‘People asked us, ‘Are you crackers?’” says Gemma Paintin. She can see why. Along with fellow Bristol artist James Stenhouse, Paintin spent half of 2018 travelling around Europe in an old motorhome, recording love songs. Their epic trek took in almost 20,000 miles, 33 countries, 46 languages and 731 songs – each sung in their…
Month: April 2019
Extinction Rebellion rushes activists’ handbook This Is Not a Drill into print
Former archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and Green Party MP Caroline Lucas are among the contributors to a forthcoming handbook about how to become an Extinction Rebellion activist, which will feature instructions on everything from organising roadblocks to dealing with arrest. As 65,000 copies of Swedish student Greta Thunberg’s manifesto Rejoignez-nous (Join Us) hit French…
‘Mawanella was the start’: small Sri Lankan town reels from bombing links
It was crude stuff: young men armed with hammers, arriving on motorbikes in the middle of the night. At four sites in Mawanella, a central Sri Lankan town, they hacked at Buddhist statues, lopping off parts of their faces and hands. In the aftermath of the desecration on 26 December 2018, police and local politicians…
Greta Thunberg’s train journey through Europe highlights no-fly movement
When Greta Thunberg stepped on to the platform at Stockholm Central station on Thursday after completing her European tour to raise awareness of climate change, an unassuming 69-year-old who runs a tiny travel firm was there to greet her. Ivar Karlsson has found his business in the spotlight as appetite grows for alternatives to flying….
Judge blocks Trump administration ‘gag rule’ on abortion referrals
A federal judge has blocked a Trump administration rule that would bar taxpayer-funded family planning clinics from referring patients to abortion providers, according to the state attorney general. The preliminary injunction on Thursday bars enforcement nationwide of a policy that was due to go into effect on 3 May over the vehement objections of abortion…
Joe Biden: Anita Hill not satisfied with former vice-president’s apology
Former vice-president Joe Biden, who launched his third campaign for president on Thursday, told Anita Hill he regretted the way he handled her testimony against Clarence Thomas at the 1991 supreme court hearings but she was not “satisfied” by the conversation. Biden contacted her earlier this month to express his “regret for what she endured”…
Say what? Why film translators are in a war of words over subtitles
The perfect subtitle is one you don’t notice. Occasionally, you might thrill to Anthony Burgess’s English subtitles in alexandrine form for Cyrano de Bergerac (1990), or marvel at the bravura way Timur Bekmambetov threads animated subtitles into Night Watch (2004), or chuckle at the gaffes on old Hong Kong movies (“I have captured you by…
Sea change: the underwater restaurant with a new approach to marine research
Sunlight is filtering through the turquoise waters, shimmering with the waves. Jellyfish float in graceful downwards zigzags like translucent baubles. Darting from left to right among clumps of swaying kelp are fishes speckled with bronze and streaked with silver. This isn’t a scene from the tropics – it’s southern Norway, and it’s the view from…
‘You did not act in time’: Greta Thunberg’s full speech to MPs
My name is Greta Thunberg. I am 16 years old. I come from Sweden. And I speak on behalf of future generations. I know many of you don’t want to listen to us – you say we are just children. But we’re only repeating the message of the united climate science. Many of you appear…
Avengers: Endgame fans go to great lengths for franchise finale
“I’m having a baby tomorrow but I need to know how it ends,” says Jo from Clapton, east London, who was among the first wave of fans to see Avengers: Endgame on Thursday. “We were offered a C-section earlier in the week, but because we had the Avengers booked we decided to have it later,”…