3 h. ago Taylor Swift's ode to Travis Kelce is cringe – but is it worse than these other terrible lyrics?| Arwa Mahdawi

The singer-songwriter has proved herself a modern-day Shagspeare with Wood, a paean to the penis. When it comes to shocking lyrics, though, it faces strong competition ...Shall I compare thee to a redwood tree? Thou art more sappy and more decadent. Rough winds do shake OK, enough of that. I apologise for the cod Shakespeare but I just couldn’t help myself. Taylor Swift mania is at fever pitch and I have found myself swept up in the chatter about the lyrics from her new album, The Life of a Showgirl.Swift has routinely been described as a lyrical genius, and not just by 11-year-olds. Sir Jonathan Bate, a Shakespeare scholar, once called her a “literary giant” and used her work as a teaching aid. On her latest album the billionaire liberally sprinkles in plenty of Shakespeare references, but what’s really got people talking are the (supposed) allusions to fiance Travis Kelce’s “magic wand”. If you’re not interested in a blow-by-blow account of the magic, I’d advise you to do a vanish...

Events

7 d. ago Sperm racing is all the rage among the tech bros. Why am I not surprised? | Arwa Mahdawi

It started as a gag, but Eric Zhu’s sperm races are doing good work in putting male fertility under the microscope – literallyRemember when Elon Musk challenged Vladimir Putin to physical combat and Mark Zuckerberg to a cage fight? Neither of those brawls took place for various reasons. Not least, I suspect, because Musk is just self-aware enough to know that he would not emerge with his dignity, or his spine, intact. However, if the richest man in the world is still casting around for a way to publicly demonstrate his virility, I think I’ve hit on the perfect way: sperm racing.This isn’t some below-the-belt insult. Sperm racing is an emerging “thing” among tech types now. A teenage entrepreneur called Eric Zhu came up with the idea, and went viral with his first sperm race in April. That initial race was rudimentary: college students gave sperm samples to be analysed and the results were turned into an animated race that visualised the fastest offerings. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Trump’s war on Tylenol is also very much a war on women | Arwa Mahdawi

A concern for women’s health is absolutely not at the heart of it – rather, this is yet another way to control womenDonald Trump is a man with no medical training. However, that’s never stopped the very stable genius from inflicting his unhinged health views on the rest of us, has it? Back in 2020, for example, Trump memorably mused that injecting disinfectant could help fight the coronavirus – which forced the maker of Dettol and Lysol to put out an urgent statement explaining that this was a very bad idea.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago US marketing companies are helping to rebrand the genocide in Gaza | Arwa Mahdawi

Reports say PR teams are working busy rewriting history in real time – not that the American media needs the helpIf a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?You’ve heard that one before, but here’s a new version of the thought experiment: if a genocide takes place but you prevent foreign journalists from observing it, kill the key witnesses and spend hundreds of millions of dollars on propaganda, then will anyone care? Continue reading...

Economics

2 w. ago Someone has to drag the US out of the hellscape of Trumpism. Who better than AOC? | Arwa Mahdawi

Yes, the Democratic congresswoman is flawed – but she’s a fighter. Let’s not write her off as too young or too femaleQuiz time, and the category is American gerontocracy. Here goes: how many sitting Democratic members of Congress have died in office since November 2022? The answer is a mind-boggling eight. While Republicans aren’t dropping dead at the same rate, they’re arguably clinging to power for longer than is dignified. Last year, a Texas journalist discovered Kay Granger, a high-ranking octogenarian Republican congresswoman, had stopped coming to work because she was in a senior living facility, suffering from “dementia issues”. And while he is not in a facility yet, Donald Trump’s nonsensical ramblings, including a recent weird and completely fictitious story about his uncle knowing the Unabomber, suggest he may be suffering some sort of issue with his mental acuity.I’m not trying to be ageist here (the older I get, the more worried I become about ageism). I’m simply setting...

Politics

2 w. ago Even Tucker Carlson is worried about Trump’s free speech crackdown | Arwa Mahdawi

The former Fox News host is speaking out against the administration’s response to the Charlie Kirk shootingForgive me; I’m sorry; mea culpa! Having spent considerable time analyzing the events of the past week, I’ve realized I should probably issue a public apology for some of my statements over the years. Here we go: I’m sorry for expressing radical and dangerous opinions like “women deserve equal rights and shouldn’t be treated like walking wombs”. I’m sorry for suggesting Palestinians shouldn’t be systematically exterminated while Donald Trump posts about building a resort in Gaza. Going forward I will do better and ensure that I double-check all my opinions with the government. There isn’t an official Department of Thought Control yet, but no doubt we’ll get there soon.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago It’s not all lies, lies, lies with Trump – sometimes he’s unnervingly honest | Arwa Mahdawi

As the US president comes to the UK, let’s give credit where it’s due: he wasn’t lying when he said smart people don’t like himChannel 4 will be marking Donald Trump’s visit to the UK with what it describes as “the longest uninterrupted reel of untruths, falsehoods and distortions ever broadcast on television”. It will play more than 100 of Trump’s lies or misleading statements in a segment called Trump v The Truth. All his greatest hits, from false claims about the price of eggs to disgusting lies about the US spending millions on condoms for Hamas, packaged together.Obviously we’ve got to be fair and balanced here, though, haven’t we? Gotta show both sides. So I think it’s only right that Channel 4 also broadcast a 10-second segment covering all of the truthful and astute things the president has said. It’s not just lies, lies, lies: occasionally the man can be surprisingly wise. Only this week, for example, a video circulated online of Trump telling attendees of a gala at one of ...

Politics

3 w. ago Women’s suffrage is apparently up for debate again in America | Arwa Mahdawi

The country’s finest male intellectuals – including some in positions of power – are weighing in on the matter Should women in the US have the right to vote? You’d be forgiven for assuming this particular issue was sorted out quite a long time ago. But, because we live in hell, it seems the question is once again up for debate.Not by women, though; the fairer sex is obviously too emotional for such muscular discussion. So please sit this one out, ladies, and listen to what America’s finest male intellectuals have to say.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago What is the truth about Trump and Epstein? The story keeps getting murkier ... | Arwa Mahdawi

Whatever happened between the pair, questions about their relationship are not going away. This enigma is ageing like raw milkYou have to keep this hush-hush, OK? I have top-secret information to share. You know Donald Trump has been reluctant to release the Epstein files? Well, it’s not because there’s anything nefarious going on. Trump may be an adjudicated sexual predator accused of sexual misconduct by at least 27 women (all of which he denies), who publicly boasted in 2002 about how his “terrific” pal Jeffrey Epstein liked women “on the younger side”, but you shouldn’t read too much into all that. Nor should you overanalyse a Wall Street Journal report claiming White House officials told Trump in May that his name appeared multiple times in the files. Or that House Democrats have now released a sexually suggestive letter and drawing sent to Epstein in 2003 for his birthday that appears to show Trump’s signature, the same note the president has denied writing. Nor should you wor...

Politics