Lauren Bell has ball in hand.
Out come our teams….
Continue reading...© Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Action Images/Reuters
© Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Action Images/Reuters
Adrian Carter is using polling to help him vote tactically. Plus a letter from Keith Flett
In an otherwise thoughtful article, John Harris neglects one important virtue of pre-election polls (I’ve seen all the ‘landslide’ polls – but they can’t tell us what’s really going on in this election, 23 June). I have spent most of my adult life in constituencies where, in retrospect, voting for the government I wanted would have been best served by voting locally for another party. I do not need help in deciding which issues are important to me or which government is more likely to deliver the outcomes I want, but I do need help in deciding where my vote would best be placed to secure the national outcome I favour. Well-structured polls are a help with this.
To give an example, it is clear from an overview of the six MRP polls I have examined that the party I’m inclined to favour has little chance of winning in my constituency. But if I want to rid myself of the worst government in my lifetime, armed with MRP data, the logical thing for me to do is to vote not for my favoured party but for a third party that has a chance of beating the Conservatives in this seat. I shall know on 5 July whether I have made the right choice, but my chance of doing so is much enhanced by the existence of constituency-level polls.
Adrian Carter
Penselwood, Somerset
© Photograph: RTimages/Alamy
© Photograph: RTimages/Alamy
Argument about a lemon- or orange-shaped planet highlights importance of international competition in science, curator says
It was a row that split scientists, launched globe-trotting expeditions and for one man, ended in murder: was the Earth shaped like an orange or a lemon?
The 18th-century debate – and the endeavours that settled it –can now be relived by visitors to this year’s Royal Society summer science exhibition, in a display called “Figuring the Earth”.
Continue reading...© Photograph: The Royal Society 2024
© Photograph: The Royal Society 2024
They came to power promising ‘a golden age for the arts’. Now, 12 disastrous culture secretaries later, they leave it in tatters. What a stunning missed opportunity to capitalise on an asset that was the envy of the world
The fishing industry contributes barely £1bn to the British economy. That is 0.03% of GDP. Put it another way: it is roughly equivalent in size to visual effects, a sub-category of a category of the creative industries.
Conservative ministers made repeated visits to the nation’s ports to extol the virtues of an almost moribund trade. By contrast, a sector that has been the fastest growing for two decades, that contributes more than £120bn, that in other countries would be seen as an essential component of the good society, was largely seen as an afterthought.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images
US Olympic athletes have lost faith in the World Anti-Doping Agency to rid their sports of cheaters before next month’s summer Games in Paris, two former gold medalists told a House subcommittee on Tuesday night.
The testimony by Michael Phelps and Allison Schmitt followed revelations this spring that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for a banned heart medication before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 but were allowed by Wada to compete. Five of those swimmers went on to win medals, including three golds.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Nathan Howard/Getty Images
© Photograph: Nathan Howard/Getty Images
Some Legal & General Investment Management funds will divest from Glencore Plc on concerns about its production of the most polluting fuel.
Investment management giant Legal & General’s ESG (environmental, social and governance) funds, and some of its pension funds, are to divest from Glencore due to concerns over its coal production.
LGIM warns this morning that it believes companies need to do more to play their part in efforts to mitigate climate change risks.
“LGIM remains concerned that Glencore has not disclosed plans for thermal coal production that are aligned with a net zero pathway.”
Continue reading...© Photograph: Loren Elliott/Reuters
© Photograph: Loren Elliott/Reuters
Annual pre-tax profits climbed 186% to £34.3m, lifted by television upgrades and tumble dryers
The online electrical goods seller AO World has enjoyed a near-tripling of profits thanks in part to booming tumble dryer sales during the wet winter and televisions for Euro 2024.
