An altruistic companion to Oliver Burkeman’s Four Thousand Weeks aims to encourage anyone with a conscience to stop being a spectator
Many years ago there was a BBC children’s TV programme called Why Don’t You Just Switch Off Your Television Set and Go and Do Something Less Boring Instead?. Its aim was to encourage kids to spending their summer holidays helping grannies across the street or litter-picking rather than lying on the sofa filling their faces with cheese puffs. If I’m anything to go by, it didn’t work.
Moral Ambition is Why Don’t You? for grownups, written by a Dutch historian but deploying psychologically sophisticated nudge techniques, shaming devices and a hectoring imperative mood to encourage clever if spiritually bankrupt people like you (no offence) to do something beyond making mortgage payments by means of a job you hate. Don’t you realise that the average worker will spend 80,000 hours at their job and, judging by the look of you (again, no offence), 79,999 of those will involve doing things that are of negligible ethical value – such as helping tech firms avoid tax, cold-calling for loan consolidation companies, or writing Observer book reviews?
Human rights experts voice alarm as refugees expelled by the US, not welcomed by Bhutan and rejected by Nepal
When Narayan Kumar Subedi received a call from his daughter in the United States three weeks ago, he expected to hear news of his two children’s life abroad, perhaps even plans for a long-awaited reunion. Instead, he was told his 36-year-old son Ashish, a Bhutanese refugee resettled in the US, was being deported.
Ashish had been caught in a domestic dispute that led to police involvement. After several days in detention without proper legal support, he was caught up in Donald Trump’s migration crackdown and deported to Bhutan.
Film-maker Fernanda Faya weaves together a loving homage to her circus performer grandmother and her elusive companion
Buried secrets bubble to the surface in Brazilian film-maker Fernanda Faya’s tender and searching documentary, which seeks to disentangle the hidden knots of her fascinating family tree. The film opens with lovingly recorded home videos of various gatherings, including her childhood birthday celebrations, the only time of the year when her paternal grandmother, Nelly, would visit. A formidable woman of Roma ancestry, Nelly came from a long line of skilled circus performers, an illustrious ancestry that ended when Faya’s father did not join the family business.
One particular aspect long eluded Faya: Nelly was always seen with woman called Neirud, whom Faya called aunt, but their actual relationship was a mystery; when Neirud died, her house was emptied of all personal photos and keepsakes. Through meticulous research, Faya gradually uncovered Neirud’s story. A Black woman of towering build, she performed as a wrestler in Nelly’s circus troupe as the “gorilla woman”, a moniker that clearly traded in racial stereotypes. And yet, as with many of her peers, life as a travelling entertainer gave her a degree of freedom not afforded to other women of the time.
Taekwondo lessons are part of life for refugee girls in the Kalobeyei settlement and the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. The martial arts lessons offer a safe space from often chaotic circumstances
The acid-tongued host is joined by other funny folks to work out their biological age. Plus, Kirk Flash explores the globe’s most exciting music scenes
Regions in eastern Ukraine were under air raid alerts starting minutes after midnight on Monday, with the alerts gradually extending west
Ukraine issued air raid alerts for Kyiv and the country’s eastern half as blasts shook the city of Mykolaiv early on Monday, authorities said, hours after the one-day Easter “ceasefire” declared by Vladimir Putin came to an end.
A perverse information ecosystem is being mined by big tech for profit, fooling the unwary and sending algorithms crazy
There are two parallel image channels that dominate our daily visual consumption. In one, there are real pictures and footage of the world as it is: politics, sport, news and entertainment. In the other is AI slop, low-quality content with minimal human input. Some of it is banal and pointless – cartoonish images of celebrities, fantasy landscapes, anthropomorphised animals. And some is a sort of pornified display of women just simply … being, like a virtual girlfriend you cannot truly interact with. The range and scale of the content is staggering, and infiltrates everything from social media timelines to messages circulated on WhatsApp. The result is not just a blurring of reality, but a distortion of it.
