations with his father about
operate with an official investigation
which found Strauss’s abuse was an
“open secret”, and that “coaches, train-
ers and other team physicians were
fully aware of Strauss’ activities, and yet
few seemed inclined to do anything to
stop it”.
At one hearing, another former
wrestler, Adam DiSabato, said: “Jim
what he wanted to be when he grew up,
Durietz knew he wanted to make his
living by teaching social studies.
He landed a job at Woodland school
district 50 beginning 1 September 1970.
The school in the Chicago suburb of
Gurnee primarily serves students in
elementary and middle school (the UK
equivalents of years 1 to 9), and he’s
The Guardian Thursday 12 October 2023
Jordan called me crying, crying, grove-
ling, on the Fourth of July … begging me
to go against my brother, begging me,
crying for half an hour. That’s the kind
of cover-up that’s going on here. He’s a
coward. He’s a coward.”
Yetts has previously said: “If Jordan
says he didn’t know about it, then he’s
lying.”
taught classes there ever since.
He has coordinated the social
studies curriculum there since the
mid-1980s.
The role has not only allowed him
to mentor more than 20 fellow social
studies teachers. It has also let him
stage days themed after the US civil
war, host mock political elections at
Speaking to NBC, another former
wrestler, Rocky Ratliff, said Jordan
“abandoned his former wrestlers in the
Ohio State sexual abuse scandal and
cover-up”.
As the lingering scandal has not
stopped Jordan in his political tracks, so
it may not stop his attempt to be speak-
er. Last weekend, one of the rebels who
voted out McCarthy, Nancy Mace of
South Carolina, told CBS she supported
Jordan for speaker. Mace also said she
was “not familiar or aware” of the OSU
scandal, adding: “He’s not indicted on
anything that I’m aware of. I don’t know
anything and can’t speak to that.”
Schyck told NBC he was himself a
Republican, and Jordan “was somebody
I revered, somebody I looked up to.
“If early on he jumped in on our
side and validated what we were saying,
what everybody knew about what Dr
Strauss was doing to us, then this
wouldn’t be happening. But he decided
early on, for reasons I still don’t under-
stand, that he was going to deny know-
ing anything about this.
“Now he’s got no choice but to stick
to this story that he had no idea what
Dr Strauss was doing, even though it’s a
lie.”
OSU has paid $60m to 296 victims
of Strauss. Other lawsuits remain unre-
solved.
school and hold geography contests
– exposing his students to subjects
which aren’t necessarily second nature
to even US adults.
Durietz told Guinness the thought
of imparting knowledge to younger
generations still motivates him to come
to work. And he said his morale was
further boosted when a former student
once wrote him an email saying that
Durietz’s engaged teaching style had in-
spired the ex-pupil to pursue a career in
education.
Eventually, Durietz’s family, friends
and co-workers encouraged him to
apply for recognition from Guinness
World Records. The organization recog-
nized him as a record-holder in Sep-
tember, citing his 53-year career.
Durietz said he considered the
Guinness record to be perhaps his
greatest achievement. He said he hoped
to eventually clinch Guinness’s record
for longest-serving teacher at the same
school.
He also said his advice to aspiring
teachers was to blend their passion for
a subject with patience for students. If
he’s any indication, such a combination
could produce results that stand the
test of time.
Thursday 12 October 2023 The Guardian
Chicago woman who skydived at age 104 has
died: ‘She was indefatigable’
Associated Press
Dorothy Hoffner, a 104-year-old Chi-
cago woman whose recent skydive
could see her certified by Guinness
World Records as the oldest person to
ever jump from a plane, has died.
Hoffner’s close friend Joe Conant
said she was found dead Monday morn-
ing by staff at the Brookdale Lake View
senior living community. Conant said
Hoffner apparently died in her sleep on
Sunday night.
Conant, who is a nurse, said he met
Hoffner – whom he called Grandma at
her request – several years ago while he
was working as a caregiver for anoth-
er resident at the senior living center.
He said she had amazing energy and re-
mained mentally sharp.
“She was indefatigable. She just
kept going,” he said Tuesday. “She was
not someone who would take naps in
the afternoon, or not show up for any
function, dinner or anything else. She
was always there, fully present. She
kept going, always.”
On 1 October, Hoffner made a
tandem skydive that could land her in
the record books as the world’s oldest
skydiver. She jumped out of a plane
from 13,500ft (4,100 metres) at Skydive
Chicago in Ottawa, Illinois, 85 miles
(140km) south-west of Chicago.
Tuition hikes at 23 public California colleges
make students question: ‘Is it even worth it?’
Edwin Rios in Oakland, Cali-
fornia
When trustees at California State
University (Cal State or CSU), one of
the nation’s largest public university
systems, decided to raise tuition, Crys-
tal Chavira-Ordunez worried not only
about their future but also their sibl-
ings’ future.
Chavira-Ordunez, a first-generation
Mexican American, will be the first
in their family to graduate from Cal
State East Bay after transferring from a
community college in the fall of 2022.
To make life more manageable, they
worked three jobs and took out loans
to afford their housing in one of the
most expensive areas in the country.
A 6% increase appeared small. It
amounted to $342 for every student
in the first year. But when Chavira-Or-
dunez discussed the tuition rise with
their sister, who has been considering
attending Cal State Fullerton to pursue
a K-12 teaching program, she bristled.
“She asked: ‘Is it even worth it?’”
Chavira-Ordunez said.
For many within the CSU system,
which enrolls nearly 460,000 students,
such an increase could amount to
deciding whether to pay for books or
to take on another job beyond their
coursework. At a time when the cost
of attending college has increasingly
gotten more expensive over the dec-
ades, CSU’s costs remained relatively
News
‘She was not someone who would take naps in the afternoon’, said Joe Conant, Dorothy Hoffner’s close friend. Photograph: Daniel Wilsey/
AP
“Age is just a number,” Hoffner told a
cheering crowd moments after landing.
It was not her first time jumping from a
plane – that happened when she was a
spry 100 years of age.
Conant said he was working
through paperwork to ensure that
Students and union members protest the tuition increase outside the CSU chancellor's
office on 12 September 2023 in Long Beach, California. Photograph: Paul Bersebach/AP
flat for 11 of the last 12 years.
But faced with a $1.5bn budget def-
icit and a years-long enrollment de-
cline, trustees in September voted to
raise tuition costs, prompting backlash
from students and faculty alike. While
attending the CSU system is seen as
a path of upward mobility to many,
students to whom the Guardian spoke
said that a tuition increase, which is
expected to rise to more than $2,000
over six years, would cause people to
question whether the cost of pursuing
higher education within the histor-
ically affordable school system would
be worthwhile.
The CSU website noted that 60%
of the system’s students would avoid
the impact of the higher tuition be-
Guinness World Records certifies Hoff-
ner posthumously as the world’s oldest
skydiver, but he expects that will take
some time. The current record was set
in May 2022 by 103-year-old Linnéa In-
gegärd Larsson of Sweden.
Conant said Hoffner didn’t skydive
cause it would be covered by grants
and waivers, and over the course of five
years it would generate $860m in rev-
enue, with a third going toward finan-
cial assistance programs for students.
“[T]he CSU is committed to keeping
costs as low as possible and providing
support for students with the greatest
financial need,” said the system’s vice-
chancellor and chief financial officer,
Steve Relyea.
The tuition hike would bring the
cost for an undergraduate attending
a CSU school next year to $5,762. In
five years, that would rise to $7,682.
The Public Policy Institute of California
also found that while tuition within the
CSU system has risen just once since
the Great Recession, students’ fees for
to break a record. He said she had so
thoroughly enjoyed her first jump that
she just wanted to do it again.
“She had no intention of breaking
the record. And she had no interest in
any publicity or anything. She wasn’t
doing it for any other reason than she
health services and materials have also
increased over time, leading the com-
bined cost of attending CSU schools to
rise to between $8,000 and $9,000 by
2028. By comparison, the average cost
for an undergraduate attending a four-
year public institution in the US rose
from $9,100 in 2011 to $9,700 in 2022.
The rise in tuition, just one aspect
of the attendance cost, could dispropor-
tionately affect not only students from
low-income families, but also Black and
Latino students. They are more likely to
graduate with debt than their white and
Asian peers. What’s more, nearly 80% of
those who graduated with a bachelor’s
degree had household incomes of less
than $54,000. Roughly eight in 10 stu-
dents already receive financial aid.
Approximately three-quarters of
Black students across CSU’s 23 cam-
puses – who account for 4% of students
– graduate with debt. For Latino stu-
dents, who account for nearly 40% of
students across the system, that figure
is 57% compared with just under half of
white students. All together, the higher
sticker price could induce fear among
current and aspiring college students
who view the higher cost of education
as a deterrent, particularly if they need
to take on more debt to attend college.
Dominic Quan Treseler, a senior at
San Jose State University and president
of the Cal State Students Association,
the group that represents CSU students,
says the tuition hike has yet to hit most
students, arguing that there has been a
11
wanted to go skydiving,” he said.
“It was wonderful up there,” Hoffner
had said after last week’s jump. “The
whole thing was delightful, wonderful,
couldn’t have been better.”
Skydive Chicago and the United
States Parachute Association cele-
brated Hoffner in a joint statement
Tuesday.
“We are deeply saddened by Do-
rothy’s passing and feel honored to
have been a part of making her world-
record skydive a reality.
“Skydiving is an activity that many
of us safely tuck away in our bucket
lists. But Dorothy reminds us that it’s
never too late to take the thrill of a life-
time. We are forever grateful that sky-
diving was a part of her exciting, well-
lived life,” they said.
Conant said Hoffner worked for
more than four decades as a telephone
operator with Illinois Bell, which later
became AT&T, and retired 43 years ago.
The lifelong Chicago resident never
married, and Conant said she had no
immediate family members.
A memorial service for Hoffner will
be held in early November.
“She was a dear friend who was an
inspiration,” Conant said.
Students walk on the campus of Cal State
East Bay in Hayward, California. Photo-
graph: Anda Chu/MediaNews Group/Getty
Images
lack of outreach and engagement on it.
“There’s a lot of hurt, a sense of
despair and not knowing what this is
going to mean for themselves,” Quan
Treseler said. “We’re already seeing de-
clining enrollment across the system,
so when a system is in a crisis now, it’s
unrealistic to think that this can help
other campuses.”
Kailyn Wilkerson, who will grad-
uate from Cal State Long Beach in
December, wondered how college life
might change as the cost of atten-
dance becomes more expensive. She
noted that she, like Chavira-Ordunez,
had been interested in pursuing her
master’s degree, adding she would look
into obtaining grants and scholarships
to make it work.
Still, Wilkerson saw friends of
hers that were already struggling with
paying tuition as they tried to make
a living, and she wondered if enroll-
Continued on page 12

12
Continued from page 11
ment rates for Black and Latino stu-
dents might fall. For her, an increase in
tuition meant the difference between
making a car payment and rent.
“Are they hanging out on campus?”
Wilkerson asked. “Or do they have to
go to work to pay for school and that’s
about it? What would college life be any
more? For a lot of us, there are so many
barriers in our day-to-day lives without
school. School is another added thing
we have to think about.”
Isaac Alferos, a higher education
equity research and data analyst for the
Education Trust-West and a graduate
of Cal State Fullerton, worries about
how the tuition increase will resonate
US navy sailor pleads guilty to accepting
$15,000 in bribes from China
Reuters
A US navy sailor pleaded guilty on
Tuesday to accepting nearly $15,000 in
bribes from a Chinese intelligence of-
ficer in exchange for photographs of
unclassified private US military infor-
mation, according to court papers.
Petty Officer Wenheng “Thomas”
Zhao, 26, pleaded guilty to conspiracy
and receiving a bribe, according to a
plea agreement filed in federal court in
Los Angeles.
Zhao admitted sending his Chinese
handler plans for US military exer-
cises in the Indo-Pacific region, opera-
tional orders and electrical diagrams
and blueprints for a radar system on
a US military base in Okinawa, Japan,
according to court documents and US
officials. He was arrested in August.
Another navy sailor, Jinchao Wei,
was also arrested in August on similar
charges in a separate case. Wei, 22, who
was assigned to the San Diego-based
USS Essex, was arrested on a charge
related to espionage involving a con-
Kari Lake, Trump ally and election denier,
announces Senate bid in Arizona
Rachel Leingang
Kari Lake, the Republican candidate
who lost the race for Arizona gov-
ernor but never conceded her loss, an-
nounced a run for US Senate in the
western state Tuesday.
A former TV news anchor, Lake
made her move into politics by making
repeated false claims about elections.
She aligned closely with former pres-
ident Donald Trump and has been
floated as a potential running mate for
Trump, who once praised Lake for her
ability to constantly bring up election
fraud.
Lake has taken her election denials
to court, so far unsuccessfully, in her
attempt to claim she’s the rightful gov-
ernor of Arizona. Her legal team has
been hit with court sanctions in two dif-
News
beyond California. He sees the rise in
tuition costs as “emblematic [of a] sys-
temic change that the state needs to do
about getting serious with addressing
educational equity”.
Alferos comes from a family with
deep roots across in the CSU system,
with nine of of his relatives having grad-
uated from various CSU schools. What
drew him to Fullerton was its affor-
dability. He wanted a degree that he
could afford, and he considers himself
fortunate to have graduated in May
2022 without debt.
But he acknowledges the same
cannot be said for his peers. A former
president of the Cal State Students
Association, Alferos thinks about the
students who are not only attending
US air force planes at Naval Base Ventura county, where Zhao worked. Photograph: Scott Mitchell/Zuma Press Wire/Rex/Shutterstock
spiracy to send national defense infor-
mation to Chinese officials.
Zhao, who worked at Naval Base
Kari Lake, former candidate for governor of Arizona, attends the Conservative Political
Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland, 4 March 2023. Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Reu-
ters
ferent cases.
Lake announced her run in
Scottsdale on Tuesday, a week after
school but also taking care of their
children and working at the same time.
He noted that one out of every 10 stu-
dents said they were unhoused and two
in five students said they were food
insecure. “We have allowed as a state
an environment for students who are
not supported,” he said.
So when he reflected on the tui-
tion increase, he saw beyond the cost
of one aspect of a student’s education.
Housing, food, gas, books – all of those
weigh on the costs of navigating life as a
student pursuing education in increa-
singly expensive California. “Most of
those are just the cost to survive and
technically call yourself a student,” Al-
feros says, adding: “The sobering reality
is that a number of students and fami-
Ventura county in California, faces a
maximum of 20 years in prison on the
charges, but a judge will determine his
filing paperwork for a Senate bid.
“I am not going to retreat. I’m gonna
stand on top of this hill with every
The Guardian Thursday 12 October 2023
lies like mine with a history have to
consider that we may be the last in our
family to get their degrees in the CSU.”
For the summer, Chavira-Ordunez
moved back to the Los Angeles area
to live with their five siblings and two
parents in a two-bedroom apartment to
save on the costs of living in the Bay
Area. Chavira-Ordunez, who is pursuing
a double major in criminal justice and
sociology, had to limit what classes they
could take that summer because they
needed to choose remote courses that
fit their schedule.
They are still considering wheth-
er to pursue their master’s degree and
become a professor. Still, they said the
tuition increase meant they had to
skip buying some textbooks for class.
final sentence.
A lawyer representing Zhao did not
immediately respond to a request for
single one of you, and I know you’re
by my side as I formally announce my
candidacy for the United States Senate,”
Lake told a crowd of supporters, ac-
cording to CNN.
Lake’s Senate run comes after
Republicans lost major races in the
swing state in 2022. The Democratic
senator Mark Kelly defeated Repub-
lican businessman Blake Masters. Lake
lost the governor’s race by about 17,000
votes, and Republicans lost the sec-
retary of state and attorney general
races as well. Lake failed to win over
independent voters, who make up
about one-third of Arizona’s electorate,
and alienated mainstream Republicans.
The state’s Senate race will be one
of the country’s most competitive – and
most expensive. Its dynamics could be
especially difficult, if sitting Senator
Kyrsten Sinema, once a Democrat and
“I won’t be able to pay for the material
that my professors are asking me for in
order to thrive in this class,” Chavira-Or-
dunez said. “So I’d be paying for an F,
ultimately.”
When applications opened this
month, Chavira-Ordunez noticed their
sister asking their parents whether they
could afford to pay the difference.
Their supportive mother “didn’t have
the same energy” as when Chavira-Or-
dunez first attended school.
“I’m like, damn, I wish my sister
could have had that sky’s-the-limit
opportunity that I was able to have,”
Chavira-Ordunez said.
comment.
The US attorney Martin Estrada of
the central district of California said
Zhao had “betrayed his country and the
men and women of the US navy by
accepting bribes from a foreign adver-
sary”.
The US has accused China of an
extensive campaign of espionage and
cyber-attacks, a charge that Beijing has
rejected.
Speaking of both arrests in August,
Matthew G Olsen, the assistant attor-
ney general of the justice department’s
national security division, said: “These
individuals stand accused of violating
the commitments they made to pro-
tect the United States and betraying the
public trust, to the benefit of the [Chi-
nese] government.”
Because of their actions, “sensitive
military info ended up in the hands of
the People’s Republic of China”, Olsen
said.
now an independent, decides to run for
re-election.
Republican Mark Lamb, the sheriff
in Pinal county, Arizona, has already en-
tered the Senate race. On the Demo-
cratic side, Representative Ruben Gal-
lego is in. Sinema hasn’t announced a
re-election bid yet, but her team has
privately been working on a campaign
strategy to chart an independent bid
without party support.
Lake’s campaign trail antics – a
perpetual camera following her for
confrontations with politicians or re-
porters – have already started for her
Senate run. She approached Gallego at
the Phoenix airport last week, ping-
ing him with questions and criticisms
about the US-Mexico border. She told
the congressman that the Senate race
would be a “knock-down, drag-out”.
Thursday 12 October 2023 The Guardian
‘No matter what I do, I’m not in control’: what
happens when the state takes your child
Kelley Fong
Two and a half years before a conven-
ience store in Minnesota called the
police on George Floyd, a Black father,
suspecting a counterfeit bill, a conven-
ience store in Rhode Island called the
police on a Black mother named Chris-
tina after she argued with the checkout
clerk.
Christina, 23, was living in a family
shelter and taking classes at the local
community college, striving towards
her longtime goal of launching a non-
profit organization for youth. “I think
I was called to help people,” she often
said. Her son, Anthony, the center of her
life, was two years old. (“Christina” and
“Anthony” are both pseudonyms.)
As Christina later recounted, she
ran into the store that day with An-
thony to get change for bus fare. The
cashier didn’t want to change Chris-
tina’s $20 and made a snide comment.
From there, the argument escalated.
Christina said the cashier came out
from behind the counter and got in her
face. Christina left, but not before the
store made a “keep the peace” call to
the police.
The police didn’t keep the peace –
they disrupted it. When they stopped
her, Christina was already on her way to
work, pushing Anthony’s stroller across
the street. Exasperated, she recalled
saying: “Officer, if I would’ve destroyed
the store or did something, I could see
me being stopped, but I left the store,
so can I please go?” If anyone needed
police intervention, she thought, it was
the cashier.
Yet the officers arrested Chris-
tina, citing disorderly conduct, resisting
arrest, and obstruction. They didn’t
appreciate her challenging their au-
thority, acknowledging in their report
that they would have let her go had
she not protested. The police account
stated that she “went ballistic” and
“started acting irrationally”, swearing,
spitting at, and hitting the officers, with
one detective saying that he had not
seen someone so out of control in a
long time. Christina, meanwhile, de-
scribed two officers pushing her, crying,
to the ground when trying to handcuff
her, which didn’t make it into the police
report. Anthony, watching his mother’s
arrest, squirmed out of his stroller to
intervene.
The police held Christina, took her
to jail, and called child protective ser-
vices (CPS). Across the US, state and
county CPS agencies are tasked with
responding to reports of child abuse
and neglect. Anthony waited at the
police station until CPS arrived.
The CPS caseworker described An-
thony as “cooperative and pleasant”,
“hyper” but “easily redirected”. Chris-
tina didn’t initially want to give her
name or sign any forms, but she gave
her brother’s name when asked where
her son could go. So CPS placed An-
thony with Christina’s brother – not
informally, as a temporary caregiver
while Christina was locked up, but for-
mally, with the state taking legal cus-
tody. The doctor who then examined
Anthony wrote that he “show[ed] no
concerns for neglect or injury”. Never-
theless, the doctor authorized CPS to
hold Anthony for 72 hours while the
News
Christina’s criminal case closed; the charges were dropped. But CPS wasn’t so easy to shed.
Photograph: Lumigraphics/Getty Images
agency prepared to petition the court
for custody, recounting the altercation
with police and citing a relative’s com-
ment that Christina was not taking
medication for her bipolar disorder.
CPS didn’t speak to Christina before
these legal filings.
That’s how fast it happened. CPS
hadn’t been in her life that morning
and Christina had little expectation it
would be. The situation didn’t snowball;
it came like an avalanche.
From jail, Christina phoned her
brother, who informed her that CPS had
taken her son. “They said I couldn’t see
him,” she later recalled. “I don’t have
custody. I don’t have rights. Nothing.”
She started crying and screaming.
Another woman by the phone tried
to calm her down, telling her Anthony
would be OK with her brother. But that
wasn’t the point. “The point was, I didn’t
deserve my son to be taken.”
Christina was out of jail a couple
days later. The criminal case closed; the
charges were dropped. But CPS wasn’t
so easy to shed – it would be a long jour-
ney to return Anthony home.
Each year, over 250,000 US child-
ren like Anthony enter foster care. This
forcible family separation – among the
most extreme and intrusive govern-
ment actions – occurs much more often
than many realize, particularly among
Black and Native American families. A
staggering one in eleven Black child-
ren and one in nine Native American
children will be placed in foster care by
the age of 18. As the law and sociology
professor Dorothy Roberts has compel-
lingly articulated, this is a stark manife-
station of historical and ongoing racial
oppression, as well as a means through
which this oppression persists.
CPS is authorized to intervene
when children are unsafe – that is,
likely to experience severe abuse or
neglect. But perceptions of child safety
are highly discretionary. Families that
come to CPS’s attention are typically
navigating issues such as substance
misuse, domestic violence, mental
health needs, and homelessness, with
insufficient resources to address these
challenges. This means that family
separation essentially punishes parents
and children for their poverty and
adversity. Just as prison constitutes a
central institution in the lives of margi-
nalized men, CPS and foster care looms
large for marginalized women raising
children.
Back home from jail, Christina
desperately missed her son. “I was a
wreck … I’m used to getting up at
night, checking on my son.” She felt
like she was grieving Anthony. With all
the stress, she failed her classes that
semester. “I really feel like they took my
whole life away. It hurt so bad.”
Seeing little boys at her job, in a
supermarket, was heartrending. “Today,
I almost cried, ’cause I seen this little
boy,” Christina shared, nine months
after the removal. She offered one boy’s
mother a cookie for him. “She’s like,
‘What do you say?’ He’s like, ‘Thank
you.’ I was like, damn. I miss my son.
I want my baby.”
Foster care traumatizes children;
forcible family separation generates
immense pain and trauma for par-
ents, too. Beyond these losses, mothers’
experiences also cultivate a particular
kind of citizenship. As social scientists
have shown, people’s everyday expe-
riences interacting with the state – with
public benefits programs, police, and
schools, for instance – fundamentally
shape what they know and think about
government, inequality, and justice.
Taking children has always been
a political act, targeting marginalized
racial/ethnic groups to maintain power,
as documented by the historian Laura
Briggs. Over the years I spent re-
searching CPS – interviewing and
spending time with mothers in Rhode
Island and Connecticut – I saw how
family separation teaches affected
mothers that the state is an adversary,
working against them given their mar-
ginal social positions.
CPS gives parents, especially moth-
ers, first-hand experience with an
antagonistic, controlling government.
Caseworkers, attorneys, and judges
claim to help, but in mothers’ expe-
riences, these officials often work
againsttheir interests. Mothers don’t
see anyone on their side.
***
When Christina got out of lockup,
she called her CPS caseworker, who said
Anthony could be home within three
to six months. The caseworker’s notes
stated that Christina acknowledged her
“anger issues”. Christina told me that
she tried to see the positives first. “I was
like: I’ll use this time to go to school and
get myself together, and I won’t think
about it as him being taken away from
me.”
But the pathway to get Anthony
home became long and arduous, with
CPS repeatedly adding obstacles. At her
first court hearing, the judge ordered
that Anthony be placed at CPS’s discre-
tion. “OK. I’m thinking, that’s good. ‘CPS,
can I get my son back?’ ‘No … You have
to do stuff … Classes, this, that, the
third.’”
Christina started therapy, but subse-
quent court hearings were more of
the same. She asked CPS staff wheth-
er Anthony could come home after
a certain number of therapy sessions,
but she was told that her service pro-
viders would determine when she was
“stable”. CPS didn’t want therapy to be a
box to check; they wanted Christina to
demonstrate progress – as they defined
it – in her ability to parent. But Chris-
tina, frustrated, contended that she’d
complied with what CPS had asked, yet
Anthony still wasn’t home.
Sitting on a metal bench next to a
small playground, Christina looked out
at the hopscotch marked into the as-
phalt, wistfully recalling how she used
to sit there and watch Anthony play.
She was anxious. The clock was tick-
ing: per federal law, once children have
spent 15 of the last 22 months in foster
care, states are supposed to start the
process of terminating parental rights
permanently. Her case was coming up
on a year, with court officials’ summer
vacations delaying the next hearing.
“I’m scared because they keep playing
with me,” she said.
Two days later, Christina went to
a local park to visit with Anthony.
When her caseworker arrived with An-
thony, Anthony bolted at full speed
towards her. They chased one anoth-
er jubilantly around the playground.
Anthony’s father, a young Black man,
arrived. The three of them seemed
thrilled to be spending time together.
Christina relaxed. She held Anthony up
to do the monkey bars and clapped
wildly when he made it across. An-
thony’s father pushed him on the
swing. Anthony pumped his legs, grin-
ning widely, and laughing. With a big
smile on her face, Christina kissed An-
thony on the head when the swing
came to rest.
Christina’s caseworker was super-
vising the visit as ordered by the
judge, who cited Christina not show-
ing up for drug screens. Many afflu-
ent white parents recreationally use
marijuana, as Christina had, without
CPS intervention. Moreover, she was
working two jobs and had to drive
a half hour to the courthouse to
do the drug screens. Parents with li-
mited resources face substantial, often
essentially insurmountable, burdens to
meet CPS’s requirements. But rather
than help Christina overcome these ob-
stacles, CPS used anything less than
perfect compliance as a reason to pro-
long the process.
Once in Christina’s life following
the convenience store incident, CPS
added all manner of shifting conditions.
Like Christina, other mothers I met de-
scribed how their cases dragged on.
The first devastating days without their
children became weeks, then months,
then years. CPS kept coming up with
new services needing completion. With
its broad focus on child safety, the
agency did not want to ignore con-
cerns that arose over the course of the
case. But as mothers saw it, CPS kept
adding hurdles. They went to coun-
seling, they did regular drug tests, they
did anger management and domestic
violence and substance use treatment.
It felt like as soon as mothers met one
request, CPS added another. Their cases
kept getting continued in court. Mean-
13
Photograph: Princeton University Press
while, their kids were growing up.
***
On paper, CPS cases are sup-
posed to be different from their crim-
inal counterparts. Theoretically, par-
ents and CPS usually have the same
goal: to reunify children with their par-
ents or keep children at home. Yet
mothers whose children are removed
see caseworkers working in opposition
to them. As one mother said of her
caseworker: “She don’t talk about the
good things that I do. She talks about
the negative when we get in front of the
judge.” Another recalled: “The way she
would talk to me and look at me, I felt
like to her I was trash.” In Providence
family court, CPS staff sit at one table
alongside children’s attorneys, across
from parents and their attorneys at
another table, presenting parents’ inter-
ests as opposed to CPS’s and to their
children’s.
In theory, mothers can dispute the
terms CPS sets for them; in Connecticut
and Rhode Island, they are even pro-
vided attorneys. In reality, this doesn’t
do much to shift the power imbalance.
One mother described leaving mes-
sages for her attorney but never hear-
ing back: “I literally am stuck in a corner
with nobody on my side.”
Christina, too, called the legal aid
office every day after getting out of
jail, seeking her assigned attorney. The
secretary told Christina to stop call-
ing, as she wouldn’t meet her attor-
ney until the court date. When that
date came, her attorney knew noth-
ing about her case and approached her
with the wrong case file. Later, a dif-
ferent man was appointed as her attor-
ney and asked Christina for her infor-
mation. “[Legal aid] doesn’t service me,”
Christina concluded. At court, legal aid
attorneys like Christina’s are overbur-
dened, spending their days flitting in
and out of the courtroom between mul-
tiple cases, with only a few minutes to
speak to parents before each session.
As in a criminal case, the judge sits
on a platform at a large, imposing table.
Arriving for her first hearing, Christina
felt relieved to see a Black judge. She
thought he would understand, perhaps
having “had a struggle” himself. But he
silenced her. Christina described how
she kept raising her hand to speak, but
was advised not to: “The judge is like,
‘Put this on her record. We’re advis-
ing her not to speak. She still wants
to speak, so she can speak.’” Christina
Continued on page 14

14
Continued from page 13
said this “infuriated” her. She saw her
silencing as an insult to her intelligence
– like she was expected to “mess up”
– and as an injustice. “You should give
me that right, you understand?” she
later reflected. “You’re already taking
my rights away from me.”
Still, Christina spoke, rebutting
something the CPS attorney had said.
The judge admonished her, said she
was being “‘a little aggressive’. I said,
‘I’m sorry, your honor. I don’t mean to
be aggressive, but I’m really just trying
to get my son home.’”
Such experiences show mothers
like Christina how the system views
them – through racialized and gendered
lenses framing advocacy as aggression.
“He’s trying to teach me a lesson, like,
‘Don’t mess with me, ’cause I’m the
judge.’” She felt she didn’t have a say.
“It’s killing me because it’s like a major
energy force pushing me down, I feel.
The judge as being the powerful – it’s
like, who can override him besides the
supreme court?” The judge, who saw
her for a couple of minutes every few
months, had the power to determine
whether Anthony could come home.
Christina wished she had the funds
to hire a lawyer, “because if I get a paid
lawyer and he sees what’s going on, I
bet you any amount of money I would
get my kid back just like that”. The
inequalities Christina noticed taught
House speakership battle underscores
election-denying Republicans’ power
Sam Levine in New York
The Republican scramble to find a
speaker to lead the US House hasn’t just
brought dysfunction and a leadership
vacuum to Congress’ lower chamber –
it’s also setting off alarm bells for the
future of US democracy.
The speakership battle underscores
how Republicans who full-throatedly
embraced election denialism continue
to have access to positions of power.
It also serves as a startling example of
how a small minority of members are
able to wield considerable power in a
congressional system with few compet-
itive races and little incentive to work
within the party structure.
The two leading candidates to be
the next speaker, Steve Scalise of Loui-
siana and Jim Jordan of Ohio, tried to
overturn the 2020 election. Both voted
against certifying the electoral college
vote and signed on to a Texas-led law-
suit at the supreme court to try and
get the vote thrown out. Jordan, a
prolific spreader of election misinfor-
mation, was a key Trump ally before
and after the attack on the US Ca-
pitol who refused to cooperate with
the panel that investigated January 6.
Meanwhile, months after January 6,
Scalise still refused to say the election
was not stolen. If either of them were to
become speaker, it would place some-
one who openly sought to overturn the
election in one of the most powerful of-
fices in Washington.
“I see the GOP as an autocratic
party now and it has internalized the
principles and methods of the January
6 coup attempt as party dogma,” said
Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a historian at New
News
her how the system worked: She added:
“People who have a major support
system, like … a paid lawyer, those are
the people who get out. Other people
like me, very low income, not great
support system, bad background, the
system’s made for people like me.”
She continued: “It’s great for them
to antagonize me, ’cause they’re like:
‘Oh, she don’t got nobody. She don’t
know the ins and outs. We could whip
her right into shape, or we could do
whatever we want, basically.’”
Christina’s frustration mounted.
She didn’t know why Anthony couldn’t
come home or what more CPS wanted.
“I feel like it’s secretive, like there’s
things, there’s missing pieces. I feel
like they’re out to get me,” she said. It
seemed like no one wanted to help her –
even non-profit organizations were just
“in it for the money”.
She had recently watched a docu-
mentary series on Kalief Browder, a
teenager incarcerated for years with-
out trial for allegedly stealing a back-
pack. Christina saw their experiences as
linked, part of a larger narrative of racia-
lized injustice. She recognized how the
system had “beat him down to the
ground” without evidence of his wrong-
doing. One minor incident spiraled into
a traumatizing, years-long saga. Chris-
tina, too, tried to prove her innocence,
but to no avail. “Sometimes I feel like
[Kalief], closed in, no one can help me,”
she said. So she learned “to remain
‘What’s happened right now is an extreme form of minority rule,’ said Lee Drutman, a senior fellow at the New America foundation.
Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
York University who studies fascism
and authoritarianism. “Those who can
get ahead in the party have to be people
who are active in that regard and who
continue to support the coup attempt
and corruption more generally.”
If Jordan were to win the spea-
kership, “there would no longer be any
possible way to argue that a group of
elected Republicans could be counted
on to defend the Constitution,” Liz
Cheney, a Republican who served as the
vice-chair of the January 6 committee,
said in a speech last week at the Univer-
sity of Minnesota.
“Jim Jordan knew more about what
Donald Trump had planned for Jan-
uary 6 than any other member of the
humble”, because “no matter what I say
or do, I’m not in control”. Still, Chris-
tina remained resolute. She would con-
tinue to stand up for what she knew
was right. “I’m not letting [the judge]
take my power away from me,” she de-
clared.
Anthony remained in CPS’s custody
for nearly two years. Finally, a judge or-
dered Anthony home – even though
as far as Christina could tell, her situ-
ation hadn’t changed beyond securing
a medical marijuana card. She’d simply
been assigned to a different judge who
saw no reason Anthony couldn’t come
home. And she figured her caseworker
had grown tired of dealing with her.
When Anthony returned, Christina
had just moved into a new two-bed-
room apartment. Not much adorned
the place, except affirmations Chris-
tina had written on bright pink sticky
notes, posted on the cabinet: “you
will be successful”, “today will be a
good day”, “Christina, you are beau-
tiful”, “God loves you every day”.
Things were looking up. “Every-
thing is just, I guess, falling in place,”
she beamed.
Still, Christina thought often about
what she’d lost. “I can’t even believe
they took two years of my life,” she
sighed. “They took two years of my
son’s life that I can’t get back.”
***
In the US, CPS puts hundreds
of thousands of parents each year
House of Representatives,” she said.
“Jim Jordan was involved, was part of
the conspiracy in which Donald Trump
was engaged as he attempted to over-
turn the election.”
There are also questions about the
fairness of the congressional maps in
both Louisiana and Ohio that Sca-
lise and Jordan were elected under.
Courts have ruled the overall maps
in both states are illegal, though both
congressmen would likely survive any
redraw of the maps in their states.
The eight Republicans who voted
to oust Kevin McCarthy represent less
than 2% of the US population, ac-
cording to a Washington Post analysis.
All of them were elected in districts
The Guardian Thursday 12 October 2023
through this devastating experience.
Certainly, these parents are often expe-
riencing substantial adversity; they
cannot always meet children’s needs
in their current circumstances. Never-
theless, all deserve to be treated with
dignity; all ought to have a say.
Instead, the state exerts power: not
only through direct force – taking child-
ren – but also by subjecting moth-
ers to a system that disciplines and
disregards them. Because CPS inter-
vention is concentrated among margi-
nalized groups, poor women of color
in particular are further destabilized
and marginalized. Mothers come to see
their place as subordinate others whose
perspectives merit little state consid-
eration. CPS thus produces what the
law and sociology professor Monica
Bell calls legal estrangement, or “the
process through which institutions
perpetuate the idea that marginalized
groups do not fully share in all the
rights and freedoms that flow to other
Americans”. As they are part of family
and community networks, the parents’
experiences also ripple outward. Many
end up raising their children or grand-
children; the trauma of child removal,
and their understandings of justice and
the state, carry over to the next gener-
ation.
These experiences can make
mobilization challenging; they can also
create new opportunities for activ-
ism. Affected parents, and mothers in
that are safely Republican and have vir-
tually no chance of being ousted in a
general election. One the eight, Nancy
Mace of South Carolina, was elected
to represent a district whose boun-
daries were illegally drawn to discri-
minate against Black voters, a three-
judge panel ruled earlier this year (the
US supreme court will hear the case on
Wednesday).
“What’s happened right now is an
extreme form of minority rule,” said Lee
Drutman, a senior fellow in the political
reform program at the New America
foundation. “A fundamental principle
of modern democracy is that ultimately
majorities should get their way, assum-
ing they’re not infringing on individual
particular, are leading the way. When
the coronavirus pandemic hit, Repre-
sentative Gwen Moore, a Wisconsin
congresswoman whose own child had
been placed in foster care, intro-
duced legislation suspending federal
deadlines to terminate parental rights.
Around the country, parents are speak-
ing out, galvanized by their experiences
with CPS. They’re calling for alternative
means of promoting child and family
wellbeing, from direct cash assistance
to investments in schools, parks, hous-
ing, and community activities. Inclu-
sion, not exclusion.
Christina concurred, requesting
“more supportive help” beyond CPS. It
should go without saying that mothers
like Christina are full members of our
society, with intimate, first-hand know-
ledge of government operations. Why
aren’t we listening to them?
This is an extract from Inves-
tigating Families by Kelley Fong (Prin-
ceton University Press, £28). To support
The Guardian and Observer, order your
copy at guardianbookshop.com. Deli-
very charges may apply
The situation didn’t
snowball; it came like
an avalanche
liberties.”
The battle over the speakership
comes as the number of competitive
seats in Congress has fallen to record
lows – around 8% of House races were
decided within five points in 2022, ac-
cording to an analysis by FairVote, a
non-profit that advocates for electoral
reforms like ranked choice voting and
proportional representation. The av-
erage margin of victory in contested
races was 28 percentage points, the
report found.
That declining competition, com-
bined with an ability to raise significant
money over the internet and reach au-
diences directly through a fragmented
media ecosystem, has emboldened law-
makers to act more like “free agents”
said Richard Pildes, a law professor at
New York University.
“Party leaders have lost some of
the leverage that they once had over
potentially recalcitrant rank and file
members because these individuals no
longer, they don’t have to work their
way up through the party hierarchy
to have a national reputation,” he said.
“They’re not dependent on the party
or the party leadership for campaign
finance support. To the same extent.”
A body that appears dysfunctional
or unable to do the basic business of
governance makes for an “unhealthy”
democratic system, Pildes added.
“It can lead to withdrawal from
any interest in government or politics
or participation. It can lead to anger
and distrust and alienation,” he said.
“Even worse, it can lead to desires for
strong men or strong women figures
who purport to be able to cut through
Continued on page 15
Thursday 12 October 2023 The Guardian
Continued from page 14
all this dysfunction and deliver. So yes,
I do think it’s a dangerous dynamic for
Hamas attack on Israel might be setback for
Palestinian cause in US just as progress was
in view
Chris McGreal in New York
If Hamas intended to remind the world
that the Palestinians are still there
after years of marginalisation and inter-
national indifference to occupation and
deepening oppression, then its bloody
assault on Israel certainly achieved
that.
At the same time, the attack that
Joe Biden called “pure unadulterated
evil” might represent a huge setback for
the Palestinian cause in the US just as
the political debate and public opinion
was gradually shifting away from dec-
ades of often lockstep support for Israel
in Washington.
Pictures of slaughtered children
among the 1,000 dead, and traumatised
Israeli survivors filling US television
screens begging for the return of ab-
ducted relatives, prompted an out-
pouring of revulsion across the US
political spectrum and among ordinary
Americans.
Yet, Palestinian and more dovish
pro-Israel groups who have worked for
years to push a more open debate about
the Israel-Palestinian conflict said there
were signs of it paying off in the reac-
tion to the Hamas attack.
Hadar Susskind, president of Amer-
icans for Peace Now, sister organisation
of the Israeli peace movement, said that
where once there would have been only
unequivocal denunciations, some poli-
ticians and others wanted to give a
more nuanced take that took account
of the Palestinian reality.
“Right now, it’s very difficult. Over
the last years we are having better,
more reasonable conversations in our
political sphere. Not perfect by any
means but we’ve been moving in the
right direction. This is a very, very dif-
ficult moment. Everybody who’s talk-
ing about it needs to deal with this. But
I think we are dealing with it from a dif-
ferent baseline,” he said.
“I spoke to a number of members
of Congress and congressional staff and
others this week who were trying to
figure out how to say things that are
hopefully helpful and positive but also
true and not simply trying to score
points for your side.”
Several politicians strongly de-
nounced the “horrific acts” by Hamas
but said the attack did not happen in
a vacuum and that the way to end
News
democratic systems.”
As Republicans move towards elect-
ing a new speaker, it’s still unclear
which candidate, if any, will be able
Supporters of Israel attend a solidarity event in Glencoe, Illinois on Tuesday. Photograph: Nam Y Huh/AP
such violence was to “end Israeli mili-
tary occupation and apartheid”.
Before the Hamas attack, Amer-
icans for Peace now and likeminded
groups had been hoping to build on
shifts in US public opinion seen in a
Gallup poll earlier this year that found
for the first time more Democrats were
sympathetic to the Palestinians than
the Israelis by a margin of 11%, a signif-
icant shift from a decade ago.
Two years ago, a Jewish Electorate
Institute poll found that 58% of Amer-
ican Jewish voters support restrictions
on US military aid to prevent Israel
using it to expand West Bank settle-
ments. One-third agreed that “Israel’s
treatment of Palestinians is similar to
racism in the United States” and one-
quarter said that “Israel is an apartheid
state”, numbers that shocked some
Jewish community leaders.
Once unswerving US political sup-
port for Israeli governments has also
eroded as they move ever further to
the right. In August Chris Van Hollen,
a Democratic senator, called on Biden
to “get more personally engaged” in
stopping “racists” in the Israeli govern-
ment from a land grab in the occu-
pied territories and committing “gross
violations” of Palestinian rights or risk
damage to the US’s credibility.
Yousef Munayyer, former executive
director of the US Campaign for Pales-
tinian Rights, said it is too early to
to get a majority of the votes. But
regardless of which Republican ulti-
mately prevails, they’re almost certain
to have to deal with the same issues
predict the lasting impact but that the
attack has forced the Palestinian issue
back onto the agenda.
“Moments of this scale tend to
have longer developing impacts on eve-
rybody. I would emphasise that it’s hard
to walk away from this moment over
time and continue to ignore this issue.
People around the world, including
here in the United States, have dropped
the issue of Palestine and peace. The
urgency of addressing this issue and re-
solving it should be clear to everyone,”
he said.
For years, Israel has worked to
marginalise the Palestinians abroad as
well as at home, and to curb even non-
violent means of protest and action,
including pushing laws in the US to
punish boycotts as antisemitic.
The Biden administration paid lip-
service to a two state solution that ap-
peared to amount to little more than
cover for inaction and an unwillingness
to confront the reality of the Israeli
prime minster Benjamin Netanyahu’s
repeated statements that he would
never permit a Palestinian state.
Susskind said that the recent attack
forces the Palestinians back onto the
agenda “in a bloody, murderous, horrific
way”.
“The world is paying attention to
the Palestinians, and specifically to
Hamas, which is not accidental. That’s
a fact. There are many moments in his-
that McCarthy was ultimately unable
to control – a fragmented party where
a small minority can wield extreme
power irrespective of what the major-
tory and people in different countries
forcing attention by committing hor-
rible acts,” he said.
“Obviously the Biden adminis-
tration is being forced to pay atten-
tion right now. Nobody in this moment
is talking about what I would call the
positive agenda, how to make things
better, a peace process kind of agenda.
When this immediate fighting comes to
an end, we’ll see what happens. I think
there is going to be an Israeli reckoning
for Netanyahu and his government, and
then we’ll see what comes out of that.”
The direction of that debate in
the US is also likely to be influenced
by Israel’s military response over the
coming days and weeks. While the
focus for now is on the Israeli casual-
ties, the rising toll among Palestinian
civilians in Gaza who cannot flee the
enclave is likely to demand growing
attention.
Munayyer is concerned that Israeli
rhetoric is being turned into action.
“Now we are likely to see mass
atrocities being committed as the Israe-
li military is out for vengeance in the
words of the Israeli prime minister. So
a lot of people’s reactions to under-
standing all of this are going to be im-
pacted by what is still to come in the
days ahead of us,” he said.
Large-scale Israeli military assaults
on Gaza in 2008 and 2014 were instru-
mental in shifting public opinion in the
15
ity wants.
US, especially on university campuses.
The response to the Hamas attack
has also divided the US Jewish com-
munity which is largely united in its
condemnation, but has differences over
whether to acknowledge the occu-
pation and Israeli government actions
as a cause of continuing conflict.
Susskind said Americans for Peace
Now declined to sign a statement
by the Conference of Presidents of
Major American Jewish Organizations
denouncing the assault by “Iran-backed
Hamas terrorists”.
“We didn’t sign it because although
I agree with most of what it said, it
also called the Hamas attacks unpro-
voked and that’s not true. The Hamas
attacks were horrific. They are war
crimes. They are inexcusable. I con-
demn them, unequivocally 100 times
over. But unprovoked is not true,” he
said.
“This attack does demand a mili-
tary response. I am not a pacifist. But
there is a difference between the mili-
tary response and some of the language
that you’ve seen from Israeli political
leaders and others who are calling for
war crimes in return. The response
to that, is not to go in and indiscri-
minately kill Palestinian people. That’s
not an acceptable answer. War crimes
are never okay, by anyone.”
The “pro-Israel, pro-peace” group J-
Street was strident in its denunciation
of Hamas and support for military
action to defeat it.
But Debra Shushan, J-Street’s policy
director, said the attack obliges US poli-
ticians to recognise that things cannot
go on as before. She said it is right,
for now, for Washington to focus on
Israel’s “legitimate right of self-defence
in accordance with international law”
and securing the release of Israelis ab-
ducted to Gaza.
“In the longer term, there are many
questions that must be asked about
flawed policies and narratives. I expect
fertile ground for a recognition that a
return to the status quo ante of “man-
aging the conflict” is unacceptable. The
vision for a peaceful resolution of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a negotiated
end to the occupation of Palestinian
Territory, and a future of genuine secu-
rity, self-determination and equality for
Israelis and Palestinians must prevail.”

