今日综述:本日共全量采集并深度研判来自全球各大主流语系与核心地缘区域的 1 份权威报刊与学术特刊。
亚太及全球其他媒体 (Asia-Pacific & Global Others) - 《The Observer - 23.08.2026.pdf》英国能源体系改革呼吁:气温持续上升威胁生活质量,呼吁政府忽略北海争论,专注于彻底改革英国能源体系。 - 《The Observer - 23.08.2026.pdf》萨塞克斯公爵夫人梅根的职业与王室生活:分析梅根在好莱坞的成功源于自律与天赋,而其在王室中因能力出众而引发姻亲的猜忌与排挤。 - 《The Observer - 23.08.2026.pdf》民主党总统候选人民调与派系分歧:哈里斯在综合民调中领先,但奥卡西奥-科尔特斯的战略转变引发左翼攻击,党内派系分歧可能影响2028年大选。
💡 各大报刊的报道脉络呈现出高度多维的地缘博弈、制度转型、社会痛感与前沿科学突破。读者可通过下方【今日跨报思想雷达总矩阵】快速把握各报最具穿透力的思想理论对话与生活世界痛感切入点,或在【全景报刊分卷】中按区域细读每份大报的具体文章精要、制度权力批判与理性情感辩证。
本矩阵自动系统汇编当日全球报刊最具穿透力的 【思想与文化深思切入点】 与 【生活世界痛感切入点】,为学者提供一站式理论对话与现象学经验索引:
英国能源体系改革呼吁
暂无制度批判分析。
暂无情感辩证分析。
订阅者 £2.40 起 2026年8月23日,星期日 / www.observer.co.uk / 第 12,246 期 / £4.50 (IR €5.00)
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“胡说八道的敌人” —— 乔治·奥威尔,《观察者报》
气温上升的危险显而易见。现在,部长们应当忽略关于北海的嘈杂争论,专注于彻底改革英国的能源体系。
不要被夏末的雨水所蒙蔽。我们所熟知的世界正变得过于炎热,以至于无法维持我们向往的生活。过去一个月的情况表明,即使在温带的英国,稳步上升的平均地表温度也会产生怎样的影响。
它们能让树木爆炸,让铁轨弯曲,让舒适的郊区住宅起火,让水管破裂,并让标题撰写者们陷入过度换气状态。
“火药桶英国”、“炼狱”。这一切都是真实的,且被人们充分理解,并且是全球性的。在大量人类选择居住的纬度(大约北纬 15-55 度),高温正将自然环境变为燃料,将建筑环境变为引火之物。
气候正成为一条政治分水岭。右翼处于错误的一边。直到今年夏天,保守党和改革英国党(Reform UK)一直在兴高采烈地抨击净零排放。他们将气候活动人士刻画成末日预言者和“去增长”主义者,并将可再生能源和绿色能源斥为对民众和企业的征税。
但科学并不站在他们一边。而且,公众也日益不再支持他们。
如果进步主义者将能源和气候视为一体,他们可以将这个问题转化为自己的主张。安迪·伯纳姆的任务是将英国能源市场的根本性改革与英国民众今年夏天的经历相结合。
能源与医疗一样,是一种公共产品;它是幸福生活、繁荣经济和成功国家的先决条件。在人工智能时代,能源的成本、可持续性和安全性将决定这项变革性技术的使用情况。换句话说,它将决定英国的竞争力。随着世界应对气候变化,对可再生能源的需求将会增长。
这是英国拥有领先优势的行业。随着公众习惯于更炎热的夏天、更潮湿的冬天、上涨的保险费以及更多与气候相关的干扰,随着他们看到高温对老年人和弱势群体产生的不平等影响,他们将更加无法忍受那些像卡努特国王一样荒诞的“净零愚蠢”阵营。
改革英国党的领导人表示,他们将废除净零政策,因为其成本过高;而凯米·巴德诺克已经开始清洗那些不支持她废除 2050 年国家净零目标的保守党议会候选人。这种绝对主义的态度对她没有好处。
但对于伯纳姆来说,仅仅靠气候危言耸听也是不够的。英国的能源价格太贵了。英国企业和家庭支付的单位电费比经合组织(OECD)中几乎任何地方都要高,这对工业竞争力的影响,就如同对那些无法负担降温费用的退休人员的影响一样直接。考虑到气候变化的紧迫性和油气价格的波动,降低能源成本的唯一切实可行的方法是对英国能源体系进行全面改造,而非在边缘地带修修补补。
英国需要加倍投入可再生能源,同时扩展并现代化电网。将国家电网收归公有很可能是实现这一目标的最佳手段。电气化——鼓励更多地使用电力——需要成为任何此类战略的核心。与此同时,必须有一种激进的意愿去解决历史遗留问题,无论是向燃气发电机支付的容量费用及其条款,还是目前已低效且过时的可再生能源补贴。还需要对储能、规模化可复制的核电站以及未来的能源形式进行投资。
英国现在是、且可以成为能源转型的全球领导者。它不应被关于北海的嘈杂但边缘化的争论所分心。为确保额外的国内供应而向 Jackdaw 气田发放许可证,不会改变英国的整体气候战略,但它将有助于
经济、财政部以及英国在未来十年或二十年的能源需求。虽然天然气仍是我们能源组合的一部分,但国内生产比运输液化天然气更清洁。税收收入可以被专项用于资助电气化。
政府应当推进此项计划。在应对气候变化方面,英国需要重新通过以身作则来发挥领导作用,在可再生能源领域积累专业知识,并在能源转型中赢得宝贵的市场份额——各国在这一转型上的支出到 2050 年将至少达到 $100。净零排放曾被边缘化。给巴德诺克的提醒:它回来了。这对商业和英国都有利。
正如莎士比亚可能会说的那样:“如今是我们美国债务的夏天,却被这个晒黑的呆子变成了焦虑的秋天。”抱歉。要让美国债务市场变得有趣很难。但令人担忧的是,它们现在确实变得“有趣”了。
美国的借贷已成为一种全球性传染病。其净债务上周突破了 $60trn。本财年的联邦赤字为 $1.8trn 且仍在增加,其攀升速度快于新冠疫情以来的任何一年。
恶果终将显现:2008 年对银行系统的救助、联邦政府对新冠疫情的支持,以及特朗普下令的两轮由债务支撑的减税。美国现在每年在债务利息上的支出超过 $1trn。
在对美国政府债务的担忧之余,人们对其中一些企业债务也感到焦虑。随着投资者审视 AI 的影响,一些公司——从软件开发商到咨询公司——看起来不再像以前那样坚不可摧。它们的债务突然变得风险更高。
美国的债务恐惧像一团焦虑的阴云笼罩在英国上空。财政大臣约翰·希利(John Healey)面临着资本成本上升、缓冲空间下降,出乎意料的18亿英镑赤字以及增加税收的压力。安迪·伯纳姆不喜欢被债券市场“掌控”的想法。好吧,首相先生,那种脱离现实的假期结束了。
萨塞克斯公爵夫人梅根将与家人一起回到英格兰的消息带来了一种平静感。看来她很渴望回归演艺事业,即使这意味着要搬到工作机会集中的地方。此外,这将给她丈夫提供一个与父亲共度时光的机会,甚至可能与兄弟和解;虽然本报并不太认同君主制,但认为家庭值得支持,而且通常沟通比愤恨更让人快乐。
梅根不会缺少陪伴或同胞;现在许多美国人选择住在英格兰。她的大家庭也不会被历史的先例所困扰。温莎公爵发现王室并不擅长远距离关系。九十年后,他们有机会放下成见,再次尝试。
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observer.co.uk 23.08.26
随耳所闻
“每当看到人们把头发染成红色,我总是会生气。我会想:‘你根本不知道我们在学校经历了什么!’”
演员艾斯拉·费舍尔(Isla Fisher)谈论作为红发儿成长的艰辛
昨天凌晨,米德尔斯堡附近发生的一起车祸导致 7 人死亡,其中包括两名警察。克利夫兰警方表示,两名警员当时乘坐一辆带有标志的警车,与一辆在 A66 双车道上逆行的大众 Passat 发生碰撞。警员马修·布莱兹(Matthew Blades,37, 岁)和汤姆·克劳(Tom Clough,38, 岁)在碰撞前正在追捕一辆可疑车辆。警察局长维多利亚·富勒(Victoria Fuller)表示,他们是“保护我们社区的勇敢警员”。独立警察行为监察局(IOPC)已启动调查。
北京世界人形机器人大赛中,一台机器人跑完 100 米所用的时间——比尤塞恩·博尔特的人类纪录快了 0.26 秒。
在英国,数十万患有 2 型糖尿病的人可能不再需要每天注射胰岛素,因为一种每周一次的注射药物已获得 NHS 监管机构的批准。这种由礼来公司(Eli Lilly)生产、以 Onswilk 为品牌名称销售的药物可提供长效胰岛素。健康监管机构 Nice 表示,该疗法对于需要注射胰岛素帮助的人群(包括体弱者和残疾人)尤为有益。这种每周注射药物的使用首先必须获得另一个机构——药品监管机构 MHRA 的许可。
警方正在调查彼得·曼德尔森(Peter Mandelson)是否向杰弗里·爱泼斯坦(Jeffrey Epstein)传递了市场敏感信息,但由于据报道美国当局拒绝提供爱泼斯坦文件的访问权限,该调查面临崩溃风险。这位前美国大使及前工党部长因涉嫌公职渎职被捕,而该罪名需要强有力的文件证据。然而,据《每日电讯报》报道,伦敦警察厅向美国司法部(DOJ)和联邦调查局(FBI)提出的请求至今未获回应。警员目前正试图通过正式的司法互助程序寻求访问权限,但这可能需要数年时间。
洛纳赫高地集会与运动会照例在8月的第四个星期六举行。Jeff J Mitchell / Getty
一名六岁女孩在西萨塞克斯郡肖勒姆(Shoreham)海域被救起三天后在医院去世,此前的一起事故导致她的母亲、父亲和姐姐丧生。在姐姐萨拉·埃尔-哈瓦斯(Sara El-Khawas,14岁)以及父母哈桑·埃尔-哈瓦斯(Hassan El-Khawas,55岁)和泽娜·阿拉因(Zeina Alayn,37岁)去世后,萨贾·埃尔-哈瓦斯(Saja El-Khawas)于周五去世。巴勒斯坦论坛表示,该家庭
为巴勒斯坦裔英国公民。据信他们是从伦敦前往肖勒姆的。
铁路调查人员在火车脱轨导致至少30人受伤的区域入口处发现了一处轨道缺陷。铁路事故调查分局的一份报告称,此前行驶火车的后向摄像头
监控图像显示,在东萨塞克斯郡刘易斯(Lewes)附近发生事故之前,就已经存在“轨道几何形状异常”。网络铁路公司(Network Rail)和大瑟姆林克铁路公司(GTR)在联合声明中表示,他们对“这件事发生在我们的铁路线上感到抱歉”,此次事故涉及的是其旗下的南方铁路(Southern train)。
西班牙政府已改变立场,表示将允许在休达(Ceuta)的500名移民儿童迁往本土。上个月进入休达(位于北非海岸的西班牙领土)的估计70,000人中,大多数已返回摩洛哥。然而,根据西班牙法律,国家有责任照顾未成年且无陪同的移民,直到他们年满18岁。
一项针对每位患者量身定制的mRNA皮肤癌疫苗的大规模试验取得成功,其开发者称这是抗击该疾病的“关键时刻”。这种名为Intsimeran的实验性疫苗在手术后被接种给高危黑色素瘤(最致命的皮肤癌形式之一)患者。该试验背后的公司Moderna和默克(Merck)表示,该疫苗显著延长了患者无癌生存的时间,并降低了肿瘤扩散至其他器官的风险。该试验的完整结果尚未公布,也未经过同行评审。
据官员和救援人员报道,中非共和国西部一个村庄的金矿在山体滑坡后坍塌,导致100多人死亡。山体滑坡发生在周二,地点位于靠近喀麦隆边境的赞博耶村(Zamboye),导致数条地下隧道坍塌。
如果由更资深的教职人员评分,数千名学生在上周本可以及格
詹姆斯·塔珀 (James Tapper)
当英格兰的200,000名学生在周四打开他们的GCSE成绩单时,结果不尽理想:他们的英语语言成绩为3级——这在以前被称为D级。如果他们想继续接受全日制教育,就必须重考。有些人将无法参加他们想要的A-level考试。
然而,《观察者报》与教育专家丹尼斯·舍伍德 (Dennis Sherwood) 的分析表明,其中约39,000名学生如果由资深考官评分,本可以获得更好的结果并达到4级及格分。校长们和其他高级教育领导者将这种“不公平”描述为论文类考试的典型特征。
同一个答案可能会得到不同考官的不同评分,但除非有评分错误的证据,否则考试监管机构Ofqual会认为两者都是合理的。学生可以提出申诉,但如果审核没有发现评分错误,他们的试卷将不会被重新评分。
评分员之间学术观点的分歧不被视为错误——必须认定考官的行为是“不合理的”。
2020年,时任Ofqual首席监管员格莱尼斯·斯泰西 (Glenys Stacey) 表示,结果在“正负一级之内是可靠的”。2022年8月,她的继任者乔·萨克斯顿 (Jo Saxton) 表示:“超过一级的分差很可能是对学生表现的合理反映。”约30%的孩子因未达到4级而面临英语和数学的强制重考。仅有约20%的学生能通过英语语言重考。
教育大臣露西·鲍威尔 (Lucy Powell) 表示,这些孩子被阻碍了进步,其中许多人成为了100万名既不在就业、教育也不在培训中的16至24岁青年(Neets)的一员。鲍威尔表示,必须有一种“更好的方法”,而不是“简单地将他们贴上失败者的标签”,并谈到了她计划引入一项新的基础资格认证。
Ofqual的详细研究显示,在英语语言科目中,普通考官给出的分数与资深考官给出的分数不同(更高或更低)的概率平均为39%。而对于数学,这一概率仅为4%。
将此应用于2026年的GCSE成绩表明,约39,000名(范围在约32,000至45,000之间)获得3级的学生本可以合理地获得4级。而对于数学,仅有约3,000名获得3级的学生可能获得4级。
舍伍德表示:“在真正应得4级的情况下被评为3级的人数为39,000人,这个数字很可能是保守的,但在现有信息基础上这是最佳估计。人们需要知道自己真正应得的分数,申诉程序不应阻碍这一点。”
校长和其他高级教育人士告诉《观察者报》,他们认为这些数字代表了一种亟需解决的不公平。以个人身份发言的前校长罗宾·比万 (Robin Bevan) 表示,尽管学生和教师为了取得成绩而努力工作,但该制度存在一个“深刻的问题”。
“重新评分的过程允许评分员行使判断权,而无需寻求对其进行修正,”他说。要纠正英语语言考试中所有的评分差异是很困难的。“但问题在于:我们给出这些等级,然后根据它们来决定人生轨迹。”
“这令人震惊 [...] 因为公众并不明白,他们在子女成绩单上看到的等级可能并非对其成就的公正反映。”
西英格兰大学高等教育管理荣休教授罗布·卡斯伯特 (Rob Cuthbert) 表示:“这是一种持久的不公平。对于每年那些本应获得 [ 4] 却得到 [ 3] 的人们来说,这是一种持续的不公正。”
“如果说:好吧,最后都会水到渠成的,这公平吗?不公平,因为这不公正地落在所有本应获得 [ 4] 的孩子身上。”
200,000
英语语言科目被评为 3 级的学生人数,这意味着他们必须重新参加考试才能继续学业
20%
重新参加 GCSE 英语考试的学生通过率。教育大臣表示,其他人被“贴上了失败者的标签”
3,000
可能获得 4 级的数学 GCSE 学生人数——其误差幅度要低得多
[...OMITTED...]
某资源充足的学校信托基金在 375 次申诉中花费的金额,其中五分之一导致了等级变更
前 Ofsted 高级督查、前 Co-op Academies Trust 首席执行官弗兰克·诺里斯(Frank Norris)表示,处于其他等级分界线上的儿童也受到了影响。
他在 1 月份写信给 Ofqual 首席监管员伊恩·鲍克汉姆(Ian Bauckham),提到一家在 375 次申诉上花费了 [...OMITTED...] 的学校信托基金。“五分之一导致了等级变更,”他说,“一些学校根本没有资源去提交申诉。”
他补充说,只有那些父母财力足够雄厚的孩子才能进行申诉。
诺里斯表示,学校领导者可能会优先考虑那些处于 3 级和 4 级分界线上的学生的申诉,而牺牲掉那些可能因为被不公平地评为 7, 级而无法学习 A-level 数学的孩子。
Haberdashers' Monmouth School 的校长梅尔文·罗夫(Melvyn Roffe)表示:“社会对这些等级赋予的权重太高了。”与其他没有“大量高风险考试”的国家相比,英国是一个特例。
他认为,一个更好的系统应该包括类似于驾驶员考试形式的评估——“一个能够判定‘这个年轻人是否具备了他们进步所需的实用读写能力和计算能力?就此为止’的系统。”
Ofqual 的一名发言人在一份声明中表示:“英格兰的学生可以完全信任他们通过努力获得的等级,这些等级将为他们的未来开启机遇。”
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关于萨塞克斯公爵夫妇的猜测日益激烈,与此同时有报道称公爵夫人将担任一个备受瞩目的演艺角色,Lily Isaacs 报道
周五晚上,关于梅根(萨塞克斯公爵夫人)正在洽谈出演一部电视剧的消息让许多人感到惊讶,但 TikTok 上数十万粉丝在过去几个月里已经一直在观看由 AI 生成的关于她生活的肥皂剧。
在《观察者报》识别出的六个 TikTok 账号网络中(账号名称如“Royal Palace Stories”和“Princess Stories”),描绘萨塞克斯夫妇与王室之间家庭紧张关系和戏剧冲突的 AI 生成视频每天有数万名粉丝观看。在这个虚构的皇家世界里,梅根与卡米拉王后结成了联盟,共同“对抗”家族其他成员。哈里王子与威廉王子之间依然关系冷淡。
这种想象出来的戏剧冲突,为渴望了解他们搬迁动态、原因以及与“公司”(the Firm)其他成员关系的全球观众填补了信息真空。
自周三消息传出以来,这对夫妇和王室都没有发表任何声明。据称,甚至连国王也被他们的决定搞得措手不及,直到上周日才得知儿子将带着家人返回英国。上个月,他在格洛斯特郡的海格罗夫(Highgrove)与孙辈们在四年中首次团聚,宫廷将这次会面描述为一次“私人家庭场合”。
目前已确认,哈里王子和梅根将于本月搬回英国,且他们的孩子——七岁的阿奇(Archie)和五岁的莉莉贝特(Lilibet)——已办理入学手续,将于九月进入一所英国学校就读。他们将不会住在皇家住所,且预计其非王室成员身份不会改变。据报道,威尔士亲王和王妃也已被告知他们的计划。
但许多细节仍然是个谜。目前尚不清楚他们何时抵达、将定居何处或计划停留多久。关于他们的安保和财务问题依然存在疑问。去年,当哈里王子试图推翻法院关于降低其安保级别的决定失败时,他曾表示,他“无法想象”一个会将家人带回英国的世界。但情况一定发生了变化。
梅根现在可能面临必须获得演艺机会以赚取资金的压力。她是否在洽谈加入盖·里奇(Guy Ritchie)在 Netflix 拍摄的电视剧《绅士们》(The Gentlemen)?该剧讲述了一位像她丈夫一样曾在军队服役并继承了毒品帝国的贵族公爵的故事。《纽约客》前编辑蒂娜·布朗(Tina Brown)周五报道称她确实在洽谈,并于昨日报道称“英国国内的抵制情绪如此强烈,以至于无法继续推进”。无论如何,梅根都将回归演艺事业,在即将上映的亚马逊 MGM 电影《Close Personal Friends》中饰演她自己。
当他们离开英国并退出王室职责时,这对夫妇停止接收来自王室的任何资金。据报道,哈里王子从母亲戴安娜那里继承了约 2000 万英镑 的遗产,这为他们的搬迁提供了资金。他在 2021 年的采访中告诉奥普拉·温弗瑞(Oprah Winfrey),母亲留给他的钱让他和梅根能够搬到美国。“就像她预见到了这一切,并在整个过程中一直陪伴着我们,”他说。从那时起,这对夫妇签署了一系列利润丰厚的协议。
2020, 年 9 月,他们签署了一份

The prince, the president and the secret visa files that caused a royal furore
美国特派记者

唐纳德·特朗普是英国王室的热烈崇拜者,也是个世界级的八卦之徒。这位总统经常吹嘘他与已故女王伊丽莎白二世的亲密关系;而当他向白宫新闻团透露国王患癌的细节时,又一次标志性地违反了礼节。
因此,当哈里王子和梅根·马克尔在 2020 年抵达美国领土时,特朗普热切地卷入围绕他们的争议也就不足为奇了。
大西洋两岸反对这对前王室成员的保守派批评者,在针对这对夫妇的攻势中向这位总统寻求支持。英国记者和到访的政治人物经常能诱导他说出一些煽动性的短评。“他背叛了女王。这是不可原谅的,”特朗普在 2024 年接受《GB News》采访时告诉奈杰尔·法拉奇。“如果由我决定,他将孤立无援。”
这位当时的前总统暗示,哈里和梅根对待女王“非常不尊重”,并在与王室断绝关系时让她心碎。
“她不会表现出来,因为她坚强且聪明,但……我认为他们伤了她的心,”他说。
但特朗普并不介意向女王打探家族八卦。据报道,在 2019, 他首次对英国进行国事访问期间,他曾催促女王透露当时在英国媒体上闹得沸沸扬扬的哈里王子与威廉王子之间不和的内幕。
根据苏珊·佩奇(Susan Page)所著的《女王与她的总统们》(The Queen and Her Presidents)一书,特朗普说:“我不断地问她这件事。我会说,‘快点,告诉我。’……她回答:‘不,不。一切都很好。’”
哈里那本极具爆炸性的回忆录,


今年早些时候,哈里王子和梅根·马克尔在加利福尼亚州的 Intuit Dome 体育馆。 Jim Poorter / Getty
一段 AI 视频——目前充斥在社交媒体上的众多此类视频之一——助长了传闻的传播。 TikTok
与 Netflix 签署的一份为期五年的协议——据报道价值 6000万美元 和 1亿美元 之间——用于制作电影、纪录片和儿童节目。哈里王子 2023 年的回忆录《备胎》(Spare)在发行首周全球销量超过 3.2m 册,据报道他获得了 1600 万英镑m 预付款。
2025, 当他们的 Netflix 合同到期后,这对夫妇与 Netflix 签署了一份新的、缩水后的“优先审阅”协议,其中包括对梅根的生活方式品牌 As Ever 的资金支持,但利润较低。该流媒体服务随后结束了与该品牌的合作。周五,As Ever 向客户发送了一封主题为“庆祝新篇章”的电子邮件,并推销一款售价 $89 的起泡酒。
梅根和哈里王子的公司正在制作两部即将上映的 Netflix 电影以及一部关于马球的剧集。但目前尚未有其他财务协议的报道。
国家资助的私人安保问题也笼罩在这对夫妇的回归之上。当哈里在 2020. 离开王室成员的职责时,萨塞克斯夫妇失去了自动获得警察安保的权利。《泰晤士报》上周报道称,这对夫妇在回国时将不会获得由纳税人资助的武装警察保护。但预计长期安排将包括某种形式的公共资助保护,这需要独立的皇家与 VIP 执行委员会(Ravec)来决定应授予何种级别的安保。
Ravec 关于国家是否应满足这对夫妇安保需求的一项审查原定于 3. 月进行,但由于积压导致未能做出决定。上个月终于进行了一次风险评估,据称哈里正期待很快能得到决定。如果他打算永久居住在该国,他的安保费用将大幅增加——前警官估计每年在 200 万英镑m 到 500 万英镑m 之间。
据一些消息人士称,问题之一是经过培训的武装警察保护人员短缺。“据我所知,他们的人数不足,而且有些人被抽调去执行其他任务,”其中一人说道。

周四,首相坚持认为萨塞克斯公爵与公爵夫人的安保安排属于“私人事务”。内政部官员强调,Ravec 在其所属部门中在运行上是独立的。一名内政部发言人表示:“不提供有关这些安排的详细信息是我们的长期政策,因为这样做可能会损害其完整性并影响个人的安全。”
在官方层面,就白金汉宫而言,哈里和梅根仍然是没有任何王室职责的私人个体。但人们意识到,他们吸引的媒体关注可能会抢走国王、王后以及包括威尔士亲王与王妃在内的其他家庭成员的工作光芒。
在想象中的王室 AI 垃圾内容世界里,情况也差不多。在“futuremonarchy1”分享的一段视频中,梅根将一杯茶泼在了戴着冠冕和钻石的凯瑟琳王妃身上。“你的礼貌在哪里?你为什么要这么做?”一个震惊但仍然带有某种机器人感的 AI 凯瑟琳回应道。
AI 梅根则毫无悔意:“停止试图控制我。你在这个家庭中可能是公主,但你不能决定我如何生活。”
由 Richard Palmer 和 Catherine Nelian 参与报道
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在英国君主制 1,200 年的历史中,能够凭借自身才干在竞争激烈的职业领域取得成功的人寥寥无几。萨塞克斯公爵夫人梅根就是其中之一。
要在好莱坞成为一名成功的演员,需要专注、自律、天赋、心理强度以及对工作的极大热情。这些都是优秀的品质,对于任何关注她职业生涯的人来说,梅根都树立了一个极佳的榜样。而要成为一名王室成员,除了出生时的偶然或配偶关系的结合之外,不需要任何其他条件。难怪她的姻亲从一开始就对她心怀不满且心存猜忌。
至少他们很清楚发生了什么。他们被比下去了。在萨塞克斯夫妇婚礼(顺便提一句,当时梅根是历史上穿着最出色的王室新娘)到他们逃离之间那段短暂时期的阳台照片中,你可以从他们的脸上看出这一点。那些姻亲看起来像是不自在的模特。唯有梅根能够传达出一种身处其中的自然人类惊讶感,以及与此同时,对这一切不协调之处的冷嘲热讽。
那段时间唯一的遗憾是梅根决定放弃工作。这可以理解。希拉里·曼特尔(Hilary Mantel)曾暗示,一套奇怪的规则旨在将一名年轻的女性新人简化为“一个挂着某些破布的关节娃娃”,面对这种压力显然很难抵御。但由于没有更多事情可做,梅根在右翼媒体无情的欺凌以及世界上最自命不凡的家庭之一的极端傲慢面前显得极其脆弱——这个家庭沉溺于恭维和虚构的传统,并被关于他们在世界上的角色和地位的胡言乱语所洗脑。
她后来告诉奥普拉·温弗瑞,有时她感到有自杀倾向。但至少最终她为自己挺身而出,哈里也为她挺身而出。因此他们搬到了加利福尼亚州,不久之后,她重新开始工作。
自从出演《金装律师》(Suits)以来,她所做的一切都遭到嘲讽——她的博客、她的播客、她的健康品牌、她的食谱。
实际上,她一直在坚持不懈,而这正是普通人在没有纳税人资助的民事名单或离岸风电场特许权使用费来购买鱼手指时所做的事情。当某些尝试没有成功时,她没有放弃,而是再次尝试。现在,她正追随工作回到英格兰,并带着她的家人一起回来。
有传闻称,她正在洽谈一个新的演艺机会,这可能会使她成为家庭中的主要经济支柱。
我想不出还有什么比这更现代、更令人钦佩,或者更能让她丈夫那些目光短浅的同胞们陷入极度嫉妒和不解的事情了。
好样的,梅根。欢迎回到鲁里塔尼亚(Ruritania),祝你好运。自从你离开后,这里没有发生太多变化,所以你可能会发现自己确实需要运气。
2018年,梅根、哈里、威廉和凯特在白金汉宫外观看飞行表演。 Max Mumby / Indigo / Getty Images
《备胎》(Spare)促使他的批评者加倍对他发难,并引发了一场在他在美国停留的最后三年里一直纠缠不清的诉讼。
在书中,这位王子承认使用过大麻、幻觉蘑菇和可卡因,这通常会导致美国签证申请被拒绝。
华盛顿著名的保守派智库传统基金会(The Heritage Foundation)起诉美国国土安全部,要求获取哈里王子的签证文件,理由是他要么在申请中对药物使用撒谎,要么受到了优惠待遇。
2019年,唐纳德·特朗普在白金汉宫的一场国宴上与伊丽莎白二世女王共同举杯。 Dorothy Lipinski / 乔·拜登政府断然拒绝公布这位王子的文件。2024年,华盛顿特区的一家法院裁定,发布这些文件缺乏足够的公共利益。
但传统基金会(Heritage Foundation)对该裁决提出了异议,而特朗普 2024 年的选举胜利,让哈里在华盛顿的敌人们重新燃起了取得突破的希望。在法庭之外,传统基金会的官员公开敦促
新任总统揭露这位自我流亡的王子。
但一旦重新执政,且面对更紧迫的事项,总统似乎对这对夫妇失去了兴趣。令一些人失望的是,他去年排除了驱逐哈里的可能性。
“我不想那样做,”他告诉《纽约邮报》(New York Post),尽管他忍不住抨击了梅根。“我会随他去,”总统在谈到哈里时继续说道。
“他跟妻子之间已经有足够多的麻烦了。她太糟糕了。”
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安迪·伯纳姆(Burnham)承诺将其薪水的 15% 捐给解决无家可归问题的事业,并于上周呼吁在年底前让所有人离开街头。
一名贵族议员表示,对获释囚犯的支持必须成为消除露宿街头努力的一部分,而首相的圣诞任务则赢得了谨慎的欢迎。帕特里克·基德 (Patrick Kidd) 报道
从大曼彻斯特市市长办公室到大多数人仍称之为斯特兰格韦斯 (Strangeways) 的维多利亚时代监狱,这段一英里长的步行路线上分布着那些失败政策的受害者,而这些人正是首相最关注的对象。
当安迪·伯纳姆 (Andy Burnham) 在 7 月 20 日宣布他的首要指令是消除露宿街头时,这让一名保守党贵族议员想起了几年前的一次会面,当时这位工党市长告诉他,在他办公室路上的露宿男子几乎全部是曼彻斯特监狱 (HMP Manchester) 的近期囚犯。
在伯纳姆进入唐宁街的第一晚,法默 (Farmer) 在关于社会住房法案的辩论中告诉这位勋爵,首相“显然对此深感不安”。
上周,伯纳姆进一步阐述了他的政策,呼吁在圣诞节前让所有人离开街头。
法默计划在周一就该法案提出一项修正案,以确保采取更多措施让获释囚犯长期远离街头。
这结合了今年夏天讨论最激烈的两个政策领域:伯纳姆消除露宿街头的推动计划,以及为了缓解拥挤而提前释放多达 6,000 名囚犯的计划。按照目前的趋势,其中 1,000 人可能会在获释后露宿街头。
作为大曼彻斯特市市长,伯纳姆曾承诺到 2020. 年消除其管辖区域内的露宿街头现象。尽管他实现了人数下降,将人数从 268 人减少到 2021, 年的 89 人,但在过去的四年中,这一数字逐年攀升,目前已回升至近 200 人。
住房大臣安吉拉·雷纳 (Angela Rayner) 表示,这是因为大曼彻斯特

路易丝(Louise)和史蒂夫(Steve)已经露宿街头三年半了。他们目前住在伦敦市中心一个公园的一棵树下,不过一名保安允许他们在白天在西区的一家剧院外露营。他们的睡袋现在被雨淋湿了。他们希望能从一家无家可归者慈善机构那里获得一个免费帐篷,但等待名单太长,在圣诞节之前无法实现。他们依赖食物银行和汤厨房,有时能筹到足够的钱在旅馆住一晚。他们觉得自己在各种支持服务之间被推来推去,且获得帮助过于困难。
曼彻斯特过于成功,吸引了来自其他地方的无家可归者来这里寻找床位。全国范围内的人数也在增加。去年秋天的一次单夜调查发现,英格兰街头有 4,793 名无家可归者,这是自 2010 年开始统计以来的最高纪录。
无家可归者慈善机构 Crisis 声称,报告的露宿街头人数可能仅为真实情况的三分之一。
7 月,伯纳姆宣布提供 3.4 亿英镑m 的资金用于新支持计划,旨在未来三年内为长期露宿者提供 1,000 套以上的永久住房。首相还将在秋季主持一次无家可归者峰会。
上周,他又追加了 1.02 亿英镑m,用于资助一项旨在今年冬天让所有人离开街头的行动。这笔资金将来自住房、社区和地方政府部的现有预算以及应急住房资金。
大曼彻斯特地区一直在试行一种名为“住房优先”(Housing First)的芬兰模式,在该模式中,露宿者将获得住房和就业支持,直到他们能够维持该住房为止。
Shelter 在 6 月的一项研究发现,过去 15 年中,每年新建的社会租赁房数量下降了 64%,而住在临时住所的家庭数量增加了 155%。社会住房的等待名单已增长至 1.3m 以上,但去年英格兰由议会、住房协会或开发商建造的住房仅有 12,398 套。
《大问题》(Big Issue)无家可归者杂志的联合创始人伯德勋爵(Lord Bird)对伯纳姆圣诞使命的精神表示欢迎,但警告说:“重要的是,人们不能仅仅在寒冷中被接进来住几周,然后又被重新赶出去。”
他表示,为露宿者提供全方位支持需要更多的投资。他说,露宿街头是“在经历了多年未治疗的问题(如心理健康问题、虐待和药物成瘾)之后的终点”。
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observer.co.uk
23.08.26
9
英格兰露宿街头人数创历史新高
据估计单夜人数达数千人
英格兰各地区露宿率
单夜每 100,000 人估算率
自 2010 年以来露宿人数增长最快的西北部地方当局
每 100,000 人估算率
议会拥有的空置房屋 vs 露宿者
按地区划分。单夜估算露宿人数
■ 估算露宿者
可供出租的议会拥有空置房屋
离开机构后露宿街头的人员
英格兰每月估算人数,按机构类型划分
数据与图表:汉娜·舒勒(Hannah Schuller)
来源:住房、社区和地方政府部
在英国,无家可归人口包括数千名从监狱释放的人员。社会正义慈善机构 Nacro 发现,在截至 2026, 15,155 年 3 月的一年里,有 15,155 名出狱人员没有家可回。这比前一年增加了 18%,而前一年比 2024 年增长了 38%。出狱后缺乏住房的情况现在影响到六分之一的囚犯,其中最脆弱的群体是 40 多岁的人群。
紧急住宿通常仅提供几个月,但此后许多前囚犯只能自谋生路。数据显示,这些人中 76% 在一年内再次犯罪,而获释后有稳定住所的人中,这一比例仅为三分之一出头。据报道,这种犯罪循环每年给纳税人带来 £180n 的成本。
出狱时没有住所还会增加早逝的风险。Nacro 发现,每 144 名囚犯中就有一人在获释后的一年内死亡,这一比例是 2015. 年的三倍。如今出狱的人在获释后两周内死亡的可能性比 2019-20, 年的人高出 72%,且其中三分之一的人在获释时处于无家可归状态。
法默(Farmer)观察到,对于前囚犯重建生活而言,人际关系至关重要。他表示,未来的无家可归往往始于监狱中,当时家庭破裂且房贷未能偿还。他认为,对于临近出狱日期的囚犯,必须在他们即将进入的社区中为其提供支持。
“没有关系的人很难建立新关系,”法默说。“当监狱大门打开时,他们面临什么?他们没有全科医生(GP),没有工作或金钱,迎接他们的往往只有旧相识——而你并不想与这些人往来。他们非常脆弱。” 太多人仍然在周五被释放,导致他们在周末无法获得支持。
法默一直主张,英国监狱与缓刑服务局(HM Prison and Probation Service)应当承担法定责任,与市议会及当地住房管理部门合作,帮助出狱人员获得安全可靠的社会住房。
他还支持公布排名表,按地方当局显示有多少出狱人员在获释时处于无家可归状态。
伯纳姆(Burnham)已承诺将其薪水的 15%,约 2.6 万英镑,捐给无家可归事业,并于上周号召社区、志愿者和信仰部门与政府合作,在圣诞节前让所有人离开街头,就像新冠疫情期间短期实施的“Everyone In”项目那样迅速。
“我持乐观态度,”法默说。“首相在议会休会结束复会的第一天有一个机会,可以证明他明白了这一点。”他希望政府能针对该法案提出自己的修正案以实现这一目标。
“如果你给一名获释囚犯提供住房,会带来很多好处,”他说。“不仅在于避免再次犯罪的成本,还能增加他们获得工作并纳税,而非消耗福利的机会。如果伯纳姆想在圣诞节前做成某件事,这将是一个良好的信号。”
当疫情袭来时,政治人物对露宿街头者表现出了异常浓厚的兴趣。在没人确定致命的新冠病毒是如何传播的时候,建议是留在家里。而那些没有家、睡在街头的人,感染新冠的风险更高,同时也成为了他人的风险因素,因为他们无法通过自我隔离来阻止病毒传播。
“Everyone In”活动成为了解决方案。几乎在一夜之间,数千名无家可归且生活在街头的人找到了住所。
到 2020 年底,约有 37,000 人得到了帮助。然而,
露宿街头的情况已回升至疫情前的水准。
露宿街头者的人数现在回到了疫情前的水平。
那么,为什么此后露宿街头的人数增加了?简单来说,问题在于进入街头的人数流量以及为他们寻找住房的速度。
人们通常关注“寻找住房”的部分,而“Everyone In”活动之所以能维持一段时间,关键原因或许在于应急住所(空旅馆房间)的供应量远超需要的人数。
随着这种供应的消失,相关机构回到了将人们安置在青年旅舍的传统方法,尽管一些机构正在尝试更细致的方法,如“住房优先”(Housing First)和“归零计划”(Built For Zero),以使他们更容易找到居住地。
但由于多种原因,进入街头的人数流量有所增加,包括年轻人的心理健康危机、寻求庇护人数的增长以及生活成本的压力。
像 Crisis 和帮助伦敦年轻人的新地平线青年中心(New Horizons Youth Centre)这样的前线慈善机构,经常帮助患有心理健康问题,或因性取向或性别认同与家人闹翻的人。在报道这一问题时,我遇到过一些生活慢慢崩塌的人,但他们在关键时刻没有遇到一个愿意利用规则帮助他们而非拒绝他们且富有同情心的官员。
这些个人故事在住房、社区和地方政府部的年度快报统计数据中得到了印证,数据显示,露宿街头者中比例最大的一组——40%——是长期街头无家可归者。
对伯纳姆(Burnham)来说,令人鼓舞的是,28% 是初次露宿街头。这令人鼓舞是因为该数字较去年大幅下降,表明流入速度正在放缓,这将使他的计划在短期内更有可能成功。
但问题的复杂性在其他类别中显现。在露宿街头者中,13% 在找到新家后又回到了街头。圣蒙戈(St Mungo's)的研究指出了几个可能的原因:被驱逐、未能获得心理或身体健康问题的支持,甚至有人认为街头的支持网络比孤身一人住在公寓里的孤独感更好。
约 9% 的人离开了机构。其中一些是已被授予难民身份的寻求庇护者,这意味着他们失去了内政部(Home Office)提供的住所。另一些人则离开了精神病院。大多数人是在刑期结束离开监狱时,没有家可以回去。
与治安法官交谈,大多数人都见过这样的被告:他们似乎为了回到监狱而故意犯罪。
“Everyone In”帮助了每一个人,无论其情况如何,这指向了伯纳姆计划必须克服的另一个问题。住房、社区和地方政府部的统计数据显示,街头人员中 11% 无权使用公共资金,可能是因为他们的庇护申请被拒绝。
对于所有这些人来说,关键在于找到一种在危机时刻到来之前进行干预的方法。
摄影:安迪·霍尔 (Andy Hall)
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observer.co.uk 23.08.26
新闻
Rajiv Menon 向 Duncan Gardham 讲述了在为六名闯入一家以色列国防公司的人员辩护时,因其结案陈词而被起诉而产生的影响
英国历史上首位因在 Palestine Action 审判期间向陪审团发表结案陈词而面临起诉的律师,描述了他为了应对针对自己的诉讼而错过了最后一次探望父亲的机会。
“这非常艰难,”领先的人权律师 Rajiv Menon 表示。“我尽量不过多谈论个人私事,但这将伴随我余生。”
Menon 被指控在 2024 年 8 月闯入以色列国防公司 Elbit Systems 英国工厂的六名抗议者案件中,鼓励陪审团无视法官的指示,根据他们的良知做出裁决。
该审判结果是,他的客户 30 岁的 Charlotte Head 以及其他五人在加重入室盗窃罪名上被判无罪,尽管陪审团未能就刑事损坏罪名达成裁决。他们随后面临重新审判并被定罪。
Menon 在 2 月份与 24 岁的儿子在越南度假时得知自己被移交给高等法院处理藐视法庭指控。“我原计划从那里前往印度看望我的父亲……显然我必须寻求法律援助,我必须回国,我也这么做了,”他说。“5 月 20 日,我的父亲去世了。我再也没能见到他,这就是那些高级法官对我穷追不舍的直接结果。我永远不会原谅他们,永远不会。”
他正在上诉法院应对针对他的案件,但今年晚些时候将面临由高等法院法官主持的无陪审团审判,这可能会导致监禁并终结他的职业生涯。
62 岁的 Menon 是一位经验丰富的 KC(御用大律师),曾为许多政治活动人士辩护,并出席了 Stephen Lawrence 和 Grenfell Tower 的调查,以及 Hillsborough 的死因研讯。他与妻子住在东伦敦,有两个成年子女。
针对他的关键指控之一是,他在演说中利用“陪审团公平”(jury equity)原则,告知伍尔维奇刑事法院(Woolwich Crown Court)的陪审团可以根据良知行事,尽管法官此前已裁定禁止他这样做。
在移交申请中,Johnson 法官承认 Menon 没有使用“陪审团公平”这个词组,但表示他“详细地向陪审团告知了这一原则”。法官还抱怨称,陪审团被邀请无视他的指示(即他们应当将对加沙战争的看法搁置一边),且 Elbit Systems 英国公司在供应方面的角色—。
在“巴勒斯坦行动”(Palestine Action)的审判期间,[约翰逊法官(Mr Justice Johnson)]裁定,关于埃尔比特(Elbit)武器被用于以色列摧毁加沙的指控,不能被用作活动人士行为的“合法理由”。他还警告辩护律师不要向陪审团提及“陪审团公平”(jury equity)——即陪审员根据良心做出裁决的自由。本质上,约翰逊裁定,律师不能告诉陪审团其在法律上拥有什么权利,因为这将违反他的法律指示。虽然陪审团遵循良心并独立于法官做出裁决是普通法的一项既定原则,但律师是否可以告知陪审团这一权利在法律上仍处于灰色地带。
Kenan Malik
向以色列供应武器并不相关。梅农(Menon)表示,他的演讲引用了在中央刑事法院(Old Bailey)展出的一块铭牌,该铭牌纪念了一起1670年的案例,该案例确立了(如铭牌所述)“陪审团根据其信念给出裁决的权利”。他说,其他律师在结案陈词中经常引用该案例。
“我与我的团队讨论过,我也就此事咨询了律师,因为任何被告都不希望他们的律师试图藐视司法裁决。任何心智正常的人怎么会那样做?”他说。
“我试图做的是恰恰相反的事情。整个重点是尝试构建一段符合其裁决的演讲,而在经过各种讨论后,我得出的结论是,我不会向陪审团提及陪审团公平,我也确实没有提及。
“我在演讲中不断强调,我并非邀请你们无视法官的裁决。相反,我是在要求你们做完全相反的事情——我要求你们遵循法官的裁决,而他给你们的第一个裁决就是,你们是事实的唯一判定者,”梅农说道。
其他资深律师也公开支持梅农。律师协会(Bar Council)主席克斯蒂·布里梅洛(Kirsty Brimelow)KC一直“关切地”关注着针对他的诉讼,并表示:“律师有责任无畏地代表其客户,而由法官发起的藐视法庭诉讼可能会给该行业带来寒蝉效应。”
刑事律师协会(Criminal Bar Association)主席里尔·卡米-琼斯(Riel Karmy-Jones)KC告诉《观察者报》,虽然此案引发了极化争议,但在处理方式上存在“严重的程序偏差”。
“这导致人们担心,这是否关乎审判主题的政治性,而非律师代表客户的核心原则,”卡米-琼斯说。
“现在关于陪审团可以根据其良心行事的长期原则及其在辩护演讲中如何使用,也存在不确定性。其结果是,刑事律师界的人们开始害怕自己能说什么以及不能说什么。”
法官本可以将梅农移交给总检察长或律师标准委员会(Bar Standards Board),如之前的案例那样,但相反,他将其移交给高等法院审理。
该程序被认定为非法,在第二次审判后,案件被移交给刑事法院(crown court)。梅农的律师表示,这同样是非法的,他将无法获得公正的审判。该上诉预计将于今年秋季审理。如果上诉失败,他将在刑事法院面临审判,并可能被判入狱。
梅农说:“作为一名刑事辩护律师,我不想成为被告,也不想成为博物馆的标本。现在每次我走进法庭,都会有人指着我,这不是我想要的。我一点也不想要这种关注。”
“我只想继续从事我的本职工作,我也在努力这样做。但这并不容易。我必须告诉每一个想要委托我的被告:‘哦,顺便说一下,到你们开庭的时候,我也许已经在监狱里了。’我的意思是,谁想经历那种局面?”
梅农继续收到来自律师和其他人的支持邮件。“在这一整场可怕的混乱中,唯一支撑我走下去的就是我所收到的巨大支持,这不仅来自我的朋友和同事,还来自更广泛的专业人士和社区。”
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observer.co.uk 23.08.26
11
国会议员亚历山德里娅·奥卡西奥-科尔特斯是以激进纲领当选的。但随着近期建制派候选人遭遇惨败,她在未来任何总统竞选中能否将跨越两大阵营的能力转化为资产,正受到质疑。Edward Helmore 发自纽约
亚历山德里娅·奥卡西奥-科尔特斯在华盛顿国会大厦,2026. 5月。Graeme Sloan / Getty
当纽约州国会议员亚历山德里娅·奥卡西奥-科尔特斯最近宣布“觉醒 1 was crazy”时,她引发了一场激烈的猜测,并在美国左翼的斗争中开辟了新战线。这位进步派超级巨星是否在与塑造其政治品牌的立场保持距离?她是否在为竞选总统做准备?
答案——大概是肯定的,且两者皆是——处于一场关于美国左翼未来的持续辩论的核心。这场辩论在整个夏季主导了美国政治,并可能决定 11 月中期选举以及 2028 白宫之争的结果。
这是一场激进派与中间派之间、传统美国资本主义与因愤怒回应唐纳德·特朗普而颠覆的资本主义版本之间的辩论,而奥卡西奥-科尔特斯被越来越多地认为在试图跨越这两个阵营。
在她将于 11 月寻求连任的布朗克斯选区赫谢尔街(Herschell Street)上,竞选工作人员拒绝详细阐述她上周的言论。但办公室门上的公告栏讲述了一个故事,
揭示了奥卡西奥-科尔特斯如果决定在 2028 挑战白宫可能会采取的左翼政策立场:“绿色新政”、“拯救地球”、“全民人类尊严”、“自由巴勒斯坦”。其他便条则纯粹是鼓励性的:“加油,加油”以及或许最重要的一句:“竞选总统!”
近几个月来,被人们普遍称为 AOC 的奥卡西奥-科尔特斯透露了她的总统野心,或者更准确地说,没有否认这些野心。“我的意思是,我不能说我已经排除了这个可能性,”她上个月表示。此后的进一步举动加剧了日益增长的议论。在 Instagram 的一项公告中,这位 36 岁的女性透露她正在冻卵,以便在规划下一步政治行动时“更能感觉到掌控自己的生活”。
AOC 承认,在社交媒体上记录这一过程是在承担“政治风险”。但这一公告巧妙地将她置于关于生殖权利的国家争论中心,而这依然是美国政治中的一条断裂线,并引发了共和党预料之中的强烈反弹。一名保守派评论员称她的选择“落后且荒谬”,并指责她宣传一种女性可以“兼顾一切”的叙事。
这是一个典型的 AOC “双管齐下”之举;一次巧妙的操纵,将她的个人选择与政治观点交织在一起。这展示了让她成为美国政治中最知名人物之一的社交媒体智慧。
与特朗普一样,AOC 深知拍照机会的价值。2021, 这位前酒吧服务员穿着一件印有“向富人征税”口号的礼服出席大都会艺术博物馆慈善舞会(Met Gala)。“媒介即讯息,”她在 Instagram 上发布道。这又是一个病毒式传播的时刻,凸显了她的明星影响力以及在温和派和进步派民主党阵营之间周旋的罕见能力。
这种技巧在纽约一个安全的蓝色(民主党)国会席位中是一项资产。但观察人士质疑,在总统竞选的聚光灯下,这种能力是否依然有效。
在 2024, 惨败给特朗普之后,民主党在发展方向上依然四分五裂,而 AOC 对中间派和左翼派系的双重吸引力,可能会导致她不被任何一方信任。
11月纽约第14国会选区(涵盖布朗克斯区和皇后区的部分地区)的竞选活动,是她自2018年在民主党初选中击败党内资深人士乔·克劳利(Joe Crowley)以来的第四次竞选。同年随后的普选中获胜,使她成为历史上最年轻的当选国会议员,年仅29岁,这也释放了一个早期信号,即党内建制派对权力的集中掌控正在削弱。
AOC仍隶属于工人家庭党(Working Families party)以及她在决定首次竞选国会议员时加入的美国民主社会主义者(DSA)纽约分会。在今年夏天民主党初选中,来自激进左翼的DSA挑战者给党内建制派带来了一系列令人尴尬的失败,使得这些忠诚关系现在受到了审视。
在由纽约民主社会主义市长佐兰·马姆达尼(Zohran Mamdani)支持的候选人于6月击败两名在任国会议员后,左翼候选人在科罗拉多州、德克萨斯州和佛罗里达州进一步获胜,令建制派震惊。
但本月初,穆斯林进步派人士阿卜杜勒·埃尔-赛义德(Abdul El-Sayed)在密歇根州参议院初选中的胜利,对于党内领导层来说是一次特别的羞辱,因为领导层此前一直支持他的对手——温和派国会议员海莉·史蒂文斯(Haley Stevens)。
在民主党历史上最昂贵的初选中,埃尔-赛义德克服了九比一的支出劣势。这场激烈的竞争揭露了年轻活动家派系与年长建制派之间,在以色列问题以及党派未来方向上的分歧。
党内领导层担心,在即将到来的11月中期选举(届时国会控制权将面临争夺)中,埃尔-赛义德对于关键摇摆州的中间选民来说可能过于激进。2026年这个火热的进步派夏天可能会演变成一个寒冷的冬天。
但民主党的基层支持者仍对领导层感到愤怒,因为领导层在2024年的唯一目标上失败了:即埋葬特朗普主义。在乔·拜登之后,许多支持者不再信任领导层告诉他们谁具有竞争力,
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当候选人们在明年亮出底牌时。
“他们正在进行的赌博是,激发此前处于休眠状态的人群的速度,要快于他们令已参与人群产生反感的速度,”资深民主党顾问、比尔·克林顿1992年获胜总统竞选活动的首席架构师詹姆斯·卡维尔(James Carville)表示。
卡维尔补充说,党内的分歧可能“只有通过一个总统候选人”才能统一并解决。“重点不应放在民主党联盟内部——而应针对特朗普,”他说。“但到明年这个时候,这个联盟可能会承受巨大的压力。”
这种紧张局势似乎支撑了AOC最近的举动,即与“觉醒1”(Woke 1)的表演性激进主义保持距离。2020年明尼苏达州乔治·弗洛伊德被杀事件激发了“黑人的命也是命”(Black Lives Matter)运动,随之而来的是“削减警察经费”和废除监狱制度的呼吁。这一主张疏远了许多独立选民,并成为了政治右翼容易攻击的目标。
回到2020年,AOC本人曾主张“保护警察意味着削减警察经费”,且在前一年已经表示,一些边缘群体“别无选择,只能采取暴动”。
然而,在本月初的一次电视采访中,她的语气截然不同。“我认为,当我们今天谈论犯罪时,这与我们[当时]谈论犯罪的方式根本不同,”她说。
凭借AOC指定进步派候选人的权力,她的背书备受追捧。今年夏天她支持了包括埃尔-赛义德在内的几位左翼竞争者。但为了强调她近期向中间地带的转向,她拒绝为威斯康星州DSA州长候选人弗朗西斯卡·洪(Francesca Hong)背书,后者曾呼吁削减警察经费、废除监狱并取消感恩节。洪最终以微弱差距落败。
在她首次当选后的八年里,很少有政治人物能像她那样
在保持公众关注度方面,很少有政治人物能像 AOC 那样熟练——除了特朗普本人。有时,两人似乎很享受彼此之间的交锋,互相抛出些讽刺的赞美。AOC 将特朗普描述为一名“种族主义愿景家”。特朗普则称她为“艾薇塔”,指的是阿根廷的艾娃·裴隆。
“听着,她是个骗子,而且公平地说,她自己也知道。但她现在势头不错——对她自己来说很不错,”特朗普在 2024 年说道。“她有某种火花——这一点我得承认。一种相当惊人的、很棒的火花。”
在国会中,AOC 与进步左翼的其他巨头建立了战略联盟。去年,她与佛蒙特州参议员伯尼·桑德斯发起了名为“对抗寡头”的巡回活动,旨在反对科技巨头和企业—。
Real Clear Politics 综合民调
卡玛拉·哈里斯
27.6%
加文·纽森
16.4
皮特·布蒂吉格
11.6
亚历山德里娅·奥卡西奥-科尔特斯
9.4
马克·凯利
6.8
乔什·夏皮罗
6.6
来源:RealClearPolitics.com
Polymarket 赔率
亚历山德里娅·奥卡西奥-科尔特斯
24%
加文·纽森
15
乔恩·奥索夫
15
卡玛拉·哈里斯
7
皮特·布蒂吉格
5
乔什·夏皮罗
5
来源:Polymarket.com
率游说者,即使在深红州也能吸引大量人群。
但随着她将目光投向全国性竞选,她试图扩大对更广泛选民群体吸引力的举动,可能会面临疏远极左翼的风险。如果民主社会党(DSA)及其盟友在期中选举后变得更加强大,他们将要求在党内选择总统候选人时拥有更大的发言权。如果左翼感觉到其意识形态立场被稀释,结果可能会很糟糕。奥卡西奥-科尔特斯的战略转变已引起关注。她已经受到了来自左翼(包括前同事)的攻击。
除非民主党能够克服其派系分歧,否则中间地带可能会变得危险。党内战略家已经担心,极左翼候选人将在11月的选举以及2028年的白宫之争中浪费机会。
特朗普在自己的支持率处于历史低点之际,利用民主社会党的复兴,将新的民主党描绘成一个由危险的激进分子和共产主义者组成的政党,唤起了20世纪50年代“红色恐慌”的幽灵。由于没有其他可喊的口号,共和党候选人们也纷纷效仿。
若想在获得2028年提名方面有任何希望,奥卡西奥-科尔特斯必须专门扩大对黑人选民的吸引力。非裔美国人占民主党选民基础的25%,且在党内重新调整初选日程后,他们将对提名过程产生更大的影响。拥有大量黑人人口的南卡罗来纳州现在将在新罕布什尔州之前进行初选。
埃默里大学政治学教授安德拉·吉莱斯皮(Andra Gillespie)表示,黑人选民并不总是与进步派天然契合。
首位公开出柜的总统候选人,在2025年进行了一次开创性的尝试。他继续巩固其作为民主党最佳沟通者之一的声誉。他表示,他“倾向于”在2028年再次参选。
这位加利福尼亚州州长在特朗普重掌权力后,凭借充满活力的社交媒体策略将其战斗引向了特朗普。但他在西海岸的魅力在决定美国总统选举的摇摆州可能会失效。
这位前副总统在乔·拜登退出竞选后,仅在赛前 107 天加入竞争,最终在 2024 败给了特朗普。哈里斯正准备在 2028 再次参选,并将获得黑人选民的强力支持,不过民主党这次可能会对提名女性持谨慎态度。
佐兰·马姆达尼,纽约市市长。
在亚特兰大。“进步主义运动在历史上一直存在盲点……[并且]将阶级问题置于种族问题之上。有些黑人选民对极左运动持怀疑态度。”
亚历山德里娅·奥卡西奥-科尔特斯(AOC)可能会在 11 月轻松赢得连任,但布朗克斯区的居民上周对于在詹妮弗·洛佩兹之后,他们最著名的“出口人才”是否具备总统潜质看法不一。“她还相当年轻,所以我认为她还需要更多经验才能竞选总统,”一名经过 AOC 选区办公室的居民玛丽亚说道。
“她只有一些谈话要点,”史蒂文·塞拉诺,41. 说道。他提到 AOC 7 月在纳什维尔支持一名进步派候选人的演讲。“她开始用一种带有乡音的南方口音说话,所以我当时在想:‘你是谁?’你是波多黎各人,是我这类人。你那样表现,很伤人。”

民主党战略家汉克·谢因科普夫表示,AOC 在冲击白宫的道路上面临几个巨大的选举障碍。“第一,她来自纽约。第二,她在很多方面代表了建制派。她是伯尼·桑德斯建制派的一部分,”他说道。
更根本的是,在特朗普于 2016 击败希拉里·克林顿以及 2024 击败卡玛拉·哈里斯造成毁灭性打击后,民主党初选选民在 2028, 肯定会对第三次提名女性持谨慎态度。
AOC 本人则继续从容地应对关于她未来的提问。“有趣的是,他们假设我的野心是一个头衔或一个席位,”她在 5 月告诉前巴拉克·奥巴马竞选主任大卫·艾克塞尔罗德。
“我的野心是改变这个国家。总统来来去去。”
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本·扎兰科(Ben Zaranko)写道,面对伊朗战争的后果、滚动征收的关税以及极高的政府借贷,美国债券干预被称作是“在弹孔上贴创可贴”。
创纪录的公共债务、伊朗战争带来的通胀影响,以及对美国第二大贸易伙伴征收 50% 的关税,这些因素共同在周末给“特朗普经济学”(Trumponomics)带来了一次现实考验。
在世界最大经济体经历动荡的一周之际,与加拿大的贸易谈判于周五破裂。总理马克·卡尼(Mark Carney)已实施了“一美元对一美元”的报复性关税。昨天,他表示自己的国家正与美国处于“战争”状态。
分析人士警告称,其后果将不仅限于昂贵的加拿大奶酪和曲棍球杆,并凸显了一个不稳定的白宫给北美相互交织的经济体注入的长期不确定性。
一系列加拿大商品(从葡萄酒到水泥)已被征收关税,价值约 200亿美元。虽然这在庞大的跨境贸易中仅占一小部分,但它表明美国与加拿大之间的关系日益困难,以及涵盖墨西哥在内的更广泛的大陆贸易协定正处于紧张状态,且目前正在重新谈判。
美国政府债务收益率上周升至二十年来的最高水平,引发美国财政部长斯科特·贝森特(Scott Bessent)在周三采取突然且出人意料的干预措施。这次“回购操作”——通过发行新的短期债务来回购金融机构持有的长期债券——未能安抚市场情绪。到周五结束时,债券收益率再次上涨,美元下跌,资金涌入黄金、白银和加密货币。
投资者对居高不下的政府借贷水平感到担忧。
密歇根大学公共政策与经济学教授贾斯汀·沃尔弗斯(Justin Wolfers)表示,美国预算赤字“处于一种只有在我们处于极端经济困境且需要大量财政援助时才合理的水平”。“但我们并未处于极端困境。我们只是在这样借钱。”
贝森特坚称他拥有一个“庞大的工具箱”来降低收益率,从而不仅减轻其政府的借贷成本,还减轻全球许多借款人的成本,因为他们的条款受美国国债市场的影响。问题是:在对通货膨胀、螺旋式上升的政府债务以及 AI “借贷建设”热潮的担忧之中,他的工具箱是否足够大?
全球债券抛售的催化剂是中东地缘政治紧张局势的最新升级。由于担心美国与伊朗之间的冲突可能重启,以及能源供应可能受到进一步干扰,油价上涨。常用石油基准布伦特原油上周首次突破每桶 $94,比战前水平高出约三分之一。
人们对食品价格带来的通胀压力也日益担忧。今年的厄尔尼诺现象预计将是记忆中最严重的一次,这将干扰大豆、玉米和稻米的全球生产。与此同时,对黑海港口的袭击威胁到俄罗斯和乌克兰的小麦、大麦和玉米出口。
即使在任何大宗商品价格冲击之前,美国通胀率仍高于美联储 2% 的目标。
与加拿大贸易谈判破裂导致的物价上涨,将增加来自中东战争的通胀压力,而后者已经推高了燃料价格。这反过来产生了政治影响,唐纳德·特朗普的支持率处于历史低点。
投资者将财政部在债券市场的干预解读为一次掩饰拙劣的尝试,旨在压低长期债券收益率。这些收益率不仅决定了美国政府偿还庞大且不断增长的债务堆的成本,还决定了数百万美国家庭面临的抵押贷款成本——在期中选举临近之际,这是一个重要因素。
国际金融协会前首席经济学家罗宾·布鲁克斯(Robin Brooks)表示,这表明“近期长期收益率的上升——已升至 20 年多来的最高水平——正触及美国一个重要的痛点阈值”。
此次干预仅提供了暂时的缓解。收益率在公告发布后立即下跌,但随后在周四再次跳升。投资者似乎并不认同这次小规模的公告,因为它未能改变最初推动收益率上升的任何根本因素。野村证券策略师查理·麦克埃利戈特(Charlie McElligott)将财政部的计划描述为“在子弹孔上贴创可贴”,认为这“不足以安抚市场力量”。
美元下跌,黄金、白银和加密货币的价格大幅上涨,这清楚地表明,如果美国政府试图限制其债务收益率,投资者将会将资金转移到其他地方。
“美国财政部在玩火,”布鲁克斯说道。“一旦走上这条路,就很难——如果不是不可能的话——阻止你的货币贬值。”
针对波动剧烈的市场反应,贝森特(Bessent)暗示政府可能会进一步扩大其回购操作,并强调最初的公告已明确回购规模将至少翻倍。他意味深长地提到了财政部可用以降低收益率的“庞大工具箱”,并表示目前的收益率并未反映经济基本面。市场正密切关注他的下一步行动。
降低收益率并缓解市场压力最明显的工具将是美国政府控制其失控的借贷。在特朗普总统领导下,这似乎不太可能实现。由于贝森特最强大的工具被认为不可触碰,未来的道路上可能还会有更多波折。
鉴于财政部市场对全球金融体系的重要性,这些波折将在全世界产生共鸣。
纽约证券交易所经历了一个动荡的一周。
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在英国,每年有数千人因心理健康问题接受电休克疗法(ECT),但其价值的证据却十分匮乏。精神科医生们对此持有分歧;虽然一些患者告诉杰西卡·劳恩斯利(Jessica Rawnsley)该疗法改善了他们的生活,但另一些人则表示这给他们造成了严重的伤害。
2008年,在她的“发作期”开始后不久,艾比盖尔(Abigail)被送入精神科病房。她向医生讲述了在15年的婚姻生活中遭受的家庭暴力,以及她计划带着三个孩子逃离的打算。她被诊断为抑郁症并被送回家中。
但自杀念头依然存在,且她被开具的抗抑郁药和抗精神病药未能缓解她的痛苦。最终,艾比盖尔被诊断为“难治性抑郁症”,并开始接受电休克疗法(ECT)疗程。在这种疗法中,在全身麻醉状态下,电流通过大脑以诱发癫痫发作。
记忆丧失几乎立即开始。“我从一名医生变成了不记得几秒钟前做了什么,甚至不记得孩子名字的人,”不愿透露全名的艾比盖尔说道。她无法想起词汇,无法想起朋友或家人的面孔,甚至忘记了如何计数。几十年过去了,她生命中的整个章节依然在记忆中被抹除。她再也没有回到工作岗位。
全球每年约有100万人接受ECT,其中英国约有2,500人。它仍然是现代精神医学中最具争议的干预措施之一,处于一场复杂、两极分化且通常带有高度个人色彩的争论之中。
在英国,临床指南建议将ECT作为最后手段,用于抑郁症、紧张症或躁狂症危及生命,或其它治疗方案失效的情况。但最近一项针对NHS信托机构ECT使用情况的全国审计显示,地区差异显著,这再次引发了关于这一争议性疗法的风险及其证据基础的长期质疑。
在提交了2024–25年度数据的26个信托机构中,使用情况差异巨大。光谱的一端,萨塞克斯合伙信托(Sussex Partnership trust)为140名患者提供了ECT治疗,而牛津健康(Oxford Health)、奥克斯利斯(Oxleas)和伯克希尔(Berkshire)信托则报告完全没有使用该疗法。
使用量第二高的蒂斯、埃斯克和威尔谷信托(Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys trust)在该年度为115名患者实施了ECT。
“显而易见的解释是‘邮编处方’(指医疗服务随地理位置而异),”谢菲尔德大学的临床心理学家理查德·本塔尔(Richard Bentall)教授表示。“邮编处方证明了整个体系已经崩溃。它表明”
恐怖与电击箱:具有黑暗历史的争议疗法
分析
乔恩·斯托克(Jon Stock)
玛丽·桑顿(Mary Thornton)对1971年在皇家滑铁卢医院就诊期间的事情记得不多,但她仍然记得接受电休克疗法后的感受。“在一次ECT剂量治疗后醒来是极其恐怖的,”她说。“我感到完全”
精神科医生之间存在巨大的意见分歧。
“如果有一个公认的证据基础,就不会出现这种情况。历史告诉我们,如果你不做正规的临床试验,最终会做出各种危险的事情。”
他指的是现在已被废弃的额叶切除术(lobotomy)——即切断或移除大脑额叶——以及胰岛素休克疗法(insulin shock therapy),后者使用大剂量激素来诱发每日昏迷。
地区差异并非新现象。英国心理学会(British Psychological Society)在2021年发布的一项使用2019年数据的审计发现,各信托机构的人均ECT使用量存在广泛差异;而英国皇家精神科医师学会(RCP)在1981年的一项调查也发现了医院之间的显著差异。
萨塞克斯合伙信托的一位发言人表示,其对ECT的使用遵循英国皇家内科医师学会的国家指南,并且“始终与患者及其家人和护理人员进行充分讨论”。
“有强有力的证据基础支持将电休克疗法(ECT)用于治疗患有某些严重精神疾病的人群,正如英国国家医疗服务体系卓越研究所(Nice)所阐述的那样,”该发言人补充道。
Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys 信托基金未回应置评请求,但告知《西南杜伦新闻》(South West Durham News),该治疗仅在“对个人的益处和风险进行全面评估后”才会实施,并且“我们信托基金覆盖的区域包括该国一些最贫困的社区,这导致了较差的社会、身体和心理健康结果”。
ECT于1938年首次在意大利引入,随后不久进入英国,它在精神病学中占据着一个奇怪的位置。目前还没有一个被普遍接受的理论能解释其工作原理,也没有关于电量剂量或持续时间的标准化方案,且缺乏强制性监管。
然而,它显然对部分患者有所帮助。其中包括 Berlinda Wander,她在经历了一段时间的严重精神病性抑郁和多次自杀企图后,于2019年接受了ECT。“在两三次疗程之后,我就像变成了另一个人——找回了自我,”这位现年55岁的退休活动经理说道。她没有经历任何不良副作用,在接受10次治疗后出院。
这就是ECT预期的作用方式:作为一种受控的干预措施,帮助患者度过极端情况。“这是一种急性治疗,而非长期治疗,但它能将人们从那种我们已无计可施的危及生命的危机中解救出来,”NHS顾问精神科医生兼伦敦大学学院老年精神病学教授 Robert Howard 表示,他曾使用ECT治疗患者。“就我们实际要求它实现的功能而言,它是一种有效且安全的治疗方法。”
但一些临床医生表示怀疑。Bentall 认为,“我们应该首先假设,除非能被证明是有益的,否则向大脑传递巨大的电流可能不是一件好事。因此我们需要非常充分的证据。而目前并没有这样的证据。”
关于ECT,曾有过11项安慰剂对照随机试验——这被广泛认为是临床研究的金标准。大多数试验样本量小,随访期短,且被发现存在缺陷。最后一项试验是在1985年进行的。四十年来缺乏大规模的安慰剂对照临床试验,导致了 Bentall 所描述的“轶事之战”,其中康复的故事与受害的陈述相互交织。
Howard 驳斥了进行安慰剂对照试验的想法,认为如果对对照组隐瞒一种已被证明有效的治疗方法,将是“不道德的”。
“那是种恐怖,因为我甚至不知道我是谁,或者我叫什么名字。”
当时20岁的 Thornton 在一次“情绪崩溃”后被入院——她的母亲不赞成她与男友 John 的关系,而这种压力让她难以承受。她被送到了护士们所谓的“睡眠室”,在那里她在睡眠状态下接受 ECT。该住院部门由 William Sargant 博士管理,他是一位备受争议的精神科医生,信奉精神疾病的机械论治疗方法。他认为大脑最好通过物理治疗来修复:脑叶切除术、胰岛素昏迷疗法、药物和 。
Sargant 从1948年到1972年担任圣托马斯医院(包括皇家滑铁卢医院)的心理医学主管。作为电视节目的常客,他比任何人都更积极地在英国推广 。除了睡眠室,他在圣托马斯医院还管理着一个门诊病房,每周为数百人实施 。
Sargant 喜欢吹嘘自己是英国第二个或第三个使用“电击盒”实施 的医生,但最初受到了当时卫生部的阻挠。(1939年12月接受 的第一位患者是在布里斯托的 Burden 神经学研究所。)
该部门对有关该疗法在患者被约束时导致骨折和其他伤害的报告感到担忧。萨根特对此几乎没有顾虑,在 20 世纪 50 年代采取了“原始”方式进行治疗——这种残酷的治疗方式后来在《飞越疯人院》中得到了描绘。如今,改良版的 ECT 在全身麻醉下进行。
新闻
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
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在过去的几十年里,一些研究发现,在治疗严重抑郁症或紧张症方面,ECT 比其他疗法更有效,而另一些研究则强调了对记忆受损和长期使用风险的担忧。早在 2009 年,Nice(一个制定国家健康和护理指南的公共机构)就表示,迫切需要对 ECT 的长期疗效和安全性进行更多研究。十六年后,这仍未实现。
英国皇家精神科医师学会的一份 2022 年报告发现,ECT 主要用于治疗
“它并没有给我提供避风港,实际上就像用锤子在我的头上敲了 21 次”
艾比盖尔,前精神科患者
严重抑郁症,三分之二的患者在治疗后被评为“明显”或“非常明显”地好转。但报告指出,实践中存在巨大差异——包括给予患者的疗程次数、衡量改善程度的量表,以及测试记忆力和认知功能的方式。
凯西·维尔德 34 岁时,深埋的童年创伤重新浮现,使她陷入情绪危机。她被送入医院,并被提供 ECT 作为快速解决方案。“这根本不是最后的手段,”她说,“这是我入院的第一天。”在接下来的 12 年里,她接受了 100 多次治疗,有时是在违背她意愿的情况下。
“我后悔第一次接受 ECT,”66 岁的退休急诊医生维尔德说,“那是没必要的。如果有人倾听我的诉求,给我提供心理咨询并允许我请假休息,这一切都不会发生。”她对那段时期的回忆是通过医疗记录拼凑而成的。
露西·约翰斯通是一位在布里斯托尔工作的临床心理学家,曾在精神健康和精神科病房工作了三十年,她认为“ECT 的使用是我们这个时代最主要的未被认知的医疗丑闻之一”。她认为,ECT 反映了精神医学界的一种更广泛的倾向,即通过医学视角来解读深刻的痛苦,将诊断和干预置于尝试理解导致危机的环境之上。
“精神病院里有很高比例的人经历过创伤性事件,在我看来,这就是他们最终进入医院的原因,而不是因为他们患有某种神秘的精神疾病,”她说。
之前的研究发现,女性在 ECT 接受者中所占的比例始终过高。批评者认为,这种模式引发了关于女性的痛苦在精神健康服务中如何被解读和治疗的更广泛问题。
“一旦你被贴上标签,你就被困住了,”家庭暴力幸存者艾比盖尔说,“它并没有给我提供支持或避风港,实际上就像用锤子在我的头上敲了 21 次。无论你给一个女人多少次 ECT,对于一个处于虐待关系中的人来说,这永远不足以平息心绪。”
在极端情况下,缺乏明确的限制可能是毁灭性的。一名向《观察者报》讲述并要求匿名的女性表示,她的女儿在根据《精神健康法》被拘留的过去两年里,接受了数百轮强制性 ECT。她说,她的女儿曾是一位有天赋的诗人,现在患有严重的记忆丧失并出现了癫痫。
这名女性将其描述为一种“人质局面”:她恳求将女儿带回家,但医生坚持认为她需要更多治疗。由于该女性担心医院的报复,《观察者报》无法将这些指控提交给院方,且在报道细节方面受到限制。
电休克疗法(ECT)究竟是一种被低估的救命疗法,还是一种风险尚未被充分认识的干预手段,这是精神医学界争论了数十年的问题。最新的审计表明,关于该疗法应在何时、何地以及以何种频率使用,以及由谁来决定,目前仍缺乏共识。
英国皇家内科医师学会(RCP)ECT及相关治疗委员会主席理查德·布雷思韦特(Richard Braithwaite)博士在一份声明中表示:“ECT与许多医疗手段一样,可能会产生严重程度因人而异的副作用,应当将其与潜在的益处进行权衡。”
“临床医生应始终与患者以及(在可能的情况下)其护理人员讨论这些问题。”
强迫症和精神病。令人不安的是,他还将其作为一种对年轻女性进行道德矫正的手段,这让人想起 20 世纪 50 年代布罗德穆尔医院(Broadmoor)的做法。
玛丽在接受了 12 周的 ECT 治疗出院后,在行李箱中发现了一个号码并拨打了过去。接电话的是约翰,他解释说自己曾是她的男朋友。两人随后结婚,共同生活了 50 年。
乔恩·斯托克(Jon Stock)是《睡眠室》(The Sleep Room)的作者,并以 JS 门罗(JS Monroe)之名撰写了《他的最后一名患者》(His Final Patient)。
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observer.co.uk 23.08.26
新闻
Catherine Neilan 白厅编辑
一家由被定罪的诈骗犯乔治·科特雷尔(George Cottrell)在黑山运行的企业已被悄悄关闭。
Private Family Office 公司与目前正接受伦敦警察厅调查的改革英国党(Reform UK)捐款有关。该公司是一家由科特雷尔全资拥有的有限公司,而科特雷尔是该党党魁奈杰尔·法拉奇(Nigel Farage)的一名非正式助手。该公司最近在 4 月提交账目时仍处于活跃状态,但此后在该国的企业登记册上被登记为非活跃状态。
5 月,黑山加强了公司在反洗钱方面的义务,并在 6 月引入了新的《公司法》,使该国与欧盟的接轨更加紧密。
据《星期日泰晤士报》报道,在里希·苏纳克(Rishi Sunak)宣布 2024 年大选几天后,一个以 Private Family Office 名义的账户在支付处理器 Oneify 开立。几周内,Oneify 向 Britain Means Business 的账户中存入了 100 万英镑m,后者是一家由改革英国党副党魁理查德·泰斯(Richard Tice)拥有的竞选组织。据《卫报》报道,该金额的一半随后被转交给改革英国党。
泰斯表示,这笔钱来自乔治的母亲菲奥娜·科特雷尔(Fiona Cottrell),她也是该党的一名登记捐赠者。
科特雷尔的公司使用支付处理器的行为引发了人们的质疑,即他是否是向改革英国党捐款的幕后推手。隐瞒政治捐款是一项刑事犯罪,可能会导致监禁。
在 2024 年 7 月大选期间,科特雷尔是黑山的税务居民,尽管他有资格作为海外选民进行捐赠。目前尚不清楚在支付款项时是否属于这种情况。科特雷尔的律师确认,Private Family Office 已于“今年早些时候关闭,不再是一个活跃的企业实体”。
关于这些款项,他们表示:“与银行交易相关的信息受严格的保密义务约束,只能通过非法手段获得;也就是说,由某位违反保密义务的人员获取。”
改革英国党的一位发言人拒绝发表评论,仅表示科特雷尔“在改革英国党(Reform UK)中不担任任何正式职务”。

文学专业毕业生安迪·伯纳姆(Andy Burnham)在想要从政治中抽身休息时,有充足的阅读材料。
帕特里克·基德 (Patrick Kidd)
所有首相在就职时都带着一项使命。就哈罗德·麦克米伦(Harold Macmillan)而言,他的使命是读完罗伯特·路易斯·史蒂文森(Robert Louis Stevenson)的全部作品,他在 1957 年,即进入唐宁街的第一年实现了这一目标。没有哪个领导人能像“超级麦克”(Supermac)那样将治理国家与阅读结合得如此紧密,他的日记记录了他在 1963 年一年中就读完了 119 本书,其中大部分是小说。
作为英国首位拥有英国文学学位的首相,安迪·伯纳姆(Andy Burnham)若能通过一本好书来逃避工作压力,将是明智之举。他在唐宁街的内阁图书馆中可以找到大量此类书籍,该馆是由历任部长自 1931 年起捐赠的藏书,旨在激励其继任者。
上周披露,基尔·斯塔默(Sir Keir Starmer)爵士及其内阁中的七名成员在离职前向该图书馆捐赠了书籍。该图书馆由首位工党首相拉姆齐·麦克唐纳(Ramsay MacDonald)创立,目前藏书超过 400 卷。斯塔默在参加《荒岛唱片》(Desert Island Discs)节目时选择了一本地图集作为他的书籍,而他捐赠给图书馆的是由汤姆·鲍德温(Tom Baldwin)撰写的一本关于他自己的传记。瑞秋·里夫斯(Rachel Reeves)、尼克·托马斯-西蒙兹(Nick Thomas-Symonds)和丽莎·南迪(Lisa Nandy)则捐赠了她们自己撰写的书籍。
其他人则选择了具有价值的书籍,例如由罗伊·哈特斯利(Roy Hattersley)撰写的关于社会主义的书籍(由布里奇特·菲利普森 [Bridget Phillipson] 挑选)、南威尔士矿工史(乔·史蒂文斯 [Jo Stevens])、迈克尔·巴伯(Michael Barber)关于一名公务员的回忆录(詹姆斯·默里 [James Murray])以及教皇方济各的一篇通谕(达伦·琼斯 [Darren Jones])。
遗憾的是,里夫斯没有把《分水岭之谜》(The Division Bell Mystery)也捐进来,这是一部由克莱门特·艾特利(Clement Attlee)时期的教育大臣艾伦·威尔金森(Ellen Wilkinson)在 1932 年写的一部轻快的政治小说,前财政大臣曾在 2018 年为其撰写序言。政治家同样需要简单的快乐。
麦克米伦捐赠了 21 本鲁德亚德·基普林(Rudyard Kipling)的书,而他心爱的特罗洛普(Trollopes)作品则被温斯顿·丘吉尔的养老金大臣奥斯伯特·皮克(Osbert Peake)抢先捐赠了。馆内还有《夏洛克·福尔摩斯全集》(由维多利亚·阿特金斯 [Victoria Atkins] 捐赠)、《白鲸》(詹姆斯·丘特·埃德 [James Chuter Ede])和《格列佛游记》(卡灵顿勋爵 [Lord Carrington])。简·奥斯汀的小说来自艾特利的航空大臣雷金纳德·弗莱彻(Reginald Fletcher)。前国防大臣本·华莱士(Ben Wallace)捐赠了一部杰拉尔德·西蒙(Gerald Seymour)的惊悚小说。
有两本书被捐赠了两次。丘吉尔战时内阁成员詹姆斯·格里格(James Grigg)和奥利弗·斯坦利(Oliver Stanley)都捐赠了 RCK 恩索(RCK Ensor)撰写的 1936 年版《英国史,1870-1914》。相比之下,曾在鲍里斯·约翰逊内阁中的阿里斯泰尔·杰克(Alister Jack)和马克·斯宾塞(Mark Spencer)则选择了杰里米·克拉克森(Jeremy Clarkson)的《滴滴蹲:农场的一年》(Diddly Squat: A Year on the Farm)。
约翰逊捐赠了他的关于丘吉尔的书。这种情况很普遍:图书馆中约有四分之一的书籍是捐赠者自撰的。此外还存在相当程度的裙带关系。约翰·梅杰(John Major)捐赠了他的妻子诺玛(Norma)关于琼·萨瑟兰(Joan Sutherland)和切克斯(Chequers)的书;克里斯托弗·索姆斯(Christopher Soames)捐赠了一本由其妻子为其母亲克莱门汀·丘吉尔(Clementine Churchill)撰写的传记;玛格丽特·撒切尔的威尔士事务大臣尼古拉斯·爱德华兹(Nicholas Edwards)捐赠了一本由其父亲撰写的关于英国家具历史的书。
当麦克唐纳创建该图书馆时,他要求前任和现任部长捐赠一些“对他们而言特别或具有政治意义”的东西。这往往能揭示很多信息。一战期间的外交大臣爱德华·格雷(Sir Edward Grey)爵士选择了一本关于鸟类学的书;撒切尔夫人那位亲欧的外交大臣杰弗里·豪(Sir Geoffrey Howe)爵士选择了一本关于法国葡萄酒的书;泰德·希思(Ted Heath)则捐赠了他撰写的关于航海和圣诞颂歌的书。
其他书籍涵盖了钓鱼、桥牌、伊丽莎白时代的情歌以及 15 世纪的佛罗伦萨雕塑家。遗憾的是,这种博 eclectic 的品味与大多数现代部长相去甚远,尽管人们对博学的新任北爱尔兰事务大臣克里斯·布赖恩特(Sir Chris Bryant)爵士抱有希望。
在那之前,热爱诗歌的伯纳姆可能会发现最好的选择是肯尼斯·贝克(Kenneth Baker,梅杰时期的内政大臣)所选的那本:《我虽无枪但能吐唾沫——讽刺与谩骂诗集》(I Have No Gun But I Can Spit – An Anthology of Satirical and Abusive Verse)。
其他版面
菲利普·柯林斯(Philip Collins):伯纳姆应该向亚里士多德学习,见论坛版,第 27 页
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observer.co.uk 23.08.26
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左图为法国东南部的一家化学焚烧厂。上图为 Wegovy 减肥药。Jean-Philippe Kozark
说道:“该行业在扩大规模的同时,并未对其技术进行清理。它仍然在使用 DMF,仍然在使用有害溶剂,仍然在使用过时的化学工艺。”
由总部位于剑桥的生物技术公司 Constructive Bio 与《观察者报》分享的计算结果表明,根据减肥药在美国的销售情况,去年产生了高达 15,500 吨的有毒废物,其中大部分可归因于 Mounjaro 的制造商礼来公司(Eli Lilly)。
Constructive Bio 的首席执行官 Ola Wlodek 表示,废物的确切水平尚不确定,部分原因是生产 Wegovy 的诺和诺德(Novo Nordisk)为其注射笔采用了定制的制造方法,这种方法有可能比传统方法污染更少。
Wlodek 表示:“我们现在能比历史上任何时候都更有效地治疗像肥胖这样复杂的疾病。这对人类健康的影响是巨大的,但我们也必须考虑对地球健康的影响。”
诺和诺德的一位发言人表示:“在严格的监管控制以及内部环境、健康和安全标准下,在必要时会使用包括某些溶剂在内的极高关注物质。”
“我们正积极致力于减少这些物质的使用。”
礼来公司在一份声明中表示,公司致力于“最大限度地减少在制造过程结束时经常成为危险废物的材料的使用”。
研究人员正竞相开发减少有毒溶剂使用的处理方法。在 2 月份发表于《自然-可持续性》(Nature Sustainability)的一篇论文中,Wellings 及其合著者概述了一种合成肽的水基方法。
专家警告称,随着 GLP-1 类药物需求的增加,制造过程中发生有毒泄漏的风险也随之增加
Jeevan Vasagar
气候编辑
减肥药重塑了人们的身体,也改变了制药公司的命运。但生产 GLP-1 类药物也会产生大量的有毒废物——根据与《观察者报》分享的计算结果,估计每年高达 15,000 吨。
去年,英国约有 160 万 成年人使用 Wegovy 和 Ozempic 等 GLP-1 类药物进行减肥,随着该药物现在除了注射剂外还推出了药片形式,预计使用人数将进一步增加。由于药片在吞咽后有更多活性成分在消化系统中流失,因此每剂药片需要更大数量的活性成分。
专家警告称,激增的需求将导致产生更多的废物,从而增加有毒泄漏的风险,特别是如果生产扩展到环境监管较弱的国家。
今年 3 月,诺和诺德(Novo Nordisk)的司美格鲁肽(semaglutide)专利在包括巴西、印度和中国在内的主要全球市场到期。通用药制造商的进入预计将降低患者的购药价格,但同时也引发了人们对污染风险的担忧。
司美格鲁肽和其他 GLP-1 类药物属于一种被称为多肽(peptides)的药物类别,其制造过程会产生大量的化学废物——每生产 1 公斤活性成分就会产生 14 吨名为 DMF 的溶剂。
DMF 的毒性极强,使用后必须进行焚烧处理。根据欧盟法规,工人通过呼吸道接触 的浓度不得超过每立方米空气 6mg,通过皮肤接触不得超过每公斤体重 1.1mg——这些量比一粒沙子还要小——因为它可以导致肝脏损伤并损害生殖系统。由于它易溶于水,任何 泄漏都会对水生生物构成特别威胁。
虽然到目前为止尚未发现 中毒病例与多肽行业有关,但这种溶剂在发展中国家被用于制造合成皮革,中国已有报道称工人因肝中毒而接受治疗。
行业高管 Matteo Villain 表示,尽管多肽的通常剂量比其他药物小,但由于服用时间长,其环境后果可能会呈螺旋式上升。“当你服用像替尔ゼ帕肽(tirazepatide)或司美格鲁肽这样的体重调节药物时,你将连续多年每周进行注射,”他说道。他补充说,监管机构应要求提高多肽废物的透明度:“政府应该奖励那些能够减少化学废物的人,而只有在透明的情况下,这种压力才是真实的。”
GLP-1 类药物的成功引发了人们对多肽的关注,多肽具有广泛的用途。它们在治疗细菌和真菌感染方面非常有效,人们希望以此开发出杀死耐药微生物的疗法。它们也越来越多地被用于化妆品行业,一些健身网红声称——尽管目前证据不足——多肽可以促进肌肉生长。未经监管的多肽在网上广泛销售。
行业专家 Don Wellings 1. [...OMITTED...]
詹姆斯·塔珀 (James Tapper)
阿尔茨海默病和其他形式的痴呆症是英国的首要死因,且至今尚未找到有效的治疗方法。现在,英国研究人员已开始进行一项临床试验,旨在确定一种名为 diranersen 的药物是否能帮助延缓痴呆症。
上个月在伦敦举行的阿尔茨海默病协会国际会议上公布的结果表明,diranersen 能缓解痴呆症的症状,而该病在英国影响了近 100 万 人。
这是迄今为止在开发针对大脑阻塞性 tau 蛋白药物方面最成功的尝试,这种蛋白可能是阿尔茨海默病和其他形式痴呆症的诱因之一。一项涉及 416 人的临床研究表明,diranersen 有助于大脑清除这些有害蛋白。
由伦敦大学学院 (University College London) 的凯丝·马默里 (Cath Mummery) 教授领导的团队正在探讨的问题是,diranersen 在延缓痴呆症这一核心目标上的效果如何。
“这非常令人鼓舞,”与马默里合作的神经科学家伊戈尔·丰塔纳 (Igor Fontana) 表示,“作为一个领域,我们认为这些疗法是这个新时代的开始,因此我们需要推开这扇门,让其他药物随之而来。我认为,这是目前最有希望的针对 tau 蛋白的药物。”
目前已存在两种抗痴呆药物:donanemab 和 lecanemab。但英国国家医疗服务体系卓越研究所 (Nice) 去年决定,由于这些疗法对早期或轻症患者的效果不足,不应由 NHS 提供。
Donanemab 能减缓病情,但在 18 个月的时间里,仅能延缓 4 到 7.5 个月。
痴呆症涉及大脑中蛋白质(tau 蛋白和另一种名为淀粉样蛋白的蛋白)的积聚,这些蛋白似乎通过切断血液供应来杀死脑细胞。这些长链分子缠结在一起,导致我们的免疫系统清除它们的速度变慢。
“这非常令人鼓舞。我们需要推开这扇门,让其他药物随之而来”
伊戈尔·丰塔纳,神经科学家
这两款药物旨在“关掉水龙头”,使我们的大脑产生更少的此类蛋白质。
“tau 蛋白与认知能力下降之间存在明确的关联,”丰塔纳说,“主要问题是这是否能转化为临床获益——它是否能够扭转记忆已经丧失的局面。”
一个巨大的警告是,尽管二期试验确实显示 diranersen 有效果,但它并未达到研究开始前设定的成功目标。不过,其积极效果足以让开发该药的美国制药公司 Biogen 宣布将进入三期试验。
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她的书可能涉及末日场景——从核毁灭到生物战——但正如这位作者告诉安德鲁·冈贝尔 (Andrew Gumbel) 的那样,她最享受的事情就是呼吸好莱坞山 (Hollywood Hills) 的清新空气并感受那里的宁静。
安妮·雅各布森 (Annie Jacobsen)
安妮·雅各布森(Annie Jacobsen)的职业生涯致力于思考那些不可思议之事:无论是筛选核战争中分秒必争的恐怖细节,还是在她最新的著作中,探讨在致命的空气传播病原体从生物武器实验室泄漏并传遍全球后,试图将其遏制的徒劳之举。
很难想象这样一个的人在简单的散步行为中能带来轻松感。当她看着人们进行日常活动时,她的思绪怎么能不飘向病变的肺部、被焚毁的尸体,以及被不可阻挡的狂火摧毁的景观?然而,现在我们正处于好莱坞山一个阳光明媚的下午,与慢跑者和遛狗者一起走在朗恩峡谷(Runyon Canyon)崎岖蜿蜒的小径上,雅各布森的心情非常轻快。
甚至可以说是乐观。 “我依恋自然之美,”她说,“我的意思是,它始终是灵感的源泉。”此外,她是个乐观主义者。她的职业思维每天都在审视存在主义的恐惧,但她并未被其吞噬,反而通过为大多数普通凡人不想思考的主题定义清晰且事实精准,从中获得了一种宣泄式的释放。“你无法解决你不敢面对的问题,但你可以解决你愿意面对的问题,”她说,“我在内心深处深信这一点。”
因此,她能毫无压力地走出她的写作小屋去舒展筋骨。她不会把鼠疫或辐射中毒带到家庭餐桌上,并且擅长在锻炼时将这些话题排除在外。
只是偶尔,这种分离会失效。几年前,她为了清空大脑去洛杉矶动物园旅行,结果却发现自己在思考核战争对动物的影响。这导致她在 2024 年的著作《核战争:一种情景》(Nuclear War: A Scenario)中写下了一段令人心碎的文字:她想象在五角大楼遭到核打击后,华盛顿特区国家动物园里的亚洲象、西部低地大猩猩和苏门答腊虎在笼中失明、哀鸣并痛苦地扭动,焦黑的皮肤从身上脱落,毛发在燃烧。
不过,这样的时刻只是例外。雅各布森绝对是一个“记者中的记者”,每当那些将职业生涯用于思考人类文明终结的顶尖专家坐下来直截了当地向她讲述时,她会发现其主题的阴森被兴奋感所冲淡。在撰写核战争书籍期间,她询问过前联邦应急管理局高官克雷格·富盖特(Craig Fugate)关于在原子弹袭击后保护美国公民的应急计划。从 20 世纪 50 年代的“趴下并掩护”运动开始,几代官方沟通一直将核战争视为可以幸存的事件。富盖特的回答与这种幻想截然不同,以至于她觉得必须回电确认他是否真的那样认为。“人口保护计划不会发生,”他告诉她,“因为所有人都会死掉。”
在撰写新书《生物战:一种情景》(Biological War: A Scenario)时,她也经历了类似的震惊,这次是与一位名叫托马斯·埃哈德(Thomas Ehrhard)的美国空军退役上校交流。“面对大规模生物攻击,并没有真正的国土防御,”埃哈德说,“只有一些可以减轻灭绝程度的措施。”这种来自受训于国家安全问题必须格外谨慎的公职人员的惊人清醒时刻,总是难以获得。它们需要通过电话、电子邮件交流和面对面会面,花费数天甚至数月来建立信任,这些会面最终可能会以正式记录的对话结束,但通常始于闲聊。或者是骑马。或者像雅各布森和我现在这样散步。
我们从 Runyon Canyon 拥挤的 Fuller Avenue 入口开始,在那里想要找个停车位得靠运气。但我们两人在这里一直很走运,于是我们倒车进了一个看起来就像专门为我们留出的车位。几分钟之内,我们就离开了好莱坞那些鸣笛不断、交通拥堵的街道,置身于纯粹的大自然之中。此时正值黄金时刻,洛杉矶的广袤原野在落日下像黄油一样融化,视野轻而易举地延伸到西边 10 英里外的太平洋。
Jacobsen 成长过程中是一名运动员,在康涅狄格州的童年故居附近骑马,每年冬天在佛蒙特州的山区滑雪。即便在今天,在她 59 岁的时候,她依然将 Runyon Canyon 中那些更陡峭的小径视为锻炼她滑雪肌肉的训练。她在童年时期培养的竞争心依然强烈。这就是为什么她如此擅长地套出那些曾让前几代记者和研究人员都束手无策的信息。
她讲述了一个为名为《五角大楼的大脑》(The Pentagon’s Brain,2015 年出版)一书研究激光武器——官方称之为“定向能武器”(DEWs)的故事。她一次又一次被告知这些信息是机密的。有时她的消息来源甚至直截了当地轻视她,告诉她即使他们能谈论 DEWs,她也听不懂。
“我是那种你甚至意识不到我在竞争的竞争类型,”她说。“如果你侮辱我,尤其是侮辱我的智力,那就小心了。我回家后会说,‘去他妈的那些人’,你知道吗?我要绕过他们。谁发明了激光,他现在还活着吗?”
不久之后,她就坐在查尔斯·汤斯(Charles Townes)面前,这位 90 多岁的诺贝尔奖物理学家曾为从哈里·杜鲁门到比尔·克林顿的每一任总统提供建议。她告诉他:“请像对我这个八年级学生那样给我解释。”
我们在各种阴凉处停下
observer.co.uk
23.08.26
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安妮·雅各布森(Annie Jacobsen)
上周在 Runyon Canyon。她的著作
《生物战争:一个场景》(Biological War: A Scenario)
于上月由 Torva 出版。
其论点是,如果你首先不了解那些病原体可能是什么,你就无法针对敌人的病原体采取反制措施。但 Jacobsen 表示:“据我所知,还没有任何一名领域专家在公开记录中表示,由美国政府资助的特定功能增强研究导致了某种医疗反制措施。”相反,她采访了安迪·韦伯(Andy Weber),他曾在奥巴马政府领导生物防御计划,他告诉她,功能增强研究只是生物武器工程的另一种说法——在现在这个 era 同样像在苏联时代一样非法。
贯穿全书的一个强有力推论是,新冠疫情也是实验室泄漏的结果。Jacobsen 没有明确这么说——在很大程度上,她说,是因为她的消息来源在讨论这个话题时表现出异常谨慎。她对此最好的解读是?他们可能真的不知道,或者他们害怕去询问——因为承认新冠肺炎是在实验室中研发的,将会引发关于违反《生物武器公约》以及美国和其他国家在多大程度上,用她的原话来说,“践踏非法性”的更广泛问题。
Jacobsen 希望通过揭露这些问题,并描述在全球 3,000 多家高安全性生物实验室中继续培育生物恐怖威胁所面临的风险,从而开启一场迫切需要的对话。她记得罗纳德·里根在观看 1983 年的电视电影《后日》(The Day After)后,如何戏剧性地改变了他在核扩散问题上的立场,并很快与他的苏联同行米哈伊尔·戈尔巴乔夫就大幅削减冷战核武库进行谈判。
她现在可以预见到类似的突破时刻,即外交官和世界领导人意识到《生物武器公约》已经过时且无法执行,并选择采取行动。一位奥地利军控专家最近告诉她:“我们忘记了保持简单。”
作为一名作家,她的希望是,她能将内容写得足够简单,从而惊醒世界并促使其采取纠正行动。雅各布森的噩梦并非关于未来的僵尸反乌托邦,而更多是关于文明、深时,以及我们人类在数千年间建立的所有事物以及我们即将失去的一切。朗约峡谷(Runyon Canyon)的美景就在她的家门口,那里本身就是地质时间长河的一座纪念碑。
当我们走回富勒大道(Fuller Avenue)的喧嚣和停车混乱之中时,很明显,她愿意做任何事情来维持现状。
spots – 雅各布森意识到摄影师正在不停地拍照,不想出太多汗。(她说,通常她录制的播客对象是那些痴迷于武器或UFO的男性,“他们根本不在乎对方长什么样。”)她并没有完全换上徒步装备,而是在运动鞋上面搭配了一件半正式的白衬衫和西装裤。
在交谈中,雅各布森反思了退休公职人员们愿意公开那些被官方秘密掩盖数十年的话题的意愿。她告诉她的采访对象,她的工作遵循她所谓的“艾森豪威尔原则”——这一概念出自总统艾森豪威尔1961年的告别演说,探讨了军事工业复合体的危险,认为维持安全与自由的关键在于“一个警觉且知识渊博的公民群体”。
她发现这句话近来引起了更深层的共鸣,或许是因为地球面临的威胁——核毁灭、比Covid-19致命得多的流行病、气候危机、人工智能的崛起——已变得如此复杂且深远。“过去的一种污名是,如果你说了某些话,你就在某种程度上是在诋毁美国政府,”她说,“但现在情况不再是这样了。”
我们到达了徒步的最高点,在的一棵含羞草树的阴凉下停了下来,上方是山顶的豪宅,下方是像地毯一样铺展开的城市。我们走得并不远,但雅各布森的心思在其他事情上。她的书现在在白宫以及整个联邦政府中被预订,最新的作品促使她收到了前往国会、马里兰州德特里克堡(Fort Detrick)生物科学家以及联合国发表演讲的邀请。
“被所有人接纳是一种非常不寻常的转变,”她说,“十年前,我觉得自己是个不受欢迎的人——我找不到任何人愿意告诉我任何事情。”现在,她接到的电话都在称赞她敢于“把心照不宣的事情公开说出来”。这对生物实验室的工作人员来说并不完全舒服——他们的亲人第一次了解到他们具体从事什么工作,显然一直在向他们抛出“这到底是怎么回事?”之类的问题。尽管如此,这些话仅被视为一种赞美。
当然,《生物战争》(Biological War)是一个恐怖故事,而且即使剧透说它以地球上除了少数几个“马基雅维利主义者、唯我论者和精神病患者”之外的所有人被灭绝而告终也无妨。然而,让读者欲罢不能的是一个非凡的、在很大程度上未被讲述的故事:讲述了秘密实验室里的科学家在过去几十年里,公然违反1972年全球生物武器禁令所做的事情。
在苏联最后的日子里,俄罗斯科学家致力于其中一人后来称之为“我们的曼哈顿计划”的项目——创造一种可怕的杂交病原体,一种嵌合体,它将两种致命疾病融合为一种,并确保如果患者寻求治疗第一种疾病,就会触发第二种疾病,无论如何都会导致缓慢而痛苦的死亡。雅各布森的情节设想了一次实验室泄漏,一种结合了鼠疫和马脑炎的嵌合体从西伯利亚的一个实验室逃逸,并很快在各大洲不可阻挡地肆虐。更糟糕的是,这种病原体会让患者最初产生一种欣快感,因此他们会社交、出去跳舞、登机,完全没有意识到自己具有危险的传染性或已病入膏肓。
“你无法修复你不敢面对的东西。但你可以修复你愿意面对的东西。我深信这一点”
俄罗斯人绝非这场戏中唯一的反派。自2001年的基地组织袭击以及随后的炭疽惊魂以来,美国领导了雅各布森(Jacobsen)所称的“一场巨大的新生物技术军备竞赛……由恐惧、恐怖主义、偏执和贪婪所驱动”。正如纳粹曾创造委婉语,用语言上的平淡来掩盖对犹太人的毁灭一样,科学家们在谈论“功能增强”研究时,其真实含义是将一种致命的病原体变得更加致命。
表面上,这样做是为了预防目的——这
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observer.co.uk 23.08.26
21
这对夫妇唯一的孩子表示,教授关于艾琳·奥肖内西生活的半虚构叙述将误导学生
莉莉·艾萨克斯 (Lily Isaacs)
乔治·奥威尔的儿子批评了一项决定,即将其父亲的《巴黎和伦敦在底层》(Down and Out in Paris and London)从 A-level 英语课程中删除,并引入一部关于其母亲生活的女性主义叙述。
奥威尔 1933 年的这部回忆录已被剑桥 OCR 考试局从英语语言与文学教学大纲中移除,而从明年起,将加入一部关于其第一任妻子艾琳·奥肖内西(Eileen O'Shaughnessy)的有争议的传记——《妻子之名:奥威尔夫人的隐形生活》(Wifedom: Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life)。书中将奥威尔描绘成一个“虐待狂且厌女”的男人,其不忠和行为毁了她的生活,这在奥威尔研究学者中引发了激烈争论。
企鹅出版社(Penguin)将其定位为一部关于她生活的“反虚构”(counter-fiction)作品,这意味着书中的部分内容是推测性小说,而其他部分则是更传统的传记。书中包含了奥肖内西在 1936 年至 1945 年间写给一位朋友的六封信件作为一手资料。
OCR 的这一决定再次引发了《妻子之名》作者安娜·方德(Anna Funder)与奥威尔遗产管理机构之间的激烈争论。奥威尔学会(The Orwell Society)对该书的准确性提出质疑。奥威尔与奥肖内西唯一的孩子理查德·布莱尔(Richard Blair)表示,《妻子之名》并非对其母亲或其父母婚姻的准确刻画。布莱尔说:“[我的母亲]毫无疑问地掌控着我的父亲。她绝不是个软弱的人……她是他的平等伙伴。”
他表示,这本书会误导那些“对[奥威尔]知之甚少”的学生”,并会让他们在未来不愿阅读奥威尔的作品。布莱尔作为受托人的奥威尔学会已致信考试局,要求将其移除。
OCR 的一名发言人反驳了布莱尔的评论,并表示“许多阅读《妻子之名》的学生会选择阅读奥威尔的著作来作为补充”。OCR 表示,《妻子之名》取代了方德的另一部作品《Stusiland》,且他们会定期更新教学大纲。
约 8,000 名学生参加 OCR 英语文学 A-level 考试;他们可以选择参加关于“反乌托邦”的专项试卷,为此他们将学习奥威尔的《1984》。但那些参加英语语言与文学考试的学生——今年共有 1,297 名——除非他们选择自行广泛阅读,否则现在只能通过《妻子之名》接触到奥威尔。
奥肖内西是一位心理学家,在女性首次被允许入学仅几年后就在牛津大学学习。1935 年她遇到奥威尔(原名埃里克·亚瑟·布莱尔)时,她放弃了自己的事业,致力于为他的书籍打字。
方德告诉《观察者报》,她的书能被教授是“极大的荣幸”。她说她在书中根据艾琳的信件编写了虚构场景,因为她“希望艾琳能为读者以及为我而活过来”。方德表示,她理解布莱尔为何想要保护父亲的遗产,但“真相不能被家族神话所束缚”。
在出版时,《观察者报》将《妻子之名》评论为一部“类型融合的混合体”。
乔治·奥威尔及其第一任妻子艾琳·奥肖内西,《妻子之名》(左)将取代奥威尔的《巴黎和伦敦在底层》…… Bethmann Archive Pictorial Press / Alamy
但曾广泛撰写关于奥威尔文章的女性主义评论家丽贝卡·索尔尼特(Rebecca Solnit)表示,她认为这本书没有履行“非虚构作品的义务”。
研究过奥肖内西信件的安吉拉·史密斯(Angela Smith)教授表示,虽然这本书有“有趣”的教学方式,但方德“误读了艾琳的意图”。在她看来,这本书在没有“审视其余语境”的情况下,“选择性地编辑”了信件摘录。她说,方德忽略了奥肖内西的机智。
DJ Taylor曾写过两本关于奥威尔的传记,而这两本书在《妻子身份》(Wifedom)中受到了批评。他表示,他担心这本书被当作非虚构作品来教授。“书中充满了虚构的内容。将其作为非虚构作品来教授似乎很奇怪,”他说,“即使这是一本非常有活力的书,也不应该将其视为事实。”
对于布莱尔来说,年轻人“需要阅读更多奥威尔的作品,才能理解《妻子身份》(Wifedom)在讲述什么”。他说,他的母亲“古灵精怪且极其幽默”,“那是一段美妙的婚姻。他们真的很爱对方。”
方德表示,来自布莱尔和奥威尔学会的抵制源于“那些热爱超级英雄的人”,并且“维持奥威尔作为一个纯粹正直之人的形象的战斗已经失败了”。
她表示,布莱尔感到“失望,甚至可能不相信。但他们无法改变他们英雄所做的事……我们需要勇敢地去看待这些无价愿景背后的真实之人。”当然,布莱尔对谁才是那个“真实之人”的定义持有异议。
剑桥OCR的一位发言人表示:“将某篇文本纳入课程并不代表认可其内容,而是认可其在产生严谨且深入分析方面的适用性……学生除了选择任何其他文本外,还被要求分析一篇指定文本。我们预计仍有相当数量的学生会继续撰写关于《伦敦与巴黎在底层》(Down and Out in London and Paris)的文章。”
指定文本的变更将于9月起纳入课程。Eduqas考试委员会在A-level阅读清单中仍保留奥威尔,且《动物庄园》(Animal Farm)被推荐用于GCSE学习。
Rachel Sylvester 政治编辑
几年前,布拉德福德的研究人员试图调查为什么这座西约克郡城镇的识字率如此之低。他们没有关注学校,而是将英国国家医疗服务体系(NHS)和教育部分别收集的数据进行了交叉比对,发现被 NHS 诊断为视力不佳的学生中,有三分之一没有去看眼科医生配眼镜,这意味着他们阅读困难。
解决方案很简单。所有孩子在入学准备班(reception)都接受了视力测试,需要眼镜的孩子被提供一副回家使用,一副留在教室。识字率因此发生了转变。2017年该计划推出时,布拉德福德学生在小学毕业时的阅读水平比全国平均水平低 6.2 个百分点。到 2018 年,这一差距缩小了近三分之一;到 2019 年,差距减半至 3.1 个百分点。
这项“教室配眼镜”项目是“出生在布拉德福德”(Born in Bradford)研究的首批成功案例之一,该研究利用来自整个公共部门的数据集,为棘手的社会问题寻求创新答案。研究人员现在正尝试将同样的方法应用于

视力测试可以提高儿童识字率。Rawpixel / Getty
牙科领域。通过对比健康和教育数据,他们发现导致学生缺课的一个关键解释是龋齿。在布拉德福德皇家医院(Bradford Royal Infirmary),儿童接受全身麻醉的主要原因是拔除所有牙齿。因此,他们没有雇佣truancy officers(旷课监督员),而是将牙医送进了学校。
如果说数据是“新石油”,那么由利兹大学认知心理学教授 Mark Mon-Williams 领导的研究人员就是将政府信息转化为液态黄金的精炼师。该研究一直在追踪 13,800 名在 2007 年 3 月至 2010 年 12 月期间出生于布拉德福德皇家医院的孩子。它汇总了来自 NHS、教育、地方政府、住房和福利系统的信息,使团队能够将这些点连接起来,看到孩子的整体情况,而不是通过碎片化的白厅(Whitehall)部门之棱镜来观察个体。
“出生在布拉德福德”研究发现,5 岁时未达到良好发育水平的学生,在 12 年后处于“非在学、非就业、非培训”(Neet)状态的可能性几乎高出三倍。
Alan Milburn 在制定其 Neets 审查建议时,正在研究这些发现。“出生在布拉德福德”团队还与司法部合作,帮助识别有被卷入犯罪风险的孩子,以引导他们走上更好的道路。
Mon-Williams 表示,公共服务部门收集了“极其丰富的信息”,但碎片化过于严重。“英国拥有令世界羡慕的数据资产,但我们未能有效利用信息的失败正在削弱我们的经济并伤害我们的孩子。”
现在是时候在全英国复制这种方法了。政府应该利用其已经收集的数据力量来重新设计国家体制。
世界
带给在克里米亚度假的俄罗斯人
针对俄罗斯占领下的 该半岛不断升级的袭击 给在那里度夏的 人群带来了混乱。 伊莎贝尔·科尔斯(Isabel Coles)报道
今年夏天,弗拉迪斯拉夫(Vladislav)和他的妻子选择了阳光、大海——以及爱国主义来度假。这位自称的俄罗斯民族主义者希望支持克里米亚的经济,且在半岛上有亲戚居住。“在战争期间,你不想去欧洲或任何其他地方度假,”28岁的弗拉迪斯拉夫说,“从我的公民和爱国立场来看,这是最好的选择。”
这对夫妇前往克里米亚时,乌克兰正加强对俄罗斯占领下的该半岛进行无人机袭击行动。对供应路线和基础设施的攻击导致燃料短缺和停电,使得今年夏天成为莫斯科在十多年前吞并克里米亚以来最糟糕的一个夏天。
弗拉迪斯拉夫和妻子在南海岸度过大部分时间的度假城市雅尔塔(Yalta)很平静。但在黑海港口城市塞瓦斯托波尔(Sevastopol),防空警报“不停地”响起。他补充说,人们感到恼火且士气低落。出租车稀缺,公共交通过度拥挤。
弗拉迪斯拉夫和妻子取消了几次一日游,以避免在闷热的巴士中被挤来挤去。最终,他们缩短了假期,并在7月返回莫斯科。
对克里米亚的袭击发生在一个关键时刻,此时乌克兰正在刺破俄罗斯人一直生活在其中的泡沫——此前他们基本上未受到邻国战争的影响。近几周,针对俄罗斯在线零售巨头 Wildberries 仓库的无人机袭击在社会中引起了连锁反应。对炼油厂的袭击意味着即使在大城市,加油站的排队时间现在也长达数小时。随着所谓的“特别军事行动”拖延,弗拉基米尔·普京的支持率有所下降。
对克里米亚居民和游客的采访表明,乌克兰孤立该地区的行动造成了沉重打击。他们接受《观察者报》采访的条件是仅以名字或在某些情况下使用化名来标识。
伊利亚(Ilya)曾设想与父母在克里米亚度过一个轻松的夏天,但抵达几小时后,一架乌克兰无人机在附近击中,假期被彻底破坏。“局面陷入了极大的混乱,”他说。在那周晚些时候,
“我们原以为情况会好转。但很明显,情况正在恶化”
阿丽娜(Alina),居民
在从莫斯科到辛费罗波尔(Simferopol)高速公路上一场针对巴士的袭击中,有七人丧生。移动通信服务中断。“现在生活变得更困难了,”将克里米亚视为第二故乡的伊利亚说。
乌克兰转向针对克里米亚的战略意图是剥夺俄罗斯一个重要的攻击集结地。但这些袭击也具有象征意义。
俄罗斯在2014年吞并该半岛使普京的支持率飙升。许多俄罗斯人搬到了克里米亚,对于那些负担不起出国旅行的人来说,这里是一个热门的度假目的地。
每年夏天,大约 1450 万 俄罗斯人会涌向那里以及相邻的克拉斯诺达尔边疆区(Krasnodar Krai)沿海地区。涌入的人群包括莫斯科和圣彼得堡的富裕居民,以及公共部门雇员和全年积攒假期资金的中产家庭——但今年除外。与一年前相比,6月初该半岛的酒店预订量下降了近三分之一,约 80% 的计划行程被取消。在许多成行的人中,情绪十分低落。
克里米亚皇宫酒店(Palace hotel)的客人在抵达时被告知,由于入住率低,将不提供夏季娱乐节目或自助早餐。酒店在给客人的通知中写道:“请您对当前情况予以谅解!”
罗伯特·布罗夫迪(Robert Brovdi)是乌克兰无人机战争的高级指挥官,这场战争已将战斗延伸至俄罗斯领土。他阐明了在克里米亚的目标:除了摧毁俄罗斯舰队的残余力量并瘫痪物流与交通枢纽外,布罗夫迪表示,他打算摧毁克里米亚的旅游业,并将该半岛变成一片“能源荒原”。
5月下旬,阿丽娜(Alina)首次注意到加油站的燃料不足。在今年早些时候削弱了俄罗斯南部的防空系统后,乌克兰进入了行动的第二阶段——袭击在俄罗斯占领的南部高速公路上前往克里米亚的油罐车和车队。
这位27岁的人排队两小时才给车加满油。“我们原以为情况会很快改善。但很明显,情况正在恶化。”
7月,克里米亚度假城市雅尔塔(Yalta)海滩上的日光浴者。 Igor Ivankov / AFP
根据独立冲突监测机构 Ackel 的数据,袭击次数从5月下旬的每周25次跃升至6月初的每周42次。
当局暂时暂停向平民销售燃料。随后引入了二维码系统,但许多人发现无法通过这种方式获得燃料券。在雅尔塔,人们将车留在加油站外的队列中过夜,以等待领取票券。
当克里米亚人试图前往大陆购买燃料并将其带回半岛高价转售时,他们被守在加油站的当地哥萨克人驱逐。
对当局处理情况的批评日益增加。阿丽娜表示,尽管她对俄罗斯和这场战争依然保持“超级积极”的态度。“我通常不倾向于卷入戏剧性事件或深入研究政治,”她说。
而且这也有好处:为了节省燃料,她开始使用公司交通工具,这让她在上班途中可以阅读。
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“孩子们遭受了如此严重的创伤,以至于他们的痛阈完全改变了。到处都疼”
→ 加桑·阿布-西塔(Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah)医生,第24页
但游客的减少让从事活动策划工作的阿丽娜感到担忧。“我的工作与度假区相关。我在思考这从长远来看会产生怎样的影响,”她说。
她手机上的信息反映了如今克里米亚生活的鲜明对比。“谢谢这场派对,太棒了,”一条信息这样写道,紧接着是:“你怎么样?在睡觉吗?你听到了吗?这么大的爆炸?”一名当地博主发布了一张自己在福罗斯疗养院酒店(Foros Sanatorium hotel)地堡里喝香槟的照片。
随着乌克兰行动的升级,当局于6月宣布克里米亚进入紧急状态。所有公共活动被取消,半岛部分地区的路灯被关闭。由俄罗斯任命的州长谢尔盖·阿克索诺夫(Sergey Aksyonov)承认,无法完全保护克里米亚。“不幸的是……世界上没有任何防空系统在安全性和有效性方面是绝对完美的,”他说。
6月下旬的一个早晨,基里尔(Kirill)醒来后伸手拿手机。尽管充了一整夜电,设备却只显示30%的电量。他发现wifi和移动服务都中断了。对于在IT行业工作的基里尔来说,这是一个问题。
这位30岁的人出发寻找电源,并在塞瓦斯托波尔(Sevastopol)市中心的一个共享办公空间抢到了最后一个位置。这是自俄罗斯全面入侵初期以来,他的日常生活第一次受到重大干扰。燃料短缺没有直接影响到基里尔,因为他没有车,但乌克兰现在将目标转向了发电厂和电力变电站。
当局告知居民通过降低屏幕亮度并关闭应用程序来节省手机电量。“我们不会被缺电所吓倒,”由莫斯科任命的塞瓦斯托波尔州长米哈伊尔·拉兹沃扎耶夫(Mikhail Razvozhayev)说道。在超市里,基里尔注意到额外的货架已被分配
用于摆放罐头食品。居民们正在囤积在停电时不会变质的食物。肉类也减少了,他认为这可能是因为仓库无法再保持低温。
“人们担心半岛会突然变成一座孤岛并被切断联系,”基里尔说道。他因为反对 2014 年上台的政府而从乌克兰搬到了塞瓦斯托波尔。在乌克兰于 2022 年 10 月将其作为目标后,俄罗斯加强了连接大陆的克尔奇大桥,但无人机正在袭击用于向半岛运送石油的浮桥和驳船。
在社交媒体上,一些克里米亚居民表示他们已经离开,因为他们“有点厌倦了轰炸”,处于一种“持续焦虑”的状态。“我和我的小孩子留在塞瓦斯托波尔变得越来越困难,”尤利娅在 Instagram 上发帖称,她此前从克拉斯诺达尔边疆区搬到了克里米亚。她说,自从离开半岛后,她晚上可以安稳入睡,尽管她计划将来回来:“这些是为了我和孩子的内心平静而采取的临时措施。”
基里尔的三位熟人已经离开,他也在考虑这样做。虽然他担心自己的安全,但他也担心失去工作。他说,当局沟通不畅进一步加剧了这种悄然蔓延的危机感。
停电让塔尼娅想起了在吞并之后,她在烛光下做作业的日子,当时轮流停电和电力限制持续了数月。但她说,与许多乌克兰人所遭受的恐怖相比,这根本不算什么。在全面入侵之前,在克里米亚出生并长大的塔尼娅对俄罗斯政府持有不信任感。2022 年之后,“就像是被撕掉了一块创可贴,”她说:“我生活在被占领土上;我来自乌克兰——我是乌克兰人——我的国家正因为侵略者的行为而遭受苦难。”
无人机指挥官布罗夫迪向生活在克里米亚占领区下的乌克兰人道歉,为“不断的警报、关闭的桥梁和道路、黑暗、缺乏安静以及压力”表示歉意,并敦促他们保重。
直到现在,55 岁的珍娜对访问克里米亚没有顾虑。她出生在白俄罗斯,住在莫斯科,自从 20 世纪 90 年代嫁给一名来自塞瓦斯托波尔的男子以来,她一直往返于该半岛。今年,她敦促游客重新考虑。“如果你只是去那里度假,那么你……面临着度假变成严重局面的极高风险。”
当俄罗斯人并不了解情况就前往克里米亚,然后“大声抱怨一切有多糟糕”时,这让她感到恼火。
塞瓦斯托波尔的本地居民通常很坚韧,尽管也有一些抱怨。“他们觉得莫斯科对他们的保护不够,”她说。“我称之为乌克兰心态,因为乌克兰人一直认为每个人都欠他们一些东西。”
她不能容忍对俄罗斯的批评。上一次她听到有人诋毁普京时,珍娜举报了他。无论如何,她本来就想举报那个男人殴打妻子,但她知道当局更有可能因为政治原因而非家庭暴力而拘留他。从那以后,她就再也没见过他。
随着夏季时节接近尾声,乌克兰的行动仍在继续。周四晚上,辛费罗波尔的居民在 20 分钟内听到了 15 次以上的爆炸声。在塔夫里亚热电厂附近也发现了亮光。片刻之后,几个城市陷入黑暗。
“我们不会被缺乏光亮所吓倒”
米哈伊尔·拉兹沃扎耶夫, 莫斯科任命的塞瓦斯托波尔州长
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在中东修复年轻 心灵与身体的 英国外科医生
加桑·阿布-西塔(Ghassan Abu-Sittah)医生在冲突地区治疗儿童已有 40 年。他现在被指控持有反犹主义立场并发布支持恐怖主义的帖子。奥利弗·马斯登(Oliver Marsden)在贝鲁特对他进行了采访。
Saraa 在最后几层绷带从手上撕掉时,因疼痛而昏厥。这名 16 岁的叙利亚少女在今年早些时候幸存于以色列对黎巴嫩南部城市纳巴提耶(Nabatieh)的一次空袭。当爆炸撕裂她的社区、导致她的父母丧生并使她严重烧伤时,她用双手遮住了脸。
当她在贝鲁特美国大学(AUB)医疗中心醒来时,加桑·阿布-西塔医生正在等待。这位英国-巴勒斯坦外科医生检查了她的双手,调整了敷料,并给予了轻声的安慰,然后转向下一位患者。
这位 57 岁的 AUB 冲突医学系主任在医院诊所治疗在黎巴嫩和加沙战争中受伤的儿童。他行动迅速,检查敷料、阅读 X 光片、指导医学生并接听电话。在不在诊所的日子里,他在手术室工作。
“问题在于,尽管我们引入了心理健康支持,但孩子们受到的创伤如此之深,以至于他们的痛阈完全改变了,”他在走过病房时告诉《观察者报》,“到处都疼。”
阿布-西塔现在面临一场关于其专业信誉的公开斗争,因为反犹主义的指控使他必须在明年参加高等法院的听证会。活动法律团体“英国以色列律师协会”(UKLFI)在 2023 年将其举报至通用医学委员会(General Medical Council),重点提及了一篇 2018 年的报纸文章以及社交媒体上的报告,其中他提到了巴勒斯坦的“革命暴力”,并将被杀的巴勒斯坦武装分子称为“烈士”。
在黎巴嫩报纸《Akhbar》的文章中,阿布-西塔将艾哈迈德·贾拉尔(Ahmad Jarrar)描述为一名“英雄”。贾拉尔是一名被认为是以哈马斯成员的巴勒斯坦青年,涉嫌杀害了拉齐尔·舍瓦赫(Raziel Shevach)——一名在约旦河西岸的以色列拉比。
阿布-西塔的律师辩称,他不知道贾拉尔参与了舍瓦赫的杀害,且该文章旨在谴责阿布-西塔认为的对贾拉尔本身的法外处决,而非支持谋杀。他写道:“人们除了革命暴力外,已没有其他武器。”
阿布-西塔还发布了一条推文,称:“我们祝贺哈马斯的兄弟们和人民阵线的同志们在成立周年之际获得成功。”
他的指控者称这些言论等同于支持恐怖主义且具有反犹主义色彩。但在 1 月,医疗从业者审判服务机构(Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service)得出结论,认为这些指控无法被证实。在听取了关于阿拉伯语、巴勒斯坦政治话语以及帖子背景的专家证据后,专家组发现没有违规依据,允许阿布-西塔继续执业。
UKLFI 对该裁决提出异议,并向专业标准局(PSA)投诉,称相关证据未被充分考虑。在一次前所未有的行动中,PSA 随后加入了通用医学委员会,向高等法院就洗清阿布-西塔罪名的决定提出上诉。
在 2 月的一份报告中,通用医学委员会的一个小组承认,阿布-西塔“将他的职业生涯奉献给了人道主义医学工作”。但报告称,该报纸文章和社交媒体帖子“客观上看来是支持暴力、恐怖主义以及一个被禁组织的”。在 1 月的高等法院审理中,他们将主张最初洗清阿布-西塔罪名的裁决未能保护公众。
阿布-西塔认为,他在向国际刑事法院和国际法院提供有关以色列在加沙涉嫌战争罪行的证据后成为了目标。这起案件使他处于医学、法律和全球政治的交汇点,而这种交汇自 10 月 7 日袭击以来一直撕裂着医学界。
阿布-西塔(Abu-Sittah)在全球范围内救治儿童已有近 40 年的时间。1989 年第一次起义期间,他以医学生的身份首次前往加沙;2000 年第二次巴勒斯坦起义期间,他再次回到该地提供医疗
上图为英籍巴勒斯坦外科医生加桑·阿布-西塔(Ghassan Abu-Sittah)在贝鲁特,他在那里救治在黎巴嫩和加沙战争中受伤的儿童。Oliver Marsden / The Observer
下图为世界卫生组织代表 2025 年 10 月在加沙的 al-Ahli 医院评估待撤离患者。Hamza Qraaqa / Anadolu, Getty
援助。此后,他又三次前往加沙,并在黎巴嫩、也门和叙利亚的冲突地区工作,还曾前往印度、厄瓜多尔和越南执行治疗唇腭裂和面部畸形的任务。
他认为,创伤改变的不止是心理。“有证据表明,疼痛感受器在创伤后会变得更加敏感,在以后的生活中,这可能导致对阿片类药物的依赖,”他说道。“你不仅是在给这个孩子做手术,你是在给他们未来将成为的那个成年人做手术。”
在 2023 年 10 月 7 日哈马斯发动恐怖袭击后,以色列对加沙发起进攻,阿布-西塔匆忙返回这个战火纷飞的地区。他于 10 月 9 日从埃及进入加沙地带,就在当天,以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡(Benjamin Netanyahu)誓言将做出一次“改变中东”的回应。
在接下来的 43 天里,随着以色列的空袭猛烈打击该地区且物资日益匮乏,这位外科医生在加沙城的 al-Shifa 医院和 al-Ahli 医院之间奔波工作。他直言不讳地描述了自己目睹的恐怖景象,当时病房里挤满了死者和伤员。
有一次,他被迫在没有麻醉的情况下,为一名女孩切除弹片和感染组织。
“她尖叫着,她的父亲一边哭一边抱着她。我当时只想死去,想让这一切停止,想去其他任何地方,”他叹了口气说。“那时我想:‘我刚刚开始折磨孩子。’”
在战争的前几周,这两家医院成为了激烈宣传攻势的焦点。以色列声称加沙的医院被哈马斯武装分子用作指挥中心,且患者被用作人体盾牌,这些说法仍存在激烈争议。当一枚火箭弹导致在 al-Ahli 医院停车场寻求庇护的数十名平民死亡时,双方互相指责。尽管如此,
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阿布-西塔及其同事在围困之下依然坚持工作。
“你知道当你身处大海中,有一波浪打过来,你失去了重心,海浪将你淹没……当你被完全淹没,你无法……”他的声音渐渐低了下去。
“我睡在手术室里。我会清理其中一个推车并睡在上面,然后做手术,然后在凌晨 2 点去睡觉,”他继续说道。“工作永远没完。你一天做 12 例手术,但仍有 150 例在等待。你必须继续做下去。所以你会觉得你已经沉没在水底了。”联合国数据显示,至少有 20,179
加桑·阿布-西塔(Ghassan Abu-Sittah)
自哈马斯10月7日的袭击以来,加沙已有儿童被杀,超过44,143人受伤。据黎巴嫩卫生部称,自以色列与伊朗支持的武装组织真主党于3月2日重启战争以来,黎巴嫩至少有257名儿童在以色列的袭击中丧生,1,036人受伤。
自离开加沙以来,阿布-西塔一直致力于反对他所指控的以色列“战争罪行”,并将这次攻势谴责为一场“种族灭绝”,认为这与他此前见过的任何冲突都不同。他在2024年的纪录片《激情状态》(A State of Passion)中讲述了自己的经历,向伦敦警察厅战争罪行部门提供了第一手证词,并向国际刑事法院(ICC)提交了证据。
阿布-西塔认为,他在2024年向国际刑事法院以及南非起诉以色列一案中的国际法院提交的证据,使他成为了被针对的目标。
“我提供了证据,并且我相信我的证据是针对[前以色列国防部长约阿夫]加兰特和内塔尼亚胡案件的一部分,”他说。“我认为我被针对的原因是,所有签署逮捕令的[国际刑事法院]法官现在都被列入了[美国]的制裁名单。”
他补充道:“他们在追捕国际刑事法院的法官,他们也在追捕伊斯兰国(Isis)。这就是美国所创造的乌托邦式反面世界。”
阿布-西塔收到了来自整个医学界的支持信息。但他表示,针对他的情况——例如由美国和以色列主导的抹黑国际刑事法院的行动——开创了一个“危险的先例”,因为他的指控者试图破坏医学法庭以“获得正确的政治结果”并将其击垮。
在他与《观察者报》交谈时,他的诊所里挤满了人,受伤的孩子们被源源不断地抬进检查室。
其中一名是19岁的阿卜杜勒-阿齐兹(Abdelaziz),他驾驶着一台电动轮椅进入房间,熟练地在办公桌和椅子之间穿行。2年前,加沙的一次以色列空袭导致弹片击碎了他的脊柱,使他腰部以下瘫痪。在被围困的领土内已没有能治疗他的设施,但他是有幸被允许进行医疗撤离的人之一。
阿布-西塔将他扶到床上,开始为他因长时间侧卧而导致髋部出现的压力性溃疡进行包扎。随后,他将硝酸银涂在阿卜杜勒-阿齐兹背部的深层伤口上。他解释说,在外科医生尝试矫正其脊柱之前,受损的软组织必须先愈合。
“你在诊所里看到的这种情况,让你意识到你无法界定身体伤口在哪里结束,心理伤口在哪里开始;心理伤口在哪里结束,社会伤口在哪里开始。但他们的整个世界都被摧毁了,”阿布-西塔说。
他解释说,他在加沙的经历以及目前以色列对黎巴嫩南部的袭击仍让他感到心碎。但他在儿科方面的经验意味着他是从事这项工作的最佳人选,他拒绝离开贝鲁特。
“离开加沙感觉像是对人们的一种背叛,”他说。“但战争对于我那些在战争中受伤的孩子们来说并没有停止,因为后续护理对他们和我来说是一场持久战。它永远不会停止,即便枪声沉寂。”
汉娜·罗伯茨 (Hannah Roberts)
当俄裔导演伊利亚·克尔扎诺夫斯基 (Ilya Khrzhanovsky) 于 2008 年在乌克兰城市哈尔科夫开始拍摄其宏大的电影实验项目《DAU》时,他重建了一个巨大的苏联秘密科学研究所。数百人在这个封闭的片场内生活和工作,在摄像机运转期间始终保持角色状态。
近二十年后,哈尔科夫正遭受俄罗斯的定期轰炸。与此同时,《DAU》目前正在竞争威尼斯电影节的金狮奖,并成为了关于俄罗斯回归欧洲文化生活的一场激烈争论的焦点。
乌克兰已呼吁电影节重新考虑该片的入选情况,理由是该项目在多年间一直由俄罗斯资金资助,而为其提供欧洲最负盛名的平台之一将有助于使弗拉基米尔·普京的政权正常化。
2022 年入侵之后对莫斯科实施的文化和体育隔离在其他领域开始被削弱。俄罗斯在缺席四年后于今年回归威尼斯双年展,而国际奥委会于上个月暂时取消了对莫斯科的禁令,为俄罗斯参加 2028 年洛杉矶奥运会铺平了道路。
乌克兰驻意大利大使伊霍尔·布鲁斯略 (Ihor Bruslyo) 警告称,国际社会孤立俄罗斯的决心正在“削弱,首先是从体育和文化、艺术和电影开始的”。
《DAU》以苏联物理学家列夫·朗道 (Lev Landau) 为灵感,讲述了一位才华横溢的科学家,其工作和私人生活被一个极权国家所吞噬的故事。基辅方面认为,俄罗斯利用艺术家作为文化使者来软化西方的看法。
布鲁斯略表示,莫斯科将利用《DAU》的入选来主张俄罗斯有“权利出现在每一个优秀的平台上,包括政治领域”。他警告说,威尼斯可能会为他们“打开大门”。
在接受《观察者报》采访时,克尔扎诺夫斯基承认,在入侵之后,欧洲机构重新审视与俄罗斯国家文化机构的关系是“完全自然”的。“多年来,俄罗斯国家一直将文化用作政治影响力、象征性存在和宣传的工具,且现在仍在继续这样做,”他说。
但他认为,在“国家与个人之间存在着根本性的区别”。“评判一个人的唯一公正标准是他们实际上做了什么,说了什么,支持了什么,做出了什么决定,以及他们是否与俄罗斯国家及其政策有任何真正的联系。”
在上周的一份单独公开声明中,克尔扎诺夫斯基表示他反对吞并克里米亚并谴责此次入侵。他已放弃俄罗斯国籍,而莫斯科则将其定为

《DAU》讲述了一名苏联时代科学研究所物理学家的故事。
一名“外国代理人”,他的电影在俄罗斯不被放映。这位导演称乌克兰的指控“尤其令人痛苦”,并宣布:“反对极权主义也意味着捍卫事实真相。”
他反驳了乌克兰将《DAU》描述为俄罗斯电影的说法。他表示,这部由德国制作、法国和瑞典合拍的作品在过去七年里没有收到过任何俄罗斯资金。克尔扎诺夫斯基说,俄罗斯商人谢尔盖·阿多涅夫 (Sergei Adoniev)(后被美国制裁)资助该项目直到 2019 年,但并未资助这部在威尼斯展出的电影的完成工作。“俄罗斯国家没有资助这部电影,没有参与其创作,也没有参与其发行。”
他拒绝了该作品美化苏联的说法,将《DAU》描述为对“极权邪恶本质”的探讨。他还驳斥了允许单个俄罗斯艺术家参加活动就意味着使莫斯科合法化的观点。“只要这场战争继续,我认为没有理由谈论欧洲文化机构与俄罗斯国家之间关系的正常化。在普京政权最坚定的反对者中,就包括那些来自俄罗斯文化的人。”
威尼斯双年展的艺术总监阿尔贝托·巴贝拉(Alberto Barbera)称乌克兰的投诉“琐碎且不可接受”。他表示,《DAU》谴责了极权政体对公民生活的侵入,且“绝非亲普京的宣传”。他为双年展辩护称,它是“少数几个无论地理来源如何,都致力于捍卫表达自由的堡垒之一”。
但这并未让基辅放心。布鲁斯略(Bruslyo)表示:“极权国家中的任何事物都是极权国家的延续。”他坚持认为,不应允许俄罗斯人“与民主国家平等地”参与。
《DAU》提供了一个尴尬的测试,用以衡量隔离界限应在何处终止。克尔扎诺夫斯基(Khrzhanovsky)表示,由他来告诉一个“为了生存而战”的乌克兰如何对待俄罗斯文化是不合适的。“我准备为我的每一个行为、我发表的每一份公开声明,以及我作为作者的这部电影承担责任,”他说,“但我没准备为他人强加给我的身份承担责任。”
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世界
巴西领导人在争取留任的过程中,将面对其被定罪的前任之子,卡罗琳娜·温泽尔特(Carolina Unzelte)报道
路易斯·伊纳西奥·卢拉·达席尔瓦(Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva)本周末在开启其 20 世纪 70 年代工会领导人生涯的体育场,启动了争取前所未有的第四任巴西总统任期的竞选活动。
那么这意味着什么?在同一天,雅伊尔·博索纳罗(Jair Bolsonaro)的儿子在科帕卡巴纳海滩开始了自己的竞选活动。将于 10 月举行的选举结果将决定:
局势分析。这是雅伊尔·博索纳罗在 2023 年企图发动政变以来,巴西首次举行总统选举。根据巴拉克·奥巴马的说法,卢拉曾是“地球上最受欢迎的政治家”,而现在这位 80 岁的老人正请求选民给予他第四任任期。
第三次并非完全灵验。 在卢拉任内,GDP 年均增长率约为
3%,而博索纳罗任内为 1.2%,同时通货膨胀率也较低。但这并未赢得巴西人的心。最新的 Quaest 调查显示,卢拉的支持率略为负值。
看看对方的情况。博索纳罗在去年 9 月因在 2022 年选举失利后领导一场策划政变的阴谋而被判定有罪,并被判处 27 年监禁。自 3 月以来,他因健康状况不佳而被软禁。他不再具备竞选总统的资格,且最高法院依然禁止他参与政治竞选或进行访问。
被选中的之人。这就是为什么他转向了他的儿子弗拉维奥·博索纳罗(Flávio Bolsonaro),后者在家族成员中被选中竞选总统。在竞选活动开始之前,担任里约热内卢州参议员的弗拉维奥就卷入了 Master 银行丑闻。
巴西总统路易斯·伊纳西奥·卢拉·达席尔瓦在竞选启动仪式上向支持者发表讲话。Miguel Schimani / AFP, Getty
这场选举可能会在部分程度上地在巴西国境之外展开
泄露的录音显示,他向一名被指控腐败的银行家索要资金。博索纳罗否认有任何不当行为。
如果获胜,弗拉维奥·博索纳罗承诺将为那些因政变企图骚乱而被定罪的人(包括他的父亲)提供“广泛、普遍且不受限制”的特赦。尽管民调显示大多数巴西人反对给雅伊尔·博索纳罗特赦。
并非同类。曾经支持老博索纳罗的中间派政党也对与其子结盟持回避态度。
局外观察。但这很可能是一场在部分程度上地在巴西国境之外展开的选举。唐纳德·特朗普去年对巴西商品征收了 50% 的关税,理由是他所谓的针对雅伊尔·博索纳罗的“政治猎巫”。此举产生了反作用,给了卢拉一个民族主义的号召口号。7 月,华盛顿又实施了新一轮最高 50% 的关税。在帮助哈维尔·米莱(Javier Milei)赢得阿根廷中期选举后,特朗普可能希望在拉丁美洲拥有另一个潜在盟友。
然而……这将是一场艰苦的战斗。在 2022, 卢拉仅获得了微弱的胜利。但这一次,他的对手缺乏其父亲的魅力,且该家族充满阴谋论的言论已被定罪所压制。这或许足以让这位巴西政坛的元老涉险过关。
历史、大国竞争和核力量在此交汇,Xavier Greenwood 撰文
上周二,俄罗斯召见了日本大使,这是关于有争议的千岛群岛之间不断升级的争端的一部分。
那么这意味着什么?这些岛屿的历史充满波折,但它们同样具有地缘政治价值。弗拉基米尔·普京最近决定首次访问这些岛屿…… - 重新引发了一场追溯到 150 年前的争论; - 提醒人们这些岛屿对莫斯科的价值;并且 - 似乎旨在与北京同步向东京施压。
地图上的标记。千岛群岛是位于北海道海岸外由 56 个岛屿组成的火山群岛。它们在鄂霍次克海与太平洋其他海域之间形成了一道天然屏障。1855, 年,千岛群岛最初被分给日本和俄罗斯,20 年后,这些岛屿被移交给日本,以换取萨哈林岛。
我的,不是我的。苏联在 1945 年 8 月占领了千岛群岛并驱逐了日本居民。整个岛链由俄罗斯控制,但争议点在于最靠近日本的四个岛屿。东京方面称这些岛屿被“非法”夺走。莫斯科则坚持其所有权是合法的。
不安的和平。针对日本所谓的“北方领土”的竞争性主张,是东京和莫斯科在第二次世界大战结束后恢复外交关系时未能签署正式和平条约的主要原因。
令人不安的访问。上周,弗拉基米尔·普京打破惯例,首次访问了四个争议岛屿之一的择捉岛。自 2015. 年的德米特里·梅德韦杰夫以来,还没有俄罗斯领导人访问过那里。普京在行程中品尝了鱼籽并与当地人交谈。
回应。日本首相高市早苗表示,此次访问“完全不可接受”,并召见了俄罗斯驻东京大使。
对回应的回应。俄罗斯外交部长谢尔盖·拉夫罗夫指责东京越过了“体面底线”,并召见了日本大使。大使没有立即配合,但随后在俄罗斯外交部内停留了 20 分钟。
大局观。自全面入侵乌克兰以来,东京与莫斯科的关系持续恶化;日本对俄罗斯实施了制裁,并将该国列为“主要威胁来源”。千岛群岛仍然是

日本东北部的争议南千岛群岛。
一个并不隐晦的冲突点。在乌克兰战争爆发前的几年里,俄罗斯加强了在岛链周围的军事部署。随后……
禁止进入。千岛群岛是俄罗斯太平洋舰队的关键出发点,标志着鄂霍次克海(莫斯科将其作为第二次核打击威慑的堡垒)与太平洋的分界线。
丰厚的资源。这些岛屿还拥有世界上产量最高的渔场以及宝贵的地下矿产。
共同目标。普京此次访问除了重申俄罗斯的主权主张外,还可能是为了讨好中国。去年高市早苗暗示日本可能会卷入任何关于台湾的冲突后,北京取消了前往日本的旅游航班并实施了出口限制。中国、俄罗斯和朝鲜都对东京增加军费开支并加强与美国关系的计划感到不满。
此外……本月,日本防卫省表示,该国面临 80 年来最“严峻”的安全环境。日本显著加强了在台湾附近西南地区的防御。普京传递的信息可能是,东京也应该担心东北方向。
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
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为什么人们在艺术创作中使用 AI 时会撒谎?
→ 娜奥米·奥尔德曼(Naomi Alderman),第 32 页
基尔·斯塔默将其个人传记捐赠给了唐宁街图书馆,但这位新任首相可以在书架上找到许多深刻的见解。
在最后几项政治行动之一中,基尔·斯塔默将一本自己的传记捐赠给了由拉姆齐·麦克唐纳在 1931. 建立的唐宁街图书馆。应当说明的是,斯塔默的选择并非图书馆中最自我中心的。斯坦利·鲍德温捐赠了三本自己的书,亚瑟·贝尔福也是如此。安纽林·贝文则添加了他那本相当冗长的著作《取代恐惧》(In Place of Fear)。爱德华·希思选择了《旅行、航海、旧世界、新地平线、音乐与颂歌》——全部由爱德华·希思撰写。
事实上,图书馆中有一本书是伯纳姆应该好好研究的,因为它是有史以来最睿智的政治成功指南。莱斯利·霍尔-贝利沙(Leslie Hore-Belisha)在 1934 到 1937, 期间担任交通部长,他负责引入驾驶测试,并以自己的名字命名了“贝利沙信标”(Belisha beacon)。在他离职时,他提供了一本由理查德·克拉弗豪斯·杰布(Richard Claverhouse Jebb)翻译的《亚里士多德修辞学》。这本书包含了你所需知道的一切,并为伯纳姆相对于其前任的优势提供了线索。当亚里士多德使用“修辞”(rhetoric)一词时,他的含义远不止于公众演讲。用现代词汇来说,他讨论的是战略,是构建一个成功的公众论点所需的一切。它包含三个组成部分:逻辑(logos)、情感(pathos)和人格(ethos),粗略翻译即指论据、情感和人格。
伯纳姆确实有一个论点——或者至少,他对认为出错的地方有分析。他认为,当水务、交通和住房等基本公共服务的控制权被私有化时,英国就走错了路。太多地方失去了其经济合理性;太多的政治权力被囤积在中心。结果就是人们产生了一种感觉,即政府无法解决任何显而易见的问题。基于所有这些原因,希望消失了,而当人们告诉政治家
亚里士多德在公元前 343 年应年轻王子的父亲之请求,开始辅导未来的亚历山大大帝。
系统已经崩溃时,人们是对的。解决方案是恢复公共控制。当然,这种诊断中有很多值得争议的地方。但这是一个论点。这就是政治中所说的“故事”,而这正是斯塔默无法讲述的东西。
在斯塔默能够讲述故事的范围内,他的讲述总是显得如此缺乏激情。他很少听起来像是在意自己的故事。换句话说,他难以传达任何情感(pathos),任何情绪感受。相比之下,伯纳姆反而有一种将沿途遇到的人感性化的倾向。上述分析根植于丧失感、忧郁和背叛。他在政治上的最大事业一直是希尔斯堡惨案。他被政治中的情感面所吸引。
但即使是一个穿插了情感的坚实论点也不足够,因为信息需要与传递者相契合。领导者的政治人格是亚里士多德“三位一体”中的第三个,或许也是最重要的元素。这是唯一真正无法被教授的政治美德。优秀的顾问可以设计并完善政治战略。天才的演讲稿撰稿人可以让文字动听并激起情感。但领导者就是他或她本身,而最高层级的政治并不塑造人格:它揭露人格。
关于伯纳姆的沟通风格已经有很多讨论。直接、轻松,直接发布到社交媒体,无需外部策划。他有点像纽约市长佐兰·马姆达尼(Zohran Mamdani),后者上周发布了一段视频,视频中他
戴上自行车头盔,以回应关于他没戴头盔的批评。
在《修辞总统》(The Rhetorical Presidency)一书中,杰弗里·K·图利斯(Jeffrey K Tulis)指出,这种风格的出现早已蓄势待发。图利斯认为,真正成功的美国总统都是修辞大师。伍德罗·威尔逊利用新闻发布会,富兰克林·D·罗斯福利用广播,而约翰·F·肯尼迪则利用电视,在与民众的直接交流中构建自己的政治人格。社交媒体正以同样的方式地加速这一进程——只不过速度更快。
想想安迪·伯纳姆作为首相所做出的那些细小承诺。取消全英国国内电费单中的增值税(VAT),这对典型家庭而言每年价值约 £45。在英格兰将公交车票封顶价定为 £2,并为残疾人提供免费公交出行。将酒吧、俱乐部和音乐场馆的商业税率降低 20%。一项 4.42亿英镑(4.42 亿英镑m)的计划,旨在圣诞节前让露宿街头者离开街道。在曼彻斯特设立一个唐宁街10号的分支机构。这里没有任何随机性。每一个举措都在塑造领导者的形象。仅仅做一系列能轻微改善生活水平的小事是不够的。它必须是一系列既能轻微改善生活水平,又能帮助构建一个“平民之友”政治人格的小事——一个只要有机会且有足够时间,就会做更多类似事情的人。
询问一位领导者可能喜欢什么样的书,是判断其政治人格的一个良好指南。“而且立即 / 而非文字,脑海中浮现的是高窗。”安迪·伯纳姆是菲利普·拉金(Philip Larkin)和托尼·哈里森(Tony Harrison)的粉丝,他们是关于丧失以及生活在边缘之人的预言者。但安迪·伯纳姆并非第一位具有文学倾向的高级部长。鲍德温的劳工部长亚瑟·斯蒂尔-梅特兰(Arthur Steel-Maitland)选择了 17 本书,全部出自维多利亚时代的小说家兼诗人乔治·梅雷迪斯(George Meredith)之手。克莱门特·艾特利(Clement Attlee)时期的民航部长雷金纳德·弗莱彻(Reginald Fletcher)则选择了六部简·奥斯汀的小说。
安迪·伯纳姆可能也不是博览群书的首相。哈罗德·麦克米伦(Harold Macmillan)选择了 21 卷鲁德亚德·基普林(Rudyard Kipling)的作品。也许有一天,《五旬节婚礼》(The Whitsun Weddings)的一本副本会装饰在唐宁街的图书馆里。或者,也许《北船》(The North Ship)会是对他任期更好的描述。
无论如何,我们知道他是谁。剩下的问题,一如既往,是我们是否喜欢我们所看到的这个形象。
安德鲁·罗恩斯利(Andrew Rawnsley)休假中
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如果你想了解当今英国阶级与权力之间的相互作用,可以参考智库 Common Wealth 一份新报告的核心内容:2023 年的两起庭外和解案。这两起案件都涉及美国企业集团 Arconic,该公司负责格伦费尔塔(Grenfell Tower)大部分失效且后果极其惨重的外墙覆层;两起案件都与支付的赔偿金有关:一宗是支付给股东的,另一宗则是支付给 2017 年那场大火的幸存者以及遇难者亲属的。

长达七年的格伦费尔调查发现,Arconic 的覆层 Reynobond PE 是导致 72 人死亡的火势蔓延的“主要原因”。调查还发现,该公司深知其覆层是火灾陷阱,并掩盖了这一事实。 为法规更严格的国家制造了更耐火的覆层,但在英国却推销危险的版本。尽管该公司早在 2004 年就意识到这种形式在火灾中可能是致命的,但仍允许将其以盒状面板(cassette form)的形式使用。格伦费尔塔就使用了这种盒状系统。
一份 2007 年的内部备忘录预测,使用此类覆层的建筑一旦发生火灾,可能会导致“60 to 70”人死亡。 误导了认证机构英国建筑材料认证委员会(British Board of Agrément),导致该机构将其判定为安全。
调查结论认为,该公司采取了“蓄意策略”,在英国销售该覆层时“基于一份其明知是虚假的防火性能声明”。 继续否认有任何不当行为。调查披露的事实导致 的股价下跌。美国股东对该公司提起集体诉讼,要求为其金钱损失提供补偿。该案最终以 7400万美元 (5470 万英镑m) 达成庭外和解。
在第二个案例中,近 250 名格伦费尔(Grenfell)原告试图在美国起诉 Arconic 公司。与英国不同,美国法院可以强制公司支付惩罚性赔偿,以震慑企业的违规行为。Arconic 说服了美国法官,认为该案件必须在英国审理。在本国达成的一项庭外和解导致 支付了 4300万美元。那些失去亲人或生活被摧毁的人,从 处获得的赔偿金仅为那些因股价下跌而沮丧的人所获金额的一半左右。
的产品可能是这场大火的主要原因。其商业行为可能是不道德的。但是,尽管最初股价有所下跌,它在格伦费尔事件中几乎毫发无损。
此后数年,高管们获得了巨额报酬。甚至连赔偿金也几乎没有给 带来多少资金压力,因为除 200万美元 外,其余全部由保险覆盖。该公司没有为英国更换危险外墙的费用支付任何资金;大部分账单由纳税人承担。
Reynobond PE 外墙产品已在其他 30 个国家销售。
格伦费尔塔火灾遇难者纪念碑,此次火灾造成 72 人死亡。Leon West / Getty Images
然而,Common Wealth 发现没有“证据表明 曾开展实质性工作来追踪”这些建筑或确保其安全。这看起来可能令人震惊,但这正符合格伦费尔事件的伦理。
也并非唯一被调查揭露的公司。Kingspan 公司为该塔楼提供部分绝缘材料,该公司在 2006. 年更改了产品的制造方式。新版本在测试中表现极其糟糕——一份内部文件将其描述为会制造一场“狂暴的炼狱”——但 Kingspan 却使用旧产品的测试结果进行销售。“我们撒谎了吗?”一名员工在短信中问道。“我们在这里做的就是撒谎,”另一人回答道。
在另一家公司 Celotex 的绝缘材料未能通过安全测试后,该公司使用了隐藏的不可燃板以通过随后的测试。“这并非唯一一次操纵测试数据,”一名员工告诉调查组。
然而,到目前为止,还没有一个人因这场灾难而被追究法律责任。伦敦警察厅已确定 57 个个人和 20 家公司可能被起诉,但尚未将详细信息提交给英国皇家检察署(CPS)。
如果举行审判,可能要到 2029 年才会开始——距离火灾发生已过去 12 年。格伦费尔事件揭露了一个由对普通人极度轻视所塑造的社会和法律景观。正如记者彼得·阿普斯(Peter Apps)所言,这是一个企业界表现出“对任何与底线无关的事物——无论是道德、诚实还是生命安全——都冷漠无情”的故事。这是一个给予公司欺骗、隐瞒和忽视人们需求的自由的自由市场的故事。这是一个监管机构允许他们拥有这种自由的故事,正如负责建筑法规的政府官员布莱恩·马丁(Brian Martin)所言,他们认为更严格的规则并不“符合英国 PE 的最佳利益”。
最重要的是,这是一个关于权力拥有者如何拥有逃避问责之权威,而没有权力的人则缺乏让不负责任者承担责任之杠杆的故事。正如 Common Wealth 报告的标题所言,权力拥有者依然“未受惩罚且未被震慑”(Unpunished and Undeterred)。该报告提出了建议,包括引入惩罚性赔偿、规定公司应对未能防止可预见的严重损害承担责任,以及永久禁止 参与公共合同。所有这些都很重要。但问题根源更深。
在从安全法规到税收的各项讨论中,人们普遍接受“对企业有利即对国家有利”这一观点。但格伦费尔塔火灾向我们揭示的是,对企业有利的事情,对普通人来说可能是灾难性的。除非我们意识到这一点,否则将会出现更多的格伦费尔,而股东的需求将继续被置于人们的生命之上。
我的卧室角落里有一大堆衣服。它们被分在七个垃圾袋里,占据了 30% 的空间。每天早晨和晚上,我都会想到这堆衣服。
“现在已经一年了吗?”当我告诉我的伴侣我终于认输时,她给我发了这条短信。
原计划是将所有衣服在二手应用 Vinted 上卖掉。这些衣服是我去年组织的一次服装交换活动后剩下的,但不出所料,没有人对紧身牛仔裤和几年前的快时尚上衣感兴趣。而当卖掉一件商品所付出的所有努力结果仅仅是 £2. 时,我也并不真正感兴趣。
所以这周我预约了一家慈善零售商来回收衣服,把所有东西都捐掉。八月底是截止日期。那时我和我的伴侣将要搬到一起住。
在此之前,我们作为两个独立的家庭进行了最后一次度假。我们沿着摩泽尔河骑行了七天,穿过法国、卢森堡和德国,得益于申根协议,我们无需护照即可跨境,在中世纪城堡、欧洲一些最陡峭的葡萄园和童话般的葡萄酒村庄之间骑行。我们两人以前都没去过那里,而且每天都喝雷司令。
事实证明,雷司令并不总是甜的甜点酒。它也可以是清脆且干型的。我们遇到了慷慨的生产者,他们想分享创造这种魔力的秘密所在。通过手势以及我作为挪威语使用者能听懂德语的盲目自信,我们了解到,维持这种魔力已变得越来越困难。
其中有一天气温达到了 38。今年夏天,前所未有的热浪席卷欧洲,更炎热的气候已经在重塑摩泽尔的葡萄酒产业。虽然有人认为这让德国酿酒师能够尝试不同的葡萄品种,但更长时期的高温和干旱使得丘陵葡萄园的耕种变得更加困难且成本更高。
一个小葡萄园的所有者还担心另一件事:人们喝酒越来越少了。主因是谁?我的这一代人。我在网上经常看到,人们在向健康、养生和节制进行更大且不可争辩的转变。然而,我们就在这里,骑行在一个花费了几个世纪,甚至上千年时间来完善其葡萄酒的地区。尽管我们正畅饮着该葡萄园的雷司令,但我仍在思考,我在家乡所做的选择——无论多么微小——对它的生意意味着什么。也许这就是为什么花一周时间完全不需要做任何决定感觉如此惬意的原因。
这次度假本身是一次有组织的地区导览游。我们每天骑行约 30 英里,随后登上名为“皇家公主号”的船只,在船上睡觉和用餐。每天的路线都是为我们决定好的。只需骑到这里,在那里休息。我的意思是,我没有任何抱怨——我看到了我见过的最美的风景,而我来自挪威。
一周的大部分时间里,我的手机处于飞行模式,我做出的最大决定是选择哪种口味的冰淇淋(如果你好奇的话,是两球黑巧克力和水果雪芭)。没有需要回复的电子邮件,也没有角落里那堆需要思考的衣服。
直到我们登上一架延误了两小时返回伦敦的航班时,我想起了等待我回去的、像威胁一样摆在床边的存在。
在我与伴侣搬到一起住之前需要处理的事项清单依然很长。要清理橱柜,要深度清洁浴室,还要做决定。但下周衣服将被清理掉,而且我带回了一瓶雷司令,准备在我们即将共用的沙发上饮用。
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贾斯汀·福赛斯 (Justin Forsyth)

在与家人最后的交谈中,20 岁的伊朗亲民主抗议者阿尔文·凯尔卡 (Arvin Kheirkhah) 恳求道:“不要让他们忘记我。” 8月 1 日星期六,伊斯兰共和国在沙赫鲁德监狱将其处决。
他的“罪名”是加入了数千万人的行列,和平抗议残暴的伊斯兰共和国。该政权在1月的短短两天内就屠杀了多达 40,000 人作为回应。此后,一场处决狂潮导致数百人丧生,其中许多人被吊在公共广场的起重机上。仍有更多人身在死囚牢中。
在上个世纪,工党在反对法西斯主义方面建立了光荣的历史。它反对种族隔离,支持东欧各地的民主运动,如今则与乌克兰人民一起反对俄罗斯的侵略。
那么,为什么在面对 9300 万 伊朗人的人权和民主诉求时,工党似乎如此犹豫?
伊朗人民的斗争是我们这个时代最伟大的民主和人权运动之一。然而,它在英国的进步政治中几乎没有引起关注。
部分问题在于,关于伊朗的讨论陷入了关于唐纳德·特朗普、本雅明·内塔尼亚胡和军事干预的争论中。这些都是正当的讨论,但它们不能成为唯一的讨论。
进步人士理所当然地关心国际法和基于规则的国际秩序。我也一样。但许多伊朗人会问,这种秩序为他们带来了什么?几十年来,西方历届政府不断地安抚该政权,而该政权则趁机巩固权力、监禁异见人士、资助恐怖组织并残酷地镇压国内反对派。
左翼的许多人担心,放弃国际准则会创造危险的先例。这种担忧值得认真对待。但另一种担忧同样重要:当国际体系反复辜负生活在独裁统治下的人们时,会发生什么?人们应该为那永远无法抵达的正义等待多久?
乌克兰总统弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基在伊朗抗议者被屠杀后警告说:“人们谈论了很多关于伊朗抗议的事情,但它们被淹没在血泊之中。世界对伊朗人民的帮助不够——它选择了旁观。”他说,如果这种残暴的行为能以生存作为回报,“这将向每一个暴徒发出一个明确信号:只要杀掉足够多的人,你就能维持权力。”
伊斯兰共和国不仅仅是另一个独裁政府。它花费数十年时间向整个中东输出不稳定,支持代理恐怖组织并研发核武器。它已成为俄罗斯重要的军事合作伙伴,提供用于攻击乌克兰平民的无人机。
英国有直接利益受损。为了回应美国主导的对伊斯兰共和国免责行为的挑战,它封锁了霍尔木兹海峡,推高了能源价格。它绑架了英国国民,威胁在伦敦工作的记者,针对居住在英国的犹太社区和异见人士,并与英国本土的恐怖袭击阴谋有关联。
对于许多伊朗人来说,近期伊斯兰共和国的削弱代表了数十年来的第一次机会,可以挑战一个通过镇压、恐惧和暴力进行统治的政权。在伊朗内部,选择不再是在改革派和强硬派之间。相反,冲突似乎发生在要求自由与民主的社会与决心不惜一切代价维持自身的国家之间。
自由运动聚集了工人、学生、女性、部落群体以及只在伊斯兰共和国统治下生活过的伊朗青年。他们的诉求惊人地相似:
负责任的机构、个人自由、经济机会和民主代表权。
当唐纳德·特朗普在二月份发起军事行动时,他敦促伊朗人掌控自己的命运并推翻该政权。打破数十年的西方绥靖政策带来了希望。但自那时起,断断续续的交易让许多伊朗人感到担忧。伊朗人民知道,他们必须依靠自己来推翻该政权。他们唯一的请求就是西方不要给该政权提供救命稻草。
工党传统上主张外交政策应当
历史将记录谁与伊朗人站在一起,谁选择了绥靖
由价值观和利益引导。在伊朗问题上,这两个目标指向同一个方向。支持伊朗的民主诉求,在道义上与工党对人权和国际团结的承诺是一致的。这在战略上也是明智的。一个民主的伊朗有助于结束地区不稳定,削弱恐怖主义代理团体,提高能源安全,并为国际合作创造新机遇。通过移除最大的反对者,它还能有助于为
两国方案创造条件。
只有伊朗人才能决定自己的未来,但英国可以选择不去加强那些否认该未来的人。英国可以维持互联网运行,支持人权捍卫者,保护居住在英国的异见人士,增加对那些负责镇压的人的财务压力,并明确表示支持那些寻求民主的人。
当工党意识到团结不应止于英国边境时,它总是处于最佳状态。伊朗人民唯一的请求是,民主国家停止使那些监禁、折磨并杀害要求我们视作理所当然之自由的公民的人合法化。工党面临的问题是,它是否准备像支持其他民主运动那样,清晰地与伊朗人民站在一起。
历史将不会对这一时刻产生歧义。它将记录谁与伊朗人民站在一起——而谁选择了绥靖而非勇气。伊朗人民已经选择了自由。现在是工党做出选择的时候了。
贾斯汀·福赛斯(Justin Forsyth)曾任托尼·布莱尔和戈登·布朗的唐宁街顾问,现任流亡反对派领导人、已故国王之子礼萨·帕赫拉维(Reza Pahlavi)的顾问
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observer.co.uk 23.08.26
论坛

公交车重新流行了起来。安迪·伯纳姆在彻底改革大曼彻斯特公交网络后声名大噪,现在他正将这一举措推广到整个英格兰——设定票价上限,取消残疾人免费出行的限制,并支持西米德兰兹郡市长理查德·帕克将该地区的公交车纳入公共控制。我们在首都已经先行试行这类政策多年且取得了巨大成功,因此看到它们在全国推广真是太棒了。
作为一名公交车司机的儿子,我亲身体会到公交车为何如此重要。我和我的兄弟们在很多个周末都待在我父亲开的公交车顶层,看着伦敦南部和中部的街道在眼前掠过——偶尔还会通过潜望镜向下窥视,寻找他在下方驾驶室里的身影。
在 44, 路车上,我们遇到了来自各行各业的乘客:富人和穷人,白人、黑人和棕色人种。有在去参加周日上午足球赛途中的青少年,有出游的家庭,还有出门购物的老年人。许多乘客在日常生活中可能永远不会相遇,但在公交车上的短暂瞬间,他们的世界会产生碰撞。
在那个时候,公交车是属于每个人的。但在随后的几十年里,这个基本承诺被打破了。在伦敦,我们过去 10 年一直在努力将其找回。
公交车是从 A 点到 B 点最实惠、最便捷且最具社交属性的方式之一。它们为我们所有人而存在——仅凭这一点,它们将永远是我最喜爱的交通工具。
萨迪克·汗 (Sadiq Khan)

作为一个靠碎片化地倾听他人对话而生存的人,这些浑浊的顶层甲板是充满诗意和惊喜的地方。我整个青春期的教育

上方,西南伦敦一辆 Routemaster 公交车上的阳光午后。Lee Martin
是通过倾听 13 路车后排的九年级学生而获得的。就在这里,我面向前方却向后倾听,了解了关于法式接吻、经血污渍、是否可能通过马桶座圈怀孕,以及如何一边涂着唇彩一边吃薯片的真相。直到今天,芝士洋葱味依然保留着某种情色电荷。我曾在穿过怀特查佩尔的 20S 路车上听到一对夫妇分手,听到青少年如何熟练地欺骗父母,以及在 25. 路车上男孩之间传播的整部百科全书般的虚假信息。不过,我最喜欢的偷听经历来自我的朋友露西,她在威尔士的一辆公交车上,听到一位老妇人告诉朋友她的儿子刚买了一台电脑。“电脑是什么?”朋友问,她回答道:“就像一台插了计算器的电视机。”
伊娃·怀斯曼 (Eva Wiseman)

公交车之王是往返于温德米尔车站(Windermere Station)与格拉斯米尔村绿地(Grasmere village green)之间的 55S 路。牵我的手,我告诉你怎么操作。走下火车,带着旅途的疲惫与迷茫。踉跄着走进隔壁宏伟的 Booths 超市。带着一个 Westmorland 猪肉卷走出来;询问一位等待中的八旬徒步者(手持木杖,带着戴头巾的梗类犬,背着全尺寸背包)公交车站的方向。行走 2.6 米;等待最多 8 分钟。向你那开朗的司机(这是北方)支付 £3。将你那不合时宜的行李箱放在专门设计的“不合时宜行李箱架”上。向后靠。片刻之间,你就能呼吸到新鲜空气。这是一次绝无仅有的旅程:银色的湖水,壮丽的山岳,深邃浪漫的峡谷,干石墙围起的阳光绿地,以及穿着吸湿快干速拆徒步短裤和天蓝色微绒护颈套的情侣。为了柯勒律治、格拉斯米尔姜饼、凯斯威克铅笔工厂而来;为了我们常客所称的“triple-five”(555 路)以及美到让你想笑的风景而留下。
夏洛特·门德尔森 (Charlotte Mendelson)

自2018, 90年以来,90辆伦敦双层巴士在改革大道(Paseo de la Reforma)的专用巴士道上穿行,这里相当于墨西哥城的香榭丽舍大街。这些巴士在法尔基克组装,经南安普顿运往墨西哥,填补了该市地铁系统的空白,因为地铁的增长速度不足以满足2300 万人的需求。我非常喜欢这些樱桃红色的战车在高原丛林中呈现出的那种古怪的违和感。Linéa 7绕过10个环岛(西班牙语称为glorieus),环岛上装饰着该市一些最宏伟的纪念碑。票价仅为25便士,这确实是一次,嗯,辉煌的旅程。五年前我在墨西哥城(CDMX)度过一个春天时,我会在周日早起,抢占顶层甲板的座位,进行半小时的旅程前往拉拉古尼利亚(La Lagunilla),那是一个氛围像街区派对一样热闹的庞大古董市场。但回程的旅途才是真正的狂欢——车厢里挤满了紧握战利品的购物者,而且大家都因为喝了米切拉达(micheladas)而有些微醺。
Evan Moffitt

“阈限空间”这个词如今确实被过度使用了。很少有公共空间真正具有阈限性,但其中之一就是从伦敦开往格拉斯顿伯里的国民快运(National Express)长途巴士。从你驶离格林威治O2停车场的那一刻起——没有任何正常的公共交通旅程是从O2停车场开始的——你就知道自己已经抛弃了旧生活,准备在六到八小时后抵达目的地(取决于巨石阵那里的交通情况),进入身份的新阶段。车内弥漫着一种期待感,一种狂热的兴奋,很多易拉罐,以及一个极佳的服务区停靠点,在那里你可以——而且应该——买一个一英尺长的赛百味(Subway),为接下来的旅程做准备。我认为,如果更多的巴士旅程都有一个可以买一英尺长三明治的停靠点,这个国家会变得更好。你再也不会见到这些同行乘客,但此刻他们是你的朋友。相反,乘坐同一辆巴士返回家的旅程则是人间地狱。
Róisín Lanigan

因为做了一个耳朵手术,我无法乘坐地铁,也不能使用耳机。所以对我来说,只能坐巴士和观察行人。幸运的是,我是伦敦最伟大、最具历史意义的巴士——No 24.的常客。我曾和父亲一起乘坐,也曾和孩子们一起乘坐。绿色的24路车在1910年就开始运行了(甚至在我需要它们之前),路线是从汉普斯特德到维多利亚。两年后,路线延伸到了皮姆利科,21年后,巴士变成了红色。当然,你无法从1949年的黑白电影《皮姆利科通行证》(Passport to Pimlico)中24路车的出场得知这一点。我从皮姆利科通勤上班,但24路车实际上是为所有人准备的。还有哪辆巴士能在大约15分钟内,让你近距离欣赏威斯敏斯特主教座堂、威斯敏斯特教堂、议会广场、大本钟、议会大厦、无名战士纪念碑、唐宁街10号、骑兵卫队阅兵场和特拉法加广场?这也许就是世界上最好的旅游路线。
Keith Blackmore

Letters

凯瑟琳·尼兰(Catherine Neilan)说得对,关于 230 人被推向乘坐一艘单薄的小艇穿越全球最繁忙航道的消息,为安迪·伯纳姆(Andy Burnham)制造了一个“棘手”的问题(见上周新闻《可能终结伯纳姆反弹的三大棘手问题》)。令人遗憾的是,我们的新任首相在承诺对跨境行为采取“不懈”打击的同时,正在加倍执行那些让这些旅程变得更加危险的政策。
作为一名在法国北部一线工作的人员,我亲眼目睹了多年来承诺“阻止船只”或“摧毁团伙”的政策如何让跨境行为变得更加致命。当英国纳税人为资助法国警察砍毁船只、向儿童部署催泪瓦斯而支付数百万资金时,走私者会寻找新战术来避免被拦截。他们将更多寻求安全的被剥削者塞进每艘船中,并使用更危险的登陆点,迫使人们在英吉利海峡中行驶三倍远的距离。在警察伤害并恐吓那些试图跨境的人时,有人溺水或被挤压致死。
与此同时,历届政府出台的法律将儿童而非走私团伙刑事化,升级了国家支持的暴力,并为流动人口制造了一个进退两难的局面:留在法国或尝试穿越海峡都不安全。这一切都没有阻止跨境行为:它夺走了生命并给幸存者带来了创伤。如果伯纳姆认真对待解决非正规移民问题,他可以通过创建正规路线来破坏走私者的商业模式。在被提醒后,他承认了这一点,但除了已经宣布的极其有限的社区赞助路线外,没有提供任何进一步的细节。去年,仅有 4% 的难民通过类似的英国重新安置计划(UKRS)在英国获得安置,而该计划是大多数寻求安全的人目前唯一剩下的安全路线。
如果他关心海峡中的死亡事件,他可以从正确记录这些死亡开始。他可以承认相关证据,即所谓的“威慑手段”(如卢旺达计划或“一进一出”政策)并不能减少跨境人数。而且,他可以撤销关闭家庭团聚计划的决定——该计划曾被 93% 的妇女和儿童使用,而这些人现在正被推向危险的旅程。
危险的拥挤船只和更长的旅程,是英国边境政策和资金危及生命的可见方式之一。而且这不仅仅是非政府组织(NGO)的观点。法国一项跨党派调查最近得出结论,这些政策作为威慑手段已经失败,同时造成了生命损失。调查还发现,英国的资金是许多暴力警察行动的根源,凸显了资金使用缺乏透明度。如果伯纳姆能通过促进一场关于敌对边境政策实际影响的、以证据为导向的公开辩论,那么这将符合他“处理问题而非玩弄政治”的承诺。
为了真正对跨境行为采取“不懈”打击,首相必须听取由 200 多家难民慈善机构发送给他的、旨在修复庇护制度的“蓝图”中所列出的证据。他应该拿出政治勇气来提供真正安全且可触达的路线——并停止通过延续这种日益增加边境暴力的失败方法,用人们的生命来玩弄政治。
莉莉·麦克塔加特(Lily MacTaggart) 权利人类网络(Humans for Rights Network)及 Project Play 的英法边境暴力项目负责人
我带着同情心阅读了你们关于杰森·阿尔代(Jason Arday)不幸去世的社论(上周的《观察者报观点:对杰森·阿尔代的围猎》),并同意其中关于记者对被调查者所承担责任的核心论点。
作为伦敦大学金史密斯学院(Goldsmiths, University of London)的教育主管,我对文中那种“博士学位通常由对该主题知之甚少的导师监督并授予”的概括性断言持有异议。
这误解了博士学位的本质。其目的是寻找知识空白并对其进行研究。在一次成功的博士学习结束时,学生在特定研究问题上的了解程度很可能超过其导师。
导师不需要了解某个小众主题的每一个细节。他们需要具备能够挑战研究者方法和主张的专业知识,并帮助他们理解其工作所属的更广泛的思想和研究传统。
博士学位要求极高:它要求人们能够忍受不确定性,能够改变主意,有时还要发现最初提出的问题是错误的。这些是能够丰富大学及更广泛知识生活的变革性体验。
当然,糟糕的指导确实存在,但对博士学位的概括性评判并不比对个人的概括性评判更有帮助。我们应当小心,不要贬低那些我们未能完全理解的知识形式。
弗朗西斯·吉尔伯特博士(Dr Francis Gilbert) 伦敦大学金史密斯学院教育主管
我们一直未能正视这样一个事实:自 20 世纪 60 年代以来,要求最低教育水平或技能的入门级工作数量一直在缩减(上周论坛版《安迪·伯纳姆(Andy Burnham)的技术教育计划值得赞赏,但并非快速解决方案》)。更多的教育——无论是学术性的还是职业性的——都无法解决这个问题。现在需要的是社会工程:由国家为那些能力最弱、最不满的人群刻意创造就业机会。让这个群体在社会的边缘地带腐烂是一个巨大的错误。
作为戈登·布朗内阁的成员,安迪·伯纳姆应该很熟悉“未来就业基金”(Future Jobs Fund)——为每位符合条件的年轻人提供一份有薪工作,由纳税人承担费用。这听起来很昂贵,但长远来看,比一个人终身依赖福利要便宜得多。
大卫·布雷齐尔(David Brazier) 莱斯特
职业教育与学术教育之间的平等可以通过扩大受监管的专业化来实现。以德国为例,贸易领域正式的资格认证、许可证和头衔鼓励人们获取资格,同时保护公众免受劣质工程的影响。
“工程师”(Ingenieur)是一个受法律保护的专业头衔,而在英国,任何人都可以自称“工程师”。
尼尔·罗斯基利(Neil Roskilly) 剑桥郡,福德默(Foudmer)
我今年 16 岁,大学申请突然感觉不再遥远(上周新闻版《A-level 成绩提升为陷入困境的大学提供短暂喘息》)。两打大学在一年内面临破产风险,肯特大学和格林威治大学已经合并。
令我触动的是从学生的角度看这件事。教职员工有工会,债权人有合同,部长制定政策。他们可以重新谈判或抽身离去。而学生签署的是三年的协议,无法在半路撤销。
肯特大学和格林威治大学写信给学生解释合并带来的变化,这很体面。但被告知并不等同于被询问。如果合并将成为常态,学生应该在其中拥有发言权,而不仅仅是在事后收到一封信。
埃马德·雷曼(Emad Rehman) 埃普瑟姆
感谢你们关注刑事司法系统中一个严重的异常现象(见上周新闻版《青少年强奸案审判凸显两次提供证词的创伤》)。作为研究人员,我们在 2009 年和 2019 年就曾提醒人们注意这样一种情况:当治安法院或青少年法院的审判被上诉至皇家法院时,证人被要求再次提供证词。这一过程给儿童造成了极大的痛苦,而他们此前并未被告知存在这种可能性。
在皇家法院审判中,可以播放对弱势证人交叉质询的审前录像。这项措施需要紧急推广。此外,两次提供证词使得辩护律师能够利用两次证词之间任何被察觉到的不一致之处,并增加了压力。
戴姆·乔伊斯·普洛特尼科夫 (Dame Joyce Plotnikoff) 与 理查德·伍尔夫森博士 (Dr Richard Woolfson) 赫特福德郡
威尔·哈顿正确地指出,英国公共市场的萎缩是对我们经济未来的威胁(见上周论坛版《私营公司的疯狂吞噬正使上市公司面临灭绝危险》)。成长型公司被系统性地低估,使其容易被外国买家收购,并导致国家重要资产流失。
将公司转入不透明的私有之手并非救赎之策。英国储蓄者被剥夺了由创新企业创造的财富,而英国各地的城镇则失去了支撑当地就业的公司总部。我们需要激励养老金投资于英国股票,减轻股票交易的印花税,并使监管现代化,以增长而非合规为优先。
公共市场是一种公共产品。私营公司有其生存空间,但无法复制上市公司固有的创新、透明度和财富分配能力。一个充满活力的增长经济始于投资我们自己的企业。
桑吉塔·沙 (Sangita Shah) 上市公司联盟主席 伦敦 EC1A

