Eyewitness  Rhapsody in blue

France Some of the 3,076 people who gathered in Landerneau, Brittany, to set a
world record for the biggest gathering of Smurf-costumed people in one
place. The town twice failed to best a mark of 2,762, set in 2019, but were
PHOTOGRAPH:
FRED TANNEAU/AFP/GETTY persuaded to try again by the makers of a new Smurfs film, due out in July.

Guardian Weekly is an edited selection of some of the best journalism found in the Guardian’s
digital editions in the UK, US and Australia, and the Guardian newspaper in the UK. The weekly
The Guardian Weekly magazine has an international focus and four editions: global, Europe, Australia and North
Founded in Manchester, America. The Guardian was founded in 1821, and Guardian Weekly in 1919. We exist to hold
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 A week in the life of the world
23 MAY 2025

4
GL OBAL REP ORT
Headlines from
34
F E AT U R E S
Long reads, interviews & essays
the last seven days Should the convictions of
United Kingdom ................... 8 Lucy Letby be overturned?
Science & Environment ........ 9 By David Conn ..................... 34
The big story Swapping the office for
Ukraine After a blitz of talks, is working in the great outdoors
peace any nearer? ................10 By Donna Ferguson.............. 40

45
OPINION
Nesrine Malik
51
C U LT U R E
TV, film, music, theatre, art,
Can Trump’s Middle East allies architecture & more

15
stop Israel’s war? ................. 45  Exhibition
▼ Elle Hunt The British Museum animates
The grass isn’t always greener India’s faiths ........................ 51
in New Zealand ....................47 Audio
John Harris Let’s hear it for Michelle
Keir Starmer needs a positive Obama’s new podcast ......... 54
SPOTLIGHT vision to lift Labour ............ 48 Stage
In-depth reporting and analysis Willem Dafoe returns to his
 Israel/Palestine first love in Venice................55
Fight for survival in Gaza amid Books
new offensive ...................... 15
 The big idea: are we hardwired
France Kiwis have for autocracy? ......................57
Depardieu verdict is a #MeToo
long headed

60
turning point ....................... 19
United Kingdom overseas. What
Starmer’s landmark EU deal
offers benefits – and risks .... 20 makes this
Environment
How the world fell in love with
recent rise in
nature live streams ............. 24 departures LIFESTYLE
Nepal Tim Dowling
Families of workers killed in different is the Tales from our tortoise ........ 60
Saudi Arabia wait for justice ..26 sweep of it Kitchen aide
Science How to fill your filo...............61
A breakthrough treatment for Recipe
autoimmune diseases? ........ 30 Lemon pistachio cake ..........61

Join the community On the cover

Instagram: @guardian_weekly A whirlwind week in the geopolitical poker game
facebook.com/guardianweekly
over Ukraine began with a solidarity visit to Kyiv
by the leaders of Poland, France, Britain and
Germany, proceeded to some hastily arranged
‘peace talks’ in Istanbul and led to a phone call
between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. But a
ceasefire seemed as far from the table as ever.
SPOT ILLUSTRATIONS:
Illustration: Pete Reynolds
MATT BLEASE
4

Global
2 VA T I C A N C I T Y 4 ROMANIA

Centrist Nicuşor Dan wins

report presidential election

Nicuşor Dan began sounding
out Romania’s political parties
over forming a new majority
government after winning the
Headlines from the country’s presidential election in
last seven days a result greeted with relief across
the EU and in Ukraine.
With all votes counted on
1 U N I T E D S TAT E S Leo XIV calls for ‘unity’ and
Monday Dan, who had described
‘peace’ at inaugural mass the second round vote as a battle
‘Joe is a fighter,’ says Harris
Pope Leo XIV said he wanted the between “a pro-western and an
after Biden’s diagnosis Catholic church to be a “small anti-western Romania”, scored
Copyright © 2025 Joe Biden made his first public leaven of unity” in a time of 53.6%, official figures showed,
GNM Ltd. All rights remarks on Monday about the “too much discord”, during his against 46.4% for his far-right rival
reserved diagnosis of an aggressive form of inaugural papal mass attended George Simion.
prostate cancer that has spread to by world leaders including the The two-term mayor of
Published weekly by his bones. “Cancer touches us all. Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Bucharest, who made his
Guardian News & Like so many of you, Jill and I have Zelenskyy, and the US vice- name fighting corrupt property
Media Ltd, learned that we are strongest in the president, JD Vance. Leo said the developers, said voters seeking
Kings Place, broken places. Thank you for lifting church’s “true authority” was “profound change, functioning
90 York Way,
us up with love and support,” the charity of Christ. He said: “It state institutions, less corruption, a
London, N1 9GU, UK
Biden wrote on social media. is never a question of capturing prosperous economy and a society
Printed in the UK, Biden, 82, and his family are others by force, by religious of dialogue, not hate, have won”.
Denmark, the US, reviewing treatment options. The propaganda or by means of power.” Simion conceded early on
Australia and cancer appears to be hormone The pope later met Zelenskyy, Monday, after earlier claiming he
New Zealand sensitive, allowing for effective who said he was grateful to the had won the election. “We may
treatment, according to his office. Vatican for its readiness to host have lost a battle, but we will
ISSN 0958-9996 “Joe is a fighter ” said Kamala talks between Ukraine and Russia. certainly not lose the war,” he
Harris, the former vice-president At a separate meeting, Vance posted on X.
To advertise contact who took over from Biden as delivered an invitation to the Sergiu Mișcoiu, a political
advertising.
the Democratic candidate in White House from Donald and scientist, predicted protests but
enquiries@
the 2024 election after Biden Melania Trump. said that it would be hard for
theguardian.com
stepped down. Barack Obama Spotlight Page 33 Simion to challenge the results.
To subscribe, visit posted on social media and King
theguardian.com/ Charles, who is undergoing his
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3 U N I T E D S TAT E S 5 TECHNOL OGY
cancer wrote privately to Biden.
Manage your Donald Trump offered
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subscribe. media, calling him “Joe” – in to protection scheme Holocaust denial claim
theguardian.com/ an echo of Biden calling him Donald Trump’s administration Elon Musk’s chatbot Grok blamed
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“Donald” after the assassination can end legal protections that a “programming error” to explain
attempt against him last year. have shielded about 350,000 why it said it was “sceptical” of
USA and Canada
gwsubsus
The diagnosis comes as the Venezuelans from potential the historical consensus that
@theguardian.com Trump administration has deportation, after the supreme 6 million Jews were murdered
Toll Free: cut federal funding for cancer court granted a request on during the Holocaust, days
+1-844-632-2010 research by 31%, according to a Monday to revoke temporary after the AI came under fire for
recent US Senate report. protected status (TPS). bombarding users with the far-
Australia and TPS is granted to foreign right conspiracy theory of “white
New Zealand citizens who cannot return home genocide” in South Africa.
apac.help because of war, natural disasters Grok then made a correction,
@theguardian.com or “extraordinary” conditions, but that post included a
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while an appeal proceeds in a misleading suggestion that the
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gwsubs@ days before Trump returned to the to what it claimed was “ likely a
theguardian.com White House in January. technical glitch”.
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The Guardian Weekly 23 May 2025

 UK headlines p8
9 POLAND

Runoff presidential vote to

6 US/MEXICO
‘decide future’, PM warns
The coming days will “decide
the future of Poland”, its prime
minister, Donald Tusk, warned
as the country prepares for a
presidential runoff vote on 1 June
after a close first round.
Official results showed the
pro-European centrist Rafał
Trzaskowski, the mayor of Warsaw
Two dead after sailing ship and candidate from Tusk’s Civic 4
Coalition, received 31.36% of
strikes Brooklyn Bridge the votes. Narrowly trailing him
2

Two Mexican navy cadets were 3 was Karol Nawrocki, backed 8

killed and another 11 critically hurt by the populist rightwing Law
when a sailing ship taking part in a and Justice party (PiS), with
promotional tour in New York City 29.54% of the vote.
collided with the iconic Brooklyn Trzaskowski had long been
Bridge, Mexico’s president, seen as the frontrunner, whose
Claudia Sheinbaum, said. election would allow Poland to
The crash happened last end the standoff between the
Saturday when the Cuauhtémoc centrist-led parliament and
– an academy training vessel with populist right presidency.
277 people on board – lost power
and struck the bridge. Eyewitness
videos showed dozens of sailors
in ceremonial uniforms spread
across yardarms shortly before
the collision, which snapped the
vessel’s three masts. 10 AUSTRIA

7 G U YA N A / V E N E Z U E L A

Guyanese soldiers attacked

in disputed border region
Guyanese soldiers came under
8 P ORT UGAL
attack three times in 24 hours last
week in an oil-rich border region
Centre-right likely to form Opera-techno anthem
also claimed by neighbouring
Venezuela, which says it will minority government wins Eurovision for JJ
hold elections there this month. Another minority government An Austrian-Filipino countertenor
Armed men in civilian clothing looks likely in the wake of a snap lauded for “singing Austria into
carried out three separate attacks general election, which saw the the spotlight”, brought home the
on troops conducting patrols on ruling, centre-right Democratic country’s first Eurovision song
the Cuyuní River in the disputed Alliance (AD) of prime minister contest victory in 11 years with a
Essequibo region, the Guyana Luís Montenegro increase its seat song that gives a nod to both the
Defence Force (GDF) said. count but still fall well short of a country’s rich operatic heritage
Both countries lay claim to majority in Portugal’s 230-seat and modern music.
Essequibo, which makes up two- assembly. The Socialist party (PS) JJ, 24, hit all the right notes
thirds of Guyana’s territory and came second, but it suffered such with Wasted Love, an operatic
is home to around 125,000 of its a dire result – falling from 78 seats ballad about unrequited love
more than 800,000 citizens. The to 58 and picking up 23.4% of the that mutates into a techno
dispute was revived in 2015 after vote – that its leader, Pedro Nuno club anthem. The 69th edition
huge crude oil reserves were Santos, announced his resignation. of the contest was hosted in
discovered in the region. Last Sunday’s election proved Basel, Switzerland.
a triumph for the far-right Chega JJ, whose real name is Johannes
party, which also took 58 seats, Pietsch, won ahead of Israel’s
(22.6% of the vote), picking up Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the
eight more seats than in the 7 October attacks by Hamas.
previous election 14 months ago.

23 May 2025 The Guardian Weekly

 13 IRAN

Deal on nuclear programme

‘sort of’ agreed, says Trump
Donald Trump said Iran has “sort
of” agreed to the terms of a deal
on the future terms of its nuclear
programme.
Trump’s remarks on a visit to
Doha add credence to reports
that Steve Witkoff, his special
envoy to the Middle East, gave the
Iranian negotiating team in Oman
earlier this month the outlines of
a proposal that Abbas Araghchi,
Iran’s foreign minister, took back 17
to Tehran.
14, 16 Ali Shamkhani, a political,
military and nuclear adviser to
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah
15
Ali Khamenei, suggested a deal
11 L I B YA was possible if Israel’s prime
minister, Benjamin Netanyahu,
PM says eliminating did not influence the process.
militias is ‘ongoing project’
Prime minister Abdulhamid 19
al-Dbeibah said last weekend that
eliminating militias is an “ongoing 12 MIDDLE EAST
project”, as a ceasefire remained
in place despite deadly clashes. Trump’s Gulf state deals are
Dbeibah is the country’s
overshadowed by gift jet
internationally recognised leader 14 I S R A E L / PA L E S T I N E
in the west, based in the capital, Deals totalling more than $200bn
Tripoli. between the United States and
The armed clashes that killed the United Arab Emirates were
at least six people broke out announced, as Donald Trump
after the killing of Abdel Ghani pledged to strengthen ties
al-Kikli, better known as Gheniwa, between the US and the Gulf state
the head of one of Libya’s most during a trip to the Middle East.
powerful militias, which has been Investments worth hundreds of
accused of abusing asylum seekers billions of dollars were concluded
and faced allegations of crimes during the US president’s visit to
against humanity. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE
last week. He also announced France, UK and Canada
the end of US sanctions on
attack military escalation
Syria, which have been in place
since 1979. However, the trip Benjamin Netanyahu vowed
was overshadowed by criticism that Israel would “take control” 20
after Qatar offered to give the US of all of Gaza, as key allies
Department of Defense a $400m Britain, France and Canada
Boeing 747-8 before the visit. attacked his “egregious” military
Spotlight Page 32  escalation and aid blockade,
threatening a “concrete” response
if it continued.
Heavy bombardments killed
hundreds of Palestinians last
weekend and targeted the
territory’s battered hospitals.
Israel declared Khan Younis city a
“combat zone”, ordering civilians
to leave. Most have been displaced
repeatedly, are weakened by
hunger and, with much of Gaza
Strip in ruins, have nowhere to go.

The Guardian Weekly 23 May 2025

 The big story p10 
Global report 7

15 INDIA 17 JA PA N 19 VIETNAM D E AT H S

Soaring rice price spells ‘Napalm Girl’ may be work

danger for government of different photographer
The government is battling record- The World Press Photo group
low approval ratings as consumers suspended the attribution of
voice anger at soaring rice prices authorship for one of the most José Mujica
just weeks before elections to the famous war photos ever taken. Uruguayan
Diet’s upper house. The photo, officially revolutionary and
Attempts to bring down the titled The Terror of War but politician who was
price of the Japanese staple colloquially known as Napalm president from
have had little effect, prompting Girl, had been attributed to Nick 2010 to 2015. He
Delhi blocks some Chinese
calls for a reduction in the Ut, a Vietnamese photographer died on 13 May,
state social media accounts consumption (sales) tax to ease working with the Associated aged 89.
The social media accounts of the cost-of-living crisis. Press in Saigon, since it was
some Chinese state media were A new poll by the Kyodo news published in 1972. Robert Benton
blocked inside India, after Indian agency found that consumers A recent documentary, The US Oscar-winning
officials accused the outlets of blamed the administration of the Stringer, challenged that history. film director and
spreading Pakistani propaganda prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, The film proposes that the photo, writer whose
and misinformation. for rising pressure on household which depicts a naked nine-year- credits include
The move came as India finances. Approval ratings for old girl named Phan Thi Kim Phuc Kramer vs Kramer.
protested over Beijing’s decision Ishiba’s cabinet stand at 27.4%, as she flees a napalm attack, was He died on 11
to rename some locations in a according to the poll, the lowest taken by a man named Nguyen May, aged 92.
disputed border territory. since he took office last October. Thành Nghe, a freelancer for AP.
The X accounts of China’s Ishiba’s ruling Liberal The documentary claimed Yuri Grigorovich
official state news agency Xinhua, Democratic party (LDP) has so Nghe was denied credit in favour Russian
and a state-backed tabloid, the far ruled out a cut in the 10% of Ut because he was not AP staff. choreographer
Global Times, were inaccessible consumption tax. and artistic
inside India last Wednesday. Earlier this year Ishiba’s director of the
Turkey’s TRTWorld was government took the unusual Bolshoi. He
also blocked. Both China and step of dipping into its vast rice died on 19 May,
Turkey are allies of Pakistan. reserves. The move, usually aged 98.
On Thursday, the Global Times reserved for shortages caused by
account was restored. India has natural disasters and crop failures, Duncan
recntly targeted thousands of did not have the desired effect, Campbell
social media accounts. with prices of domestic rice falling British journalist
Spotlight Page 18  only marginally. who was a former
Guardian crime
correspondent. He
died on 16 May,
16 I S R A E L / PA L E S T I N E 18 AUSTRALIA 20 NEW ZEALAND aged 80.
Netanyahu permits Opposition in turmoil as Māori party MPs suspended
Charles Strouse
‘minimal’ aid to Gaza Nationals and Liberals split for haka protest over bill US Tony award-
Benjamin Netanyahu responded The Nationals have formally split Three MPs who performed a haka winning composer
to mounting pressure to resume with the Liberal party, breaking in parliament will be temporarily of Annie. He died
the entry of a “basic quantity” up the Coalition for the first time suspended, in what is believed on 15 May,
of food into Gaza, 11 weeks after since the 1980s due to major to be the harshest ever penalty aged 96.
Israel had blockaded supplies policy differences. issued to parliamentarians.
to the whole territory. However, The Nationals leader, David The co-leaders of Te Pāti Māori Jeannette Laot
only a “minimal” amount of aid Littleproud, said MPs had made (the Māori party), Debbie Ngarewa- French trade
aimed at preventing famine “both the shock decision not to enter Packer and Rawiri Waititi, and the unionist and
from a practical and a diplomatic into a new coalition agreement party’s youngest member, Hana- women’s rights
standpoint” would be permitted. after a breakdown in negotiations Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, performed activist. She died
The announcement came with a with the new opposition leader, the traditional Māori dance during on 14 May,
significant caveat: food deliveries Sussan Ley. Along with senior a vote on the controversial treaty aged 100.
will go on until Israel’s military Nationals, Littleproud said the principles bill during its first
and private companies have two parties could reunite before reading in November. The bill Robert Walls
established militarised hubs to the next election, due in 2028, but sought to reinterpret the Treaty of Australian rules
distribute aid under a US-backed there was no guarantee. Waitangi, New Zealand’s founding footballer. He died
plan that the UN has rejected. Ley said the decision was document. It was defeated at its on 15 May,
Spotlight Page 15  “disappointing”. second reading in April. aged 74.

23 May 2025 The Guardian Weekly

 Opinion p48
8 Global report
United Kingdom

W E A LT H AG R I C U LT U R E

Charles keeping up with Sunny spring days prove

the Sunaks on UK’s rich list berry good for fruit growers
King Charles’s personal fortune Sunny spring weather has provided
increased to £640m ($856m) in the “perfect” conditions to produce
past year, making him as wealthy strawberries so big you “cannot fit
as the former prime minister Rishi them in your mouth”, UK growers
Sunak and his wife, Akshata Murty, have said. Bartosz Pinkosz, the
according to the Sunday Times rich operations director at the Summer
TRADE list. The monarch, who acceded Berry Company, said “the berries
to the throne in 2022, now ranks are between 10% and 20% larger”.
No 10 says deal with EU will
joint 238th on the list of the UK’s Nick Marston, chair of industry
add billions to the economy wealthiest people and families. body British Berry Growers,
A landmark deal clinched between The estimate of the king’s confirmed the (fruit) salad days
the UK and EU to remove checks wealth is based on personal assets, ahead for strawberry lovers.
on food exports will add £9bn and does not include the crown
($12bn) to the UK economy and estate. However, an investigation
lower food prices, No 10 said, as by the Guardian in 2023 estimated
the last-minute agreement was that King Charles’s fortune could
secured on Monday morning. be almost £2bn. That includes
Keir Starmer said the deal, cars, rare stamps, property,
billed as a “historic” turning of investments, horses, jewellery, art
the page, delivered the “reset” he and a hereditary estate.
had promised after winning the The wealth of Sunak and his
general election last July. wife fell by £11m to £640m.
It will grant EU fishers access
to British waters for an additional
12 years and pave the way for the
removal of checks on British food ARTIFICIAL IN TELLIGENCE CYBERCRIME
exports, allowing everything
Elton John furious over Hackers claim access to
from the “great British burger to
shellfish” to be sold again with proposals on copyright 2.1m pieces of legal aid data
ease in the EU, Starmer said. Sir Elton John called the The personal data of hundreds of
The deal also holds out hope for government “absolute losers” thousands of legal aid applicants
a return of the UK to the Erasmus over proposals to let tech firms in England and Wales dating
university exchange programme, use copyright-protected work back to 2010, including criminal
and a youth mobility scheme without permission. The singer records and financial details, has
that would allow young people to and songwriter told the BBC it was been accessed and downloaded
experience the EU through work, a “criminal offence” to change in a “significant” cyber-attack.
study, au pairing or travel. copyright law. Hackers have claimed that they
The UK said the deal would The government is consulting accessed 2.1m pieces of data,

67
make “food cheaper, slash red on a proposal that will allow a figure that has so far been
tape, open up access to the EU AI firms to train their models unverified.
market”. But the trade-off for the on copyrighted work without It is understood that the
Percentage of deal was fishing access and rights permission, unless the copyright authorities do not believe that the
British students for an additional 12 years – more holder signals they do not want hack is the work of a state actor,
who never or than the UK had offered – which their work to be used. The other but appears to be the work of a
rarely use the is likely to lead to cries of betrayal options are to continue to require criminal gang. The breach will
semicolon; from the industry. AI companies to seek licences or to cause alarm among hundreds of
just 11% of The two sides will begin allow AI firms to use copyrighted thousands of applicants and legal
respondents talks on the “youth experience work with no opt-out. aid lawyers.
to a survey scheme”, which could mirror A Ministry of Justice source put
commissioned schemes the UK has with the breach down to the “neglect
by language countries such as Australia and mismanagement” of the
learning software and New Zealand. previous government, saying
Babbel described Starmer, pressed on a point at vulnerabilities in systems have
themselves as a press conference, said of the been known for many years. The
frequent users of deal: “It is not about reopening Legal Aid Agency’s online digital
the punctuation old wounds; it is about turning services, which are used by legal
mark that first a new page.” aid providers to log their work and
appeared in Italy Spotlight Page 20  get paid, has been taken offline.
in 1494

The Guardian Weekly 23 May 2025

 Do you have a recently taken picture you’d like to share with
Guardian Weekly? Scan the QR code or visit theguardian.com/
9
pictures-guardian-weekly and we’ll print your best submissions

 Reader’s
eyewitness
Do the twist
‘The winding
roads of Sikkim
in northeast
India, where
every turn hides
a breathtaking
view of
Kanchenjunga
in the eastern
Himalayas.
I unfortunately
didn’t get to
witness it, but
the winding
path and
drifting clouds
still leave
their mark.’
By Shubh Beura,
Dubai, United
Arab Emirates

SCIENCE AND 40m years earlier than thought.

RIVERS
EN V IRON M EN T Researchers said the footprints, in
sandstone dated 354m to 358m years
Record year for river barrier old, represent the oldest evidence
removals in Europe of amniotes on the planet. Their
BIOLOGY
Europe dismantled 542 river-blocking findings are published in Nature.
dams, weirs, culverts and sluices in
Moment heart starts to form 2024, a report found, helping a record
captured for first time C L I M AT E
number of waterways resume their
Footage showing how cardiac natural course.
cells in a mouse embryo begin to The number of removals grew 11%
Meat eating and cars drive
spontaneously organise themselves from the year before, according to emissions gender gap
into a heart-like shape early in an annual report from Dam Removal Men emit 26% more planet-heating
development has been captured Europe. It found 23 countries had pollution than women from
for the first time, using time-lapse removed a river barrier last year, four transport and food, according to a
images. Scientists say the technique of which – Bosnia and Herzegovina, study of 15,000 people in France.
could provide new insights into Croatia, Czech Republic and Turkey The gap shrinks to 18% after
congenital heart defects, which – did so for the first time. controlling for socioeconomic factors
affect nearly one in 100 babies. Europe’s waterways are blocked such as income and education.

$27
The footage was captured using by 1.2m barriers, thousands of which Eating red meat and driving cars
advanced light-sheet microscopy, are thought to be obsolete. Ecologists explain almost all of the 6.5-9.5%
which allowed scientists to track suggest the damming of rivers is a difference in pollution that remains
the embryos as they went through major driver of the 75% decline in the Amount paid in after also accounting for men eating
gastrulation, when the embryo continent’s freshwater migratory fish 1946 by Harvard more calories and travelling longer
begins to form distinct cell lines and population since 1970. University for an distances, the researchers said. They
starts to establish the basic axes of unofficial copy of found no gender gap from flying.
the body. Soon after, heart muscle the Magna Carta “Our results suggest traditional
FOSSILS
cells organise themselves into a large that has now, gender norms, particularly those
tube that will go on to divide into with the use of linking masculinity with red meat
sections that will eventually become
Claw print fossils rewrite spectral imaging consumption and car use, play a
the walls and chambers. In babies story of amniotes and ultraviolet significant role in shaping individual
with heart defects, a hole can form Fossilised claw prints found in light, been carbon footprints,” said Ondine
during this process. Australia suggest amniotes – authenticated Berland, an economist at the
The research was published in the ancestors of reptiles, birds as an original London School of Economics and
the EMBO Journal. and mammals – evolved about from 1300 a co-author of the preprint study.

