Category Archives: Culture

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY – NOVEMBER 7, 2025 PREVIEW

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY: The latest issue features ‘A Massacre Foretold’ – The Tragedy of El Fasher’

For some time now, El Fasher in Sudan has been a city beyond the reach of journalists. But the haunting satellite image on our cover this week, of smoke billowing from fires near El Fasher’s airport, told its own story as starkly as anything that could be reported from the ground.

Other satellite images showed clusters of burned-out vehicles, and what appeared to be pools of blood beside piles of bodies on the ground. A massacre was under way that could be seen from space.

The last major city in Darfur to fall to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) was already the scene of catastrophic levels of human suffering, but has “descended into an even darker hell”, senior UN officials warned last week. This key moment in the two-and-a-half-year-long civil war has unfolded in plain sight with minimal intervention from the international community, unless you count the United Arab Emirates, which has been arming the RSF paramilitaries.

Spotlight | The Andrew formerly known as a prince
Stupidity and self-entitlement sank King Charles III’s disgraced younger brother – and the royal reckoning may not be over yet, writes Stephen Bates

Technology | What if the internet just … stopped working?
Could everything suddenly go offline and if so, how? Aisha Down goes inside the fragile system holding the modern world together

Interview | Margaret Atwood puts the world to rights
At 85, she’s a literary seer and saint – and queen of the Canadian resistance. So what does the writer make of our dystopian society? Lisa Allardice finds out

Opinion | World leaders: Cop30 could be your great legacy
With the US backing away from the climate crisis, now is the moment when other nations must step up, says former British prime minister Gordon Brown

Culture | Back to black with Lynne Ramsay
The Scottish film director burst on to the scene with Ratcatcher and terrified audiences with We Need to Talk About Kevin. Her latest film stars Hollywood darling Jennifer Lawrence, but it doesn’t flinch from the dark side of family life, finds Amy Raphael

THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE – NOVEMBER 10, 2025

New Yorkers walk by a tree on a rainy day.

THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE: The latest cover features ‘Sudden Shower’ by Sergio-Garcia Sanchez.

The Case That A.I. Is Thinking

ChatGPT does not have an inner life. Yet it seems to know what it’s talking about. By James Somers

Voting Rights and Immigration Under Attack

The President’s goals were clear on the first day of his term, when he issued an executive order overruling the Fourteenth Amendment’s birthright-citizenship clause. By Jelani Cobb

Mobsters We Have Seen on High

The jewel heist at the Louvre reminded Brooklynites of the time, in 1952, when two bejewelled crowns were swiped from a beloved local church—the one with a Mob boss on the ceiling. By Susan Mulcahy

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE – NOV. 2, 2025

Current cover

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE: The 11.2.25 Issue features Susan Dominus on women taking testosterone; Dan Brooks on the comedian Stavros Halkias; Joshua Leifer on Haredi conscription in Israel; and more.

‘Frankenstein’ Has Always Held Up a Mirror. What Does It Show Us Now?

In Guillermo del Toro’s new version, the answer lies in how deeply it explores the relationship between creator and created.

In the Trump Presidency, the Rules Are Vague. That Might Be the Point.

The U.S. has long believed that unspecific laws threaten democracy. So why is the administration being so vague? By Matthew Purdy

A Teen in Love With a Chatbot Killed Himself. Can the Chatbot Be Held Responsible?

A mother in Florida filed a lawsuit against an A.I. start-up, alleging its product led to her son’s death. The company’s defense raises a thorny legal question. By Jesse Barron

The Island That Keeps the Earth’s Secrets

Sulawesi, Indonesia, blurs the boundaries between myth and ecology. What might it reveal about our past – or destiny? Photographs and Text by Balarama Heller

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY – OCTOBER 31, 2025 PREVIEW

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY: The latest issue features ‘Pressure Points’ – Will US sanctions put the squeeze on Putin?

Donald Trump’s sudden decision last week to sanction Russian oil producers suggested the US president has finally lost patience with Vladimir Putin after a series of fruitless talks over ending the war in Ukraine.