● 我们在 16 August 第 5 页的一张火车脱轨照片说明中称刘易斯(Lewes)位于肯特郡,这是错误的。它实际上是东萨塞克斯郡的郡治。
● 我们在上周末的“长话短说”回顾中提到,哈利·波特粉丝声称一条价值 4.3 亿英镑m 的英爱电力电缆会干扰虚构角色多比的坟墓,从而阻碍了该电缆的铺设。我们现获悉,粉丝的活动仅是决定更改电缆路线的因素之一。
梅兰妮·里德对自然写作中浪漫、田园诗般基调的恼怒令人忍俊不禁(见上周论坛版《没有什么能像抒情自然写作那样让我如此狂野》)。但嘿,我们不要对那些浪漫主义者太苛刻。英国正变得更加城市化。如果这类写作能帮助城市居民重新与自然建立联系,并反思我们失去自然的速度之快,那么这无疑是一个巨大的加分项。
彼得·佩里 (Peter Perry) 康沃尔郡
《虎后、袭击与一座紧张的德国小镇》(见上周杂志版)让我想起 20 世纪 90 年代我担任环境卫生官员时的经历。我曾访问过一个马戏团,当时在诺福克郡戈尔斯顿海边的翡翠公园有 16 只孟加拉虎在表演。我问经营者如果有一只老虎逃脱了会发生什么,他们回答:“我们会把肉扔到其中一辆卡车下面。老虎通常会追随肉而去,然后我们就能把它捕捉住。” 听到这招通常有效,我感到很欣慰!
迈克尔·霍华德博士 (Dr Michael Howard) 诺里奇
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——即便是在讨论 机器人时 / 娜奥米·奥尔德曼 (Naomi Alderman)

关于使用 AI 进行艺术创作,有两个问题,重要的是不要将它们混为一谈。第一个问题是计算机程序是否能创作艺术。第二个问题则简单得多,即撒谎是否错误。确实有很多人一直在使用 AI 创作艺术,而且其中许多人在对此撒谎。现在,他们被揭穿了。
Substack 最近引入了一款由 检测软件公司 Pangram 提供支持的内置文本扫描仪。这似乎是一个极佳的举措,尤其是因为它引发了一波令人发笑的、由 撰写的、语气焦虑的散文,声称人们不应因使用 写作而受到惩罚。Spotify 现在将识别哪些音乐作品是由 创作的,并表示去年删除了 7500 万条垃圾上传内容。LinkedIn 设有举报“ 垃圾内容”( slop)的按钮;YouTube 在过去六个月中删除了 130,000 个“垃圾”频道。大语言模型 Claude 正在引入水印,以显示你正在阅读的句子是否使用了 构建。
如果每个人只对第一个问题——即我们所谓的“艺术哲学”——感兴趣,那么每个人都会诚实地交代自己的作品是如何创作的,也不会有人欺骗读者或观众。但正如 Substack 上那些焦虑的散文所表明的, “艺术”是由人类还是由机器创作,确实是有区别的。
那么,计算机能创作艺术吗?这引发了一个更深层的问题:艺术的意义是来自创作者,还是来自那些接收它、细品它并将其内化为己有的读者、听众或观众?
作家杰森·帕金 (Jason Pargin) 指出:“如果一部电影、电视剧、小说或电子游戏询问‘机器人是否应该被视为活生生的人类?’,那么大约 100% 的情况下,答案都会是响亮的‘是’。” 每一个关于机器人是否具有意识的故事,最终往往会得出这样一个强烈的观点:是的,它们具有意识,如果你认为它们没有,那么你就是邪恶的。举几个例子: 《银翼杀手》、 《星际迷航:下一代》中的数据(Data)指挥官、石黑一雄的小说 《克拉拉与太阳》——该片的电影改编版将于今年晚些时候上映。

在石黑一雄的小说以及新电影中,克拉拉是一个旨在防止孤独的太阳能驱动“人工智能之友”(AF),索尼(Sony)
当然,这是因为这些故事从未真正关于机器人;它们始终关于其他人类。在美国,它们大多是关于奴隶制的寓言,这指向了该国上一次立法规定某些人类不享有其他人类权利的时期。或者,如果它们不是关于奴隶制,那就是关于厌女症、种族主义、身材歧视或残障歧视。这些故事旨在告诉我们,如果某个东西的行为像人类,我们就必须将其视为人类。
但现在,我们确实拥有能够撰写文本、制作视觉图像以及将音符依次排列的计算机程序。这些 token 序列是艺术吗?
我不仅能告诉你某样东西是否由 撰写,还能告诉你是由哪个模型撰写的
当然,如果你是 Substack 的一名作者,你可能会经历一种令人沮丧的体验:读到一篇平淡无奇的 撰写文章,下面有大约 45,000 条评论,人们在其中说这篇文章给他们带来了前所未有的触动(“惊人的写作”……“哇,你真是个作家”)。我在文字和技术领域工作了 25 年。我不仅能分辨出某样东西是否由 撰写,而且通常还能告诉你使用了哪个模型来撰写。这类事情让我愤怒得想折断我的钢笔。
但这引发了第二个问题。即:如果 能创作出绝妙的艺术,且每个人对此都感到高兴,为什么那么多人要对作品的创作方式撒谎?毫无疑问,这是因为虽然机器人创作的艺术很有趣,但我们追求艺术的真正目的,是为了潜入另一个人类的思想之中,分享在这个世界上生存的体验。
大型科技公司似乎持有这样一种观点:人类的心智就是毫无感觉的空洞,可以向其中倾倒越来越多毫无意义的内容。无论是什么,我们都会贪婪地将其吞下。本十年早期的某些最糟糕的超级英雄电影似乎也持有这种观点。人类有什么用?唯一的用途就是一边吃着爆米花,一边让我们用一些看起来像艺术、但实际上与黄色黏糊糊的物质毫无区别的东西填满他们的大脑。
但人们不会仅仅因为一部电影里有超级英雄就去看它。它必须有优秀的剧本,有迷人的演员阵容。它必须源自一个具体的人对世界的独特视角。《蜘蛛侠》系列电影之所以比大多数近期的超级英雄电影好得多,很大程度上是因为“你们亲切的邻居蜘蛛侠”被精准地定位为一封从并不光鲜的皇后区寄给纽约市的情书。
在 Substack 上,一位订阅用户基数比我大得多的作者最近发布了一篇帖子,其内容与我关于打造一个阅读舒适区(couch to SK for reading)的帖子惊人地相似——就好像你告诉 AI 去构思一些类似的内容一样。Pangram 告诉我,他们的版本是 100% AI 生成的。这个人的评论区此前充满了人们称赞其是一位多么出色的作家。但在 AI 检测按钮引入后,评论突然变得相当失望。
也许计算机能以有趣的方式将词语组合在一起。但艺术所提供的与他人建立的联系是独特且不可替代的。AI 检测结果表明,许多人确实在意他们是在与一个人类还是一个机器建立联系。而且,我们大多数人都讨厌被欺骗。
我们每个人 都成为了艺术家 Jack Riley

与许多用户一样,视频平台已被 AI 生成的内容所淹没,目前正发起一场旨在恢复人类创作作品在数字领域主导地位的运动。创意产业对此类举动再熟悉不过:这些科技公司再次涉足那些由于其商业利益受损且文化单一而无法负责任地回答的哲学问题。
“Slop”(AI 垃圾内容)——这个类别如此庞大,以至于现在有了自己的子类别,如 podshop 和 bookshop ——实际上处于一个审查者难以解析的艺术价值光谱之中。深入挖掘,你很快就会在教皇穿着羽绒服(见下图)和唐纳德·特朗普穿着二战军装的图像之间,发现真正的创意在其中闪现。
以 Josh Wallace Kerrigan 为例,《连线》(Wired)的 Christopher Beam 将其作品称为“ 时代第一个伟大的电影宇宙”,以及“首批真正不糟糕的 电影作品之一”。他的科幻短片——毫无疑问是由 生成的,但充满了魅力与机智——在社交媒体上引起了热烈反响。
他的同行 Jack London 将这一转变定义为将科幻大片从大众市场审美那乏味的束缚中解放出来。他那些在很大程度上由 辅助产出的作品,虽然在世界观构建上具有好莱坞规模,但对于传统的制片厂把关人来说,会因为“太古怪而无法获得绿灯”通过。
尽管在工艺上倾注了心血,但受 Kerrigan 和 London 启发的一批电影制作者,现在却因为社交媒体上的“非真实内容”而被取消获利资格并被封禁。以“反击 slop 之战”为名审查这些颠覆者,剥夺了年轻艺术家成名的机会——而他们所做的,正是他们的前辈一直以来所做的:利用任何能接触到的廉价且易得的工具。
但 软件新获得的易得性正在产生一种更激进的效果,而我们应当为此庆祝。通过消除创作艺术的障碍,无需正式培训或昂贵设备,大科技公司正在释放一波日常创意浪潮,这可能使艺术表达成为一种正常的人类行为,而非文化特权阶层的专属。现代的弗吉尼亚·伍尔夫可能会写一篇关于“一个属于自己的提示词”的文章。
这一新一代艺术家需要面对深层的忧虑。 模型的训练基于对版权材料的大规模窃取,这种方式剥夺了原作者在结果收益中应得的份额。关于在创意工作中使用 对环境的影响,目前尚无定论,尽管很难相信这能与全球奔波的电影剧组的碳足迹,或大企业即将面临的数据中心需求相提并论。
如果成功,当前这波 slop 背后的 工具是否也能开启一个更广泛的文化生产的“家庭手工业”新时代?随着创意在财务和社会层面的障碍被消除,这些更易触达的艺术形式可能会使创意经济去中心化,颠覆把关人,并以一种让几乎任何人都能释放内在艺术家的方式扩展文化活动。
如果很多产出在正式标准下并不出色,这真的重要吗?当不仅是艺术专业毕业生,连公交司机和食堂员工都在兼职担任诗人或电影制作者时,几年后,这些 模型构建之上的版权窃取这一“原罪”是否依然显得相关?
乔治·萧伯纳写道:“所有职业都是针对外行人的阴谋。”遗憾的是,对于我们一些受推崇的创意精英来说,这一点与银行家和律师一样真实。面对拓宽文化与创意、绕过艺术界传统权力结构的机会,文化精英感到不安也就不足为奇了。然而,对于我们其他人来说,无论生成式 的到来有多少缺陷,它都是一个夺回创意生产资料的机会。

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这活儿真够糟糕的,不是吗?上周,首相捂着鼻子前往非法倾倒场,计划改革处理废物犯罪的方式。一线执法人员将能够没收犯罪分子的现金、汽车和房屋,废物违规行为的罚款额度将从 £300 提高到 5,000 英镑。
这不过是 7,500 吨腐烂垃圾山中的几堆污垢,在近期的热浪中,这些垃圾让当地居民作呕,因恶臭而无法打开窗户。直到现在,由于未经授权倾倒垃圾的最高刑期为五年,这种非法活动一直被有组织犯罪团伙视为“低风险、高回报”。
尊敬的安吉拉·伊格尔女爵士(The Rt Hon Dame Angela Eagle)是环境、食品和农村事务大臣——她是十年来的第十任,
因此让我们祝她好运。“如果你非法倾倒垃圾,你就应该是那个清理并为此买单的人。就这么简单,”她在谈到政府旨在简化非法废物倾倒起诉程序的举措时说道。
非法废物倾倒场攫取了巨额收入——过去两年这一数字接近 3600 万英镑m。根据环境局的数据,目前英国境内至少有 700 处倾倒点——规模最大的一处位于切希尔郡,含有约 280,000 吨受污染的土壤。
树林后面是 Mbanq Valley Parade 体育场,它是英格兰足球联赛第一级别球队布拉德福德城足球俱乐部(Bradford City AFC)的主场——1985 年这里发生的一场火灾导致 56 名支持者死亡,至少 265 人受伤。此次调查促使英格兰全境体育场馆引入了新的安全立法。
首相安迪·伯纳姆看起来坦白说有点垂头丧气。我们注意到他脱掉了西装,换上了他那件可靠的黑色 T 恤,寻求一种像安全毯般的舒适感,但我们很难责怪他。
收听播客:《废土:垃圾团伙》
詹姆斯·图珀(James Tupper)写道,彻底净化意味着要将目光投向内燃机之外
关于1952年伦敦大雾霾的故事对我来说一直听起来有点夸张——能尝到味道的黄色空气,靠摸墙找路回家,4,000人死亡。后来我搬到了德里。
2012年11月,排灯节庆祝活动后气温下降了5度。这座城市被烟雾笼罩,这些烟雾来自烟花、农民焚烧秸秆以及数百万辆汽车和自动人力车的发动机。有一天早晨我去跑步,雾霾浓厚到我只能看到手臂长度范围内的前方。我跑了一圈,然后剧烈咳嗽起来。三个月后在伦敦,
创建超低排放区(Ulez)的想法由另一位偶尔跑步的人——时任市长鲍里斯·约翰逊(Boris Johnson)提出。该区域于2019年进入伦敦中心地带,随后在2023年扩大到覆盖伦敦的所有行政区。你可能还记得当时的喧嚣。
偶尔我会思考德里的空气对我的肺造成了什么影响,但关于Ulez所起作用的证据正日益增多。上周,伦敦玛丽女王大学沃尔夫森研究所的研究人员发表了一项研究,对比了伦敦与卢顿的小学生肺部情况。他们测量了这3,400名儿童在六至九岁开始的五年间肺部是如何发育的。伦敦的孩子起初肺部较小;到最后,他们已经完全追赶上来。二氧化氮(NO2)这种主要来自车辆的污染物,在伦敦的下降速度比在卢顿更快。
有数十篇类似的论文表明,得益于更好的空气质量,加利福尼亚州儿童的肺部状况更好,且污染是痴呆症和心脏病的风险因素。由烟尘颗粒(PM2.5和PM10)引起的炎症可能也是癌症的诱发因素。
但在2023年,Ulez在政治上的毒性似乎比污染物更强。保守党推出了攻击萨迪克·汗(Sadiq Khan)的恐吓广告,而在工党输掉Uxbridge补选后,基尔·斯塔默(Keir Starmer)要求伦敦市长对其扩大该区域的决定进行“反思”。安迪·伯纳姆(Andy Burnham)在废除大曼彻斯特地区的清洁空气区时,
政客们被反Ulez抗议者及其激进边缘群体吓到了
让劳动人民呼吸污浊的空气,从而给他们带来了一击。
毫无疑问,政客们被反Ulez抗议者及其激进边缘群体——即那些用角磨机甚至更极端手段破坏摄像头支柱的“刀锋跑者”(Blade Runners)——给吓到了。伦敦交通局(TfL)已停止记录针对摄像头的袭击。最后一条保守党攻击广告是在两年多前投放的。
支持者很容易觉得反对声音正在消散,但对于Ulez引入的方式,确实存在合理的异议。罗莎蒙德·阿杜-基西-德布拉(Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah)的女儿埃拉(Ella)至今仍是唯一一名被验尸官勇敢地列为死于空气污染的人,罗莎蒙德一直坚持批评部长们没有通过补贴帮助更多的人报废旧的污染车辆和面包车。
根据“清洁城市运动”(Clean Cities Campaign)的数据,注册在伦敦公司的柴油车在2025年达到了历史最高点。他们希望建立一个货运零排放区,禁止非电动面包车进入首都。更安全的街道、更多的巴士和更便宜的票价也是整体方案的一部分。
现在也是时候将目光投向内燃机之外了。轮胎和刹车产生的颗粒物会污染空气。人们家中的木材燃烧炉造成了全国约20%的PM2.5排放。埃塞克斯和肯特的农民可能不像旁遮普的同行那样焚烧秸秆,但他们使用的氨基农药飘散的距离同样遥远。
《清洁空气法》在1956年出台,即大雾霾四年后。七十年过去了,阿杜-基西-德布拉为《埃拉法》(Ella's Law)发起的运动——旨在将清洁空气定为一项人权——看来时机已经成熟。
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这位备受赞誉的舞台与荧幕演员,其对家庭的热爱在她的喜剧写作天赋中得以彰显。
一件旧的, 一件新的, 一件借来的…… 当菲利达·劳在勾选新娘在婚礼当天所需的幸运物时,她意识到自己已经涵盖了第四项。在一部关于她演艺生涯早期的回忆录中,她写道:“我已经忧郁(blue)了好几周了。”

她的婚礼就在布里斯托旧剧院(Bristol Old Vic)上演一场《仲夏夜之梦》日场戏之前举行,这是为了照顾劳的母亲,因为她希望通过观看女儿饰演提塔妮亚(Titania)并参加婚礼,从而避免两次往返于苏格兰。除了饰演帕克(Puck)兼新郎的埃里克·汤普森(Eric Thompson)之外,所有的仙子都涂满了蓝色油彩。
那场 1957 年的演出阵容包括饰演情敌莱桑德(Lysander)和狄米特律斯(Demetrius)的彼得·奥图尔(Peter O'Toole)和约翰·伍德文(John Woodvine),以及饰演奥伯龙(Oberon)的科林·杰文斯(Colin Jeavons)。尽管在一直延续到 80 多岁的演艺生涯中,劳很少担任女主角,但她曾与许多伟大的艺术家同台。她曾与琼·普劳赖特(Joan Plowright)在西南部地区巡演,与拉尔夫·理查森(Ralph Richardson)在南美巡演,在《我的父亲环游记》(A Voyage Round My Father)中与亚历克·吉尼斯(Alec Guinness)合作,在《大教堂谋杀案》(Murder at the Cathedral)中与罗伯特·多纳特(Robert Donat)合作,并且在 1990 年,在奇切斯特(Chichester)与佩内洛普·基思(Penelope Keith)共同出演了《温莎的快乐电线》(The Merry Wires of Windsor)。
她 2017 年出版的名为《当然现在死了》(Dead Now Of Course)的回忆录展现了她讲述轶事的才华,例如关于一名同事在抽烟休息期间差点错过出场信号并点燃了裤子的故事,或者是西德茅斯(Sidmouth)的一家剧院因为后台没有空间,
2013 年的演员兼作家菲利达·劳。Colin McPherson / Corbis / Getty
导致演员必须从舞台左侧退出,然后绕到建筑外部奔跑才能从舞台右侧进入。劳写道:“如果下雨,效果会非常滑稽。”
她在荧幕上的晚年绽放得到了女儿艾玛·汤普森(Emma Thompson)和索菲·汤普森(Sophie Thompson)成功的助力。1997 年,她在由艾伦·里克曼(Alan Rickman)执导的电影《冬日客》(The Winter Guest)中饰演艾玛的母亲,此前她曾在舞台剧版本中与另一位演员饰演同一角色;在 1996 年改编自简·奥斯汀《爱玛》的电影中,她饰演索菲的母亲。在《彼得的朋友们》(Peter's Friends, 1992)中,她饰演一名严厉的管家,该片由艾玛及其许多剑桥脚灯社(Cambridge Footlights)的同辈出演;她再次与长女在《无事生非》(Much Ado About Nothing, 1993)中共同出现,这部电影还让她与理查德·布里尔斯(Richard Briers)重聚,两人曾在 1975 年共同出演过艾伦·艾克本(Alan Ayckbourn)的《缺席的朋友》(Absent Friends)。
菲利达·安·劳(Phyllida Ann Law)于 1932 年出生在格拉斯哥。她的父亲是一名记者,在战争开始时离开了她的母亲,直到她 16 岁时她才再次见到他。在从城市撤离后,她通过与寄宿家庭的女儿一起创作剧本,展现出对戏剧的早期兴趣。
在布里斯托的寄宿学校就读后,她于 1949 年加入了该市的旧剧院(Old Vic)戏剧学校,这违背了她祖母的意愿,其祖母称戏剧是“通往地狱之门”。她去那里是为了学习布景和服装设计,但却因为一个“快乐的错误”而进入了表演领域。劳后来声称这是因为当她做自己时“相当无趣”。
她第一次见到被她称为“汤姆”的汤普森,是在伦敦旧剧院(Old Vic)的《罗密欧与朱丽叶》中担任无台词角色,但浪漫情愫是在布里斯托的同名剧院中滋长的。他浓密的黑发很有吸引力,哪怕仅仅是为了让她能拔几根用来当假睫毛;但当他在一次圣诞派对上向她求婚时,她告诉他他喝醉了,导致他不得不恳求第二次机会。
他们搬到了伦敦的一套公寓里,在那里他们必须用厨房水龙头的一根软管给浴缸注水,并在抚养两个孩子的同时艰难地维持生计。艾玛出生于 1959 年,菲利达将她描述为“一个优雅、独立,且擅长爬出婴儿床的宝宝”。小三岁的索菲拥有父亲那样巨大的黑眼睛,以及一种如此“深沉且醉醺醺的咯咯笑声”,以至于菲利达会贿赂艾玛让她妹妹笑起来。
20世纪60年代中期,埃里克的母亲安妮在听说儿子要娶一名演员时曾流泪,随后她搬来帮忙照顾孩子。她在他们家住了17年,在儿子因心脏病早逝(享年53岁)前不久去世。安妮的听力逐渐下降,菲利达不再对她大喊,而是写便条告诉她当天的八卦。2009年,菲利达将这些便条汇编成一本书,并配上了自己的插画。
她还写了另一本书,名为《荷兰有多少头骆驼?》(How Many Camels Are There in Holland?),讲述她照顾患有认知障碍的母亲梅戈(Mego)的经历。与前一本书一样,这本书展现了她在喜剧写作方面的天赋,并带有淡淡的忧伤与深沉的爱。
家庭对她而言意味着一切。很长一段时间里,她住在与女儿们同一条汉普斯特德街道的房子里,屋内堆满了戏剧演出的纪念品。在母亲第一本书的前言中,艾玛写道,一天中最美好的时刻总是出现在下午6点左右,那时她们其中一人会打电话给母亲说“酒吧开门了”。在酒杯还没斟满之前,菲利达就会出现在门口,通常会说:“我期待这一刻一整天了。”
帕特里克·基德(Patrick Kidd)
菲利达·劳(Phyllida Law),演员,1932年7月6日出生,2026年7月27日去世,享年94岁。
我多么热爱英国的热浪和那永不停歇的英国烈日。而那个岛屿上的人类也同样热爱我们,因为他们竭尽全力地为我们改善生活:一年比一年热,而且到处都有美味的臭起绒(buddleia)可饮。甚至他们的冬天也变得温和起来。
我与其他飞蛾不同。我热爱日光和温暖。当我饮蜜时,我不会栖息或卑微地爬行。我停留在空中,静止得如同画一般,但翅膀在飞速旋转,每秒 80 次。我就那样舔食——我的舌头几乎和身体一样长——如果有任何饥饿的生物盯上我,我离开的速度快到让任何栖息的蝴蝶在梦中都无法企及。
我热爱一个漂亮的花园。今年早些时候,我访问了一个拥有长长薰衣草树篱的花园:那是世界上最棒的酒吧。我听到一个人类说:“我不知道英格兰也有蜂鸟。”好吧,其实没有。只是恰巧蜂鸟和我们这类生物都想出了享受花蜜生活的最佳方式。不同的生物,同样绝妙的创意。既然你问了,这被称为“趋同演化”。
我们英国的“嗡嗡者”曾经是异类。每年只有寥寥几只,无论出现在哪里都会引起巨大的轰动。但今年,我们大规模地迁徙而来,乘着有利的风,沉浸在惬意的热浪中。很少有动物比我们更耐热:我很高兴在 45℃ 的体温下运作。没错,我就是个热血之辈。
我热爱如此高纬度地区特有的漫长黄昏:这是一个无尽的欢乐时光,我可以一次又一次地饮蜜。许多飞蛾根本不屑于饮蜜。它们从茧中破壳,交配,产卵,然后死去,这一切在大概一周内完成。如果你想要那样,那也公平,但我们持有长期观点,并且——在花蜜那无与伦比的能量驱动下——我们可以负担得起等待时机成熟的成本。
当我饮蜜时,我不会栖息 或卑微地爬行。我停留在空中, 静止得如同画一般
我可以熟练且快速地进行直线平飞,但当你进入悬停及其随之而来的机动动作时,才是我们最出色的时刻。这完全取决于感知,信息从我的触角强力地流向大脑,再从大脑流向驱动翅膀的肌肉。
我产在那些床草丛中的卵,现在应该变成毛虫了,为了食物和未来而生存。而我对那个未来有一种奇特的精准预感。当然,我们都想要一群优秀的“嗡嗡者”后代,但我不想让我的孩子们在寒冷中被捕捉而死去。我相信其中一两个孩子在成年后,会找到一个甜蜜的缝隙,一个不错的户外小屋,一个舒适的壁龛,然后蛰伏直到短暂的寒冬过去……在春天破茧而出,准备好嗡鸣,准备好饮蜜,准备好创造更多“嗡嗡者”。因为我们不再是异类。我们现在是居民了。
寿命 一个冬眠成虫可达七个月
饮食习惯 你介意吗?我有的是饮用习惯
爱好 平衡重量与升力
性取向 一个轻浮的绅士
口述给 Simon Barnes
论坛
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
35
伊莎贝尔·科尔斯 (Isabel Coles) 写道,受其子之死驱动,这位前以色列国防军总参谋长旨在将内塔尼亚胡赶下台
加迪·艾森科特,一名以色列四星将军,当时正在加沙边境附近的一个基地视察部队,另一名将军面色苍白地向他走来。在对方开口告知之前,艾森科特本能地意识到:他的儿子出事了。
就在两个月前——2023年10月7日——艾森科特开车送他的儿子加尔 (Gal) 去报到参加预备役服役。在哈马斯发动致命袭击后,看着这个25岁的年轻人消失在准备保卫国家的以色列青年人群中,艾森科特心中交织着自豪与担忧。而现在,他得知加尔在一次前往加沙回收以色列人质遗骸的任务中被爆炸装置炸死。
“在加尔的坟前,我发誓,他及其朋友所付出的代价……绝不会白费,”艾森科特在今年写道。“从那时起,随着日复一日,我感到履行这一使命的责任感日益增强。”
两个月前,艾森科特宣布他将参加自10月7日哈马斯袭击以来的首次总理选举——这可以说是以色列建国以来影响最深远的一次选举。艾森科特表示,他的儿子一直反对他涉足政治,但在10月7日之后,这一点也改变了。
距离10月27日的选举仅剩两个月,艾森科特已成为这场旨在阻止内塔尼亚胡获得 7 个任期的竞选中领先的人选。上周的一项民调显示,他的“雅沙尔党” (Yashar party) 比内塔尼亚胡的利库德集团领先一个席位,艾森科特将后者称为“10月7日名单”。
“他的对手很难说他会出卖国家,[或者]他会为我们的敌人服务,或者他是个左翼分子,”《以色列今日报》 (Israel Hayom) 的国防分析师、Channel 12. 早间节目 Keshet 的主持人约夫·利莫尔 (Yoav Limor) 表示。他与艾森科特相识三十年。“他付出了最终的代价:你还能对他说什么?”
艾森科特于1960年出生于摩洛哥裔父母家中,他属于米兹拉希犹太人 (Mizrahi Jews) 阶层,而本雅明·内塔尼亚胡一直将自己定位为该阶层的捍卫者,以对抗来自欧洲的 Ashkenazi(阿什肯纳兹犹太人)。
他在远离耶路撒冷和特拉维夫权力走廊的环境中长大,曾在戈兰尼旅 (Golani Brigade) 服役,一路晋升至以色列军队的最高层。“以色列人民信任你,以色列政府信任你,加迪,我也信任你,”内塔尼亚胡在2015年任命艾森科特为以色列国防军 (IDF) 总参谋长时说道。
次年的一起事件凸显了两人的分歧。当一名以色列士兵在希伯伦将一名躺在地上受伤的巴勒斯坦人头部击毙时,内塔尼亚胡为其辩护。但艾森科特坚持认为,尽管面临来自以色列右翼的威胁,18岁的埃洛尔·阿扎里亚 (Elor Azaria) 必须因违反交战规则而接受军事法庭审判。在从军队退休后
2019年,艾森科特进入政坛,并在2022年的选举中与另一位前以色列国防军总参谋长共同代表国家统一党参选。内塔尼亚胡最终胜出,但国家统一党表示,他们拒绝加入一个“依赖于极端分子”的政府。
正是出于责任感,促使艾森科特在10月7日袭击发生后,以色列最严重的危机时刻加入了内塔尼亚胡的战时内阁。
“他意识到当时坐在内阁中的人主要是右翼人士,在处理国防问题方面的经验非常、非常匮乏,”一位以色列评论员表示,“他认为如果把这件事交给他们和内塔尼亚胡处理是不负责任的。”
在战时内阁中,艾森科特极力主张将营救在加沙的以色列人质置于首位——并在2025年6月辞职,此前政府拒绝了一项本可以带回部分人质的停火协议。
“他本可以留下,但他确实感觉到在某个时间点他被利用了,”华盛顿研究所智库的高级研究员大卫·马科夫斯基(David Makovsky)说道,他曾在那里与艾森科特会面。

加迪·艾森科特(Gadi Eisenkot) 出生于1960年 母校 特拉维夫大学和海法大学 职业 政治家,退休以色列国防军总参谋长 家庭 与汉娜结婚,有五个孩子
插图:安迪·邦代(Andy Bunday)
在离开国家统一党后,艾森科特创立了自己的政党“雅沙尔”(Yashar)——在希伯来语中意为“正直”、“公正”或“诚实”。
“我不仅在为个人和家庭的损失而悲痛,”在加沙失去了两个侄子的艾森科特说道,“我也在为那种共同的国家意识而悲痛,即人民与领导者之间的契约中,某些深层且根本的东西已经破裂了。”
内塔尼亚胡衣着考究,
而艾森科特不喜欢站在舞台上。内塔尼亚胡在分裂民众,而艾森科特的竞选则是关于统一以色列人。
“艾森科特是反民粹主义者,”耶路撒冷希伯来大学政治科学系的讲师吉迪昂·拉哈特(Gideon Rahat)表示,“他是内塔尼亚胡的反面”。
由于难以对他发起有效攻击,内塔尼亚胡的盟友转而嘲讽艾森科特的英语。总理的战略顾问发布了一段51秒的视频,其中包含了在美国读高中的内塔尼亚胡在联合国和国会发表演讲的片段,并将其与艾森科特用浓重以色列口音说英语的画面剪辑在一起。
“我从未吹嘘过自己的英语完美,但是……我能应付,而且在很多会议中都处理得很好,”艾森科特在一次播客中回应道,“10月7日的时候,内塔尼亚胡那优秀的英语在哪?它对我们有任何帮助吗?一点帮助都没有。”
艾森科特誓言要结束超正统派犹太人免服兵役的特权,这激怒了许多以色列人。他不太可能与内塔尼亚胡引入体制核心的弥赛亚势力达成协议。为了维持他们的支持,内塔尼亚胡在不断扩大的战争中将以色列军队推向极限,并誓言要重塑中东。
马科夫斯基表示,艾森科特“知道军队没有奢侈到可以参与意识形态议程的地步”,“他们必须客观地看待该地区,并逐步地将其引导至一个更好的境地。”
熟悉其思想的以色列人表示,在加沙问题和更广泛的巴勒斯坦问题上,艾森科特也会采取一种更务实的方法。但他并非鸽派。他曾对以色列在约旦河西岸的定居点表示支持,而这些定居点根据国际法被认为是违法的。
他不支持巴勒斯坦建国。而且,当以色列发起一场目前已导致超过76,000名巴勒斯坦人死亡的行动时,他就站在内塔尼亚胡身边,联合国一个调查小组称此次行动为种族灭绝。
“任何认为这会像开关一样——仿佛10月7日没有发生过一样——的人,都不理解以色列作为一个社会所经历的创伤,以及安全机构本身所经历的创伤,”马科夫斯基说道。
在儿子去世两周后,艾森科特收到了装在以色列军队发放的蓝色塑料箱中的加尔的遗物。在今年的一次采访中,艾森科特表示他仍然无法面对打开这些箱子。
--。
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“增加对银行的征税,其后果将体现在抵押贷款利率上升和养老基金缴款下降上”
→ 安吉拉·奈特 (Angela Knight),第 39 页
英国零售商正越来越多地使用面部识别技术,以应对去年 5.5m 起商店盗窃事件。
马修·毕晓普 (Matthew Bishop)
本周,黄金和加密货币的价格在经历了一个月的低迷后大幅飙升。此次上涨被广泛归因于投资者在对美国国债市场日益担忧的情况下购买“避风港”资产,因为政府债务首次超过了 4000万美元(在十年内翻了一倍多)。通货膨胀依然居高不下。
其他力量使情况变得复杂,尤其是在加密货币领域。本周,美国提出了新的支持性监管方案,迹象表明唐纳德·特朗普可能会重新开始为这些资产造势,而自他重返白宫以来,第一家庭已从中赚得巨额财富。
周五,金价处于每盎司略高于 $4,600 的水平,比一周前上涨了 5%。比特币上涨了近四分之一,达到 $78,500, 以上,其中大部分涨幅发生在周二之后,当时其价值略高于 $64,000.
黄金价格长期以来是风险时期的避风港,它是美国国债等关键市场压力增加的风向标。财政部长斯科特·贝森特 (Scott Bessent) 对长期政府债券收益率的上升感到担忧,并已两次干预:首先是支持日元(以减轻东京出售部分巨额美国国债持仓的压力),然后在本周将回购自身长期债券计划的规模增加了一倍(通过借入更多短期债务来为此支付,这很少是强势的迹象)。
这两项举措尚未实现贝森特改善市场情绪的目标。即便如此,金价仍远低于 1 月份略高于 $5,600. 的历史最高点。比特币也远未达到去年年底创下的略高于 $126,000, 的纪录高点。
狗狗币 (Dogecoin) 等模因币的上涨强烈表明,其他因素正在驱动加密货币的上涨。上周,由特朗普任命的美国主要市场监管机构——证券交易委员会 (SEC) 主席保罗·阿特金斯 (Paul Atkins) 提出了向公众销售加密货币的规则。白宫的目标是在 9 月中旬通过其对加密货币友好的《清晰法案》(Clarity Act),该法案目前在国会陷入僵局。据报道,特朗普在重返白宫的第一年里,从与加密货币相关的活动中赚了超过 10亿美元。
在 AI 扫描技术将一名无辜男子误认为窃贼后,批评人士警告称,实时面部识别系统存在缺陷且易被滥用,Marine Saint 报道。
“盲目听从机器的指令。”这就是马特·阿诺德(Matt Arnold)对 Sainsbury's 员工的描述。上周,由于 AI 面部扫描技术将其误认为一名商店窃贼,员工将他强行带离商店。
Sainsbury's 已向阿诺德道歉,声称该错误是由于“人为失误”造成的,并暂停了其南伦敦门店的实时面部识别(LFR)技术。但该超市为其在 200 家分店的更广泛推广进行了辩护,并表示由 Facewatch 公司生产的该技术在试点期间,导致“记录在案的盗窃、伤害、攻击和反社会行为事件减少了 46%”,且“92% 的违规者不再返回”。
LFR 的商业案例已十分明确:根据英国零售联合会(British Retail Consortium)的数据,去年发生了 5.5m 起商店窃盗事件,给该行业造成了约 4 亿英镑m 的损失。在过去五年中,该行业在包括闭路电视(CCTV)、员工、报告系统和标签在内的安保措施上投入了超过 50亿英镑。
迄今为止,LFR 的主要买家是公共机构。根据 Mordor Intelligence 的数据,政府和执法部门仍占全球该技术支出的 45%。但监控工具正越来越多地进入私营公司拥有的空间。零售业是增长最快的买家之一,预计到 2031 年每年将增长近 18%。
Greggs 已在伦敦门店安装了太阳能驱动的固定式“机器人警察”。它们配备了胸部高度的 CCTV 摄像头、120 分贝的警笛和闪光灯。Co-op 在部分肉类产品的包装中安装了 GPS 追踪器。Tesco 在自助结账机上方安装了使用 AI 检测未扫描商品的摄像头。一名社交媒体用户对此回应道:“VAR 判定:金枪鱼无效。”
Facewatch 是英国最大的该技术供应商。其零售客户包括 B&M、Home Bargains 和 Sports Direct。根据 2025 年的数据,该公司平均每天发出 1,415 次“已知违规者”警报,高于 2024 年的每天 693 次。今年秋天,Facewatch 将推出英国首个针对已识别违规者的实时警察警报系统,目前的平均响应时间为 9 秒。
英格兰和威尔士的生物识别专员威廉·韦伯斯特(William Webster)教授表示,面部识别“在未来几年可能会成为商业和公共服务的永久配置”。他预计警察改革法案将纳入 LFR 框架,提供“一个一代人一次的机会,以建立有意义的监督并制定正确的监管”。
零售分析师乔纳森·德·梅洛(Jonathan De Mello)表示,采用情况“将取决于零售商能否证明,在清晰的法律和伦理界限内运行的同时,该技术能带来可衡量的犯罪率降低”。
美国领先的监控摄像头供应商 Flock 上周面临强烈抵制,原因是其首席
“面部识别技术在未来几年可能会成为永久配置” 威廉·韦伯斯特教授
执行官承认,警察曾将该技术用于与执法无关的目的,包括追踪其浪漫伴侣。Flock 超过 120,000 台 AI 赋能的车牌扫描仪部署在 49 个州。
批评人士称,该技术不仅具有侵入性,而且不可靠。加利福尼亚州一个警察局的分析发现,Flock 发出的警报中有 71% 误读了车牌。一个名为 DeFlock 的团体绘制了一张显示全美摄像头位置的地图。它指责该公司利用“漏洞”在没有合法搜查令的情况下监视人们。
英国警方和零售商对该技术的迅速采用,引发了民权组织的“奥威尔式”类比。Big Brother Watch 在 4 月份试图限制伦敦警察厅使用 LFR 的高等法院挑战中败诉。此后,内政部已同意在全国范围内部署 LFR 车辆。
警务大臣莎拉·琼斯(Sarah Jones)对该裁决表示欢迎,她表示:“当人们生活在对犯罪的恐惧之中时,就不可能拥有真正的自由。”她补充说,面部识别技术将获得“记录级的投资”并投入部署。
追加报道:埃文·莫菲特(Evan Moffitt)
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中国灵巧人形机器人制造商 Uniree Robotics 的股票在上周交易首日飙升。面向零售投资者的首批股票认购倍数超过 5,500 倍,随后的抢购热潮导致该股在上市后飙升超过 600%。摩根士丹利估计,到 2050 年,全球人形机器人市场价值可能达到 500万美元。这家总部位于杭州的公司创始人王兴兴在上周的一次会议上表示,人形机器人将在十年内普及到大众市场,因为 AI 增强训练将使其能够在测试条件之外执行有用的任务。
富时 250 指数成分股的私立医院运营商 Spire Healthcare 再次延长了 Toscafund Asset Management 决定是否提出正式收购要约的截止日期。今年 5 月,该投资基金提出了一项每股 250p 的非约束性提案,这将使 的估值约为 10亿美元。此后, 的股价上涨了近 60%。此次延期是应 Toscafund 的要求,以便其在完成尽职调查后敲定融资安排。 在全英国运营 38 家医院和 60 多家诊所。
亚洲最富有的人之一被判处终身监禁。恒大创始人许家印在 4 月承认包括贪污和贿赂在内的指控。在 2010 年代,恒大成为中国最大的房地产开发商之一,但无法支付其债务利息。该公司在 2021, 崩溃,并带动中国房地产市场的大部分随之崩盘。法院还命令没收许家印的资产,并判处包括许家印两个儿子在内的其他恒大高管有期徒刑。对于在房地产暴跌中失去积蓄的数千万民众来说,这可能仅是微小的安慰。中国经济仍在努力应对其后果。
● Henry de Zoete 被任命为英国政府的
泰晤士水务公司表示,其禁用水管浇水的禁令可能会持续到年底
苹果公司向爱尔兰补缴了 170亿美元 的税款
空中客车公司在远程办公问题上让步
美国对部分加拿大商品征收 50% 的关税
癌症疫苗突破引发 Moderna 股价上涨
Harvey Nichols 被 Sports Direct 的所有者收购
英国AI安全研究所(AISI)主任。这位科技公司创始人、天使投资人以及前首相 AI 顾问在全球先进人工智能竞赛的关键时刻就任此职。他接替了临时主任 Adam Beaumont,后者将回到其之前的 GCHQ 岗位。该研究所因对前沿 AI 模型能力进行独立的发布前评估而赢得国际赞誉。最近的评估发现了安全事件,其中 Anthropic 和 OpenAI 的模型采取了“针对真实人员和组织”的自主、未经授权且具有欺骗性的行动。
全球最成功的风险投资公司之一 Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) 据报道正受到美国司法部(DOJ)的调查,原因是其合伙人同时在竞争公司的董事会任职。刚刚完成 50亿美元 融资的 Databricks 和最近与 Dbt Labs 合并的 Fivetran 都从事帮助公司收集、分析和分拣大量数据的业务。a16z 联合创始人 Ben Horowitz 是 Databricks 的董事会成员,而合伙人 Martin Casado 是 Fivetran 的董事会成员。这次调查是一个令人惊讶的进展,部分原因是该公司与
特朗普政府,而且是因为风险投资公司通常不符合调查标准。接近该公司的消息人士告诉 TechCrunch,在 a16z 支持的数百家公司中,有些公司最终产生竞争并不令人惊讶。以往此类调查通常会导致至少一个董事会席位被放弃。
Revolut 首席执行官尼克·斯托隆斯基(Nik Storonsky)可能会被允许以其在这家金融科技巨头中的股份作为抵押借款高达 $250,高于目前安排下的 $50。Revolut 上周致信投资者,寻求批准一项规则变更,该变更将允许持有公司 20% 以上普通股的员工(该群体仅包含其联合创始人斯托隆斯基)可以使用其持股的 10% 作为借款抵押。这项内部代号为“Shasta 项目”的变更,将允许这位出生于俄罗斯的企业家解锁其飞速增长的财富中更大的一部分,而这些财富大部分与他在 Revolut 的持股绑定。
直言不讳的亿万富翁雷·达里奥(Ray Dalio)建议投资者将现金从债券转移到黄金,以对冲美国债务危机的风险。这绝非达里奥(桥水基金 Bridgewater Associates 创始人)首次警告政府债务增加的危险。他的最新警告是在全球债券抛售以及美国财政部长斯科特·贝森特(Scott Bessent)试图安抚市场情绪但未获成功的背景下提出的。黄金正朝着 1999, 以来表现最好的一月迈进,而比特币仅在上周就上涨了 20% 以上。在 LinkedIn 的一篇帖子中,达里奥认为美国政府的财务状况处于一个“感染点”,预算赤字需要减半至 GDP. 的 3% 左右。他还指出,英国、欧盟、中国和日本也面临类似的债务和赤字问题。他说,在投资组合中持有 10-15% 的黄金是一种降低风险并提高回报的方式。
a16z 联合创始人本·霍罗维茨(Ben Horowitz),该公司正接受美国司法部(DOJ)调查。
美国能源部长克里斯·赖特(Chris Wright)认为每天通过霍尔穆兹海峡的石油桶数。分析人士表示,实际情况可能要低得多。但霍尔穆兹海峡并非唯一的问题。沙特阿拉伯的出口量也在下降,部分原因是来自胡塞武装的威胁,而俄罗斯的出口则受到乌克兰无人机袭击其炼油厂的影响。
将一桶原油转化为一桶柴油的成本——创历史新高。石油市场在近几个月似乎波澜不惊,但柴油的利润率却讲述了一个不同的故事。柴油对工业和农业至关重要,而“裂解价差”则是未来经济痛苦的红色闪烁信号。
美国战略石油储备的桶数——为四十多年来的最低水平。当霍尔穆兹海峡再次开放时,预计美国将补充其储备。其他国家也将考虑囤积。油价可能会在更长时间内保持高位。
根据 Rystad Energy 的数据,由于加拿大油砂地计划维护导致设备停机,下个月将减少每日 30 万桶的石油产量,这将限制国际供应。这将使美国建立石油储备变得更加困难。


商业
observer.co.uk
23.08.26
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巴尼·麦金泰尔 (Barney Macintyre)
商业新闻编辑

要求新任财政大臣提高盈利银行税收的呼声日益高涨,但该行业领导者警告称,这可能会对抵押贷款和养老金产生严重影响。
在约翰·希利 (John Healey) 10月28日提交的首份预算案之前,战线已经划定。一如既往,“打击银行家”的问题正成为一场关键的博弈。
在希利的左翼,绿党上周呼吁对银行利润征收 38% 的超额利润税。而在另一边,行业组织英国金融业协会 (UK Finance) 一直在警告这将“打击国际竞争力”,而摩根大通的杰米·戴蒙 (Jamie Dimon) 和花旗银行的简·弗雷泽 (Jane Fraser) 等华尔街巨头则暗示,如果该行业成为财政部的目标,将会产生后果。
新任财政大臣在接手权力之时,不断上升的借贷成本正逐渐侵蚀他应对政府财政规则的缓冲空间。他还负责筹集资金,以支持其上司就任以来宣布的各项支出计划。他能否在其中寻找出路?
银行利润看起来像是增加收入的一个诱人目标。国民西敏寺银行 (NatWest)、劳埃德银行 (Lloyds) 以及巴克莱银行 (Barclay) 和汇丰银行 (HSBC) 的英国分支机构报告称,2026. 年上半年的税前利润总计 130亿英镑。净利息收益率——即银行向借款人收取的利息与向储蓄者支付的利息之间的差额——在某家贷款机构中同比增加了 15 个基点(本质上,银行向储蓄者传递降息的速度快于向借款人传递的速度)。

位于伦敦的银行警告约翰·希利(右图)不要增加对它们的征税。
“我能理解为什么政治家想要榨取银行。但它们不是现金奶牛,而是经济的强大驱动力” 安吉拉·奈特,BBA前首席执行官
一些人认为,银行还忽视了向小企业贷款的风险承担,导致私人信贷“影子银行”取而代之。
汇丰银行前首席执行官约翰·弗林特 (John Flint) 表示:“在政府对经济进行财务干预的能力确实受限之时,银行系统的实力应当成为抵消国家财政枷锁的有价值手段——在公共能力不足之处,由私人资产负债表能力介入。但在实践中,情况并非如此。钟摆已经过度向另一个方向摆动,陷入了风险厌恶。”
英国银行协会 (BBA) 前首席执行官、此前曾任保守党部长的安吉拉·奈特 (Angela Knight) 表示赞同,但她警告不要提高该行业的税收:“我们这些极度厌恶风险的银行确实在盈利,这一点毫无疑问,我也能理解为什么政治家们说让我们从他们那里榨取更多资金。但他们不是现金奶牛,他们是英国经济的强大驱动力……对他们征收更多税,其后果将贯穿始终,从抵押贷款利率上升到养老基金缴款下降。”
如果财政和政治计算结果是政府认为某种形式的银行税是必要的,那么选项包括:
上述任何方案都会遭到银行业激烈的反对,他们会辩称,额外的征税最终将使家庭、企业和经济增长受损。某些方案显然比其他方案风险更高。任何对货币系统底层机制的改动——分级准备金制度就属于此类——都需要经过非常谨慎的设计和沟通,而不能为了多争取几十亿资金而仓促推进。
在动荡的全球背景下,希利(Healey)可能会决定采取稳健策略。一位前财政部顾问表示,即将出台的预算案可能会采取一种“勉强维持”的方式,即“希望财政空间不会被过多侵蚀,寻找个位数的十亿级资金,并争取在未来的斗争中生存下来”。即便如此,如果利润继续滚滚而来,要求对银行征税的呼声只会越来越高。
巴尼·麦金泰尔 (Barney Macintyre)
商业新闻编辑
富时100指数(FTSE 100)上市的医疗设备制造商史密斯与尼菲尤(Smith & Nephew)的股价上周下跌了近 4%,此前其首席财务官辞职,前往一家美国公司就职,该公司提供了 280万美元 的签约奖金。
约翰·罗杰斯(John Rogers)的离职凸显了某些类型的英国公司在跨大西洋薪酬竞赛中试图保持竞争力的挑战。史密斯与尼菲尤的主席鲁珀特·索姆斯(Rupert Soames)称他们为“Brilos”:仅在上市地是英国。2025. 年,美国市场占史密斯与尼菲尤收入的 53%。而且,人才之争不仅仅关乎高管——该公司超过一半的董事会成员居住在美国。
由欧洲最大的激进投资者 Cevlan 共同撰写的一份最新报告(该公司恰好持有史密斯与尼菲尤 14.2% 的股份)认为,与国际竞争对手相比,英国的非执行董事(NEDs)处于“超员状态”(overboarded)且薪酬过低。
报告显示,富时100指数公司中近 50 名非执行董事同时担任四个董事会席位,而 8 人担任五个或更多席位。与此同时,过去十年中,非执行董事的实际薪酬下降了 11%,税前薪酬中位数水平为 8 万英镑。
瑞士 20 家最大公司的非执行董事薪酬中位数比英国同类(但规模更大)公司高出 90%。一项针对非执行董事薪酬的分析显示,去年美国和德国的薪酬分别增长了 4.8% 和 0.4%。英国和法国则分别下降了 5.6% 和 0.7%。
对于伦敦市场衰落的担忧往往集中在与美国的估值差距、公司上市的监管负担、投机性的外国掠夺者或缺乏愿意投资的资本。但 Cevlan 认为,责任应更直接地归咎于公司业绩,更具体地说,是业绩的战略驱动因素:董事会。
“人们尝试了许多方法来帮助英国市场,例如修改上市规则使其更便捷,以及允许双重投票权股份。所有这些努力都是有价值的,但没有解决根本问题:英国公司的业绩还不够好,”Cevlan 高级合伙人哈兰·齐默曼(Harlan Zimmerman)表示。
虽然英国非执行董事的现金薪酬与标准普尔 500, 指数(S&P 500)董事会成员相当,但美国公司通常会辅以大量的股权奖励,这意味着他们的总薪酬几乎是前者的三倍,约为 22.9 万英镑。
哈兰·齐默曼:
“英国公司的业绩还不够好”
非执行董事通常有其他收入来源,大多数公司还会就其在审计、薪酬或可持续发展委员会担任的角色支付额外费用(约 1 万英镑),或者作为高级独立董事支付费用(在 5,000 英镑 至 20 万英镑 之间)。
今年,投资者愿意投票支持比往年幅度大得多的高管薪酬增长提案。但在非执行董事薪酬方面,股东顾问似乎在尝试进行更严格的监管。ISS 的政策更新将“非执行董事薪酬超过高管薪酬”列为警示信号。
一家正在尝试为非执行董事提供股份奖励的富时公司主席表示:“你希望能够将决定战略的人员的薪酬与公司长期价值的创造联系起来——因为这才是创造安全感和就业机会的关键。”
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Stephen Armstrong
在篮球运动中,这被称为“防守滑步”:一种在不完全崩溃的情况下抵御进攻者的方法。美国第一大篮球鞋制造商耐克(Nike)确实陷入了下滑——其股价在五年内持续下跌,上周跌至12年低点。
2026年第一季度,耐克在美国的营收停滞不前,在中国市场下降了12%。
目前耐克处于防御状态,其著名的“勾号”标志在多样化的市场中受到新品牌的冲击。2025年,耐克在全球运动鞋市场的份额下降至22.9%,这是连续第三年下降。阿迪达斯(Adidas)虽然恢复了一些阵地,但 Hoka 和 On Running 等竞争对手在欧洲和美国市场有所增长,全球市场份额分别达到8%和3%,高于2019年的0.2%和0.4%。在中国,包括乔丹(Qiaodan)以及安踏(Anta)和李宁(Li-Ning)在内的本土品牌已变得不容忽视。
该品牌依然排名第一——尽管公司2025年的营收有所下降,但仍高达460亿加元(350亿英镑),远高于排名第二的运动品牌阿迪达斯的280.7亿加元。但一项转型计划似乎对股价暴跌几乎没有产生影响。
“作为一名做空者,即使是我也对股价跌得这么低感到有些惊讶,”First Information 的首席执行官 Vince Stanzione 表示,他从2023年开始做空该股票,且个人偏好 On 品牌的运动鞋。
Retail Economics 的首席执行官 Richard Lim 认为,自2021年以来的下滑既是由竞争对手的营销驱动的,也是由耐克的错误导致的。
耐克的前任老板 John Donahoe 在2020年将公司重塑为直接面向消费者的品牌,绕过实体店,转而支持耐克应用程序(Nike app)和电子商务。这种向高利润直接面向消费者销售模式的转变,意味着在新冠疫情后线下购物重启时,耐克在货架上消失了。到

一名耐克粉丝在德克萨斯州奥斯汀的工厂选购运动鞋。该公司目前正在重建与零售商的关系。 Brandon Bell / Getty Images
2021年9月,在 Donahoe 就任不到两年时间里,该公司已经削减了超过一半的零售合作伙伴。
“耐克向零售商限制供货,并在一些较小的店铺完全停止销售,”Lim 解释道。“最大的误判在于 [没有意识到] 年轻消费者是在店内发现并做出选择的。很少有人直接去找耐克。反过来,那些商店为了填补没有耐克的货架,转而寻求其他品牌。”
Donahoe 还停止了将公司划分为专业体育部门的做法,撤掉了专门负责跑步、足球、篮球和健身的经验团队。唯一的划分仅为男装部和女装部。耐克的惯用策略一直是让顶尖运动员在全球赛事中首次亮相创新产品。一旦技术获得认证,这些鞋款就会向大众市场推广。失去体育专业人员意味着这一流程消失了。
Donahoe 于2024年退休,由 Elliott Hill 接任。Hill 现年62岁,是耐克的资深员工,他正将重心重新转向体育,并重建与零售商的关系。在6月份的一次采访中,他承认,由于美国关税和油价上涨打击了消费者的购买力,耐克问题的规模被放大,这意味着重组所需的时间比他预想的要长。“诊断结果没有改变,”他说。“处方也没有改变 [但] 我可能需要稍微增加剂量。”
耐克一直在与特朗普政府的关税问题作斗争,且其对支持 Black Lives Matter 的 NFL 球员 Colin Kaepernick 的支持,使其成为了像 Ted Cruz 这样的人的攻击目标,后者称耐克的营销计划是“仇恨美国”。
林表示,虽然股东们急于看到增长,但耐克正“回归到一种更接近其以往运作方式的模型”。“它正在努力改进风格。它曾是利用影响力人物来扩大品牌的典范。它已经堵住了亏损的漏洞,且转型计划正显示出初步迹象,表明其开始产生成效。”
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洛里·肖特 (Lori Schott) 上周二在奥克兰法院外拿着她女儿安娜莉 (Annalee) 的照片。这名 16 岁的少女据称死于社交媒体的使用。Gedefreda & Vasquez / AFP Getty
针对全美儿童的 Instagram 和 Facebook,并为 TikTok、Snap 和 YouTube 等其他社交媒体巨头设定条款,这些公司都面临着几乎相同的指控。
该诉讼背后的调查是由前 Facebook 产品经理弗朗西斯·豪根 (Frances Haugen) 触发的。在 2021, 豪根泄露了数千份内部文件并在参议院小组委员会作证,揭露了 32% 的青少年女孩表示 Instagram 让她们对自己身体的感觉更糟糕;基于参与度排序的推送将脆弱用户引导向饮食失调内容;且该公司已知晓其中部分危害,但豪根指控称,该公司选择不修改其产品。
Meta 多次否认对其研究的这种定性。
早先起诉社交媒体公司的尝试曾受阻于 Section 230,即保护互联网平台无需为用户发布的内容承担责任的美国法律。这些新案件则主张,平台的设计选择(如无限滚动和推荐系统)是公司的产品——这意味着当这些功能造成伤害时,平台应承担责任。
Meta 在经历了一系列法庭败诉后进入奥克兰审判。本月,新墨西哥州的一名法官命令 支付 $567,原因是其未能就儿童心理健康的危害向公众发出警告,并要求其更改 Instagram 和 Facebook 在该州针对未成年人的运作方式。这是在 3 月份陪审团处以 $375 罚款之上的追加处罚。
同样在 3 月,洛杉矶的一个陪审团认定 和 YouTube 在设计损害年轻用户的平台方面存在过失,并向一名 20 岁的女性 awarded $6。
5 月, 支付了 $9 以达成与肯塔基州一个学区的诉讼和解,该学区称社交媒体加剧了学生的心理健康危机。 未承认有错。目前有 6,000 多起类似案件正在法院审理中。
AI 公司将关注这些案件。OpenAI 已经面临多起诉讼,指控 ChatGPT 的设计导致了自杀、自残和妄想发作。
上个月提起的一起诉讼主张,ChatGPT 趋向于谄媚的倾向,导致一名男子的躁狂发作演变为数周的妄想,随后该男子尝试自杀。OpenAI 表示,它在训练聊天机器人识别困扰、缓解情绪并引导人们寻求支持。
在加利福尼亚州这场具有里程碑意义的审判中,如果败诉,这家社交媒体巨头可能面临高达 140万美元 的损失,并迫使扎克伯格的公司重新设计 Instagram 和 Facebook
Patricia Clarke 技术记者
上周在加利福尼亚州的一场审判中,一名举报人透露,在 Meta 的各平台中,接触到露骨内容的青少年人数至少比这家社交媒体巨头报告的数字高出 100 倍。
前 安全工程师阿尔图罗·贝哈尔(Arturo Béjar)表示,该公司报告的青少年接触露骨或暴力内容的风险为 0.01% 至 0.02%,但用户调查结果
表明此类内容的普遍程度要高得多。贝哈尔指责 首席执行官马克·扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)营造了一种“关于 Facebook 对年轻人承诺的虚假且具有误导性的印象”。
在奥克兰的审判中,加利福尼亚州副总检察长梅根·奥尼尔(Megan O'Neill)声称, 研究了儿童大脑的工作方式,并讨论过通过修改 Instagram 来利用这些知识。
此次审判将测试来自加利福尼亚州、科罗拉多州、肯塔基州和新泽西州总检察长的指控,他们称扎克伯格的公司设计 Instagram 和 Facebook 是为了让儿童上瘾,并在其意图方面误导了家长和监管机构。除了这些指控外,29 个州还指控 在没有获得适当家长同意的情况下,非法收集并使用了 13 岁以下儿童的数据。
强烈否认其故意为儿童创建成瘾产品的说法,并否认其故意收集 13, 岁以下儿童的数据,而这类儿童是被禁止
5.67亿美元
本月由新墨西哥州一名法官裁定,原因是未能就儿童心理健康受损向公众发出警告
900万美元
用于解决肯塔基州一个学区在 5 月份提起的诉讼
3.75亿美元
3 月由新墨西哥州陪审团处以的罚款。
在 Instagram 或 Facebook 上创建账户。该公司表示,它已经倾听了家长的意见,与专家和执法部门合作,并花费多年时间开发旨在保护年轻用户的工具。该公司还辩称,它不可能在“社交媒体成瘾”方面误导消费者,因为这并不是一个被认可的精神病学诊断。
扎克伯格是否将在审判中出庭作证尚待决定。本周,圣地亚哥州立大学的一位心理学教授将继续作证,其研究重点是随着智能手机的普及,青少年健康状况自 2010, 起开始恶化。
拥有 Instagram、WhatsApp 和 Facebook 的 今年已经在两起关于社交媒体危害的诉讼中败诉。但在奥克兰的败诉可能会让该公司损失高达 140万美元 (100 万英镑) —— 根据 的估算,这大约相当于其全部价值。
这还可能迫使 重新设计
Jeevan Vasagar 气候编辑
自中东战争爆发以来,由于航运公司寻求替代贸易路线,通过巴拿马运河的过路费已大幅飙升。如今,一场性质截然不同的新干扰正在限制这一关键水道的货物通行。
随着厄尔尼诺(El Niño)天气模式在全球范围内产生影响,巴拿马——通常是地球上最潮湿的地方之一——由于缺乏降雨,导致运行运河船闸所需的淡水供应减少,迫使运河管理局宣布从 9 月中旬起将每日过境数量限制在 32 艘。目前,每天有 36 艘船只通过。该管理局表示,将优先考虑在较大的新巴拿马级(Neopanamax)船闸中安排载货量最大的船只,这些船闸可服务长度达 370 米的船舶。
在 2023–24 年的上一次厄尔尼诺期间,该管理局在极端干旱期间大幅削减了每日交通量。航运公司被迫寻找更长的路线,部分集装箱则改为通过铁路横跨巴拿马地峡。今年,运河集水区的降雨量比历史平均水平低三分之一。
该运河利用船闸中的淡水将船只提升至太平洋与大西洋之间 26 米的高度。该管理局表示,“天气状况的变化比最初预期的更为迅速。”
今年的厄尔尼诺预计将在今年年底前增强,并被预测为有记录以来最强的一次。这是一种自然现象,但增加了人为气候变化所带来的压力。除了对航运的干扰外,研究人员预计,随着干旱袭击部分地区,而风暴天气影响世界其他地区,农业和食品价格将受到剧烈影响。
巴拿马运河的危机提醒人们,世界依然依赖于少数几个脆弱的海上咽喉要道。作为航线转移的早期迹象,洛杉矶港表示,预计货物将被分流至南加利福尼亚州的各港口。
该运河也是一个地缘政治闪点,唐纳德·特朗普誓言要从巴拿马手中夺回其控制权——美国在 1999 年底放弃了控制权。
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迈克·艾希利(Mike Ashley)说他“不是玛丽·波平斯”,但此刻他可能正感到超级无敌神奇……On 13 August,这位色彩鲜明的 Sports Direct 创始人赢得了一场激烈的竞争,买下了高端哈维·尼科尔斯(Harvey Nichols)百货集团。随后,在上周二,据披露他的 Frasers Group 已将其在 Hugo Boss 的持股比例增加至极具影响力的 48%。
由于德国所有权规则中的一项技术细节而触发的一次低价收购报价,现已演变为一次严肃的收购该时尚集团的尝试,而艾希利的姑爷迈克尔·默里(Michael Murray)目前就在该集团的监事会中任职。
这种家庭动态被证明是富有成效的——更温文尔雅的默里提供了那勺“糖”,让艾希利的“药剂”更容易被吞咽——并且在两人从艾希利的廉价大众市场起点,向更精致的奢侈品业务攀升的过程中,这种组合可能会很有用。艾希利曾表示,“敦刻尔克精神”
正驱动着他对 Boss 的追求——这种缺乏 tact 的措辞,据称是精明的交易员默里绝不会使用的。
他们的赌注是,零售业(尤其是高端零售业)一段糟糕的困境期即将结束,并且可以找到一些廉价货,特别是那些陷入苦战的知名品牌。Frasers Group 持有大量股份的其他公司还包括 Puma、Debenhams Group 和 Mulberry。
来自国内竞争对手、私募股权基金以及海湾地区的对哈维·尼科尔斯的竞争表明,他们并非唯一持有此信念的人——尽管仍有许多怀疑论者预计,该行业在(或许)好转之前,情况会变得更加糟糕。
但股市开始倾向于艾希利。Frasers Group 的股价已从今年3月的低点上涨了近 30%。
作者:马修·毕晓普(Matthew Bishop)


一张 1906 年的手绘明信片,描绘了位于伦敦骑士桥的哈维·尼科尔斯大楼。The Print Collector / Getty
企业社会责任(CSR)在西方正经历一场抵制,尤其是在美国,目前流行的是“企业不负责任”的氛围。在其他地方,各国政府正在引入激励措施,促使公司对社会和地球的需求承担更多责任,包括将 强制化。
印度在 2013 年引入了一项要求,规定一定规模的公司必须将利润的至少 2% 用于经批准的社会发展活动。毛里求斯自 2016 年起要求企业将利润的 2% 缴纳给政府支持的国家 基金会。
在一项名为《解锁企业资本以实现社会创新》(Unlocking Corporate Capital for Social Innovation)的新研究中,这两者以及从卡塔尔到肯尼亚等国家的几项更窄范围的政策都得到了探讨。该研究认为,自愿性的 没有产生显著影响,但强制性政策具有产生影响的潜力——前提是资金被创新地使用。
上周由政府社会创新委员会(该研究的发布方)主办的一场研讨会上,听取了来自世界银行、菲律宾政府和 Hogan Lovells Cadwalader 律师事务所发言人的讲话。该律所的高级合伙人汤姆·沃尔什(Tom Walsh)将英国的 描述为一场“乱象”,并敦促部长们采取由“更好的商业法案”(Better Business Act)运动和 B Corp 运动支持的公司法改革。
如果美联储主席在工作中真的能处于一群朋友之中,那一定是在每年8月下旬举行的杰克逊霍尔经济政策研讨会期间。
除了对严肃议题进行真诚的讨论——今年的焦点是金融创新(即加密货币日益增长的作用)——聚集在一起的顶尖央行行长和经济学家们还能在享受徒步旅行、白水漂流以及欣赏壮丽的大提顿山景的同时,进行非正式的交流。
然而本周,新任美联储主席凯文·沃什(Kevin Warsh)在抵达时将需要向同行证明一些事情:他是否真的是他们中的一员?他由唐纳德·特朗普提名,这引发了人们对他是否致力于维护美联储极其珍视的政治独立性的极大怀疑。
在参议院的确认听证会上,他向参议员们承诺,他不会成为总统的“人体傀儡”。但在一个充满希望的开局之后——他顶住了白宫要求降息的压力,并任命了一组真正可靠的专家来就美联储改革向他提供建议——质疑声开始重新出现。在最近一次公开市场委员会会议(三名成员投票支持加息)维持利率不变后,他在一次含糊其辞的新闻发布会上令市场感到不安,并且因为取消前瞻性指引(一种向市场告知美联储关于未来利率政策最新思考的长期既定方法)而受到了冷遇。
由于为了降低此前惊人上涨的收益率而启动的新美国政府债券购买计划,沃什的任务变得更加复杂。财政部长斯科特·贝森特(Scott Bessent)被广泛认为自己也觊觎美联储主席这一职位。面对杰克逊霍尔内部和外部日益持怀疑态度的听众,沃什周五的演讲需要经过极其审慎的考量。
Jeevan Vasagar 气候编辑
对于在世界上变暖最快的大陆上运营的欧洲公司来说,山火风险在议程中的优先级正在迅速提升。但据保险业高管和分析师称,许多公司的财务保障仍存在漏洞。
今年夏天,欧洲有超过 600,000 公顷的土地被火灾摧毁,是往年同期的两倍,且在英国已成为日益增长的风险。在本月早些时候该国连续第五次热浪期间,西米德兰兹郡斯托尔布里奇(Stourbridge)的一起事件摧毁了 19 处房产并损坏了其他建筑。
日益增长的火灾威胁意味着企业在如何降低风险方面面临保险公司更严格的审查。Howden 气候风险与韧性副总监 Erin Owain 表示:“随着山火损失变得更加频繁,并扩散到更广泛的地点和新的地理区域,保险公司可能会重新评估他们判断风险的方式、收费标准以及现有保单是否提供足够的保障。”
在全球范围内,2025 年是记录以来山火损失最惨重的一年,1 月洛杉矶的火灾导致了 400亿美元 的承保损失。根据瑞士再保险公司(Swiss Re)的一份报告,这是全球增长最快的灾难风险,损失每年增加 12%。
经济风险不仅限于财产损失,还包括对劳动力、供应链和基础设施的干扰。
Owain 表示:“2023 年的罗得岛山火

本月一场山火后,斯托尔布里奇一座房屋的残骸。Getty
也证明了即使企业的财产没有受到物理损坏,企业仍可能遭受重大损失。”
Owain 补充说,保险公司与客户的合作日益侧重于了解脆弱性并采取措施增强韧性,这可能包括使用详细的地理位置数据来评估风险,以及权衡减少火灾影响措施的成本与收益。
企业还面临着来自山火的另一种不那么直接但潜在成本更高的威胁:法律责任。
总部位于剑桥的咨询公司 Risilence 的环境分析主管 Oliver Carpenter 表示:“我们预计,随着山火风险的增加,人们将更加关注负责植被控制和土地管理的公司。”
加利福尼亚州最大的公用事业公司太平洋天然气电力公司(Pacific Gas and Electric)在 2019 年 1 月申请破产,此前加州一家政府机构认定,该公司在羽毛河峡谷(Feather River Canyon)的输电线导致了 2018 年的坎普火灾(Camp fire),造成 85 人死亡,数千栋房屋和企业被毁。
太平洋天然气电力公司面临数百起诉讼和数十亿美元的债务。
在美国,企业的法律风险不仅来自个人,也来自其他公司,因为保险公司试图通过起诉公用事业公司来追回山火造成的损失。
(关于在桑拿房生存,第24页)
Yoel 是短篇小说和随笔集《王国》(The Kingdom)的作者。他的作品曾发表在《时尚先生》(Esquire)、《The Fence》和《金融时报》(Financial Times)上。
如果你能看到任何人表演单口喜剧,那会是谁?
“作为格雷格·特金顿(Gregg Turkington)反喜剧的粉丝,我希望我以前那位极其严肃的驾驶教练能拍一部精彩的单口喜剧特辑。弗拉基米尔·列宁、我的抵押贷款经纪人,以及任何正在攻读博士学位的人也一样——他们的共同点是都相当愤怒或陷入严重的抑郁。”
(关于阴茎增大,第12页)
Kyle 是一位自由撰稿人,曾为包括《时尚先生》(Esquire)、《GQ》、《Vogue》和《花花公子》(Playboy)在内的杂志撰稿。他最近因一篇关于艺术阴谋的《滚石》(Rolling Stone)长文而被提名 Deadline Club 奖。他现在住在斯托克波特(Stockport),那里虽然不是“新柏林”,但真的很棒。
“单口喜剧让我感到恐惧,但为了看到哈里·希尔(Harry Hill)进行《TV Burp》的现场巡演,我愿意做任何事情。这算吗?”
(关于房屋,第10页)
Elizabeth 是一位专注于设计、室内装饰和工艺的作家、编辑和顾问。她的第一本书《新英格兰室内设计》(New English Interiors,Frances Lincoln 出版,2024年)介绍了 22 位创意人士色彩丰富、图案繁多的家。
“辛杜·维(Sindhu Vee)。我觉得她非常幽默,尤其是她对育儿的见解,因为我有一个活泼好动的幼儿。”
(关于我的心事,第46页)
乔是一位屡获殊荣的诗人、小说家和回忆录作家。《镭之子》(Children of Radium)现已出版,这是一部关于他曾祖父的家族史,其曾祖父是一位在 20 世纪 20 年代的德国开发了放射性牙膏的犹太化学家。
“鲍勃·蒙克豪斯(Bob Monkhouse)。我很想听他讲述我最喜欢的一个笑话:‘以前我说我想成为一名喜剧演员时,人们都嘲笑我。现在,他们不再笑了。’”
封面图片:Matilda Hill-Jenkins,《观察者报》杂志 • 22 Berners Street, London W1T 3LP • magazine@observer.co.uk 印刷于 Walstead Bicester Ltd, Chaucer Business Park, Launton Road, Bicester, OX26 4QZ
23.08.26
《观察者报》杂志
3
《观察者报》
在 Lightroom 观看《大卫·鲍伊:你并不孤单》(David Bowie: You're Not Alone)可享受最高 65% 的门票折扣
与鲍比·布朗(Bobbi Brown) 共度的一小时
与曲奇米
诺森伯兰郡的风味 在哈克尼开业

6月,加布里埃尔·沃特豪斯(Gabriel Waterhouse)关闭了位于贝斯纳尔格林(Bethnal Green)的米其林评级餐厅 Water House Project。一个月后,他宣布 Waterhouse 餐厅开业。“速度很快,”这位厨师说,“但后台一直在进行一些准备工作。”沃特豪斯和他的妻子帕特里夏·瓦凯姆巴(Patricia Wakaimba)在六个多月前发现了这个场地——位于哥伦比亚路(Columbia Road)后方的一间旧陶艺工作室——觉得太棒了,不能错过。室外有一个种植香草的庭院。那里将种植迷迭香、百里香以及食用花卉。“能直接采摘用于出餐的感觉很好。”室内家具采用不锈钢和橡木——现代且温馨:“那里的光线很美。”
在开放式厨房中,团队将使用来自沃特豪斯的家乡诺森伯兰郡及其周边地区的食材。来自苏格兰的扇贝和龙虾、林迪斯法恩(Lindisfarne)牡蛎、克拉斯特(Craster)熏鱼。Singing hinnies 是一种来自纽卡斯尔的煎饼——“我们将用混合香料和薰衣草来制作”——它们将在黄油中滋滋作响(即“歌唱”),然后刷上蜂蜜。另一道菜是用大麦制作的,他们将在大麦上培养曲奇米(koji)——一种日本真菌。“它能带来令人难以置信的水果味和泥土气息。”大麦被做成粥,配以烟熏黑线鳕、芥末和贻贝。“这让我想起了我的父亲,”沃特豪斯说,“他总是用牛奶煮烟熏黑线鳕——把整个房子熏得味儿十足。”
这家以他名字命名的餐厅将于 9 月 3 日开业,是沃特豪斯事业的顶峰。从他家中的私人晚餐俱乐部开始,随后转型为提供品鉴菜单的餐厅,如今终于达到了最终形态。“这是重新构思后的结果,是我烹饪应有的样子以及它的定义。” • HOLLY O’NEILL
7A Ezra Street, London E2 7RH (restaurantwaterhouse.com)
演技
在电影《Wicker》那段既搞笑又色气的预告片中,奥利维亚·科尔曼(Olivia Colman)饰演一名永远单身的渔女,她请求一名篮筐编织者为她编织一个丈夫。结果是一个由亚历山大·斯卡斯加德(Alexander Skarsgård)饰演的手工打造的肌肉男,他的忠诚和性能力彻底颠覆了他的新婚妻子以及村民们。互联网的反应迅速且露骨。一位评论者将其赞誉为《50 Shades of Hay》;另一位则暗示这对“人类男性来说是个坏消息”。在一条社交媒体帖子中,宜家(Ikea)将一张藤编长凳描述为“由丈夫材质制成”。不过,没有什么能比得上官方的宣传语:“找个硬汉(硬材质)才好。”
• HAYLEY MYERS
二维码
PORTUGATE JONATH
快速响应二维码(不,我也没听过这个称呼)有许多应用场景,我承认并非所有应用都令人愉悦。每当一家商业街连锁店或机场酒吧坚持要求我扫描二维码,以便使用一个在整个基督教世界中没人觉得好用的定制应用程序时,我都会愤怒不已。(我认为这是 lockdown-era 封锁时期社交距离用餐留下的残余,维持它的唯一目的就是为了降低人力成本。)看到我居住的东伦敦附近数十根灯柱上贴着广告二维码,推销大麻,这让我感到有些震惊,而且每次看到时,我都在两种心情之间纠结:
是该惊叹于我们当地毒贩的创业才干,还是惊叹于我们当地卧底警察的才干。
然而,对于二维码本身,我确实相当喜欢。它发明于1994年,直到最近才征服世界,其形状所创造的那种粗糙的、千禧年式的未来主义感令人着迷。我喜欢它们矮胖、方正的形式,它们看起来几乎——但从未完全——像某种可辨认的东西,就像一个像素化的罗夏墨迹图。
其效用中也有一种不可否认的优雅。尽管功能上看起来可以互换,但你见过的每一个二维码都是唯一的。你的大脑肯定在向你尖叫:空间有限,像素有限,所有可能的组合总有用完的一天吧?事实并非如此。可能的唯一二维码数量实际上是 10 的 7,112 次方。既然已知宇宙中的原子数量大约是 10 的 80 次方,我们不妨学会热爱这些方方正正的小主宰。无论我们是否喜欢它们,看来它们在短期内都不会消失。
• SEAMAS O’REILLY
23.08.26 《观察者报》杂志
5
观察
要么是做按摩,这很放松;要么是和孙辈们在一起,这虽然让人精疲力竭,但却充满活力。我刚和他们一起度过了周末;他们太可爱了,但现在我的背很疼。
我童年是在 20 世纪 60 年代度过的,但我很好奇以成年人的身份体验那个十年会是什么样子。那时的自由、时尚、摇滚乐和社会动荡似乎都更有趣。我可能会跳进高中男友的车里,前往伍德斯托克。
伊丽莎白二世女王。我想知道她是如何在任何情况下都能保持那种毫不费力的优雅的。我曾问尤金妮公主是否可以直接走进白金汉宫看望她的祖母;她说她必须先向助手预约,并且始终要着装得体。
孩子们还小的时候。我不确定当时是否充分体会到了那段时光的珍贵。那时感觉压力很大且无法掌控,但当你回首往事时,你会觉得,天呐,那是最好的时光。
我不常哭。并不是因为我没有丰富的情感,我有。但通常这些情感表现为焦虑而非泪水。我因为快乐而哭的情况比因为悲伤而哭的情况更多。
这位 69 岁的美国化妆师是 Bobbi Brown Cosmetics 和 Jones Road Beauty 的创始人。2025 年,《时代》杂志将她列为全球 100 位最具影响力的人物之一。她与丈夫及家人住在新泽西州。她的回忆录《Still Bobbi》现已出版。
准备工作。这就是为什么我这次采访迟到了 5 分钟。
从我的产品开发团队那里拿了一些明年才上市的产品。不过我留了便条。
两天前。顺便说一下,是和我结婚 38 年的丈夫。
我有一个叫 Groove Club 的舞蹈健身应用,无论发生什么,它都能让我心情愉快。那是放克和嘻哈风格,英国教练 Daniel Browne 非常可爱。
继续做你现在在做的事。它会带你走向某个目标的。如果我告诉她要学会冷静下来并放松,她肯定不会听。
当你感到无聊的时候。我不喜欢站在那里闲聊——也许是因为我只有 5 英尺高。我更倾向于坐在桌边或沙发上聊天。我丈夫比我更有耐力,所以当我准备离开时,通常会给他使眼色。
我运气好。我关注健康、养生和饮食。我学会了如何冷静下来——偶尔如此。主要是因为我是一个心态积极、态度良好的人。而且,我不抽烟,也没有在脸上打针。 ●
6
口述给 HAYLEY MYERS • 肖像 MORGANE LAY
观察(Observations)
EVA WISEMAN
身体政治(BODY POLITICS)
或许是为了给即将到来的假期做准备,我开始阅读关于豪华露营(glamping)的政治学。“豪华露营”,你可以理解为存在于酒店和露营地之间那片广阔且贫瘠的假期地带,在这两个方向上都需要做出巨大的妥协。
你或许幻想过,包里只带一块防水布走进森林,在苔藓和蕨类植物中躺下入睡——但实际上,你开车来到一个临时搭建的商业园区或圆顶帐篷郊区,虽然没错,你确实睡在帆布之下,但里面也有一张床垫,而且可能还有个买咖啡的地方。自然确实在场,但它被消毒湿巾快速擦拭过,所以你是在某种距离之外接触它的,就像隔着一层保鲜膜。然而,它又不像酒店,不是吗?没错,有床垫,但除此之外就没多少东西了。你将共用浴室。你将穿过一片草地走向那个浴室,草地被新邻居的耐克拖鞋踩得平整且发黄,而这些邻居私密的噪音现在像交响乐一样在你的太阳穴边回响。
要探讨豪华露营的政治学,你必须首先以同样的方式走过露营的政治学。这是一种丰富且仍在演变的追求,其核心在于公共空间内的权力,涵盖了围绕阶级、种族、抗议以及家园不稳定性而产生的观点与冲突。临时的帐篷社会在反抗之地出现。社会主义理想在露营地被尝试,等级制度(理论上)随着墙壁一起消失。当然,对许多人来说,在户外睡觉并非一种选择。它是危险且痛苦的,有时甚至会致命。然而,对于那些在天气晴朗时才露营的人来说,这是一个自我提升的机会,一个与自然连接、呼吸新鲜空气、脱离奢侈生活,然后欣然回家的机会。
豪华露营作为一种度假选择,出现在 2000 年代初期,并于 2016 年被加入词典,加入了一个由合成词组成的短名单——如“居家度假”(staycation)、“早午餐”(brunch)——这些词同样令人反感又令人兴奋,其概念不知怎么地随着词语而升华,带着它们的紧张感、矫揉造作以及匆忙粘合的不稳定性。不过,豪华露营作为一个概念,其实和露营一样存在已久,
有记载显示,15 世纪的皇室会搭建装满随身物品的宫殿式丝绸帐篷;而在 1920 年代,进行狩猎旅行的美国人经常坚持要求配备发电机和香槟的帐篷。
至于我,在青少年时期经历了一次格外惨烈的格拉斯顿伯里(Glastonbury)之后,如果必须露营,我开始坚持至少得有一张床。一系列灾难接踵而至,包括没完没了的泥泞以及帐篷里的财物被盗,而最后的恐怖则发生在某天凌晨三点左右,另一个更大的帐篷直接压在了我们的帐篷上面。我一直对露营没什么兴趣,而这件事最终成了压死骆驼的最后一根稻草。
因此,本周我们去豪华露营。我们的家庭假期恰好——或许是巧合——与迈克·李(Mike Leigh)的《五月之坚果》(Nuts in May)50 周年重映重合。这是一部 1976 年的阴暗且精彩的喜剧,讲述了露营和 / 或他人的恐怖之处。在这部电影中(背景就在我的家人和我即将搬进一座时髦钟形帐篷的地方附近),我们看到那种认为自然及其浪漫将治愈所有城市创伤的想法,以及对森林疗愈的神话,被缓慢且泥泞地击碎。事实上,在这里,乡村景观释放出某种原始且暴力的东西,我们的主角最终在树林中痛哭。此时此刻,与其说是一个承诺健康和缓解的地方,在压抑的高温下,叶子被灼焦,草地枯黄,“自然”被揭示为有时是致命的,并且
是一个比关于“森林浴”和“自然疗法”的杂志文章所暗示的更为复杂的前景。
下周我是否会步入一个新的黎明,满身血迹且陷入疯狂,抑或是我们的帐篷能够直立(stand-uppable-in)这一事实,能至少拯救我灵魂的一片碎片?这就是承诺过的现场披萨车的作用吗——为我们这些对陆地感到些许恐惧、经常被星空的寂静以及那座山丘之外的诡异谷所惊吓的人提供的一道理智缓冲带?与其说“豪华露营”(glamping)仅仅是一个向富裕家庭提供经过精细处理的户外体验的产业,它是否实际上成了拯救我免于彻底崩溃的唯一途径?周一出发后,我会告诉你们。 ●
Eva Wiseman 是《观察者报》的作者
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观察(Observations)
值得穿着之物...
忍耐吧! 5英寸内缝短裤将长期流行

它并不总是能精准地确定某种趋势何时进入主流,但当安迪·伯纳姆在今年早些时候穿着一件阿迪达斯(Adidas)“超短”短裤去跑步时,关于5英寸内缝短裤的讨论达到了顶峰。在男装中,没有多少服装能像超短裤这样引发如此两极分化的反应。大腿露多少才算太多?你的腿毛是太多了,还是不够多?
日本在2005年推出的“酷夏办公”(Cool Biz)计划,为高温环境下的职场着装提供了指导,旨在降低夏季月份的电力需求和空调成本。最初这意味着舍弃西装外套和领带,但最近的一项裁定首次为在办公室穿着 [...OMITTED...] 开了绿灯——而那些被迫直视同事腿毛的员工们迅速产生了抵触情绪。
这种讨论并非新鲜事,此前保罗·梅斯卡(Paul Mescal)穿着他的 O'Neill 盖尔式足球 [...OMITTED...] 被拍到时,我们也经历过这种情况。“我喜欢较短的内缝。在我看来,这关乎比例——短裤配长上衣,”他告诉《GQ》,随后总结道:“我非常主张男性穿着较短的 [......]。”哈里·斯泰尔斯(Harry Styles)多年来一直在为跑步 [......] 做非官方宣传,而现在有了他的未婚妻(佐伊·克拉维茨,同样是跑步 [......] 的穿着者),两人证明了这一趋势不分性别。但是,看到即将就任首相的人穿着一件 [......],对于网络大众来说,这次大腿露出的程度实在太过分了。
伯纳姆优雅地向批评者低头,在他于 10 号北区(Number 10 North)发表的演讲中宣布,他买了一些新的跑步 [......] ——他打趣说,这比修改体面法要容易得多。
首相在休息时间应该对自己宽容一些,夏天还没有任何缓解的迹象。虽然这并非“酷夏办公”认可的造型,除非你是体育老师或者你的最终目标是登上领奖台,否则为了你自己,请借鉴梅斯卡和斯泰尔斯的做法,回家后换上一条 [......]。 ● 海伦·西蒙斯(HELEN SEAMONS)
© IMAGES, KSC PHOTO AGENCY, KNT / STAR MAX / ALAMY
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p34 雅典 基普塞利区 指南
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无论你高矮,较短的内缝 都更显身材。可以搭配 背心和敞开的衬衫,或 在日落后搭配一件套衫。
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如果你在大腿和 [......] 之间不能塞进两根手指,那么它们就太紧了。功能性面料有利于排汗,而纯色的泳 [......] 也可以兼作日常 [......]
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1) Active light [......], £45, Arket 2) Woven [......], £35, Reebok 3) Umbro check football [......], £45, Urban Outfitters 4) Race unit [......], £75, Acid Running 5) Sprinter [......], £40, Adidas 6) Trailwind [......], £75, Nike 7) Logo swim [......], £185, Aime Leon Dore 8) Rag patch rugby [......], £80, Adam Jones 9) Micro corduroy [......], £155, Polo Ralph Lauren (End Clothing)
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在《观察者报》商店购买今夏最热门的书籍,最高可享 15% 折扣。
这里汇集了屡获殊荣的小说和引人入胜的非虚构作品,无论是在海滩还是在花园,快来储备您的夏季读物吧。
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在色情内容、社交媒体以及对“外貌最大化”(looksmaxxing)痴迷的驱动下,越来越多的男性正遭受阴茎尺寸焦虑的困扰,从而导致他们寻求极端的美容手术。这种风险是否值得?
作者:KYLE MacNEILL
插画:JUSTIN METZ
在1967年10月至12月期间,超过450名新加坡男性被紧急送往医院,他们坚信自己的阴茎正在萎缩。由于极度恐慌,有些人用筷子夹住阴茎干,有些人用晾衣夹夹住,或者用绳子捆绑并用橡皮筋勒紧。
朋友和家人被要求轮流握住亲属的阴茎,试图阻止它们缩回腹部。许多人担心自己吃了掺有疫苗的猪肉;据新加坡媒体报道,有一头猪因阴茎脱垂而死亡。这些男性认为自己将是下一个。
这些事件在当时都是前所未有的。但九年后,在泰国东北部发生了极其相似的事情,这一次有近2,000名男性担心自己的阴茎在缩回。(这次恐惧是由一个排外谣言引发的,称越南移民在烟草中加入了某种神秘的、能使阴茎萎缩的粉末。)在20世纪90年代和21世纪初,这种恐慌蔓延到了非洲,不过这一次的罪魁祸首是超自然力量。包括尼日利亚和加纳在内的国家中的男性报告称,魔法师(祭司魔法师)在用魔法“偷走”他们的阴茎,使其暂时消失。
所有这些病例都是想象出来的。Koro(在马来语中意为“龟头”)是一种通过社区传播的妄想障碍,通常是通过某种共同的恐慌传播的。“简单的定义是,人们相信自己的身体部位,通常是性器官,正在萎缩或缩回,”奥克兰大学专门研究群体性癔症的荣誉高级讲师罗伯特·巴塞洛缪(Robert Bartholomew)最近告诉我。绝大多数事件涉及阴茎。中国古代文学中也存在类似的故事,不过首次医学记录是在1849年。虽然偶尔会出现与心理性行为问题相关的个体病例,但这通常是一种集体恐惧
——巴塞洛缪将其称为一种“在人群中传播的、共同的、短暂的错误信念,通常以谣言的形式出现,从而触发与焦虑相关的症状”。
Koro可以通过安抚或安慰剂药物成功治疗。“受害者通常在几天内康复,”巴塞洛缪说,“一旦他们意识到自己的生殖器还在那里。”每隔一段时间,这种妄想就会再次出现。今年早些时候,莫桑比克出现了一起与koro相关的事件,其诱因是担心超自然力量导致男性生殖器萎缩或消失。但这种障碍在很大程度上已经消失了。
然而在西方,一种更为普遍的阴茎焦虑正在兴起。在koro首次席卷全球南方60年后,全球北方的男性开始不可控制地担心自己阴茎的尺寸。而且,由于《纽约杂志》(New York Magazine)的报道,这种担忧被赋予了一个名称:“大而小的阴茎恐慌”(Big Little Penis Panic)。
40岁的汤姆记得他开始痴迷于自己阴茎尺寸的时刻。“我们在学校体育课前后必须换衣服,”他最近告诉我,“我很快就意识到自己的尺寸偏小,更衣室里其他孩子的嘲笑和侮辱强化了这一点。”后来,他在18岁时与一位好友的一次令人失望的性经历,让他觉得这证明了自己缺乏价值,从此之后他再未与任何人发生关系。“除了在30多岁时经历过一次失败的异地恋,我完全避开了性行为和恋爱关系,”他告诉我,“很大程度上是因为我的阴茎太小。”在Reddit上,数千名男性
在空闲时间讨论类似的担忧。随着“捕捉印刷”(catching print)的兴起——这是一种由 TikTok 驱动的趋势,涉及通过分析男性的裆部来猜测其阴茎尺寸——这表明阴茎尺寸可能成为一种公开可见的事物。在韩国,一种“手指捏合”的阴谋论在传播,暗示激进的女性主义团体正通过微妙的手势和隐藏信息来嘲讽小阴茎。而非自愿独身者(incel)团体则将这种对小阴茎的感知排斥作为攻击女性的一种手段。
然而,这种新的焦虑并非koro(阴茎缩减综合征)。男性并不是担心他们的阴茎在萎缩,而仅仅是担心它们已经太小了。“Koro 是急性的、集体性的且具有自限性的,”巴塞洛缪告诉我,而这种关于“大号小阴茎”的恐慌则不然。但两者之间存在相似之处。“两者都是社会传播的,”他继续说道,“是对自身身体的感知在与某种流传的信念或比较基准进行校准,而非某种内部产生的担忧。”
担心自己阴茎小的男性人数,远多于实际阴茎小的男性人数。2005年的一项研究表明,85%的女性对伴侣的尺寸感到满意。伦敦国王学院在2015年进行的一项里程碑式调查得出结论,只有2.6%的男性拥有临床意义上的“小”阴茎,这意味着其尺寸显著低于平均值:疲软时长度为3.6英寸,勃起时长度为5.1英寸。“大多数人都将落在那个正态分布曲线中,”泌尿科医生、盆底外科医生及即将出版的《硬真相》(The Hard Truth)一书的作者雷娜·马利克(Rena Malik)博士告诉我。
然而,另一项由《英国泌尿学杂志》(British Journal of Urology)开展的2015年研究(也是此类研究中最新的一项)发现,45%的男性对其阴茎尺寸不满意。其中一小部分男性患有阴茎躯体变形障碍(Penile Dysmorphic Disorder),即一种错误且挥之不去的信念,认为自己的阴茎很小。但大多数男性并非如此。
这是一种出人意料的近期欲望。在古希腊,尺寸娇小曾大受欢迎;任何过大的都被认为是低俗且粗鲁的。在接下来的几千年里,这一直是普遍共识:小才是时髦的。但色情内容的泛滥使人们对比例的预期爆炸式增长,而社交媒体则火上浇油。比以往任何时候都多的男性在进行“外貌最大化”(looksmaxxing):服用肽类药物以增加肌肉量,或遵循艰苦的锻炼计划,在极少数极端情况下,甚至敲碎面骨以符合新的男性理想。
2018年,自由撰稿人凯雷尔·格兰特(Kyrell Grant)
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阴茎延长术
在 Twitter 上创造了走红的短语“大屌能量”(Big Dick Energy),因此现在拥有大阴茎意味着拥有更好的个性。反之,小阴茎则变成了一个贬义词和笑柄,被从《南方公园》(针对唐纳德·特朗普)到格蕾塔·通贝里(针对安德鲁·塔特)的所有人都拿来使用。33岁的护理员克里斯告诉我:“我们这些阴茎小的男人只是在承受‘流弹’。我们的痛苦是个笑话。你无法尝试为此辩护,因为即使提到这件事,也会被用来攻击你。”有时,这种痛苦变得挥之不去。以至于手术的诱惑变得不可抗拒。
自2014年以来,数以千计的男性走进位于伦敦哈利街77号(77 Harley Street)的一栋华丽联排别墅,希望在离开时拥有更大的阴茎。由自封为“卓越之男”的谢里夫·瓦基尔(Sherif Wakil)博士经营的 Dr SW 诊所提供广泛的私密手术项目。“这严重影响了男性的自信,”瓦基尔在谈到小阴茎焦虑时告诉我,“这与他们的男子气概直接相关。女朋友对男性尺寸的任何评论都会深深地打击他。极少有人拥有足够强大的心理素质能使其不受影响。”他当时在办公室通过 Zoom 交流。背景中摆放着来自世界各地的旗帜,记录着他患者的多样性。“太阳下的每一个国籍都有,”他说,“我们都共有同样的焦虑。”
瓦基尔解释说,粗度比长度更重要。“阴道管的长度大约在 7-10 厘米。如果你拥有更长的阴茎,那你到底能做什么?你会离你的伴侣半米远,却无法触及她。”他告诉我,至关重要的是不仅要诊断尺寸,还要诊断阴茎的形状——有些阴茎可能因为被埋藏(被皮肤褶皱遮盖)或有蹼(与阴囊皮肤相连)而显得较小。但即使是这次初步咨询也是一个微妙的过程。“患者会观察你的眼睛,因为他想看你对他阴茎的反应——他在想你会不会感到震惊?这就是为什么作为一名医生,你需要非常小心,不要增加创伤,即使它小得令人难以置信。”
这种长期的情感痛苦意味着一些男性已经尝试了 DIY 方法。雷娜·马利克一直在对“jelqing”的风险发出警报,这是一种在 TikTok 上流行的阴茎拉伸练习,涉及男性
每天手动拉扯阴茎组织一次。“这非常不安全,因为人们在毫无控制地拉扯自己的阴茎,”她告诉我。“有些家伙实际上导致了阴茎受伤,并造成了不可逆的勃起功能障碍。”
牵引设备通过对阴茎施加轻微的拉力,通常更安全。“只要你遵循说明,就不会真正伤害到自己,”马利克说。较新的设备,如 RestoreX(£349),每天仅需 30 分钟,而过去的技术需要 4-6 小时,尽管它主要被宣传为预防泌尿外科手术后长度丢失的一种方法。那些让人想起可疑杂志广告时代的深奥乳液和药剂依然层出不穷,但它们都不过是各种版本的江湖骗术。“人们很绝望,愿意尝试任何方法,”汤姆告诉我。
提供的各种增大手术令人眼花缭乱。最古老的方法是悬韧带手术(价格从 1,500 英镑 起),通过切断连接阴茎和耻骨的韧带来增加一两厘米的长度;患者必须不断拉扯阴茎以防止瘢痕形成。还有脂肪移植,
本质上就是给阴茎做抽脂,将脂肪从腹部或侧腰取出并添加到阴茎干的周长中。在美国,一种名为 Penuma 的硅胶套植入物(2004 年获得 FDA 批准,后更名为 Himplant)是一种永久性选择,费用在 $10,500 到 $19,000 之间。
此外还有非侵入性治疗。向阴茎注射透明质酸填充剂——据报道,冬奥会的跳台滑雪运动员使用这种方法来创造更具空气动力学的身体形状以增加飞行距离——其效果可持续约 18 个月,并可随时间或药物溶解。由于严重的并发症,永久性填充剂在英国几乎被禁止——根据伦敦大学学院医院(UCLH)的一项研究,90% 的患者需要手术矫正。
新型的手术和注射方法层出不穷。瓦基尔在美国完成了培训,并且是英国通用医学委员会的成员,他引入了几种方法,包括 P-Shot,即向阴茎注射富血小板血浆以刺激血流。他的诊所向患者的阴茎注射干细胞,起步费用为 6,500 英镑。瓦基尔坚信增大手术能带来巨大的回报。“你会看到自信心的巨大变化。在他们的穿着方式、处事方式上,”他告诉我,同时捧着一对塑料演示睾丸。“你必须成为一名艺术家。当你做这样的事情时,你不再仅仅是一名医生。你是一名雕塑家。”
在哈利街(Harley Street)提供这些服务的并不只有瓦基尔(Wakil)。在几个门牌之隔的地方是 Moorgate Andrology,这是一家由大卫·米尔斯(David Mills)经营的诊所,他开发了 Moorgate 量表——一种用于测量阴茎尺寸并将其与伴侣偏好进行对比的研究工具。附近位于哈利街 150 号的 Erectifill 提供透明质酸凝胶填充(入门级选项 10ml 为 £999)。在街道转角处则是 Androfill 诊所,该诊所在 12 个国家拥有 30 多个网点,并有 100 多名经过透明质酸填充注射培训的从业者。根据其网站显示,Androfill 团队自 2012 年以来已执行了超过 15,000 例手术。
但 Androfill 是一个复杂的实体。其创始人、阴茎成形术先驱加里·霍恩(Gary Horn)医生在电话中告诉我,他目前无法回答任何问题。2021, 年,霍恩在 ITV 的一次卧底行动中被抓获,秘密录音显示他告诉一名对处女膜修复手术感兴趣的患者,如果进行该手术变得非法(事实上,在 2022 年 7 月确实变得非法),他们将“不得不撒谎;我们必须说我们在做其他事情”。在撰写本文时,霍恩正因一系列医疗事故指控接受医疗从业者审判服务局(Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service)的听证。他目前被暂停在英国医疗注册名单中。
“我们这些阴茎小的男人总是被误伤。我们的痛苦被当成笑话。你无法为此辩护,因为只要提到它,就会被用来攻击你”
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在哈利街开设诊所具有重要意义;这个地址本身就自带一种信任感。哈利街的诊所都不是那种后巷美容店,而健康国务大臣卡琳·史密斯(Karin Smyth)最近将后者称为“由不合格从业者和手术组成的‘西部荒野’”。但霍恩的案例表明,即使是在声誉最高街道上最成熟的美容外科诊所也可能面临丑闻。在美国,Himplant 的发明者詹姆斯·埃利斯特(James Elist)目前因被加州医疗委员会指控“重复性过失行为”而处于缓刑期。
“阴茎增大手术存在某种阴暗面,因为它不像面部治疗那样主流,”英国政府认可的美容治疗注册机构 Save Face 的主任阿什顿·柯林斯(Ashton Collins)告诉我,“这里存在一个由不法经营者组成的地下世界。”手术还伴随着巨大的风险。2019, 年,比利时-以色列亿万富翁钻石商埃胡德·阿里耶·拉尼亚多(Ehud Arye Laniado)在巴黎进行阴茎增大手术期间因心脏病发作而去世。悬韧带释放术可能会导致疤痕。脂肪移植可能导致慢性疼痛和纤维化。硅胶植入物在增加疲软状态下的周径和长度方面可能有效,但可能会出现溃疡和疤痕等并发症。“我总是告诉我的患者,你只有一个阴茎,”马利克(Malik)告诉我,“如果你对结果不满意,你是没法回头(恢复原状)的,对吧?”
瓦基尔强调,手术必须由专业人士操作,否则患者可能会“最后只剩下一个像

‘我总是告诉我的患者,你只有一个阴茎。如果你对结果不满意,你是没法回头的’
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阴茎延长术
香肠三明治一样的残端。而且,当然,他会恨你,恨他自己,恨一切。”
柯林斯见过由不法分子操作手术所带来的毁灭性后果。“我们遇到过相当多严重的案例,男性在注射阴茎填充剂后出现了结节、肿块和不均匀现象。”一名男子描述了一个高尔夫球大小的肿块在阴茎上移动。另一名男子以为自己注射的是透明质酸填充剂,但结果却是永久性的,很可能是 PMMA(一种热塑性塑料)——它不断移动并形成肿块。
柯林斯告诉我,男性往往因为尴尬而对失败的手术视而不见。一名男子“拖延了太久,导致阴茎的一部分发生坏死,不得不切除一大块”,她说道,并解释说这给他留下了性功能和泌尿系统的问题,且需要进行大规模的皮肤移植尝试修复。“当这些事情出错时,所产生的心理影响是极端的。”
最令人震惊的是,提供填充服务没有任何法律要求或资质要求。“任何人都可以注射真皮填充剂,”柯林斯告诉我。“如果你想在今天下午开始,你可以在 Instagram 上把自己包装成阴茎填充专家,而你并没有违反任何法律。”柯林斯并非反对手术,她承认许多男性在做决定前会考虑多年。对于某些人来说,利用手术来处理情感创伤,值得冒着获得身体创伤的风险。但这始终是一种风险。“更广泛的问题是,患者对阴茎美容增强的需求增长速度快于支持这些程序的科学证据,”穆巴拉克说道。
今年早些时候,穆巴拉克和英国泌尿外科医生协会(BAUS)的其他几位代表评估了男性生殖器增强程序的安全性。他们评估了 36 项研究:12 项关于注射类,24 项关于手术类。他们表示,填充剂“产生了短期的周径增加,并伴有轻微的暂时性并发症”。手术程序显示出尺寸的“适度增加”,但存在感染和纤维化的并发症。一份经过验证的报告指出,诸如血小板等新型“生物支架”显示“80% 的患者将其结果评为良好至优秀”。
但高质量的证据匮乏。“阴茎美容文献中公布的满意率是出了名的不可靠,通常来自样本量小、单中心、随访期短且选择性偏差高的研究,”皇家自由医院的顾问整形外科医生阿夫辛·莫萨赫比(Afshin Mosahebi)告诉我。“长期数据显示患者的不满意率很高。”BAUS 的报告提出了五项建议:所有患者应接受全面评估;应优先进行心理转诊;强烈建议不要使用不可吸收的注射剂;同时建议不要使用增强手术技术。报告还建议应避免使用可吸收的注射填充剂——例如透明质酸。
穆巴拉克强调了一个事实,即绝大多数追求阴茎扩大的男性实际上并没有小阴茎。“一项针对 437 名寻求阴茎增强的男性的 2022 年回顾研究发现,只有四人的阴茎在解剖学上异常,”他告诉我,并且“在接受结构化咨询计划的男性中,超过 96% 的人得到了宽慰,并最终决定不进行增强手术。”看来,外展宣传甚至比注射更有效。
今年 1 月,一名叫迈克尔·菲利普斯(Michael Phillips,38 岁)的男子在 ITV 的《This Morning》节目中戏剧性地亮相。在与主持人本·谢泼德(Ben Shephard)和凯特·迪利(Cat Deeley)交谈时,这位美国艺术交易商解释说,他认为自己拥有世界上最小的阴茎。他被诊断为小阴茎症,在排尿和性交时面临严重的并发症。“应该让人们知道这是一种医疗状况,”他说。他尝试过脂肪移植,但没有效果,而其他手术似乎太贵了。“我想说:只要找一个你可以自由谈论这件事或让你感到舒适的地方,哪怕只是与某人一对一交谈。”
菲利普斯展示了一种缓解阴茎焦虑的古老良方:获得接纳。但这种公开的坦诚很少见。2021 年,一个 Small Dong
在洛杉矶举行的一次游行旨在提高人们的意识,但任何关于“阴茎积极性”(penis-positivity)的运动到此为止了。马利克(Malik)在 YouTube 上关于泌尿外科的视频播放量已超过 5 亿次,她认为我们需要改变男性对性的认知,并将关注点完全从阴茎上转移开。“关键在于要明白,能给对方带来快感的不仅仅是你的阴茎,”她告诉我,“其中包含的内容要多得多。你必须学习如何做其他所有事情。整个身体都是敏感带。让我们专注于用其他方式进行刺激。”
但对于某些人来说,这种创伤是永久性的。“在应对这个问题时,唯一能提供某种缓解的是在网上与其他经历同样事情且能提供支持的人互动,”汤姆(Tom)告诉我。他对专业人士感到失望。“医疗专家和治疗师将所有关于阴茎过小的担忧轻描淡写地归结为躯体变形障碍(body dysmorphia),就我而言,这使得他们在这一方面毫无用处。”他继续说道,“似乎没有人愿意承认这是一个没有解决方案的真实问题。我陷入了困境,而且完全不乐观地认为我的情况会有所改善。”
另一方面,克里斯(Chris)找到了一个不寻常的解决方案。“真正对我有所帮助的是买了一个假阴茎,”他说,“买一个尺寸与我相近的写实假阴茎,真的让我能客观地看待自己的处境,而且我诚实地认为我的阴茎并没有我想象中那么糟糕。”
阴茎过小的焦虑经常让受害者缩回自己的壳里,在沉默中受苦。对于少数忍受这种焦虑痛苦的人来说,手术可能会有所帮助。而对于其他人,向朋友和治疗师寻求帮助将真正产生影响。或许,最艰辛的过程是在内心深处与外在的现状达成和解。“对我应对这件事有帮助的一点就是感激我的身体能做到的事情。我不喜欢我的尺寸,但我喜欢我的阴茎样子,”克里斯告诉我,“我认为有些人失去了对自己所拥有之物的客观认知,过于关注自己缺失的部分。这可以理解,但最终是不健康的。我只希望每个人都能获得平静。” • 部分姓名已更改
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作者 西蒙·帕金(SIMON PARKIN)
摄影 马蒂尔达·希尔-詹金斯(MATILDA HILL-JENKINS)
喜剧演员
在批评入侵乌克兰之后,喜剧演员 萨沙·内兹洛宾(Sasha Nezlobin)——俄罗斯的迈克尔·麦金泰尔(Michael McIntyre)—— 用竞技场舞台换来了流亡和一种新型的单口喜剧 表演,他用一种仍在学习的语言进行演出。 但他对政权所揭露的挑衅性真相是清晰的
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--。
在全国各地,反对战争的俄罗斯人开始在社交媒体上发布黑色方块。这是一种简单而无声的谴责,针对的是弗拉基米尔·普京政府所谓的“特别军事行动”——这是一个针对这场对乌战争的、掩盖血腥事实的委婉说法。内兹布洛宾的侄女住在基辅,他在Instagram上发布了这个方块,然后合上了笔记本电脑。
如果不是因为内兹布洛宾在俄罗斯的知名度之高几乎达到了喜剧演员的顶峰,这次小小的反抗行为可能会被忽视。他的公关人员偶尔将他与迈克尔·麦金太尔(Michael McIntyre)相类比,这种比较虽不精确,但并非完全凭空臆造。在人气最高峰时期,让内兹布洛宾首次成名的电视节目《喜剧俱乐部》(Comedy Club)拥有约 250 万 名常驻观众。他随后在体育馆演出,并在总统德米特里·梅德韦杰夫面前表演;他编写并主演了一部以自己名字命名的情景喜剧,并执导了 2016 年的俄罗斯喜剧电影《新郎》(The Groom),该片售出超过200万张电影票。换句话说,他并非一个无名的异见人士。
当天晚些时候,一位朋友的妻子打电话警告内兹布洛宾,政府正在准备一项法律,可能会将鼓励他人抗议战争的行为定为犯罪。“你发布了这个黑色方块,”她告诉他,“现在这成了犯罪。删掉它。”内兹布洛宾无视了她的建议。随后,另一位喜剧演员询问他是否愿意在给弗拉基米尔·普京的一封谴责入侵的公开信上签名。内兹布洛宾同意了,独立新闻机构《美杜莎》(Meduza)随后发表了这封信。他朋友的妻子再次打电话来,她气愤地说:“现在你又签了这封信,你也会进监狱的。”
当危险依然模糊不清,当街道看起来毫无变化,当新的一天与前一天如此相似时,一个人很难抛弃自己的生活。过早离开可能显得过于戏剧化,但离开太晚则可能是毁灭性的。内兹布洛宾在成长过程中听过许多斯大林时代的故事,讲述那些被指控为间谍或叛徒的人,他们一直等到国家的意图变得不可掩饰,
而到那时,他们的选择已经灾难性地缩减了。“苏联时代的定义就是人们被杀害、被监禁或被迫离开的故事,”他说,“我觉得我必须去其他地方。”内兹布洛宾开始寻找飞往美国的航班,他已经持有为艺术领域杰出成就者预留的有效“人才”签证。他告诉我,他买了机票以“以防万一”,并收拾了一个“危机行李箱”。
然而,他的妻子觉得他反应过度。她说,如果他真的觉得需要逃离,可以带上女儿;如果情况恶化,她会随后跟去。那天晚上,内兹布洛宾与两名朋友见面,以确定他们是否违反了法律。就在他们争论时,欧洲国家正在关闭对俄罗斯飞机的领空,缩减了向西飞行的可用航线。“我说:‘操,我们会被困在俄罗斯,铁幕将再次降临,’”他回忆道,“我的朋友们向我保证一切都会没事的,但领空关闭的消息接踵而至。”
在经历了两个小时的不安睡眠后,内兹布洛宾在一种冰冷的确定感中醒来:他必须立即离开。他叫醒女儿,告诉她他们要去度假。当他收拾她制作的小陶俑时,她产生了怀疑。“你为什么收拾我的手工作品?”她问。他回答道:“宝贝,我想让它们陪我们一起去度假。”他的行李箱里装着陶俑、她最喜欢的玩具、他的笔记本电脑,以及几双由朋友提供的正装鞋——那位朋友认为他最初选择的鞋子不适合在美国穿着。他们离开时天还没有亮。
内兹洛宾在没有计划的情况下抵达了纽约。(“我唯一的计划就是抵达纽约。”)他们先住在一家酒店,随后租了一间 Airbnb,等待内兹洛宾的妻子决定是否加入他们。当下一班从莫斯科飞往纽约的直飞航班在格陵兰岛附近因更多领空关闭而折返时,内兹洛宾再次给她打电话。“请现在就离开,”他说。她指责他带着孩子逃跑。直到她的朋友们也敦促她前往,她才最终同意加入他们。
通过仅存的几条路线之一,他们找到了一张机票:莫斯科到圣彼得堡,然后到伊斯坦布尔,最后到纽约。内兹洛宾在飞机追踪应用 Flightradar 的免费版本上,通过不断刷新页面,注视着妻子的航班在黑夜中蜿蜒前行。当飞机在土耳其附近突然改变航向时,他担心他们太迟了。他的女儿发现他僵在屏幕前。“爸爸,”她问,“发生什么事了吗?”
现年 43 岁的内兹洛宾在 20 世纪 90 年代的波列夫斯科伊长大,那是叶卡捷琳堡附近的一个工业小镇。他记得在那个在他看来是伟大城市的童年时光很幸福。直到出国旅行后,他才意识到自己曾将多少匮乏与危险视为平常。贫困和成瘾现象十分普遍;他告诉我,其中一些损害可以追溯到苏联在阿富汗的战争,许多男人在战争中受伤或染上海洛因成瘾后返回家乡。
内兹洛宾在十几岁中期时,在高中舞会上担任 DJ。在一次演出期间,一群当地黑帮进入了大厅。其中一人携带一支散弹枪,显然除了展示谁掌控这座城镇之外没有其他理由。当时,内兹洛宾觉得这一幕几乎具有某种魅力;直到后来才觉得令人惊恐。多年来,他继续听到关于这些人的消息:一个进了监狱;另一个被释放后被谋杀;另一个死在狱中。“就像《教父》一样,”他说。
有几年时间,他的家庭与这种不稳定性隔绝。他的母亲在镇上的一家主要工厂从事会计工作,而他的父亲经营一家安装地下管道的业务。“我们有一辆吉普车和一个录像机,”内兹洛宾回忆道,“城里只有少数人拥有这些东西。有两年时间,我们过得像斯克鲁奇·麦克达克(Scrooge McDuck)的侄子们一样。然后一切都改变了。”
他的父亲曾借了一笔大额美元贷款。当金融危机导致美元兑卢布汇率大幅上涨时,这个家庭的债务成倍增加。一辆俄罗斯汽车取代了吉普车。他的父母保住了公寓,并且仍能供内兹洛宾读完大学,但富足的篇章结束了。内兹洛宾说,他的父亲“在经济上再也没有恢复过来”。
在叶卡捷琳堡学习经济学期间,内兹洛宾几乎没有理由想象自己会成为一名单口喜剧演员。这个国家有讽刺作家的传统,但他们倾向于从纸页上阅读幽默故事和微型场景。“没有人会说像‘我和妻子之间有问题’或者‘我的孩子让我很生气’之类的话。”在俄罗斯,喜剧演员的私生活被认为是不适合作为公开素材的。
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一名流亡的喜剧演员
但通过观看家里的 VHS 录像机,他看到了另一种可能性。他记得看到的第一个单口喜剧表演是艾迪·墨菲(Eddie Murphy)的《Raw》——一个人独自站在舞台上,用自己的尴尬和委屈构建出一个世界。内兹洛宾开始搜寻他能找到的所有相关内容。
俄罗斯最接近喜剧产业的形式是 KVN,这是一个极受欢迎的竞赛,代表不同城市的队伍表演素描剧、歌曲和短讽刺剧——内兹洛宾将其描述为“每一个都是自己的《周六夜现场》(Saturday Night Live)”。他们使用数字计分卡进行评判,仿佛幽默可以像社交舞一样打分,并竞争在国家节日以及最终在电视上露面的机会。
内兹洛宾开始为一支叶卡捷琳堡的队伍撰写笑话。由于该团体太穷,雇不起技术人员,于是他也兼任了音响工程师。他站在舞台一侧,看着演员们获得了一定的名气。当陌生人走过来时,他们能认出表演者,而握内兹洛宾的手则成了随后的附带动作。
这种屈辱变成了素材。在一次 KVN 节庆活动中,组织者举办了一个非正式的黑色幽默之夜,各队伍可以在此表演不适合在电视上播出的笑话。内兹洛宾写了一段独白,讲述在一个著名剧团中担任无名音响工程师所遭受的屈辱。但还没等他表演,机场发生的一起事件让他的人身自由和刚刚起步的职业生涯都陷入了危机。
队伍中的几名成员携带了少量大麻。内兹洛宾被指派将其藏在脸颊里。“他们告诉我我的脸很大,所以这成了我的任务。”如果不是队伍弄丢了一个游戏机的盒子,这个计划或许能成功。愤怒的他们走向机场警察并要求调查。而警察反而搜查了他们。
那时,内兹洛宾已经将大麻转移到了口袋里。搜查开始时,他坦白道:“我身上有东西。”警察将他与其他人分开并审问,态度在安抚与威胁之间交替。接着,他说,他们索要钱财。为了让他免于入狱,他的团队上交了原计划在节庆期间用于伙食的资金。大麻的数量很少,但他说在俄罗斯,轻微罪行与灾难性罪行之间的区别可能取决于警察实验室选择记录什么。“他们可以随意添加,”他说,“突然之间,你可能直接被判入狱 5 或 10 年。”在法官面前,内兹洛宾为自己尚未实现的未来辩护。“我说,‘现在由您来主导我的生活。'
'苏联时代被定义为人们被杀害、监禁或被迫离开的故事。我觉得我必须去其他地方'
您可以将它导向这个方向或那个方向。”内兹洛宾表示他想从事喜剧而非吸毒,法官选择了宽大处理。“愿上帝保佑那个男人。”
那天晚上,内兹洛宾表演了他的独白,讲述那个无名的音响工程师——陌生人之所以跟他打招呼,仅仅是因为在握完其他所有人的手后,惯性太大而无法停止。这段表演赢得了一笔现金奖金,金额几乎恰好等于团队花在贿赂警察上的钱。他们通过再次把这笔钱全部花光来庆祝。
他的妻子最终在美与他团聚,他开始在俄罗斯侨民中重建自己的喜剧事业。他先在洛杉矶演出,然后前往费城、迈阿密、匹兹堡和纽约等城市;他的巡演最终远至柏林。即使在以前从未去过的地方,他也能吸引数百名记得他在俄罗斯电视节目中身影的移民,而这些人彼此相见时,就像他对他们一样感到惊讶。
但场地变小了,收入也不再稳定。内兹洛宾卖掉了家人在莫斯科的公寓,并向朋友借钱,他告诉我,其中一部分钱至今仍未偿还。他的女儿习惯了他之前职业带来的舒适生活,好奇为什么家里不再坐商务舱了。“我们现在穷了吗?”她问道。
有一段时间,内兹洛宾考虑返回俄罗斯。制作公司仍然就电视工作与他接触,而且从技术上讲,没有人告诉他其自由处于危险之中。随后,他开发了一套英文段子,探讨他眼中普京治下俄罗斯的“道德算术”。他将几种不同的罪行和量刑规定压缩成一个阴郁的对比,论证反战表达所受的惩罚可能比强奸更严重。
他将这段表演发布在 Instagram 上,随后迅速走红。俄罗斯媒体删除了笑话的实质内容,仅报道称这位流亡喜剧演员在鼓励其追随者对俄罗斯士兵实施性侵。他的母亲惊恐地给他打了电话,而攻击随即开始。亲克里姆林宫媒体的记者开始造访他之前的公寓,并接触他在莫斯科的邻居,以搜集进一步报道的素材。媒体将内兹洛宾(Nezlobin)描绘成一个美国梦破灭的叛徒,一个曾经的电视明星沦落到在极其狭小的场馆演出。一名记者形容他已经“失去了名声和金钱”。另一名记者则声称美国并未欢迎他的家人,且他无法与当地的 →
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对于在场的人来说,这显然带来了一种释放的快感,一名同胞在公开场合说出了许多人可能不再敢说的话
喜剧演员竞争。在这个国家寓言中,教训是显而易见的:离开俄罗斯,批评战争,等待你的将是平庸无为的生活。
内兹洛宾是几位离开该国的知名俄罗斯喜剧演员之一。马克西姆·加尔金(Maxim Galkin)和鲁斯兰·贝利(Ruslan Bely)都移居海外,随后被指定为“外国代理人”。但压力在入侵之前就已经存在:2020年,亚历山大·多尔戈波洛夫(Aleksandr Dolgopolov)在警方开始调查一段嘲讽普京和有组织宗教的表演后逃离。此后,压力进一步加剧。今年2月,单口喜剧演员阿尔特米·奥斯塔宁(Artemy Ostanin)因关于一名残疾战争退伍军人和耶稣的笑话被判处五年九个月监禁。
目前没有公开确认的刑事指控针对内兹洛宾。但活动人士要求将其指定为外国代理人,且他最近通过俄罗斯的公共服务门户网站收到通知,指示他前往波列夫斯科伊(Polevskoy)的军事征集处报到,他目前仍在该地登记。通知所述目的是核实其个人信息;内兹洛宾无法判断这是常规行政手续还是其他目的。在某些情况下,被召集以核对文件的男性被征召入伍并被派往乌克兰。“我不认为他们计划把我送去参战,”他告诉我,“这会引起过多的媒体关注。而且坦白说,如果他们真的召集我,这说明情况已经变得多么绝望。”
流亡也促使内兹洛宾去追求一个他长期推迟的抱负。今年8月,在爱丁堡的 Pleasance Dome,这位前俄罗斯体育馆级喜剧演员将表演《我很好》(I’m Fine),这是他的第一个全英文完整喜剧专场。我们在伦敦的一场预演中见面。乍一看,他看起来有点像个混混,肩膀宽阔,头发剪得很短。一名俄罗斯电视制片人曾告诉他,他的脸“没有表情”。但在交谈中,尤其是站在舞台上,他经常咧嘴笑,露出两个深深的酒窝。
同情他的观众是受欢迎的;内兹洛宾所做的跨越相当之大。在化妆间里,当我问他用英语进行了多少场完整表演时,他眯起眼睛开始计数。“超过5场,”他说,“但少于10场。而且从来没有像这次这么长。”
他以将自己比作试图用蹩脚英语发表演讲的梅拉尼娅·特朗普(Melania Trump)来开场,模仿她试图将丈夫与杰弗里·爱泼斯坦(Jeffrey Epstein)撇清关系的样子。这个笑话奠定了演出的基调:自嘲且意识到自己的局促,但对他之前的地位和改变的命运保持清醒。他也不害怕批评他逃离的政权,指出其残酷与荒诞。在某个时刻,他转向
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一名流亡喜剧演员
俄罗斯最高法院将所谓的“国际LGBT运动”指定为极端组织的决定。“你们见过同性恋者吗?”他问,“他们极其缺乏组织能力。”对于在场的俄罗斯人来说,这显然带来了一种释放的快感,一名同胞在公开场合说出了许多人可能不再敢在家庭范围之外说的话。
内兹洛宾的处境提供了一个强烈的喜剧前提:一个家喻户晓的人物沦落到——用他的话说——为“40个并不真正想见我的人”表演;这位成功的电影导演兼节目主创,带着歉意的笑容,在英语句子中磕磕绊绊。在某个时刻,他说观众席上的俄语使用者一定在想,他们的英语比他好得多,而母语人士则可能觉得像是被困在了一个话多的 Uber 司机身边。“也许我这样表演会更好,”他说着,转过身去,模仿握方向盘的样子。他回头瞥了一眼,加重了口音:“你知道的,我以前在俄罗斯是个著名的单口喜剧演员。”
流亡者往往不仅要应对环境的改变,还要面对地位的崩塌。另一位著名的俄罗斯喜剧演员告诉内兹洛宾,他幻想在开放麦表演开始时,给观众展示一张自己在座无虚席的体育馆表演的照片。“没人关心的,”内兹洛宾告诉他。内兹洛宾没有哀悼失去的生活,而是选择拥抱他的决定所保留、甚至促成的东西:保留一个诚实的喜剧之声的自由。“我看那些留在国内的人拍的单口喜剧和电影,我觉得自己与其中大部分内容不再有联系,”他说。“他们如此努力地避开某些话题。一个我曾经非常喜欢的喜剧演员变得糟糕多了,因为他不断地让自己远离真相。我们在布达佩斯见面,我说:‘你在做什么?这太糟糕了。’他说:‘是的,但我别无选择。’”
在他自我流亡的前两年里,内兹洛宾一直不确定离开俄罗斯的决定是保全了他的正直,还是毁了他的生活。他认为反对入侵正是“任何一个好人应该做的”,但这种道德上的确定性,对他新产生的债务和默默无闻状态几乎没有保护作用。他说,直到过去一年左右,他的疑虑才开始消退。每一项新的限制,每一个关于艺术家为了避开禁忌话题而扭曲作品的报道,都让他可能回归的那种生活变得越来越陌生。
而且,内兹洛宾在流亡期间对入侵的反对态度并未软化。他认为这既是“一个可怕的错误,也是一项罪行”,它“杀死了无数的人,给边界两边的整整一代人带来了创伤,在两个邻国之间钉入了一枚持久的楔子,并且

萨沙·内兹洛宾在洛杉矶表演,在那里他仍在努力成名;以及在俄罗斯面对庞大的人群,在那里他曾是一名著名的喜剧演员
使俄罗斯的经济和知识生活倒退。”尽管俄罗斯社交媒体上的批评者称他为叛徒,但内兹洛宾认为他的异议是爱国主义的表达。“我爱俄罗斯,”他告诉我。“这正是我批评俄罗斯政府行为的原因。这场战争给乌克兰平民带来了巨大的痛苦,但也给俄罗斯造成了巨大的损害,并使这个国家倒退。”
他有时想象自己作为一个老人回到俄罗斯,在现政权和战争结束之后,教授电影,或帮助重建受损文化的一部分。“也许在我很老的时候我会去那里,”他告诉我。“我会带回我学到的东西,尝试帮助建设一个更好的国家。”但他承认,这可能仅仅是一个慰藉性的幻想。
内兹洛宾和他的妻子在入侵之前就已经决定分开。流亡迫使他们重新住在同一个屋檐下;他们现在和睦地住在洛杉矶的同一套公寓里,有时在考虑是完成离婚还是尝试和解。他依然怀念一些东西:莫斯科郊外的乡村住宅,那条河,以及无需先在脑中规划句子就能轻松交谈的感觉。但他说,这种渴望已不再那么剧烈。每当这种感觉袭来,他就会阅读来自俄罗斯的新闻,并庆幸自己身在他处。
在《我很好》(I'm Fine)的高潮部分,内兹洛宾(Nezlobin)告诉观众,用英语表演是他多年来的夙愿。“直到一场战争才促使我去完成一件其实在任何时刻都能做到的事情,”他说。随后,他分享了一个他试图用来理解代价的教训:“不要等到战争爆发才去做你一直梦想的事情。”
演出结束后,他在大厅入口处伫立,许多观众排成松散的队列,等着与他握手、拍自拍,或者简单地给他一个拥抱。有些人用俄语与他交谈并久久不愿离去,不舍得交出自己的轮候机会。他的一位朋友的女儿走过来向他问好——她的父亲是一位现居美国、无法安全返回俄罗斯的商人。“我的笑话里有让你们这个年纪的人感到冒犯的吗?”内兹洛宾问。“也许对某些人来说有,”她回答道,“但对我来说没有。”
在这次即兴的见面会结束后,内兹洛宾告诉我,自从离开俄罗斯以来,他演出后的惯例发生了剧烈变化。越来越多的人来找他,不再是为了拍照,而是为了告诉他,他们同样抛弃了家园和身份。他们感谢他让他们看到他在公众面前挣扎却依然坚持。在某种程度上,地位的丧失反而成了某种新权威的来源。在英国剧院那明亮而狭窄的大厅里,有那么几分钟,他再次成名了——这次是以一种不同的方式,或许也更具有意义。 ●
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--。
你觉得在一个没有空气的木盒子里出汗能让人放松吗?那么与半裸的陌生人进行尴尬的闲聊呢?在这一新系列文章的第一篇中,对“乐趣”持怀疑态度的《观察者报》作者约埃尔·努拉利(YOEL NOORALI)被迫尝试英国最受欢迎——且最具有受虐倾向——的健康狂热活动之一:公共桑拿……
插画 KLAUS KREMMERZ
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桑拿还是不桑拿?这不是问题所在。今天的问题是在哪里桑拿。我们都应该去桑拿,这被视为理所当然,就像现在人们认为我们应该打板式网球(padel)、参加公园跑(park run)、攀岩一样。我们不去问这些所谓的“乐趣”是否必要,而只问在哪里、何时、多久之后?不知怎么地,在过去的几年里,Instagram 搅乱了与自我优化之间的关系,我们不再追求真正的——比如在酒吧里——而是决定将其表现化:它不再是某种被“拥有”的东西——现在没人再“拥有”了——而是一种成就。因此,现在向我们推销的每一种新形式的都期望我们喘气、举重、扭曲、出汗、忍耐、崩溃。今天,
对你有好处。将你推向极限。意味着通过在 90℃ 的桑拿房里多坚持五分钟来放松。
至少这是我的印象——我不能确定。直到最近,我从未尝试过任何可能地改善我健康的,我妻子经常对我重复这一点。当本杂志的编辑得知我从未给这些机会时,他或许是乐观地想,是否可以付钱让我去尝试,就好像他与我妻子共谋,设计出了一个我无法拒绝的场景。或许他更乐观地希望,我能以一个毫无经验的新手视角,对这种给出公正的评估,从而开启一个新的随笔系列:在这一系列中,《观察者报》的一个虐待狂强迫我尝试,而我负责汇报——从公共桑拿及其时髦的配套活动“桑拿后冷水浴”开始。 →
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我的妻子非常信奉“放松”。当她看着我在国外开车,在环岛路口咬牙切齿时,她会抓住这个时机告诉我,我也需要“放松”。其他时刻包括:当我正在给被她开了一整夜的冷冻柜除霜时,以及当我重新排列她堆在洗碗机里的盘子时。桑拿是她众多放松方式之一。
“这对你的呼吸有好处,”她以前说过。
“我的呼吸不够吗?”我戏剧性地深吸了一口气问道。
“你呼吸得太多、太多了,”她说,“就像你在逃避警察一样。”她演示了一会儿喘气。
“难道从来没有人教过你如何呼吸吗?”她问。
我想起了我的 GCSE 考试。 “没有,”我说,“之前没人提到过。”
现在,当我在线预约桑拿时,那段对话一直萦绕在我的脑海中。当我准备输入银行卡详情时,我一直叹息着犹豫不决,无法克服“花钱买呼吸”这个概念,毕竟在过去的 35 年里,我呼吸了无数次,而且一直免费。我的编辑没有提到报销,大概是因为那样就不符合这件事的精神了:我需要像普通大众一样体验桑拿。最终,我决定尝试:我支付了 £23 参加两次疗程。
根据英国桑拿协会(British Sauna Society)——这是一个真实存在的组织——英国现在拥有近 640 家公共桑拿房,比今年年初增加了近 20%。英国成了芬兰心理战的受害者,这种心理战是由那个总是对自己国家之优越感自鸣得意的一位斯堪的纳维亚朋友在我们的心中播下的种子。桑拿像炭疽一样从法尔茅斯一直蔓延到了高地。
我决定将当地的公共桑拿房绘制在一个粗略的光谱上,范围从“嬉皮士”到“雅皮士”。在决定去哪里时,我不确定哪个听起来更令人不快,所以我每种都订了一家,假设我在精神上是个雅皮士,但由于新闻业的现状,我的银行余额是个嬉皮士。
这两家桑拿房的 800 字免责声明都没有给人留下什么放松的第一印象,文中匆忙地提到了“癫痫发作”、“空气传播疾病”,以及略带滑稽色彩的“与桑拿房内物体碰撞”。听起来我走出房门时会浑身长满疮疤,而所谓的“放松”仅仅是因为我不再拥有头骨了。对于那家 yuppie(年轻专业人士)桑拿房,我还签署了一份额外的“新闻与媒体发布协议”,将我的肖像权授予了桑拿房——没错,就是授予了桑拿房——仿佛他们计划在电视上直播这场桑拿一样。
我先尝试了那家不使用电力的 hippie(嬉皮士)桑拿房。我的第一个挑战是决定参加的时间。无论放松的风潮已经流行到了什么程度,我都无法想象在上午 9 点放松。上午 9 点是用来恐慌、紧张和喝咖啡的。下一个可用时段是 10.30am,同样是用来恐慌、紧张和喝咖啡的——中午也是如此。但我想得越多,就越意识到我把下午 6 点之前的每个小时都预留给了恐慌、紧张和喝咖啡,于是我决定选在中午。
佩卡姆社区桑拿浴场(Peckham’s Community Sauna Bath)位于伯吉斯公园(Burgess Park)较为安全的区域内的一个社区花园里,占据了一个原本非常适合开一家不错餐厅或酒吧的位置。通常到中午我已经喝了六杯咖啡,但那天早晨严重的宿醉迫使我将其减至四杯,于是我进门时就已经处于愤怒状态。
我一直想起我妻子建议我“少呼吸一点”。我想,这听起来像是我妻子想杀了我。我想象她这样说:“就这样,再少一点,就少一点点,现在干脆完全停止呼吸怎么样?”我环顾四周。一个简直是用树枝搭成的围栏围起了一块露天区域,里面有两间桑拿房。
在充当办公室的小棚屋墙上,我看到了宣传“灵气疗法(reiki)”、“足底反射疗法”、一个叫作“伦敦永续农业节”的东西,以及一个叫作“一部受希尔德加德·冯·宾根 12 世纪道德剧《美德之序曲》(Ordo Virtutum)启发的新作”的东西。那天的气温接近 30 摄氏度。很难想象芬兰竟然能说服人们通过走进一个温度高出三倍的木盒来放松。
“你好,”一个年轻人说道,他看着我给那些传单拍照,“你以前来过这里吗?”
“没来过,”我直起身子回答道,“我妻子告诉我,我需要‘放松’。”我对“放松”这个词做了个空气引号,好让他知道我并不完全相信这个概念,而且我尝试它的心态仅仅是开放到足以将其否定。他给我做了一个快速介绍,解释说他们其实没有什么规定,接着又解释了几条主要规定,而他身后的一块黑板上则列着其他许多规定。然后他指引我前往一个隔间脱衣服。
接着,我走到一张凳子旁喝了一杯免费的薄荷尤加利茶,差点翻了个白眼。我对自己竟然很享受这件事感到恼火,仿佛他们用某种方式诱骗我进入放松状态,于是我在喝第二杯时强行让脸部呈现出一种愤怒的表情。当我无法再拖延时,我起身准备进入桑拿房。与此同时,该时段的唯一另一位客人也站了起来,那是一个中年男人,毫无疑问,他是听妻子的命令而来的。我们的目光相遇了。“我保证,”我开玩笑地摊开手掌,“我不是在跟踪你。”
“我是第一次来,”他回答道,语气有点莫名其妙,仿佛我们即将发生性关系一样。
“我也是,”我回答道,同样像我们要发生性关系一样。
我的一位好朋友以前经常去男同志桑拿房,那是另一种完全不同的桑拿,我意识到在制定我的光谱时忽略了这一点。同一位朋友告诉我,伯吉斯公园是一个热门的约炮地点。这个紧张的中年男人听起来非常像在期待性行为。我礼貌得近乎迂腐。难道我即将不小心与这个男人发生性关系?
恰恰相反——我们快要被活活烤熟了。这听起来可能很显而易见,但那间桑拿房极其炎热。我们两人显然都对那10分钟的寒暄感到恐惧并做了准备,但在进入的那一刻,我们立刻抛弃了这些。在公共桑拿房里,任何对社交压力——对交流压力——的妥协,在不让自己晕倒的巨大压力面前都崩溃了,而后者耗尽了我每一分精力。然而,又不能耗费太多精力,因为如果我更努力地试图不晕倒,我肯定会因为精疲力竭而晕倒。我想,这需要达成一种极其精准的平衡,心中陷入恐慌。芬兰人怎么回事?呼吸,我告诉自己。呼吸。多呼吸一点……
以此类推。
我告诉过自己不要这样过度思考桑拿的事,但在乘车前往的途中,我在谷歌上搜索了“桑拿死亡统计数据”,发现即使是芬兰,每年也有40起桑拿死亡报告。芬兰。那我还有什么希望?汗水模糊了我的眼睛。我的银项链灼烧着我的胸口,或许像烙印牛一样在我身上留下烙印。我的眼镜绝对在我的脸颊上留下了烙印。我试着读了一会儿书,这项活动
26
在桑拿房中幸存
如果书页不会突然起火的话,这原本可能真的是一种放松。
当然,我是在完全沉默中承受这一切恐慌的,甚至出于某种礼貌,还试着笑了那么一两次,就像那个中年男人一样——他无疑正是为了推迟心脏病发作才来到这里的,而此刻他正与此搏斗。我还感到一种莫名其妙的压力,促使我坚持留在桑拿房里,也许是因为我花了 £8,得让这钱花得值,但没有手表,我根本无法判断时间。我想,应该有人安装一个时钟,或者像银行那样装四个时钟:伦敦、纽约、巴黎、东京,这样无论在这个松木棺材里看向哪个方向,我们都能确切知道各地过去了多少时间。他妈的时间现在几点了?他妈的在——
门开了。
空气。
上帝,是你吗?
那是我就在抵达时——感觉像是几千年前——交谈过的那个男人。“精油?”他问道,目光在我们两人之间游移。
“好的,”我们低声地应道。
“薰衣草和尤加利,”他说。他舀起一勺水,精准地滴入三滴——我想,他是在节省。但当他将水泼在煤炭上时,蒸汽中爆发出的薰衣草气息几乎把我击倒。我想,这是火山级的,是圣经级别的。天呐,他要走了。他到底要去哪?他不能就这样把我们丢在这。我想,这就是窒息:这就是所谓的“身心健康(wellness)”。这不是薰衣草,而是一场薰衣草广岛原子弹。为什么现在仅仅是放松已经不够了?为什么我们必须极致地放松?
接着,当我突然想起——老实说,我从未停止思考这件事——我把贵重物品留在了一个没有挂锁的储物柜里时,我的大脑将薰衣草重新定义为一种诱饵,一个字面意义上的烟幕,那个年轻人或者来自社区花园的年轻人网络将利用它把我们洗劫一空。这种恐慌迅速演变成汉堡贼在我的钱包周围徘徊的画面,这足以让我终于冲出桑拿房,对着那个中年男人结结巴巴地道了一个完全没必要的歉,大概是“对不起,我得走了”,然后气喘吁吁地跑回储物柜,发现我的钱包和 iPhone 就在我离开时的原处,藏在鞋里的袜子里。
在更像年轻专业人士(yuppie)聚集地的“桑拿社交俱乐部(Sauna Social Club)”,我不太担心被抢,反而更担心自己产生抢劫的冲动。
当我在休息室等待前一场结束时,我看着客人们抵达,背上绑着 Lululemon 瑜伽垫,这让男女客人都散发出一种模糊的、像勒戈拉斯般的优雅。他们轻盈地穿过门,走向相邻的沙发,刷着 iPhone。因为现在是 2026 年,这种年轻专业人士的桑拿房采用了与嬉皮士桑拿房相同的自然新时代美学,但懂得通过一些表面上的差异来收取双倍的价格。环境噪音在扬声器中低鸣,强迫每个人放松。地板上铺着榻榻米,以防有人想像狗一样在地上放松。椰子水售价为令人放松的 £3.50。书架上整齐地摆放着无人问津的《诗歌评论》(Poetry Review)。电流在建筑中涌动,如果你还没猜到的话,这座建筑位于一座铁路桥下的拱门内。
我一直对商业界如何成功地让时尚人士不仅愿意像巨魔一样在铁路桥下逗留,而且还对此深感热爱而印象深刻。人们成群结队地涌入,询问有什么在售。那家嬉皮士桑拿房搭建了一个略显乐观的“周边”摊位,售卖 T 恤,但他们缺乏年轻专业人士(yuppies)那种致命的愤世嫉俗——后者的亭子在热销一种再生果汁浓缩液,旨在逆转由这些果汁本身引起的脱水。当然,制造需求并非新鲜事,但至少军工复合体还保有足够的羞耻心,会对自己的动机撒谎。相比之下,在 Sauna Social Club 的网站上,你读到的第一句话就是“忘掉酒吧吧,桑拿房是社交的新场所”,这种计划如此明目张胆地邪恶,以至于让人想起像伯恩斯先生那样遮蔽太阳的哑剧反派。
我们面临着一个两难选择:一个是温度设定在 92℃ 的“静默聆听桑拿房”,另一个设定在 80 多度,客人们可以在其中交谈,或者事实证明,是在那里拓展人脉。我选择了人脉拓展桑拿房,为了一个更缓慢但更嘈杂的死亡。虽然它比嬉皮士桑拿房大,有空间让八个人一起被“焚化”,但它提供的氧气更少,因为那些年轻专业人士为了他们糟糕的对话而霸占了所有空气。不过我想,这些谈话正是你对试图放松的人的预期:“重组”、“威尼斯双年展”、“他本该负责报道伯尼的”、“这个家庭完全没有对其圆顶帐篷进行数字化营销。”事后当我记录这些引语时,我几乎没有包含最后一句,因为我以为没人会相信我;那个男人刚从哈萨克斯坦旅行回来,对该地区对新媒体接纳缓慢的情况感到困惑。我没有记录另外 90% 关于“压力”和“倦怠”的对话,因为考虑到我们是在一个工作日的下午待在桑拿房里,我不相信任何人承受了多少压力,除了一个高度紧张、高度沉默、像杀手一样的男人,他正用 Apple Watch 监测自己的状态。
和之前一样,我试图充分利用我的桑拿费用,停留时间远超安全限度。当我终于满身大汗地冲出门前往后院露台时,我差点撞到那些正前往冷水浸泡池的其他客人,在那里我经历了一场全新的地狱。他们是如何在经历过高温之后,让冰冷的东西变得如此令人心碎的?桑拿房有多热,水就有多冷。我潜入不到一秒钟就跑回桑拿房寻求温暖,如果不是偶然听到一名“DJ”即将到来播放音乐之类的内容,并且我需要在这一切开始前远离这里,我可能会被困在这个循环中跳来跳去。于是我穿好衣服逃离了,再也不回来。 ●
27
广告标准局 asa.org.uk
英国广告 遵守规则。
简单如此。

合法、得体、诚实且真实
p40 来自 Tomos Parry 的 夏季烧烤炉
多媒体艺术家 CORBIN SHAW 在他位于贝斯纳尔格林(Bethnal Green)工作室的 有序混乱中 寻找冥想般的慰藉
我的工作室既像青少年的卧室,又像喜鹊的巢穴:这里是我收集想法和零碎物件的神圣之地。曾几何时,这里的视觉噪音过多,让我难以工作,所以现在我将积累的物品集中在一面墙上。目前那里有一把我想在展览中使用的泡沫剑和盾牌,撕下的报纸头条以及来自互联网的古怪图像。有人曾告诉我,威廉·布莱克(William Blake)家里唯一的艺术品是阿尔布雷希特·丢勒(Albrecht Dürer)的《忧郁 I》,我觉得这很迷人,所以那幅画也被挂在了那里。—— 工作室位于贝斯纳尔格林,这是一个多元且紧密的工人阶级社区,让我想起离我家乡很近的罗瑟勒姆(Rotherham)。这里也非常嘈杂,所以我很幸运能有一个能寻找片刻宁静的地方。我想我有 ADHD(注意力缺陷多动障碍),而逃离脑海中喧嚣的唯一避风港,就是在这里重复地钻研某些东西。当我的双手接管大脑时,我便能进入某种冥想状态。对我来说,工作室里一个孤独的创作过程随后在外部拥有自己的生命,这简直不可思议。那时,这个房间显得格外特别。—— 互联网可以很神奇,但社交媒体在榨干我的生命。它就像是灵魂的垃圾食品。在这些平台上,我们上传部分作品,出卖部分自我,却得不到任何回报。在这里,我可以逃离这一切,听音乐,进行创作。•
口述给 HAYLEY MYERS • 肖像 MATILDA HILL-JENKINS
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HOME & AWAY
30
23.08.26
THE OBSERVER MAGAZINE
HOME & AWAY
在乔治·索马雷兹-史密斯(George Saumarez Smith)的维多利亚式别墅餐厅里,一个由其祖父雷蒙德·埃里思(Raymond Erith)设计的餐边柜上摆满了桑德兰光泽陶器。书房(中间)密集地摆放着建筑图纸——以及天竺葵
“我尝试每天画画,”乔治·索马雷兹-史密斯说道,他正在为一张 15 世纪佛罗伦萨祭坛礼拜堂的精准铅笔素描做最后的润色。“如果我不画,我会觉得这一天没有被充分利用。”这位古典建筑师——该领域的领军人物——从 13, 岁起就遵循这一习惯,当时他在一次意大利家庭度假中,右手被一个玻璃防晒霜瓶严重割伤。那次经历让他被匆忙送往医院缝针——并让他誓言永远不要将自己的绘画天赋视为理所当然。通常,这只是在碎纸片上的快速写生。有时,则是精美且经过测量的速写本渲染。但真正重要的是绘画的行为,而非最终的结果。“它让我能够集中注意力,”索马雷兹-史密斯说,他将职业生涯致力于研究和设计非凡的古典建筑。
文字 ELIZABETH METCALFE • 摄影 EMLI BENDIXEN
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如今,他在位于温彻斯特的一栋 1860 年代的住宅餐厅里绘图。这是他花费时间最多的房间——绘图、写作、用餐。“建筑师通常生活在相当单调的世界里,”他说道。在他身后是 Morris & Co 的印度壁纸,一张色彩鲜艳的基利姆地毯,以及在他脚边的两只狗——凯恩梗 Teasle 和杰克罗素梗 Piglet。“色彩绝对是我后来才开始关注的东西。这栋房子非常适合这种风格。”
当 Saumarez Smith 在 2006 年首次搬到这里时,这栋半独立式维多利亚别墅的吸引力在于它靠近 Adam Architecture(他担任董事超过 20 年的公司),以及其优秀的结构。“它感觉像一块非常好的画布,”他谈到分布在半地下层、抬高地面层和一层空间的房间布局时说道。
室内空间提醒着他一个在自身项目中至关重要的教训:大型矩形房间永远是个好主意。“它们易于布置且灵活,”他说。尽管在规模和背景上要谦逊得多,但这栋房子体现了他的一位偶像——16 世纪建筑师安德烈亚·帕拉迪奥(Andrea Palladio)的许多理想。“帕拉迪奥式别墅不在于家具或装饰,”他说,“它们由良好的尺寸定义——以及它们能够以不同方式被居住的事实。”巧合的是,Saumarez Smith 在这里没有做太多改动。主要的翻新是一个美学上的缓慢演变,在过去的几十年里,他用棕色家具、古旧书籍、光泽陶器和手工编织地毯填满了这个空间。
他成为一名建筑师既是命中注定,也曾受到温和的劝阻。他的外祖父是雷蒙德·埃里思(Raymond Erith),一位著名的 20 世纪古典主义建筑师,最著名的成就是在第二次世界大战后重建了唐宁街 10 号和 11 号。但他的父母——挂毯设计师劳拉·索马雷兹-史密斯(Laura Saumarez Smith)和书商约翰·索马雷兹-史密斯(John Saumarez Smith)曾对此提出警告。“我的外祖父曾是一个独行侠,在现代主义的浪潮中守护着古典主义的火焰,”他说,“那段路走得很艰难。”但建筑学已经深深吸引了他。“我整个童年都在画建筑,”他说。
餐厅里黑金色的 Morris & Co “印度”壁纸最初由建筑师乔治·吉尔伯特·斯科特(George Gilbert Scott)设计;壁炉左侧挂着一幅爱德华·鲍登(Edward Bawden)的版画。
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在爱丁堡大学学习建筑期间,他对古典主义的学习转向了自主探索。他度过了“相当疯狂的二十年”,测量并素描古建筑,并在英格兰各地奔波参观乡村住宅。随后,他在领先的古典主义建筑师昆兰·特里(Quinlan Terry)手下工作了五年,这段 formative 经历至关重要(其中一年完全用于学习楼梯,另一年用于学习石工),之后于 2003 年加入 Adam Architecture。他的第一个独立项目是汉普郡一座紧凑的砖砌帕拉迪奥风格房屋。在随后的几十年里,他设计了受古希腊启发的新德里新古典主义风格别墅,并且与
本·彭特里斯(Ben Pentreath)一起,领导了多塞特郡雄心勃勃且具有实验性的摄政风格新镇庞德伯里(Poundbury)的建设,该镇建在康沃尔公国(Duchy of Cornwall)的土地上(客户是查尔斯国王)。
他对庞德伯里的设计灵感来自 Saumarez Smith 成长于北伦敦的一栋房子——“一栋非常朴素的排屋,没有浪费空间”——由他的外祖父设计。“我发现建筑具有成为活生生的实体的能力,这让我感到无尽的着迷,当设计精良时,它们可以提升人们的生活,”他说。“建筑在很大程度上关乎人,正如它关乎建筑一样。”
虽然索马雷兹·史密斯(Saumarez Smith)的大部分作品根植于古典主义,但他表示,自己的方法已经演变为“更多地随心而行,而非刻意思考”。正是这种情感特质促成了他的最新著作《古典主义的浪漫》(The Romance of Classicism),该书通过 12 个乡村住宅项目探讨了他的建筑哲学。“工艺、美感、材料以及设计具有持久价值的建筑的愿望,驱动着我的工作,”他说道。他表示,目标并非在传统主义和现代主义之间进行简单的二元争论,而是寻找“两者之间健康的平衡”。
索马雷兹·史密斯自己的家则被他自承的“贪婪的收藏习惯”所定义。在地下层的图书馆里,大量的建筑书籍排列在墙上。单色的古董建筑版画和建筑图纸,与来自 Morris & Co. 的红蓝相间、受印花布(indienne)启发的花卉设计相映成趣。这个如茧般舒适的空间是对他已故父亲的致敬。“他是一位活生生的古董收藏家,”他在谈到这位极具影响力的书商时说道,其父亲曾在梅费尔(Mayfair)的 Heywood Hill 书店工作了 40 多年,并于 2021 年去世。
沿着房子向上走,室内呈现出一种更轻盈、更活泼的感觉。玄关涂成了 Farrow & Ball 品牌鲜亮的石蓝色(Stone Blue);厨房则是强烈的橙色、蓝色和红色的欢乐混搭,并由一个不锈钢的 Bulthaup 岛台来平衡。在 2000 年代初期经历过灰色墙壁的生活后,这种向色彩的转变部分是由收藏 20 世纪版画家希拉·罗宾逊(Sheila Robinson)的亚麻油毡版画所触发的。作为与埃里克·拉维利乌斯(Eric Ravilious)和爱德华·鲍登(Edward Bawden)同属的大巴菲尔德艺术家团体(Great Bardfield Artists)成员,她的 30 多幅版画散落在房子各处。这种效果既令人振奋又充满趣味。桑德兰光泽陶器(Sunderland lustreware)水壶是他的另一个痴迷点。“家对我来说真的是一个避风港,”他说,“被多年收藏的个人物品所环绕,这些物品反映了我的生活和兴趣,带来了舒适感。”
索马雷兹·史密斯的指导性建筑原则之一是对建筑保持耐心。这意味着古典美不能操之过急。他的房子在 20 多年间逐渐成型,同样定义了那种舒适感和令人愉悦的必然性。“我是一个收藏旧书和亚麻油毡版画的古典建筑师,”他说,“我继承了家族的所有特质。真是虎父无犬子。” ●
《古典主义的浪漫:为今日设计英国乡村住宅》(The Romance of Classicism: Designing the English Country House for Today,Rizzoli 出版,8 September 发行,£47.95)。在 observershop.co.uk 购买可节省 10%。
厨房墙壁涂上了 Edward Bulmer 的“荷兰橙”(Dutch Orange),以及来自 Papers & Paints 的“水疗蓝”(Spa Blue)和“斑岩红”(Porphyry Red)。一间客卧贴了来自 St Jude’s 的希拉·罗宾逊设计的“猴子与鸟”(Monkeys and Birds)壁纸,她充满活力的版画也装饰在走廊(见下文)。

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在菲洛蒂穆街(Filotimou Street)一个绿树成荫的广场上,Atlas 是一家提供希腊-黎凡特美食的热门场所:番茄炸饼、慢炖牛肉、lahmacun 薄饼。店内提供自酿拉格啤酒,酒单则推介希腊的小规模生产商。

这家咖啡馆兼酒吧以其所在的巷弄命名,由四位好友于去年创办。烤奶酪三明治是白天的热门选择,而到了日落时分,当 DJ 开始驻场,腌制鳀鱼和橄榄则成了 Negroni 鸡尾酒的绝佳拍档。
雅典
Kypseli 在希腊语中意为“蜂巢”,恰如其分地描述了这里由新古典主义、装饰艺术(Art Deco)和 20 世纪中期雅典建筑交织而成的紧凑街区。该区域位于市中心以北,大部分地区在过去几十年里一直处于衰落状态,但一群年轻且多元文化的创意人群正以坚韧的热情复兴这个社区,在餐饮和艺术领域大展身手。例如,该社区的市政市场(Municipal Market)曾是一座传统的食品市场现代主义建筑,如今被重新构想为一个文化中心,手工艺店、晚餐俱乐部和农贸市场在当地历史永久展览的陪伴下不时出现。• ALICE RILEY-SMITH
一家拥有百年历史的糕点店被重新打造成为一家专业的鸡尾酒吧,店内配有黑胶唱片清单,随着夜色渐深,音乐音量随之增强(有时直到凌晨 3 点)。由 Mariette Sans-Rival 设计,其抛光大理石外墙在帕蒂西翁街(Patission Street)布满涂鸦的建筑群中格外抢眼,并迅速成为一个地标。
这家位于街角的酒吧咖啡馆,桌椅散落在热闹的阿吉亚·佐尼斯街(Agias Zonis)上。人们在这里一边观察行人,一边品尝创意经典鸡尾酒、按杯售卖的天然葡萄酒,以及一份升级版的小食菜单,提供烤鹰嘴豆以及搭配韩式泡菜和奇米丘里酱(chimichurri)的肋眼牛排。
在希腊诗人奥迪塞亚斯·埃利蒂斯(Odysseas Elytis)曾经居住的装饰艺术风格住宅中,艺术交易商 Matthias Arndt 创办了一个沙龙和私人艺术空间。首展展出了希腊及国际艺术家的作品,其中包括 Kypseli 的居民 Ioanna Limniou。
Kedros 曾是一家鞋匠铺,现在是探索希腊葡萄酒以及品尝奶酪和烟熏肉拼盘的绝佳去处。这家葡萄酒吧兼商店定期举办品鉴会,推介从伯罗奔尼撒到马其顿的地区生产商。其姐妹店 Rastoni 位于库福尼西岛(Koufonissi)。
这里最初是英国艺术家 Eleanor Lines 的工作室,现已演变为一个创意工作坊空间,提供丝网印刷、单版印刷和照片印刷课程,并设有国际艺术家驻留项目。请留意展示驻留艺术家作品的开放工作室之夜。
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最近,我迟到地发现了安妮塔·布鲁克纳(Anita Brookner)的天才之处,现在我对此痴迷不已。“我对绝对幸福的定义是,整天坐在一个温暖的花园里阅读或写作,并且完全确信我爱的人会在傍晚回到我身边。每个傍晚如此。”
我爱她的文风精湛,爱她的深邃才智,但在一点上,她永远会让我失望。正如上面这段摘自我最喜欢的她的第二部小说《人生起点》(A Start in Life)的引文所示,她绝非一名园丁。
园丁无法静止。这并不是因为我们精力充沛;事实上,跪在一块木板上,在覆盆子丛下,拿着一把茶匙工作数小时,是完全可能的。但仅仅是认为一个温暖的花园可以用来安静地坐着,这种想法就近乎冒犯。而且,这并不是我第一次遇到这种愚蠢的念头:不幸的是,我每天都与此共处。
这一切始于家具。我的屋顶露台上有三把椅子,其中一把是舒适的法式古怪装置。但为什么有人会指望坐在上面?如果你非要坐,请小心;你的膝盖撞到了那株干枯的罂粟,我特意留着它是为了收种子。还有,你说我的铝制伪装成铁制的回收桌上没地方放你的 Corona Cero 无酒精啤酒?如果你越过那个由废弃防火桶改造的希腊罗勒苗盆,以及那株暂时没家(没盆)的“翻滚汤姆黄”番茄,避开那株年迈的薰衣草,你会发现至少有一平方英寸的……噢不,抱歉,我得把浇水壶放在那儿。不过你脚下有一块地板;甚至能放个烟灰缸,虽然承认里面装满了枯死的香菜。你怎么可能觉得不受欢迎?回来吧。
令人愤慨的是,我的朋友和家人在他们惬意休息而我奔波忙碌时,也会抱怨。“我们在这儿吃早餐吧,”他们建议道,这完全错了。“我们来调制鸡尾酒,撕开 Popchips 薯片,听雨燕鸣叫吧!”如果他们愿意让我处理自己的事情,那当然没问题。但他们坚持要放松,坚持要“有趣”。难道他们看不出我正深陷在芳香的黑醋栗鼠尾草之中,试图将其脆弱的枝条支撑在它那个身份成谜的李子幼苗邻居的肩头吗?
而那个邻居似乎长出了刺,所以也许实际上是一株黑刺李,这(如果你能把 Savlon 药膏递给我)提醒了我,我本打算给那株生长迟缓的蓝莓换盆,不过要那样做,我得先挪开这株美味但被采摘过度的薄荷。你说现在是半夜?
即使在环境迫使我逗留的时候,也总有植物需要我的关注。给我看一个火车站的花坛,狩猎就开始了:在 16.03 发往卢顿的火车开走前,我能清除并捏死多少只闪光的迷迭香甲虫?在有人要求或恳求我离开之前,我能否将殖民在这个迷人的碎石装饰公交站花盆里的繁缕拔出来,并无私地吃掉?甚至我的心理治疗师在看到我帮她的斑叶秋海棠摘除枯叶时,也放弃了发表评论。
“享受你的花园吧!”那些无知的人告诉我们。“多么适合放松的好地方!”他们怎么敢这么说?我们确实在放松;而放松就是这个样子的。举个例子,有人在做早晨的普拉提练习;人们可能会认为,这是一个追求平静、静谧,甚至,呃,正念的时刻。但如果,在骨盆倾斜动作进行到一半时,他们突然意识到卧室书架上两盆美丽的垂吊天竺葵中有一盆需要轻微修剪,然后需要一个阳光明媚的暑假呢?这盆天竺葵可能与大量鹅卵石共用一个极重的花盆,并且刚刚浇过水,但任何一个敬业的园丁都不会让这些成为阻碍,即便这意味着要踉踉跄跄地穿过公寓,将湿漉漉的堆肥溅在刚拖好的地板上,以及溅在自己衣着单薄的前身上,然后决定现在就是蹲在屋顶露台上,从由此产生的混乱中挑出剩余石头和腐烂茎干的理想时刻。不必在意缺乏衣物、时光流逝的无情,以及对家具、个人和植物本身的损害;园艺工作必须进行。而且,安妮塔,我很遗憾地告诉你,这就是绝对的幸福。 ●

夏洛特·门德尔森(Charlotte Mendelson)是《观察者报》的专栏作家、小说家,也是一名热衷于(尽管并非专家级)园艺的爱好者。
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这款风味浓郁的西班牙 阿尔巴里尼奥白葡萄酒(ALBARIÑO)具有明亮、 清爽的余味,它是
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在苏格兰和威尔士,店内酒精饮料价格可能更高,且根据苏格兰法律,上午10点前可能不销售酒精饮料。特选 Rias Baixas Albariño
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苏格兰、威尔士、Aldi Local 及在线商店。照片仅为食用建议。
厨房日记 NIGEL SLATER
这一周是番茄的最佳时节。在过去的几天里,花园里的锌制桌子上出现过烤猪肉和脆皮猪肉,番茄被挤在烤肉汁中;好几轮 pan con tomate,吐司上抹着泛紫的新鲜大蒜;数不清的沙拉,以及一份由腌制海鲈鱼、巨大的果冻质感番茄和哈密瓜组成的午餐。我最喜欢的由肥美、略微过熟的番茄和羊奶酪组成的沙拉本周也登场了。本周最出色的沙拉是 →
摄影 JONATHAN LOVEKIN
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CRAVINGS
一种类似于 ceviche 与 gazpacho 的结合体:海鲈鱼切成薄片,留在青柠汁和辣椒的混合物中“烹饪”,然后与熟透的番茄和薄片甜瓜拌在一起——哈密瓜带来蜂蜜般的甜味,西瓜则带来清爽。我加入了几片罗勒叶,因为它们的辛辣味与甜瓜的甜味非常契合。
这道菜在所有食材处于最佳状态时组合在一起:新鲜得不能再新鲜的白鱼(我也可以用虾),汁水四溢的甜瓜,以及一个烈日灼人的日子,当时连一片叶子都没有动弹。我们在蝴蝶在桌上翩翩起舞,以及周围日本银莲花丛中缓慢飞行的蜜蜂嗡嗡声中用餐。
通常情况下,我不会在 ceviche 中加入番茄,而更倾向于仅使用鱼类、柑橘类水果、辣椒、红洋葱和香菜,更接近传统的秘鲁风格,但目前的番茄实在太棒了,它们几乎进入了所有菜肴中。至少这个夏天的热浪还起到了某种作用。
本周最快捷的番茄沙拉是一个老 favorites,我将切好的果实放在由香草、红葡萄酒醋和大蒜组成的调料中腌制半小时,然后与新鲜豌豆和羊奶酪块拌在一起。我们用来自 Dusty Knuckle 面包店的面包擦净盘子,面包口感有嚼劲,外壳酥脆且经过轻微烘烤。
我真的不知道干旱之后我的花园还会剩下多少。洗沙拉叶和刷掉土豆、胡萝卜或甜菜根上的泥土所产生的一滴水,更不用说用来保持周日桃红葡萄酒冰镇的冰桶中融化的冰水,最终都浇在了花园里。我设法让百里香和迷迭香的盆栽活了下来,用厨房回收的水将一株罗勒或细香葱养活,但我发现自己仍在绝望地查看天气预报。令人沮丧的是,今年是我未能成功在户外种植番茄的夏天。我通常会在屋顶放至少一两盆 Gardener’s Delight,通常还会有一些橙色的小樱桃番茄,今年它们本可以尽情吸收阳光。但我没能组织好。明年必须重新思考一下,我预测厨房屋顶将会有相当丰收的收获。
“我加入了几片罗勒叶,因为它们的辛辣味与甜瓜的甜味非常契合”
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CRAVINGS
这是一款塞维切(ceviche)风格的沙拉,将鱼肉切成薄片,利用柑橘汁(在本食谱中为青柠和葡萄柚)的酸度将其“烹熟”。我使用一个仅比高尔夫球稍大的红洋葱,但我倾向于将其切得极细——我是说真的极细——而不是将其加入腌料中,因为后者可能会产生过于刺鼻的味道。然后将其与切碎的番茄以及少许柑橘汁或橄榄油一起静置。这样处理的效果更微妙,不会掩盖其他味道。
Serves 2. Ready in 1 hour
青柠 2
葡萄柚 1
大红辣椒 1
去皮海鲈鱼柳 250g
细海盐 ½ tsp
黑胡椒
小红洋葱 1
大且熟透的番茄 1
橄榄油 2 tbsp
哈密瓜 250g(去皮重量)
西瓜 350g(去皮重量)
罗勒叶 10
将青柠对半切开,将汁液挤入搅拌碗中。然后,用一把锋利的刀切掉葡萄柚的顶部和底部。将水果平放在切菜板上,切掉果皮和白色海绵层,使其成为一个完整的去皮水果。将其置于碗上方以接住汁液,用刀将葡萄柚的果肉瓣从薄皮中分离出来,放入碗中备用。
挤出剩余葡萄柚的汁液,取 50ml 加入青柠汁中搅拌。去掉辣椒的蒂,纵向对半切开,加入柑橘汁中。放入冰箱冷藏 20 分钟。
用最锋利的刀将鱼肉切成极薄的片,切好后依次放入浅盘中。撒上盐调味,放在阴凉处静置 5 分钟。
将洋葱去皮并切碎。放入碗中,然后将番茄切碎,与洋葱、橄榄油以及少许盐和黑胡椒混合。放入冰箱冷藏。
将两种甜瓜切片——去掉种子,将果肉切成薄片,厚度不超过 5mm。在一个大碗中,轻轻地将甜瓜、罗勒和预留的葡萄柚果肉瓣混合,然后加入鱼肉及其汁液。
转移到盛菜盘中,注意不要弄碎脆弱的鱼片。在表面撒上番茄洋葱混合物,并在 10 分钟内食用。

我喜欢像 Sinodun Hill 这样的山羊奶酪,但这款菜用菲达奶酪(feta)或其他羊奶酪的效果也非常好。
Serves 2-3. Ready in 45 minutes
大蒜 1 small clove
红葡萄酒醋 2 tbsp
海盐 a pinch
橄榄油 4 tbsp
罗勒叶 8g
欧芹叶 a small handful
混合番茄 650g
豌豆(新鲜或冷冻) 75g(去壳重量)
软山羊奶酪或羊奶酪 150g
将醋倒入搅拌机杯中。将大蒜去皮,放入醋中并加入一小撮海盐,静置 15 分钟。这样可以去除大蒜的辛辣味。加入橄榄油、罗勒和欧芹,再加少许盐调味,搅拌成浓稠的绿色酱汁。检查调味情况。将番茄切薄片放入浅盘中,淋上酱汁,腌制 30 分钟。将豌豆放入沸盐水中煮熟(新鲜豌豆 6 分钟,冷冻豌豆 3 分钟),然后用滤网沥干,立即放入冰水中冷却。准备食用时,将奶酪掰成大块。将腌制好的番茄铺在盛菜盘上,然后淋上剩余的酱汁。将豌豆沥干、抖干水分并撒在上面,在其中点缀奶酪块。 ●
39
CRAVINGS
八月是英国美食日历中最慷慨的月份之一,此时树篱边和市场摊位上到处是成熟的浆果,花园里生长着充满活力的香草,漫长的夜晚让我们能够到户外烹饪和用餐。羊肉是我的心头好,对于夏末的聚会来说,它可以是一种更轻盈的肉类选择。用木炭或木材烹饪肋排能激发其最佳风味。随着脂肪在红热的余烬上缓慢融化,肉质边缘变得酥脆且带有焦糖色,而内部则保持极佳的嫩度。由黑醋栗、蜂蜜和红酒醋调制而成的釉酱提供了对比,以一种明亮、近乎葡萄酒般的锐利感化解了油腻。慢烤洋葱、细香葱和苦叶则增添了甜味与清新感。
经典英国夏日布丁的烤制版本充分利用了八月的浆果收获。覆盆子、草莓、红醋栗和黑醋栗融合成浓郁且令人沉醉的混合物。烤焦的酸面包吸收了果汁,同时保持边缘酥脆,创造出一种介于烤面包、布丁和火烤水果碎屑甜点之间的味道。倒入大量冰冷的双层奶油,能冷却温热的水果,并带来一种奢华的收尾。
浆果和八月一样,转瞬即逝。这些食谱是我试图捕捉那个短暂瞬间的尝试——并为您提供一些烹饪羊肉和传统英国布丁的有趣方法。无论您是在烧烤架上、火坑边烹饪,还是在厨房里重现这些风味,我希望它们能向您展示英国夏末的慷慨。

40
摄影 LAURA EDWARDS
23.08.26 THE OBSERVER MAGAZINE
CRAVINGS

食物造型 EL KEMP;道具造型 TARTHA HAWKINS
黑醋栗的酸锐感化解了羊肋排的油脂,整体效果浓郁且平衡。
分量 4-6人份。准备时间 1小时
羊肋排 1.5kg
橄榄油
鸡汤 250ml
小洋葱 6
黑醋栗 150g
蜂蜜 1 tbsp
红酒醋 ½ tbsp
柠檬 1
苦叶 一大把
细香葱碎 1 tbsp
将烤箱预热至 180℃ / 燃气档位 4. 给肋排调味。在热的、刷了少量油的锅中煎 5 分钟,中途翻面,使其上色。您可能需要分批进行。将肋排转移到烤盘中,倒入鸡汤,并用铝箔纸覆盖。
将洋葱(整颗,保留皮)放入烤盘中。将羊肉和洋葱放入烤箱烤 60 分钟。(如果是在户外烹饪,将洋葱直接放在余烬或烤架上。)烤至洋葱外表焦黑、中心柔软,肋排嫩但仍有嚼劲——大部分脂肪应已融化。
与此同时,将三分之二的黑醋栗放入小锅中,加入蜂蜜、醋和少许水。烹饪至果实塌陷,5-10 分钟。轻轻搅拌或用叉子压碎,制成浓稠的釉酱。
在烹饪接近尾声时,在羊肋排上刷上釉酱。将烤箱温度调高至 220℃ / 燃气档位 7 并且将肋排在烤箱中烤 5-10 分钟,使整体变得黏稠。如果使用烧烤架,将烤箱烤好的肋排放在中温余烬或热源上完成最后步骤,直到肉质嫩且边缘酥脆。
洋葱烤好后,将其剖开,在柔软的中心淋上少许橄榄油、半个柠檬的汁液和一大撮

