Opinion Biden
is America’s
oldest president
– but tripping
over a sandbag
tells us nothing
Jill Filipovic
page 20
Saturday 3 June 2023
theguardian.com/us
Published in New York, United States
PFAS foam gathers at the the Van Etten Creek dam in Oscoda Township, Michigan. PFAS have been used in an extensive array of consumer and industrial applications. Photograph: Jake May/AP
Top US chemical firms to pay $1.2bn to settle
water contamination lawsuits
Carey Gillam and Shannon Kel-
leher
DuPont and two related companies said
they would pay close to $1.2bn to settle
liability claims brought by public water
systems serving the vast majority of
the US population on Friday, just days
before the start of a bellwether trial
in South Carolina over PFAS conta-
mination.
PFAS maker 3M was reportedly also
considering a settlement that would
keep the company from having to
face allegations that it was responsible
for knowingly contaminating drink-
ing water supplies around the United
States.
The trial set to start on Monday is
expected to shine a light on long-held
secret documents about the chemical
giant 3M’s knowledge of the dangers of
its per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances
(PFAS). 3M has previously announced it
will exit PFAS production by 2025.
DuPont and its related companies
were recently severed from the case,
Science Breast cancer drug cuts risk of most
common form returning by 25%
as they negotiated the settlement
in which DuPont will pay roughly
$400m ; Chemours, a DuPont spinoff,
will pay $592m; and another DuPont-re-
lated company, Corteva, will pay about
$193m.
The companies said the settlement
excludes personal injury claims due
to alleged exposure to PFAS, as well
as claims by state attorneys general
about PFAS contamination of natural
resources.
Bloomberg reported on Friday that
3M was negotiating a $10bn payout
that would resolve claims and avoid
Monday’s trial.
Asked about a potential settlement,
3M said in a statement: “We don’t com-
ment on rumors and speculation.”
3M said earlier in a court filing
that it was not liable and that it
“never owned, operated, or otherwise
controlled the facilities, disposal sites,
and other purported sources of PFAS
or related compounds”. The company
lacked the “necessary controls over its
products after the point of sale”, it said
in the filing.
page 42
The company said in a statement
that it was working to stop the use
of PFAS across its product portfolio by
the end of 2025, even though “PFAS are
safely made and used in many modern
products”.
4,000 other plaintiffs
The plaintiff in the trial scheduled
to start on Monday is the small city
of Stuart, Florida, which is suing over
the contamination of its drinking water
with two types of PFAS called PFOS
and PFOA that were used in firefighting
foam by local firefighters.
More than 4,000 other plaintiffs are
also part of the broader litigation being
overseen by the US district court in
Charleston, South Carolina. The multi-
district litigation (MDL) aims to recover
the expenses public and private water
utilities are incurring to test, monitor
and replace water supplies and to in-
stall equipment to try to clear the
chemicals from tainted systems.
Stuart, a city of about 17,000 people
on Florida’s Atlantic coast, discovered
its drinking water wells had been conta-
minated in 2016 when state regu-
lators informed city officials that some
of its well water contained levels of
PFOA and PFOS higher than what
the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) considers safe. Ultimately, nearly
all of the city’s wells were found to con-
tain some level of PFOA or PFOS.
The city traced the conta-
mination back to “aqueous film-form-
ing foams” (AFFF) the local fire depart-
ment had used in training exercises for
decades, unaware that the work to pro-
tect public safety was instead poten-
tially putting it at risk due to the dan-
gerous chemicals in the foam.
The city has since installed an ion
exchange filtration system that is de-
signed to reduce the levels of PFOS and
PFOA to undetectable levels, said Mi-
chael Mortell, Stuart city attorney and
interim city manager. The city wants
3M – not the taxpayer – to shoulder the
expense. The city is also seeking puni-
tive damages for 3M’s alleged “wrongful
conduct”.
The Stuart case, like the thousands
of others pending, alleges that 3M knew
by the 1970s that PFOA and PFOS
could endanger human health and the
environment, but decided to hide the
knowledge from the public and regu-
lators, and continued to manufacture
the chemicals, including for use in the
firefighting foam.
Attorneys for Stuart are planning to
build their case in part on 3M’s own
internal records, many of which were
made public after Minnesota officials
negotiated an $850m settlement with
3M in 2018 over PFAS water conta-
mination the state alleged caused can-
cers and other health problems in resi-
dents.
“They knew that their chemical …
was in the blood of the general popu-
lation: every man, woman and child,”
said McWilliams, one of Stuart city’s
lawyers, summarizing a position the
city plans to make in court. “They deli-
berated whether or not to tell the EPA.
They ultimately decided not to. And
then they sat on it for 22 years.”
Even after the EPA pressured 3M
to stop making PFAS chemicals used
Continued on page 2

2 Headlines
Continued from page 1
in firefighting foam in 2002, the com-
pany allegedly failed to warn users and
the public about harmful foam that re-
mained on the market or to recall the
harmful products.
PFAS, sometimes called “forever
chemicals” because they do not natu-
rally break down, have been used in an
extensive array of consumer and indus-
India train crash: at least 280 killed and 900
injured in Odisha state
Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Delhi,
Nadeem Badshah and agencies
At least 280 people have been killed
and about 900 injured after two pas-
senger trains collided in the eastern
Indian state of Odisha – the country’s
deadliest rail accident in more than 20
years.
The Coromandel Express, which
runs from Kolkata in West Bengal to
Chennai in Tamil, was going around
100mph (160km/h) when it collided
with a stationary freight train around
7pm on Friday, causing it to derail.
Carriages from the freight train
then hit two coaches from the Howrah
Superfast Express train, which was
travelling in the opposite direction, ac-
cording to South Eastern Railway, re-
sulting in the deadly pile-up.
Rajesh Kumar, the senior deputy
commercial manager of South Eastern
California woman finds foot-long ancient
mastodon tooth on beach
Associated Press
A woman taking a Memorial Day week-
end stroll on a California beach found
something unusual sticking out of the
sand: a tooth from an ancient mas-
todon.
But then the fossil vanished, and it
took a media blitz and a kind-hearted
jogger to find it again.
Jennifer Schuh found the foot-long
(30cm) tooth sticking out of the sand
on Friday at the mouth of Aptos Creek
on Rio Del Mar state beach, located off
Monterey Bay in Santa Cruz county on
California’s central coast.
“I was on one side of the creek and
this lady was talking to me on the other
side and she said what’s that at your
feet?” Schuh recounted. “It looked kind
of weird, like burnt almost.”
Schuh wasn’t sure what she had
found. So she snapped some photos
and posted them on Facebook, asking
for help.
The answer came from Wayne
trial applications due to their resistance
to water, oil and heat, and are present in
everything from pizza boxes and pesti-
cides to plastics and paints.
The EPA says PFAS residues pers-
ist in water, soil, air and food, as
well as common materials in homes
and workplaces. Scientists have addi-
tionally determined that the toxins are
now commonly found in the bodies of
people and animals worldwide. An esti-
Railway, said the Coromandel Express
had changed tracks, which led to the
incident, and that the reason would be
investigated.
The death toll was expected to in-
crease as more bodies were recovered
from the wreckage and overturned car-
riages, said the state chief secretary,
Pradeep Jena. More than 200 ambul-
ances were called to the scene in
Odisha’s Balasore district and 100 addi-
tional doctors, on top of 80 already
there, had been mobilised, he added.
About 850 people had been taken to
hospital.
“The rescue work is continuing on a
war footing,” Jena said. “Additional med-
ical equipment and drugs at hospitals
where victims are being treated are also
being taken care of.”
Rescue teams were mobilised from
Odisha’s capital of Bhubaneswar and
Kolkata in West Bengal, said the federal
minister for railways, Ashwini Vaish-
The mastodon tooth is less than 1m years old, which is ‘new’ by fossil standards. Photo-
graph: Jennifer Schuh/AP
Thompson, paleontology collections
adviser for the Santa Cruz Museum of
Natural History.
Thompson determined that the
object was a worn molar from an adult
Pacific mastodon, an extinct elephant-
like species.
“This is an extremely important
find,” Thompson wrote, and he urged
mated 97% of Americans have PFAS in
their blood, according to a study by the
Centers for Disease Control and Preven-
tion (CDC).
“Next to global warming, this is the
biggest environmental catastrophe to
ever happen,” said Ned McWilliams, one
of the lawyers representing the Florida
town in the upcoming trial.
A collection of some of 3M and
DuPont’s internal files dating back to
naw, as well as from the National Dis-
aster Response Force, state government
teams and the air force. Hundreds of
fire department personnel, police offic-
ers and sniffer dogs were also involved.
Images from the scene showed res-
cuers climbing up the mangled wreck
of one of the trains as they worked
frantically overnight to find survivors.
Sudhanshu Sarangi, the director gen-
eral of the fire department in Odisha,
said they had been able to evacuate
400 injured people from the site and
recover around 200 bodies.
Speaking on Saturday morning,
after rescue efforts had gone on for
almost 12 hours, Sarangi said: “We’re
trying to locate bodies that might
still be trapped under the mangled
compartments. The operations will
continue for a few more hours.”
The Odisha chief minister, Naveen
Patnaik, said authorities’ priority was
“removing the living to the hospitals,
Schuh to call him.
But when they went back to the
beach, the tooth was gone.
A weekend search failed to find it.
Thompson then sent out a social media
request for help finding the artefact.
The plea made international headlines.
On Tuesday, Jim Smith of nearby
Aptos called the museum.
the 1960s are expected to be intro-
duced as evidence, according to plain-
tiffs’ attorneys.
Testimony from retired 3M toxicol-
ogist John Butenhoff is also expected
to be presented in the trial. In a
video deposition taken before the trial,
Butenhoff acknowledged that 3M is
more than likely the source for PFOS
contamination around the globe, in-
cluding in air, waters, soil, humans, fish,
that’s our first concern, to look after the
living”.
At Howrah and Chennai railway
stations, desperate relatives gathered
hoping for news about survivors. One
survivor told local television news he
had been sleeping when the accident
happened and woke to find himself
trapped under about a dozen passen-
gers before crawling out from the car-
riage with only injuries to his neck and
arm.
“When I got out of the train, I saw
limbs scattered all around, a leg here,
a hand there. Someone’s face was disfi-
gured,” he said.
Another witness told Reuters all he
could see was “blood, broken limbs and
people dying around me”.
India’s prime minister, Narendra
Modi, said “all possible assistance”
was being given to those affected. He
tweeted: “In this hour of grief, my
thoughts are with the bereaved fami-
“I was so excited to get that call,”
said Liz Broughton, the museum’s vis-
itor experience manager. “Jim told us
that he had stumbled upon it during
one of his regular jogs along the beach,
but wasn’t sure of what he had found
until he saw a picture of the tooth on
the news.”
Smith donated the tooth to the
museum, where it will be on display
Friday through Sunday.
The age of the tooth is not clear.
A museum blog says mastodons gen-
erally roamed California from about 5m
to 10,000 years ago.
“We can safely say this specimen
would be less than 1m years old, which
is relatively ‘new’ by fossil standards,”
Broughton said in an email.
Broughton said it was common for
winter storms to uncover fossils in the
region and it may have washed down to
the ocean from higher up.
Schuh said she was thrilled that her
find could help unlock ancient secrets
about the peaceful beach area. She did
not keep the tooth, but she did hop
The Guardian Saturday 3 June 2023
polar bears and “other Arctic mam-
mals”.
“More likely than not the source is
3M,” Butenhoff states in his testimony.
This story is co-published with the
New Lede, a journalism project of the
Environmental Working Group
lies. May the injured recover soon.”
At Bhadrak district hospital, ambul-
ances brought in casualties, with the
bloodied and shocked survivors re-
ceiving treatment in crowded wards.
Hundreds of young people lined up
outside a government hospital in the
city of Soro in Odisha to donate blood.
Despite government efforts to im-
prove safety and update ageing infra-
structure, several hundred accidents
occur every year on India’s railways.
With 40,000 miles (64,000km) of track
carrying 13 million passengers on
14,000 trains daily, they comprise the
world’s largest train network under one
management.
Two trains collided near Delhi in
August 1995, killing 358 people in the
worst train accident in India’s history.
Most train accidents are blamed on
human error or outdated signalling
equipment.
Liz Broughton of the Santa Cruz Museum
of National History: ‘I was so excited to get
that call.’ Photograph: AP
on Amazon and order herself a replica
mastodon tooth necklace.
“You don’t often get to touch some-
thing from history,” she said.
It is only the third find of a locally
recorded mastodon fossil. The museum
also has another tooth along with a
skull that was found by a teenager in
1980. It was found in the same Aptos
Creek that empties into the ocean.
“We are thrilled about this exciting
discovery and the implications it holds
for our understanding of ancient life
in our region,” the museum’s executive
director, in a statement.
Saturday 3 June 2023 The Guardian
‘I can’t’: Georgia gun shop owner to close
store as US reels from mass killings
Gloria Oladipo and agency
A Georgia gun shop owner said he is
closing his store in the wake of several
mass shootings targeting young child-
ren, as the country reels from recent at-
tacks and an escalating rate of killings.
Jon Waldman, a gun shop owner in
Duluth, Georgia, said that he had al-
ready closed his store and will have the
gun inventory cleared out by 15 June,
NBC News reported.
Waldman told NBC that recent mass
shootings, one at a Christian school in
Nashville and another attack at an At-
lanta hospital, have weighed on his con-
science as he has no control over what
a customer could do with a purchased
weapon.
“I’m not against the second amend-
ment. But just with my conscience, I
can’t sell it, because I don’t know who
it’s going to affect and hurt,” Wald-
man said, referring to the constitutional
right to bear arms in the US.
“That’s what eats at me,” Waldman
added to NBC. “If it can happen, it’s only
a matter of time until it does happen.”
On 27 March, a 28-year-old gunman
killed three children and three adults
at Covenant school, a Christian elemen-
tary school in Nashville. The 28-year-
old shooter, a former student of the
school, was killed by police.
Less than two months later, a 24-
year-old man killed one person and in-
jured four in an Atlanta hospital.
“That really affected me,” Waldman
told NBC, referring to the Covenant
‘Cop City’ protest lawyers challenge use of
domestic terrorism statute
Timothy Pratt in Atlanta
Attorneys representing an activist ar-
rested while protesting against the
building of “Cop City” in Georgia have
launched a legal challenge to the use
of a state domestic terrorism statute
against protests, claiming an “act of free
speech” is being unconstitutionally tar-
geted, the Guardian can reveal.
The move comes amid the unprec-
edented arrests of organizers at a bail
and legal defense fund that has helped
some of the people arrested while pro-
testing against the multimillion-dol-
lar police and fire department training
center planned for a forest south-east
of Atlanta.
Cop City came to global atten-
tion after police shot dead an environ-
mental protester in a raid on the forest
and its defenders on 18 January – the
first incident of its kind in US history.
Police staged a Swat-style raid on
Wednesday on the Atlanta Solidarity
Fund (ASF), arresting three of its mem-
bers. The fund, operating in Atlanta
since 2017, has helped some of the 42
protesters so far facing charges linked
to protests against Cop City, nearly all of
whom have been bailed out.
The legal challenge was filed by
Headlines
Police officers at the scene of the shooting in midtown Atlanta, where one person died and four were injured. Photograph: Megan Varner/
Getty Images
school shooting. “And then the shoot-
ing at midtown [Atlanta] – this just has
to stop. Dude killed a woman from the
CDC who only wanted to help others.
So I just can’t. That was the final straw.”
Friday marks national gun violence
awareness day, as 2023 is on track to set
a record for annual mass killings. The
total is on pace to hit 60 this year, com-
pared to 36 in 2022 and 28 in 2021.
Vice -President Kamala Harris will
give remarks on Friday afternoon
to mark the anti-gun violence day.
Harris, joined by the education sec-
People protest against the controversial ‘Cop City’ project outside the city hall in Atlanta, Georgia, last month. Photograph: Megan Varner/
Reuters
Stanley L Cohen, a New York lawyer,
together with local co-counsel. Exclu-
sively obtained by the Guardian, the
writ of habeas corpus filed in DeKalb
county superior court on behalf of Ariel
Ebaugh, arrested on 13 December, chal-
lenges the constitutionality of the 2017
retary, Miguel Cardona, will travel to
Springfield, Virginia, to discuss the
Biden administration’s actions and
aspirations on gun safety.
Joe Biden called afresh for action
on gun violence last week, while giving
remarks on the first anniversary of the
school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
A total of 21 people – 19 students
and two teachers – were killed at
an elementary school in Uvalde. The
gunman was killed by police after a
long delay when they held back from
entering the building and then engag-
domestic terrorism statute that has
been used against activists and their
supporters.
The petition argues that “attempt-
ing by word or expressive action to
alter, change, or coerce government
policy is a quintessential act of free
ing the perpetrator.
Biden said that too many schools
had become “killing fields”, and urged
Congress to pass a ban on assault rif-
fles, military-grade weapons that are
frequently used in mass shootings.
Meanwhile, Tennessee’s governor,
Bill Lee, attacked the National Riffle
Association (NRA) as the state, which
generally has very loose gun regu-
lations, grapples with how to move for-
ward.
Lee, a Republican, accused the gun
lobby group of wanting to use invo-
speech,” and that Ebaugh’s protest
against Cop City was constitutionally
protected. It calls the statute “unconsti-
tutionally vague” and “overbroad”.
The veteran attorney, who has
represented clients ranging from mem-
bers of Hamas to Native Amer-
3
luntary commitment laws “to round up
mentally ill people and deprive them
of other liberties”, according to govern-
ment documents.
The documents were obtained by
the Associated Press via a public
records request. The talking points
were drafted by Lee’s office in April, as
the governor announced a gun control
proposal.
Lee’s office wrote in the memo that
the NRA’s plan “does not get at the heart
of the problem, as it fails to address
unstable individuals who suffer from
mental health issues but do not qualify
for involuntary commitment to a facil-
ity”.
Lee’s comments criticizing the NRA
are rare coming from a Republican,
especially as the NRA helped Lee pass a
2021 law that allows people 21 and older
to carry handguns without a permit in
Tennessee.
In response to several shootings,
Lee has proposed keeping firearms
away from people who could harm
themselves or others. His proposal
has faced opposition from several
rightwing groups, including the NRA.
But Lee has defended his pro-
posal as the best way to support
second amendment rights versus how
proposals for involuntary commitment
could threaten such rights and other
liberties.
“Not only is the NRA’s proposal
impractical – it would drastically
expand the scope of government,” read
one of the memos.
ican activists, told the Guardian:
“I have not come across a more
fundamentally unconstitutional sta-
tute limiting speech and assembly in
40 years of legal practice, at the state,
federal or international level.”
If successful, the petition could
“ultimately mean that charges for
[Ebaugh and] the other defendants
would be dismissed”, said Alex Joseph,
an Atlanta-area former federal prose-
cutor who has been involved in efforts
to stop the training center.
Meanwhile, at least a dozen offic-
ers with Atlanta police and the Geor-
gia bureau of investigation arrived to a
leafy Atlanta neighborhood in a Swat-
style vehicle, long guns raised, arresting
Marlon Kautz, Savannah Patterson and
Adele Maclean and charging them with
financial crimes, including money laun-
dering and “charity fraud”.
Georgia’s attorney general, Chris
Carr, and governor, Brian Kemp, both
trumpeted the arrests on social media,
with Kemp calling the three “criminals
who facilitated and encouraged domes-
tic terrorism”.
Arrest warrants accuse the three
of being connected to Defend the At-
lanta Forest (DTAF) – a group the state
Continued on page 4

4 Headlines
Continued from page 3
has said exists because the phrase is
used on social media and elsewhere
– and goes on to allege that DTAF is
classified by the US homeland security
department (DHS) as “domestic violent
extremists”.
The same allegation was used in
earlier arrest warrants, but the DHS
itself debunked the claim in January,
telling the Guardian that it “does not
classify or designate any groups”.
The fund, one of nearly 100 sim-
ilar organizations across the US, raises
money to help arrested protesters with
bail, legal defense and related needs.
The arrests are “unprecedented” in the
history of such funds in the US, which
US air quality as far south as Virginia affected
by Nova Scotia wildfires
Erum Salam and agencies
The historically intense wildfires that
battered the Nova Scotia province on
the eastern coast of Canada have had a
severe effect on air quality as far south
as Virginia and Maryland, the US Na-
tional Weather Service alerted.
Four wildfires have destroyed hun-
dreds of buildings and homes and dis-
placed tens of thousands of people, hit-
ting the Halifax municipality hardest.
But the blazes have also sent smoke bil-
lowing over New York City, and have
prompted officials from New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia to
report negative effects on their air qual-
ity.
The health department of Pennsyl-
vania’s Chester county warned “smoke
and haze from wildfires in Canada con-
tinue to linger” and that air quality
may be unhealthy for young children,
older adults and people with respi-
ratory problems.
Earlier in the week, Cape Cod,
Massachusetts, had also seen plumes
of smoke from the fires that the US’s
neighbors to the north were fighting.
The National Weather Service in
Revealed: The secret push to bury a
weedkiller’s link to Parkinson’s disease
Carey Gillam
The global chemical giant Syngenta has
sought to secretly influence scientific
research regarding links between its
top-selling weedkiller and Parkinson’s,
internal corporate documents show.
While numerous independent re-
searchers have determined that the
weedkiller, paraquat, can cause neuro-
logical changes that are hallmarks of
Parkinson’s, Syngenta has always main-
tained that the evidence linking para-
quat to Parkinson’s disease is “frag-
mentary” and “inconclusive”.
But the scientific record they point
to as proof of paraquat’s safety is the
same one that Syngenta officials, scien-
tists and lawyers in the US and the UK
are “central to the notion of the rule of
law” and have existed at least a century,
said Jocelyn Simonson, a Brooklyn Col-
lege law professor.
The state’s move drew rebuke from
free speech and criminal justice ex-
perts, including the civil rights attorney
Alec Karakatsanis, who called the ar-
rests “bone-chilling”.
In Georgia, Democratic voices
stepped forward in opposition to the
state’s actions, including state senator
Josh McLaurin, who told the Guardian
it was “scary to think the state is trying
to use the criminal legal system to
crack down on lawful protests, at the
direction of the attorney general”.
Georgia state representative Ruwa
Romman said the arrests raise the ques-
The collapsed bridge between Clyde River and Port Clyde smoulders amid a wildfire in Nova Scotia. Photograph: Nova Scotia Govern-
ment/Reuters
Wakefield, Virginia, 164 miles (263km)
south of Washington, issued an air qual-
ity alert for Friday for the Richmond
area due to smoke from the wildfires.
St Mary’s county in Maryland also
A tractor sprays chemicals on a field. Photograph: Leonid Eremeychuk/Getty Images/
iStockphoto
have worked over decades to create
and at times, covertly manipulate, ac-
tion of whether authorities will also
“criminalize other mutual-aid funds,
like abortion funds, or funds to help
immigrants navigate the legal system?”
Fair Fight Action, a voting rights
group founded by the former Geor-
gia gubernatorial candidate Stacey
Abrams, called attention to the raid’s
timing – days before Atlanta city coun-
cil must vote on approving more than
$60m in funding for the center.
The raid’s timing was also only days
before the 90-day window by which
Victor Puertas and Luke Harper – who
were arrested on 5 March and are the
only protesters among the 42 charged
with domestic terrorism still in jail –
must be indicted or released on bail, ac-
cording to Georgia law.
tweeted “air quality may be [affected]
by the ongoing wildfires in southeas-
tern Canada”. Officials urged residents
to get emergency help by dialing 911
if they notice smoke or the smell of
cording to the trove of internal Syn-
genta files reviewed by the Guardian
If either defendant needs help with
paying bail, the National Bail Fund Net-
work, a partner of the Atlanta fund,
will be available, said Pilar Weiss, one
of the network’s founders. The na-
tional organization has also assumed
fundraising abilities on behalf of the At-
lanta fund, Weiss added.
As this week’s events occurred, a
growing number of individual attor-
neys and state and national organi-
zations were also staging meetings and
training sessions in preparation for de-
fending the dozens of protesters who
are out of jail, but remain unindicted,
said Tiffany Williams Roberts, public
policy director at the Atlanta-based
Southern Center for Human Rights.
After Wednesday’s police raid,
smoke.
About 16,000 residents of Canada in
and around Halifax were told to leave
the area for their safety. Officials con-
firmed at least half of the Halifax fires
and the New Lede.
The files reveal an array of tac-
tics, including enlisting a prominent UK
scientist and other outside researchers
who authored scientific literature that
did not disclose any involvement with
Syngenta; misleading regulators about
the existence of unfavorable research
conducted by its own scientists; and
engaging lawyers to review and suggest
edits for scientific reports in ways that
downplayed worrisome findings.
The files also show that Syngenta
created what officials called a “Swat
team” to be ready to respond to
new independent scientific reports that
could interfere with Syngenta’s “free-
dom to sell” paraquat. The group, also
referred to as “Paraquat Communi-
cations Management Team”, was to
The Guardian Saturday 3 June 2023
Devin Franklin, movement policy coun-
sel at the center, has also been hearing
from defense attorneys who are con-
cerned about becoming targets of the
state themselves. “We’re figuring out
ways to quell those concerns,” he said.
Joseph, the former federal prose-
cutor, said the state’s actions dis-
play “typical tools prosecutors use”, in-
cluding “casting as wide a net as poss-
ible” in order to affect the ability of
people being arrested to serve as wit-
nesses in defense of other defendants,
or to pressure them to accept a plea
deal.
“They don’t care about appearing
legitimate or if the charges are thrown
out in two years – they only care about
the swift repression of speech,” she said.
had been contained and had not grown
since Wednesday, but it was still burn-
ing furiously.
Halifax’s deputy fire chief, David
Meldrum, said officials had completed
an inventory of damaged and destroyed
properties. But authorities had not
been able to immediately release infor-
mation about the number of affected
properties.
In nearby Shelburne, a county of
1,300 people, residents were forced to
leave the area. Among the facilities eva-
cuated was the local Roseway hospital.
Despite a fierce defensive fire-
fighting force counting on water bomb-
ers and air tankers, the large Barrington
Lake was engulfed in flames which
grew in size to more than 77 sq miles
(200 sq km).
Cooler temperatures and steady
rain were not expected until late Friday,
though the forecast called for some
spotty showers during the day, giving
officials hope that the efforts of those
grappling with the wildfires would be
aided.
The Associated Press contributed to
this report
Syngenta signage is displayed outside the
company’s booth during the Farm Progress
Show in Decatur, Illinois, in August 2017.
Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images
convene “immediately on notification”
of the publication of a new study,
“triage the situation” and plan a re-
sponse, including commissioning a
“scientific critique”.
Continued on page 5
Saturday 3 June 2023 The Guardian
Continued from page 4
A key goal was to “create an inter-
national scientific consensus against
the hypothesis that paraquat is a
risk factor for Parkinson’s disease,” the
documents state.
In another example of a com-
pany tactic, an outside lawyer hired
by Syngenta to work with its scien-
tists was asked to review and sug-
gest edits on internal meeting minutes
regarding paraquat safety. The lawyer
pushed scientists to alter “problematic
language” and scientific conclusions
deemed “unhelpful” to the corporate
defense of paraquat.
Syngenta’s decision to involve law-
yers in the editing of its scientific re-
ports and other communications in
ways that downplayed concerning find-
ings potentially related to public health
is unacceptable, said Wendy Wagner,
a law professor at the University of
Texas who has served on several Na-
tional Academies of Science commit-
tees. “Clearly the lawyers are involved
in order to limit liability,” she said.
“It happens regularly in cases where
a corporation’s internal research puts
it at a high risk of expensive lawsuits.
Regrettably, this kind of effective legal
ghostwriting of scientific reports hap-
pens far too often in the chemical
industry. Scientifically it doesn’t seem
acceptable,” Wagner said.
When asked to comment about the
contents of the documents, a Syngenta
spokesperson said: “We care deeply
about the health and wellbeing of far-
mers and are dedicated to providing
them safe and effective products. As
a responsible company, we have spent
millions of dollars on testing our prod-
ucts to make them safe for their in-
tended use.”
Syngenta further said there had
been more than 1,200 studies of para-
quat and none have “established a
causal connection between paraquat
and Parkinson’s disease”.
Many scientists disagree with that
position, however. Paraquat has been
shown in some research to increase the
risk of Parkinson’s by 150% and is cited
in a 2020 book, Ending Parkinson’s Dis-
ease, by four of the world’s leading
neurologists as a causal factor for the
disease.
The documents revealing Syn-
genta’s efforts to influence science
build on other evidence of questionable
corporate practices with regard to para-
quat. A set of internal documents re-
vealed last year by the Guardian and
the New Lede made clear, among other
things, that Syngenta had evidence 50
years ago that paraquat could accu-
mulate in the human brain.
Those documents showed that Syn-
genta was aware decades ago of evi-
dence that exposure to paraquat could
impair the central nervous system, trig-
gering tremors and other symptoms in
experimental animals similar to those
suffered by people with Parkinson’s.
They also showed that Syngenta
worked covertly to keep a highly re-
garded scientist studying causes of Par-
kinson’s from sitting on an advisory
panel for the US Environmental Protec-
tion Agency (EPA), the chief US regu-
lator for paraquat and other pesticides.
The new documents have emerged
at a sensitive time for Syngenta. In less
than six months, the Swiss chemical
giant faces a first-ever trial in litigation
brought by US farmers and others who
allege the company’s paraquat weed-
killer causes Parkinson’s.
‘Influence future work’ by re-
searchers
Headlines
It was 2003, and Syngenta offi-
cials should have been celebrating:
the company’s self-proclaimed “block-
buster” paraquat herbicide product,
sold under the brand name Gramoxone,
was considered one of the world’s top
weedkillers, used by farmers across the
globe. Sales of $420m were forecast for
steady growth.
But at the same time, multiple inde-
pendent researchers were increasingly
reporting evidence that the herbicide
might be a cause of rising levels of Par-
kinson’s, a disease particularly seen in
farmers. Roughly 90,000 Americans are
diagnosed each year with Parkinson’s.
Symptoms include tremors, rigidity of
the muscles, a loss of coordination, and
difficulty speaking.
In the face of the developing re-
search, the new documents show,
Syngenta decided that it needed a
“coherent strategy across all discip-
lines focusing on external influencing,
that proactively diffuses the potential
threats that we face”, according to the
minutes of a June 2003 company meet-
ing.
To achieve that goal, the com-
pany set several objectives, including
attempting to “influence future work by
external researchers where possible”.
A key strategy was the engagement
of scientists outside the company who
could write papers that supported Syn-
genta’s defense of paraquat.
Similar strategies have been pur-
sued by other chemical companies
and in other industries when safety
questions arose about profitable prod-
ucts. Monsanto, for example, was found
to have ghostwritten scientific studies
about a widely used chemical called
glyphosate, the active ingredient in
Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide.
The newly uncovered records show
that among the scientists with which
Syngenta had a consulting arrangement
was the prominent British pathologist
Sir Colin Berry, who in 2003 became
president of the British Academy of
Forensic Sciences.
According to testimony given in a
deposition by the top Syngenta scien-
tist Philip Botham, and other records,
Berry became a participant in Syn-
genta’s “extended health science team”,
attending company meetings on para-
quat. The company had several sim-
ilar relationships with outside scien-
tists who authored papers to submit to
scientific journals, the records show.
Berry co-authored a paper pub-
lished in 2010 titled “Paraquat and
Parkinson’s Disease” in Cell Death &
Differentiation, a journal owned by the
Nature Portfolio, It concluded that the
link between paraquat and Parkinson’s
was weak and evidence linking the
chemical to the disease was “limited”
and based on “insufficient” data. Along
with Berry, two other external scien-
tists were listed as authors.
The paper’s ethics declaration did
not disclose that any of the three had a
relationship with Syngenta specifically.
It only stated that “the researchers
have worked with pharmaceutical and
chemical companies as external advi-
sors. This work reflects their scientific
experience and independent views.”
But a memorandum from a lawyer
advising Syngenta suggests that the
work was not independent. The memo
stresses the “importance of proactively
publishing research studies that dis-
credit the alleged connection between
paraquat and Parkinson’s disease” – and
cites, in this context, the “continuing
(Syngenta-sponsored) work” by Berry
and the other two authors of the 2010
paper.
The same memorandum noted that
public knowledge of “Syngenta-spon-
sored” work could have “adverse conse-
quences”.
Syngenta cites the study on its
“Paraquat information center” website.
When asked about his work for Syn-
genta, Berry acknowledged an ongoing
relationship, but said the 2010 paper
was not “sponsored” by the company.
He said he currently served as chair of a
Syngenta “ethics committee”.
Another author of the paper, Pier-
luigi Nicotera, scientific director and
chairman of the executive board of the
German Center for Neurodegenerative
Diseases, said that his consultant
arrangement with Syngenta ended in
2008 and he was not paid to write
the 2010 article. He said the paper “re-
flected the views of the authors based
on the available data at the time”. He
said he did not know why Syngenta
would refer to work by him and Berry
and the other author as company spon-
sored.
“As of today, I do remain strongly
skeptical about the link between use of
paraquat and Parkinson,” Nicotera said.
“A link between exposure and disease is
only suggested by epidemiological stu-
dies, which as you know, do not estab-
lish a cause effect relationship, but only
generic risks.”
The third author did not respond to
a request for comment.
Animal experiments
Though it worked to publicize re-
search that supported paraquat safety,
Syngenta kept quiet about a series of
in-house animal experiments that ana-
lysed paraquat impacts in the brains
of mice, according to company records
and deposition testimony.
Scientists who study Parkinson’s
disease have established that symp-
toms develop when dopamine-pro-
ducing neurons in a specific area of the
brain called the substantia nigra pars
compacta (SNpc) are lost or otherwise
degenerate. Without sufficient dopa-
mine production, the brain is not ca-
pable of transmitting signals between
cells to control movement and balance.
The Syngenta scientist Louise
Marks did a series of mouse studies be-
tween 2003 and 2007 that confirmed
the same type of brain impacts from
paraquat exposure that outside re-
searchers had found. She concluded
that paraquat injections in the labor-
atory mice resulted in a “statistically
significant” loss of dopamine levels in
the substantia nigra pars compacta.
Syngenta did not publish the Marks
research, nor share the results with the
EPA. Instead, the documents show that
when Syngenta met with EPA officials
in February 2013 to update the agency
on its internal research on the poten-
tial for paraquat to cause Parkinson’s
disease, there was no mention of the
adverse findings of the Marks studies.
Instead, Syngenta told the EPA that
internal studies showed high doses of
paraquat did not reduce the dopamine-
producing neurons, directly contrary to
Marks’s conclusions.
In a follow-up “Paraquat Research
Program Update” presentation to EPA
officials in February 2017, Syngenta
held to that position. The presen-
tation stated that a series of Syn-
genta animal studies found no “statis-
tically significant effect of [paraquat]
on dopaminergic neuronal cell num-
bers”. Again, the company did not men-
tion the study findings by Marks to the
EPA, according to deposition testimony
from the Syngenta executive Montague
Dixon, who acts as the company’s main
liaison to the EPA.
The presentation to the EPA con-
cluded that paraquat had “no effect” in
the brain and that a “causal relationship
between paraquat and Parkinson’s was
“not supported”.
When asked in the deposition if the
information presented to the EPA was
“a lie”, Dixon said that Syngenta was not
hiding the results of the Marks studies
from the EPA, but was instead choosing
to focus on other studies. The presen-
tation to the EPA was “not geared to
the Dr Marks studies”, Dixon said in the
deposition.
It was not until 2019 that the com-
pany told the EPA about the Marks re-
search – and only after being pressured
to do so by an attorney who was by then
suing the company on behalf of people
with Parkinson’s disease.
While Syngenta determined which
studies to share with the EPA, com-
pany officials were also on alert for out-
side research related to paraquat and
Parkinson’s. Part of that involved the
internal unit Syngenta referred to as its
“Swat team”.
The work of the Syngenta Swat
team included not just scientists but
representatives from the company’s
legal department and corporate affairs,
and involved a variety of potential
tactics for responding to independent
scientific papers, the records show.
In a 2011 email, designated “CONFI-
DENTIAL AND PRIVILEGED COMMU-
NICATION”, flagged an epidemiology
study analysing risk factors for causes
of Parkinson’s by non-Syngenta scien-
tists to be addressed by the Swat team
for a response.
Suggested actions included produc-
tion of a company “position statement”
or a “broader critical review of the ap-
proach” used by the outside researchers
in their paper.
Bringing in the lawyers
It was early 2008 when Syngenta
scientists gathered in Atlanta, Georgia,
to discuss the latest research looking
at paraquat and Parkinson’s disease. A
corporate defense lawyer named Jeff-
rey Wolff attended the meeting.
Though the meeting was ostensibly
called as a “Scientific Review”, Wolff
spent 30 minutes advising the scien-
tists on how they should be taking
notes and managing their communi-
cations in ways that might allow the
company to later keep the work from
public view by claiming “attorney client
privilege” in the event of litigation,
according to deposition testimony of
a top Syngenta scientist, and internal
documents.
Wolff “was giving us guidance on
how to communicate”, the scientist
Philip Botham said in his deposition.
“Action notes” from that meeting
stated “Study work should be labelled
Work Product Doctrine Material Confi-
dential, and carry the Attorney Client
Privilege statement.”
Wolff then became more deeply
involved, records show. The lawyer
was asked to comment on a paraquat
science strategy document detailing a
plan for certain paraquat studies to be
carried out, and sent back comments
“directed at improving it in the event it
falls into the hands of adversaries”.
In July 2008, an in-house Syngenta
lawyer emailed Wolff for his “review
and comment” on notes and minutes
of internal meetings related to a risk
assessment of paraquat exposure. The
in-house lawyers told Wolff that there
were “a number of statements in the
paper which taken out of context
would potentially be unhelpful”.
For example, Syngenta scientists
had written that, in laboratory tests
5
with paraquat, “The one consistent
finding from the body of animal studies
is the loss of dopaminergic neurones in
the substantia nigra pars compacta (of
male mice.) This finding is judged to be
real, to be related to treatment and to
be adverse in nature. In the absence of
evidence to the contrary, it is prudent
to assume that this finding is poten-
tially qualitatively relevant to man.”
Wolff wrote back suggesting the re-
moval of the words “and to be adverse
in nature”, questioning the phrasing of
the relevance to humans, and other
changes, agreeing with the in-house
attorney that the statement overall was
“unhelpful”.
Among other instances, in 2009,
records show that Wolff worked with
an in-house company lawyer to edit a
presentation by a company scientist for
Syngenta’s leadership team titled “Para-
quat and Parkinson’s Disease”.
Wolff expressed concerns about
“blunt statements” and the “sensitive
nature of the subject”, and advised that
only a single electronic copy be pre-
sented because it was “not in Syn-
genta’s interest for multiple copies of
this document to be in circulation”.
In one key edit, Wolff suggested
deleting a statement that read: “The
combination of experimental data and
epidemiological data provides plausi-
bility to the claim that PQ [paraquat] is
implicated in PD [Parkinson’s disease].”
Wolff also took issue with a state-
ment that said only a small percen-
tage of Parkinson’s cases were ge-
netic, with the “majority resulting from
gene-environment or environmental
causes”. Wolff suggested, instead, that
the presentation say “The great major-
ity of PD cases are idiopathic or of un-
known cause.”
Today it is well-established that
the vast majority of Parkinson’s cases
are not caused by genetics, and that
environmental factors, including air
pollution and pesticides, play an impor-
tant role.
In another round of edits to a scien-
tific slide show, Wolff recommended
the deletion of a statement that said
“We can show loss of cells” in the
substantia nigra pars compacta. The
statement was “an unhelpful admission
verifying unhelpful claims which have
been made in the literature” about para-
quat. He said the observation could be
made verbally.
He additionally asked the scientists
to revise a slide that he said “suggests
that [paraquat] exposure leads to cell
death and direct damage to neuronal
cells”. The records show revised slides
were created.
In 2009, Wolff went a step fur-
ther, discussing legal involvement in
the production of research. He ad-
vised the company about using out-
side legal counsel in preparing for an
epidemiology study, which would in-
volve discussions with former workers
about their exposure to paraquat at a
company plant in Widnes, north-west
England.
A company scientist planned to do
the interviews. But Wolff wrote in the
memo that if the scientist did the inter-
views “it is highly likely that any infor-
mation he learns or written interview
summaries he prepares would not be
protected by either the attorney-client
or the work-product privileges”.
Interviews performed by a lawyer,
on the other hand, could be kept confi-
dential more easily. “The highest level
of protection would be provided if the
interviews were conducted by outside
Continued on page 6

6 Headlines
Continued from page 5
counsel.”
Wolff did not respond to a request
for comment.
‘Revolving door’
The involvement of lawyers with
the scientists at Syngenta appears sim-
ilar to highly criticized practices by the
tobacco industry in the 1970s and ’80s
that downplayed the dangers of smok-
ing, said Thomas McGarity, former EPA
legal adviser and co-author of the 2008
Texas woman dies of infection linked to
cosmetic surgery in Mexico
Gloria Oladipo
A Texas woman has died after con-
tracting fungal meningitis in an out-
break that has been linked to a cos-
metic procedure performed in Mexico.
Lauren Brooke Robinson, 29, died
on Wednesday from a fungal menin-
gitis infection after receiving cosmetic
surgery in Mexico, the local TV news
station KBMT reported.
“The loss of Lauren Brooke Robin-
son leaves a void in the hearts of those
who knew and loved her,” read an obit-
uary for the mother of two children,
who lived in Vidor, Texas.
According to her husband, Robin-
son traveled to Matamoros, in the Mex-
ican state of Tamaulipas, in February to
undergo an unspecified procedure.
Months after the surgery, Robinson
started to feel unwell.
“She was great, the results were
great, everything was good, she started
going back to work, then she started
constantly telling me, ‘I have a head-
ache – something is not right,’” Garrett
Robinson said in a 25 May interview
with KBMT.
Robinson visited multiple hospitals
before finally being diagnosed with
fungal meningitis, which is rare but
Twitter’s head of trust and safety resigns in
latest high-profile departure
Guardian staff and agencies
Twitter’s head of trust and safety, Ella
Irwin, has resigned from the company,
marking the latest high-profile depar-
ture from the struggling social network
since Elon Musk acquired it in October.
Irwin confirmed her departure to
news outlets on Thursday but declined
to comment further. Fortune earlier re-
ported that Irwin’s internal Slack ac-
count appeared to have been deac-
tivated.
Irwin, who oversaw content
moderation, is the second head of trust
and safety to step down since Musk
took over, replacing the previous head
Yoel Roth in November after his resig-
nation.
Twitter has faced criticism for lax
protections against harmful content
book titled Bending Science: How Spe-
cial Interests Corrupt Public Health Re-
search.
“It looks like the paraquat maker
has adopted nearly every strategy we
outlined in our book about bending
science,” McGarity said.
“Science matters. We have to be able
to depend on science,” he said. “When
it is perverted, when it is manipulated,
then we get bad results. And one result
is that pesticides that cause terrible
things like Parkinson’s remain on the
A medical clinic in Matamoros. State and federal officials have warned people to cancel procedures in Matamoros. Photograph: Abraham
Pineda/AFP/Getty Images
potentially deadly. She reportedly suf-
fered three mini-strokes in the final
weeks of her life.
State and federal officials have
warned people to cancel procedures in
Matamoros after at least 17 people who
received procedures in the city near
An investor in the company recently revealed Twitter’s value had dropped by two-thirds
since Elon Musk’s acquisition. Photograph: Dado Ruvić/Reuters
since the billionaire businessman ac-
quired the company in October for
$44bn. Irwin’s departure comes as the
platform also struggles with technical
market.”
When he worked at the EPA, pes-
ticide lobbyists were so persistent in
trying to influence officials, that agency
staffers referred to them as “hall craw-
lers”, McGarity said.
The agency has a history of close
relationships with industry, and critics
say there is a “revolving door” of em-
ployees who move between the two,
resulting in lax regulation.
Indeed, the trove of Syngenta docu-
ments reveal that its law firm hired a
Mexico’s border with the US returned
with suspected cases of fungal menin-
gitis, according to a statement from the
Texas department of state health ser-
vices.
Robinson is reportedly one of at
least two Americans in that group of
challenges – including last week’s bun-
gled rollout of Ron DeSantis’s presi-
dential campaign on Twitter Spaces –
alongside mass layoffs and an exodus
retired top EPA official as an expert wit-
ness to help defend the company in
the litigation. Jack Housenger, director
until February 2017 of the EPA’s Office
of Pesticide Programs, which is the
main regulator of paraquat and other
pesticides, agreed to do so for $300 an
hour.
Housenger did not respond to a re-
quest for comment. In a report that he
wrote for Syngenta’s defense, he said
that the EPA had conducted an “in-
depth look” into the association be-
people infected with fungal meningitis
who have died.
At least 149 people who had sur-
gery in Matamoros in 2023 are being
observed for possible cases of fungal
meningitis but have no symptoms.
The latest warnings on traveling to
of advertisers wary of appearing next to
unsuitable content.
An investor in the company re-
cently revealed its value had dropped
by two-thirds since Musk’s takeover.
Musk announced earlier this month
that he hired Linda Yaccarino, the
former NBCUniversal advertising chief,
to become Twitter’s new CEO.
Since Musk’s acquisition, Twitter
has cut costs dramatically and laid
off thousands of employees, including
many who had worked on efforts to
prevent harmful and illegal content,
protect election integrity and surface
accurate information on the site.
Musk has promoted a feature called
Community Notes, which lets users add
context to tweets, as a way to combat
misleading information on Twitter.
The company is also facing increas-
ing scrutiny from regulators over its
The Guardian Saturday 3 June 2023
tween paraquat and Parkinson’s and
found there is “insufficient evidence” of
a relationship between the weedkiller
and the disease.
* This story is co-published with
the New Lede, a journalism project
of the Environmental Working Group.
Carey Gillam is managing editor of
the New Lede and the author of
two books addressing glyphosate: Whi-
tewash (2017)and The Monsanto Papers
(2021)
Matamoros for cosmetic surgery come
after two Americans were killed and
two others kidnapped while one of
them tried to get a cosmetic procedure
there.
In March, Latavia “Tay” Washington
McGee and a group of friends traveled
from South Carolina to Matamoros so
that she could undergo what is known
as a tummy tuck surgery.
While there, local drug cartel mem-
bers kidnapped McGee and Eric Wil-
liams. They also killed Washington’s
cousin Shaeed Woodard and her friend
Zindell Brown.
The five men who allegedly carried
out the attack were later dumped on a
Matamoros street to be arrested, along
with a letter of apology allegedly from
the Gulf cartel.
“We ask the public to be calm,” read
the letter in Spanish. “We are com-
mitted that the mistakes caused by
indiscipline won’t be repeated, and that
those responsible pay, no matter who
they are.”
Cases such as the ones involving
Robinson, Washington and Wash-
ington’s companions are examples of
US medical tourism, in which American
travel abroad for healthcare they typi-
cally cannot afford at home despite a
number of risks, according to experts.
moderation efforts. Twitter withdrew
from a voluntary agreement with the
European Union to tackle disinfor-
mation, while saying it was committed
to complying with upcoming internet
rules in the EU.
The EU industry chief Thierry
Breton warned Twitter last week that it
would not be able to avoid legal obli-
gations in the EU after quitting the
voluntary agreement.
Yoel Roth, writing in a New York
Times op-ed on his resignation short-
ly after Musk took over the company,
said he had chosen to leave because it
was clear Musk would be unilaterally
calling the shots. “A Twitter whose poli-
cies are defined by unilateral edict has
little need for a trust and safety func-
tion dedicated to its principled devel-
opment,” Roth wrote.
Reuters contributed reporting
Saturday 3 June 2023 The Guardian
US colonel retracts comments on simulated
drone attack ‘thought experiment’
Guardian staff
A US air force colonel “misspoke” when
he said at a Royal Aeronautical Society
conference last month that a drone
killed its operator in a simulated test
because the pilot was attempting to
override its mission, according to the
society.
The confusion had started with the
circulation of a blogpost from the so-
ciety, in which it described a presen-
tation by Col Tucker “Cinco” Hamilton,
the chief of AI test and operations with
the US air force and an experimental
fighter test pilot, at the Future Combat
Air and Space Capabilities Summit in
London in May.
According to the blogpost, Ham-
ilton had told the crowd that in a simu-
lation to test a drone powered by artifi-
cial intelligence and trained and incen-
tivized to kill its targets, an operator
instructed the drone in some cases not
to kill its targets and the drone had re-
sponded by killing the operator.
The comments sparked deep con-
cern over the use of AI in weaponry
and extensive conversations online.
But the US air force on Thursday even-
ing denied the test was conducted. The
Royal Aeronautical Society responded
in a statement on Friday that Hamilton
Records shed light on Jeffrey Epstein’s state
of mind in jail in days before death
Associated Press
Two weeks before ending his life, Jeff-
rey Epstein sat in the corner of his Man-
hattan jail cell with his hands over his
ears, desperate to muffle the sound of a
toilet that wouldn’t stop running.
Epstein was agitated and unable to
sleep, jail officials observed in records
newly obtained by the Associated
Press. He called himself a “coward” and
complained he was struggling to adapt
to life behind bars following his July
2019 arrest on federal sex trafficking
and conspiracy charges – his life of
luxury reduced to a concrete and steel
cage.
The disgraced financier was under
psychological observation at the time
for a suicide attempt just days earlier.
Yet, even after a 31-hour stint on suicide
watch, Epstein insisted he was not sui-
cidal, telling a jail psychologist he had a
“wonderful life” and “would be crazy” to
end it. On 10 August 2019, Epstein was
dead.
Nearly four years later, the AP has
obtained more than 4,000 pages of
documents related to Epstein’s death
from the federal Bureau of Prisons
under the Freedom of Information Act.
The records help to dispel the many
conspiracy theories surrounding Eps-
tein’s suicide, underscoring how funda-
mental failings at the Bureau of Pris-
ons – including severe staffing short-
ages and employees cutting corners –
contributed to Epstein’s death.
Headlines / News
A US Air Force drone flying over the Nevada test and training range on 14 January 2020. Photograph: William Rosado/US Air Force/AFP/
Getty Images
had retracted his comments and had
clarified that the “rogue AI drone simu-
lation” was a hypothetical “thought
experiment”.
“We’ve never run that experiment,
nor would we need to in order to realise
that this is a plausible outcome,” Ham-
ilton said.
Jeffrey Epstein was under psychological observation for a suicide attempt days earlier
when he died on 10 August 2019. Photograph: Reuters
They shed new light on the federal
prison agency’s muddled response after
Epstein was found unresponsive in his
cell at the now closed Metropolitan
correctional center in New York City.
In one email, a prosecutor in-
volved in Epstein’s criminal case com-
plained about a lack of information
from the Bureau of Prisons in the crit-
ical hours after his death, writing that
it was “frankly unbelievable” that the
agency was issuing public press re-
leases “before telling us basic infor-
mation so that we can relay it to his
attorneys who can relay it to his family”.
In another email, a high-ranking
prisons bureau official made a spurious
suggestion to the agency’s director that
news reporters must have been paying
jail employees for information about
Epstein’s death because they were re-
The controversy comes as the US
government is beginning to grapple
with how to regulate artificial intel-
ligence. Concerns over the technology
have been echoed by AI ethicists and
researchers who argue while there are
ambitious goals for the technology,
such as potentially curing cancer, for
porting details of the agency’s failings –
impugning the ethics of journalists and
the agency’s own workers.
The documents also provide a fresh
window into Epstein’s behavior during
his 36 days in jail, including his pre-
viously unreported attempt to connect
by mail with another high-profile pedo-
phile: Larry Nassar, the US gymnastics
team doctor convicted of sexually ab-
using scores of athletes.
Epstein’s letter to Nassar was found
returned to sender in the jail’s mail
room weeks after Epstein’s death and
was not included among the docu-
ments turned over to the AP.
The night before Epstein’s death, he
excused himself from a meeting with
his lawyers to make a telephone call to
his family. According to a memo from
a unit manager, Epstein told a jail em-
example, the technology is still far off.
Meanwhile, they point at longstand-
ing evidence of existing harms, in-
cluding increased use of, at times, unre-
liable surveillance systems that misi-
dentify Black and brown people and
can lead to over-policing and false
arrests, the perpetuation of misinfor-
ployee that he was calling his mother,
who had been dead for 15 years at that
point.
Epstein’s death put increased scru-
tiny on the Bureau of Prisons and led
the agency to close the Metropolitan
correctional center in 2021. It spurred
an AP investigation that has uncovered
deep, previously unreported problems
within the agency, the justice depart-
ment’s largest with more than 30,000
employees, 158,000 inmates and an
$8bn annual budget.
An internal memo, undated but
sent after Epstein’s death, attributed
problems at the jail to “seriously re-
duced staffing levels, improper or lack
of training, and follow up and over-
sight”. The memo also detailed steps
the Bureau of Prisons had taken to
remedy lapses Epstein’s suicide ex-
posed.
Epstein’s lawyer, Martin Weinberg,
said people detained at the facility
endured “medieval conditions of con-
finement that no American defendant
should have been subjected to”.
“It’s sad, it’s tragic, that it took
this kind of event to finally cause
the Bureau of Prisons to close this
regrettable institution,” Weinberg said
on Thursday in a phone interview.
The workers tasked with guarding
Epstein the night he killed himself,
Tova Noel and Michael Thomas, were
charged with lying on prison records
to make it seem as though they had
made their required checks before Eps-
tein was found lifeless.
7
mation on many platforms, as well as
the potential harms of using nascent
technology to power and operate wea-
pons in crisis zones.
“You can’t have a conversation
about artificial intelligence, intel-
ligence, machine learning, autonomy if
you’re not going to talk about ethics
and AI,” Hamilton said during his May
presentation.
While the simulation Hamilton
spoke of did not actually happen,
Hamilton contends the “thought expe-
riment” is still a worthwhile one to
consider when navigating whether and
how to use AI in weapons.
“Despite this being a hypothetical
example, this illustrates the real-world
challenges posed by AI-powered capa-
bility and is why the Air Force is com-
mitted to the ethical development of
AI,” he said in a statement clarifying his
original comments.
In a statement to Insider, the US air
force spokesperson Ann Stefanek said
the colonel’s comments were taken out
of context.
“The Department of the Air Force
has not conducted any such AI-drone
simulations and remains committed to
ethical and responsible use of AI tech-
nology,” Stefanek said.
One page of more than 4,000 pages of
documents related to Jeffrey Epstein’s jail
suicide from the federal Bureau of Prisons.
Photograph: AP
Epstein’s cellmate did not return
after a court hearing the day before,
and prison officials failed to pair anoth-
er prisoner with him, leaving him alone.
Prosecutors alleged they were sit-
ting at their desks just 15ft from Eps-
tein’s cell, shopped online for furniture
and motorcycles, and walked around
the unit’s common area instead of
making required rounds every 30 mi-
nutes.
During one two-hour period, both
appeared to have been asleep, ac-
cording to their indictment. An inves-
tigation by the justice department’s in-
spector general is still ongoing.
Continued on page 8