16
‘A sacrifice zone’: East Palestine’s wastewater
is flooding into this Ohio community
Stephen Starr
Mounted on the wall above Mark Mills’
head was a model of a large northern
pike. “This area is one of the most sou-
therly places in the country that you
can catch them,” said Mills, the mayor of
Coshocton, a town of 11,000 people in
Ohio’s Appalachian foothills.
Coshocton’s natural beauty and out-
door pursuits industry attract thou-
sands of people worldwide, generating
$60m annually for the local economy.
The local visitors bureau sends pack-
ages to people in countries as far away
as Poland.
But Mills and many other locals
are afraid all this is now under attack:
in recent weeks, thousands of gallons
of wastewater from February’s toxic
chemical derailment site in East Pales-
tine 100 miles to the north are being
delivered to an injection well outside
the town.
Owned by Buckeye Brine, a private
company, the injection wells will see
the wastewater pumped thousands of
feet underground for storage. It has
become a major concern for Coshocton
residents and fueled protests.
“If you pump millions of gallons
of something into the ground, at some
point it’s going to affect everyone,” Mills
told the Guardian recently.
“It doesn’t take a Nasa scientist [to
know] that all it takes is one geolog-
ical occurrence or ground shifting [and]
we’re going to be stuck with this issue.”
On 3 February, 51 cars derailed from
a Norfolk Southern train outside East
Palestine, dumping about 100,000 gal-
lons of hazardous chemicals and trig-
gering a huge fire that burned for days.
Hydrogen chloride and phosgene, a poi-
sonous compound, were released into
the air.
Cleanup has lasted months and
produced tens of millions of gallons
of wastewater laced with vinyl chlo-
‘No enemies to the right’: DeSantis ally hosts
debate hedging white nationalism
Jason Wilson
Conservative activist Christopher Rufo,
who is a close ally of Florida gov-
ernor and Republican presidential can-
didate Ron DeSantis, hosted a social
media debate in which one participant
argued that conservatives should coo-
perate with a hypothetical white natio-
nalist dictator “in order to destroy the
power of the left”.
Rufo, a Manhattan Institute fellow
who has been a hugely influential
figure in DeSantis’ culture war poli-
cies in Florida, did not disagree with
the participant’s sentiments. Instead
he commended speakers for their
“thoughtful points” and presenting the
discussion as a model for engagement
with “the dissident right”.
Rufo is a high-profile conservative
activist who in books, columns, media
News / Politics
Thousands of gallons of wastewater from the toxic chemical derailment will be delivered
to an injection well outside of town. Photograph: Gene J Puskar/AP
ride, a known carcinogen. Ohio’s emer-
gency management agency reported in
August that crews had collected and
disposed of 88,500 tons of hazardous
and solid waste and 28m gallons of “sur-
face and groundwater categorized as
hazardous waste”.
Buckeye Brine told the Guardian
that the wastewater being injected
underneath Coshocton is rainwater and
runoff from vehicles cleaned after oper-
ating in the affected site. The fed-
eral and Ohio environmental protec-
tion agencies say the wastewater has
been treated to drinking water safety
levels.
“The water is treated in batches
and then sampled and sent to an
Environmental Protection Agency-ap-
proved lab,” Buckeye Brine’s manager,
Susie Patterson, said. “The data for each
individual batch is then sent to Norfolk
Southern, [the] Ohio EPA and [the] US
EPA for analysis and approval before
being scheduled for transportation to
Buckeye Brine.”
A sample of each load that arrives
at the injection wells in Coshocton is
taken “to confirm compliance with our
operating permits”, Patterson said. But
appearances and a Substack new-
sletter has encouraged conservatives
to oppose “wokeness”. He has been
credited with mobilizing conservatives
against communities of color, first with
a distorted version of critical race
theory; then by linking LGBTQ-inclu-
sive education practices to pedophilic
“grooming”.
Rufo has exercised a particular
influence on DeSantis. Rufo reportedly
consulted on the drafting of DeSantis’s
“Stop Woke Act”, which bans schools
and workplaces from teaching that
anyone is inherently privileged due to
race or sex, and was invited by DeSan-
tis to witness the bill’s signing in April
2022.
Later, DeSantis appointed Rufo to
the board of trustees of Florida’s New
College in January. New College was a
traditionally liberal college, but under
Rufo is now transforming into a more
these measures – cleaning the water
before pumping it deep underground
– have baffled locals.
“The EPA says that it’s safe. My
question then is: why pump it in the
ground?” Mills said.
Patterson suggested that due to
“the sensitive nature of this project, I
would imagine that [Norfolk Southern]
want to take any measure necessary
to make the citizens of East Palestine
and downstream communities feel safe
going forward”.
In July, Norfolk Southern said the
cost of the cleanup and other derail-
ment-related expenses had rocketed to
$803m, including $222m in legal fees
and $63m in payouts to the East Pales-
tine community. It also faces several
class-action lawsuits resulting from the
accident and has sued the owners of
the rail cars carrying the chemicals to
help pay for the cleanup, according to
Reuters. In the months after the derail-
ment, firefighting wastewater and other
potentially toxic material were trans-
ported for treatment to facilities in
Michigan, West Virginia and Texas.
Buckeye Brine said it does not know
how much East Palestine wastewater
conservative institution – a move that
many say heralds DeSantis’ view of the
future of academia in Florida and the
US.
Rufo hosted the debate on X, the
social media network formerly known
as Twitter.
Participating in the debate was
Charles Haywood, a former shampoo
magnate who the Guardian previously
reported is a would-be “warlord” who
founded a secretive, men-only fraternal
society, the Society for American Civic
Renewal (SACR).
The debate concerned Haywood’s
promotion of a strategy he calls “no
enemies to the right”, which urges
people on the right to avoid any public
criticism of others in their camp, in-
cluding extremists.
Early in the Rufo-hosted discussion
last Tuesday, Haywood raised the hypo-
thetical possibility early in the discus-
The Guardian Thursday 12 October 2023
will be pumped into Coshocton’s injec-
tion wells.
For locals, that’s a frightening pros-
pect. Tim Kettler, a founding member
of the Coshocton Environmental and
Community Awareness (CECA) group,
said there are at least 22 oil and gas
wells within two miles of the injection
wells that present a danger of an over-
flow of the East Palestine wastewater
because they are drilled to the same
depth.
“You’re talking about the [under-
ground wastewater] plume spreading
laterally underneath the aquifer [and
potentially going] up into these oil-
wells,” he said.
Within a mile of Buckeye Brine’s
injection wells flow the Tuscarawas and
Walhonding rivers that – a few miles
downstream – form the Muskingum
River. That in turn flows into the Ohio
River, which supplies drinking water
for millions of people downstream in
Cincinnati and elsewhere.
For decades, there’s been mount-
ing evidence from around the coun-
try that injection wells can leak conta-
minants. Twice in 2021, tens of thou-
sands of barrels of oil and gas waste
leaked from idle or abandoned wells –
one less than 40 miles from Coshocton
– killing fish and threatening drinking
water. In nearby Athens county, four
fracking waste injection wells were sus-
pended by Ohio authorities last month
due to fears of contaminants getting
into water supplies.
But dealing with East Palestine
wastewater for decades and gener-
ations to come isn’t the only environ-
mental problem Coshocton residents
have been faced with in recent years.
For years, Kettler has battled the use
of toxic brine from oil and gas wells on
local roadways.
In winter and summer, brine is
sprayed on roads to prevent ice
and dust. Fracking and conventional
well drilling brine is known to con-
sion: “Let’s say a real white nationalist
arose who had real political power …
and therefore [could] be of assistance
against the left.”
Responding to the hypothetical,
Haywood said: “I think that the answer
is that you should cooperate with that
person in order to destroy the power of
the left.”
Later in the broadcast, Haywood re-
sponded to concerns about rightwing
authoritarianism by saying: “When
we’re talking about people like Franco
or Pinochet or even Salazar … they did
kill people. They killed people justly,
they killed people unjustly, and that’s
just a historical fact.”
“But,” Haywood added, “they saved a
lot more people than they killed.”
Augusto Pinochet was military dic-
tator of Chile from 1971 to 1990, and
after coming to power in a coup he tor-
tured, exiled or killed tens of thousands
Ohio EPA and EPA contractors collect
soil and air samples from the derailment
site on 9 March 2023 in East Palestine, Ohio.
Photograph: Michael Swensen/Getty Images
tain naturally occurring radium-226, a
bone-seeking cancer-causing isotope,
and radium-228. Kettler and colleagues
have worked to document radioactive
threats to their community.
“We have located these hotspots,
mostly in storm ditches,” Kettler said.
Although Ohio’s department of
transportation announced it would
stop using de-icing products made
from the brine, local authorities con-
tinue to use it due. It’s more cost-effec-
tive than traditional, salt-based de-icing
products.
Kettler said he constantly fears that
the brine will affect his family’s water
supply, which comes from a pond less
than 100 yards from the road where
brine is sprayed. For the past sev-
eral years, he and his neighbors have
been collecting brine samples from
roadsides and sending them to testing
laboratories. They are awaiting results.
“Appalachia is a sacrifice zone,” Kett-
ler said. “It’s always been preyed upon
by fossil fuels.”
The EPA says that it’s
safe. My question
then is: why pump it
in the ground?
Mark Mills
of his regime’s opponents.
Francisco Franco was dictator of
Spain from 1936 until his death in
1975, and his regime killed 100,000 to
200,000 people during the so-called
“white terror”. António de Oliveira Sa-
lazar was the head of Portugal’s autho-
ritarian, one-party state from 1932 until
1968; his regime repressed domestic
opposition and oversaw brutal colonial
policies in Africa that permitted forced
labor and other abuses.
In closing the discussion, Rufo
credited speakers with raising “some
provocative points on all sides, some
thoughtful points on all sides”, and told
listeners: “I think there is a room for
engaging the dissident right and the
establishment right. I think we need
to have a bridge between the two and
engage in thoughtful dialogue.”
Continued on page 17
Thursday 12 October 2023 The Guardian
Continued from page 16
The Guardian emailed Christopher
Rufo and the DeSantis campaign de-
tailed requests for comment prior to
publication, but received no response.
After publication, Rufo said in a
statement to the Guardian that he
was “against rightwing racialism and
against an unrestricted policy of no
enemies to the right”. He said that in
announcing the debate he had said,
in reference to some on the far right,
“some elements on the fringes of any
political movement are moral non-
starters – they should be given no defe-
rence, much less support”.
During the debate, Rufo also criti-
cized the US white nationalist Richard
Spencer, calling him “wrong morally,
politically, practically”.
Heidi Beirich, an extremism expert
who co-founded the Global Project on
Hate and Extremism, called the discus-
sion and its framing “a disaster” in an
email.
“By engaging true extremists –
white supremacists and authoritarians
– Haywood’s vision of ‘no enemies to
the right’ will sanction and empower
those movements,” Beirich wrote.
Beirich also wrote: “Conservative
cowardice on white supremacy is the
road to losing a democracy and pos-
Demonstration in Oslo seeks removal of
windfarms in Indigenous region
Ashifa Kassam European com-
munity affairs correspondent
and Ajit Niranjan
Hundreds of Indigenous and environ-
mental campaigners have blocked a
main thoroughfare in Oslo to demand
the demolition of two windfarms that
have been described by the Norwegian
government as a “violation of human
rights”.
The Wednesday protest traces its
roots to a landmark 2021 decision by
Norway’s supreme court that found 151
wind turbines in the western region of
Fosen had trampled on the rights of
Sámi reindeer herders by encroaching
on their pastures.
While the court said the turbines’
expropriation and operating permits
were invalid, it did not specify what
should be done with the infrastructure.
As a result, the 151 turbines con-
tinue to operate, making up part of
Europe’s largest onshore windfarm,
even as Sámi activists repeatedly call
for their removal.
“In this case there really isn’t
an acceptable compromise,” said Ella
Marie Hætta Isaksen, a Sámi activist.
“It’s really an absurd situation. Today on
the second anniversary of the verdict,
we have to drop everything and put our
everyday lives on hold because we need
Politics / World News
Rufo, a high-profile rightwing activist, has been credited with mobilizing conservatives against communities of color. Photograph: The
Washington Post/Getty Images
sibly much worse in terms of hate-
driven political violence and autocracy.”
She compared the “no enemies to
the right” doctrine to the situation in
“Germany in the 1930s when conserv-
atives worked with Hitler, seeing him as
less of a problem than communists”.
Hannah Gais, a senior research
Protester Ella Marie Hætta Isaksen near the Norwegian parliament in Oslo. Photograph:
Cornelius Poppe/EPA
to make sure that our own government
is following its law.”
The government’s reluctance to
remove the turbines was “completely
devastating”, she said. “It truly is a pain-
ful case. It feels like the government is
really strategically removing the rein-
deer rearing culture. And it really scares
a lot of young people because for us,
our culture is everything. It really feels
like we are nothing without our lands or
our reindeer.”
Hætta Isaksen was among the hun-
dreds of people, some waving Sámi
flags and wearing the traditional gákti,
who took to Oslo’s streets early on
Wednesday, setting up several Sámi
analyst at the Southern Poverty
Law Center’s Intelligence project, said:
“There’s sizable segments of the right
that want the best of both worlds,
namely the energy and the vigor of
reactionary far-right movements but
without any of the baggage.”
Gais added: “The idea that the ‘dis-
tents known as lavvu. Later she joined a
dozen or so people who occupied a hall
in the country’s parliament building,
singing joik, traditional Sami chants.
It was the latest in a series of pro-
tests calling for the turbines to be
taken down that have brought together
environmentalists and Sámi since the
court decision.
At a protest earlier this year, Greta
Thunberg, who is due to join the pro-
test on Thursday, was among those de-
tained.
At the time, the climate activist ex-
plained why she and others had rallied
behind the Sámi. “We can’t use the so-
called climate transition as a cover for
sident right’ – a sort of umbrella term
used within the movement to refer to
white nationalists and others on that
political spectrum – could make some
kind of viable political partner seems to
be an extension of this line of thought.
“What disturbs me the most about
these comments is it makes clear that
colonialism,” Thunberg told the broad-
caster TV2. “A climate transition that
violates human rights is not a climate
transition worthy of the name.”
The March protest was credited
with pushing the government to
acknowledge the harm that turbines
had done to the Sámi community.
“I have apologised on behalf of the
government to the reindeer herding
districts for the fact that the per-
mits constituted a violation of human
rights,” the minister of petroleum and
energy, Terje Aasland, told a news
conference.
Even so, the government has so far
resisted calls to tear down the turbines
and restore the lands where dozens
of kilometres of roads were built. In a
recent social media post, Aasland ap-
peared to rule out the possibility, writ-
ing that “the destruction of all wind tur-
bines was excluded”, according to AFP.
Instead, the government has
thrown its weight behind a mediation
process between the windfarms, which
can reportedly power 100,000 Nor-
wegian homes, and the herders who
continue to insist that the only solu-
tion is to take down the turbines.
The outcome of the conflict is being
watched for closely across Norway as it
could signal the fate of other projects
under development, from mines to
power lines, in the vast lands tradi-
17
some on the right are more than com-
fortable with the fact that the gua-
rdrails are off.”
In July Mark Granza, Italian-born
editor of far-right online magazine
IM-1776, hosted a Twitter space to
celebrate the launch of Rufo’s latest
book, America’s Cultural Revolution.
Haywood was an invited speaker at
that recording, and he said he was “ex-
tremely impressed” by Rufo’s book, call-
ing it “exquisitely written”, and prais-
ing its “explicit call for a counter-revo-
lution” and its “aggressive approach”.
Following the Guardian’s reporting
on Haywood’s involvement in found-
ing the Society for American Civic Re-
newal, conservative broadcaster Glenn
Beck condemned him and his ideas on
air.
The Guardian emailed Haywood for
comment on his appearance on Rufo’s
space but received no response.
The Guardian also previously re-
ported that Haywood is a featured
speaker at a “natalist” conference
planned for December in Austin, Texas,
where he is scheduled to appear along-
side other far-right figures and advo-
cates of eugenics.
This article was updated on 11 Oc-
tober 2023 to include a response from
Christopher Rufo.
Tents set up at an intersection on Karl
Johans gate in central Oslo in protest at
the windfarms on the Sámi Fosen penin-
sula. Photograph: Javad Parsa/NTB/AFP/
Getty Images
tionally used by the Sámi.
Gina Gylver, the head of the Nor-
wegian branch of Young Friends of the
Earth, welcomed the idea that the case
could set a precedent. “It is possible
to find solutions that also take into
consideration Indigenous rights,” she
said. “I think it is important for poli-
ticians to note that industry can be
moved but Indigenous people cannot.”
Others pointed to the years-long
dispute as a cautionary tale, with Ketan
Joshi, the author of Windfall: Unlocking
a Fossil-free Future, describing it as the
“obvious outcome of extremely poorly
thought-out wind power growth”.
In an email, he added: “Norway per-
fectly illustrates that fast but unjust
clean energy development ultimately
leads to a much slower pace of change
than a steady, sustainable and com-
munity-focused mode of development.”
Thursday 12 October 2023 The Guardian
Felled Sycamore Gap tree to be moved to
secret location
Phoebe Weston and Robyn
Vinter
The Sycamore Gap tree is being re-
moved from its spot on Hadrian’s Wall
after it was cut down by vandals two
weeks ago.
On Thursday a crane will lift the 50-
foot sycamore off the wall in Northum-
berland and it will be put into storage at
a National Trust property – the location
of which is not being disclosed for secu-
rity reasons.
The felled sycamore, which because
of its location had been one of the most
photographed trees in the UK, must be
removed to protect the 1,900-year-old
Roman wall and make the site safe, ac-
cording to the National Trust.
“Today we’re beginning the care-
ful task of preparing the site, before
the tree is lifted by crane tomorrow
and transported to a safe location,” said
Andrew Poad, the site’s general man-
ager for the National Trust. “It’s cur-
rently in a precarious position resting
on the wall, so it’s necessary we move
it now, to preserve the world-famous
Canada rejects request to protect northern
spotted owl habitat
Leyland Cecco in Toronto
Canadian cabinet ministers have re-
jected a plea by the country’s envi-
ronment minister to save an endan-
gered owl, casting doubt on the species’
survival in the coming years.
The Wilderness Committee
environmental advocacy group an-
nounced on Wednesday that federal
ministers had rejected a request for an
emergency order to protect the north-
ern spotted owl – a request submitted
by environment minister Steven Guil-
beault.
The Wilderness Committee has for
years lobbied the federal government
to intervene in the destruction of spot-
ted owl habitat.
In February 2023, Guilbeault saidthe
spotted owl was facing “imminent
threats to its survival” and told environ-
mental groups he would recommend
an emergency order to block further
destruction of its habitat in British
Columbia.
Guilbeault concluded that logging
must stop in an area of the Spô’zêm
Nation territory, including the Spuz-
zum and Utzlius watersheds, as well as
a further 2,500 hectares (6,200 acres) of
World News
Work begins on the removal of the felled sycamore on Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland,
11 October 2023. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA
monument that is Hadrian’s Wall, and
to make the site safe again for visitors.”
It is not possible to lift the trunk
in one piece so it will be sawn up, al-
though conservationists want to keep
the sections as large as possible. The
tree stump is being left and protected
by a temporary fence, with conserva-
tionists hoping that it will sprout new
The northern spotted owl. Photograph: All Canada Photos/Alamy
forest habitat that are at risk of logging.
In order for the emergency order
to go into effect, the federal cabinet
must accept Guilbeault’s recommen-
dation, after it consults affected First
shoots. Seeds have also been collected
in an effort to propagate the old tree.
According to a preliminary inspec-
tion by Historic England there was
“some damage” to the wall when the
tree fell. The public is being asked to
stay away from the site as the tree is
removed.
Poad said they had been “amazed
Nations.
After an eight-month delay, how-
ever, other cabinet members of the
governing Liberal party, which have
touted their commitments to biodi-
and inspired” by offers of help and
good wishes from the public. He said:
“It’s clear that this tree captured the
imaginations of so many people who vi-
sited, and that it held a special – and
often poignant – place in many people’s
hearts.”
The question of what to do with the
site is uncertain. Ideas put forward in-
clude making a memorial bench using
the timber, or displaying a cross-section
of the trunk that would allow people to
see inside the original tree.
Poad said the trust was working
with partners “to find the best way
of paying tribute to this much-loved
tree and involving the public in this
process”.
“The nature of the site, which
is designated by Unesco and is a
scheduled ancient monument, means
our plans must be carefully thought
through. We kindly ask people to please
bear with us while we consider what
might be possible.”
Tony Gates, the chief executive of-
ficer of Northumberland National Park
Authority, said: “The intention is to
ensure that the tree is stored safely so
versity protection, have rejected the
order.
Before industrial logging in south-
west British Columbia, there were
nearly 1,000 spotted owls in the old-
19
The tree at Sycamore Gap in Northum-
berland was a popular tourist spot before it
was cut down by vandals. Photograph: Jim
Holden/Alamy
that full consideration can be given to
how best to use the tree in future.”
Kim McGuinness, the police and
crime commissioner for Northumbria,
said felling the tree was like “stealing
joy”. Two arrests have been made in
the search for those responsible, and
a 16-year-old boy and man in his 60s
remain on police bail as investigations
continue.
Find more age of extinction coverage
here, and follow biodiversity reporters
Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield
on X (formerly known as Twitter) for all
the latest news and features
growth forests. Now, only one wild-born
owl remains. Two captive-bred owls re-
leased last fall were found dead in May.
Two more captive-bred owls were re-
leased into the wild earlier this year.
Biologists have told the Guardian
the species could recover with ade-
quate protections to key habitat areas,
all of which are old-growth forests.
The Wilderness Committee,
represented by environmental law
charity Ecojustice, will be in court on
18 October to determine if Guilbeault’s
eight-month delay in recommending
this emergency order to cabinet ad-
heres to requirements under the fed-
eral Species at Risk Act.
“The minister has been required
by law since January to recommend
an emergency order,” Ecojustice lawyer
Andhra Azevedo said in a statement.
“Instead, the minister spent months
‘engaging’ with [British Columbia],
while [British Columbia] made no new
commitments to protect habitat and in-
stead continued to approve logging. To
state the obvious, we have emergency
orders under the Species at Risk Act to
respond to emergencies – what we’ve
seen by the minister and now cabinet
is nowhere close to an emergency re-
sponse.”

20
BBC podcast prompts police to look again at
case of serial killer Bible John
Alexi Duggins
A podcast that investigated the un-
solved murders of three Glasgow
women in the 1960s has prompt-
ed police to re-examine the case of
Scotland’s most notorious serial killer,
known as Bible John.
The BBC series Bible John: Crea-
tion of the Serial Killer, created by
the former Guardian journalist Audrey
Gillan, focused on three women who
were all killed after nights out at Glas-
gow’s Barrowland Ballroom.
The series claimed that police chiefs
at the time covered up the identity of
Bible John, the man believed to be their
murderer, and alleged that he was John
Irvine McInnes, the cousin of a senior
police officer, whose name was always
kept out of official records.
Family members of the murdered
women – Helen Puttock, Jemima Mac-
Donald and Patricia Docker – say they
have been contacted by Police Scotland
as a result of the podcast.
“When the police officer phoned
and said they were going to reinves-
King Charles to acknowledge ‘painful’
colonial past on state visit to Kenya
Nadeem Badshah
King Charles will acknowledge the
“painful aspects” of Britain’s past ac-
tions in Kenya during a state visit later
this month.
The visit follows an invitation from
the country’s president, William Ruto,
whose country will celebrate the 60th
anniversary of its independence from
Britain on 12 December. The two coun-
tries have enjoyed a close relationship
in recent years despite the violent co-
lonial legacy of an uprising in the early
1950s, which led to a period known as
“the emergency”, which ran from 1952
until 1960.
The Mau Mau armed movement
was fuelled by the resentment some
members of the Kikuyu tribe felt to-
wards their British rulers and European
settlers who farmed land in Kenya, as
well as at a lack of political represen-
tation. White farmers were targeted in
violent attacks as were some Kikuyu
who were said to have collaborated
with the authorities.
The Kenya Human Rights Commis-
sion said 90,000 people were executed,
tortured or maimed during the Brit-
ish administration’s counterinsurgency
operation. The UK government made
a historic statement of regret in 2013
over the “torture and other forms of ill-
treatment” perpetrated by the colonial
World News
Police appeal for witnesses in this still from BBC TV series The Hunt for Bible John. Photograph: BBC
tigate, that was a bit of a bomb-
shell,” said Jemima MacDonald’s young-
est son, Allan Mottley. “I never im-
agined that they would get to this and
Charles’s visit to Kenya from 31 October to 3 November will be his first to a Commonwealth country as king. Photograph: Jane Barlow/AP
administration during the emergency
period and paid reparations of £19.9m
to about 5,200 people.
Charles and Queen Camilla spend
four days in Kenya from 31 October to
3November. It will mark Charles’s first
visit to a Commonwealth country as
king.
His deputy private secretary, Chris
Fitzgerald, said: “The king and queen’s
programme will celebrate the close
that they would relook at it all.
“I am not expecting that much, to be
honest. They might openly admit these
murders were not investigated properly
links between the British and Kenyan
people in areas such as the creative arts,
technology, enterprise, education and
innovation.
“The visit will also acknowledge the
more painful aspects of the UK and
Kenya’s shared history, including the
emergency … His Majesty will take time
during the visit to deepen his under-
standing of the wrongs suffered in this
period by the people of Kenya.”
The Guardian Thursday 12 October 2023
in the first place and we might get an
apology over the way they were inves-
tigated.”
The initial investigation was one
The development came after a legal
battle between a number of elderly vic-
tims and the UK government.
Charles signalled his support in
April for research into the British mo-
narchy’s historical links with trans-
atlantic slavery after the emergence of
a document showing a predecessor’s
stake in a slave-trading company.
The Guardian published a pre-
viously unseen document showing the
of the largest ever inquiries in Scot-
tish history, with police interviewing
7,000 people, taking 4,000 statements
and putting out notorious photofits of
the suspected killer, who was known as
Bible John due to him quoting scripture
during a taxi journey with Puttock and
her sister before she was murdered. No
arrests were ever made.
The body of John Irvine McInnes
– who died by suicide in the 1980s –
was exhumed in 1995 in relation to
the investigation, with DNA analysis
against a sample taken from Puttock’s
tights coming back inconclusive. The
podcast spoke to officers involved in
the 1995 investigation who said they
were certain that McInnes was Bible
John.
A spokesperson for Police Scotland
said: “We are assessing the contents of
a recent podcast in consultation with
the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal
Service. The murders of Helen Puttock,
Jemima McDonald and Patricia Docker
remain unresolved, however, as with all
unresolved cases, they are subject to
review and any new information about
their deaths will be investigated.”
1689 transfer of £1,000 of shares in the
slave-trading Royal African Company
to King William III, from Edward Cols-
ton, the company’s deputy governor.
Buckingham Palace did not com-
ment on the document but said it sup-
ported a research project, co-sponsored
by Historic Royal Palaces (HRP), which
manages several palaces, into the mo-
narchy’s involvement in the slave trade.
In June 2022, the then prince of
Wales expressed his “personal sorrow”
about “slavery’s enduring impact” at
the opening of the Commonwealth
heads of government meeting in Kigali,
Rwanda.
He said: “To unlock the power of our
common future, we must also acknowl-
edge the wrongs which have shaped
our past. Many of those wrongs belong
to an earlier age with different, and in
some ways lesser, values.”
Prince William expressed similar
sentiments in March 2022 during an ad-
dress to Jamaica’s prime minister and
other dignitaries that stopped short of
the apology activists had demanded.
He said: “Slavery was abhorrent
and it never should have happened.
I strongly agree with my father, the
Prince of Wales, who said in Barbados
last year that the appalling atrocity of
slavery forever stains our history.”
Thursday 12 October 2023 The Guardian
Slovakia’s pro-Russia former PM reaches deal
to form coalition government
Jon Henley Europe corres-
pondent
Slovakia’s populist former prime minis-
ter, Robert Fico, has said he has reached
agreement with centre-left and natio-
nalist parties to form a three-party coa-
lition government that could return
him to office for a fourth time.
“We have agreed that we want to
form a government together,” Fico said
on Wednesday of the deal, which in-
cludes Hlas, a moderate breakaway
party from his own Smer-SD party, and
the ultra-nationalist Slovak National
party (SNS).
Smer won last month’s parlia-
mentary elections with nearly 23% of
the vote, giving it 42 MPs in the 150-seat
parliament. Hlas, led by Fico’s former
deputy Peter Pellegrini, finished third
with 27 seats and SNS won 10.
The new government is expected to
scale back support for Ukraine in line
with Fico’s campaign pledges to halt
military aid to Slovakia’s eastern neigh-
bour, and to move the country closer to
Hungary in a further regional shift away
from political liberalism.
The coalition agreement says Slo-
Lula urges end to ‘insanity of war’ as Latin
Americans killed in Hamas attack
Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro
The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio
Lula da Silva, has called for an end
to “the insanity of war” as it emerged
that more than a dozen Latin Amer-
icans were killed during Hamas’s as-
sault, with citizens of Brazil and Argen-
tina taken captive in the Gaza Strip.
By Wednesday morning, Latin
American government and media re-
ports had confirmed the deaths of
seven Argentinians, two Brazilians, two
Peruvians, one Colombian and one
Paraguayan. At least 15 Argentinians,
three Peruvians, two Mexicans and one
Brazilian remain missing.
On Tuesday, the Israel Defense
Forces (IDF) spokesperson Jonathan
Conricus said dozens of hostages had
been abducted by Hamas fighters in-
cluding dual-national citizens from
Brazil and Argentina and people from
“many other countries”.
“So this isn’t an Israeli challenge
only,” Conricus added.
Jewish people have been migrating
to Latin America and the Caribbean
ever since European explorers began
traveling to the region in the 15th cen-
tury. Tens of thousands arrived in the
1930s and 40s, fleeing Nazi persecution
in Europe.
Today, Latin America boasts several
large Jewish communities, the biggest
of which is in Argentina, home to an
estimated 180,000 Jews. About 92,000
World News
Robert Fico and his coalition partners hold a press conference after signing their agreement. Photograph: Vladimír Šimíček/AFP/Getty
Images
vakia’s foreign policy orientation will
continue to be based on its “member-
ship of the EU, Nato, and other signif-
icant international organisations” while
“fully respecting sovereignty and na-
Lula, the president of Brazil. Two Brazilians have so far been confirmed dead. Photograph: Ton Molina/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
live in Brazil and 40,000 in Mexico.
In recent years thousands of Latin
American Jews have chosen to “make
aliyah” – meaning to return from the
diaspora to live in Israel – often seek-
ing better economic opportunities or to
escape the urban violence that plagues
many countries in the Americas.
Many of the Latin American victims
had done just that, including the two
Brazilians so far confirmed dead.
Ranani Glazer and Bruna Valeanu,
both 24, were killed at the Supernova
tional interests”.
Under the agreement, Smer will
appoint the prime minister and six
other ministers, Hlas the parliamentary
speaker and seven cabinet ministers,
music festival after it was attacked at
dawn on Saturday. Glazer was from
south Brazil but moved to Israel where
he served in the IDF and dreamed of
becoming a DJ. Valeanu was from Rio
de Janeiro but reportedly moved to
Israel last year to study at university.
“Bruna came to try and find dif-
ferent opportunities, a different quality
of life, a safer life,” her teacher, Fabio
Erlich, told the news website UOL.
“Apart from the moments of war, life
in Israel is very safe.”
and SNS three ministers. Fico said he
hoped to represent Slovakia at the next
EU summit in late October.
“Specific names and ministries will
be included in the coalition agreement,”
On Wednesday, a 26-year-old
Colombian woman named as Ivonne
Rubio was also reported to have been
killed at the same rave, around three
miles from the Gaza border. The Colom-
bian newspaper El Tiempo said Rubio,
who lived in Kfar Saba, a city in central
Israel, called her father early on Sat-
urday to plead for help. “Daddy, we’re
at war. I’m running to a bunker,” she
said before disappearing, according to
El País.
The Peruvian victims have been
21
he said. “I will present the list of minis-
ters to the president in a short time.”
It was not clear when the president,
Zuzana Čaputová, might swear in the
new government.
Fico backs humanitarian and recon-
struction aid for Ukraine but no fur-
ther military supplies, and wants the
EU to force peace talks – a line similar to
that of Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor
Orbán, but rejected by Ukraine and its
western allies.
Diplomats and analysts have said
Fico’s past pragmatism as the head of
governments between 2006 and 2010
and again from 2012 to 2018, as well as
the involvement of the more moderate
Hlas, could soften his line.
SNS, however, shares his virulent
anti-immigration rhetoric, populist ap-
proach and pro-Russian leanings. Its
leader, Andrej Danko, said in July that
Russian-occupied territories were not
“historically Ukrainian”.
Fico said on Wednesday that his
top priority would be cutting Slovakia’s
budget deficit and “protecting its sove-
reignty and national interests”, pledg-
ing in particular to halt the flow of il-
legal migration into the country.
named as Brandon David Flores García,
a 21-year-old IDF soldier who was killed
in combat, and Daniel Levi Ludmir, a
doctor who was reportedly killed while
treating the wounded.
“We will never forget you,” his
cousin, Steve Levi, tweeted.
Flores had moved to the Israeli city
of Ramle, which is reportedly home to a
large Israeli-Peruvian community made
up of people from the Amazon cities of
Iquitos and Pucallpa, in 2017.
Latin American citizens have also
been affected by Israel’s military re-
sponse in the Gaza Strip. At least
26 Brazilians have reportedly asked
Brazil’s foreign ministry to help them
escape the Israeli bombardment of
Gaza by evacuating them to Egypt.
Argentina, Brazil and Mexico have all
sent planes to evacuate their citizens
from Israel while Colombia has said it
will do so.
On Wednesday Brazil’s president
Lula urged the international com-
munity to launch an urgent humani-
tarian intervention to protect Israe-
li and Palestinian children from “the
insanity of war”.
“Hamas must release the Israeli
children who have been abducted from
their families. Israel must stop the
bombing so Palestinian children and
their mothers can leave the Gaza Strip
through the border with Egypt,” Lula
tweeted.

22
Top Mexican court to give new life to
controversial Trump-era border policy
James Fredrick in Mexico City
The Mexican supreme court is poised
to give new life to a controversial US-
Mexico border policy at a time when
both countries are looking for ways
to slow the flow of migrants heading
north.
The “Remain in Mexico” policy, offi-
cially called the Migrant Protection Pro-
tocols, is a Trump-era policy that forced
people seeking asylum in the US to wait
out their legal proceedings in Mexico
for months or even years. The govern-
ment of Mexican president Andrés
Manuel López Obrador accepted the
arrangement and allowed thousands of
asylum seekers to be sent back to the
country from the US.
But an injunction granted to the
Mexican non-profit legal group, Fun-
dación para la Justicia, in November
last year would have prevented further
Mexican cooperation in the program.
The court’s draft decision, which
will be discussed October 11, would re-
verse that injunction and “violate the
rights of migrants by allowing US laws
to be applied in Mexican territory and
violate the Mexican constitution and
international treaties signed by our
country”, said Fundación para la Jus-
ticia, along with several other non-
profit legal groups in Mexico and the
US.
“It’s dangerous that the US pushes
these policies but equally troubling
Mexico accepts them,” says Ana Paola
Delgadillo, the director of Fundación
para la Justicia. “Mexico is a very dan-
gerous country for migrants.”
Court finds police in France often use racial
profiling in identity checks
Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
France’s highest administrative court
has recognised discriminatory police
identity checks based on racial profiling
exist in France and are not isolated
cases, but said it could not change polit-
ical policy on the issue.
In a class action against the French
state, six French and international
organisations including Amnesty Inter-
national, Human Rights Watch and
the Open Society Justice Initiative had
asked for French authorities to be
found at fault for failing to prevent the
widespread use of racial profiling.
They had asked the court to impose
measures to make France end the prac-
tice, arguing that non-white people
across France, notably young men per-
ceived to be black or from north Afri-
can backgrounds, are routinely singled
out and stopped in the street, asked
for identity papers and frisked without
explanation – often several times a day
and from as young as 10 or 11 years old.
The court – the Conseil d’État –
stopped short of calling the issue sys-
temic, but did say such checks were
“not limited to isolated cases”.
World News
Veneazuelan migrants in Ciudad Juarez. Mexican authorities have detained a record number of migrants this year. Photograph: Luis
Torres/EPA
Remain in Mexico was originally
presented as a way to relieve pressure
on the US asylum system and dissuade
people from coming north. From Jan-
uary 2019 to June 2021, 74,000 asylum
seekers were sent back to Mexico under
the program, where they lived in infor-
mal refugee camps, despite claims from
the Mexican government that they
were providing safe haven for asylum
seekers. The complaint before the court
calls conditions for asylum seekers in
Mexico “subhuman”.
Data from Human Rights First
showed that asylum seekers funneled
into the program were being targeted
People march in Avignon in September to protest against police violence after the fatal shooting of a teenager in a traffic stop outside Paris.
Photograph: Igor Ferreira/SOPA Images/Shutterstock
Significantly, it also said the prac-
tice amounted to “discrimination for
the people who have had an identity
check on the basis of physical charac-
teristics associated with their real or
for kidnapping, extortion, torture, and
sexual violence by organized crime and
Mexican officials alike.
Following a campaign promise, Joe
Biden ended the policy soon after
taking office in January 2021, saying it
inflicted “substantial and unjustifiable
human costs”.
But federal courts in Missouri and
Texas ordered the government to reins-
tate the initiative, saying there was
insufficient evidence to support claims
of danger in Mexico. After nearly a
year of legal battles, the Biden adminis-
tration reinstated an updated version of
the program with alleged safeguards in
perceived origin”. But it added that it
did not have the jurisdiction to force a
change in political policy.
France has experienced widespread
protests and unrest over the police
The Guardian Thursday 12 October 2023
December 2021.
Under the new version, 41% of
asylum seekers reported being the vic-
tims of crimes in Mexico. Many of the
crimes were committed by Mexican
officials and a large share of them were
targeting LGBTQ asylum seekers.
The US supreme court ruled in June
2022 that the Biden administration
had the authority to end the program,
which it did by August 2022. The policy
is still pending in lower federal courts.
Upholding the draft decision in
Mexico would “open the door for the
Mexican government to accept more
migration agreements from the US with
shooting of Nahel, a 17-year-old boy of
Algerian descent, at a traffic stop out-
side Paris in June.
During the protests over his death,
teenagers and young people of black
no consequences”, said Delgadillo.
She said rejecting the policy would
establish precedent that would compli-
cate current US-Mexico border agree-
ments including title 8, under which
migrants are rapidly deported from the
US and banned from re-entry for five
years.
The possible revival of the policy
comes as the United Nations Migration
Agency reports “unprecedented num-
bers of vulnerable migrants” moving
through Central America and Mexico.
Through August, a record 390,000
people have traveled through the
Darién Gap, a deadly stretch of jungle in
Panama connecting South and Central
America. Mexican migration author-
ities have detained a record number
of migrants this year and the country
is expected to receive its most ever
asylum applications.
The upcoming decision would also
be a reversal from the overall trend of
Mexico’s supreme court when it comes
to migration.
A 2020 decision banned Mexican
migration authorities from detaining
children. A decision from earlier this
year limited detention of adult mi-
grants to 36 hours since lack of migra-
tion documentation is an adminis-
trative, not criminal, matter.
But rights groups say the Mex-
ican authorities have not followed su-
preme court decisions. On October 2,
the UN Working Group on Arbitrary
Detention said in the first half of the
year 240,000 migrants were detained
in Mexico beyond the 36-hour period
mandated by the supreme court.
and north African origin said they
faced widespread discrimination, and
were often stopped several times a day
by police for identity checks without
explanation.
Maïté De Rue, a senior lawyer at the
Open Society Justice Initiative who is
involved in the case, said: “The decision
of the state council is extremely disap-
pointing. It recognised that ethnic pro-
filing is a serious and pervasive problem
in France.
“But it missed the historic oppor-
tunity to order the French author-
ities to take measures to to end this
racial discrimination, in compliance
with their international obligations.”
Various organisations involved in
the case said it was symbolic that the
court had recognised that the discrim-
ination existed and was not just a ques-
tion of isolated incidents. But they said
the ruling had not gone far enough.
Bénédicte Jeannerod of Human
Rights Watch said she hoped this would
stop what she called the “posture of
denial” of successive governments over
the existence of the problem of racial
profiling in France.
Continued on page 23
Thursday 12 October 2023 The Guardian
Continued from page 22
Issa Coulibaly, the head of Pazapas,
a local youth group based in the Paris
suburb of Belleville, who was part of
the legal action, said the court had
“failed to understand the violence and
exclusion generated by these police
practices”.
He added: “They failed to grasp
the historic opportunity to improve the
daily lives of millions of their fellow
In Gaza and Israel, side with the child over
the gun
I
Naomi Klein
spent the evening in candlelight
and tears with a dear friend who
just learned that a close family
member was among those mas-
sacred in Israel. I won’t name the
kibbutz to protect her privacy but yes, it
was unequivocally a massacre.
We tried to explain the killing of
this family member – a civilian with
two kids – to our kids. We tried to do
it in a way that would not fill their
young hearts with fear and hatred for
the people who committed the crime.
That was hard enough, but possible.
Harder for us adults is the fact that,
in their desire to celebrate the powerful
symbolism of Palestinians escaping the
open air prison that is Gaza — which
occupied people have every right to
do — some of our supposed comrades
on the left continue to minimize mas-
sacres of Israeli civilians, and in some
extreme cases, even seem to celebrate
them.
In fact these callous displays are
a gift to militant Zionism, since they
neatly shore up and reconfirm its core
and governing belief: that the non-
Jewish world hates Jews and always
will – look, even the bleeding-heart
left is making excuses for our killers
and thinks that Jewish kids and old
ladies deserved death merely by living
The double standard with Israel and
Palestine leaves us in moral darkness
I
Moustafa Bayoumi
always dread watching US news
coverage of wars, and now is no
exception. After Hamas’s deadly
attacks in Israel and Israel’s hel-
lish bombardment of Gaza, I
checked in on MSNBC. Before long, I
heard one of their reporters talk about
“the violent history between these two
nations” – as if Palestine were a country
– and had to turn off the TV to get a
break. Palestine is not a country. That’s
the whole point.
Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank
and Israel all live under various re-
gimes of organized discrimination and
oppression, much of which makes life
nearly unlivable, and if the US media
can’t even frame the issue correctly,
what use is there in even covering it?
World News / Opinion
citizens, particularly those perceived as
black and north African.
“It was a missed opportunity. The
court had the opportunity to change
the daily reality of people subjected to
this. They considered they couldn’t do
it. And that raises a lot of questions.
How will that be seen by people af-
fected by racial profiling?”
He said people would once again
feel that the problem was being mini-
mised.
‘For Zionist believers (I’m not one of them), Jew-hatred is the central rationale for why Israel must exist as a nuclear-armed fortress.’
Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
in Israel.
For Zionist believers (I’m not one
of them), Jew-hatred is the central
rationale for why Israel must exist as
a nuclear-armed fortress. Within this
worldview, antisemitism is cast as a
primordial force that cannot be wea-
kened or confronted. The world will
always turn away from us in our hour
of need, Zionism tells us, just as it did
It’s not just laziness either. The ref-
lexive identification with Israel, by both
US media professionals and politicians,
always obscures the fuller picture of
what’s happening between Israel and
the Palestinians.
On 7 October, the national secu-
rity council spokesperson Adrienne
Watson stated that the US “unequi-
vocally condemns the unprovoked at-
tacks by Hamas terrorists against Israeli
civilians”. Every one of us must stand
up and denounce the killing of every
civilian, Israeli or Palestinian or oth-
erwise. But Watson’s use of the word
“unprovoked” is doing a lot of work
here.
What exactly counts as a provo-
cation? Not, apparently, the large
number of settlers, more than 800 by
one media account, who stormed al-
Aqsa mosque on 5 October. Not the 248
Coulibaly said he had turned to the
court because politics and politicians
had failed to address the problem for
40 years. “And today the court is send-
ing us back to politics, but for decades
the political class has failed to acted on
this,” he said.
In a separate ruling, the court
said police officers must clearly dis-
play their identification number badge,
which campaigners hope would im-
prove investigations into alleged police
during the Holocaust, which is why
force alone is presented as the only con-
ceivable response to any and all threats.
The Israeli state’s current mur-
derous leveling of Gaza is the latest,
unspeakably horrific manifestation of
this ideology, and there will be more
in the coming days. The responsibility
for these crimes of collective punish-
ment rests solely with their perpe-
Palestinians killed by Israeli forces or
settlers between 1 January and 4 Oc-
tober of this year. Not the denial of
Palestinian human rights and national
aspirations for decades.
One can, in fact must, see such
actions as provocations without en-
dorsing further murderous violence
against civilians. But if you watched
only US news, you would be likely to
presume that Palestinians always act
while Israel only reacts. You might even
think that Palestinians are the ones
colonizing the land of Israel, no less.
And you probably believe that Israel,
which holds ultimate control over the
lives of 5 million Palestinians in the
West Bank and Gaza and yet denies
them the right to vote in Israeli elec-
tions, is a democracy.
To be considered a political being
you must at the very least be consi-
violence
Officers’ number badge, known as
a RIO, should be made bigger so it is
readable, especially when they inter-
vene in large gatherings, the court said.
Although wearing the RIO has been a
legal obligation since 2013, it is often
too small, not clearly displayed or com-
pletely hidden, rights organisations had
told the court.
Lawyers said the badge ruling was a
“very good decision” butwould not pre-
trators and their financial and mili-
tary backers abroad. But we all have
to figure out how to make it stop.
So how do we confront this vio-
lent ideology? For one thing, we can
recognize that when Israeli Jews are
killed in their homes and it is celebrated
by people who claim to be anti-racists
and anti-fascists, that is experienced
as antisemitism by a great many Jews.
dered a human being. Who gets to
count as human? “I have ordered a com-
plete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will
be no electricity, no food, no fuel, every-
thing is closed. We are fighting human
animals and we are acting accordingly,”
Israel’s defense minister Yoav Gallant
said. Human animals? How can such
language and an announced policy of
collective punishment against all the
residents of Gaza be seen by Israel’s
supporters in the United States or else-
where as defensible? Let’s be clear: Gal-
lant’s language is not the rhetoric of
deterrence. It’s the language of geno-
cide.
There’s the nagging hypocrisy of the
war in Ukraine. So many around the
world support Ukraine’s resistance to
foreign occupation (as they should) but
blithely deny Palestinians any way to
resist their occupation. Even non-vio-
23
vent discriminatory identity checks.
In 2017, the French rights om-
budsman estimated that men per-
ceived to be black or north African were
20 times more likely than others to be
stopped by police for identity checks.
France’s interior minister, Gérald
Darmanin, told a parliamentary
commission in July: “It’s false to say
there is systemic racism in the national
police.”
And antisemitism (besides being hate-
ful) is the rocket fuel of militant Zion-
ism.
What could lessen its power, drain
it of some of that fuel? True soli-
darity. Humanism that unites people
across ethnic and religious lines. Fierce
opposition to all forms of identity-
based hatred, including antisemitism.
An international left rooted in values
that side with the child over the gun
every single time, no matter whose gun
and no matter whose child. A left that
is unshakably morally consistent, and
does not mistake that consistency with
moral equivalency between occupier
and occupied. Love.
It’s certainly worth a try. In these
difficult times, I’d like to be part of a left
like that.
Naomi Klein is a Guardian US col-
umnist and contributing writer. She is
the professor of climate justice and co-
director of the Centre for Climate Jus-
tice at the University of British Colum-
bia. Her latest book Doppelganger: A
Trip into the Mirror World was pub-
lished in September
This article was edited at the re-
quest of the author to reflect the fact
that celebrations of the deaths were
rare, and many leading figures on the
anti-colonial left, in Palestine and out-
side of it, clearly denounced the tar-
geting of civilians.
lent methods of resistance like the boy-
cott, divestment and sanctions cam-
paign is vilified and even criminalized.
Why the double standard? Unsurpri-
singly, such stances go all the way
to the top. The Ukraine president,
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has twice voiced
unilateral support for Israel in recent
days, saying that “Israel’s right to self-
defense is unquestionable”. Would he
say the same for Russia on his ter-
ritory? Of course not. Zelenskiy ought
to see how his invaded and occupied
land is more akin to the situation of
the Palestinians than the Israelis. The
obfuscations are everywhere.
So are the double standards. We
will certainly hear a great deal in the
US about the Israeli Americans killed
or abducted by Hamas, as we should,
Continued on page 24

