Guardian Weekly - April 22 2022

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34
Snack happy
The secret life of
vending machines
A week in the life of the world | Global edition
22 APRIL 2022 | VOL .206 No.17 | £4.50 | €6.95*
10
40
PLUS
THE
Little nippers
great and small

GAME
Portraits of creatures,
SPYING
51
to haunt Boris Johnson
17
Striped away
the road again

Jack White, on
Is Russia’s era of industrial espionage over?
Payback time Partygate returns
France votes The outcome of this month’s French presidential election is of great significance to the future of Europe.
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Eyewitness Floods uncontained

South Africa Shipping containers lie scattered in Durban after devastating floods in and
around the port city. Roads and hillsides were washed away and homes
PHOTOGRAPH:
collapsed with 443 people reported dead after the heaviest rains to pummel
EPA Durban, which sits on the western edge of the Indian Ocean, in 60 years.
Guardian Weekly is an edited selection of some of the best journalism found in the Guardian and
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A week in the life of the world Inside
22 April 2022
Spying crisis, penalty

kick for Johnson and
ubiquitous dispensers
Among the many intriguing sub-plots to have arisen from 4-9 GLOBAL REPORT
the Ukraine invasion has been the widespread expulsion Headlines from the last
of Russian “diplomats” from European embassies. As seven days
Patrick Wintour writes this week, it’s not just a symbolic
act of revulsion at Moscow’s activities but part of a 10 -16 U K R A I N E I N VA S I O N
decades-long battle to balance Russian espionage with 10 Spy games Is expulsion of
diplomacy. The west has been accused of neglecting a diplomats end of an era?
recent rise in clandestine Russian activities – in the light 14 ‘Match for peace’
of the invasion, is it all too little, too late? Dynamo Kyiv play again
In Warsaw, Nick Ames joined thousands of Ukrainians 16 Ukraine Chernihiv counts
as the football club Dynamo Kyiv began a series of cost of occupation
“matches for peace”. And Luke Harding reports from the
northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, where a clean-up 17-33 SPOTLIGHT
operation has tentatively begun in the wake of the In-depth reporting
departing Russian forces. and analysis
Ukraine invasion Page 10 17 UK Payback for Johnson?
20 France Macron and Le Pen
Before the invasion, a scandal involving Covid lockdown enter the final strait
gatherings very nearly cut short the career of Britain’s 21 China Covid tensions run
prime minister, Boris Johnson. Now, after a lengthy police high in Shanghai
investigation, Johnson has been issued with a penalty 22 Africa Facebook struggles
charge for attending an illegal gathering that he previously to contain disinformation
insisted to parliament did not break the law. With more 33 Finance Is Netflix really
fines expected, is Johnson on the ropes again – or has the going downstream?
Tory rebellion died down, for the time being at least?
Spotlight Page 17 34-44 F E AT U R E S
Long reads, interviews
From train stations to hospital waiting rooms, vending and essays
machines are so ubiquitous that we barely notice them. 34 The secret life of vending
But how much do we really know about these everyday machines
sentinels of snack food? Tom Lamont takes a deep dive By Tom Lamont
into the indispensable world of automated dispensers. 40 Some creatures, great and
Vending machines Page 34 small
By Cal Flyn
45-50 OPINION
45 Gaby Hinsliff
Rape is a war crime
47 Rachel Connolly
Linking the unlinkable
48 Joshua Surtees
The exploitation of UK’s
Rwanda refugee plan
51-59 C U LT U R E
TV, film, music, theatre,
Join the community A week in the life of the world | Global edition
22 APRIL 2022 | VOL .206 No.17 | £4.50 | €6.95* Payback time Partygate returns
to haunt Boris Johnson 17
On the cover art, architecture & more
Twitter: @guardianweekly Reflecting the erosion of wide-scale Russian 51 Music
facebook.com/guardianweekly THE
Instagram: @guardian SPYING
GAME
espionage activities since the start of the The return of Jack White
Is Russia’s era of industrial espionage over? 10
Ukraine invasion, this week’s cover design 54 Photography

captures a creeping anxiety across Europe, Edward Burtynsky on
where Russian “diplomats” have more Earth’s devastation
latterly been seen as agents of division 57 Books
Snack happy
The secret life of
PLUS
Little nippers
Portraits of creatures,
Striped away
Jack White, on
and disinformation. A history of modern-day
Illustration: Guardian Design despots
vending machines great and small the road again
34 40 51
SPOT ILLUSTRATIONS:
MATT BLEASE
60-61 LIFESTYLE
4
Global
2 FRANCE 4 FINANCE
Twitter unveils rights plan
report to thwart Musk takeover

Twitter announced a limited-
duration shareholder rights plan
that may thwart attempts by
billionaire Tesla chief Elon Musk
Headlines from the to take over the company.
last seven days Musk had offered to buy the
social media platform for $43.4bn,
arguing he wanted to release
1 U N I T E D S TAT E S Le Pen and MEPs accused
its “extraordinary potential”
of embezzling EU funds to support free speech and
Two teenagers shot dead at
The European Union’s anti-fraud democracy across the world.
house party in Pittsburgh body accused Marine Le Pen and In response, Twitter’s board
Two teenage boys were killed and several party members – including last Friday unanimously approved
eight other people were wounded her father – of embezzling about a plan that would allow existing
Copyright © 2022 after gunfire erupted at a party in €620,000 ($668,000) while shareholders to buy stocks at
GNM Ltd. All rights Pittsburgh early last Sunday, one serving as MEPs. a substantial discount in order
reserved of at least three mass shootings France’s investigative website to dilute the holdings of new
across the US on Easter weekend. Mediapart published a section of a investors. The method, known
Published weekly by The other two shootings – both new report alleging that the MEPs as a “poison pill” in the finance
Guardian News & in South Carolina – left a total of misused EU funds for national world, suggests Twitter will
Media Ltd,
18 people with bullet wounds, party purposes. The claims came fight Musk to prevent a hostile
Kings Place,
90 York Way,
once again reigniting calls among days before the second round of takeover. It would go into effect
London, N1 9GU, UK advocates for meaningful gun the presidential election in which if a shareholder were to acquire
control legislation. Le Pen will go head to head with more than 15% of the company in
Printed by In Pittsburgh, police said Emmanuel Macron. a deal not approved by the board
Walstead UK, equipment that detects gunfire A spokesperson for Le Pen’s and expires 14 April 2023.
Bicester prompted officers to go to an far-right Rassemblement National “The rights plan does not
address on Suismon Street, where (National Rally) party questioned prevent the board from engaging
Registered as a at least 10 people had been shot at the timing of the accusations. He with parties or accepting an
newspaper at the about 12.30am on Sunday. insisted that some of the report acquisition proposal if [it] believes
Post Office
First responders brought related to “old facts, more than 10 that it is in the best interests of
several of the victims to a hospital, years old”. Twitter and its shareholders,”
ISSN 0958-9996
including two 17-year-old boys Spotlight Page 20 Twitter said in a statement.
To advertise contact whom doctors later pronounced
advertising. dead. Others who were shot but
enquiries@ survived made their own way to
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The Guardian Weekly 22 April 2022

UK headlines p9
6 US/CUBA
Migration on agenda as 8 SWEDEN

officials prepare for talks
Three shot during protest
US and Cuban officials were due to
meet in Washington this week to
against anti-Islamic threats
discuss migration concerns, in the Police said three people were
highest-level formal US talks with wounded in the eastern city of 9
Havana since Joe Biden took office Norrköping in a protest against 2
last year. plans by a far-right group to burn
Biden’s administration is copies of the Qur’an.
grappling with rising numbers 1 3 “Police fired several warning
of undocumented migrants shots. Three people appear to
attempting to cross the US border have been hit by ricochets and
from Mexico, with Cubans making are currently being treated in
up a growing portion of them. 5 hospital,” a spokesperson said.
Tensions have risen between The three injured were under
Washington and Havana over the arrest, police said, adding that
Cuban government’s crackdown their condition was not known.
on protests and continuing US The clashes were the second in
sanctions on the communist-ruled Norrköping in four days.
island among other issues. Four people had been
arrested among the crowd of
approximately 150 participants,
as protesters had thrown stones
at officers and cars had been set
10 I T A LY
alight, police said.
7 BRAZIL
Museum told to relinquish

Renaissance masterpiece
A 30-year dispute over a fresco by
Carnival snub hits sour note the Renaissance master Piero della
with free event organisers 9 BELGIUM Francesca shows no sign of
Rio’s world-famous samba schools waning after an Italian court ruled
returned this week for their first Algerian migrant fights to that it must be removed from a
parades at the Sambódromo claim huge scratchcard win museum and returned to where
stadium in more than two years. it was first painted, even though
But the carnival enthusiasts An Algerian migrant staying that location predominantly
behind hundreds of “blocos” – illegally in Belgium is battling serves as a cemetery.
the riotous musical troupes that to claim a €250,000 ($270,000) The Madonna del Parto depicts
roam the streets – are furious they jackpot won on a scratchcard after a pregnant Virgin Mary and is
have not received authorisation authorities insisted it can only be considered one of the greatest
to gather. paid if he can prove his identity. works from the Renaissance
The Omicron variant scuppered Alexander Verstraete, a lawyer period. Completed in about 1460,
plans for this year’s carnival for the 28-year-old, said the it is believed the painter made
in late February. But while the winning scratchcard was being the work, in situ, to adorn a wall
Sambódromo competition was held by a court in Bruges after behind the altar of the Chapel
rearranged for next weekend, three friends tried to claim it of Santa Maria di Momentana in
authorities claimed there was unsuccessfully on his client’s Monterchi, Tuscany.
insufficient time to prepare for the behalf. The friends, also from
free outdoor blocos. north Africa, were detained for
a night by police on suspicion of
theft before being released when
the real winner came forward.
22 April 2022 The Guardian Weekly

13 CHINA
Omicron claims three lives

in Shanghai outbreak
Three Covid-19 deaths were
reported in Shanghai on Monday,
the first to be officially counted
since the beginning of the city’s
lockdown. The three were two
women aged 89 and 91, and
a 91-year-old man, who also had
underlying health conditions. All
were reportedly unvaccinated.
The Omicron outbreak in
the city of 25 million people
has infected at least 320,000
people since March. It is the
worst outbreak in China since
19
16 the beginning of the pandemic.
17
Authorities were hoping to ease
the city’s lockdown this week,
with transmissions limited to
quarantine facilities.
Spotlight Page 21
11 L I B YA
18
Up to 35 people dead after
canoe capsizes, says IOM 15
A boat carrying 35 people capsized
off the Libyan coast, the UN
migration agency said.
The incident took place last
Friday near the western Libyan
12 ISRAEL
city of Sabratha, a major launching
point for the mainly African
people making the dangerous
voyage across the Mediterranean,
said the International
Organization for Migration.
The IOM said six bodies were
pulled out of the water, while 29
others were missing, presumed
dead. In the past week alone,
at least 53 have been reported
dead or presumed dead off Libya, Palestinians and Israelis
according to the IOM. injured in clash at mosque
More than 20 Palestinians and 14 AUSTRALIA
Israelis were wounded in incidents
UN urges government to act
in and around Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa
mosque compound, two days after for citizens held in Syria
major violence at the site. United Nations experts have
The clashes last Sunday took accused Australia of failing to
the number of wounded since last prevent the “sheer obliteration
Friday to more than 170, at a tense of the rights” of its own citizens,
time when Passover coincided including 30 children, who are
with Ramadan and Easter. held in “sordid” conditions in
Early on Sunday morning, camps in north-eastern Syria.
police said “hundreds” of In a move that humanitarian
Palestinian demonstrators groups hope will intensify
inside the compound had pressure on Australia to act, 12 UN
started gathering piles of stones, special rapporteurs have written
shortly before the arrival of jointly to the government to raise
Jewish visitors. concerns about 46 Australians
held in the camps.
The letter raises deep concerns
about al-Hawl and Roj camps,
“where most are held... without
any judicial process”.
The big story p10
Global report 7
15 THE PHILIPPINES 17 INDIA 19 JA PA N D E AT H S
Expulsion of Rohingya Electric chopsticks mimic

woman rings alarm bells the taste of salt in food
The deportation of a Rohingya Diners could soon be able to
woman to Myanmar has sparked savour their favourite dishes
fears that India is preparing to without having to worry about Letizia Battaglia
expel many more refugees. their salt intake. Celebrated Italian
Despite having UN verification In what they claim is a world photojournalist,
of her refugee status, which is first, researchers have developed best known
intended to protect holders from chopsticks that artificially for her work
arbitrary detention, Hasina Begum boost the taste of salt, as part of documenting the
Storm Megi kills 148 with
was deported from Kashmir two efforts to reduce sodium levels mafia and their
many missing feared dead weeks ago. Begum was among 170 in food. The chopsticks work by victims in Sicily
The death toll from landslides and refugees arrested and detained using electrical stimulation and in the 1970s
floods in the Philippines rose to in Jammu in March last year. transmit sodium ions from food and 1980s. She
148 last week with scores missing Her husband and three children, to the mouth where they create died on 13 April,
and feared dead, officials said, who also have UN refugee status, an enhanced sense of saltiness, aged 87.
as rescuers dug up more bodies remain in Kashmir. according to Homei Miyashita,
with bare hands and backhoes in Days after her deportation, a professor at Meiji University, Gilbert Gottfried
crushed villages. the authorities detained another whose laboratory collaborated US stand-up
Most of the deaths from tropical 25 Rohingya refugees. They are with the food and drink comedian and
storm Megi – the strongest to hit being held in Hiranagar jail, which manufacturer Kirin on the device. actor. He died on
the archipelago this year – were police described as a “holding The traditional Japanese diet 12 April, aged 67.
in the central province of Leyte, centre” for Rohingya “illegally tends to be high in salt due to the
where a series of landslides living” in India. use of ingredients such as miso Freddy Rincón
devastated communities. “There are around 275 Rohingya and soy sauce. Former Colombian
Megi, which made landfall on detained in the holding footballer who
11 April with sustained winds of up centre, and documentation for captained his
to 65kph and gusts of up to 80kph, deportation of all of them is country and
has since dissipated. complete,” said Prem Kumar played for Real
The disaster-prone region Modi, the centre’s superintendent. Madrid in the
is regularly ravaged by storms “We are waiting for the 1990s. He died on
with scientists warning they are government orders to send them 13 April after a car
becoming more powerful as the back [to Myanmar].” crash, aged 55.
world gets warmer because of The authorities gave no reason
human-driven climate change. why Begum was to be deported. Eya Guezguez
Tunisian Olympic
sailor who
competed in the
16 TUNISIA 18 M YA N M A R 20 N O RT H KO R E A Tokyo Games. She
died on 10 April
Region on spill alert after Junta has worst record for Guided nuclear missile test
in a training
ship sinks in bad weather jailing writers and thinkers successful, agency reports accident, aged 17.
Neighbouring countries have Myanmar jailed more writers and North Korea test-fired a new
offered to help Tunisia prevent public intellectuals last year than weapons system, under the Michel Bouquet
damage to the environment after any other country, according to supervision of the national leader, Legendary French
a merchant ship carrying up to an organisation that advocates for Kim Jong-un, that it claims will screen and
1,000 tonnes of fuel sank off freedom of expression. boost the efficiency of its nuclear stage actor, who
the coast, the Tunisian defence PEN America’s annual weapons, state media reported. appeared in more
ministry has said. census of detained writers, the The “tactical guided weapon than 100 films,
The ship, which was travelling Freedom to Write Index, found ... is of great significance in from the 1940s
from Equatorial Guinea to Malta, Myanmar’s junta detained at least drastically improving the onwards. He died
requested entry to Tunisian 26 writers after seizing power firepower of the frontline on 13 April,
waters on Friday evening due to from the democratically elected long-range artillery units and aged 96.
bad weather. It sank near Gabes. government of Aung San Suu Kyi. enhancing the efficiency in the
The Tunisian navy rescued all Myanmar is behind only Saudi operation of tactical nukes,” the
seven crew members, who were Arabia (29) and China (85). At official Korean Central News
given a hospital check. least 277 writers were jailed in Agency said early on Sunday,
Divers who inspected the 36 countries in 2021. Many held in without specifying when the test
tanker on Sunday had detected no Saudi Arabia and China had been took place. It said the test had
leaks, officials said. arrested in previous years. been successful.

8 Global report
United Kingdom
SCIENCE A N D EN V IRON M EN T
I M M I G R AT I O N
Archbishop critical of
severe effects for billions of people. Rwanda deportation plan
Now it is more likely that the peak Boris Johnson’s plan to send
rise will be about 1.9C. However, the asylum seekers to Rwanda does
researchers said this depended on all not “stand the judgment of God”,
nations implementing their pledges Australia has according to the archbishop
on time and in full, and warned that the highest of Canterbury.
the policies to do that were not in rate of species In a scathing intervention,
place. The pledges include some that extinction. Koala the head of the Church of
developing countries have said will numbers have England, Justin Welby, used his
happen only with more financial and rapidly declined Easter Sunday sermon to say
technical support. since 2012 when that the principle of deporting
the marsupial asylum seekers 6,400km from
was listed as where they sought sanctuary
POLLU TION
vulnerable is akin to “subcontracting our
to extinction responsibilities” and the “opposite
Residues of sunscreen show MARTIN MEISSNER/AP of the nature of God”.
up in Mediterranean seagrass Welby’s intervention came
C O N S E R VA T I O N
Chemicals used in sunscreen lotions amid mounting questions over the
are accumulating in Mediterranean legality of the plans, announced
Sperm banks and IVF offer seagrass, a study has found. by the home secretary, Priti Patel,
means to save koala genetics Scientists discovered ultraviolet in Kigali last week, that would
Freezing koala sperm could become filters in the stems of Posidonia mean asylum seekers arriving in
a key part of a strategy to save koalas oceanica, a seagrass species found the UK would be given a one-way
from extinction by 2050. on the coast of Mallorca and ticket to the autocratic central
Lachlan Howell and Ryan Witt, endemic to the Mediterranean Sea. African country.
scientists at the University of The researchers believe the The government faced fresh
Newcastle in Australia, say koala contamination is the result of criticism after immigration
“biobanking” could be harnessed recreational activities and waste experts said unaccompanied
with IVF technology to help the discharges in the tourist destination. children would also be among
species reproduce. Varying concentrations of those “highly likely” to be sent
An estimated 64,000 koalas died sunscreen components, including to Rwanda because many were
during the 2019-20 black summer oxybenzone, benzylidene camphor wrongly classified as adults by
bushfires in New South Wales. and methyl parabens, were found in Home Office officials.
The federal government listed the samples; while the full effects of the The government’s intention
species as endangered in February chemicals on seagrass are unknown, is to send all single men who
and released a national plan to boost the researchers are concerned about arrive by boat or lorry to Rwanda,
their numbers on the east coast. potential harmful effects. although many question whether
“If the koala population dies in the UK’s first offshore asylum
these kind of fire events, there is no centre will even happen. The
E VOLU T ION
way to bring them back or preserve UN’s refugee agency said its legal
their genetics,” Witt said. protection team was poring over
Research published in the journal
Ancient microbes suggest the text of the Rwandan deal
Animals found biobanking would earlier dawn of life on Earth to assess its legality, although
allow the storage of live koala genes Scientists believe they have found officials already believe the plan
by freezing sex cells such as sperm. evidence of microbes that were is unworkable. Others say the
thriving near hydrothermal vents on plans – which some Tory MPs have
Earth’s surface just 300m years after criticised – will be challenged
$9bn
C L I M AT E C R I SI S
the planet formed – the strongest immediately in the courts.
evidence yet that life began far Analysis Page 19
Restraint of global heating is earlier than is widely assumed.
possible if all measures taken If confirmed, it would suggest The value of
For the first time, the world is in the conditions necessary for the worldwide sales
a position to limit global heating emergence of life are relatively basic. of vegan pet
below 2C, according to the first “If life is relatively quick to food in 2020. A
in-depth analysis of the net zero emerge, given the right conditions, new study says
pledges made by nations at the UN this increases the chance that vegan diets are
Cop26 climate summit in December. life exists on other planets,” healthier and
Before these pledges, said Dominic Papineau, of safer for dogs
a temperature rise above 2C was University College London, who than meat-
almost inevitable, bringing more led the research. based ones

UK Spotlight p17
9
Eyewitness
Dancing queens
A team waits backstage on
the final day of the World Irish
Dancing Championships last
Sunday. The contest in Belfast
was taking place for the first
time in three years after Covid
lockdowns.
CHARLES MCQUILLAN/GETTY
P OVERTY C L I M AT E C R I S I S ESPIONAGE
Women’s lives in England Extinction Rebellion fossil UAE suspected of hacking

among shortest in OECD fuel protests lead to arrests No 10 with Pegasus spyware
Women in the poorest areas of Dozens of people were arrested Boris Johnson has been told
England are dying earlier than the after Extinction Rebellion activists his Downing Street office has
average female in almost every staged protests across the UK been targeted with “multiple”
comparable country, according capital last week. suspected infections using
to life expectancy data that MPs Six were arrested, including two Pegasus, the sophisticated
and leading health experts have Olympians. Gold medal-winning hacking software that can turn
called “shocking”, “devastating” canoeist Etienne Stott and fellow a phone into a remote listening
and “unacceptable”. British Olympian Laura Baldwin device, it was claimed on Monday.
4.5m
Millions of women can expect were among those who climbed A report released by Citizen
to live 78.7 years, almost eight on to a Shell tanker on Bayswater Lab at the University of Toronto
fewer years than those living in Road, in west London, with a said the United Arab Emirates
England’s wealthiest areas, the banner reading “End fossil filth”. was suspected of orchestrating The number
Health Foundation discovered. Police said 40 people were spyware attacks on No 10 in 2020 of Britons who
The figure is worse than the arrested last Saturday after seven and 2021. went on camping
average life expectancy for days of protests against fossil Pegasus is the hacking software holidays for the
women in every OECD country fuels. A day earlier, hundreds – or spyware – developed, first time during
except Mexico. The UK ranks of protesters blocked Waterloo, marketed and licensed to the pandemic.
25 out of 38 OECD countries for Blackfriars, Lambeth and governments around the world Spending on
female life expectancy. Westminster bridges. by the Israeli firm NSO Group. It outdoor holidays
Ministers have repeatedly has the capability to infect phones surged to £2.7bn
promised to tackle decades of running either iOS or Android ($3.5bn) in 2021,
gender inequality and pledged operating systems. a rise of nearly
to “reset the dial” on women’s Citizen Lab added there had 80% on the
health as part of the government’s also been suspected attacks on the previous year
levelling-up agenda. But experts Foreign Office over the same two when lockdowns
say the findings show the years that were also associated decimated travel
government has a “mountain with Pegasus operators linked to plans, according
to climb”, with a “fundamental the UAE – as well as India, Cyprus to market
shift” in policy urgently needed. and Jordan. researchers
Mintel

SPECIAL REPORT
10 UKRAINE
INVASION
RU S S I A
FROM
RUSSIA
WITH
NO LOVE
The war has prompted an exodus from the west of
Russians accused of espionage, which some feel is
long overdue. Why were the clandestine activities
of so many ‘diplomats’ indulged for so long?
T
By Patrick he unprecedented the west was picking up only 10% in breach of the Vienna convention,
Wintour wave of expul- of Russia’s espionage. Certainly the the code that governs legitimate diplo-
sions of Russian scale of the exodus of alleged Russian macy. As well as spying, this could also
diplomats from spies – probably the largest single set involve spreading disinformation on
European capitals of expulsions in history, according to social media.
– now close to 400 the distinguished former French dip- “If you spend your time sending
– is not just a sym- lomat François Heisbourg – may raise Twitter messages insulting the gov-
bolic act of revul- the question of how the west came to ernment of the host nation, if you
sion at the war crimes of which Russia indulge so many Russian “diplomats” follow the ‘wolf warrior’ diplomacy
stands accused. It is part of a decades- on European soil. So far, Malta, Cyprus undertaken by Chinese diplomats,
long battle to police the dividing line and Hungary are the only EU member that can fall under that definition of
between espionage and diplomacy, states yet to send any of them packing. making you persona non grata,” said
in which the west has been accused Heisbourg said there was a clear and Heisbourg.
of ignoring a recent resurgence in valid distinction between a diplomat He said there was an art to the tim-
Russia’s clandestine activities. and a spy, and those being expelled ing and choice of expulsions: “Self-
Sir John Sawers, the former head of from Europe are not chosen at random evidently, it is easier to keep track
MI6, said last year that he suspected but because there is evidence they are of the spy that you do know rather

11
PLUS
‘He was only 19’

Bereaved mothers
of the Moskva
Page 13
Kick-started
Dynamo Kyiv
play for peace
Page 14
Clearing chaos
On the road
to Chernihiv
Page 16
ILLUSTRATION BY
than the spy you don’t know. Once MASHA FOYA
acted to expel 40 diplomats, two jour- Austria, even after the foreign minis-
you know of their existence, they nalists and five commercial officials. try expelled four diplomats. By way
become useful counter-intelligence. Heisbourg had a role in handling the of comparison, Austria has about 30
If you don’t know who they are, you case. “Even then, it was useful to keep diplomats operating in Moscow. It is
have a problem.” some names back so we had an A list true large countries have larger embas-
During the so-called Farewell affair and a B list that we kept in reserve, in sies and some of the Russian diplomats
in the 1980s, a KGB defector, Vladimir ‘It is easier case the Russians should take coun- in Vienna – possibly 100 – are attached
Vetrov, gave almost 4,000 secret tervailing action,” he said. “We made to the many UN institutions in Austria,
documents to the DST, the French to keep it known to the Russians that if they such as the UN nuclear watchdog, the
internal secret service, showing how track of did a tit for tat, they would get hit again IAEA. But the imbalance of Russian
Russia had penetrated the west to steal many times bigger.” and Austrian interest in one another’s
its technology. Vetrov also provided
the spy Heisbourg said he had little doubt countries is striking.
a list of 250 intelligence officers sta- you know that the proportion of spies operating Poland expelled 45 Russian diplo-
tioned under legal cover in embassies rather than inside the Russian diplomatic service mats on 23 March and may be won-
around the world. It was only follow- was higher than for most countries. dering why it had granted diplomatic
ing his arrest in Moscow that France, the spy you For instance, 290 Russian diplo- status to so many in the first place.
using the dossiers he had provided, don’t know’ mats will still be operating in neutral Stanisław Żaryn, spokesperson for