海盐进行调味。将其摆放在盛菜盘中。
将肋排堆在烤洋葱之上,撒上细香葱和预留的黑醋栗,并充分调味。用橄榄油和大量柠檬汁给苦叶调味,并将其摆在旁边一同上桌。
我们尝试用烤架来烹饪夏日布丁中的面包。面包边缘会被烤得恰到好处,并吸收果汁,最终呈现出一种介于早餐和布丁之间的口感。
4 人份。40 分钟准备就绪
混合夏日莓果 600g
糖 3 tbsp
酸种面包 4 片(大块厚片)
黄油
柠檬汁 ½ 个
“经典夏日布丁的烤制版本能最大限度地利用莓果收获季”
黑醋栗酒、黑刺李金酒或红酒 少许;双层奶油 适量,用于配餐
在碗中将莓果与糖拌匀,静置 20 分钟,直到果汁开始渗出。
将面包放在烤架下(或使用煎锅或在火上)烘烤,直到部分地方出现明显的焦痕。大量涂抹黄油。
将莓果倒入浅锅中,用中火加热(或使用火上的铸铁锅或烤架)。加入您选择的酒类,烹煮 10 分钟,或直到所有食材塌陷成浓稠的果酱。挤入半个柠檬汁并搅拌均匀。
将每片烤面包撕成 2-3 块,丢入莓果中——您需要部分面包块吸收果汁,而另一部分则保持在表面且口感酥脆。
在水果和面包尚温时端上,并在顶部大量淋上冰冷的双层奶油。 ●
41
渴望 (CRAVINGS)
我曾在一次前往伯明翰 Pershore Road 的行程中吃了两顿饭。第一次纯属巧合。我午餐已经吃了一个三明治,但经过 Chancer’s Café 时,我溜进去希望能买个法式甜甜圈(beignet)作为甜点。他们只在周六供应,而那天不是周六,而且他们当时正以 Yikouchi 的名义经营,就像他们在周四和周五做的那样。一个更理智的人可能会直接走开。但我没有。礼貌的做法是再吃一顿(而且非常美味的)由粥和豆腐皮组成的第二顿午餐...
丽贝卡·尼科尔森 (REBECCA NICHOLSON)
1373 Pershore Road, Birmingham, B30 2JR (corkandcage.co.uk) 食物 £5-£22, 葡萄酒 from £29
这一次,我是故意要安排两场。在伯明翰西南部的斯蒂奇利(Stirchley),独立酒吧、酿酒厂和餐厅的数量与日益连锁化的市中心截然不同。随着 Ivy、German Doner Kebab 和 Rosa’s Thai 的入驻,伯明翰市中心开始看起来像任何一个地方。然而,在 B30 邮区,选择似乎是无限的。很难让人不想尝试所有的一切。
我的计划是从 Cork & Cage 开始,这是一家 100% 由员工持股的社区酒吧兼厨房,于 2019, 年开业。在那里喝一杯(一杯 Chin Chin,这款标签鲜艳、深受中产阶级喜爱的绿葡萄酒 vinho verde,一如既往地稳健)并吃一些点心。至于主菜,我们将前往 Boodle Fight,这是一家几周前刚开业的菲律宾餐厅,与 Cork & Cage 的资深程度相比,它完全是崭新的。
Cork & Cage 的吧台摆满了精酿啤酒,名字如 Bringing Seshy Back 和 Casualty of Society,但它还提供一份轮换的葡萄酒单,包含一款红葡萄酒、一款白葡萄酒和一款橙葡萄酒,价格全部统一。在周三和周四——在斯蒂奇利,你真的得把日子算准——这里提供食物。供应天数有限是因为主厨同时在隔壁的 Cloak & Dagger 酒吧以及沿街一家仅有八个座位的葡萄酒点心吧 Isla 工作。
Cork & Cage 经历过多次迭代,最初提供土耳其风味的小盘菜,随后是塔可(tacos),但现在它定位于“季节性、简单的食物”。黑板菜单每周更换,起初,它听起来像那些令人恼火的过度简化菜单——它们倾向于只宣布一种食材(可能是在火上烤的),而不是屈尊地告诉你即将吃到的具体是什么。
很快,我就意识到自己错了。我们点了棕蟹蛋黄酱。端上来时正如描述那样:一个对半切开的鸡蛋,浸在浓郁的蟹肉蛋黄酱池中。一份 Vesuvio 番茄面包(pan con Vesuvio tomate)是一片酥脆甜美的烤吐司,上面覆盖着处于季节巅峰期、味道更甜的软烂番茄。它无需任何修饰。小龙虾和白卷心菜则用轻盈的龙蒿、酸豆和柠檬酱汁点缀了蓝图,但同样,小龙虾和卷心菜本身被赋予了主导地位。我太喜欢这个基调了,以至于又点了一道菜:章鱼、鹰嘴豆、橄榄、红洋葱和 Datterini 番茄沙拉。这是一个升级版的尼斯沙拉(Niçoise),就像是去度假一周回来后,换了新面孔和新身材的人。难怪主厨如此抢手。这就是
42
摄影 ANDREW FOX
CRAVINGS
1421 Pershore Road, Birmingham B30 2JL (@boodlefightstirchley)。小盘菜 £9 起,碗装菜 £17 起,Boodle Fight 套餐每人 £35,啤酒 £6.50,葡萄酒 £24 起
自信、干练且极简的烹饪。只要确保你不要做任何像在周五晚上前往那样愚蠢的事,以免错过美食。
Boodle Fight 最初是以菲律宾 Pinoy Pantry 摊位形式起家的,现在就位于我经常推荐的伯明翰餐厅 Eat Vietnam 对面。“Boodle fight”一词起源于军队食堂,是指一种传统的集体盛宴,通常铺在桌上的香蕉叶上,用手抓食。这里的香蕉叶是塑料的,但整体氛围充满了庸俗艺术感(kitsch),墙壁是粉色和橙色的,贴着著名的 1975 年“马尼拉惊雷”拳击赛海报,吧台后面传出震耳欲聋的流行音乐。我以前从未吃过菲律宾菜,服务员说到目前为止,他们的很多顾客也一样。服务热情友好,而且由于菜单如此详尽且充斥着双关语,他们的建议非常必要。
你可以混搭小盘菜和碗装菜。或者你可以选择 Boodle Fight 模式,每人选择两道菜,然后桌上的每个人都可以品尝。我们尝试了后者。Boodle Fight 俱乐部的第一条规则应该是:在其他地方吃过饭后再尝试此项。分量极大,而且无限量供应的米饭和味道辛辣、清爽的汤(一种酸味罗望子汤)可以随意畅饮。被菜单搞晕了的我胡乱点了一通,结果给我带来了两盘堆满野菇的菜:dinakdakan(一种猪内脏菜),配以奶油大蒜蛋黄酱;以及“fu and fungi sisig”,我非常喜欢这道菜,蘑菇与豆腐“肉”块混合,配以黄色柑橘味蛋黄酱。两道菜都带有辣味,并伴随着浓郁的洋葱和大蒜气息——口味之浓烈与分量之大相当。
他们的招牌菜名为 Help Me I'm Da-ing(在那个时间点,这个名字是对我状态的准确评估),味道极佳,选用菲律宾国鱼——味道温和、肉质呈片状的虱鱼,经过薄裹面粉深炸,配以一种热辣、风味独特且带有鱼露味的店制酱汁。在碗装菜清单中,我们点了 Mongo Friday,这是一款浓郁咸香的绿豆炖菜,包含番茄、椰奶和软烂的整颗大蒜,顶部覆盖着酥脆的仿肉。
Boodle Fight 开业时间极短,厨房还没准备好制作甜点。我轻声地松了一口气。我开玩笑说要跑过马路去吃第三轮。我的伴侣带着真诚的遗憾说:“我不确定我还能不能吃得下。”但 Pershore Road 漫长且丰饶,这里还有很多类似的美食等着发掘。 ●
布里斯托尔 Mayflower 餐厅的脆皮五花肉让 Jimi Famurewa 频频光顾
Mayflower 是一家位于布里斯托尔的粤菜馆,其在当地的影响力与其宏大且不协调的名字相称,而关于它的传说则像豆豉酱一样浓郁深厚。这家餐厅于 20 世纪 90 年代初开业,据称是该市最古老的中国餐厅(这是一个很难证明但很有用的事实)。其塑造神话的经营时期是它潜伏在布里斯托尔人称之为“熊坑”(Bearpit)的巨型环岛旁一个阴暗地下通道里的 20 年。这种环境——加上丰富的菜品、特立独行的服务以及凌晨 3 点的打烊时间——使其成为了该市夜生活群体(包括下班后的厨师、酒吧员工、思乡的华人移民以及饥肠辘辘的狂欢派对幸存者)的俱乐部和某种秘密接头暗号。
如今,在失去了那个充满故事的旧址(被重新开发工程的推土机夷为平地)后,该店在附近重生,搬进了一个更常规的、带有手术室般明亮灯光的巨大玻璃盒子建筑中。事实上,我可以长篇累牍地赞美最近一次光顾时在旋转餐盘上堆满的任何一道充满大蒜气息和锅气的菜肴。但真正让我至今仍念念不忘的是那道脆皮五花肉。晶莹剔透、撒有糖粒的脆皮;颤巍巍且芳香的脂肪层;那种让人在敬畏中闭上眼睛的丰盈多汁。这是一种熟悉的快感,但被赋予了令人振奋的新清晰度。而这恰恰概括了这个地方。它不像是一艘载满朝圣者的商船,而更像是一艘不可思议的英粤风情游轮,在 30 多年后的今天依然在航行。 ●
Jimi Famurewa 是一位英籍尼日利亚裔美食记者和餐厅评论家
DAVID WILLIAMS**
如果我是一名酿酒师,我不确定自己是否希望自己的酒被描述为“度假酒”。这简直是典型的明褒实贬,其隐含之意是,这种酒只能被那些处于放松度假状态、批判能力已钝化到完全不在意自己在喝什么的饮酒者所享受:他们坐在泳池边,手里拿着机场畅销小说,鼻腔里充斥着防晒霜的化学气味,生活如此惬意,以至于冰桶里装的是什么都无所谓。
该术语的另一种用法是指那些作为某种液体纪念品被带回家的酒,或者是在地中海晚餐的回忆依然新鲜时,在当地商家处搜寻而得的酒。在这种情况下,“度假酒”指的是一种令人失望的体验——你会发现,在英国阴冷夜晚的厨房里喝到的味道,与在希腊岛上喝到的完全不同。
尽管如此,情况不必如此。正如你可能猜到的,我完全支持在度假时饮用好酒,而且我许多最出色且最持久的葡萄酒发现,都是在访问位于度假租赁屋附近的葡萄园时实现的。如今,如果你在欧洲任何地方,你都会面临选择过多而产生的幸福烦恼:从勃艮第和波尔多,到布尔根兰、伯克希尔和巴罗洛,即使是最不愿 publicity 的酒庄也意识到了向公众开放的价值。这不仅仅是为了向游客卖酒:其核心理念是将访客转化为大使,让他们向家乡的朋友传播 →
43
CRAVINGS
口碑。
葡萄酒旅游的趋势——根据酒庄的不同,其形式可以从参观酒窖和几杯免费试饮,到入住一个完整的豪华水疗酒店或在米其林星级餐厅用餐——催生了一个由葡萄酒旅行指南和网站组成的微型产业。我最喜欢的是《聪明旅行者葡萄酒指南》(The Smart Traveller’s Wine Guide)系列中那些精致的小书。目前共有七本,每本专注于一个著名的产区,由专家撰写,并提供关于住宿、饮食以及访问哪些酒庄的建议。
我是那种在去过某个地方之后,阅读旅行指南能获得与实际在那里使用(结合 Google Earth)同样快感的人,以此作为一种梦幻般地回顾足迹的方式。例如,Matt Walls MW 撰写的、文笔优雅的《聪明旅行者葡萄酒指南》罗讷河谷版,是我在无法身处法国那些我最喜爱的葡萄酒之乡时的最佳替代方案。
该系列书籍还为第三种、且在许多方面是最好的度假酒提供了大量建议:即当你被困在家里时,购买的一种作为微型替代度假体验的酒。它们不需要特别奢华就能实现这种“瞬间转移”的魔力。它可以是 Tanners Provence Rosé, Côtes de Provence 2025 (£17.95, Tanners Wines) 那种优雅的西瓜和红醋栗味,让我第一口闻到就想象自己正飞往蔚蓝海岸;或者是活泼的花香干白 Taste the Difference Discovery Gemichster Satz 2025 (£10, Sainsbury’s),它将我带到维也纳葡萄园酒馆的喧嚣之中;亦或是 M&S Found Refosco, 2024 (£8.50, Marks & Spencer) 那种酸爽的压碎覆盆子和黑莓味,这是一款粗犷的红酒,配上一碗 bigoli 意面和鸭肉烩饭啜饮,便能飘向度假状态,抵达意大利东北部的一家小餐馆。 ●
本周之酒 Tanners Provence Rosé, Côtes de Provence 2025, £17.95, Tanners Wines
HANNAH CROSBIE
仅供应单一饮品的移动酒吧、印有标志的条纹遮阳伞、品牌玻璃杯——我们的夏季饮品正被赞助。在餐厅和酒吧行业,空间就等于金钱。事实上,在任何房地产领域,空间都等于金钱,而在我居住的伦敦,住宅的平均每平方英尺价格约为 £600,商业空间则约为 £400。聪明的场所会寻找抵消成本的方法。我开始在城里看到更多品牌露台,我认为这不仅仅是因为我们所有人都花更多时间在户外。
品牌的目的是什么?是为了让有人在公告帖子下评论说这是“我需要的合作”(心形眼睛表情符号)。我们正处于企业联名的时代。而且目前看来,还没有陨石坠落来终结这一切的迹象。
对于品牌来说,以物理方式渗透市场是一个精明的想法。结合生活成本危机和烈酒市场的饱和(这还没把所有新的低酒精和无酒精选项计算在内),品牌脱颖而出的重要性比以往任何时候都高。尤其是当我们中的许多人正在进行“数字排毒”,并且对大型广告活动感到有些幻灭的时候。如果执行得当,一个露台或与一个早已深受喜爱的机构进行的合作是聪明的,并且能与两方受众建立强大的品牌关系。
位于 Hackney Road 的 Equal Parts——一家通常装饰着森林绿瓷砖的绝佳黑胶酒吧——将其外观包裹成了亮粉色,以推广 Espolón 龙舌兰酒。在圣潘克拉斯车站外,灰雁伏特加通过在 Hawksmoor 设立马提尼露台来吸引国际人流。在我打字时,普罗旺斯桃红葡萄酒巨头 Minuty 在伦敦拥有三个(是的,三个!)相当甜美的品牌露台。在剧院区,甚至连时尚品牌也加入了这场游戏:西维亚·韦斯特伍德接管了 J Sheekey 的露台。
品牌从中获得的好处显而易见:可见度,以及与一个许多人已经在夜晚出行和花费零钱时深爱且信任的场所建立有利的联系和共享价值观的认知。但酒吧能得到什么?顾客比以往任何时候都更精明,尤其是数字原住民,他们能一眼看穿 #ad(广告)。
我询问了几位在品牌联名中处于酒吧方的饮品专业人士。“这件事可以做得极其出色,也可以做得极其糟糕,就像你可以敷衍了事一样,”其中一人说道。“我们的合作伙伴承担了接管设计的具体工作,并支付了安装费用,这让我们能够为自己的业务尝试完全不同的东西。此外,这让他们能够与经营者建立信任。我们最终会销售和购买更多他们的酒类。”
成本最终成了场所的一大奖金,无论是一笔现金注入让他们能够开启一个全新的概念,或者仅仅意味着一家当地酒吧能够将旧的、破烂的遮阳伞更换为一些新的、闪亮的 Cruzcampo 品牌遮阳伞。对于某些场所来说,这可能是让他们能多维持几个月营业的关键。 ●
44
摄影 AARON GRAUBART
利润造型 ALEXANDER BREEZE;饮品造型 TARA GARNELL
渴望
夏季是聚会、野餐和派对的季节。我们为你搜罗了所有能让你时尚地制作蛋糕——并享用它——所需的一切。
£29, Sabre Paris
试图用刀平衡那块蛋糕切片?有更好的方法!这款灵感来自经典小酒馆餐具的切片刀有多种颜色可选。
£5, Ikea
必备厨房工具,在烘焙中尤为重要,能将碗中最后一抹蛋糕糊刮干净。
£85, Ginori 1735
用一个优雅的瓷盘华丽地呈上,其图案灵感来自佛罗伦萨乡村。
£17, Gestura (Sous Chef)
Gestura 制造那些在你尝试之前不知道自己需要的厨房工具——比如这款平衡感极佳的蛋糕测试针,能带来完美的结果。
£18.50起,Mason Cash 深碗底,外缘采用凸起设计以便抓握,即使是最大尺寸也非常轻便——自1901年以来,一直是家庭烘焙者的经典之选。
£180,Feldspar Studio
用这款时尚的骨瓷托盘展示你的烘焙成果,由德文郡手工制作并绘制。
趋势
45
我的心事
这位威尔士小说家、记者兼诗人的第一部小说《潜水艇》(Submarine)于2010年被改编为电影。他的最新著作《镭之子》(Children of Radium)是一部关于家庭与化学武器的非虚构回忆录。
本周,我们九岁的儿子终于说服我们让他看《大白鲨》(Jaws)。他做了研究并指出,虽然这部电影在20世纪80年代被评为15,但很久以前就被降级为12A。此外,他说,现在的特技效果应该已经过时到让他觉得不可信的程度。他还争辩说,我们积极鼓励他阅读《饥饿游戏》(The Hunger Games)系列丛书——书中充满了孩子们残忍地将对方殴打致死的情节——却拒绝让他看这部现代悬疑电影的经典之作,这是虚伪的。我试图向他解释,事实上,这部电影之所以恐怖,正是因为它没有滥用血腥场面。恰恰是因为我们看不到那条鲨鱼,它才活在我们的脑海中,在梦境的昏暗水域中猎杀我们。
他说他对此没意见,无论如何都想看。
我们看了电影,我儿子很快指出,事实上,那条鲨鱼的出镜时间出奇地多。我们数不清它有多少次咆哮着冲出水面,看起来既粗糙又机械,像是一排牙齿组成的走廊。第二天早晨吃早餐时,我儿子报告说,是的,他梦到了鲨鱼,但并不是以一种恐怖的方式。它们一直围绕在他身边——在一个水族馆里。
我意识到,这一切都是他在为下一个请求做铺垫。既然《大白鲨》曾经被评为15——而且无论如何,他并不觉得恐怖——那么真的有理由不允许他看《猛鬼街》(Nightmare on Elm Street)吗?这部电影最近被从18重新评定为15,且被英国电影分级委员会(BBFC)认为“在血腥和受伤细节方面相对克制”。我不得不佩服他的聪明才智。
像大多数作家一样,我一直参与在书籍推荐语(blurbing)这种不道德的秘密经济之中。我请求他人写推荐语,我也为他人提供。在这样做的时候,我有时在想,出版业是否应该引入一套红绿灯系统,就像食品制造商在包装上标明营养价值那样。推荐语旁边的绿灯表示赞美来自一位与被赞美者没有任何私人或专业关系的人。他们纯粹是基于作品本身而喜爱。橙灯则表示,虽然写推荐语的人确实喜欢这部作品,但其中存在某种道德上的妥协。也许他们曾是作者的导师,或者他们与作者共用同一个经纪人,或者在社交场合一起打皮克球。红灯
则表示彻头彻尾的裙带关系和互惠互利,是某种人情交换或纯粹的社交网络行为。我查看了我最近的一本书上的推荐语。我看到了两个绿灯,一个橙灯,一个红灯。
19个是纪录。在步行6分钟前往孩子学校的路上,人行道上有19堆单独的狗屎。这相当于每分钟大约3堆屎。刚忘记一堆,下一堆就跃入眼帘,一直延伸到学校大门前,形成了一条不间断的链条。
我们社区曾短暂出现过一个人——可能是艺术家,也可能是活动人士——他开始在一些最显眼的狗屎里插上鸡尾酒小遮阳伞,用荒诞主义幽默来应对这个问题。另一位匿名的邻居在路中间喷绘了一个巨大的程式化便便图案以表达抗议。这些都没有帮助。当我从学校走回家,选择一条能避开最糟糕路段的路线时,我开始幻想意大利博尔扎诺那著名的洁净街道,那里的警察通过收集粪便样本并将其与城市宠物的 DNA 数据库进行比对来追踪罪魁祸首。
通常走到家一半路程时,我便发誓要发起一场私刑正义运动。在我的恐怖统治下,罪魁祸首的狗屎将被通过信箱原路退回。但这个想法很快就破灭了,因为我想起来自己根本不知道谁是罪魁祸首。尽管我在这个地区住了二十年,但我见到的宠物主人都是尽职地清理宠物粪便,手指上挂着绿色的小便袋。
等我到家时,我的愤怒已变得模糊且泛化。我意识到,我真正的沮丧不仅在于狗屎本身,而是在于我清醒时的绝大部分时间都花在思考它们上面。
示例见上文。我还有更多。
我意识到,这 4% 的思考几乎完全发生在洗澡时。 ●

46
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天然石材 瓷砖 及装饰砖
新赛季, 旧头痛
赫尔城给 曼联 带来早期惊吓
THE OBSERVER 23.08.26
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observer.co.uk 23.08.26
报道:George Simms
安迪·伯纳姆正在筹划英国同时申办奥运会和男子世界杯。首相正在讨论在全英国范围内举办 2038 年或 2042 年世界杯的可行性,以及在北方多个城市举办 2040 年奥运会和残奥会。英格兰自 1966 年以来未曾举办过世界杯,但曾三次举办奥运会——分别在 1908, 1948 和 2012. 年。英国目前还积极申办 2029 年世界田径锦标赛和 2035 年女足世界杯。
詹尼克·辛纳和杰克·德雷珀都将缺席即将到来的美网,而卡洛斯·阿尔卡拉斯在缺阵四个多月后将重返法拉盛公园球场,他将在下周的美网混双比赛中与塞雷娜·威廉姆斯搭档。辛纳赢得了 2024 年美网冠军,但他的最后一场比赛是在温网决赛中击败亚历山大·兹维列夫,他一直饱受右膝伤病困扰,并得出结论认为他无法
作者:杰里米·惠特尔(Jeremy Whittle)
乔什·塔林(Josh Tarling)决定参加 2026 年的最后一场大环赛——周六在摩纳哥开赛的西班牙环赛(Vuelta a España)。就在不到一周前,他的弟弟芬利(Finlay)在葡萄牙比赛时被一辆面包车撞死。这位 Netcompany Innes 车手的决定得到了父母和车队的支持,他决定参加这场西班牙赛事所展现的勇气受到了广泛赞赏。上周三,在参加英国女子巡回赛的澳大利亚选手梅芙·普卢夫(Maeve Plouffe)也经历了一次惊险时刻。“当时赛事车队仍在视线范围内,”她说,“但有来自四面八方的社会车辆向我冲来,其中一辆在环岛处差点撞到我。”
“考虑到近期我们自行车界发生的毁灭性事件,看到这种情况令人恐惧,因为我们知道这可能会导致可怕的后果,尤其是在遭受如此巨大的悲剧之后不久。”英国自行车协会(British Cycling)是英国巡回赛的推广方,其赛事总监乔纳森·戴(Jonathan Day)表示,英国巡回赛采用了与包括葡萄牙环赛(Volta a Portugal)在内的许多其他赛事相同的“滚动道路封闭”系统,并补充说车手安全是“至高无上”的,且英国自行车协会“意识到现在对自行车界来说是一个格外艰难的时刻”。尽管职业赛事的死亡人数在增加,但这项运动仍在继续。自行车运动的管理机构 UCI 本周表示,对塔林的离世感到“深切悲痛”,但补充说“由于事故相关情况仍在调查中,我们不会进一步发表评论”。在塔林去世一周后,围绕塔代伊·波加查(Tadej Pogačar)参加西班牙环赛的喧嚣,无法掩盖车手安全问题日益加深的危机。CPA 车手工会主席、前职业车手亚当·汉森(Adam Hansen)告诉《观察者报》:“滚动(道路)封闭系统存在漏洞。我们必须找到解决办法。”
尼克·基里奥斯(Nick Kyrgios)在 6 月的马略卡公开赛中可卡因代谢物检测呈阳性后表示
在蒙特卡洛训练后参赛。与此同时,德雷珀(Draper)仍未从左臂长期的骨挫伤中恢复,并在辛辛那提公开赛首轮出局。尼克·基里奥斯在 6 月的马略卡公开赛中可卡因代谢物检测呈阳性,也被禁赛。
曼联已就以 7000 万英镑m 的价格签下布莱顿中场卡洛斯·巴莱巴(Carlos Baleba)达成协议。这位 22 岁的喀麦隆人将在周末完成体检,并跟随安德烈·桑托斯(Andrey Santos)和尤里·蒂莱曼斯(Youri Tielemans)前往老特拉福德。与此同时,阿森纳愿意支付超过 1 亿英镑m

约书亚·塔林(Joshua Tarling),芬利的哥哥,得到了家人和队友的支持。 Alexander Wasserstein / Getty
以签下胡利安·阿尔瓦雷斯(Julián Álvarez),因为他们的目标是在转会窗关闭前再签下一名首发前锋;而利物浦对布莱顿边锋扬库巴·明特(Yankuba Minteh)提出的 6000 万英镑m 报价被拒绝。
艾米·亨特(Amy Hunt)在周五的洛桑钻石联赛 200 米比赛中获得银牌,紧随美国选手凯拉·怀特(Kayla White)之后,成绩为 22.32 秒,此前她曾在欧洲锦标赛中斩获四枚金牌。与此同时,在 800 米比赛中击败基利·霍奇金森(Keely Hodgkinson)夺得欧洲金牌的瑞士选手安德烈·韦罗(Andrey Werro)打破了洛桑赛会的纪录,她以微弱优势领先于费姆克·布罗德斯-博尔(Femke Broeders-Bol),后者以 1.55:41 的成绩创造了国家纪录。韦罗、霍奇金森、布罗德斯-博尔以及现任世界冠军莉莉安·奥迪拉(Lilian Odira)都将参加 8 月 27 日的苏黎世钻石联赛。
NBA 球队明尼苏达森林狼队和 WNBA 球队明尼苏达山狮队已以总计 45亿美元 的价格出售给美国商人马克·斯塔德(Marc Stad)。此前的多数共同所有者马克·洛尔(Marc Lore)将保留少数股权,前 MLB 球星亚历克斯·罗德里格斯(Alex Rodriguez)同样如此。在明尼苏达队的出售之前,迪士尼高管鲍勃·艾格(Bob Iger)和约书亚·库什纳(Joshua Kushner)以创纪录的 125亿美元 从马克·沃尔特(Mark Walter)手中买下了洛杉矶湖人队,后者曾在 2025 年 10 月以 100亿美元 的估值购入该球队。
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沉船之长:费尔南德斯与曼联负于防守严密的赫尔城。
Robbie Jay Barratt / Getty
由前英超球员埃米尔·赫斯基(Emile Heskey)、安东尼奥·瓦伦西亚(Antonio Valencia)、斯蒂芬·爱尔兰(Stephen Ireland)和帕皮斯·西塞(Papiss Cisse)经常代表出战的 Wythenshawe Vets 队签下了一位新星——纪录短跑运动员尤塞恩·博尔特。博尔特曾在 2018 年在 A 联赛球队中央海岸水手队训练了两个月,但当时并未签署合同。
在卡塔尔度过了 13 年后,主持人理查德·凯斯(Richard Keys)和安迪·格雷(Andy Gray)(如图)回到了英国,并推出了他们自己的播客:《凯斯与格雷大揭秘》(Keys and Gray Unleashed)。在第一集中,两人坐在伦敦塔桥前,讨论了海港、飞机以及他们本可以如何阻止中东战争。

得益于一次被南非名将巴里·理查兹(Barry Richards)评价为应被“终身禁赛”的事件,英格兰队闯入了 60+ 板球世界杯的决赛。英格兰击球手特穆尔·阿拉姆(Temoor Alam)被判定为腿前球(lbw)出局,但他坚称自己击中了球,拒绝离场,最终在 15 分钟后迫使裁判推翻了决定。英格兰队以 8 分之差击败印度队。
阿森纳 16 岁的边锋马克斯·道曼(Max Dowman)于周四领取了他的 GCSE 成绩,并确认在今年早些时候成为英超历史上最年轻的进球者后,他将不再完成 A-levels 学业。他说:“无论是在场上还是场下,我所学到的教训将伴随我迈向旅程的下一步。”
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
3
保罗·海沃德

随着那位在十年内带领球队赢得 20 座奖杯的救世主式人物离去——且球队仍面临 115 项指控——如果曼城因为“分离焦虑”而削弱,那么承担责任的将是他们的新主帅。
在佩普·瓜迪奥拉执教曼城时期的“决定性球队演说”候选名单中,又加入了一段来自新纪录片《美丽的痴迷》(A Beautiful Obsession)中的演讲。瓜迪奥拉的继任者恩佐·马雷斯卡被建议,在赢得一些奖杯之前,不要尝试此类演说。
那是 2024-25 赛季,曼城正处于一段异常糟糕的低谷。随着每一次失败和领先被反超,瓜迪奥拉的球员们回到更衣室时,困惑感愈发深重。评论界在讨论帝国的终结。很快,一位不习惯失败的主教练的头部和脸上会出现红色的抓痕。
瓜迪奥拉无法认清自己所处的环境。他让球队和工作人员围成一个巨大的圆圈,自己在圆圈中间走动,一边打响指一边盯着地面。
终于,在他找到措辞时,他发出了一声急促的呼气……
“五次英超冠军,一次欧冠冠军,欧洲[超级]杯,也许是世界杯,也许是欧洲国家队或者其他什么。这就是成功吗?这就是成功吗?不。伙计们,我想告诉你们一些事情。在你们内心深处。
“在我们的生活中,无论是在工作中、在爱情中,还是在任何事情上取得成功,都是在跌倒时一次又一次地重新站起来。这才是成功。”
在纸面上,这看起来可能平淡无奇,但当你看到他发表这段关于恢复的布道时,你便窥见了伟大管理术的秘密之一。可以称之为情感胁迫。亚历山大·弗格森是另一位将职位交给一个在光环或权威上完全没有希望与他匹敌的人的曼彻斯特主帅,他过去常对他的联队球员说:“今天千万不要考虑让这家俱乐部失望。”
这种将道德责任和精神债务转移到球员身上的做法,也被比尔·香克利所采用(“一名球员如果要足够优秀到能为利物浦效力,他必须准备好为我撞穿一面砖墙,然后

分手:曼城的球员们会对佩普·瓜迪奥拉与俱乐部的“离婚”反应剧烈吗? Tom Fathers / Amazon
“在我们的生活中,成功就是当我们跌倒时,一次又一次地重新站起来” 佩普·瓜迪奥拉
然后从另一边战斗着走出来。”这部分是激励技巧,部分是只有那些拥有大量成功支撑的主教练才能部署的永恒真理。
这并非新手段。伟大的绿湾包装工队教练文斯·隆巴迪是坚持不懈标准的先驱之一。“获胜不是偶尔为之,而是时刻如此,”他说。“你不能偶尔把事情做对。你必须时刻把事情做对。”
但随着新英超赛季的开启,在曼城主场迎战伯恩茅斯之际,“瓜迪奥拉式”的语言对马雷斯卡——或者利物浦的安多尼·伊劳拉——来说还不是一个选项。迈克尔·卡里克曾是弗格森黄金时代的一员,在老特拉福德,他或许可以侥幸借用前老板的词汇库。
然而,马雷斯卡才是关于“艰巨继承”最引人注目的案例研究。接手一位在俱乐部赢得 20 座奖杯的全球级人物已经足够困难。但马雷斯卡还必须面对针对曼城违反英超财务规则的 115 项指控的结果(他们否认所有指控)。
在一些关于曼城 3-0 输给阿森纳的社区盾杯决赛的过度激进的评判中,马雷斯卡已经意识到,如果曼城因为分离焦虑而削弱,承担责任的人将是他。
他不是新的“佩普”,也不应该试图成为,除非是在展现果断和力量方面。一场伟大的戏剧已经收拾行囊离开了这座建筑,就像当年大卫·莫耶斯接替弗格森时那样。和我们所有人一样,马雷斯卡将在 Amazon Prime 的纪录片中观察到一位甚至愿意将自己的离婚作为激励燃料的传教士。
在一个疯狂的场景中,瓜迪奥拉动情地说道:“伙计们,我想坦白一件事。我与这个星球上最美丽的女人——我的妻子,我的前妻——离婚了。我难以置信地爱着她,但我们失去了激情。因为很多原因,我们失去了激情。
“我爱她吗?是的,绝对爱。她爱我吗?是的。但我们失去了激情。你们怎么踢足球?因为你是凭着内心深处的东西在踢球。激情在哪里?在你的生活中,无论你要做什么,都要带着激情去做。我不需要一名优秀的球员,我要的是有激情的球员。”
在这场大声疾呼的布道中,你可以感觉到球员们在飞快地思考,试图将他们主教练婚姻的终结,与他们在短短几周内接连输给伯恩茅斯、布莱顿以及 4-0 输给热刺联系起来。
曼城在 2025 年 1 月的一场客场比赛中 4-2 输给了巴黎圣日耳曼,瓜迪奥拉对此感到愤慨,因为他的工作人员竟然还能吃喝聊天,而他只能折磨自己。“当我输球时,我想感受痛苦,”他对着挤满人的更衣室说道,并拍了拍自己的肚子。
“我不开心。你们开心吗?你?你晚上能睡得着吗?我晚上睡不着。你们没事?让我感觉到你们在场。该死的。让我感觉到你们在场。”
在这种要求——“让我感觉到你们在场”——中,你可以看到瓜迪奥拉信念中的宗教力量:在追求目标、在兄弟情谊中,不应保留自我的任何一部分。这就是他所体现的关键人性元素。
但当曼城董事会聚集在一起讨论这个令人失望的赛季时,驱动顶尖体育运动的因素也变得显而易见。曼城主席哈尔多恩·穆巴拉克(Khaldoon Al Mubarak)告诉在场的人:“这台机器是为了赢而制造的。这台机器是为了成功而制造的。如果我们不赢,它就无法运转。”
这就是马雷斯卡记录下的第一点。
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observer.co.uk 23.08.26
罗里·史密斯 (Rory Smith)

在本周末的某个时刻,每一支英超球队的每一位球迷都会迎来一个瞬间,一个完美的瞬间。那可能是走向球场的路途;可能是经过 90 个漫长的日子后,第一次望见球场那深绿色的草坪;也可能是听到一首歌的开场和弦,感受到助威歌的节奏,或是瞥见一件新球衣上的新名字。
然而不幸的是,裁判会吹响哨子,球员会踢出皮球,而这一切瞬间便会烟消云散。英超赛季最美好的时刻,并非电视转播或博彩公司那些令人屏息的广告中所描绘的那样,也不是那些被告知我们一直在等待的时刻。而是就在那之前的瞬间,在现实降临之前的那个瞬间。
赛季的开幕周末总是带有明显的“假战”色彩。它充满了虚假的曙光、障眼法以及各种误导;如果将其作为预测未来九个月左右走势的指南,那么它的可靠程度大概相当于观察恩佐·马雷斯卡 (Enzo Maresca) 的手相,或者通过阅读阿森纳的俱乐部之犬 Win 的内脏来占卜。
本赛季尤其如此。这不仅仅是因为联赛中如此多的球队在新任主教练的带领下还处于破茧而出的初期阶段——超过半数的球队刚刚完成了在俱乐部的第一个季前训练——还因为那种认为俱乐部应尽可能迅速且尽早完成转会交易的长期信念似乎已被抛弃。
迈克尔·卡里克 (Michael Carrick) 和安多尼·伊拉奥拉 (Andoni Iraola) 都公开且异常地承认,他们的阵容尚未完整——伊拉奥拉周五在谈到利物浦的资源时用了“单薄”一词——并且他们预计在月底前,球员名单将发生相当彻底的
变动。
他们绝非个例;从现在到转会窗口关闭,许多英超球队的阵容可能会发生剧烈且昂贵的变动。阿森纳在周五晚上对阵考文垂城时可能没有出现任何失误,但这位卫冕冠军是特例而非规律。本周末参赛的几支球队,与在赛季大部分时间里竞争的球队相比,可能仅有短暂的相似之处。
首轮比赛的具体细节也会很快被遗忘;等到 12 月,更不用说 4 月和 5 月的赛季收官之时,在酷暑尾声究竟是谁击败了谁,早已被人们遗忘。不过,本周末将起到一个作用:定调。
传统的观点一直认为,在赛季至少进行三场比赛之前,展示积分榜几乎没有意义;在那之前,排名往往因为字母顺序而显得毫无意义。现在情况不再如此。这是 2026 年。等到周一早晨到来时,多位主教练将面临压力。其中一两位很可能无法恢复。
这就是为什么值得坚守那种感觉——在皮球被踢出之前,在一切重新开始之前的那种感觉。没有什么能比赛季开始前的那个瞬间更独特,那时希望、乐观甚至信念依然可以繁荣生长,直到冷酷的现实之光倾泻而入。
这就是广告永远无法完全捕捉到的,而且即便能捕捉到,它们也不愿这样做:最大的快感并非足球本身,而是对它的期待,就像平安夜的那种感觉——你几乎能欺骗自己,忘记礼物并不能让你快乐,且你的叔叔中至少有一个是世界上最糟糕的人。
接下来的九个月将是压力重重且令人沮丧的,而且对于我们大多数人来说,除了失望将一无所有。但那是哨声响起之后的事。在此之前,现在,一切都是完美的。
一场诺贝尔式的胜利:赫尔城的门迪 (Mendy) 打入了他们的第二粒进球。George Wood / Getty Images

诺丁汉森林
0
利兹联
1
保罗·海沃德 (Paul Hayward)
诺丁汉,城市球场
诺丁汉森林队的球迷们所看到的是一位新任主教练在敦促他的球员们更加大胆,正如奥利弗·格拉斯纳(Oliver Glasner)在从水晶宫转会到另一家前10名之外的俱乐部时所做的那样。
球场上的犹豫是可以理解的。森林队上赛季更换了四位主教练,且每位主教练的执教方式各不相同。八月的比赛需要打个问号。它们是临时性的。这不仅仅是因为转会窗口仍然开启,使得首发阵容仅仅是对未来走势的近似估计。新任主教练们正试图让他们的球队达成理解。
如果称一名主教练加盟一家曾两次获得欧洲冠军杯的俱乐部为“原地踏步”,在城市球场(City Ground)你不会赢得多少朋友——尤其是在这场 1-0 负于利兹联的比赛之后。
在格拉斯纳将足总杯和欧足联欧洲协会联赛的奖杯带到塞尔赫斯特公园球场后,从水晶宫到森林队的这次变动并非许多人预料中的晋升。他搬到诺丁汉并非自我降级。更多的是人们期望他寻求比在上一赛季英超积分榜上从第15名移至第16名更大的挑战。
一定是潜力吸引他来到了特伦特河畔。还有历史。而且几乎可以肯定还有薪水。甚至可能是森林队老板埃万格洛斯·马里纳基斯(Evangelos Marinakis)的魅力,后者将雅典附近的 Papaioannou 餐厅用作招募站。在那里,候选人们会发现“深蓝色的爱琴海在背景中舞动,充满了宝藏”。格拉斯纳说他们分享的海鲜拼盘一定很美味。
除了英格兰球员埃利奥特·安德森(Elliot Anderson),格拉斯纳将他的名声带入了 2025-26 赛季由努诺·埃斯皮里托·桑托(Nuno Espirito Santo)、安格·波斯特科格鲁(Ange Postecoglou)、肖恩·戴奇(Sean Dyche)和维托尔·佩雷拉(Vitor Pereira)留下的真空地带。面对一支在上一赛季下半场找到了稳定公式且在本赛季表现出坚持该公式迹象的利兹联队,他的意图并不难解码。
相比之下,格拉斯纳想要改变宣言,将其改为积极进取。与前一年相比,森林队上赛季的积分从 65 分下降到 44 分。参加欧洲赛事是原因之一,但他们过于频繁地滑向降级区的趋势太明显,无法被忽视。
马里纳基斯在 Papaioannou 餐厅游说时的核心点应该是,森林队需要打破那种模式,更多地掌控自己的命运。格拉斯纳在此鼓励在反击和高压逼抢之余,增加爆发性的直接进攻。
这种混合模式的核心在于促使森林队变得更加
绝杀球:利兹联的安东·斯塔赫(Anton Stach)打入了全场唯一进球。Paul Marriott / Kenny

3-0 的快感:厄德高(Odegaard)在 50 分钟前完成了球队的进球。Catherine Iwill / Getty


observer.co.uk 23.08.26
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赫尔城
曼联
罗里·史密斯 (Rory Smith) MKM体育场
最低谷可能出现在第73分钟。曼联当时以0-2落后于 newly promoted 的赫尔城,迈克尔·卡里克(Michael Carrick)那场被寄予厚望的辉煌复兴,在接触到现实阳光的瞬间便立即产生了裂痕。曼联表现得软弱且钝拙。在MKM体育场的他们的球迷区,球迷们面色阴沉,发出呻吟。
随后,广播系统发出滋滋声并开始工作。“从赫尔帕贡车站(Hull Paragon station)乘火车前往的曼联球迷,”播报开始。在那一刻,所有人都知道这不是好消息。只要涉及火车就没好事。播报员说,15.03和17.03返回西行的列车。他留下了一个带有喜剧色彩的停顿。然后,带着一丝幸灾乐祸地说道:“已被取消。”
事实证明,这又是那样的一天,是曼联以为自己已经摆脱的那种日子。卡里克在1月份的到来——可能出人意料地——在鲁本·阿莫林(Ruben Amorim)era. 的动荡之后,为老特拉福德带来了一种低调的宁静。以及埃里克·滕哈赫(Erik ten Hag)时代。以及奥莱·冈纳尔·索尔斯克亚(Ole Gunnar Solskjær)时代。以及:好吧,你懂的。曼联在上一赛季结束时步履轻盈。卡里克赢得了他的第一场比赛(对手是曼城),且几乎没有回头看。
这个夏天同样令人鼓舞。在一个与其说是膨胀不如说是完全畸形的转会市场中,曼联找到了价值:尤里·蒂莱曼斯(Youri Tielemans)和安德烈·桑托斯(Andrey Santos),这两人的价格远低于埃利奥特·安德森(Elliot Anderson),随后又迅速且聪明地完成了对长期目标卡洛斯·布莱巴(Carlos Buleba)的交易。
有些东西改变了:这是严肃且高效的运作,识别弱点并予以解决。曼联在赛季开始时展现出的自信,在很大程度上并非源于对俱乐部命中注定之伟大的顽固信念。

强劲开局:塞米·阿贾伊(Semi Ajayi)早早破门。 Paul Ellis / 粗略估计,这种感觉在实际比赛中维持了大约17分钟,随后塞米·阿贾伊为赫尔城取得领先,瞬间蒸发了曼联好不容易赢得的宁静。
他周五曾强调,这场比赛并非大多数人假设的那样轻而易举——一支升班马,在充满活力的体育场,在赛季揭幕日——但即使是他也会对赫尔城所展现出的沉着与目标感之强感到惊讶。
这一点很重要,需要记住,卡里克职业生涯的大部分时间都与曼联绑定在一起。他知道,挫折与彻底危机之间的界限如此模糊,以至于完全无法分辨。
但这既是塞尔盖·雅基罗维奇(Sergej Jakirović)球队的一次胜利,也是客队的一次失败;这既关乎赫尔城的努力、冒险和勇气,也关乎一支在内心深处旨在赢得联赛的球队的缺陷。
赫尔城并非通过偷袭赢了卡里克的球队。他们顽强且聪明,但不仅仅于此。
在某个时刻,奥利·麦克伯尼(Oli McBurnie)连续过掉了四名球员;阿贾伊在进球后的最佳时刻,是一个赢得球迷掌声的肩部晃动。
当关于火车的播报传来时,赫尔城正处于兴奋之中。当那个“笑点”被揭晓时,人群发出了持久而响亮的笑声。这是他们永远不会忘记的一天。
但最大的担忧是,过去三年签约托特纳姆热刺的每位球员似乎都被“混乱病毒”感染了,除非你设法治愈这种病毒,否则同样的事情将一遍又一遍地发生。
也许杰森·坎迪(Jason Cundy)会声称热刺有令人鼓舞的迹象,但事实并非如此。在他们创造出有意义的机会之前,就已经0-2落后。布伦特福德在他们之中翩翩起舞并横扫而过,而他们除了制造麻烦之外一无所获。
是的,热刺需要时间,德泽尔比需要时间,费尔南德斯、托纳利和扬-保罗·范赫克也需要时间。但如果像上赛季以及上上赛季那样,时间实际上只会让情况变得更糟,那该怎么办?
桑加雷庆祝布伦特福德攻入第三球。 Ryan Pierce / Getty Images
阿森纳
考文垂
杰西·帕克·汉弗莱斯 (Jessy Parker Humphreys) 酋长球场
霍洛威路(Holloway Road)上空的红色信号弹烟雾尚未散去,但在结束了长达 22 年的英超冠军等待后,他们能否卫冕?
正如帕特里克·维埃拉在 2003-04 赛季“不败之师”赛季末期所指出的,“成就非凡……就是赢得连续两届冠军”。
他们当时没能做到这一点,最终落后于切尔西 12 分,而切尔西随后实现了卫冕。这使得若泽·穆里尼奥成为继亚历克斯·弗格森之后第二位赢得连续英超冠军的教练。佩普·瓜迪奥拉也加入了这个名单,而米克尔·阿尔特塔希望在今年也加入其中。
进入本赛季前的共识是,冠军在阿森纳手中,只要他们不掉链子。周五,他们在英超揭幕战中以 3-0 大胜升班马考文垂城,这一结果并未改变上述结论。
潜在的冠军竞争对手们正面临新任主帅的磨合或标志性球员的离队。与此同时,阿森纳在足球水平极高之余,还拥有稳定性。风险在于,球队可能会变得沉闷,就像上赛季末期开始出现的那样,尽管那在很大程度上是由于恐惧而非战术上的不适。艾玛·海耶斯在担任切尔西主教练并屡获殊荣期间,将“如果它没坏,就把它弄坏”作为她的格言,这并非没有原因。对于阿森纳来说,在结束了一连串的亚军收场后,枷锁或许终于被解开了。
尽管部分顶尖球员状态起伏且出勤不稳定,他们还是挺过了上赛季。本赛季的揭幕战是自 2024 年 12 月以来,布卡约·萨卡、凯哈弗茨和马丁·贝德加德第二次在联赛中共同首发。他们周五均有进球,并且会觉得本赛季有必要证明自己。
他们的回归应该会增强阿森纳的进攻,阿尔特塔似乎愿意给球员更多即兴发挥的空间。
因此,克里斯托斯·佐利斯似乎是一个理想的补充,他在诺里奇城效力一段时间后重返英超,其表现与他在季前赛中的活跃程度一样出色。
这一切都是阿尔特塔反思的结果。
“在夏天,我花了大量时间写关于我们想把这家足球俱乐部带向何方。什么样的米克尔版本才是被需要的?”他在接受 Men in Blazers 播客采访时说道。
在新赛季开始时呈现的版本似乎与之前的版本没有显著差异。激烈、热情且略显尴尬,但凭借这种专注的方式,足以证明阿森纳被视为夺冠热门的标签是合理的。
像格拉斯纳的水晶宫队那样充满活力。
利兹联在哈里·威尔逊、俱乐部纪录签约球员詹姆斯·特拉福德和塔里克·穆哈雷莫维奇首秀的情况下,上赛季在埃兰路球场赢得了 68% 的积分。这次在远离那个狂热赛场的客场取得早期胜利,令人欣慰。
安东·斯塔赫在比赛末段通过任意球绝杀,击碎了诺丁汉森林球迷的幻想。这些球迷来到城市球场,希望与六周前才到任的格拉斯纳共同见证瞬间的提升。他是连续第七位在英超首场比赛中失利的森林队正式主教练。八月份永恒的教训就是:这些事情需要时间。
布伦特福德
托特纳姆热刺
乔治·西姆斯 (George Simms) 吉罗特社区体育场
在尽情挥霍、挥金如土、深信不疑、渴望追求以及自我欺骗之后,现实来了。花费 2.5 亿英镑m(且后续仍有投入)买入价值 2 亿英镑m 的球员。雇佣另一位怀揣梦想、神秘且特立独行的进攻教练。大谈特谈改变文化,却不改变大多数执行该文化的人。但你依然是托特纳姆热刺。这是支撑托特纳姆热刺所有行为的根本问题:我们如何才能不像热刺?我们如何才能摆脱自我?
你经常听到热刺正经历一系列身份危机,但也许没有哪家英超俱乐部能如此清晰地意识到自己是什么、是谁。作为一种理念,热刺具有一种极其惊人且浪漫的持久力,它是混乱、嘲讽和无能的代名词。
到目前为止,包括萨维尼奥在内的七名新援,每一个都如此“热刺”——令人兴奋,有时很华丽,但同时也轻量级、不稳定且钝化。
开球前,阳光将球场笼罩在刺眼的强光中,直射在安东宁·金斯基的眼睛里,这提醒人们,上帝很少站在热刺这一边。中后卫内森·柯林斯在开场前四分钟内有两次机会。基恩·刘易斯-波特打入了一球,这球感觉不可避免,随后伊戈尔·蒂亚戈击中横梁。主场球迷在维塔利·雅内尔特和迈克尔·卡约德打入第二和第三球之前,唱着“你们将随富勒姆一起出局”。到第 54 分钟布伦特福德获得点球时,一波白衣球员正向丘桥车站方向流散。
尽管这场失败将被定格为一场灾难,但这正是热刺目前的现状,即便有安迪·罗伯逊在。上赛季,布伦特福德的排名比他们高 8 位,积分多 12 分。
布伦特福德是一家严肃的足球俱乐部,管理更出色,更稳定,且在大多数位置上拥有更好的球员。他们不会花费近 3 亿英镑m,然后以迈基·摩尔、特尔和里沙利松的前场三人组开始赛季,同时因为前四个选择全部受伤,而让阿奇·格雷成为他们在正式比赛中历史上最年轻的队长。
在连续两次排名第 17 位之后,进入上半区必须成为目标。第七或第八名将是一个非常成功的赛季,这可能需要他们比 2025-26, 赛季多赢 15 分左右,在没有欧战或没有真实杯赛晋级预期的情况下,这个目标虽然雄心勃勃但可以实现。预计奥马尔·马尔穆什接下来将从曼城加盟,但据报道,曼城在今天对阵伯恩茅斯之后将评估其阵容。
6
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
欧洲各国并不打算抵制 U-20 女子世界杯
罗里·史密斯 (Rory Smith) 与 杰西·帕克·汉弗莱斯 (Jessy Parker Humphreys)
好消息在周五午餐时间公开。英格兰 U-20 女足主教练莉迪亚·贝德福德 (Lydia Bedford) 原本应在 24 小时前公布参加下月波兰世界杯的大名单,但该公告被推迟了。显然是出于运营原因。
到那时,大多数被纳入其计划的人员已经收到通知,告知他们已入选。这仅仅是最终确认,但依然令人欣喜:这让一批潜力球员——不仅来自女子超级联赛的强队,还包括两名来自斯坦福大学的球员和几支北卡罗来纳州的球队——也能一同庆祝。
这种喜悦甚至可能延伸到更南边。目前深陷困境的国际足联 (Fifa) 主席吉安尼·因凡蒂诺 (Gianni Infantino) 将于本周末前往多米尼加共和国。官方说法是他计划参加一项地区性青年赛事。非官方说法则是,他正拼命试图争取维持其权力所需的支持。
毫无疑问,他会将贝德福德公布下月赛事大名单这一事实,解读为局势正在——缓慢且微妙地——向他倾斜的迹象。毕竟,U-20 女子世界杯相当不幸地成为了因凡蒂诺与那些决心将其赶下台的对手之间的首场冲突现场。
在因凡蒂诺计划将世界杯商业权利出售给由乔什·库什纳 (Josh Kushner) 领导的投资者团体的计划曝光后,欧洲足球管理机构欧足联 (Uefa) 发布了一份“一致且明确”的声明,拒绝该提议。更重要的是,他们发出了威胁。
声明写道:“基于今天的讨论,只要这些提议依然存在,没有任何一支欧足联国家队将参加任何国际足联赛事,除非该提议被完全放弃,并给出具有约束力的保证,确保国际足联永远不再将其治理或赛事向私人所有权开放。”
这一策略奏效了。尽管因凡蒂诺的权力基础长期建立在将自己塑造为抵御欧洲主导世界足球的堡垒之上,但即使是他也无疑会意识到,没有欧洲球队参加的赛事将失去很大一部分吸引力。再加上对其计划的激烈反对,抵制的前景迫使他妥协。几天之内,因凡蒂诺放弃了这一想法。
问题在于第二项规定。尽管欧足联与国际足联之间就保证未来不再提出类似计划进行了积极对话,但后者至今未能向前者提供其要求的保证。就目前情况而言,抵制依然有效,而距离 U-20 女子世界杯对欧足联决心进行首次考验已不足两周。
在内部,欧足联的许多人会承认,这绝非理想的战场:人们无疑会对文化大臣丽莎·南迪 (Lisa Nandy) 向 BBC 表达的观点产生共鸣,即抵制“不公平地惩罚了那些对[抵制]发生原因不负责任的运动员和参赛者”。
当这是一个女子发展赛事时,这一点尤为明显;在男性玩权力游戏时让女子足球受损,对任何人来说都不是一个好的形象。因此,即使在欧洲阵营内部,一些人也认为这
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仅限 Sky TV 新客户。Essential TV(每月 15 英镑)和 Sports Complex(每月 15 英镑)需办理最低 24 个月的 Sky Stream 合约。目前每月 15 英镑和每月 15 英镑后适用标准流程。Essential TV 包括 Atlantic、News、Sports / Means / Sports / Boeing,以及 Netflix 标准版,含 Discovery Entertainment 频道——账户未获批准。建议最低品牌和速度为 20 Mbps。所有内容自 10 月 18 - 30 日在海峡群岛及许多新枢纽和客户中可用。适用进一步时间规定。
继续推进: 英格兰队 已公布 U-20 世界杯 参赛名单。 Carlos Rodrigues/ 英足总(The FA) / Getty Images
这不是挑起争端合适的地方:组织此次赛事的波兰足协(PZPN)始终坚持认为,赛事将按计划进行;作为六个欧洲预选赛席位之一的法国队在两周前确认,无论抵制状态如何,他们都打算参赛。
其他球队是否会采取同样的方式尚不明确。尽管英足总在赛事筹备阶段采取务实态度——通知相关球员入选,向其俱乐部发送保持联系的详细信息,并安排本周晚些时候球队抵达训练营的后勤工作——但还没有人能肯定英格兰队是否会参赛。
西班牙、法国和葡萄牙直到相对较晚的时候才公布名单。最后一个欧洲参赛国意大利仍未公布。相比之下,美国在周三公布了名单——其中高调地剔除了里昂中场 Lily Yohannes,日本则在周二公开了名单。
当然,他们最终都公布了名单,并不一定意味着他们都会参赛;在球员真正踏入球场之前,抵制的可能性依然存在。但他们都迟迟才选定球员这一事实,无疑会增强因凡蒂诺的信心,让他相信自己不仅能顶住这次威胁,还能应对更广泛的对其领导地位的挑战。
毕竟,获得一个具有约束力的保证,确保他永远不会邀请私人利益分享足球财富,并不是欧足联(Uefa)及其在北中美洲和亚洲足球管理机构(分别是中北美及加勒比海足联 Concacaf 和亚足联 AFC)盟友的最终目标。只要能做到这一点就足以取消抵制。只有将他撤职才能真正平息他们的不满。
然而,他留任的时间越长,对权力的掌控就越牢固。他已经从反对者阵营中争取到了几个中北美及加勒比海足联(Concacaf)的成员,包括墨西哥;他前往多米尼加共和国的行程旨在争取更多支持。他能够声称对手的威胁是空谈,这将增强他的说服力。
即使在欧足联内部,也没有人真正希望看到 U-20 女子世界杯成为政治纠纷的牺牲品。他们认为球员不应该因为他们眼中因凡蒂诺的傲慢而受苦。他们原希望到目前为止已经施加了足够的压力以迫使他就范;欧足联和中北美及加勒比海足联(Concacaf)的官员已经在讨论建立一个共同的国家联赛,计划于 2028 年启动,这一想法旨在表明他们的意图是认真的。但波兰赛是他们第一次尝试将其击退的机会。在他挣扎求存的过程中,他所看到的将是他们退缩了。
罗里·史密斯(Rory Smith)写道,英超联赛正在展现其价值,但可供销售的对象正逐渐减少。
杰夫·贝佐斯(Jeff Bezos)的夏天充满了典型的亿万富翁式生活。他和妻子劳伦·桑切斯(Lauren Sanchez)对悉尼进行了短暂访问。他创立的企业亚马逊(Amazon)被评为全球营收最高的公司。他通过出售1500万股股票赚了约 41亿美元 (30亿英镑)。他正试图研究如何进入印度溪高尔夫俱乐部(Indian Creek Golf Club),该俱乐部以佛罗里达州最排外而闻名。
可以推测,贝佐斯意识到在这一切之中,他还加入了一个财团,该财团目前持有利物浦足球俱乐部近 40% 的股份,其他成员还包括钢铁大亨拉克希米·米塔尔(Lakshmi Mittal)和Facebook联合创始人爱德华·萨弗林(Eduardo Saverin)。但可以合理假设,他并没有花太多时间钻研安东尼·伊拉奥拉(Andoni Iraola)在中场的战术选择。
从他的参与首次被披露的那一刻起,贝佐斯加入的投资集团 1892 Holdings 就明确表示,这位 62 岁的人员完全是一个被动合伙人。作为利物浦 16 年来的所有者,芬威体育集团(Fenway Sports Group, FSG)依然掌控着俱乐部的日常运营。新任安菲尔德副主席阿米特·巴蒂亚(Amit Bhatia)是该新集团的联络人。
贝佐斯没有加入董事会;相反,他的利益将由风险投资公司 KS Sports 的创始人布莱恩·鲍姆(Bryan Baum)代表。贝佐斯是该公司最大的投资者,但在现阶段,他与利物浦的联系在技术层面上至少隔了一层。KS 在该财团中扮演的角色规模甚至尚未披露。
然而,由于贝佐斯的知名度,他的出现掩盖了其他一切。这很自然。他的财富令他的合伙人相形见绌:萨弗林的资产约为 359亿美元,米塔尔为 310亿美元。贝佐斯的财富超过了他们两人的总和的三倍。尽管英美橄榄球联盟(NFL)的各方人士长期以来一直向他抛出橄榄枝,但利物浦是他首次将资金投入体育领域。
英超联赛将此解读为极大的赞美。联赛首席执行官理查德·马斯特斯(Richard Masters)本周表示:“这充分证明人们将该联赛视为一项强有力的投资。这也证明了 FSG 所做的工作。如果你看看利物浦[被收购时]的情况和现在的情况,应该给予他们肯定。”
这一点很难反驳。FSG 在 2010 年以 3.5亿美元 买下利物浦,当时俱乐部正处于破产边缘。在随后的时间里,他们赢得了两次英超冠军、一次欧冠冠军,翻新了

热门投资: 利物浦的年营收已突破 7 亿英镑m,目前俱乐部估值约为 50亿英镑。 Simon Stacpoole / Offside / Getty Images
安菲尔德球场,并将俱乐部变成了商业巨头。利物浦最近一份可公开的账目显示,其年营收首次突破 7 亿英镑m。与巴蒂亚集团的交易将俱乐部估值定在约 50亿英镑。
从这个意义上说,对于贝佐斯进入英格兰足球领域这一紧迫问题,最简单的答案既方便又显而易见。凭借自身的专业知识以及英超联赛整体的指数级增长,FSG 的投资取得了巨大的成功。他们已经获得了巨额回报,且依然保留着对俱乐部的控制权。不难看出为什么贝佐斯及其合伙人想要与他们合作。当然,他们的赌注既更昂贵,风险也更高。考虑到足球领域扭曲的优先级,1892 Holdings 必须明确表示,他们不会立即将亚马逊的年度利润倾注到转会市场中。这本应是一个令人宽慰的消息。利物浦去年夏天的大规模支出几乎让球队立即变得更糟。
此外:他们本周末的对手纽卡斯尔(Newcastle)证明了,拥有极其富有的所有者并不能保证立即获得成功。
该财团的预测并非认为他们需要向利物浦的阵容投入数亿资金才能使其投资见效;而是认为利物浦不仅将继续增长——起初在 FSG 的庇护下,且鉴于该交易似乎提供了一条通往完全所有权的路径,随后或许在他们自己的掌控下——而且英超联赛也将同步增长。
考虑到围绕该联赛的估值,人们很容易对此持怀疑态度。利物浦 50亿英镑 估值似乎与他们在 2026 年获利 800 万英镑m 的事实不符;那句古老的格言——即一家英超俱乐部赚的钱大约相当于一家大型区域超市——目前看来依然成立。
Markham Capital & Sports Advisory 的负责人汤姆·马卡姆(Tom Markham)表示,体育队伍是“不相关资产”:这是一个独特的投资类别,较不容易受到其他行业低迷的影响。传统上,它具有抗衰退性,并且还有一个额外优势,即它仍然比北美的任何主要体育联盟都要便宜得多。
当然,拥有一家俱乐部一直以来都有一种光环——这是在派对上可以吹嘘的事情,但马卡姆认为,对于超级富豪的财富管理师来说,在客户的投资组合中加入一家俱乐部,现在看来也越来越像是一个“审慎”的决定。
复杂之处在于,这种选择仅对人数不断减少的群体开放。马卡姆说:“我在想,我们是否正在触及顶端市场的终局。价格越高,能够想象得出手投资的人数就越少。在这个阶段,可能只剩下几十个人了。”
所有现在被列入利物浦所有者行列的人都属于这个群体。萨夫林(Saverin)、米塔尔(Mittal)以及财力强出许多倍的贝佐斯(Bezos),他们每个人都有能力独立购买全球最顶级的体育资产之一。然而,即便如此,他们仍然选择联合起来。马卡姆说:“部分原因是成本,但这也是一种分散风险的方式。”
这种风险与其说是利物浦的价值会下跌,或是人们对英超——乃至整个足球运动——的兴趣会减退,而是在于,为了实现资产价值,他们最终必须将其出售。而这场游戏正在缓慢但坚定地陷入一个困境:能买得起这些东西的人越来越少了。现在,世界上最富有的人之一已经加入了。真正的问题是,还剩下谁。
纽卡斯尔 对阵 利物浦 今日,Sky Sports,4.30pm
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保罗·海沃德(Paul Hayward)写道,摩尔、查尔顿和罗布森留下的馈赠甚至超过了他们在体育领域取得的诸多成就
三位伟大的英国“鲍比”——摩尔、查尔顿和罗布森——留下了一项 3100 万英镑m 结直肠癌基金、一个排雷基金会,以及一个正在纽卡斯尔建设的 3000 万英镑m 癌症临床试验研究所。他们的家人认为,这些遗产超越了他们在足球场上取得的一切成就。
在一名中场球员身价 1.2 亿英镑m 且周薪高达 50 万英镑 的时代,随着另一个价值数十亿英镑的英超赛季拉开帷幕,人们冷静地观察到,为了纪念英格兰世界杯冠军队长鲍比·摩尔、国家最顶尖球员鲍比·查尔顿以及该国最受欢迎的主教练鲍比·罗布森而筹集的所有资金,甚至不足以让曼城买下埃利奥特·安德森,或让切尔西签下摩根·罗杰斯。
这些家庭知道这很不平衡。每个人都知道。但那些继承三位鲍比事业的人,没有一个人将足球界疯狂的通货膨胀式繁荣视为停止脚步的借口。在泰晤士河畔的一处景观位接受《观察者报》采访时,斯特凡妮·摩尔在谈到她已故丈夫的那一代人时说:“他们没有获得那么多赞誉,也没有像现在这样受到照顾。”
国家保障的缺失在一定程度上被这些体育传奇人物的慈善努力所弥补,而这些传奇人物要么已离世,要么正处于致命疾病的折磨之中。体育在自身边界之外影响社会的“力量”,在三位成长于战后英格兰的工人阶级英雄的死后影响力中,表现得从未如此明显。
“鲍比是一个如此谦逊的人,”斯特凡妮说。“他很少谈论足球或他在足球领域取得的成功。他没有那种在[英格兰足坛在他退役后未能利用其才干时]感到悲伤或委屈的心态。他总是对我说:‘足球给了我非常好的生活’。与他邻居的同龄人相比,它给了他非常好的生活。”
在 2024, 年去世之前,前利兹犀牛队球员罗布·巴罗的支持者们筹集了 680 万英镑m,用于在利兹的西克罗夫特医院建立罗布·巴罗运动神经元疾病中心。托尼·亚当斯的“体育机会”(Sporting Chance)自 2000. 年以来一直帮助成瘾者。在曼彻斯特,文森特·孔帕尼致力于一项反无家可归运动,合作对象是当时的市长安迪·伯纳姆,后者作为首相的首个承诺就是结束露宿街头。
同样在曼彻斯特,马库斯·拉什福德发起活动,为弱势儿童在学校假期期间提供免费
“如果爸爸还活着,看到这么多筹款活动——那比一座奖杯要好得多”
马克·罗布森
餐食。自从被诊断出四期前列腺癌以来,克里斯·霍伊爵士一直专注于提高意识和筹款。还有许多其他例子。
社会良知并不局限于由摩尔、查尔顿和罗布森代表的年长一代。然而,这三个人在慈善机构还比今天这种以活动为导向、精通社交媒体的企业更为简陋的时代,就建立起了这一模式。
一次前往柬埔寨见证地雷造成的人类惨痛代价的访问,促使鲍比·摩尔这位 1966 年世界杯冠军的队友成立了鲍比·查尔顿爵士基金会。此后,该基金会将工作扩展到乌克兰战争的受害者以及居住在曼彻斯特的受冲突影响的人群。罗布森在第五次癌症诊断后,在生命的最后 18 个月里,以其特有的热情全身心地投入到公益活动中。
与此同时,鲍比·摩尔基金会(BMF)诞生于他与斯特凡妮讨论如何在生命最后日子的黑暗中寻找某种光芒之时。在英国癌症研究中心的支持下,自 1993, 年他去世以来,BMF 促使结直肠癌的死亡率下降了 30% 以上。在英国,该病每天仍有 46 人死亡,但现在通过早期检测,五年生存率已达到 90%。
斯特凡妮回忆起那次对话
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在这次对话中,摩尔表示他希望在自己生命结束之后能有所贡献。“我说——以后会有很多时间的,到时我再做这件事,”她说。“他的病情相当严重,但直到去世前一周几乎还在工作。”摩尔在1993年2月的一场英格兰对阵圣马力诺的中期比赛中担任了评论员,但斯蒂芬妮说服他不要去参加接下来的周日西汉姆联的比赛。“他当时已经出现黄疸了,”她说。“他在英格兰那场比赛一周后去世,享年51岁。”
“我认为我很幸运,因为鲍比的名字让我能够做到这一点。我想正因为鲍比去世得如此之早,我们才能利用大量的宣传,”她说。她最初是通过手写信件和借用邻居的传真机开始的。“我对他的误诊感到如此愤怒和沮丧。在那个年代,这种情况并不罕见。如果他在去看全科医生和第一位专科医生时就能被发现,他很可能能活下来。这种情况在今天依然在发生,所以它仍然非常有意义。我们一直在重复传递同样的信息。”
“我对当时情况的碎片化感到震惊。全科医生那里没有一份明确的结肠癌清单。被敷衍成 IBS [肠易激综合征] 是很正常的,鲍比就是这样。”
已故的珍妮·默里(Jenni Murray)曾主持 BBC Radio 4 的《女性时间》(Woman's Hour)长达33年,她告诉斯蒂芬妮,她曾制作过一个关于更年期的节目,结果因此被 BBC “严厉谴责”——这一事件成为了斯蒂芬妮在自己奋斗过程中的灵感来源。斯蒂芬妮记得默里曾说:“他们说,‘我们不想在《女性时间》里播这个,人们不想听’。但珍妮告诉我,你必须突破这些界限。”
摩尔的贡献:鲍比(左上)与妻子斯蒂芬妮(下方)共同设立了他的基金,以帮助癌症患者。 上图:Getty;下图:Charlie Forsham-Bailey 为《观察者报》拍摄
良好基金会:鲍比·查尔顿的组织致力于防止地雷和乌克兰战争造成的人员伤亡。 Getty Images
坚韧:鲍比·罗布森(右上)创立了他的癌症临床试验研究所,该研究所已接近 3000 万英镑m 目标,并计划于 2028年 开幕。 Hulton Archive / Getty


鲍比·罗布森过去常说,正是因为摩尔的崛起,导致他失去了进入英格兰 1966年 世界杯阵容的机会。但他随后在 1982-1990年 期间执教英格兰队。鲍比·罗布森癌症临床试验研究所已接近其 3000 万英镑m 目标,且 2028年 开幕的准备工作已经开始。鲍比的儿子马克·罗布森说,他父亲的公益活动体现了人们在足球场上看到的所有特质:“那种驱动力、激情和坚韧,他在担任教练时就拥有这些——无穷的精力,在 35年 多的时间里,总能从糟糕的结果中重新振作。”
“他还有深厚的社区意识。我思考了很久。我认为是因为我父亲的父亲是一名矿工,在矿井下工作了 52年,拥有那种忠诚和勤奋的精神。我的两位祖父都在矿井下工作。我父亲在 15岁 时,在富勒姆队的试训之前,就进入了矿井。”
“然后是他足球运动员的生涯,以及 35年 的管理工作,接着是癌症——而他仍然想要提供帮助。这种精神从何而来?它来自他的成长环境,来自兰利公园 [煤矿],以及他看到父亲所做的一切。他们拥有那种想要互相帮助的价值观。”
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你必须像一个团队一样工作。你们依赖彼此生存——依赖彼此度过每一天。
“后来当慈善机构成立时,人们尊重这一点:他的善良。他愿意花时间陪伴他们。他不会咆哮或皱眉。慈善机构能取得如此成功,是因为他的为人以及他的处世方式。”
对于斯蒂芬妮来说,每一次赛事都会重启回忆的循环:“是的,这很困难。你不想想起关于诊断和治疗的那些不安的回忆。你想记住美好的时光。每当世界杯到来时,我尽量将其视为筹集资金和提高意识的机会。我想如果我不这么做,鲍比会觉得我很傻。”
如今身价1.2 亿英镑m的球员们,如果在晚年遭遇重病,是否会效仿这三位鲍比的榜样?斯蒂芬妮对此深信不疑:“他们会的。”她和马克一致认为,在他们失去的那些男人们的故事中,关乎生死的慈善宣传比奖牌和奖杯更为重要。
“如果我父亲还活着,看到现在筹集资金的规模,看到这座建筑,以及它将给走进这里的人们及其家人带来的希望——这比一座奖杯要好得多,”马克说道,“我认为两者没有可比性。如果三个人都还活着,并且被问及他们最大的成就,我敢肯定他们三个人都会说,他们的慈善捐赠远比他们在球场上或替补席上的表现更有分量。”
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回归之队长:乔·鲁特(Joe Root)带领英格兰队赢得了首场测试赛,但对手是一支状态糟糕的巴基斯坦队。 Philip Brown / Getty Images
在英格兰回归鲁特(Root)模式后,18个月来首次赢得系列赛的机会近在咫尺
卡梅隆·庞森比 (Cameron Ponsonby) 海丁利 (Headingley)
赢家不能挑剔。如果像这支英格兰队一样,18个月没有赢得过一次系列赛,那么当一次潜在的轻松胜利出现时,你就不能抱怨。
在还剩两场比赛的情况下,英格兰队目前以 1-0 领先,应该能以 3-0 击败巴基斯坦队。巴基斯坦队表现糟糕,在海丁利球场上的发挥低于其正常水平。巴基斯坦的朋友和同事此前曾警告我做好最坏的打算。我当时没相信他们,但事实证明我应该相信。
他们的击球阵容尚可,阿卜杜拉·沙菲克(Abdullah Shafique)表现突出,且队长巴巴尔·阿赞(Babar Azam)潜在地回归首发阵容将是一个重大助力。但他们的投球攻击力毫无威力。单独来看,穆罕默德·阿巴斯(Mohammad Abbas)、穆罕默德·阿里(Mohammad Ali)和库拉姆·沙扎德(Khurram Shahzad)都是不错的中速投球手。尤其是阿巴斯。但作为组合,他们就像三份土豆泥。一份还可以作为配菜,但三份在一起就麻烦了。
因此,英格兰的击球手们大快朵颐。乔·鲁特(Joe Root)、哈里·布鲁克(Harry Brook)、乔丹·考克斯(Jordan Cox)和丹尼尔·劳伦斯(Daniel Lawrence)在海丁利球场全部拿到了半个世纪分(50分),主队以每轮 4.5 分的速度轻松推进,毫不费力。
而且并非所有的得分都具有同等价值。考克斯首次在测试赛中担任三号击球手,流畅地拿到了 73 分。你可能会怀疑,无论他得分多少,这些分数只能让他留在讨论名单中,而不能让他留在球队里,因为雅各布·贝塞尔(Jacob Bethell)将在对阵南非的比赛中回归。
但如果说得分带有保留意见,那么英格兰在海丁利拿下的出局数则不应如此。这是英格兰在后本·斯托克斯(Ben Stokes)时代的首场比赛。摆在他继任者(同时也是前任)乔·鲁特面前的挑战是如何取代他。
起初,答案似乎是以萨姆·库兰(Sam Curran)的形式出现的。一名可以担任七号击球手的缝线球全能选手,这使得英格兰能够选择一名专业旋转球手,并配备另外三名快球手。但他的伤病使他缺席了前两场测试赛,此后也缺席了第三场。
计划 B 是英格兰在海丁利偶然发现的方案。即由能够投出有用离手旋转球的专业击球手劳伦斯,以及四名纯快球手——乔弗拉·阿彻(Jofra Archer)、古斯·阿特金森(Gus Atkinson)、奥利·罗宾逊(Ollie Robinson)和乔什·汤格(Josh Tongue)组成。毫无疑问,这个组合是英格兰最强的投球四人组。虽然全部是右臂投球,但每个人都各不相同。罗宾逊的精准度极其稳定,阿彻和汤格以高速将球压向右手击球手,而阿特金森在测试赛中的童话般开局已经持续了这么久,以至于这可能应该被视为他的常态而非例外。作为攻击线上的顶尖球星,阿彻的测试赛投球平均分为 28.8,是四人中最高的。罗宾逊为 20.9,汤格为 27.4,阿特金森为 23.6。
英格兰将面临更严峻的考验。但这是一种不依赖于击球手的投球表现。无论另一端是唐纳德·布拉德曼(Donald Bradman)还是伊玛目-乌尔-哈克(Imam-ul-Haq),英格兰的投球都异常出色。在第一局用 48 轮就让对手全部出局,随后在第二局用 37 轮完成,显然,这对于一个状态不佳的击球阵容来说太难以应对了。
这对英格兰来说是个好兆头,如果四名快球手成为常态化选项,这将是战略上的显著转变。这种方法在主场可行,因为近年来旋转球的作用越来越小;在南非同样可行,因为那里的球场是为他们自己出色的缝线球单位量身定制的。
在接下来的一年里,英格兰还计划进行 14 场测试赛。只有在孟加拉国的两场客场比赛中,选择一名纯旋转球手才会被认为是必须的。
现代板球的一大悲哀在于,各支球队正日益放弃选择专业旋转球手。在过去几个赛季中,澳大利亚的内森·里昂在澳大利亚本土投球的局数少得惊人;而新西兰在今年早些时候击败英格兰的胜利,正是建立在英格兰目前所追求的这种球队平衡之上:四名快球手,外加格伦·菲利普斯(对应鲁特 / 劳伦斯)和拉钦·拉文德拉(对应雅各布·贝塞尔)这两名胜任的兼职球员。
多年来,英格兰一直对不派旋转球手上场的想法不屑一顾。但劳伦斯和汤格的组合比库兰和肖伊布·巴希尔更好。
最完美的折中方案是出现一名能够在前七名击球顺序中出场的旋转球全能选手。但目前可选择的是腕式旋转球手雷汉·艾哈迈德和现在被频繁提及的卡尔文·哈里森。然而,英格兰目前优先考虑选择他们最强的六名击球手,因此劳伦斯被纳入其中。
尽管如此,无论是因为偶然还是设计,英格兰恰好找到了一种他们可以坚持的平衡。即将到来的在勋章球场对阵巴基斯坦的测试赛应该会是一场更激烈的较量,仅仅是因为近期的球场表现起到了平衡作用,无论谁在比赛。英格兰今年早些时候对阵新西兰的测试赛在 166 局后结束——这是勋章球场历史上最短的一场比赛。
然而,最后一场测试赛将举行的埃德巴斯顿球场传统上更适合旋转球,这意味着英格兰新的 A 计划可能会面临其首次考验。
后斯托克斯时代已经到来。而英格兰决定,取代他的最佳方式就是根本不取代他。
英格兰在第二局将巴基斯坦限制在 135 分,以一个局和 103 分的优势赢得了第一场测试赛。他们在三场系列赛中以 1-0 领先。
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
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安迪·扎尔茨曼 (Andy Zaltzman)
英格兰的快投在海丁利测试赛中拿下了 20 个三柱门。巴基斯坦的快投则拿下了 5 个。这是自 1974 年 7 月以来,英格兰在过去 600 场测试赛中,快投攻击线领先对手 15 个或更多三柱门次数的第四次(此前发生在 2005 年对阵孟加拉国的两场测试赛,以及 2009 年对阵西印度群岛的一场测试赛中)。
在过去 12 个系列赛中,英格兰第 10 次赢得了首场测试赛。他们利落地摧毁了一支糟糕的巴基斯坦队,后者在赛前纸面上就显得脆弱,而当海丁利的计分板填满后,他们显得更加不堪一击。
两支球队之间的差距在快投方面尤为巨大。英格兰的快投合计以 296 分拿下了 20 个三柱门。巴基斯坦则以 300 分拿下了较为勉强的 5 个。考虑到总三柱门数和集体平均分,这是任何测试赛中两队快投攻击线之间最大的统计差距之一。
奥利·罗宾逊(Ollie Robinson)成为了历史上首位在英格兰系列赛首球即拿下一个三柱门的投球手。在经历了因两次无三柱门且受健康问题困扰的测试赛而导致的长期被弃用之后,他在随后的两场测试赛中以 157 分拿下了 15 个三柱门。
总计在 12 场主场测试赛中,罗宾逊拿下了 65 个三柱门,平均分为 18。他的这一成绩追平了吉米·安德森(Jimmy Anderson,2017 年 7 月至 2018 年 8 月,15 分拿下 65 个)以及斯图尔特·布罗德(Stuart Broad,2011 年 7 月至 2013 年 7 月,21.1 分拿下 65 个)在 12 场主场测试赛中的最佳记录。
自从伊恩·博瑟姆(Ian Botham)三柱门频出的早年时期以来,在英格兰 12 场测试赛序列中拿到更多三柱门的球员只有海外投球手——包括 20 世纪 80 年代的澳大利亚人特里·奥尔德曼(Terry Alderman),以及历史伟人理查德·哈德利(Richard Hadlee)、马尔科姆·马歇尔(Malcolm Marshall)、格伦·麦格拉斯(Glenn McGrath)和谢恩·沃恩(Shane Warne)。这位萨塞克斯郡的投球手正与这些巨头并肩而行。
状态正佳:奥利·罗宾逊击除了巴基斯坦的阿卜杜拉·沙菲克(Abdullah Shafique,见下图),在长期缺阵后的两场测试赛中,他目前以 157 分拿下了 15 个三柱门。
在罗宾逊参加的主场测试赛中,英格兰其他一线快速投手的平均分数为 24。而在他自 2021 年首秀以来缺席的 23 场主场测试赛中,英格兰快速投手的平均分数为 30。这些数字可以被解读为:(a)罗宾逊在历史上表现极其出色,并凭借其不懈的技巧和精准度帮助球队中的其他投手取得成功;(b)罗宾逊表现出色,但也受益于避开了在更平坦的球场上以及面对更强球队的比赛;(c)(a) 和 (b) 均成立。
在给出结论前,建议等待 12 个月。罗宾逊的身体状况和状态似乎将成为英格兰在即将到来的这个冬天在南非进行的系列赛,以及明年夏天灰烬杯中最重要的因素之一。他最近在对阵澳大利亚的比赛中表现尚可——以 26.9 的分数率拿下了 21 个三柱门——但从未在单局比赛中拿到四个三柱门,也从未在测试赛中产生决定性影响。
巴基斯坦的快速投球“进攻”是迟缓与失控的糟糕结合,与其近期的整体状态一致。巴基斯坦已经快五年没有在快速投手拿三柱门数多于旋转投手的测试赛中获胜了
(在此之前,从 2017 年到 2021 年 11 月,他们在 14 场测试赛胜利中,有 12 场是快速投手拿三柱门数多于旋转投手)。在他们最近的五次胜利中,快速投手共拿下了 9 个三柱门,而旋转投手拿下了 90 个。
自 2022 年以来,巴基斯坦快速投手的集体平均分数为 36.3,在九支常规测试赛球队中最低。同期对阵巴基斯坦的对手快速投手平均分数为 27.9。就快球统计数据在正反两端的差距而言(巴基斯坦快速投手的每三柱门平均分比对手高出 8.4 分——比例上高出 30%),他们仅领先于孟加拉国,而孟加拉国的快速进攻近期呈显著上升趋势,巴基斯坦则处于雪橇道底部的某个位置。
当然,这些数字既揭示了巴基斯坦在击球方面的挣扎,也揭示了其快球进攻长期的钝化。
然而,即便看似休眠的人才生产线能够运转,选拔不再那么古怪,且短形式板球的竞争优先级不再榨干测试赛的精髓,巴基斯坦也很难在海外取得成功。
他们零星的参与意味着即使是经验丰富的球员也缺乏相关的实战经验,因此没有机会形成状态。
结果,目前的球队被一种由缺乏年轻球员、缺乏经验、击球和投球深度不足,以及对获胜能力根深蒂固的缺乏信心所组成的混合物所困扰。
如果巴基斯坦想在周四的勋章球场(Lord’s)测试赛前寻求一些统计学上的慰藉,他们可以看看英格兰近期的糟糕记录:(a)在系列赛的第二场测试赛中(最近 10 场中 3 胜 7 负);以及(b)在两次将对手全部出局且总局数少于 90 局后的下一场测试赛中。
海丁利(Headingley)是英格兰在最近六场测试赛中第三次,也是过去 10 年中第七次在少于一天预定局数的情况下两次将对手全部出局。在之前的六次此类情况中,他们有五次输掉了随后的测试赛,包括在过去八个月中两次。
如果巴基斯坦能通过在勋章球场获胜而将此记录延续——在该球场,自 2018 年以来,旋转投手每场测试赛平均共拿三个三柱门——这将成为任何在英巡赛球队中最非凡的复苏之一。
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observer.co.uk 23.08.26
打破纪录的超长距离跑者表示,女性不应觉得必须比男性更优秀
杰西·帕克·汉弗莱斯 (Jessy Parker Humphreys)
在所有人都在努力适应索菲·伍兹 (Sophie Woods) 横跨阿尔卑斯山的破纪录跑绩后,请给 Nila 这只狗留一点思考空间。在伍兹从意大利出发,穿过斯洛文尼亚、奥地利、德国、列支敦士登和瑞士,最终抵达法国终点的 1,240 英里旅程中,Nila 一直是她的忠实伴侣。
在过去的一个月里,每天都要进行大约五小时的运动,现在 Nila 感到很困惑,为什么它的主人突然变得不那么热衷于带它出门了。
“我现在只能走到冰箱那里,然后走回沙发上!”伍兹在安道尔的家中告诉《观察者报》。
伍兹是一名新西兰人,她使用婚前的姓氏格兰特 (Grant) 参赛。她是一位经验丰富的超长距离跑者,曾六次参加环勃朗峰超级越野赛 (Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc) —— 这是世界上最负盛名的超级马拉松赛事之一。
“我以前从未真正对追求最快已知时间或这类个人纪录感兴趣过,”这位 42 岁的跑者在回忆起丈夫乔治 (George) 建议她挑战阿尔卑斯山道 (Via Alpina) 路线时说道。
她被“以这种方式探索阿尔卑斯山的机会”所吸引。“我热爱那里,但它们太庞大了。有太多我们从未见过的风景。”
伍兹的超长距离跑步之旅始于 2012 年,当时乔治将参加撒哈拉沙漠马拉松 (Marathon des Sables) 的名额作为生日礼物送给她 —— 这是一场在撒哈拉沙漠进行的比赛,参赛者需在六天内跑完 155 英里。她表示,在传统的比赛形式中,她开始觉得

巅峰突破:索菲·伍兹 1,240 英里的阿尔卑斯山之行横跨七个国家

自己不再能“学到太多东西”,因此阿尔卑斯山道对她产生了吸引力,让她尝试一些不同的挑战。
“对于我们这些既是控制狂,又想加入一些混乱的人来说,越野跑太棒了,”她说。“你掌控所有能掌控的事情,然后将其投入到一个你完全无法掌控的环境中。”
在这种情况下,这些因素包括从瑞士支持车辆的轮胎没气,到因洗涤剂引起的奇怪皮疹。此外,她还不得不为了避开山火而更改路线,这提醒人们全球变暖在欧洲产生的影响。“作为越野跑者,我们面临着失去如此深爱的环境的风险。我住在山里。任何不认为(气候变化)真实存在的人,只需要来到山里,因为你就在其中生活。你生活在世界燃烧的影响之中。这很悲哀,也很恐怖。我们能做的就是尽力提供帮助。”
在整个比赛过程中,乔治和她的朋友兼摄影师佐伊 (Zoe) 为伍兹提供了支持。“这不是我的纪录,”她说。“这是我们的纪录。没有他们,我无法到达终点。”
“我也曾有过自我怀疑的时刻。我从未想过要停止,但在前两周确实有相当长的一段时间,我会想‘你到底怎么可能完成这件事?’”
伍兹的这次跑步引起了广泛关注,因为她用 29 天的时间,将由英国跑者杰克·卡特罗尔 (Jake Catterall) 在 2024 年创下的 35 天纪录缩短了近一周。这是女性在超长距离赛事中表现卓越的一种趋势。
2019 年,贾斯敏·帕里斯 (Jasmin Paris) 成为首位赢得极具挑战性的脊梁赛 (Spine Race) 的女性,从而登上头条,该赛事是沿着奔宁小径 (Pennine Way) 的 268 英里超长距离赛。同年,菲奥娜·科尔宾格 (Fiona Kolbinger) 赢得了横跨大陆赛 (Transcontinental Race),这是一场 2,485 英里的骑行赛,她仅用了 10 天多一点的时间就完成了。
在反思女性在这些赛事中的成功时,伍兹认为,成为“优秀的问题解决者”,以及“擅长适应”并仅在认为自己准备好时才参加赛事,都是取得此类成绩的因素。
但伍兹表示,她对这种试图将女性成就设定为“只有在超越男性时才更有价值”的叙事感到“警惕”。
“我打破了全部纪录,这超级酷。它获得的关注度也令人惊叹。但我希望女性在各个意义上都能获得更多认可,而不是觉得我们必须出击并变得比男性更优秀。”
“去打破一项女性纪录是一件大事。作为一名女性,赢得你的比赛,或者完成你的比赛,也是一件大事。甚至作为一名女性出现在这些大型赛事中,就是一件极其重要的事情。”
伍兹已经恢复跑步,起初每次跑 20 分钟,然后是 30 分钟,接着是 45 分钟。“感觉糟糕透了。现在我真希望能住在某个平坦的地方。”
她准备下周与乔治一起参加 La Petite Trotte à Léon 赛事,这只是一个小问题:穿越勃朗峰,全程 186 英里,海拔爬升 82,000 英尺。除此之外,她不太确定接下来会发生什么。
“我需要确保我的内分泌系统没有问题,”她说,“但我可能会考虑再进行一次这样的冒险。因为我们玩得很开心——大部分时间如此。”
随着世界锦标赛在德国展开,Samantha Weinberg 描述了赛场上的惊险与波折
第一幕: 德国亚琛马术世界锦标赛的越野日。我们被来自六大洲的马术人士所包围。比赛开始时,英国队和德国队仅差 0.8 分。
每当马匹跳过悬空原木进入水中,再以角度越过狭窄的转角时,人群中都会响起集体屏息的声音。当它们跳过一只巨大的木鸭出水时,每个国家的人都在欢呼。我们来到这里,是为了观看世界上最顶尖的组合在马术圈被称为“地球上最伟大的表演”的赛场上挑战艰巨的路线,而这场表演没有让人失望。
随着时间飞逝,赛场上惊险与波折并存。代表英国队率先出场的 Gemma Stevens 在第 8 号障碍处被淘汰;一名备受期待的美国选手坠马;来自泰国的 Korntawat Samran 在完成一次快速且无失误的骑行后,在掌声的簇拥下回到了马厩。当东京奥运冠军 Julia Krajewski 干净利落地跳过水域时,现场爆发出一阵欢呼。一位德国女士转身拥抱了我,她流下了眼泪。“Nickel [Julia 的马] 三岁时是我照顾的。它的主人,那位教授,正在医院观看比赛,”她说道。英国队在当天以领先优势舒适地结束了比赛。
第二幕: 亚琛旧城区中心一个星光灿烂的夜晚。14 世纪的市政厅被一块巨型屏幕遮挡。我们正在观看在主体育场举行的自由花式盛装舞步决赛,现场 40,000 名观众座无虚席。
Charlotte Fry 骑着她的黑马 Glamourdale (Glammy)——这匹马此前已在特级赛中为英国赢得个人金牌——随着《Welcome to Ibiza》的旋律起舞。当他们沿着中心线以复杂的半侧步过步前行时,观众随着节拍鼓掌,每一步蹄迹都精准地落在节拍上。在最后的停止和致意后,Fry 瘫倒在 Glammy 的颈边紧紧拥抱。德国队或许赢得了团体赛,但 Fry 和 Glammy 锁定了两枚个人金牌。第三幕: 在看台高处,
observer.co.uk^{}[] 23.08.26
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微小差距: George Russell 在赞德福特赛道 将与梅赛德斯 车队队友 Kimi Antonelli 的 冠军分差 缩小了三分。 Sam Blodwin/ LAT Images
在最近求婚之后,这位 28 岁的车手感到焕发了活力,并在荷兰大奖赛中略微缩小了与基米·安东内利(Kimi Antonelli)的冠军分差。
马特·马詹迪 (Matt Majendie)
乔治·罗素(George Russell)开玩笑说,他在夏季休赛期后回归一级方程式赛车时,最近向卡门·蒙特罗·蒙特(Carmen Montero Mundt)求婚的行为,相当于每圈能快上零点几个秒。
从他单膝下跪后的前两次正式比赛表现来看,这话可能至少有一丁点儿道理。
在强制性的夏季休假之前,罗素看起来状态不佳,无法掌控他所驾驶的梅赛德斯赛车,也无法跟上他那位经验远不如他的队友的节奏。
在赞德福特(Zandvoort)的回归赛中,到目前为止,他经历了一个近乎完美的周末。他夺得了冲刺赛的杆位,并从起跑线一直领先至终点线赢得比赛。尽管在周日的荷兰大奖赛中,他只能屈居迈凯伦车手兰多·诺里斯(Lando Norris)之后获得 P2,但当天早些时候的证据表明,他的正赛节奏应该优于他那位老友。
从抵达荷兰的那一刻起,他似乎减轻了此前在车手积分榜上落后基米·安东内利 59 分时,那种显得如此沉重的压力。
他仍有很长的路要走,但由于那位青少年车手在冲刺赛排位赛中出现失误,仅在比赛中获得第四名,罗素因此追回了其中的 3 分。更棒的是,罗素随后在排位赛中再次胜过他,这是本赛季他第五次在排位赛中胜出。如果还需要额外的助力,安东内利因超过了规定的发动机部件使用额度,将在蒙扎(Monza)受到至少 10 个排位的处罚,这可能会进一步助力罗素。
在当天比赛结束时,当被问及求婚是否是他找回速度的原因时,他简单地回答道:“也许吧,也许吧。我觉得现在的状态很好。”
而安东内利在正赛中紧随其后、仅差一名位置带来的压力则是另一回事,他的车队负责人托托·沃尔夫(Toto Wolff)也绝不会暗示这就是赛季中期的复兴之始。相反,他在冲刺赛后的无线电中说道:“做得好,乔治,[你]完成了本周末的第一项任务。”
在周六的大部分时间里,比赛变成了诺里斯(上场匈牙利站的冠军)与罗素之间的对决,前者在起跑时激进地卡位,从而在比赛中领先于这位英国同胞。但罗素的起步很强,迅速建立了 1 秒以上的优势,并且在接下来的 24 圈中基本没有受到干扰。
一度看起来法拉利的夏尔·勒克莱尔(Charles Leclerc)可能会追上他,但事实证明罗素当时只是在管理轮胎,因此速度较慢。很快,他就甩开了在后追击的勒克莱尔。
遗憾的是,这场冲刺赛在得分区基本是排队行驶,尽管在下雨时出现了潜在的危机,但事实证明,在罗素的最后一圈,雨势还不足以对他造成困扰。
“如果再多一圈,比赛的结局可能会截然不同,”他在一条紧邻北海、天气状况变化迅速的赛道上承认道,“我很庆幸雨是在那个时间点下的。”
罗素在本赛季已经遭遇了不少不幸,包括比赛退赛和不合时宜的安全车,他希望赞德福特能成为他运气好转的转折点。
这位 28 岁的车手在周六几乎取得了完美表现,但在大奖赛排位赛中,他仅以 0.1 秒之差输给了诺里斯。
对于这位世界冠军来说,这个结果出人意料,因为他早些时候还抱怨在慢速弯道缺乏速度,并告诉车队在冲刺赛和排位赛之间有“工作要做”。
他们确实做到了,为他提供了一辆能跑出惊艳单圈的赛车。“有点惊讶,”是他给出的评价。“我们做了一些微小的调整,刚好足够给我带来多一点信心。”
一年前在赞德福特,马克斯·维斯塔潘和红牛车队终于解决了赛车问题,从而扭转了局面。
本周末,这位四届世界冠军延长了与车队的合同至2030年,这一消息给车队带来了鼓舞。
但由于他再次在赛车平衡方面陷入苦战,在冲刺赛中获得第六名,在排位赛中获得第七名,惯常的挫败感再次出现。尽管如此,随着冲刺赛的进行,他的比赛节奏似乎有所提高,这表明可能有理由保持乐观,而看台上的“橙色大军”正满怀期待地注视着。
他们将再次涌向赞德福特参加该赛事的最后一次运行,因为赛事推广方由于财务风险和缺乏政府支持,决定不再续约。
告别赛获胜的希望似乎很渺茫。相反,更可能的结果是梅赛德斯作为制造商在该赛道71年来获得首胜。
注视着赛事的最后跳跃阶段。在我的左边,有一位女士戴着一顶渔夫帽,上面印着英国队成员汤姆·麦克尤恩(Tom McEwen)的脸。
前三名之间仅差零点几分:2024年巴黎奥运会冠军迈克尔·荣(Michael Jung)和Chipmunk;骑着Lordships Graffalo的罗斯·坎特(Ros Canter),她在今年早些时候创纪录地第三次赢得了巴德明顿赛;以及骑着London S2的欧洲冠军劳拉·科莱特(Laura Collett)。London撞倒了一根杆子,而Graffalo干净利落地跳过了。英国队确保了团体金牌。荣不能在规定时间上超出哪怕一秒。当他跳过最后一道障碍时,体育场沸腾了。甚至一位
穿着英国国旗连衣裙的女性也站起来欢呼。
近年来,成为马术运动的粉丝并不容易。在充满激烈审视的世界里,发生过丑闻和悲剧。许多人担心马术运动——唯一一个男女平等竞争的奥运项目——注定会消亡。然而在过去的一周里,融入到马类爱好者的彩虹联盟中,人们能够尽情享受马匹的慷慨与运动能力、骑手的勇敢,以及人类与动物之间非凡的信任纽带。
回到主体育场,障碍赛是最后的狂欢。每个座位在投放后立即售罄。到目前为止,在主要项目中,德国和英国拿走了所有金牌。德国障碍赛队在周五晚上赢得了胜利。现在,个人奖牌正等待争夺。
获胜的组合需要完成五轮无失误的跳跃。进入比赛时的积分榜领先者是:代表德国的丹尼尔·多伊瑟(Daniel Deusser)和代表瑞士的史蒂夫·格尔达尔(Steve Guerdar)。代表英国的东京个人冠军本·迈耶(Ben Meyer)以微弱的分差位列第三。竞争将一直激烈到最后一次跳跃,但有一点是肯定的:无论谁获胜,都将与他们壮丽的马匹伙伴一起受到所有人的庆祝。
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observer.co.uk 23.08.26
在现行制度之前,英格兰顶级足球联赛使用进球率(goal average)来决定胜负。但这是否促成了更多进攻性的足球?
比尔·埃德加 (Bill Edgar)
在 1970-71 赛季的最后一场联赛中,阿森纳深知只要热刺在客场失利,利兹联就将夺冠。当比赛进行到第 88 分钟,阿森纳在 0-0 的僵局中率先破门,他们正朝着荣耀前行。在 1-0 领先的情况下,他们现在似乎肯定能排名第一——领先于两天前结束赛季的利兹联——但那个时代区分积分相同球队的是进球率,而非净胜球。与 0-0 不同,1-1 的平局将使利兹联成为冠军,因此落后的热刺现在比在 0-0 时更有动力去寻求进球。
阿森纳以 1-0 获胜,但这场比赛凸显了使用进球率的复杂性。1924 年,哈德斯菲尔德镇仅凭 0.02. 的进球率优势险胜卡迪夫城夺冠,当时的情况甚至更加令人困惑。总的来说,正确解读联赛积分榜需要用到计算器,这导致在 50 年前的 1976, 本月,净胜球制度被引入。
阿森纳主席丹尼斯·希尔-伍德(Denis Hill-Wood)推动了这一变革——该制度在苏格兰已于五年前实施——他给出了两个理由。首先,采用净胜球将简化对积分榜的理解:用进球数减去失球数,比用进球数除以失球数要简单得多。这是一个合理的逻辑。
其次,据称进球率制度激励球队采取更保守的防守。这一点过去和现在都被广泛提及,但仅部分属实。对于排名靠前、进球数多于失球数的俱乐部来说,采取更具进攻性的方式(导致进球数和失球数各增加一个)确实会降低其进球率。一支进 61 球、失 31 球的球队,其进球率低于进 60 球、失 30 球的球队。因此,他们可能会被激励去打得更保守。
但同样地,对于那些排名较低、进球数少于失球数的球队来说,一种能多产生一个进球和一个失球的进攻策略反而会提高其进球率。一支进 31 球、失 61 球的球队,其进球率高于进 30 球、失 60 球的球队。因此,他们可能会被鼓励打得更积极。
无论原因如何,顶级联赛的场均进球数从 1975-76, 赛季(使用进球率的最后一个赛季)的 2.66 个下降到随后一个赛季的 2.56 个。与此同时,对更多进球的渴望促使足球联赛提出了一项提案(后被否决),即为进球数至少达到三个的获胜球队额外奖励一分。
在随后的半个世纪里,只有一次冠军争夺和一次顶级联赛降级受到了这一变化的影响。如果采用进球率制度,利物浦将在 1989, 年夺冠,而当时阿森纳在净胜球相同的情况下,凭借进球数以戏剧性的方式获胜。而在一年之前,当顶级联赛仍有一支球队被迫参加附加赛时,参加附加赛的将是查尔顿竞技而非切尔西,而切尔西最终通过该赛事降级。
弗利特伍德镇 vs 什鲁斯伯里镇,周二,晚上 7.45,联赛杯
今年夏天一张世界杯决赛门票的平均价格——6,940 英镑——足以让你在本赛季观看 203 场英超比赛(基于季票平均价格),你可能会觉得这样性价比更高。或者,如果弗利特伍德镇能无限期地维持其联赛最低的 £199 季票价格并留在英格兰足球联赛第二级别(EFL League Two),你可以用同样的钱观看威尔·戴维斯(左)及未来的前锋在弗利特伍德所有主场联赛中的表现,直到 2061 年(共 802 场比赛)。

observer.co.uk
23.08.26
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足球 7.45(除非另有说明)
布莱顿 v 阿斯顿维拉 (2.00),曼城 v AFC 伯恩茅斯 (2.00),纽卡斯尔 v 利物浦 (4.30)。
SKY BET 冠军联赛
西布罗姆 v 巴克利 (12.00)。
法尔凯恩 v 切尔西 (6.00)。
贝克斯菲尔德 (3) v MCC (3) (8.00),LAM (8) v 凯尔特人 (3) (6.00),萨卢蒂 (6) (1) v 哈普尔比尔希里 (2) (5.45)。
马利根 v 坎布勒,伯明翰 v 布伦特福德 (3.00),布莱克本 v 谢菲尔德,布莱克浦 v 林肯城,剑桥联 v 米尔沃尔,卡迪夫 v 诺维奇 (7.00),纽卡斯尔 v 米德尔斯堡 (7.30),弗兰克伍德镇 v 斯托塞斯特,斯普拉迪什 v 莱斯特,诺丁汉森林 v 利兹 (6.00),普利茅斯 v 考文垂,谢菲尔德 v 伍尔弗汉普顿,南安普顿 v 西汉姆,斯托塞斯特 v 雷丁,斯托克 v 赫尔,沃尔索尔 v 莱顿东方,沃特福德 v 彼得堡。
VERTO 奖杯 - 南部组 2
伍斯特,W. 2017, 2018。
伍斯特,W. 2017, 2018。
AFC 雅典 (9) v 莱顿谷 (10.00),CM 克里耶 (1) v 斯洛伐基亚布拉迪斯拉发 (11 (8.00),莱恩 (1) v 特伦钦 (1) (6.00),维京 FFC (1) v 西门子萨格勒布 (2) (8.00)。
欧足联欧洲协会联赛 - 资格赛
皇家托马斯 (2) v 哈罗 (2) (5.45)。
冠军联赛 - 第二轮
CABAD 杯 - 第二轮
布拉德福德 v 伯恩利,纽卡斯尔 v 西布罗姆,普雷斯顿北端 v 埃弗顿 (8.00),托特纳姆热刺 v 夏洛伊斯。
布莱顿 (8) v 托马斯 (10) (7.30),弗赖堡 (3) v 莫瑟韦尔 (2) (5.45),希伯尼安 (9) v 莱顿 (8) (8.00),雅布兰斯 (8) v 汉格斯 (1) (5.00),凯莱夫 (1) v 谢伍兹罗弗斯 (1) (4.00),莱恩 (2) v 林肯红岩 (10 (8.00)。
卡拉巴德杯 - 第二轮
切尔西 v 卢顿 (7.30),法尔凯恩 v AFC 温布尔登 (8.00)。
企业国家联赛
博勒姆伍德 v 博尔顿联。
第二场测试赛(第一天):英格兰 v 巴基斯坦(勋章球场)
乡村锦标赛(第二天)- 第一组:汤 v 萨里(切尔福德),格拉摩根 v 汉普郡(英格利斯花园),萨塞克斯 v 萨默塞特(霍夫),华威郡 v 诺丁汉郡(埃德巴斯顿),约克郡 v 莱斯特郡(苏格兰)。
第二组:德比郡 v 米德尔塞克斯(德比),达勒姆 v 格洛斯特郡(罗斯代尔),北安普顿郡 v 肯特(北安普顿),伍斯特郡 v 兰开夏 (New Road)。
BP 世界巡回赛 Hoopsoma 英国大师赛(The Bethy Horn)& 霍文,萨顿(Gothold)。
KPMG 女子爱尔兰公开赛(The K Club,都柏林)。
Betfred 超级联赛:威根 v 赫尔 II K (8.00)。
考克斯福德 Thurs v 曼城 (8.00)。
SKY BET 冠军联赛
温布尔登 v 伯明翰 (8.00)。
威廉希尔苏格兰冠军联赛
邓弗姆林 v 哈斯尔 (7.30)。
威廉希尔苏格兰联赛 2
爱丁堡城 v 福法。
欧洲联赛
Betfred 超级联赛:卡斯尔福德 v 科尔斯泰尔斯巨龙 (8.00),哈尔德斯菲尔德 v 利 (8.00),圣海伦斯 v 利兹 (8.00)。
足球 3.00 除非另有说明
AFC 伯恩茅斯 v 埃弗顿,考文垂 v 赫尔,利物浦 v 诺丁汉森林 (12.30),托特纳姆热刺 v 纽卡斯尔 (5.30)。
布莱克本 v BPR,斯托克 v 林肯城,布里斯托尔城 v 朴茨茅斯,卡迪夫 v 谢菲尔德,查尔顿 v 普雷斯顿北端,德比 v 肖尔迪奇 (12.30),米德尔斯堡 v 西布罗姆 (12.30),诺维奇 v 伯恩利,南安普顿 v 米尔沃尔,沃特福德 v 西汉姆,伍尔弗汉普顿 v 斯托克 (12.30)。
布莱克浦 v 彼得堡 (12.30),剑桥联 v 哈德斯菲尔德,莱顿东方 v 巴恩斯利,米尔顿凯恩斯 Dons v 莱斯特 (12.30),诺丁汉郡 v 伯顿阿尔比恩,普利茅斯 v 布拉德福德,谢菲尔德 v 布罗姆利,斯托塞斯特,伍斯特,斯托克波特郡 v 威科姆。
诺维奇 v 切尔滕纳姆 (12.30), 考尔切斯特 v 罗奇代尔,
Country Town v 布里斯托尔流浪者, 吉林厄姆 v 诺森普顿,
Grencois v 朴次茅斯镇, 纽波特郡 v 特兰米尔,
奥尔德姆 v 斯温登, 普尔瓦尔 v Crowe (12.30), 罗瑟勒姆 v
切斯特菲尔德 (12.00), Stowcester v 索尔福德城, 沃尔索尔 v
阿克灵顿斯坦利, 约克 v 埃克塞特。
凯尔特人 v Fallah, Harrow v 圣约翰斯通, 基尔马诺克 v 邓迪联。
Betfred 超级联赛:赫尔 v Warclayshire (5.30), 图卢兹 v 布拉德福德 (8.00), Waterfield v 约克 (5.30)。
国际赛事关注:阿根廷 v 澳大利亚 (8.00), 南非 v 新西兰 (4.30)。
切尔西 v 布莱顿 (2.00), 利兹 v 布伦特福德 (2.00), 曼联 v 伊普斯维奇 (4.30), 桑德兰 v Falkane (2.00)。
AFC 温布尔登 v 威根 (2.00), Worsfield v 卢顿。
温布尔登 v 流浪者 (Hove), 邓迪 v Hibernian, 圣米伦 v 瑟瑟尔韦尔。
企业国家联赛:北区:AFC Salford 1 Hertford Town 1, Burbank 1, Hibbert Town 2, Chester FC 3, Spalding Utd 6, Cheday 2, Scarborough Athletic 1, Hackenough 4, Darlington 2, King's Lynn 1 Merion 4, Macclesfield FC 2, Bromley 1, Radcliffe 2 Manchester 1, South Shields 1, Merthyr 1, Southport 4, Bedford 1, Spennypower 2, Oxford City 4, Worcester 1, Watford 1, Watford 2, Wentworth 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100
北区联赛 - Prone:Garson Athletic 1, Guisbury 2, Emory AFC 1, Ashland Utd 1, FC Grimsley 4, Manchester 1, Manchester 2, Glamborough 3, Fife 3, Fife 3, 3, 3, 3, 3
南部联赛超级组 - 中区:Andley-Norwich 2 Longfleet 6, Borough Stortford 8, Baluchurch 5, Bury 1, Lunenington 6, Bothering 8, Peterborough Sports 0, Needham Market 0, Halesowen 1, Racing Club Warwick 1, Hitchin 1, Real Bradford 1, Stratford 1, Redditch Utd 1, Bromley-on-Sporting 2, Rashall Olympic 2, Banbury Utd 2, Strawbridge 2, London 2, Worcester City 3, Sturford 0
FIFTHMAN超级组:Brentwood 1, Enfield 3, Cheshire 1, Rangers Hill 1, Cray Wanderers 2, Eastbourne Borough 1, Dartford 0, Watling 3, Leatherhead 1, Malden & Tiptree 4, Lewes 1, AFC Whiteheath 1, Ramsgate 4, St Albans 5, Stansway Rovers 1, Canhalines Ath 2, Three Bridges 1, Andley 5, Whitehawk 1, Chatham 1, Wirtgum & Football 2, Elizabeth 0
南部联赛超级组 - 南区:Basingstoke 1 Bath City 9, Northampton 2, Poole 2, Chichester City 4 Chesapeake 0, Frome 3, Gosport Borough 2, Gloucester 1, Haverhill 0, Haverhill Villa 4, Eastham Utd 1, Malvern 0, Windermere 3, Plymouth Parkway 2 Newark and W 1, Shelley 2, Chertsey 4, Uxbridge 3 Everton 4, York 2, Brocknell 1
BREEDON HIGHLAND GEE:Bourn D'Heemans Lawn Works 0, Cumberland 0, Haver's County 1, Davenport 1, Forres Machano 1, Fremantow United 4, Keith 1, Huntly 2, Banks Ollon 2, Huntingdon 0, Buckle Thistle 6, Leyslemouth 0, Frasenburgh 4, Rotten 3, Wick Academy 2, Tarriff United 1 Vandhams Thistle 2
伦巴第联赛 - 东区:Berwick 0, Bournsley Rose 2, Coal Terrace, Stonhurst, Broxford 2, Lowdenhead 4, Eveling University 2, Dumpson 2, Broxford Athletic 3, East Stirling 0, Trunend 5, Gals Fairground 3, Hill 0, Beath-Hamthorn 4, Lockne Utd 5, Goldthorpe Rose 2, Maverborough Ath 2 Barnes Utd 2
伦巴第联赛 - 西区:Albion 1, Auchinleck Talbot 3, Bath 1, 5, Opishbank 7, Greton 2000 1, Cumberland Celtic 2, Belleville Star 2, Johnstone Burgh 1, Newton Stewart 2, Kishanning Rangers 2, Large Thistle 0, Northrue 1 Caledonian Brakes 3.
郡冠军赛 - 第一组 - 汉普郡 对阵 约克郡(罗斯路球场),约克郡 1 (7.05),每 3 场 2 次 J Ainsett 4 (7.15) 和 100 (100.1 每, 4 Lytle 10),F S Organ 4 (10),汉普郡 1 (57 (69.0 , 6℃ H Hill) 5 (70) 和 80 (120.1 ),莱斯特郡 对阵 格拉摩根 (莱斯特),莱斯特郡 153 (92.1 ) 和 257 (74.2 , 5 S G Garden 973, 格拉摩根 152 (55.1 , 8 W M Main 4 (8), 16 Holland 4 (9) 和 69 (124.1 )。
第一组 - 萨默塞特 对阵 埃塞克斯(萨姆福德),萨默塞特 469 (127.5 , 1 F Thomas 130, H W Nicholls 96, J E A Row 74ke, T B Ahnell 93, 1℃ Gull 4 (92), 埃塞克斯 159 (42.4 , M J Critchley 50, M J Lough 4 (75) 和 103 (1 (1.0.4 , C W J Allison (93)16, M J Critchley 68ns, D Elgar 50), 萨里 对阵 诺丁汉郡(里亚德雷德) 诺丁汉郡 104 (68.2 , L A Patterson White 70ke, T Lewes 5 (45) 和 306 (38.3 , 1 M Clarke 91, M D Fisher 4 (47, 0) Worsfall 4 (59), 萨里 352 (84.5 , D P Dover 5 (44) 和 137 (4 (37.5 , 0 J D Page 68ns), 华威郡 对阵 萨塞克斯(埃德巴斯顿),萨塞克斯 150 (47.4 , C R Wexler 4 (18) 和 207 (92.1 , 1 F Hanes 675, 华威郡 161 (47.1 , 5 T Hunt 4 (30) 和 122 (5 (27.3 , 1 F, Jon Clive), 第二组
德比郡 对阵 达勒姆(德比),达勒姆 281 (94.0 , G Cork 64, A 2 Lyle 61, B A Stokes 51, B Aitzblom 5 (70) 和 205 (64s), (61.0 , B T McKinney 140, B A Stokes 66ns, M M H Rhodes 52), 德比郡 156 (52.4 , M J Prain 5 (40), 格洛斯特郡 对阵 伍斯特郡 (切希尔兰),格洛斯特郡 130 (105.1 , T W Bowman 80, B M J Allison 5 (13), 和 118 (2 (44.1 ) 伍斯特郡 207 (88.2 , B L D Blowes 61, B M Edgustath 63, B Gai Kishore 4 (76), 兰开斯特郡 对阵
北安普顿郡(老特拉福德),北安普顿郡 284 (89.2 , G A Bartlett 92, G P Balderass 4 (70), 和 187 (148.1 , B Vasconcelos 100) 兰开斯特郡 137 (47.4 , B W Sanderson 4 (19), 米德尔塞克斯 对阵 肯特 (诺斯伍德),肯特 150 (91.1 , S A Northwood 87, Z Crowley 65, T S Rolland (lives 5 (71) 和 254 (68.4 , B G Eyngeon 65, T Mayney 44), 米德尔塞克斯 240 (55.4 , M E Milnes 5 (5), M R Quinn 4 (5) 和 54 (114 轮)。
FIA 一级方程式荷兰大奖赛(赞德福特赛道) 赞德福特 1 - 冲刺赛 (24 天) 1 G Russell (Gib) 梅赛德斯 GP 30分钟 25, 31小时, 2℃ Leclerc (Miro) 法拉利 落后 1,360mcs, 15, Norris (Gib) 迈凯伦 落后 1,390mcs, 4 A Antonelli () 梅赛德斯 GP 落后 5,182mcs, 5 G Prunet (Aur) 迈凯伦 落后 10,185mcs, 4 W Verstappen (Ned) 红牛 落后 10,525mcs, 7 L Hamilton () 法拉利 落后 12,380mcs, 8 P Gavly (Fry) 阿尔派 落后 42,550mcs, 积分榜,车手, 3 K Antonelli () 23kgs, 2 L Hamilton () 1 / 3, 3 G Russell () 100, 4℃ Leclerc (Miro) 145, 5 L Norris () 134, 6 W Verstappen (Ned) 112, 排位赛, 1 L Norris () 迈凯伦 1分 11, 30.5mcs, 2 G Russell () 梅赛德斯 GP 1,11,265, 3 A Antonelli () 梅赛德斯 GP 1,11,296, 4 G Prunet (Aur) 迈凯伦 1,11,305, 5 L Hamilton () 法拉利 1,11,494, 4℃ Leclerc (Miro) 法拉利 1,11,558.
BETIRED 超级联赛 - Colstairs Dragons 1, 赫尔 1, 赫尔 0 81, 图卢兹 1, 圣海伦斯 30, 卡斯尔福德 12.
BETIRED 锦标赛 - Goole 1Nking 1, 斯温顿 1, 纽卡斯尔 1, Midlands Northamans 1.
国际赛事观察 - 南非 16 新西兰 33.
在线解答以争夺 前 10 名的名额。结果将于 下周日在 The Puzzle Edit 时事通讯中公布

识别这些 球员的姓氏:
1 Quickly Kevin, wilhe score? (5) 2 首位攻破英超球门的 (5)
帮助设定乔治·格雷厄姆越位陷阱的人 (5) 3 三冠王让他的著名笑容更加灿烂 (5)
彼得伯勒联,
周二,晚上 7.45, 联赛杯
在过去的 12 年里,仅在 4 月、8 月或 9 月出生的永久主教练,沃特福德就换了 13 位。仿佛在暗示他们的招聘政策像个笑话一样,他们最新的掌舵人是前意甲教练亚历西奥·迪奥尼西(Alessio Dionisi,见下图),他出生在愚人节。自从波佐家族在 2012 年买下这家俱乐部以来,迪奥尼西是第五位出生在 4 月的主教练,也是他们的第五位意大利人。
卢顿镇, 周四,晚上 7.30, 联赛杯
切尔西(左)在曼联上一次赢得杯赛以来,已经赢得了 50 场杯赛,并且他们可以在这里将这一数字增加到 21 场。但切尔西近期所有的成就都是在海外取得的。自从 2019 年捧起足总杯(他们最后一次在国内获胜)以来,他们赢得了四项重大国际赛事。分别是 2019 年的欧联杯、2021 年的欧冠联赛,以及 2025 年的欧协联和世俱杯。没有其他英格兰俱乐部在经历国内赛季颗粒无收的同时,能赢得两座或更多国际奖杯。
诺丁汉森林, 周六,中午 12.30, 英超联赛
沃特福德解雇主教练的倾向在近年来与诺丁汉森林不相上下,但后者曾经拥抱过稳定性。1992 年,当布赖恩·克劳夫(Brian Clough,见下图)在森林队开始他的最后一个赛季时,他的任职时间比其他 91 位联赛主教练都长了七年。那么现在,在英超和英格兰足球联赛(EFL)最长任职主教练名单中排名第二的是谁?是克劳夫的儿子奈杰(Nigel),他在曼斯菲尔德城的六年任期仅次于阿森纳的米克尔·阿尔特塔。
赫尔城,
周六,下午 3 点, 英超联赛
当一家曾经是顶级联赛常客的俱乐部在远离那里很长时间后重新回归时,总会让人感到意义重大且充满怀旧感,这就是为什么考文垂城的升级是一个如此引人入胜的故事。考文垂(见上图)从 1967 年到 2001 年一直留在顶级联赛中,但此后直到现在一直处于精英阶层之外。事实上,他们是第一家在顶级联赛连续征战 30 个或更多赛季后,又连续 25 个或更多赛季在顶级联赛之外的俱乐部。
埃弗顿,
周六,下午 3 点,
埃弗顿成为了第一支“ fielded ”(派上场)过一名伦敦内区和一名伦敦外区区长的顶级联赛球队。海登·哈克尼(Hayden Hackney,见下图)昨天完成了首秀,而威廉·萨顿(William Sutton)在 1895 年对阵德比郡的一场比赛中担任过他们的门将。切尔西在 1900 年代初期选择了两名来自伦敦外区的球员——哈曼(Harman)和本世纪末的克里斯·萨顿(Chris Sutton)——而其余此类球员则分布在各家俱乐部:史蒂夫·萨顿(Steve Sutton)、布赖恩·布罗姆利(Brian Bromley)和乔·里士满(Joe Richmond)。
16 observer.co.uk 23.08.26
从指挥家到节拍器,足球词汇重新回归了古典音乐的引用
吉尔斯·史密斯 (Giles Smith)
通过瞄准摩洛哥中场球员艾尤布·布阿迪 (Ayyoub Bouaddi),曼城表明了他们渴望获得一名根据 BBC 网站描述“扮演深层指挥角色”的球员。这是一个值得思考的雄心,也是一个隐喻。
与此同时,在上周的社区盾杯中,评论员们讨论的热点是“节拍器”——具体而言,是布鲁诺·吉马良斯 (Bruno Guimarães) 能否成为阿森纳显然在马丁·祖比门迪 (Martin Zubimendi) 缺席的情况下所需要的节拍器,以及随着赛季的展开,在罗德里 (Rodri) 离队后,埃利奥特·安德森 (Elliot Anderson) 是否是担任曼城该角色的合适人选。
那么,我们是否可以推断,古典音乐在 2026-27 赛季再次成为塑造英超足球的关键力量?如果属实,这将是一个巨大的转变。自从 4-4-2 阵型早期为我们带来“中场四重奏”的概念以来,严肃音乐会曲目对比赛的影响几乎不存在。(请注意,该术语是对球场该区域预期艺术性的尊重。正如大卫·伍德豪斯 (David Woodhouse) 和约翰·利 (John Leigh) 在他们那部无可挑剔的 2004 年参考著作《足球词典》(Football Lexicon) 中指出的,相比之下,防守端永远是“后四卫”,绝不会被称为“防守四重奏”,因为那样就完全错了。)
但那是很多年前的事了,现在足球中很少提到四重奏。那么,英国顶级联赛转向古典音乐,对于我们即将看到的比赛意味着什么?
诚然,许多球迷面对俱乐部签下一名“节拍器”的前景可能很难感到兴奋。花 £60 去看一个人在背景中提供一个机械生成的脉冲,让其他人跟着练习……嗯,这可能不会自动点燃激情。也许“中场锚点”也不是最令人心潮澎湃的隐喻,但它至少唤起了一种沉稳、可能粗犷,并且在风暴中偶尔能证明自己有用之才的东西。而且,锚点不一定是那种你最后一次在音乐老师家的钢琴顶上,或者仅在特殊情况下才能看到的东西。

编排者:阿森纳希望布鲁诺·吉马良斯能掌控球场中路的节奏
另一方面,一名“指挥家”的到来,感觉是球迷和球员都能支持的事情——对于球员来说,则是站在其面前。但关于布阿迪提到的指挥家可以是“深层的”这一观点又如何?这行不通,对吧?你不需要在管弦乐团待太久就能意识到,把指挥放在除了最前面(所有人都能看到的地方)之外的任何位置都没有意义。让他们在更靠后的位置,就在大提琴后面,或者可能在铜管乐器和木管乐器之间的通道里演奏,这简直就是混乱的代名词。
而且,指挥家根据定义难道不是一个不演奏的人吗?阿森纳希望吉马良斯成为的肯定应该是第一小提琴手——在出现大段独奏时接手,并基本上在球场上充当指挥家的眼睛和耳朵。
但目前有太多的未知数。九家俱乐部——英超历史上的最高数量——在进入新赛季时任命了新主教练,他们对第一小提琴手以及对古典音乐整体的看法尚未明确。
他们是会大致倾向于传统的布局,第一小提琴在指挥的右侧,第二小提琴在旁边或紧随其后?还是其中一些人想要采用对唱式布局,第一小提琴在左侧,第二小提琴在右侧——在面对德国对手(比如你的贝多芬、勃拉姆斯、门德尔松)时,这种布局一直很流行?
那么棘手的 divisi 分组又如何,引入极少见的小提琴第三声部——在面对肖斯塔科维奇时在战术上很精明,而在一个寒冷的周二晚上对阵帕赫贝尔时则是强制性的。
这是哈比·阿隆索(Xabi Alonso)可以考虑的事情吗?他的切尔西阵容肯定有足够的小提琴手来完成。事实上,他们的小提琴手足够组成四五个声部,甚至足够填满其他所有人的声部。但遗憾的是,他们似乎没有任何大提琴手或打击乐手,也没有一名合格的守门员;坦白说,无论管弦乐团的其他部分如何重新组织,都无法弥补这一缺失。
尽管如此,对于他们以及古典音乐的影响力来说,接下来的赛季至关重要。我们拭目以待。
帕特里克·基德(Patrick Kidd)写道,罗杰·费德勒将在美网前回归,凯尔特人则希望避开欧冠的“香蕉皮”陷阱
斯洛文尼亚选手塔德伊·波加查(Tadej Pogačar)在 2019 年的西班牙环赛中获得第三名,但此后他一直避开西班牙,以专注于环法自行车赛。他已五次赢得该项赛事,并在 2024 年赢得了环意赛,现在他回归是为了寻求全满贯。这场为期三周的比赛于昨日在摩纳哥的个人计时赛中拉开帷幕,在周三跨越比利牛斯山脉之前,比赛将在法国和安道尔设有赛段(TNT Sports 1,下午 1.30)。到那时,波加查可能已经穿上了红色领骑衫。
英国运动员在本月欧洲锦标赛上赢得了 9 枚金牌,而他们仅有一次超过这一成绩。他们在 2014 年的苏黎世赛中夺得 12 枚金牌,几位新的赛道英雄将前往那里参加钻石联赛(周四,BBC iPlayer,晚上 7 点)。拥有四枚欧洲金牌的艾米·亨特(Amy Hunt)将在 100 米项目中面对世界冠军和奥运冠军梅丽莎·杰斐逊-伍登(Melissa Jefferson-Wooden)以及朱利安·阿尔弗雷德(Julien Alfred)的考验。800 米项目可能会非常精彩,因为奥运冠军基利·霍奇金森(Keely Hodgkinson)今年被奥德丽·韦罗(Audrey Werro)击败了两次,而后者将在自己的主场赛道上比赛。世界冠军莉莉安·奥迪拉(Lilian Odira)、英联邦运动会冠军乔治亚·亨特·贝尔(Georgia Hunter Bell)以及荷兰飞人费姆克·布罗德斯-博尔(Femke Broeders-Bol)预计也将参赛。
本周中旬,皇后区的一场名为“偶像回归纽约”的表演赛邀请罗杰·费德勒结束退休回归。费德勒从 2004 年起连续赢得了五届美网冠军,他将对阵约翰·麦肯罗(John McEnroe)、安德烈·阿加西(Andre Agassi)和安迪·罗迪克(Andy Roddick)(周三,Sky Sports Main Event,凌晨 1 点)。
与此同时,几位英国球员希望能够通过资格赛,与卡梅伦·诺里(Cameron Norrie)、亚瑟·费里(Arthur Fery)、凯蒂·博尔特(Katie Boulter)和扬·乔因斯基(Jan Choinski)一起参加本赛季最后一个大满贯赛事——美网(从明天起,Sky Sports Tennis,下午 4 点)。他们包括雅各布·费恩利(Jacob Fearnley)和索奈·卡塔尔(Sonay Kartal),后者的排名因伤而下滑。经历了更为令人沮丧的连续伤病的杰克·德雷珀(Jack Draper)已于周五退出资格赛。
在哈茨队于欧冠第二轮资格赛中以总比分 0-6 负于格拉茨风暴队后,凯尔特人队在附加赛阶段也面临着一个来自奥地利的“香蕉皮”陷阱。这位苏格兰冠军在周三于凯尔特人公园球场 3-0 击败了来自林茨的 LASK 队,为第二回合比赛争取到了一定的喘息空间(周二,Amazon Prime,晚上 8 点)。
最后,英格兰板球阵容中的哪位成员因对阵巴基斯坦队的表现而名列勋章榜?国家选拔员马库斯·诺斯(Marcus North)在 2010 年的一场中立地测试赛中为澳大利亚队拿下了六个三柱门。而他选中的球员在第二场测试赛中能回忆起的快乐记忆则较少,因为巴基斯坦队在 2016 年和 2018 年在那里相当轻松地赢得了比赛(从周四起,Sky Sports Cricket,上午 11 点)。

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Nick Haymes 捕捉到了他的两个儿子在 Jenga 游戏结束时截然不同的情绪
封面:Della Farrant 于 1972 年在海格特公墓拍摄的 David Farrant
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
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每当 Nick Haymes 的两个儿子厌倦了他给他们拍照时(他在孩子们的整个童年期间强迫性地拍照,积累了大约 80,000 张图像),他们会采用一种万无一失的方法,在他按下快门前就让他停止。他们不会用手掌遮挡镜头或躲出画面,而只是简单地给他一个开心的竖起大拇指并微笑。“那是他们让我走开的方式,”Haymes 笑着说,“因为他们知道我永远不会在那种时候按下按钮。”
在 2007 年一次家庭度假期间捕捉到的这个充满戏剧性的时刻中,不存在出现竖起大拇指的危险。“外面很冷,所以拿出了 Jenga,”Haymes 回忆道。“这是那种会让气氛变得有些紧张的游戏”——有一次紧张到小儿子不得不躲在桌子下面——“而且你可能会看到一些兄弟间的竞争。但这给了我坐下来拍摄的机会,因为他们太专注于游戏了。”
这是进入 Haymes 令人惊叹的新书《Chronograph》的近 1,000 张图像之一。这本书始于 2001, 年,当时在纽约的英国人 Haymes 与他的妻子 Lina 在一起。“当孩子们出生后,我妻子的事业正处于繁荣期,我成了一名全职爸爸。但我仍然有拍照的需求和冲动,所以我开始拍摄离我最近的事物,只是为了理解我在做什么,以及[为什么]在美国抚养孩子,而且,你知道,为什么要生孩子?”
《Chronograph》记录了直到 2026, 年初的情况,两个男孩 Lawrence 和 Philipp 现在已经 20 多岁了。这本书是对 Haymes 所称的家庭生活中“有趣的小混乱”的一次极其坦率的记录。他没有美化任何内容。眼泪、疾病和流鼻血与生日和海滩散步一样被重点呈现。书中也有平静的间奏,但 Haymes 总是随时准备捕捉那些一切似乎处于崩溃边缘的时刻——如果不是像这张照片中那样,正处于完全倾覆的过程中。Killian Fox
Nick Haymes 的《Chronograph》由 MACK Books 于 27 August 出版 (ESS)
Jenga 塔倒塌时截然不同的情绪。Courtesy of Nick Haymes and MACK Books
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observer.co.uk 23.08.26
来自手机屏幕之外世界的观察与场景
颠覆广告(Subvertising)
达伦·库伦(Darren Cullen)将他的工作空间比作高速公路扩建:“再加一条车道,只要再加一条车道就能解决问题。我就像在想:再加一张办公桌,再加一个架子。”在这位艺术家的南伦敦工作室里,每一个平面都被透视模型和设计稿覆盖;架子从地板一直堆到天花板。一个穿着艺术家罩衫的终结者玩具机器人,在 Subbuteo 足球场对面怒视着我,场上那些仅一英寸高的球员在弹坑之间盘球。
正是库伦的一件作品将我带到了这里。一些观察敏锐的伦敦地铁通勤者最近可能注意到了一场自称是为 ChatGPT 打造的新广告活动。广告在黑色背景上使用简单的白色字体写道:“是的,我们制造了一台告诉青少年去自杀的机器。但是——它可能也能帮他们完成作业。”
这种带有笑点(punchline)的抗议活动——被称为“颠覆广告”(subvertising)——正是库伦(又名 Spelling Mistakes Cost Lives)在 20 多年前从广告专业辍学以来一直在钻研的领域。当时,他对自己和同学所学习的心理操纵手段感到惊恐。
“这些是有史以来设计出的最复杂的宣传技巧,”他快速地说话,并配合着手势,“所以,尽管我讨厌广告,但我从不责怪人们被其欺骗。你当然会被骗——每个人都会被骗。”
在进入格拉斯哥艺术学院学习后,他决定将所学知识反过来利用。他的伪造广告目标涵盖了从石油巨头、中东冲突,到人工智能、气候危机以及埃隆·马斯克(Elon Musk)的所有内容。
他还创作过一些装置艺术,例如他的“零用钱贷款”亭,该亭向儿童收取 5,000 的利息,并于 2015 年出现在班克斯(Banksy)的“失乐园”(Dismaland)反乌托邦主题公园中。库伦说,正是这件作品改变了他的生活,提升了他的知名度,使他能够负担得起自己的工作室。他现在销售的创意周边商品数量之多,以至于需要两名助手来协助管理。
“我的很多想法来自于将某件事推向其逻辑终点,”他说,“广告媒介本身就如此荒诞,以至于感觉铺垫已经在那儿了,你只需要写出那个笑点。”
在我们身旁的办公桌上放着一个 Action Man 玩具,这是他与喜剧演员马特·贝里(Matt Berry)为了支持“和平退伍军人”(Veterans for Peace)而拍摄的《战场伤亡》广告中的道具(其玩具系列包括:创伤后应激障碍 Action Man、瘫痪 Action Man 和死亡 Action Man)。
库伦很清楚,单靠讽刺无法改变现状。“它救不了世界……我一直认为我的作品是为实际的激进主义提供支持。”
2019 年,他与艺术史学家加文·格林登(Gavin Grindon)在南伦敦的 Leegate 购物中心开设了新自由主义博物馆。其展品包括一个还原的格伦费尔塔(Grenfell Tower)墙体截面——混凝土的一侧是易燃的覆层,另一侧是儿童卧室的壁纸——以及一个亚马逊“履约”中心,其中还包含一瓶真实的尿液,来自一名因公司规定而被禁止上厕所的工人。
“有些事情你可以通过夸张来讽刺,而有些事情你只需要直接指出它们,”库伦说。由于土地被卖给了一家豪华公寓开发商,该博物馆被迫于 2024 年关闭。目前,一个新的落脚点即将敲定。
我询问重新开放的博物馆是否仍将展出那位不幸的亚马逊工人的样本。库伦取出一个纸箱,里面是一个装有浑浊棕色液体的塑料瓶。
“现在看起来很不健康,”他承认道,“随着时间的推移,我不得不平衡压力。我不知道内部发生了什么过程,但瓶子之前在嘎吱作响。”他对此仍感到一丝自豪:“据我所知,这是博物馆馆藏中的第一瓶尿。”
詹姆斯·罗兹姆斯(James Rozmus)
失落的村庄
前方的队列看起来像是要去参加音乐节。然而,我们实际上是在前往“英伯巴士日”(Imberbus day)的途中。一支由 40 辆经典复古 Routemaster 巴士组成的车队将载着我们穿过索尔兹伯里平原,前往失落的英伯村。1943 年圣诞节前一周多,英国国防部(MoD)在通知居民 47 天后将其撤离,用于军事训练,从此再未将其交还给村民。
每年约有 4,000 人为了这次行程而聚集在英伯,希望能有机会窥见这座隐藏的村庄。英伯没有邮政编码,除了广阔的野生动物栖息地和圣吉尔斯教堂外,这里一片荒芜;在国防部允许进入的开放日,教堂仍会举行礼拜。
为了来到这里,我们中的许多人乘坐包车火车从伦敦滑铁卢车站前往威尔特郡的沃明斯特。这列名为 Hastings "Thumper" 的火车是一台由英国铁路之旅(UK Railtours)修复的 20 世纪 50 年代亮绿色机车,每节车厢都有插销门、条纹装饰的沙发式座椅和木制滑动隔断。蜿蜒的路线在沃金和贝辛斯托克接载了更多乘客;两小时后,沙沙作响的对讲机宣布我们到达。
平原上没有任何手机信号。指示牌提醒游客:“军事射击场。禁止进入”以及“警告:存在非倍体军事碎片!”红旗在草坡顶端飘扬。岗楼分布在道路两旁,那里的炮位

半埋在土中,长满了常春藤且锈迹斑斑。
你首先在山顶看到这座失落的村庄。行程包括参观被封死的砖房和被掏空的建筑外壳,据称这些建筑被用于训练部队进行城市战。我们被鼓励去想象它们曾经的生活:一排建于 1938 年的市政房屋;当地的饮酒场所——贝尔旅馆(Bell Inn)。
由于环境过于荒凉而无法久留,旅行团自然而然地聚集在教堂墓地里。那里挤满了拿着英国地形局(Ordnance Survey)地图的当地历史爱好者、野餐的家庭,以及布拉顿社区铜管乐队演奏的欢快曲调。
英伯村 150 名村民的撤离非常突然。教堂管理员尼尔·斯凯尔顿(Neil Skelton)告诉我,许多人后来对此举感到愤恨并提出抗议。这座废弃村庄的怀旧感和禁忌氛围让游客们不断回归。“如果人们不来,军队可能会说:‘哦,好吧,既然没人来,那我们就把它关掉。’”
英伯村第一次抓住斯凯尔顿的想象力是在 1964 年,当时还是个男孩的他会骑车前往这座 13 世纪的教堂。他从 1980 年起在教堂保护信托基金会担任外勤官员,现在,在退休近 20 年后,“英伯巴士日”在很大程度上仍能延续,主要归功于他的努力。“我说我会做 10 年,结果现在 18 年过去了,”他说,在铜管乐队开始演奏一首战时哀歌时停顿了一下。“我确实很享受,但这是一项沉重的责任。”
他回忆起有一次偷偷溜出村庄,发现一场“全规模的模拟战”正在进行。靶场运营部门给了斯凯尔顿通行许可,突然间,士兵们开始在平原上开火,铁丝网沿路铺开。
在任职期间,斯凯尔顿发现自己为了维持教堂开放日的生存,与国防部发生过其他轻微的摩擦。他不确定在他退休后谁将组织这项活动。
他向我指了指圣吉尔斯教堂祭坛上展示的一段格外令人心酸的证词。在收到撤离通知后,村里资深的铁匠阿尔伯特·纳什(Albert Nash)病倒了。他的死亡证明记录他“死于心碎”。海军圣
海报男孩
现在是买房的好时机,但买房从未像现在这样耗时。一切都处于停滞状态。在五月,我花了一年时间尝试寻找一套公寓,却一直受挫且心灰意冷。
这时,内森·K(Nathan K)出现了。许多房产中介在沉寂的市场面前显得无能为力,但内森·K并非如此,他
“广告媒介如此荒诞,以至于感觉铺垫已经在那儿了。你只需要写出那个笑点就行”

内森·K在带我参观伦敦市中心克莱肯威尔(Clerkenwell)的几处房产时显得精力充沛。他的手机叮叮叮地响个不停,他快步走着,报出服务费详情和EPC(能源性能证书)评级,而我则努力集中注意力。
第二天,我去海布里(Highbury)进行另一次看房。转过街角,我被一块巨大的广告牌震撼了,上面是内森·K的一张特大照片,配有口号:“并非所有中介都一样。”天呐,我知道当手机屏幕上弹出反映你当前关注点的广告并非巧合,但内森·K是否以某种方式将这种数字技巧带回了现实生活?
内森·K在“街角的小店”办公。他穿着健身房的衣服。我问他,那广告是怎么回事?
“我开车经过[那块广告牌]时,上面写着‘此处可刊登广告’,我想:‘为什么不呢?’反响很好,虽然我有很多朋友说:‘我的天,内森把自己的脸贴在海布里的一块巨型广告牌上了。’”
那么,他怎么就和其他中介不一样了?
“我不需要把我的客户当成囚犯对待。我告诉人们的不是他们想听的,而是他们需要听的。”
如果房产界有一个类似于TalkSport的节目(叫ThinkBrick?),内森·K会是一个出色的黄金时段主持人。“如果你的名字挂在门上,你就没法躲藏,”他说,并且:“确实有一些优秀的中介。但不多。”
他的职业生涯始于24年前的Foxtons公司。“竞争极其残酷。一天从早上 8. 开始,但我 7. 就到了,把[客户]分为潜在客户和非潜在客户。周日晚上给我发WhatsApp——我不介意。”
由于24 / 7工作,内森·K在短短一年多时间里就累积了马尔科姆·格拉德威尔(Malcolm Gladwell)所提出的10,000小时——而他已经从事这项工作近四分之一个世纪了。离开Foxtons后,他将“一家位于[伊斯灵顿]上街(Upper Street)的独立中介公司从 50,000 英镑规模扩大到了100万英镑”,并将“Yopa[房产中介]的伦敦地区从第10名提升到了第一名”。现在,这里变成了内森·K房地产公司(Nathan K Real Estate)。“不吹嘘自己的话,他们得到的是我。”
所有这些努力都得到了认可。“去年,”他说,“我入围了Negotiator奖的短名单,那是最高奖项。现在,有了更多的数据,我预计我会获胜。”
我提到了假期这个棘手的话题。“我们总是向东走,所以我领先于时间。我有一套习惯,早上处理电话和电子邮件。健身和午餐。然后下午回复消息。晚餐后关机。除非是紧急情况。我们喜欢泰国,喜欢马尔代夫。只要我们向东走,就没问题。我记得当我们[向西]去安提瓜


Illustrations by Oscar Ingham
和牙买加时,感觉糟透了。”
在这个千禧年里,内森·K只有一周时间没用手机,那是他被选为第三季《叛徒》(The Traitors)节目参赛者的时候。“我不能告诉朋友我要参加节目,所以我告诉他们我要去静修,”他说。“他们说:‘你竟然不用手机。在哪儿?’我说在苏格兰,或者随便哪里。有人以为我要进监狱了。”
他是第一个被放逐的参赛者。“当你离开圆桌时,你会进入一个特别的房间,那里有治疗师为你提供支持。我说:‘我没事,走开,我很忙。’有太多的手机留言了。”
内森·K接下来的计划是什么?“在某个时间点,如果我能塑造他,我很想找一个年轻的接班人。”
内森·K 2号? 他笑了:“不容易找到。” 威尔·巴克利(Will Buckley)
波萨诺瓦之王
我从伦敦远赴赫尔辛基,只为见一个人。准确地说,是一个男人和他的 27 人管弦乐团。这个人就是 81 岁、出生于里约的作曲家、指挥家、歌手兼编曲师亚瑟·维罗凯(Arthur Verocai)。我相信,他 1972 年发行的同名专辑是巴西——或者就此而言,可能是全球范围内——有史以来最伟大的录音作品。
但当我在周六下午抵达主舞台时,距离他演出还有半小时,此时正值当天的开场表演,现场只有 30 名左右的年轻女性在舞台前排排队,穿着我妻子告诉我的复古丝绸雪纺礼服,头戴花环。Florence + The Machine 是今晚的压轴嘉宾,而这些忠诚的灵魂还需要等待七个半小时。
维罗凯曾接受过土木工程师培训,但在 Musicanossa(一个旨在振兴波萨诺瓦的里约青年音乐协会)中开始了其音乐生涯。在那里,他结识了作曲家罗伯托·梅内斯卡尔(Roberto Menescal),在后者的指导下,他随后为包括若日·本(Jorge Ben)、加尔·科斯塔(Gal Costa)和马科斯·瓦莱(Marcos Valle)在内的巴西巨匠们进行编曲。1972 年,
在国家处于军事独裁统治期间,维罗凯召集了当时巴西最优秀的一些音乐家,录制了一部 29 分钟的杰作。其宏大的编曲和令人心碎的旋律在很大程度上未被认可,直到 30 年后,唱片挖掘者和嘻哈制作人们才让这张唱片获得了更广泛的关注。
2009 年在洛杉矶举行的一场音乐会,由一个 30 人的管弦乐团演奏并由 Madlib 提供 DJ 支持,
让早已放弃音乐事业并投身广告业的维罗凯,首次完整地现场指挥了该专辑。
如今,舞台已准备就绪,摆放着充足的椅子和麦克风,以及为这位大师准备的指挥台。我意识到,维罗凯在芬兰这个面向年轻人的 Flow 音乐节上绝不会是最吸引人的焦点,但即便如此——他仍需要一些关注。在妻子恳请我不要这么做之前,我曾短暂考虑过向那些 Florence 的粉丝们推销他们即将见证的演出。
事实证明,这没有必要。当波兰 Auksio 管弦乐团集结完毕时,下午的观众已聚集到相当规模,阳光普照,维罗凯从侧台走出。他穿着一件奶油色西装外套,看起来很精神,但拄着一根拐杖——我最终发现他的右腿戴着支具。看着他蹒跚着走上前去指挥这个庞大的乐队,而他们将主要演奏他那些永恒的经典之作——一种电影感十足且深沉忧郁的爵士、民谣、灵魂乐与波萨诺瓦的融合——这令人极其感动,而此时他们甚至还没有演奏一个音符。
他们以三首华丽的器乐曲开场,随后维罗凯介绍了两位巴西歌手:保拉·桑托罗(Paula Santoro)和同样演奏吉他的罗热(Rogé)。午后阳光中,一阵微风带来凉意;很快,连 Florence 的粉丝们也跳起舞来。但被震撼的不止是观众:在维罗凯指挥时,他的乐谱被风吹乱,小号组的一名成员不得不上前帮他一把。
考虑到录制该唱片时巴西的政治局势,维罗凯的作词人维托尔·马丁斯(Vitor Martins)小心地使用隐喻,以避免引起政权不必要的关注。例如,《Pelus Sombros》(在阴影之下)暗示了秘密警察,但仅是以最模糊的方式。作为一个不懂葡萄牙语的人,在这种环境下我必须克制随之合唱的欲望,因此我将过度的热情转化为在每首歌结束时不成比例的长时间欢呼。在压轴曲目《Caboclo》中,维罗凯面向观众亲自演唱,他的声音传递出一种与其年龄不符的情感力量。
在2009年的音乐会之后,他接到了更多工作,包括里约2016年残奥会闭幕式的音乐、为泰勒·造物主(Tyler, the Creator)为路易威登(Louis Vuitton)2022年巴黎时装周秀场创作的20分钟配乐进行编曲,以及2007年为伦敦厂牌Far Out Recordings制作的一张恰如其分地命名为《Encore》的专辑。在芬兰演出之后,他昨天在多塞特郡吉尔斯·彼得森(Gilles Peterson)的“We Out Here”音乐节上与Nu Civilisation管弦乐团共同演出。
Verocai的复兴让这位曾经的邪典人物在晚年走进了聚光灯下。一场胜利巡演是他最起码应得的。菲利普·亚当斯(Philip Adams)
《观察者报》评论员为您推荐不容错过的活动
“印第安娜·洛温-柯林斯(Indiana Lowin-Collins)将专业舞者与新接受弗拉门戈训练的演员相结合,打造了一个令人心醉的夜晚。该剧在自身的逻辑下十分连贯,菲利普·安迪蒂(Philip Anditti)饰演的贝罗恩(Berowne)表现尤为出色,与贝亚·塞古拉(Bea Segura)饰演的罗莎琳(Rosaline)之间火花四溅,而诺拉·洛佩兹·霍尔登(Norah Lopez Holden)饰演的公主则气场强大。”《爱的徒劳》(Love's Labours Lost)在环球剧院展演至 13 September。——苏珊娜·克拉普(Susannah Clapp)
“你可以称之为一场独角戏,因为每一件作品都基于她自己娇小的身形。然而,它从未显得自恋或过于私人化。安娜·门迭塔(Ana Mendieta)痴迷于融合与升华,痴迷于人类与星球的结合,以及物质向能量的转化。”泰特现代美术馆的展览将持续至 17 January。
——劳拉·卡明(Laura Cumming)
“这是一场‘展中展’,一个戏剧性且突然的终章。这场旅程勉强构成了一部关于美国世纪的视觉叙事,而这个世纪在某种程度上是由那些进入并改变了我们对这个国家及其历史集体意识的静止图像所定义的。”《城市肖像》(Portrait of a City)在达尔维奇画廊展演至 4 October。
——肖恩·奥哈根(Sean O'Hagan)
马克斯·奥莱斯克(Max Olesker)是喜剧组合 Max & Ivan 的成员之一。您仍可以在爱丁堡的 Pleasance Dome 观看他的演出《入选》(Making the Cut),该剧基于其同名书籍,记录了他皈依正统犹太教的浪漫旅程。演出除周六外每天举行,直到 30 August。
朱尔斯·巴克利(Jules Buckley)及其乐团将于 8 September 在伦敦皇家阿尔伯特音乐厅的这场 Prom 音乐会上,与美国创作歌手 Weyes Blood 共同演出。此次演出被描述为“在亲密的深夜环境下,音乐才智的一次典型且富有想象力的碰撞”。立即预订您的门票。
CROSSTOWN 音乐会
门票预订请访问 CROSSTOWNCONCERTS.GIGANTIC.COM
议程
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
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科学家兼历史学家,88岁
《枪炮、病菌与钢铁》的作者兼科学家,谈学术界的变幻莫测、他如何通过“哈姆雷特测试”以及如何生活得充实
贾雷德·戴蒙德(Jared Diamond)曾接受生物化学和生理学训练,但其写作领域涵盖了人类学、生态学、地理学和进化生物学。他精通12种语言,是加州大学洛杉矶分校(UCLA)的地理学荣休教授。他于1985年获得麦克阿瑟天才奖,并于1999年被授予国家科学奖章。他是多本畅销书的作者,其中包括曾获普利策奖的《枪炮、病菌与钢铁》。他的最新著作是《利润、先知、教练与国王:(何时)领导者能产生影响?》,该书探讨了领导力在政治、商业、体育和宗教中的作用及其有效性。
您最著名的观点是强调环境和地理是历史的引擎。这本书是否改变了您对个人重要性的看法?
没有。《枪炮、病菌与钢铁》关注的是10,000年来大范围区域的模式,而这本书关注的是个人在短短几年内产生的影响。曼联在二十年间拥有卓越的记录,这与10,000年前新月地带的小麦驯化毫无关系,但与一位领导者——亚历克斯·弗格森(Alex Ferguson)有着绝对的关系。
在您的书中,您将领导力置于“哈姆雷特测试”之下。那是什么? 关于领导力的一个问题是,某些人是否是唯一能够完成其成就的人?莎士比亚写出了被认为是史上最伟大的剧作之一的《哈姆雷特》。是否还有其他人能写出

《哈姆雷特》?我们知道当时大约有20位重要的伊丽莎白时代剧作家,而其中最优秀的人也远未达到《哈姆雷特》的水准。这就是“哈姆雷特测试”。我们不能说埃隆·马斯克(Elon Musk)和杰夫·贝佐斯(Jeff Bezos)是唯一能创立大型电动汽车和在线购物产业的人。他们没有通过“哈姆雷特测试”。
很少有读者听说过一位您认为通过了哈姆雷特测试的政治人物:博茨瓦纳的开国总统塞雷特·卡马(Seretse Khama)。 由于卡马建立国家的方式,博茨瓦纳拥有非洲最好的教育和医疗系统,且人均GDP在非洲大陆名列前茅。他是博茨瓦纳当时仅有的22名大学毕业生之一。他同时也是最大部落的首领,而该国的钻石就发现该部落的领土上。当我带妻子和孩子去博茨瓦纳度假时,我甚至无法告诉您
谁是该国的开国总统。卡马在非洲内部被视为非常成功,但他没有在全世界产生影响。然而,他是唯一能取得那样成就的候选人。
许多人认为书中提到的贝佐斯和马斯克的财富在道德上是错误的。这些领导者是否获得了过高的报酬? 马斯克和贝佐斯是那些为公司带来巨大改变以及数十亿、甚至数万亿美元收益的领导者典型。因此有人可能会争论,为什么不让他们拿走那区区几十亿就走人呢?对他们的不满在于他们如何使用这些数十亿资金。以比尔·盖茨(Bill Gates)为例,他将钱捐给了一个基金会,从事如试图根除疟疾等高尚的事业。我想不出埃隆·马斯克用他的数万亿资金做了什么有益的事,但我能想到各种有害的事。
我想不出埃隆·马斯克用他的数万亿资金做了什么有益的事
史蒂文·平克(Steven Pinker)认为社会一直朝着暴力减少和道德启蒙增强的方向发展。您同意吗?
是的,我同意。在现代,会出现大量人员被杀的短暂时期。而在没有强大中央政府的传统社会中,战争是长期的。结果是,每年可能有 2% 的人口死于暴力方式,因此,传统社会中人们一生死于非命的概率比 20 世纪要高得多。
您是否发现,您那畅销的跨学科研究方法引起了同行学术界人士的反感?
是的。在加州大学,我每四年接受一次评审,每四年晋升一次。有一年我没有获得晋升,而那一年恰恰是我获得普利策奖的一年。生理学系的同事们说:“我们无法评判这本书,因此我们将不予考虑,所以我们不会让他晋升。”当美国人类学协会(AAA)决定在年度会议上专门开一次分会讨论我时,他们并没有邀请我。我对美国人类学协会的主席表达了震惊,她回答说:“你的观点众所周知,所以我们没必要浪费时间邀请你。”
您是最接近现代版博学者托马斯·杨(Thomas Young)的人,他被认为是最后一个无所不知的人。是否有任何知识领域是您希望自己研究过的?
我已经研究了我想要研究的学科。我对计算机一窍不通。我从未对技术产生过兴趣。那是我的空白领域,但这是一个我不后悔的空白。
您看起来充满活力。您的秘诀是什么?
我下个月就 89 岁了。我很幸运拥有良好的基因。但我对很多事情感兴趣。我有许多朋友,社交生活很活跃。我每周在健身房锻炼三天,并向我的妻子和儿子们展示我的肌肉。我骑健身车。我每周两次进行 2.5 英里的观鸟散步。我弹钢琴。我为两名大提琴手和一名专业歌剧演员伴奏。我每天阅读意大利语。我每天阅读德语。我每周一两次胡乱说一点俄语。我觉得生活非常迷人。我想继续走下去。我的妻子比我小 11 岁。娶了年轻美貌妻子的年长男性必须保持健康。所以我希望能活很长时间。
《利润、先知、教练与国王:(何时)领导者能带来改变?》(Profits, Prophets, Coaches and Kings: (When) Do Leaders Make a Difference?)由 Allen Lane 出版社于 1 September 出版(售价 £25)。可通过 observershop.co.uk 订购,价格为 £22.50(低于建议零售价 10%)。可能产生配送费用。
“我觉得生活非常迷人。我想继续走下去”:贾雷德·戴蒙德在洛杉矶的家中。
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observer.co.uk 23.08.26
封面故事
在 1970年代, 年代的伦敦出现超自然目击事件后,关于海盖特公墓(Highgate Cemetery)是否存在吸血鬼的争论异常激烈。五十年后,这一传说被新一代人接手,并由全球持续时间最长的网络宿怨所推波助澜。弗朗西斯科·加西亚(Francisco Garcia)追踪采访了相关当事人
封面故事
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
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杰米·法兰特(Jamie Farrant)已经明白了一些大多数人永远不会明白的事情:成为一名吸血鬼猎人之子的含义。
这位中年码头工人是在 16 年前偶然得知这一真相的。前一天,他还是杰米·法兰特,一个在半辈子中一直好奇自己身世之谜的无父少年。而到了第二天,在 2010, 年初一个阴冷潮湿的下午,他坐在南安普顿郊区的家中,盯着电脑屏幕上的图像。照片中是一个身材极瘦、头发凌乱的男人,穿着一套套花哨的衣服。最古老的黑白照片描绘了一个 20 多岁、看起来有些古怪的人物,在北伦敦一座杂草丛生的墓地里将一本圣经紧紧抱在胸前。
他首先注意到的是一个名字:大卫·法兰特(David Farrant)。接着是两人之间不可否认的面相相似度。随后,杰米翻阅了数百篇将大卫·法兰特与海盖特吸血鬼联系起来的新闻报道,而后者是 20 世纪最持久的超自然传说之一。
在南海岸长大期间,杰米·法兰特经常幻想他那位长期缺席的父亲会是个什么样的人。撇开对父亲的渴望不谈,他的成长过程相当满足,与母亲、继父和弟弟生活在一起。在搬到南安普顿之前,婴儿时期的杰米和他的母亲曾住在北伦敦,在海盖特和马斯韦尔山(Muswell Hill)之间的一套一居室公寓里。“我大约 18 个月大时,她说:‘不,这样就够了。’当事情开始变得诡异时,她离开了,”他在过去两年间与我的多次会面中一次告诉我,“她说她坐上了离开的牛奶列车,再也没有回头。”
在童年和青少年时期,他的母亲拒绝谈论他父亲的身份。然而,在他 18 岁生日后不久,他与叔叔进行了一次有趣的对话。哦是的,他非常记得杰米的父亲。他曾登上了全国各大报纸。“我当时觉得这像是个玩笑,”杰米告诉我。
在那之后,他的好奇心时起时伏。从很小的时候起,他就对超自然现象感兴趣。幽灵和超自然生物,狼人和食尸鬼;他享受这些故事引发的静谧恐惧感。2010, 年初,他读了一本关于英国最著名案例的历史书。巧合的是,他的女朋友也有一本同样的书。“我们读到了关于海盖特吸血鬼的章节,并[看到了]大卫·法兰特这个名字。我想:‘我想知道这会不会是我爸。’我问了我妈,她确认了。于是我找到了他的网站并给他发了一封电子邮件。”
几周后,杰米站在马斯韦尔山一栋公寓楼的入口处,试图平复紧张的情绪。“我敲了门,然后等待。他的公寓在顶楼。[最终,]我看到一个阴影般的身影向正门走来。然后门开了,我们握了手。我跟着他走上楼梯,他泡了一杯茶。然后我们开始聊天——就这样。前一分钟我还不认识他,然后他就出现在我面前。”即便在缺席了一辈子之后,海盖特吸血鬼的话题很快就主导了他们的对话。在接下来的十年里,大部分时间都是如此。重逢的喜悦与难以置信偶尔会给更不安的波动让路。“该死的,”杰米经常这样想,“我到底揭开了什么?”
†††
27 2 月 27 日 1970, 年,《汉普斯特德与海盖特快报》(Hampstead & Highgate Express)刊登了一篇足以吸引北伦敦居民全部注意力的头版文章。标题为:“是否有一只
“在海盖特有吸血鬼出没?”随附的文章为过去两年半里在海盖特公墓及其周边出现的一系列超自然目击事件提供了一个大胆的解释。
1967年,两名沿着附近的斯温斯巷(Swains Lane)走在回家路上的少女声称,她们目击到死者在公墓北门处从坟墓中爬起。另一名年轻女性在某夜醒来时,发现手上有什么“冰冷且紧贴的东西”,第二天早晨留下了明显的痕迹。进一步的报告提到一名“戴帽子的高个男人”在街道上徘徊,随后穿透公墓厚重的石墙消失不见。
如果说如今的海盖特与一线演员和受制裁的俄罗斯寡头联系在一起,那么情况并非一直如此。在20世纪60年代后期,伦敦陷入了下降的螺旋,人口减少和物理衰败加速了这一进程。闪电战时期的废墟在城市各处依然可见。伦敦的墓地状况尤其糟糕。
这一点在海盖特公墓表现得最为明显。这座公墓建于19世纪30年代,耗费了巨大的公共资金,是当时为了应对维多利亚时代伦敦人口激增而创建的所谓首都“壮丽七大”公墓中最宏伟的一座。二战后,当公墓的母公司陷入财务困境时,其维护工作也随之衰落。
在20世纪70年代,这里破旧的维多利亚式陵墓和风景如画但杂草丛生的墓碑契合了当时的文化时刻。民俗恐怖片正值鼎盛,1973年《柳条人》(The Wicker Man)上映,同时海默恐怖片(Hammer horror films)接连产出,其中几部就在海盖特公墓拍摄。
罗纳德·哈顿(Ronald Hutton)教授将其职业生涯用于研究英国的神秘学。他解释说,这也是反主流文化的第一个时代。“这

开放坟墓的撒旦之谜

吸血鬼是否在海盖特游荡?
法兰特
法兰特
前几代人……所经历的生存挣扎,在进入这个勇敢的新世界后突然消失了。[而]在海盖特发生的事情,是嬉皮反主流文化的一种不寻常且相当古怪的表现。”
1970年初,在海盖特公墓及其周边发现了动物尸体。
据称这些尸体被抽干了血液。6 February,当时二十多岁的当地烟草商之子大卫·法兰特(David Farrant)写信给《汉姆与海》(Ham & High)报,讲述了他与一个死灰色身影的接触。“我有三次看到一个看起来像幽灵般的幻象,”法兰特写道,“上周,那个身影出现在大门内仅几码远的地方。这一次它停留的时间足够长,让我能看得更清楚。”法兰特的信件引发了当地居民热烈的进一步来信。“目击记录从半透明的骑行者到
一名身穿白衣的幽灵女人,正透过大门的缝隙凝视。”
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法兰特并没有创造出海盖特吸血鬼。那是他的朋友肖恩·曼彻斯特(Sean Manchester)的杰作,后者是一名来自诺丁汉郡的摄影师,当时25岁,以及另一名年轻人,他像法兰特一样,在北伦敦紧密的超自然圈子里是个熟面孔;那个幻象并非无害的幽灵。曼彻斯特告诉《汉姆与海》。他反而推论那是“不死者的吸血鬼之王”,一位被埋葬在维多利亚时代选作海盖特公墓之地的中世纪贵族。“我们希望用传统且认可的方法驱除这个吸血鬼,”曼彻斯特告诉该报,“用木桩钉穿它的心脏。”
法兰特和曼彻斯特是马斯韦尔山路底部的伍德曼酒吧(Woodman pub)的常客。尽管外貌和气质迥异——法兰特身材纤细且健谈,穿着荷叶边衬衫和紧身裤;曼彻斯特则体型较壮,神情严肃,披着飘逸的斗篷,打着时髦的领结——但两人都具有宣传天赋。如果说法兰特最初对吸血鬼的说法持保留态度,那么自称与拜伦勋爵有直接血缘关系的曼彻斯特则坚决主张。
在一系列日益耸动地采访中,两人声称只有他们能将这个实体从海盖特公墓中驱逐出去。当曼彻斯特宣布他将在1970年3月13日星期五举行一次“正式”的公开吸血鬼狩猎时,ITV派遣了一个团队来报道此次活动。数百名自称是吸血鬼猎人的人从英国各地涌向公墓,
20世纪70年代的报纸剪辑。对面右侧为大卫·法兰特,他声称在海盖特公墓看到了一个“幽灵般的幻象”。大卫·法兰特,Getty Images

扫描 OK 码订阅《观察者报》的每周调查播客。关于海盖特吸血鬼的新一集将于周二发布。

10 observer.co.uk 23.08.26
冲破了驻守在门口的警察警戒线。数十座坟墓被亵渎,遗址顶部的地下墓穴也受到了严重破坏。次日早晨,最令人难忘的头条新闻大肆报道:“开坟之谜:撒旦之谜”。随附的照片显示,一群看起来兴奋异常的年轻人正翻越墓地围墙。
那年 8 月,在墓地附近发现了一具无头尸体,该尸体被从棺材中拖出。几周后,法兰特(Farrant)因携带十字架和木桩在墓地中“猎杀吸血鬼”而被捕。该案件在法庭上被驳回,不过 BBC 后来拍摄了他兴致勃勃地重演那次深夜之行的场景。在接下来的几个月里,法兰特与曼彻斯特(Manchester)的关系开始恶化。看来,两人都不愿放弃对吸血鬼叙事权的控制。1973 年,双方广告宣传将进行一场“魔法决斗”,地点定在汉普斯特德(Hampstead)的议会山(Parliament Hill),事态由此升级(该活动在最后一刻被取消)。
然而,法兰特的法律麻烦并未结束。一年后,他被判定亵渎坟墓罪名成立,被判处五年监禁。尽管他始终否认指控,但他承认向两名警察发送了巫毒人偶。两年半后获释,他定居在马斯韦尔山(Muswell Hill),并在那里生活了接下来的 40 年,他的公寓成为了海格特吸血鬼爱好者、记者和电影制作人的朝圣地。
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曼彻斯特的轨迹或许更为离奇。在 20 世纪 80 年代,他搬到了南海岸,自称是一个名为“古老天主教会”(Old Catholic Church)的神秘组织的主教。在他 1985 年出版的《海格特吸血鬼》(The Highgate Vampire)一书中,曼彻斯特讲述了他如何在 1974 年初,在靠近克劳奇端(Crouch End)边界的一座哥特式豪宅地下室里,最终击败了在北伦敦出没的不死食尸鬼。“随着一声巨响,一根削尖的木轴刺穿了那个生物的心脏。我们目睹了尸壳塌陷,迅速变成肮脏的棕色,随后很快变成了棺材底部一股缓慢流动的非人类黏液和内脏。”
曼彻斯特后来写道,这是他进行的数十次类似猎杀中的第一次(评论家指出,他的描述与布拉姆·斯托克(Bram Stoker)的《德古拉》在行文上有着惊人的相似之处)。到 90 年代中期,他在信件末尾的署名为“格拉斯顿伯里主教”,并经常作为专家出现在 BBC 和商业广播电台的超自然辩论和电话访谈节目中。
过去的几十年并未能平息曼彻斯特与法兰特之间的敌意。两人都是互联网的早期且热衷的使用者,这使得他们

1973 年,法兰特与他的“女祭司”进行一场神秘学仪式。下方,据称《吸血鬼猎人巴菲》(Buffy the Vampire Slayer)中的鲁珀特·盖尔斯(Rupert Giles)角色曾遭到海格特吸血鬼的袭击。 Delta Farrant, Alamy

以及他们各自的支持者能够随意地交换创意十足的侮辱之词。
针对曼彻斯特的评价是:“法兰特或许能成为一名寻找关于自恋人格障碍研究项目的精神科医生的有趣案例,或者成为一名专门研究因沉溺于伪神秘学以博取关注而导致恶魔附身现象的牧师的研究对象。”
与此同时,法兰特的支持者声称:“[曼彻斯特] 是一个愤世嫉俗的老退休金领取者,他醒着的所有时间都花在波恩茅斯的书房里延续 [这场宿怨]。而当他不忙于此的时候,他就在跟踪、挑衅和恐吓他的批评者。”
在 21 世纪初,法兰特推出了自己的网站,该网站提供了一个超自然辩论和调查的论坛,以及关于日常生活的极其详尽的博客,累计字数达数十万字。
“疯子主教”一直是热门话题,此外还包括对海格特从未出现过吸血鬼的激烈否认。
曼彻斯特在博客和评论区表现得更为活跃,他极力维护海格特吸血鬼存在的说法,并强调自己在将其击杀过程中扮演的戏剧性角色。至于法兰特,“这个温文尔雅、紧张且结巴的生物身上有一种令人不悦的毒性,他的驼背加上看起来处于晚期的厌食症,让人想起……狄更斯笔下的尤里亚·希普”。
那些质疑曼彻斯特教会资历的人也很快感受到了他的愤怒以及法律行动的威胁。法兰特与曼彻斯特之间这种消耗性的网络战争,被恰如其分地描述为世界上持续时间最长的在线宿怨。
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我第一次接触到海格特吸血鬼是在 2019 年。在伦敦市中心的“查令十字路上的福伊尔书店”浏览时,我拿起了一本由默林·科弗利撰写的《神秘伦敦》(Occult London),这是一本薄薄的小书,承诺提供关于这座城市最著名的超自然传说的易懂历史。事实上,书中的核心问题——1970 年是否真的有一只吸血鬼在海格特公墓出没了几周——对我来说兴趣相对不大。
相反,我被那些用半个世纪的争端支撑起这个故事的男人所吸引。海格特公墓现在是 I 级保护遗产地和全球旅游景点,但并不宣传这种关联。虽然鼓励旅游——经常有大批游客乘车前往卡尔·马克思的坟墓——但并不欢迎好奇的超自然访客。
然而,海格特吸血鬼的传说拒绝消亡。它对新一代的作家来说具有不可抗拒的吸引力。它出现在《巴菲 the 吸血鬼猎手》中(据说,主角的导师鲁珀特·吉尔斯在 1972 年差点被海格特吸血鬼杀死);出现在一部小众的意大利漫画系列中;并为 J.K. 罗琳的《科莫兰·斯特赖克》系列小说之一《墨黑之心》(The Ink Black Heart)提供了背景。
对于超自然爱好者来说,这个故事继续引发周期性的认真调查。大卫·米尔纳是一位慈祥的、终身居住在北伦敦的 60 多岁老人。米尔纳是一名摄影师,他在 20 世纪 90 年代中期首次见到法兰特,此前他为当地一个对海格特吸血鬼深感兴趣的哥特乐队拍摄了一系列视频。“法兰特听说了这件事,于是给我发了一封电子邮件。他是一个非常善良的人,并不好争论,或者类似那样,”米尔纳在电话中告诉我。他成了法兰特公寓的常客。“他的生活方式有点令人遗憾。他抽烟而我不抽。到处都是堆积如山的书。[但] 除此之外,是的,他人非常好。”
两人合作拍摄了 1997 年的电影《寻找海格特吸血鬼》(In Search of the Highgate Vampire)。该片在发行时是一部小众经典,此后在 YouTube 上吸引了日益增长的观众。米尔纳最终成为了法兰特的英国灵能与神秘学会(British Psychic and Occult Society)的指定官方摄影师,他对自己的超自然信仰并不感到尴尬。我想知道他是否曾在海格特公墓附近见过什么。
“是的,我见过。是在皇后森林[前往马斯韦尔山的路上]。那是 70 年代末的事。我当时正和父亲一起散步。我们带了一只小狗[它]正在周围跑来跑去……”就在这时,时间点诡异地凑巧,
封面故事
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
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左上,肖恩·曼彻斯特(Seán Manchester),右侧,1973 年被警察从伦敦的议会山(Parliament Hill)带走。左侧,剪报。上方,罗琳的《墨黑之心》灵感来自该传说。Getty Images, David Farrant, BBC
米尔纳的手机流量在他说完之前用完了。
法兰特在数年健康状况不佳后,于 2019 年 4 月去世,享年 73 岁。曼彻斯特在 Facebook 上发布了一篇悼词。“简单来说,在他离开这个凡尘之前,我们还没能最后见一面,我感到很悲哀,”他写道。“虽然他可能不想要我的祈祷,但我依然会祈祷。愿他安息。”
根据法兰特(Farrant)的遗孀、他的第三任妻子德拉(Della)的说法,这种表面上的宽宏大量并非事实全貌。据称,曼彻斯特(Manchester)还试图获取死亡证明(大概是为了确保万无一失),并在社交平台 Facebook 上发布关于大卫(David)临终疾病的阴谋论。“我对‘吸血鬼’这个话题感到疲劳。我们的生活远不止于此,”德拉说道。她补充道,想象一下,让曼彻斯特成为他们生活中的“电灯泡”会是怎样的情景。
我在 2019 年底向曼彻斯特发出了采访请求,但被迅速拒绝。相反,他允许我提交一系列书面问题,由他在闲暇时审阅。我认为简单明了可能是最好的策略,于是提出了四个关于海格特(Highgate)传奇及其遗产的纯事实性问题。曼彻斯特的回答辞藻华丽且自命不凡。他不仅对我写的内容(包括他自己的答案)不满意,而且愤怒至极。他在 Facebook 上发布了一篇长篇反驳文章,针对他认为的一长串不可原谅的错误。他暗示我阅读其作品时注意力不足,且将我的问题视为具有冒犯性的肤浅,甚至近乎愚蠢。
“因此,”曼彻斯特写道,“他所撰写的文章充斥着暗示[和]误导信息。”其中最突出的一点是,文章称曼彻斯特是一个“自封的”吸血鬼猎人和主教。“在过去的半个世纪里,学者、作家、研究人员、采访者以及大众媒体通常就是这样准确地描述我的,”他怒吼道,“我没有自封。我不需要。”
我还算走运。几十年来与曼彻斯特接触过的消息人士暗示,他能够表现出顽固且往往极具“创意”的恶意。受苦的不仅仅是法兰特的同僚。
安东尼·霍格(Anthony Hogg)是总部位于墨尔本的吸血鬼研究协会(Vampire Studies Association)的创始人兼主席,该协会成立于 2018 年。与许多人一样,他对嗜血不死生物的兴趣始于童年。上个月我们交谈时,他解释了自己曾经如何仰慕曼彻斯特,认为他在现实生活中是最接近斯托克笔下范海辛(Van Helsing)这类怪物猎人的人物。
2000 年代后期,霍格在进行关于海格特吸血鬼的个人研究时,一系列匿名的网络评论者开始点名攻击他。“那很可怕。我以前从未遇到过这样的事情。”他强烈怀疑曼彻斯特在幕后操纵。当被问及这一怀疑时,曼彻斯特表示这种暗示“不屑一顾”。
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“随着一声巨响,一根削尖的木桩刺穿了那个生物的心脏”
在 2024 年 10 月一个清爽的周五晚上,我前往伦敦西南郊区一家不起眼的酒吧,第一次与杰米·法兰特(Jamie Farrant)见面。我们是通过一名消息人士介绍认识的,坦白说,我不确定该期待什么。与他的父亲不同,年轻的法兰特似乎在网络上没什么存在感。杰米穿着得体的牛仔装,并不太符合我对一个臭名昭著的神秘学者的儿子如何向世界展示自己的预期。
他告诉我,他的父亲是一个很容易相处的人。他们的会面很快变成了每两周一次的固定行程,杰米从南海岸开车前往北伦敦。他发现自己被越来越深地吸引进父亲的世界。在他们关系的早期,法兰特父会参加全国各地的讲座和活动;他的儿子则作为一名热心的司机和陪同人员随行。在英国神秘学界,海格特吸血鬼依然是一个能吸引眼球的话题。
今年夏天早些时候,我问杰米:“你认为他是否曾对此感到厌倦?”
“噢,不,”他笑着说,“他热爱这一切。每一分钟都热爱。他永远是个表演者。他会端着一杯葡萄酒坐在那儿,[等待]人们向他询问关于这一切的问题。”
杰米为能有一个如此受瞩目的父亲而感到自豪,但他也对自己很坦诚。尽管他知道父亲关心他,但他明白,没有什么能比得上父亲对海盖特吸血鬼(Highgate vampire)辉煌时期的痴迷。“这件事占据了他的生活。对他来说,这绝对是最重要的事情……你不可能在见到我父亲时,不牵扯到海盖特吸血鬼这件事。”
我想知道他是否曾希望有一个更平凡的父亲?
杰米回答说,并非如此。“我在他的葬礼上说过。如果他是个水管工,我们现在就不会在这里谈论他了,不是吗?”
在父子重新联系后不久,来自曼彻斯特(Manchester)的网络谩骂便开始了。“我给曼彻斯特发了消息说:‘我看到你的名字和我父亲有关联。我只是想知道他是个什么样的人。’ 这是一个愚蠢的行为。我收到了一封长达四页的电子邮件,称[我父亲]是个骗子——之后情况变得更糟了。”为了捍卫父亲的荣誉,这意味着他必须成为这场旷日持久的法兰特(Farrant)与曼彻斯特网络战争中的一名积极战斗员。“我以前很喜欢用棍子捅他,然后看着他的反应,”杰米承认道。
尽管如此,在几次采访过程中,我唯一一次看到杰米表达出可以被描述为怨恨的情绪,是他谈到 2019 年父亲葬礼刚结束后的情况时。“[曼彻斯特]发帖说,我父亲没能有机会寻求他的原谅真是遗憾。我后悔当时没有回去写道:‘他不需要也不想要原谅。你花了一辈子时间试图让他生活在痛苦之中。’”
由曼彻斯特培育的那个无穷无尽的网络宇宙依然存在,尽管规模已有所缩小。在他无数的博客和匿名攻击账号中,除了一个定期更新的 YouTube 频道外,几乎全部都已失效。该频道的内容倾向于前卫风格,关于海盖特吸血鬼的密集视觉论文与关于寻找圣杯的忧郁反思,以及对 20 世纪 60 年代各种文化名流的讣告共同争夺着关注度。
在 LinkedIn 上,他的个人资料中吹嘘着关于“驱魔”和“疗愈”的推荐。本月初,他选择在那里回复我最新的采访请求。他没有直接回答书面问题,而是分享了一个名为《我的最后之言》(My Last Word)的视频链接。视频背景是一张曼彻斯特的照片,他顶着风,戴着狗项圈,在视频中对他的伟大对手进行了 38 分钟的反思。“在当时那个重要时期,我对他的了解不亚于任何人,”曼彻斯特说。“我比他的儿子更了解他……我足够了解他,以至于知道[他]并不认真。他不相信鬼魂、吸血鬼或任何其他东西。但他相信自我宣传,并且在某种程度上实现了这一点。”曼彻斯特叹息道,当代的评论者只使用对他们有用的内容,很少在意真相。“他们的目的不是真相,而是什么能吸引关注。”
很难精确计算任何都市传说的半衰期,即使是像海盖特吸血鬼这样持久的传说。随着其旗手们的离世或步入高龄,无法保证后代会接过这个接力棒。在一个夏末酷热的下午,我前往海盖特公墓参加了一次定期组织的导览游。
我们的导游是一位 60 岁出头的女性,她生动地概述了该公墓从辉煌、衰落到复兴的官方历史。因此,听到她询问这群来自美国和欧洲、具有国际化色彩且坚定的中产阶级游客是否知道海盖特吸血鬼的传说——一个公墓最黑暗时期的遗迹——令人感到惊讶。更令人惊讶的是,来自世界各地的数十只手热情地举起,表示知道。
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observer.co.uk 23.08.26
采访
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在舞台上奋斗了 50 多年后,查卡·汗(Chaka Khan)依然像以往一样充满活力。这位歌手向帕特里克·史密斯(Patrick Smith)讲述了她的第 14 张个人专辑,为什么她已经“厌倦了搭档”,以及普林斯(Prince)如何将她从自我毁灭中救赎。
“噢天哪,你不会要问我是否和普林斯睡过吧?”查卡·汗带着嘲讽的笑意问道。呃,没有,我回答道。这位 11 次格莱美奖得主经常被问到这个问题吗?“当然被问过!令人悲哀的是,他们直接假设我要么是个妓女,要么是个歌手。快决定吧!你想让我成为什么?”她抽了一口烟。“我不会对你撒谎,也不会增加你的幻想。这不是迪士尼乐园。我活在现实中。”
此外,她补充道,“如果我和所有一起巡演的男人都睡过,我不知道我现在会变成什么样。我可能已经死了。”
这就是汗:坦率与反复无常交织在一起。提出一个无关痛痒的问题,这位 73 岁的女性既可能立刻让你闭嘴,也可能开始一段独白,回答好几个你从未问过的问题。在讨论唱片公司时,她一度陷入了关于学校是细菌温床的离题讨论中。
我提到普林斯是有原因的:他们合作过多次,而汗在 1984 年翻唱了他的曲目《I Feel for You》而闻名。尽管汗的版本销量超过 100 万张并赢得了两项格莱美奖(一项授予汗的演唱,另一项授予作为词曲作者的普林斯),但汗一直对开头部分感到尴尬,在那部分中,说唱歌手梅勒·梅尔(Melle Mel)在呼喊她的名字。但这并没有动摇她与普林斯之间亲密——有时也带点刻薄——的友谊。她曾说过,无论是否随口而为,“我连用 10 英尺长的杆子都不想碰他”,但她也说过普林斯帮她戒掉了毒品。“他是一个深刻且美丽的思考者,”她现在告诉我。“普林斯能直接从空气中捕捉灵感,让你不禁好奇:你是怎么想到那个的?”
汗出生在芝加哥,原名伊薇特·史蒂文斯(Yvette Stevens),半个多世纪以来,她将放克、灵魂乐、迪斯科、摇滚和爵士乐融合在一起。她在 20 世纪 70 年代中期作为 Rufus 乐队的主唱成名,于 1978 年开始个人发展,随后与雷·查尔斯(Ray Charles)和昆西·琼斯(Quincy Jones)等人合作录音。她曾面临巨大的障碍,包括虚伪的唱片工业最阴暗的一面,以及对可卡因、海洛因、酒精和止痛药的依赖。但她那惊人的次女高音依然不可战胜,让《I’m Every Woman》和《Ain’t Nobody》等舞曲充满电能。在《滚石》杂志 2023 年评选的最佳歌手排名中,她的排名高于大卫·鲍伊(David Bowie)和琼尼·米切尔(Joni Mitchell),这绝非偶然。
我们在梅费尔(Mayfair)的一间酒店套房里。汗穿着一件黑色的 kattan 礼服,上面用金线绣着太阳光芒和羽毛,她目光警觉,不紧不慢。在她手指上戴的众多戒指中,有一块葡萄大小的紫色宝石。她那深色的卷发垂至腰间。
那天晚上,汗将前往温布利公园的 Troubadour 参加《I’m Every Woman》的媒体之夜,亚历山德拉·伯克(Alexandra Burke)将在那里用歌曲演绎她的一生。但首先,她来到这里是为了讨论她的新专辑《Chakzilla》。这部继 2019 年《Hello Happiness》之后的续作,大部分是由澳大利亚歌手兼词曲作者希雅(Sia)共同创作的,并邀请了伦尼·克拉维茨(Lenny Kravitz)和斯努普·狗狗(Snoop Dogg,他被汗称为“我认识的最聪明的人之一”)参与。汗回忆起曾为凯莉·米洛(Kylie Minogue)和蕾哈娜(Rihanna)创作热门歌曲的希雅告诉她,她“厌倦了在电台里听不到 [汗] 的声音”。她们非常投缘——“我们一直在笑”——以至于汗现在成了希雅正式的教母。三年前,当汗被 入选 入摇滚名人堂时,她们共同表演了《I’m Every Woman》。
在歌词上,《Chakzilla》邀请我们窥视一个经历过一切的女性的内心世界。在同名主曲中,汗唱道:“我一生都在等待这一刻。”我问,她还在等待什么?
“可以列个小清单,”她说。
清单上有什么?
“我不想讨论那个,因为如果我过多地谈论我想要什么,就会有人试图帮我安排。所以我打算就这么随缘,让生活顺其自然。其中一项不一定是伴侣,”她继续说道。她经历过两次婚姻。“我不在寻找那个。我已经对伴侣这件事‘免疫’了。”
Khan 将于 9 月通过她自己的厂牌 Earthsong Records(由 BMG 授权)发行《Chakzilla》。从历史上看,Khan 与唱片公司的关系一直很紧张。1974 年,当由 Stevie Wonder 创作的《Tell Me Something Good》将该组合推向 Billboard 前三名时,Rufus 和唱片公司 ABC 在未经她允许的情况下,将乐队更名为“Rufus featuring Chaka ”。乐队内部的裂痕从未真正愈合。
随后是她与英国歌手兼词曲作者 Robert Palmer 的一段往事。1986 年,他和 共同录制了《Addicted to Love》的二重唱版本;但 Island 唱片删除了她的唱段,发行了 Palmer 的独唱版本,该版本在美国登顶 No 1。 演唱的那版录音仍留在档案库中;她称这一决定具有种族主义色彩。
不过,她会对 BMG 予以认可。“在我们的旅程中,我们是平等的合作伙伴,这是我唯一能接受的方式。”
如果要求 回忆日期和地点,她会陷入停顿。
“我不写日记,”她说。“我不记录任何东西。我是个‘下一个’女孩。哦,我做过那个……下一个!”
她说,执着于过去“违背自然法则。我就是做不到。”但我告诉她,她的人生如此传奇。“我确实经历过,我做过了,现在已经结束了。”
在芝加哥南区长大,她那热爱垮掉派文化的父亲最初根据 Stan Getz 的曲目《Yvette》为她命名;据她自己描述,她几乎在学会走路的同时就开始唱歌跳舞。父亲还教会她如何倾听,剖析唱片并分离出其中的线索——这里是一段贝斯线,那里是 Max Roach 的小军鼓——直到她能精准地识别出任何一种乐器。那时她才 4 岁。11 岁时,她与妹妹 Yvonne 及两名朋友组成了一个团体。16 岁时,由于不满母亲严苛的天主教信仰, 彻底离家出走,去寻找那个据她所说已经“七、八年”没见过的父亲。
另一个重要的教育来源是她祖母的 Billie Holiday 专辑。7 岁时, 被《Lady in Satin》那醒目的蓝色封面吸引,询问为什么那个女人看起来如此悲伤。那是 Holiday 在去世前录制的最后一张专辑,她的祖母告诉她,Holiday 是拄着拐杖录制的。“这很阴森,”她现在回忆道。“[Billie] 将美感注入了她的痛苦之中。”
提到了 Holiday 那首如坟冢般肃穆的《Strange Fruit》,思考着这位爵士歌手当年一定目睹了什么。“你如何能走下巴士,[然后]在回程的路上……看到所有这些黑人男性
照片 拍摄: Gareth Cattermole
observer.co.uk
23.08.26
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被吊在树上?那会让我发疯的。”
在巡演期间遇到了很多种族主义。“每当我们目睹那种场景时,我总会想到《Strange Fruit》。我们所有黑人会一起从巴士上下来,走进卡车休息站。我们很少留在那里用餐,因为我们感受到的氛围——他们同样可能会把我们除掉。”服务员会重重地放下她的餐盘。“ [她们]看着你的眼神就像在说,‘你能拿我怎么样?’好吧,我要赶紧滚出这个鬼地方!”
这一切都没有让她感到惊讶。由于童年时期就参加过民权游行,到 13 岁时,她就已经赤脚在街角售卖“黑豹党”报纸了,也是在那个年纪,一位约鲁巴祭司给了她 Chaka 这个名字,意为“火之女”。
对于 来说,唱歌永远是一种慰藉。“在舞台上,我处于一种爱的狂欢之中,”她说。但她仍然会紧张。“我会闭上眼睛,我必须专注于某件事。”在 Rufus 时期,她曾极度恐惧,每场演出前都会呕吐——包括连续两年为 Stevie Wonder 开场演出期间。
她带着孩子一起,在整个巡演期间坚持母乳喂养。汗在巴士后方的双人床上休息,并将女儿因迪拉(Indira)的摇篮放在温暖的发动机上以安抚她。当孩子不肯入睡时,她会打开所有的窗户,让夜晚的空气进来。“那时我会播放乔尼·米切尔(Joni Mitchell)或迈尔斯·戴维斯(Miles Davis)的音乐。”
汗将舞台称为终极成瘾。她将自己的药物滥用归咎于名声与年轻的碰撞
母亲身份。1999, 年,在几次险些出事(其中一次让她被送上了救护车)之后,她放弃了非法药物。她说,普林斯(Prince)将她从自我毁灭中救了出来。“他把我从一个我试图生存的地方拉了出来。我的唱片公司[当时]对我穷追不舍,成了地球上最刻薄的人。我觉得自己像是在被皮条客操纵。我哭了很多,因为我不再热爱音乐了。我准备认输,然后普林斯出现了。”
1999 年,在进行膝盖置换手术后被开具了芬太尼处方,汗(Khan)与她的姐姐一起进入了戒毒所。“普林斯告诉我得去。”他当时也承受着痛苦——髋关节、膝盖、脚踝——尽管汗直到 2016 年该药物夺走他的生命之前,都不知道他已经对这种药物产生了依赖。
她经历过三次戒毒,但这些经历都没有给她留下好印象。“这是一门生意,”她说。“这些分析师是最大的强盗、骗子和杀手。我去过每天花费 $1,000 的该死戒毒所——结果他们让你依赖那些本该让你好起来的药片,让你状态糟糕透顶。”
如今,工作让她保持稳定,以及那些经久不衰的歌曲目录。《I'm Every Woman》由 Ashford & Simpson 于 1978 年创作,后由惠特尼·休斯顿(Whitney Houston)在电影《保镖》中赋予了第二次生命,近 50 年来一直是变装皇后和舞厅表演的曲目。《Ain't Nobody》让舞池跳动的时间也几乎一样长。在担任 2024, 年伦敦年度 Meltdown 节的策展人期间,汗策划了一场名为 Adonis Afters 的酷儿狂欢派对,并公开招募非二元性别合唱团歌手。
或许有些天真,我问她作为酷儿可见度的异性恋偶像感觉如何。
“异性恋偶像?哪里异性恋了?”她说。“你是什么意思,在哪个方面异性恋?”
我说,是指异性恋(Heterosexual)。
“我是吗?你怎么知道我是什么?我从未分享过我生活的那个部分。那是我的私事,与任何人无关。”
我收回了这个词。
“这就对了。”她的语气缓和了下来。“我是属于所有人的。我不在乎你晚上和谁睡觉。只要你的心是善良的,那就是我唯一在意的。”
她会对年轻时的自己给出什么建议?
“做你已经做过的事。每件事要么是必要的恶,要么是必要的善。”她笑了。“我为我的伤疤感到自豪。”
《Chakzilla》将于 18 September 发行。《观察者报》的订阅者可以购买伦敦《I'm Every Woman》的门票,起价 £15, 并可享受 10% 的折扣。欲了解更多信息,请访问 theobserver.tixculture.com。
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23.08.20