8 News
Continued from page 7
Epstein arrived at the Metropolitan
correctional center on 6 July 2019. He
later said he was upset about having
to wear an orange jumpsuit provided
to inmates in the special housing unit
he had been moved to, and complained
about being treated like he was a “bad
Group suing Arkansas says book ban law
seeks to ‘criminalize librarians’
Erum Salam in New York
A coalition of publishers, booksellers,
librarians and readers filed a lawsuit
on Friday against the Arkansas state
government, over a book ban law set
to go into effect in August.
Carol Coffey, the president of the
Arkansas Library Association and a
plaintiff in the case, told the Guar-
dian: “Library workers across Arkansas
are rightly concerned that the overly
broad edicts of Act 372 will prevent
them from serving their patrons as
they have always done, by providing
a wide variety of materials to fill their
information needs, and perhaps more
importantly, materials that allow each
child to see themselves in the books in
their library.”
The plaintiffs argue the new law
is illegal because it is a direct attack
on free speech guaranteed by the first
and 14th amendments to the US consti-
tution.
They call Act 372 a censorship law
that seeks to “ban books in libraries and
criminalize librarians”.
Coffey said: “The primary mission
of the Arkansas Library Association is
to support libraries and library workers
Baltimore couple team up to save life of
fellow passenger on Southwest flight
Ramon Antonio Vargas
Baltimore nurse Emily Raines un-
plugged from work when she recently
went on a Caribbean cruise with her
boyfriend, Daniel Shifflett. But Raines’s
break ended dramatically on the flight
home, when she and Shifflett teamed
up to save the life of a man whose heart
stopped beating in his airplane seat.
Raines and Shifflett were taking
a Southwest flight home from Fort
Lauderdale, Florida, on 1 May after
going on a weekend cruise vacation to
the Bahamas when they heard a flight
attendant ask whether anyone onboard
with medical experience could help a
passenger with an emergency.
As CBS News and Baltimore’s ABC
affiliate first reported earlier this week,
Raines is an acute care nurse at Greater
Baltimore medical center. And Shifflett
used to work as a nurse before pur-
suing a career in the finance industry.
So they both got up and headed to the
passenger as others tried to gather any
medical equipment that they could,
Raines told the Guardian on Thursday.
guy” despite being well behaved behind
bars. He requested a brown uniform for
his near-daily visits with his lawyers.
Epstein did make some attempts
to adapt to his jailhouse surroundings,
the records show. His outlook worsened
when a judge denied him bail on 18
July 2019 – raising the prospect that he
would remain locked up until trial and,
Nate Coulter, executive director of the Central Arkansas Library System, in the main branch of the public library in downtown Little Rock,
Arkansas. Photograph: Katie Adkins/AP
and to defend intellectual freedom. We
join in this lawsuit because it is the best
way for us to fulfill our mission.”
Act 372 was signed on 31 March by
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, once White
House press secretary under Donald
Emily Raines, left, and Daniel Shifflett after teameing up to resuscitate a passenger on
their flight home to Baltimore after a Caribbean vacation. Photograph: Courtesy of Emily
According to Raines, she realized
that she and Shifflett might need to per-
form cardiopulmonary resuscitation –
or CPR – on the passenger having the
emergency when she heard someone
possibly longer. If convicted, he faced
up to 45 years prison. Four days later,
Epstein appeared to attempt to take his
own life with a strip of bedsheet and
was placed on suicide watch and, later,
psychiatric observation.
Epstein expressed frustration with
the noise of the jail and his lack of
sleep. His first few weeks at the Metro-
Trump and now Arkansas’s Republican
governor.
The law will subject librarians to
criminal charges if they are found
to have furnished any item deemed
“harmful to minors”.
say that he didn’t have a pulse.
“On our way up there I was trying
to pregame [plan], like, ‘Hey, if we have
to do [chest] compressions, I need you
to do compressions – I’ll take care of
politan correctional center, Epstein did
not have his sleep apnea breathing
apparatus he used. Then, the toilet in
his cell started acting up.
The day before Epstein ended his
life, a federal judge unsealed about
2,000 pages of documents in a sexual
abuse lawsuit against him.
That, combined with a lack of signif-
Democracy Forward, a non-profit
legal advocacy group, is one of the
groups leading the legal action on
behalf of the coalition which also in-
cludes the Central Arkansas Library
System.
everything else,” Raines told CBS of
her conversation with Shifflett as they
headed up the aisle.
An alarming scene greeted the
couple. The man in need of help was
slumped over, and his face had turned
completely purple, indicating that he
probably was not breathing.
Raines said she used a small plastic
device to hold the man’s tongue down
to ensure it wasn’t blocking his airway.
Meanwhile, Shifflett began performing
chest compressions.
The pair spent about 20 minutes
working on the stricken passenger.
About seven minutes before landing,
the couple managed to resuscitate him.
First responders took the passenger
to the hospital after the flight landed.
Meanwhile, Raines and Shifflett’s ef-
forts earned them applause and high-
fives from their fellow passengers
before they deplaned, and their story
has since gone viral during a news cycle
that has been mostly dominated by
the federal government’s debt ceiling
debate.
Raines later received a text mes-
sage from the ill passenger’s wife. In
The Guardian Saturday 3 June 2023
icant interpersonal connections and
“the idea of potentially spending his
life in prison were likely factors contri-
buting to Mr Epstein’s suicide”, officials
wrote.
In the filed complaint, the legis-
lation is described as a “vague, sweep-
ing law that restrains public libraries
and booksellers”.
Proponents of the new law say it
will protect children from “indoctri-
nation” and shield them from issues
surrounding the teaching of race and
racism in US history, sexual orientation
and gender identity.
The Arkansas law is one of several
in Republican-led states. Other lawsuits
against such laws have been filed across
the US.
Last month, the writers’ organi-
zation PEN America and the publishing
company Penguin Random House filed
suit against a Florida school district, for
implementing book bans.
On Friday, Coffey told the Guardian:
“My hope is that all residents of Arkan-
sas and the US will be able to read freely,
that all parents will be able to make
the choices they believe best for their
families and that those choices will not
be limited by the desires of a few out-
spoken people who believe they know
best for everyone.”
Emily Raines, left, and Daniel Shifflett
after teaming up to resuscitate a passenger
on their flight home to Baltimore after a
Caribbean vacation in May. Photograph:
Courtesy of Emily Raines
the message, the woman said her hus-
band was “home and doing remarkably
well” while explaining that multiple fac-
tors had caused his heart to stop and
his oxygen levels to plummet.
She also promised to ship Raines
and Shifflett some high-quality, home-
baked cookies if they wouldn’t accept
any other form of gratitude. Raines said
on Thursday that the passenger’s wife
Continued on page 10

10
Continued from page 8
days earlier had told her she was about
to send the treats off.
“I cannot possibly thank you
enough for saving [his] life,” said the
Health advocates urge US regulators to ban
common food coloring additive
Tom Perkins
Public health advocates say a common
color enhancer added to thousands of
US foods is toxic and dangerous, and
have formally petitioned federal regu-
lators to ban the chemical’s use.
Though the compound, titanium
dioxide, has been widely used for
decades and is found in foods like
M&Ms, Skittles, Beyond Meat plant-
based chicken tenders and Chips Ahoy!
cookies, recent science has shown it is
also linked to a range of serious health
issues and accumulates in the body and
organs.
The recent scientific discoveries
prompted the European Food Safety
Authority to ban titanium dioxide’s use
in food in August, and the petition filed
by five major US public health advo-
cacy groups asks the US Food And Drug
Administration (FDA) to similarly with-
draw its approval.
“Recent scientific studies raise se-
rious questions about the safety of the
chemical’s use in food,” the petition’s
authors wrote.
Titanium dioxide is used to brigh-
ten whites or effectively serve as
a primer for other colors, and the
Environmental Working Group non-
profit found nearly 2,000 products in
which the chemical may be used,
though some estimates are as high as
11,000. The largest subgroups included
candy, cakes, cookies, and desserts or
dessert toppings.
Floridian 14-year-old lands ‘psammophile’ to
take home spelling bee prize
Reuters
Dev Shah, a 14-year-old boy from Largo,
Florida, has won the 2023 Scripps Na-
tional Spelling Bee, nailing the word
“psammophile” – meaning an organism
that thrives in sandy soils – in the 15th
round of the contest’s finals.
On Thursday, he edged out fellow
eighth-grader Charlotte Walsh, 14, from
Arlington, Virginia, who finished in
second place after she misspelled “da-
viely” – a Scottish-rooted word for lis-
tlessly – in the 14th round.
Dev, a student at Morgan Fitzgerald
middle school, had correctly – and
swiftly – spelled “bathypitotmeter” in
the 14th round, but under spelling bee
rules needed to land one more word to
be declared winner.
Dev was crowned champion in a
hail of confetti before being joined on
stage by his parents and other rela-
tives. He takes home $50,000 (£39,900)
News
message to Raines. “There are no
words.”
Raines said that the quarterly CPR
training offered through her employer
deserved at least some of the credit
for the man’s resuscitation. The hos-
In a lawsuit earlier this year, Skittles candies were alleged to be ‘unfit for human consumption’ because they contain titanium dioxide.
Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images
Research shows the chemical is
likely a neurotoxin and immunotoxin,
and can damage the reproductive
system, cause birth defects and damage
genes.
“Those are things that we really
want to protect, so removing titanium
dioxide seems like an obvious step,”
said Tom Neltner, senior director of
safer chemicals at the Environmental
Defense Fund and petition co-author.
“There’s really no excuse to allow it to
be used any longer.”
Dev Shah tied for 51st place in the 2019 edition of the spelling bee, and tied for 76th place in 2021. Photograph: Will Oliver/EPA
pital was the first in Maryland to earn
classification as a Resuscitation Qual-
ity Improvement Lighthouse Organi-
zation, which recognizes the adoption
and consistent use of a certain CPR
training program.
The chemical has come under in-
creased scrutiny recently: a bill to
ban the substance in food is moving
through the California assembly, and a
lawsuit filed earlier this year drew wide
attention for alleging that Skittles can-
dies are “unfit for human consumption”
because they contain the chemical.
For decades, researchers and regu-
lators thought titanium dioxide par-
ticles were large enough that they
were not absorbed by the body and
were quickly excreted. But newer re-
She also said partnering with Shif-
flett to stave off someone’s unexpected
death had deepened the couple’s bond.
“Both of us have that [medical]
experience and that deeper under-
standing of exactly what we were
search has found the nanoparticles are
so small that they can be absorbed
through the gastrointestinal tract and
move into the bloodstream where they
can settle in organs.
The compounds are thought to
remain in the body for years, and be-
cause they are so widely used, they
accumulate faster than they can be ex-
pelled.
The FDA approved titanium dioxide
for food use in 1966 and last reviewed it
in 1973, when it concluded the chemical
The Guardian Saturday 3 June 2023
doing,” Raines said. “We have these
skills together as a couple and we were
able to save somebody’s life.
“It’s awesome.”
was safe. The law does not require the
agency to periodically review chemical
safety, and the petition mechanism is
one of the very few ways the FDA
can be compelled to review updated
science.
The agency now has a year to make
a decision about whether it will revoke
the food-use approval, at which point
industry will have a chance to object.
Neltner said the groups are certain
the chemical no longer meets the legal
definition for a safe additive, which
states there must be “reasonable cer-
tainty that no harm will result from the
intended use of the color additive”.
Moreover, safer alternatives to tita-
nium dioxide exist, Neltner said, and
the chemical serves no purpose beyond
coloring food, so it is not essential to
products.
But it is far from certain that the
FDA will agree. Last year the agency
told the Titanium Dioxide Manufac-
turers Association trade group that
“available safety studies do not demon-
strate safety concerns connected to the
use of [titanium dioxide] as a color
additive”.
Neltner said the agency’s comments
did not offer scientific evidence to sup-
port the claim, which the petition will
force the agency to provide.
“That’s not science, that’s not trans-
parent – a petition forces them to use
rigorous science and explain their deci-
sion,” he said.
cash from EW Scripps Co, the bee’s
sponsor, plus further monetary prizes
and reference works from Encyclopedia
Britannica and Merriam-Webster.
The Merriam-Webster Unabridged
Dictionary is the official reference for
the competition.
Dev, whose hobbies include read-
ing, tennis, playing the cello and solving
maths problems, tied for 51st place in
the 2019 edition of the spelling bee, and
tied for 76th place in 2021.
He was among 11 contestants, aged
11 to 14, who advanced to the finals
of 2023’s event after beating a field of
220 other competitors participating in
the three-day contest, held in National
Harbor, Maryland, just outside Wash-
ington DC.
2023’s total field comprised 94 girls,
134 boys and two spellers who identify
as non-binary. One competitor did not
specify a gender.
Continued on page 11
Saturday 3 June 2023 The Guardian
Continued from page 10
The bee is televised live. The excite-
ment is heightened by TV commen-
Arizona limits future home-building in
Phoenix area due to lack of groundwater
Oliver Milman and agency
The state of Arizona has restricted
future home-building in the Phoenix
area due to a lack of groundwater,
based on projections showing that
wells will run dry under existing condi-
tions.
The action by the Arizona depart-
ment of water resources on Thursday
is set to slow population growth for
the Phoenix region, the state capital,
home to 4.6 million people and one of
the most rapidly expanding areas of the
United States.
The decision underscores the
precarious position of Arizona in the
face of a “megadrought”, fueled by the
climate crisis, that has gripped the US
west for the past two decades. Last
week the state, along with Nevada and
California, agreed to significant cut-
backs in the use of water from the Colo-
rado River, which is rapidly shrinking.
Arizona, one of the driest states
in the US, gets about a third of its
water from the Colorado River, with
approximately another 40% coming
from groundwater sources. The state’s
recently concluded analysis projected a
water shortfall of 4.86m acre-feet (6bn
cubic meters) in the Phoenix area over
the next 100 years. In response, the
US jobs market remains strong despite high
interest rates and debt ceiling fight
Lauren Aratani in New York
High interest rates, a recent banking
crisis and Washington’s fight over the
debt ceiling may have shaken the US
economy recently, but the US jobs
market continues to show signs of
strength.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics
(BLS) reported 339,000 jobs were added
in May, surpassing forecasts that pre-
dicted the increase would be approx-
imately 190,000 jobs and a sign of con-
tinued growth from the jobs market de-
spite the Federal Reserve’s continuing
efforts to cool the economy. Growth in
the labor market has fluctuated over
the last few months, dipping down to
165,000 jobs in March and coming back
up to 253,000 jobs in April. The number
of jobs added is still down compared
with this time last year, when 390,000
jobs were added to the economy.
Despite more jobs being added to
the economy compared to the previous
month, the unemployment rate in May
went up 0.3% to 3.7%. The 3.4% unem-
ployment rate in April was the lowest
seen since 1969.
The leisure and hospitality indus-
try continued to add more jobs as
News
tators who describe the action as
contestants rack their brains to come
up with the correct spellings for often
obscure words.
Downtown Phoenix. Arizona is one of the driest states in the US. Photograph: Dreamframer/Getty Images/iStockphoto
state said it will deny new certificates
of Assured Water Supply, which enable
home construction.
Arizona has imposed such restric-
tions on other areas, and not all of
greater Phoenix requires a certificate,
but experts said the measure was cer-
tain to slow home-building in an area
representing over half the state’s popu-
A sign for a recruitment company is seen in a subway station in New York. Photograph: Justin Lane/EPA
the warmer weather has seen more
people traveling and eating at restau-
rants. Construction, transportation and
warehousing and social assistance also
saw an increase in jobs this month.
Reports from earlier in the week
indicated that while growth is slowing,
Last year, Harini Logan, 14, from
San Antonio, Texas, correctly spelled 22
words during a 90-second spell-off to
claim the top prize. It was the first time
lation that has become a magnet for
people in the US searching for afford-
able housing.
“It’s a reality check. We need to
have the water supplies in order to
grow,” said Sharon Megdal, director of
the University of Arizona’s Water Re-
sources Research Center.
The department of water resources
the labor market remains hot. The pay-
roll company ADP’s report of private
payrolls in May showed an increase
of 278,000 jobs, surpassing forecasts of
180,000. BLS’s Job Openings and Labor
Turnover Survey showed that job open-
ings unexpectedly rose in April, from
a spell-off had decided the prestigious
competition, which began in 1925.
The 2022 show was broadcast on
Ion and Bounce, both networks owned
said developers would need to find
other sources to build.
Those sources could include offi-
cially designated entities that have
excess water to sell, or farmers or
Native American tribes with water
rights, but all are facing short supplies
given overuse and a historic drought
this century.
9.7m openings in March to 10.1m open-
ings in April.
Even as the economy continues to
add jobs, employers appear to be feel-
ing some of the effects of heightened
interest rates. A report from the staff-
ing firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas
11
by a Scripps subsidiary, after 27 years on
the cable sports channel ESPN. Ion will
again carry 2023’s finals.
Recycled water or desalinated
brackish groundwater could also in-
crease future supplies, Megdal said.
Katie Hobbs, Arizona’s governor,
denied in a press briefing that the
state was in a crisis that would pre-
vent all future housing, pointing out
that 80,000 planned housing lots will
still go ahead.
“My message to Arizonans is this:
we are not out of water and we will not
be running out of water,” Hobbs said. “It
is also incredibly important to note that
the model relates only to groundwater
and does not concern surface water
supplies which are a significant source
of renewable water for our state. What
the model ultimately shows is that our
water future is secure.”
A home builders trade association
said theirs was the only industry re-
quired to meet 100 years of demand
for groundwater use, even though new
homes have doubled their water effi-
ciency in recent years and already res-
tock the groundwater they consume
through the Central Arizona Ground-
water Replenishment District.
“We have struggled with the fact
that we’re the only one that ultimately
is stopped when groundwater issues
arise,” said Spencer Kamps, vice-pres-
ident of the Home Builders Association
of Central Arizona.
showed that layoffs in May reached
80,089, a 20% increase compared with
layoffs in April. Employers so far this
year have cut 417,500 jobs, the largest
amount in this time period since 2020.
The layoffs have largely been concen-
trated in the tech sector, which has seen
136,800 cuts so far this year.
Fed officials in recent days have
indicated that they may pause their
interest-rate hike campaign at their
next meeting, on 13-14 June, though
future hikes are still possible. The cen-
tral bank has lifted rates up to 5% to
5.25% in the period of just over a year,
the highest it has been since 2007.
The Fed’s main indicator for the
health of the economy is the infla-
tion rate, which in April stood at 4.9%,
nearly 3% above the Fed’s target rate of
2%. At its highest in June 2022, the infla-
tion rate was 9%. May’s inflation rate
will be released on 13 June.
But officials say the economy has
yet to feel the full effects of interest
rate increases, and some argue the Fed
needs more time to assess how the
economy is responding to the raised
rates.
“We face uncertainty about the
Continued on page 12

12
Continued from page 11
lagged effects of our tightening so far
and about the extent of credit tigh-
tening from recent banking stresses.
Fort Bragg to drop its Confederate namesake
to become Fort Liberty
Associated Press
Fort Bragg shed its Confederate name-
sake on Friday to become Fort Liberty,
in a ceremony some veterans said was a
small but important step in making the
US Army more welcoming to current
and prospective Black service mem-
bers.
Senate votes to block student loan
forgiveness but Biden vows to veto bill
Mary Yang
The Senate approved a House reso-
lution on Thursday to repeal Biden’s
student loan forgiveness plan.
The vote came during a week when
student loans have been at the center
of public debate. The forgiveness plan
faces sharp scrutiny in Congress and
the supreme court. And the choice to
resume debt repayments, which have
been on pause since March 2020, has
been tied up in the high-profile deal to
lift the debt ceiling and avert a dan-
gerous national default.
The decision on Thursday would
cancel Joe Biden’s plan to forgive up
to $10,000 of debt for most borrowers
and $20,000 for Pell grant recipients.
With 52 yes votes and 46 no votes, sena-
tors kept largely within party lines with
a few exceptions. President Biden has
vowed to veto the bill.
But Biden’s plan faces its biggest
challenge in the US supreme court,
which has a conservative majority and
is expected to deliver its ruling later this
month.
“Higher education in the US has
traditionally not been so central to
so many large public debates,” said
Jon Fansmith, senior vice-president of
government relations at the American
Council on Education.
“I think the fact you are seeing ef-
forts to address loan forgiveness and
student loan repayment as part of
the debt ceiling deal, as part of large
government spending bills, speaks to
the growing importance of college edu-
cation in American politics.”
Plan faces ire from Republicans
and some moderate Democrats
In an effort to curb government
spending, Republicans have railed
News
Having come this far, we can afford to
look at the data and the evolving out-
look to make careful assessments,” the
Fed chair, Jerome Powell, said on 19
May.
Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, North Caro-
lina. Photograph: Chris Keane/Reuters
Students will likely have to resume paying off their student loans with the passage of the debt ceiling deal. Photograph: Jemal Countess/
Getty Images for We, The 45 Million
against student loan forgiveness since
Biden made it one of his priorities.
According to CBO estimates, re-
pealing the plan would reduce spend-
ing by nearly $320bn in fiscal year 2023
and about $316bn year over year for the
next decade.
A small group of Democrats voted
in favor of repealing Biden’s plan, in-
cluding Senator Joe Manchin of West
Virginia, who said it would add addi-
tional costs on top of existing debt
relief programs.
“This Biden proposal undermines
these programs and forces hard-work-
ing taxpayers who already paid off their
loans or did not go to college to shoul-
der the cost,” Manchin said in a state-
ment on Wednesday.
Democratic senator Jon Tester of
Other officials have been more
explicit in their belief that a pause on
interest rate increases is due, and that
the Fed can return to more hikes later if
necessary.
The change was part of a broad
Department of Defense initiative, moti-
vated by the 2020 protests over the
murder of George Floyd, a Black man,
by a white police officer in Minneapolis
that sparked a national reckoning on
police brutality and enduring systemic
racism in American society.
The military is in the process of
renaming numerous installations that
Montana and independent senator
Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona also voted
in favor of repealing Biden’s plan. Two
Democrats in the House, which Repub-
licans control by a slim majority, voted
in favor of the repeal.
Ruling by a conservative supreme
court
Biden has vowed to veto the legis-
lation, but his student loan forgiveness
plan isn’t in the clear, as the conserv-
ative-majority US supreme court is ex-
pected to rule on it this month.
The clearest path for opponents
to see the forgiveness program struck
down is through the court, according to
Fansmith. “This is a court that views
this program very skeptically and is
likely to overturn it on its merits,” he
said.
“I think we can take a bit of a skip
for a meeting and, frankly, if we’re going
to go into a period where we need to
do more tightening, we can do that
every other meeting,” the Philadelphia
had been named after confederate sol-
diers.
The Black Lives Matter demon-
strations that erupted nationwide,
coupled with ongoing efforts to remove
Confederate monuments, turned the
spotlight on the Army installations.
A naming commission created by the
US Congress visited the bases and
met with members of the surrounding
But he notes that the justices
seemed skeptical that the plaintiffs –
five states in one case, and two indi-
viduals in another – had an appropriate
level of standing to bring those cases
before the court in the first place.
“The conservative majority in the
court would clearly like to strike down
the program, but it is not clear, neces-
sarily, that those are the right plaintiffs
to bring that case forward,” Fansmith
said.
The courts would then have to
uphold the program, he added. “For
proponents of loan forgiveness, that’s
the thin hope.”
Repayments tied up in debt ceil-
ing debacle
Representative Ayanna Pressley of
Massachusetts filed an amendment to
The Guardian Saturday 3 June 2023
Fed president, Patrick Harper, said on
30 May.
communities for input.
While other bases are being re-
named for Black soldiers, US presidents
and trailblazing women, the North
Carolina military installation is the only
one not renamed after a person. Retired
US Army Brig Gen Ty Seidule said at a
commission meeting last year that the
new name was chosen because “liberty
remains the greatest American value”.
the House debt ceiling bill on Tuesday
to strike the part that would end the
payment pause on 30 August – part
of the reason progressive Democrats
were hesitant about supporting the bill.
But that amendment was not part of
the final House-passed version. Press-
ley was among 46 Democrats and 71
Republicans who voted against the bill
on Wednesday.
The Biden administration said it
had intended to lift the pause on pay-
mentsclose to the 30 August date.
“This bill does end the payment
pause, but very close to the timeframe
we were going to end it as an adminis-
tration when it comes to repayment,”
saidthe director of theOffice of Manage-
ment and Budget, Shalanda Young,
during a White House press conference
on Tuesday.
However, the White House will not
be able to issue further extensions,
which the administrations under both
Trump and Biden did, Fansmith noted.
Complications to arise after pay-
ment pause expires
Passing the deal to avert a national
default would also end a current pause
on student loan repayments.
The last time borrowers were re-
quired to make a student loan payment
was in March 2020, according to Fans-
mith. After the latest extension expires,
there could be a slew of new challenges
for borrowers and service providers.
“We’ve never taken a three-and-a-
half-year pause on repayments, so the
possibility of complications is frankly
really high,” Fansmith said.
Agencies responsible for overseeing
loan repayments could be unprepared
to deal with borrowers who haven’t
made a payment in more than three
years.
Saturday 3 June 2023 The Guardian
Donald Trump and Fox News play it safe in
town hall as network faces lawsuit
David Smith in Washington
Donald Trump and Fox News played
it safe on Thursday with a town-hall
event in Iowa that swerved past the
former US president’s election lies and
liability for sexual abuse.
The uncharacteristic omissions
were a striking contrast to Trump’s
recent town hall on rival network CNN
and likely a source of relief for both his
own lawyers and those of Fox News.
In April, the beleaguered network
agreed to pay Dominion Voting Sys-
tems $787m to avert a trial in the
company’s lawsuit over its promotion
of Trump’s debunked claims about the
2020 election.
The case had already embarrassed
Fox News over several months and
raised the possibility that its found-
er, Rupert Murdoch, and stars such
as Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity
would have to testify publicly. Fox
News still faces a defamation lawsuit
from another voting technology com-
pany, Smartmatic.
But Thursday night’s town hall with
Trump in the Des Moines suburb of
Clive was pre-taped, giving Fox News
the option of editing out egregious lies
about the 2020 election in general, or
Dominion and Smartmatic in partic-
ular, before it was broadcast.
The choice might have been in-
formed by CNN’s fateful decision last
month to go live with a Trump town
hall from New Hampshire. The ex-pres-
ident repeated a fusillade of bogus elec-
tion claims and insulted writer E Jean
Carroll a day after being found liable for
sexual abuse and defamation against
her; Carroll now intends to go back to
court to seek additional damages.
Fox News’s version, hosted by
Hannity before a partisan pro-Trump
crowd, managed to avoid references to
either the stolen election conspiracy
Joe Biden hails ‘big win’ as bipartisan debt
ceiling bill reaches his desk
Guardian staff and agency
The bipartisan bill to solve the US debt
ceiling crisis just days before a cata-
strophic and unprecedented default
was on its way to Joe Biden’s desk on
Friday as the US president prepared to
address the nation and hailed “a big
win for our economy and the American
people”.
The compromise package nego-
tiated between Biden and the House
speaker, Kevin McCarthy, passed the US
Senate late on Thursday.
Biden acknowledged that it leaves
neither Republicans nor Democrats
fully pleased with the outcome. But the
result, after weeks of torturous negoti-
ations, shelves the volatile debt ceiling
issue until 2025, after the next presi-
dential election.
“No one gets everything they want
in a negotiation, but make no mis-
News / Politics
Donald Trump with campaign volunteers in Des Moines on Thursday. Thursday night’s
town hall with Trump in the Des Moines suburb of Clive will be pre-taped. Photograph:
Charlie Neibergall/AP
theory or the Carroll case. Instead, via
soft questions and rambling answers,
it took aim at Joe Biden and Repub-
lican primary election rivals such as
Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor.
Hannity began: “Unlike fake news
CNN, it’s not my job to sit here and
debate the candidate. We are going to
ask him about the issues of the day that
matter to the people – the voters who
will also have their questions as well.”
Despite this promise, Hannity
launched the event by showing film
of 80-year-old Biden suffering a fall at
a US Air Force Academy graduation
ceremony earlier on Thursday. Repub-
licans and Fox News have long sought
to make the president’s age an election
issue.
After Trump had entered to
whoops, cheers and chants of “USA!
USA!”, Hannity asked him to comment
on the incident. “Not so good,” said
Trump, 76, wearing his usual dark suit,
white shirt and long red tie, perched on
a tall chair opposite a tieless Hannity.
“It’s sad, it’s sad. They’re representing
– we are all representing the coun-
try when you become president – and
you’re sort of not allowed to do that.
Joe Biden acknowledged neither Republicans nor Democrats were left fully pleased with
the outcome. Photograph: Shutterstock
take: this bipartisan agreement is a big
win for our economy and the Amer-
ican people,” Biden tweeted after the
Senate voted 63 to 36 to pass the deal
agreed between Biden and McCarthy
last weekend, which passed the House
“But it’s happened. It’s happened
and it’s happened pretty badly. We
won’t go into it, but we all know the
ones and they count those acts, you
know, they never forget. But that was a
bad fall.”
Hannity went on to suggest that
Biden is “cognitively not there”. Trump
replied that he had urged Hannity not
to joke about the matter, for example
by referring to Biden needing a “sippy
cup”. He added“This is the most dan-
gerous time in the history of our coun-
try because of the power of the wea-
ponry and we have somebody that
doesn’t understand what’s happening.”
Later Trump also went on the offen-
sive against his Republican primary
rivals, whose names elicited boos from
the crowd. He dismissed DeSantis’s
claim to be a better candidate because
he can theoretically serve two terms.
“I heard ‘DeSanctis’ say, ‘Oh, I get eight
years, he gets four.’ You don’t need four
and you don’t need eight. You need six
months.”
The former president mocked Chris
Christie’s approval rating in his native
New Jersey, branded Asa Hutchinson as
“Ada” Hutchinson and suggested that
on Wednesday.
The final Senate vote capped off
a long day that ground into night,
as lawmakers spent hours considering
amendments to the legislation. All 11
of the proposed amendments failed to
DeSantis will soon no longer be his
main challenger: “I really go after the
one who second and I think the one
who second is going down so much and
so rapidly that I don’t think he’s going
to be second that much longer. I think
he’s going to be third or fourth. He had a
very bad day today. He got very angry at
the press.”
As the audience chuckled, Trump
added: “At the fake news, he got angry.”
Just as in the CNN town hall, Trump
stressed his role in appointing supreme
court justices who helped overturn Roe
v Wade, the supreme court precedent
that enshrined the constitutional right
to abortion, but warned against alie-
nating voters by taking an extreme
position on the issue. DeSantis recently
signed a six-week abortion ban in Flor-
ida.
Trump said: “I did something that
nobody thought was possible. I got rid
of Roe v Wade and by doing that, it put
pro-lifers in a very strong negotiating
position. Now they’re negotiating dif-
ferent things and I happen to be of
the Ronald Reagan school in terms of
exemptions, where you have the life of
the mother, rape and incest. For me,
that’s something that works very well
and for probably 80, 85%, because don’t
forget, we do have to win elections.”
The issue had energised Demo-
crats in last year’s midterm elections,
he noted. “When you didn’t have the
exceptions, they went after the people
viciously – the ads – and those people
generally speaking didn’t do very well
in terms of election.”
The former president also railed
against multiple criminal investi-
gations into his conduct (“If my poll
numbers went down, it would all end”),
insisting that everything he did in han-
dling classified documents was “right”
and making false assertions about the
quantity of documents found in Biden’s
possession. He made racist comments
gain enough support to be added to the
underlying bill.
Several of the amendments were
introduced by Senate Republicans who
expressed concern that the debt ceiling
bill passed by the House did too little to
rein in government spending.
“Tonight’s vote is a good outcome
because Democrats did a very good job
taking the worst parts of the Repub-
lican plan off the table,” the Senate
majority leader, Democrat Chuck Schu-
mer, said after the vote.
As part of the negotiations over
the bill, McCarthy successfully pushed
for modest government spending cuts
and changes to the work requirements
for the Supplemental Nutrition Assis-
tance and the Temporary Assistance
for Needy Families Programs. Those
changes were deemed insufficient by
31 Republican senators, who echoed the
criticism voiced by the 71 House Repub-
licans who opposed the bill a day ear-
13
Donald Trump departs after speaking
to supporters in Grimes, Iowa. Photo-
graph: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/
Getty Images
about Washington’s Chinatown district
and claimed that he could settle the
war between Russia and Ukraine “in 24
hours”.
Ammar Moussa, a spokesperson for
the Democratic National Committee,
said: “In what was mostly an inco-
herent, rambling appearance full of re-
cycled lies on Fox News, Donald Trump
told the truth at least once in his safe
space – no one did more to pave the
way for abortion bans across the coun-
try than him.
“Whenever Trump is given a plat-
form, he reminds America not only how
much of a failure his presidency was,
but just how extreme and dangerous
he is. While President Biden focuses on
continuing to deliver historic results for
working families and protecting Amer-
icans’ hard-won freedoms, all Trump
does is remind the American people
why they rejected him and his failed
presidency.”
DeSantis, aiming to recover from
a glitchy campaign launch, was tour-
ing New Hampshire on Thursday. In
Laconia, he took a dig at former re-
ality TV star Trump by remarking
that “leadership is not about enter-
tainment”. Former vice-president Mike
Pence and former New Jersey governor
Christie are expected to join the race
next week.
lier.
The Senate minority leader, Repub-
lican Mitch McConnell, supportedthe
bill, even as he acknowledged that law-
makers must take further action to
tackle the federal government’s debt of
more than $31tn.
Senate Democrats lobbied against
certain provisions in the bill, namely
the expedited approval of the contro-
versial Mountain Valley natural gas
pipeline. Senator Tim Kaine, a Demo-
crat of Virginia, introduced an amend-
ment to remove the pipeline provision
from the underlying debt ceiling bill,
but that measure failed alongside the
10 other proposed amendments.
Refusing a once-routine vote to
allow a the nation’s debt limit to be
lifted without concessions, McCarthy
brought Biden’s White House to the
negotiating table to strike an agree-
Continued on page 14

14
Continued from page 13
ment that forces spending cuts aimed
US debt ceiling deal narrowly passes Senate
averting catastrophic federal default
Joan E Greve
The Senate narrowly passed a bill to
suspend the debt ceiling on Thursday
night, sending the legislation to Joe
Biden’s desk and averting a federal de-
fault that could have wreaked havoc on
the US economy and global markets.
The final vote was 63 to 36, with
46 Democrats and 17 Republicans sup-
porting the bill while five Democrats
and 31 Republicans opposed the legis-
lation. Sixty votes were needed to pass
the bill.
“Tonight’s vote is a good outcome
because Democrats did a very good job
taking the worst parts of the Repub-
lican plan off the table,” the Senate
majority leader, Democrat Chuck Schu-
mer, said after the vote. “And that’s why
Dems voted overwhelmingly for this
bill, while Republicans certainly in the
Senate did not.”
Biden applauded the Senate’s
accomplishment and promised to sign
the bill as soon as it reaches his desk,
with just days to go before the 5 June
default deadline.
“Tonight, senators from both par-
ties voted to protect the hard-earned
economic progress we have made and
prevent a first-ever default by the
United States,” Biden said in a state-
ment. “Our work is far from finished,
but this agreement is a critical step for-
ward, and a reminder of what’s possible
when we act in the best interests of our
country.”
The Senate vote came one day after
the House passed the debt ceiling bill in
a resounding, bipartisan vote of 314 to
117. The bill – which was negotiated be-
tween Biden and the Republican House
speaker, Kevin McCarthy of California
– will suspend the government’s bor-
rowing limit until January 2025, ensur-
ing the issue will not resurface before
the next presidential election.
The final Senate vote on the bill
‘It left me with nothing’: the debt trap of
payday loans
Michael Sainato
Meka Armstrong of Detroit, Michigan,
has struggled in a cycle of debt from
payday loans for years. She first took
out a payday loan in 2010 to cover the
costs of medication she needs as she is
disabled and lives with lupus.
“Worst decision I ever made,” said
Armstrong. “The interest rate was 49%
and I thought I would get my medi-
cations and pay the money back, but
when I paid the money back, it left
me with nothing. That’s how they get
you. I, unfortunately, started the payday
nightmare, and you can’t get out of the
Politics
at curbing the nation’s deficits.
“The fact remains that the House
majority never should have put us at
As part of the negotiations, the House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, successfully pushed for modest government spending cuts. Photograph:
Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
capped off a long day in the upper
chamber, where lawmakers spent hours
considering amendments to the legis-
lation. All 11 of the proposed amend-
ments failed to gain enough support to
be added to the underlying bill.
Several of the amendments were
introduced by Senate Republicans who
expressed concern that the debt ceiling
bill passed by the House did too little to
rein in government spending.
As part of the negotiations over
the bill, McCarthy successfully pushed
for modest government spending cuts
and changes to the work requirements
for the Supplemental Nutrition Assis-
tance and the Temporary Assistance
for Needy Families Programs. Those
changes were deemed insufficient by
31 Republican senators, who echoed the
criticism voiced by the 71 House Repub-
licans who opposed the bill a day ear-
lier.
“It doesn’t go far enough. It doesn’t
loop.”
Armstrong is just one of the 12 mil-
lion Americans who take out payday
loans annually in the states where
payday lending is not prohibited, shel-
ling out up to $9.8bn in fees to payday
lenders every year. The industry targets
Black borrowers such as Armstrong,
and Latinos, who are more likely to
have lower credit scores and be un-
banked compared with their white
counterparts.
A payday loan is a short-term, high-
cost loan typically due on an indi-
vidual’s next payday. But the payday
industry thrives and depends on bor-
rowers who take out numerous loans
risk of a disastrous, self-inflicted de-
fault in the first place,” said Senator
Chris Coons, a Democrat. “We should
do the basic things that it purports to
do,” Senator Mike Lee, a Republican of
Utah, told Fox News on Thursday morn-
ing. “In case after case, the cuts that it
proposes won’t materialize.”
The Senate minority leader, Repub-
lican Mitch McConnell, supportedthe
bill, even as he acknowledged that law-
makers must take further action to
tackle the federal government’s debt of
more than $31tn.
“The Fiscal Responsibility Act
avoids the catastrophic consequences
of a default on our nation’s debt,”
McConnell said on the floor on Thurs-
day morning. “The deal the House
passed last night is a promising step
toward fiscal sanity. But make no mis-
take: there is much more work to be
done. The fight to reel in wasteful
government spending is far from over.”
As some of their colleagues la-
mented the state of America’s debt, de-
fense hawks in the Senate Republican
and face exorbitant fees and interest
rates when they can’t keep up. Payday
lenders collect 75% of their fees from
borrowers who take out 10 or more
loans a year, according to the Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau.
The average payday loan customer
has an annual income of about $30,000
and four in five payday loans are rolled
over or renewed. The average payday
borrower stays in debt for five months,
paying $520 in fees to borrow $375
on average. The majority of borrowers,
seven out of 10, take out payday loans
to pay rent, utilities or other basic ex-
penses.
It took Armstrong years to get out of
prevent the debt ceiling from being
used as a political hostage and stop
allowing our country to be taken up
conference warned that the legislation
does not sufficiently fund the Pen-
tagon, leaving the US military vulner-
able in the face of foreign threats.
Schumer and McConnell attempted
to allay those concerns by entering a
statement into the record reaffirming
that America stands ready to “respond
to ongoing and growing national secu-
rity threats”.
“This debt ceiling deal does nothing
to limit the Senate’s ability to appro-
priate emergency supplemental funds
to ensure our military capabilities are
sufficient to deter China, Russia and
our other adversaries,” the joint state-
ment read. “The Senate is not about to
ignore our national needs, nor abandon
our friends and allies who face urgent
threats from America’s most dangerous
adversaries.”
The Senate leaders released a
second statement aimed at reassuring
colleagues who expressed alarm over
the debt cycle, which she said was dif-
ficult because the payday lenders have
borrowers’ bank account information,
can sue them and even threaten them
with jail time for nonpayment.
During the Covid pandemic,
Armstrong had to take out another
payday loan, even though she had pre-
viously experienced the debt trap and
the consequences of doing so, because
she caught Covid in 2020 and was sick.
“It’s embarrassing because I know
how predatory they are, but I had
Covid-19 for 98 days, almost died, my
whole house was sick and we were
behind on bills,” she added. “I’m still in
the payday nightmare because of that
The Guardian Saturday 3 June 2023
to the edge of default.”
a provision stipulating that an across-
the-board spending cut will be enacted
if Congress does not pass all 12 appropr-
iations bills for fiscal year 2024. The
measure was designed to incentivize
Congress members to pass a full
budget, which has proven to be a dif-
ficult task in recent years, but law-
makers fear the policy will lead to more
spending cuts.
“We share the concern of many
of our colleagues about the potential
impact of sequestration and we will
work in a bipartisan, collaborative way
to avoid this outcome,” Schumer and
McConnell said. “The leaders look for-
ward to bills being reported out of com-
mittee with strong bipartisan support.”
Senate Democrats also lobbied
against certain provisions in the bill,
namely the expedited approval of
the controversial Mountain Valley nat-
ural gas pipeline. Senator Tim Kaine,
a Democrat of Virginia, introduced
an amendment to remove the pipe-
line provision from the underlying
debt ceiling bill, but that measure
failed alongside the 10 other proposed
amendments.
Despite their personal concerns
about the details of the bill, most
Senate Democrats, including Kaine,
supported the legislation to get it to
Biden’s desk and avoid a devastating
default that economists warned could
result in millions of lost jobs. With the
immediate crisis averted, Democrats
reiterated their demands to eliminate
the debt ceiling and remove any future
threat of default.
“The fact remains that the House
majority never should have put us at
risk of a disastrous, self-inflicted de-
fault in the first place,” said Senator
Chris Coons, a Democrat. “We should
prevent the debt ceiling from being
used as a political hostage and stop
allowing our country to be taken up
to the edge of default.”
desperation unfortunately.”
The US has a poor record when
it comes to regulating payday lend-
ers. Currently 20 states and Washington
DC have enacted rate caps of 36% an-
nually or less to rein in the cycle of
debt that traps consumers who take on
payday loans, aligning these states with
the federal Military Lending Act passed
during the George W Bush adminis-
tration that capped annual interest
rates on consumer loans for active duty
military at 36%.
In states without caps, the average
annual interest rate for payday loans is
Continued on page 15
Saturday 3 June 2023 The Guardian
Continued from page 14
about 400% and as high as 664%.
“The debt trap is very much by
design and it’s how payday lenders’
business model works,” said Yasmin
Farahi, deputy director of state policy
and senior policy counsel at the Center
for Responsible Lending. “They suc-
ceed by making sure their customers
fail. They target low-income commun-
ities and communities of color, and it’s
a model that’s based on their customers
failing, essentially, for them to stay in
business and generate fees.”
In Minnesota, the state legislature
recently passed a law to cap interest
rates on payday loans to 36% annually,
from average annual interest rates in
the state of 220% in 2022.
Opponents to the legislation
claimed the cap would deter lend-
ers from doing business in Minnesota,
though advocates have countered that
this has not been the case in states
where similar legislation has already
been enacted.
“It’s meant to be a continuous cycle,”
said a payday loan recipient in Min-
nesota who requested anonymity. “You
end up having an emergency, and then
you think that, OK, I can pay this off, it’ll
be a one-time thing and that’ll be that,
Mastermind of assassination of Haiti
president sentenced to life by US court
Richard Luscombe in Miami
A mastermind of the assassination of
Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse two
years ago has been sentenced to life
imprisonment by a federal court judge
in Florida.
Rodolphe Jaar, a Haitian-Chilean
businessman, conspired with a group
of Colombian mercenaries to murder
Moïse at his home in Port-au-Prince
on 7 July 2021. Prosecutors at his sen-
tencing hearing in Miami said Jaar ob-
tained the weapons used in the “com-
mando-style” attack that killed Moïse,
53, and seriously injured his wife.
Jaar, 50, a convicted drug traf-
ficker and US government informant,
pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy
to commit murder or kidnapping out-
side the US, and providing material sup-
port resulting in death.
He was among 11 people arrested
and charged in the US, after his extra-
dition from the Dominican Republic –
and so far the only one to admit guilt. A
trial is set to begin in Miami next month
for the others, but is likely to be de-
layed, authorities said.
The sentence from federal judge
José E Martínez was the maximum Jaar
could have received. Court papers from
Scientists discover mysterious cosmic
threads in Milky Way
Ian Sample Science editor
Astronomers have discovered hun-
Politics / World News
Eighteen states and Washington DC have enacted payday loan interest rate caps of 36%
annually or less. Photograph: Patrick T Fallon/AFP/Getty Images
but then your next paycheck comes,
and it comes out of your bank account
automatically and then you’re essen-
tially just back where you started. So
then you have to take the same loan
out, basically the same day that you pay
it off. And it just keeps going and going
and going every payday.”
Anne Leland Clark, the executive
director of Exodus Lending in Min-
nesota, supported the cap. The legis-
lation was split across partisan lines
with Democrats introducing and sup-
A person holds a photo of the late Haitian president Jovenel MoÏse during his funeral at his family home in Cap-Haïtien, Haiti, on 23 July
2021. Photograph: Ricardo Arduengo/Reuters
his plea hearing stated that he provided
personnel and funds to kidnap Moïse,
but the plot evolved into murder.
Some of the money was used to
purchase weapons and bribe members
of the president’s security detail, prose-
cutors said.
dreds of mysterious cosmic threads
that point towards the supermassive
black hole at the heart of the Milky Way,
after a survey of the galaxy.
porting the bill though polling across
political lines showed 79% of Minne-
sotans supporting a 36% or lower inter-
est rate cap.
Prior to Democrats in Minnesota
winning a trifecta majority in the state
government in November 2022, efforts
were made at the local level to enact
interest rate caps.
“No longer will people be turning
and getting into debt traps, or balloon
payments, where their ability to repay
is not accounted for,” said Clark.
His alleged co-conspirators are a
mix of politicians, businessmen and
military figures, including former Hai-
tian senator Joseph Joel John, Hai-
tian-American Joseph Vincent, re-
tired Colombian army captain Germán
Rivera, and Antonio Intriago, the Vene-
The strange filaments, each of
which stretches five to 10 light years
through space, resemble the dots and
dashes of morse code on a vast scale.
She noted a provision was added
to the legislation that would permit
lenders to charge 50% annual interest
rates as long as they report doing so,
but Clark noted her organization will be
monitoring to see how lenders utilize
the provision.
“When you crowd out the predators,
people are going to turn to and find the
more responsible lenders and the more
responsible lenders are going to license
in your state,” Clark added.
Jason Ward, a bankruptcy lawyer in
South Carolina, where payday lending
is permitted and unregulated, said over
half of his clients filing for bankruptcy
have at least one payday loan.
The average annual interest rate for
a payday loan in South Carolina is 385
%.
“The interest numbers are so high
that I honestly don’t believe the payday
loan companies even intend to get paid
back,” said Ward.
He said many of his clients take out
the loans out of desperation to cover
basic expenses and that desperation
is taken advantage of by payday lend-
ers who know many clients will accept
loans with exorbitant terms because
they are just focusing on trying to sur-
vive at the present.
“When you weigh how desperate
zuelan owner of a private security firm
in Miami.
Colombian authorities have said
that Rivera received $50,000 for help-
ing to plot the assassination.
The US Department of Justice re-
vealed details of the murder plan in a
They spread out from the galactic
centre 25,000 light years from Earth
like fragmented spokes on an enorm-
ous wheel.
15
Payday loan rate caps by state. Illu-
stration: Center for Responsible Lending
somebody can be with what’s being
offered, you get the sense that it can
be predatory,” Ward said. “I don’t think
people understand the desperation of a
lot of people’s situations.”
The debt trap is very
much by design and
it’s how payday
lenders’ business
model works
Yasmin Farahi of the
Center for Responsible
Lending
statement in May last year announcing
the extradition of John from Jamaica.
The conspirators met several times
in Haiti and Florida to finalize the oper-
ation that Bocchit Edmond, Haitian
ambassador to the US, told the Guar-
dian at the time was: “an act of bar-
barity. It’s an attack on our democracy”
First lady Martine Marie Étienne
Moïse, who has since recovered, said
in 2021 that her husband’s murderers
“came to to kill his dream, his vision, his
ideology” for the western hemisphere’s
most impoverished nation.
Since the assassination, Haiti has
descended into crisis, with violence
from street gangs and vigilantes pre-
valent, and communities fighting back
with bloody reprisals of their own.
“Faced with these increasingly vio-
lent armed gangs vying for control of
neighborhoods of the capital, with li-
mited or no police presence, some resi-
dents have begun to take matters into
their own hands,” the Ecuadorian dip-
lomat María Isabel Salvador told the UN
security council in March.
“These dynamics lead unfailinglyto
the breakdown of social fabric with
unpredictable consequences for the
entire region.”
The Associated Press and
Reuterscontributed to this report
Farhad Yusef-Zadeh, an astronomer
at Northwestern University in Evans-
Continued on page 16