SPECIAL REPORT
12 UKRAINE
INVASION
the minister for the special services It has been reported there was
coordinator, has justified the expul- evidence of contacts with four officers
sions by saying “we are neutralising working for Russia’s GRU military
the Russian special services network intelligence agency dating to 2013. One
in our country”, adding that half of them was Lt Col Sergey Solomasov,
the expelled diplomats were direct a GRU spy.
employees of the Russian secret ser- Slovak intelligence filmed Solo-
vice and half were involved in hostile masov talking in a park to Bohuš Gar-
influence operations. bár, a contributor to the now-closed
“Russia uses diplomacy not to conspiracy website Hlavné Správy. On
remain in contact with partners, but the video he tells Garbár: “Moscow has
to push false claims and false propa- decided that you will be a ‘hunter’ for
ganda statements against the west,” two types of people: those who love
Żaryn said. The 45 expelled represent Russia and would like to cooperate,
about half the country’s diplomatic who want money and have confiden-
staff in Warsaw. tial information. The second group are ▲ The bodies of planned arms shipments belonged to
Poland also saw the expulsions as your acquaintances who may or may civilians killed a firm owned by the Bulgarian arms
preventive. The risk of espionage had not be thinking about working for Rus- in Bucha are dealer Emilian Gebrev, who was poi-
risen with the influx of Ukrainians, fer- sia. I need political information and removed by soned in a Sofia restaurant in April
tile ground for Russia to stir dissent, communication between countries, volunteers 2015, just months after the explosion.
recruit agents or pick up information within Nato and the EU.” RODRIGO ABD/AP An investigation in 2019 by Belling-
about military movements. Russia, The Czechs also have reason to cat asserted that another senior GRU
Żaryn claimed, was intent on “creat- doubt the bona fides of Russian dip- officer, Denis Sergeev, was in Bulgaria
ing hostility within Poland towards lomats. In 2014, a huge explosion at the time of Gebrev’s poisoning,
Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russia”. occurred at a couple of Czech weap- which he survived.
Two other countries providing ons warehouses, including one in Sergeev is also alleged to have been
arms to Ukraine – Slovakia and the Vrbětice, close to the Slovakia border. in the UK at the time of the 2018 novi-
Czech Republic – have also been tak- At the time, Ukraine had been in the chok poisoning of Sergei and Yulia
ing action. On 30 March, Bratislava market for weapons to fight Russia in Skripal. None of this, the Czechs con-
threw out 35 diplomats and only a Donbas. The cause of the explosions cluded, would have occurred without
fortnight before, on 14 March, Slova- was unclear and the case went cold. the knowledge of the Russian state.
I
kia detained four people suspected But then investigations by the Brit-
of spying for Moscow, and expelled ish police, as well as the open-source n April last year, the then
three Russian diplomats in response. investigative news outlet Bellingcat, Czech prime minister,
Russia had paid the suspects “tens of revealed the identity of two suspected Andrej Babiš, ordered the
thousands of euros” for sensitive or GRU agents, Ruslan Boshirov (real expulsion of 18 Russian
classified information. The quality of name Anatoliy Chepiga) and Alexander diplomats, asserting the
that information is disputed, but one Petrov (Alexander Mishkin). The same GRU had been behind the
of the two men charged was head of aliases had allegedly been given by two destruction of the weap-
the security and defence department Russians who had visited a hotel near ons. Russia retaliated
at the Armed Forces Academy in the Vrbětice just before the explosion. by expelling 20 Czechs, only for the
northern town of Liptovský Mikuláš. Intelligence sources suggested the Czechs to increase the expulsions to
60, equalising the size of the two coun-
290
tries’ diplomatic missions.
Heisbourg said most European
countries were not critical of the Brit-
The number ish failure to expel diplomats in the
of Russian wake of events in Bucha. Since the
diplomats still expulsion of 29 Russian diplomats
operating in after the Skripal affair, Russia’s Lon-
Austria – which don embassy is relatively clean and
has only 30 in the UK is reluctant to see more of its
Moscow envoys sent home from Moscow. But
the contrast between the UK and Euro-
10%
pean response has been striking. After
the war crimes in Bucha were revealed,
Germany expelled 40 Russian diplo-
The level mats, France 35, Spain 25, Slovenia
of Russian 33 and Italy 30. Lithuania decided
espionage the to expel Alexey Isakov, the Russian
former head of ambassador himself.
MI6 estimates A theme has been that the diplomats
the west picked were agents of division and disinfor-
up last year mation, rather than spies. The German
▲ A poster placed near the Russian
consulate in Krakow, Poland
The Guardian Weekly 22 April 2022 ANADOLU /GETTY
13
foreign ministry, for instance, declared RUSSI A died will also renew scrutiny about the Russian
40 staff of the Russian embassy per- government’s use of conscripts in battle, some-
sona non grata because “they have thing Putin had explicitly denied was the case
worked against our freedom, against early in the war. The defence ministry was forced
the cohesion of our society, day after
day here in Germany”. Spain simply ‘They said the crew to admit it had deployed conscripts after some
were captured in Ukraine in the first weeks of
said the 25 represented a threat to the the war. It claimed it would no longer use them.
interests and security of their country.
While Denmark identified 15
was evacuated. It’s But several parents of Moskva crew members
say their sons were indeed conscripts and not
Russian intelligence officers to throw
out, Sweden has expelled just three,
a cruel, cynical lie!’ professional soldiers on contract.
“A conscript who isn’t supposed to see active
despite the Swedish security service
last year telling the foreign ministry
Relatives despair for fighting is among those missing in action,” wrote
Dmitry Shkrebets, whose son Yegor was a cook on
that 11 or 12 Russians working in the
35-strong embassy were spies. Carl the Moskva’s missing the ship and is listed as missing in action. “Guys,
how can you be missing in action in the middle
Bildt, the former Swedish prime of the high seas?!!!”
minister, has been one of many to ask Photos and a video purporting to show the
what was holding Sweden back. By Andrew Roth and Pjotr Sauer Moskva shortly before it sank emerged on
Foreign ministries have been reluc- Monday, nearly four days after it sank. They
F
tant to expel unless the evidence is or days after the Moskva cruiser sank in showed that its lifeboats had been deployed,
overwhelming. Diplomats see experts the Black Sea, Yulia Tsyvova had been indicating an order was probably given to
with first-hand contacts as vital to desperately searching for information abandon ship.
conveying accurate information about about her son Andrei. Like hundreds of Eskender Djeparov said he recognised his
their host country. They also reduce other Russian families of the crew members, she brother Akbar in a video released by the defence
the risks of misunderstandings. But had not been told whether he had survived the ministry that showed sailors from the Moskva
this benign take on the value of diplo- reported Ukrainian missile attack that had sunk meeting an admiral after the ship sank.
macy with Russia is becoming a minor- the Russian flagship of the Black Sea fleet. Then “We were very happy when we saw him in
ity view. In Ireland there has been a on Monday morning, she received a call from the video of the crew in Sevastopol,” Djeparov
shift in attitude to the 31 Russian the Russian defence ministry. Her son was dead. said. “The day after the tragedy, he called our
diplomats there, with the embassy “He was only 19, he was a conscript,” said mother and said that he is alive and well. That she
having planning permission revoked Tsyvova, who wept as she spoke by telephone. shouldn’t worry about him. He hasn’t told us what
in 2020 for a new underground build- “They didn’t tell me anything else, no informa- happened, he doesn’t say much. He calls us from
ing on its site. tion on when the funeral would be. different numbers. He is a conscript, he started
“There was clear risk Ireland was “I am sure he isn’t the only one who died.” last July. He definitely never signed a contract.”
to be their spying headquarters for its Family members of sailors who served on the A relative of crew member Evgeny Grinberg
European operations,” said Keir Giles, Moskva are demanding answers as the ministry said via an online message: “His condition
senior consultant to the Chatham has sought to suppress information about what is fine and I do not intend to divulge military
House Russia programme. “They happened to the ship or its crew of about 500. secrets.” Asked how he knew about his relative’s
may have needed somewhere after so The number of dead, wounded and missing condition, he wrote: “I called into the ministry
many had been thrown out following remains a state secret. Suppression of informa- of defence.”
Skripal. The problem is Russia deters tion about the deaths has raised comparisons But many others have been less lucky.
by operating in an asymmetrical way. with the Kursk submarine incident that left 118 Shkrebets was one of the first to go public
You either respond in kind or you back sailors dead and struck a blow to the prestige of demanding answers about why his son was
down. We throw out spies and they president Vladimir Putin in 2000. sent to war. “They said that the entire crew was
throw out diplomats.” “This regime has never been very transpar- evacuated. It’s a lie! A cruel and cynical lie!”
For instance, when eight Russian ent about casualties,” said Alexander Gabuev, His wife, Irina, told the Insider, an independ-
diplomats attached to Nato headquar- a senior fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center. ent Russian website, that they had seen about
ters in Brussels were expelled in Octo- “It’s not something very new or very surprising.” 200 injured sailors at a military hospital in Crimea
ber 2021, Russia shut down its entire New information on the young sailors who while looking for their son.
Nato mission as well as the Nato infor- “We looked at every burnt kid,” she told
mation office in Moscow. the Insider. “I can’t tell you how hard it was,
Now, with every day, the estrange- but I couldn’t find mine. There were only 200
ment seems to grow more profound. people, and there were more than 500 onboard
Free media is disappearing and VPN the cruiser. Where were the others? We looked
sites are blocked, forcing the west in Krasnodar, and everywhere else.”
and Russia deeper into their separate Others had contacted the Shkrebets family
information bubbles. Germany plans hoping to find more information.
to wean itself off Russian energy, sev- Yet some parents were clearly fearful of speak-
ering institutional, business and cul- ing out. Ulyana Tarasova, of St Petersburg, wrote
tural links developed since the 1970s. online: “My son, Tarasov Mark, is missing in
Few think that it is a decoupling that action aboard the cruiser Moskva.” Hours later,
can be reversed for decades to come. her post was gone.
PATRICK WINTOUR IS THE GUARDIAN’S ANDREW ROTH AND PJOTR SAUER ARE GUARDIAN
DIPLOMATIC EDITOR RUSSIA AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENTS
▲ An unverified image of the Russian
cruiser Moskva before it sank
REX/SHUTTERSTOCK 22 April 2022 The Guardian Weekly
SPECIAL
S
SPP EC
E C IAL
I A L RE
IA R
REPORT
E PO
P O RT
RT
14
4 UKRAINE
U KRAINE
IINVASION
NVASION
SPORT
‘I AM CRYING
EVERY DAY’
IN THE
STANDS WITH
UKRAINIANS
AS DYNAMO
KYIV PLAY
ONCE MORE
F
ar away, at the other end many have arrived through necessity.
Football club kicks off its ‘match for peace’ of the pitch, a Ukrain- They are nominally here to watch
series in Warsaw, watched by thousands of ian footballer is scoring Dynamo Kyiv play the host club in the
refugees and fans seeking national solidarity what later turns out to first of a “match for peace” series that
have been a beautifully will raise money for the response to
worked goal. That is Russia’s invasion and see them face
By Nick Ames WARSAW something remarkable in itself but several other European teams.
Oksana is talking and the backdrop has To some, a match represents
become a detail. She is thinking about welcome diversion; to others it is the
▼ Players and the train she will board in around nine first opportunity to be together in
mascots wear hours; it will return her to Kyiv, at last, numbers like this. “Maybe not every-
Ukrainian flags and from there she will join the volun- body would understand this kind of
before the match teer effort in Bucha. The home she left event but it helps to raise the feeling of
in Warsaw is 15km further south, in Boyarka. Like belonging to the Ukrainian nation,” says
ADAM NURKIEWICZ/
most of the capital’s satellite towns, Oksana, who left Boyarka for Warsaw
GETTY it has undergone its own visit to hell. with her children after the war began
“Tomorrow they are burying one but has made regular journeys to Lviv
more of my friends, but I won’t make with supplies for soldiers and medics.
it in time,” she says. “Two close friends “We are fighting a war between light
were killed while they were helping to and darkness, and light will succeed.”
evacuate people. They were found in Mykola, 21, has been in Warsaw
a mass grave with evidence that they since moving from the central Ukrain-
were tortured. And I know that there ian region Kirovohrad, and is working
is more of this to come.” as a barman. As people pass, he helps
Oksana’s story drowns out the to staff a makeshift stall accepting
clamour of a football game. It is deliv- donations that will go towards bullet-
ered matter-of-factly. “My mind is just proof vests, helmets and other protec-
trying to reject the reality,” she says. “I tive equipment for those defending
just disconnect my feelings. It’s going
to come later, I’m aware.” ‘This kind of event
She has wrapped herself in a
Ukraine flag and is far from alone in helps raise the feeling
that. About two-thirds of an 18,000
crowd inside Legia Warsaw’s stadium
of belonging to the
are her compatriots. Some live here; Ukrainian nation’

In brief 15
Fans light flares feel pain constantly and cry every day.” Zelinskiy vows to repel Russian
in Ukrainian The participants walk around the pitch advance to capture Donbas region
colours. Proceeds and dance on a Ukraine-shaped stage Russia has begun large-scale military
from the game alongside musicians such as Kateryna action to seize the east of Ukraine,
went to those Pavlenko of Go_A, who represented the country’s president Volodymyr
affected by the the country at Eurovision in 2020. The Zelenskiy said in a video address on
Russian invasion Ukrainian anthem, played shortly after Monday night. “A significant part
KACPER PEMPEL/ the teams have walked out, makes the of the entire Russian army is now
REUTERS
hair stand on end. concentrated on this offensive,” he
Dynamo have been staying in the said. “We will not give up anything
Regent hotel, a pleasant walk away Ukrainian.” Vladimir Putin has
through Lazienki Park. Friends drop declared his intention to seize
by to visit, including fellow football- Donbas, the industrial heartland
ers; Ihor Litovka, goalkeeper from the in the east of the country already
top-flight club Desna Chernihiv and partly controlled by pro-Russian
now a temporary resident in Warsaw, separatists. Zelenskiy made clear that
catches up with the defender Olek- the Ukrainian army would battle any
sandr Karavayev. Litovka’s home sta- attempted advance by Moscow. “No
dium has been bombed; he dreams of matter how many Russian troops are
returning to Chernihiv after the war. driven there, we will fight,” he said.
Since leaving Ukraine, the Dynamo
players have been training in Bucha- Captured Britons put on Russian TV
rest under the veteran coach Mircea Two British fighters captured in
Lucescu. Those players with rooms at Ukraine by Russian forces have
the front of the hotel can look out of been paraded on Russian state
their windows to see a banner reading television asking Boris Johnson to
“Putin go fuck yourself” in Ukrainian help free them. Shaun Pinner and
and “Glory to Ukraine” in Polish. Aiden Aslin were shown calling on
When Vitaliy Buyalskiy puts the British prime minister to help
Ukraine. A similar collection in Dynamo ahead against Legia within free them in exchange for Ukraine
Warsaw’s old town raised 8,000 zloty three minutes, he does so in front of a releasing pro-Kremlin politician
($1,800); that tally will be exceeded by Game on “Stop the War” banner emblazoned on Viktor Medvedchuk. It was unclear
the takings from this game. His father Ukraine holds the lower tier behind the goal. Buyals- how freely the two men were able to
is with him, handing out bread with kiy drops to his knees; there are loud talk in the video, aired on the Rossiya
charity event
pork and pickles, but he thinks about cheers but this is no ordinary football 24 state TV channel on Monday. At
his grandparents back home. crowd and it is hardly a night for cel- the same time, Ukraine’s foreign
Katya is with her sister Nastya and The town of ebrations. A section of Legia’s ultras intelligence service released a video of
brother-in-law Ihor, who have lived in Ivano-Frankivsk have boycotted the game, alleging that Medvedchuk asking to be swapped.
Warsaw for five years. Katya studies in western Dynamo’s ownership is pro-Russia,
in Kyiv but left in March. “I feel safe Ukraine staged which has been denied. Those fans are Mayor slams attacks on civilians
in Warsaw but can’t say I am calm,” a charity football not around to present the kind of spec- Lviv’s mayor accused the Kremlin of
she says. “I worry about my parents. tournament tacle they did in Poznan earlier in the “genocide” after four Russian missiles
Every night, in my dreams, I just see in support of month, when an image of Putin with smashed into the western Ukrainian
bombs and people dying.” the Ukrainian a noose around his neck was unfurled. city on Monday (" below), killing
Further along, Yulia is pacing up armed forces Legia equalise but Dynamo score seven people and injuring at least 11.
and down with a clipboard. Every last weekend. again through Artem Besedin and the Andriy Sadovyi said: “What we see
few seconds someone presents her The event, same player makes it 3-1. At full-time today is genocide. It’s a deliberate
with their blue Ukrainian passport thought to be the the song Imagine is played, the flags action by the aggressor to kill peaceful
and has their name ticked off a list of first organised wave in unison and Benjamin Verbic, a civilians. All our cities and villages
participants in a pre-match concert. football to be Slovenian winger who joined Legia on are in the same situation.” Russia
The vast majority of refugees in Poland played in the loan from Dynamo after the invasion, carried out the long-range airstrikes
are women and children, because most country since the cannot hold back the tears. early on Monday against what it
men under 60 are required to stay in start of the war, “We will be dealing with this war claimed were military targets.
Ukraine. Nowadays they are mainly featured local for many years,” says Oksana. “But my
from the country’s east and arrive at players as well view, and I don’t think it’s just a roman-
Warsaw’s central station, where two as professionals tic one, is that there are much more
tents offer food and assistance. Yulia, displaced by powerful tools than firing weapons.
a student producer in Kyiv before the the war. There is the human face, the brain, the
invasion, gathers 100 of them to join soul and love inside. I think this is what
Ukrainian musicians on the pitch. the Ukrainians have and the Russians
“I’ve been trying to help people don’t. We’ve seen it here again tonight.
with their basic needs since I got here And that’s why we are going to win.”
because we all have to be together,” she NICK AMES IS A GUARDIAN FOOTBALL
explains. “But everything is difficult. I WRITER

SPECIAL REPORT
16 UKRAINE Gaby Hinsliff

Rape in Ukraine is a war crime
‘Our storks are coming back’
Country diary from Ukraine
INVASION Page 45 Page 62
Across swathes of territory vacated citizens forced to flee their homes,

by Russia’s armed forces a great clean- he said. They would be given money
up was under way. Homeowners were or materials to rebuild, with the plan
tidying up and counting the cost of a subsequently expanded to all affected
devastating month-long occupation. cities and communities. Veterans and
Ukrainian army sappers collected left- state workers would be a housing
behind munitions and defused mines priority, he said.
– a vast ongoing job. Outside Chernihiv, the years-long
A few doors down the road workers scale of this ambitious project was
from Ukraine’s Dtek energy company grimly apparent. The road south
were busy restoring the electricity threaded through matchstick-like
supply. “We’re trying to help people,” trees shredded by Russian missiles.
one shouted. Russia’s invasion left Several bridges had been blown up.
1.5 million Ukrainians without power. In the village of Ivankiva most
Emergency crews have recently recon- houses were trashed, as if by tornado.
nected more than 980,000 households One resident, Yulia – who declined
to the grid, the firm said. to give her surname – said Russian
Farther north in Chernihiv, resi- soldiers killed her brother-in-law
dents celebrated Holy Week after a and her neighbour, a veteran from
UKRAINE traumatic 25-day siege. Russian forces the Soviet war in Afghanistan. The
advancing from Belarus bombarded soldiers lived in her house for 25 days,
the city. Several hundred people died. she said, taking over her bedroom. She
Worshippers carrying Palm Sunday and her 13-year-old son, Zheniya, slept
Cleaning up the chaos willow branches crossed themselves

inside the 11th-century Transfigura-
in the candle-lit basement.
“I asked them why they had come
tion Cathedral. Others enjoyed secular here. They said: ‘We are here to liberate
Charred houses, ruined pleasures. Vyacheslav Radchenko and
his wife, Marina, were fishing from the
you from your government and from
Nato.’ I explained we voted for our gov-
lawns, broken bridges – bank of Chernihiv’s Desna river.
Vyacheslav said the city’s internet
ernment every five years and didn’t
need liberating,” Yulia recounted.
and unexploded bombs and electricity supply were back but
there was a shortage of glass to repair
Further down the road, the neigh-
bouring settlement of Yahidne was in
broken windows, and a lot of damage. a pitiful state. Russian units had taken
Harder to fix were the city’s over most properties, marking them
G
By Luke Harding alina Muzyra moved around relations with Belarus, whose with a V. They had herded several hun-
CHERNIHIV her front garden as she president, Alexander Lukashenko, dred people at gunpoint into the base-
cleaned up the mess left by facilitated Vladimir Putin’s attempt ment of the village school. There was
occupying Russian soldiers. to seize Kyiv and to topple its govern- little oxygen. Eleven people, includ-
“They parked two armoured vehicles ment. Belarusians came to Chernihiv ing a 13-year-old girl, died there, amid
on my lawn,” she said, pointing to a to go shopping, Vyacheslav said. “Our choking darkness. Last Sunday, medi-
flattened blue fence next to her neat biggest fear is that the Russians come cal investigators had parked outside.
vegetable patch. Nearby was a large back,” he admitted. One resident, Nina Alexeevna, said
crater. Her yellow-painted dacha was In his latest video address, the she had spent an entire week cleaning
perforated with holes. Ukrainian president, Volodymyr the mess left by soldiers who squatted
Shrapnel had wrecked the wooden Zelenskiy, pledged to modernise urban in her home. Alexeevna showed the
summer house, too. It was a birthday areas destroyed by Russia. The prior- bedrooms and kitchen – a feral jumble
gift from her late husband, Nikolai, ity was to find temporary housing for of clothes, upturned drawers and scat-
Muzyra explained. “We don’t under- tered books. “This is Russky Mir,” she
stand why the Russians did this. We said ironically, referring to the idea of
▲ The trail of are a small, quiet country. If it wasn’t a Kremlin-dominated, Russian-speak-
destruction on for our president, I don’t know what ing cultural world.
the road from we would do,” she added, throwing Amid the horror and large-scale
Kyiv to Chernihiv splintered branches and other rubbish vandalism there was a symbolic
on to a spring bonfire. return. The white stork, Ukraine’s
Galina Muzyra Muzyra and her son, Denis, live national bird, had taken up residence
clears debris from in Zalissya, a village on the highway as usual along the road that the Rus-
her garden between the capital Kyiv and the sians had used in their unsuccessful
SVIATOSLAV MEDYK northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv. and apocalyptic advance towards
For 20 days, between 8 and 28 March, ‘We don’t understand Kyiv. Several storks sat on giant nests,
Russian troops took over her home, built on top of telegraph poles. One
sleeping on top of her kitchen stove. why the Russians did soared high above over the carcass of
The property survived better than a Russian armoured vehicle.
many others. The house next door is
this. We are a small,
LUKE HARDING IS A GUARDIAN
a charred, roofless shell. quiet country’ INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT

17
In-depth reporting and analysis
FRANCE
Which way
will leftist
voters swing?
Page 20
UNITED KINGDOM
A fine mess
I
t wasn’t as if things had been the Metropolitan police. The prime ▲ Parties at
going brilliantly for Boris John- minister would be among those fined Downing Street
son as he attempted to spend for attending a Downing Street gather- during lockdown
Going, going some precious downtime last

week at Chequers, a bubble of country-
ing for his birthday.
It is a measure of the threat it posed
have led to fixed-
penalty notices
… but how is
side tranquillity away from the esca- that last weekend, after the deploy- for the prime
lating cost of living crisis and political ment of a hugely controversial asylum minister and the
woes that had punctuated his year. policy and a concerted campaign to chancellor
Johnson still By last Tuesday, one MP had been

expelled from the party after being
found guilty of sexually assaulting a
prop up the prime minister, his team
will be relieved that the number of MPs
calling for his resignation has been
ANDY RAIN/EPA
not a goner? 15-year-old boy. Another had caused

outrage for issuing a statement sup-
limited to a dozen or so – and only one
minister has quit.
porting his former colleague – all just Yet as Tory MPs prepared to regroup
weeks before looming local elections. in Westminster this week, many were
Continued
By Michael Savage and Shanti Das Then, came the phone call from saying any predictions that the threat
18 Spotlight
Europe
hovered at the door for some time
before entering the room.
An unfortunately timed photograph
of the chancellor, his allies believe, is
to blame for his fine. It meant that
those regarding Sunak as the natural
successor to Johnson suddenly could
not denounce the prime minister,
while Sunak could not quit without
collapsing the government. Even
then, allies said he spent a miserable
few hours considering his future, but
backed away from quitting.
Despite those slices of fortune,
however, several MPs said that the
security of Johnson’s position was
being overestimated, and thought
further fines were inevitable
In particular, Johnson’s attendance
at a “bring your own booze” event in
the Downing Street garden, as well
Police file as an alleged party in the Johnsons’
Events under Downing Street flat – which is denied
by No 10 – have the greatest potential
investigation for damage. “I think the birthday stuff
is small beer compared with what is
• 20 May 2020 to Johnson’s position had subsided ‘I think the birthday coming,” said one veteran MP.
“BYOB” party in were seriously overdone. Many agree the key moment
No 10 garden “He’s still deep in the woods,” said stuff is small beer remains the publication of the full Sue
one former minister. “We’ve got local Gray report, which will come once all
• 18 Jun 2020 elections and that is what is holding
compared with the party fines have been issued.
Leaving do for most colleagues back. But once the what is coming’ Kevin Hollinrake, MP for Thirsk and
private secretary locals are done, and if there are more Malton, who condemned the rule-
fines, then it does become a very much breaking, said: “There is a requirement
• 19 Jun 2020 more difficult terrain. I don’t think it’s within the [ministerial] code that any
Johnson birthday signed, sealed and delivered – and significant breach would necessitate
party at No 10 they know that in No 10. They’ve been the tendering of a resignation, and this
very unnerved.” of course would also apply to the prime
• 13 Nov 2020 While the timing of the Met’s phone minister.” Sir Christopher Chope, MP
Alleged Downing call during the political recess made it for Christchurch, said ominously:
Street flat party hard for a scattered No 10 team to for- ▼ Chancellor ▲ Boris Johnson “Before deciding upon what course
mulate a response, it ultimately helped Rishi Sunak’s star with Volodymyr of action to take, I shall wait for these
• 17 Dec 2020 the prime minister. In the hours after has fallen Zelenskiy in Kyiv further reports.” Sir Gary Streeter, the
Cabinet Office the news that Johnson and the chan- ALASTAIR GRANT/AP UKRAINE PRESIDENTIAL veteran MP for South West Devon, was
PRESS/AFP/GETTY
Christmas party cellor, Rishi Sunak, had received a fine, more blunt. “I submitted a letter of no
the Tory MP WhatsApp group was confidence several weeks ago, which
• 18 Dec 2020 silent, with no one wanting to be the was widely reported. My position
Downing Street first to give their verdict on the leakiest remains unchanged.”
Christmas party forum in Westminster. Apart from the imminent threat
Nadine Dorries, the ultra-loyal of further fines, it is understood MPs
• 14 Jan 2021 culture secretary, led a late charge of have approached the Speaker about
Leaving do cabinet support for the PM. But his real referring the prime minister to the
for Downing saviour came in the unlikely form of privileges committee over whether
Street staff Sir Roger Gale – an arch Johnson critic. he misled the house about parties.
He concluded removing Johnson Other MPs are said to be on the
• 16 Apr 2021 immediately would be a “gross self- edge. Alex Chalk, the solicitor gen-
“Boozy” party indulgence” while the Ukraine crisis eral, who is regarded as firmly on
the day before was continuing. resignation watch, went as far as he
Queen sat Another stroke of luck for Johnson could without resigning in his state-
alone at Duke was that, to the surprise of everyone in ment to his local newspaper, saying he
of Edinburgh’s the government, Sunak was also f ined would not defend the prime minister’s
funeral for his attendance at the birthday party actions. He is one of five QCs on the
event. It is understood that, having frontbench. A sixth, justice minister
arrived early for a meeting, Sunak Lord Wolfson, resigned.

