14 h. ago ‘Protest can shape the world’: Rebecca Solnit on the fight back against Trump

Demonstrations against the US president have been underplayed and dismissed, but a lifetime of activism has taught me how powerful collective action can beOn 5 April, millions of people rallied against the Trump administration and its campaigns of destruction. In small towns and big cities from Alaska to Florida, red counties and blue (and a handful of European cities), they gathered with homemade signs full of fury and heartbreak and sarcasm. Yet the “Hands Off” protests received minimal media coverage, and the general response was that they didn’t do anything, because they didn’t have immediate and obvious, and most of all quantifiable, consequences. I’ve heard versions of “no one cares”, “no one is doing anything” and “nothing came of it” for all my activist life. These responses are sometimes a sign that the speaker isn’t really looking and sometimes that they don’t recognise impacts that aren’t immediate, direct or obvious. Tracking those indirect and unhurried impacts, trying ...

Politics

14 h. ago ‘Protest shapes the world’: Rebecca Solnit on the fight back against Trump

Demonstrations against the US president have been underplayed and dismissed, but a lifetime of activism has taught me how powerful collective action can beOn 5 April, millions of people rallied against the Trump administration and its campaigns of destruction. In small towns and big cities from Alaska to Florida, red counties and blue (and a handful of European cities), they gathered with homemade signs full of fury and heartbreak and sarcasm. Yet the “Hands Off” protests received minimal media coverage, and the general response was that they didn’t do anything, because they didn’t have immediate and obvious, and most of all quantifiable, consequences. I’ve heard versions of “no one cares”, “no one is doing anything” and “nothing came of it” for all my activist life. These responses are sometimes a sign that the speaker isn’t really looking and sometimes that they don’t recognise impacts that aren’t immediate, direct or obvious. Tracking those indirect and unhurried impacts, trying ...

Politics

15 h. ago 8 of the best cities and towns to visit in Peru, from Lima to Cusco

With a rich and ancient past steeped in Incan history, this South American nation combines natural marvels, exceptional cuisine and mesmerising landmarks

Politics

5 d. ago I was in the Swiss Guard... here is what it's REALLY like to be the Pope's bodyguard

Mario Enzler, a Swiss citizen born and raised in a town in northern Italy just outside Milan, who served in the force under Pope John Paul II, tells what's like being the Pope's bodyguard.

Politics

1 week ago I loathe pigeons. You wouldn’t believe what they do to my downpipe | Adrian Chiles

These noisy, filthy, feral creatures make my life a misery. Is there really no way to get rid of them?Pigeons. Appalling things. I looked them up on the bird charity RSPB’s website and snorted when I came across the Where to See section. The answer is, just so you know, everywhere. Perhaps not so much outside towns and cities but in urban areas you’re never far from the sight and sound of the bloody things. If, unaccountably, you’re not familiar with this species, do feel free to get in touch and come round to my place and observe them at your leisure.Truly they are the soundtrack of my life. For years they’ve been getting into a drainage channel on the roof. Morning, noon and night they scratch and coo and jump about. The racket is infernal. I lie in bed reflecting on the filth in that gulley just above my head. I know it’s filthy, because when there’s heavy rain their revolting detritus washes down and blocks the downpipe. I have to pull their unspeakable waste out of the pipe bef...

Politics

1 week ago What’s missing from Alex Garland’s Iraq movie Warfare? Context, motivation and, for the most part, Iraqis | Peter Beaumont

I was there with US soldiers in 2006 and can see why the film-makers zoomed in on them so closely. But it results in glaring flawsThink back to 2006. Iraq was at the peak of its conflicts. A horrific sectarian war was raging, and al-Qaida in Iraq and other insurgent groups, both Sunni and Shia, held sway in substantial areas of the country.Suicide bombers and IEDs were a daily occurrence targeting both Iraqis and foreign forces, and in cities and towns from Fallujah and Ramadi, to Baqubah and Mosul, US troops were engaged in urban warfare. It was as much about ambush and hit-and-run attacks as about formal battles. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Protesters fill the streets in cities across the US to denounce Trump agenda