24
Continued from page 23
but will those same voices rise to the
same volume for Palestinian Americans
threatened and killed in Gaza? Did they
also demand answers when the Israeli
military shot and killed the Palestinian
American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh
in May 2022?
The double standard may be ex-
pected considering how the plight of
the Palestinians has been discussed
in the past, but that doesn’t elim-
inate its moral darkness. It’s also partic-
ularly dangerous and tone-deaf at this
moment, when we’re on the cusp of
a government – Israel – using unprec-
edented violence on a largely defense-
less and penned-in population, in part
to cover for its own fatal mistakes and
embarrassment.
One fundamental way this double
standard operates is through a false
equivalence, a two-sides-ism that hides
the massive asymmetry of power be-
tween the state of Israel and the scat-
tered population groupings that make
up the Palestinian people. They’re not
equal. One dominates while the other is
The Guardian view on war in the Middle East:
protecting civilian lives is essential
T
Editorial
he shock and horror of the
massacres by Hamas in
southern Israel have only
intensified as the days
have gone by and the full
extent of the violence has emerged.
Young revellers slaughtered as they fled
a music festival; babies murdered with
their parents; the very young and old
taken hostage. This atrocity may not
be an existential moment for the state
of Israel, as the Yom Kippur war ap-
peared to be 50 years ago. But for
Israelis, and for Jews worldwide, their
belief in a homeland where they could
be safe after centuries of antisemitic
persecution lies in tatters. The death
toll stands at more than 1,200: “Not
since the Holocaust have so many Jews
been killed on one day,” said Israel’s
president, Isaac Herzog.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right
government of extremists has failed to
keep its contract with the people. Israe-
lis are stunned that the army took so
long to arrive. An estimated 150 hos-
tages are still held. Yet Haaretz reports
that the finance minister, Bezalel Smo-
trich, urged that the country “strike
Hamas brutally, and not take the issue
of the captives into account too much”.
This is the kind of partner on whom
Mr Netanyahu still depends. While his
political rival Benny Gantz has now
Opinion
Women hold candles during a rally to show support to Palestinians and against Israel's military operations in Gaza, in Santiago, Chile, on
10 October 2023. Photograph: Martin Bernetti/AFP/Getty Images
dominated. One colonizes. The other is
colonized.
At least since the Oslo accords of
Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City on 11 October 2023. Photograph: Mohammed Saber/EPA
joined an emergency national govern-
ment, he is unlikely to be a moderating
voice.
The history of this conflict is well
established. The pressing need now
is to address what lies ahead. Israel
has a right to defend itself. Nations
must also obey the laws of war, re-
frain from collective punishment and
protect civilians. Palestinians are not
Hamas. Almost half of Gaza’s 2.3 mil-
lion residents are children. They should
1993, we have been sold various prom-
ises that the way out of this injus-
tice was negotiated settlements; after
not have to ask their parents whether
they will live.
Israel’s defence minister says that
it is fighting “human animals”; a de-
fence spokesman talks of empha-
sising “damage, not accuracy”; a secu-
rity official says that Gaza will be a
“city of tents”. Whole neighbourhoods
have been obliterated by Israeli bom-
bardment, often without the few mi-
nutes of warning given in the past. Even
after so many years of conflict, fami-
The Guardian Thursday 12 October 2023
generations of enormous human sacri-
fice, Palestinians would finally achieve
their national aspirations. It was al-
lies in Gaza have not known the relen-
tlessness of this fear. More than 1,100
Palestinians have been killed, including
at least 326 children.
If you drop hundreds of tons of
bombs on a densely populated area,
large numbers of people will die. If you
cut off food, medicine, electricity and
water, they will die. Palestinians cannot
live safely in Gaza. But nor can they
leave, even if they are willing to risk
never returning. Israel has bombed the
ready clear to many of us that this had
long ago become a necessary illusion
maintained by the powerful. Today, a
negotiated peace seems farther away
than ever.
This both saddens and frightens
me. We are very likely entering
another long and painful era where
armed struggle and violent domi-
nation become increasingly and mu-
tually dependent on each other for sur-
vival. Yet neither can win. The Pales-
tinians will remain. They cannot be
eliminated. Israel too will continue to
exist. The future is full of unnecessary
and horrific bloodshed all around. Des-
perate western attachment to morally
bankrupt double standards bears a
large portion of the blame.
Moustafa Bayoumi is the author of
the award-winning books How Does It
Feel to Be a Problem?: Being Young
and Arab in America and This Muslim
American Life: Dispatches from the
War on Terror. He is a professor of Eng-
lish at Brooklyn College, City University
of New York. He is a contributing opi-
nion writer at the Guardian US
only crossing point, to Egypt. Sieges are,
as the UN human rights chief, Volker
Türk, stressed, a breach of international
law. The UN secretary general, António
Guterres, and the European Union’s for-
eign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, have
rightly urged Israel to abide by humani-
tarian law. The US, UK and others
should do likewise. US discussions with
Israel and Egypt on brokering an aid
corridor and potentially safe passage
for civilians must be prioritised.
All the indications are that Mr Neta-
nyahu will send in ground troops, lead-
ing to many more Israeli and Pales-
tinian deaths, and potentially wider
escalation – a particular peril given re-
gional power shifts drawing in Saudi
Arabia, the UAE and Iran. Hezbollah,
the Lebanese militant group, has
warned that it would become involved.
It has already claimed responsibility for
missile attacks.
It is shameful that, while Pales-
tinian and Israeli lives hang in the bal-
ance, outsiders are using this catas-
trophe to promote their own agendas,
from Islamophobia and antisemitism to
cutting US aid to Ukraine. Social media
platforms – notably X, formerly Twit-
ter – have allowed disinformation to
run rife. A tragedy is still unfolding
in the Middle East. It is the duty of
the international community, however
fractured, to work together to limit the
devastation.
Thursday 12 October 2023 The Guardian
Like Taylor Swift, millions of us dream of
packing in the day job. But where do we find
our Plan B?
A
Anita Chaudhuri
comment from Zadie
Smith caught my atten-
tion this week. Asked
whether she had ever
considered recording an
album (she is known among her friends
to be a talented singer), the novelist re-
sponded: “I have a dream of having a
Café Carlyle residency in New York in
my 80s. Just me, in a muumuu, singing
jazz standards interspersed with lite-
rary anecdotes.”
Here she is at the height of her suc-
cess dreaming of a career Plan B just
like the rest of us! When famous people
are asked about their possible alter-
native professions, their answers are
sometimes borderline bonkers. Justin
Bieber has said he’d like to be an astro-
naut, Taylor Swift “either an interior de-
signer or a detective” and Barbie star
Margot Robbie a trapeze artist (though
in fairness she did attend circus school
as a child).
Outlandish Plan Bs fascinate me
because for years I had one of my
own. Despite being perfectly happy
in my chosen profession, I had long
harboured the fantasy of becoming a
photographer. “Do a crash course on
YouTube, start a side-hustle,” advised
a goal-oriented millennial friend.
I’m afraid I ignored her, because the
idea of coming home at the end of a
stressful day and starting work all over
again on my “5 to 9” sounded like a
recipe for, if not full-on burnout, then
Claudia Goldin’s Nobel win acknowledges
what we should all know: women’s
economics is mainstream economics
A
Josie Cox
f e w ye a r s a go I
took a class on the
most influential modern
economists. It was at an
Ivy League institution in
the US and dozens of old, white men
and their theories made the syllabus.
Claudia Goldin was the only woman. On
the slide accompanying the lecture in
which she was featured, her name was
misspelled.
On Monday, Goldin won the Nobel
economics prize. After Elinor Ostrom in
2009 and Esther Duflo in 2019, Goldin
is only the third woman to win, and the
first to be honoured solo.
Goldin’s work has been instru-
mental in our collective understanding
of why gender gaps exist and how
female labour force participation has
ebbed and flowed over time, buffeted
by social, cultural, political and eco-
Opinion
In the frame … Photography may be one of the many ‘side-hustles’ gobbled up by AI. Photograph: MarioGuti/Getty Images
certainly burnt lasagne for dinner. In
the end, I took a lockdown leap and
applied to art school to acquire some
actual skills. I got a place on a part-
time MA in documentary photography
at University of the Arts which allowed
me to still work.
Has it brought me fame and riches?
Not as yet. Like many people who
dream of having a go at something dif-
ferent, I was focusing on creative fulfil-
ment rather than future-proofing my
finances. By the time I graduated in
2022, my dream of running a portrait
photography business was looking a lot
Professor Claudia Goldin after a press conference at which she was named this year's
Nobel economics laureate. Photograph: Carlin Stiehl/Getty Images
nomic factors. Her research, in many
ways, formed the basis of my upcoming
book, a narrative history of female eco-
nomic empowerment since the second
world war. Her credentials, even before
this week, unequivocally qualify her
as one of the pre-eminent economists
less viable – in part thanks to AI head-
shot generators.
If only I had had a little more Fobo,
AKA the fear of becoming obsolete.
This workplace trend is an updated ver-
sion of Fomo – the fear of missing out,
which now feels like a poignant throw-
back to more optimistic times. Gallup
has found that 22% of workers are wor-
ried that technology will put them out
of a job. And who can blame them?
Goldman Sachs predicts that gener-
ative AI has the potential to automate
the equivalent of 300 million full-time
positions.
alive today.
And yet still, in recent years, it
feels like the topic of women in the
economy has been sidelined, margi-
nalised and relegated to the fringes of
the field. One very obvious example is
the unpaid labour market, which, glo-
Unless I am following the wrong
Instagram accounts, it looks like I am
not the only one failing at Fobo. About
40% of UK workers have a side hustle
and given the range of work that might
be wiped out in 10 years – cupcake
bakers, life coaches and web designers
to name but three – it seems many of
my online friends are in endangered
professions.
One estimate suggests that 80% of
the jobs we’ll all be doing by 2030
haven’t even been invented yet. So
really, we should be dreaming up Plan
B careers like those included in a
bally, is overwhelmingly dominated by
women – often doing care and domes-
tic work – and is entirely unaccounted
for in widely accepted standards and
measures of economic activity, growth
and productivity. An enormous sector,
absolutely required for a functioning
economy, is still totally invisible in our
measurements and calculations.
Last week the consultancy McKin-
sey and the nonprofit LeanIn published
their annual Women in the Workplace
report, comprising research on 276
companies in the private, public and
social sectors. It concludes that women
are still systemically held back in the
workplace because of a host of fac-
tors, ranging from inadequate child-
care, expectations, norms, unconscious
bias and outright discrimination.
In my own research I was shocked
to find that business leaders – including
the CEOs of some of the world’s big-
gest corporations – still place the onus
on women to fix economic inequality
25
recent Inc magazine article on post-AI
professions. The list includes human-
machines teaming manager (basically
a sort of HR person to keep the ma-
chines in line), AI ethicist (to make sure
that the robotics don’t impinge on the
wellbeing of those pesky humans) and,
most confusing of all, digital detox the-
rapist. Will said therapist be unplugging
humans from machines or machines
from humans?
There is another reason that nur-
turing an alternative career might be
risky. Research indicates that having
a back-up plan can work against you.
Having a Plan B as a safety net can
cause people to make less effort at their
day job and – unhelpfully – run a greater
risk of losing it.
So, do I regret pursuing my Plan B?
Not at all – hopefully I’ve got a few
years before robot photographers take
over the world, and I currently spend
a day a week on photography. My only
sorrow is something unexpected. For so
many years, I had the fantasy of trying
something new. My “someday” ambi-
tion sustained me through dreary and
humdrum days. But now I’m actually
spending some of my week doing it,
this has created a weird empty space in
my life. It made me realise that having
an alternative career to dream about is
in itself sustaining and comforting. You
might never do it, and that might not
even matter. So, if you’ll excuse me, I
need to go and start working on my
Plan C …
Anita Chaudhuri is a freelance jour-
nalist and photographer
between genders. Some are still con-
vinced that the enduring gender pay
gap is simply a function of women’s
choice; a symptom of women just not
being as professionally ambitious as
their male counterparts.
Elsewhere, economics as presented
in the media is still an almost entirely
male-dominated domain, with men
disproportionately cited and quoted in
coverage. And, according to one exten-
sive study, just 0.02% of news cov-
erage globally focuses on seven subs-
tantive gaps between men and women,
in pay, power, safety, authority, confi-
dence, health and ageism. Every one of
these gaps has economic implications.
However, it doesn’t get more pres-
tigious or more mainstream than the
Nobel. The work of the winners is
designated as among the most conse-
quential and relevant to the world
in which we live. As such, I’m opti-
Continued on page 26

26
Continued from page 25
mistic that Goldin’s victory marks the
beginning of a new acceptance – an
unprecedented acknowledgment – that
women’s economics is mainstream eco-
nomics.
I’m hopeful that the potential value
of closing the gender pay gap, and
other gender gaps, globally, will start
to become common knowledge: that
The AI revolution is coming. Invest in
$10,000 handbags
H
Nils Pratley
ow do you invest in the
AI revolution? What’s
the best way to ride
a technological revo-
lution that, the pro-
moters say, will be as transformative
as anything we’ve seen yet in the dig-
ital age? Here’s a counterintuitive idea,
courtesy of Dhaval Joshi, chief stra-
tegist at BCA Research: puffed-up AI
stocks themselves may not be the best
bet; luxury goods companies, specif-
ically French ones, could be.
Joshi observes that, while you
would have done very well by owning
a portfolio of US tech stocks since the
mid-1990s, “the pre-eminent growth
sector” has been French luxury stocks.
You can see what he means in the
first chart, showing total investment re-
turns. The line that includes the likes of
Amazon, Apple, Google et al has been
beaten consistently by the one that
has been boosted by the stellar stock
market performances of the likes of
LVMH, Hermès, Christian Dior and the
Gucci owner Kering – four of the largest
companies on the Paris exchange.
“On most time horizons, French lux-
uries have trumped US technology on
profit growth, price performance and
total return performance,” he says. It
doesn’t matter if one’s starting point is
the infancy of the internet revolution,
The attack on Israel has been called a ‘9/11
moment’. Therein lies a cautionary tale
H
Kenneth Roth
amas’s appalling attack
on Israeli civilians has
been widely described
as the country’s “9/11
moment”. It is an appro-
priate description of such wanton cru-
elty. But the analogy carries a cautio-
nary note as well.
The US government lost the world’s
sympathy, and the moral high ground,
when its response to 9/11 degenerated
into a highly abusive war in Iraq, syste-
matic torture, and endless detention
without trial in Guantánamo. The Israe-
li government should be careful not
to replicate this path to opprobrium.
Indeed, such an abusive response may
be exactly what Hamas wanted to pro-
voke.
Opinion
economists at central banks and profes-
sors at universities will as readily talk
about the fact that doing socould add
$7tn to the world economy as they talk
at present about supply and demand
curves.
According to research conducted by
the UN, only 61.4% of prime working-
age women are in the labour force,
compared with 90.6% of prime work-
ing-age men. And as it stands, the next
On most time horizons, French luxuries have trumped US technology on profit growth, price performance and total return performance,
notes an analyst at BCA Research. Photograph: Edward Berthelot/Getty Images
the birth of social media or even the
post-pandemic economic bounce. The
outperformance has persisted.
Why might that be? Joshi points
to the second chart: the luxury com-
panies’ ability to increase prices, which
has been unaltered by factors such as
the cost of living crisis. One line shows
the rate of general inflation. The other
shows the “cost of living extremely
well” index, as compiled for the past 40
Whose heart could not go out to
the young people who gathered for an
all-night music festival in the desert,
only to have the revelry broken at dawn
by Hamas militants shooting people
at random and killing a reported 260?
That massacre was compounded by
Hamas’s slaughter in various Israeli
communities bordering Gaza, its abduc-
tion of what appears to be 100 or
more civilian hostages, and its indiscri-
minate rocket attacks into civilian
neighborhoods.
Yes, Palestinians were unders-
tandably frustrated as Benjamin Neta-
nyahu’s far-right government kept ex-
panding the illegal settlements in the
occupied West Bank and East Jeru-
salem, boxing in the people of Gaza
with a punitive blockade, and imposing
an discriminatory and oppressive rule
on millions of Palestinians under occu-
generation of women will probably still
spend, on average, 2.3 more hours a day
on unpaid care and domestic work than
men. It’s mostly invisible labour that
holds women back from reaching eco-
nomic autonomy and independence.
And this doesn’t just matter to women,
it matters to all of us.
In a beautiful bit of irony, just a
few hours before Goldin’s prize was
announced, she published a working
years by Forbes magazine. It is essen-
tially a billionaire’s basket of goods: last
time it included a Rolls-Royce Phan-
tom, a $2,800 Gucci dress and a $10,000
Chanel handbag. Again, one line consis-
tently outpaces the other.
Luxury goods companies, in other
words, have been the beneficiaries of
massive – and widening – disparities
in global wealth. There’s nothing new
in that thought, but the mechanics of
pation that has been widely described
as apartheid. To make matters worse,
one Arab government after another has
been normalizing relations with Israel
after at most token concessions to the
Palestinians that did nothing to change
their persecution. Still, none of that jus-
tifies resort to war crimes, as Hamas has
done.
It is a basic premise of international
humanitarian law that war crimes by
one side do not justify war crimes by
the other. Of necessity, given the pas-
sions, charges and counter-charges of
most wars, the duty to comply with
the rules designed to spare civilians as
much as possible the hazards of war is
absolute, not contingent on the beha-
vior of opponents.
The Israeli government already
seems to be flouting those rules. The
declared siege of Gaza, blocking food,
The Guardian Thursday 12 October 2023
paper titled Why Women Won. In it,
she details 155 critical moments in US
women’s rights history between 1905
and 2023. Then she herself became the
subject of what’s certainly deserving of
the 156th spot on that list.
My wish is that in years to come we
won’t need to refer to lists such as this,
and the gender of a Nobel prize winner
will no longer be deemed almost more
newsworthy than the merit of the work
the pricing power are subtle. As Joshi
argues, higher prices actually increase
a luxury product’s cachet, so the com-
panies become less reliant on selling
greater volumes. And, critically, it’s hard
for newcomers to enter the exclusivity
race since brand prestige is deemed to
build up over decades; so a “moat” is
built around profitability.
The AI angle here is twofold. First,
is the tech companies’ own moat –
water and electricity, violates the duty
to allow humanitarian aid to civilians
in need, as the people of Gaza cer-
tainly are as they suffer massive Israe-
li bombardment. In the first day of
those airstrikes, the Israeli military tar-
geted four large apartment towers. In
the past, Israel has purported to justify
such attacks because of an ostensible
Hamas office somewhere in the com-
plex, but the civilian cost of rendering
hundreds of Palestinians homeless is
wholly disproportionate. One attack hit
a market, reportedly killing dozens. The
UN says two hospitals have been hit.
Though apparently less frequently
than in the past, the Israeli military
has at times been issuing warnings
to Palestinian civilians, which it is re-
quired to do whenever feasible, but
that does not provide carte blanche to
attack. In the 2006 war against Hez-
that actually earned that laureate the
prize. This is the beginning of a new
chapter, but the work that still lies
ahead is considerable.
Josie Cox is a journalist and broad-
caster specialising in business, finance
and gender equality
the network effect that creates their
winner-takes-all business models – as
robust as luxury firms’? Probably not,
says Joshi. Generative AI looks to have
fewer network features so the tech
giants may be slightly less safe in their
current laxly regulated oligopolies.
Second, the current investment
worry about luxury goods firms, which
has caused a small wobble in valua-
tions, concerns the slowdown in growth
in China. That factor was evident
in LVMH’s third-quarter numbers on
Tuesday, which showed sales up only
9% versus 17% in the two previous
quarters. But it may not be the biggest
worry. The real risk for the luxury firms,
argues Joshi, is that the rise of the su-
per-wealthy comes to an end, which,
sadly for the rest of us, feels unlikely. “If
anything, the coming disruption from
generative AI will boost super-wealth –
by hollowing out middle-income jobs
while enhancing the positions of the
superstars,” he says.
That is a depressing conclusion, of
course. But, given the choice of owning
one of two similarly highly rated sec-
tors for the long term, which would
you pick? On the evidence of the past
two decades, Joshi’s view that “the best
investment play on generative AI might
be French luxuries” has a certain logic
to it.
bollah in southern Lebanon, the Israe-
li military issued similar warnings and
then attacked anyone who remained as
if they were all Hezbollah fighters, even
though many civilians were unable or
unwilling to flee. In Gaza, the Israeli
military is reportedly flattening neigh-
borhoods after such warnings – attacks
that not only endanger any civilians
who remain but also seem more de-
signed to punish the civilian popu-
lation than to target Hamas fighters
who impose their will on the people
of Gaza by force.
There is also something cruel and
otherworldly about the Israeli govern-
ment’s warning to the people of Gaza
to flee. Where? From one densely popu-
lated Gaza neighborhood to another as
they are pummeled in turn? To Egypt,
Continued on page 28

28
Continued from page 26
which has helped Israel reinforce the
blockade and has shown no inclination
to welcome the 2.2 million residents of
the territory? After the warning, the
Israeli military bombed the crossing
to Egypt. And if people escaped Gaza,
would Israel ever let them return, or
would this be another one-way flight as
in 1948?
Already we are hearing the usual
refrain – that Hamas is responsible for
the loss of civilian life because it is
using civilians as “human shields”. But
“shielding” refers to purposefully using
the presence of civilians to prevent an
attack, not mere fighting from urban
areas, especially when that is what so
much of Gaza is. Sometimes Hamas
undoubtedly violates that rule, but the
duty to protect civilians from harm lies
foremost with the attacker.
Civilian deaths in Gaza are climb-
ing rapidly and will undoubtedly soon
far surpass the toll from Hamas’s ini-
tial attacks. Things will only get worse
if Israel proceeds as expected with a
ground invasion. The government will
try to exculpate itself by saying that it is
The Israel crisis is horrific. Republicans say
it’s a ‘great opportunity’ to attack Biden
T
Andrew Gawthorpe
his week the eyes of the
world have been fixed on
the horrific panorama of
violence in the Middle
East. Once all of the dead
are counted, it is likely that nearly
as many Israelis will have died in a
single day as in the entire second inti-
fada, which lasted from 2000 to 2005.
The death toll is also growing in Gaza,
with no telling how high it may reach.
The United States has dispatched naval
forces to the region amid fears that the
conflict may spiral to include Hezbollah
or even Iran, an eventuality which
could see the US join the fighting di-
rectly. The region is a tinderbox – and
one wrong move could set it ablaze.
In the US, steady and sober leader-
ship is needed. Americans may be
among those held hostage in Gaza, and
the risk of a wider war is ever present.
Now is not the time for partisan point-
scoring. Unity shouldn’t mean a stifling
consensus – there’s plenty of room for
discussion about what the best Amer-
ican response to the situation should be
– but it should mean agreement around
basic norms of constructive debate and
decision-making. This should also be a
time in which everyone can agree that
it’s important that the US government
is able to perform its basic functions
smoothly, both to ensure good deci-
sions are made and that lives are pro-
tected.
Unfortunately, Republicans seem
incapable of rising to the occasion.
From the first hours in which the world
began to learn of the horrific events
unfolding in southern Israel, prominent
Republican figures have seemed just as
interested in blaming Joe Biden as they
have Hamas.
One of the party’s first reactions
came from Republican National Com-
Opinion
‘The US government lost the world’s sympathy, and the moral high ground, when its response to 9/11 degenerated into a highly abusive war
in Iraq.’ Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
not deliberately killing civilians, as Joe
Biden stressed in his remarks on Tues-
day. But it makes little difference to the
dead whether they were purposefully
‘The RNC chair Ronna McDaniel greeted news of the attack by calling it a “great opportunity” for Republican presidential candidates to
criticize Democrats.’ Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images
mittee chair Ronna McDaniel, who
greeted news of the greatest atroc-
ity in Israeli history by calling it
a “great opportunity” for Republican
presidential candidates to criticize
Democrats. The candidates themselves
seemed to agree, with many leaping
into the fray to pin the blame for the
attack on Biden’s supposed “weakness”.
Perhaps most disgusting and divi-
sive has been the spectacle of Repub-
licans telling outright lies in order to
claim that the Biden administration
is directly “complicit” in the attack,
as Senator Tim Scott has claimed.
Donald Trump and others say that the
Biden administration helped finance
the attack with a recent deal in which
$6bn in Iranian oil revenue was unfro-
zen in exchange for the release of five
American hostages. But this money –
not a cent of which has yet been spent
– is controlled by Qatar and can only be
targeted or killed because of the Israe-
li government’s desultory compliance
with international humanitarian law.
Israel had every reason to respond
used by Tehran to purchase humani-
tarian supplies. Meanwhile, it’s clear
that this attack has been in the work
for months – far before the deal was
even struck.
Cheap and partisan attacks not
only make it difficult to have a se-
rious discussion about American for-
eign policy – they also allow Repub-
licans to avoid talking about the ways
in which their own actions have made
the US less prepared for a serious inter-
national crisis. The Republican senator
Tommy Tuberville is single-handedly
blocking 300 routine military appoint-
ments, including many top posts in
the Middle East, in protest of the Pen-
tagon’s abortion policy. And he’s sig-
naled he has no intention of changing
his mind.
Senators Rand Paul and JD Vance
have also placed blanket holds on con-
firming nominees to the state depart-
The Guardian Thursday 12 October 2023
militarily to the atrocious Hamas as-
sault on its civilians. But a good
reason to fight is no reason to vi-
olate the rules governing that fight.
ment – in one case because Vance
wanted them to fill in a “wokeness
questionnaire” first. Among the posi-
tions that remain unfilled with a per-
manent appointments are the state
department coordinator for counter-
terrorism and ambassadors to both
Israel and Egypt. Meanwhile, thanks to
Republican dysfunction, there is cur-
rently no speaker of the House, making
it unclear how additional US aid might
be made available to Israel or Pales-
tinian civilians if it is needed.
In order to avoid the sort of par-
tisan point-scoring that Republicans
are engaging in, it should be made
clear that these facts almost certainly
had nothing to do with the decision by
Hamas to launch its attack. The attack
is not in any way the fault of the Repub-
lican party. But what is the fault of the
Republican party is the fact that the
US government is lacking crucial per-
If the Israeli government responds to
its 9/11 moment with George W Bush-
like indifference to those rules, it will
soon follow the route of his govern-
ment from global sympathy to global
outrage. I only hope that the prospect
of such a trajectory gives it pause.
Kenneth Roth, former executive
director of Human Rights Watch
(1993-2022), is a visiting professor at
Princeton’s School of Public and Inter-
national Affairs. On Twitter he is @Ke-
nRoth
There is something
cruel and
otherworldly about
the Israeli
government’s
warning to the people
of Gaza to flee
sonnel at a time of grave international
crisis.
Hamstringing the ability of the
Biden administration to act might even
be a feature rather than a bug of the
Republican response. If the party recog-
nizes the unfolding horror primarily as
a “great opportunity” to hammer the
Democrats, then that opportunity can
be maximized by making it as difficult
as possible for the Biden administration
to respond effectively. This is a grave
charge, not to be made lightly. But how
else to explain a party which refuses, in
a time of possible war, to let the military
appoint the officers it wants to their
posts in the war zone?
It is a perilous sign that Republicans
would rather engage in partisan crit-
icism rather than a constructive discus-
sion over the best and most humane
policies for the US to adopt. The party
no longer believes in the basic idea of
a functioning, competent government,
even in the face of a regional war. As
the Biden administration makes tough
decisions about how to save American
lives and stop the war from spreading,
it can expect little help from across the
aisle.
Republicans have made the choice
to put their own narrow interests over
those of the nation. They could at least
have the decency to stop pretending
otherwise.
Andrew Gawthorpe is a historian of
the United States and the creator of
America Explained, a podcast and new-
sletter
Republicans have
made the choice to
put their own narrow
interests over those of
the nation
Thursday 12 October 2023 The Guardian
‘I’m honoring these people’: Spike Lee on
‘filling’ the Brooklyn Museum with his
creative sources
Syreeta McFadden
Spike Lee is telling me the story of how
he had to convince Frank Sinatra to let
him use his music for Lee’s 1991 film
Jungle Fever. Apparently, Ol’ Blue Eyes
was upset about one of the film-maker’s
earlier movies, Do the Right Thing.In
an unforgettable scene, a ruckus breaks
out in Sal’s Pizzeria, the neighborhood
restaurant where the film’s protagonists
hang. At one point during the chaos,
a devastating fire starts, and the walls,
adorned with photos of beloved cele-
brities – such as Frank Sinatra – burn.
Lee was trying to negotiate the
rights with Sinatra’s daughter, Tina,
who at the time handled the music
legend’s business affairs. “You disres-
pected my father,” Tina told Lee, by
his own account. Lee apologized and,
for weeks, begged for a way to make
amends. He told me that when he
began writing Jungle Fever, he had a
specific soundscape in mind, one that
would establish the texture of a subver-
sive film about interracial relationships
in a post-civil rights era.
He’d already gotten Stevie Wonder
onboard to write new songs for the
soundtrack, and he saw Sinatra’s music
as a nice juxtaposition. In Lee’s mind,
both were crucial to telegraph the film’s
two emotional conflicts: the salacious
affair between a married, middle-class
Black man in Harlem and a single, work-
ing-class Italian American woman in
Bensonhurst, Brooklyn; and the family
drama of a drug-addicted son at the
height of the crack epidemic.
Of his final plea to Sinatra, Lee told
me: “I don’t type. So I hand-wrote a
10-page letter.” Ultimately, he got the
rights.
This story underscores a crucial
detail about the mind and passions
of Spike Lee: he has an unyielding
commitment to being in conversation
with masters of other crafts. Music,
From bedtime with Harry Styles to watching
stars snooze: the meteoric rise of sleep celebs
Isabelle Aron
In July 2020, something new dropped
from Harry Styles. Naturally, people
went wild for it. But it wasn’t an album
or a tour announcement. It was a bed-
time story.
Produced as part of a series on
the sleep and meditation app Calm,
Styles’ story, Dream With Me, was an
instant hit. According to Calm, the app
crashed on the day it launched be-
cause so many people were trying to
listen to it. Since then, Dream With
Me has remained one of Calm’s most
popular sleep stories. The company
hasn’t shared individual figures, but
combined with another story, Wonder,
Features
Spike Lee: Creative Sources at the Brooklyn Museum. Photograph: Danny Perez
as the Sinatra anecdote illuminates,
is one of the most important tools
that propels Lee’s creative ethos for-
ward (consider the opening sequences
for many of his movies and documen-
taries). Once a novice who received crit-
ical acclaim for his early independent
films, today, Lee, who’s 66, is an iconic
film-maker known for producing some
of the richest, most pointed critiques
of American social life. As his fame
and prestige have expanded over the
years, however, Lee has remained a cu-
rious student of the innovators who
have shaped his unique style.A new
exhibit, Spike Lee: Creative Sources,
offers a bountiful exploration of those
influences. Lee, a voracious collector
of music and sports memorabilia, Black
art, photography and film history, once
said of his amassing: “I could fill the
Brooklyn Museum.” And though Crea-
tive Sources, housed at Lee’s home-
town museum, doesn’t quite fill the
place, the collection features more than
450 items from his archive.
The show, curated by Kimberli Gant
and Indira A Abiskaroon, may over-
whelm the senses at first. But patterns
emerge, and objects and ideas overlap
to illustrate an interconnected core at
the two have had more than 30m lis-
tens. The reader of Wonder? Matthew
McConaughey.
It isn’t just the dulcet tones of Styles
and McConaughey that are helping
people drift off. In recent years, there
has been no shortage of celebrity sleep
stories, where well-known figures read
soothing bedtime tales over a wash
of peaceful music or ambient noise.
Calm’s series also includes narratives
read by the likes of Stephen Fry, Cillian
Murphy and Mary Berry. Last year saw
the launches of John Legend’s “sleep-
cast” on Headspace and Audible’s Sleep
Sound with Jamie Dornan, a six-part
“sleep aid podcast” (there are now two
more seasons, voiced by Sienna Miller
and Maya Jama). Even the radio sta-
the center of Lee’s body of work. The
exhibit includes clips from the penul-
timate moments of Lee’s most quintes-
sential films; an original copy of a
1968 Esquire issue with Muhammed
Ali on the cover; a photograph of
Denise McNair – one of the four girls
killed in the 1963 16th Street Baptist
church bombing in Birmingham, Ala-
bama – in her pajamas clinging to a
baby doll; a portrait of Malcolm X; a
painting of Toni Morrison; the artist
Deborah Roberts’ collage of Trayvon
Martin; a limited edition platinum of
Stevie Wonder’s piece de resistance,
Innervisions; and a first edition copy of
Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were
Watching God.
“That’s on the scroll for She’s Gotta
Have It,” Lee told me of the opening
sentences of Hurston’s 1937 novel. And
like a great professor – Lee teaches film
at his alma mater, NYU’s Tisch School
of the Arts – he tests me to see if I
can recall the lines from memory. (He is
pleased when I can.)
One of Lee’s favorite items on view
is an African National Congress flag
signed by Nelson and Winnie Mandela,
which he acquired while he was film-
ing Malcolm X in 1992. “Many of the
tion Classic FM has got in on the action
with Classical Dreams, in which presen-
ters such as Alexander Armstrong, My-
leene Klass and Alan Titchmarsh lead
breathing exercises before reading you
uneventful stories set in places such as
Vienna, Venice and Salzburg.
Some comedians, too, are going
against the grain by actively trying to
be soporific. “Hopefully there are some
good jokes and people can relax into a
state where they can fall asleep,” says
comic Joe Pera. His podcast, Drifting
Off with Joe Pera, sees him talking – in
his incredibly soothing voice – about
making soup or the history of clock
chimes, against a background of relax-
ing music. But it can be trickier to get
right than you might think.
things in the show are [from] people
from my personal pantheon,” Lee told
me. “I’m honoring these people.” He also
underscored his spiritual connection to
the objects: “When I’m in my office,
I’m looking at them, and they’re look-
ing at me.” Though these objects are
particular and personal to Lee, the cura-
tion allows outsiders to draw connec-
tions between Lee’s film vernacular and
works by other artists.
Prints in the show by James Van Der
Zee, the Harlem Renaissance photo-
grapher, typically hang on the walls
outside Lee’s editing room at his 40
Acres and a Mule Filmworks studio
in Brooklyn. They are part of his
philosophy of cultivating an immer-
sive and inspiring work space. Many
of the prints on view help clarify for
visitors the aesthetics in Lee’s oeuvre:
Mookie and Tina’s love scene from Do
the Right Thing, for instance, signals
back to Man Ray’s sensual nude por-
traits, which are exhibited alongside
Margaret Bourke-White’s Depression-
era documentary photography and Ri-
chard Avedon’s minimalist portraiture.
These images are essentially mood
boards that Lee used to help construct
dozens of scenes.
Lee’s collection unearths his deep
reverence for history, nostalgia and
Black trailblazers. He adores the Negro
League baseball players and the boxing
greats such as Jack Johnson and Joe
Louis. But what’s more, these athletes
are sacred vessels that energize him.
The elders in my family who remember
the night Joe Louis beat Max Schmel-
ing in 1938 still adopt a wistful awe in
recounting what that moment felt like
for Black Americans. Lee, who wasn’t
alive when that fight happened, has
the artifacts to preserve that collec-
tive memory: Louis’s boxing shorts
and a breathtaking oil painting by the
artist Alexander Van Armstrong of his
banged-up face, which are paired to-
gether in the exhibit. Lee alchemized
“We got in trouble a few months
ago,” says Pera – who has been doing
sleep content since an early standup set
saw him try to make audiences nod off.
“I was talking about clock tower bells
and we wanted to use the sound of
this bell in the Czech Republic. The au-
dience got a little pissed at us because
it disturbed the relaxation. It’s kind of
nice, because it means they were re-
laxed before the bell rang.”
For Pera, the “highest compliment”
he can get for his podcast is that it
helped someone fall asleep. But people
also get in touch to say that it got
them through a tough time. Others
have found an entirely different use
for it: “Inevitably, somebody says they
took drugs and had a better trip be-
29
Spike Lee: Creative Sources. Photograph:
Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
these objects to shape a memorable
moment in Malcolm X: after Malcolm
ends his shift as a porter, he’s enveloped
in the thrall of revelers celebrating in
the streets of Harlem after Louis beat
Billy Conn in 1941.
For Lee, a Black man coming of
age in mid-20th century America, these
memories and items are a rebuke to
the erasure of Black people in conse-
quential moments in American history.
Lee cherishes these lineages of Black
American greatness and the work ethic
that made these icons extraordinary.
This collection has helped Lee chan-
nel his focus; to achieve mastery in
his art-making, he uses the artifacts as
a reminder that talent requires rigor,
endurance, flexibility and adaptation.
Film-making is a painstaking and
arduous process that, for Lee, requires
many hands, exacting concentration
and a drive to create indelible mo-
ments that endure over lifetimes. He
works to cultivate nostalgia and mean-
ing beyond perception, an unnameable
mystery that is difficult to translate. To
that end, Lee’s collection is a Wunder-
kammer; how else can one connect
to the sublime, the ancestors and the
muses? The exhibit seems to suggest
that if art-making is part discipline, part
imagination, then its third, most misun-
derstood element is engagement with
the ineffable.
cause they listened to the podcast. You
put it out there but you never know
how people are going to use it,” he says.
***
It’s easy to see the appeal of cele-
brity sleep podcasts. As Pera says, the
idea of going to sleep while some-
one reads you a story isn’t new. But
on Twitch, YouTube and TikTok, a
whole other kind of sleep content
has emerged: sleep streaming. Con-
tent creators on various platforms are
streaming themselves while they sleep,
with surprisingly lucrative results. One
of the best-known sleep streamers
is Amouranth, who recently said she
could make up to $15,000 from one
Continued on page 30
 The Guardian Thursday 12 October 2023
30 Features

Continued from page 29 of community and authenticity”. She

sleep stream. Another sleep streamer
is Mikkel Nielsen, AKA StanleyMov. He
says that the money he makes from
sleep streams on Twitch is enough to
cover rent, bills and groceries, and that’s
without factoring in any money from
YouTube.
But Nielsen’s approach to sleep
streaming is a little different. For start-
ers, his content doesn’t involve him get-
ting much sleep. There are two types
of sleep streaming content, he says.
“There is the type for people who feel
lonely, so they find someone to watch
who is just sleeping normally. Nothing
is happening – they watch that stream
to have some company,” he says. “Then
there’s the other kind of sleep stream,
which is what I do, where it’s purely for
entertainment purposes – it’s to mess
with my sleep schedule, it’s to fuck me
up as much as possible.”
During Nielsen’s streams, viewers
donate money so that they can wreak
havoc with his sleep. That could mean
flickering the lights in his bedroom,
playing loud noises or activating the
shock bracelet he wears. He even has
Pillow talk … Harry Styles’s bedtime story, read by himself, was an instant hit. Photograph:
Valérie Macon/AFP/Getty Images
a subwoofer underneath his bed which
vibrates the entire room.
Unsurprisingly, Nielsen says he has
only managed to nod off for a few mi-
nutes during these streams. He’s been
doing them for the past two years, al-
though he is now taking a break. “I
would go insane if I had to do it over
and over again,” he says. But the appe-
tite is there; his subscribers ask every
day when he’ll do another.
Why do people feel such a need
to be virtually lulled to sleep? Geral-
dine Joaquim, a clinical hypnotherapist
and psychotherapist who specialises in
sleep disorders, says that with both
celebrity podcasts and sleep streams,
it’s about finding comfort at a time
when you can feel most isolated. Sleep
streams, she says, can create “a sense
adds: “Seeing people at their most
vulnerable and unfiltered makes the
viewer feel like they are sharing in a
personal and real experience in a world
where so much is edited, scripted or
fake.”
Pera thinks it’s because night-time
can be lonely. “People want to be kept
company. Oftentimes your thoughts are
spiralling to places you don’t want
them to go. Having something that will
centre you makes sense. I use audio- Cillian Murphy, possessor of a remark-
books. I feel like the need has been ably soothing voice.
there for a while, ever since people have
been read stories as children. It’s a nice one-sided connections are needed, that
feeling, instead of just laying in the dark people are perhaps filling a void in their
by yourself.” lives because they feel isolated and
Of course, having iPads and phones unable to develop relationships with
in our bedrooms – and relying on them people around them.”
to get to sleep – isn’t ideal, says Joa- Perhaps having to watch a stream
quim. But perhaps more concerning is of a stranger sleeping in order to get
the idea that people need to watch a some shut-eye isn’t a perfect solution,
stranger go to sleep to help them drift but it’s probably better than staying up
off. “This may highlight how isolated all night. And hey, if the only way you
some people are feeling, particularly can get to sleep is with the soothing
the younger generations – they can’t sounds of Harry Styles in your ears,
connect with ‘real’ people but rather then who are we to judge?
with strangers through these tools,” she
says. “It is concerning that these remote