A new genre of AI slop is rightwing political fantasy. There are entire YouTube videos of made-up scenarios in which Trump officials prevail against liberal forces. The White House account on X jumped on a trend of creating images in Studio Ghibli style and posted an image of a Dominican woman in tears as she is arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice). AI political memefare has, in fact, gone global. Chinese AI videos mocking overweight US workers on assembly lines after the tariff announcement raised a question for, and response from, the White House spokesperson last week. The videos, she said, were made by those who “do not see the potential of the American worker”. And to prove how pervasive AI slop is, I had to triple-check that even that response was not itself quickly cobbled-together AI content fabricating another dunk on Trump’s enemies.
Guardian analysis finds seven MPs have worked at least 300 hours since July in outside employment
A total of seven MPs have spent on average one working day a week on second jobs since the start of the 2024 parliament, with additional gigs as TV presenters, lawyers and consultants.
A Guardian analysis of self-declared working hours found the seven had worked at least 300 hours since July – the equivalent of eight hours a week, in outside employment averaged across the parliament – totalling more than 3,000 hours between them. A further seven MPs had worked at least five hours a week on a second job.
Exclusive: There were 380 safeguarding referrals of victims of hate crimes from January 2023 to August 2024
The Home Office is recording an average of 10 assaults a day on asylum seekers in its care, according to internal government data, amid harsh government rhetoric on those crossing the Channel.
Figures reveal that there were 5,960 referrals of assaults upon asylum seekers while in the care of the Home Office between January 2023 and August 2024. There were also 380 referrals of victims of hate crimes to their internal safeguarding hub during this period.
The Black Swan follows a repentant master criminal as she sets up corrupt clients in front of hidden cameras. But is she really reformed – and is the director up to his own tricks?
Work illustrating the war’s brutality but also the resilience of four Palestinian artists, is being exhibited at the Darat al Funan in Jordan
Basel El Maqousi says he is amazed to be alive at the end of each day. Living in Gaza, where more than 64,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s assault, and with the tally rising still, his amazement returns, he says, with each morning light.
“The war began and life stopped. There is no work or art, we just try to run from one place to another, searching for salvation from the bombing and killing that pursues us. We walk quickly to search for water and food, and running has become the master of all times,” he says.
It’s got colliding planets, women in peril and an angry phone-in host … we explore a show inspired by the director’s themes that refuses to shy away from his problematic side
I am not even inside the building but a creeping sense of foreboding has already set in. As I try to find the entrance to Nikolaj Kunsthal, a gothic-style former church in Copenhagen, I hear the lamenting strings of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde – the soundtrack to Lars von Trier’s 2011 end-of-the-world film Melancholia. Inside, I take a seat in a tent-like structure, similar to the one in the film, and watch as a planet hurtles towards Earth, Wagner still blasting away. Nearby lies a long table, covered in white linen and laid out for the celebration of a lifetime – but clearly abandoned midway, and now adorned with dead flowers and burnt-out candelabras.
Upstairs, black and white projections – a ticking clock, trains moving through postwar Germany, scenes of sex and drowning – play as the ominous male voice that features in Von Trier’s 1991 film Europa does a countdown. “On every breath you take, you go deeper,” he says. “On the mental count of 10, you will be in Europa.”
The esteemed restaurant guide has struggled to stay relevant, with some leading chefs even barring reviewers or asking for their stars to be removed. Is this the end of fine dining?
Nowhere is this gear change more noticeable than in attitudes towards the esteemed “red book”, the Michelin Guide. Last October, Giglio, a restaurant in the Italian town of Lucca, asked for its star to be removed from the guide. It had become a burden, according to co-owner, Benedetto Rullo. Many diners were deterred by the prospect of “fussy” food and a formal atmosphere. “One should be able to go to a fine restaurant in a T-shirt, flip-flops and shorts,” Rullo said.