23 May 2025 The Guardian Weekly

The big story
Russia-Ukraine war

A game with no
end in sight?
After days of offers, counter-offers, ultimatums and deflections,
the path to peace in Ukraine seems as unclear as it was before
By Shaun Walker KYIV and Pjotr Sauer

The Guardian Weekly 23 May 2025

 11

L
ast week began with four now its loudest nationalist social media
European leaders stand- troll. “They are blurting out threats
ing defiantly in Kyiv with against Russia … You think that’s smart,
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, eh? Shove these peace plans up your
issuing an ultimatum pangender arses,” he wrote on X.
to Vladimir Putin: sign Still, Putin’s is the only important
a ceasefire or, together with Donald reaction in Moscow these days and
Trump, we will force you to do so, with he was apparently about to give one
sanctions and other tough measures. live. Western correspondents, a few
There followed a series of offers, of whom were still in Moscow after
counter-offers, ultimatums and the Victory Day parade, were called
deflections, in a dizzying week of high- into the Kremlin during the day for a
stakes diplomacy that often resembled press conference. It was close to 2am
geopolitical poker. by the time Putin appeared, and it
Halfway through the week, the had been downgraded to a prepared
Guardian spent an hour with Zelen- statement, apparently written by
skyy, with three other European jour- Putin. He scorned the idea that the
nalists, in his office in Kyiv. He had just west thought it could talk to him using
made the surprise announcement that ultimatums, and claimed disingenu-
he would travel to Turkey personally ously that Russia had always offered
for talks, and challenged Putin to join ceasefires and Ukraine had been the
him. It was a dramatic raising of the side to turn them down. Instead of a
stakes, and we asked if he felt a bit like ceasefire now, he said, let’s start talk-
he was playing poker. He said: “With ing. He even named a date and a place:
several people at once.” Istanbul on Thursday.
It had started well for Zelenskyy, Starmer, Merz, Tusk and Macron
with Keir Starmer, France’s Emmanuel had been clear in Kyiv – a ceasefire
Macron, the new German chancellor, had to come first, “no ifs or buts”. But
Friedrich Merz, and Poland’s Donald perhaps inevitably, the US president
Tusk all in Kyiv. The five men huddled responded by putting pressure on
on a sofa as Macron called Trump, who Kyiv. “Ukraine should agree to this,
had just woken up. Trump, the Guard- IMMEDIATELY,” he wrote on Truth
ian understands, was pleased the five Social. “HAVE THE MEETING, NOW!!!”
had met but did not offer any firm Soon after, Zelenskyy raised the
Ukrainians fear commitments to sign up to sanctions stakes again. “I will be waiting for
a long war if Putin did not agree to a ceasefire. Putin in Türkiye on Thursday. Person-
Peter Beaumont, Nonetheless, in a press conference ally. I hope that this time the Russians
page 12 in Kyiv, Macron and Starmer portrayed will not look for excuses,” he said 
the call as if everyone was on the same in a statement.
page. They gave Putin an ultimatum,
Putin will never until Monday night, to begin a cease- Putin scorned the idea
face justice fire. The ball was now in Putin’s court,
Simon Tisdall, although past experience suggested he
that the west thought
page 14 would not react well to an ultimatum. it could talk to him
An early sign came from Dmitry Med-
vedev, formerly Russia’s president and using ultimatums
▲ Volodymyr
Zelenskyy flew to
Ankara for talks
PETR DAVID JOSEK/AP

 From left: Keir

Starmer, Volody-
myr Zelenskyy,
Emmanuel
Macron, Donald
Tusk and Friedrich
Merz call Donald
Trump from Kyiv
MSTYSLAV CHERNOV/AP

23 May 2025 The Guardian Weekly

12 The big story
Russia-Ukraine war

It was a dramatic challenge that A N A LY S I S

seized the initiative from Moscow. UKRAINE
Putin was never likely to show up in
Turkey, but a three-day silence from
the Kremlin suggested he was at least
considering various options. In the Tipping point
end, he sent a negotiating team to
Istanbul led by Vladimir Medinsky, a
former culture minister with a side-
Fears war could
line in writing pseudo-history books
about the west’s long-running mission
drag on for years
to destroy Russia.
By last Thursday evening, Zelen-
with Moscow not
skyy was in Ankara complaining the
Russians had not shown up; Medin- looking for peace
sky was in Istanbul complaining the
Ukrainians hadn’t shown up; Putin
was in the Kremlin saying not much at By Peter Beaumont KYIV
all; and Trump was coming to the end
of his lavish Middle East tour and still Ukrainian officials
hinting there could be an 11th-hour believe a largely
meeting with Putin. stalemated war of
Trump said he would speak with attrition with Russia is
Putin to end the “bloodbath” in likely to continue for several more
Ukraine, proclaiming “nothing will years, despite international efforts
happen” on the peace talks until he pushed by Donald Trump to end it.
met the Russian leader. But on Mon- After the inconclusive breakup of
day, after a rare phone call between the first direct talks between Kyiv
the two, both remained silent on the In a statement late on Monday, ▲▲ Russia’s and Moscow in Istanbul last Friday,
prospect of a meeting. Zelenskyy insisted Ukraine was ready delegation head and despite the US president’s calls
Trump described the call as “excel- for a full ceasefire and negotiations Vladimir Medin- with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and
lent”, with Putin saying it was “very with Moscow, but said: “If the Russians sky speaks to the Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy,
meaningful and frank”. But the Rus- are not ready to stop the killings, there press in Istanbul they see no evidence that Moscow is
sian leader again refused to agree to must be stronger sanctions. Pressure on YASIN AKGÜL/AFP/GETTY serious about peace.
a temporary ceasefire. Putin claimed Russia will push it toward real peace.” The comments came as Russia last
Russia supported a halt to hostilities, Moscow has consistently rejected ▲ Donald Sunday launched its largest drone
but said it was necessary to “identify extended ceasefire proposals, arguing Trump and UAE attack of the war, with 273 aimed
the most effective paths toward peace”. they would give Ukraine time to rearm president Sheikh against the central Kyiv region and
Crucially, he repeated his long- and regroup while Russian forces are Mohammed bin the Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk
standing refrain that the “root causes” making battlefield advances. Despite Zayed Al Nahyan regions in the country’s east.
of the war must be addressed: a refer- this, Trump has stopped short of BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/ “The Russians can’t destroy us
ence to Russia’s demands that would directly criticising Putin – even as a AFP/GETTY
and we can’t liberate territory,”
severely undermine Ukraine’s sover- growing consensus in Washington one senior Ukrainian official told
eignty. These demands include forc- sees the Russian president as the main the Guardian, adding that without
ing Ukraine to “denazify” and demili- obstacle to progress in the peace talks. significant US assistance that
tarise, cutting back its armed forces, Speaking before the call between the situation was likely to remain and
barring it from receiving western two leaders, the US vice-president, JD potentially worsen. “Without the
military support, and imposing sweep- Vance, said Trump would press Putin US it is impossible to change the
ing limits on its sovereignty. on whether he was serious about end- balance. [And over time] it will push
Beyond Trump’s occasionally ing the war. “We realise there’s a bit of the balance to Russia. We will still be
optimistic rhetoric, no breakthrough an impasse here … I think honestly that alive but we will pay a huge price.”
appears in sight. On Monday he President Putin, he doesn’t quite know The remarks followed a week
appeared to be once again easing off how to get out of the war,” Vance said. in which senior Russian officials
pressure on Moscow, and made no But the vice-president also raised were explicit about the Kremlin’s
mention of his previous threats to the prospect of the US walking away appetite for pursuing a long war
impose sanctions on Russia if it did from the talks – a scenario that will and making maximalist demands
not agree to halt the fighting. unsettle European allies and raise in return for peace. These extend
doubts about America’s willingness to to Ukraine removing its forces from
‘We realise there’s an keep providing military and economic five regions, including areas not
aid to Ukraine. Cashing in? occupied by Russian forces.
impasse. I think Putin SHAUN WALKER IS THE GUARDIAN’S
Trump’s pay-for- During the brief Istanbul talks,
access foreign the Russian negotiator Vladimir
doesn’t know how to CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE
CORRESPONDENT; PJOTR SAUER IS A policy under fire
get out of the war’ GUARDIAN RUSSIAN AFFAIRS REPORTER Page 32

The Guardian Weekly 23 May 2025

 13

Medinsky said his country was occupy the territory of Ukraine. And
prepared to continue fighting: “We he is reaching for this goal.”
don’t want war, but we’re ready And in terms of negotiations, she
to fight for one, two, three years, said Putin and Trump “represent
however long it takes. We fought totally different cultures”.
Sweden for 21 years. How long are “Putin is a former KGB agent. He
you ready to fight?” will never step down and he thinks
While some Ukrainian officials like an aggressor,” she said. “Trump
believe there may be more room for thinks that this is like a business
flexibility if future negotiations do negotiation that somehow will
take place, on the most fundamental benefit everyone. But even if they
issues Ukraine and Moscow are as sit [down together], they will never
far away as ever. reach a common agreement because
“There are a handful of real Putin is thinking in only one
issues around independence and be accused that it was our fault.” ▲ A mobile air direction: war, rockets and missiles.”
sovereignty and economic and Another issue that militates defence unit All of this has convinced Maliar
security ties with western Europe,” against a halt to the fighting is the stands guard in – in common with many others
said the senior official. “On the possibility that Putin recognises the Kyiv region in Ukraine – that the most likely
other things, well, the size of that restarting a war – after a STANISLAV KOZLIUK/ outcome is prolonged hostilities.
REUTERS
[Ukraine’s] army will be constrained long ceasefire – would be more “If you ask the chances, I would
by economic reasons. Neutrality challenging than continuing with say there is a 90% chance this
[demanded by Russia] is a question the current conflict. war continues for another one
of framing. But we can’t agree to For Hanna Maliar, a Ukrainian to two years. Not least because
cancel ties with the west.” lawyer and former deputy defence since Trump became president
The reality, as some Ukrainian minister, one of the key difficulties the intensity of the combat has
politicians are saying publicly, is facing meaningful negotiations is increased,” she said.
that the choreography of the current the very different way Trump and The danger, as many are aware,
negotiations is as much about Putin view the process, including is that in a prolonged grinding war
Kyiv – and Zelenskyy in particular the latter’s ideological investment of attrition and with significantly
– working at every move to keep a in the mythology of the war he less resources than Russia, Ukraine –
lukewarm Trump administration has prosecuted. She said: “He will without increased support from the
on side in the hope that the US continue trying to move forward. US and Europe – faces a risk.
president experiences an epiphany He has the power. He has forces “A war of attrition is like a plateau
over the nature of Putin’s war aims. to continue to fight. His goal is to with a drop at the end of it,” said the
“[Zelenskyy] is in a difficult senior official. “That drop-off is a
situation because behind him is collapse of the frontlines.
a whole nation of people who are “You can’t say when it will
suffering,” Oleksandr Merezhko, a Putin is a former KGB happen. But you need to push into
politician in Zelenskyy’s party, said the future. To prevent that we need
recently. “We are playing [along], we agent. He will never to rationalise our war efforts, to
are trying to do everything we can become more effective.”
because we don’t want to lose the
step down and he thinks For some in Ukraine, a best-
support of the US. We don’t want to like an aggressor case scenario out of the current
negotiations might be a ceasefire
 A man stands in that freezes the war along the
front of ruins in frontlines without necessarily
Kostiantynivka, resolving the issues. While some
Donetsk argue that will inevitably benefit
ARMED FORCES OF
UKRAINE/EPA Russia, others argue that Ukraine
could also benefit from a long
pause that allows it to reorganise
its armed forces, step up weapons
production and strengthen
frontline fortifications.
“It is a huge miracle that we are
chatting now after three years and
two months of war,” added the
official. “In the meantime I believe
Russia will help us by doing by
something stupid.”
PETER BEAUMONT IS A SENIOR
GUARDIAN INTERNATIONAL REPORTER

23 May 2025 The Guardian Weekly

14 The big story
Russia-Ukraine war

C OM M E N TA RY Universal Declaration of Human ▼ The ICC issued or via national courts that assume
I N T E R NAT IONA L J US T IC E Rights, as in 1948, are over. an arrest warrant “universal jurisdiction”. French and
Special tribunals have for Vladimir Putin German courts, for example, have
successfully prosecuted war crimes in March 2023 prosecuted former Syrian regime

Law of the jungle – such as the Nuremberg trials of

Nazi leaders. But it is a convoluted,
PAVEL BEDNYAKOV/AP torturers, on the principle that such
crimes harm the international order.
costly and slow-moving process. This approach is underpinned by the
We’re unlikely to Tribunals suffer similar problems to
the ICC and the international court
UN’s 2005 “responsibility to protect”
doctrine, which requires states to
see despots like of justice (ICJ) in The Hague (the UN
“world court”) – namely, fracturing
act to prevent mass atrocity crimes.
Trouble is, most states neglect most
Putin face justice support among influential states led
by authoritarian figures.
such responsibilities.
Worse still, as Amnesty

in a courtroom Such explanations and excuses are

no comfort to bombed and starving
International’s annual report,
published last month, notes, some
residents of Gaza, who, according to governments “actively undermine”
the UN’s aid chief, Tom Fletcher, face the quest for international justice.
By Simon Tisdall an incipient genocide. The “corrosive Trump, a convicted felon, has
and infectious” degradation of pilloried the ICC and sanctioned its

I
t’s tempting to hope the international humanitarian law in officials. Hungary hosted Netanyahu
establishment last week of a Gaza was undermining decades in April when it should have arrested
Special Tribunal for the Crime of progress on civilian protection, him. Countries in the global south
of Aggression against Ukraine, Fletcher said. “Humanity, the law felt it necessary to create the Hague
to give its full name, will lead to the and reason must prevail.” Group this year to protect the ICJ
trial and indefinite incarceration of Few beyond Israel will doubt and ICC against arbitrary assaults
Vladimir Putin and Russian leaders. the justice of his plea. But the on their authority. Defiance of
After all, the new court is backed by unreformed security council, international law grows. Dictators
about 40 countries, including the UK guardian of the UN charter and the and authoritarian regimes rarely
and the EU. Only fools like Donald Geneva conventions governing the stick to the rules. Yet democratic
Trump are confused about who the “laws of war”, is divided on this states such as Britain and the US,
aggressor is in this conflict. and other issues. Its ineffectiveness which should set an example, often
Sadly, this appealing notion has exacerbates the crisis in do the opposite – most notoriously
scant basis in reality. Ducking peace international law enforcement. It’s with the illegal 2003 invasion of Iraq.
talks and dodging responsibility pointless seeking justice there. The UK is arguing in court that
for the war he started, a smirking Similarly, South Africa’s genocide supplying Israel with components
Putin manspreads smugly in the case against Israel at the ICJ is for combat jets used in Gaza is
safety of the Kremlin. He also hides groundbreaking – but may take Without acceptable because, it claims, there’s
behind the outdated convention years to be resolved, if it ever is. respect for no proof that genocide is occurring
that serving heads of state enjoy ICC investigations have not, and there. Such shameless sophistry
legal immunity. The bottom line is will not, save desperate people in law, human ignores Britain’s unambiguous legal
unchanging: Russia will ignore the Myanmar, Afghanistan or Sudan societies obligation, under the genocide
new tribunal, just as it ignores arrest from prolonged additional suffering. convention, to prevent and pre-
warrants for Putin over alleged war The Ukraine tribunal risks becoming
cannot empt genocide – not hang about
crimes brought by the international a fig leaf for the collective failure succeed. until it has already happened.
criminal court (ICC). to swiftly halt an illegal war. Legal All values, However, victories have been
So why is this lawless state of redress may be sought in other ways, won. Putin and Netanyahu were
affairs tolerated? One factor is that through so-called hybrid courts
all security indicted. Public awareness of war
autocratic allies like China’s Xi (as in Sierra Leone and Cambodia), are lost crimes and crimes against humanity
Jinping, rightwing extremists like is rising. Perhaps Ukraine will obtain
Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu and justice. For this epic struggle is raging
powerful states like the US also everywhere, reflecting contested,
reject international jurisdiction, transformational shifts in the global
fearing it may constrain them. order and balance of power.
International law is the At its heart lies not criminal
foundation stone of the post-1945 wrongdoing but moral confusion
global order. Yet everywhere, or so among political leaders, their
it seems, its principles, institutions generals and followers. Without
and practitioners are challenged respect for law, human societies
and undermined by politicians cannot succeed. Peaceful
and governments whose duty is coexistence ceases. All values,
to uphold it. Whatever consensus all security are lost. What’s left is
previously existed is collapsing. the law of the jungle.
The days when nations could SIMON TISDALL IS A GUARDIAN FOREIGN
sit down together and agree the AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR

The Guardian Weekly 23 May 2025

 15
In-depth reporting and analysis

FRANCE
Depardieu trial
was a victory
for #MeToo
Page 19

I S R A E L / PA L E S T I N E

Gaza’s fight
A
t about 2am last Sunday, covered in dirt, their clothes torn. I felt ▲ Palestinians
Basel al-Barawi was dozing my heart tearing apart as I carried them leave Beit Lahiya
fitfully in his home in Beit and handed them over to others,” the following heavy

for survival Lahiya, northern Gaza. For

hours, he had listened fearfully to the
sound of explosions and shooting.
46-year-old said.
Hours later, Barawi loaded his own
family into a battered hired car along
Israeli attacks in
northern Gaza

amid new
ABDALHKEM ABU RIASH/
ANADOLU /GETTY
Then there was a massive blast. with as many belongings as could fit.
Barawi’s cousin’s house had been They headed south towards Gaza City

offensive bombed, with 10 people inside. The

strikes on Beit Lahiya came days after
Israel launched a major new offensive,
in search of relative safety. “I went
there without knowing where we
would settle, and I don’t know any-

and hunger named Operation Gideon’s Chariots.

“They were all martyred. Only a
one around me … Our bodies and faces
are no longer as they were before the
six-year-old girl survived, and she is war,” he said.
now in the hospital. We started pull- Abdel Khaleq al-Attar had also fled
By Jason Burke and Malak A Tantesh ing them from under the rubble – their to Gaza City after witnessing the bomb-
Continued 
GAZA features were disfigured, their bodies ing of Barawi’s cousins. Attar and his

23 May 2025 The Guardian Weekly

16 Spotlight
Middle East
Among the war’s most recent
casualties was Nesma Salem’s older
brother. The 20-year-old student and
her family decided to flee Beit Lahiya
last Friday morning after nights spent
“in utter darkness, in every sense of
the word”. But as they loaded her
brother’s car with their belongings for
the trip to Gaza City, artillery shells
began to fall nearby.
“People started fleeing in all
directions. We tried to get out as fast as
we could, but we weren’t fast enough,”
Salem said.
There were three sudden explo-
sions. When Salem looked around,
she saw bodies scattered in the street.
“I saw my brother Rajeb lying on
the ground. He told me he was OK, but
then he lost consciousness. I checked
his pulse – it was still there. I tried to
find someone to help carry him or
treat him, but everyone around us
was injured themselves,” Salem said.
“I ran back home and found my
uncle who helped carry my brother.
family had been living in a tent, after Conflict’s spark Netanyahu, that “basic aid” would Then ambulances transported him to
being displaced eight times during the The war in Gaza be allowed into the territory. the hospital. The doctor checked him
19 month-long conflict. was sparked by The Israeli military did not offer an and immediately declared him dead.
“It was one of the hardest nights a surprise attack immediate comment on the strikes in I couldn’t believe it. I begged the doc-
Beit Lahiya has ever experienced,” launched by Beit Lahiya but had previously said it tor to check again, to try to resuscitate
the 23-year-old said. “When we Hamas into Israel followed international law and took him. They said there was no hope. I
evacuated, we only brought personal in October 2023, “feasible precautions to mitigate civil- started screaming.”
belongings and two blankets. The road which killed ian harm”. Israel also accuses Hamas Rajeb Salem, who was 22, was
was dangerous and exhausting. There 1,200, mostly of using civilians as human shields – hastily buried in Beit Lahiya. Then
were hundreds of people walking civilians. The which the group denies. Israel issues the family fled.
while carrying their belongings, oth- militant Islamist evacuation orders before some strikes “Many of our belongings were lost
ers sitting on the roadside completely organisation also to warn civilians of forthcoming opera- or damaged in the strikes so we only
worn out. Now we are sleeping in our took 251 hostages, tions but no recent such orders appear managed to bring some food, summer
tent in the street.” of whom 57 remain to cover Beit Lahiya. clothes, and blankets. The road was
Hundreds have died in waves of in Gaza, though exhausting, packed with cars full of
more than half are ▼ A worker ▲ Queues at a
airstrikes in Israel’s new offensive, displaced families’ belongings, rub-
thought to be dead. checks on medical food distribution
mostly civilians according to medi- ble everywhere, and the sky covered
The successive supplies at a Khan point in Jabalia,
cal and civil defence officials in Gaza, in smoke from the nonstop bombard-
Israeli offensives
though the leader of Hamas in Gaza Younis hospital northern Gaza ment,” Nesma Salem said.
have killed more
has reportedly been killed too. HATEM KHALED/REUTERS BASHAR TALEB/ GETTY The family found shelter in the
than 53,000
Now in Gaza City, Attar faces house of a relative in Gaza City, already
Palestinians,
another threat. Gaza has been under overcrowded with those who had fled
mostly civilians.
a tight blockade imposed by Israel 11 from elsewhere. They too face hunger
weeks ago and stocks of food, medi- as well as grief and shock.
cine and fuel are almost exhausted. “Our stock of aid is gone. The flour
Israel says the measure is necessary to is gone,” said Salem.
prevent Hamas exploiting aid to fund She has little interest in the
its military and other operations. continual rumours of a new ceasefire.
However, the consequences for the “What difference does it make to
shattered, traumatised population are me? Will they bring my brother back to
clear. The small supplies of essentials life? I no longer care about ceasefires or
are unaffordable for many, and food Beit Lahiya. I will never go back there.
security experts have described a criti- I can’t imagine our home without my
cal risk of famine amid already soaring brother in it … Our hearts ache.”
acute malnutrition.
JASON BURKE IS THE INTERNATIONAL
Few in Gaza place much confidence SECURITY CORRESPONDENT OF THE
in the announcement last Sunday by GUARDIAN; MALAK A TANTESH IS A
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin JOURNALIST BASED IN GAZA

The Guardian Weekly 23 May 2025

 17

SYRIA sanctions is complicated and that it marked a milestone for the new Syrian ▼ Celebrations
will take time for the effects to filter government, which viewed a meeting in Syria as the US
down. “A lot of the regional investors with the US president as a gateway to announces the
that were eyeing the Syrian economy international legitimacy. end of sanctions

After years
will be encouraged to move in. But big The nod from the US also came TAMAM JERBI/ANADOLU /
GETTY
investors will take a bit more time,” despite Israel’s strong rejection of
said Sinan Hatahet, the vice-president Sharaa and his government. Israel has

as a pariah for investment and social impact at

the Syrian Forum. He estimated that
refused to allow the new Syrian gov-
ernment to deploy its army in south

state, Syrians
it could take from six months to up to Syria and has conducted hundreds
a year for Syrians to feel a difference of airstrikes on Syrian territory since
in their standard of living. December. Sharaa has said he does not

see hope on Syria has been under some form

of US sanctions since 1979, but it was
want conflict with Israel.
“I think Trump was having his

the horizon
after Assad started violently suppress- doubts about the Israeli policy to put
ing peaceful protests in 2011 that the a freeze on Sharaa and keep Syria dis-
US created a virtual economic embargo united and weak, which is what the
against the country. Israelis were pitching to everyone in
Trump can wave away sanctions Washington,” said James Jeffrey, who
By William Christou DAMASCUS imposed via executive order, but was the Syria envoy in Trump’s first
would need a congressional vote administration.

I
n 2006, Ahmed al-Sharaa was to repeal the Caesar Act – which Jeffrey pointed to a lack of Israeli ‘I think
sitting in a US prison in Iraq, imposed sanctions on not only the airstrikes in Syria in recent weeks
then an al-Qaida fighter waging Syrian government but also anyone as evidence that even within the Trump
jihad against what he viewed who did business with it – which is set Israeli establishment concerns were was having
as an American occupation of the to expire in 2029. Here, there could beginning to emerge about Israel’s doubts
Middle East. Nearly two decades later, be a stumbling block. There are deep aggressive posture towards Syria.
last Wednesday, he posed for a photo reservations about Sharaa – who This has all helped feed a cautious about the
with the US president Donald Trump had a $10m bounty on his head until but growing optimism in Syria, as the Israeli
in Riyadh after discussing normalising December – in Washington. country’s economic and international
ties with Israel and granting US access These fears were only redoubled in isolation seemed to be coming to an
policy to
to Syrian oil. late March after an attack by pro-Assad end after nearly 14 years of war. keep Syria
The transformation of Sharaa from fighters led to a wave of retaliatory kill- “Finally, we are taking a step divided
al-Qaida fighter to the president of ings of nearly 900 civilians, mostly forward. Now my kids have a future,
Syria, sharing the world’s stage with Alawite, on Syria’s coast. Rights groups maybe they will have some chance to and weak’
foreign leaders like Trump, is stagger- said pro-government fighters were succeed,” said Maher Nahas, a 42-year-
ing. For Syrians, the pace of change has responsible for many of those civil- old jeweller and father of two who lives
been whiplash-inducing. ian deaths. in Damascus.
In just six months after the toppling Nonetheless, the image of Trump WILLIAM CHRISTOU IS A BEIRUT-BASED
of former president Bashar al-Assad, standing side by side with Sharaa JOURNALIST
Syria has gone from a global pariah
under some of the world’s most
intense sanctions regimes to a coun-
try of promise. Last Tuesday, Trump
announced he would end all US sanc-
tions on Syria, a move he said “gives
them a chance at greatness”.
In Syria, a weary country is finally
seeing light at the end of the tunnel.
Eyes were glued to television screens
that replayed video of Sharaa meeting
Trump and hands gesticulated fer-
vently as debates over the sanctions
ending raged throughout the country.
Trump’s sudden announcement
exceeded even the most optimis-
tic of Syrians’ expectations. The US
state department had been engaged
in months of diplomacy with the new
government, but in typical Trump
style, conditions were thrown aside
in favour of a sudden, bold announce-
ment that “all sanctions” would stop.
Experts have stressed that removing
18 Spotlight
South Asia
 A damaged By then, dozens were dead. Kashmir
house in Uri, close bore the brunt, with approximately 50
to the de facto civilians killed on both sides, tens of
border thousands displaced and several resi-
TAUSEEF MUSTAFA / dential areas reduced to rubble.
AFP/GETTY
India and Pakistan both claimed
victory. But in Kashmir, fear lingers.
Begum and her family returned reluc-
tantly to their village to rebuild. While
residents cherish the fragile peace, few
believe it will endure.
“I pray this calm lasts,” Begum
said. “But these countries will never
coexist peacefully unless their issues
are resolved. It’s only a matter of time –
weeks, months or years – before we’re
caught in their war again.”
Two days after the Pahalgam attack,
local police identified three gunmen
and released sketches with a bounty
I N D I A / PA K I S T A N involvement. Soon after, artillery fire of 2m rupees ($23,000) on each. One
erupted across the disputed frontier. was named as a local militant, and the
“It felt like my ears would burst others as Pakistanis. All remain at large.
from the explosions,” said Begum, who In his first address after the

In Kashmir,
has witnessed previous skirmishes but escalation, the Indian prime minis-
described this as the most intense. ter, Narendra Modi, declared that
“I thought we wouldn’t survive.” She India had only “paused” its military

an uneasy fled to a nearby town with her husband

and six-year-old daughter.
India and Pakistan have fought over
action and would “retaliate on its own
terms”. India’s defence minister added
that “any attack on Indian soil will be
peace holds Kashmir since gaining independence
in 1947, each claiming the entire Hima-
considered an act of war”.
“This statement is deeply unfortu-

amid fears of layan region but controlling only parts

of it. In Indian-administered Kashmir
– a Muslim-majority territory – a popu-
nate. It locks India into a mechanical
response – meaning every terrorist act
will lead to an attack on Pakistan,” said

new violence lar uprising against Indian rule turned

violent in the 1990s, with thousands of
Ajai Sahni, a counter-terrorism expert
based in India. “We must understand
young men taking up arms to demand that many of these terrorists aim to pro-
either a merger with Pakistan or full voke war between India and Pakistan.”
By Aakash Hassan URI independence. Most militant groups In 2019, the Modi government
pledged allegiance to Pakistan, which unilaterally revoked Kashmir’s limited