‘People are happier in a walkable

neighborhood’: the US community that
banned cars
Oliver Milman in Tempe, Ari-
zona
If you were to imagine the first car-free
neighborhood built from scratch in the
modern US, it would be difficult to con-
ceive such a thing sprouting from the
environs of Phoenix, Arizona – a sprawl-
ing, concrete incursion into a brutal
desert environment that is sometimes
derided as the least sustainable city in
the country.
But it is here that such a neigh-
borhood, called Culdesac, has taken
root. On a 17-acre site that once con-
tained a car body shop and some large-
ly derelict buildings, an unusual expe-
riment has emerged that invites Amer-
icans to live in a way that is rare out-
side of fleeting experiences of college,
Disneyland or trips to Europe: a walk-
able, human-scale community devoid
of cars.
Culdesac ushered in its first 36 resi-
dents earlier this year and will even-
tually house around 1,000 people when
the full 760 units, arranged in two
and three-story buildings, are com-
pleted by 2025. In an almost star-
tling departure from the US norm,
residents are provided no parking for
cars and are encouraged to get rid of
them. The apartments are also mixed
in with amenities, such as a grocery
store, restaurant, yoga studio and bi-
cycle shop, that are usually separated
from housing by strict city zoning laws.
Neighborhoods of this ilk can be
found in cities such as New York City
and San Francisco but are often prohi-
bitively expensive due to their allure, as
well as stiff opposition to new apart-
ment developments. The $170m Cul-
desac project shows “we can build
walkable neighborhoods successfully
in the US in [the] 2020s,” according to
Culdesac in Tempe, Arizona. Photograph: Adam Riding/The Guardian
Ryan Johnson, the 40-year-old who co-
founded the company with Jeff Berens,
a former McKinsey consultant.
Johnson has the mien of a tech
founder, with his company logo T-shirt
and fashionable glasses, and was part
of the founding team of OpenDoor,
an online real estate business. But his
enthusiasm for car-free living was born,
he said, from living and traveling in
countries such as Hungary, Japan and
South Africa. Originally from the “clas-
sically sprawly” part of Phoenix, John-
son once had an SUV but has been car-
free for 13 years. Instead, he has a collec-
tion of more than 60 ebikes, although
he said he has stopped acquiring them
as he is running out of storage space.
“Today in the US we only build two
kinds of housing: single family homes
that are lonely and have a painful
commute, or we build these mid-rise
projects with double loaded corridors
and people mostly just walk to their car
and that makes people know fewer of
their neighbors,” said Johnson.
“We look back nostalgically at col-
lege, because it’s the only time most
people have lived in a walkable neigh-
borhood. People are happier and heal-
thier, and even wealthier when they’re
living in a walkable neighborhood.”
Culdesac is not only different in
substance, but also style. The devel-
opment’s buildings are a Mediterranean
sugar-cube white accented with ochre,
and are clustered together intimately
to create inviting courtyards for social
gatherings and paved – not asphalt
– “paseos”, a word used in Spanish-
speaking parts of the US south-west to
denote plazas or walkways for strolling.
Importantly, such an arrangement
provides relieving shade from the
scorching sun – temperatures in these
walkways have been measured at 90F
(32C) on days when the pavement out-
side Culdesac is 120F (48C), the devel-
oper claims. The architects call the
structures “fabric buildings” that form
shared public realm, rather than charm-
less, utilitarian boxes situated next to a
huge, baking car park.
“It’s positively European, some-
where between Mykonos and Ibiza,”
said Jeff Speck, a city planner and
urban designer who took a tour of
Culdesac earlier this year. “It is amaz-
ing how much the urbanism improves,
both in terms of experience and effi-
ciency, when you don’t need to store
automobiles.”
There is a small car park, al-
though only for visitors, some dis-
gorged by Waymo, the fleet of Google-
owned driverless taxis that eerily cruise
around Phoenix with their large cam-
eras and disembodied voices to reas-
sure passengers. To calm any nerves
about making the leap to being car-
free, Culdesac has struck deals to offer
money off Lyft, the ride-sharing service,
and free trips on the light rail that runs
past the buildings, as well as on-site
electric scooters. The first 200 residents
to move in will be getting ebikes, too.
Such a place is an oddity, Speck
points out, because of a car-cen-
tric ethos that permeates US culture
and city planning. Over the past cen-
tury, huge highways have been plowed
through the heart of US cities, oblite-
rating and dislocating communities –
disproportionately those of color – leav-
ing behind a stew of air pollution.
These roads have primarily served a
sprawling suburbia, comprised almost
entirely of single family homes with
spacious back yards where car driv-
ing is often the only option to get
anywhere. This car dependence has
been reinforced by zoning laws that not
only separate residential from commer-
cial developments, but require copious
parking spots added for every new
construction. “The result is a nation in
which we are all ruthlessly separated
from most of our daily needs and also
from each other,” Speck said.
Culdesac can be seen, then, as not
only a model for more climate-friend-
ly housing – transportation is the US’s
largest source of planet-heating emis-
Ryan Johnson, Culdesac’s CEO, stands on
the balcony of the company’s model apart-
ment in Tempe, Arizona, on 5 October.
Photograph: The Guardian
sions and, studies have shown, fuels
more of the pollution causing the cli-
mate crisis – but as a way of some-
how stitching back together commun-
ities that have become physically, so-
cially and politically riven, lacking a
“third place” to congregate other than
dislocated homes and workplaces.
Culdesac residents have “this
shared thing of living without a car” and
can have the sort of chance encoun-
ters that foster social cohesion, ac-
cording to Johnson, who himself lives
in one of the airy apartments. “When
we started, people said: ‘What are you
doing? You’re not going to get permis-
sion to build that. The demand’s not
going to be there,’” he said. “And instead,
we got unanimous approval, and there’s
a lot of demand, and it’s open. Resi-
dents love it.”
Vanessa Fox, a 32-year-old who
moved into Culdesac with her husky
dog in May, had always wanted to live
Continued on page 31
Thursday 12 October 2023 The Guardian
Continued from page 30
in a walkable place only to find such
options unaffordable. For her, Culdesac
provided a sense of community with-
out having to rely on a car every time
she left her apartment. “For some, cars
equal freedom, but for me, it’s a restric-
tion,” she said. “Freedom is being able to
just simply walk out and access places.”
Speck said that he expects closer
relationships to form among residents.
“We will soon have Culdesac babies,” he
predicted.
Fox admits, though, that some of
her family and friends consider her
decision to go car-free to be somewhat
‘He changed my life’: Tom Hiddleston, Rachel
Weisz and more on Terence Davies
Catherine Shoard
‘He grew in passion and tears welled
in his eyes’
Tom Hiddleston, The Deep Blue Sea,
2011
I have never met or worked with
anyone like Terence. His mind was like
a poet’s. He saw poetry everywhere:
in the composition or movement of a
shot; in a line reading; in the Shipping
Forecast. He would often do his own
rendition, in his unmistakably sonor-
ous voice, with a twinkle in his eye:
“Fair Isle / Cromarty / Forties … south-
west veering west, five to seven … show-
ers, moderate or good … with some
fog banks.” Everyone laughed. Everyone
loved it.
I remember once on set, while di-
recting a scene between Rachel Weisz
and I, between takes he suddenly
started quoting a long passage from
Little Gidding, the fourth of TS Eliot’s
Four Quartets.As he recited the poem,
completely by heart, he grew in passion
and tears started to well in his eyes. It
was almost as if Eliot’s poem was for
him a key – or a chord – within which
he wanted us to play the scene. The
poem and his depth of feeling were our
cue for the right territory and temper-
ature. He created an atmosphere and
our performances were to follow. He
was a man of great passion and sensi-
tivity.
I’ll never forget the first time I
saw Distant Voices, Still Lives. I never
lived in the past he evoked or re-
created, but I knew instinctively that
it was totally authentic. It knocked
me for six. Women and men singing
– unaccompanied, often to accompany
themselves, in joy or in pain – alone
or in the pub, simply for the pleasure
of singing. He was such a close, honest
observer of his own childhood, and his
past.
He wasn’t trying to be anyone else.
He was just him. A rare, deep artist. We
will miss him.
‘He would turn bright red, his face
near exploding’
Peter Mullan, Sunset Song, 2015
Two things I remember most about
Terence. First, how incredibly funny
he was. He had a wonderfully sharp,
barbed sense of humour that almost
always involved stories of some pomp-
ous prick getting their comeuppance.
And second, how the depth of his
humanity was founded in the painful,
lonely fury of a childhood. When he
Features
of an oddity. The New York subway
and railroad tycoons of yore may have
found international fame, but in the US,
the car now reigns supreme.
Around nine in 10 Americans own a
car, with only a tenth of people using
public transport – which is typically
underfunded and has suffered badly
since the Covid pandemic – on even a
weekly basis. Even Joe Biden’s adminis-
tration, which has talked of recon-
necting communities and acting on cli-
mate change, is enthusiastically push-
ing hundreds of billions of dollars to
building new highways.
Driving to places is so established
as a basic norm that deviation from
‘He was sort of quivering, all the time’ … Tom Hiddleston as an RAF pilot and Rachel Weisz
as a judge’s wife in The Deep Blue Sea. Photograph: Film4/Allstar
would talk of tyrants – be they in the
home, the classroom, the workplace or
the military – he would genuinely turn
bright red, his face near exploding and
his voice booming like some old ham
actor in rep circa 1937.
But his anger was so utterly,
heartbreakingly real you immediately
understood why he loved actors so
much. They could bring his gentleness
to the set. They could line up the danc-
ers, the singers the comics that ran
around inside him like a never-ending
Saturday night. They could take on the
bullies and win or die trying. And he’d
film it. With tenderness. With them.
‘On one day of shooting, it wasn’t
sunny. He was devastated’
Jennifer Ehle, A Quiet Passion, 2016
I wanted so badly to work with Te-
rence when I auditioned for A Quiet
Passion. He had such a specific, deeply
personal vision of the stories he wanted
to create. To work with him wasn’t a
collaboration: it was to be a paint on his
palette. To be used as one of his mate-
rials seemed like it would be a privi-
leged experience. It was.
He was very open about how
autobiographical A Quiet Passion was,
so much so that it was hard to draw
a line between Terence and its sub-
ject, the US poet Emily Dickinson. What
moved him most about her was the
pain that being unrecognised in her life-
time must have caused such an extraor-
dinary artist.
Terence himself was so cherished,
by so many people, that I hope he
didn’t really identify with that. Yet he
was also isolated from the world and
must have felt lonely within the indus-
try, because he was such an eccentric.
His manager, John, had been his physio-
therapist. That was his only represen-
tation.
it can seem not only strange, as evi-
denced by a lack of pedestrian infra-
structure that has contributed to a
surge in people dying from being hit by
cars in recent years, but even somewhat
sinister. People walking late at night,
particularly if they are Black, are regu-
larly accosted by police – in June, the
city of Kaplan, Louisiana, even intro-
duced a curfew for people walking or
riding bikes, but not for car drivers.
If neighborhoods like Culdesac are
to become more commonplace, then,
cities will not only have to alter their
planning codes, but there will also have
to be a cultural switch from the ideal of
a large suburban home with an enorm-
He lived very quietly. He had a
Friday-night ritual of watching an old
film with a cocktail. He’d have very
good tonic water delivered and would
spend the week choosing the movie.
When we were shooting, he’d always
have one glass of wine with lunch. He
listened to Radio 2, which informed a
lot of the musical choices in his films.
His scripts were full of weird, jagged
edges and little detours and eddies,
perhaps because he insisted on doing
three drafts and never revising them.
He would sort of spew out the story and
then just shoot what was there, with-
out smoothing out the idiosyncrasies.
Every moment of the film he had visua-
lised in advance, and he would be dis-
tressed if achieving that vision seemed
in doubt. We only had about three days
shooting in Dickinson’s actual home
and on one of those it wasn’t sunny.
He was devastated. It meant so much
to him that it was almost impossible
for him to shoot that day because that
might mean capturing something dif-
ferent to what he’d imagined.
Yet I never felt pressured as an actor
to live up to what he’d hoped. Rather,
he was very generous. If he liked a take,
he was so effusive it was as if you’d per-
formed an aria. In some ways he was
a very open man – for instance talking
about his celibacy – but he also pro-
tected himself with humour. I remem-
ber shooting one scene involving the
Dickinsons’ mother. After it, Terence
was weeping inconsolably and had to
take half an hour out. The wounds of
his connection with his own mother
were both very deep and very access-
ible. Making the films helped him, I
think. If somebody has such a strong
desire to tell stories, it’s almost part of a
life support system.
Working with him was like going
ous car in the driveway. Some US billio-
naires havedreams of creating new uto-
pian cities that have such elements, al-
though urban planning experts point
out it would be better for the envi-
ronment if existing cities just became
denser and less car-centric.
Johnson, who said he is planning
to bring the Culdesac concept to other
cities, is upbeat about this. “This is
something that the majority of the US
wants, so they can work all over the
country,” he said. “We have heard from
cities and residents all over the country
that they want more of this, and this is
something that we want to build more.”
“Every trend begins with a one-off,”
on a journey through someone else’s
psyche. How wonderful to be such an
individual in an industry which seems
to be trying to hammer everybody
into creators of content, whose image
must be curated and whose brand ma-
naged. Terence was an auteur who
made unique films that were so per-
sonal it’s hard to see how they’d ever
have become part of popular culture.
Yet for people who love cinema, they
are a deeper cut.
‘He had the thinnest skin of any
director I’ve met’
Simon Russell Beale, The Deep Blue
Sea, 2011, and Benediction, 2021
I first met Terence in 2010 at a
sound studio in Soho, London. The
first thing he said to me was: “I be-
lieve you like Bruckner.” I’d just done
a programme about the history of the
symphony and I think he thought I
was an expert. He was a great fan of
the composer, which later made more
sense to me, because Anton Bruckner
is the great exponent of a massive and
overbearing God.
Then Terence asked me to read
a very odd Shakespeare sonnet com-
paring being in love with chasing a
chicken (at least, I think that’s what it
was about). We didn’t talk about my
part in The Deep Blue Sea, or the play
by Terence Rattigan it’s based on. And
once we were on set, we mostly spoke
about music or poetry. I never ate with
him or saw him at his home. It was all in
the work, yet nonetheless it was quite
an emotional relationship.
Terence had trained as an actor, so
he knew what he wanted from actors,
which was minimalism. As a director,
he thought like a painter: movements
were planned to the last millimetre,
scenes were often absolutely symme-
trical. The image was entirely in his
head and you trusted in that.
A decade later, I worked with him
again on Benediction, about the first
world war poet Siegfried Sassoon. I
remember Jack Lowden, who played
the poet in his younger days, telling
me about Terence giving him precise
instructions: “Turn your head a little
to the left then this way. And, Jack, if
there’s a possibility of a tear at the end?”
His notes were technical and accurate.
He’d never say: “Oh, you must feel this.”
I once asked if I could change the tense
of a word, which took some courage
– for, while Terence might have been
insecure when he started out, when
I worked with him, he had absolute
assurance.
31
Speck said. “True proliferation will be
dependent upon our cities improving
their transit and micro-mobility sys-
tems. But for those cities that offer
a decent alternative to driving, there
is a great fit immediately. Government
officials should be asking themselves
whether their cities are Culdesac-ready.”
This is the first in a new series, The
alternatives, looking at governments
and communities around the world
who are trying out new ideas for low
carbon living
Tom Hiddleston in The Deep Blue Sea.
Photograph: Film4/Allstar
Yet for him, it was never about
power – it was about beauty. He would
often cry or laugh watching a take from
behind the camera, sometimes so aud-
ibly the assistant director would have to
ask him to keep it down. After a partic-
ularly emotional scene, he would go for
a walk to gather his thoughts.
Such thin skin was more evident
in Terence than any other director I’ve
met. There was an almost preternatural
sensitivity to his emotional response:
he was sort of quivering, all the time.
That didn’t make me anxious work-
ing with him, but it did make me feel
protective. People working with him
acknowledged and admired his deli-
cacy.
Both The Deep Blue Sea and Bene-
diction clearly inhabit similar narrative
territory. They’re about loss and regret,
suppressed desire and the failure of
love. Terence was a romantic, and all
romantics are going to be disappointed
in the end.
He was also an extraordinarily
complicated man with his own acute
aesthetic. He had quite a byzantine
sense of humour, as well as a very
particular way of speaking; almost no
hint of a Liverpudlian accent. His back-
ground felt remote, yet it must have
been with him still, all the time.
I remember hearing a story about
how Pete Postlethwaite said he didn’t
think his character in the autobio-
graphical Distant Voices, Still Lives
would break a stick over somebody’s
back. Terence handed him the phone
and said: “Call my sister.”
Making films might have been ca-
thartic for him. But I also wonder if it
was the opposite. Terence was quite
pitiless when he looked back, partic-
ularly when it came to religion. Yet he
also had a deep love for his childhood.
He wanted to explore disappointment
while celebrating beauty. Perhaps art is
not there to find an answer.
‘I had to wrest my character away
from him’
Rachel Weisz, The Deep Blue Sea,
Continued on page 32

32
Continued from page 31
2011
He was exacting in his search for
a perfect frame. He went hunting for
it with his nose and could not rest till
he found it. And at the same time he
would sob freely when he was moved
by a scene. We both knew that he was
Hester, my character, and that I had to
wrest it away from him and make it
mine too, till she was of both of us.
It was a collaboration like no other
I have experienced. Working with Te-
rence changed my life. Our film is a
record of that transformation. I glory
in having known him and grieve losing
him.
‘After I’d finished my scene, he
said: “May I legally adopt you?”’
Peter Capaldi, Benediction, 2021
We live in an age of celebrity hype
where brilliance is proclaimed all too
Don’t cheer the scale: Doctors and dieticians
untangling body size from health
Lydia Hales
Brock McLean says it was “almost des-
tiny” that he would aspire to play in the
Australian Football League, following in
the footsteps of several family mem-
bers.
“I was very much an all-or-nothing
person – everything I did was abso-
lutely flat out,” he says.
McLean’s AFL career lasted over a
decade. From the beginning, he loved
pushing his body to the limit, training
up to 20 times a week. After several
injuries, he went on a strict diet “just to
lose a few kilos” in a bid to reduce injury
risk.
“And it helped: my performance was
really good. It reinforced to me that that
was the right thing.”
Gradually, McLean became ob-
sessed with food: weighing every item,
and weighing himself before and after
he ate. He believed this focus was
giving him an edge as a footballer.
“Everything was tied up in that
… without football, I felt completely
worthless.”
Then a coach asked him to lose
more weight to improve his leg speed,
which his nutritionist warned against.
But, worried over time lost to injuries,
McLean wanted to do everything to
ensure he could play.
He deprived himself of certain
foods, entering a cycle of binge-eating,
suffering terrible guilt, and frequently
making himself vomit.
“I’d panic if I jumped on the scales
and was [a certain weight], I’d think
‘oh God, I’m putting on weight, I’m
not going to play’ … I was dealing with
depression, and it was around then that
suicidal ideation became a problem.”
He attempted suicide on 23 August
2017.
“I’m very lucky that I was found
when I was, by my partner … I realised
I needed to keep seeing a psychologist
and keep working on my issues.”
Helen Bird, an education services
manager at the Butterfly Foundation,
an eating disorder charity, says there’s
growing recognition of the prevalence
of disordered eating in sports – which
can affect players at any level – and an
increasing number of sports groups are
Features
easily. Terence was the real thing: an
artist. He was not a historian, but he
chronicled, with rigorous detail and
profound depth, a type of life rarely
depicted in British cinema in all its
lyrical beauty: ordinary working-class
people. When I first saw Distant Voices,
Still Lives (the first of many viewings),
I recognised immediately the grit and
the melancholy that I sensed in the
adults around me as I was growing up,
as well as the sheer unbridled joy in
an impromptu singsong. I’d wanted to
work with Terence my whole career
and said yes before I’d barely down-
loaded the script.
Terence’s films create the illusion
of naturalism, but they are, in reality,
highly stylised and demand a certain
rigorous kind of “no acting” acting.
When I worked with him, he had
thought through every frame, every
camera move, and the positioning of
Advanced sports dietitian Alicia Edge says too much focus on weight can lead to ‘a really
over-simplified solution that doesn’t appreciate the person behind the data’. Photograph:
Orbon Alija/Getty Images
approaching them for support.
The AFL and AFLW dropped skin-
fold testing, which involves using cali-
pers to measure the thickness of skin
and underlying fat at specific places
on the body, for draft prospects in
2021. Now experts are questioning the
usefulness of measures such as weight
and body composition as indicators of
athletic performance – and health more
broadly.
In 2022, the authors of a small
study of 22 AFLW players called for
practitioners to prioritise factors such
as aerobic fitness and muscular power,
after finding no significant relationship
between pre-season body composition
measures and match performance.
The Compeat Performance team,
which provides nutrition support to
the Matildas, stopped weighing players
or monitoring body composition two
years ago – saying the metrics often
came at the cost of player performance,
and didn’t have a clear purpose.
There remains a widespread
emphasis on weight and performance
in many areas of sport, Compeat’s co-
CEO, Alicia Edge, says.
“When we’re looking at the re-
search, the only real connection we’ve
got is that there’s a relationship be-
tween lean mass and our ability to per-
form, but no clear connection when
we’re looking at body fat,” says Edge,
an advanced sports dietitian.
“So if we’re looking at that cultural
[idea] of always aiming for ‘lighter is
better’, we’re basing that on our own
all the actors, down to pauses, looks,
beats. You still had to be present in
the moment, but there was no hiding
place. Some actors don’t like this kind
of directing but I loved it simply be-
cause it was Terence. One time we did
a passable take. He quietly approached
me, whispered “More elegiac”, which I
thought was a perfect Terence Davies
note.
“How should I be here?” I’d ask.
“Very austere,” he says. Then, when I’m
done, he says: “May I legally adopt you?”
Another: I fluffed a line about the
hours “from prime to compline” [names
of daily prayer services] and said Com-
plan. “No,” said Terence, highly amused,
“that’s a treatment.” This was 2020. Be-
tween lockdowns. He was wearing a
full-face visor like 1980s riot gear, his
pink face looking like a sympathetic po-
liceman accidentally drafted into the
miners’ strike.
assumptions rather than what the re-
search is telling us.”
Edge and the other Compeat co-
CEO, Dan Edge, began questioning the
role of these measures back in 2016.
“We started to fully appreciate that
whenever we’re working with weight or
body composition, that’s a lag meas-
ure, it’s a symptom. If the problem
is perceived to be body fat, or what-
ever it may be, ‘eat less or train more’
is a really oversimplified solution that
doesn’t appreciate the person behind
the data.”
Weight and body composition can
still be discussed, Edge says. But they
have developed a new screening tool
to track progress without those me-
trics, which also helps them under-
stand clients’ relationships with food
and other influences on their health
behaviours.
“When we’re getting to know some-
one, we’re considering all those influ-
ences … mental, social, financial, and
physical wellbeing – along with their
occupation, culture, and environment.”
Focusing on controlling something
uncontrollable can fuel anxiety, she
adds, because body weight and compo-
sition aren’t predictable outcomes.
Prof Amanda Salis of the University
of Western Australia says: “Body size is
influenced by a combination of dozens,
if not hundreds of things.”
“You’ve got major players like
genetics, and the environment – the
food, physical activity, the stress envi-
ronment … We also have our past and
The Guardian Thursday 12 October 2023
That’s what I remember most about
him: how unexpectedly impish he
could be. The twinkle. All of which
could vanish in a heartbeat when it
came to the work, which he treated
with utmost seriousness, no prisoners
taken. And then, just as quickly, the
return of the fun. He was fastidious,
even steely, about what he wanted and
needed from every department, but I
don’t want to give the impression that
these interactions were easy – I think
there was a cost to him because he
was essentially a very kind and sen-
sitive man. But his sense of duty and
respect for everyone who worked for
him, and for the art, was too great for
him not to say what had to be said and
with an eye like his, who would argue?
For years it was inexplicable to me
that he had to struggle so hard for
finance. He always seemed to be cut-
ting corners, cobbling things together.
emotions – if someone goes through ad-
verse childhood experiences, that plays
out in how much they eat, move, and
their stress, and all have an impact on
the size we exist in.”
She says that while many assume
size comes down to “personal choice
and willpower”, in reality “it’s much
more complex than it’s often made out
to be”.
Salis has authored several books on
weight management and is now run-
ning a clinical weight loss trial using
total meal replacement products, an
approach she stresses should not be
adopted without medical supervision.
BMI – a calculation with roots in
the development of eugenics – is only
relevant at a population level. Salis says
it won’t provide information on some-
one’s metabolic health, which should
be the priority.
“Even someone who might have a
very high BMI, a doctor might see no,
they haven’t got the risk factors for
heart disease, diabetes, etc. when look-
ing at their blood sugar or glucose levels
for example.
“There’s some good evidence that
a waist circumference above a cer-
tain number is likely to be associated
with metabolic diseases, compared to
having a waist below a certain number,
and it’s different according to age and
sex and things, but it’s not an absolute
indicator, nor is BMI … it’s all just proba-
bilistic.”
The recent National Eating Dis-
orders Strategy flags weight stigma
as a risk to physical and mental
health. However, experts have pointed
to a disconnect between the research
and “weight-centric” resources avail-
able online (including from the federal
government), many of which still in-
clude BMI calculators.
Feeling judged for any reason, in-
cluding body size, can lead people to
avoid seeking healthcare, says Dr Liz
Sturgiss, a Canberra-based GP.
“We know women with larger
bodies have lower rates of cervical
screening, they have fewer presen-
tations for breast screening. All these
things mean that if you have a bigger
body, you’ll have poorer health out-
comes than someone in a smaller body,”
says Sturgiss, who is also a primary care
Every funding body in the UK should
have just given him the money, no
questions asked. “How much do you
need Terence?”, not “Will this turn a
profit?” He was one of our greatest film-
makers, evident out the gate, and I’m
just grateful that he was around long
enough to know how truly revered he
was.
One last interaction, which amused
him greatly. I was trying to get into
the zone, to generate the later-life sad-
ness that I thought Sassoon needed. I
deliberately let my spirits dip. Terence
seemed happy with the takes, then
whispered sweetly to me: “Are you all
right today? You seem a little down.”
“Yes, I’m down,” I said. “I’m acting in a
Terence Davies film.”
The Compeat Performance team, which
provides nutrition support to the Matildas,
stopped weighing players two years ago –
saying it came at the cost of player perfor-
mance and didn’t have a clear purpose.
Photograph: Darren England/AAP
researcher at Monash University.
Dr Fiona Willer, an advanced dieti-
tian, adds that weight stigma may also
lead people to celebrate any weight
loss, whereas the underlying causes
may be sinister.
“The overlap between people who
are intentionally losing weight and
unintentionally losing weight can be
quite significant. Somebody can be suf-
fering from a form of cancer and losing
weight because of that, but because
they’re also trying to diet at the same
time, they don’t realise it’s not the diet,
it’s that they’re actually dying and no
one’s picked it up yet.”
Sturgiss’ echoes that making
assumptions about health based on
body size comes with risks for any pa-
tient, and she warns against “cheering
the scales”.
Many of her patients are from low-
income groups and have food inse-
curity, so weight loss may prompt con-
cerns of malnutrition.
“If someone is binging on laxatives,
exercising in unhelpful ways, they have
no money for food – none of those
things are good,” Sturgiss says.
She only weighs patients if they are
happy to be weighed, as one of sev-
eral measures – with the focus on any
changes over time, and understanding
the driving forces. “I like to focus on,
‘what’s life like at the moment?’ … not
just the numbers.”
“There are plenty of people who
have very low body weights and really
poor cardiovascular outcomes for all
kinds of reasons. So any time we put
out health messaging, either in an indi-
vidual consultation or in public health
Continued on page 33
Thursday 12 October 2023 The Guardian
Continued from page 32
messaging, that if your body’s notlarge
you’re fine … that’s really unhelpful.”
If a patient has “adiposity” or body
fat causing health issues – the WHO
definition for obesity or overweight
that Sturgiss uses – and wants to ad-
dress that, she says they should be sup-
ported.
“But we live in a society incredibly
biased against people who have larger
bodies … and you don’t want to be sup-
porting any kind of industry that in-
volves body shaming, so it’s a difficult
line to walk.”
Willer, who runs a business training
health professionals in size-inclusive
approaches, says people with bigger
bodies often anticipate their health
professional will raise the topic of
Jimmy Kimmel on Trump’s campaigning:
‘He’s got no connection with reality at all’
Guardian staff
Jimmy Kimmel
Late-night hosts told the tale of two
presidents on Tuesday evening, as it
was revealed that Joe Biden sat for
two interviews about his handling of
classified documents; Donald Trump,
of course, faces federal charges for
mishandling them at his resort in Flor-
ida.
“It’s really crazy how much Repub-
licans don’t care about Trump’s insane
handling of these classified documents,
but do care about Joe Biden’s,” said
Jimmy Kimmel. “It’s almost like they’re
applying two entirely different stan-
dards. Maybe even a double standard.
Or, in Trump’s case, maybe even a
bacon double standard, if you will.”
Kimmel also noted the differences
in their responses to the war between
Israel and Hamas. Biden condemned
the attacks by Hamas in Israel, while
Trump posted on Truth Social: “I KEPT
ISRAEL SAFE! NOBODY ELSE WILL,
NOBODY ELSE CAN, AND I KNOW ALL
OF THE PLAYERS!!!”
“Well, then strap on some kevlar
and get over there, McRib Rambo,” said
Kimmel. “Trump would like us to be-
lieve that his mere presence would
have kept Hamas out of Israel and
Russia out of Ukraine. This is coming
from a guy who couldn’t even keep
Kanye out of Mar-a-Lago.”
“It’s pretty clear that at this point,
he’s got no connection with reality at
all,” he continued. “All he can see are
perfect phone calls, and unfair witch-
hunts, and elections he won, wars he
‘Happy rebirth!’: Chinese women shake off
taboos around divorce to celebrate freedom
Chi Hui Lin in Taipei
In a karaoke room filled with balloons,
confetti and cake, a 34-year-old woman
dances with a dozen friends celebrating
her “rebirth of the past”. The woman,
Features
weight and fear healthcare will be ‘gate-
kept’ due to their size.
“Size-inclusive practice under-
stands that weight is not nothing – but
usually the most relevant thing about
somebody’s high body weight is how
they’ve been treated because of it.
“Size-inclusive practice supports
someone in the body they have, at
that time, and looks for treatments for
whatever their presenting complaint is
that don’t require starvation or weight
change prior to addressing the health
condition they’ve presented with.”
Dr Mark Morgan, the chair of the
Royal Australian College of General
Practitioners’ quality care expert com-
mittee, is overseeing the new edition of
the Red Book which will include up-
dated guidelines for GPs on screening
for weight-related health issues.
Jimmy Kimmel on Trump: ‘He’s got no connection with reality at all. All he can see are perfect phone calls, and unfair witch-hunts, and
elections he won, wars he would’ve prevented.’ Photograph: YouTube
would’ve prevented.”
Kimmel proposed a solution: “Build
a little Oval Office in a mental insti-
tution and put him in there. Tell him
he’s been reinstated as president. He’d
be perfectly content drawing on weath-
er maps and pushing that little red Diet
Coke button. He’d be happy, we’d be
happy, let’s get it done!”
Stephen Colbert
On the Late Show, Stephen Colbert
opened with the fifth day of violence
between Israel and Hamas. “The news
is both heartbreaking and horrific,” he
said. “But if you read any of that news
on Twitter, you might want to check
who posts on Chinese social media
under the name Sushi, had just ended
her four-year marriage.
Shaking off social stereotypes
around divorce that suggest she should
feel shame and failure, she decided to
throw a party with all of her girlfriends.
He echoes that it is crucial everyone
feels respected when attending gen-
eral practice, noting the words “over-
weight” and “obesity” have specific defi-
nitions in a medical context so clini-
cians, researchers and epidemiologists
can use a common language. But, “for
individuals, these definitions may not
apply and may have little relationship
to healthiness,” he says.
“In conversational English, the
terms can be offensive and carry
stigma. It’s therefore important for
health professionals to use great sensi-
tivity in discussions about a person’s
weight and the relationship to their
health.”
Brock McLean, now much healthier,
says he would emphasise that self-
worth doesn’t come from external fac-
tors, including physical appearance.
someplace else.”
Thanks to Elon Musk doing away
with the platform’s verification system,
misinformation about the war is ram-
pant on the site, including false claims
that Israeli prime minister Benjamin
Netanyahu was hospitalized, video
game footage passed off as a Hamas
attack, and doctored photos of soccer
star Cristiano Ronaldo holding the
Palestinian flag.
“Not to question their fact-check-
ing, but I’m pretty sure every picture
of Cristiano Ronaldo is fake. No one has
those abs!” Colbert quipped.
Meanwhile in the US, the House
She put on a favourite black dress from
the time before she met her husband,
to honour that she was “getting back to
the life before marriage”.
The celebration looked something
like a bachelorette party. A big red
banner hung on the wall declaring “life
“Kids are taught to have high self-
esteem if they’re particularly good at
something … whereas self-worth teach-
es you the concept that no matter what
you’re good at, no matter what you’re
bad at, you’re a human being and you’re
worthy of love and compassion.”
* Dr Willis and Dr Sturgiss urge
anyone struggling with how they feel
about their body or eating habits to
seek support through their GP, and to
ask where they can receive size-inclu-
sive care.
In Australia, the Butterfly Foun-
dation is on 1800 334 673. International
helplines can be found at Eating Dis-
order Hope.
In Australia, the crisis support ser-
vice Lifeline is 13 11 14. In the UK
and Ireland, Samaritans can be con-
tacted on freephone 116 123, or email
is still without a speaker “and Repub-
licans don’t really seem any closer to
finding one”, said Colbert. To reach
some consensus, more than 150 GOP
lawmakers met behind closed doors on
Monday evening in what one member
called a “therapy session”.
“I would hate to be a therapist
for the House Republicans: ‘Normally I
don’t say this to a patient, but you are all
responsible for your parents’ divorce,’”
Colbert joked.
Robert F Kennedy Jr, the eldest son
of the famed senator and a known anti-
vaxxer, dropped out of the Democratic
primary to run for president as an inde-
is a big stage, so be brave and fly!” Her
girlfriends showered her with confetti
and gave her bouquets of flowers, as if
celebrating a victory.
“If I had known divorce would be so
happy, I would have done it a long time
ago!” Sushi wrote on social media.
33
jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie.
In the US, you can call or text
the National Suicide Prevention Life-
line on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org,
or text HOME to 741741 to connect
with a crisis counselor. Other inter-
national helplines can be found at
befrienders.org
‘Eat less or train
more’ is a really over-
simplified solution
Alicia Edge,
advanced sports dietitian
pendent. The decision drew the ire of
four of his siblings, who released a
statement calling his campaign “dan-
gerous to our country”.
“Bobby might share the same name
as our father, but he does not share the
same values, vision or judgment,” the
statement continued. “We denounce
his candidacy and believe it to be peril-
ous for our country.”
Colbert had an addition: “PS: Skip
Thanksgiving this year! The turkey is
vaccinated!”
Seth Meyers
On Late Night, Seth Meyers checked
in on Trump’s presidential campaign,
which included a campaign rally in
New Hampshire in which he blamed
windmills for killing whales. “Wow, nor-
mally when someone says something
like that, the next thing you see is
the backup quarterback warming up on
the sidelines,” Meyers said. “But nope,
they’re leaving him in the game.”
As for the report that House Repub-
licans met for a closed-door meeting
described as a “therapy session”, Meyers
remarked: “If being locked in a room
with those people for two hours feels
like therapy, you need to find a new the-
rapist.”
Organizers for the 2028 Olympics in
Los Angeles proposed adding several
new sports to the games, including la-
crosse, squash, cricket and “driving to
Santa Monica for a 4pm audition on a
Friday”, Meyers joked. “That joke’s not
for everyone,” he added, “but it’s for our
brothers and sisters in Sag-Aftra who
are currently on strike.
“Fingers crossed and optimistic that
they’ll soon get the deal they deserve.”
On Xiaohongshu, a Chinese video-
sharing social media app, divorce par-
ties and inspiring content about the
lives of newly single women are gain-
ing thousands of likes.
Continued on page 34

34
Continued from page 33
Comments like “Happy rebirth!” and
“congratulations!” flooded Sushi’s di-
vorce party video.
Another 35-year-old Chinese fa-
shion blogger, who posts under the
name Wushuang, organised a divorce
ceremony last June. She invited her
parents and some friends to witness
this new beginning in her life.
“Failure in marriage or relationship
does not mean failure in my life,” Wu-
shuang said on her social media ac-
count.
The divorce rate in China has risen
from 0.96% in 2000 to 3.10% in 2020.
At the same time the marriage rate has
plummeted from 6.7% in 2000 to 5.8%
in 2020. According to the most recently
available Supreme People’s Court data,
in 2016 and 2017, more than 73% of
plaintiffs in divorce cases were women.
Among more than 1.4m divorce cases
registered, emotional discord was listed
as the primary reason for 77.5%. Domes-
tic violence accounted for 14.9%.
The shift in views on divorce has
been significant. Historically, the low
social status of women in China led to
the dominance of men in divorce pro-
ceedings. Getting divorced would often
damage a woman’s reputation, but not
her ex-husband’s.
That started to change in 1980,
when divorce registration was made
A moment that changed me: I was mistaken
for a man – and embraced my androgyny
Ruby Clyde
It was 2018. I had a craving for an over-
priced can of Red Stripe and wanted to
dance to Britney Spears. So my friend
and I decided to head to a gay bar. We
began the night getting ready with a
few drinks. I had an androgynous new
haircut, which was making me a little
nervous. After thinking about cutting it
short for years, I’d finally done it – and
I couldn’t quite get used to it. While I
loved how it looked, I worried others
wouldn’t agree. I wondered if having it
done in the first place meant there was
something wrong with me.
Still, putting existential worries
aside, we spilled out of the flat and
headed to the bar. The club usually had
quite a mixed crowd but it turned out
to be a night mostly for guys. Toxic was
already playing. Perfect.
I got talking to a guy around my age
who was very complimentary about my
dancing and my haircut, which I appre-
ciated. I assumed he thought I was
my friend’s Fun Lesbian Sidekick (some
gay guys have one, like a Pokémon that
knows about astrology), and we started
dancing together.
I’ve always considered gay men and
lesbians dancing together to be one
Features
In the last two decades, the divorce rate in China has risen from 0.96% in 2000 to 3.10% in 2020, while the marriage rate has plummeted.
Some women are celebrating their divorces with parties. Photograph: Fred Lee/Getty Images
easier, with “breakdown in mutual
affection” allowed as an official reason.
Yaya Chen, a researcher at the
Shanghai Academy of Social Science
and a gender equality activist, said
the public celebrations were a demon-
stration of the changing attitudes in
China.
“Society as a whole has become
more accepting of divorce, which is
Ruby Clyde, pictured at Queer Prom 2018. Photograph: Kaleido Shoots
of the purest unions in the world: no
sexuality crossover, just good whole-
some fellowship. This time was dif-
ferent, though. First, he put his hands
on my hips, which I thought was a little
fresh. And then he ran his hands up my
body to my chest, and said: “Oh!” And I
said: “Oh!” Quickly, I realised two things:
one, he had thought I was another cis
gay boy. And two, I am terrible at pick-
ing up on flirting. We looked at each
other, and then we burst out laughing.
We both found it hilarious and kind
of cute – a silly, practically slapstick
moment we’d shared before he left me
for a leather daddy. I never saw him
partly related to the increase in the
number of single, non-married women
and the awakening of women’s aware-
ness of gender equality,” she said.
But as China stares down the barrel
of a demographic crisis and ageing
population, the government is trying
to encourage more marriages and fami-
lies, and to slow the divorce rate.
In 2021 the Chinese government
again, but that moment has stayed with
me since.
His flirtation affected the way I saw
my new appearance and made me feel
more secure. Growing up, my penchant
for menswear had been treated as a sort
of ugly, mildly immoral habit, like how
people felt about smoking after 2006.
With hindsight, I’ll admit that exclu-
sively wearing baseball caps and T-
shirts with wolves or dragons on them
wasn’t doing a lot for me, but neither
was the vague sense of shame about
the way I looked that I had internalised.
I felt like it was wrong. My parents
were great, supportive people, but they
The Guardian Thursday 12 October 2023
implemented a “cooling-off period” for
divorce, requiring couples to give love
another chance and extending the
separation process time in the hope
they would change their minds.
China’s ministry of civil affairs said
that the main purpose was to “add a
threshold for those who divorce hastily
or impulsively”.
But the cooling-off period caused
couldn’t completely undo the mes-
saging of a whole society. In the end
I caved and, when I was 10, I showed
up to school in a skirt. “Wow,” one of
the boys said, “you’re actually pretty!” It
was a sentence adults had said to me
too, when I was forced into dresses for
family events.
I figured I had some sort of moral
responsibility to look how the people
around me wanted me to look. I’ve
always been drawn to androgynous
and queer people – my best friend,
Rachel, has always been androgynous
presenting – but being around people
who accepted themselves (and me)
didn’t make it any easier to have confi-
dence in my own look.
But, as you’ll know if you’ve ever
half-heartedly attempted a goth phase,
you can only try to fake it for so long.
Eventually I gave up on trying to look
the way I thought I was supposed to.
When that confused boy in a club te-
pidly felt me up, I felt the shame melt
away. Suddenly, the way I looked made
sense to me.
Androgyny isn’t ugly. If anything, it
makes you attractive to a more diverse
market. There’s nothing immoral or bad
about not conforming to gender roles
in the way you’re told to – all the cate-
gories I’d been raised to see as rigid felt
widespread criticism on Chinese social
media. One woman said she felt “re-
chained for a month by those who con-
sider themselves righteous”. Another
woman said the rule “creates a distur-
bance in society”.
The raw number of divorces has
dropped in the last three years, but
demographers point to a correlation in
declining numbers of marriages – 2022
recorded the fewest number in 37 years
– and note that divorce rates tend to fall
during times of economic instability, as
China is experiencing now.
“Some have chosen to postpone
marriage in order to advance their ca-
reers, studies, and professions and to
enjoy their personal freedom,” said Dr
Pan Wang, senior lecturer in Chinese
and Asian studies at the University of
New South Wales.
“Divorces are seen as redemption
from broken relationships, a solution to
marital problems, and the beginning of
a new life.”
On the day Sushi went to the
civil affairs bureau, she hired a photo-
grapher to document the finalisation
of her divorce. She blurred her ex-hus-
band’s figure and shared it on her social
media. “It’s important to keep a record
of this happy day.”
Additional reporting by Helen
Davidson
‘Growing up, my penchant for menswear
had been treated as a sort of mildly immoral
habit’ … Clyde, pictured as a child. Photo-
graph: Ruby Clyde
a little looser. In that moment, gend-
ers and sexualities were all confusingly
blurred together, and actually, it made
me feel pretty free.
Ruby Clyde’s debut YA novel,Jay’s
Guide To Crushing It, is out now and
published by Scholastic. Their double
act, Shelf, will be touring theirkids’
comedy show and new standup hour
with Impatient Productions in 2024.
Thursday 12 October 2023 The Guardian

Features 35

‘The start of the national Aids movement’:

Act Up’s defining moment in queer protest
history
Nora Neus
On a chilly October morning in 1988,
about 1,500 protesters descended upon
a nondescript glass office building in
suburban Rockville, Maryland. They
were Aids patients, friends and queer
activists from all over the country pro-
testing what they saw as the failures of
the US Food and Drug Administration
to approve medications to fight Aids.
The disease had already killed at last
45,000 Americans in less than a decade.
As amused and quizzical govern-
ment employees watched from the
windows, protesters marched in circles
in front of kitted-up riot police. The
protesters lifted posters in the air, many
with the now-iconic image of a bloody
handprint and the words: “The govern-
in the official trial group could access
potentially life-saving medications, and
a new FDA rule promising faster devel-
opment of Aids drugs, a key request
from the protesters.
Jeremiah Johnson, executive direc-
tor of Prep4All, an organization work-
ing on access to HIV-prevention medi-
cations, believes Act Up still signifies
“the importance of being creative with
our responses, of punching above our
weight and of not giving up even in the
darkest moments”.
“Sometimes when I feel myself run-
ning up against what are some pretty
heavy challenges for our movement
right now to keep things going, I think
about what it must have been like to
be Peter Staley and everyone else at Photograph: Gran Fury/Act Up New York
the FDA, not knowing if you were going records/New York Public Library Digital
Members of Act Up during the Pride march in New York City on 26 June 1988. Photograph: to live or die … and then still having Collections

ment has blood on its hands; one Aids
death every half hour.” They chanted:
“Fifty-two will die today/ Seize control
of the FDA!”
From within the crowd emerged 27-
year-old activist and Aids patient Peter
Staley, wearing a knapsack containing a
rolled-up banner proclaiming Act Up’s
slogan, “Silence=Death”, and a roll of
tape, headed straight for FDA’s front
door.
“I didn’t think I was going to survive
five years beyond that moment,” Staley
told theGuardianthis week. So he did
what he could to draw attention to their
plight.
With a boost from friends, Staley
catapulted on to the concrete awning
over the entryway, a makeshift stage in
front of the crowd.
“I just quickly leaned over, pulled
The New York Historical Society/Getty Images
the banner out, started hanging it up,”
Staley recalled.“People started noticing,
they started chanting as I was slowly
getting the banner fully enrolled. And
after I got the last corner up, I turned
around and raised my arms in victory.
And the place just went nuts.”
Photos of a young Peter
Staley triumphantly raising the “Si-
lence=Death” banner at the FDA
became the iconic image of this wa-
tershed moment in queer protest his-
tory. This demonstration, called “Seize
Control of the FDA”, on 11 October 1988,
was the first major national action of
the Aids Coalition to Unleash Power, or
Act Up.
“This was really the start of the na-
tional Aids movement,” historian and
activist Sarah Shulman wrote in her se-
minal history of Act Up, Let the Record
Show.
Now, on the 35th anniversary of
the event, activists still working on
Aids and LGBTQ+ activism look toward
“Seize Control of the FDA” as inspiration
for the work left to be done.
“Small groups of people, as long as
they have a lot of determination and
are highly strategic, can create change
and create change pretty quickly de-
pending on the issue,” said Staley, who
is now 62 years old. “It is worth noting
that the FDA caved to almost all of our
demands within nine months, within a
year after that demonstration.” That in-
cluded a parallel-track clinical drug trial
program by which even patients not
that strength to get up on a building
and show that kind of defiance,” he con-
tinued. “[That] is still something that I
and so many others draw from, partic-
ularly in these challenging times.”
The work continues. An estimated
630,000 people globally died from HIV-
related illnesses in 2022 alone, ac-
cording to the World Health Organi-
zation.
“The Aids epidemic is not over
until it’s over for everyone,” said Jason
Rosenberg, communications director
for leading HIV-prevention global non-
profit AVAC. “We cannot see an end to
the epidemic unless we have universal
access to top-of-the-line, revolutionary
treatments and also prevention me-
thods” for patients around the world of
all demographic groups, not just often
white, gay American cisgender men.
Beyond the specifics of Aids and
HIV work, though, Rosenberg says the
“Seize Control of the FDA” protest also
inspired a new generation of queer
activists to be proud and loud as they
fight for their rights in all spheres of gay
life.
The protest was “a moment of rec-
laiming our power,” he said.
“It was a group of 1,500 or so
advocates that said, ‘We are rec-
laiming our destiny and future,’”he con-
tinued.“Hopefully [that message] con-
tinue[s] to resonate in our minds and
in our advocacy. We can reclaim that
power of shaping how we fight for our-
selves and our loved ones.”

