politicnewsbusterinsiderpostreview: The Guardian

Saturday, 10 April 2021

The Guardian

The scandal that wasn’t: Republicans deflated as nation shrugs at Hunter Biden revelations
‘Accident’ at Iran’s Natanz nuclear plant as new uranium enrichment starts
BBC flooded with complaints over coverage of Prince Philip’s death
Nasa preparing to attempt first controlled flight on another world
St Vincent volcano: heavy ashfall clouds evacuation efforts on Caribbean island
Virus hotspots could lead to third Covid wave in UK, scientists warn
‘Clear the Capitol’: Pence plea amid riot retold in dramatic Pentagon document
Ghislaine Maxwell: prosecutors defend new indictment as July trial looms
Texas Republican Dan Crenshaw ‘virtually blind’ after eye surgery
US army officer sues police who pointed guns and pepper-sprayed him during traffic stop
Facebook ‘still too slow to act on groups profiting from Covid conspiracy theories’
Coronavirus: US midwest sees signs of a new wave as hospitalisations soar
Prince Charles remembers ‘dear papa’ as details of funeral emerge
What’s Donald Trump up to these days? I tried to find out via Instagram
‘Putin-style democracy’: how Republicans gerrymander the map
Maria Bakalova: ‘I dedicate every award to all the eastern European actors’
The old scrapbook recipe collections that tell the story of our lives
A YouTuber goes wild fishing and camping in the Cascade mountains washington state
The champ is back – but Bobby Lashley’s WWE rise hasn’t been easy
Republican ‘attacks’ on corporations over voting rights bills are a hypocritical sham | Robert Reich
On pay and wealth, damaging race inequalities prevail | Torsten Bell
Are Covid passports a threat to liberty? It depends on how you define freedom | Maria Alvarez
A rich New York playboy with a famous surname – what if JFK Jr had lived? | Hadley Freeman
Hideki Matsuyama surges to four-shot lead in weather-hit Masters
Alex Rodriguez and billionaire Marc Lore near deal for NBA’s Timberwolves
Megan Rapinoe’s late penalty salvages draw as USA women keep streak alive
Kroos’ double deflection deflates Barça, decides clásico and sends Real top
Georgia governor claims MLB All-Star voting rights move hurts Black voters
Reguilón on for Bergwijn: how José Mourinho blew Spurs’ title charge | Jonathan Wilson
Stuart Dallas breaks late for winner as 10-man Leeds stun Manchester City
The music streaming debate: what the artists, songwriters and industry insiders say
DMX's powerful work confronted an American hell of trauma and poverty
Taylor Swift: Fearless (Taylor’s Version) review – a labour of revenge, but also of love
The Agenda review: why Biden must expand the supreme court – fast
We’ve all suffered Khloé Kardashian’s fate, even if we’re not as famous | Rebecca Nicholson
Louis Theroux: ‘I worry about not coming up to scratch’
Riz Ahmed: ‘I am happiest when feeling challenged or overwhelmed’
‘Smoky with a touch of biker jacket’: putting musicians’ candles to the sniff test
How an arcane budget provision could let Democrats advance their agenda
‘Truth will prevail’: Matt Gaetz takes break from scandal to speak at Trump club
Zeus of Twitter or mouse of Mar-a-Lago? Republicans court Trump in Florida
Ray Lambert, US army medic wounded on D-Day, dies aged 100
Baby dies in ‘tragic’ shooting by three-year-old brother, Houston police say
France and Germany’s Covid vaccination programmes pick up speed
Taoiseach says Northern Ireland must not ‘spiral back to dark place’
Doctors under fire as Myanmar military targets efforts to aid injured protesters
Prince Philip: Experts tell of trauma caused by death of a lifelong partner
Prince Philip: the unlikely but willing Pacific deity
All tomorrow's parties: the promise and possibility of nights out after Covid
Kintsugi helped me to understand my brother's death
Statement wallpapers – in pictures

The scandal that wasn’t: Republicans deflated as nation shrugs at Hunter Biden revelations

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 04:46 AM PDT

Trump and his allies foresaw a ticking timebomb centred on the president's son – but it has not turned out that way

Where's Hunter?

The rhetorical question about Joe Biden's troubled son was posed time and again by Donald Trump during last year's US presidential election but never caught fire in the way "Lock her up!" did against Hillary Clinton.