A
week after fleeing artillery provided training, arms and support. autonomy, splitting it into two territo-
fire from across the border, India responded with a massive ries. A crackdown on dissent followed.
Rina Begum returned to counterinsurgency campaign that Since then, Kashmir has been
find her home in Kashmir reduced militant numbers from promoted as a peaceful tourist des-
devastated. The 45-year-old gazed out thousands to hundreds. Despite these tination, with rising visitor numbers
through a fractured window frame at operations, the insurgency has never touted as evidence of normality. How-
the looming mountains. “Hell has been been fully quelled and continues to ever, the Pahalgam attack exposed the
raining down from there,” she said. fuel deadly attacks in Kashmir and fragility of that narrative.
Begum lives in a hamlet near Uri, a mainland India. Indian army and police sources
town 100km north-west of Srinagar, This time, tensions escalated when told the Guardian that about 100
the capital of Indian-administered India, in response to the attack on militants were active in India-admin-
Kashmir. The hamlet is perilously tourists, struck suspected militant istered Kashmir.
close to the line of control, the heavily sites inside Pakistan and in Pakistan- ‘Kashmir Since India’s recent military
militarised de facto border dividing administered Kashmir, prompting is not operations, the threat of further
Kashmir between India and Pakistan. retaliatory attacks from Pakistan. attacks appears to have increased.
Tensions between the nuclear- As the region inched closer to all- peaceful Pravin Sawhney, a defence analyst
armed neighbours escalated into open out conflict, both sides launched or normal. and former military officer, said: “The
military confrontation after a militant missiles at each other’s key military point is that Kashmir is not peaceful or
attack on 22 April killed 25 tourists bases and airfields, and relentless
It is a war normal. It is a war zone. So if you bring
and a local guide in Pahalgam. India shelling continued for days. The zone’ tourists here, these attacks can happen
accused Pakistan of having “linkages” violence only subsided after Donald anywhere, anytime.”
to the attack, without publicly pre- Trump announced an immediate Pravin Sawhney AAKASH HASSAN IS A JOURNALIST
senting evidence. Pakistan denied any ceasefire brokered by Washington. Defence analyst WORKING IN INDIA

The Guardian Weekly 23 May 2025

 Spotlight 19
Europe
FR ANCE nor the injurious consequences of ▼ Gérard the treatment of the complainants
his actions”. Depardieu had trapped, Depardieu, in court could be a turning point.
grabbed and touched the women, who has been “When women file a legal complaint
shouting obscenities and calling one placed on the they are mistreated at every step,

‘Strong signal’ a “snitch” for speaking out. sex offenders’ from the investigation to the trial,
The priority now was to clean register; a where they are attacked with sexist
up sexism within the legal system protester holds archetypes and lawyers try to
Depardieu’s itself, feminists said. Depardieu’s
trial showed that French courts
a sign reading:
‘Depardevil
destabilise them with tactics outside
the legal sphere,” she said.

conviction is can be brutal for sexual violence

survivors. This had been clear at
scene: Silence,
touching’
Depardieu’s behaviour was
well-known for years, witnesses
the trial last year of 51 men over the told the court. Yet the actor had
historic win
THIBAULT CAMUS/AP;
DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP
rape of Gisèle Pelicot, who had been been defended at the highest level
drugged by her husband. of French culture and politics. In

for #MeToo Pelicot said she was “humiliated”

by defence lawyers, who asked
2023, 50 film and cultural figures,
including the actor Charlotte
whether the men might have Rampling and singer Carla Bruni,
thought she was drunk or signed a petition entitled “Don’t
By Angelique Chrisafis PARIS pretending to be asleep. Her lawyer, Cancel Gérard Depardieu”.
Antoine Camus, criticised how His greatest defender was the
When Gérard Depardieu, “there is still discussion of whether French president. Emmanuel
one of France’s biggest you’re a ‘good’ victim”. Macron was elected in 2017 just
film stars, was placed In the Depardieu trial, the as the #MeToo movement went
on the sex offender judge went further. Setting a legal global and he had vowed to combat
register last week after being found precedent, he ruled that Depardieu’s violence against women and girls.
guilty of sexually assaulting two lawyer, Jérémie Assous, had been But in 2023, when Depardieu was
women on a film set in 2021, it was so “excessively harsh” to the two under formal investigation for rape,
a historic moment for the country’s woman in court that they must Macron, defended him, saying: “He
#MeToo movement. be compensated for “secondary It was a makes France proud.”
“It was a message to all men in victimisation”. One woman, Amélie, message Aurore Bergé, the French equality
power that they are answerable to a set decorator, said her experience minister, said after the verdict: “No
the courts and can be convicted,” of being questioned by Depardieu’s to all men talent, however great, has the right
said Catherine Le Magueresse, defence had been “hell”. Assous in power to immunity.”
who represented the European had told the women they were Unlike in the US, the French
Association Against Violence liars and not real victims. He called
– they are #MeToo movement has never seen
Towards Women at Work (AVFT) the women’s lawyers hysterical, answerable a convicted sex offender sent to
at the trial. “The message is: watch “abject and stupid”. to courts prison. Depardieu, who denied the
out, the impunity is over.” Céline Piques of the feminist charges and will appeal, was given
Depardieu, 76, who has made group p Osez Le Féminisme (Dare
( to
and can be an 18-month suspended sentence.
more than 200 films and TV series, bee a Feminist), said the ruling on convicted Cases in France can also be slow
had personified one of the obstacles to come to court. Depardieu could
to the French #MeToo movement: face a further trial for rape and
France’s cult of the creative genius. sexual assault in a case brought by
Depardieu’s fame was seen as so the actor Charlotte Arnould, but no
great that he was untouchable. date has been set. Depardieu has
Sandrine Rousseau, a Green MP, denied those allegations.
said: “This is the first time such a Emmanuelle Dancourt, the
strong signal has been given that president of the association
no one is above the law for violence #MeTooMedia, is among the women
against women – that message who filed complaints against the
has been lacking until now.” More newsreader Patrick Poivre d’Arvor.
now needs to be done, argued She attended Depardieu’s trial and
Rousseau, who co-authored a recent ent said there must be a “complete
parliamentary report that found overhaul” of the French legal
sexual violence was “endemic” in system, with specialist courts on
the entertainment industry. sexist and sexual violence.
The judge convicted Depardieu of “France cannot keep lagging
sexually assaulting the two women n behind culturally and politically on
on the set of the film Les Volets this,” Dancourt said. “It can’t be one
Verts (The Green Shutters), noting step forward, two steps back.”
that the actor seemed “not to have e ANGELIQUE CHRISAFIS IS THE
understood the notion of consent GUARDIAN’S PARIS CORRESPONDENT

23 May 2025 The Guardian Weekly

20 Spotlight
Europe
release from No 10 that laid out the
terms of the agreement brokered at
Lancaster House. It acknowledged,
for the first time, what successive
British governments have spent
years denying – that Brexit has
damaged Britain. It said the UK has
seen a “21% drop in exports and
7% drop in imports”. Finally, the
charade is over.
And the British public know
that. Half of Britons now say that
Britain’s decision to leave the EU
was the wrong one, and significant
numbers of those who did not vote
or were too young to vote think that
Brexit was the wrong decision. Poll
after poll suggests the British public
believe the UK is now worse off –
though often they stop short of a
demand the UK rejoin.
Second was the acknowledgment
that the changes proposed would
require a vote in parliament. That
confirmation came from No 10
almost as an afterthought.
But there was a time not so long
ago when a prospect of a vote in
A N A LY S I S parliament on a deal like this would
UNITED KINGDOM have been the top line of every
news story. Gone are the days when
Conservative Eurosceptic MPs such

Crossing the Rubicon

country outside of the EU or Efta, as Steve Baker or Bill Cash would be
all while sticking to the red lines in on the bulletins crying foul at every
our manifesto.” line of compromise.

Starmer’s ‘win-win’ Acknowledging for the first time

the true damage Brexit has done to
Britain’s trade, Starmer said the deal
Starmer is the first prime minister
in more than a decade who doesn’t
have to worry about that vote,
EU reset deal offers to remove red tape from agrifoods
trade would give a boost of £9bn
despite some Labour MPs in red
wall seats facing Reform who feel

rewards, but also risk ($12bn) to the UK economy. In a

briefing, No 10 said it would redress
the 21% drop in exports and 7% drop
nervous. Indeed, most of Starmer’s
parliamentary party would prefer to
see a deal that went even further.
in imports seen since Brexit. There will be no anguished
Most controversially, the UK will briefings from rebel Tories
By Jessica Elgot grant EU fishers access to British who once held Downing Street
waters for an additional 12 years,
“Britain is back on ▲ Ursula von der a late concession from the UK
the world stage,” Keir Leyen and Keir and three times as long as it had Changing attitudes to Brexit
Starmer said after Starmer attend a originally offered, which led to cries Do you think Britain was right or
shaking hands on a press conference of betrayal from the Conservatives wrong to leave the EU?
high-stakes agreement with the EU’s at Monday’s and industry figures.
Ursula von der Leyen in London. summit in London The deal also paves the way for • Right to leave • Wrong to leave
The British prime minister vowed CARL COURT/ REUTERS the return of the UK to the Erasmus
55%
his EU reset deal would deliver university exchange programme,
cheaper food and energy bills for and the creation of a youth mobility 50
British people, heralding a “win- scheme that would allow young
45
win” for the UK and Brussels after people to experience the EU through
sealing a high-stakes agreement that work, study, au pairing or travel. 40
meant concessions on youth visas There were two moments where 35
and fishing rights. it felt like a corner had truly been
The deal, said Starmer, gives turned. When Starmer said the UK 30
Britain “unprecedented access had changed, the most symbolic 2018 2020 2022 2024
to the EU market, the best of any evidence of that came in a press Source: YouGov

The Guardian Weekly 23 May 2025

Opinion p48
21

effectively hostage and who brought UNITED KINGDOM here literally voted in their droves for
down two prime ministers. The it. We’ve never really seen the invest-
current Conservative leader Kemi ment we were promised.”
Badenoch’s vow to oppose all the Such sentiments were not hard to
changes was irrelevant.
It is that radically changed
approach and circumstance –
In a Brexit- find behind the bustle of market day
in Grays, nestled on the north bank of
the Thames, a short drive and even
referred to time and again by von
der Leyen as she praised “dear Keir”
backing town, shorter train ride from Tilbury docks,
part of the Thames freeport.
at Monday’s press conference –
which has seen this EU reset over resentment In the period before the EU refer-
endum, Thurrock recorded the lowest
the line less than six months after levels of life satisfaction of any place
Starmer set the date.
But that stability in parliament
is on the rise in the UK, while hostility towards
immigration was tapped into first by
certainly does not mean that the BNP and later Ukip. With similar
there is no political risk to this By Ben Quinn messaging, Reform UK is now eyeing
deal. There will now be a battle on its electoral prospects here, where it

W
Britain’s front pages and airwaves hen Keir Starmer was came second in last year’s general elec-
to set the narrative. Starmer’s main asked last week whether tion. But for the postponement of local
political rival now is not a wounded he thought Britons had elections, it could also well have added
Tory party but Nigel Farage, the finally moved on from Thurrock council to the list of those it
godfather of Brexit and leader of the the issue of Brexit, his answer was a won on 1 May.
surging Reform UK party. definitive yes. Yet economic green shoots have
For Starmer, it will be a race to It’s not difficult to see why the emerged, not least in Tilbury, where
sell the benefits of his agrifoods and prime minister would hope to settle plans were submitted last week to
energy deals – cheaper food and the question, before a week in which expand the thriving port.
cheaper energy bills – combined he hoped to reset the UK’s relation- Jackie Doyle-Price was the local
with quicker queues at the ship with the EU, clearing a way for Conservative MP from 2010 until last
airport for frustrated Brits trying easier access to a marketplace that year, when Jen Craft won the seat back
to placate their children as they could help increase the economic for Labour. “People have moved on
land from their holidays. growth he badly needs. But at a dif- from the vote in many ways, but one
From Farage and Badenoch, there ferent kind of marketplace, in one of thing which really cut through during
are cries of betrayal on two fronts. the most stridently Brexit-backing the referendum campaign – the immi-
The first is fishing, a 12-year deal parts of the country, the answer was gration debate – has got worse. What
to keep the status quo when the No 10 said not so clearcut. was promised hasn’t materialised,
industry had hoped for better terms “It feels like we never left the EU, because immigration has continued
from 2026. That was the price of a for the first to be honest,” said Nigel Guest at his to remain high,” Doyle-Price said.
permanent agrifoods deal, worth time what family’s stall on the high street in Those shifts in demographics are
so much more to the economy but Britain has Grays, Thurrock. The 56-year-old is a vividly illustrated by the changing face
potentially now at the expense of lifelong native of the Essex constitu- of Grays High Street, where a diverse
such an iconic British industry. spent years ency who, along with an overwhelm- range of shops have arrived over the
And the second is the sense that denying. ing 72% of local voters, voted to leave past decade. Newcomers include Has-
Britain has crossed the Rubicon the EU in 2016. Only three other dis- san Naeen, who was optimistic about
that makes the country a rule-
Finally, the tricts backed Brexit to the same extent. the town’s future since establishing
taker, agreeing dynamic alignment charade “I just feel it was a missed oppor- Sabina, a supermarket selling hair and
on standards and a role for the is over tunity. Yes, people were sometimes body products to African-Caribbean
European Court of Justice. fed bullshit. But they were asked if we customers and others. “There’s a
No 10 is gambling that the public wanted to come out and people around good community here, and we have
has lost interest in much of the been promised that regeneration of
technical aspects of the trade talks, the town is coming,” he said. He also
as long as Brexit negotiations do not praised plans to toughen the govern-
dominate the media discourse or ment’s immigration policy.
are not seen to be distracting senior Neil Woodbridge, whose social
politicians from domestic matters. enterprise employs 200 staff support-
But there is also a risk to a ing local disabled people, said: “Keir
distracted public, that voters already Starmer might be right to the extent
inclined to feel angry towards the Brexit is in the past for them, but
government will see headlines about the reality is that they’re struggling.
a “Brexit betrayal” and assume the There’s a thing called the ‘Thurrock
worst, without reading the details. shrug’, and it’s where people go ‘yeah,
It is this arena where Farage has whatever’ because they always feel let
always had his greatest success. down by government.”
JESSICA ELGOT IS THE GUARDIAN’S BEN QUINN IS A SENIOR REPORTER FOR
DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR THE GUARDIAN

 Nigel Guest at his family’s

stall in Grays, Thurrock
22 Eyewitness
Burundi

 Swing state
A young Congolese woman sits
on a swing in heavy rain at the
Cishemere transit centre where
refugees await relocation. Since
January, more than 71,000 people
fleeing violence in the eastern
part of the Democratic Republic of
Congo have crossed into Burundi.

LUIS TATO/AFP/GETTY
23
24 Spotlight
Environment

I
WILDLIFE n 2012 Dianne Hoffman, a retired two decades, helped by cheap cameras
consultant, became a peep- and remote internet connections.
ing Tom. For five hours a day The seventh season of the TV series
she watched a couple, Harriet The Great Moose Migration from the

Life streams
a
and Ozzie, who lived in Dunrovin Swedish broadcaster SVT involved 20
ranch in Montana.
ra days of continuous live footage, draw-
The pair were nesting ospreys, ing in millions of viewers. Norway’s

The simple joy of b

being
b
bated
streamed live as they incu-
their clutch of eggs. The eggs
never hatched, but the ospreys sat on
n
NRK has aired 18 hours of salmon
swimming upstream and 12 hours of
firewood burning. A viral fish doorbell

nature cams them for months before finally kick-

th
ing them out of the nest. “I do think
in
they experienced grief,” said Hoffman,
th
allows viewers to watch migrating fish
in a lock in Utrecht.
A study published by Mary Ann
now 81, who watched the birds each
n Liebert Inc found nature live streams
day from 3,000km away in Kennett
d could “improve the lives of those who
Square, Pennsylvania. Hoffman was
S cannot leave their homes or live far
processing her own grief after the loss
p from natural environments”.
of her husband, brother and father,
o Researchers from the University of
and watching the live streams was how
a Montana first put up a live stream cam-
sshe “rejoined the world”. era of Harriet and Ozzie’s nest in 2012.
“It was a very black time,” she said. At the end of the breeding season, the
Although Ozzie died in 2014, she still
A owner, SuzAnne Miller, turned it off
watches the nest and its current occu-
w but scores of people contacted her.
For those who live far from nature, camera pants for an hour a day. “I can’t think of “[They said] please don’t do that. We
anything the internet has done better want to watch your ranch,” Miller said.
feeds that monitor nesting birds and migrating
for me than these cams.” She added three more live streams
moose can bring comfort and connection Nature-focused live streams, set up of the river, paddock and a bird feeder.
near nests, water holes, dens or land- It was only when she became ill and
By Phoebe Weston scapes, have proliferated over the past was not able to leave the house for

A web stream
of ospreys in
Montana doubles
up as a CCTV
security camera
SCOTT TURNMEYER/
GETTY/500PX PRIME

The Guardian Weekly 23 May 2025

 ▼ Dianne Hoffman watches A N I M A L M AGIC
the ospreys from her home Six of the most popular live streams
RACHEL WISNIEWSKI

it’s not a new area; millions of people Brooks Falls Prime bear-watching season will
watch nature live streams.” bear cam soon begin. From late June, bears
But they are not just another form flock to Brooks Falls in Alaska to
of entertainment – research suggests catch migrating salmon. Sometimes
they could also be good for wellbeing. up to 25 bears can be seen onscreen.
A new study awaiting publication
shows that playing nature-focused Bracken bat cave In daytime, all is quiet at Bracken
live streams increased the wellbeing Cave, Texas – but in the evening,
of some of the older residents in a care you can catch its 20 million resident
home, improving their mood, levels Mexican free-tailed bats streaming
of relaxation and sleep. A previous out of the cave to go on the hunt.
study also found Dunrovin webcams
have a “significant positive change” Knepp white Knepp estate in England is home
for care home residents, and could be stork nest cam to white storks after an absence of
an “innovative and effective way” to hundreds of years. A live stream
six months that she understood the improve wellbeing more broadly. recently showed four offspring
value of it – she too got hooked on live “I’ve realised it is not just for older tearing up a small dead rabbit.
streams of the farm. adults – there are all sorts of reasons
If someone leaves a gate open, why you might not have full access to The Scottish Like a series of Love Island with four
within minutes a viewer will contact nature,” said Mauldin. Wildlife Trust’s osprey couples battling for their
the ranch to warn them. Members live osprey cam space in the nest. After weeks of

T
watched a vet put down a horse after here are hundreds of web- grafting and being mugged off, two
it slid on ice and broke its neck. The cams across 35 of the US’s ospreys have claimed top spot.
horse’s head lay in Miller’s lap as it national parks. The Giant
died. “Many of these people are older Panda Cam captures activi- Tembe elephant Spying on a watering hole on
and facing death themselves,” she ties of animals at Smithsonian National park the border of South Africa and
said. “It got them talking about death.” zoo, and Africam looks at wildlife Mozambique, where you can watch
The stream has 275 paying subscrib- using cameras across Africa. In the UK, elephants, lions, rhinos and buffalo
ers. It cost $8 a month to be a member, the Wildlife Trusts have 25 live web- stopping by for a sip, even at night.
and most are older people or those cams. In remote locations, webcams
with reduced mobility. Several mem- provide an alternative for people who Monterey Bay A hypnotic experience: the serene
bers have had their ashes scattered are unable to visit in person. In Skomer aquarium’s world of sea nettles, native to the
there despite never having set foot Island off the Welsh coast, the island’s jellyfish cam eastern Pacific Ocean. Jellyfish drift
on the farm, because it became their 42,000 puffins are captured on a live through, gently pulsating their
favourite place in their final years. stream that had 120,000 views in 2024. tentacles as they go. Tess McClure
Many of these sites allow viewers to They are also a way of learning more
message one another or post messages about animal behaviour. Conserva-
on discussion boards. Established in tionists are using a live cam to study A brown bear
1994, FogCam is often billed as the old- grey seals at South Walney nature mother catches
est continuously operating webcam in reserve, which is free from human fish as her cubs
the world. It is a single livestreaming disturbance as there is no public access come running at
camera that posts an image every 20 to the beach. “One of our trainees spot- Brooks Falls
seconds, capturing the fog rolling in ted the first-ever seal pup born on the
to San Francisco. reserve via the camera – a small, white,
“If you can imagine it, there is fluffy pup nestled among the adults,”
probably a live stream about it,” said said Georgia de Jong Cleyndert, head
Rebecca Mauldin, assistant professor of marine at Cumbria Wildlife Trust.
at the University of Texas at Arling- For some birds such as the ospreys,
ton. “It is a new area for research, but permanent cameras double up as A white stork pair
CCTV. “The osprey cam is primarily on their nest at

20
for security, to ensure that these pro- the Knepp estate,
tected birds and their nests are safe, West Sussex, UK
and to act as a deterrent to anyone
Total number of continuous days who would wish to harm them,” said
of live footage of a moose migration Paul Waterhouse, reserves officer for
broadcast on Swedish TV Cumbria Wildlife Trust.
Mauldin says her research shows

120,000
nature live streams relax people. “It
also tells a lot about human curiosity A still from
– we like to learn, we like a sense of webcam footage
Number of views received by a live surprise ... it’s yearning for connection from a waterhole
at Tembe
stream of a puffin community on with the world around us,” she said.
elephant park
Skomer Island off the coast of Wales PHOEBE WESTON IS A BIODIVERSITY
WRITER FOR THE GUARDIAN

23 May 2025 The Guardian Weekly

26 Spotlight
South Asia

F
N E PA L or years, Sitaram and Binita wife was pregnant, but not that he ▲ Binita Das is
Das had longed for a son. would never meet their baby. bringing up her
The couple loved their five In February 2024, a month before six children alone
daughters, but on the deeply Rudke Krishna was born, Das was at after her

Families’
conservative southern plains of Nepal, work in a deep trench when, according husband’s death
they faced having to raise large sums to to witnesses, the ground above him PETE PATTISSON

pay for each of their dowries. With no collapsed, crushing him to death.

long wait way to afford such costs, they decided

that Sitaram should join tens of thou-
sands of other Nepalis going to Saudi
Friends and strangers rallied round.
Das’s colleagues collected some
money for the family, others heard

for justice Arabia in search of work.

The Gulf kingdom has seen a rise in
demand for cheap migrant labour as
about the tragedy on social media and
chipped in and Binita received com-
pensation from an insurance scheme

over deaths it seeks to rebrand itself on the world

stage, in part through large construc-
tion projects including futuristic
in Nepal that her husband had paid
into. But from his company and the
Saudi authorities, said Binita, there
‘I’m sure
he’d still be
cities, luxury resorts, theme parks was only silence. Even his outstanding alive if he’d
and the hosting of the 2034 men’s salary – a paltry $213 a month – remains stayed at
Compensation for Nepali football World Cup. unpaid, she said.
home. We
Such rapid transformation is Under Saudi law, the family
migrant workers who died were poor,
attracting global attention and, along members of workers who die on
while working in Saudi Arabia with it, greater scrutiny of the alleged the job should receive compensa- but at least
can be hard to come by treatment of migrant workers such tion, but Binita said all she got from
as Das in the country. When he left the Gulf state was a bundle of docu- we were
By Pete Pattisson SIRAHA, NEPAL Nepal for Saudi Arabia, he knew his ments, including a death certificate together’

The Guardian Weekly 23 May 2025

 P R E S S U R E G R O W S O N F I FA 27
Reports’ warning amid building boom

stating, apparently incorrectly, that Thousands of migrant The HRW report

Das fell to his death. Binita lives with workers are likely to die in documented a catalogue
the couple’s six children and a few farm Saudi Arabia as a result of of deaths caused by
animals in one of the poorest regions of a building boom fuelled by “gruesome yet avoidable
Nepal. Without her husband’s income, the 2034 men’s World Cup workplace-related
she toils for long hours in the fields. and other construction accidents” in Saudi
“Now I’m the only person who can projects, human rights Arabia, leaving victims’
look after them. What if something groups have warned. families devastated and
happens to me?” she said. “I’m at the The Gulf kingdom has impoverished.
mercy of God and fate.” seen a significant increase Under Saudi law, when
Versions of the Das family’s story in foreign workers since a worker dies in the course
can be heard all across Nepal’s southern 2021, as it prepares to host of their job, their family
belt, where almost every household the World Cup and drives members should receive
sends someone abroad for work. A forward projects including compensation from a
pattern seems to emerge: families are futuristic megacity Neom. government insurance
informed about a loved one’s sudden In two reports released scheme or directly from ▲ Asa Devi Sah Teli’s husband Kisan’s
death by a colleague, details are vague last week, human rights the employer. But HRW death was classified as ‘natural’
and contradictory, there is little or no groups said workers face recorded numerous cases PETE PATTISSON

contact from employers, a long and severe risks to life and where families received
often fruitless struggle for compen- have criticised the lack little or no compensation. these claims by the Guardian, and
sation follows and death certificates of transparency around In response to the separate research by FairSquare, have
provide few clues as to what happened. migrant workers’ deaths. Guardian’s request for raised questions about their reliability.
In the case of Saudi Arabia, the “Hundreds of comment, Fifa shared a Saudi government data states there
deaths of labourers such as Das high- thousands of young men letter it had sent to HRW in were as few as 93 work-related fatalities
light the country’s failure to protect … are being pitched into a which it stated: “Fifa seeks of all nationalities in 2019, but official
migrant workers, properly investigate labour system that poses to play its part in ensuring records from Bangladesh, seen by the
their deaths and ensure their families a serious risk to their strong protections for Guardian and based on documents
receive fair compensation, accord- lives,” said James Lynch, a workers employed by third provided by Saudi Arabia, appear to
ing to rights groups FairSquare and co-director of FairSquare, parties in the construction show there were 270 deaths by “acci-
Human Rights Watch. which has written a report of Fifa World Cup sites. dent” of its nationals in the country in
Evidence uncovered by FairSquare on risks faced by workers. This work involves a the same year. While not all accidental
last week “suggests there is no system “While Fifa praises close collaboration with deaths of Bangladeshis may have been
in place that ensures that investiga- Saudi Arabia to the rafters, its Saudi counterparts work-related, the findings point to a
tions take place in cases where people children in places like and engagements with gap between the claims made by the
die in workplace accidents”. Nepal grow up without relevant international Saudi authorities and other sources.
The lack of transparency is even their fathers and never labour organisations … At 24, Anjali Kumari Rai is already
more marked in cases where those even learn how they died.” we are convinced that a mother of two boys, a cancer patient
deaths are classified as “natural”, by In a separate report on measures implemented … and a widow. After her cancer diagno-
far the most common cause given migrant worker deaths can set a new standard for sis, her husband, Surya Nath Ray Amat,
on death certificates. Human rights in Saudi Arabia, Human worker protection.” went to Saudi Arabia to earn enough
groups and pathologists have argued Rights Watch accused Fifa Saudi Arabia’s Ministry to pay for her treatment. Nine months
that the term is meaningless, because of “knowingly risking yet of Human Resources and later, in May 2024, Amat’s relatives
it fails to provide an explanation for another tournament that Social Development was were told there was an explosion in a
the underlying cause of death. will unnecessarily come at approached for comment. tank in which he was working, killing
“What do we know? We are here, we a grave human cost”. PP him, and allegedly two other workers.
can’t say what happened there,” said Rai is eligible for compensation from
Asa Devi Sah Teli, whose husband, Saudi Arabia, along with her husband’s
Kisan Teli, died in Saudi Arabia last year outstanding salary and benefits, but
after collapsing while at work on a con- she said she has heard nothing from
struction site. His death certificate says his employer or the Saudi authorities.
he died of “natural” causes. He was 41. The only money she said she got from
Employers are not required to pay Saudi Arabia came from friends and
compensation when deaths are clas- colleagues, who donated about $700.
sified in this way, leaving women such Amat’s mother, Neelam Devi Rai, is
as Asa in desperate financial straits. struggling to come to terms with what
She struggles to get by with occasional has happened. “It’s very difficult. I’ve
farm work, for which she earns 400 lost hope. How can we look after his
FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP/ GETTY

rupees a day ($4.70). “I’m sure he’d wife’s treatment and take care of the
still be alive if he’d stayed at home,” children? It’s unimaginable,” she said.
said Asa. “We were poor, but at least The Ministry of Human Resources
we were together.” and Social Development in Saudi Ara-
Saudi Arabia has claimed that its bia was approached for comment.
work-related fatality rate is “among ▲ Labourers on a construction site in Riyadh in 2022 PETE PATTISSON IS A VIDEO AND PHOTO
the lowest globally”, but analysis of JOURNALIST BASED IN KATHMANDU

23 May 2025 The Guardian Weekly

 Spotlight
Europe

GER M A N Y majestic Delphi in the west and the ▲ Götz Valien Back at the home studio in the
socialist modernist masterpiece Kino in front of his Schöneberg neighbourhood, Valien
International on Karl-Marx-Allee in poster for the recalled his arrival in West Berlin in
the east. But the former’s adverts 2015 film Victoria the 1980s. When the Wall fell, he was

Cinema
finally went digital in 2024, while the GÖTZ VALIEN unimpressed with what he found in the
latter is closed for a revamp. Dozens east. “It just seemed sad and colour-
of independent cinemas have simply less, and then one day I realised what

puts work of gone out of business. The century-old

Filmtheater am Friedrichshain (FaF)
is the last movie theatre in Berlin still
was missing – the billboards,” he said.
After failing to gain admission to
film school, Valien returned to his first
Berlin’s last employing Valien, his large-format
posters covering its facade and inte-
love, painting, which he had learned in
Vienna using “old master techniques”.

poster artist rior walls around the ticket counter.