Once dubbed the ‘Afghan Rupert Murdoch’, Mohseni’s media business was founded after the fall of the Taliban and is now navigating their return
Saad Mohseni wants more female faces on his Afghan TV channel. He hopes he might get a deal with the Taliban for him to air a historical drama – in which all the women have been through the menopause.
“If a woman menstruates, [the showing of an uncovered female face] is haram [forbidden], right?” Mohseni said. “But as soon as they go through, you know, menopause, then you can have them uncovered. It’s ridiculous, it’s so offensive. So now we try to negotiate with [the Taliban] to do a soap opera that’s going to have these women over the age of 50. We have to try.”
The EU, the world’s biggest single market, can reposition itself and become less reliant on exporting goods to the US and China
This is why America first doesn’t have to mean Europe last.
Europeans have had plenty to mope about since Donald Trump entered the White House not quite three months ago. The US president has said that the EU was created to “screw the United States” and slapped punitive tariffs on European goods. He has cast doubt on the US commitment to defend Nato allies. He has cosied up to Vladimir Putin, insulted Volodymyr Zelenskyy and tried to settle Russia’s war in Ukraine on terms that would undermine European security. His vice-president has denigrated European democratic values, and his national security team has spewed venom in a Signal chat at “pathetic” Europe.
Finally complete the European capital markets union and banking union to unleash the cross-border investment power of some €3tn in European savings
Strike trade deals with countries and regions around the world, seeking a reliable partner committed to cutting tariffs rather than weaponising them
Jointly develop common defence capabilities to strengthen the European wing of Nato and be able to defend European interests if the US withdraws or steps aside
Provide Ukraine with greater military assistance, including medium-range missiles to fill the US gap and strengthen its position before any negotiation
Build international coalitions to defend liberal democracy, and uphold a rules-based order with like-minded partners from Canada to Japan, India and Australia
Expand economic partnerships with middle- and low-income countries in Asia, Africa and South America that consider the EU a more reliable partner than a protectionistUS or a predatory Russia, and a valuable hedge against excessive dependence onChina
Offer a special visa programme to attract US scientists and tech workers fleeing Trump’s university crackdown
Paul Taylor is a senior visiting fellow at the European Policy Centre
CAA data shows flights departed more than 23 minutes late last year, with Birmingham and Manchester second and third-worst
London Gatwick is the UK’s worst airport for flight delays, official figures showed, with air traffic control issues blamed for continuing disruption.
In 2024, flights departed on average more than 23 minutes late from Britain’s second-biggest airport, according to data from the Civil Aviation Authority.
For most of that year, I didn’t tell anyone. I didn’t want to burden them with my troubles. And, to be honest, I felt ashamed
From finance to academia, on radio and TV and even in a Kings Cross sex shop, I’ve had a diverse range of jobs, most largely freelance, casual or contract.
I loved doing new things, learning new skills and meeting new people. I was so busy for so long, with so many contracts overlapping each other, that I often didn’t have much time for anything else. By August 2023, I was burnt out.
Venezuela’s chief prosecutor hits back at ‘cynical’ offer by ‘neofascist’ Salvadoran leader and demands rights for Venezuelan prisoners
El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, has proposed sending 252 Venezuelans deported from the US and imprisoned in his country to Venezuela, in exchange for “political prisoners” held by Venezuela.
On Sunday, Bukele asked that the Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, hand over 252 “of the political prisoners you are holding” under his proposed deal.
Melbourne international comedy festival, then Sydney
Assured performer leads a chaotic journey through his career’s highs and lows – and the decisions that led him to a McDonald’s drive thru …
Greg Larsen is broke. Having his card declined at a McDonald’s drive thru just weeks before this year’s Melbourne international comedy festival was a watershed moment for him. He is 41. He’s been performing comedy for more than a decade. This, he says, is his last festival show. He’s done.
Geggy is his swan song, a chaotic journey through his career’s highs and lows and the decisions that led him to that drive thru. For those who have followed Larsen’s career, this show is a treat, offering a hilarious insight into the chaos behind the scenes of the various projects he’s been involved in. It includes a cast of others who rose through the circuit with him, many of whom are doing pretty well for themselves, including Larsen’s early collaborator Sam Campbell.