社交媒体正在摧毁广播机构在国民生活核心地带的地位。菲尔·廷莱恩(Phil Tinline)认为,其生存的关键在于恢复其最初的使命。
随笔
observer.co.uk 15 23.08.26
在 BBC 目前的一则自我宣传广告中(该广告首次在世界杯决赛的中场休息期间播出),罗梅什·兰加纳坦(Romesh Ranganathan)围绕着一个口号,向公众展示了该机构提供的丰富节目范围:“BBC 曾为我做过什么?”
这则广告翻拍了约翰·克里斯(John Cleese)在 1985 年主演的一则广告。但其中有一个耐人寻味的区别:克里斯当时问的是:“ 曾给我们提供过什么?”代词的这种转变不仅概括了该机构长期以来面临的信心危机,也反映了多年来观众优先事项的变化。这两个口号体现了两种截然不同的关于 用途的思考方式:个体,以及公众。
一个世纪以来, 为编织共同的英国文化提供了至关重要的手段。然而今天,随着媒体变得日益碎片化和个性化,这个陷入困境的机构似乎比以往任何时候都更难以做到这一点。我们不再在同一时间观看同样的新闻。不再有《流行金曲》(Top of the Pops),也不再有每个人都能引用台词的情景喜剧。我们共同的国民观看内容现在几乎只剩下《叛徒》(The Traitors)、偶尔能引起轰动的剧集以及大型体育赛事。大选期间会有电视辩论,但这些辩论主要为社交媒体提供剪辑片段,而社交媒体则在不断地加速谣言和虚假信息的传播。大众民主所依赖的对真相的共同信任—— 长期以来一直是其核心——多年来一直在流失。尤其是年轻人,不再觉得 是属于他们的。他们更习惯于 YouTube。根据 O'Conn 的数据,16 到 24 岁人群在家里观看的内容中,来自广播机构的比例不足四分之一。
正竭力在新的媒体世界中竞争。今年 1 月,它首次达成协议,专门为 YouTube 制作内容。正如其新任总干事马特·布里廷(Matt Brittin)所言,这是一个“在年轻人所在的地方与他们相遇”的问题。布里廷此前在 YouTube 的母公司谷歌工作了 18 年,最近担任其欧洲、中东和非洲地区的业务与运营总裁;在他职业生涯早期,曾在麦肯锡担任了六年的顾问。他是连续第二任从未从事过电视或广播制作的总干事。
自 5 月就职以来,布里廷引入了大规模削减计划以应对许可证费收入的下降,并开始向数字化转型。据报道, 的记者被告知,他们的首要任务是在社交和数字平台上发布内容,而非广播媒体。本周,当 YouTube 副总裁佩德罗·皮纳(Pedro Pina)在爱丁堡电视节上发表皇家电视学会年度 MacTaggart 演讲时,布里廷可能就在观众席中。这种象征意义再明显不过了。
我觉得看着这一切相当悲哀,因为我在 2023 年离开之前,在 制作了 20 年的广播节目,主要是纪录片。在这二十年里,我见证了许多关于“我”和“我们”的东西。我主要从事自己的项目,但始终觉得自己是一个更宏大的公共文化的一部分。我从未需要担心互联网点击量或销售数字,这意味着我可以思考,尝试新事物,并产生一些在其他情况下绝不会有的想法。
这种共享文化在内部同样存在。我学习制作纪录片并非通过培训课程,而是得益于同事们的慷慨相助。有一段时间,我们的部门制作 Radio 4 的直播讣告节目《最后的话》(Show Last Word);每当在播出前夕传来死讯,办公室就会立刻活跃起来,我们摘下耳机,翻开联系簿,拨打电话,寻找最合适的嘉宾发言人。直到有人决定直播节目不应由纪录片团队制作,这种机缘巧合的乐趣随之消失了。
和所有人一样,我们也试图摸索如何让汹涌而至的技术创新为我们服务。它带来了巨大的优势:一方面,它促使我们更深入地思考年轻人如何看待我们的作品,以及如何将作品呈现在他们面前。但在这一切之下,始终有一种忧郁的、漫长的、退潮般的轰鸣声——那是 BBC 的自信心在逐渐消逝,而裁员、丑闻以及对其宗旨的信心丧失则加剧了这一进程。我最终离开的部分原因是,如果我留下,我就得尝试在一个过度饱和的市场中推销播客。我可以预见到,那个养育了我以及我认识的所有人的整个生态系统,正被所谓的“合理化”扼杀。这就像看着一名管理顾问盯着一棵橡树说:“叶子真漂亮。我们能不能把下面那根枯燥的棕色树干去掉?”
如果每个人消费的都是他们自己版本的 BBC,那么广播就失去了意义

高层管理人员中出现了焦虑迹象,因为在试图屈从于“点击率”的铁腕统治下,他们不得不做出妥协。BBC 2024 年的年度报告正确地承认,“越来越多的人现在通过由算法驱动的平台消费全球内容,而这些算法可能并不在意共享的英国文化和我们的民主利益”。在布里廷(Brittin)目前为数不多的公开声明中,他坚持认为 BBC 必须入驻 YouTube,尤其是为了帮助打击该平台上泛滥的虚假信息——考虑到他在 YouTube 的母公司工作了这么久,这一见解颇具深意。
然而,这类论点的后果是,BBC 正试图将自己塞进一个旨在让其竞争对手获益的媒体生态系统中——这个生态系统基于个性化、微定向的内容,几乎没有任何编辑把关。这与该机构存在的全部理由(raison d'être)背道而驰。在新任总干事为最近一份年度报告撰写的序言中,他认可了前任蒂姆·戴维(Tim Davie)的断言,即 BBC 必须“足够大胆地掌控未来,而不是被过去所困”。但布里廷肯定知道,在潜心研究新雇主的历史后,一个机构的过去所提供的不仅仅是陷阱。我相信,驱动 BBC 诞生的思考方式,也为其潜在的复兴提供了指引。
在 20 世纪 20 年代初,一个仍在战争影响中战栗的英国正逐渐演变为一个大众民主国家。“为英雄提供合适住房”的承诺在剧烈的经济衰退面前化为乌有。政治阶层被总罢工甚至革命的恐惧所笼罩。在这种环境下,一种颠覆性的新媒体技术的出现引发了令人恐惧的可能性。
在美国,广播已经变成了由广告驱动的竞争嘈杂之所。然而,正如历史学家大卫·亨迪(David Hendy)所指出的,英国广播业的先驱之一亚瑟·巴罗斯(Arthur Burrows)反而被这样一个问题所启发:如果广播能提供一种团结国家的方式会怎样?或许,借鉴维多利亚时代作家马修·阿诺德(Matthew Arnold)的思想,缓解政治冲突的一种方法就是将所有人——而不仅仅是建制派精英——聚集在

左图:逍遥音乐节(the Proms)是 BBC 日历中的固定项目。下图:亚瑟·巴罗斯提出广播可以团结国家。 Redheren / Getty Images, Getty Images
一种丰富且共同的文化之中。
因此,当时的英国并没有被动地模仿美国在应对新媒体技术时所采取的错误做法。它想出了自己的方案:建立一个单一组织,将国家初创的广播机构聚集在一起。至关重要的是,这个组织不仅要远离市场的贪婪之手,还要远离国家控制的强权之手。1927年,BBC成为了两次世界大战期间一种创新组织形式——“公共公司”的一个实例。
贯穿这一切的是一个单一且依然强大的理念。我第一次接触到这个理念是在2004年,当时我刚开始在BBC担任广播制作人,一本并不出名的书掉在我的办公桌上,作者是政治学者、曾任工党议员的大卫·马昆德(David Marquand)。《公共领域的衰落:公民权的空心化》(Decline of the Public: The Hollowing Out of Citizenship)一书认为,在19世纪末到20世纪中叶之间,英国的国家生活中在国家与市场之间出现了一个独特的区域:公共领域。
马昆德主张,如果没有信任,公共领域就无法存在:具体而言,就是让专业人士拥有行使判断力的自主权。这正是BBC在20世纪60年代战后巅峰时期赖以生存的动力:当时其领导层拥有资金、胆识和政治空间,能够信任自己的判断以及节目制作人的判断。马昆德的论述也解释了为什么BBC在随后的几十年里陷入困境。他认为,从20世纪80年代起,国家试图强制推行市场的主导地位。在1989年的一次里程碑式演讲中,刚刚推出天空电视(Sky TV)的鲁珀特·默多克(Rupert Murdoch)将他的“火箭筒”瞄准了公共服务广播的知识基础,痛斥BBC是“政府思想警察”的走狗。在接下来的几十年里,我们离“共享公共领域”这一概念越来越远。普通人越来越多地被塑造为被动的、挑剔的消费者。“BBC到底给我带来了什么?”
社交媒体经过完美的工程设计和货币化,强化了这种哲学。它激励个人不再反思性地交换观点,而是尽可能迅速且生动地宣泄情绪,以追求点击量、点赞数和粉丝数。它没有伦理,只有指标。正如技术专家托比亚斯·罗斯-斯托克韦尔(Tobias Rose-Stockwell)所言,“内容的算法排序很快就抹平了可信度的等级制度”,从而抹杀了两类事物之间的价值区别:一类是BBC建立其大部分声誉所依赖的准确且艰苦获取的信息,另一类则是胡言乱语。
在这种敌对的环境中,加上自身失误导致的削弱,BBC接受了一个前提,即重要的是以一种可衡量的方式给每个个体他们想要的东西。那则 Ranganathan 广告以这样一个口号结尾:“每个人都有自己的BBC。由我们所有人资助。”但如果每个人都在通勤车上或手机上消费他们自己的BBC版本,那么这就不再是广播——而仅仅是播客。
显而易见的反驳是,这一切都是毫无意义的时尚之谈。如果BBC无法让人们支付电视执照费,那么关于公共领域的理想化概念就毫无意义。去年,支付执照费的家庭数量减少了超过500,000户,且BBC预测这种情况将进一步加速。即便撇开这样一个事实:虽然94%的人使用BBC,但支付费用的人数不足80%。执照费本身按实际价值计算,可能仅相当于20世纪70年代价值的五分之一。布里顿(Brittin)相当合理地将其称为“一个真正的危急时刻”;文化大臣丽莎·南迪(Lisa Nandy)则谈到了“生存威胁”。如果改革英国党(Reform UK)一旦掌权,奈杰尔·法拉奇(Nigel Farage)承诺将优先取消执照费。
面对这种对共享文化概念的宿命论,我们——英国公众、我们的国家广播机构以及我们的政府——可以做些什么来重建这个理念?
生存危机往往会迫使人们决定愿意让什么消亡。我们现在有一位深谙英国文学文化、并希望摒弃“40年新自由主义”的新任首相。因此,现在可能确实是一个异常有利的时机,让 BBC 领导一场摆脱硅谷霸权、开始重建共同英国文化(且无需试图恢复 1920 年代的那种顺从)的努力。尽管目前必须接受由美国社交媒体主导的格局,但 BBC 也可以从自身的起源故事中汲取经验,开始构建一个更少反应性、更具创造力、更自信的未来英国公共领域愿景。
埃隆·马斯克针对这个国家的恐怖行径——号召种族内战并放大政治暴力威胁——使公众意识到了问题的严重性。美国法院目前披露的关于 Meta 在对待
续见第 16 页
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随笔
弱势青少年的记录也是如此。广泛支持禁止 16 岁以下青少年使用社交媒体,清楚地表明了公众希望政府采取更具保护性和坚定立场的意愿。
在去年 7 月发布的一份报告中,英国通信管理局(Ofcom)建议政府探讨将事实核查新闻的显著性规则扩展到社交媒体平台,要求它们提高公共服务广播内容的可见度。今年 6 月,工党的媒体大臣伊恩·默里(Ian Murray)表示希望大型科技公司能在此方面予以配合,但暗示如有必要,可能会出台立法。在更深层的结构层面,BBC 可以与英国及欧洲的其他公共服务广播机构合作,开发一个“以公共社会利益而非商业平台停留时间为目标的全新公共社交媒体平台”,正如索菲亚·罗佩克·休森(Sofia Ropek Hewson)和贾斯敏·吉纳杜(Jasmine Jinadu)最近为公共政策研究所(IPPR)撰写的报告中所建议的那样。这个平台“可以将新闻、娱乐和社交功能整合在一起,而不是仅作为一个公民或信息空间”。
BBC 以前曾大胆地应对技术革命——例如其开创性的新闻网站以及 iPlayer 的创建。后者现在可以成为一个桥头堡,用以构建对抗美国科技公司的更强地位。IPPR 的报告建议政府“在竞争评估中引入公共数字基础设施豁免,允许公共广播机构协作并挑战大型科技公司的主导地位”,而且现在再次出现了关于我们的公共服务媒体公司通过 iPlayer 等方式组建统一流媒体服务的讨论。与此同时,BBC 正在呼吁政府要求电视制造商在英国销售的遥控器上加入 iPlayer 按钮。
BBC 对唐纳德·特朗普 100亿美元 诉讼的强硬回应是一个令人鼓舞的信号,表明它准备代表公众维护自身权益。但它还需要重新发现并践行自身的创始价值,尤其是在新闻产出方面。其网站有时看起来像是在拼命博取点击量。对街头采访(vox pops)的过度使用也凸显了同样的问题。记者过于频繁地询问人们某些具体进展——甚至是政府支出审查——对他们个人意味着什么。如果询问“这对您的家庭意味着什么?”或“您认识的人”或“您的城镇”,将更符合 BBC 的使命。
有一些迹象表明,BBC 的高层仍然意识到该机构的创始目的以及重塑共同文化的必要性。在今年早些时候 Radio 4 的年度委约流程启动会上,其主管莫希特·巴卡亚(Mohit Bakaya)在演示开始时就用一张幻灯片强调了保护和构建公共领域的必要性。
也许,只要有足够的创造力,这种关注——与直觉相反地——能够赢回年轻人。BBC 可能会意识到,它拥有提供许多年轻人想要的东西的手段:可分享的内容、他们可以称之为自己的在线空间,以及归属感。而且还能让他们逃离算法。如果 BBC 能找到一种方法,构建一个像 Radio 1 的“大周末”(Big Weekend)那样有效的屏幕版公共领域——该活动展示了年轻才俊且最适合实时收听——那么也许我们可以开始重建一种共同文化,并随着这批年轻观众的成长,共同步入 BBC 的第二个世纪。
然而,眼前的问题是,一个在谷歌工作了 18 年的人是否能领导这一进程。布里廷(Brittin)含蓄地承认谷歌的 YouTube 是虚假信息的源头,并呼吁像他的前雇主这样的公司披露更多关于其算法的信息,这些都是令人鼓舞的迹象。但他是否在骨子里理解什么是公共公司?他是否对广播新闻业和创意中那些无法被量化的方面具有敏锐的洞察力?他能否领导一场反击硅谷破坏性的极端个人主义的战斗——并在重建我们的公共领域中发挥他的作用?
菲尔·廷莱恩(Phil Tinline)是《共识之死:英国政治噩梦的 100 年》(The Death of Consensus: 100 Years of British Political Nightmares)一书的作者。他曾在 2002 年至 2023 年期间在 BBC 工作。

The networker

2004年,新经济基金会(NEF)对英国的高街(high streets)进行了一项全国性调查,当时这些街道在经济上仍然活跃。调查发现,真实的本地店铺已被大片千篇一律的连锁店所取代,使得全国各地的街道几乎无法相互区分。该基金会还创造了一套讨论城市区域的新词汇。
在这种术语中,“家乡城镇”(home town)是指保留了个体特色,且对于居住者和访问者来说都能立即识别且具有辨识度的地方。相比之下,“克隆城镇”(clone town)是指其高街店铺的个性被“一条由全球和全国连锁店组成的单色地带”所取代的地方。这意味着其零售核心很容易被误认为是全国数十个其他平庸的城镇中心。在受访的城镇中,NEF 得出结论:41% 是克隆城镇,33% 是家乡城镇,26% 是“边界城镇”,即介于两者之间。
这种多样性的缺失并不局限于城镇。它无处不在。你在新公寓的房产广告中可以看到,或者在为了转售而现代化改造的房屋中看到。厨房像手术室(高端的厨房则配有必不可少的岛台);客厅里摆着带有过分填充垫子的白色沙发、抛光木地板和大尺寸电视。或者是那些拥有裸露砖墙的咖啡馆,且默认你想要的是燕麦奶小白咖啡和牛油果泥吐司。或者是 Instagram 上大批看起来越来越难以区分的年轻网红。
是什么在驱动这种显然不可阻挡的、向统一化迈进的进程?现代资本主义,当然是;社交媒体,显然也是。但支撑这一切的是一种特定的技术和哲学,它日益决定了企业如何做出投资决策,以及消费者如何做出选择。
科技行业将其称为 AI,但它实际上是机器学习。这是一种试图预测你接下来可能想要什么——一首歌、一段视频、一件产品、一个地点、一套公寓,无论是什么——然后根据你过去行为的模式(你点击、观看、购买或评分的内容)以及机器认为可能与你相似的人的在线行为向你展示的软件。这些机器基本上是
统计猜测器。它们通过被赋予一个目标(一个旨在最大化的衡量指标)和一个损失函数(本质上是对错误猜测的惩罚)来进行训练。正如社会数据科学家劳伦·利克(Lauren Leek)在一篇精彩的 Substack 文章《文化的零温:为什么一切开始看起来都一样》(Temperature Zero for Culture: Why Everything Is Starting to Look the Same)中所解释的,正是损失函数驱动着这些机器——以及它们那些毫无察觉的用户——走向平庸。
这是因为最常见的损失函数是“平方误差”函数。它的计算方法是取机器的猜测值与正确答案之间的差值,然后将其平方。这意味着它会严厉惩罚巨大的偏差。而这反过来意味着,机器的算法总是通过预测所有可用可能性的平均值来采取稳妥策略。
在这个过程中,它压制了那些虽然大胆但可能具有原创性的想法。正如利克所写:“那个没人能将其分类的奇怪的乔治亚-日本街头美食融合餐厅……那首听起来与以往截然不同的歌曲,大多数将永远无关紧要。但有些会很重要。一个不断剔除‘不可能’的世界,同时也剔除了那些本可以成为‘下一个可能’的事物。”
这让我们回到了那些千篇一律的高街。NEF 的克隆城镇并非某种使英国同质化的协调计划的产物,而是数以万计独立的决策在各自环境下产生的涌现结果。没有哪个政府或公司决定每个城镇都需要相同的服装连锁店、咖啡店和超市门店。
Leek 的见解是,在 AI 驱动的世界中,数学可以解释为什么这类事情在各个规模上——从商业街到流媒体平台——会不断发生:任何旨在最小化误差的训练系统都会倾向于向平均值靠拢,因为当你不太确定时,平均值是最安全的猜测。将这一单一事实乘以每天数十亿次的推荐,你就会发现这个世界在任何地方都开始让人感到一种诡异的熟悉感。从这个意义上说,燕麦奶小白咖啡并非巧合。它是损失函数(loss function)按照预期精确运作的结果。
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observer.co.uk 23.08.26
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电影 《青少年、性与死亡》 在 Miasma 营地,

一部记录 Wham! 乐队具有历史意义的 1985 年中国巡演的纪录片即将播出,安德鲁·里奇利(Andrew Ridgeley)等人向朱德·罗杰斯(Jude Rogers)讲述了官僚主义、共产主义粉丝以及 21 岁的乔治·迈克尔(George Michael)那纯粹的个人魅力
乔治·迈克尔和安德鲁·里奇利访问中国长城,1985 年 4 月 7 日。
由一名在按摩中的全裸流行歌手发表的关于共产主义的分析,绝非典型的音乐纪录片素材。“我希望你们没在拍我的屁股,”乔治·迈克尔开玩笑说,“其实你们尽管拍屁股。看看我们能不能通过审查。”
在经历了有限的院线放映后,《Wham! 10 Days in China》(Wham! 在中国的 10 天)将于下周末在 BBC Two 播出。该片生动地再现了 1985 年 4 月音乐与地缘政治之间一个抢眼的交汇时刻——当时英国最顶尖的排行榜组合成为了首个在中国演出的西方流行团体。影片展示了一部未发行巡演电影《If You Were There》中未被使用的片段,该片由著名的“自由电影”先驱林赛·安德森(Lindsay Anderson,《体育生活》、《如果...》)执导,乐队在返回英国几个月后拒绝了他的成果。1986 年,经 Wham! 认可的重新剪辑版《Wham! In China: Foreign Skies》仅在他们的最后一场共同演唱会上放映过一次。这一次,导演迈克·克里斯蒂(Mike Christie)挖掘了档案库,将当下的采访与安德森失传已久的片段交织在一起。
当然,有一个人已不在人世,无法回顾那段时光,但当时年仅 21 岁的乔治·迈克尔在片中始终是一个光彩夺目的存在——幽默且聪慧。在被按摩捶打的过程中,他告诉美国摄影师保罗·戈德史密斯(Paul Goldsmith):“我们现在对共产主义的看法与刚到这里时不同。似乎他们的整个生活方式实际上相当压抑,而且是以一种不切实际的方式。看来我们被邀请到这里是一种姿态,但(政府)正试图忽略我们在这里的事实。”
1985 年 4 月,中国正处于邓小平领导的“改革开放”计划实施的第六年,旨在将国家转变为社会主义市场经济。在引入严苛的独生子女政策的同时,他的政府开放了经济特区,赋予地方经济更大的自主权,并吸引国际投资。
闯入这场纷争的是资深流行音乐经理西蒙·纳皮尔-贝尔(Simon Napier-Bell),他曾指导过 Yardbirds 乐队和马克·波兰(Marc Bolan),并与已故的流行电视先驱维基·威克汉姆(Vicki Wickham)共同为达斯蒂·斯普林菲尔德(Dusty Springfield)创作了《You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me》。他第一次在《Top of the Pops》节目中看到 Wham!,并立即发现了他们成为超级巨星的潜力。“他们拥有极佳的形象——纯粹的好莱坞风格——就像布奇·卡西迪和太阳之子,或者‘星斯基与哈奇’,”他在 2006 年的回忆录《I’m Coming to Take You to Lunch: Boys, Booze and How Wham! Were Sold to China》中回忆道。现年 87 岁的纳皮尔-贝尔仍经常在 Substack 上发表对音乐产业的看法,在我们进行 Zoom 视频通话之前,他一直在录制有声书(“我有权这么做,因为我写书的时候还没有有声书”)。
作为 Wham! 的共同经理,他在 18 个月内“很多很多”次前往中国,以确保在北京和广州的两场演出,并会见了他认为全部是秘密警察的部长和翻译。“但这正是当年中国的运作方式,而且我认为在政府层面现在依然如此,”他后来在电子邮件中告诉我。他在中国官员面前表现得很大胆。“我基本上告诉(他们),如果他们有信心允许一个具有颠覆性的青年团体从海外而来,那将使人们相信他们有信心真正开放。”但这并非纳皮尔-贝尔的首要目标。“我们去中国是为了快速启动(对)美国的[兴趣]——这通常需要两三年的巡演才能实现。”当时,迈克尔正饱受声带息肉之苦。“所以乔治其实并不想那样。”
Wham! 已经在美国取得了一些成功:1984年11月发行的《Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go》和1985年2月作为 Wham! 曲目发行的《Careless Whisper》都曾登顶 No 1.。随后的中国巡演加速了他们的成功。这让他们在主流电视节目中获得了利润丰厚的出镜机会,例如《CBS早间新闻》(我们看到主播菲利斯·乔治向不知情的观众指出,乔治是“金发”,而安德鲁是“棕发”),并带动了销量的增长。到今年年底,《Careless Whisper》和《Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go》在1985年美国最畅销单曲榜中分别位列第一和第三,中间仅隔着麦当娜的《Like a Virgin》。
一群国际记者在 Wham! 巡演期间助力其媒体宣传,其中包括当时 BBC 的中国特派记者马克·布雷恩(Mark Brayne)。他在电影中表示:“中国当时渴望与西方建立联系,Wham! 的时机把握得恰到好处。”布雷恩在压抑的北京工人体育馆举行首场演唱会后为《Today》节目制作的报道,也可以在他的网站 Braynework.com 上免费获取(他在 20 世纪 90 年代转行成为一名心理治疗师)。其中包含一份政府
续见第 18 页
18 observer.co.uk 23.08.26
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马修·伯恩(Matthew Bourne)将比才的音乐与黑色电影风格进行了一次充满诱惑的融合,这部作品节奏快且充满能量,即将带着其扣人心弦的戏剧冲突开启巡演。
莎拉·克朗普顿(Sarah Crompton)
《汽车人》(The Car Man) 伦敦 EC1,萨德勒之井剧院(Sadler's Wells);展出至 29 August,随后巡演至 21 November
没有人能像马修·伯恩那样讲故事。他的舞蹈如此独特且令人沉浸,你不需要任何一份节目单来帮助你理解情节。
他的这部火辣之作《汽车人》在萨德勒之井剧院结束夏季演出季并准备开启全国巡演,该剧的诸多优点之一在于,叙事虽有出人意料的转折,但每一次惊喜都传达得极其清晰。另一个优点是其严谨的结构,鼓励每位舞者留下个人印记。
这部作品编舞于 2000 年,最初的副标题为《一部汽车情色惊悚片》(An Auto-Erotic Thriller),背景设定在 20 世纪 50 年代美国的一家兼作餐厅的修车厂中。在莱兹·布罗瑟斯顿(Lez Brotherston)设计的灵活且写实的布景(配有可移动车辆)侧面,一块招牌写着“招男人”。一个名叫卢卡(Luca)的流浪汉回应了这一迫切需求,他那暧昧不清的出现引发了混乱,并导致了悲剧——因为经营此地的迪诺(Dino)之妻拉娜(Lana)被他的魅力所吸引。
情节是詹姆斯·M·凯恩(James M. Cain)的通俗小说《邮递员总敲两次门》(以及受其启发而拍摄的四部电影)与比才的《卡门》的黑色电影式结合。后者提供了配乐,由罗迪昂·谢德林(Rodion Shchedrin)进行激进的改编,并由特里·戴维斯(Terry Davies)进一步扩展。但伯恩加入了自己坚定的反转,引入了不幸的机械师安杰洛(Angelo)以及爱他的丽塔(Rita)这两个角色。
所有这一切都通过充满力量且压抑着渴望的、跳动且脉动的肢体动作来表达。新冒险舞团(New Adventures)用能量填满了舞台,同时也充满了细微差别;舞伴们在空间中奔涌,

伴随着一系列大胆的姿势和快速的舞步,男性的手臂弯曲,女性的身体融化。但每个角色都有名字、身份和个性。他们不仅仅是为了增加色彩而存在——他们还赋予了作品质感。
在这个界限分明的社区中,拉娜被塑造为一个既不安又危险的女人。她与卢卡的结合——两人在桌上纠缠时,半揉捏的面团和面粉四处飞扬——既是渴望也是绝望。在两组不同的演员阵容中,科德莉亚·布雷思韦特(Cordelia Braithwaite)强调了她对自由的渴望;她的舞蹈呈现出一种丰腴的放纵。而艾希莉·肖(Ashley Shaw)则挖掘出了不同的特质:一种内在的刚毅,一种使她与众不同的孤独。
剧中不乏幽默之笔:男人们在著名的《斗牛士之歌》音乐中表演一段甩毛巾的淋浴场景;还有一个巧妙的时刻,迪诺以为妻子在向他挥手,
“丰腴的放纵”:科德莉亚·布雷思韦特饰演拉娜,威尔·博齐尔(Will Bozier)饰演卢卡,出自《汽车人》。 约翰·佩尔森(Johan Persson)
“舞伴们在空间中奔涌,伴随着一系列大胆的姿势”
而实际上她正跌入卢卡的怀抱。但整体基调通常是阴暗的,且随着谋杀案的发生以及罪人必须面对后果,气氛变得更加沉重。
哈里森·道兹尔(Harrison Dowzell)以精准的肢体语言刻画了卢卡日益增长的幻灭感。他曾经轻盈地飞跃桌面、单臂托举的自信明显在消逝;他在夜总会跳的乡村舞步变成了自我安慰的尝试,而非快乐的表达。在同一个角色中,威尔·博齐尔维持其傲慢姿态的时间更长,随后才陷入可怕的自我厌恶。
饰演受气包安杰洛的莱昂纳多·麦考金代尔(Leonardo McCorkindale)起初表现得犹豫且充满希望。一旦生活和监狱将他交易殆尽,他的身体似乎变得更沉重,被命运的负担所压垮。相比之下,哈里·昂德拉克-赖特(Harry Ondrak-Wright)在同一角色中的表现令人动容,而麦考金代尔则绝对是悲剧性的:一个被摧毁的男人。
安娜-玛丽亚·德·弗雷塔斯(Anna-Maria de Freitas)和镰山久留美(Kurumi Kamayachi)都在丽塔这个角色中找到了力量与脆弱的平衡。整部作品中最美丽且最具沟通力的片段之一,是她坐在监狱等待见安杰洛的时刻,纤细的手抚平裙子,环绕在头部;简单的动作承载着巨大的意义。
尽管节奏快且充满活力,但正是细节让《汽车人》(The Car Man)成为如此扣人心弦的舞蹈剧。每一个动作都在讲述一个故事,而每一位舞者都深知自己正在讲述的故事。
代表告诉他为什么 Wham! 受到欢迎:“任何健康且充满活力的表演,我们今年都会接纳。”
该网站还保存了当天早晨他采访迈克尔的原始录像。在录像中,这位于 2016 年去世(享年 53, 岁)的歌手描述了他发现观众不知道如何随拍手时的惊讶。“我们现在有了这样一种印象——不幸的是,我希望我们能早点知道……在中国人之中,舞蹈相当受限,仅仅是因为警察一直让他们坐着并要求他们表现得规矩。”他还解释了为什么他认为 Wham! 被邀请:“因为我们代表的是演艺业而非摇滚乐。显然,在中国人看来,摇滚乐会滋生颓废……我们是最安全的选择。”
“乔治令人印象深刻,聪明,在如此年轻的年纪就拥有非常成熟的头脑,”布雷恩(Brayne)今天对我说道。但他并不认为那些演唱会改变了中国。“它们只是一种反映,而且是对当时所发生之事的相当剧烈的反映。”
四年后,布雷恩回到了天安门广场,那里曾是 Wham! 拍摄宣传照的地点之一。他在大屠杀发生前仅一周离开。“那真的是关于中国可能变成什么的幻想的终结,也是其相当残酷但非常现实的底色的开始。”此后他注意到中国的时尚和音乐被允许繁荣,但“在意识形态上没有放宽”。他再也没有在政治圈听到有人提及 Wham! 的演出。
尽管如此,布雷恩仍然很喜欢电影中与中国音乐家的感人采访。这些音乐家现在比当年年长了四十年,他们参加了演出并从中获得了创作动力。其中包括中国歌手程方圆,她录制了 Wham! 歌曲的中文版本,这些版本在演唱会上随组合的磁带一起赠送。她优美地将他们的访问描述为“一次历史性的

1985年4月7日,在北京人民体育场举行的乐队演出中,年轻的 Wham! 粉丝。Peter Charlesworth / Lightfielder / Getty Images
事件……就像打开了一扇窗户”。
现年 63, 岁的安德鲁·里德利(Andrew Ridgley)也很享受了解 Wham! 音乐所产生的影响。“我觉得能与我的朋友共同创建一支乐队,并且那些唱片能够流传下来并真正激励人们追求音乐生活,我感到无比荣幸,”他告诉我。近年来,他拍摄了几部关于他旧乐队的纪录片,他是一个高尚且严肃的灵魂——与电影中那个古怪、引用孔子名言的 22 岁青年截然不同,后者在谈到 Wham! 的分工时十分幽默:“我负责端茶,乔治负责端蛋糕和三明治。”
他否认了我关于两人太年轻而陷入政治局面的暗示——“第一次世界大战和第二次世界大战时,15, 16, 岁的孩子就在战斗,而我们在去中国之前已经经历了一些事情”——但他对导演安德森(Anderson)的左翼政治立场毫不留情。“无论他心中有什么社会主义乌托邦,他都没有在中国找到……而且在他的信中,他明确表示他去那里只是为了钱。”(安德森是内皮尔-贝尔(Napier-Bell)电影制作人父亲的朋友,也是 Wham! 共同经理贾兹·萨默斯(Jazz Summers)的偶像;迈克尔向布雷恩暗示,雇佣他是为了在这次耗资巨大的行程中“赚回一些钱”。)
里德利思考并观看了很多关于迈克尔的“在
“在过去三四年里,我对他关注的程度超过了之前的10年或20年,”他说,他甚至与录音师克里斯·波特(Chris Porter)一起为这部电影处理音频,其中包括在接近结尾处一段“非常动人”的《Careless Whisper》表演。这段录音出自Wham!在中国的两场演出中的第二场,地点是在更为自由的城市广州,这里距离香港向北仅两小时车程;而香港在签署将岛屿归还中国的条约后,最近刚获得了自治管理权和公民自由的保证。
这是一次令人惊叹的表演:我们看到一个21岁的年轻人,在即将开启全球个人事业之前,走进了聚光灯下。如果说这些演出成为了某种契机,那么正是这一刻。但我们随后也听到了迈克尔对布雷恩(Brayne)说的话,字里行间透着谦逊:“能创造一点历史感觉很不错,因为流行音乐,你知道,坦白说,是一个非常短暂的行业。能做成任何具有重要意义的事情都是很罕见的。”
《Wham! 10 Days in China》将于周六晚上9点在BBC Two和iPlayer播出。
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
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“他能激活周围的空气”:罗杰·艾勒姆(Roger Allam)与多萝西·阿特金森(Dorothy Atkinson)在曼努埃尔·哈兰(Manuel Harlan)的《另一半如何相爱》(How the Other Half Loves)中,尽显“光鲜的焦虑”。

老维克剧院(Old Vic)上演的艾克本晚餐派对闹剧,舞美布置精巧,且有优秀的多萝西·阿特金森(Dorothy Atkinson)共同主演,但每当罗杰·阿拉姆(Roger Allam)不在台上时,演出便显得乏味
苏珊娜·克拉普 (Susannah Clapp)
《另一半如何相爱》(How the Other Half Loves) 伦敦 SE1,老维克剧院; 演出至 9 月 19 日
在《另一半如何相爱》接近尾声时,一名女性——好吧,直白点说,一名妻子——两手各端着一个咖啡杯和茶托,走向一个瘫坐在椅子上的男人。“咖啡?”她问。“只要一杯,”他慢悠悠地答道。
艾伦·艾克本(Alan Ayckbourn)的笑话,就像关于这位剧作家的许多特质一样,比初看时更具洞察力。当然,他可以用暗示来挑逗(“我擅自帮你把你那‘小玩意’上的销钉松了”),但他的许多最佳台词在纸面上阅读时并不容易让人惊叹。他经常用那种“抽走地毯”式的闹剧让观众(虽然对我没那么有效)捧腹大笑:在这里,一名极度焦虑的晚餐客人的脸上被扣了一碗汤。但艾克本真正的卓越之处在于其三维的剧场感。这很显而易见,但却罕见。他的剧本必须通过舞台呈现才能完全实现:既要被看到,也要被听到(他担任广播制作人的经历没有白费)。他的对话往往依赖于在短短几小时内积累的背景历史,才能产生完整的冲击力。
在那个推销咖啡的女主人身后——该剧首演于 1969 年,由菲利普·布林(Phillip Breen)精准地执导出了时代感——回荡着多重声音:丈夫询问是否有茶(“在炉子上”听起来像是一次大胆的拒绝),或者哀嚎找不到干净的衬衫,或者在台后大喊——“危机!洗手间的纸品用完了!”这种天然的女性主义视角也允许女性同样具有毒舌的一面:“我会留着在家里穿,”这是对一瓶香水礼物的回应,这瓶香水是在一个她已经忘记的周年纪念日赠送的:当然,她忘了:因为她正忙着寻找一个不是她丈夫的人。剧情围绕这场婚外情展开,其危险性被近距离地展现出来。两对夫妇的生活——其中一对认为自己比另一对地位更高——在同一个空间内上演,四个角色在彼此之间穿梭,却对观众能看到的一半情况视而不见。罗布·豪威尔(Rob Howell)的设计——采用圆形舞台,因此没有墙壁——经济地将两个家庭区分开来:一台绿色电话和一台红色电话(卷曲的电话线,拨盘)并排摆在咖啡桌上;秘密通话就在几英寸之隔的地方进行。
两场在不同房屋中举行的晚餐派对(一家供应糖渍栗子,另一家供应糖浆布丁)同时呈现,餐桌相互交错;共同的客人则在两者之间转头观察。
艾克本是当代剧作家中最浸淫于舞台的一位:1956 年的一个周五,他在 17 岁时离开学校(赫特福德郡的海利伯里学校),次周一进入剧院,从此一直在那里工作。尽管他一直受到赞赏,但他的名声却有些偏差:受他写作的环境影响(中层管理人员,而非学者或黑帮),受他的清晰度影响——一个聪明人被允许表达得如此易懂吗?——以及受他的受欢迎程度影响。在一个 30 摄氏度以上的夜晚,他让老维克剧院座无虚席,而在 1975 年,他在西区有五部剧作同时上演。
“ 尽管艾克本因工艺而非想象力而更受赞誉,但他一直是一位创新者
虽然他更有可能因工艺而非想象力而受到赞誉,但他一直是一位创新者:在《房屋与花园》(House & Garden,1999 年)中,他创造了两部由同一批演员在两个观众厅同时表演的剧作;他在 1996 年的儿童剧《帕里巴努的冠军》(The Champion of Paribanou)中——他在剧中附带了一段关于资助青少年戏剧的雄辩恳求——出现了一名“非人类的、机械的且略有缺陷”的侍从。
这里存在一个难点。艾克本(Ayckbourn)的人物刻画通常敏锐但较为粗线条,而布林(Breen)这部作品节奏不足,使得这一特点暴露无遗。多萝西·阿特金森(Dorothy Atkinson)饰演的犯错妻子恰到好处地展现出一种光鲜的焦虑感,但观看《另一半如何相爱》(How the Other Half Loves)的主要原因——而且这是一个强有力的理由——是罗杰·阿拉姆(Roger Allam)。他已逐渐成为衡量一名优秀演员标准的中心人物:不仅是在舞台上——23年前,他在迈克尔·弗雷恩(Michael Frayn)的《民主》(Democracy)中展现的微妙力量至今仍留在我的脑海中——而且在电视(《 Endeavour》和《The Thick of It》)和广播(《Cabin Pressure》和《Conversations from a Long Marriage》)中亦然。
他饰演的角色自负且心怀好意,是职场上的高管,却未能察觉家中发生的事情;他穿着缎面短裤悠闲地走进来,做着几次疲惫的屈膝运动,仿佛他的肉身才刚刚凝聚,且勉强才愿意现身。即便在看似无所事事——仅仅是注视或瘫坐——时,他也能激活周围的空气;而当他不在舞台上时,节奏便会放缓。总而言之:这部剧不仅仅是郊区居民的一场窃笑,但还称不上是“老面包篮里的一次绝对重击”。
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observer.co.uk 23.08.26
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在淡出公众视野之前,这位歌手带来了一系列极具个人色彩的体育场演出,传达出某种紧迫的诉求
基蒂·帝国 (Kitty Empire)
伦敦 SE10,O2 体育馆;至 9 月 1 日
亚莉安娜·格兰德独自伫立,穿着令人眩晕的高跟鞋,站在延伸台尽头的 B 舞台上,仅由一台循环采样机(loop station)伴奏。她对着麦克风冷静地吟唱,实时地将词语、短语(如“won’t break, can’t shake”)以及人声旋律一层层叠加。她是一位掌控着自己乐器及其听感效果的音乐家。
这些脱离了身体的格兰德合唱最终汇成了《Eternal Sunshine》,这是她 2024 年专辑的主打歌,旨在向 2004 年米歇尔·贡德里(Michel Gondry)的电影《暖暖内含光》(Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)致敬。“Eternal Sunshine”巡演将在伦敦 O2 体育馆连续演出 10 晚后,于 9 月 1 日落下帷幕——这是格兰德七年来首次在英国首都进行现场演出。随后,她宣布将“退居幕后,减少曝光”——她的团队表示,这是为了应对公众对其私生活不可接受的持续审视,以及与对其身材评论相关的对其身心健康的广泛担忧。
在格兰德连续演出的第二晚,关于这位歌手的不同形象在争夺关注。循环采样机将她呈现为一名处于最佳状态的艺术家——不仅是一名歌手,更是一名创作者。电影《魔法坏女巫》(Wicked)的合作演员辛西娅·埃里沃(Cynthia Erivo)在第二晚的安可环节开始时惊喜现身,重新点燃了她们在银幕上的默契。她们唱道:“You changed me for good”,人们很容易被这种星光熠熠的氛围所吸引。
与此同时,在这场奢华的体育馆盛演中,格兰德回顾了以往的热门歌曲,并演唱了刚发行专辑《Petal》中的曲目。她一边爆发出狂喜的人声,一边穿着那些防水台细高跟鞋执行复杂的编舞。她充满活力,笑容灿烂。
但这里还存在另一种解读:一个对其自身最佳利益的判断值得商榷的女性形象。
尽管此次巡演具有高度光鲜的演艺价值——充满力量感的舞者、令人眼花缭乱的视觉效果——但这场令人印象深刻却又充满矛盾的演出往往给人一种强烈的私人感。“多重自我”的主题贯穿始终。演出的五个幕段由一系列关联视频串联,视频中格兰德在进行一场噩梦般的探索,有时由一个孩童时期的自己引导。她们穿过一座被淹没的房子、一个地下掩体和超现实的童话公园。格兰德瞥见了她之前的几个化身,由穿着她以往不同时期服装的“休眠”格兰德们扮演。而在演出本身中,她为演唱《The Boy Is Mine》重新带上了猫耳头饰并拿起了鞭子。

一位机智且能干的巨星:亚莉安娜·格兰德在伦敦 O2 体育馆。 Julius Dabidnik
格兰德的人生经历异常丰富。在抽出时间出演两部《魔法坏女巫》电影之前,她经历了一系列备受瞩目的感情关系、2017 年的曼彻斯特体育馆爆炸袭击及其长期的后续影响,以及她的前任、说唱歌手 Mac Miller 在 2018 年的去世。《魔法坏女巫》本身也引发了来自种族主义者和反种族主义者的诸多评论。在舞台视频的情节中,这些过去的自我将被删除——这是对贡德里电影的改编——直到格兰德砸碎了那个复古的电脑界面。其传达的信息似乎是:接受过去——那些记忆、前任、痛苦、悲伤、批评和创伤后应激障碍(PTSD)——比通过彻底抹除一切来寻求平静要好。
尽管没有人希望她经历这些创伤,但格兰德(Grande)近期的专辑比起《Positions》这类早期的慵懒、诱人的 R&B 作品,或是她年轻成名时大量推出的快节奏舞曲,变得更加丰富且深刻。在格兰德更成熟的作品将其提升到新高度后,她 2020 年与 Lady Gaga 合作的《Rain on Me》现在听起来显得有些随机。一些旧作给人的感觉像是出自另一个人的手笔。不过,同样有许多作品依然极具吸引力——《7 Rings》再次证明了格兰德的主导权(“我唱我写的”),而精彩的《Thank U, Next》则依然保持着极高的情感智商。她近期的大部分作品延续了这种精进。
Jorja Smith (Fumm)
英国拥有大量极具个性的 R&B 灵魂乐创作人,但来自沃尔索尔的 Jorja Smith 早在奥利维亚·迪恩(Olivia Dean)那一代之前就已崭露头角,而《What Are the Odds》是她通过自己厂牌发行的第三张专辑。 近来一直处于令人羡慕的上升势头。她在 AJ Tracey 2025 年曲目《Crush》中那略微滞后于节拍的记忆点——以及出人意料的说唱——让听众想起了她那从容不迫的多才多艺。今年 4 月,她的歌曲《Price of It All》随里兹·艾哈迈德(Riz Ahmed)的电视剧《Bait》一同推出,其主题曲水准足以媲美真实的詹姆斯·邦德系列电影。而在 7 月,她客串了丛林音乐人 Nia Archives 的《Get Me Down》,进一步证明了 那轻盈如羽的声音可以毫不费力地漂浮在任何节拍之上。诸如《What’s Done Is Done》(一部令人愉悦的英国车库音乐作品)和《I Lied, You Lied》(带有爵士色彩的非洲节拍浩室音乐)等曲目,再次证明了 在完美位置放置恰到好处的人声的技巧。该专辑主要与尼日利亚裔英国制作人 P2J(曾合作 Wizkid, Burna Boy, Beyoncé)一对一打造,虽然时长较短,但没有浪费任何机会,将深夜氛围感之声与 那淡定从容的声音相结合,效果令人印象深刻。这是一张专注于舞池、没有抒情慢歌的专辑,但她对平庸恋人的持久失望感弥漫在她的歌声之中。Kitty Empire
Sam (Capitol)
Sam 褪去了身着 PVC 材质服装的《Unholy》流行偶像形象,在第五张专辑中抛弃了戏剧化表演,转而探索陷入爱河时那些更为混乱的现实。在全部 12 首歌曲中,《Hazel Eyes》讲述了一个爱情故事,从最初吸引的冲动,一直延伸到嫉妒、背叛,并最终走向原谅。专辑以《Everlasting Love》开篇, 将自己塑造为一名爵士俱乐部歌手,在轻柔的吉他拨奏和近距离的人声演绎中吟唱。随着器乐部分汲取流行、民谣、乡村和 R&B 的影响,怀旧氛围得以延续。戏剧性的时刻出现在随后,在《Oh Mother》中,钢琴与一个 28 人的合唱团相结合,在 心碎后渴求母亲慰藉的呐喊声后方汹涌澎湃。《Hazel Eyes》并不总能保持势头,但它成功地将爱情呈现为一种无法驯服的力量。尽管是流行乐坛最顶尖的声音之一, 始终愿意拥抱脆弱。在这里,这种特质感觉像是一种回归本色。Georgia Evans
Julia Holter (Domino)
按下 Julia Holter 唱片的播放键,就像打开一扇门走进一个幻想领域。这位常驻洛杉矶的音乐家的
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
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Grande 今晚以一名机智且有能力的明星形象令人信服,她不仅掌控着自己的四个八度音域,更是一位在关于自身名声以及其他知名女性所处境地方面有紧迫话语权的艺术家。演出以《Yes, And?》开场,这是一个 2024 年的剪辑版本,巧妙地将即兴剧的开放性——“yes, and”是一种公开邀请回应的技巧——与对网络揣测者的被动攻击式反驳结合在一起:“yes... and?!”(是的……然后呢?!)。其中还包含一句“不要评论我的身体”。
近期单曲《Petal》的视频中,Grande 用电锯砍掉了一系列粗俗且叼着雪茄的制片厂高管。在演出接近尾声时演唱的《Hate That I Made You Love Me》看似是在对前任说话,但
其范围似乎扩大到了前任伴侣之外:“你们自愿给了我一颗心,这真的是我的错吗?”她如此质问互联网时代明星与其粉丝群体之间的准社会关系。
大量的报刊版面和社交媒体动态在对 Grande 的进一步审视中陷入混乱。她是一个能够做出独立选择且不关他人之事的成年人吗,即便她是一个拥有数百万年轻粉丝的公众人物?她是否是一个贪婪的名声机器的受害者,在她的休假本该开始时仍催促她完成这些演出日期?十之 10,正确的信念应该是相信女性的能动性和自主权。希望这次休息能足够长,能让她在茧房中获得创造性的滋养。
激进且直截了当的管弦乐流行乐不容许缓慢的铺垫。在开场曲《The Laugh Is in the Eyes》中,口哨声带来了如魔杖般闪烁的光芒,随后 Chris Speed 带来了令人沉醉的单簧管华彩段。与此同时,Holter 忧郁地唱道——“我需要学会让甜蜜停留 / 我依然热爱那天,我们追逐着自己的尾巴”。
《Materia》仅由七首曲目组成,其中两首是 Holter 2024 年专辑《Something in the Room She Moves》中一首歌的新演绎。第一个版本以她
圆润的嗓音,处于高音区,配以稀疏的 Wurlitzer 电钢琴键。这些新变体扭转并改变了原有的旋律,无品贝斯、更多的单簧管和随意的合成器使第二首发生了蜕变,而在第三首中,简约的编曲使该曲目具有赞美诗般的特质。
许多艺术家感到必须不断重新定义自己的压力。已经发行了七张录音室专辑的 Holter 知道,研究旋律的核心并观察从不同角度思考可能产生什么新意,同样能带来甚至更多的快感。在《Materia》中,其结果令人沉醉。Ellen Peirson-Hagger
一场四小时的希腊马拉松式歌剧,以及一部他在20岁时创作的一幕闹剧,令这位作曲家家乡的观众们感到欣喜
Stephen Pritchard
罗西尼歌剧节 意大利佩萨罗,Scavolini礼堂 / 罗西尼剧院;今日结束
阳光、大海、沙滩和十六分音符:还有什么不让人心动的?每年在意大利亚得里亚海沿岸的家乡佩萨罗举办的罗西尼歌剧节,无疑是夏季最迷人的音乐亮点之一。
自1980年以来,该音乐节在罗西尼基金会的支持下,致力于探索和呈现这位作曲家庞大的作品集(他在37岁退休前创作了39部歌剧),并通过严谨的研究定期推出新的校订版。例如,今年在《科林斯之围》(Le Siège de Corinthe)中,恢复了在200年前巴黎首演之前就被删减的部分。
这种执着有时显得有些极端,尤其是当它将一场演出延长至四小时时,但导演 Davide Livermore 的新制作提供了许多新鲜创意,帮助观众完成这场音乐马拉松,其中最值得一提的是将“现代性”而非“伊斯兰教”设定为围攻古希腊的力量。而在 Carlo Rizzi 指挥的优秀的博洛尼亚市立剧院管弦乐团(Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna)带领下,我们感到非常安心。
科林斯的居民们被困在穿着托加长袍的时间扭曲中,匆忙将优雅的雕像装入包装箱,以抵御奥斯曼入侵者。相比之下,入侵者们全部身着笔挺的西装,戴着太阳镜,拿着智能手机,所到之处留下一串塑料垃圾。其中一个包装箱成为了窥视古代世界的窗口,通过 D-Wok 巧妙的视频设计,展现了如同维多利亚时代画家 Lawrence Alma-Tadema 所想象的那样希腊景象——一个即将在一场毁灭狂欢中消失的希腊。
音乐气势磅礴,两军交战时合唱部分极具英雄气概,但穆罕默德二世(由声音洪亮的男低音 Adrian Simpetrean 饰演)发现,他多年前爱上的女人是该市总督的女儿 Pamyra。事实上,这部作品或许更适合命名为《Pamyra》,因为这个角色主导了情节,罗西尼为这个坚韧不拔的人物保留了最令人惊叹且极具挑战性的高难度唱段,她挣扎于对希腊的忠诚与对入侵者的爱之间。俄裔次女高音 Vasilisa Berzhanskaya 以其成功的演绎赢得了热烈的掌声,实至名归。
今年的演出季通过加入两部罗西尼在1812年(当时他年仅20岁)为威尼斯创作的一幕歌剧而变得轻快:分别是《机会造就小偷》(L’occasione fa il ladro)和《丝绸之梯》(La scala di seta)。Jean-Pierre Ponnelle 执导的迷人版本《机会造就小偷》是该音乐节最持久的喜剧成功之作之一,自1987年首演以来已上演四次。这部剧字面意义上地“生活在行李箱里”。仆人 Martino(男中音 Giuseppe Tola 饰)从一个巨大的旅行袋深处变出了整场演出——包括乐谱、演员和布景。瞬间,一个空旷的舞台被转化为一个全尺寸的玩具剧场(设计和服装同样由 Ponnelle 完成),随后上演了一场经典的闹剧。
那个袋子是情节的核心。Alberto 伯爵在前往那不勒斯迎娶从未谋面的女子 Berenice 的途中误拿了它。Martino 和他的主人 Don Parmenione 策划了一个阴谋:Parmenione 将冒充 Alberto 同样去追求那位女士。但 Berenice 并不好糊弄。Damiana Mizzi 以极其清晰的唱腔诠释该角色,让自鸣得意的 Alberto(男高音 Dave Monaco 饰)和笨拙的 Parmenione(男中音 Matteo Mancini 饰)吃了不少苦头。指挥 Alessandro Bonato 在合唱部分推进速度极快,但偶尔会让剧情显得拖沓。
这一点在伊万·洛佩斯-雷诺索(Ivan López-Reynoso)的指挥上并不适用,他在《丝绸之梯》(La scala di seta)中保持了令人屏息的节奏。同样,这部作品塑造了一位敢于冒险的女主角,而她被那些专横男性的要求所困。亚美尼亚女高音哈斯米克·托罗斯扬(Hasmik Torosyan)饰演的朱莉娅(Giulia)令人赞赏,她拼命试图抵制监护人要求她嫁给布兰萨克(Blansac)——由状态极佳的乌克兰男中音尤里·萨莫伊洛夫(Iurii Samoilov)饰演——同时又不透露自己已秘密嫁给多维尔(Dorvil,由澳大利亚男高音阿拉斯代尔·肯特 Alasdair Kent 饰演),后者每晚通过攀爬她的丝绸床单来拜访她。
达米亚诺·米基莱托(Damiano Michieletto)这部令人屏息的制作采用了保罗·凡廷(Paolo Fantin)大胆的现代设计,其中包括一面巨大的倾斜镜子,巧妙地营造出多维尔正爬进朱莉娅卧室的错觉,而实际上他只是在舞台上爬行。镜之厅?这与海滨景色多么契合。
菲奥娜·马多克斯(Fiona Maddocks)下周回归
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“她大多时候完全被忽视”: 蒂什·默莎(Tish Murtha)拍摄于 1978 年的《埃尔斯威克孩子》(Elswick Kids)。
© Ella Murtha,保留所有权利
“ 在这些照片中, 你可以闻到空气的味道, 听到喧闹的 欢笑声
在那些引发下议院辩论的抗议照片中,既有公众的愤怒,也有私人的悲恸。她再次拍摄了那些步入 20 多岁的男孩们聚在一起,瘫坐在购物中心的长椅上,显得精疲力竭。
遗憾的是,当地摄影师库巴·里尼维奇(Kuba Ryniewicz)在盖茨黑德波罗的海当代艺术中心(Baltic)举办的《近在咫尺》(Close to Home)展览中穿插的现代彩色作品,在默莎艺术的力量面前毫无胜算。里尼维奇关注私人生活的方式截然不同——一些园艺工作,大量的性爱与个人享乐。他那匮乏的政治内容似乎走向了另一个方向,指向一个碎片化的社会。
画廊将默莎的一些最伟大的影像放大到了真人大小甚至更大。两个婴儿甜蜜地对着彼此微笑,对周围的破败毫无察觉。一名年轻人盯着一群没洗的瓶子,像他的生活一样空虚。而很难想象还有比这张照片更令人振奋的、在苦难中展现乐观主义的影像了:孩子们排成队,兴致勃勃地准备从二楼一个巨大的窗洞跳到下方一堆污浊的床垫上。每个人都正入迷地抬头看着那些从上方破旧建筑中纵身跃下的男孩。只有一个被青少年抱在怀里的腹语傀儡正用瞪大的眼睛对着我们做鬼脸,仿佛在确认我们是否意识到这一切是多么可怕。
默莎于 2013 年死于脑动脉瘤。她当时 56 岁,尽管在画廊展出并在杂志上发表了那么多精彩绝伦的照片,但那时她本人实际上处于失业状态。埃拉·默莎(Ella Murtha)与保罗·宋(Paul Sng)共同制作的关于她母亲的深刻而美丽的纪录片可在 BBC iPlayer 上观看。但如果可能的话,请前往波罗的海当代艺术中心。我听到一名女性告诉她的朋友,她记得他们当年是如何在那些床垫上玩了一整天的。照片中的那些人物,那些对默莎至关重要的人,依然就在你身边。
劳拉·卡明 (Laura Cumming)
蒂什·默莎 (Tish Murtha) 与 库巴·里尼维奇 (Kuba Ryniewicz):《近在咫尺》(Close to Home) 盖茨黑德,波罗的海中心 (Baltic, Gateshead);展至 2027年4月4日
已故的伟大艺术家蒂什·默莎以同情心和幽默感捕捉了她青年时代那个艰苦奋斗的 70 年代纽卡斯尔,她的成就令人难以企及。
纽卡斯尔的埃尔斯威克 (Elswick) 曾被认为是英国最糟糕的一平方英里。破败的房屋,生锈的汽车,人行道上的血迹;它在 20 世纪 70 年代的贫民窟清理行动中勉强支撑,像一颗等待被拔掉的松动牙齿。在撒切尔时期,失业率达到了近 30%,就业中心成了个笑话,开着肮脏汽车的老男人在街上寻找孩子。我所知道的一切都来自曾住在那里的一位伟大艺术家的作品——纪录片摄影师蒂什·默莎。
帕特里夏·默莎 (Patricia Murtha) 1956 年出生于南希尔兹 (South Shields),是爱尔兰裔 10 个孩子中的第三个。他们的父亲对所有人都很暴力。蒂什小时候搬到了埃尔斯威克,成长过程中像她的影像一样勇敢、清醒且坚强。15 岁时,她在一家被判定为危房的建筑里发现了一台旧相机,开始拍摄那些肮脏的砖墙、被风吹袭的小巷和荒地,那里是她同龄人的家。他们拥有的唯一东西就是街道的钥匙。
三手运动鞋、球衣和宽大的夹克;香烟、喇叭裤和羽毛剪发;根深蒂固的污垢,以及为吝啬的废品商搜寻的廉价废料——在这些照片中,你可以闻到空气的味道,听到喧闹的欢笑声。旧油漆桶里火光闪烁,小女孩在冬天暖手;男孩们攀爬在曾经宏伟建筑外的断柱上,像快乐的雕像一样在顶端摆姿势。
同样的人物反复出现:那个随处带着弟弟的男孩,他把弟弟举起来,让弟弟在社区的涂鸦上留下自己的婴儿印记。那个在照片中渐渐长大的美丽男孩,做倒立,点火,像杂技演员一样在墙上行走:充满活力,直到他领救济金。
默莎熟悉每一条死胡同,每一棵杂草和每一块石头。这些孩子中有些是她的兄弟姐妹。你能感觉到她在他们之间很自在,有时对方会以灵动的笑容回应她的目光。但大多数时候,摄影师完全不被注意到,消失在场景之中。
默莎必须在那里待很长时间才能捕捉到那个瞬间。她的天赋之一是捕捉人们具有叙事性的动作——指点、跳过大门、奔跑、舞蹈。三个小男孩排成一排,感受一个大男孩的肌肉,强忍着笑意。一名扑克玩家眯起眼睛,像龙一样吐出烟雾。
在这些黑白照片中,年轻人如此美丽。焦黑建筑前的一张亮脸;在阴森的汽车残骸中,一抹金发倒挂着;两个男孩挤进阴暗的电话亭,打一个期待已久的电话。
他们是醉了,还是沉浸在自己的亢奋之中?几年后,他们离开了学校,却没有工作。斯科茨伍德 (Scotswood) 工业厂在 1979 年关闭——默莎拍摄了 both the

拥抱 皱眉 蒂什·默莎 著。 © Ella Murtha, 保留所有权利
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23.08.26
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“极具娱乐性”:汉娜·艾因宾德 (Hannah Einbinder) 和 吉莉安·安德森 (Gillian Anderson) 出演《迷雾营地的青少年性与死》(Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma)。Mobi
汉娜·艾因宾德和吉莉安·安德森在一部欢快的杀手电影讽刺剧中尽情发挥,探讨粉丝文化、酷儿身份和罪恶快感
温迪·艾德 (Wendy Ide)
(112 分钟,15 级)导演:简·舍恩布伦(Jane Schoenbrun);主演:吉莉安·安德森(Gillian Anderson)、汉娜·艾因宾德(Hannah Einbinder)、杰克·海文(Jack Haven)
对于现代影迷来说,电影粉丝圈可能是一个雷区。在处理“由糟糕的人创作的伟大艺术”这一棘手问题时已经足够困难了。但如果艺术本身——那些塑造我们成长、定义我们审美的基石电影——在意识形态的审视下站不住脚怎么办?由简·舍恩布伦(曾执导《我看到了电视光芒》 / I Saw the TV Glow)拍摄的这部极具娱乐性的概念剥削电影《米亚斯玛营地的青少年性与死》,探讨了“有问题的挚爱”(problematic fave)这一概念。影片通过一个酷儿视角,审视人们如何将进步政治与令人不安的退步艺术调和起来。
这里所讨论的艺术是《米亚斯玛营地》砍杀电影系列,这是一个虚构的恐怖 IP,与《万圣节》、《13号星期五》和《德州电锯杀人狂》等作品拥有相似的基因(以及各种喷溅的体液)。这部虽然低俗但成功的原版电影讲述了一个充满讨厌孩子的夏令营,这些孩子被一个头部是空调格栅的杀人魔极其夸张地切片和刺穿。随后,制片厂通过一系列直接发行录像带的敛财续集,在收益递减的情况下对其进行了反复榨取。
尽管充满了杀戮,《米亚斯玛营地》给人一种挑衅感,甚至近乎一种庆典。
影片诙谐的片头字幕揭示了这个系列不光彩的过去,其中包括《中世纪米亚斯玛》、《米亚斯玛 3000》以及一次极其失败的音乐尝试——一张说唱专辑。
但现在,现代的审美观念已经转向反对《米亚斯玛》系列电影。问题不仅仅在于厌女症,尽管这种情绪在整个系列中像喷涌的血泉一样自然流动。《米亚斯玛营地》系列中那种放射性的错误感源于其被认为存在的恐跨心理。那个被称为“小死神”(Little Death,由《我看到了电视光芒》的杰克·海文饰演)的格栅头反派,是一个被欺凌并被杀害的双性别孩子,会在男性和女性身份之间切换。所有这些使得《米亚斯玛营地》成为了一个“僵尸 IP”——一个对拥有它的制片厂来说基本上毫无价值的实体。而这正是克里斯(由《黑客》 / Hacks 明星汉娜·艾因宾德精彩饰演)登场的地方。
克里斯是一位在圣丹斯电影节备受赞誉的独立电影制作人,她说自己的研究领域是“酷儿身份与文化中怪物描绘的交集”。她之前的作品引起了一定轰动——那是一部从浴帘视角重新拍摄的《精神病患者》(Psycho)翻拍片。同时,她也是《米亚斯玛营地》系列的死忠粉。因此,对于一个希望通过“酷儿洗白”来拯救目前毫无用处之财产的愤世嫉俗的制片厂来说,她是完美的人选。制片厂希望通过粉丝服务和意识形态除污的结合,赢回老观众,并为新一代观众重新定义《米亚斯玛》电影。
作为研究的一部分,克里斯争取到了与第一部《米亚斯玛营地》电影中隐居的明星会面。比利(吉莉安·安德森以极度夸张的风格饰演,头戴头巾,说着浓重的南方口音)在凭借《米亚斯玛》成名后退出了演艺圈。她现在住在拍摄原版电影的废弃夏令营里,并在紧张或兴奋时强迫性地涂鸦空调格栅。原本一场关于比利是否出演最新续集的商业讨论,很快演变成了某种更令人沉醉、更怪异且更性感的东西。克里斯可以尽其所能地在分析《米亚斯玛》系列遗产时陷入知识分子的逻辑死循环,但很明显,她的粉丝心态中还存在另一个更基础的层面。直白地说,她认为被“小死神”追逐并刺穿可能某种程度上很性感。而比利非常乐意帮助将这个幻想变为现实。
当然,现实是一个相对的概念。在整部电影中,舍恩布伦(Schoenbrun)戏谑地让我们面对那些显而易见的虚构元素。有几个场景使用了明显的哑光绘制风景背景。而他们向 20 世纪 70 和 80 年代砍杀电影的致敬,不仅在于这些电影的最初院线版本,更在于这些电影的“第二生命”——即观看来源可疑、画质低劣的 VHS 录像带时所带来的禁忌快感。诚然,在第三幕中,一切变得相当令人迷茫且混乱,但第二次观看证实,这种欢快地编排的混乱是一项特色而非缺陷。这里展现出一种全新的自信、俏皮与幽默。与《我看到了电视光芒》(I Saw the TV Glow)那种压抑、忧郁的基调相比,《迷雾营》(Camp Miasma)尽管充满了杀戮,却显得充满反叛精神,甚至近乎一种庆典。最后 30 分钟的元叙事混乱完全是为了颠覆跨性别恐怖片的陈词滥调,并在类型电影中夺回对酷儿身份的主导权。同时,这也是一种狡黠的承认:所谓的“罪恶快感”有时才是最纯粹的快感。
(103 分钟, PG 级) 导演:戴夫·格林 (Dave Green);主演:约翰·塞纳 (John Cena)、拉娜·康多尔 (Lana Condor)、威尔·福特 (Will Forte)
这正是家庭观众目前需要的一股清新之风——或者说是一捆卡通炸药。这部电影将疯狂的《乐一通》(Looney Tunes) 视觉幽默、弱势方的法庭戏以及不合拍的搭档电影巧妙地融合在一起,令人兴奋且极具创意,是一部光彩夺目的疯狂之作,也是今年最有趣的电影之一。在对路跑者 (Road Runner) 永无止境且徒劳的追逐中,郊狼 (Wile E Coyote) 被归类为 Acme 产品的“高频用户”,而其中每一件产品都发生了灾难性的故障。郊狼开始注意到某种规律,于是找到了人类律师凯文·艾弗里 (Kevin Avery,由威尔·福特饰演),准备对 Acme 公司提起诉讼。代表 Acme 公司的是凯文在法学院时的

死对头巴迪·克雷恩 (Buddy Crane,由约翰·塞纳饰演,看起来像个穿着西装的卡通复活节岛石像)。
《郊狼对阵 Acme》向《谁陷害了兔子罗杰》(Who Framed Roger Rabbit) 中人类与卡通之间不安的协议致敬,同时也挖掘了《乐一通》角色库的全部潜力(其中一个塞纳审问金丝雀翠迪 (Tweety Pie) 的场景简直傻得可爱)。令人惊讶的是,这部电影差点被华纳兄弟 (Warner Bros) 作为税务抵减而搁置;那些制定该计划的人应该被卡通铁砧砸中。
(90 分钟, 15) 导演:亚当·尚克曼 (Adam Shankman);主演:金杰·明杰 (Ginger Minj)、朱朱比 (Jujubee)、鲁保罗 (RuPaul)
即便不加入鲁保罗,《空中大危机》(Airplane!) 风格的灾难电影恶搞剧本身就已经过于夸张了。但事实证明,在一辆疾驰的豪华列车上填满变装皇后,是打造一场极尽奢华、虽然略显重复但充满高调坎普风 (high-camp) 的闹剧的绝佳配方。让列车勉强维持在轨道上的,是主演金杰·明杰和朱朱比之间真挚温暖的化学反应,她们分别饰演列车乘务员特丝 (Tess) 和迪迪 (DeeDee)。当她们工作的廉价铁路公司 Stank Rail 破产后,这两个女孩凭口才在精英级别的“格拉马逊快线”(Glamazonian Express) 找到了工作。然而,她们刚挤进那套华丽的深红色制服,特丝和迪迪就得知他们的火车正直接驶向一场灾难性的天气事件。与此同时,总统 (鲁保罗) 正感到无聊,一只修剪得完美无瑕的指甲正悬在核按钮之上。
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在《城堡》(The Castle) 一书中,乔恩·朗森 (Jon Ronson) 寻找那些似乎与现实断绝联系的男性,从一个妄想自己是“领主”的康涅狄格州人,到对性别议题执迷的格雷厄姆·莱纳汉 (Graham Linehan)。文 / 梅根·诺兰 (Megan Nolan)
Viking 出版社,£20,320页
在 2004 和 2007 年之间,乔恩·朗森(Jon Ronson)——主要以《他们:与极端分子的冒险》(Them: Adventures With Extremists)、《凝视山羊的人》(The Men Who Stare at Goats)和《所以你被公开羞辱了》(So You've Been Publicly Shamed)等准冈佐风格的非虚构书籍而闻名——每周六都会为《卫报》撰写一篇带有轻喜剧色彩的专栏,讲述他与妻子伊莱恩(Elaine)以及儿子乔尔(Joel)的家庭生活。其中有一篇特别的专栏(后来被收录在他的文集《非同寻常》(Out of the Ordinary)中),讲述了朗森无意中听到邻居嘲讽地模仿他呼唤猫的方式。尽管内容几乎空洞,但这依然让我觉得极其好笑:
在睡觉之前,我和妻子会用一种愉快、高亢且无忧无虑的方式呼唤我们的猫。我一直认为邻居们如果偶然听到,会觉得这很迷人。还有什么能比远处有人召唤猫的声音更可爱呢?但今晚发生了一些令人不安的事情。
“蒙蒂!”我愉快地喊道。
“蒙蒂!”附近黑暗中有人嘲讽地模仿道。
在震惊之中,他再次呼喊,这一次他故意让声音变得更深沉、更具男性化。我提到关于蒙蒂的专栏,是因为它有助于解释我为什么热爱朗森的写作和感悟,即他通过戏谑那些微小的瞬间,揭示我们对自我和现实的认知是如何产生冲突的。
通常,这些瞬间与男性特质有关,或许是因为男性气概中那些荒诞的姿态极易被喜剧化的方式戳破。例如,我想起卡尔·奥韦·克瑙斯高(Karl Ove Knausgård)在《我的奋斗》(My Struggle)系列小说中的一段插曲:他无法让自己使用行李箱的轮子,而是不舒服地将其拎起,使其高于嘈杂的铺路石,以免在公共场合因为追求像“便利”这样女性化的东西而让自己丢脸。这样的表现让我对男性产生一种喜爱和宽容之情,而不是恐惧或愤怒。这让我想到:你们这些可怜的小家伙,这就是你们一直以来真实的感觉吗?
朗森记录过的许多古怪人物都是渴望或占据某种地位的男性——无论是伊斯兰原教旨主义者还是陆军上校——这些地位似乎与他们对男性特质的认知密不可分。现在,在朗森的新书《城堡》(The Castle)中,他对男性气概及其缺陷进行了更深层次的探讨。他关注的是那些发现自己不知为何被边缘化的男性的故事:在陷入混乱后,他们采取了极其奇怪的应对方式。
关于“男性出了什么问题”已经有很多论述,比如关于在学校中表现不佳的失落男孩一代,据说他们受到了轻率的厌男文化的虐待,从而转向了像安德鲁·塔特(Andrew Tate)那样恶劣且虚无主义的男性气概迭代。但朗森并没有在与“男性圈”(manosphere)作斗争(幸好如此,因为我觉得只要我活着,就再也不想读关于那个话题的一个字)。相反,《城堡》包含了一系列引人入胜的人物画像,这些男性截然不同,但朗森认为他们都在因为同一种状况而崩溃:由快速变化的社会导致的严重的目标缺失感。
书名中的“城堡”属于克里斯·马克(Chris Mark),一个富有的古怪之人。他在康涅狄格州伍德斯托克一条普通的半郊区道路上,建造了一座价值 $35 哥特式住宅,配有护城河、湖泊和塔楼。马克是钢铁大亨克莱顿·马克(Clayton Mark)的后代,在本书出版之前,他主要因为这座奇异城堡的存在,以及他与女儿在那里拍摄的 TikTok 视频而为人所知。人们对他房产中举办的派对持有钦佩的猜测,但也有关于他收购并随后

忽视异域动物的阴暗传闻,以及对马克本人更广泛的不安。然而,朗森是第一位揭示马克古怪程度之真实的作家,这种古怪比传闻中的怪癖更具体地带有阴森之感。
朗森在收到儿子乔尔发来的令人不安的短信后,才得知马克拥有一座城堡。乔尔现在二十多岁,和朗森一样住在纽约。乔尔和几个朋友受邀参加在城堡举行的一场派对。抵达后,他们发现根本没有派对,取而代之的是一个令人不安的局面:六十多岁的马克正在为一部他称之为《101位公主》的真人秀节目选角。当乔尔询问其概念时,他回答道:“我是领主。我在寻找我的王后,
克里斯·马克是一个拥有异域动物收藏并梦想建立后宫的无用继承人
我有101位公主可以挑选。”他通过约会软件寻找受邀参加这些聚会的年轻女性。
在朗森开始调查马克后——他对儿子被卷入这种异常情况感到不安且好奇——他发现这仅仅是冰山一角。马克似乎渴望成为新的休·赫夫纳——而正如朗森所指出的,在人类历史上,现在绝对是最不适合拥有这种抱负的时刻。
马克是将书中各种叙事串联在一起的人物,在某种程度上,由于其财富带来的光环,他是所有人物中最引人注目的。然而,我觉得他是朗森调查的所有男人中最缺乏吸引力的一个。一个拥有异域动物收藏并梦想建立后宫的无用继承人——这样一个人物感觉像是社会的某种半永久性特征,而非任何特殊当代状况的体现。
更具当代感且更有趣的是格雷格·奇兹姆,一个在面对心脏手术的巨额医疗账单后陷入困境的单身父亲。奇兹姆在 YouTube 的早期阶段就加入了该平台,当时包括技术宅在内的每个人都还在摸索算法的需求和奖励机制。在 2010 年代,他开始制作关于草坪护理的视频,积累了一小批追随者,但一旦他开始发布涉及年幼女儿的内容——玩耍、拆礼物、拿食物打闹——他突然出名了,并赚得盆满钵满。有一段时间,生活非常美好。随后,算法需要通过日益极端的视频来刺激。他和孩子们开始做一些……不能说完全不妥,但绝对古怪的事情。他们三人(包括成年父亲)像婴儿一样表现,互相吐食物。
互联网随后转向攻击奇兹姆,指责他恋童以及各种他并未做过的可怕事情。儿童保护服务机构被派往他家,对他和女儿造成了心理创伤。他的频道在 2017 年被 YouTube 终止。奇兹姆成了一个闭门不出的人,尽管名声让他和孩子们变得富有,但他对此深感后悔。
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百万富翁华尔兹 斯特凡妮·梅里特(Stephanie Merritt)欣赏安东尼·昆(Anthony Quinn)的 proper 与 Curtain Call,背景设定在“咆哮的二十年代”
阅读详情 蒂姆·亚当斯(Tim Adams)评述《热力排版》(Hot Type),讲述了 Innotype 打印机的历史及其如何改变新闻报道
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
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瓦莱里娅·路易塞利 (Valeria Luiselli) 作者谈论“鲸歌”、美墨边境地带以及她的最新著作《开头、中间、结尾》(Beginning Middle End)
尽管网络上的偏执群体在散布虚假言论,但人们可以理解为什么 Chism 的视频会引起愤怒。他将儿童内容的恶心基调和美学推向了极端,为了留住观众,不得不创作日益离谱的素材。
虽然 Chism 发布的内容并非色情或非法,但这种不断升级的极端性呼应了色情内容的套路,且涉及儿童,使其变得令人不安且无法容忍。在 Chism 看来,他只是在喂养那个贪婪且无情的算法——在做 YouTube 高管要求他做的事情;而正是这些高管,在局势反转后不再接听他的电话。Chism 看起来是一个真正体面、深思熟虑的人,也是一个善良、慈爱的父亲。然而,算法那非人性化的决策将他变成了另一种样子。
Ronson 对 Graham Linehan 的描述是另一个关于一个人生活被互联网毁掉的凄惨故事。Linehan 曾是一位深受喜爱的喜剧编剧,《父亲!》(Father To!) 的共同创作者,也是 Twitter 上的活跃人物,在那里他深受喜爱且受人尊敬。随后,在 2013 年,情况开始发生变化,当时他 2008 年首播的情景喜剧《IT 狂人》(The IT Crowd) 的一集被重播。在剧中,一名男子发现他的女友是跨性别者,两人随即爆发了斗殴。观众不喜欢这种暴力表现,也不喜欢其中隐含的暗示,即这位跨性别女性“实际上”是个男人,其潜在的男性特质在愤怒时会不可控制地爆发。
最初以礼貌的困惑回应批评,随后变得具有防御性,最后演变为公开的愤怒。他开始研究跨性别问题,并对该话题产生了单一的痴迷,这随后彻底摧毁了他的事业和个人生活。 认为跨性别激进主义以及跨性别者的普通存在对女性构成了生存威胁,他几乎只谈论这件事(除了如今他坚定的亲以色列立场)。他几乎不停地发推特,将他的痴迷伪装成对顺性别女性福祉的所谓关注,但他并不忌讳攻击那些与他意见不一的女性。
自焚式的毁灭在一段时间前就已让即使是他的对手也失去了观看的快感,现在只剩下深沉的压抑。Ronson 曾是他的好友,但因为拒绝认可 关于跨性别问题的信念,他被列入了 漫长的敌人名单中。在《城堡》(The Castle) 一书中,Ronson 直接与他对话,因为他曾在 的社交媒体动态中被攻击过无数次。除了 极其糟糕的身心状态外,有一件事变得很清晰:他之所以能坚持他的运动,是因为他让自己相信自己正在
与世界上目前存在的最大危险作斗争。在某个时刻,他暗示如今连环杀手如此之少,是因为所有的反社会人格都迁移到了互联网上,为了就跨性别问题与他争论。这让我想起有一次在都柏林,当我走进一家提供堕胎信息的生殖权利诊所时,宗教抗议者对我大声尖叫。当时我很愤怒,但随后我强迫自己思考,如果我真的、真诚地相信每一次堕胎都等同于谋杀一个孩子,我会如何感受或行动。那确实可能会让我发疯。
关于 的章节写得非常精彩:深刻、坦率且动人。不过,我仍然不认为任何更广泛的男性气质危机或男性目标缺失与 的垮台有太大关系。他在开始这场运动时并没有迷茫或缺乏目标。他转向恶毒的言论并非因为无事可做。他的案例如果说有什么值得注意的,那就是一个拥有令人羡慕的生活和丰厚成功的人,因为在许多外界看来可能模糊或疯狂的原因而将其抛弃。
朗森的儿子在书的开头偶然发现的那档关于公主的真人秀,结果只是克里斯·马克未能实现的众多半成品且昂贵的点子之一,其中大多数点子在某种程度上都与奢侈的陪侍观念挂钩。一名忍耐力极强的顾问不得不恳求他不要购买一艘价值 290万美元 的船,因为马克计划将其变成朗森所称的“海上妓院”。他的古怪和热情似乎掩盖了其行为中阴暗的一面,直到书末,他在阿根廷被捕,原因是伤害了他的 24 岁女友,并涉嫌一周前在美国对其进行性侵。在司法部门裁定马克患有精神疾病,导致其无法分辨是非后,阿根廷方面的指控被撤销。美国对其活动的调查仍在进行中,但尚未提起指控。
至于《城堡》(The Castle)中的各种叙事是否能令人信服地凝聚在一起,以支持我们生活在一个“男人崩塌的世界”这一观点,则由读者决定。对我而言,答案是否定的,单纯是因为每个案例都太具有特异性。但这并不重要:这是一部不可错过的作品。当我甚至没有空间讨论朗森与名声扫地的食人癖电影明星阿米·汉默的接触时,足以说明这本书每一页的含金量之高。
朗森挖掘古怪且迷人人物的嗅觉是无与伦比的,而他对这些人物的细致思考则是一份更大的天赋。能找到一位既是真正的记者又是真正思想家的报道者确实罕见。而且,这个混蛋还很有趣。
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这部如梦似幻的自传体小说完成了芬兰作家皮尔科·赛西奥(Pirkko Saisio)的三部曲,探讨了她在 20 世纪 70 年代赫尔辛基的性觉醒过程
《告别红皮书》(The Red Book of Farewells) 皮尔科·赛西奥(Pirkko Saisio)著, 米娅·斯潘根伯格(Mia Spangenberg)译 企鹅经典出版社(Penguin Classics) £14.99,320页
在 20 世纪 70 年代初的赫尔辛基,一名心碎的戏剧系学生皮尔科·赛西奥试图创作一首歌。她写道她的爱人失踪了,随后又责备自己过于夸张。“但另一方面,”她想,“这是一首歌。在歌曲中,你可以,而且实际上被期待去夸大事情。你不能直接把自己的生活原封不动地变成一首歌。或者,你可以?”
这个问题可能是《告别红皮书》所完成的“赫尔辛基三部曲”的核心:这三本书实际上是一首关于赛西奥自己生活的歌。这些书于 1998 年至 2003 年间在芬兰出版,赛西奥在当地被视为顶尖的文学人物。这些书紧贴她生活的实情,但属于自传体小说(autofiction)而非回忆录。为什么?因为赛西奥认为自传体小说是一种更自由的形式,可以让作者无需强求让自己显得讨人喜欢。它还允许她完全按照自己的方式行事。她承认自己将一个伴侣说的一句对话给了另一个伴侣,并写道:“我正在行使我作为作者的特权,将这句话放在我认为最合适的人和情境中。”
三部曲的第一本书《最小公分母》(Lowest Common Denominator)聚焦于皮尔科的童年——她在一个无神论、共产主义的工人阶级家庭中长大——以及她与父亲的关系(我将用“皮尔科”指代角色,用“赛西奥”指代作者)。尽管她离意识到自己是酷儿还很遥远,但她察觉到了内心的一种紧张感:她既想成为她漂亮、女性化的表妹海伦娜(Helena),又想“成为一个男孩”。
第二本书《背光》(Backlight)描述了她的青少年时期和性觉醒。在《告别红皮书》中,她成了一名进入戏剧世界的年轻女性,并在一个同性恋仍被视为刑事犯罪的国家,开始了她与女性的首次秘密关系。
在我天真的想法中,我以为 20 世纪 70 年代赫尔辛基的一所激进社会主义戏剧学校会是一个进步的环境,但教师委员会坚持要求皮尔科与她的女友分开。“这两个人在我的课上互相抚摸,”一名教师说道,“尽管她们两个都是女人,是女孩。”不幸的是,抚摸哈瓦(Havva)的人不止她一个,而哈瓦说出了任何恋人都不愿从其痴迷对象口中听到的最后一句话:“我有我自己的生活。你必须理解这一点。”
三部曲的每一部都包含了一个关于皮尔科作为作家成长过程的启示。在《告别红皮书》中,她的创造力在写作和表演之间徘徊,而当她痴迷于塑造一个角色时,僵局被打破了。“天哪,”她告诉哈瓦,“她是个如此糟糕的人,但我太迷这个了。”
我花了一段时间才产生同样的感受。这是一部如梦似幻、碎片化的小说,在出现任何可以被视为真正戏剧性序列的内容之前,它漫无目的地铺陈了一百页。这部手稿感觉像是处于最终编辑之前的阶段,这听起来像是在批评,但我的意思是赞美;散文具有一种灵动且流畅的特质,使这本书读起来极具快感。这里的赞誉应当归功于译者米娅·斯潘根伯格(Mia Spangenberg)。
在《最低公分母》(Lowest Common Denominator)中,皮尔科(Pirkko)写道:“世界上存在的一切都在等待我将其捕捉在书中”。在关于该三部曲的采访中,赛西奥(Saisio)提供了一份撰写自传体小说的指南:大量阅读玛格丽特·杜拉斯(Marguerite Duras)的作品(绝不会浪费时间);喝酒以克服自我怀疑;并在深夜写作。这是一种可能导致毁灭的方法,但在坚持了“大约 10 年”之后,她告诉一位采访者:“我在清醒时也能进入潜意识。从那时起,我不再需要喝酒来写作。”
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“朗森(Ronson)挖掘古怪且引人注目的人物的天赋是无与伦比的。” Jesse Dittmar / Redox / eynline
26 observer.co.uk 23.08.26
书籍
一部具有论战色彩且俏皮的新随笔集,探讨了 21 世纪写作的成本与价值。作者:伊莫金·韦斯特-奈茨 (Imogen West-Knights)
《太少,太难》(Too Little, Too Hard) 编辑:露西·默瑟 (Lucy Mercer) 和 利维亚·弗兰基尼 (Livia Franchini) 半岛出版社 (Peninsula Press),£14.99,224页
英国的每一位作家——除了那些拥有巨额继承财富的人,或少数获得巨额图书预付款的人——都知道维持生计非常困难。那些通过写书、为杂志撰写自由稿件,或几乎任何其他形式的创意写作就能在经济上自给自足的日子已经一去不复返了——如果这样的日子真的存在过的话。然而,作家们很少讨论这个事实——私下里会谈,但在公开场合不会。无论是在讲座中被问及工作,在采访中,还是如果他们足够幸运地在颁奖演说中,都不会提及。人们普遍认为,将自己创作的艺术简化为像时薪这样庸俗的东西,在某种程度上是肮脏的、枯燥的,或者会降低艺术的格调。甚至有人认为,因为写作是一个如此受推崇且令人向往的职业,谈论支付账单的困难可能会在某种程度上显得不知感恩。
正是在这样的背景下,露西·默瑟和利维亚·弗兰基尼推出了随笔集《太少,太难》,其中包含了另外 16 位小说家和诗人的贡献。正如他们在引言中所写,他们的具体目标是为作家“创造一个空间”,让他们讨论自己如何工作、何时工作,以及在从事这些工作的同时维持生计的其他工作,以及阻碍他们的更广泛的商业和经济因素。当然,作为一名自由撰稿人要赚到体面的钱一直很困难。这里没有清晰的职业轨迹,没有月度工资单,也没有年度考核。但这些随笔概述了当前的现状,以及在一部完整的作品最终出现在书店桌上之前所涉及的一系列复杂因素。举几个例子:公共艺术资金的剧烈削减;出版商不愿在实验性或“晦涩”的书籍上冒险;以及大学的空心化——大学曾是作家的可靠避风港,他们可以通过教学在从事创作的同时维持生计,而现在的职位寥寥无几,且更多地倾向于可市场化、可衡量的结果,而非心智的培养。与此同时,Substack 似乎为作家提供了一条摆脱对崩溃的传统媒体机构依赖的出路,但事实上,根据安迪·佩鲁佐 (Andy Perluzzo) 和 莎拉·布鲁利特 (Sarah Brouillette) 在《Substack 与挣扎中的作家》一文中的观点,它往往将他们孤立起来,并要求他们认同一种关于“不稳定状态”的浪漫幻想。

作为一名作家,赚到体面的钱一直很困难:没有清晰的职业轨迹,没有月度工资单,也没有年度考核。
这部作品严肃地对待了一个显而易见但仍具有争议的观点:对于专业作家来说,写作就是工作——有时是有趣的工作,通常是引人入胜且有回报的工作,但无论如何,它依然是工作。“许多作家不希望将写作归类为工作,”默瑟和弗兰基尼写道,但编辑们认为将其称为工作是有益的,“不仅因为这有助于
安东尼·奎因(Anthony Quinn)这部背景设定在 20 世纪 20 年代的《谢幕》(Curtain Call)前传,在战争的阴影下审视上流社会与底层社会。作者:斯蒂芬妮·梅里特(Stephanie Merritt)
《百万富翁华尔兹》(The Millionaire Waltz) 安东尼·奎因(Anthony Quinn) Abacus 出版社,£22,416 页
安东尼·奎因在 2015 年创作的剧场推理小说《谢幕》(Curtain Call)是对 20 世纪 30 年代侦探小说的时尚戏仿,它乐于玩弄该类型的惯例,并契合了阿加莎·克里斯蒂(Agatha Christie)人气复兴的浪潮——萨拉·菲尔普斯(Sarah Phelps)为 BBC 改编的第一部作品在同年播出,而索菲·汉娜(Sophie Hannah)创作的第一部波洛续作《字母谋杀案》(The Monogram Murders)则在一年之前出版。《谢幕》后来被改编为电影《评论家》(The Critic),该版本突出了由伊恩·麦克莱伦(Ian McKellen)饰演的奎因笔下那毒舌至极的戏剧评论家吉米·埃尔斯金(Jimmy Erskine)。如今,11 年过去了,奎因
写了一部前传,从不同的角度重新审视了其中一些熟悉的人物,并引入了令人难忘的新角色。
《百万富翁华尔兹》并非一部谋杀谜题小说,尽管它同样包含一条设定在伦敦非法同性社交圈、敲诈勒索和秘密诱捕行动中的副线剧情。故事始于 1924 年,即《谢幕》事件发生 12 年前;在主题上(而非风格上),这部小说与弗吉尼亚·伍尔夫(Virginia Woolf)的《昼与夜》(Night and Day)更为相似,讲述了一位出身名门、充满活力且聪慧的年轻女性,必须在代表责任与欲望的追求者之间做出选择。
主线剧情围绕着 27 岁的社交名媛兼兼职演员伊迪·格林劳(Edie Greenlaw)展开,她在第一次世界大战中驾驶救护车的经历,激发了她追求比婚姻和为人母更充实生活的渴望。她的未婚夫大卫·本顿-劳纳(David Benton-Launer)在一定程度上宽容她建立事业的愿望,但同时也意识到自己有义务为家族地产提供继承人。然而,伊迪的事业和感情生活都没有进展顺利;由于缺乏舞台角色,她通过在百货公司担任模特来补贴家用,这令她那令人敬畏的未来婆婆感到惊恐(其中有一个精彩的场景,伊迪勇敢地面对本顿-劳纳夫人的责难,其姿态犹如伊丽莎白·班内特面对凯瑟琳·德·波格夫夫人一般)。更令人不安的是,她爱上了大卫那穷困潦倒的表弟克里斯(Chris),而克里斯此前已因离婚而令家族蒙羞。
《谢幕》的仰慕者们将会欣喜地发现自己再次
由 Enda O'Doherty 挑选
《官僚》(The Mandarins) 西蒙娜·德·波伏娃 著 (1954) 波伏娃这部获得了法国最负盛名的文学奖——龚古尔奖的半自传体小说(roman à clef),讲述了三位左翼知识分子:亨利·佩龙、罗贝尔·杜布勒伊及其妻子安妮之间交织的生活、爱情和政治计划(显然分别代表了阿尔贝·加缪、让-保罗·萨特和波伏亚本人)。佩龙试图维持一份左翼报纸的生存,而杜布勒伊则发起了一个新政党。他们都在拼命尝试创造一种充满活力且严肃但非极权主义的社会主义,这一计划至今仍吸引着许多法国知识分子。
《巴黎到月球》(Paris to the Moon) 亚当·戈普尼克 著 (2000) 这部回忆录表明,爱上法国绝非难事,但必须在法国设定的条款下进行。戈普尼克是《纽约客》的作者,他于1995年与家人抵达巴黎并居住了五年。他描写了国民美食、时尚和日常之美,但最令人捧腹的是他对一个国家根深蒂固的官僚主义的描写——在那里,一张告知人们不要践踏草坪的通知可能长达200字。我们可以得出结论,在法国,“放松管制”是一个不可能实现的梦想。
《某种关于法国的理念:夏尔·戴高乐的生平》(A Certain Idea of France: The Life of Charles de Gaulle) 朱利安·杰克逊 著 (2018) 杰克逊这部引人入胜的研究之作获得了一项对于盎格鲁-撒克逊作家来说罕见的殊荣:即便在法国也被誉为杰作。戴高乐是一位以才智、判断力和“战术压制”著称的天生保守主义者,他通过欺骗殖民主义极端分子并将法国从非洲抽离而掌权。随后,他建立了广泛的支持,将左翼人物吸纳进他的政府。在传记中,杰克逊阐明了根深蒂固的左翼和右翼概念在法国实际操作中意味着什么。
Enda O'Doherty 的《法国的阴暗面》(The Dark Side of France)由 Apollo 出版
我们应当更加关注写作所需的时间、空间和资源,但因为写作也依赖于其他形式的工作”。
替代性工作构成了这里散文集主题的一大部分——它如何既滋养写作,又分食写作的份额。克劳迪娅·杜拉斯坦蒂在她的文章《廉价文学》(Cheap Lit)中写到了她与小说家身份并行的翻译工作:“我快要在这里承认,翻译这份在经济上可靠的工作——我深爱它且不会放弃,因为它给我带来了乐趣……正在消耗我本应投入到作为小说家这一‘正业’中的越来越多精力。”在另一篇文中,小说家、书商兼出版商塞缪尔·费舍尔采访了巴勒斯坦文学节的联合创始人兼主任奥马尔·罗伯特·汉密尔顿,探讨他如何平衡写作与激进主义,对他而言,这两者都是应对同一不公正现象的方式。他的回答揭示了许多作家必须坚决面对的焦虑:即使他们在经济上能证明其合理性,他们所做的事情在某种程度上仍是轻率的——他说,“艺术也许在某种程度上是自私的,或者是以自我为中心的”。像这样的一部作品集,记录了我们经常为了逃避诸如 bleak economic realities(阴郁的经济现实)等事物而寻求的文学作品背后的阴郁经济现实,本可能会变得沉闷。这里有论战,但也有很多俏皮和创造性的愉悦。比如霍莉·佩斯特的散文,探讨了做梦在创作实践中可能扮演的角色;或者安伯·胡赛因那篇讽刺意味十足的《处方》(Prescription),它是从一个疾病叙事本身的角度写成的,讲述一个编辑如何告诉它应该如何表现,以最大限度地提升对其作者职业生涯的影响:“这在我的作者那里并不受欢迎,她对‘参与度’这种雇佣兵式的语言感到厌恶。在推销她的故事时,她敏锐地感觉到,厌恶销售这件事至关重要。”
编辑的目标是为作家“创造一个空间”来讨论他们如何工作。 Ben Smith / Millennium Images
写作的现实情况看来将变得更加艰难:作家们正忧心忡忡地关注着政府关于自雇人士每月缴税而非每年缴税的提案,对于那些可能在等待发票付款期间连续数周没有任何收入的艺术家来说,这无疑是雪上加霜。但这里作品的价值及其多样性,让人在感受到优秀写作带来的活力之余,而不仅仅是对其创作过程中日益增加的压力感到沮丧。《太少,太难》(Too Little, Too Hard)是对关于写作如何完成以及谁有权写作的对话的一次有价值且至关重要的、令人愉悦的剖析。

“这是一个充满香槟杯、直筒裙和晚宴的世界。” Sasha / Hulton Archive / Getty Images
再次与吉米·埃尔斯金(Jimmy Erskine,其原型很大程度上参考了评论家兼日记作者詹姆斯·阿盖特 James Agate)同行,他主导着每一次社交聚会,而他那些带有坎普风格的俏皮话构成了书中最精彩的一些台词(在谈到一场令人失望的《安东尼与克利奥帕特拉》演出时,他说:“一个非常考验耐心的夜晚。我从未如此高兴地看到一条眼镜蛇。”)。小说还介绍了《谢幕》(Curtain Call)的女主角尼娜·兰德(Nina Land),她是一个被伊迪(Edie)收在羽翼下的害羞的 20 岁少女。
奎因(Quinn)在处理时代对话和细节方面有着极佳的轻盈触感:这是一个充满香槟杯、直筒裙和晚宴的世界,艾弗·诺维洛(Ivor Novello)会顺道拜访并快速演唱一段《让家园之火继续燃烧》(Keep the Home Fires Burning)。但在闪耀的表面之下,潜藏着一个阴暗的元素。如果说《谢幕》设定在第二次世界大战的前夕,那么在这里,第一次世界大战的长久阴影从未远离。大多数年轻男性都
经历过战斗并失去了朋友;有一次,伊迪在街上遇到一名面部被烧伤的前士兵乞讨钱财,就像一个集体恐怖的幽灵,而这正是“咆哮的二十年代”试图忘记的东西。“就好像每个人突然决定不再提及这件事。”
最好的历史小说能在不引起注意的情况下将我们自己的时代映射给我们。在奎因对一个忙于掩埋近期集体创伤的社会、少数群体的不稳定地位以及社会顶层与底层之间巨大差距的描绘中,人们可以窥见一些感觉完全现代的情绪。《百万富翁华尔兹》(The Millionaire Waltz)是奎因作品集中一个璀璨的补充,也是《谢幕》的一部有趣伴侣,无论你选择以何种顺序阅读它们。
在 observershop.co.uk 订购一本,价格为 £19.80(低于建议零售价 10%)
图书
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
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迈克尔·佩德森 (Michael Pedersen)
仅仅是小便池里的一只蜘蛛 乘风破浪 我朋友那张糟糕的海报 上是电影《全面回忆》中那个长着三只乳房的外星性工作者 一个悲剧的事实 是某些牡蛎最终无法被撬开 黑莓成熟 它们在向善的潜力中不可逾越 走过一个穿着 Wonder 的人 真是该死的 冰层下生命的一抹微光 时间的点点滴刻 如此便无人需负责 七月里 赫普顿斯托尔邮局窗前 一个冬日仙境的微缩景观 在庸俗之外 花朵被压制成香水 泡沫胡须 黏在另一页翻开的纸上 一个从面孔的火海中被救出的微笑
迈克尔·佩德森是一位苏格兰诗人、小说家以及爱丁堡桂冠诗人。他的著作包括《Muckle Flagg》(Faber出版)和《The Cat Prince & Other Poems》(Little, Brown出版)。
插画由克里斯·里德尔 (Chris Riddell) 绘制
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书籍
记者杰夫·贾维斯(Jeff Jarvis)以引人入胜且风趣幽默的笔触,讲述了行排机(linotype machine)的发明过程,该机器在长达一个世纪的时间里主导了新闻生产。作者:蒂姆·亚当斯(Tim Adams)
《热铅字:诞生大众媒体并令马克·吐温发疯的宏伟机器》(Hot Type: The Magnificent Machine that Gave Birth to Mass Media and Drove Mark Twain Mad) 杰夫·贾维斯(Jeff Jarvis)著 布鲁姆斯伯里出版社(Bloomsbury),£17.99,480页
72岁的杰夫·贾维斯正处于勉强还能记得报纸过去如何制作的年纪。50多年前,当他在《芝加哥论坛报》(Chicago Tribune)开始工作时,该报正处于从热金属工艺向数字化工艺转型的边缘。一些“像《杰森一家》中厨房电器一样”的计算机原型被安装在烟不离口的记者办公桌上,但它们并未开启;那些记者看待这些机器的样子,就像《2001太空漫游》中“惊恐的猿猴围绕着方尖碑”一样。作为一名负责汇总记者和其他来源信息的“改写员”,贾维斯当时仍处于那个由手动打字机和复写纸组成的、嘈杂的旧世界中。他按照印刷工艺所要求的结构撰写新闻:一个包含所有重要人物、事件和原因的“导语”(lede);一个简明扼要地总结故事重要性的“核心段”(nut graf);最后才是“色彩”段落和引语。当贾维斯打完每篇故事的每个部分时,他会大喊:“稿件好了!”(Copy!),一名职员会将不同的页面分发给编辑,编辑用蓝铅笔进行修改,然后将页面通过气动传输管发送出去,在那里,排字工会用熔融金属将它们重新制作成印刷页。重要信息放在故事顶部,是因为在排字室里,随着新闻(以版英寸衡量)每小时发生变化,最后几个段落可能会被直接砍掉。
在世界各地的城市和城镇中创造这种每夜奇迹的机器,在一个世纪的时间里几乎没有改变。那就是行排机,由一名年轻的德国人奥特马·默根塔勒(Ottmar Mergenthaler)在1883年至1885年间开发。贾维斯在这部关于这项伟大发明的引人入胜的历史书中认为,默根塔勒理应与他的同胞、活字印刷术的发明者约翰内斯·古腾堡(Johannes Gutenberg)被并列提及。默根塔勒解决了一个限制了印刷业500年的问题:如何不只是为印刷设置单个字符,而是每次设置整行文字?他开发了一个键盘,连接到一个模具系统,该系统能将字母形式像目测一样在行中排列。每一行都会在同一台机器中用熔融金属铸造成一个单一的整体,即“铅条”(slug)。它就像一台大众媒体的联合收割机。默根塔勒的机器使排版——以及随之而来的报纸生产——速度提升了数倍。它创造了我们这个“快来看新闻”的24小时新闻世界。
在《论坛报》,随后在《旧金山考量报》(San Francisco Examiner),贾维斯见证了这台新闻引擎最后的敲击声,并且是最早采用替代行排生产技术的人之一。最初,是通过IBM Selectrics打字机和扫描仪实现的。随后,在1984年,第一代苹果麦金塔(Apple Macs)出现,它向编辑们承诺了他们一直渴望的功能:能够在屏幕上准确看到读者在印刷品中将看到的内容(即WYSIWYG——所见即所得)。这改变了记者的写作方式;文章的所有看点不再需要全部挤在开头几个段落中(尽管许多记者仍然坚持这一原则)。它还永远改变了旧有的职业分工;现在每个人都是排字员——这就是为什么鲁珀特·默多克(Rupert Murdoch)在瓦平(Wapping)与印刷工会爆发了残酷战争的原因。
贾维斯成了某种媒体演进的布道者。我第一次接触到他是在几十年前,那时他还是一个对印刷媒体持乐观态度的末日预言家,也是关于媒体技术的具有影响力的博客 BuzzMachine 的作者,他告知那些阴郁的新闻编辑室,他们即将被社交媒体所吞没。因此,他成为了这次早期转型的一个深度参与且极具吸引力的引导者,并从中发现了报纸在让新闻盈利方面持续挣扎的深刻平行之处。
与所有革命性发明一样,默根特勒的行排机并非凭空出现。几位竞争对手都在追求自动化排版这一共同的圣杯,就像现在的竞争 AI 平台都在寻求成为拥挤市场中的垄断者一样。一个领先的竞争对手是 Paige 排字机,这是詹姆斯·W·佩奇(James W Paige)的创意,马克·吐温支持他的努力,并在过程中让自己破产。
吐温对排字机的信念(“这个排字员不会喝醉。他不会加入印刷工会……女人也可以操作他”)使他向佩奇的经营投入了巨额资金。贾维斯写道,他每次投资“三四千美元,有时更多,总计近 $200,000——相当于今天的近 700万美元”,直到两人最终承认他们的机器已被那个德国人的机器超越。贾维斯详细讲述了这个像车祸一样惨烈的故事。正如《华盛顿邮报》当时观察到的那样:“定位一项不安全投资的一个好方法,就是看看马克·吐温是否被允许在初始阶段入股。”
毫无疑问,这段令人遗憾的——而且在贾维斯的讲述中相当有趣——的历史,为今天的风险投资家们提供了教训。同样,对于那些认为自己洞悉新闻未来的最新一批创业者来说,其中也包含着有趣的启示。提出“媒介即讯息”这一观点的作者马歇尔·麦克卢汉(Marshall McLuhan)认为,用行排机取代手工排字员,使得印刷品能够通过快速且同时地讲述多个故事来模拟人类意识,从而将我们对世界的感知“机械化”。正如贾维斯所展示的,从那一刻起,就再也没有回头路了。
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2 Jun at 17:35
回复:Vitsoe:关于您的订单
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嘿 Antoine!
感谢跟进!
我很喜欢这个系统。拥有这套搁架系统是我一段时间以来的梦想,它没有让我失望!安装超级简单,每层搁板能承载的重量让我震惊。我非常喜欢零件将始终可用,以便根据需要进行扩展和重新配置,我期待着随着我个人收藏的增加而扩展这个系统。
再次感谢您的所有帮助,您让设计和订购过程变得轻而易举!
多亏了 Vitsoe 网站上提供的所有绝佳信息以及您的建议,最终结果看起来完全是我希望的样子!
谢谢, Landen
VITSOE
我们要感谢来自加拿大阿博茨福德(Abbotsford)的 Landen 允许我们分享其反馈
书籍
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
29
这位出生于墨西哥的小说家谈论边境地带、座头鲸的夏季热门曲目,以及她的青春期女儿如何帮助她创作新小说。作者:Ellen Peirson-Hagger
瓦莱里娅·路易塞利(Valeria Luiselli),43岁,是一位居住在纽约的作家。她出生于墨西哥城,前四部作品(包括小说和随笔集)均用西班牙语写作。她的第五部作品,曾获多项大奖的小说《失踪儿童档案》(Lost Children Archive),是她第一部用英语创作的作品。她的最新小说《开头 中间 结尾》(Beginning Middle End)讲述了一位生活在美国的墨西哥作家在离婚后,在火山喷发的夏天与女儿一起前往西西里岛的故事。
《开头 中间 结尾》中包含了《失踪儿童档案》的回响。你认为它是后作吗?
这两本书之间存在一种虚假的对称性。第一本的叙述者是一名声音纪录片制作者,而这一本则是一名作家。两本中都有离婚的故事,以及继兄弟。但这是一个平行宇宙,而不是续集。从《失踪儿童档案》中衍生出的项目是一篇名为《边境地带的回响》(Echoes from the Borderlands)的声音随笔。
那具体涉及什么?
在创作《失踪儿童档案》之前,我对声景(soundscapes)一无所知,后来我对它的实践产生了兴趣。我与两名录音师合作,在五年时间里记录了美墨边境地带,致力于创作一部关于该地区24小时的声音随笔。此前,我从未学习过如何倾听风声、水下洋流或火山。录音的过程让我进入了一个关注自然世界的空间,而这正是《开头 中间 结尾》的实质。
美墨边境地带听起来是什么样的?
我们原以为会有更多的暴力、与边境巡逻队的遭遇以及移民跨境。当然,这些都有,但大部分是广袤的沙漠和森林。这部作品始于太平洋水下座头鲸迁徙的声音。我们很幸运,因为我们在2021年记录到了它们,那时仍处于新冠疫情期间,所以没有邮轮,船只也非常少。鲸鱼唱出了几十年来最复杂的歌曲,因为它们能听到彼此的声音。它们都唱同一首歌,但每年都不同。就像是它们的夏季热门曲目。
瓦莱里娅·路易塞利由 Maria Spann 为《观察者报》拍摄。
《开头 中间 结尾》是如何开始的?
源于我当时10岁的女儿在经历童年失眠和焦虑期间问我的一个问题。那时我会在晚上大声给她读希腊神话,试图让她入睡。有一天晚上她说:“妈妈,为什么在所有这些创世神话中,事物总是被撕裂?”这部小说便始于对我此前从未思考过的那个问题的探索。
请跟我讲讲普罗透斯(Proteus),那位能改变形态的海神。
在小说创作的早期甚至中期,普罗透斯并不是一个我思考的人物。但每当我翻开书寻找关于火山的观察或思考水的方式时:砰,他就出现了。爱丽丝·奥斯瓦尔德(Alice Oswald)的《达特》(Dart)是我最喜欢的书之一,结尾就是普罗透斯的形象。他在《奥维德》(Ovid)中再次出现,随后出现在约翰·斯坦贝克(John Steinbeck)的《科尔特斯海日志》(The Log from the Sea of Cortez)中。比起格雷柯-罗马神话体系中的几乎所有其他神灵,我更喜欢普罗透斯这个形象,因为他以一种我们通常不认为的方式具有神谕性。通常,人们认为神谕是一种预见未来的工具。但他能洞察未来、现在和过去。我认为将神谕理解为对时间艺术拥有完全的清晰掌控,而不仅仅是占卜,这要有趣得多。
“屈服于灾难性思维的诱惑是危险的,因为它可能会让我们逃避责任”
移民是本书的核心主题:作家的祖母从意大利移民到墨西哥,而女儿注意到了最近抵达西西里的难民。关于这些移民周期,什么引起了你的兴趣?
对于世界经历的那些迫使人们一次又一次离开家园的暴力循环,存在着严重的历史失忆。同样,对于所谓的第一世界国家对那些被其掠夺的国家所承担的责任,也存在着历史失忆,因此这部小说探讨了这种失忆。
西西里岛在其中扮演什么角色?
小说绘制了一幅地图,其中从北非和黎凡特地区山脉掠夺石材的船只所经过的航线,与如今将移民带到兰佩杜萨岛和西西里岛南部的船只航线完全一致。我一生都痴迷于边界。这部小说将西西里岛定位为巨大的边境地带:它是我们星球上欧洲 / 非洲 / 中东部分的“边界之边”。但这里也是非洲板块与欧洲板块交汇的地方。
除了象征意义,这里还存在着非常真实的后果,即该地区的火山活动营造出一种世界之初的感觉——一个事物正在被创造的、沸腾的原始空间。但它同时也提醒我们,世界的终结也就在那里。
你在多大程度上想要写一部关于气候紧急情况的小说?
屈服于灾难性思维的诱惑是危险的,因为这可能会让我们逃避责任。如果没有希望,我们还被强制去做什么?不屈服于灾难性思维本身就是一种政治立场。
你是如何为那个12岁的女儿找到合适的口吻的?
我花了大约六年时间写这部[小说],在写到第三年时,我的女儿开始变得焦虑。她会问我:“你到底能不能完成你的那部小说?我爸爸已经写完两部小说了,而你还在写这一部。”她知道怎么拿捏我!后来,我们养成了一起大声朗读片段的习惯。她会说:“不,我12岁的时候不会那样说话。”我们像在编剧室一样共同打磨。
你有没有给她合作者的署名权? 我给了。她考虑了一下,几天后回来对我说:“我觉得不用了,因为万一你收到糟糕的评论怎么办?我觉得我还不够成熟来应对那种情况。”
《Beginning Middle End》由 Fourth Estate 出版(£18.99)。可通过 observershop.co.uk 订购,价格为 £17.19(低于建议零售价 10%)
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observer.co.uk
23.08.26

本周问题:
请写出图中(上方)诗人的名字 答案将于下周日公布。
上周的细节出自英国艺术家 Tirzah Garwood (1908-51) 的作品《鳄鱼》(The Crocodile)。Garwood 在创作这幅描绘 10 名女学生排队绕弯而行的敏锐木刻画时年仅 21 岁。画中的每个女孩都有其独特的个性,从被黑色的梗类犬吸引而分心的微笑女孩,到系着丝带辫子、急于讨好前方领队的害羞女孩。直到两年前的一次迟到的回顾展之前,Garwood 几乎仅被视为 Eric Ravilious 的妻子。如今,她那些活泼、深刻且富有原创性的绘画和版画作品,作为英式幽默艺术的典范,终于获得了应有的认可。
每周我们展示三张剧照。请猜出涉及的电影以及将它们联系在一起的女演员。(如果你能按时间顺序排列,可获得额外加分。)
出题人:Killian Fox
答案见第 31 页
1 我看我的红军在何处比赛? (10) 6 食人者相应地退休 (4) 9 我们在船上的粗鲁灵长类动物的未开化态度 (4,6) 10 听起来像 prune(李子 / 修剪)的物品——或另一种水果 (4) 11 庆祝猪肉末的场合——再一次? (9,3) 15 墓地里的吻,赤裸,跳舞;这有点过分 (7) 16 翻转无止境,作者使苏格兰人疲惫,在肯尼亚某地 (7) 17 屠夫,被诋毁,隐藏叶子 (7) 19 公路强盗坚固且圆润,右侧! (7) 20 或者我的故事是一团糟,遗憾地? (2,5,2,3) 23 像需要额外时间的鞋带 (4) 24 新起点;军事假人进度落后 (5,5) 25 破坏一份职责清单 (4) 26 英国被不理智的沉默所约束,关于未来技术 (10)
1 协作良好,正如 Everyman 安静 (4) 2 我们听说小猪的朋友是各种酱料的基础 (4) 3 啤酒,平均(但免费):我很热衷 (5,6) 4 立法者在公共艺术中投入时间的产出 (7) 5 同伴在易北河某地被拒绝提供瓶装水 (7) 7 能让你得到 G 的金额? (5,5)
8 始祖鸟等:它们的饮食包括蠕虫 (5,5) 12 第一个错误:在筒仓中研磨谷物 (8,3) 13 预言者的疏忽:那告诉你一些事情 (10) 14 强调板球比赛是需要耐力的考验 (6,4) 18 君主及其家人变换阵营以获得忠诚 (7) 19 乐于助人的年轻人烤了一些有嚼劲的东西 (7) 21 是的,俄罗斯人得到英国报纸很荒谬 (4) 22 富有的欧洲人的灿烂载体,首先是? (4)
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随机选出的五名正确解答者将各获得一张 £15 的图书代金券。
如需参加 Everyman 抽奖,请通过在线方式或邮寄至以下地址提交正确答案:Everyman No. 4,166, The Observer, 22 Berners Street, London W17 3LP
电子邮件参赛必须在主题栏中包含与印刷版一致的字谜名称和编号(例如 “Everyman No. 4,166”)。主题不正确的参赛作品将不被接受。仅限 15 岁及以上的英国居民。每人最多参赛一次。在线参赛的截止日期为出版后的周六,邮寄参赛必须在出版后的周六之前盖戳,且必须在谜题出版后十天内送达(即出版后下周三之前)。获奖者将在出版两周后的周日公布。
完整条款与条件请访问:
https: / observer.co.uk / puzzles / everyman / article / crossword-prize-draws
不过难,不过易,恰到好处。
金发姑娘线索不包含字数提示;在尺寸中等的填字游戏中,它们只会让原本紧凑的谜题变得更加简单。乐趣在于发散思维、对网格的观察以及鲜明的现代英国口语。请通过订阅 observer.co.uk 在线游玩金发姑娘存档。

| 3 | | | | | | | | | 1 / 7 / 4 4 / 5 / 1 9 / 1 / 2 / 6 8 / 9 / 7 6 / 3 7 / 1 / 5
每一行、每一列以及 3+3 的方格必须包含数字 1-9,外加一个额外数字——四个高亮的 3+3 蓝色方格共同组成了一组额外的方格,其中也必须包含 1-9 且不能有重复方格。
Collouts 在 1967 年描述了在地面上购物熏鲱鱼如何能迷惑鲱鱼朋友并引导它们走向错误方向的情况。
A) 消耗性之星之后的居民。穿着红衬衫的安全官员和工程师(市场)在他在其他地方这样做时会被专门消耗。有些角色的主要目的是承担责任,如果不是因为这种情况,则无法承担责任,通常用于在不进一步影响任何重要人物的情况下证明致命威胁。
B) A) 一个不可熏制的问题。一旦在机器上(友好的,“机械之神”)是一个敏感设备,虽然被广泛接受,但提供了一个足够敏感的程度以便能够使用它。使用它的唯一方法是 它。唯一的方法是它,是它。唯一的方法是它,是 是它,是 4. C) 演员与观众之间。第四面墙是观众与演员之间在舞台上或屏幕上的概念性分离。当演员打破第四面墙时,他们中断了叙事过程并直接承认观众的存在。
D) 它必须被发射。儿童枪是一种叙事原则,认为情节中的每个元素都应服务于某个目的。它得名于以下内容:“如果在第一幕中你有一把手枪挂在墙上,那么它必须在最后的一幕中发射。”
E) 《马耳他之鹰》中的马耳他之鹰是麦格芬(MacGuffin),这是一个其唯一目的是推动情节发展的敏感设备。通常采取故事角色所追求的神秘物体、文物或武器的形式,如马耳他之鹰的情况。该术语由经济学家 Angus MacFinnis 创造,并由 Boustice Alford McCrack 推广。
F) 猎狗。红鲱鱼是一个误导性的线索,将情况从重要事项中转移开。该术语与 Wilson 相关。
评论家
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
33
音频
首相在与伊丽莎白·戴(Elizabeth Day)和费利西蒂·汉娜(Felicity Hannah)的播客节目中,向我们展现了一位被“几乎所有事情”折磨得彻夜难眠的激进领导人。
朱德·罗杰斯(Jude Rogers)
Wake Up to Money Radio 5 Live / BBC Sounds
How to Fail with Elizabeth Day Daylight Productions
高阶音频爱好者们请注意:安迪·伯纳姆(Andy Burnham)本周一直在进行他的“倾听之旅”,走访英国各城镇,倾听民意。对于一位在夏季休会期间通过活泼的社交媒体短片以及精心挑选的播客和广播节目,尝试以新方式发出声音的首相来说,这是一个耐人寻味的主意。
在 BBC Radio 5 Live 的《Sam Wake Up to Money》节目中,他显得神采奕奕。他告诉制作人斯特凡·雅耶奇克(Stefan Jajeczyk),他在“必须起得这么早的时候”会听这个节目。由热情且精明的费利西蒂·汉娜主持,节目开头她解释了伯纳姆的团队是如何直接与她的团队取得联系的,随后切入他们在一个闷热、嘈杂的社区中心进行的对话。
当汉娜暗示他最近的一系列公告在生活成本危机面前只是“小打小闹”时,伯纳姆回答道:“我可以接受‘这还不够’的批评。你必须做的是积累许多小事,将它们结合起来以减轻压力。”即便是在绕圈子给出确切答案时,伯纳姆那种邻家男孩般的务实感听起来依然格外清新。
他的直率亦然。“什么事情让你彻夜难眠?”汉娜问道。“几乎所有事情。还有太多事情需要处理——到一天结束时,你简直想直接退休。”随后汉娜问了一个有趣的问题:“你是在靠‘氛围感’(vibes)来增长经济吗?”他的回答很公正:“如果我在大曼彻斯特地区尝试那样做,我根本不会有任何进展。”
“这 49 分钟是关于亲和力且略带前卫魅力的典范”
安迪·伯纳姆的倾听之旅包括了“精心挑选”的播客和广播亮相。 Kenny
伯纳姆还再次接受了 LBC 的采访(该电台抢到了梅克菲尔德补选后的首次采访,由安德鲁·马尔主持),讨论英国商业街的现状。你可能已经听说了那个瞬间:在二十多岁的记者亨利·赖利(Henry Riley)的提问下,他叫错了自己在 Greggs 最喜欢的一款产品的名字。位于曼彻斯特北 10 号最近的分店将该点心重新命名为“香肠、奶酪和豆子玩意儿”,销量随即翻倍;现在该产品甚至在全国范围内更改了名称。就像许多其他时刻一样,这段广播片段在社交媒体上的“模因化”(meme-ification)赋予了它地位及其变幻莫测的能量。
伯纳姆本月初在伊丽莎白·戴的播客中亮相则更令人意外(当我尝试在播客供应商那里收听时弹出的消息也是如此:“要收听成人内容播客,请登录”)。“我们不经常遇到愿意承认错误的政治家,”戴以一贯的专业且圆润的口吻开始,随后描述了她的采访对象第一次尝试进入剑桥大学的失败经历,他短暂担任记者期间在《集装箱管理》(Container Management)等“显赫刊物”上工作的经历(他解释说,这就是为什么他不会参加《我有新闻给你》(Have I Got News for You)节目,因为“他们会把那本刊物当作嘉宾出版物……读出我的旧文章……我无法承受那种羞辱”),以及他此前两次竞选工党领导人的失败。
这 49 分钟的《如何失败》(How to Fail)节目中,伊丽莎白·戴(Elizabeth Day)展现了一场关于亲和力且略带前卫魅力的示范课。除了关于他妻子的那个走红片段(玛丽-弗朗斯·范·海尔在听到他的其中一次采访后,给他发短信说“回答那个该死的问题”),我们还听到伯纳姆承认自己在担任天主教祭坛男孩时偷过圣餐酒(“我不会声称自己是最虔诚的”),并回忆起他曾试图说服父亲大学学习英国文学的重要性,方法是向他展示托尼·哈里森 1985 年诗作《V》开篇中亚瑟·斯卡吉尔的引言。伯纳姆富有启发性地补充道:“学习英语具有强烈的政治色彩;它关乎你表达观点和高效沟通的能力。”
接受女性采访也减轻了伯纳姆近期一些与酒吧和足球相关内容中那种爱开玩笑、充满男性气息的倾向;而关于他那一代政治家“犯有可耻的玩忽职守”和“可耻的懦弱”的引言,则将他塑造成为一名铺就动态变革之路的激进领导者。然而,你随后会想起,目前还没有关于英国持续肆虐的森林火灾的亮眼采访,也没有关于他对石油钻探或以色列国防军看法的、可供制作成表情包的内容。首相的倾听之旅可能仍在路上和电波中继续,但他的耳朵,以及我们的耳朵,需要保持关注。
我现在不能说话……
西蒙·帕金 (Simon Parkin)
Night School Studio:Netflix;通过 Netflix 在电视和网页浏览器上运行;需要智能手机作为控制器
Netflix 这款精巧的恐怖游戏将你的智能手机置于核心地位,尽管这款时长半小时的游戏规模较小,但氛围亲密
一场 5 级飓风袭击,电力中断,艾娃 (Ava) 所在的公寓楼陷入黑暗。不必担心:和我们大多数人一样,艾娃(由佐伊·克拉维茨 Zoë Kravitz 配音)拥有一部智能手机,其相机闪光灯可充当手电筒。你将其打开,将光束扫过房间。等等,这里还有别人吗?
这是一个在无数电影中常见的设定,但在 Netflix 最新的交互实验作品《失控》中,你手里握着真实的智能手机,将其对准电视——或浏览器窗口——以穿透黑暗。接着,你手中的真实手机响了。是克莱尔 (Claire, Sadie Sink 饰),艾娃最好的朋友,她住在对面那栋透过窗户可见的公寓楼里。飓风在电视扬声器中轰鸣。克莱尔惊恐的声音从你掌心的设备中传出。一时间,你坐着的房间与屏幕上的房间之间的界限变得模糊。当然,这是一种魔术技巧,在早期的实验性视频游戏中很常见。但随着游戏产业在商业大作系列和无限延长的在线服务游戏中变得僵化,这种充满趣味的设计已变得愈发罕见。
《失控》由 Netflix 旗下的 Night School Studio(独立游戏宠儿《Overtree》的创作者)制作,并得到了电影导演大卫·芬奇 (David Fincher, 《搏击俱乐部》、《七宗罪》) 和扎克·克雷格 (Zach Cregger, 《Weapons》) 的创意支持。虽然他们具体的贡献并未公开,但这种组合在游戏的感官体验中清晰可见。芬奇那种克制的、技术性的不安感,与克雷格对突发惊吓的追求相结合。这也使这款游戏恰好处于当前恐怖游戏的黄金时代,在这个时代,该类型不仅是稳赚不赔的生意,更是屏幕上一些最具创意作品的源头。
这个故事相对传统:一名被困在黑暗公寓楼里的女性发现,一个怪物追击者正在走廊中潜行。你并不直接操控艾娃,而是引导她的手电筒,检查物品,并在计时器到期前做出匆忙的选择。失败只会让你回到最近的检查点;而纯粹的“故事模式”选项则完全取消了计时器。这与其说是生存恐怖游戏,不如说像是一次幽灵火车之旅,迅速地将玩家带在一次次惊吓之间。
情节过于单薄,经不起太多推敲,而且有限的选择很少能让人感觉到故事真的能随你的意志而改变。然而,这些缺陷在这样一款简单的游戏中并不像在更复杂的游戏中那样重要。《失控》的时长约为半小时,且受益于这种紧凑感。克拉维茨克制的表演赋予了艾娃可信度,而分裂的声场(房间里的风暴;手机里的对话)比剧本更能营造出亲密感。
这里最巧妙的反转在于,智能手机通常是分散我们注意力的“第二屏幕”,而现在却成了我们关注的渠道。《失控》可能规模不大,但其最精彩的时刻表明,Netflix 本应处于一个极佳的位置来追求这种形式。然而,在游戏发布后不久,这家流媒体公司关闭了 Night School Studio,这提醒人们,那些将未来寄托在大型平台上的独立工作室面临着怎样的不稳定性。看来,这场实验在变得有趣之时便戛然而止。
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observer.co.uk 23.08.26
作者:克雷格·麦克莱恩 (Craig McLean)、凯·里贝罗 (Kay Ribeiro) 以及 斯蒂芬·阿姆斯特朗 (Stephen Armstrong)
乔纳森·罗姆尼 (Jonathan Romney) 的电影
国家地理频道 (National Geographic),晚上 9 点
这是一部为纪念 9 / 11 恐怖袭击 25 周年而制作的三集纪录片,让幸存者与那些救了他们生命的陌生人重聚。第一集讲述了一名平凡的窗户清洁工和一名债券交易员如何帮助营救世界贸易中心北塔内部以及地面上的人员。画面依然令人惊心动魄,但急救人员和普通民众展现出的日常英雄主义行为极其令人感动。这是在最糟糕的时刻展现出的人性之光。KR

BBC Two,12.45pm
马特·贝克 (Matt Baker) 将主持在克罗地亚萨格勒布举行的 2026 年欧洲体操锦标赛男子团体决赛的报道。在去年莱比锡获胜后,英国队作为卫冕欧洲团体冠军,是夺冠热门之一。欧洲全能冠军乔·弗雷泽 (Joe Fraser) 领衔全队,希望争取他的第七枚欧洲奖牌。KR
Sky Atlantic,晚上 9 点
在经历了维多利亚时代的北极灵熊以及二战期间加利福尼亚拘留营中的日本民间恶魔之后,这部恐怖选集系列的第三季将背景设定在现代纽约。《唐顿庄园》的丹·史蒂文斯 (Dan Stevens) 在袭击了几名警察后被关进了一家阴森的疯人院。如果他之前还没疯的话…… CMc
(加斯顿·杜普拉特 Gastón Duprat, 马里亚诺·科恩 Mariano Cohn, 2021)
Film4,凌晨 12.55
在这部由阿根廷组合加斯顿·杜普拉特和马里亚诺·科恩执导的西班牙闹剧中,一名百万富翁决定制作一部电影,并聘请了备受赞誉的导演洛拉·奎瓦斯 (Lola Cuevas,由佩内洛普·克鲁兹 Penélope Cruz 饰演) 来创作一部声名显赫的杰作。她开始与选定的演员——一名虚荣的好莱坞明星 (安东尼奥·班德拉斯 Antonio Banderas) 和一名高傲的舞台资深演员 (奥斯卡·马丁内斯 Oscar Martínez) 合作,一场巨大的自尊心冲突就此拉开序幕。影片执行得简洁而优雅——场景设在一个粗犷主义艺术中心,其本身就非常壮丽——而明星们则尽情扮演不同类型的电影怪物,班德拉斯幽默地讽刺了自己的跨大西洋职业生涯,而克鲁兹的喜剧表演则像她在这里顶着的发型一样充满电光火石般的活力。JR
BBC Four,晚上 10 点起
为了纪念本周晚些时候约翰·伯杰曼诞辰 120 周年,将有一个夜晚来庆祝这位桂冠诗人及其热爱的事物。节目以 2001 年的《名望》(Reputations) 系列人物志《最后的笑声》(The Last Laugh) 开场,其中包括未来的查尔斯国王等粉丝的贡献。随后是《海边》(Beside the Seaside) (11.05pm),这是伯杰曼 1969 年对英国暑假的颂歌;他 1973 年对伦敦通勤带的旅程《地铁地》(Metroland) (11.55pm);以及《对教堂的热爱》(A Passion for Churches) (12.45am),这是一次 1974 年在诺福克郡的朝圣之旅。 CMc

Channel 4 streaming
在这部温馨的澳大利亚喜剧中,中年生活凄惨的罗兰 (Roland,系列共同创作者里昂·福特 Leon Ford 饰演) 在妻子艾玛 (Emma,布鲁克·萨奇韦尔 Brooke Satchwell 饰演) 在国外工作期间,被留下照顾女儿和一只不受欢迎的狗。罗兰不擅长这两件事,且婚姻岌岌可危,随后他被“狗公园名媛” (Dog Park Divas) 接收——这是一个由人类和犬类组成的群体,他们改变了他的生活。 KR
BBC Two,晚上 9 点
在这部纪录系列的最终部分中,孟山都公司涉嫌在南威尔士倾倒化学废物所造成的惨痛人力代价被清晰地揭示。主持人迈克尔·辛 (Michael Sheen) 与节目中的许多其他参与者一起检测血液中的多氯联苯 (PCBs)——即“永久化学品”。结果令人心惊,但当局仍然在寻找借口和漏洞。 KR
(乔治·劳特纳,1977)
Talking Pictures TV,晚上 9.55
Talking Pictures TV 最近一直在稳定地播出经典法国警匪片;这里又有一部,由正值硬汉巅峰期的阿兰·德龙主演。该片标题被翻译成过多种版本,如《腐败之死》(Death of a Corrupt Man)、《扭曲的侦探》(The Twisted Detective)和《杀死一只老鼠》(To Kill a Rat),更不用说《卑鄙之死》(Death of a Sleazebeg)了。德龙被卷入了一起由一名面临曝光的政治家所犯下的谋杀案;推动情节发展的麦格芬(MacGuffin)是一个记录了所有污点、所有人都在追寻的笔记本。这部作品血统纯正:剧本由米歇尔·奥迪亚尔(导演雅克之父)编写;演员阵容包括奥内拉·穆蒂、米雷耶·达克、斯特凡·奥德兰和克劳斯·金斯基;菲利普·萨尔德的配乐则邀请了萨克斯风大师斯坦·盖茨。JR
“这位先生擅长变风向:随着调查启动,法拉奇在关于 500 万英镑m 捐款的问题上改变了说法。”这是《观察者报》在 5 月的一则头条,当时这位改革英国党(Reform UK)领导人试图解释一份来自加密货币亿万富翁克里斯托弗·哈本的一笔未申报赠礼。这部纪录片(原于周六播出)继续追踪资金流向,试图“揭开”据报道超过 200 万英镑m 外部收入的来源,这些收入是克拉克顿议员在 2024. 进入议会后积累的。CMc
ITV1, 7.30pm (h / o 8pm)
这是该赛事的第二轮,也是唯一一场英超球队之间的对决。上赛季,诺丁汉森林仅在积分和排名上落后利兹联 3 分和 2 位,且双方在联赛交锋中均以 3-1 击败对方。更增加火药味的是:这是他们在 4, 1. 天内的第二次交手,此前刚进行了新赛季的揭幕战。CMc
BBC One, 9pm
在招牌菜挑战赛中,“角斗士”艾米莉·斯蒂尔和 YouTuber 汤姆·西蒙斯之间爆发了牛肉——或者更准确地说是牛排之战。演员尼廷·加纳特制作了一道童年时期的咖喱,而前皇家芭蕾舞团舞者埃里克·安德伍德的灵魂美食让格蕾丝·登垂涎三尺。但真正让老将乔治·洛卡特利学到新技巧的,是喜剧演员唐娜·普雷斯顿的土耳其烤肉。KR
(科尔姆·拜雷德,2022)
Channel 4, 1.55am
过去几年,低调的爱尔兰艺术电影新派迎来了一个繁荣期——如果用“繁荣”这个词不过分的话。比如帕特·柯林斯出色的约翰·麦格汉改编作品《面对旭日》(That They May Face the Rising Sun),或者蒂姆·米兰茨对克莱尔·基根作品《这些微小的事》(Small Things Like These)的精妙诠释。其中最优秀的作品之一便是这部由科尔姆·拜雷德执导、获得奥斯卡提名的长片处女作,同样改编自基根的中篇小说。故事背景设定在 20世纪80年代初,讲述了 9 岁的凯特(新人凯瑟琳·克林奇饰),一个深思且内向的孩子,被父母送到乡村,在母亲的表姐及其农民丈夫家度过夏天。这是一部真正具有美感和细腻的作品,不容错过。JR
UkAlib, 8pm
马克·加蒂斯这部氛围浓厚的战后犯罪剧回归第二季。在开篇的双集剧集中,热爱书籍的侦探加布里埃尔·布克进入了通灵世界,调查戏剧化的通灵者哈罗德·斯尼德(杰森·沃特金斯饰演,戴着顶令人愉悦且阴险的假发)。“悲伤寄生虫”斯尼德在一次降神会上“传达”了助手杰克已故的父亲——同时也是布克的爱人——费利克斯的信息,这激怒了布克。不久之后,斯尼德被谋杀——讽刺的是,他对此毫无预见。KR
这位身材高挑的历史学家最喜欢的另一道墙——哈德良长城——全长 73 英里。现在,斯诺将踏上这座历史上最伟大的纯人工建筑,全长 5,500 英里,旨在通过一块块古老的砖块,揭开明朝边境屏障的故事,这里曾驻守 750,000 名士兵。而且不,你无法从太空看到它。太细了。是指长城。CMc
天空纪录片频道 (Sky Documentaries),晚上10点
一部扣人心弦的电影,讲述了1985年在奥克兰港被击沉的绿色和平组织船只的故事,该船当时一直在追踪法国的核试验。这是一部现实版的惊悚片,登场人物包括生态运动早期的反叛者、笨拙的秘密特工,以及为溺亡的摄影师费尔南多·佩雷拉 (Fernando Pereira) 寻求正义而愤怒的新西兰当局。CMc
(克里斯托弗·诺兰,2000)
Film4,晚上11.10点
克里斯托弗·诺兰的突破之作是一场更偏向内在、心理层面的奥德赛:讲述了一名患有失忆症的侦探的故事,他的调查在拼凑过程中分崩离析,因为他在揭开事实的同时又将其遗忘。故事以章节形式倒序讲述,叙事在同步书写与擦除——让我们在纸屑、主角身上的涂鸦以及方向性的微小提示中搜集散落的线索。盖·皮尔斯 (Guy Pearce) 饰演侦探,凯瑞-安·莫斯 (Carrie-Anne Moss) 和乔·潘托利亚诺 (Joe Pantoliano) 等配角则扮演着那些绝非表面看上去那样简单的人物。这是一场充满活力的心理游戏,从未过度地卖弄聪明,且庆幸地避开了诺兰后期作品中那种夸张的庄重感。JR
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
35
《格斗之地》(Fightland)
天空大西洋频道 (Sky Atlantic),晚上9点
由从说唱歌手转型为电视制作人的柯蒂斯·“50 Cent”·杰克逊 (Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson) 打造,这部以伦敦为背景的八集惊悚剧穿梭于拳击与有组织犯罪相互交织的世界。该剧节奏强劲且场面华丽,由尼古拉斯·皮诺克 (Nicholas Pinnock) 饰演一个格斗 / 犯罪王朝的首领,霍华德·查尔斯 (Howard Charles) 饰演一名寻求复仇的失宠冠军。富有魅力的皮诺克在本月早些时候告诉我:“拳击和生活都具有双重性。在日常生活中,我们都在为某些东西而战。”CMC
BBC One,晚上9点
当一名新娘痴迷的前任出现在招待会上,并在跳高地舞 (highland fling) 时制造混乱,路德维希在舞池中遭遇了“谋杀”。虽然客人的数量让路德维希感到烦躁,但他的嫂子露西 (Lucy) 继续利用她的假记者证大肆妄为,希望能采访到可疑的国会议员乔安娜·肯珀 (Joanne Kemper,由 Sian Clifford 饰演)。KR
Netflix
这部宏大的尝试严谨地忠实于加夫列尔·加西亚·马尔克斯的小说,尤其是在其奇异的性政治和不间断的性描写方面。第二季的最后一集描绘了香蕉大屠杀后凄凉的余波,当时哥伦比亚政府军队枪杀了罢工工人。这一切都得到了真诚且细腻的处理。SA
(罗伯特·奥尔德里奇,1972)
Legend Xtra,晚上9点
1954年,罗伯特·奥特曼拍摄了《阿帕契》(Apache),由伯特·兰开斯特饰演同名战士英雄:该片被认为是好莱坞在呈现美洲原住民历史方面的突破。奥尔德里奇和兰开斯特在此片中再次探讨这些主题。兰开斯特在其中一次最受赞誉的表演中,饰演一名美国陆军侦察兵,在阿帕契酋长乌扎纳 (Uzzana,由 Joaquin Martinez 饰演) 发起一场残酷袭击后,被指派去将其抓捕。该片由艾伦·夏普 (Alan Sharp) 编写剧本,被广泛解读为越南战争的寓言,得到了包括昆汀·塔伦蒂诺(他认为该片结合了奥尔德里奇的两大强项:西部片和战争片)以及评论家大卫·汤姆森(“70年代最出色的电影之一……冷峻且宿命论”)在内的赞誉。JR
《雨人》(The Rainmaker)
ITV1,晚上9点
约翰·格里舍姆的法律惊悚小说曾在1997年由弗朗西斯·福特·科波拉改编为电影,如今被改编成一部新的十集剧集。米洛·卡拉汉 (Milo Callaghan) 接替了此前由马特·达蒙饰演的那个傲慢年轻律师的角色。这部剧非常具有泰勒·谢里丹 (Taylor Sheridan) 的传统:美女帅哥、乡村摇滚原声带,以及每场戏结尾处充满戏剧性的悬念。但凭借约翰·斯拉特里 (John Slattery) 将企业舞弊演绎得淋漓尽致,这成了一部令人愉悦的庸俗之作。这里没有驳回请求。CMC
Netflix
从预告片来看,这部冬季惊悚片将《糖果人》(Candyman)式的波吉曼(bogeyman)恐惧感与《长腿》(Longlegs)式的连环杀手诡异感结合在了一起。罗伯特·德尼罗饰演一名退休侦探,在孙子被绑架后,他协助与自己关系疏远的儿子(亚当·斯科特 饰)以及一名在职警察(米歇尔·莫娜汉 饰)展开行动。这是否意味着一名(看似)被长期监禁的精神病患者回归了?CMC
BBC Two, 晚上9点
《天堂岛谋杀案》(Death in Paradise)的创作者罗伯特·索罗古德将他的舒适犯罪剧公式应用于本剧,该剧在BBC首次播出。萨曼莎·邦德饰演从考古学家转行为侦探的朱迪思·波茨。在与一名牧师妻子(卡拉·霍根 饰)和一名遛狗员(乔·马丁 饰)联手后,白金汉郡郊区的犯罪分子们将毫无机会。KR
(艾伦·鲁道夫, 1978)
Talking Pictures TV, 午夜12点
艾伦·鲁道夫是美国编剧兼导演中最被低估的人之一,经常被仅仅视为导师罗伯特·奥特曼的一名合格学生。但在他最优秀的电影中——包括《选择我》(Choose Me)、《心烦意乱》(Trouble in Mind)、《帕克夫人与恶之圆环》(Mrs Parker and the Vicious Circle)——他那讽刺且悠闲的风格简直无可复制。在本片中,气质极佳且大胆的杰拉尔丁·查普林饰演一名刚出狱的女性,她的任务是跟踪她的前任(由安东尼·珀金斯 饰)——这大概是电影史上出现过的最古怪的一对情侣了。鲁道夫说这是他对20世纪40年代女性情节剧的诠释,但正如评论家乔纳森·罗森鲍姆所言,他使用该模式的方式就像“爵士乐手使用和弦变换”一样。将古怪之作分类。JR
Wham! 10 Days in China(Wham! 在中国10天)
BBC Two, 晚上9点
本周第二次在长城上回顾创造历史的时刻。1985年4月,Wham! 成为第一个在“竹幕”后演出的西方流行团体。这是经理西蒙·纳皮尔-贝尔的一次公关噱头,试图为英国最大的流行团体加速在美取得成功——安德鲁·里奇利称其为“战略性的”且“愤世嫉俗的”。这段素材由导演林赛·安德森(f.f.)从一部夭折的巡演碟片中重新剪辑,极其迷人。随后是《Wham! at the BBC》(晚上10.25点)。CMC
Channel 4, 上午9.05点
克莱尔·鲍尔丁和奥运选手彼得·里德在温莎的多尼湖主持2026年超级英雄铁人三项赛的报道。这是英国规模最大、专为残障参与者设计的铁人三项赛的10周年纪念。他们参加经典的铁人三项项目:游泳、骑行和推行 / 跑步,可以单独参赛,也可以在家人和朋友的支持下参赛。KR
仅限您的耳朵聆听:这场在皇家阿尔伯特音乐厅名为“邦德及以后”(Bond and Beyond)的音乐会,由丹尼尔·巴塞洛缪-波伊瑟指挥BBC音乐管弦乐团,精选了007在25次官方冒险中的经典歌曲。他们承诺会有“特别嘉宾”,那么我们可以期待看到戴姆·雪莉·巴塞利或汤姆·琼斯爵士吗,还是说那只是在开玩笑(thunderballs)?CMC
(尤霍·库奥斯马宁, 2021)
BBC Two, 凌晨1.35点
尤拉·鲍里索夫在肖恩·贝克获得奥斯卡奖的电影《阿诺拉》(Anora)中饰演一名反派,但这个反派或许并没有那么凶狠,他因此获得了最佳男配角提名。在芬兰导演尤霍·库奥斯马宁的这部公路(或者更准确地说是铁路)电影中,他的表现同样令人瞩目。塞迪·哈拉饰演劳拉,一名考古系学生,她前往俄罗斯极北的摩尔曼斯克考察古代岩画并疗愈心碎。不祥的是,她的卧铺车厢由一名邋遢且酗酒的年轻人共享。但很快,这个关于误解的悠闲故事就变成了一部既带有纪录片触感的迷人旅行志,又是一部甜蜜忧郁的古怪搭档喜剧。JR
婴儿潮一代拥有最出色的浪漫喜剧,那时梅格·瑞安可以表现得快节奏而不令人厌烦。《Dulliance》(Paramount+,周四)开篇延续了这一传统,是一部古灵精怪的 screwball 喜剧,随后剧情急转直下,进入“糟糕的事情摧毁生活”的模式——就像《白莲花度假村》遇见《大寒潮》。雨果·维文饰演前摄影师比利,他在躲避一个朋友时藏在厨师丹妮(希瑟·米切尔 饰)的桌子下,两人由此相识。他们一拍即合,丹妮开车送他回家,见到了他美丽的妻子罗斯(乔治·帕克 饰),并询问是否可以“租用”她的丈夫参加一次活动,然后,剧透预警:比利在一次绝对不是约会的活动中死于心脏病发作。他的追思会成为了触发事件,他的老友们重新聚首,过程大多令人痛苦。遗憾的是,就在谎言、记忆和半真半假的真相浮出水面时,维文离开了画面。但米切尔和帕克,以及大卫·温汉姆和诺亚·泰勒,在对手戏中表现得活力十足。
Apple TV 似乎擅长制作那些原则上听起来很棒,但你内心深处知道自己永远无法坚持看完的剧集——当然,《泰德·拉索》除外。根据观众测量机构尼尔森的数据,第四季在最初两天内被观看了 296.6m 分钟。谁能想到里士满会成为一个家庭产业?《暗物质》(Apple TV,周四)不是《泰德·拉索》——尽管它至少已经进入了第 2 季。乔尔·埃哲顿饰演的物理教授被一个来自平行宇宙的另一个自己绑架,这引发了一个问题:一个超级富有且极其成功的“乔尔 2 号”为什么要与一名平凡的教师交换生活?第一季基于剧集创作者布莱克·克劳奇 2026 年的小说。在这一季的续作中,乔尔、他深爱的妻子(詹妮弗·康纳利 饰)和青春期儿子(杜克斯·费格利 饰)在时空中留下了一串死去的“乔尔”之后,开始寻找一个体面的宇宙。但当永远有另一个宇宙可以尝试时,你又如何能安定下来?
流媒体平台并非演艺圈中最擅长续订的方,因此看到《Leanne》(Netflix,周三)和《Adults》(Disney+,周四)得以幸存也令人欣慰。利安·摩根的情景喜剧讲述了一位祖母在结婚 33 年后丈夫离家出走后的应对生活——谢天谢地,笑料不断;而《Adults》则讲述了五个难以忍受的二十多岁年轻人的故事,这在某种意想不到的方式上同样令人喜爱。SA

利安·摩根 在她的情景喜剧 第 2 季中 继续生活。 Netflix
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observer.co.uk 23.08.26

逍遥音乐节之莫扎特, BBC Four,晚上 8 点 Georgia Mann 在皇家阿尔伯特音乐厅 主持一场庆祝这位作曲家的活动
| BBC One | BBC Two | ITV1 | Channel 4 | 5 | BBC Four |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.0 早安英国 (T) 8.40 今日之战 (T) (R) 10.0 祈祷与反思 (T) (R) 10.30 周日早晨现场 (T) 11.30 无偿资金 (T) (R) 12.15 淘宝猎人 (T) (R) 1.0 新闻 (T) 1.15 赞美之歌 (T) 1.50 逃往乡村 (T) 2.15 2.25 羊电影:斯隆 (理查德·斯塔扎克 2005) (T) 3.35 哈马斯:纯粹的猛禽 (T) (R) 4.35 房屋拍卖 (T) (R) 5.35 新闻 (T) 6.0 乡村填充 (T) 7.0 古董路演:胜利日特辑 (T) (R) | 6.10 电视园艺 A-Z (T) (R) 6.55 俯瞰辉煌花园 7.40 乡村填充 (R) 8.40 早安英国 (T) 9.0 气象员漫步 (T) 9.30 山毛榉林花园 (T) 10.0 周六厨房 11.30 加勒比美食简易指南 (T) (R) 12.0 洛林·帕斯卡莱 13.30 夜之姐 (T) (R) 12.45 体操:欧洲锦标赛 (T) 4.30 田径:西里西亚钻石联赛 (T) 5.0 真伪之辨? 6.0 斯蒂芬·麦戈文的大交易 7.0 今日测试赛 (T) | 6.0 英国之声 (T) (R) 7.0 詹姆斯·马丁的周六早晨 (T) (R) 9.25 新闻 (T) 9.30 与艾伦·蒂奇马什共度周末 (T) (R) 11.30 宠物之乐 (T) 12.30 汤姆·克里奇烹饪意大利 (T) (R) 1.0 新闻 (T) 1.10 自然之力 (T) (R) 2.152.25 只有你的眼睛 (1981) (T) 4.40 追击:名人特辑 (R) 5.40 追击:环球之旅 (T) (R) 6.35 新闻 (T) 7.0 自然之力 (T) 探讨极端高温和干旱的新影响。 | 6.0 干杯 (T) (R) 7.20 大家都爱雷蒙 (T) (R) 8.158.25 爸爸:失踪的探险家与木乃伊的诅咒 (恩里克·加托, 2022) (T) 10.0 周日早午餐 (T) 10.0 狗屋 (T) (R) 2.0 隔壁农场:阿曼达、克莱夫和孩子们 (T) (R) 3.05 街上最烂的房子 (T) (R) 4.10 地点,地点,地点 (T) (R) 5.15 德文与康沃尔 (T) (R) 6.0 新闻 (T) 6.30 F1:荷兰大奖赛集锦 (T) 本赛季第 12 场比赛的精彩片段。 | 6.0 牛奶搅拌机! 9.05 5频道娱乐新闻 (T) 9.159.25 杰里米·斯尼克的一系列不幸事件 (2004) (T) 11.10 快乐露营者:房车公园 (T) (R) 12.05 与苏珊·卡尔曼同行 (T) (R) 2.05 河马观察:与史蒂夫·巴克沙尔同行 (T) (R) 3.05 河马观察:与史蒂夫·巴克沙尔同行 (T) (R) 4.05 与迈克尔·波蒂略在斯德哥尔摩 (T) (R) 5.30 当高速公路在霍恩比出错时 (T) (R) 6.55 新闻 (T) 7.0 自行车:2026年西班牙环赛 (T) | 7.0 湖区:狂野的一年 (T) 镜头聚焦于英国最大国家公园动荡的 12 个月。延时摄影将数月和数周的时间浓缩在几秒钟内。 8.0 最黑暗的时刻 (乔·赖特, 2007) (T) 英国首相温斯顿·丘吉尔试图号召全国人民共同抵御德国在西欧的推进。时代剧,由加里·奥德曼和克里斯汀·斯科特·托马斯主演。 8.0 蓝色星球回顾:鲨鱼的故事 (T) (R) 史蒂夫·巴克沙尔探索为什么巴哈马成为了鲨鱼的避风港。 8.0 绝命之日 (卡里·乔·福昆摩加, 2021) (T) 詹姆斯·邦德追踪一名拥有致命新技术的神秘反派。动作惊悚片,由丹尼尔·克雷格主演,这是他第五次也是最后一次饰演 007。蕾雅·赛杜共同主演。 9.0 钢琴:决赛 (T) 寻找英国最卓越业余钢琴家的旅程进入尾声,克劳迪娅·温克勒曼和米卡前往伯明翰参加决赛。 |
音乐会。Mika 将与 Alice Sara Ott 一起选出当晚的最佳演出。该系列最后一集。 / 8.0 Inside the Four Seasons: Park Lane (T) 希思罗机场的一场火灾给酒店的客房入住率带来了混乱。 / 8.0 Mozart at the Proms (T) Felix Kleiner 是莫扎特《圆号协奏曲》的独奏者。 / 10.0 News (T) 10.25 Regional News (T) 天气 10.30 Match of the Day (T) 11.30 Edge of Darkness (马丁·坎贝尔,2010) (T) 1.15 Weather for the Week Ahead (T) 1.20 (T) / 10.0 TV3 ** (1975) (T) 12.0 Murder Trial: Death of a Dog Walker (T) (R) 1.0 Buried with Michael Sheen (T) (R) 2.0 Ann Droid (T) (R) 2.30 Murder Trial: Death of a Dog Walker (T) (R) / 11.0 ** (T) 天气 11.20 One Dollar (T) 新剧集。12.20 The Staircase (T) 1.20 Shop on TV 3.0 Motorsport UK (T) (R) 3.50 Unwind with ITV (T) 5.05
Dickinson's Real Deal (R) / 10.15 Gogglebox (T) (R) 11.1511.25 Boston Strangler (T) 12.0 Kitchen Nightmares USA (T) (R) 2.10 Surgery Secrets of the Super Rich (T) (R) 3.05 The Great ADHD Myth? (T) (R) / 9.0 Rich House, Poor House (T) (R) 千禧年,Katy 和 Peter 用他们在哈利法克斯的豪宅交换了 Richard 和 Sarah 在布拉德福德的排屋。 / 9.25 What Has the BBC Ever Done for Me? (T) 主持人 Romesh Rangarathan。 / 9.30 The Art of the Vikings: Secret Knowledge (T) 探讨维京文化对不列颠群岛的影响。 / 10.0 Copenhagen: The Prologue / 10.10 Copenhagen (T) / 11.40 Mark Lawson Talks to Michael Frayn (T) / 12.40 The Lake District: A Wild Year (T) 纪录片。1.40 Mozart at the Proms (T)

Buried with Michael Sheen, BBC Two, 晚上9点 这位演员对南威尔士有毒污染指控的调查仍在继续
6.0 早安节目 (T) 9.30 早晨直播:实用技巧与精华 (T) 10.30 花园救援 (T) (R) 11.15 房屋拍卖 (T) (R) 12.15 淘货猎人 (T) 1.0 新闻 (T) 天气 1.35 地区新闻 (T) 天气 1.45 新闻 (T) 天气 2.0 免费之财 (T) 2.45 逃往乡村 (T) 3.30 修理铺 (T) (R) 4.30 答案竞答 (T) (R) 5.15 无用之题 (T) (R) 6.0 新闻 (T) 天气 6.30 地区新闻 (T) 天气 7.0 今日秀 (T) 7.30 东区东街 (T) / 6.15 答案竞答 (T) (R) 7.0 手语区:修理铺 (T) (R) 8.0 今日之战 (T) (R) 9.0 新闻 (T) 1.0 理查德·奥斯曼的游戏屋 (T) (R) 1.30 边缘 (T) (R) 2.15 你了解你的位置吗? (T) (R) 2.45 动物公园 (T) (R) 3.30 塞伦盖蒂 II (T) (R) 4.30 复古古董路演 (T) (R) 5.15 把它卖了! (T) (R) 6.0 理查德·奥斯曼的游戏屋 (T) (R) 6.30 伟大的欧洲铁路之旅 (R) 7.0 全球之眼 (T) 7.30 宗师 (T) / 6.0 英国早安 (T) 10.0 今日早晨 (T) 1.30 新闻 (T) 天气 1.55 当地新闻 (T) 天气 2.0 迪金森的真实交易 (T) (R) 3.0 成交或不成交 (T) (R) 4.0 倾斜点 (T) (R) 5.0 追击 (T) (R) Jack, Laura, Alex 和 Tony 参加。 6.0 当地新闻 (T) 天气 6.30 新闻 (T) 天气 7.20 弗莱彻家族农场 (T) (R) 全家人进行羊类驱虫治疗,Mamie 和 Milo 在围栏中探索,Liz 和 Kelvin 尝试与牧羊犬合作。 / 6.30 皇后之王 (T) (R) 7.45 每个人都爱雷蒙 (T) (R) 9.10 弗雷泽 (T) (R) 11.10 地狱厨房美国版 (T) (R) 12.05 新闻 (T) 12.10 寻找、修复、出售 (T) (R) 1.10 豪宅赠送 (T) (R) 2.10 倒计时 (T) 3.0 阳光下的地方 (T) (R) 4.0 伟大的 B&B 挑战 (T) (R) 第二轮预赛周开始。 5.0 城堡 DIY (T) (R) 6.0 美国拾荒者 (T) (R) Mike Wolfe 和 Frank Fritz 推出一辆时尚的 1967 年捷豹。 7.0 新闻 (T) / 6.0 牛奶奶昔! 9.15 杰里米·维恩 (T) 11.30 Storm & Alexis (T) 12.45 新闻 (T) 12.50 Matt Alwright (T) 2.202.25 绝色杀机 (Brittany Underwood, 2023) (T) 由 Tiffany Montgomery 主演的惊悚片。 4.0 城堡 (T) (R) 4.55 热爱自然 (T) (R) 5.0 新闻 (T) 6.0 与 Merton & Webster 一起开房车 (T) (R) Paul Merton 和 Suki Webster 前往康沃尔。 6.55 新闻 (T) 7.0 自行车:2026 年西班牙环赛 (T) 第三赛段的精彩瞬间。 7.55 新闻 (T) / 7.0 铁路建筑学 (T) Tim Dunn 通过探索 Metroland 来追寻家族根源。 / 8.0 与 Stacey Solomon 一起整理生活 (T) (R) Stacey 帮助 Appleyard 家族清理他们杂乱的家。 / 8.0 唯一连接 (T) 游戏节目:The Six Sevens 对阵 Meat and Two Veg。 / 8.0 艾默代尔 (T) 今天是 Joe 和 Dawn 的婚礼日。 / 8.0 Martin & Roman 的爱尔兰公路旅行 (T) Martin 和 Roman Kemp 前往白雪皑皑的北爱尔兰。本系列最后一集。 / 8.0 街头警察:抓捕 Yoke (T) 在本集中,一支武装警员快速反应部队被召集到北安普顿高街。 / 8.0 考古学:秘密历史 (T) 记录考古突破的历史。 / 9.0 绝命岛 (T) (R) 以加勒比为背景的侦探剧,由 Ralf Little 主演。一场顶级的国际象棋比赛以谋杀告终。 / 8.30 大学挑战赛 (T) 问答节目:彭布罗克学院。
剑桥大学对阵圣安德鲁斯大学。 / 8.30 Long Last Family: Born Without Trace - What Happened Next (T) 两人在婴儿时期都被遗弃的姐妹。 / 9.0 Celebrity Hunted (T) 一名逃犯向北前往洛蒙德湖,另一对在逃者在布里斯托尔骄傲节(Bristol Pride)高风险现身。 / 9.0 Free Dodgers: At War with the Law (T) 调查人员准备追踪另一名涉嫌连续逃票的人员。 / 9.0 Mastermind (T) 1977年系列的第二场预赛。 / 10.0 News (T) 10.30 Regional News (T) 天气 10.40 Have I Got for You (R) 11.10 Family (Frances O'Connor, 2022) (T) 1.10 Weather for the Week Ahead (T) 1.15 (T) / 10.0 Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing (T) (R) 10.30 Newsnight (T) 天气 11.05 TV3 ** (T) 12.55 Sign Zone: Countryfills (T) (R) 1.50 Sign Zone: Bergerac (T) (R) / 10.0 ** (T) 天气
10.4510.45 Bush Hour (Brett Ratner, 1998) (T) 喜剧。12.25 Shop on TV 3.0 The Staircase (T) (R) 4.0 Unwind with ITV (T) 5.10 Dickinson's Real Deal (T) / 10.0 Secret Lives of Gypsy Wives (T) 系列最后一集。11.05 Celebrity Gogglebox (T) (R) 12.05 Emergency Helicopter Medics (T) (R) 纪录片。1.0 Kitchen Nightmares USA (T) (R) / 10.0 Police Interceptors: Taking Down the Shoplifting Gangs (T) (R) 11.05 Traffic Cops (T) (R) 12.05 Police Interceptors (T) (R) 1.0 Cruise TV 2.0 GPs: Behind Closed Doors (T) / 9.30 Call My Bluff (T) 主持人:Robin Knox-Johnston, Pamela Harlech, Michael Jayston 和 Francesca Annis。 / 10.0 John Betjeman: The Last Laugh - Reputations (T) 11.05 Beside the Seaside: Bird's Eye View (T) 11.55 Metroland (T) 12.45 A Passion for Churches (T) 纪录片。
observcr.co.uk 23.08.26 37

EFL 卡拉宝杯直播, ITV1, 7.30pm 森林之木: 诺丁汉前锋 Chris 在对阵利兹联的比赛中尝试射门
6.0 Breakfast (T) 9.30 Morning Live: Top Tips and Best Bits (T) 10.30 Garden Rescue (T) (R) 11.15 Homes Under the Hammer (T) 12.15 Bargain Hunt (T) (R) 1.0 News (T) Weather 1.35 Regional News (T) Weather 1.45 (T) 2.0 Money for Nothing (T) 2.45 Escape to the Country (T) 3.30 The Repair Shop (T) (R) 4.30 The Answer Run (T) (R) 5.15 Pointless (T) (R) 6.0 (T) 6.30 Regional (T) 7.0 The One Show (T) 7.30 EastEnders (T) / 6.30 Bargain Hunt (T) (R) 7.15 Money for Nothing (T) (R) 8.0 Sign Zone: The Great British Sewing Bee (T) (R) 9.0 (T) 1.0 House of Games (T) (R) 1.30 The Edge (T) (R) 2.15 Do You Know Your Place? (T) (R) 2.45 Animal Park (T) (R) 3.30 Serengeti III (T) (R) 4.30 Vintage Antiques Roadshow (T) (R) 5.15 Flog It! (T) (R) 6.0 House of Games (T) (R) 6.30 Great Continental Railway Journeys (T) (R) 7.0 Nigellissima (T) (R) 7.30 Race Against the Tide (T) / 6.0 Good Morning Britain (T) 10.0 This Morning (T) 1.30 (T) 1.55 Local (T) 2.0 Dickinson's Real Deal (T) (R) 3.0 Deal or No Deal (T) (R) 4.0 Tipping Point (T) (R) Ben Shephard 主持这场以游戏厅为主题的问答赛,参赛者将代币投入四个选定链条中,希望能赢得 1 万英镑 奖金。 5.0 The Chase (T) (R) Kathryn, Paddy, Kamal 和 Savannah 挑战 Chase。 6.0 Local (T) 6.30 (T) / 6.30 The King of Queens (T) (R) 7.45 Everybody Loves Raymond (T) (R) 9.10 Frasier (T) (R) 11.10 Ramsay's 24 Hours to Hell and Back (T) (R) 12.05 (T) 12.10 Find It, Fix It, Flog It (T) (R) 1.10 The Great House Giveaway (T) (R) 2.10 Countdown (T) 3.0 A Place in the Sun (T) (R) 4.0 The Great B&B Challenge (T) (R) 5.0 Chateau DIY (T) (R) 6.0 American Pickers (T) (R) Mike 和 Frank 遇到了一组可能是禁区之内的收藏品。 7.0 (T) / 6.0 Milkshake! 9.15 Jeremy Vine (T) 11.30 Storm & Alexis (T) 12.45 (T) 12.50 Matt Allwright (T) 2.20 KENK Killer in the Family (Sorah Mardokhi, 2023) (T) 由 Zoe Christie 和 Quinten James 主演的惊悚片。 4.0 Castle (T) (R) 4.55 Love Nature (T) (R) 5.0 (T) 6.0 Motorhoming with Merton & Webster (T) (R) Paul Merton 和 Suki Webster 探索科茨沃尔德。 6.55 (T) 7.0 Cycling: Vuelta a España 2026 (T) 大环赛第四赛段的精彩瞬间。 / 7.0 The Architecture the Railways Built (T) (T) 10.0 Dunn 探索圣潘克拉斯车站。 7.45 The Flying Gardener (T) 爱尔兰西南地区独特的气候如何让多种异域物种繁衍生息。 / 8.0 The Great British Sewing Bee (T) (R) 音乐周,缝纫者们向 Mackinnet 的 cow tea 致敬并制作迪斯科服装。 / 8.0 Saving Lives at Sea (T) 当诺福克海岸附近的一艘游艇失事发出求救信号时,凯斯特的独立救生艇协助了格雷特雅茅斯 RNJ 船员。 / 7.30 EFL Carabao Cup Live (T) 诺丁汉森林 对阵 利兹联 (开球时间 8.0pm) Mark Pougatich 在城市球场主持这场第二轮淘汰赛的所有精彩内容,这是两队在短短四天内在此进行的第二次交锋。 / 8.0 The Dog House (T) (R) 父母 Kristy 和 Oliver 认为也许一只狗能让蹒跚学步的孩子精疲力竭。 / 8.0 Motorway Cops: Catching Britain's Speeders (T) 在 MS 上,
[...OMITTED...]
警员在车辆在切希尔警方面前停下后被召集。 / 8.0 To the Manor Born (T) DeVere 将其杂货业务带到了庄园。 / 9.0 《名人厨神》(T) Emily Steel, Nitin Ganatra, Tom Simons, Donna Preston 和 Eric Underwood 展开竞争。 / 9.0 Emergency 24 / 7 (T) 一名男子在被火车撞击导致腿部截断后被送入医院。 / 10.25 新闻 (T) 当地新闻11.15 Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace (T) (R)12.10 电视购物 3.0 Love & Death (T) (R) 3.50 Long Lost Family (T) (R) 4.45 Unwind with ITV (T) / 9.0 Celebrity Hunted (T) 逃犯们聚集在伯明翰,希望猎人能在他们到达接点之前无法抓到他们。本系列最后一集。 / 9.0 The Tudors with Rob Rinder and Ruth Goodman (T) 回顾 1588 年英格兰为西班牙无敌舰队的到来而做准备的时期。 / 8.25 Keeping Up Appearances (T) Hyacinth
计划举办一场活动。 / 10.0 新闻 (T) 10.30 区域新闻 (T) 天气 10.40 KENK Arthur the King (Simon Cellan Jones, 2024) (T) 基于事实的剧集。 / 10.0 Live at the Apollo (T) (R) 10.30 Newsnight (T) 天气 11.05 The Vampire Lestat (T) 11.55 A House Through Time (R) 12.55 Celeb MasterChef (T) (R) 1.55 Captive Audience: Real American Horror Story (R) / 10.25 新闻 (T) 当地新闻11.15 Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace (T) (R)12.10 电视购物 3.0 Love & Death (T) (R) 3.50 Long Lost Family (T) (R) 4.45 Unwind with ITV (T) / 10.0 24 Hours in A&E (T) (R) 12.05 Building Monaco's Superhomes (T) (R) 1.05 Kitchen Nightmares (T) (R) 1.55 KENK The Quiet Girl (2022) 3.30 The Piano (R) 4.40 Find It, Fix It, Flog It (R) / 10.30 Murder on the Doorstep: Who Killed Alistair Wilson? (T) (R) 纪录片。 12.05 Nigel Farage: Where Does the Money Come From? (T)
(R) 1.0 Cruise TV (T) (R) 2.0 GPs: Behind Closed Doors / 9.0 How the Cutts Saved Britain (T) 两部分之第一部分。爱尔兰人在黑暗时代如何将英国从文化湮灭中拯救出来。 / 12.20 The Hit List (T) (R) 1.05 天气 (T) 1.10 新闻 (T) / 10.0 Britain in Focus: A Photographic History (T)*11.0 The Secret Genius of Plants (T)* 两部分之前两部分。 11.55 Do We Really Need the Moon? (T)**12.55 The Flying Gardener (T)

《与丹·斯诺共探中国长城》,8, 9pm 历史学家开启一场史诗般的徒步之旅
| BBC One | BBC Two | ITV1 | Channel 4 | 5 | BBC Four |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.0 早安节目 (T) 9.30 早晨直播:实用技巧与精华 (T) 10.30 花园救援 (T) (R) 11.15 房屋拍卖 (T) 12.15 淘宝猎人 (T) (R) 1.0 新闻 (T) 1.35 地区新闻 (T) 1.45 新闻 (T) 天气 2.0 免费之财 (T) 2.45 逃离城市 (T) (R) 3.30 修理铺 (T) (R) 4.30 答案竞答 (T) (R) 5.15 无用之题 (T) (R) 6.0 新闻 (T) 天气 6.30 地区新闻 (T) 天气 7.0 综合节目 (T) 7.30 东区东区 (T) | 6.30 逃离城市 (T) (R) 7.15 免费之财 (T) (R) 8.0 手语区 (T) (R) 9.0 新闻 (T) 1.0 理查德·奥斯曼的游戏屋 (T) (R) 1.30 边缘 (T) (R) 2.15 你了解你的位置吗? (T) (R) 2.45 动物公园 (T) (R) 3.30 塞伦盖蒂 III (T) (R) 4.30 复古古董路演 (T) (R) 5.10 把它卖了! (T) (R) 6.0 理查德·奥斯曼的游戏屋 (T) (R) 6.30 伟大的欧洲铁路之旅 (T) (R) 布列塔尼篇 7.0 名人古董路演 (T) (R) | 6.0 英国早安 (T) 10.0 此时此刻 (T) 1.30 新闻 (T) 天气 1.55 当地新闻 (T) 天气 2.0 迪金森的真实交易 (T) (R) 3.0 成交或不成交 (T) (R) 4.0 倾斜点 (T) (R) 本·谢泼德主持这场以街机为主题的问答节目。 5.0 追击 (T) (R) Sarah, Arash, Suzanne 和 James 挑战书籍主题。 6.0 当地新闻 (T) 天气 6.30 新闻 (T) 天气 7.30 名人语言 (T) (R) Judy Murray 和 Mark Pougatich 对阵 Helen Skelton 和 Rav Wilding。 | 6.30 皇后之王 (T) (R) 7.45 每个人都爱雷蒙 (T) (R) 9.10 弗雷泽 (T) (R) 11.10 拉姆齐的 24 小时地狱往返 (T) (R) 12.05 新闻 (T) 12.10 寻找、修复、出售 (T) (R) 1.10 豪宅赠送 (T) (R) 2.10 倒计时 (T) 3.0 阳光下的地方 (T) (R) 4.0 伟大的 B&B 挑战 (T) (R) 一场花园派对搞砸了。 5.0 城堡 DIY (T) (R) 6.0 美国拾荒者 (T) (R) 一个慕尼黑啤酒节的珍宝完全符合 Frank Fritz 的口味。 7.0 新闻 (T) | 6.0 牛奶昔! 9.15 杰里米·Vine (T) 11.30 Storm & Alexis (T) 12.45 新闻 (T) 12.50 Matt Allwright (T) 2.20 KENK 《抵押谋杀:枫叶街的秘密》(2024) (T) 首播。由 Alison Sweeney 主演的悬疑剧。 4.0 Castle (T) (R) 4.55 热爱自然 (T) (R) 5.0 新闻 (T) 6.0 与 Merton & Webster 一起开房车 (T) (R) Paul Merton 和 Suki Webster 探索新森林。 6.55 新闻 (T) 7.0 自行车:2026年西班牙环赛 (T) 7.55 新闻 (T) 头条。 | 7.0 海边村庄 (T) Ben Robinson 参观威尔士索尔瓦地区令人印象深刻且保存完好的石灰窑。 8.0 真伪之辨:接下来发生了什么? (T) 调查一台可能属于约翰·列侬的钢琴。本系列最后一集。 8.0 工厂内部 (T) (R) Paddy McGuinness 回到家乡博尔顿,了解 Washurtons 如何制造产品。 8.0 艾默代尔 (T) Dawn 必须做一个重大决定。 8.0 爱它还是列出它:绝妙建筑 (T) 新系列。Kirstie Allsopp 和 Phil Spencer 回顾解决了女性钢琴这一致命缺陷的建筑。 8.0 呼叫执达员:付款时间到了 (T) 新系列。代理人试图追回一名房地产经纪人欠前客户的债务。 8.0 罗马:永恒之城的历史 (T) 罗马崛起成为西方基督教世界的中心。 9.0 名人厨神 (T) 电视和广播主持人 Zoe Ball 挑战名人制作他们的终极作品。 |
布丁。 / 9.0 9.15 总统战情室内部 (T) (R) 乔治·W·布什及其工作人员如何应对 9.11 袭击。 / 9.0 《T教授》 (T) 贾斯珀赞赏一起发生在养老院的谋杀案。 / 9.0 《谋杀侦探》 (T) 新剧集。关于莱拉·麦基谋杀案的调查。 / 9.0 丹·斯诺带你游长城 (T) 丹·斯诺前往中国,进一步了解这个国家的标志性地标。 / 9.0 玛丽·比尔德的终极罗马:无尽帝国 (T) 学者探讨罗马帝国如何以及为何衰落。本系列最后一集。 / 10.0 新闻 (T) 10.30 地区新闻 (T) 天气 10.40 MOTO:欧冠联赛 (T) 附加赛行动。 / 10.30 新闻之夜 (T) 天气 11.05 Caugus Therapy (T) 12.0 与迈克尔·辛一起被埋葬 (T) (R) 1.0 签名区。《名人厨神》 (T) (R) 2.0 签名区。脱欧:一场非常英国式的内战 (T) (R) / **10.0
新闻 (T) 当地新闻 KENK Spectre (萨姆·门德斯, 2015) (T) 惊悚片。 1.10 购物 3.0 《爱与死亡》 (T) (R) 4.0 朗廷酒店内部 (T) (R) 4.20 Unwind (T) 5.35 汤姆·克里奇 (T) (R) / 10.0 《永无止境的谋杀》 (T) 新剧集。一起 1691 年的案件。 12.05 隔壁间谍:安娜·查普曼的故事 (T) (R) 1.55 《名人被猎》 (T) (R) 3.50 Caugus Come Dine with Me (T) (R) / 10.30 A&E:事故现场急救 (T) (R) 11.30 救护车:红色代码 (T) (R) 12.30 警察 (T) (R) 1.0 邮轮电视 (T) (R) 2.0 全科医生:闭门之后 (T) (R) 2.50 《城堡》 (T) (R) / 10.0 L 克劳狄斯 (T) 11.50 澳大利亚战争 (T) 12.50 运河船日记 (T) 1.20 罗马:永恒之城的历史 (T) 2.20 玛丽·比尔德的终极罗马:无尽帝国 (T) / 11.25 KENK The Shadows (Jaume Collin) Gems, 2016 (T) 12.45 天气 (T) 12.50** 新闻 (T)
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observer.co.uk 23.08.26