Britain’s immoral Rwanda policy p48
19
The local elections have become ▼ Migrants A N A LY S I S Labour to the Conservatives – often
pivotal to test public support for John- arrive in Dover UNITED KINGDOM via Ukip and the Brexit party – stick
son. Out on the campaign trail, Tory after crossing with Johnson at the next election.
candidates were shifting the focus the Channel As such, it was with much fanfare
away from national politics. Walking
around the Milton Keynes ward of
STUART BROCK/EPA
Out of sight that Johnson wanted to announce
a tough new immigration policy
Tattenhoe, Shazna Muzammil talked on asylum seekers who make the
about parking, potholes and litter.
A Tory council candidate, she has
What will Tories perilous journey across the Channel
from France via “irregular” routes.
centred her campaign on the things
she believes matter most to local
achieve by But while it came as welcome
news to many Tory MPs, there are
people. But it is becoming trickier to
keep conversations on track. National
sending asylum still concerns about the detail: the
cost and the choice of Rwanda as
issues keep coming up on doorsteps.
“It does definitely make it harder,” seekers abroad? the country where some asylum
seekers will be sent.
said Muzammil. “The prime minister Just last month, Conservative
is doing well on Ukraine, but people peer Lord Kirkhope warned that
never talk to you about that because By Aubrey Allegretti “the costs of offshoring would be
they have nothing to complain about.” exorbitant”, citing “conservative
Tory MPs critical of Johnson Cost check When Boris Johnson’s estimates” of about £2m ($2.6m)
confirm that voters were not yet Overheads position was at its most a person a year. So far, £120m
switching allegiance. “Our view on precarious two months has been committed by the UK
and arrivals
the doorstep was people are pissed ago, he had to convince government to fund the scheme.
off with us, but there’s no appetite for Conservative MPs sticking by his Despite repeated promises from
Labour,” said one northern MP.
The Downing Street strategy until
the elections is simple: keep busy.
$2.6m
Estimated cost
side was worth it. A plan – dubbed
“Operation Red Meat” – was devised
to give those losing faith in his
the home secretary, Priti Patel, to
bring the number of arrivals down,
they remain at their highest on
After the announcement that asylum per person, per administration some belief that record: 4,600 people have arrived
seekers would be sent to Rwanda, year, of proposed there was a higher purpose than on small boats on the Kent coast this
which pushed Partygate off the front asylum scheme just defending their leader through year, with about 600 in a single day
pages, the prime minister was due to scandal after scandal. this month – and “hundreds” more
make a high-profile trade trip to India.
One minister said the sudden 4.6k The prime minister knew he
needed to shore up support, prove
last Thursday alone.
The Conservatives have risked
outburst of activity, particularly the Number of himself a proper conservative and being outflanked on traditional turf,
Rwanda policy, bore the hallmarks ‘irregular’ enact more of the policies that had such as law and order, but know that
of the Australian strategist Lynton arrivals on him clinch an 80-seat majority at the subject of border controls allows
Crosby, who has always remained Britain’s Kent the last election. them to exploit the old divisions
close to Johnson. “I find it repug- coast so far A major theme of the Tories’ of the Brexit years more easily
nant, but it’s just from that classic this year campaign in 2019 was Brexit – and, – and try to paint Labour as soft
playbook,” they said. in the years since, Johnson has been on immigration.
Johnson’s allies see the final threat mindful that the message about Government insiders said they
as 9 May, when Russia could in theory “taking back control of our borders” had been hoping to announce the
end its attacks on Ukraine to coincide was particularly potent for some. migration plan months ago, to
with the anniversary marking its Senior advisers have been keen to try moving attention away from
defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945. ensure the voters who swung from the initial Partygate scandal. And
At that point, the invasion will Johnson was said to have pushed
no longer be a viable excuse for MPs hard for it to be announced before
refraining from calling on Johnson the local elections in early May.
to go. Critics of the prime minister Rwanda’s human rights record
also know that, even with a general has also prompted concern – given
election likely to be two years away, the UK does take in refugees who
their time to act is limited. Many have say they are fleeing the threat of
given themselves a summer deadline persecution there.
to decide whether to depose him. Finally, there is the issue of
In his Easter message, Johnson whether the tough talk will translate
said: “Easter tells us that there is light into a dramatic reduction in the
beyond the darkness,” he said. “That number of people crossing the
beyond the suffering lies redemption.” Channel, or simply draw attention to
He will have to hope his gloomy MPs an issue the government has so far
take his message as more than just a appeared unable to solve.
seasonal platitude. Observer AUBREY ALLEGRETTI IS A POLITICAL
CORRESPONDENT FOR THE GUARDIAN
MICHAEL SAVAGE IS THE OBSERVER’S
POLICY EDITOR; SHANTI DAS IS AN
OBSERVER REPORTER

20 Spotlight
Europe
FR ANCE the presidential motorway, Emmanuel ‘If both Bardella, acting leader of Le Pen’s far-
Macron is trying a subtle turn to the right Rassemblement National, was
left”. But the mayor of Trappes, Ali candidates officially put under investigation for
Rabeh, a former member of the Social- have a hate speech after describing the town
Round two
ist party who campaigned for Mélen- disdain for as an “Islamic Republic”.
chon, said: “If Macron is going to say At Trappes market last Friday,
something it should be a clear message the working Clement Likwengi, 52, a fire safety
Macron and of compromise, not something vague

like perhaps lowering his proposal for
class, Le
Pen adds a
adviser, said: “People here will never
vote for Le Pen for the simple reason
Le Pen battle
retirement at 65 to 64-and-a-half.” that she represents the politics of divi-
Mélenchon has advised support- disdain sion. I think people in France forget
ers that “not a single vote should go for race’ that Macron has revived the French
to win over to Madame Le Pen”, but made it clear

that the second-round vote is the
equivalent of, as the French say, either
economy, reduced unemployment
and looked after people during the
Covid crisis. He’s done the job.”
left’s voters “the plague or cholera” for those on

the left. Rabeh believes – reluctantly
He said he would vote Macron and
hoped his son, 27, and daughter, 19,
– there is no choice. “Le Pen is in a posi- who were enthusiastic Mélenchon
tion to win, and if she does it will be supporters, would do the same.
By Kim Willsher TRAPPES the most vulnerable, the minorities, Thierry, 59, a builder, who did
immigrants, those without papers, not want to give his full name, voted
E
mmanuel Macron is engaged who will suffer most. I’m not going to Mélenchon in the first round but said
in the battle of his career to campaign for Macron, but I don’t think he would not support either candi-
persuade leftwing voters – we have any choice.” date in the second. “There is nothing
many of whom have taken The first round saw an unexpected Macron can say to me to make me
to the streets to oppose his govern- surge for Mélenchon, who finished change my mind. He’s already had 10
ment over the past five years – to turn close behind Le Pen. Almost 22% of years in public life, five at the finance
out this Sunday and give him a second voters chose the radical left La France ministry and five as president, so we
term in office. Both Macron and Le Pen Insoumise (France Unbowed) leader know what he has done and will do. Of
need to win over a chunk of the 7.7 mil- and now feel “politically orphaned”, course, I worry that Le Pen will win,
lion people who voted for the radical Rabeh said. Polls suggest 30% of especially for the community here in
left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Mélenchon voters might vote Macron, Trappes, but, as we say, fear will not
narrowly knocked out in the first- 23% Le Pen, and the rest will abstain or stop the danger.”
round ballot on 10 April. vote blank in the second round. ▼ A Macron Mélenchon is consulting 315,000
In Trappes, south-west of Paris, Trappes has a large immigrant campaign poster party members to decide a collective
where almost 61% of voters chose population, many with north Afri- in Paris is covered response to the question of who to vote
Mélenchon, opinion was divided can roots. The far right has claimed with a Mélenchon for. In a letter to supporters he wrote:
this week about what to do next. Le that the town is a hotbed of religious sticker “The one and the other are not the
Figaro newspaper suggested that “on radicalisation. In February, Jordan JOEL SAGET/AFP/GETTY same.” Manon Aubry, of Mélenchon’s
La France Insoumise, said: “We know
Le Pen is dangerous. If both candidates
have a disdain for the working class,
she adds a disdain for race; if both offer
liberal politics, she adds xenophobia.”
Describing Macron as “the least
worst”, she added: “We have noth-
ing to negotiate with him. It’s for
him to say what he will do to address
the anger many feel towards him.” It
was this anger that sparked protests
at several universities including the
Sorbonne and Sciences Po last week.
Last Friday, a group of elderly men
from the Maghreb – chatting near Trap-
pes market – said they had no right to
vote in France, but were not worried
about the outcome. “Macron will win
and life will go on as before,” said one.
Rabeh fears this nonchalance is mis-
placed. “Unfortunately, I think we’re
just going to have to pinch our noses
and vote for Macron.” Observer
KIM WILLSHER IS A JOURNALIST BASED
IN PARIS

Spotlight 21
Asia Pacific
His words have been echoed by
China’s most senior leaders. Last
Wednesday, president Xi Jinping told
his officials: “It is necessary to over-
come paralysing thoughts, war-weari-
ness … and slack mentality.” A couple of
days later, vice-premier Sun Chunlan
reiterated the government’s unwaver-
ing commitment to “zero Covid”.
Experts say that despite calls
outside the country for China to ditch
its Covid policy, Beijing’s patchy record
in vaccinating its vulnerable popula-
tion would pose an even greater danger
to its inadequate healthcare system.
By 5 April, more than 92 million
Chinese citizens aged 65 or above had
C O R O N AV I R U S still not received three vaccine doses.
CHINA More worryingly, 20.2 million people
aged 80 and above have not been fully
vaccinated either.
Protests in
of lockdown. In Shanghai, a fortnight ▲ A volunteer “The Chinese leadership has been
of confinement has produced a sense speaks to locked- cornered,” said Yanzhong Huang, a
of hopelessness and desperation down residents in senior fellow at the New York-based
Shanghai among its 25 million residents.

Food shortages have forced some
residents to resort to bartering. A
Shanghai
CHEN JIANLI/XINHUA /AP
Council on Foreign Relations think-
tank. “But instead of asking all the pop-
ulation to stay at home, Beijing should
reveal public barrage of criticism of the authori-
ties’ response to the crisis has left the
focus on persuading its senior citizens
to receive three doses of vaccine and
mistrust of internet censors unable to keep up.

Online, many residents are not only
questioning the way the outbreak is
making the antiviral pills available to
them first. They should also approve
the BioNTech mRNA vaccine for
‘zero Covid’ being dealt with, but also Beijing’s

official narrative, which emphasises
nationwide rollout immediately.”
But earlier this month, Xi again
the collective good. Footage of local- extolled the zero Covid policy in an
ised protests have been uploaded to event celebrating the Winter Olym-
By Vincent Ni Chinese social media. They have been pics. “As some foreign athletes have
taken down by the censors, but have said, if there was a gold medal for
A
t about noon last Tuesday, reappeared on western platforms, responding to the pandemic, then
Yu Wenming, an 82-year- such as Twitter and Facebook – both China deserves it,” Xi said, according
old man in Shanghai, of which are blocked in China. to the Xinhua news agency.
called his local residential “Every day there are incidents that What has happened in Shanghai and
committee for help. “I’ve used up my break one’s bottom line,” wrote a “nor- elsewhere in the country will also have
medicines. Nor do I have anything to mal Shanghai resident” last week in political consequences, according to
eat. I’m feeling awful,” Yu, who had a Weibo article entitled Shanghai’s Victor Shih, an expert on Chinese elite
tested positive for Covid, told the party Patience Has Reached the Limit. politics at the University of California,
secretary, Zhang Zhen. Yet, there is little sign the authorities San Diego. “Covid and the different
Zhang said he had already referred are going to change course. Distress- ways Chinese cities are responding to
the case to his superiors and there was ing tales of exhausted officials have it will create a very challenging envi-
nothing he could do. “Do you mean I been widely read online in recent days, ronment for the party,” he said.
should just wait here until I die, then?” including one about a 55-year-old local Towards the end of his call last
Yu asked. Zhang responded with an public health officer, Qian Wenxiong, Tuesday, Yu posed a question to
angry rant, complaining that he, too, who was said to have taken his own life Zhang: “Is this what it’s really like
was completely powerless in this situ- in his office because of the pressure he in our country?” “I don’t know how
92m
ation: “I’m worried too … But there’s was under. Shanghai ended up like this,” said
nothing we can do …” Hu Xijin, the former editor of the Zhang. He sighed and ended the call.
Zhang revealed calls for help had state-run tabloid Global Times, said “I’m sorry, Mr Yu … Goodbye.”
been piling up but that his superiors in a commentary that Qian’s death Number of A recording of this went viral on
were not dealing with them. “Perhaps had intensified the impression that Chinese citizens WeChat, before the censors removed
one day, when I cannot put up with the fight against Covid in Shanghai aged 65 or above it. Last Thursday, state media said Yu
it, I’ll quit. Will this day come soon?” was “overwhelming” officials. But who have still had been sent to a hospital. Observer
In economic terms, the equivalent he insisted that, despite the tragedy, not received VINCENT NI IS THE GUARDIAN
of 40% of China’s gross domestic prod- Shanghai “must achieve Covid clear- three doses of AND OBSERVER’S CHINA AFFAIRS
uct is estimated to be under some form ance” for the benefit of the country. vaccine to date CORRESPONDENT

22 Spotlight
Africa
TECHNOLOGY
Facebook in Africa
Campaigns on Facebook appear to there. The Wagner group has deployed
have prepared the ground for many of between 400 and 600 fighters, trainers
the coups, pushing an anti-western, and support staff to Mali.
Network struggles pro-Russian agenda. The efforts are

similar to the “hybrid warfare” cam-
Human Rights Watch reported that
suspected Russian mercenaries par-
paign launched by Moscow in Ukraine ticipated in an operation with Mali’s
to curb west African and elsewhere.
A report by investigators from the
army in March in which about 300
civilians died. HRW did not mention
disinformation tide Digital Forensic Lab, a global network

of digital forensic researchers run by
US-based thinktank the Atlantic Coun-
Wagner specifically.
The DFR Lab identified a coordi-
nated network pushing narratives
cil, reveals how pro-Russian Facebook that promoted Russian intervention in
Social media campaigns pushing an anti- pages in Mali coordinated support Mali while disparaging France and the
for anti-democracy protests and the west. The pages have published nearly
western, pro-Russian agenda seem to have laid
Wagner group, a controversial Russian 24,000 posts and are followed by more
the ground for a series of coups in the Sahel private military contractor that was than 140,000 accounts. In September
invited into the unstable country last 2021, the pages of the network began
F
By Jason Burke acebook is struggling to year after the overthrow of President promoting Wagner as an alternative to
contain pro-Russian and Bah N’daw by the military. the French forces, and posted identical
anti-western posts that are The US and others allege that Wag- content, often less than 20 seconds
contributing to political ner is funded by the powerful busi- apart, the DFR Lab found.
instability in west Africa, investiga- nessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, who DFR investigators found that pro-
tors and analysts have said. is closely linked to Vladimir Putin. Russian content spread on Facebook
The platform, which has expanded Prigozhin and the Kremlin have in west Africa in the months before
rapidly across the continent, has made denied any knowledge of Wagner. the military takeover in Burkina Faso
significant investment in content Western officials described Wagner in January. Hours after the coup there,
moderation, but still faces challenges as a “Trojan horse” for a Russian effort demonstrators in Ouagadougou, the
in curbing deliberate disinformation to extend its influence covertly in the
campaigns. One major area of concern continent. France announced this year ‘It’s not bots any more.
is the Sahel region, which has suffered that it was withdrawing troops from
a series of military takeovers in the Mali, ending a near decade-long effort There are real people
past 18 months. to fight Islamist insurgents from bases behind the accounts’

23
capital, chanted pro-Russian and anti- NIGER IA Ogun. Edo’s civil service has adopted
French slogans. a Microsoft-based government por-
The DFR Lab has a partnership tal using fibre-optic internet access
with Facebook to monitor the plat- provided by MainOne and Facebook,
form for disinformation campaigns,
and receives funding from Facebook’s
owner, Meta. Facebook declined to
Meta pays according to Emmanuel Eweka, who
worked as a senior official for the Edo
government until last September.
take down the pages described in
the reports when alerted, saying that
for cables “The level of accountability this
system brings is so effective,” Eweka
though posts were clearly part of a
coordinated effort, they did not appear to reach said. “If a case file is sent to a civil
servant from the governor’s office,
to be a front for unidentified users and the governor can see exactly when
so “inauthentic”.
Toussaint Nothias, the research
new users it is opened, and whether it has been
actualised. So the days where you send
director at the Digital Civil Society one file somewhere and it gets lost in
Lab of Stanford University, said the By Emmanuel Akinwotu LAGOS the system are gone.”
decision was surprising. Schools have benefited from sub-
W
“The boundary between inau- hen government officials sidised internet connectivity and are
thentic and authentic coordinated in the Nigerian state of also working with Microsoft-based
behaviour is very tricky to manage. Edo set about radically programs, improving the quality of
Authentic coordinated behaviour can improving poor internet education, officials say.
often resemble social movements, and access for its population of 4 million, Edo Tech Park, 200,000 sq km of
determining when this behaviour is they didn’t have to look far for help. land that developers envision will be
harmful depends largely on the con- MainOne, a company responsible for the centre of the state’s growing tech
text and standpoint,” Nothias said. laying a vast network of fibre-optic ecosystem, was launched in Novem-
A Meta spokesperson said the com- cables across west Africa, was an ber. Access to faster and cheaper inter-
pany took the problem of coordinated obvious partner. Another, perhaps net services that Meta has helped pro-
campaigns seeking to manipulate pub- less obvious one, was Facebook. vide are fundamental to the residential
lic debate seriously and was taking As Facebook has come under rising and commercial scheme.
aggressive steps to fight the spread of legislative pressure in the west, it has Stephen Osawaru, a business con-
misinformation in Africa as elsewhere. increased its focus on Africa, particu- sultant in Benin City, the state capital,
“While nobody can eliminate larly in countries where the regulatory works with more than 300 startups in
misinformation from society entirely, and legislative environment tends to the state. “Many internet businesses
we continue to consult with outside be looser. Weak and expensive inter- in education, agriculture, health and
experts, grow our fact-checking net coverage for most of Nigeria’s finance didn’t exist five years ago,” he
program, and improve our technology fast-growing population of more than said. “Internet penetration is grow-
to tackle it on our services in the most 200 million has driven companies hoping at an exponential rate and creating
comprehensive and effective way posing to tap a potential goldmine of users more opportunities.”
sible,” the spokesperson said. – and their data – into the business of Funke Opeke founded MainOne in
In October 2019, Facebook took getting those people online. 2008. She describes the public-private
down three networks of accounts In places such as Edo, where gov- partnerships in Edo as “a model” for
linked to Prigozhin. The accounts ernment officials are committed to how internet access in Nigeria can be
were seeking to influence the domestic overhauling internet access, there rapidly increased. “It’s accelerating
politics in Madagascar, Central African are ripe opportunities for Meta, Face- development and state services to the
Republic, Mozambique, the Demo- book’s parent company. people – a win-win for the government
cratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory In 2019, Facebook invested $20m and the private sector,” she said.
Coast, Cameroon, Sudan and Libya. in internet infrastructure in Edo, Others are more circumspect.
In 2020, Facebook targeted and committed alongside MainOne When partnership announcements are
a Russian-led network of trolls ILLUSTRATIONS:
GUARDIAN DESIGN/
to laying 750km of fibre-optic cables made, the tone had been “quite altru-
outsourced to Ghanaian and Nige- REUTERS in Edo and the south-western state of istic”, said Gbemisola Alonge, from
rian operatives. Stears, an economic analysis company
The DFR report on the Mali accounts in Lagos. “But it’s never like that. It’s to
– and Facebook’s decision not to take expand their reach and increase their
down the network – underlines the risk [user] base.”
of actors exploiting loopholes in the Meta said it worked with partners
company’s policies. “to drive innovation on all aspects of
“It’s not bots any more. The major performance and efficiency”, and its
[social media] firms are very good partnership with MainOne had helped
at identifying bots … There are real bring online training to 2,000 teachers
people behind the accounts,” said in Edo and connectivity to four schools
Shelby Grossman, a research scholar and their surrounding communities.
at the Stanford Internet Observatory. EMMANUEL AKINWOTU IS THE
JASON BURKE IS THE GUARDIAN’S GUARDIAN’S WEST AFRICA
AFRICA CORRESPONDENT CORRESPONDENT

24 Spotlight
Environmentt
K E N YA
‘A disaster’
Raptors in
peril from
poison and
persecution
By Peter Muiruri
D
arcy Ogada rarely spots ▼ A secretary bird ▼▼ A bateleur ▲ Numbers of
raptors from her home in and a Rüppell’s eagle in the the white-backed
central Kenya any more. vulture, which Masai Mara. vulture have
The birds were once a com- are endangered The species has fallen sharply
mon sight in the industrial town of and critically declined by and it is now a
Thika, 40km north of Nairobi, but the endangered 46% in the last critically endan-
region’s forests are rapidly declining, WESTEND61 GMBH/ 40 years gered species
ALAMY
and the few remaining raptor popu- NILESH SHAH/ALAMY ANDRE MARAIS/ALAMY
lations face the added threats of poi-

son and persecution. “It is a disaster,”
said Ogada, “Every day I go out of the
house and look into the sky, I am disap-
pointed. I might see the extinction of species showing significant declines
these birds in my lifetime.” andd gauge the effectiveness of pro-
Ogada works for the Peregrine Fund tected areas.
and was among a team of Kenyan According to the scientists, factors
and international scientists who contributing to rapid raptor decline
recently published a report detailing include habitat fragmentation as a
widespread declines of Kenya’s birds result of infrastructure development,
of prey over the past 40 years. Num- widespread deforestation and a sharp
bers of common kestrel were down by rise in human population growth,
95%; secretary bird and long-crested which has resulted in a landscape
eagles 94%; lesser kestrels 93%; and that is less resilient to the effects of
the augur buzzard down 91%. Both the the climate crisis. Agriculture and
hooded vulture and Montagu’s harrier livestock development have also led
saw an 88% decline. to degraded ecosystems unable to
“We are on the brink of losing many sustain wildlife.
of them, along with the environmental “A sharp increase in livestock
benefits they confer to humanity,” said numbers in recent decades has led to
Peter Njoroge, head of the ornithology overgrazing, reducing grass cover and
section at National Museums of Kenya. small mammal populations, diminish-
“Most birds of prey are slow breeders ing the prey base for raptors. The result
and cannot cope with the myriad is a biologically impoverished land-
threats they face unless urgent action scape that is less resilient to climatic
to protect them is initiated.” changes and provides fewer ecosys-
The study, published in February tem services, and where attitudes
in the Biological Conservation jour- toward wildlife have become increas-
nal, involved a team of scientists ingly intolerant,” said the report.
from Kenya, the UK, France and the Raptor numbers declined less
US, who conducted road surveys from severely in parks and reserves com-
2003 until 2020, covering routes prepared with unprotected lands, under-
viously surveyed in the 1970s. They lining the importance of protected
measured changes in raptor numbers areas for remaining populations, say
between the two periods to identify the researchers.