Why do authors see Meta’s AI model as a threat to their livelihoods? Ella Creamer reports
Earlier this month, a group of protesters gathered outside the London headquarters of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. They were demonstrating over the company’s use of millions of pirated books and research papers to feed their family of generative AI models, known as Llama.
AJ West is a bestselling author of historical fiction and an organiser of the protest. He tells Helen Pidd that he was devastated to discover his books may have been used in this way, and he warns that if the UK government does not step in to protect writers’ copyright, the arts will become even more of a privilege of the rich.
Russian warnings to Australia that “you have no cards” to stop Russian military activity in the Indo-Pacific have been mocked by Anthony Albanese, who has dismissed an incendiary letter from an ambassador as authoritarian “propaganda”.
The unsubstantiated spectre of a proposed Russian military airbase on Indonesian territory has loomed over the past week of Australia’s federal election campaign, with the opposition accusing the government of obfuscating and dodging questions, and the government responding that the opposition had misrepresented the Indonesian government and actively fanned Russian propaganda.
With estimated $55m price set to balloon by 125%, 737 Max returns to Seattle production hub still wearing the colours of Xiamen Airlines
A Boeing jet intended for a Chinese airline landed back at the planemaker’s US production hub on Sunday, a victim of the tit-for-tat bilateral tariffs launched by Donald Trump.
The 737 MAX, which was meant for China’s Xiamen Airlines, landed at Seattle’s Boeing Field at 6.11pm, according to a Reuters witness. It was painted with Xiamen livery.
Emergency repairs and quality checks for 5m people in Scotland will not be done on Tuesday and Wednesday, union says
Scottish Water staff will strike for two days from the early hours of Tuesday as a standoff over pay continues at the state-owned company.
The striking workers’ union warned that emergency repairs and quality checks to water supplied to 5 million people across Scotland would not be carried out during the action on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Defence secretary reportedly sent the group flight schedules for strikes on Houthis; draft order calls for drastic restructure of state department – key US politics stories from 20 April
Defence secretary Pete Hegseth is in the spotlight for a communications blunder in which he reportedly created his own Signal group chat that included his wife and brother, in which he shared confidential details of a US strike on Yemen this March.
The chat on Signal, a commercially available app not authorized as a means to communicate sensitive or classified national defense information, allegedly included more than a dozen people.
A nine-year-old boy has died after becoming trapped between rocks at a popular holiday spot on the New South Wales mid-north coast, amid a spate of drowning deaths over Easter.
Police and other emergency services tried to free the boy from the site at South West Rocks on Sunday afternoon but he died at the scene.
Visit by vice-president and family could be overshadowed by tariff and US immigration tensions, and farmer protests
The US vice-president, JD Vance, has arrived in India for talks with the prime minister, Narendra Modi, on a bilateral trade deal as the US tariff war with China escalates and the US global economic alliances fray.
Vance, joined by the second lady, Usha Vance, and their three children, Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel, landed in Delhi on Monday for a four-day visit that blends high-level negotiations with a family sightseeing tour. The Vance family was greeted at the airport by railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. They stood under a red canopy that shielded them from the blazing sun as soldiers stood in salute and a military band played the US anthem.
Russia violated Vladimir Putin’s self-declared truce thousands of times, says Ukrainian president, as air raids resume on Easter Monday. What we know on day 1,153
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on Russia to genuinely halt drone and missile strikes on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure for at least 30 days. The Ukrainian president accused his Russian counterpart of a “PR” exercise as Vladimir Putin unilaterally called an Easter ceasefire starting on Saturday evening only for it to be violated by Russia’s military thousands of times. Though the ceasefire was declared only by Russia, the Kremlin also accused Ukraine of violations.