‘Accident’ at Iran’s Natanz nuclear plant as new uranium enrichment starts

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 10:57 PM PDT

Spokesman says accident hit the Natanz electrical distribution grid, a day after Iran switched on new centrifuges

A spokesman for Iran's civilian nuclear programme said an "accident" struck the electrical distribution grid of the Natanz nuclear facility, a day after the government announced it was starting up new uranium enrichment centrifuges.

Behrouz Kamalvandi announced the accident on Sunday, saying there were no injuries and no pollution. A mysterious explosion in July 2020 damaged Natanz's advanced centrifuge facility, with Iran later calling the incident sabotage.

BBC flooded with complaints over coverage of Prince Philip’s death

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 10:42 AM PDT

Corporation opened dedicated complaints form on its website to deal with high volume of comments

Viewers switched off their TVs in droves after broadcasters aired blanket coverage of Prince Philip's death, audience figures revealed on Saturday, and the BBC received so many complaints it opened a dedicated complaints form on its website.

BBC One and BBC Two cleared their schedules of Friday night staples including EastEnders, Gardeners' World and the final of MasterChef to simulcast pre-recorded tributes from the Duke of Edinburgh's children.

Nasa preparing to attempt first controlled flight on another world

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 02:12 PM PDT

The Ingenuity helicopter, which arrived on the red planet in February, is expected to take to the skies on Wednesday

Nasa is gearing up to attempt the first controlled flight on another planet next week, with the tiny Ingenuity helicopter on Mars.

The helicopter is expected to take to the skies next week, with Wednesday being the earliest time scheduled.

St Vincent volcano: heavy ashfall clouds evacuation efforts on Caribbean island

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 01:10 PM PDT

Friday explosion sent plume more than 33,000ft
Antigua and Guyana ready to take evacuees or ship supplies

Extremely heavy ashfall rained down on parts of the Caribbean island of St Vincent on Saturday and a strong sulfur smell enveloped communities, a day after a powerful explosion at La Soufriere volcano uprooted the lives of thousands who evacuated under government orders.

Virus hotspots could lead to third Covid wave in UK, scientists warn

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 01:00 PM PDT

Boris Johnson accused of dropping pledge to 'follow data not dates' and urged to wait for more vaccinations before easing restrictions

Leading scientists warned last night that the government was risking a third wave of Covid-19 by easing the lockdown at a time when official data still shows virus hotspots across many parts of the country.

With the UK poised to lift many Covid restrictions on Monday, the scientists accuse ministers of abandoning their promises to "follow the data, not dates" in a rush to reopen society and the economy.

‘Clear the Capitol’: Pence plea amid riot retold in dramatic Pentagon document

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 11:34 AM PDT

Previously undisclosed internal report reveals how officials sought to re-establish order during 6 January attack

Far-right groups raise millions via Christian funding site

A previously undisclosed document prepared by the Pentagon for internal use reveals dramatic new details about how authorities sought to quell the attack on the Capitol on 6 January and re-establish order – and how such help took agonising hours in coming.

Ghislaine Maxwell: prosecutors defend new indictment as July trial looms

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 01:46 PM PDT

Defense complains of 'gamesmanship' and may seek trial delay
Arraignment on new charges due in New York this month

Prosecutors in the case of Ghislaine Maxwell have defended a late expansion of charges against her, saying it became necessary because a woman spoke after the Briton's arrest about abuse at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein in the early 2000s.

Texas Republican Dan Crenshaw ‘virtually blind’ after eye surgery

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 10:11 AM PDT

Navy veteran lost his right eye in Afghanistan in 2012
Congressman expects to be nearly sightless for a month

The Texas Republican congressman Dan Crenshaw said on Saturday that he had undergone eye surgery and would be "effectively blind" for a month.

Crenshaw, 37, is a veteran of the elite navy Seals force. He lost his right eye and sustained damage to his left eye in Afghanistan in 2012, when a bomb exploded.

US army officer sues police who pointed guns and pepper-sprayed him during traffic stop

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 10:18 AM PDT

Lt Caron Nazario, who is Black and Latino, files suit after encounter in which officers referenced execution

A second lieutenant in the US army is suing two Virginia police officers over a traffic stop last December in which the officers drew their guns, pointed them at him and used a slang term to suggest he was facing execution before pepper-spraying him and knocking him to the ground.

Body camera footage shows Caron Nazario, who is Black and Latino, dressed in uniform and with his hands held in the air outside the driver's window as he tells the armed officers he is "honestly afraid to get out" of his SUV.

