24 h. ago Not just resisting, but leading the fight: five women who refuse to be ignored

Across the world, women at the heart of their communities are leading the struggle to protect their culture, land and way of life“We, the daughters of mother earth have come together to collectively decide what we can do to bring about a world which we would like our children and our children’s children to live in,” so states the Beijing Declaration of Indigenous Women.Adopted in 1995, the document outlined the oppression of women around the world and demanded governments recognise “the social, cultural, economic, and religious rights of the Indigenous peoples in their constitutions and legal systems”. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Culture Recs: The Best Things I Saw, Ate, and Read in London

Culture Recs: The Best Things I Saw, Ate, and Read in London  The Contrarian

Politics

1 week ago Notting Hill carnival came ‘very close’ to not happening, says chair in funding appeal

Ian Comfort calls for government to recognise cultural importance of event and guarantee its sustainable futureAbout 2 million people are expected to take to the streets this weekend at the annual Notting Hill carnival for its mix of music, food and Caribbean culture, but for the man who runs it, there is a sense of relief to see it taking place at all.The chair of Notting Hill Carnival Ltd, Ian Comfort, told the Guardian that the event needed to secure a sustainable future after a year of funding rows, public disagreements with the Met police, and negative press after violence last year. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito infamous kiss recreated in new tv drama

The infamous kiss between Amanda Knox and boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito has been recreated for a new TV drama.

Events

2 w. ago Can you solve it? Are you a matcha for these tasty Japanese puzzles?

Brain food from the land of the rising sumsJapan is a world puzzle superpower. Its grid logic puzzles – like Sudoku, Kakuro, KenKen and many more – are played across the world by millions every day.The country also has its own culture of mathematical puzzles, nurtured by the Academy of Recreational Mathematics, Japan, which was founded in 1979. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago BrewDog axed from 2,000 pubs as punters shift to London draught beers including Camden Town and Beavertown

The company has been mired in controversy over recent years due to its ‘toxic’ workplace culture

Politics

2 w. ago Dan Gunn on reconstructing the life of Muriel Spark through letters

Few people have immersed themselves in the lives of great writers as thoroughly as Edinburgh-born academic Dan Gunn.

Politics

2 w. ago Climate crisis harming world heritage painted houses in Burkina Faso, say residents

Tiébélé’s wavy-walled houses covered in geometric lines showing signs of disintegration amid erratic weatherA world heritage site that was once a famous tourist destination is suffering from signs of disintegration, as climate change affects weather patterns.The wavy-walled houses covered with singular geometric lines of the Royal Court of Tiébélé in Burkina Faso, established in the 16th century, are recognisable all over the world. The paintings represent the thoughts, culture, and religion of the Kassena people, literally written on the walls. Continue reading...

Society

2 w. ago Comedian calls for awards 'fairness' to recognise performers working 'with no safety net'

The Edinburgh Comedy Awards have launched the careers of comedians including Stephen Fry and Sarah Millican

Events

2 w. ago Comedian's calls for awards 'fairness' to recognise performers working 'with no safety net' rejected

The Edinburgh Comedy Awards have launched the careers of comedians including Stephen Fry and Sarah Millican

Events

3 w. ago The WNBA’s sex toy epidemic is Skibidi brainrot writ large. Trolling has replaced meaning with noise | Lee Escobedo

The trolling of WNBA games isn’t just juvenile spectacle. It’s the logical endpoint of a culture fluent in irony, addicted to attention and hollowed out by meaninglessnessThe first dildo dropped from the sky like a glitch in the matrix. For anyone tuned in to the 29 July game between the Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries, the initial reaction was disbelief. In a world where feeds are increasingly AI-generated and algorithmically tuned for confusion, the boundaries between real and unreal have softened into clay. Our senses, once reliable, now compete with simulation. What does it mean when dildos become airborne at WNBA games? Not once, not twice, but repeatedly? Protest? Performance art? Or just another malformed blip in the automated dreamscape we scroll through daily?Two men have been arrested thus far in these grotesque affronts. One was 18, the other 23, part of Gen Z, the prime consumer of debased meme culture. Authorities have not identified suspects in the most recent...

Politics

3 w. ago Piers Morgan receives backlash after accusing Beyoncé of ‘cultural appropriation’ over denim campaign

His post came amid ongoing controversy surrounding Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle advert, in which a play on the words ‘genes’ and ‘jeans’ prompted criticism for allegedly invoking eugenics-era ideology

Politics

3 w. ago Paul Weller snubbed pal Noel Gallagher and Oasis gigs for unusual reason

The legendary rocker reckons the gigs will be a big "cultural moment" but he's passed on tickets, preferring to watch Billie Eilish instead

Politics

3 w. ago Wednesday: what went down in season one, and the questions we need answered

From supernatural showdowns to dead teachers, here’s what to know about what went down in season one

Politics

4 w. ago Frying solo? 20 pantry, fridge and freezer essentials for single households

Olives, chickpeas and dukkah are a few of the basic ingredients writer and former caterer Elizabeth Quinn keeps on hand. Here she shares quick recipes for oneGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailA decade ago I put together a Running Away from Home Cookbook as a gentle nudge to one of my millennial chicks. Too gentle as it turned out – 10 years later I was the one who left home. After a lifetime of cooking for the multitudes, I have adapted to cooking for one. It’s been both a relief and a revelation.Single householders aged 65 and over are increasing as a proportion of the population. I am one of that large cohort.Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morningOilOlivesGood quality anchoviesVinegarTinned tomatoesCoconut creamTinned tunaChickpeasDukkahPasta, noodles and rice Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago Pissants by Brandon Jack review – is this novel a critique or a celebration of toxic masculinity? Even it isn’t sure

The former AFL player’s debut novel barely has a plot, following a group of aggressive, entitled footy players as they get wasted and treat women like propsGet our weekend culture and lifestyle email“Virgil and Homer would recognise these hulking airborne men,” Helen Garner wrote of AFL players in her most recent book, The Season. As the celebrated author and footy tragic watched her grandson play in an under-16 league, she found in the sport “a kind of poetry, an ancient common language between strangers, a set of shared hopes and rules and images, of arcane rites played out at regular intervals before the citizenry”.Garner has enthusiastically blurbed the scabrous debut novel of former AFL player Brandon Jack: Pissants, a book mostly dedicated to the arcane rites that play out off the oval – preferably as far from the citizenry as possible. Whereas Garner lovingly traces the epic dimensions of teenage footy in the suburbs, Jack depicts AFL culture as a crucible for addiction, miso...

Events