Gazing up at his rendering of the
kohl-eyed, flower-rimmed visage of
In the early 1990s, he found work
with an advertising firm – one of two
Berlin studios producing painted

up in lights Penélope Cruz from Pedro Almodó-

var’s 2006 melodrama Volver, a clas-
movie billboards. His first poster was
for Steven Spielberg’s Hook, and Valien
sic still hanging in the lobby, Valien quickly gained a city-wide reputation as
sighed: “Isn’t she magnificent?” he churned out photorealistic posters
By Deborah Cole BERLIN Beyond vestiges of a proud tradi- Against the tide in just two days. “Not to brag, but I was a
tion in countries such as Ghana, Nepal The 1997 Ferrari among horse-drawn carriages,”

G
ötz Valien is Berlin’s last and India, Valien said only a vanishing blockbuster he said of his competition. After the
Titanic nearly
movie poster artist, for more number of movie theatres worldwide death of two elderly colleagues, Valien
broke Götz Valien’s
than three decades earning still used hand-painted posters. He found himself the last man standing.
business, staying
a modest living producing knows of only two colleagues in Ger- Valien estimates he has created
in the cinemas for
giant hand-painted film adverts to many: in Munich and Bremen. more than 3,000 posters. He declined
months, blocking
hang at the city’s historic cinemas. The FaF manager, Andreas Tölle, to say how much he earns per poster,
the need for fresh
The studios’ own posters serve as a said the posters had become a cher- but says his film work is essentially
posters. Last year,
template, but Austrian-born Valien, ished part of the neighbourhood. “non-profit” and a “labour of love”
Valien had to give
65, adds a distinctive pop art flourish “People now come by when the new up a larger studio while he pursues other art projects.
to each image coupled with the beauty ones are up and take pictures,” he and an assistant as He remains unsentimental , noting
of imperfection. said. “And that fascination also brings orders dwindled. that he used to paint over previous
“Advertising is about drawing atten- people into the cinema.” There he had used works to save money. FaF has a small
tion and I add the human touch, which Movie posters have existed as long a mechanical archive while Valien maintains an
is why it works,” he said. Valien’s work as the nearly 130-year-old film indus- platform. “Painting active Instagram account. In honour
plays up the image’s essence: the try. But today, few releases stay long almost every day in of its 100th anniversary and Valien’s
imposing bow of a ship, the haunting enough in cinemas to justify bespoke that huge format decades of service, FaF is running a
eyes of a screen siren, a mysterious art to advertise
e them, communica- is like running up Movies on Canvas homage series of
smile. He jokingly calls himself a Kino- tions studies
i professor Patrick Rössler Mount Everest screenings paired with an exhibition of
saurier – a play on the German words of the University
iv of Erfurt told local barefoot,” he said. some of his best-loved posters, includ-
for cinema and dinosaur. media. And n most independent cin- “Exhausting.” ing Walk the Line, Little Miss Sunshine
His nearly 7x9-metre canvases emas don’tt have
h the profit margins to and, not least, The Artist.
long-graced the “film palaces” of afford them,m, even at what Valien calls DEBORAH COLE IS A BERLIN
the German capital, including the his bargain-basement
bas prices. CORRESPONDENT FOR THE GUARDIAN

The Guardian Weekly 23 May 2025

 Seascape: the state of our oceans
Spotlight A series drawing attention to the dramatic 29
changes taking place in our oceans, and
Asia Pacific the innovations under way to tackle them

S OU T H KOR E A Myeonghyo wants to use this the water temperature around the ▼ The haenyeo
popularity to create a school to edu- south side of the island has risen mark- want to harness
cate people about ocean ecology and edly, reaching a record high last year, their current fame
create a team of citizen scientists. according to data from the National to inspire a new

Deep dive
“When I feel we [the haenyeo] are Institute of Fisheries Science. The generation
being used, it used to make me feel same area has also experienced a sharp LUCIANO CANDISANI

quite lonely,” she said. “Then I started decline in seaweed and outbreaks of

‘Women of to change my mind and think, can I

use this interest to tell the real story
instead? For me, that is a story that
jellyfish and green algae.
Sanghoon Yoon, an adviser at Paran,
whose mother was a haenyeo, said
the sea’ seek draws on a long tradition of protect-
ing the weak, both in our community
the older generation are not always
keen to raise their voices about the

to reclaim and in the natural world.”

She pointed to a tradition called
halmeoni bada, which translates as
environment. “Yet the ocean is chang-
ing rapidly and they are the first ones
to witness those changes, so when we

the narrative Grandma ocean, where an area of shal-

low water is designated for the oldest
go and talk to them on a one-to-one
basis, they start to open their hearts
haenyeo to go and catch. “And then more. My hope is that the younger
we have communal diving days once generation will lead on this change in
By Lisa Bachelor JEJU ISLAND or twice a month, where whatever we what the haenyeo stand for.”
catch we divide equally between all For Myeonghyo, the first challenge

T
here is an episode in the the haenyeo,” she said. is closer to home – her mum. Sixty-
Netflix drama When Life The haenyeo also work with the nine-year-old Chunsuk Son became
Gives You Tangerines where ocean. They don’t dive during a shell- a haenyeo at 17, like her mother before
a woman dives into the sea fish’s breeding season, for example, her, but she doesn’t see why her
and brings back a catch of abalone, but harvest seaweed instead. They daughter has to do the same.
which she says will feed her family. also avoid catching conch if they are “When I educated her, I wanted
The woman is a haenyeo or “woman of smaller than 7cm to give the species a her to have a proper job like joining ‘When
the sea”. Haenyeo can be traced back chance to reproduce. the civil service,” she said. “We older stories
to the 17th century and are unique Myeonghyo volunteers with the women don’t want our daughters to be about the
to the island of Jeju in South Korea, Paran ocean citizen science centre, a haenyeo, but Myeonghyo keeps saying
where they fish sustainably, div- local NGO that documents the changes that she wants to be one in order to haenyeo
ing on a single breath to bring back in the seas around Jeju and uses the protect the ocean and to help to make are shared
shellfish and seaweed. information to lobby for enhanced where we live a better place. I know
Yet the scene, set in the 1960s, marine protection. She said she had she has a different aim [as a haenyeo]
they take
wouldn’t happen today, said Myeon- noticed large, hard corals appearing and a different direction. In any case, everything
ghyo Go, a haenyeo who lives on Jeju. alongside the native soft corals. These she doesn’t listen to me.” out that
“The seaweeds here are disappearing, are more typically found in tropical LISA BACHELOR IS EDITOR OF SEASCAPE
and seaweed is the food for abalone. waters but have started appearing in Additional reporting by Eunhae is really
Because we don’t have the seaweeds, numbers in the past five years because Grace Jung important’
we don’t have abalone,” she said.
In her 40s, Myeonghyo represents
the new generation of Korea’s tradi-
tional divers – most of them now are
over 70. Her mission is to change the
way the women are seen by the out-
side world. “I feel uncomfortable when
stories about the haenyeo are shared,”
she said. “They take everything that
is really important out and they only
show certain aspects of our lives.”
The fascination with the haenyeo
has peaked in recent years with the rise
of Korean culture, sparked by K-pop. In
2022, another K-drama, Our Blues, also
followed the lives of the sea women,
and last year a documentary, The Last
of the Sea Women, generated publicity
for Apple TV. This month, the BBC in
the UK will show the first programme
it has made in Korea (in collaboration
with broadcaster JTBC), Deep Dive
Korea. It follows actor Song Ji-hyo as
she attempts to become a haenyeo.
 Spotlight
Science

H E A LT H

Inverse vaccines
An advance against
autoimmune disease?
Scientists hope a potential breakthrough treatment, which
suppresses a particular part of the immune system rather
than amplifying it, could be available within five years

By David Kohn

A
▲ An illustration utoimmune diseases affect system, rather than amplifying it, as the subjects’ intestinal lining and
of nerve cells as many as 800 million existing vaccines do. found that the inverse vaccine group
damaged by people around the world – “This is the holy grail,” said the had no damage, while the placebo
multiple sclerosis about one in 10 of us. From Northwestern University immunolo- group showed a noticeable worsen-
JUAN GAERTNER/ multiple sclerosis and lupus to type gist Stephen Miller. “We want to use ing of symptoms.
SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/
GETTY one diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis, a scalpel rather than a sledgehammer The basic idea of inverse vaccines
these conditions all share a common to treat these diseases.” rests on using certain synthetic
trait: the body’s own immune system Miller’s 2021 paper, published in nanoparticles attached to particular
turns against itself. 2022 in Gastroenterology, was the disease-related proteins – called anti-
Current treatments aim to suppress first to demonstrate that inverse vac- gens – as targeted messengers to retrain
that response, but dialing down the cines could be effective in humans. the immune system. The nanoparticles
entire immune system comes at a The study looked at coeliac disease, mimic dying human cells, a normal
steep cost: it leaves patients vul- in which the immune system attacks ongoing process. Although these dying
nerable to other illnesses and often the intestinal lining when it detects the cells are “foreign”, the immune system
requires daily, invasive care. presence of gluten, a protein found in knows not to attack them. The immune
A revolution is now afoot, as wheat and other grains. system learns to ignore both the nan-
researchers are developing a new Over two weeks, 33 coeliac patients oparticles and the attached proteins,
approach that targets only the specific who were in remission ingested and stops attacking the body.
part of the immune system that’s gone gluten; about half had received the “What this does is it re-educates
rogue. These treatments are known as inverse vaccine beforehand, while the immune system,” said NYU bio-
“inverse vaccines” because they sup- the other half got a placebo. After engineer Jeffrey Hubbell. “So then it
press a particular part of the immune two weeks, researchers examined says: ‘OK, I’m good, I don’t need to

The Guardian Weekly 23 May 2025

 31

serendipity”, said the University of ‘There have and his colleague, the University of
Calgary immunologist Pere Santa- Michigan biomedical engineer Lonnie
maria. He was among the first scien- been more Shea, published a small study of mice
tists to uncover this. “I would never than a few with peanut allergy. The animals who
have guessed it,” he said. “Not even tears of received an inverse vaccine were able
in my wildest dreams.” to consume significantly more pea-
Santamaria has spent most of his happiness nuts without symptoms than those
career focusing on type one diabetes, shed by me who did not get the vaccine.
a disease in which the immune sys- Last month, Hubbell and several
tem attacks cells in the pancreas that
and my colleagues published a paper in
produce insulin. Recently though, he team when Science Translational Medicine show-
has begun exploring inverse vaccines we’ve seen ing that their inverse vaccine could
for other autoimmune disorders, protect allergic mice from house dust
including a disease called primary the clinical mite antigens, a frequent cause of
biliary cholangitis (PBC) that affects results’ asthma, as well as antigens to chicken
bile ducts in the liver. One advantage egg whites, a common experimental
of working on PBC is that because it model for allergy. The protection held
is rare, clinical trials don’t require up through repeated exposures to the
nearly as many patients; as a result, allergens over several months.
the drug approval process can move And last year, Shea published a
more quickly. “And once we get paper looking at alpha-gal syndrome,
approval for one indication, we may a potentially severe allergy to meat
be able to go faster with others,” caused by tick bites. Infected mice
Santamaria said. who were given an inverse vaccine
One of the key advantages of inverse showed significantly fewer symptoms
vaccines is their broad versatility; it than those who were given a placebo.
appears that the approach can work for “We were able to basically convince
a wide range of autoimmune diseases. the immune system that these pro-
“It works all the time in animals,” teins are not dangerous,” Shea said.
said Santamaria. “We’ve tried this in At this point, it is difficult to say
many different animal models of auto- how long it will be before inverse
immune disease.” (Of course, success vaccines are approved for human
in animal studies doesn’t automati- use. Miller, Shea, Hubbell, Santamaria
cally translate to success in humans.) and other researchers are involved in
Last year, Bana Jabri, the director startup biotech companies working to
of Institut Imagine in Paris, cowrote develop them. Some larger pharma-
a review of inverse vaccine efforts. ceutical companies are also bullish
She is cautiously optimistic about on the approach, and are partnering
their potential, but also notes that the with startups.
immune system is immensely com- In December, Genentech announced
plex. Some immune cells, for example, a partnership with Cour, the company
circulate throughout the body, while started by Miller and Shea, that could
attack this, because I see that it’s not others reside permanently in specific be worth up to $900m. Last year,
a threat.’” tissues. Jabri said it’s not yet clear that Parvus, the startup founded by San-
In 2023, Hubbell and his colleagues current inverse immune treatments Growing field tamaria, entered into a collaboration
published a peer-reviewed paper in can affect both kinds of cells. Autoimmune with the pharmaceutical company
Nature showing that this method Another potential advantage: most AbbVie. Several inverse vaccines are
research
could halt the mouse version of mul- researchers say the effect will prob- now in the midst of or about to start
tiple sclerosis (MS), a disease in which ably last for months or perhaps longer phase two trials, small studies look-
the immune system attacks nerve cells
in the brain and body. Over the past
eight months, Anokion, the company
– similar to the pattern seen for many
non-inverse vaccines. “The immune
system is incredible,” Hubbell said.
800m
Number of
ing at how effective the treatment is
in humans.
Some scientists estimate that the
started by Hubbell and others to com- “It has a memory, and that memory people globally first inverse vaccines could be avail-
mercialise their work, has announced lasts.” Currently, most treatments for affected by able for use in three to five years.
successful early trials in humans in autoimmune disease require more autoimmune Others are less certain. “I think it will
both coeliac disease and MS. frequent treatment, often a regimen diseases take 10 years to have it nailed down,”
“There have been more than a few of daily medicine. Jabri said. “But it could be shorter, or
tears of happiness shed by me and
my team when we’ve seen the clini-
In addition, inverse vaccines
seem to have benefits beyond auto- 3-5 it could be longer.”
Even so, nearly all are optimistic.
cal results,” Hubbell said. immunity. They may work for allergies, Estimated “Twenty years ago, I would have told
The discovery that certain which also involve an overreaction by number of years you this wasn’t possible, absolutely
negatively charged molecules could the immune system – in this case to a before first not,” said Miller. “Today, I can say that
retrain the immune system to stop food or environmental trigger rather inverse vaccines it will happen. No doubt.”
attacking our own tissues was “absolute than one’s own body. In 2022, Miller are available DAVID KOHN IS A SCIENCE WRITER

23 May 2025 The Guardian Weekly

 Opinion p45
32 Spotlight
North America

400
U N I T E D S TAT E S the bottom line has benefited Trump. could be used as Air Force One, then
His family’s wealth has ballooned by passed to the estate of his presidential
more than $3bn, according to press library when he leaves office.
estimates, and the reported benefits Value, in millions Trump called the plane a “great

Trump’s
from cryptocurrencies and other of dollars, of the gesture” and said it would be “stupid”
investment deals, such as plans for Boeing 747-8 not to accept it. However, even die-
new Trump-branded family proper- jet offered by hard Maga supporters, such as Laura

penchant ties, may be far larger.

Deals for billions more have been
Qatar to the US
Department of
Loomer and Ben Shapiro, criticised it.
But Gulf states have offered other
signed by businessmen close to Defense incentives, including a $2bn invest-
for gifts puts Trump, meaning political support for
the White House translates into lucra-
ment from a UAE-controlled fund into
a Trump-linked stablecoin.

foreign policy tive contracts abroad.

Richard Painter, the chief White
House ethics lawyer under George
The gifts have led to a series of
denouncements on Capitol Hill. Chris
Murphy, a Democratic senator from
up for sale W Bush, said: “When we’re negotiat-
ing with other countries, the concern
Connecticut, said: “This isn’t Amer-
ica first. This is not what he promised
is that our negotiating position will the American people. This is Trump
change if someone does a favour or first. He is willing to put our nation’s
By Andrew Roth WASHINGTON delivers a gift to the president of the security at risk, take unconstitutional
United States ... the impression is given bribes, just so he can fly himself and

F
ormer White House lawyers, that the position of the United States his Mar-a-Lago golf buddies around
diplomatic protocol officers can be swayed and even bought.” the world in gold-plated luxury planes
and foreign affairs experts Others argue that the message being gifted to him by foreign governments.”
claim Donald Trump’s receipt sent is that US foreign policy is being Past administrations would have
of overseas gifts and targeted invest- sold to the highest bidder. run from the perceived conflicts of
ments are “unprecedented”, as the “Trump has put a for-sale sign out interest. Former White House ethics
White House remakes US foreign front of the White House,” said Norman advisers described crises such as when
policy under a pay-for-access code Eisen, the executive director of the a Gulf state tried to present a Rolex to
that eclipses past administrations legal advocacy group State Democracy a national security adviser, or when
with characteristic Trumpian excess. Defenders Fund and a White House Boston Red Sox tried to gift the White
The US president was feted in the ethics tsar and ambassador under House chief of staff a baseball bat
Gulf states last week, inking deals Barack Obama. “Of course you’re going ▼ An electronic signed by all the players. Eisen said
he said were worth trillions of dol- to see Qatar and UAE as like a bidding billboard in that he had even forbidden Obama
lars and pumping local leaders for war. Qatar says, ‘I’ll give you a $400m Hong Kong from even refinancing the mortgage
investments. He says he is prioritis- plane,’ and the UAE says, ‘Hold my beer, depicts Donald on his house in Chicago because of
ing “America first” – putting aside I’ll give your crypto company $2bn.’” Trump holding his capacities to influence the market.
concerns of human rights or interna- Last week, Qatar offered to give the cryptocurrencies While potential gifts such as a jet
tional law for the bottom line of US US Department of Defense a $400m MAY JAMES/ZUMA/REX/
cannot be hidden, the potential to
businesses and taxpayers. But often Boeing 747-8 that Trump suggested SHUTTERSTOCK move cryptocurrency secretly has
observers concerned. “We’re talking
about billions of dollars, almost infinite
money, that can be paid by anyone,”
said one senior European diplomat.
Senate Democrats have called for
a rewriting of the Genius Act, Trump-
backed legislation that they say would
provide far-too-lax regulation of
stablecoins, to stop him benefiting.
The flood of foreign money has left
former officials infuriated. The rules
can be “annoying and sort of stupid,
but it is what separates the good guys
from the bad guys”, said Rufus Gif-
ford, a former head of protocol for the
state department. “Trump just has no
respect for those institutions that have
been set up for a very specific purpose,
which is to root out corruption. It is
very, very disturbing that a president
of the United States could be in a posi-
tion to profit off the office he holds.”
ANDREW ROTH IS THE GUARDIAN’S
GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORESPONDENT
 33

On one side, said Cathleen Kaveny, People wave

a professor of law and theology at a US flag as they
Boston College, are conservatives wait for the
who want to “lock down” church inaugural mass of
teachings and reject changes they Pope Leo XIV in St
see as illicit, and liberals who want Peter’s Square
church teachings to develop in line GIUSEPPE LAMI/EPA

with societal changes.

Many experts agree that – unlike
Francis – Leo won’t necessarily seek
to offend or chastise the American
right for the sake of it.
“As pope, I don’t think he’ll go
out of his way looking for a fight,
but his gentle demeanour shouldn’t
fool anyone. He’s got a backbone
and will speak out when necessary,”
said Christopher White, Vatican
correspondent for National Catholic
Reporter and author behind the
forthcoming book Pope Leo XIV.
A N A LY S I S recite – the Regina Caeli prayer “Unlike Francis, who was not
U N I T E D S TAT E S in his first Sunday blessing, and from the United States, Leo already
dedicated one of his first audiences knows where the fault lines are and
to the head of Opus Dei, the ultra- he’ll be clever not getting himself

Crossroads conservative religious order whose

secret member list is believed to
include prominent Catholics in
tangled up with individuals or
special-interest factions in the
church who will seek to use him.”
How will Pope Washington.
And yet, it seems widely
Kaveny does believe Leo will be
an agent of change, just not in the

Leo confront understood that Leo, given his

background, temperament and
mould of Francis. “It is important to
understand he is trained as a canon
values, will largely adhere to the lawyer,” she said. “It’s like the way
schism in the vision of the church set out by Pope
Francis, said Massimo Faggioli,
Franklin Delano Roosevelt had
the vision of the New Deal, which

US church? a professor at Villanova, the US

Augustinian Catholic university
supported people in their old age,
but it took the lawyers to write the
where the pope studied. While Social Security Act.”
he might like traditionalist things While Francis was easily
By Stephanie Kirchgaessner more than his late Argentinian dismissed by US Catholics on the
WASHINGTON predecessor, Leo cannot be called a right as a Marxist pope who did not
traditionalist, Faggioli added. understand Americans, it will be
Rightwing Catholic The deeper question for now far more difficult for those critics to
Americans in positions is how the new pope will position dismiss Leo.
of power – from the vice- himself vis-a-vis rightwing Catholics “He understands the DNA of Leo XIV
president, JD Vance, to who hold significant power in the US conservatism. He comes from a
Leonard Leo – may have breathed church and in Washington, through centrist moderate Catholic tradition already
a brief sigh of relief when, after the their wealth and political influence. and is very progressive on the issues knows
white smoke cleared, Pope Leo XIV That includes men like Leonard of immigration and refugees,” where
emerged on the balcony of St Peter’s Leo, a conservative Catholic activist said Faggioli. He is also likely to
Basilica donning a traditional red who led the Republican mission disappoint some liberals around the fault
mozzetta with a papal stole. to install a rightwing majority in the issues of women in the church, lines are
It was, observers pointed out, the US supreme court, which is abortion and gender.
a starkly different choice than today mostly composed of ultra- Unlike Francis, the ultra-
and he’ll
his predecessor Pope Francis, a conservative Catholics. conservatives in the church will be clever
reviled figure among many staunch The schism within the American also be forced to contend with an not getting
conservatives, who had worn all Catholic church – between undeniable fact: Leo is relatively
white on the same occasion in 2013 conservatives who rejected the young and full of energy. “He can himself
to symbolise his desire for simplicity legitimacy of Francis’s papacy and outlast some of them,” Faggioli said. tangled up
and humility. more progressive-leaning Catholics STEPHANIE KIRCHGAESSNER IS THE
In another nod to tradition, the who embraced it – is not dissimilar DEPUTY HEAD OF INVESTIGATIONS FOR
American pope opted to sing – not to the schism within the US itself. GUARDIAN US

23 May 2025 The Guardian Weekly

34

‘We did not f ind

any murders’
 35

When the British nurse Lucy Letby

was found guilty of murdering seven
babies and attempting to murder
seven others, a 1980s research paper
was key to the prosecution. But the
author of the paper believes there has
been a miscarriage of justice – and so
too do other doctors
By David Conn

N 4 FEBRUARY 2025, Lucy Letby ’s barrister,

Mark McDonald, convened a press confer-
ence at the grand baroque Westminster venue
One Great George Street. It became a land-
mark moment, the culmination of months
in which a number of distinguished experts
had spoken out to question the former nurse’s
convictions. The media were addressed for an
hour by a Canadian medical professor, Dr Shoo Lee. He said that
a panel of international experts disputed the prosecution case
that had led to Letby being found guilty in two trials of murdering
seven babies at the Countess of Chester hospital in 2015 and 2016,
and attempting to murder seven others. She was sentenced to 15
whole-life orders, and the court of appeal unanimously refused
her permission to appeal.
“We did not find any murders,” Lee said. “In all cases, death or
injury were due to natural causes or just bad medical care.”
Lee is one of the world’s leading neonatologists – doctors who
specialise in the medical science and care of premature babies. Before
his retirement from clinical practice in 2021, he held senior leader-
ship positions in Canada, headed up international collaborations and
conducted extensive research. His journey to becoming so involved
in a criminal process pursued in the provinces of north-west England
is a remarkable feature of the Letby case. It springs from Lee being
told, after Letby was convicted, that a medical research paper he
authored more than 30 years ago had been used as a basis for one
of the prosecution’s central allegations – that Letby killed babies by
injecting air into their veins.
GUARDIAN DESIGN; CHESHIRE CONSTABULARY; PA

Lee was dismayed, he told the Guardian, adding that the use of
his paper was “incorrect” and a “categorical error”, and he was con-
cerned Letby may have been wrongly convicted. He agreed to give
evidence to the court of appeal but the judges dismissed it as “irrel-
evant” when they refused Letby’s application. He then committed to
assembling a world-class panel who would fully assess the evidence.
Lee’s eminence meant that the peers he could call on comprised lead-
ing specialists in Canada, the US, Japan and Europe, including two
distinguished UK-based consultants, Dr Neena Modi, a pre-eminent
neonatologist, and the renowned perinatal pathologist Dr
Marta Cohen. Lee flew across the Atlantic at his own expense 
to present their findings at that bombshell press conference.