Citing a report from Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, Zelenskyy said Russia was still using heavy weapons and since 10am on Sunday an increase in Russian shelling had been observed. “However, there were no air raid alerts today [Sunday],” Zelenskyy added, going on to propose a halt to “any strikes using long-range drones and missiles on civilian infrastructure for a period of at least 30 days … If Russia does not agree to such a step, it will be proof that it intends to continue doing only those things which destroy human lives and prolong the war.”
Ukrainian soldiers told the Agence France-Presse news agency that they had noticed a lull. A drone unit commander said Russia’s activity had “significantly decreased both in Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions … Several assaults were recorded, but those were solitary incidents involving small groups. Fewer guys [soldiers] will die today.” Another soldier, Sergiy, told AFP in a message that “[Russian] artillery is not working. It is quiet compared to a regular day”. AFP journalists monitoring in eastern Ukraine heard fewer explosions than usual and saw no smoke on the horizon.
Other Ukrainian troops told the Guardian’s Kyiv-based Luke Harding of continued Russian attacks well after they were supposed to have been suspended. “For us, it’s just another day of war – with shelling from various types of weapons and even one attempt to assault our positions,” Denys Bobkov, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s 37th separate marine brigade, said in a message from the front. Zelenskyy posted: “In practice, either Putin does not have full control over his army, or the situation proves that in Russia, they have no intention of making a genuine move toward ending the war, and are only interested in favourable PR coverage.”
As the clock ticked past midnight into Monday, and Putin’s claimed Easter truce expired, Zelenskyy said the Ukrainian air force had just issued alerts for Russian missile and drone strikes on east and south-east regions of Ukraine. Kyiv’s forces were instructed to mirror Russian army actions, Zelenskyy said. “We will respond to silence with silence, our strikes will be to protect against Russian strikes,” Zelenskyy posted.
Donald Trump, the US president, used the situation to claim that a breakthrough was within a few days’ reach. “Hopefully Russia and Ukraine will make a deal this week,” he posted on Sunday. “Both will then start to do big business with the United States of America, which is thriving, and make a fortune.” The White House did not immediately give any further details on the president’s announcement. On Friday, Trump said he would end US peace efforts unless the two sides showed movement.
China’s leaders see artificial intelligence as key to upgrading military strength, solving problems created by a shrinking workforce, and a source of national pride
On a misty Saturday afternoon in Shenzhen’s Central Park, a gaggle of teenage girls are sheltering from the drizzle under a concrete canopy. With their bags of crisps piled high in front of them, they crowd around a couple of smartphones to sing along to Mandopop ballads. The sound of their laughter rings out across the surrounding lawn – until it is pierced by a mechanical buzzing sound. Someone has ordered dinner.
A few metres away from the impromptu karaoke session is an “airdrop cabinet”, one of more than 40 in Shenzhen that is operated by Meituan, China’s biggest food delivery platform. Hungry park-goers can order anything from rice noodles to Subway sandwiches to bubble tea.
Defence secretary says lessons from Ukraine highlight need for homegrown supply chain
Britain is set to significantly increase its weapons production in order to no longer rely on importing from the US and France.
This comes as British and European defence companies move away from buying US-made weaponry and equipment due to concerns over president Donald Trump making the country an unreliable military partner.
US defense secretary texted strike information to his family in group chat he created, sources tell the New York Times
Before the US launched military strikes on Yemen in March, Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, sent detailed information about the planned attacks to a private Signal group chat that he created himself, which included his wife, his brother and about a dozen other people, the New York Times reported on Sunday.
The Guardian has independently confirmed the existence of Hegseth’s own private group chat.
‘I was a bit surprised but I just have to accept it’
Midfielder unsure if he will be part of Club World Cup
Kevin De Bruyne has admitted to being “a little bit” shocked at not being offered a new contract at Manchester City, with the 33‑year‑old saying the club took the decision unilaterally. De Bruyne is also unsure if he will be part of City’s Club World Cup campaign that begins in June in the US.
The Belgian is City’s most decorated footballer with 19 honours and is considered one of the club’s greatest players. Yet De Bruyne, who joined in August 2015 from Wolfsburg, will be forced to depart in the close season after the club did not make a fresh offer.
