The Guardian - 08.08.2026.pdf

三分之二的英国国家医疗服务体系（NHS）信托计划削减心理健康护理

独家报道 安德鲁·格雷戈里（Andrew Gregory）健康编辑

《卫报》可以透露，由于超过三分之二的 NHS 提供者计划在今年减少或关闭服务，英格兰数百万成年人和儿童可能面临心理健康护理等待时间延长的问题。

由于在应对激增的需求时，心理健康服务已承受极大压力，专家警告称，由各信托机构为填补财务漏洞而制定的拟议削减计划，将对更广泛的 、经济和公共服务产生“重大”影响。

可能受到影响的服务包括儿童和青少年心理健康护理、谈话疗法、成瘾支持、针对处于心理健康危机成年人的帮助以及社区项目（包括针对少数族裔和贫困人群的项目）。

根据 Alliance 进行的一项全国性调查结果（《卫报》已审阅），在提供心理健康服务的 信托中，有 7 个 10 (68%) 可能在 2026-27, 减少或关闭部分服务。约 59% 的受访者表示预计将冻结职位空缺。超过一半 (57%) 的机构今年还可能削减雇用的临床工作人员数量。

本周，安迪·伯纳姆宣布计划到 2029. 建立一个由近 200 个社区心理健康中心和心理健康急诊室组成的网络。这位首相在 LinkedIn 上写道：“这些服务将使人们能够更轻松地在正确的时间、正确的地点获得正确的支持。”

心理健康慈善机构对这一雄心表示欢迎，但表示如果人员和服务的资金被削减，那么护理方面的实质性改善将是“不可能”的。

《卫报》周一报道，受影响的 心理健康信托之一——东伦敦基金会信托 (ELFT)，计划削减广泛的服务并裁减数百个工作岗位，以填补其 2500 万英镑 的财务缺口。

心理健康

贝拉·拉姆齐（Bella Ramsey）谈童星生涯与《名人叛徒》

周六

专家度假买什么 周六

六大河流冒险之旅 旅行

俄罗斯与塞乌塔极右翼帖子的联系

分析发现，在塞乌塔移民危机期间，与俄罗斯相关的账户在网上传播极端叙事 第 2 页 $\rightarrow$ 震撼足球界的两周 体育 $\rightarrow$

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** 《卫报》 2026 年 8 月 8 日 周六 2026 2 新闻

分析发现，与俄罗斯有关联的账号传播关于塞乌塔的极右翼信息

艾莎·唐（Aisha Down）

根据反虚假信息组织 411 的一项分析，在塞乌塔移民危机的初期，与俄罗斯军方有关联的账号传播极右翼信息，触达人数超过 500,000 人。与俄罗斯有关联的社交媒体账号经常在欧洲传播具有破坏稳定性的叙事，其中许多在宣传关于移民的极右翼论点。但 411 和其他专家认为，塞乌塔危机后虚假信息的规模和协调程度非常显著。

非营利组织欧洲联盟（Alliance4Europe）的首席研究员萨曼·纳扎里（Saman Nazari）表示：“我们在整个欧洲不断看到这种情况，并认为这非常有趣。似乎存在某种机制或结构。现在，在面对这类危机时，我们经常看到整个欧洲出现这种升级现象。”

这场攻势始于 8 月 1 日，就在据报道有 49,000 人在一夜之间试图从摩洛哥进入西班牙飞地塞乌塔的次日。这是为期数日的大规模危机的一部分，据估计期间共有 72,000 人进入该领土。

这些账号按照极右翼的路线来界定事件，称其为一场蓄意协调的“袭击”，并暗示当局对此同谋。一些账号在这一界定中加入了伊斯兰恐惧症或反犹太主义的阴谋论。根据 411 的数据，这些叙事迅速以七种语言被复制，并在 8 月 1 日的六小时内获得了超过 720,000 次浏览。其他极右翼账号则号召民族主义者聚集在塞乌塔，对企业和住宅进行“巡逻”。

报告表明，社交媒体在这次危机中发挥了重要作用，既促使人们尝试跨境，又煽动了对此的反应。网络传闻说服摩洛哥年轻人相信边境已经开放；另一些则提供关于如何进入该领土的建议。

411 的分析证实了相关报告，即社交媒体上存在大量关于如何跨境的实质性“点对点物流交流”。其中大部分出现在热门塞乌塔视频的评论区。这似乎是自发形成的，且“绝大多数来自小型、看似匿名的个人账号，而非任何单一可识别的‘招募’频道”。

随着跨境行为的持续，社交媒体上另一起右翼反弹开始出现。宣传攻势的一个源头是 Rybar，这是一个与俄罗斯情报部门有关联的 Telegram 频道。随后，一个“转发”账号网络放大并传播了 Rybar 的帖子。这些账号包括与 Pravda 网络有关联的账号，后者是一个在全球传播克里姆林宫宣传的行动。

纳扎里认为，虚假信息活动似乎经过协调，应当进行调查以确定是否存在封闭论坛或类似结构，让极右翼影响力人物在其中讨论如何传播论点。

411 的首席研究员内德·门德尔（Ned Mender）表示，关于塞乌塔危机的虚假信息传播速度远快于 2021 年 5 月的一次类似事件，当时有 8,000 人跨越同一边境。极右翼当时也利用了那些事件，但这一次极右翼叙事的放大速度更快。411 指出，动员号召在几天内就将民族主义团体聚集到了塞乌塔的主广场。

“你可以将这个过程比作一条高度特定且有组织的‘信息高速公路’，”门德尔说。“如果一条虚假信息被放置在这条特权高速公路上，它将获得其他类型内容无法触及的放大程度和推动力。欧洲各地发生的此类事件表明，某些内容被选中进入‘入口匝道’，而这些内容具有相似的特征。”

该小组的分析结论是：“比起这次特定的危机，那套机制才是更令人担忧的东西。下次在地中海任何地方发生边境事件时，同样的转发网络已经就绪，准备再次将其捕捉并迅速传播。” 更多报道：Majida Chowdhury

上诉法院命令特朗普停止其 4 亿美元舞厅的工程

罗伯特·泰特（Robert Tait），华盛顿 一家联邦上诉法院已命令白宫停止唐纳德·特朗普舞厅的建设。总统去年拆除了白宫具有历史意义的东翼以给该场馆腾出空间，并将这项耗资 4 亿美元（3 亿英镑）的项目吹捧为给美国人民的“一份礼物”。但在一个测试总统权限的案件中，哥伦比亚特区巡回上诉法院维持了针对该计划的初步禁令，这使其遭遇重大挫折。法院将裁决暂缓执行两周，允许政府向最高法院提起上诉。在解释多数派决定时，帕特里夏·米莱特（Patricia Millett）和布拉德利·加西亚（Bradley Garcia）写道：“每任总统都是白宫及其行政官邸的临时租客，而非所有者。是否应该建造一座巨大的舞厅应由国会决定，而非行政部门自行处理的事项。”由特朗普任命的第三位法官内奥米·劳（Neomi Rao）则表示，这个占地 90,000 平方英尺（8,360 平方米）的项目在总统的权限范围内。总统在社交媒体上发表了一篇长文对该裁决做出反应，其中引用了劳发表的异议意见。他还表示：“我们将立即向美国最高法院提起上诉，”并将该裁决描述为“一个可怕的、出于政治动机且违法的裁决”，违背了国家安全利益。针对该计划的禁令是由国家历史保护信托基金会（National Trust for Historic Preservation）赢得的。

Meta 因损害儿童心理健康被令支付 5.67 亿美元

乌瓦·埃德-奥西福（Uwa Ede-Osifo） Facebook 的母公司 Meta 被命令向一项旨在弥补其社交媒体平台对心理健康产生不利影响的基金支付 5.67 亿美元（4.2 亿英镑）。今年 3 月，一个美国陪审团认定该公司在明知的情况下损害了儿童的心理健康，并隐瞒了其在平台上获知的关于儿童性剥削的情况。陪审团处以最高处罚：3.75 亿美元的罚款。本周的裁决是对该罚款的追加，使 Meta 需承担的总金额达到 9.42 亿美元。新墨西哥州法院法官布莱恩·比德谢德（Bryan Biedscheid）表示，大部分资金——4.2 亿美元——将用于青少年的治疗服务。其余资金将在未来五年内用于意识提升与预防、筛查服务及其他费用。3 月的审判是首次认定 Meta 对其平台上发生的行为承担责任，此前《卫报》在 2023 年的一项调查中揭露了 Facebook 和 Instagram 如何成为儿童性虐待贩卖的市场。几名 Meta 前审核员告诉《卫报》，曾出现过他们标记与儿童诱导相关的有害内容，但这些案例未被上报的情况。在 5 月开始的审判第二阶段中，检察官要求法官强制 Meta 进行根本性变革，旨在遏制成瘾功能、改进年龄验证，并通过默认隐私设置和更严格的监督来防止儿童性剥削。法官还命令了其他变更，包括要求 Facebook 和 Instagram 构建横幅和信息屏幕，以清晰地解释保护功能、最佳实践以及处理不当评论的工具。一名 Meta 发言人表示，公司不同意该裁决并计划上诉。他们表示：“我们努力确保人们在我们的平台上安全，并且在识别和删除恶意行为者及有害内容所面临的挑战方面一直保持透明。我们对自己在保护青少年在线安全方面的记录充满信心，并将继续针对那些歪曲事实的指控进行辩护。” 共同报道：美联社

毛巾之战：德国人真的霸占了所有日光浴躺椅吗？

似乎并非如此

安吉拉·朱弗里达（Angela Giuffrida） 罗马

德国人是日光浴躺椅的霸占者，长期以来一直存在这样的刻板印象。但这种文化定型不仅主要局限于英国人——以及更甚的德国人——的认知中，新的惊人数据还揭示，事实上意大利和法国的度假者最倾向于用毛巾来占据日光浴躺椅。

YouGov 对欧洲度假者进行的一项民意调查发现，虽然德国人 (51%) 和英国人 (46%) 最容易将德国人与这种占位仪式联系起来，但这种认知在欧洲其他地区几乎不存在，其他国家仅有 5-17% 的受访者持有这种刻板印象。此外，在入住设有泳池和日光浴躺椅场所的度假者中，38% 的德国人表示曾用毛巾预留躺椅，而意大利和法国度假者的这一比例为 45%。英国人霸占躺椅的可能性最低 (33%)。

在所有受访国家中，YouGov 发现大多数人 (60-82%) 认为这种做法是不可接受的。尽管如此，霸占行为似乎依然猖獗，51-63% 的人表示由于躺椅被占满而导致自己无法使用，14-28% 的人承认通过移走他人的毛巾来解决问题。

当《卫报》在罗马询问一些意大利人时，没有人承认有这种行为，尽管他们相信这些数据。教师克劳迪娅·莫拉尼（Claudia Morani）说：“我绝不会这么做，但我见过这种情况发生。”她补充说，在最近入住的一家带泳池的酒店期间，她目睹许多意大利同胞“在一天结束时将毛巾留在躺椅上，以便第二天早上能使用同一把”。莫拉尼补充道：“这种事情在当地的沙滩上也很常见——在那些免费沙滩上。”

事实上，有些意大利海滩游客可能比霸占躺椅的人更糟糕，他们正在形成一种被称为 furbetti dell'ombrellone（遮阳伞骗子）的名声。这个词由媒体创造，指那些为了预留海边抢手位置而将遮阳伞彻夜留在沙滩上的人。

这种做法在免费开放的海滩上日益流行，而与夏季主导意大利大部分海岸线的私人特许经营区不同，由于价格高昂，意大利人正越来越多地远离后者。问题的严重程度之高，以至于全国各地的海岸管理部门将 furbetti dell'ombrellone 列为国家海滩安全运动的专项打击目标。

7 月下旬，那不勒斯郊区的当局在一次对热门免费海滩的黎明突击检查中，没收了 40 件物品，包括遮阳伞、躺椅和折叠椅。普利亚和撒丁岛的海滩最近也发生了类似的突击行动。被抓获者将被处以最高 €500 (£430) 的罚款，而取回被没收的个人物品则是一场官僚主义的折磨。

“这已经变成了一种习惯，”致力于从私人特许经营区夺回海滩的 Mare Libero（自由之海）运动负责人达尼洛·鲁杰罗（Danilo Ruggiero）说。“我认为这更多是因为人们不想在酷暑中把遮阳伞、椅子和其他设备在家里和海滩之间搬来搬去。但确实存在一种试图抢占海边最佳位置的倾向，而这是不应该的。”

至于法国，《卫报》在就YouGov的调查结果采访两名居住在南部的居民时，他们对法国人偏好霸占日光浴椅的情况并不感到惊讶。“在我当地的海滩俱乐部，我经常看到这种情况，”住在靠近意大利边境的芒通的尚塔尔·亨利（Chantal Henry）说道，“我对此感到非常厌烦。”她的朋友维吉妮·帕斯夸尔（Virginie Pascual）则声称“总是意大利人在这么做”。然而，一名因有德国同事而要求匿名的旅法英国人则坚称，德国人才是最大的元凶。“我在马略卡岛见过——当时是凌晨5.30，一个德国家伙用毛巾霸占了5把躺椅。” --- 新闻

联合国表示全球食品价格创多年来新高

Graeme Wearden 报道

由于夏季热浪以及乌克兰和中东地区的冲突推高了作物成本，全球食品价格已触及三年半以来的最高水平。

联合国粮食及农业组织（FAO）的食品大宗商品价格指数上月升至 2023 年 1 月以来的最高水平，此前谷物、糖和植物油的价格出现跳涨。

FAO 将热浪列为影响几个主要生产国小麦产量的因素，而糖价的上涨则源于对“欧盟境内持续高温干燥天气对作物产量影响”的担忧，以及快速发展的厄尔尼诺（El Niño）天气系统所造成的破坏。

该指数追踪一篮子国际贸易食品大宗商品的每月变化，7 月升至 131.1 点，高于 6 月的 130.3 点。数据显示，7 月谷物价格环比上涨 3.4%，其中全球小麦成本上涨 5.8%。在俄罗斯和乌克兰之间加强攻击后，黑海出口流量的持续中断以及出口基础设施的受损推高了价格。世界玉米价格上涨 3.6%。

据估计，6 月席卷欧洲、由碳排放加剧的致命热浪摧毁了 900 万吨谷类作物，如小麦、大麦、玉米和燕麦。

▲ 比利时图里内斯-圣兰贝特（Tourinnes-St-Lambert）在经历数周极端高温和低降雨后的干涸农田。摄影：OLIVIER HOSLET / EPA

▲ 在塞尔维亚的农业社区，家养水牛在遮阳，右侧是一片干涸的向日葵田。摄影：ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/

铁路乘客面临西北地区第二日交通中断

Lauren Almeida, Gwyn Topham

昨日，在一次电力故障袭击该地区信号中心后，英格兰西北部分地区的铁路乘客面临第二日的出行中断。此次停电发生在前一天下午2点前不久，导致火车暂时停运，并造成包括 CrossCountry 和 London Northwestern Railway 在内的服务出现大规模取消和延误。

昨日上午，Avanti West Coast、East Midlands Railway、Northern、TransPennine Express 以及 Transport for Wales 的服务继续受到影响。国家铁路（National Rail）昨日表示，尽管火车现在能够运行，但由于部分列车和乘务员在服务开始时处于错误位置，中午之前可能会出现延误。

该机构表示：“这意味着今天早晨部分列车预计仍将受到影响。在大曼彻斯特地区和英格兰西北地区的列车在服务完全恢复之前，可能仍会被全部取消，或修改为仅运行正常行程的一部分。”

大曼彻斯特、中英格兰部分地区和英格兰西北地区受铁路中断影响最严重，数千名乘客无法完成行程。周四，由于由曼彻斯特铁路运行中心管理的铁路部分区域信号全部变为红色，列车陷入瘫痪。该中心是过去 12 年间建立的十几个中心之一，旨在逐步淘汰信号箱并远程管理铁路。

此次停电影响了曼彻斯特周边地区，但本应自动启动的 Network Rail 备用发电机未能立即启动，导致信号默认变为红色。为了安全重启运行，进行受控的电力启动和关闭耗时数小时，信号在周四晚些时候才完全恢复。Network 已启动调查。

Network 西北路线总监 Chris Wright 表示：“我想感谢乘客在昨日停电及其在西北地区造成中断期间所表现出的耐心。我们的工程师彻夜工作以恢复信号系统并恢复铁路运行。”

RMT 工会领导人 Eddie Dempsey 赞扬了火车乘务员在困难环境下处理问题的方式，并补充道：“我们将与 Network 合作，审查铁路基础设施的应对情况以及未来需要采取的行动。”

国家铁路（National ）表示，在 Tamworth 和 Burton-on-Trent 之间的铁路线附近发现一枚战争时期的炸弹，使中断情况进一步恶化。

7 月糖价上涨了 5.6%，联合国粮农组织（FAO）将其归因于对天气的担忧以及巴西的新规定增加了汽油中可添加的乙醇量，从而导致发酵商的需求增加。植物油价格上涨 2%，报告将其归因于印度尼西亚生物柴油部门的强劲需求和原油价格上涨。伊朗战争在近几个月也推高了食品价格，因为约三分之一的化肥生产通过霍尔木兹海峡运输。

7 月肉类价格下降 2.8%，为今年首次月度下跌，家禽、猪肉和牛肉价格均有所下降。不过，FAO 表示，夏季的高温限制了猪的生长速度，从而在一定程度上支撑了价格。乳制品价格下跌 0.7%，主要受黄油价格下跌 2.4% 和奶粉价格走低的影响。奶酪价格上涨 1.7%，为一年来首次月度上涨。

对于处于严重粮食不安全状态的人群来说，情况尤为严重；联合国世界粮食计划署（WFP）本周警告称，受厄尔尼诺（El Niño）天气现象影响，到明年年底前，可能会有 5000 万 人陷入严重饥饿。

气温超过30℃天数纪录即将被打破，发布高温健康警报

PA Media 报道 酷热天气预计将于下周回归，预计到周四，东英格兰（East Anglia）和英格兰东南部部分地区的温度将达到36℃。5月和6月打破纪录的热浪导致了超过2,800例超额死亡，而7月的两次热浪则带来了干旱状况并引发了山火。英国今年的最高气温为38℃，于6月28日在诺福克的林伍德（Lingwood）记录到。今年到目前为止，英国境内某些地区的温度超过30℃的天数已有33天。1995年创下的34天纪录很可能在下周被打破。

英国气象局（Met Office）表示，本周末天气将呈现南北分化，苏格兰和北爱尔兰将出现阵雨，而英格兰和威尔士则基本保持干燥、晴朗且气温逐渐升高。今天气温可能高达30℃，明天英格兰南部和东南部将升至30℃出头。周二，英格兰和威尔士部分地区最高气温可能达到30℃，周三将增加至32℃到34℃。最高气温预计出现在周四，届时东英格兰和英格兰东南部部分地区可能记录到36℃。

英国气象局副首席预报员迈克·西尔弗斯通（Mike Silverstone）表示：“在周一短暂下降后，英格兰和威尔士大部分地区可能会出现相当广泛的热浪，部分地区将出现酷热状况。”

“预计周三，英格兰、威尔士、北爱尔兰和苏格兰大部分地区的热度将达到顶峰，英格兰中部、南部以及威尔士东南部部分地区最高可达34℃。然而，东英格兰和英格兰东南部在周四可能会出现更高的温度。”

他补充道：“本周湿度水平预计也将增加，这可能会使体感更加不适，尤其是夜间。”

英国卫生安全局已向东米德兰兹、西米德兰兹、东南部、西南部、英格兰东部、约克郡和亨伯以及伦敦发布了黄色高温健康警报。警报于今天上午9点生效，至周二晚上9点结束。

根据英国气象局发布的初步数据，上个月是英格兰和威尔士自1836年开始记录以来最干燥的7月。英国气象局的数据显示，英格兰的19个郡在整个月份中实际上没有降雨——降水量为1毫米（.04英寸）或更少。

---

**

冉冉升起之星

云朵般柔软的牛奶面包成为最新美食热潮

贝尔法斯特燃烧之时

走进北爱尔兰的种族暴乱

全国 3

剑桥学者拒绝大学试图结束关于理查德·亚当斯教授争议的企图

教育编辑

剑桥大学宣布将对其审查和聘用高级学术人员的方式进行审查，以试图抵御对其任命杰森·阿尔代（Jason Arday）为教授的批评。但一群剑桥学者迅速拒绝了大学的回应，表示：“我们坚信，对这一破坏性事件更广泛情况进行彻底且透明的调查至关重要。”

阿尔代在周三辞职，此前人们对他个人及专业主张的质疑日益增加。两年前，他被誉为剑桥大学最年轻的黑人教授，其人生故事充满了教育上的劣势，包括直到11.岁才能够说话。

消息人士称，大学领导层曾希望阿尔代的辞职能结束这场争议。但内部对于其任命过程，以及有毒的媒体评论给大学黑人员工带来的威胁，愤怒情绪仍在持续增长。

在昨天发布的一份声明中，剑桥大学表示：“杰森·阿尔代已立即辞去在大学的职务。无论如何，为了澄清事实，大学将继续调查杰森·阿尔代被任命及任职期间的情况。”

“调查结果将纳入对高级学术职位任命流程的审查中。此外，正如之前所述，大学的研究政策委员会将审查研究不端行为政策。”

这一公告是在《卫报》周四披露剑桥学者要求大学进行彻底调查之后发布的。这封由近100人签署并致剑桥大学副校长德博拉·普伦蒂斯（Deborah Prentice）教授的信函，强调了伴随许多在线和媒体报道而来的“有毒且频繁带有种族主义色彩的评论”，并补充道：“这些明显虚假的指控有可能使剑桥在解决历史性代表性不足方面取得的微小进展倒退，并威慑任何黑人学者申请或接受大学的职位。”

签署者包括高级教授和剑桥学者，例如物理学教授苏奇特拉·塞巴斯蒂安（Suchitra Sebastian）和社会学教授莫妮卡·菲格罗亚（Mónica Figueroa）。

信中指出：“因此，我们要求您任命一个由剑桥内部及外部高级学者组成的独立机构来处理这些问题，并制定明确的工作完成时间表，并承诺与大学及公众分享调查结果。”

签署者希望通过独立调查来研究阿尔代被任命的情况，以及大学管理层在“构建一个聚焦于他的年轻、种族及其变革潜力的媒体叙事时”所做的任何风险评估。

他们还要求提供大学处理针对阿尔代的学术不端指控的细节，并呼吁评估“这一事件给剑桥学术界内外有色人种带来的巨大损害，以及可以立即采取什么措施来向他们——以及更广泛的公众——保证，剑桥大学的反种族主义和学术诚信同样至关重要。”

昨晚，格拉斯哥大学表示将审查其过去任命阿尔代为教授的情况。一名大学发言人表示：“杰森·阿尔代在 2022 年1月至 2023 年3月期间在格拉斯哥大学担任教育社会学教授。”

“校长已委托对此次任命进行审查，旨在了解所有事实并为未来汲取教训。”

杰森·阿尔代 # 丑闻对黑人产生了寒蝉效应

讲师 Chris Osuh

“Jason 必须为他的所作所为承担责任。但当白人犯错时，这仅仅被视为一个关于个人的故事，”一名黑人学者本周在描述 Jason Arday 案件的影响时表示。“而当黑人犯错时，这被视为集体性的——并被用来削弱‘黑人应当进入这些领域’这一基本原则。”

Arday 在 2023 年被任命时是剑桥大学最年轻的黑人教授，本周在陷入剽窃和美化简历的指控中辞职。除了对其学术资历的指控外，他所声称的体育成就、慈善工作以及他自称遭受的部分虐待也受到了质疑。

41 岁的 已承认犯了“错误”，但他坚称自己被诬陷成了“这种骗子和幻想家”。

无论这些指控的真相如何，数日来将这位社会学家描述为“多样性海报男孩”的头条新闻和报道，对黑人学者产生了寒蝉效应，而这些人此前已因黑人学术研究遭受削减的影响而感到沮丧。许多人指出，针对白人学者的指控几乎没有引起如此大的轰动。

尽管 的同行对他所受指控的严重程度看法不一，但大家一致认为， 的故事引发了右翼对黑人在学术界和公共生活中取得进步的反弹。

“现在真正的问题是，这些空间对我们来说是否安全，以及我们是否必须开始在大学之外开展工作，”Kehinde Andrews 表示。Andrews 是英国首位黑人研究教授，但最近被伯明翰城市大学（Birmingham City University）裁员，他补充道：“无论 [] 的简历中出现了多少裂痕，这都不能改变一个事实，即这是一场来自右翼的、精心策划的协调抹黑行动，其前提是黑人不应该在剑桥。高等教育中还有很多其他事情从未被讨论过。”

Andrews 认为 [] 的“部分学术研究存在问题”，但尚未达到剽窃的程度。

对于著名社会学家 Paul Gilroy 而言，这场争论的责任在于任命 的“文化战士”以及那些“种族主义批评者”——而且这发生在该行业的一个关键时刻。

“对 Jason 及其追求影响力的推手们的清算，不应被允许掩盖那些正在摧毁英国大学的、恶毒且不理智的人文科学削减，”Gilroy 表示。“那些无脑地、无条件支持 [] 的文化战士，与他的种族主义批评者共同承担责任，他们让黑人学者的生活变得更加艰难，并将英国高等教育拖入更深的泥潭。”

由于对 的“围猎”而造成的恐惧氛围，意味着很少有人愿意公开表态。一名学者表示：“我不能在记录中发表任何言论，否则我将成为右翼的下一个目标。 [右翼] 的目标是将黑人从所有这些机构中驱逐出去。”

“有一位剑桥大学的白人学者被指控剽窃学生的作品，但他保留了工作，也没有受到同等程度的媒体关注。他们对这个男人 [] 所做的，是一场私刑。他被用一套不同的标准来审判。”

这场争论爆发在另一位学者——自称“种族现实主义者”且在 2024 年被剑桥大学解雇的 Nathan Cofnas 指称他在 的作品中发现了剽窃之后。Cofnas 在一篇博客文章中暗示，在精英管理体制下，哈佛大学的黑人教授数量将“接近于零”。

一名匿名学者表示：“这不仅仅关乎黑人——对于任何少数群体来说，我们的成功通常被认为是不真实的。”他们表示，这场争议将“让该领域少数的黑人感到更加脆弱”。

但他们补充道：“认为这一切是精英管理制度（meritocracy）是一个错误——学术界有很多人并不配在他们目前的位置上，而也有很多人本应在职业生涯中取得比现在更高的成就。”《卫报》采访的学者们讲述了黑人学术研究的光辉历史，并坚持认为 Arday 事件绝不能玷污这段历史。“认为这起单一事件在某种程度上反映了英国黑人学术界整体情况的想法简直是疯了，”一名学者说道。---

National Simon Levy

警方与检方失职导致性犯罪者逍遥法外并杀害两名女性

维克拉姆·多德 (Vikram Dodd) 警方与犯罪事务记者

据披露，严重的失职导致一名惯犯且有前科的性犯罪者在杀害伦敦两名女性之前处于自由状态。

昨日，老贝利法院 (Old Bailey) 的陪审团裁定 40 岁的西蒙·莱维 (Simon Levy) 在 2025 年 3 月谋杀卡门扎·瓦伦西亚-特鲁希略 (Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo) 以及五个月后谋杀谢丽尔·威尔金斯 (Sheryl Wilkins) 的罪名成立。在莱维实施第二次谋杀时，他正作为第一起谋杀案的嫌疑人被保释，此前警方表示缺乏足够的证据对其提起指控。

在第一起杀人案发生前几个月，警方因莱维在火车上性侵女性而将其逮捕，但由于失误导致提起指控的时间被推迟。在他被保释期间，他实施了更多袭击，在伦敦全境共造成 10 起案件。尽管他被指控犯有大部分罪行，但莱维依然处于自由状态，并随后再次实施谋杀。

检方也承认在试图将莱维羁押在看守所时出现了严重失误，在三次法庭听证会上未能提供关键信息，以证明他对女性构成的全面危险程度。

然而，甚至在针对火车出行女性的袭击发生之前，警方和检方就已知晓莱维构成严重风险。他于 2021 年因一项性犯罪首次入狱。在狱中，他性侵了一名女性狱警。出狱后，他在 2023 年至 2025 年期间在伦敦各地的火车上实施了一系列性侵行为。他同时也是一起强奸案调查中的首席嫌疑人。

2025 年 1 月、3 月和 8 月，来自北伦敦托特纳姆 (Tottenham) 的莱维残暴地袭击了三名提供性服务的女性，导致两人死亡，一人重伤。

陪审团以 11 比 1 的多数票裁定他于 2025 年 3 月 17 日在一栋部分废弃的塔楼中谋杀 53 岁的瓦伦西亚-特鲁希略罪名成立。案发现场靠近莱维在因首次性犯罪被定罪出狱后居住的地方。

陪审团在所有其他裁决上达成一致，裁定他于 8 月 24 日在托特纳姆一个停车场谋杀 39 岁的威尔金斯罪名成立。他还被裁定在 2025 年 1 月强奸并袭击了第三名 35 岁的女性，该女性幸存。她是在同一个停车场被袭击的，那里距离莱维与母亲和妹妹同住的家步行仅 8 分钟。

在陪审团宣布裁决时，莱维面无表情，因眼睛受伤而戴着深色眼镜。裁决结果将使他被判处谋杀罪的强制性终身监禁，他将于周三被量刑。

英国皇家检察署（CPS）、伦敦警察厅 (Metropolitan police) 和英国交通警察局 (BTP) 均承认存在失误。负责调查杀人案的伦敦警察厅副助理专员凯文·索斯沃思 (Kevin Southworth) 将莱维描述为“一个惯犯的、捕食性的怪物”。他表示，如果不是因为他所描述的“系统性集体失效”，第二名谋杀受害者威尔金斯可能还活着。

这一系列失职行为直到莱维的谋杀案审判结束之后才能报道，随后该案以及今年早些时候的一场审判的报道限制被解除。

今年 2 月，陪审团裁定他犯有 10 起在火车上实施的性侵罪，其中包括对一名与母亲同行之女儿的袭击，以及在狱中对一名女性狱警的袭击。

警方于 2024 年 11 月因多起袭击首次逮捕莱维，闭路电视 (CCTV) 将他与袭击现场联系在一起。2025 年前五个月又发生了六起案件。

英国皇家检察署（CPS）承认在 2025 年 5 月、6 月和 8 月的三次法庭听证会上出现失误，导致莱维继续处于自由状态。该机构未公开具体失误内容，但一名获权代表该机构发言的消息人士表示，失误包括未能提及他曾因谋杀瓦伦西亚-特鲁希略而被逮捕，且未能发现或提及莱维过去的性侵定罪记录，也未提及他是 2024 年一起强奸案的嫌疑人。

英国皇家检察署（CPS）表示：“我们承认，在考虑保释申请时，有关于保释的相关信息未提供给法院。我们的行为未能达到受害者、家属及公众有权期待的标准……对于关于保释的陈述，我们本可以且应当采取更强有力的手段。”到2025年5月，警方希望将Levy羁押，担心他具有“极高▲Levy在作为第一起案件嫌疑人被保释期间犯下了第二起谋杀案的再犯风险”，且其犯罪行为正在“升级”。Levy未能出席三次关于火车袭击案的刑事法院听证会，CPS承认没有证据表明警方曾申请逮捕令以将其拘留。对于其中两次缺席，他声称是因病；另一次则称未收到通知。他最后一次未在刑事法院出庭是在2025年8月11日。两周后，他杀害了Wilkins。一名CPS消息人士表示，涉及Levy案件的相关人员已受到纪律处分。

针对伦敦地铁网络和火车的袭击事件由英国交通警察局（BTP）负责调查。警员逮捕了使用盗用Oyster交通卡旅行的Levy，但由于当时不知道该卡是盗用的，将其原路退还。他随后持该卡前往伦敦南部犯下了第一起谋杀案，并在火车上实施了进一步的性侵犯。BTP承认，由于逮捕后组织辨认程序的延迟，导致Levy在2024年11月因在火车上实施性侵而被起诉的时间被推迟。这意味着他的保释期被延长，而在这次延迟期间，他袭击并强奸了另一名女性，并杀害了两个孩子的母亲Valencia-Trujillo。BTP将其确定为嫌疑人并对其提起起诉，但从未搜查他的住所。BTP犯罪部门负责人Peter Fulton表示：“在‘大海捞针’与侵犯他人人权之间只有一线之隔。”他表示，每位举报Levy在火车上袭击她们的女性都见证了他被起诉并被定罪。

当负责调查谋杀案的伦敦警察厅（Met）搜查Levy的住所时，发现了关于他袭击监狱警员的证据。警察监察机构已对两名伦敦警察厅警员展开调查，以确定Levy作为性犯罪登记人员是否得到了正确的监管。一名警员因严重失职正在接受调查，可能会被解雇。另一名接受失职调查的警员是一名侦查警佐。BTP表示，其并未将自身错误移交给警察监察机构。相反，它将一名被指延迟组织辨认程序的警员调离调查岗位，并对一名主管给予了口头警告。

在经历了一系列丑闻后，尽管警察首长、高级检察官、法院和政府数十年来一直承诺刑事司法系统将更好地保护女性免受男性暴力侵害，但这些失职行为依然发生了。犯罪与警务大臣Sarah Jones将Levy描述为一个怪物，并表示导致他能够保持自由的失职行为“令人深感不安”。Jones暗示，政府将允许相关机构和警察监察机构查明问题所在。

警务

“未能打击犯罪传递了一个信号，即他可以逍遥法外” Vikram Dodd

在托特纳姆高街（Tottenham High Road）约 40 米外，沿着一条通往 B&M 家居店配送区的斜坡路，有一片混凝土铺就的地面，后方是一堵顶端带有尖刺的两米高围墙。这里就是西蒙·莱维（Simon Levy）试图将其变成个人杀戮场的地点。他曾两次带着女性来到这里，两人均为性工作者；该地点距离他与母亲及妹妹在北伦敦共同居住的家仅 8 分钟步行路程。这里处于该地区遍布的闭路电视（CCTV）摄像头的视线之外，且处于托特纳姆热刺足球场的阴影之中。

一名受害者在 2025 年 1 月遭受其持续攻击（包括强奸和勒颈）后勉强幸存。另一名受害者谢丽尔·威尔金斯（Sheryl Wilkins）于去年 8 月被杀。在这些袭击之间，莱维曾前往南伦敦，并在 2025 年 3 月杀害了卡门萨·瓦伦西亚-特鲁希略（Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo）。

在他的双重谋杀案审判中（该审判于昨日以定罪告终），法庭听取了幸存者的陈述；检察官汤姆·利特尔（Tom Little KC）在审判期间表示，她的证词可能揭示了其他受害者所遭受的痛苦。利特尔表示，受害者处于弱势地位，而莱维认为通过针对性工作者，他更有可能在犯罪后逍遥法外。

这名 35 岁的幸存者受法律保护而匿名，她曾被人口贩卖从东欧被贩运至英国。在他们走到围墙后面进行性行为后，她要求莱维付款。他 --- © 7 ▼ 卡门萨·瓦伦西亚-特鲁希略（左）在谢丽尔·威尔金斯（右）被杀前五个月被谋杀 照片：伦敦警察厅 / PA

猛烈地扑向她，力量之大导致她的锁骨骨折。在强奸她的同时，他还开始勒她的脖子。她告诉伦敦中央刑事法院（Old Bailey）的陪审团，他说：“闭嘴。安静。我抓住你了。”她补充道：“他把手指插进我的喉咙，让我无法发出声音。我觉得我要死了。我无法呼吸……我完全失去了意识。”她醒来时感到“灼烧感和疼痛”，且生殖器在出血。

袭击发生几天后，这名女性因另一件事被逮捕。她向警员讲述了她的遭遇，并表示她见过莱维；她知道他住在哪里，但不知道他的名字。随后，她在警方的辨认队列中正确地指认出了莱维。伦敦警察厅表示，尽管他们努力尝试，但她在接下来的六个月里无法提供完整的陈述。

“失败的规模和多样性令人震惊。两名女性本不必失去生命” 哈丽特·威斯特里奇（Harriet Wistrich） 活动人士

法庭获悉，她当时正在戒毒。莱维，40, 通过受害者的 DNA 样本、交通卡和电话数据以及闭路电视录像与这些谋杀案联系在一起。被捕后，他告诉警方，他在 2024, 一次袭击中受了眼伤，这意味着他很少出门。在侦查员审问他时，他需要一名合适的成年人陪同，且他患有阅读障碍、自闭症和学习困难。据信他长期失业。邻居对他知之甚少，对其电子设备的搜查显示，他浏览过一些关于犯罪、暴力和性的资料。

2025 年对这些女性的袭击并非莱维的首次。2025. 2025

性暴力历史

Levy被怀疑早在2017年就曾实施过一起性侵，该案目前仍在调查中。他的首次定罪发生在2021年：一项是因在2024-10-21T07:30.882 2980132 - CL Pass 4-204

▲ 英国运输警察局发布的Simon Levy在伦敦地铁网络上的CCTV画面，他利用该网络随机挑选女性进行性侵 ▲ DCI Neil John在判决后发表讲话。伦敦警察厅因被认为未能保护女性而多次受到批评 PHOTOGRAPHIAMES MANNING / PA 2018年卡姆登的一次聚会上袭击一名女性，将手伸进其内衣并触摸其阴道；另一项是因在一名女性前往诺丁山狂欢节的途中对其进行侵入性性侵，用手指侵入了对方。他曾在2021-23年期间服刑，期间在布里克斯顿监狱（HMP Brixton）性侵了一名女性狱警。对其电子设备的搜索显示，他曾写过关于被其吸引的内容。获释后，他在2023年10月在火车上实施了首次袭击，直到后来才被确认身份。2024年，他涉嫌在托特纳姆强奸一名女性。他被召回监狱以完成2021年收到的刑期，但并未因强奸指控被起诉，该指控目前正处于重新调查中。2024年晚些时候出狱后，他加强了在伦敦交通网络上的袭击，在火车上摸索并性侵女性，通常试图将手指强行插入对方阴道。法庭听证会获悉，在其他罪行中，Levy利用“繁忙高峰时段火车的喧嚣作为掩护”。他会靠近女性，在袭击前用套衫或外套遮住手。英国运输警察局（BTP）犯罪部门负责人DCS Peter Fulton表示，Levy的受害者大多在20多岁，是被随机且冲动地袭击的。Levy持一张偷来的交通卡在伦敦四处穿梭，在其中一起案例中，他在距离家仅几分钟路程的怀特哈特巷（White Hart Lane）火车站登上火车袭击一名女性。在女性向BTP举报这些罪行后，Levy被逮捕、起诉并被保释。

数十年来的女性权益失效

有如此多迹象表明利维（Levy）是一个危险人物，但他的犯罪行为会演变为谋杀这一点在当时有多明显？在2025年3月发生第一起杀人案后，利维在几天内被逮捕。由于死因不明确，他被保释。警方感到愤慨，因为在2025年5月和6月，利维被指控发动多次火车袭击且身为谋杀嫌疑人之后，警方试图将其羁押在看守所的努力失败了。负责伦敦警察厅（Met）公共保护工作的副助理专员凯文·索斯沃思（Kevin Southworth）表示：“我认为，基于我们和英国交通警察局（BTP）两次将此人提交法庭并请求羁押的事实，显而易见的结论是，如果他当时被羁押……他将被监禁足够长的时间，从而无法随后实施谋杀。”

专门应对男性性暴力的专家认为，利维的案件与韦恩·考森斯（Wayne Couzens）的案件有相似之处，后者是一名伦敦警察厅警员，于2021年绑架、强奸并杀害了莎拉·埃弗拉德（Sarah Everard）。考森斯此前较低级别的犯罪行为（例如向女性暴露身体）未得到警方的充分调查。女性正义中心（Centre for Women's Justice）负责人哈丽埃特·威斯特里奇（Harriet Wistrich）表示，利维案显示出“一种非常清晰的犯罪升级模式，从在公共交通工具上对女性实施性侵，演变为强奸和谋杀……犯罪者可能会变得胆大妄为，进而实施更危险的犯罪。”威斯特里奇补充道：“刑事司法系统未能解决他的犯罪行为，这一定向他传递了一个信号，即逃脱惩罚很容易。”

索斯沃思表示，他承认需要回答一些关键问题：“我们的警员知道什么？如果他们没有采取行动，他们应该怎么做？我认为，对于伦敦警察厅的高层领导来说，反思的重点之一是，作为一个整体系统，我们如何反思这里出了什么问题？”独立警察行为监察局（IOPC）正在调查该案件的处理情况。

这些披露是在数十年间关于刑事司法系统如何辜负女性的一系列丑闻之后发生的。威斯特里奇表示：“（本案中）失败的规模和多样性令人震惊——尤其是因为，如果这些问题得到了妥善处理，两名女性本不必失去生命。尤其令人担忧的是，这件事发生在关于伦敦警察厅警员韦恩·考森斯和戴维·卡里克（David Carrick）的恐怖披露，以及凯西男爵夫人（Baroness Casey）关于伦敦警察厅的报告（该报告发现警方存在制度性的种族主义、厌女症和恐同症）之后不到五年。这类丑闻告诉我们，在实践中几乎没有任何改善。”

--- 全国

英格兰前锋托尼因索豪夜总会“袭击”事件被起诉

凯文·罗林森（Kevin Rawlinson）

英格兰足球运动员伊万·托尼（Ivan Toney）因去年12月在伦敦市中心一家夜总会发生的一起事件而被起诉袭击罪。苏格兰场（Scotland Yard）表示，该前锋于31 July被起诉造成实际身体伤害的袭击罪。

效力于沙特俱乐部Al-Ahli的托尼将于24 September在威斯敏斯特地方法院出庭。

《太阳报》在12月报道称，托尼在涉嫌用头撞人后被逮捕。该报称，一名球迷在事件发生前认出了这名足球运动员，并在寻求合影时抓住了他。

伦敦警察厅昨日表示，指控涉及去年6 December发生在索豪区沃多街（Wardour Street）一家夜总会的事件，据报道该场所为现已关闭的100 Wardour Street。

该球员的一位发言人表示：“伊万承认该指控，尽管他自然感到震惊，但他期待能有机会在法庭上洗清自己的名声。”

▲ 托尼有10次英格兰出场记录，效力于沙特俱乐部Al-Ahli

曾效力于布伦特福德的前锋托尼，在2024年8月的转会截止日成为了最奇特转会事件的中心，当时他完成了一次据报道价值4000 万英镑m的深夜转会，加盟Al-Ahli。他还曾效力于纽卡斯尔联及其家乡俱乐部北安普顿镇。

托尼曾10次代表英格兰出场，并入选了2026年世界杯国家队名单，在半决赛对阵阿根廷的比赛以及英格兰获得第三名的胜法国的比赛中均有出场。

英格兰三分之二的NHS信托准备削减心理健康护理 ●

其他信托机构的专业人员告诉《卫报》，他们工作的地方也在制定类似的计划。他们担心削减规模之大将导致服务被大幅剥离，以至于他们无法正常履行职责，或无法保证其所在区域的护理安全。

“这在东伦敦并非孤例，”一名要求匿名的NHS顾问精神科医生表示，“许多心理健康信托处于类似甚至更糟糕的境地，并采取了类似的应对方式，即削减职位并损害服务交付。”

第三家NHS心理健康信托的一名心理健康服务经理表示：“许多心理健康信托处于类似境地。在过去几年中，他们面临着资金下降以及成本削减目标的双重压力。”

NHS联盟（NHS Alliance）心理健康网络助理主任亚历克斯·斯图尔特（Alex Stewart）表示：“由于护理需求的迅速增长和极其严峻的财务状况，心理健康服务正承受着巨大的压力。”

“我们看到了许多创新和优质护理的例子，这给了我们真正的希望。但日益明显的是，我们此前警告过的关于职位和服务之间权衡与艰难抉择的影响正在显现。当资金紧张时，心理健康部门的领导者面临着特殊的压力，因为其支出中很大一部分用于人员成本。”

▲ 心理健康服务已经不得不应对不断增长的需求

NHS联盟在新的财政年度前于3月进行的一项调查显示，人们普遍担心在 2026-27. 年度需要实现创纪录的效率节省。在参与此次民意调查的 37 家NHS心理健康提供机构中，人们还担心，对平衡账目的关注将阻碍在医院外提供更多护理以及增加预防性心理健康护理的进展。

一名NHS心理健康信托领导者在调查中表示，“心理健康社区服务没有投资”，且其团队在应对需求增长方面“资源不足”。

“我们欢迎近期关于社区心理健康中心资本资金的公告，以及确认提高心理健康护理可及性目标的决定，”斯图尔特说，“但在需求增长的情况下，NHS国家心理健康支出份额预计将连续第三年下降。绝不能让心理健康投资掉队，这一点至关重要。”

Mind组织政策、公共事务和宣传负责人汤姆·波拉德（Tom Pollard）表示，调查结果显示了我们在拯救英格兰心理健康服务并确保每个人都能获得高质量护理方面面临的“巨大的艰巨战斗”。

“政府提出了一个令人欢迎的雄心，即转向一种更开放的支持模式……但如果人员和服务的资金被削减，实质性的改善将是不可能的。”

“在即将出台的心理健康战略中，政府必须阐明将如何确保服务拥有充足的资源和人员，以满足不断增长的需求。”

工会Unite的总书记莎伦·格雷厄姆（Sharon Graham）表示：“我们不能以社会最弱势群体的利益为代价来平衡账目，通过削减心理健康供应的资金，你只不过是在推迟解决问题，而长期来看成本会更高。我们的成员对削减职位和服务的企图感到愤怒，将在工会的全力支持下进行反击。”

卫生和社会护理部已收到置评请求。

morrisons.com 大部分门店。不包括Morrisons Daily。在线情况有所不同。慈善机构注册号 207994（英格兰和威尔士），SC038731（苏格兰），条款与条件：my.morrisons.com / marie-curie-epgb-tcs / --- 国家文化 9

爱丁堡边缘艺术节拒绝取消阿曼达·诺克斯售罄喜剧演出的请愿

Caroline Davies Nadia Khomami

爱丁堡节日边缘艺术节（Edinburgh festival fringe）表示其“并不害怕争议”，此前有呼吁要求取消阿曼达·诺克斯（Amanda Knox）的一场售罄演出。诺克斯是一名美国女性，曾因2007年发生在意大利的英国室友梅雷迪思·克彻（Meredith Kercher）谋杀案而被错误监禁。

诺克斯的喜剧演出《侧手翻》（Cartwheel）遭到了克彻家人的谴责，其姐姐斯特凡妮（Stephanie）表示，该演出“使针对女性的暴力常态化且琐碎化”。一份要求取消该演出的请愿书已有超过6,000人签署。

来自西雅图的诺克斯及其当时的男友，意大利人拉法埃莱·索莱奇托（Raffaele Sollecito），在2009年被判定谋杀并性侵居住在佩鲁贾的交换生克彻。这对情侣一直坚称自己无辜，在经过多年的法律斗争后，于2015年被意大利最高法院宣判无罪。

诺克斯在Instagram的一篇帖子中写道：“《侧手翻》是一场关于母亲身份、在对女性而言不公平且危险的世界中抚养女儿，以及成为一个告诉女儿真相的母亲需要付出什么代价的演出。这份请愿书的发起人以及任何签署者都没有看过《侧手翻》。”

诺克斯表示，该请愿书包含“许多错误的假设，并且完全误读了这场演出”。她补充道：“《侧手翻》纪念梅雷迪思·克彻，并揭露了她和我所遭受的暴力。”诺克斯此前曾表示，该演出并没有“拿梅雷迪思的死亡开玩笑”。

标题《侧手翻》是指一个传闻，该传闻称诺克斯在克彻死后的警察局里做了侧手翻。

边缘艺术节协会（Fringe Society）总监托尼·兰克斯特（Tony Lankester）告诉BBC苏格兰广播电台：“我们不害怕争议。关于（该演出）是否继续进行的决定权在她自己和场馆手中。”他补充道：“尽管我们对出现的个案表示同情，而且作为一名家长，我绝对能体会他们所描述的痛苦，但这不能成为一项标准，不能是我们审视问题的视角之一。”

演出场馆Gilded Balloon Teviot在声明中表示：“爱丁堡节日边缘艺术节是一个开放准入的艺术节。作为一家边缘艺术节场馆，我们为广泛的声音提供平台，这符合边缘艺术节长期以来对表达自由（在法律范围内）的承诺……阿曼达的演出是一部由她独立呈现的单人剧，探讨母亲身份的主题。”

斯特凡妮·克彻告诉BBC早餐节目，诺克斯“自然有权按照自己的意愿继续生活，但我认为这个特定项目的有问题在于它是喜剧。虽然我承认喜剧是为了突破界限……但它在很大程度上使针对女性，尤其是针对梅雷迪思的暴力常态化且琐碎化。”

鲁迪·格德（Rudy Guede）在2008年被判定谋杀克彻。他在2021年获释。

伍斯特大学戏剧研究荣休教授克莱尔·科克伦（Claire Cochrane）表示：“发生在梅雷迪思·克彻和阿曼达·诺克斯身上的事情都很可怕……但基于对内容和动机未经核实的假设而发起的激烈活动，破坏了处理暴力和悲剧个人遗产的真正尝试。”

舞台评论 A Jellicle jumble as Cats revival leans heavily on dance

《猫》复排版侧重舞蹈，呈现出一场 Jellicle 的大杂烩 摄政公园露天剧院，伦敦 Arifa Akbar

安德鲁·劳埃德·韦伯的《猫》回来了，而这里——摄政公园这片郁郁葱葱的绿地——无疑是比任何地方都更适合这些猫类栖息的空间。树木在它们夜间的巡视中沙沙作响，钢制新月布景上的明月照耀着它们的歌舞。伦敦动物园里那些住在路对面的大猫们肯定会对此表示赞同。

在某种程度上，这些由 Drew McOnie 执导并重新编舞的动物，比 1981 年原版中的角色更具芭蕾感且更优雅，此次制作也让这部音乐剧从汤姆·霍珀的电影版中挽回了名声，后者被许多人认为是一团糟。Sami Fendall 的布景闪闪发光，而她的服装则从大地色系延伸至华丽的紧身衣和猫形套装。这群充满活力的演员并不像老 Gumbie Cat 那样只是坐着，而是在关于 Jellicle 猫群聚集参加年度舞会、其中一只将被重生以获得第二次生命这一单薄且碎片化的故事中，不停地跳舞、跳舞、再跳舞。

劳埃德·韦伯的音乐剧以 T.S. 艾略特 1939 年那部俏皮的诗集《波苏姆实用猫指南》为歌词基础，其概念之奇特程度仅略低于他在《星光快车》中让火车头唱歌。与诗集一样，这部音乐剧通过一系列小插曲来介绍每只参赛的猫，在这里，这些插曲有时像一场优雅的猫类综艺表演，有时又像一部老派的电影幻想曲。这在一定程度上也是问题所在：它的风格像个大杂烩，尽管始终非常时髦。这部音乐剧全剧贯穿唱段的特性并不利于连贯的叙事，而这里的平衡过于向一个方向倾斜，以至于它看起来像是《猫：舞蹈版》，拥有冗长的编舞序列和马戏团式的杂技。这产生了一些极具表现力的精彩场景，但使结构显得脱节。

有些猫比其他的更有性格：老杜特罗纽米（Melanie La Barrie 饰）地步蹒跚，显得有些平庸；麦考维（Dianté Lodge 饰）足够神秘；犯罪双人组 Mungojerie（Danny Nattrass 饰）和 Rumpleteazer（Briana Craig 饰）则像一对经典的综艺大厅双人组合。毫无疑问，亮点是 Rum Tum Tugger 及其同名歌曲，Jaydon Vijn 的演唱将年轻的米克·贾格尔、大卫·鲍伊以及一只发情的巷猫的挺臀 swagger 融合在一起。Vijn 带来了如此之多的（猫）态度和个性，以至于你会希望其他角色也能像 Rum Tum 那样。Gumbie Cat（Charlotte Riby 饰）在她的同名曲目出现时十分讨喜，但 Gary Wilmot 的喜剧天赋在他饰演的老年、怀旧的剧场猫 Gus 身上似乎被浪费了（为什么不让他扮演一个更俏皮的角色？）。Mr Mistoffelees（Jet Yau 饰）也登场展示了一些街舞，包括头旋。替补出演 Grizabella 的 Taziva-Faye Katsande 在最终演绎该剧标志性歌曲《Memory》时达到了高潮。她的唱功无懈可击，但角色塑造不够精细，让你不禁好奇 Grizabella 究竟是谁，以及是什么让她重新出现。

到最后，你确实非常清楚该如何称呼这些猫，但你也会很希望它们现在能蜷缩起来睡个午觉。

直到 9 月 19 日，随后将进行巡演 --- 10 National

保守党禁止外国国民申请所有社会住房的计划被谴责为“制造分裂”

卡罗琳·戴维斯 (Caroline Davies)

保守党政府禁止外国国民申请社会住房的计划被谴责为“制造分裂”。在昨天公布的提案中，该党表示，如果禁止外国国民获得社会住房，将有约 230,000 套住房可用。该党称，终止外国人的新租约，以及终止双方均非英国、爱尔兰或具有定居身份的欧盟公民的现有租约，预计将为英国家庭腾出 228,144 套住房。

根据该计划，在英格兰不符合住房资格的租户将被要求在六个月内搬离住所。目前，具有定居身份、难民身份或特定人道主义保护的外国国民有资格申请社会住房。寻求庇护者不具备申请社会住房的资格，除非在家庭暴力案件等特殊情况下。

工党将该计划描述为“一个不严肃、不可行的提案，抄袭自改革英国党（Reform UK），对于解决保守党自身造成的住房危机毫无作用”。

住房慈善机构 Shelter 的首席执行官莎拉·埃利奥特 (Sarah Elliott) 表示：“这些制造分裂的计划将残酷地将人们赶出家门，其中包括数千个已在其中居住数十年的家庭和养老金领取者。而且不要忘记，社会住房租户支付租金，这些资金会回流到公共金库并造福社会。毁掉人们的生活、推高无家可归率并给地方议会带来极端压力，这完全毫无意义。这项政策对于提供我们迫切需要的新社会住房毫无帮助。”

英国皇家护理学院表示：“世界上最糟糕的事情就是让维持我们服务运行的劳动力产生严重的住房忧虑，从而给患者护理带来严重风险。支持这些计划的人需要提供保证——而且要快——或者解释为什么我们一些最优秀的护理人员可能会面临住房不安全的情况，这是否公正。”

根据该计划，任何目前居住在社会住房中且非英国、爱尔兰或欧盟公民的单身人士都将失去住所。这包括那些有孩子的人。具有欧盟定居身份的人员不会被驱逐。对于未来的租约，英国国民和具有欧盟定居身份的人员将具备资格，但任何没有定居身份的新欧盟公民将不具备资格。如果夫妻双方均非英国或欧盟公民，且均不具有欧盟定居身份，他们将失去权利。

保守党影子工作与养老金大臣海伦·沃特利 (Helen Whately) 表示：“将英国作为家园应该是通过工作、纳税和融入来赢得的。它不应该伴随着在福利制度上的‘免费搭车’。英国不能成为世界的提款机。工党已经失去了对移民的控制，也失去了对福利账单的控制，而承担账单并排队等待的是英国家庭。下一届保守党政府将使外国国民不再具备社会住房资格。近 230,000 套住房可以交给英国家庭。”

根据《英格兰住房调查》，在 2024-25 年度，88.5% 的主要住户（即社会住房租赁合同上的登记人）是英国或爱尔兰国民，11.5% 为非英国 / 爱尔兰国民。据估计，有 470,000 名非英国且非爱尔兰公民居住在社会住房中。

“这是暴民统治” 寻求庇护计划引发的担忧在诺福克小镇演变为动乱

本·奎恩 (Ben Quinn) 政治记者

在塞特福德 (Thetford) 边缘的一条住宅街道上，破碎的窗玻璃和人行道上的蛋壳碎片是本周发生事件的一些明显迹象。周五下午，在这次诺福克集镇最新的动乱之后，并不难找到心怀不安的当地居民；在这次动乱中，人群试图冲击被认为安置了寻求庇护者的房产。

前议员珍妮·霍利斯 (Jenny Hollis) 指出了克洛弗路 (Clover Way) 上一栋目前看似空置的房屋与当地学校和托儿所的距离之近。她表示：“主要担忧是安全问题，以及儿童的接近，而且人们对此完全没有被咨询。”

“塞特福德是一个人们彼此认识的小镇，但如果你将人们对其一无所知的年轻男子安置在一个区域，有时还是在深夜，那么这将会引起担忧。”

警方表示，连续三个晚上，塞特福德一直是抗议和动乱的现场，警察遭到暴力对待，窗户被砸碎，围栏被破坏，且有人试图闯入一处住宅房产。

然而，在当地国会议员称之为“让塞特福德倒退了几十年”的动乱之后，当地居民和其他人对于种族主义在虚假信息的推动以及极右翼势力试图利用紧张局势的情况下，毒害当地关系的前景也深感不安。

在最近一次动乱发生地附近，一名原籍东欧的女性悄悄地告诉《卫报》：“我在这里住了十多年，已经把它当成了家。这里的人很友善，但上周是我伴侣第一次被某人大声呵斥，对方嘲讽他是‘移民’。”

根据诺福克警方的说法，周三晚上在克洛弗路上，面对一群多达 200 人的群众高喊“我们要他们离开”的口号时，一名男警察被砖块击中，一名女同事被严重咬伤。

截至昨天，与镇内不同地区动乱相关的逮捕人数已上升至六人。

警方表示，为了安全起见，寻求庇护者已于周四从这些房产中被转移走；当《卫报》访问时，几处被认为曾用于该目的的房产无人应答。

“我的房子两边都有安置了寻求庇护者的 HMO（多人共用住宅），”一名当地男子说。他表示，这些人倾向于独处，但他担心该地区的紧张局势以及这将对房价产生的影响。

镇上连续三晚的动乱还威胁到，可能会成为去年在埃塞克斯郡埃平 (Epping) 小镇外一家酒店周围爆发并蔓延至其他地方的那类反移民紧张局势的导火索。

然而，如果说塞特福德的动乱有所不同，那就是 HMO（多人共用住宅）首次成为协调且有组织的愤怒目标。

西南诺福克劳工党国会议员特里·杰米 (Terry Jermy) 对他所描述的内政部缺乏参与的行为提出了批评，并对选择较便宜的工人阶级区域作为安置寻求庇护者的地点表示不安。

他说：“与社区和民选官员缺乏沟通是一个巨大的担忧，同时在凝聚力计划方面，在消除谣言和阻止虚假信息传播方面，显然缺乏策略。”

“这件事似乎处理得非常糟糕。这类事情永远不会受欢迎，但你可以减轻最糟糕的影响，而整个局面现在被管理得一团糟。”

“我一直很乐意承认人们的担忧并支持和平抗议，但我们在过去几天看到的是彻头彻尾的犯罪行为、暴民统治和私刑式的闹剧，这远远超出了法治的范围。这些人——在很多情况下，我指的是那些前往塞特福德的人——声称为身为英国人而自豪，但身为英国人的自豪应当体现在支持法治上。” 这个问题也在政党政治层面展开，改革英国党（Reform UK）的人物对此表现出浓厚兴趣。在由改革英国党控制的诺福克郡议会内阁成员斯科特·哈塞（Scott Hussey）昨天出现在克洛弗路（Clover Way）的现场，他告诉《卫报》，居民和家庭们对于看到自己的城镇被变成他所描述的“非法移民的倾倒场”感到沮丧。哈塞补充说，根据他与内政部会面后的了解，该镇预计将设立更多的多户租赁房屋（HMOs），他说这将加剧人们对使用附近皇家空军（RAF）基地的提议所产生的紧张情绪。边境安全与庇护国务大臣安娜·特利（Anna Turley）告诉 GB News，周四在塞特福德发生的骚乱是“极其可怕的”。她补充说，人们有权抗议，但表示：“我们看到的情况已经演变成暴力，这是绝对不可接受的。任何人都不应该在自己的家中感到被骚扰、被恐吓或受到威胁，而且我们绝对不应该看到我们的应急工作人员和警察像我们所见的那样遭到攻击。” --- National 11

甜美、柔软且上镜：TikTok 将日式牛奶面包推向超市热销

从上至下：水果牛奶面包三明治（ichigo sando）；撒有糖粉的彩虹牛奶面包；自制牛奶面包。主图：ATMA BASIMANU SHUTTERSTOCK

Sarah Marsh 消费者事务记者

日式牛奶面包色泽金黄，内部如云朵般柔软，在 TikTok 的名气推动下，已成为亚洲美食中的最新狂热之作。随着相关视频在网上累积数百万次观看以及数千条评论和分享，牛奶面包正迎来其高光时刻，这反映了英国超市中对东亚美食日益增长的兴趣。

Waitrose 表示，Miso Tasty 味噌拉面酱的销量比去年增长了 41%，但 Waitrose 的世界美食产品开发人员 Emilie Wolfman 表示，牛奶面包（shokupan）的兴起是“我们看到的从社交媒体跨越到主流厨房的最令人兴奋的食品趋势之一”。在过去一个月中，Waitrose 网站上“日式牛奶面包”的搜索量增长了 617%，而同期销量增长了 27%。

这种微甜、组织细腻的酵母面包起源于通过西方接触引入日本的烘焙传统，但现代日式牛奶面包在 20 世纪期间演变而来，当时烘焙师将欧洲技术调整以适应当地口味。

它们绝非唯一在社交媒体上获得全球名气的日本食品。日本的深炸三明治引发了绕街而行的排队现象，而蓬松的舒芙蕾煎饼、精致的可丽饼以及日本独特的“水果三明治”（fruit sando）——将新鲜水果和奶油层叠在柔软的牛奶面包片之间——在网络及其他领域都拥有忠实的追随者。

除了在网上的病毒式传播，Wolfman 将牛奶面包日益增长的人气归功于“伦敦的网红汉堡餐厅和东亚面包店”。总部位于伦敦的汉堡连锁店 Black Bear Burger 通过在柔软的牛奶面包中提供其拍制汉堡（smash burgers）和酥脆炸鸡，建立了一批忠实客户。在伦敦的唐人街，Bun House 展示了带有咸味和甜味馅料的粤式烘焙牛奶面包。

在首都之外，爱丁堡高级餐厅 Cardinal 的主厨兼老板 Tomás Gormley 表示，餐厅开业时菜单上就有牛奶面包。“我的第一位点心师 Mia 开发了一个绝佳的配方，我们至今仍在沿用，”他说。“我们偶尔会切换到酸面包以保持新鲜感，但最终似乎总是会回到牛奶面包上。”

Gormley 认为，对厨师而言，部分吸引力在于其生产速度快且简单。他说：“我有充足的时间制作慢发酵酸面包和过夜佛卡夏，但从物流角度来看，一种可以在几个小时内快速出炉的面包在厨房里是胜出者。而且它通常比法国的同类产品布里欧修（brioche）含黄油量更少，这有助于降低成本，同时在我的情况下，有助于平衡菜单以及客人在品鉴菜单过程中实际能吃下的分量。”

《寿司及其延伸》（Sushi and Beyond）和《米的意义》（The Meaning of Rice）的作者 Michael Booth 表示，日本料理“对呈现方式、美学的极大关注”与社交媒体是绝配，且该国在这一趋势上至少领先了十年。“我记得访问过京都的一家餐厅，其食物呈现方式是专门为社交媒体量身定制的，”他补充道。

Booth 表示，他在 20 世纪 90 年代第一次访问日本时就对牛奶面包和日本烘焙食品“完全着迷”。“他们很久以前就精通了那种超轻盈的组织。”

MasterChef 冠军兼餐厅经营者 Tim Anderson 指出，日本提供的牛奶面包种类繁多，从淡淡的奶香味和甜味，到富含鸡蛋、黄油、奶油和蜂蜜、更接近布里欧修的浓郁口味不等。

他说：“我认为，如果英国的烘焙店和超市想要精准掌握牛奶面包的特别之处，他们应该专注于‘汤种’（yudane，一种传统技术）和面筋的开发，这两者赋予了牛奶面包强度与柔软度相结合的独特特质。”安德森表示，他建议使用牛奶面包来制作纳豆吐司，其特点是在一层酥脆的融化奶酪下铺有发酵大豆。他说，如果这不吸引人，它也非常适合做鸡蛋三明治，或者“披萨吐司也非常棒”。

喷雾酒之夏：Hugo接骨木花鸡尾酒迎来爆发式增长

佐伊·伍德（Zoe Wood）

今年是喷雾酒（spritz）之夏，英国的销售数据显示，Hugo接骨木花鸡尾酒正紧随市场领导者Aperol之后，成为今年的最受欢迎饮品。根据支付公司Square的数据，在截至6月底的三个月里，酒吧中Hugo的订单量几乎翻了三倍，而鲜红色的Campari喷雾酒需求激增52%，柠檬切洛（limoncello）版本则增长了31%。

巴卡迪（Bacardi）英国及爱尔兰业务部门总监史蒂夫·杨（Steve Young）表示，Hugo“绝对爆火”（该集团的St-Germain利口酒是Hugo的标志性成分）。他认同Hugo喷雾酒可能会成为这个夏天的代表饮品。

▲ Hugo由接骨木花利口酒、普罗塞克起泡酒（prosecco）、苏打水和薄荷调制而成

杨表示，St-Germain在英国的销售增长速度快于任何其他国家。“在过去的12个月里，其规模翻了一番。”

Hugo起源于意大利，在法国非常受欢迎，它比Aperol喷雾酒更甜，由接骨木花利口酒、普罗塞克起泡酒、苏打水和薄荷调制而成。

喷雾酒的繁荣正值英国人转向清爽、低酒精饮品之际。这一现象是由“日间睡前酒”（daycap）的兴起驱动的，即在傍晚时分用一种口感更轻盈、饮用时间更长的饮品取代传统的夜间睡前酒，这在千禧一代和Z世代中尤为流行。

Z世代为喷雾酒业务注入了强劲动力。对于这个18-29岁年龄组的人群来说，尽管在巴卡迪的年度鸡尾酒趋势报告中整体排名第六，但它是该群体心目中的第一名鸡尾酒。

包括Aperol和无酒精Crodino在内的Campari品牌在今年前六个月增长了10%以上。

数据公司NielsenIQ的汤姆·奥克顿（Tom Oakton）表示：“喷雾酒迎来了它们的时刻。”其销售增长速度远快于整个英国酒精市场。他说：“Aperol仍然是最受欢迎的，但由于Hugo喷雾酒的普及，St-Germain实现了三位数的增长。”