Facebook ‘still too slow to act on groups profiting from Covid conspiracy theories’

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 10:45 PM PDT

Over 100 Instagram accounts are promoting dangerous antivax views and selling 'detox' products, investigation finds

Covid conspiracy theorists are seeking to profit from the millions of followers they have built up on Instagram during the pandemic by marketing health supplements, wellness courses and juicers to them.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has identified more than 100 Covid conspiracy accounts promoting products to an audience of almost 6 million people on Instagram, which is owned by Facebook.

Coronavirus: US midwest sees signs of a new wave as hospitalisations soar

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 09:06 AM PDT

ICU beds fill in Michigan as case counts approach November highs, while Minnesota and Illinois also face growing numbers

Coronavirus – live coverage

There are ominous signs of a new wave of coronavirus infections building in the US midwest, even as vaccinations continue to gather pace across the country.

Prince Charles remembers ‘dear papa’ as details of funeral emerge

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 11:39 AM PDT

Service to be held at Windsor on 17 April and include Duke of Edinburgh's request that his coffin be borne on a Land Rover

Prince Charles has paid tribute to his "dear papa" as details of the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral plans emerged, including Prince Philip's special request that his coffin be borne on a Land Rover.

Speaking at Highgrove, the Prince of Wales said: "My dear papa was a very special person who I think above all else would have been amazed by the reaction and the touching things that have been said about him."

What’s Donald Trump up to these days? I tried to find out via Instagram

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 11:00 PM PDT

In the early days of his post-presidential life, Trump has crashed a wedding and welcomed maskless Mar-a-Lago guests

What do US presidents do once they leave the White House? Barack Obama kite-surfed with Richard Branson. Jimmy Carter returned to his peanut farm and found that it was $1m in debt. George W Bush got into painting.

It's early days, but Donald Trump's post-presidential life has been just like his presidency: non-traditional. Aside from setting up an eyebrow-raising new website, and releasing wannabe tweets as official statements, he's spent most of his time inside his new home at Mar-a-Lago, the giant and exclusive resort he owns in south Florida.

‘Putin-style democracy’: how Republicans gerrymander the map

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 11:00 PM PDT

With red states set to gain seats, the GOP is ready to disadvantage Democrats and deliver the US House

Republicans believe they have a great chance to win control of the US House of Representatives in 2022, needing a swing of about six seats to depose Nancy Pelosi as speaker and derail Joe Biden's agenda.

Maria Bakalova: ‘I dedicate every award to all the eastern European actors’

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 06:00 AM PDT

The Oscar-nominated Bulgarian star of Borat Subsequent Moviefilm on the weirdness of shooting to fame during a pandemic

Bulgarian actor Maria Bakalova broke through last year as Sacha Baron Cohen's co-star in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. She has won more than 20 awards for the performance, including best supporting actress at the Critics' Choice awards last month, and has been nominated for a Golden Globe, a Bafta and an Academy Award.

This year, we have all put more effort into getting dressed from the waist up for the benefit of a work Zoom call. Actor Maria Bakalova has been doing the same, only in her case she has been getting fully dressed and made-up for red-carpet events, while wearing slippers and pyjamas just off-screen. "The past 12 months have been really crazy," she says over the phone now. "Probably it's a little bit different from the normal way of becoming famous. It's been… interesting!"

The old scrapbook recipe collections that tell the story of our lives

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 10:00 PM PDT

Our personal recipe collections catalogue the food we have loved – and the dishes we dreamed of making

The cookbooks I've written about over the past three months were not included randomly. They weren't selected because they offered up 97 clever things to do with a courgette and a spiraliser, or for their novel ways with quinoa. They were chosen because they had a serious impact on how we cook and how we eat. They were big sellers. As a result, week by week, people have discovered that they had the volume I was eulogising on their shelves. Some readers have owned a few of them.

But as this is the last column in the series, it's time to look at a collection of recipes almost everyone has. I certainly have one. Mine has the word "Challenge" embossed on the front. That's not a description of how hard the recipes are. It's the name of the venerable stationery company which manufactured the blue, hardcover A4 notebook within which those ideas for dinner are contained. It is our collection of recipes cut from magazines and newspapers, photocopied from a friend's book or scribbled down by a relative. It is an unplanned collage of a good life, or a feverish attempt at one, measured out in ingredients, volumes and oven temperatures. It is the ballad of traybakes and crumbles, of new and sophisticated ways with pasta and swift things to do with chicken and a bunch of lemons.