Could it break the deadlock? Oil sanctions have the potential to genuinely damage Moscow’s finances, as the Russian president himself admitted last week. It remains to be seen, though, whether economic pressure alone can bend Putin’s arm over a conflict he views as defining to his legacy.

In this week’s big story, Guardian Russia affairs reporter Pjotr Sauer asks whether sanctions could succeed where diplomacy has failed, while Christopher S Chivvis of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace argues that a negotiated settlement remains the likeliest way to bring nearly four years of fighting to a halt.

In the frontline Ukrainian city of Kupiansk, senior reporter Peter Beaumont finds little hope of a quick resolution, with much of the population having left and the remaining soldiers stuck in a war they believe is “going nowhere for either side”.

Five essential reads in this week’s edition

Spotlight | The populist leaders’ economic playbook
From Milei to Meloni, are the economics of populism always doomed to failure? This long read from economics editor Heather Stewart tries to bridge the gaps between populist aspiration and fiscal reality

Environment | The deadly migration routes of elephants
Human-wildlife conflict has overtaken poaching as a cause of fatalities among elephants – and is deadly for people too. Now some villages are finding new ways to live alongside the mammals, reports Patrick Greenfield

Interview | Is Jimmy Wales the good guy of the internet?
The Wikipedia founder stands out from his contemporaries for being driven by more than money. But can the people’s encyclopedia withstand attacks from AI and Elon Musk? By David Shariatmadari

Opinion | Without genuine truth and justice, the war in Gaza cannot end
A fragile ceasefire is in place, but what’s needed is an international tribunal for resolution and reparation. That’s the only route to lasting peace, argues Simon Tisdall

Culture | The electrifying genius of Gerhard Richter
He has painted everything from a candle to 9/11, walked his naked wife through photographic mist, and turned Titian into a sacred jumble. A new Paris show reveals the German artist in all his contradictory brilliance, says Adrian Searle

THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE – NOVEMBER 3, 2025 PREVIEW

The cover of the November 3 2025 issue of The New Yorker featuring skateboarders pedestrians and scooter riders in front...

THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE: The latest cover features Victoria Tentler-Krylov’s “Racing Through Fall” – The city’s autumnal glow.

Why Trump Tore Down the East Wing

The act of destruction is precisely the point: a kind of performance piece meant to display Trump’s arbitrary power over the Presidency, including its physical seat. By Adam Gopnik

Trump and the Presidency That Wouldn’t Shut Up

His posts and rants are omnipresent, ugly, and unhinged. Don’t look to history to make it make sense. By Jill Lepore

Inside the Data Centers That Train A.I. and Drain the Electrical Grid

A data center, which can use as much electricity as Philadelphia, is the new American factory, creating the future and propping up the economy. How long can this last? By Stephen Witt

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY – OCTOBER 24, 2025 PREVIEW

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY: The latest issue features ‘Youth Quake’ – How Gen Z protesters toppled Madagascar’s leader.

Madagascar rarely makes front page news but the toppling of its president by protesters led by Gen Z Madagascar is part of a phenomenon that stretches from Nepal to Indonesia and the Philippines to Morocco. Leaderless groups, formed online, have learned from one another as they take to the streets to vent their frustration against what they see as corrupt older elites and a lack of economic opportunity for their generation.

Our southern Africa correspondent, Rachel Savage, explains how a tumultuous month unfolded on the Indian Ocean island and explores the deep-seated discontent that led to the military siding with student demonstrators to force President Andry Rajoelina out of power.

