The U.S., Egypt and other countries are urging the delivery of food, water and fuel to counter the desperate shortages facing Gaza’s two million residents.
In this massacre of its youth, Israel’s 75-year-old quest for some carefree normalcy met the murderous fury of those long-oppressed Palestinians who deny the state’s right to exist.
Inside Trump’s Backroom Effort to Lock Up the Nomination
As the former president dodges debates, it can seem as if he’s bypassing the primary. But he and his team have been working quietly to twist the delegate rules in their favor.
“I have searched everywhere for the city of dreams,” he wrote after wandering far from Paris to overcome writers’ block, “and found it here, in Ronda.”
German poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1913)
The Times and The Sunday Times (October 15, 2023) – Walking in the footsteps of poets on a new cultural trip, James Stewart takes a wander from Ronda and gets spectacular scenery and ancient traditions all to himself.
Rupit
Teetering at the edge of the Tajo river gorge, Ronda, 90 minutes’ drive west from Malaga, remains the most spectacular urban setting in Europe. Its cat’s cradle of white streets is haunted by the ghosts of Moorish princes, soundtracked by the strum of guitars and the tinkle of fountains.
The Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park
If you’re in the mood for romance, nowhere in Spain comes close, Ernest Hemingway reckoned. He’s still right, so long as you’re happy to share your precious moment with massed day-trippers from the Costa del Sol. Expect visitor numbers to grow again when a £1.1 million suspended gorge walk, the Camino del Desfiladero del Tajo designed by the architect behind Malaga’s Caminito del Rey, opens later this year.
Even so, what everyone is really coming to Ronda for – to inland Andalusia – is Old Spain. You won’t find it written on signposts but, like the crackle of duende during a flamenco concert, you’ll know it when you experience it. It’s the country of pueblos blancos and half-remembered battles and scenery of savage beauty; the one that attracted Grand Tour visitors such as Disraeli and Irving long before anyone had thought of the Costa del Sol.
October 15, 2023– From London, Emma Nelson, Latika Bourke and Yossi Mekelberg on the weekend’s big talking points. We also speak to Monocle’s editorial director, Tyler Brûlé, as well as our friends and correspondents in Ljubljana, Turin, and Zurich.
Hamas gunmen surged into Israel in a highly organized and meticulously planned operation that suggested a deep understanding of Israel’s weaknesses. Here is how the attacks unfolded.
Literary Review of Canada – November 2023: The latest issue features Who Keeps Killing Canadian History; The Influencers – A dual biography from Charlotte Gray, and more…
Passionate Mothers, Powerful Sons: The Lives of Jennie Jerome Churchill and Sara Delano Roosevelt by Charlotte Gray
They were born the same year. Their families left Paris the same year. Their sons entered institutions that would shape their lives the same year. If Stephen Sondheim had written Passionate Mothers, Powerful Sons instead of Charlotte Gray, he might have employed one of the timeless lines from his Broadway show Company to depict the lives and loves of Jennie Jerome Churchill and Sara Delano Roosevelt: “Parallel lines who meet.”
Anthony Rota stepped down as Canada’s thirty-seventh Speaker of the House of Commons on September 27, for reasons pretty much the entire world knows. Between his unprecedented resignation and the election of Greg Fergus to take up that fancy oak and velvet chair, the electorate was treated to some familiar headlines. “Who Can Bring Back Commons Decency?” the Toronto Star asked on its front page. “Being Speaker Isn’t Easy,” the CBC reminded us. “And It Just Got a Lot Harder.”
World Economic Forum (October 14, 2023) – This week’s top stories of the week include:
0:15Why engagement in the news is in decline – A massive media survey looked at trust and engagement in the news and found both are in steady decline. Just 48% of people say they are very or extremely interested in the news in 2023 down from 63% in 2017. Trust in the news has fallen 2 percentage points in a year. Now, only 40% say they trust the news most of the time and 36% say they actively avoid the news sometimes or often.
1:53This robot can help people with disabilities dress – The robot was designed by a team at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). They used a simulation to teach it how to perform its task. The team used an AI-driven approach called ‘reinforcement learning’. The robot was rewarded each time it correctly placed a shirt further along an arm.
3:25Company captures and stores CO2 with limestone – Heirloom takes crushed limestone and heats it in a kiln powered by renewable energy. The reaction generates two products. These are CO2, which can be permanently stored underground or in materials like concrete and a powder, which is hydrated with water to make calcium hydroxide. When the calcium hydroxide is spread onto trays, it absorbs CO2 from the air to become limestone and the whole process can begin again.
5:24How to use ChatGPT more safely – ChatGPT is an AI tool that gives detailed, natural language answers to prompts based on a database of 300 billion words drawn from books and articles. The AI learns from its interactions with you, so here are 5 ways to ensure you’re using it safely.
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The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. The Forum engages the foremost political, business, cultural and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. We believe that progress happens by bringing together people from all walks of life who have the drive and the influence to make positive change.
The burden of the humanities by Wilfred M. McClay A lyrical populist revolt by Victor Davis Hanson Blanquette de Bard by Anthony Daniels Polymorphous Peretz by Myron Magnet
Apparitions, black hares and time warps festoon the pages of Elizabeth Hand’s “A Haunting on the Hill,” set in the same moldering mansion as Shirley Jackson’s classic horror novel.
VENGEANCE IS MINE, by Marie NDiaye. Translated by Jordan Stump.
The characters in Marie NDiaye’s novels are an unsettling brood. They fret and pace around their homes, tormented by their pasts. Their minds trap and trick them. A daughter can’t shake memories of her mother’s murder; a man gropes for the truth about his imprisonment in a deserted vacation town; a chef pursues culinary perfection at any cost; a woman — reminded of a friend, a schoolteacher or was it her mother? — fatally chases an apparition in green.
Monocle on Saturday, October 14, 2023: A look at the week’s news and culture with Georgina Godwin. Also in the programme: David Bodanis reviews the morning’s papers and Meryl Halls, managing director at the Booksellers Association, tells us about Bookshop Day.
News, Views and Reviews For The Intellectually Curious
Boomers Daily 