A YouTuber goes wild fishing and camping in the Cascade mountains washington state

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 07:00 AM PDT

A lone fisherman goes into the wilds of Washington state in search of giant alpine trout in pristine turquoise lakes. The results are spectacular

There it was again – an all-too-familiar splash in the shallow, rocky portion of the lake, maybe 200 feet along the shore from where I was standing. I had heard it twice already, and seen nothing but circular ripples on the glasslike surface of the water. But this time, I was watching. Just as I'd identified the torpedo-shaped, thrashing object launching from the surface of the water as a massive trout, a second one leapt into the air and snatched at an unfortunate insect.

I was backpacking and fishing deep in the Cascade mountains of Washington state, in search of alpine trout to catch and eat, and to film another adventure for my YouTube channel, NW Fishing Secrets. I'd started my fishing show as a hobby in April 2019, filming instructional videos on how to catch local fish, but as the audience grew rapidly, I realised viewers wanted more than that.

The champ is back – but Bobby Lashley’s WWE rise hasn’t been easy

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 07:51 AM PDT

The reigning world champion, who takes on Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 37, has had to navigate an industry with a long history of racism

On Saturday night, Bobby Lashley will march to the WrestleMania 37 ring as the fifth-ever Black WWE world champion.

Lashley, 44, has spent the last year helping to carry WWE through the coronavirus era, a bleak time with no live spectators, as the leading man in the Hurt Business, the all-Black group that has featured real-life pals Montel Vontavious Porter (AKA MVP), Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander.

Republican ‘attacks’ on corporations over voting rights bills are a hypocritical sham | Robert Reich

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 10:00 PM PDT

The deal between big business and government – donations in return for low taxes or none – remains absolutely unchanged

For four decades, the basic deal between big American corporations and politicians has been simple. Corporations provide campaign funds. Politicians reciprocate by lowering corporate taxes and doing whatever else corporations need to boost profits.

On pay and wealth, damaging race inequalities prevail | Torsten Bell

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 10:30 PM PDT

LSE and Resolution Foundation findings reveal lasting ethnic disadvantage; why was this not reflected in the race report?

The recent Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report generated controversy, but little light, which is what failure looks like when your purpose is to shed light on the disadvantages faced by ethnic minorities. So let's get the facts straight, labour market and living standards wise.

Are Covid passports a threat to liberty? It depends on how you define freedom | Maria Alvarez

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 01:00 AM PDT

The pandemic is once again causing governments to pit incompatible ideas of freedom against each other

Now that the UK's vaccination programme is beginning to offer an escape route out of lockdown restrictions, despite some hitches, attention is focusing on so-called domestic vaccine passports. Important details remain uncertain but the idea has already been criticised as potentially "divisive and discriminatory", as well as going against "British instinct" – presumably because Covid passports are reminiscent of compulsory ID cards, the absence of which many regard as a hallmark of British liberty. The desire for freedom is, of course, pretty universal – but there are many, and incompatible, ideas of freedom.

The British philosopher Isaiah Berlin famously distinguished two from more than 200 senses of the word he claimed had been recorded by historians of ideas: "negative liberty", or freedom from interference; and "positive liberty", or freedom understood as self-mastery and self-determination. The former ensures that others don't hinder your choices, while the latter aims to create conditions that give you options and make your choices truly yours and genuinely free.

A rich New York playboy with a famous surname – what if JFK Jr had lived? | Hadley Freeman

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 01:00 AM PDT

He and his wife, Carolyn Bessette, endured the cruelty of the press long before Harry and Meghan

Because I've been watching a lot of 90s sitcoms recently, I've been thinking about John F Kennedy Jr. Seinfeld, Sex And The City, Murphy Brown: his name pops up in them all. It will be 22 years this summer since he died, so a lot of people have forgotten what a big deal he was back then, especially in New York. But John-John, as his parents and the media teasingly called him, remains the closest thing America will probably ever have to a prince. When his plane crashed, only two years after the death of Princess Diana, it really did feel like the cruellest fairytale: the fairest prince and princess in all the lands would not make old bones.

I have always been fascinated by Kennedy, the boy who, aged three, saluted his murdered father's coffin, and then grew up to become America's most gilded of youths. That surplus of handsomeness, that burdensome name, his efforts to live up to his mother's high standards while skating around the familial whirlpool pull of politics. The media were never sure whether to sneer or swoon, so they did both, epitomised in the headline after he failed the New York bar exam twice: "The Hunk Flunks." He had every privilege God could bestow on a man, but had to contend with the sting of his mother's disapproval of both his career choices (acting, founding the magazine George) and his girlfriends (Daryl Hannah). He was a Shakespearean character in the body of a Ken doll.