25
“Our findings highlight the stark Latta himself saw the bird fly
contrast between raptor trends in upwards in front of him, showing the
protected areas and in unprotected distinctive white edges to its wings. “It
land. Outside Kenya’s protected area flew up at an angle and I watched it for
network there is evidence that raptor about six to eight seconds, which was
populations have almost collapsed, fairly long for an ivory-billed wood-
and this cuts across species size, diet or pecker,” he said. “I was visibly shaking
ecological requirements,” said Philip afterwards. You realise you’ve seen
Shaw at the University of St Andrews. something special that very few peo-
Simon Thomsett, a director at ple had the opportunity to see.”
Kenya Bird of Prey Trust, a raptor The size and markings of the bird in
rescue and rehabilitation organisation, the photos is strong evidence that it is
said there has been little effort to save not a different woodpecker, such as a
raptors compared with animals such as pileated or red-headed woodpecker.
elephants, lions or rhinos, which rank “It reinforced to me that, yes, this bird
highly in the tourism world. U N I T E D S TAT E S ▲ Ivory-billed does exist and left me feeling a sense
“You have some conservationists woodpeckers of responsibility to protect it for the
who judge the health of the ecosystem were once fairly future,” Latta said.
with the increase in elephants. But the common in the Ivory-billed woodpeckers were
‘Extinct’ US
elephant would hardly survive if the US. Numbers once found from the Carolinas to
raptors were not there to clean up the started to decline Texas. They were, or are, the largest
environment,” he said. “If the figures sharply in the woodpeckers in the US, with the males
[of raptor decline in Kenya] were wit-
nessed in Europe, Japan or any other
woodpecker 19th century
TOMASZ COFTA/
sporting a distinctive red crest. They
feast on insects that accumulate in the
sighted again,
BIRDLIFE
part of the developed world, there INTER NATIONAL/PA bark of recently deceased trees.
would be panic and people would do Their numbers started to drop
everything to save them.” sharply in the 19th century due to
The experts are concerned about
deliberate and incidental poisoning
scientists say human interference with their habi-
tat and overhunting, with their scar-
of raptors, and fear the long term city spurring collectors to hunt them
effects of recent large-scale spraying By Oliver Milman further as valuable specimens. They
of locusts in northern Kenya on rap- were also among the wildlife eaten by
I
tors that fed on the dead insects. The n terms of elusiveness, it is the Lost species poverty-stricken people of the time.
UN’s Food and Agriculture Organiza- Bigfoot or Loch Ness monster The ivory-billed With just a few of the birds occu-
tion said: “Chemical pesticides used in of the bird world, so rare and woodpecker was pying largely inaccessible forests,
locust control can pose risks to human undetectable that the US gov- perhaps the best confirmed sightings, let alone clear
and animal health … Some do pose low ernment declared it extinct last year. known species pictures, became almost impossible.
to medium risk to mammals, includ- But the ivory-billed woodpecker is, in declared extinct Last year, the US Fish and Wildlife
ing domestic livestock and fish. Most fact, alive and pecking in the forests of by the US Fish and Service (FWS), after years of listing the
present high risks to honeybees and Louisiana, researchers have claimed. Wildlife Service woodpecker as critically endangered,
other beneficial species.” A series of grainy pictures and last September. declared the species extinct.
Poisons used to kill predators such observations of the bird, which had Twenty-two other “No one has held a camera and got
as lions and hyenas that attack live- its last widely accepted sighting in bird, fish and a picture of one in years because it’s a
stock are also taking their toll on birds 1944, show that the scrupulously fur- animal species scarce bird in tough swampy habitat
of prey. While the poison may succeed tive woodpecker is still holding on in were also declared and they don’t want people close to
in killing a few predators, it is raptors, the swampy forests of the US south, lost for ever. Their them because they’ve been shot at for
especially vultures, that die in large according to the team’s new research, disappearance 150 years,” said Geoffrey Hill, a biolo-
has been blamed
numbers. Thomsett said: “Farmers which is yet to be peer-reviewed. gist at Auburn University, who took
on a number of
may be targeting hyenas, but it is the A three-year quest to find the wood- part in another, largely frustrating,
factors including
vultures that eat the carcasses. Now, pecker involved scientists trudging trip to find the bird in Florida in 2005.
over-development,
we are having plenty of carcasses with through an undisclosed portion “They have better eyes than we do,
water pollution,
fewer scavengers. Killing a raptor is of Louisiana woodland to observe they are high in the trees and actively
logging,
still a wildlife crime like killing a rhino, the bird and take audio recordings. flee people. They aren’t great thinkers
competition from
yet we rarely hear of any arrests.” Unmanned trail cameras, set up to take but they have developed a pretty sim-
invasive species
Despite the threats to Kenya’s rap- pictures on a time lapse, and a drone and the killing or ple strategy to avoid people.”
tors, the authors suggest that declines were used to capture photos. capture of birds Hill said Latta’s research was “very
could be reversed through enhanced Steve Latta, the director of conser- and animals by interesting” and that he thought the
management of protected areas, the vation at the National Aviary in Pitts- private collectors. bird pictured was indeed an ivory-
mitigation of specific threats, and burgh, who led the effort, said each In each case, billed woodpecker. He said the FWS
the implementation of species recov- member of the team had encounters humans were the was premature to declare the bird
ery plans. with the ivory-billed woodpecker and ultimate cause. extinct and that several dozen could
PETER MUIRURI IS A KENYAN
often heard its call, which has been remain in forests across the south.
JOURNALIST SPECIALISING IN TRAVEL described like hearing a child puff into OLIVER MILMAN IS AN ENVIRONMENT
AND CONSERVATION a tin trumpet. REPORTER FOR GUARDIAN US

26 Spotlight
Asia Pacific
NEW ZEALAND prices were up 6.8% from the previous
year, the largest increase in a decade.
Fruit and vegetable prices have been
particularly high – up 15% year-on-year
Foraging free
in January. A survey of 1,600 custom-
ers by Westpac NZ this month found
83% were worried about rising prices
Rising prices for food and other essentials.

Joanna Wildish knows the red zone
well. She began foraging in earnest
fuel trend around the time of earthquakes, and
the abandonment of the red zone coin-
for gathering cided with tighter budgets at home.

“We were really keen on finding free
sources of food and resources within
wild food the city – we were struggling finan-
cially and really wanted to just see
what was out there,” she says. “So [we]
started with things like collecting pine
By Tess McClure CHRISTCHURCH cones, and looking in local parks for
pears and apples and walnuts.”
N
estled in the golden pine vines among its cracking footpaths Joanna Wildish founded Ōtautahi Urban
needles that carpet the and expanding meadows, the zone is Wildish, above, Foraging group, where people
forest floor, Dylan Parker a favourite destination for foragers. gathers fruit and exchange tips about ripe fruit crops,
finds his prize: a cluster “It turned from urban exploring into nuts while Dylan locations of productive trees and
of dusty-brown slippery jack mush- fruit and nut collection,” says Sandi Parker, below, recipes for foraged foods. It helped
rooms, barely visible at first glance, Bobkova, who has brought her three- sniffs out seeds “relieve the stress of poverty”. Over
hollow-sounding when tapped – per- year-old son, Leon, out food-gather- NAOMI HAUSSMANN time, numbers in the group have
fect for eating. He gives them a quick ing. They pick apples, pears, grapes, grown as have the number of people
slap to release the spores, trims the feijoas, walnuts and the occasional she sees out and about gathering food.
stipes, and slots the mushrooms into lucky haul of apricots. Leon proudly “I wonder whether that’s out of neces-
his basket, where the ingredients of brandishes a porcini mushroom. (Bob- sity for a lot of people,” she says.
dinner are slowly accumulating. kova, a horticulturist, advises caution Foragers say gathering food is also a
Increasing numbers of people are eating wild mushrooms unless you are source of pleasure – a way to develop
turning to foraging to supplement absolutely sure of their safety.) a stronger sense of connection to
the contents of their pantries. Com- Foraging has been fun, but also a place and season. There’s a thrill in
munities map out fruit and nut trees, way to keep food bills down. “If you noticing the grassy flavour of a fresh,
alert one another to potential wind- have a toddler, you know they’re wee undried walnut, the earthy odour of
falls, develop a working knowledge of apple munchers,” she says. “I can’t a mushroom pulled from under the
edible weeds, and teach themselves to believe the cost of apples.” birch leaves, the sweet aniseed taste
distinguish a tasty birch bolete mush- In February, New Zealand’s food of pollen from a wild fennel flower.
room from a poisonous lookalike. “Being in touch with the seasons is
Competition can grow fierce. Forag- ‘We were struggling a really powerful thing that you gain
ers reluctant to give away their prized from foraging,” says Parker. “Things
porcini mushroom spots will rustle financially and really are ripe when they’re ripe, and every-
stealthily through the leaf litter, trying thing has a season. You can come out
to conceal their intentions. “You’ll see
wanted to just see here and pick yourself the most nutri-
these old guys, and they won’t even what was out there’ ent dense salad.”
tell you what they’re doing,” laughs After an hour of walking around,
Parker. “They’re like, ‘Oh, I’ve just lost his basket is full: mushrooms,
a ring!’ holding a bag full of lumps.” miner’s lettuce, mallow, parsley and
Foraging is popular in Christchurch, fennel. Most of his meals make use of
the largest city of the South Island, foraged ingredients.
where earthquakes in 2010 and 2011 “I think a lot of people are catching
demolished large chunks of the city. on to that,” he says. “I’m noticing the
Gaps remain and, in some, nature has effect on spots where I do forage and
taken over. The red zone, a ribbon seeing more traffic from more people
of land from the coast to the inner – it’s something that I find really excit-
city, was designated too unstable for ing. I love having more and more forag-
construction, and 8,000 houses were ers out. I think there’s always enough
demolished or removed. Abandoned for everyone.”
cul de sacs and deserted gardens were TESS MCCLURE IS AOTEAROA
left to go wild. NEW ZEALAND CORRESPONDENT
With thousands of fruiting trees and FOR THE GUARDIAN

Spotlight 27
Europe
S PA I N ing beyond a frontier long marked by ▶ A chef from
offerings such as dehydrated versions Alain Ducasse’s
of mac’n’cheese or prawn cocktail. team prepares a
Among the first to pioneer chef- low-temperature
Michelin-
approved space food were the salmon for a
renowned French chefs Thierry Marx French astronaut
and Alain Ducasse, each of whom SEBASTIEN SALOM-
starred chefs carved out a repertoire of space-ready

classic dishes that ranged from beef
bourguignon to almond tarts.
GOMIS/AFP/ETTY
turn their Some of Spain’s top chefs have

gone further, seeking to bring their to eat well,” said Aduriz.
talents to brand of boundary-pushing cuisine

into space. Last year, Ángel León of
the three Michelin-starred restau-
He saw the discussion on space
travel as one that will intensify. “I’m
convinced that our species, espe-
space food rant Aponiente proffered to Nasa a

nutrient-dense dish of rice cooked in
cially in the long term, will be spend-
ing much more time in space. And
collagen extracted from fish scales and they will colonise some spaces,” said
flavoured with freeze-dried plankton. Aduriz. “And then food will be an
By Ashifa Kassam Andoni Luis Aduriz of the top- important tool related to the mental
ranked Mugaritz, meanwhile, has health of the people who are there.”
W
hen a trio of paying sought to recast freeze-dried crea- The entry of chefs into an area long
customers and their tions such as a marshmallow-like cau- dominated by food scientists, how-
astronaut chaperone liflower with strawberry cream as the ever, is far from a seamless transition.
were blasted off to the perfect space food, marrying nutrition The team behind Andrés spent more
International Space Station, their voy- and functionality while also playing than a year tweaking the paella and
age was touted as a milestone for the to a sense of taste that can at times be secreto de cerdo y pisto – a cut of Iberian
commercialisation of spaceflight. dulled by microgravity conditions. pork with tomatoes, onions, aubergine
For the Michelin-starred Spanish Aduriz pointed to the commerciali- and peppers – that were sent to space,
chef José Andrés, however, the mis- sation of space to explain the inter- said Charisse Grey, who leads research
sion ushered in another – albeit more est. “Until now, space travel was done and development for the chef’s Think-
niche – breakthrough: the first time by men and women who were very FoodGroup.
paella was sent into orbit. trained to have a spartan spirit and “Food scientists think a lot about
“Astronauts from different coun- mentally prepared to live in extreme ▼ Spanish chef nutrition, they think a lot about calo-
tries and nationalities and back- situations,” he said. José Andrés’ ries,” said Grey. “My goal is to meet
grounds – and they are all going to be With companies such as Blue Origin team spent more your palate’s expectations for food.”
eating, at once, paella Valenciana,” he and Virgin Galactic looking to court than a year devel- The rules were strict; dishes had to
said on social media. deep-pocketed passengers, this profile oping the paella be nutritious, survive microbe-killing
Andrés is the latest in a string of top is set to change. “We’re talking about that was sent into sterilisation of 121C, and largely avoid
chefs who have turned their attention people who will likely not want to do space the use of free-floating liquids.
to space food, seeking to push fine din- without anything and who will want JOHN PARRA/GETTY “Things that are crumbly, like cook-
ies and chips, won’t make it up there
because if there’s little crumbs that
come off it while you’re eating, they
just float into space and can get caught
up in the air filtration systems and cre-
ate issues,” said Grey.
There was also no escaping the
foil-laminated pouch used to serve
the meals. “I recall one of my first con-
versations that I had with Nasa and
some of the food scientists … They
were, like, ‘You have to let go of the
feeling that the food has to look good.’”
While the team had yet to hear any
feedback from the crew, Grey said she
had been impressed by the dishes.
“I won’t say that they’re perfect and
I won’t say that they’re exactly what
you would get out of a paella pan,” said
Grey. “But they’re probably some of
the best meals I’ve had out of a pouch.”
ASHIFA KASSAM IS A JOURNALIST
BASED IN SPAIN

28 Spotlight
Asia Pacific
from citizens’ groups concerned about
the cost of developing Yumeshima
(Dream Island) and the casino’s poten-
tial to become a magnet for organised
crime and gambling addiction.
The city’s assembly has received
more than 100 petitions demand-
ing the casino plan be abandoned or
at least put to a referendum. Critics
point to the city’s decision to pay
¥79bn towards the cost of protecting
Yumeshima against soil liquefaction at
the request of the resort’s prospective
operators, MGM Resorts International
and the Japanese financial services
J A PA N ▲ Pachinko group Orix.
parlours are Foreign operators have spent years
a lucrative lobbying Japanese authorities for
business access to a market that could generate
Dream Island profits estimated by some analysts at

CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/
AFP/GETTY
$20bn a year if three casinos are built.
Despite the long ban on casinos,
backlash in Japan is a nation of keen gamblers:
horse, speedboat, motorcycle and
race to open keirin bicycle racing together bring

in the equivalent of billions of dollars
a year, while pachinko, a pinball-like
first casino game, generated ¥14.6tn in sales in
2020, according to the Japan Produc-
tivity Centre’s leisure white paper.
By Justin McCurry OSAKA But there is a downside. A 2017
health ministry study found that about
T
he focus of Japan’s quest 3.2 million people – about 3.6% of the T A I WA N
to open its first casino is adult population – were thought to be
a human-made island in High stakes addicted to gambling, far higher than
Osaka that, if the city’s Community v France’s 1.2%, for example.
War games
government gets its way, will end dec- Teruo Sakurada, a professor at Han-
big business
ades of wrangling over poker tables nan University in Osaka, believes the
and slot machines. central government will reject Osaka’s
Six years after the government
legalised casino development, Osaka
is vying with Wakayama and Nagoya to
100
Number of
bid owing to “irregularities” in its
application. “This is all about money
for the operator and the Japanese
Taipei
open Japan’s first “integrated resort”
– a ¥1tn ($8bn) complex of hotels,
conference halls and entertainment
petitions
demanding the
casino plan be
firms involved in building and run-
ning the resort,” said Sakurada, who
heads a group campaigning to scrap
rehearses
facilities, with a casino as its money-
spinning centrepiece.
abandoned the Yumeshima casino plan.
Osaka and its rivals will be keen to for invasion
Osaka is considered the frontrun-
ner after the local assembly, where the 79bn learn from the experience of Yoko-
hama, whose former pro-casino mayor
As Ukraine conflict revives
rightwing populist Osaka Ishin no Kai Projected cost, in pushed ahead with an integrated
is the strongest party, approved a bid yen, to taxpayers resort bid despite public opposition, fears over China, interest is
that will be sent to the central govern- in Osaka only to be voted out in favour of a can- growing in grassroots groups
ment by the 28 April deadline. of earthworks for didate who promptly ditched the city’s
The envisaged resort will “be Dream Island casino ambitions. that train civilians in disaster
an engine of sustainable economic Joji Kokuryo, managing director management response
growth”, Osaka’s mayor, Ichiro Mat-
sui, told assembly members. He has 3.2m of Tokyo-based casino industry con-
sultancy Bay City Ventures, said: “If
an ally in the prime minister, Fumio Number of the Yokohama story has taught us
Kishida, who said integrated resorts people in Japan anything, some form of local consent
were the “key to Japan’s efforts to thought to have looks to be a necessary step for inte-
become a leading tourism nation”. a gambling grated resort development to start on
But despite campaigning in local addiction the right foot.”
elections on a pro-casino platform, JUSTIN MCCURRY IS THE GUARDIAN’S
Matsui and his allies face a backlash TOKYO CORRESPONDENT By Helen Davidson TAIPEI

29
a return to a full year of conscription

for young Taiwanese men and the
abolition of a non-military public
service alternative.
But Taiwan’s military is no match
for China’s. Despite this, the govern-
ment appears resistant to the growing
calls for training civilians.
Admiral Lee Hsi-ming, a former
navy chief and chief of the general
staff, is among those who have called
for a government-backed territorial
defence force. Lee proposed Taiwan
should develop a civilian force that
could be trained in small but powerful
arms, with hyper-local leadership and
access to weapons and first aid caches.
Huang Kwei-bo, a professor of
diplomacy at the National Chengchi
University, doesn’t think a European-
style civilian force would necessarily
work well in Taiwan.
“A territorial defence force, all vol-
untary and part-time, is not impos-
sible in Taiwan but, if not trained and
equipped well, it will become both a
branch and a burden for the armed
forces,” Huang says.
Both Lee and the creators of, and
participants in, civil groups stress they
are not just about preparing for war.
Taiwan is a land of frequent disas-
O
n a muggy night in a Taipei added first aid … A lot of people want to ▲ A first aid ters, both natural and manmade. A
park, a dozen people spread learn these skills but don’t have access, and combat year ago, 49 people were killed and
yoga mats and plastic bags so this is a start.” fitness session more than 200 injured in a train derail-
on the ground. The invasion of Ukraine has pro- at Da’an Park in ment in Hualien. Unable to access
The atmosphere is relaxed as they vided a powerful lesson for people in Taipei. Interest in crushed carriages, first responders
warm up, taking turns to lead the Taiwan: that a smaller party can resist, defence training were luckily able to rely on commu-
group through exercises copied from and even fight back against a mightier has grown in nication with some uninjured passen-
US army basic training videos online. invading force. Residents said Taiwan the wake of gers who had trained or served with
They practise drills, dragging each should not rely on others for its sur- Russia’s invasion the military and fire departments.
other as injured deadweights, out of vival, pointing to the lack of interna- of Ukraine People like Enoch Wu want to broaden
the way of a fictional harm. tional boots on the ground in Ukraine, HELEN DAVIDSON these skills out to everyone.
There is a seriousness among those and delays in coordinating sanctions. But the government does not
here. The group is preparing for, well, A 2021 survey found public support appear supportive of a civilian combat
anything. Taiwan has been under the for better training, longer national ser- force. And not everyone who wants
threat of invasion for decades, but the vice and even conscription of women. more training believes in a formalised
ratcheting up of Chinese military mis- Anecdotally, there is an even greater citizens’ army.
sions and government rhetoric, and hunger for civilian defence pro- Chen is laughing after the drills but
the invasion of Ukraine by Xi Jinping’s grammes. Community groups and sombre when asked about her reasons
ally Vladimir Putin, have set nerves courses have reported up to 10-fold ‘It feels like for taking part and said she understood
on edge. Beijing claims Taiwan as increases in inquiries, and new grass- the end of how life could change quickly. She had
a Chinese province and has sworn to roots initiatives have sprung up. joined the group several months ago
“unify” it, by force if necessary. Enoch Wu, the founder of one of the world and felt vindicated when she saw vid-
Those gathered on this night – men the more high-profile and professional ... A lot of eos of older Ukrainians saying if they
and women of various ages and occu- civil training courses, says demand held a weapon it lessened the burden
pations – joined the group months ago, had been there for some time, but
people on young people.
but membership has tripled since the events in Ukraine had driven more want to “Maybe one day I can use this,” she
Ukraine invasion. They are learning people to “take immediate action”. learn says. “The preparation isn’t perfect but
first aid, self-defence and military fit- Taiwan has spent billions buying you have to prepare.”
ness, others practise firearms drills. weapons from the US and strength-
these skills’ Additional reporting by Chi Hui Lin
“It feels like the end of the world,” ened its international relationships. It Lin HELEN DAVIDSON IS A GUARDIAN
says 34-year-old Lin. “It was just is reforming its reservist programme, Training INTERNATIONAL CORESPONDENT,
fitness [when we started], but then we and the defence minister has flagged participant BASED IN TAIWAN

30 Spotlight
Science
P R I M AT OL O GY and thoughtful discussion of the lat-
est research. “Unfortunately,” he said,
“that’s not this book.”
What this book is is an attempt to
What
put the biology – the sex – back into It was only by accident,
gender. For too long, De Waal thinks, De Waal says, that
gender was regarded as a purely social explorers stumbled on
chimps first and they
primates
construct and talk of inborn sex dif-
became our go-to model
ferences was taboo. “The fact that we of primate behaviour rather
have genders is related to the fact that than, say, bonobos, which
we have sexes and sexual reproduc-
reveal
tend to be less aggressive.
tion,” he said. “That’s an undeniable
fact, in my opinion, even though the
gender concept is obviously more flex-
about us ible than the two sexes that we have.”