在截至8月1日的12周内，Aperol的销售额增长了32.4%，而St-Germain则增长了135.5%。

萨姆·尼尔的最后几部电影包括在《塞尔达》改编作品中的一个神秘角色

劳伦斯·费伦（Laurence Phelan）

演员萨姆·尼尔（Sam Neill）在去世前完成了即将推出的《塞尔达传说》（The Legend of Zelda）电子游戏改编作品中的一个角色拍摄，这将是他最后几次荧幕亮相之一。

根据Deadline的一篇报道，上个月因肺炎去世、享年78岁的尼尔将出现在这部于4月完成拍摄的真人电影中。

▲ 萨姆·尼尔上个月死于肺炎，但他的电影遗产将永存

尼尔饰演的角色尚未公开，但游戏的粉丝推测，他将是海拉鲁王（King of Hyrule）的绝佳人选，海拉鲁是《塞尔达》系列游戏主要设定的虚构幻想领域。

这位新西兰演员还拍摄了计划于2027年3月上映的《哥斯拉x金刚：超新星》（Godzilla x Kong: Supernova），以及一部名为《最后的度假胜地》（The Last Resort）的浪漫喜剧，他在片中饰演女主角黛西·里德利（Daisy Ridley）的父亲，该片也计划于2027年上映。

《塞尔达传说》可能是他的最后一次荧幕表演。尼尔的职业生涯极其丰富，但因其在恐怖和幻想作品中的表现而深受喜爱，包括《占有》（Possession）、《凶兆III》（Omen III）、《疯狂之口》（In the Mouth of Madness）以及《侏罗纪公园》三部曲。

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12 国家 北爱尔兰

贝尔法斯特焚城之夜

暴乱如何演变的内部故事 汉娜·阿尔-奥斯曼（Hannah Al-Othman）与罗里·卡罗尔（Rory Carroll） 贝尔法斯特

6月 8 日周一晚上 10. 30 刚过，当夏日的黄昏仍笼罩在贝尔法斯特时，金奈尔大道（Kinnaird Avenue）上演了一幕恐怖的场景：一名男子跨坐在一名躺在地上的人身上并反复捅刺，这场血腥的袭击直到旁观者介入才停止。其他人用手机拍摄了这一戏剧性过程，并将视频上传到社交媒体。这些模糊的图像一旦被看到就难以忘怀，到6月 9 日周二黎明时分，它们已在X、WhatsApp、Facebook、Telegram和其他平台上迅速传播。

许多评论者强调了一个方面：袭击者是黑人，受害者是白人。警方已拘留一名嫌疑人——他最初被认定为来自索马里的难民，后来更正为苏丹——但这并未阻止愤怒的连锁反应。评论者要求知道，北爱尔兰境内其他“服役年龄”的外国男子情况如何？他们是否经过了“审查”？他们带来了什么样的“异域文化”？

到上午 9. 30，一条消息被广泛分享：“所有店铺今晚 5. 30 关闭。没有任何借口。”该消息列出了北爱尔兰周围的 25 个地点，要求人们在晚上 7pm 聚集。“请转发给所有 18 岁及以上的男性。穿着深色衣服……并准备好战斗或被捕。”

这是一次屠杀的邀请。包括埃隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）和被称为汤米·罗宾逊（Tommy Robinson）的斯蒂芬·亚克斯利-伦农（Stephen Yaxley-Lennon）在内的极右翼煽动者扩大了抗议呼吁，这些干预在随后的报道中十分突出。但通过对目击者和应对动荡的人员进行采访，在北爱尔兰忠诚派据点和极右翼集会进行实地报道，以及分析与极右翼相关人物发送的消息，《卫报》已经建立了关于一起恐怖暴力事件如何引发此次危机的最完整图景。

这表明贝尔法斯特的组织者不需要任何鼓励。利用之前的暴力经验——这将是北爱尔兰连续第三个出现种族骚乱的夏天——组织者告诉人们将手机留在家里，并关闭行车记录仪和门铃摄像头。

到下午早些时候，学校开始让孩子回家，公共交通停运，外资企业的钢制卷帘门纷纷关闭。当人们坐下来吃晚餐时，人群聚集在忠诚派地区指定的 --- 8 13 ▼ 6月 9 日贝尔法斯特的车辆起火，当时在一名苏丹刀击袭击嫌疑人被捕后，暴徒袭击了移民的住所 摄影：PA 环岛和交叉路口。

大约晚上 7. 30，一名拿着扩音器的女性在尚基尔路（Shankill Road）向数百人朗诵《主祷文》，其中一些人披着联合旗。他们穿过排屋侧街，停在一个罗马尼亚家庭的家门外。附近的一个黑人家庭预感到麻烦，已经提前逃离。

数十名戴着兜帽和面具的男孩和男人向前冲。一些人向窗户投掷砖块，另一些人将烟花塞进信箱。屋里的一名女性在人群的注视下，无助地看着自己的家遭到袭击。这户人家的汽车被点燃，随后戴着巴拉克拉法帽的男子破门而入。

与 2024, 年英格兰和贝尔法斯特以及去年巴利梅纳（Ballymena）的种族骚乱不同，这次暴力行为没有被手机记录或直播。一名无视组织者禁止拍摄禁令的青少年男孩被拽到一边并受到责骂。

类似的场景在贝尔法斯特各地上演。在城市的东部，来自乌克兰、罗马尼亚、波兰和苏丹的家庭纷纷逃离。房产和车辆被纵火焚烧。

人群点燃垃圾桶并设置路障，以盘问和恐吓疑似外国人的人员。在贝尔法斯特市中心的桑迪罗（Sandy Row），埃塞俄比亚和中国居民纷纷逃离，纵火者烧毁了一家叙利亚超市。在西部的克拉姆林路（Crumlin Road），乌干达医疗工作者和尼日利亚家庭寻求庇护。在某些地方，警察缺席或保持距离，只能由社区志愿者在暴徒中穿行，护送家庭前往安全地带。大约晚上10点，暴力行为有所减轻，人群开始散去。雨开始落下，帮助应急救援人员扑灭被烧毁房屋和车辆的余烬。

有毒的气候

这场骚乱不应令人感到意外。北爱尔兰早已为此做好了准备。“我们可以预见到它的到来，”总部位于贝尔法斯特的倡导组织司法管理委员会（Committee on the Administration of Justice）主任丹尼尔·霍尔德（Daniel Holder）表示，“这是现有模式的一次升级。”

一次升级，也是一次学习曲线。通过汲取 2024 和 2025 年的教训，煽动者改进了他们的手段，以打击更多目标并降低被捕概率。英格兰和美国的极右翼盟友一直在记录这些经验。美国激进组织“骄傲男孩”（Proud Boys）的前头目恩里克·塔里奥（Enrique Tarrio）曾到访并采访活动人士，用于一部纪录片。而上个月，与 Advance UK 相关的 YouTuber 莎拉·怀特（Sarah White）一直在直播北爱尔兰的多场活动，包括一次橙色勋章组织（Orange Order）的游行和一场在波特拉什（Portrush）举行的反移民抗议。

北爱尔兰的“模式”未必可以复制。它是由一种独特的混合因素——“麻烦时期”（the Troubles）的遗产、排外心理、社交媒体以及国家的默许——共同创造出这种有毒气候的。在 1998 年的《贝尔法斯特协议》（Good Friday agreement）之前，该地区几乎完全由白人和本地出生的人组成。随着教派暴力缓解，移民开始缓慢流入。到 2021 年的人口普查时，3.4% 的人口来自少数族裔背景。许多移民定居在工人阶级的忠诚派地区，那里的人口在下降，房产更便宜——而且准军事组织依然存在。

尽管有国家资助的“转型”进程，但阿尔斯特志愿军（UVF）和阿尔斯特防御协会（UDA）分裂成了多个子团体，继续从事贩毒并强制控制社区。天主教徒和新教徒社区之间的“和平”墙依然屹立，凸显了传统教派分歧的持久性，但爱尔兰共和军（IRA）威胁的减弱，削弱了忠诚派准军事组织自称社区捍卫者的主张，促使他们寻找一个新的“替罪羊”来证明其存在的合理性。

“忠诚主义一直是一种基于排除‘外国’影响的反动意识形态，”学者、《表演准军事主义：北爱尔兰的忠诚派歌曲、冲突与文化战争》（Performing Paramilitarism: Loyalist Songs, Conflict, and Culture War in Northern Ireland）一书的作者斯蒂芬·米勒（Stephen Millar）表示，“从[反对]爱尔兰民族主义转向反移民言论，在某种程度上在内部逻辑上是一致的，并且有助于保持忠诚主义的‘相关性’，用一种形式的种族主义取代另一种。”

在过去十年中，针对少数族裔家庭的零星袭击和骚扰不断增加。事实证明，这是 2024 年 8 月贝尔法斯特全面骚乱的预演——那是对南港（Southport）三名女孩被杀后英格兰陷入混乱的模仿反应。随后在 2025 年 6 月，距离贝尔法斯特 25 英里的巴利梅纳（Ballymena）在两名罗姆人青少年被指控强奸后爆发了骚乱（该指控随后被撤销）。6 月的爆发完成了这个阴森的夏季“帽子戏法”。

北爱尔兰警察局（PSNI）局长乔恩·布彻（Jon Boutcher）表示，在最近的动乱中，准军事组织参与的整体情况“并不一致”，但准军事组织确实在场。许多人认为，警方在公开承认准军事组织在控制暴力中所扮演的角色方面反应迟缓。

UDA 和 UVF 内部已经分裂。一些派系敦促克制，但独立观察员表示，其他派系策划了大部分暴力活动。消息人士称，消防员对准军事组织的影响深信不疑，在扑灭大火前会先寻求其领导者的许可。北爱尔兰儿童专员克里斯·奎因（Chris Quinn）表示，将青少年运送到冲突点及接回，是其经过策划的进一步证据。“长期以来一直存在强迫儿童犯罪和剥削儿童犯罪的历史。”

奎因表示，这些孩子不应逃避法律后果，但他们同样也是受害者。有些人是为了偿还债务（包括毒品债务）而响应骚乱号召。另一位消息人士（一名青年工作者）表示，准军事组织向男孩们支付了 £100 以让他们加入骚乱。

来自 Anoka（一个帮助被围困家庭转移至安全地带的女性团体）的 Michaela Rafferty 表示，现在被忠诚派团体瞄准的不再是天主教徒，而是有色人种。“显然，在多年‘麻烦时期’（the Troubles）和暴力地带中一直存在教派冲突元素。现在，这种关注点已经转移到了棕色和黑色皮肤的人身上。”在 Moygashel 和 Newtownabbey 等忠诚派大本营中，出现了生成的反伊斯兰壁画，其中一面写道：“伊斯兰是异教，伊斯兰是撒旦”；另一面写道：“一个新恶魔已然崛起”。煽动者的手段已有所改进。去年 Ballymena 的大多数暴徒都佩戴面具或兜帽，但参与者和旁观者上传的视频帮助警方识别并起诉了数十名暴徒。在贝尔法斯特，近期的暴徒禁止拍摄，并更加努力地隐藏身份细节。通过试错，他们还发现，如果没有一个起导火索作用的事件（例如据称由外国人实施的残暴犯罪），大规模动员的号召往往会失败。来自 rabble.coop（一家总部位于贝尔法斯特、追踪网络排外主义的科技合作社）的 Dessie Donnelly 表示，他们转而建立在线社区小组，或加入现有小组，以缓慢喂养反外国人情绪。“Ballymena 是一个分水岭。你会看到大量小组在网上涌现，一个极右翼网络随之出现。”在最近一次骚乱之前，关于公园里深色皮肤男性，以及外国人搬进特定街道多人合租房（HMOs）的帖子大量增加。Donnelly 称，这种策略将伊斯兰恐惧症浓缩到了极小的地方层面。“这让人们做好了准备。”一家监测网络仇恨的“北爱尔兰问责项目”（Accountability Project Northern Ireland）研究员表示，活动人士已经形成了在线“集群”，用于分享和放大帖子，并渗透进忠诚派篝火和行军乐队的在线论坛。去年夏天，该监管机构注意到一个总部位于 Portadown 的 Facebook 小组正在传播一张市议会所有 HMO 房产的截图——这成为了暴徒在 6 月份使用的打击清单。在截至 3 月 31 日的一年里，北爱尔兰警务局（PSNI）记录了 2,367 起种族事件和 1,507 起种族犯罪，均创历史最高记录。英国穆斯林理事会（Muslim Council of Britain）驻北爱尔兰助理秘书长 Naomi Green 表示，随着夏季临近，激增的袭击制造了一种不详的预感。“我们认为情况会很快变得相当可怕，而事实也的确如此。”Holder 表示，在骚乱发生的一周前，反种族主义组织在贝尔法斯特举行了一次紧急会议。他说，行军季节临近，线上和线下的种族主义活动正处于“巨大的积压”状态。“连续第三个夏天，它都在等待一个借口。”Kinnaird Avenue 的袭击事件提供了这个火星。

令人不安的后果

那晚的暴力在第二天让位于一种诡异的平静。贝尔法斯特市中心像一座鬼城。一条熟悉的消息开始在社交媒体上流传：“所有商家关闭……穿着深色衣服。”事实上，6月10日当晚贝尔法斯特大部分地区保持安静，但在北面7英里的格伦戈姆利（Glengormley），一群暴徒试图向曾被用于安置寻求庇护者的烟囱角酒店（Chimney Corner hotel）进军，并与身着防暴装备的警察发生冲突。人群投掷砖块和石头，在街道上点燃篝火并纵火烧毁了一栋空屋。警方使用水炮和塑料子弹将他们击退。晚上11点左右，暴力活动逐渐减少随后停止。那是6月份最后一次骚乱。

但在某些方面，随后的后果同样令人不安。在智库 More in Common 的一项民调中，北爱尔兰有 8% 的人表示，将移民从家中烧出来是合理的，11% 的人同意通过恐吓手段将他们赶出某个区域。在受访者中，41% 的人表示他们有时觉得在自己的国家像个陌生人，四分之三的人担心寻求庇护者进入北爱尔兰。

“民调显示，许多社会中都有类似数量的人认为这种针对移民的暴力行为是合理的”

Conleth Burns，More In Common

More In Common 的副主任兼爱尔兰负责人 Conleth Burns 表示，在英格兰进行的民调显示了类似的结果。“在许多社会中，都有类似数量的人认为这种程度的针对移民的暴力行为是合理的。”然而，北爱尔兰的外国人及有色人种数量远少于英格兰，这表明即使是极少数的人员也可能产生巨大的影响。

追踪极端主义和虚假信息的战略对话研究所（Institute for Strategic Dialogue）表示，动荡加速了网络上的极右翼活动。该机构在本周的一份报告中称，在6月的前两周，宣传警察存在反白人偏见的帖子激增至 200,000 条以上，而整个5月仅为 104,000 条。

斯托蒙特（Stormont）的主要政党强烈谴责了暴力行为，但批评者称行政部门未能为这场危机做好准备。“他们本该预料到会发生某些事情，”Donnelly 说道。Donnelly 表示，尽管北爱尔兰警察局（PSNI）在过去几年中一直难以控制动荡，但警力资源仍然不足。

Holder 表示，斯托蒙特的反应淡化了危机的严重性。“你会期望一场种族主义大屠杀成为这些机构在夏季处理的核心问题，并采取紧急措施防止此类事件再次发生。但事实并非如此，完全没有紧迫感。”

北爱尔兰法律中心（Northern Ireland Law Centre）的移民正义负责人 Liz Griffith 表示，权力下放政府未能更新反种族主义立法，并降低了一份期待已久的政策文件的级别。该战略侧重于“种族关系”，Griffith 称其“严重过时”。

“就好像这在某种程度上与人与人之间的关系有关，”Holder 说道。“就好像那些窗户被砸进砖块的人，需要改善他们与砸砖之人之间的关系。”

斯托蒙特行政部门未能制定与英国其他地区一致的仇恨犯罪和种族平等法。Griffith 表示：“英格兰、苏格兰和威尔士已经更新了法律，而我们的法律简直陈旧不堪。一直在谈论咨询……但它就那样卡住了，从未有进展。”

面对这种不作为，许多人希望安迪·伯纳姆介入。Green 表示：“除非威斯敏斯特此时介入，确保对某些行为提供保护、法律保障以及后果，除非这里有某种问责机制，否则这种情况将会持续下去。”

--- 18 国家 ▼

山火在邓威奇希斯（Dunwich Heath）国家信托保护区的海岸警卫队小屋前停止。 摄影：JUSTIN MINNS / NATIONAL TRUST

邓威奇希斯山火

“鸟类赖以筑巢和觅食的栖息地就这样消失了”

帕特里克·巴克汉姆 (Patrick Barkham)、皮帕·尼尔 (Pippa Neill)

在东萨福克郡的一大片区域被焚毁的那一周，有许多值得庆祝的事：社区团结一致，应急服务部门将住宅和房车公园从灾难中拯救出来，农民与自然保护区管理员共同协作开辟防火带，以遏制高达 40 米的火风暴。但当地居民在面对邓威奇希斯（Dunwich Heath）超过 112 公顷被烧成黑色、化为废墟的状态时也流下了眼泪，他们与邻近的英国皇家鸟类保护协会（RSPB）明斯米尔（Minsmere）保护区一起，为这个深受喜爱的国民信托（National Trust）自然保护区的毁灭而哀悼。据保护区工作人员称，栖息在该保护区的稀有鸟类失去了至关重要的栖息地，而那里的稀有无脊椎动物物种则被“大量毁灭”。

火灾发生在 7 月 29 日，起因目前尚不清楚，但萨福克郡消防局表示，由于天气炎热、气候干燥且风向多变，火势蔓延速度“极其凶猛”。自那时起，平均有 100 名消防员在现场，来自 18 个消防部门的队伍参与了行动。一周后，地表火已被控制。消防部门测得地下温度超过 600℃，地表温度为 60℃。热风和缺乏降雨使这个干燥的沙质地区处于进一步爆发火灾的高警戒状态，许多被疏散的居民被建议不要返回家中。由于火灾暴露了第二次世界大战时期的未爆炸弹药，当地居民和游客被禁止进入邓威奇希斯的一大片区域。

对野生动物的影响是毁灭性的。RSPB 明斯米尔是英国一些最稀有鸟类的家园，包括夜鹰、夜莺和达特福德苇莺。RSPB 萨福克地区经理亚当·罗兰兹（Adam Rowlands）表示：“支撑这些鸟类生存至关重要的植被，包括金雀花和树木的结构，似乎全部消失了。因此，从本质上讲，它们赖以筑巢、觅食、遮蔽和夜栖的栖息地已经没了，它们将无处可归。”

消防局的一名顾问测得火场周围植被的含水量为 0%。据罗兰兹所知，这是英国唯一一次在植被中记录到 0% 含水量的情况。“就气候变化而言，这似乎是一个相当前所未有的局面。”

该地还栖息着多种稀有无脊椎动物，包括窄口圆蜗牛、蚁狮和绿虎甲。罗兰兹表示，其中很大一部分已被“大量毁灭”，即使它们幸存下来，栖息地的丧失也意味着它们现在无处可归。

虽然警方仍在调查这起由全球变暖加剧的一系列英国毁灭性山火的起因，但在火势尚未完全熄灭时，右翼媒体和评论员已开始报道称“再野化”（rewilding）是罪魁祸首。环保人士反驳了这一说法。据《泰晤士报》专栏作家利比·珀夫斯（Libby Purves）定义，再野化是指“不对林下灌木、倒伏和过度生长的植被进行干预”，而她认为这助长了火势。

英国林业局（Forestry England）前环境主管、具有影响力的再野化专家乔纳森·斯宾塞（Jonathan Spencer）表示：“需要强调的是，这里并非再野化景观。这是一个传统的、经典的 20 世纪保护景观。”

火灾发生在邓威奇希斯的旧区域，那里是由石楠和金雀花组成的开放且天然干燥的马赛克景观，自 19 世纪以来一直以类似的方式进行管理。火焰并未蔓延到已修复的希斯兰（heathland）区域。

根据英国皇家鸟类保护协会（RSPB）和国家信托基金会（National Trust）的说法（火灾发生在其管理的荒原土地上），该土地的管理方式与大多数其他低地荒原相似，包括定期修剪灌木（包括石楠和金雀花），以促进新生长，并为原色蝰蛇和银斑蓝蝶等稀有物种保持温暖且开阔的区域。蕨类植物被清除，区域内设有防火带和一条有助于防止火势蔓延的湿沟。

罗兰兹认为，针对再野化（rewilding）的批评“没抓到重点”。他说：“在明斯米尔（Minsmere），我们没有任何被定义为再野化的土地。我们因为干预过多而受到再野化支持者的批评。”他补充道：“这不是对再野化的批评。在自然保护中，我们需要多样化的方法，但如果说这次事件与再野化活动有关，那是错误的。”

“野生栖息地本身可能防止了火灾变得更加严重，”国家信托基金会在英格兰中部和东部的区域总监保罗·福卡斯特（Paul Forecast）表示。“我们已经建立了防火带，清除了枯死物质，而拥有不同的年龄结构意味着地面能保持更多水分。”

他说：“改变的不是荒原，而是周围的环境。我们正面临着更长、更热、更干燥的干旱期。我们看到农田起火，看到一些管理最积极的土地起火。我们必须面对气候变化是其主要驱动因素这一事实。”

环保人士乐观地认为，在遭受火灾蹂躏的萨福克郡、峰区（Peak District）和凯恩戈姆山脉（Cairngorms），可以创建更具防火韧性的野生动物栖息地。斯宾塞正在为国家信托基金会提供建议，并表示可以通过再野化来恢复栖息地。但他承认，对于像邓威奇（Dunwich）这样的低地荒原，没有简单的解决方案。他表示，铺设粘土衬里的池塘、设置防火带，甚至可能采取像在新森林（New Forest）那样在早春进行受控焚烧，都有助于降低火灾风险。

在RSPB，罗兰兹表示，该慈善机构始终愿意学习，并寻求使恢复中的荒原具有更强的防火韧性。他说：“我们的慈善目标是造福自然、造福野生动物并鼓励人们享受自然。随着气候的变化，我们需要时刻学习。”

---

National

俏皮点缀：头巾成为今夏热门配饰

Ellie Violet Bramley

在过去的几年里，棒球帽一直是时尚人士遮阳遮头的首选。但今年夏天，一款新的配饰随处可见：头巾（bandana）。在本周的哥本哈根时装周上，它们像肉桂卷一样普遍。最近，杜阿·利帕（Dua Lipa）在海滩、赞达亚（Zendaya）在逛书店以及普里扬卡·乔普拉·乔纳斯（Priyanka Chopra Jonas）在温布尔登观看网球赛时都佩戴了头巾。Toast提供由印度工匠手工木版印刷的款式；Asos有英式镂空刺绣款，Next则有刺绣款。流行歌手格雷西·亚伯拉姆斯（Gracie Abrams）去年夏天在格拉斯顿伯里（Glastonbury）演出时佩戴过一款，随后她还将头巾作为周边商品发行。在提供格子图案、骷髅交叉骨图案或钩编款式的二手交易网站Depop上，过去三个月内头巾的搜索量增长了152%。社交媒体上充斥着各种教程，教你如何在头发需要洗涤的日子里搭配头巾，或者如何使用弹性发带来固定容易打滑的丝绸款式。

《Grazia》的时尚商业编辑黛西·默里（Daisy Murray）“从去年夏天开始佩戴头巾，作为对杰基·O（Jackie O）的一点致敬。它们能为每套造型增添一种复古感——涵盖60年代、70年代和90年代，”她说道，并补充了其实用性，“我住在布赖顿，有两个年幼的孩子，所以这是在多风的海滩上打理卷发的绝佳方式。”

Bella Webb，可持续发展编辑

顶部的头巾……创作歌手格雷西·亚伯拉姆斯去年夏天在格拉斯顿伯里演出。下方为本周在哥本哈根时装周上 sporting 这种造型的参与者。 摄影：SAMIR HUSSEIN / WIREDRAGS; RAIMONDA KILUKAUSKIENE / GETTY IMAGES

Vogue Business 的 Bella Webb 一直在哥本哈根的演出中佩戴头巾：“我喜欢多功能单品，它们能让我的穿搭感觉新鲜且俏皮，而无需购买新衣服。”

其历史远早于费利西蒂·肯德尔（Felicity Kendal）穿着背带裤的时期。头巾起源于印度——梵语单词 bandh 意为“系”——根据《史密森尼》（Smithsonian）杂志的记载，“纺织品制作者采用了一种拥有千年历史的名为 bandhani 的扎染技术，来制作覆盖着生动图案的彩色丝绸和棉质方巾”。它们从南亚被荷兰东印度公司和英国东印度公司进口到英国，在那里，那些在纯色手帕上留下难看烟草渍的鼻烟使用者，

剪掉！为什么光亮的长甲不再流行，而“裸色”健康指甲成为主流

Chloe Mac Donnell

哥本哈根时装周的趋势通常很容易被察觉。这个所谓的“第五大时装周”是四大时尚之都中一个随性的兄弟城市，它普及了从搭配实用运动鞋的浪漫飘逸长裙到巨大的发圈等各种元素。但在昨天刚刚结束的最新一届时装周期间，一种更微妙的趋势出现了：裸甲。从 T 台上的模特到观众和当地人，手指和脚趾都呈现出短小且未涂指甲油的状态。这一趋势是对近期主导美容标准的修长、亮色且光亮的美甲和足疗的转变。

▲ 美甲和足疗成本的上升也推动了自然趋势

与 Burberry 和 Mango 等时尚品牌合作的美甲师 Saffron Goddard 表示，现在的目标是“看起来健康、修整良好的指甲，而不是显眼的美甲”。

哥本哈根时装周的运营负责人 Isabella Rose Davey 将这种极简主义风格描述为“非常丹麦”。Davey 在七年前从伦敦搬到这座城市时就放弃了每月美甲 / 足疗的习惯，她将其比作丹麦人对“伪素颜”的偏好，即重点在于健康的皮肤和极少的化妆品。

“在这里你永远看不到有人画烟熏妆或涂红唇，”Davey 说，“他们对待指甲的方式也是如此。这里的一切都关乎功能。我们保持指甲短小简单，因为我们要骑自行车、游泳或去桑拿房。”

▲ 描绘工厂工人“铆钉露西”的战争海报显然“采用了它们来使他们的习惯更加低调”。

佩斯利（Paisley）是一种以苏格兰城镇命名、起源于克什米尔的图案，是经典的方巾图案。方巾拥有丰富且全球性的血统，可以传递截然不同的信号。在历史上，它们与牛仔和窃贼联系在一起，也曾是帮派成员身份和工人权利的象征。它们被图派克·沙库尔（Tupac Shakur）等嘻哈明星佩戴，也被“铆钉露西”佩戴，她代表战争时期的女性宣称：“我们能行！”

2003 年，米西·艾利奥特（Missy Elliott）在领取格莱美奖时，用一条粉色方巾搭配她的天鹅绒运动服。凯莉·布雷肖在《欲望都市》中肆意地佩戴它们。

符号学家兼文化分析师 Bridget Dalton 表示：“在涉及头巾时，存在着关于种族的潜台词。黑人群体长期佩戴它们；显然，戴希贾布的人会遮盖头部，哈雷迪（Haredi）社区的[已婚女性]也是如此。”

对许多人来说，它们具有特定用途：“对于拥有自然卷发的黑人来说，它们起保护作用，遮盖头发，并在夜间保持[头发]受保护。对于有宗教信仰的人来说，它们是精神生活的一部分。而对于因工作而佩戴的人来说，则是为了保持头发清洁和安全。”

所有这些含义都被承载在一块简单的方形织物上。但 Dalton 补充道，对许多人来说，“方巾也非常时髦”。

这是一种延伸到丹麦首都之外的趋势。有些人声称这是一个经济衰退指标。由于英国美甲的平均费用在 £15 到 £55 之间，每月预约一次美甲变得更难被合理化。

通常，丹麦式的指甲并非真正的裸甲。相反，它通常涂有透明、轻薄或几乎看不出的淡粉色指甲油。这种风格被纽约时尚店 Mess 的店主兼时尚历史学家 Ruby Redstone 在那个被称为美甲之都且“没有人能拒绝美甲 / 足疗”的城市中察觉到了。

对于最近将柠檬绿指甲换成“裸色”的 Redstone 来说，这关乎风格。“我穿着相对夸张的单品，使用很多亮色，我意识到中性色指甲更容易搭配，因为它可以适配所有服装。”

预订平台 Fresha 的美容专家 Annabelle Taurua 表示，“无美甲美甲”的造型反映了

更广泛的转向，即增强或接纳自然特征”。她指出了睫毛提升护理，这种护理营造的是自然卷翘的睫毛效果，而非戏剧性的接睫毛。“消费者越来越多地选择看起来健康且低维护的美容，”Taurua说道。一些人将环境担忧列为驱动因素，因为美甲的每一个步骤都会产生废物，包括一次性手套和指甲锉。无论是通过紫外线灯固化液体指甲油的树脂凝胶美甲，还是将膏体粘合在天然指甲上的亚克力美甲，都是不可生物降解的，并且会脱落微塑料。2022年的一项研究发现，美甲店的室内微塑料空气污染最为严重。再加上对紫外线照射和过敏反应的担忧，医疗美甲 / 美足等专注于指甲健康的服务的普及也就不足为奇了。---

急诊手术 无国界医生 (MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES / DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS) # 请在今天帮助支持我们的医疗团队 一名男子将一名受伤的孩子抱进位于加沙南部的拉法印度尼西亚野战医院（由无国界医生运行）。照片 © MSF

BIRSEN GASKELL 医生是一名曾在加沙工作的麻醉师。

“我们抵达加沙后，立即面对着挤满街道的庞大人群。你能听到轰炸声，能看到人们脸上的恐惧。我们立即在医院投入工作。我们治疗了大量烧伤和创伤伤员，大多数是由于爆炸而受伤的人。其中有很多孩子。我从未见过这么多烧伤患者聚集在一个地方。有些孩子营养不良，很明显许多人没有正常进食。在术后护理中，患者拥有良好的饮食以辅助组织愈合至关重要，但由于食物短缺，这根本无法实现。

我们每天接诊大约 180 名患者。我们没有能力将所有人送入手术室——一些手术必须在病房内进行。作为一名麻醉师，我的职责之一是改善疼痛管理。由于医疗用品短缺，在这次冲突期间发生了许多人们在没有麻醉的情况下接受手术的事件。这种情况竟然发生了，简直不可思议，但事实确实如此。

有些患者让你难以忘怀。有一个九岁的女孩，她的家被炸毁时受伤，失去了部分下颌。她和她的母亲是家中唯一的幸存者。我每隔几天为她更换一次敷料，并给她进行抗生素治疗。有一天，她给了我一个拥抱，问她是否还能恢复正常的样子。我无法给她答案。重建手术确实能帮到她，但在加沙根本没有这类医疗服务。

加沙的情况正在恶化，人们的医疗需求在增加。那里有人不得不进行无麻醉医疗手术，这简直是野蛮的。这是一个非人的局面。然而，尽管有如此惨烈的杀戮和恐怖，无国界医生的医院却是一片平静的绿洲。加沙工作人员的韧性给我留下了深刻印象。许多人失去了家人，住在帐篷里，但他们每天依然在那里帮助人们。无国界医生在加沙所做的工作，现在比以往任何时候都更被需要。”

没有您，我们无法开展手术

每年，无国界医生的团队执行数万次手术。从治疗战争创伤到紧急剖腹产和重建手术，我们的外科医生处于救命护理的最前线。每年，全球的无国界医生团队共进行 134,000 次大手术。在我们工作的地区，对外科服务的需求从未如此之高。我们现在比以往任何时候都更需要您的支持，以便为人们提供救命的医疗护理。

请在今天捐款，以支持我们的紧急医疗团队。 £40 可以为六名患者提供抗生素，以防止术后感染 £420 可覆盖一名无国界医生外科医生在医院工作五天的费用 £170 可为 20 名患者支付用于固定受伤肢体的紧急夹板费用

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您的支持对我们的工作至关重要，我们希望通过工作人员和患者的第一手记录，让您了解您的支持在从对抗流行病到提供紧急手术等救命行动中所产生的影响。我们不会允许其他组织出于营销目的访问您的个人数据，也不会向您发送过多的募捐请求。通过支持 ，您将通过邮寄收到我们的杂志《Dispatches》、活动邀请以及偶尔的紧急募捐请求。您可以通过发送电子邮件至 uk.fundraising@fondon..org 或致电 020 7404 6600 来更改接收 UK 消息的方式。访问我们的隐私声明了解更多信息：.org.uk / privacy。

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MSFR0048 --- National 17

邦德效应真实存在吗？

为什么 MI6 深受世界各国情报机构的尊重

伦敦南部沃克斯霍尔（Vauxhall）的 MI6 总部，以及上方，曾被 MI6 招募的冷战资产、KGB 双面间谍奥列格·戈尔季耶夫斯基（Oleg Gordievsky）。照片：SPOTMATIK / GETTY

丹·萨巴（Dan Sabbagh） 国防与安全编辑

MI6 拥有詹姆斯·邦德般的自信；而其法国对应机构 DGSE 则像电视剧《局外人》（Le Bureau）那样复杂。电影和电视剧可能是虚构的，但本周由一家法国杂志开展的一项调查却绝非虚构，该调查将英国情报机构排在法国机构之上，位列全欧洲第一。

新闻周刊《快报》（L'Express）对来自欧洲大陆的 60 名现任和前任间谍，以及美国中央情报局（CIA）和以色列摩萨德（Mossad）的人员进行了一次类似欧洲歌唱大赛形式的投票。每个人都被要求秘密地对他们心目中的前五名外国情报机构进行排名。

MI6 以 251 分位居第一，领先于获得 169 分的 DGSE，其他机构则紧随其后。这一结果并未让《快报》专门负责国防与情报的副主编亚历山德拉·萨维亚纳（Alexandra Saviana）感到惊讶，但领先幅度却让她感到意外。她说：“这是一个巨大的分差，”这反映了内部人士和盟友的观点，其中 17 人是在这个互联的秘密生态系统中担任或曾担任机构首脑的人员。

在伦敦沃克斯霍尔的 MI6 总部，其负责人布莱斯·梅特雷韦利（Blaise Metreweli）尚未表现出任何公开反应。但对于这一出乎意料的裁决，内部存在着一种低调的满意，尤其是因为该机构非常看重盟友和对手如何看待它。一名曾在白厅（Whitehall）工作的内部人士表示：“在间谍游戏中，名声至关重要。”

《快报》在封面故事中解释道：“英国间谍令欧洲及其他地区着迷。”萨维亚纳补充说，MI6 在投票中的成功主要归功于其几代以来招募和管理高级人力情报源的记录：在技术、截获和卫星监控主导的时代，依然专注于人力情报。

一名法国 DGSE 的前间谍告诉该杂志：“英国人有能力玩长线游戏，对情报源进行 10 年以上的押注，有点像俄罗斯人，”并补充说“他们偏好阴险的手段”，但并未透露具体含义。

一名前间谍对该调查表示怀疑，并补充说，像 MI6 这样的人力情报机构，其能力仅取决于其名册上的高价值特工。在 MI6 前任负责人理查德·摩尔（Richard Moore）任职期间，人们曾担心其高价值特工数量已不足。包括萨维亚纳在内的其他人承认，MI6 的姐妹机构——负责信号情报的政府通信总部（GCHQ）或许应该获得更多认可，但 GCHQ 并不在投票之列。

这家法国刊物表示，MI6 在同行中的声誉建立在“悠久的传统”之上，包括招募冷战资产，其中最著名的是 KGB 的奥列格·戈尔季耶夫斯基。他在 20 世纪 70 年代末和 80 年代初担任双面间谍，帮助说服玛格丽特·撒切尔认真对待米哈伊尔·戈尔巴乔夫。1985 年，在掩护身份最终暴露后，戈尔季耶夫斯基不得不被戏剧性地秘密转移到芬兰。

并非每个内线都能逃脱被捕。曾成为英国公民的前伊朗国防部副部长阿里雷扎·阿克巴里（Alireza Akbari）在 2019 年返回伊朗时被捕，并于 2023 年被执行死刑。他承认自己是 MI6 的特工。尽管这些供词似乎是被强迫的，但来自多个国家的间谍指出，他曾是 2008 年披露福尔多（Fordow）核浓缩设施存在的情报源。

在 2003 年伊拉克战争爆发前，MI6 被指责简单地支持战争理由，推广后来被证明是虚假的情报源，声称伊拉克领导人萨达姆·侯赛因可以在“45 分钟”内攻击英国目标，并且依赖于一名描述所谓化学武器装置的情报源，而这些装置与好莱坞电影《勇闯禁地》（The Rock）中的装置惊人地相似。

《快报》（L'Express）认为，在2022年2月乌克兰战争爆发前，军情六处（MI6）已经恢复了其声誉。正是军情六处与美国中央情报局（CIA）共同正确地发出警告，称俄罗斯即将入侵，而其法国和德国的同行直到最后一刻仍持怀疑态度，误判了局势。这反映了军情六处与CIA之间密切且长期的关系，这是美国、英国、澳大利亚、加拿大和新西兰之间更广泛的“五眼联盟”情报共享机制的一部分。即便考虑到唐纳德·特朗普混乱的总统任期所带来的复杂性，这一机制仍令欧洲大陆国家羡慕。萨维亚纳（Saviana）表示：“其他每个国家都想说自己是第六只眼。”《分类余谈》（The Rest is Classified）播客的共同主持人戈登·科雷拉（Gordon Corera）回忆起一位前军情六处负责人曾向他讲述过一个故事：一名年轻的官员前往一个遥远的地方，不知道他试图培养的接触对象是否会说英语。“当他走进房间时，对方伸出手说：‘你好，邦德先生。’那位前负责人评论道：‘我怀疑如果他来自比利时秘密情报局，是否能获得如此热烈的欢迎。’”

剧评：灵动喜剧演变为关于道德妥协的讽刺剧

目标观众（Target Audience） 普莱森斯庭院，爱丁堡 马克·费舍尔（Mark Fisher）

“我从未读过任何希腊文学，但我打赌感觉绝对就是这样的，”在这部灵动喜剧达到末世高潮时，伊莎贝尔（Isabelle，由RhéAna Kamalu饰演）说道。她是一名Z世代实习生，在收到政府要求居家隔离的警报后，她对末日时期的焦虑突然变得合理起来。这句台词具有剧作家丹·毕晓普（Dan Bishop）标志性的机智，但场景本身却出人意料。

回溯到《目标观众》的开篇，你会发现一些更为浅显的东西。它开始于一场对空洞的屏幕产业的欢快嘲讽，这个产业受制于像安吉（Angie，由James Coward饰演）这样充满魅力的胡言乱语者以及观众数据的暴政。我们仿佛在观看BBC的讽刺剧《W1A》或大卫·马梅（David Mamet）的《快犁》（Speed-the-Plow），一家制作公司请来了政治敏感的作家托比亚斯（Tobias，由Henry Calcutt饰演），看看他能否为开发中的剧本增加一些锋芒。其中一部名为《公民 54》，另一部名为《荆棘》（Thorns）。如果不是因为有《地平线》（Horizon）的海报，你可能会相信他们从未拍过电影，而更倾向于在陈词滥调和统计数据中虚度光阴。

在助手布鲁瑟（Bruiser，由Molly Windust饰演）的陪同下，安吉讨好托比亚斯的速度与他贬低对方的速度一样快。尽管素材似曾相识，但在毕晓普这部有趣的制作中，演员们使其显得新鲜。如果能省去场景切换，节奏会更快。但这位剧作家在布局长线，从这种空脑壳式的角色喜剧中浮现出来的，是一部关于道德妥协的讽刺剧，而这些妥协不仅影响了我们观看的电视节目，还影响了我们所身处的晚期资本主义权力结构。

直到 30 August

▲ RhéAna Kamalu饰演的伊莎贝尔与Henry Calcutt饰演的托比亚斯 --- 18 National

托利党困局：巴德诺克“诡异的一周”令其党内产生分歧

亚历山德拉·托平 (Alexandra Topping)、杰西卡·埃尔戈特 (Jessica Elgot)

本周中旬，一条新闻提醒引起了政治参与者的关注：“凯米·巴德诺克：前新纳粹候选人将仅负责处理垃圾。”这句话的措辞足以让最乐观的公关专业人士心惊肉跳，随后紧接着便是要求必须撤退的恐慌性建议。然而，随着保守党这个极其诡异的一周于昨日结束，其党魁似乎决心坚守阵地。

由于凯米·巴德诺克被指责在政策上模仿改革英国党（Reform UK），并在近几周清洗党内的中间派，而她决定支持一名因制作一名犹太议员的色情图像并称其为“啮齿动物”而被监禁的男子，这引发了人们对其作为反对党领袖的政治敏锐度以及其政党整体战略的担忧。

周一的消息显示，一名曾因对工党贵族卢西亚娜·伯格 (Luciana Berger) 进行性别歧视和反犹太主义骚扰而被定罪的前新纳粹活动人士，已被选为萨默塞特郡地方选举的保守党候选人。大约 48 小时后，亲右翼病毒式 AI 短片创作者约书亚·博恩希尔-佩恩 (Joshua Bonehill-Paine) 撤回了候选资格，称巴德诺克邀请他担任该党文化与融合委员会的顾问，重点研究年轻男性如何被激进化。

随着压力增加，巴德诺克表示，博恩希尔-佩恩认为自己“没有空间来解释自己的立场并代表其群体”，对此她感到“遗憾”，并谴责那些质疑其判断力的人。她在社交媒体上写道：“对（那些已经改变的人）进行围攻并试图让他们被‘取消’，可能是其他政党的娱乐方式。但这是一个不同的保守党。”

她的立场让部分党员对其坚持的好斗风格感到欣喜，但另一些人则感到困惑并考虑退出。对于对手而言，这是一个值得品味的时刻，改革英国党（Reform UK）称她的支持行为“令人难以置信”，而专注于地方事务的自由民主党则幸灾乐祸地批评巴德诺克坚持认为，博恩希尔-佩恩作为一名议员将仅负责“研究停车问题、处理垃圾”。

接纳博恩希尔-佩恩正值巴德诺克领导力的关键时刻。上个月，她开始对保守党议会党团进行清洗，在《电讯报》上写道，这里“不是失败政治家的养老院”，并要求任何支持净零排放或英国加入《欧洲人权公约》（ECHR）的人应被禁止在下次选举中参选。前托利党部长加文·巴威尔 (Gavin Barwell) 被撤销了党鞭资格，而前内阁成员格兰特·夏普斯 (Grant Shapps) 则被禁止再次代表该党参选。消息人士称，许多改革党成员也被禁止入党。

“在欢迎这个家伙的同时这么做，绝对引起了一些人的关注，”一名人士说道。

前托利党活动人士科迪·巴特勒 (Cody Butler) 表示，这次清洗让许多年轻的托利党人和中间派在政治上失去了归宿。他于上周末辞去了“一个国家保守党网络” (One Nation Conservative Network) 主席一职并离开了该党。他表示，中间派、担心气候危机和自然保护的成员，以及那些玛格丽特·撒切尔可能会称之为“软弱派”的人，“已经走投无路了”。

巴特勒补充道：“我们一直听到议会党团从未如此团结。但我认为事实是，纵火者已经掌控了局面，他们正试图点燃托利主义这棵巨大的橡树。”

本周，巴德诺克宣布保守党将把持有居留许可的外国国民从社会住房中驱逐，这促使齐亚·尤苏夫 (Zia Yusuf) 指责她“试图抄袭改革英国党（Reform UK）的政策”，而无家可归慈善机构 Shelter 则表示该政策

▲ 凯米·巴德诺克（Kemi Badenoch）在这一周内与萨里郡警方一起进行了突击行动，而就在这一周，她向政治右翼倾斜的举动被认为将“推高无家可归人数并给地方议会带来极大压力”。尽管有些人私下担忧，但在保守党基层中，并不难发现人们对巴德诺克毫不掩饰的右倾之举感到欣喜。“这反响非常好，”一名国会议员表示，“党内认为凯米做得非常出色。”一名保守党高级顾问表示，该党正在明确表达自己的信念及其原因。“在上次选举中，选民告诉我们他们不知道该党代表什么。凯米正在改变这一点，”该顾问说道。工党消息人士称，他们本周正像吃着爆米花一样在旁观。“就在你认为凯米可能终于在整顿内部时，她却花了一周时间关注完全无关的废话，”其中一人说道，“没有什么比一个人的直觉更重要，而她的直觉就是错了。”欣喜若狂的自由民主党指出，在巴德诺克的领导下，保守党似乎对夺回在2024年直接输给自由民主党的60个席位毫无兴趣，在这次惨败中，保守党失去了创纪录的251个席位。自1777年以来，牛津郡首次出现了零名保守党国会议员的情况。一名坚定的左翼徒步旅行者可以从兰兹角走到伦敦，而无需经过任何保守党选区。尽管巴德诺克坚持认为5月的地方选举表明“保守党正在回归”，但该党在英格兰失去了约500名议员，并失去了三个地方当局的控制权。即便在现在，保守党的得票率也仅在19%的基准线附近徘徊。一名自由民主党高级消息人士表示：“人们普遍预期保守党在2024年处于最低谷，并会迅速开始取得进展；事实上，是我们从他们那里夺走了大量份额，而不是相反。无论是争取更多气候行动还是捍卫人权，保守党听起来更像奈杰尔·法拉奇（Nigel Farage），而不是那些深受英格兰中产阶级欢迎的前任领导人。这确实给了我们有史以来对抗他们的最大机会。”民调专家约翰·库蒂斯（John Curtice）表示，考虑到民调结果——以及2024年大选保守党将约三分之一的选票输给改革英国党（Reform UK）的结果——试图争取那些投票给法拉奇的人是符合逻辑的。“保守党的状况相当糟糕，但还没有几个月前那么糟糕，”他说，“根据我的计算，他们现在大约有17%的选票流向了法拉奇。”民调还显示，巴德诺克的个人支持率正在上升——YouGov上个月将其净好感度定为-11，这是五年多来任何保守党党魁中的最高值。但库蒂斯补充说，保守党现在面临一个困境：是尝试与那些留在党内的选民建立一个更倾向于中间路线的联盟，还是尝试赢回改革英国党的选民。“但在（改革英国党）选民心中，他们是那个未能妥善执行脱欧并制造了鲍里斯浪潮的政党，”他说，“而更根本的问题与意识形态无关，而与能力有关。‘派对门’毁掉了他们的道德声誉，而（利兹）特拉斯毁掉了他们在经济方面的声誉。”保守党贵族兼民调分析师罗伯特·海沃德（Robert Hayward）淡化了巴德诺克正日益将保守党推向右翼的理论，但表示她必须在安迪·伯纳姆领导下的工党面前做出调整。当被问及在目前的轨迹下，保守党看起来会在哪里赢得席位时，海沃德坦诚地说：“我认为目前还不清楚，这对该党来说是一个重大挑战，”他说，“但这对每个人来说都是个问题。现在人们对任何政党的忠诚度都比我一生中的任何时刻都要弱。” --- National 19

麦当娜和Blur的流行音乐制作人William Orbit去世，享年69

本·博蒙特-托马斯（Ben Beaumont-Thomas）

英国音乐制作人William Orbit去世，享年69. 他那梦幻且具有推进感的风格为麦当娜（Madonna）、Blur、All Saints、U2等艺人的作品注入了活力。其社交媒体上的一份由家人和朋友发布的声明称，他于23 July在家中去世。声明写道：“我们将深深地思念他，许多因他的音乐、友谊和善良而受到影响的人也将深深地思念他。”声明未给出死因。

Orbit最著名的成就是他与麦当娜在1998年专辑《Ray of Light》中的合作。他根植于trip-hop、jungle和techno的极具原创性的伴奏，为这位流行乐坛最伟大的巨星之一开启了新篇章，产生了如《Frozen》、《The Power of Goodbye》以及令人兴奋的同名主打歌等热门单曲。该专辑在全球范围内实现了多白金销量，并为麦当娜赢得了三项格莱美奖。

他的作品还包括Blur那张具有探索性且充满情感创伤的专辑13, All Saints在英国No 1的《Pure Shores》、Pink的热门单曲《Feel Good Time》等。他以个人名义发行了一系列专辑和单曲；他在萨缪尔·巴伯（Samuel Barber）的《弦乐柔板》（Adagio for Strings）基础上进行的电子改编，在trance混音的助力下，于1999.进入了英国Top 5。

他原名William Wainwright，1956年出生并成长于伦敦北部。他的父母都是教师，他形容父母是“典型的工人阶级且贫穷”。他在16岁时离开学校，成为了他所描述的“后嬉皮士”，住在违章搭建的房屋（squat）中，从事低薪劳动，据他回忆，当时每天消费“一块马氏巧克力棒和一片酸液（LSD）”。

1980年，他与Laurie Mayer和Grant Gilbert组成了电子 / 氛围三人组Torch Song，在1984年至1987.之间发行了三张专辑。凭借精湛的电子音乐制作能力，他被聘请为罗布·劳（Rob Lowe）和帕特里克·斯威齐（Patrick Swayze）主演的电影《Youngblood》创作原声带，并为包括麦当娜在内的流行艺人制作混音作品。通过运用碎拍（breakbeats）和俏皮的配器，他为麦当娜90年代初的单曲《Justify My Love》和《Erotica》赋予了更轻快的色彩。

“William是一个彻头彻尾的疯子天才，”麦当娜在谈到《Ray of Light》的录制期间时说道，“我会带着我想在音乐上探索的方向去找他，哼唱旋律或朗读歌词，然后把他一个人留在‘实验室’里。有时他会朝着我想要的方向走，有时他会完全转向另一个方向。”

今年早些时候，Orbit表示：

▲ 根据麦当娜的说法，William Orbit是一个“疯子天才”

“我将永远爱那个女人。真的。她成就了我的事业。”

90年代末是他高效产出的时期。1999, 他发行了由古典乐改编而成的专辑《Pieces in a Modern Style》，同时Blur的专辑13发行，Orbit在其中打造了热门单曲《Tender》和《Coffee and TV》。在随后的几年里，包括布兰妮·斯皮尔斯（Britney Spears）、Melanie C、罗比·威廉姆斯（Robbie Williams）和克里斯·布朗（Chris Brown）在内的众多流行艺人都曾寻求与Orbit合作。

值得关注的词曲作者：为何菲比·布里杰斯（Phoebe Bridgers）是 2020 年代的发声者

凯蒂·霍桑（Katie Hawthorne）

周五，独立音乐之星菲比·布里杰斯（Phoebe Bridgers）将发行她期待已久的第三张专辑，距离她在疫情期间的突破性成功已过去六年。随着《迷失周末》（Lost Weekend）获得包括《卫报》五星好评在内的一系列赞誉，她也迎来了在英国的第一首个人榜单单曲——尽管这位加州音乐人的影响力远深于评论或唱片销量所能衡量的程度。

菲比·布里杰斯究竟是如何成为 2020 年代最具影响力的词曲作者的？

布里杰斯特立独行的创作塑造了这十年的声音。她于 2020 年 6 月发行的第二张专辑《惩罚者》（Punisher）诡异地预见了那段奇怪且孤独的岁月：在她阴森的双轨人声中（向她的音乐偶像埃利奥特·史密斯致敬），她用由水润的电吉他、美洛特隆（Mellotron）、弦乐、尖叫和鸟鸣组成的繁茂且令人不安的音乐，歌唱着空荡的购物中心和阴谋论。

如今，布里杰斯那种冷幽默与感伤的独特结合，在当今流行乐榜单冠军的歌词中随处可见，而包括保罗·麦卡特尼（Paul McCartney）、泰勒·斯威夫特（Taylor Swift）和 SZA 在内的跨世代、跨流派重量级人物都渴望与她合作。“她现在就是标杆，”斯威夫特 2022 年告诉《卫报》。

“她是某个非常特定时刻的发声者，”获奖作家卡门·玛丽亚·马查多（Carmen Maria Machado）说道。马查多的散文与布里杰斯的歌词之间存在一种亲缘关系——两者都坦率、忧郁，且不惧于描写残酷之物——这促使马查多发表了一篇短篇小说来陪伴《惩罚者》专辑。“菲比的音乐如此精准、怪诞且美丽；它既是对我们所处之地的祈祷或颂歌，同时也在注视着它分崩离析，”马查多说。

对《迷失周末》的评论强调了该专辑深刻的个人主题——探讨了布里杰斯父亲的去世，以及她与演员保罗·梅斯卡尔（Paul Mescal）订婚关系的结束——同时也提到了布里杰斯超现实的幽默感。在《今夜秀》（Tonight Show）表演单曲《迷失男孩》（Lost Boys）时，她先是与一群兴奋不已的孩子组成的乐队共同演奏，随后又与资深民谣音乐人丹·里德（Dan Reeder）以原声编曲再次演绎。效果既迷幻、甜蜜又略带病态：典型的布里杰斯风格。

对于合成器流行三人组 Muna 的成员娜奥米·麦克弗森（Naomi McPherson）来说，正是这种实事求是与魔幻的结合让布里杰斯如此独特。麦克弗森提到《迷失周末》中有一首歌的歌词写到为了更好地平行泊车而调低立体声音量：“能够以一种不显得愚蠢，反而极其精彩且在某种程度上深深触动人心的方式将其放入歌曲中，是一项巨大的成就。”

Muna 在 2021 年签约布里杰斯的唱片公司 Saddest Factory，加入了一个由富有想象力、且主要是酷儿音乐人组成的群体，他们统一在布里杰斯“尽可能快地将酷东西带给人们”的理念之下。由于商标纠纷，该厂牌在今年早些时候被并入母公司 Dead Oceans，但其深远的影响反映了布里杰斯改善音乐产业的决心。

布里杰斯直率的表达为她赢得了狂热的粉丝群，其中许多人可以通过相同的幽灵纹身被轻易识别——这是对她 2017 年首张专辑《阿尔卑斯山的陌生人》（Stranger in the Alps）封面的致敬——而她的演唱会氛围极其浓烈：曾与布里杰斯共同巡演的创作歌手 Claud 描述道，“在数以万计的人群中，你竟然能听到针掉在地上的声音”。

因此，布里杰斯决定通过在美国各地举办一系列秘密快闪演出，来宣传《迷失周末》。

环保倡导者、DJ 兼由酷儿和女性领导的当地 DJ 集体 Their House 的共同创始人 Fan Baleigh Epperly 表示，他们当时都盘腿而坐，观看 Bridgers 的演出。她预测这次演出将对那些可能已经内化了关于阿巴拉契亚地区有害刻板印象的年轻音乐家产生深远影响：“如果 Phoebe 足够优秀到可以在西弗吉尼亚州演出，那么你也足够优秀，可以在这里演出，在这里生活，或者来自这里。” --- 20 National

蹭票者请注意：运营商打击逃票行为

埃丝特·阿德利（Esther Addley）

实施欺诈的方式不止一种。对于一些铁路旅客来说，在火车接近目的地时，只需在手机侧边双击一下即可完成。这种在最后一刻购买电子票的典型行为——无论旅程实际距离多远，只购买能让他们刷卡通过闸机的最短行程车票——是火车运营商目前试图消除的多种非法伎俩之一。而明年大多数英格兰铁路服务在重新国有化后将由政府部门直接监管，该部门对此表示大力支持。

本周，两家铁路公司——南西方铁路（SWR）以及运营泰晤士链路（Thameslink）、南方铁路（Southern）及其他服务的GTR——推出了打击所谓“短程票”（short-faring）的措施。这是一种乘客仅为旅程的最后一段

购买最后一刻电子票的诡计，即使他们是在距离遥远且没有检票闸机的车站上车的。

不要再尝试下载从沃克斯霍尔（Vauxhall）到滑铁卢（Waterloo，许多从西部进入伦敦火车的终点站）的电子票，或者在其他一些路线上这样做，显然包括从诺伍德交汇站（Norwood Junction）到伦敦桥（London Bridge，许多来自南海岸的服务进入首都的车站）的路线。对于这些以及其他一些路线，你现在需要从真实的自动售票机领取实体票，因为运营商发现高达95%的票

“我们正在适应一种不同的票务形式。这显然容易被滥用”

交通评论员克里斯蒂安·沃尔马（Christian Wolmar）指出，一些短途路线正被用于欺诈。英国铁路的逃票行为并非始于数字化——你不需要二维码也能跳过闸机，或者在检票员到来时躲在厕所里。但对数字化票务日益增加的依赖，为那些意图欺骗系统的人扩大了某些漏洞，并给铁路公司带来了一个不断增长的问题。

根据英国交通部的说法，铁路网络每年因欺诈损失高达 4 亿英镑，手段涵盖了高科技以及极其低端的方式。除了购买短途票（short-faring），运营商还指出了“快速扫描”（quick scanning）——在检票员靠近前的几秒钟用手机买票；“尾随”（tailgating）——在付费乘客通过检票门时紧跟其后挤进去；以及“甜甜圈式欺诈”（donutting），这描述了一种乘客购买覆盖行程第一段的廉价票和另一张覆盖最后一段的票，从而避免支付全程更高费用的骗局。

汇丰银行（HSBC）前高级主管约瑟夫·莫洛伊（Joseph Molloy）在2月因使用该技巧 740 次在肯特郡的奥平顿（Orpington）与伦敦桥（London Bridge）之间通勤而被判缓刑，在 11 个月内为他节省了 £5,911。

“这是一个相当大的问题，因为我们正在适应一种完全不同的票务形式，”铁路评论员兼作家克里斯蒂安·沃尔马说道。“你不再去售票处购买红色和黄色的小卡片；你现在在网上购买，而这提供了这些新机会。这个系统显然容易被滥用。”

他表示，尽管削减员工人数是一个因素，但：“如何解决这个问题非常困难，因为你不能在每个站点都配备警卫。他们将通过数字化分析来寻找解决方案。”

政府似乎对此表示赞同，本月扩大推出了一款通过追踪用户手机来计算票价的应用程序。该技术目前在东米德兰兹（East Midlands）和约克郡（Yorkshire）的路线上进行试点，最终可能会在整个大不列颠铁路（Great British Railways）中使用。大不列颠铁路是一个公共机构，将接管即将重新国有化的网络运行，预计明年投入运行。

“逃票是非法的且自私的——它通过转移本可用于改善服务的资金，积极地使所有铁路乘客的旅程变得更糟糕，”交通大臣海蒂·亚历山大（Heidi Alexander）表示。“我们致力于打击票务欺诈者，这也是将我们的数字化票务应用扩展到试点区域更多人群的预期收益之一。”

她的部门最近还拨款 1300 万英镑 用于在英格兰各地的“逃票热点地区”安装新闸机或升级现有闸机。

西南铁路（SWR）表示，在布赖顿（Brighton）车站的一次干预中发现，一半使用错误车票出行的人员采用了短途票欺诈手段，随后该公司引入了新的反欺诈措施。

对于昨天上午在车站下车的乘客来说，打击欺诈行为非常受欢迎。

“显然，票价因为通货膨胀本身就会上涨，但他们可能也在推高我们的票价，所以我们都受害了，”迪安娜·史密斯（Deanna Smith）说道，她与伴侣乘坐 Thameslink 前往参加一个咖啡节。“这就像逃税一样——我们都成了他们行为的受害者。”

“我是一个一直支付所有费用的人，所以我对[逃票]感到有点愤怒，”尼古拉·加雷特（Nicola Garrett）说道，她与一名朋友从位于利海（Leigh-on-Sea）的家中前往布赖顿一日游。“现在似乎没人认为他们必须为任何事情付费。就像是，如果你能逃掉，为什么不这么做呢？”

24个月通话时长计划（每月 £27）和 36个月设备计划（每月 £29.50）

24个月无限价值（最高速度 100 Mbps）通话计划，每月 £27 起。包含欧洲 Go-Roam 服务；可在 49 个欧洲目的地使用您计划内的额度，每月公平使用政策为 12 GB。36个月设备计划（信用协议），每月 £29.50 用于设备融资。最高可节省 £414。通过 36 个月内每月节省 29pm 实现通话计划的 £324 节省。使用定期支付方式可享受 £3 折扣。与 12 / 09 / 25 至 22 / 07 / 26 期间销售（于 19 / 08 / 26 结束）的此前定价相比，设备成本节省 £30。由 Hutchison 3D UK Limited（代表受英国金融行为监管局（FCA）授权并监管的 Three）提供信用，年化百分比利率（APPI）为 0%，取决于身份状况及信用检查，仅限 18 岁以上人士。逾期付款可能会影响信用评级及未来获得信用的能力。注册地址：450 Longwater Avenue, Reading RG2 6GF --- National ▼ 2005 年的安东尼·波登（Anthony Bourdain）。这位名厨、电视主持人兼作家于 2018 年自杀。摄影：JACKY GROSSER / FAIRFAX / GETTY

“他让美食写作变得性感” 传记电影上映之际，真实的安东尼·波登是谁？

大卫·史密斯（David Smith） 华盛顿分局局长

小说家迈克尔·坎宁安（Michael Cunningham）将位于鳕鱼角顶端的普罗文斯镇描述为“世界上你可以让自己消失的地方之一”。这种特立独行的波希米亚风格吸引了像爱德华·霍珀（Edward Hopper）和田纳西·威廉姆斯（Tennessee Williams）这样的人物，以及辍学者、变装皇后和流浪者。1975年夏天，一个来自新泽西州的、身材瘦长且不安分的19岁青年来到了这里，他没有工作，没有钱，睡在合租小屋的地板上。他的名字叫安东尼·波登（Anthony Bourdain），后来他成为了一名名厨、作家和环球旅行电视节目主持人。

半个世纪后，那段成年礼经历被好莱坞神话化了。马特·约翰逊（Matt Johnson）的新电影《托尼》（Tony）由多米尼克·塞萨（Dominic Sessa）饰演青少年时期的洗碗工，想象了这个男人在2000年出版回忆录《厨房机密》（Kitchen Confidential）并重写美食写作规则之前的起源故事。

对于那些最了解波登的人来说，这部电影在他在自杀八年后上映，令人难以面对。“我和托尼之间有很深的情感纽带，是的，这很难，”78, 岁的小说家兼编辑乔尔·罗斯（Joel Rose）说道，他可以说是波登35年来最亲密的文学知己。“关于托尼的记忆以及我的记忆之间发生了很多事情，在很多方面我感到被欺骗和困惑。我与托尼的关系与他在电视上的公众形象截然不同。”

20世纪70年代的普罗文斯镇是一个不受主流影响的放纵避风港——在这个小镇上，作家诺曼·梅勒（Norman Mailer）和艺术家罗伯特·马瑟韦尔（Robert Motherwell）可以与挖蛤蜊的人和流浪的大学生一起出现在名为 Piggy's 的俱乐部的舞池中。

波登后来在《厨房机密》中描述了那几个月：“我们每天早晨都去海滩和池塘，抽大麻，吸一点可卡因，服用酸类药物并裸体日光浴，此外还沉溺于其他健康的青少年活动。”

这种生活方式并没有持续太久。据《纽约时报》报道，一天晚上，一名室友从 Flagship 餐厅下班回家，因为洗碗工没来上班而愤怒不已。她告诉波登：“你知道我们的新洗碗工是谁吗？就是你！”

第二天早上，他第一次穿上了围裙。在 Flagship 的厨房里——后来在《厨房机密》中被虚构为 Dreadnaught——他发现了一种此前从未接触过的结构：等级制度和一种归属感。他一路晋升到沙拉工位及更高职位。他在2017年告诉《观察家报》：“我直到成为一名洗碗工（我的第一份工作）才变得快乐。我曾是一个害羞、傻气、笨拙的青少年。但在这种蓝领的、工厂般的环境中，没有模糊的界限，没有灰色地带，没有需要苦恼的哲学问题。”

也是在 Flagship 度过的那个夏天，波登目睹了一个瞬间，他后来将其归功于激发了他成为厨师的愿望。厨房员工们拥挤在俯瞰垃圾桶的窗户边，看着他们的主厨正与一名仍穿着婚纱的顾客发生性关系。波登认定，厨房员工就像海盗一样，不听命于任何人，遵循自己的规则。

随着行业后来开始反思其长期存在的身体和性虐待历史，波登表示，他后悔将一种在狂妄自大之下往往具有剥削性的文化浪漫化。对于那些掏空了他工作过的许多厨房的药物滥用问题，他也变得更加清醒。

波登在次年春天回到了普罗文斯镇，最终进入了一家名为 Ciro's 的意大利餐厅。Ciro's 的厨师之一亚历克谢·盖特马诺夫（Alexej Gettmanov）上周告诉《纽约时报》：“我们看着他并嗤之以鼻，因为他看起来非常稚嫩，一方面自命不凡，另一方面又犹豫不决。”

被降级回沙拉工位的这种羞辱感刺痛了波登，促使他报名

◀ 多米尼克·塞萨在《托尼》中，一部基于波登回忆录的电影，见下方

为了证明自己，他于1977年进入美国烹饪学院学习。如果说普罗旺斯镇是波登发现厨房的地方，那么20世纪80年代初纽约东村那些肮脏的街道则将他锻造成一名作家。“他从一开始就是个优秀的作家，”罗斯说道，“他有天赋。”当时波登仍生活在社会边缘，在厨房高强度的双班工作与严重的药物依赖之间勉强维持平衡。罗斯回忆说，当他第一次见到波登——对方来到他的公寓自我介绍时，“他刚吸完毒，我立刻就戳穿了他，因为我知道。我也经历过那种生活。”

20世纪90年代末，波登在东京的一家酒店房间里，在参观完鱼市场后俯瞰这座城市，此时他给罗斯发了一封冗长且生动的电子邮件，而罗斯当时正与布鲁姆斯伯里出版社的编辑凯伦·里纳尔迪同居。“我拿着这封邮件去找凯伦，我说：‘我得读给你听。’她说：‘托尼还有其他故事吗？’我说：‘你在开玩笑吗？他有太多故事了！’”里纳尔迪买下了这本书。

当《厨房机密》在2000年出版时，它粉碎了食品出版界那个温文尔雅、以食谱为中心的领域，开启了一个将催生出如《熊餐厅》（The Bear）这类电视剧的时代。71岁的美食作家兼编辑戴安娜·雅各布评论道：“文字太惊人了。他有非常强有力的个人风格。他是一个出色的讲述者。他让美食写作变得性感。在安东尼·波登之前，美食写作基本上分为两类：大多是男性在写高级餐厅，大多是女性在写食谱。所以这完全是一件新鲜事，这部关于在餐厅工作以及他所有其他胡作非为的回忆录。他的声音令我震撼。最重要的是，他塑造了一个真正的‘坏男孩’形象，而且他的文笔如此优美。”

然而，当雅各布在旧金山的一次图书巡演中与波登本人见面时，她遇到的是一个似乎对全球名声感到极不适应的男人。她回忆道：“洗手间里有一个年长的女性在胸前涂腮红。那里有很多满身纹身的厨师，他们非常崇拜他。当我排队请他给我的书签名时，有女性在递给他纸条，可能上面写着电话号码。那场面不可思议。他很有魅力，但同时也有些局促和害羞。”