Hideki Matsuyama surges to four-shot lead in weather-hit Masters

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 05:01 PM PDT

65 moves Japanese to 11 under, with four tied for second
Justin Rose among quartet after battling his way to a 72

Moving day? Matsuyama's day. In proving how even a brief delay in a tournament – in this case 75 minutes – can totally shift its complexion Hideki Matsuyama emerged to leave the remainder of the Masters field grasping for air.

He now sits 18 holes from the making of history; as the first Asian winner of the Masters and the only Japanese man to win a major. A decade ago, Matsuyama won low amateur honours at Augusta. Since then, his best finish has been fifth in 2015; a repeat of the closing round of 66 as pieced together then would be more than sufficient to seal what would be the greatest achievement of his career.

Alex Rodriguez and billionaire Marc Lore near deal for NBA’s Timberwolves

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 06:52 PM PDT

Former MLB star teams with billionaire Marc Lore in bid
Pair would pay $1.5bn to longtime owner Glen Taylor

Former MLB star Alex Rodriguez and billionaire Marc Lore appear to be close to owning the Minnesota Timberwolves, finalizing a deal with current owner Glen Taylor, according to reports.

The pair released a statement on Saturday:

Megan Rapinoe’s late penalty salvages draw as USA women keep streak alive

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 12:35 PM PDT

USA's 16-match win streak snapped in 1-1 draw with Sweden
Carli Lloyd makes 300th international appearance of career
World champions extend undefeated run to 38 matches

The United States' 16-match winning streak was snapped in a 1-1 draw with Sweden on Saturday in Carli Lloyd's 300th national team appearance.

Lina Hurtig put Sweden ahead off a set piece in the 38th minute before Megan Rapinoe's penalty kick pulled the United States even in the 87th.

Kroos’ double deflection deflates Barça, decides clásico and sends Real top

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 01:55 PM PDT

Six months later, Real Madrid returned to the top of the table and at the cost of their two great rivals. As a storm tore through Valdebebas, they defeated FC Barcelona 2-1 to overhaul Atlético Madrid. It might only be for one night – Diego Simeone's side travel to Betis on Sunday – but it was some night: wet and wild, the ball flying from one end to the other and to the very end, goalkeeper Marc Andre ter Stegen going up and Ilaix Moriba smashing a shot off the bar with the frantic final move.

The frame of the goal was still shaking when the whistle went, and so too were some players, freezing and forced to change their shirts during a clásico that unfolded amidst thunder, lightning and driving rain, wind whipping through.

Georgia governor claims MLB All-Star voting rights move hurts Black voters

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 12:15 PM PDT

Brian Kemp insists African American businesses will be hurt
Press event at restaurant governor says not minority owned

The Republican governor of Georgia stepped up his attack on Major League Baseball on Saturday, over its decision to pull its All-Star Game from the state in response to a new voting law.

Reguilón on for Bergwijn: how José Mourinho blew Spurs’ title charge | Jonathan Wilson

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 12:00 PM PDT

Fear has become the manager's defining principle and at Anfield a typically defensive substitution was the unravelling

Nine days before Christmas was not really so very long ago, yet it feels like a different world. Manchester City had just been held to a draw at home by West Brom that left them eighth in the Premier League table. Southampton were third. And Tottenham went to the league leaders, Liverpool, knowing that a win would put them top. In the confusing period between the second and third lockdowns, it seemed possible that this slog of a season might just provide an environment in which José Mourinho's attritional style could thrive.

Yet Spurs host Manchester United on Sunday afternoon having begun the weekend in sixth place and 25 points behind the leaders, City. They have lost eight of their last 18 league games and been bundled out of the FA Cup and the Europa League. Last Sunday, they were outplayed by Newcastle and escaped with a 2-2 draw.

Stuart Dallas breaks late for winner as 10-man Leeds stun Manchester City

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 06:45 AM PDT

Pep Guardiola selected a near second-string Manchester City and saw his side fall to defeat in the dying moments against a 10-man Leeds side who may have allowed Manchester United to dream again of overhauling their local rivals.

The winner came when Stuart Dallas sprinted clear along the left and beat Ederson with as cool a finish as his opener, which had come as the break approached. City had been sucker-punched due to the siege they mounted on Leeds' area following Liam Cooper's deserved red card for a dangerous chop of Gabriel Jesus's leg moments after Dallas's opening goal.