Sex (male/female) is approximately
binary, he argues, while gender (mas-
culine/feminine) is a spectrum. The
Ape behaviour explains a lot fact that the latter grew out of the for-
mer should not stop us questioning
about human sex and gender
the cultural components of gender,
says primatologist Frans de some of which are based on a misun-
Waal, whose new book on the derstanding of biology, nor rejecting
subject is stirring controversy gender-based discrimination.
The book is a plea to look beyond
chimpanzees when searching for par-
By Laura Spinney allels in our nearest primate relatives.
We are just as close to bonobos, the
S
ex and gender have come to “Kama Sutra apes” for whom sex is as
represent one of the hottest banal as a handshake, though much
‘We have
fronts in the modern culture more fun. Since chimps are generally no evidence
wars. Now, on to this bloody more aggressive than bonobos, this that any
battlefield, calmly dodging banned skewed emphasis gave rise to a bleak
books, anti-transgender laws and view of human nature, he feels.
species
political doublespeak, strolls the dis- Among his accumulated titles, De other than
tinguished Dutch-American prima- Waal is professor of psychology at our own
tologist Frans de Waal, brandishing Emory University in Atlanta, Geor-
nearly half a century’s worth of field gia, and from the first pages you know knows that
notebooks and followed, metaphori- you’re in the presence of someone who sex leads
cally speaking, by an astonishingly feels beyond the slings and arrows of
diverse collection of primates. the culture wars. “You wouldn’t write
to progeny’
Given the world it enters, De Waal’s a book like that if you were 40 and try-
new book, Different: What Apes Can ing to get tenure,” remarks Meredith Frans de Waal
Teach Us About Gender, would argu- Small, an anthropologist at Cornell Author
ably have failed if it didn’t stimulate University in Ithaca, New York, and
debate. It seems safe from death by an admirer.
indifference, however, since it is divid- De Waal is comfortable sharing per-
ing opinion even before it is published. sonal reflections on growing up as one
“I found the book to be as wise as it of six brothers and describing himself
was humane,” the American primatol- as a feminist who nevertheless refuses
ogist Sarah Blaffer Hrdy told me, while
US palaeontologist and writer Riley Frans de Waal
Black, a non-binary trans woman, at his home in
is disappointed the author didn’t Smoke Rise,
attempt a more radical overhaul of sex. Georgia
Princeton University primatologist BEN ROLLINS
Agustín Fuentes, meanwhile, is full

of admiration for De Waal’s descrip-
tions of ape behaviour, but feels the
book falls short when it comes to
humans. Given the author’s public
visibility and his masterful storytell-
ing skills, Fuentes told me, this was
his opportunity to present a thorough

31
to denigrate his own gender. He’s also De Waal says we’re more similar to
critical of what he sees as the contra- other primates than we think. (Years
dictions of modern feminism, in par- Parallel lives ago, he coined a term for those who
ticular the idea that gender is socially Characters of warned against anthropomorphising
constructed until it comes to gender other primates: “anthropodenialists”.)
the ape world
identity and sexual orientation, which Yet humans do seem to be unique in
are innate and immutable. one way. We are apparently the only
De Waal’s ape that attaches labels to sexual or
P
rimatology is a relatively entrancing gender diversity and prejudices to the
young field that was founded descriptions labels. In other primates, he says, “I
by men but came to be domi- of apes show don’t find the kind of intolerance we
nated by women, which how “female have in human societies”.
means it is acutely aware that who is choice became He expects blowback from two
looking is as important as what they an important broad camps – the feminists whom he
see. This cisgender, straight, 73-year- issue”. Among criticises in the book and those con-
old white man is no exception. He them are servatives who claim that men are men
describes how the field broadened Princess Mimi, and women are women and never the
its horizons thanks to feminisation. the “bonobo with twain shall meet, wrongly asserting
“When the women came, we got staff ” who grew that science supports their position.
more interested in female-female up pampered in Black says he fails to ask the most
and mother-offspring relationships,” a human home; fundamental question: what is bio-
he said. “Female choice became an and the gender- logical sex? “Is it chromosomes or hor-
important issue.” nonconforming mones or gametes, or some combina-
Both males and females strive – chimp Donna tion thereof, or is it a concept we need
non-consciously – to maximise their and the gay to go back and start over?” she asks.
evolutionary fitness, but because they capuchin Until we’ve answered that, she feels it’s
differ biologically, their methods for monkey Lonnie, unreasonable to assume sex is essen-
achieving this goal differ too. Protect- both of whom tially binary, even if De Waal does allow
ing offspring from male infanticide is were fully for some blurring and acknowledges
a common female preoccupation, De integrated into non-binary and transgender people.
Waal says, which is why one rule holds their colonies. Fuentes wonders why he overlooks
across species: “The typical primate research on human sex and gender –
society is at heart a female kinship network by the American neuroscientist
work run by older matriarchs.” Lise Eliot, for example, showing that
Males and females are both hierar- male and female brains aren’t that dif-
chical, but these hierarchies are based ferent, or British psychologist Cordelia
on more than just physical prowess. Fine’s probing of the complex feed-
Prestige, which is less visible, counts back loops between sex and gender. In
too. In most primates, the alpha female the introduction to Different, De Waal
ranks below the alpha male. explains that he will not discuss areas
As a result, the female has been of human behaviour for which there
underrated, an argument the Brit- are no animal parallels, such as eco-
ish zoologist Lucy Cooke also made nomic disparities, household labour
recently in her book Bitch. De Waal and dress. “But you can’t discuss gen-
challenges the idea that non-humans der without these!” Fuentes says.
are “natural” while humans are “cul- De Waal makes some thought-
tural”, arguing that nature and nurture provoking observations, such as:
are entwined in both; apes may have “Most beauty in nature exists thanks
gender as well as sex, but you can’t to female taste.” Or: “We have no evi-
take the sex out of human gender. ‘You dence that any species other than our
wouldn’t own knows that sex leads to progeny.”
Different is worth reading for its
write a anecdotes alone. The description of
book like two grizzled male chimps who were
In most primates, the
alpha female ranks below
that if you normally sworn enemies, arms slung
around each other’s shoulders, form-
the alpha male. Bonobos were 40 ing a barrage between a newborn and a
have reversed this order:
females invest everything
and trying young alpha male with possibly infan-
to get ticidal intent, is one of many that will
LIFE ON WHITE/ALAMY
in the sisterhood, which

be hard to forget. Observer
collectively dominates
the group.
tenure’ Different by Frans de Waal is
published on 5 May
Meredith Small LAURA SPINNEY IS A SCIENCE
Anthropologist AND HEALTH WRITER

32 Spotlight
North America
A N A LY S I S one or two issue facing the country. that included provisions to lower
U N I T E D S TAT E S The White House has tried to deflect healthcare and childcare costs,
criticism by blaming high gas prices stalled in the Senate due to There is a
on Vladimir Putin and the war in opposition from Joe Manchin, a
long way to
Balancing act Ukraine. Biden noted that more
than half of the March inflation was
caused by the rise in gas prices.
centrist Democrat.
“Here is the truth: we cannot
spend our way to a balanced,
go before
inflation
Could rising Biden has taken steps to curb gas
prices. He announced last Tuesday
healthy economy and continue
adding to our $30tn national debt,” could be
prices sink the that his administration would
approve an emergency waiver to
the West Virginia senator said.
Manchin’s stance has outraged
anywhere
considered
expand use of biofuels, and he has progressives, who insist high
Democrats’ pledged to release a million barrels a inflation underscores the urgent back to
day from the US Strategic Petroleum need to pass Build Back Better and normal
midterm hopes? Reserve for the next six months.
But the price increases extend
provide assistance to families.
Gabe Horwitz, senior vice-
well beyond gasoline and president at Third Way, a centre-
economists warn that inflation will left thinktank, said he remained
By Joan E Greve WASHINGTON probably remain elevated. optimistic that Democrats will be
Austan Goolsbee, an economics able to pass some version of Build ▼ President
The latest inflation professor at the University of Back Better that will lower costs for Biden has tried
report from the US labor Chicago who chaired the Council families. Manchin has indicated he to play down
department, released last of Economic Advisers under would be open to a proposal if it did concerns
week, showed US prices Barack Obama, said: “There are not add to the federal deficit. That NATHAN POSNER/
ANADOLU /GETTY
increased by 8.5% between March two questions. One is, is this peak would require Democrats to further
2021 and March 2022 – the highest inflation? But even if it is peak trim spending but could give them a
level since 1981. inflation and the numbers are victory to sell to voters.
The White House tried to coming down, what are they going “You can do both,” Horwitz said.
downplay concerns last year by to come down to?” “You can have a plan that raises a
arguing price increases were caused Goolsbee noted that so-called significant amount of money by
by the coronavirus pandemic and “core inflation”, which excludes the changing the tax code, and you
would prove “transitory”. Now, more volatile prices of gas and food, can use some of that money to pay
more than a year after vaccines rose by just 0.3% last month. That down debt and deficits. And you
became widely available, Democrats increase was less than expected, can use some of that money for JOAN E GREVE
are grappling with how to help providing some hope of inflation programmes that alleviate inflation IS A POLITICS
REPORTER FOR
families struggling under the weight cooling off in the near future. and help consumers.” GUARDIAN US
of inflation. “That was a welcome surprise,
Unless Democrats come up with but I don’t think anybody should kid
but
an effective plan, Republicanss could themselves,” he said. “There’s a long
tory
be on the way to a historic victory way to go before prices [or] inflation
this November. would be anywhere considered back
The president’s party usually ly to normal.”
ouse,
loses seats, particularly the House, As Democrats look ahead to
roval
in midterm years. Biden’s approval November, strategists are urging
ths, is
rating, in the low 40s for months, candidates to pitch a vision that will
not helping matters. both improve working Americans’
both
The Senate minority leader,, Mitch finances and mobilise voters.
McConnell, said the “atmosphere here “First and foremost, American
for Republicans is better than it was families need help,” said Kelly
ped
in 1994” – when the party flipped Dietrich, chief executive of the
eight Senate seats and gained a net National Democratic Training
of 54 House seats. Committee, which trains
“From an atmospheric point nt of candidates. “Secondly, to get them
oblems
view, it’s a perfect storm of problems more help Democrats need more
for Democrats because it’s an wins to improve our standing to
entirely Democratic government,” ent,” continue these policies.”
McConnell said. But enacting those policies
A CNBC poll this month showedowed difficult.
has proven diffi cult. The Build
48% chose inflation as the numbermber Back Better Act, a $1.9tn package

Spotlight 33
Finance
content from all the big studios, that
was a really good deal,” Martin said.
“Now that all the big boys are in the
business, they all have much bigger
libraries than Netflix and they have
news and sports. The competitive
landscape has changed for Netflix.”
While Netflix may not be growing
as fast as it once was, it is far too
early to write it off. Even another
disappointing quarter – and another
share price fall – is unlikely to dent its
enormous power.
Netflix had 222 million subscribers
at the end of last year. People spent
1.65bn hours viewing Squid Game
in its first four weeks. And the com-
pany’s stock is still one of the best-
performing of the past two decades,
gaining more than 34,000% since its
U N I T E D S TAT E S 2002 initial public offering. It made a
profit of $5.1bn in 2021 and its content
budget dwarfs most of its traditional
media rivals.
If Netflix is
last month when Coda beat Jane ▲ Despite There has been a “reset”, said Brian
Campion’s Power of the Dog for the investor worries, Wieser, from media agency GroupM.
year’s best picture Oscar. The heart- South Korea’s In part that reset was an “acknowl-
stumbling, warming story of a child of deaf adults

was produced by Apple; Campion’s
critically lauded neo-western was pro-
Squid Game
shows that
Netflix retains
edgment that the economics of the
streaming business are not as good
as the traditional media business”.
will Wall duced by Netflix. It was the first time
that a movie released by a streaming
global appeal
NOH JUHAN/AP
If you took a step back and looked at
what Netflix and its peers were doing
Street renew service had won the top Oscar.

Having redefined the media
landscape, Netflix was on the back
to the media landscape, it was clear
that streaming was here to stay and it
was the traditional media companies
or cancel? foot, and some think it is time for it to

change its game.
that remained most at risk.
“We are transitioning to a much
The company spent $17bn on more globalised economy and this
content in 2021 and is expected to is a much more globalised media
By Dominic Rushe NEW YORK spend about $19bn in 2022. But that industry than it has ever been,” said
hasn’t been enough to maintain the Wieser. Hits such as South Korea’s
H $45bn
it after hit – from Stranger kind of growth Wall Street has become Squid Game and All of Us Are Dead
Things to Bridgerton – accustomed to. show that Netflix remained the leader
cemented Netflix’s position “Originals and entertainment Amount wiped in that global market.
as the leading streaming content is no longer enough,” said off Netflix’s “Sometimes we lose a sense of
service. Subscriber numbers at the Laura Martin, an analyst at Needham value after it perspective on these things,” said
pioneering digital disrupter rocketed & Co. “Our thesis is that you must have announced it Wieser. “Were the last results really
during lockdowns. And then, in Janu- news and sport. You must have break- expected to add disappointing or was it about expecta-
ary, the boom appeared to be over. ing news because that brings in people only 2.5 million tions being mismatched?”
Netflix announced it expected to when, say, Russia invades Ukraine or new subscribers Competitors may have crowed at
add only 2.5 million new subscribers sports because when there is a really in the first three Netflix’s slip but the fall has dented
globally in the first three months of good game, people flock to you and months of the neither the scale of its ambitions nor
the year, well down on the 4 million stay there.” year, down from the depths of its pockets.
in the first quarter of 2021. The news Entertainment alone, she argues, 4 million in the Arguably even its recent loses show
has helped wipe almost $45bn from is too narrow and success may have first quarter that Netflix is winning. The fact that
its value as investors worried that the blinded the company to the need to of 2021 this year’s best picture battle was
glory days were over. offer a wider variety of content. When between Apple and Netflix shows
This week Netflix was due to release Netflix started, its main rivals in the just how firmly the streamers, once
its latest quarterly results. And some US, its largest market, were cable com- upstarts, are embedded.
analysts were predicting beforehand panies that offered sports and news The days when Netflix was an
that competition from Apple, Amazon, as well as entertainment but at a far outlier may be over, but all media com-
Disney and traditional media players higher price. panies are facing the same struggles.
may have put a stop to its stellar growth. “At the beginning when it was $15 DOMINIC RUSHE IS BUSINESS EDITOR
The narrative was further reinforced a month and they had great library FOR GUARDIAN US
(ALMOST)
The Guardian Weekly

y 22 April 2022
Vending machines 35
Almost invisible by virtue of costumed kids issue their demand for treats via prodded
forefinger. With his brother Peter and his father, John Sr, he
their ubiquity, automated runs the vending empire Broderick’s Ltd, its 2,800 machines
occupying some of the most sought-after corridors and cran-
snack dispensers work around nies of the UK. The Broderick family sugar and sustain office
workers, factory workers, students, gym goers, shoppers
the clock to those in need of and schoolchildren. They pep up breaktimes in a nuclear
a little pick-me-up. But who power station. If you’ve ever wolfed a postpartum Snick-
ers in the maternity ward at Chesterfield Royal Hospital or
keeps hold of the levers? Leeds General Infirmary, or turned thirsty while waiting
to fly out of Stansted or Birmingham airports, then you’ve
almost certainly shopped with Johnny Brod. He thanks you.
The coffee we drank that morning had trickled into card-
board cups from one of his own hot-beverage makers. Busi-
ness had been hurt badly by Covid, he said. There had been
one wretched day in the spring of 2020 when he awoke to
find himself not the owner of the second-largest fleet of
A
MINUTE BEFORE MIDNIGHT ON 21 JULY 2021, vending machines in the UK but “timebombs”.
as passengers staggered sleepily through “All these machines of ours in places we couldn’t access.
Manchester airport, I stood wringing my All full of perishable food.” After enduring months of closed
hands in the glow of a vending machine that workplaces, abandoned airports and dead campuses, the
was more than 2 metres tall, branded with Brodericks had lost millions on foregone Twirls and Mini
the name of its owner – BRODERICK – and Cheddars. Even so, Johnny Brod was bullish, insisting that
positioned like a clever trap between arrivals and the taxi the pandemic presented him with opportunities, too.
rank. Standard agonies. Sweet or savoury? Liquid or some- As he led me on a tour of his Wythenshawe headquarters,
thing to munch? I opted for Doritos, keying in a three-digit I told him about my early hours purchase at the airport. Talk
code and touching my card to the reader so that the packet about a smooth transaction, I said. No snagging! I imagined
moved jerkily forwards, propelled by a churning plastic he would be pleased to hear this, but he twitched his head
spiral and tipped into the well of the machine. My Doritos in frustration, as if at a grave breach of etiquette. Vending
landed with a thwap, a sound that always brings relief to the people hated it, he explained to me, this unexamined expec-
vending enthusiast, because there hasn’t been a mechanical tation of mechanical failure. Modern machines contained
miscue. Judged by the clock, which now read midnight, it many failsafes against botched vends. Despite this, the
was the UK’s first vending-machine sale of the day. one time that Johnny Brod could remember his beloved
Nine hours later, I was sitting in a spruce office in the industry trending on Twitter, a cruel joke had done the
Manchester suburb of Wythenshawe, drinking coffee with rounds. “About change being inevitable. Except from a
John “Johnny Brod” Broderick, who owned and operated vending machine.”
that handsome airport machine. I’d had an idea to try to Every one of his machines, he countered, was fitted
capture 24 hours in the life of vending machines. These with a contactless card reader. Since Covid, people didn’t
weird, conspicuous objects! With their backs against the want to touch anything they didn’t have to. Big change was
wall of everyday existence, they tempt out emotions from sweeping through automated vending, and the first thing
relief to frustration, condescension to childish glee. For to go was small change. As cash sales tumbled in 2020 and
decades I’d been a steady and unquestioning patron. I fig- 2021, and contactless sales climbed, the Brodericks had
ured that by spending some time in the closer company of been the beneficiary of new and better information about
the machines and their keepers, by immersing myself in their customers. Pre-Covid, not only did they have to go
their history, by looking to their future, I might get to the and fetch someone’s coppery quid, then count it – they
bottom of their enduring appeal. What made entrepreneurs didn’t even know whose quid it was. Now the tycoons of
from the Victorian age onwards want to hawk their goods in vending understood us better. Johnny Brod had released
this way? What made generations of us buy? Johnny Brod a smartphone app that tempted people with discounts in
seemed a good first person to ask. return for permission to track their vending habits.
Freckle-tanned, portly and quick to laugh, Broderick has He led us into a control room that had large screens
a playful exterior that conceals the fiery heart of a vending mounted on the walls and employees arranged Nasa-
fundamentalist. He is so invested in the roboticised trans- style, facing screens on which stationary dots and
mission of snacks that, come Halloween, he has been known travelling arrows identified thousands of vending
to park a machine full of sweets in his driveway, letting any machines and the technicians who roved between
By Tom Lamont

36 Vending machines
them. We watched a live record of the day’s sales, north to ground. Profits are ruthlessly haggled over. Competition
Aberdeen, south to the Isle of Wight. A couple of clicks on for spots is intense. Broadly speaking, the vending game
a computer and we were marvelling at the snacking history is built on deals between operators (who own machines
of a loyal, I would say fanatical, Broderick customer in and have the skills to install them, fix them, constantly fill
Manchester, someone who must have been sourcing two them with fats and sugars) and site owners (who have the
full meals a day from behind glass. While Johnny Brod made rights to advantageous pieces of land). Either a machine is
a note to slip this customer a thank-you tenner via the app, placed on private property – say, a factory, where the site
I asked his team if they’d be able to find the record of my owner surrenders profits to the operator in return for keep-
midnight Doritos. A few keyboard taps and there it was. ing a workforce fed and present – or, a machine is placed
The Doritos fell from their spiral at midnight, closely somewhere public, inside a teeming airport, for instance.
followed by a sachet of peanut M&Ms, a stubby Mars and Here the site owner will expect a cut of each item sold,
a bottle of water. What happened next in the wider world anywhere from 10% to 30%.
of these machines? I contacted a number of Johnny Brod’s Those midnight Doritos at Manchester airport cost me
competitors, outfits of all sizes, and asked them to share £1.10. Though Johnny Brod, the operator, would not say
with me similar sales data for that day in July. I enlisted how much went to the site owner, Manchester Airports
volunteers to help me track vending activity around the Group, he did acknowledge that he made 22p in profit per
globe. Everywhere mouths watered, spirals turned. A world Doritos packet. (And that Manchester Airports Group made
of people bent double, their hands patting blindly inside more.) We were discussing this in headquarters when his
retrieval wells, claiming juice boxes, cola bottles, cereal father, John Sr, wandered through the office, ready to
bars, gum, whatever they’d bought, whatever they craved. reminisce about the old days. John Sr explained how he
founded the business in the 1960s with a single machine,
A
T 12.45AM, A WHITE-CHOCOLATE TWIX imported from the US. He struck a deal to put it in the foyer
dropped into the well of a machine in Black- of Macclesfield baths. Everything escalated from there. ▲ Family concern
friars in London. At a taxi depot in Belfast, As the Broderick business grew, the family watched their Johnny Broderick
drivers on overnight standby thumbed in rivals big and small start to eat each other. For the past 20 (far left), John Sr,
coins to buy keep-awake Cokes. Cans of years or so, global vending has been dominated by corpora- George (the son
sugar-free Tango slammed down in the tions that have carved up the world into domains, buying of the company’s
surgeons’ staffroom at an Edinburgh hospital. Bottles of and absorbing regional operators. The big fish in Japan is a accountant),
Mountain Dew, already long past expiry, turned another vending company called Glory. In the US, it’s Crane. Europe Hayley and Clarke
hour older inside a Covid-shuttered office in North Carolina. is ruled by Selecta, founded in Zurich in 1957 and owned JOEL GOODMAN
A Japanese accountant, several hours ahead of Europe and by the Swiss private-equity firm KKR since 2015. From its
the US in a southern prefecture called Ehime, eyed the English outpost in Hemel Hempstead, Selecta rules its UK
familiar choices in a cup-noodle machine by his desk. At market, with 80,000 machines scattered around hotels,
4.14am, UK time, a night owl in Newcastle bought Haribo. transport hubs and petrol stations. On more than one occa-
As the sun rose on Dundee, an employee at a packing fac- sion, Johnny Brod said, he had received calls from Selecta
tory turned the Perspex carousel of a chilled food machine, about the possibility of a buyout. But the Brodericks always
sliding back a sprung door, choosing for breakfast a shrink- told Selecta no. Unfinished business.
wrapped sausage roll. As Johnny Brod explained, the post-pandemic world
At 7.31am, on a railway station platform in Wakefield in was one that needed feeding to an ever-greater degree by
West Yorkshire, a machine was tapped for Tango Orange unmanned food stations. He had secretive concept sketches
as the first morning commuters came through. Wakefield on his phone, and prototype machines behind a locked
is the birthplace of automated vending. This is where the laboratory door at his headquarters, all part of a plan to
world began its determined effort to uproot the salesperson help usher in a new vending age. I made him promise to
from the sale. In the 1850s, an inventor here patented a show me the secret lab after lunch.
“self-acting machine” for the dispensing of stamps. Later,
L
in the 1880s, a cast-iron contraption shaped like a trident UNCHTIME. IN BELFAST, THAT SAME DAY,
and painted post-box red, patented by the Sweetmeat Auto- Emmet Oppong walked into a taxi depot near
matic Delivery Company of London, was the first machine his home carrying as many Cokes as he could
to vend comestibles. Every ve vending machine is a battle- handle. He also had pouches of Midget Gem
sweets, massive Twix Xtras and three types
of Wrigley’s gum. Weeks earlier, this 21-year-
old business graduate had become the owner of a vending
machine that was, in fact, a little older than Oppong himself.
SE
SEWELL LIKES TO He bought it from an online broker for £100 ($131) and had
since spent about £500 trucking it around, renting storage,
KKEEP COLOURFUL pondering locations, till he found it a home among the taxi
drivers. Oppong unlocked the machine’s front and began
IT
ITEMS TO THE EDGES, to feed in packets and cans.
He was drawn to vending because he liked the idea of
TO CATCH THE EYE earning money while he applied his energies elsewhere.
AN
AND DRAW ATTENTION
Ignoring for a moment the fierce battle for plots, the mainte-
nance stresses, the logistical feats required to keep far-flung
AC
ACROSS HIS RANGE machines stocked and clean, at the core of any vendor’s
ambition there is often a dream of becoming rich while
37
said. Brinsley led us into a part of the warehouse where a

hot-drinks dispenser was coming into being. “We’re going
to call this one the Autorista,” he said, as he stood in front
of a huge purple machine, the first, according to Brinsley,
that could prepare a coffee with real milk or real cream.
“One of our electronics guys came up with the name,” he
said, hitting a few buttons and barista-ing out a cappuccino
with fresh cow’s milk. Johnny Brod in Manchester, obses-
sional about new kit, had placed an order for the first 25
Autoristas that Brinsley could manufacture. In order for
this latest innovation to be effective in the field, both men
knew, an Autorista would have to be visited every 24 hours
by a technician who knew how to clean its interior pipes
and flush out the old milk and cream before it soured. If
this was the future of unattended sales, I thought out loud,
it was going to require a lot more human attention than in
the past. But leaving the Autorista alone and full of spoiling
dairy did not bear thinking about, Brinsley said.
Over in Belfast, Oppong had the option of leaving his
SnackMart to take care of itself for weeks at a time. Out
of sheer enthusiasm, he had been visiting the taxi depot
almost every day. He popped in to feed in new stock and
doing better things. This dream is not always achievable. to pull out the coin tray, relishing the weight of the drivers’
The second, third, fourth and fifth-hand machines being coins. Sewell had rigged his own fleet with wifi units so that
sold online are a testament to the many dabblers who he could track sales by smartphone, getting updates like
plunge in only to beat an eventual retreat. But Oppong a fan following the Saturday football. Chambers relied on
was doing all right so far. A few more Midget Gems sold, a nightly reports by email. Oppong was still tracking profits
bit more gum, and soon he expected to break even on his with a pen and paper. He tallied the latest. Nearly there.
£600 investment. Perhaps today.
A
Oppong followed certain fundamental laws of vending. FEW TIMEZONES WEST, THE US AWOKE,
He put his Twix Xtras and some Maltesers down on the its 7 million vending machines getting
bottom shelves, nearest the SnackMart’s fridge unit. Crisps busier and busier as another working day
were placed in the warmest part of the machine, up at the began. An IT analyst in North Carolina,
top. The Midget Gems could go anywhere, really, and today returning to his office for the first time since
he decided to give them a try in the prime spot – halfway the start of the pandemic, decided to buy a
along, halfway up. Mountain Dew from the break-room machine. He noticed
In vending, this part of the job, as delicate as flower too late that the bottle had expired 16 months earlier. “If I
arrangement, is known as planogramming. How best to die,” the analyst tweeted, opening the Dew anyway, “just
spread the wares? Fiona Chambers, who runs the vend- know I died doing what I love.” I got in touch with him. He
ing company SV24-7 in the Scottish town of Alloa with survived. His drink was only a little flat.
her husband, Ian, puts much thought into planograms. Vending machines do kill their human patrons every so
She told me she likes two central spirals of KitKats, two of often. A US study in 1998 recorded 37 deaths and 113 inju-
Twirls, these being her champion sellers. Declan Sewell, ries over a 20-year period, which amounted to an average
the young and ambitious chief executive of Decorum Vend- of 1.85 kills per annum. This statistic sometimes prompts
ing in Portsmouth, will always, always put Snickers in the the claim that vending machines are deadlier than sharks.
middle. Sewell told me he preferred to keep more colour- In the 1980s, cans of drink were left for the taking on top
fully packaged items to the edges of his machines, to catch of vending machines near Hiroshima in Japan. These cans
the eye and draw attention across his range. had been deliberately laced with a potent herbicide. Twelve
Oppong closed the front of his SnackMart, locking it people died and their killer was never caught.
carefully. The names given to vending machines are reliably If Wakefield is the literal birthplace of the automated
charming, sometimes hinting at their places of manufac- sale, Japan is its spiritual home. There they vend umbrel-
ture. Spain makes Mistrals. The US makes Cascades. Ger- las, ice-cream, fancy dress. In Nagasaki, there is a machine
mans make Bistros! (exclamation mark included). Italian that sells the edible chrysalises of silkworms. Machines
machines tend to be given musical names: Operas, Melo- vend fresh tomatoes in Kobe and, in Tatsuno, fresh oysters.
dias, Sinfonias, Jazzes. There are machines out there called At the last formal count in December 2020, there were
Shoppers, Shoppertrons, SuperStacks, NarrowStacks. There 2.7m vending machines around Japan: one for every 46 citi-
are Brios, Astros, Tangos, Sambas, Festivals, Visions. There zens, the highest density anywhere. Affection for vending
are BevMaxes, Polyvends, Merchants – and SnackMarts, is so pronounced that a machine selling something unique
which were created by a British engineer called Richard may become the subject of fascination, even pilgrimage.
Brinsley and his company, Westomatic. On 21 July, while I was in Manchester with the Brodericks, a
Something of a pioneer when it came to vending English Japanese accountant named Masaharu Mizota was coming
tea, Brinsley was the first to bring to market a machine that to the end of his day in Ehime. Mizota had recently
brewed from leaves, not powder, in the 1980s. He called learned about an unusual machine in Uchiko, a small
it the Temprano, “because it was ahead of its time”, he town on the Oda River, and he daydreamed about