16
Continued from page 15
ton, Illinois, said he was “stunned” to
discover the structures in data taken
by the MeerKAT radio telescope in the
Northern Cape of South Africa.
The observatory, the most sensitive
radio telescope in the world, captured
images of the threads during an unprec-
edented 200-hour survey of the galac-
tic core. Yusef-Zadeh told the Guardian:
“They all seem to trace back to the
black hole. They are telling us some-
thing about the activity of the black
hole itself.”
Four decades ago, Yusef-Zadeh
found much larger, vertical filaments
surrounding Sagittarius A*, the black
hole at the centre of the Milky Way,
in data gathered by another tele-
scope called the Very Large Array in
New Mexico. Those structures dangle
perpendicular to the plane of the Milky
Way disc and measure 150 light years
from top to bottom.
What produced the more numerous
vertical filaments is still unclear, but
studies have found that they possess
strong magnetic fields and emit radio
waves as they accelerate particles in
cosmic rays to the verge of light speed.
According to Yusef-Zadeh, re-
Black Belfast girl threatened after telling of
unease over Of Mice and Men
Rory Carroll Ireland corres-
pondent
A Black teenager in Northern Ireland
has been threatened after calling for
the removal of John Steinbeck’s 1937
novel Of Mice and Men from the GCSE
curriculum.
Police visited the Belfast home of
Angel Mhande this week to notify her
of the threat, prompting the family to
take security measures.
“It’s scary. If we had known it was
going to cause all this we wouldn’t have
done it,” her mother, Apolonia Mbon-
diya, 49, said on Friday. “A difference
of opinion is healthy, we don’t have to
agree in a discussion, but threatening a
child for something that she said, that’s
terrible.”
In a BBC interview broadcast on 25
May, Angel, 16, said the novel’s depic-
tion of prejudice and use of racial slurs
made her uncomfortable and that she
thought it should not be part of the
GSCE English literature course.
‘Once in a lifetime’: top chefs team up for
£633 ‘four hands’ banquet in London
Rupert Neate Wealth corres-
pondent
For the super-rich, it appears, one
world-famous Michelin-starred chef is
no longer quite enough to make
a memorable meal. Wealthy gastro-
nomes are increasingly asking high-end
restaurants and hotels to host so-called
“four hands” dinners in which pairs
World News
The horizontal threads spread out from the centre of the Milky Way. Photograph: Farhad Yusef-Zadeh/Northwestern University
searchers – himself included – have
been so busy grappling with the nature
of the giant vertical threads that the
existence of the shorter, horizontal fila-
ments which trace back to the centre of
the Milky Way almost went unnoticed.
“The emphasis has been on under-
Of Mice and Men’s author, John Steinbeck, won the Nobel prize in literature but some
educators and parents have expressed unease about the language in the novel. Photograph:
Hulton Deutsch/Corbis/Getty Images
Steinbeck’s story features migrant
ranch workers in 1930s California, in-
cluding a Black character called Crooks
who experiences discrimination and
abuse.
“It’s just really uncomfortable sit-
ting in a classroom where we have to
listen to racist slurs and comments,” she
of renowned chefs team up to create
collaborative set-course meals.
Next Wednesday, 60 diners will sit
down to a “glorious four-hands ban-
quet” created by the pioneering French
chef Alain Ducasse in partnership with
Wolfgang Puck, an Austrian-American
cook who has hosted the official Oscars
after-party dinner for the past 29 years,
at a five-star hotel on London’s Park
Lane. Together, they hold 23 Michelin
standing the vertical filaments. The
horizontal structures somehow didn’t
register,” Yusef-Zadeh said. “It was a sur-
prise to suddenly find a new population
of structures that seem to be pointing
in the direction of the black hole. I was
actually stunned when I saw these.”
said. “I understand the history behind it
and stuff but you can learn that in his-
tory about slavery. The impact that it’s
had is that it just makes you feel weak,
really. It doesn’t sit right.”
The comments attracted wide-
spread attention – and at least one
threat that police relayed to the family.
stars.
The eight-course meal, which in-
cludes hand-dived scallops and Aus-
tralian wagyu beef, will set each diner
back £633 plus £230 if they wish to
“elevate your experience with our head
sommelier’s carefully crafted wine pair-
ings”. Service and tips are not included,
meaning that if a diner tips 20% the
total cost will exceed £1,000 each and
make it one of the most expensive set-
“If it wasn’t for MeerKAT these
wouldn’t have been detected,” he
added. “We’ve never been able to dedi-
cate that amount of time to the centre
of the galaxy.
The shorter, horizontal threads that
spread out from the centre of the Milky
Neighbours, friends and the school had
rallied around the family but the affair
was distracting Angel from her exams,
her mother said.
Mbondiya defended her daughter’s
right to express an opinion about Stein-
beck’s book. “It was a good book for the
time, 1937, but we review things, things
change. There are things in that book
that do not sound right and affect child-
ren in a negative way.”
Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty Inter-
national’s Northern Ireland director,
condemned the threat. “Unfortunately,
racism is not confined to 1930s Amer-
ica, where this book is set. Racism –
including violent racism – is a sickness
in our society today.” More than eight
hate-motivated incidents or crime were
reported in Northern Ireland daily, said
Corrigan.
Steinbeck won the Nobel prize in
literature but some educators and par-
ents have expressed unease about the
language in Of Mice and Men. In 2021
more than 100 British academics, cam-
paigners and parents signed an open
course meals ever served in the capital.
The Dorchester hotel, which is host-
ing the dinner at its American steak
restaurant Cut at 45 Park Lane, said the
chefs would be “teaming up to create a
gastronomic fusion of excellence” that
would “take guests on a culinary jour-
ney with exceptional pairings made to
highlight the dishes created by these
leading chefs”.
Elliott Grover, executive chef at 45
The Guardian Saturday 3 June 2023
Way came into focus when the scien-
tists removed the background and fil-
tered noise from the MeerKAT images.
Yusef-Zadeh believes the structures,
described in the Astrophysical Jour-
nal Letters, formed through a different
process to the larger, vertical filaments.
He suspects that an outburst of ma-
terial from the black hole about 6m
years ago slammed into surrounding
stars and gas clouds, creating streaks of
hot plasma that point back towards the
black hole. The effect is akin to blowing
blobs of paint across a canvas with a
hairdryer.
“The outflow from the black hole
interacts with the objects it meets and
distorts their shape,” Yusef-Zadeh said.
“It’s sufficient to blow everything in the
same direction.”
By studying the cosmic threads,
astronomers hope to understand more
about the spin of the Milky Way’s cen-
tral black hole and the accretion disc of
infalling material that whirls around it.
“These are not going to be the last
images of the centre of the galaxy,”
said Yusef-Zadeh. “Our galaxy is rich in
lots of structures that we can’t explain.
There’s still a lot to be learned.”
Angel, 16, said she felt uncomfortable in
class having to listen to the racist slurs and
comments in Of Mice and Men. Photograph:
Graham Turner/The Guardian
letter urging teachers to not read out
racist terms that appear in it and other
novels, including Harper Lee’s To Kill a
Mockingbird.
Park Lane who is organising the dinner
and will be part of a huge team of top
chefs cooking it, told the Guardian that
he hoped bringing the pair together
would create a “last supper kind of
thing … a once in a lifetime evening that
diners would remember forever”.
“I’ve wanted to do it since literally
the day I started, but they have been
Continued on page 17
Saturday 3 June 2023 The Guardian
Continued from page 16
very busy. Now they can make it work,
it’s awesome,” he said.
Grover acknowledged the dinner
was a huge extravagance during the
cost of living crisis, when many fami-
lies are struggling to afford even basic
ingredients to cook at home.
“We have got an expensive price
point, but when you look at the qual-
ity of the food and drink and the whole
package, it is really a once-in-a-lifetime
event,” he said. “We didn’t want to go
overboard, [but] it could have been
higher; it’s supply and demand.”
However, not all of the bookings
have been sold. Grover said about 10-11
seats were still available to book online.
If all the seats do not sell, he said some
selected journalists (not the Guardian’s)
may be invited.
Upon arrival, the guests will be
greeted by Ducasse and Puck at a cham-
Nova Scotia hopes forecast rain will help
contain largest wildfire on record
Associated Press in Halifax
Rain on Friday and a rainy forecast for
the weekend have fire officials hope-
ful they can get the largest wildfire
ever recorded in Canada’s Atlantic coast
province of Nova Scotia under control.
That wildfire and three others in
the province have prompted air qual-
ity warnings in US regions as far south
as Virginia and Maryland.
“My weather app says 80% chance
rain. Giddy up to that,” Halifax’s mayor,
Mike Savage, tweeted.
The huge Barrington Lake fire in
Nova Scotia’s south-west is now consi-
dered the province’s largest wildfire on
record. Burning more than 200 square
kilometers (more than 75 sq miles)
in Shelburne county, the blaze con-
tinues to withstand round after round
of water-bombers and air tankers drop-
ping water and fire retardant from the
cloudy skies.
But rain is forecast in that area
and for the provincial capital, Ha-
lifax, where another wildfire has forced
the evacuation of thousands. The wet
weather is set to continue from Friday
into Monday and Tuesday next week.
“We’re really hopeful with this break
in the weather that we can really get in
and do some positive work,” Dave Rock-
wood, public information officer for the
natural resources department, told the
British Museum ends BP sponsorship deal
after 27 years
Esther Addley
BP’s sponsorship of the British Museum
has ended after 27 years, new disclo-
sures make clear, bringing to a close one
of the highest-profile and most contro-
versial of such deals in recent years, and
marking the almost complete retreat of
the fossil fuel giant from the British arts
World News
Wolfgang Puck and Alain Ducasse, who hold 23 Michelin stars between them, have united
to create an eight-course dinner. Photograph: James Bedford/www.jamesbedford.com
pagne and canapes reception. They will
then be seated together at the same
time to dine communally at long tables
(à la the last supper).
The first course to be served will
be Puck’s famous “Wolfgang’s pret-
A firefighting helicopter douses wildfires in Shelburne county, in the province’s south-west. Photograph: Xinhua/Shutterstock
CBC early on Friday.
He said he was quite hopeful that
a much smaller fire near the town
of Shelburne, which is home to 1,300
people, could end soon.
“I’ve never been so happy to see
rain,” Halifax’s deputy fire chief, David
Meldrum, said. He said it was not
enough yet, but that officials were
hopeful about the current forecast.
The fires in Shelburne county,
world.
In its most frank admission to date,
obtained through freedom of infor-
mation requests and seen by the Guar-
dian, the museum confirmed that no
further exhibitions or other activities
are being sponsored by BP, and “there
are no other contracts or agreements in
effect between the museum and BP”.
Campaigners hailed the devel-
zel bread”, which has been described
by Tripadvisor reviewers as “the most
tender pretzel-ish bread ever”. It will be
followed by an amuse bouche of hand-
dived scallops with citrus beurre blanc
and Kristal caviar, overseen by Ducasse.
which have been burning since Sunday,
have forced more than 5,000 people
from their homes and cottages, 50 of
which have been consumed by flames.
Spring in Nova Scotia was unusually
dry. The province received about half
the usual amount of rainfall in April, ac-
cording to the Earth Observatory of the
US space agency, Nas.
Meanwhile, some residents of
subdivisions north-west of Halifax have
opment as a “massive victory”, after
years in which the museum’s Great
Court has been the scene of noisy and
disruptive environmental protests.
It marks a dramatic retreat from the
arts for BP, which was one of the lead-
ing arts sponsors in the UK until re-
cently. The Tate, National Portrait Gal-
lery, Royal Shakespeare Company, Scot-
tish Ballet and Royal Opera House have
The chefs will continue alternating
courses all evening, with a starter of
sweet pea agnolotti followed by Cor-
nish turbot, and a duo of Australian
wagyu beef and grilled New York steak
(for which Puck is famous).
There will be a “pre-dessert” of
strawberries, lemonade sorbet and
olive oil, before a marjolasian (a
long, narrow cake with straight sides
filled with cashew nougatine, espresso
mousse and cappuccino ice-cream).
Finally, it’s “mignardises”(similar to,
but seemingly posher than, petit fours),
which include Ducasse’s famous maca-
rons – lime-and-basil flavour – and
chocolates made by his dedicated
chocolatier.
The fundamentals of the menu
were created by Grover and Jean-Phi-
lippe Blondet, the executive chef at
Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester restau-
rant, but Grover said Ducasse and Puck
spent weeks debating and adapting it.
been told that their homes were de-
stroyed by the fast-moving fire after
they were evacuated earlier this week.
Fire officials said 200 structures, in-
cluding 151 houses, were claimed by
the fire in suburban Halifax, which has
been burning out of control for nearly a
week, as has the Barrington Lake fire. In
all, 16,000 Halifax-area residents have
been evacuated from their homes.
On Thursday, fire officials said that
all ended funding partnerships of many
decades with the energy giant in recent
years.
Among major national museums
and arts companies, only the Science
Museum is still supported by BP, which
funds its educational academy.
BP has been a sponsor of the British
Museum since 1996. On paper, the most
recent five-year contract between the
17
Wolfgang Puck and Alain Ducasse will
greet guests on arrival with a glass of cham-
pagne. Photograph: PR Image
Grover said Ducasse had been keen on
serving a vegan dish, but Puck sug-
gested Ducasse devise the fish course
while Puck would do the meat.
Four-hands dinners have been pop-
ular in Dubai and Hong Kong for some
years, and the trend is now moving to
London, Paris, New York, Las Vegas and
other large American cities.
50% of the Halifax fire had been con-
tained though it still was out of control.
No injuries or missing people have been
reported in that fire, the Halifax mayor
said.
US officials as far south as Mary-
land, Baltimore, Virginia and Pennsyl-
vania reported being affected by the
Canadian wildfires.
The National Weather Service in
Wakefield, Virginia, issued an air qual-
ity alert for Friday for the Richmond,
Virginia, area due to smoke from wild-
fires across the north-east and Atlantic
Canada.
St Mary’s county emergency depart-
ment, located about 80 miles (about
130km) south of Washington DC,
warned residents in a tweet on Thurs-
day that air quality might be impaired
by the fires in south-eastern Canada.
In Pennsylvania, the Chester county
health department said on Thursday in
a tweet that the “smoke & haze from
wildfires in Canada continue to linger”,
and warned the air could still be un-
healthy for older adults, young children
and people with respiratory problems.
Similar warnings were issued by the
National Weather Service in Baltimore-
Washington and the Philadelphia area,
including parts of New Jersey, where
officials warned sensitive groups to
take precautions when going outside.
A thick smoke plume was reported over
Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
two expired in February, but the Brit-
ish Museum and BP have repeatedly
resisted being explicit that their part-
nership was over, leading to concerns
of an ongoing relationship behind the
scenes.
Campaigners feared the oil giant
could be lined up as a potential
Continued on page 19
Saturday 3 June 2023 The Guardian
Continued from page 17
funder for the radical £1bn rebuilding
scheme currently being planned by the
museum.
In the new disclosures, obtained by
lawyers acting for the campaign group
Culture Unstained, the museum said
that “certain terms” of the deal remain
in effect, because it has verbally agreed
to let BP exercise its “supporter bene-
fits” until the end of 2023.
It will not specify the supporter
benefits, but these are likely to include
hospitality privileges, such as use of the
museum’s spaces for corporate enter-
taining. However, this does not relate to
any funding of the museum’s activities.
Asked to comment on the disclo-
sures this week, the museum only re-
peated a previous statement, saying:
“BP is a valued long term supporter
of the museum, and our current part-
nership runs until this year.” BP did not
respond to a request for comment.
Chris Garrard, Culture Unstained’s
co-director, said the news represented
a “massive victory”. He added: “If it
is serious about responding to the cli-
mate crisis, the museum must now
Macron and Scholz urge Kosovo to hold fresh
elections to ease Serbia tensions
Camilla Bell-Davies in Belgrade
and Lisa O'Carroll in Chișinău
Kosovo has been urged to hold new
elections in the north of the coun-
try to de-escalate tensions with Serbia,
after an intervention by Olaf Scholz and
Emmanuel Macron.
The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo
were invited to impromptu talks at the
close of a summit of 46 European lead-
ers in Moldova on Thursday evening.
Earlier in the day tensions had
flared with the Serbian president, Alek-
sandar Vučić, accusing his Kosovan
counterpart, Vjosa Osmani, of refusing
to talk to him at the summit or enter
dialogue over what he said were “sham
elections” across the border.
Kosovo’s ethnic Serb minority boy-
cotted local elections in the north in
April, allowing ethnic Albanians to take
control of local councils despite a tur-
nout of fewer than 3.5%.
“It is very clear that the Kosovan
authorities bear the responsibility for
the current situation,” Macron told re-
porters in Moldova, saying there was
“non-compliance” with an agreement
that was secured just a few weeks ago.
“We have asked the two parties
to organise new elections in these
four municipalities as soon as poss-
ible, with an undertaking from Kosovo
with participation in these elections in
a clear manner on the part of the Ser-
bian side,” Macron said.
Osmani said she had told the Euro-
pean leaders that this would be poss-
ible under Kosovan law if the Ser-
bian leadership in Belgrade did not en-
courage Serbs to boycott the poll.
“It requires bravery by all involved,
because they will need to play their
part in positions of political respon-
sibility to ensure that de-escalation suc-
ceeds,” Scholz said in Moldova.
Igor Simić, a vice-president of the
minority party Serb List in north
World News
The activist theatre group protest against sponsorship of the British Museum. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images
confirm that there will be no future
relationships with fossil fuel producers,
take down BP’s name from its lecture
theatre and roundly reject the climate-
wrecking business it represents.”
The Kosovan president, Vjosa Osmani (centre), meets Emmanuel Macron (left) and Olaf
Scholz in Chișinău, Moldova, on Thursday. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Kosovo, said his party was considering
what its stance would be towards these
elections. In the meantime, he said his
party would continue to stand with Ser-
bian “employees and citizens” who are
protesting until the Kosovo authorities
meet their demands, which include
calling for “Kosovo special units and
fake mayors occupying municipalities
with force” to leave and arrested prote-
sters to be released.
Violence erupted in the northern
Kosovan town of Zvecan this week as
Serbian protesters clashed with Nato
peacekeeping forces who were guard-
ing Albanian mayors entering their new
offices. The unrest, which resulted in
more than 60 injuries on both sides,
marked the worst violence in the region
in over a decade.
Kosovo’s prime minister has blamed
the unrest on “fascist mobs” controlled
by the government of neighbouring
Serbia. But despite such allegations,
Dr Helena Ivanov, an associate re-
search fellow at the Henry Jackson So-
ciety thinktank, said the protests were
driven by accumulated grievances and
18 months of worsening relations be-
tween Serbs and Albanians in north
Kosovo.
“It’s possible that the most violent
The British-Egyptian novelist Ahdaf
Soueif, who resigned as a trustee of the
museum in 2019, partly in protest at
the BP deal, said: “It is important that
institutions like the British Museum do
people in that crowd were paid agi-
tators, a tactic that Serbian president
Vučić has used in the past to distract
from domestic troubles,” she said, citing
the continuing protests in Belgrade
where tens of thousands have demon-
strated against the government’s han-
dling of two mass shootings and the
continued use of violent, nationalistic
propaganda in the media. “But I do
genuinely believe many people were
there because they were fed up.”
Serbs, a majority in northern
Kosovo, have never accepted its 2008
declaration of independence from
Serbia, and still see Belgrade as their
capital more than 20 years after the
Kosovo war.
In recent months a string of inci-
dents have ratcheted up tensions. In
November, Kosovo announced plans
to fine ethnic Serb residents who re-
fused to surrender Serbian-issued car
number plates. Kosovan-Albanian spe-
cial police forces have stepped up their
presence in Serbian areas, and several
ethnic Serbs have been shot and in-
jured.
This year, the government in Pris-
tina backtracked on a 2013 EU-bro-
kered agreement that would grant Serb
minorities in the region their own asso-
not give Big Oil the opportunity to look
like a force for good in society; denying
them this platform is important.”
She said the institution was “enorm-
ously important” and influential – espe-
ciation of elected mayors.
Serbs boycotted the election of new
mayors, and ethnic Albanian candi-
dates were elected in four mayoralties,
in votes with single-figure turnouts.
Serbs complained the new mayors
lacked a legitimate mandate, and
when Kosovo-Albanian authorities at-
tempted to install them this week, vio-
lent protests broke out.
“This was just the tip of the ice-
berg,” said Simić, whose party has close
links to the Serbian Progressive party
of Vučić: “It was the culmination of
months of discontent and fear among
Serbian minorities.”
Simić criticised the Kosovan prime
minister, Albin Kurti, for reneging on
his EU-agreed obligation to allow Ser-
bian mayors in the north and accused
him of prioritising territorial interests
over peace. “Why have they turned
municipality buildings into military
bases? This is a misuse of power,” he
said.
Simić’s Serbian minority party Serb
List was created to drive integration ef-
forts after the 2013 Brussels agreement,
which aimed to foster integration be-
tween Kosovo and Serbia.
However, many of Kosovo’s Ser-
bian minority have resisted integration,
and depend on parallel education and
health systems funded by Belgrade.
Vučić has promised continued
financial aid for Kosovan Serbs and
called for Pristina to allow the use of
Serbian licence plates with freedom of
movement.
But his comments have at times
gone beyond expressions of solidarity.
On Sunday, the night before the unrest
broke out, Vučić gave a live TV address
in which he said: “Serbs will certainly
protest, Serbs will demand their build-
ings back, which were usurped from
them, which Kurti’s regime took from
them with the brutal use of police
force.”
His comments were likely inter-
19
cially among children. She added: “At
this time of global crisis, which partic-
ularly impacts the young, the museum
should be directing its weight, its crea-
tivity and its resources to helping to
create the world the coming gener-
ations need to live in.”
Despite the museum’s repeated
insistence of the value of the part-
nership with BP, there have been hints
of embarrassment behind the scenes,
as protests over the relationship have
grown.
Louise Jolly, a former regular vis-
itor from Hove, wrote to the museum
last month saying she was reluctant to
bring her children while it was spon-
sored by BP. She received a reply saying:
“Now is a really great time for you and
your children to visit us. These exhi-
bitions are not sponsored by BP and we
do not currently have any other exhi-
bitions sponsored by BP.”
Speaking last November, the
museum’s chair, George Osborne, an-
nounced a “complete reimagination” of
the museum and said he wanted it to
become a net zero institution.
Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vučić,
speaks to journalists at the summit in Mol-
dova. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty
preted by the protesters as a green light
for their actions, said the analyst Jakub
Bielamowicz.
Ian Bancroft, a former diplomat
who is now a peacebuilding consultant
in Belgrade, said: “Whether the attack
on Nato forces was ‘ordered’ from Bel-
grade or provoked by agitators will be
hard to prove. But the point is the pot
had already been stirred, an accumu-
lation of grievances for the local Ser-
bian community in Kosovo who feel
stuck between Pristina and Belgrade.
Any agitators would probably reflect
the opinion of the local population.”
Grievances have been stoked by
misinformation on all sides: Russian
Telegram channels spread unverified
reports of tanks mobilising at the
Kosovo border; Serbian tabloids have
claimed Kurti was driving Serbs out of
Kosovo; Kosovans have said protesters
were bussed in from Serbia to stir up
trouble.
Efforts have been made to de-esca-
late tensions, peacekeepers have en-
gaged in talks, and 700 new Nato troops
have been deployed.
But NGOs and analysts in north
Kosovo say addressing the demands of
the Serbian minoritywill require long-
term commitments.
Ivanov of the Henry Jackson So-
ciety said: “We need new elections and
Serbs need to participate in them.”

20
Author Ama Ata Aidoo, ‘an inspiration to
feminists everywhere’, dies aged 81
Sarah Shaffi
The Ghanaian writer and academic
Ama Ata Aidoo, whose work focused on
the modern African woman, has died
aged 81.
Ata Aidoo, whose fans included
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, rejected
the idea of what she described as a
“western perception that the African
female is a downtrodden wretch”, said
the BBC.
The author’s work included the play
The Dilemma of a Ghost, in which
a Ghanaian student returning home
brings his African American wife into
the traditional culture and the ex-
tended family that he now finds restric-
tive.
Her first novel was the semi-
autobiographical Our Sister Killjoy,
published in 1977 and about a Gha-
naian girl travelling through Europe.
In 1992 Ata Aidoo won the Common-
wealth writers’ prize for best African
book for her novel Changes: A Love
Story, about a career-oriented woman
as she divorces her first husband and
navigates a new relationship.
As well as being a writer and univer-
Biden is America’s oldest president – but
tripping over a sandbag tells us nothing
Jill Filipovic
I
t’s a story so benign and unre-
markable that it’s embarrassing
it’s getting any coverage at all:
man trips, falls, stands back up
and walks it off. Except, of course,
that the man is Joe Biden, who at
80 and seeking re-election is currently
competing to be the oldest president in
US history.
On Thursday, Biden was at the US
Air Force Academy graduation cere-
mony handing out the last diploma
when he tripped over a black sand-
bag. He got back up with a hand from
Secret Service agents, and walked him-
self back to his seat. By all accounts, he
was fine.
This isn’t the first time a pres-
ident or White-House-seeker’s stum-
ble or unsteadiness has proven to be
ripe fodder for both the opposition and
the media. Donald Trump, who before
Biden was the oldest first-term pres-
ident in US history, was wobbly on his
feet at the graduation ceremony for the
US Military Academy at West Point in
2020, and seemed to struggle to raise
a glass to his lips. That fueled broad
speculation about the then-president’s
health.
With the leading 2024 contenders
both well into their golden years, it’s
reasonable to ask if they’re cognitively
and physically up to the task. Being
president is taxing on all levels, and
Americans are justified in wanting to
elect a leader who is cognitively sharp
and possesses the physical stamina to
endure a punishing travel schedule and
World News / Opinion
Ama Ata Aidoo. Photograph: Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty Images
sity professor, Ata Aidoo also served as
Ghana’s education minister in the early
1980s; she resigned when she could not
make education free.
Tributes have been paid to Ata
Aidoo on social media. Writer Mona
Joe Biden falls on stage during the 2023 US Air Force Academy graduation ceremony in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Photograph: Andrew
Harnik/AP
long days that often involve too little
sleep.
Tripping over a sandbag and then
righting oneself, though, offers no in-
sight into Biden’s physical or cognitive
health.
The “Biden falls” story doesn’t tell
us much. Biden tripped, in a minor acci-
dent that could have befallen any one
of us. The concern (or feigned concern)
over it also only reveals what we al-
ready know: that the president, as well
as the leading presidential contender
from the Republican party, are both el-
derly men, and that comes with risks,
broken bones from falls among them.
Eltahawy said on Twitter: “So sad
to hear that author Ama Ata Aidoo
has passed. An inspiration to femin-
ists everywhere, especially us African
feminists.”
Zimbabwean author and activist
And it is true that falls among the el-
derly can cause serious injuries, which
can lead to swift decline.
But Biden was fine; the only story
is that he fell, which is only a story be-
cause he’s old. And “he’s old” doesn’t
make for much of a partisan gotcha: if
Biden is too old to be president, then so
is Trump, and vice versa.
Instead, Biden detractors zero in on
what they say are his deficits, tripping
over a badly placed sandbag apparently
among them.
Putting aside this specific story
which truly is nothing more than “man
trips”, an anecdote even less interesting
Tsitsi Dangarembga said on Twitter:
“We have lost a granary of wisdom &
knowledge.”
Ngozi Adichie chose Ata Aidoo’s
short story No Sweetness Here, from
a collection of the same name, to read
than “dog bites man”, it’s worth asking
which physical skills are actually neces-
sary to do the job of president. One of
the greatest American presidents, after
all, used a wheelchair to get around,
with no apparent impact on his ability
to govern (yes, he also died in office
– not ideal, but also not related to his
disability).
Governor Greg Abbott of Texas is
no less effective (and no less inclined
toward a politics of cruelty than any
other Republican) by his wheelchair
usage. The question of which phys-
ical capacities a president needs is a
complicated one. Is it enough to have
The Guardian Saturday 3 June 2023
on the Guardian books short story pod-
cast in 2018.
Speaking on the podcast, Ngozi Adi-
chie said she had chosen the story be-
cause it was “layered and beautiful and
complex but also because I think Ama
Ata Aidoo is a writer who should be
more widely read than she is”.
Ngozi Adichie also described Ata
Aidoo as very funny, and a writer with
“wonderful wit”.
“I think really that one of the rea-
sons that she isn’t as well known as
she should be in my opinion is because
she’s female,” said Ngozi Adichie, “and
a lot of her work is very much about
women and what it means to be female
at a particular place and time.
“Not only does she write about
women, but she writes about women
truthfully, and sometimes when you
write about a subject of that sort in a
way that’s true, it makes people uncom-
fortable and when you have people
who are the tastemakers of literature,
and if they can’t absorb what you’re
talking about, it then makes it difficult
for you to be well known.”
the physical fitness to physically show
up to the job every day? Or do we need
a president to radiate a kind of strength
and vitality that gives him or her a
subtle advantage in negotiations?
Which basic physical skills – stand-
ing for long periods, navigating stairs
easily, lifting one’s arms above one’s
head, standing unassisted – reflect the
broader fitness necessary to make it
through an arduous presidential sche-
dule?
I don’t know the answers to these
questions, and I doubt even the most
skilled doctors can draw clear and
bright lines. What is obvious, though,
is that cognitive fitness should be non-
negotiable, and our demands for it simi-
larly tuned to the requirements of an
executive.
Biden is not a Strom Thurmond or
a Dianne Feinstein, in office clearly past
the ability to cognitively function at the
level necessary to carry out basic legis-
lative duties. Still, his – and Trump’s –
cognitive fitness are fair areas for in-
quiry. So too is their moral fitness, a
scale on which Biden clearly surpasses
the former president.
If the 2024 election does pit Biden
against Trump, it will again be an
unprecedented one: the first election
in US history in which the winner
will be above 80 when he leaves
office, assuming he survives all four
years. This should indeed be cause
for concern, and should spur on some
serious soul-searching among Demo-
cratic party leaders in particular to ask
how and why they’ve failed to cultivate
Continued on page 21
Saturday 3 June 2023 The Guardian
Continued from page 20
and support fresh young talent in a
Don’t be fooled – Trump’s presidential run is
gaining more and more momentum
Lloyd Green
T
he Republican field swells
but the 45th president’s
commanding lead holds.
Like Jeb Bush – anoth-
er Florida governor and
defeated Trump rival – Ron DeSantis
has demonstrated himself inadequate
to the task. By the numbers, DeSantis
trails Trump nationally and in the Sun-
shine state. DeSantis was born there.
Trump only recently moved there. To
be the man you gotta beat the man, and
right now DeSantis is going nowhere
fast.
Ill-at-ease and plagued by a pro-
nounced charisma deficit, DeSantis
can’t even decide how to pronounce his
own surname. He is 44 years old. That’s
plenty of time to nail down this per-
sonal detail.
Following his botched campaign
rollout on Twitter, a perpetual scowl
creases DeSantis’s face. He does not
relish the task at hand. Presidential
races are marathons, and he does not
appear built for endurance.
Trump administration alums fare
no better. Both Mike Pence, the hapless
former vice-president, and Nikki Haley,
the forgettable UN ambassador, have
generated little enthusiasm. They are
stalled in the doldrums of single digits
despite years in the public eye. Both
come with the word “sell” stamped atop
their foreheads.
Pence’s near martyrdom on January
6 has earned few plaudits from the
Republican base – a passel of enmity
is more like it. His religious devotion
elicits yawns and his unalloyed social
conservatism in the face of modernity
hurts more than it helps.
I could not, in good conscience, vote for the
debt ceiling bill
Bernie Sanders
L
et’s be clear. The original
debt ceiling legislation that
Republicans passed in the
House would have, over a
10-year period, decimated
the already inadequate social safety net
of our country and made savage cuts
to programs that working families, the
children, the sick, the elderly and the
poor desperately needed.
The best thing to be said about the
current deal on the debt ceiling is that
it could have been much worse. Instead
of making massive cuts to healthcare,
housing, education, childcare, nutrition
assistance and other vital programs
over the next decade, this bill proposes
to make modest cuts to these programs
over a 2-year period. This bill will also
Opinion
party whose voter base skews younger,
browner and more female.
Age, cognitive health and physical
‘The Democrats should not mistake Trump’s legal woes as a glide path to their re-election.’ Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images
On that note, Trump packed the
supreme court with three justices who
helped overturn Roe v Wade. He proved
his point, takes credit, but is cagey
about what may follow. Pence, by con-
trast, announces that “ending abortion
is more important than politics”.
That’s a losing strategy. In reli-
ably conservative Kansas and Ken-
tucky, voters scotched attempts to strip
abortion of constitutional protections.
In poker and politics, you have to know
when to say “enough”.
As for Haley, a former South Caro-
lina governor, she trails Trump and
DeSantis in her home state – never
a good sign. Back when he was
running for president, Mike Pompeo,
Trump’s second secretary of state, de-
rided her tenure at the UN as inconse-
Bernie Sanders with senators Jeff Merkley, Ed Markey, John Fetterman and Peter Welch.
Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
prevent a global economic catastrophe
by extending the debt ceiling until Jan-
uary 1, 2025 – when we will have to go
through with this absurd process once
fitness are all fair concerns to have
about a president or presidential con-
tender. A man tripping over a sandbag,
quential. Plenty of Republicans see-
mingly concur.
If any South Carolina Republican
has a chance of making it on to a na-
tional ticket, it is Tim Scott, the state’s
junior senator and one of three Afri-
can Americans in the upper chamber.
Unlike Haley, he does not evoke mock-
ery. He projects unstudied calm; his
eyes don’t glow from ambition over-
load.
Like most Republican wannabes,
however, he opposed the deal over the
debt ceiling. On Thursday night, he
cast his lot with the likes of socialist
Bernie Sanders and progressive Eliz-
abeth Warren and voted against raising
the ceiling.
Regardless, for Scott’s poise to
matter, Trump would need to badly
again.
Having said that, on Thursday night
I voted against the bill.
At a time when this country is ra-
though, doesn’t tell us much about any
of them.
Jill Filipovic is the author of OK
stumble. The former guy is already
under felony indictment in Manhattan
and stands adjudicated of sexually ab-
using E Jean Carroll, none of which has
dented his intra-party standing.
Indeed, the pending criminal
charges look like a gift. Trump’s rivals
fell into line. DeSantis and Pence reflex-
ively attacked Alvin Bragg, Manhattan’s
district attorney. The base wouldn’t
have it any other way.
Whether Jack Smith, the special
counsel, indicts Trump is the looming
unanswered question. Still if past is pre-
lude, the ever-growing Republican field
stands to effectively boost Trump if and
when he comes under increased legal
fire.
Going back to 2016, no allegation or
bombshell proved powerful enough to
pidly moving toward Oligarchy, with
more wealth and income inequality
than we’ve ever experienced, I could
not in good conscience vote for a bill
that cuts programs for the most vulner-
able while refusing to ask billionaires to
pay a penny more in taxes. Wall Street
and corporate interests may be enthu-
siastic about this bill, but I believe it
moves us in exactly the wrong direc-
tion.
I could not, in good conscience,
vote for a bill that makes it harder for
working families to afford the outra-
geously high price of childcare, hous-
ing and healthcare while, by cutting IRS
funding, actually make it easier for the
wealthiest people and most profitable
corporations in America to cheat on
their taxes.
At a time when climate change is
an existential threat to our country
21
Boomer, Let’s Talk: How My Generation
Got Left Behind
sink him. In the end, all rallied around
the flag. Beyond that, a bloated field
stands to dilute opposition to Trump.
Chris Christie is set to announce
his candidacy next week. The former
New Jersey governor brings backing
from Wall Street in the person of Steve
Cohen, owner of the New York Mets.
By itself, that won’t be enough to win
hearts and minds. According to a recent
Monmouth poll, Christie is underwater
among Republicans, 21% favorable to
47% unfavorable. He is the only chal-
lenger with unfavorable ratings.
But that is not the end of the
story. An ex-prosecutor, Christie is also
a skilled debater. In his last run, he evis-
cerated Senator Marco Rubio even as
he demolished his own campaign in the
process.
Whether Trump agrees to appear
on the same debate stage later this
summer is unclear. Between his huge
lead and a shifting legal landscape, he
could well balk on the advice of coun-
sel.
The Democrats should not mistake
Trump’s legal woes as a glide path to
their re-election. Joe Biden is singularly
unpopular, questions about his phys-
ical and mental acuity abound, and
inflation’s scars remain ever-present.
His on-stage fall on Thursday at the
Air Force Academy will raise further
doubts.
At the same time, Hunter Biden, his
surviving son, is getting plenty of un-
wanted attention. Like Trump, he too
could be indicted.
Against this backdrop, the president
possesses little room to maneuver. His
margin for error is close to nil.
Lloyd Green is an attorney in New
York and served in the US Department
of Justice from 1990 to 1992
and the entire world I could not, in
good conscience, vote for a bill that
makes it easier for fossil fuel companies
to pollute and destroy the planet by
fast-tracking the disastrous Mountain
Valley Pipeline. When the future of the
world is literally at stake we must have
the courage to stand up to the fossil
fuel industry and tell them, and the
politicians they sponsor, that the future
of the planet is more important than
their short-term profits.
At a time when we spend more on
the military than the next 10 nations
combined I could not, in good con-
science, vote for a bill that increases
funding for the bloated Pentagon and
large defense contractors that continue
to make huge profits by fleecing Amer-
ican taxpayers with impunity. Let us
Continued on page 22

22
Continued from page 21
not forget that the Pentagon is the
only federal agency that cannot pass an
independent audit or account for tril-
lions of dollars in spending.
At a time when the pharmaceutical
industry is charging the American
people, by far, the highest prices in the
world for prescription drugs I could not,
in good conscience, vote for a bill that
The hype has gone too far: why Succession’s
finale was vastly overrated
Paul MacInnes
T
here are many things
Succession landed right
on the jaw. The ranks of
writers and executive pro-
ducers brought with them
great experience of many areas central
to the show: politics, finance, five-star
hospitality and, of course, the media. So
no doubt the concept of the day five
contrarian hit piece will be familiar to
them.
I come not to bury Succession –
maybe to even praise it a bit – but all
the hype around this show has gone too
far. On Tuesday morning, after watch-
ing Shiv, Ken and Romey zing at one
another one final time I felt like that
rogue dude in The Lego Movie. Every-
thing about Succession, it seemed, was
awesome. Not only that, it was in-
sightful. The characters were multi-
faceted, many-layered scum that you
would also really miss. It was the show
that caught the spirit of our time, and
all from the perspective of those am-
bling on to a private jet.
Meanwhile, I was trying to work out
what had actually gone on in that last
episode. Why had sister Shiv decided
to deny the number one Roy boy, Ken-
dall, at the last? She had started out the
episode decidedly opposed to him, but
then she had apparently experienced
a moment of profound reconciliation
in the Caribbean sea. Why had she
chucked that in? From what I could
understand, she refused to give Ken-
Not for the first time, Sunak has been hung
out to dry by Johnson – how much more can
he take?
Jonathan Freedland
B
oris Johnson will haunt
Rishi Sunak till the end.
The current prime minis-
ter is desperate to put
the recent past behind
him, to persuade the country that he
represents a new government and a
fresh start. But every time he steps for-
ward, the last prime minister (but one)
sticks out a leg to trip him up.
The latest move came this morn-
ing, when just hours after the govern-
Opinion
does nothing to take on the greed of
the big drug companies that are bank-
rupting Medicare and cancer patients
while spending tens of billions of dol-
lars on stock buybacks and dividends.
At a time when over 45 million
Americans are drowning in student
debt I could not, in good conscience,
vote for a bill that eliminates the mora-
torium on student loan payments that
has been a lifeline to millions of work-
Peak TV … the fourth season of Succession brought more glamorous outdoor locations
than ever. Photograph: Home Box Office/HBO
dall the vote that would have made him
CEO of Waystar Royco because, well, “I
don’t think you’d be good at it”. Like,
dur.
That’s the biggest beef I have with
Succession – the plotting. Just like
Logan’s plane after he carked it mid-
air, it’s been in a circling pattern for a
long time (since season two, perhaps?).
First it was the patriarch teasing then
spoiling, selling out, then buying back.
This season it was the siblings spend-
ing 20 minutes an episode trying to
work out whether they really felt com-
fortable doing something they then de-
cided not to do, only to do it again,
often based on a shrug of the shoulders.
The finale also triggered anoth-
er pang of disappointment about the
show in general: the failure to properly
articulate why the children remained
in thrall to their father. Logan Roy
ment had announced it would rather
go to court than hand over Johnson’s
unredacted WhatsApp messages and
notebooks to the Covid inquiry, the
former PM himself popped up to say he
was “perfectly content” for Lady Heath-
er Hallett and her team to see them,
duly sending her a whole lot. Thanks a
bunch, Boris.
Sunak’s legal challenge to Hallett’s
demand was already looking shaky,
with one minister publicly admitting
that it was likely to fail, and a
former Downing Street chief of staff ar-
guing that it should never have been
ing-class families during the pandemic.
Deficit reduction cannot just be
about cutting programs that working
families, the children, the sick, the el-
derly and the poor depend upon. It
must be about demanding that the
billionaire class and profitable corpo-
rations pay their fair share of taxes,
reining in out of control military spend-
ing, saving Medicare tens of billions
on prescription drugs costs and ending
brutalised his offspring, mocked them,
betrayed them and played them off
against one another. He did so relen-
tlessly, with any affection shown either
plainly insincere or used to manipulate.
All three children acted to distance
themselves from him when alive, but
after his death they fell in line behind
his memory, and I never understood
why. The sentimental scene where the
kids well up at a video of Logan sing-
ing a Robert Burns ballad not only left
me nonplussed but made me suspect
it was just an excuse to give us some
more Brian Cox.
When the writing is as rich as it is
in Succession, there is enjoyment to
be had from watching the same thing
over and over again, or to have charac-
ters take a valedictory turn. Sometimes
the writing was so good, though, so
full of allusion and wordplay that it ac-
launched. But now it is fatally under-
mined, politically if not legally.
For Johnson has stripped away
the veneer of supposedly disinterested
justification that Sunak had applied to
his application for a judicial review,
of Hallett’s insistence on seeing every-
thing. Sunak can no longer claim to be
defending the privacy of a predecessor,
because the predecessor is happy to let
it all hang out – my apologies for that
image – or at least to give that impres-
sion: in fact, the material Johnson has
handed over is not from the phone he
used in the crucial period.
billions of dollars in corporate welfare
that goes to the fossil fuel industry and
other corporate interests.
The fact of the matter is that this
bill was totally unnecessary. The Pres-
ident has the authority and the ability
to eliminate the debt ceiling today by
invoking the 14th Amendment. I look
forward to the day when he exercises
this authority and puts an end, once
and for all, to the outrageous actions
tually acted against the propulsion of
the drama. When Roman spits at Ken-
dall and Shiv – “Stop ganging up on me
like you’re Lennon and McCartney and
I’m George. I’m John, motherfuckers” –
by the time you’ve spent 30 seconds
reacquainting yourself with the internal
dynamics of the Beatles (why John and
not Paul?), everything else has moved
on.
I wasn’t enamoured of the no-doubt
hard-earned performance of Jeremy
Strong, though making your prota-
gonist a charisma void is a distinctive
move. I felt I had seen enough of
Sarah Snook’s sarcastic face. There
were simply too many characters to ac-
tually get deeply involved with, even
if they weren’t people with zero re-
deeming features. The one exception
was Tom Wambsgans; a total shit, yes,
but somebody who at least appeared
open to the possibility of genuine
human emotion – ie loving his wife
(and, in Matthew Macfadyen, the best
acting performance of the lot). So go on
Tom lad, you deserve everything you
got.
I don’t think I’m alone in thinking
that the show felt a bit in love with itself
by the end. Who wouldn’t be when you
have the metropolitan elites blowing
white smoke up your papal chimney
the entire time? Related to this sense
of self-satisfaction, I think, was the way
Succession began to wallow in luxury.
This final season seemed as inter-
ested in setting up the next glamorous
outdoor location as it was in thinking
about why anyone would want to in-
Still, Sunak’s reticence has been
exposed as self-interested. He wants
to keep to a minimum the embar-
rassments of the Covid era, because
they remind many millions of voters
exactly when and why they came to
despise this government. And, more
self-interestedly still, the PM fears that
Hallett is about to set a precedent
for full disclosure – which means the
investigators could soon demand to see
every message on his phone.
After all, there is nothing historic
about the Covid inquiry. True, three
of the key players – Johnson, Dominic
The Guardian Saturday 3 June 2023
of the extreme right-wing to hold our
entire economy hostage in order to pro-
tect their corporate sponsors.
Bernie Sanders is a US Senator, and
Chairman of the health education labor
and pensions committee. He represents
the state of Vermont, and is the longest-
serving independent in the history of
Congress
Logan and Roman talk with Mattson.
Photograph: Graeme Hunter
herit the crown. “Quick, each and every
one of us has to go to the Geirangerfjord
for a picnic.” “See you the day after
the election at the church where Jackie
Kennedy had her funeral.” “We’ve got an
extra 30 minutes for the finale, let’s take
a trip to the tropics.”
The truth is, I loved that stuff. Ever
since the sort-of orgy thing in season
one, the one with the free food and
drink piled up everywhere, I have posi-
tively inhaled the experience of vica-
rious 0.1% living. In fact, I think it’s the
thing that kept me watching till the
end. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Yet I suspect it’s telling all the same.
Of the few people I know who have ac-
tually spent any time in the world of the
super rich, they didn’t find Succession
convincing. Yet for those of us a few
rungs down the ladder, it was the wasp’s
nips. That we all took such pleasure
from peering inside the windows of our
apparent superiors, and subsequently
rhapsodised about that fact, perhaps
says something about ourselves.
Cummings and Matt Hancock – have
left government, but two are still there:
Michael Gove and Sunak himself. The
latter has plenty to fear from the prob-
ing eye of the baroness. He was one
of those fined over Partygate, while the
benefits of the scheme he introduced
as chancellor to boost the restaurant
sector are so dubious, it might more
accurately have been named Eat Out to
Help Spread Covid.
Which might explain why a govern-
ment that likes to rail against “lefty law-
Continued on page 23
Saturday 3 June 2023 The Guardian
Continued from page 22
yers” and their casual resort to judicial
review – as the 2019 Tory manifesto
thundered, it must not be “abused to
conduct politics by another means or to
create needless delays” – nevertheless
deployed the device with such alacrity
on Thursday. This was a rare attempt
to block the head (whom it had ap-
pointed) of a public inquiry (which it
had set up), rather than just let her do
her work.
Even putting aside the politics, the
legal case is strikingly weak. First, it
seems obvious that the best arbiter of
what the inquiry should or should not
see is the inquiry itself, rather than
one of the institutions or individuals
under examination. Government law-
yers wrote to Hallett, explaining that
they were holding back material they
regarded as “unambiguously irrelevant”
– to which the former judge replied, if
not exactly in these terms, “I’ll be the
judge of that”.
Public inquiries usually draw their
scope widely, especially at the start.
They operate like a funnel: taking in
a lot, then gradually narrowing down to
what they, and no one else, decide is
the key evidence. In this case, Hallett is
especially justified in wanting to make
her own decisions. She spotted that
an initial Cabinet Office submission of
WhatsApp messages had blacked out
discussions between Johnson and his
team over police enforcement of Covid
regulations during the demonstrations
that followed the murder of Sarah Eve-
rard. They had deemed those messages
An ‘unbelievable deal’? The $200m mansion
reportedly bought by Beyoncé and Jay Z
Lois Beckett in Los Angeles
W
ith its steep green
cliffs overlooking
the Pacific Ocean,
Malibu is a top
contender in
America’s ultra-luxury real estate
market. Its rise in the rankings of the
favorite spots of the super-rich was soli-
dified again in past weeks, with reports
that Beyoncé and Jay-Z purchased a
40,000 sq ft oceanfront mansion in the
coastal enclave.
TMZ first reported that the star
couple had snapped up a modernist
mansion designed by the celebrity
Japanese architect Tadao Ando. With
a sale tag of $200m, the acquisition ap-
pears to break the record for the most
expensive home in California.
The mansion been described as
“massive”, “minimalist” and “echoey”,
and reportedly includes both a pool and
a “water feature”, as well as an award-
winning concrete driveway.
Ando, the architect, is a Pritz-
ker prize winner, whose exposed con-
crete and glass homes have become
status symbols for American supers-
tars. Kim Kardashian announced ear-
Opinion
‘Rishi Sunak’s reticence has been exposed as self-interested.’ Photograph: Tejas Sandhu/SOPA Images/Shutterstock
“unambiguously irrelevant” to Hallett’s
inquiry when, in fact, they were any-
thing but. The Cabinet Office later
backed down, but the judge was not im-
pressed. “It was not a promising start,”
she wrote.
But the heart of the matter is the
exceptional nature of the task Hal-
lett has been set. “There’s never been
an inquiry like this,” says the human
rights lawyer Adam Wagner, the lead-
ing expert on the regime of regulation
imposed during the pandemic. “Eve-
rybody in the country could be named
as a core participant. There could be 65
million victims.” Other medical inqui-
The superstar couple bought the mansion designed by the prize-winning architect Tadao
Ando. Photograph: KGC Photo Agency/GoffPhotos.com
lier this spring that she was working
on a “dream project” with Ando, and
in 2021 Kanye West reportedly pur-
chased a comparatively modest beach-
front Malibu home designed by Ando
for $57.3m.
The home originally was commis-
sioned by William and Maria Bell,
art collectors and members of the
family soap opera dynasty that created
The Young and the Restless and The
Bold and the Beautiful. Maria Bell de-
scribed the construction as “dazzling”
and “spectacular”, but told the Wall
ries, such as the one into the infected
blood scandal, have counted those af-
fected in the hundreds or thousands.
Covid led to a huge number of deaths,
but serial lockdowns shaped the lives of
absolutely everyone.
This means Hallett has no choice
but to define the scope of her ques-
tioning extremely widely. Of course
she needs to see every text message
and document, because Covid touched
every corner of activity in No 10 and
beyond. “This is not a single issue that
can be parcelled off,” Wagner tells me.
“This was a crisis that enveloped the
entire government.”
Street Journal: “It’s also a daunting idea
to live in something that can seem to
many people like a Brutalist structure.”
The original asking price for the
property was $295m, TMZ said, charac-
terizing the final $200m sale price as an
“unbelievable deal”.
New York City still holds the
record for the most expensive home
in the United States, a $238m pent-
house apartment overlooking Central
Park. But California has been repeat-
edly breaking its own records in recent
years.
And so, what Sunak and his advisers
might like to hold back as “irrelevant”
could instead be critical. Doubtless,
there will be a slew of mortifying per-
sonal messages – including ministers
badmouthing colleagues – that Down-
ing Street would prefer stay hidden. But
Hallett has already said that she needs
to know about “disagreements between
members of the government”, not to sa-
tisfy a craving for gossip but because
discord at the top may well have hob-
bled the government’s response to the
disaster.
The same goes for the curious
disengagement of Johnson at the start
Malibu’s rise as a mecca for luxury
real estate was driven by decades of
investment by the tech magnate Larry
Ellison, according to the Wall Street
Journal. Ellison, the fifth wealthiest
person in the world, owns an estimated
10 homes on what is now known as
Malibu’s Billionaire’s Beach, according
to the newspaper, in addition to a series
of commercial holdings. (Ellison also
owns most of the Hawaiian island of
Lanai.)
Billionaire tech executives and cele-
brity artists are continuing to push
up real estate prices in the city, un-
daunted by multiple deadly wildfires
that have hit the region in recent years,
including a 2018 blaze that razed multi-
million-dollar mansions and left three
people dead. The median price for
a single-family home in the city has
more than doubled since 2016, to nearly
$7m. Some of Malibu’s new elite home-
owners are now cobbling together mul-
tiple properties to build mega-luxury
compounds, according to the Journal.
The WhatsApp CEO, Jan Koum, bought
two adjoining properties for a com-
bined $187m, while Marc Andreessen
owns three different Malibu homes
with a total value of $255.5m.
A representative for Beyoncé did
23
of the crisis, his failure even to turn
up at successive Cobra meetings. Hal-
lett needs to see his diary to know if
he was dealing with weighty affairs of
state that might excuse his inattention
to a galloping pandemic, or if he was
distracted by matters far less forgivable.
The inquiry will similarly look at
procurement, including the dash to
secure personal protective equipment
(PPE). We know about the “VIP lane”
that allowed those with contacts in
government, often with no record in
the field, a fast track to apply for con-
tracts worth hundreds of millions. Offi-
cials might regard an exchange of mes-
sages between a minister and a would-
be supplier that ultimately resulted in
no contract to be “unambiguously irre-
levant”. Hallett – and the public – could
see it rather differently. And remem-
ber, none of this stuff will be automat-
ically published for all to see. All Hal-
lett wants is the right to look at it and
determine its relevance. Any decision
on publication will come later.
When Sunak first stood on the steps
of No 10, he promised “integrity, profes-
sionalism and accountability at every
level”. He knew he would not have
become prime minister had it not been
for Johnson’s extravagant violation of
the very rules he had imposed on eve-
ryone else, and the public hunger to see
those in charge held to account. That
need made Sunak – but it could break
him too.
Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian
columnist
The Mansion in Malibu, California, de-
signed by Tadao Ando. Photograph: Florian
Holzherr
not immediately comment on the re-
ports about the mansion purchase. Kurt
Rappaport, the Malibu “alpha agent”
who reportedly arranged the record-
breaking $200m sale, has previously
worked with Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and
Ellen DeGeneres. He did not respond to
requests for comment.
Meanwhile, social media commen-
tators have weighed in on the stars’
acquisition, with the New York Post,
a publication known for its skep-
ticism of California “cheeseball” real
estate aesthetics, highlighting com-
ments comparing the mansion to a
“WWII bunker” or “an empty Costco
distribution center”. On Reddit, a thread
about the mysterious property con-
cluded that “every Malibu mansion
looks like a supervillain lair”.
 The Guardian Saturday 3 June 2023
24 Opinion