The music streaming debate: what the artists, songwriters and industry insiders say

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 12:00 AM PDT

The Guardian has talked to 25 figures from the music world ahead of publication of a parliamentary report

Scores of music industry insiders including the artists Nile Rodgers, Nadine Shah and Ed O'Brien of Radiohead, as well as songwriters for stars such as Kylie Minogue, have hit out at an "archaic" streaming model that allows major labels to maximise their revenue while some musicians struggle to make minimum wage.

Ahead of the release of a parliamentary report into the issue, notable figures from the industry have told the Guardian that music labels were perpetuating issues that need to be urgently addressed, including a system that still prioritises rights owners over artists.

DMX's powerful work confronted an American hell of trauma and poverty

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 04:25 AM PDT

The rapper, who has died aged 50, parlayed his life's difficulties into thrilling, combative, witheringly witty music

Listening to a DMX song from the late 1990s is like riding a wrecking ball through a gated community. The music video for Stop Being Greedy – one of many confrontational highlights from the rapper's 1998 Def Jam debut, It's Dark And Hell Is Hot – shows DMX hunting a wealthy white man across a mansion, before eventually feeding the poor soul like a T-bone steak to his pet pitbull; the rapper's exhilarating, half-barked vocals gave the sense that he wanted to eat the rich.

It's a song about the poor feeling so ignored that they have no choice but to confront the ruling classes ("Ribs is touching, so don't make me wait / Fuck around and I'm gon' bite you and snatch the plate") and violently rip up their rules, and its message reflected an urge by DMX – who died on Friday at the age of 50 – to liberate a hip-hop culture that by 1998 had become too preoccupied with shiny suits in tacky music videos filmed inside a blingy Rubik's Cube.

Taylor Swift: Fearless (Taylor’s Version) review – a labour of revenge, but also of love

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 06:00 AM PDT

(Republic)
Painstakingly re-recording her breakthrough 2008 album to hit back at her music business enemies proves a fruitful endeavour for the songwriter

Since about 2018, Taylor Swift has been at the centre of arguably the most riveting contract dispute in music business history since Prince wrote "slave" on his cheek. It has been a conflict fought in public, in detail. No precis does the nuances justice, but the crux of Swift's unhappiness is that the rights to her first six albums were sold out from under her nose when her former label, Big Machine, was acquired by a man she regards as an enemy: Scooter Braun.

Braun is Justin Bieber's manager; more pertinently, he also managed the rapper Kanye West at a time when West was tormenting Swift – another vexed tale wrapped around this one in a double helix. The antagonism between Swift and West began when he interrupted her acceptance speech for best female video at the VMAs in 2009. The video in question was You Belong With Me – a hit from Swift's hugely successful 2008 album Fearless. That album has now been totally re-recorded by Swift and was released on Friday.

The Agenda review: why Biden must expand the supreme court – fast

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 11:00 PM PDT

Ian Millhiser offers a perfect short read for a key moment in US constitutional history, after Republicans hijacked the court

If Congress follows Joe Biden's $1.9tn Covid relief bill with an even more ambitious infrastructure bill, the new president could quickly claim the mantle of most transformative president since Franklin D Roosevelt.

We’ve all suffered Khloé Kardashian’s fate, even if we’re not as famous | Rebecca Nicholson

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 09:30 AM PDT

Her efforts to suppress what she believed was an embarrassing photograph only made matters worse

It has been quite the fortnight for the Streisand effect, the cultural phenomenon of attracting far more attention to a photograph by trying to suppress it than if it had been left to exist without comment. Named after the singer, who sued a photographer for $10m in 2003 for posting pictures of her house online, which few knew was Streisand's house until she sued him, it has really come into its own in the age of social media, particularly if you are part of one of the most curated, carefully lit families in the celebrity world.

There was a recent precedent for the current drama. On a podcast, former The OC star Rachel Bilson discussed the time she posted a picture to Instagram of her with an old classmate, the actor Rami Malek, during their school days. She admitted that it was "dorky". He messaged her and unceremoniously asked her to take it down as he is "a private person"; Bilson said that she was "a little bummed at how it was handled". A picture that might have gone unnoticed has now done the rounds, particularly since Bilson shared the anecdote. Maybe that is a Streisand-by-proxy.

Louis Theroux: ‘I worry about not coming up to scratch’

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 12:00 AM PDT

He made a film on Joe Exotic a decade before Tiger King, lulls interviewees into personal revelations – and can rock a leather suit. So why is he so anxious?