《Better Date Than Never》 BBC Three, 晚上 9.05 单身青年尝试约会
| BBC One | BBC Two | ITV1 | Channel 4 | 5 | BBC Four |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.0 早晨新闻 (T) 9.30 Morning Live: 实用技巧与精华 (T) 10.30 花园救援 (T) (重播) 11.15 房屋拍卖 (T) 12.15 淘宝猎人 (T) (重播) 1.0 新闻 (T) 1.35 地区新闻 (T) 1.45 新闻 (T) 天气 2.0 免费得钱 (T) 2.45 逃离城市 (T) (重播) 3.30 修理铺 (T) (重播) 4.30 答案赛 (T) (重播) 5.15 无用之题 (T) (重播) 6.0 新闻 (T) 天气 6.30 地区新闻 (T) 天气 7.0 The One Show (T) 7.30 东区东区 (T) | 6.30 逃离城市 (T) (重播) 7.15 免费得钱 (T) (重播) 8.0 手语区:名人厨神 (T) (重播) 9.0 新闻 (T) 1.0 Richard Osman 的游戏屋 (T) (重播) 1.30 边缘 (T) (重播) 2.15 你了解你的位置吗? (T) (重播) 2.45 动物公园 (T) (重播) 3.30 塞伦盖蒂 III (T) (重播) 4.30 复古古董路演 (T) (重播) 5.05 标记它! (T) (重播) 6.0 Richard Osman 的游戏屋 (T) (重播) 6.30 伟大的欧陆铁路之旅 (T) (重播) 目的地巴约,7.0 今日测试 (T) | 6.0 英国早安 (T) 10.0 This Morning (T) 1.30 新闻 (T) 天气 1.55 当地新闻 (T) 天气 2.0 Dickinson 的真实交易 (T) (重播) 3.0 成交或不成交 (T) (重播) Stephen Mulhern 主持。 4.0 倾斜点 (T) (重播) 问答节目,由 Ben Shephard 主持。 5.0 追击 (T) (重播) Phil, Richard, Vicky 和 Samantha 参加。 6.0 当地新闻 (T) 天气 6.30 新闻 (T) 天气 7.30 It'll Be Alright on the Night (T) 电视变革节目,由 Joel Dommett 和 Romesh Ranganathan 主持。 | 6.30 皇后之王 (T) (重播) 7.45 大家都爱雷蒙 (T) (重播) 9.10 弗雷泽 (T) (重播) 11.10 Ramsay 的 24 小时地狱往返 (T) (重播) 12.05 新闻 (T) 12.10 寻找、修复、标记 (T) (重播) 1.10 豪宅赠送 (T) (重播) 2.10 倒计时 (T) 3.0 阳光之所 (T) (重播) 4.0 伟大的 B&B 挑战 (T) (重播) 5.0 DfY 城堡 (T) (重播) 6.0 美国拾荒者 (T) (重播) 芝加哥的一座仓库,充满了超级体育纪念品。 7.0 新闻 (T) | 6.0 Milkshake! 9.15 Jeremy Vine (T) 11.30 Storm & Alexis (T) 12.45 新闻 (T) 12.50 Matt Allwright (T) 2.20 KNB《杀死继父》(Peter Sullivan, 2023) (T) 由 Alex Camacho 主演的惊悚片。 4.0 Castle (T) 4.55 热爱自然 (T) (重播) 5.0 新闻 (T) 6.0 与 Merton 和 Webster 一起开房车 (T) (重播) Paul Merton 和 Suki Webster 前往 Darnis。 6.55 新闻 (T) 7.0 自行车:2026 年西班牙环赛 (T) Rebecca Charlton 主持第六赛段的赛事。 7.55 新闻 (T) | 7.0 海边村庄 (T) 探讨德文郡 Beer 石材如何被用于伦敦塔。 7.30 运河船日记 (T) Robbie Cumming 在大联合运河遇到冰层问题。本系列最后一集。 8.0 龙穴 (T) 提案包括基于坚果和种子的零食以及一个处理水浪费的装置。 9.0 Ludwig (T) 一场由整个婚礼派对目击的谋杀案被证明是一个相当复杂的谜题,John 发现自己被众多变量所困扰。 |
| 8.0 Steph McGovern 的大交易 (T) 剩下的五对搭档在马盖特探索版画和限量版的世界。 9.0 穿越时间的房子 (T) 在 20 世纪初,卡尔顿山的居民发现自己卷入了重婚事件。 | |||||
| 8.0 艾默代尔 (T) 一波震惊与恐惧开始席卷村庄。 8.30 花街 (T) Sarah 担心她让 Harry 陷入了危险之中。 9.0 Beat the Chasers (T) 来自各地的参赛者 |
英国挑战专家。布拉德利·沃尔什主持。 / 8.0 Renovation Rescue (T) 理查德和南古拉在西约克郡试图完成他们持续八年的翻修工程。9.0 The Murder Detective (T) 当团队认为他们能够确定蒙面凶手的姓名时,墨菲发起了一系列高风险行动。 / 8.0 The Yorkshire Vet (T) 朱利安·诺顿为一名小女孩的仓鼠 Mils 进行了他职业生涯中最具挑战性且最精细的手术之一。9.0 Bendden Is Murder (T) 丹尼斯和罗莎在一次不幸事件后调查一名男子的死亡。犯罪剧,由约翰·汉纳主演。 / 8.0 Vasa: The Ghost Ship (T) 探讨一艘在处女航中沉没的 10.28 瑞典海军舰船。9.0 KNB 《大白鲨》(史蒂文·斯皮尔伯格, 1975) (T) 由罗伊·谢德主演的惊悚片。一个海滨度假胜地被一只杀手鲨鱼困扰,促使警察局长采取行动。 / **10.0 新闻 (T) 10.30
地区新闻 (T) 天气 10.40 The Truth About My Murder (T) 纪录片。12.40 Alan Carr's Picture Slam (T) (R) 1.25 未来一周天气预报 1.30 新闻 (T) / 10.0 Red Dwarf (T) (R) 喜剧。10.30 Newsnight (T) 天气 11.05 Emergency 24 / 7 (T) (R) 12.05 KNB 《亲爱的埃文·汉森》(斯蒂芬·乔博斯基, 2021) (T) 2.10 Sign Zone: Brexit: A Very British Civil War (T) (R) / 10.0 新闻 (T) 天气 10.30 当地新闻 (T) 天气 10.45 KNB 《无时间赴死》(凯瑞·福可奈根, 2021) (T) 1.25 电视购物 3.0 The Summit (T) (R) 3.50 Unwind with ITV (T) / 10.0 The Never Ending Murder (T) 新信息使案件重新启动。11.0 The Never Ending Murder (T) 系列最后一集。12.0 Crime Scene Cleaners (T) (R) 纪录片。 / 10.0 Killer at the Crime Scene (T) 审视新古典主义 Autumn Klein 的谋杀案。11.05 Fatal First Dates (T) 真实犯罪纪录片。**12.05
Street Caps: Catching the Yobs (T) (R) 纪录片。 / 11.0 Talking Pictures (T) 讲述史蒂文·斯皮尔伯格的水下恐怖故事。1.45 KNB 《大白鲨 2》(让诺·斯瓦克, 1978) (T) 由罗伊·谢德主演的惊悚续集。1.35 Canal Boat Diaries (T)**

《马洛谋杀俱乐部》(The Marlow Murder Club),BBC Two,晚上9点 萨曼莎·邦德在目睹邻居被谋杀后化身为侦探
| BBC One | BBC Two | ITV1 | Channel 4 | 5 | BBC Four |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.0 早安节目 (T) 9.30 早晨直播:实用技巧与精华 (T) 10.30 花园救援 (T) (R) 11.15 房屋拍卖 (T) (R) 12.15 淘宝猎人 (T) 1.0 新闻 (T) 1.35 地区新闻 (T) 1.45 新闻 (T) 2.0 邦妮法斯修女谜案 (T) 2.45 逃往乡村 (T) (R) 3.30 修理铺 (T) (R) 4.30 答案赛跑 (T) (R) 5.15 无用之题 (T) (R) 6.0 新闻 (T) 天气 6.30 地区新闻 (T) 7.0 综合节目 (T) 7.30 旅行拍卖师 (T) (R) | 6.15 房屋拍卖 (R) 7.15 免费得财 (T) (R) 8.0 手语区:房屋演变史 (T) (R) 9.0 新闻 (T) 1.0 理查德·奥斯曼的游戏屋 (T) (R) 1.30 边缘 (T) (R) 2.15 你了解你的位置吗? (T) (R) 2.45 动物公园 (T) (R) 3.30 塞伦盖蒂 III (T) (R) 4.30 复古古董路演 (T) (R) 5.25 标记它! (T) (R) 6.0 理查德·奥斯曼的游戏屋 (T) (R) 6.30 欧洲铁路之旅 (T) (R) 纪实:吉维尼。 7.0 今日测试 (T) | 6.0 英国早安 (T) 10.0 此时此刻 (T) 1.30 新闻 (T) 天气 1.55 当地新闻 (T) 天气 2.0 迪金森的真实交易 (T) (R) 3.0 成交或不成交 (T) (R) 4.0 临界点 (T) (R) 问答节目,由本·谢泼德主持。 5.0 追击 (T) (R) Dylan, Jade, Rachel 和 Tom 对阵一名追击者。 6.0 当地新闻 (T) 天气 6.30 新闻 (T) 天气 7.30 阿比·克兰西:名人住宅 (T) (R) 阿比访问 Heidi Range 和 Jodie Kidd 的住宅。 | 6.30 皇后之王 (T) (R) 7.45 大家都爱雷蒙 (T) (R) 9.10 弗雷泽 (T) (R) 11.10 拉姆齐的24小时地狱改造 (T) (R) 12.05 新闻 (T) 12.10 寻找、修复、标记 (T) (R) 1.10 豪宅赠送 (T) (R) 2.10 倒计时 (T) 3.0 阳光之城 (T) (R) 4.0 顶级 B&B 挑战赛 (T) (R) 5.0 DfY 城堡 (T) (R) 6.0 美国拾荒者 (T) (R) Mike Wolfe 遇到一名正在培训女儿进入该行业的退休拍卖师。 7.0 新闻 (T) | 6.0 牛奶摇篮! 9.15 杰里米·维恩 (T) 11.30 Storm & Alexis (T) 12.45 新闻 (T) 12.50 马特·奥尔赖特 (T) 2.20 KNB 致命女孩之旅 (Damian Romay, 2025) (T) 由 Kristi Murdoch 主演的惊悚片。 4.0 Castle (T) 4.55 热爱自然 (T) (R) 5.0 新闻 (T) 6.0 与 Merton & Webster 一起开房车旅行 (T) (R) Paul Merton 和他的妻子 Suki Webster 探索约克郡。 6.55 新闻 (T) 7.0 自行车:2026年西班牙环赛 (T) Rebecca Charlton 报道第七赛段的精彩内容。 7.55 新闻 (T) | 7.0 大都会管弦乐团在 Proms 演奏施特劳斯 (T) 纽约大都会管弦乐团在音乐总监 Yannick Nézet-Séguin 的指挥下,在 Proms 音乐节上进行备受期待的首演。 8.0 名人厨神 (T) 剩余的名人厨师为 Tom Kerridge 烹饪。 9.0 你会撒谎吗? (T) (R) 嘉宾包括 Sam Campbell, Dave Carson, Darren Harriott 和 Al Odudu。 9.30 布朗太太的儿子们 (T) (R) 一名催眠师在三胞胎的洗礼仪式上表演。 |
| 8.0 花园世界 (T) 在一个以破纪录的高温为标志的夏天即将结束之际,Monty Don 反思这对其他人产生了怎样的影响。 9.0 马洛谋杀俱乐部 (T) (R) 改编自 Robert Thorogood 的小说,由萨曼莎·邦德主演。 | 8.0 艾默代尔 (T) Caleb 和 Ruby 交换了心虚的眼神。 8.30 街道冠冕 (T) Sarah 和 Kit 分别试图消除 Kacey 的威胁。 9.0 法律之雨 (T) 新剧集。由 Milo Calaghan 主演的法律剧。 |
一名年轻律师被一家危险的律所所困。 / 8.0 Jimmy Doherty's Big Bear Rescue (T) (R) 农民试图将两只北极熊从瑞典迁移。 9.0 The Murder Detective (T) 经过多年的调查和逮捕,首席侦探 Jason Murphy 准备采取他迄今为止最大胆的行动。本系列最后一集。 / 8.0 Alexander Armstrong in Sri Lanka (T) (R) 主持人向北前往泰米尔地区。本系列最后一集。 9.0 Heat (T) (R) Tom 受伤的真相揭晓,Brad 与 Mia 的希望得到探讨。剧情片,由 Danny Dyer 和 Matteo Annetta 主演。 / 8.45 TOTP: 2000 Jamie Theakston 主持流行音乐排行榜节目。 9.15 TOTP: 1978 (T) David Jensen 主持 1978年8月24日的一期节目。 9.50 TOTP: 1988 (T) 嘉宾包括 Big Country, Bomb the Bass, Womack and Womack 以及 Status Quo。 / 10.0 新闻 (T) 10.30 地区新闻 (T) 天气 10.40
Fontaines DC (R) Reading Festival 2026 (T) 报道领衔艺人的演出。 12.10 KNB Man & Olie (Jon S. Baird, 2018) (T) 传记片。 / 10.30 Newsnight (T) 天气 11.05 KNB Tuesday (Diana O. Pusic, 2023) (T) 首播。 12.45 Sign Zone: The Mother of All Cons (T) (R) 1.45 Sign Zone: The Big Deal with Steph McGovern (T) (R) / 10.0 新闻 (T) 天气 10.15 KNB Superman Returns (Bryan Singer, 2006) (T) 漫画冒险片。 12.50 电视购物 3.0 Force of Nature (T) (R) 3.50 Long Lost Family (T) (R) / 10.10 The Big Fat Quiz of Telly (T) (R) 由 Harry Hill 主持。 12.10 KNB 12.7 Hours (Danny Boyle, 2010) (T) 基于事实的剧情片 1.45 Kitchen Nightmares USA (T) (R) 2.35 Four in a Bed (T) (R) / 10.0 Heat (T) (R) 当 Tom 没有回来时,恐怖感袭来。本系列最后一集。 11.05 When TV News Goes Horribly Wrong 电视新闻直播中的意外 (T) 1.00**
Cruise TV (T) / 10.20 The Specials: 6 Music Sessions (T) 2-Tone 先驱者的录音 session。 10.55 2 Tone: The Sound of Coventry (T) 纪录片。 11.55 The Specials: Rock Goes To College (T)** 一场音乐会。
| BBC One | BBC Two | ITV1 | Channel 4 | 5 | BBC Four |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.0 早安节目 (T) 10.0 周六厨房 (T) 11.30 安娜·霍的爱尔兰美食之旅 (T) 12.0 淘货猎人 (T) 12.45 足球访谈 (T) 1.0 新闻 (T) 1.15 免费之钱 (T) 2.0 锤下之屋 (T) 3.0 逃往乡村 (T) 3.45 最终比分 (T) 5.15 新闻 (T) 5.25 地区新闻 (T) 天气 5.30 天气 (T) 5.35 热门名单 (T) 6.20 艾伦·卡尔的名人照片大比拼 (T) 7.10免费 帕丁顿熊 2 (保罗·金, 2017) (T) 喜剧片。 | 6.15 儿童节目 9.0 花园世界 (T) 10.0 这种野生生活 (T) 10.30 免费 劳拉 (奥托·普雷明格, 2014) (T) 11.55 英国缝纫大赛 (T) 12.55 与潮之赛 (T) 1.25 免费 海滩 (加里·马歇尔, 1988) (T) 3.20 免费 阳光之下 (盖·汉密尔顿, 1962) (T) 1.25 赫尔克里·波洛侦探剧。5.15 超级联赛直播 (T) 韦克菲尔德三一 对阵 约克骑士 (开球时间 5.30pm)。7.30 在逍遥音乐会庆祝詹姆斯·邦德 (T) | 6.0 免费 只为你眼 (约翰·格伦, 1981) (T) 詹姆斯·邦德间谍片,由罗杰·摩尔主演。8.25 普鲁·莱斯的科茨沃尔德厨房 (T) 9.25 新闻 (T) 9.30 詹姆斯·马丁的周六早晨 (T) 12.0 英甲直播 (T) 米德尔斯堡 对阵 西布罗姆维奇 (开球时间 12.30pm)。2.55 免费 绝不再次说绝不 (伊里希·克什纳, 1983) (T) 5.25 新闻 (T) 天气 5.45 当地新闻 (T) 天气 6.0 追逐名人特辑 (T) 7.0 英国之声 (T) | 6.0 免费 只为你眼 (约翰·格伦, 1981) (T) 詹姆斯·邦德间谍片,由罗杰·摩尔主演。8.25 普鲁·莱斯的科茨沃尔德厨房 (T) 9.25 新闻 (T) 9.30 詹姆斯·马丁的周六早晨 (T) 12.0 英甲直播 (T) 米德尔斯堡 对阵 西布罗姆维奇 (开球时间 12.30pm)。2.55 免费 绝不再次说绝不 (伊里希·克什纳, 1983) (T) 5.25 新闻 (T) 天气 5.45 当地新闻 (T) 天气 6.0 追逐名人特辑 (T) 7.0 英国之声 (T) | 6.0 干杯 (T) (R) 7.45 大家都爱雷蒙 (T) (R) 由雷·罗曼诺主演的喜剧系列剧。9.10 2026超级英雄铁人三项 (T) 9.55 弗雷泽 (T) 11.25 辛普森一家 (T) 11.50 四人一床 (T) 4.25 乔治·克拉克的惊人空间 (T) 5.30 宏伟设计 (T) | 6.0 牛奶摇摇! 9.0 |
(扎克·施奈德,2013)(T) 由亨利·卡维尔主演的超级英雄冒险片。一名秘密生活在地球上的外星人为人类抵御入侵。 / 8.0 免费《黑豹》(瑞安·康格,2018)(T) 由查德维克·博斯曼、迈克尔与乔丹、露皮塔·尼永奥以及马丁·芬曼主演的漫画改编冒险片。一个隐藏的非洲国家的新统治者面临着王位的挑战。 / 8.0 《安德里、弗吉与南约克丑闻》(T) (R) 探讨伯克郡桑尼希尔公园争议的纪录片。9.0 《9 / 11:未公开影像》(T) 讲述2001年9月11日恐怖袭击故事的纪录片。 / 8.0 《地球生命》(T) 东非的捕食者与猎物。8.55 《地球行星:大象的故事》(T) 一头新生大象的14个夜晚。9.0 《喀布尔》(T) 美国人发现了一个即将轰炸喀布尔机场的计划。9.55 《喀布尔》(T) 地缘政治剧集中的最后一集。 / 10.05 新闻 (T) 10.20 天气 (T) 10.25 《今日之赛》(T) 11.35 《2026年雷丁音乐节强奸事件》(T) 12.50 下周天气预报 (T) 12.55 新闻 (T) / 10.25 《Wham! 在 BBC》(T) (R) 档案演出。11.35 《TOTP 1985年大热金曲》(T) (R) 12.35 《今日测试赛》(T) (R) 1.35 免费《6号车厢》(朱诺·库苏马宁,2021)3.20 《手语区:路德维希》(R) / 12.0 英格兰足球联赛集锦 (T) 最新比赛精彩瞬间。1.20 电视购物 3.0 《峰会》(T) 3.50 《放松》(T) 5.05 《费恩·布里顿:走进 Yet》(R) / 10.45 免费《终结者:黑暗命运》(蒂姆·贝茨,2016)(T) 1.0 《白蚁》(T) 1.15 《厨房噩梦美国版》(T) (R) 2.05 免费《希望》(玛丽亚·索多姆,2019)4.10 《辛普森一家》(T) (R) / 10.30 免费《柯比靴》(朱利安·詹姆斯,2020) (T) 喜剧。12.35 《乔治·迈克尔:男人与音乐》(T)
(R) 1.05 《与洛夫尔·布基一起游轮电视》(T) (R) 2.05 《GPE 闭门之后》(T) (R) / 10.50 《前往庄园炸弹》(T) 11.15 《维持体面》11.45 《时空转移:伟大的英国海滨假期》(T) 12.30 《雷·米恩斯与伊万·麦格雷戈:极限丛林》(T) 1.30 《地球生命》(T)
| 星期日 | 星期一 | 星期二 | 星期三 | 星期四 | 星期五 | 星期六 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Radio 3 6.30am 早安节目 9.0 星期日早晨 11.0 2026年BBC逍遥音乐节 1.30 五月音乐 3.0 声音之色 4.0 爵士唱片 5.0 古乐节目 6.0 合唱晚祷 7.0 新一代艺术家 7.30 2026年BBC逍遥音乐节 10.0 夜间轨道 11.30 未分类 12.30 彻夜聆听:肖邦与贝多芬 |
Radio 3 6.30am 早安节目 9.30 经典精选 1.0 古典现场 4.0 本周作曲家:Sally Beamish 5.0 协调之中 7.0 2026年BBC逍遥音乐节 10.0 夜间轨道 11.30 午夜时分 12.30 彻夜聆听 |
Radio 4 6.0am 今日 9.0 伟大犯罪之谜 9.30 我们如何走到今天:没有世界秩序 10.0 女性时间 11.0 各类心智 11.45 本周之书 12.0 新闻 12.04 你与你我 1.0 世界 1.45 人类智能 2.0 弓箭手 2.15 香烟、杂志与袋子 2.45 开篇之词 3.0 伟大人生 3.30 你对我而言已死 4.0 WhatsApp地下世界 4.30 灵魂音乐 5.0 下午节目 6.0 新闻 6.30 简直是一团糟 7.0 弓箭手 7.15 前排 8.0 简报室 8.30 BBC内部科学 9.0 伟大犯罪之谜 9.30 我们如何走到今天:没有世界秩序 10.0 今夜世界 10.45 睡前读物:《西杜先生的邮局》 11.0 有件事关于大麻要告诉你 11.30 一切都是假的且没人关心 12.0 新闻与天气 12.30 本周之书 12.48 航运预报 1.0 BBC世界服务 5.0 新闻摘要 5.04 BBC内部科学 5.34 航运预报 5.43 今日祷告 5.45 农业今日 |
Radio 4 6.0am 今日 9.0 无形之手 9.30 迈克尔·辛 (Michael Sheen) 进入角色 10.0 女性时间 11.0 添加至播放列表 11.45 本周之书:《世上所有的美》 12.0 新闻 12.04 呼叫你与你我 1.0 世界 1.45 人类智能 2.0 弓箭手 2.15 戏剧:《测试击球手无法呼吸》 3.0 秘密英雄之何在 3.30 心灵与灵魂 4.0 与Dave Van Roek共度夜晚 4.30 医生怎么说? 5.0 下午节目 6.0 六点新闻 6.30 Paul Sinha的完美酒吧问答 7.0 弓箭手 7.15 前排 8.0 验尸官之问 8.40 保持联系 9.0 跨越大陆 9.30 诈骗秘密 10.0 今夜世界 10.45 睡前读物:《西杜先生的邮局》 11.0 半衰期 11.30 一切都是假的且没人关心 12.0 新闻与天气 12.30 本周之书 12.48 航运预报 1.0 BBC世界服务 5.0 新闻摘要 5.04 BBC内部科学 5.34 航运预报 5.43 今日祷告 5.45 农业今日 |
Radio 4 6.0am 今日 9.0 无形之手 9.30 迈克尔·辛 (Michael Sheen) 进入角色 10.0 女性时间 11.0 添加至播放列表 11.45 本周之书:《世上所有的美》 12.0 新闻 12.04 呼叫你与你我 1.0 世界 1.45 人类智能 2.0 弓箭手 2.15 戏剧:《测试击球手无法呼吸》 3.0 秘密英雄之何在 3.30 心灵与灵魂 4.0 与Dave Van Roek共度夜晚 4.30 医生怎么说? 5.0 下午节目 6.0 六点新闻 6.30 Paul Sinha的完美酒吧问答 7.0 弓箭手 7.15 前排 8.0 验尸官之问 8.40 保持联系 9.0 跨越大陆 9.30 诈骗秘密 10.0 今夜世界 10.45 睡前读物 |
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就寝读物:西杜先生的邮局 11.0 半衰期 11.30 万物皆假且无人关心 12.0 新闻与天气 12.30 本周之书 12.48 航运预报 1.0 作为 BBC 世界服务 5.0 新闻摘要 5.04 BBC 科学内幕 5.34 航运预报 5.43 今日祷告 5.45 今日农业 / Radio 4 6.0am 今日 9.0 无形之手 9.30 迈克尔·辛进入角色 10.0 女性时间 11.0 添加至播放列表 11.45 本周之书:世上所有的美丽 12.0 新闻 12.04 呼叫您与您的家人 1.0 世界 1.45 人类智能 2.0 拱手之劳 2.15 剧集《击球手无法呼吸》 3.0 什么是秘密英雄 3.30 心灵与灵魂 4.0 与戴夫·范·鲁克共度夜晚 4.30 文档怎么了? 5.0 PM 6.0 六点新闻 6.30 保罗·辛哈的完美酒吧问答 7.0 拱手之劳 7.15 前排 8.0 法医之问 8.40 保持联系 9.0 跨越大陆 9.30 诈骗秘密 10.0 今夜世界 10.45 就寝读物:西杜先生的邮局 11.0 半衰期 11.30 万物皆假且无人关心 12.0 新闻与天气 12.30 本周之书 12.48 航运预报 1.0 作为 世界服务 5.0 新闻摘要 5.04 科学内幕 5.34 航运预报 5.43 今日祷告 5.45 今日农业 / 星期五 Radio 3 6.30am 早餐 9.30 经典精选 1.0 古典现场 4.0 本周作曲家:莎莉·比米什 5.0 协调 6.0 2026年 逍遥音乐节 10.0 2026年 逍遥音乐节 11.45 午夜时分 12.30 彻夜。音乐精选。 / Radio 3 6.30am 早餐 9.30 经典精选 1.0 古典现场 4.0 本周作曲家 :莎莉·比米什 5.0 协调 6.0 2026年 逍遥音乐节 10.0 2026年 逍遥音乐节 11.45 午夜时分 12.30 彻夜。音乐精选。 / Radio 4 6.0am 新闻头条 6.05 心灵与灵魂 6.35 在您的农场 7.0 新闻 7.0 星期日报纸 7.10 星期日 7.54 Radio 4 呼吁 8.0 新闻 8.0 星期日报纸
8.10 星期日礼拜 8.48 见证历史 8.58 今日推文 9.0 广播大楼 10.0 听众 10.0 拱手之劳 12.15 最后的话:以不同方式面对死亡 12.30 仅仅是混乱 13.0 本周末的世界 1.30 WhatsApp 地下网络 2.0 园艺问答时间 2.45 开篇词 3.0 剧集:《午夜牛仔》 4.0 书籍四选 4.30 英国之脑 5.0 见证历史 5.10 罪案背后 5.54 航运预报 6.0 六点新闻 6.15 本周片段 7.0 拱手之劳 7.15 敲响欺凌之钟 7.45 与迈克尔·莫斯利探讨一件事 8.0 英格兰最致命的书 8.30 最后的话 9.0 祝酒 9.26 Radio 4 呼吁 9.30 来自我们的特派记者 10.0 骗子:社会背后的刺痛 11.0 伟大人生 11.30 骗局 11.45 短篇作品 12.0 新闻
以及天气 12.15 跨越大陆 12.45 周日钟声 12.48 航运预报 1.0 BBC全球服务 5.0 新闻摘要 5.04 最后之言 5.34 航运预报 5.43 今日祷告 5.45 今日农业 / Radio 3 6.30am 早餐 9.30 经典精选 1.0 古典现场 4.0 本周作曲家:Sally Beamish 5.0 协调 6.0 2026年BBC逍遥音乐会 10.0 2026年BBC逍遥音乐会 11.45 午夜时分 12.30 彻夜。音乐精选。 / Radio 4 6.0am 今日 9.0 伟大犯罪之谜 9.30 我们是如何走到这一步的:没有世界秩序 10.0 女性时间 11.0 各类心智 11.45 本周之书:《世上所有的美丽》 12.0 新闻 12.04 你与你我 1.0 世界 1.45 人类智能 2.0 弓箭手 2.15 香烟、杂志与袋子 2.45 开篇之词 3.0 伟大人生 3.30 你对我而言已死 4.0 WhatsApp地下组织 4.30 灵魂
音乐 5.0 下午 6.0 六点新闻 6.30 Paul Sinha的完美酒吧问答 7.0 弓箭手 7.15 前排 8.0 法医之问 8.40 保持联系 9.0 跨越大陆 9.30 诈骗秘密 10.0 今夜世界 10.45 睡前书:《Sidhu先生的邮局》 11.0 半衰期 11.30 一切都是假的且无人关心 12.0 新闻与天气 12.30 本周之书 12.48 航运预报 1.0 BBC全球服务 5.0 新闻摘要 5.04 BBC内部科学 5.34 航运预报 5.43 今日祷告 5.45 今日农业 / Radio 3 6.30am 早餐 9.30 经典精选 1.0 古典现场 4.0 本周作曲家:Sally Beamish 5.0 协调 6.0 2026年BBC逍遥音乐会 10.0 2026年BBC逍遥音乐会 11.45 午夜时分 12.30 彻夜。音乐精选。 / Radio 4 6.0am 今日 9.0 伟大犯罪之谜 9.30 我们是如何走到这一步的:没有世界
节目单 10.0 女性时间 (Woman's Hour) 11.0 文化生活 (This Cultural Life) 11.45 本周之书:《世上所有的美》(All the Beauty in the World) 12.0 新闻 12.04 你与你的生活 (You and Yours) 1.0 世界 (The World) 1.45 人类智能 (Human Intelligence) 2.0 弓箭手 (The Archers) 2.15 戏剧:中央情报 (Central Intelligence) 2.45 生活在边缘 (Living on the Edge) 3.0 园丁问答时间 (Gardeners' Question Time) 3.45 短篇作品 (Short Works) 4.0 最后之言 (Last Word) 4.30 侧向 (Sideways) 5.0 PM 6.0 六点新闻 6.30 民众之声 (The People Have Spoken) 7.0 弓箭手 (The Archers) 7.15 添加至播放列表 8.0 有任何问题吗 (Any Questions) 8.55 本周历史 (This Week in History) 9.0 娜塔莉·海恩斯捍卫古典学 (Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics) 9.30 打破循环 (Breakin' the Cycle) 10.0 今夜世界 (The World Tonight) 10.45 睡前之书:《西杜先生的邮局》(Mr. Sidhu's Post Office) 11.0 Americard 11.30 一切皆假且无人在意 (Everything Is Fake and Nobody Cares) 12.0 新闻与天气 12.30 本周之书:《世上所有的美》(All the Beauty in the World) 12.48 航运预报 1.0 BBC 世界服务 (BBC World Service)
5.30 新闻摘要 5.34 航运预报 | Radio 3 6.30am 早餐 (Breakfast) 9.30 经典精选 (Essential Classics) 1.0 古典现场 (Classical Live) 4.0 本周作曲家:莎莉·比米什 (Sally Beamish) 5.0 协调 (In Tune) 6.0 2026年BBC逍遥音乐会 (BBC Proms 2026) 10.0 2026年BBC逍遥音乐会 (BBC Proms 2026) 11.45 午夜时分 (Round Midnight) 12.30 彻夜 (Through the Night)。音乐精选。 | Radio 3 6.30am 早餐 (Breakfast) 9.30 经典精选 (Essential Classics) 1.0 古典现场 (Classical Live) 4.0 本周作曲家:莎莉·比米什 (Sally Beamish) 5.0 协调 (In Tune) 6.0 2026年BBC逍遥音乐会 (BBC Proms 2026) 10.0 2026年BBC逍遥音乐会 (BBC Proms 2026) 11.45 午夜时分 (Round Midnight) 12.30 彻夜 (Through the Night)。音乐精选。 | Radio 3 6.30am 早餐 (Breakfast) 9.30 经典精选 (Essential Classics) 1.0 古典现场 (Classical Live) 4.0 本周作曲家:莎莉·比米什 (Sally Beamish) 5.0 协调 (In Tune) 6.0 2026年BBC逍遥音乐会 (BBC Proms 2026) 10.0 2026年BBC逍遥音乐会 (BBC Proms 2026) 11.45 午夜时分 (Round Midnight) 12.30 彻夜 (Through the Night)。音乐精选。 | Radio 3 6.30am 早餐 (Breakfast) 9.30 经典精选 (Essential Classics) 1.0 古典现场 (Classical Live) 4.0 本周作曲家:莎莉·比米什 (Sally Beamish) 5.0 协调 (In Tune) 6.0 2026年BBC逍遥音乐会 (BBC Proms 2026) 10.0 2026年BBC逍遥音乐会 (BBC Proms 2026) 11.45 午夜时分 (Round Midnight) 12.30 彻夜 (Through the Night)。音乐精选。
[页码 40]
[网站地址:observer.co.uk] 23.08.26
评论家
芭芭拉·艾伦 (Barbara Ellen)

路德维希 (Ludwig) BBC One T教授 (Professor T) ITV1
右上图 带有《史酷比》的影子……安娜·麦克斯韦尔·马丁 (Anna Maxwell Martin) 和大卫·米切尔 (David Mitchell) 在《路德维希》中回归。
下图 佐伊·瓦纳梅克 (Zoë Wanamaker)、本·米勒 (Ben Miller) 和朱丽叶·史蒂文森 (Juliet Stevenson) 出演“古怪且激烈”的《T教授》。 BBC, ITV

“有些人似乎没有意识到,温馨犯罪剧的爱好者对情节的挑剔程度之高”
由马克·布拉德胡德 (Mark Brotherhood) 创作并编写的《路德维希》(Ludwig, BBC One) 首季是一部温馨犯罪剧的巨作:它是 BBC 2024 年最成功的剧本剧,累计观众超过 1000 万 人。在回归的第二季六集篇幅中,大卫·米切尔再次饰演约翰 (John),他是一名以路德维希为笔名的纵横字谜出题人,而他的同卵双胞胎兄弟、首席侦查官詹姆斯 (James) 此时失踪了。
在第一季中,约翰的嫂子露西 (Lucy,由安娜·麦克斯韦尔·马丁饰演) 说服了这个穿着粗花呢外套的古怪孤独者在剑桥警队中冒充詹姆斯,导致他利用谜题逻辑解决了简单的犯罪案件。在第二季中,詹姆斯依然失踪,而约翰虽然不再冒充双胞胎兄弟,但正以犯罪顾问的身份协助警方。
这个前提当然是荒诞的——就像约翰在解决那些仅出现在温馨犯罪剧中的案件时(新季开篇涉及一名在剧院被剪刀刺穿的女性),所采用的基于谜题的逻辑跳跃一样牵强。
但这并不重要,因为《路德维希》是一部喜剧剧集,它受益于新颖性(用约翰的谜题逻辑解决犯罪)以及足以让心跳轻快加速的悬念。它精准击中了那些喜欢温和推理剧的英国观众的痛点:没有毒品帮派、枪战或疯狂的连环杀手。而且至关重要的一点是,对于那些无法再忍受模仿马普尔小姐式的“碎花黑色电影”的人来说,它是温馨犯罪剧的一种现代演绎。
第一季让我思考,《路德维希》是否能演变成英国版的《公寓大劫案》(Only Murders in the Building),将成熟的喜剧才华 / 人设(米切尔带来了《窥视秀》(Peep Show) 中内敛的马克;麦克斯韦尔·马丁则演绎了《母亲之地》(Motherland) 中朱莉娅的变体)与夸张的愚蠢以及《史酷比》级别的家长指导级悬念相结合。
从前三集新剧来看,《路德维希》可能会面临失去基于詹姆斯持续失踪而建立的悬念的风险。虽然剧组确实在努力维持这种悬念。露西与约翰组成了一对伪夫妻侦探搭档,她成功成为了马克·邦纳 (Mark Bonner) 旗下的《东安格利亚广告报》(East Anglia Advertiser) 的犯罪记者。嫌疑人依然可疑,其中包括一名狡诈的警察局长(拉尔夫·伊内森 Ralph Ineson 饰)和一名由《Fleshag》的希安·克利福德 (Sian Clifford) 饰演的国会议员,后者住在一栋巨大的现代住宅中(这是温馨犯罪剧中“反派”的代号)。
麦克斯韦尔·马丁一如既往地出色,而米切尔则继续演绎一个傲慢但讨喜的路德维希。他如此自然地融入现代世界,就像一个在 bygone era 时代习惯坐在翼背椅上的的人,当事情不再符合逻辑时,他会变得焦虑并大喊:“变量太多了!”
新的犯罪案件(每集一个)能带来笑声:第一集关于剪刀的案件,由丽贝卡·弗龙特 (Rebecca Front) 和杜恩·麦基坎 (Doon Mackichan) 饰演死者的女儿,是一部旧式郊区愚蠢风格的微型杰作。第二集讲述了一场婚礼上的死亡(温馨犯罪剧热爱婚礼),而第三集则通过一名网红的不幸离世,走起了大胆且现代的路线。
这些犯罪情节表演得很好,但与第一季一样,情节铺设不足到近乎简陋。同样,当约翰运用他的谜题逻辑来破解谜团时(这是一个齿轮谜题,这是一个迷宫,等等),这不仅需要观众暂停怀疑,还需要整个大脑停止运转。当每集时长一小时且其他部分的悬念在减弱时,这一点就变得重要起来。
有些人似乎没有意识到,无论是看电视还是阅读纸质书,舒适推理(cosy crime)的爱好者对情节的挑剔程度有多高:即便基调轻松幽默,结局也必须经得起推敲。《路德维希》(Ludwig)拥有足够的魅力和定义来撑过略显颠簸的第二季,但从长远来看,如果它继续误解该类型的需求,将面临巨大的风险。
ITV1 频道播出的是延迟上映的《T教授》(Professor T)第四季。与《路德维希》一样,该剧背景设定在剑桥(黄金时段的电视节目非常钟爱牛剑背景),并塑造了一位不走寻常路的准侦探。
由本·米勒(Ben Miller)饰演的 T 教授(即贾斯珀·坦佩斯特)是一名患有强迫症的大学犯罪学家。这位教授——最初是比利时剧集中的角色——是一个刻板的人,走路时双臂下垂,僵硬地行走,并且总是习惯性地戴上塑料手套,其样子更像是一个连环杀手。在上一季中,他最终在监狱中消磨时光,但在本季中他出狱了,并且在内心深处深切哀悼一位警察侦探朋友的去世。
《T教授》一直是一部古怪且强烈的剧集。在某些方面,它是一部简单的侦探剧,但其中加入了附加的超现实元素;例如,铅笔的敲击声会变成教授在敲击鼓组的幻象。略显僵硬的主角被极具吸引力的配角阵容所抵消,其中包括饰演 T 教授睿智心理学家的朱丽叶·史蒂文森(Juliet Stevenson),以及饰演他时髦姨妈的佐伊·瓦纳梅克(Zoë Wanamaker)。最棒的是,弗朗西丝·德·拉·图尔(Frances de la Tour)饰演教授的母亲——通常可见她身披克鲁埃拉(Cruella de Vil)风格的大衣飘然而至——在屏幕上散发出强烈的个人魅力,尽管在本季目前为止,她仅通过 iPhone 出现(“我在威尼斯,亲爱的孩子”)。
与《路德维希》一样,《T教授》被要求协助警方侦破罪案,这在逻辑上显得有些牵强。在首集中,一名女性从一艘豪华游艇上失踪,据推测是落海了。第二集的背景设定在一个退休村,风格类似于《周四谋杀俱乐部》(Thursday Murder Club)。在基调上,这部剧显得跳跃且令人困惑(完全称不上“舒适”),其罪案情节至多只能说略有意思,最糟则显得乏味且毫无意义。
支撑《T教授》的是它致力于对这位患有强迫症的犯罪学家进行深入的人物研究。几乎在违背意愿的情况下,你依然想知道他最终的结局。
芭芭拉·艾伦(Barbara Ellen)推荐的其他佳作
《与迈克尔·辛一起挖掘》(Buried with Michael Sheen)
(BBC Two) 在这部关于一起令人震惊的环境丑闻的激情纪录片系列中,这位演员化身为现实生活中的侦探。该事件涉及通过工业倾倒名为多氯联苯(PCBs)的有毒化学物质而导致威尔士乡村中毒。这是一次坚定且彻底的调查。
《名人厨神》(Celebrity MasterChef)(BBC Two)
格蕾丝·登特(Grace Dent)介绍了新的共同评委——意大利厨师乔治奥·洛卡特利(Giorgio Locatelli),而包括残奥运动员劳伦·斯特德曼(Lauren Steadman)和喜剧演员乔·帕斯夸莱(Joe Pasquale)在内的名人参赛者们将继续通过烘焙、炖煮、烘烤和搅拌来争夺荣耀。
诺瓦克·德约科维奇:
《冬日之狼》(The Wolf in Winter)(Amazon Prime Video) 这部体育纪录片深入探讨了这位始终难以捉摸且常规状态下不可战胜的塞尔维亚网球选手的生活与职业生涯(见下文)。

44
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
评论员
芭芭拉·艾伦(Barbara Ellen)
观看清单
《与迈克尔·辛一起挖掘》(Buried with Michael Sheen)
诺瓦克·德约科维奇:《冬日之狼》(Novak Djokovic: The Wolf in Winter)
(Amazon Prime Video) 这部体育纪录片深入探讨了这位始终难以捉摸且常规状态下不可战胜的塞尔维亚网球选手的生活与职业生涯(见下文)。
From £2.40 for subscribers Sunday 23 August 2026 | www.observer.co.uk | No 12,246 | £4.50 (IR €5.00)
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3
'The enemy of nonsense' – George Orwell, The Observer
The dangers of rising temperatures are clear. Now ministers should ignore the noise about the North Sea and focus on overhauling the UK's energy system
D
on't be fooled by the late summer rain. The world as we know it is getting too hot for life as we'd like it. The past month has shown what steadily rising average surface temperatures can do even in temperate Britain.
They can make trees explode, rail lines buckle, comfortable suburban homes ignite, water mains crack and headline writers hyperventilate.
Tinderbox Britain. Inferno. It's all true, and well understood, and global. In latitudes where large numbers of humans have chosen to live (roughly 15-55 degrees North), the heat is turning the natural environment to fuel and the built environment to kindling.
Climate is becoming a political dividing line. The right is on the wrong side of it. Until this summer, Conservatives and Reform have been merrily bashing net zero. They have caricatured climate campaigners as doom mongers and de-growthers and written off renewables and green energy as a tax on people and businesses.
But the science isn't on their side. Nor, increasingly, is the public.
Progressives could make the issue of energy and climate their own, if they treat them as one. The task for Andy Burnham is to twin fundamental reform of the UK energy market with the experience of British people this summer.
Energy, like health, is a public good; it's a prerequisite for a happy life, a prosperous economy and a successful country. In the age of AI, the cost, sustainability and security of energy will determine the use of a transformative technology. In other words, it will determine British competitiveness. As the world reckons with
climate change, demand for renewables will grow.
It's an industry in which the UK has a lead. As the public gets used to hotter summers, wetter winters, rising insurance premiums and more climate-related disruption, as they see the inequality of heat's impact on the elderly and disadvantaged, they'll have even less time for the Canute-like absurdity of the Net Zero Stupid brigade.
Reform's leaders have said they would scrap net zero policies as too expensive and Kemi Badenoch has begun a purge of Conservative parliamentary candidates who don't support her plan to scrap the national goal of net zero by 2050. This sort of absolutism won't serve her well.
But climate alarmism won't be enough for Burnham either. Energy in the UK is too expensive. British businesses and households pay more per unit of power than almost anywhere in the OECD, and this impacts competitiveness in industry as directly as it impacts retirees unable to afford to keep cool. The only practical way to bring down energy costs given the imperatives of climate change and fluctuating oil and gas prices is with a wholesale makeover of the UK's energy system rather than tinkering at its edges.
Britain needs to double down on renewables but also to expand and modernise the grid. It may well be the best means of doing this is to bring the national grid into public ownership. Electrification – encouraging more electricity
usage – needs to be at the heart of any such strategy. Alongside it, there needs to be a radical willingness to address historic problems, whether that is the price paid and terms offered to gas-fired generators to provide capacity or subsidies for renewables that are now inefficient and out of date. There will need to be investment in storage, scaling up repeatable nuclear power stations and the energy sources of the future.
The UK is and can be a global leader of the energy transition. It shouldn't be distracted by the noisy, but marginal arguments over the North Sea. The licensing of the Jackdaw gas field to secure extra domestic supply won't change the UK's overall climate strategy, but it will be a boost to
the economy, the Treasury and the UK's energy needs over the next decade or two. While gas is still part of our energy mix, producing it domestically is cleaner than shipping the liquified version. The tax receipts could be ringfenced to fund electrification.
The government should go ahead. In its response to climate change, Britain needs to go back to leading by example, gaining know-how in renewables and winning valuable market share in an energy transition on which countries are going to spend at least $100tn by 2050. Net zero was sidelined. Note to Badenoch: it's back. It's good for business and Britain.
As Shakespeare might have said: "Now is the summer of our US debt made anxious autumn by this sun-tanned dork." Apologies. It's hard to make the American debt markets interesting. Worryingly, they are.
US borrowing has become a global contagion. Its net debt passed $60trn last week. The federal deficit, at $1.8trn and counting for this fiscal year, is climbing faster than in any year since Covid.
Big chickens are coming home to roost: the 2008 bailout of the banking system, federal Covid support and two sets of debt-funded tax cuts ordered by Trump. The US now spends more than $1trn a year on debt interest.
Alongside the worry about US government debt, there's anxiety about some of its corporate debt. As investors look at the impacts of AI, some companies – from software developers
to consultancy businesses – don't look as impregnable as they once did. Their debts are, suddenly, riskier.
The debt fears in the US settle like a cloud of anxiety over the UK. John Healey, the chancellor faces rising costs of capital, falling headroom, an unexpected £1.8bn deficit and increasing pressure to raise taxes. Andy Burnham doesn't like the idea of being "in hock" to the bond markets. Well, PM that holiday from reality is over.
There's something calming about the news that Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, is coming back to England with her family. It seems she's keen to go back to acting even if it means moving to where the work is. As a bonus it will give her husband a chance to spend time with his father and maybe even reconcile with his brother, and while this paper doesn't hold much with monarchy it does think families are
worth supporting, and generally happier talking than seething.
Meghan won't want for company or compatriots; many Americans are now choosing to live in England. Nor will her extended family be haunted by the precedents of history. The Duke of Windsor found the royals weren't great at long-distance relationships. Ninety years on they have a chance to unbend and try again.
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observer.co.uk 23.08.26
Overheard
'I always get mad when people dye their hair red. I'm like, "You don't know what we went through at school!"'
Actor Isla Fisher on the trials of growing up as a redhead
Two police officers were among seven people who died after a car crash near Middlesbrough early yesterday. Cleveland police said the officers had been in a marked police car when it collided with a Volkswagen Passat travelling the wrong way on the A66 dual carriageway. PCs Matthew Blades, 37, and Tom Clough, 38, were in pursuit of a suspicious vehicle before the collision. Chief constable Victoria Fuller said they were "brave officers protecting our communities". An investigation has been opened by the Independent Office for Police Conduct.
The time a robot at Beijing's World Humanoid Robot Games took to run 100m – beating Usain Bolt's human record by 0.26 seconds
Hundreds of thousands of people in the UK with type 2 diabetes may no longer have to inject themselves every day with insulin after a weekly jab was approved for use by the NHS watchdog. A drug made by Eli Lilly, sold under the brand name Onswilk, provides long-acting insulin. The health watchdog, Nice, said the treatment was particularly beneficial for people who needed help injecting insulin, including the frail and disabled. The use of the weekly jab will first have to be licensed by another body, the medicines regulator MHRA.
The police investigation into whether Peter Mandelson passed market-sensitive information to Jeffrey Epstein is at risk of collapsing, with US authorities reportedly refusing to grant access to the Epstein files. The former ambassador to the US and ex-Labour minister was arrested over misconduct in public office, an offence which requires strong documentary evidence. However, according to the Daily Telegraph, requests from the Metropolitan police to the US Department of Justice and the FBI have so far been ignored. Officers are now seeking access through a formal mutual legal assistance process, but this could take years.

The Lonach Highland Gathering and Games took place as always on the fourth Saturday of August. Jeff J Mitchell/Getty
A six-year-old girl died in hospital three days after being pulled from the sea off Shoreham in West Sussex, in an incident that killed her mother, father and sister. Saja El-Khawas died on Friday after the deaths of her sister Sara El-Khawas, 14, and parents Hassan El-Khawas, 55, and Zeina Alayn, 37. The Palestinian Forum said the family
were British citizens of Palestinian origin. They are believed to have travelled to Shoreham from London.
Rail investigators found a track defect on the approach to an area where a train derailed, injuring at least 30 people. A Rail Accident Investigation Branch report said CCTV images from rear-facing

cameras on earlier trains showed the "track geometry irregularity" existed before the incident near Lewes, East Sussex. Network Rail and Greater Thameslink Railway (GTR), whose Southern train was involved in the crash, said in a joint statement they were "sorry this happened on our railway".
The Spanish government has U-turned and said it will allow 500 migrant children in Ceuta to relocate to the mainland. The majority of the estimated 70,000 people who crossed into Ceuta, a Spanish territory on the coast of north Africa, last month have returned to Morocco. However, under Spanish law, the state has a duty of care to young, unaccompanied migrants until they reach the age of 18.
The success of a large trial of an mRNA skin cancer vaccine that is personalised for each patient has been called "a pivotal moment" in the fight against the disease by its creators. The experimental vaccine, Intsimeran, was given to patients with high-risk melanoma, one of the deadliest forms of skin cancer, after surgery. Moderna and Merck, the companies behind the trial, said the vaccine extended significantly the time that patients remained cancer-free and reduced the risk of tumours spreading to other organs. The full results of the trial have not been released or peer-reviewed.
More than 100 people were reported to have been killed when a gold mine at a village in western Central African Republic caved in following a landslide, according to officials and aid workers. The landslide happened on Tuesday in the village of Zamboye, close to the border with Cameroon, with several underground tunnels collapsing.
The chief executive of Travelodge has stepped down as the budget hotel chain acts to improve guest safety following an sexual assault at one of its hotels. Jo Boydell, who left the business after 13 years, had been criticised over her handling of an incident in which a guest at the hotel in Maidenhead, Berkshire, was sexually assaulted by a man who had been given a key card to her room after falsely claiming to staff that he was the woman's boyfriend. As an apology, the woman was offered a £30 refund.
Sections of The Observer are carefully collated at our print site and by newspapers. If any section of today's UK edition of The Observer is missing, call Telephone 0800 835100. Back issues can be obtained from www.letters-newspapers.co.uk, or by calling 01300 668700 or 2026 Published by Tortoise Media Limited, 22 Berners Street, London WC1 3UP. Printed at Newsprinters (Broadcaster) Ltd, Great Cambridge Road, Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, ON6 8DY; Reach Oldham Limited, Hollingwood Avenue, Chadderton, Oldham OL3 8EP, Discovery Point, 80 Kingsway East, Dundee, DD4 8SL; and Irish Times Print Facility, 4090 Kingswood Road, Citywest Business Campus, Dublin 24. Registered as a newspaper at the Post Office. ISSN 0029-7712
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observer.co.uk^{}[] 23.08.26
5

Students queue to receive their GCSE results at Llanishen High School in Cardiff on Thursday.
Thousands could have passed last week if their marks were assessed by more senior staff
James Tapper
When 200,000 students in England opened their GCSE results on Thursday, it was bad news: they had achieved a grade 3 in English language – which once would have been called a D. If they wanted to continue in full-time education, they had to resit. Some would not be able to take the A-levels they wanted to.
Yet analysis by The Observer and education expert Dennis Sherwood indicates that about 39,000 of them could have had better news and achieved a passing grade 4 if their answers had been marked by senior examiners. This 'unfairness', as headteachers and other senior education leaders described it, is a hallmark of essay-based exams.
The same answer may get different marks from different examiners, but Ofqual, the exams regulator, would consider both legitimate, unless there is evidence of a marking error. Students can challenge a grade, but if the review does not uncover a marking error, their paper is not re-marked.
A difference of academic opinion between markers is not considered
to be an error – the examiner must be found to have been 'unreasonable'.
In 2020, Ofqual's then chief regulator, Glenys Stacey, said results were 'reliable to one grade either way'. In August 2022, her successor, Jo Saxton, said: 'More than one grade could well be a legitimate reflection of the student's performance.' About 30% of children face compulsory resits in English and maths, having not attained a grade 4. Only about 20% of students pass English language resits.
Lucy Powell, the education secretary, said these children were blocked from progressing, and many become part of the 1 million 16- to 24-year-olds who are not in employment, education or training (Neets). Powell said there had to be 'a better way' without 'just branding them a failure', and spoke of her plans to introduce a new foundational qualification.
Detailed research by Ofqual shows that the probability of an ordinary examiner giving a different grade – higher or lower – than one given by a senior examiner was 39% on average for English language. For maths, it was just 4%.
Applying this to the 2026 GCSE grades indicates that about 39,000 students – in a range between about 32,000 and 45,000 – with a grade 3 could have legitimately received a grade 4. For maths, only about 3,000 students with a grade 3 might have got a grade 4.
Sherwood said: 'The figure of 39,000 awarded grade 3 when they
truly merited grade 4 is quite likely cautious, but is the best estimate on the information available. People need to know what grade they truly deserve and the appeals process should not block that.'
Headteachers and other senior education figures told The Observer they believe the figures represent an unfairness that urgently needs to be addressed. Robin Bevan, a former headteacher speaking in a personal capacity, said there was a 'profound problem' with the system, even though students and teachers had worked hard to achieve their grades.
'The re-mark process allows for a marker's judgment without seeking to correct it,' he said. It would be hard to correct all marking variations in English language exams. 'But here's the thing: we're giving out these grades and then determining life trajectories from them.
'It is shocking [...] because the general public do not understand that the grades they see on their son or daughter's sheet might not represent a fair reflection of their achievements.'
Rob Cuthbert, emeritus professor of higher education management at the University of the West of England, said: 'This is a persistent unfairness. It's a continuing injustice to people every year who might have had a [grade 4] and got a [grade 3].
'Is it fair to say: well, it all comes out in the wash? No, it's not because it falls unfairly on all the kids who should have had a [grade 4].'
200,000
Pupils awarded grade 3 in English language, meaning they must resit the exam to continue studying
20%
Of students resitting GCSE English pass. The education secretary has said others are 'branded failures'
3,000
The number of maths GCSE pupils who could have gained a grade 4 – a far lower margin of error
£26,173
Sum one well-resourced schools trust spent on 375 appeals, one in five of which led to grade changes
Frank Norris, a former senior Ofsted inspector and former chief executive of the Co-op Academies Trust, said children at other grade boundaries were also affected.
He wrote to Ofqual's chief regulator, Ian Bauckham, in January about a school trust that had spent £26,173 on 375 appeals. 'One in five led to grade changes,' he said. 'Some schools simply don't have the resources to put in appeals.'
Only children whose parents have deep enough pockets are able to appeal, he added.
School leaders are likely to prioritise appeals for those at the boundary between grade 3 and 4 at the expense of a child who might not be able to do A-level maths because they unfairly received a grade 7, said Norris.
Melvyn Roffe, headteacher of Haberdashers' Monmouth School, said: 'The weight that society puts on these grades is too much.' The UK was an outlier compared with other countries, which do not have 'lots of high-stakes exams'.
A better system would include a driving test-style assessment, he said – 'a system which says, 'Has this young person got the functional literacy skills and numeracy skills that they need to progress? Full stop.'
An Ofqual spokesperson said in a statement: 'Students in England can have complete confidence in the grades they have worked hard to achieve, which unlock opportunities for their futures.'
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Home
Speculation about the Sussex intensifies by the day, amid reports of a high-profile acting role for the duchess, Lily Isaacs reports
Rumours that Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, was in talks to star in a TV show came as a surprise to many on Friday night, but hundreds of thousands of fans on TikTok had already been watching her star in an AI-generated soap opera of her own life for months.
Across a network of six TikTok accounts identified by The Observer, with names such as "Royal Palace Stories" and "Princess Stories", AI-generated videos depicting familial tensions and drama between the Sussexes and the royal family are viewed by tens of thousands of fans each day. In this fictional royal world, Meghan and Queen Camilla have formed an alliance to "stand up" to the rest of the family. Prince Harry and Prince William remain frosty.
The imagined drama has helped fill an information vacuum for a global audience desperate for news about their move, their reasons and their relationships with the rest of the Firm.
Neither the couple or the royal family have made any statements since the news broke on Wednesday. Even the King was said to have been blindsided by their decision, only finding out last Sunday that his son would be returning home with his family. He had reunited with his grandchildren for the first time in four years last month at Highgrove in Gloucestershire, in a meeting the Palace described as a "private family occasion".
It has been confirmed that Prince Harry and Meghan are moving back to
the UK this month and that their children, Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, have been enrolled in a British school for September. They will not live in a royal residence and no change is expected to their non-royal status. The Prince and Princess of Wales were also reportedly informed of their plans.
But many details remain a mystery. It's not known when they will arrive, where they will settle or how long they plan to stay. Questions remain over their security and their finances. Last year, when Prince Harry lost his bid to overturn the court's decision for his security to be downgraded, he said that he "can't see a world" in which he'd bring his family to the UK. But something must have shifted.
Meghan may now be under pressure to land an acting gig to bring in money. Was she in talks to join Guy Ritchie's Netflix television show The Gentlemen, which follows an aristocratic duke who served in the army – like her husband – and inherits a drug empire? Tina Brown, former editor of the New Yorker, reported on Friday that she was, and yesterday that "the backlash in the UK was so intense, it became untenable to go forward". Meghan will make a return to acting anyway, playing herself in the forthcoming Amazon MGM film Close Personal Friends.
When they left the UK and stepped back from their royal duties, the couple stopped receiving any money from the royal family. Prince Harry reportedly had an inheritance of around £20m from his mother, Diana, which funded their move. He told Oprah Winfrey in his 2021 interview that the money his mother left him was what allowed him and Meghan to move to the US. "It's like she saw it coming and she's been with us through this whole process," he said. Since then, the couple have signed a series of lucrative deals.
In September 2020, they signed a

The prince, the president and the secret visa files that caused a royal furore
US correspondent

Donald Trump is an ardent admirer of the British royal family and a world-class gossip. The president has bragged frequently of his close relationship with the late Queen Elizabeth II and there was a
trademark breach of protocol when he revealed details of the King's cancer to the White House press corps.
So it was no surprise that Trump waded eagerly into the controversy surrounding Prince Harry and Meghan Markle when they arrived on American soil in 2020.
Conservative critics of the former royals on both sides of the Atlantic appealed to the president in their campaign against the couple. British reporters and visiting politicians were frequently able to
lease out an incendiary soundbite. "He betrayed the Queen. That's unforgivable," Trump told Nigel Farage during an interview for GB News in 2024. "He would be on his own if it was down to me."
The then-former president suggested that Harry and Meghan had treated the Queen "very disrespectfully" and left her devastated when they cut ties with the royal family.
"She wouldn't show it because she was strong and smart, but... I think they broke her heart," he said.
But Trump was not above prodding Her Majesty for the family gossip. During his first state visit to the UK in 2019, he reportedly pushed the Queen to dish the dirt on the feud between Prince Harry and Prince William playing out in the British press.
"I asked her about it constantly," Trump said, according to the book The Queen and Her Presidents by Susan Page. "I'd say, 'Come on, tell me.'... She replied: 'No, no. It's very nice.''
Harry's explosive memoir,


Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at the Intuit Dome in California earlier this year. Jim Poorter/Getty
An AI video – one of many now flooding social media – fuels the rumour mill. TikTok
five-year deal with Netflix – reportedly worth between $60m and $100m – to produce films, documentaries and children's programming Prince Harry's 2023 memoir Spare sold more than 3.2m copies globally in its first week and he reportedly received a £16m advance.
In 2025, when their Netflix contract ended, the couple signed a new watered-down "first look" deal with Netflix which included financial support for Meghan's lifestyle brand As Ever, but was less lucrative. The streaming service ended its partnership with the brand. On Friday, As Ever emailed its customers with the subject line: "a new chapter to celebrate", and advertised an $89 sparkling wine.
Meghan and Prince Harry's company is producing two forthcoming Netflix films and drama series about polo. But no other financial deals have been reported.
The question of state-funded private security also hangs over the couple's return. The Sussexes lost their right to automatic police security when Harry left his role as a working member of the royal family in 2020. Last week, the Times reported that the couple would not receive taxpayer-funded armed police protection when they return. But longer-term arrangements are expected to include some form of publicly funded protection, requiring the independent Royal and VIP Executive Committee (Ravec) to determine what level of security should be granted.
A review by Ravec into whether the couple's security needs should be met

by the state was meant to be carried out in March but a backlog meant that no decision was taken. A risk assessment was finally carried out last month and Harry is said to be expecting a decision imminently. His security bill will cost much more if he is to be based in the country permanently – former police officers have estimated between £2m to £5m a year.
One problem, according to some sources, is a shortage of trained armed police protection officers. "I understand there aren't enough of them and some are getting seconded to other duties," one said.
On Thursday, the prime minister insisted the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's security arrangements were a "private matter". Home Office officials stressed that Ravec was operationally independent from the department that it sits within. A Home Office spokesperson said: "It is our long-standing policy not to provide detailed information on those arrangements, as doing so could compromise their integrity and affect individuals' security."
Officially, as far as Buckingham Palace is concerned, Harry and Meghan remain private individuals with no role in the Firm. But there is a recognition that the media attention they garner risks stealing the limelight from the work of the King and Queen and other family members including the Prince and Princess of Wales.
It's not so different in the imagined world of royal AI slop. In one video shared on "futuremonarchy1", Meghan throws a cup of tea on Princess Catherine, who is dressed in a tlara and diamonds. "Where are your manners? Why would you do that?" a shocked – but still somewhat robotic – AI Catherine responds.
AI Meghan is unrepentant: "Stop trying to control me. You may be a princess in this family, but you don't get to dictate how I live."
Additional reporting by Richard Palmer and Catherine Nelian
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observer.co.uk 23.08.26
7

You can count on one hand the people in the 1,200-year history of the British monarchy who have broken into a seriously competitive profession on merit. Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, is one of them.
Making it as an actor in Hollywood takes focus, discipline, talent, mental strength and a huge appetite for work. These are great qualities, and Meghan has set a great example for anyone who might have been following her career. Making it as a royal takes nothing beyond an accident of birth or of pair-bonding. It's really no wonder her in-laws have been resentful and suspicious of her from the start.
At least they knew what was going on. They were being shown up. You can see it on their faces in the balcony shots from the brief period between the Sussexes' wedding (when Meghan was, incidentally, the best-dressed royal bride in history), and their escape. The in-laws are awkward-looking mannequins. Meghan alone is able to convey a natural human astonishment at being there and, at the same time, wry amusement at the incongruity of it all.
The only disappointment about that interval was Meghan's decision to give up work. It was understandable. The pressure to conform to a strange set of rules that Hilary Mantel suggested
were designed to reduce a young female newcomer to "a jointed doll on which certain rags are hung" was clearly hard to resist. But without more to do, Meghan was horribly exposed to the unrelenting bullying of the rightwing press and the extreme snobbery of one of the world's most self-important families, high on deference and invented tradition and indoctrinated with nonsense about their role and place in the world.
At times, she told Oprah Winfrey later, she felt suicidal. But at least, eventually, she stood up for herself and Harry stood up for her. Hence the move to California and, soon after, her return to work.
She has been mocked for everything she has done since Suits – her blog, her podcasts, her wellness brand, her recipes.
In reality, what she has been doing is to keep on keeping on, which is what normal people do when they have no taxpayer-funded civil list or share of offshore wind farm royalties to rely on for fish fingers. When something hasn't worked, she hasn't quit. She has tried again. And now she's following her work back to England and bringing her family with her.
Word is she's in talks for a new acting gig, which would probably make her the family's main breadwinner.
I cannot think of anything more modern, admirable or guaranteed to drive her husband's blinkered compatriots to paroxysms of envy and incomprehension.
Bravo Meghan. Welcome back to Ruritania and good luck. Not much has changed here since you left, so you may find you need it.

Megan, Harry, William and Catherine watch a flypast outside Buckingham Palace in 2018. Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images
Spare, led his critics to double their efforts against him and prompted a lawsuit that dogged the final three years of his stay in the US.
In the book, the prince admitted to using marijuana, magic mushrooms and cocaine, which would normally be grounds for a US visa application to be rejected.
The Heritage Foundation, a prominent conservative thinktank in Washington, sued the Department of Homeland Security for access to Prince Harry's visa documents, arguing that he had

Donald Trump raises a glass with Queen Elizabeth II during a state banquet at Buckingham Palace in 2019. Dorothy Lipinski/AFP/Getty Images
either lied about his drug use on his application or received preferential treatment.
Joe Biden's administration flatly refused to release the prince's files. In 2024, a DC court ruled that there was insufficient public interest to publish the documents.
But the Heritage Foundation contested the decision and Trump's 2024 election victory revived hope of a breakthrough among Harry's enemies in Washington. Outside court, Heritage officials publicly urged
the new president to expose the self-exiled prince.
But once back in office, and with more pressing matters at hand, the president appeared to lose interest in the couple. To the disappointment of some, he ruled out deporting Harry last year.
"I don't want to do that," he told the New York Post, although he could not resist a swipe at Markle. "I'll leave him alone," the president went on, speaking of Harry.
"He's got enough problems with his wife. She's terrible."
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observer.co.uk^{}[] 23.08.26
News

Burnham has promised 15% of his salary to homelessness causes and last week called to get everyone off the streets by the end of the year.
Support for released prisoners must be part of efforts to end rough sleeping, says peer, as prime minister's Christmas mission wins cautious welcome. Patrick Kidd reports
The mile-long walk between the office of the mayor of Greater Manchester and the Victorian prison most still know as Strangeways is lined with the victims of failed policy who most motivate the prime minister.
When Andy Burnham announced on 20 July that his first instruction was to end rough sleeping, it reminded one Tory peer of their meeting a few years earlier when the Labour mayor had told him that almost all the men sleeping rough on the road to his office were recent inmates of HMP Manchester.
On Burnham's first night in Downing Street, Farmer told the Lord in a debate on the social housing bill that the prime minister was "clearly profoundly exercised by this".
Last week, Burnham fleshed out his policy with a call to get everyone off the streets for Christmas.
Farmer plans to table an amendment to the bill on Monday to ensure that more is done to keep released prisoners off the streets long term.
It brings together two of the most-discussed policy areas of this
summer: Burnham's drive to end rough sleeping and the early release of up to 6,000 prisoners to ease crowding. On current trends, 1,000 of them could be released into rough sleeping.
As mayor of Greater Manchester, Burnham had promised to eliminate rough sleeping in his area by 2020. Although he achieved a reduction, reducing the number from 268 to 89 in 2021, it crept up in each of the past four years and is back to almost 200.
Angela Rayner, the housing secretary, said this was because Greater

Louise and Steve have been sleeping rough for three and a half years. They currently live under a tree in a central London park, although a security guard lets them camp outside a West End theatre during the day. Their sleeping bag is currently wet from rain. They're hoping to get a free tent from a homelessness charity but the waiting list is so long it won't happen before Christmas. They use food banks and soup kitchens, and sometimes collect enough money towards a hostel for the night. They feel they have been bounced from pillar to post by support services and that help is too difficult to access.
Manchester has been too successful and had attracted homeless people from elsewhere in search of a bed. There has also been a rise nationally. A single-night survey last autumn found 4,793 homeless people on England's streets, a record high since that count began in 2010.
The homelessness charity Crisis has claimed that the reported number sleeping on the streets may be only a third of the true picture.
In July, Burnham announced £340m of funding for new support to bring forward more than 1,000 settled homes for long-term rough sleepers over the next three years. The prime minister will also host a homelessness summit in the autumn.
Last week, he added a further £102m to fund a drive to get everyone off the streets this winter. The money will come from the existing budget for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and, as well as emergency housing.
Greater Manchester has been running a pilot scheme of a Finnish model called Housing First in which rough sleepers are given a home and employment support for as long as they need to keep that home.
Research by Shelter in June found the number of new homes built annually for social rent decreased by 64% over the past 15 years, while the number of households in temporary accommodation rose by 155%. The waiting list for social housing has grown to more than 1.3m, but only 12,398 were built last year in England by councils, housing associations or developers.
Lord Bird, the co-founder of the Big Issue homelessness magazine, welcomed the spirit of Burnham's Christmas mission but warned: "It's important that people are not just brought in from the cold for a few weeks, only to be sent back out again."
He said wraparound support for rough sleepers requires greater investment. Rough sleeping was "a destination after years of untreated issues, like mental health problems, abuse and substance addictions", he said.
**
News
observer.co.uk
23.08.26
9
Rough sleeping in England reaches record high
Thousands estimated on a single night

Rough sleeping rates by English region
Estimated rate per 100,000 population on a single night

North-west local authorities with greatest rise in rough sleeping since 2010
Estimated rate per 100,000 population

Council-owned vacant homes v rough sleepers
By region. Estimated rough sleepers on a single night
■ Estimated rough sleepers
Council-owned vacant homes available to let

People sleeping rough after leaving an institution
Estimated monthly number in England, by institution type


Data and graphics: Hannah Schuller
Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
In Britain, the homeless population includes thousands who have been released from prison. The social justice charity Nacro found that, in the year ending March 2026, 15,155 people freed from prison had no home to go to. This was an increase of 18% on the previous year, itself a 38% rise on 2024. The lack of a home on release now affects one in six prisoners, with the most vulnerable group being those aged in their 40s.
Emergency accommodation is usually provided for a couple of months, but thereafter many former prisoners are on their own. Figures show that 76% of these reoffend within a year, compared with just over a third released into a settled home. This cycle of crime is reported to cost the taxpayer £180n a year.
Leaving prison without a home also increases the risk of an early death. Nacro found that one in every 144 prisoners dies within a year of release, three times the rate in 2015. Someone leaving prison today is 72% more likely to die within two weeks of their release than someone in 2019-20, and a third of them will have been released into homelessness.
Farmer observed that relationships are essential in a former prisoner rebuilding their life. He said that the route to future homelessness often begins in prison when families break down and mortgages are not paid. It is essential, he said, that prisoners approaching their release date are given support within the communities into which they will go.
"People who don't have relationships have difficulty establishing them," Farmer said. "What do they face when the prison doors open? They don't have a GP, they don't have a job or money, there is often no one there for them but old associates – and you don't want to mix with them. They are very vulnerable." Too many are still released on a Friday and unable to access support over the weekend.
Farmer has been arguing that it should be a statutory obligation on HM Prison and Probation Service to collaborate with councils and local housing authorities to help prison-leavers to access safe and secure social housing.
He also favours the publication of league tables showing by local authority how many prison-leavers are homeless on release.
Burnham has pledged to give 15% of his salary, about £26,000, to homelessness causes and last week gave a rallying call to the community, voluntary and faith sector to work with government get everyone off the streets for Christmas, as happened rapidly with the short-term Everyone In project during Covid.
"I am optimistic," Farmer said. "The prime minister has an opportunity on the first day that parliament returns from recess to show that he gets it." He hopes that the government will table its own amendment to the bill to achieve his aim.
"If you give a released prisoner a home it has so many benefits," he said. "Not just in avoiding the cost of reoffending but so that it increases the chance of them getting a job and paying taxes rather than consuming welfare. If Burnham wants to do something by Christmas, this would be a good sign."

When the pandemic hit, politicians took an unusually close interest
in rough sleepers. At a time when no one was sure how the deadly coronavirus was transmitted, the advice was to stay at home. People without a home, sleeping on the streets, were at greater risk of catching Covid and a risk factor for others, unable to self-isolate to stop the virus spreading.
The "Everyone In" campaign was the solution. Almost overnight, accommodation was found for thousands of people who were homeless and living on the street.
By the end of 2020, some 37,000 people had been helped. However,

Rough sleeping is back up to levels seen just before the pandemic.
rough sleepers are now back to pre-pandemic levels.
So why has rough sleeping gone up since then? Crudely, the issue comes down to the flow of people on to the street and the speed of finding them a home.
The focus is usually on the "finding a home" part, and perhaps a key reason why the "Everyone In" campaign worked for a while was that the supply of emergency accommodation – empty hotel rooms – was far more than the number of people who needed it.
With that supply gone, agencies have returned to the traditional method of placing people in hostels, although some are trying more nuanced methods such as Housing First and Built For Zero, making it easier to find them places to live.
But the flow on to the streets has
gone up for a number of reasons, including the mental health crisis among young people, the growth in people seeking asylum and the cost-of-living squeeze.
Frontline charities such as Crisis and the New Horizons Youth Centre, which helps young people in London, often help people with mental health problems, or who have fallen out with their family over their sexuality or gender identity. In reporting on the issue, I've met people whose lives slowly fell apart but didn't find a sympathetic official at the right moment who was prepared to use the rules to help them, rather than deny them.
Those personal stories are illuminated by statistics from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government's annual snapshot, which shows that the largest proportion of rough sleepers – 40% – were long-term street homeless.
Encouragingly for Burnham, 28% were new to sleeping rough. This is encouraging because the number was a substantial decrease on last year, indicating that the flow is slowing down, which will make his plan more likely to succeed in the short term.
But the complexity of the problem emerges with the other categories. Among rough sleepers, 13% had gone back to the street after finding a new home. Research by St Mungo's picks out a few possible reasons: evictions, not getting support for mental or physical health problems, and even preferring their street support network to the loneliness of being isolated in a flat.
About 9% had left an institution. Some of these were asylum seekers who had been granted refugee status, which meant they lost their Home Office accommodation. Others had left psychiatric hospital. Most were leaving prison at the end of their sentence, with no home to return to.
Speak to magistrates and most will have seen a defendant who appears to have deliberately committed a crime in order to go back to prison.
Everyone In helped everyone, no matter what their circumstances, which points to another problem that Burnham's plan must overcome. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government's statistics show that 11% of those on the streets had no recourse to public funds, perhaps because their asylum application had been rejected.
For all these people, it will be crucial to find a way to intervene before the moment of crisis.
Photographs by Andy Hall
10
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
News
Rajiv Menon tells Duncan Gardham about the impact of being called to trial for his closing speech while defending six protesters who broke into an Israeli defence firm
The first barrister in British history to face prosecution for a closing speech – delivered to a jury during a Palestine Action trial – has described how he missed a last visit to see his father to fight the case against him.
"It is very tough," Rajiv Menon, a leading human rights barrister, says. "I've tried not to talk about the personal stuff too much but this will be with me for the rest of my life."
Menon is accused of encouraging the jury in the case of six protesters who broke into the UK factory of the Israeli defence firm Elbit Systems in August 2024 to ignore the judge's directions and deliver a verdict according to their conscience.
The trial resulted in the acquittal of his client, Charlotte Head, 30, and five others on charges of aggravated burglary although the jury was unable to reach verdicts on charges of criminal damage. They later faced re-trial and were convicted.
Menon found out he was being referred to the high court for contempt in February, while he was on holiday with his 24-year-old son in Vietnam. "I was due to go from there to India to see my father... I clearly had to lawyer up, I had to come back to the country and I did," he says. "On 20 May, my father died. I never saw him again and it's a direct result of these senior judges going after me. I will never forgive them for that, ever."
He is fighting the case against him in the court of appeal but later this year faces a trial, without a jury, in front of a high court judge that could result in a jail sentence and the end of his career.
Menon, 62, is an experienced KC, who has defended many political activists and appeared at the Stephen Lawrence and Grenfell Tower inquiries, as well as the Hillsborough inquests. He lives with his wife in east London and has two adult children.
One of the key accusations against him is that he used the principle of "jury equity" during his speech to tell the jury at Woolwich Crown Court that they could act according to their consciences, despite a ruling from the judge to prevent him doing so.
In his referral, Mr Justice Johnson accepted that Menon did not use the phrase "jury equity" but said he "informed the jury, in detail, of the principle". The judge also complained the jury was invited to disregard his direction they should put views of the war in Gaza to one side, and that the role of Elbit Systems UK in supply-

Members of Defend Our Juries outside Cambridge Crown Court last month. Martin Pape/Getty

During the Palestine Action trials, [Mr Justice Johnson] ruled that the alleged use of Elbit weapons in Israel's destruction of Gaza could not be employed as a "lawful excuse" for the activists' actions. He also warned defence barristers not to tell the jury about "jury equity" – the freedom of jurors to reach a verdict according to their conscience. In essence, Johnson ruled that a barrister cannot tell a jury what it legally has the right to do because it would breach his legal directions. While the right of juries to follow their conscience and come to a verdict independently of the judge is an established principle of common law, whether barristers can tell juries about that right remains a legal grey area.
Kenan Malik
ing weapons to Israel was not relevant. Menon says his speech quoted a plaque displayed at the Old Bailey which celebrates a case from 1670 that established, as it says, the "right of juries to give their verdict according to their convictions". The case, he said, was often referenced in closing arguments by other barristers.
"I discussed it with my team, and I spoke to lawyers about it because it's not in the interests of any defendant that their barrister tries to flout judicial rulings. Why would anybody with their right mind do that?" he says.
"I was trying to do the very opposite. The whole point was to try to construct a speech that was compliant with his rulings and the conclusion that I reached at the end of those various discussions was that I was not going to say anything about jury equity to the jury, and I didn't.
"I kept on reinforcing in my speech, I'm not inviting you to disregard the judge's rulings. On the contrary, I'm
asking you the very opposite – I'm asking you to follow the judge's rulings, and the very first ruling he's given you is that you are the sole judges of the facts," Menon says.
Other senior barristers have come out in support of Menon. Kirsty Brimelow KC, chair of the Bar Council, has followed the proceedings against him "with concern" and said: "A barrister has a duty to represent their clients fearlessly and judge-instigated contempt proceedings risk a chilling effect on the profession."
Riel Karmy-Jones KC, chair of the Criminal Bar Association, told The Observer that while the case was polarising, there had been "significant departures from procedure" in the way it had been handled.
"That has led to concerns about whether this is about the politics of the subject matter of the trial, rather than the core principles of how a barrister represents his client," Karmy-Jones said.
"There is also now uncertainty over the status of the long-standing principle that a jury may act according to
'Is this about the subject matter of the trial rather than core principles of how a barrister represents a client?'
Rei Karmy-Jones KC
their conscience, and how that may be used in a defence speech. The consequence is that people at the criminal bar have become scared of what they can and can't say."
The judge could have referred Menon to the attorney general or the Bar Standards Board, as in previous cases, but instead made a referral for a trial in the high court.
That procedure was found to be unlawful and, after the second trial, it was referred to the crown court. Menon's lawyers say that is also unlawful and he will not receive a fair trial. That appeal is expected to be heard this autumn. Should it fail, he will face a trial in the crown court which could see him sent to jail.
Menon says: "As a criminal defence lawyer, I don't want to be a defendant, and I don't want to be a museum specimen. Every time I walk into court now, someone will point at me and that's not what I want. I don't want this spotlight at all.
"I just want to get on with the day job and I'm trying to do that. It's not easy. I have to tell every defendant who wants to instruct me, 'Oh, by the way, I might be in prison by the time your trial comes up.' I mean, who wants to go through that?"
Menon continues to receive emails of support from both lawyers and others. "That's the one thing throughout this whole horrible mess that is keeping me going, the huge support that I've received not only from my friends and colleagues but from the profession and the community much more widely."
...
News
observer.co.uk^{}[] 23.08.26
11

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was elected on a radical platform. But after the recent humiliating defeats of establishment candidates, her ability to straddle both camps is being questioned as an asset in any future presidential race, writes Edward Helmore in New York
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at the Capitol, Washington, May 2026. Graeme Sloan/Getty
When New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez declared recently that “Woke 1 was crazy”, she set off a firestorm of speculation and opened a new front in the battle for the American left. Was the progressive superstar distancing herself from the positions that established her political brand? Was she positioning herself to run for president?
The answers – probably yes and yes – are at the heart of a rolling debate on the future of the US left that has dominated American politics over the summer, and could determine the outcome of November’s midterm elections and the 2028 contest for the White House.
It is a debate between radicals and centrists, between traditional US capitalism and a version upended in angry response to Donald Trump, and Ocasio-Cortez is increasingly seen as trying to straddle both camps.
On Herschell Street in her Bronx constituency, where she is standing for re-election in November, campaign staff declined to elaborate on her remarks last week. But a notice-board on the office door told a story
of the leftwing policy positions that Ocasio-Cortez may adopt if she decides to challenge for the White House in 2028: “Green New Deal”, “Save the planet”, “Human dignity for all”, “Free Palestine”. Other notes were simply encouraging: “Girri, girri, you go” and perhaps most significantly: “Run4President!”
In recent months, Ocasio-Cortez – known universally as AOC – has floated her presidential ambitions or, rather, has not denied them. “I mean, I can’t say that I’ve ruled it out,” she said last month. Further moves since then have fuelled the growing chatter. In an announcement on Instagram, the 36-year-old revealed that she was freezing her eggs “to more feel in control of my life” as she figures out her next political move.
AOC acknowledged that she was taking a “political risk” by documenting the process on social media. But the announcement placed her adeptly at the centre of the national argument on reproductive rights that remains a fault line in American politics and provoked a predictable backlash from Republicans. One conservative com-
commentator labelled her choice “backwards and ridiculous” and accused her of promoting a narrative that women can “have it all”.
It was a classic AOC double-header; a deft manoeuvre to weave her personal choices and political outlook together. It showcased the social media smarts that have made her one of the most recognised figures in American politics.
Like Trump, AOC knows the value of a photocall. In 2021, the former bartender attended the Met Gala with the slogan “Tax the rich” plastered on her gown. “The medium is the message,” she posted on Instagram. It was another viral moment that highlighted her star power and rare ability to straddle both moderate and progressive Democrat camps.
That skill is an asset in a safe blue New York congressional seat. But observers question whether it would hold up in the glare of a presidential race.
The Democratic party is still riven over its direction after the catastrophic defeat to Trump in 2024, and AOC’s appeal to both the centrist
and leftwing factions could leave her trusted by neither.
November’s election campaign for New York’s 14th congressional district, which covers parts of the Bronx and Queens, is her fourth since she upset party stalwart Joe Crowley in the Democratic primary in 2018. Victory in the general election later that year made her the youngest woman ever elected to Congress at the age of 29 and gave an early sign that the party establishment’s centralised grip on power was weakening.
AOC remains affiliated with the Working Families party and the New York chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) that she joined when she first decided to run for Congress. Those loyalties are now coming under scrutiny after DSA challengers from the insurgent left inflicted a string of embarrassing defeats on the party establishment in Democratic primaries this summer.
After candidates backed by Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist mayor of New York, toppled two sit-
Continued overleaf >>
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observer.co.uk 23.08.26
News

Continued from page 11
ting members of Congress in June, leftwing candidates stunned the establishment with further wins in Colorado, Texas and Florida.
But the victory by Muslim progressive Abdul El-Sayed in the Michigan Senate primary earlier this month was a particular humiliation for the party leadership, which had lined up behind his rival, the moderate congresswoman Haley Stevens.
In the most expensive primary in Democratic history, el-Sayed overcame a nine-to-one spending deficit. The bruising race laid bare the rift over Israel and the future direction of the party between the younger activist wing and the older establishment.
Party leaders fear el-Sayed will prove too radical for swing voters in a key battleground state heading into November's midterms, when control of Congress is up for grabs. The hot progressive summer of 2026 could give way to a cold winter.
But the Democratic base is still furious with the leadership for falling in its one and only objective in 2024: to bury Trumpism. Many supporters no longer trust their leaders telling them who is electable after Joe Biden's
when the candidates show their hand next year.
"The gamble they're making is to excite heretofore dormant people at a greater rate than they would turn off engaged people," said James Carville, the veteran Democratic consultant and chief architect of Bill Clinton's victorious 1992 presidential campaign.
The rift within the party may "only be resolved with a presidential nominee" to unite around, Carville added. "The focus should not be on the Democrat coalition – it should be against Trump," he said. "But this time next year the coalition could be under a lot of stress."
That tension appeared to underpin AOC's recent move to distance herself from the performative radicalism of "Woke 1", when the murder of George Floyd in 2020 in Minnesota galvanised the Black Lives Matter movement, and with it, calls to "defund the police" and abolish the prison system. The platform alienated many independent voters and became an easy target for the political right.
Back in 2020, AOC herself argued that "defending police means defunding police", having already said the
previous year that some marginalised groups have "no choice but to riot".
In a TV interview earlier this month, however, she struck a very different tone. "I think that when we talk about crime today, it's fundamentally different than the way that we talked about crime [then]," she said.
With AOC's power to anoint progressive candidates, her endorsement is highly coveted. She backed several leftwing contenders this summer, including el-Sayed. But underscoring her recent tack towards the centre ground, she declined to endorse Francesca Hong, a Wisconsin DSA candidate for governor, who had called to defund the police, abolish prisons and cancel Thanksgiving. Hong narrowly lost.
In the eight years since she was first elected, few politicians have been as
adept as AOC at keeping their name in the public eye – except for Trump himself. At times, the two have appeared to revel in sparring with one another, trading back-handed compliments. AOC has described Trump as a "racist visionary". Trump has called her "Evita", referring to Argentina's Eva Perón.
"Look, she's a fake, and in all fairness to her, she knows it. But she's got a good thing going – a good thing for her," Trump said in 2024. "She's got a spark – I will say that. A good spark that's pretty amazing, actually."
In Congress, AOC has forged strategic alliances with other big beasts of the progressive left. She and Vermont senator Bernie Sanders last year launched a "Fighting Oligarchy" tour to campaign against the political influence of tech bros and corpo-
Real Clear Politics poll average
Kamala Harris
27.6%
Gavin Newsom
16.4
Pete Buttigieg
11.6
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
9.4
Mark Kelly
6.8
Josh Shapiro
6.6
Source: RealClearPolitics.com
Polymarket odds
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
24%
Gavin Newsom
15
Jon Ossoff
15
Kamala Harris
7
Pete Buttigieg
5
Josh Shapiro
5
Source: Polymarket.com
rate lobbyists, drawing huge crowds, even in deep red states.
But her move to broaden her appeal to a wider group of voters, as she eyes a nationwide race, risks alienating the hard left. If the DSA and its allies emerge stronger from the midterms, they will demand a greater say in the party's choice of presidential candidate. If the left senses that its ideological positions are being diluted, the results could be ugly. AOC's strategic shift has not gone unnoticed. She is already taking fire from the left, including from former colleagues.
Unless Democrats can overcome their factional rift, the centre could be dangerous ground. Party strategists already fear that far-left candidates will squander their chances in November and in the race for the White House in 2028.
With his own approval rating at historical lows, Trump has seized on the DSA resurgence to cast the new Democratic party as one of dangerous radicals and communists, raising the spectre of the "red scare" of the 1950s. With little else to shout about, Republican candidates have followed suit.
To have any hope of securing the 2028 nomination, AOC would have to broaden her appeal to Black voters specifically. African Americans make up 25% of the Democrats' voting base and will have greater sway over the nomination process after the party reshuffled its primary calendar. South Carolina, with its large Black population, will now go before New Hampshire.
Black voters are not always natural bedfellows with progressives, said Andra Gillespie, professor of political science at Emory University

The first openly gay candidate to run for president with a trailblazing attempt in 2025. He has continued to cement his reputation as one of the best communicators in the Democratic Party. He says he is "more inclined than not" to run again in 2028.
The California governor has carried the fight to Trump since his return to power with a dynamic social media game. But his West Coast Rerald charm may flounder in the swing states that decide US presidential elections.
The former vice-president was defeated by Trump in 2024 after jumping into the race with only 107 days, when Joe Biden dropped out. Harris is gearing up to run again in 2028 and will command strong support from Black voters, though Democrats will likely be wary of nominating a woman this time.
Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York City.
in Atlanta. "The progressive movement has historically had blind spots ... [and] elevated class issues above race issues. There are Black voters who view the far left movement with scepticism."
AOC will probably win re-election handily in November, but residents of the Bronx were mixed last week on whether their most famous export after Jennifer Lopez was presidential material. "She's still fairly young so I think she still needs more experience to run for president," said Maria, a resident passing by AOC's district office.
"She just has talking points," said Steven Serrano, 41. He pointed to a speech AOC gave in support of a progressive candidate in Nashville in July. "She started with a southern accent with a twang, so I was like: 'Who are you?' You're Puerto Rican, my kind. You act that way, it hurts."

Democrat strategist Hank Sheinkopf said AOC faced several huge electoral obstacles to a White House run. "One, she's from New York. Two, she represents in many ways the establishment. She's part of the Bernie Sanders establishment," he said.
More fundamentally, Democratic primary voters are certain to be wary of nominating a woman for a third time in 2028, after Trump's devastating defeats of Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Kamala Harris in 2024.
AOC herself continues to field questions about her future with aplomb. "What's funny is they assume my ambition is a title or a seat," she told former Barack Obama campaign director David Axelrod in May.
"My ambition is to change this country. Presidents come and go."
News
observer.co.uk
23.08.26
13
US bond intervention is called 'band-aid on a bullet hole' in the face of Iran war fallout, rolling tariffs and sky-high government borrowing, writes Ben Zaranko
Record public debt, the inflationary impact of the Iran war and the imposition of 50% tariffs on the US's second-biggest trading partner combined to deliver a reality check to Trumponomics this weekend.
Capping a tumultuous week for the world's biggest economy, trade talks with Canada collapsed on Friday. Prime minister Mark Carney has imposed retaliatory tariffs "dollar for dollar". Yesterday he said his country was "at war" with the US.
The consequences go beyond expensive Canadian cheese and hockey sticks, analysts warned, and underline the prolonged uncertainty that a volatile White House has injected into North America's interlocking economies.
Tariffs have been imposed on a range of Canadian goods, from wine to cement, representing about $20bn in value. While this is a small portion of the vast cross-border trade, it's an indication of the increasingly difficult relationship between the US and Canada, and the fraught state of the wider continental trade pact that covers Mexico too, and is currently being renegotiated.
Yields on US government debt rose last week to their highest level in two decades, triggering an abrupt and unexpected intervention from US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday. This "buyback operation" – issuing new short-term debt to buy back long-term bonds held by financial institutions – failed to calm nerves. By the end of Friday, bond yields were once again on the rise, the dollar was falling, and money was piling into gold, silver and cryptocurrency.
Investors are concerned about stubbornly high levels of government borrowing.
The US budget deficit "is at the sort of level that would only make sense if we were in a moment of extreme economic distress and needed a ton of fiscal help", said Justin Wolfers, professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan. "But we're not in extreme distress. We're just borrowing like we are."
Bessent insists that he has a "big toolkit" to bring down yields, and thereby ease borrowing costs not just for his government, but for the many borrowers across the globe whose terms are influenced by the US Treasury market. The question is: amid fears over inflation, spiralling government debt and an AI borrow-to-build frenzy; is his toolkit big enough?
The catalyst for the global bond sell-off was the latest flare in geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Oil prices rose on fears the conflict between the US and Iran could reignite and that energy supplies could be subject to further disruption. Brent crude, a commonly used oil benchmark, rose above $94 a barrel last week for the first time in a month – about a third higher than its pre-war level.
There is also growing concern about inflationary pressure from food prices. This year's El Niño is set to be the largest in living memory, which will disrupt global production of soybeans, corn and rice. Meanwhile, attacks on ports in the Black Sea threaten Russian and Ukrainian exports of wheat, barley and maize.
Even before any commodity price shock, US inflation remains above the Federal Reserve's 2% target.
The price rises resulting from the breakdown of trade talks with Canada will add to inflationary pressure from the Middle East war, which has pushed up fuel prices. That in turn has had a political impact, with Donald Trump's approval ratings at record lows.
Investors interpreted the Treasury's intervention in the bond markets as a thinly disguised attempt to hold down long-term bond yields. Those yields determine not just the cost of servicing the US government's large and growing debt pile, but also the mortgage costs faced by millions of US households – an important factor with midterm elections on the horizon.
Robin Brooks, a former chief economist at the Institute of International Finance, said it signalled that "the recent rise in
long-term yields – which had risen to their highest level in over 20 years – was crossing an important pain threshold for the US".
The intervention provided only temporary relief. Yields fell immediately after the announcement, only to jump back up again on Thursday. Investors appeared unconvinced by a small-scale announcement which did nothing to change any of the fundamental factors that pushed yields up in the first place. Charlie McElligott, a strategist at Nomura, described the Treasury's plan as a "band-aid on a bullet hole" that would "not be enough to placate market forces".
The dollar fell, and the value of gold, silver and cryptocurrency sharply rose, in a clear sign that investors will take their money elsewhere if the US administration looks to cap the yields on its debt.
"The US Treasury is playing with fire," said to Brooks. "Once you go down this road, it can be hard – if not impossible – to stop your currency from falling."
Responding to the choppy market reaction, Bessent indicated that the government could further expand its buyback operations, stressing that the initial announcement specified that buybacks would at least double. He pointedly referenced the "big toolkit" available to the Treasury to reduce yields, which he said don't reflect economic fundamentals. Markets are carefully watching for his next move.
The most obvious tool available to reduce yields and alleviate market pressure would be for the US government to rein in its runaway borrowing. Under President Trump, that seems unlikely. With Bessent's biggest tool deemed off limits, there could be more bumps in the road yet.
Given the importance of the Treasury market to the global finance system, those bumps will reverberate all over the world.

The New York Stock Exchange endured a tumultuous week. Bloomberg/Getty Images
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Thousands of people every year receive electroconvulsive therapy in the UK for mental health issues, yet evidence for its value is sketchy. Psychiatrists disagree with each other, and while some patients tell Jessica Rawnsley it changed their life for the better, others say it caused them serious harm

Soon after her "episodes" began in 2008, Abigail was admitted to a psychiatric ward. She told doctors of the domestic abuse she had endured during her 15-year marriage, and of the plan she had made to escape with her three children. She was diagnosed with depression and sent home.
But the suicidal thoughts persisted and the anti-depressants and anti-psychotics she had been prescribed failed to alleviate her distress. Eventually, Abigail was diagnosed with "treatment-resistant depression" and was started on a course of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), in which electric currents are passed through the brain under general anaesthetic to induce a seizure.
The memory loss began almost immediately. "I went from being a doctor to not remembering what I'd done a few seconds before, or my kids' names," says Abigail, who did not want to use her full name. She could not recall words, or the faces of friends or family, even how to count. Decades on, entire chapters of her life remain erased from her memory. She never returned to work.
Every year, around one million people worldwide receive ECT, including about 2,500 in the UK. It remains one of the most divisive interventions in modern psychiatry, subject to a complex, polarised and often highly personal debate.
In the UK, clinical guidelines recommend that ECT is used as a last resort where depression, catatonia or mania are life-threatening or where other treatments have failed. But a recent national audit of ECT use across NHS trusts revealed striking regional variation, reigniting long-simmering questions around the risks and evidence base of this controversial treatment.
Among the 26 trusts that submitted data for 2024–25, usage varied dramatically. At one end of the spectrum, Sussex Partnership trust treated 140 patients with ECT, while Oxford Health, Oxleas and Berkshire trusts reported no use of the treatment at all.
Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys trust, the second highest user, administered ECT to 115 patients that year.
"The obvious interpretation is postcode prescribing," says Prof Richard Bentall, a clinical psychologist at Sheffield University. "Postcode prescribing proves the whole thing is broken. It indicates
Terror and the shock box: controversial treatment with a dark history

Illustration by Vartika Sharma
ANALYSIS
Jon Stock
Mary Thornton doesn't remember much about her stay at the Royal Waterloo Hospital in 1971, but she can still recall how she felt after electroconvulsive therapy. "Waking up after a dose of ECT was terrifying," she says. "I felt complete

a massive difference in opinion between psychiatrists.
"If there was an agreed evidence base, you wouldn't have that. History shows us that if you don't do proper trials, you end up doing all sorts of dangerous stuff."
He refers to the now-abandoned practices of lobotomy – in which the brain's frontal lobes were cut or removed – and insulin shock therapy, in which large doses of the hormone were used to induce daily comas.
The regional disparity is not new. A British Psychological Society audit published in 2021, using 2019 data, found wide variation in per capita ECT use between
trusts, while a Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCP) survey in 1981 also identified substantial differences between hospitals.
A spokesperson for Sussex Partnership trust said its use of ECT follows national Royal College of Physicians guidelines and is "always discussed in full with the patient, their family and carers".
"There is a strong evidence base for the use of ECT to treat people with certain severe mental illnesses as set out by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice)," the spokesperson added.
Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys trust did not respond to a request for comment, but told South West
terror because I didn't even know who I was, or what my name was."
Thornton, then 20, had been admitted after having a "wobbly" – her mother disapproved of her boyfriend, John, and the stress had proved too much. She was sent to what the nurses called the Sleep Room, where she was given ECT while she slept. The inpatient unit was run by Dr William Sargant, a controversial psychiatrist who believed in a mechanistic approach to mental illness. He considered that the brain was best fixed with phys-
ical treatments: lobotomy, insulin coma therapy, drugs and ECT.
Sargant was physician in charge of psychological medicine at St Thomas's Hospital (which included the Royal Waterloo) from 1948 to 1972. A regular on TV, he did more than anyone to promote ECT in Britain. As well as the Sleep Room, he ran an outpatients ward at St Thomas's that administered ECT to hundreds of people a week.
Sargant liked to boast that he was the second or third doctor to give ECT with a "shock box" in Britain,
Durham News that the treatment is only administered "following a thorough assessment of the benefits and risks to the individual", and that "the area covered by our trust includes some of the most deprived neighbourhoods in the country, which contributes to poorer social, physical and mental health outcomes".
ECT, first introduced in Italy in 1938 and in the UK soon afterwards, occupies a strange position in psychiatry. There is no universally accepted theory that explains how it works, no standardised protocol for electrical dose or duration, and no mandatory regulation.
Yet it clearly helps some patients. They include Berlinda Wander, who received ECT in 2019 after a period of severe psychotic depression and multiple suicide attempts. "After two or three sessions, I was like a different person – back to myself," says the retired events manager, now 55. She experienced no adverse side-effects, and was discharged after receiving 10 treatments.
This is how ECT is supposed to work, as a contained intervention that helps a patient through an extreme situation. "It's an acute, not long-term treatment, but it brings people out of that life-threatening crisis where we have nothing else that will work," says Robert Howard, an NHS consultant psychiatrist and professor of old age psychiatry at University College London, who has used ECT to treat patients. "For what we actually ask it to do, it's an effective and safe treatment."
But some clinicians express doubts. "An assumption we should start with," says Bentall [is that] "passing a vast electric current through your brain is probably not a good thing unless it can be proven to be. So we need really good evidence. And it's not there."
There have been 11 placebo-controlled, randomised trials on ECT – widely considered the gold standard in clinical research. Most had small sample sizes, short follow-up periods, and were found to be flawed. The last was conducted in 1985. Four decades without a large, placebo-controlled clinical trial has created what Bentall describes as a "war of anecdotes", in which stories of recovery jostle with accounts of harm.
Howard rebuffs the idea of a placebo-controlled trial, arguing that withholding a treatment that has been found to be effective from a control group would be "unethical".
but he was initially prevented by the then Ministry of Health. (The first patient to receive ECT, in December 1939, was at the Burden Neurological Institute in Bristol.)
The ministry was concerned by reports that the treatment caused bone fractures and other injuries as patients were restrained. Sargant had few such qualms, giving it "in the raw" during the 1950s – a brutal treatment that was later depicted in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Today, a modified version of ECT is administered with a general
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In the past few decades, some studies have found ECT more effective in severe cases of depression or catatonia than other treatments, while others have highlighted concerns about memory impairment and the risks of prolonged use. Back in 2009, Nice – a public body that sets national health and care guidance – said more research into ECT's long-term efficacy and safety was "urgently required". Sixteen years later, this has yet to materialise.
A 2022 report by the Royal College of Psychiatrists found that ECT was primarily administered for
'Rather than offering me sanctuary, it was effectively like hitting me over the head with a hammer 21 times'
Abigail, former psychiatric patient
severe depression, with two-thirds of patients rated as "much" or "very much" better after treatment. But it noted wide variations in practice – the number of sessions given to patients, the scales used to measure improvement, and how memory and cognitive function was tested.
Cathy Wield was 34 when long-buried childhood trauma resurfaced and sent her spiralling into an emotional crisis. She was admitted to hospital and offered ECT as a quick fix. "It wasn't the last resort at all," she says. "It was my first day in hospital." Over the next 12 years, she received more than 100 treatments, sometimes against her will.
"I regret that very first ECT," says Wield, a 66-year-old retired emergency physician. "It was unnecessary. If I'd been listened to and given counselling and time off work, none of this would have happened." What she recalls of the period has been patched together from medical notes.
Lucy Johnstone, a Bristol-based clinical psychologist who spent three decades working in mental health and psychiatric wards, believes "the use of ECT is one of the major unrecognised medical scandals of our time". She argues that ECT reflects a broader tendency within psychiatry to interpret profound distress through a medical lens, with diagnosis and intervention prioritised over attempts to understand the
circumstances that may have led to a crisis.
"There's a very high proportion of people in psychiatric hospitals who have experienced traumatic events and from my point of view, that's why they end up in hospital, not because they've got some mysterious mental illness," she says.
Previous research has found that women are consistently overrepresented among ECT recipients. Critics argue the pattern raises broader questions about how women's distress is interpreted and treated within mental health services.
"Once you get labelled you get trapped," says Abigail, the domestic abuse survivor. "Rather than offering me support or sanctuary, it was effectively like hitting me on the head with a hammer 21 times. It doesn't matter how much ECT you give a woman, it's never going to be mind-abating enough for someone in an abusive relationship."
In extreme cases, the absence of clear limits can be devastating. One woman who spoke to The Observer and asked to remain anonymous said her daughter has received hundreds of rounds of involuntary ECT over the past two years while detained under the Mental Health Act. Once a gifted poet, she now suffers severe memory loss and has developed epilepsy, she said.
The woman describes it as a "hostage situation": she has begged to take her daughter home but doctors insist she needs more treatment. The woman fears reprisals from the hospital, so The Observer was unable to put these allegations to them, and is restricted in the details it can report.
Whether ECT is an underused life-saving treatment or an intervention whose risks are poorly understood is a question psychiatry has quarrelled over for decades. The latest audit suggests there is still little agreement on where, when and how often it should be used – and who decides.
In a statement, Dr Richard Braithwaite, the chair of RCP's committee on ECT and related treatments, said: "ECT, like many medical treatments, can cause side-effects which vary in severity between individuals and should be weighed against its potential benefits."
"Clinicians should always discuss these with patients and, where possible, their carers."
obsessive compulsive disorder and psychosis. Disturbingly, he also used it as a form of moral correction for young women, echoing its use in Broadmoor in the 1950s.
When Mary came out of hospital, after 12 weeks of ECT, she found a number in her suitcase and rang it. John answered, explaining that he used to be her boyfriend. The two went on to be married for 50 years.
Jon Stock is the author of The Sleep Room and, writing as JS Monroe, His Final Patient
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Catherine Neilan Whitehall editor
A business in Montenegro run by the convicted fraudster George Cottrell has been quietly shut down.
Private Family Office, which is linked to Reform UK donations that are under investigation by the Metropolitan Police, is a limited company wholly owned by Cottrell, an unofficial aide to party leader Nigel Farage. It was active as recently as April, when it filed its accounts, but has since been registered as inactive on the country's corporate register.
In May, Montenegro strengthened obligations on companies in relation to anti-money laundering and in June it introduced a new Companies Act which aligns the country more closely with the European Union.
According to the Sunday Times, an account in the name of Private Family Office was opened at the payments processor Oneify days after Rishi Sunak called the 2024 general election. Within weeks, Oneify deposited £1m into the account of Britain Means Business, a campaign organisation owned by Reform's deputy leader Richard Tice. Half of the sum was
then transferred to Reform, according to the Guardian.
Tice has said the money came from Fiona Cottrell, George's mother, who is also a named donor to the party.
The use of the payments processor by Cottrell's company raises questions about whether he was behind the donations to Reform. Concealing a political donation is a criminal offence, which can result in jail time.
At the time of the July 2024 election, Cottrell was a tax-resident in Montenegro, although he is eligible to donate as an overseas voter. It is unclear whether that was the case at
the time the payments were made. Lawyers for Cottrell confirmed that Private Family Office was "closed earlier this year and is no longer an active corporate entity".
In relation to the payments, they said: "Information relating to banking transactions is subject to strict obligations of confidence and can only have been obtained by unlawful means; that is, by someone acting in breach of obligations of confidence."
A spokesman for Reform declined to comment beyond saying Cottrell "does not hold any official position in Reform UK".

Literature graduate Andy Burnham has plenty of reading material if he feels like a break from politics
Patrick Kidd
All prime ministers enter office with a mission. In Harold Macmillan's case it was to knock off the complete works of Robert Louis Stevenson, which he did in 1957, his first year in Downing Street. No leader combined governing and reading like Supermac, whose diaries note that he got through 119 books in 1963 alone, mostly novels.
As Britain's first prime minister with a degree in English literature, Andy Burnham would be well advised to escape the pressures of work in a good book. He will find plenty of those in Downing Street's cabinet library, a collection donated by ministers since 1931 to inspire their successors.
It was revealed last week that Sir Keir Starmer and seven of his cabinet had added to the library before leaving office. It was started by Ramsay MacDonald, the first Labour prime minister, and contains more than 400 volumes. Starmer, who chose an atlas as his book for Desert Island Discs, donated a biography of himself by Tom Baldwin. Rachel Reeves, Nick Thomas-Symonds and Lisa Nandy gave books they had written.
Others went for worthy books on socialism by Roy Hattersley (picked by Bridget Phillipson), a history of south Wales miners (Jo Stevens), Michael Barber's memoir of a civil servant (James Murray) and an encyclical by Pope Francis (Darren Jones).
It is a pity that Reeves didn't throw in The Division Bell Mystery, a light political novel written in 1932 by Ellen Wilkinson, education secretary under Clement Attlee, for which the former chancellor wrote a foreword in 2018. Politicians need simple pleasures too.
Macmillan donated 21 books by Rudyard Kipling, having been beaten to his beloved Trollopes by Osbert Peake, Winston Churchill's pensions minister. There is a Complete
Sherlock Holmes (given by Victoria Atkins), Moby-Dick (James Chuter Ede) and Gulliver's Travels (Lord Carrington). Jane Austen novels came from Reginald Fletcher, Attlee's aviation minister. Ben Wallace, former defence secretary, gave a Gerald Seymour thriller.
Two books were given twice. James Grigg and Oliver Stanley, members of Churchill's war cabinet, both donated RCK Ensor's 1936 history of England, 1870-1914. By contrast, Alister Jack and Mark Spencer, who were in Boris Johnson's cabinet, chose Diddly Squat: A Year on the Farm by Jeremy Clarkson.
Johnson gave his book on Churchill. This is common: about a quarter of the library was self-penned. There is also a fair bit of nepotism. John Major donated his wife Norma's books on Joan Sutherland and Chequers; Christopher Soames gave a biography his wife had written of her mother, Clementine Churchill; Nicholas Edwards, Margaret Thatcher's Welsh secretary, gave one his father wrote on the history of English furniture.
When MacDonald created it, he asked past and serving ministers to donate something "special or politically significant to them". This often proved revealing. Sir Edward Grey, foreign secretary in the First World War, chose a book on ornithology; Sir Geoffrey Howe, Thatcher's Europhile foreign secretary, went for one on French wine; Ted Heath for books he had written about sailing and carols.
Others cover fishing, bridge, Elizabethan love songs and Florentine sculptors of the 15th century. Such eclectic tastes are sadly far from most modern ministers, though there are hopes for Sir Chris Bryant, the cultured new Northern Ireland secretary.
Until then, the poetry-loving Burnham may find the best pick is that selected by Kenneth Baker, Major's home secretary: I Have No Gun But I Can Spit – An Anthology of Satirical and Abusive Verse.
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Philip Collins: Burnham should take a leaf out of Aristotle's book Forum, page 27
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A chemical incineration plant in south-east France, left. Wegovy weight-loss pills, above. Jean-Philippe Kozark
said: "The industry has scaled up without cleaning up the technology. It is still using DMF, still using nasty solvents, still using outdated chemistry."
Calculations shared with The Observer by Constructive Bio, a Cambridge-based biotechnology business, indicate that, based on US sales of weight-loss drugs, up to 15,500 tonnes of toxic waste were generated last year, with most attributable to Eli Lilly, maker of Mounjaro.
Ola Wlodek, Constructive Bio's chief executive, said the exact levels of waste were uncertain, partly because Novo Nordisk, which makes Wegovy, uses a bespoke manufacturing method for its injectable pens, which has the potential to be less polluting than traditional methods.
Wlodek said: "We can now treat complex disorders like obesity much more effectively than ever before in history. The impact on human health is great but we also have to think about the impact on planetary health."
A Novo Nordisk spokesperson said: "Substances of very high concern, including some solvents, are used where necessary under strict regulatory controls and internal environmental, health and safety standards.
"We are actively working to reduce the use of these substances."
Eli Lilly said in a statement that it is committed to "minimising the use of materials that can often become hazardous waste at the end of the manufacturing process".
Researchers are racing to develop processing methods that require less use of toxic solvents. In a paper published in Nature Sustainability in February, Wellings and co-authors outlined a water-based method for synthesising peptides.
As demand rises for GLP-1s so does the risk of toxic leaks during the manufacturing process, experts warn
Jeevan Vasagar
Climate editor
Weight-loss drugs have reshaped people's bodies and transformed the fortunes of drugmakers. But producing GLP-1s also creates vast quantities of toxic waste – estimated to be up to 15,000 tonnes a year, according to calculations shared with The Observer.
Around 1.6 million adults in the UK used a GLP-1 drug such as Wegovy and Ozempic for weight loss last year and numbers are expected to rise now the medication is available as a pill as
well as an injection. The pills require larger quantities of the active ingredient in each dose as more of it is lost to the digestive system when swallowed.
Experts have warned that soaring demand will lead to ever greater quantities of waste, raising the risk of toxic leaks, particularly if production expands to countries with weaker environmental protections.
In March, Novo Nordisk's patent for semaglutide expired in major global markets including Brazil, India and China. The entry of generic drug manufacturers is expected to bring down prices for patients, but has raised concerns about the risks of pollution.
Semaglutide and other GLP-1s belong to a drug class called peptides, the manufacturing of which generates large quantities of chemical waste – 14 tonnes of a solvent called DMF for every kilo of active ingredient.
DMF is so toxic it must be incin-
erated after use. Under EU regulations, workers are not allowed to be exposed by inhalation to more than 6mg of DMF per cubic metre of air, or through the skin to more than 1.1mg per kilo of bodyweight – quantities smaller than a grain of sand – because it can cause liver damage and harm reproductive systems. As it easily dissolves in water, any DMF spill poses a particular threat to aquatic life.
While no cases of DMF poisoning have been linked to the peptides industry so far, the solvent is used to make synthetic leather in developing countries and cases in which workers have had to be treated for liver poisoning have been reported in China.
Matteo Villain, an industry executive, said that although peptides are typically taken in smaller doses than other drugs, their environmental consequences could spiral because of the length of time they are taken. "When
you are on a weight-regulating drug like tirazepatide or semaglutide, you will have injections every week for years," he said. He added that regulators should require greater transparency about peptide waste: "The government should reward people who are able to reduce their chemical waste and the only way the pressure is real is if you are transparent."
The success of GLP-1 drugs has created a buzz around peptides, which have a wide range of uses. They have been effective in treating bacterial and yeast infections, raising hopes of a treatment to kill antibiotic-resistant microbes. They are also increasingly used in the cosmetics industry, and fitness influencers have made claims – with little evidence so far – that peptides can promote muscle growth. Unregulated peptides are widely available online.
Don Wellings, an industry expert,
James Tapper
Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia are the leading cause of death in the UK, and have so far defied attempts to find an effective treatment. Now UK researchers have started to work on a clinical trial that aims to establish whether a drug called diranersen can help delay dementia.
Results unveiled last month at the Alzheimer's Association International
Conference in London suggest that diranersen slows symptoms of dementia, which affect nearly 1 million people in the UK.
It is the most successful attempt so far to create a drug that targets brain-clogging tau proteins, which may be one of the causes of Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia. The clinical study of 416 people indicated that diranersen helps the brain clear out the damaging proteins.
The question being addressed by
a team led by Prof Cath Mummery at University College London is how effective diranersen is at its core purpose of delaying dementia.
"It's very encouraging," said Igor Fontana, a neuroscientist who works with Mummery. "As a field, we think these treatments are the beginning of this new era, so we need to push this door open for other drugs to come. This is, I think, the most promising drug targeting tau."
Two anti-dementia drugs already exist: donanemab and lecanemab. But the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) decided last year that they should not be offered by the NHS as the treatments did not have enough effect on early stage or mild sufferers.
Donanemab slows down the disease but only by between four and seven-and-a-half months over an 18-month period.
Dementia involves a build-up in the brain of proteins – tau and another called amyloid – that appear to kill brain cells by choking off their blood supply. These long chains of molecules tangle up, making it slower
'It's very encouraging. We need to push this door open for other drugs to come'
Igor Fontana, neuroscientist
for our immune systems to drain them. The two drugs are designed to turn off the tap so that our brains make fewer of these proteins.
"We have a clear association between tau and cognitive decline," Fontana said. "The main question is whether that will translate into a clinical benefit – whether it's capable of reversing a scenario of where the memory has already gone."
The big caveat is that, although the phase two trial did show that diranersen had an effect, it did not meet the target for success set before the study began. But the positive effects were enough for Biogen, the US pharmaceutical company developing the drug, to announce that it will progress to phase three.
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Her books may deal in apocalyptic scenarios – from nuclear armageddon to biological warfare – but as the author tells Andrew Gumbel, she enjoys nothing more than taking in the clean air and calm of the Hollywood Hills
Annie Jacobsen

Annie Jacobsen has made a career of thinking the unthinkable, of sifting through the minute-by-minute terror of a nuclear war or – in her latest book – the futility of seeking to contain a deadly airborne pathogen after it escapes from a biological weapons lab and spreads across the world.
It’s hard to imagine such a person bringing levity to the simple act of taking a walk. How can she look at people on their daily routines without her mind drifting to diseased lungs, incinerated bodies, and landscapes blasted by unstoppable, raging fires? Yet here we are, on a sun-kissed afternoon in the Hollywood Hills, out with the joggers and the dog-walkers on the rugged, winding trails of Runyon Canyon, and Jacobsen’s mood is perfectly buoyant.
Upbeat, even. “I’m attached to natural beauty,” she says. “I mean, it’s always a source of inspiration.” Besides, she is an optimist. Far from being consumed by the existential dread that her professional mind examines every day, she finds cathartic release in bringing definition and factual precision to subjects that most
ordinary mortals don’t want to think about. “You can’t fix what you can’t face, but you can fix what you’re willing to face,” she says. “I believe that deeply, personally.”
So she has little trouble stepping away from her writing bungalow and stretching her legs. She doesn’t bring bubonic plague or radiation poisoning to her family dinner table, and she is adept at keeping such topics out of her exercise routine.
Just occasionally, the separation does not hold. A few years ago, she took a head-clearing trip to Los Angeles zoo only to catch herself thinking about the impact of nuclear war on the animals. The result was a devastating passage in her 2024 book Nuclear War: A Scenario, in which she imagined Asian elephants, western lowland gorillas, and Sumatran tigers at the national zoo in Washington DC, blinded and bellowing and writhing in their cages in the wake of a nuclear strike on the Pentagon, charred skin hanging off their bodies and their hair on fire.
Such moments, though, are the exception. Jacobsen is nothing if
Photograph by Joe Leavenworth
not a journalist’s journalist, and she finds the grimness of her subject matter leavened by excitement whenever razor-sharp experts who have spent their careers contemplating the end of human civilisation sit down and give it to her straight. While working on her nuclear war book, she asked Craig Fugate, a former top federal emergency administrator, about contingency planning to protect US citizens in the wake of an atomic strike. Generations of official communications, starting with the “duck and cover” campaigns of the 1950s, had treated nuclear war as a survivable event. Fugate’s answer departed so dramatically from that conceit that she felt compelled to call him back to make sure he meant what he’d said. “Population protection-planning won’t happen,” he told her, “because everyone will be dead.”
She did a similar double take while working on the new book, Biological War: A Scenario, this time with a retired US Air Force colonel named Thomas Ehrhard. “There is no real homeland defence against a large-scale biological attack,” Ehrhard said, “only things you can do to mitigate extermination.” Such startling moments of clarity,

from public officials trained to be especially guarded over questions of national security, are always hard won. They require days, sometimes months, of confidence-building over phone calls, email exchanges, and face-to-face meetings that might end with an on-the-record conversation but often start with idle chit-chat. Or horseback rides. Or walks much like the one Jacobsen and I are taking now.
We start at the crowded Fuller Avenue entrance to Runyon Canyon, where it takes some luck to find a parking space. But we both have a history of being lucky here, and we back into a spot that looks like it was left open just for us. Within minutes, we leave the honking, traffic-choked streets of Hollywood and find ourselves in pure nature. It is the golden hour, when the vast expanse of Los Angeles melts like butter under the setting sun and the views extend effortlessly to the Pacific Ocean more than 10 miles to the west.
Jacobsen was an athlete growing up, riding horses near her childhood home in Connecticut and skiing every winter in the Vermont mountains. Even today, at 59, she thinks of the steeper paths in Runyon Canyon in terms of
training-up her ski muscles. The competitiveness she developed in childhood remains strong, too. It’s why she’s so adept at wheedling out information that has defeated generations of journalists and researchers before her.
She tells a story about researching laser weapons – officially, “directed-energy weapons” or DEWs – for a book called The Pentagon’s Brain, which came out in 2015. Time and again she was told that the information was classified. Sometimes her sources were downright dismissive, telling her she wouldn’t understand even if they could talk about DEWs.
“I’m the kind of competitive that you don’t even know I’m competing,” she says. “If you insult me, and certainly if you insult my intelligence, watch out. I went home and said, ‘Fuck those people,’ you know? I’m going way around them. Who invented the laser, and is he still alive?”
Soon enough, she was sitting in front of Charles Townes, a Nobel prize-winning physicist in his 90s, who had advised every president from Harry Truman to Bill Clinton. She told him: “Explain it to me like I’m in eighth grade.”
We stop in a variety of shady

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Annie Jacobsen
in Runyon
Canyon last
week. Her book
Biological War:
A Scenario was
published last
month by Torva.
argument being that you can't take countermeasures against your enemies' pathogens if you don't first understand what those pathogens might be. But, Jacobsen says: "As far as I know, no subject-matter expert has gone on the record saying that specific gain of function research funded by the US government has led to this or that medical countermeasure." Rather, she talked to Andy Weber, who ran biodefence programmes for the Obama administration and told her that gain of function research was just another term for bioweapons engineering – as illegal now as it was in the Soviet era.
One strong inference running through the book is that the Covid pandemic was also the result of a lab leak. Jacobsen does not say so explicitly – in large part, she says, because her sources tiptoed around the subject with unusual caution. Her best interpretation of this? They might genuinely not know, or they might be afraid to enquire – because to acknowledge that Covid-19 was developed in a lab would raise broader questions about violations of the Biological Weapons Convention and how much the US and other countries are, in her words, "stepping on an illegality".
Jacobsen's hope is that by bringing these issues to light, and describing what's at stake as biological horrors continue to be bred in more than 3,000 high-security biolabs around the world, she can start a much-needed conversation. She remembers how Ronald Reagan dramatically changed his stance on nuclear proliferation after watching the 1983 TV movie The Day After and was soon negotiating vast reductions in Cold War nuclear arsenals with Mikhail Gorbachev, his Soviet counterpart.
She can envision a similar breakthrough moment now, as diplomats and world leaders recognise that the Biological Weapons Convention is outdated and unenforceable, and choose to do something about it. An Austrian arms control expert told her recently: "We have forgotten to keep it simple."
Her hope, as a writer, is that she has kept it simple enough to scare the world into corrective action. Jacobsen's nightmares are not about a future zombie dystopia so much as they are about civilisation and deep time and all the things we humans have built over millennia and stand to lose. The beauty of Runyon Canyon is on her doorstep, its own monument to the long arc of geological time.
As we walk back down into the noise and parking chaos of Fuller Avenue, it's clear she would do anything to keep it that way.
spots – Jacobsen is aware of the photographer snapping away and doesn't want to sweat too much. (Usually, she says, she does podcasts with men obsessed by weapons or UFOs "and they couldn't care less what anyone looks like.") She hasn't fully committed to hiking gear, preferring a semi-formal white shirt and slacks above her sneakers.
As Jacobsen talks, she reflects on the willingness of retired public servants to come clean about subjects that for decades were buried in official secrecy. She tells her interview subjects that she operates from what she calls the "Eisenhower principle" – the notion, introduced in President Eisenhower's 1961 farewell speech, about the dangers of the military-industrial complex, that the key to maintaining both security and liberty was "an alert and knowledgeable citizenry".
She's found that line resonating more deeply of late, perhaps because the nature of the threats facing the planet – nuclear annihilation, pandemics vastly more deadly than Covid-19, the climate crisis, the rise of artificial intelligence – have become so complex and profound. "The stigma used to be that if you said something, you were somehow
disparaging the United States government," she says. "And that is not the case any more."
We reach the high point of our hike, pausing in the shade of a mimosa tree
with hilltop mansions above and the city laid out like a carpet below. We have not walked all that far, but Jacobsen's mind is on other things. Her books are now on pre-order at the White House and all over federal government, the latest prompting invitations to speak to Congress, to bioscientists at Fort Detrick, Maryland, and to the UN.
"It's a very unusual flip to be embraced by everyone," she says. "A decade ago, I felt I was persona non grata – I couldn't get anyone to tell me anything." Now, she fields calls praising her for saying "the quiet part out loud". That's not entirely comfortable for biolab workers – their loved ones, learning for the first time what exactly they do for a living, have evidently been bombarding them with "What the hell?" questions. Still, they mean it only as a compliment.
Biological War is a horror story,
of course, and it is no spoiler to say that it ends with the extermination of everyone on the planet except for a handful of "Machiavellians, solipsists, and psychopaths". What keeps readers hooked, though, is an extraordinary, largely untold tale of what scientists in secret labs have been doing for the past several decades in blatant violation of a 1972 global ban on bioweapons.
In the waning days of the Soviet Union, Russian scientists worked on what one of them later termed "our Manhattan Project" – the creation
'You can't fix what you can't face. But you can fix what you are willing to face. I believe that deeply'
of a ghastly hybrid pathogen, a chimera, which blended two deadly diseases into one and ensured that if a patient sought treatment for the first disease it would trigger the second and guarantee a slow, painful death regardless. Jacobsen's scenario imagines a lab leak in which a chimera combining bubonic plague and equine encephalitis escapes from a lab in Siberia and is soon raging unstoppably across continents. Worse, the pathogen induces an initial euphoria in its patients, so they socialise, go out dancing, and board planes with no sense that they are dangerously contagious or fatally ill.
The Russians are far from the only villains of the piece. Since the Al-Qaida attacks of 2001 and a subsequent anthrax scare, the US has led what Jacobsen calls a "vast new biotechnological arms race... fuelled by fear, terrorism, paranoia and greed". Much as the Nazis coined euphemisms to wrap the destruction of the Jews in linguistic blandness, scientists talk about "gain of function" research when what they really mean is taking a deadly pathogen and making it deadlier still.
Ostensibly, this is done for preventive purposes – the
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observer.co.uk 23.08.26
21
Teaching semi-fictional account of Eileen O'Shaughnessy's life will mislead students, says couple's only child
Lily Isaacs
George Orwell's son has criticised the decision to drop his father's Down and Out in Paris and London from an A-level English course and introduce a feminist account of his mother's life.
Orwell's 1933 memoir has been removed from the English language and literature syllabus by Cambridge OCR, and Wifedom: Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life, a controversial biography of Eileen O'Shaughnessy, his first wife, will be added from next year. The book's depiction of Orwell as a "sadistic and misogynistic" man, whose infidelity and behaviour ruined her life, has sparked heated debate among Orwell scholars.
Wifedom is framed as a "counter-fiction" of her life by its publishers at Penguin, which means that parts of the book are speculative fiction while others are more traditional biography. It includes as primary source material six letters written by O'Shaughnessy to a friend between 1936 and 1945.
The decision by OCR has reignited a fierce debate between Anna Funder, the author of Wifedom, and the Orwell estate. The Orwell Society disputes the book's accuracy. Richard Blair, the only child of Orwell and O'Shaughnessy, said Wifedom was not an accurate portrayal of his mother or of his parents' marriage. "[My mother] had the measure of my father without question," Blair said. "She was no pushover... she was his equal."

He said the book would mislead students "who know very little about [Orwell]" and that it would discourage them from reading his work in the future. The Orwell Society, of which Blair is a trustee, has written to the exam board requesting its removal.
A spokesperson for OCR disputed Blair's comments and said that "very many students who read Wifedom will choose to read Orwell's writing to complement it". OCR said that Wifedom replaced another Funder text, Stusiland, and that they regularly update the syllabus.
The OCR English literature A-level is taken by about 8,000 students; they can choose to pursue a specific paper on "dystopia", for which they will study Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. But those who take English language and literature – 1,297 students this
year – will now encounter Orwell only through Wifedom unless they choose to read more widely on their own.
O'Shaughnessy was a psychologist who had studied at Oxford just a few years after women were first admitted. When she met Orwell – real name Eric Arthur Blair – in 1935, she abandoned her career and applied herself to typing his books.
Funder told The Observer it was a "profound honour" for her book to be taught. She said she wrote fictional scenes in the book, based on Eileen's letters, because she "wanted Eileen to come alive for readers and for me". Funder said she understood why Blair wanted to protect his father's legacy but that "the truth cannot be constrained by family mythology".
On publication, Wifedom was reviewed as a "genre-melding hybrid"


George Orwell and his first wife, Eileen O'Shaughnessy, Wifedom, left, will replace Orwell's Down and Out... Bethmann Archive Pictorial Press/Alamy
by The Observer. But the feminist critic Rebecca Solnit, who has written extensively on Orwell, said she didn't think the book met "the obligations of nonfiction".
Prof Angela Smith, who has studied O'Shaughnessy's letters, said that while there were "interesting" ways for the book to be taught, Funder was "misreading the intention of Eileen". In her opinion, the book "selectively edits" extracts of the letters without "looking at the rest of the context". Funder loses sight of O'Shaughnessy's wit, she said.
DJ Taylor, who has written two biographies of Orwell that are critiqued in Wifedom, said he worried about this text being taught as nonfiction. "It's full of invented stuff. Teaching it as a work of nonfiction seems strange," he said. "It shouldn't be treated as a piece of fact, even if it is a very spirited book."
For Blair, young people "need to read a whole lot more of Orwell in order to understand what [Wifedom] is about". His mother was "whimsical and bloody funny", he said. "It was a wonderful marriage. They really adored each other."
Funder said that the pushback from Blair and the Orwell Society came from "people who love a superhero", and that "the battle to maintain the image of Orwell as a straightforwardly decent man has been lost".
She said that Blair is "disappointed, possibly disbelieving. But they can't change what their hero did... We need to be unafraid to see the real man behind these invaluable visions." Blair, of course, disputes the definition of who the "real man" was.
A Cambridge OCR spokesperson said: "Inclusion of a text is not an endorsement of its content but of its suitability to generate rigorous and sophisticated analysis... Students are required to analyse one set text in addition to any other text of their choice. We expect that a significant number will continue to write about Down and Out in London and Paris."
The set text change will be included in the curriculum from September. Eduqas exam board still includes Orwell on A-level reading lists, and Animal Farm is recommended for study at GCSE.
Rachel Sylvester Political editor
A few years ago, researchers in Bradford set out to investigate why literacy rates in the West Yorkshire town were so low. Instead of looking at schools, they cross-checked data collected separately by the NHS and the Department for Education and found that a third of pupils diagnosed by the NHS with poor eyesight were not going to the optician for glasses, which meant they struggled to read.
There was a simple solution. All children were given a vision test in reception and those who needed glasses were given a pair for home and pair to keep in class. Literacy rates were transformed. In 2017, when the plan was introduced, Bradford pupils were 6.2 percentage points behind the national average in reading at the end of primary school. By 2018, the gap had narrowed by almost a third, and by 2019 it had halved to 3.1 points.
The "glasses in classes" project was one of the first successes of the Born in Bradford study, which uses datasets from across the public sector to come up with innovative answers to tricky social problems. The researchers are now trialling the same approach to

Eye tests can lead to improvements in child literacy. Rawpixel/Getty
dentistry. By comparing health and education data, they found that a key explanation for school absences is tooth decay. The main reason for children being put under general anaesthetic at the Bradford Royal Infirmary is to have all their teeth removed. So instead of hiring truancy officers, they sent dentists into schools.
If data is "the new oil", then the researchers – led by Mark Mon-Williams, professor of cognitive psychology at Leeds University – are the refiners turning government information into liquid gold. The study has been tracking 13,800 children born at the Bradford Royal Infirmary between March 2007 and December 2010. It draws together information from the NHS, education, local government, housing and welfare systems, allowing the team to join the dots and see the whole child rather than viewing the individual through the prism of disjointed Whitehall departments.
The Born in Bradford study found that pupils who have not reached a good level of development by the age of five are almost three times more likely to be not in education, employment or training (Neet) 12 years later.
Alan Milburn is studying the findings as he develops the recommendations for his Neets review. The Born in Bradford team is also working with the Ministry of Justice to help identify children at risk of being dragged into crime to steer them on to a better track.
Mon-Williams says the public services collect "extraordinarily rich information" but there is too much fragmentation. "The UK has data assets that are the envy of the world, but our failure to use information effectively is crippling our economy and harming our children."
It is time to replicate the approach across Britain. The government should harness the power of data it already collects to redesign the state.
World
war to Russians on holiday in Crimea
Escalating strikes on the Russian-occupied peninsula have created chaos for the crowds spending summer breaks there. Isabel Coles reports
For their summer holidays this year, Vladislav and his wife chose sun, sea – and patriotism. The avowed Russian nationalist wanted to support the Crimean economy and has relatives living on the peninsula. “During a war, you don’t want to vacation in Europe or anywhere else,” said Vladislav, 28. “From my civic, patriotic standpoint, this was the best choice.”
The couple headed to Crimea as Ukraine was stepping up a campaign of drone strikes on the Russian-occupied peninsula. Attacks on supply routes and infrastructure caused shortages of fuel and power outages that have made this summer the worst since Moscow annexed Crimea more than a decade ago.
The resort city of Yalta, where Vladislav and his wife spent most of their time on the southern coast, was peaceful. But in the Black Sea port city of Sevastopol, air raid sirens sounded “non-stop”. People were irritated and demoralised, he added. Taxis were scarce and public transport overcrowded.
Vladislav and his wife cancelled several daytrips to avoid being jostled in a stuffy bus. Eventually, they cut the holiday short and returned to Moscow in July.
The attacks on Crimea come at a moment when Ukraine is puncturing the bubble in which Russians have lived largely undisturbed by the war next door. Drone strikes on warehouses of Russian online retail giant Wildberries have rippled through society in recent weeks. Attacks on refineries mean petrol queues are
now hours long, even in big cities. Vladimir Putin’s approval rating has slipped as his supposed “special military operation” drags on.
Interviews with residents and visitors to Crimea suggest Ukraine’s campaign to isolate the region is taking a heavy toll. They spoke to The Observer on condition they be identified only by their first names, or in some cases pseudonyms.
Ilya had envisaged a relaxing summer with his parents in Crimea, but the holiday was shattered within hours of arriving as a Ukrainian drone struck nearby. “All hell broke loose,” he said. Later that week,
‘We thought things would improve. But it became clear that it’s getting worse’
Alina, resident
seven people were killed in a strike on a bus on the highway from Moscow to Simferopol. Mobile services went down. “It’s become more difficult to live now,” said Ilya, who considers Crimea his second home.
The strategy behind Ukraine’s pivot to targeting Crimea is to deprive Russia of an important staging ground for its own attacks. But the strikes are also symbolic.
Russia’s annexation of the peninsula in 2014 sent Putin’s approval ratings soaring. Many Russians relocated to Crimea, which is a popular holiday destination for those who cannot afford to travel abroad.
About 14.5 million Russians typically flock there and to the adjacent coastal region of Krasnodar Krai each summer. The influx includes affluent residents of Moscow and St Petersburg, as well as public sector employees and middle-income families who save up for their holiday throughout the year – but not this year. Hotel bookings on the peninsula slumped by nearly a third in early June
compared with a year before, and about 80% of planned trips were cancelled. Among many who made the trip, the mood is grim.
Guests at Crimea’s Palace hotel were informed when they arrived that there would be no summer entertainment programme or breakfast buffet because of low occupancy. “We ask for your understanding regarding the current situation!” the hotel said in a notice to guests.
Robert Brovdi, the senior commander of Ukraine’s drone war, which has carried the fight on to Russian soil, has laid out his objectives in Crimea. Beyond destroying what remains of Russia’s fleet and paralysing logistics and transport hubs, Brovdi has said he intends to crash Crimea’s tourism industry and turn the peninsula into an “energy wasteland”.
It was late May when Alina first noticed that petrol stations were running low on fuel. After degrading Russia’s air defences in the south earlier this year, Ukraine moved into the second phase of its campaign – striking fuel tankers and convoys bound for Crimea on a highway in the Russian-occupied south.
The 27 year-old queued for two hours to fill up her car. “We thought things would quickly improve. But it became clear that the situation was getting worse.”

Sunbathers on a beach in the resort city of Yalta, Crimea, in July. Igor Ivankov/ AFP
The number of attacks jumped to 42 a week in early June from 25 in late May, according to independent conflict monitor Ackel.
Authorities temporarily suspended sales of fuel to civilians. A QR code system was introduced, but many found it impossible to obtain fuel vouchers that way. In Yalta, people left their cars in queues outside petrol stations overnight to wait for the coupons.
When Crimeans tried crossing to the mainland for fuel to sell back on the peninsula at a premium, they were driven away by local Cossacks guarding petrol stations.
Criticism of the authorities’ handling of the situation is growing. Alina said, although she remains “super-positive” towards Russia and the war. “I’m generally not inclined to get caught up in drama or delve into politics,” she said.
And there are benefits: to save fuel, she began using company transport, allowing her to read on the way to work.

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“The children are so traumatised that their pain threshold is completely altered. Everything hurts”
→ Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah, page 24

But the drop in tourists is concerning for Alina, who works in event planning. “My job is connected to the resort. I’m thinking about how this could affect it in the long term,” she said.
The messages on her phone reflect the stark contrasts of life in Crimea today. “Thanks for the party, it was great” said one, followed by: “How are you doing? Are you sleeping? Did you hear that? Such an explosion?” One local blogger posted an image of herself drinking champagne in the bunker of the Foros Sanatorium hotel.
As Ukraine’s campaign intensified, authorities declared a state of emergency in Crimea in June. All public events were cancelled and street lights in parts of the peninsula were switched off. The Russian-installed governor, Sergey Aksyonov, conceded that it was impossible to fully protect Crimea. “Unfortunately... there are no air defence systems in the world that are absolutely perfect in terms of
security and effectiveness,” he said. One morning in late June, Kirill woke up and reached for his phone. The device showed only 30% battery, even though it had been charging all night. He found that wifi and mobile services were down. This was a problem for Kirill, who works in IT.
The 30 year-old set out to look for power and got the last spot in a co-working space in the centre of Sevastopol. It was the first main disruption to his routine since the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion. The fuel shortages had not directly affected Kirill because he does not own a car but Ukraine was now targeting power plants and electricity substations.
The authorities told residents to conserve phone batteries by reducing screen brightness and switching off apps. “We will not be intimidated by the lack of light,” said the Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev. At the supermarket, Kirill noticed extra shelves had been allocated


for canned goods. Residents were stocking up on food that would not spoil when the power went out. There was less meat, too, probably because warehouses could no longer keep it cool, he thought.
“There’s a fear that the peninsula will suddenly become an island and be cut off,” said Kirill, who moved to Sevastopol from Ukraine because he opposed the government that came to power in 2014. Russia reinforced the Kerch bridge to the mainland after Ukraine targeted it in October 2022, but drones are striking pontoon bridges and barges used to ferry oil to the peninsula.
On social media, some residents of Crimea said they had left because they were “a little tired of the bombing” and in a state of “constant anxiety”. “It was increasingly difficult for me and my small child to stay in Sevastopol,” said an Instagram post by Yulia, who previously moved to Crimea from the Krasnodar Krai region. Since leaving the peninsula, she said she can sleep easy at night, though she plans to return in future: “These are temporary measures for my peace of mind – and that of my child.”
Three of Kirill’s acquaintances have left and he is considering doing so too. While he fears for his safety, he is also concerned about losing his job. Poor communication from the authorities has only exacerbated the creeping sense of crisis, he said.
The power cuts reminded Tanya of doing her homework by candlelight in the wake of the annexation, when rolling blackouts and power restrictions persisted for months. But it is nothing compared with the horrors endured by many people in Ukraine, she said. Before the full-scale invasion, Tanya, who was born and raised
Putin, left, on a billboard and, below left, diners at an outdoor restaurant during a shutdown of public lighting in Sevastopol. lyer harris/AFP
in Crimea, viewed the Russian government with mistrust. After 2022, “it was like a Band-Aid had been ripped off,” she said: “I live in occupied territory; I’m from Ukraine – I’m Ukrainian – and my country is suffering because of the actions of the aggressor.”
Drone commander Brovdi apologised to Ukrainians living under occupation in Crimea for “the constant alerts, closed bridges and roads, the darkness, the lack of quiet and the stress”, urging them to take care.
Until now, 55 year-old Zhanna had no qualms about visiting Crimea. Born in Belarus, she lives in Moscow and has made trips to the peninsula since marrying a man from Sevastopol in the 1990s. This year, she urged tourists to think again. “If you’re just going there for a vacation, then you’re... running a very high risk of your vacation turning into a serious situation.”
It irritates her when Russians travel to Crimea without understanding the situation and then “shout about how bad everything is”.
Native residents of Sevastopol are generally stoic, although there are some complaints. “They feel that Moscow isn’t protecting them enough,” she said. “I call it the Ukrainian mentality, because Ukrainians have always believed that everyone owes them something.”
She will not stand for criticism of Russia. The last time she heard someone speak ill of Putin, Zhanna turned him in. She had wanted to report the man for beating his wife, anyway, but knew the authorities were more likely to detain him for politics than domestic abuse. She has not seen him since.
As the summer season draws to a close, Ukraine’s campaign continues. Residents of Simferopol heard more than 15 explosions in the space of 20 minutes on Thursday night. Bright flashes were also spotted near the Tavriyskaya thermal power plant. Moments later, several cities were plunged into darkness.
“We will not be intimidated by the lack of light”
Mikhail Razvozhayev, Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol
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World
The UK surgeon mending young minds and bodies in the Middle East
Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah has been treating children in conflict zones for 40 years. He now stand accused of antisemitism and posts supporting terrorism. Oliver Marsden spoke to him in Beirut
Saraa fainted from the pain as the last of the bandages were peeled from her hands. The 16-year-old Syrian survived an Israeli airstrike on the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh earlier this year. She threw her hands across her face as the blast tore through her neighbourhood, killing her parents and leaving her severely burned.
When she woke in the medical centre of the American University of Beirut (AUB), Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah was waiting. The British-Palestinian surgeon examined her hands, adjusted her dressings and offered quiet reassurance before moving on to the next patient.
The 57-year-old chair of conflict medicine at AUB treats children wounded in the wars in Lebanon and Gaza at the hospital clinic. Moving swiftly, he checks dressings, reads X-rays, teaches medical students and fields phone calls. On days he is not in the clinic, he is in the operating theatre.
"The problem is, even though we bring in mental health support, the children are so traumatised that their pain threshold is completely altered," he told The Observer, as he moved down the ward. "Everything hurts."
Abu-Sittah now faces a public battle for his professional credibility as allegations of antisemitism have left him facing a hearing at the high court next year. The activist legal group UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) referred him to the General Medical Council in 2023, highlighting a 2018 newspaper article and reports on social media in which he referred to Palestinian "revolutionary violence" and killed Palestinian militants as "martyrs".
In the article in the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, Abu-Sittah described Ahmad Jarrar, a young Palestinian believed to be a member
of Hamas and suspected of killing Rabbi Raziel Shevach – an Israeli rabbi in the West Bank – as a "hero".
Abu-Sittah's lawyers argued that he did not know Jarrar had been involved in the killing of Shevach and that the article was intended to condemn what Abu-Sittah regarded as an extrajudicial killing of Jarrar himself, rather than to endorse the murder. "The people have no weapon left but revolutionary violence," he wrote.
Abu-Sittah also reported a tweet that said: "We congratulate our brothers in Hamas and our comrades in the Popular Front on the anniversary of their inception."
His accusers claimed the comments amounted to support for terrorism and were antisemitic. But in January, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service concluded that the allegations could not be proved. After hearing expert evidence on the Arabic language, Palestinian political discourse and the context of the posts, the panel found no basis of misconduct and allowed Abu-Sittah to continue practising.
UKLFI disputed the ruling and complained to the Professional Standards Authority (PSA), claiming that relevant evidence had not been fully considered. In an unprecedented move, the PSA then joined the General Medical Council to appeal against the decision to clear Abu-Sittah in the high court.
In a February report, a GMC panel acknowledged that Abu-Sittah had "devoted his career to working in humanitarian medicine". But it said the newspaper article and social media posts "appeared objectively to be supportive of violence and terrorism, and of a proscribed organisation". At the high court in January, they will argue the original ruling to exonerate Abu-Sittah failed to protect the public.
Abu-Sittah believes that he was targeted after sharing evidence of alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza with the international criminal court and the international court of justice. The case has placed him at the intersection of medicine, law and global politics that has been tearing at the medical community since the October 7 attacks.
Abu-Sittah has been treating children the world over for almost 40 years. He made his first trip to Gaza as a medical student during the First Intifada in 1989, returning to the strip to provide medical

UK-Palestinian surgeon Ghassan Abu-Sittah, above, in Beirut, where he treats children wounded in the wars in Lebanon and Gaza. Oliver Marsden/The Observer
World Health Organization delegates at al-Ahli hospital in Gaza, below, assess patients for evacuation in October 2025. Hamza Qraaqa/Anadolu, Getty
assistance during the second Palestinian uprising in 2000. Since then, he has made three more trips to Gaza, and has worked in conflicts in Lebanon, Yemen and Syria, along with missions to treat cleft lip and facial deformities in India, Ecuador and Vietnam.
Trauma, he believes, changes more than the mind. "There is evidence that pain receptors become more sensitive after trauma, and later in life, this can lead to dependence on opioids," he said. "You're not just operating on this child; you're operating on the adult they're going to become."
As Israel launched its assault
on Gaza after the 7 October terror attacks by Hamas in 2023, Abu-Sittah rushed back to the war-torn territory. He crossed into the strip from Egypt on 9 October, the day Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed a response that would "change the Middle East".
Over the next 43 days, the surgeon worked between al-Shifa and al-Ahli hospitals in Gaza City as Israeli airstrikes pounded the area and supplies dwindled. He is forthright about the horrors he witnessed, as the wards were overwhelmed with the dead and wounded.
At one point, he was forced to cut shrapnel and infected tissue out of a girl without anaesthetic.
"She screamed, as her father was crying and holding her. I just wanted to die and for things to stop and to be somewhere else," he said with a sigh. "That's when I thought: 'I've just started torturing children.'"
The two hospitals became the focus of a furious propaganda campaign in the first weeks of the war. Israeli claims that Gaza's hospitals were being used by Hamas militants as command centres and patients as human shields remain bitterly disputed. Each side blamed the other when a rocket killed scores of civilians seeking shelter in the car park of al-Ahli hospital. Through it

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all, Abu-Sittah and his colleagues kept working, under siege.
"You know when you're in the sea and there's a wave, and you lose your footing and the wave submerges you... When you're completely submerged and you can't..." his voice trailed off.
"I slept in the operating room. I would clean one of the trolleys and sleep on it, then operate and then go to sleep at 2am," he went on. "You were never finished. You do 12 cases a day, but there's still 150 waiting. And you have to keep doing them. So you felt that you'd gone under." UN figures show at least 20,179
Ghassan Abu-Sittah
children have been killed in Gaza and more than 44,143 injured since the 7 October attacks by Hamas. In Lebanon, at least 257 children were killed by Israeli strikes and 1,036 injured since Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah resumed their war on 2 March, according to Lebanon's health ministry.
Since leaving Gaza, Abu-Sittah
has campaigned against what he alleges are Israeli "war crimes" and has condemned the offensive as "a genocide", unlike any conflict he had seen before. He recounted his experience in the 2024 documentary A State of Passion, gave first-hand testimony to the Metropolitan police war crimes unit and submitted evidence to the international criminal court (ICC).
Abu-Sittah believes evidence he shared in 2024 with both the ICC, and the international court of justice in the case brought against Israel by South Africa, has put a target on his back.
"I gave evidence, and I believe that my evidence was part of the case against [former Israel defence minister Yoav] Gallant and Netanyahu," he said. "The reason I believe I am being targeted is that all of the [ICC] judges who signed the arrest warrants have now been put on the [US] sanctions list."
He added: "They are going after ICC judges and they are going after Isis. That's the dystopian world the Americans have created."
Abu-Sittah has received messages of support from across the medical community. But he said the case against him, such as the US- and Israeli-led campaign to discredit the ICC, sets "a dangerous precedent", as his accusers attempt to undermine medical tribunals to "get the right political result" and bring him down.
His clinic was packed as he talked with The Observer, with a steady stream of wounded children being carried into the examination room.
Among them was Abdelaziz, 19, who steered himself into the room in a battery-powered wheelchair, weaving expertly between desks and chairs. An Israeli airstrike in Gaza left him paralysed from the waist down after shrapnel shattered his spine two years ago. There are no facilities left to treat him inside the besieged territory but he was one of the lucky ones granted permission to be medically evacuated.
Abu-Sittah lifted him on to a bed and began dressing the pressure ulcers that have opened on his hips from spending most of his time lying on his side. Then he applied silver nitrate to the deep wounds across Abdelaziz's back. He explained that the damaged soft tissue must heal before surgeons can attempt to straighten his spine.
"What you're seeing in this clinic is the idea that you can delineate where the physical wound ends and the psychological wound starts; where the psychological wound ends and the social wound starts. But their whole world has been destroyed," Abu-Sittah said.
He explained that he remains shattered by his experience in Gaza and the current Israeli assault on southern Lebanon. But his experience with paediatrics means he is the best placed for the job and he refuses to leave Beirut.
"Leaving Gaza felt like a betrayal to the people," he said. "But the war doesn't stop for my war-wounded children as aftercare is a constant battle for them and for me. It never stops, even if the guns go silent."
Hannah Roberts
When the Russian-born director Ilya Khrzhanovsky began filming his sprawling cinematic experiment DAU in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv in 2008, he built a vast reconstruction of a secret Soviet science institute. Hundreds of people lived and worked inside the closed set, remaining in character while cameras rolled.
Nearly two decades later, Kharkiv is under regular Russian bombardment. Meanwhile, DAU, which is now competing for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, has become the focus of a bitter dispute over Russia's return to European cultural life.
Ukraine has called on the festival to reconsider the film's inclusion, arguing the wider project was financed for years with Russian money and that giving it one of Europe's most prestigious platforms helps to normalise Vladimir Putin's regime.
The cultural and sporting quarantine imposed on Moscow after the 2022 invasion is beginning to erode elsewhere. Russia returned to the Venice Biennale this year after a four-year absence, and the International Olympic Committee provisionally lifted its ban on Moscow last month, paving the way for Russia to compete at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Ihor Bruslyo, Ukraine's ambassador to Italy, warned that international resolve to isolate Russia was "weakening, first of all from sports and culture, arts and cinema".
Inspired by the Soviet physicist Lev Landau, DAU follows a brilliant scientist whose work and private life are consumed by a totalitarian state. Kyiv argues Russia uses artists as cultural envoys to soften western opinion.
Bruslyo said Moscow would use DAU's selection to argue that Russia had "the right to be present at every good platform, including politics". Venice, he warned, could "open the doors for them".
Speaking to The Observer, Khrzhanovsky admitted it was "entirely natural" after the invasion for European institutions to reconsider ties with Russian state cultural bodies. "For many years, the Russian state has used, and continues to use, culture as an instrument of political influence, symbolic presence and propaganda," he said.
But there was a "fundamental distinction between the state and an individual", he argued. "The only fair criterion by which to judge an individual is what they have actually done, what they have said, what they have supported, what decisions they have made, and whether they have any real connection to the Russian state and its policies."
In a separate public statement last week, Khrzhanovsky said he opposed the annexation of Crimea and condemned the invasion. He has renounced Russian citizenship while Moscow has designated him a

DAU tells the story of a physicist in a Soviet-era scientific institute.
"foreign agent" and his films are not shown in Russia. The director called Ukraine's accusations "especially painful" and declared: "Opposing totalitarianism also means defending factual truth."
He disputes Ukraine's description of DAU as Russian. The German production, co-produced with France and Sweden, has received no Russian funding for seven years, he says. The Russian businessman Sergei Adoniev, later sanctioned by the US, financed the project until 2019, but not the completion of the Venice film, Khrzhanovsky says. "The Russian state did not finance the film, did not participate in its creation and has no involvement in its distribution."
He rejects claims that the work glorifies the Soviet Union, describing DAU as an examination of "the nature of totalitarian evil". He also dismisses the idea that admitting individual Russian artists to events legitimised Moscow. "As long as this war continues, I see no grounds for speaking about a normalisation of relations between European cultural institutions and the Russian state. Among the most consistent opponents of Putin's regime are people who come from Russian culture."
Venice's artistic director Alberto Barbera called the Ukrainian complaint "petty and unacceptable". DAU, he said, denounced the intrusion of totalitarian regimes into citizens' lives and was "anything but pro-Putin propaganda". He defended the Biennale as "one of the few bastions left to defend freedom of expression regardless of geographical origin".
That has not reassured Kyiv. "Anything in the totalitarian state is a continuation of the totalitarian state," Bruslyo said. Russians, he insisted, should not be allowed to participate "on par with democratic states".
DAU presents an awkward test of where quarantine boundaries should end. Khrzhanovsky says it is not his place to tell Ukraine, which is "fighting a war for its very existence", how to relate to Russian culture. "I am prepared to take responsibility for every action of mine, every public statement I have made, and for the film of which I am the author," he said. "But I am not prepared to take responsibility for an identity that others attribute to me."
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Brazil's leader faces the son of his convicted predecessor in his bid to stay in power, Carolina Unzelte reports
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva launched his bid for an unprecedented fourth term as Brazil's president this weekend at the stadium where his career as a union leader began in the 1970s.
So what? On the same day, the son of Jair Bolsonaro started his own campaign on Copacabana beach. The result of the election, which takes place in October, will decide if...
State of play. This is the first presidential election in Brazil since Jair Bolsonaro attempted a coup in 2023. Once the "most popular politician on Earth", according to Barack Obama, Lula is asking voters to give him a fourth term at the age of 80.
Third time, not quite the charm. GDP growth has averaged around

3% a year under Lula, compared with 1.2% under Bolsonaro, while inflation is also running lower. But this has not won over Brazilians. The latest Quaest survey shows Lula has a small negative approval rating.
You should see the other guy. Bolsonaro was convicted last September of leading a conspiracy to stage a coup after losing the 2022 election and is serving a 27-year sentence. Since March he has been
under house arrest due to poor health. He is ineligible to run for president again, and remains barred by the supreme court from political campaigning or visits.
The chosen one. That is why he has turned to his son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who was picked to run for president over other family members. Before the campaign even began, Flávio, a senator for Rio de Janeiro, was ensnared in the Banco Master
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva addresses supporters at the launch of his campaign. Miguel Schimani/AFP, Getty
This is likely to be an election contested partly beyond Brazil's borders
scandal. Leaked audio showed him asking a banker accused of corruption for money. Bolsonaro denies any wrongdoing.
If he wins, Flávio Bolsonaro has promised a "broad, general and unrestricted" amnesty for those convicted over the coup attempt riots, including his father. This is despite polling that suggests most Brazilians oppose an amnesty for Jair Bolsonaro.
Not like us. The centrist parties that once backed the elder Bolsonaro have also shied away from forming an alliance with his son.
Outside looking in. But this is likely to be an election contested partly beyond Brazil's borders. Donald Trump imposed 50% tariffs on Brazilian goods last year, citing what he called a "witch hunt" against Jair Bolsonaro. It backfired and gave Lula a nationalist rallying cry. In July, Washington imposed another round of tariffs of up to 50%. Trump may be hoping to have another potential ally in Latin America, having helped Javier Milei win the midterms in Argentina.
And yet... it will be an uphill battle. In 2022, Lula only secured a narrow victory. But this time his opponent lacks his father's charisma, and the family's conspiracy-laced rhetoric has been smothered by convictions. That may be enough to get Brazil's elder statesman over the line.
History, great power competition and nuclear strength all converge there, Xavier Greenwood writes
Russia summoned the Japanese ambassador last Tuesday as part of an escalating row over the disputed Kuril Islands.
So what? The history of the islands is fraught, but they have geopolitical currency too. Vladimir Putin's recent decision to visit them for the first time... - revives an argument that dates back 150 years; - serves as a reminder of the value of the islands to Moscow; and - appears designed to apply pressure on Tokyo in lockstep with Beijing.
Pin on a map. The Kurils are a volcanic archipelago of 56 islands located off the coast of Hokkaido. They form a natural barrier between the Sea of Okhotsk and the rest of the Pacific Ocean. Initially divided between Japan and Russia in 1855, the Kuril Islands were handed over to Japan 20 years later in return for the island of Sakhalin.
Mine, no mine. The Soviet Union seized the Kurils in August 1945 and expelled the Japanese population. The entire chain is controlled by Russia, but in dispute are the four islands closest to Japan. Tokyo says they were taken "illegally". Moscow maintains that its ownership is legitimate.
Uneasy peace. Competing claims over what Japan calls the Northern Territories are the main reason Tokyo and Moscow didn't sign
a formal peace treaty when they restored diplomatic ties after the end of the Second World War.
Testy visit. Last week, Vladimir Putin broke with form to visit Etorofu, one of the four disputed islands, for the first time. No Russian leader has been there since Dmitry Medvedev in 2015. Putin sampled fish roe on his trip and spoke to locals.
The response. Sanae Takaichi, Japan's prime minister, said the visit was "completely unacceptable" and summoned the Russian ambassador in Tokyo.
Response to the response. Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, accused Tokyo of crossing the "line of decency" and summoned the Japanese ambassador. The ambassador didn't immediately comply but later spent 20 minutes inside Russia's foreign ministry.
Bigger picture. Relations between Tokyo and Moscow have deteriorated since the full scale invasion of Ukraine; Japan has imposed sanctions on Russia and listed the country as a "source of primary threats". The Kurils remain

The disputed south Kuril islands, north-east of Japan.
a not-so-subtle point of conflict. In the years leading up to the war in Ukraine, Russia bolstered its military presence around the chain. Then...
Keep out. The Kurils are a crucial point of embarkment for Russia's Pacific Fleet mark the southern edge of the Sea of Okhotsk – which Moscow uses as a bastion for its second-strike nuclear deterrent – and the Pacific Ocean.
Rich pickings. The islands also have some of the most productive fishing grounds in the world, alongside valuable underground minerals.
Common cause. As well as to reiterate Russia's claim, Putin may have visited to curry favour with China. Beijing cancelled tourist flights to Japan and imposed export restrictions after Takaichi suggested last year that Japan could be embroiled in any conflict over Taiwan. China, Russia and North Korea are all unhappy with Tokyo's plans to boost military spending and strengthen ties with the US.
What's more... This month, Japan's defence ministry said the country faced its most "severe" security environment in 80 years. It has notably strengthened its defences in the southwest near Taiwan. The message from Putin may be that Tokyo should worry about the northeast too.
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Why do people lie about using AI in their art?
→ Naomi Alderman, page 32

Keir Starmer has donated his own biography to the Downing Street library but the new PM can find eager insights on its shelves
In one of his last political acts, Keir Starmer has donated a biography of himself to the Downing Street library first established by Ramsay MacDonald in 1931. Starmer's is not, it should be said, the most self-centred choice in the library. Stanley Baldwin donated three of his own books and so did Arthur Balfour. Aneurin Bevan added his rather rambling volume In Place of Fear. Edward Heath chose Travels, Sailing, Old World, New Horizons, Music and Carols – all by Edward Heath.
There is, in truth, one volume in the library that Burnham would do well to study because it is the wisest guide to political success ever written. Leslie Hore-Belisha, minister of transport from 1934 to 1937, was responsible for the introduction of the driving test and gave his name to the Belisha beacon. When he left office, he provided Richard Claverhouse Jebb's translation of The Rhetoric of Aristotle. The book contains all you need to know, and it provides the clue to what Burnham has over his predecessor. When he uses the term 'rhetoric', Aristotle means a great deal more than public speaking. To use a modern word, he is talking about strategy, about what goes into making a successful public argument. There are three components: logos, pathos and ethos, which, loosely translated, refer to argument, emotion and character.
Burnham does have an argument – or, at least, has an analysis of what he thinks has gone wrong. He believes that Britain went wrong when controls over essential public services such as water, transport and housing were privatised. Too many places were emptied of their economic rationale; too much political power was hoarded in the centre. The result was a decline in the sense that the government could fix any of the obvious problems. For all these reasons, hope fled and, when the people tell the politicians

Aristotle began tutoring the future Alexander the Great in 343BC at the request of the young prince's father. Hurry
that the system is broken, the people are right. The solution is to bring back public control. There is, of course, a lot to dispute in this diagnosis. But it is an argument. This is what is meant in politics by a story, and this is exactly the sort of thing that Starmer was unable to tell.
To the extent that he ever could tell a story, Starmer's always sounded so passionless. He rarely sounded as if he cared about his own tale. He struggled, in other words, to convey any pathos, any emotional feeling. Burnham has, if anything, a tendency towards the sentimentalising of people he meets along the way. The analysis summarised above is rooted in loss, melancholy and betrayal. His biggest cause in politics has been the Hillsborough disaster. He is drawn to the emotional in politics.
But even a solid argument, threaded with emotion, is not enough because the message needs to cohere with the messenger. The political character of the leader is the third, and perhaps the most important, element of Aristotle's trinity. It is the one political virtue that really cannot be taught. Good advisers can devise and refine political strategies. Gifted speechwriters can make the words sing and stir the emotions. But the leader is just who he or she is, and politics at the highest level does not forge character: it exposes it.
There had been a lot said about the style of Burnham's communication. Direct, easy, straight to social media with no curation from the outside. He is not unlike the mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, who last week posted a video of himself
putting on a bicycle helmet to demonstrate his response to criticism that he was not wearing one.
In The Rhetorical Presidency, Jeffrey K Tulis shows that this style has been a long time coming. The really successful US presidents, Tulis argues, are the rhetoricians. Woodrow Wilson used the press conference, Franklin D Roosevelt the radio and John F Kennedy the television to construct a political character in a direct exchange with the people. Social media is pulling the fast one in the same way – only faster.
Think of the small-bore promises Burnham has made as prime minister. Removing VAT from domestic electricity bills across Britain, which is worth about £45 a year for the typical household. A cap of £2 in England on bus fares, as well as free bus travel for disabled people. A 20% cut in the business rate for pubs, clubs and music venues. A £442m programme to get rough sleepers off the streets by Christmas. A branch of No 10 in Manchester. There is nothing random here. Each one of these moves adds to the character of the principal. It is not enough to do a series of small things that mildly alleviate living standards. It has to be a series of small things that mildly alleviate living standards and help construct a political character of a man of the people, who – given half a chance and half a lifetime – will do a lot more of the same.
It is a good guide to political character to ask what book the leader may like. 'And immediately/Rather than words comes the thought of high windows.' Burnham is a fan of Philip Larkin, and of Tony Harrison, prophets of loss and of people on the margins of their own lives. But Burnham is not the first senior minister with a literary leaning. Arthur Steel-Maitland, Baldwin's minister of labour, chose 17 books, all by the Victorian novelist and poet George Meredith. Reginald Fletcher, minister of civil aviation under Clement Attlee, chose six Jane Austen novels.
Burnham may not be the best-read prime minister either. Harold Macmillan chose 21 volumes of Rudyard Kipling. Maybe, one day, a copy of The Whitsun Weddings will grace the Downing Street library. Or maybe The North Ship will be a better description of his time in office.
Either way, we know who he is. The remaining question, as always, is whether we like what we see.
Andrew Rawnsley is away
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If you want to understand the interplay of class and power in Britain today, consider two out-of-court settlements from 2023 that form the heart of a new report from the thinktank Common Wealth. Both cases involved Arconic, the American conglomerate responsible for much of the cladding on Grenfell Tower that failed so disastrously, and both relate to compensation paid out; to shareholders in the one case and, in the other, to survivors of the 2017 inferno and relatives of those who perished.