38 Vending machines
These manoeuvrings are part of a wider shift across the

vending industry. Back in the early 2010s, innovators in the
US came up with an alternative to traditional machines;
they called it a micro-market. Take out the turning coils,
leave in the shelves, and a vending machine is essentially
a transparent larder. What if customers could open that
larder and remove by hand whatever they could afford?
Instead of being stocked with products of a uniform shape
– products that could be relied on to move forward in the
embrace of a spiral then fall in predictable ways – a machine
could sell anything. Loose golf balls. Bikinis. A jeroboam
of champagne. A curved banana.
Micro-markets full of swipe-to-open larders and fridges
began to open across the US. Sensitive shelves and CCTV
cameras helped determine who had bought what. In Europe
and the UK, Selecta opened about 150 micro-markets,
which, at least until the summer of 2021, were in work-
places not accessible to curious outsiders. That week in
July 2021, however, Selecta had opened a micro-market
for use by anybody in East Croydon train station in Lon-
don. A small retail unit had been fitted with larders full of
fruit tubs, milkshakes, nut trays, Jaffa Cakes in sealed blue
taking a roadtrip to try it. Would it be crazy to drive for ▲ For starters parcels. Everything was left unattended, at the disposal of
hours to push a coin into a slot and punch a few buttons? Emmet Oppong any passing customer with a credit card.
Vending machines have the power to beguile a certain bought his first For most of the morning on 21 July 2021, according to
type of person. As I am one of those types, I’ve spent a lot vending machine figures later provided to me by Selecta, the East Croy-
of time wondering about their hypnotic power. There is a secondhand don micro-market went unused. Then, a canned latte, a
logic that underpins the will to vend to other people. It’s PAUL MCERLANE ham-and-cheese croissant later, sales crept up. By mid-
that allure of passive income. The operator of a machine afternoon, about 20 items were being removed every hour.
gets to experience the idle fancy of exhausted shopkeepers Hummus chips. Bircher muesli. Juices laced with ginseng.
everywhere, selling their wares without getting up early in Johnny Brod was so unnerved by Selecta’s innovative leap,
the morning. But what is behind the will to be vended to? he’d sent a spy south.
This is more complicated. I think it has something to do with He checked and rechecked his phone, waiting for word
the combination of convenience, novelty and nostalgia. from East Croydon. At last it buzzed and Johnny Brod
Mizota told me that he felt the culture of automated read his spy’s report on the micro-market. “It’s quite nice
vending to be a part of his culture as a Japanese citizen. He apparently,” he said, sounding forlorn.
was as willing to take a long journey to try a novel machine
A
as he would have been to visit a monument or a place of T 5.51PM, THE SNACK MACHINE IN BLACK-
natural beauty. Mizota was eight hours ahead of me in the friars in London sold a porridge-to-go bar.
UK, almost ready to go to bed. Before he did so he checked At 6.04pm, a mango drink. It was one of
his maps, figuring out a route for the morning. those newer vending machines that could
talk, and it did so with a robotic, feminine
I
N MANCHESTER, IT WAS MID-AFTERNOON. voice, advising, apologising. Spend any
Leading me into a room he called his concept lab, time immersed in the vending world and you start to see
Johnny Brod waved an arm at a pair of unplugged that these machines are repositories for the most unlikely
prototypes. “My babies,” he called them. His actual human notions and emotions. There was once a drinks
children and even a couple of grandchildren hap- dispenser in Singapore that had to be cuddled before it
pened to be visiting that day. If everything went to would unloose a can.
plan, Johnny Brod said, these prototypes would secure his We bring our prejudices to these machines. We
family’s fortune long into the future. He was nervous about have ungracious feelings for them that they know
me repeating details, lest his competitors gain a jump. But nothing about; we anticipate their betrayal. There
the gist of what Johnny Brod was plotting went as follows. was once a Seinfeld episode dedicated to George
Many workplace canteens, closed during the lockdowns Costanza’s furious efforts to secure a snagged
of 2020 and 2021, had not reopened, or not at their for- Twix. When Johnny Brod lent a branded coffee-
mer scale. Yet, for reasons of in-house virus management, maker to the producers of the ITV drama Cold Feet,
employers were not eager to have employees roaming off he was pained to see it malfunctioning for dramatic
to the sandwich shop or supermarket. Those high-street purposes. (“And our competitors love putting clips
retailers still wanted to reach a hungry workforce, however, of that online.”) In one of my earliest London mem-
and Johnny Brod hoped to become the bridge. He wanted to ories, I am on an underground platform, watching
run new-wave machines of his own design inside offices and a disgruntled man in a raincoat apply a handmade
factories, as one-stop robotic canteens. There was a proto- out-of-order sign to a Cadbury’s chocolate dis-
type in the distribution centre of a well-known UK retailer, penser. He’d fed in his coin. But no Dairy Milk. I still
from which the Brodericks vended salad bowls, fruit bowls. remember his appalled expression, his wounded
“Soon we’ll be diversifying into sushi. Crudités!” grace as he warned off others.

39
wouldn’t take long. Soon a young shopper paused, leaning

in to ponder the choice. Water? Fanta Lemon? When she
kept walking, I told Johnny Brod: tough luck.
H COULDN’T LET ME
HE “Wait,” he repeated. And here she came, returning for
LE
LEAVE MANCHESTER,
water after all. Fanta, too.
I
HHE SAID, WITHOUT N BELFAST, WHEN EMMET OPPONG LOOKED
in on his machine before bed, no Midget Gems
TA
TAKING ME ON had been sold. Crinkle-cut crisps had done bet-
ter and, as usual, every Coke was gone. Oppong
SA
SAFARI TO VISIT clicked his pen and did some sums. As long as he
wrote off the personal labour, he was satisfied his
A PRIZED SPECIMEN SnackMart had paid for itself. He was newly in profit: a
vending entrepreneur. Months later, in autumn 2021, and
trading as Em Vending Solutions, Oppong would go on to
This initial encounter did not set me against the triple the size of his operation, purchasing a pair of silvery
machines. Instead, I’ve always found them to emanate machines covered in cartoony decals of Homer Simpson
reassurance, particularly so during moments of disloca- and the Tasmanian Devil, £750 the pair.
tion: jetlagged layovers, late-night jobs, early starts. I first As I came away from Manchester that night in July, I took
noticed their palliative effect at school, when we called with me a final image of Johnny Brod, expansionist-king
it going venders (“You going venders?”) and when a visit of UK vending, owner of a thousands-strong fleet – stand-
to the machines meant a respite from classwork, junior ing in front of an empty wall in the Trafford Centre. He
lust, the bickering over which bands were best. One day a couldn’t believe, he said, he hadn’t thought to put a vending
savvy pupil set himself up in competition with the school machine there yet. The last time we spoke, in spring 2022,
venders. He started to sell the same snacks, cheaper, from he was about to take delivery of his 25 Autoristas. He was
his backpack. I stayed loyal to the machines. They had considering an expansion into London Heathrow, “where
inexhaustible patience, they let you ponder every option, they still have the same shit machines you saw in Love
walk up, walk away, malinger at the glass, wallow in pre- Actually, 20 years ago. And you can print that.”
purchase indecision. I think what comforted me then, as But back on that July night, at 8.08pm, a swimmer in
now, was their height, their stuffedness, their immobility, Glasgow bought a bottle of energy drink from Fiona Cham-
their always-on-ness, their middle-of-the-night-ness, their bers’ machine near a public pool. At 9.53pm, Declan Sewell’s
there-till-the-end-ness. chatty machine in Blackfriars sold a final peppermint Aero.
The more time I spent with Johnny Brod, the more I saw A smoked-salmon sandwich and a Pepsi were bought for
how sincerely concerned he was for his fleet. He had a horror somebody’s dinner from East Croydon. It was nearly mid-
of unclean machines, having once inherited a secondhand night when I arrived back in London. As I had made the
BevMax that had mould in its corners. He’d been known to day’s first vend, I thought it would be neat if I made the
clamber down on his belly in malls or on airport concourses, last. I wandered around St Pancras station, trying to find a
to peer under retrieval wells, dragging out chocolate wrap- machine that would suit my appetite, as I provisioned and
pers, recovering abandoned flip-flops. His machines were planogrammed ideal arrangements of confectionery and
▼ Fresh approach like his pets or his zoo animals. He maintained them with crisps in my head.
Richard Brinsley, fastidious care, and he couldn’t let me leave Manchester, he Under an escalator, a couple were dancing in front of
the head of said, without taking me on safari to visit a prized specimen. an automated jukebox. On a concrete walkway beyond,
Westomatic Over in Leeds General Infirmary, said Johnny Brod, he a machine waited to dispense foldable Brompton bikes.
Vending Services, owned an absolute beauty by the benches in A&E, a machine I checked the Google alerts on my phone, scrolling through
in his Devon much used by fight-night drunks. “Insane on weekends social media, too, learning that a radio producer in Chicago
warehouse … we can’t fill it fast enough.” And he loved his BevMaxes had at that moment bought an attractive sugar-dusted
JIM WILEMAN by the luggage belt in the local airport. “Because if that ganache from a machine in a garage off Interstate 55. A
belt breaks down, I’ve got you cannabis-oil manufacturer had put a dispenser on top of
trapped.” But the machine he a mountain in Utah, to deliver balms to achy hikers. An
wanted to show me was in animal sanctuary in Colorado had been awarded a patent on
Manchester’s Trafford Cen- a vending machine to be used exclusively by captive apes.
tre shopping mall. No gim- In Japan, Mizota woke earlier than usual and got on his
micks, no tricks, just a boss motorbike. He drove south, between mountains, crossing
dispenser in a prime location, bridges, paying at tolls, following a map that was mounted
capable of slurping in thou- on his handlebars. He pulled into sleepy Uchiko about
sands of pounds a month. He 7.30am and parked by the one-of-a-kind vending machine
drove us over in an SUV. he’d read about. Of all the things to be sold from an ungainly
“There,” Johnny Brod glass-and-steel machine, pieces of fragile and beautiful
whispered, signalling for us origami were its wares. Folded-paper sea creatures. Delicate
to halt on a concourse near flowers and birds and stars. After his long journey, Mizota
a spotless, richly stocked fed in a 50-yen piece, about 40 cents, and ran a gloved finger
BevMax. “Wait,” he mut- over the buttons, trying to choose •
tered. It was like watching a TOM LAMONT IS A REGULAR FEATURES CONTRIBUTOR
well-baited snare. He knew it TO THE GUARDIAN AND OBSERVER

40
Great
and
small
From a teacup piglet

to a hoary pig, from
a menacing owlet to
a magnificent hunter –
Gerrard Gethings’ animal
portraits show there’s
grace at every age
By Cal Flyn

41

42 Great and small
There’s a sweet
spot after a few
days when they
can stand up,
open their
eyes, show that
first bit of life

43
to be matched to his windswept,

long-haired owner – but increasingly
Gethings finds himself gravitating
towards animal-only work.
“With animals, I feel in control,
more fully present. They don’t
understand language, but they
understand body language and the
way you are with them. With people
there’s more going on, a subtext.”
It took a little while to zoom in on
exactly what makes baby animals so
engaging, he says. “They’ve got to
be really young, but not too young.
T
Too young, and they can’t support
themselves. They’re just a blob.
There’s a sweet spot after a few days
when they can stand up, open their
eyes, show that first bit of life. It’s
really fascinating.”
Gethings captures his babies at
the sweetest spots of all: a creamy
lamb standing four-square, its
spindly legs braced shakily against
the ground; a donkey foal whose
ears are entirely out of proportion
to its dainty velveteen muzzle;
a duckling dressed in primrose
yellow fuzz, caught mid-quack.
The quality of “universal
hey say cuteness” that Gethings alludes
not to work with babies or animals, to is something that has been
but the photographer Gerrard carefully studied. In the 1940s, the
Gethings chose to combine the two Austrian zoologist Konrad Lorenz
for his latest project, young animals – who became world famous for
alongside their adult counterparts. demonstrating that baby goslings
Baby Animal Match was would bond to and follow the first
conceived as a memory card moving thing they saw, whether
game; players are asked to pair that be mother goose or Lorenz
duckling with duck, owlet with himself – outlined what he called
owl, hoglet with hedgehog, piglet the Kindchenschema (baby schema):
and pig – and so on, through a number of features common
44 combinations. These fluffy, among babies of different species
tousled, bug-eyed babies are, that elicit a positive response from
inevitably, adorable. But not always humans. These included a large
in obvious ways. cranium and eyes; small nose and
“There is a universal cuteness,” mouth; plump body and chubby,
Gethings says. “But that wasn’t squeezable cheeks.
exactly what I was looking for. The It’s an appealing aesthetic. For
baby racing pigeon, for example species whose young are born
– that goes through an incredible needy and reliant on their parents,
transformation from an awful yellow attracting attention might make all
hairy squab to a beautiful iridescent the difference for survival. More
bird that can fly 100 miles an hour.” recent research supports Lorenz’s
Gethings, who is based in London, belief that the appeal transfers
grew up in Lancashire, and worked across the species divide – that the
for the photographer Terry O’Neill same psychological mechanism
for a decade before striking out on is involved in appreciating the
his own as one of Britain’s finest cuteness of babies, puppies and
animal portrait photographers. kittens alike. It’s an evolutionary
Previous projects have included explanation for why we find small,
human subjects – such as 2018’s wet-eyed pups so appealing,
Do You Look Like Your Dog?, in and may be what drives
which an Afghan hound needs us (and other animals) to

44 Great and small
For species
born needy,
attracting
attention
might make all
the difference
for survival
care for the orphaned young of that – the portraits had to stand up in
other species. their own right.”
Not all of Gethings’ baby animals Unexpectedly, it was the donkeys
fall into the straightforwardly that caused most issues. “They’ve
adorable category: in one pairing, been portrayed as docile and cute,
a swivel-eyed adult chameleon but, in reality, they were quite wild.”
clings to a bare branch, tail tightly While shooting a jenny and her foal,
coiled and its back crenellated with Gethings spotted a male donkey
a fine, teeth-like crest; its baby watching nearby and suggested they
hatchling – though smaller and let him in. Big mistake. “He came
more delicate – also has an eerie, charging in, making a horrific sound
alien aspect. As does the bristling and jumped on the female donkey.
caterpillar, its etched-bronze He really wanted to make some more
body carefully illuminated against baby donkeys. We were in a confined
a black background, intricate as space and couldn’t get him out, it
a museum piece. was terrifying! Amorous donkeys –
Even the downy white owl chick there’s no stopping them.”
retains an air of menace, opening its Gethings’ portraits act as a clear
beak to screech in complaint, eyes visual shorthand for how we all
pressed shut with the effort of it, grow and change – whether man
outsized talons outstretched. or mouse, horse or hedgehog.
That was one of his favourite Other features catch up with those
shoots. “You don’t get to handle plaintive, oversized eyes, the teacup
owls every day. And barn owls in piglet on its tiny trotters will morph
particular are so beautiful that to get into a whiskered, squinting sow.
the opportunity to photograph them I just wish that, like the squab,
was dreamy.” my own trajectory was to grow only
The proximity to the animals was more beautiful with the years •
one of his main motivations for the Baby Animal Match: A Memory Game
project, he says. “Getting to hold by Gerrard Gethings is published on
a baby hedgehog is reason enough to 26 April
be there. The animals are, inevitably, CAL FLYN WRITES ON NATURE
cute. But I didn’t want to rely on AND THE ENVIRONMENT

45
Comment is free, facts are sacred CP Scott 1918
RACHEL CONNOLLY
Our strange
need to link
unrelated things
Page 47
Rape as a weapon in Ukraine

U K R A I N E I N VA S I O N
must be treated as a war crime

Gaby Hinsliff

Illustration Thomas Pullin

46 Opinion
T
hey read like messages from one of and terrify civilians, and in some cultures to ensure
the creepier dating apps, or else the victims are rejected by their own families. But some of
sort of unwanted lechery with which the stories emerging from Ukraine have a particularly
many young women on social media chilling dimension, one all too familiar in wars of ethnic
are grimly familiar. cleansing, which is the attempt to force women to bear
One man suggests sharing “a large the invading army’s children.
bed, we could sleep together” and In the rape camps set up by Serbian soldiers during the
then letting “what we both want Balkan wars, victims were told they would be forced to
happen”. Another is keen to let the recipient know she bear Serbian babies. In Iraq, Islamic State systematically
is “so beautiful”, while a third immediately asks, “Are trafficked and sexually enslaved women from the Yazidi
you single?” But these aren’t just any old clumsy sexual minority as part of a campaign to destroy the community
overtures. These are messages left for women fleeing from within, knowing the children born of rape would be
war-torn Ukraine, on a Facebook group seeking to match deemed Muslims and not Yazidi.
refugees with Britons offering sanctuary.
The grotesque parody of shelter that some men see fit Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Lyudmyla
to offer is a chance to flee the threat of rape by Russian Denisova, reports that in Bucha, 25 girls and women
soldiers, but to somewhere you might want to barricade aged 14 to 24 were held in a basement by Russian soldiers
yourself into the spare bedroom. An undercover reporter who threatened to “rape them to the point where they
posing as a refugee found more than half the messages wouldn’t want sexual contact with any man, to prevent
sent to her came from men living alone, some explicit them from having Ukrainian children”. Nine of them are
about the strings attached to their offers. pregnant. The brutal message is that, even if Ukrainians
What kind of man, you may wonder, sees in won’t submit to being Russian, their unborn children
a tragedy a sexual opportunity? Well, in Haiti after the have no choice.
2010 earthquake, it was British aid workers who paid Meanwhile, Kyiv claims Ukrainian children from
desperate locals for sex. In Somalia, ravaged by war, it occupied cities have been forcibly moved across the
was Belgian and Italian peacekeepers sent by the UN. border, fast-tracked for adoption by Russian families.
In the makeshift refugee camps of northern France, it When the US president, Joe Biden, talked last week
was people smugglers preying on potential clients. And of genocide in Ukraine, lawyers
now on the borders between Ukraine and its neighbours, Gaby Hinsliff responded that there wasn’t yet
it is sex traffickers, masquerading as good Samaritans is a Guardian enough evidence to meet the legal
offering unwary women a lift. columnist threshold for such a charge. But at the
Wherever there is conflict, there is chaos and very least, the propaganda coming out
disruption and unguarded moments for women and of Moscow suggests this war isn’t simply over territory
children, and with depressing predictability some will or strategic interests; that it is increasingly about
always seek to exploit that. But it is the predictability eradicating the very idea of being Ukrainian, submerging
that makes it preventable. national identity into some twisted fantasy of a Greater
The UN has asked the British government to ban single Russia. These are war crimes, every bit as much as
men from housing female refugees, advice that Michael chemical weapons attacks, and must be prosecuted
Gove (the cabinet minister in charge of the refugee as vigorously.
matching scheme) should act on and make policy. The The foreign secretary, Liz Truss, last week launched
more complex emerging challenge, however, is what to the Murad Code – named after Nadia Murad, a Nobel
do about the horrific scale of systematic sexual violence peace prize-winning Yazidi woman who survived
emerging inside Ukraine itself, as the Russian retreat capture by IS – which is a welcome move to improve the
from occupied towns and villages frees victims to collection of evidence from survivors worldwide.
emerge and tell their stories. Ukraine is already diligently gathering evidence. What
As the war correspondent Christina Lamb writes it needs is help bringing the perpetrators to justice.
bleakly in her book Our Bodies, Their Battlefield, The Tory peer Arminka Helic has called for the creation
rape is “the cheapest weapon known to man”, one of a permanent international body to investigate,
deployed every bit as strategically and deliberately as prosecute and stamp out rape as a war crime. Helic
bombs and bullets. The aim is to intimidate, degrade knows what she’s talking about: a refugee from the
Bosnian war, she went on to become special adviser to
William Hague when he was foreign secretary. In 2012,
she persuaded him to set up an initiative on sexual
exploitation in war zones that is still active today.
The brutal message is But, as Helic puts it, “impunity is the norm” still for a
war crime that is less visible than bombed-out cities or
that, even if Ukrainians mass graves, and often taken less seriously.
Training and culture within armed forces worldwide
won’t submit to being can start to change that, but it’s only when commanding
Russian, their unborn officers actually end up in the dock for overseeing sexual
war crimes that the message will really hit home. We
children have no choice can, and must, do better than this •

47
SOCIAL familial abuse. Or even between Afghanistan and the

MEDIA Will Smith. Weinstein. generational fall in living standards experienced by
some western millennials (not even vaguely comparable
to living in a conflict zone). I’ve noticed a trend whereby
What drives us to Americans refer to themselves as residents of a “failed
state”. Words such as violence and harm are used to
mean slightly different things, and then again, and again,
link unrelated events? until those words don’t really mean anything at all.
This thing is basically that thing, which is just like

Rachel Connolly another thing, which is practically something else.
On and on and on it goes, in a never-ending chain
of nonsense, each iteration stripping back a layer of
seriousness until none remains. It is chaos born of an
attempt to make sense of the enormous flux of disparate
information on social media. The endless stream of
celebrity gossip, wars, professional announcements,
kidnappings, birthdays, statistics about rent and gas
and the rising cost of a pint and the cinema, political
corruption, good news about friends, good news about
enemies, sexual violence. Everything. Too much.
And all of it is flattened. Everything depicted on social
media is presented in the same small number of available
formats: scraps of text, photos, links (for further
information or to convey authority?), short video clips
and cartoons. Everything is reduced
Rachel to little squares of information, like
Connolly is car number plates on a motorway.
a London-based The gulf between serious and silly is
journalist collapsed. Concepts such as “trigger
from Belfast warnings” emerge and quickly
A
become so widespread and misused
s a child, in the back of the car on that they aren’t meaningful. Nothing is in proportion.
drives along the motorway, I would Even death is strangely meaningless. One illustration
look for connections between the of this is how normal it has become for people to send
number plates on surrounding cars. strangers messages telling them to kill themselves
How many started with an odd (I received such a message a few weeks ago). I doubt
number? How many with an even anyone who sends a message like this even means it.
number? The search for patterns Because killing yourself is just like violence, which is
is a common human trait. People practically Harvey Weinstein, which is basically a slap at
also see images in TV static, or nonexistent patterns in the Oscars, which is more or less a Russian tank, which
the goals scored in football games. There is a term for is, for all intents and purposes, a toxic ex-boyfriend.
this: illusory pattern perception, the human tendency to I don’t know what we gain from treating cultural
try to make sense of the world by finding relationships events and life experiences as interchangeable units of
between stimuli. It has been found to be a “central information that can be easily linked. But I think we lose
cognitive mechanism” accounting for conspiracy our sense of life as it really is. When we see the meaning
theories and supernatural beliefs. of an event in terms of its relationships to something
I see this in the inclination to stitch together disparate different, it is the relationship we consider rather than
cultural events (see, here I am, looking for meaning) that the event itself. And I wonder if this is the point. If this is a
has become widespread on social media. The tendency way to insulate ourselves from the true weight of certain
to think that everything can be linked to something facets of reality. A way of addressing wars and suicides
else, or compared, or both, and hence explained. The and sexual assaults and so many other brutalities without
recent Oscars slap by the actor Will Smith was compared, really considering them; of touching everything without
nonsensically, to Harvey Weinstein’s sustained history feeling it. Because, who really wants to take it all in?
of sexual abuse and harassment, and to Russia’s invasion When I think of the cars on the motorway, it was rare
of Ukraine. This is a recent example of something that that I could connect the numbers. Mostly it worked if
happens all the time. I cheated a bit. I could count two odd starting numbers
There are the associations drawn between politicians in a row and if the next was an even, I could look to the
and the types of boyfriends common to stock internet second in the row for an odd, maybe count two more like
jokes. The wildly inappropriate and crass comparisons that. Or start again, looking for prime numbers this time.
between geopolitical disasters such as the US invasion And then three plates later, a new rule. But it was a good
AFP/GETTY of Afghanistan and interpersonal conflict such as distraction. I could do it for hours •

48 Opinion
UNITED leap of the imagination. The deal announced by home

KINGDOM Britain sending refugees secretary Priti Patel in Kigali last Thursday demonstrates
the government’s tenacious commitment to positioning
Britain as a country that is closed to the world, and to
to Rwanda isn’t ‘burden those who need its sanctuary the most.
There has been a great deal of political debate and
condemnation since the policy was announced, and the
sharing’. It’s exploitation government arranged for the arrival in Rwanda of the
British media it thought best placed to help it trumpet
this manoeuvre in time for the local elections. But there
Joshua Surtees are still questions we must ask to ascertain whether this
I
is a cynical ploy or a thought-through policy.
n my time working for the office of the UN Is it because Rwanda has more geographic capacity,
High Commissioner for Refugees, a stark fact perhaps? More free land or housing infrastructure?
was often mentioned: the vast majority of Is Britain really bursting at the seams? Rwanda’s
the world’s displaced people are hosted by population density is almost double that of Britain’s. Yet,
the world’s poorest countries. Today, 85% of per capita, it already hosts five times as many refugees
refugees live in developing countries, while as the UK. As well as hosting Congolese and Burundian
the richest nations host just 15%. refugees, Rwanda has recently offered itself for the
While Rwanda might be developing emergency evacuation of refugees trapped in Libya.
economically, it is still among the world’s 25 poorest In the introduction to the Home Office’s
countries. The UK is among the world’s 10 richest memorandum of understanding with Rwanda, the
countries. To acknowledge the disparity of wealth UK boasts of having taken in 25,000 Syrian refugees,
between the two nations and decide that Rwanda is as a way of demonstrating its “long, proud history of
better able to accommodate people attempting the providing protection to those who need it”. This claim
MUHIZI OLIVIER/AP treacherous journey across the Channel takes a huge is laughable. More than 6 million Syrians have fled their

