Times Literary Supplement (August 21, 2024): The latest issue features ‘Angels at her table’ – C.K. Stead and Kirsty Gunn on Janet Frame’s singular voice; Pat Barker and Mark Haddon’s modern myths; Rethinking incarceration; How art comes about; Sleep science; Hypochondria and literary reputations….
Country Life Magazine (August 20, 2024): The latest issue features ‘Sensational Scotland’ – Where to buy north of the border; The legend of the Stone of Scone; Up the workers – Chatsworth’s red-sock army; Forests of the future – the trees we should plant now…
In the first of two articles, John Goodall charts the central role played by Scone and its former abbey in the history of Scotland.
Britain’s native trees are facing an uncertain future, but we can still act to save our magnificent woodland, argues Sir Harry Studholme
A very special band of helpers is behind the smooth staging of Chatsworth Country Fair, as volunteer Simon Reinhold reveals
Penny Churchill casts her eye over three Scottish estates, one a ‘pastoral oasis’ making its first appearance on the open market
The actor chooses a work that treads that fine divide between ‘life and death, night and day’.
There’s nothing more diverse than divers. Marianne Taylor dips below the surface to examine these underwater masters
The ‘weediest of weeds’ is loved by insects, loathed by landowners. John Wright tackles the prickly matter of Scotland’s emblem.
Hetty Lintell selects luxuries designed or made in Scotland
Tom Parker Bowles finds that the best way to savour traditional British varieties is to grow them yourself
Perennials and billowing grasses are a perfect backdrop for the sculpture at Whitburgh House in Midlothian, finds Caroline Donald
And, as always, much much more
The World Still Needs America—and America Still Needs the World by Condoleezza Rice
And They’re Already Here by Mark A. Milley and Eric Schmidt
The dubious rise of the private-security industry by Jasper Craven
For millennia, the figure of the guard has inspired as much derision as demand. An early antecedent to the modern security guard can be found in ancient Egypt. Nobles employed “doorkeepers” to protect palaces and tombs. The performance of such duties was accorded a measure of reverence even as guards were often cast as apathetic or incompetent. Some hieroglyphs depict doorkeepers as those “who ward off all evil ones”; others show them as sleepy, drunk, or blind.
Many still believe in this image of guards as feckless agents in spaces not in need of protecting. And yet, in a moment of peculiarly American volatility, certain places that guards patrol—like schools, bars, grocery stores, and retail outlets—are increasingly prone to seeing outbursts of violence. These trends might justify a guard’s usefulness if not for the fact that most guards lack the training or legal authority to do much of anything.
From Burdened: Student Debt and the Making of an American Crisis, which will be published this month by Dey Street. by Ryann Liebenthal
From L’instant précis où Monet entre dans l’atelier, which was published in 2022 by Éditions de Minuit. Translated from the French in May by Pauline Cochran. by Jean-Philippe Toussaint
How Vice-President Harris’s public persona has evolved, from tough prosecutor to frozen interviewee to joyful candidate. By Vinson Cunningham
His campaign is careening, his poll numbers are slipping, and, after something of a summer lull, he is due for several confrontations in court.
As the oceans ebb and surge, staggering ingenuity has gone into inventing the measure. By Brooke Jarvis
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We relaunch our presidential-election model for a transformed race
The superpower faces more adversaries, new technologies and less-confident allies
The country’s forces should be careful not to overreach
The challenge for neuroscientists is how to test them
The Guardian Weekly (August 15, 2024) – The new issue features Has mass tourism gone too far? – Why holiday hotspots have had enough. Plus: America’s Kamala and Tim show
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Spotlight | On the road: Kamala Harris and Tim Walz re-energise Democrats
The US vice-president and her running mate have hit the ground running in their campaign for the White House. Can they keep the momentum going, asks Lauren Gambino.
2
Technology | The fragile world of underwater internet cables
Deep-sea wires are the veins of the modern world. What if something were to happen to them? Jonathan Yerushalmy investigates.
3
Feature | Beautiful, bruising and complex female friendships
Ahead of her new book examining women’s friendships, the Observer’s Rachel Cooke reflects on two pivotal ones of her own, as well as some notable literary attachments.
4
Opinion | The Olympics showed France’s far right what true patriotism is all about
Despite a febrile political backdrop, the Paris Games reminded a nation of what it means to be proud of one’s country, says French sports writer Philippe Auclair.
5
Culture | The second act of Sam Neill
He is one of the world’s most famous actors, but the New Zealander – whose cancer is thankfully in remission – can still go to Starbucks without anyone recognising him, finds Zoe Williams.
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A snake family that includes many venomous species arose in Asia, despite fossil evidence pointing to an African origin.
Athletes can achieve greater speed with just the right ‘pumping’ motion, modelling shows.
Microbe found in cat poo could be harnessed to deliver large, complex proteins across the blood–brain barrier.
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