24 h. ago My Cultural Awakening: I moved across the world after watching a Billy Connolly documentary

A chance viewing of the comic’s World Tour of Scotland made me swap Australia for the Highlands, although things didn’t quite go to plan I was 23 and thought I had found my path in life. I’d always wanted to work with animals, and I had just landed a job as a vet nurse in Melbourne. I was still learning the ropes, but I imagined I would stay there for years, building a life around the work. Then, five months in, the vet called me into his office and told me it wasn’t working out. “It’s not you,” he said, “I just really hate training people.” His previous nurse had been with him for decades; she knew his every move. I didn’t. And just like that, I was out of a job.I drove home crying, feeling utterly adrift. I wasn’t sure whether to try again at another vet clinic or rip up the plan entirely and do something else. After spending a few days floating around aimlessly, trying to recalibrate my life, I turned on the TV, needing something to take my mind off things. And there he was: Bill...

Culture

6 d. ago Climate disasters displaced 250 million people in past 10 years, UN report finds

Floods, storms and droughts have uprooted people across the globe as rising temperatures intensify conflict and hungerClimate-related disasters forcibly displaced 250 million people globally over the past decade, the equivalent of 70,000 people every day, according to a report by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).Floods, storms, drought and extreme heat are among the weather conditions driving conflict and displacement, alongside slow-onset disasters such as desertification, rising sea levels and ecosystem destruction, which are threatening food and water security. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Princess Beatrice urged to 'go one step further' amid family scandal

Princess Beatrice was reportedly 'absolutely devastated' by the latest scandal to engulf her father Prince Andrew, and was seen looking distraught as she drove away from the family home.

Politics

3 w. ago Man sent to France under ‘one in, one out’ scheme returns to UK on small boat

Exclusive: Asylum seeker says he made second crossing because he did not feel safe in FranceA man sent back to France under the “one in, one out” scheme has returned to the UK on a small boat, the Guardian has learned.The man, who wants to claim asylum in the UK, and has spoken to the Guardian since coming back, is being held in a UK immigration detention centre and claims to be a victim of modern slavery at the hands of smugglers in northern France. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Flooding and droughts drove them from their homes. Now they’re seeking a safe haven in New York

Data analysis found higher than average migration growth to the US from areas in Guatemala, Bangladesh and Senegal hit by repeated climate disastersThis article was produced in partnership between Columbia Journalism Investigations and Documented.Mohamed* sat cross-legged on the carpet before Friday afternoon prayers at a mosque in the South Bronx in New York City and shared memories of his crops. Continue reading...

Events

4 w. ago My dad cursed our family and left us. But after his death, he followed me everywhere | Jonas Hassen Khemiri

His absence shaped me. But as my father lay dying in a Stockholm nursing home, I longed to hear him explainMy father died nine months ago and last night he drove me home in a taxi.We knew something was wrong when my father stopped taking his insulin and started leaving his flat at night without his shoes because there were “people in the plants” and the floor was made of “muddy water”. After several tests, he was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia, which causes hallucinations and a rapid decline in cognition.Jonas Hassen Khemiri is a Swedish novelist and playwright. His most recent novel, The Sisters, is his first written originally in English Continue reading...

Events