Welcome to the microplex! The hidden world

of Britain’s 1,500 tiny cinemas
Claire Armitstead
It’s a warm autumn evening and the
graffiti along the side wall of Bristol’s
Cube Microplex cinema shouts in the
unseasonal sunshine as a gaggle of
people gather quietly around the front
gates. They are here for a screening of
five short films, showcasing the work of
some of the UK’s up-and-coming black
film-makers. Several of the writers and
directors are expected, and there is
a tantalising buzz of voices from the
cinema courtyard.
The punters surge in and are di-
rected to a cash-only volunteer-run bar,
before settling into faded velvet seats
in a 100-seat auditorium. There is a
ripple of excitement when someone in
the audience recognises a famous face.
She can’t quite put a name to him, but
all becomes clear when the first film
opens: it’s an exploration of fatherhood
featuring the three Plummer broth-
ers, Tremaine, Twaine and Tristan,
who became celebrities through their
Filmmaker Luke FrSh (left) and Tristan Plummer at the Cube, Bristol. Photograph: Kelvin
Williams/The Guardian
appearances on TV’s Gogglebox.
The screenings are part of an occa-
sional Regional Voices night by local
impresario and activist Gary Thomp-
son, who has set up a company, Cables
& Cameras, dedicated to promoting
talent from ethnic minorities in the UK.
Tonight’s participants have travelled
in from London and Birmingham as
well as Bristol, and afterwards they sit
around chatting with each other and
the audience. “There’s a whole new
generation of talented black and brown
film-makers who are exploring the rich
culture of various UK regions, but they
don’t have a platform,” says Thompson.
“The question is how to connect these
diverse voices in a way that makes a
difference.”
The Cube, which has been run by
volunteers since it was founded in 1998,
is one of the oldest independent ci-
nemas in the UK. Counterintuitively, at
a time of rising prices and falling in-
comes, many more have opened over
the last few years. The UK now has
1,500 volunteer-run venues, according
to Jaq Chell, CEO of the charity Cinema
for All, which supports them with
everything from licensing and insur-
ance to equipment. Some are just pop-
ups in pubs or community halls. “It’s a
hidden world, especially in rural places:
anywhere you can set up a screen ‘The question is how to connect these di-
you can have a cinema.” She attributes verse voices in a way that makes a difference
the growth to a combination of ligh- …’ Gary Thompson at the Cube Cinema, Bris-
ter, more user-friendly equipment and tol. Photograph: Kelvin Williams/The Guar-
successive changes to licensing laws, dian
which have cut the bureaucracy for
community venues with fewer than bled steps, a different sort of screening
500 seats. is taking place at one of the UK’s last
But as Bristol demonstrates, there surviving video shops. At 20th Century
are many different types of inde- Flicks, which is like a retro sweet shop
pendent cinema. A little over a mile
away from the Cube, up a flight of cob- Continued on page 37
Thursday 12 October 2023 The Guardian
Continued from page 35
for movie buffs, its shelves crammed
floor to ceiling with filmic allsorts, from
the latest DVDs to a heap of 20th-
century laserdiscs, that customers keep
donating because they are basically
unplayable today. “We’re hoarders,” says
Daisy Steinhardt, before heading off to
load up this evening’s film in the 18-
seater Videodrome, a vintage cinema
in miniature that opens off one side of
the shop. On the other side is the even
smaller Kino, whose 10 seats are avail-
able for £80, or £50 for couples looking
for a romantic night out.
The shop was founded in 1982,
but has moved location a couple of
times, ending up in its current spot
nine years ago. “We have discovered
what solvency means. It means subsi-
dising the rental with the cinema,” says
owner Dave Taylor. He also runs screen-
ings in an old, purpose-built Imax
cinema which was rediscovered, com-
plete with fully functional equipment,
in the building now occupied by the
Bristol Aquarium. Among his recent
offerings was: “Threadgames – a nuc-
lear double-bill”, a film night that piggy-
backed on the Barbenheimer pheno-
menon to present two back-to-back
1980s classics, War Games and Threads.
You can see why Bristol is one
of the UK’s two Unesco Cities of film
(along with Bradford): it is buzzing with
entrepreneurial enthusiasm. The city
already has eight cinemas, but a cam-
paign is under way to reclaim anoth-
er in the east of the city. The Redfield
sits on a busy street corner behind
an unglamorous pebbledash wall. It
opened in 1912 but – like so many art
deco cinemas in the UK – it was con-
‘Richard Branson was shrieking: has anyone
signed them yet?’ The invasion of all-female
ska band the Bodysnatchers
Daniel Rachel
‘I remember being 15, 16, 17 and being so
tremendously bored,” says Nicky Sum-
mers, whose all-female London-based
band the Bodysnatchers would soon
become a cornerstone of the 2 Tone ska
scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
“Top of the Pops had gone stale. A
whole generation was waiting for some-
thing. There were no jobs. We had elec-
tricity blackouts, garbage strikes. Some-
thing had to happen.”
Inspired by the Slits, and the fusion
of fashion and energy wrapped up in
the Specials’ live shows, Nicky placed
a series of adverts in the music press
in May and July 1979. “All I got was
three months of dirty phone calls,” she
says. “I thought a lot of girls would
want to do it, but it didn’t seem
that way.” After what seemed an inter-
minable period of waiting, Jane Sum-
mers, a drummer and part-time life-
guard, responded. “Jane assured me
she had a drum kit, but I never saw
it for six months,” laughs Nicky. Next,
they met Stella Barker and Sarah-Jane
Owen; trembling with nerves, Penny
Leyton picked up the phone and orga-
nised an audition. “They had a piano in
the rehearsal room, and I played Scott
Features
verted into a bingo hall in the 1960s.
It then became a fast food restaurant,
and when that also closed a few years
ago, the original interior was found to
be largely intact.
Spearheading the campaign are
Paul Burke and Dave Taylor-Matthews,
who have enlisted local architecture
students to draw up plans for a three-
screen cinema with a food hall, sup-
ported by the development of social
housing above it. It is a model that has
been rolled out successfully elsewhere
in the UK, mostly in the south-east of
England. “I make the distinction be-
tween community and social cinema,”
says Taylor-Matthews. “I don’t want to
be dismissive of a movement that has
brought film to all sorts of areas, but if
you say ‘community cinema’, you think
of Disney sending out videos to com-
munity halls with folding chairs and
bad projection. That’s not what we are
about.”
It’s not lost on them that Cineworld,
one of the world’s largest chains that
has a multiplex in the south of the
city, has recently had a close brush with
bankruptcy. The big screen multiplex
model is in trouble, they say, because
changing viewing habits mean there
aren’t many films that can attract 600
people to often out-of-the-way venues.
But it’s not only the big chains that are
suffering. A new survey by the Inde-
pendent Cinema Office revealed that,
out of the 157 independent cinemas
sampled, 45% are operating at a loss
this year, with 42% predicting that they
will close in a year or less unless things
improve.
So why are so many still opening (or
reopening, as two Filmhouse cinemas
in Edinburgh and Aberdeen are on
The Bodysnatchers. L-R: Rhoda Dakar, Jane Summers, Stella Barker, Miranda Joyce,
Penny Leyton, Nicky Summers, Sarah-Jane Owen. Photograph: Virginia Turbett/Redferns
Joplin!”
Now a five-piece, the teenagers
extended their search for a brass
player. Miranda Joyce suddenly ap-
peared, pushed into the rehearsal room
by a boy who practised in the adja-
cent room, who announced, “This is my
sister.” Asked if she could play an instru-
ment, Miranda replied, “No – not yet.”
Six down. One to go. But where to
find a singer? After work, Nicky would
often go and watch bands in London
with her friend Shane MacGowan (later
of the Pogues). One night, she saw him
talking to a girl of mixed heritage. Intri-
course to do next year)? “We show films
that are of cultural significance,” says
Rod White, the head of programming at
Edinburgh Filmhouse. “There’s a whole
stream of films that wouldn’t exist in
this country if you didn’t have these
sorts of venues that are prepared to
show ones that are not commercial.”
Another eternal optimist is Tony
Mundin, the founder and director of
Northern Light Cinema, a family busi-
ness that now has cinemas in Cumbria,
Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Greater
Manchester. He is currently in nego-
tiation for a new venue in the Man-
chester area that will be his smallest
yet, with three screens, none with more
than 50 seats. All of his cinemas, he
says, are in market towns or urban vil-
lages, where regulars can walk in for
a film and also have a drink. The new
venue will have staggered screenings
administered by a staff of three. “It’s
all about keeping your borrowing and
your staff size down, which is where
the big boys have fallen down,” he says.
“There’s no doubt that relatively small
cinemas appeal to people because they
get proper attention.”
It is not all plain sailing though, as
the team behind another community
cinema know. ActOne is a not-for-profit
venue which opened in 2021 and has
two 60-seater screens on the site of an
old library in the west London borough
of Ealing. It is a stylish, laid-back space,
with free wifi in a cafe and bar area fur-
nished with bookcases, sofas and a big
table for remote workers or children’s
parties.
ActOne is in an informal suppor-
tive partnership with two older London
independents: the Phoenix in East Fin-
chley and Dalston’s Rio Cinema. It has
gued by her striking image, she asked
for an introduction. “I went, ‘Yeah! I
sing in the bath’,” says Rhoda Dakar. “I
thought if Shane knows her, she must
be alright.”
Sharing her vision to be a female
version of the Specials, Nicky laid it on
the line from the get-go: “We’re going
to go places. Everybody’s got to focus.
We’re not going to muck about. This
isn’t a hobby.” Practising three nights
a week on Royal College Street in a
basement shared with Adam and the
Ants and the Vibrators, Nicky says, “We
weren’t very slick or professional musi-
two full-time staff and up to six more
who work on a shift basis, supported by
a large team of local volunteers. But
its founders’ calculations were based
on a pre-pandemic average attendance
between 30 and 40%. Since then, the
growth in streaming has changed view-
ing habits, big films have been delayed
by the Hollywood strikes, and they are
always having to think of new ways to
entice more people to come in.
One of their successes has been
monthly screenings of plays recorded
under the National Theatre Live pro-
gramme. Three upcoming showings of
Ivo van Hove’s adaptation of Hanya
Yanagihara’s cult novel A Little Life,
also quickly sold out. But they are also
committed to meeting the demands of
their community, such as Somali films.
“We are very proud of what we have
done,” says board member Nick Jones,
“but film exhibition at the moment is a
very tricky area to be involved in and
we face monumental difficulties.”
Across the other side of the coun-
try, in the north Welsh town of Blae-
nau Ffestiniog, youth worker turned
cinema factotum, Rhys Roberts, knows
exactly what he means. Back in 2005,
he bought the old police station from
the local council for £127, thinking
he would convert it into a theatre.
But when he canvassed the young
people he worked with about what they
wanted, he says, top of the list was a
McDonalds and second was a cinema.
There had been no cinema in the town
for 40 years, “so we bought a projector
and a screen and started to run a film
night.” One thing led to another, enabl-
ing Roberts to get funding to build a
proper cinema, CellB, which is partially
financed by a two-room hostel in part
cally, but that became our sound and
reflected how we played.” Abundantly
aware that 2 Tone was a British take
on Jamaican music, Nicky says, “You
couldn’t replicate black music or a Blue
Beat record and do it justice. But you
could do your contemporary take and
put your input and life in it.”
Plugging a Dansette record player
into a light socket, the girls studiously
listened to ska and R&B records – Time
is Tight, Monkey Spanner, 007 – to
understand what made up the different
elements of a song. Enjoying the nai-
vety of it, Miranda says, “It held to-
gether on a thread. Had it been all guys
I would never have gone for the audi-
tion. It’s terribly sexist I suppose, but
I thought men would be better musi-
cians or more judgmental. All the boys
I grew up with who were getting into
bands had been playing for years.”
Aged 20, Penny was the only group
member with knowledge of music
theory, but she told Smash Hits at the
time: “A lot of girls seem to think that
if they’re in a band they’ve got to prove
themselves instrumentally, or have got
to put across some heavy point about
sexism or feminism, so that in the end
there’s no fun in them at all and they
end up downright boring”. Promoting a
sense of fun, Sarah-Jane suggested call-
37
of the building.
CellB now employs three full-time
staff, including two teenagers who
came through the youth programme.
Two years ago it opened a second 50-
seater screen in the old courtroom ups-
tairs, “but we found there wasn’t much
money to be made in film these days.
Barbie packed it out for two weeks in
the summer, but what people don’t rea-
lise is that the distributors want 50%
of the takings. So we’re building up the
cinema experience,” says Roberts. A lot
depends on a recent investment in a
huge pizza oven.
Back in Bristol, Taylor-Matthews
looks out on a street full of people look-
ing for a coffee or some groceries, and
says that if the property developer who
currently owns the Redfield site won’t
release it, they will find another build-
ing nearby. For all the beauty of old
cinema buildings, film is not just about
bricks and mortar: it is about ways of
being as well as seeing. “A lot of people
will say: ‘I want to go out on Thursday. I
will see what there is to do in my local
area’. The competition nowadays isn’t a
multiplex but the pub opposite and the
restaurants up and down the street.”
If you say
‘community cinema’,
you think of folding
chairs and bad
projection. That’s not
what we are about
Performing in 1979. Photograph: Virginia
Turbett/Redferns
ing the band Pussy Galore. Nicky was
not amused. “It smacks of 70s sexism
and dirty old men.” Rolling her eyes,
Rhoda said, “Fuck off. If you want to
call this band Pussy Galore, do it with-
out me.” Rejecting Soft Cell and the
Avengers, Stella suggested the Bodys-
natchers, influenced by having recently
seen the film Invasion of the Body
Snatchers. “It was the name that eve-
ryone hated the least,” scoffs Rhoda.
Marching across the sticky carpet at
the Windsor Castle, in a support slot for
the Nips, the Bodysnatchers plugged
in their instruments. “My hands froze
for the first song and we kind of fell
apart towards the end,” recalls Nicky.
“We were ramshackle and chaotic but
people loved it.” Insistent that they had
played all the songs they knew, the
crowd demanded the Bodysnatchers
Continued on page 38

38
Continued from page 37
play them all again. “So we did that,”
says Stella. “It was amazing!”
Ten days later the Bodysnatchers
played a second show at the Wind-
sor Castle, again supporting the Nips,
with the added pressure of ska legends
Neol Davies, Pauline Black and Jerry
Dammers standing down the front and,
says Nicky, “Richard Branson running
around shrieking: has anyone signed
them yet?” The band fielded offers from
the likes of EMI, Stiff and Virgin; Jerry
was offering a two-single deal with
2 Tone Records. The Bodysnatchers
voted and unanimously elected 2 Tone.
“It all happened in two weeks,” says
Nicky. “To make a decision, find a
lawyer, record a single to coincide with
the Selecter tour, and do all that and be
thinking, ‘Shit! Am I being ripped off?’ I
was out of my depth.”
“A fucking joke,” says Rhoda of the
legal document. Too young to care, Mi-
randa says “there was very little anal-
ysis. It was just, ‘Whoa! Great!’, like
we were on some amazing rollercoaster
ride.”
Cut at CBS Studios, debut single
Let’s Do Rock Steady was released on
7 March 1980, entered the Top 40, and
the Bodysnatchers accepted an invi-
tation to appear on Top of the Pops.
The limousine driver sent to pick up
Rhoda in Brixton discovered she was
busy shopping. “I came back and the
limo was outside my flat. My dad was
going, ‘This poor man is waiting for you.
Where have you been?’ I said, ‘Firstly,
this poor man is early, and secondly, I’m
paying for this poor man to sit here so
don’t you worry.’”
Three weeks later, they made a
second appearance on Top of the Pops,
Let’s Do Rock Steady now at a healthier
No 22 in the charts. Positioned at the lip
of the stage facing the studio audience,
Jane spun round on her drum stool and
began conducting her dancing band-
mates with her sticks. It would be the
last time they would appear on the
show, but for now, the Bodysnatchers
exhibited all the signs of a bona fide
pop act.
On tour in spring 1980 supporting
the Selecter, Rhoda would run from one
side of the stage to the other, imploring
the crowd to dance. “She really held it
together,” admires Miranda. “She was
such a great front person and had a
good rapport with the audience. No one
was a great musician. We were learning
and getting better the more we played.
If things went wrong or we were out
of time, Rhoda would say, ‘Oh, fucking
hell! Come on, let’s do it again.’ Nothing
fazed her. She rolled with it and carried
all of us.”
The group once attempted Mule
Jerk five times and still failed to move
beyond the introduction. “We weren’t
good enough,” Rhoda says. “There
wasn’t any leap of imagination. If it
hadn’t been for Penny, we wouldn’t
have been able to write any songs. She
How Israel-Hamas war disinformation is
being spread online
Manisha Ganguly and Hibaq
Farah
The video shows a young boy in a
Features
was the one who could say, ‘We’re play-
ing in this key. This is where you need
to play … these are the notes.’ Nobody
had a clue. It was a baptism of fire.” Ada-
mant that they were a product of punk
as much as ska, Nicky Summers argues,
“It wasn’t the point to be a proficient
musician. It was about getting your
thoughts across or your attitude or your
energy or your fury or whatever it was.
That was a large feature of the Bodys-
natchers.”
Men mocked the novelty of an all-
woman group. “Whenever we did a
soundcheck there was a lot of expec-
tation that we would not be able to
play our instruments,” continues Penny
in despair. “Roadies on the side of the
stage with their arms folded going,
‘This is going to be a laugh!’” Night
by night, the Bodysnatchers stood by
the side of the stage and studied the
stagecraft of the Selecter, how they
got from one song to the next, until
“slowly and surely we got tight”, says
Penny. “The lighting crews and roa-
dies changed their tune and realised we
weren’t just a bunch of girls to be laugh-
ed at.”
“By the end of the tour,” adds Sarah-
Jane, “we were a different band.” The
band got down to hard partying and
innocent fun. “We were like school
kids,” laughs Rhoda. “We all had water
pistols and soaked journalists whose
questions we didn’t like.” Physically ex-
hausted, Penny says by the end of the
tour she was throwing up. “I don’t think
we ever went to bed before three in the
morning. It was nuts.”
The party mood was abruptly si-
lenced when a fight in the middle
of the dancefloor in Guildford forced
innocent fans to cower on the edges
of the auditorium. “People would be
dancing, then somebody would push
somebody or want to get in front and
then a fight would break out,” says
Sarah-Jane. “It just seemed that is what
men did on a Saturday night.” Miranda
says stabbings were a common occur-
rence. “Many skinheads carried knives.
It was nasty. National Front suppor-
ters would dance merrily to black-
influenced music played by black musi-
cians. I was too young and naive to
make sense of it all. Nobody can.” Attri-
buting their actions to “herd beha-
viour”, Penny says: “Part of 2 Tone was
to educate the audience and say black
people invented this music. You need
to accept that the world is two tone.
It was trying to make people aware of
equality and to stop racism.”
At Friars Aylesbury, opposing gangs
clashed on either side of a gaping hole
in the audience. “You can’t play when
people are fighting,” reasons Penny,
“and sometimes it would be women,”
she adds, bemused. In Middlesbrough,
violence spilled onto the street when
an angry mob smashed the windows
of the Bodysnatchers’ van. Taking it
upon themselves to challenge the inhe-
rent contradiction between supporting
2 Tone and having racist attitudes,
black T-shirt apparently lying in a pool
of blood on the ground. Above him is
a camera, with a man shouting direc-
tions near him. Two men in kippahs,
the Jewish skull caps, and men in green
members of the band questioned the
agitators. “Yeah, but we like the music.”
“What about Rhoda then?” one of the
girls asked. “She’s alright,” came the re-
sponse. “She’s a tart, ain’t she?”
***
Boldness of mind had taken the
Bodysnatchers from blowing away the
mystique surrounding rock’n’roll to
courting the attention of the music
business. But when amateurism mixed
with professionalism, there was little
give. A drummer who could not keep
time proved too much. Writing in her
diary after a show at Hastings Pier Pavi-
lion, Penny Leyton noted, “Miranda and
I discuss Jane with Rob Gambino [tour
manager] who says she’s crap and band
won’t last three months – band agree to
get rid of her.” The following day, Nicky
delivered the news and Jane graciously
agreed to stay for the rest of the tour.
Never one to mince her words,
Rhoda Dakar says that Jane was not
only a “terrible drummer” but “a cow.
She had a little plastic kit with a razor
blade and a straw that she used to carry
about with her. I just thought, you’re
pathetic. I once asked Paul Cook [Sex
Pistols] to try to teach her how to play
reggae. He came to the rehearsal studio,
but it was a pointless exercise. A band
stands or falls by its drummer. When
we had a decent drummer, suddenly
the possibilities opened up.”
Never contractually signed to 2
Tone, the new drummer Judy Parsons’
first engagement was to promote a
record she had not played on: their
second single, Easy Life. The song ad-
dressed parity in working wages and
society’s expectation for women to pro-
create. “The good thing about 20-year-
olds writing songs,” says lyricist Rhoda,
“is that their ideas are pure and unfet-
tered with complications, like, ‘how the
fuck are we going to achieve that then?’
It’s like saying, ‘Let’s go to the moon.’
There’s no notion of ‘we actually have
to build the rocket’. At 20, I thought
motherhood was a thing that dragged
you down. It was doing what everyone
else did. But with the genius of hind-
sight, I now know that it’s a very empo-
wering role.”
But Easy Life failed to make an
impact and talk of a Bodysnatchers
album crashed. Only recently, Richard
Branson had been desperate to sign
the group, “offering the earth” according
to Nicky, “but the rest of the band
wouldn’t meet him. I met this woman
in Notting Hill. She bought us pancakes
and said Branson wanted to take us
to Memphis with Aretha Franklin’s pro-
ducer. Five people refused to play ball. I
don’t know why? It was like, ‘Aaarrggh!
How can you let that go?’” Adding to
their woes, the Bodysnatchers were
broke.
Mulling over their precarious status,
Penny says, “We were a novelty and no-
velty sells: an all-girl group playing ska;
people were seeing great profit poten-
tial in us. But the fairytale had come
to an end.” By the autumn Rhoda con-
military fatigues similar to Israel De-
fence Forces (IDF) uniforms are ga-
thered around him.
The clip has been viewed about 2m
times on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The Guardian Thursday 12 October 2023
cluded, “We’d sacked the manager. We
didn’t have a deal and we didn’t have a
plan.”
“Ugly”, “nasty” and “physical” are
three words repeatedly used by band
members when retelling the break-up
of the Bodysnatchers. Four decades
after the event, Penny singles out a key
moment where she remembers Rhoda
throttling guitarist Sarah-Jane. Then,
locating her diary from 1980, she is
shocked at what she reads: “Friday 10
October, Edinburgh Uni [Freshers’ Ball].
Rhoda upset because she had to get
up at 4pm for soundcheck which she
didn’t have until 5.30pm. Causes hyster-
ical scene, shouts at SJ and Miranda,
tries to strangle me … I decide definitely
things can’t continue this way …”
“It was me!” screams Penny,
stunned. “Obviously I put that out of
my memory and transferred it to SJ.”
On hearing this, Rhoda also cries out.
“What! I had her by her throat? Nah!
Penny was a fruit-loop. Somebody said
something that really annoyed me, so
I had a go at them. Then Simon,
our roadie, jumped in the middle and
started having a go at me. Then my
brother jumped in and basically said,
‘You hurt my sister and I’ll kill you.’”
Penny receives a lot of criticism.
“Opinionated,” says Nicky. “Difficult,”
says Judy. “Irritating,” says Stella,
adding, “I suspect Penny was goading
Rhoda or contradicting her. I could see
it was going to explode. It was awful to
witness. Penny was difficult, but Rhoda
and Nicky could be as well.”
For her part, Penny compares the
dynamic within the band to a blos-
soming romantic relationship. “In the
early stages people are on their best
behaviour, but as you get to know each
other you feel freer and resentments
come out. It’s ironic, since the whole
idea of 2 Tone was to put differences
aside and come together to promote
a better society, that we couldn’t over-
come our own differences.”
While not wholly absolving herself
of blame, Penny points to other factors
that ultimately split the band. “Rhoda
had meltdowns,” she says. “She would
just sit in a chair and scream. There was
a lot of pent-up frustration in her. She
had problems with me and SJ. She felt
that we were privileged middle-class
white girls who didn’t understand how
things were.”
The social differences are what
make the group such a fascinating
study. Nicky’s parents owned a market
stall in Soho; Rhoda’s father grew up
surrounded by servants and worked in
the music business. “My parents be-
haved as if they lived in a big house,”
she says. “I was brought up to think of
myself as someone who could expect
everything and anything. I didn’t have
the psychological or cultural restric-
tions of being working class.” Sarah-
Jane compares herself and Stella to Vic-
toria Beckham. “We came from very
well-educated backgrounds,” she says,
“whereas Nicky and Jane were what I
It was shared by a verified user with the
caption: “Video showing Israel attempt-
ing to create fake footage of deaths.”
In fact, the clip is a behind-the-
scenes shot from a Palestinian short
call street kids.”
Identifying a clear class divide,
Rhoda postulates, “It was about: should
we upset the neighbours or shouldn’t
we? I slotted into the working-class
‘Let’s rock the boat.’ … They were all
fucking ridiculously rich. Stella’s dad
owned a plane … How they treated me
was neither here nor there. It was where
I wanted to be. I didn’t think any further
ahead than getting on Top of the Pops.
Once I’d done that, I didn’t really know
what else to do. I kind of lost momen-
tum. When they treated me badly or it
was apparent that it wasn’t going to im-
prove, I was gone.”
“The five of us wanted to evolve and
not just play reggae,” says Stella. “2 Tone
was coming to a natural conclusion. It
couldn’t sustain itself. We wanted to
expand our musical repertoire.” Rhoda
dismisses such ambition deftly. “They
wanted to be pop tarts,” she states.
“All the 2 Tone bands used to scrap
and squabble. Just because you’re in a
band didn’t mean you got on with them
personally. You were thrown together
in this cramped goldfish bowl space.
You let off all your steam on stage,
came off and you have all this energy.
Inevitably people are going to argue,
they have a drink, and sometimes it’s all
going to go horribly wrong.”
On Halloween night in 1980, the
Bodysnatchers performed for the last
time. It had been just 11 months since
their debut at the Windsor Castle. Two
hundred-plus gigs later, Penny says,
“We were all mentally exhausted. It felt
more like three years than 11 months. It
had been super intense.” Playing a set
consisting almost entirely of original
songs, Record Mirror described the fare-
well appearance at the Music Machine
as celebratory: “It’s quite obvious that
most of the band are in the party mood.
The Bodysnatchers certainly went out
in a blaze of glory, buried under a sea of
confetti, streamers, rubber string from a
spray can, and Doc Martens, as the skin-
heads invaded the stage.”
“And that was the band over,” says
Judy. Answering her own question –
why did it end? – Miranda cuts to the
quick: “Nicky left and Rhoda got wooed
away to do stuff with the Specials. We
then morphed into the Belle Stars” –
who had big hits with Sign of the Times
and Iko Iko – “so it didn’t feel like it was
an end. We just adapted to the people
leaving.” Rhoda sums up the experience
with blunt analysis: “I’d played with the
Specials. Then you come back to the
Bodysnatchers and you think, ‘They’re
so shit.’ It was a relief.”
• This is an edited extract from
Too Much Too Young: The 2 Tone
Records Story: Rude Boys, Racism and
the Soundtrack of a Generation by
Daniel Rachel, published 19 October
by White Rabbit Books. To support
the Guardian, order your copy from
guardianbookshop.com.
film, Empty Place, which focuses on the
vacuum left by Palestinians who fled
due to the Israeli occupation. It seems
Continued on page 39
Thursday 12 October 2023 The Guardian
Continued from page 38
to have originated on TikTok before
finding its way to X – but while the
original TikTok post now appears to be
unavailable, on X it has continued to
circulate and gain traction.
The user behind the X post that at-
tracted 2m views later acknowledged
the clip may have been used out of con-
text.
It is far from a one-off. Since Hamas
launched an attack on Israel on Sat-
urday morning, X has been flooded
with disinformation and misinfor-
mation that has heightened tensions
across the globe. Disinformation refers
to the deliberate spread of false infor-
mation, while misinformation is when
someone unwittingly spreads or be-
lieves the false information to be true.
Another video, originating from
TikTok but now unavailable there, has
racked up 2m views on X claiming to
show high-profile Israeli generals cap-
tured by Hamas fighters. In actuality,
the video was originally published by
the official YouTube channel of the
state security service of Azerbaijan last
week, and shows arrested former lead-
ers of the breakaway Nagorno-Kara-
bakh government.
A doctored document suggesting
that Joe Biden gave $8bn in assistance
to Israel appeared on X last week and
was viewed 400,000 times. The faked
memo was an edited version of the
US president’s July memo where he
announced $400m in aid to Ukraine.
There is no such document on the
White House website or social media.
Exxon reinforces support for fossil fuels with
deal to buy shale giant for $60bn
Callum Jones and Dharna Noor
Oil giant ExxonMobil agreed to buy the
shale group Pioneer Natural Resources
for $59.5bn in a deal that places a vast
bet on a future for fossil fuel produc-
tion in the United States.
America’s largest oil and gas deal
in more than two decades will in-
crease Exxon’s dominance in the Per-
mian Basin shale field, at the heart of
the country’s transformation into the
world’s biggest oil producer.
Shares in Exxon have almost
doubled over the past two years as oil
and gas prices rose sharply. Its takeover
of Pioneer – an all-stock transaction –
capitalizes on this market rally.
While the Biden administration has
sought to hasten the shift towards
renewable energy in the face of the cli-
mate crisis, this acquisition underlines
the confidence of America’s largest oil
company that fossil fuel output will
not be significantly hampered in the
coming years.
With shareholders in Pioneer set
to vote on the proposed tie-up, Scott
Sheffield, the operator’s chief executive,
declared the combined fracking giant
would create value for them “for dec-
ades to come”.
Darren Woods, chief executive and
chairman of Exxon, said: “Pioneer is
a clear leader in the Permian with
a unique asset base and people with
deep industry knowledge. The com-
bined capabilities of our two com-
panies will provide long-term value
Features / Finance
A man films rockets being fired in Gaza. Since Hamas launched its attack on Israel,
social media has been flooded with disinformation. Photograph: Mohammed Abed/AFP/
Getty Images
The White House confirmed to NBC
that the document was fake.
Russia has been a longstanding cul-
prit for spreading disinformation on X,
and appears to have been capitalising
on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On
Monday the former Russian president
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chair of
the Russian Security Council, tweeted:
“Well, Nato buddies, you’ve really got
it, haven’t you? The weapons handed
to the Nazi regime in Ukraine are now
being actively used against Israel.”
Another video, apparently showing
Hamas thanking Ukraine for the sale of
weapons it plans to use against Israel,
was posted by an X account linked to
the Russian mercenary group Wagner.
It has since been viewed more than
300,000 times and amplified by far-
right accounts from the US.
In February, the Pentagon’s in-
ExxonMobil buys Pioneer Natural Resources for $59.5bn. Photograph: Dado Ruvić/Reuters
creation well in excess of what either
company is capable of doing on a stan-
dalone basis.”
This would be ExxonMobil’s biggest
deal since Exxon’s $75bn merger with
Mobil Oil in 1998. Together, Exxon and
Pioneer are set to have “the largest foot-
print of high-return wells in the Per-
mian Basin”, Sheffield noted.
Exxon’s production in the Permian
would more than double to 1.3m barrels
of oil equivalent per day following the
purchase, it said. This is expected to rise
to about 2m barrels of oil equivalent per
day by 2027.
spector general reported that there was
no evidence to date of weapons and
aid to Ukraine being diverted to third
parties, while Ukrainian intelligence
this week accused Russia of placing
“trophy” western weapons seized from
battlefields in Ukraine with Hamas to
undermine support for Kyiv.
Eliot Higgins, the founder of the
investigative outlet Bellingcat, also
flagged up a fake video purporting to
be from the BBC that claimed to fea-
ture a Bellingcat investigation showing
Ukraine smuggled weapons to Hamas.
He said it was being pushed by Rus-
sian social media users but added it was
unclear if this was a Russian govern-
ment disinformation campaign or a
grassroots effort.
At the centre of growing concerns
over fake news related to the Israel-
Hamas conflict is Elon Musk, the owner
The company is pitching the take-
over as environmentally friendly, how-
ever. It pledged to leverage its “indus-
try-leading” greenhouse gas reduction
plans in the Permian, which Woods said
will to “accelerate Pioneer’s net-zero
plan from 2050 to 2035”.
The deal – expected to close in
the first half of next year – is sub-
ject to regulatory approvals. The boards
of Exxon and Pioneer have already
granted the green light. It values Pio-
neer at $253 per share, which amounts
to a 9% premium on where the oper-
ator’s stock was trading about a month
of X and a self-proclaimed “free speech
absolutist” who has faced serious accu-
sations of disseminating conspiracy
theories and antisemitism on the plat-
form, which he denies.
Since his takeover and rebranding
of Twitter in 2022, Musk dissolved the
platform’s Trust and Safety Council,
which was responsible for addressing
global content moderation and hate
speech and harassment. The company
said it had plans to reorganise this
team, but they remain unclear.
In the past year, Musk has fired
two heads of trust and safety on X,
and is locked in a legal dispute with
his co-lead of threat disruption at X,
whose responsibilities included advis-
ing leadership on “vision and strategy
for content moderation”.
X has introduced Community
Notes, a programme for crowdsourced
moderation that largely places the onus
on users to correct facts instead of em-
ployed content moderators.
In recent weeks, Musk has been
criticised over the spread of antisemitic
content on the platform. While he
said in a post that he was “pro-free
speech, but against antisemitism of any
kind”, the director of the Anti-Defa-
mation League, Jonathan Greenblatt,
accused him of “amplifying” messages
from neo-Nazis. The league, said anti-
semitic posts on X increased sharply
after Musk bought the site, prompting
him to threaten to sue.
He has also engaged with or posted
content targeting the Hungarian-Amer-
ican businessman and philanthropist
George Soros, who has been a regular
before reports of takeover talks first
surfaced.
Shares in Pioneer Natural Resources
climbed 0.3% to $238.10 on Wednesday.
Exxon dropped 4.8% to $105.11.
Unlike some of its rivals, Exxon has
so far defied calls to move away from
fossil fuels and concentrate on cleaner
energy sources. Rather than place big
bets on the shift to renewable energy,
the oil giant has instead focused on its
core business.
The company’s annual profits
soared to a record $55.7bn last year,
after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine trig-
39
Screengrab from video that went viral on
TikTok and X. Photograph: TikTok
target for conspiracy theorists.
On Tuesday the European Commis-
sion issued a letter to Musk warning
him over alleged disinformation on X
about the Hamas attack on Israel, in-
cluding fake news and “repurposed old
images”. It is understood that X is
cooperating with the EU’s request to
provide information but it will be some
time before Brussels takes any further
steps.
Pat de Brún, deputy director at
Amnesty Tech, said: “Social media
platform companies like Meta and X
have clear responsibilities under inter-
national human rights standards, such
as the UN guiding principles on busi-
ness and human rights, and these
responsibilities are heightened in times
of crisis and conflict.
“Social media firms are responsible
for identifying and responding effec-
tively to risks and taking effective
measures to limit the spread of harm-
ful content – the amplification of which
can lead to human rights abuses. How-
ever, all too often, big tech companies
have failed to step up in the face of
such emergencies, enabling hate and
misinformation to proliferate.”
X has been contacted for comment.
gered a surge in oil prices. President
Biden accused the industry of “war
profiteering” as prices rose at the pump.
Exxon claimed on Wednesday that its
purchase of Pioneer would both streng-
then energy security and bolster the US
economy.
“ExxonMobil expanding is bad for
people, communities, and our climate,”
said David Tong, global industry cam-
paign manager at nonprofit research
and advocacy group Oil Change Inter-
national. “Further consolidation of the
fossil energy market into a smaller
number of mega companies will not
secure energy access for people or help
achieve climate targets.”
A recent analysis by Tong’s group
found that, despite their climate
pledges, no major oil and gas com-
pany comes close to aligning with the
2015 Paris Agreement, a groundbreak-
ing international treaty aimed at keep-
ing global temperatures “well below” 2C
above pre-industrial levels.
The non-profit environmental
advocacy group Environmental De-
fense Fund has raised concerns that
the deal will reduce transparency
around methane emissions, which are
80 times more planet-warming than
carbon emissions in the short term.
Pioneer has been an industry leader
in methane reporting, but the group ex-
pressed fear that Exxon’s acquisition
will likely mean that those practices
“would likely revert to Exxon’s own out-
dated and inadequate practices”.

40
The Guardian view on Labour’s housing plan:
a promising start to addressing an age-old
problem
Editorial
The road that has taken Britain into
a housing crisis is paved with broken
promises. Governments have pledged
action, set targets and talked about new
towns, building on brownfield sites,
local partnerships, devolution and sim-
ilar well-intentioned policies. Yet the
deficit in available homes – the number
that should have been constructed in
recent decades for present supply to
match demand – is routinely estimated
at more than 4m.
Even if the Conservatives had stuck
to their manifesto goal of 300,000 new
homes a year, the mission would not
be accomplished before 2070. But Rishi
Sunak, in an act of typical political
cowardice, scrapped the target in defe-
rence to backbench Tory MPs, who put
the interests of homeowning consti-
tuents over the hopes of prospective
future constituents who might need
somewhere to live.
Decades of failure to get building
offer a reason to cheer Sir Keir Star-
mer’s determination to do things diffe-
rently, but also a reason to withhold full
confidence that he will manage it. One
promising sign is Sir Keir’s forthright
approach to planning reform and the
need, in his words, to “bulldoze” some
existing regulations.
Imprisoned Uyghur academic named 2023
PEN international writer of courage
Lucy Knight
Leading Uyghur professor Rahile
Dawut has been named this year’s
international writer of courage. Having
been missing for six years, last month
Dawut was reportedly sentenced to life
in prison by Chinese authorities on
charges of endangering state security.
Dawut was picked by Michael
Rosen who, as winner of the PEN Pinter
prize, shares the award with a writer
of courage, selected from a shortlist of
international writers who have actively
defended freedom of expression, often
at risk to their own safety.
Rosen chose Dawut, a global expert
on Uyghur folklore, because he had “de-
voted many hours to the enjoyment
and study of folklore” and was “pushed
towards sorrow and anger on hearing
that someone could be imprisoned for
precisely the kind of interest that I
have”.
An associate professor at Xinjiang
University and founder of the univer-
sity’s research centre on minority fol-
klore, Dawut was due to travel to Bei-
jing for an academic conference in
December 2017. However, the now 57-
year-old never reached her destination
and her whereabouts remain unknown.
The Guardian View / Arts
The Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, and the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, visiting a housing development in Milton Keynes in 2022.
Photograph: Aaron Chown/PA
Also refreshing is his readiness to
grapple with the taboo of the green belt,
which appears in many voters’ minds as
an idyllic rural ribbon around cities but
covers, in reality, a more complex array
of sites. It is right to query the sanctity
of those restrictions, although limiting
urban sprawl is a legitimate concern.
Likewise, the Labour leader de-
Rahile Dawut. Photograph: Lisa Ross
Three years after her disappearance,
Dawut’s former co-workers were able
to confirm that Chinese authorities
had imprisoned her on charges of pro-
moting “splittism”. Last month, the
US-based Dui Hua Foundation human
rights group, which has been trying to
locate Dawut, reported that she had
serves credit for his candour in con-
fronting nimbyism. Asked whether his
housebuilding agenda would some-
times involve overriding local concerns,
he said yes. It was a brave answer and,
with important caveats (some of which
Sir Keir went on to provide), the correct
one.
Labour would address local reser-
lost an appeal against her sentence of
life imprisonment.
Dawut’s PEN Pinter award was ac-
cepted on her behalf by Rachel Harris,
professor of ethnomusicology at SOAS.
Dawut’s daughter, Akeda Pulati, said:
“My mother is a distinguished scholar.
She should be doing her research and
The Guardian Thursday 12 October 2023
vations through reformed section 106
agreements – the legal obligations at-
tached to new developments to ensure
that requirements for increased infra-
structure and affordable housing are
part of the overall plan. It is a dirigiste
approach, but not an exclusively statist
one, since the main mechanism to get
things built is incentives to the private
enjoying her retirement right now, but
instead she is in prison.”
“Recent news about her life impri-
sonment not only devastated me,
but devastated anyone who loves her
and who loves Uyghur culture,” Pulati
added. “She is being punished for being
a hard-working scholar and for loving
sector.
That might be where the plan falls
short, given the acute need for new
social housing. Labour talks encou-
ragingly about “unlocking” existing
grants and providing stability to em-
power councils to invest. Those meas-
ures look insufficient to mobilise the
capital required to restore Britain’s dep-
leted stock of council houses. A focus
on that task would help win over scep-
tics in Labour’s own ranks. Fear of
looking profligate with public money
puts a fiscal cap on the boldness of
the opposition’s ambition. Labour is
committed to restoring targets aban-
doned by Mr Sunak, but not surpassing
them. Sir Keir might, with a further
leap of ambition, have woven a green
thread through his housebuilding plans
by ensuring that new properties are
heated with renewables.
Given the scale of the house-
building task and the precedents of
failure, it is reasonable to expect
some disappointment in delivery. But it
would be churlish not to recognise that
Sir Keir has shown refreshing courage
in his approach. The bar can always be
set higher, but the trajectory is the right
one.
culture.”
During his address at the prize cere-
mony in London, Rosen said: “Standing
here in the British Library, I could not
be more aware of the huge gulf be-
tween the kind of freedoms I have, or
often take for granted, but are denied to
many others in the world.”
The author, best known for his
books for children, expressed admi-
ration for Dawut, and said he “fervently
hope[s] that whatever we are doing
here today, helps her case”.
“I wish her all the mental and phys-
ical strength she needs, or as my par-
ents would say: ‘Sh’koyech’ – a He-
braic Yiddish saying, meaning some-
thing like a mix of appreciation and
wishing strength to someone.”
Dawut is a longstanding case of con-
cern to PEN and is among the writers
featured in English PEN’s international
letter-writing campaign, PENWrites, in
solidarity with writers in prison and at
risk around the world. The non-profit
writers’ organisation considers Dawut’s
imprisonment to be a clear breach of
her right to freedom of expression and
calls for her immediate and uncon-
ditional release.
Thursday 12 October 2023 The Guardian
Balls, baps and soggy bottoms: Is the Great
British Bake Off now too rude for primetime?
Name: Bake Off
Age: The Great British Bake Off has
been going since 2010, quickly becom-
ing a family favourite. A light dusting
of innuendo has been part of the recipe
from the start.
So the smut wasn’t added when
it moved to Channel Phwoar? You’re
right about the move to Channel 4 in
2017, but there were lashings of double
entendres even in its BBC days.
Soggy bottoms! Exactly. From Mary
Berry herself. Possibly unintentional to
begin with, but it quickly became her
catchphrase.
Pretty tame though, I can’t imagine
anyone getting too upset about soggy
bottoms. Yeah, but then presenters Mel
Giedroyc and Sue Perkins, never ones to
knowingly pass on an opportunity for
innuendo, pushed it further in – pushed
it further in! – that direction.
Remind me. “Stop touching your
dough balls!” “Stand away from your
hot baps!”
Balls, baps, and soggy bottoms. It’s
Carry On Baking, but more groan-
inducing than anything that would
trouble Ofcom, no? You want a little
extra spice? I give you: “Some of them
Cassius X: Becoming Ali review – boxing
legend’s story goes back to his roots
Peter Bradshaw
Here to prove you can never have
enough documentaries about Muham-
mad Ali is New York director Muta’Ali
Muhammad, who has made a new film
on the subject for the US’s Smithsonian
Channel; it is entertaining, but perhaps
unsure of what exactly it’s saying that is
new. It focuses on the legendary boxer’s
public life from 1959 to 1964, as he
negotiated a new existence as world
champion and member of the Nation
of Islam, changing his name from Cas-
sius Clay to (initially) Cassius X in a
key transitional moment. It is written
by Scottish author and producer Stuart
Cosgrove, adapting his own 2020 book
Cassius X: A Legend in the Making.
This perfectly watchable film moves
with breezy fluency from Ali’s early
years, the sensational gold medal at the
1960 Rome Olympics, the hilarious star-
is-born interviews and media procla-
mations, the creepy cabal of white Ken-
tucky businessmen who banded to-
gether to promote and manage Clay (as
he then was) as they would a raceh-
orse – and ending up with his sensa-
tional victory over Sonny Liston in 1964
Arts
Creamed buns, anyone? Photograph: Sedaeva/Getty Images/iStockphoto
have got a good forking,” from Queen
Mary herself.
I refuse to believe that it was inten-
tional. OK then, how about “I’ve never
eaten a nun before,” from Sue. Or: “Keep
Rising star … Cassius Clay, age 20, pictured on 17 May, 1962 in Bronx, New York, in Cassius X: Becoming Ali. Photograph: The Stanley
Weston Archive/Getty Images
(which is shown at almost real-time
length) and Clay’s announcement of his
conversion to Islam. As in Leon Gast’s
1996 film When We Were Kings, arc-
hive material is interspersed with inter-
your biscuits erect, you’ve got four
hours to do so.”
Sue again? Sue again. Then the
move to Channel 4, and how about
this between Paul Hollywood and Prue
views with grizzled old sportswriters,
one of whom tells us about his own
background at questionably interesting
length. We also get interesting encoun-
ters with Ali’s ex-fiancee Dee Dee Sharp
Leith in the bread round: “It’s all about
making both of the balls quite tight.
The way you do that, the way I do it, is
to drive my finger right all the way to
the tray underneath.” “Do you flour your
and Malcolm X’s daughter Attallah Sha-
bazz.
There is a lot to enjoy here: partic-
ularly his hubristic encounter with Brit-
ain’s Henry Cooper in London whom
41
finger?” “I could oil it …”
I remember! They called it the most
innuendo filled episode ever. Well, they
did in 2017 …
Has it been trumped? Maybe you
didn’t catch this week’s episode. The
bread round again – what is it about
bread?
Buns? Inevitably. “My buns are a
little bit small,” said contestant Dan,
while attempting Devonshire splits.
They sound painful. Host Noel
Fielding, who took the innuendo baton
from Sue in the changeover, said bakers
didn’t want their buns to be too tight.
Groan. And contestant Josh
smirked and said: “You don’t want to
put cream into a hot bun.”
Cream, too far? Some said so on
social media. “Too many buns and
cream innuendoes,” from one. “Chan-
nel 4 programming quality hitting rock
bottom … Get ready for lots of com-
plaints from this series,” said another.
And: “It’s very uncomfortable family
viewing this week.”
Do say: “Bedtime kids, just mummy
and daddy are watching this one.”
Don’t say: “Anything about the Hol-
lywood handshake.”
Clay mocked in the ring by dropping
his guard; Cooper punished this by ac-
tually knocking him down. If this hadn’t
happened just before the end of a
round, and if trainer Angelo Dundee
hadn’t cunningly bought more time by
claiming his man had a ripped glove,
he might well actually have been de-
feated. (As it was, Henry Cooper could
claim the Jake-LaMotta-ish distinction
of not having been knocked out, the
fight stopped because of his cut. It is
a measure of Cooper’s quaint underdog
status that the fact of Ali’s near defeat
at the hands of a white man hardly fig-
ures, then or now.)
But what about Ali’s painful split
from Malcolm X? It was Elijah Muham-
mad who gave Ali his new name, the
Nation of Islam leader who rebuked
and rejected Malcolm X, a key figure
in Ali’s religious awakening, for his
insubordinate attitude; and Ali unhesi-
tatingly sided against Malcolm. This
vital subject is really not discussed at
any length at all and it is a flaw in
this documentary – but no film can go
wrong with a leading man of such star
quality.
• Cassius X: Becoming Ali is re-
leased on 13 October in UK cinemas.