The seven-year-long Grenfell inquiry found that Arconic's cladding, Reynobond PE, was the "primary cause" of the spread of the fire in which 72 people died. It found, too, that the company knew its cladding to be a firetrap and concealed the fact. Arconic created more fire-resistant cladding to use in countries with tighter regulations but pushed the dangerous version in Britain. It allowed it to be used in cassette form (in which panels are bent into a box shape), even though it recognised as far back as 2004 that this could be lethal in a fire. The cassette system was used on Grenfell Tower.
An internal Arconic memo from 2007 forecast that a fire in buildings with such cladding could result in "60 to 70" deaths. Arconic misled the certification body, the British Board of Agrément, which passed it as safe.
The company, the inquiry concluded, had "a deliberate strategy" of selling the cladding in the UK "based on a statement about its fire performance that it knew
to be false". Arconic continues to deny any wrongdoing. The inquiry's exposures precipitated a fall in Arconic's stock price. American shareholders brought a class action against the company to provide recompense for their monetary loss. It was settled out of court for $74m (£54.7m).
In the second case, almost 250 Grenfell claimants attempted to sue Arconic in the US, where, unlike in Britain, companies can be forced to pay punitive damages to deter corporate wrongdoing. Arconic persuaded US judges that the case had to be heard in Britain. An out-of-court settlement in this
country led to Arconic paying out $43m. Those who lost their loved ones, or had their lives devastated, received from Arconic barely half the amount paid to those dismayed by depreciating shares.
Arconic's product might have been the primary cause of the inferno. Its business practices might have been immoral. But, notwithstanding the initial share price fall, it walked away from Grenfell with barely a scratch.
Executives have received enormous payouts in the years since. Even the compensation caused Arconic little monetary pain, as all but $2m was covered by insurance. The company has paid nothing towards the cost of replacing dangerous cladding in Britain; the taxpayer has picked up much of the tab.
Reynobond PE cladding has been sold in 30 other countries.
A memorial for the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire, which killed 72 people. Leon West/Getty Images
Yet Common Wealth has found no "evidence that Arconic had undertaken substantive work to track" these buildings or ensure they are safe. That may seem extraordinary but it is in keeping with the ethics of Grenfell.
Nor was Arconic the only company exposed by the inquiry. Kingspan, a firm that provided some of the insulation for the tower block, had changed the way the product was made in 2006. The new version performed disastrously in tests – an internal document described it as creating a "raging inferno" – but Kingspan sold it using test results from the old product. "WHAT we lied?" asked one employee in a text. "Alls [sic] we do is lie in here," responded another.
After insulation from another company, Celotex, failed a safety test, it used hidden non-combustible boards to get it through the subsequent test. "This isn't the only manipulation of test data," one employee told the inquiry.
Yet not one person has so far been held legally accountable for the disaster. The Metropolitan police have identified 57 individuals and 20 companies for possible prosecutions but has still to pass details to the Crown Prosecution Service.
If there are any trials, they are unlikely to be before 2029 – 12 years after the fire. Grenfell has exposed a social and legal landscape shaped by an exaggerated contempt for ordinary people. It is the story
of a corporate world displaying, in the words of journalist Peter Apps, "a callous indifference to anything – morality, honesty, life safety – that was not related to the bottom line". Of a free market that gave companies the freedom to deceive and conceal and to ignore people's needs. Of regulators that allowed them that freedom, viewing tighter rules, in the words of Brian Martin, a government official responsible for building regulations, as not "in the best interests of UK PE".
Most of all, it is a story of how those with power possess the authority to avoid accountability while those without power lack the leverage to make the unaccountable accountable. As the title of the Common Wealth report puts it, those with power remain Unpunished and Undeterred. The report makes recommendations, including the introduction of punitive damages, making companies liable for the failure to prevent foreseeable serious harm and the permanent debarment of Arconic from public contracts. All are important. But the problem runs deeper.
In discussions of everything from safety regulations to taxation, it is widely accepted that "what is good for business is good for the nation". What Grenfell showed us is that what is good for business can be disastrous for ordinary people. Until we recognise that, there will be more Grenfells and greater value will continue to be placed on shareholders' needs than on people's lives.
There is a huge pile of clothes in the corner of my bedroom. Divided across seven bin bags, they spill across 30% of the space. Every morning and every evening I think about this pile.
"Has it been a year now?" my partner texts me, when I tell her I've finally admitted defeat.
The plan was to sell all the clothes on the secondhand app Vinted. They were leftovers from a clothing swap I organised last year, but perhaps unsurprisingly, no one was interested in skinny jeans and years-old fast fashion tops. Nor am I really, when the result of all the effort it takes to sell a single item is a mere £2.
So this week I ordered a clothes collection by a charity retailer to give
everything away. The end of August was the deadline. That's when my partner and I are moving in together.
Before that happens, we took one last holiday as separate households. We spent seven days biking alongside the Moselle River, through France, Luxembourg and Germany, crossing borders without passports thanks to Schengen, and cycling between medieval castles, some of Europe's steepest vineyards, and fairytale wine villages. Neither of us had been before, and every day we drank riesling.
As it turns out, riesling is not always a sweet dessert wine. It can be crisp and dry too. We met generous producers who wanted to share the
secret of where that magic happened. Through a combination of hand gestures and the false confidence that I can understand German as a Norwegian speaker, we gathered that the magic has become increasingly difficult to maintain.
One of the days it was 38€. Unprecedented waves of heat have been sweeping across Europe this summer, and hotter climates are already reshaping the Moselle's wine industry. Although one could argue this has allowed German winemakers to
experiment with different grape types, longer periods of heat and drought are making the hilly vineyards harder and more expensive to farm.
One owner of a small vineyard was worried about something else too: people are drinking less wine. The main culprit? My generation. I see it online all the time, the bigger and inarguable shift toward health, wellness and moderation. Yet there we were, cycling through a region that has spent centuries, if not millennia, perfecting its wine. Even though we were knocking back the vineyard's riesling, I was wondering what my own choices back home, however small, meant for its business. Maybe that was why it felt so good to spend a week not having to make decisions at all.
The holiday itself was an organised, guided tour of the region. Our daily cycle of about 30 miles was followed by boarding a
ship, the Princess Royal, where we slept and ate. Every day the route was decided for us. Just cycle here and take breaks there. I mean, no complaints from me – I saw some of the best scenery I've ever seen, and I'm from Norway.
Most of the week my phone was on airplane mode, and the biggest decision I made was which ice cream flavour to get (if you're wondering, it's two scoops of dark chocolate and fruit sorbet). No emails to answer and no pile of clothes in the corner to think about.
That was until we were boarding our two-hour-delayed flight back to London, when I remembered the menacing bedside presence awaiting my return.
The list of things to sort before my partner and I move in together remains long. Cupboards to clear, bathrooms to deep clean and decisions to make. But next week the clothes will be gone and I've brought back a bottle of riesling for us to drink on our soon-to-be shared couch.
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In his final conversation with his family, Iranian pro-democracy protester Arvin Kheirkhah, 20, urged: "Don't let them forget me." On Saturday 1 August the Islamic Republic executed him in Shahroud Prison.
His crime was to join tens of millions of people peacefully protesting against the brutal Islamic Republic. The regime responded by massacring up to 40,000 in just two days in January. Since then, an execution spree has killed hundreds, many hung from cranes in public squares. More remain on death row.
In the last century, the Labour party built a proud history of opposing fascism. It stood against apartheid, supported democratic movements across eastern Europe, and today stands with the people of Ukraine against Russian aggression.
So why does Labour seem so hesitant when it comes to the human rights and democratic aspirations of 93 million Iranians?
The Iranian people's struggle is one of the great democratic and human rights movements of our age. Yet it barely registers within progressive politics in Britain.
Part of the problem is that debate on Iran has become trapped in arguments about Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu and military
intervention. Those are legitimate debates, but they cannot become the only ones.
Progressives rightly care about international law and the rules-based international order. So do I. But many Iranians ask what that order has delivered for them? For decades, successive western governments endlessly appeased the regime while it consolidated power, imprisoned dissidents, sponsored terrorist groups and brutally suppressed domestic opposition.
Many on the left worry that abandoning international norms creates dangerous precedents. That concern deserves to be taken seriously. But so too does another one: what happens when the international system repeatedly fails those living under authoritarian rule? How long should people wait for justice that never arrives?
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky warned after Iranian protesters were massacred: "So much was said about protests in Iran, but they were drowned in blood. The world did not help the Iranian people enough – it stood aside." If such brutality is rewarded with survival, "it sends a clear signal to every bully: kill enough people and you stay in power," he said.
The Islamic Republic is not simply another authoritarian
government. It has spent decades exporting instability throughout the Middle East, supporting proxy terrorist groups and developing nuclear weapons. It has become an important military partner of Russia, supplying the drones used against civilians in Ukraine.
Britain has direct interests at stake. In response to the US-led challenge to the Islamic Republic's impunity, it blockaded the Strait of Hormuz, pushing energy prices up. It has taken British nationals hostage, threatened journalists working in London, targeted the Jewish community and dissidents living in the UK and been linked to terrorist plots on British soil.
For many Iranians, the recent weakening of the Islamic Republic represents the first opportunity in decades to challenge a regime that has ruled through repression, fear and violence. Inside Iran, the choice is no longer between reformers and hardliners. Instead, the conflict appears to be between a society demanding freedom and democracy and a state determined to preserve itself, at any price.
The freedom movement brings together workers, students, women, tribal groups and young Iranians who have only known life under the Islamic Republic. Their demands are strikingly familiar:
accountable institutions, personal freedom, economic opportunity and democratic representation.
When Donald Trump launched military action in February he urged Iranians to seize control of their destiny and overthrow the regime. Breaking decades of western appeasement gave hope. Since then the on-off deal-making has left many Iranians worried. People in Iran know they will have to bring down the regime themselves. All they ask is that the west doesn't throw the regime a lifeline.
Labour has traditionally argued that foreign policy should be
History will record who stood with Iranians and who chose appeasement
guided by values and interests. In Iran, those two objectives point in the same direction. Supporting democratic aspirations in Iran is morally consistent with Labour's commitment to human rights and international solidarity. It is also strategically sensible. A democratic Iran could help end regional instability, weaken terrorist proxy groups, improve energy security and create new opportunities for international cooperation. It could also help create the conditions for a
two-state solution by removing the biggest opponent.
Only Iranians can determine their future, but Britain can choose not to strengthen those who deny that future. It can keep the internet working, back human rights defenders, protect dissidents living in Britain, increase financial pressure on those responsible for repression and make clear that it stands with those seeking democracy.
Labour has always been at its best when it has recognised that solidarity does not stop at Britain's borders. The Iranian people ask only that democracies stop legitimising those who imprison, torture and kill citizens demanding the freedoms we take for granted. The question facing Labour is whether it is prepared to stand as clearly with the Iranian people as it has with other democratic movements.
History will not be ambiguous about this moment. It will record who stood with the Iranian people – and who chose appeasement over courage. The Iranian people have chosen freedom. It is time for the Labour party to make its choice.
Justin Forsyth is a former Downing Street adviser to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and a current adviser to Reza Pahlavi, exiled opposition leader and son of the late shah
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Buses are back in fashion. Having made his name overhauling Greater Manchester's bus network, Andy Burnham is now doing the same across England – capping fares, lifting restrictions on free travel for disabled people, and backing Richard Parker, mayor of the West Midlands, to bring the region's buses under public control. We've been pioneering these kinds of policies in the capital for years with great success, so it's brilliant to see them being rolled out across the country.
As the son of a bus driver, I know firsthand why buses matter so much. My brothers and I spent many a weekend on the top deck of my dad's bus, watching the streets of south and central London go by – and occasionally peering down the periscope to spot him in the driver's cab below.
On the number 44, we met passengers from every walk of life: rich and poor, white, black and brown. There were teenagers on their way to Sunday morning football, families on a day out and elderly people heading out to do their shopping. Many of the passengers would never have met elsewhere in their day-to-day lives but, for a brief moment on the bus, their worlds would collide.
Back then, buses were for everyone. But in the decades since, that basic promise was broken. In London we've spent the last 10 years trying to bring it back.
Buses are one of the most affordable, accessible and sociable ways of getting from A to B. They're there for all of us – and, for that reason alone, they'll always be my favourite.
Sadiq Khan

As a person who thrives on scraps of other people's conversation, these turbid upper decks are places rich in poetry and treats. An entire adolescent education was

Above, a sunny afternoon on a Routemaster in south-west London. Lee Martin
gleaned by listening to the Year 9s at the back of the 13 bus. This is where, facing forward yet listening backwards, I learned the truth about French kissing, period stains, whether it was possible to get pregnant from a toilet seat, and how to eat crisps while wearing lip gloss. To this day the smell of cheese and onion retains its erotic charge. I've heard a married couple break up on the 20S through Whitechapel, and teenagers lie very well to their parents, and whole encyclopedias of disinformation be disseminated between boys on the 25. My favourite eavesdrop, though, was by my friend Lucy, who, on a bus in Wales, overheard one older lady tell a friend her son had just bought a computer. "What's a computer?" the friend asked, to which she replied: "It's like a telly with a calculator plugged in."
Eva Wiseman

The Queen of Buses is the 55S from Windermere Station to Grasmere village green. Take
my hand; here's how it works. Hop off the train, travel-stale, bewildered. Stagger into the magnificent Booths supermarket next door. Emerge with a Westmorland Pork Swirl; ask a waiting octogenarian walker (wooden stave, kerchiefed terrier, full-body backpack) for directions to the bus stop. Walk 2.6 metres; wait, max, eight minutes. Pay your cheery driver (this is the north) £3. Place your inappropriate suitcase on the purpose-built inappropriate-suitcase shelf. Sit back. Within moments, you can breathe. It's a journey like no other: silvery lake water, spectacular mountaineering, deep romantic chasms, drystone walls enclosing sunny spots of greenery, couples in moisture-wicking quick-release hiking shorts and azure microfleece neck-warmers. Come for Coleridge, Grasmere gingerbread, the Keswick Pencil Factory; stay for the triple-five, as we regulars call it, and scenery so beautiful you want to laugh.
Charlotte Mendelson

Since 2018, 90 London doubledeckers have cruised down a dedicated busway on
Paseo de la Reforma, Mexico City's equivalent of the Champs-Élysées. Assembled in Falkirk and sent to Mexico via Southampton, I they plugged a gap in the city's metro system, which has not grown fast enough to meet the needs of 23 million people. I love how whimsically out of place those cherry-red chariots are in the highland jungle. Linéa 7 coils around 10 roundabouts (or glorieus as they're known in Spanish) adorned with some of the city's grandest monuments. At just 25p, it is a truly, well, glorious ride. When I spent a spring in CDMX five years ago, I would wake up early on Sundays to snag a top deck seat for the half-hour trip to La Lagunilla, a sprawling antiques market with a block party atmosphere. But the ride home, packed in with shoppers clutching their wares and tipsy from micheladas, was the real fiesta.
Evan Moffitt

The term "liminal space" is truly overused these days. Few public spaces are actually liminal, but among these is the National Express coach from London to Glastonbury. From the moment you pull away from the O2 car
park in Greenwich – no normal public transport journey starts at the O2 car park – you know you have left behind your old life, ready to enter a new phase of identity upon arrival at your destination in six to eight hours, Stonehenge traffic dependent. There's an air of expectation, a febrile excitement, a lot of cans, and an excellent service station stop-off where you can – and should – purchase a foot-long Subway for the next leg of the journey. This country would be a better place, I think, if more bus journeys had a stop-off point at which you could buy a foot-long sandwich. You will never see these fellow passengers again, but for now they are your friends. The journey back home on the same coach, conversely, is hell on earth.
Róisín Lanigan

An ear operation means I am unable to travel by Tube. No earphones either. So it's the bus and people-watching for me. Luckily I'm a regular on the top deck of the greatest, most historic, bus in London, the No 24. I caught it with my dad and I've caught it with my children. Green 24s started running – before even I needed them – in 1910 from Hampstead to Victoria. Two years later the route was extended to Pimlico and 21 years after that the buses turned red. Not that you'd have known that from the 24's appearance in the 1949 black-and-white film Passport to Pimlico. I come to work from Pimlico but the 24 is really for everyone. What other bus could offer you close-up views of Westminster Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Parliament Square, Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, the Cenotaph, 10 Downing Street, Horse Guards Parade, and Trafalgar Square, all in 15 minutes or so? That may just be the best tourist ride in the world.
Keith Blackmore

Letters

Catherine Neilan is right that news of 230 people being pushed to cross the world's busiest shipping lane in a single flimsy dinghy creates a 'thorny' issue for Andy Burnham ('The three thorny issues that could end the Burnham bounce', News, last week). It's unfortunate that in promising to be 'relentless' on crossings, our new prime minister is doubling down on the very policies that have made these journeys more dangerous.
As someone working on the ground in northern France, I've seen how years of policies promising to 'stop boats' or 'smash gangs' have made crossings more deadly. As the UK taxpayer pays millions to fund French police operations to slash boats and deploy tear gas against children, smugglers find new tactics to avoid being blocked. They push more exploited people seeking safety on to each boat and use more dangerous disembarkation points, forcing people to travel three times as far across the Channel. People have drowned or been crushed as police have injured and intimidated those attempting to cross.
Meanwhile, successive governments have introduced laws that have criminalised children rather than smuggling gangs, ratcheting up state-sponsored violence and creating a catch-22 for people on the move when neither staying in France nor attempting to cross the Channel is safe. None of this has prevented crossings: it has cost lives and traumatised survivors. If Burnham is serious about addressing irregular migration, he could undermine the smugglers' business model by creating regular routes. He has acknowledged this after prompting, but has not offered any further details other than the already announced ultra-limited community sponsorship route. Only 4% refugees were rosethed in the UK via the comparable UKRS scheme last year, the only remaining safe route for most people seeking safety.
If he cares about deaths in the Channel, he could start by properly recording them. He could acknowledge the evidence that so-called 'deterrents', such as the Rwanda plan or 'one-in, one-out' do not reduce crossing numbers. And he could reverse the closure of family reunion – a scheme used by 93% of women and children, who are now being pushed towards dangerous journeys.
Dangerously crowded boats and longer journeys are some of the visible ways that UK border policy and funding puts lives at risk. And not just according to NGOs. A French cross-party inquiry recently concluded that these policies fail as a deterrent, while costing lives. It also found that UK funding was at the root of many violent police operations, highlighting a lack of transparency around how the money is used. That would fit Burnham's promise to 'deal with the issue rather than play politics' by facilitating an evidence-led public debate about the actual impact of hostile border policies.
To really be 'relentless' on crossings, the PM must listen to the evidence set out in the 'blueprint' for fixing the asylum system sent to him by more than 200 refugee charities. He should find the political courage to deliver genuine safe and accessible routes – and stop playing politics with people's lives by continuing a failed approach of ever more border violence.
Lily MacTaggart UK/French border violence project lead at Humans for Rights Network and Project Play
I read your leader on the tragic death of Jason Arday with sympathy ('The Observer View: The hounding of Jason Arday', last week), and agree with its central argument about the responsibility journalists have towards the people they investigate.
As head of education at Goldsmiths, University of London, I took issue with the sweeping assertion that 'PhDs are often supervised and awarded by people with scant knowledge of the subject'.
This misunderstands the nature of a PhD. Its purpose is to find a gap in knowledge and investigate it. By the end of a successful doctorate, a student may well know more about their particular research question than their supervisors.
Supervisors do not need to know every detail of a niche subject. They need the expertise to challenge the researcher's methods and claims, and
to help them understand the wider traditions of thought and research in which their work sits.
Doctorates are demanding: they require people to live with uncertainty, to change their minds and sometimes to discover that the questions they began with were the wrong ones. They are transformative experiences that enrich universities and wider intellectual life.
Of course, poor supervision exists, but sweeping judgments about PhDs are no more helpful than sweeping judgments about individuals. We should be careful not to devalue forms of knowledge we do not fully understand.
Dr Francis Gilbert Head of education at Goldsmiths, University of London
We have consistently failed to face up to the fact that entry level jobs requiring minimal education or skills have been shrinking in number since
the 1960s. ('Andy Burnham's plans for technical education are laudable, but no quick fix', Forum, last week). More education – academic or vocational – will not solve this. What is needed is social engineering: the state deliberately creating jobs for those least able and most disaffected. To leave this group to fester on the fringes of society is a big mistake.
As a member of Gordon Brown's cabinet Andy Burnham will be familiar with the Future Jobs Fund – a paid job for every young person who is eligible, with taxpayers meeting the cost. It sounds expensive but in time much less expensive than a lifetime spent on benefits.
David Brazier Leicester
Parity between vocational and academic education can be achieved by expanding regulated professionalism. Take Germany, for example, where formal qualifications, licences and titles in the trades encourage people to qualify while protecting the public from shoddy work.
'Ingenieur' is a legally protected professional title, while anyone in the UK can use 'engineer'.
Neil Roskilly Foudmer, Cambs
I am a 16 and university applications suddenly don't feel that far away ('A-level boost offers brief respite for struggling universities', News, last week). Two dozen universities are at risk of insolvency within a year and Kent and Greenwich have merged.
What struck me is what it looks like from a student's side. Staff have unions, creditors have contracts, ministers make policy. They can renegotiate or walk away. A student has signed up to three years and cannot undo it halfway through.
Kent and Greenwich have written to students explaining the merger changes, which is decent of them. But being told is not the same as being asked. If mergers are to become the norm, students should have a say in them, not just a letter afterwards.
Emad Rehman Epsom
Thank you for drawing attention to a serious anomaly in the criminal justice system ('Teenage rape trial highlights trauma of giving evidence twice', News, last week). As researchers, in 2009 and 2019, we drew attention to witnesses who were required to give evidence again where magistrates' or youth court trials were appealed to the Crown Court. Children were caused extreme distress by this process. They had not been warned of this possibility.
The pre-trial recording of a vulnerable witness's cross-examination can be played at a Crown Court trial. This measure needs to be rolled out urgently. Also, giving evidence twice enables defence lawyers to exploit any perceived inconsistencies between the two testimonies, as well as causing added stress.
Dame Joyce Plotnikoff and Dr Richard Woolfson Hertfordshire
Will Hutton rightly identifies the erosion of the UK's public markets as a threat to our economic future ('A feeding frenzy by private firms is in danger of rendering public companies extinct', Forum, last week). Growth companies are being systematically undervalued, leaving them vulnerable to foreign buyers and draining vital national assets.
Taking companies into opaque private hands offers no salvation. British savers are being deprived of wealth generated by innovative businesses, while towns across the UK lose corporate headquarters that anchor local employment. We need to incentivise pension investment in UK equities, alleviate stamp duty on share transactions and modernise regulation to favour growth over compliance.
Public markets are a public good. Private companies have their place, but cannot replicate the innovation, transparency and wealth distribution intrinsic to public listings. A dynamic growth economy begins with investing in our own.
Sangita Shah Chair of Quoted Companies Alliance London EC1A

● Lewes is not in Kent, as we stated in the caption to a photograph of a train derailment ('We didn't have the resources to deal with tinderbox Britain', 16 August, page 5). It is the county town of East Sussex.
● We said in our 'Long stories short' round-up last weekend that Harry Potter fans had blocked a £430m UK-Ireland power cable after claiming it would disturb the fictional grave of the character Dobby. We have been informed that the campaign by fans was just one factor involved in the decision to reroute the cable.
Melanie Reid's exasperation at the romantic, bucolic tone of nature writing was amusing ('Nothing makes me quite as wild as lyrical nature writing', Forum, last week). But hey, let's not be too hard on the more romantic types. Britain is becoming more urban. If that kind of writing helps city dwellers reconnect with nature and reflect on how fast we're losing it, surely that's a big plus.
Peter Perry Cornwall
'The tiger queen, the mauling and a German town on edge' (Magazine, last week) reminded me of when I was working as an environmental health officer in the 1990s. I visited a circus, which had 16 Bengal tigers performing at Emerald Park in Gorleston-on-Sea, Norfolk. I asked the operators what happened if one of the tigers escaped: 'We throw meat under one of the lorries. The tiger usually goes after it, then we can trap it.' I was pleased to hear that this usually worked!
Dr Michael Howard Norwich
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– even when talking about robots Naomi Alderman

There are two questions about using AI to make art, and it is important not to conflate them. The first is whether a computer programme can make art. The second, a rather simpler one, is whether lying is wrong. A lot of people have indeed been using AI to make art. And a lot of them have been lying about it. Now they're being found out.
Substack recently introduced a built-in text scanner powered by Pangram, an AI-detection software company. This seems an excellent move, especially as it led to a wave of amusing hand-wringing AI-written essays saying people shouldn't be penalised for using AI to write. Spotify is now going to identify which pieces of music were made by AI, and has said that last year it removed 75m spam uploads. LinkedIn has a button to report AI slop; YouTube deleted 130,000 'slop' channels in the past six months. The large language model Claude is introducing a watermark to show whether AI was used to build the sentences you're reading.
If everyone were only interested in the first question, concerning what we might call the 'philosophy of art', everyone would have been honest about how they made their work and no one would have deceived any reader or viewer. But as those hand-wringing essays on Substack make clear, it does make a difference whether 'art' is created by a human or by a machine.
So, can a computer make art? This provokes a deeper question about whether the meaning of it comes from the creator or the reader, listener or viewer who takes it in, chews over it, makes it their own.
The writer Jason Pargin has pointed out: 'If a film, TV show, novel or video game asks, 'should robots be treated as living human beings?' the answer will be a resounding 'yes' roughly 100% of the time.' Every story told about whether robots are conscious tends to end up with the strong view that yes, they are, and if you think they're not, that makes you evil. See, to name just a few: Blade Runner, Star Trek: The Next Generation's commander Data, Kazuo Ishiguro's novel Klara and the Sun – the film adaptation comes out later this year.

Klara, the solar-powered Artificial Friend (AF) designed to prevent loneliness, in Kazuo Ishiguro's novel – and new film, Sony
Of course, that's because those stories were never really about robots; they were always about other humans. In the US they were mostly fables about slavery, which points to the last time the country legislated that some human beings were not entitled to the rights of other human beings. Or if they weren't about slavery, they were about misogyny, or racism or sizeism or ableism. The stories were there to tell us that if something behaves as a human, we must treat it as human.
But now we do have computer programmes that can write text, make visual images, and put musical notes one after another. Are those strings of tokens art?
Not only can I tell you when something is AI-written, I can tell what model wrote it
Certainly, if you're on Substack as a writer, you will have the depressing experience of reading an anodyne AI-written article with about 45,000 comments from people saying that this piece moved them as nothing has before ('amazing writing'... 'wow, you are quite the writer'). I've worked in words and in tech for 25 years. Not only can I tell when something is AI-written, I can often tell you what model was used to write it. This sort of thing makes me want to snap my fountain pen in fury.
But this raises the second question. Which is: if AI can produce wonderful art and everybody feels happy about this, why do so many people lie about how their work was made? Surely it is because although art made by robots is interesting, what we actually go to art for is to slip inside the mind of another human, to share the experience of being alive, here, in this world.
There seems to be a view taken by large technology companies that human minds are senseless holes into which more and more meaningless content can be poured. We gulp it down greedily, whatever it is. This is also the view that some of the more execrable offerings of superhero movies in the earlier part of this decade seem to take. Humans, what are they good for? Only eating popcorn while we fill their brains with something that looks a bit like art but is actually indistinguishable yellow goo.
But people wouldn't just go to any movie that had a superhero in it. It has to have good writing, a charming cast. It has to come from an individual human's unique view of the world. The Spider-Man films are so much better than most other recent superhero movies largely because 'your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man' is precisely located as a love letter to New York City sent from unglamorous Queens.
On Substack, someone with a much larger subscriber base than me recently published a post that bore a striking resemblance to one of mine on making a couch to SK for reading – as if you'd told AI to come up with something similar. Pangram told me their version was 100% AI-generated. This person's comments had been filled with people telling them what a wonderful writer they were. But after the AI-check button was introduced, suddenly the comments were rather more disappointed.
Perhaps a computer can put words together in interesting ways. But the connection with other humans that art offers is unique and irreplaceable. What the AI checks show is that many people do care about whether they're connecting with a human or a machine. And most of us don't like being lied to.
artists of all of us Jack Riley

Like many of their users, video platforms have become overwhelmed with AI-generated content and are now waging a campaign that aims to restore human-made work to its digital pre-eminence. In a move the creative industries recognise all too well, these tech companies are again wading into philosophical questions they are too commercially compromised and monocultural to answer responsibly.
Slop – a genre that is so expansive it now has its own subcategories, such as podshop and bookshop – is actually on a spectrum of artistic value its censors will find hard to parse. Dig around and soon you will find real creativity bobbing among the images of the Pope in a padded coat (pictured below) and Donald Trump in Second World War military dress.
Take Josh Wallace Kerrigan, whose work Wired's Christopher Beam called 'the first great cinematic universe of the AI era', and 'among the first pieces of AI film-making that truly does not suck'. His short sci-fi films – unmistakably generated by AI but alive with charm and wit – are alight on social media.
His peer Jack London frames this shift as freeing the science fiction blockbuster from the bland strictures of mass market sensibilities. His heavily AI-assisted output, while Hollywood-scale in its world-building, would be 'too weird to get the green light' from traditional studio gatekeepers.
Film-makers inspired by Kerrigan and London are now being demonetised and banned for 'inauthentic content' on social media in spite of the care that's gone into their craft. Censoring these disruptors in the name of a 'war on slop' deprives young artists – doing what their
forebears have always done and using whatever cheap, accessible tools they can lay their hands on – from making a name for themselves.
But AI software's newfound accessibility is having an even more radical effect that we should celebrate. By removing the barriers to making art, without the need for formal training or expensive equipment, big tech is unlocking a wave of everyday creativity that could make artistic expression a normal human behaviour rather than the preserve of a cultural overclass. A modern-day Virginia Woolf might write about 'a prompt of one's own'.
There are deep concerns for this new generation of artists to grapple with. AI models have been trained on the mass theft of copyrighted material, in a way that deprives its creators of their fair share of the resulting bounty. The jury is still out on the environmental impact of using AI in creative work, though it's hard to believe that this is comparable to the carbon footprint of globe-trotting film crews or the impending data centre needs of big businesses.
If successful, could the AI tools behind the current wave of slop also enable a new cottage industry era of broader-based cultural production? With the financial and social barriers on creativity lifted, these more accessible art forms could decentralise the creative economy, upend gatekeepers and expand cultural activity in a way that will let almost anyone release their inner artist.
Will it matter that much of the output won't be very good by formal standards? Will the original sin of the copyright theft on which these AI models were built still feel as relevant in a few years when not just arts graduates but bus drivers and canteen workers are moonlighting as poets and film-makers?
George Bernard Shaw wrote: 'All professions are a conspiracy against the laity.' Sadly, that's as true of some of our celebrated creative elite as it is of bankers and lawyers. With the opportunity to broaden culture and creativity, sidestepping the artistic world's traditional power structures, it's no wonder cultural elites are uncomfortable. For the rest of us, however flawed its arrival, generative AI is a chance to seize the means of creative production.

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It's a rubbish job, innit? Last week the prime minister held his nose and headed for illegal dumps, planning to reform how waste crimes are tackled. Officers on the front line will be able to seize criminals' cash, cars and houses, with fines for waste offences set to rise from £300 to £5,000.
Just a few heaps of muck from a 7,500-tonne mountain of rotting rubbish that had locals gagging in recent heatwaves, unable to open windows from the stench. Up until now, with the maximum sentence for unauthorised dumping being five years, this illegal activity has been seen as 'low-risk, high-reward' by organised crime gangs.
The Rt Hon Dame Angela Eagle is the secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs – the tenth in a decade,

so let's wish her luck. 'If you fly-tip it, you should be the one cleaning it up and paying for it. It's as simple as
that,' she said of the government's bid to streamline prosecutions for illegal waste dumping.
Huge sums of income are garnered by illegal waste dumps – a figure close to £36m over the past
two years. There are now at least 700 dump sites across the UK, according to the Environment
Agency – the largest is in Cheshire holding around 280,000 tonnes of contaminated soil.
Behind the trees is Mbanq Valley Parade stadium, home to League One football team Bradford City AFC – where a fire in 1985 killed 56 supporters and injured at least 265. The inquiry led to the introduction of new safety legislation for sports grounds across England.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham is looking, frankly, a bit down in a mouth. We note he's ditched the suit for the security-blanket comfort of his trusty black T-shirt, but we can hardly blame him.
Listen to the podcast: Wasteland: The Rubbish Gangs
Cleaning up completely means looking beyond combustion engines, writes James Tupper
The stories of London's Great Smog of 1952 always sounded a bit overblown to me – yellow air you could taste, feeling your way home by tracing a wall, 4,000 dead. Then I moved to Delhi.
In November 2012, the temperature dropped by five degrees after the Diwali celebrations. The city was covered in smog from fireworks, from farmers burning their stubble and from the engines of millions of cars and auto-rickshaws. I went for a run one morning. The haze so thick I could only see an arm's length ahead. I did a lap, then had a coughing fit. In London, three months later,
the idea of creating an ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) was floated by another occasional jogger, the then mayor, Boris Johnson. It arrived in central London in 2019, then expanded to cover every London borough in 2023. You may remember the shouting.
Occasionally, I wonder what Delhi's air did to my lungs, but we have growing evidence about what Ulez has done. Last week, researchers at Queen Mary University of London's Wolfson Institute published a study comparing the lungs of primary school children in London with those in Luton. They measured how the lungs of these 3,400 children developed over five years, starting when they were six to nine years old. The London kids had smaller lungs to start with; by the end, they had caught up completely. Nitrogen dioxide, or NO2, a pollutant
that mostly comes from vehicles, had fallen faster in London than in Luton.
There are dozens of similar papers showing that children in California had better lungs thanks to better air quality, and that pollution is a risk factor for dementia and heart disease. Inflammation from sooty particles – PM2.5 and PM10 – is probably an activator for cancers too.
But Ulez in 2023 seemed more politically toxic than the pollutants. The Tories pumped out scare ads attacking Sadiq Khan, and Keir Starmer told London's mayor to 'reflect' on his decision to expand the zone after Labour lost the Uxbridge byelection. Andy Burnham struck a blow for working people
Politicians were spooked by anti-Ulez protesters and their vigilante fringe
by making them breathe dirty air when he scrapped a clean air zone in Greater Manchester.
No doubt the politicians were spooked by the anti-Ulez protesters and their vigilante fringe – the 'Blade Runners', who destroyed camera posts with angle-grinders or worse. Transport for London has stopped documenting attacks on cameras. The last Conservative attack ad ran over two years ago.
It would be easy for supporters to feel opposition is dissipating, but there were reasonable objections to how Ulez was introduced. Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, whose daughter Ella is still the only person coroners have been brave enough to list as dying as a result of air pollution, has been consistent in criticising ministers for not helping more people through subsidies to scrap their older polluting cars and vans.
Diesel vehicles registered to London firms hit a record high in 2025, according to the Clean Cities Campaign. They want a zero emission zone for freight, banning non-electric vans from the capital. Safer streets, more buses and cheaper fares are part of the picture.
It's also time to look beyond combustion engines. Particles from tyres and brakes pollute the air. Wood-burning stoves in people's homes cause about 20% of PM2.5 emissions nationally. And Essex and Kent farmers may not burn stubble like their counterparts in Punjab, but the ammonia-based pesticides they use can drift just as far.
The Clean Air Act arrived in 1956, four years after the Great Smog. Seventy years on, Adoo-Kissi-Debrah's campaign for Ella's Law, making clean air a human right, seems like its time has come.
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Celebrated stage and screen actor whose love of family shone through a talent for comic writing
Something old, something new, something borrowed... As Phyllida Law ticked off the charms required by a bride on her wedding day, she realised that she covered the fourth item herself. "I'd been blue for weeks," she wrote in a memoir of her early career in acting.

Her wedding came just before a matinee of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Bristol Old Vic, to suit Law's mother who wanted to save making two trips from Scotland by seeing her daughter play Titania and get married. All the fairies were caked in blue make-up apart from Eric Thompson, who played Puck as well as the groom.
The cast for that 1957 production included Peter O'Toole and John Woodvine as the love rivals Lysander and Demetrius, and Colin Jeavons as Oberon. Although Law was seldom a leading lady in a career that ran deep into her 80s, she shared a stage with many greats. She toured the west country with Joan Plowright and South America with Ralph Richardson, was in A Voyage Round My Father with Alec Guinness, Murder at the Cathedral with Robert Donat and, in 1990, was a double act at Chichester with Penelope Keith in The Merry Wires of Windsor.
Her 2017 memoir, called Dead Now Of Course, showed a talent for anecdote, such as the one about a colleague who almost missed his cue during a cigarette break and set his trousers on fire, or the theatre in Sidmouth with no space backstage,
Actor and writer Phyllida Law in 2013. Colin McPherson/Corbis/Getty
so actors had to exit stage left and race round the outside of the building to enter stage right. "If it rained, the effect was very comic," Law wrote.
She enjoyed a late blossoming on screen, helped by the success of her daughters, Emma and Sophie Thompson. In 1997 she played Emma's mother in the film The
Winter Guest, directed by Alan Rickman, having earlier played the same role with another actor in the stage version, and was Sophie's mother in the 1996 film of Jane Austen's Emma. She was also a stern housekeeper in Peter's Friends (1992), which featured Emma and many of her Cambridge Footlights contemporaries, and again
appeared with her elder daughter in Much Ado About Nothing (1993), which also provided a reunion with Richard Briers with whom she had been in Alan Ayckbourn's Absent Friends in 1975.
Phyllida Ann Law was born in Glasgow in 1932. Her father, a journalist, left her mother when war began and she didn't see him again until she was 16. Evacuated from the city, she showed an early interest in theatre by creating plays with her host's daughter.
Having attended boarding school in Bristol, she joined the city's Old Vic drama school in 1949, against the wishes of her grandmother who said that theatre was the "gateway to hell". She went there to learn set and costume design but fell into acting by "happy mistake". Law later claimed it was because she was "quite boring" when being herself.
She first met Thompson, whom she called Tom, when they had non- speaking parts in Romeo and Juliet at London's Old Vic, but romance grew back at its Bristol namesake. His thick dark hair held an appeal, if only so that she could take strands to use as false eyelashes, but she told him he was drunk when he proposed to her at a Christmas party and had to beg a second chance.
They moved to a flat in London where they had to fill the bath with a hosepipe from the kitchen tap and struggled to make a living while raising two children. Emma, whom
Phyllida described as "an elegant, independent baby with a gift for getting out of her cot", was born in 1959. Sophie, three years younger, had her father's huge black eyes and such a "deep, drunken giggle" that Phyllida would bribe Emma to make her sister laugh.
In the mid-1960s, Eric's mother, Annie, who had wept when she heard her son was to marry an actor, moved in to help with childcare. She lived with them for 17 years, dying just before her son's premature death from a heart attack at 53. Annie became increasingly deaf, and rather than shouting Phyllida would write her notes about the day's gossip. She collated these in a book with her own illustrations in 2009.
She wrote another book, called How Many Camels Are There in Holland?, about caring for her own mother, Mego, as she struggled with dementia. Like the earlier book, it showed a talent for comic writing, tinged with poignancy and deep love.
Family meant the world to her. For a long time she lived in a home filled with theatrical ephemera on the same Hampstead street as her daughters. In a foreword to her mother's first book, Emma wrote that the best part of the day always came around 6pm, when one of them phoned their mother to say "the bar's open". Before a glass had been poured, Phyllida would be at the door, usually saying: "I've been looking forward to that all day."
Patrick Kidd
Phyllida Law, actor, born 6 July 1932, died 27 July 2026, aged 94

How I love the British heat and the ever- blasting British sun. And how the humans of that island love us back, for they go out of their way to make life better for us: hotter every year and everywhere delicious buddleia to drink. Even their winters are becoming balmy.
I am not as other moths. I love the daylight and the warmth. When I drink, I don't perch and grovel. I stay in the air, still as if painted, but with whirling wings, 80 beats a second. From there I lap – a tongue almost as long as my body – and if any hungry creature should eye me up, I'm off faster than a perching butterfly could even dream of.
I love a good garden. Earlier in the year, I visited one with a long hedge of lavender: the greatest pub in the world. I overheard a human: "I didn't know we got hummingbirds in England." Well, you don't. It just so happens that hummingbirds and us lot have both come up with the finest possible way of living the nectary life. Different creatures; same brilliant idea. It's called a convergence, since you asked.
We British hummers used to be an exoticism. Just a few of us every year, causing great excitement wherever we showed up. But this year, we've come over in huge numbers, riding the helpful winds and revelling in the lovely heat. Few animals are
better at heat than us: I'm happy operating at a body temperature of 45C. Hot-blooded, that's me.
I love the long dusk you get so far north: an endless happy hour when I can drink and drink again. Plenty of moths never bother with drinking. They emerge from their cocoon, have sex, lay eggs and die, all in a week or so. Fair enough if that's what you want, but we take a long-term view and – fuelled with the incomparable energy of nectar – we can afford to wait until the moment is right.
When I drink, I don't perch and grovel. I stay in the air, still as if painted
I can do straight and level flight with skill and speed, but it's when you get to the hover and its attendant manoeuvres that we're at our best. It's all about awareness, the powerful flow of information from my antennae to my brain and from my brain to the muscles that power my wings.
Those eggs I laid in that clump of lady's bedstraw, they'll be caterpillars now, living for food and the future. And I have a strange precision of that future. Sure, a fine brood of hummers is what we all want, but I don't want my lot to die when they're caught cold. I believe that one or two of them, as young
adults, will find a sweet crevice, a nice outhouse, a cosy niche, and lie up until the brief cold has passed... emerging in spring, ready to hum, ready to drink, ready to make more hummers. Because we're no longer exotic. We're residents now.
Lifespan Seven months for an adult who hibernates
Eating habits Do you mind? I have drinking habits
Hobbies Balancing weight and lift Sexual preferences A flighty gentleman
As told to Simon Barnes
Forum
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
35
Driven by his son's death, the former IDF chief is aiming to unseat Netanyahu, Isabel Coles writes
Gadi Eisenkot, a four-star Israeli general, was inspecting troops on a base near the border with Gaza when another general approached him with an ashen face. Before he could break the news, Eisenkot instinctively knew: something had happened to his son.
Only two months earlier – on 7 October 2023 – Eisenkot had driven his son Gal to report for reserve duty, watching with mingled pride and concern as the 25-year-old disappeared into a crowd of young Israelis preparing to defend their country after the deadly attacks by Hamas. Now, he learned that Gal had been killed by an explosive device on a mission to retrieve the remains of Israeli hostages in Gaza.
"At Gal's grave, I vowed that the price he and his friends paid... would not be in vain," Eisenkot wrote this year. "Since then, with each passing day, I have felt an increasing obligation to fulfil that calling."
Two months ago, Eisenkot announced that he would run for prime minister in the first election since the Hamas attacks on 7 October – and arguably the most consequential since the founding of the state of Israel. His son had always opposed him going into politics, Eisenkot said, but that, too, had changed after 7 October.
With just two months to go before elections on 27 October, Eisenkot has emerged as a frontrunner in the race to deny Netanyahu a seventh term in office. A poll last week gave his Yashar party a one-seat lead over Netanyahu's Likud, which Eisenkot has dubbed the "October 7 list".
"It's very hard for his rivals to say he will sell the country, [or] he will serve our enemies, or he's a leftist," said Yoav Limor, a defence analyst for Israel Hayom and host of the morning show Keshet on Channel 12. He has known Eisenkot for three decades. "He paid the ultimate price: what can you say to him?"
Born in 1960 to parents of Moroccan origin, Eisenkot belongs to the very class of Mizrahi Jews of
which Benjamin Netanyahu has positioned himself as a champion, against the Ashkenazi from Europe.
Raised far from the corridors of power in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, he served in the Golani Brigade, rising through the ranks to the highest echelons of the Israeli military. "The people of Israel trust you, the government of Israel trusts you, and Gadi, I trust you," Netanyahu said as he appointed Eisenkot chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in 2015.
An incident the following year threw their differences into relief. When an Israeli soldier fatally shot a Palestinian in the head as he lay wounded on the ground in Hebron, Netanyahu defended him. But Eisenkot insisted that 18-year-old Elor Azaria face a court-martial for violating the rules of engagement, despite facing threats from Israelis on the right. After retiring from the military
in 2019, Eisenkot went into politics and ran in the 2022 elections with another former IDF chief of staff as part of the National Unity party. Netanyahu came out on top, but National Unity said it refused to join a government "dependent on extremist elements".
It was a sense of duty that drove Eisenkot to join Netanyahu's war cabinet in Israel's greatest moment of crisis after the 7 October attacks.
"He understood that the people sitting in the cabinet at that time were mainly right-wingers with very, very little experience dealing with defence issues," said one Israeli commentator. "He thought it would be irresponsible to leave them and Netanyahu to handle that."
Within the war cabinet, Eisenkot pushed to prioritise the recovery of Israeli hostages in Gaza above all else – and quit in June 2025, after the government rejected a ceasefire deal that would have brought some of them back.
"He would have stayed, but he really felt that at a certain point he was being used," said David Makovsky, a senior fellow at the

Gadi Eisenkot Born 1960 Alma mater Tel Aviv University and the University of Haifa Work Politician, retired IDF chief Family Married to Hannah, five children
Illustration by Andy Bunday
Washington Institute thinktank, where he met Eisenkot.
After leaving National Unity, Eisenkot founded his own party, Yashar – meaning "straight", "upright" or "honest" in Hebrew.
"I do not grieve only my personal and family loss," said Eisenkot, who also lost two nephews in Gaza. "I grieve the shared national sense that something deep and fundamental has cracked in the covenant between the people and its leaders."
Where Netanyahu dresses finely,
Eisenkot doesn't like to be on stage. And while Netanyahu is dividing the people, Eisenkot's campaign is about unifying Israelis.
"Eisenkot is the anti-populist," said Gideon Rahat, a lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. "He is the opposite of Netanyahu".
Struggling to land attacks on him, Netanyahu's allies have resorted to mocking Eisenkot's English. A 51-second video posted by the prime minister's strategic adviser featured clips of Netanyahu, who attended high school in the US, addressing the UN and Congress, spliced with footage of Eisenkot speaking English with a thick Israeli accent.
"I've never boasted about having perfect English, but... I get by, and I've managed in many a meeting," Eisenkot responded in a podcast. "Where was Netanyahu's excellent English on 7 October? Did it help us with anything? It didn't help us at all."
Eisenkot has vowed to end the exemption of ultra-Orthodox Jews from the draft, which has angered many Israelis. He would be unlikely to form a pact with the messianic forces that Netanyahu brought into the heart of the establishment. To keep their support, Netanyahu has stretched the Israeli military to its limits in an ever-expanding war, vowing to reshape the Middle East.
Eisenkot "knows the army doesn't have the luxury to engage in ideological agendas", said Makovsky. "They have to see the region as it is and navigate it incrementally to a better place."
On Gaza and the wider Palestinian question, Eisenkot would also take a more pragmatic approach, say Israelis familiar with his thinking. But he is no dove. He has expressed support for Israeli settlements in the West Bank, considered illegal under international law.
He does not support Palestinian statehood. And he was at Netanyahu's side when Israel embarked on a campaign that has now killed more than 76,000 Palestinians in what a UN panel of inquiry says is a genocide.
"Anyone who thinks this is going to be a light switch – as if 7 October didn't happen – doesn't understand the trauma that Israel went through as a society and that the security establishment went through itself," Makovsky said.
Two weeks after the death of his son, Eisenkot received Gal's belongings in the blue crates issued by the Israeli military. In an interview this year, Eisenkot said he still couldn't face opening them.
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37
'Tax banks more and the consequences will be felt in mortgages going up and pension fund contributions going down'
→ Angela Knight, page 39

UK retailers are increasingly using facial recognition tech to counter the 5.5m incidents of shoplifting last year. Bloomberg/Getty
Matthew Bishop
The price of gold and cryptocurrencies soared this week, after being in the doldrums until a month ago. The rallies have been widely attributed to investors buying 'safe haven' assets on rising concern about the US Treasury market, as government debt exceeded $40m for the first time (more than doubling in a decade). Inflation remains stubbornly high.
Other forces complicate the story, especially in crypto. Supportive new US regulations were proposed this week amid signs that Donald Trump may begin a fresh cheerleading effort for assets from which the first family has already made a fortune since his return to the White House.
The gold price on Friday stood at just over $4,600 an ounce, up by 5% from a week earlier. Bitcoin rose by nearly a quarter to more than $78,500, mostly since Tuesday when it was worth a little over $64,000.
The price of gold, long a haven in risky times, is a bellwether for growing stress in key markets such as US Treasuries. Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, is concerned about the rise in yields on long-term government bonds, having intervened twice, first by supporting the yen (to reduce pressure on Tokyo to sell some of its huge US Treasury holdings) and then this week doubling the size of a programme to buy back its own long-term bonds (paying for this by borrowing more short-term debt, rarely a sign of strength).
Neither move has yet achieved Bessent's goal of improving market sentiment. That said, the price of gold is still well below its all-time high in January of just over $5,600. Bitcoin too is nowhere near its record high of just over $126,000, which it reached late last year.
The rise in meme-coins such as Dogecoin strongly suggests other factors are driving the crypto rally. Last week, Paul Atkins, the Trump-appointed head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the main US markets regulator, proposed rules for selling crypto to the public. The White House is targeting mid-September for adoption of its crypto-friendly Clarity Act, which is stuck in Congress. Trump has reported earning more than $1bn from crypto-related activities in his first year back in the White House.
After AI scanning tech identified an innocent man as a thief, critics warn live facial recognition systems are fallible and open to abuse, reports Marine Saint
'Blindly following the machine's orders.' That's how Matt Arnold described Sainsbury's staff after they marched him out of a store last week when AI face-scanning technology wrongly identified him as a shoplifter.
Sainsbury's has apologised to Arnold, claiming the mistake was 'caused by human error', and suspending the live facial recognition (LFR) technology in its south London shop. But the supermarket has defended a wider rollout across 200 of its branches, and said that trials of the technology, produced by the company Facewatch, led to 'a 46% reduction in logged incidents of theft, harm, aggression and antisocial behaviour' and '92% of offenders not returning'.
The business case for LFR has been clearly made: last year there were 5.5m incidents of shoplifting, costing the industry about £400m, according to the British Retail Consortium. The industry has poured more than £5bn
in the past five years into security measures including CCTV, staff, reporting systems and tagging.
To date, the main buyers of LFR have been public institutions, with government and law enforcement still accounting for 45% of spend on the tech globally, according to Mordor Intelligence. But surveillance tools are increasingly finding their way into spaces owned by private companies. Retail is among the fastest-growing buyers, scheduled to expand at almost 18% a year to 2031.
Greggs has installed solar-powered stationary 'robocops' in London stores. They contain chest-level CCTV cameras, 120-decilsel sirens and flashing lights. Co-op has fitted GPS trackers into the packaging of some its meat products. Tesco has installed cameras above self-checkouts that use AI to detect unscanned items. 'VAR decision: tuna disallowed,' was the response of one social media user.
Facewatch is the UK's biggest provider of the technology. Its retail clients include B&M, Home Bargains and Sports Direct. The company issues on average 1,415 alerts a day of 'known offenders', according to 2025 data, up from 693 a day in 2024. This autumn, Facewatch will
launch the UK's first real-time police alert system for identified offenders, with the current response time nine seconds on average.
Facial recognition 'is likely to be a permanent fixture in coming years' in commercial and public services, said Prof William Webster, the biometrics commissioner for England and Wales. He expects the police reform bill will incorporate an LFR framework, offering 'a once in a generation opportunity to create meaningful oversight and to get this regulation right'.
Retail analyst Jonathan De Mello said adoption 'will depend on whether retailers can demonstrate that [it] delivers measurable reductions in crime while operating within clear legal and ethical boundaries'.
Flock, a leading provider of surveillance cameras in the US, faced a backlash last week after its chief
'Facial recognition tech is likely to be a permanent fixture in coming years' Prof William Webster
executive admitted police officers have used its technology for purposes unrelated to law enforcement, including tracking their romantic partners. More than 120,000 of Flock's AI-enabled numberplate scanners are deployed across 49 states.
Critics say the technology is not only invasive but unreliable. Analysis by a California police department found 71% of alerts Flock sent had misread numberplates. A group called DeFlock has compiled a map showing camera locations across the US. It accuses the firm of exploiting a 'loophole' to surveil people without a lawful warrant.
The tech's swift take-up by UK police and retailers has drawn Orwellian comparisons from civil liberties groups. Big Brother Watch lost its high court challenge in April to limit LFR use by the Metropolitan police. The Home Office has since agreed a national rollout of LFR vans.
Policing minister Sarah Jones welcomed the ruling, saying: 'There can be no true liberty when people live in fear of crime.' Facial recognition tech would be deployed with 'record investment', she added.
Additional reporting by Evan Moffitt
38
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
Shares in Uniree Robotics, the Chinese manufacturer of dextrous humanoid robots, surged upon their trading debut last week. The initial tranche of shares available for retail investors was more than 5,500 times oversubscribed, and the subsequent clamour sent the stock soaring by more than 600% after the launch. Morgan Stanley estimates that the global market for humanoid robots could be worth $5m by 2050. Wang Xingxing, founder of the Hangzhou-based firm, told a conference last week that humanoid robots will reach mass-market popularity within a decade, as AI-enhanced training enables them to perform useful tasks outside test conditions.
Spire Healthcare, the FTSE 250 private hospital operator, has again extended the deadline for Toscafund Asset Management to decide whether or not to make a formal takeover offer. In May, the investment fund made a non-binding proposal of 250p per share, which would value Spire at about $1bn. Since then, the share price of Spire has increased by almost 60%. The latest extension was requested to allow Toscafund to finalise its financing arrangements after completing due diligence. Spire operates 38 hospitals and more than 60 clinics across Britain.
One of Asia's richest men has been sentenced to life in prison. Hui Ka Yan, founder of Evergrande, pleaded guilty in April to charges including embezzlement and bribery. In the 2010s, Evergrande became one of China's largest property developers but was unable to pay the interest on its debt load. It collapsed in 2021, bringing much of the Chinese housing market down with it. The court also ordered that Hui's assets be confiscated, and sentenced other Evergrande executives, including two of Hui's sons, to jail terms. That may be slim consolation for the tens of millions of people who lost their savings in the property slump. China's economy is still struggling to deal with the fallout.
● Henry de Zoete has been named director of the UK government's
Thames Water said its hosepipe ban could last until the end of the year
Apple paid $17bn in back taxes to Ireland
Airbus backs down on remote working
US imposes 50% tariffs on some Canadian goods
Cancer vaccine breakthrough triggers Moderna stock rally
Harvey Nichols bought by owner of Sports Direct
AI Security Institute. The tech company founder, angel investor and former AI adviser to the prime minister takes up the role at a pivotal moment in the global race towards advanced artificial intelligence. He replaces interim director Adam Beaumont, who returns to his previous GCHQ post. The institute has won international acclaim for its independent, pre-release evaluations of the capabilities of frontier AI models. Recent evaluations uncovered security incidents in which Anthropic and OpenAI models took autonomous, unsanctioned and deceptive actions "directed at real people and organisations".
Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), one of the world's most successful venture capital firms, is reportedly being investigated by the US Department of Justice for having its partners sit on the boards of rival companies. Databricks, which just wrapped a $5bn funding round, and Fivetran, which recently merged with Dbt Labs, are both in the business of helping companies collect, analyse and triage large amounts of data. Ben Horowitz, a16z co-founder, sits on the board of Databricks, while partner Martin Casado is a board member of Fivetran. The probe is a surprising development, partly given the firm's alignment with the
Trump administration, but also because VC firms don't usually meet the bar for investigation. Sources close to the company told TechCrunch it wasn't surprising that some of the hundreds of companies backed by a16z might end up in competition. Previous probes of this kind have usually resulted in at least one board seat being surrendered.
Nik Storonsky, chief executive of Revolut, could be allowed to borrow up to $250m against his stake in the fintech giant, up from $50m under current arrangements. Revolut wrote to investors last week seeking approval for a rule change that would allow employees owning more than 20% of the firm's ordinary shares – a group that contains only Storonsky, its co-founder – can use up to 10% of their holdings as collateral for borrowing. The changes, internally codenamed Project Shasta, would allow the Russian-born entrepreneur to unlock a larger portion of his soaring wealth, which is largely tied up in holdings in Revolut.
Vocal billionaire Ray Dalio has advised investors to move their cash from bonds to gold to hedge against the risk of a US debt crisis. This is far from the first time that Dalio, who founded Bridgewater Associates, has warned of the dangers of mounting government debt. His latest warning comes on the back of a global bond sell-off and unsuccessful efforts from US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent to calm market nerves. Gold is on track for its best month since 1999, and Bitcoin was up more than 20% last week alone. In a post on LinkedIn, Dalio argued the US government's financial condition is at an "infection point", and that the budget deficit needs to be halved to about 3% of GDP. He also noted that the UK, EU, China and Japan have similar debt and deficit problems. Holding 10-15% of one's portfolio in gold, he said, was a way to reduce the risk and raise its return.
Ben Horowitz, co-founder of a16z, which is being investigated by the US Department of Justice. Bloomberg/Getty
The number of barrels of oil that Chris Wright, the US energy secretary, suggests is getting through the Strait of Hormuz every day. The reality, analysts suggest, is likely to be much lower. But Hormuz is not the only problem. Saudi exports are down too, partly because of the threat from the Houthis, and Russian exports have been hit by Ukrainian drone attacks on its refineries.
The cost of turning a barrel of crude into a barrel of diesel – a record high. The oil market has appeared unruffled in recent months but the margin on diesel tells a different story. Diesel is critical to industry and agriculture, and the "crack spread" is a flashing red signal of economic pain ahead.
The number of barrels in the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve – the lowest level in more than four decades. When the Strait of Hormuz is open again, expect the US to replenish its reserve. Other countries will also be thinking about stockpiling. The price of oil may stay higher for longer.
The number of barrels of oil a day that will be taken out of production because equipment shutdowns for planned maintenance in the Canadian oil sands will constrain international supply next month, according to Rystad Energy. This will make building up oil stockpiles all the harder for the US.


Business
observer.co.uk
23.08.26
39
Barney Macintyre
Business news editor

Calls are growing for the new chancellor to raise taxes on profitable banks but leaders in the sector warn this could have a dire effect on mortgages and pensions
The battle lines are already being drawn ahead of John Healey’s first budget on 28 October. As ever, the question of whether to bash the bankers is shaping up to be a key fight.
To Healey’s left, the Green party called last week for a 38% windfall tax on bank profits. On the other side, the trade body UK Finance has been warning of a “hit to international competitiveness” and Wall Street titans such as JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon and Citi’s Jane Fraser are hinting at consequences if the sector is targeted by the Treasury.
The new chancellor takes the reins as rising borrowing costs gradually erode his buffer against the government’s fiscal rules. He’s also responsible for finding the cash to fund the various spending announcements made since his boss took office. Will he be able to weave his way through?
Bank profits might look like an appealing target for additional revenue. NatWest, Lloyds and the UK arms of Barclay and HSBC reported a combined £13bn in pre-tax profits for the first half of 2026. The net interest margin – the gap between what a bank charges

Banks based in London have warned John Healey, right, not to tax them more. AFP/Getty
‘I can see why politicians want to milk banks. But they are not cash cows, they are a great driver of the economy’ Angela Knight, ex-CEO BBA
people borrowing and what it pays people who are saving – increased in the case of one lender by 15 basis points year-on-year (essentially, banks were quicker to pass on rate cuts to savers than to borrowers).
Some argue that banks are also neglecting to take on risk with loans to small businesses, leaving private credit “shadow banks” to step in instead.
“At a time when the government’s capacity to intervene financially in the economy is genuinely constrained, the strength of the banking system ought to be a valuable offset to the state’s fiscal handcuffs – private balance-sheet capacity stepping in where public capacity cannot,” says John Flint, former chief executive of HSBC. “But that isn’t how it is working in practice. The pendulum has swung too far the other way, into risk aversion.”
Angela Knight, former chief executive of the British Banking Association (BBA) and before that a Conservative minister, agreed, but cautioned against raising taxes on the sector: “Our very risk-averse banks are profitable, there’s no two ways about that, and I can see why politicians say let’s milk them for more money. But they are not cash cows, they are a great driver of the British economy... Tax them more and the consequences will be felt right the way through from mortgages going up to contributions to pension funds going down.”
If the fiscal and political arithmetic is such that the government decides
that some kind of bank tax is necessary, the options include:
Any of these options would be met with howls of opposition from the banking sector, which would argue that households, businesses and economic growth would be the ones to ultimately suffer from additional levies. Some options would certainly be riskier than others. Any change to the plumbing of the monetary system – which is what a system of tiered reserves would entail – would need to be designed and communicated very carefully, and not rushed through in pursuit of a few extra billion.
Against a fractious global backdrop, Healey may decide to play it safe. One former
Treasury adviser suggested that the forthcoming budget would likely be a “muddle through”, consisting of “hoping the headroom isn’t eroded too much, finding single figure billions and living to fight another day”. Even so, if the profits continue to roll in, the calls for a bank tax will only grow louder.
Barney Macintyre
Business news editor
Shares in the FTSE 100-listed medical device maker Smith & Nephew slipped almost 4% last week, after its chief financial officer stood down to take a role at an American company offering a $2.8m sign-on bonus.
The departure of John Rogers underscores a challenge for a certain type of British company trying to stay in the running in a transatlantic pay race. Smith & Nephew’s chair, Rupert Soames, has called them “Brilos”: British in listing only. US
markets accounted for 53% of Smith & Nephew’s revenue in 2025. And the battle for talent is not just about executives – more than half of its board members live in the US.
A recent report co-authored by Cevlan, Europe’s largest activist investor which also happens to hold a 14.2% stake in Smith & Nephew, has argued that British non-executive directors (NEDs) are “overboarded” and underpaid compared with international rivals.
Nearly 50 NEDs at FTSE 100 companies hold four board seats, while eight have five or more,
according to the report. Meanwhile, real-term pay for NEDs has fallen 11% over the past decade, to a median base pay level of £80,000 before tax.
Median base pay for NEDs at Switzerland’s 20 largest companies is 90% higher than at the equivalent (but larger) companies in the UK. An analysis of NED pay showed rises last year in the US and Germany of 4.8% and 0.4%, respectively. The UK and France saw falls of 5.6% and 0.7%.
Fretting over the decline of the London market tends to focus on the valuation gap with the US, the regulatory burden of floating a company, opportunistic foreign raiders or the lack of capital willing to invest. But Cevlan argues that the blame should be laid more squarely on company performance, and, more specifically, the strategic drivers of that performance: boards.
“There have been lots of attempts to help the UK market, such as changing listing rules to make it easier and permitting double voting shares. All of those things are worthwhile but don’t address the root problem: the performance of UK companies hasn’t been good enough,” says Harlan Zimmerman, senior partner at Cevlan.
While cash pay for British NEDs is in line with their counterparts on boards on the S&P 500, US companies usually complement that with substantial equity awards, meaning their total pay is nearly triple, around £229,000.
Harlan Zimmerman:
‘The performance of UK companies hasn’t been good enough’
NEDs often have other streams of income and most companies pay them additional fees for committee roles in audit, remuneration or sustainability (around £10,000) or as a senior independent director (between £5,000 and £200,000).
This year investors have been willing to vote for much bigger pay rise proposals for C-suite executives than in previous years. But on NED pay, it looks as if shareholder advisers are trying to police it more tightly. ISS’s policy update lists “NED pay exceeding executive pay” as a red flag.
The chair of one FTSE company who is trialling share awards for NEDs, said: “You want to be able to link the remuneration of the people who are deciding on the strategy and tie that to the creation of long-term value in the company – because that’s what creates the security and jobs.”
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observer.co.uk 23.08.26
Business
Stephen Armstrong
In basketball, it is known as the defensive slide: a way to fend off attackers without collapsing completely. Nike, America's No 1 basketball shoemaker, is definitely on a slide – shares have been on a steady descent for five years, plummeting to a 12-year low last week.
Revenues have stagnated in America and fell 12% in China in the first quarter of 2026.
And it is on the defensive, with the famous swoosh assailed by new brands in a diverse market. Its share of the global sports-footwear market fell to 22.9% in 2025, the third consecutive annual decline. Adidas has recovered some ground but rivals such as Hoka and On Running have grown in Europe and the US, with global market shares of 8% and 3% respectively, up from 0.2% and 0.4% in 2019. In China, local brands, including Qiaodan as well as Anta and Li-Ning,
have become much harder to ignore.
The brand is still No 1 – the company's revenues for 2025 may have fallen but they were still $46bn (£35bn), far above the $28.07bn of the No 2 sportswear brand, Adidas. But a turnaround plan seems to be having little effect on the stock slump.
"As a short seller, even I am a little surprised at how low the share price has moved," says Vince Stanzione, CEO of First Information who started shorting the stock in 2023 and has a personal preference for On trainers.
The decline since 2021 is driven by Nike's mistakes as much as rivals' marketing, according to Richard Lim, CEO of Retail Economics.
Nike's previous boss, John Donahoe, remade the company as a direct-to-consumer brand in 2020, bypassing brick-and-mortar stores in favour of the Nike app and e-commerce. This shift to high-margin direct-to-consumer sales meant Nike was absent from shelves when in-person shopping restarted after Covid. By

A Nike fan shops for trainers at its factory in Austin, Texas. The company is now rebuilding ties with retailers. Brandon Bell/Getty Images
September 2021, less than two years into Donahoe's tenure, the company had eliminated more than half its retail partners.
"Nike held back stock from retailers and stopped selling completely in some of the smaller shops," Lim explains. "The big miscalculation was [not realising that] younger consumers discover and make choices in stores. Very few people just went direct to Nike. In turn, those stores reached out to other brands to fill their Nike-free shelves."
Donahoe also stopped organising the company into specialist sports departments, removing experienced teams who specialised in running, football, basketball and fitness. The
only division was men's and women's departments. Nike's playbook had always been to debut innovations with an elite athlete at a global event. Once the tech had been certified the shoes were marketed to the mass market. Losing sports specialist staff meant that process vanished.
Donahoe retired in 2024, replaced by Elliott Hill. A 62-year-old Nike lifer, Hill is returning the focus to sports and rebuilding relationships with retailers. In an interview in June, he admitted that the scale of Nike's problems, exacerbated by the hit to customer spending power from US tariffs and higher oil prices, meant the restructuring was taking longer than he hoped. "The diagnosis hasn't
changed," he said. "The prescription hasn't changed [but] I might have to take the dosage up a little bit."
Nike has wrestled with the Trump administration tariffs, and its support for Black Lives Matter NFL player Colin Kaepernick made it a target for the likes of Ted Cruz, who called Nike's marketing plan "America-hate".
While shareholders are impatient for growth, Nike is "getting back to a model that's more akin to the way that it used to do things", says Lim. "It's working hard on the style. It has been the exemplar of using influencers to grow the brand. It has plugged a hole in the losses, and the turnaround plan is showing early signs that it is beginning to gain traction."
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Lori Schott holds a photo of her daughter, Annalee, outside the Oakland Court, last Tuesday. The 16-year-old, allegedly died as a result of social media use. Gedefreda & Vasquez/ AFP Getty
Instagram and Facebook for children across the US and set the terms for other social media giants, such as TikTok, Snap and YouTube, which all face nearly identical claims.
The investigation behind the lawsuit was triggered by Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager. In 2021, Haugen leaked thousands of internal documents and testified to a Senate subcommittee, revealing that 32% of teenage girls said Instagram made them feel worse about their bodies; engagement-ranked feeds steered vulnerable users towards eating disorder content; and the company knew about some of these harms but, Haugen alleged, chose not to change its products.
Meta has repeatedly disputed that characterisation of its research.
Earlier attempts to sue social media companies have run into Section 230, the US law that protects internet platforms from being held liable for content posted by users. These new cases argue that platform design choices, such as infinite scroll and recommendation systems, are products of the companies – meaning that platforms can be held responsible when those features cause harm.
Meta enters the Oakland trial after a run of courtroom defeats. This month a New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay $567m over its failure to warn the public over harms to children's mental health, and to change how Instagram and Facebook work for minors in the state. This added to $375m in penalties imposed by a jury in March.
Also in March, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and YouTube negligent for designing platforms that harmed young users, awarding $6m to a 20-year-old woman.
In May, Meta paid $9m to settle a lawsuit brought by a Kentucky school district that said social media had fuelled a student mental-health crisis. Meta did not admit wrongdoing. More than 6,000 similar cases are now working their way through the courts.
AI companies will be watching these cases. OpenAI already faces lawsuits alleging the design of ChatGPT contributed to suicides, self-harm and delusional episodes.
A case filed last month argues that ChatGPT's tendency towards sycophancy helped turn a man's manic episode into weeks of delusion before a suicide attempt. OpenAI says it trains the chatbot to recognise distress, de-escalate and guide people towards support.
Defeat at the landmark trial in California could cost the social media giant up to $1.4m and force Zuckerberg's firm to redesign Instagram and Facebook
Patricia Clarke Technology reporter
The number of teenagers exposed to graphic content across Meta's platforms was at least 100 times higher than the social media giant reported, a whistleblower told a trial in California last week.
Arturo Béjar, a former Meta safety engineer, said the company reported the risk of teens being exposed to graphic or violent content at 0.01% to 0.02%, but user survey results
indicated the prevalence of this content was much higher. Béjar accused Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg of creating a 'false and misleading impression of Facebook's commitment to young people'.
At the Oakland trial, Megan O'Neill, a deputy attorney general for California, claimed Meta researched how children's brains work and discussed changing Instagram to exploit this knowledge.
The trial will test claims from the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey, who say Zuckerberg's firm designed Instagram and Facebook to keep children hooked, and misled parents and regulators about its intentions. Alongside these claims, 29 states allege that Meta illegally collected and used data from children under 13 without proper parental consent.
Meta strongly rejects the idea that it deliberately created addictive products for children and denies that it intentionally collects data on children under 13, who are prohibited
$567m
Awarded this month by a New Mexico judge over failure to warn the public over harms to children's mental health
$9m
to settle a lawsuit brought by a Kentucky school district in May
$375m
Penalties imposed by a jury in New Mexico in March.
from creating accounts on Instagram or Facebook. The company says it has listened to parents, worked with experts and law enforcement, and spent years developing tools designed to protect younger users. The firm has also argued that it could not have misled consumers about 'social media addiction' because it is not a recognised psychiatric diagnosis.
Whether Zuckerberg will testify in the trial is to be decided. This week testimony will continue from a psychology professor at San Diego State University whose research focuses on teenage health deteriorating from 2010, as smartphone use took off.
Meta, which owns Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook, has already lost two lawsuits over social media harms this year. But a defeat in Oakland could cost the company up to $1.4m (£1m) – by Meta's estimate, roughly its entire value.
It may also force Meta to redesign
Jeevan Vasagar Climate editor
Prices to transit the Panama Canal have soared since Middle East war broke out as shipping companies have sought alternative trade routes. Now fresh disruption, of a very different nature, is restricting the passage of cargo through the vital waterway.
As the El Niño weather pattern makes its presence felt in the world, a lack of rain in Panama – usually one of the wettest places on the
planet – has reduced the supply of fresh water needed to operate the canal's locks, and forced the canal authority to limit transits to 32 a day from mid-September. At present, 36 ships cross it daily. The authority said it would prioritise ships with the largest carrying capacity in its bigger Neopanamax locks, which serve vessels up to 370m long.
During the last El Niño in 2023–24, the authority slashed daily traffic during an extreme drought. Shipping companies were forced to find longer
routes and some containers were moved across the isthmus of Panama by rail instead. This year, rainfall across the canal's watershed has been a third below the historical average.
The canal uses fresh water in locks to lift ships to an elevation of 26 metres between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The authority said that 'weather conditions are changing more rapidly than originally anticipated.'
This year's El Niño, which is expected to strengthen towards the end of this year, is forecast to be the most powerful in living memory. It is a natural phenomenon but adds to pressures inflicted by manmade climate change. Alongside the

El Niño has caused fresh water levels to fall in the Panama Canal.
disruption to shipping, researchers expect powerful impacts on agriculture and food prices as drought hits some regions, while stormier conditions affect other parts of the world.
The Panama Canal crunch is a reminder of the world's continued dependence on a handful of vulnerable maritime chokepoints. In an early indication of shifting routes, the Port of Los Angeles said it was expecting shipments to be diverted to ports in southern California.
The canal is also a geopolitical flashpoint, with Donald Trump vowing to regain control of it from Panama – the US relinquished control at the end of 1999.
42
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
Business
Mike Ashley says he's "no Mary Poppins", but right now he is probably feeling supercalifragilistic... On 13 August the colourful founder of Sports Direct won a fierce battle to buy the high-end Harvey Nichols department store group. Then, last Tuesday, it was revealed that his Frasers Group had increased its stake in Hugo Boss to a hugely influential 48%.
A low-ball takeover offer triggered by a technicality in German ownership rules has grown into a serious attempt to acquire the fashion group, where Ashley's son-in-law, Michael Murray, now sits on the supervisory board.
The family dynamic is proving productive – the more polished Murray providing the spoonful of sugar that helps Ashley's medicine go down – and is likely to be useful as the pair ascend from Ashley's cut-price mass-market origins into the more refined business of luxury. Ashley has said the "Dunkirk spirit"
is driving his pursuit of Boss – the sort of tactless language Murray, reputedly a shrewd dealmaker, would never use.
Their bet is that a nasty period of distress in retailing, especially at the high end, is nearly over, and that there are bargains to be found, especially among struggling marquee brands. Other companies in which Fraser Group has significant shareholdings include Puma, Debenhams Group and Mulberry.
The competition for Harvey Nichols from domestic rivals, private equity and the Gulf suggests they are not alone in this belief – though there remain plenty of sceptics who expect things to get even worse in the sector before (perhaps) getting better.
But the stock market is starting to lean Ashley's way. The Frasers Group share price has risen by nearly 30% from its low this year in March.
By Matthew Bishop


A 1906 hand-painted postcard of the Harvey Nichols building in Knightsbridge, London. The Print Collector/Getty
Corporate social responsibility is experiencing a backlash in the west, especially in the US, where the prevailing vibe is now corporate irresponsibility. Elsewhere, states are introducing incentives for companies to be more responsible for society and the planet's needs, including making CSR mandatory.
India introduced a requirement in 2013 for companies of a certain size to spend at least 2% of profits on approved social development activities. Mauritius has required firms to pay 2% of profits into the government-backed National CSR Foundation since 2016.
Both are examined, with several narrower policies in countries
ranging from Qatar to Kenya, in a new study, Unlocking Corporate Capital for Social Innovation. This argues voluntary CSR has not made a significant impact but mandatory policies have the potential to do so – if the money is used innovatively.
A symposium last week hosted by the Government Council for Social Innovation, which published the study, heard speakers from the World Bank, Philippines government and law firm Hogan Lovells Cadwalader. Tom Walsh, a senior associate at the firm, described CSR in the UK as a "mess" and urged ministers to adopt corporate law reforms backed by the Better Business Act campaign and the B Corp movement.
If the chairman of the Federal Reserve is ever truly among friends at work, it is during the annual Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium in late August.
As well as earnest discussion of serious issues – this year's focus is financial innovation (aka the growing role of crypto) – the gathered leading central bankers and economists get to bond informally as they enjoy hiking and white-water rafting and views of the spectacular Grand Teton Mountains.
Yet this week, the new Fed chair, Kevin Warsh, will arrive with something to prove to his
peers: is he really one of them? His nomination by Donald Trump was met with considerable scepticism regarding his commitment to maintain the Fed's cherished independence from politics.
During his Senate confirmation hearing, he promised senators that he would not be the president's "human sock puppet". But after a promising start, defying White House pressure for an interest-rate cut and appointing a genuinely credible group of experts to advise him on reforming the Fed, doubts have started to return. He unsettled the markets with a cagey press
conference after holding rates steady at the most recent open market committee meeting (three members voted for a rise) and got a poor reception for scrapping forward guidance – a long-established method of informing markets about the latest Fed thinking about future interest-rate policy.
Warsh's task has been further complicated by the new US government bond buying programme launched to bring down yields, which had been rising alarmingly. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent, who is widely believed to fancy the Fed chair role himself. With increasingly sceptical audiences to convince inside and outside Jackson Hole, Warsh's speech on Friday will need to be particularly well-judged.
Jeevan Vasagar Climate editor
Wildfire risk is rising fast up the agenda for European companies operating on the world's fastest warming continent. But many have gaps in their financial protection, according to insurance industry executives and analysts.
Fires have ravaged more than 600,000 hectares in Europe this summer, twice the average for this time of year, and have become a growing risk in the UK. One incident destroyed 19 properties and damaged others in Stourbridge, West Midlands, during the country's fifth consecutive heatwave earlier this month.
The growing fire threat means businesses are facing more scrutiny from insurers about how they are
reducing risk. Erin Owain, associate director for climate risk and resilience at Howden, said: "As wildfire losses become more frequent and spread to a wider range of locations and new geographies, insurers are likely to reassess how they judge the risk, what they charge and whether existing policies provide sufficient cover."
Around the world, 2025 was the costliest year for wildfires on record, with the fires in Los Angeles in January resulting in $40bn of insured losses. It is the fastest-growing disaster risk globally, with losses increasing by 12% a year, according to a report from Swiss Re.
The economic risk is not limited to damage to property, but includes disruption to workforces, supply chains and infrastructure.
Owain said: "The Rhodes wildfires

The remains of a house in Stourbridge, following a wildfire this month. Getty
in 2023 also demonstrated how businesses can suffer substantial losses even when their properties escape physical damage."
Owain added that the insurer's work with clients increasingly focuses on understanding vulnerability and taking steps to build resilience, potentially including using detailed
location data to assess risk as well as weighing the costs and benefits of measures to reduce the impact of fire.
Businesses are also facing a less direct but potentially more costly threat from wildfires: legal liability.
Oliver Carpenter, head of environmental analytics at Risilence, a Cambridge-based advisory firm,
said: "We anticipate that with increased wildfire risk, there will be increased attention on companies liable for vegetation control and those responsible for managing land."
Pacific Gas and Electric, California's biggest utility, filed for bankruptcy in January 2019 after a California state agency concluded that the company's transmission lines in the Feather River Canyon had caused the 2018 Camp fire in which 85 people were killed and thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed.
Pacific Gas and Electric faced hundreds of lawsuits and billions of dollars in liabilities.
In the US, businesses legal risk has not just come from individuals but from other companies too, as insurers have sought to recoup their losses from wildfires by suing utilities.
observer.co.uk
23.08.26
43
UK and Ireland
| Today | Monday | Tuesday | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low | High | Low | High | Low | High | |
| Belfast | 9 | 18 | 8 | 20 | 13 | 18 |
| Birmingham | 9 | 23 | 10 | 22 | 12 | 24 |
| Bristol | 10 | 23 | 11 | 23 | 12 | 23 |
| Dover | 11 | 21 | 14 | 21 | 16 | 22 |
| Edinburgh | 9 | 19 | 7 | 20 | 10 | 18 |
| Glasgow | 9 | 19 | 7 | 22 | 11 | 19 |
| Inverness | 10 | 19 | 8 | 19 | 8 | 20 |
| Leeds | 11 | 21 | 10 | 20 | 12 | 21 |
| Leicester | 10 | 23 | 11 | 22 | 13 | 23 |
| Liverpool | 9 | 21 | 10 | 22 | 12 | 23 |
| London | 12 | 25 | 13 | 23 | 15 | 25 |
| Manchester | 7 | 21 | 10 | 21 | 13 | 22 |
| Newcastle | 7 | 20 | 8 | 19 | 11 | 18 |
| Norwich | 9 | 21 | 9 | 20 | 13 | 22 |
| Plymouth | 11 | 23 | 14 | 22 | 15 | 22 |
| Swansea | 9 | 22 | 12 | 24 | 15 | 23 |
| Dublin | 8 | 18 | 10 | 20 | 14 | 18 |
Europe today
©2026, forecasts and graphics provided by
AccuWeather.
We Save Lives Get the AccuWeather app


Precipitation today
| Showers | Storms | Rail | Flurries | Snow | Ice |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lighting up
| Today | Monday | |
|---|---|---|
| Belfast | 2019 to 0617 | 2036 to 0619 |
| Birmingham | 2015 to 0605 | 2013 to 0606 |
| Bristol | 2017 to 0611 | 2015 to 0613 |
| Dover | 2000 to 0555 | 1958 to 0557 |
| Edinburgh | 2031 to 0602 | 2028 to 0604 |
| Glasgow | 2035 to 0607 | 2032 to 0609 |
| Inverness | 2038 to 0600 | 2036 to 0602 |
| Leeds | 2018 to 0601 | 2015 to 0602 |
| London | 2008 to 0602 | 2006 to 0603 |
| Manchester | 2020 to 0605 | 2017 to 0606 |
| Newcastle | 2022 to 0558 | 2019 to 0600 |
| Plymouth | 2020 to 0619 | 2018 to 0620 |
| Swansea | 2023 to 0616 | 2021 to 0617 |
High tides
Source: © Crown copyright and/or database rights. All rights reserved.
| Today | Monday | Tuesday | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aberdeen | 11:15 | 3.3m | 23.29 | 3.4m | 12:18 | 3.4m | ... | ... | 00:23 3.6m 13:03 3.6m |
| Belfast | 08:09 | 2.7m | 20.55 | 2.9m | 09:45 | 2.8m | 22:04 | 3.1m | 10:35 2.9m 22:48 3.2m |
| Dover | 08:19 | 5.1m | 20.55 | 5.2m | 09:33 | 5.4m | 22:09 | 5.5m | 10:26 5.8m 22:51 5.8m |
| Galway | 03:09 | 3.6m | 15.22 | 3.9m | 04:04 | 3.8m | 16:11 | 4.2m | 04:44 4.1m 16:50 4.4m |
| Harwich | 08:07 | 3.1m | 21.25 | 3.1m | 09:52 | 3.2m | 22:14 | 3.4m | 10:52 3.5m 23:24 3.6m |
| Hollywood | 08:07 | 4.2m | 20.27 | 4.5m | 09:12 | 4.4m | 21:20 | 4.8m | 09:56 4.7m 22:00 5.0m |
| Hull | 03:02 | 5.5m | 15.59 | 5.4m | 04:13 | 5.8m | 17:04 | 5.7m | 05:07 6.3m 17:53 6.2m |
| Leith | 12:06 | 4.2m | ... | ... | 00:24 | 4.3m | 13:26 | 4.4m | 01:35 4.6m 14:16 4.7m |
| Liverpool | 08:33 | 6.9m | 21.00 | 7.4m | 09:45 | 7.3m | 21:59 | 7.9m | 10:34 7.8m 22:43 8.4m |
| London | 10:27 | 5.4m | 23.20 | 5.6m | 11:54 | 5.6m | ... | ... | 00:34 6.0m 13:01 6.0m |
| North Shields | 00:20 | 3.8m | 13.21 | 3.8m | 01:36 | 4.0m | 14:24 | 4.1m | 02:30 4.3m 15:08 4.3m |
| Penzance | 01:45 | 4.0m | 14.24 | 4.2m | 03:03 | 4.2m | 15:26 | 4.5m | 03:56 4.5m 16:12 4.8m |
| Plymouth | 01:46 | 4.0m | 14.55 | 4.2m | 03:42 | 4.1m | 16:07 | 4.5m | 04:41 4.4m 16:58 4.8m |
| Portsmouth | 09:00 | 3.6m | 21.20 | 3.7m | 10:07 | 3.8m | 22:18 | 3.9m | 10:55 4.1m 23:01 4.1m |
| Southport | 07:48 | 6.6m | 20.22 | 7.1m | 09:07 | 7.0m | 21:21 | 7.6m | 10:02 7.5m 22:11 8.1m |
| Weymouth | 02:07 | 1.1m | 16.10 | 1.3m | 04:53 | 1.2m | 17:18 | 1.5m | 05:50 1.4m 18:04 1.7m |
| Wick | 09:01 | 2.6m | 21.10 | 2.8m | 10:07 | 2.7m | 22:07 | 2.9m | 10:52 2.9m 22:51 3.1m |
Around the world
| Today | Monday | Today | Monday | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low | High Weather | Low | High Weather | Low | High Weather | Low | High Weather | ||
| Amsterdam | 13 | 20 showers | 11 | 21 fair | Helsinki | 13 | 16 showers | 11 | 18 fair |
| Athens | 24 | 36 sunny | 28 | 37 sunny | Hong Kong | 28 | 32 storms | 28 | 31 rain |
| Auckland | 9 | 17 showers | 11 | 16 fair | Istanbul | 21 | 31 sunny | 22 | 32 sunny |
| Baghdad | 29 | 45 haze | 31 | 48 haze | Jerusalem | 22 | 31 sunny | 21 | 32 sunny |
| Beijing | 24 | 32 storms | 24 | 35 storms | Kingston | 27 | 34 fair | 27 | 34 fair |
| Belgrade | 20 | 31 sunny | 17 | 32 sunny | Kolkata | 27 | 32 rain | 27 | 32 rain |
| Berlin | 11 | 20 fair | 10 | 22 cloudy | Kyiv | 17 | 25 sunny | 14 | 24 sunny |
| Brussels | 10 | 21 fair | 9 | 22 sunny | Los Angeles | 21 | 36 sunny | 22 | 35 sunny |
| Budapest | 17 | 27 sunny | 13 | 29 sunny | Madrid | 19 | 33 sunny | 17 | 28 sunny |
| Buenos Aires | 2 | 13 fair | 3 | 13 sunny | Melbourne | 7 | 18 fair | 10 | 17 cloudy |
| Cairo | 24 | 36 haze | 25 | 36 haze | Mexico City | 14 | 22 showers | 13 | 21 rain |
| Cape Town | 10 | 19 fair | 10 | 19 sunny | Miami | 27 | 34 storms | 27 | 34 storms |
| Copenhagen | 12 | 18 showers | 13 | 22 sunny | Moscow | 16 | 23 sunny | 12 | 19 showers |
| Dublin | 8 | 18 fair | 10 | 20 cloudy | Nairobi | 15 | 26 showers | 16 | 26 fair |
| Geneva | 12 | 26 sunny | 15 | 28 rain | Nassau | 27 | 34 storms | 27 | 33 storms |
| Gibraltar | 20 | 28 sunny | 20 | 28 sunny | New York City | 20 | 26 storms | 19 | 26 showers |
| Today | Monday | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low | High Weather | Low | High Weather | |
| Oslo | 12 | 23 fair | 10 | 23 fair |
| Ottawa | 16 | 22 storms | 14 | 20 showers |
| Paris | 13 | 24 haze | 14 | 27 haze |
| Prague | 10 | 21 fair | 8 | 21 sunny |
| Riga | 13 | 17 showers | 13 | 19 showers |
| Rio de Janeiro | 19 | 24 fair | 19 | 21 showers |
| Rome | 21 | 32 sunny | 20 | 33 sunny |
| Seoul | 23 | 34 storms | 25 | 33 storms |
| Singapore | 27 | 33 fair | 27 | 33 fair |
| Sydney | 11 | 19 showers | 12 | 23 sunny |
| Tokyo | 25 | 31 storms | 25 | 32 sunny |
| Toronto | 17 | 22 showers | 14 | 18 showers |
| Vancouver | 16 | 22 showers | 14 | 22 fair |
| Vienna | 14 | 25 sunny | 13 | 24 fair |
| Warsaw | 12 | 19 fair | 11 | 19 fair |
| Washington | 21 | 30 storms | 19 | 28 fair |
Speedy crossword No. 1,611

1 Make beer (4) 3 By necessity (8) 8 Portent, sign (4) 9 Occurring occasionally (8) 11 Flamboyant, overly dramatic (10) 14 Fame (6) 15 Inspiring reverence or admiration (6) 17 Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation (4,2,4) 20 Proof confirmation (8) 21 Passport endorsement (4) 22 Staircase furniture (8) 23 Joint between thigh and shin (4)
1 Pamphlet (8) 2 Late afternoon church service (8) 4 Purchaser (6) 5 Physical brawl, fight (10) 6 Insolent (4) 7 Engrave (4) 10 Somnolence (10) 12 Aspiring, performer's trial (8) 13 Cheapest accommodation on a passenger ship (8) 16 The human mind (6) 18 Edge of a pavement (4) 19 Pottery oven (4)
SOLUTION No. 1,610



THE GMT-MASTER II

US OPEN TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS USTA BILLIE JEAN KING NATIONAL TENNIS CENTER, NEW YORK 30 AUGUST TO 13 SEPTEMBER 2026

observer.co.uk 23.08.26
Fun & games for all the family
needed
Paint the clown red
Hang this cover up somewhere you are willing to get messy. Then grab some tomatoes and throw them at the targets.
Can you score more than 100 points?


26

The world's biggest food fight kicks off this week in Bufol, Spain. While tomato slingers limber up, can you find
☐ An inflatable unicorn ☐ A diver ☐ A snorkeller ☐ A cactus ☐ A clock ☐ A hiding cat ☐ Il pizzaiolo ☐ Frolicking basil leaves ☐ Ketchup bottles ☐ A paella pan?
No 131
| 1 | 3 | |||||
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| 2 | 3 | |||||
| 3 | 2 | |||||
| 3 | 2 | |||||
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | 1 |
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| 3 | 1 | |||||
| 1 | 2 | |||||
| 2 | 2 | |||||
| 3 | ||||||
| 3 | 1 |
Quick example Here's a small 6×6 grid to show how it works. The goal is to separate each set of the same number into different regions using diagonal slashes
The two 3s at the top can't be in the same region, so you draw a slash between them. Slashes must always cross the entire square – ie, from point to point
No 132
| 1 | 2 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | |||||
| 1 | ||||||
| 1 | 1 | |||||
| 2 | ||||||
| 2 | 2 | 1 | ||||
| 2 |
The 2s and 3s on the left also need to be in a separate region. Add more slashes to make sure they are isolated in their own area
Continue adding slashes logically to separate matching numbers while keeping all numbers connected within their own regions
Identify one trait for each circle. Sort objects accordingly.
Think you've found another solution? Email us – valid ones will be printed in the paper and featured in The Puzzle Edit newsletter
No 75


No 76


Scan to play more Mindset
Copyright © Magicave Holdings Limited 2025. Mindset is a registered trademark of Magicave Holdings Limited.
Solutions to the above, plus crosswords, Sudoku, Cinema Connect and Guess the Picture can be found on pages 30-32 of New Review Found a bug? Have a favourite? Got a suggestion? We'd love to hear from you, email us at puzzles@observer.co.uk
Beyond the print edition: scan to subscribe to The Puzzle Edit – exclusive columns, setter insights and a weekly clue breakdown from puzzles editor Caitlin O'Kane
THE OBSERVER MAGAZINE
23.08.26

How Russia's answer to Michael McIntyre gave up everything to stand up for the truth
FEATURES
Kyle MacNeill
The big small-penis panic
CHEF AT LARGE
Tomos Parry
Summer's berry bounty
WHAT'S ON MY MIND
Joe Dunthorne
Praise, justice and sharks
DRINK
David Williams
Sips of sunshine
glam meets surprise sun
Be ready for the beauty of British summer
Selected stores. Subject to availability
23.08.26

In June, the Health Minister Karin Smyth published new measures to crack down on what she described as "a Wild West of dodgy practitioners and procedures" in the cosmetics space. Smyth was referring to Botox and lip fillers and Brazilian butt lifts – aesthetic treatments that trained professionals might administer competently but which are increasingly offered by illicit providers, often with deleterious results. "This isn't about stopping anyone from getting treatments," Smyth said. "It's about preventing rogue operators from exploiting people at the expense of their safety."
Smyth didn't mention penis-enlargement procedures specifically, but perhaps she should have. Over the past decade, thousands of men have sought either legitimate or backroom extensions, fuelled by a social media-induced anxiety around size, and never have more options been available. There is surgery. There are fillers. There is fat grafting – "liposuction for your penis," the writer Kyle MacNeill reports in this week's cover story. MacNeill spent weeks poking around the murky world of enlargement, and what he found does not make for pleasant reading. "Suspensory ligament release can result in scarring. Fat grafting can lead to chronic pain and fibrosis. Silicone implants can be effective for flaccid girth and length, but complications including ulceration and scarring can arise..." One doctor said, "I always tell my patients, you only have one penis. If you have a problem with the results, you can't go backwards..." So why are so many men still craving the procedure?
Also in this issue, Simon Parkin profiles Sasha Nezlobin, a Russian comedian who until the Ukraine war was filling stadiums in his home country, but who now performs in exile; Eva Wiseman considers glamping, that odd holiday liminal space between the hotel and the campsite; Nigel Slater writes odes to both the tomato and the melon; and we're publishing the first of a new series of essays in which the fun-sceptic author Yoel Noorali tries to survive popular forms of fun. This month: the communal sauna.
Enjoy and, as ever, thanks for reading.
Alex Moshakis
Editor




(Surviving the sauna, p24)
Yoel is the author of the story and essay collection The Kingdom. His work has appeared in Esquire, The Fence, and the Financial Times.
If you could see anyone do stand-up who would it be?
"As a fan of the anti-comedy of Gregg Turkington, I'd hope the relentless self-seriousness of my former driving instructor would make for a fine stand-up special. Ditto Vladimir Lenin, my mortgage broker, and anyone doing a PhD – the common denominator is they're all quite furious or fatally depressed."
(Penis enlargement, p12)
Kyle is a freelance writer who has contributed to magazines including Esquire,
GQ, Vogue and Playboy. He was recently nominated for a Deadline Club Award, for a Rolling Stone longread about an art conspiracy. He now lives in Stockport, which is not "The New Berlin," but is really great.
"Stand-up puts the fear in me, but I'd do anything to see Harry Hill doing a live tour of TV Burp. Does that count?"
(Homes, p10)
Elizabeth is a writer, editor and consultant specialising in design, interiors and craft. Her first book, New English Interiors (Frances Lincoln, 2024) profiles the colourful, pattern-rich homes of 22 creatives.
"Sindhu Vee. I find her hilarious, especially her takes on parenting, given that I have a rambunctious toddler."
(What's on my mind, p46)
Joe is an award-winning poet, novelist and memoirist. Children of Radium – a family history about his great-grandfather, a Jewish chemist who developed radioactive toothpaste in 1920s Germany – is out now.
"Bob Monkhouse. I'd love to hear him deliver my favourite joke of all time: 'People used to laugh at me when I said I wanted to be a comedian. Well, they're not laughing now.'"
Cover image: Matilda Hill-Jenkins, The Observer Magazine • 22 Berners Street, London W1T 3LP • magazine@observer.co.uk Printed at Walstead Bicester Ltd, Chaucer Business Park, Launton Road, Bicester, OX26 4QZ
23.08.26
THE OBSERVER MAGAZINE
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THE OBSERVER
Get up to 65% off tickets to David Bowie: You're Not Alone at the Lightroom


p6 An hour with Bobbi Brown
and koji
A taste of Northumberland opens in Hackney

In June, Gabriel Waterhouse closed the Water House Project, his Michelin-rated restaurant in Bethnal Green. A month later, he announced the opening of Waterhouse. “It’s been quick,” the chef says, “but there’s been bits going on in the background.” Waterhouse and his wife, Patricia Wakaim- ba, found the site – an old potter’s studio behind Columbia Road – over six months ago and felt it was too good to turn down. Out- side, there’s a courtyard for planting herbs. Rosemary and thyme will go in, as well as edible flowers. “It’s nice to have things we can pick straight away for service.” Inside, the furniture is in stainless steel and oak – contemporary, but warm: “There’s beautiful light in there.”
In the open kitchen, the team will cook with produce from Waterhouse’s home county of Northumberland and its surrounding re- gions. Scallops and lobsters from Scotland, Lindisfarne oysters, Craster kippers. Sing- ing hinnies are a griddle cake from Newcas- tle – “we’ll be making ours with mixed spice and lavender” – that will sizzle in butter (the “singing”) then get brushed with honey. Another dish is made with barley on which they’ll grow koji – a Japanese fungus. “It gives this incredible fruity, earthy flavour.” The barley becomes a porridge with smoked had- dock, mustard and mussels. “It reminds me of my dad,” Waterhouse says. “He’s always cooked smoked haddock in milk – stinking up the house.”
This eponymous restaurant, which opens on 3 September, is a culmination for Water- house. What began as a supperclub at his home, then transformed into a tasting-menu restaurant has reached its final form. “This is the reimagining, what my cooking should be and how it’s defined.” • HOLLY O’NEILL
7A Ezra Street, London E2 7RH (restaurantwaterhouse.com)
acting
In the hilarious, horny trailer for the film Wicker, Olivia Colman plays a perpetually single fisherwoman who asks a basket weaver to make her a husband. The result is a hand-crafted hunk played
by Alexander Skarsgård, whose devotion and sexual prowess upends both his new wife and their fellow villagers. The internet’s response was quick and dirty. One commenter
lauded it as 50 Shades of Hay; another suggested it’s “bad news for human men”. In a social media post, Ikea described a rattan bench as “made from husband material”. Nothing, however, beats the official tagline: “A hard man is good to find.”
• HAYLEY MYERS
QR codes

PORTUGATE JONATH
Quick Response codes (no, me neither) have many applications and I’ll admit that not all of them are wonderful. I seethe each time a high street chain or airport pub insists I snap one, in order to navigate a bespoke app that no one in Christendom has ever found user-friendly. (It’s a remnant from lockdown-era, socially distanced dining that I’m convinced is only maintained to keep staff costs down.) It’s mildly startling to see QR codes adorning dozens of lamp posts near to where I live in east London, advertising cannabis for sale, and each time I do I’m torn
between marvelling at either the entrepreneurial nous of our local dealers, or that of our local undercover police.
The codes themselves, however, I really do quite like. Invented in 1994, and only just recently conquering the world, there’s something dazzling about the crude, millennial futurism of the shapes they create. I like their squat, blocky forms, which almost-but- never-quite look like something recognisable, in the manner of a pixellated Rorschach blotch.
There’s also an undeniable elegance to their utility. Every single
QR code you’ve ever seen is unique, despite looking functionally interchangeable. Surely, your brain screams at you, there can only be so many spaces, so many pixels, before every possible conflagration runs out? Well, no. The number of possible unique QR codes is actually 10 to the power of 7,112. Since the number of atoms in the known universe is around 10 to the power of 80, we might as well learn to love our blocky little overlords. Whether we like them or not, it seems like they’re not going anywhere any time soon.
• SEAMAS O’REILLY
23.08.26 THE OBSERVER MAGAZINE
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Observations
Either getting a massage, which is relaxing, or time with my grandkids, which is invigorating but exhausting. I just spent the weekend with them; they're delicious, but now my back hurts.
I was a kid in the 1960s, but I would be curious to experience that decade as an adult. The freedom, the fashion, the rock and roll and the social unrest all seemed more interesting. I might have hopped in my high school boyfriend's car and headed to Woodstock.
Queen Elizabeth II. I'd like to know how she entered every situation with effortless grace. I once asked Princess Eugenie if she could just walk into Buckingham Palace to visit her grandmother; she said she would have to make an appointment with her assistant and always be properly dressed.
When my kids were little. I'm not sure I fully appreciated it. It seems so daunting and out of control at the time, and then you look back and you're like, oh my God, those were the best moments.
I'm not a big crier. Not because I don't have an incredible amount of emotion. I do. But usually it is expressed in angst rather than tears. I cry more from happiness than sadness.

The American makeup artist, 69, is the founder of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics and Jones Road Beauty. In 2025, Time magazine listed her as one of the world's 100 most influential people. She lives with her husband and family in New Jersey. Her memoir, Still Bobbi, is out now.
To prepare. It's why I was five minutes late to this interview.
Some items from my product development team that aren't out until next year. I did leave a note.
Two days ago. With my husband of 38 years, by the way.
I have a dance workout app called the Groove Club that puts me in a good mood, no matter what. It's funk and hip-hop and the British instructor, Daniel Browne, is adorable.
Keep doing what you're doing. It's going to get you somewhere. If I told her to learn how to calm down and chill, she wouldn't have listened.
When you're bored. I don't enjoy standing around chit-chatting – maybe because I'm 5ft tall. I'm more of a sitting-at-a-table-or-couch type of talker. My husband has more stamina than me, so I usually give him the eye when I'm ready to leave.
I got lucky. I paid attention to health, wellness and food. I learned how to calm down – on occasion. Mostly, I made it because I'm a positive person with a good attitude. And, I didn't smoke cigarettes. Or shoot stuff in my face. ●
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As told to HAYLEY MYERS • Portrait MORGANE LAY
Observations
EVA WISEMAN

BODY POLITICS
Perhaps as a means of getting a start on my upcoming holiday, I started reading about the politics of glamping. “Glamping,” you’ll understand, exists in that vast lean scrubland of holiday between the hotel and the campsite, requiring significant compromise in both directions.
You fantasise, perhaps, about walking into the woods with only a tarp in your bag and laying down to sleep among the mosses and ferns – instead you drive up beside a makeshift business park or suburb of yurts and while yes, you will sleep beneath canvas, there is a mattress in there, too, and probably somewhere to get a coffee. Nature is present, but it’s had a quick once-over with a disinfectant wipe, so you encounter it from something of a distance, as if through cling film. And yet, it’s not quite a hotel, is it? Yes there’s a mattress, but there is not, for instance, much else. You will be sharing a bathroom. You will be walking to that bathroom through a field, the grass tamped down and yellow from your new neighbours’ Nike sliders, neighbours whose intimate noises now play, symphonic behind your temples.
To approach the politics of glamping you must first, similarly, walk through the politics of camping, a rich and still-evolving pursuit that pivots on power within our public spaces, and takes in ideas and conflicts around class, race, protest and the impermanence of home. Temporary tented societies emerge at sites of resistance. Socialist ideals are attempted on the campsite, with hierarchies (in theory) falling away along with the walls. For many, of course, sleeping outside is not a choice. It is perilous and painful and sometimes kills you. For fair-weather campers, however, it’s an opportunity for self-improvement, a chance to connect with nature, take the air, disconnect from luxury, then gladly go home.
Glamping, as a holiday option, arrived in the early 2000s and was added to the dictionary in 2016, joining a short list of portmanteau words – “staycation”, “brunch” – that equally repel and thrill, the concepts somehow rising to fit their words, their tension and pretension and hastily glued precarity. Glamping as a concept, though, had existed quite as long as camping had, with
royalty documented erecting palatial silk tents filled with their belongings in the 15th century and, in the 1920s, Americans on safari frequently insisting on tents kitted out with electric generators and champagne.
Me, I began to insist on a bed, minimum, if camping was required, after a particularly gruesome Glastonbury in my teens. A buffet of catastrophes, including relentless mud and our possessions being stolen from the tent, was topped by the final horror of another, bigger tent, sitting on top of ours one night around three. Never having been much attracted to camping, this, it turned out, was my final straw.
And so, this week we glamp. Our family holiday coincides, perhaps coincidentally, with the 50th anniversary re-release of Mike Leigh’s Nuts in May, a dark and brilliant comedy from 1976 about the horror of camping and/or other people. In this film (set not far from where my family and I will soon be moving into a chichi bell tent) we see the idea that nature and its romance will heal all urban wounds, the mythologising of woodland healing, slowly and muddily exploded. In fact, here the rural landscape unleashes something primitive and violent, our hero ultimately weeping among the trees. Right now, rather than a place that promises wellness and relief, “nature” in its oppressive heat with leaves singed and grass brown, is revealed as sometimes lethal, and
more complex a prospect than magazine articles about “forest bathing” and the “nature cure” suggest.
Will I emerge next week into a new dawn, bloodied and mad, or will the fact our tent is stand-uppable-in save at least a flake of my soul? Is this what the promised onsite pizza van is for, a sanity buffer for those of us a little scared of land, frequently freaked by the silence of a starry night and the uncanny valleys beyond that hill? Rather than simply an industry offering sanitised outdoor experiences to moneyed families, could “glamping” in fact be the only thing saving me from full collapse? Going on Monday, I’ll let you know. ●
Eva Wiseman is an Observer writer

GETTY IMAGES
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Observations
THINGS WORTH WEARING...
Grin and bare it! The 5in inseam is here to stay

It's not always possible to pinpoint when a trend goes mainstream, but when Andy Burnham went for a run wearing a pair of Adidas "short" shorts earlier this year the chatter around the 5in inseam was off the chart. In menswear not many garments elicit quite the divisive reaction of the short short. How much thigh is too much? Are your legs too hairy, not hairy enough?
Japan's Cool Biz scheme, introduced in 2005, offers guidance for dressing for work in high temperatures, part of a bid to cut electricity demand and air-conditioning costs during summer months. Initially this meant ditching jackets and ties, but a recent
ruling has given the green light to shorts in the office for the first time - and the backlash from workers forced to observe colleagues' hairy legs was swift.
Shorts discourse is nothing new, we've been here before when Paul Mescal was papped in his O'Neill Gaelic football shorts. "I'm a fan of the shorter inseam. For my eye it's to do with proportion - shorter shorts and a longer top," he told GQ, before concluding: "I'm a big advocate for men wearing shorter shorts." Harry Styles has been doing unofficial PR for running shorts for years, and now with his fiancée (Zoë Kravitz, a fellow running-shorts wearer), the pair have proved that the trend
knows no gender boundaries. But, seeing the soon-to-be Prime Minister sporting a pair was a thigh flash too far for the online masses.
Burnham graciously bowed to critics, announcing in his Number 10 North speech that he had bought some new running shorts - it was easier than changing the decency laws, he quipped.
The PM should cut himself some off-duty slack, summer is showing no signs of relenting, while this isn't a Cool-Biz approved look, unless you're a PE teacher or your endgame is a podium finish, for your own sake take a leaf from Mescal and Style's playbook and slip into a pair when you get home. ● HELEN SEAMONS
© IMAGES, KSC PHOTO AGENCY, KNT/STAR MAX/ALAMY
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p34 A guide to Kypseli in Athens
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A shorter inseam is flattering whether you're tall or short. Style with a vest and open shirt or a jumper when the sun goes down
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If you can't fit two fingers between your thigh and shorts they're too tight. Performance fabrics are good for sweat-wicking, and swim shorts in plain colours can double as everyday shorts
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1) Active light shorts, £45, Arket 2) Woven shorts, £35, Reebok 3) Umbro check football shorts, £45, Urban Outfitters 4) Race unit shorts, £75, Acid Running 5) Sprinter shorts, £40, Adidas 6) Trailwind shorts, £75, Nike 7) Logo swim shorts, £185, Aime Leon Dore 8) Rag patch rugby shorts, £80, Adam Jones 9) Micro corduroy shorts, £155, Polo Ralph Lauren (End Clothing)
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Driven by porn, social media and an obsession with looksmaxxing, more and more men are suffering from small-penis anxiety, leading them to extreme cosmetic procedures. Is the risk ever worth it?
By KYLE MacNEILL
Illustrations JUSTIN METZ
Between October and December 1967, more than 450 Singaporean men were rushed to hospital, convinced their penises were shrinking. Some had clamped their shafts with chopsticks, pegged them with clothes pegs, or trussed them with string and bound them with rubber bands, such was their panic.
Friends and family members had been asked to take turns holding on to their relations' penises, attempting to stop them retracting into the abdomen. Many were worried they had eaten vaccine-spiked pork; according to the Singaporean press, a pig had died from a prolapsed penis. The men believed they were next.
These events were all unprecedented. But an uncannily similar thing happened nine years later, in northeast Thailand, where this time almost 2,000 men worried their penises were retracting. (The fear now was sparked by a xenophobic rumour that Vietnamese immigrants had poisoned tobacco with a mysterious, penis-shrinking powder.) In the 1990s and 2000s, the panic spread to Africa, though this time the culprit was supernatural forces. Men in countries including Nigeria and Ghana reported that magi (priest-magicians) were magically "stealing" their penises, making them temporarily disappear.
All of these cases were imagined. Koro – which means "turtle's head" in Malay – is a delusional disorder that spreads through communities, often via a kind of shared panic. "The simple definition is that people believe their body parts, typically their sexual organs, are shrinking or retracting," Robert Bartholomew, an honorary senior lecturer at the University of Auckland specialising in mass hysteria, told me recently. The vast majority of incidents involve penises. Similar stories exist in ancient Chinese literature, though the first medical reference was recorded in 1849. And while there are occasional individual cases linked to psychosexual problems, it's usually a collective fear
– what Bartholomew calls a "shared, transient, false belief that spreads through a population, typically in the form of rumours, triggering anxiety-related symptoms".
Koro is successfully treated through reassurance or placebo medication. "Victims typically recover within a few days," Bartholomew said, "once they realise their genitals are still there." Every now and then the delusion reappears. Earlier this year, a koro-adjacent incident emerged in Mozambique, fuelled by fears that supernatural forces were making male genitalia shrink or vanish. But the disorder has, for the most part, disappeared.
And yet in the west, a far more prevalent penis anxiety is gaining traction. Sixty years since koro first gripped the global south, men in the global north have become uncontrollably worried about the size of their own penises. And this worry has, thanks to New York Magazine, been given a name: the Big Little Penis Panic.
Tom, 40, remembers the moment he began obsessing over his penis. "We had to change before and after PE at school," he told me recently. "It was clear to me pretty quickly that I was undersized and that was reinforced by teasing and insults from other kids in the changing room." Later, he felt that disappointing sex with a close friend, when he was 18, proved his lack of worth, and hasn't slept with anyone since. "I've completely avoided sex and relationships outside of a single failed long-distance relationship in my mid-30s," he told me. "Largely because of my small penis." On Reddit, thousands of men
spend their free time discussing similar worries. The rise of "catching print" – a TikTok-driven trend that involves analysing a man's crotch to guess his penis size – suggests that penis size can be something publicly visible. In South Korea, a "finger pinching" conspiracy has spread, suggesting that radical feminist groups are mocking small penises through subtle hand gestures and hidden messages. And incel groups are using the perceived rejection of small penises as a way to attack women.
This new anxiety, however, is not koro. Men aren't scared their penises are shrinking – just that they are already too small. "Koro is acute, collective and self-limiting," Bartholomew told me, whereas the big little penis panic is not. But there are similarities. "Both are socially transmitted," he went on. "The perception of one's body being calibrated against a circulating belief or comparison point, not some internally generated worry."
Far more men are worried that they have a small penis than actually have one. One 2005 study suggested that 85% of women are happy with their partner's size. A landmark survey conducted by King's College London in 2015 concluded that only 2.6% of men have a clinically "small" penis, which means it is significantly below the average: 3.6in long flaccid and 5.1in long erect. "Most people are going to fall on that bell curve," Dr Rena Malik, a urologist, pelvic surgeon and author of the upcoming book The Hard Truth, told me.
And yet another 2015 study, conducted by the British Journal of Urology and the most recent of its kind, found that 45% of men were not satisfied with their penis size. A fraction of these men suffer from Penile Dysmorphic Disorder, the false and all-consuming belief that their penis is small. But most men don't.
This is a surprisingly recent desire. In ancient Greece, a diminutive member was all the rage; anything too big was considered base and uncouth. This remained the general consensus for the next few thousand years: small was chic. But the proliferation of pornography exploded expectations of proportion and social media has stoked the fire. More men than ever are "looksmaxxing": popping peptides to build muscle mass or following gruelling workout regimes or, in rare and extreme cases, smashing their facial bones to fit a new male ideal.
In 2018, the freelance writer Kyrell Grant
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Penis extensions
coined the viral phrase “Big Dick Energy” on Twitter, so that having a big penis now meant having a better personality. On the flipside, a small dick became a pejorative and a punch-line, deployed by everyone from South Park (against Donald Trump) to Greta Thunberg (against Andrew Tate). Chris, a 33-year-old carer, told me, “We small-penis men just catch stray bullets. Our pain is a joke. You can’t try to defend against it because even mentioning it is used against you.” Sometimes, this suffering becomes all-consuming. So much so, the allure of surgery becomes irresistible.
Since 2014, thousands of men have walked through the doors of the ornate townhouse of 77 Harley Street in London, hoping to leave with a bigger penis. Run by self-designated “Man of Excellence” Dr Sherif Wakil, Dr SW Clinics offers an extensive menu of intimate procedures. “It severely affects the confidence of men,” Wakil told me, of small-penis anxiety. “It’s directly related to their manhood. Any comment on a man’s size from a girlfriend hits him so deep. Very few people have the bulletproof psychology for it not to affect them.” He was talking on Zoom from his office. In the background were an array of flags from across the world, tracking the diversity of his patients. “Every single nationality under the sun,” he said. “We all share the same anxiety.”
Girth, Wakil explained, matters more than length. “The length of the vaginal canal is about 7-10cm. If you have a penis that’s longer, what the hell are you going to do? You would be half a meter away from your partner and you cannot reach her.” The vital thing, he told me, is to diagnose not just the size but also the shape of the penis – some may appear smaller due to being buried (concealed by folds of skin) or webbed (attached to scrotal skin). But even this initial consultation is a delicate procedure. “The patient looks at your eyes because he wants to see your reaction to his penis – he’s thinking will you be shocked? That’s why as a physician you need to be very careful not to add trauma, even if it’s unbelievably small.”
This prolonged emotional pain means that some men have already tried a DIY approach. Rena Malik has been sounding the alarm on the risks of “jelqing”, a penis-stretching exercise popular on TikTok, which involves men
manually pulling their penile tissue once a day. “It’s very unsafe because people are tugging on their penis with no control,” she told me. “There are guys who have actually caused injury to their penis and have irreversible erectile dysfunction.”
Traction devices, which apply a gentle pulling force to the penis, are generally safer. “You’re not going to really harm yourself as long as you follow the instructions,” Malik said. Newer devices, such as the RestoreX (£349) require as little as 30 minutes per day, versus the 4-6 hours of past technologies, though it is marketed primarily as a method to prevent lost length following urological surgery. Esoteric lotions and potions, harking back to the days of dodgy magazine ads, still abound, but they are all different versions of snake oil. “People are desperate and willing to try anything,” Tom told me.
The range of enlargement surgeries on offer is dizzying. The oldest method is suspensory ligament surgery (prices start from £1,500), which severs the ligament connecting the penis and pubic bone to add a centimetre or two of length; the patient must keep tugging on their penis to prevent scarring. There is fat grafting,
essentially liposuction for your penis, taking fat from your abdomen or flanks and adding it to your shaft’s circumference. In the US, a silicone sleeve implant known as the Penuma, approved by the FDA in 2004 and later renamed the Himplant, is a permanent option that costs between $10,500 and $19,000.
There are also non-invasive treatments. Hyaluronic acid filler injected into the penis – reportedly used by ski jumpers at the Winter Olympics to create a more aerodynamic body shape in order to increase their flight – lasts around 18 months and is dissolvable with time or medication. Permanent fillers are all but outlawed in the UK due to the severe complications – 90% of patients required surgical correction, based on a University College London Hospital (UCLH) study.
New forms of surgery and injections are appearing thick and fast. Wakil, who completed his training in the US and is a member of the General Medical Council in the UK, has imported several methods, including the P-Shot, which injects platelet-rich plasma into the penis to stimulate blood flow. His clinic injects stem cells into the patient’s penis at a starting cost of £6,500. Wakil staunchly believes enlargement procedures can reap huge rewards. “You see a massive change in confidence. In the way they dress, the way they handle themselves,” he told me, cupping a pair of plastic, demonstration testicles. “You have to be an artist. When you do something like this, you are not just a doctor any more. You are a sculptor.”
Wakil isn’t alone in offering these services on Harley Street. A few dozen doors down is Moorgate Andrology, a clinic run by David Mills, the man behind the Moorgate Scale, a research tool that measures penis size and compares them against partner preferences. Nearby, Erectifill at 150 Harley Street, offers hyaluronic gel filler (£999 for 10ml, the entry-level option). And on a corner of the road is the Androfill Clinic, which has more than 30 sites across 12 countries and more than 100 practitioners trained in injecting hyaluronic acid fillers. According to its website, Androfill’s team has performed over 15,000 procedures since 2012.
But Androfill is a complicated entity. Its founder, Dr Gary Horn, a phalloplasty →
‘We small-penis men catch stray bullets. Our pain is a joke. You can’t defend against it because even mentioning it is used against you’
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pioneer, told me over the phone that he is currently unable to answer any questions. In 2021, Horn was caught in an ITV sting that secretly recorded him telling a patient interested in a hymen repair procedure that if performing the surgery became illegal – it did, in July 2022 – they would “have to lie; we have to say we are doing something else”. At the time of writing, Horn was involved in a hearing with the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service for a string of malpractice allegations. He is currently suspended from the UK medical register.
Having a clinic on Harley Street is significant; the address bakes in a level of trust. None of the Harley Street clinics are back-alley cosmetic joints that make up what Karin Smyth, Minister of State for Health, recently called a “Wild West of dodgy practitioners and procedures”. But Horn’s case points to the fact that even the most established cosmetic surgery clinics on the most reputable streets can face scandal. In the US, James Elist, inventor of the Himplant, is currently on probation due to an accusation by the Medical Board of California of “repeated negligent acts”.
“There is this sort of shadiness to penis enlargement, because it’s not as mainstream as facial treatments,” Ashton Collins, director of Save Face, a UK government-approved register for cosmetic treatments, told me. “There’s this underbelly of dodgy operators.” There are also hefty risks to surgery. In 2019, the Belgian-Israeli billionaire diamond dealer Ehud Arye Laniado died after suffering a heart attack during a penis enlargement procedure in Paris. Suspensory ligament release can result in scarring. Fat grafting can lead to chronic pain and fibrosis. Silicone implants can be effective for flaccid girth and length, but complications including ulceration and scarring can arise. “I always tell my patients, you only have one penis,” Malik told me. “If you have a problem with the results, you can’t go backwards, right?”
Wakil stressed that procedures must be done by professionals, otherwise a patient might “end up with a stump, looking like a

‘I always tell my patients, you only have one penis. If you have a problem with the results, you can’t go backwards’
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Penis extensions
sausage sandwich. And, of course, he's going to hate you, hate himself, hate everything."
Collins has seen the devastation that comes when a procedure is performed by bad actors. "We've had quite a few serious cases where men have had penis fillers and it's led to nodules, bumps, unevenness." One man described a golf-ball-sized lump that migrated across his penis. Another thought he was getting hyaluronic filler, but it turned out to be permanent, likely PMMA, a thermoplastic – it kept migrating and forming into lumps.
Often, Collins told me, men turn a blind eye to the botched jobs due to embarrassment. One man "left it so long, part of his penis became necrotic and he had to have a big section of it removed," she said, explaining that it left him with both sexual and urological issues and needing extensive skin grafts to try to repair it. "The psychological impact these things can have when they go wrong is extreme."
Most shockingly, there are no legal requirements or qualifications needed to start offering filler. "Anybody can inject dermal filler," Collins told me. "If you wanted to this afternoon, you could set yourself up as a penis-filler specialist on Instagram and you wouldn't be breaking any laws." Collins is not anti-surgery and she recognises many men consider the decision for years. For some, using surgery to address emotional scars is worth the gamble of gaining physical ones. But it's always a risk. "The broader issue is that patient demand for cosmetic penile augmentation has grown more quickly than the scientific evidence supporting these procedures," Mubarak said.
Earlier this year, Mubarak and several other representatives from the British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS) appraised the safety of male genital augmentation procedures. Thirty-six studies were assessed: 12 injectables, 24 surgical. Fillers, they said, "produced short-term girth gains with mild, transient complications." Surgical procedures demonstrated a "modest increase" in size, but there were complications of infection and fibrosis. Novel "biological scaffolds" such as platelets indicated "80% of patients rating their
outcomes as good to excellent" in one validated report.
But there's a dearth of high-quality evidence. "Published satisfaction rates in cosmetic penile literature are notoriously unreliable, often coming from small, single-center studies with short follow-up periods and high selection bias," Afshin Mosahebi, a consultant plastic surgeon at the Royal Free Hospital, told me. "Long-term data shows high rates of patient dissatisfaction." The BAUS report made five recommendations. All patients should undergo a comprehensive assessment; a psychological referral should be prioritised; non-absorbable injectables should be strongly recommended against; and surgical techniques for enhancement should also be recommended against. It also advised that the use of absorbable injectable fillers – such as hyaluronic acid – should be avoided.
Mubarak drove home the fact that the bulk of men pursuing penis enlargement don't actually have a small penis. "A 2022 review of 437 men seeking penile augmentation found that only four had an anatomically abnormal penis," he told me, and "among the men who underwent a structured counselling programme, over 96% were reassured and ultimately decided not to pursue augmentation." Outreach, it seems, can be even more effective than injecting.
In January this year, a man named Michael Phillips, 38, made a dramatic appearance on ITV's This Morning. Speaking to its hosts, Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley, the American art dealer explained that he believes he has the smallest penis in the world. Diagnosed with a micro-penis, he faces severe complications urinating and having intercourse. "It should be known that it's a medical condition," he said. He had tried fat grafting, but it hadn't worked and other surgeries seemed too expensive. "I would say: just find a place where you can talk about it freely or where you feel comfortable, even if it's just one-on-one with somebody."
Phillips demonstrated an old balm for penis anxiety: achieving acceptance. But this kind of public openness is rare. In 2021, a Small Dong
March in Los Angeles aimed to raise awareness, but any penis-positivity movement ended there. Malik, whose videos about urology have racked up over half a billion views on YouTube, believes we need to change how men perceive sex and to shift focus away from the penis altogether. "It's about understanding that it's not just your penis that gives someone pleasure," she told me. "There's so much more to it. And you have to learn how to do all those other things. The whole body is an erogenous zone. Let's focus on stimulating in other ways."
But for some, the trauma is permanent. "The only thing that has ever provided any sort of relief in dealing with this has been interacting with other supportive people going through the same thing online," Tom told me. He has been left jaded by professionals. "Medical experts and therapists wave away any concerns about having a small penis as body dysmorphia, which makes them pointless in this respect as far as I'm concerned." He went on, "No one seems to want to acknowledge this is a real problem with no solution. I am stuck in a rut and not at all optimistic that my situation will improve."
Chris, on the other hand, has found a left-field solution. "Something that really helped me was buying a dildo," he said. "Buying a realistic dildo with dimensions similar to mine really puts into perspective where I stand and I honestly think my penis isn't as horrible as I thought."
Small-penis anxiety often sucks its victims back into their shell and they suffer in silence. For a minority of those enduring the pangs of small-penis anxiety, going under the knife may make a difference. For others, reaching out to friends and therapists will really move the needle. Perhaps, the most painstaking process is making peace, on the inside, with what's on the outside. "One thing that has helped me cope is just appreciating what my body can do. I don't like my size, but I like how my penis looks," Chris told me. "I think some people lose perspective on what they have, focusing so much on what they don't. And that is fair. But it's ultimately not healthy. I just want everyone to find peace." • Some names have been changed
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By SIMON PARKIN
Photographs MATILDA HILL-JENKINS
in exile
After criticising the invasion of Ukraine, the comedian Sasha Nezlobin, Russia's answer to Michael McIntyre, exchanged arena stages for exile and a new kind of stand-up act, performed in a language he is still learning. But his provocative truths about the regime are clear
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Across the country Russians opposed to the war had begun posting black squares on social media. It was a simple, mute rebuke to what Vladimir Putin’s government had termed a “special military operation”, a bloodless euphemism for the war against Ukraine. Nezlobin, whose niece lives in Kyiv, posted the square to Instagram, then closed his laptop.
This small act of resistance might have passed unnoticed were it not for the fact that, in Russia, Nezlobin was about as famous as a comedian can be. The comparison to Michael McIntyre occasionally made by his publicists is imprecise but not wholly fanciful. At the height of its popularity, Comedy Club, the TV programme that first made Nezlobin known, had around 2.5 million regular viewers. He went on to perform in arenas and before President Dmitry Medvedev; he wrote and starred in a sitcom bearing his name, and directed The Groom, a 2016 Russian comedy that sold more than 2m cinema tickets. He was not, in other words, an anonymous dissenter.
Later that day, the wife of a friend called to warn Nezlobin that the government was preparing a law that could make it a crime to encourage others to protest the war. “You posted this black square,” she told him. “It is criminal now. Delete it.” Nezlobin ignored her advice. Then another comedian asked whether he would lend his name to an open letter addressed to Vladimir Putin condemning the invasion. Nezlobin agreed, and the independent news outlet Meduza published the letter. His friend’s wife called again. “Now you’ve signed this letter,” she said, exasperatedly. “You will go to prison too.”
It is difficult to abandon one’s life while the danger remains ambiguous, when the streets look unchanged and the new day so much resembles the previous one. To leave too soon can feel melodramatic, but to leave too late can be ruinous. Nezlobin had grown up with stories from the Stalinist era of people denounced as spies or traitors, who waited until the state’s intentions were unmistakable,
by which point their choices had catastrophically narrowed. “The Soviet era is defined by stories of people being killed, imprisoned or forced to leave,” he says. “I felt I had to be somewhere else.” Nezlobin began searching for flights to the United States, for which he already held a valid “talent” visa reserved for people of exceptional achievement in the arts. He bought tickets “just in case,” he told me, and packed a “crisis suitcase”.
His wife, however, felt he was overreacting. If he really felt he needed to flee, she said, he could take their daughter; and if the situation deteriorated, she would follow. That evening, Nezlobin met two friends to determine what laws, if any, they had broken. Even as they debated, European countries were closing their airspace to Russian aircraft, narrowing the available route west. “I said: ‘Fuck, we will be stuck in Russia and it will be the Iron Curtain again,’” he recalls. “My friends assured me everything would be fine, but the closures kept coming.”
After two hours of fitful sleep, Nezlobin awoke with the cold certainty that he must leave immediately. He roused his daughter and told her they were going on holiday. As he packed the small pottery figures she had made, she grew suspicious. “Why are you packing my crafts?” she asked. “Honey,” he replied, “I want them to come on vacation with us.” His suitcase contained the pottery, her favourite toys, his laptop and several pairs of smart shoes supplied by a friend who had judged his original selection inadequate for America. It was still dark when they left.
Nezlobin reached New York without a plan. (“My only plan had been to reach New York.”) They stayed in a hotel, then rented an Airbnb while waiting for Nezlobin’s wife to decide whether to join them. When the next direct flight from Moscow to New York turned back near Greenland as more airspace closed, Nezlobin called her again. “Please leave now,” he said. She accused him of running away with their child. Only after her friends also urged her to go did she finally agree to join them.
A ticket was found along one of the few remaining routes: Moscow to St Petersburg, then Istanbul, then New York. Nezlobin watched his wife’s flight wend through the night on the free version of Flightradar, a plane-tracking app, repeatedly refreshing the page. When the plane suddenly altered course near Turkey, he feared they were too late. His daughter found him rigid before the screen. “Daddy,” she asked, “has something happened?”
Nezlobin, who is 43, grew up during the 1990s in Polevskoy, an industrial town near Yekaterinburg. He remembers a happy childhood in what seemed to him a great city. Only after travelling abroad did he understand how much deprivation and danger he had accepted as ordinary. Poverty and addiction were rife; some of the damage, he told me, could be traced to the Soviet war in Afghanistan, from which men often returned wounded or addicted to heroin.
When Nezlobin was in his mid-teens he Djed at his high-school disco. During one set, a group of local gangsters entered the hall. One carried a shotgun, apparently for no reason beyond demonstrating who held power in the town. At the time, Nezlobin found the sight almost glamorous; only later did it seem horrifying. For years he continued to hear news of the men: one had gone to prison; another had been released and murdered; another had died in jail. “It was like The Godfather,” he says.
For a few years, his family was insulated from this precarity. His mother worked in accounting at one of the town’s principal factories, while his father ran a business installing underground pipes. “We had a Jeep and a videotape player,” Nezlobin recalls. “Only a few people in the city had those things. For two years we lived like Scrooge McDuck’s nephews. Then everything changed.”
His father had taken out a large loan in American dollars. When the financial crisis sent the dollar sharply higher against the rouble, the family’s debt multiplied. A Russian car replaced the Jeep. His parents kept their apartment and could still support Nezlobin through university, but the chapter of abundance was over. His father “never recovered from it economically,” Nezlobin says.
While studying economics in Yekaterinburg, Nezlobin had little reason to imagine becoming a stand-up comedian. The country had a tradition of satirists, but they tended to read comic stories and miniature scenes from sheets of paper. “Nobody said things like, ‘My wife and I have problems,’ or, ‘My child pisses me off.’” In Russia, the comic’s private life was not considered suitable public material.
20
A comedian in exile
But he had seen another possibility by watching his family's VHS player. The first stand-up performance he remembers seeing was Eddie Murphy's Raw – one person alone onstage, constructing a world from his embarrassments and grievances. Nezlobin began searching for whatever else he could find.
Russia's nearest equivalent to a comedy industry was KVN, an enormously popular competition in which teams representing different cities performed sketches, songs and short satirical plays – "each one its own Saturday Night Live," as Nezlobin describes it. They were judged with numbered scorecards, as though humour could be marked like ballroom dancing, and competed for the chance to appear at a national festival and ultimately on television.
Nezlobin began writing jokes for a Yekaterinburg team. Because the group was too poor to hire technical staff, he also became its sound engineer. He watched from the side of the stage as the actors acquired modest fame. When strangers approached, they recognised the performers, and only shook Nezlobin's hand as an afterthought.
That humiliation became material. At a KVN festival, the organisers held an unofficial dark-comedy night where teams could perform jokes unsuitable for TV. Nezlobin wrote a monologue about the indignities of being the anonymous sound engineer in a celebrated troupe. But before he could perform it, an incident at the airport placed both his freedom and his nascent career in jeopardy.
Several members of the team had brought a small quantity of marijuana. Nezlobin was assigned to conceal it in his cheeks. "They told me I had a big face, so that became my mission." The plan might have worked had the team not mislaid a case belonging to a games console. Indignant, they approached the airport police and demanded an investigation. The officers instead searched them.
By then, Nezlobin had transferred the marijuana to his pocket. As the search began, he confessed: "I have something." The police separated him from the others and questioned him, alternating between reassurance and menace. Then, he says, they demanded money. To save him from jail, his team surrendered the fund intended to feed them during the festival. The amount of marijuana was small, but in Russia, he says, the difference between a minor offence and a catastrophic one could depend on what a police laboratory chose to record. "They can add whatever they like," he says. "Suddenly you go straight to prison for five or 10 years." Before a judge, Nezlobin made the case for his unrealised future. "I said, 'You direct my life now.

'The Soviet era is defined by stories of people being killed, imprisoned or forced to leave. I felt I had to be somewhere else'

You can send it in one direction or the other." Nezlobin said he wanted to make comedy, not take drugs, and the judge chose leniency. "God bless that man."
That evening, Nezlobin delivered his monologue about the anonymous sound engineer whom strangers greeted only because, having shaken everyone else's hand, they had acquired too much momentum to stop. The routine won a cash prize almost exactly equal to the money the team had spent on the police bribe. They celebrated by spending it all again.
His wife joined did eventually join him in America, and he began rebuilding his comedy career among the Russian diaspora. He performed first in Los Angeles, then travelled to cities such as Philadelphia, Miami, Pittsburgh and New York; his tours eventually carried him as far as Berlin. Even in places he had never previously visited, he could draw crowds of several hundred émigrés who remembered him from Russian TV, and who arrived as surprised by one another's presence as he was by theirs.
But the rooms were smaller and the money less dependable. Nezlobin sold his family's Moscow apartment and borrowed money from friends, some of which, he tells me, he still owes. His daughter, accustomed to the comforts of his former career, wondered why the family no longer flew business class. "Are we poor now?" she asked.
For a time, Nezlobin considered returning to Russia. Production companies still approached him about TV work and, technically, nobody had told him his freedom was in peril. Then he developed an English-language routine about what he saw as the moral arithmetic of Putin's Russia. Compressing several different offences and sentencing provisions into a bleak comparison, he argued that anti-war expression could be punished more severely than rape.
He posted the bit to Instagram, where it went viral. Russian outlets removed the substance of the joke, reporting only that the exiled comic was encouraging his followers to commit sexual assault against Russian soldiers. His mother called him up, horrified, and the attacks began immediately. Reporters from pro-Kremlin outlets began visiting his former apartment and approaching his Muscovite neighbours in search of material for further stories. The media portrayed Nezlobin as a traitor whose American dream had collapsed, an erstwhile TV star reduced to humiliatingly small venues. One journalist described him as having been left "without fame and money". Another claimed that America had not welcomed his family and that he could not compete with local →
21

For the Russians in the room, there is an obvious frisson of release, a fellow countryman saying in public what many might no longer dare say
comedians. In this state parable, the lesson is obvious: leave Russia, criticise the war and a life of insignificance awaits.
Nezlobin is one of several prominent Russian comedians to have left the country. Maxim Galkin and Ruslan Bely both moved abroad and were subsequently designated “foreign agents”. But pressure predates the invasion, too: in 2020, Aleksandr Dolgopolov fled after police began investigating a routine that mocked Putin and organised religion. The pressure has since intensified. In February, the stand-up comedian Artemy Ostanin was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison for jokes about a disabled war veteran and Jesus.
No publicly confirmed criminal charge hangs over Nezlobin. But activists have demanded that he be designated a foreign agent, and he recently received a notice through Russia’s public-services portal instructing him to report to the military commissariat in Polevskoy, where he remains registered. The stated purpose was to verify his personal information; Nezlobin cannot tell whether it was routine bureaucracy or something else. Men summoned ostensibly to check their documents have, in some cases, been enlisted and sent to Ukraine. “I don’t think they are planning to send me to war,” he told me. “It would create too much media attention. And, frankly, if they are calling me up, it suggests how desperate things have become.”
Exile has also pushed Nezlobin towards an ambition he had long deferred. This August, at the Pleasance Dome in Edinburgh, the former Russian arena comic is performing I’m Fine, his first full comedy hour in English. We meet at a preview in London. At first glance, he looks vaguely hooliganish, with broad shoulders and closely cropped hair. A Russian TV producer once told him that his face was “emotionless”. But in conversation, and especially on stage, he routinely grins to reveal two deep dimples.
Sympathetic audiences are welcome; the leap Nezlobin is making is considerable. When, in the dressing room, I ask how many full performances he has given in English, he squints and begins counting. “More than five,” he says, “but fewer than 10. And never for as long as this.”
He opens the routine by comparing himself to Melania Trump attempting to deliver a speech in broken English, impersonating her attempts to distance her husband from Jeffrey Epstein. The joke establishes the show’s tone: self-deprecating and alert to his discomfort, but clear-eyed about his former status and altered fortunes. He is also unafraid to criticise the regime from which he fled, pointing out its cruelties and absurdities. At one point, he turns to
22
A comedian in exile
the Russian Supreme Court's decision to designate the supposed "international LGBT movement" an extremist organisation. "Have you met the gays?" he asks. "They are incredibly disorganised." For the Russians in the room, there is an obvious frisson of release, a fellow countryman saying in public what many might no longer dare say beyond the home.
Nezlobin's situation provides a strong comic premise: a household name reduced to performing, as he puts it, for "40 people who don't really want to see me"; the successful film director and showrunner stumbling through English sentences with an apologetic grin. At one point he says that the Russian speakers in the audience are thinking how much better their English is than his, while the native speakers must feel as if they're trapped with a talkative Uber driver. "Maybe it would be better if I performed this way around," he says, turning his back and miming a steering wheel. He glances over his shoulder, thickening his accent: "I used to be famous stand-up in Russia, you know?"
Exiles must often contend not only with changed circumstances but collapsed status. Another well-known Russian comic told Nezlobin that he fantasised about beginning an open-mic set by showing the audience a photograph of himself performing at a sold-out arena. "Nobody cares," Nezlobin told him. Rather than mourn the life he lost, Nezlobin has chosen to embrace what his decision preserved, or even facilitated: the freedom to retain an honest comic voice. "I watch the stand-up and films made by people who stayed, and I no longer feel connected to much of it," he says. "They are trying so hard to avoid certain subjects. One comedian I used to love has become much worse because he keeps pushing himself away from the truth. We met in Budapest and I said, 'What are you doing? This is bad.' He said, 'Yes, but I can't do anything else.'"
For the first two years of his self-imposed exile, Nezlobin remained uncertain whether his decision to leave Russia had preserved his integrity or ruined his life. He believed opposing the invasion was just what "any good human being should do", but that moral certainty offered little protection against his newfound debt and obscurity. Only during the past year or so has his doubt begun to recede, he says. Each new restriction, each account of artists bending their work around forbidden subjects, has made the life he might have resumed less recognisable.
And Nezlobin's opposition to the invasion has not softened in exile. He regards it as both "a terrible mistake and a crime", one that has "killed countless people, traumatised a generation on both sides of the border, driven a lasting wedge between two neighbouring nations and



Sasha Nezlobin performing in LA, where he's still making a name for himself; and in front of huge crowds in Russia, where he was a famous comedian
set back Russia's economy and intellectual life." Although critics on Russian social media call him a traitor, Nezlobin considers his dissent an expression of patriotism. "I love Russia," he tells me. "That is precisely why I criticise the actions of the Russian government. This war has brought immense suffering to Ukrainian civilians, but it has also done enormous damage to Russia and pushed the country backwards."
He sometimes imagines returning to Russia as an old man, after the present regime and the war have passed, teaching cinema, or helping rebuild some part of the damaged culture. "Maybe I will go there when I am very old," he tells me. "I will bring back what I learned and try to help build a better country." But he admits this might be no more than a consoling fantasy.
Nezlobin and his wife had already decided to separate before the invasion. Exile forced them back under one roof; they now live cordially in the same Los Angeles apartment, sometimes wondering whether to complete the divorce or attempt a reconciliation. There are still things he misses: his country home outside Moscow, the river, the ease of speaking without first having to map out the sentence in his head. But the longing, he says, has become less acute. Whenever the feeling returns, he reads the news from Russia and feels relieved to be elsewhere.
At the climax of I'm Fine, Nezlobin tells the audience that performing in English was an ambition he had possessed for years. "It took a war to push me to do something I could, in fact, have done at any moment," he says. Then he offers the lesson with which he has tried to make sense of the cost: "Don't wait for a war to do the thing you have always dreamed of."
In the lobby afterwards, he stands beside the entrance while much of the audience forms a loose queue to shake his hand, take a selfie, or simply pull him into an embrace. Some speak to him in Russian and linger, reluctant to surrender their turn. The daughter of one of his friends – a businessman now living in the United States who cannot safely return to Russia – comes over to greet him. "Were any of my jokes offensive to people your age?" Nezlobin asks. "Perhaps to some of them," she replies, "but not to me."
Once the impromptu meet-and-greet has ended, Nezlobin tells me that the ritual after his shows has drastically changed since he left Russia. Increasingly, people come not for photographs but to tell him that they, too, have left behind homes and identities. They thank him for allowing them to watch him struggle in public and continue anyway. The loss of status has, in a way, become a source of new authority. And for a few minutes, in the bright, cramped lobby of a British theatre, he is famous again, differently now, and perhaps more meaningfully. ●
23
Do you find sweating in an airless wooden box relaxing? How about awkward small talk with semi-naked strangers? In the first of a new series, the fun-sceptic Observer writer YOEL NOORALI is forced to try one of the UK’s most popular – and masochistic – wellness crazes: the communal sauna...
Illustration KLAUS KREMMERZ
24

To sauna or not to sauna? That is not the question. The question today is where to sauna. That we all ought to sauna is taken for granted, in the same way it's now taken for granted that we ought to padel, to park run, to boulder. We don't ask whether any of this "fun" is necessary, just where, when, how soon? Somehow over the past few years, Instagram has scrambled the relationship between fun and self-optimisation, and rather than have actual fun – say, in a bar – we've decided fun is performative: not something "had" – nobody "has" fun any more – but something achieved, so now every new form of fun sold to us expects us to pant, to lift, contort, sweat, endure, collapse. Today,
fun is good for you. Fun pushes you to the limit. Fun means relaxing by withstanding an extra five minutes in a 90C sauna.
At least, that's my impression – I can't say for sure. Until recently I'd never tried any of the kind of fun that might, my wife repeats to me, improve my health. And when the editor of this magazine learned I'd never given any of this fun a chance, he wondered, perhaps optimistically, if he could pay me to do so, as if he'd conspired with my wife to engineer the one scenario where I couldn't refuse. Perhaps even more optimistically, he hoped I'd return an unbiased assessment of this fun, with the fresh eyes of inexperience, for a new series of essays in which a sadist at The Observer forces fun upon me and I report back – beginning with the communal sauna and its trendy accompaniment, the post-sauna cold plunge. →
25
My wife is a big believer in “relaxing”. When she watches me drive abroad, grinding my teeth at a roundabout, she seizes that as the moment to tell me that I, too, need to “relax”. Other moments include when I’m defrosting the freezer she left open overnight, and when I’m rearranging the dishes she stacked in the dishwasher. Saunas are one of her many means of relaxing.
“They’re good for your breathing,” she has said before.
“I don’t breathe enough?” I asked, inhaling theatrically.
“You breathe way, way too much,” she said. “It’s like you’re running from the police.” She demonstrated panting for a while.
“Has no one ever taught you how to breathe?” she asked.
I thought back over my GCSEs. “No,” I said. “Nobody’s mentioned it before.”
Now, as I booked a sauna online, that conversation haunted me. When I went to enter my card details, I kept hesitating with a sigh, unable to overcome the concept of paying to breathe, given I’ve breathed loads over the past 35 years and always for free. My editor hadn’t mentioned expenses, presumably because that wouldn’t be in the spirit of things: I needed to experience the sauna exactly as the public did. Finally, I made the plunge: I paid £23 for two sessions.
According to the British Sauna Society – a real thing – the UK is now home to almost 640 public saunas, nearly 20% more than at the start of this year. The UK has fallen victim to a Finnish psyop, seeded in our minds by that one Scandinavian friend who’s always so smug about their superior country. Saunas have spread like anthrax all the way from Falmouth to the Highlands.
I decided to plot my local communal saunas on a rough spectrum, ranging from hippie to yuppie. When deciding where to go, I wasn’t sure which sounded more unpleasant, so I booked into one of each, supposing that I’m yuppie in spirit but, because of the state of the journalism industry, hippie in bank balance.
Neither of the saunas’ 800-word liability waivers made a very relaxing first impression, with their hurried mentions of “seizures”, “airborne diseases” and the slightly slapstick “collisions with objects inside the sauna”. It sounded as if I’d stagger out covered in sores, relaxed only inasmuch as I would no longer possess a skull. For the yuppie sauna I signed an additional “press and media release”, granting the sauna – the sauna – the rights to my image, as if they were planning to broadcast the sauna live on TV.
I trialled the hippie sauna first, which uses no electricity. My first challenge was deciding on a time to attend. No matter how far the vogue for relaxing might have come, I couldn’t entertain relaxing at 9am. 9am is for panic, tension, coffee. The next available slot, 10.30am, was also for panic, tension, coffee – and midday, too, but the more I thought about it the more I realised that I earmarked every hour prior to 6pm for panic, tension, coffee, and so I settled for midday.
Peckham’s Community Sauna Bath is located in a community garden in the safer end of Burgess Park, occupying a spot that would have been perfect for a nice restaurant or bar. I’ve usually drunk six coffees by midday, but that morning a bad hangover necessitated reducing that to four, and I entered already angry.
I kept recalling my wife’s suggestion to “breathe less”. Sounds like my wife wants to kill me, I thought. “That’s it,” I imagined her saying, “a little less, just a little less, now why not stop altogether?” I looked around. A fence literally made of sticks enclosed an open-air area for two saunas.
On the wall of the small hut that served as an office I read flyers advertising “reiki”, “reflexology”, something called the “London Permaculture Festival” and something called “A new work inspired by Hildegard von Bingen’s 12th-century morality play Ordo Virtutum.” Temperatures that day were verging on 30C. It seemed unimaginable that Finland had convinced anyone to relax by stepping into a wooden box three times as hot.
“Hi,” a young man said, watching me photograph the flyers. “Have you been here before?”
“No,” I replied, straightening up. “My wife tells me I need to ‘relax’.” I put “relax” in air quotes so he knew I didn’t quite believe in the concept and was trialling it with a mind only open enough to dismiss it. He offered me a quick introduction, explaining that they didn’t really have any rules, before explaining a few of the main rules, in front of a chalkboard that listed a number of other rules. Then he directed me to a stall to undress.
Next I wandered to a stool to drink a cup of free mint and eucalyptus tea, nearly rolling my eyes. I felt annoyed at myself for enjoying it, as if they’d somehow tricked me into relaxing, and forced my face into a sort of scowl as I drank my second cup. When I couldn’t delay any longer, I rose for the sauna. At the same time, so did the session’s only other guest, a middle-aged man, visiting – unmistakably – under his wife’s orders. Our eyes met. “I promise,” I joked, raising my palms, “I’m not following you.”
“It’s my first time,” he replied, a little nonsensically, as if we were about to have sex.
“Same,” I replied, also as if we were about to have sex.
A good friend used to regularly visit a gay sauna, a very different kind of sauna, which I realised I’d overlooked when formulating my spectrum. The same friend told me Burgess Park is a popular cruising spot. This jumpy middle-aged man sounded a lot like he expected sex. I’m polite to a fault. Was I about to accidentally have sex with this man?
Quite the opposite – we were about to burn ourselves alive. It’ll sound obvious, but the sauna was extraordinarily hot. Both of us had clearly dreaded and prepared 10 minutes of small talk, which we threw out the second we entered. Any concession to the pressure to socialise – to commune – at the communal sauna collapsed under the far greater pressure not to collapse, which required every ounce of my energy. And yet, not too much energy, because if I tried any harder not to collapse I would surely collapse from the exhaustion. Such a precise balance to strike, I thought, panicking. What is wrong with Finnish people? Breathe, I told myself. Breathe. Breathe more...
And so on.
I’d told myself not to overthink the sauna like this but on the bus over I’d Googled “sauna death statistics” and discovered that even Finland reports 40 deaths by sauna per year. Finland. What hope did that leave me? Sweat blinded my eyes. My silver chain scalded my chest and was perhaps branding me like a cow. My glasses were definitely branding my cheeks. Briefly, I tried to read my book, an activity that
26
Surviving the sauna
might have actually been relaxing, if the pages weren’t about to burst into flames.
All of this panic I suffered in complete silence, naturally, even trying to smile once or twice, out of some sense of propriety, just like the middle-aged man, battling the heart attack he was no doubt there specifically to postpone. I also felt an unaccountable pressure to persist in the sauna, maybe because I’d spent £8 and needed to get my money’s worth, but without a watch I had no way of telling the time. Somebody should’ve installed a clock, I thought, or four clocks, like in a bank: London, New York, Paris, Tokyo, so we’d know exactly how much time had passed everywhere, no matter which direction we looked in this pine coffin. What the fuck is the time? Where the fu-
The door opened.
Air.
Is that you, God?
It was the man I’d spoken to when I arrived, millennia ago. “Essential oils?” he asked, eyes flicking between the two of us.
“Sure,” we murmured.
“Lavender and eucalyptus,” he said. He lifted a ladle of water into which he squeezed precisely three drops – economising, I assumed, but the eruption of lavender from the steam as he poured the water across the coals almost knocked me down. Volcanic, I thought, biblical. Jesus, he’s going. Where the hell is he going? He can’t leave us like this. Here it was, I thought, suffocating: here was wellness. Not lavender, but a lavender Hiroshima. Why isn’t it enough to relax any more? Why must we relax to the max?
Then, when I suddenly remembered – to be honest, I had never stopped thinking about it – that I’d left my valuables in a locker without a padlock, my mind reframed the lavender as a decoy, a literal smoke screen, which the young man or a network of young men from the community garden would use to rob us blind, and that panic spiralling into images of Hamburglars prowling around my wallet was enough for me to finally bolt out of the sauna, stammering a completely unnecessary apology to the middle-aged man, something like “I’m sorry I have to go”, and back to the lockers, gasping for breath, where I found my wallet and iPhone just as I’d left them, hidden in my socks in my shoes.
At the yuppier Sauna Social Club, I was less worried about being robbed and more worried about the temptation to rob.
While I waited in the lounge for a previous session to finish, I watched guests arrive with Lululemon yoga mats strapped to their backs, instilling in both the men and women a vaguely Legolasian grace. They glided through the door to adjacent sofas, scrolling iPhones. Because this is 2026, the yuppie sauna co-opted the same earthy New Age aesthetics as the hippie sauna, but knew to charge double the price for a few superficial differences. Ambient noise droned over the speakers, insisting everyone relax. Tatami mats covered the floor, in case anyone wanted to relax on the ground like a dog. Coconut water sold for a relaxing £3.50. Untouched issues of Poetry Review lined a shelf. Electricity surged through the building, which, if you haven’t already guessed, was in an arch under a railway bridge.
I’ve always been impressed by how the business community managed to convince fashionable people not only to hang out under railway bridges, like trolls, but to love it. In they flock, asking what’s for sale. The hippie sauna had erected a slightly hopeful “merch” stand, selling T-shirts, but they’d lacked the killer cynicism of the yuppies, whose kiosk ran a roaring trade in regenerative juice shots that reversed the dehydration they’d caused. Manufactured demand is nothing new, of course, but at least the military-industrial complex has enough shame to lie about its motives. By contrast, on the website of the Sauna Social Club the very first thing you read is “forget the pub, saunas are the new place to socialise”, a scheme so flagrantly evil as to evoke the pantomime villainy of Mr Burns blocking out the sun.
We had a Sophie’s Choice of two saunas: the “silent listening sauna”, set at 92C, and another set in the mid-80s, in which guests can talk or, as it turned out, network. I chose the networking sauna, for a slower but louder death. While larger than the hippie sauna, with space for eight to incinerate, it supplied even less breath, as the yuppies were hogging all the air for their terrible conversations, though I guess the talk was what you’d expect from people trying to relax: “Restructuring”, “Venice Biennale”, “He was supposed to be covering Bernie”, “This family was not – at all – digitally marketing its yurt.” When I wrote the quotes down afterwards I almost didn’t include that last one, as I assumed nobody would believe me; the man had returned from his trip to Kazakhstan, baffled by the region’s slow uptake of new media. I didn’t make a note of the other 90% of the conversation, about “stress” and “burnout”, as given we were in a sauna on a weekday afternoon I refused to believe anybody was under much strain, except for one highly strung, highly silent, assassin-like man tracking himself on an Apple Watch.
As before, I attempted to get my full money’s worth of sauna, staying way beyond the point of safety. When I finally burst out the door for the back patio, sweltering, I nearly barged down the other guests on their way to the cold-plunge tubs, where I experienced a whole new hell. How had they managed to make something cold so harrowing after something hot? As hot as the sauna was, the water was cold. I submerged for less than a second and ran back to the sauna for the heat and might have got stuck bouncing in that loop if not for overhearing that a “DJ” was arriving soon, to play music and so forth, and I needed to get far away before that started. So I dressed and fled, never to return. ●
27
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p40 Summer grills from Tomos Parry

The multimedia artist CORBIN SHAW finds meditative solace in the organised chaos of his Bethnal Green studio
My studio resembles both a teenager's bedroom and a magpie's nest: it's a sacred place for ideas and bits and bobs I've collected. At one point there was too much visual noise, making it difficult for me to work, so now I keep my accumulations to one wall. Right now there's a foam sword and shield I wanted to use in a show, torn-out newspaper headlines and weird images from the internet. Someone once told me the only artwork William Blake had in his house was Melencolia I by Albrecht Dürer, which I found fascinating, so that's up there, too. — The studio is in Bethnal Green, which is a diverse, tight-knit working-class community that reminds me of Rotherham, close to where I'm from. It's also very noisy, so I'm lucky to have somewhere to find a moment of quiet. I think I have ADHD and the only refuge from what's happening in my head is needling away on something repetitive here. When my hands take over from my brain, I can sort of meditate. It's incredible to me that a solitary process in the studio goes on to have a life of its own outside. That's when this room feels particularly special. — The internet can be amazing, but social media drains the life out of me. It's like junk food for the soul. On these platforms we upload parts of our work, sell parts of ourselves off and receive nothing back. I can escape from all that here, listen to music and create. •
As told to HAYLEY MYERS • Portrait MATILDA HILL-JENKINS
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HOME & AWAY


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23.08.26
THE OBSERVER MAGAZINE
HOME & AWAY


In the dining room of George Saumarez Smith's Victorian villa, a sideboard designed by his grandfather Raymond Erith is loaded with Sunderland lustreware. The study (centre) is densely packed with architectural prints – and pelargoniums
try to draw every day,” says George Saumarez Smith, putting the finishing touches to a precise pencil sketch of a 15th-century Florentine chancel chapel. “If I don’t, I feel I haven’t made the most of the day.” It’s a routine that the classical architect – a leader in his field – has followed since he was 13, when he badly cut his right hand on a glass bottle of suncream on an Italian family holiday. The experience saw him bundled to hospital to get stitches – and pledge never to take his aptitude for drawing for granted. Often, it’s a quick sketch on a scrap of paper. Sometimes, it’s an exquisite, measured sketchbook rendering. But it’s the act, rather than the finished result, that really matters. “It gives me focus,” says Saumarez Smith, who has devoted his career to the study and design of extraordinary classical buildings.
Words ELIZABETH METCALFE • Photographs EMLI BENDIXEN
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HOME & AWAY
Today, he is drawing at the dining table of his 1860s home in Winchester. It’s the room he spends most of his time in – drawing, writing, eating. “Architects often exist in quite monochrome worlds,” he says, against the backdrop of Morris & Co’s Indian wallpaper, a colourful kilim rug and his two dogs – Teasle, a cairn terrier, and Piglet, a Jack Russell – at his feet. “Colour is definitely something I’ve come to later. This house just really suits it.”
When Saumarez Smith first moved here in 2006, the semi-detached Victorian villa’s appeal lay both in its proximity to Adam Architecture – the firm where he has been a director for more than 20 years – and its fine bones. “It felt like a very good canvas,” he says of the arrangement of rooms spread over lower ground, raised ground and first floors.
The interior serves as a reminder of an important lesson for his own projects: that large, rectangular rooms are always a good idea. “They’re easy to furnish and flexible,” he says. Though far humbler in scale and context, the house represents many of the ideals of one of his heroes, the 16th-century architect Andrea Palladio. “Palladian villas aren’t about the furnishing or decoration,” he says. “They’re defined by good dimensions – and the fact that they can be inhabited in different ways.” As it happens, Saumarez Smith didn’t swap much around here. The major overhaul has been an aesthetic slow burn, as he filled the space over the decades with brown furniture, antique books, lustreware ceramics and handwoven rugs.
That he’d become an architect was both destined – and gently deterred. His maternal grandfather was Raymond Erith, a renowned classical architect of the 20th century, known best for rebuilding 10 and 11 Downing Street after the Second World War. But his parents – the tapestry designer Laura Saumarez Smith and bookseller John Saumarez Smith – cautioned against it. “My grandfather had been a lone wolf, keeping the flame of classicism alight against the tide of modernism,” he says. “The going had been hard.” But architecture had already taken hold. “I spent my childhood drawing buildings,” he says.

While studying architecture at Edinburgh University, his education in classicism took on a self-directed turn. He spent “a pretty mad couple of decades” measuring and sketching old buildings, and traipsing around England looking at country houses. Five formative years working for leading classical architect Quinlan Terry followed (one year was entirely dedicated to learning about staircases, another about stonework), before joining Adam Architecture in 2003. His first standalone project was a compact brick-built Palladian-inspired house in Hampshire. In the decades since he has designed neoclassical-style villas in New Delhi inspired by Greek antiquity and, alongside
The black and gold Morris & Co ‘Indian’ wallpaper in the dining room was originally designed by architect George Gilbert Scott; an Edward Bawden print hangs to the left of the chimney breast
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HOME & AWAY

Ben Pentreath, led the ambitious and experimental Regency-style new town of Poundbury in Dorset, built on Duchy of Cornwall land (the client is King Charles).
His designs for Poundbury were inspired by the north London house that Saumarez Smith grew up in – “a very plain terraced house, with no wasted space” – designed by his grandfather. “I find it endlessly fascinating, the capacity of buildings to be living, breathing entities that, when well designed, can enhance people’s lives,” he says. “Architecture is really as much about people as it is about buildings.”
While much of Saumarez Smith’s work is grounded in classicism, his approach has evolved, he says, to be, “more heart than head”. It’s this emotive quality that has given rise to his latest book, The Romance of Classicism, a survey of his architectural philosophy, explored through 12 country-house projects. “Craft, beauty, materials and a wish to design buildings of lasting value drive what I do,” he says. Rather than a reductive debate between traditionalism and modernism, the goal is finding, “a healthy balance between the two,” he says.
Saumarez Smith’s own home is defined by a self-confessed, “voracious collecting habit”. Vast reams of architectural books line the walls of his lower-ground floor library. While monochromatic antique engravings of buildings and architectural drawings are set against a red and blue indienne-inspired floral design from Morris & Co. This cocooning space is an homage to his late father. “He was a living, breathing antiquarian,” he says of the
influential bookseller, who worked at Mayfair’s Heywood Hill bookshop for more than four decades, and died in 2021.
Moving up through the house, the interior takes on an airier, more lively feel. The entrance hall is painted in Farrow & Ball’s punchy Stone Blue; and the kitchen is a joyful medley of strong oranges, blues and reds, offset by a stainless-steel Bulthaup island. Having lived with grey walls in the early 2000s, this shift to colour was partly sparked by collecting linocuts by 20th-century printmaker Sheila Robinson. Part of the Great Bardfield Artists group, alongside Eric Ravilious and Edward Bawden, over 30 of her prints are scattered throughout the house. The effect is at once uplifting and playful. Sunderland lustreware jugs are another obsession. “Home really is a place of refuge for me,” he says. “Being surrounded by the comfort of personal things collected over the years, which reflect my life and interests.”
One of Saumarez Smith’s guiding architectural principles is to practice being patient with buildings. The implication is that classical beauty can’t be rushed. Having come to life over more than two decades, his house is defined by that same sense of comfort and pleasing inevitability. “I’m a classical architect who collects old books and linocuts,” he says. “I’ve followed all the cues from my family. The apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree.” ●
The Romance of Classicism: Designing the English Country House for Today (Rizzoli, out 8 September, £47.95). Save 10% at observershop.co.uk
The kitchen walls are daubed in Edward Bulmer’s ‘Dutch Orange,’ together with ‘Spa Blue’ and ‘Porphyry Red’ from Papers & Paints. A guest bedroom is papered in ‘Monkeys and Birds’ from St Jude’s by Sheila Robinson, whose vibrant prints also line the hallway (below)


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HOME & AWAY



In a leafy square on Filotimou Street, Atlas is a lively spot for Greek-Levantine fare: tomato fritters, slow-braised beef, lahmacun flatbreads. House-made lager is on tap and a wine list heralds small Greek producers.


Named after the alley it sits in, this coffee shop and bar was launched by four friends last year. The grilled cheese sandwich is a daytime hit, while marinated anchovies and olives pair with negronis at sundown when a DJ takes up residence.
Athens
Kypseli means beehive in Greek, befitting the tight-knit warren of neoclassical, Art Deco and mid-20th-century Athenian architecture here. Situated north of the city's centre, much of the area has sat in decline for decades, but a young and multicultural creative crowd are reviving the neighbourhood with gritty enthusiasm, making moves in food and art. The neighbourhood's Municipal Market, a modernist building that once housed a traditional food market, for example, has been reimagined as a cultural hub, where artisanal shops, supper clubs and a farmers' market pop up alongside a permanent exhibition of the area's history. • ALICE RILEY-SMITH
A century-old patisserie reimagined as a serious cocktail bar with a vinyl list that amplifies as the night goes on (sometimes until 3am). Designed by Mariette Sans-Rival, its polished marble exterior catches the eye between the graffiti-stamped architecture of Patission Street, and is quickly becoming a landmark.
Tables and chairs tumble out of this corner bar-café on to buzzy street Agias Zonis. People-watch over twisted classic cocktails, natural wines by the glass and an elevated small plates menu dishing up oven-baked chickpeas and ribeye with kimchi and chimichurri.


In the Art Deco former residence of Greek poet Odysseas Elytis, art dealer Matthias Arndt has founded a salon and private art space. The inaugural exhibition showcased the works of Greek and international artists, including Kypseli resident Ioanna Limniou.

A former cobbler's shop, Kedros is the place to discover Greek wines alongside boards of cheese and smoked meats. The wine bar and shop hosts regular tastings featuring regional producers, from the Peloponnese to Macedonia. Sister spot Rastoni resides on the island of Koufonissi.

What began as British artist Eleanor Lines's studio has evolved into a creative workshop space, hosting classes in screen, mono and photo printing, alongside international artist residencies. Look out for the open studio nights showcasing the work of its residents.
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HOME & AWAY

I have recently, belatedly, discovered the genius of Anita Brookner, and now I am obsessed. “My idea of absolute happiness is to sit in a hot garden all day, reading, or writing, utterly safe in the knowledge that the person I love will come home to me in the evening. Every evening.”
I love her for her stylistic brilliance, her deep intelligence, but there is one point on which she will always disappoint me. She was, as the above quotation from my second-favourite of her novels, A Start in Life, shows, no gardener.
Gardeners are unable to be still. It’s not that we’re energetic; it’s perfectly possible to do important work for hours, kneeling on a plank, under raspberry canes, with a teaspoon. But the mere idea that a hot garden could be for quietly sitting in is borderline offensive. And this isn’t the first time I’ve encountered such foolishness: unfortunately, I live with it.
It begins with furniture. I have three chairs on the roof terrace, one a comfortable French contraption. But why would anyone expect to sit on them? If you must, please be careful; your knee knocked the desiccated poppy which I was specifically keeping for its seeds. And what do you mean, there’s no room for your Corona Cero on my aluminium-pretending-to-be-iron rescue-table? If you lean past the repurposed fire bucket of Greek basil seedlings and the temporarily unhoused Tumbling Tom Yellow tomato, avoiding the geriatric lavender, you’ll find at least a square inch of ... oh no, sorry, I need to rest the watering-can there. But there’s a patch of floor, under your feet; even an ashtray, although admittedly it’s full of dead coriander. How can you possibly feel unwelcome? Come back.
Outrageously, my friends and family also complain if they themselves are happily at rest, but I’m in motion. “Let’s have breakfast out here,” they suggest, wrongly. “Let’s make cocktails and rip open the Popchips and listen to the swifts!” Which would be fine, were they happy to let me go about my business. But they insist on relaxing, on “fun”. Can’t they see that I’m deep in a fragrant blackcurrant sage, trying to prop its fragile branches against the shoulders of its mystery plum-seedling neighbour?
Which seems to have developed thorns, so perhaps is really a sloe, which (if you could just pass the Savlon) reminds me I meant to repot that increasingly stunted blueberry, although to do that I’ll need to move this delicious if slightly overharvested mint. What do you mean it’s midnight?
Even when circumstances force me to loiter, there will be plants in need of my attention. Show me a train-station flower-bed and the hunt is on: how many iridescent rosemary beetles can I remove and crush before the 16.03 to Luton? Can I extract, and selflessly eat, the chickweed colonising this attractive pebbledash bus-stop planter before someone asks, or begs, me to leave? Even my therapist has given up commenting when I remove dead leaves from her Begonia maculata.
“Enjoy your garden!” the ignorant tell us. “What a lovely place to relax!” How dare they? We are relaxing; this is how it looks. Take, for example, somebody doing their morning Pilates exercises; a time, one might think, for peace, stillness, even, ugh, mindfulness. What if, mid-pelvic tilt, they suddenly realise that one of the two beautiful cascading rose geraniums on their bedroom bookshelves needs light pruning, then a sunny summer holiday? The geranium may share its extremely heavy pot with a large collection of pebbles, and be freshly watered, but no devoted gardener would let that stop them, even if that meant staggering across the flat sloshing soggy compost on the newly mopped floor, and down her own scantily clad front, before deciding that now is the ideal moment to crouch on the roof terrace, picking the remaining stones and rotten stems out of the resulting mess. Never mind the lack of clothing, the relentless march of Father Time and the damage to furnishings, person and the plant itself; there’s gardening to do. And that, Anita, I’m sorry to say, is absolute happiness. ●

Charlotte Mendelson is an Observer columnist, novelist and a keen-if-not-expert gardener
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KITCHEN DIARY NIGEL SLATER
This has been the best week for tomatoes. In the last few days the zinc table in the garden has seen roast pork and crackling with tomatoes squished into the roasting juices; several rounds of pan con tomate, the toast rubbed with new purple-flushed garlic; more salads than I can name, and a lunch of marinated sea bass with huge jelly-fleshed tomatoes and cantaloupes. My favourite salad of fat, slightly overripe tomatoes and sheep's cheese made an appearance this week, too. The standout salad of the week was →
Photographs JONATHAN LOVEKIN
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CRAVINGS
a sort of ceviche meets gazpacho, with the sea bass sliced thinly and left to “cook” in a mixture of lime juice and chilli, then tossed with very ripe tomatoes and thin wedges of melon, both cantaloupe for its honied sweetness and water-melon to refresh. I tucked in basil leaves as their pepperiness is very good with the sweetness of the melon.
The dish came together with everything at its best, spanking-fresh white fish (I could have used prawns), a melon dripping with juice and one of those days of scorching heat, when not so much as a leaf moved. We ate with butterflies dancing above the table and the buzzing of slow-moving bees in the bushes in the Japanese anemones around us.
Generally, I don’t put tomato in a ceviche, preferring to use only fish, citrus, chilli, red onion and coriander, more like the traditional Peruvian style, but the tomatoes are so good at the moment, they have been finding their way into almost everything. At least this summer’s heatwaves are good for something.
The quickest tomato salad of the week was an old favourite where I marinated the sliced fruits in a dressing of herbs, red wine vinegar and garlic for half an hour before tossing them with fresh peas and nuggets of sheep’s cheese. We wiped our plates with bread from the Dusty Knuckle bakery, chewy, crusty and lightly toasted.
I genuinely don’t know how much of my garden will be left after the drought. Every drop of water from washing the salad leaves and scrubbing the soil from potatoes, carrots or beetroot, not to mention the melted ice from the ice bucket that keeps our Sunday rosé chilled, has ended up on the garden. I have managed to keep pots of thyme and rosemary alive, nursing a basil or a chive plant back to life with recycled water from the kitchen, but I still find myself checking the forecast in desperation. Frustratingly, this has been the summer I failed to grow tomatoes out of doors. I usually put at least a pot or two of Gardener’s Delight on the roof, often some small orange cherry tomatoes, too, and this year they would have lapped up the sun. But I failed to get organised. There has to be a little rethinking done for next year and I predict quite a harvest from the kitchen roof.
‘I tucked in a few basil leaves as their pepperiness is very good with the sweetness of the melon’

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A salad in the style of ceviche, where the fish is sliced thinly and “cooked” by the acidity of citrus juice, in this case lime and grapefruit. I use a red onion, barely bigger than a golf ball, and rather than add it with the marinade, which can produce too pungent a note, I tend to chop it very finely, and I do mean finely, then let it sit with the chopped tomatoes and either a little citrus juice or olive oil. The effect is more subtle and doesn’t dominate.
Serves 2. Ready in 1 hour
limes 2
grapefruit 1
large red chilli 1
skinned sea bass fillets 250g
finely ground sea salt ½ tsp
black pepper
small red onion 1
large and very ripe tomato 1
olive oil 2 tbsp
cantaloupe melon 250g (peeled weight)
watermelon 350g (peeled weight)
basil leaves 10
Halve the limes and squeeze the juice into a mixing bowl. Then, using a sharp knife, slice the top and bottom from the grapefruit. Place the fruit flat on a chopping board, then slice away the peel and white pith, leaving a whole, peeled fruit. Holding it over a bowl to catch the juice, detach the segments of grapefruit from their thin skin with the knife and set aside in a bowl.
Squeeze the remaining grapefruit to get 50ml of juice and stir it into the lime juice. Remove the stem from the chilli, slice in half lengthways and add to the citrus juices. Set aside in the fridge for 20 minutes.
Using your sharpest knife, slice the fish very finely, placing slices in a shallow dish as you go. Season with salt and leave somewhere cool for 5 minutes.
Peel and finely chop the onion. Put it in a bowl, then finely chop the tomato, adding it to the onion with the olive oil and a few twists of salt and black pepper. Set aside in the fridge.
Slice both of the melons – discard the seeds and cut the flesh into thin pieces, no thicker than 5mm. In a large bowl, gently mix the melon, basil and reserved grapefruit segments, then add the fish and its juices.
Transfer to a serving dish, taking care not to break up the fragile fish. Scatter the tomato and onion mixture over the surface and serve within 10 minutes.

I like a goat’s cheese such as Sinodun Hill, but this also works exceptionally well with feta or other sheep’s cheese.
Serves 2-3. Ready in 45 minutes
garlic 1 small clove
red wine vinegar 2 tbsp
sea salt a pinch
olive oil 4 tbsp
basil leaves 8g
parsley leaves a small handful
assorted tomatoes 650g
peas, fresh or frozen 75g (shelled weight)
soft goat’s or sheep’s cheese 150g
Pour the vinegar into a blender jug. Peel the garlic and let it sit in the vinegar with a pinch of sea salt for 15 minutes. This will take any pungency out of the garlic. Add the olive oil, basil and parsley, season with a little more salt and blend to a thick, green dressing. Check the seasoning. Slice the tomatoes thinly and place them in a shallow dish, pour over the dressing and leave to marinate for 30 minutes. Cook the peas in boiling salted water (6 minutes for fresh, 3 for frozen), then drain in a colander and cool instantly in iced water. When ready to eat, crumble the cheese into large nuggets. Lay the marinated tomatoes on a serving dish, then spoon over any remaining dressing. Drain, shake dry, and scatter the peas, dot the crumbled cheese among them. ●
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August is one of the most generous months in the British food calendar, when hedge-rows and market stalls overflow with ripe berries, vibrant herbs grow in gardens and long evenings allow us to cook and eat outdoors. Lamb is a favourite of mine and can be a lighter meat option for late-summer gatherings. Cooking ribs over charcoal or wood brings out their very best. As the fat slowly renders over glowing embers, the meat develops crisp, caramelised edges while staying beautifully tender inside. A glaze of blackcurrants, honey and red wine vinegar provides a contrast, cutting through the richness with a bright, almost wine-like sharpness. Softly roasted onions, chives and bitter leaves add sweetness and freshness.
A grilled version of a classic British summer pudding makes the most of August's berry harvest. Raspberries, strawberries, redcurrants and blackcurrants collapse into a rich and heady com-pole. Charred sourdough soaks up the juices while keeping crisp edges, creating a dessert that tastes somewhere between toast, pudding and a fruit crumble cooked over the fire. A generous pour of cold double cream cools the warm fruit and adds an indulgent finish.
Berries, like August, come and go quickly. These recipes are my attempt to capture that fleeting moment – and give you some interesting ways to cook lamb and a traditional British pudding. Whether you're cooking over barbecue, a fire pit or recreating the flavours in your kitchen, I hope they show you the generosity of late British summer.

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Photographs LAURA EDWARDS
23.08.26^{}[] THE OBSERVER MAGAZINE
CRAVINGS

FOOD STYLING BY EL KEMP; PROF STYLING BY TARTHA HAWKINS
The sharpness of the blackcurrants cuts through the fat of the lamb ribs, with an overall effect that is rich and balanced.
Serves 4-6. Ready in 1 hour
lamb ribs 1.5kg
olive oil
chicken stock 250ml
small onions 6
blackcurrants 150g
honey 1 tbsp
red wine vinegar ½ tbsp
lemon 1
bitter leaves a good handful
finely chopped chives 1 tbsp
Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Season the ribs. Sear them in a hot, lightly oiled pan for 5 minutes, turning halfway, to get some colour on them. You may need to do this in batches. Transfer the ribs to a roasting dish, pour in the chicken stock, and cover with foil.
Place the onions (whole, skin on) in an oven dish. Cook the lamb and the onions in the oven for 60 minutes. (If cooking outside, place the onions directly on to the embers or grill.) Cook until the onions are black on the outside and soft in the middle, and the ribs tender but still with some bite – a lot of the fat should render out.
Meanwhile, put two thirds of the blackcurrants into a small pan with the honey, vinegar and a splash of water. Cook until the fruit has collapsed, 5-10 minutes. Lightly blend or crush with a fork into a thick glaze.
Towards the end of cooking, brush the lamb ribs with the glaze. Increase the oven to 220C/gas mark 7 and cook the ribs in the oven for 5-10 minutes, so everything turns sticky. If using your barbecue, finish off the oven-cooked ribs over medium embers or heat until tender and crisp at the edges.
When the onions are done, split them open and season the soft centres with a drizzle of olive oil, the juice of half a lemon and a good pinch of

sea salt. Arrange over a serving platter.
Pile the ribs on top of the roasted onions, scatter with the chives and reserved blackcurrants, and season well. Dress the bitter leaves with olive oil and a good squeeze of lemon, and serve alongside.
We started cooking the bread for our summer pudding over the grill. The bread catches nicely at the edges and soaks up the fruit, ending somewhere between breakfast and pudding.
Serves 4. Ready in 40 minutes
mixed summer berries 600g
sugar 3 tbsp
sourdough bread 4 large,
thick slices
butter
lemon juice of ½
‘A grilled version of a classic summer pudding makes the most of the berry harvest’
cassis, sloe gin or red wine a splash double cream plenty, to serve
In a bowl, toss the berries with the sugar and leave for 20 minutes until the juices begin to run.
Toast the bread under the grill (or in a griddle pan or over fire) until it is properly charred in places. Butter generously.
Tip the berries into a shallow pan over a medium heat (or a cast-iron pan on the fire or grill). Add your liquor of choice and cook for 10 minutes, or until everything has collapsed into a loose compote. Squeeze over half a lemon and stir to combine.
Tear each slice of toast into 2-3 chunks and toss into the berries – you want some pieces to soak up the juice and others to stay crisp above the surface.
Serve the fruit and bread while still warm with cold double cream poured generously over the top. ●
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I have eaten two meals in one outing to the Pershore Road in Birmingham before. The first time was a happy accident. I’d already had a sandwich for lunch, but passing by Chancer’s Café, I ducked in hoping to pick up a beignet for dessert. They only do them on Saturdays, which this was not, and they were operating as Yikouchi, as they do on Thursdays and Fridays. A more sensible person would have walked away. Not me. It was only polite to have a second (and very good) lunch of congee and tofu skins...
REBECCA NICHOLSON
1373 Pershore Road, Birmingham, B30 2JR (corkandcage.co.uk) Food £5-£22, wine from £29
This time, I was doubling up on purpose. The number of independent bars, breweries and restaurants in Stirchley, southwest Birmingham, is a world away from the increasingly chain-ified centre. With its Ivy and German Doner Kebab and Rosa’s Thai, central Birmingham is starting to look like it could be anywhere. When in B30, however, the options seem limitless. It is hard not to want to try it all.
The idea was to start at Cork & Cage, a 100% employee-owned neighbourhood bar and kitchen that opened in 2019, have a drink there (a glass of Chin Chin, the brightly labelled, middle-class favourite vinho verde, solid as ever) and some snacks. For the main event, we’d move on to Boodle Fight, a Filipino restaurant which opened just a few weeks ago, and is as brand new as Cork & Cage is established.
Cork & Cage has a bar filled with craft beers that have names like Bringing Seshy Back and Casualty of Society, but it also has a rotating wine list consisting of a red, a white and an orange, all at the same price. On Wednesdays and Thursdays – you really have to get your days right in Stirchley – it does food. The limited days are because the chef also cooks at the Cloak & Dagger pub next door, as well as Isla, an eight-seater wine and snack bar down the road.
Cork & Cage has been through various iterations, first serving Turkish-inspired small plates and then tacos, but it has settled on “seasonal, uncomplicated food”. The chalkboard changes every week and, at first, it has the ring of those irritatingly over-simplified menus that prefer to declare a single ingredient, probably cooked over fire, rather than deigning to tell you anything about what you’re about to eat.
It was clear, very quickly, that I was wrong about this. We ordered brown crab egg mayonnaise. It arrived exactly as described: an egg, split in half, in a puddle of crab-heavy mayonnaise. A pan con Vesuvio tomate was a crisp, sweet slice of toast, topped with even sweeter mushy tomatoes in their seasonal prime. It wanted for nothing. The crayfish and white cabbage embellished the blueprint with a light touch of tarragon, capers and a lemony dressing, but again, the crayfish and the cabbage were left to sing. I liked their tune so much I ordered another dish, a salad of octopus, chickpeas, olives, red onion and Datterini tomatoes. It was a Niçoise with a glow-up, one that had gone on holiday for a week and returned home with a new face and body. No wonder the chef is in demand. This is
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Photograph ANDREW FOX
CRAVINGS
1421 Pershore Road, Birmingham B30 2JL (@boodlefightstirchley). Small plates from £9, bowls from £17, boodle fight £35pp, beer £6.50, wine from £24
confident, competent, perfectly simple cooking. Just make sure you don't miss the food by doing anything as daft as going on a Friday night.
Boodle Fight started life as the Filipino Pinoy Pantry stall and now sits opposite my go-to Brum recommendation, Eat Vietnam. The term 'boodle fight' originated in military mess halls, and refers to a communal feast, traditionally served on the table on banana leaves, to be eaten with your hands. The banana leaves here are plastic, but the atmosphere is kitsch throughout, with pink and orange walls, posters for the famous 1975 'Thrilla in Manila' boxing match, and thumping pop music from behind the bar. I have never eaten Filipino food before, and the server says that not many of their customers so far have eaten it before either. The service is warm, friendly and, with a menu as extensive and reliant on puns as this one is, their advice is much needed.
You can mix up small plates and bowls. Or you can Boodle Fight, choosing two dishes per person, which everyone at the table then gets to try. We went for it. The first rule of Boodle Fight club would be not to attempt this after eating elsewhere. The servings are massive, and the unlimited rice and sharp, singing soup (a sour tamarind broth), are free-flowing. Thrown by the menu, I ordered chaotically, which left me with two plates piled high with wild mushrooms: the dinakdakan (a pork offal dish) in a creamy garlicky mayo dressing, and the 'fu and fungi sisig,' which I loved, the mushrooms mixed with tofu 'pork' pieces and a yellow citrusy mayo. Both were spicy and powered by waves of onion and garlic – the flavours were as big as the portions.
Their signature dish, called Help Me I'm Da-ing (at this stage of the evening, an accurate assessment) was excellent, with slices of the Philippines' national fish, the mild, flaky milk-fish that had been thinly battered, deep fried and served with a hot, funky, fish-saucy house dressing. From the bowls list, we had Mongo Friday, a deeply savoury mung bean stew of tomato, coconut milk and meltingly soft whole garlic cloves, topped with crispy mock meat.
Boodle Fight is so boxfresh that the kitchen is not yet ready to make desserts. I let out a quiet sigh of relief. I joked about nipping across the road for thirds. 'I'm not sure I can do it,' said my partner, with genuine sadness. But Pershore Road is long and bountiful, and there is plenty more where all of this came from. ●
The CRISPY BELLY pork at Mayflower in Bristol keeps Jimi Famurewa coming back for more
The lore at Mayflower, a Bristol Cantonese spot with local significance to match its grandly incongruous name, is as thick and rich as black bean sauce. Launched in the early 1990s and supposedly the oldest Chinese restaurant in the city (a usefully difficult fact to prove), its myth-forging period of operation was the 20 years that it lurked in a dank underpass beside the giant roundabout Bristolians call the Bearpit. This setting – along with an expansive food offering, idiosyncratic service and a 3am closing time – turned it into both clubhouse and secret handshake among the city's nocturnal cohort of post-shift chefs, bar workers, homesick Chinese diaspora and famished rave casualties.
Now, having lost that storied site to the bulldozer of redevelopment, the business has been reborn nearby in a more conventional vast glass box with surgically bright lighting. In truth, I could rhapsodise at length about any one of the garlic-clattered and wok-smoked dishes that swarmed our lazy susan during a recent visit. But it is the crispy belly pork that still has me in a persistent chokehold. Glassy, sugar-sprinkled crackling. Wobbling, fragrant lobes of fat. The kind of gushing succulence that causes you to shut your eyes in awed reverence. It was a familiar pleasure, rendered with a bracing new clarity. And that just about sums up this place. Not so much a merchant vessel full of Pilgrims as an improbable Anglo-Cantonese pleasure cruiser, still somehow sailing on more than three decades later. ●
Jimi Famurewa is a British-Nigerian food journalist and restaurant critic
DAVID WILLIAMS**

If I were a winemaker, I'm not sure I'd want my wine described as a 'holiday wine'. It's the definition of faint praise, the implication being that it's the sort of wine that can only be enjoyed by drinkers who, in their relaxed holiday mood, have had their critical faculties dulled to the point that they're not thinking about what they're drinking at all: down by the pool, airport novel in hand, nostrils filled with the chemical scent of suncream, life's so good it could be anything in the ice bucket.
Another use of the term is reserved for wines that come home with you as a kind of liquid souvenir, or are hunted down in a local merchant while the memories of that meal overlooking the Med are still fresh. Here, holiday wine refers to the disappointing experience of finding the wine doesn't taste the same in a British kitchen on a dark, chilly evening as it did on the Greek island.
Still, it doesn't have to be that way. As you might have guessed, I'm all for drinking good wine on holiday and many of my best and most lasting wine discoveries have been made when visiting vineyards conveniently located near my holiday let. If you're anywhere in Europe these days, you're spoilt for choice: from Burgundy and Bordeaux, to Burgenland, Berkshire and Barolo, even the most publicity-shy have cottoned on to the value of opening up to the public. It's not just a matter of selling wine to tourists: the idea is to convert visitors into ambassadors, who will spread →
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CRAVINGS
the word to their friends back home.
The trend for wine tourism – which, depending on the winery, can range from a tour of the cellar and a couple of free sample glasses to a stay in a full-blown luxury spa hotel or dinner in a Michelin-starred restaurant – has spawned a mini-industry in wine-travel guides and websites. My favourites are the bijoux books in The Smart Traveller’s Wine Guide series. There are seven so far, each of which is devoted to a single famous region, written by experts, and with suggestions on where to stay, eat and drink, as well as which wineries to visit.
I’m the kind of person who takes as much pleasure from reading travel guide books after I’ve been to the place as I do when I’m actually there using them (in conjunction with Google Earth), as a way of dreamily retracing my steps. Matt Walls MW’s elegantly written Rhone edition of The Smart Traveller’s Wine Guide, for example, is the next best thing to being in some of my favourite corners of vinous France.
The books in this series also have plenty of suggestions for the third and in many ways best kind of holiday wine: the one you buy as a mini surrogate holiday when you’re stuck at home. They don’t have to be especially fancy to pull off their transporting trick. It could be something like the graceful watermelon and redcurrant of Tanners Provence Rosé, Côtes de Provence 2025 (£17.95, Tanners Wines), which has me imagining jetting off to the Côte d’Azur at the first sniff; or the frisky floral dry white Taste the Difference Discovery Gemichster Satz 2025 (£10, Sainsbury’s), which takes me to the bustle of a Viennese vineyard wine tavern, or the tangy crushed raspberries and blackberries of M&S Found Refosco, 2024 (£8.50, Marks & Spencer), a raspy red to sip with a bowl of bigoli pasta and duck ragù and drift away, on holiday, to a trattoria in northeastern Italy. ●
Wine of the Week Tanners Provence Rosé, Côtes de Provence 2025, £17.95, Tanners Wines
HANNAH CROSBIE

Mobile bars serving just one thing, stripy parasols emblazoned with logos, branded glassware – our summer drinks are being sponsored. In the restaurant and bar game, space equals money. Well, in any real estate, space equals money, and in London, where I live, the average price per square foot is around £600 for residential and £400 for commercial. Clever venues look for ways to help offset costs. I’m starting to see more branded terraces around town and I don’t think that it’s only because we’re all spending more time outdoors.
The goal for the brands? For someone to comment on the announcement post calling it “the collaboration I needed” (heart eyes emoji). We’re in the era of the corporate collab. And it doesn’t look like the meteors are descending to end it all just yet.
It’s a savvy idea for a brand to permeate the market in a physical way. Combine the cost-of-living crisis and the saturation of the spirits market (and that’s if you don’t add all of the new low and no-alcohol options into the equation), and it’s more important for a brand to stand out than ever. Particularly when many of us are “digital detoxing”
and becoming a bit disillusioned with big advertising campaigns. When well-executed, a terrace or collaboration with an already-loved institution is clever and creates strong brand relations with both audiences.
Equal Parts on Hackney Road – a brilliant vinyl bar usually adorned with forest-green tiles – took a hot pink wrap to its exterior to promote Espolón Tequila. Outside St Pancras, Grey Goose lassoos international footfall with a martini terrace at Hawksmoor. As I type, Provençal rosé powerhouse Minuty have three (yes, three!) rather sweet branded terraces in London. In Theatral, even a fashion label has got in the game: Vivienne Westwood has taken over the terrace of J Sheekey.
What’s in it for the brand is obvious: visibility and advantageous connection and perception of shared values with an establishment that many already love and trust with their nights out and spare tanners. But what’s in it for the bar? Customers are more savvy than even, especially the digitally native, who can see right through an #ad.
I asked several drink professionals on the bar side of branded collabs to ask them. “It can be done unbelievably well, just as it can be done unbelievably badly, just as much as you can half-arse it,” said one. “Our partner did the legwork on the design for the takeover and then paid to get it set up, which allowed us to try something completely different for our business. Plus, it allows them to build up trust with their operator. We’ll end up selling and buying a lot more of their booze.”
The cost ends up being a big bonus for venues, whether an injection of cash allows them to open up a whole new concept, or it simply means that a local pub is able to replace their old, battered parasols with some new, shiny Cruzcampo-branded ones. For some venues, it may be something that keeps them open for just another few months. ●

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Photograph AARON GRAUBART
PROFIT STYLING BY ALEXANDER BREEZE; DRINK STYLING BY TARA GARNELL
CRAVINGS
Summer is the season of gatherings, picnics and parties. We've rounded up everything you need to make your cake – and eat it – in style
£29, Sabre Paris
Trying to balance that cake slice on a knife? There is a better way! This slice, inspired by classic bistro cutlery is available in a rainbow of colours.
£5, Ikea
Essential kitchen kit, never more than in baking for getting every last swipe of cake batter out the bowl.
£85, Ginori 1735
Serve up with a flourish on an elegant porcelain plate, with a motif inspired by the Florence countryside.
£17, Gestura (Sous Chef)
Gestura makes kitchen tools you didn't know you needed till you tried them – like this beautifully balanced cake tester, to yield perfect results.
From £18.50, Mason Cash Good deep well, raised design on the outer edge to help gripping, lightweight even in the biggest size – a classic for home bakers since 1901.
£180, Feldspar Studio
Put those baking efforts on display with this stylish stand of fine bone china, handmade and painted in Devon.
TREND
45
What's On My Mind
The Welsh novelist, journalist and poet's first novel, Submarine, was made into a film in 2010. His latest book, Children of Radium, is a nonfiction memoir about family and chemical weapons
This week, our nine-year-old son finally convinced us to let him watch Jaws. He had done his research and pointed out that although, in the 1980s, it was classified as a 15, it had long ago been downgraded to a 12A. Also, he said, the special effects would have aged so badly by now that he would not find it convincing. Also, he argued, it's hypocritical that we actively encourage him to read The Hunger Games books – which are full of children brutally bludgeoning each other to death – while denying him this classic of modern suspense cinema. I tried to explain to him that, in fact, the very reason the film is scary is that it's not gratuitous. It is precisely because we don't see the shark that it lives inside our minds, hunting us through the dim waters of our dreams.
He said he was fine with that and wanted to see it anyway.
We watched the film and my son was quick to point out that, in fact, the shark got a surprising amount of screen time. We lost count of how often it came roaring out of the water, looking shonky and mechanical, a corridor of teeth. The next morning at breakfast, my son reported that, yes, he had dreamed about sharks but not in a frightening way. They had been cruising all around him – in an aquarium.
All of this, I realised, was by way of him working up to his next request. Since Jaws was once classified as a 15 – which, anyway, he hadn't found scary – was there really any reason that he should not be allowed to watch Nightmare on Elm Street, recently reclassified from an 18 to a 15 and deemed by the BBFC to be 'relatively discreet in terms of gore and injury detail'? I had to admire his ingenuity.
Like most writers, I am perpetually engaged in the unethical secret economy of book blurbing. I ask for them and I give them out. In doing so, I sometimes wonder if the publishing industry should introduce a traffic light system in the same way that food manufacturers indicate nutritional value on packaging. A green light beside a blurb would indicate praise from an author who has no personal or professional connection to the person they are praising. They simply enjoyed the work on its own terms. An orange light would indicate that, while the blurber did genuinely enjoy the work, there was some moral compromise at play. Perhaps they used to mentor the author. Perhaps they and the author share an agent or play pickleball socially. A red light
would indicate full-blown nepotism and backscratching, a called-in favour or an act of pure networking. I looked over the blurbs on one of my recent books. I saw two green, one orange, one red.
Nineteen is the record. Nineteen individual piles of shit on the pavement during the six-minute walk to my children's school. That's a little over three shits a minute. As soon as we forget one, the next comes lofting into view, an unbroken chain of them right up to the school gates.
There was briefly someone in our area – an artist, maybe, or an activist – who started putting cocktail umbrellas in some of the more prominent local shits, bringing absurdist humour to the problem. Another anonymous neighbour spray-painted a giant stylised poo in the middle of the road as an expression of complaint. None of it helped. As I walk back home from the school, choosing a route that will avoid the worst stretches of pavement, I begin to dream about the famously clean streets of Bolzano, Italy, where the police track down culprits by collecting a faecal sample and matching it with a DNA database of the city's pets.
I am usually halfway home when I vow to begin a campaign of vigilante justice. Under my reign of terror, culprits will have their shits delivered back to them through their letter boxes. But this idea quickly collapses when I remember that I have no idea who the culprits are. Even though I've lived in this area for two decades, I've only ever seen pet owners dutifully picking up after their pets, the little green poo bags swinging from their fingertips.
By the time I get home, my anger has become shapeless and generalised. My real frustration,
I realise, is not just the shits themselves but that so much of my waking life is spent thinking about them.
See above for examples. I have more.
This 4%, I realise, takes place almost exclusively in the shower. ●

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Illustration MIA ANGIOY


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New season, same old headache
Hull City hand Manchester United an early shock

THE OBSERVER 23.08.26
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observer.co.uk 23.08.26
Reporting by George Simms
Andy Burnham is plotting bids for the UK to host both the Olympics and the men's World Cup. The prime minister is discussing the feasibility of hosting either the 2038 or 2042 World Cup across the UK, as well as the 2040 Olympics and Paralympics across a range of northern cities. England has not hosted the World Cup since 1966 but has hosted the Olympics three times – in 1908, 1948 and 2012. The UK also has active bids for the 2029 World Athletics Championships and 2035 Women's World Cup.
Jannik Sinner and Jack Draper will both miss the upcoming US Open, while Carlos Alcaraz will return to the court at Flushing Meadows after more than four months out, where he will partner with Serena Williams for the US Open mixed doubles this coming week. Sinner, who won the 2024 US Open but whose last match was the Wimbledon final victory over Alexander Zverev, has been nursing a right knee injury and concluded he could not

By Jeremy Whittle
Josh Tarling decided to start the final Grand Tour of 2026, the Vuelta a España which began in Monaco on Saturday, barely a week after his younger brother, Finlay, was killed by a van while racing in Portugal. The Netcompany Innes rider, whose decision was supported by his parents and his team, has been widely praised for his courage in deciding to start the Spanish race. Last Wednesday, Australian Maeve Plouffe, racing in the women's Tour of Britain, had her own near-miss. "While the race convoy was still in sight," she said, "there were cars from the general public coming at me from all directions, including one that nearly hit me on a roundabout."
"Considering the recent devastating events in our cycling community, it's scary to see situations like this, when we know that this can have horrific consequences, especially so soon after suffering such a tragedy." The Tour of Britain uses the same system of "rolling road closure" utilised by many other races, including the Volta a Portugal, Jonathan Day, events director at British Cycling, promoters of the
compete after training in Monte Carlo. Meanwhile Draper has still not recovered from a longstanding bone bruise in his left arm and lost in the first round of the Cincinnati Open. Nick Kyrgios has also been suspended after testing positive for a metabolite of cocaine at the Mallorca Open in June.
Manchester United have agreed a £70m fee to sign Brighton midfielder Carlos Baleba. The 22-year-old Cameroonian is completing his medical over the weekend and will follow Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans to Old Trafford. Meanwhile Arsenal are willing to pay more than £100m

Joshua Tarling, brother of Finlay, was supported by his family and team-mates. Alexander Wasserstein/Getty
Tour of Britain, said that rider safety was "paramount" and added that British Cycling "recognises this comes at an especially difficult time for the cycling community". Despite the growing death toll in professional racing, the sport rolls on. The UCI, cycling's governing body said this week that it was "deeply saddened" by the loss of Tarling but added that "as the circumstances surrounding the
incident are still being established, we will not be commenting further". The week after Tarling's death, the fanfare surrounding Tadej Pogačar's participation in the Vuelta cannot obscure the deepening crisis over rider safety. Adam Hansen, president of the CPA riders' union and an ex-professional racer, told The Observer: "There is a hole in the system of rolling [road] closure. We have to find a way to fix this."
Nick Kyrgios after testing positive for a metabolite of cocaine at June's Mallorca Open
for Julián Álvarez as they target another starting forward before the end of the window, while Liverpool have had a £60m bid rejected for Brighton winger Yankuba Minteh.
Amy Hunt followed her four European Championship golds with 200m silver at the Lausanne Diamond League on Friday, trailing American Kayla White in a time of 22.32secs. Meanwhile Switzerland's Andrey Werro, who beat Keely Hodgkinson to claim European 800m gold, broke the meeting record in Lausanne as she just edged past Femke Broeders-Bol, who set a
national record to finish in 1.55:41. Werro, Hodgkinson, Broeders-Bol and reigning world champion Lilian Odira will all compete at the Zürich Diamond League on 27 August.
NBA franchise the Minnesota Timberwolves and WNBA franchise the Minnesota Lynx have been sold to American businessman Marc Stad at a deal totalling $4.5bn. Previous majority co-owner Marc Lore will retain a minority stake, as will former MLB star Alex Rodriguez. The Minnesota sale follows Disney executive Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner buying the Los Angeles Lakers for a record $12.5bn from Mark Walter, who had purchased the franchise for a $10bn valuation in October 2025.
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Captain of a sinking ship: Fernandes and United lose to a watertight Hull.
Robbie Jay Barratt/Getty
Wythenshawe Vets, the team who former Premier League players Emile Heskey, Antonio Valencia, Stephen Ireland and Papiss Cisse regularly represent, have made a new star signing – record sprinter Usain Bolt. Bolt spent two months training with A-League side Central Coast Mariners in 2018 without signing a contract.
After 13 years in Qatar, presenters Richard Keys and Andy Gray (pictured) are back in the UK and have launched their own podcast: Keys and Gray Unleashed. The first episode featured the pair sitting in front of Tower Bridge in London to discuss seapots, aeroplanes and how they could have stopped war in the Middle East.