Bologna shock leaders with stunning ultra-late winner
Real Madrid score stoppage time winner against Bilbao
A stunning last-gasp goal by the striker Riccardo Orsolini gave Bologna a 1-0 home win against Inter in Serie A on Sunday in a blow to the visitors’ hopes of retaining their title.
Treble-chasing Inter stayed top of the standings with 71 points after 33 games but second-placed Napoli are now level on points with the leaders after securing a late 1-0 win at relegation-threatened Monza on Saturday.
Official claimed Jose Hermosillo, who was visiting Arizona, was ‘without the proper immigration documents’
Immigration officials detained a US citizen for nearly 10 days in Arizona, according to court records and press reports.
As the NPR affiliate Arizona Public Media, first reported, 19-year-old Jose Hermosillo, a New Mexico resident visiting Arizona, was detained by border patrol agents in Nogales, a city along the Mexico border about an hour south of Tucson.
Patients in England aged 65 or over made up almost 70% of long ‘trolley waits’, with some left for up to 10 days, data reveals
About 49,000 A&E visits last year resulted in patients waiting 24 hours or more for a hospital bed, with people aged 65 or over making up almost 70% of cases.
According to a freedom of information request by the Liberal Democrats, some patients went 10 days before getting a space on a ward.
Senator warns of US getting ‘closer to a constitutional crisis’ as Samuel Alito’s dissent signals deference to Trump
Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar warned on Sunday that the US is “getting closer and closer to a constitutional crisis”, but the courts, growing Republican disquiet at Trump administration policies, and public protest were holding it off.
“I believe as long as these courts hold, and the constituents hold, and the congress starts standing up, our democracy will hold,” Klobuchar told CNN’s State of the Union, adding “but Donald Trump is trying to pull us down into the sewer of a crisis.”
An overtime goal from Tessa Janecke earned the United States a 4-3 win over reigning champions Canada to win gold at the women’s ice hockey world championships on Sunday as the latest chapter in their historic rivalry was decided in dramatic fashion.
“Shock and awe,” USA goalie Gwyneth Philips said after the game. “I’m ecstatic.”
Leaders three points from clinching Premier League title
Full-back’s winner was first goal for club with his left foot
Arne Slot said it is “ridiculous” to dispute Trent Alexander-Arnold’s commitment to Liverpool after he scored the only goal at Leicester to push his club closer to a 20th league title. The 26-year-old, who is expected to join Real Madrid on a free this summer, fired in his first left-foot goal for his boyhood club on his return from an ankle injury to secure victory and condemn Leicester to relegation.
Alexander-Arnold, who scored within five minutes of replacing Conor Bradley, is poised to join Real on a long-term contract when his Liverpool contract expires. He celebrated at Leicester by removing his shirt and Kostas Tsimikas placed it on the corner flag nearest to the away fans. Following the match the full-back soaked up their adulation after Virgil van Dijk ushered him towards them. Alexander-Arnold, who joined Liverpool aged six, has won every domestic trophy with the club, plus the Champions League.
After decades as a safe haven, Donald Trump’s economic upheaval has some traders looking to put their money elsewhere – and countries looking to decouple their economies
At the same time as Australians are cutting back on plans to visit the US under Donald Trump, a new type of investment strategy designed to avoid America is fast gaining popularity.
The “sell America trade”, an expression that barely existed before Trump spooked markets by unveiling his new tariff regime late on 2 April, is now a common expression among traders and appears regularly in investment notes to explain the day’s price movements.
McLaren man’s win catapults him 10pts clear in title race
Max Verstappen pays price for first-lap penalty
Maintaining a focus and equilibrium under pressure has always been one of the hallmarks of Formula One’s greatest proponents and Oscar Piastri is demonstrating it with striking assurance for one so young.
His victory at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, beating the world champion Max Verstappen, was an object lesson in the 24-year-old’s calm and confidence and his potential to take the title in only his third season.
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