42
Spotify’s new audiobook streaming could
have ‘devastating effect’, says Society of
Authors
Lucy Knight
The Society of Authors (SoA) has said
it is “deeply concerned” about Spotify’s
new audiobook provision. The industry
body cited “the devastating effect that
music streaming has had on artists’ in-
comes”, and expressed its fear that au-
thors may suffer in a similar way.
“The streaming of audiobooks com-
petes directly with sales and is even
more damaging than music streaming
because books are typically only read
once, while music is often streamed
many times,” a statement from the SoA
read.
At the beginning of October, the
Bookseller reported that “all of the
major book publishers” had agreed li-
mited streaming deals with Spotify.
Since 4 October, Spotify Premium sub-
scribers in the UK and Australia have
been able to access to up to 15 hours of
audiobook content per month, from a
catalogue of more than 150,000 titles.
“As far as we are aware, no au-
thors or agents have been approached
for permission for such licences, and
authors have not been consulted on
licence or payment terms,” the SoA
said. “Publishing contracts differ but in
our view most licences given to pub-
lishers for licensing of audio do not
include streaming. In fact, it is likely
that streaming was not a use that had
been invented when many such con-
tracts were entered into.”
Yara Rodrigues Fowler, named ear-
lier this year as one of Granta’s Best
of Young British Novelists, said that
she “wasn’t consulted at all” before the
audiobook of her debut novel Stubborn
Archivist appeared on the streaming
app. Her agent, Imogen Pelham, added:
“The key issue is the total obscurity of
Salman Rushdie announces memoir, Knife,
about being stabbed in 2022
Lucy Knight
Salman Rushdie’s memoir Knife, about
being stabbed last year, will be pub-
lished on 16 April next year, Penguin
Random House has announced.
The Indian-born British-American
author, who survived a knife attack in
2022, revealed he was working on a new
book at the Hay literary festival in June.
He told the Hay audience via a pre-rec-
orded Zoom appearance that it would
be “a relatively short book, a couple of
hundred pages”.
“It’s not the easiest book in the
world to write, but it’s something I need
to get past in order to do anything else.
I can’t really start writing a novel that’s
got nothing to do with this,” he said. “So
I just have to deal with it.”
Knife: Meditations After an At-
tempted Murder will recount the
Arts
Spotify Premium subscribers in the UK and Australia can now access to up to 15 hours of audiobook content per month Photograph:
Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
the deal. It’s impossible to understand
what the benefit is supposed to be
for authors.” Author and historian Greg
Jenner tweeted that he only learned
about the Spotify deal “when a friend
found both of our audiobooks on Spo-
tify, and we had no idea”.
Literary agent Jonny Geller con-
firmed that he and his colleagues at
the agency Curtis Brown were not ap-
proached before the Spotify deal was
concluded. “That is certainly unusual
as audio rights are an important and
growing part of an author’s work and
income,” he said. “We will look closely
at the deals being offered by the pub-
lishers to make sure the royalty offered
is subject to purchases of each audio-
book and not how long someone may
or may not listen to it.”
Salman Rushdie in May this year. Photograph: Frank Franklin II/AP
author’s experience of surviving the at-
tempt on his life. It is “a searing book”,
according to Nihar Malaviya, CEO of
Penguin Random House, and “a re-
minder of the power of words to make
sense of the unthinkable. We are ho-
“We do not want to follow the
disastrous path the music industry
went down,” he added. For years, musi-
cians have been complaining that they
are unable to make a living via dig-
ital music royalties because of re-
ported low levels of remuneration from
streaming platforms. Earlier this year
a parliamentary report called for the
UK government to streamline its policy-
making in creative industries, in order
to make the industry fairer for British
musicians.
The SoA’s chief executive Nicola So-
lomon said that “the fact that all main
publishers have signed similar deals
with Spotify indicates that this has
been in discussion for some time. So
why have authors and agents not been
consulted?”
noured to publish it, and amazed at
Salman’s determination to tell his story,
and to return to the work he loves.”
Rushdie said: “This was a neces-
sary book for me to write: a way to
take charge of what happened, and to
The Guardian Thursday 12 October 2023
“How will earnings from these
streaming deals be calculated?” she
went on to ask. “How can we ensure
that such deals do not compete with
sales and that authors are fully remu-
nerated. What will it mean for longer
term earnings? What protections are
publishers putting in place against
piracy and unrestrained uses?”
“We urgently need the publishers
involved to have the conversations with
authors and agents now which they
should have had before these deals
were made.”
In addition to seeking author and
agent approval of these deals, the SoA
is calling for publishers to provide
a number of protections for authors,
including negotiating “an appropriate
share of the receipts on a clear and
answer violence with art.”
The 76-year-old is the acclaimed
author of more than a dozen novels,
including Midnight’s Children and The
Satanic Verses. He also published a pre-
vious memoir, Joseph Anton, in 2012,
which recounts his time in hiding after
multiple threats to his life following
the publication of The Satanic Verses.
The 1988 novel was banned in Iran
as blasphemous, and a fatwa calling
for his death was issued by Ayatollah
Khomeini, who was then the supreme
leader of Iran.
Thirty-three years after the fatwa
was issued, Rushdie, who has lived in
the US since 2000, was stabbed repeat-
edly while on stage at the Chautauqua
Institution in New York state where
he was due to deliver a lecture. After-
wards, the writer remained in hospital
for six weeks. He lost vision in one
eye and feeling in some fingertips. The
equitable payment model” and ensur-
ing “that licences include safeguards to
prevent pirating of authors’ and nar-
rators’ works and voices including for
use in AI systems”.
Pan Macmillan said it is “always
interested in opportunities to sell more
of our licensed audio product”.
“Of course we have carefully re-
viewed our contracts, only making
titles available to Spotify where we
are cleared for distribution as streamed
audiobooks,” a representative from the
publisher said. “We are excited by the
possibility of Spotify opening up new
audiences for audiobooks.”
According to Penguin Random
House’s global website, the UK’s biggest
publishing house is “excited” to have
its titles included in Spotify’s catalogue,
and it describes the 15 hours per month
model as comparable to token models
on existing services such as Audible,
where members receive one credit for
an audiobook. “We’re thrilled by this
exciting opportunity to bring our au-
thors’ works – and voices – to Spotify’s
220 million paid subscribers,” the state-
ment read.
David Kaefer, vice-president of busi-
ness affairs at Spotify, told the Book-
seller earlier this week that each pub-
lisher had agreed to a slightly different
contract. “There is a pooling model for
a segment of our partners and gen-
erally it’s partners who are slightly
smaller scale,” he said. “Some people,
particularly larger providers, wanted to
do something different.” Such pooling
models would give publishers a percen-
tage of the total revenue Spotify rece-
ives for its audiobooks.
Spotify has not yet responded to
the Guardian’s request that it addresses
the SoA’s concerns directly.
Knife: Meditations After an Attempted
Murder by Salman Rushdie. Photograph: AP
Continued on page 43
Thursday 12 October 2023 The Guardian
Continued from page 42
man suspected of stabbing Rushdie,
Hadi Matar, has been charged with at-
The Secret Life of John le Carré by Adam
Sisman review – the spy who loved me
Alex Clark
In the late stages of writing John le
Carré’s biography, a doorstopper of 600-
plus pages published in 2015 to largely
appreciative reviews, Adam Sisman re-
ceived an email from the writer’s wife,
Jane. Attached was a 22-page memo-
randum of 196 corrections from the
author, some of which queried source
material that, as Sisman coolly notes
with the mild glee of the vindicated,
came from le Carré himself. The entire
project – not an officially authorised
biography but one undertaken with the
knowledge and, to varying degrees, the
cooperation of its subject – had been
something of a push-me, pull-you affair.
Since the author of novels including
the Smiley trilogy, The Night Manager
and The Constant Gardener died in
2020 at the age of 89, there has been
plenty for the aficionado to grapple
with: a collection of his letters from
1945 until his final days, edited by his
son Tim, who died in 2022, and the
melancholy, rainswept Silverview, his
26th novel.
Now comes Sisman’s addendum to
his previous book, one that concerns
itself largely with the writer’s fond-
ness for “a full and frank exchange
of views” – his euphemism, borrowed
from his conman father Ronnie, for sex
(an illuminating aside in the book notes
that le Carré tended to put this kind of
“Belgravia cockney” into the mouths of
his more dislikable characters).
Le Carré exchanged views with a lot
of women, and several have their say in
this book. Last year one of them, Sue
‘All I wore was my camera strap’: David Hurn’s
best photograph
Interview by Chris Broughton
Early in my career, I realised that having
a well-numbered archive with clear
captions was something that would
bring in an income for ever. I realised,
too, that it was a good idea to go
out and photograph unique subjects:
the biggest, the smallest, things that
were about to disappear. When you’re
the only person who has photographed
something that has been and gone,
that gives you an enormous advantage
when people want images of it in the
future.
So whenever I heard of something
that fitted that category, I’d trot off and
photograph it. If someone wanted to
publish the photographs at the time,
great. But at the back of my mind was
always the thought: “This is really for
the future.” And that was the case when
I attended the Isle of Wight festivals, all
Arts
tempted murder.
Rushdie’s most recent book, the
novel Victory City, was published ear-
lier this year, but it was written before
Le Carré at his home in London, 2008. Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
Dawson, published her own account
of their relationship, which began in
1982 when she worked on the audio
version of Smiley’s People. (The Secret
Heart was written under the semi-pseu-
donym Suleika Dawson, echoing Max
Beerbohm’s 1911 satire Zuleika Dobson,
about a woman so irresistible that she
drove men to mass suicide, which is not
quite the way it went for Sue.)
He called her his Recording Angel,
and there are many champagne
lunches, five-star hotels and clan-
destine trips to remote islands, accom-
panied by impassioned declarations of
love, woeful descriptions of his domes-
tic travails and demands for discre-
‘It’s a totally joyous picture’ … festival-goers strip off to wash in the sea during the Isle of
Wight music festival, 1969. Photograph: David Hurn/Magnum Photos
three, in 1968, 69 and 70. I knew I’d get
some pictures – but of course it was also
great fun.
There were some big acts on stage
the attack. Knife will be the first book
he has written since the events last
year.
The author has been shortlisted for
tion interspersed with faintly obnox-
ious flauntings (he is pretend-horrified
when they run into Frederick Forsyth
in a supposedly out-of-the-way Chinese
restaurant, although it doesn’t stop
them going back to the Forsyths for a
post-lunch brandy, of which there are
also many).
Sue was but one: there was also a
dalliance with a pal’s wife, an affair with
an American reader that was almost en-
tirely epistolary, an MI5 typist, a French
woman who died in a road accident
during an aid mission in Kosovo, an au
pair and a journalist killed in an em-
bassy bombing in Beirut.
Back in Cornwall, his second wife
over those three years – Bob Dylan, Joni
Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix – but I knew the
other 200 photographers would have
them covered, all ending up with basi-
43
the Booker prize for fiction seven times, novel also went on to win the “Booker
and won it in 1981 for his second novel, of Bookers” twice: once in 1993 and
Midnight’s Children, a magical realist again in 2008, in celebration of the
story about the partition of India. The prize’s 25th and 40th anniversaries.
grapher’s role – is at pains to explore le
Carré’s sexual restlessness in terms of
his excruciatingly unhappy childhood
and his comparative failure as a spy. Did
he hanker after the career of a double
agent so much that he imported it into
his emotional life, whatever the cost to
those around him?
He appeared to be a romantic part-
ner almost entirely comprised, in the
modern parlance, of red flags. But some
of his more preposterous behaviour as
a lover – the mawkish devotions, the
extravagant gifts, the sudden cooling of
affection – do indeed speak of someone
monstrously unhappy; someone, per-
haps, who never felt quite right in his
own skin, and had to invent his way out
of it.
• The Secret Life of John le Carré
by Adam Sisman is published by Pro-
file (£16.99). To support the Guar-
dian and Observer order your copy
from guardianbookshop.com. Delivery
charges may apply.
Jane kept the home fires burning,
apparently tolerant of her husband’s
infidelities as long as they were kept
at arm’s length. It is worth emphasising
that we do not have her side of the
story and that she died not long after There are many
her husband; it is both of their deaths champagne lunches,
that, explains Sisman, have left him free
to write about an aspect of le Carré’s
five-star hotels and
life that he had deliberately left out clandestine trips to
of the biography. This was primarily to
remote islands,
prevent his subject withdrawing access
completely but also, one feels, out of a accompanied by
moral obligation to his wife. declarations of love
It’s unsurprising, then, that Sisman
– who is a delicate writer keen to
acknowledge the ambiguity of the bio-
cally the same pictures. I was always
much more interested in the spec-
tators, the fans. There was certainly
no shortage of people to photograph.
The second festival was much better at-
tended than the first, and there were
rumours before the 1970 one that it
was going to be the biggest concert the
world had ever seen. I’ve since read that
there were as many as 700,000 people
there.
At big events, the first thing I always
look for is the shot that shows how
many people are there. I tend to shoot
that picture first, because it usually
means hiking up some bloody hill and Photograph: Sue Packer
if I don’t do it straightaway I’ll forget.
Opportunities to wash were few and
Then I’ll do the journalistic thing and
analyse what’s important – how do after a while we all started to smell.
people live, where do they sleep, do The heavy body odour hanging over
they have their children with them – everyone became increasingly difficult
and photograph those. At the Isle of to ignore. Realising we weren’t that far
Wight, I ended up concentrating on a
main group of a few hundred people. Continued on page 44

44
Continued from page 43
from the beach, a group of about 300 of
us went down to the sea to get clean.
To do that properly, of course, you have
to take your clothes off, so that’s what
everyone did. When I took this, the only
thing I had on was my camera strap. It
seemed perfectly natural, I’d have felt
more embarrassed if I was the only
person fully clothed. There are a few
people wearing swimming costumes,
and I sometimes wonder if they’ve
seen this since and wished they’d been
bolder.
‘Provocateur! Sex symbol! Opportunist!’ Six
generations of women on the power and
passion of Madonna
Guardian writers
‘She’s a bit too sexy’
Maya and Leila Crockski, twins,
aged 10
Maya: The first time I heard Ma-
donna was in the car. We were going
on holiday so we were listening to
the song Holiday. I thought it was …
fine?Leila: I remember hearing Holiday
at the end of the film Trolls Holiday.
My mum came in and said: “This is
Madonna!”Maya: Our mum is a Ma-
donna superfan.Leila: She’s too much
of a Madonna superfan. She doesn’t
play her as much as she wants to be-
cause our little sister is always play-
ing her own music. But when she gets
the chance, Madonna is all she will
play.Maya: She’s always playing Holiday
and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Oh
– that’s not Madonna? Whoops!Leila:
We’ve not seen her live but we’ve seen
her in videos. She’s sassy.Maya: She’s
sexy. She’s always tipping her head
back and running her arms across her
face.Leila: Her costumes are very cool
and sexy.Maya: If there’s anything we
don’t like about her, it’s that she’s a bit
too sexy.Leila: Our friends have heard a
few of her songs, but they’re not inter-
ested. We like her, though. She goes out
there on stage and she’s only five years
younger than our nanna! Good for her
that she’s still got it!
‘Kissing Britney was tamer than
dancing in a pink leotard’
Micha Frazer-Carroll, columnist, in
her 20s
In the smokers’ area of a gay bar,
it will be the solemn church organ of
Like a Prayer that interrupts the conver-
sation and makes your friends drag you
back on to the dancefloor. In the buil-
dup to the chorus, someone inevitably
mentions that “I’m down on my knees,
I wanna take you there” is actually
double entendre – “did you know?”
The combination of sexuality, high
drama, over-the-top costuming, cha-
racter transformation and provocative
femininity that Madonna has become
known for across her long career has
always resonated with queer commun-
ities.
Think of the 1989 Jean Paul Gaul-
tier cone bra, which took the corset
– a garment associated with feminine
restriction and regression – and made it
spiky and weapon-like. Or three years
later, when she wore a leather har-
Arts
Salt water is actually not much use
for getting clean, but in the picture eve-
ryone had congregated at a point where
a freshwater stream ran into the sea. I
don’t think the peace signs are aimed
at anything in particular – that’s just
what people did then. It’s a fun picture,
totally joyous. The whole thing lasted
no more than 15 minutes, then we got
dressed and went back to the festival.
I don’t remember anyone else being on
the beach when we arrived, but as we
left we passed old ladies and police who
seemed none the wiser.
Actually, the police were very re-
‘Her cone bra was weapon-like’ … Madonna in concert in 1990, wearing her iconic Jean
Paul Gaultier attire. Photograph: Gie Knaeps/Getty Images
ness at Gaultier’s Aids fundraiser that
revealed her completely bare breasts.
Or the pink satin gloves and dripping
diamonds in the Marilyn Monroe-in-
spired video for Material Girl, a ballad
that simultaneously mocked commer-
cialism and gave a wink to the unde-
niable allure of sacking it all in to be
a gold-digger who’s treated like a prin-
cess.
My generation grew up with an
incarnation of Madonna who presented
an equally provocative and chaotic type
of femininity. I’m just old enough to
remember the infamous Madonna-Brit-
ney VMAs kiss, and the tabloid furore
that trailed on for months. In hind-
sight, the queer element to it all feels
a bit tame, with the potential exploi-
tation of the two feeling like the most
concerning factor. Two years later, she
donned hot pink again in the video for
Hung Up, and her choice to wear a leo-
tard and dance around on the floor of
a ballet studio felt unusual and boun-
laxed throughout. I’ve heard reports of
trouble at the 1970 event but I didn’t
see any – and I usually have a pretty
good nose for that sort of thing. I have
a picture of a group of Hell’s Angels
at one of the festivals: they looked a
bit threatening but I’ve always found
that if you go up and started talking to
people, they are charming.
In a sense, I’ve been shooting the
same picture since 1955. My aim is
always to make as truthful a record
as possible. I don’t pose people or
alter anything and never retouch. Every
morning I wake up and say: “Well, I’m
dary-pushing for the then 47-year-old.
Madonna’s ability to completely
reinvent herself, in a Beatles-like fa-
shion, is central to her ongoing relev-
ance. But her ability to shapeshift, and
to present new, surprising, unruly vi-
sions of womanhood, also connects
with those of us who have always felt
constrained by gendered expectations,
and see gender and sexuality as a site of
performance and play.
‘Breaking down barriers? Let’s not
get carried away’
Shon Faye, author, in her 30s
It’s 1998. I’m 10 years old and
watching the video for Frozen for the
first time. A raven-haired, shape-shift-
ing Madonna levitates over a desert
wasteland as she intones the song, glar-
ing like an uncanny enchantress. I am
instantly obsessed. I tape the video so I
can watch it again and again.
Since that moment, Madonna’s
music has always been close by. Being
a star with so many eras (Madonna pio-
The Guardian Thursday 12 October 2023
still here. That’s a good start.” Then I
look out of the window and think: “It’s
a new world, it’s not the same world as
yesterday.” That means I’ve got lots to
photograph. And whoopee, off I go.
•This is one of over 100 images
available in the Square Print Sale, at
magnumphotos.com, 16-22 October, in
which Magnum Photos partners with
the World Press Photo Foundation
David Hurn’s CV
Born: Redhill, Surrey, 1934Trained:
Self-taughtInfluences: Rodin, Bruegel,
Seurat, later Sergio Larraín, Bruce
DavidsonHigh point: “The Lucie award
neered the idea of pop artists having
“eras”) some corner of her varied
back catalogue always plays on the
soundtrack to my life. In my teens,
I learned the word “bourgeoisie” from
the single Music (sorry, Karl Marx), and
she thoughtfully released her last truly
great album, Confessions on a Dance
Floor,just before I came out and started
frequenting gay clubs where its lead
single, Hung Up, was always a staple.
Frankly, you can’t spend as much time
around gay men as I have and not have
a prepared take on Madge ready to go
when you’re (inevitably) asked.
Madonna revolutionised pop music
by making it as much a visual expe-
rience as an aural one (a shift in the
wider industry she both anticipated
and expedited). Post-Madonna, being a
pop artist was not just about the songs:
it was about fashion, video, photo-
graphy, live tours and televised perfor-
mances. I dare anyone to watch the
1990 MTV Awards live performance
of Vogue,in which Madonna and her
dancers cavorted in costumes inspired
by the court of Marie Antoinette, and
not be gagged by how exciting it still
seems in 2023. It was choreographed
by Luis Camacho and Jose Gutie-
rez Xtravaganza, both plucked straight
from New York’s underground ballroom
scene. Both appeared in the film Truth
or Dare. When it comes to Madonna’s
status as an LGBTQ+ icon, two things
can be true at once: Truth or Dare,
the first behind the scenes tour film of
its kind, was groundbreaking for show-
ing out gay men on screen, and she
spoke about HIV and Aids when it was
still controversial to do so. Yet some of
those working-class Black and Puerto
Rican gay men touring with her felt
used and discarded by her after the tour
ended.
Did Madonna break down barriers
for women? Let’s not get carried away.
As bell hooks argued, Madonna’s bold
exhibition of her own sexuality always
relied upon her being a white woman.
The degree of control Madonna has
exercised over her career says more
about her slick opportunism and her
ultra-thick skin than it does about
women in pop more generally (Britney
and Lady Gaga, both considered succes-
sors to Madonna, have been more palp-
ably wounded by fame). Perhaps Ma-
donna’s biggest transgression of all is
one that continues to unfold: getting
older and not demurely disappearing,
for achievement in documentary
photography”Low point: “Missing pic-
tures because of not having a camera
with me”Top tip: “Wear good shoes”
We passed old ladies
and police who
seemed none the
wiser
as older women in culture are typically
commanded to do.
‘She owns enough Tamara de
Lempickas to fill a museum’
Emma Forrest, writer, in her 40s
If I had all the money in the world
I’d buy my top five Gordon Parks photo-
graphs and Marilyn Monroe’s certif-
icate of conversion to Judaism. I found
the latter in the Christies catalogue
entry for Monroe’s personal property,
which includes first editions by Camus,
Joyce, Ellison and Styron. Her personal
taste was exceptional – as was that of
the next motherless blonde star from
a cruel upbringing, Madonna. Mari-
nating in loneliness, it’s unsurprising
such children can grow to be narcissists
and gatherers. Of course they centre
themselves and of course they collect
art – paintings, first editions, historical
homes – as talismans.
The famous agent Michael Ovitz,
while admitting that he hadn’t suc-
ceeded in making Madonna a screen
star, noted how cultured she was. There
are said to be enough paintings by
Tamara de Lempicka in Madonna’s
collection for a museum. As for owning
Frida Kahlo’s My Birth, she said: “If
someone doesn’t like this painting, I
know they can’t be my friend.” One
might covet the waistlines of the born
rich, got richer Kardashians, but their
stuff? Both the homes and the contents
are marble warehouses of emptiness. I
am culturally interested in the Karda-
shians but they are not interested in
culture. In the Michael Jackson docu-
mentary, the part that still haunts my
nightmares is him taking Martin Bashir
to a mall store full of faux antiques,
where he trills “YOO HOO!” at the man-
ager as he points out the terrible items
he wishes to purchase. Madonna ex-
posed the rarity of good taste co-exist-
ing with extreme wealth.
I think it’s because her mother
died when she was six that Ma-
Continued on page 45
Thursday 12 October 2023 The Guardian
Continued from page 44
donna’s “conversations” with female
artists have been so important to her.
Especially in love. With no mother to
talk to, she re-created Lina Wertmüller
for husband/director Guy Ritchie. She
quoted Anne Sexton in a love-letter to
her bodyguard. And in the Sex book,
posing with boyfriend Tony Ward, she
said she was referencing her admiration
for Cindy Sherman.
Madonna was always a talent spot-
ter, an eye like Isabella Blow – with
whom she shared a lover on the
way up in Basquiat. Even her back-
ing dancer had cultural cachet: Debi
Mazar, who would make a mark in
Goodfellas. When Madonna wanted to
meet Antonio Banderas it was because
she loved Almodóvar movies. Though
her films as director have been ill re-
ceived, she gave Andrea Riseborough
and Oscar Isaac lead roles a decade
before anyone else.
She championed the pre-fame
David Fincher over four extraordinary
videos. Look on YouTube for Bad Girl,
starring her and Christopher Walken,
which grafts Looking For Mr Goodbar
to Wings of Desire and is one of the
greatest films Fincher ever made. Study
1:58 to 2.31 of Express Yourself for a
dance masterclass in Martha Graham,
with whom Madonna trained and ex-
celled.
Her masterpiece is the Like a Prayer
Spooky Night: The Spirit of Halloween review
– off-the-shelf family horror
Catherine Bray
When is a Spirit Halloween store brand-
ing exercise not a Spirit Halloween
store branding exercise? When it’s a
film released in the UK, where Spirit
Halloween stores just aren’t a thing. In
the US (where this film was titled Spirit
Halloween: The Movie), consumers are
blessed with more than 1,500 of them,
and this pre-teen Halloween yarn set
in a store built over the final resting
place of evil property developer Alex
Windsor (Christopher Lloyd) presum-
ably registers more immediately as an
attempt to shift some All Hallows’ Eve
merch.
As far as weird IP inspirations go, it’s
not the worst, but it’s also far from the
best. Suitable for pre-teens too young
for genuine horror movies, it’s a safe
watch for a family Halloween movie
night, with one or two fairly creepy
moments slotted in amidst the more
hokey stuff. The notional plot sees a
trio of best friends pondering their Hal-
loween options now that one of their
Lies We Tell review – high stakes and
heiresses in tightly laced gothic tale
Leslie Felperin
Here is a tightly laced, elegantly cut
gothic period drama that easily slips
Arts
Album, which feels like all the female
artists on her walls are watching her.
‘She told me she couldn’t get used
to the Page 3 girl’
Miranda Sawyer, journalist, in her
50s
I interviewed Madonna in 2000 for
The Face. She was heavily pregnant
with Rocco and living in the UK. A lot
of what we talked about was how odd
she found living here. She couldn’t be-
lieve how expensive our houses were,
how we all stopped working at 6pm and
didn’t work weekends and went on hol-
iday for a month in the summer. And
our newspapers: “I can’t get used to the
naked Page 3 girl,” she said. “You’re all a
bunch of dirty wankers.” She sat on the
floor, between the sofa and the coffee
table, and ate crisps and olives.
We talked about her album Music.
She was sharp, asking me: “Well, what
do you think it’s about?” She noticed
that my charm bracelet had a Star of
David on it (I’m not Jewish), and we
discussed religion; it was around her
Kabbalah years. She talked about love:
I remember her saying that she met
a lot of high-up people, artists and
writers and politicians, and she would
think, “Interesting, interesting, inter-
esting,” but no one stopped her in her
tracks. She fell for Guy Ritchie because,
“you know how people say, ‘He turned
my head?’ My head spun around on my
body.”
The oddest thing about the whole
Unexpected item in the bagging area … Spooky Night: The Spirit of Halloween
number has grown a couple of chest
hairs and considers himself too old for
traditional trick or treating. They opt
through the cracks as the barrage of
upmarket cinema vying for awards
begins. The 19th-century source ma-
terial, Sheridan Le Fanu’s novel Uncle
Silas, isn’t super well-known outside
interview was how familiar she felt.
Back then, pre-tweakments, I knew her
face as well as my own: the hooded
green eyes, the sharp chin, the gap in
her teeth. I’d been looking at it for years,
since she’d first appeared on Top of the
Pops in 1984 singing Holiday. I’d cut out
the poster of her with her tangly hair,
her crop top, her bangles and rags from
Smash Hits, and put it on my wall. And
I’d watched as she’d moved from Like
a Virgin to Like a Prayer and beyond,
as she’d taken over the world. So to see
her in real life was odd: a bit like seeing
an old friend, a bit not. I’d been warned
that she was “really, really difficult” and
a “cold fish”, but she wasn’t like that
at all. She was wry and a little impa-
tient and careful about what she said
because it would end up in the tabloids.
She was much more beautiful than her
pictures.
I’m of the generation of women
for whom Madonna can do no wrong.
I don’t care if she’s vulgar or embar-
rassing or pumps her face full of fil-
lers or shows her bum in odd positions.
Many of the people who criticise her
are straight men, and despite her BOY
TOY sexiness, she was never for them.
Far too camp and knowing. She’s for
clubbers, for women and gay people,
who don’t care that she “can’t sing” or
her music isn’t proper, or that she likes
to dance and show off and surround
herself with unserious people who are
serious fun. I loved her before I met her.
for a night sneaking around a deserted
costume store with a dark past.
Great plan, but unfortunately Wind-
university literature departments, and
the lead actors aren’t especially famous
names either – although gravelly-voiced
David Wilmot, here playing the heavy,
has built a career making indelible
And I love her still.
‘She emerges from another chry-
salis as a different gadfly’
Vivien Goldman, music writer, in her
70s
I did bristle and frown when I
first heard Madonna, in her Material
Girl moment. No doubt this was her
intention. Her sensuous exultation in
the switch from our gritty yet bold
1970s survivalism to the glossy, gold-
plated “Me-terialism” of the awakening
Reagan/Thatcher years seemed like an
alert. A different sort of struggle was on,
one in which our seething rebels of the
punky underclass might no longer be
the heroes, or even the anti-heroes. In
the song’s video, Madonna exuberantly
channelled tropes of 1950s sexuality
– notably our sacrificial blonde, Ma-
rilyn Monroe, both brazen and demure
as she huskily sang Diamonds Are a
Girl’s Best Friend. With Material Girl,
Madonna was signalling, with a wink:
“Who cares that Congress just rejected
the Equal Rights Amendment! My old-
school feminine wiles will always win!”
It was instructive for me to contrast
the palette of Madonna – parrot-bright
satin reds and sexy hot pinks – with
that of her contemporary, beloved punk
artiste Patti Smith. Around that time,
Smith often wore a dark, oversize man’s
jacket that looked like it was lifted
from a scarecrow. (This was before
Smith bonded with Belgian designer
Ann Demeulemeester, whose severe,
sor’s ghost is roaming about looking
for souls to possess. Any Back to the
Future/Addams Family fans excited to
impressions with supporting roles on
film (The Wonder, Ordinary Love, Calm
With Horses) and TV (Station Eleven).
Likewise, if you caught limited TV
series Ridley Road then the talents of
45
angular designs could have come from
an extremely stylish scarecrow.)
To her legions of fans, myself in-
cluded (though I’m more the parrot
satin type), the starkness of Smith’s
look indicated a rugged asceticism. At
last, it seemed to suggest, we could
have an alternative anti-glamour free
of the seemingly endless round of pas-
sive primping that is the fate of the sex
symbol or trophy wife. They love it, but
it is not for everywoman.
Madonna and Smith’s musical
progressions chime in an interesting
counterpoint, too. While Madonna res-
tlessly seeks new sounds, new scenes,
repeatedly wrapping herself in a fresh
chrysalis and re-emerging as a dif-
ferent gadfly, Smith has consistently
surrounded herself with the same stal-
wart sidemen since the start – gui-
tarist Lenny Kaye and drummer Jay
Dee Daugherty. The furthest she has
strayed has been to perform with her
late husband, Fred “Sonic” Smith, fellow
New Jersey-ite Bruce Springsteen and,
latterly, her children.
But the great thing about both
Smith and Madonna is that they’re both
still at it. The Poet and the Pin-Up have
given us two distinct poles on which to
dance.
• Madonna’s Celebration tour
begins at the O2, London, on 14 October.
see Lloyd’s eccentric charisma back on
the big screen may like to note that
the vast majority of his performance is
vocal: the various items he possesses
are played by animatronics or guys in
suits. (I’d hazard the production had
maybe one session with Lloyd actually
on set, which is over and done with
in the pre-credits flashback.) The film
does find time to build in a few nods to
the greatest villain the man ever played
– Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger
Rabbit? – with little visual references to
trip-hazard eyeballs, buzzsaws and mal-
lets for hands.
Still, on this evidence, movies spun
off from US retail outlets aren’t a trend
to be encouraged: anyone currently
in development on M&Ms World: The
Movie, Ronald McDonald’s Big Day Out
or The Starbucks Mysteries, please go
back to the drawing board.
• Spooky Night: The Spirit of Hal-
loween is released on 13 October in UK
cinemas and on 16 October on digital
platforms.
Agnes O’Casey will already be a known
quantity. But in a way, the freshness of
face and/or versatility of both O’Casey
Continued on page 46

46
Continued from page 45
and Wilmot, along with the rest of
the cast, are what makes this feel like
a discovery. It’s definitely something
new and different as it insightfully re-
works some classic feminist literary no-
tions, filtered through a very 21st-cent-
ury approach to period material with
its unsettling score, jittery editing and
nods to horror tropes.
At a girthy mansion called Knowl,
at one point described as “a barracks
of a place” somewhere in the Irish
countryside, teenager Maud Ruthyn
(O’Casey) has just inherited everything
after the death of her father. How-
ever, she’s still a minor and, more
unfortunately for her, a woman and
therefore not fit to make decisions for
herself; Maud therefore becomes the
ward of her uncle Silas (Wilmot) until
she comes of age. Keen to honour
her father’s wishes and the terms of
her inheritance, Maud welcomes Silas
to her home even though she barely
knows him and that he was once ac-
cused of murdering a man to whom he
owed money – but got off thanks to
Sonic Youth co-founder Thurston Moore
cancels book tour, revealing ‘debilitating’
health condition
Guardian staff
The Sonic Youth co-founder Thurston
Moore has cancelled his US book tour
under medical advice, after revealing
he is dealing with a “debilitating” and
“longstanding” health condition.
The 65-year-old singer, guitarist and
songwriter had been due to tour the
US later this month to promote his
candid new memoir, Sonic Life, chart-
ing his journey from teenage music
fan in small-town Connecticut to the
formation of his seminal experimental
rock band in New York in 1981 with Kim
Gordon and Lee Ranaldo, to his dec-
ades of creative endeavours.
In a post to his Instagram page, the
London-based Moore said the undis-
closed health condition has “always
been an underlying issue” but “has
never seriously stopped me from tour-
ing and recording”.
The musician said that “as I reach
my mid-60s this year [the condition]
has become rather, and consistently,
debilitating”.
“It utterly bereaves me to pass on
the news that I have been advised by
‘Sparkle with Starmer’: Labour turns protest
into campaign T-shirt
Ellie Violet Bramley
For a man not known for personal cha-
risma, there was a shine to Keir Starmer
at Labour’s conference in Liverpool, not
least after a protester glitter-bombed
Arts / Fashion
Survival instinct … Agnes O’Casey in Lies We Tell. Photograph: Break Out Pictures
lack of evidence. Exuding the slithery
bonhomie of a cobra meeting a mon-
goose for the first time, Silas makes
himself at home, bringing along his
‘It utterly bereaves me to pass on the news’: Sonic Youth co-founder Thurston Moore has cancelled a US tour for his book Sonic Life.
Photograph: Richard Saker/The Observer
my medical team here in the UK to
cancel my upcoming USA book tour,”
Moore wrote.
“After a recent consultation, my
him as he gave his keynote speech.
With pundits arguing he made a cohe-
rent case for a Labour government, the
party will be hoping to capitalise on the
moment with the release of a new T-
shirt that reads “Sparkle with Starmer”.
The limited-edition and unisex gar-
feckless son Edward (Chris Walley) and
flibbertigibbet daughter Emily (Holly
Sturton), along with Emily’s gover-
ness Madame (Grainne Keenan). Before
doctors have strongly advised against
me flying anywhere under any circums-
tance until they get it all sorted out.
“This news is utterly distressing as
ment, costing £20, is a way to “un-
leash your inner shimmer and shine”,
according to the online shop.
Political merchandise has been a
way for parties to raise some much-
needed income for decades. In recent
times, the US Democratic senator
The Guardian Thursday 12 October 2023
long, Silas’s sinister intentions become
clear, which include bullying Maud
into marrying her cousin Edward and
bribing the servants to turn against
the publication of my memoir, Sonic
Life, after the last few years of intense
writing and editing, means so much to
me.”
Bernie Sanders has been the most suc-
cessful at catching the mood with his
merch – and relied on it for the kind of
small-dollar fundraising that turned the
wheels of his campaign.
The Tory party has its own intri-
guing range, including a Thatcher
her. When brutalising her by proxy
doesn’t work, the conspirators threaten
to have her committed to an asylum
for hysterical women, equipped with
what sounds like a 19th-century water-
boarding kit.
But Maud has a mongoose’s sur-
vival instinct, and the haughty blue-
eyed gaze of an aristocratic matron
who won’t be screwed around so easily.
The script by Elisabeth Gooch appro-
priates the fruity diction of the times
just enough to add credibility with-
out getting bogged down in circum-
locution, and O’Casey’s delivery is sharp
as a steak knife. It’s a delight to watch
her verbally spar with Wilmot’s Silas,
coyly jabbing at each other according to
the rules of civility but growing more
acrimonious as the stakes get higher.
Director Lisa Mulcahy (Wasteland, The
Legend of Longwood) clears the paths
and lets them rip with confident, clear-
sighted direction.
• Lies We Tell is released on 13
October in Irish and Northern Irish ci-
nemas.
In a previous Instagram post, Moore
described Sonic Life as a memoir that
has been “ages in the making, the
product of intensive research and deep
dives into my memories and emotions”.
“I believe I’ve been able to capture
the whirlwind of experiences that being
in Sonic Youth entailed, as well as the
creative communities that we found
ourselves a part of, first in New York’s
punk and no wave scenes, and later
in the world of underground and alter-
native rock and the universe of music-
beyond- category.”
Sonic Youth broke up in 2011 after
the breakdown of Moore’s marriage to
bandmate Gordon.
Moore said he hoped to resume his
US book tour “when I’m cleared for
travel again”.
It is unclear whether Moore’s book
tour dates scheduled in England and
Scotland in November have been af-
fected by his medical status.
Sonic Life is out on 24 October
through Doubleday.
Christmas bauble and a notebook
emblazoned with the words “Leaked!
Labour’s Plan for the Country”. Inside
are 200 blank pages.
But most of the inventive, witty
Continued on page 47
Thursday 12 October 2023 The Guardian
Continued from page 46
merch has come from outside the
establishment, thanks to grassroots
creativity. Again, Sanders is king of
the genre, with T-shirts such as one
featuring him hugging cats against an
intergalactic background. Sites such as
Etsy are full of such politically minded
wares.
Whether this particular Labour
party merch item hits the right note
is up for debate. “I think in this modern
day of memes and online news, this
is probably a positive move for Labour
to show light out of what happened
to Starmer at the protest,” says Harry
Bannister, the person behind an Etsy
shop called I Love Mugs, which sells
‘Repair is the new cool’: how Amsterdam
started a fashion revolution
Emma Beddington
I visit United Repair Centre on a quiet
day at the tail end of summer, and
there’s not much happening in the
suburban streets of west Amsterdam.
Inside, however, this bright workshop
generates its own buzz. The radio is
on, people are popping in and out of
the open kitchen for coffee and snacks,
chatting over the noise from sewing
machines or gathered around the cut-
ting table puzzling over burst seams,
holes and knotty technical problems.
The walls are lined with completed and
ongoing repairs – fleeces, coats, tops,
jumpers, jeans and more – and boxes
and rails display colourful zips and but-
tons.
The place has a laid-back Dutch
vibe. The communal garden and bes-
poke textile art lend a creative star-
tup feel, and the slogan “repair is the
new cool” appears everywhere. But
what’s happening here is far from ordi-
nary startup stuff. At United Repair
Centre (URC), newcomers to the Neth-
erlands from across the world, many
of them former refugees, are using
their tailoring skills to mend clothes
on behalf of some of the world’s big-
gest brands. The project started in
partnership with the outdoor clothing
brand Patagonia, but clients now in-
clude sportswear behemoth Decathlon
and yogawear brand Lululemon, among
others – and it’s building day by day.
Ambrose, who greets me, mans the
front desk. He’s a 20-year-old Pales-
tinian fashion fan, who was born in
Syria and lived in Abu Dhabi before
moving to the Netherlands in May; he
is working in parallel with studying for
a fashion and design diploma. Ambrose
started at URC in May and loves it: the
way he gets to work in collaboration
with the tailors, giving advice and learn-
ing from their years of experience. “It’s
really easy, fun, chill … Everyone has
their own vibe, their own identity.” His
is the first step in the repair process,
checking in parcels of clothes that are
sent in directly from customers or from
brands (URC keeps the packaging –
everything is returned in the box or
bag in which it arrived). Ambrose also
creates a paper fiche with a diagram
highlighting what repair is needed; in
this multilingual environment (I count
nine nationalities on the day I visit),
it’s the best way to make sure eve-
Fashion
Keir Starmer is showered with glitter by a protester during his keynote speech at the
Labour party conference. Photograph: Adam Vaughan/EPA
mugs with pictures of Liz Truss against
Maryam, of Amsterdam’s United Repair Centre, which repairs and upcycles clothes for
companies such as Patagonia and Decathlon. Photograph: Jeremy Meek/The Guardian
ryone understands. Based on his know-
ledge of the tailors and their skill set,
each repair gets a colour code that
corresponds to someone, maybe Ramzi,
who is also Palestinian; Omar, who’s
Syrian; or Maryam from Morocco – all
of whom are busy at their sewing ma-
chines today. When the repair is com-
pleted, Hengameh, who is Iranian, runs
quality control, then it goes back to Am-
brose for dispatch to customers.
This project has been operating for
the past year, stitching together a quiet
revolution with new recruits, an ex-
panding roster of brands and a move
in June to these larger premises. It is
the product of a collaboration between
38-year-old CEO Thami Schweichler
(a calm but determined dynamo of
Dutch and Brazilian descent, who ping-
pongs around the building between
calls, strategy chats and coffee pits-
tops), the city of Amsterdam and Pata-
gonia. Amsterdam is extremely green;
not the Vondelpark, or the lovely tree-
lined streets, but its philosophy, which
goes far beyond bikes and boats. The
city has the ambition and appetite for
radical, necessary change – it aims to
go fully “circular” (creating zero waste
and using zero new materials) by 2050.
That ethos goes deep. I take a taxi from
the station to URC because I’m running
late, but I’m taken aback when en route
the driver points out the many conve-
niently located stations and tram stops
I could use for my return journey.
URC is a small but important part of
implementing that radical green philos-
ophy. It grew out of Schweichler’s other
project, Makers Unite, which also har-
nesses the skills of newcomers to the
Netherlands, who work on sustainable
fashion projects as diverse as upcycled
a union jack and the words “In Liz we
collections for high street and high
fashion retailers, and using lifejackets
abandoned on Greek beaches by refu-
gees arriving in boats to make laptop
sleeves and bags. (Makers Unite is still
running, working on a host of other
projects – to date, it has provided 270
newcomers with talent development
programmes, supporting them in ac-
cessing the labour market, and it now
has a workshop in Istanbul.)
While Amsterdam was looking for
ways to implement its textile “green
deal”, which committed to increasing
textile recycling and reducing waste,
Patagonia was hoping to expand its
European repair network. The brand
puts its money where its mouth is on
its long-stated commitment to tack-
ling the existential crisis the planet
faces: earlier this year, it spectacularly
transferred 98% of company stock to
a non-profit focused on climate activ-
ism. Still, it negotiates a delicate line be-
tween selling clothes and sustainability.
A big part of that involves seeking to
shift our perception of clothing from
“consumption to ownership”, adopting
a new attitude to what it calls “worn
wear”. That includes offering free re-
pairs.
Schweichler had tailors with the
skills required, he explains, plus his
work with Makers Unite had made him
aware how hard it was for refugees
and other recent arrivals to find fulfil-
ling employment. “In the Netherlands,
the average unemployment rate now
is around 3%; for the refugee popu-
lation it’s much higher. Why? Are they
less smart? Are they less skilled? It’s
just unfair.” He has seen, he says, many
newcomers being put into low-skilled
jobs that do not suit them, becoming
Truss”, but also ones that say “The only
good Tory is a lavatory”.
“If anything, it will likely get the
Labour party more attention,” they add.
Laura Kuo, of the Stafford-based
Etsy shop Human Apparel Designs,
which sells tote bags that read “Still
hate Thatcher” and “Tories: putting the
N in cuts”, says: “It is interesting to
see that the Labour party itself is on
the pulse of what’s trending, or at least
they’re trying to [be]. They’re perhaps
trying to turn what could be a negative
story into a positive one. Which is the
kind of smart, up-to-date thinking that
is necessary to succeed in modern poli-
tics.”
While she doesn’t like to see attack
adverts, she says: “Stuff like this is
depressed and leaving the workforce.
“They want to work; they want to de-
liver.”
Along with high migrant unem-
ployment rates, Schweichler had
become aware of the dearth of home-
grown tailoring expertise. Silk and wool
weaving, lacemaking and “Dutch wax”
batik fabrics all formed a significant
part of the Netherlands’ industrial and
commercial history, but textiles have
been in decline since the mid-20th cen-
tury, and most of the associated skills
have been lost. “A lot of newcomers
come to the Netherlands with skills in
textiles; they wouldn’t find satisfaction
somewhere else. Feeling you belong,
that you can contribute meaningfully
with your skills, is one of the biggest
challenges that an incomer has to face,”
he says.
One of the two questions he asked
Patagonia before they started colla-
borating, he says, was, “Can we use this
opportunity to create jobs for people
who really need it?” Patagonia was on
board, so URC could meet that chal-
lenge: the people who work there –
some recruited via the city authorities;
some by word of mouth – are solving
a real skills shortage problem, contri-
buting to shaping a better future for
the city and the planet. In return, they
are paid union-negotiated rates under
the textile industry collective agree-
ment for the Netherlands (which pro-
vides a complimentary pension and
five extra vacation days on top of the
statutory four weeks; URC also funds
wellbeing and self-development pro-
grammes). All of this means URC’s
employees can escape the frustrating
limbo many migrants to Europe are
forced into. “The past of a refugee, what
happened, the burden that they carry, I
can do nothing about,” says Schweich-
ler. “But from today onwards, we can
build a new future together.”
The general vibe might be laid-back
but URC’s achievements, and its ambi-
tions for the future, are anything but.
Since the official launch on 1 July 2022,
the workshop has grown from a team of
four (three tailors plus Schweichler) to
19 full-time employees. The new work-
shop has space to ramp up capacity ra-
pidly: 60 tailors and 150,000 garments
within two years is the plan, and the
hope is to employ 140 tailors in the
Netherlands by 2027. In February, it will
launch a training programme – United
Repair Academy – to provide more
47
Sparkle with Starmer T-shirt. Photo-
graph: Labour Shop
harmless and in fact shows that Star-
mer and his team have a sense of
humour and hopefully have the kind of
innovative thinking this country needs.”
The Labour T-shirt is available for
pre-order, with an estimated delivery
date of 1 November. Hopefully by then,
Starmer will have managed to get the
last of the glitter from his hair.
‘A lot of newcomers come to the Neth-
erlands with skills in textiles; they wouldn’t
find satisfaction somewhere else.’ Photo-
graph: Jeremy Meek/The Guardian
people with tailoring skills. The initial
10 participants will be guaranteed a job
when they complete their studies.
Then there’s the ever-increasing
demand from brands. The workshop
has 10 batches of clothes in final test-
ing – I spot logos of some huge fashion
names I’m not allowed to mention
yet. Is repair reaching a tipping point?
Someone, says Schweichler, compared
the state of textile repair with mobile
phones in 2010, and he thinks that’s
apposite. “In three years, the whole
world flipped.” He sees “an exponential
growth of awareness” of the social and
environmental costs of fast fashion, but
the real way to effect change is to con-
vince manufacturers they need to do
things differently, and he sees that hap-
pening too.
That challenge was behind the
second question Swcheichler posed
Patagonia in their initial discussions:
“We’re not going to really solve a prob-
lem if you’re the only one repairing,
so can we use your knowhow to help
other brands repair?” They answered
a resounding yes. URC tracks repairs
using software initially developed by
Patagonia, which it has built on and
uses for the other brands involved.
“For us, the more the merrier,”
Willem Swager, Patagonia’s European
director of operations, explains when I
visit the company’s waterfront office – it
has made Amsterdam its European HQ.
“We were very explicit we wanted to
bring other brands along. That’s where
the ‘United’ came from. A lot of discus-
sions I have with brands are, ‘Where do
I start?’ If you can just give them a play-
book it makes it much easier.”
It’s not quite that easy, of course.
Schweichler says he is surprised by
the pockets of resistance to change he
still sees in the industry beyond his
“green bubble”. Shein and the like are
out there, churning out, in dizzying
Continued on page 48