23 May 2025 The Guardian Weekly

36 The Lucy Letby case

He explained the acute medical problems some of the premature wholly disagrees with the prosecution case, as do many UK-based
babies had suffered, and said the panel found “no medical evidence to specialists, including consultant neonatologists Svilena Dimitrova
support malfeasance” or deliberate harm. But they had identified “so and Neil Aiton, who are also providing expert reports on individual
many problems” with the babies’ care, in a unit that had “inadequate babies for McDonald.
numbers of appropriately trained” staff. In 2015-16, the Countess of Chester hospital’s neonatal unit was
“If this had happened at a hospital in Canada,” Lee said bluntly, caring for more premature babies, with more acute medical needs,
“it would have been shut down.” than in previous periods, and was struggling with staff shortages.
The neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester hospital was a small, But the precise causes of the individual collapses had not all been
cramped, concrete facility, built in 1971. NHS neonatal units are clas- explained by the doctors or postmortems. Brearey and Jayaram had
sified for staffing and expertise at three different levels, according to noted that Letby had been at work when babies collapsed, then in
how premature the babies are, because the earlier they are born short June 2016, after the two triplets died when she was on shift, they
of the 40-week full term of pregnancy, the more severe their physical became more vocal about their suspicions. They had no evidence
underdevelopment and medical difficulties tend to be. of any wrongdoing, nor of any deliberate harm caused to the babies.
In 2015, the Chester unit was level two, which meant it accepted Jayaram then discovered the 1989 article that Lee had authored
very premature babies, born after 27 weeks’ gestation, including those with another doctor, Keith Tanswell. Jayaram later said that he and
with high medical dependency needs and requiring intensive care. other doctors had begun to wonder about skin discolorations observed
The agonising series of premature babies dying on the unit began on three of the babies: A, whom he attended; B and M, who had had
in June 2015 with three infants, anonymised at Letby’s trial as babies collapses and survived. Jayaram said he did some research, and came
A, C and D. It was recognised as a crisis a year later when two of three across “the possibility of something called an ‘air embolism’”. He then
premature triplets died, babies O and P. That prompted the hospital’s found “an old academic paper, written in the 1980s”.
executives to downgrade the unit to level one, so it could only admit Now that it has come to feature so prominently in the prosecution
babies of more than 32 weeks gestation. case, and Lee has appeared in person to respond so emphatically, the
Central to understanding the Letby case is that across almost a paper itself looks strangely modest: three and a bit pages of a medical
decade of inquiries and investigations since then into the collapses journal, the authors’ full names not even given: SK Lee and AK Tan-
and deaths of the babies on the unit, the criminal trials – the verdicts swell. Entitled “Pulmonary vascular air embolism in the newborn”, it
that the babies were deliberately harmed – are the exception. Before was a study of babies’ fatal collapses caused by air in the bloodstream.
Cheshire police became involved in May 2017, there were exten- Based on that paper, Letby would be accused of injecting air into
sive examinations and reviews: within the hospital by the neonatal babies’ veins, although the study also comprised babies undergoing
clinical lead Dr Stephen Brearey, lead for children’s services Dr Ravi high-pressure ventilation. In some, particularly the more premature,
Jayaram, and others, postmortems by consultant pathologists at Liver- their lungs leaked, so air entered the bloodstream, then, when it
pool’s Alder Hey children’s hospital, a coroner’s inquest for Baby A, a travelled to the heart, it blocked the circulation.
review of the unit by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health The key observation that the prosecution’s medical experts would
(RCPCH), then further reviews by the pathologists and independent later cite as a guide to air embolism in the Chester babies is a single
consultant neonatologists. None found that the babies had been delib- sentence, a description of skin colour changes.
erately harmed. Now, after Letby’s trials, Lee’s international panel “Blanching and migrating areas of cutaneous pallor were noted in
several cases and, in one of our own cases we noted bright pink vessels
against a generally cyanosed [blueish-grey] cutaneous background.”

The Royal College Jayaram has said he found that description “chilling”, because
it matched the blotches observed on the Chester babies, including

of Paediatrics and
Baby A. He began to raise air embolism, and the Lee and Tanswell
paper, as possible evidence that Letby was murdering the babies by
injecting them with air. He first mentioned it to hospital executives

Child Health team on 29 June 2016, then to the RCPCH review team, when they arrived
two months later.
The RCPCH team did not find the accusations against Letby

did not f ind the compelling. They found that the unit was not compliant with pro-
fessional standards for level two, it had too few consultants who
were doing only two ward rounds per week, and junior doctors

accusations were reluctant to call on them. The hospital’s medical director,

Ian Harvey, commissioned Dr Jane Hawdon, a consultant neona-
tologist at London’s Royal Free hospital, to review the individual

against Letby babies’ collapses, based on their medical records. Hawdon found no
evidence of deliberate harm, but many instances of “sub-optimal
care”. Harvey explicitly mentioned to Hawdon that the consultants
compelling had suggested air embolism. She replied that “there were insuf-
ficient details in records” and it would probably have been impos-
sible “to record in anything but real time” the precise causes of
some collapses, including if there were any “sinister” cause. But
she emphasised she had “concerns” about the unit’s response to
babies’ medical conditions, referring to “subtle signs” being missed
“or not escalated or responded to”. There may have been “an inher-
ent system or leadership problem”, she said.
Harvey also asked Dr Jo McPartland, one of the Alder Hey
pathologists, to review the postmortems, and asked her about air

The Guardian Weekly 23 May 2025

 37

Jayaram said in his statement that “this strange blotching”, which

“didn’t fit with anything I’d ever seen before in my 27 years as a pae-
diatrician”, also appeared on Babies B and M.
“The paper described what I had seen on the babies,” Jayaram said.
It would emerge at the trial, when he was challenged by Letby’s
then barrister, Benjamin Myers KC, that Jayaram had never noted
that skin discoloration on Baby A before. He did not include such
a description in the medical notes he wrote on the evening Baby A
died in June 2015, nor in his evidence to the coroner’s inquest. Myers
accused Jayaram of making up this discoloration, two and a half
years after Baby A died, to fit with the Lee and Tanswell description
he had read since.
Jayaram replied that he had not realised its clinical significance at
the time. “You’re suggesting I didn’t see it? No, absolutely I saw it, and
I have no reason to confabulate why I might have seen it,” he said. “As
a professional, as a paediatrician of 30 years, as a doctor of 32 years,
if my character was such that I would make things up, I would hope
that friends, colleagues, managers, nurses, patients, parents, would
have picked that up well before now.”
 Unfair justice? Jayaram has also faced intense scrutiny and
David Davis and criticism for another key allegation he made
Dr Shoo Lee against Letby, that he came upon her after she
unveil their had dislodged Baby K’s breathing tube, in February
evidence at a 2016. However he did not mention that to anybody
press conference; for months afterwards. This allegation led to a
Lucy Letby charge of attempted murder, for which the jury
in the first trial could not agree a verdict. Letby
embolism. McPartland replied in January 2017 regarding Baby A that was convicted in the retrial, whose jury was told she was by then a
“there was no evidence of air embolism”. convicted serial killer. Asked why he waited so long to mention it,
Brearey and Jayaram, in particular, did not accept the adequacy Jayaram has said he wasn’t courageous enough: “It’s been suggested
of the reviews. They maintained their accusations against Letby, to me that I just made that up, which is … I will refute, it is nonsense.
and began to press hospital executives to involve the police. The There is no reason I would.”
executives were reluctant as there was no evidence against Letby, Serious further criticism has been made recently of his evidence:
only the consultants’ suspicions due to the statistical coincidence of he said at the Baby K retrial that when the baby deteriorated, Letby
her having been on shift. Nobody ever saw her harm a baby or com- did not call for assistance. But in a May 2017 email only disclosed to
mit any of the acts – injecting babies with air, or lacing two feeding Letby’s lawyers last September after she was convicted, recently
bags with insulin – of which she would later be accused and found reported by the UnHerd website, Jayaram wrote to his fellow doctors:
guilty, and there has never been any tangible or forensic evidence “Staff nurse Letby at incubator and called Dr Jayaram to inform of
of her doing so. She was well respected as a committed young nurse, low saturations.”
who had taken intensive care qualifications, and would volunteer Earlier this month, the Conservative MP David Davis, who has
for extra work and overtime when the unit was stretched. Senior spoken in parliament arguing that Letby has suffered a “clear miscar-
staff believed that this explained why she was often on shift for the riage of justice”, made a formal complaint to Cheshire police calling
GUARDIAN DESIGN; CHESHIRE CONSTABULARY; ANDY RAIN/EPA; JULIA QUENZLER/REUTERS

sickest babies. on them to investigate Jayaram for potential perjury.

Asked about his evidence by the Guardian, Jayaram declined
ventually, the executives agreed to the consultants’ to comment.
pressure to contact the police. Minutes of a meet- Key to understanding how Cheshire police came to construct a case
ing on 12 May 2017 show that the assistant chief against Letby, and the allegations of injection with air that no previous
constable, Darren Martland, did not believe expert found, is that one doctor, Dewi Evans, had a very significant
there were grounds to investigate, as there was role. Hughes’s team took him on within weeks, after Evans read about
“no specific allegation at this point to suggest a the investigation being launched and put himself forward, emailing a
criminal act”. He also pointed out that Cheshire contact at the National Crime Agency: “Sounds like my kind of case.”
constabulary “are not clinical experts”. Martland Evans was a consultant paediatrician with experience of
said officers would, though, meet with Jayaram on 15 May 2017, as neonatology, at Singleton hospital, Swansea, who retired in 2009.
he had sent an email raising concerns. At that meeting, Jayaram told After that, he worked prolifically giving medical opinions as an expert
the police that “unusual rashes” were seen on some babies and he witness in the adversarial battlegrounds of the courts. Concerns have
raised the possibility of air embolism. Three days later, on 18 May 2017, been raised about his objectivity: expert witnesses must restrict their
Cheshire police announced a criminal investigation. Paul Hughes, evidence to an impartial analysis in their own particular specialism,
who became the senior investigating officer, was at the meeting not advocate for the side instructing them. But Evans has talked
with Jayaram. repeatedly about having “won” all his cases, except one. He explained
In Jayaram’s first formal police statement on 18 September 2017, this to the Guardian last year, arguing it is proof that he is impartial,
he referred to his research that found air embolism, and the Lee and as “partisan witnesses don’t last long”.
Tanswell paper. He gave a very precise description of discoloration Evans began suggesting the injection of air as a possibility
he said he had seen on Baby A, that tallied closely with the paper: to Cheshire police from an early stage. He ultimately gave as 
“flitting patches of pink areas on the background of bluey-grey skin”. his medical opinion, for the police and prosecution, that five

23 May 2025 The Guardian Weekly

38 The Lucy Letby case

babies, A, D, E, I and O, had been killed by air embolism due to the

injection of air into their veins. He also referred to the Lee and Tanswell
paper to support this opinion, in particular that it explained the skin
discolorations seen on some of the babies.
Myers suggested to Evans at the trial that the police must have
told him about suspicions of air embolism, putting that in his mind.
Evans said that was “completely untrue”.
“The first person I know of to raise the issue of air embolus in this
particular series of cases was me,” Evans said.
Evans’ reputation was seriously undermined by an extraordinary
intervention in the middle of the trial. A senior court of appeal judge,
Mr Justice Jackson, issued profound criticism of Evans’ integrity as
an expert witness in a separate case, and took the step of emailing
the Letby trial judge, Mr Justice Goss, to inform him.
Jackson was vitriolic in his ruling, writing that Evans made “no
effort to provide a balanced opinion”, and his approach “amounts to a
breach of proper professional conduct”. He appeared to have wanted
a particular outcome in the case, Jackson said, and sought to achieve
it by “working out an explanation”. Jackson said
the report included “tendentious and partisan  Under question
expressions of opinion that are outside Dr Evans’ The Westminster
professional competence and have no place in a press conference;
reputable expert report”. the Countess of
Myers argued throughout the Letby trial that Chester hospital
Evans was not impartial, and had been doing what where Lucy Letby
Jackson found in the other case: “coming up with worked
ideas and theories” to support the prosecution
case that Letby harmed the babies. Evans consistently denied that. examined on them, supported by other doctors in the trial, and that
Myers then applied for all of Evans’s evidence to be disregarded. Goss his opinions were also considered by the court of appeal. Evans said
refused, ruling instead that the jury should be told about Jackson’s he has been “in good standing” with the General Medical Council
criticisms, and decide themselves how credible they found Evans’ since the start of his career in 1971, and began giving evidence as an
medical opinions. During those exchanges, Evans said that the opinion expert witness in 1988. He said he “flagged up” air embolism as a
Jackson criticised in the other case had only been a letter to a solicitor, cause of several babies’ collapse in his preliminary, 2017 reports, and
that he had not expected to go before the court. only read the Lee and Tanswell paper later.
Myers also applied for the allegations of air embolism to be thrown “The allegation of ‘misusing and misinterpreting’ Prof Lee’s 1989
out, for lacking evidence. Goss refused that application, too. He paper is erroneous,” he said. “I had reached a diagnosis of air embolus
acknowledged that the prosecution’s expert radiologist and patholo- long before (re)discovering Lee and Tanswell’s publication.”
gist did not find any “diagnostic” medical evidence of air embolism. Lee was quite unaware of the Letby case until her lawyers contacted
But he said that this crucial question – the medical opinions that air him in October 2023. He was immediately troubled to discover how his
had been injected into the babies’ veins, based in part on the skin research had been used. To the court of appeal, Lee carefully explained
discolorations linked to the Lee and Tanswell paper – should also air embolism, and emphasised that only the one skin colour change
be left to the jury. identified in his paper, pink blood vessels against a bluish background,
was diagnostic. He said none of the rashes described as having been
he other method of murder alleged by the seen on the Chester babies conformed to that; they had many possible

GUARDIAN DESIGN; LEON NEAL/GETTY; BRIAN HICKEY/ALAMY; ELIZABETH COOK/PA

prosecution, which Evans also provided as an medical causes, including hypoxia, and he disputed Evans’ opinions.
opinion, was that Letby injected air into babies’ But the judges, while recognising that Lee was an eminent
stomachs via the nasogastric feeding tubes con- neonatologist, dismissed his testimony as “irrelevant and inadmis-
nected to their noses. Many experts since the trial sible”. It was irrelevant, they said, because the prosecution’s medical
have dismissed and even ridiculed that as a means witnesses had pointed to the babies’ rashes as “consistent” with air
of harm; several clinicians told the Guardian last embolism, not diagnostic of it. And Lee’s evidence was inadmissible
year that it was not practically feasible, and even because he had theoretically been available for the trial so Letby’s
if it was, the air would leak out or the baby would burp or vomit it up, legal team should have called him then.
or pass it as wind. When the Guardian put their criticisms to Evans, he The judges also upheld Goss’s rulings that left the questions of air
said his opinion had been that injecting air or fluid into the stomach embolism, and Evans’s credibility, to the jury.
destabilised the babies, and “was not directly responsible for any of Lee told the Guardian: “Lucy’s lawyers told me that she had
the deaths”. McDonald argues this is a change of opinion from the exhausted all avenues of appeal and would remain in jail for the
trial, when Evans said that excessive air in the stomach could cause rest of her life. That troubled me greatly because no one should be
a baby to stop breathing. The court of appeal judgment states “air convicted based on wrong medical evidence.”
via nasogastric tube” as the mechanism of murder for three babies, He then agreed to assemble his panel of “the best experts in the
C, I and P. Evans has since changed his opinion on Baby C, saying he world” to examine the evidence. With a neonatologist colleague in
now firmly believes air embolism was the cause, and has sent a new Toronto, Dr Qi Zhou, Lee also researched air embolism specifically
report to Cheshire police. They have refused to provide it to McDonald. caused by injecting air into veins. Lee explains that his 1989 paper
Replying to questions from the Guardian, Evans stood firmly by did not distinguish between cases where air entered the circulation
his opinions on air embolism. He has pointed out that he was cross- from the high pressure ventilation, and those where air was injected

The Guardian Weekly 23 May 2025

 39

into the veins. There was no research specifically into air embolism with such distinguished reputations have so rapidly, publicly and
caused by air injected into the veins. “This was not pointed out at the comprehensively spoken out to dispute convictions for murder.
trial or to the court of appeal,” Lee said. It was, he said, “a categorical The lawyers representing the parents of the Chester babies at the
error” to use his paper to allege air was injected into the babies’ veins. Thirlwall inquiry have criticised the raising of concerns, and said they
In their new scientific paper published in December 2024, Lee and are increasing the families’ distress. They have dismissed the possibil-
Zhou found that no “patchy skin discoloration”, such as observed on ity that Letby could be the victim of a miscarriage of justice, and don’t
the Chester babies, appeared from air injected into infants’ veins. accept that Lee’s panel’s work or his new research may undermine the
“This is new evidence,” he said. safety of the convictions. On 18 March, Kate Blackwell KC, represent-
It was striking that when the trials ended in July last year, amid the ing Harvey and three other hospital executives of the time, applied
storm of publicity, a growing number of experts immediately spoke for Thirlwall to pause writing her report, arguing that the purpose of a
out in disagreement, even outrage, at the evidence that led to Letby’s public inquiry, to “fully and fearlessly” establish the truth, would oth-
convictions. The government had rapidly set up a public inquiry, erwise not be fulfilled. Blackwell’s stance signalled that the executives,
chaired by the court of appeal judge Lady Justice Thirlwall, to learn who have been relentlessly criticised at the inquiry for commissioning
lessons from how a serial killer had apparently been operating in an the external reviews and not going to the police sooner, question the
NHS hospital unit. Before it started, 24 distinguished specialists wrote safety of the convictions. It was the final day, and the first time anybody
to the health secretary, Wes Streeting, and justice secretary, Shabana involved had said the experts’ concerns should be taken seriously.
Mahmood, calling for the public inquiry to be paused or widened, Streeting and Thirlwall refused the application.
to grasp the opportunity to consider whether the legal system may On 3 April, McDonald submitted to the Criminal Cases Review
have produced a miscarriage of justice. Commission (CCRC) the full report, 698 pages, compiled by Lee’s
But Thirlwall and the inquiry lawyers refused to engage with that panel, on all the babies. They found no evidence that any were delib-
possibility. In her introductory speech, Thirlwall dismissed the mount- erately harmed, and rejected the prosecution case of air embolism or
ing concerns as “noise”. She had to focus on the inquiry’s terms of air via the nasogastric tube. The panel set out detailed findings on the
reference and could not “set about reviewing the convictions”, she babies’ vulnerable medical conditions, their opinions on the cause
said. “The court of appeal has done that, with a very clear result. The of the collapses, and alleged a catalogue of poor medical practice by
convictions stand.” the doctors on the unit.
For six months, until the hearings finished in March, the inquiry Seven other leading experts also produced a separate report for
proceeded on that basis: an unchallengeable assumption that the McDonald, which rejects key prosecution evidence that led to Letby
prosecution case was right, and that the truth was only established being convicted of attempting to murder two babies by poisoning
once the police became involved. them with insulin.
The scale and weight of the expert challenge to the criminal trial “The convictions are unsafe and should be overturned as soon as
have not been acknowledged by Thirlwall and her lawyers, by Street- possible,” Lee said. Of the parents, he said: “The ordeal of the infants’
ing, Mahmood or any other government minister. The legal and politi- families is very sad and unfortunate, and we all feel for them. However,
cal establishments appear to have struggled to recognise that the fair justice is paramount.”
concerns over Letby’s convictions are far from conspiracy theory or Some experts who also believe the convictions are unsafe are
internet noise. It is unprecedented that so large a group of experts known to have taken issue with some medical detail in the panel’s
findings, while agreeing with the conclusions that there is no evidence
of deliberate harm to any of the babies.

Some experts The CCRC, founded after a 1993 royal commission report into
miscarriages of justice including the Birmingham Six, is the legal sys-

who believe the

tem’s last chance for convicted people whose appeals have been turned
down. It decides whether applications raise sufficiently serious questions
about convictions for a case to be referred back to the court of appeal.

convictions are The CCRC has had its funding severely cut in recent years, while
miscarriage of justice applications have dramatically increased, so
the organisation is taking a long time to even consider them. The

unsafe have taken commission can only refer cases back to the court of appeal on the
narrow ground that there is a realistic possibility the judges there may
overturn a conviction. So it has to take into account judges’ reluctance

issue with medical to accept new expert opinion, however eminent.

Thirlwall continues to work on her report. She appears certain to
recommend that, in future, if any accusations are made of wrong-

detail in the doing by people in healthcare settings, they must immediately be

referred to the police.
A spokesperson for the inquiry said: “It is not for a public inquiry to
panel’s findings examine criminal convictions. That is the role of the Criminal Cases
Review Commission and the court of appeal.”
A government spokesperson said: “We should all remember what
the families and those affected by this appalling case are going through
and keep them in our thoughts. A criminal trial has taken place and
Lucy Letby was found guilty. There is an ongoing independent process
to review cases through the Criminal Cases Review Commission.”
Meanwhile, Letby remains in prison, convicted as Britain’s worst
ever child serial killer. She has always maintained her innocence.
DAVID CONN IS THE GUARDIAN’S INVESTIGATIONS CORRESPONDENT

23 May 2025 The Guardian Weekly

Fed up with being in the of f ice
all day? Missing fresh air and
nature? Five people who ditched
their desks for the great outdoors
tell Donna Ferguson why they’d
never go back
Portraits by Fabio De Paola

My partner, Rachael – now my wife – supported me

going back to college full-time for two years, so I could get
a national diploma in countryside management. I did a
placement where I work now, in Kingsbury Water Park, a site
of more than 240 hectares owned by Warwickshire council.
Two days after my placement ended, a ranger resigned
and I was hired to do some of their work. I’ve now been a
countryside ranger for 20 years.
If I’m on an early shift, my work starts at 7.15am. I’ll open
the park and do a site check – I usually walk between three
and six kilometres every day. Sometimes I’ll see muntjac
deer on my rounds. When the school groups turn up, I’ll
go into the woodlands or a field and do pond-dipping or
minibeasting to teach the children about the insects that
live in those habitats.
Our site is quite close to central Birmingham, and I get
such a buzz from showing people the countryside and
‘I love seeing the sheer delight of the children encouraging them to appreciate their local green spaces.
when they discover the wildlife here’ I love seeing the sheer delight of the children when they
discover the wildlife here, and passing on my knowledge
Steve Kell, 59, countryside ranger,
to them.
Warwickshire Country Parks I don’t care whether it’s raining, snowing or sunny: I feel
I always loved being in nature. But I didn’t know what I a massive amount of freedom just being outside, breathing
wanted to do when I was 18, so I got a job at a high-street fresh air, instead of being stuck inside
bank. My grandfather was made up – he was convinced I  Then and now an air-conditioned office. On a physical
was going to be the governor of the Bank of England. But Steve Kell left his level, I do get tired – but I’m a lot fitter
over the years I became disenchanted. Then, in my early job in a bank to than I would be if I worked indoors at my
30s, I was diagnosed with testicular cancer and had to take work as a age and I don’t feel the stresses I
months off work. I couldn’t help thinking about how finite countryside did in my previous job. Instead I 
life is. I decided I wanted to do something I really enjoyed. ranger feel happier and more fulfilled.

The Guardian Weekly 23 May 2025

42 Inside out

Although I’ve only recently surpassed the salary I used to

earn in banking, my job pays the bills and that’s all I want
financially. Rachael, who earns more than me and works in
an office, is fully supportive. She’s glad I made the switch
to working outdoors because of the benefits to my health
and wellbeing. We’ve always been comfortable, financially,
while raising our son, who is now 18: my career choice has
not affected our lifestyle choices.
Rather than making profit for a company, I’m improving
the world we live in and passing on my love of the outdoors
to others. Walking around this park, with the wind on my
face, surrounded by wildlife, I feel peace of mind – and joy.

‘The day after I watched

that sunset, I resigned’
Angela Musk, 31, community
outreach of f icer, Ramblers Scotland
I can vividly remember the moment I decided to leave my
job as a prison officer. It was two years ago and I was out
walking my dog near home in South Queensferry, a village
west of Edinburgh. Standing at the top of a field, watching
the sunset over the Pentland Hills, I realised that when I’m
outdoors, my thoughts are free. I have space to breathe, I
feel at peace.
I’d been considering leaving the Prison Service for a
long time. I was struggling with arriving at and leaving
work in the dark in winter – many windows are misted up
for security reasons, and I spent most of the day indoors.
Prisons can be tough places to work. I didn’t feel able to
contribute what I wanted to.
After university, I’d had an internship as an outdoor
instructor and was working toward my mountain leader
qualifications. I loved it. But as a woman, I’d ques-
tioned whether I belonged outdoors, leading people up
mountains. I’d felt pressure to get a secure job with a clear
career progression.
The day after I watched that sunset, I resigned. That
same day, I saw Ramblers Scotland was hiring a community
outreach officer. The role involves working with refugees,
asylum seekers and people from global majority communi-
ties to create walking programmes and teach outdoor skills
and navigation, so that everyone feels comfortable going
out walking by themselves in Scotland.
I felt so lucky the day I got the job. Without needing to
take a pay cut, I get to work outdoors for a living and turn
the right to roam the Scottish countryside into a reality
for everyone. I use the skills I learned in the Prison Ser-
vice, about how to approach people from all types of back-
grounds, and I support them to get outdoors in Scotland,
often for the first time. Recently, I’ve been developing a new

There’s something
freeing about being in
nature. It calms and
encourages people to
support each other
The Guardian Weekly 23 May 2025
 43

programme to teach women from diverse backgrounds to

lead within their own communities.
A typical summer’s day begins with me packing a rucksack
with everything I need as a group leader – emergency shelter,
first aid kit, spare waterproofs and sugary snacks. Then I’ll
head to the setting-off point to meet the people I’m leading
that day. Often, on the walk they’ll teach me about the plants,
trees or mountains in their homeland. Away from the pres-
sures of their daily lives, they express so much enthusiasm
and curiosity about nature – and support for each other.
Many refugees I work with fear being where they’re not
allowed to be. It can be hard for them to feel as if they belong.
But I have learned that the outdoors is a space for every-
body. I come home feeling energised, not only because I
have connected to nature, but because out there, in nature,
I have connected to other people. And it feels amazing.