Five essential reads in this week’s edition

Spotlight | A far-right fight club on their hands
Ben Makuch reports on security service monitoring of ‘active clubs’ as they move across borders to spread extremism, mixing the behaviour of football hooligans with the ideology of the Third Reich

Benin bronzes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Benin bronzes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Photograph: Art2010/Alamy

Spotlight | Nothing to see here?
Due to open within weeks, Nigeria’s Museum of West African art is intended to showcase the Benin bronzes and other masterpieces stolen by 19th-century colonisers. But the project has been beset by political rows that mean, as Philip Oltermann and Eromo Egbejule report, visitors will see more replicas than original pieces

Science | Waiting for graphene to explode
Two decades after the material was first produced and then much hyped, graphene has dropped from business and general discussion. Julia Kollewe reports on the successes and setbacks of taking it from lab to mainstream use

Opinion | An A-level in English won’t make integration work
A government demand that immigrants get a qualification that most British citizens don’t have if they want to earn the right to stay is the latest absurd way to focus on ‘outsiders’ rather than address domestic problems, argues Nesrine Malik

Culture | The hardest part
David Harewood reflects on returning to play Othello after almost 20 years and with fellow Black actors looks at how attitudes to Shakespeare’s most difficult tragedy have changed


What else we’ve been reading

The year’s Stirling prize has gone to a social housing complex for older people in south-east London. Catherine Slessor writes with great enthusiasm about how the award-winning architects Witherford Watson Mann have completely reimagined accommodation for later life. Out with disorientating corridors, in with bright, informal, nature filled spaces, described by the Stirling judges as “a provision of pure delight”. Emily El Nusairi, deputy production editor

Kathryn Lewek as the Queen Of The Night in The Magic Flute at the Royal Opera House.
Kathryn Lewek as the Queen Of The Night in The Magic Flute at the Royal Opera House. Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian

I saw The Magic Flute in Paris last year, and it was fascinating to see how different opera houses interpret the staging. This review of a London production made me reflect on the way different directors handle staging and sound to bring the story to life. It reminded me of listening to the Queen of the Night’s aria when I was growing up and the experience of seeing opera live. Hyunmu Lee, CRM executive

HARPER’S MAGAZINE – NOVEMBER 2025 PREVIEW

HARPER’S MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘Why Don’t We Trust The Media?’

Why Doesn’t Anyone Trust the Media?

Anatomy of a credibility crisis by Jelani CobbTaylor LorenzJack ShaferMax Tani

The Goon Squad

Loneliness, porn’s next frontier, and the dream of endless masturbation by Daniel Kolitz

One Four Two Five Old Sunset Trail

On the last days of Gene Hackman by Joy Williams

THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE – OCTOBER 27, 2025 PREVIEW

A wealthy man hogs a dollar bill blanket leaving a common man in the cold.

THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE: The latest cover features Christoph Niemann’s “Market Shift” – How the wealthy sleep at night.

A “New Middle East” Is Easier to Declare Than to Achieve

As a long-overdue ceasefire takes hold amid the ruins of Gaza, the President’s visit to Jerusalem is more about transactional politics than transformative peace. By David Remnick

Can the Golden Age of Costco Last?

With its standout deals and generous employment practices, the warehouse chain became a feel-good American institution. In a fraught time, it can be hard to remain beloved. By Molly Fischer

Donald Trump’s Deep-State Wrecking Ball

Russell Vought is using the White House budget office to lay waste to the federal bureaucracy—firing workers, decimating agencies, and testing the rule of law. By Andy Kroll

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE – OCT. 19, 2025

Current cover

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE: The 10.19.25 Issue features Astead W. Herndon on the mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani; Emily Bazelon on the state of the rule of law in the U.S. under Trump; Andrew Ross Sorkin on 1929 and the rise of crypto investing; Parul Sehgal on Thomas Pynchon’s latest novel; and more.

The Battle Inside Israel Over Who Must Fight in Its Wars

The conflict over compulsory service for the nation’s ultra-Orthodox has become a stand-in for a larger struggle over the country’s right-wing, religious turn — and could determine its future.

Lady Gaga Was Always Gothic. Now the World Has Caught Up to Her.

At a moment when other pop stars are flirting with dark spectacle, Gaga’s “Mayhem” tour shows that she has perfected it. By Wesley Morris

What Trump’s War on Sanctuary Cities Is Really About

A movement born in churches to help vulnerable immigrants has become a constitutional battleground in Chicago and Portland, Ore.

Inside the Improbable, Audacious and (So Far) Unstoppable Rise of Zohran Mamdani

The story of the man most likely to be the next mayor of New York City — and the promise and peril his ascent poses for the Democratic Party.