Founded 1821 Independently owned by the Scott Trust 49
country in the 11 years since war began. For much of the

crisis, Lebanon hosted 2 million Syrians – representing a
third of Lebanon’s 6 million population. Bangladesh, one
The cost of living crisis: a
of the world’s most densely populated countries, hosts
close to 1 million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.
Poland is currently hosting 2.7 million Ukrainians.
quarter of a billion people
The memorandum speaks of “burden sharing” during
refugee crises. Rwanda, a country that has experienced
its fair share of crises, is already shouldering its share of
face extreme poverty
T
the burden. The UK comfortably has the capacity to take he UK is sliding into a 260 million people will be
in people crossing the Channel. social and economic pushed into extreme poverty
crisis, the likes of this year alone – that is to say,
When Australia utilised the tiny island state of Nauru which its people living on $1.90 a day or less. At
for a similar purpose, it gave aid in return. Australia – a have not seen for decades. the start of this year, the FAO
privileged country – effectively paid a less economically Household fuel bills are on appealed for $138m in aid for
fortunate country to take desperate people off its hands, course to top £2,400 ($3,120), farming families in Somalia;
in some cases for years. The British government is while the price of shopping four months later, it is still
callously copying the Australian playbook, while its PR is rocketing. The average nearly two-thirds short.
agents in the press trumpet this as some kind of triumph. employee’s pay keeps falling Some basic things can be
“Rwanda plan to smash the Channel gangs,” read the behind inflation, which hit done. The UK chancellor, Rishi
Daily Mail’s front page. “Bold plan to send boat migrants 7% in March, the highest rate Sunak, could immediately
to Rwanda,” said the Daily Express. When Boris Johnson since 1992. No wonder that restore the billions he has cut
referred to people “illegally entering the country” the charities and analysts that from the aid budget. This week,
he was using the worst kind of semantics. Refugees work on poverty and inequality finance ministers from around
fleeing conflicts or persecution do not have the luxury are issuing dire warnings. On the globe were due to attend
of entering Britain legally. Seeking asylum routinely one projection, one in three the spring meetings of the
involves entering a territory without prior permission. Britons – 23.5 million people – International Monetary Fund
When UNHCR’s Asia and Pacific director, Indrika will be unable to afford the cost and World Bank in Washington.
Ratwatte, visited Nauru in 2018, he reported his shock of living this year. There, they could make up the
at the immense toll that long-term The rest of the world is humanitarian aid needed in
Joshua detention had taken on people’s being buffeted by the same the Horn of Africa, Afghanistan
Surtees is a mental health – more than 80% storms: Covid, followed by and elsewhere. They could
feature writer, had been diagnosed with PTSD, soaring prices for food and restructure poorer countries’
reporter and trauma and depression. “The sense fuel, and then Russia’s invasion debt, and increase the financial
columnist of hopelessness and despair was of Ukraine. The difference reserves or strategic drawing
extremely tangible,” he told the press. is that most other countries rights provided by the IMF,
Rwanda has internal transit centres where people do not have the UK’s wealth, while stipulating that they
deemed “undesirable” are sent in order to keep streets or social security system, or must go to poorer countries
looking appealing for tourists. Rwandans who criticise the infrastructure. So imagine the without the usual conditions
government are liable to be informed on by neighbours, devastation felt elsewhere, imposed by economists.
placed under surveillance, blackmailed, tortured, sent to in countries less wealthy, less It remains an outrage that
rehabilitation camps or even killed. stable and less powerful. In the rich world hasn’t waived
The Daily Telegraph said that “migrants will be Somalia, the UN’s Food and patents on Covid vaccines or
encouraged to settle” in Rwanda. Their options, should Agricultural Organization (FAO) supported poorer countries in
Rwanda not turn out to be a safe or sustainable place for predicts more than 6 million manufacturing them. And it is
them, will be somewhat limited. people will fall into “crisis, high time that a wealth tax was
“Rwanda will ensure that it will treat each relocated emergency, or catastrophic introduced, taking from those
individual, and process their claim for asylum, in levels of hunger” within the who prospered wildly during
accordance with the refugee convention,” says the next two months. the pandemic, then spent their
memorandum. But what about the UK’s obligations to Add in southern Ethiopia proceeds on space travel or
abide by the convention that it is a signatory to? What and Kenya, and the total facing shares in social media firms.
about that long and proud history of protection? “crisis or worse” jumps to 16 The cost of not doing at least
UNHCR, the organisation designed to uphold the million. A terse, bureaucratic, some of the above will be high:
convention, has said it will delay its judgment on the economical phrase – “crisis or in human lives, in geopolitical
legality of Patel’s deal until its legal teams in Geneva worse” – denotes unimaginable stability, in financial markets.
have analysed the details. Its position, though, is clear. human trauma: selling all you Last week, Sri Lanka warned
“UNHCR does not support the outsourcing of asylum have to feed your children, it would renege on its foreign
states’ obligations,” it said in a statement. leaving your family home debts, even as thousands of
A fundamental principle of any morally functioning and wandering miles for protesters took to the streets to
government is to uphold the human rights of people to sustenance. You need a lot of demand the overthrow of their
seek safety, and not shift that responsibility to states luck to survive such rigours. president. More dominoes are
with less developed asylum systems • Oxfam projects that bound to fall •

50 Opinion
Letters
WRITE It serves Russia’s interest rest of the world called the technology on our public responsible for policy
TO US the longer the war goes on war in Northern Ireland roads. We, the taxpayer, on non-domicile status,
Patrick Wintour explains “the Troubles”. bought and maintain Rishi Sunak took steps to
how Biden’s words – “For Maurice Herson these roads with our tax formally remove himself
God’s sake, this man Leamington Spa, dollars, which are for from any consideration of
Letters for cannot remain in power” England, UK the use of human-driven policy on the issue, and to
publication – may have indicated motor vehicles. notify his officials of this.
weekly.letters@ regime change and have • A major reason for If these experimenters If not, he was guilty of
theguardian.com thus altered the US’s Putin’s failures in Ukraine want to test their product, a clear conflict of interest.
—
stance on Russia and is the force of resistance they should use their Adrian Carter
Please include a
Ukraine (Ukraine invasion, that echoes the words of own private test roads Penselwood, England, UK
full postal address
and a reference
1 April). its national anthem. These and tracks. Until we, the
to the article. Following the vote in include “we’ll not spare public, demonstrate desire Ignoring lockdown rules
We may edit letters. the UN general assembly either our souls or bodies for driverless cars, and would have cost my job
Submission and in which 141 countries to get freedom”. show willingness to risk Regarding politician and
publication of all condemned the invasion, Robert Logan our lives in their testing, civil servant lockdown
letters is subject there emerged an Carterton, New Zealand keep them off our roads! breaches (UK reports,
to our terms and assumption in the US Don Youngblood 8 April): I abided by
conditions, see: and Europe that the • Could the same approval Greenville, S Carolina, US lockdown rules because
THEGUARDIAN.COM/
LET TERS-TERMS
international alignment process used to speed up the government told me
amounted to Russia PPE contracts be used to The Sunaks’ finances need to. Furthermore, if I had
versus the rest. In reality, deal with the Ukrainian more than crossed fingers been caught in breach
Editorial
Russia versus the west visa blockage (Ukraine Just as concerning to me I could have lost my job as
Editor: Graham
Snowdon may be a truer description. invasion, 15 April)? as the Sunaks’ financial a teacher. Enough said?
Guardian Weekly, Wintour goes on to remind Tom Dougan arrangements is that Alexandra Cassam
Kings Place, us that 35 other countries, Dalgety Bay, Scotland, UK both of them made Dereham, England, UK
90 York Way, including powerful players legal declarations that
London N1 9GU, such as China and India, The public has no appetite they regarded the US as
COR R ECTIONS
UK were not party to the vote. for self-driving cars their permanent place
Not mentioned as The problem with of residence (Spotlight, A story about the EU and
To contact the a factor and possible self-driving cars is that 15 April). He is a British Ukraine (The Bucha effect,
editor directly: outcome is that, with the they are being foisted citizen and a British 8 April) misidentified
editorial.feedback
passing of every week and upon the public, whose politician living in Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s
@theguardian.com
month, accommodations citizenry exhibit no England; she is an Indian former president, as an
Corrections of one type or another demand for such citizen who has stated her architect of the 2014-15
Our policy is to may occur to Russia’s (Spotlight, Science, intention to live there. Minsk peace process.
correct significant advantage. Slowly but 1 April). This is an These positions cannot be
errors as soon as surely, self-interest rears example of technologists honestly reconciled – at In a feature about the
possible. Please its ugly head. experimenting with what point did they cross origins of the invasion (The
write to guardian. David Catchlove another way to enrich their fingers? war that nobody wanted
readers@ Newport, NSW, Australia themselves, while Angela Barton to see coming, 25 March),
theguardian.com claiming that driverless Bishop’s Stortford, Slovenia was not part of the
or the readers’
• To George Monbiot’s cars are “the wave of the England, UK Soviet bloc as stated.
editor, Kings Place,
thoughts (Cruel Britannia, future”. All this disregards
90 York Way,
London N1 9GU,
Opinion, 8 April) we can the risks imposed on • I trust that Lord Geidt There was no oil tanker in
UK add that, while we berate society that isn’t in will examine in his review a picture on page 19 of the
Putin for calling his war need of the product. an issue that has received 25 March edition, despite
a “special operation”, Technologists have no relatively little attention the caption suggesting
Britain called what the right to test any dangerous – whether as the minister otherwise.
A WEEK
IN VENN
DI AGR A MS
Edith Pritchett

51
Film, music, art, books & more
PHOTOGRAPHY
Edward
Burtynsky’s epic
landscapes
Page 54
True
stripes
Ja
ack
k Whiittee
It’s 20 years since

the White Stripes
frontman was
anointed as rock
royalty. Out of
lockdown, he has two
new albums and is
on the road again

52 Culture
Music
INTERVIEW
By Dave Simpson
COVER
PHOTOGRAPH
David James
Swanson
W
HEN JACK WHITE WAS 14, HE WAS ALL
set to become a priest. “I’d been
accepted at the seminary and every-
thing,” he grins, and it’s not too hard
to imagine Father Jack White preach-
ing with missionary zeal, even with
his hair dyed blue, as it is today. “But something happened
to me in that summer. The priests seemed really old and
I thought, ‘Who’s gonna speak for my generation?’”
White was raised a Catholic, and his conversation is still
peppered with words such as “sinner” and “judgment” – but
that didn’t stop him changing his mind about holy orders.
“To be fair, they don’t turn anyone into a priest unless they
really want to be one,” he says. “I never got the calling.”
Instead, of course, he found music.
Born Jack Gillis in downtown Detroit, to a Polish mother
and Scottish Canadian father who both worked for the interesting.’ Nobody patted me on the back for any of it.”
church, he was the youngest of 10 siblings. They would But that didn’t stop him.
subject him to the usual indignities, such as knocking down Today, wearing a Batman T-shirt, White, 46, is video-
the card houses he liked to build, “because that’s how broth- calling from another project, the bowling alley on his Nash-
ers and sisters are”. But his brothers had a drum kit, which ville estate, which he designed himself. It’s decked out in
he played from the age of five, before graduating to other dazzling orange stripes, which make for quite a combina-
instruments in his mid-teens when his father unexpectedly tion with his blue hair. He puts much thought into minor
brought home a piano. “That piano, which I have in front details. Where the White Stripes presented in red and
of me now, changed my life.” He never thought he could white (inspired by peppermint candy), orange and blue is
make a living out of music, though. Even when he joined a homage to the multitude of movie posters, notably Star
bands and was on “so many bills people were sick of me”, Wars, that used “supposedly the most attractive colours
he would hear musicians talk about going in the studio to boost ticket sales, hyuk, hyuk”.
and think: “Is your dad a millionaire or something?” His He was still at school when he met Meg White, who would
expected career was furniture. “When I was 16, I would become the other half of the White Stripes. They married in
have bet $1,000 that I’d only ever have an upholstery shop.” 1996 and he took her surname. One day, he recalls, “to help
Within a decade, however, his supercharged garage rock me out while I was setting up a microphone or something”,
duo the White Stripes was a global phenomenon, and he’s Meg got behind the drums. “And what she was playing was
barely paused since. He fronted the Raconteurs and played so cool. I thought, ‘Oh wow, please keep doing that,’ never
drums in the Dead Weather, and has been a producer and thinking, ‘Oh we’re going to write songs or form a band or
video-maker, while his eclectic Third Man operation takes play on stage or anything.’” But they did all that and, after
in everything from a record label and record shops to a two under-the-radar albums, they suddenly exploded dur-
publishing imprint. His three solo albums have all been ing a 2001 visit to the UK, when DJ John Peel said they were
US No 1s. A fourth, Fear of the Dawn, arrived this month the most exciting thing he had heard since Jimi Hendrix.
with another, Entering Heaven Alive, following in July. He “We were staying on the drummer from [Billy Childish’s
has 12 Grammys. band] Thee Headcoats’ floor that whole trip,” White remem-
He is the first to admit that he isn’t always in control of bers. “We thought we’d just play with a couple of garage
what he calls a “compulsion” to create. “It’s more in con- rock bands and go home. That’s not what happened.”
trol of me,” he says, “but it’s always been like this. When White Blood Cells, released in July 2001 and featuring the
I was 19, I was a drummer in two different bands. I had breakthrough single Hotel Yorba, saw them become one of
the upholstery apprenticeship and a business in the base- the hottest bands in the world. The follow-up, Elephant,
ment. I was recording music in my bedroom, but nobody released in 2003, was a UK No 1, and reached No 6 in the
ever came up and said to my parents, ‘Wow, this kid’s US, triggering an imperial period lasting almost a decade.

53
Having divorced before the breakthrough, the couple

pretended to be brother and sister to deflect intrusive
questions. “To get famous, especially in duos, whether
it’s Sonny and Cher or whoever, everything is up for grabs
to be exploited,” White says. “You have to explain your rela-
tionship to everybody. We were never interested in that.”
Similarly, no reason was given when the Stripes ceased
performing in 2009, and in 2011 announced a split that was
later attributed to Meg’s stage fright. “She’s so delicate and
such a sweet person that you’d never think she’d go up on
stage,” White says, warmly. “But she did and conquered it
in her own way. Eventually, it just got too much.”
Never one to dawdle, White had already formed the
Raconteurs and diversified into producing the country
singer Loretta Lynn. But he still professes amazement at
his career and insists he follows instincts, rather than busi-
ness acumen. “The smartest thing I ever did was having In his own lane criticising the then president’s policies on Mexican
a lawyer as manager.” That is Ian Montone, who met the Tenpin fan White immigration. Did he lose fans for speaking against Trump?
Stripes in 2001 and asked to manage them six months later. has a bowling “God, I hope so. I see a Trump rally and think, ‘Do I want
“I’m very grateful that he’s never tried to change me or stop alley at his people like that at my shows?’ It’s so different to being a
me doing things.” Nashville estate Republican in the 1980s. This is racist, derogatory, divisive
White doesn’t like people taking liberties. In 2003, a PAIGE SARA and hateful.”
row over production credits with fellow Detroit band the He has called time on another of his crusades – analogue
Von Bondies exploded in a bar brawl with singer Jason White noise sound – admitting digital isn’t as “plastic and fake” as it
Stollsteimer. White was fined and sent on an anger manage- The White Stripes was 20 years ago. The music industry has changed mas-
ment course. “I was raised with consequences, and that if performing at sively but, he says, not always for the worse, pointing out
someone says something in a bar it’s fighting talk,” he says Madison Square that young artists can generate a profile online, whereas
with a shrug. “But everybody gets older and wiser, right?” Garden, New he remembers “having to go to a town several times and
White’s second marriage, to the model and musician York, in 2007 put flyers on telephone poles”. The flipside is the collapse
Karen Elson, lasted from 2005 to 2013 and produced two STEPHEN LOVEKIN/ of recording income, which White fears devalues music.
WIREIMAGE
children, but he guards his privacy and shuns the way White calls himself an “interdisciplinary artist” and he
modern celebrities live their lives on social media. He did, shows the same flexibility in his social life. His friendships
however, surprise fans at his Detroit homecoming show this stretch from 90s furniture partner Brian Muldoon to, at
month by marrying his partner, Olivia Jean, also a musi- least reportedly, Bob Dylan. “I can’t claim to be friends with
cian from Detroit, on stage. He laughs at the mention of Bob, and maybe that’s an impossibility,” he shrugs. “He has
Madonna’s recent picture of herself on the loo, because it the holy spirit around him. He’s sort of not from here … He
reminds him of something his father said when he got mad knows exactly what’s going on in music at any given time.”
at the TV. “He yelled, ‘It’s only a matter of time before we’ll So, it seems, does White. The two new albums are the
see a celebrity on the toilet,’” he recalls. result of what he calls “incredibly inspiring” lockdowns,
White wasn’t involved in his own marketing miracle – during which he initially played and recorded all the instru-
how the riff from the White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army has ments himself for the first time in his career, bringing other
become a global football and political chant (most famously musicians in later for the “swing” of playing live. “Although
“Oh, Jer-emy Corb-yn”). “It might be the biggest multicul- it was – and is – a shame that so many people got hurt by
tural hit of all time,” he laughs. “Because nobody is singing the pandemic, the seclusion helped me re-evaluate artisti-
any words, they’re just chanting a melody. Who would have cally and refocus on things I hadn’t had time for in years,”
thought it? Certainly not Meg or I. We recorded the song he says. “So many different tunes came out that the two
quickly and moved on.” albums started to emerge on their own. I pushed myself to
He says he doesn’t understand British politics or what new areas which I’m really proud of.” Thus, Fear of the Dawn
Corbyn represents, but – despite being “neither a Repub- hurls together raucous guitars, dub, hip-hop, synths and a
lican or Democrat” – enthusiastically backed Corbyn’s US Q-Tip collaboration featuring a sample of Cab Calloway’s
equivalent-of-sorts, Bernie Sanders, at the last election. “He Hi-De-Ho Man, from 1934. Entering Heaven Alive is gentler,
tells the truth and he’s never said anything I disagree with.” more country rock. The 2021 smash Taking Me Back appears
White angrily called out Donald Trump for adopting on both albums, as a digital metal stomper and “Django
Seven Nation Army and produced “Icky Trump” T-shirts Reinhardt-type jazz version” respectively.
(a pun on the White Stripes song and album Icky Thump) “I grew up with a Polish grandmother in my house,”
White says. “My parents were in their 60s when I was in
high school. I lived in a Mexican neighbourhood and went to
an all-black high school. It would make just as much sense
I see a Trump rally and think, for me to play in a Polish polka band or a hip-hop act, or a
Mexican mariachi band under a sombrero. It would be nice
do I want people like that at my to know exactly who I am or what I’m doing – but I don’t.”
shows? It’s so different to being Fear of the Dawn is out on Third Man. Entering Heaven Alive
follows on 22 July. Touring worldwide this year
a Republican in the 1980s DAVE SIMPSON IS A GUARDIAN MUSIC WRITER

54 Culture
Photography
Footprints of ruin
E
dward Burtynsky has been organising Ukraine last year, he adds; a project exploring
From toxic lakes to barren a print sale for Ukraine: editions of two the country’s industrial history and his own
landscapes scarred by large-format photographs, which raise roots. Perhaps even portraits – something he
mining, Edward Burtynsky nearly $600,000 in a matter of hours. hasn’t done for ages. It’s not going to happen
This is personal. Burtynsky grew up on the shore- for the moment, though as soon as it’s safe
has chronicled mankind’s line of Lake Ontario but his parents emigrated he is determined to get out and collaborate
devastating impact on the from Ukraine in the late 1940s. with a Ukrainian photographer he admires,
His mother fled starvation under the Soviets, Maxim Dondyuk.
planet like no other before being forced into a labour camp by the He is shaking his head. “Unbelievable, the
Nazis. Now 97, she has been watching the news amount of hate and trauma that’s being inflicted.”
By Andrew Dickson obsessively. Burtynsky’s sister has been fielding Burtynsky may generally focus on landscapes
texts from relatives in and around Kyiv, with an rather than faces, but trauma – and its lasting
eye to getting them to Canada if necessary. impact – is very much his subject. There is per-
“It’s kind of surreal,” says the artist, his voice haps no greater chronicler alive of the injuries
flat. “They’re frightened, they’re hearing bombs that humans have inflicted on the planet. From
all the time. It feels very real, you know?” They’re teetering tyre dumps to toxic lakes, oilfields
OK? “Currently.” stained acid yellow and hills stripped bare by
He should have been making photographs in drought, Burtynsky has crisscrossed the globe in

55
search of images that show what we have really a galumphing 8x10 bellows field camera, heavy
done to the world. lenses, tripods – a car boot-full of equipment that
The interesting paradox, though, is the Look around … would enable him to make prints large enough
epic allure he finds in such scenes. Looking at to show these scenes in all their brutal majesty.
vertiginous quarries in Portugal (“inverted sky- We are all Problem was, no one wanted to buy them. The
scrapers”, he’s called them) or green farmland
somehow conjured out of the arid Texas plains,
participating in few people who were interested in large-format
colour photography (then largely used in adver-
you don’t always know whether to feel awe at the these landscapes tising) didn’t want railway cuttings or contami-
ingenuity by which such resources are extracted, nated watercourses on the wall, no matter how
or despair at whether the damage can ever be aesthetically impressive. With Jeannie Baxter,
healed. Sometimes, all you can do is admire the his wife at the time, he set up a specialist photo
formal power of these photographs, which are lab in Toronto to provide an income; it was only
in museums worldwide and as intricately com- when a collector offered to bankroll him that he
posed as abstract paintings by Willem de Kooning was able to devote himself to picture-making.
or Clyfford Still. Other times, you need to look Study in depth ▼ Role reversal He chose quarries as his first project: “I had
close to convince yourself they’re not paintings. Coal Mine #1, A portrait of never seen a picture of one, and that began my
North Rhine, the photographer research. Where are these places? What do they
S
peaking as he’s about to receive a life- Westphalia, 2018 Edward Burtynsky look like?” Burtynsky’s work since has been
time award from the World Photography patient and consistent, almost as relentless as
Organisation, Burtynsky admits he the processes he documents. One strand has
doesn’t always know what to feel. “I focused on mining. Another series visited the
don’t quite have an explanation for why it’s shipbreaking yards of Chittagong in Bangladesh:
interesting, but I take the photograph anyway,” mighty rusted hulls being dismembered, lit by
he says cautiously. “I trust my instincts.” Turner-esque oxyacetylene sparks.
Growing up in the blue-collar city of Multi-year, multi-continent projects on oil
St Catharines, Ontario, during the 1960s, he and water have led inexorably to the biggest sub-
saw industry everywhere. General Motors was ject of all, the climate crisis, which culminated
the biggest employer, and noise from the car in 2018’s Anthropocene, a photobook and film.
plant “pounded through the city all the time”. Burtynsky’s current assignment, images from
His father worked there until being diagnosed which will be on display in London, traverses
with cancer – a result, Burtynsky believes, of Africa – a continent he has visited often – and
chemicals on the welding line. He was dead at 45. includes landscapes more conventionally pic-
It was his dad who gave him his first camera, turesque than many he has made before.
a 35mm Minolta. You don’t need to be a psycho- Wherever you look, it’s impossible to escape
analyst to see some connection between what climate, he says. “We’re on
Burtynsky does and his father’s experience, or ▼ Off colour the very edge of losing it,
the fragile balance his images find between life Oil Bunkering whether it’s corals, ancient
and death, beauty and creeping horror. Later, #9, Niger Delta, forests, flora and fauna ,
to pay himself through art school, Burtynsky Nigeria, 2016 the oceans and fish.”
also worked at GM, helping clean up some of the
toxic sludge that he suspects had killed his father.
“Men were still working up to their elbows in the
oil at the time,” he remembers, “which felt almost
EDWARD BURTYNSKY/ FLOWERS GALLERY/ NICHOLAS METIVIER GALLERY; BIRGIT KLEBER
like a death sentence to me.” He also spent five

months underground in a goldmine.
“My dad worked on one side of this brick wall
and I got to see the other side,” he says. “I felt,
we don’t really understand the worlds that exist
to make a car – the machines that make the
machines, you know?” The colours he remem-
bers vividly: “Guys in the forge plants wearing
these aluminium suits, casting red-hot ingots.”
After a few embarrassing attempts at street
photography, Burtynsky was given a student
assignment to search out “evidence of man”, and
found it in an unexpected place: an abandoned
shipping canal that once connected the Great
Lakes. Yet it wasn’t until 1982, when he got lost on
a trip through coal country in Pennsylvania and
found the remains of a mine, that it all began to
connect. “It was a rich world to take the camera
into,” he says.
Early on, Burtynsky knew that he wanted
to shoot big and shoot slow, travelling with