‘It was like I woke up’

Michelle Burton, 59, former therapeutic
coordinator, Jamie’s Farm, Monmouth
I first came to the farm for a week as part of a course I was
helping to facilitate for young unemployed people. I had
previously been a family worker in Luton, helping to engage
parents in their children’s learning, then I was a coordinator
for family workers. The idea here was that the young people
would have a week away on the farm, where they would
learn new skills, and I would provide pastoral support.
When I first arrived, I was petrified of animals and fearful
of bugs. I’d worked indoors ever since I’d got my first job 37
years earlier, at 16. I didn’t like getting
 New horizons mucky and the idea of working outdoors,
Clockwise from on a farm, had never crossed my mind. I have been rejuvenated by my time on the farm. I used
top left: Angela But I really enjoyed myself and I saw the to feel afraid of so many different aspects of the outdoors,
Musk, Jay Rathod transformation in the young people that but I stepped up and that has given me courage in other
and Michelle week. I thought: there’s something free- areas of my life. It’s made me feel empowered. Physically,
Burton all felt ing about being in nature. It calms and mentally and emotionally, I feel fitter and stronger. Working
a pull to work encourages people to work and support in nature has been very grounding for me and, as the only
outdoors each other. I saw the change in those Black person on the farm, I gave my colleagues insights
MURDO MACLEOD, young people – and that changed me. about how best to support some of the young people we
MARK CHILVERS,
FRANCESCA JONES We ran the course again, and this time worked with. I saw the impact I was having and found that
I was more confident with the animals. I very inspiring. I feel I’ve left a positive legacy.
realised I liked the values of the staff and the positive way
the young people were viewed, praised and given a voice. ‘I love the fact that no day is the same’
The third time I went, it all sat so well with me that I Jay Rathod, 31, park of f icer,
decided I wanted to work there. Instead of feeling scared
when I worked with animals, I felt renewed. I remember St James’s Park, London
moving some sheep with a young person, looking down I was sitting on a beach on holiday the day I decided I wanted
at a beautiful view of the Wye valley and thinking: this is to work outside. For the previous seven years, I’d worked
the place for you; this is what you must do with your life. for a mobile phone company. After the pandemic shut
It was like I woke up. down the store I managed, I began working in merchan-
Back in Luton, I felt such a longing to be in the countryside dising, remotely. I felt stuck at home, in meetings and
that my daughter bought me two hens. I asked the Jamie’s behind screens all day, working out how to sell phones that
Farm team to let me know if a job came up and when it did, would eventually get thrown away. I felt isolated and my
a year later, I got it. I was 55. achievements didn’t feel meaningful. I also wanted to
Until I retired earlier this year, I worked as a therapeutic reduce my carbon footprint and give back to the environ-
coordinator for children who came to the farm for residential ment. I wanted to plant something that would outgrow me.
stays. While they carried out jobs in groups, from working So I quit my office job to do a two-year paid
with animals to gardening and farm maintenance, I would apprenticeship in horticulture and landscaping. That’s
talk to an individual child while we walked, fed the lambs quite an unusual decision for someone from my ethnic
or planted hedgerows. We would chat about their high- background and when I told my mother, she warned me
lights and how they were feeling, or sometimes we’d just my hands would get dirty. I asked what was wrong
sit together and listen to the birds. In the evenings, we’d with that, given my ancestors were farmers. She was 
play games or sit round a fire, looking at the stars. worried I’d earn less and get wet, burnt or injured.

23 May 2025 The Guardian Weekly

44 Inside out

I’m f itter and

healthier – and
happier, too, because
I know I’m giving
back to nature
The apprenticeship did initially mean a drop in salary,
but I was so passionate about it that I finished my course
early and applied for my current job at St James’s Park while
I was still doing my final assessment. Now, I earn the same
as I did before.
I love the fact that no day is the same. Primarily, I carry
out general landscape maintenance of the park and its
irrigation system, look out for any criminal damage and
make sure the site is safe for the public. But I also liaise with
the police, cafe owners and contractors, and support the
conservators who restore historic monuments, the head
gardener and the wildlife officer – a recent highlight was
feeding the pelicans. I work with the army and the palace
on prestigious events such as trooping the colour and the
changing of the guard – which makes my mother very happy
– and I assist the volunteer gardeners.
I average 17,000 to 20,000 steps a day, compared with
3,000 when I worked at home. So I’m fitter and healthier –
and happier, too, because I know I’m giving back to nature
and people benefit from what I do. I love seeing visitors
taking photographs of the flowers in bloom or spotting a
bird on a tree I planted and knowing I helped make this hap-
pen. Physically, I feel exhausted at the end of the day. But
mentally and emotionally, I feel stimulated and satisfied,  Flight crew my daughter out. Otherwise, without their routine, they
and it’s easier to relax; I’m not anxious and I sleep better. Mandy Abbott: would have rewilded themselves. Watching them enjoying
People complain about working in all weathers, but in ‘When Covid hit, their freedom made me forget about the scary time we were
the rain I just wear a coat, and if it’s cold I wear more layers. I realised I didn’t living in. When they are flying, I feel they are so wild – yet
There’s nothing I miss about working indoors. really have a life’ they come to me willingly because I’ve trained them. It’s
FABIO DE PAOLA such a good feeling, this bond I have with them.
‘I’ve never not enjoyed a day in this job’ When lockdown ended, I became head of falconry at the
Mandy Abbott, 60, head of falconry, centre. My daughter is my boss, which should be quite dif-
ficult, but has worked out fine. Every day, I’ll check on the
Swinton Estate, North Yorkshire birds for signs of illness, clean out their aviaries and get the
Before the pandemic, I’d spent 30 years cooking in the equipment ready. But my main job is to help other people
kitchens of the Swinton Estate, the ancestral seat of the experience the bond I now have with the birds. We’ve got
Earl of Swinton, 12 hours a day, four or five days a week. a kestrel, a falcon, an eagle and many different varieties of
At times, like any kitchen, it could be stressful and with no owls. Quite a few old ladies who visit have loved owls all
windows, it could get hot and stuffy. their lives – when owls fly to their hands, they break down
During lockdown, I started thinking about working in tears. Sometimes, children tell me it’s the most excit-
outdoors. My daughter – who had got interested in birds ing thing they’ve ever done. I know I’m giving people an
when she was 11 – had, at 18, set up a birds of prey centre on experience they will never forget.
the 8,000-hectare estate. After working at a local falconry I don’t think I’ve ever not enjoyed a day at work since
centre and getting a qualification in zoo management, she’d I took this job. I don’t earn as much as I used to, but I’m
approached the earl and asked if she could set up her own home for my family more and we manage. Physically, I’m
centre in the grounds. The estate takes a commission on probably more tired, but I sleep really well and never lie
bookings, but it’s her business. In my spare time she trained awake worrying about work.
me, so I could help if she was short-staffed. I would never have dreamed of doing this job if it
When Covid hit, I realised I didn’t really have a life. I was hadn’t been for my daughter. I have her to thank for
always working. Living on a privately owned estate, I had showing me what I am capable of – and how much I love
vast grounds to enjoy during lockdown. The birds of prey working outdoors •
centre was closed, but I carried on flying the birds to help DONNA FERGUSON IS A FEATURES WRITER

The Guardian Weekly 23 May 2025

 45
Comment is free, facts are sacred CP Scott 1918

JOHN HARRIS
Starmer must
be bold to
rescue Labour
Page 48

U N I T E D S TAT E S/
MIDDLE EAST
Will Trump’s indulgence of the Gulf
states stop Israel’s war in Gaza?
▲ Donald Trump
received a warm
welcome in the Nesrine Malik
Middle East
BRENDAN SMIALOWSK/
AFP/GETTY
~
23 May 2025 The Guardian Weekly
46 Opinion

onald Trump’s visit to the Middle What is clear is that the centre of gravity is shifting for
East last week was an exercise the US away from European capitals and transatlantic
in disorientation. Both in terms alliances, towards a region that, as far as Trump is
of rebalancing the relationship concerned, is not bothering him with any moral
between the US and the region, condemnations on Ukraine, doesn’t have the pesky
and in scrambling perceptions. matter of a voting public to worry about, and has spare
In Riyadh, he told the Saudi royals billions to invest and flamboyantly flatter. Keir Starmer
there would be no more “lectures can have a stab at getting Trump on side by offering a
on how to live”. He lifted sanctions on Syria so that the royal invitation for a state visit, but can he project the
country may have a “fresh start”, and he fawned over stars and stripes on the world’s tallest building?
the camels and lavish architecture. Never has Trump But there is a fundamental disjuncture to Trump’s
appeared more in his element, surrounded by the trip that was apparent in parts of Middle Eastern state
wealth of sovereigns, the marshalling power of absolute media and political pronouncements last week. As
monarchies, and their calculated self-orientalisation Israel intensified its strikes in Gaza, signifying its lack of
and over-the-top flattery. interest in negotiating any meaningful ceasefire, there
The man who enacted the Muslim ban in his first term was a rising clamour in condemnation of the assault.
was strolling around mosques and shrugging off the As Trump was received with US flag waving, one stark
radical path to power of the Syrian president: “Handsome issue could not be broached – that he leads the country
guy … Tough past, but are you gonna put a choir boy in that is supplying the weapons and political support for
that position?” His call for recognising the new role of a military campaign that is destabilising the region.
Gulf states both as political and economic powerhouses,
and matter-of-factly taking their lead on what Syria needs It was a disconnect that characterised the entire trip.
right now, whatever the history, is excruciating. Because Among all the emphatic language and imagery of a bloc
it reveals how painfully sclerotic and inconsistent of rising powers, the question remained of what exactly
previous administrations were. Joe Biden promised to that power could be used for. Is it purely one that gives
take a hard line with the Saudi government for its role in these states the right to supercharge their economies
the murder of Jamal Khashoggi and in the Yemen war, through more favourable trading relationships with
and then seemed to forget about it, or realised he couldn’t the US? And gives them licence to pursue foreign policy
follow through. From Trump, there is no such mixed escapades and projects on their own turf without
signalling: you are rich, we need you. You do you. fear of censure? Or is it power that can be wielded to
The Democrats lectured while failing to enforce the meaningfully influence political outcomes and persuade
standards of international law. Trump is dispensing with the US to change course on Israel-Palestine, an issue now
the pretence of international law altogether, and in doing at the heart of not only Middle Eastern but Arab politics?
so ending the theatre that the US was some virtuous The war has extended to Lebanon and Syria, Jordan
protagonist in the region. The result is a transactionalism and Egypt are under extreme pressure, and even in
of equals, the billion dollar deals and quid pro quos cut in ostensibly unchallenged monarchies it is a public
plain sight. For the three Gulf countries Trump visited – opinion and PR hot potato that needs to be handled very
Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia – his recognition of their carefully. Trump is still shopping his ethnic cleansing
colossal national projects in economic transformation, plan that aims to “resettle” people from Gaza, this
and political positioning in terms of foreign policy, time to Libya, and the momentum of the early days of
slaked an appetite to be seen. To be acknowledged his administration to secure a ceasefire is now gone,
not just as wealthy ignoramuses to be managed, but as Israel intensifies its campaign to occupy more parts
sophisticated power brokers in their own right. of Gaza. As lavish scenes unfolded across the Gulf,
There is a particular brand, that is still being finessed, there was one unavoidable thought – no food, water or
of shaping politics in the region and diversifying medicine has been allowed into Gaza for months.
from natural resources. Take the UAE’s financing of The question of the limits of this new US deference is
a devastating war in Sudan in order to get a foothold crucial in correctly estimating what
on the African continent, and, at the other end  Nesrine Malik just happened. Because even though
of the spectrum, Qatar’s quiet emergence as the is a Guardian it looked as if something historic took
negotiating capital of the world. columnist place, that Trump had blown away the
cobwebs of old foreign policy in the
region and made overtures that overturn decades-old
tropes and perceptions, it may all still come to nothing
where it matters most. If these forces still have no ability
Even though it looked to dictate what happens in their own back yards, no
ability to stabilise and determine the region’s political
as if something historic future, or indeed, assume the mantle of leadership in
which they have the power and responsibility to save
took place, it may all other Arabs from hunger, displacement and bullying,
still come to nothing then it’s all elaborate theatre with a measure of economic
windfall. No lecturing is nice, but being the master of
where it matters most your own fate is all that really matters •

The Guardian Weekly 23 May 2025

 47

NEW them reasons to stay. Auckland – the largest, most

ZEALAND Here’s why the grass “international” city, with a population of about 1.7
million people (of a total of 5.2 million) – has the most
jobs and the highest salaries, but even one of those
isn’t always greener won’t necessarily give you a shot at property. As of
this February, the average home in the city costs about
NZ$1.25m – that’s roughly £555,000 ($740,000), about
at home for us Kiwis the same as in London despite a significantly lower
average wage. It’s a similar situation in New Zealand’s
capital city, Wellington, and recent public sector cuts
Elle Hunt haven’t helped the economic picture either.

I felt the impact of this when I was back in Wellington this

February, visiting friends and family. When I moved there
aged 17 to study, it felt deserving of its reputation as the
“artsy” city. Even allowing for a more world-weary view 15
years on, I was struck by how much was exactly the same
as in my student days. It was like time had stood still.
I don’t mean to be a seagull, flying in and dumping “all
over everything” (to borrow a phrase from writer and
fellow antipodean abroad Sarah Wilson, in her recent
report on her trip back to Australia). There’s so much
that’s special and unique about New Zealand, starting
with the indigenous Māori culture and language – rightly
and increasingly integrated in the national identity,
despite attacks by the National-led government.
There are advantages over Britain.
 Elle Hunt The food and drink is actually
is a UK-based flavoursome, while the approach
writer from to hospitality makes you feel the
New Zealand meaning of the word. Work is rarely
expected to come before life, and the
henever a Brit learns that beaches and scenery are as beautiful as you’d imagine.
I’m a New Zealander – grew Still, I’ve noticed the reported shift in Kiwis’ migratory
up there, got the passport, patterns playing out in my network. For example, it used
only moved to the UK in to be assumed you’d return home to start a family – but
2017 – often their faces a striking number of friends have chosen to stay put
scrunch up with confusion: in their overseas homes to have their first child, even
“Why would you live here at the cost of losing family support. The patchy public
when you could be living transport, even in cities, and car-centric culture have
there?” It doesn’t seem to matter if they’ve been to New been cited as barriers by people I’ve spoken to.
Zealand themselves or not. The implication is that I have Access to culture and entertainment is also limited.
known the Garden of Eden, even been granted a key, and Aucklanders have been named the earliest diners in the
responded by saying: “Actually, you know what? I’ll take world; I’ve heard of people being kicked out of restaurants
Norwich instead.” at 9:30pm. “It’s kind of like, what are you meant to do
Whether it better reflects contemptuous familiarity after dark?” says my sister, who is based in Amsterdam.
with the UK, or an idealised view of New Zealand, I’m All this is compounded by the isolation, unimaginable
not sure. But few people seem to believe me that, in for people in Europe. “I don’t think Brits understand what
many ways, the quality of life is much better in Britain. it is like to live at the bottom of the world,” a Kiwi friend
So I was not surprised by the interest in a recent who has lived in London for a couple years told me the
report about New Zealand “hollowing out”, with record other day. Equally, she pointed out, our ambivalence about
numbers leaving through 2023 into 2024. Over the past returning reflects our privilege, of knowing we would be
two years, so many people have left the country – often able to opt out of Britain should it start to feel too broken.
for Australia, Canada or the UK – there are fears some Of course there’s no single best place in which to live,
small towns and rural communities will collapse. not least because “quality of life” is a personal – and
There’s a long tradition of Kiwis heading overseas. variable – equation. I feel very lucky to call New Zealand
What makes this recent rise in departures different is the one of my homes, and every time I visit, I wonder if this
apparent sweep of it. It’s not just young people off on will be the trip that makes me want to move back. So far,
their “big OE” (overseas experience). It’s those who are however, after a decade away, I’m more struck by the
further along in life who have come to believe the grass drawbacks than its many delights. Brits may think the
MIKROMAN6/GETTY/ may be greener elsewhere. grass is greener in New Zealand, but it’s Kiwis who are
GUARDIAN DESIGN And it’s not just small towns that are failing to give making the move •

23 May 2025 The Guardian Weekly

48 Opinion

UNITED that the government was set on closing “a squalid

KINGDOM Only with a positive chapter for our politics, our economy and our country”
was even more brazen. So was the suggestion after years
of “a one-nation experiment in open borders … the
vision can Starmer lift damage this has done to our country is incalculable”.
That last claim, in fact, might have been the worst of the
lot: a shameful example of a prime minister reducing
Labour out of the weeds a story replete with complexity and nuance – and raw
humanity – to cheap and nasty hyperbole.
As the resulting anger simmers on, a lot of it is mixed
John Harris up with a familiar dismay about where the government
has ended up. Its planned cuts to disability benefits will
ust over a week on from Keir Starmer’s soon face a Commons vote, and there is speculation
latest pronouncements about that a huge Labour rebellion could lead to a government
immigration, plenty of people on his own defeat. Continued angst about the cut to the winter fuel
side are still gripped by a queasy sense allowance may yet spark at least a partial U-turn. Many
of fury and disappointment. His aides Labour MPs scrabble around for positives, and can find
and allies will now try to gladden left- things – school breakfast clubs, VAT on private schools, a
liberal hearts by emphasising gains from rise in the minimum wage – that might get them through
Monday’s UK-EU summit, and the prime the odd interview, but do not neutralise a biting disquiet.
minister’s remodelling of Brexit. But the acrid cloud over Hanging over everything is a question that has
Starmer will surely remain, and with good reason. nagged at Starmer and his colleagues since they arrived
Whatever the context – and whether or not he was in office: what is this government here for? Imagine if
consciously echoing Enoch Powell – his suggestion that his talk about incalculable damage and squalid failure
Britain risked becoming an “island of strangers” sounded were concentrated on the issues that any self-respecting
like a horribly calculated provocation. The insistence progressive government ought to be focused on: poverty,

Illustration R Fresson

The Guardian Weekly 23 May 2025

 Founded 1821 Independently owned by the Scott Trust

industrial decline, class divisions. The idea that we are

on the way to becoming an “island of strangers” would
work better as a sharp critique of the same inequalities.
Moomins of fer a message
Starmer seems to hover over his own government,
deferring and delegating while setting no coherent
agenda. And Rachel Reeves remains in thrall to Treasury
of tolerance and inclusivity
orthodoxy: the origin of no after no, in a country that has
not heard a significant “yes” in far too long. amid today’s refugee crisis

A
To say that millions of people – and places – have yet ll Moomin fans a search for identity and
to see any improvements to their lives might sound will recognise freedom, the Moomin books
impatient; the more relevant point is that they see no the turreted blue speak to anyone who feels they
sign of any change coming. Faragism is what you get house that is don’t belong. In Finn Family
when the established political class seems so bereft of home to the family of gentle, Moomintroll, the inseparable
answers that a shameless opportunist is able to swagger upright-hippo-like creatures. Thingumy and Bob (reflecting
into the resulting void. But it is just about possible to The stove-shaped tower is the nicknames of Jansson and
imagine things being at least slightly better. a symbol of comfort and her lover, Vivica Bandler) arrive
On that score, I think back to the early autumn of welcome throughout the in Moominland speaking a
2022, when Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng had tanked nine Moomin novels by the strange language and carrying
the economy, and Starmer was offering a creditably celebrated Nordic writer and a suitcase containing a ruby, a
bold alternative. It was all about government leading artist Tove Jansson. Now the metaphor for their secret love
an economic transformation, and something close house is the inspiration for a – homosexuality was illegal in
to a Green New Deal. He talked about a “modern series of art installations in UK Finland until 1971. Growing
industrial strategy” built on “a true partnership between cities, in collaboration with up on a housing estate outside
government, business and trade unions”. Refugee Week, to celebrate Liverpool, Frank Cottrell-
At that point, Labour was still committed to the £28bn the 80th anniversary of the Boyce, the UK children’s
($37bn) green investment pledge that was killed by creation of the Moomins. laureate, was astounded that
Reeves before the election. He promised a million new Taking the motto “The “a book written by a bohemian
jobs, and training for plumbers, electricians, engineers door is always open”, building Finnish lesbian” seemed to
and builders. “And it will all start,” he said, “within the was due to begin this week speak directly to him.
first 100 days of a new Labour government.” on a 3.5-metre blue house All Moominvalley’s
Some of those ideas live on in outside London’s Southbank inhabitants come in different
 John Harris the scaled-down policies still being Centre. All of the installations, shapes and sizes. Unlike
is a Guardian pursued by Ed Miliband’s Department by artists from countries Paddington, that other postwar
columnist for Energy Security and Net Zero. But including Afghanistan, Syria refugee, this is the newcomer
they are neither properly funded, and Romania, deal with narrative as acceptance rather
nor put at the heart of the government’s messaging. displacement: in Bradford, the than assimilation.
Earlier this month, Richard Tice, Reform UK’s deputy Palestinian artist Basel Zaraa Today, the Moomins have
leader, responded to his party’s victories in Lincolnshire has created a refugee tent in become a brand, valued more
by announcing its quest to tear down industries that which to imagine life after for being cute than kind.
contribute about £980m to that county’s economy and occupation and war; and in Jansson would doubtless be
account for more than 12,000 jobs: “We will attack, we Gateshead, natural materials thrilled that her legacy is being
will hinder, we will delay, we will obstruct, we will put are being foraged to build To used as part of Refugee Week
every hurdle in your way,” he said. The way to beat these Own Both Nothing and the to foster understanding rather
people is not to thieve their lines about migration and Whole World (a quote from than to flog pencil cases.
pick stupid fights with your own side: it lies in pointing Jansson’s character Snufkin). Moominland is a fairytale,
out that a party of nostalgists and chancers has nothing Begun in the winter of 1939 far from our 21st-century
to say about any realistic version of our future. and published in 1945, the first refugee crisis. But this
The government should go back to its past talk about book, The Moomins and the magical world provides a
making social housing the second-most common kind Great Flood, was a “fairytale”, quietly radical message of
of tenure besides private ownership, and make it real. as Jansson called it, born out of tolerance, inclusivity and
Then, perhaps, Labour might have a story about the the darkness of war. A mother hope. Moominvalley might
modern UK characterised by a vision that is the opposite and her son set off across an be described as “an island of
of all the rage that now runs riot across the political right. unfamiliar land – overcoming strangers”, to borrow Keir
That same mood seems to have infected a government dangers, natural disasters and Starmer’s unfortunate phrase,
increasingly defined by its nervousness and lack of hostile creatures – in search of and is all the better for it: it
imagination. The result is the strange spectacle of a their missing family and a place is a place where you don’t
newly elected administration with the most pessimistic to build a new home. It was the have to fit in to belong. As
understanding of its own prospects – the kind of story of millions of refugees Jansson writes in the preface
mindset that, at this rate, will lead not just to defeat after the second world war, and to The Moomins and the Great
for the Labour party, but nightmarish national harm: an all-too-familiar one today. Flood: “Here was my very first
incalculable damage, some people would call it • In their themes of loneliness, happy ending!” •

23 May 2025 The Guardian Weekly

50 Opinion
Letters
WRITE Albanese’s success get back on track. Winning 9 May). When I was young, Feeling my age with the
TO US depends on bold approach power is not enough. I had some idea that new American pope
The Albanese Success will depend on society was supposed to As the new pope is
government’s recent using the early years to evolve into greater civility American, will Trump
re-election offers more construct the foundations as the decades passed. I declare the Vatican to
Letters for than a renewed mandate for deeper transformation. see it sinking into barbarity be the 51st state? (An
publication – it presents a strategic Stewart Sweeney instead. I am filled with American leader with
weekly.letters@ inflection point not Adelaide, South Australia fury and impotence, being peace on his mind,
theguardian.com only for Australia, but powerless to do anything Spotlight, 16 May)
—
potentially for centre- • The sweeping majority about the atrocity being David Prothero
Please include a
left parties across the accorded to the Albanese carried out against the Harlington, England, UK
full postal address
and a reference
democratic world (Beyond government to serve Palestinians. Are they
to the article. expectation, Spotlight, a second term by the all to be slaughtered? • I knew I was getting
We may edit letters. 9 May). The lesson is this: Australian people does not It seems so. old when first the police,
Submission and steady governance earns justify the level of hubris I watch the hypocrisy then the headteachers
publication of all trust, but only long-term exhibited by winning and lies coming from and now even the new
letters is subject purpose builds legacies. Labor candidates. Israel and its enabler, popes have started to
to our terms and Australia’s voters The primary vote the US. I see the UK and look young.
conditions, see: rejected nuclear for Labor was still only other countries in Europe Alan Gore
THEGUARDIAN.COM/
LET TERS-TERMS
adventurism, Trumpist about a third, with turning their faces away Enfield, England, UK
imitation and the this second successive and actually prosecuting
reactionary right. They victory accorded to people who protest. COR R ECTIONS
Editorial
endorsed Labor’s record of them largely through We are witnessing an
Editor: Graham
Snowdon competence and decency. Australia’s proportional evil and cruelty that will A feature about weight-
Guardian Weekly, But governing well in the representation voting shout down the decades to loss drugs should not have
Kings Place, present cannot be the full system. Many who come. Do the Israelis think said Mounjaro “needs
90 York Way, measure of success. The ensured their preferences this will ever be forgotten? to be kept at about 8C”
London N1 9GU, real opportunity is to not would result in the I am beyond disgusted (Big little lies, 16 May).
UK only deliver what was Albanese government and very, very sad. Unused Mounjaro should
promised, but to lay the being given a second Ann Sarll generally be kept in the
To contact the political, institutional and chance were nonetheless Takaka, Golden Bay, refrigerator between 2C
editor directly: narrative groundwork for cross and disappointed New Zealand to 8C, but it can also be
editorial.feedback
the next wave of reform. with its first-term failure stored unrefrigerated at
@theguardian.com
That means piloting to deliver real policy The vintage pans still temperatures not exceeding
Corrections the bold housing, health, reform; in other words, cooking many years on 30C for up to 30 days.
Our policy is to care, productivity, climate for responding to its first Re old kitchen tools Once used, it can also be
correct significant systems and more we chance by muffing it. (Treasured heirlooms that stored at up to 30C for the
errors as soon as will need in the 2030s. It Ruth Farr can peel back memories, same period. It should also
possible. Please means preparing public Blackburn South, Victoria, Letters, 16 May): about 25 have stated that the use of
write to guardian. institutions to support Australia years ago, my in-laws dug Ozempic as a weight-loss
readers@ wellbeing economics, out my husband’s great- drug is “off-label”.
theguardian.com equity-led productivity Anger and sadness at great-grandmother’s three
or the readers’
and democratic renewal. Israel’s hypocrisy in Gaza cast iron skillets and gave A feature on Ticketmaster
editor, Kings Place,
This “govern now, build I never expected, in them to us. More than (Admission control, 9 May)
90 York Way,
London N1 9GU,
what’s next” approach my lifetime, to watch 120 years old and used so said the company “sells
UK could reshape how a genocide unfold in often that we just leave the about 70% of all concert
centre-left parties operate front of my eyes (Fears largest one out on the hob. tickets worldwide”; this
globally. In the UK, Labour grow in Gaza of an Israeli Karen Abbott figure refers to US sales
will need to work hard to endgame, Spotlight, Macclesfield, England, UK rather than global sales.