"There's no getting away from the fact that, even aged 50, I'm a slightly awkward person, a fearful person, worry-prone," says Louis Theroux, wriggling in his seat. The film-maker picks up and puts down a coffee without drinking. He wears all blue: navy sweater, stock denim, one of those indestructible plastic Casio watches on his wrist. "I worry about what people think," Theroux continues, "I worry about giving offence, being judged, not coming up to scratch, being thin-skinned."

We are in the corner of a photography studio in London, sheltering from rain on a Friday afternoon. The room has long emptied of people, but, even so, as Theroux chats, he snatches quick glances over his right shoulder, as if expecting to find somebody or something lurking there. "Everyone has things that preoccupy them, right?" he says. "I just tend to think, on a spectrum of people in general, I definitely skew, uh, anxious."

Riz Ahmed: ‘I am happiest when feeling challenged or overwhelmed’

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 01:30 AM PDT

The actor and rapper on social media, home-cooked curry and letting go

Born in London, Riz Ahmed, 38, studied politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford University. His films include Four Lions, Rogue One and Venom; he won an Emmy for his role in the miniseries The Night Of. He has been nominated for a best actor Oscar for his role in the film Sound Of Metal, available on Amazon Prime from 12 April. Last year he released a rap album, The Long Goodbye. He recently married the American novelist Fatima Farheen Mirza.

When were you happiest?
Preparing for Sound Of Metal. Feeling challenged and overwhelmed and lost in something is very fulfilling.

‘Smoky with a touch of biker jacket’: putting musicians’ candles to the sniff test

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 02:00 AM PDT

From Taylor to Motörhead, music's biggest names are hawking custom wicks. Here's what they smell like

Modern Toss on celebrity candles

£95, bellafreud.com
Smells like Bella Freud's Love Is the Drug candle riffs on Roxy Music's sleazy 1975 single of the same name. Though we would expect the actual Bryan Ferry to reek of Brylcreem and the cobbles of Savile Row after a light rain, this is a rather more fluffy proposition; a perky mix of cherries, violets and leftover Victoria sponge.
Best for Fastidiously dolling yourself up for a Zoom date before remembering where the "touch up my appearance" toggle is.
Zen factor Less Zen, more zing.
Rating 3/5

How an arcane budget provision could let Democrats advance their agenda

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 03:00 AM PDT

Senate parliamentarian's decision widens path for Democrats to enact Joe Biden's sprawling infrastructure plan

A novel interpretation of an arcane parliamentary procedure has presented congressional Democrats with an unexpected – and tantalizing – new opportunity to advance some of their most ambitious legislative goals despite their slim majorities and fierce Republican opposition.

‘Truth will prevail’: Matt Gaetz takes break from scandal to speak at Trump club

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 05:07 AM PDT

Congressman faces allegations over sex, drugs and nude photos
Women for America First also helped organise 6 January rally

The Florida congressman Matt Gaetz insisted on Friday "the truth will prevail" over allegations of sex trafficking and illegal drug use which have pitched him into the centre of a congressional scandal.

Zeus of Twitter or mouse of Mar-a-Lago? Republicans court Trump in Florida

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 01:12 PM PDT

Former president to speak at RNC fundraiser on Saturday
Some observers say his influence is starting to fade
The scandal that wasn't: GOP off-target over Hunter Biden

Donald Trump was scheduled to speak on Saturday at a Republican National Committee event held at his Mar-a-Lago resort, amid a weekend of summits and dinners in the former president's corner of Florida.

Ray Lambert, US army medic wounded on D-Day, dies aged 100

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 05:48 AM PDT

Lambert also took part in invasions of north Africa and Sicily
Alabama native was in first wave at Omaha Beach in 1944

Ray Lambert, a US army medic who survived multiple wounds on D-Day and was saluted by a president on the 75th anniversary of the battle, died on Friday. He was 100.

Lambert died at home in Seven Lakes, North Carolina, with his wife and daughter by his side, said neighbor and friend Dr Darrell Simpkins. The physician, who accompanied Lambert to France in June 2019, said the veteran succumbed to an aggressive form of facial cancer and congestive heart failure.

Baby dies in ‘tragic’ shooting by three-year-old brother, Houston police say

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 06:25 AM PDT

Eight-month-old dies in hospital after shooting at apartment
Police urge gun owners to lock up firearms: 'This is tragic event'

Police believe an infant was fatally shot on Friday by his three-year-old brother after the older boy got a hold of a gun inside a Houston apartment.