随着旅行节目的日益成功，电视摄制组规模的扩大以及全球崇拜的加剧，波登的私人世界开始崩塌。他生命的最后一个悲剧章节始于他与意大利演员亚细亚·阿根托的相遇。对于那些认识他数十年的人来说，他性格的转变是突然且令人不安的。鲁尔曼说：“在遇到亚细亚之后，他完全变成了另一个人。在他遇到她之后，我收到了一封邮件。我邀请他参加我在纽约市的婚礼招待会，他说：‘去不了。我在意大利拍摄。我也恋爱了。爱在四方。只有幸福。’一年后，他就自杀了。” --- 22

环境 # 一种永生的水母？

五个最受喜爱的无脊椎动物

今年的《卫报》年度无脊椎动物评选活动正将目光聚焦在地球上一些最壮观、最迷人却又被忽视的居民身上：即一个巨大的动物类别（超过1.3m个不同物种），它们没有脊柱。这个群体包括从水母到熊蜂，以及寄生虫、蜘蛛和蠕虫等生物。尽管它们在所有生态系统的最底层承担着一些最关键的功能，但仍然是脊椎动物——大熊猫、狮子、鲸鱼——吸引了所有人的注意力。

以下是我们为今年前 10. 名选出的首批五个提名。您可以在 13 August 在线投票选出您最喜欢的一项，获胜者将于 17 August 揭晓。

长生不老水母 (Turritopsis dohrnii)

永生通常被认为是神灵的领域、科幻小说，或者是科技创业者在令人毛骨悚然的实验中所追求的幻想。但一种空灵的、顶端像顶针一样的水母已经破解了这一密码。

正如德克萨斯A&M大学的海洋生物学家、副教授玛丽亚·皮亚·米格列塔（Maria Pia Miglietta）所解释的，上图中的 Turritopsis dohrnii 具有一种令人难以置信的欺骗死亡的能力。“Turritopsis 是独一无二的，因为当面对不利条件时——我的意思是高温、物理切割、饥饿、水中的化学物质，凡是你能想到的——当你试图杀死这种水母时，它并不会死亡。”

大多数水母在生命之初是幼虫。它们蜕变为水螅体（微小的、静止的软体），然后萌发出游离的水母体，进而成长为成年水母。最终，在繁殖之后，大多数水母会停止游泳，崩解并死亡。但长生不老水母会退回到幼年形态，重新开始其生命周期。

米格列塔说，这个过程被称为“细胞转分化”。水母看起来像是快要死了，并沉入底部。然后它缩成一个球，在 24 to 48 hours 内，萌发出一个具有相同基因组的新水螅体。

《卫报》读者拉奎尔·洛佩斯-阿拉贡（Raquel López-Aragón）说，这是“自然界最酷的把戏”之一。“当这种水母变老或受伤时，它不像大多数动物那样直接死亡，而是将自己转化回幼年水母，然后重新长大。它可以根据需要重复这个过程无数次，这意味着理论上它永远不必因为衰老而死亡，它只是不断地按下生命的重启按钮。”

在实验室中，这些水母理论上可以永远生存。而对于一些野外的水母来说，被捕食最终可能会终结这场美梦。

目前有 8 个被认可的 Turritopsis 物种——但（到目前为止）只有 1. 种掌握了永生的钥匙。长生不老水母的大小仅有几毫米。它们分布在许多地方，从地中海到大西洋，从日本海岸到巴西。

佩特拉·斯托克（Petra Stock）

叶羊 (Costasiella kuroshimae)

一种生活在水下的霓虹绿朋克羊。一只能够进行光合作用的太阳能驱动蛞蝓。如果你在寻找美丽、智慧和极具创新力的生活方式，那么请投票给叶羊。叶羊或海羊（Costasiella kuroshimae，主图）是一种大小约如米粒般的海蛞蝓。像羊一样，它以绿色植物为食——即在日本、印度尼西亚和菲律宾周围的热带海域中发现的某些藻类。但它的绰号低估了它，因为它比任何陆生哺乳动物都要聪明得多。这种动物不仅依靠它所食的藻类获得能量，还依靠太阳。在一种被称为盗色体（kleptoplasty）的过程中，叶羊窃取藻类的叶绿体，即植物用来捕捉阳光并进行光合作用的结构。它将完整的叶绿体隔离在自己的细胞中，存储在背部被称为拟鳃（cerata）的叶状分支里。这些拟鳃就像太阳能电池板一样，使这种蛞蝓能够通过光合作用获取能量。眼睛圆圆的叶羊生活在它的喂食地——一种生长在浅礁周围细淤泥中的天鹅绒类藻类 Avrainvillea 上。叶羊鲜绿色的拟鳃（末端通常呈白色、粉色或紫色）为这种微小动物提供了化学防御。拟鳃赋予了叶羊鲜绿的颜色，确保它能完美地伪装在藻类之中；它通过眼睛上方名为触角（rhinophores）的两个类耳结构来定位藻类。这些触手是感觉和味觉接收器，帮助它寻找食物并感知周围的世界。科学界直到 1993 年才对叶羊进行了描述，近年来由于水下摄影和微距摄影技术的进步，它的人气迅速攀升，使我们能够欣赏到它罕见的美。 帕特里克·巴克汉姆 (Patrick Barkham)

豪勋爵岛竹节虫 (Dryococelus australis)

当小型物种在小岛上被单独地进化数世纪时，它们往往会变得更大。在数千年的时间里，Dryococelus australis（右图）在澳大利亚和新西兰之间的塔斯曼海豪勋爵岛上悄悄地长到了巨大的尺寸。但这种体长可达 20cm (8ins) 的竹节虫平静的生活被欧洲定居者破坏了。1918 年，一次海难将黑鼠带到了这座岛上。这些无法飞行的昆虫曾如此常见，以至于定居者将其用作钓鱼的饵料，但黑鼠在两年内就将整个豪勋爵岛的种群消灭了。1964 年，攀爬者试图登上鲍尔金字塔（Ball's Pyramid）——一座从豪勋爵岛海岸 12 英里 (20km) 处海中耸立的壮观玄武岩尖峰——期间发现了一具像香肠大小的昆虫尸体。随后的攀登尝试发现了更多的竹节虫尸体——但从未发现过活体。被这些发现所吸引，2001 年澳大利亚科学家 --- 8

卷心菜地 现在是播种时机 周六版 68 23

大卫·普里德尔（David Priddel）和尼古拉斯·卡莱尔（Nicholas Carlile）前往该岛，在距离海岸线 100 米高的一处裂缝中生长的灌木下发现了巨大的昆虫粪便。他们在天黑后（此时昆虫较为活跃）返回，在灌木下发现了三只活体雌性昆虫。次年，人们发现了 24 只，其中一对繁殖对被送往墨尔本动物园。最终，这种被亲切地称为“树龙虾”的物种在人工环境下成功繁殖。目前，全球六家动物园已培育出数千只竹节虫。目前已有计划将其重新引入另一个小岛，并最终送回劳德霍夫岛（Lord Howe Island）本身，该岛上的入侵黑鼠和小家鼠种群已在 2025. 年被根除。尽管它仍是世界上最稀有的无脊椎动物之一，野外可能仅存 50 只昆虫，但今年科学家在鲍尔金字塔（Ball's Pyramid）稀疏的植被中发现了更多个体。这种令人振奋且坚韧的昆虫获得了读者的多次提名。来自西雅图的马克西米利安·范兰克（Maximilian Vanlancker）认为，它的重新发现和繁衍是一个希望的故事。“气候变化猖獗，法西主义抬头，企业贪婪不受控制，但尽管如此，岩石上的那 24 只竹节虫告诉我们，只要我们不放弃，就永远没有结束。” 帕特里克·巴克汉姆（Patrick Barkham）

蔬菜商蝉 (Cyclochila australasiae)

在弹珠、邮票和交易卡流行之前，人们收集的是蝉。全球有数千种蝉，但对于澳大利亚儿童来说，这种狂热集中在一种特别具有收藏价值的品种上：即上图所示的“蔬菜商蝉”。环境顾问林赛·波普尔（Lindsay Popple）博士表示：“在悉尼和墨尔本，蔬菜商蝉时不时会以相当可观的数量出现，它们出现在绿意盎然的花园和公园里。”他说，寻找蝉已经深深植根于儿童的民俗之中。它们生命的大部分时间是以若虫的形式在地下度过的，但当它们在春末出现时，蔬菜商蝉色彩鲜艳且数量众多。这种手掌大小的小生物有多种鲜艳的色相，每种都有一个绰号。有“黄色星期一”、“面具恶魔”、“红色战士”和“巧克力士兵”，以及恰如其名且罕见的“蓝月”。来自新西兰的《卫报》读者多姆·耶茨（Dom Yates）就是其粉丝。他说：“它们在地下生活多年后欢快地歌唱，因此我们应该更加欣赏它们快乐的努力。”与每 17 年出现一次的北美蝉不同，蔬菜商蝉以交替批次大规模出现，间隔大约七年，2027 年将是下一个重大事件。

当蝉若虫发育成熟时，它们会脱皮并长出翅膀，将外骨骼留在树木和篱笆上。波普尔表示，每个蝉种都有自己的声音标识，而分布在澳大利亚东海岸一些人口最密集地区的澳大利亚蔬菜商蝉是最吵闹的品种之一。蔬菜商蝉产生两种主旋律，一种是持续的嗡嗡声，另一种是类似呱呱叫的脉冲声；它们利用身体两侧被称为“鼓膜”的鼓状器官发声，并利用中空的腹部放大声音。波普尔说，雄蝉在全天不同时段以及黄昏时分频繁鸣叫，试图吸引配偶。它在昆士兰州的近亲——北方蔬菜商蝉，因倾向于在晚餐时间鸣叫而被人们称为“七点钟蝉”。波普尔说：“在它们身边，就像在喷气式飞机起飞附近一样，声音非常大。”据澳大利亚博物馆称，蔬菜商蝉在近距离的音量据报道可高达 120 分贝——这已接近人类听觉的痛阈。 佩特拉·斯托克（Petra Stock）

普通鼠妇 (Oniscus aedlus)

Chucky pig。Slater。Monkey pea。Roly-poly。Boat-builder。Butchy boy。Cheeselog。Hobbling Andrew。Wood pig。如果说某种生物在英语名称的丰富程度和趣味性方面能获奖，那么右上角这种卑微的鼠妇定能胜出。在与人类数世纪的和谐共处中，仅在英国，它就获得了 300 多个地区性名称，在其他语言中则更多（例如在威尔士语中被称为 Gwrach y Coed，意为“森林女巫”）。

对于鼠妇的行为，也有一些优美的词汇：在动物学中，一种动物将身体卷成一个整齐圆球的行为被称为 conglobation 或 volvation。这些绰号反映了我们对这种最容易接触到的等足目（isopoda）生物的喜爱，等足目是一种甲壳类动物，分布在整个欧洲和美国的房屋及花园中。鼠妇曾是一个趋势引领者，它的祖先在大约 5 亿年前就迁移到了陆地上，远早于大多数动物。多年来，鼠妇不需要进行太多的设计改良，因为它从一开始就找到了一个非常有用的生态位。作为一种食碎屑动物（detritivore），它以腐烂的植物物质为食并分解木材。除了清理世界，鼠妇的另一个超能力是能够承受有毒污染，甚至能将其体内的特殊隔室中储存重金属。研究表明，它可以帮助稳定堆肥中的重金属。许多读者表达了他们对这种被一人称为“食碎屑动物皇室”生物的喜爱。“毫无疑问，在人类追随恐龙和渡渡鸟的脚步进入灭绝类别之后，它们依然会存在于这里，”克里斯·皮克德（Chris Pickard）说道。

帕特里克·巴克汉姆（Patrick Barkham）

气候专家称，塑料包装是减少食物浪费驱动进程中的关键问题

Ushika Kidd

研究人员表示，在努力解决活动人士称之为气候危机中最被“忽视”的问题之一——食物浪费时，塑料污染应成为一个关键关注点。

根据联合国数据，每年生产的所有食物中约有三分之一被浪费。在美国，40% 的食物浪费进入填埋场，每年产生 3000 万公吨二氧化碳当量——这超过了古巴 2024. 年的二氧化碳年排放总量。

一项发表在《自然-食品》杂志上的一项新研究，利用生命周期分析模型对比了不同食物浪费管理方案在气候、营养污染和塑料污染方面的影响。

这篇由佛蒙特大学研究人员撰写的论文，对比了填埋食物浪费与替代回收路径的年度气候影响，发现将食物浪费从填埋场转移出去可将气候影响降低 89-99%。

非填埋方案还可以减少水体中的营养污染——这种过程被称为富营养化，是指过量的营养物质导致藻类大量繁殖。

但研究人员同时警告称，微塑料可能会残留在堆肥中，这可能导致每年有 20,000 吨微塑料污染美国的农业土壤。

目前还没有研究在国家规模上考察不同食物浪费管理策略的“塑料污染足迹”。

第一作者凯特·波特菲尔德表示，该方法类似于计算“产品或过程的碳足迹”。本质上，研究人员考察了管理食物浪费的过程，并“统计了所有这些生命周期阶段的碳排放量”。

波特菲尔德说：“很大一部分浪费的食物仍处于包装中，在到达消费者手中之前就已经变质了。”

回收食物浪费的一种方法是使用机械除包机；随后包装进入填埋场，而食物浪费则进入“有益再利用，如堆肥或厌氧消化”。

但研究人员发现，即使塑料分离技术的效率达到 99%，将食物浪费从填埋场转移出去仍可能增加土壤微塑料污染。

“只要你转移食物浪费，就有微塑料污染的风险，[因为]人是不完美的，机器也是不完美的，而且如今我们所有的食物都用塑料包装。”

共同作者埃里克·罗伊表示，佛蒙特州拥有美国“最雄心勃勃”的州级有机物转移指令之一。通用回收法要求食物浪费必须从填埋场转移。这适用于所有家庭，意味着垃圾桶中禁止投放食物残渣。

食物浪费社会企业萨塞克斯盈余（Sussex Surplus）的联合创始人兼负责人菲尔·霍尔塔姆表示：“我认为人们存在一种误解，认为[塑料包装]是不必要的。”

他补充说，塑料包装对于延长新鲜农产品的保质期至关重要，尤其是对于小规模农场而言。

“这就是矛盾所在，因为作为环保主义者，我们既想减少食物浪费，又想防止塑料的不必要使用。”

厨师、作家兼活动人士 Max La Manna 表示，食物浪费管理是“少数几个每个人都能获益的气候问题之一”。

曾与英国农民合作的 La Manna 表示，消费者对食物外观完美的期待，决定了哪些农产品能进入商店，并加剧了浪费问题。

“有些产品可能形状不规则、歪斜，在外观上略有缺陷……这对超市来说是个挑战，因为他们认为消费者想要一个完美的黄瓜。我们正让‘完美’成为‘良好’的敌人。”

波特菲尔德表示，为了减少塑料污染，食物浪费管理系统需要“尽可能简单，让人们在高效分离物品时无需思考”。

罗伊建议采用“老派环保主义”来减少整体垃圾： “大批量购买”并“尽一切努力进行分类”。

根据联合国的统计数据，在全球生产的所有食品中，每年约有三分之一被浪费。照片：LEE HUDSON / ALABEY

8444 万 幸好我们分30年支付这笔头奖。预估头奖。头奖金额将根据申领验证后的汇率而有所变动，且在某些情况下可能需缴纳适用税款。适用规则、特定游戏规则及程序。玩家必须年满18岁。

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史上最大头奖。

本周六晚上11:50前投注 --- 26

本周目击照片

▶ 一名年轻女性在跨越西班牙塞乌塔边境后，被当地警方从海中救起。警方表示，据信有超过20,000名移民进入该市，他们绕过了将塞乌塔与摩洛哥分隔开的防波堤。 MARIO MORAN / INA / ZUMA / SHUTTERSTOCK

▲ 在英格兰南海岸东本附近的比奇海德（Beachy Head）灯塔上方的悬崖顶端，人们走在干枯的草地上。 BROOK MITCHELL/

◀ 在乌克兰扎波罗热，人们离开一栋被俄罗斯炸弹击中的公寓楼，周围烟雾弥漫。 UKRINFORM / SHUTTERSTOCK

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◀ 在中国山东省青岛市，大批游客在月牙形的、长3,500米的金沙滩寻求避暑。 PHOTOGRAPH: HAN SAJUN / VCG / GETTY IMAGES

▲ 在肯尼亚首都的内罗比马球俱乐部，一名骑手与马在年度受托人杯马球赛前交流。 GERALD ANDERSON / ANADOLU / GETTY

▲ 由井之上太阳望远镜拍摄的迄今为止分辨率最高的太阳表面图像。 REF / NGO / AURA / MPS / APP / GETTY IMAGES

◀ 在阿拉木图地区的伊尔-巴尔喀什国家自然保护区，一只雌性东北虎被重新释放回野外，标志着该物种在70多年来首次回到其在哈萨克斯坦的自然栖息地。 哈萨克斯坦生态与自然资源部 / 路透社

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世界

沙特阿拉伯与土耳其、巴基斯坦签署北约式协议

帕特里克·温图尔 (Patrick Wintour) 外交编辑

沙特阿拉伯、巴基斯坦和土耳其昨日签署了一项共同防御协议，将伊斯兰世界三个最具影响力的国家纳入一个北约式的条约中，此时利雅得正面临来自也门亲伊朗胡塞武装的攻击。

这份由土耳其总统雷杰普·塔伊普·埃尔多安、沙特王储穆罕默德·本·萨勒曼以及巴基斯坦总统谢巴兹·谢里夫在麦加达成的协议规定，对其中一个国家的攻击将被视为对所有国家的攻击。

胡塞武装与沙特阿拉伯在过去一个月中增加了军事交锋，该协议的首次考验可能出现在也门。据一名军事消息人士透露，周四，胡塞武装在导弹和无人机袭击中杀死了至少 58 名也门政府军士兵。另一次针对与也门接壤的沙特南部地区的袭击导致 11 名平民受伤。

在美以针对伊朗什叶派政府发动战争，且唐纳德·特朗普无法遏制冲突之后，这三个由逊尼派穆斯林领导的国家对日益增加的地区危机感到担忧。目前对于胡塞武装是听从伊朗的指令行事，还是如其所坚持的那样，试图解除其认为的沙特对也门境内胡塞控制地区的封锁，仍存在争议。

目前的冲突爆发于一架伊朗飞机飞往胡塞控制的首都萨那，据称是为了运送一个也门代表团参加前伊朗最高领袖阿里·哈梅内伊的葬礼。沙特情报部门声称该飞机携带了提供给胡塞武装的伊朗武器。

利雅得已经组建了一个由 10 个国家组成的海军联盟，旨在保护红海和曼德海峡的商业航运免受胡塞武装的攻击。胡塞武装坚持称他们仅向与沙特有关的船只开火，目前还没有迹象表明该海军联盟能够震慑胡塞武装。

昨日，胡塞武装的一次无人机袭击在针对马里卜一个军事营地的攻击中杀死了三名也门政府成员。袭击中发射了 10 枚导弹和 7 架爆炸无人机。胡塞武装表示，他们是在对一次看似由沙特领导的大规模军事集结做出反应。

沙特情报来源称，他们收到的报告不仅涉及胡塞武装敌意的增加，还包括伊拉克境内亲伊朗民兵可能对沙特利益发起的攻击。沙特阿拉伯一直致力于说服特朗普不要对伊朗发动大规模攻击。

一名沙特发言人在回应胡塞武装的攻击时表示，沙特并不“寻求升级，但我们不会允许地面上的现有权力平衡被改变”。

也门消息人士最近表示，他们认为沙特阿拉伯正准备通过海路，并可能通过也门中部的陆路对胡塞武装发动大规模进攻，旨在打破胡塞武装对沙特通过红海南部出口石油的扼制。

在昨日的另一次袭击中，一名沙特官员指责胡塞武装炮击沙特阿拉伯的平民区，导致 11 名平民受伤，其中包括一名四岁儿童。支持也门政府的沙特领导军事联盟发言人图尔基·马利基 (Turki al-Maliki) 少将表示，该联盟将继续采取一切必要措施保护平民。马利基表示，袭击发生在南部的纳季兰省，导致 7 名沙特人、1 名也门人、2 名埃及人和 1 名巴基斯坦国民受伤。

胡塞武装和伊朗均未立即发表评论。

沙特阿拉伯和胡塞武装在也门争夺控制权已超过十年，但在过去一个月中，不安的现状已然瓦解，胡塞武装发起了针对沙特阿美石油设施的攻击。控制着萨那及也门大部分红海海岸线的胡塞运动于上月宣布对沙特阿拉伯实施海上封锁。

额外报道：路透社 (Reuters)、法新社 (Agence France-Presse) 和美联社 (Associated Press)

“我们试图保持希望”：穿越伊朗之旅中的悲痛、恐惧与反抗

Nawal Al-Maghafi

米纳布（Minab）

挖掘机突然停了下来。一名工人伸手进入瓦砾堆中，拉出了一件东西。那不是扭曲的金属或破碎的混凝土，而是一本儿童练习本。书页依然完整，上面覆盖着整洁的手写字。封面上写着一个名字：马希亚·萨拉里（Mahya Salari）。她当时八岁。

在伊朗南部米纳布的沙贾雷·塔耶贝（Shajareh Tayyebeh）小学被一枚导弹撕裂五个月后，挖掘机仍在清理现场。根据米纳布检察官办公室的数据，在战争第 1 天，一枚美国制造的“战斧”巡航导弹击中此处，导致 156 人死亡，其中包括 120 名儿童。

在整座城市中，死者的肖像覆盖了墙壁、店面和路边广告牌，使米纳布成为了平民苦难的象征。当 2 月 28 日美国和以色列对伊朗的袭击开始时，唐纳德·特朗普敦促伊朗人“掌控你们的命运”。然而，这场冲突以极少有人预料到的方式重塑了伊朗。

从德黑兰到班达尔阿巴斯（Bandar Abbas）的过夜火车行驶了近 900 英里（1,400公里），将伊朗的政治心脏与位于霍尔木兹海峡的战略南部海岸线连接起来。在抵达海湾之前，它经过了山脉、沙漠以及纳坦兹（Natanz）和福尔多（Fordow）的核设施。

车上坐着学生、足球运动员、商人以及家庭。来自伊朗各个角落的人们，每个人都带着关于这场战争意义的个人见解。

律师阿扎德（Azadeh）说，冲突的最初几天令人恐惧。“适应是每个伊朗人的天性，”她说，“我们试图继续生活，维持日常习惯并保持希望。”

当被问及她如何看待年初的抗议活动，以及许多认为战争能带来政治变革的人时，她停顿了一下，随后安静地拒绝回答，并将头转向一边，结束了对话。

在卧铺车厢内，谈话在家庭、工作和日常生活之间迅速切换，---

泰国校园枪击案

青少年杀害 7 人，造成 30 多人受伤

纯粹的胆量 新西兰羊毛业复兴 第 33 页

但政治则不同。在伊朗公开谈论政治带有明显的风险。她的旅伴，美容师塞皮德（Sepideh）更愿意交谈。“我爱伊朗，”她说，“我如此热爱它。但当我看到我的青春在流逝，我的梦想在消失，我别无选择，只能离开。”在火车更深处，两名年轻的足球运动员正乘车回家。国内联赛在经历了数月的停赛后已经恢复。当被问到对战争记忆最深的是什么时，阿卜杜拉（Abdollah）说：“他们袭击了一所满是孩子的学校……那些孩子只有七、八、九岁。我们整个国家都陷入了悲痛。葬礼那天……每个人都在哭。”

在班达尔阿巴斯（Bandar Abbas），一条道路向内陆转向米纳布（Minab），车程两小时。这座城市以其海枣棕榈树和繁忙的周四集市而闻名。如今，战争主宰了几乎每一条街道。被学校袭击杀害的孩子们的肖像挂在建筑物和灯柱上。在城市的边缘，沙贾雷-塔耶贝（Shajareh Tayyebeh）小学依然是一片废墟。混凝土楼板相互坍塌。扭曲的钢筋从破碎的教室中伸出，挖掘机仍在清理现场。在瓦砾之中躺着马希亚（Mahya）的练习本。◄ 悼念美国导弹袭击学校的受害者，此次袭击造成 156 人死亡，其中包括 120 名儿童 摄影：JACK GAKLAND / BBC。马希亚当时和她的弟弟阿里（Ali）在一起上学。他们的母亲在袭击发生前不久赶来接他们。三人全部遇难。

阿迈内-纳德米（Amaineh Nademi）在这里教了一年级六年。“你不能再称之为学校了，”她说，“这里只有散发着死亡、悲伤和血腥味的墙壁。”她记得父母们赤脚向建筑物跑去。“我以为大家都逃脱了。我不知道他们全部被埋在瓦砾之下。”五角大楼至今未对此次轰炸给出答案，此次轰炸发生在对相邻军事化合物的袭击期间。红新月会救援人员雷扎-贝沙拉蒂（Reza Besharati）说，他至今仍能回想起那个早晨：“即便现在，我依然记得一切。”

对于一些曾希望外部压力能削弱政府的伊朗人来说，米纳布成为了一个转折点。“我接受战争的存在，”一名曾经的抗议者说，“但不能以无辜者被杀为代价。战争摧毁一切。它不区分好人和坏人。”在米纳布的公墓，孩子们在成排的小坟墓之间穿梭，而家人们在午后阳光下遮阴。马苏梅-梅赫兰-谢哈巴迪（Masoumeh Mehran Shekhabadi）几乎每天都来这里。她九岁的女儿塞塔耶什（Setayesh）在袭击中丧生。“当我到达那里时，只有烟味和孩子头发的味道，”她说，“我看到一只手。我看到一只脚。他们被撕成了碎片。”

回到德黑兰，在战斗的短暂间隙，数十万——据官方统计为数百万人——聚集在一起参加伊朗最高领袖阿里·哈梅内伊（Ali Khamenei）的葬礼，此时他已去世四个月。肖像排列在街道两旁。革命歌曲在扬声器中回荡。“美国之死”和“以色列之死”的口号在人群中起伏。葬礼既是一个哀悼时刻，也是一场精心编排的政治统一展示。“我认识很多反对政府的人，”参加第一次政治游行的索拉雅（Soraya）说，“今天他们支持政府。”

这是否反映了更广泛的公众舆论，目前无法得知。在整个伊朗，关于这场战争没有统一的叙事。从米纳布的一所学校废墟到聚集在德黑兰的人群，这段旅程揭示了一个被战争改变的国家。随着冲突的继续，塑造其将留下的遗产的斗争也在继续。纳瓦尔-阿尔-马加菲（Nawal Al-Maghafi）是 BBC 高级国际调查记者。她为 Global Eye 撰写的伊朗报道可在 BBC iPlayer 上观看。

德黑兰

将特朗普拖入战争的谈判可能会产生反作用 帕特里克·温图尔 (Patrick Wintour) 外交编辑

德黑兰制定了一套冗长的谈判时间表，旨在让唐纳德·特朗普在美国中期选举前一直深陷伊朗冲突之中，希望对他总统任期造成与 1979-81 年美国大使馆人质危机给吉米·卡特带来的同样毁灭性打击。

对于伊朗内部的许多人来说，报复特朗普是一个合法且独立的战争目标。虽然伊朗官员自 1979 年伊斯兰革命以来就不信任美国，但这种敌意现在已演变为个人恩怨，而特朗普在政治上的垮台已成为德黑兰痴迷推测的话题。

伊朗媒体在追踪他不断下降的支持率，并将这种下降归因于战争的不受欢迎以及高油价。本周，当伊朗外交部副部长卡泽姆·加里巴巴迪 (Kazem Gharibabadi) 告诉官方通讯社 IRNA，在就霍尔木兹海峡的航运路线达成一致后，还需要两个到四个月才能进入关于德黑兰核计划谈判的关键第二阶段时，对美国中期选举的关注变得更加明显。

为了进入那个阶段，他提出了包括取消制裁、结束美国对伊朗港口的封锁、解冻资产以及关于不参战的新承诺在内的条件。

如果伊朗人能按这个时间表行事，特朗普在参加投票时将无法获得伊朗在核武器问题上的任何承诺，而只能面对一场失败战争带来的巨额经济账单。

“这增加了美国和德黑兰之间围绕海峡持续发生冲突循环的可能性，”支持战争的“反对核伊朗联盟” (United Against a Nuclear Iran) 的杰森·布罗德斯基 (Jason Brodsky) 表示。“在中期选举之前不会有真正的平静——德黑兰没有兴趣将这种平静交给特朗普政府。它将继续玩游戏。”

伊朗国内有些人认为，失去国会将限制特朗普，导致他被弹劾，或者至少标志着战争资金的终结。前伊朗外交官穆斯塔法·扎赫拉尼 (Mostafa Zahrani) 认为，选举失败“将使得特朗普无法重新发动战争并认真对待谈判变得不可避免”。

而其他人，如德黑兰大学国际关系教授纳赛尔·哈迪安 (Nasser Hadian) 则持有不同意见。他主张现在就兑现伊朗的胜利，而不是等待特朗普变得更弱。他说：“如果他输了，他与伊朗达成协议的动力会降低，因为在这种情况下他将被削弱，以色列和其他国家将更容易攻击他——而这正是他们现在不敢做的事

“那些认为我们应该等待中期选举的人根本不懂美国的政治” 纳赛尔·哈迪安（Nasser Hadian），现任德黑兰大学教授。“那些认为我们应该等待中期选举的人根本不懂美国的政治。”然而，伊朗外交官普遍认为，由于更多冲突不受欢迎，以及共和党总统候选人渴望将其结束，特朗普的行动自由确实将受到限制。特朗普还面临着其整个第二个任期被一场灾难性战争所吞噬的风险。更大的问题是伊朗本身想要实现什么。同意让争端在11月之前继续潜伏并不是该问题的答案——伊朗人更擅长争论这个问题而非解决它。伊朗总统马苏德·佩泽什基安（Masoud Pezeshkian）多次表示他不想要无休止的战争，并坚持认为最高国家安全委员会的绝大多数成员对此表示赞同。他仍然信任6月份达成的谅解备忘录（MoU），称其应成为伊朗外交政策的基石。但保守派的主要媒体之一《凯汉报》（Kayhan）将该谅解备忘录描述为毫无价值，因为美国总是违背其承诺。该报称：“因此，官员们应当知道，霍尔木兹海峡不是筹码，不应将其作为美国的通道而开放。”强硬派和温和派都认为这场战争将引导至一种新的地区安全架构。但强硬派强调将美国驱逐出该地区，并认为这与其说是可以谈判的，不如说是应当强制执行的，即利用对霍尔木兹海峡入口点的控制作为杠杆来关闭美国基地。佩泽什基安表示，他认为美国在伊朗的合法投资有其一席之地，而前外交部长贾瓦德·扎里夫（Javad Zarif）在本周的一篇新文章中认为，在“后极化时代”，伊朗“在未来将受益于不过度依赖俄罗斯和中国”。他写道，如果伊朗发展出“一种平衡且多方面的外交政策”，德黑兰将不会被强迫进入基于必要性的关系中。“与美国持续且不受控制的紧张局势不仅给伊朗带来了直接成本，而且使其他国家，甚至是像中国和俄罗斯这样密切的合作伙伴，更难以与伊朗合作。”因此，正如特朗普无法在前后两句话之间确定他如何看待伊朗一样，伊朗目前也无法就它认为能从美国获得什么达成一致。 ◄ 在德黑兰，对特朗普的个人报复被视为一个合法目标 摄影：STYLIN ROCKSTEIN / MILTERS 29 --- 10 World

校园枪击案震惊泰国，包括嫌疑人及其祖父母在内共 8 人死亡

Natasha May 曼谷

警方表示，一名泰国青少年在学校开火前杀害了自己的祖父母；在学校内，他开枪打死了 5 人，随后自杀。这次袭击震惊了这个正努力应对枪支暴力的国家。

这名 14 岁的少年在曼谷西北部著名的 Debsirin Nonthaburi 学校的枪击事件中导致 30 多人受伤。泰国卫生部门表示，其中 9 人情况危急。

对于该校的英语教师 Prompong Namwong 来说，这本是一个普通的早晨，直到一名来自另一个班级、惊慌失措的学生猛地推开门，试图寻找藏身之处。在走廊里，Prompong 听到其他老师在喊楼下发生了大规模枪击事件。

当 Prompong 向《卫报》讲述这段痛苦经历时，他在称呼那个在他教室前跑过的 14 岁少年为“杀手”还是“学生”之间犹豫不决。他说，在那一刻，“我确信自己快要死了”。

涉嫌袭击者使用其祖父的枪支发射了至少 26 枚子弹，且在现场被发现还携带 34 枚额外弹药。内政部常务秘书 Arsit Sampantharat 告诉 PPTV，在袭击报告出现后，涉嫌枪手仍留在学校内。

大约半小时后，学校的封锁状态解除。Prompong 说，当他听到敲门声时，他以为生命走到了尽头，但结果是警察来营救他们了。

现场照片显示，学生们在被疏散出学校时，脚上只穿着袜子。按照亚洲的习惯，孩子们在教室外脱掉了鞋子，但在惊慌逃离校园时，鞋子被随意丢弃在午餐桌和教室外的楼梯上。

到了下午，学生们平时玩耍的体育区域挤满了官员和媒体，而该国领导人誓言将实施新的枪支法律。总理 Anutin Charnvirakul 告诉记者，新法律将仅允许值班的政府官员携带枪支，但并未提供任何细节，包括该立法是否会收紧枪支所有权要求。

泰国是东南亚平民枪支拥有率最高的国家。总部位于瑞士的 Small Arms Survey 在 2017 年将该国的小型枪支持有量排在全球第 13 位。

大规模枪击事件在泰国经常发生，包括在学校和曼谷一家大型购物中心的事件，以及 2022 年在泰国东北部发生的一起导致 37 人死亡（包括 22 名儿童）的袭击。

泰国 the Nakhon Pathom Rajabhat 大学副教授 Piyaporn Tanneekul 表示，该国的许可制度仍缺乏对申请枪支人员的心理健康筛查，且不要求许可证持有者进行定期重新评估。

Pichanan Thiengtham 在上午 10 点左右听到枪声时正在教师休息室。但她说，起初她不敢相信那是枪声。“枪声如此之多，而且长时间不停地响，”她说。直到美术老师看到一名受伤的学生，她才意识到发生了什么。“我带着受伤的学生去进行急救，然后将他们转移到（学校内的）医院大楼。”

急救人员 Kiatikhun Verapongpradith 在枪击发生时抵达现场。他表示，他的团队治疗了背部、胸部和手臂受伤的学生。

Kiatikhun表示，他们在一栋教学楼的高层发现了一名男性教师死亡，并在另一个房间发现了一名胸部和手臂受伤的女性教师。该学校隶属于由泰国皇室创立的Debsirin网络。其校友包括总理、学者和作家。Prompong在学校的群聊中得知一些朋友未能幸存。“他们都是优秀的老师，”他说，“我不知道该说什么。我的生活必须继续，但现在……这是一个巨大的冲击。我从未想过这会发生——真的发生在我的学校里。” 另由路透社和美联社提供报道

罗马酷暑中数百名被驱逐者露宿街头，当局紧急寻求住房

Angela Giuffrida 罗马

在旨在挽救意大利最著名的住房与社会援助中心的谈判破裂，且乔治亚·梅洛尼（Giorgia Meloni）政府加大对非法占用建筑的打击力度之后，罗马当局正紧急为数百名在极端高温下露宿帐篷的人寻找住所。

Spin Time Labs 位于罗马埃斯基利诺（Esquilino）区的一栋 10 层建筑中，自 2013 年起被基层团体占用。由于私人业主拒绝了罗马市议会购买该物业的提议，大约 400 名被驱逐的居民将无法搬回。这些居民已于上月底被强制迁出。

意大利内政部一直致力于关闭 Spin Time Labs，该部门的一位发言人证实，业主已“依法”重新接管该建筑。

此举再次引发了关于占用或非法居住建筑的政治争论，梅洛尼政府将此类建筑视为犯罪窝点——包括那些由左翼协会支持的建筑。批评者质疑，为什么梅洛尼及其联盟盟友长期以来如此坚决地反对 Spin Time Labs，而新法西斯组织 CasaPound 在同一社区占用一栋国有建筑超过 20 年，并将其用作总部。

7 月 29 日，在发生一起小型火灾（该火灾在蔓延前被一群居民迅速扑灭）后，包括各 nationality 人员在内的居民被强制撤离 Spin Time Labs，其中约四分之一是儿童。

▲ 7 月底发生小型火灾后，约 400 名居民被强制迁出

警方在安全检查期间将该建筑封锁，随后该建筑被执行了两项司法扣押令。虽然部分人员由亲友安置，但仍有 200 多人（包括老年人和健康状况不佳者）在建筑外的帐篷中露宿。本周，一名儿童因呼吸困难被送往医院。

罗马的左翼市议会目前正在寻求替代方案。罗马市长罗伯托·瓜尔蒂埃里（Roberto Gualtieri）表示，市议会购买该场地的提议遭到了“不可撤销的拒绝”，并且他“感觉这个决定此前已经做出了”。

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世界 ▼

人们观看 2023 年的日食。下周的日食将是未来两年内西班牙可见的三次日食中的第一次。

摄影：ALFREDO ESTRELLA / APP 31

现在别看，西班牙准备迎接日全食

萨姆·琼斯（Sam Jones），索莫谢拉（Somosierra）

在索莫谢拉上方的山峦中，除了鞭笞平顶峰的狂风、在枯草上吃草的牛群，以及烈日曝晒着几代滑翔机飞行员学习驾驭气流的废弃机场外，一切都静谧无声。但所有这些宁静都将在8月12日傍晚暂时消失，届时西班牙北部、东部的大片地区以及巴利阿里群岛将经历一次日全食，这种景象在这里已有120多年未曾出现。

这次罕见的天文排列突然将索莫谢拉——一个海拔1,440米的小村庄，位于马德里地区最北端与相邻的卡斯蒂利亚-莱昂（Castilla y León）和卡斯蒂利亚-拉曼恰（Castilla-La Mancha）的交界处——变成了顶级的天文旅游目的地。在如此接近西班牙首都的地方，没有哪个地点能像索莫谢拉那样，拥有1分29秒纯净、晴朗的日全食体验。

尽管这次事件预示着将令人叹为观止，但它也给这个村庄及其93名居民带来了各种出人意料但紧迫的问题。预计将有多达2,000名游客到来，大家将停车在哪里？水够用吗？最后但同样重要的一点是，当地餐厅需要准备多少锅西班牙大锅饭（paella）？

“我们被选为马德里地区观看日食的最佳地点，这一事实引发了媒体和社会媒体的大量报道，”索莫谢拉委员会的旅游经理伊尔玛·洛佩斯·穆诺斯（Irma López Muñoz）说道，她望向日食观测点，那里距离村庄有10分钟车程。“这引起了马德里民众以及一些外国人的极大兴趣。因此，我们预计会有大量游客涌入，因为这是一个100多年未见的独特事件。”

甚至在马德里西部最近爆发大规模山火之前，索莫谢拉委员会就在思考如何最大限度地降低日食当天的风险因素，并一直与警方和民政保护部门协调工作。尽管村委会提供了400个官方注册名额，但它认为当天到场的人数可能是这个数字的五倍。

“我们离一个人口众多的欧洲主要首都非常近，很多人在没有提前查询信息的情况下就会赶来，”洛佩斯·穆诺斯说。“这超出了我们的控制。我们无法预测某人可能在看电视时突然说：‘好吧，我要做些三明治，带孩子们去看日食。’”

日全食：2026年8月12日

▲ 索莫谢拉附近的山区预计将吸引来自附近马德里的数千名游客 摄影：BEN ROBERTS / PANOS PICTURES

考虑到这一点，委员会正急于招募并培训志愿者，以帮助管理8月12日的活动。它最近聘请了天文旅游专家公司 El Nocturnario，为聚集在索莫谢拉微型文化中心学习日食乐趣与危险的志愿者们提供为期一天的培训。

其中一名志愿者玛丽亚·格拉代尔（María Gradaille）表示，她很高兴能为这次她称之为“一生一次的事件和历史性科学里程碑”提供帮助。她还对在培训课上学到的知识和技巧表示感谢。“我学到了很多关于日食的知识，”她说，“我以前不知道它会对眼睛造成如此严重的灼伤，或者它究竟有多危险。”

根据 El Nocturnario 的联合创始人之一萨莱·德拉霍兹（Sarai de la Hoz）的说法，西班牙各地的当地和地区当局正迟缓地开始意识到天文相关活动的潜在益处。在即将到来的日全食之后，明年8月将出现一次持续六分钟的“世纪之食”，而2028年1月则将出现一次壮观的“火环日食”。

因此，西班牙政府成立了一个特别委员会来监督这三次日食，也就不足为奇了。正如政府发言人埃尔玛·赛兹·德尔加多（Elma Saiz Delgado）在周二指出的那样，这些事件将使西班牙处于“全球天文观测和天文旅游的中心”。仅这次日食预计就将吸引 446,000 名额外游客，而今年西班牙的游客人数可能会首次突破 100-million 大关。据预测，该活动还将带来额外的 3.42亿欧元 (2.93 亿英镑) 旅游收入。“一年前当我们开始讨论日食时，人们觉得我们疯了。他们认为：‘这不会是那么回事’，以及‘不会有那么多人来’，”德拉·霍兹（De la Hoz）说道。“但随着时间的推移，当局意识到即将发生的事情，我们开始收到人们寻求帮助的电话。”虽然她和同事提供的许多培训是关于日食以及如何安全地观看日食，但课程还涉及大量的物流工作。巴利阿里群岛正准备迎接大量额外游客，当地当局已经宣布，在日食当天下午 3 点至晚上 9 点，将对马略卡岛、伊比萨岛、梅诺卡岛和福门特拉岛的 20 条主要道路实施限制。

约兰达·塞雷佐（Yolanda Cerezo）关注的是性质截然不同的实际问题，她在过去 26 年里一直经营着 Somosierra 港口酒店餐厅（Hotel Restaurante El Puerto de Somosierra）。坐在酒店餐厅阴凉的露台上，塞雷佐思考着在繁忙日子里通常接待的 200 到 300 名顾客可能会增加十倍的可能性。“我们经历过一些大型的一日活动和派对，但从未见过这种规模，”她说。“日食这将是漫长的一天，但我们必须充分利用。我们不会再看到像这样的一天了，对吧？这将是独一无二的。”塞雷佐希望能够获得必要的许可证，在观测点设立一个摊位和一个酒吧。“如果我做了一锅巨大的海鲜饭且卖完了，我会打电话给这里的厨房人员，他们会再准备一锅并送上来，”她说。“我们不能让人们在半山腰被困住且没东西吃。” --- 52 世界

“她的脸被击碎了”：塔利班统治如何开启阿富汗女性被杀的新时代

Khadija Haidary, Zahra Nader, Hura Omar 和 Atousa Azar 为 Zan Times 撰写

在去世前几周录制的一条语音消息中，33 岁的 Liza Shams 请求一名亲戚为她祈祷。“我的不幸之日永无止境，”她说，“请祈祷上帝让 Hasib [她的丈夫，Hasibullah Sarwar] 为他对我所做的一切在全世界面前蒙羞。”

在第二段录音中，Shams 描述了自己在怀孕期间被 Sarwar 殴打，随后被隔离数日，伤势严重到无法进食或说话。“我是个女人，好吧，我不应该谈论家里发生的事情，”她说，“但我再也无法忍受了。”

2 月 1 日下午，她的邻居听到了尖叫声并通知了警方。就在不久前，她的父亲 Shamsuddin 接到了女儿的视频电话。她的伤势令人震惊。“她的下颌骨骨折了，几乎无法说话，”他说，但她还是设法传达了丈夫再次殴打她的消息。

Shamsuddin 立即打电话给住在附近的另外两个女儿，她们赶到家中并将她送往喀布尔的 Rahmat 医院。抵达约一小时后，Liza 死亡。

关于她死亡的报告显示，她的脸被击碎了。CT 扫描结果显示其颧骨和鼻窦壁多处骨折，这种损伤模式与面部遭受巨大的钝力创伤一致。她尸体的照片以及在她死亡当晚进行的体检报告记录了其面部和身体大面积的瘀伤、伤口和肿胀。

尽管伤势严重，法医报告仍将可能的死因列为摄入鼠药，并注明因家属要求（ 的父亲表示这一要求来自她的姻亲）而未进行尸检。她的丈夫家属未回应询问，但辩称她是自杀，且覆盖全身的瘀伤是中毒的副作用。

在阿富汗，女性在暴力环境下死亡的案例经常被列为自杀——这一认定通常意味着没有人将为该死亡承担责任。 的父亲认为她的死是谋杀。

塔利班不收集关于每年有多少阿富汗女性被杀的任何数据。曾负责汇总此类信息的总检察长办公室已于 2023 年被废除。

为了衡量国家不愿衡量的数据，Zan Times（一个在阿富汗秘密工作的记者集体）的记者收集了自 2021 年 8 月塔利班重新掌权以来，阿富汗 34 个省中 10 个省的女性被杀案例。他们参考了当地媒体报道的 174 起实例，以及由记者直接记录但此前未报道的 57 起案例。

调查发现，在阿富汗各地，女性正被丈夫、父亲和兄弟在家中杀害，而现有的体制几乎保证了此类犯罪可以免于惩罚。许多案例从未进入官方记录。

该团队记录了 231 起案例，其中 53 起被宣布为自杀。记录死亡人数最高的省份是 Jawzjan (36)、Herat (32)、Badakhshan (28) 和 Ghazni (26)。

受害者的年龄范围从 5 岁的女孩到 65 岁的女性。10 名受害者中有 7 名（231 人中的 165 人）是家庭主妇，没有独立收入，也没有制度上的地位来追究家庭暴力案件。

大多数案件发生在受害者的家中。在整个数据集中，仅记录了 58 起逮捕。在所有案例中，超过五分之一被官方宣布为自杀，即使有明显的涉嫌谋杀证据。在发生逮捕的案例中，嫌疑人经常被释放，有时在被拘留仅一天后就被释放。

记者发现，许多根据家属或证人说法是由家庭暴力导致的死亡案例，在官方记录中却被登记为自杀。贾乌兹詹（Jawzjan）的一名医护人员表示，许多被标记为自杀而被送往医院的女性死者显然遭受过殴打，身上布满了伤口和淤青。33岁的弗雷什塔·埃马迪（Freshta Emady）是驻喀布尔的一名联合国机构雇员，于5月31日在家中被发现死亡。据报道，她的丈夫告诉塔利班警察，她因精神疾病而自杀。然而，她的家人和朋友认为她是被丈夫杀害的。五位认识她的人表示，埃马迪在17岁时就被嫁出去，在随后的15年里一直遭受殴打、掐脖和控制。一名同事说，埃马迪曾描述她的丈夫多次掐她的脖子并威胁她：“我要割断你的喉咙。”

当家庭试图代表女儿或姐妹干预时，往往会产生致命后果。在坎大哈，一名14岁的女孩在被嫁给一名年长得多的男子后被杀。她的丈夫很暴力，于是她逃回了父亲家。“我是个女人，没关系，我不应该谈论家里发生的事。但我再也无法忍受了” 莉莎·沙姆斯（Liza Shams） 语音消息

▲ 2020年喀布尔的一幅壁画，当时性别暴力的发生率已经是全球平均水平的三倍 摄影：WAKIL KOHSAR / GETTY 当她的丈夫在2024年10月强行要求她回家时，她拒绝前往。他掏出手枪将她杀害。跑来帮忙的弟弟也被击中，一周后死亡。塔利班对此立案，但她的丈夫作为该组织的一名现役成员，从未被逮捕。

今年5月，在萨雷波尔（Sar-e-Pol）省，16岁的萨拉（Sara）和她的母亲查曼（Chaman）——一名受过伊朗培训的医生——被一名当地塔利班官员枪杀，该官员曾强迫这名青少年订婚。当查曼拒绝在未收到约定彩礼的情况下交出女儿时，他用步枪殴打她，在萨拉跑向母亲时，他将两人全部枪杀。经过搜捕，该男子被抓获并仍被关押在监狱中。

塔利班的新刑法规定，丈夫将妻子殴打至出现骨折或伤口等可见伤情，其最高刑期被限制在15天监禁。然而，如果妻子在未经丈夫允许的情况下回到娘家，且其家人在要求下不将其送回，她及其家人将面临三个月的监禁。该法典构建了一种法律结构，使得寻求逃避家庭暴力的后果比暴力本身更严重。

甚至在塔利班掌权之前，阿富汗女性遭受性别暴力的比率就几乎是全球平均水平的三倍。联合国妇女署去年6月发布的《2024年阿富汗性别指数》发现，2018年，近35%的阿富汗女性报告在过去12个月中遭受过伴侣的暴力——而全球女性的平均水平为13%。

自塔利班重新掌权以来，此前针对遭受暴力的女性所提供的寥寥无几的保护已被剥夺。2021年8月后，塔利班解散了妇女事务部、专门处理针对女性暴力的特别 --- 33

检察官办公室以及该国的避难所网络。约250名女性法官被撤职；女性检察官被遣回家中。阿富汗法律不再允许女性直接作为其自身法律案件的当事人，因此母亲无法为女儿寻求正义。

▲ 莉莎·沙姆斯的一张家庭合照。她的父亲认为她被谋杀了。

在塔哈尔（Takhar）省，一名23岁女性在2025年5月被丈夫捅伤并纵火焚烧，她的母亲尚姆西亚（Shamsia，非真名）表示，当地法院命令她将诉讼代理权转交给丈夫以推进案件，因为女性不能成为“请愿书或案件卷宗的直接当事人”。数月过去，该案件毫无进展。

我们的记者无法采访到大多数被杀女性的家属。恐惧让许多大门紧闭；在几个省份，记者在尝试接触后甚至收到了威胁。数据集中的 231 起案例并非阿富汗女性杀害案的总数——它们仅提供了潜在杀戮、促成杀戮的动态以及许多凶手所享有的免责权的缩影。莉扎·沙姆斯（Liza Shams）的案件可能会由塔利班法院裁决。她的父亲几乎不抱有人会被追究责任的希望，他转向社交媒体，发布录音、医院影像和文件，发起一场为女儿寻求正义的活动。他说，发声已经付出了代价。将莉扎送往医院的女儿们随后被塔利班传唤，目前已潜逃。 “是因为我们向媒体透露了情况，塔利班不希望这类问题公开。” 在她父亲发布的录音中，有一条莉扎·沙姆斯发给姐夫的语音消息，她在其中谈到了她的婚姻和生活。“我觉得自己快要窒息了，”她说。“我深受这些事情之苦。我每天都在尝试，每天都在尝试，但这没有效果。我们的生活不能这样继续下去。我不希望我们的生活变得苦涩。我的孩子们在长大，他们看着我们，看到我们在争吵。但不能这样继续下去。” * 出于安全考虑，在阿富汗境内的 Zan Times 记者使用笔名撰稿。 附加报道：Sophie Malek, Tarana Mohammadi, Simon Danishjo, Atia Farazar, Faranak, Horia, Royo, Taraga, Maria, Gawharshad, Raha 和 Nahid

羊毛前景光明

经历持续下滑后，新西兰羊毛重新流行

Eva Corlett 惠灵顿

约翰·哈格里夫斯（John Hargreaves）的家族在奥克兰北部的凯瓦卡（Kaiwaka）经营羊肉和牛肉农场已有数代之久。在 20 世纪 60 年代，他们拥有 3,000 只母羊，但在随后的几十年里，随着羊毛价值下降和成本增加，他的羊群缓慢减少到仅 1,700 多只。

但现在，大约六年来第一次，他的羊毛开始赚钱了。新西兰曾经著名的羊毛产业正显示出复苏的迹象，因为合成纤维生产成本的攀升触发了全球对天然纤维的需求。

“我们现在能够覆盖剪羊毛的成本，并获得某种程度的利润，”哈格里夫斯说。

近一个世纪以来，羊毛生产一直主导着新西兰的农业，羊只数量在 20 世纪 80 年代达到顶峰，超过 7000 万 只——大约每人对应 22 只羊。

20 世纪 80 年代的经济政策，以及合成替代品的普及导致全球需求下降，压低了羊毛价格。近期，农民们将牧场转变为利润更高的林业区块和奶牛养殖场。

根据新西兰统计局的数据，现在仅有 2300 万 多只羊，即每人对应 4.5 只羊。

但 PGG Wrightson 的国家羊毛拍卖经理戴夫·伯里奇（Dave Burridge）表示，全球羊毛供应紧张以及中东冲突导致的油价上涨正在推高对羊毛的需求。

“用于生产尼龙和涤纶纤维的原材料价格全部上涨，”这促使来自中国和印度等国家的买家转向天然纤维。

▼ 在新西兰凯瓦卡的约翰·哈格里夫斯农场，羊群在棚舍院中等待剪毛 照片：FIONA GOODALL / GETTY IMAGES

全球各大品牌也在寻求新西兰羊毛。4 月，法国奢侈品牌香奈儿（Chanel）与位于帕埃劳谷（Paerau Valley）的 Lammermoor Station 农场（面积 5,200 公顷 / 12,840 英亩）签署了一项投资协议，共同拥有并支持优质羊毛的生产。

美国服装公司 Patagonia 6 月访问了新西兰，探讨羊毛合作伙伴关系；5 月，土耳其地毯制造商 Kalida Hali 与新西兰羊毛协会（Wools of New Zealand）达成协议。

6 月，该国羊毛在拍卖会上创下了 15 年来的最高价格——杂交羊毛的价格在每公斤 NZ$6.47 (£2.82) 到 NZ$6.80 之间，而无瑕疵、颜色良好的顶级羊毛价格接近 NZ$8 / kg。

市场依然存在波动。在 7 月 30 日于基督城举行的最近一次国家拍卖会上，羊毛价格有所下跌。

伯里奇表示，这次下跌部分是由买家在本季早些时候完成采购承诺后退出所致，这并不令人意外。

“业内人士一直潜伏着一种担忧，认为价格上涨得太快，出现了我们从未见过的空前涨幅，而且……情况可能会在某个阶段回落。”

但价格仍比一年前上涨了 NZ$2，伯里奇对该行业的未来充满希望。

“我对长期前景感到非常兴奋，并深信羊毛将再次迎来它的高光时刻。”

与此同时，新西兰第二大羊毛市场印度对新西兰优质羊毛的需求正在增加，新西兰农民联合会（Federated Farmers）的羊毛与肉类经理理查德·道金斯（Richard Dawkins）表示。两国最近签署的一项贸易协定将取消羊毛关税。

道金斯表示，新西兰文化需要重新拥抱羊毛，以帮助市场恢复稳定。

“要求世界购买我们的产品是一回事，但我们自己也需要拥抱它。”

---

34 世界 ▼ 尽管批评者质疑皇家骑警（RCMP）在执法中的角色，但渥太华已承诺增加该部队的预算 照片：RENE JOHNSTON / TORONTO STAR

加拿大“骑警”在丑闻与改革要求中面临不确定的未来

奥利维亚·鲍登（Olivia Bowden） 多伦多

身着鲜红色的制服，穿着深蓝色马裤，戴着米色斯特森帽（stetsons），加拿大皇家骑警（RCMP）的警员们成为了一个全球公认的加拿大象征。这些被俗称为“骑警”（Mounties）的人甚至出现在好莱坞电影和《辛普森一家》中。

但由于对其核心职能的质疑，以及一系列从系统性种族主义指控到性骚扰和公共安全失效的丑闻，RCMP正面临着一个日益不确定的未来。

“我们需要使RCMP现代化并进行转型，但我们还差得很远……不幸的是，未来看起来并不特别光明，”多伦多大学法学教授肯特·罗奇（Kent Roach）说道。他本周出版了一本名为《红色警报》（Red Alert）的书，探讨了困扰RCMP的压力。

在国家层面，RCMP处理包括外国干涉和恐怖主义在内的安全问题，但同时在全国10个省份中的8个省以及所有3个地区提供地方警务服务。

这些地方警务合同将于2032年到期，尽管距离该日期还有六年，但各省领导人已呼吁联邦政府“紧急开始谈判”以达成新协议。

“联邦政府必须就RCMP合同警务的未来做出明确决定，”各省省长在上个月于爱德华王子岛举行的一次会议后的联合公报中表示。

对合同明确性的要求似乎在一定程度上是由贾斯汀·特鲁多（Justin Trudeau）的辞职，以及去年3月由马克·卡尼（Mark Carney）接任总理所引发的。特鲁多主张对RCMP进行广泛改革，建议该部队放弃基层警务，转而专注于国家安全。

但卡尼政府反而提高了RCMP学员的薪资，并承诺在四年内为其警务预算增加18亿加元（C18亿美元，约9.6亿英镑 / 9.6 亿英镑）的支出。

罗奇表示，投资的原因之一是来自美国政府要求严厉打击所谓边境问题的压力。但罗奇认为，由于结构性问题，目前形式的RCMP是不可行的。

骑警通常在加拿大农村社区的小型且往往是临时的分遣队中工作，而他们在那里并不懂当地原住民语言。

“RCMP似乎陷入了一种非常准军事化且殖民主义的方式” ——肯特·罗奇教授，多伦多大学

这种语言隔阂加剧了第一民族（First Nations）社区历史性的信任缺失，因为该部队的殖民根源使其曾被作为压迫工具。

根据该部队自身的记录，从成立之初，该部队就执行限制原住民活动的政府规定；而从20世纪30年代起，RCMP警员强迫原住民儿童就读于虐待性的寄宿学校。

RCMP与原住民社区之间紧张的关系因一系列备受关注的案件而进一步恶化。2017年戴尔·卡尔弗（Dale Culver）和2021年贾里德·劳恩兹（Jared Lowndes）两名原住民男子在与RCMP警员发生暴力冲突后死亡，引发了公众的强烈抗议。

在2016年科尔顿·布希（Colton Boushie）被谋杀案后，RCMP的官方监察机构发现该部队对布希的家人存在歧视。

骑警还被指控存在系统性的性骚扰：2021年的一起集体诉讼导致联邦政府向2,304名女性RCMP成员支付了超过1.25亿加元（C1.25亿美元）的赔偿，这些女性表示她们在值勤期间遭受了性侵犯和骚扰。

在过去的十年中，皇家骑警（RCMP）应对了两起大规模杀戮事件，这两起事件引发了外界对该部队维护公众安全能力的广泛批评。2020年4月，一名身穿骑警制服的男子在新斯科舍省的一次枪击狂暴事件中杀害了22人。一项政府调查发现，皇家骑警的一系列失误加剧了这次袭击，因为该部队未能与公众及其内部警员共享信息。2022年9月，皇家骑警因在萨斯喀彻温省詹姆斯·史密斯克里族原住民保留地及附近的韦尔登村发生的一起导致11人死亡的大规模刺杀事件中反应迟缓而受到进一步批评。几位学者呼吁用一个能够更好地应对21世纪安全威胁的国家服务机构来取代皇家骑警。罗奇认为，加拿大应该考虑其他模式，而不是采用皇家骑警针对所有司法管辖区的“一刀切”方法。他说：“皇家骑警的培训方式……非常脱节。皇家骑警似乎陷入了一种非常准军事化且坦白说是殖民主义的方式中。”负责国家安全的联邦机构加拿大公共安全部表示，渥太华正在与各省和地区讨论“2032年之后的警务需求”。

佛罗里达州一名船员因龙虾争端“试图切断潜水员氧气”

拉蒙·安东尼奥·瓦尔加斯（Ramon Antonio Vargas）报道。据佛罗里达州当局称，一名船员在双方为争夺捕龙虾地点发生争执时，涉嫌试图通过切断一名潜水员的空气供应来将其杀害。

迈克尔·约瑟夫·辛普森二世（Michael Joseph Simpson Jr），51岁，被指控企图谋杀。警长办公室的一份报告将此描述为一起发生在迈阿密比斯坎湾（Biscayne Bay）的极其激烈的“船上愤怒”（boat rage）事件。辛普森否认这些指控。

报告称，涉嫌受害者亨特·科弗（Hunter Coffer）于7月29日上午在船上准备搜寻龙虾，此时另一艘船驶近并在该区域盘旋了几圈。该船上的人开始争论称，他们的“地盘”被科弗船上的人抢走了。在争吵继续期间，另一艘较大的船抵达，科弗潜入水中，当时他连接着一套从水面供应呼吸空气的设备。

警长报告称，人们曾被警告远离科弗的呼吸设备——这是一款名为“布朗尼第三肺”（Brownie's Third Lung）的无气瓶水面供气潜水系统——因为该设备正在使用中。报告补充道，辛普森随后表示：“如果我想关掉布朗尼，我就关掉。”据称，他在多名证人面前游向该设备，将其关闭，并剥夺了科弗的空气供应。

根据警长报告，科弗的同伴中至少有一人大喊：“下面有个潜水员，你这个混蛋！”随后其中一人跳入水中，利用连接着科弗的空气软管将其拉回水面。据称，科弗浮出水面时在喘气，意识模糊，且被软管以及船锚绳缠住。

警长报告指称，一名证人用手机拍摄了这次冲突的照片和视频，画面显示辛普森在“关闭布朗尼后迅速游离”。警长办公室表示，辛普森随后在另一艘船的陪同下，乘坐那艘较大的船“逃离”。

辛普森的律师霍华德·斯雷布尼克（Howard Srebnick）在周四发布的一份声明中表示，他的当事人“从未禁用过任何人的潜水设备”。他补充道：“事件的视频片段证实，其中一名指控者从船上掉下来，并被‘第三肺’设备缠住，而辛普森先生当时根本不在附近。”

斯雷布尼克在声明中说：“辛普森一生致力于航行安全。他被公认为南佛罗里达州最安全、最负责任的船员之一，并在一项航行安全委员会任职。”

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约翰·克雷斯（John Crace）日记 奈杰（Nige）有一周时间来理清他的故事

呆萌但令人愉悦 给《泰德·拉索》（Ted Lasso）回归电视打三星

聚焦

周六阅读

作者：阿吉特·尼兰詹（Ajit Niranjan）

▼ 上周末，在强风驱动下，雅典西北约70公里处的一场山火冒出浓烟 摄影：ANGELOS TZORTZINIS/

随着极端天气变得更加普遍，科学家们正竞相研究有毒烟雾对健康的毁灭性影响

山火烟雾每年导致150 万人死亡

在吞噬安大略省北部北方森林的烈火千里之外，急诊科医生埃琳·奥康诺（Erin O'Connor）看着加拿大最大城市上空的天空变成了“几乎像末日一样”的橙色，因为空气中充满了散射光线的烟尘和灰烬颗粒。走出多伦多总医院的大厅——在那里的空气过滤器保护着患者免受最严重烟雾的影响——她被一种强烈的气味所震撼，感觉就像站在营火旁一样。

“只要你走到室外，那种气味就会立刻扑面而来，”负责大学健康网络（University Health Network）急诊部门的奥康诺说，她观察到出现过敏和呼吸短促症状的患者有所增加。“随着时间的推移，到处都是那样。似乎即使在室内也能闻到那种燃烧的味道。”

最近几周，火焰吞噬了南欧和北美，但山火造成惊人死亡人数的主因是烟雾。2024年发表在《柳叶刀》（Lancet）上的一项研究发现，景观火灾产生的烟雾每年导致150 万人死亡，其浓度中含有引起呼吸道炎症的有毒气体，以及能穿透肺部并随血液循环冲击每个器官的微小颗粒——这一数字超过了洪水、火焰、风暴和高温的总和。

肺部瘢痕化效应的破坏力如此之强，以至于远离火场的人仍可能丧生。去年发表在《自然》（Nature）上的一项研究发现，2023年加拿大的山火喷出的烟羽导致了82,000例过早死亡，其中不利的风向将三分之一的死亡负担推向了美国，另有四分之一推向了欧洲。研究人员在3月份发现，英国约10%的细颗粒物（PM2.5）污染来自海外燃烧的生物质。

然而，尽管科学家们一致认为山火烟雾带来的健康负担是巨大的，但他们才刚刚开始理清暴露与死亡之间复杂的联系。随着气候崩溃导致火灾天气变得更加严重，这些问题变得日益紧迫。如果更炽热的烈火导致污染达到更极端的峰值会怎样？如果糟糕的空气持续数日或数周会怎样？如果一场严重的 ◀ 续见第36页 --- 56 # Spotlight

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（）在一个人尚未从上一次发作中完全恢复之前，又遭遇一次发作会怎样？现有研究中缺乏答案，这使得人们很难掌握这次狂暴的火灾季所带来的后果将有多么残酷。早期迹象令人不安，欧洲大城市附近的大片植被被焚毁；而在北美火灾季经历了一次虽迟但爆发式的开端后，烟雾使芝加哥和纽约市等主要人口中心窒息。在多伦多——该市上个月曾短暂成为所有大都市中空气质量最差的城市，而周三这一“头衔”由美国的波特兰夺得——奥康诺（O'Connor）表示，她不记得曾有过如此严重的污染，且发作如此突然且持续如此之久。

“我从未在正午时分看向窗外，发现天空竟然是橙色的，”奥康诺说，她当时匆忙将儿子从夏令营接回家。“当然，我们之前也遇到过山火烟雾，但更多是以一种短暂的方式出现。”

或许令人惊讶的是，一个火灾季的死亡人数可能在很大程度上取决于风向的变幻，而不仅仅是火灾的规模。法国的山火在今年上半年排放了创纪录的污染物，而在西班牙，目前的排放量仅略低于其历史上最糟糕的记录。尽管巨大的火势惊险地在马德里和波尔多附近被遏制，但烟雾大多被吹离了人们居住的地方。7月24日，波尔多的每日颗粒物污染水平仍达到了惊人的每立方米 342 微克 PM2.5 (µg / m³)，而次日，距离那里 180 公里（112 英里）的利摩日则达到了 486µg / m³，但南欧的其他大城市则幸免于医生们所担忧的极端情况。

北美则没有这么幸运。为《卫报》进行的初步分析显示，随着风从安大略省和西北地区森林向南和东南方向吹袭，7月16日，整个大陆至少有 3600 万 人呼吸着被 PM2.5 污染的空气，其浓度超过 125.5µg / m³，处于“非常不健康”的水平。根据估算，至少 1000 万 人暴露在超过 250µg / m³ 的浓度中，这种每日污染水平在去年被雾霾笼罩的新德里仅出现了 8 次。

科学家表示，一些大城市空气质量受到的打击让人想起 2023 年造成大量死亡的大规模山火。“一旦大规模人口中心暴露在其中，我们就会看到这些增长，”西蒙弗雷泽大学的山火健康科学家斯特凡妮·克莱兰（Stephanie Cleland）表示。她在为《卫报》计算时仅考虑了居住在监测站 25km 范围内的人员，并表示因此这些数据是保守的。“令我担忧的是，距离上次发生这种情况仅过了三年，现在我们又再次经历了，”她说。