A WEEK
IN VENN
DI AGR A MS
Edith Pritchett

The Guardian Weekly 23 May 2025

 51
Film, music, art, books & more

STAGE
Willem Dafoe’s
Venice theatre
of imagination
Page 55

For the
love
of gods
A British
Museum show
full of deities,
snakes and
shrines places
the three ancient
faiths of India
in dialogue with
contemporary
believers
23 May 2025 The Guardian Weekly
52 Culture
Exhibition
Joining forces religious boundaries. “Whatever your faith,” she says, “when
(Previous page) you see a devotional object, it can really affect you.”
An image We emerge from the shrine in Mumbai into a covered
of the god courtyard that contains, among the stalls selling vestments
Ardhanarishvara and offerings, a giant conch shell on a pedestal, its base
TRUSTEES OF THE spattered with vermilion pigment. This represents Vishnu,
BRITISH MUSEUM
one of Hinduism’s three principal deities, says Jansari.
But, like so many symbols in India, it’s a shared one. In
Face to faith
Buddhism, the conch stands for the spread of the Buddha’s
The goddess
teachings; in Jainism it’s the emblem of one of the revered
Mumba in her
Tirthankaras, or teachers. Once you start to notice these
temple
common pieces of iconography, which include the lotus,
HARI MAHIDHAR/
SHUTTERSTOCK the snake and the lion, you begin to see them everywhere.
That is certainly the case at the Chhatrapati Shivaji
Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, or CSMVS, known until 1998
as the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India. It’s an
ebullient Edwardian pile in Mumbai’s Fort neighbourhood,
one of a suite of magnificent buildings that form part of the
city’s world heritage site. Notable for its Indo-Saracenic
style – think the Taj Mahal crossed with London’s St Pancras
station – it contains hundreds of objects from the dawn of
India’s early religious history. Two of these have been flown
over for the British Museum show, where they form part of
a complex story of influence and assimilation.
The creators of these objects lived incredibly close to
nature. In fact, Jansari says, the natural world “plays the
underpinning role. If you think about when [the pieces]
were made – from the second and third centuries BCE
onwards – the subcontinent is very much an agrarian soci-
ety. There are some people living in cities, but most people
live in the countryside, getting their food and resources
By David t’s the eyes that stay with you – piercing from forests and land. For them, nature plays such an
Shariatmadari black discs that seem to vibrate against the outsized role in their everyday lives: if the monsoon rains
intense orange of a goddess’s skin. The rest is come, then hooray, they can actually eat. If the rains are too
a blur of silver, yellow and saffron as temple strong and wash away all the crops, they may well starve.”
attendants encourage you to move, clock- That awesome power is embodied by the figure of
wise, around the murti, or sacred statue. For the snake, which comes up again and again, represent-
a moment it’s as if this shrine is the one fixed ing both the life-giving and destructive aspects of water
point in the whole city. (they tend to come out when it’s wet), and of course,
The goddess in question is Mumba, the patron of mortal danger. In many of the sculptures they appear as
Mumbai, her temple at the beating heart of one of the most protectors, the same crown of cobras rearing up behind
densely populated areas on Earth. A few streets to the east images of the Buddha or Vishnu.
is the green and white splendour of Minara mosque. To the Jansari has used the rich British Museum collection, as
north is the intricately carved Jain temple of Parshwanath. well as loans from Mumbai, Delhi and elsewhere, to conjure
All around is the noise and commerce of a place that Indi- something of this otherworldly atmosphere in London. But
ans regard as their version of New York and LA when she was first asked by colleagues to put on a
combined – “the city of dreams”. Yet, far from ‘A true sense show about India, she wasn’t sure about the idea.
being a godless metropolis, this is a place where of mystery’ “As somebody from the south Asian diaspora,
religion is very much a going concern. I know the normal thing is to do a devotional
As Sushma Jansari, curator of south Asia at ★★★★★ art exhibition looking at either Jainism or Bud-
the British Museum in London, explains, it’s not This is an exhibition dhist art or Hindu art. And I’m not interested in
surprising the eyes have it. Making direct eye con- with a true sense of doing something in that very traditional format,”
tact, getting a glimpse (or darshan) of the divine, mystery. Not just she says.
is the whole point. For devotees, staring down a in the atmospheric Instead, she was determined “that these be
god isn’t sacrilegious, but a source of comfort and way it is lit with represented as living traditions”, with – and this
connection, and a way to ask for help. coloured misty veils was crucial – total transparency as to how the
Back at the British Museum, Jansari has devised separating displays, objects got there. “The collecting history strand
Ancient India: Living Traditions, a mesmerising or even the marvels absolutely had to be not just an add-on, but an
exhibition exploring the roots of the country’s you encounter – integral part of the show.” Why was that so impor-
major homegrown religions – Hinduism, Jainism but in the way it tant? “Nowadays we all want to know how these
and Buddhism. In it, carvings and statues are all worships life. objects came to be at this museum. Generally
arranged at a height that allows you to meet them Jonathan Jones speaking, it’s presented in quite a binary way: it’s
face to face: “You actually look them in the eye.” either good or it’s bad. Whereas actually there is
The power of these encounters can transcend so much more nuance in these stories.”

The Guardian Weekly 23 May 2025

 53

Go for gold
Bimaran casket,
c first century

Making a scene
A limestone
carving from
Amaravati
TRUSTEES OF THE
BRITISH MUSEUM

It was important to show this is not your faith, from your community, from your geographical ▲ Bellyfull
areas. They belong to you just as much as they belong to us.” Terracotta Yaksha,
all ‘foreign stuf f’ – this is now part Bloomsbury is a long way from Mumbai, but Jansari Sunga period,
hopes the bright colours (she is particularly thrilled by the
of our shared cultural heritage “hot pink” of the Hindu section), scent of sandalwood and
Chandraketugarh,
Bengal, c first
There are carvings from the Buddhist stupa (a dome- videos made by community members will give a sense of century BCE
shaped shrine) at Amaravati, for example, including an how ancient traditions remain a vivid part of the present, CPA MEDIA /ALAMY

incredible double-sided relief depicting the monument not just in India, but in Britain too.
itself. Most of the archaeological material there was “A really important thing for me,” she says, “was to show
destroyed by local workmen in the 18th century, who that this is not all ‘foreign stuff ’ – this is now part of our
ground down the limestone to make mortar. East India shared cultural heritage. Here in the UK, we have people
Company officials then descended, salvaging some from all over the world who practise these faiths, we have
material, yes, but also wrecking it further in the process. these stunning, traditionally built temples and religious
The pieces they gathered were sent to the company’s buildings. And it’s the same with these sacred, devotional
London HQ, and eventually transferred to Bloomsbury images. They’ve been taken around the world for millennia,
where the British Museum is located. In other words: and now they’ve arrived here.” She pauses. “This idea of ▼ Trunk call
“It’s complicated.” moving around, being influenced and influencing others Gaja-Lakshmi
Jansari also mentions a sculpture of a nature spirit in turn, it’s not a weird, modern concept. We’ve always (Elephant
donated by a collector who was born in what is now Bang- been doing this. That’s what I want people to take away.” Lakshmi),
ladesh: “So he had a lot more agency. It’s not necessarily this DAVID SHARIATMADARI IS A WRITER AND NON-FICTION goddess of good
kind of colonial story.” The other thing she insisted on was EDITOR AT THE GUARDIAN
fortune, c 1780
genuine community involvement. That meant recruiting Ancient India: Living Traditions is at the British Museum, TRUSTEES OF THE
people from each of the different faiths to discuss those London to 19 October BRITISH MUSEUM

complex collecting histories, and how to treat sacred objects

appropriately. As a result of these conversations, the exhi-
bition has avoided any animal products – silk drapes were
ditched, and vegan paint used – in accordance with the prin-
ciple of ahimsa, or non-violence towards all living beings.
They also talked about how to respectfully dispose of
offerings that devotees might make in the gallery space.
“I don’t think it’s weird to look on a devotional object that
was created for the purpose of veneration, and [see] people
having that experience [in the museum].”
For Arshna Sanghrajka, a pharmacist and practising Jain
from London, being invited to take part was particularly
meaningful. “I was really excited because museums tend
to be very arty-farty. You look at things from the past and
you admire their splendour and their beauty. And this was
quite different, because while, yes, they wanted to do that,
they also wanted a connection with the present.”
What emerged was a model for how the legal owners of
objects such as these – the museum’s trustees – can effec-
tively widen the definition of whom they belong to. “The
way in which museums are engaging with the public is
changing,” says Sanghrajka. “For an institution that has
so much colonial baggage, it’s really refreshing to see that
they are trying to bring the community back into a sense
of moral ownership: like, actually these objects are from

23 May 2025 The Guardian Weekly

 The Long Wave
54 Culture Scan the QR code to sign up for a Guardian
newletter guiding readers to the biggest
Audio Black stories from around the world

F
C OM M E N TA RY irst, a disclaimer: I had never fully There is pathos and uncertainty, too. In a
bought into the Michelle Obama recent episode, Michelle talks about the death
hype. Also, I am not a huge fan of of her mother, who lived in the White House
the celebrity podcast genre, so I was during the Obamas’ tenure. Michelle says

Michelle
sceptical when Michelle’s podcast, IMO, was that, at 61, only now does she feel that she has
launched in March. Yet when I listened to it, finally become an adult. The former first lady
I was immediately charmed and hooked. In has revealed that she is in therapy, and that she

Obama truth, I came to sneer and stayed to cheer. She

is honest, reflective and vulnerable. The irony
is still trying to navigate this phase of her life.
And, in a striking segment, she speaks with
is that just as Michelle is finding her voice, her barely restrained annoyance about her reasons
sounds out a popularity appears to be falling – the podcast
received poor ratings on launch, though it’s
for not attending Trump’s inauguration, an
absence that triggered divorce rumours . She

reinvention arguably the best thing she’s ever done.

The most arresting thing about IMO, despite
the truly interesting high-profile Black guests,
says “it took everything in [her] power” to
choose what was right for her in that moment.
Yet that decision was met with “ridicule”
is Obama herself. She has always been one because people couldn’t believe she was
of the great orators in US politics – one of the saying no to the inauguration for any other
The launch of her new superpowers that made her and Barack, another reason than she just did not want to be there –
podcast marks a break impressive public speaker, such a compelling they had to “assume my marriage was falling
with the past for the former couple on the world stage. In her podcast, apart”. Oof. It caught my breath.
Michelle uses this talent to reflect on her life and This Michelle is worlds away from the
first lady, coinciding with the challenges of ageing, losing her parents and Michelle of the 2010s. The publishing
an edgier image and a the constant demands placed upon her. juggernaut and icon of Black social mobility,
The fact that she co-hosts the show with her who rose to first lady from a bungalow
relatable authenticity brother, Craig Robinson – a genial and down- in the south side of Chicago, was the
to-earth foil for her confessions – gives the product of a particular moment in feminist
By Nesrine Malik podcast such an intimate air that you feel like and racial discourse.
you’re in the presence of everyday people. I The start of that decade brought the rise of
found myself listening not to hear any snippets Black Girl Magic, a cultural movement that
of political gossip or insight into the Obamas’ focused on the exceptional achievements and
lifestyle, but to receive some exceptionally power of Black women. It intersected with
articulated wisdom from an older Black Black Joy, which moved away from defining
woman who has seen a lot and gone through the Black experience primarily through
milestones we will all experience. racism and struggle.
▼ Open mic
She is also funny. Her account of how Both unfolded against the backdrop of
Michelle Obama
differently men and women socialise is familiar “lean in” feminism, which glorified hard
launched IMO in
and hilarious. Michelle describes catching up graft, corporate success and having it all.
March
with her female friends as a “multiday event”, The result was the marketing of women such
TOBY MELVILLE/
REUTERS/GUARDIAN
something that leaves Barack perplexed as to as Michelle to promote popular narratives
DESIGN why it takes two days for a basic meetup. of inspiration and empowerment. Now
the Obamas seem like relics of a naively
optimistic and complacent time.
But all that change and disappointment
seems to have freed Michelle from the
expectation that she should project graceful
power and guru-like wisdom at all times. The
podcast may not be the runaway hit it might
have been 10 years ago, but that speaks to its
authenticity and refreshing lack of a cynical
big marketing campaign.
In an episode of IMO, she asks herself:
“What happened that eight years that we
were in the White House? We got out alive; I
hope we made the country proud. But what
happened to me?” There is so much urgency
in her voice. And though her high-octane
political experience may not be relatable to the
average person, that question is one that I and
many women of a certain age are asking as we
emerge from the tunnel of navigating racism,
establishing careers against the odds and
having families. What happened to me?
This is an edited extract from The Long Wave
newsletter. IMO is available to stream now

The Guardian Weekly 23 May 2025

 Culture 55
Stage
video call. He looks sheepish when I point out the
significance of the date, then reverts to his usual
wolfish expression. “Ah, Shakespeare doesn’t
care,” he says with a wave of the hand. Dafoe has
never had much of a relationship with those plays.
“There’s a lot of pointing and indicating when
people perform them. A lot of leading the audi-
ence. Those are things I don’t think are very vital.
But it’s such beautiful writing, and I’ve become
interested in doing Shakespeare in my dotage.”
Could there be a Lear on the horizon? “Why not?”
he says with a goofy wobble of the head.
There is no Shakespeare in Dafoe’s Biennale
selection. The accent, in a programme entitled
“Theatre is Body. Body is Poetry”, is firmly on
the experimental and avant garde. There will
be work directed by Thomas Ostermeier and
Milo Rau. Davide Iodice will present a version
of Pinocchio in which young actors with autism
and actors with Down’s syndrome will bring to
life assorted incarnations of the title character.
Dafoe has also included the European premiere
of Symphony of Rats by Richard Foreman, the
experimental playwright who died in January,
and whom he counted as a friend. Nearly 40 years
after its first production, the play will be staged by
the pioneering New York company the Wooster
Group, which Dafoe co-founded. “Richard told
them, ‘Do whatever you want with it. But I don’t
want to recognise it,’” he says admiringly.
The actor will take part in Foreman’s No Title,
Off stage
during which he and Simonetta Solder will read
Willem Dafoe will
phrases from cards drawn at random. “Richard
helm the festival
was a loose thinker,” he explains. “His responses
for two years
were always unpredictable.” Dafoe is approach-
ing his Venice tenure with the same sangfroid he

‘Theatre puts
witnessed in Foreman. “Some of these pieces will
sail, some won’t. What’s important is people talk-
ing about stuff, feeling that the theatre is alive.”
A four-time Oscar nominee, Dafoe has been
a transfixing screen presence ever since his

feet to the f ire’ Kabuki-like turns in the early 1980s in Kathryn

Bigelow’s fetishistic biker movie The Loveless
and Walter Hill’s pulp fantasy Streets of Fire.
He was the sergeant who perishes to the sound
of Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings in Oliver
Stone’s Platoon, then made the messiah crush-

S
itting in his house in Rome, an overstuffed ingly human in Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temp-
Willem Dafoe is a gripping bookcase and a distressed wooden door tation of Christ. More recently he has appeared
screen presence – but lives behind him, Willem Dafoe scrunches his in films by Wes Anderson, Robert Eggers and
for the thrill of the stage. hair as though kneading the thoughts Yorgos Lanthimos.
in his head. The 69-year-old, Wisconsin-born His roots and his heart, however, belong to
As he takes over the Venice actor could pass today for any genial, bristle- experimental theatre. Along with his former part-
theatre biennale, the star moustached handyman in checked shirt and ner Elizabeth LeCompte, the monologuist Spald-
horn-rimmed specs. But it’s that hand that is ing Gray and others, Dafoe created the Wooster
lets us know what to expect
ANDREA AVEZZÙ/ VENICE BIENNALE

the giveaway: it keeps scrunching as he talks Group in the latter half of the 1970s from the ashes
until the hair is standing in jagged forks. As a of Richard Schechner’s Performance Group. For
By Ryan Gilbey visualisation of what is happening in his brain, nearly 30 years, Dafoe wrote, acted and helped
it is second to none. build sets in the same converted factory in
We are speaking in April on the anniversary of lower Manhattan that remains the group’s base
Shakespeare’s birth (and death), which feels apt today. He only drifted away in 2004 when he left
given that it is Dafoe’s two-year appointment as LeCompte – with whom he has an adult son – and
artistic director of the international theatre festi- married the film-maker Giada Colagrande. 
val at the Venice Biennale that has occasioned our Could those of us who have never seen

23 May 2025 The Guardian Weekly

56 Culture Reviews
Stage
FILM

Mission: Impossible –
The Final Reckoning
Dir. Christopher McQuarrie
★★★★★

Here it is: the eighth and final

film (for now) in the spectacular
Mission: Impossible action-thriller
▲ On the nose him live on stage truly be said franchise. With this film’s anti-AI
Davide Iodice’s to “get” who he is as an actor? and internet-sceptic message,
Pinocchio “I think I’ve given up on the and the gobsmacking final aerial MUSIC
RENATO ESPOSITO idea of anyone getting me,” set piece, Cruise is repeating his
he admits. “I probably had it demand for the authentic big-screen
when I was younger. Now I like the idea of every experience. He is of course doing Romance
project redefining you.” his own superhuman stunts – for Shanti Celeste
He pitched up in New York at 22, fresh from the same reason, as he himself once
(Method 808/Peach Discs)
another experimental group, Milwaukee’s memorably put it, that Gene Kelly
Theatre X. “I didn’t have anything up my sleeve. did all his own dancing. ★★★★☆
I was just a kid from the midwest going to the Final Reckoning takes Cruise’s
big, bad city. New York was rough then, but I saw resourceful IMF leader Ethan No one could accuse Shanti Celeste
these people who were making things outside of Hunt on one last maverick mission of being a dance producer who
any commercial system. They stirred something to exasperate and yet overawe indulges in lofty conceptualising
in me intellectually, emotionally, romantically.” his stuffed-shirt superiors at about their music. Her acclaimed
Nothing short of a time machine could return Washington and Langley. And what 2019 debut was called Tangerine,
us to the heyday of New York’s fringe theatre might that be? To save the world of a title she chose because she
scene, but there are mouth-watering titbits avail- course, like all the other missions. “really like[s] fruit”.
able online showing Dafoe in pieces stretching With his doughty team including Tangerine featured ambient
back to the late 1970s. The clips don’t seem too Grace (Hayley Atwell), Luther (Ving interludes and the sound of Celeste
far from his more berserk screen creations. Rhames) and Benji (Simon Pegg), playing the kalimba in her father’s
Acclaim for the Wooster Group was not Hunt must now confront a sinister home in Chile (she moved to the UK
universal. Arthur Miller refused to permit the AI brain called the Entity, which is with her mother as a child).
group to perform part of The Crucible in their undermining truth with lies and The presence of lyrics indicates
show LSD, but they carried on until he threatened deepfakes, setting nation against that Romance is a noticeably
legal action. The estates of Harold Pinter and Ten- nation, so that it will be the anti- different album from its
nessee Williams also withdrew permission. Brick- God, the evil ruler of all. And to stop predecessor, although the influence
bats rained down from critics, Dafoe tells me. it, Ethan has to take the low-tech of revered US dance producers
“Eventually we found that word-of-mouth was “cruciform key” he salvaged in the remains. Romance proceeds at a
better than a snarky review in the Village Voice, so last film and apply it to the Podkova more leisurely pace: its rhythmic
Liz, in her infinite wisdom, stopped allowing the device on board a wrecked Russian sound is the clatter of percussion
critics in. Once we started to have some apprecia- sub somewhere on the seabed. vaguely evocative of Celeste’s Latin
tion in Europe, the New York critics began asking It is a wildly silly adventure that American roots, proceeding as
to come. This time they were more generous with gives us a greatest-hits flashback unhurried as an R&B slow jam. Her
how they placed us in the landscape.” montage of the other seven films music has always been marked by a
The group’s influence today is ubiquitous. in the M:I canon. Moreover, it gives strong melodic sense, but the tunes
Anyone who has seen productions by Complicité us a terrific new character, US sub are noticeably brighter.
will have witnessed the Wooster effect. “Simon commander Capt Bledsoe, played Romance could work as a kind of
McBurney’s a friend, and definitely he saw the with suavity and the tiniest hint of ambient soundtrack, floating around
work. He’s a sponge.” camp by Tramell Tillman, who has in the background of a summer’s
Dafoe is diplomatic today about whether he the chops for M:I9, whenever that afternoon, but it’s best experienced
prefers acting for theatre or cinema, but evi- happens. Peter Bradshaw by fully immersing yourself, prone
dently the stage unlocks his deepest passion. On general release and headphones on. Alexis Petridis
“Something beautiful in the theatre stays with
you for ever, because it happened to you. Theatre
puts your feet to the fire, it puts your finger in the Podcast of the week Vine: Six Seconds That Changed the World
wound.” The hand has stopped scrunching now. Benedict Townsend goes back to 2012 for this eight-part exploration
“And you can’t beat that.”
of TikTok precursor Vine. The short-form video app was huge,
RYAN GILBEY WRITES ABOUT FILM AND THEATRE
FOR THE GUARDIAN
thanks in no small part to a $30m acquisition by Twitter. Townsend
The Venice theatre biennale runs from 31 May charts its rise and fall, from the breakout stars to the brands that
to 15 June exploited the nascent creator economy. Hannah J Davies

The Guardian Weekly 23 May 2025

 Culture 57
Books
These biases probably evolved to help us
coordinate more effectively, as we would have
needed to in order to hunt big game, for exam-
ple. This might explain why, in preindustrial and
modern societies, adolescents tend to emulate
the behaviour of the most athletic people.
Yet those biases, combined with our trusting
natures, leave us vulnerable to exploitation by
autocratic leaders. I believe that having mostly
eliminated overt aggression, ancient societies
ended up inadvertently improving the chances
of individuals who were skilled at manipulating
others in subtler ways. Some people call this trait
proactive aggression, others, machiavellian intel-
ligence, or the ability and inclination to dominate
ILLUSTRATION BY ELIA BARBIERI

via social manoeuvring and deceit.

Machiavellian people are particularly effective
at using our biases against us. Influencers such as
Andrew Tate are adept at using their success and
popularity to sell their ideas to their followers,
carefully avoiding any balancing viewpoints.
And it’s the young, the impressionable and per-
haps those most unhappy with themselves who

A
THE BIG IDEA recent piece of research commissioned are more likely to trust them.
by Channel 4 suggested that more Strongmen such as Donald Trump use deceit
than half of people aged between 13 and manipulation to create total trust in their
and 27 would prefer the UK to be an abilities, and then use that trust to propel

Are we hardwired authoritarian dictatorship.

The results shocked a lot of people concerned
themselves into positions of power – often then
betraying the people that supported their bids.
for autocracy? about the rising threat of autocracy across the
world, including me. Yet, on reflection, I don’t
Today’s authoritarian leaders have not only
these age-old tools at their disposal, but vast
It’s human nature think we should be surprised. The way we
evolved predisposes us to place trust in those
networks for deploying their agendas. Trump’s
recent attacks on the worlds of science and edu-
to trust strongmen, who often deserve it least – in a sense, hardwiring
us to support the most machiavellian among us
cation, promoted on Truth Social, his own social
media platform, and boosted by his acolyte Elon
but we’ve also and to propel them into power. This seems like
an intractable problem. But it’s what we do in the
Musk, are a case in point. Such actions are just the
latest sallies in a long history of wars over trust
evolved the tools face of that knowledge that matters.
Recent work in anthropology and primatology
and belief. When the Bolsheviks took power in
Russia, for example, they deemed certain areas
to resist them shows how this wiring evolved. Our ancient of scientific study “bourgeois” and substituted
ancestors, like most primates today, lived in them for ideologically acceptable ones.
groups dominated by violent and aggressive alpha Still, we can be optimistic that timeless
By Jonathan R Goodman males. Yet over the course of our biological and problems are amenable to timeless solutions.
cultural evolution, unlike our primate cousins, Our ancestors found ways to balance the best
we learned to work together to counter those elements of human nature against the worst – and
bullyboys, organising to diminish their influence. to counter the influence of our inbuilt biases. The
This is sometimes seen as a process of self- first step is to recognise that we have a proclivity
domestication – a hypothesis with roots in the for blindly following others and trusting success,
writings of Charles Darwin. Today, there’s strong to share this insight and to support our fellow
evidence to support this view: not only do we citizens’ capacity to think critically and ethically.
cooperate to a broader extent than any known Where we see authoritarians taking aim at
species, but even our faces – which are flatter and knowledge-creating institutions, we must move
lack the prominent brow ridges associated with to protect them, with our voices and our financial
higher testosterone levels – suggest a reduced ten- resources. Where we see brute power combined
dency towards aggression than that seen in our with ignorance, we can throw our support behind
FURTHER READING closest genetic relatives, such as chimpanzees. knowledge, peaceful protest and education.
Three books for a deeper dive There’s another set of features that researchers And finally, when reigns of terror end, it is
argue evolved as we began to cooperate more critical to absorb the lessons. That way, we inocu-
• Autocracy, Inc widely: learning biases. Work in anthropology late ourselves afresh against our natural tendency
By Anne Applebaum and psychology shows humans tend to believe to trust the untrustworthy, carrying that wisdom
• How Democracies Die what others around them believe, especially forward into the future so we’re better able to
By Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt those they see as successful. These are known stymie the autocrats who seek to close our minds.
• Wired for Culture as conformity and prestige biases respectively JONATHAN R GOODMAN IS A SOCIAL SCIENTIST
By Mark Pagel – and can affect how we perceive information. AND THE AUTHOR OF INVISIBLE RIVALS

23 May 2025 The Guardian Weekly

58 Culture
Books
FICTION insomniac panics of her disease. Then, fictions aren’t maintenance-free:
as she sleeps, he quietly ransacks her after every defeat, every incursion of
cupboards for prescription medicines. reality, they have to be repaired and
Some of the themes of On Earth revised. It’s hard labour, carried out in
Heartbreak and hope We’re Briefly Gorgeous echo through
into this novel. We recognise the
addition to his daily struggles to man-
age Grazina’s illness and earn a living.
A found family created familial landscapes of the Vietnamese He’s not good at it.
immigration to the US; the need to We’re all writers now, Vuong seems
from despair and dead- manage partly assimilated, danger- to suggest. A cheap dinner eaten at
end work becomes a ously unprocessed generational ten- HomeMarket under the kitsch but
sions; the sense of life as the pursuit somehow menacing light of a Thomas
tale of connection of a second chance. Complex relations Kinkade fantasy painting – “Beside Still
between story and backstory also fea- Waters”, “Victorian Family Christmas”
By M John Harrison ture, but at a less demanding scale. Crime fiction – is a story of reward. Two Dilaudid
This is a huge novel in terms of where choice pills, crushed and snorted, are a story
Book of the week it directs our attention: from gay self- Never Flinch about time out. Any economic aspira-
The Emperor of Gladness discovery to the uses of fiction; from By Stephen King tion at all is so clearly a fiction. This
By Ocean Vuong the industrial farming of animals to condition is depicted with the authen-
the drive to write yourself free of the King’s latest ticity of experience. At the same time
parental experience. brings back private Vuong takes it apart with patience