48
Continued from page 47
volumes, fast fashion that can’t be re-
paired. “We were more enthusiastic in
the beginning; now we’re more rea-
listic,” he laughs. One thing that helps is
showing brands how repair can reframe
their relationship with their customers.
It’s something Patagonia has seen to a
dramatic degree: how attached people
become to their clothes and how appre-
ciative they are of repairs. But for things
to change at scale, repair can’t be a
luxury limited to high-end brands. “My
dream is that sustainability becomes
accessible to everybody,” Schweichler
says.
That urge to democratise feels quite
Dutch. “It’s our culture to be close and
LVMH hit by growth slowdown amid fall in
demand for high-end drinks
Tom Ambrose
Rising inflation, growing global insta-
bility and falling demand for high-end
drinks have been blamed for a slow-
down in growth at the luxury goods
multinational LVMH, owner of Chris-
tian Dior, Louis Vuitton and Moët &
Chandon.
The group, whose brands also in-
clude Stella McCartney, Tag Heuer
watches and Bulgari and Tiffany
jewellery, reported revenue of €20bn
(£17.25bn) between July and September
– a 9% rise. That compares with a 17%
increase in the previous quarter.
Shares in the multinational, which
lost its title as Europe’s most valu-
able listed company last month to the
Danish anti-obesity drugmaker Novo
Nordisk, were down by about 6% in
early trading, set for their worst day
since March 2020.
One of the worst hit parts of LVMH’s
business was its wines and spirits divi-
sion, which includes Hennessy cognac,
which fell 14% in the quarter.
The results released on Tuesday
suggest the post-pandemic boom in
luxury goods, which helped LVMH
become Europe’s first company to
reach a $500bn valuation earlier this
year, is starting to ebb.
Pauline Brown, the group’s former
chair in North America, argued increas-
ing global instability was a factor in the
slowdown.
Politicians, not public, drive U-turns on green
agenda, says UN biodiversity chief
Patrick Greenfield
Government backtracking on environ-
mental promises is being driven by poli-
ticians and vested interests, not the
public, the acting UN biodiversity chief
has said, as he called for greater support
for those experiencing short-term costs
from green policies.
David Cooper, acting executive sec-
retary for the UN convention on biolog-
ical diversity (CBD), told the Guardian
Fashion / Environment
connected to people,” says Schweich-
ler, and that’s very clear in the work-
shop. “Everyone is very nice,” according
to Maryam, who is busy darning the
cuff of a jumper. She moved to the
Netherlands from Morocco to join her
husband in 2019 and has worked at
URC since last year, relishing a job that
enables her to use the skills from her fa-
shion design course back in Morocco.
“I do it all; machine, hand-stitching,
everything.” Ramzi worked in garment
manufacturing when he lived in Syria.
He would rather be making trousers “A
to Z” than fixing the pair in front of
him, he says, but he values the work
(“I believe this is our life: to stay work-
ing”); his life in Amsterdam, where his
wife and five children are all now se-
LMVH owns brands including Hennessy cognac, Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton and Moët & Chandon. Photograph: Graham Turner/The
Guardian
“If I was still sitting on the board at
LVMH or any of the other luxury com-
panies, what would really be rattling
me is the geopolitical destabilisation
around the world,” she told BBC Radio
4’s Today programme on Wednesday.
Brown added: “Luxury goods and
purchases is a psychological purchase.
Nobody needs a glass of champagne,
nobody needs a watch or a diamond
necklace … In order for you to buy it for
yourself or as a gift, you really have to
he believed the public mood was not
moving against greater environmental
protections, and that vested interests
opposed to action on the climate crisis
and nature loss were trying to frustrate
progress.
The comments come after a series
of backtracks on climate commitments
by the UK government and a polit-
ical backlash against nature restoration
policies in the EU from farming, fore-
stry and fishing industries.
Less than a year after governments
curely settled and looking to the future;
and the special atmosphere at URC. “We
can keep in touch during work: talk-
ing, laughing, doing things together.”
Because of that the days go fast, he
says. “You come in at eight; blah, blah,
blah; and then it’s six!”
The whole team eats together daily
around the big refectory table or out-
side on the few sunny days (“You don’t
know when it’s summer or winter,” says
Ramzi, whose only complaint about
the Netherlands is the rain. “In our
country winter is winter, summer is
summer; here you cannot guess”). I join
them for wraps, dips and lots of Dutch
cheese, everyone seamlessly moving
around each other to load up the table.
There’s a lot of poking fun at the noto-
be in the right mood state. When we see
atrocities happening … the appetite to
spend on what might be perceived as
frivolous goes way down.”
Referring to the fall in the wines and
spirits division, she said: “About half of
that business is one brand, Hennessy.
There are closer to 30 brands in the
wine and spirits division. The other half
is primarily champagne, which actually
grew – not robustly, I think by 3% in the
quarter – but I think it was all on the
agreed this decade’s targets to halt
the destruction of the natural world,
Cooper said that while meeting some
climate and biodiversity targets re-
quired short-term tradeoffs, they were
vital for maintaining a habitable planet
now and in the future.
“I don’t accept that the public mood
as a whole is moving against the envi-
ronment. The public as a whole, and
particularly young people, see this as
more and more important,” said Cooper.
“We see some backtracking in dif-
The Guardian Thursday 12 October 2023
rious plainness of Dutch lunches; fa-
lafel Thursdays are everyone’s favourite
day. There isn’t always much common
language – operational manager Hans
says they resort to Google Translate
quite a bit – but there’s plenty of laugh-
ter.
Could it happen elsewhere? It al-
ready is. In the UK, URC and Pata-
gonia are partnering with a veteran
social enterprise in the textile sector,
Fashion Enter, to launch a London
workshop on 1 November. The non-
profit focuses on employing people
with a migration background to make
garments for big brands. Recently it has
struggled as established retailers have
withdrawn orders and moved produc-
tion outside the UK, creating a risk
cognac side, the drop, the negative.
“I think that [cognac] was hit hard
in markets like China and North Amer-
ica because that aspirational consumer
just isn’t spending with the same
enthusiasm that the high net worth is.”
LVMH is the first big global luxury
firm to report earnings this quarter,
with Hermès and Kering due to report
on 24 October.
The group’s chief executive, Ber-
nard Arnault, is the world’s second rich-
ferent parts of the world but a lot of this
is political groups trying to find wedge
issues to gain a marginal advantage in
an upcoming election,” he said. “When
the public are allowed to express their
views, they come up with good deci-
sions.”
He cited the recent citizens’ assem-
bly on biodiversity in Ireland and the
vote in Ecuador against continuing
with oil and gas exploration in the
Amazon rainforest as moments when
the public had pushed for stronger
of redundancies. The partnership with
URC and the move into repair – in-
itially for Patagonia, but three more
brands are already lined up to join –
will help save some of those jobs. In-
itially, 10 tailors are joining and more
will follow. The two organisations are
“naturally aligned”, Schweichler says,
almost visibly vibrating with excite-
ment, when we catch up on this
recent development over video call.
“Repair is the new cool” might be URC’s
slogan, but it is actually doing some-
thing more revolutionary than that: it’s
slowly making repair the new normal.
est man. He took the top spot last
December, overtaking Elon Musk, but
the two swapped places again this year.
Arnault, who co-founded the luxury
goods group 35 years ago, has ap-
pointed his children to key roles within
the business. This year, his eldest child,
Delphine, was named the head of Chris-
tian Dior, the second-biggest brand in
the empire, while her brother Antoine
was promoted to run the holding com-
pany that controls LVMH and the Ar-
nault family fortune.
Alexandre Arnault is an executive
at Tiffany, Frédéric Arnault is the chief
executive of TAG Heuer, while their
youngest sibling, Jean Arnault, heads
marketing and product development
for Louis Vuitton’s watches division.
The LVMH results came as accounts
for Selfridges showed the upmarket
department store chain had expe-
rienced a 29% rise in revenue to £844m
for the year to 28 January.
The company said the improved
performance had been “driven by
strong footfall and sales through the
company’s physical stores, particularly
Oxford Street in London and Exchange
Square in Manchester”.
However, the accounts for Sel-
fridges Retail, which includes its four
UK stores, website and mobile app,
show the firm lost £38m for the 12
months to January 2023. The company
put the loss down to the application
of a new accounting standard, which it
said had no impact on its cashflow.
environmental protections.
“People are actually ahead of the
governments. We must not allow our-
selves to be persuaded that there is a
pushback by the public as a whole,” he
said.
Cooper said he accepted there
were sometimes costs in the short
term to environmental policies, but
said governments should work with
communities who felt threatened to
Continued on page 49
Thursday 12 October 2023 The Guardian
Continued from page 48
find a way forward.
“[The pushback] is partly led by
politicians speaking to their base and …
vested interests that will do what they
can to deny some of the issues we’re
Sport England tells its sports: funding will
depend on fighting climate crisis
Exclusive by Sean Ingle
Sport England, which invests more
than £300m of public money every
year, intends to ask sports to do far
more to fight the climate crisis as a con-
dition of receiving funding, the Guar-
dian can reveal.
The radical move was signalled by
the funding body’s chair, Chris Board-
man, who said that while his organi-
sation planned to work closely with
sports to help them decarbonise and
better protect the environment “the
status quo is no longer an option”.
“Without veering into hyperbole, it’s
so that we don’t all die,” Boardman told
the Guardian. “It’s just a massive topic
for everybody. It’s the biggest topic that
we will face.”
Sport England provides between
£10m and £25m to a number of major
sporting bodies over a five-year period –
including British Cycling, England Net-
ball, the Rugby Football Union, the Eng-
land and Wales Cricket Board, Swim
England and England Athletics – as well
as smaller sums to hundreds of other
groups to fund grassroots sport and get
more people active.
But Boardman, an Olympic and
Australia’s resources minister sees a gas-fired
future just as international experts chart the
fossil fuel’s decline
Graham Readfearn
Sitting on a giant pile of fossil fuels in
a year set to go down as the hottest
on record – pockmarked by one flame-
grilled disaster after another – requires
some careful and creative public posi-
tioning.
One must be careful not to com-
pletely ignore the climate crisis while
trying to navigate a path that con-
tinues to justify drilling and burning
Australia’s fossil fuel du jour – gas.
Speaking to the Australian Finan-
cial Review’s Climate and Energy
Summit this week, the resources minis-
ter, Madeleine King, reached for the
compass in an 1,800-word speech that
backed gas, which would be “part of the
world’s energy mix for the foreseeable
future.”
Australia would continue to be a
trusted and reliable supplier of liquified
natural gas, King told the summit. The
country’s gas was helping the region
prosper.
Environment
facing in climate change, biodiversity
loss and the like,” Cooper added.
“The goals and targets of these
environmental agreements are ambi-
tious. They’re not easy to achieve, and
they’re not going to be achieved only by
incremental action, even though that’s
England’s Francesca Williams during the Netball World Cup final. Sport England gives
between £10m and 25m to a number of major sports over a five-year period – including
England Netball. Photograph: Gallo Images/Getty Images
world champion cyclist before moving
into TV commentary and sports gover-
nance, acknowledged that sport as a
whole needed to step up when it came
to the climate crisis.
“Sport England is an organisation
that has huge influence,” he said. “We
deal with hundreds of partners, who
deal with millions of people. So we have
a responsibility to do something, and
we are going to. I feel both good about
it and quite scared at the same time, be-
cause it is so big.”
Madeleine King said Australia would continue to be a trusted and reliable supplier of liquifiednatural gas, which was helping the region
prosper. Photograph: Richard Wainwright/AAP
“The [International Energy Agency]
an important part of it,” he said.
“But it is very clear that it’s abso-
lutely essential to meet them if we want
a habitable planet, perhaps even for
ourselves, but certainly for our child-
ren.”
This article was amended on 11 Oc-
Meetings with sports will begin next
month, with the ambition that in future
Sport England’s code of conduct –
which all organisations sign before they
get funding – will also include a require-
ment for governing bodies to outline
plans to fight the climate emergency.
“Fundamentally we have got to
move from a position of ‘inform and en-
courage’ to one of ‘enable and require’,”
he said. “That’s essentially what it is: to
shift from talking about it, and using
language that gives people a way out, to
has acknowledged that in all of its tran-
tober 2023 to reflect that Cooper cited
the citizens’ assembly on biodiversity
loss in Ireland, not the UK-wide citizen’s
assembly on nature. This was due to an
editing error.
Find more age of extinction coverage
here, and follow biodiversity reporters
say: ‘No, we have to do this.’”
Boardman stressed that some
sports were already stepping up, point-
ing to the work being done to make
swimming pools more energy efficient.
He also highlighted small steps, such as
the LTA replacing all its lightbulbs with
LED lights and its gas stoves going elec-
tric, as illustrations of what could be
done.
“In a sense it’s like marginal gains
in sport, ironically,” said Boardman.
“Rather than set a large target years in
the future, we are asking what small
things we can do now and what will
that add up to? And I suspect it will be
an awful lot.”
Boardman acknowledged that
some steps might take longer than
others. “We won’t automatically stop 3G
pitches now but we know that they’re
really bad for the environment,” he said.
“We will need to find an alternative. So
we’ll take tangible steps and set targets
both for ourselves and with partners
so that we can at least track progress,
which is what I did as an athlete.”
Boardman will set out Sport Eng-
land’s new position at the Blue Earth
Summit in Bristol . on Thursday, where
he is expected to say that if global
temperatures increase by more than
sition scenarios, continued investment
49
Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield
on X (formerly known as Twitter) for all
the latest news and features
Chris Boardman, an Olympic gold me-
dallist in 1992 and now chair of Sport Eng-
land. Photograph: Lucy Ray/PA
1.5C above pre-industrial levels we risk
seeing irreversible impacts, with de-
prived communities the most affected.
He will also warn that the effects
on sport and physical activity will also
be profound. And that 23 out of the
92 English league football grounds – a
quarter in total – can expect temporary
or permanent flooding by 2050.
“Sport emotionally connects with
people,” added Boardman. “And we
have seen the impact that people like
Marcus Rashford have. So there’s an
influencing aspect here, but it’s also
recognising that everybody in the coun-
try is going to have to do this. It’s almost
inevitable.”
in gas will be needed to meet demand,”
she said.
The IEA last month updated its
thinking on how economies could
collectively work to meet a global goal
of net zero greenhouse gas emissions
by 2050.
King’s interpretation of the IEA’s
official position isn’t wrong, but impor-
tantly – given she is speaking about the
future of energy – it is incomplete.
What the IEA also said last month
was that “no new long-lead time up-
stream oil and gas projects” were
needed in its net zero scenario (and nei-
ther are new coalmines or “unabated”
coal power plants).
Even without any new climate poli-
cies, the speed of the rollout of clean
energy meant the agency was now pro-
jecting that “demand for coal, oil and
natural gas will all peak this decade”.
What about emissions?
King provided plentiful statistics in
her speech. Australia’s LNG sales to
Continued on page 50

50
Continued from page 49
Japan were worth an estimated $34bn.
Australia’s LNG industry made up 21%
of the global market for liquified gas.
Of the country’s gas production,
70% is exported (actually, when you
count all the gas used in the production
of LNG, the latest government figures
suggest it’s more like 83%).
What did she have to say about
emissions? In reference to gas, she of-
fered one sentence.
“Equally, gas and the gas sector are
a significant source of Australian green-
house gas emissions,” she said.
Well, there’s also a statistic for that.
According to the government’s own
draft Future of Gas Strategy document,
the country’s gas industry is respon-
sible for a whopping 21% of the coun-
Nasa shows off first asteroid samples
delivered by spacecraft
Richard Luscombe
Chunks of a 4.6bn-year-old asteroid
brought to Earth last month show evi-
dence of high levels of carbon and
water, Nasa said on Wednesday as
the space agency revealed preliminary
findings from its pioneering Osiris-Rex
mission.
Scientists have been analyzing the
samples from the asteroid Bennu since
they were dropped off by a spacecraft
flyby of the Utah desert on 24 Sep-
tember. Principal investigator Dante
Lauretta of the University of Arizona,
Tucson, told reporters at Houston’s
Johnson Space Center (JSC) they were
“scientific treasure”.
The carbon-rich asteroid fragments,
the largest such haul ever recovered,
“will help scientists investigate the ori-
gins of life on our own planet for gener-
ations to come”, Nasa administrator Bill
Nelson said.
The researchers also announced the
mission that brought the samples to
Earth after a three-year journey of
almost 60m miles was even more suc-
cessful than first anticipated.
The original goal of the mission was
to collect a little more than 2oz (60g) of
asteroid material that would be studied
by curation experts in new clean rooms
Monkey survives for two years with pig
kidney in ‘extraordinary milestone’
Ian Sample and Anna Bawden
Researchers have claimed a major step
forward in the field of organ trans-
plantation after a monkey survived for
more than two years with a genetically
engineered pig kidney.
The work is the latest to emerge
from the US biotech company eGenesis
and Harvard Medical School, where
scientists see genetically altered pigs as
a potential solution to the global short-
age of donors for patients with organ
failure.
Environment / Science
try’s entire footprint.
That’s an interesting observation of
an industry that’s trying to position
itself as part of the solution to the cli-
mate crisis.
‘Not to be sneezed at’
So 21% of the country’s carbon foot-
print comes from the gas industry. That
is something not to be sneezed at.
What else should we not be sneez-
ing at?
King said: “Australia hosts the
world’s largest commercial CCS project,
Chevron’s Gorgon LNG project at
Barrow Island in Western Australia.
Eight million tonnes of stored CO2 is
not to be sneezed at.”
CCS (carbon capture and storage)
is the perennially over-promising and
grossly under-delivering set of technol-
ogies to capture carbon dioxide and
An artist’s rendering made available by Nasa depicts Osirix-Rex contacting the asteroid
Bennu. Photograph: AP
at JSC built specifically for the mission.
But when the canister lid was first
opened, scientists discovered “bonus
asteroid material” covering the outside
of the collector head, canister lid and
base. There was so much extra ma-
terial, Nasa said, it delayed the detailed
process of collecting and containing the
primary sample.
“It’s been going slow and meti-
culous,” Lauretta said, telling the press
conference that black dust and par-
ticles were scattered around the out-
side edge of the chamber. “This is al-
ready scientific treasure”.
So far, only a “quick-look” analysis
Dr Michael Curtis, the chief execu-
tive of eGenesis, said the “extraordinary
milestone” provided hope for the ap-
proach and “may pave the way for
better outcomes for countless indi-
viduals in need of lifesaving organ
transplants”.
Scientists have spent decades work-
ing out whether animal organs could
ever work properly and safely in
humans without them being rejected
by the patient’s immune system, but
the challenges have proved immense.
For the latest trial, researchers used
a gene-editing tool called Crispr to alter
then store it.
Dogged by delays and underper-
formance, Chevron’s carbon capture
project started injecting CO2 captured
from its gasfield in August 2019. So
that’s eight million tonnes in a little less
than four years.
But that amount is eclipsed by the
total greenhouse gases from the project
and the burning of the gas, which Che-
vron estimates to be 49.8m tonnes
every year.
That’s certainly not to be sneezed
at.
The greatest strawman
Speaking to the AFR this week, the
boss of the major gas producer Santos,
Kevin Gallagher, appeared to deploy a
classic strawman argument while de-
fending the fortunes of the product his
company sells.
has taken place, including imaging by a
scanning electron microscope, infrared
measurements, X-ray diffraction and
chemical element analysis.
X-ray computed tomography was
also used to produce a three-dimen-
sional computer model of one of the
particles, Nasa said, highlighting its di-
verse interior. It was this early look that
provided evidence of abundant carbon
and water in the sample.
Nelson stressed the research to date
provided only a preliminary assess-
ment, and that the real work was about
to begin.
“Almost everything we do at Nasa
genes in Yucatan miniature pigs before
transplanting their kidneys into maca-
ques. The modifications altered genes
to prevent organ rejection and remove
pig viruses that could potentially be
activated in recipients.
Writing in the journal Nature, the
scientists describe how 21 monkeys
fared after their kidneys were removed
and a single genetically modified pig
kidney was implanted. Monkeys typi-
cally survived only 24 days when the
kidneys were edited to disable three
genes that trigger immune rejection.
But when the scientists added seven
The Guardian Thursday 12 October 2023
The newspaper reported: “Gallagher
said government policies to drive
decarbonisation should not focus on
one solution or technology “because
that’s not going to deliver us what we
want”.
Absolutely nobody in the energy
industry, anywhere, at any time, has
ever suggested that government policy
should focus on “one solution or tech-
nology”.
Gallagher told the newspaper’s
energy summit he was “not sure the
world can leave fossil fuels behind” and
said he was confident there would be “a
very big place for gas in the future.”
This doesn’t sound like the boss of
a company that says its climate policies
are aligned with the UN’s sustainable
development goal of taking “urgent
action to combat climate change and
seeks to answer questions about who
we are and where we come from.
Missions like Osiris-Rex will improve
our understanding of asteroids that
could threaten Earth while giving us a
glimpse into what lies beyond,” he said.
“The sample has made it back to
Earth, but there is still so much science
to come… science like we’ve never seen
before.”
The rocks and dust from the aste-
roid will be studied “for decades to
come”, according to a Nasa press re-
lease accompanying the reveal. They
would, the statement said, “offer in-
sights into how our solar system was
formed, how the precursor materials to
life may have been seeded on Earth,
and what precautions need to be taken
to avoid asteroid collisions with our
home planet”.
“The bounty of carbon-rich material
and the abundant presence of water-
bearing clay minerals are just the tip of
the cosmic iceberg,” Lauretta said.
“These discoveries, made poss-
ible through years of dedicated colla-
boration and cutting-edge science,
propel us on a journey to understand
not only our celestial neighborhood but
also the potential for life’s beginnings.
With each revelation from Bennu, we
draw closer to unraveling the mysteries
of our cosmic heritage.”
human genes that reduce blood clot-
ting, inflammation and other immune
reactions, the monkeys survived seven
times longer, typically for 176 days.
When combined with treatment to
suppress the immune system, the re-
searchers report that one monkey sur-
vived for more than two years – 758
days – with the transplanted organ.
Curtis said the long-term survival of
at least some of the monkeys had put
eGenesis on course to satisfy the US
Food and Drug Administration require-
ment to see at least 12 months’ survival
in animals before the team can launch a
its impacts”.
Nor does it chime with the view
of the IEA that, as already mentioned,
thinks demand for gas will peak this
decade even without new climate poli-
cies.
The IEA’s updated net zero scenario
for the globe’s energy industry suggests
demand for natural gas drops from 4.1
billion cubic metres in 2022 to 3.4bcm
in 2030 and 900 bcm in 2050.
That suggests if companies and
governments are serious about meeting
a 1.5C global temperature goal, then gas
doesn’t occupy a “very big place” in the
future, but rather an increasingly small
one.
A view of the outside of the Osirix-
Rex sample collector, with sample ma-
terial from the asteroid Bennu, at John-
son Space Center in Houston, Texas. Photo-
graph: NASA/Reuters
During the next two years, scientists
will continue “characterizing” the sam-
ples. At least 70% of them will remain at
JSC for further research by experts from
the US and worldwide. Additional sam-
ples will be loaned to the Smithsonian
Institution, Space Center Houston and
the University of Arizona for public dis-
play.
Meanwhile, the Osiris-Rex mission,
managed by Nasa’s Goddard Space
Flight Center in Greenbelt, Mary-
land, continues. After dropping off
the Bennu samples, the spacecraft re-
sumed its fight towards an encounter
with the asteroid Apophis in 2029 when
it makes its closest approach to Earth.
Apophis had been thought to pose
a threat to Earth in 2068, but was
removed from the European Space
Agency’s “risk list” two years ago.
clinical trial in humans.
“We are well on our way there,”
Curtis said. “There simply aren’t
enough kidneys to go around. In our
opinion it’s the only near-term viable
solution.”
The team uses Yucatan miniature
pigs as donors because at maturity
their kidneys are roughly the same size
of those in the adult human. In the
monkey trial, the kidneys were trans-
planted at two to three months when
the organs were much smaller.
Continued on page 51
Thursday 12 October 2023 The Guardian
Continued from page 50
Prof Tatsuo Kawai, an author on
the study at Harvard Medical School,
said the scientists expected the mod-
ified pig organs to perform better in
humans than monkeys because “they
are a better match”.
Two humans have so far received
pig heart transplants. The first, David
Bennett, died two months after sur-
gery in 2022. The second, 58-year-old
Lawrence Faucette, who had end-stage
heart disease, received a new heart on
20 September this year and is in recov-
ery.
Prof Muhammad Mohiuddin, at the
University of Maryland School of Medi-
cine, who was involved in the pio-
neering heart transplants, said genet-
ically modified pig organs should move
into human trials.
“It is time for clinical translation
of this vital technology, which has the
potential to save lives that would oth-
erwise be lost to the shortage of human
organs,” he wrote in an accompanying
editorial.
“There is still much to be learned
from non-human primate preclinical
iPhone 15 Pro review: the best smaller phone
gets better
Samuel Gibbs Consumer tech-
nology editor
Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro might be oversha-
dowed by its larger maxed-out sibling
this year, but the cheaper of the “pro”
iPhones still has one big advantage: a
more pocketable size.
The 15 Pro has had a £100 price
cut over last year’s model starting at
£999 (€1,199/$999/A$1,849), widening
the gulf between it and the £1,199 Pro
Max. It still isn’t cheap, but is roughly in
line with competing high-end phones
in 2023.
As with the Pro Max, the 15 Pro
swaps its predecessor’s stainless steel
sides for titanium, saving 19g and
significantly changing the feel of it. It is
light, easy to handle and pocket, which
is immediately noticeable if you’re
coming from any of Apple’s older Pro
phones.
The 6.1in OLED screen is genuinely
fantastic and better than you’d get on
similarly sized devices, reaching a very
bright 2,000nit peak when outdoors for
easy viewing in bright sunlight. The
Face ID system within the dynamic
island at the top of the screen remains
one of Apple’s killer features.
The new action button replaces the
mute switch from previous iPhones.
It can be set to launch various apps
or tasks such as the torch or switch-
ing focus modes instead of muting the
phone.
Specifications
Screen: 6.1in Super Retina XDR
(OLED) (460ppi)
Processor: Apple A17 Pro
RAM: 8GB
Science / Technology
File photo of a macaque monkey. The researchers used Crispr to alter genes in pigs before transplanting their kidneys into macaques.
Photograph: Takasakiyama Natural Zoological Garden
models. But it will be clinical trials,
enrolling people who have been ex-
cluded from all other hope of treat-
ment, that will truly further our under-
A myriad of small changes make for more meaningful upgrade to Apple’s smaller Pro
iPhone this year. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
Storage: 128, 256, 512GB or 1TB
Operating system: iOS 17
Camera: 48MP main, 12MP UW
and 12MP 3x zoom, 12MP front-facing
camera
Connectivity: 5G, wifi 6E, NFC, Blu-
etooth 5.3, Thread, USB-C, Satellite,
UWB and GNSS
Water resistance: IP68 (6 metres for
30 mins)
Dimensions: 146.6 x 70.6 x 8.25mm
Weight: 187g
A17 Pro chip and a USB-C port
Another significant upgrade is the
switch from Lightning to USB-C, which
for most people coming from older
iPhones will simply mean replacing the
cable, one of which is included in the
box. Those with accessories may need
to buy adaptors, but the switch means
the 15 Pro can charge from practically
any charger and USB-C cable used by all
Android devices, PCs and Macs, iPads
and other tablets – you no longer need
to buy special Apple cables.
standing of this remarkable procedure,
and help to realise the potential of this
technology.”
Prof Dusko Ilic, at King’s Col-
It also opens up the possibility to
connect myriad accessories, including
display cables, SD card readers, audio
adapters, game controllers such as the
Backbone One and many other USB-C
equipped products.
The new A17 Pro chip is rapid and
supports advanced ray tracing graphics
similar to consoles for the first time for
even better gaming. It is fast now and
will stay fast for many years to come.
Battery life is very good for this size
of phone, lasting about 38 hours be-
tween charges with the screen actively
used for five hours. On the heaviest of
days, spent mostly on 5G using maps
and shooting photos, the battery still
managed to last about 28 hours. That
means you will have to charge it night-
ly but it should always make it easily
through the day.
Sustainability
Apple says the battery should last in
excess of 500 full-charge cycles with at
least 80% of its original capacity and
lege London, called the work a
“groundbreaking achievement”, but
said: “There is still a long way to go
before this strategy could be used in
can be replaced for £95. Out-of-war-
ranty screen repairs cost £349. The 15
Pro adopts the same internal repair-
friendly design introduced with the
iPhone 14, but the phone was awarded
only four out of 10 for repairability by
the specialists iFixit because of Apple’s
use of software to restrict third-party
repair.
It contains recycled aluminium,
cobalt, copper, gold, plastic, rare earth
elements, tin and tungsten. The com-
pany breaks down the phone’s environ-
mental impact in its report. Apple offers
trade-in and free recycling schemes, in-
cluding for non-Apple products.
Camera
The camera on the 15 Pro is the
same as the 15 Pro Max apart from
the telephoto camera, which only has
a 3x optical zoom similar to previous
models.
The main camera captures 24-meg-
apixel photos by default, can shoot at
three different focal lengths (24, 28 or
35mm) and capture full 48MP photos in
either ProRaw or HEIF formats, which
will please keen photographers. The
camera also has the useful 2x zoom
mode from last year, while all three
cameras also now automatically cap-
ture portrait photos without needing a
dedicated mode, which is a much better
system.
Overall, the 15 Pro’s ultrawide, main
and 3x telephoto cameras are unri-
valled at this size of phone, producing
really great images in most conditions
with very little work required. It’s just
shame it lacks the 5x optical zoom
camera of the Pro Max.
Price
The iPhone 15 Pro costs from £999
51
clinical trials.”
Meanwhile, a separate study has
suggested that pioneering transplant
therapy could reduce organ rejection
rates and avoid the need for patients
to take life-long anti-rejection drugs, ac-
cording to research.
Scientists at the University of Pitts-
burgh School of Medicine found that
giving patients the organ donor’s den-
dritic cells could “teach” the recipient’s
immune system to accept the new
organ.
Dendritic cells help the body’s
immune system launch a response to
potential threats. They also help it tole-
rate harmless components instead of
attacking them.
In a phase 1 clinical trial, published
in the journal Science Translational
Medicine, 13 patients were given a
single infusion of the organ donor’s
dendriditic cells a week before their
liver transplant. The researchers fol-
lowed them for a year alongside 40
liver transplant patients who received
the usual regimen of anti-rejection
immunosuppressant drugs and found
no differences between the two groups
in organ rejection rates.
I set the action button to launch the
camera, using control centre to toggle
mute instead. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/
The Guardian
(€1,199/$999/A$1,849) with 128GB of
storage.
For comparison, the iPhone 15 costs
£799, the iPhone 15 Pro Max costs
£1,199, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
costs £1,249, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 costs
£1,049, the Google Pixel 7 Pro costs
£849 and the Fairphone 5 costs £649.
Verdict
For the first time in a couple of
years buyers of Apple’s top smart-
phones have a more difficult decision
to make on their next upgrade. The
iPhone 15 Pro is the best smaller phone
on the market by some margin, but it
no longer has the best camera on an
iPhone.
Most of the hardware is the same,
but it lacks the 5x optical zoom, which
made such a meaningful upgrade to the
15 Pro Max. The smaller 15 Pro is still
a significant improvement on previous
6.1in iPhone Pros, now noticeably ligh-
ter, with the benefits of USB-C and the
handy action button.
It has slightly shorter battery life
than the Max, but the smaller, lighter
and more comfortable to hold design
may be worth it. As may the £200
saving, which is significant despite still
costing the best part of a grand.

52
Former NFL player Sergio Brown taken into
custody after mother’s death
Guardian sport
The former NFL player Sergio Brown
has been taken into custody after the
death of his mother in September.
Police in San Diego said he was
held after entering the United States
from Mexico on Tuesday. He is awaiting
extradition to Maywood, Illinois, where
the body of his mother, Myrtle, was
found near her home last month. Police
had issued a warrant for first-degree
murder after her death was ruled a
homicide.
Sergio and Myrtle Brown were re-
ported missing in mid September.
Myrtle’s body was later found in a creek
near her home.
Days later someone who appeared
to be Brown posted an incoherent
video message to Instagram. The post
tagged the message to Mexico. Neigh-
bors told police the 35-year-old had
been acting erratically before his disap-
MLB playoffs: Rangers set up prospect of all-
Texas ALCS by sweeping Orioles
Associated Press
In his first season with Texas, vet-
eran manager Bruce Bochy has guided
the Rangers into the AL Championship
Series. Yordan Alvarez and the Houston
Astros are one win from making it a
Lone Star State affair.
Corey Seager and Adolis García
homered early, Nathan Eovaldi pitch-
ed seven smooth innings in another
playoff clincher and the Rangers com-
pleted a Division Series sweep of the
Baltimore Orioles with a 7-1 victory
Tuesday night in Game 3.
The Rangers, whose loss at Seattle
on the last day of the regular season
made them a wildcard team instead
of the AL West champions, have since
won all five of their postseason games.
They are going to the ALCS for the first
time since 2011.
“I saw a team that was really moti-
vated,” said Bochy, who managed San
Francisco to three World Series titles
from 2010-14. “The offense, everybody
was doing something to contribute.”
In Minneapolis, José Abreu hit a
D’Andre Swift: the homecoming king behind
the Eagles’ undefeated start
Dave Caldwell in Philadelphia
Pretty much any NFL running back
would gain chunks of yardage with help
from the Philadelphia Eagles offen-
sive line, the best in the business (no
matter what Miami and San Francisco
Sport
Sergio Brown’s final NFL season came in 2016. Photograph: Icon Sports Wire/Corbis/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images
The Texas Rangers celebrate after defeating the Baltimore Orioles to clinch their playoff series. Photograph: Jerome Miron/USA Today
Sports
three-run homer in a four-run first
inning against Sonny Gray and piled on
with a two-run shot in the ninth, power-
fans say). Still, Eagles general manager
Howie Roseman keeps seeking better
men to lug that ol’ pigskin.
On the last day of the NFL draft in
April, he swung a trade with the Detroit
Lions for D’Andre Swift, a Philly native
and former second-round draft pick
whose reputation, aided by the Hard
ing the Astros to a 9-1 victory that gave
them a 2-1 lead over Minnesota in their
ALDS.
Knocks soap opera, had been trashed.
Duce Staley, the Lions assistant
head coach and running backs coach
(and, coincidentally, an ex-Eagle), was
shown in HBO’s behind-the-scenes
documentary last summer chiding
Swift during an expletive-laced pep talk
for not running with more confidence,
The Guardian Thursday 12 October 2023
Alvarez hit his fourth home run in
three games and Alex Bregman had a
homer and an RBI single for the de-
or hunger.
So the word was out: Swift was soft.
In three seasons with Detroit he hadn’t
stood out, rushing for 1,680 yards and
missing 10 games with injuries. He
became expendable when the Lions
used a first-round draft pick this year
to select Jahmyr Gibbs, who wrapped
pearance.
Sources told CNN that police in
Mexico had been aware of Brown’s
whereabouts for a number of weeks
and had taken him into custody before
deporting him to the US.
In the days after Myrtle’s death,
Brown’s brother Nick posted a tribute
to his mother on social media and
also mentioned his sibling. “My brother
Sergio is still missing. If anyone knows
where he is, I want him to know that I
love you and please come home.”
Brown joined the New England
Patriots as an undrafted free agent
from Notre Dame in 2010. He played
seven seasons as a safety in the NFL,
including stints at the Indianapolis
Colts and Jacksonville Jaguars. His final
season came in 2016, when he played
eight games for the Buffalo Bills.
fending World Series champions, who
moved within one win of a seventh
consecutive AL Championship Series
appearance.
Cristian Javier struck out nine in
five scoreless innings for the win.
Game 4 is on Wednesday at Target
Field, with José Urquidy starting for
the Astros against Joe Ryan. A decisive
Game 5 would be on Friday in Houston.
Arizona can also advance on
Wednesday as the wildcard Diamond-
backs try for a stunning sweep of the
100-win Los Angeles Dodgers when
their NL Division Series shifts to Phoe-
nix for Game 3. It will be Arizona’s first
home game this postseason, after open-
ing 4-0 on the road.
Atlanta play at Philadelphia in the
other NLDS, with that best-of-five series
tied at one game apiece.
Unless the NL East champion
Braves go with an opener out of the
bullpen – which manager Brian Snitker
said is an option – it appears either 12-
game winner Bryce Elder or 20-year-old
rookie AJ Smith-Shawver will get the
nod against Aaron Nola.
up his college career at Alabama.
“I know who I am,” Swift said evenly
at a news conference after joining the
Eagles. “I know what I’m about. I know
I’m as tough as they come.”
The Eagles are one of two 5-0 teams
Continued on page 53
Thursday 12 October 2023 The Guardian
Continued from page 52
in the NFL for many different reasons,
most of which have to do with their
stoic and efficient quarterback, Jalen
Hurts. The Eagles also have superb re-
ceivers and a tenacious defense. But
Swift has contributed a lot more than
expected.
D’Andre is only the second-most
famous Swift around the NFL this
season – Taylor is entrenched at No
1 as long as she is seen with Kansas
City tight end Travis Kelce. But D’Andre
Swift has had his own impact on the
league this season. He has rushed for
434 yards in five games, despite the fact
that he had only one carry for three
yards in the Eagles’ season opener.
Gibbs has missed a game and
rushed for 179 yards for the Lions,
who are 4-1 and rolling. Miles Sand-
ers, who ran for 3,708 yards in four
years with the Eagles but was allowed
to walk away because he’d make too
much money, has 190 yards for the 0-5
Carolina Panthers.
Swift is fourth in the NFL in rushing
this season, behind Christian McCaff-
rey of San Francisco, De’Von Achane of
Miami and Zack Moss of Indianapolis.
Swift hardly looked soft in the second
half of the Eagles’ 23-14 victory Sunday
over the Rams, pounding out 63 yards
on 12 carries.
That O-line (center Jason Kelce,
VAR audio could be made available live, says
FA CEO Mark Bullingham
PA Media
Mark Bullingham, the chief executive
officer of the Football Association, has
raised the prospect of the game’s global
rule-making body examining wheth-
er audio between referees and VARs
should be available live.
Miscommunication between the
VAR Darren England and the referee
Simon Hooper led to Luis Díaz’s goal for
Liverpool at Tottenham being wrongly
disallowed last month, leading to fur-
ther calls for such conversations to be
played out in real time. The incident
caused huge controversy, with Jürgen
Klopp even calling for the match to be
replayed.
Broadcasting the conversations be-
tween on-field officials and VARs live
is currently prohibited under football’s
laws, but Bullingham, who is a direc-
tor at the International Football Asso-
ciation Board (Ifab), which has the
power to change the laws, said the
organisation had discussed the subject.
“Generally there is a split in the
Decision day: how playoff battle shapes up in
NWSL’s final round
Megan Swanick
The final matches of National Women’s
Soccer League’s 11th regular season
take place on Sunday – aka Deci-
Sport
D'Andre Swift walks off the field after rushing for 175 yards against the Vikings in his
Eagles home debut in September. Photograph: Cooper Neill/Getty Images
guards Landon Dickerson and Sua
Opeta and tackles Jordan Mailata and
Lane Johnson) deserve a lot of credit, of
course. But Swift has taken an oppor-
tunity and run with it – propelled, in
part, because he knew what he was get-
ting into.
Swift, 24, grew up in Philadelphia
and played at St Joseph’s Preparatory
School, who have won seven of the last
nine state championships (and lost the
other two in the finals) in the largest
classification in Pennsylvania. Swift led
the school to a state title as a senior in
2016.
The Prep practiced a couple of
times during the state football playoffs
at the Eagles’ facility in south Phila-
Referee Robert Jones communicates with the VAR during Arsenal’s recent 2-2 draw with
Tottenham. A change in the law could lead to such conversations being heard by everyone as
they happen. Photograph: Nick Potts/PA
room over that, and quite often it is be-
tween the marketing and commercial
people and the referees,” he said. “Our
point of view, from the marketing and
commercial perspective, would nor-
mally be that transparency is a really
good thing, and we want fans to have
the maximum experience.”
Bullingham said an ongoing Fifa
sion Day – and each one holds se-
rious playoff ramifications. Of the 12
clubs competing this year, two have
already clinched play-off places, with
eight remain in contention for four
positions. It promises to be some week-
delphia. Roseman knew about Swift as
a high school player. It was not hard
to know about him. He scored seven
touchdowns in one game against arch-
rival La Salle.
But that victory was so satisfying
because La Salle had swarmed Swift in
the Philadelphia Catholic League title
game the previous year, leading to a
stunning, last-second upset loss for the
Prep. After rushing for 175 yards against
Minnesota in his Eagles home debut on
14 September, Swift brought up those
La Salle battles, calling this a “full-circle
moment”.
“If you’ve been here, you kind of
know how Philly sports are, how Philly
fans are,” Swift said in August. “If you’re
trial where referees announce and ex-
plain the outcome of an on-field review
is a “step in the right direction”, adding:
“My personal point of view is I do
think [live audio] will continue to be
a question over time, because the great-
er transparency shows how difficult the
referee’s job is, and it has worked in
other sports.
end …
Angel City FC vs Portland
ThornsThe reigning champions and
first-placed Portland Thorns affirmed
their playoff bye in the penultimate
weekend with a goal from Japan’s Hina
not from here, not accustomed to it, I
could see how it could be a little too
much. If it’s all good, they love you.”
Eleven days after the Vikings game,
Swift rushed for 130 yards in a 25-11 vic-
tory at Tampa Bay. Brought in to be
one of four running backs in a rota-
tion, Swift had suddenly emerged as a
workhorse, replaced only occasionally
by Kenneth Gainwell, who is in his third
year in the NFL.
(And if there is a backfield combo
anywhere with better last names than
Swift, Gainwell and Hurts, please let the
NFL PR office know.)
This has all made for a delightful
homecoming as the Eagles pursue a
second straight Super Bowl appear-
ance, but there could be a catch to
come. Swift, acquired from Detroit for
two low draft picks, is in the final year of
his $8.5m rookie contract.
Miles Sanders (who also has a good
first name for someone paid to gain
ground, when you think about it) had
a four-year, $5.35m rookie contract with
the Eagles. Roseman, famously, refuses
to pay top dollar to any running back,
given their susceptibility to injury, like
Swift. So Sanders signed a four-year,
$25.4m deal as a free agent with the
rebuilding Panthers.
It is possible that Swift could play
just one season in Philadelphia after
fortifying his resume – and repairing his
damaged reputation – to sign a fatter
“There is an understandable nerv-
ousness from others that the referee’s
job is hard enough as it is. In a
tournament you have referees with
multiple languages, so it is not as
straightforward as some might suggest.
So I think we are taking a step in the
right direction with announcing the
decision and explaining why it has been
reached. Let’s see if that leads to further
progression.”
Ifab, it is understood, is set to open
up the trial of in-stadium announce-
ments by referees beyond Fifa events
to other interested competitions. The
body may also look again at the word-
ing of Principle 10 in the VAR protocol,
which currently prevents VARs from
revisiting a decision once play has res-
tarted and meant the officials could not
call play back after the Díaz error. It
could be updated to allow a decision
to be revisited where a clear mistake
has occurred, and where no significant
action has taken place since play res-
tarted.
Bullingham also said he was aware
Ifab had been asked to consider widen-
Sugita. She and golden boot leader
Sophia Smith, who has just returned
from injury, will be rested for the first
round of the playoffs but still have
the Supporters Shield to secure, vying
for that trophy with San Diego. Thorns
53
D’Andre Swift, left, and Jalen Hurts have
been two of the biggest reasons behind
the Philadelphia Eagles’ undefeated start.
Photograph: Mitchell Leff/Getty Images
contract with an NFL team that would
lean even more heavily on him. Swift is
not focused on next year, at least pub-
licly. He talks about being a “piece to the
puzzle”. He won’t bad-mouth anyone
on the Lions.
Swift, who wore No 7 in high school
and at Georgia and No 32 with the
Lions, has said he chose to wear No 0
with the Eagles because the NFL had
never offered that number before. He
is distinct in that way, but it is as if
he reset his football odometer when he
moved home.
There is a long way to go. The
Eagles, their record notwithstanding,
still have some inconsistencies to clean
up. Swift could be injured, or replaced.
His future is unclear. None of it matters
at the moment: to Swift go the spoils.
A large screen at the Tottenham Hotspur
Stadium shows Luis Díaz’s goal for Liverpool
there last month had been ruled out for off-
side. It was the wrong decision. Photograph:
Marc Atkins/Getty Images
ing the scope of VAR to rule on deci-
sions such as corner kick and free-
kick awards. VAR interventions are
currently limited to goals, penalties,
straight red cards and mistaken iden-
tity.
“I think we would be really reluc-
tant to have a game that was stopped
a lot more than it currently is, but that
will be a proper discussion,” said Bul-
lingham.
head to Los Angeles attempt to that
achieve that, meeting an Angel City FC
side hoping to scrape their way into
the playoffs for the first time in their
Continued on page 54