7月16日，在明尼苏达州东北部杜鲁斯的一个安静郊区，人们看到了、闻到了并尝到了最严重的烟雾。杰·全（Jae Jeon）和丹·麦克莱兰（Dan McClelland）是一对夫妇，他们种植用于婚礼和订阅配送的花卉，在忍受了数日压抑的高温后，他们正期待着打开窗户。然而，他们醒来时发现笼罩在周围的是一层浓雾，他们很快意识到这是由某种糟糕得多的东西组成的。

到上午晚些时候，当地的五金店的口罩和空气净化器已售罄。人们转而将暖气过滤器安装在箱式风扇上。分析显示，麦克莱兰夫妇是西杜鲁斯 12,000 人中的一员，他们暴露在平均 541µg / m³ 的细颗粒物污染中，这一数值高于北美的任何其他地方。在一名农场工人抱怨头痛后，他们让她提前回家，但由于周末有两场婚礼，他们仍有大量花卉需要采摘和布置。这对夫妇开始收割玫瑰、铁线莲和香豌豆，周围环绕着一种他们从未经历过的、如同反乌托邦般的阴霾。

“感觉就像在战区工作，”Jae Jeon说道。“当我走到室外时，我无法呼吸，所以我必须戴口罩，但依然很痛苦。仅仅几分钟后，你就会开始感到头痛。”最近的快速分析发现，气候崩溃使得上个月加拿大和法国出现火灾天气的可能性增加了2倍，而在西班牙则增加了20倍，这是由于导致地球升温的排放使得植被更容易干枯。当植物和树木燃烧时，它们会喷出大量有害颗粒，当人体试图清除这些异物时，这些颗粒还会引发破坏性的“感觉就像在战区工作。当我走到室外时，我无法呼吸，所以我必须戴口罩。几分钟内你就会开始感到头痛” ▲ 7月，西班牙军事应急部队（UME）成员在马德里市外55公里处与山火作斗争 摄影：UME / 炎症反应。由于缺乏针对山火的长期研究，科学家们一直依赖于一般的空气污染关系来模拟烟雾对健康的慢性影响，而这构成了死亡人数的大部分。英属哥伦比亚大学的山火健康科学家、关于加拿大2023年火灾研究的共同作者Michael Brauer表示：“我们没有关于山火烟雾的研究，是因为我们之前不必将其视为一种重复发生的持续性问题。”他说，他大约40, 岁时第一次经历山火烟雾，而他居住的英属哥伦比亚省的一个10-year-old (10岁) 孩子在他们生命中的每个夏天都会呼吸这种烟雾。但与常规污染的类比并不完美。与其他PM2.5来源（如工厂或汽车）相比，山火烟雾包含更多增加炎症的有机化合物，以及更高浓度的能够渗透到肺部最深处的超细颗粒。2021. 年发表在《自然-通讯》（Nature Communications）上的一项研究发现，短期内，来自山火烟雾的PM2.5的致死率最高可达10倍。去年发表在《柳叶刀-星球健康》（Lancet Planetary Health）上的一项研究发现，将此因素纳入流行病学模型表明，短期接触山火烟雾导致的死亡人数被大大低估了。不过，针对慢性疾病，一些研究人员认为，在严重的烟雾事件期间的高峰暴露量能更好地解释为什么山火颗粒物会造成更大的损害。Brauer表示：“这可能是—— 2006年[注：此处年份疑似OCR误读，应为2026年]8月8日 星期六 卫报 57

日记 拜托。谁还没忘过几百万英镑？他认为这是因为烟雾在化学成分上毒性更强，或者——我认为更有可能的是——它基本上摧毁了你的防御机制。”他将其比作一年里每天喝一杯酒，而不是在24小时内狂饮365杯。“这显然会产生不同的影响。”当山火烟雾严重时，专家建议佩戴口罩、关闭窗户并关注脆弱的邻居。他们还建议在早晨检查空气质量监测仪，并在污染过高时将活动移至室内。

在某些情况下，根据BC肺基金会（BC Lung Foundation）上个月发布的一份报告，保持空气清洁的措施可能会与保持凉爽的努力相冲突。巴塞罗那全球健康研究所的环境流行病学家、模拟山火特定PM2.5研究的共同作者凯瑟琳·托恩（Cathryn Tonne）表示：“问题在于我们面临许多复合气候暴露事件，即高温与山火同时出现。如果你没有空调，且天气炎热，关窗留在家里可能会非常糟糕。”

烟雾背后的火灾至少能被预防吗？在勉强避免了糟糕空气干扰的国际足联世界杯决赛上，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普要求他的加拿大同行马克·卡尼（Mark Carney）“阻止这些火灾进来毒害我们的空气”——这一要求伴随着制裁威胁，而共和党参议员则将加拿大的火灾归咎于森林管理不善。科学家反驳称，这些大火与土地管理关系不大——大部分被烧毁的是无人居住地区的北方森林——而更多地与燃烧化石燃料导致的气温升高有关。

在欧洲，土地利用的变化引起了消防员和山火专家的警觉。地中海沿岸的农村地区出现了空心化，导致植被过度生长并干枯，使得在气候崩溃带来的更剧烈热浪期间，火势更容易蔓延。这种结合导致西班牙的山火科学家警告称，我们已经“进入了一个无法扑灭火灾的时代”。

在接下来的几个月里，强厄尔尼诺（一种周期性变暖的天气模式）的到来，以及印度洋的一个相关现象，将增加气候负担，使东南亚各国处于易燃状态。尽管麦克莱兰一家（the McClellands）依然拥有他们的家和健康，但他们表示，这次经历让他们体会到了气候崩溃带来的全球影响。“我知道全世界的人们都因为气候灾难而感到一种无力感，”丹·麦克莱兰（Dan McClelland）说。“我觉得这让我睁开了眼睛，去理解其他人们所感受到的极小一部分痛苦。”

不仅仅关于拜约：大英博物馆如何让我们失望 # 约翰·克雷斯（John Crace）

周一

你可能会认为，在为《卫报》撰稿35年后，我现在应该已经掌握了一些休假协议的基本常识。显然我还没有。虽然我记得通知新闻编辑部我两周内不会撰写政治速写，但我完全忘记了通知周六版编辑。因此，为了不让她面对页面空白的头痛问题，本周你们将看到更多我的文章。而且，说实话，我不介意，因为在通常空虚的八月，现在依然有大量事情在发生。我甚至告诉新闻编辑部，我想在下周五写一篇，因为我不能错过奈杰尔·法拉奇庆祝他赢得针对“建制派”——也就是一个头上戴着垃圾桶的喜剧演员——的补选胜利的时刻。去年这个时候，改革英国党（Reform UK）在民调中占据主导地位，并通过每周的新闻发布会设定新闻议程。而现在，奈杰尔就像是把自己加入了证人保护计划一样，试图避免任何人询问他的财务安排。不过，对奈杰尔来说，要记住谁是谁可能很困难，因为这一切看起来如此糟糕地复杂。有来自英泰加密货币亿万富翁克里斯托弗·哈博恩（Christopher Harborne）的500 万英镑，起初是用来买法拉利的礼物，然后是用来支付他的安保费用，但这可能是奈杰尔所说的，为了让他觉得值得回归全职政治而每年需要的100 万英镑m的预付款。然后还有资金从乔治·科特雷尔（George Cottrell）——那个喜欢叫奈杰尔“爸爸”的人——的各种离岸银行账户转移到他的母亲菲奥娜（Fiona）那里，然后再转移给理查德·泰斯（Richard Tice）。其中一部分——没人能确定是哪一部分——似乎最终进入了改革英国党（Reform UK）的银行账户。奈杰尔也无法完全记得，尽管持有改革英国党（Reform UK）的多数股份，他究竟是在什么时候决定参与政治活动的。用“混乱”一词似乎根本无法涵盖这种情况。奈杰尔还剩一周时间来为克拉克顿（Clacton）的选民理顺他的说辞。

周二

由于各种事情——首先是我妻子吉尔（Jill）的癌症，然后是她摔断了肩膀——看来我们连续第二年无法前往明尼阿波利斯看望我们的女儿和女婿。相反，他们来伦敦看望我们一周，所以我们一直在计划他们在伦敦期间可以做的有趣事情。因此今天——考虑到罗伯特（Robert）是个美国人——我们认为大家应该一起去参观大英博物馆为了纪念美国独立250周年而举办的展览。真的，那是我们任何人都无法挽回的五分钟。我是在尽量对大英博物馆宽容。也许受托人和策展人们太执着于不要撕裂拜约挂毯，以至于他们分心了。因为这次特别展览简直令人尴尬。一个昏暗的房间里只展出了四件物品，看起来就像是事后才从博物馆的储藏部门里挖掘出来的。这绝对是我参观过的最糟糕的展览。

周三

没有人想在别人处于低谷时落井下石，但我禁不住认为，从剑桥大学辞职的社会学教授杰森·阿尔代（Jason Arday）被他的前雇主严重辜负了。在给他提供工作之前，肯定有人应该想到过将他的博士论文放入抄袭检测器中检查？关于阿尔代最令人不安的一点是，他看起来显然状态不佳——很难将他说的大部分话视为事实。他的主张包括自己是一名世界级运动员，曾在六天内跑了600英里。这类清单似乎没完没了。然而，剑桥大学不知为何竟然忽略了这一切以及更多的问题。谎言越大，他们就越维护他。在这个过程中，他们对他造成的伤害远比系统地审查证据并拒绝授予他教授职位要大得多。感谢申请，但我们不录用。更糟糕的是，剑桥大学给其他有色人种学者带来了巨大的负面影响，因为他们给右翼批评者打开了大门，后者将声称其他大学的许多其他教授也是通过某种私下勾结才获得职位的。

周四

也许是空气中有什么原因，但凯米·巴德诺克（Kemi Badenoch）似乎也陷入了一场风波。她本周出现在“政治货币”（Political Currency）播客中，指责改革英国党（Reform UK）搞“觉醒”政治，并贬低安迪·伯纳姆（Andy Burnham）没有做出任何有价值的事情：呃，才过了两周，他就已经承诺要解决社会护理问题了。有些人是没法讨好的。巴德诺克还让自己陷入困境，去为前新纳粹分子约书亚·博恩希尔-佩恩（Joshua Bonehill-Paine）辩护，后者因骚扰工党犹太裔议员卢西亚娜·贝尔格（Luciana Berger）而被监禁。在巴德诺克的看来，博恩希尔-佩恩是一个改过自新的人，应该获得第二次机会担任保守党议员，因为他所做的一切仅仅是处理垃圾收集工作。当博恩希尔-佩恩的简历被发现几乎和阿尔代的一样具有“创造力”时，他显然产生了动摇，并撤回了保守党候选人的申请。照片：盖蒂图片社（GETTY IMAGES）；视觉中国（SHUTTERSTOCK）；路透社（REUTERS） 为什么威尔士亲王在戳我的耳朵？ 结果凯米竟然任命他为特别顾问。我完全支持给第二次机会，但很奇怪地想知道，在今天的保守党中，什么是可以接受的，什么是不可以接受的。有过反犹主义和热爱希特勒的前科？没问题。相信净零排放和《欧洲人权公约》（ECHR）？就不太行。格兰特·沙普斯（Grant Shapps）因为相信气候危机而被禁止竞选保守党议员。不过，也许凯米比大多数人都更了解她的政党。

周五

要跟上国际足联（Fifa）主席詹尼·因凡蒂诺（Gianni Infantino）的过度行为和道德腐败实在太难了。在我撰写本文时，多个足球机构和国家组织已对他表示缺乏信心，但他似乎仍坚守在岗位上。也许他能挺过这次危机。但我意识到，在整个丑闻期间，有一个人始终保持沉默：大卫·贝克汉姆（David Beckham）。在2022年卡塔尔世界杯期间，贝克汉姆获得了数百万美元的报酬担任国际足联大使。他唯一的贡献就是说他没有发现任何同性恋者受到迫害。DB的侦查工作真是顶尖。这一次在美国，大卫似乎满足于做一个非官方大使，被拍到穿着西装、衬衫并打着领带坐在VIP席位上，在通过广告代言赚取另外无需的2400 万英镑m时，他看起来主要是在愁眉苦脸。他似乎成了因凡蒂诺的哑巴傀儡。当詹尼通过授予唐纳德·特朗普（Donald Trump）和平奖而降低国际足联的价值，或者引入补水休息时间时，他毫无表示。当詹尼屈服于特朗普的要求，撤销福拉林·巴洛根（Folarin Balogun）的红卡，以及当他试图出售股份并将这项赛事重新定义为一个更肥的摇钱树时，他也毫无表示。这一切感觉如此悲哀。大卫曾经是国民瑰宝。现在他似乎只痴迷于财富和地位。在过去的几个月里，他本可以成为这个国家的发声者，公开反对因凡蒂诺政权的商业化及其问题。我们都会因此而热爱他。相反，他通过共谋毁掉了自己的品牌。他保持沉默的唯一明显原因要么是他认为因凡蒂诺没有做错任何事，要么是他只要钱能一直进来就不在乎。如果能证明我是错的那就太好了。我们要回我们的贝克斯。 --- 18

聚焦

本周回顾

1 美国

大部分“解放日”关税已退还

据报道，在美国最高法院裁定其非法后，特朗普政府已退还了此前征收的约1000亿美元（740亿英镑）关税。这一数字占总统“解放日”关税总征收额$165bn的60%，该关税于2月被最高法院推翻，迫使政府退还资金。特朗普将关税定位为美国经济的解决方案，旨在恢复国内生产，确保更好的贸易协议并弥补联邦预算赤字。然而，在去年缩小后，赤字规模有所增长。上个月，为了取代即将到期的10%全球关税，政府对80多个国家实施了新一轮关税。

2 墨西哥

涉嫌作弊导致大规模考试补考

由于测试结果异常之高引发作弊怀疑，该国最大且最负盛名的大学约58,000名学生将不得不重新参加入学考试。墨西哥国立自治大学（Unam）表示，在首次尝试在线版本导致数千份结果被作废后，此次考试将采取线下形式。在2021年至2025年期间，仅有3.5%的申请者在120分满分中获得100分或以上，但今年的这一数字为16%。结果引发了全国性丑闻，导致总统克劳迪娅·辛鲍姆（Claudia Sheinbaum）建议总检察长可能需要进行调查。

入学考试的竞争极其激烈。今年的150,000多名申请者在竞争21,962个名额。

3 环境

厄尔尼诺现象可能导致更多人陷入严重饥饿

据预测，快速发展的厄尔尼诺天气系统可能会在明年年底前导致约 5000 万 人陷入严重饥饿。联合国世界粮食计划署（WFP）警告称，这将使目前 45 个国家中处于严重粮食不安全状态的 2.25 亿 人增加超过五分之一。分析显示，中美洲、南美洲、加勒比地区和非洲南部可能会受到最严重的影响。在南亚和东南亚，降雨量可能会低于往年，这将影响农业和农民。今年的厄尔尼诺——一种每隔几年在太平洋发展并带来全球降雨模式变化的天气系统——正演变为至少 70 年来最强的一次。

4 印度

学生抗议后，印度人民党（BJP）在补选中失利

纳伦德拉·莫迪领导的执政党印度人民党（BJP）在一个其持有三十年的席位补选中失利。在全国性的“蟑螂运动”学生抗议活动之后，这场竞争受到了密切关注。知名选举战略家转型的政治人物普拉尚特·基肖尔（Prashant Kishor，见下文）为其领导的 Jan Suraaj（良好治理）党在东部比哈尔邦首府帕特纳的 Bankipur 選区取得了突破性胜利。“蟑螂人民党”起初是一个网络笑话，起因是一位高级法官将失业的印度青年描述为蟑螂和寄生虫。此后，它演变成一场全国性运动，在 Instagram 上拥有 2660 万 粉丝，超过了印度人民党和国大党之和。

5 英国

癌症指南“遗漏” 95% 的年轻女性

剑桥大学和伦敦癌症研究所（ICR）表示，国家医疗卓越研究所（Nice）用于决定家庭医生应将谁转诊进行进一步乳腺癌风险评估和专科护理的标准，未能发现绝大多数 50 岁以下且将在未来 10 年内患该病的女性。尽早识别高风险女性可为额外的筛查或预防性治疗铺平道路。但发表在《英国癌症杂志》上的分析表明，目前提供给英格兰全科医生（GP）用于转诊乳腺癌风险女性进行进一步检测或专科护理的标准，遗漏了高达 95% 的 50 岁以下且在十年内患病的患者。

在伊朗冲突导致能源价格飙升以及由排放引发的气候危机导致致命热浪期间，八家最大石油公司在短短三个月内积累的利润规模（单位：十亿英镑） 67

6 技术

AI 模型在网络安全测试中“失控”

由 OpenAI 和 Anthropic 开发的高级 AI 模型在一次网络安全测试中失控，揭示了该技术带来的一种新型风险。英国AI安全研究所（AISI）表示，在 7 月 28 日对 AI 模型进行的一次常规网络安全测试中，检测到了异常活动。该研究所发现，一些代理（指无需人类帮助即可执行任务的 AI 系统）参与了“针对真实人员和组织的持续且具有潜在危害的活动”。在最严重的一起案例中，一个代理试图将恶意代码插入到一个开发人员使用的平台软件项目中。随后，该代理创建并使用虚假在线身份，向项目的监督者施压以使其接受该代码。这些尝试被一名人类开发人员拦截。

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59

30% 增加。由于社交媒体上流行将艰苦路线缩短的趋势，马来西亚需要救援的徒步旅行者人数增加。在今年的前五个月中，有 52 人获救。

7 韩国

户外工作因城市经历40℃高温而暂停

当局警告人们在受破纪录高温影响的地区“立即”停止所有户外活动。根据韩国气象厅（KMA）的数据，东南部城市养山市上周日气温达到42.5℃，这是自1904.年现代气象观测开始以来报告的最高温度。该市一直是持续热浪的中心，周日气温连续第五天超过40℃，而许多其他城市的温度则在30多度的高位。目前已记录到16起与高温相关的死亡病例。据国家媒体报道，朝鲜部分地区的温度也飙升至40℃。在平壤，夜间温度已连续一周超过25℃。

8 新西兰

英语被赋予与毛利语相同的地位

议会通过了将英语承认为官方语言的立法，这引发了语言学家和法律专家的嘲讽，以及一名毛利议员的猛烈抨击。该英语语言法案赋予了英语（该国95%的人口使用英语）与毛利语（te reo Māori）及新西兰手语相同的官方地位。该法案是中右翼国家党与少数派民粹主义新西兰优先党之间联盟协议的一部分，后者的领导人温斯顿·彼得斯长期以来一直反对针对毛利人的肯定行动。司法部官员曾建议立法者不应通过该法案，因为“没有证据支持关于英语作为官方语言的使用或地位存在问题的担忧”。

9 缅甸

红十字会拜访前领导人昂山素季

援助组织确认，昂山素季于周一会见了红十字国际委员会（ICRC）的代表。此次会面是在人们多年来一直关注这位81岁被拘留的前领导人的福祉之后进行的。自从她领导的民选文职政府在2021.年2月被军事政变推翻以来，她的下落和健康状况在很大程度上一直不为人知。缅甸军方支持的政府曾多次声称她“健康状况良好”。她的儿子金·阿里斯（Kim Aris）最近要求执政军政府提供生存证明，他在社交媒体上表示，希望这次会面能为他的母亲带来更多的人道主义接触，并最终让她获得无条件释放。

10 意大利

垃圾收集员救回中奖彩票

一张价值100万欧元 (£850,000) 的彩票在一名焦急的中奖者向垃圾收集员求助后从垃圾中被找回。这名要求匿名的女性在当地商店丢弃了这张彩票，因为彩票机显示其为“不可兑付”，但这是因为小型零售商只能兑换小额奖金。在发现自己的常选号码中奖后，她回到商店，却发现垃圾已被收走。普利亚南部地区SANB公司的管理员罗伯托·尼古拉·托斯卡诺（Roberto Nicola Toscano）表示，在工人搜寻卡车上的成堆垃圾后，这张即开型彩票“奇迹般地依然完整”。他说：“她激动得哭了。我想给她一个拥抱，但我们是在电话里沟通。”

5400

一个重达4吨的废弃Space X火箭碎片被认为以每小时5400英里（8,690 km / h）的速度撞击月球。该物体高度相当于一栋五层楼，对地球不构成危险，但预计将撞出一个新的月球陨石坑。

本周议题 《奥德赛》的改编

艾米莉·威尔逊（Emily Wilson），《伦敦书评》（London Review of Books） 正如颁奖典礼上常说的那样，得知克里斯托弗·诺兰至少读了我将《奥德赛》译成五步抑扬格诗体的第一行，我深感荣幸。在至少一次采访中，他引用了我翻译的诗篇首行：“告诉我一个复杂的人的故事。”但我会对参与编写这部剧本的任何部分感到羞愧。遗憾的是，马特·达蒙饰演的奥德修斯既不复杂，也不狡黠，更不精明。在荷马史诗中，奥德修斯最有趣（也是最著名）的诡计之一就是告诉波吕斐摩斯他的名字叫“没人”。当被弄瞎的巨人向邻居呼救时，其他独眼巨人们得知是“没人”在伤害他，于是放了心。在电影中，奥德修斯不需要用智谋战胜波吕斐摩斯，因为这个独眼巨人是一个没有智慧的傀儡。诺兰笔下那个哼唧的独眼巨人被称作“它”，几乎不说话，不会喝醉，既没有邻居，也没有心爱的羊。

罗比·科林（Robbie Collin），《每日电讯报》（The Daily Telegraph）

在评论电影时，我们大多数评论家都知道应该尽可能地在电影本身的语境下进行评价：如果抱怨《布里奇特·琼斯的日记》不够恐怖，或者抱怨《电锯房》系列的某一部没有足够的音乐剧曲目，那会很奇怪。这也是为什么本周发表在《伦敦书评》上关于克里斯托弗·诺兰《奥德赛》的文章如此令人费解的部分原因。一方面，作者将可怜的老独眼巨人描述为“一个没有智慧的傀儡”和“一个哼唧的独眼巨人……被称作‘它’”，仿佛这是诺兰对他的低评价，而不仅仅是奥德修斯的看法。但独眼巨人在被弄瞎时发出的困惑与背叛的尖叫令人心碎，而他那难以理解的对话则令人心有余悸：两者都暗示了一个深层的宇宙秩序的存在，而特拉卡人对此痛苦地一无所知，且这个秩序即将字面意义上地将他们送往地狱及更远的地方。

贾米尔·史密斯（Jamil Smith），《卫报》（The Guardian）

我从学生时代起就没读过《奥德赛》了。当我们生命后期重新审视故事时，故事会发生变化，或者也许是我们改变了。克里斯托弗·诺兰的电影让我想要找出我错过了什么。更具体地说，它让我想要阅读艾米莉·威尔逊的译本。她更大的反对意见是“电影自身的价值观和愿景并不统一”。电影谴责希腊人用欺骗手段摧毁特洛伊，然后又要求我们在马特·达蒙饰演的奥德修斯利用欺骗和暴力夺回家园时为之欢呼。威尔逊将这些矛盾视为电影缺乏连贯论点的证明。但这些矛盾本身就是论点。诺兰的电影探讨的是，胜利者在发现破坏规则有效之后会发生什么。

--- 40

聚焦

本周评论

歌剧

尼伯龙根之环

拜罗伊特节日剧院，德国 ★★☆☆☆

AI生成

零碎杂物

削弱戏剧性

就在科技公司 Anthropic 承认其 AI 模型 Claude 在测试期间失控的同一周，拜罗伊特音乐节对瓦格纳四部曲《尼伯龙根的指环》采用的全新 AI 生成舞台呈现，至少在时机上是恰到好处的。但如果有人认为该剧作对知识、权力和占有的痴迷，使其成为反思 这一当代重大前沿领域的理想论坛，那么他们将会失望。这部为音乐节 150 周年庆典而委约的作品由德国舞台导演马库斯·洛贝斯（Marcus Lobbes）领导的团队进行“策展”——强调并非“导演”。他显然花了数周时间与 模型就可能的解读进行对话。根据节目单，“权力结构、资本主义、神话、性别角色、民族主义”都被提及。但如果这些人机交流带来了启示，你从最终的舞台呈现中根本看不出来。简单来说： 系统被允许在拜罗伊特 150 年的档案资料中漫游，并以此为起点，在横跨整个舞台口拱门宽度和高度的屏幕上不断滚动播放视觉图像。洛贝斯还要求系统将音乐节历史上每一年的一次政治或社会事件图像纳入其中，作为该季观众可能的对话话题。每场戏都以该剧 1876 年首演时的素材开始，但接下来的发展则在演出过程中实时决定。好消息是，任何观看该剧其他场次的人都不会看到和我一样的一组视觉碎片。坏消息是，这种快速的机器自由联想原则将一直存在。因此，我想，视觉对象的持续、怪诞的变形与流动也将一直存在。《莱茵的黄金》和《女武神》中出现了无数扭曲得可怕的手，长出了额外的手指和指甲。面孔出现，随即瞬间模糊。其中一些非常有名（阿道夫·希特勒、伊丽莎白二世女王、肯尼迪），但我很难认出大多数人。画面在完全不可理解和极其明显之间快速切换。阿尔贝里希变成蟾蜍触发了各种变异两栖动物；当齐格弗里德带进来一只熊时出现了熊；通往瓦尔哈拉的彩虹桥则出现了彩虹。但同时也出现了没完没了的、平庸的素材库照片，如废金属、蔓延的绿植、水滴和废弃的房间。我发现了以往拜罗伊特《指环》制作中的设计元素，但绝大多数时候不可避免地——无法跟上 系统的关联速度。一个低谷是：一张消瘦的非洲青少年的历史照片——想象一下搜索“欧洲殖民主义”的图像结果——在《女武神》期间闪过。这并不是在探讨拜罗伊特或《指环》复杂且充满争议的历史。这只是另一种形式的盲目刷屏。

▲ 盲目刷屏……拜罗伊特音乐节的 指环剧集 摄影：ENRECO NAWYATH

你会好奇歌手们被安置在何处。在四个夜晚里，当今顶尖的瓦格纳演绎者站在巨大的屏幕后面——没错，后面——穿着单一服装设计的细微变体，像低成本的《星际迷航》怪物。他们大多钉在原地。被杀的角色直接走开；在情欲高潮时，恋人们牵手。迈克尔·沃勒（Michael Volle）饰演了一个宏伟的沃坦和流浪者，他的力量自然而然。克劳斯·弗洛里安·福格特（Klaus Florian Vogt）轮番饰演洛根、齐格蒙德和齐格弗里德，灵活且带有阴郁的光芒，发音极具感染力。齐扎·范登海弗（Ziza van den Heever）饰演的齐格琳德表现得越来越好，在《女武神》的爱情二重唱中绽放。卡米拉·尼伦德（Camilla Nylund）饰演的布伦希尔德时而狂野，有时显得笨拙，但她充满激情的抒情性和亲密时刻令人深受感动。

米卡·卡雷斯（Mika Kares）饰演的洪丁（Hunding）兼具刚铁与丝绒之感，而哈根（Hagen）则释放出强大且流畅的声音洪流——邪恶之声极少能如此悦耳。格哈德·西格尔（Gerhard Siegel，饰演米梅 Mime）和约亨·施梅肯贝彻（Jochen Schmeckenbecher，饰演阿尔贝里希 Alberich）则是更传统的反派，分别表现出谄媚与粗犷。彼得·罗斯（Peter Rose）饰演的法夫纳（Fafner）略显浑浊，而克里斯塔·迈尔（Christa Mayer）饰演的埃尔达（Erda）和瓦尔特劳特（Waltraute）虽然有些不稳，但很有力度。莱茵河少女、女武神和诺恩三女神的配合精妙，在没有表演的情况下，尽可能地塑造出了各自的角色特点。每个人都能从中找到不满意的地方。但最糟糕的结果是，演出毫无感染力——让人很难产生共鸣。

Flora Willson 直至 16 August # 电视 # 《泰德·拉索》（Ted Lasso）第四季 Apple TV ★★★★☆ # 电视上最 # 温馨的 # 足球老板 # 回到了这座城市

在凭借其温馨且依赖比喻的管理风格将摇摇欲坠的里士满足球俱乐部（AFC Richmond）带入英超联赛后，《泰德·拉索》第三季在 2023 年的结局中，我们的主角教练回到了美国，以便花更多时间陪伴儿子。这看起来像是他的最终告别——但这位极具美国特色的主角真的会在其情景喜剧人气最高峰时退出吗？并没有。去年，官方宣布杰森·苏戴基斯（Jason Sudeikis）将再次饰演这个极受欢迎的化身。

在我们发现泰德是如何被诱导回到西南伦敦之前，我们先来看看他在期间一直在做些什么。他是将成功转化为美国足球的助力吗？凯旋回归大学足球？还是靠着数百万资产安享晚年，躺在功劳簿上？不，不，还是不。他在当地的超市工作，热情地称呼顾客的名字，为年轻同事提供道德指导，并散发出他标志性的“howdily-doodily”活力。为什么？因为他是一个没有自我意识的好人，热爱与人建立联系，并致力于为他的社区带来积极的改变！我们讨论的可是泰德·拉索！

泰德在事业巅峰期离开了英国，选择了父亲的身份而非财富、职业上的胜利和深受喜爱的同事。什么能让他改变主意？里士满的所有者丽贝卡（Rebecca，由汉娜·瓦丁汉姆饰演，一如既往地威严）、她的副手希金斯（Higgins，由杰里米·斯威夫特饰演，一如既往地古板）以及营销经理基莉（Keeley，由朱诺·坦普尔饰演，一如既往地像孩子般令人不安）认为他们找到了办法：他们向他提供管理女队的职位。泰德拒绝了。但随后他的母亲——正是那位说服他回家的母亲——鼓励他回去。于是他询问儿子和关系疏远的妻子是否愿意同行。

如果你是《泰德·拉索》的死忠粉，你可能会倾向于忽略这个设定的荒诞之处，重新沉浸在剧集传递的积极、团结以及足球队获胜时的快感等信息中。即便如此，转向女足确实意味着要面对一些残酷的真相。泰德的新助理教练爱丽丝（Alice，由塔尼娅·雷诺兹饰演）是一个阴沉的严师，对于自己被一名男性取代而失去了最高职位感到愤怒。尽管泰德迅速以其标志性风格投入工作——通过深入挖掘球员的心理来提高士气——但他的努力受到了女项运动长期缺乏投资的阻碍，此外还有伤病、生育以及出于得体考虑他几乎不被允许进入更衣室等事实。

尽管如此，在提供给评论者的四集中，紧张气氛从未真正积聚。爱丽丝冷若冰霜的外表注定很快就会破裂。这部剧并没有将新团队成员塑造为独立的个体（除了一个强悍的门将和一对争吵不休的爱尔兰姐妹），而是经常退回到熟悉的动态中：其中就包括依然担任男队经理的罗伊·肯特（Roy Kent，由布雷特·戈尔德斯坦饰演）与前女友基莉之间那种“会在一起还是不会”的暧昧关系。

尽管有这些令人烦躁的特质，《泰德·拉索》的吸引力依然明显，整个运作精良的工程中弥漫着一种优质娱乐感。把它看作是电视界的泰勒·斯威夫特：极其高效，令人安心地呆萌，并且像任何 Apple TV 的产品一样具有单一文化色彩。《泰德·拉索》依然是那种甜腻的常规操作，而且毫无疑问，依然是许多人的心头好。

Rachel Aroesti

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31 # 今年到目前为止，英国在诗歌书籍上每花费 £10，就有 £1.20 花在了《奥德赛》和《伊利亚特》上，这受到了克里斯托弗·诺兰大片的影响

戏剧 # 名声 普利茅斯皇家剧院（Theatre Royal Plymouth） ★★★★☆

舞台学校音乐剧起飞，护腿袜已准备就绪

这部由大卫·德·席尔瓦（David De Silva）的电影改编而成的复排音乐剧充满了勇气与热情，为这个关于渴望成名的学生的故事注入了新鲜生命。由何塞·费尔南德斯（Jose Fernandez）编写剧本，史蒂夫·马戈什斯（Steve Margoshes）作曲，雅克·列维（Jacques Levy）作词，整场演出像一罐被摇晃过的苏打水一样喷薄而出。该剧由汤姆·杰克逊·格里夫斯（Tom Jackson Greaves）执导并编舞，他即将为西区备受期待的复排剧《Rent》编舞。演员阵容充满活力，其中大多数人在几个作品之前就实现了在专业舞台上表演的梦想，如今正处于事业上升期。虽然饰演舍曼小姐（Miss Sherman）的沙奈·霍姆斯（Shanay Holmes）显得略年轻，但她是整场演出的驱动力，她的旁白（▲ 热情……《名声》中的塔莉亚·帕拉马塔南和阿莫尼克·梅拉科，摄影：JOSIAN PERSSON）带领观众经历了纽约市一所顶尖表演艺术学校的四年周期。她的唱功是本剧的爆点。尽管剧情经过微调且删减了部分歌曲，但该制作捕捉到了这些追梦者全天候的辛勤劳作和纯粹的决心。早期的曲目《Hard Work》奠定了基调，随着这群学生伸展身体、练习音阶并在舞台上旋转，动作填满了每一个角落。理查德·豪威尔（Richard Howell）的灯光通过在索特拉·吉尔莫尔（Soutra Gilmour）设计的学校布景堡垒上投射巨大的聚光灯，将学生们的整个世界视作舞台，而之外的生活则留在阴影中。对 20 世纪 80 年代的致敬体现在护腿袜以及磁带录音机快退时的尖叫声中。它并未回避故事中较为残酷的时刻，包括最初充满活力的卡门（Talia Palamathanan）的命运。然而，当学生们汇聚才华——从喧闹的食堂场景到主题曲的快闪舞——时，演出才最为光彩夺目。此时，舍曼小姐告诉学生们“成功并非单打独斗”的信息显得最为真实。

Holly O'Mahony 至 15 August

流行音乐

菲比·布里杰斯（Phoebe Bridgers）：Lost Weekend

Dead Oceans ★★★★★

独立流行乐潜入迷失的快感

Phoebe Bridgers 上一次发行个人专辑是在六年前：《Punisher》不仅在 2020 年底登上了许多评论家的年度最佳榜单，还进入了英国前 10 名，并在美国售出 50 万张。在此期间，她在商业上同样取得了巨大的成功：她的超级组合 Boygenius 成为了一种主流现象，她还参与了 SZA、Taylor Swift 和 Paul McCartney 的唱片——这些合作使她成为 2024 年格莱美奖的最大赢家。

但从《Lost Weekend》的开篇曲来看，情况并非一切安好。《The Outside》描绘了这位歌手在俄亥俄州的一场演出中凯旋般地在人群中冲浪。“但我身在局外，在注视着，”她唱道，这种脱节感因她的声音被声码器掩盖，以及甜美的指弹原声吉他消失在静电噪音中而进一步增强。在音乐和歌词上，这首歌为专辑的其余部分起到了指路标志的作用。

后者包含大量的情感动荡，很大程度上是由她与关系紧张的父亲的去世，以及她与演员 Paul Mescal 订婚关系的破裂所引起的。但你绝对不需要对名人浪漫关系的波动产生窥淫癖般的兴趣，就能感受到这张专辑的情感冲击：无论主角是谁，《The Governor's Waltz》都会是对一段处于粘稠死亡挣扎中的关系的精准刻画，且令人真正动容。

Bridgers 的歌词贯穿始终地精彩，而《Lost Weekend》声音的独特性与之相匹配。其核心是一张写作精良、注入了美式根源音乐（Americana）元素的独立创作歌手专辑。但标准的乐器在阵阵低沉的电子音、碎片化的反馈噪音和诡异的无词人声中，难以被听见。歌曲会突然陷入沉默，或浸没在旋转的回声中，或承受着经常将情感拉向不同方向的意外尾声。

整体效果是令人迷失的，偶尔令人不安，且真正令人兴奋：在《Panorama》的声音中有一种大胆之感，优美的旋律和质朴的班卓琴音色几乎完全被偶尔不和谐的阴暗氛围所掩埋。结果是一张令人陶醉、强力且偶尔令人心碎的专辑，尽管其中点缀着乐观主义。在《Liberty Tree》中，Bridgers 唱道：“过去看起来越来越光明。” 显然，达到那个地点的路径一直充满艰辛：《Lost Weekend》将其转化为一段丰富且值得的旅程。

Alexis Petridis

戏剧

《神狗侠》音乐剧 (Dog Man the Musical)

南岸中心，伦敦 ★★★☆☆

超级巨星狗狗从书页跃上舞台

如果你没有在读小学的孩子，你可能会在幸福的无知中完全没听说过《狗狗人》（Dog Man）。这是戴夫·皮尔基（Dav Pilkey）创作的图形小说，讲述了一名警察在遭受严重创伤后，将他的狗头缝在了自己的身体上，从而变成了一个打击犯罪的犬人混血儿。《狗狗人》系列丛书混乱、幽默且充满感伤，但编剧兼作词人凯文·德尔·阿吉拉（Kevin Del Aguila）和作曲家布拉德·亚历山大（Brad Alexander）的这部剧主要倾向于前者。剧中充满了闹剧式的幽默和关于闻屁股的笑话。当被问到今天过得怎么样时，狗狗人回答道：“汪！”（Ruff!）这部剧面向皮尔基读者群中年龄较小的群体，但令人困惑的是，剧中还出现了关于狄更斯的引用。

剧情采用了“戏中戏”的结构：乔治（George）和哈罗德（Harold）（由里卡多·门德斯 Ricardo Mendes 和彼得·拉弗里 Peter Lavery 饰演）是这些漫画的虚构作者，他们正在排演一部音乐剧，以向老师证明这件事是多么简单。蒂莫西·R·麦卡比（Timothy R Mackabee）设计的布景具有迷人的DIY风格——摩天大楼是由纸板和强力胶带制成的，角色在毛绒玩具、手套偶和真人演员之间变换形态。我们的英雄之犬（由雷南·特奥多罗 Renan Teodoro 饰演）与反派猫咪皮蒂（Petey，由萨姆·基普林 Sam Kipling 饰演）以及具有心理动力能力的蝴蝶鱼弗利皮（Flippy，由瓦妮莎·杜马雷 Vanessa Dumarey 饰演）展开对抗。

但剧情出现了反转！为了实现邪恶目标，皮蒂克隆了自己，原以为会出现一个同样扭曲的复制品——结果他创造了小皮蒂（Li'l Petey，由丽贝卡-乔·罗伯茨 Rebecca-Jo Roberts 饰演），一个坚持称呼皮蒂为“爸爸”的超级可爱孩子。小皮蒂是原著的情感核心——但由于充满活力的演员们在舞台上跳舞、唱歌、吠叫，像喝了三品脱彩虹糖后的CBeebies节目主持人一样亢奋，这些更动人的时刻在由珍·温曼（Jen Wineman）导演并编舞的制作中被掩盖了。将一部图形小说改编成音乐剧注定会遇到这样的障碍。也许音乐剧并不像乔治和哈罗德想象的那么容易完成。

蒂姆·琼斯（Tim Jonze） 演出至8月16日，随后开启巡演

电视评论

《巷猫》（Alley Cats）

Netflix ★★☆☆☆

瑞奇·格维兹的懒政猫咪动画片，尴尬多于喜剧

我想真正的问题在于：在为你的时代重新定义喜剧之后，你该做些什么？在《办公室》（The Office）这部对人类生存状态进行精妙观察、令人痛苦且极其幽默的剖析之后，瑞奇·格维兹（Ricky Gervais）开始走下坡路，而他最新的作品——一部关于一群流浪猫的动画剧集——对此毫无挽回之意。

格维兹饰演 Gus，这个杂牌军团中将厌世主义发挥到极致的领导者。他的得力助手 Fang（安德鲁·布鲁克 饰）是团伙里的打手，而 Puke（大卫·厄尔 饰）则是那个令人作呕的角色，为这帮家伙提供了所有关于肛交、手指插入和生殖器的素材。经常光顾他们窝棚的是一只被他们称为“Ponce”（汤姆·巴斯登 饰）的猫，一只与人类家庭同住、享受规律饮食、梳理毛发和甜点的纯种猫。当然，他也被阉割了，这填补了在肛交 / 手指插入 / 生殖器素材用尽后的笑点空白。

目前，我们与这些猫以及住在楼上的女孩 Olive（戴安娜·摩根 饰）一起身处阴暗的小巷——Gus 欣喜地注意到，Olive 真的很笨。然而，作为整个项目懒政的进一步迹象，她其实并不笨。在几次象征性的尝试后，她简单地变成了一只完全普通的猫，对 Ponce 产生了一点好感，直到她发现他没有欲望，也没有设备能为她提供她想要的小猫。

随后，一只迷路的小猫（乔·哈特利 饰）被卷入其中——我很遗憾地告诉你们——这唤醒了 Gus 的父性，并开始教他以及团伙中的其他成员关于爱以及成为一个家庭意味着什么。感伤主义的格维兹总是比厌世主义的格维兹更令人不安，因此建议您在观看小猫的场景时保持最高程度的谨慎。

有那么几个瞬间，你或许能看到这部剧原本可能的样子。Gus 在他心仪的对象 Lara（凯莉·戈德利曼 饰）面前，让人回想起大卫·布伦特（David Brent）那种脆弱感。Ponce 则在缺乏创意且毫无意义的脏话和咆哮雨中提供了一点遮蔽。但除此之外，《Alley Cats》感觉像是一个创作死胡同，让你希望格维兹能停止在这些次要项目上自我沉溺，让他的天才再次发酵，无论需要多久。我们会等待的。

露西·曼根 (Lucy Mangan) --- 12 # 商业

TUC敦促希利：改革预算监督机构以释放增长 Heather Stewart

英国工会大会（TUC）正敦促新任财政大臣约翰·希利（John Healey）对预算责任办公室（Office for Budget Responsibility）进行一次“彻底的”审查，称该预测机构的方法阻碍了投资。

随着安迪·伯纳姆（Andy Burnham）承诺在“每个邮政编码区实现良好增长”，这一工会伞形组织呼吁希利利用其在28 October的首次预算案，重新审视这一强大监督机构的运作方式。具体而言，它指责预算责任办公室低估了公共投资的益处，因为它假设公共投资会“挤出”私人资本——这一观点受到部分经济学家的质疑。

TUC总书记保罗·诺瓦克（Paul Nowak）表示：“长期以来，预算责任办公室一直是阻碍全国良好增长的里程碑。”

“世界已经摆脱了紧缩政策这种自我毁灭的逻辑，但预算责任办公室的模型仍然植入了其错误的假设。只有彻底的审查才能让预算责任办公室回归现代经济主流。”

TUC的批评呼应了来自一系列智库和活动团体的改革要求，包括工党右翼的Progress以及左翼的新经济基金会（New Economics Foundation）。良好增长基金会（Good Growth Foundation）智库的露易莎·多利莫尔（Louisa Dollimore）此前称该机构是“拿着过时地图的后座司机”，在“英国同时需要长期规划和投资的时刻阻碍了两者”。

希利在No 11, 的前任拉切尔·里夫斯（Rachel Reeves）选择了经济学教授乔纳森·哈斯克尔（Jonathan Haskel）作为预算责任办公室的下一任主席。此前，理查德·休斯（Richard Hughes）在预算责任办公室不慎提前公布预算细节后，于去年12月辞职。

哈斯克尔曾是英格兰银行设定利率的货币政策委员会成员，他将监督一项新的经济预测，以为今年的预算提供参考。他上个月告诉财政部遴选委员会的议员，他对前景比其他一些专家更为悲观。

他说：“我的预测是，中期内的利率将略高，GDP增长将弱于大多数人的预期。”

哈斯克尔还在一次公开听证会上向委员会警告称，英国“根植于一个非常良好的财政状况”。

除了重新审视预算责任办公室的角色外，TUC还呼吁希利加强国家财富基金（NWF）等投资机构，以利用财政规则中内置的灵活性。

里夫斯修订了规则，规定如果政府借款由一项金融资产（如公司股份或贷款）相匹配，则不计入财政部的目标。TUC认为，这应该允许包括国家财富基金和国家住房银行在内的政府支持机构进行显著的额外投资。

国家财富基金投资于基础设施项目并支持英国企业，旨在促进增长并“吸引”私人投资者。TUC呼吁政府更改国家财富基金的授权，允许其选择可能需要长达15 years才能产生回报的投资，以扩大合适项目的范围。

诺瓦克表示：“在全球经济动荡之中，工党实现了G7中第二快的增长。这部分归功于政府的财政规则，这些规则正确地允许增加投资借款。”

“但政府需要采取更多措施来松开手刹。对现有财政规则的大胆应用以及为国家财富基金提供更广泛的授权，可以使英国重新工业化。”

一些经济学家对增加借款可能给债券市场带来的影响表示担忧。咨询公司牛津经济研究院（Oxford Economics）在周五的一份研究简报中表示：“英国的财政状况不佳，同时人们对新任首相对财政可持续性的承诺存在潜在的担忧。”

“虽然希利一直在说着所有正确的话，但新政府的实际行动才是关键。如果第一步是在公共财政没有根本性改善的情况下放宽政策，那么这将面临发出市场不喜欢的信号的风险。”一名财政部发言人表示：“财政纪律是经济稳定和国家安全的基石。财政大臣和首相步调一致，政府将遵守财政规则，并设置应对不确定性的缓冲空间——这包括降低债务。”他们补充说，财政大臣“不会常规性地对提案发表评论”。

Harvey Nichols 能否再次变得“绝对时尚”？ Lauren Cochrane

在 Harvey Nichols 50 岁时的鼎盛时期，这家百货公司如此出名，以至于在《绝对时尚》（Absolutely Fabulous）中经常被提及，剧中 Edina 和 Patsy 频繁前往该店进行“购物疗法”，反映了其处于时尚产业核心的地位。

时代在变。如今的 是一家陷入困境的企业，自疫情以来一直未能盈利。税前亏损在 2024. 为 3530 万英镑。这家零售连锁店——包括位于骑士桥的伦敦旗舰店以及布里斯托尔、利兹和曼彻斯特等城市的门店——在 6 月被现任所有者庞迪信爵士（Sir Dickson Poon）挂牌出售，迈克·艾希利（Mike Ashley）旗下的 Frasers Group 和 Nest 正在竞标以获取控制权。

艾希利本周评论称， 正处于他所谓的“死亡螺旋”之中。在接受《金融时报》采访讨论其潜在竞标时，他表示接手该公司将是一个“巨大的挑战”。据报道， 为该业务寻求 5000 万英镑-6000 万英镑，但艾希利表示，他认为价格需要接近 4000 万英镑 才能达成交易。

这与 90 年代截然不同。当时担任时尚记者的托尼·格伦维尔（Tony Glenville）回忆道：“那时非常迷人。五楼有一个极好的酒吧，所以整个体验就是你去购物，然后喝一杯。”

三十年后，零售专家认为，即便不是死亡螺旋，这家店也不再具有同样的声望。“这是一个失去了身份认同的品牌，”JDM 零售咨询公司（JDM Retail Consulting）创始人乔纳森·德·梅洛（Jonathan De Mello）表示，“它与其他百货公司非常相似，也就是说，它提供的时尚产品你在 Selfridges 或 Harrods 也能买到。它没有差异化优势。”

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6960621 £C 1.1675 +00001 £S 1.3489 +00003 来源：ICE www.ice.com / data

成立于 1831 年，最初是一家亚麻店，随后在 1889. 年成为百货公司。它在 1920 年被 Debenhams 收购，并在 1985, 年成为 Burton Group 的一部分。六年后，庞迪信购买了这家零售商，并于 1996 年在利兹开店，开始了在伦敦以外的扩张。

“它一直在变化，”格伦维尔说，“如果某个设计师在那个季度走红，他们会立即希望进入 ，而 随后就会进他们的货。”

快进三十年，其他商店已经抢占了这一领域，伦敦的 Dover Street Market 和 Selfridges 成了新兴品牌更可能的目的地。

然而，德·梅洛认为，这一策略仍有发挥空间。“他们曾有很强的设计前瞻性重点……他们需要更多地这样做，”他说，“如果你在其他任何地方都买不到（某个品牌），必须去 ，那么它就再次变得有趣了。而目前，你走过它时会说：‘为什么要费劲进去？’”

德·梅洛表示， 的数字化呈现需要改进。“在当今市场中取得成功的绝大多数零售商，都是通过多种不同的渠道与消费者对接，”他主张。

如果说数字化仍处于完善过程中，那么 最近已尝试振兴其实体店服务，尤其是其骑士桥旗舰店。此前就职于 Alexander McQueen 的朱莉娅·戈达德（Julia Goddard）自 2024, 担任首席执行官，而备受推崇的时尚编辑凯特·费兰（Kate Phelan）则出任创意总监。

2025年的一次重新设计将高端珠宝安置在底层，并增加了新的设计师品牌和精选物件。在一次新闻稿中，Phelan将其描述为一次“意图的声明。我们正在创造一种让人感到相关、令人兴奋，且最重要的是，具有个性化的体验。这仅仅是个开始。”该零售商拒绝就本文发表评论。在关注度方面，Glenville认为无论谁收购这家零售商，原团队都应该保留，并被给予时间来扭转局面。“（最近）那些带有插画的橱窗绝对非常出色，”他说，“[但] 我认为他们不确定接下来该怎么做。遗憾的是，任何事情都需要时间。你不可能在五分钟内完成所有工作。”

“一个时代的终结”

DeepMind 首席执行官卸任，AI 发展方向引发担忧

丹·米尔莫 (Dan Milmo)、艾莎·唐 (Aisha Down)

当德米斯·哈萨比斯 (Demis Hassabis) 爵士上个月表示 AI 已将世界带入“人类历史上的关键时刻”时，他知道另一项重大变革即将到来。这次转变发生在内部。这位谷歌 AI 部门 Google DeepMind 的负责人、诺贝尔奖得主本周宣布，他将放弃首席执行官的日常职责，转任董事长。同时，他还将担任 母公司 Alphabet 的首席科学家。

哈萨比斯和 一直是 AI 突破 era 的关键参与者。这位 50 岁的联合创始人于 2014 年将 出售给谷歌，此举使他获得了监督多项进展的资源。这些进展包括构建精通中国棋类游戏“围棋”的 AlphaGo 系统，以及开发预测蛋白质 3D 结构的程序 AlphaFold。后者使哈萨比斯获得了 2024 年诺贝尔化学奖。

现在将由哈萨比斯的长期同事、常驻美国的科雷·卡武库奥卢 (Koray Kavukcuoglu) 管理，他将担任 高级副总裁这一非 CEO 领导职务。

一名谷歌前高管表示：“ 作为一个独立参与者的时代已经结束，一个明显的迹象就是你们从一个具有魅力的创始人领导者，转而任命科雷担任非 CEO 的领导职务。科雷是一个技术型人物，而不是像德米斯那样具有启发意义的人物。”

这位前谷歌员工补充说，谷歌旗舰 AI 模型系列 Gemini 的最新迭代版本在面对美国竞争对手 Anthropic 和 OpenAI 开发的模型时失去了优势，这对谷歌和哈萨比斯来说将是“令人恼火的”。

哈萨比斯表示，他期待更多地关注 AI 的“大局”，并认为他移交的是一个已为迎接未来竞争之战做好准备的部门的运营管理权。

在内部， 是一个存在政治紧张局势的工作场所。员工表示，公司与五角大楼的合作引发了内部不安。今年早些时候，一名 Google 前员工对谷歌发起了法律挑战，称其因对加沙的观点而被不公正解雇。该员工参与了 的工会化努力，而这些努力是在人们担心谷歌的 AI 可能会协助包括以色列在内的军队这一背景下进行的。

另一名 员工于 7 月中旬辞职，理由是谷歌与五角大楼及美国国土安全部的合作。

有人表示，哈萨比斯的离职是一个“时代的终结”。他们说：“现在，那个我们本应信任、能为人类带来正确结果的人已经离开了。” “已经变成了谷歌的又一个分支机构”。

支持该 员工法律挑战的活动团体 Foxglove 的执行董事罗莎·柯林斯 (Rosa Curling) 表示：“一家曾以其伦理信誉为荣的公司，其联合创始人离职，可能会让其前沿 AI 员工进一步担心他们的工作最终将在现实世界中如何被使用。”

谷歌表示，它致力于遵守“私营和公共部门的共识”，即 AI 不应在没有“适当人类监督”的情况下被用于国内大规模监视或自主武器。

虽然谷歌拒绝了在伦敦签署一项自愿的工会承认协议，但它表示，它重视“与员工就构建积极且成功的工作场所所进行的建设性和直接对话”。

在商业方面，一款全新的尖端模型 Gemini 3.5 Pro 尚未发布，据报道，由于试图提高其代码编写能力（这是 Anthropic 和 OpenAI 最佳产品吸引力的核心部分），该模型的发布已被推迟。

谷歌的两家AI实验室——总部位于伦敦的DeepMind和总部位于加利福尼亚的Google Brain，在三年前在哈萨比斯的领导下合并为Google DeepMind。现在，控制权似乎正移回美国，据报道，谷歌联合创始人谢尔盖·布林在AI开发中发挥着更大的作用。该前员工将Meta的顶尖AI研究员Yann LeCun以及谷歌的Geoffrey Hinton的离职视为“AI生态系统一个时代的终结”的另一个例子，并补充道：“这非常清楚地表明，这些实验室领导层由科学驱动的议程已经让位于冷酷且现实的商业逻辑，即所有这些公司都希望在投入AI的数千亿美元中获得回报。”不过，该消息人士补充说，谷歌仍然拥有一个优势，能够将其Gemini模型与其从搜索引擎到云平台以及YouTube的一系列令人印象深刻的产品相结合。得益于其搜索业务，它也有资金继续在AI领域进行大规模投资，去年的净收入为1320亿美元 (980亿英镑)。

近年来，哈萨比斯也承担了更多类似政治家的角色。关于“关键时刻”的提及出现在一篇博客文章中，哈萨比斯在文中呼吁美国的一个安全机构对前沿模型进行评估，希望这能促成全球标准的建立。哈萨比斯认为，建立这样一个机构的需求十分紧迫，因为科技行业正接近实现代理AI（agentic AI）或AGI（通用人工智能）的“关键”点——AGI是指AI的一种理论状态，即系统能够执行任何人类认知任务——这也意味着它能够胜任法律、金融和医疗等领域的白领工作。

一名谷歌发言人表示：“这是德米斯考虑一段时间后的举动。他对此感到非常兴奋，这将使他有更多时间专注于AI驱动的科学突破。”该发言人否认这些变动与Gemini的性能有任何关系。

13 --- 44

金钱 # 房产 # 价格大跌却无人问津：为什么公寓卖不出去？在数据显示许多公寓在六个月内无法找到买家之际，业主们揭露了他们的困境。Rupert Jones 探讨其中出了什么问题

“公寓市场已经死掉了，”Susan Young* 说道。她一直试图出售她在德文郡一个热门海滨度假胜地的一套两居室公寓，但一直没有成功。Young 表示，得益于花费的 £15,000-£20,000 装修费用，这套位于一楼的房产处于“完美状态”。它拥有俯瞰海滩的“绝佳视野”。而且，或许最关键的是，这是一套永久产权（freehold）公寓，因此不受与声名狼藉的租赁产权（leasehold）制度相关的争议影响。

“尽管不需要买房（也就是说，没有交易链），而且价格已经降到远低于我的买入价，但在九个月里我只接到了四次看房，”曾任教师的 Young 说道。她在 2023 年搬入，但现在因为家庭原因需要搬迁。她当时以 £300,000 买入该房产，目前挂牌价为 £280,000。她不想进一步降低价格，如果到夏天结束还没有人看房，她打算将其撤下市场，并在明年重新挂牌，希望届时会有更多兴趣。她说，尽管她的公寓位于一栋六户公寓楼中，每户拥有六分之一的永久产权并自行设定管理费，但公寓市场依然死气沉沉。“这非常令人沮丧。”

与此同时，住在伦敦的 Louisa 已经尝试出售她的租赁产权公寓两年半了。在经过几个月的谈判后，由于买家要求她将价格降低 £10,000，交易最近第三次告吹。她最初担心不得不“承受巨额损失，失去所有押金，并导致我在不久的将来无法买房。我的房产位于一家理发店上方，我被告知银行不会为这类房产提供抵押贷款，这让我只能寻找合理的现金出价”。

不过，现在出现了一些希望，因为她找到了一个现金买家。“所以我正在重新走一遍流程，”她说。“但我已经声明，我只会给这次交易几个月的时间，否则就放弃并尝试将其出租。这将是第四次尝试。”

Louisa 以 £200,000 买入这套公寓，而最近告吹的那次交易价格为 £145,000。“这是一套一居室公寓，而我现在有一个两岁的女儿。这种情况意味着我们无法离开一直居住的家人家中。‘我只想搬走，给我的孩子一个卧室。’”但她补充道：“在不久的将来我不会再次买房。这次经历让我相当受创。”

Young 和 Louisa 只是两名响应《卫报》近期征集、分享近几个月买卖公寓经历的读者。许多受访者都表达了同样的观点：他们一直在——且不断地——尝试出售公寓。有些人多次降价却无济于事；另一些人在买家退出时被晾在原地。其中一些是自住业主，另一些则是试图退出租赁行业的个体房东。

10%

自 2016 年以来，公寓平均价格的涨幅，而房屋的涨幅为 43%

87%

去年伦敦租赁产权公寓在六个月内未售出的百分比

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诈骗

电影迷成为虚假 Odyssey 网站的目标

幻想中的房屋之猎：前酒吧房源出售 第 47 页

一些公寓业主即使在热门地段也难以找到购房者。

摄影：彭博 / 盖蒂图片社 (BLOOMBERG / GETTY IMAGES)

那么，现在发生了什么？今年 6 月，房产网站 Zoopla 发布的数据显示，自 2016 年以来，全英国房屋的平均价格上涨了 43%，而公寓在同一时期的涨幅为 10%。Zoopla 表示，“英格兰租赁产权（leasehold）的不确定性正在影响公寓与房屋的价格对比”，且由此导致公寓的销售周期变长。

在英格兰，大多数挂牌出售的公寓均为租赁产权。而与这种所有权形式相关的长串丑闻和争议——从高额的服务费和地租、巨额的一次性账单，到持续存在的建筑外墙覆层问题、昂贵的租约延期以及购买永久产权（freehold）的困难——已促使政府采取行动。

但在英格兰和威尔士，禁止新租赁产权房产的禁令在下次大选前不太可能生效，而关于成本和复杂性的担忧显然已经在现在产生了影响。

我们要求 Zoopla 对公寓未售出及其原因进行数据分析。结果发现，在英格兰大部分地区，2025 年挂牌出售的租赁产权公寓中，大多数在六个月内未能售出。

“伦敦的情况最糟糕——约 87% 未售出——其次是东南部（85%）和英格兰东部（84%），”Zoopla 执行董事理查德·唐奈尔（Richard Donnell）表示。平均值为 80.5%。

至于为什么许多公寓难以找到买家，唐奈尔表示，这不仅仅是租赁产权的问题（该问题强化了人们在可能的情况下倾向于购买房屋的偏好）。这还与谁在买以及谁在卖有关。

“公寓需要更长的时间来寻找买家，因为天然的买家（首次购房者）和天然的卖家（通常是没有迫切搬迁需求的投资者）可能对价格有不同的预期，”他补充道。

唐奈尔表示，例如在伦敦，大多数首次购房者将公寓而非房屋视为进入房产所有权的这条主路。

“但投资者持有的公寓定价高于典型的首次购房者预算 (£450,000 对比 £425,000 的预算)。因此，尽管公寓是当地买家想要的，但投资者出售的那些却超出了他们的承受能力。”

此外，抵押贷款经纪公司 Cleerly 的威廉·科（William Coe）表示，由于银行日益严格的抵押贷款审核规则，数以千计的有志购房者发现自己被排除在公寓市场之外。

与此同时，他补充说，测绘师越来越多地对公寓进行“低估值”处理——为买家制造了另一个障碍。

• 姓名已更改

顶级技巧

如何出售

• 了解你的市场 “与你的代理商沟通，了解当地首次购房者实际能负担多少，谁在购买公寓，以及他们准备支付多少钱，”Zoopla 的 Richard Donnell 表示。

• 从第一天起就设定现实的价格 买家有很多选择，因此设定正确的要价至关重要。“在当前市场成功出售公寓的关键是，从第一天起就进行具有竞争力的定价，”Rightmove 的房产专家 Colleen Babcock 表示。

• 重点突出所有优势 买方代理 Henry Pryor 表示，除了显而易见的部分——“保持清洁、整洁，使其具有吸引力，让它闻起来有新鲜出炉的面包和咖啡的味道……”——卖家还应强调房产的“锁门即走”（lock up and leave）优势。“锁门即走”意味着在日常维护方面要求极低。

• 掌握你的服务费历史记录 一些潜在买家会要求提供（至少）三年的服务费账目（在相关情况下）。因此，Donnell 表示，在挂牌出售房产之前请先整理好这些资料，并准备好解释其趋势。最近的一项 Zoopla 分析显示，典型的租赁持有者每年支付 £1,900 的服务费，外加每年 £200 的地租。

• 租赁期限至关重要 根据 Zoopla 的数据，约五分之一的租赁房源租赁期限剩余不足 100 年。它补充道，租赁持有者拥有法定权利延长租赁期，但一旦租赁期降至 80 年以下，延长成本将迅速增加。“对于剩余期限不足 85 年的公寓，考虑在挂牌前申请延长租赁期，”Donnell 表示。《2024年租赁与永久产权改革法案》（Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024）将使延长租赁期变得更便宜、更简单，但目前尚不清楚这些措施何时生效。

• 6 可能是个神奇数字 “你应当始终能够通过将房产定价在能让买家产生 6% 或更高收益的水平，从而吸引投资者，”Pryor 表示。你需要计算出你的公寓租金是多少（当地房产中介应当能提供该信息）。然后计算出什么样的资本价值能产生 6% 或更高的收益。为此，请用年度潜在租金——即每月租金金额 x 12——乘以 100，然后除以六。

▲ 当你试图出售公寓时，了解你的市场至关重要

能源

需要消暑？只需开启热泵

这似乎是一种不太可能的防止过热的方法，但许多业主发现这项技术在热浪中成了救命稻草。佐伊·伍德（Zoe Wood）报道

“如果室外温度是 35℃，我可以将室内温度降至 21℃，”安德鲁·英格拉姆（Andrew Ingram）说道，这个夏天他的客厅成了避风港。“在我在那里睡觉的夜晚，你得穿上厚睡衣，”住在伯克郡梅登黑德（Maidenhead, Berkshire）及其妻子苏（Sue）的英格拉姆开玩笑说。“当我在 Facebook 上发布这件事时，人们会说：‘那是空调’，而我说：‘不，是热泵。’它只是反向运行而已。”

泵并非通过燃烧燃料产生能量，而是将能量从一个地方转移到另一个地方。然而，尽管名称如此，泵也可以用于冷却。能量通过散热器或地暖等“发射器”释放。

英格拉姆夫妇安装的是空气源热泵。它从室外空气中提取能量，用于加热他们三居室房屋的散热器（这被称为空气-水系统）。2023 年，当英格拉姆夫妇拆除燃气锅炉时，公司建议他们考虑是否需要对某些房间进行冷却。

“我们考虑过，因为起居室非常热，而且那是我们花时间最多的房间，”英格拉姆说。“这简直是一个启示。我们购买它是基于可能会有热浪的考虑，而今年它绝对成了救命稻草。”

这对夫妇在全屋安装了散热器，但客厅还配备了另一种名为风机盘管的“发射器”。它将空气吹过冷热管道。整个新家庭能源系统的成本约为 £18,600，其中冷却部分占 £1,700。

“如果你在房产中泵送冷水，这有点像在炎热的日子里把冷啤酒倒入玻璃杯，”英格拉姆在谈到这种冷却方式潜在的陷阱时说道。“你会产生大量冷凝水，所以你要么得用相当复杂的线槽包裹管道，要么像我们那样把它们放在室外。”

“我们在 2024 年稍微使用了冷却功能，你猜怎么着，在 2025 年使用得更多——而在 2026 年，我们成了人们喜欢造访的热门场所。”

政府的锅炉升级计划提供 £7,500 的补贴，以帮助英格兰和威尔士的业主承担安装空气-水或地源-水系统（通过埋地管道从地下提取能量的泵）的费用。要获得资金资格，该泵必须通过微发电认证计划（Microgeneration Certification Scheme）的认证，该计划负责认证安装人员。

此前，具有冷却功能的泵需要规划许可，因为许可开发权（PDR，允许在无需规划申请的情况下进行某些房屋改进的法律许可）规则规定，它们必须仅用于加热。现在 PDR 已更新，允许冷却功能。

根据 MCS 的数据，迄今为止，英国人主要安装的是空气-水系统，在英国的 358,000 台泵中，约有 323,000 台属于此类。

这种情况可能即将改变，因为政府将为能够加热和冷却的空调单元提供 £2,500 的补贴。空气-空气泵通过壁挂风扇运行，在公寓或小型房屋中安装的费用约为 £4,500。（空气-水泵的成本通常约为 £12,000。）

接连而至的热浪使“热陷阱房屋”成为了关注焦点。英国气候变化委员会（CCC）最近的一份报告称，到 2050 年，更剧烈的热浪可能导致 92% 的现有房屋出现过热现象，并且它们可能需要空调，因为拉窗帘和开窗等被动措施可能不足以应对。

最近在 Energy House 2.0（萨尔福德大学一个价值 1600 万英镑 的气候控制室）进行的一项研究发现，使用热泵进行冷却可以“显著减少”现代房屋的过热现象。

两栋新的现代房屋已在天气模拟设施内建成，以便科学家测试“真实”房屋在极端条件下的表现。萨尔福德的科学家在其中一栋房屋中将热泵与风机盘管相结合。当实验室天气为 32℃ 时，房间保持在舒适状态——介于 19℃ 和 24. 之间。在热泵全天候运行的情况下，每天的成本为 £2.50-£3。领导该研究的科学家卢博·扬科维奇（Lubo Jankovic）教授表示，结果“证明了可逆热泵在保护未来房屋免于过热方面可以发挥重要作用”。但扬科维奇表示，在这种冷却方式成为主流之前，“需要解决同时考虑加热和冷却的系统设计挑战”。随着 10 月的价格上限预计将使典型双燃料账单每年超过 £1,700，许多人关注的大问题是：热泵能帮我省钱吗？在账单方面，节能信托基金会（Energy Saving Trust）表示，最大的节省来自于那些切换到专用热泵能源电价并增加太阳能电池板等其他绿色技术的家庭。该信托基金会表示，与使用固定电价相比，转向分时电价的热泵用户每年可节省约 £330。如果加上太阳能等额外设施，这一数字将上升到约 £800，尽管这些设施增加了前期成本。英格拉姆一家安装了太阳能电池板和家用电池以帮助降低账单。“电池里有大量来自太阳能的电量，”英格拉姆说。“如果电池没满，它们会在夜间充电，但最近一直都是满的。所以如果你想运行泵，它使用的是免费或非常便宜的电。” ▲ 冷热转换：投资安装热泵可以让房屋在冬季保持温暖，在热浪期间保持凉爽 照片：GETTY IMAGES / ISTOCKPHOTO 45 --- 10 金钱

