The Guardian •

Gary Younge on being pigeonholed as a black journalist

“We have people who can write about this,” the journalist Gary Younge remembers an editor once telling him about a column he had written on Bosnia. “Can you add an ethnic sensibility to this?”For Younge, being one of the few black columnists in the British press has not been easy; rather, it has been a constant struggle, he explains, to avoid being pigeonholed as a journalist only ever interested in race.
The Guardian •

From president to fugitive: in the jungle hideout of Evo Morales

Deep in the jungle region of Chapare, Bolivia’s coca country, the former president and socialist icon Evo Morales is holed up in a compound surrounded by supporters armed with sticks and homemade shields.“It was like I was in a movie set, but like a low-budget movie set of a Bolivian Game of Thrones. It was very surreal,” says Tiago Rogero.The Guardian’s South America correspondent travelled to meet Morales where he asked him about the arrest warrant he is facing over allegations of trafficking...
The Guardian •

The heroic Guardian reporter who documented the rise of the Nazis

Frederick Augustus Voigt was the Manchester Guardian’s Berlin correspondent between 1920 and 1932.In this episode, two fellow former Berlin correspondents, Helen Pidd and Philip Oltermann, discuss Voigt’s incredible reporting on the rise of Nazi Germany.“I think he saw that it was important not to give the Nazis the ‘both sides’ treatment,” Philip says. “And was really razor sharp when it came to focusing on the political violence that the Nazis were inflicting...
The Guardian •

Labour v Reform UK: on the road in Runcorn

Runcorn, a town in Cheshire, has not been the most politically interesting place in recent memory. In fact Runcorn and Helsby has been a safe Labour seat for decades. Then the MP Mike Amesbury resigned after punching a constituent, triggering a byelection. Now Reform UK are nipping at Labour’s heels in the battle for the ward.Helen Pidd has been out in the town to find out what voters think about the government and Nigel Farage.
The Guardian •

Uncovering Black British history beyond London

When Guardian arts and culture correspondent Lanre Bakare was growing up, he learned the same Black British history as many of us did. It was a series of singular events: the docking of the Windrush in 1948, unrest in Notting Hill or Brixton, the murder of Stephen Lawrence. All important, but all firmly focused on the capital.Now Lanre has written a book about the Thatcher years, looking at the stories that are less often told: those that took place outside London.
The Guardian •

Trump’s class war on Harvard

Harvard University filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Monday on the grounds that a recent $2bn (£1.5bn) funding freeze was unlawful. It is the most significant act of resistance taken by a US college in response to Trump’s crackdown on higher education.Ed Pilkington, chief reporter for Guardian US, explains to Michael Safi that capitulating to Trump’s demands would have severely undermined Harvard’s reputation, and that the administration was targeting it for being a bastion of...
The Guardian •

The authors taking on Mark Zuckerberg

Earlier this month, a group of protesters gathered outside the London headquarters of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. They were demonstrating over the company’s use of millions of pirated books and research papers to feed their family of generative AI models, known as Llama. AJ West is a bestselling author of historical fiction and an organiser of the protest. He tells Helen Pidd that he was devastated to discover his books may have been used in this way.
The Guardian •

Trump’s trade war: the view from China

After a fortnight in which Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs evolved into an escalating trade war with China, a sense of defiant nationalism has been building in the east Asian country. The Chinese foreign ministry has even been sharing historic video clips from the former leader Mao Zedong:“As to how long this war will last, we are not the ones to decide … We’ll fight until we completely triumph!”Speaking from Beijing, the Guardian’s China correspondent, Amy Hawkins, tells Helen Pidd...
The Guardian •

The scramble to save British Steel

On Saturday, when MPs were supposed to be on their Easter holidays, a rare emergency sitting was called. Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, told the House of Commons that they were meeting “in exceptional circumstances to take exceptional action in what are exceptional times”.MPs passed a bill to save the Scunthorpe steelworks, a vital part of the UK’s critical infrastructure and the last remaining maker of mass-produced virgin steel.
The Guardian •

Ta-Nehisi Coates on why stories matter in the age of Trump

“This is a cultural president. Make no mistake about it.”For Ta-Nehisi Coates, the award-winning writer and journalist, the US president, Donald Trump, and his allies clearly understand the power of story-telling in politics. Coates has recently written a new book, The Message, and he tells Michael Safi that the stories told in TV, films, literature and beyond are not a distraction from politics today but are actively shaping it.
The Guardian •

How phone footage exposed a massacre of Gaza paramedics

Israeli forces shot dead 15 Palestinian paramedics and civil defence workers on 23 March and buried them in a mass grave in the Tel al-Sultan district of Rafah.The Israeli military claimed their vehicles had been “advancing suspiciously” and without headlights or flashing emergency lights.When the UN and Palestinian Red Crescent exhumed the bodies, however, they found a phone that belonged to Rifat Radwan, one of the paramedics killed. He had recorded the last minutes of his life.
The Guardian •

Will Trump’s tariffs tip the world into recession?