O
cean Vuong’s second novel As well as chosen family, The detective Holly and an ear for dialogue: “I like Nasa
is a 416-page tour of the Emperor of Gladness is also about Gibney, after the – the real kind, not make-believe like
edgeland between aspi- the brutality of work. Hai takes a job police receive a Star Trek,” he has Hai’s cousin Sony,
rational fantasy and self- at HomeMarket, a fast-casual diner letter stating that named after the TV, say. “My mom
deception. It opens with a long slow chain out on Route 4. There, beside the writer will kill likes make-believe, but I hate it. It
pan over the fictional small town of “smoking vats of vibrant, primary-col- “13 innocents and makes things wobbly.” Heartbreaking,
East Gladness, Connecticut, beginning oured side dishes” precooked “nearly 1 guilty”. Slips heartwarming yet unsentimental, and
with ghosts that rise “as mist over the a year ago in a laboratory outside Des of paper in the savagely comic all at the same time,
rye across the tracks” and ending on a Moines”, he makes more new friends. corpses’ hands The Emperor of Gladness is about just
bridge where the camera finds a young BJ, the manager, “six foot three with a suggest that each how wobbly things can become.
man called Hai –“19, in the midnight of buzz cut fade and shape-up”, whose one represents a M JOHN HARRISON IS AN AUTHOR
his childhood and a lifetime from first ambition is to become a pro wrestler member of the jury AND CRITIC
light” – preparing to drown himself. under the pseudonym Deez Nuts; responsible for the
There’s an almost lazy richness to the Russia, “a cuter version of Gollum from incarceration of a
picture: the late afternoon sun, the The Lord of the Rings”, who is actu- wrongly convicted BIOGR APHY
“moss so lush between the wooden ally of Tajikistani origins; Maureen the man. Meanwhile,
rail ties that, at a certain angle of thick, cashier, an ageing conspiracy theorist a women’s rights
verdant light, it looks like algae”, the who relieves her arthritic knees each campaigner
junkyard “packed with school buses
in various stages of amnesia”.
evening with a pack of mac and cheese
from the freezer. Soon, they are his
is targeted
by religious
The Princess diaries
His poetic credentials established, family too. Family outings include a extremists, and An impressive range
the author of the bestselling auto- visit to a slaughterhouse and an even- calls on Holly’s
fictional On Earth We’re Briefly Gor- ing of wrestling at Hairy Harry’s dive services as a
of sources reveal their
geous gives narrative its head. Instead bar: experiences and situations that bodyguard. Despite fascination with the life
of jumping from the bridge, Hai move steadily towards surrealism as some longueurs,
crosses it, to be adopted on the other the novel comes to its climax. Never Flinch – and afterlife – of Diana
side by 82-year-old Grazina, a woman BJ’s crew are “just like the people contains plenty of
suffering mid-stage prefrontal lobe anywhere else in New England. King’s trademark By Tif fany Watt Smith
dementia. He will become her proxy Weather worn and perennially chilling moments,
grandson; they will be each other’s exhausted or pissed off or both.” The with the two Dianaworld
support in a crap world. It will be a dis- take-home from their state being that, storylines expertly By Edward White
ordered but productive relationship. whatever else, the HomeMarket chain entwined.
Grazina, born in Lithuania, “an old offers a tacky but undeniably sensual Laura Wilson
country, far away”, lives on a street experience to the customer; and a liv-

A
known locally as the Devil’s Armpit, ing, however minimal, for the crew. thriving industry of books,
takes 14 pills a day, and always eats Where they converge, these two basic TV shows and films has kept
Stouffer’s Salisbury Steak for dinner. socioeconomic goods encourage the Diana, Princess of Wales’s
She needs a carer; Hai, a pillhead in emergence of a third: a genuine if brief image alive since her death
remission but longing to be back in glow of gladness. Versions of this glow in 1997. Most focus on her flawed
the arms of opioids, needs a more become the real subject of the story. inner world, and claim to uncover
constructive narrative of himself. Dwellers in precarity must provide her “true” self. Edward White’s lively,
Between them they invent a role- themselves with a narrative future. For deeply researched Dianaworld gives us
playing game to bring her down from Hai – who once told himself the story of something very different.
the destabilising hallucinations and “wanting to be a writer” – such support White, whose work includes an

The Guardian Weekly 23 May 2025

 59

acclaimed biography of Alfred FICTION New Me may at first glance seem like
Hitchcock, approaches Diana’s story a thematic cousin; tonally, however, it
through the people who saw them- belongs with Oyeyemi’s more recent
selves in her – the doppelgangers, works: playful, self-aware tales that
opportunists and superfans who
found parallels between the princess’s
Seven wonders revel in the hijinks of storytelling.
The action, set over a week, takes
life of extraordinary privilege and their This gloriously absurd place in Prague, where Oyeyemi has
own. His subjects are the frequently lived since 2013. It features narration
ridiculed devotees who fuel celeb-
tale, in which a woman by the seven versions of 40-year-old
rity culture: women rushing for the is split into multiple Polish-born Kinga Sikora. Each seem-
Diana hairdo; impersonators opening ingly pursuing an agenda unbeknown
supermarkets; psychics jolted awake selves, is a wild ride to the others, they take turns steer-
the night of the fatal crash. It is, White ing their shared existence, conferring
says, “less a biography of Diana, more By Yagnishsing Dawoor through a communal notebook. How
the story of a cultural obsession”. has this come to be? Well, OG Kinga
He marshalls an impressive range A New New Me bailed on them, after leaving them tem-
of sources – diaries, oral histories, By Helen Oyeyemi porarily in charge. It’s now more than a
teenage scrapbooks, comedy skits. decade since anyone last saw her.
There are nationalists and interna- What’s the book about? As ever with
tionalists, royalists and republicans, Oyeyemi, it’s hard to say, and perhaps

H
conservatives and progressives, those ow many selves do we entirely beside the point. I’d describe
who pitied, admired, were beguiled or house? Thousands, this riddling, befuddling but always
infuriated by Diana. White’s approach thought Virginia Woolf. Are very funny novel as a fable about self-
is to take seriously the stories that they one and the same? Not mythology: how we build ourselves
drew people to Diana. according to the Portuguese author up through the stories we tell, only
Above all, what Diana offered was Fernando Pessoa, whose alter egos – to trip over them, or have to rewrite
a new way for British people to imag- writers just like him – came with their them later. A comedy about the masks
ine the place of emotion in public own distinct names, biographies, we wear, as well as an existential mys-
life. White’s subjects tell us that what mindsets and hot takes on the world. tery: is it ever possible to know which
drew them to Diana was her messy Born of him yet operating indepen- among our inner selves act in our
but apparently authentic expression dently, he called them “heteronyms”. favour and which do not?
of emotion, the way she challenged Are our selves on the same team? You The denouement is so gloriously
British reserve. The historian Thomas wish, Helen Oyeyemi might say, hold- absurd, you can’t help but salute
Dixon argues that the stiff upper lip ing up her new novel, which features a Oyeyemi’s knack for artful nonsense.
was only a brief, 20th-century anom- protagonist split seven ways, one self Whether you adore this novel or chuck
aly in the emotional history of Britain. for each day of the week, and no two it across the room may come down to
Right from the start, people were ever in full agreement. how much mischief for its own sake Interview with
fascinated by Diana’s feelings. Her Oyeyemi made her debut in 2005 you can handle. My bet is you’ll finish an author
seemingly excessive emotions reso- with The Icarus Girl, the story of eight- it, as I did, feeling bemused but also Kazuo Ishiguro on
nated with people struggling to year-old Jessamy, whose mysterious entertained, and grateful for the ride. the film adaptation
express their own in a world only too playmate, TillyTilly, is possibly her YAGNISHSING DAWOOR IS A MAURITIAN of his debut novel
eager for them to quietly conform. own destructive alter ego. A New WRITER AND CRITIC A Pale View of Hills
Though, as White observes, Diana’s
pain was also an essential tool in neu-
tralising potential resentment towards T OM GAU L D
her gilded life: “Poor Di, so human, so
lovable,” as one man put it.
This book is an ingenious solution
to the problem of biography in an age
of global celebrity, where identity
seems much less stable, a jumble of
ever-changing projections and imag-
inings. Dianaworld is a kaleidoscopic
place, stuffed full with contradictory
perspectives. But perhaps that is
appropriate for a life that ultimately
seemed so mercurial and slippery,
so un-pin-down-able. As one visitor
to Althorp comments at the end of
a rather lacklustre tour of Diana’s
childhood home: “Is there nothing
else Diana? Is that it?”
TIFFANY WATT SMITH IS A CULTURAL
HISTORIAN AND AUTHOR

23 May 2025 The Guardian Weekly

60 Lifestyle

MODER N LIFE him to my wife. That was nearly 30 stuff is still piled in the hallway – it’s
Tim Dowling years ago, which can make the end easier to pack the car by carrying the
result feel like destiny, although bags out through the side door.
probably not from the tortoise’s We load the dogs in the car and

The tortoise has point of view. To him it’s just one

foiled escape attempt after another.
head off. Somewhere along the M3
we begin to weigh the pros and cons

been trying to This spring, our oldest son also

returned to us: his lease is up, and
of our new living situation.
“On the one hand, he’s a terrible

escape for more he has yet to find a new place. When

I arrive to pick him up from the flat
slob,” I say. “On the other hand, we
now have two potato mashers.”

than 50 years he’s shared with friends for the

past two years, his belongings are
“I’ll set some ground rules when
we get back,” my wife says.
in bin liners, his furniture piled on “But it’s also good we can go away

A
reader writes, asking how stairwell landings. and feel secure about things,” I say.
I can let my tortoise roam The car is so full that the last “Are you kidding?” she says.
free in my back garden. things have to be crammed in and “How secure do you feel right now?”
She’d like to do the same the doors quickly shut before they When we arrive at our destination
with her adopted tortoise, but is fall back out. The oldest one rides I check the weather in London – it’s
worried it will escape. with a suitcase on his lap, and a due to get very hot. I send a panicky
I explain that my garden is potted plant on the floor between text to the family WhatsApp group
bounded by high brick walls, safely his knees. His mother is not thrilled about the seedlings in my office, and
sealing the tortoise in, but that I too to see all this stuff piled up in our their watering needs. Half an hour
am consumed by fear that he will hall and living room. later I receive a reply from the oldest
escape. He’s very good at hiding, and “Lucky for you we’re going one. It says: “where is the key”.
this always strikes me as a strategy: away,” she says. “You can figure out I explain about the key – again.
wait until they think you’ve already how to get it all upstairs before we Eventually he texts back to say he’s
gone, and their guard will drop. come back.” now out all day. Then the middle one
Also, he has form: my wife was “I will,” he says. “What’s for texts to say he will drop by to water
eight years old when she got the supper?” that afternoon.
tortoise. After her parents separated We’re setting off in the morning My wife joins in, issuing a rebuke
he went to live in the country with for a long weekend, leaving little Once he to the oldest one and a reminder of
her father, and promptly escaped. time to inculcate a fresh sense of his residential responsibilities.
He stayed missing for two years, until responsibility in our new roommate. stayed “He’s gone very quiet since
a farmer found him while combining “You’ll need to get cat food,” missing then,” I say.
in a field. For 20 years the tortoise my wife says. “Lock the back door “Well, he’ll be embarrassed,
lived in a pen with the farmer’s if you go out.” for two I hope,” my wife says.
sheepdogs, with a white stripe “OK,” he says. years, We don’t receive any kind of
painted on his back to make him “I’m expecting a package reply until late afternoon, when the
easier to spot whenever he got out. tomorrow,” I say. until he oldest one finally responds: “I think
At some point in the 1990s, the “Do your laundry,” my wife says, you left the side door open. The
tortoise was returned to my father- “and keep the kitchen clean.”
was found tortoise has just been returned to me
in-law, who very quickly returned The next morning the oldest one’s in a f ield from across the street.”

STEPHEN COLLINS

The Guardian Weekly 23 May 2025

 KITCHEN AIDE 61
61
By Anna Berrill

T H E W E E K LY R E C I P E
By Benjamina Ebuehi

№ 318
Lemon,
te
pistachio and white
chocolate cake
Prep 10 min When I’m entertaining, I like a
Cook 1 hr dessert that’s going to bring the
wow factor, can be partially made
Serves 8-10 ahead and isn’t too faffy. This nutty

The filo good factor: fillings for citrus cake ticks all of those boxes.

pastries that are easy to knock up Method

Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan)/
gas 4, and grease and line a 30cm x
20cm swiss roll tin.
Filo pies are my go-to when I’m the edges,” Kellett says. And, for Ingredients Grind the pistachios in a food
entertaining, but what are the something alongside, try tabbouleh For the cake processor until fine. Cream the
best fillings? studded with lots of fresh dill, 100g softened butter, sugar, oil and lemon zest
parsley and coriander or a tomato, unsalted butter, plus until pale and creamy, then add

T
extra for greasing
he wonderful thing about pickled shallot and herb salad. the eggs one at a time, beating well
75g pistachios,
filo pies and tarts is that If you have plenty of herbs to plus extra, chopped,
after each addition.
they look fancy even when hand, plump for the Guardian’s to finish In a separate bowl, mix the flour,
they’re knocked up from Rukmini Iyer’s goat’s cheese, 150g caster sugar ground pistachios, baking powder,
just a handful of ingredients, they artichoke and hazelnut number 2 tbsp neutral oil almonds and salt, add this to the
require little more than a green salad – one of her “favourite recipes Finely grated zest of butter mix in two batches and mix
to please and, much like the rest of for the column so far”. Blitz 30g 1 lemon in gently. Pour into the prepared tin
us, they really do benefit from some flat-leaf parsley (stems and all), 20g 2 large eggs and bake for 20-25 minutes, until
downtime. “They’re even better mint, 20g basil, 15g chives and 50g 100g plain flour browned and a skewer inserted into
1 tsp baking powder
at room temperature because the chopped hazelnuts until smooth, the middle comes out clean.
30g ground almonds
flavour evolves,” says Rosie Kellett, then pour into a round pie dish ¼ tsp salt
Meanwhile, make a syrup. Put the
author of In for Dinner. lined with filo sheets that you’ve lemon juice and sugar in a small pan,
Kellett likes to wrap as many brushed with the oil from a jar of For the lemon syrup bring to a boil, then turn down to a
spring greens as possible in filo, artichokes. Top with the artichokes 60ml fresh lemon simmer and cook for a minute. Take
along with cheese and hot honey and teaspoonfuls of soft goat’s juice off the heat and leave to cool.
butter. “The key is a flavoured cheese dotted around and about, 60g caster sugar Prick the surface of the baked
butter,” Kellett says, so, rather then scatter with more chopped cake with a skewer and spoon over
than simply painting melted butter hazelnuts and bake at 200C (180C For the filling the cooled syrup.
100g white
between every filo sheet so it goes fan)/gas 6 for 25 minutes. To make the filling, finely chop
chocolate
nice and crisp in the oven, she also For other cheesy greens, try peas: 400ml double cream
the white chocolate. Lightly whip
adds honey and harissa. “Wilt the “Minted garden peas with grated ½ tsp vanilla bean the double cream and vanilla in a
greens, squeeze out any moisture, lemon zest, whipped or baked paste bowl to very soft peaks. Take out
then fold in crumbled feta, a couple ricotta, lots of herbs and spring 4 tbsp lemon curd about a third of the cream and
of eggs and season really well.” onions is a really nice combo,” put it in a separate bowl. Fold the
You could also throw in some Kellett says, especially if you char chopped white chocolate into the
caramelised onions. “Put a couple of the spring onions first. Chantelle remaining cream.
layers of filo painted with hot honey Nicholson, who is behind Baked by To assemble, trim the edges of
butter in an ovenproof dish [greased Cordia, a microbakery and garden the cake and cut it widthways into
with more honey butter], add a third cafe in West Sussex, would also go three. Put one strip of cake on a
of the filling, then repeat with more for peas, with ricotta and mint, but serving platter and spoon or pipe on
filo and filling.” Finish with more she’d crush them, alongside some half the white chocolate cream. Add
filo, then sprinkle over a crisp, seedy broad beans, too, “for texture” and dollops of lemon curd, then top with
topper (think everything bagel mix, throw in some onion seeds. the second strip of cake and repeat
or a mix of nigella, sesame and ANNA BERRILL IS A FOOD WRITER the toppings. Lay the last layer of
fennel seeds). “Bake until golden Got a culinary dilemma? cake upside down on top and finish
brown, crisp and bubbling up at Email [email protected] with the reserved cream. Cover
with a generous sprinkle of chopped
pistachios, then slice and serve.
ION-BOGDAN DUMITRESCU/GETTY

23 May 2025 The Guardian Weekly

 Notes and Queries
62 Diversions The long-running series that invites
readers to send in questions and
answers on anything and everything

QUIZ What links: COU N T RY DI A RY

Thomas Eaton 8 Tasmin Archer; HITCHIN
Frederick Delius; Gareth Hertfordshire, England, UK
Gates; Zayn Malik;

I
1 Which king’s sister, Kimberley Walsh? ’m a pro ud member of Happy
wife and lover were all 9 Buenos Aires; Canberra; (the Hitchin association of
called Edith? Luanda; St John’s; Tirana; pavement plant yokels),
2 Korky the Cat was the Vienna; Yerevan? so-called by my friend Phil, a
first cover star of what 10 Beds; cream; espresso fellow wildflower enthusiast. You’ll
in 1937? coffee; quotation marks; find us roaming the town centre,
3 Which fabric is made window glazing? scanning brick walls and peering
from flax fibres? 11 Borghese; David; into paving crevices on the hunt for
4 What type of holiday François; Medici; the tenacious species that thrive in
is named from a Swahili Portland; Warwick? these oft-overlooked habitats. I had
word for journey? 12 Hawaii (1); Sicily (2); my pavement epiphany a couple
5 Who orchestrated the ▲ In question 13, Thailand (3)? of years ago outside the chemist
FTX fraud? what connects 13 The future Tsar on Hitchin high street when I saw
6 Maria Mitchell, in 1847, Queen Anne with Alexander II; Queen a little lass scrutinising the paving
was the first US astronomer two rulers and an Anne; future Edward VII; stones. She’d noticed a community
to discover what? aristocrat? Edward Smith-Stanley? of self-seeded plants growing in a
7 Which west London IAN DAGNALL/ALAMY 14 Beryl Bainbridge’s semicircular crack. The diversity
stadium hosted one game Master Georgie and of the miniature garden astonished
of the 1966 World Cup? JG Farrell’s Troubles? me: mosses, meadow grass,
goosegrass, common whitlowgrass,
PUZZLES 3 Same Difference turtle. b) tooth/paste/board. sow thistle, fleabane and there,
Chris Maslanka Identify the two words among the annual plants and
SHUSH. 4 Missing Links a) down/turn/
FASCINATOR. 3 Same Difference HUSH,
which differ only in the Puzzles 1 Wordpool a). 2 Jumblies perennial cigarette butts, a seedling
letter shown: with trilobed leaves – rue-leaved
Man Booker.
Man Booker Best of Beryl and Lost
1 Wordpool **** (quiet) 14 Awarded special Booker prizes: saxifrage (Saxifraga tridactylites).
Find the correct definition: S**** (quiet!) Prince of Wales’s Stakes; the Derby.
races: Cesarewitch; Queen Anne Stakes;
Now this three-fingered rock-
ACROTISM White Lotus. 13 Gave names to horse breaker’s tiny white flowers have
a) lack of a pulse 4 Missing Links 12 Settings of the three series of The opened in the sun. Looking closely,
b) lack of beans Find a word that follows you can see sticky hairs lining the
double. 11 Celebrated historical vases.
Albania; Austria; Armenia. 10 Single or
c) not having the means the first word and precedes Australia; Angola; Antigua and Barbuda; fleshy leaves and stems – but be
d) plain without bumps the second to make a new prepared for funny looks if you
beginning and ending in A: Argentina;
from Bradford. 9 Capitals of countries
word or phrase. cancel greyhound racing).8 Musicians lie prostrate on the pavement to
2 Jumblies a) down turtle City (Wembley’s owners refused to
Bankman-Fried. 6 Comet. 7 White
examine this low-growing annual.
Rearrange NO FRASCATI b) tooth board 2 The Dandy. 3 Linen.4 Safari. 5 Sam Surprisingly for a plant that
to make a word. © CMM2025 Answers Quiz 1 Harold II (Godwinson). naturally grows on limestone
cliffs and sand dunes, the first UK
CHESS Fide world rankings, and Rex Sinquefield, which record was from Chancery Lane in
Leonard Barden with one round remaining also includes rapid and London 1597. I tracked down a local
was tied seventh in the blitz events in Poland and record of “rue-leaved sengreen or
10-man field in Romania Croatia, the Sinquefield whitlow grass” from May 1811 and a
India’s world champion, with one win, five draws, Cup in St Louis, and a Tour herbarium specimen collected from
Gukesh Dommaraju, and two defeats. Final in São Paulo, Brazil. a wall in Hitchin in April 1841.
hoped for a comeback The event was part of Prize money at Bucharest This year, the summit-scaler has
at Bucharest last week the European leg of the totalled $350,000, with reinvented itself as a river-rider,
after his dismal Freestyle Grand Slam sponsored $100,000 for the winner. flowing along the bricked banks
performances in north by the St Louis billionaire Going into the final of the Hiz. If it weren’t for the odd
Germany and Paris in 3972 Kuzey Uzun v Teodora
round, Praggnanandhaa inquisitive youngster and a few
the spring. Instead, the Traistaru, European Championship Rameshbabu led the field Happy townsfolk, I’m sure rue-
top seeded 18-year-old 2025. White to move and win. by half a point with 5/8. leaved saxifrage would go about its
was defeated by France’s Gukesh’s form will be annual business unnoticed for many
8
pair of Maxime Vachier- of concern in India, before centuries to come. Nic Wilson
Lagrave, in 31 moves, 7 the world champion’s
and Alireza Firouzja, 6 clash with Magnus
in 69 moves, before 5 Carlsen, still ranked
scoring a 44-move win, 4 world No 1, in Stavanger,
against the US’s Levon Norway, from 25 May.
3
Aronian, in the eighth and lose quickly.
penultimate round. 2 mate. Other defences for Black also
Gukesh has dropped 1 Ng6 4 Rxg6+ Kh7 5 Rh6+ Kg8 6 Rh8
from third to fifth in the
3972 1 g6! fxg6 2 Rxh5! gxh5 3 Rg1+
a b c d e f g h
ILLUSTRATION: CLIFFORD HARPER

The Guardian Weekly 23 May 2025

 63

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Quick crossword
No 17,166
9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

11 12 9 10

13

14 15 11 12

 All solutions published next week

16 17 13

18 14 15 16

19 20 17

21 22 23 18 19 20

24 21

25 26 22 23

27 28 24

The Weekly cryptic By Harpo Across 7 Script scribe (12)

1 Gaudy and OTT (12) 8 Rigid harness (anag) – doing the
No 29,693 9 Ram in the sky (5) ‘do’? (12)
10 Increasingly drizzly – former 13 Nitwit’s quality (8)
Monacan ruler (7) 16 Thai, for one (7)
Across 13 Rivet up broken corroded pan (10)
11 What you may do to oats or your 17 Ta-ra! (3,3)
1 Reportedly purchase farming tool for a penny 15 Prisoner, curt church officer and daughter
‘r’s (4) 19 Peak performance (1,4)
farthing? (7) came together (9)
12 What a full stop ends (8) 21 Pale – sporting – expo (4)
5 Steady earner from clubs beginning to 16 Pressure in America superficially harms
14 Scallywag (6)
collaborate in adult entertainment (4,3) economic recoveries (8)
15 Hoyle’s predecessor (6)
9 English involved in slight about Aussie 17 Fire safety measure identified in formal part
18 Playful marine mammal (3,5) Solution No 17,160
football (5) of flight (3,5)
10 Force once made rough bombs (4,5) 19/20 Category of disastrous result in eg MSc or
20 Apple’s digital assistant (4) A P A T H Y F A G E N D
22 In an intemperate manner (7) B D E D X A
11 Top hack’s office tried so desperately to get PhD (6,6)
23 She said ‘Curiouser and B L O OM Z AM B E Z I
joint (10) 23 Diplomacy surrounding Republican’s religious A R A E I C N
curiouser!’ (5)
12/14 Only real mugs should survive its scrutiny pamphlet (5) C H I A N T I R E S I T
24 Bandit at the bird-feeder (4,8)
(4,11) 24 Pamper bishop wearing laurel (4) Y N T E Y
18/21 Perhaps cyborg’s faulty power unit Down G L E N G A R R Y
discharged at random (11,4) Q N E A P
2 South ___ – guards (7)
U NW E D I N F A N T A
22 Having a change of heart, female sheep 3 Timor or Grinstead (4) I I G S I G C
chasing castrated ram around area shows 4 Fowl – country (6) V E R D A N T B A T I K
alert gaze (7,3) 5 Square root of 169 (8) E E M R Z E
25 Longing for what was left in Santiago, 6 One often pickled in the pub (5) R E D D E N R E J E C T
unfortunately (9)
26 Fling means of protection, sacrificing first
Solution No 29,687
rook (5)
27 Posy heads evenly covered in mist (7)
Sudoku
28 Boy cycling in bay maybe finds lever (7) P A R A M E D I C A L Easy
A E U A E R O G Fill in the grid so
C H E A P E R T W E E N I E that every row,
Down I R E C R A G L every column
1/2 Stock gatherer seen around Suffolk, for
D E S P E R A D O K A S H A and every 3x3
one (6,6)
I O T I I I T box contains the
3 Revamped Commodores launch site in Russia
C A F E M O N T E N E G R O numbers 1 to 9.
(10)
T A G H
4 Distinctive character conveyed by Internet Last week’s solution
C O H A B I T A N T S T O P
host (5)
O E A O O E I
5 Mix with Marxist holding no good line (9)
6 Company for older folk horrified, mainly over A R R A S U N H E A R D O F
losing hospital (4) R E H C O F N F
7 Flat baked objects Dave’s mate put across S L A V I S H P U R C E L L
majority of terrace (8) E L N E E I S E
8 Ducks, say – 50% died in winter going north (8) M A G I S T R A T E S

23 May 2025 The Guardian Weekly

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