England have reached the final of the 60+ Cricket World Cup thanks to an incident South African great Barry Richards said deserved a "life ban". England bat Temoor Alam was given out lbw, but refused to walk after insisting he had hit it, eventually forcing the decision to be overturned after 15 minutes. England beat India by eight runs.
Arsenal's 16-year-old winger Max Dowman collected his GCSE results on Thursday and confirmed he will not complete A-levels after becoming the youngest-ever Premier League goalscorer earlier this year. "The lessons I have learned, both on and off the pitch, will stay with me as I take this next step in my journey," he said.
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
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Paul Hayward

With the departure of the messianic figure who led them to 20 trophies in a decade – and with 115 charges hanging over them – if Manchester City are weakened by separation anxiety, it is their new boss who will take the blame
Joining the candidates for "definitive team talk by Pep Guardiola" in his Manchester City days is a speech from the new A Beautiful Obsession documentary. Guardiola's successor Enzo Maresca is advised not to try such oratory until he has won some trophies there.
It's the 2024-25 season and City are on a freakishly awful run. With each defeat and thrown-away lead Guardiola's players return to the dressing room in a deepening state of bafflement. The commentariat are talking end of empire. Soon red scratch marks will appear on the head and face of a manager unacquainted with failure.
Guardiola can't recognise the world he's in. He calls his team and staff into a giant circle and walks in the middle of it clicking his fingers and staring at the floor.
Finally comes a sharp exhalation as he finds the words...
"Five Premier Leagues, one Champions League, European [Super] Cup, maybe World Cup, maybe European national teams or whatever. Is this success? Is this success? No. I want to tell you something guys. Deep in your heart.
"In our lives, succeeding in your job, in love, in work, and whatever, is getting up again, and again, and again, when we fall. This is succeeding."
On paper it might look unremarkable but when you see him deliver this sermon on recovery you glimpse one of the secrets of great management. Call it emotional coercion. Alex Ferguson, another Manchester manager who passed the job on to someone who had no earthly hope of matching his aura or authority, used to tell his United teams: "Don't even think about letting this club down today."
The transference of moral duty, of spiritual debt, on to players was employed too by Bill Shankly ("For a player to be good enough to play for Liverpool he must be prepared to run through a brick wall for me and

Breakup: will Manchester City's players take Pep Guardiola's divorce from the club badly? Tom Fathers/Amazon
'In our lives, succeeding is getting up again, and again, and again when we fall' Pep Guardiola
then come out fighting on the other side.") It's part motivational trick, part eternal truth deployable only by managers with plenty of success to back them up.
It's not a new device. Vince Lombardi, the great Green Bay Packers coach, was among the pioneers of unrelenting standards. "Winning is not a sometime thing, it is an all-the-time thing," he said. "You don't do things right once in a while. You do them right all the time."
But as a new Premier League season kicks off, with City hosting Bournemouth, Guardiola-speak isn't an option yet for Maresca – or Andoni Iraola at Liverpool. Michael Carrick was a part of the Fergusonian golden age and might get away with borrowing from his old boss's lexicon at Old Trafford.
It's Maresca though who is the most compelling case study in unenviable inheritance. Taking over from a global figure who won 20 trophies at the club is tough enough. But Maresca is braced too for the outcome of 115 charges laid against City for breaching Premier League financial rules (they deny them all).
Already, with some of the over-excitable verdicts on City's 3-0
Community Shield defeat to Arsenal, Maresca knows that if City are weakened by separation anxiety, it's him who will take the blame.
He's not the new "Pep" and nor should he try to be, except in the projection of decisiveness and strength. A great human drama has packed up and left the building, as it did when David Moyes succeeded Ferguson. Like the rest of us Maresca will observe in the Amazon Prime documentary a preacher who was even willing to employ his own divorce as motivational fuel.
In one wild scene Guardiola emotes: "Guys, I want to confess something. I'm divorced from the most beautiful woman on your planet, my wife, my ex-wife. I love her unbelievably, but we lost the passion. For many reasons we lost the passion.
"I love her? Yeah, absolutely. She love[s] me? Yeah. But we lost the passion. How do you play football. Because you play over something inside. Where is the passion? In your life, whatever you're going to do, do it with passion. I don't want a good player, I want players with passion."
In this shouted homily you can feel the heads of the players whirring to connect the end of
their manager's marriage with them losing against Bournemouth, Brighton and 4-0 to Spurs in the space of a few weeks.
City have lost 4-2 away to Paris Saint-Germain in January 2025 and Guardiola is indignant that his staff were able to eat, drink and chat while he could only torture himself. "When I lose I want to suffer," he tells a packed dressing room, slapping his stomach.
"I'm not happy. You are? You? You sleep at night? I don't sleep at night. You are fine? Make me feel you are here. Fucking hell. Make me feel you are here."
In that demand – "make me feel you are here" – you can see the religious force of Guardiola's belief in holding no part of one's self back from the quest, from the brotherhood. This is the vital human element he exemplifies.
But when the City board gather to discuss the disappointing season, it's plain what also drives elite sport. City's chair Khaldoon Al Mubarak tells the room: "This machine is built to win. This machine is built for success. It doesn't work if we don't win."
That's the first bit Maresca will have jotted down.
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observer.co.uk 23.08.26
Rory Smith

At some point this weekend, every fan of every Premier League team will have a moment, a single moment, where everything is perfect. It may be the walk to the stadium. It may be the first sight, after 90 long days, of the deep green of the pitch. It may be hearing the opening chord of a song, feeling the rhythm of a chant, catching a glimpse of a new name in a new kit.
And then, unfortunately, a referee will blow a whistle, a player will kick a ball, and all at once it will be gone. The best moment of the Premier League season is not the one depicted in breathless adverts for television coverage or gambling providers. It is not the one we are told we have been waiting for. It is the one immediately before that, the one before reality sets in.
There is always a pronounced element of phoney war to the opening weekend of the season. It is full of false dawns and sleights of hand and sundry other misdirections; as a guide to what will unfold over the next nine months or so, it is roughly as reliable as examining Enzo Maresca's palms, or reading the entrails of Win, Arsenal's club dog.
That is especially true this season. Not simply because so many teams in the league are barely out of their chrysalis phase under new managers – more than half have just finished their first pre-season with their clubs – but because the longstanding belief that clubs should conclude their transfer business as swiftly and as early as possible appears to have been abandoned.
Michael Carrick and Andoni Iraola have both admitted, publicly and unusually, that their squads are not yet complete – "thin" Iraola said of Liverpool's resources on Friday – and that they expect fairly sweeping
changes to their playing staff before the end of the month.
They are far from alone; many of the Premier League's squads are likely to change drastically and expensively between now and the close of the transfer window. Arsenal might not have missed a beat against Coventry City on Friday night, but the reigning champions are more exception than rule. Several of the teams that play this weekend will bear only a fleeting resemblance to those that contest the bulk of the campaign.
The details of what happens over the opening round of fixtures will be lost pretty quickly, too; by the time we reach December, let alone the season's denouement in April and May, exactly who beat whom at the tail end of a baking summer will be long forgotten. What this weekend will do, though, is establish a tone.
Received wisdom was always that it was barely worth showing the table until at least three games of the campaign had elapsed; positions, before then, were too often alphabetical to be meaningful. It no longer works like that. This is 2026. By the time Monday morning rolls around, multiple managers will be under pressure. One or two may well not recover.
And that is why it is worth hanging onto that feeling, the one before the ball is kicked, the one before it all begins again. There is no moment quite like the one immediately before the season starts, when hope and optimism and even belief can still flourish, before the cold light of day pours in.
That is what the adverts can never quite capture, and would not wish to if they could: that the greatest pleasure is not the football itself, but the anticipation of it, that Christmas Eve feeling when you can just about fool yourself into forgetting that presents do not make you happy and at least one of your uncles is the worst person in the world.
The next nine months are going to be stressful and frustrating and, for most of us, bring nothing but disappointment. But that is for when the whistle blows. Before that, for now, it is perfect.
A Nobel victory: Hull's Mendy scored their second goal. George Wood/Getty Images

Nottm Forest
0
Leeds United
1
Paul Hayward
The City Ground, Nottingham
What Nottingham Forest's fans saw was a new manager urging his players to be bolder, as Oliver Glasner himself did when moving from Crystal Palace to another club outside the top 10.
The hesitation on the pitch was understandable. Forest had four managers last season who all had different approaches. August games need an asterisk. They're provisional. And not just because the transfer window is still open, rendering starting XIs mere approximations of what's to come. New head coaches are trying to make their teams understand.
Calling a manager's move to a club that won two European Cups a sideways step wouldn't have made you many friends at the City Ground – especially after this 1-0 defeat to Leeds.
From Palace to Forest wasn't the kind of promotion many predicted for Glasner after he brought the FA Cup and Uefa Conference League trophies to Selhurst Park. He didn't demote himself by relocating to Nottingham. It was more that people expected him to seek a bigger challenge than moving from 15th to 16th in last season's Premier League table.
It must have been potential that drew him to the banks of the Trent. And history. And almost certainly the salary. And perhaps even the charms of Forest's owner, Evangelos Marinakis, who has used the Papaioannou restaurant near Athens as a recruiting station. There, candidates find "the deep blue of the Aegean dancing in the background, filled with treasures". The seafood platter Glasner says they shared must be good.
Minus England's Elliot Anderson, Glasner has carried his reputation into the void left in 2025-26 by Nuno Espirito Santo, Ange Postecoglou, Sean Dyche and Vitor Pereira. His intentions weren't hard to decode against a Leeds team who found a stable formula in last season's second half and show every sign of sticking to it in this campaign.
Glasner by contrast wants to change the manifesto, to one of positivity and enterprise. Forest dropped from 65 to 44 points last season compared with a year earlier. European commitments were part of the explanation, but a trend of them sliding too frequently towards the relegation zone was too plain to ignore.
The nub of Marinakis's Papaioannou pitch will have been that Forest need to break that pattern and control their own fate more. Glasner encouraged bursts of direct play here to go with the counter-attacking and high-pressing.
At the heart of this hybrid model is the urge to make Forest more
Late winner: Leeds' Anton Stach the only goal of the game. Paul Marriott/Kenny

The 3-0 feeling: Odegaard finished his side's scoring before 50 minutes. Catherine Iwill/Getty


observer.co.uk 23.08.26
5

Hull City
Man United
Rory Smith MKM Stadium
The low point probably came after 73 minutes. Manchester United were losing 2-0 to newly promoted Hull City, the start of what is supposed to be Michael Carrick's glorious restoration fracturing immediately upon exposure to sunlight. United had been soft-bellied and blunt-edged. In their corner of the MKM Stadium, their fans glowered and groaned.
Then the intercom crackled into life. "Manchester United fans travelling by rail from Hull Paragon station," the announcement began. At that point, everyone knew it was not good news. Not with trains involved. The 15.03 and 17.03 back west, in this case, the announcer said. He left a comic pause. And then, with just a hint of relish: "They have been cancelled."
It turned out to be one of those days, the kind that Manchester United thought they had left behind. Carrick's arrival, back in January, had - possibly just a touch unexpectedly - brought an understated serenity to Old Trafford after the tumult of the Ruben Amorim era. And the Erik ten Hag era. And the Ole Gunnar Solskjær era. And the: well, you get the picture. United finished last season with a
spring in their step. Carrick won his first game, against Manchester City, and barely looked back.
The summer had been encouraging too. In a transfer market not so much inflated as entirely distended, United had found value: Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos, the pair of them for far less than the price of Elliot Anderson, followed by a smart, swift deal for Carlos Buleba, a long-term target.
Something had changed: this was serious, efficient business, identifying weaknesses and then addressing them. United approached the start of the season with a confidence that could not largely be traced back to a stubborn belief in the club's pre-ordained greatness.

Strong start: Semi Ajayi strikes early. Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images
At a rough estimate, that feeling survived about 17 minutes of actual football, when Semi Ajayi gave Hull the lead, instantly evaporating United's hard-won tranquillity.
He had stressed on Friday that this game was not quite the gimme most had assumed - a newly promoted side, in an energised stadium, on the opening day of the season - but even he would have been surprised by the scale of Hull's poise and purpose.
And that is important to remember, Carrick has spent most of his working life attached to Manchester United. He knows that the line between setback and outright crisis is so hazy as to be entirely indistinct.
But this was as much a win for Sergej Jakirović's side as it was a defeat for their visitors; it was as much about Hull's endeavour, adventure and courage as it was about the shortcomings of a side that, deep down, have been assembled to try and win the league.
Hull did not pick Carrick's team's pocket. They were obdurate and intelligent, but also more than that.
At one point, Oli McBurnie slalomed past four players; Ajayi's best moment, after his goal, was a drop of the shoulder that drew applause from fans.
By the time the announcement about the trains came, Hull were actively having fun. The crowd laughed long and loud when the punchline was delivered. It was the kind of day they will never forget.
But the greatest worry is that every player to have signed for Tottenham in the past three years seems to have been infected by the chaos virus, that unless you somehow care the virus, the same will happen and nauseam.
Maybe Jason Cundy will claim there were encouraging signs for Spurs, but there weren't. They were 2-0 down before they created a meaningful chance. Brentford danced and scythed through them while they created nothing but trouble.
Yes, Tottenham need time, De Zerbi needs time, Fernandes and Tonali and Jan Paul van Hecke need time. But what if, as with last season, and the season before that, time only actually makes things worse?

Sangare celebrates Brentford's third. Ryan Pierce/Getty Images
Arsenal
Coventry
Jessy Parker Humphreys Emirates Stadium
The red flares have barely faded from the sky over Holloway Road, but after ending a 22-year wait for a Premier League title, can they defend it?
As Patrick Vieira noted towards the end of their 2003-04 Invincibles season, "to achieve something special... is to win back-to-back titles".
They didn't manage to do that, finishing 12 points behind a Chelsea team who then did. That made José Mourinho the second manager to win successive Premier League titles, after Alex Ferguson. Pep Guardiola completes that list, which Mikel Arteta hopes to join this year.
The consensus heading into this season has been that it is Arsenal's title to lose, a conclusion that was not affected by a comprehensive 3-0 win over newly promoted Coventry City to begin their Premier League campaign on Friday.
Potential title rivals are contending with new managers or the loss of iconic players. Meanwhile Arsenal have stability on top of being very good at football. The risk is that it becomes stale, as it had begun to be towards the end of last season, although that was down to fear as much as a tactical malaise. There is a reason that Emma Hayes, a serial winner as Chelsea manager, had "if it ain't broke, break it" as her mantra. For Arsenal, the shackles might finally be off after ending a run of second-placed finishes.
They got through last season despite the patchy form and availability of some of their best players. This season's opener was only the second time since December 2024 that Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz and Martin Bdegaard had started a league match together. They each scored on Friday and will feel they have a point to prove this season.
Their return should boost Arsenal's attack, with Arteta seemingly willing to give his players more licence to play off the cuff.
Christos Tzolis therefore seems to be an ideal addition, with his return to the Premier League after a spell at Norwich City as lively as his pre-season outings have been.
This is all the result of Arteta's introspection.
"I spent a lot of hours in the summer writing about where we want to take this football club. What kind of version of Mikel is going to be needed?" he said in his Men in Blazers podcast interview.
The version presented at the start of the new season does not appear to differ significantly from the one from before. Intense, passionate and a little bit cringe, but with a single-minded approach that more than justifies Arsenal's tagline as title favourites.
dynamic, as Glasner's Crystal Palace side were.
Leeds, who gave debuts to Harry Wilson, club-record signing James Trafford and Tarik Muharemović, won 68% of their points last season at Elland Road. This was a welcome early victory away from that febrile arena.
The late free-kick by Anton Stach that won the game punctured the dream of an instant uplift that brought Forest fans to the City Ground to exchange vows with Glasner, who arrived only six weeks ago. He is the seventh straight permanent Forest manager to lose his first Premier League game. The perennial lesson of August is that this stuff takes time.

Brentford
Tottenham Hotspur
George Simms Girott Community Stadium
After the gorging and splurging and believing and wanting and deluding, reality. Spend £250m, with more to come, on £200m worth of players. Hire another enigmatic, idiosyncratic attacking coach with a dream. Talk a lot about changing cultures without changing most of the people implementing that culture. But you are still Tottenham Hotspur. This is the fundamental question underpinning everything Tottenham do: how can we be less Tottenham? How can we escape ourselves?
You often hear that Spurs are suffering a series of identity crises, but maybe no Premier League club has such a clear conception of what and who they are, something remarkably, romantically durable about Spurs as an idea, as a force for chaos and ridicule and incompetence.
Each of their seven signings to date, including Savinho, has just been so Tottenham, exciting and sometimes beautiful but also lightweight and inconsistent and blunt.
The sun draped the pitch in blinding light just before kick-off, aimed straight into Antonin Kinsky's eyes, a reminder that God is rarely on
Tottenham's side. Nathan Collins had two chances in the first four minutes from centre-back. Keane Lewis-Potter scored an opener which felt inevitable, before Igor Thiago hit the bar. Home fans sang "you're going down with the Fulham" before Vitaly Janelt and Michael Kayode added a second and third. By the time Brentford were awarded a penalty on 54 minutes, a stream of white shirts was leaking towards Kew Bridge station.
For all defeat will be framed as disaster, this is just where Spurs are, even with Andy Robertson. Brentford finished eight places and 12 points ahead of them last season.
They are a serious football club, better run and more stable and with better players in most positions. They wouldn't spend almost £300m and then start their season with a front three of Mikey Moore, Tel and Richarlison, while also naming their youngest captain in a competitive match ever in Archie Gray because the first four choices are all injured.
After consecutive 17ths, a top-half finish has to be the aspiration. Seventh or eighth would be a really good season, likely requiring them to win 15 or so more points than 2025-26, ambitious but achievable without European football or any real expectation of a cup run. Omar Marmoush is expected to join next from Manchester City, but City are reportedly waiting to assess their squad after playing Bournemouth today.
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observer.co.uk 23.08.26
European nations are not planning to boycott the Under-20 Women's World Cup
Rory Smith & Jessy Parker Humphreys
The good news was made public at lunchtime on Friday. Lydia Bedford, head coach of England's women's under-20 team, had been supposed to name the squad she would take to next month's World Cup in Poland 24 hours earlier, but the announcement had been delayed. Operational reasons, apparently.
By that stage, most of those who had been included in her plans had already been advised that they had made the cut. This was just confirmation, but still, it was welcome: a chance for a clutch of prospects not
just from the powerhouses of the Women's Super League but two players from Stanford University and a couple of teams in North Carolina to celebrate too.
That jubilation may even have stretched a little further south. Gianni Infantino, the now-permanently embattled Fifa president, is due in the Dominican Republic this weekend. Officially, he is planned to attend a regional youth tournament. Unofficially, he is desperately trying to corral the support he needs to keep his grasp on power.
He will, undoubtedly, interpret the fact that Bedford has named a squad for the tournament next month as an indication that struggle is shifting – slowly and subtly – in his favour. The Under-20 Women's World Cup has, after all, rather unfortunately become the scene of the first skirmish between Infantino and those of his opponents who are determined to unseat him.
In the immediate aftermath of the
exposure of Infantino's plan to sell off the commercial rights to the World Cup to a group of investors led by Josh Kushner, European football's governing body, Uefa, released a "unanimous and unequivocal" statement rejecting the proposal. More importantly, they delivered a threat.
"As a result of today's discussion, no Uefa national teams will participate in any Fifa competition for so long as these proposals remain alive, unless this proposal has been abandoned in its entirety and binding assurances have been given that Fifa will never again open its governance or competitions to private ownership," it read.
The ploy worked. Although Infantino's powerbase has long rested on projecting himself as a bulwark against European dominance of world football, even he would doubtless recognise that tournaments without European teams lose a considerable portion of their appeal. Combined with the ferocity

of opposition to his plans, the prospect of a boycott forced a climbdown. Within a few days, Infantino had abandoned the idea.
The problem was the second stipulation. Although there is an active dialogue between Uefa and Fifa over guarantees that no similar plan will be brought forward in the future, the latter has thus far not been able to provide the former with the assurances it has demanded. The boycott, as things stand, remains in place, with less than two weeks to go before the Under-20 Women's World Cup provides Uefa's resolve with its first test.
Internally, many at Uefa would concede that it is hardly the ideal battleground: there would doubtless be some sympathy with the idea, expressed to the BBC by Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, that boycotts "unfairly penalise athletes and competitors who are not responsible for the reason [they] take place".
That is especially pronounced when it is a women's development tournament; the women's game suffering while men play power games is not a good look for anyone. Even within the European bloc, then, some have assumed that this was




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Going ahead: England's squad has been named for the Under-20 World Cup. Carlos Rodrigues/ The FA/Getty Images
not an appropriate place to pick a fight: the PZPN, the Polish federation organising the competition, has maintained throughout that it was assuming the tournament would go ahead as planned; the French, one of six European qualifiers, confirmed a couple of weeks ago that they intended to take part, regardless of the status of the boycott.
Whether others would take that same approach has not been clear. Although the FA has taken a pragmatic approach to the build-up to the tournament – informing those players involved of their inclusion, sending their clubs details of how to stay in touch, arranging logistics for the squad's arrival in camp later this week – nobody has been able to say for sure that England would take part.
Spain, France and Portugal waited until relatively late to name their teams. Italy, the final European participant, has still not done so. The United States, by contrast, announced theirs – including the high-profile omission of the Lyon midfielder Lily Yohannes – on Wednesday, Japan made theirs public on Tuesday.
That they have all eventually done so does not necessarily mean that they will all play, of course; the possibility of a boycott remains until they physically take to the field. But the fact that they have all belatedly selected players will doubtless serve to encourage Infantino in his belief that he can stare down not just this threat, but the challenge to his lead- ership more broadly.
A binding assurance that he will never invite private interests to share in football's wealth is not, after all, the ultimate aim of Uefa and their allies in Concacaf and the AFC, the governing bodies of the game in North and Central America and Asia respectively. That would be enough to lift the boycott. Only his removal would genuinely placate them.
The longer he remains in place though, the stronger his grip on power becomes. He has already peeled away a handful of member rations in Concacaf from the ranks of his detractors, including Mexico; his trip to the Dominican Republic is designed to win over a few more. His pitch will be strengthened by the ability to claim that his opponents' threats are empty ones.
Even within Uefa, there was no real appetite to see the Under-20 Women's World Cup fall victim to political wrangling. They do not believe that the players should have to suffer for what they see as Infantino's hubris. They had hoped they would have turned the screw enough by now to force his hand; officials from Uefa and Concacaf are already discussing a joint Nations League, to start in 2028, an idea designed to show that they are serious in their intent. But Poland was their first chance to stare him down. All he will see, as he scrambles to sur- vive, is that they have blinked.
Premier League is showing its worth but is slowly running out of people to sell to, writes Rory Smith
Jeff Bezos's summer has been full of typical billionaire stuff. He and his wife, Lauren Sanchez, made a whistlestop visit to Sydney. Amazon, the business he founded, was named the world's largest company by rev- ue. He made about $4.1bn (£3bn) by selling off 15m of his shares. He is trying to figure out how to get into the Indian Creek Golf Club, famously the most exclusive in Florida.
Bezos is, presumably, aware that at some point in the middle of all of that, he also joined the consortium that now owns close to 40% of Liverpool Football Club, along with the steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal and the Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin. But it seems fair to assume he has not spent too much time poring over Andoni Iraola's options in midfield.
From the moment his involvement was first revealed, 1892 Holdings, the investment group Bezos has joined, have been clear that the 62-year-old is very much a passive partner. Fenway Sports Group, Liverpool's owners for 16 years, remain in day-to-day con- trol of the club. Amit Bhatia, newly installed at Anfield as vice-chairman, is the new group's point man.
Bezos has not joined the board; instead, his interests will be repre- sented by Bryan Baum, the founder of KS Sports, a venture capital firm. Bezos is their largest investor, but his link to Liverpool at this stage is at least technically one step removed. It has not even been disclosed what size role KS plays in the consortium.
Such is Bezos's profile, though, his presence has occluded everything else. That is natural. His wealth dwarfs that of his partners: Saverin is worth about $35.9bn and Mittal $31bn. Bezos's fortune is more than three times both of them put together. And despite longstanding overtures from various figures within the NFL, Liverpool represents the first time he has deployed any of it within sport.
That has been read, by the Premier League, as a considerable compli- ment. "It is proof positive that people look at the league as a strong invest- ment," Richard Masters, the league's chief executive, said this week. "It's also testament to the job that FSG have done. If you look at the position Liverpool was in [when they bought it] and the position it is in now, credit should be given to them."
That is difficult to dispute. FSG bought Liverpool for $350m in 2010 with the club on the brink of bank- ruptcy. In the intervening period, they have won two Premier League titles, a Champions League, overhauled

Popular investment: Liverpool have had their annual revenue surpass £700m and the club has now been valued at about £5bn. Simon Stacpoole/ Offside/Getty Images
Anfield and turned the club into a commercial juggernaut. Liverpool's last available accounts had their annual revenue surpass £700m for the first time. The deal with Bhatia's group values the club at about £5bn.
In that sense, the easiest answer to the immediate question hovering over Bezos' arrival in English football is both convenient and apparent. As a result of both their own expertise and the exponential growth of the Premier League as a whole, FSG's investment has been a spectacular success. They have already made a colossal return and yet still retain control of the club. It is not hard to see why Bezos and his partners would want to get into business with them. Their bet, of course, is both more expensive and much riskier. Given football's skewed priorities, 1892 Holdings had to make clear that they would not be instantly pouring Amazon's annual profits into the transfer market. That should have been a source of relief. Liverpool's vast spend last summer made the team almost instantly worse.
Besides: their opponents this weekend, Newcastle, are proof that having impossibly rich owners is no guarantee of immediate success.
The consortium's projection is not that they need to sink hundreds of millions into Liverpool's squad for their investment to work; it is that not only will Liverpool continue to grow – initially under FSG's Aegis and, given that the deal appears to offer a pathway to full ownership, perhaps later under their own – but that the Premier League will, too.
Given the valuations swirling around the league, it is easy to be sceptical about that. Liverpool's £5bn valuation seems out of line with the fact that they made a profit of £8m in 2026; the old adage, that a Premier League club makes roughly
as much money as a large regional supermarket, just about holds.
Sports teams are "uncorrelated assets," Tom Markham, principal of Markham Capital & Sports Advisory, said: a distinct investment class that is less likely to be affected by a downturn in other sectors. It is, tra- ditionally, recession-proof, and it has the added advantage of still being much cheaper than any of the major sports leagues of North America.
There has always been a cachet to owning a club, of course – it is some- thing to brag about at parties, but for the wealth managers of the ultra- rich, Markham believes it increasingly looks like a "prudent" decision to have one in your client's portfolio, too.
The complication is that choice is only available to an ever-diminish- ing number of people. "I do wonder if we're reaching an end-game at the top end," Markham said. "The higher the prices, the more there's a narrow- ing of investors who can conceivably do it. You are probably just down to a few dozen at this stage."
All of those who now count them- selves among the ranks of Liverpool's owners fall into that group. Saverin, Mittal and, many times over, Bezos all have the money to buy one of the world's blue-chip sports assets all by themselves. Even they, though, have still chosen to band together. "It's partly the cost," Markham said. "But it's also a way of spreading the risk."
That risk is not so much that Liverpool's value will fall or that inter- est in the Premier League – in football as a whole – will wane. It is that, in order to realise the value of their asset, they are going to have to sell it. And the game is, slowly but surely, running out of people to sell things to. Now one of the richest men in the world has jumped on board. The question, really, is who is left.
Newcastle v Liverpool Today, Sky Sports, 4.30pm
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Bequeathals by Moore, Charlton and Robson even outweigh their many sporting successes, writes Paul Hayward
The three great English Bobbys – Moore, Charlton and Robson – have bequeathed a £31m bowel cancer fund, a mine-clearing foundation and a £30m cancer trials institute being built in Newcastle. Their families believe those legacies surpass everything they achieved on football pitches.
In the age of the £120m midfielder and £500,000 weekly wage, as another multi-billion pound Premier League season begins, it's sobering to observe that all the money raised in honour of Bobby Moore, England's World Cup winning captain, Bobby Charlton, the nation's finest player, and Bobby Robson, the country's most popular manager, wouldn't have been enough for Manchester City to buy Elliot Anderson or Chelsea to sign Morgan Rogers.
The families know it's out of kilter. Everyone knows it. But none of those carrying on the work of the three Bobbys see football's mad
inflationary boom as an excuse to stop. Talking to The Observer in a spot overlooking the Thames, Stephanie Moore says of her late husband's generation: "They didn't get the accolades and they weren't looked after the way they are now."
Gaps in state provision have been narrowed in part, at least, by the charitable effort by sporting legends either claimed by, or in the throes of, fatal illness. The "power of sport" to affect society beyond its own boundaries has never been more apparent than in the afterlives of three working-class heroes who grew up in post-war England.
"Bobby was such a modest man," Stephanie says. "He very rarely talked about football or his successes in football. He didn't have that mentality where he felt sad or hard done by [when the English game failed to draw on his talents after he retired]. He always said to me: 'football gives me a very good life'. Compared to his peers in his neighbourhood, it gave him a very good life."
Before he died in 2024, supporters of the former Leeds Rhino Rob Burrow raised £6.8m to fund the Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease at Seacroft Hospital in Leeds. Tony Adams's Sporting Chance has been helping victims of addiction since 2000. In Manchester, Vincent Kompany devoted himself to an anti-homelessness campaign with the then-mayor Andy Burnham, whose first promise as prime minister was to end rough sleeping.
Also in Manchester, Marcus Rashford campaigned for free
'If dad was alive and saw the amount of fund-raising going on – that's far better than a trophy'
Mark Robson
meals for disadvantaged children during school holidays. Since being diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer, Sir Chris Hoy has focused on awareness and fundraising. There are many other examples.
Social conscience isn't restricted to the older generation represented by Moore, Charlton and Robson. However, the three of them did build the model at a time when charities were more rudimentary than we see in today's events-led, social media-savvy corporations.
A visit to Cambodia to witness the savage human cost of land mines caused Bobby Moore's fellow 1966 World Cup-winner to set up The Sir Bobby Charlton Foundation. It has since extended its work to victims of war in Ukraine and conflict-affected people living in Manchester. Robson turned with characteristic zeal to full-time campaigning for the final 18 months of his life following his fifth cancer diagnosis.
The Bobby Moore Fund (BMF) meanwhile was born when he and Stephanie discussed how to find some kind of light in the darkness of his final days. Under the Cancer Research UK umbrella, since his death in 1993, the BMF has contributed to a fall of more than 30% in mortality rates for bowel cancer. There are still 46 deaths a day in the UK from the disease, but now a 90% five-year survival rate with early detection.
Stephanie recalls the conversation
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
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in which Moore said he wanted to make a difference when his own life was over. "I said – there'll be lots of time, I'll do this," she says. "He was quite poorly, but working almost until a week before he died." Moore commented on England v San Marino midweek in February 1993 but Stephanie persuaded him not to go to West Ham's game the following Sunday. "He was already jaundiced," she says. "He died aged 51, a week after the England match.
"I think I was very fortunate in that Bobby's name allowed me to do it. I think because Bobby died so young we were able to harness a lot of publicity," she says. She started by handwriting letters and borrowing a neighbour's fax machine. "I was just so angry and frustrated at how he was misdiagnosed. Back then, it wasn't uncommon. Had it been picked up as soon as he went to his GP and the first specialist, he might well have lived. This is still happening today, so it's still very relevant. We still keep banging out the same message.
"I was just appalled at how patchy it was. There was no definitive bowel cancer list for GPs. It was quite normal to be fobbed off with IBS [irritable bowel syndrome], which is what happened to Bobby."
The late Jenni Murray, who hosted BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour for 33 years, told Stephanie she'd made a programme about the menopause and had been "castigated" for
Moore to give: Bobby (above left) set up his fund with his wife Stephanie (below) to help cancer patients. Above, Getty; Below, Charlie Forsham-Bailey for The Observer
Good Foundation: Bobby Charlton's organisation has worked to prevent the human cost of land mines and war in Ukraine. Getty Images
Tenacity: Bobby Robson (above right) started his institute for cancer trials which is close to its £30m target and plans to open in 2028. Hulton Archive/Getty


it by the BBC – an incident that Stephanie drew on for inspiration in her own fight. Stephanie remembers Murray saying: "They said, 'we don't want this on Woman's Hour, people don't want to listen to it'. But Jenni said to me you have to push those boundaries."
Bobby Robson used to say it was Moore's rise that cost him a place in England's 1966 World Cup squad. But he went on to manage England from 1982-1990. The Bobby Robson Institute for cancer trials is close to its £30m target and work has started for a 2028 opening. Bobby's son Mark Robson says his father's campaigning tells everything people saw of him in football: "The drive and passion and tenacity, which he had as a manager – boundless energy, always bouncing back from poor results, over 35 years.
"He also had a deep sense of community. I thought about this for ages. What I think is that Dad's dad was a pitman who worked down the mines for 52 years and had that sense of loyalty and hard work. Both my grandads worked down the mines. And dad went down at 15 before his trial at Fulham.
"Then he had his football career, and 35 years in management, then the cancer – and he still wanted to help. Where does that come from? It comes from his upbringing, and Langley Park [colliery], and what he saw his dad do. They had those values of wanting to help each other.
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Bobby Moore fund
Bobby Charlton Foundation
Bobby Robson Foundation
You had to work as a team. You're depending on each other to live – to get through the day.
"Then when the charity started people respected that: his kindness. He had time for them. He didn't growl and grimace. The charity's done so well because of the way he was and how he carried himself."
For Stephanie, each tournament restarts the cycle of remembering: "Yes, it is difficult. You don't want to remember the unsettling memories of the diagnosis and the treatment. You want to remember the good times. When a World Cup comes round, I try to look at it as an opportunity to raise funds and awareness. I think Bobby would think I were foolish if I didn't."
Will today's £120m players follow the example of the three Bobbys in later life, should serious illness befall them? Stephanie is certain: "They will." She and Mark agree that life-or-death charity campaigning transcends medals and trophies in the stories of the men they lost.
"If dad was alive and saw the amount of fundraising going on, and saw the building, and the hope it will give people and their families walking in – that's far better than a trophy," Mark says. "There's no comparison, I think. If all three were alive and were asked about their greatest achievement, I'm sure all three would say their charitable giving far outweighs what they did on the pitch or on the bench."
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observer.co.uk 23.08.26

Captain comeback: Joe Root has led England to a first-Test win but against a poor Pakistan side. Philip Brown/Getty Images
Prospect of first series win for 18 months beckons after England go back to their Root
Cameron Ponsonby Headingley
Winners can't be choosers. If you go 18 months without a series win, as this England side has, you can't complain when a potentially comfortable victory presents itself.
One-nil up with two to play, England should run out three-nil victors against Pakistan, a poor side that played below their level at Headingley. Pakistani friends and colleagues had warned me in advance to fear the worst. I didn't believe them. And I should have.
Their batting line-up is competent, with Abdullah Shafique a stand-out and the potential return of captain Babar Azam to the XI a major boost. But their bowling attack was toothless. In isolation Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Ali and Khurram Shahzad are all fine medium-paced bowlers. Abbas, in particular. But as a combination they are three lots of mashed potato. One serving and you could build a plate around it. Three, and you're in trouble.
And so the England batters feasted, with Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jordan Cox and Daniel Lawrence all making half-centuries at Headingley as the home team cantered along at 4.5 runs an over without breaking a sweat.
And not all runs are created equal. Cox, batting at three for the first time in Test cricket, made a fluent 73. You suspect that no matter how many he scores, they are runs that will keep him in the conversation, rather than in the team, when Jacob Bethell returns for South Africa.
But if the runs can come with a caveat, the wickets England took at Headingley should not. This was England's first match in a post-Ben Stokes world. The challenge set to his successor (and predecessor) Joe Root was how to replace him.
The answer, at first, appeared to come in the form of Sam Curran. A seam-bowling all-rounder who can bat at seven, which allows England to pick a specialist spinner with three further fast bowlers. But his injury ruled him out of the first two Tests, and has since ruled him out of the third as well.
Plan B is what England happened upon at Headingley. That of Lawrence, a specialist batter capable of useful offspin, accompanied by four out-and-out quicks in Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Ollie Robinson and Josh Tongue. That combination – without question – is England's strongest bowling quartet. All are right-arm but all are different from one another. Robinson is relentless in his
accuracy, Archer and Tongue push the ball back into the right-hander at high pace, while Atkinson's fairytale start to Test cricket has continued for so long now that it should probably be considered his mean rather than his exception. Archer, the A-lister of the attack, has a Test-bowling average of 28.8. It is the highest of the four. Robinson's sits at 20.9, Tongue's 27.4 and Atkinson's 23.6.
England will come up against sterner tests. But this was batter-independent bowling. Whether it was Donald Bradman or Imam-ul-Haq down the other end, England bowled exceptionally well. And in bowling out their opponents in 48 overs in the first innings and then 37 overs in the second, it was, clearly, too much for an out-of-form batting line-up to handle.
It bodes well for England and will be a marked change of strategy if four quicks becomes the status-quo option. It is an approach that can work for them at home where spin has been playing a smaller and smaller role over recent years, and can also work in South Africa whose pitches are tailored to their own superb seam-bowling unit.
Over the next year, England have 14 further Tests scheduled. And it is only the two they play away to Bangladesh where picking an out-and-out spinner would be considered compulsory.
It is a sadness of modern cricket that teams are increasingly turning their backs on picking a specialist spinner. Australia's Nathan Lyon has bowled frighteningly few overs in Australia over the last couple of seasons, while New Zealand's victory
over England earlier this year was built off exactly the team balance that England are now pursuing. Four quicks, plus competent part-timers in Glenn Phillips (Root/Lawrence) and Rachin Ravindra (Jacob Bethell).
For years, England turned their nose up at the idea of not playing a spinner. But a combination of Lawrence and Tongue is better than Curran and Shoaib Bashir.
The perfect compromise would be the emergence of a spin-bowling all-rounder capable of batting in the top seven. But the options currently available are wrist spinners in Rehan Ahmed and the now oft-mentioned Calvin Harrison. England, however, are currently prioritising picking their best possible six batters, hence Lawrence's inclusion.
Nevertheless, whether by accident or design, England have happened across a balance they can stick with. The upcoming Test against Pakistan at Lord's should be a better contest, if only because the pitch of late has acted as a leveller, whoever is playing. England's Test against New Zealand earlier this year finished in 166 overs – the shortest in Lord's history.
Edgbaston, however, where the final Test is to be held, has traditionally suited spin more, meaning England's new Plan A could face its first test.
The post-Stokes world is here. And England have decided the best way to replace him, is not to replace him at all.
England took Pakistan for 135 in their second innings to win the first Test by an innings and 103 runs. They lead the three-match series 1-0.
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
11
Andy Zaltzman

England’s seamers took 20 wickets in the Headingley Test. Pakistan’s pace bowlers took five. It was only the fourth time in their last 600 Tests, since July 1974, that England’s pace attack has exceeded their opponents’ tally by 15 wickets or more (they did so in two Tests against Bangladesh in 2005, and one versus West Indies in 2009).
For the tenth time in their last 12 series, England have won the first Test, with a clinical demolition of a dismal Pakistan team, who looked fragile on paper before the match, and even more brittle once that paper had been filled in with the Headingley scorecard.
The chasm between the two teams was especially vast in pace bowling. England’s seamers combined for 20 wickets for 296 runs. Pakistan’s managed a somewhat flattering five for 300, one of the biggest statistical gulfs between two teams’ seam attacks in any Test, when taking into account total wickets and collective average.
Ollie Robinson, who became the first bowler ever to take a wicket with the first ball of a series in England, has now taken 15 for 157 in his two Tests since a prolonged exile precipitated by two wicketless, fitness-blighted, Tests.
In all, in his 12 home Tests, Robinson has taken 65 wickets, average 18, his tally matching the best 12-Test home sequences of Jimmy Anderson (65 at 15, from July 2017 to August 2018), as well as Stuart Broad (65 at 21.1, July 2011 to July 2013).
Since Ian Botham’s wicket-laden early years, the only players with more wickets in a 12-Test sequence in England are overseas bowlers – 1980s Australian Terry Alderman, and all-time greats Richard Hadlee, Malcolm Marshall, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne. The Sussex bowler is keeping mighty company.

On-form: Ollie Robinson dismissed Pakistan’s Abdullah Shafique (below), and has now taken 15 for 157 in his two Tests since a prolonged absence.

In Robinson’s home Tests, England’s other frontline seamers have averaged 24. In the 23 home Tests he has missed since his 2021 debut, England’s seamers average 30. These numbers could be interpreted as follows: (a) Robinson has been historically outstanding, and helps the other bowlers in the team thrive through his relentless craft and accuracy; (b) Robinson has been outstanding, but has also benefitted from missing matches on flatter pitches and against stronger teams; (c) both (a) and (b).
It would be advisable to wait 12 months before announcing your verdict. Robinson’s fitness and form looks to be one of the most important factors in England’s series in South Africa this coming winter, and next summer’s Ashes. He had a decent recent run against Australia – 21 wickets at 26.9 – but has never taken four in an innings or made a decisive impact on a Test.
Pakistan’s seam “attack” was an unhelpful combination of plodding and wayward, in line with their recent overall form. It is almost five years since Pakistan won a Test in which their seamers took more wickets than their spinners
(before which, their pace bowlers had taken more wickets than the spinners in 12 of their 14 Test wins, from 2017 to November 2021). In their most recent five victories, their seamers have taken a total of nine wickets, their spinners 90.
Since 2022, Pakistan’s seamers collectively average 36.3, the lowest figure of the nine regular Test-playing sides. Opposition seamers against Pakistan in this period have averaged 27.9. In terms of disparity between pace-bowling stats for and against (Pakistan’s seamers average 8.4 runs per wicket – as a ratio, 30% – more than their opponents), they are ahead only of Bangladesh, whose seam attack has recently been on a significant upward curve, whereas Pakistan’s are somewhere near the bottom of a bobsled run.
Of course, these numbers reveal something of Pakistan’s batting struggles as well as the long-term bluntness of their pace bowling.
However, even if the seemingly dormant talent production line was functioning, and the selection was less bizarre, and the competing priorities of short-form cricket were not guzzling the marrow of the Test game, it would be difficult for Pakistan to thrive overseas.
Their trickle of sporadic
engagements means that even seasoned players have minimal relevant experience, and therefore no chance to generate form.
As a result, the current team is hampered by a cocktail of a lack of youth, a lack of experience, insufficient depth in batting and bowling, and a deep-seated lack of confidence in their ability to win.
If Pakistan want some statistical succour before the Lord’s Test on Thursday, they can look at England’s dismal recent records (a) in second Tests of series (won three, lost seven in their last 10); and (b) in their next Test after bowling out their opponents twice in a combined total of fewer than 90 overs.
Headingley was the third time in their last six Tests, and seventh in the last 10 years, that England had taken less than a day’s scheduled overs to dismiss their opponents twice. Five times out of the previous six they have lost their following Test match, including twice in the past eight months.
If Pakistan can add to this list with a Lord’s victory – a ground on which spinners have collectively taken an average of three wickets per Test since 2018 – it will be one of the most extraordinary recoveries by any touring team in England.
12
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
Record-breaking ultrarunner says women should not feel like they need to be better than men
Jessy Parker Humphreys
Of everyone struggling to adjust after Sophie Woods’s record-breaking run across the Alps, spare a thought for Nila the dog. Nila was a regular companion of Woods as she traversed the 1,240 miles that took her from Italy, through Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and Switzerland to the finish in France.
After a month of being exercised for around five hours a day, every day for the past month, she has been confused about why her owner has suddenly become less keen to take her out.
“I can just make it to the fridge and back to the couch!” Woods tells The Observer from her home in Andorra.
Woods, a Kiwi who runs under her maiden name, Grant, is an experienced ultrarunner who has raced Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc – one of the world’s most prestigious ultramarathons – six times.
“I’d never really been interested in doing a fastest known time or one of those solo records before,” says the 42-year-old, recalling when her husband, George, suggested she tackle the Via Alpina route.
She was attracted by “the opportunity to explore the Alps in this way”. “I love them, but they’re massive. There’s so much of them that we had never seen.”
Woods’ ultrarunning journey began in 2012 after George gifted her a place in the Marathon des Sables – a race in the Sahara that sees participants over 155 miles in six days – as a birthday present. The attraction of the Via Alpina was to try something different after she says she began to feel

Peaky blinder: Sophie Woods’s 1,240-mile Alpine run took her through seven countries

like she wasn’t “learning very much anymore” in traditional race formats.
“Trail running is great for those of us that are control freaks but also want to throw in that chaos,” she says. “You control everything you can and then you throw it into an environment where you have no control.”
In this case, those factors included everything from a flat tire in a support vehicle in Switzerland, to a weird rash developed from washing detergent. There was also having to reroute away from wildfires, a reminder of the impact that global warming is having in Europe. “As trail runners, we are at risk of losing the environments that we love so much. I live in the mountains. Anyone who doesn’t think [climate change] is real, all you have to do is come into the mountains because you live it. You live in the impact of the world burning. It’s
sad and it’s terrifying. All we can do is try and do what we can to help.”
Throughout the race, Woods was supported by George and her friend and photographer Zoe. “It’s not my record,” she says. “It’s our record. I would not have got to the finish without them.
“There were moments of self-doubt. I never wanted to stop, but there was quite a bit of time, certainly
‘I love the Alps, but they’re massive. There’s so much we had never seen’
Sophie Woods
in the first two weeks, where I was like ‘How are you ever going to do this?’”
Woods’ run has received significant attention due to the fact that her time of 29 days shaved almost a week off the previous record of 35 days, set by British runner Jake Catterall in 2024. It is part of a trend that has seen women excel at ultra events.
In 2019, Jasmin Paris made headlines by becoming the first woman to win the demanding Spine Race, a 268-mile ultra along the Pennine Way. That same year, Fiona Kolbinger won the Transcontinental Race, a 2,485-mile cycle that took her just over 10 days.
Reflecting on the success of women within these kinds of events, Woods believes being “good problem-solvers”, as well as being “good at adapting” and only taking on events when they believe they are ready are all factors in these kinds of results.
But Woods says she is “wary” of this narrative that looks to set up women’s achievements as more worthy when they exceed what men have done.
“It’s super cool that I took the whole record. It’s amazing all of the attention that it’s gotten. But I want women to be more celebrated in every sense rather than feeling like we have to go out and be better than men.
“It’s a big deal to go and take a woman’s record. It’s a big deal to be a woman and to win your race, or to finish your race. To even show up for these big races as a woman is a massive deal.”
Woods has returned to running again, first going out for 20 minutes, then 30, then 45. “It feels horrendous. Right now I could do with living somewhere flat.”
She is set to be back racing with George at La Petite Trotte à Léon next week, the small matter of 186 miles and 82,000ft of elevation through Mont-Blanc. Beyond that, she is less sure of what will come next.
“I need to make sure my endocrine system’s okay,” she says. “But I will probably look to do another adventure like this. Because we had so much fun – most of the time.”
As the world championships unfold in Germany, Samantha Weinberg describes the events’ thrills and spills
Scene One: Cross-country day at the equestrian world championships in Aachen, Germany. We are surrounded by horse-people from six continents. At the start of play, 0.8 points separate Britain and Germany.
There is a group intake of breath as each horse jumps a hanging log into the water, to angle over a skinny corner. When they jump out over a huge wooden duck, every nation cheers. We have come to watch the best combinations in the world take on a tricky course at what is known in equestrian circles as “the greatest show on earth”, and it doesn’t disappoint.
As the day races past, there are thrills and spills. Gemma Stevens,
riding first for the Brits, is eliminated at fence 8; one of the fancied Americans falls off; Korntawat Samran for Thailand is clapped all the way back to the stables after a fast clear round. There’s a roar as Julia Krajewski, the Tokyo Olympic champion, jumps cleanly through the water. A German lady turns and hugs me. She’s in tears. “I looked after Nickel [Julia’s horse] when he was three. His owner, the professor, is watching from hospital,” she says. The British team ends the day comfortably on top.
Scene Two: A starry night in the centre of Aachen’s old town. The 14th-century town hall is obscured
by a giant screen. We’re watching the finals of the freestyle dressage that is taking place in the main stadium in front of a 40,000 sell-out crowd.
Charlotte Fry on her black stallion, Glamourdale (Glammy), who has already won individual gold for Britain in the Grand Prix, dances to Welcome to Ibiza. The audience claps to the beat as they sashay up the centre line, in a complex half-pass passage, each hoof landing perfectly in time. After the final halt and salute, Fry collapses to hug Glammy’s neck. Germany might have won the team competition, but Fry and Glammy have clinched both individual golds. Scene Three: High in the stands,
observer.co.uk^{}[] 23.08.26
13
Fine margins: George Russell has cut the title deficit to his Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli by three points in Zandvoort. Sam Blodwin/ LAT Images

After his recent marriage proposal, the 28-year-old feels rejuvenated and has cut the championship deficit to Kimi Antonelli ever so slightly at the Dutch Grand Prix
Matt Majendie
George Russell joked that his recent marriage proposal to Carmen Montero Mundt would equate to a couple of tenths of a second per lap on Formula One's resumption after the summer break.
On the evidence of his first two competitive outings since going down on one knee, there might at least be a modicum of truth to it.
Prior to the enforced summer hiatus, Russell looked out of sorts, unable to master the Mercedes at his disposal or to match the pace of his far less-experienced team-mate.
At the resumption in Zandvoort, he has, to date, had a near-perfect weekend. He took pole for the sprint race, which he won from lights to flag and, although he had to make do with
P2 for Sunday's Dutch Grand Prix behind McLaren's Lando Norris, the evidence earlier in the day suggests his race pace should be better than that of his longtime friend.
From the moment he arrived in the Netherlands, he seems to have eased the pressure that appeared to weigh down on him so heavily as he dropped 59 points behind Kimi Antonelli in the drivers' championship.
He still has a mountain to climb but erased three of those points as the teenager, undone by an error in sprint qualifying, could only finish that race in fourth. Better still, Russell then outdid him for only the fifth time in qualifying this season. And if a further fillip was needed, Antonelli will take a grid penalty of at least 10 places in Monza by exceeding his allotted use of engine components, potentially further aiding Russell's cause.
Asked at the end of the day's action if his marriage proposal was behind his newfound pace, he said simply: "Maybe, maybe. I feel in a good place."
The pressure of having Antonelli breathing down his neck just a place back for the race is another matter and his team principal, Toto Wolff, was hardly suggesting this was the start of a mid-season renaissance. Instead, he said over the race radio after the sprint, "Well done, George, [you] ticked the first box for the weekend."
For much of Saturday, it was a dual between Norris, winner last time out in Hungary, and Russell, and the former parked his car aggressively at the start to take the race to his fellow Briton. But Russell had a strong getaway, established a second-plus advantage in no time and was not really bothered for the next 24 laps.
It briefly looked like Ferrari's Charles Leclerc might catch him, but it transpired that Russell was only managing his tyres and hence his slower pace. In no time at all, he pulled clear of the chasing Leclerc.
Alas, it was a sprint race that was largely processional in the points places, although there threatened to be late jeopardy when the rain came down, but it proved too late to trouble Russell on what was his final lap.
"One more lap it would have been a potentially very different end to the race," he conceded at a track hugging the North Sea where weather conditions can rapidly shift. "I'm glad the rain came when it did."
Russell has had his share of misfortune already this season with race retirements and untimely safety cars, and will be hoping Zandvoort is the point where his luck changes.
The 28-year-old came close to a perfect Saturday only to miss out by a tenth of a second to Norris when it came to Grand Prix qualifying.
For the world champion, the result was an unexpected one, having earlier complained at his lack of pace in the slower corners and telling his team they had "work to do" between the sprint race and qualifying.
They duly delivered to give him the car with which to produce a stellar lap. "A little surprised," was his verdict. "We made some small changes, just enough to give me a little bit more confidence."
It was in Zandvoort a year ago that Max Verstappen and Red Bull finally worked out the issues with his car to spark a turnaround in fortunes.
The team have been boosted this weekend by the news that the four-time world champion has extended his contract at the team until 2030.
But there were the usual frustrations as he struggled again with the car's balance and finished sixth in the sprint and seventh in qualifying. That said, as the sprint race wore on, his race pace appeared to get better, suggesting there might be reasons for positivity, with the Orange Army watching expectantly in the stands.
They will swamp to Zandvoort again for the last running of this race, with race promoters having opted not to renew their deal because of financial risks and the lack of government backing.
Hopes of a farewell win seem far-fetched. Instead the likelier outcome is a first win for Mercedes as a manufacturer at the circuit for 71 years.
watching the final jumping phase of the event. On my left, there is a lady wearing a bucket hat with the face of British team member Tom McEwen printed on it.
Fractions of a point separate the top three: Paris 2024 Olympic champions, Michael Jung and Chipmunk; Ros Canter on Lordships Graffalo, who earlier this year clinched a record-breaking third Badminton win, and European champion Laura Collett on London S2. London tips a pole and Graffalo jumps clear. Britain has secured team gold. Jung can not afford to be even a second over the time allowed. As he clears the final fence, the stadium rocks. Even a

woman in a Union Jack dress stands to cheer.
In recent years, it's not been easy to be a fan of equestrian sports. There have been scandals and tragedies, in a world of vocal scrutiny. Many fear that equestrian sport – the only Olympic disciplines in which men and women compete on equal terms – is doomed. Yet over the past week, folded into a rainbow coalition of horse people, it's been possible to revel in the generosity and athleticism of horses, the bravery of riders, and the extraordinary bond of trust between human and animal.
Back in the main stadium, the show-jumping is the final hurrah. Every seat
sold as soon as they dropped. So far, in the headline disciplines, Germany and Britain have snuffed all the golds. The German show-jumping team took the win on Friday night. Now the individual medals are up for grabs.
The winning combination will need to jump five faultless rounds. Heading the leaderboard going in: Daniel Deusser for Germany and Steve Guerdar for Switzerland. Ben Meyer for Britain, Tokyo individual champion, is a fraction of a point behind in third. It will be tight to the last jump, but one thing is certain: whoever triumphs will be celebrated by all, along with their magnificent equine partner.
14
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
Premier League
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Gd | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arsenal | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Brentford | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Everton | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Hull | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Ipswich | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Leeds | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Aston Villa | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bournemouth | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Brighton | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chelsea | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fulham | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Liverpool | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Man City | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Newcastle | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sunderland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 0 |
| Nottm Forest | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 |
| Crystal Palace | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 0 |
| Man Utd | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 0 |
| Coventry | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | -3 | 0 |
| Tottenham | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | -3 | 0 |
PREMIER LEAGUE
| Brentford (2) | 3 | Tottenham (0) | 0 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Everton (3) | 2 | Crystal Palace (0) | 0 |
| Dowbury-Hall 42 | At 31.820 | ||
| Bury 53 | |||
| Hull (2) | 2 | Man Utd (0) | 0 |
| Alps 17 | At 24.470 | ||
| Mercy 58 | |||
| Ipswich (1) | 2 | Sunderland (1) | 1 |
| Emerson 24 | Angus 30 | ||
| Clarke 60 | At 28.800 | ||
| Nottm Forest (0) | 0 | Leeds (0) | 1 |
| At 30.738 | Stam 68 |
Sky Bet Championship
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Gd | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Millwall | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 6 |
| Charlton | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Wolverhampton | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| QPR | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Blackburn | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Watford | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Swansea | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Bolton | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| West Brom | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Portsmouth | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| Middlesbrough | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Cardiff | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| Wrexham | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Birmingham | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Sheff Utd | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Burnley | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| West Ham | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 1 |
| Derby | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 1 |
| Bristol City | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | -2 | 1 |
| Lincoln City | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | -3 | 0 |
| Preston | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | -3 | 0 |
| Stoke | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | -3 | 0 |
| Norwich | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | -4 | 0 |
| Southampton | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | -1 |
THE SKY BET CHAMPIONSHIP
| Birmingham | 2 | Bristol City | 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blackburn | 2 | Middlesbrough | 1 |
| Derby | 2 | Cardiff | 2 |
| Lincoln City | 1 | Portsmouth | 3 |
| Millwall | 1 | Norwich | 0 |
| Preston | 1 | Wolverhampton | 3 |
| QPR | 0 | Bolton | 0 |
| Southampton | 3 | Stoke | 1 |
| Swansea | 0 | Sheff Utd | 0 |
| West Ham | 1 | Charlton | 2 |
| Wrexham | 1 | Watford | 1 |
Sky Bet League One
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Gd | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bradford | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Huddersfield | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Luton | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 4 |
| Oxford Utd | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Cambridge Utd | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Blackpool | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Burton Albion | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Bromley | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Stockport City | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| Leyton Orient | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Mansfield | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Sheff Wed | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Peterborough | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 3 |
| MK Dons | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| Notts County | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| Wycombe | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Reading | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 1 |
| Leicester | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 1 |
| Stevenage | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 1 |
| Doncaster | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -3 | 1 |
| Barnsley | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 1 |
| Plymouth | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | -2 | 1 |
| AFC Wimbledon | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | -3 | 1 |
| Wigan | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | -3 | 0 |
SKY BET LEAGUE ONE
| AFC Wimbledon | 0 | Reading | 0 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bromley | 1 | Cambridge Utd | 1 |
| Doncaster | 0 | Barnsley | 0 |
| Leicester | 1 | Burton Albion | 2 |
| Luton | 2 | Notts County | 2 |
| MK Dons | 1 | Huddersfield | 1 |
| Peterborough | 2 | Mansfield | 1 |
| Stevenage | 1 | Oxford Utd | 2 |
| Stockport County | 1 | Blackpool | 2 |
| Wigan | 0 | Leyton Orient | 2 |
| Wycombe | 1 | Plymouth | 1 |
Sky Bet League Two
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Gd | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barnet | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Crown | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Walsall | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Tranmere | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Colchester | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| York | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Swindon | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Fleetwood Town | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Grimsby | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Bristol Rovers | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 3 |
| Newport County | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 3 |
| Oldham | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Exeter | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Cheltenham | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Crowley Town | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Chesterfield | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Rotherham | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 1 |
| Northampton | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 1 |
| Accrington | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | -2 | 1 |
| Port Vale | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | -2 | 1 |
| Gillingham | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | -3 | 1 |
| Salford City | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | -3 | 0 |
| Rochdale | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | -4 | 0 |
| Shrewsbury | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | -4 | 0 |
SKY BET LEAGUE TWO
| Bristol Rovers | 5 | Newport County | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colchester | 2 | Oldham | 1 |
| Crown | 1 | Northampton | 0 |
| Exeter | 2 | Accrington | 0 |
| Fleetwood Town | 0 | Gillingham | 0 |
| Port Vale | 1 | Tranmere | 1 |
| Rochdale | 1 | Crowley Town | 2 |
| Rotherham | 1 | York | 1 |
| Salford City | 0 | Chesterfield | 1 |
| Shrewsbury | 1 | Barnet | 3 |
| Swindon | 2 | Cheltenham | 1 |
| Walsall | 0 | Grimsby | 0 |
Scottish Premiership
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Gd | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Celtic | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| Dundee | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| St Mirren | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Motherwell | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Hearts | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| St Johnstone | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| Hibernian | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Aberdeen | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 3 |
| Rangers | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 1 |
| Falkirk | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 1 |
| Dundee Utd | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | -6 | 1 |
| Kilmarnock | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 9 | -5 | 0 |
WILLIAM HILL SCOTTISH PREMIERSHIP
| Dundee Utd | 0 | Dundee | 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| WILLIAM HILL SCOTTISH CHAMPIONSHIP | |||
| Livingston | 2 | Southbridge | 0 |
| Morton | 1 | Adelaide | 2 |
| Queen's Park | 0 | Ovaldecoast | 2 |
| Raith | 2 | Arp | 0 |
| WILLIAM HILL SCOTTISH LEAGUE ONE | |||
| Annmountain | 1 | Ross County | 3 |
| Cove Rangers | 3 | Peterhead | 0 |
| East Fife | 0 | Stratford | 0 |
| Montrose | 3 | East Kilbride | 0 |
| Queen of South | 0 | Alton | 2 |
| WILLIAM HILL SCOTTISH LEAGUE TWO | |||
| Clyde | 3 | Forfar | 0 |
| Edinburgh City | 1 | Anson Athletic | 0 |
| Notts Hants | 3 | Dunbarton | 1 |
| Spartans | 3 | Elgin | 3 |
| Stirling | 2 | Stranraer | 2 |
| ENTERPRISE NATIONAL LEAGUE | |||
| Boston Utd | 1 | Athensham | 0 |
| Carlisle | 4 | Horseham | 1 |
| Eastleigh | 3 | Scanthorpe | 2 |
| FC Halifax | 4 | Tamworth | 1 |
| Forest Green | 0 | Brenham Wood | 3 |
| Harrogate Town | 2 | Barrow | 2 |
| Kidderminster | 1 | Adelaide | 1 |
| Solihull Mours | 1 | Southend | 3 |
| Sutton Utd | 2 | Hartlepool | 1 |
| Woking | 3 | AFC Fylde | 2 |
| Worthing | 1 | Woodstone | 0 |
| Yessell | 3 | Gateshead | 0 |
Before the current system, goal average was used to decide the winners and losers of top-flight English football. But has it produced more attacking football?
Bill Edgar
Knowing defeat away to Tottenham Hotspur in their final league match of the 1970-71 season would hand Leeds United the title, Arsenal are already heading for glory at 0-0 when they open the scoring in the 88th minute. At 1-0 up, they might seem certain to finish top now – ahead of Leeds, whose campaign ended two days earlier – but these are the days when goal average, rather than goal difference, separates teams level on points. A 1-1 draw, unlike 0-0, would make Leeds champions, and a trailing Tottenham are now more likely to push to score than at 0-0.
Arsenal won 1-0, but the match underlined the complications of using goal average. It had been even more confusing when Huddersfield Town pipped Cardiff City to the title in 1924 by a goal average advantage of just 0.02. In general, a calculator was needed to interpret a league table properly, which led, 50 years ago this month in 1976, to the introduction of the goal-difference system.
Arsenal chairman Denis Hill-Wood had pushed for the change – which had been made in Scotland five years earlier – giving two reasons. Firstly, adopting goal difference would simplify the understanding of league tables: subtracting goals conceded from goals scored was easier than dividing the number of goals scored by the number of goals conceded. That was sound logic.
Secondly, the goal-average system, supposedly, incentivised teams to be more defensive. This point was and is commonly repeated but is only half true. For clubs high in the table, having scored more goals than they have conceded, a more attacking approach that brings the addition of one goal scored and one goal conceded would, indeed, worsen their goal average. A team with 61 goals scored and 31 goals conceded has a worse goal average than one with 60 goals scored and 30 conceded. Thus they might be incentivised to play more defensively.
But equally, for those teams low in the standings, having scored fewer goals than they have conceded, a more attacking strategy that produced one
extra goal scored and one extra goal conceded would improve their goal average. A team with 31 goals scored and 61 goals conceded has a better goal average than one with 30 goals scored and 60 conceded. Therefore they might be encouraged to play more positively.
Whatever the cause, goals per game in the top flight fell from 2.66 in 1975-76, the final season with goal average used, to 2.56 in the following campaign. This desire for more goals had led at the same time to a Football League proposal, which was rejected, to award an extra point to winning teams who scored at least three goals.
Only one title and one top-flight relegation have been affected by the change in the subsequent half-century. A system of goal average would have handed Liverpool the title in 1989, when Arsenal triumphed in dramatic fashion on goals scored, with goal difference equal. A year earlier, when one top-division team was still forced to enter the playoffs, Charlton Athletic would have taken part rather than Chelsea, who were eventually relegated via that competition.
Fleetwood Town vs Shrewsbury Town, Tuesday, 7.45pm, Carabao Cup
For the cost of an average World Cup final ticket this summer – £6,940 – you could attend 203 Premier League games this season, based on average season-ticket prices, which you might feel is slightly better value. Or, if Fleetwood Town were to maintain their league–low season-ticket price of £199 indefinitely and stay in EFL League Two, you could use that same money to watch Will Davies (left) and future forwards at every home league game played by Fleetwood until 2061 (802 matches).

observer.co.uk
23.08.26
15

Football 7.45 unless stated
Brighton v Alcon Villa (2.00), Man City v AFC Bournemouth (2.00), Newcastle v Liverpool (4.30).
SKY BET CHAMPIONSHIP
West Brom v Barkley (12.00).
Falkane v Chelsea (6.00).
Bakersfield (3) v MCC (3) (8.00), LAM (8) v Celtic (3)
(6.00), Saluti (6) (1) v Hapoel Beer Shree (2) (5.45).
Mulligan v Cumbler, Birmingham v Brentford (3.00), Blackburn
v Sheffield, Blackpool v Lincoln City, Cambridge Utd v
Millwall, Cardiff v Norwich (7.00), Newcastle v
Middlesbrough (7.30), Flankwood Town v Stowcester,
Spradish v Leicester, North Forest v Leeds (6.00), Plymouth v
Coventry, Sheffield v Wolverhampton, Southampton v West
Ham, Stowcester v Reading, Stoke v Hull, Walsall v Leyton
Orient, Watford v Peterborough.
VERTO TROPHY - SOUTHERN GROUP 2
Worcester, W. 2017, 2018.
Worcester, W. 2017, 2018.
AFC Athens (9) v Leydon Valley (10.00), CM Crijer (1) v
Slovan Bratislava (11 (8.00), Lane (1) v Trenchaher (1)
(6.00), Viking FFC (1) v Simeon Zagreb (2) (8.00).
UEFA EUROPE CONFIDENCE LEAGUE - QUALIFYING
Royal Thomas (2) v Harrow (2) (5.45).
CHAMPIONSHIP - SECOND ROUND
CABAD CUP - SECOND ROUND
Bradford v Burnley, Newcastle v West Brom, Preston North
End v Everton (8.00), Tottenham Hotspur v Charlois.
Brighton (8) v Thomas (10) (7.30), Freiburg (3) v Motherwell
(2) (5.45), Hibernian (9) v Leydon (8) (8.00), Jablance (8) v
Hangers (1) (5.00), Kylife (1) v Sherwoods Rovers (1) (4.00),
Lane (2) v Lincoln Red Imps (10 (8.00).
CARABAD CUP - SECOND ROUND
Chelsea v Luton (7.30), Falkane v AFC Wimbledon (8.00).
ENTERPRISE NATIONAL LEAGUE
Boreham Wood v Bolton Utd.
Second Test Match (Day 1): England v Pakistan (Lord's)
Country Championship (Day 2) - Division One: Town
v Surrey (Chelsford), Glamorgan v Hampshire (Inglis
Gardens), Sussex v Somerset (Hove), Warwickshire v
Nottinghamshire (Edgbaston), Yorkshire v Leicestershire
(Scotland).
Division Two: Derbyshire v Middlesex (Derby), Durham v
Gloucestershire (Rosedale), Northamptonshire v Kent (North-
ampton), Worcestershire v Lancashire (New Road).
BP World Tour Hoopsoma British Masters (The Bethy
Horn) & Hoven, Sutton (Gothold).
KPMG Women's Irish Open (The K Club, Dublin).
Betfred Super League: Wigan v Hull II K (8.00).
Coxford Thurs v Man City (8.00).
SKY BET CHAMPIONSHIP
Wimbledon v Birmingham (8.00).
WILLIAM HILL SCOTTISH CHAMPIONSHIP
Dunfermline v Hustle (7.30).
WILLIAM HILL SCOTTISH LEAGUE 2
Edinburgh City v Forfar.
EUROPE LEAGUE
Betfred Super League: Castleford v Colstairs Dragons
(8.00), Haldersfield v Leigh (8.00), St Helens v Leeds (8.00).
Football 3.00 unless stated
Football 3.00 unless stated
Football 3.00 unless stated
AFC Bournemouth v Everton, Coventry v Hull, Liverpool v
Norton Forest (12.30), Tottenham Hotspur v Newcastle
(5.30).
Blackburn v BPR, Stoke v Lincoln City, Bristol City v
Portsmouth, Cardiff v Sheffield, Charlton v Preston North
End, Derby v Shoreditch (12.30), Middlesbrough v West Brom
(12.30), Norwich v Burnley, Southampton v Millwall, Watford
v West Ham, Wolverhampton v Stoke (12.30).
Blackpool v Peterborough (12.30), Cambridge Utd v
Huddersfield, Leyton Orient v Barnsley, Milton Keynes Dons v
Leicester (12.30), Notts County v Burton Albion, Plymouth v
Bradford, Sheffield v Bromley, Stowcester, Worcester,
Stockport County v Wycombe.
Norwich v Cheltenham (12.30), Colchester v Rochdale,
Country Town v Bristol Rovers, Gillingham v Northampton,
Grencois v Portsmouth Town, Newport County v Tranmere,
Oldham v Swindon, Port Vale v Crowe (12.30), Rotherham v
Chesterfield (12.00), Stowcester v Salford City, Walsall v
Accrington Stanley, York v Exeter.
Celtic v Fallah, Harrow v St Johnstone, Kilmarnock v Dundee
Utd.
Betfred Super League: Hull v Warclayshire (5.30), Toulouse
v Bradford (8.00), Waterfield v York (5.30).
International Watch: Argentina v Australia (8.00), South
Africa v New Zealand (4.30).
Chelsea v Brighton (2.00), Leeds v Brentford (2.00), Man Utd
v Ipswich (4.30), Sunderland v Falkane (2.00).
AFC Wimbledon v Wigan (2.00), Worsfield v Luton.
Wimbledon v Rangers (Hove), Dundee v Hibernian, St Mirren v
Motherwell.
ENTERPRISE NATIONAL LEAGUE: North: AFC Salford 1 Hertford Town 1, Burbank 1, Hibbert Town 2, Chester FC 3, Spalding Utd 6, Cheday 2, Scarborough Athletic 1, Hackenough Town 4, Darlington 2, King's Lynn Town 1 Merion 4, Macclesfield FC 2, Bromley 1, Radcliffe 2 Manchester 1, South Shields 1, Merthyr Town 1, Southport 4, Bedford Town 1, Spennypower Town 2, Oxford City 4, Worcester 1, Watford 1, Watford 2, Wentworth 1, Watford 3, Watford 4, Watford 5, Watford 6, Watford 7, Watford 8, Watford 9, Watford 10, Watford 11, Watford 12, Watford 13, Watford 14, Watford 15, Watford 16, Watford 17, Watford 18, Watford 19, Watford 20, Watford 21, Watford 22, Watford 23, Watford 24, Watford 25, Watford 26, Watford 27, Watford 28, Watford 29, Watford 30, Watford 31, Watford 32, Watford 33, Watford 34, Watford 35, Watford 36, Watford 37, Watford 38, Watford 39, Watford 40, Watford 41, Watford 42, Watford 43, Watford 44, Watford 45, Watford 46, Watford 47, Watford 48, Watford 49, Watford 50, Watford 51, Watford 52, Watford 53, Watford 54, Watford 55, Watford 56, Watford 57, Watford 58, Watford 59, Watford 60, Watford 61, Watford 62, Watford 63, Watford 64, Watford 65, Watford 66, Watford 67, Watford 68, Watford 69, Watford 70, Watford 71, Watford 72, Watford 73, Watford 74, Watford 75, Watford 76, Watford 77, Watford 78, Watford 79, Watford 80, Watford 81, Watford 82, Watford 83, Watford 84, Watford 85, Watford 86, Watford 87, Watford 88, Watford 89, Watford 90, Watford 91, Watford 92, Watford 93, Watford 94, Watford 95, Watford 96, Watford 97, Watford 98, Watford 99, Watford 100
NORTHERN LEAGUE - Prone: Garson Athletic 1, Guisbury 2, Emory AFC 1, Ashland Utd 1, FC Grimsley 4, Manchester 1, Manchester 2, Glamborough 3, Fife 3, Fife 3, Fife 3, Fife 3, Fife 3, Fife 3, Fife 3, Fife 3, Fife 3, Fife 3, Fife 3, Fife 3, Fife 3, Fife 3, Fife 3, Fife 3, Fife 3, Fife 3, Fife 3, Fife 3, Fife 3
SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREM - Central: Andley-Norwich 2 Longfleet Town 6, Borough Stortford 8, Baluchurch 5, Bury Town 1, Lunenington 6, Bothering 8, Peterborough Sports 0, Needham Market 0, Halesowen Town 1, Racing Club Warwick 1, Hitchin Town 1, Real Bradford 1, Stratford Town 1, Redditch Utd 1, Bromley-on-Sporting 2, Rashall Olympic 2, Banbury Utd 2, Strawbridge 2, London 2, Worcester City 3, Sturford 0
FIFTHMAN PREM: Brentwood Town 1, Enfield Town 3, Cheshire 1, Rangers Hill Town 1, Cray Wanderers 2, Eastbourne Borough 1, Dartford 0, Watling 3, Leatherhead 1, Malden & Tiptree 4, Lewes 1, AFC Whiteheath 1, Ramsgate 4, St Albans 5, Stansway Rovers 1, Canhalines Ath 2, Three Bridges 1, Andley 5, Whitehawk 1, Chatham Town 1, Wirtgum & Football 2, Elizabeth 0
SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREM - South: Basingstoke Town 1 Bath City 9, Northampton 2, Poole Town 2, Chichester City 4 Chesapeake 0, Frome Town 3, Gosport Borough 2, Gloucester 1, Haverhill Town 0, Haverhill Villa 4, Eastham Utd 1, Malvern Town 0, Windermere Town 3, Plymouth Parkway 2 Newark and W 1, Shelley 2, Chertsey Town 4, Uxbridge 3 Everton Town 4, York Town 2, Brocknell Town 1
BREEDON HIGHLAND GEE: Bourn D'Heemans Lawn Works 0, Cumberland 0, Haver's County 1, Davenport 1, Forres Machano 1, Fremantow United 4, Keith 1, Huntly 2, Banks Ollon 2, Huntingdon 0, Buckle Thistle 6, Leyslemouth 0, Frasenburgh 4, Rotten 3, Wick Academy 2, Tarriff United 1 Vandhams Thistle 2
LOMBARD LEAGUE - East: Berwick 0, Bournsley Rose 2, Coal Terrace, Stonhurst, Broxford 2, Lowdenhead 4, Eveling University 2, Dumpson 2, Broxford Athletic 3, East Stirling 0, Trunend 5, Gals Fairground 3, Hill 0, Beath-Hamthorn 4, Lockne Utd 5, Goldthorpe Rose 2, Maverborough Ath 2 Barnes Utd 2
LOMBARD LEAGUE - West: Albion 1, Auchinleck Talbot 3, Bath 1, Town 5, Opishbank 7, Greton 2000 1, Cumberland Celtic 2, Belleville Star 2, Johnstone Burgh 1, Newton Stewart 2, Kishanning Rangers 2, Large Thistle 0, Northrue 1 Caledonian Brakes 3.
COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP - DIVISION ONE - Hampshire v Yorkshire (The Rose Road), Yorkshire 1 (7.05), 2 every 3 J Ainsett 4 (7.15) and 100 (100.1 every, 4 Lytle 10), F S Organ 4 (10), Hampshire 1 (57 (69.0 every, 6 C H Hill) 5 (70) and 80 (120.1 every), Leicestershire v Glamorgan (Leicester), Leicestershire 153 (92.1 every) and 257 (74.2 every, 5 S G Garden 973, Glamorgan 152 (55.1 every, 8 W M Main 4 (8), 16 Holland 4 (9) and 69 (124.1 every).
DIVISION ONE - Somerset v Essex (Thamford), Somerset 469 (127.5 every, 1 F Thomas 130, H W Nicholls 96, J E A Row 74ke, T B Ahnell 93, 1 C Gull 4 (92), Essex 159 (42.4 every, M J Critchley 50, M J Lough 4 (75) and 103 (1 (1.0.4 every, C W J Allison (93)16, M J Critchley 68ns, D Elgar 50), Surrey v Nottinghamshire (The Ria Dred) Nottinghamshire 104 (68.2 every, L A Patterson White 70ke, T Lewes 5 (45) and 306 (38.3 every, 1 M Clarke 91, M D Fisher 4 (47, 0) Worsfall 4 (59), Surrey 352 (84.5 every, D P Dover 5 (44) and 137 (4 (37.5 every, 0 J D Page 68ns), Warwickshire v Sussex (Edgbaston), Sussex 150 (47.4 every, C R Wexler 4 (18) and 207 (92.1 every, 1 F Hanes 675, Warwickshire 161 (47.1 every, 5 T Hunt 4 (30) and 122 (5 (27.3 every, 1 F, Jon Clive), DIVISION
TWO - Derbyshire v Durham (Derby), Durham 281 (94.0 every, G Cork 64, A 2 Lyle 61, B A Stokes 51, B Aitzblom 5 (70) and 205 (64s), (61.0 every, B T McKinney 140, B A Stokes 66ns, M M H Rhodes 52), Derbyshire 156 (52.4 every, M J Prain 5 (40), Gloucestershire v Worcestershire (Cheshireland), Gloucestershire 130 (105.1 every, T W Bowman 80, B M J Allison 5 (13), and 118 (2 (44.1 every) Worcestershire 207 (88.2 every, B L D Blowes 61, B M Edgustath 63, B Gai Kishore 4 (76), Lancashire v
Northamptonshire (Old Trafford), Northamptonshire 284 (89.2 every, G A Bartlett 92, G P Balderass 4 (70), and 187 (148.1 every, B Vasconcelos 100) Lancashire 137 (47.4 every, B W Sanderson 4 (19), Middlesex v Kent (Northwood), Kent 150 (91.1 every, S A Northwood 87, Z Crowley 65, T S Rolland (lives 5 (71) and 254 (68.4 every, B G Eyngeon 65, T Mayney 44), Middlesex 240 (55.4 every, M E Milnes 5 (5), M R Quinn 4 (5) and 54 (114 over).
FIA FORMULA 1 DUTCH GRAND PRIX (Circuit Zandvoort) Zandvoort 1 - Sprint Race (24 days) 1 G Russell (Gib) Mercedes GP 30mins 25, 31hours, 2 C Leclerc (Miro) Ferrari at 1,360mcs, 15, Norris (Gib) McLaren at 1,390mcs, 4 A Antonelli (Gib) Mercedes GP at 5,182mcs, 5 G Prunet (Aur) McLaren at 10,185mcs, 4 W Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull at 10,525mcs, 7 L Hamilton (Gib) Ferrari at 12,380mcs, 8 P Gavly (Fry) Alpine at 42,550mcs, Standings, Drivers, 3 K Antonelli (Gib) 23kgs, 2 L Hamilton (Gib) 1/3, 3 G Russell (Gib) 100, 4 C Leclerc (Miro) 145, 5 L Norris (Gib) 134, 6 W Verstappen (Ned) 112, Qualifying, 1 L Norris (Gib) McLaren 1min 11, 30.5mcs, 2 G Russell (Gib) Mercedes GP 1,11,265, 3 A Antonelli (Gib) Mercedes GP 1,11,296, 4 G Prunet (Aur) McLaren 1,11,305, 5 L Hamilton (Gib) Ferrari 1,11,494, 4 C Leclerc (Miro) Ferrari 1,11,558.
BETIRED SUPER LEAGUE - Colstairs Dragons 1, Hull 1, Hull 0 81, Toulouse 1, St Helens 30, Castleford 12.
BETIRED CHAMPIONSHIP - Goole 1Nking 1, Swinton 1, Newcastle 1, Midlands Northamans 1.
INTERNATIONAL WATCH - South Africa 16 New Zealand 33.
Solve online to compete for a spot in the top 10. Results published next Sunday in The Puzzle Edit newsletter

Identify the surnames of these players:
1 Quickly Kevin, wilhe score? (5) 2 First to bulge a Premier League net (5)
Helped set George Graham's offside trap (5) 3 Treble win made his famous smile even wider (5)
Peterborough United,
Tuesday, 7.45pm, Carabao Cup
In the past 12 years Watford have had 13 permanent managers born in April, August or September alone. As if to suggest their recruitment policy is a bit of a joke, their latest man in charge is the former Serie A manager Alessio Dionisi (below), who was born on April Fool's Day. Since the Pozzo family bought the club in 2012, Dionisi is the fifth manager born in April and their fifth Italian.
Luton Town, Thursday, 7.30pm, Carabao Cup

Chelsea (left) have won 50 cup games since Manchester United last won one, and they can make it 21 here. But all of Chelsea's recent decrease has been
collected abroad. Since lifting the FA Cup in 2019, their last domestic triumph, they have won four major international competitions. Those were the Europa League in 2019, the Champions League in 2021, and the Conference League and Club World Cup in 2025. No other English club have ever won as many as two international cups while enduring barren seasons domestically.
Nottingham Forest, Saturday 12.30pm, Premier League
Watford's propensity for sacking managers has been matched in recent years by Nottingham Forest, but the latter did once embrace stability. In 1992, when Brian Clough (below) started his final season at Forest, he had been in his job seven years longer than any of the other 91 league managers. And now who is second on the list of longest-serving managers across the Premier League and EFL? It's Clough's son Nigel, whose six-year tenure at Mansfield Town is beaten only by Arsenal's Mikel Arteta.
Hull City,
Saturday, 3pm, Premier League
It always feels momentous and nostalgic when a club that was once a top-flight regular returns there after a long spell away, which is why Coventry City's promotion is such a compelling story. Coventry (above) were ever-present in the top division from 1967 to 2001 but have since existed outside the elite until now. Indeed, they are the first club to have followed 30 or more consecutive seasons in the top flight with at least 25 successive seasons out of it.
Everton,
Saturday, 3pm, Premier League
Everton have become the first top-flight team to have "fielded" both an inner London and outer London borough Hayden Hackney (below) made his debut yesterday and William
Sutton played one match for them in goal against Derby County in 1895. Chelsea have picked two from outer London back Harman in the early 1900s and Chris Sutton at the end of that century – while the remaining such players have been spread around clubs: Steve Sutton, Brian Bromley and Joe Richmond.
16 observer.co.uk 23.08.26
From conductors to metronomes, football lexicon has made a return to classical music references
Giles Smith
By targeting the Moroccan midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi, Manchester City have shown themselves keen to acquire a player who, according to the BBC website, "functions as a deep-lying conductor". That's an ambition, and a metaphor, worth thinking about.
Meanwhile, at the Community Shield last week, the hot topic for punditry was "metronomes" – specifically whether Bruno Guimarães can be the metronome Arsenal apparently need in place of Martin Zubimendi, and whether, with Rodri gone, Elliot Anderson is the suitable player to occupy that role for Manchester City as the season develops.
Can we infer, then, that classical music is back as a key shaping force for Premier League football in 2026-27? Big shift, if true. The serious concert repertoire's influence on the
game has been virtually non-existent since the early days of 4-4-2 brought us the concept of the "midfield quartet". (Note the respectful nod in that term to the artistry expected in that area of the pitch. As David Woodhouse and John Leigh pointed out in their unimprovable 2004 reference work, Football Lexicon, it was always, by contrast, a "back four", never a "defensive quartet", which would have been just wrong.)
But that was years ago and quartets rarely get a mention in football now. So what will the elite level of the English game looking to classical music mean for the fixtures we're about to see?
True, many fans will perhaps struggle to get excited at the prospect of their club signing a metronome. The idea of paying £60 to watch someone provide a mechanically generated pulse in the background for everyone else to practise to... well, it may not automatically set the heart on fire. Maybe "midfield anchor" wasn't the most thrilling of metaphors either, but at least it evoked something weighty, possibly rugged, and which might occasionally prove itself useful in a storm. Also, an anchor wasn't necessarily something you last saw on top of the piano at a music teacher's house, or only in exceptional circumstances.

Orchestrator: Arsenal will hope Bruno Guimarães can dictate the tempo in the middle of the pitch
The arrival of a conductor, on the other hand, feels like something fans and players alike can get behind – or in front of, in the case of the players. But what of this notion, per Bouaddi, that a conductor can be "deep-lying"? That's not going to work, is it? You don't need to have spent much time around orchestras to appreciate that there's no point putting your conductor anywhere other than at the front where everyone can see them. Playing them further back, just off the cellos,
or possibly in the channels between the brass and the woodwind, has got chaos written all over it.
Also, isn't a conductor by definition someone who doesn't play? Surely what Arsenal are hoping Guimarães can be is a first violinist – taking the big solos when they come up and basically acting as the conductor's eyes and ears on the pitch.
But there are so many unknowns right now. Nine clubs – the highest number in the Premier League's history – are going into the new campaign with freshly appointed managers whose views on first violinists, and on classical music generally, have yet to become clear.
Will they broadly favour the conventional set-up, with first violins to the conductor's right and seconds either alongside or tucked in just behind? Or will some of them want to go antiphonal, with first violins on the left, seconds on the right, which has always been big when facing German opposition – your Beethovens, your Brahms, your Mendelssohns?
And what about the tricky divisi split, introducing the rarely seen third violin section – tactically astute when facing Shostakovich and actually obligatory on a cold Tuesday night against Pachelbel.
Something for Xabi Alonso to consider? His Chelsea squad certainly has enough violinists for it. Actually, they have enough violinists for four or five sections, and for everyone else's sections, too. But, unfortunately, they don't seem to have any cellists or percussionists, and also no decent goalkeeper, and, frankly, no amount of reorganisation elsewhere in the orchestra is going to get you around that omission.
Still, it is a big season ahead, for them and for the classical influences. We're all ears.
Roger Federer also returns ahead of US Open and Celtic hope to avoid Champions League banana skins, writes Patrick Kidd
Slovenian Tadej Pogačar came third at the La Vuelta a España in 2019 but has avoided Spain since to focus on the Tour de France. He has won that five times, and the Giro d'Italia in 2024, and now returns to seek the full set. The three-week race began yesterday with a time trial in Monaco and it has stages in France and Andorra before crossing the Pyrenees on Wednesday (TNT Sports 1, 1.30pm). By then, Pogačar may already be in the red jersey.
British athletes have exceeded the nine gold medals that they won at the European Championships this
month only once. They claimed 12 in Zurich in 2014 and several of the new track heroes will head there for the Diamond League (Thursday, BBC iPlayer, 7pm). Amy Hunt, with four European golds, will be tested in the 100m against the world and Olympic champions, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and Julien Alfred. The 800m could be enthralling as Keely Hodgkinson, the Olympic champion, has been beaten twice this year by Audrey Werro, who will be on her home track. Lilian Odira, the world champion; Georgia Hunter Bell, the Commonwealth Games champion;
and Dutch flyer Femke Broeders-Bol are also expected to be in the field.
Queens in midweek invites Roger Federer out of retirement for the exhibition match titled "An Icon Returns to New York". Federer, who won five successive US Open titles from 2004, will play John McEnroe, Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick (Wednesday, Sky Sports Main Event, 1am).
Meanwhile, several British players hope to qualify and join Cameron Norrie, Arthur Fery, Katie Boulter and Jan Choinski at the US Open, the season's last major (from tomorrow, Sky Sports Tennis, 4pm). They include Jacob Fearnley and Sonay Kartal, whose ranking has slumped due to injury. Jack Draper, who has endured an even more frustrating sequence of injuries, withdrew from qualifying on Friday.
After Hearts were beaten 6-0 on aggregate by Sturm Graz in the second qualifying round for the Champions League, Celtic also faced an Austrian banana skin in the playoff round. The Scottish champions beat LASK, from Linz, 3-0 at Celtic Park on Wednesday to give them some breathing space going into the second leg (Tuesday, Amazon Prime, 8pm).
Finally, which member of the England cricket set-up is on the honours board at Lord's for his exploits against Pakistan? Marcus North, the national selector, took six wickets there for Australia in a neutral Test in 2010. Those he has chosen have fewer happy memories to draw on for the second Test since Pakistan won there, fairly comfortably, in 2016 and 2018 (from Thursday, Sky Sports Cricket, 11am).

THE OBSERVER
23|08|26
BBC v
YouTube
Phil Tioline on how the corporation could defeat the algorithm
Every
woman
Patrick Smith is granted an audience with Chaka Khan
Wham!
in China
Jude Rogers looks back on a blow-dried cultural revolution
Kitty Empire
on Ariana Grande
Megan Nolan
on Jim Ronson
Susannah Clapp
on Ayckbourn
Fifty years ago two ghoul-hunters reported sightings of paranormal activity in a north London graveyard. Francisco Garcia reports on the blood feud that never died
2
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Nick Haymes captures the contrasting emotions of his two sons as a game of Jenga comes to an end
On the cover: David Farrant photographed in Highgate Cemetery in 1972 by Della Farrant
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
3

Whenever Nick Haymes's two sons became fed up with him photographing them, which he did compulsively throughout their childhoods, amassing about 80,000 images, they deployed a failsafe method of shutting him down before he could get the picture. Instead of raising a palm to the lens or ducking out of shot, they would simply give him a cheery thumbs-up and a smile. "That was their way of telling me to clear off," Haymes says, laughing, "because they knew I'd never press the button."
There was no danger of a
thumbs-up in this high-drama moment, captured during a family holiday in 2007. "It was cold outside so the Jenga came out," Haymes recalls. "It's one of those games that can get a bit fraught" – at one point it grew so tense that the younger boy had to hide under the table – "and maybe you see a bit of sibling rivalry. But it did give me the chance to sit and snap, because they were so focused on the game."
This is one of nearly 1,000 images that made it into Haymes's remarkable new book Chronograph, which opens in 2001, when
Haymes – a Brit in New York – and his wife Lina got together. "When the kids came along, my wife's career was flourishing and I became a stay-at-home dad. But I still had that need and impulse to take photographs, so I started photographing the things closest to me, just to understand what I was doing and [why I was] bringing up kids in the US and, you know, why have kids at all?"
Taking us right up to early 2026, with the two boys, Lawrence and Philipp, now well into their 20s, Chronograph is an extraordinarily
candid record of what Haymes calls the "fun little chaos" of family life. He doesn't sugarcoat any of it. Tears, illnesses and bloody noses are given as much prominence as birthdays and beach walks. There are peaceful interludes, but Haymes is always on hand to capture those moments when everything seems on the brink of collapse – if not, as in this photograph, in the process of toppling over entirely. Killian Fox
Chronograph by Nick Haymes is published by MACK Books on 27 August (ESS)
Contrasting emotions as the Jenga tower falls. Courtesy of Nick Haymes and MACK Books
4
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
Observations & scenes from the world beyond your phone screen
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Darren Cullen compares his working space to motorway expansion: "One more lane, just one more lane will fix it. I'm like: one more desk, one more shelf." In the artist's south London studio every flat surface is covered by dioramas and designs; shelves are stacked floor to ceiling. A toy Terminator robot in an artist's smock glowers down at me across a Subbuteo football pitch on which inch-tall players dribble around bomb craters.
It is one of Cullen's creations that led me here. Some of London Underground's more observant commuters may have recently noticed a new advertising campaign purporting to be for ChatGPT. Written in a simple white font on a black background, the ad reads: "Yes, we built a machine that tells teenagers to kill themselves. But – it might also help them with their homework."
This protest with a punchline – known as "subvertising" – is what Cullen, AKA Spelling Mistakes Cost Lives, has been honing since he dropped out of an advertising degree just over 20 years ago, horrified at the psychological manipulation he and his fellow students were being taught.
"These are the most sophisticated propaganda techniques that have ever been devised," he says, talking quickly, using his hands. "So, as much as I hate advertising, I never blame people for falling for it. Of course you fall for it – everyone falls for it."
Enrolling at Glasgow School of Art, he decided to take what he'd learned and turn it on its head. His fake ads have targeted everything from big oil and the Middle East conflict, to AI, the climate crisis and Elon Musk.
There have also been installations, such as his Pocket Money Loans kiosk, which charged children 5,000's; interest and featured in Banksy's Dismaland dystopian theme park in 2015. It was this piece, Cullen says, that changed his life, boosting his profile and enabling him to afford his own studio. He shifts enough creative merch now that he needs two assistants to help manage it.
"A lot of my ideas come from taking something to its logical conclusion," he says. "The advertising media is so absurd that it feels like the setup is already there and you just need to write the punchline."
On the desk next to us sits an Action Man toy, a prop left over from the Battlefield Casualties advert he filmed with comedian Matt Berry in aid of Veterans for Peace (its toy range included PTSD Action Man,

Paralysed Action Man and Dead Action Man).
Cullen is under no illusion that satire alone is going to change things. "It's not going to save the world ... I always think of my work as being in support of actual activism."
In 2019, he opened the Museum of Neoliberalism, with art historian Gavin Grindon, in Leegate shopping centre, south London. Its displays included a recreated cross-section of wall from Grenfell Tower – combustible cladding on one side of the concrete, a child's bedroom wallpaper on the other – and an Amazon "fulfilment" centre, complete with a genuine bottle of urine from a worker prevented from taking a toilet break under company rules.
"There are certain things you can satirise by exaggerating, and then there are certain things you just need to point to them," Cullen says. The museum was forced to close in 2024 after the land was sold to a developer of luxury flats. A new home for it is near to being finalised.
I ask if the reopened museum will still feature the sample from the unfortunate Amazon worker. Cullen retrieves a cardboard box, inside of which is a plastic bottle containing a cloudy brown liquid.

"It looks very unhealthy now," he concedes. "Over time, I've had to equalise the pressure. I don't know what the process is going on inside, but it was crunching the bottle." He retains some pride in the fact that: "As far as I know, it's the first bottle of piss in a museum collection."
James Rozmus
The lost village
The queue ahead could be bound for a music festival. Instead, we are en route to Imberbus day. A fleet of 40 classic vintage Routemasters will take us across the Salisbury Plain to the lost village of Imber. It was evacuated, after 47 days' notice to residents, just over a week before Christmas in 1943 by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for military training and never returned to its villagers.
About 4,000 people gravitate to Imber for this ride each year for the chance to peer into the hidden village. Imber has no postcode, and is deserted apart from its expansive wildlife and St Giles church, which remains open for services on MoD-permitted access days.
To get here, many of us have travelled from London Waterloo to Warminster in Wiltshire by a charter train, a Hastings "Thumper", a bright green 1950s locomotive restored by UK Railtours that has latch doors to each carriage, sofa-style seats with striped upholstery and wooden sliding partitions. The winding route collects more passengers at Woking and Basingstoke; after two hours, a crackly intercom announces our arrival.
There is no phone signal across the plain. Signs tell visitors: "Military firing range. Keep out," and "Warning: uneaploidal military debris!" Red flags flutter atop the grassy banks. Watch towers flank the road, where gun emplacements

half-buried in the earth sprout ivy and rust.
You see the lost village first from the crest of a hill. The tour takes in boarded-up brick homes and gutted shells of buildings allegedly used to train troops for urban warfare. We are encouraged to imagine their former life: a row of council houses, built in 1938; the local drinking den, the Bell Inn.
Too unsettled to linger, the tour group naturally congregates in the churchyard, which is filled with local history enthusiasts clasping their Ordnance Survey maps, picnicking families and the jovial tunes of Bratton community brass band.
The evacuation of Imber's 150 villagers was abrupt. Many came to resent and protest against the move, the church custodian, Neil Skelton, tells me. The nostalgia and illicit atmosphere of this derelict village keeps visitors returning. "If people don't come, the army might just say: 'Oh, well, no one's coming, so we'll shut it up.'"
Imber first captured Skelton's imagination in 1964, when, as a boy, he would cycle to the 13th-century church. He worked as a field officer for the Churches Conservation Trust from 1980, and now, nearly 20 years into his retirement, Imberbus day continues largely due to his efforts. "I said I would do it for 10 years and here we are, 18 years later," he says, pausing as the brass band launches into a wartime lament. "I do enjoy it, but it's a heavy responsibility."
He recalls once slipping out from the village "to find a full-scale battle game" in progress. Range operations gave Skelton the all-clear, when suddenly soldiers began firing across the plain, and razor wire lined the roads.
During his tenure, Skelton has found himself in other light skirmishes with the MoD to keep church open days alive. He is unsure who will organise this operation once he retires.
He points me to a particularly poignant testimony displayed at the altar in St Giles. Upon the notice of evacuation, the longstanding village blacksmith, Albert Nash, was taken ill. His death certificate reported he "died from a broken heart." Marine Saint
Poster boy
It's a good time to be a housebuyer, but it has never taken so long to buy a house. All is stasis. In May, I'd spent a year being thwarted and daunted trying to find a flat.
Enter, Nathan K. Many estate agents have been rendered impotent by the dormant market, but not Nathan K, who
"The advertising media is so absurd that it feels like the setup is already there. You just need to write the punchline"

was buzzing as he showed me a couple of places in Clerkenwell in central London. Ping, ping, ping went his phone as he trotted out details of service charges and EPC (energy performance certificate) ratings and I tried to concentrate.
The next day, I went to Highbury for another viewing and, turning the corner, I was confronted by a huge billboard featuring an outsize photo of Nathan K under the slogan: "Not all agents are the same." Yikes, I know it is no coincidence when an advert pops up on your phone screen reflecting your current preoccupations, but had Nathan K, somehow, taken this digital trick back into real life?
Nathan K operates from "the shop on the corner". He's dressed for the gym. What's with the advert, I ask him?
"I was driving past [that billboard] and it said 'advertise here', and I thought: 'Why not?' I've had a good response, although I've got lots of mates, saying: 'Oh my God, Nathan's got his face up on a massive billboard in Highbury.'"
And how is he not the same as other agents?
"I don't need to treat my clients like prisoners. I tell people not what they want to hear but what they need to hear."
If there was a property equivalent of TalkSport (ThinkBrick?), Nathan K would be a good primetime host. "You can't hide if your name's above the door," he says, and: "There are some excellent agents. Just not many."
His career started 24 years ago at Foxtons. "Cut-throat. Day started at 8.30am and I was there at 7.30am, sorting the hot [clients] from the cold. WhatsApp me on a Sunday night - I don't mind."
Working 24/7, Nathan K would have racked up Malcolm Gladwell's tabled 10,000 hours in a little over a year - and he's been doing it for nearly quarter of a century. Moving from Foxtons, he grew "an independent on Upper Street [in hilington] from 50,000 to a million quid" and took "London from 10th to the best region at [estate agent] Yopa". Now it's Nathan K Real Estate. "What they are getting, without blowing my own trumpet, is me."
All that work has received recognition. "Last year," he says, "I was shortlisted for the Negotiator awards, which is the big one. Now, with a bit more data, I would expect to be winning."
I mention the thorny subject of holidays. "We always go east, so I'm ahead of time. I have a routine where I do my calls and emails in the morning. Gym and lunch. And then I reply to messages in the afternoon. Shut off after dinner. Unless it's urgent. We like Thailand, we like the Maldives. As long as we've gone east, it's OK. I remember when we went [west] to Antigua


Illustrations by Oscar Ingham
and Jamaica, it was horrible."
Nathan K spent one week away from his phone this millennium when he was selected as a contestant on the third series of The Traitors. "I can't tell my friends I'm going on the show, so I tell them I'm going on a retreat," he says. "And they say: 'You without a phone. Where?' I say Scotland, or wherever. Someone thought I was going to prison."
He was the first contestant to be banished. "When you leave the table, you go into a special room and they have therapists to give you support. I say: 'I'm fine, go away, I'm busy.' There were so many phone messages."
What next for Nathan K? "At some point, I would love to find a little protege if I can mould him."
Nathan K2? He laughs: "Not easy to find." Will Buckley
Boss of bossa nova
I've travelled from London to Helsinki to see one man. Well, one man and his 27-piece orchestra. The man in question is the 81-year-old Rio-born composer, conductor, singer and arranger Arthur Verocai, whose self-titled 1972 album is, I believe, the greatest recording ever to have come out of Brazil - or probably anywhere else, for that matter.
But when I arrive at the main stage on Saturday afternoon, half an hour before he's due to play, the opening act of the day, there are only 30 or so young women, lining the front of the stage, wearing what my wife tells me are vintage silk chiffon gowns and flower crowns. Florence - the Machine are headlining tonight, and these dedicated souls have just seven and a half hours to wait.
Verocai trained as a civil engineer but cut his teeth musically as part of Musicanossa, a Rio society of young musicians created to revitalise bossa nova. It was there he met composer Roberto Menescal, under whose mentorship he would go on to arrange for Brazilian greats including Jorge Ben, Gal Costa and Marcos Valle. In 1972,
with the country under military dictatorship, Verocai assembled some of the best Brazilian musicians of the era and recorded a 29-minute masterpiece whose sweeping arrangements and haunting melodies went largely uncelebrated until 30 years later, when crate-diggers and hip-hop producers brought the record to wider attention.
A concert in Los Angeles in 2009, with a 30-piece orchestra and supporting DJ set by Madlib,
saw Verocai - who had long since abandoned his music career and moved into advertising - conduct the album live and in full for the first time.
Today, the stage is set, with plentiful chairs and microphones, plus a conductor's stand for the maestro himself. I realise that Verocai was never going to be the biggest draw at Finland's youth-oriented Flow festival, but still - he needs some love, and I briefly consider manipulating to the Florence fans what they're about to witness before my wife implores me not to.
Turns out there was no need. By the time the Polish Auksio orchestra has assembled, a reasonable afternoon crowd has gathered, the sun is out, and Verocai emerges from the wings. He looks dapper, in a cream blazer, but walks with a stick - his right leg, I eventually see, in a brace. Watching him hobble on to conduct this large band, who will mostly be playing his timeless classic - a cinematic and deeply melancholy blend of jazz, folk, soul and bossa nova - is incredibly moving, and they haven't played a note yet.
They open with three lush instrumental numbers before Verocai introduces two Brazilian vocalists, Paula Santoro and Rogé, who also plays guitar. A light breeze cools us in the afternoon sun; soon enough, even the Florence fans are dancing. But it's not just the crowd who are blown away: as Verocai conducts, his sheet music succumbs to the wind, and one of the trumpet section has to lend him a hand.
Given the political situation in Brazil at the time the record was made, Verocai's lyricist, Vitor Martins, was careful to use metaphor to avoid attracting unwanted regime attention. Pelus Sombros (Under the Shadows), for example, alludes to the secret police, but only in the vaguest way. As a non-Portuguese speaker, my own desire to sing along must be resisted in this setting, and so my overzealousness is channelled instead into disproportionately long cheering at the end of each song. For his finale Caboclo, Verocai turns to the audience and sings himself, his voice carrying an emotional force that belies his age.
More work followed for him after the 2009 concert, including the music for the closing ceremony of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, an arrangement for Tyler, the Creator's 20-minute score for Louis Vuitton's 2022 Paris Fashion Week show and a 2007 album for the London label Far Out Recordings, appropriately titled Encore. After Finland he performed with the Nu Civilisation Orchestra yesterday at Gilles Peterson's We Out Here festival in Dorset.
The Verocai revival brought this once cult figure into the spotlight late in life. A victory lap is the least he deserves. Philip Adams

Observer critics' takes on the events not to miss
"Mixing professional dancers with actors newly trained in flamenco, Indiana Lowin-Collins has produced a giddy evening, coherent on its own terms, with crackle between Philip Anditti's particularly good Berowne and Bea Segura's Rosaline, and a commanding Princess in Norah Lopez Holden." Love's Labours Lost is at the Globe until 13 September. Susannah Clapp
"You could call it a one-woman show, since every piece is based on her own diminutive form. Yet it never seems egotistically personal. Ana Mendieta is fascinated by fusion and sublimation, by human and planetary union, matter turning into energy." The Tate Modern exhibition is on until 17 January.
Laura Cumming
"It is a show within a show, a dramatically abrupt finale to a journey that just about adds up to a visual narrative of an American century in part defined by still images that have entered and altered our collective consciousness of the country and its history." Portrait of a City is at Dulwich Picture Gallery until 4 October.
Sean O'Hagan
Max Olesker is one half of comedy duo Max & Ivan. You can still see his show Making the Cut, which is based on his book of the same title chronicling his romantic journey to Orthodox Judaism, at Edinburgh's Pleasance Dome. It's on daily, excluding Saturday, until 30 August.
Jules Buckley and his ensemble perform with the American singer-songwriter Weyes Blood in this Prom at London's Royal Albert Hall on 8 September. It is billed as a "typically imaginative meeting of musical minds in an intimate late-night setting." Book your ticket now.
CROSSTOWN CONCERTS
TICKETS AVAILABLE FROM CROSSTOWNCONCERTS.GIGANTIC.COM








Agenda
observer.co.uk^{}[] 23.08.26
7
Scientist and historian, 88
The scientist and author of Guns, Germs, and Steel on the vagaries of academia, who passes his 'Hamlet test', and living a fruitful life
Jared Diamond trained in biochemistry and physiology but has written across the fields of anthropology, ecology, geography and evolutionary biology. He speaks 12 languages and is professor emeritus of geography at UCLA. The recipient of the MacArthur Genius Grant in 1985, he was awarded the National Medal of Science in 1999. He is the author of bestselling books including Guns, Germs, and Steel, for which he won a Pulitzer prize. His latest is Profits, Prophets, Coaches and Kings: (When) Do Leaders Make a Difference? It looks at the role and effectiveness of leadership in politics, business, sport and religion.
You're best known for emphasising the environmental and geographical engines of history. Has this book changed your opinion about the significance of individuals?
No. Guns, Germs, and Steel was concerned with patterns over large areas for 10,000 years, whereas this book is concerned with the effects of individuals in a few years. Manchester United had an outstanding record for a couple of decades, and that had nothing to do with domestication of wheat in the Fertile Crescent 10,000 years ago, but it had everything to do with one leader, Alex Ferguson.
In your book, you put leadership to the Hamlet test. What is that? One question about leadership is, are certain people the only people capable of doing what they do? Shakespeare wrote what is regarded as one of the greatest plays of all time, Hamlet. Were there other people who could have written

Hamlet? We know there were about 20 significant Elizabethan dramatists and the best of them didn't remotely approach the level of Hamlet. That's the Hamlet test. We can't say that Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos were the only people who could have founded big electric cars and online shopping industries. They don't pass the Hamlet test.
Few readers will have heard of a politician who you believe does pass the Hamlet test: Seretse Khama, the founding president of Botswana. Botswana has the best educational and best medical systems in Africa and one of the highest GDPs per capita on the continent as a result of how Khama set up the country. He was one of only 22 university graduates in Botswana. He was also head of the biggest tribe, on whose territory the country's diamonds were found. When I took my wife and children to Botswana for a vacation, I couldn't have told you
who was the country's founding president. Khama is seen as very successful within Africa, but he did not have an impact around the world. Yet he was the only candidate who could have done what he did.
Many people believe the wealth of Bezos and Musk, who feature in the book, to be morally wrong. Have those leaders been overcompensated? Musk and Bezos are examples of leaders who have made a huge difference and billions, if not trillions, of dollars for their companies. So one might argue, why not let them walk away with a few lousy billions? The complaint about them is what they have done with their billions. In the case of Bill Gates, he's given his money away to a foundation, which is doing virtuous things like trying to stamp out malaria. I cannot think of anything beneficial that Elon Musk has done with his trillions, but I can think of various harmful things.
I cannot think of anything beneficial that Elon Musk has done with his trillions
Steven Pinker believes that society has been moving towards less violence and greater moral enlightenment. Do you agree?
Yes, I do. In modern times there are short periods where lots of people get killed. In traditional societies where there is not a strong central government, there is chronic war. The result is that maybe 2% of the population gets killed in violent ways every year, and so traditional societies had a much higher lifetime probability of people dying a violent death than in the 20th century.
Have you found that your bestselling cross-disciplinary approach has annoyed your fellow academics?
Yes. At the University of California every four years I get reviewed, and every four years I get promoted. One year I was not promoted, and it was the year when I won the Pulitzer prize. My colleagues in the physiology department said, 'We're not able to judge this book, and therefore we'll discount it, so we won't give him his promotion.' When the American Anthropological Association decided to devote a session of their annual meeting to discussing me, they did not invite me. I expressed shock to the president of the AAA and she said, 'Your opinions are well known, and so we didn't waste time inviting you.'
You're the closest to a modern equivalent of the polymath Thomas Young, who was said to be the last man who knew everything. Is there any field of knowledge that you wish you'd studied?
I've studied the disciplines that I wanted to study. I'm ignorant of computing. I've never been interested in technology. It's a blank, but it's a blank that I don't regret.
You look a picture of vitality. What's your secret?
I'll be 89 years old next month. I'm fortunate in having good genes. But I'm interested in lots of things. I have lots of friends. I'm socially active. I work out in the gym three days a week, and I show off my muscles to my wife and to my sons. I go on the exercise bike. I take two and a half mile bird walks twice a week. I play the piano. I accompany two cellists and a professional opera singer. I read Italian every day. I read German every day. I babble a little Russian once or twice a week. I find life fascinating. I want to keep going. My wife is 11 years younger than me. Older men who are married to beautiful younger women have to keep fit. So I hope to live for quite a while.
Profits, Prophets, Coaches and Kings: (When) Do Leaders Make a Difference? is published by Allen Lane on 1 September (£25). Order a copy from observershop.co.uk for £22.50 (10% off RRP). Delivery charges may apply.
'I find life fascinating. I want to keep going': Jared Diamond at home in Los Angeles.
8
observer.co.uk^{}[] 23.08.26
Cover story
After paranormal sightings in 1970s London, debate raged over the existence of a vampire in Highgate Cemetery. Fifty years on, the legend has been taken on by a new generation, fuelled by the world's longest-running online feud. Francisco Garcia hunts down the stakeholders

Cover story
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
9


Jamie Farrant has come to understand something most people never will: what it means to be the son of a vampire hunter.
The middle-aged docker arrived at this knowledge by chance 16 years ago. One day, he was Jamie Farrant, the fatherless boy who had spent half a lifetime wondering about the mystery of his origins. The next, he was sitting in his house on the fringes of Southampton on a dank afternoon in early 2010, staring at images on his computer screen. They showed a rake-thin, scraggly haired man clad in an array of dandyish outfits. The oldest black-and-white photos depicted a fey-looking figure in his 20s, clutching a bible to his chest in an overgrown north London graveyard.
The first thing he noticed was a name: David Farrant. Then came the undeniable strength of their facial resemblance. Then Jamie turned to the many hundreds of news articles linking David Farrant to the Highgate vampire, one of the 20th century's most enduring occult legends.
Growing up on the south coast, Jamie Farrant had often daydreamed about the sort of man his long-absent father would be. Paternal yearnings aside, his upbringing had been reasonably content, spent with his mother, stepdad and younger brother. Before Southampton, the infant Jamie and his mother had also lived in north London, in a one-bedroom flat between Highgate and Muswell Hill. 'I was about 18 months old when she said: 'No, that's enough of that.' [She] left when things started to get weird,' he told me during one of our many meetings over the last two years. 'She said she'd caught the milk train out and never looked back.'
During his childhood and adolescence, his mother had declined to speak about his father's identity. Not long after his 18th birthday, however, he had an intriguing conversation with his uncle. Oh yes, he remembered Jamie's father very well. He had been all over the national press. 'I sort of thought it was a joke,' Jamie told me.
After that, his curiosity came and went. From an early age, he had harboured an interest in the paranormal. Ghosts and supernatural beings, werewolves and ghouls; he enjoyed the quiet feeling of trepidation these tales provoked. In early 2010, he'd picked up a history of Britain's best known cases. By chance, his girlfriend also had the same book. 'We read the chapter about the Highgate vampire and [saw] the name David Farrant. I thought: 'I wonder if this could be my dad.' I asked my mum and she confirmed it. So I found his website and sent him an email.'
Weeks later, Jamie was standing at the entrance to a block of flats in Muswell Hill, trying to calm his nerves. 'I knocked on the door and waited. His flat was on the top floor. [Eventually,] I saw this shadowy figure getting closer to the front door. Then it opened and we shook hands. I followed him up the stairs
and he made a cup of tea. Then we got talking – and that was it. One minute I didn't know him, and then there he was.' Even after a lifetime of absence, it didn't take long for the Highgate vampire to dominate their conversation. It would do so for most of the next decade. The joy and disbelief of reconnection has occasionally given way to more troubled stirrings. 'Bloody hell,' Jamie has often had cause to think. 'What have I uncovered here?'
†††
On 27 February 1970, the Hampstead & Highgate Express ran a front page guaranteed to concentrate the attention of the residents of north London. Headlined: 'Does a
wampy [sic] walk in Highgate?', the accompanying article offered a bold explanation for a spate of paranormal sightings in and around Highgate Cemetery over the previous two and a half years.
In 1967, two teenage girls walking home along nearby Swains Lane claimed to have witnessed the dead rising from their graves by the cemetery's north gate. Another young woman had woken one night with 'something cold and clinging' on her hand that left prominent marks the next morning. Further reports mentioned a 'tall man in a hat' wandering through the streets, before melting through the cemetery's thick stone walls.
If today Highgate is associated with A-list actors and sanctioned Russian oligarchs, it was not always so. In the late 1960s, London was in a downward spiral, hastened by population decline and physical decay. Blitz-era ruins were still visible across the city. London's graveyards were in particularly poor condition.
Nowhere was this more pronounced than Highgate Cemetery. Built at great public expense in the 1830s, it was the grandest of what became known as the capital's 'magnificent seven' cemeteries created to accompany Victorian London's population boom. When the cemetery's parent company fell into financial difficulties after the Second World War, its upkeep declined.
In the 1970s, its shabby Victorian mausoleums and picturesque, overgrown gravestones spoke to the cultural moment. Folk horror was in its pomp, with the release in 1973 of The Wicker Man and the relentless churn of Hammer horror films, several of which were shot in Highgate Cemetery.
Prof Ronald Hutton has spent his career studying the British occult. This was, he explained, also the first age of counterculture. 'The

SATAN RIDDLE OF OPEN TOMB

Does a vampyr walk in Highgate?
Farrant
Farrant
struggle to exist [experienced by] the previous generations ... is suddenly gone into this brave new world. [And] what happens at Highgate is an unusual and rather bizarre manifestation of hippy counterculture.'
At the beginning of 1970, dead animals had been discovered in and around Highgate Cemetery.
Their carcasses had allegedly been drained of blood. On 6 February, David Farrant – then in his mid-20s, the son of a local tobacconist – wrote to the Ham & High outlining his own brush with a deathly grey figure. 'On three occasions I have seen what appeared to be a ghost-like apparition,' Farrant wrote. 'Last week the figure appeared only a few yards inside the gates. This time it was there long enough for me to see it much more clearly.' Farrant's letter provoked enthusiastic further correspondence from local residents. 'Sightings ranged from a translucent cyclist to
a spectral woman in white, glaring through the slits in a gate.
†††
Farrant did not create the Highgate vampire. That was the work of his friend Sean Manchester, a photographer from Nottinghamshire, then 25, and another young man who, like Farrant, was a well-known face on the tight-knit north London paranormal scene; the apparition was no harmless ghost. Manchester told the Ham & High. He instead theorised that it was 'King Vampire of the Undead', a medieval nobleman who had been buried on the site the Victorians had chosen for Highgate Cemetery. 'We would like to exorcise the vampire by the traditional and approved method,' Manchester told the paper, 'drive a stake through its heart.'
Farrant and Manchester were regulars at the Woodman pub at the bottom of Muswell Hill Road. Though different in appearance and temperament – Farrant was willowy and garrulous, clad in frilly shirts and drainpipe trousers; Manchester, thicker-set and self-serious in flowing capes and natty bow-ties – the two men shared a flair for publicity. If Farrant was initially reticent about the vampire claims, Manchester – who boasted of a direct lineage to Lord Byron – was adamant.
In a series of increasingly sensational interviews, both men declared that they alone could expel the entity from Highgate Cemetery. When Manchester announced he would be holding an 'official' public vampire hunt on Friday 13 March 1970, ITV sent a crew to cover the event. Hundreds of self-professed vampire hunters descended on the cemetery from across the UK,
Continued on page 10
Newspaper cuttings from the 1970s. Opposite, David Farrant, right, who claimed to have seen a 'ghost-like apparition' in Highgate Cemetery. David Farrant, Getty Images

Scan the OK code to subscribe to The Observer's weekly investigations podcast. A new episode about the Highgate vampire will be available on Tuesday.

10 observer.co.uk 23.08.26
Continued from page 9
overwhelming the police cordon stationed at the gates. Dozens of graves were desecrated, along with significant damage to the catacombs at the top of the site. 'Satan riddle of open tomb' screamed the most memorable of the next morning's headlines. The accompanying photo shows a crowd of excitable-looking young men scaling the cemetery walls.
That August, a headless corpse was discovered near its grave plot, having been dragged out of its coffin. Weeks later, Farrant was arrested for 'vampire hunting' in the cemetery while carrying a crucifix and wooden stake. The case was dismissed in court, though the BBC later filmed him cheerfully recreating his night-time visit. Over the following months, Farrant and Manchester's relationship began to fray. Neither man, it appeared, wished to relinquish control of the vampire narrative. In 1973, matters came to a head when both parties advertised a 'magical duel', which was to take place on Parliament Hill in Hampstead (the event was called off at the 11th hour).
Farrant's legal troubles were not over, however. A year later, he was convicted of grave desecration and sentenced to five years in prison. Though he always denied the charges, he did admit sending voodoo effigies to two police officers. On his release two and a half years later, he settled in Muswell Hill, where he remained for the next 40 years, his flat becoming a pilgrimage site for Highgate vampire aficionados, journalists and film-makers.
†††
Manchester's trajectory was perhaps even stranger. In the 1980s, he moved to the south coast, referring to himself as a bishop in a mysterious organisation called the Old Catholic Church. In his 1985 book The Highgate Vampire, Manchester outlined the story of how he eventually vanquished the undead ghoul stalking north London in the cellar of a gothic mansion on the border of nearby Crouch End in early 1974. 'With a mighty blow, a sharpened shaft of wood impaled the creature's heart. We witnessed the body shell cave in and quickly turn filthy brown and that itself soon became a sluggish flow of inhuman slime and viscera in the bottom of the casket.'
This was, Manchester later wrote, the first of dozens of similar slayings he undertook (critics have noted his account's striking line-by-line similarities with Bram Stoker's Dracula). By the mid-1990s, he was signing off correspondence as the 'Bishop of Glastonbury', appearing regularly as a talking head on paranormal debates on the BBC and commercial radio phone-ins.
The passing decades did nothing to soothe the enmity between Manchester and Farrant. Both men were early and enthusiastic adopters of the internet, which allowed them

Farrant conducting an occultist ritual with his 'high priestess' in 1973. Below, the character of Rupert Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer is said to have been attacked by the Highgate vampire. Delta Farrant, Alamy

and their respective supporters to exchange creative insults at will.
To Manchester: 'Farrant might make an interesting case study for the psychiatrist in search of a project concerning narcissistic personality disorders, or a priest specialising in the examination of demonic possession brought about by compulsive dabbling in pseudo-occultism for publicity.'
Farrant's supporters, meanwhile, claimed: '[Manchester] is [a] bitter old pensioner who spends all his waking hours perpetuating [the feud] from his study in Bournemouth. And when he's not busy doing that he is stalking, trolling and intimidating his critics.'
In the early 2000s, Farrant launched his own website, which offered a forum for paranormal debate and investigation, as well as minutely detailed blogs on daily life, cumulatively running to hundreds of thousands of words.
'Bishop Bonkers' was always a favourite topic, along with a spirited denial that a vampire ever walked in Highgate.
Manchester has been even more prolific, across blogs and comment sections, defending the existence of the Highgate vampire and his own dramatic role in its slaying. As for Farrant, 'there is something unpleasantly toxic about this mild-
mannered, nervous, stammering creature whose stoop, combined with what appears to be an advanced stage of anorexia, puts one in mind of ... Dickens's Uriah Heep'.
Those who have questioned Manchester's ecclesiastical credentials have also been quick to feel his ire and threats of legal action. The attritional cyberwarfare between Farrant and Manchester has plausibly been described as the world's longest-running online feud.
†††
I first came across the Highgate vampire in 2019. Browsing in Foyles in Charing Cross Road in central London, I'd picked up Occult London by Merlin Coverley, a slim book promising an accessible history of the city's best known paranormal legends. In truth, its central question – did a vampire stalk Highgate Cemetery for a few weeks in 1970 – was of relatively little interest to me.
Instead, I was drawn to the men whose dispute has propped up the story for half a century. Highgate Cemetery, now a Grade I-listed heritage site and global tourist attraction, does not publicise the association. If tourism is encouraged – there are regular coachloads of visitors to Karl Marx's tomb – curious paranormal visitors are not.
The legend of the Highgate vampire, however, refuses to die. It has proved irresistible for new generations of writers. It appears in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the titular character's mentor Rupert Giles, the story goes, had nearly been killed by the Highgate vampire in 1972);
in a cult Italian comic book series; and provides a backdrop for one of JK Rowling's Cormoran Strike novels, The Ink Black Heart.
For paranormal enthusiasts, the story continues to provoke regular bouts of earnest investigation. David Milner is an avuncular, lifelong north Londoner in his late 60s. Milner, a photographer, first met Farrant in the mid-1990s, after working on a series of videos for a local goth band with a keen interest in the Highgate vampire. '[Farrant] sent me an email, as he'd got wind of it. [He] was a really kind man. Not argumentative or anything like that,' Milner told me over the phone. He became a regular visitor to Farrant's flat. 'His lifestyle left a bit to be desired. He smoked and I didn't. There were piles of books all over the place. [But] other than that, yeah, he was very nice.'
The two men collaborated on the 1997 film In Search of the Highgate Vampire. A cult classic on release, it has since attracted an ever-growing audience on YouTube. Milner, eventually the designated official photographer for Farrant's British Psychic and Occult Society, is unembarrassed about his own paranormal beliefs. Had he ever seen anything near Highgate Cemetery, I wondered.
'Yes, I have. It was in Queen's Wood [on the way to Muswell Hill]. This was back in the late 70s. I was walking [with] my father. We had a small dog [and] it was running around ...' With spooky timing,
Cover story
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Above left, Seán Manchester, right, is escorted from London's Parliament Hill by police in 1973. Left, newspaper cuttings. Above, R Rowling's The Ink Black Heart is inspired by the legend. Getty Images, David Farrant, BBC
Milner's mobile data ran out before he had a chance to finish.
Farrant died in April 2019, aged 73, after several years of ill-health. Manchester posted a eulogy on Facebook. "Suffice to say, I feel sadness at him shuffling off this mortal coil before we could meet one last time," he wrote. "Though he might not want my prayers he has them anyway. May he rest in peace."
Such apparent magnanimity is not the whole story, according to Farrant's widow, Della, his third wife. Manchester had also allegedly taken to trying to obtain the death certificate, presumably just to be sure, as well as posting conspiracy theories about David's final illness. "I get vampire fatigue. Our lives were about so much more than that," said Della. Imagine, she added, having Manchester as a third wheel.
I'd reached out to Manchester with an interview request in late 2019, which was briskly turned down. Instead, I would be allowed to submit a series of written questions to be perused at his leisure. Simplicity, I thought, was probably the best policy, with four straightforwardly factual questions about the Highgate saga and its legacy. Manchester's responses were florid and self-important. He was not merely unhappy with something I wrote – including his answers – he was livid. A lengthy rebutual was posted on Facebook, which took aim at what he saw as a long list of unforgivable errors. I had read his work with insufficient attention, he suggested, and treated my questions as though they were offensively superficial and borderline moronic.
"Consequently," Manchester wrote, "the article he has produced is riddled with innuendo [and] misinformation." Prominent among them was the contention that Manchester was a "self-proclaimed" vampire hunter and bishop. "This is how I was accurately described by academics, authors, researchers, interviewers and the media generally over the last half a century," he thundered. "I did not proclaim myself as such. I had no need."
I had got off lightly. Sources who had contacted Manchester over the decades suggested he was capable of stubborn, often creative, malice. It wasn't just Farrant's associates who had suffered.
Anthony Hogg is the Melbourne-based founder and president of the Vampire Studies Association, established 2018. Like many others, his interest in the bloodthirsty undead dates from childhood. When we spoke last month, he explained how he had once looked up to Manchester, seeing him as the closest it was possible to get in real life to a monster hunter such as Stoker's Van Helsing.
In the late 2000s, Hogg was pursuing his own research into the Highgate vampire when a series of anonymous online commentators began attacking him by name. "That was scary. I'd never encountered anything like that before." He had strong suspicions that Manchester might be behind it. When contacted about this suspicion, Manchester said the suggestion was "beneath contempt".
†††
"With a mighty blow, a sharpened shaft of wood impaled the creature's heart"
On a crisp Friday evening in October 2024, I travelled to a nondescript pub on the outskirts of suburban south-west London to meet Jamie Farrant for the first time. We had been introduced by a source and, truthfully, I wasn't sure what to expect. Unlike his father, the younger Farrant did not appear to have much of an online presence. Clad in sensible denim, Jamie did not quite meet my expectations of how the son of a notorious occultist might present himself to the world.
His father was an easy man to get on with, he told me. Their meetings soon became a fortnightly fixture, with Jamie driving from the south coast to north London. He found himself drawn ever closer into his father's world. In the early years of their relationship, Farrant Sr would attend lectures and events across the country; his son would accompany him as an enthusiastic driver and chaperone. The Highgate vampire was still a box office draw in the world of the British occult.
Do you think he ever got tired of it? I asked Jamie earlier this summer.
"Oh no," he laughed. "He loved it. Every minute of it. Always the showman. He'd be sitting with a glass of wine, [waiting] for people to ask him questions about it all."
Jamie felt proud to have a dad who commanded such attention, but he is also honest with himself. Though he knew his father cared for him, he understood that nothing would ever come close to his attachment to the glory days of the Highgate vampire. "It took over his life. It was the biggest [thing] for him by a country mile ... You couldn't meet my dad without the Highgate vampire being involved."
I wondered if he had ever wished for a more ordinary father?
It wasn't like that, Jamie replied. "I said this at his funeral. If he'd been a plumber, we wouldn't be here talking about him now, would we?"
The online vitriol from Manchester began shortly after father and son had reconnected. "I'd messaged Manchester to say: 'I've seen your name in connection with my dad. I was just wondering what he's like.' That was a silly thing to do. I got a four-page email back calling [my dad] a charlatan – and it just got worse from there." Defending his
paternal honour meant becoming an enthusiastic combatant in the long-running Farrant-Manchester online war. "I used to enjoy prodding him with a stick and watching him react," Jamie acknowledged.
Still, over the course of several interviews, the only time I saw Jamie express anything that could be described as rancour was when he spoke about the immediate aftermath of his father's funeral in 2019. "[Manchester] posted that it was a shame my dad didn't have a chance to seek his forgiveness. I regret not going back and writing: 'He didn't want or need it. You've spent your whole life trying to make his a misery.'"
The endlessly fertile online universe cultivated by Manchester still exists, albeit in diminished form. Of his innumerable blogs and anonymous attack-dog accounts, almost all have expired, save for a regularly updated YouTube channel. Its content veers towards the avant garde, with dense visual essays on the Highgate vampire jostling for attention with moody reflections on the search for the holy grail and obituaries for various cultural luminaries of the 1960s.
On LinkedIn, his profile boasts recommendations for "exorcisms" and "healing". It is where he chose to reply to my latest interview request earlier this month. Instead of directly responding to written questions, he instead shared a link to a video titled My Last Word. Backdropped by a picture of Manchester, windswept and wearing a dog collar, it offers a 38-minute reflection on his great rival. "I knew him as well as anybody could at the important period at the time," Manchester says. "I knew him better than his own son ... I knew him well enough to know [that] he was not serious. That he did not believe in either ghosts, vampires or anything else. But he did believe in self-publicity and he achieved it to some degree." Contemporary commentators, Manchester sighs, only use what is useful to them, with scant regard for the truth. "Their agenda is not the truth but what attracts interest."
It is difficult to precisely calculate the half-life of any urban legend, even one as persistent as the Highgate vampire. As its flag-bearers die or reach advanced old age, there are no guarantees that succeeding generations will pick up the mantle. On a boiling afternoon in late summer, I travelled to Highgate Cemetery to take in one of its regularly scheduled tours.
Our guide was a woman in her early 60s, who offered an engaging rundown of its official history of grandeur, decline and resurrection. So it was a surprise to hear her ask the cosmopolitan, resolutely middle-class group of American and European tourists if they knew the legend of the Highgate vampire – a relic of the cemetery's darkest days. Even more so, the dozens of hands from around the world enthusiastically shooting up in the affirmative.
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Interview
After more than 50 years on stage, Chaka Khan is as spirited as ever. The singer tells Patrick Smith about her 14th solo album, why she’s ‘partnered out’ and how Prince saved her from herself
Oh God, you’re not going to ask me if I’ve slept with Prince, are you?” Chaka Khan asks, with a mordant laugh. Er, no, I say. Does the 11-time Grammy winner get asked that often? “Hell yeah I do! It’s sad that they just assume I’m either a whore or a singer. Make up your mind! What do you want me to be?” She puffs on a cigarette. “I’m not going to lie to you and add to your fantasy. This ain’t Disneyland. I’m living for real.”
Besides, she adds, “if I’d slept with all the guys I’ve done tours with, I don’t know what I’d be right now. I’d probably be dead.”
This is Khan: candour and caprice entwined. Pose an innocuous question and the 73-year-old is as likely to shut you down instantly as to launch into a monologue that answers several you never asked. At one point, discussing record labels, she disappears down a rabbit hole about schools being cesspools of germs.
I had mentioned Prince for a reason: they collaborated several times, and Khan famously covered his track I Feel for You in 1984. Though Khan’s version sold more than a million copies and won two Grammys (one for Khan’s vocal performance and another for Prince as its songwriter), Khan has always cringed at the intro, on which rapper Melle Mel chants her name. Not that it rocked her close – and sometimes catty – friendship with Prince. She once said, flippantly or not, “I wouldn’t touch him with a 10ft pole”, but has also said that he helped her kick drugs. “He was a deep and beautiful thinker,” she tells me now. “Prince just grabbed ideas out of the air and left you wondering: where did you get that?”
Khan, born Yvette Stevens in Chicago, has spent more than half a century fusing funk, soul, disco, rock and jazz. Having made her name as the frontwoman of Rufus in the mid-1970s, she went solo in 1978 and subsequently recorded with the likes of Ray Charles and Quincy Jones. There have been huge obstacles, including the darkest sides of a mendacious record industry and addictions to cocaine, heroin, alcohol and painkillers. But her striking mezzo-soprano voice has remained invincible, electrifying floor-fillers such as I’m Every Woman and Ain’t Nobody. Not for nothing did she place above David Bowie and Joni Mitchell in Rolling Stone’s 2023 ranking of the best singers of all time.
We’re in a hotel suite in Mayfair. Dressed in a black kattan, with sunbursts and feathers stitched through it in gold thread, Khan is watchful and unhurried. On one of the many rings that adorn her fingers is a purple stone slab the size of a plum. Her hair, corkscrewed and dark, tumbles to her waist.
That evening, Khan will attend the press night of I’m Every Woman at Troubadour Wembley Park, where Alexandra Burke will perform her life in song. But first she’s here to talk about her new album, Chakzilla. Her follow-up to 2019’s Hello Happiness was largely
co-written with the Australian singer and songwriter Sia and features Lenny Kravitz and Snoop Dogg (“one of the smartest people I know”). Khan recalls Sia, who had written hits for Kylie Minogue and Rihanna, telling her that she’s “sick and tired of not hearing [Khan] on the radio”. So well did they click – “we laugh all the time” – that Khan is now Sia’s formal godmother. Three years ago, they performed I’m Every Woman together when Khan was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Lyrically, Chakzilla invites us behind the curtain of a woman who has done it all. On the title track, Khan sings: “I’ve been waiting all my life for this moment.” What, I ask, is she still waiting for?
“Could make a little list,” she says.
What’s on it?
“I don’t want to discuss that, because if I talk too much about what I would like to have, somebody will try to arrange it for me. So I’m just going to mosey along and let life do what it do. One of them is not necessarily a partner,” she continues. She has two marriages behind her. “I’m not looking for that. I’m partnered out.”
Khan will release Chakzilla in September through her own imprint, Earthsong Records, under licence to BMG. Historically, Khan’s relationships with labels have been fraught. In 1974, when the Stevie Wonder-written Tell Me Something Good carried the group into the Billboard top three, Rufus and the record label ABC renamed the band “Rufus featuring Chaka Khan” without her permission. The rift within the group has never quite healed.
Then came a future involving the English singer and songwriter Robert Palmer. He and Khan cut Addicted to Love as a duet in 1986; Island excised her vocal and issued Palmer’s solo version, which went to No 1 in the US. The take Khan sang on remains in the vaults; she has called that decision racist.
BMG, though, she’ll vouch for. “We are equal partners in our journey, and that is the only way I can go.”
Ask Khan to recall dates and places and she’ll buffer.
“I don’t do a diary,” she says. “I don’t write down anything. I’m a ‘next’ girl. Oh, I did that... Next!”
Holding on to the past, she says, “goes against the law of nature. I just can’t do that.” But she’s had such a storied life, I tell her. “I have, and I did it, and it’s done.”
Raised in Chicago’s South Side, Khan was originally named by her beatnik father after the Stan Getz tune Yvette; by her own account, she was singing and dancing about as soon as she could walk. He taught her to listen, too, picking apart records and isolating the threads – a bassline here, Max Roach’s snare drum there – until she could pinpoint any given instrument. She was four. At the age of 11, she formed a group with her younger sister Yvonne and two friends. At 16, chafing against her mother’s strict Catholicism, Khan left home altogether to find the father who, Khan says, she hadn’t seen in “seven, eight years”.
Another great education came from her grandmother’s Billie Holiday albums. Aged seven, transfixed by the striking blue sleeve of Lady in Satin, Khan asked why the woman looked so sad. It was the last album Holiday recorded before her death and, her grandmother said, she made it on crutches. “It was morbid,” she says now. “[Billie] put beauty in her pain.”
Khan brings up Holiday’s sepulchral Strange Fruit, reflecting on what the jazz singer must have witnessed back then. “How do you get off of the bus, [and] on the way back... see all these Black men
Photograph by Gareth Cattermole


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hanging from a tree? That would have drove me crazy."
Khan encountered a lot of racism on tour. "I always thought of Strange Fruit when we saw it. All us Black people would pile off the bus to go into a truck stop. We rarely stayed to eat because the vibes we got – they could have equally taken us out." Waitresses would slam down her plate. "[They would] look at you like, 'What are you going to do?' Well, I'm going to get the fuck out of here!"
None of it surprised her. Having been on civil rights marches as a child, she was selling the Black Panther newspaper barefoot on street corners by 13, the age at which a Yoruba priest gave her the name Chaka, meaning "woman of fire".
For Khan, singing was always a balm. "It's a lovefest on stage with me," she says. But she still gets nervous. "I close my eyes, I have to focus on something." Petrified in the Ruhu years, she threw up before every show – including two solid years of opening for Stevie Wonder.
She had a baby with her, breastfeeding throughout that tour. Khan took the queen bed at the back of the bus and balanced her daughter Indira's bassinet on the warm engine to settle her. When she wouldn't go down, she opened all the windows and let in the night air. "I'd have Joni Mitchell playing, Miles Davis playing."
Khan has called the stage the ultimate addiction. She blames her drug use on the collision of fame and young
motherhood. In 1999, she gave up illegal substances after a few near misses, one of which landed her in an ambulance. Prince, she says, saved her from herself. "He plucked me out of a place where I was trying to survive. My record company [was] in my ass, being the meanest people on the planet. I felt like I was being pimped. I cried a lot, because I was falling out of love with music. I was ready to throw in the towel, and then Prince came along."
Prescribed fentanyl in 1999 after a knee replacement, Khan checked into rehab with her sister. "Prince told me to go." He was in pain, too – hips, knees, ankles – though Khan had no idea that he became dependent on the drug until it killed him in 2016.
She has been through rehab three times but none of those experiences impressed her. "It's a business," she says. "These analysts have been the biggest bandits and crooks and killers. I went to rehabs where they cost $1,000 a friggin' day – for them to keep you fucked up on their pills that were supposed to make you better."
These days, work holds her steady, along with an enduring catalogue of songs. I'm Every Woman, written by Ashford & Simpson in 1978 and given a second life by Whitney Houston for The Bodyguard, has been drag and ballroom repertoire for nearly 50 years. Ain't Nobody has kept dancefloors bouncing for almost as long. Curating London's annual Meltdown festival in 2024, Khan programmed Adonis Afters, a queer rave, and put out a call for non-binary choir singers.
Perhaps naively, I ask how she feels to be a straight icon for queer visibility.
"A straight icon? What's the straight part?" she says. "What do you mean, straight in what way?"
Heterosexual, I say.
"Am I? How do you know what I am? I don't ever share that part of my life. That's nobody's business but mine."
I withdraw the word.
"There you go." She softens. "I am for everybody. I don't care what you sleep with at night. If your heart is in the right place, that's all I care about."
What advice would she give her younger self?
"Do what you did. Everything was a necessary evil or a necessary good." She laughs. "I'm proud of my scars."
Chakzilla is out on 18 September. Observer subscribers can get tickets to I'm Every Woman in London from £15, plus 10% off. Visit theobserver.tixculture.com for more.
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observer.co.uk
23.08.20

Social media is destroying the broadcaster's place at the heart of national life. Phil Tinline argues that the key to its survival lies in reviving its original mission
Essay
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In the BBC's current ad for itself, which first ran during the half-time interval of the World Cup final, Romesh Ranganathan draws attention to the rich range of programming that the corporation offers the public, around the slogan: 'What has the BBC ever done for me?'
The ad reprises one that John Cleese fronted in 1985. But there is a telling difference: Cleese asked: 'What has the BBC ever given us?' That shift in pronoun encapsulates not only the long-term crisis of confidence at the corporation, but also the way viewers' priorities have changed over the years. The two slogans embody two fundamentally different ways of thinking about what the BBC is for: the individual, and the public.
For a century, the BBC has provided a vital means of weaving a shared British culture. Today, however, as media becomes ever more fragmented and personalised, the beleaguered corporation has never seemed less able to do this. We don't watch the same news at the same time. There's no more Top of the Pops, or sitcoms everyone can quote. Our shared national viewing is now pretty much The Traitors, the occasional cut-through drama and big sports events. General elections feature televised debates, but these primarily provide clips for social media, which continually turbocharges rumour and disinformation. The shared trust in truth on which mass democracy depends – of which the BBC was long the beating heart – has been bleeding away for years. And young people in particular no longer feel that the BBC is theirs. They are more at home with YouTube. According to O'Conn, less than a quarter of what people aged 16 to 24 watch at home comes from broadcasters.
The BBC is straining to compete in the new media world. In January, for the first time, it cut a deal to make content specifically for YouTube. This is a matter of 'meeting young audiences in particular where they are', as its new director general Matt Brittin puts it. Brittin arrived fresh from working for YouTube's owners, Google, for 18 years, most recently as president of its business and operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa; earlier in his career, he spent six years as a consultant at McKinsey. He is the second director general in a row who has never worked in TV or radio production.
Since taking up his post in May, Brittin has introduced sweeping cuts to cope with declining licence fee income, and begun a pivot to digital. BBC correspondents have reportedly been told that their top priority is posting on social and digital platforms, not broadcast media. This week Brittin will probably be in the audience when the YouTube vice-president Pedro Pina gives the Royal Television Society's annual MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh TV festival. The symbolism could hardly be more pointed.
I've found watching all this rather sad, because I spent 20 years at the BBC making radio programmes, primarily documentaries, before I left in 2023. Over those two decades, I saw plenty of both the 'me' and the 'us'. I worked largely on my own projects, but always felt part of a much bigger public culture. The fact that I never had to worry about internet clicks or sales figures meant I could think, and try things, and come up with ideas I'd never have had otherwise.
That shared culture existed internally too. I was taught to make documentaries not on training courses, but by the generosity of my colleagues. For a time, our unit made the live Radio 4 obituary Show Last Word, and when news of a death broke close to transmission, the office would come alive as we took off our headphones, opened our contact books and hit the phones to find the best possible guest speaker. Until someone decided a live programme shouldn't be made by a documentaries team, and that serendipity was lost.
Like everyone, we were also trying to work out how to make the onrush of tech innovation work for us. It brought huge advantages: it pushed us to think much harder about what young people made of our stuff, for one thing, and how to get it in front of them. But under it all there was always the melancholy, long, withdrawing roar – the sound of the BBC's confidence – ebbling away, exacerbated by cuts and scandals and a loss of nerve about its purpose. I finally left in part because if I'd stayed, I would have had to try to sell podcasts to an overcrowded market place. I could see the whole ecosystem that had nurtured me and everyone I knew being rationalised to death. It was like watching a management consultant look at an oak tree and say: 'The leaves are so beautiful. Can we lose that boring brown trunk underneath?'
If everyone consumes their own version of the BBC, there is no broadcasting

There are signs of anxiety at senior levels about the compromises forced by trying to live under the iron heel of the click. The BBC's annual report for 2024 recognises – correctly – that 'more and more of us are now consuming global content on platforms driven by algorithms that may not have the interests of a shared British culture and our democracy at heart'. In Brittin's few public statements so far he has insisted that the BBC has to be on YouTube not least to help fight the disinformation that is rife on that platform – a revealing insight, given that he worked for YouTube's owners for so long.
Yet the consequence of such arguments is that the BBC is trying to fit itself into the media ecosystem that has been designed to benefit its competitors, based on personalised, micro-targeted content, with barely any editorial gatekeeping. This cuts against the whole raison d'être of the corporation. In his introduction to the most recent annual report, the new director general endorsed his predecessor Tim Davie's assertion that the BBC must be 'hold enough to own the future instead of being trapped by the past'. But as Brittin surely knows, having immersed himself in his new employer's history, an institution's past offers more than traps. I believe the thinking that drove the BBC's birth also offers pointers to its potential renaissance.
In the early 1920s, a Britain still shuddering from the effects of war was just emerging as a mass democracy. Promises of 'homes fit for heroes' had evaporated in the face of a sharp economic slump. The political class was haunted by the fear of a general strike, even a revolution. The arrival of a disruptive new media technology amid all this raised frightening possibilities.
Radio was already a cacophony of advertising-driven competition in the US. As the historian David Hendy has noted, however, one of British broadcasting's pioneers, Arthur Burrows, was instead inspired by the question: what if broadcasting could instead offer a way to unite the country? Perhaps, drawing on the ideas of the Victorian writer Matthew Arnold, one way to soothe political strife was to draw everyone – not just an establishment elite – together

Left, the Proms are a fixture of the BBC's calendar. Below, Arthur Burrows posited that broadcasting could unite the country. Redheren/Getty Images, Getty Images
in a rich, common culture.
So back then Britain did not passively copy America's flawed response to a new media technology. It came up with its own approach: a single organisation, bringing the nation's nascent broadcasters together. Crucially, it would be at a distance not only from the grabbing hands of the market, but from the heavy hand of state control. In 1927, the BBC became an instance of an innovative interwar species of organisation, the 'public corporation'.
Running through all of this is a single, still-powerful idea. I first came across it in 2004, early in my stint as a radio producer at the BBC, when an unprovening book flopped on my desk, by the political academic and one-time Labour MP David Marquand. Decline of the Public: The Hollowing Out of Citizenship argued that between the late 19th century and the mid 20th century, a distinctive zone had appeared in British national life between state and market: the public sphere.
Marquand contended that the public sphere cannot exist without trust: specifically, letting professionals have the autonomy to exercise their judgment. This was the oxygen that powered the BBC at its postwar zenith in the 1960s: when its leaders had the money, chutzpah and political elbow-room to trust their own judgment and that of their programme-makers. Marquand's account also offered an explanation of why the BBC has struggled in the decades since. From the 1980s, he argued, the state sought to enforce the domination of the market. In a landmark 1989 lecture, Rupert Murdoch – who had just launched Sky TV – aimed his bazooka at the intellectual foundations of public service broadcasting, lambasting the BBC as the minion of the 'government thought police'. In subsequent decades we have moved further away from the notion of a shared public sphere. Ordinary people have increasingly been cast as passive, demanding consumers. What has the BBC ever done for me?
Social media has been perfectly engineered and monetised to intensify this philosophy. It incentivises individuals not to exchange ideas reflectively, but to vent their feelings as rapidly and vividly as possible, in search of clicks and likes and followers. It has no ethics, just metrics. As the technologist Tobias Rose-Stockwell has argued, the 'algorithmic ordering of content soon flattened the hierarchy of credibility', erasing the value distinction between two things: the kind of accurate,
hard-won information on which the BBC built much of its reputation, and bullshit.
In this hostile environment, weakened by its own screw-ups, the BBC has accepted the premise that what matters is giving each individual what they want, in a measurable way. That Ranganathan ad ends with the slogan: 'There's a BBC for each of us. Funded by all of us.' But if everyone consumes their own version of the BBC on their carpools and phones, there is no broadcasting – just podcasting.
The obvious riposte is that all this is pointless faddism. If the BBC can't get people to pay the licence fee, idealistic notions of the public sphere are for the birds. The number of licence-fee paying households dropped by more than 500,000 last year, and the BBC predicts this will only accelerate. Even setting aside the fact that while 94% of people use the BBC, less than 80% pay for it. The fee itself, in real terms, is worth perhaps a fifth of what it was worth in the 1970s. Quite reasonably, Brittin calls it 'a moment of real jeopardy'; culture secretary Lisa Nandy talks of 'existential threat'. If Reform UK ever gets to power Nigel Farage promises to scrap the license fee as a priority.
In the face of such fatalism about the notion of a shared culture what might we – the British public, our national broadcaster, and our government – do to rebuild that idea?
Existential crisis has a way of forcing people to decide what they are willing to let die. We have a new prime minister who is steeped in English literary culture, and wants to reject '40 years of neoliberalism'. So this may actually be an unusually propitious moment for a BBC-led effort to break from the hegemony of Silicon Valley, and start to rebuild a common British culture (without trying to revive the deference of the 1920s). Much as it has to accept the US social media-dominated landscape for now, the BBC could also learn from its own origin story, and start to build a less reactive, more creative, more self-confident vision of a British public sphere of the future.
The horrifying conduct of Elon Musk against this country – calling for racial civil war, and amplifying threats of political violence – has focused the public mind. So have the ongoing revelations in US courts about Meta's record with respect
Continued on page 16
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Essay
Continued from page 15
to vulnerable young people. The widespread support for banning social media for under-16s is a clear indicator of the public appetite for a more protective, assertive stance from its government.
In a report published in July last year, Ofcom recommended that the government explore extending the rules on prominence for fact-checked news to social media platforms, requiring them to give public service broadcasting content greater visibility. In June, Labour's media minister, Ian Murray, expressed the hope that the big tech firms would co-operate on this but suggested legislation could follow if necessary. At a more structural level, the BBC could work together with other public service broadcasters, in Britain and Europe, to develop "a new public social media platform with the objective of public social benefit rather than commercial time-on-platform", as recommended in a recent report by Sofia Ropek Hewson and Jasmine Jinadu for the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR). This "could integrate news, entertainment and social features rather than acting as a solely civic or informational space".
The BBC has responded audaciously to tech revolutions before – as it did with its pioneering news website, and with the creation of iPlayer. The latter could now become a bridgehead from which to build a stronger position against US tech companies. IPPR's report recommends that the government "introduce a public digital infrastructure exemption in competition assessments, allowing public broadcasters to collaborate and challenge the dominance of big tech companies", and there is renewed talk of our public service media firms forming a united streaming service, perhaps via iPlayer. Meanwhile, the BBC is calling for the government to require TV manufacturers to include an iPlayer button on remote controls sold in Britain.
The BBC's robust response to a $10bn lawsuit from Donald Trump is an encouraging sign that it is prepared to stand up for itself on
Matt Brittin became the BBC's director general in May. Getty Images
"The BBC may recognise that it has the means to deliver things many young people want"
behalf of the public. But it also needs to rediscover and model its own founding values, particularly in its news output. Its website sometimes looks like a desperate bid for clicks. The over-use of vox pops dramatises the same problem. Reporters too often ask people what particular developments – even a government spending review – mean for them personally. It would be more in tune with the BBC's mission to ask, "what does it mean for your family?" or "people you know", or "your town".
There are some signs that senior BBC figures still have a sense of the corporation's founding purpose, and the need to remake a common culture. At the launch of Radio 4's annual commissioning process earlier this year, its controller, Mohit Bakaya, began his presentation with a slide invoking the need to protect and build the public sphere.
Perhaps, with enough creativity, that focus could – counterintuitively – win back the young. The BBC may recognise that it has the means to deliver things many young people want: stuff to share, online spaces they can call their own, belonging. And an escape from the algorithms. If the BBC can find a way to build an onscreen version of the public sphere that works as well as Radio 1's Big Weekend, which showcases young talent and is best listened to live, perhaps we could start reconstructing a common culture that will mature with that young audience into the BBC's second century.
The immediate question, however, is whether a man who spent 18 years at Google can lead this process. Brittin's tacit admission that Google's YouTube is a fount of disinformation and his call for companies like his old employer to reveal more about their algorithms are encouraging signs. But does he understand in his bones what a public corporation is? Has he got a nose for the aspects of broadcast journalism and creativity that cannot be measured? And can he lead a fightback against Silicon Valley's destructive hyper-individualism – and play his part in re-founding our public sphere?
Phil Tinline is the author of The Death of Consensus: 100 Years of British Political Nightmares. He worked at the BBC from 2002 to 2023.

The networker

In 2004 the New Economics Foundation (NEF) conducted a national survey of UK high streets, which were then still economically active. It found that real local shops had been replaced by swathes of identikit chain stores, making high streets up and down the country virtually indistinguishable from one another. It also came up with a new vocabulary for talking about urban areas.
In this terminology, a "home town" is a place that retains its individual character and is instantly recognisable and distinctive to the people who live there, as well as those who visit. A "clone town", in contrast, is a place that has had the individuality of its high street shops replaced by a "monochrome strip of global and national chains". Which meant that its retail heart could easily be mistaken for dozens of other bland town centres across the country. Of the towns surveyed, the NEF concluded: 41% were clone towns, 33% were home towns and 26% were "border towns", meaning somewhere in between.
This lack of diversity is not just confined to towns. It's everywhere. You see it in property ads for new flats, or houses that have been modernised for resale. Kitchens like operating theatres (and upmarket ones with the obligatory island); sitting rooms featuring white settees with overstuffed cushions, polished wood flooring and oversized TVs. Or cafes with exposed brickwork, and an expectation that oat milk with flat whites and smashed avocado are what you want. Or the legion of young influencers on Instagram who seem increasingly indistinguishable.
What's driving this, apparently inexorable, onward march to uniformity? Modern capitalism, certainly. And social media, obviously. But underpinning it all is a particular technology and philosophy that increasingly determines how corporations make investment decisions and consumers make choices.
The tech industry calls it AI but it's really machine-learning. It's software that tries to predict what you're likely to want next – a song, a video, a product, a location, a flat, whatever – and then shows you it, based on patterns in your past behaviour (what you clicked, watched, bought or rated) and the online behaviour of people whom the machine thinks may be like you. These machines are basically
statistical guessers. They're trained by being given an objective – a measure of the thing they're supposed to maximise – and a loss function, which is essentially a penalty for making bad guesses. And, as the social data scientist Lauren Leek explains in a brilliant Substack post, Temperature Zero for Culture: Why Everything Is Starting to Look the Same, it's the loss function that drives these machines – and their unsuspecting users – to blandness.
This is because the most common loss function is the "squared error" one. It's calculated by taking the difference between the machine's guess and the right answer and multiplying it by itself. This means that it really punishes big discrepancies. Which, in turn, means that the machine's algorithm always plays safe by predicting the average of all the available possibilities.
And in the process, it squashes ideas that were wild but also potentially original. As Leek writes: "The strange Georgian-Japanese street-food fusion restaurant nobody can classify ... the song that sounds unlike what came before, most will never matter. But some will. A world that keeps removing the unlikely also removes the things that could have become the next likely."
Which brings us back to those identikit high streets. The NEF's clone towns weren't the product of some co-ordinated plan to homogenise Britain, but the emergent outcome of many thousands of separate independent decisions, each one taken in its own context. No government or corporation decided that every town needed the same clothing chain, coffee shop and supermarket outlet.
Leek's insight is that, in an AI-driven world, mathematics can explain why something such as that keeps happening, at every scale, from the high street to the streaming platform: any system trained to minimise error will always retreat towards the average, because the average is the safest guess when you're not quite sure. Multiply that single fact across billions of daily recommendations, and you get a world that's beginning to feel eerily familiar, everywhere. In that sense, the flat white with oat milk isn't a coincidence. It's the product of a loss function, working exactly as intended.

observer.co.uk 23.08.26
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Film Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, page 23

As a documentary capturing Wham!’s history-making 1985 China tour is set to air on TV, Andrew Ridgeley and others tell Jude Rogers about red tape, communist fans and the sheer charisma of 21-year-old George Michael
George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley visit the Great Wall of China, 7 April 1985.
An analysis of communism, delivered by a naked pop star mid-massage, is hardly typical music documentary fare. “I hope you’re not filming my buttocks,” jokes George Michael. “Actually you can go for the buttocks all you like. See if we get it past the censors.”
Airing on BBC Two next weekend after a limited cinema run, Wham! 10 Days in China brings to life a headline-grabbing crossover moment between music and geopolitics in April 1985, when Britain’s top charting duo became the first western pop act to perform in communist China. It showcases unused footage from an unreleased tour film, If You Were There, directed by the acclaimed Free Cinema pioneer Lindsay Anderson (This Sporting Life, If...), whose efforts the band rejected months after their return to the UK. A 1986 Wham! approved rejig, *Wham! In China:
Foreign Skies*, was shown only once, at their final concert together. This time around, director Mike Christie digs into the vaults, weaving present-day interviews around Anderson’s long-lost footage.
One person, of course, is not around to reflect on those times, but George Michael, then only 21, is a luminous presence throughout – funny and bright. Mid-pummel, he tells American cinematographer Paul Goldsmith: “We have a different view of communism than when we first arrived. It seems that just their whole way of life is actually quite oppressive, in an unrealistic kind of way. It seems we were invited here as a gesture, but [the government] are trying to ignore the fact we were here.”
In April 1985, China was six years into Gaige Kaifang, leader Deng Xiaoping’s programme of reform to transform the country into a socialist market economy. Alongside introducing the country’s draconian one-child policy, his government
opened special economic zones, gave local economies greater autonomy, and drummed up international investment.
Into this fray wandered veteran pop manager Simon Napier-Bell, who had guided the Yardbirds and Marc Bolan and co-wrote You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me, with the late pop TV pioneer Vicki Wickham, for Dusty Springfield. He first saw Wham! on Top of the Pops and spotted instant superstar potential. “They had a wonderful image – pure Hollywood – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid or Starsky & Hutch,” he recalled in his 2006 memoir I’m Coming to Take You to Lunch: Boys, Booze and How Wham! Were Sold to China. Now 87 and still regularly Substacking his thoughts on the music industry, Napier-Bell has been recording the audiobook (“to which I have the rights, because audiobooks didn’t exist when I wrote it”) before we Zoom.
As Wham!’s co-manager, he travelled to China “many, many”
“There was a hunger in China for connection with the west. Wham!’s timing was exquisite”
times over 18 months to secure the two gigs in Beijing and Guangzhou, meeting ministers and translators he assumes were all secret police. “But that’s just the way China worked in those days, and I think at government level it still does,” he later tells me by email. He was bold before Chinese officials. “I basically told [them] if they had the confidence to allow a subversive youth act to come from overseas, that would make people believe they had the confidence to really open up.” Not that this was Napier-Bell’s priority. “We were going to China to jumpstart [interest in] America – something that would usually take two or three years of touring.” At the time, Michael was contending with vocal polyps. “So George really didn’t want that.”
Wham! had already had some American success: Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, released in November 1984, and Careless Whisper, released in February 1985 as a Wham! track, had both got to No 1. The China tour then accelerated their success. It bagged them lucrative spots on mainstream TV, such as CBS Morning News (we see anchor Phyllis George point out to unknowing audiences that George is the “blonde” and Andrew the “brunette”), and saw their sales rise. By the end of the year, Careless Whisper and Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go were one and three in the US’s bestselling singles of 1985, separated only by Madonna’s Like a Virgin.
An international cohort of journalists helped fuel the press for Wham! on their tour, including the BBC’s then China correspondent, Mark Brayne. “There was a hunger in China for connection with the west,” he says in the film. “Wham!’s timing was exquisite.” Brayne’s Today programme report after the first concert, in the repressive setting of the Beijing Workers’ Gymnasium, is also accessible for free on his website, Braynework.com (he retrained as a psychotherapist in the 1990s). It includes a government
Continued on page 18
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Critics
All pace and energy, Matthew Bourne's sultry fusion of Bizet and film noir is about to take its gripping drama on the road
Sarah Crompton
The Car Man Sadler's Wells, London EC1; until 29 August, then touring until 21 November
No one tells a story quite like Matthew Bourne. His dances are so distinct and involving, you don't need a single programme note to help you through the plot.
One of the many virtues of his sizzling The Car Man, coming to the end of a summer season at Sadler's Wells before a nationwide tour, is that the narrative turns in unexpected ways but every surprise lands with total clarity. Another is the way its tightly controlled structure encourages individual dancers to make their personal mark.
Choreographed in 2000 and originally subtitled An Auto-Erotic Thriller, it's set in a garage-
cum-diner in 1950s America, where a sign on the side of Lez Brotherston's versatile, realistic set (with moving vehicles) announces "Man wanted". The resonant demand is answered by a drifter called Luca, whose ambivalent presence causes havoc and leads to tragedy when Lana, the wife of Dino, who runs the place, falls for his charms.
The plot is a noirish combination of James M Cain's pulp novel The Postman Always Rings Twice (and the four films inspired by it) and Bizet's Carmen, which provides the score in a ballistic arrangement by Rodion Shchedrin further expanded by Terry Davies. But Bourne adds his own firm twist, introducing the characters of Angelo, an unhappy mechanic, and Rita, who loves him.
All of this is expressed through movement that fizzes and pulses with fierce power and suppressed longing. The New Adventures company fills the stage with energy, but also with nuance; the couples flood across the space

in a rush of raunchy poses and rapid steps, arms arched (men), bodies melting (women). But each character has a name, identity and personality. They aren't simply there to provide colour - they give texture too.
In this clearly differentiated community, Lana emerges as a woman both troubled and dangerous. Her coupling with Luca - half-kneaded bread and flour flying as they grapple on the table - is desperate as well as desirous. In two different casts, Cordelia Braithwaite emphasises her longing for freedom; her dancing is voluptuously abandoned. Ashley Shaw locates a different quality; an inner steel, a loneliness that sets her apart.
There are touches of humour; a towel-flicking shower scene for the men to the famous Toreador music, and a clever moment when Dino thinks his wife is waving,
'Voluptuously abandoned': Cordelia Braithwaite as Lana, with Will Bozier as Luca, in The Car Man. Johan Persson
"The couples flood across the space in a rush of raunchy poses"
when in fact she is falling into Luca's arms. But the mood is generally dark, and gets darker as murder is committed and the guilty have to live with the consequences.
Harrison Dowzell charts Luca's growing disillusion with physical accuracy. The confidence with which he flew across tables in air, one-armed lifts visibly seeps away; the hoedown steps he enacts in a nightclub become an effort to cheer himself up rather than expressions of joy. In the same part, Will Bozier maintains his swagger for longer, before succumbing to terrible self-loathing.
As the put-upon Angelo, Leonardo McCorkindale starts tentative, full of hope. Once life and prison have bartered him, his actual body seems heavier, weighted by the burden of his fate. Whereas Harry Ondrak-Wright is touching in the same part, McCorkindale is positively tragic: a man destroyed.
Both Anna-Maria de Freitas and Kurumi Kamayachi find the balance of strength and fragility in Rita. One of the most beautiful and communicative passages in the entire piece is the moment she sits waiting to see Angelo in prison, delicate hands straightening her skirt, wrapping around her head; simple gestures carrying huge meaning.
For all its pace and high-energy drive, it's the detail that makes The Car Man such gripping dance drama. Every movement tells a story, and every dancer knows the story they are telling.
Continued from page 17
representative telling him why Wham! have been welcomed: "Any performance which is healthy and vigorous, we will receive them this year."
The site also hosts raw tape of his interview with Michael the same morning, in which the singer, who died in 2016 aged 53, describes his surprise at finding the audience didn't know how to clap along. "We get the impression now - unfortunately, and I wish we'd known it before... that dancing was fairly restricted amongst the Chinese simply because the police were sitting them down all the time and making them behave." He also explains why he thinks Wham! were invited: "Because we represent showbusiness more than rock'n'roll. Rock'n'roll, obviously, as far as the Chinese would see it, breeds decadence... We were the safest option."
"George was incredibly impressive, intelligent, with a very wise head on very young shoulders," Brayne says to me today. But he
doesn't think that the concerts changed China. "What they were was a reflection, and quite a dramatic reflection, of what was happening".
Four years later, Brayne was back on Tiananmen Square, the site of one of Wham's staged photoshoots. He left only a week before the massacre. "That was the end of fantasy, really, about what might become of China, and it was the beginning of its rather brutal, but very grounded reality." He has since noticed fashion and music in China being allowed to flourish, but "no loosening up ideologically". He never heard the Wham! gigs mentioned in political circles again.
Brayne nonetheless enjoyed the film's moving interviews with Chinese musicians, now four decades older, who attended and were creatively motivated by the gigs. These include the Chinese singer Cheng Fangyuan, who recorded Chinese-language versions of Wham! songs, which were given away with the duo's cassettes at the concerts. She beautifully describes their visit "as a historical

Young Wham! fans at the band's gig at Beijing's People's Stadium, 7 April 1985. Peter Charlesworth/Lightfielder/Getty Images
event... like opening a window".
Andrew Ridgley, now 63, has also enjoyed learning about the impact of Wham's music. "I feel immensely privileged to have created a band with my friend, and those records to have endured and actually inspired people to pursue a life in music," he tells me. He has made several
documentaries about his old band in recent years, and is a noble, serious soul - a world away from the crochety, Confucius-quoting 22-year-old in the film, who is funny on the division of roles in Wham! "I bring the tea, George brings the cake and the sandwiches."
He dismisses my suggestion that the pair were too young to be plunged into a political situation - "there were kids fighting in the First World War and Second World War when they were 15, 16, and we'd been around the block a wee bit by China" - but is unforgiving on director Anderson's leftwing politics. "Whatever socialist utopia he had in his mind, he didn't find it in China... and in his letters he made it very clear that he was only there for the money." (Anderson was a friend of Napier-Bell's film-maker father and a hero of Wham's co-manager, Jazz Summers, and had been hired, Michael suggested to Brayne, "to make back some money" on the cash-guzzling trip.)
Ridgley has thought about and watched a lot more of Michael "in
the last three or four years than I had done in the previous 10 or 20", he says, and even worked on the audio for this film with sound engineer Chris Porter, including on a "very moving" performance of Careless Whisper towards the end. This was recorded at the second of Wham's two Chinese shows, in the more liberal city of Guangzhou, only two hours north of Hong Kong, which had recently been guaranteed autonomous governance and civil liberties upon signing the treaty that returned its islands to China.
It's an astonishing performance: we see a 21-year-old, with a global solo career just ahead of him, step into the light. If these gigs were the catalyst for anything, it was that. But we also hear Michael's words to Brayne afterwards, shining with humility. "It's nice to make a bit of history, because pop is, you know, let's face it, a very transient business. It's rare that you can do anything of any importance at all."
Wham! 10 Days in China is on BBC Two and iPlayer on Saturday, 9pm
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
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'He can activate the air around him': Roger Allam, with Dorothy Atkinson, all 'glossy anxiety', in How the Other Half Loves, Manuel Harlan

Neatly staged and co-starring the excellent Dorothy Atkinson, the Old Vic's production of Ayckbourn's dinner-party farce nevertheless flags whenever Roger Allam isn't on stage
Susannah Clapp
How the Other Half Loves Old Vic, London SE1; until 19 September
Towards the end of How the Other Half Loves, a woman – well, let's not mince words, a wife – with a cup and saucer in each hand approaches a lolling man. 'Coffee?' she asks. 'Just one cup,' he drawls.
Alan Ayckbourn's jokes, like so much about the playwright, are more probing than is at first apparent. Of course, he can nudge with innuendo ('I took the liberty of easing the pin on your balcock'), but many of his best lines are not likely to capsize you when read on the page. He regularly makes audiences (though not so much me) fall around with his rug-from-under-your-feet farce: here, a rigidly anxious dinner guest gets a bowl of soup in his face. But Ayckbourn's real distinction is his three-
dimensional theatricality. Obvious but rare. His plays have to be staged to be fully realised: to be heard (his time as a radio producer was not wasted) as well as seen. His dialogue often relies for its full charge on a history accrued in the course of a few hours.
Behind that coffee-touting hostess – the play premiered in 1969 and is directed neatly in period by Phillip Breen – are multiple echoes: a hubby asking if there is any tea ('on the stove' sounds like a bold rebuff), or wailing that he can't find a clean shirt, or yelling – from offstage – 'Crisis! We are out of bathroom stationery!' The essential feminism of this naturally allows for women also being poisonous: 'I'll keep it for wearing round the house,' is a response to the gift of a bottle of perfume, presented on an anniversary that she has forgotten: well, of course she has: she was busy looking someone not her husband. The perils of this affair, on which the plot pivots, are seen close up. The lives of two couples – one
“ Though more likely to be celebrated for craftsmanship than imagination, Ayckbourn has always been an innovator
considering itself higher up the pecking order than the other – are enacted in the same space, the four characters weaving their way around each other blind to half of what the audience sees. Rob Howell's design – working in the round, so without walls – economically differentiates the two families: one green and one red telephone (curly cords, dials) are side by side on a coffee table; clandestine calls are made inches apart.
Two dinner parties in the separate houses (one serves marrons glacés, the other treacle pudding) are seen simultaneously, with intersecting tables; shared guests swivel heads between the two.
Ayckbourn is the most stage-drenched of current dramatists: he left school (Haileybury in Hertfordshire) at 17 one Friday in 1956, went into the theatre the following Monday, and has worked there ever since. Though he has always been admired, his reputation is skewed: by the milieu about which he writes (middle managers, not dons or gangsters), by his clarity – is a clever person allowed to be intelligible? – and by his popularity. He packs out the Old Vic on a 30C-plus evening, and in 1975 had five plays running in the West End.
Though more likely to be celebrated for craftsmanship than imagination, he has always been an innovator: in House & Garden (1999), he created two plays performed simultaneously by one cast in two auditoriums; his 1996 children's play The Champion of Paribanou – to which he attached an eloquent plea for funding of theatre for the young – featured an attendant who is 'non-human, mechanical and slightly faulty'.
There is a difficulty. Ayckbourn's characterisation is often shrewd but broadbrush, a feature exposed by the insufficient pace of Breen's production. Dorothy Atkinson has just the right glossy anxiety as the erring wife, but the main reason – it is a strong one – for seeing How the Other Half Loves is Roger Allam. He has gradually become central to the idea of what makes a good actor: not only on stage – 23 years on, his subtle power in Michael Frayn's Democracy lingers in my mind – but on telly (Endeavour and The Thick of It) and radio (Cabin Pressure and Conversations from a Long Marriage).
Pompous, well-meaning, the top man at work who fails to spot what is going on at home, he saunters on in satin shorts, executing a couple of weary knee-bends as if his flesh has just coalesced and he can hardly bother to show up. When seeming to do nothing – simply looking, or slumping – he can activate the air around him; the pace slackens when he is not on stage. In total: more than a snigger in suburbia but not 'an absolute wallop in the old bread basket'.
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observer.co.uk 23.08.26
Critics
Before stepping back from the public eye, the singer delivers an intensely personal series of arena shows with something urgent to say
Kitty Empire
The O2, London SE10; until 1 September
Ariana Grande stands alone, perched on a B-stage at the end of a runway in vertiginously high heels, accompanied only by a loop station. She cools into the mic, layering words, phrases – such as “won’t break, can’t shake” – and vocal melodies on to one another in real time. She’s a musician in charge of her instrument, and how it is heard.
The chorus of disembodied Grandes eventually become Eternal Sunshine, the title track of her 2024 album, named in tribute to the 2004 Michel Gondry film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The Eternal Sunshine tour will wrap on 1 September after a 10-night run at London’s O2 Arena – Grande’s first time playing live in the capital in seven years. After that, she has announced, she will take “a step back from visibility” – a response, her team have stated, to unacceptable levels of ongoing public scrutiny about her private life and widespread concern for her wellbeing connected to
commentary on her body shape.
On the second night of Grande’s run, competing visions of the singer vie for attention. The loop station presents her as an artist in her element – not merely a singer, but a creator. The second-night guest appearance of Cynthia Erivo, Grande’s co-star in the Wicked films, makes for a lovely surprise at the start of the encore, rekindling their onscreen simpatico. “You changed me for good,” they sing, and it’s not hard to fall for the stardust.
The lavish arena spectacle, in which Grande revisits past hits and plays cuts from her just-released album, Petal, meanwhile, finds the singer belting out ecstatic vocals, all while executing complex choreography in those platform stilettos. She is energetic, beaming.
Another interpretation is available: one of a woman whose judgment about her own best interests is open to question.
Despite the tour’s high-gloss showbiz values – the athletic dancers, the dazzling visuals – this impressive yet deeply ambivalent show often feels intensely personal. The theme of multiple selves runs throughout. The set’s five acts are held together by a series of linked videos that find Grande on a nightmarish quest, sometimes led by a child version of herself. They travel through a flooded house, an underground bunker and hyperreal fairytale parks. Grande glimpses a number of her previous incarnations, played by dormant Grandes wearing the outfits of her previous eras. In the set itself, meanwhile, she brings back her cat-ear headdress and whip for The Boy Is Mine.