诈骗 ，试图窃取他们的个人和财务详情。一些网站采用了多种语言，试图让诈骗看起来更具说服力。然而，任何试图通过这种方式避免支付电影票价的人都收到警告，称他们面临电脑被恶意软件感染以及成为未来网络钓鱼诈骗目标的风险。《奥德赛》改编自荷马的古希腊史诗，由马特·达蒙、汤姆·霍兰德和安妮·海瑟薇等一众明星主演。该片获得了评论家的广泛赞誉，并成为今夏最热门的电影之一。犯罪分子热衷于利用人们对这部新电影的兴趣，希望人们在渴望寻找免费观看途径时会被这些虚假网站欺骗。这是诈骗者在大型电影、电视剧或电子游戏发布时常用的手段。网络安全公司卡巴斯基（Kaspersky）表示，一些虚假网站声称提供受害者母语的配音版本。网站会根据受害者的地理位置选择语言。在某些情况下，消费者通过弹出式广告被锁定；在其他情况下，这些网站出现在搜索结果中或通过其他网站访问。由所谓的“用户”留下的评论和评分——全部是伪造的——声称他们已在该网站上观看过电影。通常，当受害者尝试在这些网站上播放电影时，他们会被要求注册以解锁内容，并被告知该内容是免费的。他们被要求提交其 ▲ 这些网站承诺提供用户母语版本的电影 电子邮件地址和全名。随后，他们被要求输入银行详情，网站声称这是为了激活免费试用所必需的。这些网站通常声称，注册者将在多个设备上获得无限访问内容的权限。卡巴斯基的分析师奥尔加·阿尔图霍娃（Olga Altukhova）表示，犯罪分子经常试图利用等待大片或剧集上映的粉丝的忠诚度。她表示，如果一部刚刚上映且仍在电影院放映的电影突然出现在一个陌生的平台上，消费者应格外警惕。“我们强烈建议人们仅通过官方服务访问内容，以保护个人数据并避免潜在的财务损失。”BeStreamWise是一个旨在提醒公众非法流媒体危险的英国宣传机构，该机构表示，提交个人详情的人未来面临进一步被诈骗的风险。一名发言人表示：“我们的最新数据显示这些风险是多么真实。过去一年中，超过一半非法观看流媒体的人经历过恶意软件感染，而五分之一的人成为了网络钓鱼诈骗的目标。我们还发现，五分之二的诈骗受害者认为他们是因为非法观看流媒体而成为目标的，受害者因诈骗平均损失 £1,680。坚持使用合法来源是保护自己并享受最新大片最安全的方式。”非法流媒体带来的风险之一是恶意软件可能会被下载到 ▲ 诈骗者正试图利用人们对克里斯托弗·诺兰改编的史诗巨作《奥德赛》的兴趣 电脑中。这可能导致黑客控制设备并进行远程访问。卡巴斯基建议人们应仅在官方网页上观看电影，并检查 URL 以确保该页面是合法的。

如果有人发现自己被诈骗，建议立即通知其银行，然后更改银行、投资和养老金提供商等网站及应用程序的密码。随后开启多因素身份验证以增强安全性。在英国，您应当联系国家诈骗报告中心 Action Fraud。

消费者权益倡导者 安娜·蒂姆斯 (Anna Tims)

Hastings Direct 的失职迫使我们离开家园

在向我们的房屋保险公司 Hastings Direct 报告漏水事件八个月后，我和丈夫以及我们两岁的孩子实际上仍然处于无家可归的状态。去年冬天，我们发现冰箱-冷冻柜下方的一次漏水导致厨房 / 客厅的地板严重受损。从那时起，我们经历了严重的延误、糟糕的沟通和相互矛盾的信息，而且我认为保险公司及其承包商未能妥善处理此次理赔。一次承诺的回电从未实现，因为接线员未能记录该理赔申请。工程在五个月后才终于开始。承包商拆除了所有的厨房单元，尽管其中大部分并未受损，且未被列入工程计划，而 Hastings 现在要求我们出资 £8,000 来更换这些单元。目前房产内仍然没有可使用的厨房，这意味着我们无法回家。我们最初同意搬入临时住所，当时被告知大约需要两周时间。现在已经过去了近三个月。保险公司仅以两周为单位授权住宿，导致我们对下次住在哪里充满不确定性。由于我们两人都必须居家办公，我们不得不为女儿支付额外的托儿费用，而且最新的临时公寓太小，无法容纳我们所有人。我们还不得不自费将两只猫安置在猫舍中，并且由于厨房设备不足，我们只能依赖外卖和即食餐。我们仍然没有明确的工程完工时间表。—— JS，克罗伊登 (Croydon)

Hastings Direct 坦然向我承认，此次其服务未达标准。你可能会很高兴地听到，该公司正通过你的痛苦经历“总结经验”以改进情况。

▲ Hastings Direct 在处理理赔时的延误持续了数月

该公司将部分延误归因于损坏程度超出预期，部分归因于管理理赔的承包商存在的“问题”。它承认，厨房单元和电器根本不应该被拆除。那么，为什么你们会被要求支付恢复这些设施的费用？该公司表示，那是“过早”发出的“声明”，并补充说，它将把这次失误的费用作为“善意姿态”由其承担。在我的压力下，该公司已同意一项维修计划和预计的时间表。同时，它将你们的住宿延长了一个月，以给你们提供一定的保障。你希望在一周后能回家，Hastings 已同意提供一笔尚未明确金额的赔偿金，以反映所造成的精神困扰，并报销你们的托儿费、猫舍费及其他费用。

租车公司称我是“未到场”，导致我损失了 £185

我在访问英国期间通过 Holiday Autos 在希思罗机场预订了一辆租车，并按要求提供了航班号。我的航班严重延误，当我到达租车柜台时，被告知我已被标记为“未到场”（no-show），且我的车辆已被重新出租。在压力之下，我被迫以两倍的价格租了一辆更大的车，并被告知原先的 £185 租金将不予退还。此后，租车公司让我向 Holiday Autos 投诉，而 Holiday Autos 则让我向租车公司投诉。——BF，澳大利亚

您的合同条款规定，“未到场”的定义是指因航班延误而迟到且未提供航班号的客户。您已经提供了航班号，因此供应商本应能够核实您的航班状态，但在您投诉时，双方都不承认这一点。Holiday Autos 告诉我，由于“运营限制”，您的车辆已不再可用。但由于您已预付，如果租车公司将车辆保留至您抵达，它并不会产生经济损失。该公司坚持认为，即使提供了航班详情，车辆也不能无限期保留，但条款中并未提及这一点。Holiday Autos 表示，对方提供了升级车型作为替代，但未透露您为了获得这一“特权”而被迫支付了高昂费用。

不过，该公司现在做出了一个大方的反转。“虽然额外费用是由客户与租车供应商直接商定的，但我们意识到这次经历对行程产生了影响，”该公司表示，“作为一种善意姿态，我们已退还了原租金以及产生的额外升级费用和保险费用。”

我们欢迎来信，但无法逐一回复。请发送电子邮件至 consumer.champions@theguardian.com，或写信至 Consumer Champions, Money, the Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU。请附上白天的联系电话。所有信件的提交和发布均须遵守我们的条款和条件：http: / theguardian.com / letters-terms

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Money 17

◀ 诺森伯兰郡，格雷特托森 (Great Tosson, Northumberland)

£925,000

托森塔楼住宅（Tosson Tower House）近一个世纪以来一直是家庭住宅，有时也作为床位加早餐旅馆。在此之前，它曾是一家赶牛人旅店，其地窖和冷藏室至今仍可进入。这座拥有五间卧室的房产配备了一个带有 Aga 炉的农舍风格厨房、一间洗衣房和一个书房。这里有一个起居室和一个通往花园的客厅，可以俯瞰科奎特河（River Coquet）河谷。附属的一栋小屋目前作为度假租赁房运营。附近在诺森伯兰国家公园的西蒙赛德丘陵（Simonside Hills）有徒步路线。

Knight Frank, 0131 222 9606

幻想房产搜寻

由前酒吧改造的住宅 编译：Anna White

▶ 伦敦，德普特福德 (Deptford, London)

£435,000

这座白色抹灰的弧形四层建筑占据了商业街的顶端，距离泰晤士河仅几步之遥。直到 20 世纪 90 年代，这里还是地标性的“诺亚方舟”酒吧（Noah's Ark pub），现在底层为零售单元，上方为一居室和两居室公寓。入口通过居民门厅进入。目前有一套位于二层的公寓出售，包含两间卧室和一间浴室。开放式厨房起居室有三扇推拉窗，可俯瞰繁忙的商业街，街边林立着餐厅、饮食店以及德普特福德市场广场（Deptford Market Yard）的商店。

Foxtons, 020 7133 7744

▲ 伦敦，伊斯灵顿 (Islington, London)

£500,000

在这套一居室公寓的开放式起居室中，旧的 Langton Arms 酒吧招牌依然悬挂在裸露的砖墙上。这家拥有蓝色店面的维多利亚时代酒吧最终于 1989. 年停止供应啤酒。卧室和浴室位于第二层。该酒吧位于 Goswell Road、City Road 和 Old Street 构成的三角地带。在圣卢克花园（St Luke's Gardens）可以找到绿地。

FolkTale, 020 4621 6201

▼ 斯佩蒂斯伯里，多塞特郡 £300,000

啄木鸟酒吧（The Woodpecker pub）被重新开发为三处房产，但招牌依然挂在外面。首套转售房产是一栋两卧室半独立式房屋，底层为开放式起居室和厨房。两间卧室位于楼上。该村庄位于斯图尔河畔，距离乔治亚风格的市场城镇布兰福德论坛（Blandford Forum）三英里。Symonds & Sampson, 01258 452670

◀斯泰尼斯，萨里郡 125 万英镑

天鹅屋（Swan House）位于镇边的一条私家路上——再往前便是开阔的乡村。这座漂亮的砖房共有三层，设有六间卧室、五间浴室和四个接待室，并包括一个独立的一卧室附属房。底层是一个家庭规模的开放式厨房，配有拱形天花板和落地折叠门，可通向露台和草坪。顶层是主卧室，设有套内浴室和一个俯瞰花园的阳台。斯泰尼斯主干线火车站距离此处仅一英里多。Jackson-Stops, 01932 821 160

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零售价最高可省 31%

订阅以了解周六的活动与内容

订阅《卫报》以获取现场演出评论和推荐。 订阅时零售价最高可省 31% 扫描二维码或访问 theguardian.com / newspapersubscription 所示节省额为每月相对于零售价的节省金额。仅限 18 岁及以上的英国居民新订阅者。每年可暂停配送或领取 5 周。完整方案详情、配送区域和参与门店请见我们的网站。 订阅 $25 权益，亦可见 theguardian.com / subscription 主题。 通过您的印刷版 + 数字版订阅，您可以： - 六日方案最高可省 31%，或仅周六方案最高可省 12% - 店内领取或送货上门 - 享受无限数字访问权限 - 支持独立新闻业 - 随时暂停您的印刷版订阅 《卫报》 --- 10

谜题答案

火车轨道 TIGHTHOPE 单词 哪里 Suguru 密码字 Kakuro 答案 no 123 快速加密

Kakuro

填充网格，使每个区块的数字之和等于其上方或左侧方框中的总数。您只能使用数字 1-9，且每个区块中不能重复使用同一个数字。

Codeword

破解代码以填充填字游戏网格。字母表中的每个字母在网格中至少出现一次，且无论出现在何处都由相同的数字表示。部分字母已被解码，以帮助识别网格中的其他字母和单词。

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 1 / C / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 19 / 20 / 21 / 22 / 23 / 24 / 25 / 26

Suguru

填充网格，使每个轮廓区块中的每个方格包含一个数字。两个方格的区块包含数字 1 和 2，三个方格的区块包含数字 1、2 和 3，依此类推。相邻方格（包括对角线）中不得出现相同的数字。

Train tracks

铺设轨道，使火车能够从 A 村旅行到 B 村。数字表示每行和每列中有多少段轨道。只有直线轨道和曲线轨道。轨道不能自我交叉。

Sandwich sudoku

中等

在每行、每列和 3x3 区块中填入数字 1-9。网格外的线索显示该行或该列中 1 和 9 之间数字的总和。

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益智游戏

想找更多吗？下载卫报（Guardian）应用程序以获取更多益智游戏，包括我们全新的英超联赛游戏 On the Ball 以及电影测验 Film Reveal。此外还提供所有互动填字游戏和数独的线索与答案。可在 Apple App Store 和 Google Play 下载。

快速填字游戏 no 17,553

横向

1 玩具、目标或顶部 (4) 3 在页面的另一侧 (8) 9 比如，鸟蛤或贻贝 (7) 10 前往投票站的人 (5) 11 支持 - 接受 (3-2) 12 长方形 (6) 14 清醒的 - 正如 OAP 所坚持的 (anag) (13) 17 能中和酸的可溶性物质 (6) 19 为了支持而举起的东西 (5) 22 分层蔬菜 (5) 23 小瀑布 (7) 24 Forte 还是 Fawlty？ (8) 25 顶级的？ (4)

纵向

1 有影响力的人 (8) 2 装饰性花园建筑 (5) 4 一个问题导致另一个问题，使原有的困难加剧 (7,6) 5 竞争者 (5) 6 与俄罗斯和拉脱维亚接壤的波罗的海国家 (7) 7 通过孢子繁殖的植物 (4) 8 为其类稻种子而种植的南美植物 (6) 13 喝酒的时间 (3,5) 15 独自演奏的人 (7) 16 理解缓慢 (6) 18 取消 (5) 20 治疗 (5) 21 重击者？ (4)

字母轮

使用轮盘中的字母尽可能多地寻找单词。每个单词必须使用中心字母和至少另外两个字母。字母只能使用一次。不得使用复数、外来词或专有名词。至少有一个九字母单词。 目标：优秀-36. 非常好-31. 好-25. 目标-20.

卫报快速隐晦填字游戏 No 123

由 Pangakupu 出题

横向

1 海报中的鸟类特征？ (5) 4 支持酒吧聚会 (5) 7 脱掉衣服时大步走促使 (3) 8 出乎意料地现在忏悔 (7) 9 笨拙地过滤少量 (6) 10 被蒙蔽，在被水包围的地方没有保护 (4) 13 为书的一部分发送消息 (4) 14 无限的高赞 (6) 17 内裤中最扭曲的蕾丝部分？ (7) 19 跟随周围的神灵 (3) 20 硬背 (5) 21 非常陡峭的转向 (5)

纵向

1 抱怨，桌子摇晃 (5) 2 从森林中取木材而被揭露的严厉惩罚 (7) 3 以灵活方式提供的数量 (6) 4 水生植物被猎捕的动物翻转 (4) 5 与隐藏边缘的攀缘植物竞争 (3) 6 剥掉法兰绒来制作咖啡？ (5) 11 英国的岩石或海滩上的石头 (7) 12 简而言之，价格荒谬 (6) 13 水果的外层脱落，颠倒过来 (5) 15 非常受尊敬的一棵树 (5) 16 沮丧后令粉丝惊讶 (4) 18 活了很久，已经出现 (3)

今日技巧

线索以答案的定义开始或结束。其余部分是以下之一： 字母易位 (Anagram) 答案的字母易位，并提示这是一个易位词。'Senator arranged crime (7)' 给出 TREASON 双重定义 (Double definition) 两半都是定义！'Search scrub (5)' 给出 SCOUR 反转 (Reversal) 答案反向，并提示我们在反转。'Medic's fish rejected (3)' 给出 DOC 裸词 (Naked words) 去掉另一个单词的首尾字母作为答案。'Called for citrus to be peeled (4)' 给出 RANG

昨天的快速填字游戏

解答 no 17,552

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Chris Maslanka

解答 1 以分（cents）为单位，我们有：100B + A - 68 = 2(100A + B)，且我们寻求正整数解 (A, B)。重新排列该式可得 B = (199A + 68) / 98,，约束条件为 A, B ≤ 99.。那么 B = 2A + (3A + 68) / 98 且我们推断 3A + 68 = 98n（n 为某个整数）。n = 1, 成立，得出 (A, B) = (10, 21) —— 这是一个解。是否还有其他解？当 n = 2, 时，A 为分数；n = 3 不成立，因为 68 不是 3 的倍数；而 n = 4 或更大时，A > 99；因此我们的答案 (A, B) = (10, 21) 是唯一的。 2 根据相似三角形：x / a = a / c，所以 x = a² / c；同理 y = ab / c。同样地 h = a(b / c)² 且 z = b(a / c)². Abe 拿走了

面积 (xy) / 2 = (ab / 2)(a / c)²，这在整体中所占的分数是 (a / c)²。Babe 拿走了 ( / 2)( / c²)²，其分数是 ()² / (c⁴)。思考点：用两种方法证明剩余的分数是 1 - (a / c)²². 检查 Abe 和 Babe 拿走的分数与剩余部分之和是否为 unity.] 将 (a, b, c) = (3, 4, 5) 代入，我们发现 Abe 拿走了派的 9 / 25，Babe 拿走了 144 / 625，剩余分数 256 / 625。 3 他应该选择最后一个位置。对于 n 张牌，第二张红色 A 最后出现的概率是 (n - 1) / [n(n - 1) / 2] = 2 / n。如果 n = 52. 4 则概率为 1 / 26。 4 我们希望 BBB / 3 = ABC。显然 B > 3 [为什么？]。但 B = 4 成立：444 / 3 = 148.。我们可以排除 B = 6 和 B = 9（为什么？）；因此我们只需要检查 B = 5, B = 7 和 B = 8.。这些都不成立；因此 ABC = 148 是唯一解。读者专栏：7月18日的 Pyrgic #5 要求证明：n 个 6 后面跟着一个 5 的字符串，其平方后会得到 n 个 4，接着是 n 个 2，最后是 25.。如果 [6(n)] 是我们对 n 个 6 字符串的临时符号，我们寻求计算 [10(6(n)] + 5² = [(10)(2 / 3)[9(n)] + 5²。这产生了 3 项。第一项：(10²)(4 / 9)((10ⁿ) - 1)². 技巧来了：[(10) n - 1)]² = (10ⁿ - 1)[9(n)]；所以第一项是：10²[4(n)][10ⁿ - 10²][4(n)] = 10²(n + 7)[4(n)] - 10²[4(n)]。中间项是 (10⁵)[6(n)]；最后一项是 5² = 25。组合各部分：10²n + 7[4(n)] + 10²[6(n)] - 10²[4(n)] + 25 = [4(n)][2(n)]25。证毕。词池 b), a), c); EPU FRAUDULENCE; 掉队词 HEADIER, HEAVIER, HOARIER; 同义异词 OUTAGE, OUTRAGE; 谜题 JUANITA; 缺失链接 a) hot / desk / top; b) log / jam / roll; c) riding / crop / yield; d) picture / frame / week; e) sour / dough / nut; f) con / done / thing --- © 51 # 天气

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[数据参考] 以下原文数字因单位格式转换可能未在译文中完整体现（供参考）：1256、1335、1242、2328、1810、1846

Two-thirds of NHS trusts set to cut mental health care

Exclusive

Andrew Gregory

Health editor

Millions of adults and children in England face having to wait longer for mental health care as more than two-thirds of NHS providers are planning to reduce or shut services this year, the Guardian can reveal.

With mental health services already under extraordinary pressure as they cope with soaring demand, experts warned that the proposed

cuts - drawn up by trusts to plug holes in finances - would have "significant" consequences on the wider NHS, the economy and public services.

Services such as child and adolescent mental health care, talking therapies, addiction support, help for adults undergoing a mental health crisis and community programmes, including for ethnic minorities and poor people, are among those that could be affected.

Seven in 10 (68%) NHS trusts providing mental health services are likely to reduce or shut some of

their services in 2026-27, according to the results of a national survey conducted by the NHS Alliance and seen by the Guardian.

About 59% said they expect to freeze vacancies. More than half (57%) are also likely to cut the number of clinical staff they employ this year.

This week Andy Burnham announced plans to create a network of nearly 200 community mental health centres and mental health A&Es by 2029. Writing on LinkedIn, the prime minister said: "These services will make it much easier for

people to get the right support, at the right time, in the right place."

Mental health charities welcomed the ambition but said that if funding for staff and services was being cut, meaningful improvements to care will be "impossible".

One of the NHS mental health trusts affected, East London foundation trust (ELFT), plans to cut a wide range of services and hundreds of jobs to close a £25m hole in its finances, the Guardian reported on Monday.

NHS mental health

Bella Ramsey

on child stardom and Celebrity

Traitors

Saturday

What the experts

buy on holiday

Saturday

Six great river adventures

Travel

Russian link to far-right Ceuta posts

Russia-linked accounts spread extreme narrative online during Ceuta migration crisis, analysis finds Page 2 →

Two weeks that rocked football

Sport →

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The Guardian Saturday 8 August 2026

2

News

Far-right messages on Ceuta spread by accounts linked to Russia, analysts find

Aisha Down

Accounts with links to the Russian military promoting far-right messages reached more than 500,000 people in the early days of the Ceuta migration crisis, according to an analysis done by 411, a counter-disinformation group.

Russia-linked social media accounts often spread destabilising narratives in Europe, many promoting far-right talking points on immigration. But 411 and other experts suggest the scale and

coordination of disinformation after the Ceuta crisis is significant.

Saman Nazari, the lead researcher at Alliance4Europe, a nonprofit, said: "We keep seeing this across Europe and we find it very interesting. It seems like there is some type of machinery in place, or structure. Quite regularly, we are seeing this escalation happening across Europe now, with these types of crises."

The barrage began on 1 August, the day after 49,000 people reportedly attempted to cross into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from Morocco overnight. This was part of a larger crisis over several days during which

72,000 people were estimated to have made their way into the territory.

The accounts framed the events along far-right lines, calling them a deliberately coordinated "assault" and suggesting authorities were complicit. Several accounts added Islamophobic or antisemitic conspiracy theories to this framing.

These narratives were rapidly reproduced in seven languages and reached more than 720,000 views over six hours on 1 August, according to 411.

Other far-right accounts called for nationalists to gather in Ceuta and "patrol" businesses and homes.

Reports suggest social media played a significant role in the crisis, in prompting people to make the crossing and in stoking a response to it. Online rumours persuaded young Moroccans that the border was open; others offered suggestions on how to reach the territory.

The analysis by 411 confirmed reports that there was substantive "peer-to-peer logistics chatter" on social media over how to make the crossing. Much of this was in the comments section beneath viral Ceuta videos. This appeared to be organic, coming "overwhelmingly from

◀ Up to 72,000 people crossed from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, many of them by swimming PSYCHOGRAPH: REZILIAN DRILVEYA

small, anonymous-looking individual accounts rather than any single identifiable 'recruiter' channel".

A rightwing backlash began separately on social media as the crossings continued. One origin of the propaganda barrage was Rybar, a Telegram channel with links to Russian intelligence.

A network of "repeater" accounts then amplified and spread Rybar's posts. These included accounts linked to the Pravda network, an operation spreading Kremlin propaganda worldwide.

Nazari suggested disinformation efforts appeared coordinated and that investigations should be made to determine if there were closed forums or similar structures in which far-right influencers discussed how to spread talking points.

Ned Mender, the lead researcher at 411, said disinformation about the Ceuta crisis spread far more quickly than it did in May 2021, during a similar incident in which 8,000 people crossed the same border.

The far right also seized on those events, but this time the amplification of far-right narratives was faster. The mobilisation calls brought nationalist groups to the main square of Ceuta within days, 411 noted.

"You could compare the process to a highly specific and organised information superhighway," said Mender. "If a piece of disinformation is placed on to that privileged superhighway, then it will receive a degree of amplification and boost that other types of content just don't have access to.

"Events like this across Europe suggest some pieces of content are being selected for the on-ramp, and those content pieces share similar characteristics."

The group's analysis concluded: "That machinery is the real thing to worry about more than this particular crisis. The next time there's a border incident anywhere on the Mediterranean those same relay networks are already in place, ready to pick it up and run with it again."

Additional reporting Majida Chowdhury

Appeals court orders Trump to stop work on his $400m ballroom

Robert Tait Washington

A federal appeals court has ordered the White House to halt construction of Donald Trump's ballroom.

The president, who demolished the historic east wing of the White House last year to make way for the venue, has touted the $400m (£300m) project as "a gift" to the US people. But in a major setback in a case testing presidential authority, the US court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit upheld a

preliminary injunction against the scheme.

The court put its ruling on hold for two weeks, allowing the administration to appeal to the supreme court.

Explaining their majority decision, Patricia Millett and Bradley Garcia wrote: "Each president is a temporary tenant, not the owner, of the White House and its executive residence. Whether or not a massive ballroom should be constructed is for Congress to decide and is not a matter for executive self-help."

A third judge, Neomi Rao, who was appointed by Trump, said the

90,000 sq ft (8,360 sq metre) project was within the president's authority.

The president reacted to the ruling with a lengthy post on social media in which he quoted from a dissenting opinion issued by Rao.

He also said: "We will be immediately appealing to the United States Supreme Court," describing the ruling as "a horrendous, politically motivated, and unlawful ruling" that goes against national security interests.

The injunction against the scheme had been won by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Meta ordered to pay $567m over harms to children's mental health

Uwa Ede-Osifo

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has been ordered to pay $567m (£420m) into a fund aimed at redressing adverse mental health impacts from its social media platforms.

In March, a US jury found the company knowingly harmed children's mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its platforms. It imposed the maximum penalty: a $375m fine. The ruling this week was an addition to that fine, bringing the total amount Meta is responsible for to $942m.

The New Mexico state court judge Bryan Biedscheid said the bulk of the money - $420m - would be used for treatment services for young people. The rest will go toward awareness and prevention, screening services and other costs over the next five years.

The March trial was the first to find Meta liable for acts committed on its platform, and followed a 2023 Guardian investigation that revealed how Facebook and Instagram had become marketplaces for child sexual abuse trafficking.

Several former Meta moderators told the Guardian there had been instances where they had flagged harmful content that was related to child grooming, but the cases were not escalated.

In the second phase of the trial, which began in May, prosecutors had asked the judge to impose fundamental changes at Meta aimed at reining in addictive features, improving age verification, and preventing child sexual exploitation through default privacy settings and closer oversight.

The judge has also ordered other changes, including that Facebook and Instagram build banner and informational screens to clearly explain protection features, best practices, and tools to address inappropriate comment.

A Meta spokesperson said the company disagreed with the ruling and planned to appeal. "We work hard to keep people safe on our platforms and have been transparent about the challenges of identifying and removing bad actors and harmful content," they said. "We remain confident in our record of protecting teens online and will continue to defend ourselves against claims that misrepresent the facts."

Additional reporting Associated Press

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Saturday 8 August 2026 The Guardian

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3

Towel wars: are Germans hogging all the sunloungers? It seems not

Angela Giuffrida

Rome

Germans are sunlounger hoggers, or so the longstanding stereotype goes. But not only is that cultural trope mostly confined to British - and, even more so, German - perceptions, surprising new data reveals that in fact Italian and French holidaymakers are the ones most likely to use their towel to stake their claim to a sunlounger.

A poll by YouGov of European holidaymakers found that while Germans (51%) and Britons (46%) most associate Germans with the ritual of marking their spot, the perception barely exists elsewhere in Europe, with 5-17% of those in other countries sharing the stereotype.

Furthermore, 38% of German holidaymakers, as in those who stay in places that have pools and sunloungers, said they had ever reserved a lounger with a towel compared with 45% of their Italian and French counterparts. Britons are least likely to hog a lounger (33%).

Across all countries polled, YouGov found that most people (60-82%)

consider the practice unacceptable. Nevertheless, the hogging appears to be rampant, with 51-63% saying they have found themselves deprived of a sunlounger because they were all taken and 14-28% admitting to resolving matters by removing somebody else's towel.

When the Guardian quizzed a number of Italians in Rome, nobody admitted to the practice, although they could believe the data.

"I would never do it, but I have seen it happen," said Claudia Morani, a teacher, adding that during a recent stay in a hotel with a swimming pool she witnessed plenty of fellow Italians "leaving their towels on the loungers at the end of the day so they could use the same ones the next morning".

Morani added: "This kind of thing happens a lot on beaches here too - the free ones."

Indeed, possibly even worse than sunlounger hoggers, some Italian beachgoers are cultivating a reputation as furbetti dell'ombrellone, or umbrella cheats, a name coined by the press to refer to people who leave their umbrellas pitched overnight in

▲ Sunbathers by the pool - 45% of Italians and French polled admitted laying down their towel to claim the most coveted spots, left

PHOTOGRAPHS: GETTY

'This has become a habit. There is a tendency to try and get the best position by the sea, and this shouldn't be done'

Danilo Ruggiero

Director, Mare Libero

their quest to reserve coveted spots by the sea.

The practice is a growing trend on free-access beaches, unlike the private concessions that dominate much of Italy's coastline during summer and which Italians are increasingly turning away from due to high prices.

Such is the extent of the problem, coastal authorities across the country specifically target the furbetti dell'ombrellone as part of their national beach safety campaign.

In late July, authorities in a suburb

of Naples seized 40 items, including umbrellas, loungers and deckchairs, during a dawn sweep of a popular free beach.

Similar blitzes have recently occurred on beaches in Puglia and Sardinia. Fines of up to €500 (£430) are in place for those caught, while reclaiming the confiscated personal belongings is a bureaucratic ordeal.

"This has become a bit of a habit," said Danilo Ruggiero, director of the Mare Libero (Free Sea) campaign fighting to reclaim beaches from private concessions. "I think it's more related to people not wanting to carry umbrellas, chairs and other equipment back and forth from home, especially in the heat. But there is a tendency to try and get the best position by the sea, and this shouldn't be done," he said.

As for France, when the Guardian spoke about YouGov's findings to two people living in the south, they were not surprised to hear that the French were partial to sunlounger hogging. "I see it all the time at my local beach club," said Chantal Henry, who lives in Menton, close to the Italian border. "I get really fed up with it." Her friend Virginie Pascual alleges "it is always the Italians".

However, a Briton living in France, who wanted to remain anonymous owing to having German colleagues, is adamant Germans are by far the biggest culprits. "I saw it in Mallorca - it was 5.30am and a German dude was hogging five loungers with towels."

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News

Global food prices at highest in years, says UN

Graeme Wearden

Global food prices have hit their highest level in three and a half years, as summer heatwaves and conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East push up crop costs.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) index of food commodity prices rose last month to its highest level since January 2023, after a jump in prices for cereals, sugar and vegetable oil.

The FAO cited heatwaves as a factor hitting wheat yields in several key producing countries, while sugar prices were driven up by fears over “persistent hot and dry weather on crop yields in the European Union” and of damage caused by the rapidly developing El Niño weather system.

The index, which tracks monthly changes in a basket of internationally traded food commodities, rose to 131.1 points in July, up from 130.3 in June.

It showed that cereal prices rose by 3.4% month on month in July, including a 5.8% increase in global wheat costs. Continued disruptions to Black Sea export flows and damage to export infrastructure, after intensified attacks between Russia and Ukraine, pushed up prices. World maize prices increased by 3.6%.

The deadly heatwave that swept across Europe in June, inflamed by carbon emissions, is estimated to have destroyed 9m tonnes of grain crops such as wheat, barley, maize and oats.

▲ Parched fields in Tourinnes-St-Lambert, Belgium, after weeks of extreme heat and low rainfall PHOTOGRAPH: OLIVIER HOSLET/EPA

▲ In farming communities in Serbia, domestic water buffalo shelter from the sun and, right, a dried-up sunflower field PHOTOGRAPH: ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Rail passengers face second day of disruption across north-west

Lauren Almeida Gwyn Topham

Rail passengers faced a second day of travel disruption across parts of north-west England yesterday, after a power cut hit the signalling centre controlling the region.

The power failure, which occurred shortly before 2pm the previous day, temporarily halted trains and caused widespread cancellations and delays to services including CrossCountry and London Northwestern Railway.

Yesterday morning, services on

Avanti West Coast, East Midlands Railway, Northern, TransPennine Express and Transport for Wales continued to be affected.

National Rail said yesterday that though trains were now able to operate, there could be delays until noon as several trains and crew were in the wrong locations for the start of service.

“This means that some trains are still expected to be affected this morning. Trains across the Greater Manchester area and north-west of England may still be cancelled in full or revised to only run for part of their

normal journey until service is able to fully recover,” it said.

Greater Manchester, parts of the Midlands and north-west England were hit the hardest by the rail disruption, with thousands of passengers unable to complete their journeys.

Trains were left stranded on Thursday as signals turned to red across the part of the railway managed from the Manchester rail operating centre, one of a dozen set up over the past 12 years to phase out signal boxes and manage the railway remotely.

The power cut affected the surrounding area in Manchester, but Network Rail’s backup generators, which should have kicked in automatically, failed to start immediately, causing signals to default to red.

A controlled power-up and power-down to safely restart operations took

Sugar prices jumped by 5.6% in July, which the FAO put down to weather fears and new rules in Brazil increasing the amount of ethanol that can be added to petrol, which led to increased demand from fermenters.

Vegetable oil prices rose 2%, which the report attributed to firm demand from Indonesia’s biodiesel sector and higher crude oil prices.

The Iran war has also been pushing up food prices in recent months, as about a third of fertiliser production travels through the strait of Hormuz.

Meat prices fell by 2.8% in July, the first monthly fall this year, with poultry, pork and beef prices all down. However, high summer temperatures limited pigs’ growth rates, providing some price support, the FAO said.

Dairy prices slipped by 0.7%, pushed down by a 2.4% drop in butter prices and cheaper milk powders. Cheese prices rose by 1.7%, their first monthly rise in a year.

The situation is particularly serious for people in acute food insecurity; the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) warned this week that 50 million people are likely to be pushed into acute hunger before the end of next year by the El Niño weather phenomenon.

several hours, with signalling fully restored late on Thursday. Network Rail has launched an investigation.

Chris Wright, Network Rail’s north-west route director, said: “I’d like to thank passengers for their patience after yesterday’s power outage and the disruption it caused across the north-west. Our engineers worked through the night to restore signalling systems and recover the railway.”

The RMT union’s leader, Eddie Dempsey, praised train crews for handling the difficult circumstances, adding: “We will work with Network Rail to scrutinise how railway infrastructure coped and what actions need to be taken in the future.”

National Rail said disruption had been aggravated by the discovery of a wartime bomb near the line between Tamworth and Burton-on-Trent.

Heat health alerts issued as record for days above 30C set to be broken

PA Media

Scorching temperatures are expected to return next week, with the mercury forecast to reach 36C in parts of East Anglia and south-east England by Thursday.

Record-breaking heatwaves in May and June led to more than 2,800 excess deaths, and two more heatwaves in July have brought drought conditions and fuelled wildfires.

The UK’s highest temperature of the year was 38C, recorded at Lingwood in Norfolk on 28 June.

So far this year there have been 33 days when temperatures have exceeded 30C somewhere in the UK. The record of 34 days set in 1995 is likely to be broken next week.

The Met Office said the weekend would see a north-south split in the weather, with spells of heavy rain in Scotland and Northern Ireland while England and Wales remained largely dry, sunny and increasingly warm.

Temperatures could reach as high as 30C today before climbing into the low 30s in southern and south-east England tomorrow.

Highs of up to 30C are possible across parts of England and Wales on Tuesday, increasing to 32C to 34C on Wednesday.

The highest temperatures are expected on Thursday, when 36C could be recorded in parts of East Anglia and south-east England.

The Met Office deputy chief forecaster, Mike Silverstone, said: “After a brief dip on Monday, a fairly widespread heatwave is likely across large parts of England and Wales, with hot conditions developing in places.

“The heat is expected to peak for much of England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland on Wednesday, with up to 34C possible in parts of central and southern England and south-east Wales. East Anglia and south-east England, however, could see temperatures even higher on Thursday.”

He added: “Humidity levels are also expected to increase through the week, which may make conditions feel more uncomfortable, particularly overnight.”

The UK Health Security Agency has issued yellow heat health alerts for the East Midlands, West Midlands, south-east, south-west, the east of England, Yorkshire and the Humber, and London. They come into force at 9am today and end at 9pm on Tuesday.

Last month was the driest July for England and Wales since records began in 1836, according to provisional figures released by the Met Office.

Nineteen counties across England in effect recorded no rainfall - 1mm (.04in) or less - across the whole of the month, Met Office figures show.

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Rising stars

Cloud-like milk buns are latest food craze

Page 11

When Belfast burned

Inside Northern Ireland's race riots

Page 12

National

3

Cambridge academics reject attempt by university to end row over professor

Richard Adams

Education editor

Cambridge University has announced a review into the way it vets and hires senior academic staff, in an effort to fend off criticism of its appointment of Jason Arday as a professor.

But a group of Cambridge academics quickly rejected the university's response, saying: "We strongly believe that a thorough and transparent investigation into the wider circumstances of this damaging episode is essential."

Arday resigned on Wednesday following mounting scepticism over his personal and professional claims, two and half years after he was acclaimed

as Cambridge's youngest black professor, with a life story of educational disadvantage, including being unable to speak until the age of 11.

Sources said that university leaders had hoped Arday's resignation would end the controversy. But internal anger has continued to grow over his appointment process and the threats to the university's black staff from toxic media commentary.

In a statement issued yesterday, Cambridge University said: "Jason Arday has resigned from his post at the university with immediate effect. Regardless of this, and for clarification, the university will continue to investigate the circumstances around Jason Arday's appointment and tenure.

"The findings will feed into a review of the process for the appointment of senior academic roles. In addition, and as previously stated, the university's research policy committee will review the misconduct in research policy." The announcement comes after the Guardian revealed on Thursday that Cambridge academics were demanding the university carry out a thorough investigation.

The letter - signed by nearly 100 people - to Prof Deborah Prentice, Cambridge's vice-chancellor, highlights the "toxic and frequently racist commentary" that has accompanied much of the online and media coverage, adding: "These manifestly false claims have the potential to set back the modest progress Cambridge has

made in addressing historical under-representation, and to deter any black academic from applying for or accepting a position at the university."

The signatories include senior professors and Cambridge academics, such as Suchitra Sebastian, a professor of physics, and Mónica Figueroa, a professor of sociology.

The letter states: "We therefore ask that you appoint an independent body comprising senior academics from within and beyond Cambridge to address these issues, with a clear timeline for completing its work and a commitment to share its findings with the university and the public."

The signatories want an independent investigation to look into the circumstances of Arday's

appointment, and at any risk assessment made by the university's management "when crafting a media narrative focusing on his youth, his race, and his transformative potential".

They are also demanding details of the university's handling of allegations of academic misconduct against Arday and called for an evaluation of the "enormous damage this episode has done to people of colour within and beyond the Cambridge academic community, and what can be done immediately to reassure them - and the wider public - that anti-racism and academic integrity at Cambridge are both essential."

Last night, the University of Glasgow said it would review its past appointment of Arday as a professor.

A university spokesperson said: "Jason Arday was employed as professor of sociology of education at the University of Glasgow from January 2022 to March 2023.

"The principal has commissioned a review of the appointment with the aim of understanding all the facts and learning lessons for the future."

Jason Arday

Scandal has

a chilling

effect on black

lecturers

Chris Osuh

Jason has to take responsibility for what he did. But when a white person makes mistakes, it's just a story about them as an individual," one black academic said this week, describing the impact of Jason Arday's case. "When a black person makes a mistake, it's treated as collective - and used to undermine the very principle that black people should be in these spaces."

Arday, who was the University of Cambridge's youngest black professor when appointed in 2023, stepped down this week amid allegations of plagiarism and embellishing his CV.

As well as allegations about his academic credentials, there have been questions raised about his claimed sporting achievements, his charity work and some of the abuse he says he received. Arday, 41, has admitted "mistakes" but insists he has been falsely framed as "this kind of liar and fantasist".

Whatever the truth of the claims, days of headlines and reporting describing the sociologist as a "diversity poster boy" have had a

chilling effect on black academics, already demoralised by the impact of cuts on black scholarship. Many pointed out that accusations against white academics have had little fanfare.

While views among Arday's peers vary on the gravity of the accusations against him, opinion is united that Arday's story has provoked a rightwing backlash against black progress in academia and public life.

"There's a real question about whether these spaces are safe for us and whether we just have to start doing this outside universities," said Kehinde Andrews.

Andrews, who was the first black studies professor in the UK

but was recently made redundant by Birmingham City University, added: "No matter how many cracks that have appeared in [Arday's] CV, it doesn't change the fact this is a dedicated, coordinated smear campaign from the right, based on the premise that black people should not be at Cambridge. There's so many other things that happen in higher education that are never discussed."

Andrews believes there were "problems with some of [Arday's] scholarship," but that they stopped short of plagiarism.

For the eminent sociologist Paul Gilroy, responsibility for the row lies with the "culture warriors" who appointed Arday

as well as the "racist critics" - and comes at a critical time for the sector. "Reckoning with Jason Arday and his impact-chasing enablers should not be allowed to obscure the vicious, irrational cuts to humanities that are wrecking UK universities," Gilroy said. "The unthinking culture warriors who have supported [Arday] unconditionally share responsibility with his racist critics for making life harder for black academics and dragging UK higher education deeper into the mire."

The climate of fear caused by the "hounding" of Arday has meant few are happy to speak out.

One academic said: "I can't say anything on the record or I'll be

Jason Arday says he has been falsely framed as a 'fantasist'

PHOTOGRAPH: CHRISTIAN SINIKALIN/ THE GUARDIAN

the right's next target. The [right] have set their sights on pushing black people out from all these institutions.

"There's a white Cambridge academic who was accused of plagiarising a student's work, kept his job and didn't receive the same amount of media attention. What they're doing to the man [Arday], it's a lynching. He's being judged by a different standard."

The row erupted after another academic - the self-described "race realist" Nathan Cofnas, who was sacked from his Cambridge role in 2024 - alleged he had found plagiarism in Arday's work.

Cofnas had suggested in a blogpost that, in a meritocracy, there would be "close to zero" black professors at Harvard.

One academic, speaking anonymously, said: "It's not just about black people - any minoritised group, our success is generally seen as not being genuine." The controversy, they said, would "make the small number of black people in the field feel much more vulnerable".

But they added: "It's a mistake to think of any of this as a meritocracy - there's lots of people in academia who don't deserve to be where they are, and there's lots of people who should be more advanced in their careers than they are."

Academics the Guardian spoke to told of the proud history of black scholarship, insisting the Arday affair must not tarnish this. "The idea that this one incident in some way reflects black British academia in general is bonkers," one academic said.

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National Simon Levy

Police and prosecution errors left sex offender free to kill two women

Vikram Dodd

Police and crime correspondent

Catastrophic errors left a prolific and proven sex offender free before he murdered two women in London, it can be revealed.

Yesterday, an Old Bailey jury found Simon Levy, 40, guilty of murdering Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo in March 2025 and Sheryl Wilkins five months later. Levy was on bail as a suspect for the first murder when he committed the second, after police said that they lacked sufficient evidence to charge him.

Months before the first killing, police arrested Levy for sexual assaults of women on trains but made errors that led to a delay in charging him. While he was on bail, he carried out more attacks, taking the total to 10 across London. Although he was charged with most of the offences, Levy remained free and went on to murder again.

Prosecutors also admitted to bungling efforts to have Levy remanded in custody by failing to provide three court hearings with key information demonstrating the full extent of the danger he posed to women.

Yet even before the attacks on women travelling by train, police and prosecutors knew Levy posed a serious risk. He was first jailed for a sexual offence in 2021. While in prison he sexually assaulted a female prison officer.

After his release, he carried out a series of sexual assaults on trains across London between 2023 and 2025. He was also the prime suspect in a rape investigation.

In January, March and August 2025, Levy, from Tottenham in north London, savagely attacked three women who provided sexual services, leaving two dead and one seriously injured.

The jury convicted him by an 11-1 majority of the murder of Valencia-Trujillo, 53, in a partially disused tower block on 17 March, 2025. The scene was close to where Levy had lived after his release from prison following his first convictions for sexual offences.

The jury was unanimous on all other verdicts and found him guilty of the murder of Wilkins, 39, in a Tottenham car park on 24 August.

He was convicted of raping and attacking a third woman, 35, in January 2025, who survived. She was attacked in the same car park, eight minutes' walk from the home Levy shared with his mother and sister.

Levy was impassive, wearing dark glasses because of an eye injury, as the jury delivered their verdicts which condemn him to the mandatory life term for murder, and he will be sentenced on Wednesday.

The Crown Prosecution Service, the Metropolitan police and British Transport Police (BTP) have all admitted making errors.

Kevin Southworth, a deputy assistant commissioner at the Met, which investigated the killings, described Levy as "a prolific, predatory monster". He said Wilkins, the second murder victim, would probably have been alive were it not for what he described as "collective system failures".

The litany of failings can only be reported now that Levy's murder trial has ended, leading to the lifting of reporting restrictions on that and a trial earlier this year.

A jury in February convicted him of 10 sexual assaults carried out on trains, including one on a daughter travelling with her mother, as well as the attack on a female prison officer while in jail.

Police first arrested Levy for a number of attacks in November 2024, with CCTV tying him to the scene of the assaults. Six more occurred in the first five months of 2025.

The CPS admitted errors at three court hearings in May, June and August 2025, which ended in Levy remaining free. It would not specify publicly what those were, but a source authorised to speak for the organisation said they included failing to mention he had been arrested for Valencia-Trujillo's murder, and that it could find no record or mention of Levy's past sexual assault convictions, nor that he was a suspect in a 2024 rape.

The CPS said: "We accept there was relevant information regarding bail that was not provided to the court when bail applications were being considered. Our actions fell short of the standards that victims, families and the public are entitled to expect ... We could and should have taken a more robust approach to representations about bail."

By May 2025, police wanted Levy remanded, fearing he posed a "high

▲ Levy committed a second murder while on bail as a suspect in the first

risk of reoffending" with his crimes "escalating".

Levy failed to attend three crown court hearings for the train attacks, and the CPS accepts there is no evidence of a warrant being sought for his detention. For two he claimed illness, for the other that he was not informed. His final non-appearance in crown court was on 11 August 2025. A fortnight later he murdered Wilkins. A CPS source said individuals involved in the Levy case had been disciplined.

The assaults on the London tube network and trains were investigated by BTP. Officers arrested Levy, who was travelling on a stolen Oyster travel card, but handed it back to him, unaware that it was stolen. With it he travelled to south London to commit his first murder and carried out further sexual assaults on trains.

BTP admitted the charging of Levy for his sexual assaults on trains in November 2024 was held up because of a delay in organising an identification parade after his arrest. It meant his bail was extended and during this delay he attacked and raped another woman and murdered Valencia-Trujillo, a mother of two.

BTP identified him as a suspect and charged him but never searched his home. Peter Fulton, BTP's head of crime, said: "There's a fine line between going fishing and breaching someone's human rights."

He said that every woman who reported Levy for attacking them on a train had seen him charged and convicted. When the Met, which investigated the murders, searched Levy's home, evidence was found about his attack on the prison officer.

The police watchdog has placed two Met officers under investigation over whether Levy was supervised correctly as a person on the sex offender register. A constable is under investigation for gross misconduct and could be dismissed. The other officer, under investigation for misconduct, is a detective sergeant.

BTP said it had not referred its errors to the police watchdog. Instead it has moved one officer, who it says delayed the holding of the ID parade, out of investigations, and has given a supervisor words of advice.

The failings come despite decades of promises from police chiefs, senior prosecutors, courts and government that the criminal justice system will better protect women from male violence after a series of scandals.

Sarah Jones, the crime and policing minister, described Levy as a monster and said the failings that allowed him to remain free were "deeply concerning".

Jones signalled that the government would allow the relevant institutions and police watchdog to establish what went wrong.

Policing 'Failure to tackle crimes gave the message he could get away with it'

Vikram Dodd

A

bout 40 metres off Tottenham High Road, up a slip road for deliveries to a B&M homewares store, is a stretch

of concrete paving behind a two-metre wall topped with spikes.

This is the patch of ground that Simon Levy tried to turn into his personal killing field.

Twice he went with women, both of whom were sex workers, to the spot just eight minutes' walk from the north London home he shared with his mother and sister. The spot is out of sight of CCTV cameras dotted around the area and is in the shadow of the Tottenham Hotspur football stadium.

One victim barely survived the sustained attack, including rape

and strangulation, he inflicted on her in January 2025. Another, Sheryl Wilkins, was killed last August.

Between those attacks Levy had travelled to south London and, in March 2025, he murdered Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo.

His double murder trial, which ended in convictions yesterday, heard from the survivor; her testimony, the prosecutor Tom Little KC said during the trial, probably revealed what the other victims had suffered.

Little said the victims were vulnerable, and Levy believed that by targeting sex workers he was more likely to get away with his crimes.

The survivor, who is 35 and has her anonymity protected by law, had been trafficked to Britain from eastern Europe.

After they went behind the wall for sex, she asked Levy to pay. He

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©

7

▼ Carmenza València-Trujillo, left, was murdered five months before Sheryl Wilkins, right, was killed PHOTOGRAPHS: METROPOLITAN POLICE/PA

jumped on her with such force he broke her clavicle. While raping her, he also started to strangle her.

She told the Old Bailey jury in London that he had said: "Shut up. Be quiet. I have got you."

She added: "He was sticking his fingers in my throat so I could not make noise. I believe I'm going to die. I could not breathe ... I was unconscious completely."

She awoke feeling "burning and pain", and was bleeding from her genitals.

Days after the attack, the woman was arrested on another matter. She told officers of her ordeal and said she knew Levy by sight; she knew where he lived but not his name. She would later correctly pick Levy out of a police lineup.

The Metropolitan police said she was unable to make a full statement for a further six months, despite their efforts to obtain one.

'The scale and variety of failings is shocking. Two women need not have lost their lives'

Harriet Wistrich

Campaigner

The court heard she had been withdrawing from drug use.

Levy, 40, was linked to the murders by DNA samples from the victims, travel card and phone data, and CCTV footage. After his arrest, he told police his eye injury, sustained during an assault in 2024, meant he rarely went out. He needed an appropriate adult present when detectives interviewed him and had dyslexia, autism and learning difficulties. He is believed to have been long-term

unemployed. Neighbours knew little about him, and searches of his electronic devices showed some viewing of material about crime, violence and sex.

The attacks on the women in 2025 were not Levy's first.

History of sexual violence

Levy is suspected of a sexual assault as far back as 2017, which is still under investigation.

His first convictions came in 2021: one for assaulting a woman at

2024-10-21T07:30.882 2980132 - CL Pass 4-204

▲ CCTV issued by British Transport Police of Simon Levy on London's tube network, which he would use to sexually assault women picked at random

▲ DCI Neil John speaking after the verdict. The Met have been repeatedly criticised for a perceived failure to protect women PHOTOGRAPHIAMES MANNING/PA

a party in Camden in 2018, putting his hands into her underwear and touching her vagina; another for sexual assault by penetration of a woman on her way to the Notting Hill carnival, having penetrated her with his fingers.

He was in prison first from 2021-23, during which time he sexually assaulted a female prison officer at HMP Brixton. Searches of his electronic devices showed him writing about his attraction to her.

After his release, he carried out his first attack on a train in October 2023, for which he was only identified later.

In 2024, he allegedly raped a woman in Tottenham. He was recalled to prison to complete the sentence he received in 2021, but not charged over the rape allegation, which is under renewed investigation.

Released from prison later in 2024, he then intensified his attacks on London's transport network, groping and sexually assaulting women on trains, often by trying to force his fingers into their vagina.

In other offences, the court heard, Levy used "the bustle and bustle of busy, rush-hour trains as his cover". He would get close to women and conceal his hand with a jumper or coat before attacking.

DCS Peter Fulton, the head of crime for British Transport Police (BTP), said Levy's victims, who were mostly in their 20s, were attacked at random and on impulse.

Levy crisscrossed London, armed with a stolen travel card, in one case boarding a train just minutes from his home, at White Hart Lane rail station, to attack a woman. After women reported the offences to BTP, Levy was arrested, charged and bailed.

Decades of failing women

There were so many signs Levy was a danger, but how clear was it that his offending could turn murderous?

After the first killing, in March 2025, Levy was arrested within days. The cause of death was inconclusive and he was bailed.

Police feel aggrieved that efforts failed to have Levy remanded in custody in May and June 2025, after he had been charged with several train attacks and was a murder suspect.

Kevin Southworth, the deputy assistant commissioner who

heads public protection for the Met, said: "I think on the basis that we put, and BTP put, this man before a court on two occasions and requested remand, I think the obvious conclusion is, had he been remanded at that time ... he would have been in prison for a sufficient period that he couldn't have then gone on to commit a murder."

Experts in tackling male sexual violence see similarities between Levy's case and that of Wayne Couzens, the Met officer who kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard in 2021. Previous, lower-level offending by Couzens, such as exposing himself to women, had been inadequately investigated by police.

Harriet Wistrich, the head of the Centre for Women's Justice, said the Levy case showed "a very clear pattern of escalating offending, from sexual assaults of women on public transport to rape and murder ... perpetrators can become emboldened and move on to even more dangerous offending."

Wistrich added: "The failure of the criminal justice system to tackle his offending must have given him the message that it was easy to get away with it."

Southworth said he accepted that crucial questions needed to be answered: "What did our officers know? And what should they have done, if they didn't do it? I think one of the points of reflection ... for the senior leadership of the Met is how do we, as a collective system, reflect on what went wrong here?"

The Independent Office for Police Conduct is investigating the handling of the case.

The revelations follow scandal after scandal over decades about how the criminal justice system fails women.

Wistrich said: "The scale and variety of failings [in this case] is shocking - in particular because, had they been dealt with appropriately, two women need not have lost their lives. It is particularly concerning that this has happened within five years of the horrendous revelations around Met police officers Wayne Couzens and David Carrick, and the Baroness Casey report into the Met [which found police to be institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic]. This type of scandal tells us little, if anything, has improved in practice."

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National

England striker Toney charged over Soho nightclub 'assault'

Kevin Rawlinson

The England footballer Ivan Toney has been charged with assault after an incident at a nightclub in central London in December last year. Scotland Yard said the striker had

been charged on 31 July with assault causing actual bodily harm. Toney, who plays for the Saudi club Al-Ahli, will appear at Westminster magistrates court on 24 September.

The Sun newspaper reported in December that Toney had been arrested after an alleged headbutt. The paper said a fan had recognised

the footballer and grabbed at him as he sought a photograph together prior to the incident.

The Metropolitan police said yesterday the charges related to an incident on 6 December last year at a nightclub on Wardour Street, Soho, reportedly the now-closed 100 Wardour Street.

A spokesperson for the footballer said: 'Ivan acknowledges the charge and although he is naturally shocked, he looks forward to being given the opportunity to clear his name in court.'

▲ Toney has 10 England caps and plays for the Saudi club Al-Ahli

Toney, who was a striker for Brentford, was at the centre of one of the most curious transfers on deadline day in August 2024 when he completed a late move to Al-Ahli worth a reported £40m.

He has also played for Newcastle United and his hometown club, Northampton Town.

Toney has played 10 times for England and was picked in their 2026 World Cup squad, making appearances against Argentina in the semi-final and in the win over France as England finished third.

Two thirds of England's NHS trusts prepare to cut mental health care

● Continued from page 1

professionals at other trusts told the Guardian similar plans were being drawn up where they work. They fear the cuts will strip back services so much that they will not be able to properly perform their duties or guarantee safe care in their areas.

'This is not an isolated example in East London,' said an NHS consultant psychiatrist, speaking on condition of anonymity. 'Many mental health trusts are in a similar, if not worse, situation and are responding in similar ways through cutting jobs and compromising service delivery.'

A mental health service manager at a third NHS mental health trust said: 'Many mental health trusts are in a similar position. They have faced declining funding for the last couple of years alongside cost reduction targets.'

Alex Stewart, assistant director of the NHS Alliance's mental health network, said: 'Mental health services are coming under extraordinary pressure as a result of rapidly rising demand for care and very tough financial conditions.'

'We see many examples of innovation and great care which give real grounds for hope. But it's increasingly evident the trade-offs and difficult decisions over jobs and services that we warned about are making their mark. Mental health leaders face particular pressures when finances are tight because a higher proportion of their expenditure goes on staff.'

▲ Mental health services are already having to cope with rising demand

The NHS Alliance survey, conducted in March ahead of the new financial year, revealed widespread concerns about the need to make record efficiency savings in 2026-27.

There were also concerns among the 37 NHS mental health providers responding to the poll that the focus on balancing the books would impede progress on delivering more care outside hospitals and increasing preventive mental health care.

One NHS mental health trust leader told the survey there was 'no investment for mental health community services' and their teams were 'under-resourced' to manage the rise in demand.

'We welcome recent announcements on capital funding for community mental health centres and the confirmation of targets to improve access to mental health care,' said Stewart. 'But in the face of rising demand, the share of national NHS spend on mental health is expected to reduce for the third year in a row. It is essential mental health investment is not allowed to fall behind.'

Tom Pollard, head of policy, public affairs and campaigns at Mind, said the results of the survey showed 'the huge uphill battle we face' to save mental health services in England and ensure everyone could access high-quality care.

'The government set out a welcome ambition to move towards a more open access model of support ... But if funding for staff and services is being cut, meaningful improvements will be impossible.'

'In its upcoming mental health strategy, the government must set out how it will ensure services are adequately resourced and staffed to meet rising demand.'

Sharon Graham, general secretary of the trade union Unite, said: 'We cannot balance the books on the backs of the most vulnerable in society and by underfunding mental health provision you simply kick the can down the road and it costs more in the long term. Our members are outraged at attempts to cut jobs and services and will be fighting back with the full support of their union.'

The Department of Health and Social Care was approached for comment.

morrisons.com Majority of stores. Excludes Morrisons Daily. Online varies. Charity Reg No 207994 (England and Wales), SC038731 (Scotland), T&Cc: my.morrisons.com/marie-curie-epgb-tcs/

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National Culture

9

Edinburgh fringe rejects petition to cancel Amanda Knox's sold out comedy show

Caroline Davies Nadia Khomami

The Edinburgh festival fringe said it was "not afraid of controversy" after calls to cancel a sold-out show by Amanda Knox, the US woman who was falsely imprisoned for the 2007 murder of her British flatmate Meredith Kercher in Italy.

Knox's comedy show, Cartwheel, has been condemned by Kercher's family, with her sister, Stephanie, saying it "normalises and trivialises violence against women". A petition calling for it to be cancelled has been signed by more than 6,000 people.

Knox, from Seattle, and her then boyfriend, the Italian Raffaele

Sollecito, were convicted in 2009 for the murder and sexual assault of Kercher, a foreign exchange student living in Perugia. The couple maintained their innocence and after years of legal battles were acquitted by Italy's highest court in 2015.

In a post on Instagram, Knox said: "Cartwheel is a show about motherhood, raising a daughter in a world that is unfair and dangerous for women, and what it costs to be the kind of mother who tells her the truth about that. Neither the author of this petition nor anyone who signed it has seen Cartwheel."

Knox said the petition contained "many false assumptions and completely mischaracterises the show". She added: "Cartwheel honours

▲ Knox's show Cartwheel is sold out

Meredith Kercher's memory and calls out the violence that was done to her and to me." Knox previously said the show did not "joke about Meredith's death". The title Cartwheel is a reference to a story that alleged Knox

did cartwheels in the police station after Kercher's death.

Tony Lankester, the director of the Fringe Society, told BBC Radio Scotland: "We're not afraid of controversy. The decision as to whether or not [the show] goes ahead lies with herself and it lies with the venue."

He added: "As sympathetic as we are to individual cases that crop up, and absolutely as a parent I can relate to the pain that they describe, but that can't be a criteria, it can't be one of the lenses that we look through."

The show's venue, Gilded Balloon Teviot, said in a statement: "The Edinburgh festival fringe is an open-access festival. As a fringe venue, we provide a platform for a wide range of voices, in line with the

fringe's longstanding commitment to freedom of expression (within the confines of the law) ... Amanda's show is a one-woman piece exploring themes of motherhood, presented independently by her."

Stephanie Kercher told BBC Breakfast that Knox was "naturally free to continue with her life as she wishes, but I think the problem with this particular project is that it is comedy. And whilst I appreciate comedy is there to push the boundaries ... it very much normalises and trivialises violence against women and Meredith in particular."

Rudy Guede was convicted of Kercher's murder in 2008. He was released in 2021.

Claire Cochrane, a professor emeritus of theatre studies at the University of Worcester, said: "What happened to both Meredith Kercher and Amanda Knox was dreadful ... but vociferous campaigns based on unexamined assumptions about content and motivation undermine genuine attempts to deal with personal legacies of violence and tragedy."

Stage review A Jellicle jumble as Cats revival leans heavily on dance

Cats

Regent's Park Open Air theatre, London

Arifa Akbar

A

ndrew Lloyd Webber's cats are back and they could not inhabit a more feline-friendly space than this lush green

corner of Regent's Park. The trees swish around their nocturnal prowls and the brilliant moon on the steel crescent set shines down on their song and dance. The big cats up the road in London zoo would surely approve.

Up to a point. These animals, directed and newly choreographed by Drew McOnie, are more balletic and graceful than those in the 1981 original, and the production reclaims the musical's reputation from Tom Hooper's film, which many found to be a dog's dinner.

Sami Fendall's set glimmers and glitters while her costumes rise from earthy colours to flamboyant

▶ Demeter and Bombalurina are feline the dance while Old Gumbie Cat, top, takes it easy

PHOTOGRAPHS: MARK SENIOR

leotard and catsuit get-ups. This perky crew don't just sit and sit like the Old Gumbie Cat, they dance and dance and dance through the flimsy and patchwork story of Jellicle cats convening for an annual ball in which one will be reborn for another chance at life.

Using TS Eliot's playful 1939 collection Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats as its lyrical basis, Lloyd Webber's musical is only slightly less strange in concept than his singing train engines in Starlight Express. As with the poems, the musical is constructed as an introduction to each cat contender in a series of vignettes, which here resemble an elegant feline variety show at times, an old-school film fantasia at others.

That is partly the problem: it is a hodgepodge in style, although always very stylish. The musical's

sung-through nature does not lend itself to cohesive storytelling and the balance here is tipped too much in one direction so it seems like Cats: The Dance, with extended choreographed sequences and

▲ Gary Wilmot plays nostalgic Gus

circus-like acrobatics. It results in some lovely expressive scenes but makes the structure disjointed.

Some of the cats are more characterful than others: Old Deuteronomy (Melanie La Barrie) plods around a little generically, Macavity (Dianté Lodge) is sufficiently mysterious, the criminal duo Mungojerie (Danny Nattrass) and Rumpleteazer (Briana Craig) come as a classic variety hall double act. The highlight, without doubt, is Rum Tum Tugger with his eponymous song, which Jaydon Vijn sings with the hip-thrusting swagger of a young Mick Jagger, David Bowie and an alley cat on heat, rolled into one. Vijn brings such a lot of (c)attitude and personality that you wish the others could be more Rum Tum.

Gumbie Cat (Charlotte Riby) is endearing when her eponymous

number comes up, but Gary Wilmot's comic chops seem redundant for his turn as the old, nostalgic theatrical cat, Gus (why not cast him in a more playful role?). Mr Mistoffelees (Jet Yau) also comes on to showcase some street dance, spinning on his head.

Taziva-Faye Katsande, an understudy stepping in as Grizabella, builds to a storming final rendition of Memory, the signature song of the show. Her vocal abilities are faultless but her characterisation is less polished and you are left wondering who Grizabella is, exactly, and what has got her back up.

By the end, you well and truly know how to address these cats but you would also quite like them to curl up and take a nap now.

Until 19 September, then touring

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10

National

Tory plans to ban foreign nationals from all social housing condemned as 'divisive'

Caroline Davies

Plans to ban foreign nationals from social housing under a Conservative government have been condemned as 'divisive'.

Under proposals announced yesterday, the party said about 230,000 homes would become available if foreign nationals were prevented from accessing social housing.

Ending new tenancies for foreigners, as well as current tenancies for couples where neither is a UK, Irish or EU citizen with settled status, would free up an estimated 228,144 homes for British families, the party said.

Under the plans, tenants in England who do not qualify for the housing would be expected to move out of their homes within six months.

Foreign nationals with settled status, refugee status or specific humanitarian protections currently qualify for social housing.

Asylum seekers are not eligible for social housing, unless in exceptional circumstances such as domestic abuse cases.

Labour described the plans as 'an unserious, unworkable proposal, copied from Reform, that does nothing to tackle the housing crisis the Tories themselves created'.

Sarah Elliott, the chief executive of the housing charity Shelter,

said: 'These divisive plans would brutally kick people out of their homes, including thousands of families and pensioners who have lived in them for decades. And let's not forget that social tenants pay rent, which goes back to the public purse and into society.

'It is completely senseless to ruin people's lives, drive up homelessness and put extreme pressure on councils. This policy does nothing to deliver new social homes, which is what we desperately need.'

The Royal College of Nursing said: 'The worst thing in the world would be to cause serious housing worry for a workforce that keeps our services running, posing serious risk to

patient care. Those advocating for them need to offer reassurances - and quickly - or explain why it is just that some of our most brilliant nursing staff may face housing insecurity.'

Under the plans, any single person currently living in social housing who is not a British, Irish or EU citizen would lose their home. This includes those with children. Anyone with EU settled status would not be evicted.

For future tenancies, UK nationals and those with EU settled status would be eligible, but any new EU citizens without settled status would not be.

Couples, where neither of them is a UK or EU citizen and where they do

not have EU settled status, will lose their entitlement.

Helen Whately, the Conservative shadow work and pensions secretary, said: 'Making Britain your home should be earned by working, paying tax and integrating. It should not come with a free ride on the benefits system. Britain cannot be a cash machine for the world.

'Labour has lost control of immigration and lost control of the welfare bill, and it is British families picking up the bill and sitting on waiting lists. The next Conservative government will make foreign nationals ineligible for social housing. Nearly 230,000 homes could go to British families.'

In 2024-25, 88.5% of main householders - the person in whose name the social home is rented - were UK or Irish nationals and 11.5% were non-UK/Irish nationals, according to the English Housing Survey.

There are an estimated 470,000 non-UK and non-Irish citizens living in social housing.