‘I’m not used to seeing sex that kinky’: Is The

Idol the most shocking TV of the year?
with”. “Lily-Rose has stated explicitly
Shaad D'Souza that she felt safe, and that this is her

M
onths before it had
even come out, The
Idol was the year’s
most controversial
TV show. In March,
Rolling Stone published an exposé
featuring anonymous interviews with
those working on the Lily-Rose Depp-
starring HBO show, who alleged that
its producers – megastar musician Abel
Tesfaye, AKA the Weeknd, who also
plays a lecherous nightclub owner/cult
leader called Tedros, and Euphoria’s
Sam Levinson – had burned through
time and money to make a series “about
a man who gets to abuse this woman
and she loves it.”
Following a pop star named Jo-
celyn (Depp) as she tries to mount
a career comeback after a mental
breakdown, The Idol is self-consciously
pulpy and undeniably sordid: charac-
ters talk about wanting to make “giant
fucking big-titted hits”, lock intimacy
coordinators in closets, and say over-
the-top things such as: “Will you let
people enjoy sex, drugs and hot girls?
Stop trying to cockblock America.”
Depp spends much of the first episode
topless, and the series is littered with
allusions to contentious cult auteurs
such as Paul Verhoeven and Gaspar
Noé. When the first two episodes pre-
miered at Cannes earlier this month,
critics slammed it as a “toxic man’s fan-
tasy”; for a moment, its Rotten Toma-
toes rating was hovering around an
almost unheard-of 9% (it now sits at
25%).
Veteran actor Jane Adams says that
“everyone’s delighted there’s an in-
tense response to the show”. Known
for her Emmy-nominated turn in
Hacks, Adams plays entertainingly
nasty music executive Nikki in The Idol
and provides much of the comic relief,
including the line about “big-titted
hits”. “The response is just what eve-
ryone expected,” she says, “and we’ve all
had a good laugh about it.”
The critics have one thing right:
The Idol is certainly seamy. There’s a
voyeurism to the way Levinson shoots
a lot of the sex scenes – including
multiple masturbation scenes in which
Depp’s character chokes herself – that
creates an ominous, discomfiting feel-
ing. Sometimes, the sex scenes are
plainly embarrassing to watch.
Riding high … Abel Tesfaye AKA the Weeknd and Lily-Rose Depp in The Idol. Photograph:
HBO
According to Da’Vine Joy Randolph,
who plays Destiny, one of Jocelyn’s
managers alongside Hank Azaria, those
decrying the show as misogynist “are
making an incorrect assumption”. She
says the five-parter takes “a complete
turn” in its final three episodes, and
that “what the viewer thinks is misogy-
nistic is not exactly what it appears”. “I
wouldn’t be part of a project if miso-
gyny was all it was about.”
The show’s vision of sex, for better
or for worse, does chime with 2023’s
“candidly kinky sexual climate”, as
the Face’s Brit Dawson put it ear-
lier this month; whether you find the
sexual content itself misogynistic will
depend on how you view unconven-
tional consensual sex acts, and whether
you consider the show’s depiction of
Jocelyn and Tedros’s toxic relationship
dynamic an endorsement.
Hari Nef, a past Levinson colla-
borator who plays a Vanity Fair reporter
in the show, says that while she found
the first two episodes “a little shock-
ing” (“I’m not used to seeing sex that
explicit and that kinky with such an
unwavering gaze on TV”) after Cannes,
she was more able to “think about what
Sam is doing and saying by including
this”.
“I think Sam is reflecting porn cul-
ture back to its audience – the way
women’s desires have been constituted
post-porn, post-pop feminism, post-
#MeToo,” she says. “It reflects a lot of
conversations I’ve had with girls my age
unpacking the desires of our generation
and how they square with the core
tenets of feminism and where we go
from here.
“I’ve heard so many girls get really
frank and say: ‘It felt like the most
subversive thing I could crave was sex
that not only didn’t involve me being
strong, but involved me being disem-
powered,’” says Nef. “In Jocelyn, we get
to peer into the psyche of a woman
where that damage was done. Are they
the desires and rules of the patriarchy?
Absolutely. But that doesn’t mean she
doesn’t want them.”
Indeed, a lot of reviews seem to
resent Depp’s character for wearing
skimpy clothes and taking an interest in
sexual submission, zeroing in on those
things in a way that suggests disbelief
that anyone in the real world would
make the same choices. In one such
review for Variety, critic Peter Debruge
points out Jocelyn’s “ultra-short, ultra-
sheer party dress” – as if such styles
aren’t currently available everywhere
from PrettyLittleThing to Miu Miu –
and wonders whether there were any
“protections” for Depp given how often
she has to wear skimpy clothing.
Adams says that by focusing solely
on Jocelyn’s sexuality, critics are “miss-
ing a wonderful opportunity to praise
an incredible woman that I had an
incredible time working with”.
“I think a lot of people have their
head right up their ass – honest to God,
I really do,” she adds. “Everything be-
comes about politics and it’s boring.
Sam’s a storyteller. Certain stories are
upsetting or challenging. But are we
going to censor them? I think they
should be more aware of what they’re
actually calling for. Just say it – say: ‘We
would like to censor people.’ See how
that goes.”
Randolph says she found the show
deeply collaborative, while Depp has
said multiple times that Levinson “is
the best director I have ever worked
work as much as anybody else,” says
Nef. “If there’s an actress or actor who’s
not comfortable with a role, don’t do
it. Read the script, set your boundaries.
Personally, I would act in a scene that
was sexually abject or dangerous. I
would do everything Lily-Rose did in
this show.”
Levinson is a perpetual hot topic
on Twitter, where he is often criti-
cised for the sexualised way he por-
trays Euphoria’s young female charac-
ters. The Idol seems primed to pro-
voke similar discourse; Levinson has al-
ready been slammed for a moment in
the Cannes press conference in which,
upon being asked how he orchestrated
the show’s explicit sex scenes without
going “too far”, he replied: “Sometimes
things that might be revolutionary are
taken too far.” Nef says: “Sam is look-
ing directly at the beast in a way other
directors aren’t. It’s cool to be a part of.”
“If anything,” says Randolph, “due to
the fact that we were doing something
more risqué, the climate around us all
was one in which we were taken care of
very well. We were asked for our ideas,
it was very collaborative and creative.
Sam didn’t come in with an ego.”
There is also another side to the
show – one that focuses on the bi-
zarre bureaucracy of the pop industry.
Scenes in which, for example, a hand-
ful of Jocelyn’s handlers try to work out
who leaked a racy photo of her on Twit-
ter, and bicker over who has to tell her,
are often genuinely funny – though the
tonal shift between these moments and
the 50 Shades-esque sex scenes can be
jarring, like flicking from an episode of
Veep to an episode of True Blood. “The
Idol, while a drama, is also in so many
ways a satire,” says Nef. “It almost feels
like John Waters is looking over us in
the sense that no one and nothing is
safe from having his, her, its shit aired
out.”
Rolling Stone’s report alleged that
Amy Seimetz, The Idol’s original sho-
wrunner, was pushed out due to Tes-
faye’s concern that the show was lean-
ing too much into a “female pers-
pective”. The entire series was then
reshot with Levinson as showrunner –
after which, some crew members say,
the production began to descend into
chaos, with communications allegedly
breaking down between Levinson and
HBO. “In the creative industry, there
Jane Adams as music executive Nikki in
The Idol. Photograph: Eddy Chen/HBO
are creative differences all the time
and things like what happened with
the show happen,” says Adams, who
worked with Seimetz on her 2020 film
She Dies Tomorrow but says she hasn’t
spoken with her about her exit from
The Idol. “I look forward to working
with Amy in the future – this expe-
rience doesn’t change that, and we are
still friends.”
Nef says shooting The Idol “wasn’t
any more or less chaotic than any shoot
during the pandemic has been”. “They
were dealing with the schedules of, like,
three pop stars,” she says. “When you
add that on to Sam’s day-to-day colla-
borative, loose style, in terms of impro-
visation and experimentation, there
were definitely days where everybody
was working extra hard to make the
pieces come together.
“Maybe it’s easier if you’re just
saying lines off the page, but that’s not
Sam’s style,” she says. “I didn’t identify
with the way that [Rolling Stone] ar-
ticle described everything. It felt very
normal – as normal as a TV shoot can
be. It’s always hard work and you never
really know what’s coming around the
corner, but that’s what showbiz is, babe.
Get in or get out.”
Adams, who has worked with le-
gends of subversive cinema such as
Paul Schrader and Robert Altman, says
that working with Levinson is “thrilling,
because it feels just like them – it’s the
same, except Sam is young, and now
it’s his time. A lot of people can go
their whole lives without working with
somebody as brilliant as Sam.”
The Idol is on Sky Atlantic and Now
TV from Monday5 June.

Padma Lakshmi leaving Top Chef after 17

years as host and producer
that she had made the decision “after miss working alongside them dearly. 2006. It became popular in the US and
Maya Yang much soul searching”. I feel it’s time to move on and need other countries, where sister compe-

T
he longtime host and pro-
ducer Padma Lakshmi has
announced that she will
be exiting the Top Chef
kitchen ahead of the hit
cooking show’s 21st season.
Lakshmi announced the news on
Twitter and Instagram on Friday, saying
Padma Lakshmi on 23 May 2023 in New
York City. Photograph: Roy Rochlin/Getty
Images for The Moth
“Having completed a glorious 20th
season as host and executive producer,
I am extremely proud to have been part
of building such a successful show and
of the impact it has had in the worlds of
television and food,” the TV star, model
and author wrote.
“After 17 years, many of the cast and
crew are like family to me and I will
to make space for Taste the Nation,
my books and other creative pursuits,”
Lakshmi added, referring to her new
Hulu show in which she embarks on
culinary journeys across the United
States.
“I am deeply thankful to all of you
for so many years of love and support,”
said Lakshmi, who joined Top Chef in
titions have been held.
“Padma Lakshmi leaves behind an
incredible legacy on Bravo’s Top Chef,”
an NBCUniversal spokesperson told
Deadline, referring to the channel that
hosts the show.
“Her impact on the Emmy, James
Continued on page 25
Saturday 3 June 2023 The Guardian

Opinion 25

Continued from page 24
Beard and Critics’ Choice Award-win-
ning series is undeniable. We are grate-
ful to Padma for being a consummate
host, judge and executive producer, and
for bringing her ingenuity and excep-
tional palate to each episode where she
ate every bite of food on the series for
over 17 years and 19 seasons. She will
always be part of the Top Chef and the
NBCUniversal family and has a seat at
the judges’ table anytime,” the spokes-
person added.
Lakshmi’s announcement was met
with an outpouring of messages from
fans, with some writing, “How could
you do this to me, question mark?” and
others saying, “Please don’t pack your same without you,” another wrote on
knives and go,” echoing the famous Instagram.
phrase from the show when chefs are
eliminated from the competition.
“Happy for you but heartbroken for
the rest of us. Top Chef will not be the

Gay best friend: a history of Hollywood’s

favourite queer character
gay housemate even offers to marry
Guy Lodge her, with a line that practically distils

B
efore the gay best friend
could be phased out, he
had to come out. Today,
those three short words
tend to denote the most
confining limitations to queer charac-
ters in film, a trope and archetype de-
signed to keep homosexuality on the
sidelines, adjacent to the more palat-
able lives and loves of straight people.
For a time, however, sassy support was
about the best representation queer
people could hope for on screen, even
if it required some code-reading on the
viewer’s part. In Code-era Hollywood,
ascribing a sexuality at all to the was-
pish single man commenting on, or
even assisting in, the protagonists’ own
entanglement would have been a detail
too far. He had a name, a role, a handful
of good lines. What more could he want
– an identity?
Curated by the critic Michael Ko-
resky, a mini-season of films on the
Criterion Channel in June affords some
depth and dignity to a character often
demeaned as a patronising relic of now-
outdated prejudices – even as it pers-
ists in film and TV today. Koresky’s
selection delves beyond the romantic
comedy realm where the trope made
its most enduring impression, and into
the realist dramas, psycho-thrillers and
unclassifiable art films (Irma Vep, most
unexpectedly) through which the gay
best friend has evolved from a type to a
human being.
But a type was enough, in the
1930s and 1940s, to keep character
actors like the superbly named Frank-
lin Pangborn busy in romps like Stage
Door and the Preston Sturges-written
Easy Living, playing one variation after
another of the same man: fastidious,
fast-talking, archly knowing but oth-
George Sanders and Anne Baxter in All About Eve. Photograph: 20th Century Fox/Kobal/
REX/Shutterstock
erwise sexless. Edward Everett Horton
and Grady Sutton, Pangborn’s contem-
poraries in the bracket of gay actors
dubbed “Hollywood sissies”, extended
the stereotype into bumbling or hay-
seed comic territory. (Once in a while
they even got to play ostensibly straight
characters, albeit never manly ones.)
By 1949’s spritz Katharine Hepburn-
Spencer Tracy romcom Adam’s Rib, the
gay sidekick could be not just a brit-
tle functionary – a butler, a manager,
a milliner – but an actual pal, even
a foil of sorts. Played by the straight,
wiry character actor David Wayne, the
singer and pianist Kip is a fun-loving
neighbour to Hepburn’s married New
York lawyer Amanda, though there’s
enough of a seductive edge to his ca-
rousing with her to aggravate her hus-
band. There’s joy away from heteronor-
mativity, Kip seems to suggest; the film,
directed by the famously gay George
Cukor, feels cheerfully complicit in that
truth even as it obeys the rules of
straight romance.
It’s certainly a sunnier presentation
of queer masculinity than the suavely
coded gossip columnist and gadfly Ad-
dison DeWitt in All About Eve: played
to Oscar-winning effect by George
Sanders, he’s a best friend to everyone
and no one, his sexuality implied not
so much through his mannerisms (as
Sanders steers clear of flouncy parody)
as through his proudly owned other-
ness, his sinuous traversing of social
sects: “We are the original displaced
personalities,” he says at one point,
referring to theatre folk. The secondary
implication is clear enough.
But things would get more compli-
cated; the gay best friend’s self-assur-
ance would wobble. In the generation-
marking teen-ennui drama Rebel With-
out a Cause, the bisexual actor Sal
Mineo took the archetype into tragic
(albeit still nominally veiled) territory,
his shy social outcast Plato ultimately
too besotted with James Dean’s smoul-
dering hero to make it to the end of the
film. In the 1960s, a new wave of social-
realist films finally outed their gay best
friend characters in a sympathetic light.
Britain gave us The L-Shaped Room,
in which a Black gay musician helpfully
mirrors the outsider status of Leslie
Caron’s single, pregnant heroine, and
A Taste of Honey, where the likewise
knocked-up Rita Tushingham’s gentle
the archetype’s role across film history:
“You need somebody to love you while
you’re looking for somebody to love.”
Over in the US, Paul Newman’s Rachel,
Rachel offered a female version in the
character actor Estelle Parson’s Calla,
a lesbian confidante to Joanne Wood-
ward’s eponymous protagonist, a re-
pressed, virginal schoolmarm; Calla at-
tempts to answer Rachel’s loneliness
with a kiss, briskly rebuffed, hinting
at a story Hollywood wasn’t yet ready
to tell. By 1983’s Silkwood, the lesbian
best friend – played with gruff wit by
a surprisingly cast Cher – could be
granted a lover of her own.
So, eventually, could her male coun-
terpart, even if the sexual revolution
of the 1970s, countered by the Aids
panic and Reaganite homophobia of
the 1980s, hadn’t done much to pro-
mote him from the margins in main-
stream cinema. In 1991’s Frankie and
Johnny, the gay best friend could take
the form of a couple – Nathan Lane
and Sean O’Bryan – providing healthy
romantic counsel to an improbably
lovelorn Michelle Pfeiffer. In 1994’s
Four Weddings and a Funeral, the one
couple that can’t get legally married
gives ballast to the film’s heterosexual
frolics: John Hannah’s Auden-borrowed
elegy for Simon Callow is the scene eve-
ryone remembers.
Rupert Everett, devoted gay right-
hand man to Julia Roberts’s roman-
tic schemer in My Best Friend’s Wed-
ding, doesn’t get a partner but does
get to advocate the acceptability of sin-
gled – for him and the straight heroine
alike – by the film’s end. He was suffi-
ciently popular to prompt a rash of
relationship movies where the gay best
friend is promoted to leading man: in
The Object of My Affection, Paul Rudd
is the ideal partner that Jennifer Anis-
Spencer Tracy, David Wayne and Katha-
rine Hepburn in Adam’s Rib. Photograph:
Moviestore Collection Ltd/Alamy
ton wants but fundamentally cannot
have; in the wretched The Next Best
Thing, Everett fathers a child with Ma-
donna, only for her subsequent hetero-
sexual romance to drive them apart. In
both films, the gay man got an upgrade
in billing if not in agency, remaining a
mere facilitator to a woman’s wellbeing.
And what now, with gay romance no
longer the red line it was in the movies,
with queerness no longer strictly a
fringe concern? Well, the gay best
friend endures, though sometimes he
has company in the protagonist: Ri-
chard E Grant’s tart drinking buddy to
Melissa McCarthy’s down-at-heel writer
Lee Israel in Can You Ever Forgive Me?
is in all respects a classic of the type,
save for the fact that Lee herself is
queer, protagonist and sidekick bonded
in otherness. In Todd Haynes’s Carol,
Cate Blanchett’s closeted title character
is supported in her homosexuality by
a best friend (Sarah Paulson) who’s
been through it all before. And at the
contemporary end of the spectrum, the
gay protagonists of Heartstopper may
struggle with age-old identity crises,
but a diverse social group – including
transgender best friend Elle – assists
with their self-realisation. The gay best
friend may not be an obsolete arc-
hetype anymore, but it’s no longer an
isolated one.
Queersighted: The Gay Best Friend
is now available on the Criterion Chan-
nel

‘There’s spitting, foul language’: the reality of

working in a college in badly behaved Britain
curity in people’s lives has been get- For many, college is a place of sta- period. But, in the past couple of years,
As told to Elle Hunt ting worse and worse – and it’s affecting bility – one of the few constants in their there hasn’t been the usual period of

I
started working as a learning sup-
port assistant about 12 years ago.
I have worked with every age
group, from nursery through to
people in their 60s, mostly in
schools in working-class areas where
the progression to higher education is
low. Now, I work primarily with adult
learners.
It has always been challenging
work, but I never wanted a job that
was driven by profit. Often, our learn-
ers have really problematic home lives
Illustration: Liubov Edwards/The Guar-
and we end up being a background sup-
port system. We are not experts in this,
or even trained, but we help them in
whatever way we can. Sometimes, that
means providing them with money or
food. Sometimes, it’s about listening.
In the past couple of years, the inse-
their behaviour. You see learners break-
ing down in tears because they are so
overwhelmed, or they are venting their
anger and frustration.
Since we came back on-site post-
lockdown, behaviour is worse than it
has ever been. Every staff member that
I have spoken to agrees. There has
been spitting, foul language, littering,
disregard for shared spaces and teach-
ers’ authority – it’s shocking. Learners
even reject the idea that there should
be repercussions for their behaviour.
We are at breaking point.
lives. I think, subconsciously, that is
why they allow their emotions to come
out here, because it’s somewhere they
don’t have to worry about their rent or
their dad getting violent. There is lots of
empathy among staff – the reason that
we’re in these roles is because we care
and we are willing to put up with more
than many people – but we shouldn’t
have to put up with this. It’s just not fair.
As educators, we expect certain
times of the year to be more frustrating:
we know that students become ruder
and more stressed during the exam
settling down. The frequency of bad
behaviour is greater and the behaviour
is worse.
The lockdowns were a factor, espe-
cially among the younger learners, the
16- to 19-year-olds. At a time when their
horizons should have been broadening,
they were shut in their homes and their
lives got smaller. Then, after lockdown,
they were thrown into a college envi-
ronment without any grownup beha-
viours and skills. Even hanging out with
Continued on page 26

26
Continued from page 25
their friends, going to the shops, they
find stressful. They just weren’t pre-
pared for it.
Of course, staff went through the
pandemic, too; it wasn’t a great time for
anybody. But we can’t understand what
it’s like to go into lockdown at 15, then
emerge at 17 and be expected to behave
The end has no end: why Hollywood should
stop splitting movies into two
Charles Bramesco
T
here’s plenty to be said for
Spider-Man: Across the
Spider-Verse, the sequel
to the superhero picture
that put itself a cut above
the great spandex deluge by inven-
tively, faithfully emulating the whiz-
bang excitement of reading actual
comic books as a kid. Like its 2018
predecessor, the newly released follow-
up genuflects to its splashy source
medium as it pushes the boundaries
of animation, mashing up styles and
textures into a free-associative, hyper-
kinetic torrent of psychedelic lines
and color. The everything-at-once max-
imalist aesthetic befits a premise that
explodes the wall between text and
metatext with its setting in a multiverse
of overlapping narratives, a pileup of
Marvel-branded continuities.
And yet for all its cleverness in
conception and design, the overall
quotient of pound-for-pound enter-
tainment has slipped in a difficult-to-
pinpoint way. Where the last install-
ment slingshotted its audience through
a taut, rewarding and complete remix
of Spidey mythology, this one – which
clocks in well past the two-hour mark
– lags behind its own allegro rhythm,
sluggish as Miles Morales weightless-
ly web-slings through a bustling Man-
hattan.
Going by the classical architecture
of the screenplay construction books,
the first act lasts several beats longer
than prescribed, with a hazy, indefinite
transition from the second to the third
that leaves a sense of sprawling middle
Experience: I was shot, and the bullet is still
inside me
Rachel Hershman
“Ethan, put the gun down, put the gun
down!” I heard people scream upstairs.
He said: “It isn’t even loaded.”
I was down in the basement, pro-
tecting four others. Then, suddenly, I
felt like I had been struck by lightning
and felt a searing hot pain in my leg.
One spring morning three years ago,
in Wisconsin, a friend had persuaded
me to drive them to a house where a
fight had apparently broken out among
friends. Things had initially calmed
down by the time we got there, but then
got heated again and someone pulled
Opinion
like an adult. Some of the students have
no social skills; they don’t know how to
look an adult in the eye or talk to some-
one they have never spoken to. Now,
they engage with their phones. Any-
thing unfamiliar prompts either deep
anxiety or aggression. I have also no-
ticed a tendency for the adolescent
boys and men to walk around with their
hands down their trousers, then, when
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Photograph: Sony Pictures Animation/AP
with no end. But these schematics were
established to be broken, meant to offer
a template that the best movies defy
as they harmonize form with content.
During the web-head’s latest cartoon
adventure, however, one gets the in-
kling of happy immoderation, the same
inability or unwillingness to part with
any of the good stuff that elongated
John Wick: Chapter 4 past the point of
wearing out its welcome. In the case
of our latest outing in the Spider-Verse,
a conclusive explanation presents itself
with the final title card: we’ve only seen
the first half of the movie. The dimen-
sion-hopping gang will be back next
spring in Beyond the Spider-Verse. Until
then, true believers, stay tuned!
out a gun. People started panicking.
I stayed in the basement, thinking it
would be safe. I was wrong.
Although the shooter upstairs had
pointed the gun at the floor, the
wooden floorboards were little protec-
tion against the impact of the bullet. I
felt pain in my leg and screamed: “I just
got shot!” I was among strangers – my
friend who had taken me there had left
earlier, saying they’d be back.
I’ll never forget the screams of the
people who ran away, fighting to get out
of the house and leaving me behind.
“Call 911,” I tried to shout, while telling
myself to stay awake, thinking of those
movie scenes of people bleeding out
challenged, argue vehemently that it’s
fine. I have even been shouted at and
insulted for calling out this behaviour
as antisocial.
But we are not here to teach tee-
nagers how to engage with society;
we are trying to teach them English
and maths. I see the teachers work-
ing constantly, doing part social work,
part parental duties, part teaching. It
The feeling that we’ve spent an
entire run time waiting for all the stuff
to happen is spreading like an epi-
demic, traceable back to the scourge
of the two-part franchise picture. The
initial instinct might be to blame Lord
of the Rings, a series that ended its first
installment with the official beginning
of its main quest, but Peter Jackson
gave each piece of his trilogy enough
rising and falling action to hold up as
a freestanding work. The issue began
in earnest with Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows, which stretched its
source material’s seventh book into an
eighth movie for the stated reason of
“creative imperative”, a euphemism for
not wanting to excise any detail from
from a bullet wound.
Then I remembered I had my phone
with me and, with shaking hands, tried
calling an ambulance. I dialled the
wrong number a few times, but even-
tually got it right. All I can remember is
repeating to the operator: “I got shot, I
got shot, please help me.”
A girl came in while I was on the
phone – she had run away when the
bullet struck, but returned. I noticed
my hair was sopping wet with blood,
and then she saw the bullet hole in my
upper back. We realised that I hadn’t
been shot in the leg but in my chest.
I tried to find the exit wound, but
couldn’t. I was drifting in and out of
would be overwhelming even if we had
enough staff. The learners don’t under-
stand how stressed the teachers are –
they shouldn’t have to – but it’s only by
the will of people who genuinely care
that the education system has stayed
together this long.
I am leaving the profession, partly
because I want to pursue a long-held
dream of working in the arts and partly
a doorstopper of a novel. The rationale
of giving the fans all the canon they
want and deserve was trotted out once
more when The Hunger Games divvied
up Mockingjay, though the comparative
thinness of those two films gave the
impression of a studio realizing they
could charge loyalist moviegoers twice
instead of once.
Rather than condense sprawling
hunks of literature, the likes of It
and Dune (both Warner Bros produc-
tions; surely there have been meetings
about this new doctrine) spread their
narrative across as wide a canvas as
needed, and hopefully find a logical,
satisfying point to break them up along
the way. This proved particularly prob-
consciousness, fighting to stay awake.
At this point, some police officers burst
into the room. Two escorted me to
safety while others searched for the
shooter, who was long gone.
My vision was hazy, my life flash-
ing before my eyes, and then I woke up
to a team doing CPR on me. “Stay with
us,” they said. All I could think about
was how tired I was and how much I
wanted to tell my family I loved them.
I had texted my dad just 15 minutes
before the shooting to tell him I was
about to head home. I begged the emer-
gency workers not to let me die. Then I
blacked out for a second time and woke
up to a surgeon clapping in my face,
The Guardian Saturday 3 June 2023
because I can feel myself losing pa-
tience with the learners. It has been get-
ting harder and harder to cope. We have
colleagues going off on stress leave, or
worse. This academic year, there has
been a real push towards wellbeing,
with staff offered counselling, but I
don’t know when they would get the
time to access it.
lematic in the case of Dune, a feature-
length wall of exposition that had devo-
tees of Frank Herbert’s prose assuring
friends that things will really pick up
in the second movie. Accommodating
an overstuffed quality became a self-
imposed challenge with the Avengers
content line, with Infinity War leaving
so many unresolved plotlines among its
gargantuan ensemble that it required
three more hours of Endgame to tie
it all up. The biggest baffler of all will
come in 2024, as the stage musical
Wicked endeavors to prove why an
experience that has already fit itself
into the space of two hours and 45
minutes – and that’s with a 15-minute
intermission – deserves so much more
of our time in cinematic form.
If this all sounds like complaining
born of impatience, consider how often
the work of adaptation entails addi-
tion by subtraction, winnowing down
the core nature of the printed word
(expansive and discursive, its passage
under the reader’s control) to suit
that of the moving image (linear and
temporal, taking exactly as long as it
takes). The desire for more story can
weaken the one at hand, resulting in
misshapen movies with no knack for
placing the peaks and valleys of their
rollercoaster thrills. The common-use
diss for today’s serialization-obsessed
Hollywood charges them with trying
to turn features into TV, but even
that characterization short-changes the
small screen, which models a balance
of sustained storytelling and contained
arcs at its best. These bisected boon-
doggles are merely long, reducing their
unyielding stream of spectacles to a
dulled plod.
trying to wake me.
I had a CT scan and an MRI. After
surgery, I was told that the bullet had
travelled in through my shoulder bone
and gone into my chest, collapsing my
right lung. My ribs were broken, my
liver was lacerated and my kidney was
ruptured. The bullet had lodged itself
into a muscle 2cm from my spinal cord.
I had initially thought I’d been shot in
the leg because a nerve in my spine had
been severed, sending shooting pains
to the thigh.
The most horrendous moment was
when they told me they had to leave
Continued on page 28

28
Continued from page 26
the bullet lodged inside me because it
was too close to my spinal cord and
removing it would risk paralysis. I had
more than 40 stitches and 29 staples
through my abdomen. I had lost two
pints of blood and was receiving blood
and plasma. After six days, I was sent
home to recover and be with my family,
who were devastated.
Almost three years have gone by
now and I still get nightmares. I have
joined a gun-violencesurvivors’ net-
work. I also still get painful shoot-
ing pains from the nerve damage, and
sometimes my right leg feels numb.
I have never held a gun in my life
and, while gun crime is far too common
in the US, I never thought this would
happen to me. My shooter went on the
run for three days before turning him-
self in. He spent three months in jail,
with five years on probation. There’s
not a day that goes by when I don’t
A look at some of the corporations that
dominate the Amazon
Bibi van der Zee, Patrick Green-
field and Jonathan Watts
Vale
CEO: Eduardo BartolomeoMain
business: Mining – iron, copper, nickel.
Also manganese and goldOwnership:
ShareholdersHQ: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Major operations in the Amazon:
Carajás, Vale’s iron-ore mine in the
state of Pará, is the largest in the
world. Vale also controls Mina do Azul
(manganese), Mina Onça Puma (nickel),
Mina Sossego (copper and gold). It also
controls Mina Salobo in Pará, the larg-
est copper deposit ever found in Brazil.
Any links to deforestation, environ-
mental issues and human rights con-
flicts? Linked to deforestation in a 2017
scientific paper. In 2018 was ordered to
repair environmental damage to land
in Pará. In 2020 an investigation re-
vealed that Vale had 236 applications
registered with the national mining
agency (ANM) for mineral exploration
in Brazil’s Amazon basin, 214 on Indi-
genous territory. It withdrew all the
applications the following year.
Ways it gives back to the Amazon:
Protects more than 800,000 hectares
(2m acres) of rainforest in the state
of Pará, in partnership with Insti-
tuto Chico Mendes de Conservação
da Biodiversidade. Planning and design
for the mines focused on reducing
environmental impact and water use.
The company funds extensive health,
education, cultural and sports pro-
grammes across the region. It runs the
Fundo Vale scheme, which supports
green businesses and works to restore
and protect thousands of hectares of
forest. It also funds a research scheme
– the Instituto Tecnológico Vale – which
studies the Amazon’s biodiversity.
Has announced $2bn (£1.6bn) plans
to reduce its emissions. In 2021
announced a “social ambition” pro-
gramme to work with neighbouring
communities.
Alcoa
CEO: Roy HarveyMain business:
Mining – aluminium and bauxiteOw-
nership: ShareholdersHQ: Pittsburgh,
US
Opinion / Finance
Rachel Hershman: ‘The bullet is a reminder to make better choices.’ Photograph: Ackerman + Gruber/The Guardian
Nearly all of the big companies operating in the Amazon region have faced allegations of
complicity in deforestation. Composite: Guardian Design/Getty/AFP/Greenpeace
Major operations in the Amazon:
Runs the Juruti mine in Pará, which has
been assessed as having a 700m-ton de-
posit of bauxite (the raw material used
to make aluminium) – one of the largest
in the world.
Any links to deforestation, environ-
mental issues and human rights con-
flicts? Brazilian federal and Pará state
prosecutors sued Alcoa’s Brazilian
mining subsidiary in 2005 in an effort
to block the Juruti mine. In 2009 a
Bloomberg report concluded that it
would consume 10,500ha of primary
rainforest in the Amazon and suck
500,000 litres of water an hour from
the Amazon.
Ways it gives back to the Amazon:
After some negotiation, the govern-
ment granted full collective land rights,
and Alcoa agreed to pay rent for
occupying community land, compen-
sate for losses and damages, and give
local people an annual share in mine
profits. According to Mongabay, “more
than 10 years on, Alcoa has reformed
its corporate image and ways, earn-
ing an enviable collection of sustai-
nability certificates along with a repu-
tation for dialogue with local commun-
ities.” Alcoa’s Gênesis Costa told the
publication: “We’ve invested 73m Bra-
zilian reals [$14m] in Juruti in instal-
lations like the hospital, which seems
set to become an [example] for the
region.”
MRN
CEO: Guido GermaniMain business:
Mining – bauxiteOwnership: Joint ven-
ture between Rio Tinto, Alcoa, Norsk
Hydro, ValeHQ: Porto Trombetas, Pará,
Brazil
Major operations in the Amazon:
The Oriximiná and Terra Santa mines
in Pará, which produce bauxite ore.
Any links to deforestation, environ-
mental issues and human rights con-
flicts? Scientific report in 2017 linked
MRN to deforestation. A Christian Aid
report in 2022 alleged that MRN’s
mining operations in Oriximiná had
“caused the deforestation of exten-
sive areas of tropical forest” and “pol-
luted watercourses”, and argued that
tax exemptions given to the company
“cut directly into the budgets of the
state and municipalities tasked with
providing public services and investing
in sustainable development”.
Ways it gives back to the Amazon:
Company has rehabilitated Lake Bata-
tain Oriximiná, and helped establish
the Saraca-Taaquera national forest
and Trombetas biological reserve to
prevent further forest loss and environ-
mental degradation. Has reforested
7,500ha, and invested more than $4m
in social environmental projects.
Norsk Hydro
CEO: Hilde Merete Aasheim-
Main business: Mining – alumini-
umOwnership: ShareholdersHQ: Oslo,
Norway
Major operations in the Amazon:
Owns four companies in Pará: Mine-
ração Paragominas, which explores for
bauxite in the Paragominas region; the
Alunorte alumina refinery; the Albras
aluminium factory and the Companhia
de Alumina do Pará, all three in the Bar-
carena area.
Any links to deforestation, environ-
mental issues and human rights con-
flicts? Linked to water contamination
in 2018 after heavy rainfall led to local
flooding but stated that other factors
had been responsible. A Dutch court
ruled in 2022 that a case against the
company related to the events could
proceed. The company strongly dis-
putes the allegations.
Ways it gives back to the Amazon:
Has developed new techniques that
safeguard communities and the envi-
ronment. The $100m Hydro sustai-
nability fund supports community
investments. A rehabilitation pro-
gramme is being operated around the
Paragominas mine with the support of
local universities. Since the 2018 storm,
it has been building stronger links with
local communities.
JBS
CEO: Gilberto XandóMain business:
The world’s largest meat-processing
companyOwnership: ShareholdersHQ:
São Paulo, Brazil
Major operations in the Amazon:
Owns multiple abattoirs in the Amazon
and sources livestock directly and indi-
rectly from hundreds of farms through-
out the forest.
Any links to deforestation, environ-
mental issues and human rights con-
flicts? Has been linked to deforestation.
A report by Global Witness in 2022 hig-
hlighted failures by JBS, Marfrig and
Minerva Foods to monitor their supply
chain properly, and also raised issues
with the auditors. In 2018 Norway’s
state pension fund divested from the
company over these concerns.
Ways it gives back to the Amazon: In
2020 the company pledged to build the
Green Platform, which would allow it to
monitor all suppliers by 2025. Runs the
JBS Amazon Fund, backing initiatives
to promote sustainable social and eco-
nomic development in the Amazon.
In 2021 promised to publish a net-
zero action plan, with targets consistent
with the criteria of the Science-Based
The Guardian Saturday 3 June 2023
think about getting shot.
I hope the bullet can be removed
safely one day, but for now it will be
a reminder to make better choices. I
hope telling my story can inspire young
people to trust their instinct when
situations feel dangerous or wrong. I
am so grateful to be alive.
•As told to Elizabeth McCafferty
Do you have an experience to
s h a r e ? E m a i l
experience@theguardian.com
The bullet went
through my shoulder
bone, collapsing my
right lung. My ribs
were broken, liver
lacerated, kidney
ruptured
The Carajás open-cast iron-ore mine in
the Amazon, the world’s largest, which is
owned by Vale. Photograph: Daniel Beltrá/
Greenpeace
Targets Initiative (SBTi), a partnership
between CDP (formerly the Carbon
Disclosure Project), the UN Global Com-
pact, World Resources Institute and the
World Wide Fund for Nature.
Marfrig
Chairman: Marcos Antonio Molina
dos SantosMain business: Processing
meat Ownership: ShareholdersHQ: São
Paulo, Brazil
Major operations in the Amazon:
Owns abattoirs and sources directly
and indirectly from multiple farmers.
Any links to deforestation, environ-
mental issues and human rights con-
flicts? Has been linked to deforestation.
Discussions over a $200m loan from
the Inter-American Development Bank
– tied to environmental targets – were
broken off because, according to the
IDB, conditions were “not ideal”. Mar-
frig said the talks were ended mutually
due to a disagreement over “finan-
cial conditions” and methodologies. In
December 2021 the Norwegian state
pension fund placed Marfrig under
observation “due to risk that the com-
pany contributes to serious environ-
mental damage”.
Ways it gives back to the Amazon:
Took the industry lead with the Mar-
frig Verde + pledge in 2020 to have
full traceability of its Amazon cattle by
2025. Marfrig created a risk-mitigation
map for the Amazon and other Bra-
zilian biomes, for direct and indirect
suppliers, to identify the areas most ex-
posed to deforestation and social con-
flicts. The company says it now moni-
tors 100% of direct suppliers, while
for indirect suppliers, traceability rates
Continued on page 29
Saturday 3 June 2023 The Guardian
Continued from page 28
have reach 80% in the Amazon biome
and 74% in the Cerrado biome.
Minerva Foods
CEO: Fernando GallettiMain busi-
ness: Beef producer and exporter,
also in processed foodsOwnership:
ShareholdersHQ: Barretos, Brazil
Major operations in the Amazon:
Owns numerous abattoirs and sources
from farmers.
Any links to deforestation, environ-
mental issues and human rights con-
flicts? Has been linked in the past to
deforestation. The company says that
it uses the best-available technology in
its traceability practices to ensure com-
pliance with environmental, labour and
land tenure regulations within its port-
folio of producers.
Ways it gives back to the Amazon:
Minerva is the only company to mon-
itor all of its direct supplier farms, ac-
cording to its reports. Pioneered the
wider application of geospatial moni-
toring technology, tracks the condition
of ranches, ensuring that cattle bought
by Minerva do not originate from
illegally deforested ranches; or pos-
sess environmental embargos (puni-
tive measures imposed by inspectors
to stop activities that degrade the envi-
ronment). Is working with suppliers to
get them into its low-carbon emission
“Renove” programme.
Brasil Biofuels
CEO: Milton SteagallMain business:
Agribusiness, biofuels and renewable
energyOwnership: Privately ownedHQ:
São João da Baliza, Roraima, Brazil
Major operations in the Amazon:
Sustainable cultivation of palm
oil, biotechnology lab, biodiesel
plant, renewable energy thermoelectric
plants, and biorefinery under construc-
tion to produce hydrotreated vegetable
oil (HVO) and sustainable aviation fuel
(SAF) biofuels.
Any links to deforestation, environ-
mental issues and human rights con-
flicts? Biopalma, bought by BBF in
2020, was the subject of a federal inves-
tigation into the impact of pesticide
contamination from the plantations. A
police investigation cleared the com-
pany. BBF was also accused of violence
and intimidation by a neighbouring
community. The company counters
that in fact they have been the vic-
tims of theft and assault and state that
good relationships with local commun-
Australia is looking to regulate AI – what
might they be used for and what could go
wrong?
Josh Taylor
The Australian government is looking
to regulate artificial intelligence appli-
cations, but which uses are concerning
and what are the fears if it goes unre-
gulated?
On Thursday, the industry and
science minister, Ed Husic, released a
consultation paper on measures that
can be put in place to ensure AI is used
responsibly and safely in Australia.
Husic noted that since the release
of generative AI applications such as
Finance
ities are a vital part of their working
philosophy.
Ways it gives back to the Amazon:
The BBF Group sees its mission as
“decarbonising the Amazon forest and
changing the energy matrix of the
northern region of Brazil”. Developing
a sustainable model for producing palm
oil is one of the prime goals. According
to the company, under the strict Bra-
zilian palm-oil regulatory system, plan-
tations can only be on land previously
defined as degraded.
More than 6,000 jobs created in
the Amazon. The company estimates
that more than 25m tons of carbon
have been stored by the 11m trees
it has planted. The biofuels produced
by the company and used by Amazon
residents lead to a significant amount
of avoided emissions. The company
says its biofuel-powered thermoelectric
plants produce clean energy for remote
Amazon communities. Also supports
local communities with transport and
technological projects.
Agropalma
CEO: Beny FitermanMain business:
BiofuelsOwnership: Part of Alfa Group,
privately heldHQ: Belem, Pará
Major operations in the Amazon:
Plantations, extraction plant and refi-
nery in Pará.
Any links to deforestation, environ-
mental issues and human rights con-
flicts? Faced allegations of landgrab-
bing. The company says all their land
was acquired in good faith but is contin-
uing to look into possible issues pre-
dating their purchase. Subsequently,
the certification of their plantations
has been temporarily suspended by the
Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil.
The company says it remains a member
and expects to have the suspension
lifted soon.
Ways it gives back to the Amazon:
The company says it is committed
to zero deforestation: since 2002, the
company no longer converts forests
into palm plantations. Primary respon-
sibility for a 64,000ha Amazon forest
reserve. Has pioneered palm oil family
farming and is committed to providing
formal employment for families to help
them into guaranteed and sustainable
work. Runs a school for 500 children.
Partnered for 15 years with Conser-
vation International to develop a sus-
tainable production model that has
registered 1,029 species of Brazilian
fauna in Agropalma’s forest reserves.
ChatGPT, there was a “growing sense”
that it is in a state of accelerated devel-
opment and a big leap forward in tech-
nology.
“People want to think about wheth-
er or not that technology and the risks
that might be presented have been
thought through and responded to in
a way that gives people assurance and
comfort about what is going on around
them,” he said.
“Ultimately, what we want is
modern laws for modern technology,
and that is what we have been work-
ing on.”
Suzano
CEO: Walter SchalkaMain business:
Eucalyptus pulpOwnership: Sharehol-
dersHQ: São Paulo, Brazil
Major operations in the Amazon:
The Suzano factory in Imperatriz, Ma-
ranhão, lies on the border between the
Cerrado, a large area of tropical sa-
vanna, and the Amazon, and sources
from both biomes.
Any links to deforestation, environ-
mental issues and human rights con-
flicts? “Coconut breakers” – women
who harvest coconuts – complain that
Suzano’s expansion is displacing the
palms they depend on; the company
denies this. Eucalyptus production is
also water intensive, and local popu-
lations have complained that river
levels are affected.
Ways it gives back to the Amazon:
Suzano has a regenerative business
model, planting more than 1.2m trees
every day in degraded land, only har-
vesting what it plants, with 40% of its
land (nearly 1m hectares) set aside for
permanent conservation. Eucalyptus
plantations are being seen as a way of
achieving reforestation and carbon cap-
ture goals, supported by the regional
government, which has announced
that it will use eucalyptus to help re-
place some of its lost forests. The plan-
tations can help solve the climate crisis,
the company says.
In 2022, Suzano began a project to
connect 500,000ha of priority conser-
vation areas through biodiversity cor-
ridors, and also announced the launch
of a new forest restoration venture to
restore and conserve 40,000 sq km
of Brazilian forest, which will involve
planting 2m trees of native species.
Runs a number of social programmes
with local communities.
Cargill
CEO: Brian SikesMain business:
Commodity tradersOwnership: Largest
privately owned US companyHQ: Way-
zata, Minnesota
Major operations in the Amazon:
Cargill buys from a number of plan-
tations in the Amazon.
Any links to deforestation, environ-
mental issues and human rights con-
flicts? Has been linked to deforestation
in the Amazon and the neighbouring
Cerrado. Named as the “world’s worst
company” by Mighty Earth in 2019.
In the report’s foreword, the former
US congressman Henry Waxman wrote
of their exchanges with the company:
What types of AI are they con-
cerned about?
Generative AI underpins much of
the public debate around the future
of AI: that is, AI built on large data-
sets of information that generates text,
images, audio and code in response to
prompts.
The applications using generative
AI include large language models (LLM)
that generate text such as ChatGPT, or
multimodal foundation models (MfM)
for applications that can output text,
audio, or images.
Applications that allow AI to make
“We’ve successfully worked to improve
the environmental and human rights
practices of dozens of companies, but
have never encountered a company
that has such difficulty translating
high-level commitments into action.”
The environmental law charity
ClientEarth has now filed a legal com-
plaint against Cargill over its failure to
adequately deal with its contribution to
soya-driven deforestation and human
rights violations in Brazil. The company
says it has “an unwavering commit-
ment” to eliminate deforestation in
Brazil.
Ways it gives back to the Amazon:
One of the original signatories to
the Amazon Soy Moratorium (ASM).
Supported the Coalizão Brasil, which
pleaded with Brazil’s far-right former
president, Jair Bolsonaro, not to leave
the Paris climate agreement or dis-
mantle the environment ministry.
Has accelerated its commitment
to eliminate deforestation in its soya
supply chain in the Amazon, Cerrado
and Chaco biomes by 2025. Is investing
in programmes and training to help far-
mers, increased technology to improve
traceability, and investments in teams
in Brazil and throughout South Amer-
ica in order to accelerate deforestation
efforts. Committed $30m to launch the
Land Innovation Fund for Sustainable
Livelihoods, which funds projects that
empower farmers and protects forests
across South America.
Bunge
CEO: Greg HeckmanMain business:
AgribusinessOwnership: Sharehol-
dersHQ: St Louis, Missouri
Major operations in the Amazon:
Bunge buys from a number of plan-
tations in the Amazon.
Any links to deforestation, environ-
mental issues and human rights con-
flicts? Has been linked to deforestation
in the Amazon. Company is working to
eliminate deforestation from its supply
chains and announced last year that it
was beating its own targets.
Ways it gives back to the Amazon:
Signatory to the Soy moratorium since
2006. In 2021, 98% of Bunge share-
holders backed a proposal to reduce
deforestation, with the support of the
directors.
ADM (Archer Daniels Midland)
CEO:Juan Ricardo LucianoMain
business: Commodity tradersOw-
nership: ShareholdersHQ: Chicago
Major operations in the Amazon:
decisions, called automated decision
making, are also within the scope of
the review.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s
free morning and afternoon email new-
sletters for your daily news roundup
What are the fears?
Fake images, misinformation and
disinformation are at the top of the pile
of concerns.
The paper says there are fears
generative AI could be used to create
deepfakes – fake images, video or audio
that people confuse for real – that
could influence democratic processes
29
Buys from a number of farms.
Any links to deforestation, environ-
mental issues and human rights con-
flicts? Has been linked to deforestation.
Ways it gives back to the Amazon:
Pledged to achieve 100% deforestation-
free supply chains by 2025. Member of
the Round Table on Responsible Soy
Association.
Louis Dreyfus
CEO: Michael GelchieMain busi-
ness: Commodity tradersOwnership:
ShareholdersHQ: Rotterdam, the Neth-
erlands
Major operations in the Amazon:
Louis Dreyfus buys from a number of
plantations in the Amazon.
Any links to deforestation, environ-
mental issues and human rights con-
flicts? Linked to deforestation.
Ways it gives back to the Amazon:
Supports the extension of the ASM,
and the first major soya company
to announce a policy to eliminate
the destruction of native ecosystems
and endangered wildlife from its soya
supply chain.
Amaggi
CEO: Judiney Carvalho de Sou-
zaMain business: Soya beansOw-
nership: Privately ownedHQ: Cuiabá,
Brazil
Major operations in the Amazon:
Amaggi buys from a number of plan-
tations in the Amazon. Largest of the
Brazilian soya traders.
Any links to deforestation, environ-
mental issues, and human rights con-
flicts? Supply-chain analysts Trase cal-
culate that Amaggi has been exposed to
deforestation risk.
Ways it gives back to the Amazon:
The only global soya production and
trading company to get an “A” rating
for tackling deforestation from CDP
in 2021. Given 9/10 for its approach
to tackling deforestation by Global
Canopy’s Forest 500 rankings. Member
of the soya bean working group,
which aims to fight deforestation in
the Amazon. Has social investment
programme focused on food security
where it operates. Signatory to the Soy
Moratorium. Also runs the André and
Lucia Maggi Foundation (FALM), which
was founded in 1997 and supports local
communities and runs a scholarship
programme among other activities.
or “cause other deceit”.
So far the way this has played out
has been mostly innocent – an AI-gen-
erated image of the Pope in a Balen-
ciaga jacket is the most cited – but
last month an AI-generated image of
an explosion next to the Pentagon in
the United States circulated widely on
social media, despite being debunked.
There is also concern about what
is termed “hallucinations” from gener-
ative AI, where the output text cites
sources, information or quotes that do
Continued on page 30