54
Continued from page 53
second year.
San Diego Wave vs Racing Louis-
villeSan Diego host Louisville in a
match that could earn them their first
piece of silverware in only their second
season: if they win and Portland lose
in LA, they’ll collect the Supporters
Shield. No matter the result, the Wave
are through to the playoffs with a bye, a
remarkable success for the second-year
expansion side led by former England
captain, Casey Stoney. Racing need a
win and other results to be kind to
them in order to make the playoffs.
North Carolina Courage vs Wash-
ington SpiritThis is where the fun
begins as two formidable teams stacked
with talent joust to ensure their
playoff positioning. The pair head into
Sunday’s contest equal on 30 points, a
total also shared by Gotham FC, with
the three teams, who take up third,
fourth and fifth spots in the NWSL split
only by goal differential. The game in
Washington is a match-up of wicked
wingers and lethal attacks: it should be
some watch.
Gotham FC vs Kansas City Current-
World Cup champion and longtime
NWSL defender Ali Krieger hangs up
her boots after this season, and is set to
be honoured in her final home match of
the regular season as Gotham host the
Current with thier respective playoff
places in the balance. Kansas City fell
‘Rafa will be back’: Nadal to make grand slam
return at Australian Open
PA Media
Rafael Nadal is set to return to grand-
slam tennis at the 2024 Australian
Open, the tournament’s director, Craig
Tiley, has announced.
The 37-year-old has not been in
action since suffering a hip flexor
injury during his second-round defeat
to Mackenzie McDonald during the
2023 edition in Melbourne.
Earlier this year, Nadal announced
he would miss the French Open, where
he has claimed 14 of his 22 major titles,
as he was undergoing surgery on the
issue.
His inactivity has seen the Spaniard
slide down to 240th in the world, but
Nadal will be able to rely on a protected
ranking for the first grand slam of the
2024 calendar.
Speaking in an interview on Aus-
tralian breakfast TV programme The
Today Show, Tennis Australia chief
executive Tiley said: “We can reveal
‘Australians aren’t interested’: Postecoglou
doubts Matildas’ World Cup legacy
Guardian sport
One day out from the start of the A-
League Women’s season, Ange Post-
ecoglou has delivered a sobering mes-
sage to Australian football supporters,
Sport
Clockwise from top left: Alex Morgan of San Diego Wave, Megan Rapinoe of OL Reign,
Ali Krieger of Gotham FC, Hina Sugita of Portland Thorns, Kerolin Nicoli and midfielder
Manaka Matsukubo of North Carolina Courage. Composite: Getty, Shutterstock, AP
short of the playoffs this year, in a sur-
prise slide from their loss to the Thorns
in last year’s final.
Chicago Red Stars vs OL ReignThe
Red Stars never recovered – nor, one
could argue, did the USA – from the pa-
tella tendon tear that sidelined Mallory
Swanson in April. One of just two teams
already eliminated from the playoffs,
they host Megan Rapinoe’s last dance
with OL Reign, who sit in a precarious
sixth place, just marginally north of the
playoff line with a smattering of teams
ready to supplant them.
Orlando Pride vs Houston DashThe
Pride and Dash meet on the outside
of the playoff spots looking in, cur-
rently ranked in seventh and 10th place
Spain's Rafael Nadal has slid down the rankings but is expected to play at the Australian Open. Photograph: William West/AFP/Getty
Images
arguing that the Matildas’ success won’t
bring any long-lasting benefit or invest-
ment for the local game.
The former Brisbane Roar and Soc-
ceroos coach now manages in the
Premier League, where his Tottenham
side are top of the table after eight
respectively. Houston face a tall order
to climb their way into the playoffs, but
Orlando are certainly capable of ending
Sunday with more games to play in the
post season.
What have we learned this
season?
After Sunday, six teams will
progress towards the Championship
match, scheduled for 11 November in
San Diego. And if we’ve learned any-
thing in NWSL’s 11th year it is that
the league is more unpredictable and
gripping as ever. That said, Portland
Thorns’s form this year has been pre-
dictably strong, not just in terms of
points and trophy-count but also in re-
gards to their dominance of style and
games.
“When you look at what the Matil-
das did at the World Cup: unbelievable,”
he said. “But you still won’t see an
influx of resources to the game. You
won’t, I guarantee it.”
The Matildas finished fourth at their
The Guardian Thursday 12 October 2023
finesse. With three Championships in
the cabinet, they appear more than ca-
pable of collecting a fourth this season.
NWSL commissioner Jessica
Berman previewed this season by hig-
hlighting the growth in ticket sales, and
across many clubs attendance num-
bers have certainly delivered. Megan
Rapinoe’s farewell in Seattle broke the
official league-wide attendance record,
pulling in 34,140 supporters. With
683,000 viewers, it was also the most-
watched regular season match in NWSL
history. Elsewhere, Berman reported
that five of 12 clubs broke their personal
attendance records this season.
Want to tune in to Decision Day?
International viewers can do so for free
at NWSLSoccer.com. USA-based view-
ers can do so at Paramount+.
Talking Points
OnMonday, a Mary Earps limited-
edition goalkeeper kit was quietly
made available by Nike. The release fol-
lowed months of tension over the lack
of the kit and, perhaps not suprisingly,
it subsequently sold out in a matter of
hours.
The Women’s Champions League
resumed this week. The second quali-
fying round features 24 teams com-
peting in a two-legged tie, with win-
ners progressing to the group stage. Al-
ready a few ties have been back-and-
forth battles. Wolfsburg fought back
to a 3-3 finish against Paris FC thanks
to a brace of headers from Alexandra
home Women’s World Cup this year and
their semi-final defeat against England
was the most-watched program on Aus-
tralian television – sport or otherwise.
“I just don’t think the nation as a
whole has that inside them to under-
stand you can make an impact on the
Portland Thorns will go in to their
final match full of confidence. Photograph:
Amanda Loman/Getty Images
Popp, while Manchester United also
came from behind to draw 1-1 with
Paris Saint-Germain thanks to Melvine
Malard’s 70th-minute equaliser.
Jenni Hermoso, Spain’s all-time
leading goalscorer and recently
crowned World Cup champion, had
her interview with Spanish prosecutors
aired on Spanish TV this week. In it,
Hermoso maintained the kiss from Luis
Rubiales at the World Cup Final was not
consensual and relayed the emotional
turmoil she’s had to wrestle with in the
aftermath, saying, “I do not deserve to
have lived through all this.”
This is an extract of our free weekly
women’s football email, Moving the
Goalposts. To subscribe to the full edi-
tion just visit this page and follow the
instructions.
Have a question for our writers – or
want to suggest a topic to cover? Email
moving.goalposts@theguardian.com.
exclusively here that Rafa will be back.
He’s been off for most of the year and in
talking to him over the last few days he
confirmed he will be back, which we’re
really excited about, the champion of
2022. That’s awesome.”
Tiley also revealed “some of the
greats” will be making their way to the
tournament, with the former women’s
singles champions Naomi Osaka, Caro-
line Wozniacki and Angelique Kerber
all lined up for returns. “We’ll welcome
them – and their families – back to Mel-
bourne with open arms and can’t wait
to see what their next chapter brings,”
he added.
Home favourite Nick Kyrgios, who
has played only one ATP Tour match
in 2023 due to injuries, has returned to
training and is hopeful of being fit for
Melbourne, with Tiley adding that he
was “doing his utmost to get back to his
best”.
world of football, but it requires a kind
of nationalistic approach that I just
don’t think Australians at their core are
really interested in,” Postecoglou said.
His comments are in contrast to
Continued on page 55
Thursday 12 October 2023 The Guardian
Continued from page 54
what he said during the tournament.
In the week of the Matildas’ semi-
final in August, he said it was a “rare
moment” football had Australia’s atten-
tion and the coverage had been “bril-
liant”. “Hopefully it’s everlasting.”
This week he was less optimistic
about the obstacles facing Australian
football: “It’s kind of insurmountable,
you can’t make the necessary steps.”
Postecoglou believes the combi-
nation of the strength of the other foot-
ball codes in Australia, with the global
nature of football, means the sport in
Australia has not been able to take off,
and still won’t.
“I just don’t see it,” he told reporters.
“I don’t think it registers. You guys are
only talking about it because of me.”
Football Australia and the APL, the
operator of the A-Leagues, have tried to
ramp up lobbying for more public re-
sources in the past year.
Football Australia has claimed its
Legacy23 strategy planned around the
Women’s World Cup had unlocked
Borthwick to gamble on Farrell and Smith
with Ford set for England axe
Gerard Meagher in Aix-en-Pro-
vence
Steve Borthwick appears set to axe
George Ford and install his captain
Owen Farrell at fly-half for England’s
World Cup quarter-final against Fiji
with Marcus Smith expected to be
given the nod at full-back.
In what would represent two of the
boldest selection calls of Borthwick’s
tenure, the captain Farrell is likely to
revert to the No 10 jersey with the head
coach – who announces his team on
Friday – primed to employ Smith as the
second playmaker from full-back.
Ford has been arguably England’s
most impressive performer at the
World Cup to date but Borthwick has
been clear that Farrell is his right-hand
man on the field and the decision to
pair the two in a 10-12 partnership – for
the first time since March 2021 – back-
fired last time out against Samoa.
Ford was named man of the match
against Argentina and Japan – while
Farrell was suspended – and is Eng-
land’s top points scorer in the tour-
nament with 41. Farrell, for his part,
endured an ordinary outing against
Yorkshire chair Harry Chathli willing to talk
to Azeem Rafiq to help club heal
Tanya Aldred
The new chair of Yorkshire CCC, Harry
Chathli, has said that he would be will-
ing to talk to Azeem Rafiq if it meant
helping the club to heal.
Chathli, 58, was appointed chair
after an extensive recruitment process,
which was ratified by members’ vote
at September’s extraordinary general
Sport
Former Socceroos coach and now Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou has weighed in on
how Australian football will respond to the Matildas’ World Cup success. Photograph: Mat-
thew Childs/Reuters
more than $350m in government
investment. The APL developed its
first major funding submission to the
federal government this year, seeking
$12m. Nothing has been committed yet.
Postecoglou said any new foot-
ball facilities that did arrive would be
shared with other codes, and that Aus-
tralia’s level of investment paled into
George Ford is set to lose his place in the England team with Owen Farrell poised to be
selected at fly-half to face Fiji in their quarter-final. Photograph: Mike Egerton/PA
Samoa, conceding that his mistake to
allow the shot clock to expire before
taking a second-half penalty was “not
good enough”, but it was Ford who
made way with half an hour to go, with
Smith coming on at full-back.
Smith, meanwhile, returned to the
bench against Samoa, having im-
pressed on his first start at full-back
against Chile with Farrell at fly-half.
He had never appeared there until the
switch was suggested to him by the de-
fence coach, Kevin Sinfield, over the
meeting. He succeeds the interim chair
Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, who
remains on the board as a non-execu-
tive director, and Lord Kamlesh Patel,
who stepped down in March. Chathli,
who became a non-executive director
in June, will serve a three-year term.
“The club has been through a really
difficult time and has to find a way of
healing itself,” says Chathli, “and if that
means talking to Azeem Rafiq then of
comparison with those of its Asian
rivals where football occupies a similar
stature.
“If I can compare that to a country
like Japan who also have the tyranny of
distance – and baseball’s pretty strong –
they plant a lot of resources into foot-
ball and you can see that that’s making
an impact,” he said. “I don’t see Australia
summer. After an impressive cameo
against Ireland during the World Cup
warm-up campaign, Smith has been
largely used at full-back by Borthwick.
Dropping Freddie Steward – who
has started 29 of England’s past 30 Tests
– however, would be a huge call by the
head coach given his reliability under
the high ball. Leaving Smith as the
last line of defence against Fiji would
be a gamble but he was one of Eng-
land’s best performers against the Pa-
cific islanders last month. Fiji claimed
course I will do that.
“I would say that most of the
hard work has already been done. My
appointment has come on the back of
some really good work by the board
over the past 18 months – increased
participation from all ethnicities, and in
the pathway programme, and the cul-
ture of the club has changed dramat-
ically over the last three years.
“It is the most exciting job in Eng-
down that road.”
Postecoglou is one of the most
prominent voices in Australian foot-
ball, having established himself as a res-
pected figure in England after stops in
Scotland and Japan. He left his role as
coach of the Socceroos before the 2018
World Cup, just six days after securing
qualification, citing the toll of the job
“personally and professionally”.
The 58-year-old revisited that
period this week, saying he had given
up the “fight” for Australian football
after being “frustrated for so long”.
“One of my major drivers for doing
what I did was to do that, to change
football in Australia,” he said. “And that’s
the reason I left, I felt I hadn’t made an
impact at all.”
But he also believes that had he
not resigned from his Australian role
when he did, he wouldn’t have ended
up coaching in the Premier League.
“It was the right decision for where
I saw the next stage of my career,” he
said. “And if I didn’t make that deci-
sion at that time, if I had waited until
after the World Cup, I’ve got no doubt I
a first win at Twickenham that day but
Smith came off the bench, scored Eng-
land’s second try and brought some at-
tacking verve to Borthwick’s side.
Jamie George has revealed that this
week England have been shown videos
of that nightmare defeat, admitting
Fiji ran riot at Twickenham. England
rounded off a dismal warm-up cam-
paign with a 30-22 defeat at Twick-
enham, which sent expectations for
Borthwick’s side into freefall. Since
then they have qualified for the quar-
ter-finals as pool winners and will again
lock horns with Fiji in Marseille on
Sunday but memories of that Twick-
enham defeat are still fresh. “[That
defeat] has been brought up this week,”
said George. “We would have been
stupid not to because it was almost like
a line in the sand previously, for us to
step forward from. We learned a huge
amount that week and we are a signif-
icantly better team on the back of it.
Some clips have been shown, because
it is a reminder we can’t be that team
again, playing against a very, very good
team that are very dangerous when you
give them what they want. We weren’t
physical enough – just a few clips,
because we don’t need it hammering
lish cricket to get into Yorkshire after it
comes out of this dark period and tries
to get back to the top.”
Chathli was born in India and grew
up in Mumbai (then Bombay), coming
to the UK in 1980. He founded two suc-
cessful communications agencies and
is an experienced international capital
markets expert – financial acumen that
is much needed at Headingley.
He is also a lifelong cricket fan, and
55
Then Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou
with Mile Jedinak, who is now his assistant
at Spurs, in 2017 just days before he resigned.
Photograph: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images
wouldn’t be sitting here now.”
Tottenham resume their campaign
after the international break with a
match at home to Fulham. Under Post-
ecoglou, Spurs have posted their high-
est points tally after eight games since
the start of the Premier League era in
1992.
The Socceroos play England in a
friendly on Friday evening at Wembley
Stadium in London, Saturday morning
in Australia.
Marcus Smith is expected to be handed
a start at full-back against Fiji. Photograph:
Lairys Laurent/ABACA/Shutterstock
home – but a few clips were brought up
by Kev Sinfield. He said: ‘I wasn’t sure
about showing you this, but we can’t
be this team again’. We are still hurting
from performances like that. You don’t
like to be reminded of those things but
if that can fuel the fire then why not? It
has been received really well.
“It was two clips but it was us not
being the England team we wanted to
be. Fiji running riot at Twickenham
and it was like ‘that can’t happen’ then
showing some positive clips of where
we have come to now, how we have
defended through the tournament and
going ‘look lads, we can’t ever allow this
to happen again’ and reminders like
that need to happen.”
a keen club player, describing himself
to the Yorkshire Post as a “hit and
hope” batter. His daughter Kira plays
for Surrey, the South East Stars and the
Oval Invincibles. He has a clear idea of
where he wants the club to be in three
years’ time.
“If you want to create an elite py-
ramid then you need a broad pyramid
Continued on page 56

56
Continued from page 55
to do that, and you have two hurdles to
overcome: financial and inclusivity. The
vision I want is for a club that is finan-
cially stable and socially and econom-
ically inclusive for everybody.”
Yorkshire are in financial dire
Sam Matavesi expected to play for Fiji
against England despite father’s death
Robert Kitson in Marseille
Fiji’s hooker Sam Matavesi is still ex-
pected to face England this weekend
despite having dashed back to Corn-
wall to be with his family following the
death of his father, Sireli. Matavesi, who
plays his club rugby for Northampton,
is a key member of his country’s pack
and his absence would be an untimely
setback ahead of Fiji’s first Rugby World
Cup quarter-final for 16 years.
It is the second family bereave-
ment to affect the Fijian squad at this
World Cup, following the death last
month, after a long illness, of Josua Tui-
sova’s seven-year-old son, Tito. Tuisova
missed his son’s funeral in order to stay
with the squad and the Fijian manage-
ment say they have not ruled Matavesi
out of Sunday’s fixture.
“We would like to send our condo-
lences to Sam and the family,” said
Seremaia Bai, Fiji’s kicking coach, con-
firming the 31-year-old had returned to
England. “He’s one of our senior leaders
and we’ll see in a couple of days if he is
Sharma hits record seventh World Cup
century in India’s win over Afghanistan
PA Media
Rohit Sharma smashed a record se-
venth World Cup century as India po-
wered to an emphatic eight-wicket win
over Afghanistan in Wednesday’s group
match in Delhi.
The India captain cracked 131 from
84 balls, including 16 fours and five
sixes, as the tournament hosts eased
past their 273-run target with 15 overs
to spare. The 36-year-old also recorded
the fastest century – he reached three
figures in 63 balls – by an India player at
a World Cup.
Sharma’s seventh effort meant he
overtook Sachin Tendulkar as the
scorer of the most World Cup centuries,
while India’s victory maintained their
strong start to the competition after
Sunday’s opening win over Australia.
“It was a good pitch to bat on and
I just backed myself to play my natural
game,” said Sharma. “I knew once I got
my eye in, the wicket was only going
to get easier. It’s something I have been
working on for a long time. I’m glad
today I could go big and get that hun-
dred. It’s a very special feeling. A World
Sport
straits. The club owes the Graves Trust
£14.9m – though the Trust has agreed to
postpone a £500,000 payment due this
month until next April.
Various proposals have been on the
table since the start of year, including
bids from Rajasthan Royals and Mike
Ashley, and the club hope to have
Fiji's hooker Sam Matavesi has returned to Cornwall to be with his family following the death of his father. Photograph: Christophe
Archambault/AFP/Getty Images
going to join us.
“For us in Fiji family is everything.
India’s captain Rohit Sharma celebrates his century against Afghanistan in New Delhi. Photograph: Manish Swarup/AP
Cup hundred is always special.”
Sharma insisted the records were
not important to him as he targets tour-
nament glory. “I don’t want to think
about all that stuff,” he said. “There is
signed an agreement to stabilise the
club finances by Christmas.
In July, Yorkshire were handed a
£400,000 fine – £300,000 of it sus-
pended for two years – by the ECB’s
Cricket Discipline Commission as a
result of allegations of racism and
discrimination at the club over a
If one suffers, we all emotionally suffer.
We know every player’s family comes
a long way to go and I don’t want to
lose my focus. It is important not to lose
that mindset of putting pressure on the
opposition.”
Virat Kohli weighed in with an
The Guardian Thursday 12 October 2023
17-year period. They were also de-
ducted 48-points in the 2023 County
Championship, finishing second from
bottom.
Chathli is unperturbed. “If you’re a
lover of English cricket then you know
everything there is to know about York-
shire – some of the drama is second
from humble beginnings so we make
sure they have the care and love they
unbeaten 55 from 56 deliveries, while
Ishan Kishan added a run-a-ball 47 in an
opening stand of 156 with the inspired
Sharma in India’s comprehensive win.
Jasprit Bumrah was the earlier star
to none. Yorkshire have won the most
number of championships and contri-
butes a significant number of crick-
eters to England. A strong Yorkshire is a
strong England.”
need. It’s a very tough moment … we
need to stay together for one another.
Sireli Matavesi, whose three sons
have all played rugby professionally,
settled in Cornwall after touring as a Fiji
Barbarian in 1987. Originally a coconut
farmer he found work in the local tin
mines and subsequently met and mar-
ried Karen, his late wife. A well-known
figure in the Cornish rugby community,
he used a wheelchair in his later years
after being left paralysed from the waist
down following a life-saving operation.
Bai, meanwhile, said excitement
was building within the squad and back
home ahead of Sunday’s game. “If we
win I think there will be a one week
holiday in Fiji,” said the former Fiji and
Leicester three-quarter. “It will be crazy.
Rugby means a lot to us in Fiji. It
gives us life, keeps everyone happy and
brings the country together in unity.
Whatever the result we will hopefully
make the country proud.”
with the ball for India, taking four for 39
as Afghanistan were limited to 272 for
eight.
Bumrah took three crucial middle-
order wickets as Afghanistan failed to
build on a solid platform laid by captain
Hashmatullah Shahidi (80) and Azma-
tullah Omarzai (62).
The pair put on 121 for the fourth
wicket after coming together at 63
for three, but momentum was lost
after Hardik Pandya (two for 43) broke
through by bowling Omarzai.
Shahidi’s 88-ball knock ended when
he was trapped lbw by Kuldeep Yadav
in the 43rd over and just 47 further runs
were added as Bumrah took charge.
Any hopes Afghanistan’s total
might prove competitive were quick-
ly dispelled as Sharma, who was even-
tually bowled by Rashid Khan (two for
57), propelled India to a huge win.
“We have seven more games,” said
Shahidi. “We will try to learn from our
mistakes and come back with a positive
approach.”
Thursday 12 October 2023 The Guardian
FA will announce plans to honour Israel
victims before England friendly
Paul MacInnes
The FA will announce plans on Thurs-
day to mark the atrocities in Israel at
the friendly match between England
and Australia, after leading Jewish fig-
ures within the game urged them to act.
As the leader of the opposition,
Sir Keir Starmer, said he believed the
Wembley arch should be illuminated
in the colours of the Israeli flag fol-
lowing attacks by Hamas across the
country last weekend, pressure grew on
the FA to break the silence that has
been consistent across the professional
game this week.
The Guardian understands that
senior executives within football who
are Jewish reached out to the FA on
Wednesday to urge it to speak up or in
some way commemorate the loss of life
in the Hamas attacks, with the numbers
dead now estimated at more than 1,200.
The FA customarily does not con-
firm plans for tributes or memorials fur-
‘I’m OK with silence’: quiet man Watkins
aiming to turn up volume
David Hytner
As far as Ollie Watkins is concerned, it
is about playing well and scoring goals.
Nothing more. As long as he does the
business for Aston Villa, everything else
will follow and that includes England
call-ups. And yet the striker is not so
sure.
Watkins has posted particularly
impressive numbers since Unai Emery
took over from Steven Gerrard as the
Villa manager last October: 21 goals and
eight assists in 39 appearances in all
competitions. But it was only after his
hat-trick in the 6-1 win against Brighton
at the end of September (when he also
registered an assist), which followed
him getting the only goal in Villa’s pre-
vious Premier League game at Chelsea,
that he was again named by Gareth
Southgate in the England squad.
Even then, the manager made it
clear that Callum Wilson’s injury-en-
forced absence was a factor in opening
up space for a No 9. Watkins’s previous
involvement was in March 2022 when
he won his seventh cap against Ivory
Coast and scored his second goal. He
hopes to be involved against Australia
on Friday night and perhaps even Italy
next Tuesday.
“I think I go under the radar, maybe,”
Watkins says. “I’m not talked about
enough, profile-wise. I know I have
been producing on the pitch since
Soccer
The Wembley arch, which Sir Keir Starmer has said should be in Israel’s colours for England’s friendly. Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA
ther than 24 hours out from a match,
‘A lot of people have said to me I need to push my profile,’ says Ollie Watkins. Photograph:
Steve Bond/PPAUK/Shutterstock
[Emery] came in but it goes a little bit
under the radar …”
It is not, Watkins says, because he
plays for Villa, outside the ubiquitous
big six and the Champions League.
Rather, he feels it is because he does
not put himself out there as much as
others and by that he means his pres-
ence on social media. Watkins does not
have an account on X, formerly known
as Twitter, while he has treated his
373,000 Instagram followers to 11 posts
since the start of the season.
Watkins does not want it to matter.
He says on more than one occasion
that he is “not too fussed” about social
media. But the more you listen to him,
and the more he listens to some of his
advisers, the more you suspect he is
but the Guardian understands that a
beginning to wonder.
“A lot of people have said to me
I need to push my profile,” Watkins
says. “A guy I work with commercially
is always saying to post more on Insta-
gram. It’s kind of … I wouldn’t want to
put anything out there that’s not au-
thentic and not myself.
“It’s hard being a footballer on
social media because you can’t put ex-
actly what you think. I can’t put: ‘I
had a stinker today and missed three
chances, should have scored.’
“My saying has always been: ‘Just
be good at football, the rest will take
care of itself.’ If I’m scoring 30 goals a
year and someone wants to do a spon-
sorship deal with me, they are going to
want to do it because I’m doing well on
plan will be announced on Thursday.
the pitch. Whereas if I’m not and I’m
trying to push my socials, it reflects …
[badly].”
The upshot is that Watkins feels he
has had to do even more to get his Eng-
land recall. “All the other strikers in the
squad score goals,” he says. “So I know I
need to be scoring as much as them if
not more to get into the team.”
It is also no great stretch to think
that a higher-profile player might have
got the penalty Watkins was denied in
Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Wolves; he looked
to be pushed over by Matt Doherty.
Watkins is a guy who keeps himself to
himself, as he puts it. “I wouldn’t say
I was the loudest in the room, it defi-
nitely takes me a while to warm up,” he
says. “I’m OK with silence … I can just
listen. It doesn’t mean I am boring and
have nothing to say. I am happy in my
own skin and quite calm.”
Watkins admits he can be overly
harsh on himself, his own worst critic,
especially if he misses an easy chance
during a run without a goal. “It picks at
me … it’s something I’ve worked on [not
to do].”
What is impossible to ignore is
Watkins’s prediction that he will get
20 goals this season (without penalties,
as he has been stood down as Villa’s
spot-kick taker); the flashes of attitude,
too. When he scored against Chelsea to
open his account in the league, he cele-
brated by sticking his fingers in his ears.
He wanted to make a point.
57
The Three Lions play on Friday night
and then on Tuesday against Italy.
Speaking at the Labour party confe-
rence, Starmer said he felt it was right
that the arch should be lit blue and
white, the colours of Israel’s flag, as
a gesture to show solidarity with the
country’s people.
“I do think they should be on the
arch because I think the message has
to go out that we stand with Israel,
the UK stands with Israel, and that is
a manifestation of that support,” he told
LBC radio.
The government is also encour-
aging sports bodies to pay their re-
spects, with the department for culture,
media and sport writing to various go-
verning bodies suggesting they pay tri-
bute in an appropriate manner at forth-
coming events.
The letter read: “In the light of the
attacks in Israel on behalf of the sec-
retary of state we would encourage you
to mark the events in line with previous
events where sport has come together.”
Watkins is congratulated by James
Ward-Prowse after scoring against Ivory
Coast last year. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/
The Guardian
“All fans are quite fickle, I would say
… I don’t want to be too controversial
in this interview but I feel like, as a
striker, if you go a few games without a
goal people will be saying: ‘Ah, he’s on
a drought, he can’t score.’ Then I score
four goals in two games and everyone
loves you. It’s highs and lows.”
Watkins intends to prolong the
high, to continue repaying the vision
and trust of Emery. “Definitely under
[Steven] Gerrard … I know he played me
all the time, I’ve played under all man-
agers … but I wasn’t really getting the
best out of my game,” Watkins says.
“That wasn’t down to him. I had just
fallen into a rut. But I feel like I have
gone on a different path and really fo-
cused on being a striker. Before I was
trying to do everything, to cross it and
get on the end of my own cross. Now
I am just focused being the main man
[up front].”

58
Steve Clarke is the difference-maker
Scotland must not lose to any club
Ewan Murray
In normal times in a normal world,
Scotland’s buildup to their Euro 2024
qualifier in Spain would have been dis-
rupted by speculation and the very real
prospect of losing a manager.
Steve Clarke has every professional
attribute required by Rangers as they
seek to move on from the inevitably
disastrous, and brief, tenure of Michael
Beale. Yet Clarke’s name has been not-
ably absent as the Ibrox board plot a
path forward, which at this point ap-
pears to focus on whether Philippe Cle-
ment represents a smaller punt than
Kevin Muscat.
Clarke’s pragmatism, knowledge of
the Scottish game, organisational skills
and ability to instil an appropriate
level of fear into players would serve
a rudderless Rangers well. Contrary to
widespread opinion, it is actually debat-
able whether Scotland can call upon a
superior group of players to 10, 15 or
20 years ago. Clarke’s work has been
the differentiator. The former Chel-
sea player refuses to sell himself but
his credentials should resonate in club
boardrooms.
Events of February 2019 go a long
way towards explaining why Scotland’s
biggest worry before Thursday night
in Seville relates to Kieran Tierney’s
absence. An emotional, furious Clarke
castigated “dark ages” sectarian abuse
received at Ibrox while in charge of
Kilmarnock. To his credit, the Ran-
gers chairman, Dave King, issued Clarke
Savage could face Croatia after impressing
for Wales against Gibraltar
PA Media
Rob Page has revealed Charlie Savage
will be staying with the Wales squad for
the Euro 2024 qualifier with Croatia on
Sunday.
Savage, the 20-year-old son of the
former Wales midfielder Robbie, made
his full senior debut on Wednesday as
the Dragons cruised to a 4-0 friendly
win over Gibraltar in Wrexham.
The Reading midfielder was due to
join up with the under-21 side ahead of
their European Championship qualifier
away to the Czech Republic on Friday.
But Savage and the Wycombe cen-
tral defender Joe Low – who also made
his senior debut against Gibraltar – will
remain with Page’s squad ahead of the
vital Croatia clash in Cardiff. “We’ll keep
Savage and Joe, not just off the back of
tonight,” said the Wales manager Page.
“They’ve done themselves the
world of good. Sav has earned the right
to be with us and I’ve got a lot of time
Soccer
Steve Clarke embraces John Souttar, part of his tightly knit Scotland squad. Photograph:
Robert Perry/EPA
with an immediate apology as Scot-
land’s football authorities cowered in
the corner. For a noisy, militant wing of
the Rangers support, Clarke will never
be forgiven. It seems safe to assume the
feeling is mutual, such was the depth of
his upset.
This unfortunate episode, though,
continues to deny Rangers a mana-
gerial candidate of far more substance
than many of those who came before.
Walter Smith was already a club icon
before being coaxed back to Ibrox, from
Scotland, in 2007 as Rangers needed a
drastic reboot. There are parallels be-
tween the management styles of Smith
and Clarke for anybody with broad
enough mind to consider them.
There has not even been any
requirement to ask Clarke about a
return to the club fold. Instead, focus
has stayed on whether Scotland will
Kieffer Moore (right) is congratulated by his teammates after scoring the fourth and final
goal of the game. Photograph: Jan Kruger/Getty Images
for Joe. He’s earned the right to be there
with injuries we’ve got.”
Savage claimed an assist for a Kief-
fer Moore header as Wales brushed
aside Gibraltar with all four goals
coming in the first half. The Bour-
nemouth striker Moore scored twice to
take his Wales goals tally to 12, the same
dispense with the three-man defence
that has served them so well for a
game which could seal Euro 2024 quali-
fication. Tierney is more than a centre-
half for Clarke. The 26-year-old starts at-
tacks, rampages and dictates the pace
of how the Scots play. Without him,
and with no comparative replacement,
Clarke will be tempted to revert to a
back four.
Avoiding defeat in Spain would
secure Scotland’s qualification. If that
seems a tall order – Spain have rattled
in 13 goals in their last two outings – the
evening of 28 March should stir Scot-
tish hope. A 2-0 win over Spain in Glas-
gow was the consequence of an out-
standing performance both with and
without the ball. The gripes of Rodri
added to Scottish celebration. “This is
not football,” whined the Manchester
City midfielder. You bet it was, squire; it
number as Ryan Giggs and one fewer
than John Toshack.
Ben Davies, who wore the armband
in the absence of injured captain Aaron
Ramsey, and Nathan Broadhead were
also on target.
“He has taken my advice and left,”
Page said of Savage’s move from Man-
The Guardian Thursday 12 October 2023
was precisely the kind of football Scot-
land should never be afraid to play.
Spain have subsequently found
their feet and their Group A groove. In
truth, the more likely path to Germany
for Clarke and his players comes on
Sunday. If Norway do not defeat Spain
then, Scotland have their finals berth.
Any alternative scenario – namely, wins
for Spain and then Norway – would
have the Scots sweating for the first
time in a section where they have
earned maximum points from five fix-
tures. Even Scotland cannot stumble
from here. Surely.
Fatalism among fans means no
chickens will be counted. Yet Clarke,
rightly, bridles when the failings of
previous Scotland teams are used as
any form of reference point. This
one has not only excelled but met
expectations, save a World Cup playoff
against Ukraine where all manner of
circumstances were set against Scot-
land, and the last European Cham-
pionship, which still seem to motivate
Clarke and his players. Prior to that,
being in major tournaments at all had
felt like an unattainable dream.
Clarke’s approach to what has
quickly turned into a saga involving
Elliot Anderson typifies Scotland’s posi-
tion. The smart money would now be
on the Newcastle United midfielder
deciding he wants a crack at inter-
national football with England, the
country of his birth, despite appearing
briefly in a Scotland squad in Sep-
tember.
If Anderson felt uncomfortable in
chester United to League One side
Reading in the summer. “It must have
been hard for him. I spoke to Rob who
had to leave United to go to Crewe. It’s
no different for Charlie.
“He did it because he’s playing week
in week out in competitive football. He
trains as he plays and has personality.
We blocked Robbie from speaking to
him all week which was a big achieve-
ment.
“Joking aside, Rob has got his back,
he’ll look after him. He’s got his feet on
the ground. Sav’s best position is an old-
fashioned box to box eight. The ball for
Kieffer was first class, right on his head.
He showed he can do both sides of it
and he’s a great talent.”
Wales’ comfortable win saw them
secure back-to-back victories for the
first time since November 2021.
“The results were not great in June,
but it’s how you bounce back and we
did that in September with class [win-
ning 2-0 in Latvia],” Page said.
“The environment is brilliant. We
Scott McTominay (left) and Kieran Tier-
ney celebrate during March’s 2-0 win over
Spain. A point in Seville on Thursday would
secure Euro 2024 qualification. Photograph:
Ian MacNicol/Getty
navy blue, and is honest enough to
say as much when a decision is even-
tually made, nobody should criticise
him. Meanwhile Clarke will not pursue
or pester the 20-year-old.
While that is partly because it is not
the Scotland manager’s style to do so,
it also offers a nod towards how con-
tent he is with the environment he has
created. If new players want to come
along, fine. If some would rather remain
on the outside, no problem. Clarke has
the courage of his convictions that
Scotland will progress regardless.
Spain’s relative fall from grace
means they are 10th in the Fifa rank-
ings. With a point to prove and ground
to make up, they may well be too strong
for Scotland. This should only delay the
inevitable. Scotland’s worry is that the
body of Clarke’s work is appreciated
elsewhere before this team reaches the
top of the mountain.
Charlie Savage, Liam Cullen and Joe Low
celebrate after the match. Photograph: Carl
Recine/Reuters
won’t get carried away beating Gi-
braltar, but I see work in progress. My
challenge to them was to be clinical and
we were. We have to put it all together
on Sunday. We picked a team here
knowing what we’ll face on Sunday.
“From the first minute on camp we
knew the team we’d pick here and we
know the team on Sunday. We are ready
and can’t wait for Sunday’s game.”
Wes Burns has returned to Ipswich
and will be assessed by his club after
the wing-back suffered an arm injury
that forced him off in the early stages
against Gibraltar.
Thursday 12 October 2023 The Guardian
Wayne Rooney vows to ‘elevate’ Birmingham
City as club’s new manager
Ben Fisher
Wayne Rooney said he plans to “ele-
vate Birmingham City to the next
level” after being appointed the Cham-
pionship club’s new manager on a
three-and-a-half-year contract. Rooney
replaces John Eustace, who was sacked
on Monday.
In a statement confirming Rooney’s
appointment on Wednesday Garry
Cook, Birmingham’s chief executive,
described the 37-year-old’s arrival as
a “defining moment” in their history.
“When the opportunity presents itself
to appoint a manager who shares your
ambition and is both a student and a
great of the game, then you act,” Cook
said. “This is what we have done.”
Cook is understood to be the driver
behind the deal. Last year Cook, pre-
viously the chief executive of Man-
chester City, was part of Chris Kir-
chner’s failed bid to buy Derby County,
the last club Rooney managed in Eng-
land.
Rooney, who left DC United last
weekend, will be assisted by Ashley
Cole and John O’Shea, former team-
mates of his. Cole and O’Shea will
retain their coaching roles with Eng-
land Under-21s and the Republic of Irel-
Former Everton winger Andros Townsend
joins ‘local team’ Luton
PA Media
Luton have signed Andros Townsend
on a short-term contract until January.
The 32-year-old winger was released
by Everton last summer and has not
played since March 2022 due to an ante-
Soccer
Wayne Rooney takes charge at Birmingham having previously managed Derby County and, most recently, DC United. Photograph: The
Washington Post/Getty Images
and respectively.
Birmingham’s chairman, Tom
Wagner, who completed a takeover in
July, said the former England captain
will take the club “forward on the next
stage of our journey”, adding: “His play-
ing philosophy will help to realise the
rior cruciate ligament injury.
“Luton are my local team – I live
20-25 minutes away so I’ve kept my
eye on their progress and watching
the Championship playoff final and see
them win promotion was great for the
club,” said Townsend. “I never thought
I’d pull on the Luton shirt, so it’s a huge
ambitions we have set for Birmingham
City.”
Rooney resigned from his role at
Derby in June 2022 following relegation
to League One. He took charge at DC
United the following month, before
leaving his post last weekend after fail-
honour to play again in the Premier
League for this club and hopefully help
this club get as many points as we can
and see where it takes us.”
Townsend has made a made a total
of 264 Premier League appearances,
also featuring for Tottenham, New-
castle and Crystal Palace. He also won *
ing to reach the Major League Soccer
playoffs.
Rooney initially took interim charge
at Derby as a player-manager and was
widely praised for the job he did
upon taking over permanently amid
trying circumstances – the club were
13 caps for England.
“He’s been brilliant and his atti-
tude has been phenomenal,” said the
Luton manager, Rob Edwards. “He’s a
humble, hard-working individual that
we will benefit from having at the train-
ing ground on a weekly basis. Young
players are going to look up to him and
59
docked 12 points for entering adminis-
tration, then received a nine-point pe-
nalty for breaching English Football
League financial rules. Rooney helped
galvanise the club amid the threat of
liquidation.
His first game in charge of Bir-
mingham will be at Middlesbrough a
week on Saturday, when he will come
up against Michael Carrick, with whom
he played at England and Manchester
United. “I have a clear way that I want
the team to play, and my coaching staff
and I will work hard to implement it,”
Rooney said. “We will create a winning
culture here with an identity that gets
Blues fans on their feet.
“My job is to elevate the club to the
next level and I can’t wait to get started.
I know what the expectations are and
our job is to deliver.”
Rooney’s backroom staff includes
Pete Shuttleworth, a former scout and
analyst who previously worked at Bir-
mingham and who Rooney took with
him to DC United from Derby, and Carl
Robinson, the former Wolves and Wales
midfielder. The former Birmingham
and Northern Ireland goalkeeper Maik
Taylor will remain in his role as goal-
keeping coach.
think ‘they are the standards I need to
be at’.
“Of course, he has had a difficult
period with injury through no fault of
his own and we wouldn’t be able to sign
him if he’d had played in the last 18
months.”