Revenues at the retailer, which sells 15% of all domestic appliances in the UK, were also bolstered by the continued popularity of air fryers, with the company attributing this to customers looking for a cheaper alternative to takeaways amid the cost of living crisis.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Richard Pelham/Getty Images
© Photograph: Richard Pelham/Getty Images
Whatever your outside space – garden, balcony or window box – you can turn it into a haven for nature with a pint-sized pond and a slowworm sunbed
It is easy to feel hopeless about the future of British wildlife. The 2023 State of Nature report found that one in six species are at risk of extinction, with the groups most under threat including plants, birds, amphibians and reptiles, fungi and land mammals. But many of us can do something simple to help: gardening.
“There are 23m gardens in Britain, so we can make a real difference,” says Rob Stoneman from the Wildlife Trusts. Gardens cover a bigger area than all the UK’s nature reserves combined, he says. “If you haven’t got a garden, perhaps you could have a window box, or get involved in a community garden, or apply for an allotment.”
Continue reading...© Photograph: Callingcurlew23/Getty Images
© Photograph: Callingcurlew23/Getty Images
President corrects ‘great injustice’ with clemency for military personnel ‘convicted simply for being themselves’
Joe Biden has moved to correct a “great injustice” by pardoning thousands of US veterans convicted over six decades under a military law that banned gay sex.
The presidential proclamation, which comes during Pride month and an election year, allows LGBTQ+ service members convicted of crimes based solely on their sexual orientation to apply for a certificate of pardon that will help them receive withheld benefits.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Tiziana Fabi/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: Tiziana Fabi/AFP/Getty Images
The Lakers legend sees parallels between the WNBA rookies and the rivalry that defined his career. Both relationships have plenty to say about America itself
In the 1970s, the NBA was sputtering. Playoff games were on tape-delay. Many of the league’s teams were in debt, baseball was still firmly America’s game and lesser-known small market franchises were winning titles. But then an influx of talent changed the entire operation. The 1979-80 NBA season saw rookies Magic Johnson and Larry Bird explode on to the scene with the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics, respectively. But even then, the two were known quantities and so, too, was their budding rivalry. It all began in college the year prior. The 1979 NCAA title game featured Johnson’s Michigan State team defeating Bird’s Indiana State in what is still the most-watched basketball game ever in the US. It was a matchup that featured Magic’s flash and charisma against Bird’s quiet genius. Two skilled passers making their teams better. Fast-forward 45 years and history is repeating itself, this time with the WNBA’s Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark. Just ask Magic himself.
“Larry and I heightened the NBA’s overall popularity,” Johnson wrote on X on Monday. “The Lakers and Celtics sold out arenas throughout the league and increased television viewership exponentially. The higher viewership numbers led to the NBA signing significantly larger TV contracts which then led to higher salaries for the players. Caitlin and Angel are now doing the same thing, selling out arenas and increasing the viewership.”
Continue reading...© Photograph: Jeff Haynes/NBAE/Getty Images
© Photograph: Jeff Haynes/NBAE/Getty Images
I read them all so you don’t have to. None in isolation would set the world alight, but look closely and there are some good ideas
It is true that election manifestos can’t be compared like with like – and in recent years, the variation of detail, trustworthiness and meaning has become more pronounced than ever. But it is also true that there are things to be gleaned from their recurring themes. Moreover, there are objectively good ideas which may emanate from a party that will never be able to enact them, but nevertheless deserve exposure.
Looked at that way, it’s a great year to be a dentist, or in construction. Every party (bar Reform and the SNP) talks a great game on dental provision – even, ironically, the Conservatives, who have a £200m “recovery plan”. Toothache doesn’t feel very metaphorical when you have it, but the issue speaks to a broader truth that Keir Starmer made explicit in his manifesto launch speech: that the real-life impacts of degraded public services are too stark to ignore – which is precisely why everyone is pledging that the nothing-works years are over.
Continue reading...© Composite: Guardian Design – Getty images/Alamy
© Composite: Guardian Design – Getty images/Alamy
Insiders from sites such as eBay, Depop and Vinted give advice on how to get the best cash for preloved items
The competition is stiff, so finding the right place to sell your clothes will give you the best chance of getting them in front of people who might want to buy them.
