Ukraine war: Belarus’s highwire act teeters under Russian pressure
The Belarusian dictator, Alexander Lukashenko, spoke at a ceremony for military graduates and officers on July 6. He predictably mentioned the war in neighbouring Ukraine. “No one is going to send you into this slaughter,” he assured them, “we do not need war; it is tragic that it is going on in Ukraine.” Yet, arguably, […]
Confessions II: a euphoric return to form that reveals a more vulnerable Madonna
Madonna’s much-anticipated Confessions II has just broken official chart records, making her the first American woman to earn number one albums across five decades. It’s her tenth number one record. A kind of sequel to 2005’s Confessions on a Dancefloor, it marks a euphoric return to form, released seven years after her last album, Madame […]
Taxi Driver at 50: how Martin Scorsese’s film foreshadowed the manosphere
As plumes of steam rise and dissipate from the grates of New York in the opening frames of Taxi Driver, we see the unsettled brown eyes of Travis Bickle, played by Robert De Niro in a career-defining role. The second of Martin Scorsese’s successful collaborations with De Niro, the pair went on to make another […]
How Thomas Tuchel thinks differently: by an expert in football coaching
As a football coach, Thomas Tuchel has done things differently to many of his colleagues. For example, it is extremely rare for lower league footballers to become the head coaches of top sides. But that’s what Tuchel did, playing as a defender in Germany’s bottom tiers, before going on to manage elite teams like Paris […]
Donald Trump is running out of options in Iran
Serious hostilities between the US and Iran have resumed. On July 8, Donald Trump said that the ceasefire agreed by the two countries in June was “over”. Since then, he has ordered the US military to carry out intensive airstrikes on Iran and has reimposed an economic blockade of the country. The US president has […]
Newborn screening: why clear communication matters as testing expands
Sebw/Shutterstock “I think you always believe it’s never going to happen to me.” That is how one parent described learning that their newborn baby had been identified as being at possible risk of a rare genetic condition through routine newborn screening. Known as the newborn blood spot test, or heel prick test, this involves taking […]
Competitive youth sport: how to be a supportive parent
wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock “Concentrate!” A stern face, intense look and arms across the chest. A one-word order for primary-aged daughters. It’s the start of a tennis lesson, and the children have already clocked two hours of practice with their dad beforehand. It doesn’t stop there. The stories of unkind adult behaviour at youth sport events are endless, […]
Why walking football offers older people a different story about ageing
On football pitches across the UK, thousands of people in their 50s, 60s and 70s are proving that the beautiful game does not have to end with age. Walking football is a variation of running football (or soccer) mostly targeted at older people. But what’s it like to play football later in life? According to […]
Cool Machine by Colson Whitehead: a fitting end to the Harlem trilogy that is sure to make it a classic of New York fiction
This article contains spoilers for the first two books in the Harlem Trilogy Cool Machine is the last book in Colson Whitehead’s Harlem Trilogy. Across three decades, the series has followed the furniture dealer and family man Ray Carney as he navigates the changing cultural and political landscapes of New York City. We meet Carney […]
‘7.6 billion mugs of tea a second’: a new way to make sense of the heat pouring into our oceans
Kashish Grover / unsplash, CC BY-SA Imagine almost every person on Earth doing nothing but making cups of tea, day and night, one every second – and pouring every single one into the sea. It sounds absurd. Yet it helps us picture one of the biggest changes happening to our planet. Although we experience global […]