30
Continued from page 29
not exist. Some generative AI firms are
trying to prevent this from occurring by
providing links to sources in generated
text.
There is also a major fear that in
areas where AI makes decisions, there
could be issues with algorithmic bias
leading to bad decisions being made.
Where datasets used to train the AI
are not comprehensive, it can lead to
decisions being made that discriminate
against minority groups or lead to male
candidates being prioritised in recruit-
ment over female candidates, for ex-
ample.
How can we know if the AI is
going wrong?
The paper suggests the best way to
see how an AI might respond to some-
thing is to be as transparent as possible
in how it works, including providing
complete details on the dataset the AI
is trained on.
Will new laws be needed?
The Australian government admits
in the paper that many of the risks
associated with AI can be covered by
Fiat seeks incentives from UK for motorists
to buy electric vehicles
Richard Partington Economics
correspondent
Fiat has called on the government to
boost incentives for British motorists
to buy electric vehicles, after warning
that growth in UK sales of the vehicles
has tailed off after a key subsidy was
scrapped last year.
Writing in an open letter to the
government, the car manufacturer said
other countries around the world were
providing more support for the tran-
sition to electric vehicles and argued
more action was required in Britain.
It comes a year after ministers
scrapped the last remaining subsidies
for electric cars, saying it would free up
funds to expand the charging network
and support other battery-powered ve-
hicles.
However, car manufacturers
warned this week of a gulf between the
number of electric vehicles on the road
and public charging points, with the
shortfall more than doubling in some
parts of the country in the past year.
Damien Dally, Fiat’s UK managing
director, said urgent steps were re-
quired to incentivise consumers to buy
electric cars, suggesting that govern-
ment targets for electric vehicle sales
were at risk.
“With the cost of living crisis and
rising cost of electric vehicles, coupled
with our net zero climate targets, we
believe more needs to be done to incen-
tivise individuals to be able to afford to
make the switch,” he said in the letter.
The intervention comes as govern-
Finance
The Australian government has launched a consultation paper on the responsible and safe use of generative AI such as ChatGPT by
companies such as OpenAI. Photograph: salarko/Alamy
existing regulation, including privacy
law, Australian consumer law, online
safety, competition law, copyright law
Fiat has written an open letter to the UK government. Photograph: Piotr Malczyk/Alamy
ments across advanced economies
drive to increase electric vehicle sales
and boost manufacturing capacity for
new lower-carbon models to help meet
environmental targets and spur eco-
nomic growth.
In the UK, Stellantis, Fiat’s parent
company, said last month that it would
not be able to keep its commitment
to make electric cars in the UK and
might have to close factories unless
changes were made to post-Brexit trad-
ing arrangements with the EU.
The company, which also owns the
Vauxhall, Citroën and Peugeot mar-
ques, told a Commons inquiry into the
and discrimination law. The paper sug-
gests any changes will need to close
gaps once regulators have determined a
supply of batteries for electric vehicles
that the terms of the government’s
Brexit deal meant its UK investments
hung in the balance. Ford and Jaguar
Land Rover also sounded the alarm on
the tariffs.
Urging the government to return
to the negotiating table, the three big
global carmakers said the transition to
electric vehicles would be knocked off
course unless the UK and EU delayed
stricter “rules of origin”, due to kick in
next year, that could add tariffs on car
exports.
Current post-Brexit rules require
40% of an electric vehicle’s parts by
gap exists within their existing powers.
For example, the Office of the Aus-
tralian Information Commissioner had
value to be sourced in the UK or EU if
it is to be sold on the other side of the
Channel without a 10% trade tariff.
This proportion is due to rise to 45%
next year, and because most electric ve-
hicle batteries are still imported from
Asia, and batteries make up a large part
of the cost of building a car, vehicles
made in the UK and the EU are likely to
fall foul of the rules.
However, Brussels has suggested
the UK should join a pan-European
agreement on goods trade, according
the Financial Times. It cited unnamed
EU officials who suggested the UK join
the existing pact involving more than
The Guardian Saturday 3 June 2023
already used its powers under the Pri-
vacy Act to take action against Clear-
view AI for using people’s photos
scraped from social media without
permission.
The Australian Competition and
Consumer Commission (ACCC) also
won a lawsuit against travel book-
ing site Trivago under existing Aus-
tralian consumer law for misleading
hotel booking results which were pro-
vided by an algorithm.
Is it all bad news?
While much of the discussion
around AI at the moment seems geared
towards the dangers, the paper does
recognise that there will be benefits
for society with the arrival of AI. The
Productivity Commission has said that
AI will be one technology that will help
drive productivity growth in Australia.
The paper states AI will also be used by
hospitals to consolidate large amounts
of patient data and analyse medical
images and says AI can be used to
optimise engineering designs and save
costs in the provision of legal services.
20 EU, Middle Eastern and north Afri-
can countries, known as the pan-Euro-
Mediterranean convention.
They suggested this could help be-
cause the deal allows goods assem-
bled in one country from parts made
in another signatory state to count as
originating in the exporting country –
thereby avoiding rules of origin tariffs
and quotas.
Fiat is concerned that EV sales are
not accelerating as quickly as it or other
manufacturers expected. In its open
letter to the government, it suggested
ministers scrapping subsidies last year
could have played a role.
“Last June, the UK government
withdrew its grant – once worth up to
£5,000 – for electric car buyers, and
while there are many factors at play, it’s
no coincidence that the market share of
electric vehicles has since plateaued in
the UK.
“In fact, some data suggests that
demand for electric cars has fallen 65%
year on year, at just the moment it
needs to be accelerating.”
Its letter comes as the government
offers the owner of Jaguar Land Rover
£500m in subsidies in an effort to per-
suade the carmaker to build a new elec-
tric battery plant in the UK.
A Department for Transport
spokesperson said: “We’ve invested
more than £2bn into accelerating the
transition to electric vehicles, and
grants have been in place for over a
decade to support the transition to zero
emission vehicles – supporting more
than 340,000 so far.”
Saturday 3 June 2023 The Guardian
The Guardian view on broken hospital
promises: too little, too late
Editorial
When the flat roof of Singlewell pri-
mary school in Gravesend, Kent, fell
in five years ago, there was no sign of
structural stress until 24 hours before it
gave way. Luckily it happened at the
weekend, and no one was hurt. But
the incident had far-reaching conse-
quences. The roof was made of RAAC,
which stands for reinforced autoclaved
aerated concrete. This was regularly
used instead of normal concrete in
public buildings in the UK from the
1960s until the mid-1980s, and its lifes-
pan is at an end. The risk that a hospital
ceiling could collapse in a similar way
has now led to significant reshaping
of the government’s hospital rebuilding
plans.
An announcement by the health
secretary, Steve Barclay, last week
set out what these alterations would
entail. Five hospitals built from RAAC,
in Keighley, King’s Lynn, Huntingdon,
Leighton and Surrey, will join the two
(West Suffolk and James Paget) that
are already on the government’s prior-
ity list. All seven projects are to be
completed by 2030. Conservative MPs
including Michael Gove, who cam-
paigned on behalf of their local hos-
pitals and were thanked by Mr Barclay,
will no doubt thank him in return. The
The Guardian view on Manchester: doing
things differently again
Editorial
“It is the philosopher alone who
can conceive the grandeur of Man-
chester, and the immensity of its
future”, wrote Benjamin Disraeli in his
1844 novel Coningsby. The future Tory
prime minister could not have foreseen
the astonishing goalscoring exploits of
Erling Haaland. But a city associated
with the industrious bee will certainly
be enjoying an immense buzz on Sat-
urday.
The first all-Manchester FA Cup
final will see a mass Mancunian exodus
towards Wembley. Meanwhile, in Man-
chester’s booming centre, reds and
blues will fill bars from Deansgate to
Piccadilly. In a city en fête, they will be
joined by tens of thousands of music
fans in town to see Elton John at the AO
Arena, Coldplay at Manchester City’s
Etihad Stadium and the Arctic Mon-
keys at the Old Trafford cricket sta-
dium.
Disraeli, of course, was paying
literary homage to Manchester’s pio-
neering role in the Industrial Revo-
lution. These days the city is blaz-
ing a trail again, one of two metro-
mayoral authorities to be offered spe-
cial devolution deals. A gala Saturday,
featuring two globally famous football
clubs and three musical giants, sums
up the post-industrial vibrancy of a city
The Guardian View
‘The latest reshuffle of building projects is proof of the extent to which 13 years of Conservative government have damaged the NHS.’
Photograph: Lankowsky/Alamy
increased clarity is overdue and wel-
come.
But the bigger picture with regard
to health infrastructure is deeply con-
cerning. Nigel Edwards, chief executive
of the Nuffield Trust thinktank, de-
scribed a “lost decade of investment”.
Some rebuilding plans date back to the
middle of the last decade, and have had
‘These days the city is blazing a trail again.’ Photograph: Mark Waugh/Alamy
viewed as a model for regeneration.
In Manchester Unspun, a new book on
the city centre’s renaissance, Andy Spi-
noza observes that its revamped econ-
omy pivots around culture and enter-
tainment for an increasingly youthful
population. That reinvention has been
underpinned by an internationally fi-
nanced property development boom,
which has transformed the city’s sky-
line at breakneck speed.
to be redone due to the Treasury’s insis-
tence on a standardised template and
modular construction. There is also a
£10bn backlog of maintenance and re-
pairs. Combined with staffing failures
and a lack of workforce planning, which
have led to a situation in which there
are 300,000 vacant posts across health
and care, delays to the building pro-
The pace of change has been
extraordinary. In 2010, just over 11,000
people lived in Manchester city centre.
By 2024 that number is expected to
have topped 100,000, many of them
young professionals and overseas stu-
dents. The Abu Dhabi United Group
investment fund, which owns Man-
chester City, has reconfigured swaths of
the east of the city, building 1,500 new
homes.
gramme have contributed to a growing
sense that the whole system is close to
collapse.
That 40 new hospitals would be
built in England by 2040 was a key
manifesto pledge by Boris Johnson in
2019 – and one that built on the fan-
tasy that quitting the EU would lead
to a health spending bonanza. That
There is, however, another dimen-
sion to the Manchester miracle that
should not be ignored. The city’s
regeneration has been hailed by pre-
vious Labour and Conservative govern-
ments as an exemplary success story.
But even leaving aside the issue of
sportswashing on behalf of an auto-
cratic state with a poor human rights
record, there has been a downside to
Manchester’s property-led boom.
31
pledge was soon modified, as it became
clear that projects would include re-
builds and annexes as well as a hand-
ful of new hospitals on new sites. Fol-
lowing the release of £3.7bn of cap-
ital funding, last year the Infrastructure
and Projects Authority boosted the pro-
gramme’s rating to amber from amber/
red. But the £20bn so far committed by
ministers is only just over half of the
£37bn that is their own estimate of the
total cost, at a time when construction
costs are spiralling due to rising labour
and materials prices (in part because of
Brexit).
Hospitals across England that have
been bumped off the list of projects
are rightly aggrieved. London’s Imperial
College healthcare trust is so alarmed
about the prospect that a long-planned
rebuild of St Mary’s hospital might
not begin until after 2030, that it is
exploring alternative funding options.
The mental health sector has also lost
out. Its facilities hardly feature in the
programme, despite widespread recog-
nition that they have long been un-
der-resourced. Covid is a partial expla-
nation for current problems, as Mr Bar-
clay said when asked why a long-prom-
ised workforce plan has again been de-
layed. But the latest reshuffle of build-
ing projects is also proof of the extent to
which 13 years of Conservative govern-
ment have damaged the NHS.
An economic gulf has emerged
between the thriving centre and
far poorer outlying districts such as
Wythenshawe. Rents have gone up
at a dizzying rate, amid a serious
dearth of affordable and social housing.
Expectations that city centre growth
would deliver greater prosperity across
Greater Manchester have proved un-
founded. As this paper’s columnist
Aditya Chakrabortty has written, extra-
vagant profits have been siphoned out
of the city by private investors allowed
to seek huge rewards with few strings
attached.
A rebalancing is desperately re-
quired, in a regional economy that
has developed too unevenly and too
unequally. Greater Manchester’s mayor,
Andy Burnham, hopes to use the
new trailblazer powers to achieve that
through projects such as Atom Valley,
which aims to create an advanced
manufacturing hub in the much poorer
north of Greater Manchester. In a
city that has made a habit of get-
ting ahead of the times, the next
Manchester model is set to see local
government play a far more strategic,
interventionist role. That, to use lan-
guage appropriate to a cup final week-
end, would be a result for both sides of
the great red/blue divide.

32
Robert Downey Jr as Doctor Doom? Does the
MCU multiverse mean anything can happen?
Ben Child
It’s probably not giving too much away
about the forthcoming, hyped-to-the-
ether Flash movie to reveal that it plays
heavily, and with great joy, on famous
“almost were” castings as it delves into
the multiverse. Warner Bros/DC has al-
ready confirmed that Nicolas Cage will
appear briefly as Superman in Andy
Muschietti’s comic book epic.
Perfect timing, then, for us to dis-
cover an all-new sliding doors moment
that might have changed the face of
the rival Marvel Cinematic Universe. In
a new video celebrating the 15th anni-
versary of Iron Man, director Jon Fa-
vreau reveals that star Robert Downey
Jr was in earlier talks to play the vil-
lain Doctor Doom in the deeply av-
erage Tim Story-directed Fantastic Four
(2005). In the end, the role went to
Nip/Tuck’s Julian McMahon, though if
you remember that, it’s probably be-
cause you’re primed and ready to go
on Mastermind specialising in “obscure
superhero movies” .
It’s not impossible, given how ra-
pidly the Marvel setup was chang-
ing in the 00s (from hands-off rights
holder in the early part of the decade
to fully fledged mini-studio by the
end) that Downey Jr might still have
wound up taking the role of Iron Man.
After all, Story’s Johnny Storm/Human
The feelin’ was right: how the Bee Gees ruled
late 70s pop
Bob Stanley
Disco could be a heavy, unctuous per-
fume. There were reasons people hated
it, and they weren’t all homophobic or
racist. On the chart in 1977 was La Belle
Epoque’s version of the German/Span-
ish 60s hit Black Is Black. Originally it
had been a hit for another act with a
tempting European name, Los Bravos.
This 1966 version had been a thing
of slab density, a three-note organ riff
with a Charlie Watts clone’s monotone
drumming keeping it simple as can
be, and an unreal human voice, half-
crow, telling the world “black is black, I
want my baby back.” It sounded like the
Stones fed through a telex precursor of
Google Translate. It had been perfect –
pop as monolithic simplicity. La Belle
Epoque’s 1977 version added every
imaginable bauble, it went “whooooo!!”
on the beat. Musicians who longed to
be in James Last’s orchestra played with
funkless fingers behind girls who cooed
unconvincing come-ons. This version
of Black Is Black was a fug, like the
ground floor of a department store, a
dozen different perfumes hitting you at
the same time, far too busy, forced fun,
nauseating.
The Bee Gees’ Night Fever was not
that dense, liquid perfume that made
you feel slightly sick. This was not the
sound of too much air freshener. This
was air itself. Night-time air. The city.
Arts
All change … Robert Downey Jr a s T0ny Stark in Iron Man (2008). Photograph: Marvel/Allstar
Torch, Chris Evans, ended up being cast
as Captain America in the MCU, and
lasted for many years. It’s also poss-
ible that taking the role of lead vil-
lain in what turned out to be one of
the feeblest comic book movies of the
era might have scuppered Downey Jr’s
career altogether, given the actor’s well-
publicised struggles during the period
immediately before his casting as Tony
Stark.
Gee wizards … Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb. Photograph: Album/Alamy
The song, taken from the soundtrack to
Saturday Night Fever, also transmitted
a feeling of nervousness; there was
sweetness and there was fear.
The lyric to Night Fever isn’t far
behind the Kingsmen’s Louie Louise or
the Skids’ Into the Valley in its murk
and mystery – the odd line jumps out
as a waymark, the rest lure you in to
the Gibbs’ world; there is a reason they
never printed lyric sheets with their
albums. The emotion, as ever with the
Might this be the latest “almost was”
moment to end up morphing into re-
ality, thanks to the multiverse? Prob-
ably not, but it’s certainly fun to im-
agine, and stranger things have no
doubt happened in the last five seconds
in this brave new era of comic book
stunt casting. Marvel already gave us
John Krasinski as Reed Richards/Mis-
ter Fantastic in an alternate version
of reality visited by the one-time sor-
Bee Gees, is conveyed by the sound
of the words, the feel of that sound.
The Gibbs would always be first in line
to say their lyrics were “meaningless”.
They really weren’t doing themselves
justice. Night Fever is a great example
of their almost outsider take on lyric
writing.
Night Fever is all love and abandon
and desperation. It’s worth sweating
through a 40-hour nine-to-five just for
those fleeting, stolen hours when the
cerer supreme in Doctor Strange in the
Multiverse of Madness, largely because
fans had clamoured for the casting.
Some were hoping to see Tom Cruise
as Tony Stark/Iron Man, but you can’t
have everything.
Or can you? Marvel’s version of
the multiverse would certainly allow
Downey Jr to appear as Doctor Doom
in the forthcoming, Matt Shakman-di-
rected Fantastic Four reboot. And if
music is everything. You share the feel-
ing with every other boy and girl in
the place. You let your inhibitions go.
You are more alive than you’ve ever
been. This feeling is both exhilarating
and borderline terrifying. “Here I am,”
sang Barry at key moments, when the
music swooped downwards, away from
the light and air of the verse, and sud-
denly it was all self-awareness. “I can’t
hide!”
Barry clearly understood this dy-
The Guardian Saturday 3 June 2023
you’re going to roar back to the MCU
after playing such a huge part in its suc-
cess, then surely doing so as a high-pro-
file villain – one that’s never been ade-
quately represented on the big screen –
would be the perfect resurrection.
The only issue is that Marvel would
no longer have the option in its back
pocket of restoring Downey Jr as an
alternate reality version of Stark in a
future movie. And you just know that’s
got to be lurking somewhere in the dark
corners of the MCU writers’ room, a
button to be pushed when times get
really tough (or several Marvel movies
in a row fail to score at least a billion
dollars at the box office.)
Then again, Ezra Miller is said to
be superb as two different versions of
Barry Allen (who share the screen for
much of the film’s run-time) in . So why
not double down on Downey Jr and let
him play both roles?
Madness you say? Hey, DC just
put Cage back in his Superman suit,
and Michael Keaton is about to soar
across the Gotham skyline once more
as a septuagenarian Batman. There are
other Easter egg moments in The Flash
that will put your eyeballs on stalks.
In the modern era of the comic book
movie multiverse, all bets are off.
namic and used classic Gibb linguistics
to push the feeling on: as the song
unexpectedly takes its dramatic turn,
he sings “Here I am, waiting for this
moment to last. Living on the music
so fast, borne on the wind, thinking it’s
mine.” That’s it, the instant of delivery,
the head rush, the euphoria, captured
in a few words.
***
For one week in April 1964, the Top
5 singles on the US Billboard Hot 100
were all by the Beatles. This remains
the only time a single act has occupied
the entire Top Five, but in March 1978,
the Bee Gees gave it their best shot.
The week that Night Fever went to
No 1 in the US, Stayin’ Alive was at No 2
and both singles stayed put for the next
five weeks; the Bee Gees became the
first group, post-Beatles, to hold down
the top two spots at the same time. In
that first week, the Bee Gees had writ-
ten or produced four songs in the Top
5 – the others were Andy Gibb’s Love Is
Thicker Than Water, on its way down
from No 1, and Samantha Sang’s Emo-
tion, which would peak at No 3. Anoth-
er couple of weeks later they claimed
five records in the Top 10 as Yvonne
Elliman’s If I Can’t Have You climbed
to No 9, also on its way to No 1. The
Beatles’ achievement remains singular,
but the Gibbs’ moment was arguably
more impressive in that none of the sin-
Continued on page 33
Saturday 3 June 2023 The Guardian
Continued from page 32
gles were cash-in reissues (as Twist and
Shout and Please Please Me had been
in 1964); also, they wrote and produced
the lot. Saturday Night Fever and its
soundtrack had made them the biggest
group in the world. They weren’t just
tapping into the zeitgeist as they had
been with You Should Be Dancing two
years earlier. Now the zeitgeist ema-
nated from Criteria studios in Miami,
and from the Gibb brothers themselves.
Was there a reason why younger
brother Andy didn’t get a song on the
Saturday Night Fever soundtrack? He
seemed an obvious candidate for one
of the gentler romantic songs, like More
Than a Woman, which had inexplicably
been given to Tavares. His 1977 hit I Just
Want to Be Your Everything – familiar,
popular – could have slotted in as back-
ground music at any point. He must
have felt shut out of the party. Maybe
his brothers wanted him to stand on his
own two feet. If he felt at all isolated, he
must have felt a little better when Barry
gave him another huge hit, his third
straight US No 1, with Shadow Dancing
in summer 1978. But by then his young
wife Kim had gone, taken back to Aus-
tralia after just a few months of mar-
riage by her concerned parents. Stuck
at No 2 behind Shadow Dancing was
Gerry Rafferty’s Baker Street, anoth-
er supernaturally powerful production
buoying up a less than totally con-
fident singer: “He’s got this dream about
buying some land / He’s gonna give up
the booze and the one night stands /
And then he’ll settle down in a quiet
little town and forget about every-
‘She hasn’t just raised the bar – she’s
obliterated it’: readers on Beyoncé’s
Renaissance tour
Guardian readers
‘The set design was spectacular’
I have been fortunate enough to
attend Beyoncé’s concerts seven times
over the years. The audience really got
into the Renaissance theme at this one,
dressing up in a range of styles from
disco to LGBTQ+ ball culture. Beyoncé
performed for two and a half hours,
playing nearly every track from the
latest album, along with some of her
previous hits as one big DJ mix.
The set design was spectacular, fea-
turing robotic arms, a 50ft horse, a mir-
rored tank and a massive disco ball.
And let’s not forget the other horse
– from her album cover – Reneigh!
What I loved most was how the con-
cert paid tribute to Black queer culture,
with nods to ballroom culture and the
album’s musical influences. It was clear
that a lot of thought and care went
into every aspect of the show. I highly
recommend attending Beyoncé’s latest
tour if you have the chance: a cele-
bration of music, culture, and creativity.
Anton Wiltshire, 28, London – attended
on 29 and 30 May in London
‘I’d never have thought she would
have me in tears’
Going to this concert made me rea-
lise how much I’ve tried to keep a lid
on my fandom for Beyoncé. Being one
Arts
thing.” Well, that would have suited
Andy down to the ground. He’d try hard
enough to get there.
***
Robert Stigwood saw all four Gibb
brothers as an infinite resource, a pre-
mium value asset that his RSO com-
pany owned, one that could improve
the stock on any aspect of his enter-
tainment empire. He rinsed them for
material. While they could have been
promoting Stayin’ Alive and ’Fever at
the end of 1977, he had them in Hol-
lywood working on his screwy idea to
turn Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts
Club Band into a Hollywood mus-
ical. Blonde and curly Peter Framp-
ton, another RSO act who had been
hugely successful in 76 with Frampton
Comes Alive, and was still reasonably
hot in 77 with I’m in You, was to be
the star of the movie. It was apparent
to all concerned while the movie was
being edited that the Bee Gees – filmed
essentially as Frampton’s backing band
– had become by far the bigger name.
But that didn’t help the movie which,
though it cost 10 times the amount
of Stigwood’s other in-production mus-
ical, Grease, was painfully bad. Still, the
Gibbs had to record a bunch of Beatles
songs for the soundtrack, and Robin
Gibb’s crack at Abbey Road throwback
track Oh Darling, which could just as
easily have fitted onto the Grease score,
gave them yet another US Top 20 hit.
By end of 1978 all of the Gibbs, in-
cluding Andy, and even most of their
in-laws, were living in Miami full-time.
Only Robin and wife Molly, with kids
Spencer and Melissa, stayed in England.
Earlier in the year they had flown over
‘Awe-inspiring’ … Beyoncé performing on May 30 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in
London. Photograph: Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Parkwood
year younger than her, I’ve followed her
since I first clocked the music video for
No, No, No on MTV in 1998. I have
accrued so much random information
about the woman and her family that I
could smash a round or two of Master-
mind. I was lucky enough to be given
a ticket to the Renaissance for my 40th
birthday from a friend in Stockholm. I
had always assumed I’d never be able
to afford a ticket or beat the rush to
buy them. I went with a group of self-
professed superfans. We spent much
of our pre-show time discussing how
she might approach the setlist, what
we wanted to hear, and if she would
just play the whole album through.
to New York for a trip to Sesame Street –
Robin had recorded a song called Trash
for the Sesame Street Fever album
with the stipulation that his kids got
to meet Cookie Monster. Released as
a single in October 78, it was lyrically
more of a return to his bleak 1969 solo
album Robin’s Reign than an exuberant
anthem: “It’s not that I don’t under-
stand, but when the great things that
I’ve planned just get wrecked even-
tually … trash is everything to me.” The
album went gold, naturally, like every-
thing else the Bee Gees touched in 1978.
The family later flew back to New York
to be presented with a gold disc by Big
Bird.
The Gibbs were now producing
songs that could be cut to fit Beatles
tributes or 50s soda shop fantasies
or kiddie disco albums or contem-
porary teen pin-up dreams. They were
a diamond mine which miraculously
produced stones that needed neither
cutting nor polishing. In 1978, they
wrote Too Much Heaven, Tragedy and
Shadow Dancin’ during a day off on the
set of Sgt Pepper – probably an after-
noon off, in fact, as all three songs, all
future No 1s, were wrapped in about
two hours.
“This is a life of illusion. Wrapped
up in troubles, laced with confusion.”
Barry’s theme for Greasewas an after-
thought to the film’s real soundtrack,
requested as a favour by a nervous
Stigwood, a shoo-in to get the film
some attention as it would be written
by the hottest songwriter in the world.
It turned out Greasewouldn’t need the
helping hand, but Barry’s song was star-
tling, delivered by the never-gruffer, 44-
I would never have guessed that her
opening section of slower, more classic
songs while sitting on a piano, would
have me in tears. Then she switched
it up and did basically two and a half
hours of higher-energy songs that felt
specially chosen for me. I was so ex-
cited that I was politely told off by a
lady behind me, who felt I should have
got standing tickets rather than danc-
ing in the seated area. Virginie, 40, Kent
– attended opening night on 10 May in
Stockholm
‘I needed 24 hours to process it’
I saw Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s OTR II gig
back in 2018 and knew that this would
be one not to miss – especially after
year-old Frankie Valli, one of the Bee
Gees’ heroes when they had lived in
Australia and possessor of the world’s
most famous falsetto. He holds it back
for the entirety of Grease, maybe in
deference to the bearded Mancunian
who had just stolen his crown. Barry
must have been humbled, seeing a split
screen: one screen showed him in 1978,
next to Valli in the studio, coaching him
through the song; the other showed
boy Barry in Brisbane in 1963, holding
his transistor radio to his ear listening
to Valli siren-scream his way through
Walk Like a Man, a direct New York
forebear to the Stayin’ Alive strut.
“What are we doing here?” Barry’s
Grease also gave an edge to the
soundtrack that songs like John Farrar’s
very pretty Hopelessly Devoted to You
or the yowling, cartoonish Summer
Nights didn’t possess: “Only real is
real.” Grease was no more an accurate
depiction of the 50s than mid-70s TV
show Happy Days, both being scrubbed
whiter than white and exaggerating
their source material until it became
almost surreal. The transformation of
Olivia Newton-John at the film’s end
into a late 70s pin-up suggested some
off-camera Back to the Future time
travel sequence we hadn’t noticed –
“conventionality”, as Barry might say,
didn’t come into it. At the film’s end,
Olivia and John Travolta drove their car
upwards, toward the sky, away from the
Earth, waving goodbye to both their
school days and the planet. Frankie
Valli’s theme – “We start the fight right
now, we got to be what we feel” – was
there to clear the air. The film had only
been a lurid dream of the past. From
being starved of gigs during the pan-
demic. Friends flew in from Oslo and
Helsinki to join me and my wife. We
had a great view of the stage. We stood
next to a group from New York City
who were taken aback at how reserved
the Swedes can be. Chatting to them
after the gig, they declared that they
need to see it again with “their people”.
I sort of understand – you never really
get a huge sing-back with Swedish
crowds, and people generally avoid lots
of screaming so as not to disturb others.
It’s all part of the social contract in
these parts. While the Swedish sensi-
bilities may partly explain the reac-
tion, I do think people were basically
stunned. I felt like I needed 24 hours
to process it. The visuals were awe-in-
spiring. There was so much going on,
you didn’t know where to look. Credit
to the band and the dancers, not to
mention the crew and technicians. She
has not raised the bar with this tour –
she has obliterated it. Big arena artists
really have to step up if they’re going
to compare. David, 46, Stockholm – at-
tended on 11 May in Stockholm
‘Glitter as far as the eye could see’
On a Wednesday afternoon on the
streets of Cardiff, there were glitter,
sparkles and cowboy hats as far as the
eye could see. It was a surreal and
beautiful outpouring of love for Queen
Bey. My friends and I are old-school
33
now on, the end title theme suggested,
let’s look forward instead of backward;
there’s still work to do.
***
The original trailer for Saturday
Night Fever had featured a long shot
of Travolta’s famous strut, followed by
a few brief stills. It let Stayin’ Alive
suggest the storyline. The trailer was
wordless until an ominous voiceover:
“Where do you go when the record is
over?”
“We’re scared of the next album”
said Barry in 1978. “We’re the same des-
perate, worried, insecure songwriters
we’ve ever been.” The bubble was yet
to burst, but the Gibbs had been here
before, more than once – it was only the
scale that had changed.
Anyway. The year 1978, the Bee
Gees’ years in which they had writ-
ten and produced seven American No
1 singles, ended with another knocking
on the door. Too Much Heaven backed
with Rest Your Love On Me, wasn’t
something you could dance to, but it
was sweetly irresistible. “Nobody gets
too much heaven” – they knew as much,
so it was best to start diversifying. Black
radio and country radio picked a side
each. It looked like the Bee Gees would
be able to move on from disco, un-
harmed by fickle fashion, before the
sound du jour inevitably began to fade.
• Bee Gees: Children of the World is
published by Nine Eight Books (£22). To
support the Guardian and the Observer
buy a copy at guardianbookshop.com.
Delivery charges may apply.
‘A celebration of music, culture and crea-
tivity’ … Anton Wiltshire. Photograph: Guar-
dian Community
Beyoncé and Destiny’s Child fans, and
although I had immersed myself in
Beyoncé playlists in the months lead-
ing up to the concert, I wasn’t sure
what to expect. What she delivered
blew our minds. Her voice, the passio-
nate performance, the outfits; not to
mention the silver tank, giant glitterball
flying above the crowd and various
horses making the Cardiff crowd gasp
in awe. It was impossible to hear the
Renaissance songs without standing up
in our seats. The fact that we only rea-
lised the next day that our high-up,
Continued on page 34