Continue reading...© Illustration: Jamie Wignall/The Guardian
© Illustration: Jamie Wignall/The Guardian
It added Netflix even though I already have a subscription, and even after a five-hour chat, it hasn’t been removed
I’ve been a Virgin Media customer for more than 20 years but I am at the end of my tether over a £17.99 a month charge for streaming subscriptions that keep on mysteriously appearing on my bill.
Our contract is for TV and broadband at £55 a month. We pay each month by direct debit and never use any extras or charged-for services. We have separate subscriptions for things like Netflix and Amazon Prime and pay for them directly.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Jozef Mikietyn/Alamy
© Photograph: Jozef Mikietyn/Alamy
‘I think it’s right that we have these robust discussions, but we must do it respectfully,’ Starmer said
When the Conservatives launched their election campaign five weeks ago, 20 points behind in the polls and on their fourth prime minister in five years, it was unclear how things could get any worse.
The gambling scandal that has engulfed the party has answered that question. The extraordinary row began when the Guardian revealed on 12 June that Craig Williams, Rishi Sunak’s closest parliamentary aide, was under investigation by the Gambling Commission for betting on a July election three days before one was called.
Continue reading...© Composite: Getty Images
© Composite: Getty Images
Exclusive: Videos on Reform leader’s account show more engagement and average views than any other candidate
Nigel Farage is outperforming all other parties and candidates on TikTok throughout the general election campaign, analysis shows, eclipsing politicians considered most popular among young people.
Since the election was called, videos posted to the Reform leader’s personal account had more engagement and views on average than any other candidate – as well as the main channels of other parties.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images
© Photograph: Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images
The anti-Tory tide sweeping the country has much to tell us about the volatility of voting since Brexit
There are various ways to map the spectrum of public opinion and model voter journeys from one pole to another, but none applies to Sheila. White-haired and frail, she takes a few minutes to come to the door of her small redbrick terrace house on an estate in Eastbourne’s Hampden Park suburb. She looks tired and explains that medication for a serious illness makes her sleepy. But a glint of something like mischief flickers in her eyes when she’s asked who has her support at the coming election.
It’s a close call. Reform or Liberal Democrat. Sheila likes what Nigel Farage has to say and has backed Ukip before (never the Tories). Pressed to choose, she declares her decision by pointing emphatically at the young man standing on her doorstep holding a stack of orange-fringed flyers. Josh Babarinde’s reputation has preceded him.
Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist
Guardian Newsroom: election results special. On Friday 5 July, 7.30pm-9pm BST, join Hugh Muir, Gaby Hinsliff, John Crace, Jonathan Freedland and Zoe Williams for unrivalled analysis of the general election results.
Book tickets here or at theguardian.live
Continue reading...© Photograph: Aaron Chown/PA
© Photograph: Aaron Chown/PA
The defending 800m Olympic champion won’t defend her title after a stumble in a single race. Her absence is a needless wound for Team USA
The track and field events at this summer’s Olympics don’t start until August, but Team USA are already losing medals in June.
Athing Mu, who won gold in the women’s 800m in Tokyo and followed up with a world championship the next year at the age of 20, isn’t going to Paris. Neither are Brooke Andersen, the 2022 world champion in the women’s hammer throw, or Laulauga Tausaga-Collins, the 2023 world champion in the women’s discus.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Kirby Lee/USA Today Sports
© Photograph: Kirby Lee/USA Today Sports
Tee A Corinne took fearless shots of same-sex lovers in a 1980s Oregon commune – and published a notoriously intimate colouring book that became a minor classic. Has her time come at last?
In 1993, Tee A Corinne wrote that she was “close to being finished with sexual imagery”. Corinne was a prolific multimedia artist, activist, photographer and writer of erotica and autobiography. Much of her work involved what she called “labia imagery and … images of women making love with other women or with themselves”. After three decades of this, however, she was thinking about moving on. “I have thought this before but changed my mind,” she wrote. “Why? Because no one else was making the images I wanted to see.”