Just after midnight on Tuesday, EDT time, the wall of tariffs Donald Trump announced last week came into effect. The new system upends decades of precedent from the world’s strongest economy and has sent global markets reeling.The Guardian’s senior economics correspondent, Richard Partington, explains to Michael Safi the dynamics of a market crash and a trade war and how together they may contribute to the onset of a global recession.
The Guardian •

The surprising crisis in British television

“I had a career for 17 years and what am I doing now? What’s happened to my life? I had something that I was so proud of and the thing that I love doesn’t love me.”Stef Loughrey is a producer who has worked on some of the UK’s biggest television programmes. But in 2023 the steady stream of work she had relied on suddenly disappeared.The Guardian’s media editor, Michael Savage, tells Helen Pidd that Loughrey is not alone.
The Guardian •

How will Myanmar’s earthquake impact the civil war?

“It took around four to five minutes for the earthquake to shake and then it stopped and shook again. It is the most severe earthquake I have experienced in my life.”Esther J is a reporter based in Bangkok, Thailand, more than 600 miles (966km) away from her home country of Myanmar – the epicentre of last week’s 7.7 magnitude earthquake.Described by the Red Cross as causing a level of devastation that “hasn’t been seen in over a century in Asia”, the earthquake has killed at least 3,000 people...
The Guardian •

From the Oscars to Israeli detention: the attack on No Other Land director Hamdan Ballal

Earlier this month, No Other Land won the Oscar for best documentary feature. The film chronicles the West Bank community of Masafer Yatta as it resists being driven off its land by settler violence and the demolitions of the Israeli military. The film’s two protagonists, Palestinian film-maker Basel Adra and Israeli film-maker Yuval Abraham, gave speeches when they accepted their award...
The Guardian •

Living with long Covid when the world has moved on

“I think he actually got it while he was climbing on a climbing trip. And it was bad, but it wasn’t awful.”James first caught Covid-19 in April 2022 and as his partner Emma explains to Helen Pidd, it was not until months later that the severity of his infection became apparent. He became unable to get up and walk and was hypersensitive to noise and light.“We’ve got black plastic sheeting over all of the windows and doors to stop any light coming in,” Emma says James now lives in darkness...
The Guardian •

Will Putin derail Trump’s peace plan? – Today in Focus Extra

After weeks of diplomatic tension, on Tuesday the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, announced that Ukraine had signed up to a 30-day ceasefire agreement. As the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, explains to Michael Safi, this deal would cover the whole of Ukraine and by accepting it, Ukraine will again receive military aid and intelligence sharing from the US. However, issues such as borders, elections and Ukrainian membership of Nato or the EU are not a part of this deal...
The Guardian •

Can Canada’s ‘rockstar banker’ PM take on Trump and win?

Just a few months ago, the future of Canada seemed clear – the Conservatives were on the rise. After almost a decade in power, Justin Trudeau resigned and his Liberal party seemed down and out. But then came not just Donald Trump’s tariffs – but his threats that Canada could become the “51st state”.Canadians were appalled. The government hit back with retaliatory tariffs and strong words. Ordinary Canadians began boycotting goods from the US. And support for the Liberals surged.
The Guardian •

Can Europe defend itself alone?

On Thursday, after the US decided to halt military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine, European leaders in Brussels agreed to a massive and unprecedented increase in defence spending.The Guardian’s Europe correspondent, Jon Henley, explains to Michael Safi that this €800bn fund marks a new era for the union and will mean tearing up fiscal rules to loosen borrowing.For some member states, such as Germany, achieving this defensive autonomy will require profound constitutional changes.
The Guardian •

Exposed: listening in on a $35m phone scam

“I’d quite like to just try and get a deposit together, to buy a house and stuff.”After Mark* saw an advert for a financial trading website, he signed up to what he believed was access to an adviser who called herself Lilliana.Through long phone calls together, Mark believed that he was making investments and that they were generating lucrative returns.But when he tried to access his earnings, he found himself on a slippery slope that ended with him losing all of his life savings.
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