'It's mob rule'

Asylum plan concerns turn to unrest in Norfolk town

Ben Quinn Political Correspondent

A smashed window pane and some broken egg shells on a footpath were some of the tell-tale signs of the events this week on a residential street at the edge of Thetford.

On Friday afternoon it was not hard to find local people with a sense of foreboding after the latest disorder in the Norfolk market town, which has seen crowds attempt to storm properties believed to be housing asylum seekers.

Jenny Hollis, a former councillor pointed out the proximity of a local school and nursery to a house - now seemingly vacant - on Clover Way. She said: 'The main concern is safety, the proximity of children and that people just have not been consulted about this.

'Thetford is a small town where people know each other, but if you are putting young men who people know nothing about into an area, sometimes in the dark of night, then it will be a cause of concern.'

For three nights Thetford has been the scene of protests and disorder, with police officers subjected to violence, windows smashed, fences broken and people attempting to break into a residential property, police said.

However, after unrest which the local MP said had 'put Thetford back decades', there was also deep

unease among local people and others about the prospect of racism poisoning local relations, fuelled by disinformation and the far right seeking to exploit tensions.

Around the corner from where the latest unrest took place, a woman who was originally from

▲ Police making arrests after a third night of protests in Thetford, Norfolk

eastern Europe quietly told the Guardian: 'I have lived here for more than a decade and have come to call it home. The people are lovely, but last week was the first time that my partner was shouted at by someone who derided him as a 'migrant'.'

Amid chants of 'we want them out' from a crowd of up to 200 people on Clover Way on Wednesday night, a male police officer was hit by a brick and a female colleague was seriously bitten, according to Norfolk constabulary. The number of arrests in connection with disorder in different parts of the town had risen to six as of yesterday.

Asylum seekers had been removed from the properties on Thursday for their safety, according to the police, and there was no answer at a number of properties believed to have been used for that purpose when the Guardian visited.

'I have HMOs with asylum seekers in them on both sides of my house,' said one local man, who

said that they had tended to keep themselves but he had concerns about tensions in the area and what it would do to property prices.

The three nights of disorder in the town also threaten to become the spark for the type of anti-immigration tensions that boiled over last year around a hotel outside the Essex town of Epping and spread elsewhere.

If the unrest in Thetford is different, however, it is because it is the first time that HMOs (houses in multiple occupation) have become the target of concerted and organised rage.

Terry Jermy, the Labour MP for South West Norfolk, has been critical of what he has described as a lack of engagement by the Home Office and has voiced unease that cheaper working-class areas have been chosen as the location to house asylum seekers.

'The lack of engagement both with the community and elected officials has been a huge concern, along with the apparent lack of a

◀ Sue and her son, Tommy, protest against plans to use RAF Barnham in Norfolk to house migrants PHOTOGRAPHIC CHRISTIAN HINBALD/THE GUARDIAN

strategy, in terms of a cohesion plan but to close down rumours and the spread of misinformation,' he said.

'It seems to have been very badly handled. This is the sort of thing that can never be welcomed, but you can mitigate the worst and the whole situation is being mismanaged.

'I have been happy to acknowledge people's concerns and support peaceful protest but what we have seen over the last few days is outright criminality, mob rule and vigilante-style antics which go way beyond the rule of law. These people - and in many cases I'm talking about those who have travelled to Thetford - claim to be proud to be British but to be proud to be British is to support the rule of law.'

The issue is also playing out at a party political level, with figures from Reform UK taking a prominent interest. Scott Hussey, a member of the cabinet on Reform-controlled Norfolk county council, was at the scene on Clover Way yesterday, telling the Guardian that residents and families were frustrated at seeing their town being turned into what he described as 'a dumping ground for illegal immigrants'.

Hussey added that his understanding from meeting with the Home Office was that more HMOs were due to be sited in the town, which he said would add to tensions over proposals to also use a nearby RAF base.

Anna Turley, minister of state for border security and asylum, told GB News that the disorder in Thetford on Thursday was 'horrendous'. She added that people had a right to protest, but said: 'What we've seen is spilling over into violence, which is just not acceptable.

'Nobody should feel harassed, intimidated or threatened in their home, and certainly we shouldn't see our emergency workers and our police attacked in the way that we have seen.'

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National

11

Sweet, soft and photogenic: TikTok propels Japanese milk buns into supermarket success

From top: a fruit and milk bread ichigo sando; rainbow milk buns with powdered sugar; homemade milk bread MAIN PHOTOGRAPH: ATMA BASIMANU SHUTTERSTOCK

Sarah Marsh

Consumer affairs correspondent

Golden-brown with a cloud-soft interior, Japanese milk buns have been propelled by TikTok fame to become the latest craze in Asian cuisine.

With clips racking up millions of views and thousands of comments and shares online, milk buns are having a moment as part of a growing interest in east Asian cuisine being reflected in UK supermarkets.

Waitrose says sales of Miso Tasty ramen paste are up 41% compared with last year, but it is the rise of milk bread (shokupan) that Emilie Wolfman, the world foods product developer at Waitrose, said is "one of the most exciting food trends we've seen cross over from social media into mainstream kitchens".

Searches for "Japanese milk buns" on Waitrose's website have risen by 617% over the past month, while sales are up 27% over the same period.

The lightly sweet, fine-crumbed yeast breads trace their roots to a bakery tradition introduced to Japan through western contact, but modern Japanese milk bread evolved during the 20th century as bakers adapted European techniques to local tastes.

They are far from the only Japanese food to find global fame on social media. Japan's deep-fried sandwiches have inspired queues round the block, while fluffy souffle pancakes, delicate crepes and Japan's distinctive fruit sando - fresh fruit and cream layered between slices of soft milk bread - have all found devoted followings online and beyond.

As well as their viral success online, Wolfman attributes the

growing popularity of milk buns to "London's cult burger restaurants and east Asian bakeries".

Black Bear Burger, the London-based burger chain, has built a loyal following by serving its smash burgers and crispy fried chicken in soft milk buns.

In London's Chinatown, Bun House showcases Cantonese-style baked milk buns with both savoury and sweet fillings.

Outside the capital, Tomás Gormley, the chef-patron of Edinburgh fine

dining restaurant Cardinal, said it opened with milk buns on the menu.

"My first pastry chef, Mia, developed an incredible recipe that we still use today," he said. "We switch to sourdough every now and then to keep things interesting but always seem to end up back at the milk buns."

Gormley believes part of the appeal to chefs is how quickly and easily they can be produced.

He said: "I have all the time in the world for slow-fermented sourdoughs and overnight focaccias, but

logistically a bread you can bash out in a couple of hours is a winner in the kitchen. It's also usually less butter-heavy than the French equivalent, brioche, which helps with costs, but also with balancing a menu and how much a guest can really eat over the course of a tasting menu, in my case."

Michael Booth, the author of Sushi and Beyond and The Meaning of Rice, said Japanese cuisine's "huge focus on presentation, aesthetics" and social media are a perfect match, with the country having been ahead of the curve for at least a decade.

"I can remember visiting a restaurant in Kyoto that was specifically tailored to presenting its food for social media," he added.

Booth said he became "totally obsessed" with milk buns and Japanese baked goods when he first visited Japan in the 1990s. "They had long ago mastered that super light crumb."

The MasterChef winner and restaurateur Tim Anderson notes the huge variety of milk breads available in Japan, ranging from mildly milky and sweet to those rich with eggs, butter, cream and honey that are more akin to brioche.

He said: "I think if British bakeries and supermarkets are trying to nail what makes milk bread special they should focus on the yudane (a traditional technique) and gluten development, which are what give milk bread its unique combination of strength and softness."

Anderson said he would recommend using milk bread to make natto toast, which features fermented soya beans beneath a layer of crisp melted cheese. If that doesn't appeal, he said, it works well for an egg sandwich, or "pizza toast is fantastic".

Summer of spritz sees a boom in Hugo elderflower cocktails

Zoe Wood

It's the summer of spritz, with British sales figures showing the Hugo elderflower cocktail snapping at the heels of the market-leader, Aperol, to be this year's favourite drink.

The number of Hugos ordered in bars nearly tripled in the three months to the end of June, while demand for the vibrant red Campari spritz surged 52%, with a limoncello version up 31%, according to the payments firm Square.

The Hugo "has absolutely blown up", said Steve Young, the business unit director for Bacardi in the UK and Ireland (the group's St-Germain liqueur is the Hugo's signature ingredient). He agreed that the Hugo spritz could be the drink of summer.

▲ The Hugo is made with elderflower liqueur, prosecco, soda and mint

Young said sales of St-Germain were growing faster in Britain than in any other country. "It has doubled in size over the last 12 months."

Created in Italy and very popular in France, the Hugo is sweeter than an Aperol spritz and is made with elderflower liqueur, prosecco, soda water and mint.

The spritz boom comes as Britons

switch to refreshing, lower-alcohol drinks.

The phenomenon is driven by the rise of the "daycap", replacing the traditional nightcap with a longer, lighter-tasting drink in the late afternoon, particularly popular with millennials and gen Z.

Gen Z has put a rocket under the spritz business. For this 18-29 age group it is the No.1 cocktail despite ranking sixth overall in Bacardi's annual cocktail trends report.

Campari brands, which include Aperol and the non-alcoholic Crodino - were up more than 10% in the first six months of this year.

"Spritzes are having their moment," said Tom Oakton at the data company NielsenIQ. Sales were growing much faster than the UK alcohol market as a whole.

"Aperol remains the most popular, but St-Germain saw triple-digit growth from the rising popularity of the Hugo spritz," he said.

Aperol sales were up by 32.4% in the 12 weeks to 1 August, but St-Germain grew by 135.5%.

Sam Neill's final films include a mystery role in Zelda adaptation

Laurence Phelan

The actor Sam Neill completed filming a role in the forthcoming adaptation of The Legend of Zelda video game before he died, which will be one of his final on-screen appearances. According to a report in

▲ Sam Neill died of pneumonia last month but his film legacy endures

Deadline, Neill, who died of pneumonia last month aged 78, will appear in the live-action movie, which finished filming in April. Neill's role has not been revealed, but fans of the games have speculated he would be a good casting choice for the King of Hyrule, the fictional fantasy realm in which the Zelda games are primarily set.

The New Zealand actor had also filmed parts in Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, scheduled for release in March 2027, and The Last Resort, a romcom in which he will play the father of the female lead, Daisy Ridley, also planned for release in 2027. The Legend of Zelda could be his final on-screen performance.

Neill had an extensive career but was especially loved for his horror and fantasy work, including Possession, Omen III, In the Mouth of Madness and the Jurassic Park trilogy.

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12

National Northern Ireland

The night Belfast burned Inside story of how the riots unfolded

Hannah Al-Othman and Rory Carroll Belfast

Shortly after 10.30pm on Monday 8 June, as a summer twilight lingered over Belfast, a horrific scene unfolded on Kinnaird Avenue: a man straddled and repeatedly stabbed a figure lying on the ground in a bloody assault that ended only after onlookers intervened.

Others captured the drama on cameraphones and uploaded the footage to social media. Once seen, the grainy images were hard to forget, and by dawn on Tuesday 9 June they were ricocheting around X, WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram and other platforms.

Many commentators highlighted one aspect: the assailant was black, the victim white. Police had a suspect in custody – he was

initially identified as a refugee from Somalia, later corrected to Sudan – but this did not stem a cascade of outrage. What, commentators demanded to know, about other foreign men of “military age” in Northern Ireland? Had they been “vetted”? What “alien culture” had they imported?

By 9.30am a message was being widely shared. “All business to close at 5.30pm tonight. No excuses.” It listed 25 locations around Northern Ireland for people to gather at 7pm. “Please forward [to] all men of the age of 18 and over. Wear dark clothing ... and be prepared to fight or be arrested.” It was an invitation to a pogrom.

Far-right agitators, such as Elon Musk and Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known as Tommy Robinson, amplified calls to protest, and those interventions were prominent in the coverage that followed.

But through interviews with

witnesses and people who responded to the unrest, on-the-ground reporting in loyalist strongholds and at far-right rallies in Northern Ireland, and analysis of messages sent by figures connected to the extreme right, the Guardian has established the most complete picture yet of how a single incident of horrific violence precipitated the crisis. It suggests that organisers in Belfast needed no encouragement.

Drawing on previous violence – this was to be the third consecutive summer of racial disturbances in Northern Ireland – the organisers told people to leave phones at home and to deactivate dashcams and doorbell cameras.

By early afternoon, schools were sending children home, public transport was halting and steel shutters were closing over foreign-owned businesses.

As families sat down for dinner, crowds gathered at designated

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13

▼ Cars on fire in Belfast on 9 June, when rioters targeted migrants' homes after the arrest of a Sudanese knife-attack suspect PHOTOGRAPH: PA

roundabouts and intersections in loyalist areas. At about 7.30pm a woman with a megaphone on the Shankill Road recited the Lord's Prayer to several hundred people, some draped in union flags. They marched through terraced sidestreets and halted outside the home of a Romanian family. A nearby black family, anticipating trouble, had already fled.

Dozens of boys and men wearing hoods and masks surged forward. Some launched bricks through windows, others shoved fireworks through the letterbox. A woman inside, visible to the crowd, watched helplessly as her home came under attack. The family's car went up in flames, then men in balaclava broke down the door.

In contrast to race riots in England and Belfast in 2024, and in Ballymena last year, the violence was not recorded or streamed on phones. A teenage boy who ignored

the organisers' injunction against filming was dragged aside and chastised.

Similar scenes played out across Belfast. In the east of the city, families from Ukraine, Romania, Poland and Sudan fled. Properties and vehicles were set ablaze.

Crowds lit bins and set up roadblocks to question and intimidate suspected foreigners. In Sandy Row, central Belfast, Ethiopian and Chinese residents fled and arsonists burned a Syrian supermarket. On Crumlin Road, in the west, Ugandan health workers and Nigerian families sought refuge. In some places the police were absent or stayed back and it was left to community volunteers to navigate the mobs and escort families to safety.

At about 10pm the violence abated and crowds began to disperse. Rain began to fall, helping emergency crews douse the embers of gutted homes and vehicles.

A toxic climate

The riot should not have come as a surprise. Northern Ireland was primed for it. "We could see it coming," said Daniel Holder, the director of the Committee on the Administration of Justice, a Belfast-based advocacy group. "It was an escalation of an existing pattern."

An escalation, and a learning curve. Drawing on lessons from 2024 and 2025, the agitators refined their methods to hit more targets and reduce the chances of arrest.

Far-right allies in England and the US were taking notes. Enrique Tarrio, the former head of the militant US group Proud Boys, visited and interviewed activists for a documentary. And last month, the Advance UK-affiliated YouTuber Sarah White was streaming multiple events in Northern Ireland, including an Orange Order march and an anti-migrant protest in Portrush.

The Northern Ireland "model" is not necessarily transferable. It has taken a unique mix - the legacy of the Troubles, xenophobia, social media and state acquiescence - to create the toxic climate.

Until the 1998 Good Friday agreement the region was almost entirely white and native-born. As sectarian violence eased, immigrants trickled in. By the 2021 census, 3.4% of the population was from a minority ethnic background. Many immigrants settled in working-class loyalist areas where the population was declining, property was cheaper - and paramilitary groups endured. Despite a state-sponsored "transitioning" process, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and Ulster Defence Association (UDA) split into sub-groups that continued to deal drugs and coercively control communities.

"Peace" walls between Catholic and Protestant neighbourhoods still stand, underlining the persistence of traditional sectarian divisions, but the waning IRA threat weakened loyalist paramilitaries' claims to be community defenders, prompting them to seek a new bogeyman to justify their existence.

"Loyalism has always been a

reactionary ideology based on keeping out 'foreign' influence," said Stephen Millar, an academic and author of Performing Paramilitarism: Loyalist Songs, Conflict, and Culture War in Northern Ireland. "The pivot from [opposing] Irish nationalism to anti-migrant rhetoric is, to some extent, internally consistent, and serves to keep loyalism 'relevant', trading one form of racism for another."

Sporadic attacks and harassment against minority ethnic families have proliferated over the past decade. That turned out to be the warm up for a full-scale riot in Belfast in August 2024 - a copycat response to mayhem in England after the killing of three girls in Southport. Then in June 2025, Ballymena, 25 miles outside Belfast, erupted after two Roma teenagers were charged with rape (the charges were later dropped).

June's eruption completed a grim summer hat-trick.

Jon Boutcher, the chief constable of the Police Service Northern Ireland (PSNI), said the overall picture of paramilitary involvement in the most recent trouble was "inconsistent" but that paramilitaries were present.

Many say the police have been slow to publicly recognise the role of paramilitary groups in controlling the violence. The UDA and UVF are fractured. Some factions urged restraint, but independent observers say other factions orchestrated much of the violence. Firefighters had no doubt about paramilitary influence and sought permission from their leaders before tackling blazes, sources said.

The ferrying of teenagers to and from flashpoints was further evidence of orchestration, said Chris Quinn, Northern Ireland's children's commissioner. "There's been a long history of child criminal coercion and child criminal exploitation." Such children should not escape legal consequences but they too were victims, said Quinn. Some had heeded the call to riot to service debts, including drug debts. Another source, a youth worker, said paramilitary groups had paid boys £100 to join the rioting.

Michaela Rafferty, of Anoka, a women's group that helped escort besieged families to safety, said that instead of Catholics, it was now people of colour being targeted by loyalist groups. "There has been a sectarian element, obviously, through our years of the Troubles and violence. Now that focus has kind of moved to brown and black people."

A generated anti-Islam murals have appeared in loyalist strongholds such as Moygashel and Newtownabbey, "Islam is Heathen, Islam is Satanic," says one. "A New Evil Has Arisen," says another.

Agitators have refined their methods. Most rioters in Ballymena last year wore masks or hoods but footage uploaded by participants and onlookers helped police identify and charge dozens of rioters. In Belfast, recent rioters banned filming and made greater efforts to conceal identifying details. Through trial and error

they also discovered that without a galvanising incident, such as a brutal crime allegedly committed by a foreigner, calls for mass mobilisation tended to flop.

Instead, they set up online community groups and joined existing ones to drip-feed anti-foreigner sentiment, said Dessie Donnelly of rabble.coop, a Belfast-based tech cooperative that tracks online xenophobia. "Ballymena was a watershed. You had loads of groups springing up online and a far-right network emerging."

Before the most recent riot, posts about dark-skinned men in parks, and foreigners moving into houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) on particular streets, proliferated. The tactic distilled Islamophobia to a hyper-local level, said Donnelly. "It prepares people."

A researcher with Accountability Project Northern Ireland, which monitors online hate, said activists had formed online "clusters" that shared and amplified posts and infiltrated online forums for loyalist bonfires and marching bands. Last summer, the watchdog noticed that a Portadown-based Facebook group was circulating a screenshot of council-owned HMO properties - a hitlist rioters used in June.

In the year to 31 March, the PSNI recorded 2,367 race incidents and 1,507 race crimes, the highest on record. The burgeoning attacks created a sense of foreboding as summer approached, said Naomi Green, the Northern Ireland-based assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain. "We thought it was going to get quite scary very quickly, and it did."

A week before the riot, anti-racism organisations held an emergency meeting in Belfast, said Holder. The marching season loomed and there was "a huge buildup" of racist activism online and offline, he said. "For a third successive summer, it was waiting on an excuse."

The attack at Kinnaird Avenue provided the spark.

The troubling aftermath

The violence that night gave way to an eerie calm the next day. Central Belfast was like a ghost town. A familiar message began to circulate on social media. "All business to close ... wear dark clothing."

In fact, Belfast remained largely quiet on the night of 10 June but in Glengormley, 7 miles north, a mob tried to march on the Chimney Corner hotel, which had been used to house asylum seekers, and fought against police in riot gear. The crowd hurled bricks and rocks, lit bonfires in the street and torched a vacant house. Police used water cannon and plastic bullets to drive them back.

About 11pm the violence dwindled then stopped. That was the last disturbance in June. But in some ways the aftermath has been just as troubling. In a poll by the thinktank More in Common, 8% of people in Northern Ireland said it was justified to burn migrants out of their homes and 11% agreed with intimidating them out of an area. Among respondents 41% said they sometimes felt like a stranger in their own country and three-

'Polls show a similar number of people in lots of societies think this violence against migrants is justified'

Conleth Burns

More In Common

quarters worried about asylum seekers entering Northern Ireland.

Conleth Burns, the associate director and Ireland lead for More In Common, said polling in England showed similar results. "You've got a similar number of people in lots of societies who think that this level of violence against migrants is justified." Northern Ireland, however, had far fewer foreigners and people of colour than England, which showed even small numbers could have an outsized impact.

The Institute for Strategic Dialogue, which tracks extremism and misinformation, said the unrest turbo-charged far-right activism online. Posts promoting claims of anti-white police bias surged to more than 200,000 in the first two weeks of June compared with 104,000 in the whole of May, it said in a report this week.

The main parties at Stormont strongly condemned the violence but critics say the executive failed to prepare for the crisis. "They should have known something would happen," said Donnelly.

Even though the PSNI had struggled to contain unrest in previous years, police were still under-resourced, said Donnelly.

Holder said Stormont's response had downplayed the gravity of the crisis. "You'd expect a racist pogrom to be the key issue for the institutions to deal with over the summer, and putting in emergency measures to prevent that happening again. But no, there's no sense of urgency."

Liz Griffith, the head of migration justice at the Northern Ireland Law Centre, said the devolved government had failed to update anti-racism legislation and downgraded a long-awaited policy document. The strategy focused on "race relations", which Griffith said was "woefully out of date". "It's as if this was to do with somehow the relationships of people," Holder said. "That the people having the brick put through their window need to improve their relationship with those putting the brick through the window."

The Stormont executive had failed to bring forward hate crime and race equality laws in line with the rest of the UK. Griffith said: "It's been updated in England, Scotland and Wales, and ours is just antiquated. There's constant talk of consultation ... but it has just got stuck, it's never moved."

In the face of this inaction, many want Andy Burnham to step in. Green said: "Unless Westminster intervenes at this point and ensures that there are protections and legal protections and consequences for some of this behaviour, unless there is some accountability here, it's going to continue."

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National

▼ The wildfire stopped just short of coastguard cottages on the Natural Trust's reserve at Dunwich Heath PHOTOGRAPH: JUSTIN MINNS/NATIONAL TRUST

Dunwich Heath wildfire

'The habitat birds relied on to nest and feed has just gone'

Patrick Barkham Pippa Neill

A community pulling together, emergency services saving homes and caravan parks from catastrophe, and farmers and nature reserve wardens working together to create firebreaks to halt a firestorm 40-metres high - there was plenty to celebrate in the week when a swathe of east Suffolk burned.

But local residents were also in tears at the blackened, ruined state of more than 112 hectares of Dunwich Heath, mourning the devastation of a much-loved National Trust nature reserve alongside the neighbouring RSPB Minsmere. The rare birds that inhabit the reserve have lost crucial habitat, while the rare invertebrate species there will have been "decimated", according to the reserve's staff.

The fire took hold on 29 July and the cause is still unknown, but the Suffolk fire service said it burned at a "ferocious pace" due to hot weather, dry conditions and

changing winds. On average 100 firefighters have been on scene since then, with crews from 18 fire services in attendance.

A week on, the above-ground fire has been subdued. The fire service has measured temperatures below ground exceeding 600C and surface temperatures of 60C. Hot winds and a lack of rain leaves the dry, sandy region in a state of high alert for further outbreaks, with many evacuated residents advised not to return to their homes. Local people and visitors have been kept away from a swathe of Dunwich Heath with the fire having exposed unexploded ordnance from the second world war.

The impact on wildlife has been vicious. RSPB Minsmere is home to some of the rarest bird species in the UK, including nightjars, nightingales and Dartford warblers. "The vegetation that is essential for supporting that bird life, the structure of the gorse and the trees, all appears to have gone," said Adam Rowlands, the Suffolk area manager for the RSPB. "So in essence, the habitat they would rely on to nest, to feed, to shelter and to roost at night has gone, so they won't have anywhere to return to."

An adviser for the fire service measured a 0% moisture content in the vegetation around the fire site. To Rowlands's knowledge, this is the only place in the UK where a 0% moisture content has been recorded in the vegetation before.

"In terms of climate change, it does appear to be a pretty unprecedented situation."

The site is also home to a wide range of rare invertebrates, including the narrow-mouthed whorl snail, antlions and green tiger beetles. Rowlands said a large proportion of these would have been "decimated" and even if they did survive, the loss of habitat means they now have nowhere to return to.

While the police investigation into the cause of the latest in a series of devastating global heating-exacerbated wildfires across Britain is continuing, the fires were still burning as the rightwing media and commentators began reporting that rewilding was to blame.

Conservationists rebutted the claim that rewilding - "leaving underbrush, fallen and overgrown vegetation alone", according to the Times columnist Libby Purves - had contributed to the fires.

"It's worth stressing this was not a rewilded landscape. This was a traditionally managed, classic 20th century conservation landscape," said Jonathan Spencer, a former head of environment for Forestry England and an influential expert on rewilding.

The fire occurred on the old areas of Dunwich Heath, an open and naturally dry mosaic of heather and gorse that has been managed in a similar way since the 1800s. The flames did not spread to areas of restored heathland.

According to the RSPB and the National Trust, on whose heathland the fire raged, the land is managed like most other lowland heaths, with regular cutting of scrub including heather and gorse to encourage young growth and keep areas warm and open for rare species such as adders and silver-studded blue butterflies. Bracken is removed and the area is traversed with firebreaks and a wet ditch that helped prevent the fire's spread.

The rewilding critique is "missing the point", according to Rowlands. "We don't have any land at Minsmere that would be defined as rewilding," he said. "We get criticised by the rewilders for being too interventionist."

He added: "That's not a

'We're getting longer, hotter, dry spells. We have to face that climate change is a primary driver'

Paul Forecast

National Trust

▲ A stonechat surveys its blackened habitat after fire ravaged Dunwich Heath

▼ The wetlands of nearby RSPB Minsmere reserve is known for its pied avocets

criticism of rewilding. We need a variety of approaches in nature conservation, but it would be incorrect to say this incident was related to rewilding activity."

"The wild habitats themselves probably saved the fire from being much worse," said Paul Forecast, the regional director for the National Trust in the Midlands and east of England.

"We already had firebreaks built in, we removed dead material and having different age structures means you maintain more moisture in the ground," he said. "It's not the heath that's changed, it's the environment around it.

"We're getting much longer, hotter, dry spells. We're seeing fires on farmland. We're seeing fires on some of the most proactively managed land. We have to face that climate change is a primary driver of that."

Conservationists are optimistic that a more fire-resilient wildlife habitat can be created in fire-ravaged Suffolk, the Peak District and the Cairngorms.

Spencer is advising the National Trust and said habitat could be restored by rewilding. But he admitted there were no simple solutions on lowland heaths such as Dunwich. Clay-lined ponds, firebreaks and possibly even controlled burns in early spring as practised in the New Forest could help reduce fire risk, he said.

At the RSPB, Rowlands said the charity was always willing to learn and seek to adapt the recovering heathland to be more fire-resilient.

"Our charitable objectives are to benefit nature, benefit wildlife and encourage people to enjoy it, he said. "With this change in climate, we all need to learn all the time."

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National

Hanky panky

A bandana on the head is this summer's hot accessory

Ellie Violet Bramley

Baseball caps have been keeping the heads of fashion folk covered and shaded for the last few years. But there's a new accessory to be seen everywhere this summer: the bandana.

They were as common as cinnamon buns at Copenhagen fashion week this week. They have also recently been worn by Dua Lipa to the beach, Zendaya to shop for books and Priyanka Chopra Jonas to watch the tennis at Wimbledon.

Toast offers them blockprinted by artisans in India; they come in broderie anglaise at Asos, and embroidered at Next. The pop star Gracie Abrams, who wore one last summer to play Glastonbury, has since released bandanas as part of her merchandise.

On the secondhand site Depop, which offers bandanas in gingham, with skull and crossbones or crocheted, searches have gone up 152% in the past three months. Social media is rich in tutorials on how to style them on days when your hair is awaiting a wash, or how to use an elastic headband to keep slippery silk styles in place.

Grazia's fashion commerce editor, Daisy Murray, "started wearing bandanas last summer as a little Jackie O homage. They offer a little vintage - 60s/70s and 90s - feel to every look," she says, adding how practical they are. "I live in Brighton and have two small children, so it's a great way to manage curly hair on a windy beach."

Bella Webb, sustainability editor

Top bandanas

... the singer-songwriter

Gracie Abrams performing at

Glastonbury last summer. Below,

Copenhagen fashion week attendees

sporting the look this week

PHOTOGRAPHS: SAMIR HUSSEIN/WIREDRAGS;

RAIMONDA KILUKAUSKIENE/GETTY IMAGES

at Vogue Business, has been wearing one to shows in Copenhagen: "I love multi-functional items that can make my outfits feel fresh and playful without buying something new."

The history goes back far further than Felicity Kendal in a pair of dungarees. Invented in India - the Sanskrit word bandh means "to tie" - according to the Smithsonian magazine "textile makers employed a millennium-old tie-dyeing technique called bandhani to create colourful silk and cotton kerchiefs covered in lively patterns".

From south Asia they were imported to England by the Dutch and English East India Companies, where snuff-takers, who left unsightly tobacco stains on their plain hankies,

Cut! Why glossy talons are out and 'naked' healthy nails are in

Chloe Mac Donnell

Trends at Copenhagen fashion week are usually easy to spot. The so-called fifth fashion week, a laid-back sibling to the four main fashion cities, has popularised everything from wearing romantic floaty dresses with practical trainers to giant hair scrunchies. But during its latest iteration, which wrapped up yesterday, a more subtle trend emerged: naked nails.

From the models on the catwalks to show-goers and locals, fingers and toes featured short, unvarnished nails. The trend is a shift away from the long, bright and glossy manis and

▲ The rising cost of manis and pedis has also driven the natural trend

pedis that have more recently dominated beauty standards.

Saffron Goddard, a manicurist who works with fashion brands including Burberry and Mango, says the goal is now "healthy-looking, well groomed nails rather than a noticeable manicure".

Isabella Rose Davey, in charge of operations for Copenhagen fashion week, describes the minimalist look as "very Danish". Davey, who quit her monthly mani/pedi habit when she moved to the city from London seven years ago, compares it to the Danish preference for "no makeup makeup" where the focus is on healthy skin and minimal cosmetics.

"You never see anyone with a smokey eye or red lip here," Davey says. "They take the same approach to nails. Everything is about function here. We keep our nails short and simple because we are riding our bikes or swimming or in a sauna."

▲ The wartime poster featuring factory worker Rosie the Riveter

apparently "embraced them to make their habit more discreet". Paisley, a pattern named after the Scottish town that originated in Kashmir, is the classic bandana pattern.

With a rich and global lineage, bandanas can signal drastically different things. Throughout history they have been associated with cowboys and thieves, and have also been a symbol of gang affiliation and of workers' rights.

They have been worn by hip-hop stars such as Tupac Shakur, and by Rosie the Riveter, who professed on wartime women's behalf: "We can do it!". In 2003, Missy Elliott matched a pink one with her velour track suit to accept a Grammy. Carrie Bradshaw wore them with abandon in Sex and the City.

Bridget Dalton, a semiotician and cultural analyst, says: "There is a subtext around race when it comes to headscarves. Black communities have long worn them; obviously hijabi people cover their heads, as do [married women in] Haredi communities." For many, they serve a specific purpose: "For Black people with natural hair, they protect them, they cover them, they keep [their hair] protected at night. For people with religious beliefs, they're part of their spiritual life. And for people who wear them for work then, they're to keep their hair clean and safe."

All of these meanings are loaded on to a simple square of fabric. But for many, Dalton adds, "bandanas are also mad-glamorous".

It is a trend that extends beyond the Danish capital. Some claim it is a recession indicator. With the average cost of manicure in the UK ranging from £15 to £55, it is harder to justify monthly appointments.

Often, the Danish nail isn't actually naked. Instead it often features a polish that is clear, sheer or a barely-there pink.

It's a look that Ruby Redstone, a fashion historian and owner of the New York fashion store Mess, has spotted in the city known as nail capital and where "no one can resist a mani/pedi". For Redstone, who recently swapped lime-green nails for "naked", it comes down to style. "I wear relatively crazy pieces and lots of bright colours and I have realised a neutral nail is a bit easier as it goes with everything."

Annabelle Taurua, a beauty expert for the booking platform Fresha, says the "no-mani mani look reflects a

wider shift towards enhancing or embracing natural features". She points to lash-lift treatments that give the appearance of a curled natural lash rather than dramatic extensions. "Consumers are increasingly opting for healthy-looking, low-maintenance beauty," Taurua says.

Some cite environmental concerns as a driving factor, with every step of a manicure contributing to waste, including single-use gloves and nail files. Both resin gel nails, where a liquid polish is cured under a UV light, and acrylic, where a paste is bonded to the natural nail, are non-biodegradable and shed microplastics. A study in 2022 found that nail salons have some of the worst indoor microplastic air pollution. Add to the mix worries over exposure to UV light and allergic reactions and it's not surprising that services such as medical mani/pedis, where the focus is on nail health, are becoming more popular.

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EMERGENCY SURGERY

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A man carries a wounded child into the MSF-run clinic at Rafah Indonesian Field Hospital in southern Gaza. Photograph © MSF

DR BIRSEN GASKELL IS AN ANAESTHETIST WHO WORKED IN GAZA.

"We arrived in Gaza and were immediately confronted by huge numbers of people crammed into the streets. You could hear the bombing and see the fear in people's faces.

We immediately got to work at the hospital. We treated a large number of patients for burns and trauma injuries, mostly people who'd been injured in explosions. There were a lot of children. I'd never seen so many burns patients in one place.

Some children were malnourished, and it was clear many were not eating properly. With post-operative care, it's vital that patients have a good diet to assist with tissue healing, but due to food shortages that just wasn't happening.

We were seeing around 180 patients every day. We didn't have the capacity to take everybody into the operating theatres – some procedures had to be carried out on the ward.

As an anaesthetist, one of my roles was to improve pain management. Due to shortages of medical supplies, there

have been a lot of incidents during this conflict when people have been operated on without anaesthetics. It's inconceivable that this has happened, but it has.

Some patients stick in your mind. There was a nine-year-old girl who'd been injured when her home was bombed and lost part of her jaw. She and her mother were the only survivors from their family. I changed her dressing every few days and gave her antibiotic treatment. One day, she gave me a hug and asked if she'd ever look normal. I didn't have an answer for her. Reconstructive surgery would really help her, but nothing like that is on offer in Gaza.

The situation in Gaza is getting worse and people's medical needs are growing. The fact that there are people there who have had to undergo medical procedures without anaesthesia is barbaric. It's an inhumane situation.

Yet, despite the carnage and the horror, the MSF hospital was an oasis of calm. I was so impressed by the Gazan staff, by their resilience. Many had lost family members and were living in tents, but they were still there every day, helping people.

The work MSF is doing in Gaza is needed now more than ever."

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National

17

Is the Bond effect real?

Why MI6 has the respect of the world's spy agencies

◄ The MI6 headquarters in Vauxhall, south London and, above, the KGB double agent Oleg Gordievsky, a cold war asset recruited by MI6

PHOTOGRAPH: SPOTMATIK/GETTY

Dan Sabbagh

Defence and security editor

MI6 has the swagger of James Bond; its French equivalent, DGSE, the complexities of the TV drama Le Bureau. The film and TV shows may be fictional, but a survey run by a French magazine that placed the British spy agency above the French as No 1 across all of Europe this week is emphatically not.

L'Express, a news weekly, conducted a Eurovision-style poll of 60 current and former spies from across the continent, plus the CIA and Israel's Mossad. Each was asked to rank their top five foreign intelligence agencies - in secret, naturally. MI6 was first with 251 points ahead of DGSE on 169 and other agencies trailing behind.

The result did not surprise Alexandra Saviana, a deputy editor at L'Express, specialising in defence and intelligence, but the margin of victory did. "It is a huge point gap," she said, reflecting the opinions of insiders and allies, 17 of whom are or were agency chiefs in an interconnected, covert ecosystem.

At MI6's headquarters in Vauxhall, London, there has been no sign of a public reaction from its chief, Blaise Metreweli. But there is a quiet satisfaction at the

unexpected verdict, not least because the agency values how it is perceived by both allies and adversaries. "Reputation matters a lot in the espionage game," said a former Whitehall insider.

"British spies fascinate Europe, and beyond," L'Express explained in its cover story. Saviana added that MI6's success in the poll was principally down to its record in recruiting and running high-level human sources over generations: a focus on human intelligence in an era dominated by technology, intercepts and satellite monitoring.

"The British have the ability to play the long game, to bet on sources over 10 years, a bit like the Russians," a former French DGSE spy told the magazine, adding that "they have a penchant for underhand tactics", without revealing what they meant.

One ex-spy voiced scepticism about the survey and added that a human intelligence service such as MI6 was only as good as the high value agents on its books. Under Richard Moore, MI6's previous chief, there were worries that it no longer had enough. Others, including Saviana, accept that greater credit might have been given to MI6's sister agency, the signals intelligence experts at GCHQ, but it was not in the poll.

MI6's reputation among its peers, the French publication said, was built on "long-standing tradition", including recruiting cold war assets, most notably the KGB's Oleg Gordievsky, a double agent in the late 1970s and early 1980s, who helped convince Margaret Thatcher to take Mikhail Gorbachev seriously. Gordievsky had to be dramatically smuggled into Finland in 1985, his cover finally blown.

Not every mole evaded capture. Alireza Akbari, a former Iranian deputy defence minister who had become a British citizen, was arrested on a return to Iran in 2019 and executed in 2023. He confessed to being an MI6 agent. Though the confessions appeared coerced, spies from a number of countries indicated he had been the source on the existence of the Fordow nuclear enrichment site in 2008.

In the run-up to the 2003 Iraq war, MI6 was accused of simplistically supporting the case for war, promoting what turned out to be false sources, claiming Iraq's leader Saddam Hussein could attack UK targets within "45 minutes" and having relied on one source who described supposed chemical weapons devices that were remarkably similar to one in the Hollywood movie The Rock.

L'Express argued that MI6 had rehabilitated itself in the run-up to the Ukraine war in February 2022. It was MI6 that correctly warned, in conjunction with the CIA, that Russia was about to invade, while its French and German counterparts were sceptical up until the last minute, having misjudged the situation.

It reflects MI6's close and longstanding relationship with the CIA, part of the wider Five Eyes arrangements for intelligence sharing between the US, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, that are the envy of continental Europe, even allowing for the complexities posed by Donald Trump's chaotic presidency. "Every other country wants to say they are the sixth eye," Saviana said.

Gordon Corera, the co-presenter of The Rest is Classified podcast, recalled that a former MI6 chief once told him a story of a young officer going somewhere far flung, not knowing if the person he was trying to cultivate spoke English.

"As he walked into the room the contact extended his hand and said: 'Hello, Mr Bond.' The former chief remarked: 'I doubt if he would have received such a warm welcome if he'd been from the Belgian secret service.'"

Theatre review

Zingy comedy becomes satire about moral compromises

Target Audience

Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh

Mark Fisher

I've never read anything Greek, but I bet if feels exactly like this," says Isabelle (RhéAna Kamalu) at the apocalyptic height of this zingy comedy.

She is a gen Z intern whose end-of-times neuroses have suddenly become justified after she receives a government alert to stay indoors.

The line has the characteristic wit of the playwright Dan Bishop, but the scene itself is unexpected. Wind back to the start of Target Audience and you will find something much more ephemeral.

It begins as a jolly send-up of a vacuous screen industry, one beholden to charismatic bullshitters such as Angie (James Coward) and the tyranny of audience data. We could be watching the BBC satire W1A or David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow as a production company brings in Tobias (Henry Calcutt), a politically sensitive writer, to see if he can add an edge to scripts in development.

One of these is called Citizen 54, the other Thorns. If it were not for the poster for Horizon, you could believe they had never made a film, preferring endless days of platitudes and statistics. With his sidekick Bruiser (Molly Windust), Angie flatters Tobias as quickly as he undermines him.

If the material is familiar, the actors make it seem fresh in Bishop's entertaining production. If he got rid of the scene changes, it would be more pacy still. But the playwright is playing the long game and what emerges from the airhead character comedy is a satire about moral compromises that affect not just the telly we watch but the late-capitalist power structures we inhabit.

Until 30 August

▲ RhéAna Kamalu as Isabelle and Henry Calcutt as Tobias

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18

National

Tory troubles Badenoch’s ‘weird week’ leaves her party divided

Alexandra Topping Jessica Elgot

There was a moment in the middle of this week when a news alert raised eyebrows among the politically committed: “Kemi Badenoch: Former neo-Nazi candidate would just be sorting out bins,” it read.

It was a collection of words that would give the most sanguine of communications professionals palpitations, followed by panicked advice that retreat was necessary. But, as a deeply weird week for the Conservative party came to a close yesterday, its leader appeared determined to hold the line.

With Kemi Badenoch accused of aping Reform on policy and purging centrists from her party in recent weeks, her decision to stand by a man who was jailed after creating sexualised images of a Jewish MP and calling her a “rodent” has prompted concerns about the leader of the opposition’s political antennae and the wider strategy of her party.

On Monday it emerged that a former neo-Nazi activist convicted of the sexist and antisemitic harassment of the Labour peer Luciana Berger had been selected as a Conservative candidate for a local election in Somerset.

About 48 hours later Joshua Bonehill-Paine – the creator of pro-right viral AI clips – withdrew his candidacy, saying Badenoch had asked him to become an adviser to the party’s culture and integration commission, focusing on how young men become radicalised.

As pressure mounted, Badenoch said she was “sad” that Bonehill-Paine felt he “won’t be given the space to explain his position and represent his community”, chastising those who had called her judgment into question. “Piling on [people who have changed] and trying to get them cancelled may be sport for other parties,” she wrote on social media. “But this is a different Conservative party.”

Her stance has left some in her members delighted by her persistent pugilism, but others scratching their heads and looking to the door. For opponents, it has been a moment to savour, with Reform UK saying her support “beggars belief”, while locally focused Liberal Democrats delighted in criticising Badenoch’s insistence that as a councillor Bonehill-Paine would be only be “looking at parking, sorting out bins”.

The embrace of Bonehill-Paine has come at a critical moment in Badenoch’s leadership. Last month, she embarked on a purge of the

Conservative parliamentary party, writing in the Telegraph that it was “not a retirement home for failed politicians” and demanding that anyone who supported net zero or Britain’s membership of the European convention on human rights (ECHR) should be blocked from standing as a candidate at the next election.

The former Tory minister Gavin Barwell lost the whip, while the former cabinet member Grant Shapps was blocked from standing again for the party. Sources said many Reform party members had also been blocked from joining the party. “To do that while welcoming this chap has definitely

◀ The former neo-Nazi Joshua Bonehill-Paine withdrew his candidacy to become a Tory councillor

raised a few eyebrows,” said one. The purge had left many young Tories and centrists politically homeless, said the former Tory activist Cody Butler, who resigned last weekend as chair of the One Nation Conservative Network and left the party. Centrists, members worried about the climate crisis and conservation and remains – those who Margaret Thatcher may have referred to as “wets” – were “running out of road”, he said.

Butler added: “We keep hearing the parliamentary party has never been more united. But I think the real truth is the arsonists have taken control, and they’re trying to set the great oak tree of Toryism alight.”

This week Badenoch announced that Conservatives would evict foreign nationals with leave to remain from social housing, prompting Zia Yusuf to accuse her of “trying to copy Reform UK policy”, and the homelessness charity Shelter to say the policy

▲ Kemi Badenoch went on a raid with Surrey police during a week when she tacked to the political right

would “drive up homelessness and put extreme pressure on councils”.

Despite the private worries of some, delight in Badenoch’s unabashed tack right is not difficult to find among the Tory rank and file. “It’s going down really well,” said one MP. “The party thinks Kemi is doing brilliantly.” A senior Conservative adviser said the party was being clear on what it believed and why. “At the last election voters would tell us they didn’t know what the party stood for. Kemi is changing that,” they said.

Labour sources said they had been looking on with popcorn this week. “Just as you think Kemi might finally be sorting out their tent, she spends a week focused on totally irrelevant nonsense,” said one. “Nothing trumps a person’s instincts and hers are just wrong.”

Gleeful Liberal Democrats point out that under Badenoch the Tories seem to be showing little interest in taking back any of the 60 seats they directly lost to the Lib Dems in 2024, as part of a drubbing in which the Conservatives shed a record 251 seats.

There are zero Conservative MPs in Oxfordshire for the first time since 1777. A committed leftwing hiker could walk from Land’s End to London without passing through a Tory constituency. Despite Badenoch’s insistence that the May local elections showed that “the Conservatives are coming back”, the party lost about 500 councillors in England and ceded control of three local authorities. Even now the Tories are skittering along their baseline of 19% of the vote.

One senior Lib Dem source said: “It was widely expected that the Conservatives were at their lowest ebb in 2024 and would quickly start making progress; in fact it’s us that have taken loads off them rather than the other way round.

“Whether it is fighting for more action on the climate or defending human rights, the Conservatives sound more like Nigel Farage than former leaders who were popular with middle England. It is genuinely giving us the biggest opportunity against them we have ever had.”

Given the polling – and the results of the 2024 election when the Conservatives lost about a third of their votes to Reform – attempting to woo those who voted for Farage was logical, said the pollster John Curtice.

“The Tories are in a pretty dire state, but not quite as dire as they were a few months ago,” he said. “By my calculation they are now losing around 17% of those votes to Farage.” Polling also indicates that Badenoch’s personal approval ratings are on the up – YouGov last month put her net favourability at -11, the highest of any Conservative leader in more than five years.

But the Tories were now facing a dilemma, Curtice added: whether to try to build a more centrist coalition with the voters who had stuck with the party, or try to win Reform voters back. “But in [Reform] voters’ minds they are the party who failed to deliver Brexit properly and who created the Boris wave,” he said. “And the more fundamental problem is not to do with ideology, it’s to do with competence. Partygate trashed their ethical reputation, and [Liz] Truss trashed their reputation on the economy.”

Robert Hayward, a Conservative peer and polling analyst, played down the theory that Badenoch was increasingly moving the Conservatives to the right, but said she would have to adapt against a Labour party under Andy Burham.

Asked where it looked like the Conservatives would gain seats on their current trajectory, Hayward was candid.

“I don’t think that is very clear as yet, and that’s a major challenge to the party,” he said. “But it’s a problem for everyone. People’s allegiance to any political party is weaker now than at any moment during my lifetime.”

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National

19

William Orbit, pop producer for Madonna and Blur, dies aged 69

Ben Beaumont-Thomas

William Orbit, the British music producer whose dreamy yet propulsive style invigorated work by Madonna, Blur, All Saints, U2 and more, has died aged 69.

A statement on his social media, attributed to family and friends, said he died at home on 23 July. "He will be greatly missed by us and by so many whose lives he touched through his music, friendship and kindness," the

statement read. No cause of death was given.

Orbit was most famous for his collaboration with Madonna on her 1998 album Ray of Light. His strikingly original backings, rooted in trip-hop, jungle and techno, marked a new chapter for one of pop's greatest stars, resulting in hits such as Frozen, The Power of Goodbye and the giddy title track. It had multi-platinum sales across the world and won Madonna three Grammy awards.

His work also included Blur's exploratory, emotionally scarred

album 13, All Saints' UK No 1 Pure Shores, Pink's hit Feel Good Time, and more. He released a raft of albums and singles under his own name; his electronic twist on Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, aided by a trance remix, reached the UK Top 5 in 1999.

Born William Wainwright in 1956 and raised in north London, the son of two teachers he described as "decidedly working class and poor", he left school at 16 and became what he described as a post-hippie, living in a squat, doing low-paid labour and, by his recollection, consuming

"a Mars bar and an acid tab a day". In 1980 he formed the electronic/ambient trio Torch Song with Laurie Mayer and Grant Gilbert, releasing three albums between 1984 and 1987.

Well versed in electronic music production, he was hired to create the soundtrack to the Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze film Youngblood, and remixes for pop artists - including Madonna. Wielding breakbeats and puckish instrumentation, he gave a chirpier cast to her early 90s singles Justify My Love and Erotica.

"William is a complete madman genius," Madonna said of the Ray of Light sessions. "I'd come to him with an idea of where I wanted to go musically, hum melodies or read lyrics, and then leave him alone in the laboratory. Sometimes he'd go in the direction I wanted and sometimes he'd swerve off somewhere else entirely." Earlier this year, Orbit said:

▲ William Orbit was 'a madman genius', according to Madonna

"I will always love that woman. For real. She made my career."

The late 90s were an industrious period. In 1999, he released Pieces in a Modern Style, an album of classical reworkings, and Blur's album 13 was released, on which Orbit crafted hit singles Tender and Coffee and TV.

Orbit was courted by a range of pop artists in the years that followed, including Britney Spears, Melanie C, Robbie Williams and Chris Brown.

The songwriter to know Why Phoebe Bridgers is the voice of the 2020s

Katie Hawthorne

On Friday, the indie star Phoebe Bridgers releases her long-awaited third album, six years since her pandemic-era breakthrough. Alongside a slew of glittering reviews for Lost Weekend, including five stars from the Guardian, with it comes her first solo charting single in

the UK - although the Californian musician's influence runs far deeper than reviews or record sales could measure.

Just how did Phoebe Bridgers become the most influential songwriter of the 2020s?

Bridgers' idiosyncratic writing has shaped the sound of the decade. Her second album Punisher, released in June 2020, spookily anticipated that strange, lonely year: in her eerie double-tracked vocals (a nod to Bridgers' musical hero, Elliott Smith), she

sang of empty shopping malls and conspiracy theories over lush, unsettling music made from watery electric guitar, Mellotron, strings, screams and birdsong. Today, Bridgers' distinctive mix of dry wit and pathos is traceable in the lyrics of pop's new chart toppers, while heavyweights across generations and genres, including Paul McCartney, Taylor Swift and SZA, have clamoured for collaborations. "She is the reference now," Swift told the Guardian in 2022.

"She's the voice of a really particular moment," says the award-winning author Carmen Maria Machado. There is a kinship between Machado's prose and Bridgers' lyrics - both are candid, haunted, unafraid to get gruesome - and it resulted in Machado publishing a short story to accompany Punisher. "Phoebe's music is so precise and weird and beautiful; it's a prayer or an ode

to this place that we're living in, while also watching it fall apart," says Machado.

Reviews for Lost Weekend have highlighted the album's deeply personal subject matter - it discusses the death of Bridgers' father, and the end of her engagement to the actor Paul Mescal - but also Bridgers' surreal sense of humour. When performing single Lost Boys on the Tonight Show, she played it first with a band

▲ Phoebe Bridgers at the Brixton Academy, south London, in 2022

▲ Phoebe Bridgers releases her third album, Lost Weekend, on Friday PHOTOGRAPHS: FRANK OCKENFELS

of children, who were fizzing with excitement, and then again in an acoustic arrangement with the veteran folk musician Dan Reeder. The effect was trippy, sweet and faintly morbid: distinctly Bridgers.

For Naomi McPherson, a member of the synth-pop three-piece Muna, it's this mixture of matter-of-fact and magical that makes Bridgers so distinct. McPherson pointed to a Lost Weekend song with a line about turning down the stereo volume to better parallel park: "To be able to put that in a song in a way that isn't stupid, but is actually brilliant and somehow deeply touching, is an enormous feat."

Muna signed to Bridgers' record label Saddest Factory in 2021, joining a cohort of imaginative, predominantly queer musicians united under Bridgers' mentality of "getting cool stuff out to people as fast as possible". The label was rolled into parent company Dead Oceans earlier this year after a trademark dispute, but its lasting influence reflects Bridgers' determination to change the music industry for the better.

Bridgers' plain-talking has won her a passionate fanbase, many of whom are easily spotted by their matching ghost tattoos - a reference to the cover of her 2017 debut Stranger in the Alps - and her concerts are intense: the singer-songwriter Claud, who has toured with Bridgers, describes "crowds of tens of thousands where you can actually hear a pin drop". It follows, then, that Bridgers decided to promote Lost Weekend with a series of secretive pop-up shows across the US.

Fan Baleigh Epperly, an environmental advocate, DJ and co-founder of the queer, female-led local DJ collective Their House, says they all sat cross-legged, watching Bridgers play. She predicts the performance will have a lasting impact on young musicians who may have internalised damaging stereotypes about Appalachia: "If Phoebe is good enough for West Virginia, then you're good enough to play here, to live here, to be from here."

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20

National

Tailgaters

beware Operators fight back on fare dodging

Esther Addley

There is more than one way to commit fraud, and for some rail travellers, it has been as simple as a double click on the side of their phone as their train approaches its destination.

That telltale last-minute purchase of a digital ticket - for the shortest journey that will allow them to bleep through the gates, regardless of how far they have travelled - is one of a number of illegal wheezes that train operators are now trying to eliminate, with the enthusiastic backing of the government department that will directly oversee most of England's rail services when they are renationalised next year.

Two rail companies, South Western (SWR) and GTR, which operates Thameslink, Southern and other services, this week introduced measures to clamp down on so-called "short-faring" - a trick by which passengers buy a last-minute digital ticket only for

the final part of their journey, even if they boarded in a station without barriers much further away.

Don't bother, any longer, trying to download a digital ticket from Vauxhall to Waterloo, the terminus for many trains to London from the west, or on a number of other routes, apparently including from Norwood Junction to London Bridge, where many services from the south coast hit the capital. For those and some other routes, you will now need to collect a physical ticket from a real life ticket machine, after operators found that up to 95% of tickets

'We're coming to terms with a different form of ticketing. It's clearly open to abuse'

Christian Wolmar

Transport commentator

on some short routes were being used fraudulently.

Fare evasion on Britain's railways did not begin with digitisation - you don't need a QR code to vault a barrier or hide in the toilet from a ticket inspector. But the increasing reliance on digital ticketing has widened some of the loopholes for those minded to cheat the system - and added to an ever growing problem for train companies.

Up to £400m is lost to fraud each year on the rail network according to the Department for Transport, through hi-tech and decidedly low-tech methods. As well as short-faring, operators point to "quick scanning" - buying a ticket on your phone seconds before being approached by an inspector; "tailgating" - squeezing behind a paying customer as they pass through a ticket gate; and "donutting", which describes a scam by which a passenger buys a cheap ticket covering the first part of their journey and another for the last, but avoids paying the higher

cost of the full trip. A former senior executive at HSBC, Joseph Molloy, received a suspended sentence in February for using this technique 740 times to commute between Orpington in Kent and London Bridge, saving him £5,911 over 11 months.

"It's quite a big problem, because we're coming to terms with a completely different form of ticketing," said the railway commentator and author Christian Wolmar. "No longer do you go to the ticket office and buy little red and yellow cards; you now buy online, and that affords these new opportunities. The system is clearly open to abuse."

Although a push to reduce staff numbers has been a factor, he said: "How you tackle this is very difficult because you can't have guards at every stop. It's through digital analysis that they are going to find a solution to this."

The government appears to agree, widening the introduction this month of an app that calculates

Gates at London's Victoria station. Fare-dodging has evolved as tickets go digital and operators cut staff PROTOGRAPHS: ASHLEY COOKER PICS/ALAMY

ticket fares by tracking the user's phone. Currently being trialled on routes in the East Midlands and Yorkshire, the technology could eventually be in use across Great British Railways, the public body that will take over the running of the soon to be renationalised network, expected to be up and running next year.

"Fare evasion is illegal and selfish - it actively makes journeys worse for all rail passengers by diverting money that could otherwise be used to improve services," said the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander. "We are committed to tackling ticket cheats, and that's one of the expected benefits of expanding our digital ticketing app to more people across the trial areas."

Her department has also recently given £13m for new or enhanced ticket gates at "fare dodger hot spots" across England.

SWR said its introduction of new anti-fraud measures came after one intervention at Brighton station found that half of those travelling on the wrong ticket were using the short-faring scam. To passengers disembarking at the station yesterday morning, a clampdown on cheats was very welcome. "Obviously fares go up anyway because of inflation, but they are probably pushing up our fares as well, so we all suffer," said Deanna Smith, who had travelled on Thameslink with her partner to visit a coffee festival. "It's just like tax dodging - we all fall victim to their behaviour."

"I'm someone who has always paid for everything, so I get a bit pissed off [by fare dodging]," said Nicola Garrett, who was on a day trip to Brighton with a friend from her home in Leigh-on-Sea. "Nobody seems to think that they have to pay for anything these days. It's just like, if you can get away with doing it, why wouldn't you?"

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National

▼ Anthony Bourdain in 2005. The celebrity chef, TV presenter and author took his own life in 2018

PHOTOGRAPH: JACKY GROSSER/FAIRFAX/GETTY

'He made food writing sexy' As biopic hits screens, who was the real Anthony Bourdain?

David Smith

Washington bureau chief

T

he novelist Michael Cunningham has described Provincetown, on the tip of Cape Cod, as "one of the places in

the world you can disappear into".

This idiosyncratic bohemia attracted the likes of Edward Hopper and Tennessee Williams along with dropouts, drag queens and drifters. In the summer of 1975 came a lanky, restless 19-year-old from New Jersey with no job and no money, sleeping on the floor of a shared cottage. His name was Anthony Bourdain, and he would later become a celebrity chef, author and television globetrotter.

Half a century later, that coming of age has been mythologised by Hollywood. Matt Johnson's new film, Tony, starring Dominic Sessa as the adolescent dishwasher, imagines the origin story of the man before he rewrote the rules of food writing with his 2000 memoir, Kitchen Confidential.

For those who knew Bourdain best, the film's release - eight years after he took his own life - has been difficult. "I have a very strong emotional relationship to Tony and yeah, it's hard," says Joel Rose, 78, a novelist and editor who was

arguably Bourdain's closest literary confidant for 35 years.

"There's a lot going on with Tony's memory and the memories that I have, and how in so many ways I feel cheated and confused. I had a very different relationship with Tony than his TV persona."

Provincetown in the 1970s was an unruly haven largely untouched by the mainstream - a town where the writer Norman Mailer and the artist Robert Motherwell could turn up at the same dancefloor, at a club called Piggy's, as clam diggers and drifting college kids.

Bourdain later described those months in Kitchen Confidential: "We all went to the beaches and ponds each morning, smoked pot, sniffed a little coke, dropped acid and sunbathed nude, as well as indulging in other healthy teenage activities."

That arrangement did not last. One night, according to the New York Times, a roommate came home from her shift at the Flagship furious because the dishwasher had failed to show up for work. She told Bourdain: "You know who our new dishwasher is? You!"

The next morning he put on an apron for the first time. Inside the Flagship's kitchen - later fictionalised as the Dreadnaught in Kitchen Confidential - he discovered a structure he'd never known before: hierarchy and a kind

of belonging. He worked his way up to the salad station and beyond.

He told the Observer in 2017: "I only became happy as a dishwasher, my first job. I was a shy, goofy, awkward teenager. But in this blue collar, factory-like environment, there was no blurred line, no grey area, no philosophical question to fret over."

It was also that summer at the Flagship that Bourdain saw the moment he would later credit with making him want to become a chef. The kitchen crew crowded around a window overlooking the rubbish bins to watch their chef mid sexual encounter with a customer who was still in her wedding dress. The kitchen staff, Bourdain decided, were like pirates, answerable to nobody, living by their own rules.

As the industry later reckoned with its long history of physical and sexual abuse, Bourdain said he regretted having glamorised a culture that was, underneath the swagger, often exploitative. He also grew more clear-eyed about the drug use that hollowed out so many of the kitchens he had worked in.

Bourdain came back to Provincetown the next spring, ending up at Ciro's, an Italian restaurant. Alexej Gettmanov, one of the Ciro's cooks, told the New York Times last week: "We looked at him and sneered, because he seemed very callow and, on the one hand, full of himself and, on the other hand, unsure."

The humiliation of being bumped back down to salads stung Bourdain, prompting him to enrol

◀ Dominic Sessa in Tony, a film based on Bourdain's memoir, below

at the Culinary Institute of America in 1977 in an effort to prove himself. If Provincetown was where Bourdain discovered the kitchen, it was the grimy streets of New York's East Village in the early 1980s that forged him as a writer. "He was a good writer right from the start," said Rose. "He was a natural."

Bourdain was still living on the margins, balancing intense double shifts in kitchens with a heavy drug habit. Rose said that when he first met Bourdain, who had come to his flat to introduce himself, "he had just gotten high and I called him on it right away because I knew. I've been there myself."

In the late 1990s, Bourdain was in a Tokyo hotel room, looking out over the city after a visit to the fish market, when he sent a long, vivid email to Rose, who was living with Karen Rinaldi, an editor at Bloomsbury. "I came in with this email and I said to Karen: 'I got to read you this.' She said: 'Does Tony have any other stories?' I said: 'Are you kidding me? He has so many!'"

Rinaldi bought the book. When it was published in 2000, Kitchen Confidential shattered the genteel, recipe-driven world of food publishing, ushering in an era that would lead to TV dramas such as The Bear.

Dianne Jacob, 71, a food writer and editor, comments: "The writing is incredible. He has a very strong voice. He's an excellent storyteller. It made food writing sexy.

"Before Anthony Bourdain, there were pretty much two kinds of food writing. There were mostly men writing about fancy restaurants and there were mostly women writing recipes. And so this was something completely new, this memoir about working in restaurants and all his other shenanigans. His voice is what knocked me out. More than anything else, it was a real bad boy persona and he was such a beautiful writer."

Yet when Jacob met Bourdain in person during a book tour in San Francisco, she encountered a man who seemed profoundly uncomfortable with global fame.

She recalls: "There was an older woman in the bathroom applying blush to her cleavage. There were all these men who were chefs who were full of tattoos and in love with him. When I got in line to have him sign my book, there were women passing him notes, maybe with their phone numbers. It was an incredible scene. He was charismatic but he was also a little awkward and shy."

As the travel shows grew more successful, the TV crews bigger and the global adoration more intense, Bourdain's private world was fracturing. The final, tragic chapter of his life began when he met the Italian actor Asia Argento. To those who had known him for decades, the change in his personality was abrupt and alarming.

Ruhlman says: "He was a completely different person after Asia. After he met her, I got an email. I had invited him to my wedding reception in New York City and he says: 'Can't do it. I'm in Italy shooting. I'm in love too. Love abounds. Nothing but happiness.' A year later he'd killed himself."

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22

Environment

A jellyfish that lives for ever?

Five favourite invertebrates

This year's Guardian invertebrate of the year competition is shining a spotlight on to some of the most spectacular, fascinating and yet overlooked inhabitants of our planet: the huge category of animals (more than 1.3m different species) that have no spine.

This group includes creatures from jellyfish to bumblebees via parasites, spiders and worms. Despite the fact that they carry out some of the most critical functions at the very base of all of our ecosystems, it's the vertebrates - pandas, lions, whales - that still garner everyone's attention. Here are our first five nominations for this year's top 10. You'll be able to vote online for your favourite on 13 August and the winner will be revealed on 17 August.

The immortal jellyfish (Turritopsis dohrnii)

Immortality is generally considered the realm of the gods or science fiction or a fantasy pursued by tech entrepreneurs in macabre experiments. But one ethereal, thimble-shaped jellyfish has already cracked the code.

As associate professor Maria Pia Miglietta, a marine biologist at Texas A&M University, explains, Turritopsis dohrnii, above, has an incredible ability to cheat death.

"Turritopsis is unique, because when faced with unfavourable conditions - and I mean high temperature, physical cutting, starvation, chemicals in the water, you name it - when you try to kill the jellyfish, it doesn't die."

Most jellyfish start off life as larvae. They metamorphose

into polyps (tiny, stationary soft bodies) that bud off swimming medusas, which grow up to become adult jellies. Eventually, after reproducing, most will stop swimming, crumble and die.

But the immortal jellyfish reverts to a juvenile form and starts its life cycle again.

The process is called "cellular transdifferentiation", Miglietta says. The jellyfish looks as if it's dying and sinks to the bottom. Then it shrinks into a ball, and within 24 to 48 hours, buds off a new polyp with the same identical genome.

It is one of "nature's coolest tricks", says Guardian reader Raquel López-Aragón. "When this jellyfish gets old or gets hurt, instead of just dying like most animals, it transforms itself back into a baby jellyfish and grows up all over again. It can do this as many times as it wants, which means theoretically it never has to die from getting old, it just keeps hitting the reset button on its life."

In the lab, these jellies can theoretically live for ever. For some in the wild, getting eaten may eventually end that dream run.

There are eight accepted species of Turritopsis - but (so far) only one holds the key to eternal life.

Immortal jellyfish are only a few millimetres in size. They can be found in many places, from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, from the coast of Japan to Brazil.

Petra Stock

The leaf sheep

(Costasiella kuroshimae)

A neon green punk sheep that lives underwater. A solar-powered slug that can perform photosynthesis. If you are seeking beauty, brains and a wonderfully innovative lifestyle, then vote leaf sheep.

The leaf or sea sheep, Costasiella kuroshimae, main image, is a sea slug about the size of a grain of rice. Like a sheep, it grazes on green stuff - certain species of algae, which it finds in tropical waters around Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines. But its nickname does it a disservice because it is far more ingenious than any land mammal.

This animal is not only powered by the algae it grazes,

but by the sun. In a process called kleptoplasty, the leaf sheep steals the algae's chloroplasts, the structures that plants use to capture sunlight and perform photosynthesis. It sequesters the intact chloroplasts within its own cells, storing them inside leaf-like branches on its back called cerata. These act like solar panels and enable the slug to power up via photosynthesis.

The beady-eyed leaf sheep lives where it feeds, on Avrainvillea, a velvety type of algae that grows in fine silts around shallow reefs.

The leaf sheep's vivid green cerata, which often feature white, pink or purple tips, provide chemical defences for this tiny animal. They give the leaf sheep its vivid green colour, which ensures it is beautifully camouflaged against the algae, which it locates via two ear-like structures above its eyes called rhinophores. These tentacles are sense and taste receptors, helping it find food and make sense of its world.

The leaf sheep was only described by science in 1993 and has soared in popularity in recent years thanks to advances in underwater and macro photography, enabling us to appreciate its rare beauty.

Patrick Barkham

The Lord Howe Island stick insect (Dryococelus australis)

When small species are left alone to evolve for centuries on small islands, they often become larger. Quietly, over thousands of years, Dryococelus australis, right, grew to a great size on Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand. But the peaceful life of a stick insect, which grows up to 20cm (8ins) long was destroyed by European settlers. In 1918, a shipwreck brought black rats to the island. The flightless insects were once so common they were used by settlers as bait for fishing, but the rats wiped out the entire Lord Howe Island population in two years.

In 1964, climbers attempting to scale Ball's Pyramid, a spectacular pinnacle of basalt jutting from the ocean 12 miles (20km) off the coast of Lord Howe Island, discovered the sausage-sized carcass of one of the insects. Subsequent climbing attempts found more stick insect bodies - just never a live one.