34
Continued from page 33
side-on view of the stage hadn’t allowed
us to see the big screen and appre-
ciate the visuals and lights in detail, is
a testament to Beyoncé’s voice and the
energy of the show. Before the concert,
my friends and I had heard about fans
who had tickets for multiple shows and
I thought it was probably over the top.
After the concert, I wished we’d done
the same. Lisa Davies, 41, Pebworth –at-
Future shockers: 10 great games about rogue
AIs
Keza MacDonald and Keith
Stuart
Portal/Portal 2 (2007/2011)
GLaDOS is surely video games’
most recognisable megalomaniacal AI,
the creatively sadistic robot with a soo-
thingly monotone, heartily evil voice
that has been left in sole charge of a
lab for far too long. Let’s be honest, her
cheerfully murderous attitude towards
humanity isn’t entirely unjustified.
System Shock/System Shock 2
(1994/1999)
Not content with simply taking over
a space station, System Shock’s Shodan
supercomputer gets into genetically
mutating humans with pathogens of
her own devising. These two sci-fi
horror classics have you confronting
this watchful, malevolent AI in space
and cyberspace. A remake of the first
game was released this week.
Observation (2019)
An interesting take on the whole
humans v computers sci-fi trope, be-
cause here you arethe computer, work-
ing with – or against? – the human
occupants of a space station as weird
stuff starts to go down. It’s chilling and
surprising, taking 2001: A Space Odys-
Did the poster give it away? The 12 clues that
foreshadowed Succession’s ultimate winner
Michael Hogan
Spoiler alert: this article is for people
who have watched Succession season
four. Don’t read on unless you’ve seen
the finale, episode 10.
Tightrope Tom-Wam. Mr Norm-
core. The puffy-vested meat puppet.
Disgusting Brother Senior. Tomlette
the clumsy interloper. The man who
dressed like a divorce attorney from the
Twin Cities.
As anticipation built for Succes-
sion’s last ever episode and fan theo-
ries proliferated, few predicted that it
would be son-in-law Tom Wambsgans
who would ultimately ascend to the
Waystar Royco throne. Yet maybe, just
maybe, the seeds had been sown all
along. Here are 12 hidden clues that
foreshadowed Tom’s triumph …
1. His surname
Fans have long speculated about
hidden meanings of Succession charac-
ters’ names – “Roy” meaning king,
Arts
tended on 17 May in Cardiff
‘She is an amazing performer, al-
though the rain affected her a little’
Beyoncé is an amazing performer,
although the rain affected her a little
at the start. I found that where we sat
behind the standing area, there was an
empty gap between us and the action.
But our section was into it all the
same. There were a few missing big
hits – which is understandable given
her back catalogue – and the length
Creatively sadistic … GLaDOS from Portal, gaming's most famous evil AI. Illustration:
Valva/EA
sey’s Kubrickian inspiration in an unex-
pected direction.
Halo: Combat Evolved (2001)
In the first entry in Bungie’s sci-
fi opera series, Master Chief meets a
little flying intelligent robot eye called
343 Guilty Spark – who seems like a
friend, until it turns out that he very
much isn’t. Rogue AIs in games are
pretty adept at masking their geno-
cidal tendencies with adorably nervous
personalities.
Chrono Trigger (1995)
In this brilliant time-travelling role-
‘Proximity to power’ … the runners and riders of Succession season four. Photograph:
Home Box Office/HBO
the mythical significance of “Romulus”,
“Shiv” meaning a bladed weapon (she
did indeed knife Kendall in the finale).
Last week on TikTok, the baby-naming
website Nameberry proposed a wild
but compelling theory about Tom’s rare
German surname (which, it says, trans-
lates literally as “fat-bellied goose”).
An extra “s” aside, he shares it with
of time of the costume changes broke
up the atmosphere each time we’d got
into a run of songs. She is a brilliant
vocalist though – as good in that depart-
ment now as the previous three times
I’ve seen her. Holly, 30, Manchester – at-
tended on 20 May in Edinburgh
‘Beyoncé was like an ethereal
goddess who had travelled through
space and time’
My heart started racing when the
lights went out, and I burst into tears
playing game’s future era, it turns
out that robots have taken control
of the Earth. Surprise! Their AI arc-
hitect, Mother Brain, makes for a
memorable boss, as the shimmering
supercomputer rails against humans’
obsolescence.
Horizon Forbidden West (2022)
It’s easy to forget about Ho-
rizon’s plot as you enjoy fighting
robot creatures and climbing around
its geographically gorgeous post-apoca-
lyptic US, but most of it revolves around
tracking down the lost AI sub-functions
the Major League Baseball player Bill
Wambsganss. As second baseman for
the Cleveland Indians during the 1920s,
Wambsganss is famed for completing
the only unassisted triple play in World
Series history, taking out three oppo-
nents at once. A century later, his name-
sake took out all three Roy siblings.
Coincidence? Probably, yes. But a kinda
when she appeared on stage. The show
was an ambitious, breathtaking spec-
tacle that exuded opulence and joy.
Beyoncé was like an ethereal goddess
who had travelled through space and
time. As poised and professional as she
is, what came through was how much
fun she was having. Her stacked setl-
ist had us dancing all the way through.
My favourite moment was the intro-
duction to Renaissance. This happens
right after the first act (singing ballads
that once restored life to Earth – except
some of them have gone a bit wrong
in the meantime. A reminder never to
name an AI something like Hades.
I Have No Mouth, and I Must
Scream (1995)
Developed by cult adventure game
studio The Dreamers Guild and based
on the Harlan Ellison short story, this is
the familiar tale of a US defence com-
puter that gains sentience and destroys
the human race – apart from a hand-
ful of tortured survivors. Penned by
the author himself, it’s a grim, bleak
point-and-click exploration of ethics
and humanity.
Parallax (1986)
One of the greatest ever Com-
modore 64 shooters, designed by Sens-
ible Software and featuring beautiful
multidirectional scrolling graphics. You
are the pilot attempting to see off
an invasion of Earth by an AI con-
trolled starship, which you must infil-
trate and blow up. Typically lovely
Martin Galway soundtrack, too.
Detroit: Become Human (2018)
Quantic Dream creative director
David Cage spent years researching
AI and robotics before penning this
thought-provoking and controversial
adventure about enslaved androids
cool one.
2. His outsider status
Frequently the butt of family jokes,
Tom was never fully part of the Roy
clan, but frankly, who would want to
be? Cosseted childhoods and cruel par-
ents meant the siblings were all deeply
damaged, incapable of continuing their
father’s legacy. Those with proximity to
power but none of the baggage were a
better bet.
Cousin Greg occupied a similar
position, leading many fans to tip him
to come out on top. However, Greg was
too gauche, too clumsy in his schem-
ing, not machiavellian enough (yet). He
was always destined to be Sporus the
castrated slave boy to Tom’s Emperor
Nero.
3. The word “Succession”
The notion of inherited power is
right there in the show’s title. Our last
glimpse of Tom and Shiv, holding hands
(sort of) in the back of that car, hinted
that Shiv had already accepted her new
role as queen consort. She also hap-
The Guardian Saturday 3 June 2023
in a ballgown), when she returns to
the stage as a futuristic robot. It cap-
tures the essence of Beyoncé: always
taking her artistry to the next level.
I enjoyed it so much I went again in
London last night. I’m also attending
one of her Warsaw shows at the end of
June. How many times can you see the
Renaissance? The limit does not exist!
Ash D’Souza, 26, London – attendedon
17 May in Cardiff
Sci-fi horror classic … a screenshot
from the System Shock remake. Illustration:
Nightdive Studios
fighting for their rights against oppres-
sive human owners. As players con-
trol the actions of three such androids,
the moral quandaries at the heart of
the narrative have real, often shocking
consequences.
Deus Ex (2000)
Warren Spector’s vast sci-fi adven-
ture, set in a near-future dominated by
warring corporate and government fac-
tions, is absolutely loaded with rogue
AIs. At the heart of the complex story
though is Daedalus, the world’s first
autonomous AI, designed as a suc-
cessor to the real-life Echelon espio-
nage system, which then goes rogue,
with typically calamitous results. Based
on dozens of conspiracy theories, it’s a
sort of paranoid textbook for the AI era.
‘Destined to be Sporus the castrated slave
boy to Tom’s Emperor Nero’ … With Cousin
Greg (Nicholas Braun) in season two. Photo-
graph: HBO/Kobal/Shutterstock
pens to be pregnant with a natural heir.
Unlike Kendall’s children, their baby is
pure Roy bloodline and Logan’s only
biological grandchild. The cycle con-
tinues.
4. The hand on his shoulder
It was one of the most spine-tin-
gling moments of the entire show. In
the season three finale, the siblings’ at-
tempted coup failed because turncoat
Tom had tipped off Logan. This was
confirmed by Logan fondly touching
Continued on page 35
Saturday 3 June 2023 The Guardian
Continued from page 34
Tom’s shoulder, a gesture spotted from
across the room by the incandescent
Shiv.
It meant that Tom spent season
four in the inner circle, with Shiv and
her brothers stuck on the periphery. So
it would remain. Logan didn’t want any
of his feckless offspring to inherit the
family firm. He wanted to sell it to Mats-
son, died doing so and ultimately got
his wish, with trusted consigliere Tom
at the new owner’s shoulder.
5. His ATN gig
As head of ATN, Tom had his
well-manicured hands on the levers
of power and the ability to anoint
presidents. We often heard how the
Fox-esque rolling news network was
Logan’s crown jewel. His pride and
joy. The one thing he wanted to keep
after selling off the rest of his sprawl-
ing media conglomerate. The head of
ATN was de facto the most important
Jake Shears on life after Scissor Sisters: ‘I was
put on Earth to show people a great time’
Michael Segalov
It has been six or so weeks since
Toby, Jake Shears’s beloved 15-and-a-
half-year-old border terrier, died. “It has
been a rough time,” Shears says from
his new London pad. (After prolonged
stints in LA and New York, home, for
the foreseeable, is England.) “We moved
here together, and now there’s a big
hole in my life. Toby’s death made me
realise how much of a balm he was: if I
was stressed, sticking my face in his fur
always made me feel better.”
Work has helped this Scissor Sister
turned solo singer through the grief.
There is plenty to distract him. His
new album, Last Man Dancing, has
just been released; there’s a new pod-
cast incoming, too. Plus two original
musicals at different stages of devel-
opment, DJ gigs, a weekly radio show,
and that book he really keeps mean-
ing to finish writing. “All that takes up
space,” Shears assures me, “but I still
spend time thinking about Toby. I light
a candle for him every night; I sleep
with his bear in my bed. I can’t believe
he’s gone, to be honest.”
That’s not to say Shears, dressed in
a crisp black graphic T-shirt and with
freshly dyed auburn hair, is downbeat
or drab. It’s just he seems particularly
reflective, conscious of circumstances
shifting. “I’m going to be 45 soon,” he
says. “I used to love to go out and dance
at gay parties. But now maybe it’s a dif-
ferent thing. I feel older. Ageing out
of a certain time in my life, going into
another phase and thinking about what
it means? It’s on my mind a lot.”
For now, he still longs for the feeling
only dancefloors and parties offer him.
A self-defined “diehard Libra”, hosting
is a love language. “I get it from my
mother,” he says. “Meet her, and you
unlock me completely.” Back when he
lived in New York, the parties he threw
were legendary. Police raided his Tri-
beca home at least once to shut down
festivities. “Yes,” he accepts, “Mom and
I might have different approaches.”
During Covid, he missed these parties
Arts
person in his empire. Who better to
take the top job?
6. Stealing the chicken
One of Tom’s most memorable mo-
ments was aboard the superyacht in
season two’s finale, when he walked
over to Logan and helped himself to
the food off his plate. He said bra-
zenly, “Thank you for the chicken”,
and walked away. “What next?” de-
manded Logan. “Stick his cock in my
potato salad?” None of the Roy sibl-
ings would dare attempt such a poul-
try-based power move. He literally ate
Logan’s lunch.
7. His role in Logan’s death
As Tom reminded Shiv (and us
viewers) in the penultimate episode,
he was right by Logan’s side during
his final moments aboard that fateful
private jet to Stockholm. Tom broke
into the plane bathroom after Logan
had collapsed. It was Tom who became
the conduit between the family on the
ground and Logan in the air, holding a
He still feels like dancing … Jake Shears. Photograph: Damon Baker
profoundly. So back in New Orleans,
where Shears still has a place, he started
to throw open-invite celebrations after
the lockdowns lifted. Then a move to
London presented itself. He wanted to
be close to new UK-based management.
And the Tammy Faye musical he was
co-writing with old friend Elton John
looked to be taking off, years after they
started on it. John wrote the music,
Shears looked after lyrics. Late last year,
it premiered in London, to critical raves
and two Olivier wins. “It’s one of the
highlights of my life,” he proudly says,
“to have a body of work we’ve made to-
gether. It feels like a gift, and one I’ve
taken seriously.”
The pair go back some way. “I’ve
been living on and off in Elton’s Holland
Park home when I’ve been in London
for 20 years or so,” Shears says. “There’s
a little bedroom on the second floor at
the front of the house that is always
going to feel like home to me.” When he
arrived in the city this time, it’s where
he first headed. “It’s always felt like
a comforting and safe cocoon,” Shears
says. “Elton’s a father figure to me in
many ways; I want him to be proud of
me. There are some weeks where we
talk every morning. Leaving there was
bittersweet … ” Again, his mind is drawn
to endings and transitions.
For the most part, the move has
made perfect sense. But the capital’s
gay scene isn’t quite how Shears re-
members it. “So many of the bars are
phone by his ear, even though he was
likely already dead. He was the only
one who got a chance to say goodbye.
Another sign that he would always be in
the right place when it mattered.
8. Shiv’s motherly parallels
Toxic aristocrat Lady Caroline Col-
lingwood often taunted her daughter
Siobhan that she was a chip off the
old block, especially when it came to
motherhood. “We’re not cut out for it,”
she brayed. “I should’ve had dogs.” Yet
perhaps Shiv was destined to turn into
her mother in another way – reduced to
being the unhappy wife of a powerful
Waystar CEO.
9. ‘I’m here to serve’
This became Tom’s catchphrase in
the wake of Logan’s death. Without
the patriarch’s protection – “The only
guy pulling for you is dead”, as Karl
put it gleefully – Tom was left casting
around for new family allies. He pitched
for their patronage by emphasising his
servile nature and willingness to carry
gone,” he says. “Smaller dancefloors
have been taken over by straight people
or have disappeared. Gay bars feel like
gay-themed bars. But I still desire … ” He
drifts off for a moment. “I want to be
dancing, but bigger parties have taken
over. It doesn’t satisfy me – an intimacy
is missing from nightlife. The only way
to replace that is to do it yourself. That’s
where my head was at with this record.”
Enter Last Man Dancing, an ode to
house-party hedonism. On first listen,
the new record is upbeat, lots of dancef-
loor fillers. There are nods to glam
rock, acid house, Italo and pure disco;
features come from the likes of Kylie
Minogue and exuberant New Orleans
rapper Big Freedia, alongside an unex-
pected turn from Jane Fonda. Toward
the album’s close, it picks up pace.
“The end was an exercise in trying to
make a cinematic,” Shears says. “Think
James Bond meets Batman Forever in
a U2 early-90s closing credits crescendo
explosion. If I were to DJ for you at 3am,
this is exactly what the set would sound
like.”
Having made his name as the Scis-
sor Sisters’ frontman, this isn’t a major
departure from well-trodden territory.
The five-piece pop-rock band was born
in New York’s queer nightlife scene,
before finding international acclaim
with their 2004 self-titled debut album.
In particular, the band found support
from British audiences. Scissor Sisters
pushed boundaries with their main-
out orders. Kendall and Roman both
brushed him away but GoJo mogul
Lukas Matsson was smart enough to
end up listening.
10. The poster teaser
Fans flipped after episode three,
retrospectively spotting a portent of
Logan’s death in the season four poster
– a plane in the sky hinted at where he
would perish. Was there another clue
on the poster all along? Shiv stands
with folded arms, her facial expression
conveying that she is making a calcu-
lated decision. Yet the reflection shows
Tom standing in front of her. A visual
hint that she would end up behind her
husband in the race for the family busi-
ness?
11. Matthew Macfadyen being a
Brit
A little flag-wavingly patriotic, this
one, but think about it. Jesse Armstrong
and many of his writing team are Brit-
ish. Actor Brian Cox – and indeed,
Logan Roy himself – are proud Scots.
stream success: their music, aesthetic
and dynamic was proudly and expli-
citly queer. Take Your Mama, for in-
stance, is a song about a gay man taking
his mother out on the nightlife scene.
At the time, it was radical. If there was
pushback, Shears rarely noticed it. A
luxury, he’s aware, today’s queer artis-
tic crop aren’t afforded.
“There might have been hate mail
for me wearing a shoulderless, back-
less one-piece on Saturday Night Live,”
Shears says, “but the key there is mail,
maybe email, too. If there was huge
backlash to what we were doing, social
media didn’t show it to us.” Today, he
reckons, artists such as Sam Smith are
far more exposed. ‘I’m very thankful to
have been able to do what we did then.
When I look at so many of these amaz-
ing queer stars, and what they have to
face? It’s a lot tougher.”
Still, when it comes to the indus-
try – and the media, too – Shears hopes
we’ve taken steps forward. “There was a
way of speaking about what we were
doing that was really demeaning at
times,” he recalls. “There’d be a lot of
focus on ‘campness’ and how appar-
ently effeminate I was. I sat with Gore
Vidal once, a month before he died,
and he told me camp is just another
word used for someone who has no
talent. I think there’s some truth to
that. It would make me prickle.” That,
he hopes, wouldn’t happen now. “But
even though the world wasn’t as pro-
gressive 20 years ago, we’re now forced
to look at and hear from those who’ve
not progressed more than ever.
“You can hypothesise about what
we did, sure. But above all else,” Shears
says of his band, “we threw a good party.
It’s what I still aspire to. Showing people
a great time is what I was put on this
Earth to do. Not forcing fun, but con-
juring it.”
Later this year, his new podcast,
Queer the Music, spotlighting pio-
neering LGBTQ+ artists, should appear.
“At times like this when I’m putting
out records,” he says, “and people say
I’ve been a trailblazer, I feel like saying
there were plenty of people before me
35
Perhaps it was always likely to be a
fellow Briton who would ascend to his
throne.
Furthermore, Tom’s string-puller
Lukas Matsson and actor Alexander
Skarsgård are both Swedish. Those
Americans simply weren’t up to the job.
Sorry, Gerri, but we Europeans weren’t
so soft (let alone hammocked in our
social security safety nets, sick on vaca-
tion mania and free healthcare) after
all.
12. The royal sceptre
Remember season two’s share-
holder meeting, when Logan became
“the piss-mad king of England” due
to a urinary tract infection? Tom han-
dled his ailing, incoherent father-in-law
so well, it was really rather touching.
“Do you want me to hold the sceptre?”
he asked gently in the bathroom stall.
“You’re a very good boy,” slurred Logan.
Tom really is holding the sceptre now.
Ta-dah … Jake Shears at the O2 Arena,
London, in May. Photograph: Jim Dyson/
Getty Images
who also did that. Plenty who’ve come
after me, too.” Through the series, he
hopes to explore and document these
legacies. “It’s my history,” he adds, “
the shoulders I stand on, and I don’t
think all those stories have been prop-
erly told.” Queer musicians past were
less able to freely express themselves,
he suggests, or not heard holistically.
Again, there’s this sense Shears is preoc-
cupied by time’s relentlessly fleeting
nature.
Culture constantly shifts; shows
come and go. Homes, too. All dogs die,
eventually. Shears knows better than
most how to keep a party going, but
at some point, the night is over. Maybe, I
suggest, Last Man Dancing is his way of
preserving a Jake Shears party for post-
erity; the temporary made permanent.
He nods in agreement. “I wish things
didn’t feel so transient sometimes,” he
says. “It’s why I love making records,
having something tangible to show for
what I do. Musicals and gigs, they’re
ephemeral. An album exists for ever.”
Last ManDancing isout now.
Smaller dancefloors
have been taken over
by straight people or
have disappeared.
Gay bars feel like gay-
themed bars
Saturday 3 June 2023 The Guardian
‘I felt I wouldn’t be taken seriously’: Riley
Keough on movie-making, friendship and
privilege
Cath Clarke
In 2015, Riley Keough was in a motel in
South Dakota waiting to shoot a scene
in Andrea Arnold’s American Honey.
As the hours dragged, she got chat-
ting to a couple of extras, Bill Reddy
and Franklin Sioux Bob, two Native
American men who’d grown up on
the nearby Pine Ridge Reservation. “It
was one of those situations where we
started talking, and we just didn’t stop,”
Keough says. “Then lunchtime came,
and I found myself going, ‘Can I sit with
you?’”
Keough and the two men swapped
numbers and, after shooting wrapped,
she flew from Los Angeles to the
reservation for a holiday – joined by
her friend and producing partner Gina
Gammell. For a couple of weeks, they
drove around, having fun, messing
about making music videos for Sioux
Bob, a musician. “We were 26 and had
nothing to do, so we just spent the
summer hanging with our friends. It
was a beautiful summer friendship.”
That spur-of-the-moment holiday
was the first of many visits, and the
beginning of a creative partnership.
Seven years later, it has led to a film,
War Pony, directed by Keough and
Gammell, working from a script by
Reddy and Sioux Bob (with Gammell),
writing about growing up on the reser-
vation.
War Pony is the story of two young
Oglala Lakota men on “the rez” whose
lives cross paths at the end of the
movie. Bill (Jojo Bapteise Whiting) is
a charismatic 23-year-old who is equal
parts swagger, hustle and sweetness.
He’s meant to be finding the money
to bail out his girlfriend. But, instead,
Bill blows $1,000 on a poodle (“a white
lady’s dog” says his ex, rolling her eyes
with amusement and contempt) and
hatches a get-rich scheme to breed
dogs.
Then there’s Matho, an impul-
sive 12-year-old, whose problems begin
when he steals crystal meth from his
Billy Joel to end Madison Square Garden
residency in 2024
Guardian staff and agencies
Billy Joel will conclude his monthly
residency at Madison Square Garden
in July 2024, with his 150th lifetime
performance at the venue.
“It’s hard to believe we’ve been able
to do this for 10 years,” Joel said at a
news conference on Thursday. “I’m now
74. I’ll be 75 next year. It seems like a
nice number.”
“I’m kind of flabbergasted that it
lasted as long as it did,” he added. “My
team tells me that we could continue to
sell tickets but 10 years, 150 shows – all
Arts
Riley Keough promoting War Pony in Cannes in 2022. Photograph: Pascal Le Segretain/
Getty Images
drug dealer dad. Amazingly, both actors
are first-timers, cast from the reser-
vation. “Non-professionals is the term,”
says Keough. “But I hate that, because
they’re very professional.” War Pony
won the Caméra d’Or award for best
debut feature at the Cannes film fes-
tival last year.
Today, Keough is talking by phone,
joined by Gammell in Vancouver where
they are working on another film to-
gether.The pair met in their early 20s
in LA, introduced by mutual friends.
Within two weeks, Keough had more
or less moved into her apartment,
Gammell tells me: “I’d say that Riley
was more homeless than she appeared
when I first met her.”
She is joking when she says “home-
less”. Keough is Elvis’s granddaughter
and the daughter of Lisa Marie Pres-
ley; for a couple of years when she was
small, Michael Jackson was her step-
father; later it was Nicolas Cage. So how
did she end up with no place to live?
“My family were living in England at
the time, she says. “So, whenever I was
in LA I would just stay wherever I was
welcome. That was Gina’s for a while.”
As an interviewee she is friendly, but
defensive, even a bit prickly; she has the
wariness of someone who has grown up
in the spotlight.
Keough has wanted to write and
direct for as long as she can remem-
Billy Joel becomes emotional while
announcing the end of his residency at Mad-
ison Square Garden in 2024, on Thursday
in New York City. Photograph: Angela Weiss/
AFP/Getty Images
right already!”
The record-breaking residency
began in January 2014 with Joel play-
ber. But, until recently, she has been
acting, landing her breakthrough film
role in Mad Max: Fury Road – and ap-
pearing in American Honey, and the TV
shows The Girlfriend Experience and
Daisy Jones & the Six. As a young actor,
she is the first to admit that her pri-
vilege opened doors: “Amazing oppor-
tunities! I walked into agencies, met
with agents.” But it left her racked with
doubt: “I felt that I wouldn’t be taken
seriously.”
Before the interview, I receive strict
and understandable instructions from
Keough’s publicist to avoid personal
questions. In 2020, her brother Ben-
jamin killed himself at the age of 27.
Her mother died suddenly this January.
A few days before we speak, the tab-
loids gleefully whoop up rumours of a
legal wrangle between Keough and her
grandmother Priscilla Presley over Lisa
Marie’s estate.
About the film, I’m curious how
Keough and Gammell approached di-
recting an Indigenous story. One of
the film’s producers, the Native Amer-
ican film-maker Willi White, has spoken
of his previous negative experiences
of film-makers from outside the com-
munity swooping in and extracting sto-
ries from the reservation. “They gen-
erally tell the same story,” said White.
“Because what they see is only at the
surface level; it’s poverty, it’s hardships
ing one show every month at the Man-
hattan venue for, as he said at the time,
“as long as the demand continues.”
Every show has sold out since he began.
In January 2015, Joel broke his
own record of the “most consecutive
performances by any artist” with the
13th show of the residency and a new
banner was raised to the Garden’s raf-
ters.
In July 2015, with his 65th lifetime
show, Joel broke another record for
the “most lifetime performances by any
artist,” for which another banner was
raised. Both of Joel’s banners continue
to hang at the Garden.
and challenges.” He believed these films
directly increased prejudice against
the community locally and reinforced
harmful stereotypes.
By contrast, War Pony is a colla-
borative effort. It’s written by Reddy
and Sioux Bob (with Gammell). All the
Native American parts in the film –
most of the cast – are played by Indi-
genous actors. Non-Indigenous crew
were given “cultural competency” les-
sons before the shoot. But did Keough
and Gammell have anxieties as white
film-makers taking on directing duties?
Not initially, says Keough, when
they were just messing around, with-
out a script or financiers. “There wasn’t
anxiety because we didn’t even know
if this was a real thing. Nobody in Pine
Ridge thought this was a real movie. A
lot of us thought it was going to go no-
where.”
At the financing stage, the harm-
ful stereotypes White warned against
became evident. Potential backers felt
the script wasn’t bleak enough. It had
too many light moments, or didn’t
ram the poverty home enough. “They
wanted it to be more sad, more devas-
tating,” says Keough. “That really dis-
turbed me.”
To the film-makers’ annoyance,
more than once it was suggested that
they insert a white character and white
perspective into the film. “A white
person they could identify with in the
film, an entry point for a white au-
dience,” says Keough. For about five
minutes they considered writing in a
white journalist. “Then we took her
right out,” says Gammell. In the end,
the biggest non-Indigenous character is
a rich turkey farmer who deludedly be-
lieves he’s a decent enough guy – writ-
ten to show the insidiousness of casual
racism.“By the time it came to making
the movie,” says Gammell, “we were
aggressively aware that we were two
white film-makers making this movie.
But we felt that if the other alternative
was the film wasn’t going to get made …”
Keough and Gammell are at pains to
share credit with Reddy and Sioux Bob.
“There’s only one thing that’s more
New York than Billy Joel – and that’s
a Billy Joel concert at MSG,” said the
New York City mayor, Eric Adams. “For
more than 50 years, Billy’s music has
defined our city and brought us to-
gether. On behalf of 8.5 million New
Yorkers, congratulations Billy on a his-
toric run of sold-out shows at MSG, and
thank you for a lifetime of bringing joy
to us all.”
Joel headlined Madison Square
Garden for the first time in 1978. He
has had 33 Top 40 hits, including three
No 1s – It’s Still Rock and Roll To Me, We
Didn’t Start the Fire and Tell Her About
37
A scene from War Pony. Photograph:
Beast Productions
In all the publicity material, the writ-
ers’ names appear before the directors.
“We were very much vessels for Bill
and Franklin,” says Gammell. “The colla-
boration remained intact the whole
way through shooting.”
Keough agrees: “What we wanted to
achieve was to help facilitate showing
Pine Ridge the way they see it, Billy and
Frank; really take any of our thoughts
or opinion out.”
On set they discussed how to shoot
the film collectively. Reddy had an aver-
sion to the “cheap” handheld docu-style
often used in films shot on the reser-
vation. He wanted the audience to see
the place’s beauty. “The effort of the
film became: how do Riley and I take
ourselves out. That really became the
goal,” says Gammell.
“It’s a fact that we are non-Indi-
genous people making a very Indi-
genous film. And I think it became the
mission of the film to find a way to con-
sciously and carefully collaborate. That
collaboration is the thing we’re proud-
est of.”
• War Pony is released in UK and
Irish cinemas on 9 June.
Nobody in Pine Ridge
thought this was a
real movie. A lot of us
thought it was going
to go nowhere
Riley Keough
It – and four No 1 albums – 52nd Street,
Glass Houses, Storm Front and River of
Dreams.
He won six Grammys – as well as a
Grammy Legend award in 1990 – as well
as being inducted in the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Songwri-
ters Hall of Fame in 1992.
A representative for Joel confirmed
that while he is ending his run at the
Garden, he is not retiring.
Associated Press contributed to this
report

38
Helmut Berger obituary
Ryan Gilbey
With his glacial blue eyes, blade-
like face and feline elegance, Helmut
Berger, who has died aged 78, was one
of the most ravishing and hypnotic
actors in postwar European cinema,
and a lingering presence even after his
best days were behind him. He was
also Vogue’s first male cover star; the
magazine photographed him in 1970
alongside his then-girlfriend, the model
Marisa Berenson, while he was simulta-
neously in a relationship with the direc-
tor Luchino Visconti. Madonna, who
featured him in her controversial 1992
coffee-table book Sex, cited among her
influences “every movie that Visconti
ever made starring Helmut Berger”.
The first of these films – and only
Berger’s fourth screen appearance – was
The Damned (1969), an unrestrainedly
lurid melodrama charting the decline
of a fictional family of industrialists,
loosely based on the Krupps family,
and the rise of nazism in early-1930s
Germany. As Martin von Essenbeck,
heir to a steel dynasty, Berger is first
seen sitting astride a chair on stage
at his grandfather’s birthday party,
dressed as Marlene Dietrich in The
Blue Angel, singing “Children, this even-
ing I’ll choose something for me / A
man, a real man.” In blond wig, cocked
silver hat, feather boa, stockings and
suspenders, he tries unsuccessfully to
persevere with his performance after it
is interrupted by news of the burning
of the Reichstag. Berger later received
a photograph from Dietrich, on which
she had written: “Who’s prettier? Love
Marlene.”
Although the film’s star was Dirk
Bogarde, the promotional poster repro-
duced the image of Berger in his Blue
Angel drag, alongside an enticing tag-
line: “He was soon to become the
second most powerful man in Nazi Ger-
many.” Martin molests a young cousin,
preys relentlessly on a neighbour’s
daughter until the child hangs her-
‘I can do everything but be humble’: Eric
Cantona on his surprise new music career
Simon Hattenstone
Take Nick Cave, add a splash of Leonard
Cohen, sprinkle with Serge Gainsbourg
and you might have something approx-
imating Eric Cantona’s first single. Yes,
you read that right: The Friends We
Lost is seriously good. The footballer
turned actor turned chanteur whisper-
croons his way through a gorgeous
meditation on life with a handful of
gnomic Cantona-isms thrown in for
good measure (“Like a red snake in the
water / In mind a winning number /
Listen to the silence over the fear / The
deep ocean that we can’t hear”). The
single is just the start. Next up is a tour,
a live album and a studio album.
Cantona tells me that, from child-
hood, he always hoped to play his own
music on stage, but he didn’t think
he had it in him. He hadn’t written
any music, nor did he think he could
Arts
Helmut Berger on the set of The Damned, written and directed by Luchino Visconti (1969).
Photograph: Sunset Boulevard/Corbis/Getty Images
self, then rapes his own mother (Ingrid
Thulin). The film ends with him giving
a Nazi salute over her corpse while
infernal flames are superimposed over
his face.
Berger stole the show, apparently
to Bogarde’s chagrin. But there was
reportedly no preferential treatment
for him on the set of The Damned.
“With Helmut Berger, [Visconti] was an
absolute tyrant,” said Charlotte Ram-
pling, another of the film’s stars. “He
told Helmut every single thing to do.
Everything. Every movement.”
Visconti directed Berger in two fur-
ther films. In Ludwig (1973), the actor
played Ludwig II, the 19th-century king
of Bavaria who commissioned a string
of castles and lavishly funded the
composer Richard Wagner (played by
Trevor Howard), before being declared
insane. Barely recognisable with dark,
receding hair, a demeanour ranging
from skittish to saturnine, and teeth
that rot in his mouth as the film
proceeds, Berger evokes spiritual emp-
tiness and desolation.
The movie was largely unloved. A
three-hour cut was poorly received in
the US; versions butchered in other
ways, including one which was hacked
down to two hours without the con-
sent of its director, who had recently
suffered a stroke, were exhibited else-
‘When I met the Doors, my life changed completely’ … Eric Cantona. Photograph: Pål
Hansen/The Guardian
sing. But in lockdown he decided to
where. Ludwig was finally restored to
its full 238-minute glory in 1980, four
years after Visconti’s death.
Though undeniably turgid, its qual-
ities have been reappraised in recent
years, along with Berger’s suitability for
the part. Jonathan Romney noted in
2018 that the actor “embodies a cer-
tain gorgeous yet pointedly hollow By-
ronic magnificence”. Less kindly, David
Thomson called the actor’s look “dead
yet handsome” and lamented that Vis-
conti had turned three films “into wil-
fully decadent studies of that face”.
The third and least impressive of
these was Conversation Piece (1974).
Its story of the bond between a re-
tired art historian and a gigolo was
widely read as a portrait of the director
and his muse. Opposite Burt Lancaster,
however, Berger could only seem like
a stalactite. “I threw myself into the
student movement deeper than most,”
says his character, explaining his che-
quered past, though by this point the
actor had the primped and rarefied air
of someone who wouldn’t throw him-
self into anything dicier than a bubble
bath.
He was born in Bad Ischl, Austria,
to Hedwig and Franz Steinberger, who
were hoteliers, but he did not meet his
father, a prisoner of war, until he was
three. Mistreated by him and expelled
teach himself the guitar to help him
from a string of schools, he ran away to
Switzerland in his teens and became
a waiter, then took acting lessons in
London.
He studied Italian at the Univer-
sità per Stranieri di Perugia, where
he met Visconti in 1964. They soon
began living together, usually in sepa-
rate quarters to keep their relationship
secret from the director’s staff. Berger
would sneak out to bars and nightclubs
after Visconti was asleep.
The director gave him a small role
as a hotel page in his contribution
to the portmanteau film The Witches
(1967). He was well-cast in the lead
in Massimo Dallamano’s adaptation of
Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray, set in latter-
day London (1970); and in Vittorio De
Sica’s haunting The Garden of the Fin-
zi-Continis (in the same year), he is
a member of a wealthy, sequestered
Jewish family in 1930s Ferrara who are
in denial about the encroaching fasc-
ism.
In Ash Wednesday (1973), he se-
duces Elizabeth Taylor, who is trying to
win back her husband (Henry Fonda).
He was part of another love triangle,
this time with Glenda Jackson and Mi-
chael Caine, in The Romantic English-
woman (1975), directed by Joseph
Losey and co-written by Tom Stop-
pard. It was back to the seamy territory
of The Damned in Salon Kitty (1976),
Tinto Brass’s cult film about a Nazi bro-
thel.
Long before Visconti died in 1976,
Berger had drifted into excess and
addiction. He was given to chopping
out lines of cocaine with a gold razor
blade and snorting them through a gold
straw specially made for him by Bulgari,
which he wore on a chain around his
neck. Though the couple had already
separated, he became depressed after
Visconti’s death, and nearly died from a
drugs overdose.
He played a drug-addled playboy
in nine episodes of the soap opera
Dynasty between 1983 and 1984, and
a murderous cosmetic surgeon in the
write songs for live performances. The
albums are by the by – gigging is the
main attraction. “I’m still a bad guitarist,
but good enough to write songs, and
I wrote maybe 30. I did it just to go
on stage, because I love the connec-
tion with an audience – football, thea-
tre, music. And music, for me, was the
dream.”
The infamous kick … Cantona gives
Crystal Palace fan Matthew Simmons
what for. Photograph: Action Images/
Reuters
Perhaps the biggest surprise is that
it has taken Cantona 57 years to record
his first single. He was, of course, the
ultimate rock’n’roll footballer. Nobody
had such style on the pitch, wheth-
er playing with his collar raised like
a preening peacock, puffing his chest
out to celebrate another wonder goal,
or jumping into the crowd to kung-fu
kick an abusive spectator. The assault
earned him an eight-month ban and
The Guardian Saturday 3 June 2023
Luchino Visconti giving instructions to
Romy Schneider and Helmut Berger on the
set of Ludwig. Photograph: AP
grisly thriller Faceless (1988). Francis
Ford Coppola cast him as a Vatican
accountant who meets a sticky end in
The Godfather Part III (1990). On set, he
clashed with the film’s star, Al Pacino,
who considered Berger’s English inade-
quate for the part.
He affectionately reprised one of
his earlier roles in the gentle Ludwig
1881 (1993). In 1998, he published a
candid autobiography, Me, which ite-
mised his sexual escapades with stars
including Rudolf Nureyev, Britt Ekland
and Ursula Andress. Later roles in-
cluded an elderly gay man taunted by
fascist thugs in Initiation (2009) and
a duke overseeing aristocratic debau-
chery in Liberty (2019).
In 2015, he was the subject of
Helmut Berger, Actor, which the direc-
tor John Waters chose as his favourite
movie of that year. “Helmut Berger,
now 71 and sometimes looking like
[the novelist] Marguerite Duras, rants
and raves in his ramshackle apartment
while the maid dishes the dirt about
his sad life,” Waters reported. “The
rules of documentary access are perma-
nently fractured here when our fea-
tured attraction takes off all his clothes
on camera, masturbates and actually
ejaculates. The Damned, indeed.”
Berger married the model Fran-
cesca Guidato in 1994, and separated
from her shortly after.
• Helmut Berger (Steinberger),
actor, born 29 May 1944; died 18 May
2023
Photograph: Action Images/Reuters
a two-week prison sentence, reduced
to community service on appeal. Can-
tona walked away from football at 30,
bored and disillusioned after winning
five league titles in his six years in Eng-
land (the first with Leeds, the rest with
Manchester United).
Appropriately enough, Cantona,
performer sans pareil, became an actor
in the late 90s. Now, with more than 30
Continued on page 39
Saturday 3 June 2023 The Guardian
Continued from page 38
movies under his belt (perhaps most fa-
mously Ken Loach’s Looking for Eric),
he is embarking on a new venture.
We meet in London at the European
headquarters of Universal, the record
company releasing his music. Cantona
is a tall, imposing figure. With a mottled
beard, caterpillar eyebrows and spec-
tacles, he could pass for a don – univer-
sity or mafia. We have met previously,
in 2009, when he was promoting Look-
ing for Eric. Despite his well-earned
bad-boy reputation, what struck me
then was his warmth and a surprising
shyness.
King Eric … in his Man Utd heyday.
Photographs: Getty Images; Colorsport/
Shutterstock; Action Images
Fourteen years on, he has lost none
of that warmth. The first thing he does
is reminisce about Loach and the time
we met. You sense he would be happy
to talk about the great British film-
maker all day long.
Cantona was born in Marseille to a
Spanish mother (a dressmaker) and a
French father (a psychiatric nurse and
artist). His father introduced him to
Italian opera and he grew up listening
to Puccini and Verdi. By his teens, his
taste had evolved: “I listened to a lot
of Sex Pistols, the Clash, AC/DC and
Led Zeppelin.” At 17, now a professional
playing for Auxerre, his life was trans-
formed – by discovering Jim Morrison
and the Doors. “It was a shock for me.
The lyrics, the energy, the live perfor-
mances. When I met them, my life
changed completely.”
I give him a look. You met the
Doors? “No, I meant spiritually. So I
was inspired. Break on Through (To the
Other Side) and The End are very cine-
matic. We feel the freedom of Jim Mor-
rison in his songs.” I ask him if he knows
the answer to my one obscure Jim Mor-
rison titbit. Who was the last person
to see Morrison alive? “Agnès Varda,” he
says, instantly citing the French film-
maker. Cantona knows a lot about a lot.
When I was talking to him about Loach
all those years ago, he could reel off the
plots to his most obscure films.
‘You sense he would be happy to
talk about him all day long’ … filming
Looking for Eric with Ken Loach. Photo-
graph: Everett Collection/Rex Features
Cantona is not finished listing his
music heroes: “The last ones who really
inspired me were Nick Cave, Leonard
Cohen and Daniel Johnston.” I tell him
I can hear the influences of Cave and
Cohen in his music. He looks chuffed.
“Thank you.” How would he describe his
singing style? “I hate it when people try
McKinley Dixon: Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!?
review – literary, urgent rap
Shaad D'Souza
Richmond, Virginia rapper McKinley
Dixon broke out in 2021 with For My
Mama and Anyone Who Look Like Her,
a lush collection of expansive jazz-rap
tracks that made great use of his elas-
tic flow. From bar to bar, he could shift
gears from laconic and unbothered to
tense and tetchy; the album’s impro-
visation-heavy production let Dixon
Arts
to be like somebody. We all have our
own personalities and I don’t want to
be like somebody else. I tried to find
my voice. So I never took lessons. And
I found it. I feel completely in connec-
tion with my voice.”
Universal has given me four songs
to listen to, two in English, two in
French. Cantona’s voice is rich, seduc-
tive, very French. I assume Cantona
wrote the lyrics and a professional
musician wrote the music, but Cantona
says he is responsible for all of it. “It’s
completely me. Nobody interferes with
my work. People help me a lot, and I
listen to them, but at the end of the day
I decide everything. They are my songs
and I love them.”
Is The Friends We Lost about loss
through fallouts or death? “Death,” he
says. “And it’s about the time we waste.
Like with family, sometimes. I always
have the feeling that I could have spent
more time with them. Every time I do
something, I do it at 100%, but I always
have this feeling I could have done
more.” So the song is about regret? “No,
I don’t know if you can call that regret.”
Cantona, who lives in Lisbon with his
family, mentions a Portuguese word –
saudade. He doesn’t know an English or
French equivalent. “It’s just a feeling. It’s
when you remember something, for in-
stance your grandmother, and you have
this great feeling of seeing her in your
souvenir, and one second later you rea-
lise you will not see her any more be-
cause she is dead. That is saudade.”
This is the emotion that The Friends
We Lost evokes for him. “Yes, I love this
word. It’s more than regret. It’s this little
moment.”
The song I’ll Make My Own Heaven
contains the lyrics: “I’ve been heroic,
I’ve been criminal / I’ve been angelic,
I’ve been infernal / You hate me, you
love me.” It’s not autobiographical, by
any chance, is it? “Completely.” He
laughs. The song rocks with defiance.
“Instead of regrets, it’s: I’ve done some
good things and I’ve done some bad
things. At the end of the day, whether
you hate me or love me, I’m the only
one who can judge, because what you
see as bad maybe I don’t see as bad.”
Cantona doesn’t do regrets, with the
exception of the kung-fu kick. In 2021,
he stated: “I have one regret. I would
have loved to have kicked him even
harder.”
‘Everything is Cantona-esque. Even
the music.’ Photographs: Pål Hansen/
The Guardian
During a press conference in 1995,
after the successful appeal against his
prison sentence at Croydon magistrates
court, he said: “When the seagulls
‘A renewed urgency and velocity’ …
McKinley Dixon. Photograph: Jimmy Fon-
stretch out and play, ducking and weav-
ing through wandering upright bass
follow the trawler, it’s because they
think sardines will be thrown into the
sea.” Many people thought he had lost
the plot. His words may have been cryp-
tic, but they made sense. He was the
trawler, the press were the seagulls and
the sardines were the morsels for which
they scavenged. Some of your lyrics, I
say, are as Cantona-esque as the sar-
dine speech. “Everything is Cantona-es-
que,’” he replies, with a smile. “Even the
music.”
He has also shot the video for the
single, which stars his 13-year-old son,
Emir, the elder of his two children
with his second wife, the actor Rachida
Brakni (he has two adult children with
his first wife). “I did the lyrics, I wrote
the music, I wrote the video and di-
rected the video. I can do everything
but be humble.” Is he serious about
his lack of humility? He bursts out
laughing. “It’s all about derision. Deri-
sion?” He questions his use of the word.
Laughing at yourself? “Yeah. Laughing
at myself – or life. It’s a circus, just a big
circus.”
Cantona has never lacked confi-
dence, so it’s interesting that he
doubted whether he could write music.
Well, he says, self-belief and doubt are
not mutually exclusive. In fact, the two
have happily coexisted throughout his
life. “The only thing I’m sure about are
my doubts,” he says. “Doubt gives you
the ability to try things. As I’ve got
older, I’ve only become more sure that
I’m only sure about my doubts, even
more than before.”
Mortality is a spur, he says. “If we
were eternal, I wouldn’t do so many
things. Now, I’m 57 years old; I don’t
want to spend time with people I don’t
like.” He pauses. “Actually, I never did it.
I don’t want to waste time. I try to use
every second, with people who inspire
me.” Does he think about death much?
“In a good way, because it encourages
me to do things today rather than
tomorrow or the next week.”
It’s 26 years since he retired from
football. I ask him if he sees anybody
in today’s game with a similar cha-
racter to his own. He cites Pep Guar-
diola, the Manchester City manager. “I
like Guardiola. He’s an artist, a crea-
tor. Everything he does, nobody has
done it before. He is the spiritual son
of [the legendary Dutch forward] Johan
Cruyff.” And players? He shakes his
head. “What I love in football today is
only the work of Guardiola.”
Does he worry about football’s soul
when top clubs become the playthings
of the obscenely wealthy? “I think I’d
support a team from the third or fourth
division or non-league. Like Ken Loach
and noodling horns.
Dixon’s fourth album tightens its
lens: skipping by in 30 minutes, its
songs possess a renewed urgency and
velocity. But his writing is more literary
and exploratory still. Beloved! Paradise!
Jazz!? (named after three of Toni Mor-
rison’s most celebrated works) provides
an embarrassment of imagistic riches:
a king “ripping gold flickering flesh /
Off his finger pads”; a sign in a bodega
reads “‘What does your life entail?’ /
with Bath City. With the soul.”
When I ask about the prospective
sale of Manchester United, he quietly,
but emphatically, tells me he won’t be
going there. “Don’t speak about that,” he
says. No? “No. I prefer to speak to you
about Guardiola, the positive things in
football, than to speak about this kind
of thing. It’s not a day for it today.”
Cantona has rarely shied away from
controversy or difficult subjects. In
2010, he called for a social revolution
against banks, encouraging people to
withdraw their money in protest at
the global financial crisis. In 2012, he
announced he was collecting the 500
signatures from elected officials neces-
sary to stand for president, only to
reveal the next day that it was a stunt
to highlight the French housing crisis.
In 2015, he condemned western govern-
ments for their failure to support refu-
gees fleeing wars started or inflamed by
the west.
‘If I don’t have the opportunity to
express myself, I prefer to die.’ Photo-
graphs: Pål Hansen/The Guardian
Would he ever go into politics? No,
he says; conventional politics is not the
solution, as far as he is concerned. He
would rather say his piece through his
art – whether it be music, photography,
poetry, painting or acting. “I do care
about the world, and I used to talk
about it, but it destroyed my health,
because I feel it too strongly. Now, I
prefer to play in a movie like Inhuman
Resources [the 2020 Netflix series in
which he starred]. I prefer artists like
Banksy and Ai Weiwei. There is one
song that talks about the state of the
world. Now, I prefer to express myself
in song. I think it’s stronger and more
useful than talking.”
I tell him I interviewed Bansky. “You
met him? No! He was hidden?” No, I
say – face to face. He sounds so excited.
“He’s the Massive Attack singer?” No, I
say. Now, he is disappointed. “But how
do you know this is Banksy? Yes, ex-
actly. You know why I say that? Because
I am Banksy,” he deadpans. Cantona is
obsessed with the anonymous graffiti
artist. I notice his arm is tattooed with
Banksy’s Girl With Balloon. He had the
tattoo done about 10 years ago. I tell
him that would be worth a fortune – a
Banksy tattoo on Cantona’s arm. Typi-
cally, it reminds him of a movie. “Have
you seen the French movie with Jean
Gabin, Le Tatoué? He has a Modigliani
tattoo on his back, so an art dealer tries
to scrape it off.”
So he has ruled out a career in poli-
tics, but he picks out one thing he could
change in the world. “Artificial intel-
ligence. The people we call geniuses, for
Damn.” Dixon pays tribute to his hero
Morrison – who he describes as “the
greatest rapper of all time” – with this
linguistic curiosity, uttered in his warm,
often reedy, voice.
Dixon is also clearly working to
squish For My Mama’s sprawl into
more traditional structures. This im-
pulse yields a handful of fleet, invigo-
rating pop songs, including two high-
lights that create a neat mirror image:
the warm, flute-filled Run, Run, Run, a
39
me, are the most stupid people in the
world to create these things. They will
destroy humanity and the planet.” He
is fearful for his children’s generation
– their jobs, their sanity, their climate.
“At the same time, I’m very optimistic.
Because this generation can do some-
thing. We have to be optimists. We have
to believe in them. They are our sa-
viours.”
Is he surprised by how things have
turned out for him post-football? “Yes. I
think about my life – the life of a lucky
man who has had the opportunity to
express himself in different ways. It was
in sport; now, it’s in any kind of art. If
I don’t have the opportunity to express
myself, I prefer to die. I just need chal-
lenge. To feel alive, I need to feel fire
inside me.”
Now, he can’t wait to express him-
self on the road with his music. So
much is unpredictable, so much can
go wrong, he says, and that is when
it becomes closest to the magic of
sport. “What I like in life is all the
imperfections. How you use the imper-
fection. How it becomes worse, or the
energy gives you something positive
that you will never have if you have that
second chance. On stage, it’s the same
as in life. You have a moment and it’s
how you answer it, how you react. It’s
great to have this kind of imperfection.”
He is relishing the prospect of being
on stage, luxuriating in the conflicted
energy of an audience. “As I say in the
song, people either love me or they hate
me.”
It’s time for Cantona to have his
photo taken. Last question, the pub-
licist says. I ask Cantona what he would
ask himself. He thinks about it. “Myself?
Last question? I would ask: how many
facets do you have? Because in my life
I have done a lot of things.” And your
answer would be? “I will answer that I
have as many facets as the photo of my
psychiatrist has pixels.” And with that,
he grins, giggles and leaves.
•The Friends We Lost is released
today. Eric Cantona tours in October (26
Oct, Stoller Hall, Manchester; 28 Oct,
Bloomsbury Theatre, London; 31 Oct,
Liberty Hall, Dublin).
I care about the
world. I used to talk
about it, but it
destroyed my health,
because I feel it too
strongly
paean to survival and friendship; and
Tyler Forever, a booming trap song
that pays tribute to a late friend. On
the latter, he repeats the phrase “Tyler
forever”, before interjecting: “Nah, this
chorus ain’t clever” – the point instead,
he raps, is to make people remember.
Dixon clearly loves florid language, but
his genius lies in knowing when less is
more.

40
British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward
Enninful promoted to new role
Chloe Mac Donnell
It’s one of the most coveted jobs in fa-
shion. But, six years after being named
editor-in-chief of British Vogue, Edward
Enninful is stepping down from the
position. Or, rather, stepping up to take
a new global role at the publisher
Condé Nast that invites speculation he
occupies pole position to one day take
over from the legendary editor-in-chief,
Anna Wintour.
“I am excited to share that from
next year I will be stepping into the
newly appointed position of editorial
advisor of British Vogue and global
creative and cultural advisor of Vogue,
where I will continue to contribute to
the creative and cultural success of the
Vogue brand globally while having the
freedom to take on broader creative
projects,” Enninful wrote to staff.
He said the promotion had come
after discussions with Wintour, the
editor of American Vogue, and Roger
Lynch, the chief executive officer of
Condé Nast, about how he could “play
a broader role in enhancing Vogue glo-
bally.”
He will continue to report to Win-
tour, who also holds the title of global
chief content officer for Condé Nast.
Insiders said the hunt for a replace-
ment was already under way and the
role would be posted publicly. However,
How to get the quiet luxury look without the
vulgar price tag
Jess Cartner-Morley
You will have heard, by now, about
“quiet luxury”, which has (quietly)
established itself as the dominant aes-
thetic* of 2023. (*Explainer: we don’t
say “trend” any more. Aesthetic sounds
a bit less … basic? Capitalist? But to
be clear, in a fashion context it means
pretty much the same thing.)
Quiet luxury is Gwyneth Paltrow
defending her right to ski – something
like that, the details elude me – co-
cooned in a creamy merino knit from
The Row that costs more than a grand.
(Like, how rich do you have to be to
spend that on a sweater that isn’t even
cashmere?) Quiet luxury is the subtle
flex of Kendall Roy in an unbranded
black baseball cap from Italian luxury
house Loro Piana and Tom Ford sneak-
ers. It is Mark Zuckerberg in his sig-
nature charcoal-grey T-shirt, which he
orders from Brunello Cucinelli in Milan
instead of buying from Gap.
Spending a fortune on quiet luxury
is supposed to be dead classy, but ac-
tually I think it’s sort of gross. There is
something vulgar about the dog-whis-
tle of very rich people dressing in a code
that only other very rich people will rec-
ognise. As if they don’t even care about
how they look to people on the street,
so long as people in the business-class
lounge get it.
I appreciate the usefulness of a well-
Fashion
Edward Enninful at the Cannes film festival in May. The move invites speculation he occupies pole position to one day succeed Anna
Wintour. Photograph: Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP
the position will no longer bear the co-
veted title of “editor-in chief.” Instead
they will be addressed as “head of edi-
torial content”.
This is a move to bring British
Vogue in line with Condé Nast’s consol-
idation strategy. Designed to reduce
costs, key editors oversee titles across
different markets and content is shared
globally. The restructure was first an-
Photographer: Tom J Johnson. Styling: Melanie Wilkinson
fitting navy blazer as much as anyone.
Quiet luxury looks great. Soft neutral
colours; a breathable, semi-skim sil-
houette that isn’t skintight; well-chosen
simple pieces that aren’t gussied up
with embroidery or slogans or sequins
or logos: this is all excellent.
The only naff part of quiet luxury
is the subtext of money, the subliminal
nounced in 2020 after years of losses, in
the hope of returning to profitability.
In addition to editing British Vogue,
Enninful oversees the title in France,
Italy, Germany and Spain.
While Vogue covers have remained
unique to each country, many fashion
shoots and interviews found in each
market are now shared.
Enninful is hotly tipped to succeed
flashing dollar signs of a wardrobe that
is trying too hard to send the right sig-
nals to other rich people. Quiet luxury
is way more chic when you rip that sub-
text right out.
The much, much classier way to do
it is to forget all the ludicrous price
tags and the in-the-know Italian her-
itage designer labels and embrace the
Wintour, who has been in charge of
American Vogue since 1988. His new
role puts him in pole positionwhen she
does leave.
Wintour hinted earlier this week
that a change could be under way.
Asked during an interview with the
Guardian on Wednesday if she would
ever return to her home town of
London, Wintour said US Vogue’s crea-
trend – sorry, aesthetic – without paying
through the nose for it. Throwing silly
money at what are in essence ordinary
clothes is for people with more money
than sense.
Quiet luxury can be surprisingly
practical. Take luggage, for example.
Seriously rich people travel with soft
holdalls rather than wheelie cases be-
The Guardian Saturday 3 June 2023
tive editorial director had already
moved and “I’m not far behind”.
Enninful was named Alexandra
Shulman’s successor in 2017, when she
departed the British title after 25 years
at the helm.
Prior to this, he worked as the fa-
shion director of W magazine (another
Condé Nast title) since 2011 and had
contributed to Italian Vogue since 1998
and American Vogue since 2006.
His appointment at British Vogue
made him the first man, and first black
editor, to hold the title.
Announcing his appointment at the
time, Condé Nast described Enninful as
“an influential figure in the commun-
ities of fashion, Hollywood and music
which shape the cultural zeitgeist”.
Since his appointment, he has re-
ceived wide acclaim for championing
diversity and inclusivity. Cover stars
have included global pop stars such
as Rihanna, activists including Greta
Thunberg, the football player Marcus
Rashford, an 85-year-old Judi Dench,
and – most recently – a vanguard of
disabled talent.
This month, British Vogue released
a braille edition for the first time in
its 107-year history. The May issue of
the publication was also made available
in audio format to increase access for
blind and partially sighted people.
cause when you get driven to the steps
of your private jet, you don’t have to
worry about a sweaty schlep through
Gatwick’s south terminal. But the soft
holdall is once again becoming the
smart choice for us norms, since air-
lines started whacking extra charges on
any bag that can’t be squished under
the seat in front of you.
The unfussy take on beauty that
quiet luxury celebrates – hair combed
into a slicked-back bun at the nape of
the neck, a slick of clear nail polish – re-
quires a great deal less time and money
spent in the salon than a bouncy blow
dry and jazzy nail art. Best of all, quiet
luxury insists on comfort: a lightweight
knit and wide-legged, pleat-front trous-
ers for work, rather than a shivery
sleeveless sheath dress. Ballet pumps
instead of spike heels.
The mood music of stealth wealth
around quiet luxury is irritating, but if
we can steal the look for next to noth-
ing, what’s not like? Top-to-toe pale tai-
loring may be a bit anxiety-inducing to
commute in, but a well-ironed white
T-shirt tucked into dark jeans hits the
right pristine note.
Quiet-luxury accessorising does not
call for diamonds or pearls – all you
need is a gold chain necklace and stud
or hoop earrings. (And wearing the
same necklace and earrings every day
is peak quiet luxury, so you don’t even
Continued on page 41
Saturday 3 June 2023 The Guardian
Continued from page 40
have to take them off at night.)
Succession finale’s most talked-about
fashion item is £11 Walmart T-shirt
Chloe Mac Donnell
After all the £2,400 baseball caps and
£5,250 leather jackets, who was ex-
pecting the fashion item to cause the
biggest furore in the Succession finale
to be an £11 T-shirt from the mass US
retail chain Walmart? And yet, here we
are.
The baby blue T-shirt with three
stripes on its sleeves is worn by Roman
Roy, played by Kieran Culkin, when he
hides out at his mother’s beach house
in Barbados. Social media was quick to
identify it was actually a child’s T-shirt.
Throughout the four seasons, the
show’s costume designer, Michelle Mat-
land, has carefully curated each cha-
racter’s look using what they wear
to signify much more than just their
wealth. Just as Peter’s precious cheese,
which Roman licked all over, was iden-
tified as being Isle of Mull cheddar, the
details have proven to be as enticing as
the plotline.
That Roman reverts to an infantile
state, tantrum et al, and does so while
wearing a child’s T-shirt, is unlikely to
This summer’s holiday ‘it’ bag? A no-frills,
budget airline polyester carry-on
Chloe Mac Donnell
Nothing evokes summer wanderlust
faster than a film peppered with gla-
morous luggage moments. In Rear
Window, Grace Kelly travels with a
sleek Mark Cross overnight case; in
Spectre, James Bond uses a Globe-
trotter trolley bag; while even Harry
Potter boards the Hogwarts Express
with an embossed trunk.
The reality is a little harsher. Rather
than sleek monogrammed cases and
trolleys stacked neatly with leather
portmanteaus, the bag you are most
likely to see at the departure gates this
year is a £15.99 polyester duffle sold on
Amazon.
Dubbed the “under seat, carry-on
bag” it measures just 35cm x 20cm x
20cm, meaning it meets the stringent
sizing rules of airlines including Rya-
nair, EasyJet, Wizz Air and British Air-
ways.
Similar to the budget airlines, it’s
a no frills bag. The material is thin, it
weighs 0.3kg, there is one mesh side-
pocket and a handheld strap. Despite
this, it has sold out multiple times
across the shopping platform.
Like all modern day heroes, the bag
first came to prominence on TikTok
when user @franchescarosee posted a
50-second video of herself packing for
a holiday last year, which has now been
watched more than 2.5m times. As with
Uniqlo’s hit crossbody bag, it also has a
Fashion
Don’t overthink it. You don’t need
to throw money at quiet luxury. In fact
(whisper it) it is way more chic if you
Roman licks Peter’s cheese in a scene from the Succession finale. Photograph: HBO
have been accidental.
“It’s possible it was deliberately
chosen to signify his defeated spirit and
to foreshadow his career defeat,” says
The must-have bag of the summer? A carry-on holdall. Photograph: izusek/Getty Images
seemingly magical ability to never run
out of room: into the bag went four bi-
kinis, multiple day and evening dresses,
gym gear, sandals, loungewear, sun-
glasses, toiletries, hair straighteners, a
small beach bag, various plug adaptors
and chargers, a camera, and a laptop.
“I honestly could have put so much in
there as well,” she says as she films her-
self en route to the airport.
Online the bag quickly earned the
moniker “viral Ryanair cabin bag”, with
Amazon sellers even adding it into their
product descriptions.
Twelve months later, the hashtag
has been viewed more than 3m times,
with masses of users uploading sim-
ilar videos of themselves packing every-
thing from Birkenstocks to duty-free-
sized Toblerone bars.
Its popularity is perhaps unsur-
don’t.
Model: Lynn Zhang at Body London.
Hair and make up: Carol Morley at
Amy Odell, author of the newsletter
Back Row. “It’s also possible the cos-
tume team imagined him washing up
at his mom’s house and just throwing
prising, given that navigating bag costs
when flying is an arduous task.
Some airlines let you take on a bag
that fits in the overhead locker for free,
others charge a high fee – and some
fees work out higher than the price
of the flight itself. There’s also often
a 10kg weight limit, and considering
some bags weigh half of that when
empty, it doesn’t leave much room for
more than the essentials.
Anyone that has stood with a pile
of books under one arm while piling
clothing on to themselves like a game
of Buckaroo to try and avoid an excess
baggage charge will understand this
specific type of pain/humiliation. Why
not opt out of this baggage incubus
altogether by choosing what is tech-
nically classed as a handbag? Best of all,
the airlines charge nothing for it. Some
Carol Hayes Management. Blazer and
jeans: both Reiss. T-shirt: Hanro. Neck-
lace: Crystal Haze. Shoes: Ivylee Copen-
on something he had lying around in a
drawer there from a long time ago.”
Much has been written about the
characters’ unbranded designer cloth-
even seem to be on board with the idea.
“Play by the rules we can be besties,”
reads a comment from the official Rya-
niar TikTok account under a video of a
user smugly sliding her bag into the lug-
gage size-checker. “A prepared queen,”
reads another.
The viral bag (pictured above)
represents a major shakeup to the
world of luggage. For decades, a wheely
suitcase has been the norm. They
are often considered aspirational, with
shots of celebrities gliding through the
arrivals hall with designer luggage such
as Louis Vuitton’s Horizon case or
Rimowa’s aluminium version in hand.
On Keeping Up With the Karda-
shians, when boarding Kim’s private
jet – dubbed “Kim Air” – the family
are filmed with staff ferrying a trol-
ley of designer cases behind them.
More recently came a slew of wheely-
case brands targeted at the millen-
nial market. In 2018, the New York
Times asked whether Away’s hard-
shelled pastel pink version with an in-
built phone charger was “the suitcase of
the summer”.
Five years later – and despite fears
that, post-pandemic, people would be
wary of travelling – there’s a “revenge
travel” boom, with a significant increase
in people wanting to make up for time
and experiences lost.
Even the cost of living crisis hasn’t
slowed the effect, with money spent on
flights and holidays rising in the first
three months of 2023 compared to the
41
hagen
ing – the show turned the neologism
“stealth wealth” mainstream.
Matland uses high street brands in
the same way she does luxury, as a
discreet visual tool, symbolising a cha-
racter’s place in the Roys’ moneyed
world. As a corporate outsider, Gerry
wears suits from Hobbs, while Willa
wears dresses from Sandro, bought
before she had access to Connor’s bank
card. When Shiv is in her ostensibly lib-
eral era, she wears jumpers from H&M
and dresses from Ted Baker, not power
blazers from Ralph Lauren.
In all likelihood, Roman probably
last wore the T-shirt as a teenager
which is why his frugal mother – her
fridge features “sprouting potatoes and
war time pickles” – has hung on to it.
Either way, in real life the T-shirt
sold out within hours. Meanwhile, the
£440 white cotton Loro Piana shirt that
Kendall wears as Roman pours a kitch-
en cupboard concoction over his head
remains widely available.
The black Kono duffle bag. Photograph:
Kono
previous year. However, there has been
a change in the type of travel people are
embarking on, with a shift towards low-
cost airlines and shorter package holi-
days.
This has had a knock-on effect
on the type of luggage needed, with
brands finding more success with soft
duffle-type bags. “Wheels are a bit
clunky and can hold you back,” says Mi-
chael Kushner, co-founder of Baboon to
the Moon, a direct-to-consumer brand
whose audience of “mostly 18- to 28-
year-olds” rave online about its water-
proof and neon-coloured Go-Bags.
“They don’t want to look like a tour-
ist,” says Kushner. “We have a lot of
people who talk about going right from
the airport to a bar or restaurant. Car-
rying a soft bag, it’s a little easier to be
nimble.”
Even Away has pivoted to an “out-
Continued on page 42