Organizers call for 11 million people to march and rally in this weekend’s effort to ‘protect democracy’Protesters poured into the streets of cities and towns across the United States again on Saturday, in the second wave of protests this month, as organizers seek to turn discontent with Donald Trump’s presidency into a mass movement that will eventually translate into action at the ballot box.By early afternoon, large protests were under way in Washington, New York and Chicago, with images of crowds cascading across social networks showing additional demonstrations in Rhode Island, Maryland, Wisconsin, Tennessee, South Carolina, Ohio, Kentucky, California and Pennsylvania, among others. Americans abroad also signaled their opposition to the Trump agenda in Dublin, Ireland, and other cities. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Bookmakers offering odds on where bin strikes will hit next after Birmingham crisis

At least 11 more towns and cities across the country are odds-on to be hit by the same crippling industrial action as Birmingham, as 21,000 tons of rubbish remains uncollected

Events

2 w. ago US missionary kidnapped during church service rescued after shoot

US citizen Josh Sullivan, from Tennessee, has been based in the Motherwell township branch of the Fellowship Baptist church since 2018

Events

2 w. ago It's alright for them! The militant union leaders spearheading the Birmingham bin strikes from towns and cities miles away where the streets are leafy, green and rubbish

None of the Unite leaders spearheading the industrial action live in England's second city - sparking anger from residents who say they are being forced to 'live like animals' while bosses remain unscathed.

Politics

2 w. ago Britain's asylum seeker 'sanctuaries': The towns and cities bucking the trend by welcoming migrants and refugees to their communities with open arms

EXCLUSIVE: The City of Sanctuary movement aims to make asylum seekers and refugees feel more welcome by persuading local voluntary groups to sign up as members.

Events

2 w. ago ‘Cities trigger our imagination’: why a walk in town can be just as good for you as a stroll in the countryside

Wandering among historic buildings, cemeteries and winding back streets can lift your spirits as effectively as communing with nature, according to author Annabel Streets. Let’s put that to the test When I arrange to meet Annabel Streets, the appropriately named author of a new book, The Walking Cure, I’m presented with a challenge. She wants me to choose a London location I am unfamiliar with, so I can experience her ideas about the upsides of urban landscapes. In the book, Streets contemplates the powerful impact walking can have on our mood, thoughts and emotions, and how this can differ according to where and how we walk. While most people are aware of the benefits of walking in nature, Streets makes the case for urban environments, known as “brown spaces” by developers. Surprisingly, churches, convents and cemeteries, all of which are found in cities, often offer a superabundance of wildlife. A study in one Berlin cemetery found 604 species, 10 of which were rare or endangered....

Politics

3 w. ago The power and pitfalls of protest: how to speak out without falling victim to Trump’s playbook | Jonathan Smucker

As mass protest surges against Trump and Musk, how can we show up as effectively as possible?On Saturday I was heartened to be one of millions of Americans who took to the streets in cities and towns across the United States to stand against “the most brazen power grab in modern history”. While no official total tally of “Hands Off!” participants is yet available, the anti-Donald Trump, anti-Elon Musk actions on Saturday were certainly among the largest single day protests in US history, with rallies in all 50 states.As we seem to be entering a new stage of popular protest movements, it’s worth assessing the strategic value of protest, as well as the limits and potential liabilities. History is full of powerful examples of consequential bottom-up protest movements. The women’s suffrage movement secured voting rights after decades of struggle. The civil rights movement dismantled Jim Crow segregation. The labor movement won the eight-hour workday, the weekend and much more. Protest w...

Events

3 w. ago Hopes for British version of Israel's 'Iron Dome' doomed to fail, experts warn

A British version of Israel's 'Iron Dome' system would fail to protect the whole of the UK against Russian missile attacks - because the system needed would be 'too prohibitively expensive'.

Events

last month Holidaymakers heading to Spain warned of protests on scale 'not seen for over a decade'

Mass demonstrations are planned in cities across Spain with towns and cities expected to grind to a halt.

Events

last month Moment brothel owner tries to hide six phones during police raid on gang that ran massive prostitution and human trafficking ring

Lina Wang (pictured) played a leading role in the prostitution of vulnerable victims in multiple towns and cities across the UK including Canterbury, Chatham, Dartford and Tunbridge Wells.

Events