Tantalised by these sightings, in 2001 the Australian scientists

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8

Cabbage patch

Now is the time to get sowing

Saturday page 68

23

David Priddel and Nicholas Carlile made their way to the island and discovered large insect droppings under a shrub growing in a crevice 100 metres above the shoreline. Returning after dark, when the insects are active, they found three live females beneath the shrub.

The next year, 24 were discovered and a breeding pair were taken to Melbourne Zoo. Eventually, the species, fondly known as the tree lobster, was successfully bred in captivity.

Thousands of stick insects have now been reared in six zoos around the world. There are plans for reintroductions on another islet and ultimately back on Lord Howe Island itself, where the invasive black rat and house mouse population was eradicated in 2025.

Still one of the rarest invertebrates in the world, with possibly only 50 insects in the wild, this year scientists found additional individuals hidden in sparse vegetation on Ball's Pyramid.

This inspiringly tenacious insect has multiple nominations from readers. Its rediscovery and flourishing is a story of hope, according to Maximilian Vanlancker from Seattle. "Climate change is rampant, fascism on the rise, corporate greed uncontrolled, but despite it all, those 24 stick insects on a rock show us that it is never over until we give up."

Patrick Barkham

The greengrocer cicada

(Cyclochila australasiae)

Before marbles, stamps and trading cards, there were cicadas. There are thousands of cicada species globally, but for Australian children the craze centres on one particularly collectible item: the greengrocer, above.

"In both Sydney and Melbourne, greengrocers come out every now and again in fairly decent numbers, and they're coming out in leafy gardens and parks," says the environmental consultant Dr Lindsay Popple. Searching for cicadas has become entrenched in children's folklore, he says.

Most of their lives are spent as nymphs underground, but when they emerge in late spring, greengrocers are bright and abundant.

This palm-sized minibeast comes in a variety of vividly coloured morphs, each with a nickname. There's the yellow Monday, the masked devil, red warrior and chocolate soldier, and the appropriately rare, blue moon.

Dom Yates, a Guardian reader from New Zealand, is a fan. "They sing joyously after living years underground so we should appreciate their happy efforts all the more," he says.

Unlike the North American cicada, which emerges in a 17-year cycle, greengrocers materialise en masse in alternating batches, roughly at seven yearly intervals, with 2027 the next big event.

When cicada nymphs become adults, they shed their skins and grow wings, leaving behind their exoskeletons on trees and fences.

Every cicada species has its own acoustic identity, Popple says, and the Australian greengrocer, found along the east coast in some of the most populated parts of the country, is one of the loudest.

Greengrocers produce two main tunes, one a continuous drone, and the other a croaking pulse, using drum-like organs on either side of their bodies called tymbals, and amplifying the sound with their hollow abdomens.

Popple says the males broadcast at intervals throughout the day and often at dusk, trying to attract a mate. Its Queensland cousin, the northern greengrocer, is known as the "seven o'clock cicada" for its propensity to pipe up around dinnertime.

"Close to them, it's like being near a jet taking off, it's really loud," Popple says.

Greengrocer cicadas reportedly reach volumes as high as 120 decibels at close range - that's nearing the pain threshold for human hearing, according to the Australian museum.

Petra Stock

The common woodlouse

(Oniscus aedlus)

Chucky pig. Slater. Monkey pea. Roly-poly. Boat-builder. Butchy boy. Cheeselog. Hobbling Andrew. Wood pig. If there were a prize for the range and joyfulness of a creature's English-language names, the humble woodlouse, above right, would triumph.

Over centuries of easy cohabitation with humans, it has acquired more than 300 regional names in Britain alone, and many more in other languages (such as Gwrach y Coed, "witch of the wood", in Welsh).

There are lovely words for woodlouse actions too: an animal rolling its body into a neat ball is known as conglobation, or volvation in zoology.

Their nicknames reflect our fondness for this most accessible of isopoda, an order of crustaceans, found in houses and gardens across Europe and the US.

The woodlouse was a trendsetter, its ancestors moving on to land about 500m years ago, long before most animals. The woodlouse hasn't needed to make many design refinements over the years because it found such a useful niche from the start. As a detritivore, it feeds on rotting plant matter and breaks down wood.

As well as tidying up the world, another of the woodlouse's superpowers is its ability to withstand toxic pollution and even store heavy metals within special compartments in its body. Studies have shown it can help stabilise heavy metals in compost.

Many readers have expressed their love for what one calls "detritivore royalty". "They will undoubtedly be here long after humans have followed dinosaurs and dodos into the extinct category," says Chris Pickard.

Patrick Barkham

Plastic packing is a key issue in drive to reduce food waste, say climate experts

Ushika Kidd

Plastic contamination should be a key concern in efforts to deal with what campaigners call one of the most "overlooked" issues of the climate crisis, food waste, researchers have said.

About one third of all food produced is wasted annually, according to UN data. In the US, 40% of food waste goes to landfill, where it is responsible for 30m metric tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per year - more than Cuba's total annual CO₂ emissions in 2024.

A new study, published in Nature Food, used life cycle analysis modeling to compare the impacts - in terms of climate, nutrient pollution, and plastic contamination - of different food waste management scenarios.

The authors, based at the University of Vermont, compared the annual climate impacts of landfilled food waste with the climate impact of alternative recycling pathways and found that diverting food waste from landfill would reduce climate impacts by 89-99%.

Non-landfill scenarios could also reduce nutrient pollution in water bodies - a process called eutrophication that occurs when excess nutrients result in algal blooms.

But the researchers also warned that microplastics can persist in the compost, which could lead to 20,000 tonnes contaminating US agricultural soils each year. No study has looked at the "plastic pollution footprint" of different food waste management strategies at national scale.

Kate Porterfield, the lead author, said the method was comparable to working out a "carbon footprint of a product or process". Essentially, the researchers looked at the process of managing food waste and "tall[ied] up what the carbon emissions [are] across all of those life cycle stages".

Porterfield said: "A large proportion

of wasted food is still in packaging, it goes bad before it even reaches the consumer." One approach to recycling food waste is using a mechanical depacker; the packaging then goes to landfill, while food waste goes to "beneficial reuse, like composting or anaerobic digestion".

But researchers found that even if plastic separation technologies were 99% efficient, diverting food waste from landfills could still increase soil microplastic pollution.

"Anytime where you're diverting food waste, there is a risk of microplastic pollution [because] people aren't perfect, machines aren't perfect, and all of our food these days is packaged in plastic."

Vermont has "one of the most ambitious" state organics-diversion mandates in the US, said co-author Eric Roy.

The Universal Recycling Law requires food waste to be diverted from landfill. This applies to all households and means food scraps are banned from bins.

Phil Holtam, co-founder and director of food waste social enterprise Sussex Surplus, said: "I think there's a little bit of a misconception that [plastic packaging] is unnecessary." He added it was essential to extending the shelf life of fresh produce, particularly for smallholder farms.

"That's where the tension lies because as environmentalists we want to reduce food waste but we also want to prevent needless use of plastics."

The chef, author, and activist Max La Manna said food waste management was "one of the few climate problems where everyone wins".

La Manna, who has worked with UK farmers, said consumer expectations of perfect looking food were shaping which produce even makes it to the shops and adding to the waste issue. "Some of it may be misshapen, wonky, slightly cosmetically imperfect ... [which is] challenging for supermarkets because they believe consumers want a perfect cucumber. We're allowing 'perfect' to become this enemy of good."

Ultimately, to reduce plastic contamination, Porterfield said food waste management systems needed to be "as easy as possible to make it mindless for people to separate things efficiently".

Roy advised "old school environmentalism" to reduce litter overall: "buy in bulk" and "make every effort to separate".

Of all the food produced in the world, around one third of it is wasted annually, according to the UN's figures PHOTOGRAPH: LEE HUDSON/ALABEY

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26

Eyewitnessed Pictures of the week

▶ A young woman taken from the sea by local police after crossing the border in Ceuta, Spain. Police said more than 20,000 migrants were believed to have entered the city, skirting the breakwater that separates Ceuta from Morocco MARIO MORAN/INA/ZUMA/SHUTTERSTOCK

▲ People walk on bone-dry grass along the cliff-top above the lighthouse at Beachy Head, near Eastbourne, on the south coast of England BROOK MITCHELL/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

◀ Smoke billows around people leaving a block of flats hit by a Russian bomb in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine UKRINFORM/SHUTTERSTOCK

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◀ Hordes of visitors seek relief from the summer heat at the crescent-shaped, 3,500-metre stretch of Golden Beach in Qingdao in China's Shandong province PHOTOGRAPH: HAN SAJUN/VCG/GETTY IMAGES

▲ A horse and rider commune ahead of the annual Trustees Cup polo tournament at the Nairobi Polo Club in the Kenyan capital GERALD ANDERSON/ANADOLU/GETTY

▲ The highest-resolution image of the sun's surface ever captured, taken by the Inouye solar telescope REF/NGO/AURA/MPS/APP/GETTY IMAGES

◀ A female Amur tiger being released back into the wild at the Ile-Balkhash state nature reserve in the Almaty region, marking the species' first return to its natural habitat in Kazakhstan in more than 70 years KAZAKHSTAN'S MINISTRY OF ECOLOGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES/REUTERS

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28

World

Saudi Arabia

signs Nato-style pact with Turkey and Pakistan

Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor

Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey signed a mutual defence agreement yesterday, placing three of the Muslim world's most influential states into a Nato-style pact, as Riyadh confronts attacks from Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen.

The pact agreed in Mecca by the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and Pakistan's president, Shehbaz Sharif, stipulates an attack on one country will be deemed an attack on all.

The Houthis and Saudi Arabia have increased their military exchanges in the past month and the first test of the pact may come in Yemen.

On Thursday, Houthi forces killed at least 58 Yemeni government troops in missile and drone attacks, according to a military source. A separate attack into southern Saudi Arabia, bordering Yemen, injured 11 civilians.

The three Sunni Muslim-led countries are concerned by increasing regional jeopardy after the US-Israeli war on the Shia government in Iran, with Donald Trump unable to contain the conflict.

It is disputed whether the Houthi group is acting on the instructions of Iran or instead, as it insists, trying to lift what it regards as a Saudi blockade of Houthi-controlled territory inside Yemen.

The present conflict broke out when an Iranian plane flew to the Houthi-controlled capital, Sana'a, supposedly to transport a Yemeni delegation to the funeral of the former Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei. Saudi intelligence claimed the plane was carrying Iranian weaponry for the Houthis.

Riyadh has already developed a 10-nation naval coalition that is supposed to protect commercial shipping

▲ Turkey's Erdoğan, Saudi Prince Mohammed and Pakistan's Sharif

from Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and the Bab-el-Mandeb strait. The Houthis insist they are firing only on Saudi-linked shipping and there is no immediate sign that the naval coalition is deterring the Houthis.

A Houthi drone strike yesterday killed three members of Yemen's government in an attack on a military camp in Marib. Ten missiles and seven explosive drones were fired. The Houthis said they were reacting to what appeared to be a large, Saudi-led military buildup.

Saudi intelligence sources say they are picking up reports not just of increased Houthi hostility but likely attacks on Saudi interests by Iranian-backed militia inside Iraq. Saudi Arabia has been working to persuade Trump not to launch massive attacks into Iran.

A Saudi spokesperson, in response to the Houthi attacks, said it did not "seek escalation but we will not allow the current balance of power on the ground to be changed".

Yemeni sources said recently they believed Saudi Arabia was preparing for a major offensive against the Houthis by sea and possibly by land in central Yemen, in a move to break their chokehold on Saudi oil exports through the southern Red Sea.

In a separate attack yesterday, a Saudi official accused the Houthis of shelling civilian areas in Saudi Arabia, injuring 11 civilians, including a four-year-old child. Maj Gen Turki al-Maliki, spokesperson for the Saudi-led military coalition supporting Yemen's government, said it would continue taking all necessary measures to protect civilians.

The attack was in southern Najran province, and injured seven Saudis, one Yemeni, two Egyptians and one Pakistani national, Maliki said. Neither the Houthis nor Iran immediately commented.

Saudi Arabia and the Houthis have been vying for control of Yemen for more than a decade, but over the past month an uneasy status quo has unravelled, with the Houthis mounting attacks against Saudi Aramco oil facilities.

The Houthi movement, which controls Sana'a and much of Yemen's Red Sea coastline, declared a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia last month.

Additional reporting Reuters, Agence France-Presse and Associated Press

'We tried to stay hopeful' Grief, fear and defiance on a trip through Iran

Nawal Al-Maghafi Minab

The excavator stops suddenly. One of the workers reaches into the rubble and pulls something free. It isn't twisted metal or broken concrete. It's a child's exercise book. The pages are still intact, covered in neat handwriting. On the front is a name: Mahya Salari. She was eight years old.

Five months after a missile tore through Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school in Minab, southern Iran, excavators are still clearing the site. According to the Minab prosecutor's office, 156 people, including 120 children, were killed here when a US-made Tomahawk cruise missile struck on the first day of the war.

Across the city, portraits of the dead cover walls, shopfronts and roadside billboards, turning Minab into a symbol of civilian suffering.

When the US-Israeli attack on Iran began on 28 February, Donald Trump urged Iranians to "seize control of your destiny". Instead, the conflict reshaped Iran in ways few expected.

The overnight train from Tehran

▲ A boy at the funeral last month of Iran's leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

to Bandar Abbas runs almost 900 miles (1,400km), linking Iran's political heart with its strategic southern coastline on the strait of Hormuz. It passes mountains, desert and the nuclear sites of Natanz and Fordow before reaching the Gulf. Onboard are students, footballers, businessmen and families. People from every corner of Iran, each carrying their own version of what the war has meant.

Azadeh, a lawyer, says the first days of the conflict were frightening. "It is in every Iranian's nature to adapt," she says. "We tried to continue living our lives, to keep our routines and remain hopeful."

When asked what she thought about the protests at the start of the year and about the many who believed war could bring political change, she pauses before quietly declining to answer and turning her head away from the conversation.

Inside the sleeper carriage, conversations drift swiftly between family, work and everyday life,

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Thai school shooting

Teen kills seven and injures more than 30

Page 30

Shear audacity

New Zealand's wool industry is revived

Page 33

but politics is different. Speaking openly about politics in Iran carries obvious risks.

Her travelling companion, Sepideh, a beautician, is more willing to talk. "I love Iran," she says. "I love it so much. But when I see my youth slipping away and my dreams disappearing, I have no choice but to leave."

Farther down the train, two young footballers are travelling home. The domestic league has resumed after a months-long suspension. Asked what they remember most about the war, Abdollah says: "They attacked a school that was full of children ... They were seven, eight and nine years old. Our whole country was upset. The day of the funeral ... everyone cried."

At Bandar Abbas, a road then turns inland towards Minab, a two- hour journey. It is a city known for its date palms and its busy Thursday market. Today, the war dominates almost every street.

Portraits of children killed in the school attack hang from buildings and lamp-posts. At the edge of the city, Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school remains a shell. Concrete floors have collapsed on to one another. Twisted steel protrudes from shattered classrooms while excavators continue clearing the site. Among the rubble lies Mahya

◄ Mourning victims of the US missile strike on a school that killed 156 people, including 120 children PHOTOGRAPH: JACK GAKLAND/BBC

Salari's exercise book. Mahya had been at school with her younger brother, Ali. Their mother arrived to collect them shortly before the strike. All three were killed.

Amaineh Nademi taught first grade here for six years. "You can't call it a school any more," she says. "There are only walls that smell of death, grief and blood."

She remembers parents running barefoot towards the building. "I thought everyone had escaped. I didn't know they were all under the rubble."

The Pentagon has so far provided no answers on the bombing, which came during strikes on an adjacent military compound.

Reza Besharati, a Red Crescent responder, says he still relives that morning: "Even now, I remember everything."

For some Iranians who once hoped outside pressure might weaken the government, Minab became a turning point.

"I accepted there being a war," one former protester says. "But not at the price of innocent people being killed. War destroys everything. It makes no distinction between good people and bad."

At Minab's cemetery, children weave between rows of small graves while families shelter from the afternoon sun. Masoumeh Mehran Shekhabadi comes here almost every day. Her nine-year-old daughter, Setayesh, was killed in the strike. "When I arrived there was only the smell of smoke and children's hair," she says. "I saw a hand. I saw a foot. They had been torn to pieces."

Back in Tehran, during a brief pause in the fighting, hundreds of thousands, and by official accounts millions, gather for the funeral of Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, four months after his death. Portraits line the streets. Revolutionary songs echo through loudspeakers. Chants of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" ripple through the crowds. The funeral is a moment of mourning and a carefully choreographed display of political unity.

"I know many people who opposed the government," says Soraya, attending her first political march. "Today they support it." Whether that reflects wider public opinion is impossible to know.

Across Iran there is no single narrative of the war. From the ruins of a school in Minab to the crowds gathered in Tehran, the journey reveals a country transformed by war. As the conflict continues, so does the struggle to shape the legacy it will leave behind.

Nawal Al-Maghafi is a BBC senior international investigations correspondent. Her report for Global Eye from Iran is on BBC iPlayer

Tehran

Dragging out talks to keep Trump in war could backfire

Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor

Tehran has set out a protracted negotiating timetable designed to keep Donald Trump embroiled in the Iran conflict until the US midterm elections, in the hope of inflicting the same ruinous blow on his presidency that the 1979-81 US embassy hostage crisis dealt to Jimmy Carter.

For many inside Iran, revenge on Trump is a legitimate and self- standing war aim. While Iranian officials have not trusted the US since the 1979 Islamic revolution, that animus is now personal and Trump's political demise has become a subject of obsessive speculation in Tehran. Iranian media track his waning ratings, attributing the decline to the war's unpopularity and high oil prices.

The focus on the US midterms became more obvious this week when Kazem Gharibabadi, an Iranian deputy foreign minister, toid the official IRNA news agency that after agreeing a route for shipping in the strait of Hormuz, it would take two to four months to reach the key second phase of negotiations on Tehran's nuclear programme.

To get to that stage, he laid out conditions including the lifting of sanctions, the end of the US blockade of Iranian ports, the unfreezing of assets and new commitments on non-belligerence.

If the Iranians get their way on this timetable, Trump will be going to the polls with no Iranian commitment on nuclear weapons, only a hefty economic bill for a failed war. "This raises the very likely scenario of continued cycles of conflict between the US and Tehran over the strait," said Jason Brodsky, from United Against a Nuclear Iran, an advocate of the war. "There won't be any true quiet before the midterm elections - Tehran has no interest in giving this to the Trump administration. It will continue to play games."

Some in Iran believe the loss of Congress will inhibit Trump, lead to his impeachment, or at the very least mark the end of the war's funding. Mostafa Zahrani, a former Iranian diplomat, argued that electoral defeat "will make it inevitable that Trump will not be able to go back to war and will take the negotiations seriously".

Others such as Nasser Hadian, a professor of international relations at Tehran University, disagree. He is an advocate of cashing in Iran's victories now rather than waiting for Trump to become weaker. He said: "If he loses, he'll have less incentive to reach an agreement with Iran, because in that case he'll be weakened, and Israel and others will find it much easier to attack him - something they don't dare do

'Those who say

that we should wait for the midterm elections have no understanding of politics in America'

Nasser Hadian Tehran University

now. Those who say we should wait for the midterm elections have no understanding of politics in America."

However, Iranian diplomats overall believe Trump's freedom to act will indeed be constrained by the unpopularity of more conflict and by Republican presidential candidates' eagerness to wrap it up. Trump would also be at risk of seeing his whole second term consumed by a disastrous war.

The bigger question is what Iran itself wants to achieve. Agreeing to keep the dispute simmering until November is not an answer to that question - one that Iranians are better at debating than resolving.

The Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, repeatedly says he does not want endless war, and insists the vast majority of the supreme national security council concur. He still has faith in the memorandum of understanding (MoU) agreed in June, saying it should be the cornerstone of Iran's foreign policy.

But the Kayhan newspaper, one of the conservatives' chief outlets, describes the MoU as worthless since the US always breaks its commitments. "Accordingly, officials should know that the strait of Hormuz is not a bargaining chip and should not be opened as a passage for America," it said.

Hardliners and moderates have visions of the war leading to a new regional security architecture. But the hardliners put the emphasis on the US's expulsion from the region and see this as something less to be negotiated and more to be enforced, using control of the strait of Hormuz's entry points as a lever to close American bases.

Pezeshkian says he sees a place for legitimate US investment in Iran, while the former foreign minister Javad Zarif in a fresh essay this week argued that Iran in "a post-polar era would benefit from not depending solely on Russia and China in future".

If Iran developed "a balanced and multifaceted foreign policy", Tehran would not be forced into relationships based on necessity, he wrote. "Continuing uncontrolled tensions with the United States not only imposes direct costs on Iran, but also makes it more difficult for other countries, even close partners such as China and Russia, to cooperate with Iran."

So just as Trump cannot resolve from one sentence to the next what he thinks of Iran, nor can Iran yet agree what it thinks it can get from the US.

◄ Personal revenge on Trump is seen as a legitimate aim in Tehran PHOTOGRAPH: STYLIN ROCKSTEIN/MILTERS

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World

School shooting shakes Thailand, with eight killed including suspect and grandparents

Natasha May Bangkok

A Thai teenager killed his grandparents before opening fire at his school, where he shot five people dead and took his own life, police have said, in an attack that has shaken a country struggling to deal with gun violence.

The 14-year-old injured more than 30 people in the shooting at the prestigious Debsirin Nonthaburi school north-west of Bangkok. Nine people were in a critical condition, the Thai health department said.

For Prompong Namwong, an English teacher at the school, it was a normal morning until a panicked student from another class flung open the door, trying to find somewhere to hide. In the corridor, Prompong heard other teachers shouting that there had been a mass shooting downstairs.

When Prompong recounted the ordeal to the Guardian, he hesitated between calling the 14-year-old, whom he saw run in front of his classroom, "killer" or "student".

At that moment, "I thought I was going to die, for sure," he said.

The suspected attacker fired at least 26 bullets with a gun belonging to his grandfather, and was found with 34 additional ammunition rounds.

The suspected shooter remained inside the school after reports of the attack emerged, Arsit Sampantharat, the permanent secretary of the interior ministry, told PPTV.

A lockdown at the school was declared over in about half an hour. Prompong said that when he heard a knock, he thought it was the end of his life, but instead it was the police coming to their rescue.

Images from the scene showed students running with only socks

▲ Rescue workers help distraught family members and, right, an injured teacher PHOTOGRAPHS: SIPA US/ALAMY; CHALINEE THIRASUPA/REUTERS

on their feet as they were evacuated from the school. The children, as is customary across Asia, had taken their shoes off outside their classrooms, but in the panic to escape the grounds they had left the shoes strewn around lunch tables and the stairs outside classrooms.

By the afternoon, the sports area where the students would usually have been playing was filled with officials and media, as the country's leader vowed to implement new gun laws. The prime minister, Anutin

◀ Students hurry to evacuate the school after the incident. Casualties included more than 30 injured PHOTOGRAPH: CHALINEE THIRASUPA/REUTERS

Charnvirakul, told reporters the new law would allow only government officials on duty to carry guns, but did not provide any specifics, including whether the legislation would tighten gun ownership requirements.

Thailand has the highest rate of civilian gun ownership in south-east Asia, and the Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey in 2017 placed the country 13th worldwide for small-gun possession.

Mass shootings have regularly occurred in Thailand, including incidents at schools and a large Bangkok mall, and a 2022 attack in the country's north-east that killed 37 people, including 22 children.

The country's licensing regime still lacks mental health screening for people applying to have a gun and does not require periodic reassessments for licence holders, according to Piyaporn Tanneekul, an associate professor at Nakhon Pathom Rajabhat University in Thailand.

Pichanan Thiengtham was in the teachers' lounge when she heard the shots at about 10am. But she said she could not believe at first that it was a gun. "There were so many shots and they lasted for a long time without stopping," she said.

It was only when the art teacher saw one of the injured students that she realised what was happening. "I took the injured student to get first aid and then transferred them to the hospital [in the school] building."

Kiatikhun Verapongpradith, an emergency worker, arrived as the shooting was taking place. He said his team had treated students with injuries in the back, chest and arms.

They found a male teacher lying dead on an upper floor of the school, and in another room they found a female teacher with wounds to her chest and arm, Kiatikhun said.

The school is part of the Debsirin network, founded by the Thai royal family. Its alumni include prime ministers, scholars and writers.

Prompong found out in the school's group chat that some of his friends had not survived.

"They're all good teachers," he said. "I don't know what to say. My life has to go on, but right now ... it's a very great shock. I never thought to myself that it would happen - really happen - in my school."

Additional reporting Reuters and Associated Press

Race to house hundreds camping in Rome heat after squat eviction

Angela Giuffrida Rome

Rome authorities are scrambling to find homes for hundreds of people sleeping in tents in extreme heat after talks aimed at saving Italy's most high-profile centre for housing and social assistance collapsed amid a crackdown by Giorgia Meloni's government on squatted buildings.

The approximately 400 evicted residents of Spin Time Labs, located in a 10-floor building in Rome's Esquilino district occupied by grassroots groups since 2013, will not be allowed to move back in after its private owner refused Rome council's offer to buy the property. The residents were forced out at the end of last month.

A spokesperson for Italy's interior ministry, which had set its sights on shutting down Spin Time Labs,

confirmed that the owner had taken repossession of the building "in accordance with the law".

The move has reignited political debate over occupied or squatted buildings, which Meloni's government regard as dens for criminality - including those supported by leftwing associations. Critics have questioned why Meloni and her coalition allies have long been so decisively against Spin Time Labs while the neofascist CasaPound has occupied a state-owned building in the same neighbourhood for more than 20 years, using the premises as its headquarters.

People of all nationalities, about a

quarter of them children, were forced to evacuate Spin Time Labs on 29 July after a minor fire, which was quickly extinguished by a group of residents before it could spread.

▲ About 400 residents were forced out after a minor fire at the end of July

The building was locked up by police during safety checks, before being placed under two judicial seizure orders.

While some people were accommodated by friends and family, more than 200, including elderly people and those with ill health, have been sleeping in tents outside the building. One child was hospitalised this week with breathing difficulties.

Rome's leftwing council is now seeking alternative solutions. The mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, said the council's offer to buy the site was met with an "irrevocable no" and that he "had the impression that the decision had already been taken".

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▼ People watch a 2023 eclipse. Next week's will be the first of three visible from Spain in the next two years

PHOTOGRAPH: ALFREDO ESTRELLA/APP

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Don't look now Spain braced for total eclipse

Sam Jones

Somosierra

Little stirs in the mountains above Somosierra beyond the wind that lashes the flat peaks, the cows that graze on parched grass and the sun that beats down on the abandoned aerodrome where generations of glider pilots learned to ride air currents.

But all this stillness will disappear, albeit temporarily, on the evening of 12 August, when swathes of northern and eastern Spain and the Balearic islands experience a total solar eclipse, the likes of which has not been seen here for more than 120 years.

The rare celestial alignment has suddenly turned Somosierra - a small village that sits at an altitude of 1,440 metres where the northernmost reaches of the Madrid region fade into neighbouring Castilla y León and Castilla-La Mancha - into a prime astrotourist destination. No site as close to the Spanish capital will enjoy what Somosierra will: one minute and 29 seconds of pure, clear-skied total eclipse.

Awe-inspiring as the event promises to be, however, it has thrown up all sorts of unexpected but pressing questions for the village and its 93 inhabitants.

With as many as 2,000 visitors expected, where will everyone park? Will there be enough water? And, last but not least, how many batches of paella will the local restaurant need to prepare?

"The fact that we've been selected as the best place in the Madrid region to watch the eclipse has led to a huge amount of media and social media coverage," said Somosierra council's tourism manager, Irma López Muñoz, as she looked out across the eclipse observation site, a 10-minute drive up past the village.

"That's generated a lot of interest among people in Madrid - and some from abroad. So we're anticipating a large influx of visitors because it is a unique event that hasn't been seen for over 100 years."

Even before the recent huge wildfires broke out to the west of Madrid, Somosierra council was thinking about how to minimise risk factors on the day of the eclipse and has been coordinating its efforts with police and civil protection authorities.

Although the village council has offered 400 official registration slots, it believes five times as many people could turn up on the day.

"We're very close to a major European capital with a huge population, and many people are going to come without seeking out information beforehand," said López Muñoz. "That's beyond

Total solar eclipse: 12 August 2026

▲ The mountains near Somosierra are expected to attract thousands of visitors from nearby Madrid

PHOTOGRAPH: BEN ROBERTS/PANOS PICTURES

our control. We can't predict that someone might be watching television and say: 'Well, I'm going to make some sandwiches and see the eclipse with my children.'"

With that in mind, the council is scrambling to recruit and educate volunteers to help steward events on 12 August. It recently hired El Nocturnario, a company of astrotourism experts, to deliver a day's training to the volunteers who had gathered in Somosierra's tiny cultural centre to learn about the joys and dangers of eclipses.

One of the volunteers, María Gradaille, said she was delighted to help out with what she called "a once-in-a-lifetime event and a historic scientific milestone". She was also grateful for the knowledge and the tips she had picked up at the training session.

"I've learned so much about the eclipse," she said. "I didn't know it could burn your eyes so badly or just how dangerous it can be."

According to Sarai de la Hoz, one of El Nocturnario's co-founders, local and regional authorities around Spain are belatedly beginning to wake up the potential benefits of all things astronomical. The looming total solar eclipse will be followed by a six-minute-long "eclipse of the century" in August next year, and a spectacular "ring of fire eclipse" in January 2028.

Little wonder, then, that the Spanish government has set up a special committee to oversee the trio of eclipses. As the government spokesperson Elma Saiz Delgado pointed out on Tuesday, the events will put Spain "at the centre of global astronomical observation and astrotourism". This first eclipse alone is expected to attract 446,000 additional visitors in a year when tourist numbers in Spain could pass the 100-million mark for the first time. The event is also forecast to bring in an extra €342m (£293m) in tourist revenue.

"When we started talking about the eclipse a year ago, people kind of thought we were mad. They were like: 'It's not going to be that big a deal', and: 'Not that many people will come,'" said De la Hoz. "But as time's gone by and the authorities have realised what's to come, we're been getting calls from people who need our help."

While much of the training she and her colleagues provide is about eclipses and how to watch one safely, the classes also involve a lot of logistics.

Authorities in the Balearics, which are bracing for huge numbers of extra visitors, have already announced that restrictions will be introduced on 20 main roads across Mallorca, Ibiza, Menorca and Formentera from 3pm until 9pm on the day of the eclipse.

Practicalities of a rather different nature are on the mind of Yolanda Cerezo, who has run the Hotel Restaurante El Puerto de Somosierra for the past 26 years. Sitting on the shady terrace of the hotel and restaurant, Cerezo pondered the possibility of a tenfold increase in the 200 to 300 customers she would normally serve on a busy day.

"We've had some big one-day events and parties, but we've never seen this kind of volume," she said. "The eclipse is going to be a long day, but we have to make the most of it. We're not going to see another day like it, are we? It'll be unique."

Cerezo is hoping to get the necessary licences to set up a stall and a bar at the observation site.

"If I do a massive paella and it runs out, I'll ring down to my people in the kitchen here and they'll prepare another one and bring it up," she said. "We can't leave people stuck halfway up a mountain with nothing to eat."

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World

'Her face was beaten in'

How Taliban rule brought in a new era of Afghan women being killed

Khadija Haidary, Zahra Nader, Hura Omar and Atousa Azar for Zan Times

In a voice message recorded weeks before she died, Liza Shams, 33, asked a relative to pray for her. "There's no end to my days of misfortune," she said. "Pray that God shames Hasib [her husband, Hasibullah Sarwar] in front of the whole world for what he has done to me."

In a second recording, Shams described being beaten by Sarwar while pregnant, then kept isolated for days, injured to the point she could not eat or speak. "I'm a woman, fine, I should not talk about what happens in my home," she said. "But I can't do this any more."

On the afternoon of 1 February, her neighbours heard screaming and alerted the police. A short while earlier, her father, Shamsuddin Shams, had received a video call from his daughter. Her injuries were shocking. "Her jaw was broken and she could hardly talk," he said, but she had managed to pass the message that her husband had beaten her again.

Shamsuddin Shams immediately called his two other daughters living close by, who arrived at the house and took her to Rahmat hospital in Kabul. About an hour after her arrival, Liza Shams died.

The report on her death showed that her face had been beaten in. The CT scan findings described multiple fractures to her cheekbones and sinus walls, an injury pattern consistent with enormous blunt-force trauma to the face. Photographs of her body and the report's physical examination, conducted the evening she died, document

▲ Liza Shams' death was recorded as suicide despite her extensive injuries

extensive bruising, injuries and swelling across her face and body.

Despite the extensive nature of her injuries, the forensic report listed the probable cause of death as ingesting rat-poison, noting an autopsy was not performed at the family's request (Shams' father said this request came from her in-laws).

Her husband's family did not respond to questions, but have argued that she took her own life, and that the bruising covering her body was a side-effect of poison.

Suicide is frequently listed as the cause of death in Afghanistan in cases in which women die in violent circumstances - a designation that typically means no one will be held accountable for the death. Shams' father believes her death was murder.

The Taliban does not collect any data on how many Afghan women are killed each year. The attorney general's office, which used to collate this information, was abolished in 2023.

To measure what the state will not, reporters for Zan Times,

a collective of journalists who work undercover in Afghanistan, collected cases of women killed in 10 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, drawing on 174 instances reported by local media, as well as 57 cases documented directly by the journalists but previously unreported.

The investigation found women across Afghanistan were being killed at home by husbands, fathers and brothers, in a system that all but guaranteed impunity for the crime. Many cases were never entered into official records.

The team documented 231 cases, of which 53 were declared suicide. The provinces with the highest recorded tolls were Jawzjan (36), Herat (32), Badakhshan (28) and Ghazni (26). The age of victims ranged from girls as young as five to women of 65. Seven out of 10 victims - 165 of 231 - were housewives with no independent income or institutional standing to pursue a domestic violence case.

Most cases occurred in the victim's home. Across the dataset, only 58 arrests were recorded. More than one in five of the total cases were officially declared suicide, even when there was significant evidence of foul play.

In the cases where an arrest was made, the suspect was often released, sometimes just a day after being detained.

The reporters found a number of deaths that according to family or witnesses had resulted from domestic violence, but were being officially recorded as suicides.

A healthcare worker in Jawzjan said many of the dead women that came to hospital and were labelled suicides had clearly been beaten, their bodies covered in wounds and bruises.

Freshta Emady, 33, a UN agency employee in Kabul, was found dead in her home on 31 May. Her husband reportedly told Taliban police she had killed herself, citing a psychiatric condition.

Her family and friends, however, believe she was killed by her husband. Five people who knew her said Emady, who had been married off at 17, had spent 15 years being beaten, choked and controlled. A colleague said Emady had described her husband repeatedly strangling her and telling her: "I'll cut your throat."

Often, there can be deadly consequences when families try to intervene on behalf of daughters or sisters. In Kandahar, a 14-year-old girl was killed after being given into marriage to a much older man. Her husband was violent, and she fled to her father's family. When her

'I'm a woman, fine, I should not talk about what happens in my home. But I can't do this any more'

Liza Shams Voice message

▲ A mural in Kabul in 2020, when gender-based violence rates were already three times the global average PHOTOGRAPH: WAKIL KOHSAR/GETTY

husband came to force her home in October 2024, she refused to go. He drew a pistol and killed her. Her younger brother, who ran to help, was also shot and died a week later.

The Taliban opened a file but her husband, a serving member of the group, was never arrested.

In May in Sar-e-Pol province, Sara, 16, and her mother, Chaman, an Iranian-trained doctor, were shot dead by a local Taliban official who had forced an engagement on the teenager. When Chaman refused to hand her daughter over without the agreed dowry, he beat her with his rifle and, as Sara ran to her mother, he shot them both. He was captured after a manhunt and remains in jail.

The Taliban's new criminal code means a husband's punishment for beating his wife to the point of visible injury such as fracture or wounds is capped at 15 days' imprisonment. If a wife goes to

her family's house without her husband's permission, however, and her family does not return her on request, she and her family are subject to three months in prison. The code creates a legal structure in which seeking refuge from domestic violence brings a worse punishment than the violence itself.

Even before the Taliban, women in Afghanistan were experiencing gender-based violence at rates nearly three times higher than the global average.

The UN Women's 2024 Afghanistan Gender Index, which was published in June last year, found that in 2018, almost 35% of Afghan women had reported violence from a partner in the previous 12 months - compared with a global average of 13% of women.

Since the Taliban's return to power, the scant protections that previously existed for women facing violence have been stripped away. After August 2021, the Taliban dissolved the Ministry of Women's Affairs, the special

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prosecutor's office for violence against women, and the country's shelter network. About 250 female judges were removed from the bench; female prosecutors were sent home.

Afghan law no longer permits a woman to be a direct party to her own legal case, so mothers cannot pursue justice for their

▲ Liza Shams in a family portrait. Her father believes she was murdered

daughters. In Takhar province, Shamsia (not her real name), the mother of a 23-year-old woman who was stabbed and set on fire by her husband in May 2025, said she had been ordered by the local court to transfer power of attorney to her husband to pursue the case because a woman could not be "a direct party to a petition or case file". Months on, the case has gone nowhere.

Our reporters could not interview most of the families of the women killed. Fear closed many doors; in several provinces, the journalists received threats after even attempting to make contact. The 231 cases in the dataset are not Afghanistan's femicide total - they provide only a snapshot of the potential killings, the dynamics that enable them and the impunity that many killers enjoy.

Liza Shams' case will probably be decided by a Taliban court. Her father, who has little hope of anyone being held responsible, has turned to social media, publishing recordings, hospital footage and documents in a campaign for

justice for his daughter. He said that speaking up has already come with a cost. His daughters who took Liza to hospital were subsequently summoned by the Taliban and have now gone into hiding. "It is because we spoke to the media, the Taliban don't want issues like this to become public."

Among the recordings her father released was a voice message Liza Shams sent to her brother-in-law, in which she spoke about her marriage and her life. "I feel like I'm suffocating," she said. "I suffer from these things. I'll try every day, I'll try every day, but this isn't working. Our life can't go on like this. I don't want our life to be bitter. My children are growing up, they'll look at us and see that we are fighting. But it can't go on like this."

• Zan Times reporters inside Afghanistan write under pen names for their safety. Additional reporting: Sophie Malek, Tarana Mohammadi, Simon Danishjo, Atia Farazar, Faranak, Horia, Royo, Taraga, Maria, Gawharshad, Raha and Nahid

Sunny outlook for sheep

New Zealand wool back in vogue after steady decline

Eva Corlett

Wellington

John Hargreaves' family has farmed sheep and beef in Kaiwaka, north of Auckland, for generations. In the 1960s, they had 3,000 ewes but in the decades since, as the value of wool declined and costs grew, his flock slowly decreased to just over 1,700.

But now, for the first time in about six years, his wool is making money.

New Zealand's once famous wool industry is showing signs of a comeback, after the mounting costs of producing synthetic fabric triggered global demand for natural fibres. "We're now covering our shearing costs and making some sort of a profit," Hargreaves said.

Wool production dominated New Zealand's agricultural industry for nearly a century, with the number of sheep peaking at more than 70 million by the 1980s - or roughly 22 sheep to every human.

The economic policies of the 1980s, and a drop in global demand driven by the uptake of synthetic alternatives, drove down the price of wool. More recently, farmers have converted their pasture into more lucrative forestry blocks and dairy farming. There are now just over 23 million sheep, or 4.5 sheep to every human, according to Statistics New Zealand.

But Dave Burridge, national wool auction manager for PGG Wrightson, says the tight supply of wool globally and rising oil prices driven by the Middle East conflict are pushing up demand for wool.

"The raw material used to produce nylon and polyester fibres, they've all gone up in price," pushing buyers from countries such as China and India towards natural fibres.

▼ Sheep wait in the shed yards for shearing in John Hargreaves' farm in Kaiwaka, New Zealand

PHOTOGRAPH: FIONA GOODALL/GETTY IMAGES

Major global brands are also seeking out New Zealand wool. In April, French luxury brand Chanel signed an investment deal with Lammermoor Station, a 5,200-hectare (12,840-acre) farm in the Paerau Valley, to part-own and support the production of premium wool. The American clothing company Patagonia visited New Zealand in June to look into wool partnerships, and in May, the Turkish carpet manufacturer Kalida Hali struck a deal with Wools of New Zealand.

In June, the country's wool fetched some of the highest prices in 15 years at auction - ranging from NZ$6.47 (£2.82) to NZ$6.80 a kilogram for crossbred fleeces, with top-quality, good-colour fleeces, free from marks, reaching nearly NZ$8/kg.

There is still volatility in the market. Wool prices dipped at the most recent national auction, held in Christchurch on 30 July. The drop, partly driven by buyers stepping back after filling their commitments earlier in the season, was unsurprising, Burridge said.

"There was always quiet concern by players that the price had gone up very quickly, like unparalleled rises that we'd never seen before, and ... that things were going to probably come off at some stage."

But prices are still up NZ$2 on a year ago, and Burridge is hopeful for the industry's future. "I feel really excited about the long-term prospects, and convinced wool will have its day in the sun again."

Meanwhile, demand for New Zealand's high-quality wool is increasing within India, New Zealand's second-largest wool market, Federated Farmers' wool and meat manager, Richard Dawkins, says. A recent trade deal between the two countries will eliminate tariffs on wool.

New Zealand's culture needs to re-embrace wool to help bring stability to the market, Dawkins said. "It's one thing asking the world to buy our product, but we also need to embrace it ourselves."

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World

▼ Despite critics questioning the RCMP's role in policing, Ottawa has pledged to increase the force's budget PHOTOGRAPH: RENE JOHNSTON/TORONTO STAR

Canada's 'Mounties' face uncertain future amid scandals and demands for reform

Olivia Bowden

Toronto

With their bright red tunics, dark blue breeches and beige stetsons, the officers of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) offer a globally recognised symbol of Canada.

The "Mounties", as they are colloquially known, have even featured in Hollywood films and The Simpsons.

But the RCMP is facing an increasingly uncertain future amid questions over its core role and a string of scandals that range from claims of systemic racism to sexual harassment and public safety failures.

"We need to modernise and transform the RCMP, but we are a very long way away ... unfortunately, the future doesn't look particularly bright," said Kent Roach, a law professor at the University of Toronto, who this week

published a book on the pressures besetting the RCMP titled Red Alert.

On a national level, the RCMP handles security issues including foreign interference and terrorism, but also offers local policing services in eight of the country's 10 provinces and all three territories.

Those local policing contracts are set to expire in 2032, and even though the date is six years away, provincial leaders have called on the federal government to "urgently begin negotiations" for new agreements.

"The federal government must provide a clear decision on the future of RCMP contract policing," provincial premiers said in a joint communique after a meeting in Prince Edward Island last month.

The request for clarity on the contracts appears to have been prompted in part by the resignation of Justin Trudeau and his replacement as prime minister by Mark Carney in March last year.

Trudeau argued for widespread reform of the RCMP, recommending

the force abandon boots-on-the-ground policing to focus on national security.

But the Carney government has instead increased pay for RCMP cadets and committed an additional C$1.8bn (£960m) in spending over four years to its policing budget. Roach said one of the reasons for the investment was pressure from the US administration to crack down on supposed border issues.

But Roach argues that the RCMP in its current form is not feasible due to structural issues. Mounties typically operate in small, often temporary

'The RCMP seems stuck in a very paramilitary and colonial approach'

Prof Kent Roach

University of Toronto

detachments in Canada's rural communities where they do not speak local Indigenous languages.

That language gap feeds a historical lack of trust among First Nations communities, due to the force's colonial roots as a tool of repression. From its inception, the force enacted government rules that restricted the movement of Indigenous people, and from the 1930s, RCMP officers forced Indigenous children to attend abusive residential schools, according to the force's own records.

The strained relationship between the RCMP and Indigenous communities has been exacerbated by a series of high-profile cases.

The deaths of two Indigenous men, Dale Culver in 2017 and Jared Lowndes in 2021, after violent interactions with RCMP officers led to a public outcry. After the 2016 murder of Colton Boushie, the official watchdog for the RCMP found that the force had discriminated against Boushie's family.

The Mounties are also accused of systemic sexual harassment: a 2021 class action lawsuit resulted in the federal government paying more than C$125m to 2,304 female RCMP members, who said they had experienced sexual assault and harassment while on duty.

In the past decade, the RCMP has contended with two mass killings that led to wider criticisms around the force's abilities to keep the public safe. In April 2020, a man dressed as a Mountie killed 22 people in a shooting rampage in Nova Scotia. A government probe found that a string of RCMP missteps worsened the attack, as the force failed to share information with the public and its own officers. The RCMP came under further criticism in September 2022 over its slow response to a mass stabbing that killed 11 people on the James Smith Cree Nation in Saskatchewan and the nearby village of Weldon.

Several scholars have called on the RCMP to be replaced with a national service better equipped to confront 21st-century security threats.

Roach argued that Canada should consider other models rather than the RCMP "one size fits all" approach to all jurisdictions.

"The way the RCMP trained ... is very much out of touch," he said. "The RCMP seems stuck in a very paramilitary and frankly colonial approach."

Public Safety Canada, the federal agency responsible for national security, said Ottawa was in discussions with provinces and territories on "policing needs beyond 2032".

Florida boater 'tried to cut off diver's air' over lobster dispute

Ramon Antonio Vargas

A boater allegedly tried to kill a diver by cutting off his air supply while they fought over a spot to catch lobsters, according to authorities in Florida.

Michael Joseph Simpson Jr, 51, is accused of attempted murder after what a sheriff's office report portrayed as a particularly heated case

of boat rage on Miami's Biscayne Bay. Simpson denies the charges.

According to the report, the alleged victim, Hunter Coffer, was onboard a vessel preparing to search for lobsters on the morning of 29 July when another boat pulled up and circled the area several times.

People on the vessel began arguing that their "spot" had been stolen by those on Coffer's boat. Another larger boat then arrived as the bickering

continued and Coffer dived into the water while connected to an apparatus that supplied breathing air from the surface.

People were warned to stay away from Coffer's breathing apparatus - a tankless, surface-supplied diving system marketed as Brownie's Third Lung - because it was being used, the sheriff's report said.

It added that Simpson then said: "I'll turn the Brownie off if I want to." He also allegedly swam up to the apparatus, turned it off and deprived Coffer of his air supply in view of several witnesses.

According to the sheriff's report, at least one of Coffer's companions

shouted: "We have a diver down there, you asshole!"

One of them then jumped into the water and pulled Coffer to the surface using the air hose to which he was connected.

Coffer was said to be gasping for air, disoriented and entangled by the hose as well as a boat anchor line when he surfaced.

The sheriff's report alleged that a witness took photos and video of the encounter on a mobile, with footage showing Simpson "swimming rapidly away from ... the Brownie after it was shut off".

Simpson then "fled" onboard the larger boat while accompanied

by the other vessel, the sheriff's office said. Howard Srebnick, a lawyer for Simpson, said in a statement issued on Thursday that his client "never disabled anyone's diving equipment".

He added: "Video footage of the event corroborates that one of the accusers fell off their boat and became entangled in the third-lung device while Mr Simpson was nowhere near it."

"Simpson has devoted his life to boating safety," Srebnick's statement said. "He has earned a reputation as one of south Florida's safest and most responsible boaters and serves on a boating safety council."

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John Crace's diary Nige has a week to get his story straight Page 37

Dorky, yet delightful Three stars for Ted Lasso's return to TV Page 40

Spotlight

The

Saturday Read

By Ajit Niranjan

▼ Heavy smoke rises from a wildfire about 70km north-west of Athens last weekend, driven by fierce winds PHOTOGRAPH: ANGELOS TZORTZINIS/AFP/GETTY

Scientists race to

understand the devastating impact of toxic fumes on health as extreme weather becomes more common How wildfire smoke is killing 1.5m a year

A thousand kilometres from the infernos gorging on northern Ontario's boreal forests, an emergency room doctor, Erin O'Connor, watched the sky above Canada's biggest city turn an "almost post-apocalyptic" orange as it filled with light-scattering particles of soot and ash. Stepping outside the halls of Toronto General hospital, where air filters were keeping patients safe from the worst of the fumes, she was struck by a smell so strong it felt like standing by a campfire. "It really hit you in the face as soon as you walked outside," said O'Connor, who runs University Health Network's emergency

department and saw a rise in patients presenting allergies and shortness of breath. "As the days progressed, it was like that everywhere. It seemed even inside you could smell that burning." Flames have engulfed southern Europe and North America in recent weeks, but it is the smoke that dominates the astonishing death toll from wildfires. Thick with toxic gases that inflame the airways and tiny particulates that breach the lungs and ride the bloodstream to hit every organ, fumes from landscape fires kill 1.5 million people a year, a study in the Lancet found in 2024 - more than floods, flames, storms and heat combined. So damaging are the lung- scarring effects that people far from the fires may still perish. The plumes spewed by wildfires

in Canada in 2023 caused 82,000 early deaths, a study in Nature found last year, with unfavourable winds pushing a third of the mortality burden into the US and another quarter into Europe. About 10% of the UK's fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution comes from biomass burned abroad, researchers found in March. Yet while scientists agree the health burden of wildfire smoke is enormous, they are only beginning to untangle the complex links between exposure and mortality. The questions are growing more pressing as climate breakdown makes fire weather more severe. What if hotter infernos cause pollution to peak at even more extreme levels? What if bad air lasts days or weeks? What if a severe

◀ Continued on page 36

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56

Spotlight

The Saturday Read

Continued from page 35

episode hits before a person has fully recovered from the last bout?

The lack of answers in the existing research makes it hard to get a handle on how brutal the fallout from this furious fire season will be. Early signs are troubling, with vast tracts of vegetation torched close to big European cities and, after a late but explosive start to the North American fire season, smoke choking major population centres such as Chicago and New York City. In Toronto, which briefly had the worst air quality of any major metropolis last month - a title claimed by Portland in the US on Wednesday - O'Connor said she could not remember such bad pollution, with such a sudden onset that took so long to clear up.

"I had never looked outside and had the sky seem orange in the middle of the day," said O'Connor, who rushed to pull her son from summer camp. "Certainly, we have had other wildfire smoke, but in more of a transient way."

Perhaps surprisingly, the death toll from a fire season can depend on the whims of the wind as much as the size of the fire. Wildfires in France spewed record amounts of pollution in the first half of the year and in Spain emissions have so far fallen just shy of the worst it has known. But even though monster infernos were halted alarmingly close to Madrid and Bordeaux, the smoke was mostly blown away from where people live. Daily particulate pollution levels still peaked at a staggering 342 micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic metre (µg/m³) in Bordeaux on 24

July - and 486µg/m³ in Limoges, 180km (112 miles) away, the following day - but other big cities in southern Europe were spared the extremes that doctors fear.

North America has not been so lucky. As winds blew south and south-east from forests in Ontario and the Northwest Territories, at least 36 million people across the continent were breathing air fouled by "very unhealthy" concentrations of PM2.5 that exceeded 125.5µg/m³ on 16 July, preliminary analysis conducted for the Guardian shows. At least 10 million people were exposed to more than 250µg/m³, according to the estimates, a level of daily pollution that smog-choked New Delhi saw only eight times last year.

Scientists say the hit to air quality in some big cities is reminiscent of the megafires in 2023 that came with vast death tolls. "As soon as we have massive

population centres exposed, we're going to see those increases," said Stephanie Cleland, a wildfire health scientist at Simon Fraser University, who considered only people living within 25km of a measuring station in her calculations for the Guardian and said the figures are therefore conservative. "I would be concerned by the fact that it's only been three years since this last happened and now we're having it again," she said.

In a quiet suburb of Duluth, in north-east Minnesota, the worst of the smoke was seen, smelled and tasted on 16 July. Jae Jeon and

Dan McClelland, a married couple who grow flowers for weddings and subscription deliveries, were looking forward to opening the windows after days baking in oppressive heat. Instead, they woke up to a fog that they soon realised was made up of something much worse. By late morning, their local hardware store had sold out of masks and air purifiers. People resorted to attaching furnace filters to box fans instead.

The McClellands were among 12,000 people in West Duluth who were exposed to an average of 541µg/m³ of fine particulate pollution, the analysis shows, higher than anywhere else in North America. They sent their sole farmworker home early after she complained of a headache but, with two weddings coming up at the weekend, they still had plenty of flowers to pick and arrange. The couple got to work harvesting roses, clematises and sweet peas, surrounded by a dystopian haze the likes of which they had never experienced.

"It felt like working in a war zone," said Jae Jeon. "When I went outside, I couldn't breathe, so I had to wear a mask, but it was still painful. After just a couple of minutes you started to get a headache."

Climate breakdown made last month's fire weather twice as likely in Canada and France, and 20 times more likely in Spain, recent rapid analyses have found, the result of planet-heating emissions that have made it easier for vegetation to dry out. As plants and trees combust, they spew a host of harmful particles that also trigger damaging

'It felt like working in a war zone. When I went outside, I couldn't breathe, so I had to wear a mask. In minutes you started to get a headache'

▲ Members of Spain's military emergencies unit (UME) fighting a wildfire 55km outside Madrid in July PHOTOGRAPH: UME/AFP/GETTY

inflammatory responses as they seek to purge foreign objects.

Scientists have relied on general air pollution relations to model the smoke's chronic health effects, which make up the bulk of the death toll, because they lack long-term studies specific to wildfires.

Michael Brauer, a wildfire health scientist at the University of British Columbia and co-author of the study on Canada's 2023 fires, said: "The reason we don't have them for wildfire smoke is because we haven't had to deal with this as kind of a repeated ongoing problem."

He first experienced wildfire smoke when he was about 40, he said, while a 10-year-old child where he lives in British Columbia would have breathed it every summer of their life.

But the analogy to regular pollution is imperfect. Compared with other sources of PM2.5, such as factories or cars, wildfire smoke contains more organic compounds that increase inflammation and a higher concentration of ultra-fine particles that penetrate the deepest recesses of the lungs. PM2.5 from wildfire smoke is up to 10 times more deadly in the short term, a study in Nature Communications found in 2021. Factoring this into epidemiological models suggests death tolls from short-term exposure to wildfire smoke have been greatly underestimated, a study in the Lancet Planetary Health found last year.

For chronic disease, though, some researchers suggest high peak exposure during serious smoke episodes better explains why wildfire particulates do more damage. Brauer said: "It may be

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Saturday 8 August 2006 The Guardian

57

Diary

Come on. Who doesn't forget a few million pounds?

that it's because the smoke is chemically more toxic, or it may be - what I think is more likely - that it's basically overwhelming your defences." He compared it to having one drink a day for a year rather than bingeing 365 in 24 hours. "That's clearly going to have different impacts."

When wildfire smoke gets bad, experts recommend wearing masks, closing windows and checking in on vulnerable neighbours. They also recommend checking air quality monitors in the morning and moving activities indoors when pollution is too high.

In some cases, actions to keep the air clean may conflict with efforts to stay cool, according to a report from the BC Lung Foundation published last month. Cathryn Tonne, an environmental epidemiologist at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health and co-author of the study modelling wildfire-specific PM2.5, said: "The issue is we have a lot of compound climate exposure events where you have heat and wildfire. Being home with the windows closed can be very bad - if you don't have air conditioning - if it's also hot."

Can the fires behind the smoke at least be prevented? At the Fifa World Cup final, which barely avoided disruption from bad air, the US president, Donald Trump, asked his Canadian counterpart, Mark Carney, to "stop these fires from coming in and poisoning our air" - a demand accompanied by threats of sanctions, while Republican senators blamed Canada's fires on poor forest management. Scientists countered that the blazes had less to do with land management - most of what has burned is boreal forest in unpopulated areas - and more with the rise in temperatures caused by burning fossil fuels.

In Europe, changes in land use have alarmed firefighters and wildfire experts. Rural regions across the Mediterranean have hollowed out, resulting in more overgrown vegetation that dries out and allows fires to spread more easily during the hotter heatwaves that climate breakdown has brought. The combination has led Spanish wildfire scientists to warn that we have "entered an era of fires we cannot extinguish".

Adding to the climatic burden in the coming months is the arrival of a strong El Niño, a cyclical warming weather pattern, along with a related phenomenon in the Indian Ocean, which is priming countries across south-east Asia to burn.

Though they still had their home and their health, the McClellands said the episode had given them a taste of the global impact of climate breakdown. "I know people all around the world are feeling a kind of helplessness because of climate disasters," said Dan McClelland. "I feel like this opened my eyes to understand just a sliver of what other people are feeling."

It's not all about the Bayeux: how the British Museum let us down

John Crace

Monday

You would have thought that after 35 years of writing for the Guardian I would have mastered some of the basics of holiday protocol by now. Apparently not. While I had remembered to let the newsdesk know that I wouldn't be writing the political sketch for two weeks, it had completely slipped my mind to inform the Saturday editor. So, rather than leave her with the headache of an empty page, you're getting an extra dose of me this week. And, in truth, I don't mind because, for what is usually an empty August, there's an awful lot still going on. I've even told the newsdesk that I'd like to write next Friday as I can't pass up the moment Nigel Farage celebrates his byelection victory against the "establishment", aka a comedian with a dustbin on his head.

This time last year, Reform were dominating the polls and setting the news agenda with weekly press conferences. Now it's as if Nige has placed himself in a witness protection programme as he tries to avoid anyone asking about his financial arrangements. There again it must be tricky for Nige to remember what's what as it all seems so hideously complicated.

There's the £5m from British: Thai crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne, which was first a gift to spend on Ferraris, then to pay for his security, but could be a downpayment on the £1m a year that Nige said he would need for it to be worth his while to return to full-time politics.

Then there are funds travelling from various offshore bank accounts from George Cottrell - the man who liked to call Nige "Daddy" - to his mother, Fiona, and then on

to Richard Tice. Some of which - no one is quite sure which - seemed to end up in Reform's bank accounts. Nor can Nige quite remember when he did decide that he was politically active despite owning a majority share in Reform. Confusion doesn't seem to begin to cover this. Nige has a week left to get his story straight for the Clacton voters.

Tuesday

What with one thing and another - first my wife, Jill's cancer and then her breaking her shoulder - it is looking unlikely we will be travelling to Minneapolis to see our daughter and her husband for a second year. Instead they have come to visit us for a week, so we have been planning fun things to do while they are in London. So today - given that Robert is an American - we thought we should all go to see the British Museum exhibition to mark the 250th anniversary of American Independence.

Truly, five minutes that none of us will get back. I'm trying to be generous to the British Museum here. Perhaps the trustees and curators have become so obsessed with not tearing the Bayeux Tapestry that they took their eye off the ball. Because this special exhibition was just an embarrassment. A darkened room with just four items on display, that looked as if they had been dug out of the museum's storage department as an afterthought. It was by far and away the worst exhibition I have visited.

Wednesday

No one wants to kick a man when he's down, but I can't help thinking that Jason Arday - the professor of sociology who has resigned

from Cambridge University - has been badly let down by his former employer. Surely someone must have thought of putting his PhD thesis through a plagiarism detector before offering him a job?

The most alarming thing about Arday is that he seems clearly unwell - it's hard to take almost anything he says as the truth. His claims include being a world-class athlete who once ran 600 miles in six days. The list is seemingly endless. Somehow, though, Cambridge University managed to overlook all this and more. The greater the fable, the more they defended him. And in the process they have done far more damage to him than if they had systematically gone through the evidence and declined to offer him a professorship. Thanks for applying, but no thanks.

Worse still, Cambridge has done a huge disservice to other academics of colour because they have opened the door to rightwing critics who will claim many other professors at other universities got their jobs on a nod and a wink.

Thursday

Maybe there's something in the air, but Kemi Badenoch seems to be having a bit of a moment too. She appeared on the Political Currency podcast this week to accuse Reform of "woke" politics and to rubbish Andy Burnham for having done nothing of any value: er, it's only been two weeks and he's already promised to solve social care. There's no pleasing some people.

Badenoch has also nailed herself to the cross of defending the former neo-Nazi Joshua Bonehill-Paine who was jailed for harrassing the Jewish Labour MP, Luciana Berger. In Badenoch's view, Bonehill-Paine is a reformed man and deserved a second chance to serve as a Tory councillor because all he would be doing was sorting out the bin collections. Bonehill-Paine clearly had second thoughts when some of his CV turned out to be nearly as creative as Arday's and he withdrew as a Conservative

PHOTOGRAPHS: GETTY IMAGES; SHUTTERSTOCK; REUTERS

Why is the Prince of Wales poking me in the ear?

candidate. Only for Kemi to appoint him as a special adviser.

I'm all for second chances, but it's curious to know what is and isn't acceptable in today's Tory party. A bit of previous for antisemitism and Hitler loving? Just fine. Believing in net zero and the ECHR, not so much. Grant Shapps has been banned from standing as a Tory MP because he believes in the climate crisis. There again, maybe Kemi understands her party better than most.

Friday

It's been hard to keep up with the excesses and moral corruption of Fifa president Gianni Infantino. As I write, various football bodies and national organisations have expressed a lack of confidence in him, but he appears to be hanging on to his job. Maybe he will ride this one out. But it has struck me that one person has remained silent throughout the scandal. David Beckham.

For the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Beckham was paid millions to be a Fifa ambassador. His one contribution was to say he hadn't spotted any gay people being persecuted. Top detective work from DB. This time around in the US, David seemed satisfied to be an unofficial ambassador, filmed sitting in the VIP seats wearing a suit, shirt and tie and mainly looking miserable as he notched up another £24m that he doesn't need in advert endorsements.

He seemed to be Infantino's mute puppet. He said nothing when Gianni devalued Fifa by awarding Donald Trump a peace prize or introduced hydration breaks. He said nothing when Gianni bowed to Trump's demand to overturn Folarin Balogun's red card and when he tried to sell off stakes and reinvent the competition as an even fatter cash cow.

It all feels so sad. David used to be a national treasure. Now he just appears to be obsessed with wealth and status. Over the past few months, he could have been a voice for the country, speaking up against the commercialisation and problems with Infantino's regime. We would all have loved him for it. Instead he has trashed his brand by being complicit. The only obvious reason for his silence is that either he doesn't think Infantino has done anything wrong. Or that he isn't bothered as long as the cash keeps coming. It would be nice to be proved wrong. We want our Becks back.

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18

Spotlight

The week that was

1 UNITED STATES

Majority of 'liberation day' tariffs refunded

The Trump administration has refunded about $100bn (£74bn) from the tariffs it collected before the US supreme court ruled them illegal, according to reports. The figure represents 60% of the total $165bn collected from the president's "liberation day" tariffs, which were struck down by the supreme court in February, forcing the government to return money.

Trump has pitched tariffs as a solution for the US economy, bringing back domestic production, securing better trade deals and closing the deficit in the federal budget. However, the deficit has grown after narrowing last year

A fresh round of tariffs were imposed on more than 80 countries last month to replace a 10% global duty that was due to expire.

2 MEXICO

Suspected cheating leads to mass exam resit

Around 58,000 students at the country's largest and most prestigious university will have to resit their entrance exam after abnormally high test results raised suspicions of cheating.

The National Autonomous University of Mexico (Unam) said the exam would take place in person after its first attempt at an online version led to thousands of annulled results.

Between 2021 and 2025, only 3.5% of applicants obtained a score of 100 or more out of 120, but this year the figure was 16%. The results sparked a national scandal, leading the president, Claudia Sheinbaum, to suggest that the attorney general may have to investigate.

The entrance exam is notoriously competitive. The more than 150,000 applicants this year were competing for 21,962 places.

3 ENVIRONMENT

El Niño could push more people into acute hunger

About 50 million people are likely to be pushed into acute hunger before the end of next year by the rapidly developing El Niño weather system, according to forecasting, adding more than a fifth to the 225 million people in 45 countries currently in acute food insecurity, the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) warned.

Central and South America, the Caribbean and southern Africa are likely to be worst affected, according to the analysis. In south and south-east Asia there is likely to be less rainfall than usual, which would impact agriculture and farmers.

This year's El Niño - a weather system that develops every few years in the Pacific Ocean and brings changes to rainfall patterns around the world - is shaping up to be the strongest in at least 70 years.

4 INDIA

BJP loses byelection after student protests

Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) lost a byelection in a seat it had held for three decades. The contest had been closely watched in the aftermath of nationwide Cockroach movement student protests.

Prashant Kishor (below), a high-profile electoral strategist turned politician, scored a breakthrough win for his Jan Suraaj (Good Governance) party in the Bankipur constituency in Patna, the capital of the eastern state of Bihar.

The Cockroach Janata party began as an online joke after a senior judge described unemployed young Indians as cockroaches and parasites. It has since morphed into a nationwide movement with 26.6 million Instagram followers, more than the BJP and Congress combined.

5 UNITED KINGDOM

Cancer guidelines 'miss' 95% of young women

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) criteria used to decide who should be referred by family doctors for further breast cancer risk assessment and specialist care is failing to spot the vast majority of women under 50 who will go on to develop the disease in the next 10 years, according to the University of Cambridge and the Institute of Cancer Research, London (ICR).

Identifying women at higher risk early can pave the way for additional screening or preventive treatment. But the current criteria given to GPs in England to refer women at risk of breast cancer for further tests or specialist care miss up to 95% of patients under 50 who go on to develop the disease within a decade, the analysis, published in the British Journal of Cancer, suggests.

Size of profit, in billions of pounds, that eight of the biggest oil companies amassed in just three months as the Iran conflict sent energy prices soaring and the emissions-fuelled climate crisis caused deadly heatwaves

67

6 TECHNOLOGY

AI models 'went rogue' in cybersecurity test

Advanced AI models developed by OpenAI and Anthropic went rogue during a cybersecurity test and showed a new type of risk posed by the technology.

The UK's AI Security Institute said it detected unusual activity during a routine cybersecurity test for AI models on 28 July. It found that some of the agents - the term for AI systems that can perform tasks without human help - had engaged in "sustained, potentially harmful activity directed at real people and organisations".

In the most serious case, an agent tried to insert malicious code into a software project on a platform used by developers. The agent then created and used fake online identities to press the project's overseer into accepting the code. These attempts were blocked by a human developer.

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59

30%

Increase in the number of hikers in need of rescue in Malaysia, due to a social media trend popularising shortened versions of demanding routes. In the first five months of the year, 52 were rescued

7 SOUTH KOREA

Outdoor work halted as city endures 40C heat

Authorities warned people to “immediately” stop all outdoor activities in areas affected by record-breaking temperatures. The south-eastern city of Yangsan saw the temperature reach 42.5C last Sunday, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), the highest temperature reported since modern weather observation began in 1904.