42
Continued from page 41
door line” featuring a five-day duffle
bag, while Samsonite – loved by busi-
ness travellers for its sturdy wheeled
Breast cancer drug cuts risk of most common
form returning by 25%
Andrew Gregory Health editor in
Chicago
Thousands of women with the world’s
most common form of breast cancer
could benefit from a blockbuster drug
that helps them live longer and cuts the
risk of the disease returning by a quar-
ter.
More than 2 million people glo-
bally are diagnosed each year with
the disease, which is the world’s most
prevalent cancer. Although treatments
have improved in recent decades,
many patients will later experience the
cancer returning. If a recurrence does
occur, it is often at a more advanced
stage.
Now, “very promising” research pre-
sented at the American Society of Clin-
ical Oncology (Asco) annual meeting,
the world’s largest cancer conference,
suggests a new targeted therapy drug,
ribociclib, could be gamechanging. Trial
results show it can boost survival
and significantly slash the chances of
cancer coming back.
Ribociclib has previously shown
survival benefits in breast cancer pa-
tients whose disease has spread. But
in the new study, researchers discov-
ered it may also boost outcomes for pa-
tients with much earlier-stage disease,
including those with cancer that has
not yet spread to the lymph nodes.
The findings excited researchers
and oncologists at Asco’s annual meet-
ing in Chicago because the data sug-
gests the drug, also known as Kisqali,
could ward off the threat of cancer
returning in a broad population, and
change global practice.
Ribociclib is a targeted therapy
called a small molecule inhibitor. It
works by targeting proteins in breast
New drug could help thousands with chronic
heart disease in England
Andrew Gregory Health editor
A first-of-its-kind treatment targeting
a chronic heart disease could offer a
“greater hope” to thousands of people
living with the condition.
The National Institute for Health
and Care Excellence (Nice) has ap-
proved the use of mavacamten in draft
guidance to the NHS. It would be used
to treat those with obstructive hyper-
trophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), with
about 7,000 people expected to benefit.
The drug, also known as Camzyos, is
the first to specifically target the chron-
ic disease, which in 50% of cases is
caused by an inherited genetic muta-
tion. It would be prescribed alongside
Fashion / Science
cases – has added a range of squashy
bags.
Last year a combination of strikes,
under-staffing and cancellations led to
a 10-year high of lost luggage, with
Ribociclib may boost outcomes for patients with much earlier-stage breast cancer than previously shown. Photograph: Rui Vieira/PA
cancer cells called CDK4 and CDK6,
which modulate cell growth, including
the growth of cancer cells.
The late-stage trial of the drug
showed it cut the risk of recurrence by
25% when used with standard hormone
therapy, rather than hormone therapy
alone, after traditional treatments.
It has already been approved by
regulators, including in the UK and US,
to treat breast cancer that has spread
to other body parts. But the earlier-
stage setting, when tumours can still be
surgically removed, is seen as a much
bigger breakthrough due to the huge
numbers of patients it could help.
Breast cancer patients are typically
offered surgery and chemotherapy or
radiation treatment before taking hor-
mone blocking drugs to try to stop the
disease recurring.
HCM, which can occur in younger people who may formerly have had active life-
styles, until now has had no specific treatment targeting its underlying cause. Photograph:
MattLphotography/Alamy
photos of suitcases piled up at air-
ports around the world. This year ex-
perts say more strikes and even higher
passenger numbers could lead to that
number being topped. It’s the perfect
Adding ribociclib to hormone ther-
apy showed a “significant improve-
ment” in disease-free survival times for
patients with hormone receptor-posi-
tive, HER2-negative early-stage breast
cancer, the study found.
Hormone receptor-positive, HER2-
negative breast cancer is the most
common subtype of the disease,
making up nearly 70% of all breast
cancer cases in the US.
“Currently, approved targeted treat-
ments can only be used in a small popu-
lation of patients diagnosed with hor-
mone receptor-positive, HER2-negative
early breast cancer, leaving many with-
out an effective treatment option for
reducing risk of the cancer returning,”
said lead author Dr Dennis Slamon, the
director of clinical and translational re-
search at the UCLA Jonsson Compre-
catalyst for the viral bag market. After
all, there are few airport humblebrags
bigger than the satisfaction of opting
out of playing suitcase roulette at bag-
gage reclaim.
hensive Cancer Center in Los Angeles.
About one-third of those with stage
two hormone receptor-positive, HER2-
negative disease experience a recur-
rence after standard treatment and
more than half of people with stage
three disease will see their cancer
return, said Slamon.
“Thus, there is a significant unmet
need for both reducing the risk of
recurrence and providing a tolerable
treatment option that keeps patients
cancer-free without disrupting their
daily life.”
The Natalee study involved 5,101 pa-
tients who were given either ribociclib
for three years alongside five years
of hormonal therapy or the hormonal
therapy alone.
After three years, 90.4% of those
taking ribociclib remained free of dis-
other medicines such as beta blockers,
non-dihydropyridine calcium channel
blockers or disopyramide.
Those with obstructive HCM have
excessive heart muscle contractions,
which cause the organ to become thick-
ened and stiff and stop it from pump-
ing sufficient blood to meet the body’s
needs.
Symptoms include tiredness, diz-
ziness, shortness of breath, chest pains
and heart palpitations, and it can lead
to complications such as an irregular
heartbeat, heart failure, stroke and
sudden cardiac death.
In its draft guidance, Nice said clin-
ical trials suggested that mavacamten
plus standard care was more effective
than standard care alone and could
The Guardian Saturday 3 June 2023
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ease, compared with 87.1% in the hor-
monal therapy alone group. Ribociclib
also showed more favourable outcomes
in overall survival, recurrence-free sur-
vival, and distant disease-free survival,
according to the researchers.
“While early, these results are very
promising and suggest that there
will be a role for adjuvant ribo-
ciclib for stage two and higher hor-
mone receptor-positive, HER2-negative
breast cancer,” said Dr Rita Nanda, an
Asco expert in Chicago, who was not in-
volved with the study.
Dr Kotryna Temcinaite, the head
of research communications at Breast
Cancer Now, hailed the results as posi-
tive news for patients. “Researchers
found that when combined with hor-
mone therapy, ribociclib significantly
reduced the chances of the disease
returning in women with oestrogen
receptor-positive, HER2-negative pri-
mary breast cancer.
“We know many women and their
loved ones worry about breast cancer
returning after treatment so new treat-
ments like ribociclib, which can reduce
this risk, are incredibly welcome.
“This treatment must now be swift-
ly submitted for licensing, and assessed
for use on the NHS, so this group of
primary breast cancer patients have the
chance to benefit from it as soon as
possible.”
Dr Catherine Elliott, director of re-
search and partnerships at Cancer Re-
search UK, said: “While more research
is required, the initial early results from
the ongoing Natalee trial are promising.
“The combination of ribociclib and
hormonal therapy could provide a new
treatment option for people with this
type of early-stage breast cancer, reduc-
ing the risk of the disease coming back
and improving survival.”
delay the need for surgery.
Helen Knight, the director of medi-
cines evaluation at Nice, said the move
was “another example” of the organi-
sation’s “commitment to drive early
access to innovative new treatments”.
Mavacamten is yet to be licensed
for use in the UK and Nice will not pub-
lish its final guidance on the drug until
it has been approved.
Knight added: “Obstructive hyper-
trophic cardiomyopathy is a disease for
which, until now, there has been no spe-
cific treatment that targets its under-
lying cause. It has a very high and wide-
ranging impact on quality of life and be-
cause it can develop at any age, it can
Continued on page 43
Saturday 3 June 2023 The Guardian
Continued from page 42
occur in younger people who may for-
merly have had very active lifestyles.
“The treatments currently used to
Power of touch: how blind women are
helping detect breast cancer in India
Priti Salian in Bengaluru
The most satisfying part of Ritika
Maurya’s work is reassuring the an-
xious. “Women fear coming for breast
examinations,” says Maurya. “What if a
lump is found in my breast? Will that
be the end of my life? These are some
of the questions that haunt them all the
time.”
Maurya is, she says, “still learning to
be good at this”. As a blind child, she
had a sheltered upbringing with protec-
tive parents who rarely let her leave the
house.
Now aged 23, she is a trainee med-
ical tactile examiner (MTE) at Enable
India, a disability rights organisation
in the southern city of Bengaluru –
part of a project where visually im-
paired women are taught to use touch
to detect breast lumps or changes that
might mean a lurking cancer.
Maurya chats with her clients about
their day, offers them water and holds
their hands. She loves her work.
Devised by a German gynaecologist,
Dr Frank Hoffmann, through his
social enterprise Discovering Hands,
the method was brought to India in
2017 and has also expanded to Colom-
bia, Mexico, Austria and Switzerland.
However, the programme has been
paused in Colombia and Mexico since
the pandemic.
Visually impaired women use
braille-marked documentation tapes to
measure the breast centimetre by centi-
metre. Each examination lasts 30-40
minutes and findings are passed on to
a doctor who decides on any further
assessment.
Blood test for 50 types of cancer could speed
up diagnosis, study suggests
Andrew Gregory Health editor in
Chicago
A blood test for more than 50 forms of
cancer could help speed up diagnosis
and fast-track patients for treatment, a
study suggests.
NHS trial results of the liquid
biopsy, published at the world’s largest
cancer conference in the US, suggest
the Galleri blood test has the potential
to spot and rule out cancer in people
with symptoms.
The test detects tiny fragments of
tumour DNA in the bloodstream. It
alerts doctors as to whether a cancer
signal has been detected, and predicts
where in the body that signal may have
originated.
Experts welcomed the findings
from the trial but said more research
Science
try to manage symptoms are asso-
ciated with side-effects and are often
ineffective. We’re therefore pleased
to be able to recommend a treat-
ment that has the potential to alter
Ritika Maurya learning about anatomy. Blind in one eye and with only poor vision in the
other, the trainee says her impairment heightens her tactile abilities. Photograph: Priti Salian
MTEs can detect “lumps as tiny
as 6-8mm, as opposed to the larger,
10-20mm ones sighted physicians are
able to find”, Hoffman says. His system
was introduced in India by the NAB
India Centre for Blind Women and
Disability Studies (NABCBW) in Delhi,
where a study this year of tactile exami-
nations on 1,338 women found 78% of
malignant cancers were detected and
only 1% missed.
An earlier study in 2019 comparing
the diagnostic accuracy of doctors and
visually impaired MTEs found “clin-
ical breast exams by MTEs with im-
paired vision appear to have an accu-
racy level similar to that of exami-
nations by physicians or a combination
of both”.
Training was expanded to Ben-
galuru in 2020 by Enable India. Its
founder, Shanti Raghavan, says they
want breast-cancer screening to be
available in “every village” of India.
Since 2017, 18 MTEs have been
The Galleri test detects tiny fragments of tumour DNA in the bloodstream. Photograph:
migstock/Alamy
would be needed before the test, made
by the California company Grail, could
be rolled out in healthcare systems.
The Symplify study, led by the
the course of obstructive hypertrophic
cardiomyopathy and offer greater hope
to people with it.”
Prof Sir Nilesh Samani, the med-
ical director at the British Heart
trained in Bengaluru and Delhi; six are
now employed in cancer hospitals. The
next eight trainees, of whom Maurya is
one, are about to graduate and the next
cohort will be chosen soon after.
Breast cancer is the most com-
monly diagnosed cancer worldwide. In
India, it is the leading cause of death
from cancer among women, but 60%
of cases are diagnosed at stage three or
four of the disease, resulting in a signif-
icant reduction in survival rates.
MTEs are a useful tool in the fight to
change that picture says Dr Poovamma
CU, a surgical oncologist at Cytecare, a
hospital in Bengaluru that employs two
of the women.
“Women are uncomfortable about
doing breast self-examinations and
often don’t realise there’s a lump in
their breast until it has grown to 4cm
or 5cm,” she says.
“Routine breast cancer screen-
ings by MTEs in urban and rural
communities and workplaces, where
University of Oxford, involved 5,461
people in England and Wales who were
referred to hospital by their GP with
suspected cancer. Its results are being
Foundation, said: “This is very wel-
come news for patients with obstruc-
tive HCM, who often have debilitating
symptoms that are not improved by
current treatments. Mavacamten pro-
mammograms and ultrasound ma-
chines cannot reach, can make a
significant impact in India, where
robust government-run screening pro-
grammes don’t exist,” she says.
Maurya, who has no vision in one
eye and can only see shapes from
the other, says her impairment heigh-
tens her tactile abilities – and science
supports her. A blind examiner also
means women feel more comfortable
undressing, she says.Moving 1,300km
(830 miles) away last July to Bengaluru,
where she shares a room with another
trainee, was a huge step for Maurya,
whose world in Indore had been re-
stricted to her home and family: her
parents did not let her leave the house
alone. “They would say: ‘What if you
bump into something and hurt your-
self?’” she says.
“I felt awkward and uncomfortable
talking to anyone, thinking that I had
no talent and skills.”
There are estimated to be 15 million
women in India with visual impairment
but only 5% of them have a chance to
earn a living, according to NAB.
For Maurya, the programme struck
her as a rare opportunity.
“I wanted to prove myself and show
others that I could survive in this
world,” says Maurya, who convinced her
parents to let her try it.
At Enable India, Maurya was given a
white cane and mobility training so she
could start moving independently from
the NGO to her accommodation.
She learned human physiology and
anatomy, using 3D models, and was
awe-struck, realising how much she
had missed out on. “I felt, ‘oh, I could
have studied science in school as well’,
presented at the American Society of
Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting in
Chicago.
The test correctly revealed two-
thirds of cancers among those in the
study. In 85% of those positive cases, it
was also able to pinpoint the original
site of cancer. It was more accurate in
older patients and those with more ad-
vanced cancers, according to the trial
results.
Mark Middleton, a professor of
experimental cancer medicine at
Oxford, who led the trial, said the test
had “potential for identifying people
going to see their GP who are cur-
rently not referred urgently to inves-
tigate cancer … who do need testing”.
It was also likely the test could
speed up diagnosis “where it is not cer-
tain which rapid diagnostic pathway is
the right one”, Middleton said.
43
vides a real breakthrough, and it is good
to see that its approval has been fast-
tracked by Nice so patients can ben-
efit from an improved quality of life
sooner.”
Maurya using brailletape to practise
examination techniques on a dummy.
Photograph: P Salian
if only if I was taught through the
‘touch and feel’ methodology,” Maurya
says.
In the past year, the trainees have
trekked to Thottikallu Falls, 30 miles
from Bengaluru, and played golf for the
first time. Maurya’s next step is a three-
month internship at a Bengaluru hos-
pital.
“The training has helped me accept
my disability,” she says. “Being an MTE
gives me the feeling that I have a
unique quality to do something that
only I can do as a disabled woman.”
This reporting was funded by the
European Journalism Centre
The training has
helped me accept my
disability. It gives me
the feeling I have a
unique ability as a
disabled woman
Ritika Maurya
“The first use case above has the
potential to diagnose cancers earlier;
the second and third have the poten-
tial to help achieve cancer targets (and
therefore reduce waiting for patients)
by reducing the overall number of tests
needed to diagnose cancers.”
Lawrence Young, a professor of
molecular oncology at the University
of Warwick, urged caution but added:
“This is an important study that shows
we are edging towards an era when
blood testing for cancer, alongside
other tests of symptomatic patients,
could really impact early diagnosis and
significantly improve clinical outcome.”
Dr Richard Lee, of the Institute of
Cancer Research in London, said test-
ing in patients with symptoms poten-
tially indicating cancer could help to
Continued on page 44

44
Continued from page 43
enable quicker diagnostic testing in
those deemed to be at high risk. “This
could result in earlier diagnosis of
cancer or faster reassurance for those
without cancer,” he added.
Prof Nicholas Turner, also of the
The existential threat from AI – and from
humans misusing it
Regarding Jonathan Freedland’s article
about AI (The future of AI is chilling –
humans have to act together to over-
come this threat to civilisation, 26 May),
isn’t worrying about whether an AI is
“sentient” rather like worrying whether
a prosthetic limb is “alive”? There isn’t
even any evidence that “sentience” is a
thing. More likely, like life, it is a bunch
of distinct capabilities interacting, and
“AI” (ie disembodied artificial intellect)
is unlikely to reproduce more than a
couple of those capabilities.
That’s because it is an attempt to
reproduce the function of just a small
part of the human brain: more partic-
ularly, of the evolutionarily new part.
Our motivation to pursue self-inter-
est comes from a billion years of evo-
lution of the old brain, which AI is not
based upon. The real threat is from
humans misusing AI for their own ends,
and from the fact that the mechan-
isms we have evolved to recognise
other creatures with minds like ours are
(as Freedland highlighted) too easily
fooled by superficial evidence.Roger
HainesLondon
• Isaac Asimov’s book I, Robot
Former West Ham players walk off over
alleged racial abuse at US tournament
PA Media
Former West Ham players representing
the club at a seven-a-side soccer tour-
nament in North Carolina walked off
the pitch after alleged racial abuse.
The alleged incident occurred
against Dallas United in The Soccer
Tournament (TST) on Thursday even-
ing. Dallas have withdrawn from the
$1.25m (£1m) competition following the
West Ham team’s walk-off, which came
towards the end of the game with
Dallas leading 2-0.
Anton Ferdinand, Carlton Cole,
Matt Jarvis, Marlon Harewood, Frank
Nouble, Zavon Hines and Jimmy
Walker are among the players taking
part in North Carolina. It has not been
confirmed what was said, or to which
player, but Ferdinand reportedly told
media at the game that the players had
left the field due to racism.
“After conducting an investigation
into the final moments of the match
between West Ham United and Dallas
United, we have concluded that Dallas
Science / Sport
Institute of Cancer Research, said the
study provided valuable data that en-
hances the evidence liquid biopsies
could be used to more rapidly diag-
nose cancer in patients presenting with
symptoms.
“It could well be useful in the future
to fast-track patients into rapid-access
The 2004 film adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s book I, Robot, starring Will Smith. Photograph: Digital Domain/20th Century Fox/Allstar
makes useful reading. I quote the intro-
ductory page as follows.
The three laws of robotics: “1) A
robot may not injure a human being, or,
Anton Ferdinand reportedly told media at the game in North Carolina that his team were leaving the field due to racism. Photograph:
Adam Davy/PA
United violated TST’s code of conduct,”
read a statement from the organisers.
clinics, and especially in people where
imaging findings are uncertain,” said
Turner.
Dr David Crosby, the head of
prevention and early detection re-
search at Cancer Research UK, said:
“The findings from the study suggest
this test could be used to support GPs
through inaction allow a human being
to come to harm. 2) A robot must obey
the orders given it by human beings
except where such orders would con-
“We have been in dialogue with
leadership from both clubs and we are
to make clinical assessments, but much
more research is needed in a larger
trial to see if it could improve GP
assessment, and ultimately patient out-
comes.”
The NHS has also been using the
Galleri test in thousands of people
without symptoms, to see if it can
flict with the First Law. 3) A robot must
protect its own existence as long as
such protection does not conflict with
the First or Second Law.”
all aligned that the best path forward is
Dallas United withdrawing from [the]
The Guardian Saturday 3 June 2023
detect hidden cancers. Results are ex-
pected later this year. If successful, it
plans to roll the test out to about 1 mil-
lion people.
Asimov’s predictions, made more
than 70 years ago, imagined a time in
2058 when these laws would be neces-
sary. Things have moved faster than he
expected.Prof Paul HuxleyLondon
• Your article (Yes, you should be
worried about AI – but Matrix anal-
ogies hide a more insidious threat, 30
May) confirms much I have suspected
about the AI “existential threat” we’re
supposed to fear. It feels a bit like the
Y2K panic. It seems to follow the same
playbook. First, establish an overblown
future cause for corporate and political
concern, then sell the “solution”, which
will, of course, cost serious money in re-
search and consultancy fees.
The harms that SamanthaFloreani
describes are clear, current and in plain
sight, and the means to deal with them
are not hard to figure out. We don’t
need the snake oil salesmen for this.
Phyl Hyde Coventry
• Have an opinion on anything
you’ve read in the Guardian today?
Pleaseemailus your letter and it will
be considered for publication in ourlet-
terssection.
competition. All parties involved are
unified in wanting to make a statement
against racial insensitivity.
“We seek to run an event that is
not only fiercely high stakes for all
competitors, but also one in which all
competitors feel safe and protected,”
TST added. “As a result, tomorrow’s
game between Dallas United and Far
East United has been cancelled.”
The referee reportedly told players
he did not hear what was said, before
West Ham decided to walk off the pitch.
Wolves, Borussia Dortmund and Wrex-
ham are among the other European
teams who have former players taking
part in the event.
Dallas United wrote on Twitter:
“In light of the shadow cast by an
opposing player’s accusation during to-
night’s match, the Dallas United play-
ers unanimously decided to withdraw
from the remainder of the competition.
“Our coaches and staff fully support
the team’s decision. We thank TST 7v7
for the opportunity to compete in the
tournament.”
Saturday 3 June 2023 The Guardian
Outclassed Miami look no match for the
better team and the best player
Tom Dart
Maybe it was the thin air. Perhaps it
was fatigue in their 21st game since the
end of the regular season. Or just an
inevitable reversion towards normality
for the postseason’s greatest overa-
chievers.
Whatever it was, it was quickly clear
that anyone tuning in to the first game
of the NBA finals on Thursday in the
hope of witnessing a stirring mountain
tale starring a brave band of odds-de-
fying underdogs should have switched
off the game and streamed The Sound
of Music instead.
The most flagrant cause of the wide
margin of victory was the Miami Heat’s
failure to rack up enough points from
distance, especially from open looks
early in the game.
How many three-point attempts did
the Heat miss? Well, count the number
of car commercials during the breaks
in last night’s broadcast and double it.
That’s roughly how many. Put it this
way: if this series goes seven games,
you can forget about the US meeting
its Paris Agreement climate commit-
ments.
Miami’s one-third conversion rate –
13 from 39 attempts – was below their
lamentable regular-season average of
34.4%, the fourth-worst in the league.
Max Strus went 0 for 9. Yet before
this game, Erik Spoelstra’s side were the
best shooters from afar in the playoffs,
making 39%. They couldn’t atone from
the free throw line at Ball Arena –
remarkably, they were restricted to only
Miami 93-104 Denver: player ratings from
Game 1 of the NBA finals
Nicholas Levine
Miami
Jimmy Butler (SF) Bottom line: the
Heat are going to need much more from
their best player. Butler didn’t get to the
free-throw line once as the Denver de-
fense did a great job of forcing tough
two-pointers without fouling. 6
Caleb Martin (SF) The undrafted 27-
year-old was arguably the best player
in the Eastern Conference finals but a
complete non-factor in Game 1. He had
some good looks early that didn’t fall
and without seeing the ball go in, he
was unable to impact the game. 6
Bam Adebayo (C) Adebayo had
great energy and a regained confidence
in his shot. He made the Nuggets pay
in their drop ball screen coverage as he
showed a great touch in the mid-range.
He must do a better job of pressuring
the passer (Jokić). 8
Gabe Vincent (PG) Vincent made
Denver pay for packing it in the paint
as he shot it well from the perimeter.
Miami will need him to not only hit the
open ones, but create a few shots for
himself and team-mates to take some
pressure off of Butler. 7
Max Strus (SG) The 27-year-old wing
Sport
Miami’s Jimmy Butler was held to a playoff-low 13 points in Thursday’s Game 1 loss to the
Denver Nuggets. Photograph: Kyle Terada/USA Today Sports
two attempts, the fewest in playoffs his-
tory.
The Denver Nuggets dominated
from start to finish in front of their fans
in the franchise’s first ever NBA finals
game. At one stage Denver led by 24
points. The deficit was cut to a mere
nine points in the last three minutes –
for a couple of seconds. It was exciting,
in the way that a plate of broccoli might
seem exciting if the only other food in
your house is a bag of brussels sprouts.
The 11-point difference in Denver’s
104-93 victory even felt a tad meager
given the extent of their superiority.
Always competing, not quite compet-
itive, the visitors scampered and
sweated but the Nuggets smoothly
kept them at arm’s length with an
oleaginous ease that seemed almost
condescending.
With 27 points, 14 assists and 10 re-
bounds, Nikola Jokić notched a triple-
Denver’s Nikola Jokić, top, grabs a rebound over Miami’s Bam Adebayo during the second
half of Thursday’s opening game of the NBA finals. Photograph: Jack Dempsey/AP
had a game to forget. He missed all
10 of his field goal attempts, most of
which were open looks. When Denver
are forced into rotation, Miami need to
convert and Strus was unable to make
them pay all night. 3
Duncan Robinson (F) The Miami
sniper never got in a rhythm offen-
sively and was a liability on the other
end of the court. While the zone de-
fense was effective against the Celtics,
Denver were able to carve it up when
the Heat were forced out of their man-
to-man in order to hide Robinson on
double in his finals debut. Where was
the Serbian’s putative rival for series
MVP? Jimmy Butler was virtually irre-
levant.
The 33-year-old, who sold outra-
geously overpriced coffee in the 2020
lockdown bubble and is now report-
edly trademarking plans for a beve-
rage range, entered the venue wear-
ing a T-shirt that read on the front
“Take Us There”. He didn’t. Butler did
lead the Heat with seven assists, but
contributed only 13 points, his lowest
tally of this postseason. This was not
the Playoff Jimmy who’s been so instru-
mental in the Heat joining the 1998-99
New York Knicks as the only other
eighth seed to reach the finals.
This was Passerby Jimmy, a passive
performance (by his pugnacious stan-
dards) that impelled a reality check
rather than the continued suspension
of disbelief invited by Miami’s improb-
defense. 4
Haywood Highsmith (F) Highsmith
gave the heat signs of life in the fourth
quarter as he got hot from the peri-
meter. He plays with a high level of
self-belief and confidence and picked
up some of the slack for his team-mates
who shot poorly. 7
Kyle Lowry (PG) The veteran point
guard did a nice job of pushing the pace
and helping the Heat get into their of-
fense earlier in the shot clock. He com-
peted on both ends of the court and his
energy helped to keep Miami in striking
able toppling of the Milwaukee Bucks,
Knicks and Boston Celtics to reach this
showpiece. No longer, on Thursday’s
evidence, do Miami loosen while their
opponents tighten.
After all, the sixth-seeded 1994-95
Houston Rockets are the only team
seeded below fourth to have ever won
the championship. After all, while the
Heat beat Boston in Game 7 of the
Eastern Conference finals as recently
as Monday, relaxed and rested Denver
hadn’t played since 22 May. And prior to
Thursday, Miami had won only one of
the previous 10 meetings between the
teams.
“We shot a lot of jump shots, myself
probably leading that pack, instead of
putting pressure on the rim, getting
lay-ups, getting to the free-throw line,”
Butler told reporters.
With Butler decaffeinated, Bam
Adebayo impressed on offense, top
scoring for the Heat with 26 points.
He was, however, less successful at his
primary (and virtually impossible) task,
keeping Jokić quiet.
Ominously for Miami, Jokić took
only three shots in the first half yet pro-
vided 10 assists as Denver racked up a
17-point lead. “I don’t need to shoot, and
I know I don’t need to score to affect the
game,” he said afterwards on ABC. He
was admirably aided by a 26-point night
from Jamal Murray.
The 28-year-old two-time league
MVP melds the surgical and the sub-
lime like no one else. “Nikola never
forces it,” the Nuggets coach, Michael
Malone, told reporters. “He’s going to
just pick you apart.”
distance. 7
Others Cody Zeller (8min), Omer
Yurtseven (1min), Nikola Jović (1min)
Denver
Aaron Gordon (PF) The 27-year-old
was efficient all night as he did most
of his damage in the paint, scoring off
of assists from his team-mates. His size
and athleticism makes it difficult for
the Heat to help off of him as he fi-
nishes above the rim or gets offensive
rebounds easily over guards coming
over to cover in rotation. 8
Michael Porter Jr (SF) It wasn’t a
great shooting night for Porter but
his activity all over the court ignited
the Nuggets. His defensive versatility
allows Denver to switch a lot of ball
screens without being punished. He
was also able to block or alter a number
of shots in the paint. 7
Nikola Jokić (C) A rare talent. This
was an efficient performance even for
the two-time MVP’s standards: Jokić
took only three shots in the first half,
but was the biggest reason the Nuggets
were ahead by 17 points and shooting
60% at the break. Not noted in the box
score is how many “screen assists” he
set for Jamal Murray. 9
Jamal Murray (PG) The in-form 26-
year-old was aggressive from the start,
45
The Nuggets led by as many as 24 points
in their emphatic Game 1 win over the Heat
on Thursday night. Photograph: Matthew
Stockman/Getty Images
On the positive side for Miami, at
least they carved out some oppor-
tunities to miss. More clinical shoot-
ing, allied to their ever-present inten-
sity, will make the task much harder
for Denver in the coming games. “I love
those looks that those guys get,” Spoel-
stra said, calling his players “ignitable. …
I love it when they see a couple, two or
three go down; that can turn into five or
six.”
Also, the back of Butler’s pre-game
T-shirt bore the message “Four More
[wins]”. That’s still the case, so he can
re-use it for Game 2 on Sunday.
On the other hand, the second
meeting is also in Denver, where the
Nuggets are now 9-0 in the postseason
this year. If the words on Butler’s top
still hold true after that game, it’s hard
to see how Miami, for all their expe-
rience and resilience, can ultimately
prevail against a better team with the
best player.
Miami’s Jimmy Butler, center, was
mostly contained by Denver’s well-drilled
defense on Thursday night. Photograph:
Jamie Schwaberow/Getty Images
looking for his shot within the flow
of the Nuggets’ offense. He and Jokić
had solutions for any coverage they saw
and they were able to get clean looks
for themselves or their team-mates all
game. 8
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (SG) KCP
has championship experience having
won a title with the Lakers in the 2020
bubble tournament. He did a nice job of
handling pressure without turning the
ball over and knocking down the few
open looks he had. 7
Jeff Green (PF) The 36-year-old for-
ward is another versatile defender who
can guard multiple positions. Green
didn’t impact the game much, but was
Continued on page 46

46
Continued from page 45
able to guard on the perimeter without
Imperious Jokić shines in NBA finals debut as
Nuggets take Game 1 from Heat
Associated Press
Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets
were facing some questions going into
their first NBA finals, and their answers
came in resounding fashion.
No, a week and a half off didn’t hurt
them.
And no, the NBA’s biggest stage isn’t
too big, either.
Jokić got a triple-double in his finals
debut, Jamal Murray scored 26 points
and the Nuggets had little trouble with
the cold-shooting Miami Heat on the
way to a 104-93 win in Game 1 on Thurs-
day night.
“I think that’s what the beauty of
this team is,” Murray said. “We have so
many different weapons and so many
different looks. You’ve got to guard eve-
rybody. ... Free-flowing, and it’s a lot of
fun.”
The Heat had been 3-0 in openers
so far in these playoffs, all on the road,
but Denver are still unbeaten at home.
Game 1 winners in the finals go on to
win the title nearly 70% of the time.
Advantage, Nuggets.
“That was one of my last messages
to the group before our game,” Nug-
gets coach Michael Malone said. “I re-
minded our group, if they didn’t know,
that Miami went into Milwaukee and
won Game 1. They went into the Garden
in New York City and won Game 1. They
won Game 1 up in Boston. So, we did
not want them coming in here taking
FA Cup final: how local rivalry turned into
global battle for brand supremacy
Paul MacInnes
It will be a mighty convoy, perhaps not
visible from space but certainly from
the verges of the M6. A minimum of 60
coaches, travelling south on Saturday
morning, will transport supporters of
Manchester’s two prestigious football
clubs to Wembley Stadium. There, the
men’s sides will contest a historic en-
counter, competing together in an FA
Cup final for the first time in their 140-
year history.
That there is greater anticipation
than usual for the traditional domes-
tic showpiece is not just down to its
unique matchup. The rivalry between
the red and blue sides of Manchester is
bubbling away at a notable temperature
and the final finds itself playing a cen-
tral role.
When United wrapped up their
league season a week ago, their man-
ager, Erik ten Hag, took to the Old
Trafford pitch. It is traditional to thank
the fans for their support but the Dut-
chman wanted to assure them of some-
thing more. “There’s still one game
Sport
needing help. 6
Bruce Brown Jr (SF) The 26-year-
old sparkplug came off the bench and
Nikola Jokić, left, recorded his ninth triple-double of the playoffs in Denver’s Game 1 win
over Miami on Thursday night. Photograph: Isaiah J Downing/USA Today Sports
control of the series on our court.”
Jokić was the one in control. The
two-time NBA MVP finished with 27
points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds for
the Nuggets, who waited 47 years to
make the finals and didn’t disappoint.
“The most important thing is to win
a game,” Jokić said after his ninth triple-
double of this year’s playoffs – his sixth
in his last seven games. “I’m trying to
win a game in any possible way.”
Aaron Gordon added 16 points and
Michael Porter Jr scored 14 for Denver,
which trailed for all of 34 seconds and
eventually led by as many as 24.
Bam Adebayo finished with 26
points and 13 rebounds for Miami,
which shot 41% for the game – 33%
from three-point range. Gabe Vincent
scored 19, Haywood Highsmith had 18
During his time as Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson described Manchester City as ‘noisy neighbours’. Photograph: Michael
Regan/Getty Images
to go and I’m sure these players will
give everything to beat Manchester City
next week,” he said.
helped the Nuggets sustain the lead
and momentum they built. He brings
energy and shotmaking to the Denver’s
and Jimmy Butler added 13 for the
Heat.
Miami were 2 for 2 from the foul line
– a night like none other in NBA playoff
history.
It tied the fewest free throws ever
made in a playoff game, broke the
record for fewest attempts from the
line in a playoff game – the previous
record was three – and set NBA finals
records for fewest free throws made
and attempted. The Los Angeles Lakers
had the previous marks there, going 3
for 5 from the line against Philadelphia
on 26 May 1983.
“We’ve got to attack the rim a lot
more, myself included,” Butler said.
Added Adebayo, tongue firmly in
cheek: “We made history”
Game 2 is in Denver on Sunday
United finished third and remain
without a Premier League title since
the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson in
second unit and executed in both of
those areas in Game 1. 7
night.
Miami opened the fourth quarter on
an 11-0 run, cutting an 84-63 deficit to
start the final period down to 84-74.
The Heat actually got within nine on
a three-pointer by Highsmith with 2:34
left, but no closer and there wasn’t any
doubt, either.
“It’s a long series,” Vincent said.
“First to four wins. Adjustments will be
made. And we will learn from this loss.”
Malone gave his team a pop quiz in
shootaround Thursday morning, pep-
pering them with questions about the
game plan and what had to be done
in the most important game to date in
franchise history.
They had all the answers then. Had
them all at game time, too. They were
the team with minimal NBA finals
experience, only two players having
been to the title round before, and yet
they looked right at home before the
home crowd in Game 1.
“We were ready,” Denver guard
Bruce Brown said.
Jokić became the second player in
the last 25 years – LeBron James was the
other, in 2017 – to have 10 assists by half-
time of a finals game. He had 10 points
and 10 assists by the break, and Denver
was up 59-42 after the first two quarters
– with Jokić taking only three shots.
“I don’t need to shoot and I know I
don’t need to score to affect the game,”
Jokić said.
Meanwhile, the Heat just couldn’t
shoot. At all. Or at least, not until
2013. City, meanwhile, are champions
for the third year in a row and the fifth
time in seven years under their man-
The Guardian Saturday 3 June 2023
Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon, left, vies
for the ball with Heat center Bam Adebayo
during the second half of Thursday’s game.
Photograph: Kyle Terada/USA Today Sports
Denver were too far ahead to catch.
Caleb Martin, who narrowly missed
out on winning the MVP award of the
Eastern Conference finals, was 1 for 7.
And Max Strus was 0 for 10, 0 for 9
on three-pointers, and became just the
second player in the last 45 years to
take that many shots without a make in
a finals game.
The other, somewhat surprisingly:
Ray Allen, a past Heat finals hero who
was 0 for 13 for Boston against the Los
Angeles Lakers in 2010.
“I didn’t even look at the box score
yet, but like I said, I think the dispo-
sition, the efforts were more appro-
priate in the second half,” Heat coach
Erik Spoelstra said. “But that’s not
enough. It has to be for a full game,
and you also have to make some plays
when you’re beat.”
ager, Pep Guardiola. If City win the FA
Cup, next Saturday they will have the
chance to complete a prestigious treble
of trophies by beating Internazionale in
the Champions League final. It’s a feat
achieved only once by an English club:
Ferguson’s United in 1999.
Ferguson once spoke of City, after
the deal that saw Abu Dhabi’s sheikh
Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan take con-
trol of the club, as United’s “noisy neigh-
bours”. In the intervening years the
volume has been turned up. Should
City complete the treble, United’s repu-
tation as the pre-eminent club of the
Premier League era would be under se-
rious threat.
City’s dominance on the field is real,
but currently hedged with caveats. The
club has been served with 115 charges
by the Premier League, accused of fail-
ing to fully disclose the nature of the
club’s finances, the money they paid to
players and staff, and failing to comply
with an investigation into these irregu-
larities. City deny the charges, but they
have been surrounded by a cloud of
Continued on page 47
Saturday 3 June 2023 The Guardian

Sport 47

Continued from page 46
scepticism regardless and debate sur-
rounds the state-funded ownership of
the club.
These debates speak to another
area of rivalry between City and United,
the one that goes on off the pitch.
Both clubs are major players in a global
game that continues to grow in finan-
cial value. According to all publicly
available assessments City are the rich-
est club in the world, another title that
used to belong to United. City’s annual
report for 2021-22 showed record reve-
nues of £613m. United took in £583m,
placing them fourth in the Deloitte’s
football rich list, down from £628m in
2018-19.
According to Andrea Sartori, a
former global head of sports at KPMG
and founder of the advisory company
Football Benchmark, there is a “very
strong correlation” between on- and off-
field success.
“Ten years ago Manchester United
would be at the top of everything,”
Sartori says. “But neither by enterprise
value nor by size of revenue nor brand-
ing value nor in terms of profitability
are Manchester United at the top of the
world today. None of them. In the post-
Ferguson era there has been a decline in
sporting performance. You didn’t see it
in the first two to four years but there
is a decline in performance off the pitch
too.”
While United have waned, and are
in the throes of a protracted sales
process instigated by their majority
shareholders, the Glazer family, City
are enjoying the other end of the
curve. “What is certain is that there
is a virtuous circle,” Sartori says. “City
have enjoyed sustained success, Prem-
ier League titles, Champions League
finals. They have had constant inter-
national exposure and with the right
commercial team you get better reve-
nues, which means better players,
which means more success.”
It is interesting to wonder how cen-
tral just two people – Ferguson and
Guardiola – have been to the financial
dominance of their clubs. But while
Ferguson has vacated the stage, Guar-
diola remains, dominating the back-
page headlines and making charming
appearances on the American soccer
comedy Ted Lasso.
City have a keen eye on growing
their fanbase. They have a global net-
work of clubs to help spread that word,
the City Group counting 13 teams from
New York to Yokohama under its um-
brella. They may yet become the big-
gest team in terms of support too. But
currently they are not, and in this area
United hold the advantage.
“United are still a phenomenal club
and in terms of social media they are
the third biggest club in the world and
significantly ahead of City,” Sartori says,
the top two being Real Madrid and Bar-
celona. He cites figures showing that,
at the end of last month, United had
a cumulative social media following
of 220.3m users, compared with City’s
146.5m.
United’s 20 years of success has
built a global fanbase as their legacy.
“Supporters are very loyal,” says Sar-
tori, “It’s very rare that an individual
changes the team they support during
their lifetime.” But that doesn’t mean
the tide can’t change. “Teams will try
to catch the attention of fans at six
to nine and young supporters are ex-
cited by the clubs that are winning, and
that have the biggest stars,” Sartori says.
“Young fans are shifting [from more his-
toric clubs] to other clubs like City and
Paris Saint-Germain, absolutely”.
For those that run the clubs, and
those in charge of football, it is the long-
term fight for global dominance that
often holds the attention. For those
at Wembley, however, the quest for
advantage is much more personal. Sat-
urday’s Cup final is likely to prove once
again that one cannot exist without the
other.

Aryna Sabalenka opts out of media duties for

sake of her ‘mental health’
Tumaini Carayol at Roland
Garros
Aryna Sabalenka opted out of a post-
match press conference after her third-
round win over Kamilla Rakhimova on
Friday following a number of tense
exchanges with a Ukrainian reporter
about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine after
previous rounds here.
Players are required to attend post-
match press conferences if they are re-
quested by written media, but no time
was announced for Sabalenka after she
had beaten Rakhimova 6-2, 6-2. In-
stead, a transcript of her conversation
with an unnamed member of staff
was released without explanation. It is
unclear whether Sabalenka was inter-
viewed by a group of people or only one
person.
Sabalenka began by explaining that
she did not feel safe after her second-
round press conference and that she
had decided not to attend on Friday for
the sake of her mental health.
“For many months now I have ans-
wered these questions at tournaments
and been very clear in my feelings and
my thoughts,” said Sabalenka, who is
from Minsk, the capital of Belarus, an
ally of Russia. “These questions do not
bother me after my matches. I know
Aryna Sabalenka on her way to beating Kamilla Rakhimova in Paris. Photograph: Frey/
TPN/Getty Images
that I have to provide answers to the
media on things not related to my
tennis or my matches, but on Wednes-
day I did not feel safe in press confe-
rence. I should be able to feel safe
when I do interviews with the jour-
nalists after my matches.”
She continued: “For my own mental
health and well-being, I have decided to
take myself out of this situation today,
and the tournament has supported me
in this decision. It hasn’t been an easy
few days, and now my focus is continue
to play well here in Paris.”
After Sabalenka’s first-round win
against Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine, a
Ukrainian reporter suggested that Saba-
lenka had been avoiding questions
about Russia’s invasion and answering
in general terms. “I said it many, many
times: nobody in this world, Russian
athletes or Belarusian athletes, support
the war,” said Sabalenka, who was vis-
ibly irritated. “Nobody. How can we sup-
port the war? Nobody, normal people
will never support it. Why we have to go
loud and say that things – this is like one
plus one, it’s two. Of course we don’t
support war.”
Sabalenka was later criticised by
Kostyuk, who had been booed off
Court Philippe Chatrier after not shak-
ing Sabalenka’s hand.
Sabalenka has previously come
under fire owing to her meetings with
the Belarus dictator, Alexander Luka-
shenko, prior to Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine. She attended Lukashenko’s
new year’s address in 2021 after months
of mass protests and violent repression
in Belarus following the election that
was widely believed to be rigged by
Lukashenko.
After her second-round match,
Sabalenka shared an extremely tense
exchange with the same reporter on the
subject of Lukashenko, with Sabalenka
repeatedly declining to answer ques-
tions. “I have no comments to you, so
thank you for your question,” she said.
She will face Sloane Stephens in
Sunday’s fourth round. It is unclear
whether she will continue to opt
out of conducting conventional press
conferences. In 2021 Naomi Osaka an-
nounced that she would not be doing
any press conferences at that year’s
French Open.
Karen Khachanov, who reached the
men’s fourth round with a four-set
win over Thanasi Kokkinakis, was also
confronted about the Ukraine war on
Friday. “I honestly feel very sorry and
very bad to be in your place. I am
honest with you,” he said to a Ukrai-
nian journalist. “But I don’t want to talk
Russia's Karen Khachanov beat Aus-
tralia's Thanasi Kokkinakis in four tough
sets at Roland Garros. Photograph: Emma-
nuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images
about it. I hope you understand my
point.”
Earlier in the day, third seed Jessica
Pegula became the biggest casualty of
the women’s draw as she was defeated
6-1, 6-3 by Elise Mertens of Belgium.
Meanwhile, Elina Svitolina’s comeback
continued to pick up speed as the
Ukrainian recovered from a set down
to defeat Russia’s Anna Blinkova 2-6,
6-2, 7-5 and reach the fourth round in
her first grand slam tournament since
giving birth to her daughter, Skaï.
As usual with Russian opponents,
she opted not to shake Blinkova’s hand
but the pair appeared to respectfully
acknowledge each other after the two
hour, 16 minute battle.