The infant was shot in his abdomen on Friday morning, said Houston assistant police chief Wendy Baimbridge.

France and Germany’s Covid vaccination programmes pick up speed

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 10:08 AM PDT

As daily inoculations hit record figures, warning comes of new delays

Vaccine rollouts in France and Germany have finally begun to pick up speed, after a slow start and problems with supplies and bureaucracy.

France continues to struggle to contain a third Covid-19 wave, but announced it had hit its 10 million inoculations target a week earlier than expected, while Germany doubled the number of vaccinations, administering a record 720,000 doses on Thursday after the rollout was extended to family doctors.

Taoiseach says Northern Ireland must not ‘spiral back to dark place’

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 06:50 AM PDT

On 23rd anniversary of Good Friday agreement, Martin says onus on political leaders 'to step forward'

The Irish taoiseach Micheál Martin has said that political leaders must not allow Northern Ireland to "spiral back to that dark place of sectarian murders and political discord" after the region was marred by another night of disorder.

On the anniversary of the Good Friday agreement 23 years ago, the taoiseach said there was "a particular onus on those of us who currently hold the responsibility of political leadership to step forward and play our part and ensure that this cannot happen".

Doctors under fire as Myanmar military targets efforts to aid injured protesters

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 07:31 AM PDT

Medics tell of attacks on staff and ambulances to stop treatment of patients and punish those who took part in national strike

Htet Htet Win and her husband were late returning home on Sunday night. It was past the junta-imposed 8pm curfew when their motorbike passed through the streets of eastern Mandalay. The security forces reportedly shouted for them to stop, and then opened fire when they did not do so. Her husband was hit but managed to get away. She was knocked to the ground.

A grainy photograph, taken by an onlooker, shows her lying face down on the concrete, her arms reaching above her head, her purple top and bottoms marked with dark patches.

Prince Philip: Experts tell of trauma caused by death of a lifelong partner

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 10:00 PM PDT

After decades of marriage, spouses take on each others' personality, and the trauma of loss is brutal

Meg Blackwood had just turned 22 when she walked down the aisle of a Hampshire church, six years after Princess Elizabeth had married Philip Mountbatten. Like the royal couple, Meg and her new husband, Robert, enjoyed a lifelong partnership, which ended when Robert died three years ago.

Meg, who will be 90 this year, misses and thinks about Robert every day. "He was 95 when he died, so I knew for quite a long time that he was getting towards the end of his life. He had dementia, so I sort of lost him bit by bit – which actually helped because I'd done some of my grieving before he died."

Prince Philip: the unlikely but willing Pacific deity

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 06:19 AM PDT

Cargo-worshipping sect on Tanna in Vanuatu revered Duke of Edinburgh as the pale-skinned son of an ancient spirit

Of the many honours and titles bestowed on the Duke of Edinburgh, the strangest was his status as a deity to a remote south-west Pacific people.

The Prince Philip Movement, a sect followed by the Yaohnanen tribe on the southern island of Tanna in Vanuatu, believed him to be the pale-skinned son of an ancient mountain spirit.

All tomorrow's parties: the promise and possibility of nights out after Covid

Posted: 09 Apr 2021 01:00 PM PDT

After nearly a year of pandemic restrictions, Elle Hunt relishes a return to nightlife, albeit awkwardly – and finds unexpected cause for optimism

Doing some dodgy eyeliner, wobbling in my heels from lack of practice, forgetting to eat dinner: it was Saturday night, and it was as if I was going to my first-ever house party, at 29.

Kintsugi helped me to understand my brother's death

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 07:00 AM PDT

The Japanese artform, based on a belief that a repaired pot can be stronger, taught me about tragedy and the ability to overcome it

My brother died at the age of 10, when I was eight. When I was nine, I shushed my best friend for mentioning him. At 11, I forced myself to stop turning my head away when we drove past a cemetery. And at 16 I spoke his name aloud for the first time, although it was many more years before I could actually talk about him.

"The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places," wrote Ernest Hemingway. Decades after my brother died I found a way to understand this, and that way was through the metaphor of kintsugi (kin=gold + tsugi=joining), the Japanese repair technique that puts a broken pot back together but reveals the breaks and scars by highlighting the seams with pure gold. A shattered pot becomes a new entity, one that says out loud: I was broken, but now, even though I am not perfect, I am more beautiful and stronger than ever.

Statement wallpapers – in pictures

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 10:52 AM PDT

Fed up of staring at the same four walls? Cover them in vivid colours and flamboyant patterns