The images Corinne made, in part because nobody else was doing it, remain extraordinary, invigorating and quietly radical. Her Artist’s Statement: On Sexual Art is just one of many documents, posters, essays and letters gathered together by Charlotte Flint, editor of A Forest Fire Between Us, a new book collecting some of Corinne’s considerable body of work and the ephemera surrounding it.
Continue reading...© Photograph: © Tee A. Corinne / Tee A. Corinne Papers, Coll. 263. Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Archives, from Tee A. Corinne: A forest fire between us (MACK, 2024). Courtesy of MACK and University of Oregon Archives.
© Photograph: © Tee A. Corinne / Tee A. Corinne Papers, Coll. 263. Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Archives, from Tee A. Corinne: A forest fire between us (MACK, 2024). Courtesy of MACK and University of Oregon Archives.
Scorpions, grill racks, pigeons – if you want to know what these terms also mean, look up The Queer Arab Glossary, a playfully illustrated new compendium of words running from the affectionate to the derogatory
Do you know what yrabbī ḥamām means? It is one of 330 slang terms that Lebanese artist Marwan Kaabour has put in his debut book, The Queer Arab Glossary. Yrabbī ḥamām is a colloquial term that means “pigeon keeper”, with the word ḥamām (pigeon) a common euphemism for penis. It’s Kaabour’s favourite entry and, he says, ḥamām is used “in an endearing way, like in a way a mum and child would joke about”. The term can also refer to someone who engages in gay sex, and it is accompanied by an illustration by Palestinian graphic designer Haitham Haddad, showing a cheerful gay man with a moustache feeding pigeons depicted as flying penises.
The book provides a snapshot of the linguistic landscape of queerness in Arabic-speaking regions, with examples from Levantine, Iraqi, Gulf, Egyptian, Sudanese and Maghrebi dialects. “I am waging a battle on two fronts with this book,” says Kaabour, who is based in London. “The first is directed towards the authorities of my own people, those who claim that queerness is a western import. I am debunking that. I’m showing them how we have been a big part of Arab society since day one. The second is facing westwards, particularly to those who have rightwing politics, who say that Arabs are somehow innately homophobic or sexist.”
Continue reading...© Photograph: Haitham Haddad
© Photograph: Haitham Haddad
Looking for ethical and delicious seafood? Here’s our pick of shacks, cafés and shops selling shellfish, seaweed and fish
At Pam Brunton and Rob Latimer’s restaurant, they want a direct, traceable connection to the sea – they have a fish-purchasing policy that they send to suppliers. “We buy nothing knowingly from dredgers and trawlers,” Pam says, instead taking fin fish from smaller boats that fish off the English shore. Shellfish comes from a local, Mary, who coordinates a few small boats, all of which use traditional creel methods, and hand-dive for scallops, while oysters are bought from Judith at Caledonian Oysters on Loch Creran. Pam’s innovative food is served with a view of the loch outside – in summer, diners may even spot the mackerel for the next day’s menu being caught by a neighbour.
Strathlachlan PA27 8BU; inverrestaurant.co.uk
© Photograph: PR
© Photograph: PR
The movement is more than double that of east Africa’s renowned ‘great migration’ and has continued despite decades of war and instability
An extensive aerial survey in South Sudan has revealed an enormous migration of 6 million antelope – the largest migration of land mammals anywhere on Earth. It is more than double the size of the celebrated annual “great migration” between Tanzania and Kenya, which involves about 2 million wildebeest, zebra and gazelle.
“The migration in South Sudan blows any other migration we know of out the water,” said David Simpson, wildlife NGO African Parks’ park manager for Boma and Badingilo national parks, which the migration moves between and around. “The estimates indicate the vast herds of antelope species … are almost three times larger than east Africa’s great migration. The scale is truly awe-inspiring.”
Continue reading...© Photograph: African Parks
© Photograph: African Parks
In an interview the actor blamed cultural climate on casting issues as well as reflecting on his relationship with Madonna
Sean Penn says it would be currently impossible for him to play the part of a gay man, as he did in the 2008 film Milk, blaming a “timid and artless” current creative climate.
