4 d. ago The Handmaid’s Tale author Margaret Atwood fears her dystopian novel can ‘now happen anywhere’

‘I don’t think we’re going to get the outfits, but the rest of it seems more and more plausible,’ says Margaret Atwood

Culture

5 d. ago Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid’s Tale has become ‘more and more plausible’

Canadian author discusses US under Trump and says setting of her dystopian novel has ‘become much closer’Margaret Atwood has said the plot of her book The Handmaid’s Tale, which depicts a story of an authoritarian regime where women are forced to reproduce, has become “more and more plausible” in recent years.Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, Atwood said she believed the plot was “bonkers” when she first had the concept for the novel as the US was the “democratic ideal” at the time. Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago The Handmaid’s Tale author fears her dystopian novel can ‘now happen anywhere’

‘I don’t think we’re going to get the outfits, but the rest of it seems more and more plausible,’ says Margaret Atwood

Culture

5 d. ago Story of Handmaid’s Tale becoming ‘more and more plausible’ – Margaret Atwood

The book tells the story of subjugated women called handmaids who are forced to be natal slaves.

Politics

8 d. ago Spotify Wrapped 'ruined' after people learn why data can feel wrong

Spotify dropped its annual Spotify Wrapped data this week, and if your data doesn't look quite right, there could be a very simple explanation - as it's all to do with time

Politics

9 d. ago More than 200 leading cultural figures call for release of jailed Palestinian leader

Group including Margaret Atwood, Ian McKellen and Richard Branson sign open letter to free Marwan BarghoutiMore than 200 leading cultural figures have come together to call for the release of Marwan Barghouti, the jailed Palestinian leader seen as capable of uniting factions and bringing the best hope to the stalled mission of creating a Palestinian state.The prestigious and diverse group calling for his release in an open letter includes a variety of prominent names, including the writers Margaret Atwood, Philip Pullman, Zadie Smith and Annie Ernaux; actors Sir Ian McKellen, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton, Josh O’Connor and Mark Ruffalo, and the broadcaster and former footballer Gary Lineker. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago ‘If I was American, I’d be worried about my country’: Margaret Atwood answers questions from Ai Weiwei, Rebecca Solnit and more

Democracy, birds and hangover cures – famous fans put their questions to the visionary authorAfter the ­phenomenal global success, not to mention timeliness, of the TV adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale in 2017, Margaret Atwood has been regarded as “a combination of figurehead, prophet and saint”, the author writes in her new memoir Book of Lives. Over 600 pages this “memoir of sorts” ranges from her childhood growing up in the Canadian backwoods to her grief at the death of her partner of 48 years, the writer Graeme Gibson, in 2019, with many friendships, the occasional spat and more than 50 books (including Cat’s Eye, Alias Grace and the Booker prizewinning The Blind Assassin and The Testaments) in between.The author, who turned 86 last week, always likes to take the long view, often from a couple of centuries’ distance. As Rebecca Solnit notes below, she now has a long view of our times. Age and the freedom of being a writer (as she says, she can’t get sacked) make her fearless in...

Politics

2 w. ago Teenage dreams are never practical. But where would we be without the people who chased theirs? | Adrian Chiles

It can feel wrong to encourage young people to shoot for the stars – yet if no one did, our world would be empty of the artists, actors, athletes and visionaries who give it so much pleasure and meaningWho wants to crush a kid’s dreams? Not me. But what to say when asked by a teenager about a career in the media? With tens of thousands of media, journalism and other graduates crowding into the market every year, the chances of finding steady work, let alone stardom, are more remote than ever. There’s no advice I feel comfortable giving. Too often, I suck my teeth and tell them how hard it is, which surely invites them to wonder exactly how hard it can be if I’ve managed to pull it off. Fair point. But what’s the point encouraging them to chase something that probably isn’t there? Dispiriting.Dispiriting too, when you encounter the opposite of a teenage dreamer: the teenage realist. A few years ago, I was being shown around a secondary school in the Black Country with various worthie...

Politics

2 w. ago One in four unconcerned by sexual deepfakes created without consent, survey finds

Senior UK police officer says AI is accelerating violence against women and girls and that technology companies are complicitOne in four people think there is nothing wrong with creating and sharing sexual deepfakes, or they feel neutral about it, even when the person depicted has not consented, according to a police-commissioned survey.The findings prompted a senior police officer to warn that the use of AI is accelerating an epidemic in violence against women and girls (VAWG), and that technology companies are complicit in this abuse. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Homesickness is a form of loss which may never grant closure. But a heart in two places can still find joy | Gaynor Parkin

For those who live far from home, feeling a mix of grief and gratitude is not as contradictory as it may seemThe modern mind is a column where experts discuss mental health issues they are seeing in their work“I don’t have the words to describe it properly, I just feel I’m in the wrong place and I don’t want to be here.”For the past few years, *Suzanne has travelled each year halfway around the world to visit family and close friends in her birth country. While the farewells are always hard, Suzanne usually settles back home after a few weeks, staying connected with video calls and regular messaging even when time differences made it difficult. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago ‘I thought the grownups were back in charge!’: John Crace on how Labour shattered his expectations

After 14 years of Tory rule, the Guardian’s parliamentary sketch writer thought he had seen it all. Westminster would surely tick along nicely once Keir Starmer’s party took over. How wrong he was ...I feel I should probably start with an apology. A few days after the 2024 general election, I wrote that it felt as if the grownups were back in charge. It wasn’t as if I was carried away by the vision of Keir Starmer or the charisma of Rachel Reeves. More that I felt we had regained a basic level of competence. That politics would become business as usual rather than the breathless psychodrama of the past 10 years. You could go to bed at night relatively confident that the country would be more or less recognisable when you woke up. There would be no more mad people doing mad things as we raced through five or six news cycles in the course of a couple of hours.And part of me was a little concerned. Because what is good for economic stability and social justice isn’t necessarily good fo...

Politics

3 w. ago If holding a grudge is wrong, why does it feel so right? Just ask Margaret Atwood | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

In a culture of therapy-approved ‘forgiveness’, the author’s new memoir shows how hilarious long-delayed vengeance can be“A lot of people have died, so I can actually say these things without destroying somebody’s life. Except for the people whose lives I wish to destroy.” Thus spake Margaret Atwood in a recent interview about Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts, in a clip that has gone viral. “They deserve it,” she says, of the people she hasn’t said such nice things about. Asked if she likes holding a grudge, she replied: “I don’t have a choice. I’m a Scorpio.”Part of the clip’s appeal is Atwood’s icily sardonic delivery: you can understand why a recent review of her autobiography describes her as “a literary mafia don”, reminding those who have crossed her that she knows who they are, even if they remain unnamed, or pointing out that they may well be dead by now anyway. It reminds me a bit of the writer who once said to me: “If you wait by the bend in the river long enough, the bodi...

Politics

3 w. ago Kelly Brook's reason for 'holding grudge' against 'snobby' I'm A Celeb's Ant and Dec

Model Kelly Brook is set to enter the I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! jungle this weekend alongside plenty of other famous faces

Politics