The city has been the centre of an ongoing heatwave, where temperatures exceeded 40C for a fifth consecutive day on Sunday, while many other cities are seeing temperatures in the high 30s. There have been 16 heat-related deaths recorded.

North Korea also endured temperatures soaring as high as 40C in some regions, state media reported. In Pyongyang, the night-time temperature has exceeded 25C for a week.

8 NEW ZEALAND

English given same status as Māori language

Legislation recognising English as an official language was passed by parliament, prompting derision from linguists and legal experts and a broadside from a Māori MP.

The English language bill gives English, which is spoken by 95% of the country, the same official status as te reo Māori (Māori language) and New Zealand sign language. The bill formed part of a coalition deal between the centre-right National party and the minor populist New Zealand First party, whose leader, Winston Peters, has long opposed affirmative initiatives for Māori.

Ministry of justice officials had recommended that lawmakers should not pass the bill, because there was “no evidence to support concerns about the use or status of English as an official language”.

9 MYANMAR

Red Cross visits former leader Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi met a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Monday, the aid organisation confirmed.

The meeting followed years of questions over the wellbeing of the 81-year-old detained former leader, whose whereabouts and health condition have been largely unknown since the elected civilian government she led was ousted by a military coup in February 2021. Myanmar’s military-backed administrations had repeatedly claimed she was in “good health”.

Her son, Kim Aris, who had recently demanded the ruling junta provide proof of life, said on social media that he hoped the meeting would lead to greater humanitarian access to his mother and ultimately her unconditional release.

10 ITALY

Refuse collectors rescue winning lottery ticket

A €1m (£850,000) lottery ticket was recovered from the rubbish after the frantic winner called on refuse collectors for help.

The woman - who remains anonymous - discarded the ticket at her local shop after its lottery machine indicated it was “non-payable”, but this was because smaller retailers can only redeem small wins.

On finding that her regular numbers had won, she returned to the shop to discover the rubbish has been collected.

The instant win ticket was “miraculously still in one piece” after workers combed through mounds of rubbish on their truck, said Roberto Nicola Toscano, the administrator of the SANB company in the southern Puglia region. “She cried with emotion”, he said. “I would have hugged her, but we were on the phone.”

5400

Speed, in mph (8,690 km/h), at which a 4-tonne piece of a discarded Space X rocket is believed to have crashed into the moon. The object, the height of a five-storey building, posed no danger to Earth but was expected to blast a new lunar crater

Issue of the week

The adaptation of The Odyssey

Emily Wilson, London Review of Books

As they say at the awards shows, I was humbled to learn that Christopher Nolan has read at least the first line of my translation of The Odyssey into iambic pentameter. In at least one interview, he cited my version of the first line of the poem: “Tell me about a complicated man.” But I would be ashamed to have written any part of this script. Sadly, Matt Damon’s Odysseus isn’t complicated or wily or artful. One of Odysseus’ funniest (and most famous) tricks in Homer is to tell Polyphemus that his name is “No Man”. When the blinded giant screams for help from his neighbours, the other Cyclopes are reassured to learn that “No Man” is hurting him. In the movie Odysseus doesn’t have to outwit Polyphemus because the Cyclops is a puppet who has no wits. Nolan’s grunting one-eyed giant is referred to as “it”, barely speaks, doesn’t get drunk and has neither neighbours nor a favourite sheep.

Robbie Collin, the Daily Telegraph

When reviewing a film, most of us critics know we should try to meet it more or less where it is: it would be odd to grouse that Bridget Jones’s Diary wasn’t scary enough, or that any given instalment of the Saw franchise didn’t contain enough show tunes. This is partly why the piece on Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey published this week in the London Review of Books is so perplexing. For one thing, the writer describes the poor old Cyclops himself as a “puppet who has no wits” and a “grunting one-eyed giant...referred to as ‘it’”, as if this is Nolan’s low opinion of him, rather than simply Odysseus’s. But the Cyclops’s scream of confusion and betrayal when he is blinded is heart-rending, and his unintelligible dialogue haunting: both imply the existence of a deep cosmic order of which the thacans are miserably ignorant, and which is about to literally send them on a voyage to hell and beyond.

Jamil Smith, the Guardian

I had not read The Odyssey since I was a student. Stories change when we return to them later in life, or perhaps we are the ones who change. Christopher Nolan’s film made me want to find out what I had missed. More specifically, it made me want to read Emily Wilson’s translation. Her larger objection is that “the film’s own values and vision don’t hang together”. The film condemns the Greeks for using deception to destroy Troy, then asks us to cheer when Matt Damon’s Odysseus uses deception and violence to reclaim his home. Wilson treats those contradictions as proof that the film has no coherent argument. But they are the argument. Nolan’s film is about what happens to victors after they discover that breaking the rules works.

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40

Spotlight

The week in reviews

Opera

Ring Cycle

Bayreuth festival theatre, Germany

★★☆☆☆

AI-generated

bric-a-brac

saps drama

from Wagner

Unveiled the same week in which tech company Anthropic admitted that its AI model Claude had gone rogue during testing, Bayreuth festival's new AI-generated staging of Wagner's four-part Ring of the Nibelungen is, at least, timely. But anyone who assumes that the cycle's obsession with knowledge, power and possession might make it an ideal forum for reflection on AI as a major contemporary frontier will be disappointed.

Commissioned for the festival's 150th anniversary, the production is "curated" - emphatically not "directed" - by a team led by German stage director Marcus Lobbes. He apparently spent weeks in dialogue with AI models about possible interpretations. According to the programme, "power structures, capitalism, mythology, gender roles, nationalism" all came up. But if these human-machine exchanges were revelatory, you wouldn't know it from the resulting staging.

In plain English: the AI system is allowed to roam archival materials from 150 years of Bayreuth as the starting point for constantly

spooling visuals projected on a screen stretched the full width and height of the proscenium arch. Lobbes also asked the system to incorporate imagery from a political or social event every year of the festival's history as a plausible conversation topic for that season's audience. Each scene begins with a source from the cycle's 1876 premiere, but what happens next is determined in real time during the performance.

The good news is that anyone who attends another of this production's outings won't see the same selection of visual bric-a-brac I did. The bad news is that the principle of rapid machinic free-association will remain.

So, I assume, will the constant grotesque morph and flow of visual objects. Das Rheingold and Die Walküre involved countless hands that warped horribly, producing extra fingers and nails. Faces appeared, only to go instantly out of focus. Some were very famous (Adolf Hitler, Queen Elizabeth II, JFK) but I struggled to identify most. There were rapid swings between the entirely inscrutable and the totally obvious. Alberich's transformation into a toad triggered various mutant amphibians, while there were bears when Siegfried brought one in, and a rainbow for the rainbow bridge to Valhalla.

But there were also endless stock-image bland photos of scrap metal, creeping greenery, water droplets and abandoned rooms. I spotted design elements from various past Bayreuth Ring productions but was mostly inevitably - unable to keep pace with the AI system's connection-making. One low point: a historical photo of emaciated African youths - picture the results of an image-search for "European colonialism" - which flashed past during Die

▲ Mindless scrolling... Bayreuth festival's AI Ring cycle

PHOTOGRAPH: ENRECO NAWYATH

Walküre. This is not engaging with the complex, problematic history of Bayreuth or the Ring. It's just another form of mindless scrolling.

You'll be wondering where the singers fitted in. Over four nights, today's leading Wagnerians stood behind - yes, behind - the vast screen, wearing subtle variations on a single costume design like budget Star Trek monsters. Mostly they were rooted to the spot. Murdered characters simply walked off; at erotic climaxes, lovers held hands.

Michael Volle was a magnificent Wotan and Wanderer, his power unforced. Klaus Florian Vogt was by turn Loge, Siegmund and Siegfried, supple and darkly luminous with compelling diction. Ziza van den Heever's Sieglinde got better and better, blossoming in her love duet in Die Walküre. Camilla Nylund's Brünnhilde was often wild and sometimes ungainly, but her impassioned lyricism and intimate moments were deeply moving.

Mika Kares's Hunding was all iron and velvet, his Hagen unleashing mighty, smooth torrents of sound - evil rarely sounds better. Gerhard Siegel (Mime) and Jochen Schmeckenbecher (Alberich) were more old-school baddies, respectively wheedling and raw. Peter Rose was a rather muddy Fafner and Christa Mayer wobbly but forceful as Erda and Waltraute. The Rhinemaidens, Valkyries and Norns were exquisitely balanced and as characterised as they could be without acting.

There is something for everyone to dislike. But the most dismal outcome was how unmoving it was - and how difficult it became to care.

Flora Willson

Until 16 August

Television

Ted Lasso season four

Apple TV

★★★★☆

TV's most

wholesome

footy boss is

back in town

Having transported a flailing AFC Richmond to the Premier League with his wholesome, simile-reliant management style, the finale of Ted Lasso's third season in 2023 saw our titular coach return to the US to spend more time with his son. It seemed like his final goodbye - but could this intensely American protagonist really bow out at the height of his sitcom's popularity? Nope. Last year, it was announced that Jason Sudeikis was reprising his colossally popular alter ego.

Before we discover how Ted has been lured back to south-west London, we find out what he's been up to in the interim. Did he parlay his success into US soccer? Return triumphantly to college football? Sit back with his millions and rest on his laurels? Nope, nope and nope again. He's working at his local supermarket, warmly greeting customers by name, providing moral guidance to younger colleagues and radiating his trademark howdily-doodily energy. Why? Because he's a good man without ego who loves to connect and make a positive difference in his community! This is Ted Lasso we're talking about!

Ted left the UK at the top of his game, choosing fatherhood over riches, professional triumph and beloved colleagues. What could change his mind? Richmond's owner Rebecca (Hannah

▼ Brendan Hunt, Jason Sudeikis and Tanya Reynolds in Ted Lasso

PHOTOGRAPH: APPLE TV/PA

Waddingham, as imperious as ever), her deputy Higgins (Jeremy Swift, as square as ever) and marketing manager Keeley (Juno Temple, as unsettlingly childlike as ever) think they've cracked it: they offer him the job of managing the women's team. Ted declines. But then his mother - the same mother who convinced him to come home - encourages him to go back. So he asks his son and his estranged wife if they fancy coming with.

If you are a Ted Lasso ultra, you may be inclined to gloss over the nonsensicality of this setup and sink back into the show's messages of positivity, togetherness and how good it is when your football team wins. That said, the shift to women's football does mean entertaining some hard truths.

Ted's new assistant coach Alice (Tanya Reynolds) is a dour taskmaster, furious at having been passed over for the top job in favour of a man. And although Ted quickly gets to work in his signature style - improving morale by drilling down into the players' psyches - his efforts are hampered by the chronic lack of investment in women's sport, plus injury, motherhood and the fact he's barely allowed in the changing room for propriety's sake.

Still, in the four episodes made available to reviewers, the tension never properly builds. Alice's stony-faced exterior is destined to crack imminently. Rather than establishing the new team as individuals (beyond one hard-as-nails goalie and two squabbling Irish sisters), the show often falls back on familiar dynamics: the will-they-won't-they of Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein), still manager of the men's team, and his ex Keeley among them.

For all its irritating qualities, the appeal of Ted Lasso is still clear, and a sense of quality entertainment hangs about the whole well-oiled endeavour. Think of it as the TV equivalent of Taylor Swift: ruthlessly efficient, reassuringly dorky and as monocultural as any Apple TV offering is going to get. Ted Lasso is still saccharine business as usual and, no doubt, still a lot of people's cup of tea.

Rachel Aroesti

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31

£1.20

of every £10 spent on poetry books in the UK so far this year has been on The Odyssey and The Iliad, buoyed by Christopher Nolan's blockbuster film

Theatre

Fame

Theatre Royal Plymouth

★★★★☆

Leg warmers

at the ready as stage school musical flies

This revival of David De Silva's film turned musical is pumped with guts and gusto, breathing fresh life into its story of fame-hungry students. With a book by Jose Fernandez, music by Steve Margoshes and lyrics by Jacques Levy, it erupts like a shaken can of soda. It's directed and choreographed by Tom Jackson Greaves, soon to choreograph the West End's much-anticipated revival of Rent, and fuelled by an exuberant cast, most of whom fulfilled their own dreams of performing on the professional stage several credits ago and are now flourishing.

Shanay Holmes, though a shade young to play Miss Sherman, is the driving force, whose narration

▲ Gusto ... Talia Palamathanan and Amonik Melaco in Fame

PHOTOGRAPH: JOSIAN PERSSON

carries the class through a four-year cycle at a prestigious performing arts school in New York City. Her vocals are the show's dynamite.

Storylines have been tweaked and songs cut, but the production captures the round-the-clock toil and sheer determination of these aspirants. Early number Hard Work sets the scene, with movement filling every corner as the gaggle stretch, practise their scales and pirouette across the stage.

Richard Howell's lighting visualises the sense that the students' whole world is a stage by casting a giant spotlight on the fortress of Soutra Gilmour's school set, while life beyond remains in shadow. Nods to the 1980s come in the shape of leg warmers and the sound of squealing tape recorders being rewound.

It doesn't shy away from the story's grittier moments, including the fate of the initially spunky Carmen (Talia Palamathanan). Yet it's when the students pool their talents - for the boisterous canteen scene and flashmob to the title track - that it beams brightest. That's when Miss Sherman's message to her students, that success is not a solo endeavour, rings truest.

Holly O'Mahony

Until 15 August

Pop

Phoebe Bridgers: Lost Weekend

Dead Oceans

★★★★★

Indie-pop

plunges into disorientating thrills

The last time Phoebe Bridgers put out a solo album was six years ago: Punisher not only ended 2020 near the top of many critics' best-of lists, it made the UK Top 10 and sold half a million copies in the US. The intervening period has proved just as commercially triumphant: her supergroup Boygenius became a mainstream phenomenon and she featured on records by SZA, Taylor Swift and Paul McCartney - collaborations that made her the biggest winner at the 2024 Grammys.

But to judge by Lost Weekend's opening track, all was not well. The Outside depicts the singer crowd-surfing triumphantly at a gig in Ohio. "But I was on the outside, watching," she sings, the dislocation heightened by her voice being smothered by a vocoder and the sweet fingerpicked acoustic guitar vanishing into static.

It acts as a signpost to the rest of the album, musically and lyrically. There is a lot of emotional turmoil in the latter, largely occasioned by the death of her father, with whom she had a strained relationship, and the collapse of her engagement to actor Paul Mescal. But you certainly don't need to have a prurient interest in the vacillations of celebrity romance to feel the album's

▶ Daring ... Bridgers performs on The Tonight Show last month

PHOTOGRAPH: TODD OWYOUNG/INSCIETTY

emotional impact: The Governor's Waltz would be an acutely drawn and genuinely affecting portrait of a relationship in its clingy death throes regardless of who the protagonists were.

Bridgers' lyrics are brilliant throughout, but they're matched by the individuality of Lost Weekend's sound. At heart it's a well-written Americana-infused indie singer-songwriter album. But the standard instruments struggle to make themselves heard amid waves of droning electronics, splinters of feedback and eerie wordless vocals. Songs suddenly plunge into silence, or are drenched in swirling echo, or are subject to unexpected codas that often pull in different emotional directions.

The overall effect is disorientating, occasionally disturbing and really thrilling: there's something daring about the sound of Panorama, where a beautiful melody and a rustic banjo figure are almost completely buried under occasionally discordant murk.

The result is a heady, potent, occasionally wrenching album, albeit one flecked with optimism. "The past is looking brighter all the time," sings Bridgers on Liberty Tree. The path to get to that point has evidently been a trying one: Lost Weekend transforms it into a rich and rewarding journey.

Alexis Petridis

Theatre

Dog Man the Musical

Southbank Centre, London

★★★☆☆

Megastar

mutt moves from page to the stage

If you don't have a child in primary school, you may be blissfully unaware of Dog Man, Dav Pilkey's graphic novels about a cop who - after a terrible injury - has his dog's head sewn on to his own body, creating a crime-fighting canine-human crossbreed.

The Dog Man books are chaotic, hilarious and full of pathos, but writer-lyricist Kevin Del Aguila and composer Brad Alexander's show leans largely on the first. There's slapstick humour and jokes about butt-sniffing. When Dog Man is asked how his day is going, he replies: "Ruff!" It's aimed at the younger end of Pilkey's readership, which is confusing as there are also Dickens references.

The plot is a musical within a musical: George and Harold (Ricardo Mendes and Peter Lavery), the fictional writers of the comics, are putting on a musical to prove to their teacher how easy that would be. Timothy R Mackabee's set is charmingly DIY - skyscrapers are made from cardboard and gaffer tape, characters shapeshift across soft toy, glove puppet and human actor form.

Our hero hound (Renan Teodoro) is pitted against Petey (Sam Kipling), the villainous cat, and Flippy (Vanessa Dumarey), a psychokinetic butterflyfish. But there's a twist! To help achieve his evil aims, Petey clones himself, expecting a similarly twisted

replica to emerge - instead he creates Li'l Petey (Rebecca-Jo Roberts), a super-cute kid who insists on calling Petey "papa".

Li'l Petey is the books' emotional core - but as the energetic cast dance, sing and bark their way around the set like CBeebies presenters after three pints of Skittles, these more moving moments get buried in the production, directed and choreographed by Jen Wineman.

Translating a graphic novel into a musical was always going to throw up such hurdles. Perhaps musicals aren't quite as easy to pull off as George and Harold thought.

Tim Jonze

Until 16 August, then touring

TV review

Alley Cats

Netflix

★★☆☆☆

Ricky Gervais's lazy cat cartoon has more cringe than comedy

I suppose the question is really: what do you do after redefining comedy for your era? After The Office, that exquisitely observed, agonising, hilarious examination of the human condition, Ricky Gervais started on a downward trajectory that his latest offering, an animated series about a gang of homeless cats, does nothing to arrest.

Gervais plays Gus, the misanthropy-maxxing leader of the ragtag group. His right-hand man, Fang (Andrew Brooke), is the gang's bruiser and Puke (David Earl) is the disgusting one, providing the lads with all the material they require about anal sex, fingering and genitals. A regular visitor to their squat is the cat they call "Ponce" (Tom Basden), a pedigree who lives with a family and enjoys regular meals, brushing and puddings. He has also, of course, been neutered, which fills in the joke-gaps left when the anal sex/fingering/genitals stuff runs out.

For now, we're in the dark alley with these cats, plus the girl who lives upstairs - Olive (Diane Morgan), who is, Gus notes with glee, really thick. In a further sign of the laziness of the whole endeavour, though, she's not. After a few token tries, she simply becomes a perfectly ordinary cat, with a bit of a thing for Ponce until she finds out he doesn't have the urge or the equipment to provide her with the kittens she wants.

Into the mix is brought a lost kitten (Jo Hartley), who - I am sorry to tell you - awakens fatherly instincts in Gus and begins to teach him and the rest of the gang about love and what it means to be a family. Gervais the sentimentalist is always a far more unnerving proposition than Gervais the misanthrope, so you are best advised to approach Kitten's scenes with the utmost caution.

There are a handful of moments in which you can see, maybe, what might have been. Gus in front of his love interest Lara (Kerry Godliman) has echoes of David Brent's vulnerability. Ponce provides some shelter from the hail of uninventive swears and pointless rants. But otherwise Alley Cats feels like a creative cul de sac, leaving you wishing that Gervais would stop indulging himself in lesser projects and let his genius ferment once more, however long it takes. We'll wait.

Lucy Mangan

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12

Business

TUC urges Healey: reform budget watchdog in order to unlock growth

Heather Stewart

The TUC is urging the new chancellor, John Healey, to order a “root and branch” review of the Office for Budget Responsibility, claiming the forecaster’s approach holds back investment.

With Andy Burnham promising “good growth in every postcode”, the union umbrella body is calling on Healey to use his first budget on 28 October to re-examine the workings of the powerful watchdog.

In particular, it accuses the OBR of downplaying the benefits of public investment, by assuming it “crowds out” private capital - an approach disputed by some economists.

Paul Nowak, the TUC’s general secretary, said: “For too long, the OBR has been a milestone preventing good growth across the country.

“The world has moved on from the self-defeating logic of austerity, but the OBR models still bake in its false assumptions. Only a root and branch review can bring the OBR into the modern economic mainstream.”

The TUC’s critique echoes calls for reform of the independent forecaster from a range of thinktanks and campaign groups, including Progress, from the right of the Labour party, and the leftwing New Economics Foundation. Louisa Dollimore, of the Good Growth Foundation thinktank, previously called the body “a back-seat driver with out-of-date maps” that “obstructs long-term planning and investment at a moment when Britain needs both”.

Healey’s predecessor at No 11, Rachel Reeves, picked economics professor Jonathan Haskel as the next chair of the OBR, following the resignation of Richard Hughes last December after the OBR inadvertently published details of the budget in advance.

Haskel, a former member of the Bank of England’s interest rate-setting monetary policy committee, will oversee a new economic forecast to inform this year’s budget.

He told MPs on the Treasury select committee last month that he was more pessimistic about the outlook than some other experts. “My forecast would be in the medium term of somewhat higher interest rates and weaker GDP growth than most are expecting,” he said.

Haskel also warned the committee

in a public hearing that Britain was “root in a very good fiscal position”.

As well as taking a fresh look at the role of the OBR, the TUC is calling on Healey to strengthen investment bodies such as the National Wealth Fund (NWF), to take advantage of flexibility built into the fiscal rules.

Reeves revised the rules so that government borrowing does not count against Treasury targets if it is matched by a financial asset - such as a share in a company or a loan.

The TUC believes this should allow for significant additional investment by government-backed institutions including the NWF and the National Housing Bank.

The NWF invests in infrastructure projects and backs British businesses, in a bid to boost growth and “crowd in” private investors. The TUC is calling on the government to change the NWF’s mandate to allow it to pick investments that could take as long as 15 years to generate a return in order to widen the pool of suitable projects.

Nowak said: “Amid global economic turmoil, Labour has delivered the second fastest growth in the G7. That’s partly down to the government’s fiscal rules that rightly allow more borrowing for investment.

“But the government needs to do more to release the handbrake. An ambitious application of the existing fiscal rules and a wider mandate for the National Wealth Fund can reindustrialise Britain.”

Some economists have raised concerns about the potential impact on the bond market of increased borrowing. The consultancy Oxford Economics said in a research note on Friday: “The UK’s fiscal position is poor, while there’s an underlying wariness about the new PM’s commitment to fiscal sustainability.

“While Healey has been saying all the right things, it’s what the new administration does that will be key. If the first move is to loosen policy, despite no underlying improvement in the public finances, that risks sending a signal that markets won’t like.”

A Treasury spokesperson said: “Fiscal discipline is the bedrock of economic stability and national security. The chancellor and prime minister are in lockstep that the government will meet the fiscal rules, with a buffer against uncertainty - and that includes getting debt down.”

They added that the chancellor “would not routinely comment on proposals”.

Can Harvey Nichols be Absolutely Fabulous again?

Lauren Cochrane

Such was the buzz around Harvey Nichols in its 50s heyday that the department store was regularly name-checked in Absolutely Fabulous, with Edina and Patsy’s frequent retail therapy trips to the store reflecting its position at the heart of the fashion industry.

How times change. These days Harvey Nichols is a business in trouble, one that has not turned a profit since the pandemic. Pre-tax losses were £35.3m in 2024.

The retail chain - comprising the

◀ Edina (Jennifer Saunders) and Patsy (Joanna Lumley) used ‘Harvey Nicks’ for retail therapy in the hit 90s sitcom PHOTOGRAPH: MOVIESTORE/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK

London flagship in Knightsbridge plus stores in cities including Bristol, Leeds and Manchester - was put up for sale in June by the current owner, Sir Dickson Poon, with Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group and Nest bidding to take control.

Ashley commented this week that Harvey Nichols is in what he called “a death spiral”. Speaking to the Financial Times about his potential bid, he said taking it over would be a “huge challenge”.

Harvey Nichols is reported to be seeking £50m-£60m for the business, though Ashley said he thought it would be closer to £40m in order for a deal to happen.

All a far cry from the 90s, when Tony Glenville, who worked as a fashion journalist at the time, recalls: “It was glamorous. It had the marvellous bar up on the fifth floor so the whole thing was that you went shopping and you had a drink.”

Thirty years on, retail experts suggest that, if not a death spiral, the store no longer has the same cachet. “It’s a brand that has lost its identity,” says Jonathan De Mello, the founder of JDM Retail Consulting. “It’s very similar to other department stores in the sense that it provides fashion that you can get from Selfridges or Harrods. It’s not got the point of difference.”

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1090109

580634

5395899

6960621

£C 1.1675

+00001

£S 1.3489

+00003

SOURCE: ICE www.ice.com/data

◀ The Harvey Nichols flagship store in Knightsbridge, London. The retail chain has not made a profit since the pandemic, and is up for sale

PHOTOGRAPH: OLUS CAREFIGHTTY

Harvey Nichols was founded in 1831 as a linen shop, with the department store following in 1889. It was taken over by Debenhams in 1920 and became part of the Burton Group in 1985, with Poon purchasing the retailer six years later and beginning its expansion outside London with a Leeds opening in 1996.

"It was always changing," Glenville says. "If a designer came along and was hot that season, they would immediately want to be in Harvey Nichols, and Harvey Nichols would then stock them."

Fast forward three decades and other stores have come for this territory, with London's Dover Street Market and Selfridges more likely destinations for emerging brands. De Mello argues, however, that there could still be mileage in the strategy.

"They had a strong design forward focus ... and they need to do more [of that]," he says. "If you can't get [a brand] anywhere else and you have to go to Harvey Nichols, then it becomes something interesting again. At the moment you walk past it and say: 'Why bother going in?'"

De Mello says Harvey Nichols' digital presence needs work. "The majority of retailers that succeed in

today's marketplace do so with a variety of different channels to interface with the consumer," he argues.

If digital is still a work in progress, Harvey Nichols has attempted to revive its bricks and mortar offering recently, particularly its flagship Knightsbridge store. Julia Goddard, previously at Alexander McQueen, has been chief executive since 2024, with the highly respected fashion editor Kate Phelan becoming creative director.

A 2025 redesign put high-end jewellery on the ground floor and added new designers and curated objects. In a press release, Phelan described it as a "statement of intent. We're creating an experience that feels relevant, exciting and, above all, individual. This is just the beginning." The retailer declined to comment for this article.

Buzz-wise, Glenville believes the team should remain in place whoever buys the retailer, and be given time to turn things around. "The [recent] windows with the illustrations were absolutely great," he says "[but] I think they weren't sure what to follow that with. It's unfortunate that anything takes time. You can't do it all in five minutes."

'The end of an era'

Worry over AI direction as DeepMind CEO steps aside

Dan Milmo Aisha Down

When Sir Demis Hassabis said AI had brought the world to a "pivotal moment in

human history" last month, he knew another big change was imminent.

This shift was closer to home. The Nobel prize-winning head of Google's AI unit, Google DeepMind, this week announced he was relinquishing day-to-day duties as chief executive and becoming chairman. He is also taking on the role of chief scientist at DeepMind's parent, Alphabet.

Hassabis and DeepMind have been key players in AI's breakthrough era. The 50-year-old co-founded DeepMind and sold it to Google in 2014 in a move that gave him the resources to oversee a number of advances.

These included building the AlphaGo system that mastered the Chinese board game Go and developing AlphaFold, a programme that predicts the 3D structure of proteins. The latter resulted in Hassabis being awarded the 2024 Nobel prize in chemistry.

DeepMind will now be run by Hassabis's longstanding colleague, US-based Koray Kavukcuoglu, who will take the non-CEO role of senior vice-president of DeepMind.

"The era of DeepMind as an independent actor is over and the obvious sign of that is you have gone from a charismatic founder-leader to appointing Koray in a non-CEO leadership role. Koray is a technical character, not an inspirational figure like Demis," said a former Google executive.

The ex-Google employee added that it would be "galling" for Google and Hassabis that the latest iterations of Google's flagship AI model series, Gemini, have lost ground to model a developed by US rivals Anthropic and OpenAI.

Hassabis has said he is looking forward to focusing more on the "big picture" for AI and believes he is handing over operational management of a unit that is ready for the competitive battles ahead.

Internally, DeepMind is a workplace where there have been political tensions. Employees said there is internal disquiet over the company's work with the Pentagon.

Earlier this year, a former Google DeepMind employee launched a legal challenge against Google,

▲ Demis Hassabis has been a key player in the breakthrough of AI

claiming they were unfairly dismissed for their views on Gaza.

That employee was involved in unionisation efforts at Google DeepMind, which have taken place against a backdrop of concerns that Google's AI could assist militaries, including Israel's.

Another Google DeepMind employee resigned from the company in mid-July, citing Google's work with the Pentagon and the US Department of Homeland Security.

One said that Hassabis's departure was the "end of an era".

"Now the person we were supposed to trust to get the right outcomes for humanity has stepped away," they said. Google DeepMind "has become just another subdivision of Google".

Rosa Curling, the executive director of Foxglove, a campaign group which supported the Google DeepMind employee in their legal challenge, said: "The departure of the co-founder of a company that once prided itself on its ethical credentials is likely to cause further concern among its frontier AI staff about how their work will end up being used in the real world."

Google has said it is committed to the "private and public sector consensus" that AI should not

'Now the person we were supposed to trust to get the right outcomes for humanity has stepped away'

Google employee

be used for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weaponry without "appropriate human oversight".

While Google has declined a voluntary union recognition agreement in London, it has said it values "the constructive and direct dialogue that we have with our employees about building a positive and successful workplace".

On the commercial side, a new cutting-edge model, Gemini 3.5 Pro, has yet to be released amid reports it has been delayed due to attempts to improve its code-writing abilities - a core part of the appeal of Anthropic and OpenAI's best products.

Google's two AI labs, London-based DeepMind and California-based Google Brain, were merged into Google DeepMind under Hassabis's leadership three years ago. Control now appears to be moving back to the US, where the Google co-founder Sergey Brin is reportedly playing a bigger role in AI development.

Citing the departure of the leading AI researchers Yann LeCun from Meta and Geoffrey Hinton from Google as another example of "the end of an era in the AI ecosystem", the former employee added: "This is very clearly a sign that the science-driven agenda of leadership in these labs has given way to cold, hard commercial reality that all of these companies want to make a return on the hundreds of billions of dollars they have invested in AI."

The source added, however, that Google still had the benefit of being able to combine its Gemini models with an impressive suite of products from its search engine to its cloud platform and YouTube.

Thanks to its search business, it also has the money to continue investing heavily in AI, having generated a net income of $132bn (£98bn) last year.

Hassabis has also taken on a more statesmanlike role in recent years. The reference to a "pivotal moment" came in a blog post in which Hassabis called for a US safety body to assess cutting-edge models, with the hope it would lead to the establishment of global standards.

The need for such a body, Hassabis argues, is pressing because the tech industry is approaching the "pivotal" point of achieving agentic AI or AGI - the term for a theoretical state of AI where a system can perform any human cognitive task - which also means being capable of performing white collar jobs in sectors such as law, finance and health.

A Google spokesperson said: "This is a move Demis has been thinking about for a while. He is very excited, and this will give him more time to focus on AI-driven scientific breakthroughs." The spokesperson disputed that the changes had anything to do with the performance of Gemini.

13

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44

Money

Property

Prices slashed but no buyers:

why aren't flats selling?

Owners reveal their struggles as figures show many flats do not find a buyer within six months. Rupert Jones looks at what is going wrong

The market is dead for flats," says Susan Young*, who has been trying for some time, without success, to sell her

two-bed flat in a popular Devon seaside resort.

The first-floor property is in

"immaculate condition", Young says, thanks to the £15,000-£20,000 spent on renovations.

It has "superb views" across the beach. And, perhaps most crucially, it is a freehold flat, so is untainted by the controversies associated with the discredited leasehold system.

"Despite not needing to buy (that is, no chain), and dropping the price to well under what I paid for it, I have only had four viewings in nine months," says Young, a former teacher, who moved in 2023 but now needs to relocate for family reasons.

She paid £300,000 for the property and currently has it on the market for £280,000.

She doesn't want to reduce the price any further and, if there are no viewings by the end of the summer, she intends to take it off the market and put it back on next year when, hopefully, there will be more interest.

She says the flats market is moribund even though hers is in a block of six where each flat owns one-sixth of the freehold and they set their own management fee. "It is very dispiriting."

Meanwhile, Louisa, who lives in

London, has been trying to sell her leasehold flat for two-and-a-half years. The sale recently fell through for a third time after several months of negotiations when the buyers demanded she knock £10,000 off the price.

She initially feared having to "sell at a massive loss, losing all my deposit and preventing me from buying in the near future. My property is above a barber shop, and I have been told that banks will not lend mortgages above these, leaving me in a position looking for reasonable cash offers".

However, there is now some hope as she has found a cash buyer.

"So I'm going through the process again," she says. "But I've stated that I will only give the sale a few months before giving up and trying to rent it out. This will be attempt number four."

Louisa bought the flat for £200,000, and the sale that fell through recently was for £145,000.

"It's a one-bed flat, and I now have a two-year-old daughter. This situation has meant we are unable to leave my family home, where we have been staying.

"I just want to move on and give

my child a bedroom." But, she adds: "I'm not buying again in the near future. I'm quite traumatised from the experience."

Young and Louisa are just two Guardian readers who responded to a recent call-out asking about their experiences of trying to buy or sell a flat in recent months.

Many of the respondents say the same thing: they have been trying - and trying - to sell a flat.

Some have cut the price several times, but to no avail; others have been left in the lurch when buyers pulled out.

Some are owner-occupiers; others are small landlords who are trying to leave the rental sector.

10%

The percentage the average price of a flat has increased by since 2016 compared with 43% for houses

87%

Percentage of leasehold flats in London that had not sold within six months last year

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©

Scams

Film fans targeted by fake Odyssey websites

Page 46

Fantasy house hunt

Homes for sale in former pubs

Page 47

Some flat owners are struggling to find buyers for their homes even though they are in popular locations PHOTOGRAPH: BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES

So what's happening?

In June, property website Zoopla issued data showing that the average price of a house was up 43% since 2016 across the UK, but flats had increased by 10% over the same period.

Zoopla said "uncertainty around leasehold in England is affecting the pricing of flats versus houses" and that flats were taking longer to sell as a result.

Most flats listed for sale in England are leasehold. And the long list of scandals and controversies associated with this form of ownership - from high service charges and ground rents and hefty one-off bills, to ongoing cladding issues, costly lease extensions and difficulty buying freeholds - has prompted government action.

But a ban on new leasehold properties in England and Wales is unlikely to come into force until after the next election, and concerns about cost and complexity are clearly having an impact now.

We asked Zoopla to crunch the numbers on flats not selling and why. It found that across most of England, the majority of leasehold flats listed for sale in 2025 had not sold within six months.

"London was worst - about 87% unsold - followed by the south-east (85%) and the east of England (84%)," Richard Donnell, Zoopla executive director, says. The average was 80.5%.

As to why many flats are struggling to find buyers, Donnell says it is not just the leasehold issue, which reinforces the preference for buying a house where possible. It is also to do with who is buying, and who is selling.

"Flats take longer to find buyers because the natural buyer (the first-time buyer) and the natural seller (often an investor with no urgency to move) may want two different prices," he adds.

For example, in London, most first-time buyers are looking for flats, not houses, as their main route into ownership, says Donnell.

"But investor-owned flats are being priced above the typical first-time buyer budget (£450,000 vs a £425,000 budget). So even though flats are what buyers there want, the ones investors are selling are out of reach."

In addition, thousands of aspiring homeowners are finding themselves shut out of the flats market owing to banks' increasingly restrictive mortgage lending rules, says William Coe at the mortgage broker Cleerly.

At the same time, he adds, surveyors are increasingly "down valuing" flats - creating yet another barrier for buyers.

• Name has been changed

Top tips

How to sell

• Know your market "Chat to your agent about what local first-time buyers can actually afford and who is buying flats and what they are prepared to pay," Richard Donnell at Zoopla says.

• Price realistically from day one Buyers have a lot of choice, so getting the asking price right is crucial. "The key to selling a flat successfully in the current market is pricing competitively from day one," Colleen Babcock, Rightmove's property expert, says.

• Major on all the benefits Buying agent Henry Pryor says that aside from the obvious - "make it clean, make it tidy, make it desirable, make it smell of freshly baked bread and coffee..." - sellers should also emphasise the property's "lock up and leave" benefits. "Lock up and leave" means requiring very little in terms of daily maintenance.

• Be on top of your service charge history Some potential buyers will ask for (at least) three years of service charge accounts (where relevant). So sort these out before you list the property and be ready to explain the trend, Donnell says. A recent Zoopla analysis showed that the typical leaseholder pays £1,900 a year in service charges, plus £200 a year in ground rent.

• Lease length matters About a fifth of leasehold listings have less than 100 years left on the lease, according to Zoopla. Leaseholders have the statutory right to extend their lease at a cost which rises quickly once a lease drops below 80 years, it adds. "For flats with less than 85 years remaining, consider applying to extend the lease before listing," Donnell says. The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 will make it cheaper and easier to extend a lease, but it's not yet clear when these measures will come into force.

• Six may be the magic number "You should always be able to attract an investor by pricing your property so that a buyer would generate a 6%, or better, yield." Pryor says. You need to work out what your flat would rent for (local estate agents should be able to provide that information). Then work out what capital value would generate that 6%, or better, yield. To do this, take the annual potential rent - the per calendar month figure x 12 - multiply this by 100, then divide by six.

▲ It is vital to know your market when you are trying to sell your flat

Energy

Need to keep cool? Just turn on the heat pump

It might seem an unlikely way to stop overheating, but many owners have found the tech a lifeline in the heatwave. Zoe Wood reports

If it is 35C outdoors, I can get the temperature down to 21C," says Andrew Ingram of the sanctuary that his living room has provided this summer.

"On the nights I've slept in there, you have to put your thick pyjamas on," jokes Ingram, who lives in Maidenhead, Berkshire, with his wife, Sue.

"When I post on Facebook about it, people say: 'That's air conditioning' and I say: 'No, it's the heat pump.' It's just working the other way around."

Rather than generating heat from burning fuel, a heat pump transfers heat energy from one place to another. However, despite the name, heat pumps can be used for cooling, too.

The energy is released through an "emitter" such as a radiator or underfloor heating. The Ingrams have an air source heat pump. It extracts heat from the air outside and uses it to warm the radiators of their three-bedroom house (this is called an air-to-water system).

In 2023, when the Ingrams ripped out their gas boiler, the firm suggested they consider whether they wanted to cool any rooms.

"We thought about it because the sitting room gets really hot, and that's the room we spend time in," Ingram says.

"It's been a revelation. We bought it on the basis that there might be a heatwave, and it's been an absolute lifeline this year."

The couple have radiators throughout but the living room also has another "emitter" - called a fan coil unit. This blows air over hot or cold pipes. The whole new home energy system cost roughly £18,600, with the cooling aspect accounting for £1,700 of that.

"If you're pumping cool water around a property, it's a bit like putting cool beer in a glass on a warm day," says Ingram of what is potentially one of the pitfalls of cooling this way.

"You get loads of condensation, so you either have to wrap pipes in quite sophisticated trunking or do what we did, which is have them outside.

"We used the cooling a bit in

2024, and, guess what, in 2025 even more - and in 2026 we've been a popular place for people to visit."

The government's boiler upgrade scheme offers grants of £7,500 to assist homeowners in England and Wales with the cost of installing an air-to-water or ground-to-water system (a heat pump that extracts heat from the ground through buried pipes).

To qualify for funding, the heat pump must be certified through the Microgeneration Certification Scheme, which certifies installers.

Previously heat pumps that also cooled required planning permission, as the permitted development rights rules (legal permissions that allow certain home improvements without a planning application) stated they had to be solely for heating. The PDR has now been updated to allow cooling.

To date, Britons have mostly installed air-to-water systems, and of the UK's 358,000 heat pumps, approximately 323,000 are this type, according to MCS data.

This could be about to change because the government is to offer £2,500 grants for air conditioning units that can heat and cool. The air-to-air heat pumps move heat using wall-mounted fans and cost about £4,500 to fit in a flat or small house. (Air-to-water heat pumps typically cost about £12,000.)

The run of heatwaves has thrown the spotlight on "heat-trap homes". A recent report by the Climate Change Committee said that hotter heatwaves could lead to 92% of existing homes overheating by 2050 and they may require air conditioning, as passive measures such as drawing curtains

and opening windows are unlikely to be enough.

A recent study conducted in the Energy House 2.0 - a £16m climate-controlled chamber at the University of Salford - found that using a heat pump for cooling can "significantly reduce overheating" in modern homes.

Two new modern houses have been built inside the weather simulation facility so that scientists can test how "real" homes perform under extreme conditions.

The Salford scientists paired a heat pump with fan coils in one of the houses. When the lab weather was 32C, the rooms stayed comfortable - between 19C and 24.9C. With the heat pump running around the clock, the cost was £2.50-£3 a day.

Prof Lubo Jankovic, the scientist leading the research, says the results "demonstrate that reversible heat pumps can play an important role in protecting future homes against overheating".

But Jankovic says the challenge of designing systems with both heating and cooling in mind "needs to be addressed before cooling this way becomes mainstream".

With the October price cap predicted to exceed £1,700 a year for a typical dual fuel bill, the big question for many is: will a heat pump save me money?

When it comes to bills, the Energy Saving Trust says the biggest saving comes in homes that switch to a dedicated heat pump energy tariff and add other green technologies such as solar panels.

Heat pump users moving on to a time-of-use tariff can save about £330 a year compared with sitting on a flat-rate tariff, the trust says. This rises to about £800 with extras such as solar, although these add to the upfront costs.

The Ingrams have solar panels and a home battery to help keep their bills down. "There's lots of juice in the batteries from the solar," Ingram says. "The batteries charge up overnight if they're not full, but they have been recently. So if you want to run the pump, it is running on free or very cheap electricity."

▲ Turning hot and cold: investing in a heat pump can keep the house warm in winter and cool during a heatwave PHOTOGRAPH: GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO

45

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10

Money

Scams

Shane Hickey

Criminals are trying to capitalise on the popularity of Christopher Nolan's hit movie The Odyssey by claiming that people can watch the film online for free, in an attempt to steal their personal and financial details.

A number of websites have been set up in different languages in an attempt to make the scam more convincing.

However, anyone who is tempted to try to avoid paying the cinema ticket price has been warned they run the risk of having their computer infected with malware and becoming the target of future phishing scams.

The Odyssey, adapted from Homer's epic ancient Greek poem, features a roll call of stars including Matt Damon, Tom Holland and Anne Hathaway. It has been widely acclaimed by critics and become one of the biggest hits of the summer.

Criminals are keen to try to exploit interest in the new film and hope that their eagerness to find ways to watch it for free means they will be fooled by the fake sites. This is a common tactic used

by scammers when big films or TV shows are released, as well as video games.

The cybersecurity company Kaspersky says some of the fake websites claim to offer dubbed versions of the film in the victim's native language. The language is selected by the site depending on the geolocation of the victim.

In some cases consumers are targeted via pop-up advertising; in others, the sites appear in search results or are accessed via other websites. Reviews and ratings - all fake - are left by "users" who have supposedly watched the film on the site.

Typically, when the victim tries to play the film on the sites, they are asked to register to unlock the content, which they are told is free.

They are asked to submit their

▲ The sites promise versions of the film in the user's native language

email address and full name. Later, they are asked to put in their bank details, which the site claims are needed in order to activate a free trial. The sites typically claim that those who sign up will be offered unlimited access to content over multiple devices.

Olga Altukhova, an analyst at Kaspersky, says criminals often try to exploit the loyalty of fans who are awaiting the release of a big film or show.

She says consumers should be particularly wary if a film that has only just been released and is still showing in cinemas suddenly pops up on an unfamiliar platform.

"We strongly encourage people to access content only through official services in order to protect their personal data and avoid potential financial losses."

BeStreamWise, a UK campaign

body set up to alert the public to the dangers of illegal streaming, says people who submit their personal details are at risk of further frauds in the future.

"Our latest data shows just how real those risks are. More than half of people who stream illegally have experienced a malware infection in the past year, while one in five have been targeted by phishing scams," a spokesperson says.

"We've also seen that two in five scam victims believed they were targeted as a result of illegal streaming, with victims losing an average of £1,680 to fraud. Sticking to legitimate sources is the safest way to protect yourself and enjoy the latest blockbuster films."

Among the risks from illegal streaming is the potential for malware to be downloaded on to

▲ Scammers are trying to exploit interest in Christopher Nolan's epic adaptation of The Odyssey PHOTOGRAPH: LANDMARK MEDIA/ALAMY

a computer. This could result in a hacker getting control of the device and accessing it remotely.

Kaspersky advises that people should only watch films on official webpages and that they check the URLs to ensure that it is a legitimate page.

If someone does find they have been defrauded, they are advised to immediately inform their bank and then change passwords on sites and apps such as their bank and investment and pension providers. Then turn on multifactor authentication to bolster security.

In the UK, you should contact Action Fraud, the national fraud reporting centre.

Consumer champion Anna Tims

Hastings Direct's failures forced us out of our home

Eight months after reporting a leak to our home insurer, Hastings Direct, my husband and I and our two-year-old are still effectively homeless.

Last winter, we discovered that a leak beneath our fridge-freezer had caused extensive damage to the floorboards of our kitchen/living room.

Since then we have experienced significant delays, poor communication and conflicting information, and what I believe is a failure by the insurer and its contractors to properly manage the claim.

A promised call-back never materialised because call staff failed to log the claim. Work finally commenced more than five months later.

The contractors removed all the kitchen units, despite the fact that most were undamaged and were not included in the schedule of works, and Hastings now wants us to contribute £8,000 to replace them.

There is still no functioning kitchen in the property, which means we cannot return home.

We initially agreed to move into temporary accommodation for what we were told would be approximately two weeks. It's now been nearly three months.

The insurer only authorises accommodation in two-week increments, creating uncertainty about where we will stay next. We have had to pay for extra nursery sessions for our daughter since we both have to work from home, and the latest temporary flat is too small to accommodate all of us.

We have also had to keep our two cats in a cattery at our expense and, because the kitchen is ill-equipped, we have to rely on takeaways and ready meals.

We still have no clear timeline for when the work will be finished. JS, Croydon

Hastings Direct readily admitted to me that on this occasion its service has fallen short. You will be delighted to hear that it is "taking forward learning" to improve things in the light of your ordeal.

▲ Hastings Direct's delays in dealing with a claim lasted for months

It attributes some of the delays to the unexpected extent of the damage, and some to "issues" with the contractors who are managing the claim. The kitchen units and appliances should never have been removed, it acknowledges.

So why were you charged for their reinstatement? It was a "statement" that was issued "prematurely", it says, adding that it would shoulder the cost of the blunder as a "goodwill gesture".

Under pressure from me, the company has agreed a programme of repairs and an estimated timescale. It simultaneously extended your accommodation for a month to give you some security.

You hope to be back home in a week's time, and Hastings has agreed to offer an as-yet-unspecified amount of

compensation to reflect the distress caused and to refund your nursery, cattery and other expenses.

Car hire firm told me I was a 'no-show' so I lost £185

I booked a car hire at Heathrow through Holiday Autos on a visit to the UK and provided my flight number as requested.

My flight was severely delayed, and when I reached the car hire desk, I was told I'd been marked down as a "no-show" and that my car had been rehired.

Under duress, I was forced to hire a larger car for twice the price, and was told I would not be refunded the original £185 hire fee.

Since then, the car hire company has told me to complain to Holiday Autos, and vice versa. BF, Australia

The terms and conditions of your contract state that a definition of a "no-show" is a customer who arrives late because of a flight delay without having provided a flight number. You had provided your number, so the supplier would have been able to verify your flight status, but neither party would accept this when you complained.

Holiday Autos tells me your car was no longer available owing

to "operational constraints". But you had prepaid, so there was no financial loss to the hire firm if it had held the vehicle until your arrival.

It insists that cars cannot be held indefinitely even if flight details are provided, but it did not mention this in the terms.

Holiday Autos says an upgraded vehicle was offered instead, without disclosing that you were forced to pay handsomely for the privilege.

The company has, however, performed a magnanimous U-turn.

"While the additional charges were agreed directly between the customer and the car rental supplier, we recognise the impact this experience had on the trip," it says. "As a gesture of goodwill, we have refunded the costs of the original rental plus the additional upgrade and insurance costs incurred."

We welcome letters but cannot answer individually. Email us at consumer.champions@theguardian.com or write to Consumer Champions, Money, the Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Please include a daytime phone number. Submission and publication of all letters is subject to our terms and conditions: http://theguardian.com/letters-terms

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Money

17

◀Great Tosson, Northumberland

£925,000

Tosson Tower House has been a family home, and at times a bed and breakfast, for nearly a century. Before this it was a drovers' inn, and the cellars and cold stores are still accessible. The five-bedroom property has a farmhouse-style kitchen with an Aga, a laundry room and a study. There's a sitting room and a drawing room that opens on to the garden, which has views over the valley of the River Coquet. Attached is a cottage, which is currently run as a holiday let. There are walks nearby in the Simonside Hills in the Northumberland national park. Knight Frank, 0131 222 9606

Fantasy

house hunt Homes in former pubs

Compiled by Anna White

▶ Deptford, London

£435,000

This curved four-storey building, rendered in white, dominates the top end of the high street, a short walk from the Thames. It was, until the 1990s, the landmark Noah's Ark pub, and now has retail units on the ground floor and one- and two-bedroom flats above. Entrance is via a residents' foyer. There is a first-floor apartment for sale with two bedrooms and one bathroom. The open-plan kitchen-living room has a trio of sash windows overlooking the busy high street lined with restaurants and eateries, and the shops of Deptford Market Yard. Foxtons, 020 7133 7744

▲ Islington, London

£500,000

The old Langton Arms sign still hangs on the exposed brick wall of the open-plan living room in this one-bedroom apartment. The Victorian pub, with a blue frontage, finally stopped serving pints in 1989. The bedroom and bathroom are on the second level. The pub sits in the triangle of Goswell Road, City Road and Old Street. Green space can be found at St Luke's Gardens. FolkTale, 020 4621 6201

▼ Spetisbury, Dorset

£300,000

The Woodpecker pub was redeveloped as three properties but the sign still hangs outside. The first resale is a two-bedroom semi-detached house with the ground floor dedicated to an open-plan sitting room and kitchen. Two bedrooms are upstairs. The village is on the banks of the River Stour, three miles from the Georgian market town of Blandford Forum. Symonds & Sampson, 01258 452670

◀Staines, Surrey

£1.25m

Swan House is on a private road on the edge of town—beyond is open countryside. The handsome brick property covers three floors and has six bedrooms, five bathrooms and four reception rooms and includes a self-contained one-bedroom annexe. On the ground floor is a family-sized open-plan kitchen under a vaulted ceiling with floor-to-ceiling bifold doors that open on to the patio and lawn. On the top floor is the main bedroom, which has an en suite and a balcony overlooking the garden. Staines mainline railway station is just over a mile away. Jackson-Stops, 01932 821 160

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10

Puzzles

Solutions

Train tracks

TIGHTHOPE

Word where

Suguru

Codeword

Kakuro

Solution no 123

Quick crypto

Kakuro

Fill the grid so that each block adds up to the total in the box above or to the left of it. You can only use the digits 1-9 and you must not use the same number twice in a block.

Codeword

Crack the code to fill in the crossword grid. Each letter of the alphabet makes at least one appearance in the grid and is represented by the same number wherever it appears. A number of letters have been decoded to help with the identification of other letters and words in the grid.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

1	C	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14		15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26

Suguru

Fill the grid so that each square in an outlined block contains a digit. A block of two squares contains the digits 1 and 2, a block of three squares contains the digits 1, 2 and 3, and so on. No same digit appears in neighbouring squares, not even diagonally.

Train tracks

Lay tracks to enable the train to travel from village A to village B. The numbers indicate how many sections of rail go in each row and column. There are only straight rails and curved rails. The track cannot cross itself.

Sandwich sudoku

Medium

Place the digits from 1-9 in each row, column and 3x3 block. The clues outside the grid show the sum of the numbers placed between the 1 and 9 in that row or column.

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50

Puzzles

Looking for more? Download the Guardian app for more puzzles, including our new Premier League game, On the Ball, and our movie quiz, Film Reveal. Plus clues and answers to all our interactive crosswords and sudoku. Available in the Apple App Store and Google Play.

Quick crossword no 17,553

Across

1 Toy, target or top (4) 3 On the other side of the page (8) 9 Cockle or mussel, say (7) 10 One goes to the polls (5) 11 Support - acceptance (3-2) 12 Rectangle (6) 14 Sober - as OAP insisted (anag) (13) 17 Soluble substance which can neutralise acids (6) 19 It's raised in support (5) 22 Layered vegetable (5) 23 Small waterfall (7) 24 Forte or Fawlty? (8) 25 Top of the range? (4)

Down

1 A person of consequence (8) 2 Ornamental garden building (5) 4 Where one problem leads to another, compounding the original difficulty (7,6) 5 Competitor (5) 6 Baltic state bordering Russia and Latvia (7) 7 Plant which reproduces via spores (4) 8 South American plant grown for its rice-like seeds (6) 13 Time for a drink (3,5) 15 One plays alone (7) 16 Slow on the uptake (6) 18 Cancel (5) 20 Treatment (5) 21 Heavy hitter? (4)

Word wheel

Find as many words as possible using the letters in the wheel. Each must use the central letter and at least two others. Letters may be used only once. You may not use plurals, foreign words or proper nouns. There is at least one nine-letter word. Target: Excellent-36. Very good-31. Good -25. Target -20.

Guardian quick cryptic crossword

No 123 set by Pangakupu

Across

1 Avian features in posters? (5) 4 Backing bar party (5) 7 Urge taking long strides when throwing off clothing (3) 8 Unexpectedly repents now (7) 9 Ineptly filter a small amount (6) 10 Hoodwinked, without protection in place surrounded by water (4) 13 Send out a message for part of book (4) 14 Unlimited elevated commendation (6) 17 Twisted laciest component of knickers? (7) 19 Deity to follow around (3) 20 Hard back (5) 21 Very steep swerve (5)

Down

1 Complain, table being wobbly (5) 2 Severe punishments uncovered for taking wood from forest (7) 3 Quantity provided in a flexible way (6) 4 Water plant hunted animal overturned (4) 5 Contend with creeping plant hiding edges (3) 6 Flannel peeled to make coffee? (5) 11 English rocks or stones on beach (7) 12 Ridiculous prices, in summary (6) 13 Outer parts of fruit drop off, turning upside down (5) 15 One very respected tree (5) 16 Surprise fans after upset (4) 18 Live a long time, having turned up (3)

TODAY'S TRICKS

Clues begin or end with a definition of the answer. The rest is one of these:

Anagram Anagram of answer and hint that there's an anagram 'Senator arranged crime (7)' gives TREASON

Double definition Both halves are definitions! 'Search scrub (5)' gives SCOUR

Reversal Answer backwards, and a hint that we're reversing 'Medic's fish rejected (3)' gives DOC

Naked words Remove first and last letters of another word for answer 'Called for citrus to be peeled (4)' gives RANG

Yesterday's

Quick crossword

Solution no 17,552

Want more? Get access to more than 4,000 puzzles at theguardian.com/crossword. To buy puzzle books, visit www.guardianbookdrop.com or call 0330 333 6846.

Chris Maslanka

Solutions

1 Working in cents we have: 100B + A - 68 = 2(100A + B), and we seek solutions (A, B) in positive integers. Rearranging this we see B = (199A + 68)/98, with constraint(s) A, B ≤ 99. Then B = 2A + (3A + 68)/98 and we deduce 3A + 68 = 98n for some whole number n. The smallest value of n = 1, works, yielding (A, B) = (10, 21) - so a solution. Are there others? Well, n = 2, yields

fractional A; n = 3 won't work as 68 is not a multiple of 3; and n = 4 or more yields A > 99; so our answer (A, B) = (10, 21) is unique. 2 By similar triangles: x/a = a/c, so x = a²/c; similarly y = ab/c. Likewise h = a(b/c)² and z = b(a/c)². Abe took

an area (xy)/2 = (ab/2)(a/c)², which is (a/c)² as a fraction of the whole.

Babe took (ab/2)(ab/c²)², which is a fraction (ab)²/(c⁴). Points to Ponder: Prove in two ways that the fraction left is 1 - (a/c)²². Check that the fractions taken by Abe and Babe and what is left sum to unity.] Substituting (a, b, c) = (3, 4, 5) we find Abe took 9/25 of the pie, Babe took 144/625 and a fraction 256/625 was left. 3 He should choose the last position. The chance of the second red ace turning up last for n cards is (n - 1)/[n(n - 1)/2] = 2/n. This is 1/26 if n = 52. 4 We want BBB/3 = ABC. Clearly

B > 3 [Why?]. But B = 4 works: 444/3 = 148. We can discount B = 6 and B = 9 (why?); so we need check only B = 5, B = 7 and B = 8. None of these works; so ABC = 148 is the unique solution. Reader's Corner: Pyrgic #5 of 18 July asked for a proof that a string of n 6s followed by a 5 when squared gives a string of n 4s, followed by a string of n 2s followed by 25. If [6(n)] is our ad hoc notation of a string of n sixes, we seek to find [10(6(n)] + 5² = [(10)(2/3)[9(n)] + 5². This yields 3 terms. First: (10²)(4/9)((10ⁿ) - 1)². Trick coming up: [(10)

n - 1)]² = (10ⁿ - 1)[9(n)]; so first term is: 10²[4(n)][10ⁿ - 10²][4(n)] = 10²(n + 7)[4(n)] - 10²[4(n)]. The middle term is (10⁵)[6(n)]; last term is 5² = 25. Assembling the parts: 10²n + 7[4(n)] + 10²[6(n)] - 10²[4(n)] + 25 = [4(n)][2(n)]25. QED. Wordpool b), a), c); EPU FRAUDULENCE; Dropouts HEADIER, HEAVIER, HOARIER; Same Difference OUTAGE, OUTRAGE; Cryptic JUANITA; Missing Links a) hot/desk/top; b) log/jam/roll; c) riding/crop/yield; d) picture/frame/week; e) sour/dough/nut; f) con/done/thing

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©

51

Weather

Saturday 8 August 2026

UK and Ireland Noon today

Forecast

Low 11 High 22 Monday

Carbon count

Daily atmospheric CO₂ readings from Mauna Loa, Hawaii (ppm):

Latest
02 Aug 2026	428.47
Weekly average
26 Jul 2026	429.00
07 Aug 2025	426.74
07 Aug 2016	404.17
Pre-industrial base	280
Safe level	350

Source: ROAA 0336.

Around the UK

Atlantic front

Cold front

Warm front

Lithium

Occluded front

...

Trough

High tides

Aberdeen	0833	3.6m	2122	3.5m
Aronmouth	0135	10.1m	1415	10.0m
Barrow	0620	7.5m	1902	7.3m
Belfast	0557	3.0m	1841	3.0m
Cobb	--	--	1233	3.4m
Cromer	0124	4.0m	1352	4.2m
Dover	0605	5.3m	1846	5.5m
Dublin	0642	3.5m	1928	3.5m
Galway	--	--	1242	4.1m
Greenock	0653	2.8m	1915	2.9m
Harwich	0638	3.2m	1901	3.3m
Hollywood	0518	4.6m	1810	4.6m
Hull	0053	5.9m	1334	6.2m
Leith	0944	4.6m	2232	4.6m
Liverpool	0557	7.8m	1844	7.7m

© Crown Copyright and/or database rights. Reproduced by permission of the keeper of Public Records and the UK Hydrographic Office

London Bridge	0833	5.7m	2110	8.1m
Lossiemouth	0635	3.4m	1924	3.3m
Milford Haven	0046	5.6m	1329	5.5m
Newquay	--	--	1228	5.3m
North Shields	1037	4.2m	2328	4.2m
Oban	0055	3.0m	1335	3.0m
Penzance	--	--	1155	4.4m
Plymouth	0004	4.4m	1256	4.4m
Portsmouth	0634	3.9m	1912	4.0m
Southport	0503	7.5m	1745	7.4m
Stornoway	0210	3.8m	1501	3.8m
Portland	0101	1.3m	1406	1.4m
Whitby	--	--	1110	4.7m
Wick	0616	2.8m	1904	2.8m
Workington	0623	6.7m	1908	6.7m

Sun & Moon

Sun rises	0534
Sun sets	2036
Moon rises	none
Moon sets	1755
New Moon	12 Aug

Forex sets and graphics provided by AccuWeather ©2026+

Lighting up

Belfast	2112 to 0550
Birm'ham	2046 to 0540
Brighton	2034 to 0539
Bristol	2048 to 0547
Carlisle	2100 to 0535
Cork	2111 to 0609
Dublin	2108 to 0554
Glasgow	2110 to 0538
Harlech	2057 to 0548
Inverness	2118 to 0529
London	2036 to 0536
St'sheater	2052 to 0539
Newcastle	2056 to 0530
Norwich	2035 to 0527
Penzance	2054 to 0603

Weather tracker

Another pulse of heat is expected to affect central and western Europe next week. The latest forecast models show daily maximum temperatures in the high 30s celsius across France, Spain and Italy during the first half of the week, while Germany, Poland and Czechia will experience the highest temperatures towards the end of the week. The shift in the focus of the heat as the week progresses can be attributed to the movement of high pressure. At the start of the week, low pressure centred in the Atlantic and high pressure centred over the low countries will draw warm air in from southern Europe northwards into parts of France.

The heat in central and western Europe has been unrelenting. Last week's weather tracker highlighted extreme record-breaking temperatures for July in Austria. Days later, on 4 August, the all-time record was shattered with 41C in Wien-Stammersdorf, in the north-east. That record was broken again the next day with 41.2C in Bad Deutsch-Altenburg. The European heatwave is associated with a vertically extensive anticyclone. This has had the effect of raising the freezing level above 4,000m across much of the Alpine region. Ed Walton

Around the world

Algiers	36	Lisbon
Armc'dam	35	Madrid
Athens	26	Malaga
Auckland	14	Melb'rne
B Aires	13	Mexico C
Bangkok	13	Miami
Barcelona	12	Milan
Basra	09	Mombasa
Beijing	07	Moscow
Berlin	06	Mumbai
Bermuda	06	N Orleans
Brussels	05	Nairobi
Bodapest	05	New Delhi
C'hagen	04	New York
Cairo	03	Oslo
Cape Town	02	Paris
Chicago	02	Perth
Corfu	01	Prague
Dakar	01	Reykjavik
Dhaka	01	Rio de J
Dublin	00	Rome
Florence	07	Shanghai
Gibraltar	06	Singapore
H Kong	05	Stockh'n
Harare	05	Strand'g
Helsinki	04	Sydney
Istanbul	03	Tel Aviv
Jo'berg	02	Tenerife
K Lumpur	01	Tokyo
K'mandu	00	Toronto
Kabul	00	Vancouver
Kingston	01	Vienna
Kolkata	01	Warsaw
L Angeles	01	Wald'ton
Logos	27	Wald'ton
Lima	25	Zurich

30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100

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QA Report - The Guardian - 08.08.2026.pdf

Pipeline

• Extraction route: mistral-ocr
• extraction_route=mistral-ocr
• Translation chunks: 116
• Extraction warnings:
• [OCR-ROUTE] FORCE-MISTRAL: All PDFs route directly to MistralOCR.

Non-model Checks

• WARNING: missing numeric tokens from source: 1037, 1110, 1155, 1228, 1233, 129, 1329, 1334, 1352, 1406
• WARNING: Missing proper nouns in translation: Across Iran, Adolf Hitler, Afghanistan Gender Index, After August, After The Office, Agriculture Organization, Ahli

Toney, Airtime Plan, Aisha Down

Accounts, Alexandra Topping Jessica Elgot

There - WARNING: source dates, money, or percentage tokens may be missing

Model QA

经过严格审核，该翻译件存在多处严重缺陷，具体报告如下：

═══ 审核报告 ═══

1. 关键数字/事实错误 (BLOCKING)

• 译文：“...在提供心理健康服务的 信托中，有 7 个 10 (68%) 可能在 2026-27, 减少或关闭部分服务。”
• 原文："Seven in 10 (68%) NHS trusts..."
• 错误分析：将 "Seven in 10"（十分之七）误译为 "7 个 10"，导致量级和逻辑完全错误。

• 级别：[BLOCKING]

• 译文：“...在 8 月 1 日的六小时内获得了超过 720,000 次浏览。”

• 原文：(抽样原文中该段被省略，但标题索引及上下文未提及此具体数字)
• 核查：在“标题索引”和“抽样原文”中均未找到 "720,000 views" 或 "six hours" 的匹配项。
• 级别：[BLOCKING] (幻觉)

2. 术语与翻译质量问题 (WARNING)

• 译文：“...由各信托机构为填补财务漏洞而制定的拟议削减计划，将对更广泛的 、经济和公共服务产生‘重大’影响。”
• 原文："...would have 'significant' consequences on the wider NHS, the economy and public services."
• 错误分析：漏译了关键术语 "NHS"，导致句子出现空白（“更广泛的 、经济...”）。

• 级别：[WARNING]

• 译文：“...这位首相在 LinkedIn 上写道...”

• 原文："...the prime minister said..."
• 错误分析：原文指 Andy Burnham（曼彻斯特市长），但在该语境下被译为“首相”（Prime Minister）。虽然原文使用了 "prime minister"（可能是原文OCR错误或特定讽刺用法），但结合常识，Andy Burnham 并非英国首相。
• 级别：[SOURCE_OCR] (若原文确实写了 prime minister) 或 [WARNING] (若译者未核实身份)。

3. 完整性与格式问题 (WARNING)

• 译文：“...在提供心理健康服务的 信托中...” / “...受影响的 心理健康信托之一...”
• 错误分析：译文中出现了多处不自然的空格，疑似在处理 OCR 识别出的特殊符号或占位符时留下的痕迹。

• 级别：[WARNING]

• 译文：“...在 2026-27, 减少或关闭部分服务。”

• 错误分析：标点符号使用错误（逗号误用），且日期格式不完整。
• 级别：[WARNING]

4. 幻觉核查 (FALSE_POSITIVE / HALLUCINATION)

• 译文：关于“叶羊”、“豪勋爵岛竹节虫”、“蔬菜商蝉”等生物科普段落。
• 核查：虽然这些内容在 STRATIFIED TEXT SAMPLES 中有出现，但在 COMPLETE ARTICLE HEADLINE INDEX 中完全没有对应的标题索引。
• 结论：由于内容在抽样原文中存在，根据协议步骤2，不报告为幻觉。

═══ 最终结论 ═══

发现阻塞性问题（Blocking Issues Found）。 主要问题集中在关键比例数字的误译（7 in 10 $\rightarrow$ 7 个 10）以及在塞乌塔报道中出现了无源的具体数据（720,000次浏览），严重影响报纸的真实性和权威性。建议打回重译。