Penn was speaking to the New York Times about his earlier career, and responded to a question asking him if he would now be able to play Harvey Milk, the role for which Penn won a best actor Oscar. Saying that Milk “was the last time I had a good time [on a film set]”, Penn added: “It could not happen in a time like this. It’s a time of tremendous overreach. It’s a timid and artless policy toward the human imagination.”
Continue reading...© Photograph: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images
© Photograph: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images
Study identifies 16,825 sites around the world where prioritising conservation would prevent extinction of thousands of unique species
Protecting just 1.2% of the Earth’s surface for nature would be enough to prevent the extinction of the world’s most threatened species, according to a new study.
Analysis published in the journal Frontiers in Science has found that the targeted expansion of protected areas on land would be enough to prevent the loss of thousands of the mammals, birds, amphibians and plants that are closest to disappearing.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Jes Aznar/Getty
© Photograph: Jes Aznar/Getty
If a pet has ever caused tension or ruptures in a human relationship in your life, we want to hear from you
Has a pet ever got in the way of your relationship or friendship? Did you not take the death of your friend’s cat seriously enough and, as a result, fell out? Did you break up with a partner because they refused to kick the dog out of your bed? Did your best friend cancel a holiday with you because her rabbit fell ill? Did it all get too much with a housemate when they decided to move in their terrifying pet snake?
If a pet has ever caused tension or ruptures in a human relationship in your life, we want to hear from you.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Mathe Csaba/Alamy
© Photograph: Mathe Csaba/Alamy
The now famous Channel 4 lesbian kiss became a symbol of LGBTQ+ progress that resonates to this day
As my Brookside co-star Anna Friel and I prepared to film our on-screen kiss 30 years ago, I could never have anticipated the cultural significance this simple act would have.
It was 1994, when section 28 was in full force, prohibiting the “promotion” of homosexuality in schools, when Channel 4 aired the now famous lesbian kiss between my character, Margaret Clemence, and Friel’s, Beth Jordache, on the popular soap opera; the first time a kiss between two women had aired pre-watershed. It would for ever change the British media landscape and society’s perception of LGBTQ+ relationships.
Nicola Stephenson is a TV, film and theatre actor
Continue reading...© Photograph: Channel 4
© Photograph: Channel 4
Investigation finds funds touting ethical credentials include fast fashion labels and fossil fuel companies
Fast fashion labels, fossil fuel companies and SUV-makers are present in EU-regulated “sustainable” funds that tout their ethical credentials in their names, the Guardian and media partners can reveal, with $18bn (£14bn) of their investments going to the 200 biggest polluters.
Investors hold more than $87bn (£68bn) in funds that disclose under environmental and social sections of EU sustainable finance rules while including some of the biggest emitters of planet-heating gas, an analysis of data from the last quarter of 2023 shows. About one-fifth of the $87bn investments come from funds that also market themselves using environmentally-friendly terms.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Annegret Hilse/Reuters
© Photograph: Annegret Hilse/Reuters
My poems were written in anger after Tiananmen Square. But what motivates most prison writing is a fear of forgetting. Today I am free, but the regime has never stopped its war on words. By Liao Yiwu
Continue reading...© Photograph: Yoan Valat/EPA-EFE
© Photograph: Yoan Valat/EPA-EFE
Pups with famous namesakes compete in contest that celebrates the imperfections that make all dogs special
Continue reading...© Photograph: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images
When Naissa tells his mother Daniela that he identifies as a trans man she struggles to understand. Through candid personal letters exchanged over three years, Dear Mamma follows Naissa as he stands firmly for his independence and identity, and Daniela as she wrestles with her fear of losing a child. As Naissa embarks on his professional dance career and proudly embodies his gender, his mother also embarks on a journey of understanding and acceptance of her son’s choices
Continue reading...© Photograph: The Guardian
© Photograph: The Guardian
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