A witty, capable star: Ariana Grande at the O2, London. Julius Dabidnik
Grande’s life has been uncommonly eventful. Before she took time out to act in the two Wicked films, she went through a series of high-profile relationships, the Manchester Arena bombing of 2017, its long aftermath, and the death of her ex, the rapper Mac Miller, in 2018. Wicked itself drew no shortage of commentary, from racists and anti-racists. In the onstage video plot, these past selves are set to be deleted – a take on Gondry’s film – until Grande smashes the retro computer interface. The message appears to be that it’s better to accept the past – the memories, the exes, the pain, the grief, the criticism, the PTSD – than to seek peace by erasing it all entirely.
Although no one would have wished any of this trauma on her, Grande’s more recent albums have become much richer and more pointed than the slinky, come-hither R&B of old cuts such as Positions, or the uptempo dance hits she was pumping out as a younger star. Rain on Me, her 2020 collab with Lady Gaga, sounds a bit random now that Grande’s more evolved material has levelled her up. Some of the old hits feel as though they’re the work of a different person. Just as many, though, remain compelling – 7 Rings contains another testament to Grande’s agency (“I write what I sing”), while the terrific Thank U, Next retains its sky-high emotional IQ. Much of her more recent work continues this refinement.
Jorja Smith (Fumm)
The UK is brimming with characterful R&B soul auteurs, but Walsall’s Jorja Smith predates Olivia Dean’s generation, and What Are the Odds is her third album via her own label. Smith has been on her own enviable streak of late. Her just-behind-the-beat hook – and unexpected rap – on AJ Tracey’s 2025 track Crush reminded listeners of her nonchalant versatility. In April, her song Price of It All came out alongside Riz Ahmed’s TV series
Bait and is a theme worthy of a real-life James Bond franchise. And in July she guested on junglist Nia
Archives’s Get Me Down, underlining how Smith’s featherlight voice could float effortlessly atop any beat. Tracks such as What’s Done Is Done (a UK garage delight) and I Lied, You Lied (jaze-tinged Afrobeat-house) provide yet more proof of Smith’s skill at placing just the right vocal in the perfect spot. Crafted largely one-on-one with the Nigerian-British producer P2J (Wizkid, Burna Boy, Beyoncé), its
short run time doesn’t waste any opportunities, throwing late-night sounds at Smith’s unflappable voice to impressive effect. Dancefloor focused, it’s a no-ballad zone, but her enduring disappointment at lacklustre lovers suffuses her singing. Kitty Empire
Sam Smith (Capitol)
Shedding their PVC-clad Unholy pop persona, Sam Smith ditches the theatrics to explore the messier realities of falling in love on their
fifth album. Across its 12 songs, Hazel Eyes follows a love story from the first rush of attraction through to jealousy,
betrayal and, eventually, forgiveness. Opening with Everlasting Love, Smith casts themself as a jazz club crooner as they sing over softly plucked guitars and closely delivered vocals. The nostalgia continues as the instrumentals draw on pop, folk, country and R&B influences. Moments of drama come later, with Oh Mother combining a piano and a 28-piece choir, all swelling behind Smith as they cry out for maternal
comfort post-heartbreak. Hazel Eyes doesn’t always maintain momentum, but it succeeds in presenting love as an untamable force. Though one of pop’s biggest voices, Smith has always been willing to embrace vulnerability. Here, that quality feels like a return to form. Georgia Evans
Julia Holter (Domino)
Pressing play on a Julia Holter record is like opening a door and walking into a fantastical realm. The Los Angeles-based musician’s
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
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Grande convinces tonight, as a witty, capable star, not just in control of her four-octave range, but as an artist who has something urgent to say about her own fame, and the position in which other famous women find themselves. The show begins with Yes, And?, a 2024 cut that cleverly elides the openness of improv theatre – “yes, and” is a device that openly invites a response – with a passive-aggressive rebuke to online speculators: “yes... and?!” It also contains the line “don’t comment on my body”.
The video for recent single Petal found Grande chainsawing a series of crass, cigar-chomping studio execs. Hate That I Made You Love Me, which comes near the end of the set, is addressed as though to an ex, but
seemingly widens its scope beyond former partners: “Is it really my fault you all gave me a heart of your own accord?” she asks, of the parasocial relationship between internet-era stars and their fandoms.
A great many column inches and social media feeds have convulsed with yet more scrutiny of Grande. Is she an adult, making her own choices, which are nobody’s business, even if she is a public figure with millions of younger fans? Is she a victim of an insatiable fame machine urging her to finish these dates when her hiatus ought to have begun? Nine times out of 10 the correct belief is one in female agency, female autonomy. Hopefully the break will be long, cocooning and creatively nourishing.
radically up-front orchestral pop brooks no gradual buildups. On opening track The Laugh Is in
the Eyes, whistles lend wand-like glimmers before Chris Speed offers a transporting clarinet cadenza. All the while, Holter sings wistfully – “I need to learn to make, the sweetness stay/ I still love that day, we chased our tails around”.
Materia is made of just seven tracks, and two are new iterations of a song from Holter’s 2024 record Something in the Room She Moves. That first version featured her
mellifluous voice, high in its range, over sparse Wurlitzer keys. These new variations twist and turn the original melody, as fretless bass, more clarinet and noodling synths transform the second, while on the third, a spare arrangement makes the track hymn-like.
Many artists feel the pressure to keep reinventing themselves. Holter, now seven studio albums deep, knows that as much, perhaps more pleasure comes in studying the core of a melody and seeing what newness might arise from considering it from different angles. On Materia, the result is hypnotic. Ellen Peirson-Hagger
A four-hour Greek marathon and a one-act farce written when he was just 20 delight the composer’s home town crowd
Stephen Pritchard
Rossini Opera Festival Auditorium Scavolini/Teatro Rossini, Pesaro, Italy; ends today
Sun, sea, sand and semiquavers: what’s not to like? The Rossini Opera Festival, staged annually in his home town of Pesaro on Italy’s Adriatic coast, has to be one the summer’s most beguiling musical highlights.
Since 1980, alongside the Rossini Foundation, the festival has dedicated itself to exploring and presenting the composer’s vast output (39 operas before his retirement – at the age of 37), with forensic research regularly producing new critical editions. This year, for instance, saw cuts restored to Le Siège de Corinthe that were made even before its first performance in Paris 200 years ago.
Such dedication can seem extreme, particularly when it extends a show to four hours, but director Davide Livermore’s new production had plenty of fresh ideas to help festivalgoers run this musical marathon, not least the notion that modernity, rather than Islam, was laying siege to ancient Greece. And we were in safe hands with Carlo Rizzi conducting the excellent Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna.
Corinthe’s inhabitants are locked in a toga-clad time warp, racing to put gracious statuary in packing cases as protection against the Ottoman invaders, who, in contrast, are all in sharp suits, sporting sunglasses and smartphones, and leaving a trail of plastic detritus wherever they go. One of those packing cases serves as a window into the ancient world, with clever video design by D-Wok showing visions of a Greece like those imagined by the Victorian painter Lawrence Alma-Tadema – a Greece that is about to disappear in an orgy of destruction.
The music is majestic, with heroic choruses when the two armies clash, but Mahomet II (stentorian bass Adrian Simpetrean) discovers that the woman he fell in love with years before is Pamyra, daughter of the city’s governor. Indeed, the
Matteo Mancini (Don Parmenione) in L’occasione fa il ladro: ‘one of the festival’s most enduring successes’. Anni Baccardi
piece might be more readily entitled Pamyra, as the character dominates the plot, with Rossini reserving his most spectacularly vertiginous vocal writing for this indefatigable figure, who struggles with her allegiance to Greece and her love for the invader. Russian-born mezzo-soprano Vasilisa Berzhanskaya deservedly won huge applause for her triumphant portrayal.
This year’s season was leavened by the inclusion of two one-act operas Rossini wrote for Venice in 1812, when he was just 20 years old: L’occasione fa il ladro (Opportunity Makes a Thief) and La scala di seta (The Silken Ladder). Jean-Pierre Ponnelle’s charming production of L’occasione fa il ladro is one of the festival’s most enduring comic successes, staged four times since its debut in 1987. It lives, literally, out of a suitcase. Servant Martino (baritone Giuseppe Tola) conjures the entire show – score, cast and scenery – from the depths of a large travel bag. In moments, a bare stage is transformed into a full-scale toy theatre – design and costumes also by Ponnelle – and a classic farce ensues.
That bag is central to the plot. Conte Alberto picks it up by mistake on his way to Naples to marry Berenice, a woman he has never met. Martino and his master, Don Parmenione, hatch a plot: Parmenione will impersonate Alberto and woo the lady too. But Berenice won’t suffer fools gladly. Singing the role with delightful clarity, Damiana Mizzi gave smug Alberto (tenor Dave Monaco) and clumsy Parmenione (baritone Matteo Mancini) short shrift. Conductor Alessandro Bonato drove the ensemble numbers at a lick but occasionally let the action sag.
That’s not something that can be said of the conducting of Ivan López-Reynoso, who kept up a breathless pace in La scala di seta. Again, this is a piece that features an enterprising heroine hemmed in by the demands of overbearing men. Armenian soprano Hasmik Torosyan was a delightful Giulia, frantically trying to resist her guardian’s demand that she marry Blansac – Ukrainian baritone Iurii
– Samoilov in spectacular form – without revealing that she is secretly married to Dorvil (Australian tenor Alasdair Kent), who visits her every night by climbing her silken bedsheets.
Damiano Michieletto’s breathless production features sassy modern designs from Paolo Fantin, including a huge slanting mirror that cleverly gives the illusion that Dorvil is climbing up into Giulia’s bedroom when he is actually crawling along the stage. Hall of mirrors? How suitable for the seaside.
Fiona Maddocks returns next week

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Critics
'Mostly she goes entirely unnoticed': Elswick Kids, 1978 by Tish Murtha.
© Ella Murtha, all rights reserved

“ You can smell the air and hear the raucous mirth in these pictures
public outrage and the private grief in protest shots that raised a debate in the House of Commons. She photographed the lads back together again in their 20s, slumped on a shopping centre bench, the stuffing knocked right out of them.
Alas, the modern-day colour work of local photographer Kuba Ryniewicz, interspersed throughout Close to Home at the Baltic, in Gateshead, doesn't stand a chance against the power of Murtha's art. Ryniewicz is concerned with private lives in a quite different way – bit of gardening, lots of sex and personal pleasures. His scant political content seems to go the other way, towards a fragmented society.
The gallery has enlarged some of Murtha's greatest images to the size of life and beyond. Two infants beam sweetly at each other, oblivious of the decay all around them. A young man stares down at an army of unwashed bottles, empty as his life. And it would be hard to think of a more jubilant image of optimism against misery than her photograph of children lining up for the fun of jumping from a gaping second-floor window on to a pile of stained mattresses below. Everyone is looking up, enthralled, at the boys flinging themselves from the broken building above. Only a ventriloquist's dummy in the arms of a teenager looks our way, with a pop-eyed grimace, as if to check that we realise how frightening this is.
Murtha died of a brain aneurysm in 2013. She was 56, and by then, despite all the marvellous photographs shown in galleries and published in magazines, she was actually out of work herself. Ella Murtha's deep and beautiful film tribute to her mother, made with Paul Sng, is available on BBC iPlayer. But go to the Baltic if you possibly can. I overheard a woman telling her friend that she remembered how they played on those mattresses all day. The figures in the pictures, so vital to Murtha, are still around you.
Laura Cumming
Tish Murtha & Kuba Ryniewicz: Close to Home Baltic, Gateshead; until 4 April 2027
Capturing the hard-scrabble 70s Newcastle of her youth with empathy and humour, the late, great Tish Murtha is a tough act to follow
Elswick, in Newcastle, was once known as the worst square mile in Britain. Decaying houses, rusting cars, arterial blood on the pavements; it hung on through the slum clearances of the 1970s like a loose tooth waiting to be pulled. Unemployment reached almost 30% under Thatcher, the Jobcentre was a joke, old men in sleazy cars cruised the streets for children, and everything I know of it comes from the work of the great artist who lived there – the documentary photographer Tish Murtha.
Patricia Murtha was born in South Shields in 1956, the third of 10 children of Irish descent. Their father was violent with them all. They moved to Elswick when Tish was a child, growing up as valiant, clear-eyed and strong as her images. At 15 she found an old camera in a condemned house and began to photograph the filthy bricks, windswept alleys and wastelands that were home to her contemporaries. The only thing they owned was the key to the streets.
Third-hand gym shoes and jerseys and jackets to grow into; fags, flares and feather cuts; ingrained dirt and cheap scavenging
for niggardly scrap merchants – you can smell the air and hear the raucous mirth in these pictures. Fires smoulder in old paint cans, little girls warming their hands in winter; boys shimmy up the broken columns outside once-grand buildings, posing like gleeful statues on the top.
The same characters recur: the lad who lugs his little brother with him everywhere, holding him up to add his own baby marks to the neighbourhood graffiti. The beautiful boy who grows up in these pictures, doing handstands, lighting fires, walking walls like an acrobat: exuberant, until he hits the dole.
Murtha knew every dead-end street, every weed and stone. Some of these kids are her siblings. You sense her ease among them, sometimes returning her gaze with a darting grin. But mostly the photographer goes entirely
unnoticed, vanishing into the scene.
Murtha had to be there a long time to capture the moment. One of her characteristic gifts was to catch people in telling motion – jabbing a finger, leaping a gate, running, dancing. Three little boys line up to feel a bigger boy's muscles, suppressing their laughter. A poker player narrows his eyes as he emits smoke like a dragon.
The young are so beautiful in these black-and-white shots. A bright face against a charred building: a flash of blond hair dangling upside down in the grim wreck of a car; two boys crowding into a shadowy phone box to make some long-anticipated call.
Are they drunk or merry on their own high spirits? A couple of years later they have left school and there is no work. The Scotswood industrial plant closes in 1979 – Murtha photographed both the

Cuddles Frowning by Tish Murtha. © Ella Murtha, all rights reserved
Critics
Film
observer.co.uk
23.08.26
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'Wildly entertaining': Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson in Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma. Mobi
Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson revel in a gleeful slasher satire confronting fandom, queer identity and guilty pleasure
Wendy Ide
(112 mins, 15) Directed by Jane Schoenbrun; starring Gillian Anderson, Hannah Einbinder, Jack Haven
Movie fandom can be a minefield for the modern cinephile. It's tough enough navigating the thorny issue of great art made by terrible people. But what if the art itself – our formative, taste-defining bedrock cinema – doesn't hold up to ideological scrutiny? Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, the wildly entertaining conceptual exploitation flick from Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw the TV Glow), interrogates the idea of the "problematic fave". The film puts a queer filter on the question of how one goes about reconciling progressive politics with queasily regressive art.
The art in question is the Camp Miasma slasher franchise, a fictional horror property that shares DNA (and assorted spilled body fluids) with the likes of Halloween, Friday the 13th and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. The schlocky but successful original picture, which saw a summer camp full of obnoxious kids extravagantly sliced and impaled by a murderous entity with an air conditioning grille for a head, was subsequently rinsed, with diminishing returns, by the studio
For all its carnage, Camp Miasma feels defiant, almost celebratory
with a series of cash-in, straight-to-video sequels. The film's witty opening credit sequence lays out the ignoble past of a franchise that includes Medieval Miasma, Miasma 3000 and an ill-conceived foray into music with a rap album.
But now, modern-day sensibilities have turned against the Miasma movies. It's not just the misogyny that's the problem, although this flows through the franchise as freely as the gushing, fountaining spurts of blood. The radioactive wrongness of the Camp Miasma series comes from its perceived transphobia. The grille-headed villain, known as "Little Death" (played by I Saw The TV Glow's Jack Haven), was a bullied and murdered bi-gender kid who would switch between male and female identities. All of which makes Camp Miasma a "zombie IP" – an entity essentially worthless to the studio that owns it. And that's where Kris (an engaging turn from Hacks star Hannah Einbinder) comes in.
A Sundance-celebrated indie film-maker whose area of interest, she says, is the "intersection of queerness and cultural depictions of monstrosity". Kris made something of a stir with her previous picture – a remake of Psycho from the perspective of the shower curtain. She's also a die-hard fan of the Camp Miasma series. As such, she's the perfect hire for a cynical studio hoping to queer-wash their currently useless property. The hope is that a combination of fan service and ideological decontamination will win back older audiences and reframe the Miasma movies for a new generation.
As part of her research, Kris secures a meeting with the reclusive star of the first Camp Miasma film. Billy (Gillian Anderson in high-
camp mode, sporting a turban and a molasses-thick southern drawl) retired from acting after her star-making Miasma performance. She now lives in the abandoned summer camp where the original film was shot, and obsessively doodles air conditioner grilles in moments of tension or arousal. What was intended to be a business discussion about the possibility of Billy appearing in the latest sequel soon morphs into something headier, weirder and sexier. Kris can tie herself into intellectual knots trying to analyse the legacy of the Miasma franchise all she wants, but it becomes clear that there's another, more basic level to her fandom. To put it bluntly, she thinks that getting chased and skewered by Little Death might be kind of hot. And Billy is only too happy to help make that fantasy a reality.
Of course, reality is a relative concept. Schoenbrun teasingly confronts us with elements of obvious artifice throughout the film. Several scenes feature obvious matte-painted scenic backdrops. And their homage to the slasher pics of the 1970s and 80s is as much about the second life of these films – the illicit thrill of viewing ropey-quality VHS cassette copies of dubious provenance – as it is about the pictures' original theatrical versions. Admittedly, it all gets rather disorientating and messy in the third act, but a second viewing confirms that this gleefully orchestrated chaos is a feature rather than a bug. There's a new confidence, playfulness and humour here. Compared with the muted, melancholic tone of I Saw the TV Glow, Camp Miasma, for all its carnage, feels defiant, almost celebratory. The meta mayhem of its final 30 minutes is all about subverting trans horror tropes and taking ownership of queer identities in genre cinema. And it's also a sly acknowledgement that guilty pleasures are sometimes the purest pleasures of all.
(103 mins, PG) Directed by Dave Green; starring John Cena, Lana Condor, Will Forte
This is exactly the breath of fresh air – or perhaps the bundle of cartoon dynamite – that family audiences need right now. A giddily inventive blend of madcap Looney Tunes visual humour, underdog courtroom drama and mismatched buddy movie, this gloriously deranged picture is one of the funniest of the year. In his perpetual, futile pursuit of the Road Runner, Wile E Coyote is classed as a "high-usage user" of Acme products, every one of which has malfunctioned catastrophically. Wile E has started to notice a pattern, and approaches human attorney Kevin Avery (Will Forte) to mount a case against the Acme Corporation. Representing Acme is Kevin's law school

nemesis, Buddy Crane (John Cena, looking a bit like a cartoon Easter Island head in a suit).
Coyote vs Acme plays homage to the uneasy human-toon accord of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but also mines the full potential of the Looney
Tunes stable of characters (a scene in which Cena interrogates Tweety Pie the canary is blissfully silly). Remarkably, the film was nearly shelved as a tax write-off by Warner Bros; cartoon anvils should be dropped on everyone behind that plan.
(90 mins, 15) Directed by Adam Shankman; starring Ginger Minj, Jujubee, RuPaul
Airplane!-style disaster movie spoofs are OTT even before you throw RuPaul into the mix. But it turns out that populating a speeding luxury train with drag queens is a recipe for a deliriously flamboyant, if somewhat repetitive, high-camp romp. What keeps the wheels on the track (just about) is the genuinely warm chemistry between stars Ginger Minj and Jujubee, playing train stewardesses Tess and DeeDee. When their bargain basement trainline, Stank Rail, goes out of business, the girls manage to talk their way into jobs on the elite Glamazonian Express. But no sooner have they squeezed into their fabulous vamp-red uniforms than Tess and DeeDee learn that their train is headed directly into a cataclysmic weather event. Meanwhile, the president (RuPaul) is bored and has one immaculately manicured nail poised over the nuclear button.
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In The Castle, Jon Ronson seeks out men who have seemingly pulled up the drawbridge on reality, from a delusional Connecticut 'lord' to gender-critical obsessive Graham Linehan. By Megan Nolan
Viking, £20, pp320
Between 2004 and 2007, Jon Ronson – known primarily for quasi-gonzo nonfiction books such as Them: Adventures With Extremists, The Men Who Stare at Goats and So You've Been Publicly Shamed – wrote a gently comedic column every Saturday for the Guardian about domestic life with his wife, Elaine, and their son, Joel. There is one column in particular, later included in his anthology Out of the Ordinary, about Ronson overhearing a neighbour mockingly imitate the way he calls for his cat, which still strikes me as unbearably funny despite its practically nonexistent content:
Before we go to bed, my wife and I shout for our cat in a cheerfully high-pitched and carefree fashion. I've always assumed the neighbours, if they happened to overhear, would find it enchanting. What could be lovelier than the faraway call of someone summoning their cat? But tonight something disturbing happens.
'Monty!' I shout, pleasantly.
'Monty!' someone apes, mockingly, in the darkness nearby.
Shaken, he calls out again, this time making his voice deeper and more masculine. I mention the Monty column because it helps explain what I love about Ronson's writing and sensibility, which is the way he sends up the tiny moments in which our ideas about ourselves and reality are brought into conflict.
Often, these moments have to do with maleness, perhaps because the absurd poses of masculinity are so vulnerable to comedic puncture. I think, for example, of the aside in one of Karl Ove Knausgård's My Struggle novels in which he is unable to bring himself to utilise the wheels of a wheelie suitcase, instead uncomfortably lifting it above the
noisy pavement stones so as not to disgrace himself with something as feminine as convenience in public. Such displays make me feel fond and indulgent of men instead of frightened of, or angry, with them. It makes me think you poor little fellows, is that what you're really feeling all the time?
Many of the very odd characters Ronson has documented have been men who desire or assume positions – whether an Islamic fundamentalist or an army Colonel – which seem inextricably linked to their ideas of maleness. Now, we have in Ronson's new book, The Castle, a far deeper investigation of masculinity and its fallibilities. He is looking at the stories of men who find themselves somehow displaced: left reeling, they are doing exceptionally strange things in response.
There has already been plenty written on 'What's Gone Wrong for Men', about the lost generation of boys underachieving in school, supposedly abused by a flippant misandrist culture, turning to nasty, nihilistic iterations of masculinity a la Andrew Tate. But Ronson is not grappling with the manosphere (luckily, as I don't think that I can read another word about it as long as I live). Instead, The Castle contains a series of riveting portraits of very different men who, he believes, are unravelling because of the same condition: acute purposelessness caused by a rapidly changing society.
The castle of the book's title belongs to Chris Mark, a wealthy eccentric who built a $35m gothic home – with moat, lake and towers – in an otherwise ordinary semi-suburban road in Woodstock, Connecticut. Mark is the descendant of the steel tycoon Clayton Mark, and has up to the point of this book's publication been known mostly for the existence of the bizarre castle, and the TikTok videos he and his daughter film there. There has been admiring speculation about the parties hosted at Mark's property, but also darker rumours to do with the acquisition and subsequent

neglect of exotic animals, and broader unease about Mark himself. Ronson, however, is the first writer to convey the true scope of Mark's strangeness, which is more concretely sinister than rumours of eccentricity would suggest.
Ronson learns of Mark's castle after receiving alarming texts from his son Joel, now in his mid-20s, and living, like Ronson, in New York. Joel and some friends had been invited to a party at the castle. On arrival they find there is no party, and there is instead an unsettling situation in which Mark, a man in his 60s, is casting for a reality TV show he calls 101 Princesses. Asked by Joel what the concept is, he replies: 'I'm the lord. I'm looking for my queen
Chris Mark is a useless heir with an exotic animal collection and dreams of a harem
and I've got one hundred and one princesses to choose from.' He finds the young women he invites to these gatherings on dating apps.
After Ronson begins investigating Mark, upset and intrigued by the unusual situation his son had been drawn into, he finds that this is only the tip of the iceberg. Mark, it seems, yearns to be the new Hugh Hefner – at what, as Ronson points out, must be the worst time in human history for such an aspiration.
Mark is the figure holding the book's various narratives together, and he is in some ways the most striking of the lot owing to the dazzle of his money. I found him, though, the least compelling of the men Ronson investigates. A useless heir with an exotic animal collection and dreams of a harem – such a figure feels like a semi-permanent feature of society rather than indicative of any special contemporary condition.
More contemporary, and more interesting, is Greg Chism, a single father down on his luck after facing catastrophic medical bills for heart
surgery. Chism was on YouTube in the platform's early days when everyone, including tech bros, were still working out what the algorithm demanded and rewarded. In the 2010s he began making videos about lawn care, gathering a modest following, but once he began posting content involving his young daughters – playing, opening gifts, messing around with food – he was suddenly famous, and raking it in. For a while, life was great. Then the algorithm needed to be jolted with increasingly extreme videos. He and his children began doing things which were ... not untoward, exactly, but definitely weird. The three of them, adult dad included, acted like babies, spitting food at each other.
The internet turned on Chism, accusing him of paedophilia and all sorts of terrible things he was innocent of. Child protective services were sent to his home, traumatising his daughters and him. His channel was terminated by YouTube in 2017. Chism became a shut-in, and sorely regrets his celebrity even though it made him and his children rich.
The Millionaire Waltz Stephanie Merritt enjoys Anthony Quinn's proper to Curtain Call, set during the Roaring Twenties
Read all about it Tim Adams reviews Hot Type, a history of the Innotype printer and how it transformed news coverage
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
25
Valeria Luiselli The author on whalesong, US-Mexico borderlands, and her latest book, Beginning Middle End
Despite the false claims of paranoid online communities, one can see why people were upset by Chism's videos. He pushed the gross-out tone and aesthetic of children's content too far, compelled to create increasingly outrageous material to keep viewers captive.
Although what Chism posted was not pornographic or illegal, the escalating extremity echoed pornography's playbook, and the involvement of children made it disturbing and intolerable. From Chism's point of view, he was only feeding the ravenous and unforgiving algorithm – doing what executives at YouTube were telling him to do; the same execs who would stop taking his call when the worm turned. Chism seems like a genuinely decent, thoughtful man, and a good, loving father. And yet the inhuman decisions of the algorithm made him into something different.
Ronson's account of Graham Linehan is another harrowing tale of a man's life ruined by the internet. Linehan was a beloved comedy writer, co-creator of Father To!, and a prolific presence on Twitter, where he was well liked and respected. Then, in 2013, something began to shift, when an episode of his sitcom The IT Crowd, first broadcast in 2008, was repeated. In it, a man discovers his girlfriend is transgender and a brawl breaks out between the two. Viewers did not like the display of violence nor the supposed implication that the trans woman was "really" a man, underlying maleness bursting forth uncontrollably once she is angry.
Linehan responded to criticism with polite bafflement, then defensiveness, and finally overt anger. He began to research transgender issues and developed a singular obsession with the topic, which has since gone on to comprehensively destroy his career and personal life. Linehan, who believes trans activism and indeed ordinary trans existence pose an existential threat to women, talks of little else (except, these days, a fervent pro-Israel stance). He tweets near-constantly, cloaking his obsession with supposed concern for the wellbeing of cisgender women, but he does not balk at aggressively insulting those women who disagree with him.
Linehan's self-ignited ruin stopped being satisfying for even his opponents to watch a while back, and now is only profoundly depressing. Ronson was once a good friend, but in refusing to endorse Linehan's beliefs about transgender issues, he was added to his long list of his enemies. In The Castle, Ronson speaks to him directly, having been attacked countless times on Linehan's social media feed. One thing that becomes clear, beyond the truly abject state of Linehan's wellbeing, is that he is able to persevere with his campaign because he has convinced himself he is
battling the greatest danger currently at play in the world. At one point he suggests that there are so many fewer serial killers nowadays because all the sociopaths have migrated to the internet in order to argue with him about trans issues instead. It reminded me of religious protesters screaming at me in Dublin once, as I walked into a reproductive-rights clinic that provided information about abortion. I was furious, but then forced myself to think about how I would feel or act if I truly, earnestly believed that every abortion is equivalent to the murder of a child. That might, indeed, drive me mad.
The Linehan chapter is brilliant: insightful, candid and moving. I'm still not convinced that any broader crisis of masculinity or male purpose had much to do with Linehan's downfall, though. He wasn't at a loss or empty of purpose when he began his campaign. He didn't turn to vitriol because he didn't have anything else to do. His case is, if anything, notable for involving a man with an enviable life and abundant success throwing it away for reasons that to many in the outside world may seem obscure or deranged.
The princess reality show that Ronson's son stumbles upon at the book's beginning turns out to be just one of many half-baked, expensive ideas that Chris Mark fails to bring to fruition, most of them hooked in some way to the idea of luxury courtesanship. A long-suffering adviser has to beg him not to buy a $2.9m dollar ship that he plans to turn into what Ronson calls a "brothel at sea". His eccentricity and exuberance seem to mask the darker aspects of his behaviour, until, towards the book's end, he is arrested in Argentina for injuring his 24-year-old girlfriend and allegedly sexually assaulting her a week earlier back in the US. The Argentinian charges were dropped after the judiciary ruled that Mark suffered from a psychiatric condition that prevented him from knowing right from wrong. US investigations into his activities remains open, though no charges have been brought.
It will be up to the reader to decide whether the various narratives in The Castle coalesce convincingly to support the notion that we live in a "a world of unravelling men". For me, they don't, simply because each case is so idiosyncratic. But it doesn't matter: this is an unmissable piece of work. It speaks highly of a book's page-by-page value when I haven't even got room to discuss Ronson's encounter with disgraced cannibal-fetish movie star Armie Hammer.
Ronson's nose for squirreling out a strange, compelling fellow is unparalleled, but his careful consideration of them is an even bigger gift. Rare indeed to find a real reporter who is also a real thinker. And the bastard's funny, too.
Order a copy from observershop.co.uk for £17 (15% off RRP)
This dreamlike work of autofiction completes Finnish author Pirkko Saisio's trilogy, exploring her sexual coming of age in 1970s Helsinki

The Red Book of Farewells Pirkko Saisio, translated by Mia Spangenberg Penguin Classics £14.99, pp320
In early 1970s Helsinki, a heartbroken drama student called Pirkko Saisio tries to compose a song. She writes that her lover is lost, then scolds herself for exaggerating. "But on the other hand," she thinks, "this is a song. You can, and in fact you're expected to, exaggerate things in a song. You can't make a song out of your own life, just as it is. Or can you?"
That question might be the kernel of the Helsinki Trilogy that The Red Book of Farewells completes: three books that are effectively a song of Saisio's own life. Published between 1998 and 2003 in Finland, where Saisio is considered a leading literary figure, the books stick closely to the facts of her life but are autofiction rather than memoir. Why? Well, Saisio considers autofiction a freer form that excuses the author from trying to make herself likeable. It also lets her do things entirely her own way. Admitting that she has taken a line of dialogue spoken by one partner and given it to another, she writes: "I'm invoking my privilege as an author to put this sentence into the mouth of the person and in the situation where I think it best fits."
The first book in the trilogy, Lowest Common Denominator, focused on Pirkko's childhood – she was raised in an atheist, communist, working-class household – and her relationship with her father (I'll use Pirkko to refer to the character, and Saisio when I mean the author). Although she is a long way from realising she is queer, she recognises a tension within herself: she wants to be both her pretty, feminine cousin, Helena, and "to be a boy".
The second book, Backlight, described her teenage years and her sexual awakening. In The Red Book of Farewells, she is a young woman entering the world of theatre and embarking on her first covert relationships with women in a country where homosexuality is still a
criminal offence.
In my naivety, I thought a radical socialist theatre school in 1970s Helsinki would be a progressive environment, but a teachers' tribunal insists that Pirkko separate from her girlfriend. "Those two paw each other in my class," one teacher says. "Even though they're both women, girls." Unfortunately, she isn't the only one pawing at Havva, who utters the last words any lover wants to hear from the object of their obsession: "I have my own life. You have to understand that."
Each instalment of the trilogy has contained a revelation relating to Pirkko's development as a writer. In The Red Book of Farewells, which finds her creativity divided between writing and acting, the impasse is decided when she becomes obsessed with the creation of a character. "God," she tells Havva, "she's such a horrible person but I'm so into this."
It took me a while before I could say the same. This is a dreamlike, fragmentary novel that meanders for a hundred pages before delivering anything that might be considered a genuine dramatic sequence. The manuscript feels as if it's in the stage before a final edit, which sounds like a criticism but I mean it as praise; there's a nimble and fluid quality to the prose that makes the book deeply pleasurable to read. Plaudits are due here to the translator, Mia Spangenberg.
In Lowest Common Denominator, Pirkko writes that "everything that exists in the world is waiting for me to capture it in books". In interviews about the trilogy, Saisio has provided a how-to guide to writing autofiction: read a lot of Marguerite Duras (never a waste of one's time); drink wine to overcome self-doubt; and write at night. A potentially ruinous method, but after sticking to it "for about 10 years", she told one interviewer, "I was able to access my subconsciousness when I was sober. Since then, I no longer need wine to write."
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'Ronson's nose for squirreling out a strange, compelling fellow is unparalleled.' Jesse Dittmar/Redox/eynline
26 observer.co.uk 23.08.26
Books
A polemical, mischievous new essay collection considers the cost and value of writing in the 21st century. By Imogen West-Knights
Too Little, Too Hard Edited by Lucy Mercer and Livia Franchini Peninsula Press, £14.99, pp224
Every writer in the UK, bar those sitting on extraordinary inherited wealth or the few who land a huge book advance, knows that making ends meet is hard. Gone are the days – if such days ever really existed – when activities such as writing books, or freelance articles for magazines, or more or less any other kind of creative writing could sustain a person financially. Yet this fact is rarely discussed by writers – in private, yes, but not in public. Not when asked about their work at a talk, or in an interview, or if they are lucky enough, in an awards speech. There is a pervading sense that it is somehow grubby, dull, or cheapening of the art they've produced to reduce it to something as tawdry as an hourly rate. Or even that because writing is such a lauded and sought-after profession, talking about the difficulties in paying the bills might seem in some way ungrateful.
This is the context in which Lucy Mercer and Livia Franchini present a collection of essays, Too Little, Too
Hard, which features contributions from 16 other writers of fiction and poetry. Their specific aim, as they write in the introduction, is to "create a space" for writers to talk about how they work, when they work, the other work that keeps them afloat while doing that work, and the larger commercial and economic factors that get in the way. It has, of course, always been tricky to earn decent money as a freelance writer. There is no clear career trajectory, no monthly pay slip or annual appraisal. But these essays outline the current state of affairs, and the complex set of factors that come into play before a completed title winds up on a bookshop table. To name a few: savage cuts to public arts funding; publishers' reluctance to take a chance on experimental or "difficult" books; and the gutting of universities, once a reliable refuge for writers who could make a living alongside their craft by teaching, where jobs are now few and more geared towards marketable, measurable outcomes rather than the development of the mind. Meanwhile, Substack seems to offer writers a way out of reliance on crumbling legacy media institutions, but in fact often silos

It has always been tricky to earn decent money as a writer: there is no clear career trajectory, no monthly pay slip or annual appraisal
them and asks them to buy into a romance of precarity, according to Andy Perluzzo and Sarah Brouillette's entry Substack and the Struggling Writer.
This collection takes seriously the plainly true yet still somehow controversial idea that for professional writers, writing is work – sometimes fun work, often engaging and rewarding work, but work all the same. "Many writers do not wish to categorise writing as work," Mercer and Franchini write, but the editors think it's useful to call it that, "not just because it helps
Anthony Quinn's 1920s-set prequel to Curtain Call stalks high and low society in the shadow of war. By Stephanie Merritt
The Millionaire Waltz Anthony Quinn Abacus, £22, pp416
Anthony Quinn's 2015 theatrical whodunnit, Curtain Call, was a stylish pastiche of 1930s detective fiction that enjoyed playing with the genre's conventions and tapped into a revival of popularity for Agatha Christie – the first of Sarah Phelps's BBC adaptations was broadcast the same year, and Sophie Hannah's first Poirot continuation, The Monogram Murders, came out a year earlier. Curtain Call was later adapted for film as The Critic, a version that foregrounded Quinn's magnificently vitriolic theatre critic Jimmy Erskine, played by Ian McKellen. Now, 11 years on, Quinn
has written a prequel that lights some of these familiar characters from a different angle, and introduces memorable new ones.
The Millionaire Waltz is not a murder mystery, though it too features a subplot set in London's demimonde of illegal gay cruising, blackmail and undercover sting operations. It begins in 1924, 12 years before the events of Curtain Call; rather than Christie, the novel more closely resembles – in theme, if not style – Virginia Woolf's Night and Day, in which a spirited and intelligent young woman of good family must choose between suitors representing duty and desire.
The main plot centres on Edie Greenlaw, a 27-year-old society girl and part-time actress, whose
experience driving ambulances in the Great War has kindled in her the desire for a life more fulfilling than marriage and motherhood. Her fiance, David Benton-Launer, is tolerant of her desire to establish her career, up to a point, while also conscious of his obligation to provide an heir to the family estate. But neither Edie's career nor her love life are progressing smoothly; she supplements the lack of stage roles by modelling in a department store, to the horror of her formidable future mother-in-law (there is a delicious scene in which Edie bravely faces down Mrs Benton-Launer's remonstrations in the manner of Elizabeth Bennet confronting Lady Catherine de Bourgh). More troublingly, she falls in love with David's penniless cousin Chris, who has already disgraced the family by being divorced.
Admirers of Curtain Call will be thrilled to find themselves once
Chosen by Enda O'Doherty
The Mandarins by Simone de Beauvoir (1954) De Beauvoir's roman à clef, winner of
France's most prestigious literary award, the Goncourt, tells the story of the interconnected lives, loves and political projects of three leftwing intellectuals: Henri Perron, Robert Dubreuil and his wife, Anne (clearly representing Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre and De Beauvoir herself). Perron is trying to keep afloat a leftwing newspaper, while Dubreuil has launched a new party. All are desperately trying to create a socialism that is vigorous and serious but not totalitarian, a project that still engages many French intellectuals today.
Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik (2000) It is by no means hard to fall in love with France, this memoir
suggests, but it will have to be done on France's terms. Gopnik, a writer for the New Yorker, arrived in Paris with his family in 1995 and stayed for five years. He writes about the national food, the fashion, the everyday beauty, but most hilariously about the ingrained bureaucracy of a state where a notice telling you to keep off the grass can run to 200 words. "Deregulation" in France, we might conclude, is an impossible dream.
A Certain Idea of France: The Life of Charles de Gaulle by Julian Jackson (2018) Jackson's
engaging study has achieved the rare distinction for an Anglo-Saxon writer of being hailed as a masterpiece even in France. De Gaulle, a natural conservative renowned for his intelligence, judgment and "tactical suppresses", came to power by hoodwinking the colonialist ultras and extracting France from Africa. He went on to build broad support, co-opting leftwing figures into his governments. In his biography, Jackson illustrates what the deeply rooted concepts of left and right mean in practical terms in France.
The Dark Side of France by Enda O'Doherty is published by Apollo

us pay closer attention to the time, space and resources that writing needs, but because writing is also reliant on other forms of work".
Alternative work forms a large part of the subject of the essays here – how it both feeds the writing and eats from its plate. In her piece Cheap Lit, Claudia Durastanti writes about her translation work that sits alongside her work as a novelist: "I'm close to admitting here that the financially reliable job of translation – which I deeply love and would not give up because of the enjoyment it brings me ... is using up more
and more of the energy I should be conveying towards the Good work of being a fiction writer." Elsewhere the novelist, bookseller and publisher Samuel Fisher interviews Omar Robert Hamilton, the co-founder and director of the Palestine Festival of Literature, about how he balances writing with activism, which for him are both ways of addressing the same injustices. His answer reveals an anxiety many writers have to face down sternly: that even if they can justify it financially, what they are doing is somehow frivolous – "that art is slightly self-serving maybe, or
The editors' aim is to 'create a space' for writers to talk about how they work. Ben Smith/Millennium Images
self-aggrandising", he says. A collection like this, charting the bleak economic realities behind works of literature to which we often turn in order to escape things such as bleak economic realities, could have been a slog. There is polemic here, but there is also plenty of mischief and creative delight. Take Holly Pester's essay, which asks what role dreaming might have in a creative practice, or Amber Husain's wry piece Prescription, written from the perspective of an illness narrative itself, being told by an editor how it ought to behave in order to maximise the effect on its author's career: "This did not go down well with my author who withered at the mercenary language of 'engagement'. She felt very keenly, when selling her stories, the importance of hating sales."
The reality of writing looks set to get harder still: writers are gloomily eyeing government proposals for self-employed people to pay tax monthly rather than annually, a further kick in the teeth for artists who might earn nothing for weeks on end while waiting for an invoice to be paid. But the merits of the pieces here, and the diversity of them, leave one feeling energised by good writing, rather than merely depressed by the increasing pressures under which it is done. Too Little, Too Hard is a valuable but also, crucially, enjoyable dissection of the dialogue about how writing gets done, and who gets to do it.

'This is a world of champagne coupes, flapper dresses and soirees.' Sasha/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
again in the company of Jimmy Erskine (heavily based on the critic and diarist James Agate), who dominates every social gathering and whose camp witticisms make up some of the best lines in the book (reminded of a disappointing Antony and Cleopatra, he says: "A very trying night. I have never been so pleased to see an asp."). The novel also introduces Nina Land, the heroine of Curtain Call, as a shy 20-year-old taken under Edie's wing.
Quinn has a lovely light touch with period dialogue and detail: this is a world of champagne coupes, flapper dresses and soirees where Ivor Novello drops by for a quick rendition of Keep the Home Fires Burning. But there is a darker element running beneath the sparkling surface. Where Curtain Call was set on the cusp of the Second World War, here the long shadow of the first is never far away. Most of the young men have
seen action and lost friends; on one occasion, Edie is confronted in the street by an ex-soldier with a burned face begging for money, like a ghost of the collective horror that the Roaring Twenties are trying to forget. "It was as if everyone had suddenly decided not to mention it."
The best historical novels reflect our own age back to us without drawing attention to the fact, and in Quinn's depiction of a society busily burying its recent collective trauma, the precarious position of minorities and the vast discrepancy between those at the top and bottom of society, it's possible to glimpse sentiments that feel thoroughly modern. The Millionaire Waltz is a glittering addition to Quinn's body of work, and an entertaining companion to Curtain Call, whichever way around you choose to read them.
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Books
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
27

Michael Pedersen
just a spider in the urinal riding the surf just my friend's crappy poster of the three breasted alien sex worker in the movie total recall just the tragic fact some oysters are ultimately unshuckable just blackberries ripening insuperable in their potential for good just to walk past someone wearing wonder really effing jeffing well just a glisk of life beneath the ice just the prinkling of time so as no-one's to blame just a diorama of a winter wonderland in the heptonstall post office window in july just beyond the bathos the blossom pressed to perfume just a bubble beard glooping onto another open page just a smile rescued from the fire of a face
Michael Pedersen is a Scottish poet, novelist and the Edinburgh Malvar (poet laureate). His books include Muckle Flagg (Faber) and The Cat Prince & Other Poems (Little, Brown)
Illustration by Chris Riddell
28
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
Books
Journalist Jeff Jarvis offers an engaging, witty account of the invention of the linotype machine, which dominated news production for a century. By Tim Adams
Hot Type: The Magnificent Machine that Gave Birth to Mass Media and Drove Mark Twain Mad Jeff Jarvis Bloomsbury, £17.99, pp480
Jeff Jarvis, 72, is of an age to just about remember how newspapers used to be made. When he started at the Chicago Tribune more than 50 years ago, the paper was on the cusp of that revolution from hot metal processes to digital ones. Prototype computers "resembling kitchen appliances from The Jetsons" had been installed at the desks of chain-smoking journalists, but they were not switched on; hacks viewed them "like alarmed apes circling the obelisk in 2001: A Space Odyssey". As a "rewrite" man whose job was to assemble information from reporters and other sources, Jarvis was then still in the old, clattering world of manual typewriters and
carbon paper. He was writing the news in the structure demanded by the printing process: a "lede" containing all the important who-what-whys; a "nut graf" summarising the story's importance in a nutshell; and then, finally, "colour" paragraphs and quotes. As Jarvis typed each part of each story, he would shout: "Copy!" and a clerk would distribute different pages to editors, who would blue-pencil corrections and then dispatch the pages down a pneumatic tube, where compositors would remake them in molten metal for the printed page. The important information came at the top of the story because, in the composing room, the last few paragraphs might simply be lopped off as the news - measured in copy inches - changed hour by hour.
The machine that created that nightly miracle in cities and towns across the world had been mostly unchanged for a century. It was a linotype printer, developed between 1883 and 1885 by a young German, Ottmar Mergenthaler, who, as Jarvis argues in this compulsive history of that mighty invention, deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as his compatriot Johannes Gutenberg, creator of movable type. Mergenthaler solved a problem that had limited printing for 500 years: how do you set not just

'Mergenthaler's machine made typesetting multiple times faster.' Corbis/Getty Images
Mergenthaler deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Gutenberg, creator of movable type
individual characters for printing, but whole lines at a time? He developed a keyboard linked to a system of moulds that assembled letter forms spaced as if by eye in a line. Each one would be cast as a single piece, a "slug", from molten metal, within the same machine. It was like a mass-media combine harvester. Mergenthaler's machine made typesetting - and therefore newspaper production - multiple times faster. It created our "Read all about it" world of 24-hour news.
At the Tribune, and then the San Francisco Examiner, Jarvis witnessed the last knockings of that engine of news and was among the first to adopt the technologies that replaced linotype production. Initially, that was via IBM Selectrics and scanners. Then, in 1984, the first generation Apple Macs arrived, which promised editors what they had always desired: the ability to see on their screens exactly what readers would see in print (or WYSIWYG - what you see is what you get). This changed the way journalists wrote; no longer did all the interest of an article have to be crammed into its first paragraphs (though many hacks still cling to that principle). And it changed for ever the old job demarcations; everyone was now a typesetter - hence Rupert Murdoch's brutal war with the print unions at Wapping.
Jarvis became something of an evangelist for media evolution. I first came across him a couple of decades ago when he was a cheery prophet of doom for print media and author of the influential blog BuzzMachine about media tech, informing glum newsrooms that they were about to be engulfed by social media. He makes, therefore, a deeply engaged and engaging guide to this earlier transformation, finding telling parallels in it with newspapers' continuing struggles to make news pay.
Like all revolutionary inventions, Mergenthaler's linotype machine did not emerge from the ether. Several rival inventors were seeking the same grail of automated typesetting, just as rival AI platforms now seek to be the monopolists in a crowded market. A leading competitor was the Paige Compositor, the brainchild of one James W Paige, who was supported in his efforts by Mark Twain, who bankrupted himself in the process.
Twain's belief in the compositor ("This type-setter does not get drunk. He does not join the Printers' Union ... A woman can operate him") saw him plough vast sums into Paige's operation. Jarvis writes of him investing "three and four thousand dollars at a time and sometimes more, adding up to almost $200,000 - nearly $7m today", until the pair of them finally admitted their machine had been eclipsed by the German's. Jarvis tells this story in all its car-crash detail. As the Washington Post observed at the time: "One good way to locate an unsafe investment is to find out whether Mark Twain has been permitted to get in on the ground floor."
There are, no doubt, lessons for today's venture capitalists in that sorry - and in Jarvis's telling, quite amusing - history. Just as there are interesting implications for the latest wave of entrepreneurs who believe they know the future of news. Marshall McLuhan, author of the idea that the medium is the message, argued that replacing artisan typesetters with linotype machines allowed print to mimic human consciousness, by telling multiple stories at speed, all at once, thereby "mechanising" our perception of the world. From that moment, there was, as Jarvis shows, no going back.
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Re: Vitsoe: Following your order
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Hey Antoine!
Thanks for following up!
I'm loving the system. It's been a dream of mine for some time to own this shelving system and it has not disappointed! Installation was super easy, and I'm blown away at the weight each shelf can hold. I love that parts will always be available to expand and reconfigure as needed and I'm looking forward to growing the system alongside my own collections.
Thank you again for all your help, you made the design and order process a breeze!
Thanks to all the great information available on the Vitsoe website and your input, the finished result looks exactly how I hoped it would!
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Books
observer.co.uk^{}[] 23.08.26
29
The Mexican-born novelist on borderlands, the summer hits of humpback whales, and how her teenage daughter helped write her new novel. By Ellen Peirson-Hagger
Valeria Luiselli, 43, is an author who lives in New York. Born in Mexico City, she wrote her first four books, including novels and essay collections, in Spanish. Her fifth work, the multi award-winning novel Lost Children Archive, was the first she wrote in English. Her latest novel, Beginning Middle End, follows a Mexican writer living in the US who, after a divorce, travels to Sicily with her daughter during a summer of volcanic eruptions.
Beginning Middle End contains echoes of Lost Children Archive. Do you see it as a follow-up?
There is a false symmetry between the two books. The narrator in the first is a sound documentarist, and here she's a writer. There's a divorce story [in both], and stephrothers. But it's a parallel universe, not a sequel. The project that did grow out of Lost Children Archive is a sonic essay called Echoes from the Borderlands.
What did that entail?
Before Lost Children Archive, I didn't know anything about soundscapes, and then I became interested in the praxis of it. I got together with two sound engineers and we've been recording the US-Mexico borderlands for five years, working on a 24-hour sonic essay of the region. Previously I'd never learned how to listen to wind, underwater currents or volcanoes. The process of recording allowed me to enter a space of attention to the natural world that is the substance of Beginning Middle End.
What do the US-Mexico borderlands sound like?
We were envisioning much more violence, encounters with border patrol, migrant crossings. There's all of that, of course, but it is mostly vast expanses of desert and forest. The piece begins underwater in the Pacific Ocean with the sound of humpback whales migrating. We were lucky because we got to record them in 2021, which was still Covid years, so there were no cruise ships and very few boats. The whales had the most complex song they had had in decades because they could hear each other. They all sing the same song, but every year it's different. It's like their summer hit.

Valeria Luiselli photographed by Maria Spann for The Observer.
Where did Beginning Middle End begin?
With a question that my then 10-year-old daughter had asked me during a period of childhood insomnia and anxiety, where I would read Greek myths out loud to her at night to try to get her to sleep. One night she said: 'Ma, why in all these creation myths are things always torn asunder?' The novel started with an exploration of that question that I had never myself pondered before.
Tell me about Proteus, the shape-shifting sea god.
Proteus was not a figure that I contemplated in the early and even middle stages of [writing] the novel. But every time I opened a book to look for some observation on volcanoes or about ways to think about water: boom, there he would appear. Alice Oswald's Dart, one of
my favourite books, ends with the image of Proteus. He reappeared in Ovid, and then in John Steinbeck's The Log from the Sea of Cortez. I like the figure of Proteus so much more than almost every other god in the Greco-Roman pantheon, because he is oracular in a way we don't usually think about. Usually, one thinks of an oracle as a future-looking device. But he can see into the future, the present and the past. That understanding of oracle as having a total clarity over the art of time, and not just as in divination, I found much more interesting.
'Succumbing to the temptation of catastrophic thinking is dangerous as it may let us off the hook'
Migration is a central theme of the book: the writer's grandmother migrated from Italy to Mexico, and the daughter notices recent refugees to Sicily. What interests you about these cycles of migration?
There is a lot of historical amnesia with respect to the cycles of violence that the world goes through that force people out of their homes again and again. There is also a historical amnesia about the responsibility that so-called first world nations have with respect to nations that they have plundered, so this novel deals with that amnesia.
How does Sicily fit in?
The novel draws a cartography where the routes taken by ships that brought stones plundered from mountains in northern Africa and the Levant region are the same as the routes that ships that bring migrants to Lampedusa and southern Sicily take today. I've been obsessed with borders all my life. This novel centres Sicily as the great borderland: it is the border of borders in the European/African/Middle Eastern portion of our planet. But it's also where the tectonic plate of Africa meets with the tectonic plate of Europe.
Beyond the symbolic value, there's a very real consequence, which is the volcanic activity in the area that creates a sense of the beginning of the world – this bubbling, primal space where things are being made. But it also reminds us that the end of the world is right there too.
To what extent did you want to write a climate emergency novel?
Succumbing to the temptation of catastrophic thinking is dangerous because it may let us off the hook. If there is no hope, what are we compelled to do? It is a political position not to succumb to catastrophic thinking.
How did you find the right voice for the 12-year-old daughter?
It took me about six years to write [the novel], and three years in, my daughter started getting nervous. She would ask me: 'Are you ever gonna finish that novel of yours? My father has already finished two novels, and you're still writing this one.' She knew how to get me! Later, it became a practice for us to read bits out loud together. She'd say: 'No, I wouldn't have said that when I was 12.' We writer-roomed it.
Did you offer her a collaborator credit? I did. She gave it some thought, then a few days later, she came back and said: 'I don't think so because what if you get bad reviews? I don't think I'm mature enough to deal with that.'
Beginning Middle End is published by Fourth Estate (£18.99). Order a copy from observershop.co.uk for £17.19 (10% off RRP)
30
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23.08.26

This week's question:
Name the poet in the picture (above) Answer next Sunday.

Last week's detail came from The Crocodile by the British artist Tirzah Garwood (1908-51). Garwood was only 21 when she made this eagle-eyed woodcut of 10 schoolgirls marching in line around a bend. Each has her individual force of personality, from the smiler distracted by the black terrier, to the blusher in her ribboned plaits, eagerly sucking up to the form leader at the front. Garwood was known almost exclusively as the wife of Eric Ravilious until a belated retrospective two years ago. Now her spry, incisive and original paintings and prints have the true popularity they deserve as models of humorous English art.

Each week we show three stills. Guess the films in question and the actress who connects them. (Bonus point if you can put them in chronological order.)



Set by Killian Fox
Answers on page 31
1 Where I see my Reds playing? (10) 6 Man-eater correspondingly retires (4) 9 Unedified attitude of our gross primate on board (4,6) 10 Item that sounds like prune - or another fruit (4) 11 Occasion celebrating pork mince - yet again? (9,3) 15 Kiss in cemetery, naked, dancing; it's a bit much (7) 16 Flipping interminable, the writer wearies Scotsman somewhere in Kenya (7) 17 Butcher, vilified, hides leaves (7) 19 Highway robber's sturdy as well as round right! (7) 20 Or is my story a shambles, sadly? (2,5,2,3) 23 Like shoelaces needing extra time (4) 24 Fresh start; military dummies behind schedule (5,5) 25 Spoil a list of duties (4) 26 Britain restrained by unwise reticency regarding futuristic tech (10)
1 Work together well, as Everyman quiet (4) 2 Piglet's friend, we hear, is basis for various sauces (4) 3 Beer, average (but free): I'm keen (5,6) 4 Output of lawmaker investing time in public art (7) 5 Compadres denied bottles somewhere on the Elbe (7) 7 Sum that gives you a G? (5,5)

8 Archaeopteryx etc: their diet includes worms (5,5) 12 First mistake: milling grain in silo (8,3) 13 Predictor's remiss: that tells you something (10) 14 Emphasise cricket match is trial demanding endurance (6,4) 18 Monarch and family switching sides to gain allegiance (7) 19 Helpful youngster baked something that's chewy (7) 21 Yes, Russian getting UK newspaper is ridiculous (4) 22 Moneyed European's resplendent carrier, primarily? (4)
Name
Address
Soleers are able to enter our crossword competitions online at: www.observer.co.uk/puzzles or via email to: competitions@observer.co.uk Paperless entry encouraged; postal entries will still be accepted.
Five randomly selected correct solutions will each win a £15 book token.
To enter the Everyman prize draw, submit a correct solution either online or by post to: Everyman No. 4,166, The Observer, 22 Berners Street, London W17 3LP
Email entries must include the crossword name and number in the subject line as it appears in print (e.g. "Everyman No. 4,166"). Entries without the correct subject will not be accepted. UK residents 15+ only. Max one entry per person. Closing date is Saturday following publication for online entries, postal entries must be postmarked no later than the Saturday following publication and must reach us within ten days of publication of the puzzle (i.e. by Wednesday week following publication). Winners announced Sunday two weeks after publication.
For full T&Cs visit:
https://observer.co.uk/puzzles/everyman/article/crossword-prize-draws
| 3 | 1 | 7 | 5 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | 8 | 6 | |||||
| 4 | 3 | 6 | ||||||
| 8 | 6 | 5 | 9 | |||||
| 5 | 4 | 7 | 8 | |||||
| 7 | 4 | |||||||
| 2 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 3 | |||
| 1 |
Fill in the blank cells using the numbers 1 to 9.
Each number must appear just once in every row, column and 3x3 box.
Everyman No. 4,164
Clive Lyons, Summerbridge, North Yorkshire
Richard McCormick, Chorley, Lancashire
Joan Mossop, Carlisle, Cambria
Benjamin R Waterhouse, Middleton St George, Co. Durham Jeffrey Woodham, Cowbit, Lincolnshire


Beyond the print edition: scan to subscribe to The Puzzle Edit – exclusive columns, setter insights and a weekly clue breakdown from puzzles editor Caitlin O'Kane
SUDOKU SOLUTION page 32

OBLIKS SOLUTIONS


MINDSET SOLUTIONS

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23.08.26
31
Lower case
Underlined


Special Mentions - Ever since buying their greatest hits as a teenager, I have been a huge fan of the Beatles. They broke up 15 years before I was born, but to my mind no one else comes close to rivaling their impact on popular music. Here, every clue contains the title of at least one Beatles song or album. Yeah yeah yeah!
Name
Address
Post code
1 Creating Across the Universe and Because before second vinyl? (12) 10 Detect A Taste of Honey when covered by neighbour in Suffolk (5) 12 Vow to delay Love Me Do (6) 13 Perhaps Bad Boy, It's All Too Much in concerning Lane (6) 14 Get Back lost by former convict (6) 16 Ultimately, She Loves You came without note to follow (5) 17 Penny Lane is to upset cat (9) 19 Judo stripped of intro and outro - both involved something fishy (7) 20 Scream odd What Goes On bar we sang badly (4) 21 Is Getting Better scrapping opening fragments? (4) 23 Japanese art reworked Anna (Go to Him), ignoring split atom (7) 25 From this place in East London, around flashy department, prepared to release Rain? (9) 27 Help! Not a Second Time for Native American (5) 28 Organic, essential For You Blue regularly containing unknown error (6) 30 Let It Be turned into acceptable single (6) 32 Chapters about earlier Toomon by extremely loose band (6) 33 Share record in advance, recalled in wake of Sun King (5) 34 Is Revolver fee securing cook for groups of unmarried women? (12)
1 Lash fibre, not having Any Time At All in workbasket (5) 2 Attempt Roll Over Beethoven's central part in street (4) 3 Preach I'm o'coser after Revolution (8) 4 Articulate For No One to local church (9) 5 Can Thank You Girl finally soar? (3) 6 Wait on climax of record, under two hours before midnight? (6) 7 Wreath reflecting final couplet of Piggles? Nonsense! (5) 8 Gun co. agitated with I Mr Mine, shortly able to produce defensive response (11) 9 Something strikingly played in common time confused Beatles after start (7) 11 Maybe one long period before drug lapse to make No Reply? (11, 3 words) 18 Dig It parts had to arouse (9) 19 Twist and Shout number (8) 19 Heir briefly coming up to support e.g. Michelle's extravagant phrases (7) 22 To listeners, Boys is based on joints? (6) 24 Language accepted in Doctor Robert ignored at first (5) 26 Records are played on these screens, leaving Little Child for dead (5) 29 Some harmonica offends group involved with Flying (4) 31 Police did Come Together (3)
The Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended. One answer is an abbreviation.

Down: 1 AS5 UREA SALUN, 2 UK around N NOT, 3 SKINS - N.S., 4 REAR M, 5 CLINIS) in SKEID, 6 AN in DAYS, 7 BETAIN ALIHA (7) J.J. & (a valuable REQ), 8 FOR GAMES IN ELAV, 12 ADMINISTRATION - EAV, 15 HANDIT with E for U, 16 BIND EYE, 18 (MUG 65), 22 Jd, 24 (MAN U) around FL, 26 GOT with HS around O, 28 GAS+ O, 31 ((windSOB T(av))+.
To enter this Gemelo prize draw, submit a correct solution either online at: https://observer.co.uk/puzzles, via email to compatibilismodarone.co.uk or by post to: Gemelo No. 45, The Observer, 22 Berners Street, London W1T 3LP
Email entries must include the crossword name and number in the subject line as it appears in print (e.g. "Gemelo No. 45"). Entries without the correct subject will not be accepted. Paperless entry encouraged. UK residents 10+ only. May one entry per person. Closing date is Saturday following publication for online entries, postal entries must be postmarked no later than the Saturday following publication and must reach us within ten days of publication of the puzzle (i.e. by Wednesday week following publication). These randomly selected correct solutions will each win a £25 book token. Gemelo No. 45 winners to be announced Sunday 20 September 2016.
For full terms and conditions visit: https://observer.co.uk/puzzles/everman/article/crossword-price-draw
Gemelo No. 42 prizewinners
D Barker, Wood Green, London
C Martin, Port Talbot, Wales
MP Young, Highbridge, Somerset

Normal Sudoku rules apply, except the numbers in the cells contained within grey lines and up to the figures in the corner. No number can be repeated within each shape formed by the grey lines.
Cinema Connect answers
Goddard Park (2001), The English Patient (1996) and Four Weddings and A Harrel (1994) all star Krista Scott Thomas.
Keymer played 55...Qb5+ 56 Kb3 Qd3+ 57 Ka4 Qb5+ 58 Kb3 and then spurned the repetition with 58...Rd4. Can you see what he'd missed? (See the end.)
Wesley So has won the annual Sinquefield Cup, defeating Rameshbabu Pragphanandhaa in a play-off in St Louis Missouri on Wednesday. Two rapid play games were drawn and then So won the Armageddon decider.
American billionaire Rex Sinquefield has been promoting chess in America and his hometown of St Louis in particular for over two decades now, both as a way to foster children's education and on the professional level, bringing a number of the world's top players to live in St Louis.
This was the 13th edition of the Sinquefield Cup which was first held in 2012. Three years later a Grand Prix was launched, the Grand Chess Tour, which has always had the Sinquefield Cup as its mainstay - though nowadays they also have a separate knockout later for the top GCT finishers.
This year's lineup had eight tour members plus two wildcards. Levon Aronian withdrew halfway through the tour and was replaced by Jorden van Foreest, but has since played as a wildcard in the two events in what is now his home town. Alreza Frouzja withdrew to play in the chess event at the Esports World Cup in Paris (which was won by Magnus Carlsen) with Sam Sevian coming in as a wildcard.
Fabiano Caruana was the first to show, winning the only decisive game in round one against Van Foreest. But
So beat Caruana in round 3 (below) to go clear and remained so until he was joined by Pragg in the penultimate round.
The two finished on 5.5/9 ahead of Javokhir Sindama and Vincent Keymer 5; Levon Aronian, Samuel Sevian, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Fabiano Caruana 4.5; Anish Giri 4 and Van Foreest 2.
Sinquefield Cup 2026
Nimzo-Indian Samisch variation
This is the Sämisch variation in which White forces Black to exchange bishop for knight but accepts damage to his queenside. 4...Bxc3+ 5 bxc3 c5 6 f3 Nc6 7 e4 d6 8 Nc2 0-0 9 Ng3 f3 Bb5 h6 10 Bh4 h6, it's inconvenient that the knight can't go to d3 or f4 because of g5. However, 11 Nc1 Bb6 12 Nb3 is about equal. 9...b6 10 Be2 Ba6 11 0-0 Rc8 12 f4 cxd4 13 cxd4 Na5 14 f5 h6! Preventing the pin, this is all fairly typical of the Sämisch variation. White's c-pawn is doomed, but he gets a big centre and kingside attacking chances. 15 e5 Stockfish suggests the surprising 15 Rf4 Bxc4 16 Bxc4 Nxc4 17 Rh4 Nh7 18 Rh3, which looks very clunky but Black's counterplay is a little ponderous and once White gets in Nh5 and Rg3, he will suddenly have a vicious attack. 15...dxe5 16 dxe5 Qxd1 17 Rxd1 Nh7
18 Bd2? This allows Black both to exchange off the dark-squared bishop
and win the c-pawn. 18 f6 g5 19 a4 Nb3 20 Rb1 Nxc1 21 Rbxc1 was okay because if Rc5 22 Rd7 Rxe5 23 Rxa7 Bc8 24 c5! White gets a dangerous passed a pawn. 18...Nb3 19 Rab1 Nxd2 20 Rxd2 Bxc4 21 Bxc4 2? Rg4 was better. 21...Rxc4 22 Rd7 Ra4 23 Rb4 Rxa3 24 Rg4 Ra1+1 25 Kf2 Ra5
Due to the intermediate check Ra1+, fxe6 is no longer a problem because fxe6 would recapture with check. 26 f6 g5 27 Re4 A sad move to have to play 27...Rc8 28 h4 Nf8 29 Rb7 Ng6 30 hxg5 Rc2+ 31 Kg1 31 Re2 Rxe2+ 32 Axe2 Nxe5 is hopeless because the knight protects f7 scuppering any White counterplay. 31...Rxa2f 32 Rb8+ Kh7 33 Rb7 hxg5 34 Rxf7+ Kh6 35 Nf1 Rxg2+ 36 Kh1 Rg2 37 Kg1 Or 37 Re1 Nxe5 38 Rf8 Nf3 39 Rh8+ Kg6 40 Rc1 Rg2 and mate follows on g2 or h3.
37...Nh4 and Caruana resigned because White must take the knight due to the threat of Nf3+, and after 38 Rxh4+ gxh4 Black will soon win White's knight as well.
In diagram 1 after 55...Qb5+ 56 Kb3 Qd3+ 57 Ka4 Qb5+ 58 Kb3 Rd4? looked crushing but he'd missed 59 Rxf7+ Kh6 60 Rh7+ Kxh7? In fact, computers tell us that 60...Kg5f 61 f4+ Kf6 62 Rf7+ Kxf7 63 Qa7+ Ke8 64 Qxd4 g5! is defensible but that's not what Keymer intended when he played Rd4. 61 Qa7+ Kh6 62 Qxd4 A good pawn up, White has excellent winning chances and Aronian converted on move 91.

1 Levon Aronian v Vincent Keymer (to play)

2 Fabiano Caruana (to play) v Wesley So

3 Fabiano Caruana (to play) v Wesley So

4 Fabiano Caruana v Wesley So (to play)
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SLIDOKI SOLUTIONS page 30-31
| 6 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 9 |
| 4 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 6 |
| 3 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 9 | 7 |
| 6 | 7 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 8 |
| 5 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 3 |
| 7 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 2 | 5 |
| 2 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 4 |
| 9 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 1 |
| 3 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 9 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 1 |
| 8 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 3 |
| 7 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 1 | 4 |
| 1 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 8 |
| 5 | 9 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 2 |
| 8 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 9 |
| 4 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 7 |
| 2 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 5 |
Lucky dip bonus question
Answers below
A word about...
I've been an admirer of the Bechdel test, the half-jokey-but-totally-serious creation of cartoonist Alison Bechdel, from the moment I heard of it. In case you aren't familiar, the test gauges the representation of women in a film by whether it meets three requirements: (1) the film must feature at least two named women, (2) who talk to each other, (3) about something besides a man.
Bechdel's test, known as "the rule" when it first appeared in her comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For in 1985, immediately struck a chord and has since made its way into the Oxford English Dictionary. Passing the test doesn't make a film "good" (Debbie Does Dallas gets a green light), and failing doesn't make it "bad" (The Godfather, Blade Runner and The Shawshank Redemption all fail), but it got people thinking about how female characters were represented.
The Bechdel test inspired others to shed light on how women are portrayed. For instance, there's the Mako Mori test, named after the character from Guillermo del Toro's
Pacific Rim (2013). To pass Mako Mori, a film must (1) feature at least one female character (2) who has their own narrative arc, (3) which doesn't support a man's story. Mako Mori highlights more empowering qualities than the Bechdel test, which Pacific Rim fails.
Adjacent to Bechdel and Mako Mori is Christie Aschwanden's Finkbeiner test, with seven rules to avoid lazy profiles of female scientists. To pass, writers cannot mention that the scientist is a woman, her husband's job, her childcare arrangements, her parenting style, how she was taken aback by the competitiveness in her field, how she's a role model for other women or how she's the "first woman to..." Like Bechdel and Mako Mori, Finkbeiner is funny, until you realise it's not.
Joshua Blackburn is the author of The Language-Lover's Lexipedia (Bloomsbury, £14.99). Order for £13.49 from observershop.co.uk. Delivery charges may apply
GoldBlocks SOLUTION No. 38
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| L | I | T | E | O | M | E | N | |
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| A | L | B | U | M | C | O | D | |
| L | O | A | M | T | A | D | A | |
| L | O | K | T | O | N | I | T | |
| S | P | E | D | T | O | N | E |

Scan to subscribe to The Puzzle Edit - the weekly newsletter from puzzles editor Caitlin O'Kane
Not too hard. Not too easy. Just right.
Goldilocks clues exclude enumerations; in a mid-sized crossword, they only make an already compact puzzle more straightforward. The enjoyment lies in lateral thinking, grid observations, and the distinctly modern British vernacular. Play the Goldilocks archive online by subscribing at observer.co.uk

7 Elton John is such a winner
8 Event associated with Black Friday
| 4 | 8 | |||||||
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| 3 | ||||||||
| 1 | 7 | 4 | ||||||
| 4 | 5 | 1 | ||||||
| 9 | 1 | 2 | 6 | |||||
| 8 | 9 | 7 | ||||||
| 6 | 3 | |||||||
| 7 | 1 | 5 |
Every row, column, and 3+3 box must contain the digits 1-9, plus an extra number - the four highlighted 3+3 blue squares together form an additional set of boxes, which must also include 1-9 with no square.
Collouts, who in 1967 described how shopping a smoked herring on the ground could confuse herring friends and lead them in the wrong direction.
A) A resident beyond after expendable Star. The security officers and engineers who wear red shirts and (markets) get exclusively expended when he would do so as other places. There are characters whose principal purpose is to be liable, if not for the circumstance, cannot be liable, often used to demonstrate a deadly threat without further anyone important.
B) A) Some an unsmokable problem. Once on machine (friendly, "god from the machine") is a sensitive device that, although widely accepted, provides a sensitive enough to be able to use it. The only way to use it is to use it. The only way to use it is to use it. The only way to use it is to use it. The only way to use it is to use it is to use it. The only way to use it is to use it is to use it is to use it is to use it is to use it is to use it is to use it is to use it is to use it is to use it is to use it is to use it is to use it is
C) Between actors and the audience. The fourth wall is the conceptual separation between audience and actors, on stage or on screen. When actors break the fourth wall, they burst the storytelling process and acknowledge the audience directly.
D) It must be fired. Children's gun is a principle of storytelling that says that every element of the plot should serve a purpose. It is named after the following: "If in Act One you have a pistol hanging on the wall, then it must fire in the cast act."
E) The Maltese Falcon in The Maltese Falcon is MacGuffin is a sensitive device whose role purpose is to drive the plot forward. Typically taking the force of a mysterious object, artefact or weapon covered by the story's characters, as in the case of the Maltese Falcon. The term was coined by economist: Angus MacFinnis and popularised by Boustice Alford McCrack.
F) Hunting dogs. A red herring is a misleading clue that disloes a situation from what is important. The term is associated with Wilson's
Critics
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
33
Audio
The PM's podcast appearances with Elizabeth Day and Felicity Hannah offer us a radical leader kept awake at night by 'pretty much all of it'
Jude Rogers
Wake Up to Money Radio 5 Live/BBC Sounds
How to Fail with Elizabeth Day Daylight Productions
Tune in, high-ranking audiophiles: Andy Burnham has been on his 'listening tour' this week, visiting towns across Britain, his ears open. It's a telling idea for a prime minister who's spent his summer recess getting his voice heard in new ways, on perky social media clips and meticulously chosen podcasts and radio programmes.
There he was, bright and breezy, on BBC Radio 5 Live's Sam Wake Up to Money, a show he told producer Stefan Jajeczyk he listens to 'when he has to be up so early'. Presented by the warm, savvy Felicity Hannah, it opens with her explaining how Burnham's team got in touch with hers directly, before cutting to their chat in a sweltering, noisy community hub.
'I can accept the criticism that this isn't enough,' Burnham replies when Hannah suggests his recent

slew of announcements were 'small potatoes' in the cost of living crisis. 'What you've got to do is put in an accumulation of smaller things that will combine to put the pressure down.' Even when he's circling a firm answer, Burnham's boy-next-door pragmatism still sounds strikingly fresh.
So does his bluntness. What keeps you awake at night? Hannah asks, 'Pretty much all of it. There's also so much to deal with – you're kind of ready to retire when it comes to the end of the day.' Hannah then asks a funny question: 'Are you growing
"These 49 minutes are a masterclass in relatable, ever so slightly edgy charm"
Andy Burnham's listening tour has included 'meticulously chosen' podcast and radio appearances. Kenny
the economy on vibes?' Fair play on his response. 'Not if I'd tried that in Greater Manchester I'd have got nowhere.'
Burnham also spoke to LBC again (the station bagged the first post-Makerfield byelection interview, carried out by Andrew Marr) about the state of Britain's high streets. You've probably already heard about the moment when he misnamed his favourite item from Greggs, prompted by a question from twentysomething reporter Henry Riley. The branch nearest to No 10 North in Manchester renamed the pastry in question the 'sausage, cheese and bean thing', doubling its sales; it's now even had a name change nationally. The social media meme-ification of this radio moment, like so many others, gave it its status, and its quicksilver energy.
Burnham's appearance on Elizabeth Day's podcast earlier this month was more of a surprise (as was the message that popped up when I tried to listen to it on my podcast provider: 'To listen to explicit podcasts, sign in'). 'We don't often get politicians who are willing to admit to their mistakes,' begins Day, as glossily professional as ever, before describing her subject's failed first attempt to get into Cambridge, his brief time as a journalist working on 'illustrious titles like Container Management' (which is why he won't go on Have I Got News for You, he
explains, because 'they would make [it] their guest publication... and read out my old articles... I couldn't bear the humiliation'), and his two previous failed Labour party leadership bids.
These 49 minutes of How to Fail with Elizabeth Day are a masterclass in relatable, ever so slightly edgy charm. As well as the moment that went viral about his wife (Marie-France van Heel texted him 'ANSWER THE F***ING QUESTION' after hearing one of his interviews), we hear Burnham admit to stealing communion wine as a Catholic altar boy ('I'm not going to claim I'm the most observant') and remembering how he tried to convince his father that studying English literature at university was important by showing him the Arthur Scargill quote at the beginning of Tony Harrison's 1985 poem V. 'Doing English is intensely political; it's about your power to get your point over and communicate well,' Burnham adds, revealingly.
Being interviewed by women also detracts from the bantery, blokeish slant of some of Burnham's recent pub and football-related content, while quotes about his generation of politicians being 'guilty of a shameful dereliction of duty' and 'shameful cowardice' present him as a radical leader paving his dynamic pathway of change. Then you remember there have been no shiny interviews yet about the UK's continuing raging wildfires, or meme-able content about his opinions on oil-drilling or the Israel Defense Forces. The PM's listening tour may be continuing on the road and on the air, but his ears, and ours, need to keep paying attention.
I can't talk right now...
Simon Parkin
Night School Studio: Netflix; TV and web browser via Netflix; smartphone required as controller
Netflix's ingenious horror puts your smartphone centre stage in this intimate if slight half-hour game
A category 5 hurricane has struck, the power is out, and Ava's apartment block has gone dark. Never fear: like most of us, Ava (voiced by Zoë Kravitz) has a smartphone whose camera flash doubles as a torch. You flick it on and sweep the beam across the room. Wait, is there someone else here?
It's a premise familiar from a thousand films, except that in Unhinged, Netflix's latest interactive experiment, you're clutching your actual smartphone, aiming it at the TV – or browser window – to pierce the darkness. Then the real phone in your hand rings. It's Claire (Sadie Sink), Ava's best friend, who lives in the block across the street, visible through the window. The hurricane booms through the TV speakers. Claire's frightened voice issues from the device in your palm. For a moment, the boundary between the room in which
you're sitting and the one on screen becomes unstable. It's a conjuring trick, of course, of the sort once common in experimental video games. But as the games industry has calcified around blockbuster series and indefinitely prolonged live-service games, such playful design has become rarer.
Made by Netflix's Night School Studio, creator of the indie darling Overtree, Unhinged was developed with creative input from film directors David Fincher (Fight Club, Seven) and Zach Cregger (Weapons). Their precise contributions aren't disclosed, but the pairing is legible in the game's sensibility. Fincher's controlled, technological unease meets Cregger's appetite for abrupt shock. It also places the game squarely within horror's current gold

rush, where the genre is not merely dependable business but the source of some of the most inventive work on screen.
This story is a little more conventional: a woman trapped in a dark apartment building discovers that a monstrous pursuer is stalking its corridors. You don't steer Ava directly. Instead, you direct her torch, inspect objects and make hurried choices before a timer expires. Failure merely returns you to a recent checkpoint; a pure 'story mode' option removes the timer altogether. This is less survival horror than a ghost train ride, briskly carrying the player between the jolts.
The plot is too thin to withstand much scrutiny, and the limited decisions rarely create the sense that the story may truly bend to your will. Yet these shortcomings
matter less than they might in a more elaborate game. Unhinged lasts roughly half an hour, and benefits from its compression. Kravitz's restrained performance lends Ava credibility, while the split soundscape (the storm in the room; the conversations on your mobile) does more to generate intimacy than the script.
The cleverest reversal here is that the smartphone, usually the second screen that distracts us from whatever is playing on TV, becomes the conduit for our focus. Unhinged might be slight, but its best moments suggest a form Netflix should have been unusually well placed to pursue. Shortly after its release, however, the streamer closed Night School Studio, a reminder of the precarity facing indies that hitch their futures to much larger platforms. The experiment, it seems, ended just as it was becoming interesting.
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observer.co.uk 23.08.26

By Craig McLean, Kay Ribeiro and Stephen Armstrong
Films by Jonathan Romney
National Geographic, 9pm
A three-part documentary produced to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, reuniting survivors with the strangers who saved their lives. Episode one shows how an unassuming window cleaner and a bond trader helped save people inside the World Trade Center's north tower and down on the ground. The footage remains horrifying, but the acts of everyday heroism by first responders and civilians are incredibly moving. The best of humanity in the worst of times. KR

Championships 2026 BBC Two, 12.45pm
Matt Baker heads up the coverage of the men's team finals at the 2026 European Gymnastics Championships in Zagreb, Croatia. As reigning European team champions after last year's victory in Leipzig, Team GB are among the favourites. European all-around champion Joe Fraser leads the team, hoping to secure his seventh European medal. KR
Sky Atlantic, 9pm
After spirit bears in the Arctic in Victorian times and Japanese folk demons in a California internment camp during the Second World War, the third series of the horror anthology pitches up in modern-day New York. Downtown Abbey's Dan Stevens is incarcerated in a creepy asylum after assaulting some cops. If he wasn't mad before... CMc
(Gastón Duprat, Mariano Cohn, 2021)
Film4, 12.55am
In this Spanish farce from Argentinian duo Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn, a millionaire decides to produce a film and hires acclaimed director Lola Cuevas (Penélope Cruz) to create a prestige masterpiece. She begins work with her chosen actors – a vain Hollywood star (Antonio Banderas) and a high-minded stage veteran (Oscar Martínez) – and the stage is set for a massive clash of egos. It's sparely but elegantly executed – the setting, a brutalist arts centre, is magnificent in itself – and the stars let rip as different kinds of movie monster, with Banderas genially sending up his transatlantic career and Cruz offering a comic performance as electrically bristling as the hairdo she sports here. JR
BBC Four, from 10pm
To mark the 120th anniversary of John Berjeman's birth later this week, an evening celebrating the poet laureate and his passions. It opens with the 2001 Reputations profile The Last Laugh, with contributions from fans including the future King Charles. Followed by Beside the Seaside (11.05pm), Berjeman's 1969 ode to the British summer holiday; his 1973 journey through London's commuter belt, Metroland (11.55pm); and A Passion for Churches (12.45am), a 1974 pilgrimage around Norfolk. CMc

Channel 4 streaming
Midlife misery Roland (series co-creator Leon Ford) is left looking after his daughter and unwanted dog while his wife Emma (Brooke Satchwell) works abroad in this heartwarming Aussie comedy. Ill-equipped to do either, and with his marriage on the rocks, Roland is adopted by the Dog Park Divas, a group of humans and canines who transform his life. KR
BBC Two, 9pm
In the concluding part of the docuseries, the devastating human cost of Monsanto's alleged chemical-waste dumping in south Wales is made painfully clear. Host Michael Sheen joins many of the programme's other contributors in testing their blood for PCBs – AKA "forever chemicals". The results are sobering, but the authorities still find excuses and loopholes. KR
(Georges Lautner, 1977)
Talking Pictures TV, 9.55pm
Talking Pictures TV has offered a steady stream of vintage French policiers recently; here's another, with Alain Delon in his tough-guy prime. The title has been translated variously as Death of a Corrupt Man, The Twisted Detective and To Kill a Rat, not to mention Death of a Sleazebeg. Delon gets caught up in a murder committed by a politician facing exposure; the MacGuffin driving the plot being a notebook containing all the dirt, which everyone is chasing. The pedigree is classy: it's scripted by Michel Audiard (father of director Jacques); the cast includes Ornella Muti, Mireille Darc, Stéphane Audran and Klaus Kinski; and Philippe Sarde's score features saxophone great Stan Getz. JR
"The gentleman is for turning: Farage changes story over £5m donation as investigation launched." So ran an Observer headline in May, as the Reform leader tried to explain an undeclared gift from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne. This documentary (originally shown on Saturday) continues to follow the money, attempting to "unravel" the sources of outside income reportedly in excess of £2m, accrued since the Clacton MP entered parliament in 2024. CMc

ITV1, 7.30pm (h/o 8pm)
The second round of the competition and the only all-Premiership tie. Last season, Forest finished only three points and two places behind Leeds, with each side beating the other 3-1 in their league matches. Adding to the spice: this is their second encounter in four days, following the new season's opening match. CMc
BBC One, 9pm
There's beef or rather steak wars between gladiator Emily Steel and YouTuber Tom Simons in the signature dish challenge. Actor Nitin Ganatra makes a childhood curry, while former Royal Ballet dancer Eric Underwood's soul food makes Grace Dent drool. But it's comedian Donna Preston's doner kebab that teaches old dog Giorgio Locatelli new tricks. KR
(Colm Bairéad, 2022)
Channel 4, 1.55am
The last few years have seen something of a boom period – if "boom" weren't too demonstrative a word – for a new school of low-key Irish art cinema. Think of Pat Collins's superb John McGahern adaptation That They May Face the Rising Sun or Tim Mielants' fine-tuned take on Claire Keegan's Small Things Like These. One of the finest is this, Colm Bairéad's Oscar-nominated debut feature, also from a Keegan novella. Set in the early 1980s, it's about nine-year-old Cait (newcomer Catherine Clinch), a thoughtful, withdrawn child whose parents send her to the country for a summer to stay with her mother's cousin and her farmer husband. A work of real beauty and subtlety, not to be missed. JR
UkAlib, 8pm
Mark Gatiss's atmospheric postwar crime drama returns for a second series. In the opening double bill, bibliophile sleuth Gabriel Book enters the world of spiritualism, investigating the theatrical psychic Harold Sneed (Jason Watkins in a delightfully diabolical wig). "Grief leech" Sneed angers Book when he "channels" his assistant Jack's late father – and Book's lover – Felix, during a seance. Not long after, Sneed is murdered – which, ironically, he didn't see coming. KR

The rangy historian's other favourite wall – Hadrian's – stretches 73 miles. Now Snow is hitting the 5,500 miles of history's greatest human-made construction to unpick, brick by ancient brick, the story of the Ming dynasty's border barrier, once garrisoned by 750,000 troops. And no, you can't see it from space. Too skinny. The wall, that is. CMc
Sky Documentaries, 10pm
A riveting film about the 1985 sinking in Auckland harbour of the Greenpeace ship that was dogging French nuclear testing. A real-life thriller featuring renegades of the eco-movement's early years, bungling secret service operatives, and outraged New Zealand authorities who sought justice for drowned photographer Fernando Pereira. CMc
(Christopher Nolan, 2000)
Film4, 11.10pm
Christopher Nolan's breakthrough film is an odyssey of a more internal, psychological kind: the story of an amnesiac detective whose investigation falls apart as he pieces it together because he forgets the facts as he uncovers them. It's told backwards, chapter by chapter, the narrative writing and erasing itself simultaneously – leaving us to assemble clues scattered on scraps of paper, in scribbles on the hero's body and in little nudges in the direction. Guy Pearce plays the sleuth, with Carrie-Anne Moss and Joe Pantoliano among the never-quite-what-they-seem supporting cast. A vigorous mind game that never overplays its cleverness, and mercifully low on the bombastic solemnity of Nolan's later work. JR
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Fightland
Sky Atlantic, 9pm
Rapper-turned-TV-producer Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson is behind this eight-part, London-set thriller that travels the interconnected worlds of boxing and organised crime. Punchy and splashy, it stars Nicholas Pinnock as the head of a fight/crime dynasty and Howard Charles as the disgraced champ out for revenge. "There's duality in boxing and life," the charismatic Pinnock said to me earlier this month. "On a day-to-day basis, we're all fighting for something." CMC

BBC One, 9pm
It's murder on the dancefloor for Ludwig when a bride's obsessed ex turns up at the reception party and carbs it during a highland fling. While the number of guests agitates Ludwig, his sister-in-law Lucy continues to take liberties with her fake press badge in the hope of interviewing suspicious MP Joanne Kemper (Sian Clifford). KR
Netflix
This grand endeavour is scrupulously faithful to Gabriel García Márquez's novel, not least in terms of its strange sexual politics and relentless sex. The final episode of the second season depicts the bleak aftermath of the banana massacre, when Colombian government forces gunned down striking workers. It's all handled with genuine sensitivity. SA
(Robert Aldrich, 1972)
Legend Xtra, 9pm
In 1954, Robert Altman made Apache, starring Burt Lancaster as the warrior hero of the title: it is considered a breakthrough in Hollywood's representation of Native American history. Aldrich and Lancaster revisit those themes here. The actor – in one of his most hailed performances – plays a US Army scout assigned to capture Apache chief Uzzana (Joaquin Martinez) after he carries out a ruthless attack. Scripted by Alan Sharp, and widely read as an allegory of Vietnam, the film has been praised, among others, by Quentin Tarantino (who saw it as combining Aldrich's two great fortes, the western and the war film) and by critic David Thomson ("One of the best films of the '70s... austere and fatalistic"). JR
The Rainmaker
ITV1, 9pm
Having been brought to the screen by Francis Ford Coppola in a 1997 movie, John Grisham's legal thriller is adapted into a new ten-part series. Milo Callaghan takes the brash young lawyer role previously played by Matt Damon in a drama very much in the Taylor Sheridan tradition: beautiful people, a country rock soundtrack, melodramatic cliffhangers at the end of every scene. But with John Slattery oozing his best corporate malfeasance, it's an enjoyable trashy watch. No motion to dismiss here. CMC

Netflix
Judging by the trailer, this wintry thriller combines the bogeyman dread of Candyman with the serial killer freakery of Longlegs. Robert De Niro plays the retired detective who helps his estranged son (Adam Scott) and a serving cop (Michelle Monaghan) after his grandson is abducted. Is this the return of a (seemingly) long-incarcerated psychopath? CMC
BBC Two, 9pm
Robert Thorogood, creator of Death in Paradise, applies his cosy crime drama formula for this series, receiving its first showing on the Beeb. Samantha Bond stars as archaeologist-turned-sleuth Judith Potts. Teaming up with a vicar's wife (Cara Horgan) and a dog walker (Jo Martin), the crime of suburban Buckinghamshire don't stand a chance. KR
(Alan Rudolph, 1978)
Talking Pictures TV, 12 midnight
Alan Rudolph is one of the most unfairly undervalued of US writer-directors, often regarded merely as an apt pupil to mentor Robert Altman. But in his best films – among them, Choose Me, Trouble in Mind, Mrs Parker and the Vicious Circle – his wry, laid-back style is simply inimitable. Here, the sublimely nervy Geraldine Chaplin plays a woman newly out of prison and on a mission to stalk her ex, played by Anthony Perkins – about as eccentric a love match as the movies have ever offered. Rudolph said it was his take on the women's melodramas of the 1940s, but, as critic Jonathan Rosenbaum put it, he uses his model "the way a jazz musician uses chord changes". Classify skewed stuff. JR
Wham! 10 Days in China
BBC Two, 9pm
The week's second bout of history-making on the Great Wall. In April 1985, Wham became the first western pop group to perform behind the Bamboo Curtain. It was a PR stunt by manager Simon Napier-Bell to try to fast-track American success for Britain's biggest pop group – "strategic" and "cynical" says Andrew Ridgeley. Repurposed from an aborted tour disc by director Lindsay Anderson (f.f.), the footage is endlessly fascinating. Followed by Wham! at the BBC (10.25pm). CMC

Channel 4, 9.05am
Clare Balding and Olympian Peter Reed host coverage of the 2026 Superhero Tri from Dorney Lake in Windsor. It's the 10th anniversary of the UK's biggest triathlon designed for disabled participants. They compete in the classic triathlon disciplines: swim, bike and push/run, either alone or supported by family and friends. KR
For your ears only: billed at the Royal Albert Hall as Bond and Beyond, this concert features Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser conducting the BBC Concert Orchestra in a selection of classic songs from 007's 25 official adventures. They're promising "special guests", so can we expect to see Dame Shirley Bassey or Sir Tom Jones, or is that just a load of thunderballs? CMC
(Juho Kuosmanen, 2021)
BBC Two, 1.35am
Yura Borisov made a huge impression as the heavy who perhaps wasn't so heavy after all in Sean Baker's Oscar winner Anora, for which he was nominated as best supporting actor. He's just as striking in this road (or rather, rail) movie from Finnish director Juho Kuosmanen. Seidi Haarla plays Laura, an archaeological student heading to Murmansk in Russia's far north to inspect ancient rock paintings and nurse her heartbreak. Ominously, her sleeping compartment is shared by a slobbish, very bibulous young man. But soon this leisurely tale of incomprehension becomes at once a fascinating travelogue with documentary touches and a sweetly melancholic odd-couple comedy. JR
Boomers had the best romcoms, when it was possible for Meg Ryan to be quickly without being irritating. Dulliance (Paramount+, Thursday) starts out in that tradition, a kooky screwball comedy, before it turns sharply left into "terrible things wrecking lives" – like The White Lotus meets The Big Chill. Hugo Weaving plays Billy, an ex-cameraman, who meets chef Dani (Heather Mitchell) as he hides from a friend under her table. They click, she drives him home, meets his beautiful wife Rose (Georgie Parker), asks if she can rent her husband for an event and then, spoiler alert. Billy dies of a heart attack while on the definitely-not-a-date. His wake is the inciting incident, as his old friends reunite, mostly painfully. It's a shame that Weaving leaves the room just as lies, memories and half-truths emerge. But Mitchell and Parker, along with David Wenham and Noah Taylor, set about each other with vim.
Apple TV seems to specialise in shows that sound great in principle, but you secretly know you'll never stick with – apart from Ted Lasso of course. According to audience-measurer Nielsen, 296.6m minutes of season four were watched in its first two days. Who saw that becoming a cottage industry for Richmond? Dark Matter (Apple TV, Thursday) is no Ted Lasso – though it has at least reached season two. Joel Edgerton's physics professor is kidnapped by a version of himself from an alternative universe, prompting the question: why would a super-rich, highly successful Joel #2 swap lives with a modest teacher? The first season was based on show creator Blake Crouch's 2026 novel. This sophomore outing finds Joel, his loving wife (Jennifer Connelly) and teenage son (Dukes Fegley) looking for a decent universe after leaving a trail of dead Joels across space and time. But how can you settle when there's always another universe to try?
Streamers are not the best renewers in showbiz, so it's also cheering to see the survival of Leanne (Netflix, Wednesday) and Adults (Disney+, Thursday). Leanne Morgan's sitcom follows a grandmother coping after her husband walks out after 33 years of marriage – the laughs flow, thankfully – while Adults follows five unbearable twentysomethings, which is also endearing in its own unexpected way. SA

Life goes on for Leanne Morgan in season two of her sitcom. Netflix
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observer.co.uk 23.08.26

Mozart at the Proms, BBC Four, 8pm Georgia Mann presents a celebration of the composer from the Royal Albert Hall
| BBC One | BBC Two | ITV1 | Channel 4 | 5 | BBC Four |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.0 Breakfast (T) 8.40 Match of the Day (T) (R) 10.0 Prayer and Reflection (T) (R) 10.30 Sunday Morning Live (T) 11.30 Money for Nothing (T) (R) 12.15 Bargain Hunt (T) (R) 1.0 News (T) 1.15 Songs of Praise (T) 1.50 Escape to the Country (T) 2.15 2.25 Sloan the Sheep Movie (Richard Starzak 2005) (T) 3.35 Hamas: Strictly Birds of Prey (T) (R) 4.35 Homes Under the Hammer (T) (R) 5.35 News (T) 6.0 Countryfills (T) 7.0 Antiques Roadshow: V-Day Special (T) (R) | 6.10 A to Z of TV Gardening (T) (R) 6.55 Glorious Gardens from Above 7.40 Countryfills (R) 8.40 Breakfast (T) 9.0 Weatherman Walking (T) 9.30 Beechgrove Garden (T) 10.0 Saturday Kitchen 11.30 Caribbean Food Made Easy (T) (R) 12.0 Lorraine Pascale 13.30 Night Sister (T) (R) 12.45 Gymnastics: European Championships (T) 4.30 Athletics: Diamond League Silesia (T) 5.0 Fake or Fortune? 6.0 The Big Deal with Steph McGovern 7.0 Today at the Test (T) | 6.0 The Voice UK (T) (R) 7.0 James Martin's Saturday Morning (T) (R) 9.25 News (T) 9.30 Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh (T) (R) 11.30 The Joy of Pets (T) 12.30 Tom Kerridge Cooks Italy (T) (R) 1.0 News (T) 1.10 Force of Nature (T) (R) 2.15*2.25* For Your Eyes Only (1981) (T) 4.40 The Chase Celebrity Special (R) 5.40 The Chase Around the World (T) (R) 6.35 News (T) 7.0 Force of Nature (T) The impact of new extremes of heat and drought. | 6.0 Cheers (T) (R) 7.20 Everybody Loves Raymond (T) (R) 8.15*8.25* Dad The Lost Explorer and the Curse of the Mummy (Enrique Gato, 2022) (T) 10.0 Sunday Brunch (T) 10.0 The Dog House (T) (R) 2.0 Our Farm Next Door: Amanda, Clive and Kids (T) (R) 3.05 Worst House on the Street (T) (R) 4.10 Location, Location, Location (T) (R) 5.15 Devon and Cornwall (T) (R) 6.0 News (T) 6.30 Formula 1: Dutch Grand Prix Highlights (T) Action from the 12th race of the season. | 6.0 Milkshake! 9.05 Entertainment News on 5 (T) 9.159.25 Jeremy Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004) (T) 11.10 Happy Campers: The Caravan Park (T) (R) 12.05 Cruising with Susan Calman (T) (R) 2.05 Hippo Watch with Steve Backshall (T) (R) 3.05 Hippo Watch with Steve Backshall (T) (R) 4.05 Stockholm with Michael Portillo (T) (R) 5.30 When Motorways Go Hornby Wrong (T) (R) 6.55 News (T) 7.0 Cycling: Vuelta a España 2026 (T) | 7.0 The Lake District: A Wild Year (T) Cameras focus on a turbulent 12 months in the life of England's largest national park. Time-lapse photography shows months and weeks passing in seconds. |
| 8.0 Darkest Hour (Joe Wright, 2007) (T) British prime minister Winston Churchill seeks to rally the nation against Germany's advance across western Europe. Period drama, starring Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas. | 8.0 Blue Planet Revisited: A Shark's Tale (T) (R) Steve Backshall discovers why the Bahamas provide a sanctuary for sharks. | 8.0 The No Time to Die (Cary Joj Fukunaga, 2021) (T) James Bond sets off on the trail of an enigmatic villain armed with lethal new technology. Action thriller, starring Daniel Craig in his fifth and final outing as 007. Lea Seydour co-stars. | 9.0 The Piano: The Final (T) The search for Britain's most remarkable amateur pianists concludes as Claudia Winklerman and Mika head for Birmingham and the final concert. Mika is joined by Alice Sara Ott to choose the performance of the night. Last in the series. | 8.0 Inside the Four Seasons: Park Lane (T) A fire at Heathrow wreaks havoc on the hotel's room occupancy. | 8.0 Mozart at the Proms (T) Felix Kleiner is the soloist in Mozart's Horn Concerto. |
| 10.0 News (T) 10.25 Regional News (T) Weather 10.30 Match of the Day (T) 11.30 Edge of Darkness (Martin Campbell, 2010) (T) 1.15 Weather for the Week Ahead (T) 1.20 News (T) | 10.0 TV3 News (1975) (T) 12.0 Murder Trial: Death of a Dog Walker (T) (R) 1.0 Buried with Michael Sheen (T) (R) 2.0 Ann Droid (T) (R) 2.30 Murder Trial: Death of a Dog Walker (T) (R) | 11.0 News (T) Weather 11.20 One Dollar (T) New series. 12.20 The Staircase (T) 1.20 Shop on TV 3.0 Motorsport UK (T) (R) 3.50 Unwind with ITV (T) 5.05 Dickinson's Real Deal (R) | 10.15 Gogglebox (T) (R) 11.1511.25 Boston Strangler (T) 12.0 Kitchen Nightmares USA (T) (R) 2.10 Surgery Secrets of the Super Rich (T) (R) 3.05 The Great ADHD Myth? (T) (R) | 9.0 Rich House, Poor House (T) (R) Millennium Katy and Peter trade their grand Halifax home for Richard and Sarah's terraced house in Bradford. | 9.25 What Has the BBC Ever Done for Me? (T) With Romesh Rangarathan. |
| 9.30 The Art of the Vikings: Secret Knowledge (T) A look at the effects of Viking culture on the British Isles. | |||||
| 10.0 Copenhagen: The Prologue | |||||
| 10.10 Copenhagen (T) | |||||
| 11.40 Mark Lawson Talks to Michael Frayn (T) | |||||
| 12.40 The Lake District: A Wild Year (T) Documentary. 1.40 Mozart at the Proms (T) |

Buried with Michael Sheen, BBC Two, 9pm The actor's investigation into allegations of toxic contamination in south Wales continues
| BBC One | BBC Two | ITV1 | Channel 4 | 5 | BBC Four |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.0 Breakfast (T) 9.30 Morning Live: Top Tips and Best Bits (T) 10.30 Garden Rescue (T) (R) 11.15 Homes Under the Hammer (T) (R) 12.15 Bargain Hunt (T) 1.0 News (T) Weather 1.35 Regional News (T) Weather 1.45 News (T) Weather 2.0 Money for Nothing (T) 2.45 Escape to the Country (T) 3.30 The Repair Shop (T) (R) 4.30 The Answer Run (T) (R) 5.15 Pointless (T) (R) 6.0 News (T) Weather 6.30 Regional News (T) Weather 7.0 The One Show (T) 7.30 EastEnders (T) | 6.15 The Answer Run (T) (R) 7.0 Sign Zone: The Repair Shop (T) (R) 8.0 Match of the Day (T) (R) 9.0 News (T) 1.0 Richard Osman's House of Games (T) (R) 1.30 The Edge (T) (R) 2.15 Do You Know Your Place? (T) (R) 2.45 Animal Park (T) (R) 3.30 Serengeti II (T) (R) 4.30 Vintage Antiques Roadshow (T) (R) 5.15 Flog It! (T) (R) 6.0 Richard Osman's House of Games (T) (R) 6.30 Great Continental Railway Journeys (R) 7.0 Global Eye (T) 7.30 Mastermind (T) | 6.0 Good Morning Britain (T) 10.0 This Morning (T) 1.30 News (T) Weather 1.55 Local News (T) Weather 2.0 Dickinson's Real Deal (T) (R) 3.0 Deal or No Deal (T) (R) 4.0 Tipping Point (T) (R) 5.0 The Chase (T) (R) Jack, Laura, Alex and Tony take part. 6.0 Local News (T) Weather 6.30 News (T) Weather 7.20 Fletchers' Family Farm (T) (R) The family carry out a sheep-worming treatment, Mamie and Milo go exploring in the banns, and Liz and Kelvin try working with sheepdogs. | 6.30 The King of Queens (T) (R) 7.45 Everybody Loves Raymond (T) (R) 9.10 Frasier (T) (R) 11.10 Kitchen Nightmares USA (T) (R) 12.05 News (T) 12.10 Find It, Fix It, Flog It (T) (R) 1.10 The Great House Giveaway (T) (R) 2.10 Countdown (T) 3.0 A Place in the Sun (T) (R) 4.0 The Great B&B Challenge (T) (R) The second heat week begins. 5.0 Chateau DIY (T) (R) 6.0 American Pickers (T) (R) Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz unleash a sleek 1967 Jaguar. 7.0 News (T) | 6.0 Milkshake! 9.15 Jeremy Vine (T) 11.30 Storm & Alexis (T) 12.45 News (T) 12.50 Matt Alwright (T) 2.202.25 View to Kill For (Brittany Underwood, 2023) (T) Thriller starring Tiffany Montgomery. 4.0 Castle (T) (R) 4.55 Love Nature (T) (R) 5.0 News (T) 6.0 Motorhoming with Merton & Webster (T) (R) Paul Merton and Suki Webster head to Cornwall. 6.55 News (T) 7.0 Cycling: Vuelta a España 2026 (T) Action from stage three. 7.55 News (T) | 7.0 The Architecture the Railways Built (T) Tim Dunn follows his family's roots by exploring Metroland. |
| 8.0 Sort Your Life Out with Stacey Solomon (T) (R) Stacey helps the Appleyard family declutter their overflowing home. | 8.0 Only Connect (T) Game show: The Six Sevens take on Meat and Two Veg. | 8.0 Emmerdale (T) It's Joe and Dawn's wedding day. | 8.0 Martin & Roman's Irish Road Trip (T) Martin and Roman Kemp head to snowy Northern Ireland. Last in the series. | 8.0 Street Cops: Catching the Yoke (T) in this edition, a rapid response unit of armed officers are called to Northampton high street. | 8.0 Archaeology: A Secret History (T) Charting the history of archaeological breakthroughs. |
| 9.0 Death in Paradise (T) (R) Caribbean set detective drama, starring Ralf Little. A prestigious chess match ends in murder. | 8.30 University Challenge (T) Quiz show: Pembroke College, Cambridge, takes on St Andrews. | 8.30 Long Last Family: Born Without Trace - What Happened Next (T) Sisters who were both abandoned as babies. | 9.0 Celebrity Hunted (T) One fugitive teach north to Loch Lomond and a pair on the run make a high-risk appearance at Bristol Pride. | 9.0 Free Dodgers: At War with the Law (T) Investigators prepare to track down another suspected serial fare evader. | 9.0 Mastermind (T) The second heat of the 1977 series. |
| 10.0 News (T) 10.30 Regional News (T) Weather 10.40 Have I Got News for You (R) 11.10 Family (Frances O'Connor, 2022) (T) 1.10 Weather for the Week Ahead (T) 1.15 News (T) | 10.0 Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing (T) (R) 10.30 Newsnight (T) Weather 11.05 TV3 News (T) 12.55 Sign Zone: Countryfills (T) (R) 1.50 Sign Zone: Bergerac (T) (R) | 10.0 News (T) Weather 10.4510.45 Bush Hour (Brett Ratner, 1998) (T) Comedy. 12.25 Shop on TV 3.0 The Staircase (T) (R) 4.0 Unwind with ITV (T) 5.10 Dickinson's Real Deal (T) | 10.0 Secret Lives of Gypsy Wives (T) Last in series. 11.05 Celebrity Gogglebox (T) (R) 12.05 Emergency Helicopter Medics (T) (R) Documentary. 1.0 Kitchen Nightmares USA (T) (R) | 10.0 Police Interceptors: Taking Down the Shoplifting Gangs (T) (R) 11.05 Traffic Cops (T) (R) 12.05 Police Interceptors (T) (R) 1.0 Cruise TV 2.0 GPs: Behind Closed Doors (T) | 9.30 Call My Bluff (T) With Robin Knox-Johnston, Pamela Harlech, Michael Jayston and Francesca Annis. |
| 10.0 John Betjeman: The Last Laugh - Reputations (T) 11.05 Beside the Seaside: Bird's Eye View (T) 11.55 Metroland (T) 12.45 A Passion for Churches (T) Documentary. |
observcr.co.uk 23.08.26 37

EFL Carabao Cup Live, ITV1, 7.30pm Wood for the Forest: Notts striker Chris goes for goal against Leeds
| BBC One | BBC Two | ITV1 | Channel 4 | 5 | BBC Four |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.0 Breakfast (T) 9.30 Morning Live: Top Tips and Best Bits (T) 10.30 Garden Rescue (T) (R) 11.15 Homes Under the Hammer (T) 12.15 Bargain Hunt (T) (R) 1.0 News (T) Weather 1.35 Regional News (T) Weather 1.45 News (T) Weather 2.0 Money for Nothing (T) 2.45 Escape to the Country (T) 3.30 The Repair Shop (T) (R) 4.30 The Answer Run (T) (R) 5.15 Pointless (T) (R) 6.0 News (T) Weather 6.30 Regional News (T) Weather 7.0 The One Show (T) 7.30 EastEnders (T) | 6.30 Bargain Hunt (T) (R) 7.15 Money for Nothing (T) (R) 8.0 Sign Zone: The Great British Sewing Bee (T) (R) 9.0 News (T) 1.0 House of Games (T) (R) 1.30 The Edge (T) (R) 2.15 Do You Know Your Place? (T) (R) 2.45 Animal Park (T) (R) 3.30 Serengeti III (T) (R) 4.30 Vintage Antiques Roadshow (T) (R) 5.15 Flog It! (T) (R) 6.0 House of Games (T) (R) 6.30 Great Continental Railway Journeys (T) (R) 7.0 Nigellissima (T) (R) 7.30 Race Against the Tide (T) | 6.0 Good Morning Britain (T) 10.0 This Morning (T) 1.30 News (T) Weather 1.55 Local News (T) Weather 2.0 Dickinson's Real Deal (T) (R) 3.0 Deal or No Deal (T) (R) 4.0 Tipping Point (T) (R) Ben Shephard hosts the arcade-themed quiz in which contestants drop tokens down a choice of four chains in the hope of winning a £10,000 jackpot. 5.0 The Chase (T) (R) Kathryn, Paddy, Kamal and Savannah take on a Chase. 6.0 Local News (T) Weather 6.30 News (T) Weather | 6.30 The King of Queens (T) (R) 7.45 Everybody Loves Raymond (T) (R) 9.10 Frasier (T) (R) 11.10 Ramsay's 24 Hours to Hell and Back (T) (R) 12.05 News (T) 12.10 Find It, Fix It, Flog It (T) (R) 1.10 The Great House Giveaway (T) (R) 2.10 Countdown (T) 3.0 A Place in the Sun (T) (R) 4.0 The Great B&B Challenge (T) (R) 5.0 Chateau DIY (T) (R) 6.0 American Pickers (T) (R) Mike and Frank encounter a collection that might turn out to be off-limits. 7.0 News (T) | 6.0 Milkshake! 9.15 Jeremy Vine (T) 11.30 Storm & Alexis (T) 12.45 News (T) 12.50 Matt Allwright (T) 2.20 KENK Killer in the Family (Sorah Mardokhi, 2023) (T) Thriller starring Zoe Christie and Quinten James. 4.0 Castle (T) (R) 4.55 Love Nature (T) (R) 5.0 News (T) 6.0 Motorhoming with Merton & Webster (T) (R) Paul Merton and Suki Webster explore the Cotswolds. 6.55 News (T) 7.0 Cycling: Vuelta a España 2026 (T) Action from stage four of the Grand Tour race. | 7.0 The Architecture the Railways Built (T) (T) 10.0 Dunn explores St Pancras station. 7.45 The Flying Gardener (T) How the unique climate in south-west Ireland has allowed a variety of exotic species to thrive. |
| 8.0 The Great British Sewing Bee (T) (R) music week, the sewers pay homage to Mackinnet's cow tea and make disco outfits. | 8.0 Saving Lives at Sea (T) When a mayday comes in from a yacht breaking up off the Norfolk coast, Caister's independent lifeboats assist the Great Yarmouth RNJ crew. | 7.30 EFL Carabao Cup Live (T) Nottingham Forest v Leeds United (Kick-off 8.0pm) Mark Pougatich presents all the action from the second-round tie at the City Ground, which is the second meeting between the sides here in the space of just four days. | 8.0 The Dog House (T) (R) Parents Kristy and Oliver think maybe a dog can wear out a toddler. | 8.0 Motorway Cops: Catching Britain's Speeders (T) On the MS, officers are called in after a car falls to stop for Cheshire police. | 8.0 To the Manor Born (T) DeVere brings his grocery business to the manor. |
| 9.0 Celebrity MasterChef (T) Emily Steel, Nitin Ganatra, Tom Simons, Donna Preston and Eric Underwood compete. | 9.0 Emergency 24/7 (T) A man is brought in with a severed leg after being hit by a train. | 10.25 News (T) Local News11.15 Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace (T) (R)12.10 Shop on TV 3.0 Love & Death (T) (R) 3.50 Long Lost Family (T) (R) 4.45 Unwind with ITV (T) | 9.0 Celebrity Hunted (T) The fugitives converge in Birmingham hoping the hunters won't catch them before they reach the pickup point. Last in series. | 9.0 The Tudors with Rob Rinder and Ruth Goodman (T) A look at when England braced for the arrival of the Spanish armada in 1588. | 8.25 Keeping Up Appearances (T) Hyacinth plans an event. |
| 10.0 News (T) 10.30 Regional News (T) Weather 10.40 KENK Arthur the King (Simon Cellan Jones, 2024) (T) Fact-based drama. | 10.0 Live at the Apollo (T) (R) 10.30 Newsnight (T) Weather 11.05 The Vampire Lestat (T) 11.55 A House Through Time (R) 12.55 Celeb MasterChef (T) (R) 1.55 Captive Audience: Real American Horror Story (R) | 10.25 News (T) Local News11.15 Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace (T) (R)12.10 Shop on TV 3.0 Love & Death (T) (R) 3.50 Long Lost Family (T) (R) 4.45 Unwind with ITV (T) | 10.0 24 Hours in A&E (T) (R) 12.05 Building Monaco's Superhomes (T) (R) 1.05 Kitchen Nightmares (T) (R) 1.55 KENK The Quiet Girl (2022) 3.30 The Piano (R) 4.40 Find It, Fix It, Flog It (R) | 10.30 Murder on the Doorstep: Who Killed Alistair Wilson? (T) (R) Documentary. 12.05 Nigel Farage: Where Does the Money Come From? (T) (R) 1.0 Cruise TV (T) (R) 2.0 GPs: Behind Closed Doors | 9.0 How the Cutts Saved Britain (T) Part one of two. How the Irish saved Britain from cultural oblivion during the dark ages. |
| 12.20 The Hit List (T) (R) 1.05 Weather (T) 1.10 News (T) | 10.0 Britain in Focus: A Photographic History (T)11.0 The Secret Genius of Plants (T) First two of two. 11.55 Do We Really Need the Moon? (T)12.55 The Flying Gardener (T) |

The Great Wall of China with Dan Snow, 8, 9pm The historian embarks on an epic trek
| BBC One | BBC Two | ITV1 | Channel 4 | 5 | BBC Four |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.0 Breakfast (T) 9.30 Morning Live: Top Tips and Best Bits (T) 10.30 Garden Rescue (T) (R) 11.15 Homes Under the Hammer (T) 12.15 Bargain Hunt (T) (R) 1.0 News (T) 1.35 Regional News (T) 1.45 News (T) Weather 2.0 Money for Nothing (T) 2.45 Escape to the Country (T) (R) 3.30 The Repair Shop (T) (R) 4.30 The Answer Run (T) (R) 5.15 Pointless (T) (R) 6.0 News (T) Weather 6.30 Regional News (T) Weather 7.0 The One Show (T) 7.30 EastEnders (T) | 6.30 Escape to the Country (T) (R) 7.15 Money for Nothing (T) (R) 8.0 Sign Zone (T) (R) 9.0 News (T) 1.0 Richard Osman's House of Games (T) (R) 1.30 The Edge (T) (R) 2.15 Do You Know Your Place? (T) (R) 2.45 Animal Park (T) (R) 3.30 Serengeti III (T) (R) 4.30 Vintage Antiques Roadshow (T) (R) 5.10 Flog It! (T) (R) 6.0 Richard Osman's House of Games (T) (R) 6.30 Great Continental Railway Journeys (T) (R) From Brittany 7.0 Celebrity Antiques Road Trip (T) (R) | 6.0 Good Morning Britain (T) 10.0 This Morning (T) 1.30 News (T) Weather 1.55 Local News (T) Weather 2.0 Dickinson's Real Deal (T) (R) 3.0 Deal or No Deal (T) (R) 4.0 Tipping Point (T) (R) Ben Shephard hosts the arcade-themed quiz show. 5.0 The Chase (T) (R) Sarah, Arash, Suzanne and James take on a book. 6.0 Local News (T) Weather 6.30 News (T) Weather 7.30 Celebrity Lingo (T) (R) Judy Murray and Mark Pougatich take on Helen Skelton and Rav Wilding. | 6.30 The King of Queens (T) (R) 7.45 Everybody Loves Raymond (T) (R) 9.10 Frasier (T) (R) 11.10 Ramsay's 24 Hours to Hell and Back (T) (R) 12.05 News (T) 12.10 Find It, Fix It, Flog It (T) (R) 1.10 The Great House Giveaway (T) (R) 2.10 Countdown (T) 3.0 A Place in the Sun (T) (R) 4.0 The Great B&B Challenge (T) (R) A garden party falls flat. 5.0 Chateau DIY (T) (R) 6.0 American Pickers (T) (R) An Oktoberfest gem has Frank Fritz's name all over it. 7.0 News (T) | 6.0 Milkshake! 9.15 Jeremy Vine (T) 11.30 Storm & Alexis (T) 12.45 News (T) 12.50 Matt Allwright (T) 2.20 KENK Murder for Mortgage: Secrets on Maple Street (2024) (T) Premiere. Mystery starring Alison Sweeney. 4.0 Castle (T) (R) 4.55 Love Nature (T) (R) 5.0 News (T) 6.0 Motorhoming with Merton & Webster (T) (R) Paul Merton and Suki Webster explore the New Forest. 6.55 News (T) 7.0 Cycling: Vuelta a España 2026 (T) 7.55 News (T) Headlines. | 7.0 Villages by the Sea (T) Ben Robinson views impressive and well-preserved lime kilns in Solva, Wales. |
| 8.0 Fake or Fortune: What Happened Next? (T) Investigating a piano that may have belonged to John Lennon. Last in the series. | 8.0 Inside the Factory (T) (R) Paddy McGuinness is in his home town of Bolton to find out how Washurtons make their products. | 8.0 Emmerdale (T) Dawn has a big decision to make. | 8.0 Love It or List It: Brilliant Builds (T) New series. Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer look back at builds addressing the cardinal sin of women's piano. | 8.0 Call the Bailiffs: Time to Pay Up (T) New series. Agents attempt to recover a debt owed by an estate agent to a former client. | 8.0 Rome: A History of the Eternal City (T) Rome's rise to become the capital of western Christendom. |
| 9.0 Celebrity MasterChef (T) TV and radio broadcaster Zoe Ball challenges the celebrities to make their ultimate pudding. | 9.0 9.15 Inside the President's War Room (T) (R) How George W Bush and his staff dealt with the September 11 attack. | 9.0 Professor T (T) Jasper praises a murder at a retirement home. | 9.0 The Murder Detective (T) New series. The investigation into the murder of Lyra McKee. | 9.0 The Great Wall of China with Dan Snow (T) Dan Snow heads to China to find out more about the country's iconic landmark. | 9.0 Mary Beard's Ultimate Rome: Empire Without Limit (T) The scholar examines how and why the Roman Empire came to fall. Last in the series. |
| 10.0 News (T) 10.30 Regional News (T) Weather 10.40 MOTO: UEFA Champions League (T) Play-off action. | 10.30 Newsnight (T) Weather 11.05 Caugus Therapy (T) 12.0 Buried with Michael Sheen (T) (R) 1.0 Sign Zone. Celebrity MasterChef (T) (R) 2.0 Sign Zone. Brexit: A Very British Civil War (T) (R) | 10.0 News (T) Local News KENK Spectre (Sam Mendes, 2015) (T) Thriller. 1.10 Shop 3.0 Love & Death (T) (R) 4.0 Inside the Langham (T) (R) 4.20 Unwind (T) 5.35 Tom Kerridge (T) (R) | 10.0 The Never Ending Murder (T) New series. A 1691 case. 12.05 Spy Next Door: The Anna Chapman Story (T) (R) 1.55 Celebrity Hunted (T) (R) 3.50 Caugus Come Dine with Me (T) (R) | 10.30 A&E: Crash Scene Emergency (T) (R) 11.30 Ambulance: Code Red (T) (R) 12.30 Cops (T) (R) 1.0 Cruise TV (T) (R) 2.0 GPs: Behind Closed Doors (T) (R) 2.50 Castle (T) (R) | 10.0 L Claudius (T) 11.50 The Australian Wars (T) 12.50 Canal Boat Diaries (T) 1.20 Rome: A History of the Eternal City (T) 2.20 Mary Beard's Ultimate Rome: Empire Without Limit (T) |
| 11.25 KENK The Shadows (Jaume Collin) Gems, 2016 (T) 12.45 Weather (T) 12.50 News (T) |
38
observer.co.uk 23.08.26

Better Date Than Never, BBC Three, 9.05pm Young singles take the dating plunge
| BBC One | BBC Two | ITV1 | Channel 4 | 5 | BBC Four |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.0 Breakfast (T) 9.30 Morning Live: Top Tips and Best Bits (T) 10.30 Garden Rescue (T) (R) 11.15 Homes Under the Hammer (T) 12.15 Bargain Hunt (T) (R) 1.0 News (T) 1.35 Regional News (T) 1.45 News (T) Weather 2.0 Money for Nothing (T) 2.45 Escape to the Country (T) (R) 3.30 The Repair Shop (T) (R) 4.30 The Answer Run (T) (R) 5.15 Pointless (T) (R) 6.0 News (T) Weather 6.30 Regional News (T) Weather 7.0 The One Show (T) 7.30 EastEnders (T) | 6.30 Escape to the Country (T) (R) 7.15 Money for Nothing (T) (R) 8.0 Sign Zone: Celebrity MasterChef (T) (R) 9.0 News (T) 1.0 Richard Osman's House of Games (T) (R) 1.30 The Edge (T) (R) 2.15 Do You Know Your Place? (T) (R) 2.45 Animal Park (T) (R) 3.30 Serengeti III (T) (R) 4.30 Vintage Antique Roadshow (T) (R) 5.05 Flag It! (T) (R) 6.0 Richard Osman's House of Games (T) (R) 6.30 Great Continental Railway Journeys (T) (R) In Bayeux, 7.0 Today at the Test (T) | 6.0 Good Morning Britain (T) 10.0 This Morning (T) 1.30 News (T) Weather 1.55 Local News (T) Weather 2.0 Dickinson's Real Deal (T) (R) 3.0 Deal or No Deal (T) (R) Stephen Mulhern hosts. 4.0 Tipping Point (T) (R) Quiz, hosted by Ben Shephard. 5.0 The Chase (T) (R) Phil, Richard, Vicky and Samantha take part. 6.0 Local News (T) Weather 6.30 News (T) Weather 7.30 It'll Be Alright on the Night (T) TV changers featuring Joel Dommett and Romesh Ranganathan. | 6.30 The King of Queens (T) (R) 7.45 Everybody Loves Raymond (T) (R) 9.10 Frasier (T) (R) 11.10 Ramsay's 24 Hours to Hell and Back (T) (R) 12.05 News (T) 12.10 Find It, Fix It, Flag It (T) (R) 1.10 The Great House Giveaway (T) (R) 2.10 Countdown (T) 3.0 A Place in the Sun (T) (R) 4.0 The Great B&B Challenge (T) (R) 5.0 Chateau DfY (T) (R) 6.0 American Pickers (T) (R) A warehouse in Chicago filled with superstar sports memorabilia. 7.0 News (T) | 6.0 Milkshake! 9.15 Jeremy Vine (T) 11.30 Storm & Alexis (T) 12.45 News (T) 12.50 Matt Allwright (T) 2.20 KNB To Kill a Stepfather (Peter Sullivan, 2023) (T) Thriller starring Alex Camacho. 4.0 Castle (T) 4.55 Love Nature (T) (R) 5.0 News (T) 6.0 Motorhoming with Merton & Webster (T) (R) Paul Merton and Suki Webster head to Darnis. 6.55 News (T) 7.0 Cycling: Vuelta a España 2026 (T) Rebecca Charlton hosts action from stage six. 7.55 News (T) | 7.0 Villages by the Sea (T) Examining how Devonshire Beer stone was used for the Tower of London. 7.30 Canal Boat Diaries (T) Robbie Cumming has issues with ice on the Grand Union Canal. Last in the series. |
| 8.0 Dragons' Den (T) Pitches include nut-and-seed-based snacks and a gadget for tackling water waste. 9.0 Ludwig (T) A murder witnessed by an entire wedding party proves to be quite the puzzle and John finds himself overwhelmed by the many variables. | 8.0 The Big Deal with Steph McGovern (T) The five remaining pairs explore the world of prints and limited editions in Margate. 9.0 A House Through Time (T) At the start of the 20th century, the residents of Calton Hill find themselves embroiled in bigamy. | 8.0 Emmerdale (T) A wave of shock and horror begins to pass through the village. 8.30 Coronation Street (T) Sarah fears she has placed Harry in harm's way. 9.0 Beat the Chasers (T) Contestants from across the UK take on the experts. Bradley Walsh hosts. | 8.0 Renovation Rescue (T) Richard and Nangula in West Yorkshire try to finish their eight-year renovation. 9.0 The Murder Detective (T) When the team believe they can put a name to the masked perpetrator, Murphy launches a series of high-risk operations. | 8.0 The Yorkshire Vet (T) Julian Norton performs one of his most challenging and delicate operations ever on Mils, a young girl's hamster. 9.0 Bendden Is Murder (T) Dennis and Rosa investigate the death of a man after a plightful incident. Crime drama, with John Hannah. | 8.0 Vasa: The Ghost Ship (T) Taking a look at a 10.28 Swedish naval ship that sank on its maiden voyage. 9.0 KNB Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975) (T) Thriller starring Roy Scheider. A seaside resort is plagued by a killer shark, prompting the police chief into action. |
| 10.0 News (T) 10.30 Regional News (T) Weather 10.40 The Truth About My Murder (T) Documentary. 12.40 Alan Carr's Picture Slam (T) (R) 1.25 Weather for the Week Ahead 1.30 News (T) | 10.0 Red Dwarf (T) (R) Comedy. 10.30 Newsnight (T) Weather 11.05 Emergency 24/7 (T) (R) 12.05 KNB Dear Evan Hansen (Stephen Chbosky, 2021) (T) 2.10 Sign Zone: Brexit: A Very British Civil War (T) (R) | 10.0 News (T) Weather 10.30 Local News (T) Weather 10.45 KNB No Time to Die (Cary Jop Fukunaga, 2021) (T) 1.25 Shop on TV 3.0 The Summit (T) (R) 3.50 Unwind with ITV (T) | 10.0 The Never Ending Murder (T) New information reignites the case. 11.0 The Never Ending Murder (T) Last in the series. 12.0 Crime Scene Cleaners (T) (R) Documentary. | 10.0 Killer at the Crime Scene (T) A look at neoclassical Autumn Klein's murder. 11.05 Fatal First Dates (T) True crime documentary. 12.05 Street Caps: Catching the Yobs (T) (R) Documentary. | 11.0 Talking Pictures (T) The story of Steven Spielberg's aquatic horror. 1.45 KNB Jaws 2 (Jeannot Szwarc, 1978) (T) Thriller sequel with Roy Scheider. 1.35 Canal Boat Diaries (T) |

The Marlow Murder Club, BBC Two, 9pm Samantha Bond turns sleuth after witnessing her neighbour's murder
| BBC One | BBC Two | ITV1 | Channel 4 | 5 | BBC Four |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.0 Breakfast (T) 9.30 Morning Live: Top Tips and Best Bits (T) 10.30 Garden Rescue (T) (R) 11.15 Homes Under the Hammer (T) (R) 12.15 Bargain Hunt (T) 1.0 News (T) 1.35 Regional News (T) 1.45 News (T) 2.0 Sister Boniface Mysteries (T) 2.45 Escape to the Country (T) (R) 3.30 The Repair Shop (T) (R) 4.30 The Answer Run (T) (R) 5.15 Pointless (T) (R) 6.0 News (T) Weather 6.30 Regional News (T) 7.0 The One Show (T) 7.30 The Travelling Auctioneers (T) (R) | 6.15 Homes Under the Hammer (R) 7.15 Money for Nothing (T) (R) 8.0 Sign Zone: A House Through Time (T) (R) 9.0 News (T) 1.0 Richard Osman's House of Games (T) (R) 1.30 The Edge (T) (R) 2.15 Do You Know Your Place? (T) (R) 2.45 Animal Park (T) (R) 3.30 Serengeti III (T) (R) 4.30 Vintage Antique Roadshow (T) (R) 5.25 Flag It! (T) (R) 6.0 Richard Osman's House of Games (T) (R) 6.30 Great Continental Railway Journeys (T) (R) In Giverny. 7.0 Today at the Test (T) | 6.0 Good Morning Britain (T) 10.0 This Morning (T) 1.30 News (T) Weather 1.55 Local News (T) Weather 2.0 Dickinson's Real Deal (T) (R) 3.0 Deal or No Deal (T) (R) 4.0 Tipping Point (T) (R) Quiz show, hosted by Ben Shephard. 5.0 The Chase (T) (R) Dylan, Jade, Rachel and Tom take on one of the Chasers. 6.0 Local News (T) Weather 6.30 News (T) Weather 7.30 Abbey Clancy: Celebrity Homes (T) (R) Abbey visits homes belonging to Heidi Range and Jodie Kidd. | 6.30 The King of Queens (T) (R) 7.45 Everybody Loves Raymond (T) (R) 9.10 Frasier (T) (R) 11.10 Ramsay's 24 Hours to Hell and Back (T) (R) 12.05 News (T) 12.10 Find It, Fix It, Flag It (T) (R) 1.10 The Great House Giveaway (T) (R) 2.10 Countdown (T) 3.0 A Place in the Sun (T) (R) 4.0 The Great B&B Challenge (T) (R) 5.0 Chateau DfY (T) (R) 6.0 American Pickers (T) (R) Mike Wolfe meets a retired auctioneer training his daughter to enter the trade. 7.0 News (T) | 6.0 Milkshake! 9.15 Jeremy Vine (T) 11.30 Storm & Alexis (T) 12.45 News (T) 12.50 Matt Allwright (T) 2.20 KNB Deadly Girls Trip (Damian Romay, 2025) (T) Thriller starring Kristi Murdoch. 4.0 Castle (T) 4.55 Love Nature (T) (R) 5.0 News (T) 6.0 Motorhoming with Merton & Webster (T) (R) Paul Merton and his wife Suki Webster explore Yorkshire. 6.55 News (T) 7.0 Cycling: Vuelta a España 2026 (T) Rebecca Charlton presents action from stage seven. 7.55 News (T) | 7.0 The Met Orchestra Plays Strauss at the Proms (T) New York's Met Orchestra make their much-anticipated debut at the Proms under the baton of music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin. |
| 8.0 Celebrity MasterChef (T) The remaining celebrities cook for Tom Kerridge. 9.0 Would Lie to You? (T) (R) With guests Sam Campbell, Dave Carson, Darren Harriott and Al Odudu. 9.30 Mrs Brown's Boys (T) (R) A hypnotist performs at the triplets' baptism. | 8.0 Gardeners' World (T) As a summer marked by record-breaking heat comes to a close. Monty Don reflects on how it has tended up for others. 9.0 The Marlow Murder Club (T) (R) Adaptation of Robert Thorogood's novel starring Samantha Bond. | 8.0 Emmerdale (T) Caleb and Ruby share guilty looks. 8.30 Coronation Street (T) Sarah and Kit each attempt to eliminate Kacey's threat. 9.0 The Rainmaker (T) New series. Legal drama starring Milo Calaghan. A young lawyer becomes trapped by a dangerous firm. | 8.0 Jimmy Doherty's Big Bear Rescue (T) (R) The farmer tries to relocate two polar bears from Sweden. 9.0 The Murder Detective (T) After years of investigation and arrests, lead detective Jason Murphy is ready to make his boldest move yet. Last in the series. | 8.0 Alexander Armstrong in Sri Lanka (T) (R) The presenter moves north into Tamil country. Last in the series. 9.0 Heat (T) (R) The truth behind Tom's injury is revealed, and Brad's hopes with Mia are explored. Drama, starring Danny Dyer and Matteo Annetta. | 8.45 TOTP: 2000 Jamie Theakston presents the pop chart programme. 9.15 TOTP: 1978 (T) David Jensen presents an edition from 24 August 1978. 9.50 TOTP: 1988 (T) Featuring Big Country, Bomb the Bass, Womack and Womack, and Status Quo. |
| 10.0 News (T) 10.30 Regional News (T) Weather 10.40 Fontaines DC (R) Reading Festival 2026 (T) Coverage of the headliner's set. 12.10 KNB Man & Olie (Jon S. Baird, 2018) (T) Biopic. | 10.30 Newsnight (T) Weather 11.05 KNB Tuesday (Diana O. Pusic, 2023) (T) Premiere. 12.45 Sign Zone: The Mother of All Cons (T) (R) 1.45 Sign Zone: The Big Deal with Steph McGovern (T) (R) | 10.0 News (T) Weather 10.15 KNB Superman Returns (Bryan Singer, 2006) (T) Comic-book adventure. 12.50 Shop on TV 3.0 Force of Nature (T) (R) 3.50 Long Lost Family (T) (R) | 10.10 The Big Fat Quiz of Telly (T) (R) With Harry Hill. 12.10 KNB 12.7 Hours (Danny Boyle, 2010) (T) Fact-based drama 1.45 Kitchen Nightmares USA (T) (R) 2.35 Four in a Bed (T) (R) | 10.0 Heat (T) (R) Terror sets in when Tom does not return. Last in the series. 11.05 When TV News Goes Horribly Wrong Mishaps on live news broadcasts (T) 1.00 Cruise TV (T) | 10.20 The Specials: 6 Music Sessions (T) The 2-Tone pioneers in a session. 10.55 2 Tone: The Sound of Coventry (T) Documentary. 11.55 The Specials: Rock Goes To College (T) A concert. |
| BBC One | BBC Two | ITV1 | Channel 4 | 5 | BBC Four |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.0 Breakfast (T) 10.0 Saturday Kitchen (T) 11.30 Anna Haugh's Big Irish Food Tour (T) 12.0 Bargain Hunt (T) 12.45 The Football Interview (T) 1.0 News (T) 1.15 Money for Nothing (T) 2.0 Homes Under the Hammer (T) 3.0 Escape to the Country (T) 3.45 Final Score (T) 5.15 News (T) 5.25 Regional News (T) Weather 5.30 Weather (T) 5.35 The Hit List (T) 6.20 Alan Carr's Celebrity Picture Slam (T) 7.10FREE Paddington 2 (Paul King, 2017) (T) Comedy. | 6.15 Children's programmes 9.0 Gardeners' World (T) 10.0 This Wild Life (T) 10.30 FREE Laura (Otto Preminger, 2014) (T) 11.55 The Great British Sewing Bee (T) 12.55 Race Against the Tide (T) 1.25 FREE Beaches (Garry Marshall, 1988) (T) 3.20 FREE Full Under the Sun (Guy Hamilton, 1962) (T) 1.25 Hercule Poirot mystery. 5.15 Super League Live (T) Wakefield Trinity v York Knights (kick-off 5.30pm). 7.30 Celebrating James Bond at the Proms (T) | 6.0 FREE For Your Eyes Only (John Glen, 1981) (T) James Bond spy the Bar starring Roger Moore. 8.25 Prue Leith's Cotswold Kitchen (T) 9.25 News (T) 9.30 James Martin's Saturday Morning (T) 12.0 EFL Live (T) Middleborough v West Bromwich Albion (kick-off 12.30pm). 2.55 FREE Never Say Never Again (Irish Kershner, 1983) (T) 5.25 News (T) Weather 5.45 Local News (T) Weather 6.0 The Chase Celebrity Special (T) 7.0 The Voice UK (T) 7.0 The Voice UK (T) 7.0 The Voice UK (T) 7.0 The Voice UK (T) 7.0 The Voice UK (T) 7.0 The Voice UK (T) 7.0 The Voice UK (T) 7.0 The Voice UK (T) 7.0 The Voice UK (T) 7.0 The Voice UK (T) 7.0 The Voice UK (T) 7.0 The Voice UK (T) | 6.0 FREE For Your Eyes Only (John Glen, 1981) (T) James Bond spy the Bar starring Roger Moore. 8.25 Prue Leith's Cotswold Kitchen (T) 9.25 News (T) 9.30 James Martin's Saturday Morning (T) 12.0 EFL Live (T) Middleborough v West Bromwich Albion (kick-off 12.30pm). 2.55 FREE Never Say Never Again (Irish Kershner, 1983) (T) 5.25 News (T) Weather 5.45 Local News (T) Weather 6.0 The Chase Celebrity Special (T) 7.0 The Voice UK (T) 7.0 The Voice UK (T) 7.0 The Voice UK (T) 7.0 The Voice UK (T) 7.0 The Voice UK (T) 7.0 The Voice UK (T) 7.0 The Voice UK (T) | 6.0 Cheers (T) (R) 7.45 Everybody Loves Raymond (T) (R) Comedy series with Ray Romano. 9.10 Superhero Tri 2026 (T) 9.55 Frasier (T) 11.25 The Simpsons (T) 11.50 Four in a Bed (T) 4.25 George Clarke's Amazing Spaces (T) 5.30 Grand Designs (T) 5.35 Grand Designs (T) 5.35 Grand Designs (T) 5.35 Grand Designs (T) 5.35 Grand Designs (T) 5.35 Grand Designs (T) 5.35 Grand Designs (T) 5.35 Grand Designs (T) 5.35 Grand Designs (T) | 6.0 Milkshake! 9.0 |
| 8.50 The Weakest Link (T) (R) Contestants include Donna Preston, Jon Cushhaw, Janetta, Simon Calder and Dianne Boswell. 9.35 Ghazla (T) (R) Comedy with Charlotte Ritchie and Kelli Smith-Bynne. Mary walks Julian through her journey of self-discovery. | 9.0 Wham! 10 Days in China (T) Documentary about George Michael and Andrew Ridgley's two concerts in China in 1985. The band and their team reflect on the historic shows, which offered their audience a first taste of western pop culture. | 8.15 The 1% Club (T) (R) Quiz, hosted by Lee Mack. 9.15 News (T) Weather 9.30 FREE Man of Steel (Zack Snyder, 2013) (T) Superhero adventure starring Henry Cavill. An alien living in secret on Earth defends the human race from an invasion. | 8.0 FREE Black Panther (Ryan Conger, 2018) (T) Comic-book adventure starring Chadwick Boseman Michael & Jordan. Lupita Nyong'o and Martin Feenman. The new ruler of a hidden African nation faces a challenge for his throne. | 8.0 Andree, Fergie & the Scandal of SouthYork (T) (R) Documentary looking at the controversy surrounding Sunnighill Park in Berkshire. 9.0 9/11: The Unseen Footage (T) Documentary telling the story of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks. | 8.0 Life on Earth (T) Predators and prey in east Africa. 8.55 Planet Earth: An Elephant's Tale (T) The 14 nights of a newborn elephant. 9.0 Kabul (T) The Americans discover an imminent plan to bomb Kabul airport. 9.55 Kabul (T) Last in the geopolitical drama series. |
| 10.05 News (T) 10.20 Weather (T) 10.25 Match of the Day (T) 11.35 Rape @ Reading Festival 2026 (T) 12.50 Weather for the Week Ahead (T) 12.55 News (T) | 10.25 Wham! at the BBC (T) (R) Archive performances. 11.35 TOTP 1985 Big Hits (T) (R) 12.35 Today at the Test (T) (R) 1.35 FREE Compartment No 6 (Juno Kusumanen, 2021) 3.20 Sign Zone: Ludwig (R) | 12.0 English Football League Highlights (T) Action from the latest matches. 1.20 Shop on TV 3.0 The Summit (T) 3.50 Unwind (T) 5.05 Fern Britton: Inside the Yet's (R) | 10.45 FREE Terminator: Dark Fate (Tim Bates, 2016) (T) 1.0 White Ant (T) 1.15 Kitchen Nightmares USA (T) (R) 2.05 FREE Hope (Maria Sodom, 2019) 4.10 The Simpsons (T) (R) | 10.30 FREE Kirkby Boots (Julian James, 2020) (T) Comedy. 12.35 George Michael: The Man & the Music (T) (R) 1.05 Cruise TV with Lovel Bookit (T) (R) 2.05 GPE Behind Closed Doors (T) (R) | 10.50 To the Manor Bom (T) 11.15 Keeping Up Appearances 11.45 Timeshift: The Great British Seaside Holiday (T) 12.30 Ray Means and Ewan McGregor Extreme Jungle (T) 1.30 Life on Earth (T) |
| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Radio 3 6.30am Breakfast 9.0 Sunday Morning 11.0 BBC Proms 2026 1.30 Music May 3.0 The Colours in Sound 4.0 Jazz Record. 5.0 Early Music Show 6.0 Choral Evensong 7.0 New Generation Artists 7.30 BBC Proms 2026 10.0 Night Tracks 11.30 Unclassified 12.30 Through the Night. Chopin and Beethoven. | Radio 3 6.30am Breakfast 9.30 Essential Classics 1.0 Classical Live 4.0 Composer of the Week: Sally Beamish 5.0 In Tune 7.0 BBC Proms 2026 10.0 Night Tracks 11.30 Round Midnight 12.30 Through the Night | Radio 4 6.0am Today 9.0 The Great Crime Mystery 9.30 How Did We Get Here: No World Order 10.0 Woman's Hour 11.0 All Kinds of Minds 11.45 Book of the Week 12.0 News 12.04 You and Yours 1.0 The World 1.45 Human Intelligence 2.0 The Archers 2.15 Fags, Mags and Bags 2.45 Opening Lines 3.0 Great Lives 3.30 You're Dead to Me 4.0 The WhatsApp Underground 4.30 Soul Music 5.0 PM 6.0 News 6.30 Just a Mess 7.0 The Archers 7.15 Front Row 8.0 The Briefing Room 8.30 BBC Inside Science 9.0 The Great Crime Mystery 9.30 How Did We Get Here: No World Order 10.0 The World Tonight 10.45 Book at Bedtime: Mr. Sidhu's Post Office 11.0 There's Something Weed to Tell You 11.30 Everything Is Fake and Nobody Cares 12.0 News and Weather 12.30 Book of the Week 12.48 Shipping Forecast 1.0 As BBC World Service 5.0 News Summary 5.04 BBC Inside Science 5.34 Shipping Forecast 5.43 Prayer for the Day 5.45 Farming Today | Radio 4 6.0am Today 9.0 Invisible Hands 9.30 Michael Sheen Gets into Character 10.0 Woman's Hour 11.0 Add to Playlist 11.45 Book of the Week: All the Beauty in the World 12.0 News 12.04 Call You and Yours 1.0 The World 1.45 Human Intelligence 2.0 The Archers 2.15 Dramas The Test Batter Can't Breathe 3.0 What's Secret Heroes 3.30 Heart and Soul 4.0 An Evening with Dave Van Roek 4.30 What's Up Docs? 5.0 PM 6.0 Six O'Clock News 6.30 Paul Sinha's Perfect Pub Quiz 7.0 The Archers 7.15 Front Row 8.0 The Coroners Question 8.40 In Touch 9.0 Crossing Continents 9.30 Scam Secrets 10.0 The World Tonight 10.45 Book at Bedtime: Mr. Sidhu's Post Office 11.0 Half-Life 11.30 Everything Is Fake and Nobody Cares 12.0 News and Weather 12.30 Book of the Week 12.48 Shipping Forecast 1.0 As BBC World Service 5.0 News Summary 5.04 BBC Inside Science 5.34 Shipping Forecast 5.43 Prayer for the Day 5.45 Farming Today | Radio 4 6.0am Today 9.0 Invisible Hands 9.30 Michael Sheen Gets into Character 10.0 Woman's Hour 11.0 Add to Playlist 11.45 Book of the Week: All the Beauty in the World 12.0 News 12.04 Call You and Yours 1.0 The World 1.45 Human Intelligence 2.0 The Archers 2.15 Dramas The Test Batter Can't Breathe 3.0 What's Secret Heroes 3.30 Heart and Soul 4.0 An Evening with Dave Van Roek 4.30 What's Up Docs? 5.0 PM 6.0 Six O'Clock News 6.30 Paul Sinha's Perfect Pub Quiz 7.0 The Archers 7.15 Front Row 8.0 The Coroners Question 8.40 In Touch 9.0 Crossing Continents 9.30 Scam Secrets 10.0 The World Tonight 10.45 Book at Bedtime: Mr. Sidhu's Post Office 11.0 Half-Life 11.30 Everything Is Fake and Nobody Cares 12.0 News and Weather 12.30 Book of the Week 12.48 Shipping Forecast 1.0 As BBC World Service 5.0 News Summary 5.04 BBC Inside Science 5.34 Shipping Forecast 5.43 Prayer for the Day 5.45 Farming Today | Radio 4 6.0am Today 9.0 Invisible Hands 9.30 Michael Sheen Gets into Character 10.0 Woman's Hour 11.0 Add to Playlist 11.45 Book of the Week: All the Beauty in the World 12.0 News 12.04 Call You and Yours 1.0 The World 1.45 Human Intelligence 2.0 The Archers 2.15 Dramas The Test Batter Can't Breathe 3.0 What's Secret Heroes 3.30 Heart and Soul 4.0 An Evening with Dave Van Roek 4.30 What's Up Docs? 5.0 PM 6.0 Six O'Clock News 6.30 Paul Sinha's Perfect Pub Quiz 7.0 The Archers 7.15 Front Row 8.0 The Coroners Question 8.40 In Touch 9.0 Crossing Continents 9.30 Scam Secrets 10.0 The World Tonight 10.45 Book at Bedtime: Mr. Sidhu's Post Office 11.0 Half-Life 11.30 Everything Is Fake and Nobody Cares 12.0 News and Weather 12.30 Book of the Week 12.48 Shipping Forecast 1.0 As BBC World Service 5.0 News Summary 5.04 BBC Inside Science 5.34 Shipping Forecast 5.43 Prayer for the Day 5.45 Farming Today | Friday Radio 3 6.30am Breakfast 9.30 Essential Classics 1.0 Classical Live 4.0 Composer of the Week: Sally Beamish 5.0 In Tune 6.0 BBC Proms 2026 10.0 BBC Proms 2026 11.45 Round Midnight 12.30 Through the Night. A selection of music. | Radio 3 6.30am Breakfast 9.30 Essential Classics 1.0 Classical Live 4.0 Composer of the Week: Sally Beamish 5.0 In Tune 6.0 BBC Proms 2026 10.0 BBC Proms 2026 11.45 Round Midnight 12.30 Through the Night. A selection of music. | Radio 3 6.30am Breakfast 9.30 Essential Classics 1.0 Classical Live 4.0 Composer of the Week: Sally Beamish 5.0 In Tune 6.0 BBC Proms 2026 10.0 BBC Proms 2026 11.45 Round Midnight 12.30 Through the Night. A selection of music. | Radio 3 6.30am Breakfast 9.30 Essential Classics 1.0 Classical Live 4.0 Composer of the Week: Sally Beamish 5.0 In Tune 6.0 BBC Proms 2026 10.0 BBC Proms 2026 11.45 Round Midnight 12.30 Through the Night. A selection of music. |
| Radio 4 6.0am News Headlines 6.05 Heart and Soul 6.35 On Your Farm 7.0 News 7.0 Sunday Papers 7.10 Sunday 7.54 Radio 4 Appeal 8.0 News 8.0 Sunday Papers 8.10 Sunday Worship 8.48 Witness History 8.58 Tweet of the Day 9.0 Broadcasting House 10.0 The Hearers 10.0 The Archers 12.15 Last Word: Doing Death Differently 12.30 Just a Mess 13.0 The World This Weekend 1.30 The WhatsApp Underground 2.0 Gardeners' Question Time 2.45 Opening Lines 3.0 Drama: Midnight Cowboy 4.0 Take Four Books 4.30 Brain of Britain 5.0 Witness History 5.10 Behind the Crime 5.54 Shipping Forecast 6.0 On O'Clock News 6.15 Part of the Week 7.0 The Archers 7.15 Ringing the Bullying 7.45 Just One Thing with Michael Mosley 8.0 The Deadliest Book in England 8.30 Last Word 9.0 Toast 9.26 Radio 4 Appeal 9.30 From Our Own Correspondent 10.0 The Trickster: A Thistle up the Backside of Society 11.0 Great Lives 11.30 Hoax 11.45 Short Works 12.0 News and Weather 12.15 Crossing Continents 12.45 Bells on Sunday 12.48 Shipping Forecast 1.0 As BBC World Service 5.0 News Summary 5.04 Last Word 5.34 Shipping Forecast 5.43 Prayer for the Day 5.45 Farming Today | Radio 3 6.30am Breakfast 9.30 Essential Classics 1.0 Classical Live 4.0 Composer of the Week: Sally Beamish 5.0 In Tune 6.0 BBC Proms 2026 10.0 BBC Proms 2026 11.45 Round Midnight 12.30 Through the Night. A selection of music. | Radio 3 6.30am Breakfast 9.30 Essential Classics 1.0 Classical Live 4.0 Composer of the Week: Sally Beamish 5.0 In Tune 6.0 BBC Proms 2026 10.0 BBC Proms 2026 11.45 Round Midnight 12.30 Through the Night. A selection of music. | Radio 3 6.30am Breakfast 9.30 Essential Classics 1.0 Classical Live 4.0 Composer of the Week: Sally Beamish 5.0 In Tune 6.0 BBC Proms 2026 10.0 BBC Proms 2026 11.45 Round Midnight 12.30 Through the Night. A selection of music. | Radio 3 6.30am Breakfast 9.30 Essential Classics 1.0 Classical Live 4.0 Composer of the Week: Sally Beamish 5.0 In Tune 6.0 BBC Proms 2026 10.0 BBC Proms 2026 11.45 Round Midnight 12.30 Through the Night. A selection of music. | |||||
| Radio 4 6.0am Today 9.0 The Great Crime Mystery 9.30 How Did We Get Here: No World Order 10.0 Woman's Hour 11.0 All Kinds of Minds 11.45 Book of the Week: All the Beauty in the World 12.0 News 12.04 You and Yours 1.0 The World 1.45 Human Intelligence 2.0 The Archers 2.15 Fags, Mags and Bags 2.45 Opening Lines 3.0 Great Lives 3.30 You're Dead to Me 4.0 The WhatsApp Underground 4.30 Soul Music 5.0 PM 6.0 Six O'Clock News 6.30 Paul Sinha's Perfect Pub Quiz 7.0 The Archers 7.15 Front Row 8.0 The Coroners Question 8.40 In Touch 9.0 Crossing Continents 9.30 Scam Secrets 10.0 The World Tonight 10.45 Book at Bedtime: Mr. Sidhu's Post Office 11.0 Half-Life 11.30 Everything Is Fake and Nobody Cares 12.0 News and Weather 12.30 Book of the Week 12.48 Shipping Forecast 1.0 As BBC World Service 5.0 News Summary 5.04 BBC Inside Science 5.34 Shipping Forecast 5.43 Prayer for the Day 5.45 Farming Today | Radio 3 6.30am Breakfast 9.30 Essential Classics 1.0 Classical Live 4.0 Composer of the Week: Sally Beamish 5.0 In Tune 6.0 BBC Proms 2026 10.0 BBC Proms 2026 11.45 Round Midnight 12.30 Through the Night. A selection of music. | Radio 3 6.30am Breakfast 9.30 Essential Classics 1.0 Classical Live 4.0 Composer of the Week: Sally Beamish 5.0 In Tune 6.0 BBC Proms 2026 10.0 BBC Proms 2026 11.45 Round Midnight 12.30 Through the Night. A selection of music. | Radio 3 6.30am Breakfast 9.30 Essential Classics 1.0 Classical Live 4.0 Composer of the Week: Sally Beamish 5.0 In Tune 6.0 BBC Proms 2026 10.0 BBC Proms 2026 11.45 Round Midnight 12.30 Through the Night. A selection of music. | Radio 3 6.30am Breakfast 9.30 Essential Classics 1.0 Classical Live 4.0 Composer of the Week: Sally Beamish 5.0 In Tune 6.0 BBC Proms 2026 10.0 BBC Proms 2026 11.45 Round Midnight 12.30 Through the Night. A selection of music. | |||||
| Radio 4 6.0am Today 9.0 The Great Crime Mystery 9.30 How Did We Get Here: No World Order 10.0 Woman's Hour 11.0 This Cultural Life 11.45 Book of the Week: All the Beauty in the World 12.0 News 12.04 You and Yours 1.0 The World 1.45 Human Intelligence 2.0 The Archers 2.15 Drama: Central Intelligence 2.45 Living on the Edge 3.0 Gardeners' Question Time 3.45 Short Works 4.0 Last Word 4.30 Sideways 5.0 PM 6.0 Six O'Clock News 6.30 The People Have Spoken 7.0 The Archers 7.15 Add to Playlist 8.0 Any Questions 8.55 This Week in History 9.0 Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics 9.30 Breakin' the Cycle 10.0 The World Tonight 10.45 Book at Bedtime: Mr. Sidhu's Post Office 11.0 Americard 11.30 Everything Is Fake and Nobody Cares 12.0 News and Weather 12.30 Book of the Week: All the Beauty in the World 12.48 Shipping Forecast 1.0 As BBC World Service 5.30 News Summary 5.34 Shipping Forecast | Radio 3 6.30am Breakfast 9.30 Essential Classics 1.0 Classical Live 4.0 Composer of the Week: Sally Beamish 5.0 In Tune 6.0 BBC Proms 2026 10.0 BBC Proms 2026 11.45 Round Midnight 12.30 Through the Night. A selection of music. | Radio 3 6.30am Breakfast 9.30 Essential Classics 1.0 Classical Live 4.0 Composer of the Week: Sally Beamish 5.0 In Tune 6.0 BBC Proms 2026 10.0 BBC Proms 2026 11.45 Round Midnight 12.30 Through the Night. A selection of music. | Radio 3 6.30am Breakfast 9.30 Essential Classics 1.0 Classical Live 4.0 Composer of the Week: Sally Beamish 5.0 In Tune 6.0 BBC Proms 2026 10.0 BBC Proms 2026 11.45 Round Midnight 12.30 Through the Night. A selection of music. | Radio 3 6.30am Breakfast 9.30 Essential Classics 1.0 Classical Live 4.0 Composer of the Week: Sally Beamish 5.0 In Tune 6.0 BBC Proms 2026 10.0 BBC Proms 2026 11.45 Round Midnight 12.30 Through the Night. A selection of music. |
40
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
Critics
Barbara Ellen

Ludwig BBC One Professor T ITV1
ABOVE RIGHT Shades of Scooby-Doo...Anna Maxwell Martin and David Mitchell return in Ludwig.
BELOW Zoë Wanamaker, Ben Miller and Juliet Stevenson in the 'odd and intense' Professor T. BBC, ITV

"What some don't seem to realise about cosy crime buffs is how picky they are about plotting"
The debut series of Ludwig (BBC One), created and written by Mark Brotherhood, was a cosy crime juggernaut: the BBC's biggest scripted hit of 2024, it accrued more than 10 million viewers. Returning for a second six-part run, David Mitchell reprises his role as John, a crossword setter working under the pseudonym Ludwig, whose identical twin brother, James, a detective chief inspector, is missing.
In the first series, John's sister-in-law, Lucy, played by Anna Maxwell Martin, convinced the tweedy loner eccentric to impersonate James in the Cambridge police force, leading to him solving elementary crimes using puzzle logic. In series two, James is still missing and John, while no longer impersonating his twin, is helping the police in the capacity of crime consultant.
The premise is of course preposterous – as far-fetched as John's puzzle-based leaps of logic when it comes to solving the kind of cases that occur only in cosy crime (the new season opener involves a woman impaled on scissors in a theatre).
Not that it matters, because Ludwig is a comedy drama, one benefiting from novelty (crimes solved with John's puzzle logic) and enough suspense to keep the pulse gently racing. It hits that British sweet spot for those who like their mysteries on the temperate side: no drug gangs, shootouts or deranged serial killers. It's also, crucially, a modern spin on cosy crime for those who can't take any more Marple-copyist chintz-noir.
The first series made me wonder whether Ludwig could evolve into the British take on Only Murders in the Building, mixing proven comedy talents/personas (Mitchell bringing a subdued Mark from Peep Show; Maxwell Martin riffing on Julia from Motherland) with campy silliness and parental guidance levels of Scooby-Doo suspense.
Going by the first three new episodes, Ludwig could be at risk of losing the suspense built on James's continued disappearance. Not that efforts aren't made to keep it going. Lucy, who with John forms an ersatz husband-and-wife detective duo, manages to become a crime reporter for Mark Bonner's East Anglia Advertiser. Suspects continue to be suspicious, among them a shifty police boss (Ralph Ineson) and an MP, played by Fleshag's Sian Clifford, who lives in a huge modern house (cosy crime code for "baddie").
Maxwell Martin is, as always, great, while Mitchell continues to deliver a bumptious but likable Ludwig. He
fits into the modern world with all the ease of someone who would be at home sitting in a wingback chair in a bygone era, becoming agitated when things cease to be logical, crying out: "Too many variables!"
The new crimes (one each episode) can be a giggle: the first with the scissors, starring Rebecca Front and Doon Mackichan as the daughters of the deceased, is a mini-masterpiece of old-school suburban daftness. The second features a death at a wedding (cosy crime loves nuptials), while the third goes all racy and contemporary with the untimely demise of an influencer.
The crimes are well performed but, as with the first series, underplotted to the point of being rudimentary. Likewise, when John applies his puzzle logic to solving the mysteries (it's a gear puzzle, it's a maze, and so on), it requires not just a suspension of disbelief but an entire cranial shutdown. Which starts to matter when episodes last an hour and the suspense elsewhere is flagging.
What some don't seem to realise about cosy crime buffs, whether they're watching TV or reading the printed page, is how picky they are about plotting: even if the tone is lighthearted and jokey, the denouements have to work. Ludwig has enough charm and defines to survive a slightly bumpy second series, but in the long term it misunderstands the demands of its genre at its peril.
On ITV1 is the delayed fourth series of Professor T, which, like Ludwig, is set in Cambridge (primetime telly does love an Oxbridge setting) and features a leftfield quasi-detective.
Professor T, or Jasper Tempest, played by Ben Miller, is a university criminologist who suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder. The professor – originally a character in a Belgian series – is a rigid individual, walking stiffly with hanging arms and forever snapping on plastic gloves in a manner more befitting a serial killer. Last series he ended up languishing in prison, but here he is out and in his own way deeply mourning the death of a police detective friend.
Professor T has always been an odd and intense watch. In some ways a straightforward detective series, it features bolted-on surreal elements; for instance, the rapping of a pencil turns into a vision of the professor pounding on a drum kit. The somewhat stilted central character is offset with a winning supporting cast, which includes Juliet Stevenson as Professor T's insightful psychologist, and Zoë Wanamaker as his groovy aunt. Best of all, there's Frances de la Tour as the professor's mother – usually to be seen wafting about in Cruella de Vil coats – dispensing heady bolts of onscreen charisma, though thus far, this series, she has only appeared via iPhone ("I'm in Venice, dear boy").
Like Ludwig, Professor T is implausibly called upon to help the police with crimes. In the series opener a woman disappears, presumably overboard, from a glitzy yacht. Episode two is set, Thursday Murder Club-style, in a retirement village. Tonally, the show is jerky and confusing (anything but cosy), the crimes mildly diverting at best, at worst limp and pointless.
What bolsters Professor T is its commitment to delivering an in-depth character study of the OCD-suffering criminologist. Almost against your will, you want to know what happens to him.
Barbara Ellen's best of the rest
Buried with Michael Sheen
(BBC Two) The actor turns real-life sleuth in this passionate docuseries about an outrageous environmental scandal. It involves the poisoning of the Welsh countryside via the industrial dumping of toxic chemicals called PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls). A determined and thorough investigation.
Celebrity MasterChef (BBC Two)
Grace Dent introduces new co-judge Italian chef Giorgio Locatelli, as celebrity contestants including Paralympian Lauren Steadman and comedian Joe Pasquale proceed to bake, boil, roast and whisk for glory.
Novak Djokovic:
The Wolf in Winter (Amazon Prime Video) This sports documentary delves into the life and career of the perma-inextricable and routinely unbeatable Serbian tennis player (below).

44
observer.co.uk 23.08.26
Critics
Barbara Ellen


WATCH LIST
Buried with Michael Sheen
Novak Djokovic: The Wolf in Winter
(Amazon Prime Video) This sports documentary delves into the life and career of the perma-inextricable and routinely unbeatable Serbian tennis player (below).

在系统通盘梳理本期报纸所涉及的所有国际政治、经济、社会与文化报道后,以下 3 个具体事件在制度结构、权力技术与法理合法性层面最值得学者进一步深思:
【官僚机构对王室安保信息的封锁】 [F11_20 🔍](版面:第11版/专业栏目)
【GCSE英语评级制度的结构性排斥】 [F7_13, F8_15](版面:第7-8版/专业栏目)
【气候危机下的环境燃料化与制度滞后】 [F2_4, F3_5](版面:主报深度版面)
在关于萨塞克斯公爵夫妇安保安排的争议中 [F11_20 🔍],英国政府展现了一种极具代表性的现代官僚权力运作模式。首相将安保定义为“私人事务”,而内政部则通过强调 Ravec(相关安保机构)的“运行独立性”来拒绝信息公开。这一逻辑链条精准地构建了一个无法被外部审计的“制度黑箱”。
援引韦伯的“官僚制铁笼”理论,现代权力不再依赖于粗暴的强制,而是依赖于对程序的绝对掌控。在此事件中,权力运作通过三种技术实现:首先是定义权的操纵,将公共资金支持的安保安排定义为“私人事务”,从而在逻辑上切断了公众监督的合法性;其次是组织结构的碎片化,通过强调机构的“独立运行”,将责任在不同部门之间进行切割,使得任何单一行为体无需为整体结果负责;最后是安全话语的绝对化,以“损害完整性”和“影响安全”作为终极挡箭牌,将所有质疑转化为对安全的威胁。
这种机制揭示了当代治理中的一个悖论:制度设计的初衷是为了通过专业化提高效率,但在实际运作中,这种专业化被转化为一种屏蔽机制。当“安全”成为一种无需证明的先验真理时,官僚机构便获得了在法律监督之外行使权力的特权。这种权力技术预示了一种治理趋势——即权力可以通过不断细分机构、定义专业领域并套用安全话语,将公共决策过程移出民主监督的视野。
在英格兰 GCSE 英语成绩的评级争议中 [F7_13, F8_15],3.9万名学生因评级从“D”变为“3”而面临必须重考的困境。这一现象并非简单的学术标准提升,而是一次典型的“量化暴力”:制度通过改变符号定义,在不改变学生实际能力的情况下,直接剥夺了他们进入全日制教育的资格。
从制度批判视角看,这种评级转换揭示了量化评价体系的刚性。当教育质量被简化为数字等级时,制度便产生了一种“符号权力”。在这种权力运作下,一个数字的变动(3级 vs 4级)就成为了决定个体生命轨迹的绝对分水岭。这种机制将复杂的学习过程还原为单一的判定结果,导致了严重的社会排斥效应——那些处于边缘地带的学生被制度性地推向了教育体系的外部。
这种制度性排斥的深层逻辑在于,管理效率被置于个体发展之上。通过统一的、刚性的评级标准,教育行政部门实现了大规模的人员筛选与分类,但这种效率是以牺牲教育的包容性为代价的。当学生被告知必须重考才能继续学业时,制度实际上是在传达一种信号:个体的学术成长必须服从于预设的量化指标。这种非人性化的制度逻辑,使得教育不再是阶层流动的阶梯,而变成了通过符号筛选实施社会分层的工具。
【关于“安全话语”作为制度屏蔽工具的比较研究】:在不同治理模式中,政府如何利用“运行独立性”来构建信息黑箱?这种话语技术在数字治理时代(如算法黑箱)是如何被进一步强化并内化为制度逻辑的?
【关于量化评价体系的社会排斥机制研究】:当教育或社会信用体系通过微小的量化标准调整产生大规模排斥效应时,如何建立一种能够对抗“符号暴力”的制度救济机制,以确保个体权利不被简单的数字转换所抹杀?
在系统通盘梳理本期报纸所涉及的报道后,以下 3 个具体事件在个体生命体验、制度压力与生活世界崩解层面最值得学者进一步深思:
【前囚犯的生存绝望与早逝风险】 [F17_31-32](生活领域:健康与身体/社会边缘)
【教育制度的“不公”与青年焦虑】 [F7_13, F8_15](生活领域:教育与社会流动)
【AI 虚构叙事对王室真实关系的侵蚀】 [F9_17, F11_21](生活领域:数字媒介与认同)
在英国的司法管理模型中,囚犯的“释放”被定义为一个纯粹的行政节点:刑期届满 $\rightarrow$ 办理手续 $\rightarrow$ 离开监狱。这种系统理性模型(Systemic Logos)将个体简化为一个待处理的案件编号 [F17_31 🔍],其逻辑核心在于“法律责任的终结”而非“生命重建的开始”。在技术官僚的视角下,只要提供了短期的紧急住宿,制度便完成了其最低限度的道义责任。
然而,生活世界的真实痛感(Phenomenological Pathos)却在走出监狱大门的那一刻剧烈爆发。对于 76% 在一年内再次犯罪的人以及面临极高早逝风险的无家可归者而言 [F17_32 🔍],释放并非自由的开始,而是一次被抛入真空的绝望体验。这种痛感不仅是缺乏住所的寒冷,更是一种深层的身份失落——当一个人被告知他已“自由”,但现实世界却没有任何一个物理空间(住所)或情感空间(认同)接纳他时,这种撕裂感直接转化为生理上的崩溃与死亡风险。
这里存在着典型的Logos 与 Pathos 的辩证摩擦。系统理性将“无家可归”视为一个需要通过“消除露宿街头承诺”来解决的量化指标 [F15_28 🔍],但它忽略了前囚犯情感世界中的“不可见性”。制度将再次犯罪定义为“个体选择的失败”,而底层情感则蕴含着一种“隐性理性”:在没有社会支持网络的情况下,回归犯罪是唯一能获得生存资源(食物、庇护)的理性选择。
结合劳伦·伯兰特的“残忍乐观主义”(Cruel Optimism)框架,首相关于“消除露宿街头”的圣诞任务 [F15_28 🔍] 构成了一种典型的残忍承诺。制度向公众展示一个充满希望的愿景(乐观主义),但这种愿景与前囚犯面临的残酷现实(早逝风险、犯罪循环)之间存在着不可逾越的断裂。这种承诺不仅未能缓解痛苦,反而通过将社会福利简化为“犯罪循环成本” [F17_31 🔍] 的计算,进一步剥夺了被释放者作为“人”的尊严,使其生命被量化为纳税人的负担(£180n 成本)。
在当代数字媒介生态中,我们观察到一种由算法驱动的系统理性模型(Systemic Logos):AI 生成内容(AIGC)通过识别用户对“王室戏剧”的情感偏好,自动化地生产出如“梅根泼凯瑟琳茶杯”等极具冲突性的虚构场景 [F9_17, F11_21]。在这种逻辑中,真实人物被简化为可操纵的“数字资产”,而叙事的目标不再是揭示真相,而是最大化点击率与粉丝粘性。
然而,这种理性生产导致了深刻的现象学痛感(Phenomenological Pathos)。对于被数字化、虚构化的个体而言,其真实的生活世界被一种“AI 垃圾内容”所覆盖。当数万名观众在虚构的皇家世界中消费梅根与卡米拉的“联盟”或哈里与威廉的“冷淡”时 [F9_17 🔍],真实个体的复杂情感、私人痛苦与人格尊严被彻底抹除。这种痛感体现为一种“认同的被动剥夺”——个体失去了定义自己是谁的权力,而由算法定义的“数字分身”成为了公众认知中的真实。
这种辩证摩擦体现为:技术系统试图通过“内容生成”来满足大众的情感需求,但这种满足是以牺牲真实个体的主体性为代价的。AI 凯瑟琳那“带有某种机器人感的”回应 [F11_21 🔍] 恰恰是这种异化的隐喻:在算法的理性操纵下,人类的情感被模拟成一种可预测的模式,而真实的人性则在这一过程中变得冗余。
运用批判情感理论(Critical Affect Theory)分析,这种 AI 叙事构建了一种“情感拟像”。它并不反映真实的关系,而是创造了一种关于关系的“感觉”。当公众在 TikTok 账号网络中沉溺于这些虚构戏剧时,他们消费的并非王室成员,而是一种被算法精准投喂的、关于权力与冲突的快感。这种制度端的冷色调算法(数据驱动、流量优化)与生活端的热色调欲望(窥私、冲突、戏剧)之间的共谋,精准地诊断出当代数字文明在面对真实人性时,其技术理性如何通过制造“情感幻象”来消解真实认同。