José Mourinho facing touchline ban after

referee abuse draws Uefa charge
Paul MacInnes
José Mourinho faces at least a two-
game touchline ban after being charged
by Uefa over his behaviour towards
the referee Anthony Taylor after the
Europa League final this week.
The Roma manager was filmed
haranguing Taylor at length in a VIP
car park after his team were defeated
by Sevilla on penalties. Taylor was
subsequently targeted by Roma fans at
Budapest airport.
Mourinho, if found guilty, will be
José Mourinho argues with Anthony
Taylor during the Europa League final. The
Roma manager later confronted the referee
in the stadium car park. Photograph: Adam
Davy/PA
banned from the dugout for a min-
imum of two matches. In a flurry
of other disciplinary measures, Roma
were charged over crowd disturbances
among their fans and “acts of damage”.
Sevilla were charged after their suppor-
ters invaded the pitch and both teams
were charged over the lighting of fire-
works, throwing of objects and alleged
improper conduct of their teams.
Mourinho was filmed shouting
abuse at Taylor in English and Ital-
ian before leaving the Puskas Arena
in Budapest. The Portuguese was seen
swearing at the English official and call-
ing him a “disgrace”. Towards the end of
about 50 seconds of criticism he walked
up to the passenger door of what ap-
pears to be the van in which Taylor is to
be driven away.
Mourinho also went on a lengthy
diatribe regarding Taylor’s performance
in his press conference, though the
charge does not relate to these remarks.
“This is a European final and with this
kind of refereeing, it is hard to accept,”
he said. “If we talk about refereeing
situations, it’s not two or three: it is
many, quite apart from the big deci-
sions. Those of us who have been in
football a long time realise immediately
what is going on.
“[Lorenzo] Pellegrini falls in box and
given a yellow card; [Lucas] Ocam-
pos did exactly the same thing and
he doesn’t get one. It’s a scandal. VAR
called the referee and shames Ocampos
but there’s no card given. [Érik] Lamela
– who, by the way, scored one of the
penalties – deserved a second yellow
but didn’t get it. And let’s not even talk
about the big decisions. That’s just the
small details.”
After Mourinho’s actions, which
were widely shared on social media,
Continued on page 48

48
Continued from page 47
Taylor was accosted by Roma fans
while waiting for a flight with his family.
Video footage showed a chair and a
bottle being hurled in his direction. On
McLaren show winning intent with bullish
moves in F1 intelligence war
Giles Richards in Barcelona
These are testing times for McLaren,
not least as the Formula One team stare
down the barrel of what is likely to be
another difficult weekend at the Span-
ish Grand Prix. Yet to come out fight-
ing with a bullish statement of intent
rather than accept midtable mediocrity
has been the reaction from an organi-
sation whose storied grand prix history
deserves nothing less.
This week McLaren announced
they had appointed Red Bull’s chief
engineering officer, Rob Marshall. The
British engineer from Taunton has
been an integral part of Red Bull ever
since joining them a year after their
inception in 2005 and played a vital part
in car design during its world cham-
pionship-winning years of 2010 to 2013,
and since Max Verstappen took his first
title in 2021 – after which the Dutchman
has gone on to dominate the cham-
pionship.
Securing Marshall is a major coup
for McLaren, albeit he will not join until
next year. He will bring not only his
skills but also his knowledge of how
Red Bull have built such a dominant car
under the new regulations. This trans-
fer of expertise in what must be consi-
dered an F1 intelligence war cannot be
underestimated.
McLaren’s Lando Norris enthused
about what it meant before the Spanish
GP in Barcelona. The 23-year-old Brit-
ish driver is fiercely ambitious and was
blunt about buying access to what may
be considered Red Bull’s enigma ma-
chine. “I am very positive, excited,” he
says.
Casemiro: ‘I’m a realist. Every game is a
different story, a different film’
Jamie Jackson
Casemiro has a simple way of shrugging
off the spectre of Manchester United’s
6-3 trouncing by Manchester City in Oc-
tober as he prepares for Saturday’s FA
Cup final and 190th derby.
“Every game is a different story, a
different film as we like to say,” says the
Brazilian. “You have to be realistic, and
I like to be very much a realist. They
were better than us in that game. They
deserved to beat us but when you talk
about a 6-3 in the context of a league,
it’s still three points that you get.
“Of course, your morale drops and
it’s boosted when you score six in vic-
tory [but] we beat them at home and as
I’ve said, each game is completely dif-
ferent but losing in that way is tough for
Sport
Friday Sky News reported that one man
had been charged with affray by Budap-
est police.
Uefa said it “vehemently con-
demns” the behaviour, called on play-
ers, coaches and fans to “treat refe-
Oscar Piastri in practice at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Photograph: Adam
Pretty/Getty Images
“McLaren did a good job to get
someone as big as him. Rob is a very
big addition to the team because of his
knowledge, the time he spent with Red
Bull.
“I am very happy, it’s a big bonus
for the team, he doesn’t start until next
year so it’s not like he comes straight
in and can have an effect straight away
but anything that I know will help the
team, well he is a big part of it.”
Norris also emphasised just how
important it is to the rest of the pad-
dock and its own personnel that McLa-
ren is making a statement of intent by
vying in the marketplace with the big
three teams. “People who bring know-
ledge from different teams, they make
a big difference,” Norris says. “It inspires
a lot of the guys, if someone who is big
coming in from another team, that is a
very big addition to motivate everyone
to keep working as hard as they can.”
The move is the biggest signing in
a sequence of changes McLaren have
Casemiro says of Erik ten Hag and his side: ‘The manager has had a great season, the club
has had a great season.’ Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images
you. But, when you do lose like that, the
most important game is the next one
which you need to win and get three
rees with dignity and respect” and indi-
cated it could make provision for great-
er security for match officials.
“Uefa maintains a close colla-
boration with local police and airport
security starting from the referees’ ar-
implemented in an effort to revitalise
their ambition of competing with Red
Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari.
After an impressive third in 2020,
the sheen has come off their resur-
gence. In 2021 they finished fourth; in
2022 under the new regulations and
with hope of a real step forward, they
emerged with a car off the pace and
ended up fifth.
This year has been even worse,
with Norris and his new teammate,
the talented Australian Oscar Piastri, re-
turning best finishes of sixth and eighth
respectively in Melbourne. The down-
ward slide continuing, McLaren are cur-
rently sixth in the constructors’ cham-
pionship.
Headhunting Marshall is definitive
evidence the team, who have won 12
drivers’ and eight constructors’ titles,
not willing to accept their lot.
Under the new team principal,
Andrea Stella, there has been an
acknowledgment of failures and that
points from.”
The victory he cites over the City
juggernaut of Erling Haaland, Kevin De
rival in host cities” it said. “However,
we are constantly striving to enhance
the security measures for officials in
coordination with local authorities. We
will carefully assess the incidents and
incorporate valuable insights into our
simply banking on the much-awaited
new wind tunnel is not enough, that it
is people who make the real difference.
Shortly after the very poor start
to this season, McLaren dismissed
their technical director, James Key, and
implemented a restructure of the tech-
nical department.
That included bringing in David
Sanchez, formerly the head of vehicle
concept at Ferrari. They also success-
fully claimed Mariano Alperin, the
Aston Martin aerodynamicist. Marshall,
when he joins, is likely to lead an invi-
gorated technical design department
and one of no little talent.
So are these marquee appoint-
ments McLaren making a point? “A
little bit yes,” Norris says. “It was not
like we just needed someone like this
but along with the signing from Fer-
rari and various other people as well as
the changes that have happened over
the last couple of months, all are things
which I have seen have had a big impact
within McLaren. You want to try to get
the best people you can and that’s what
we needed.”
Now in his fifth season in F1,
Norris had enthusiastically banked on
a future with McLaren, but over the
past two years their failure to deliver
a car capable of competing at the front
has increasingly raised questions about
whether he would stay.
In 2022, after McLaren failed to
make a step forward under the new
regulations, Norris was clearly unhappy.
“I want to win, I want to be on the
podium and when you drop away from
that it’s frustrating,” he said.
So under the bright blue skies of
Barcelona, as McLaren embrace an
Bruyne and company is January’s 2-1
Premier League return at Old Trafford.
The 31-year-old was in the XI then
but at the Etihad had been only a
59th-minute substitute , when United
were 4-1 behind, Erik ten Hag preferring
Scott McTominay in central midfield.
If a garlanded footballer who
claimed five Champions Leagues at his
previous club, Real Madrid, raised an
eyebrow at his manager’s selection that
day he is too professional to mention it.
Instead, Casemiro talks loudest where
it matters most: on the pitch, as in Feb-
ruary’s Carabao Cup victory over New-
castle, heading the opener in a 2-0 tri-
umph that secured Ten Hag the first
trophy of his tenure and which, along-
side a third-place finish, moves Case-
miro to praise the manager’s impact in
his opening season.
The Guardian Saturday 3 June 2023
future event planning processes.”
The Premier League said it was
“shocked and appalled by the unac-
ceptable abuse directed at Anthony
Taylor and his family”.
Lando Norris’s McLaren future re-
mains cause for conjecture but he says
appointments such as Marshall ‘definitely
helps, 100%’. Photograph: David Ramos/
Getty Images
investment in fortunes that will not
change now but may in future, does
Norris now believe the team are doing
enough to keep him on board?
“It definitely helps, 100%,” he says.
“I am on a contract for two more years.
I don’t know how quickly people can
have an impact especially with car
design and development, it definitely
helps but the thing is actual perfor-
mance and actual results. That is what I
want to see in the next two years.”
On the track at the Circuit de Bar-
celona-Catalunya, Verstappen domi-
nated in first practice, almost eight-
tenths clear of his teammate Sergio
Pérez, whom he leads by 39 points in
the world championship.
In the afternoon running, the Dut-
chman was once more on top but close-
ly followed by a very quick Fernando
Alonso in the Aston Martin, just under
two-tenths down. Haas’s Nico Hülken-
berg was third with George Russell the
best of the two Mercedes in eighth and
Piastri and Norris 12th and 14th respec-
tively.
Casemiro congratulates Bruno Fer-
nandes after he scored against Fulham in
United’s last game of the Premier League
season. Photograph: Nathan Stirk/Getty
“The club have already won a
trophy and we’ve clinched third place
in the Premier League and now we’re
in this final,” Casemiro says. “So, when-
ever you talk about long-term projects,
which this is, it’s normal for it to take
time for a manager’s mentality, his
Continued on page 49
Saturday 3 June 2023 The Guardian
Continued from page 48
philosophy to be taken on board, but I
believe we’re more comfortable now.
“The manager has had a great
season, the club has had a great season,
but of course we’re excited and it’s
lovely to be playing in an FA Cup
final but the difference from then [pre-
season] to now is the time the manager
has been here.”
In his modest way, Casemiro def-
lects a question about how the wisdom
gained from his quintet of European
Cup triumphs might be drawn upon.
“It’s true that when you’ve played in
so many finals and lots of games and
you’re 31 and have that experience, you
try to pass on that experience, to instil
calm,” he says. “It’s a very important
game but we also know that it’s one
Chess: Caruana leads at Stavanger after
beating Carlsen in opening round
Leonard Barden
Fabiano Caruana got off to a fine start
this week at the Norway Chess elite
event in Stavanger, where the US cham-
pion defeated Magnus Carlsen, the
world No 1, in the opening round and
was a clear leader after three of the nine
rounds.
Carlsen, in contrast, trails in eighth
place, despite scoring after replays in
his next two games against Wesley So
and Hikaru Nakamura. The Norwegian
has won Stavanger for four years in a
row, so it is too early to discount his
recovery chances, but with only six
rounds left his task is already difficult.
It was Carlsen’s first classical defeat
against Caruana since 2015, a period
which included their 2018 world title
match in London where all 12 classical
games were drawn.
Carlsen’s opening choice as Black,
the French Defence 1 e4 e6, was in-
tended as a surprise, but Caruana still
recalled that at Black’s 13th Qb5! was
the right choice rather than Qa5+,
which gave a position where White’s
knights were active. Carlsen could still
have held a draw as late as move 31 by
exchanging knights at f4, but he missed
31…Rc3? 32 Nd7! and soon resigned in
the face of a white rook on the seventh
rank.
In a nine-round elite tournament,
recovery for Carlsen will be hard, but
he made a good start on Wednesday
and Thursday by defeating his old rivals
So and Nakamura in Armageddon rep-
lays after draws in the classical games.
Nakamura tried the King’s Gambit 1 e4
e5 2 f4, but it was Carlsen who devel-
oped a winning attack.
Although Stavanger is listed as a
classical tournament, its unique and ex-
treme time controls, its scoring system
and its drawn game replay rules make
it different from any other major event.
The time limit is 40 moves in two hours,
but there is no per-move increment
until move 41, after which the game
continues at 10 seconds per move until
the finish.
A win in a classical game counts
three points and a loss zero, while
Sport
you should enjoy – a final. But together
with my teammates, we can share our
experience. We’ve got David [de Gea],
Bruno [Fernandes], Rafa [Varane] also
who has won countless titles.”
In a first English campaign Case-
miro has been sent off twice and sus-
pended for eight matches, the only ble-
mishes on a contribution that has been
a prime factor in United’s success. After
April’s 1-0 win over Aston Villa his post-
game “debate” with Fernandes seemed
heated. There had been similar scenes
at the final whistle in the Carabao Cup
victory. Perhaps predictably, Casemiro
talks only glowingly of his relationship
with his fellow speaker of Portuguese.
“When I arrived here, and it was
down to the language I was fortunate
Bruno would help me a great deal,”
Casemiro says. “He was always brilliant,
3870: Magnus Carlsen v Alexander Morozevich, Biel 2006. White to move and win.
draws, which can be agreed after move
30, are replayed on the same day under
Armageddon rules. White has 10 mi-
nutes on the clock and Black seven
minutes, with a one second per-move
increment from move 41. An Arma-
geddon win counts 1.5 points and an
Armageddon loss one point.
The upshot is that the players have
to perform the difficult mental feat of
switching from a classical to a blitz
mode after a short interval, or even
within the same game. Arguably, the
Stavanger rules favour Carlsen, who has
long advocated faster or mixed time
limits, even for world championship
and taught me lots about the club.
I have a very good relationship with
Bruno, we get on really well.
“I can say this with complete confi-
dence, he is one of the most impor-
tant players at the club and everyone
sees what a great player he is. But to be
honest and I say this to him, I expect a
great deal from him. So when he misses
a chance, when one of his passes goes
astray [I say this to him]. We always
want him to do everything perfectly
but these are normal conversations. I’ve
never had an argument with Bruno –
the opposite in fact.
“It’s a pleasure to play alongside
him because in the end he’s the driv-
ing force of the team, the one that helps
us the most. The team’s engine if you
like.”
Casemiro is in the same brack-
matches.
After Thursday’s third round the
Stavanger scores were Caruana (US) 7.5,
Alireza Firouzja (France) 6, Nakamura
(US) 5, Dommaraju Gukesh (India) 4.5,
Anish Giri (Netherlands) and Nodir-
bek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan) 4, So
(US) 3.5, Carlsen (Norway) 3, Shakhriyar
Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) 2.5, Aryan
Tari (Norway) 1.
Firouzja, the 19-year-old world No
2, won a fine game in round three and
at this early stage is looking Caruana’s
most dangerous rival.
Michael Adams, the former world
No 4, won last weekend’s English
et, though is modest when discussing
his role. He says: “When people talk
about central defensive midfielders
they forget that you need to help your
teammates, you need to defend, slot in
between the centre-backs, cover gaps
that the full-backs or midfielders leave.
“These are the basic principles.
Beyond that, people want you to score
goals, to pass, get the team playing be-
cause football’s changed. In the past
it would be the No 10 that would be
required to do that. I saw an inter-
view with [Juan Román] Riquelme [the
Argentinian playmaker] once talking
about central defensive midfielders and
specifically [Sergio] Busquets.
“He said that often the team didn’t
play well because the central holding
midfielder hadn’t, and people forget
that throughout the history of foot-
Championship at Kenilworth, Warwick-
shire, with 6/7, half a point ahead of
IM Marcus Harvey and IM Matthew
Wadsworth. It was not the smoothest of
victories for the Cornish grandmaster,
as Stanley Badacsonyi, 13, should have
drawn in round one, while IM Jonah
Willow missed a possible winning
chance in the final round, but Adams’s
class showed in his key victory against
the second seed IM Ameet Ghasi.
Several teenagers did well, while
the youngest entrant Kushal Jakhria,
eight, again impressed with 3.5/7, win-
ning a best performance prize. Jakhria
is ranked world No 1 for his age in the
49
ball, it was the No 10 who was the
playmaker. The central defensive mid-
fielder was always someone that helped
the centre-backs, helped midfield, the
full-backs, filled in and stopped counte-
rattacks.”
Casemiro is apt at destroying and
creating: the perfect balance of a
middle-of-the-pitch operator. He says:
“In terms of my season here, I’m de-
lighted. My family are very happy here.
The club and fans have been brilliant
with me since day one. I love the affec-
tion from them and that everyone has
behaved so well towards me. So I’m
very happy and enjoying myself as if
I was a 20-year-old kid.”
June Fide rating list, and even this is
out of date. His latest results, at the
Menorca Open and at Kenilworth, have
been around 2200 master level.
Looking ahead for possible future
targets, an Argentinian talent, Faustino
Oro, has just set a new world record for
the youngest ever 2300 Fide rating, at
nine years seven months. The record
for the youngest 2400 Fide rating is
held by Abdusattorov, who achieved it
at 10 years five months, a year after
the Uzbek defeated two grandmasters
at the Agzamov Memorial in Tashkent.
England’s pre-teen talent Bodhana
Sivanandan, eight, continues to be
world No 1 girl for her age. She scored
4/7 in the women’s championship, and
recently gave her first simultaneous
exhibition.
The English Women’s Cham-
pionship at Kenilworth went to the
top seed and the only woman GM
in the field, Katarzyna Toma, with
5.5/7. That was after a bizarre second
round mishap where Toma fell into an
unlikely one-move checkmate. Toma
fought back strongly in the later
rounds, and won a critical final-round
battle against Zoe Varney, who was then
leading by half a point.
Varney, who placed second on tie-
break, defeated her three closest rivals
and had an excellent tournament with a
2142 performance. The Durham Univer-
sity graduate, 23, who is coached by
GM Danny Gormally, made her England
Olympiad debut at Chennai last year
and looks ready to compete for WFM
and WIM titles.
The English Championships are a
recent innovation, and their popularity
shows that there is a market for a
weekend version of the national cham-
pionship in addition or as an alternative
to the traditional week-long event in
July. The event could be stronger,
though. Only four of the top 20 Eng-
land players on the men’s Fide list took
part.
3870:1 Rxd5! cxd5 2 Qf8+ Kh7 3 Ne8!
(threats 4 Qxg7 mate and 4 Nf6 mate)
Qe7 4 Nf6+ Qxf6 5 Qxf6 wins. 1 Qxh6+
Kg8 2 Rb2! Nb4 3 Qf4! also wins, but is
slower.

50
David Beckham makes ‘tough decision’ to
sack Phil Neville at Inter Miami
PA Media
Phil Neville has been sacked as man-
ager of the Major League Soccer side
Inter Miami. The 46-year-old has paid
the price for a poor run of form, with
the 1-0 defeat by New York Red Bulls
proving the final straw.
Neville, who was appointed in Jan-
uary 2021 after his resignation as Eng-
land Women manager, leaves the club
bottom of MSL’s Eastern Conference
after four successive defeats. The assis-
tant Javier Morales has stepped in as
interim head coach, with the team next
in action at home against DC United on
Saturday.
The club’s co-owner David Beck-
ham, who is Neville’s former Man-
chester United and England teammate,
said it was the right time to make the
change. “When we appointed Phil we
knew he would give Inter Miami his all
and I have watched him work incred-
ibly hard and with real commitment to-
wards the ambitions we set out for the
Faith Kipyegon smashes 1500m world record
in Diamond League meeting
Agencies
Faith Kipyegon set a women’s 1500
metres world record, clocking 3:49.11 at
the third Diamond League meeting of
the season in Florence on Friday.
The Kenyan athlete, winner of the
last two Olympic 1500m golds and the
2017 and 2022 world titles, bettered the
previous mark of 3:50.07 set by Ethi-
opia’s Genzebe Dibaba in 2015.
Kipyegon finished well ahead of
Britain’s second-placed Laura Muir and
the Australian Jessica Hull in third, with
Kipyegon’s rivals crowding around to
congratulate her after the race.
“I’m so happy for Faith,” Muir said.
“I would have loved to be closer to
her. But for the first race of the season
this is really decent. I have never gone
through the first 800m as fast as today.”
There was disappointment for Dina
Asher-Smith, who pulled out of the
women’s 100m at the last minute.
Narrative overload: FA Cup final is a domestic
finale ripe with storylines
Barney Ronay
Now for the big series-ender. You have
to hand it to the FA Cup. Football’s
grand old patrician knockout pot may
have grown a little mildewed and liver-
spotted with age. But, like some geria-
tric sovereign stepping out from the
shadows and striding the shopfloors
Sport / Soccer
Phil Neville issues instructions from the touchline during Inter Miami’s 1-0 defeat by Montreal on 28 May. Photograph: Canadian Press/
Shutterstock
club,” he told the club’s website.
Faith Kipyegon reacts as she wins the 1500m in a new world record time in Florence. Photograph:Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images
one last time, it still knows how to
twitch the threads. Saturday’s final at
Wembley already looks like that rarest
of things, a genuine multilayered epic.
At the end of a season that seems
to have been going on for at least
three years, when so many storylines
have faded in and out, fractured by the
outage at its centre, here is an end note
to the domestic calendar that comes
“He and his family embraced Miami
prepacked with fat, wet, impossibly ripe
storylines. Power, succession, legacy. A
heritage-gold 3pm kick-off. Frankly the
Cup hasn’t looked so vital or hip in
years.
That feeling of narrative overload
is present even in the staging and the
dramatis personae. The FA Cup was
founded in 1871 as a first attempt at
codification, at imposing governance,
and he has devoted himself to the drive
rules and discipline. Basically, this is a
competition born out of the Victorian
urge to make sure everyone is playing
by the same rules. Fast forward to the
present day and in the sky-blue corner
we have potential Cup winners with 115
charges of financial and administrative
misconduct hanging over them. Per-
haps this is football’s idea of dramatic
irony.
The Guardian Saturday 3 June 2023
to bring success to the city and to our
fans. Phil has made a real contribution
to the culture of our club with his qual-
ities as a leader and knowledge as a
coach.
“Sometimes in this game we have to
make the toughest decisions and sadly
we feel the time is right to make a
change. I want to personally thank Phil
for his hard work, his passion for our
club and for his integrity as a person.”
Neville attracted attention recently
after he swore at a reporter during a
press conference, having been inter-
rupted during an answer. Reacting to
the news, he said: “I would like to thank
the Inter Miami CF ownership group
for their trust and making me a part
of this project; the players and staff
for their impressive commitment, dedi-
cation and hard work; and the fans for
their unwavering support for the club
since day one.
“I’m grateful to have played a part in
the growth of this club and wish Inter
Miami CF all the best in the future.”
Asher-Smith, third last time out in
Qatar, had been among the favourites in
the race but was forced to miss it after
suffering from cramp in the blocks.
“Other than that all good, but I
didn’t want to risk anything today,” the
27-year-old wrote on social media. “Fru-
strated as I was SO excited to race and
felt really good, but had to make a sens-
ible call for the bigger picture! On to
Paris.”
In her absence, Marie-Josee Ta Lou
won it from Gina Luckenkemper, with
Britain’s Imani-Lara Lansiquot taking
third.
The American Fred Kerley made the
men’s 100m look easy in the absence of
the Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs
on home turf. The world champion still
has not been beaten this season, al-
though his time of 9.94 seconds left
room for improvement.
Manchester City, of course, deny
breaking the rules. City’s supporters,
who have the chance to boo not one
governing body but two in the next
couple of weeks, make the point that
these rules shouldn’t exist in the first
place and therefore deserve to be
broken.
Continued on page 51
Saturday 3 June 2023 The Guardian
Continued from page 50
It is at least an impressive on-brand,
dictator-level approach to reform. Not
to mention one that has to date worked
out pretty well. Frankly, City could
bring back hacking and unilaterally re-
abolish the crossbar. If your lawyers are
expensive enough it all tends to work
out in the end.
Zoom out a little further and there
is of course a more familial power strug-
gle in play on Saturday afternoon. The
most obvious note of dramatic ten-
sion is City’s pursuit of what Rodri
has (adorably) called “the thriple”. Pep
Guardiola’s sublime champion team are
two Saturdays away from matching
Manchester United’s feat in the peak
Alex Ferguson years of league, Cup and
Europe.
Much has been made of United’s
additional motivation to protect this
note of legacy gold, to play not just for
themselves but for the noble dead, the
ghosts of the past.
For the Cup itself this is all rocket
fuel, all borrowed heat and light. But is
it really good for Manchester United?
Here we have a club that has spent a
decade at war with its own past, bur-
dened by the ghosts of Giggsy, Scho-
lesy, Keano, marching those waxworks
around the pitch, chastised by the
Easter Island heads of the punditry
table.
There has been cautious progress
this year. Erik ten Hag’s team have a
Champions League spot and the sense,
finally, of a grownup in the room. But
Pep Guardiola urges City fans to have ‘right
portion of beer’ and behave
Will Unwin
Pep Guardiola has told Manchester City
fans to be on their best behaviour at
Wembley on Saturday when the club
play Manchester United in the FA Cup
final for the first time.
There is heightened tension be-
cause United have a chance to stop City
securing a treble to match their own
in 1999. There were 34 arrests when
the teams met in the semi-finals at
Wembley in 2011 and authorities will
be hoping to avoid a repeat.
Kick-off was moved forward to 3pm
at the Metropolitan police’s request be-
cause of the high-risk nature of the
fixture. Train strikes on Saturday are
making travel from Manchester more
complicated for supporters. The clubs
have been given designated service sta-
tions en route to London and there will
be separate fan zones around Wembley
in an attempt to avoid clashes.
Anthony Taylor caught in José Mourinho’s
toxic trail but anger problem runs deeper
Barney Ronay
“Like Jaws if everyone in Jaws worked
for Jaws.” Watching José Mourinho
Soccer
United and City managers Erik ten Hag and Pep Guardiola. Photograph: Lindsey Par-
naby/AFP/Getty Images
the good parts have come out of look-
ing forward. Wrestling with the past,
failing to match the past, allowing the
past to interfere with the present: this
has been a constant source of weight
and drag over the past decade. Who
knows, it might even be best, in the end,
to watch that treble burn, to let some-
one else carry the weight.
Beyond the treble talk, this is about
control, ascent and a kind of ulti-
macy. For Guardiola Saturday offers the
chance to lay down another defining
note in his team’s dominance of the
post-Ferguson space in English football.
Victory would make it 11 domestic tro-
phies in six years.
Even the run to the final has been
telling, with wins against Chelsea, Ar-
senal, Bristol City, Burnley and Shef-
Pep Guardiola wants Manchester City fans to behave properly on FA Cup final day.
Photograph: Nick Potts/PA
“I will ask our fans to behave prop-
erly first and, secondly, go there to
enjoy an incredible event,” Guardiola
said. “The players will give everything
to beat Man United. The consequences
and the result, who knows? I don’t
know. Erik ten Hag doesn’t know it,
circle the touchline at the Puskas Arena
on Wednesday night, giving off that
horribly persuasive eau de la haine,
it was hard not to be reminded of
the words of cousin Greg, Succession’s
field United by an aggregate score of
17-0. This mature Pep team are playing
at a rare pitch, pared to a fine point
by a manager operating with a kind of
light around him, in one of those golden
blooms where he sees the picture with
total clarity, where selection, rotation,
in-game tweaks and switches of angle
come with a lucid sense of cause and
effect.
This is also the paradox of City, a
club that embodies more clearly than
any other the forces at work on this
overheated global leisure industry. On
the one hand here is a club run by the
sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi,
charged with bending financial rules,
able to operate – thanks to the far-
sighted backing of such visionaries as
First Abu Dhabi Bank and Etihad Air-
so it’s going to be a football game.
Enjoy the moment. When the people
travel – unfortunately with the train
strikes – enjoy [the occasion] and enjoy
next week to prepare the [Champions
League] final, dream to see the team.
It’s the best way.
beanpole idiot savant, describing a sim-
ilar scene of top-down toxicity.
We know that Mourinho energy by
now, the toxic theatre, the performative
rage, the love of conspiracy and im-
lines – in a way that threatens to reduce
this sport to a kind of exhibition, va-
riables removed, the traditional values
of jeopardy, folly and human weakness
ironed out of the system.
At the same time, and even in their
more pared-back form, all razor edge
and defensive muscle, City are a beau-
tiful thing to watch, a pure, frictionless
machine, all ceaseless movement and
total control of space, angles, time,
resistance.
It is Guardiola’s genius to manage
this project club and still retain the
beauty, the sense of pure sporting vir-
tues. For all the resources at his dis-
posal this team are also a paradigm of
fine coaching, of the simple virtues of
prep and polish and fine detail. Seven
years in, Guardiola has just turned John
Stones into a world-class false 2, a tac-
tical unicorn, a driving part in one
of the great club teams. For all the
money and the soft-power chicanery,
Guardiola’s City remain a butterfly on
the wheel, stretched but never quite
broken. Saturday at Wembley followed
by Saturday in Istanbul. It feels like a
peak being reached.
Plus, of course, there is another
team in this two-hander. If City feel like
the embodiment of modern football’s
immediate future, a triumph of nation-
state power in the year of Qatar, the real
relevance of that original treble year is
in the patterns it helped to create.
Wind back 23 years and there is a
kind of portent in what came imme-
diately afterwards, United’s failure to
enter the Cup the following year. Under
“It’s a football game, everything can
happen. We will do everything to beat
United. I understand completely that
City fans were in the shadow [of United]
for decades, behind United, playing the
first time in the history of the FA Cup
a final against them. Try to do the best
game possible. Have fun, enjoy the right
portion of beers before the game and
that’s all.”
A victory would earn the Premier
League winners’ second trophy of the
season, with Internazionale to come in
the Champions League in Istanbul.
City have not won the FA Cup
since 2019 when they thrashed Watford
in the final. Another winner’s medal
would be an 11th major trophy for Guar-
diola at City.
He has no injury worries. Manuel
Akanji, Rúben Dias, Kevin De Bruyne
and Jack Grealish missed the final-
day defeat at Brentford but will be
available. Definitely starting for City is
the second-choice goalkeeper Stefan
agined injustice. What does he look like
these days, with his perfect shock of
white hair, the quicksilver glare? An
arms dealer on his way to play golf?
A wrongly convicted serial killer who
51
Pep Guardiola with Erling Haaland
during the semi-final against Sheffield
United at Wembley. Photograph: Marc
Atkins/Getty Images
pressure from the FA and the UK
government, convinced that Fifa might
still award England the 2006 World
Cup, Ferguson’s treble holders went to
Brazil to play in the World Club Cup,
a wretchedly underpowered thing, and
significant only as a step along the path
of domestic football as global product,
unit of power, political tool.
City might feel like the end point
of this process. But it was United who
opened the door, poster boys for the
Premier League launch years, insti-
gators in that new digital world of the
idea of a football club as global eye-
ball magnet, mega-brand. In the middle
of this, the grand old soup-stained FA
Cup gets to play both sides on Saturday
afternoon: to stand as a kind of counter-
point, with its lingering stagey, starchy
air of equity and the pyramid; and to
offer up its own perfectly turned drama
of succession and legacy.
Stefan Ortega will keep his place as Man-
chester City’s FA Cup goalkeeper. Photo-
graph: Andrew Fosker/Shutterstock
Ortega. The German has played every
game in the competition and is yet to
concede a goal, so he keeps his place
ahead of Ederson as his reward.
“Stefan will play tomorrow [Sat-
urday],” Guardiola said. “He played
really good in the FA Cup and the last
games to have a little bit of rhythm that
Eddy has already. Eddy plays the final
of the Champions League.”
lives in a palazzo and drinks fine wine
and turns out at the end of the movie
to be a serial killer after all? Some kind
Continued on page 52

52
Continued from page 51
of sporting dark lord: wronged football
Jesus?
These have always been Mourinho’s
modes, his method of intruding into
the spectacle. In the past this has often
been enacted with a knowing leer, an
edge of something that seems close to
satire. But Budapest felt like a step into
something else.
Mourinho is exceptionally popular
at Roma. The club have been flattered
and re-energised by his presence. At
the Puskas it was clear this includes
some startlingly toxic consequences,
with coaching staff and club officials
not just going along with the show but
looking oddly fanaticised, a cult of José.
We know what happened next. The
pictures of Anthony Taylor being ha-
rassed with his family at Budapest air-
port are shocking for so many reasons,
most obviously because of the fear on
the faces of his wife and daughter.
Frankly the entire Taylor family de-
serve a medal for staying calm in the
face of such venal, pointless hatred.
But then so many aspects of this are
strange. The security was surprisingly
loose. The Hungarian police, usually
quite handy in a tight spot, seemed
happy to stand there looking vaguely
concerned as various overheated bald
men seemed to be either trying to
attack Anthony Taylor or defend An-
thony Taylor. At one point the pic-
tures show a chair being causally tossed
across the airport concourse drawing
WCL final: Barcelona aim to ease ‘trauma’ of
2022 against Wolfsburg
Suzanne Wrack in Eindhoven
The Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas
has said Barcelona “owe the fans a vic-
tory” in Saturday’s Champions League
final against Wolfsburg after last year’s
“traumatic” 3-1 defeat by Lyon.
Barcelona fans, having twice sold
out the Camp Nou in the team’s run
to last season’s final in Turin, travelled
in force to Italy. Planes were filled and
37 coaches made the trip overnight
from the Catalan capital. The suppor-
ters witnessed their team fall three
goals behind within 33 minutes as Lyon
flexed their muscles. Despite that, you
could have been forgiven for thinking
after the full-time whistle that Bar-
celona had triumphed, because the sta-
dium swayed to the tune of their fans.
“You always have to know how to
handle the pressure when you start
playing for Barça,” Putellas said. “You
know what it means; you have to aim
for perfection. There’s always room for
improvement in sport, there’s always
pressure. The defeat in Turin last year
did affect us, with so many fans travel-
ling there, but it was not to be in
the end. I feel like that was our worst
performance of the season after play-
ing at such a high level throughout the
campaign. We feel like we owe the fans
Soccer
‘The entire Taylor family deserve a medal for staying calm in the face of such venal,
pointless hatred’ Illustration: Cameron Law/The Guardian
no more than a baffled glance from
the nearest law enforcement. Come on.
Guys. Hey.
Plus, and this is entirely irrelevant,
Taylor actually had a pretty good game.
Watch it back and there is zero evi-
dence of anti-José bias. Roma lost to
a more technically gifted team who,
frankly, should have won it in normal
time.
Mourinho knows this of course.
What happened on the periphery of
this was pure performance, from his
staged appearance in the bowels of the
stadium, there to harangue the offi-
cials with prepared lines in two lan-
guages, to the quotes from the post-
match press conference, the vaguely
incel stuff about a “vibrant and mas-
culine match” ruined, presumably, by
some kind of over-feminised bureau-
Alexia Putellas says playing for Barcelona means ‘you have to aim for perfection’. Photo-
graph: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile/Uefa/Getty Images
a victory in the final. We will play at
100% and do everything for the team
and hope this combination will bear
fruit.”
Fans are expected to travel in sim-
ilar numbers to the sold-out final in
Eindhoven and Putellas emphasised
how much it matters. “That is a really
big deal,” she said. “We would like to
thank all of the fans for making the
effort to be here. We know some fans
are coming by bus, more than 15 hours.
We know people are putting in a huge
effort and spending a lot of money too
and we are really grateful. Having the
fans there will make a huge difference.
cracy of cucks.
For Mourinho this is all about
blame-shifting, about misdirection by
numbers, out there barking like a
human squid shooting out stupid juice
into the eyes of stupid people to con-
vince them, through sheer weight of
stupidity, that this was all someone
else’s fault.
Mourinho has always drawn energy
from imagined outsiderdom, from por-
traying himself, incorrectly, as a figure
from the margins, the hammer of truth,
terror of the elites. It works too. Just ask
Anders Frisk, Dr Eva Carneiro or any
number of club staff and administrators
caught in his toxic vapour trail.
Sadly, though, this process doesn’t
end there. There is a kind of paradox
here. Mourinho’s tactics on the pitch
may have become a kind of retro period
The fans have responded to the call,
they are here, and they will push us for-
ward and help us. I can’t say that means
we will win, but it’s certainly a factor
that gets us closer to our target which is
taking the trophy back to Barcelona.”
Barcelona’s manager, Jonatan
Giráldez, echoed those sentiments,
saying that Barcelona “don’t just need
to win on the pitch but in the stands”.
Putellas said she is “100% fit”,
having recently returned from an ante-
rior cruciate ligament injury that side-
lined her before last summer’s Euros,
meaning Giráldez has every player
available.
piece – and over here we have clas-
sic defensive hate-ball – but his energy,
his contagious confected rage, feels dis-
tinctly state of the art.
It is always Mourinho. But it is by
no means only Mourinho. Conspiracy,
tribalism, dark static, hate-interference,
the toxic rage of an increasingly toxic
world: football is particularly vulner-
able to this right now, and uniquely
effective as a super-conductor. How far
is this thing going to go?
Events at Budapest airport will
come as no surprise to anyone who
travels on the periphery of the profes-
sional game. This wasn’t waiting to
happen. It’s already here. Referees are
routinely abused after games (take a
walk in the car park at home time if you
dare). Players are bombarded with ge-
nuinely heartfelt abuse, often by people
who only know them as moving shapes
on a screen. Violence among suppor-
ters seems to be becoming a more reg-
ular thing, often, it seems, stoked by the
floating aggressions of the digital hate-
sphere.
It is this vulnerability to rage
that makes the post-match statement
issued by the Roma executive Tiago
Pinto so cynical and so dangerous.
Pinto claimed on Twitter that “the refe-
reeing of the match was not balanced”,
in effect accusing Taylor of genuine
bias. Words have consequences. And
this kind of viciousness – deliberate,
avoidable, targeted – is directly related
to the harassment of Anthony Taylor’s
family.
Included in that number are Eng-
land’s Lucy Bronze and Keira Walsh.
Bronze has been here before, having
won the Champions League twice with
Lyon, but this is Walsh’s first final. “She’s
a fantastic player,” said her teammate
Caroline Graham Hansen. “We’re very
lucky to have her. She has very good
vision for the game. She has adapted
well. It’s not easy to come to Barça and
play as a No 6. She has taken on that
role with ease. Her passing, her under-
standing of the game, where she can
win the ball for us and make us keep
attacking, it’s been amazing. Also, as a
person in the locker room she’s been
fantastic to have, a very good person
that gives a lot to the football team out-
side of the pitch. It is very important
to create a good team vibe, to work for
each other, when it is a big game like
this you need to have the team being
connected on and off the field.”
Wolfsburg also have a full-strength
squad. These teams met in last season’s
semi-finals, with the German side
losing 5-1 away before earning a 2-0
home win. “We showed that we learned
a lot in that one week,” said their man-
ager, Tommy Stroot. “There were devel-
opments there from the first game. We
have made steps forward this whole
season.
“Before this season, I said I would
The Guardian Saturday 3 June 2023
Mourinho continually harangued referee
Anthony Taylor during Roma’s Europa
League final defeat. Photograph: Adam
Davy/PA
And while it feels absurd, naive,
gauche, even to point it out, clubs do
have a huge responsibility here. State-
ments by owners, employees and club
media, the way managers speak in
public, briefings that happen off the
record, words and ideas and oppo-
sitions dripped into the digital narr-
ative. All of these things have a power-
ful effect on the shared public mood, a
multiplier effect in the digital registers.
It may be comforting to isolate
Mourinho as the key figure of blame.
But José-ism has always been a style-
setting administration; and in many
ways Mourinho is just showing us
what’s out there: that power to twang
the emotional dial, to toy with the
uncontrolled tides of social media, tri-
balism, herd rage. There is dark place
football can head into here. Mourinho
has been there for so long he seems to
be unaware there might even be a world
outside; to live instead for the pain, the
bile, the poison. The challenge now is
not to follow him down.
England’s Keira Walsh during a Bar-
celona training session in Eindhoven. ‘She’s
a fantastic player,’ says her teammate Caro-
line Graham Hansen. Photograph: Cathe-
rine Ivill/UEFA/Getty Images
like to play Barcelona in one game, in
a final, because we think we can win.
We have good qualities, special qual-
ities and we have a good squad, and we
want to show what we have.”
Putellas said fine details would
determine the outcome. “Last year the
small details made the difference and I
think it will be the same tomorrow,” she
said. “I think we have improved in the
last two years. We have more ways of
playing, we are more versatile and we
know each other better. We can play in
open games and if other teams shut up
shop, we can cope with that too. We can
dig in. We have improved in every part
of our game.”
Saturday 3 June 2023 The Guardian
Ten Hag ignores Manchester United treble
‘motivation’ for FA Cup final
Jamie Jackson
Erik ten Hag denied that Manchester
United required the luck of a contro-
versial Bruno Fernandes goal to beat
Manchester City in January’s derby,
with the manager pointing to his side’s
superior expected goals (xG) in the
game.
That match at Old Trafford ended
2-1 to Ten Hag’s team and came after
the champions had humiliated United
6-3 in October’s reverse fixture. City
took the lead through a Jack Grea-
lish header before Fernandes equalised.
The goal was initially ruled out because
Marcus Rashford was in an offside posi-
tion but was awarded after the forward
was deemed not to be interfering with
play. Rashford later scored the winner.
United face City for a third time this
season in Saturday’s FA Cup final, with
Pep Guardiola’s side the favourites. Ten
Hag was asked whether one reason for
wanting to beat City would be to prove
his side did not need the fortune of a
similar decision.
“I wouldn’t explain it in that way be-
cause I have also seen the xG from that
West Ham could sack David Moyes if they
lose final as faith wanes again
Jacob Steinberg
West Ham are giving fresh consid-
eration to parting company with David
Moyes, increasing the pressure on the
manager before Wednesday’s Europa
Conference League final against Fioren-
tina.
In a sign of indecision at the club,
it is understood confidence around
Moyes staying has waned since the
Premier League season ended. Sources
have indicated the Scot’s future could
depend on West Ham winning a first
major trophy in 43 years.
It is a fluid situation and, as recently
as last week, the expectation was that
Moyes would stay after leading West
Ham to their first European final since
1976. There were positive noises from
the board after the semi-final victory
over AZ Alkmaar. West Ham also won
their battle against relegation.
A final decision is yet to be made
and West Ham are looking at poten-
tial replacements. It is felt it would
be impossible to make a change if
West Ham beat Fiorentina in Prague.
Defeat would not automatically lead to
Moyes’s departure but it would put a
different complexion on the season.
West Ham, who have considered
Brendan Rodgers, Graham Potter, Paulo
Fonseca and at least one unidentified
manager, had a disappointing league
campaign and finished 14th despite
spending about £160m last summer.
Soccer
Erik ten Hag says Manchester United have proved they are capable of beating City. Photograph: Ash Donelon/Manchester United/Getty
Images
game and it was really [for] our side,” he
said. “No [fortune], as I say.”
Ten Hag also denied he would use
halting City’s tilt at matching United’s
West Ham’s manager, David Moyes, speaks on Friday at a press conference to preview Wednesday’s Europa Conference League final.
Photograph: Tolga Akmen/EPA
There is dissatisfaction at board level
with many of the signings. West Ham
are looking to bring in a director of foot-
ball and potential candidates have been
informed Declan Rice will be sold this
summer.
Bayern Munich’s interest in Rice has
led Thomas Tuchel to speak to the
midfielder but the West Ham captain
is reluctant to leave England and Ar-
senal remain favourites to sign him.
Manchester United, Chelsea and New-
treble success of 1999 as motivation for
his players. City face Internazionale in
the Champions League final a week on
Saturday and United are the only Eng-
castle are also interested.
Moyes has credit in the bank after
leading West Ham to sixth place in 2021
and seventh a year later. Winning the
Conference League would earn entry
into next season’s Europa League. The
squad has stuck behind Moyes, who has
not lost the dressing room.
However the manager has come
close to being sacked at least twice
this season. It is understood there were
plans for Rafael Benítez to replace him
lish club to have claimed a league, FA
Cup and European Cup treble.
Ten Hag said: “I know what the fans
are thinking. But what we want is to
if West Ham had lost to Everton in Jan-
uary. Moyes would have gone if West
Ham had been beaten by Fulham at the
start of April.
A key problem has been complaints
over Moyes’s tactics, which are per-
ceived as overly cautious. On Friday ,
Moyes was asked to respond to claims
from Michail Antonio that the Italy
striker Gianluca Scamacca has strug-
gled because he is not enough of a
fighter for West Ham’s physical style.
53
restore Manchester United by winning
trophies. So on Saturday we have an
opportunity to win a trophy and we
don’t want to be distracted by anything.
If it is important for the fans, it is impor-
tant for us, so we will give everything to
win the Cup.
“It will not give more motivation for
the team because their motivation is al-
ready enough – it can’t be more. They
want to win a cup and they have an
opportunity. They want to set a crown
on the season.”
Anthony Martial will miss the final
with a hamstring injury that Ten Hag
described as serious. “Going to be a long
one but how long we don’t know,” he
said. “We have to do more assessment.”
Martial’s United future is unclear and
the length of recovery may make him
more difficult to sell.
Ten Hag was less optimistic than
previously regarding the fitness of
Antony, who has an ankle injury. “He
didn’t make progress so he still has a
chance but unlikely he is available.”
Scamacca, who will miss the final with
a knee injury, has made little impact
since joining from Sassuolo for £35.5m
last summer.
Antonio, who could push to leave,
told the Filthy Fellas podcast: “He’s a
quality player. The problem is, he can’t
play the way the gaffer plays. He needs
a different type of manager to play his
type of football. You can see it, when
the ball comes into him it sticks and
he’s tidy. But the way David Moyes
plays, if you’re up front you’re dealing
with scraps and you’ve got to be more
of a fighter.”
Moyes said: “I’ve got no issues with
Gianluca. Gianluca is a terrific player,
a really good footballer, someone who
we really like but unfortunately, he’s
been hit with injuries for periods of this
season. Micky has his own opinions but
we’re not getting into that.”
Moyes dismissed suggestions he
could decide to leave on a high if West
Ham beat Fiorentina. He also gave short
shrift to suggestions he could replace
Ange Postecoglou at Celtic if the Aus-
tralian goes to Tottenham.
Vincenzo Italiano, Fiorentina’s man-
ager, has said his side could try to
disrupt West Ham’s counterattacking
game with tactical fouls. “That would
be down to the referees to sort that out,”
Moyes said.

54
Chelsea plot moves for Moisés Caicedo and
Manuel Ugarte in midfield rebuild
Jacob Steinberg
Chelsea’s rebuild of their midfield will
see them combine their move for Sport-
ing’s Manuel Ugarte with an attempt to
buy Brighton’s Moisés Caicedo.
Strengthening the midfield is a key
focus for Mauricio Pochettino after his
appointment as head coach. Chelsea
are rivalling Paris Saint-Germain and
Liverpool to sign Ugarte, whose con-
tract contains a £52m release clause,
and their interest in Caicedo dates back
to January.
Arsenal and Liverpool have also
tracked Caicedo, who is expected to
leave Brighton. The Ecuador inter-
national has impressed since joining
two years ago and has established him-
self as one of the best midfielders in the
Premier League this season. Arsenal at-
tempted to sign him in January.
Brighton value Caicedo highly and
are renowned for being tough nego-
Referee stays on Champions League final
after apology for attending far-right event
Rajeev Syal
Uefa has given Szymon Marciniak the
go-ahead to referee next Saturday’s
Champions League final after he issued
a lengthy apology for appearing as a
main speaker at an event in Poland
organised by a far-right politician.
Szymon Marciniak said he “was
gravely misled and completely una-
ware” of the affiliations of the Ever-
est event which was established and
promoted by Sławomir Mentzen, the
leader of the Confederation party.
Mentzen is widely known for
launching the political slogan “We
stand against Jews, gays, abortion, taxa-
tion and the European Union”. In 2021
he made international headlines as the
producer of a beer named White IPA
Matters, which mocked the Black Lives
Matter movement.
“I had no knowledge that [the
event] was associated with a Polish
extreme-right movement. Had I been
aware of this fact, I would have categor-
ically declined the invitation,” Mar-
ciniak said, in a statement issued
through Uefa.
It comes after the Guardian dis-
closed that Uefa had launched an in-
quiry into Marciniak’s participation at
the event.
European football’s governing body
said it had accepted the apology and is
to allow Marciniak to referee the Uefa
Champions League final between Man-
chester City and Internazionale on 10
Soccer
Moisés Caicedo is likely to leave Brighton this summer. Photograph: Ashley Western/Colorsport/Shutterstock
Szymon Marciniak pictured while refereeing the 2022 World Cup final between Argentina
and France in Qatar. Photograph: Lee Smith/Reuters
June at Atatürk Olympic Stadium, in
Istanbul.
On 29 May, Marciniak attended a ga-
thering, under the title “Everest”, which
was billed as a networking event com-
plete with a beer drinking session. Anti-
racist activists said it was an attempt to
gain political support.
Mentzen, who also buys and mar-
kets beer, told one journalist in the run-
up to the event it would be a different
type of conference. “The atmosphere
will be closer to a rock concert, a boxing
gala than a lecture hall,” he was quoted
saying.
The far-right politician, who report-
edly spoke for an hour at the event,
achieved notoriety in 2019 when he ad-
dressed a rally of the Confederation,
which is formed from extremist and
nationalist parties and social move-
ments. He told supporters: “We don’t
want the Jews, the homosexuals, abor-
tion, taxes and the European Union.”
Mentzen’s brewery produced the
beer White IPA Matters two years
ago, accompanied by an advertisement
showing a black barman drinking it in
a bar decorated with Confederate flags,
which sparked hundreds of complaints.
Marciniak is considered one of the
most highly rated international referees
of his generation. He officiated the 2022
Fifa World Cup final between Argentina
and France in December in Qatar, and
the 2018 Uefa Super Cup between Real
Madrid and Atlético Madrid.
The statement said: “I hope this
statement will find its way to all those
concerned, particularly the individuals
who were rightfully alarmed and disap-
pointed by my participation in the
The Guardian Saturday 3 June 2023
‘Everest’ event organised in Katowice
on 29 May 2023. I want to express my
deepest apologies for my involvement.
“Upon reflection and further inves-
tigation, it has become evident that
I was gravely misled and completely
unaware of the true nature and affili-
ations of the event in question. I had
no knowledge that it was associated a
Polish extreme-right movement. Had I
been aware of this fact, I would have
categorically declined the invitation.
“It is important to understand that
the values promoted by this movement
are entirely contrary to my personal
beliefs and the principles I strive to
uphold in my life. I am deeply remorse-
ful for any perception that my partic-
ipation may have contradicted them.
“As a professional deeply com-
mitted to the game of football, I want
to emphasise my unwavering support
for the values championed by Uefa,
particularly inclusivity and respect for
all individuals regardless of their back-
ground.
“These principles lie at the very core
of the spirit of football and align seam-
lessly with my personal beliefs. More-
over, I wholeheartedly condemn any
form of hate, discrimination, or into-
lerance, as they have no place within
the sport or society as a whole.
“I also want to highlight my
commitment to combating discrim-
ination in football. I was among the first
referees in the world, and certainly the
first in my country, to apply the ‘three-
step procedure’ in response to a serious *
tiators. It could take at least £80m for
them to consider selling the 21-year-old.
Brighton also anticipate selling Alexis
Mac Allister, with Liverpool leading the
race for the Argentina midfielder.
Chelsea are set for a heavy clearout
and need to sell after spending close
to £600m in the past two windows.
They are looking for a goalkeeper, a
striker and more depth alongside Enzo
Fernández in midfield. They sold Jor-
ginho to Arsenal in January and are
likely to sell Mason Mount and Mateo
Kovacic to Manchester United and
Manchester City respectively. N’Golo
Kanté, whose contract is up, is yet
to extend his deal. Milan want Ruben
Loftus-Cheek.
It remains to be seen whether
Brighton renew attempts to sign Levi
Colwill from Chelsea. Colwill has just fi-
nished a season’s loan at Brighton, who
had a £30m bid for the defender re-
jected this week. Chelsea do not want
to sell the 20-year-old.
Szymon Marciniak speaks to Erling
Haaland during Manchester City’s Cham-
pions League semi-final second leg against
Real Madrid. The Pole will also referee City
in the final. Photograph: Chris Brunskill/
Fantasista/Getty Images
discriminatory incident during a match
in Poland.
“Moving forward, I pledge to be
more vigilant in scrutinising the events
and organisations with which I asso-
ciate myself. I am committed to learn-
ing from this experience and ensuring
that such lapses in judgment do not
occur in the future.
“Lastly, I extend my sincere apol-
ogies to the clubs, players, fans, col-
leagues, officials and organisations who
place their trust in me.”
The Uefa inquiry into Marciniak’s
involvement was undertaken by its
chief of football, Zvonimir Boban, a
former Croatia midfielder, and its chief
refereeing officer, Roberto Rosetti. It
said Marciniak will fulfil his role as the
referee for the Champions League final.
The anti-racist organisation Never
Again, which first exposed Marciniak’s
attendance at the event, said it ac-
cepted his apology.