56 Culture Reviews
What drives him? Sometimes his photographs FILM

echo those of socially concerned photojournal-
ists such as Sebastião Salgado; sometimes they’re
more formalist, closer to Düsseldorf photogra- The Northman
phers including Thomas Struth or Candida Höfer. Dir: Robert Eggers
Is he an activist? He doesn’t think so. He says his
work is “revelatory, not accusatory”.
★★★★★
He’s not a disaster photographer, he adds – or,
if he is, we’re all implicated. “If this is a disaster, Robert Eggers has created the
then look around your house, at your car and your Scandi noir to end all Scandi noirs:
fridge. What’s in there? Where does it come from? an atavistic revenge horror based
We are all participating in these landscapes,” he on the Old Norse legend of Amleth,
says. “Including me.” a young nobleman intent on bloody
payback against the uncle who
T
hese days he works with enough assis- ART murdered his father and married his
tants and fixers to man a Victorian widowed mother; it’s the tale that
expedition, but his workflow remains inspired Shakespeare’s play Hamlet.
essentially the same: research locations Raphael Among its many acts of hysterical
(often using Google Maps), negotiate access (he’s National Gallery, London violence, this film hacks away
relaxed if his prints of factories or refineries end the Elizabethan melancholy
★★★★★
up on boardroom walls, he says; a price worth and existential hesitation that
paying), hire drone operators or helicopter pilots Shakespeare grafted on to his
to get his cameras to where he wants to get them, Raphael is a revelation. It could anguished hero, and turns him into
and then spend months editing. hardly be otherwise, since this is a single-minded warrior.
Though the technology he uses is state of the the first exhibition outside Italy This drama takes Amleth away
art – his current squeeze is a 150-megapixel Dan- ever to encompass every aspect from the thespian green room and
ish model that costs around $50,000 – every print of his stupendous career. It runs simplifies the story.
is meticulously produced by his team in Toronto, through paint, chalk and print, wool, Alexander Skarsgård plays
with Burtynsky controlling every aspect. bronze and ink, and from the earliest Amleth, who as a boy witnessed the
Perhaps needless to say, these days he has drawing of himself at 15 to the last murder of his father King Aurvandil,
no sales problems: his pictures go for tens of startling self-portrait ( above) played by Ethan Hawke. The culprits
thousands of dollars, though Burtynsky seems where Raphael paints himself with were henchmen in the pay of his
discomfited by the glitzier reaches of the art a fellow artist who points to the saturnine, duplicitous uncle Fjölnir,
world. “It gets a little distasteful,” he says. “The mirror as if looking to the future, at played by Claes Bang. The murderer
commoditisation of it.” themselves and also us: one of the then marries Aurvandil’s queen
The pandemic grounded him, but also forced greatest double acts in art history. Gudrún, played with a willowy yet
him back to basics. He spent much of 2020 prowl- It is a testimony to the steely and gimlet-eyed presence by
ing the backwoods near his house in rural Ontario, extraordinary pulling power of the Nicole Kidman (who later gets an
camera in hand, working alone for the first time National Gallery and its exemplary absolute showstopper of a scene).
in many years. The pictures that resulted, a series curators that they have been able to Amleth grows to hunky manhood
he called Natural Order, seem quieter and more bring together 89 works from all over obsessed with his brutal destiny:
meditative than in a long time: tangled under- the world. Here are his apprentice the story unfolds in a stark vista of
growth, splodges of bright lichen on tree bark, works and the final masterpieces unremitting violence, periodically
crimson-coloured dogwood springing out of the made just before his death at 37; here switching from plangent colour to
tawny spring earth. are his visions of tranquil saints and a bleak monochrome.
I’m struck by the fact that, much like in his tense philosophers, sultry beauties The Northman is a nihilistic,
Africa photographs, the impact of humans is and soaring apostles, his friends, chaotic story about the endless cycle
less obvious here; if there’s trauma in these his colleagues, his amused and of violence, the choice between
images, it’s hard to detect. Is he softening in his flirtatious lover. loving your friends and hating your
late 60s? He chuckles. “I’ve always come back In room after room singing with enemies, which turns out to be no
to this landscape to re-centre myself and decide his radiant red-blue-green palette, choice, and the thread of fate down
what’s important. Being in nature is not a cliche. you are able to walk through which masculinity’s toxin drips.
It’s very real.” Raphael’s art and life as never It’s entirely outrageous, with some
Perhaps the dogwood – a wily survivor – holds before. Laura Cumming Observer epic visions of the flaring cosmos.
a lesson, he adds. “If we are eliminated from the Until 31 July I couldn’t look away. Peter Bradshaw
world, if we somehow screw this up, what I’m
looking at in those pictures will endure.”
He glances towards the window. “We may not Podcast of the week It’s a Continent
survive, but what’s out there will.” African history is rich and complex, yet written and oral history,
ANDREW DICKSON IS A CULTURE especially as captured or retold by Africans, can be difficult to
JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR
Edward Burtynsky’s work is on display as part come by. Hosts Astrid Madimba and Chinny Ukata break apart
of the Sony World Photography Awards 2022 at the view of the continent as a single entity, unpacking the unique
Somerset House, London, until 2 May nature of each of its 54 recognised countries. Oyinkansola Aderele

Culture 57
Books
It will be frustrating for some that the book
contains no analysis of the impact of the invasion
that began on 24 February. There would have
been appetite for discussion of the future world
order, or of the latest theories about Putin’s mind-
set – that he is detached from reality, ill, deluded
by his own propaganda, or has simply gone nuts.
If he fails in Ukraine, the age of the strongman,
for Putin anyway, may draw to an abrupt close.
In China, Xi teeters towards megalomania. In
Hungary, Viktor Orbán resorts to antisemitism
to sharpen national identity. In Israel, Benja-
min Netanyahu acts the divisive saviour, fight-
ing encircling foes. In the US, Trump plays the
same old tunes, attacking minorities, migrants
and media. In the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte
plays God, condemning and killing on a whim.
Strongman leaders, Rachman suggests, tend
to be pretty useless at leading. India’s nationalist
prime minister, Narendra Modi, styles himself a
man of the masses, in touch with the “real India”.
But his proposed farm reforms in 2020 sparked
grassroots protests by the very people he claimed
T
POLITICS he odd thing about “strongman” leaders to understand. His government blamed mysteri-
is that they are often quite weak in terms ous foreign forces – and Greta Thunberg.
of their personal attributes and political Like many strongmen, Mohammed bin Sal-
ideas. Vladimir Putin comes across as man, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, was initially
Iron brood an insecure, embittered little man, marooned feted as a reformer. Then he triggered a humani-
in a cultural time warp, whose vision of Russia’s tarian disaster in Yemen. The murder in 2018 of
Putin’s rise inspired a future is propelled by a backward-looking, sen- Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi critic, all but destroyed
timental nostalgia for the Soviet era. his reputation in the west. Yet the global trophy
generation of hardline Donald Trump, by instinct a fellow authori- for sheer bloody incompetence must go to Brazil’s
populist leaders, tarian and avid Putin admirer, is thin-skinned, hard-right populist president, Jair Bolsonaro, the
seemingly incapable of tolerating the slightest “Trump of South America”, whose lethally irre-
argues this accessible criticism and vindictive towards those who chal- sponsible mishandling of the pandemic stunned
but disquieting history lenge him. Xi Jinping, China’s president, exhibits even his most ardent apologists.
similar chronic fear of dissent. As Rachman notes, authoritarian rulers have
of modern-day despots Gideon Rachman’s accessible new book, The helped to undermine democratic ideals and
Age of the Strongman, examines these and other practices around the world since 2000, and with
By Simon Tisdall formidable, deeply flawed figures in a series of growing success following the financial crash
fluent, well-informed essays about the global of 2008. “The last 15 years have seen the most
rise of authoritarian, nationalist-populist leaders sustained decline in political freedom around the
and its corrosive impact on the liberal democratic world since the 1930s,” Rachman writes.
tradition. Rachman’s central thesis is that this “We have learned again that democracy is
is a modern phenomenon, roughly beginning precious,” Joe Biden proclaimed at his inaugu-
with Putin’s rise to national power in 1999-2000. ration, two weeks after a mob of Trump support-
Rachman, a columnist and experienced for- ers stormed the Capitol and tried to overturn
eign correspondent, views Putin as “the arche- the 2020 election. “Democracy is fragile … and
type and model for the current generation of democracy has prevailed.” But the fact it very
strongman leaders”. His trademark tactics – rein- nearly didn’t is Rachman’s whole argument.
ing in independent sources of power, asserting Most Republicans still believe Trump’s big lie.
the central authority of the state and It’s easy to be pessimistic.
using warfare to bolster his personal Strongman leaders are a perennial
position – have been emulated by other blight. Before Putin, there had been
reactionaries hostile to globalisation, Stalin. Before Xi, Mao, and before
liberalism and the western-led, rules- Erdoğan, Atatürk.
based international order. All the same, to the many
▲ Young gun Lies, disinformation, institutional oppressed, brutalised and disenfran-
vandalism, the cult of personality, sys- BOOK OF chised peoples of the world – and espe-
Vladimir Putin
temic corruption, ethno-nationalism, THE WEEK cially to those now living in Ukraine
in 2000, early in
his first stint as culture wars, historical revisionism The Age of – today’s age of the strongman feels
Russia’s president and the ready use of violence at home the Strongman all too terrifyingly real.
ALEXANDER
and through external aggression – By Gideon Rachman SIMON TISDALL IS A FOREIGN
ZEMLIANICHENKO/AP these are the ugly tools of Putinism. AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR

58 Culture
Books
T
NAT U R E here’s a dreamy moment halfway himself from the forest plants, differentiating
through Geoffroy Delorme’s brief, the textures of leaves to forage in the dark. But
sensuous book in which one of the we are spared the true privations he must have
young deer he gets to know curls up endured: Delorme is both stoical and tight-
Herd mentality beside him, its head resting on his leg. The image lipped. We are only glancingly told that he sur-
is both touchingly familiar and surreal. A couple vived hypothermia on several occasions, that he
Geoffroy Delorme’s of walkers nod in greeting as they pass, as if it’s learned to sit with one leg tucked under him to
customary for a wild deer to snooze in the lap of keep the water from impregnating his clothes,
memoir recounts how a human. No doubt, Delorme notes, they mistake that he wore three woollen jumpers. Delorme
he spent seven years the deer for a dog. Even more startling, the little never dwells on himself, stubbornly training
deer, whom Delorme names Daguet, begins to the lens on the animals alongside him. Admit-
living in a forest, and twitch and wriggle. “He is clearly dreaming,” tedly, there were times when I found his distance
the bond he built with Delorme writes. Of what, one won-
ders, do roe deer dream?
frustrating. Too often he skates over
what must be fascinating territory for a
the roe deer there Deer Man follows the story of some- reader. Opportunities for development
one who turns his back on society and are lost throughout the book. Yet one
By Melanie Challenger spends seven years living in a forest suspects this is the only kind of testi-
among roe deer. We discover very little mony that could come from someone
about the events that preceded this who has, in many ways, eschewed the
decision. Exclusively home-schooled, Deer Man: Seven human world. That is the price.
the young man was clearly lonely. And Years of Living By the end, I took pleasure in how
there’s something amiss in his rela- in the Forest the tight, spare writing conveys the
tionship with his family. Yet a fleeting By Geoffroy inadequacy of language to properly
encounter with a young buck draws Delorme, translated render the experience of living in
him into the woods around Louviers, by Shaun Whiteside the wild. As the chapters unfold,
France, and off he goes. It’s fairytale Delorme recedes even further from
stuff, both in its transformational force and its the narrative, mirroring his gradual withdrawal
unspoken darkness. The lack of information from civilisation and home. At first, he returns
about his life – the ruthless absence of autobi- a few times a month to shower and recharge his
ography – can seem odd to a modern reader. batteries (Delorme is a photographer, and his
Yet the strength of this book is its singular focus images hugely amplify the text). But, over time,
on the deer. he returns less and less. And he takes less each
As readers, we yearn to know the nitty-gritty time from his old life as his skills and confidence –
of how he made it in the wild. In his time there, and indeed appetite – begin to transform. Eventu-
he must survive the damp and cold and feed ally, he no longer lives “in” the forest but “of” the
I
FICTION t’s easy to imagine a conversation about invites Cushla to an “Irish language evening” with
Louise Kennedy’s debut novel, Trespasses, his bourgeois-bohemian friends, liberals who toy
that goes something like this: “What’s it with pro-Republican politics. Thus commences
about?” “Well, it’s about a young Catholic an affair that Cushla must keep secret from every-
The great divide woman in Belfast in the 70s, at the height of the one, on pain – literally – of death.
Troubles.” “Punishment beatings, bomb scares, Technique, too, is traditional. The point of
An affair between a all of that?” “Yes, all of that.” “Does her dad die?” view is third person. The prose is in the past
“Well, yes, actually. Her dad is dead when the tense. This is not a book that is interested in per-
Catholic woman and book begins.” “Does she fall in love with a Protes- forming radical aesthetic surgery on the realist
a married Protestant tant?” “Well, yes, she does fall in love with a Prot- novel. In fact its mode is what you might call low-
estant, as it happens. In this case an attractive realist: the strain of dogged unromantic telling
barrister drive Louise married lawyer who’s committed to civil rights that descends from Ernest Hemingway and the
Kennedy’s debut novel for Catholics.” “Do things go tragically wrong early James Joyce through (in Ireland) writers
for sectarian reasons?” “It is strongly intimated such as Brian Moore and Colm Tóibín. But after
set in 1975 Belfast that this is what will happen, yes.” a very few pages, it becomes clear how little any
Plotwise, then, we’re in traditional of this stuff is relevant. Trespasses is a
territory. The year is 1975. Cushla novel distinguished by a quality rare in
Lavery is 24 and works as a primary fiction at any time: a sense of utter con-
teacher in a school on the outskirts of viction. It is a story told with such com-
Belfast. She also does the odd shift in pulsive attention to the textures of its
the family pub, which is frequented by world that every page feels like a moral
leering and aggressive British soldiers. and intellectual event.
Here she meets Michael Agnew: hand- Kennedy, by her own account, came
some, middle-aged, sophisticated, Trespasses late to fiction writing. Born a few miles
married. Michael is a Protestant barris- By Louise outside Belfast, she spent almost three
ter who defends young Catholic men Kennedy decades working as a chef, before writ-
By Kevin Power who have been unjustly arrested. He ing the stories that made up her first

59
forest. He uses “we” freely, not only to tell us BOOKS OF THE MONTH
what he and the deer are doing but in ways sug- The best recent crime stories and thrillers
gestive of emotional and psychic entanglement.
What the whole book recognises is the agency
of the animals Delorme meets. Sure, he has By Laura Wilson a woman of dual heritage, to leave town. While her
sought out a relationship with this wild crea- decides to track down husband, Terry, spends
ture. But so, too, has the animal. And this isn’t her birth parents after his free time in front
inevitable, as he points out. He tries the same Cherry’s death and her of the television, she
with some foxes. They won’t tolerate him. suspension, on spurious dreams over the upmarket
What we are left with is a startling portrait grounds, from her work catalogues that arrive
of an animal that is both familiar to us and yet as a hospital doctor. for the house’s previous
shockingly misunderstood. Roe deer – Capreolus Eva’s white father, occupant, Rebecca, whom
capreolus – have been around since Homo sapiens a rich businessman, is she decides to find and
emerged as a distinct species. In the UK, we’ve easily found – although befriend. Meanwhile,
lived alongside them since at least the last ice age. he may not be all that he neighbourhood gossip
We’ve worn them, eaten them, revered them, City on Fire seems – but her mother is in overdrive because
and etched early texts on their antlers. Today, By Don Winslow proves more elusive. local girls have been going
we know them best on the bumpers of our cars This first book in Ex-police officer Sugar missing. Compellingly
and on our plates. The story is much the same a projected trilogy about seems to know more creepy, with precisely
in Delorme’s native France. warring mobster families than he is letting on and observed characterisation,
Yet, for Delorme, each deer is unique. Each, is set in Providence, is evasive when asked A Tidy Ending combines
for him, has a name and a personality. Unsurpris- Rhode Island, in 1986. why he left the force. pathos with lovely flashes
ingly, then, Delorme returns from the woods an The Italians and the Irish Eva’s journey takes of humour and a wholly
advocate. He wants the deer – and not us with our have carved up the city, her back to 1994 and unexpected ending.
rifles – to be responsible for their own manage- controlling the trucking the disappearance – barely
ment. And he wants us to consider our forests and industry and the docks. acknowledged by the
woodlands in radically new ways that recognise The author makes overt police, let alone the media
the meaningful lives of the species within them. comparisons with the – of four Black women.
Some readers may consider him mad. And, Iliad, and modern-day Say Her Name offers an
while I won’t give away the ending, we all know Helen of Troy Pam engaging narrative as
that Delorme is not, after all, a roe deer. It’s clear provides a convenient well as a heartfelt and
that this can’t go on for ever. Yet it is a delightful, excuse for a bunch of eloquent exploration of
moving read – and a quietly revolutionary one. men trapped in a cycle the iniquities of racial bias.
MELANIE CHALLENGER WRITES ON of violence to embark on
NATURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY a disastrous feud. In the Miss Aldridge Regrets
middle is docker Danny By Louise Hare
Ryan, his dreams of escape In 1936, Lena Aldridge
book, The End of the World Is a Cul de Sac. stymied by his connection is singing in a seedy
In her short fiction, Kennedy goes at her sub- to the Murphy clan. nightspot in London’s
jects obliquely, as the best short story writers Winslow’s previous Cartel Soho when its owner – the
often do. But as a novelist, she plays it straight. trilogy is an astonishing cheating husband of her
The details of 1970s Belfast become potently achievement that will best friend – is murdered;
vivid. “On the bypass, a fleet of grey Land Rovers be hard to beat, but on the she takes up an out-of-the-
was on the inside lane, bomb-proof maxi skirts strength of this immersive A Tidy Ending blue offer of a first-class
skimming the tarmac”; a street decked out in tale of fate, free will, By Joanna Cannon ticket on the Queen Mary
union jacks, “like Nuremberg”. loyalty and betrayal, Cannon uses her chosen and a role in a Broadway
Kennedy is also quietly great at the smaller his new series will rank milieu – the suburban show. Lena has secrets:
details. The “soft dunt” of a fridge door closing. alongside it. street where curtains she has disposed of
Cushla waking with her face in “the hot, scalliony twitch, the chintzy evidence from the murder,
hair” of Michael’s armpit. cheeriness of the old folks’ and is also “passing”
In Belfast in 1975, as the half-embittered home, quotidian tragedies for white. When she
Michael tells Cushla, “it’s not about what you do” and buried truths – to becomes involved with
but rather about “what you are”. Kennedy knows, explore the inner lives the wealthy, dysfunctional
of course, that only bigots and fanatics imag- of outsiders. In her third Abernathy family and
ine that “what you do” and “what you are” are novel, Linda takes centre people start dying, she
separable by fiat. Her novel therefore addresses stage: a socially awkward realises there might be
itself to the ambiguities inherent in the whole mixture of naive and more to her lucky break
concept of “what you are” – that is, to realism’s sly, she was already the than she’d imagined. The
great traditional subject, here given a shock of Say Her Name odd-girl-out at school conflicted, appealing
new life. Trespasses may be a novel built along By Dreda Say Mitchell when her piano teacher heroine and Christie-type
conventional lines. But it thrums throughout and Ryan Carter father’s inappropriate mystery make this an
with the passion and poise of mastery. Adopted at the age of eight behaviour towards engrossing read.
KEVIN POWER IS A WRITER AND by Cherry and Carlton young students meant LAURA WILSON IS A BRITISH
ACADEMIC BASED IN IRELAND “Sugar” McNeil, Eva, she and her mother had CRIME FICTION WRITER

60 Lifestyle
ASK This is usually my role, but even psychotherapist Louise O’Dwyer

Annalisa Barbieri if we have those moments, they (childpsychotherapy.org.uk).
feel outweighed by the day-to-day We both wondered what your
bickering and tedium of nagging own childhood was like – this is
Everybody’s them to do things.

I feel guilty that I am not an
important because it can inform
your expectations. Maybe you feel
glum. How can example of optimism. Can we

change the mood in our house?
guilty that your children aren’t
having a whiz-bang-pop childhood,
we make our but a lot of what you describe is
A
word I have returned to very ordinary, and life is about
home happier? repeatedly recently is

anhedonia – the inability
the ordinary.
With regard to the nagging: pick
to take pleasure in things, your battles. It really doesn’t matter
I’m married with two children, aged a lack of joy where joy should be. if certain jobs don’t get done; work
seven and 12. Maybe it’s the effects I think the trauma of the past two out what’s important and let go of
of the pandemic, but both my years shouldn’t be underestimated what isn’t. This takes practice. Do an
husband and I feel exhausted and – even before we mix in climate age-appropriate rota for reasonable
beaten down by life (which sounds change and war. It’s easy to “go flat” jobs the children can do to help.
very whiny, since we are healthy in situations like this as a protective Children like knowing what’s
and OK financially). We have no mechanism: when we numb one expected of them, and everyone
family close by, though we do have emotion, we numb them all. thrives on achievement.
supportive friends. You asked how you can change O’Dwyer said that if your child
My older child is coping with low the mood in the house and I think it often asks big questions at bedtime,
mood and depression (and speaking has to start with you. What makes that’s something to take note of.
to a counsellor, which is helping), you happy? What do you need? “Is that the only time you have to
has angry meltdowns and worries Moods are infectious, and it sounds chat?” she asks. If so, it could be
about climate change and the war in like you are the fulcrum in the their way of trying to carve out
Ukraine. I share their concerns but house, so start attending to your some time with you, so maybe think
try to encourage them not to think needs. There’s a real tendency for about when else you could make
about it before bed. mothers to put others first and, in so time for them. There are some good
I worry whether ours is a happy doing, find they have less in the way resources online about how to talk to
house. I feel we are in a negative of reserves. But if you don’t tend to your children about war, and finding
pattern of feeling frustrated by the yourself, you can’t care for others. If you positives in the climate crisis, that
kids’ behaviour, their fussy eating If you feel really long-term down, a don’t you might want to read. Remember
patterns, and just generally. It feels trip to the GP may be an idea. to acknowledge your children’s
like at weekends the kids whine, we Your husband doesn’t have to be tend to feelings, whatever they are. That
nag, and there isn’t much joy or fun
in our lives.
about having fun with a capital F:
being present with them, engaged,
yourself, really is the most important thing.
My husband is involved, present, being led by their needs (what are you can’t If you would like advice on a family
kind and caring, but serious and they?), playing quiet games … these matter, please email ask.annalisa@
quiet – so he does not bring a zest are all important.
care for theguardian.com. See gu.com/letters-
for life or a fun side with the kids. I consulted child and adolescent others terms for terms and conditions.
STEPHEN COLLINS

KITCHEN AIDE 611
6
By Anna Berrill
T H E W E E K LY R E C I P E
By Jane Baxter
№ 165
Spinach and
ricotta crespelle
Prep 10 min Method

Cook 1hr 40m First make the pancakes. Whisk
the wet ingredients into the flour to
Serves 4-6 make a thin batter, add a pinch of
Save the last of the anchovies to salt and rest for at least five minutes.
Melt a little butter over a medium
deliver a gigantic burst of flavour heat, pour in a ladle of the batter,

tilting the pan. Cook for a couple
of minutes, until the bottom of the
pancake is set, then flip and cook the
I love anchovies, but often have says: “Blend egg yolks with any Ingredients other side. Transfer to a plate and
a couple of fillets or mashed-up bits bits of anchovy going, their oil, For the pancakes repeat with the remaining batter.
left over. What can I do with them and mustard, then top up with (to make 12) Now the sauce. Put the oil in a
and the oil? olive oil.” This can then be used for 100g plain flour small pan on a low heat, add the
2 eggs
Jane, Ludlow, England, UK a multitude of dishes – devilled eggs garlic and chilli. Add the tomatoes
300ml milk
are a Tish favourite. Or knock up 1 tbsp oil
and sugar, season then simmer. Turn
Ah, anchovies. The little fishes with a vinaigrette. “Whisk the anchovies 1 pinch salt down the heat, cook for 30 minutes,
the big flavour equally at home in and their oil. Add lemon juice, wine Butter, for frying then blitz smooth and leave to cool.
pasta sauces, stews, a dressing, vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil, Next, the bechamel. Put the
butter (to rub a roast chicken) or and whisk again.” Wonderful for For the tomato sauce butter and oil on a low heat. Once
simply on toast. Happily, a little goes drizzling over salads with grains, 2 tbsp olive oil melted, stir in the flour, beating it in
a long way, which is good news for greens or grilled vegetables. 5 garlic cloves, until the mix is smooth, then cook
Jane and her near-empty tins. (Martinez’s breadcrumbs are also peeled and thinly gently, stirring, for five minutes.
sliced
“I love anchovies and have them good for topping salads.) Heat the milk in another pan, then
1 pinch dried chilli
all the time,” says Patrick Martinez, Food writer and anchovy fan flakes
stir into the first pan a ladle at a time,
the founder of the Tinned Fish Alison Roman uses her fillets to 1 x 400g tin plum until you have a smooth, thick sauce.
Market. If you’ve got a fillet or two elevate white beans. In Nothing tomatoes Season, add nutmeg, simmer for five
going, Martinez recommends this Fancy, she cooks sliced garlic in 1 tsp sugar minutes, then stir in the cheese.
“very rich, very quick” spaghetti olive oil, then adds her fillets, Salt and pepper Now for the filling. Heat the oil in
dish. First, get your pasta cooking, capers, and chilli flakes, sizzling a large pan, tip in the spinach and
and tear some bread (“you want until the little fish melt. She tosses For the bechamel stir over a high heat until wilted.
generously sized breadcrumbs”). in white beans, cooks for about 50g butter Season, tip into a colander set over a
1 tbsp olive oil
Mash your anchovies then fry them 10 minutes, then finishes with bowl. Once cooled, squeeze out any
50g flour
in some oil from the tin for about salad leaves, herbs, parmesan and 500ml whole milk
excess moisture, then roughly chop.
30 seconds. “Add finely sliced garlic a squeeze of lemon. Serve as is or Grated nutmeg, to Melt the butter in a large pan, add
for 30 seconds to a minute, then the as a side dish. Roman writes: “I do taste the marjoram and garlic, and cook
crumbs.” When your spaghetti is dream about eating it with grilled 50g vegetarian for a minute. Tip in the spinach,
ready, stir in a generous spoonful of whole trout or lamb shoulder with parmesan, grated braise for a few minutes, then tip
cream cheese, loosening with some garlicky tomatoes.” into a bowl and cool. Then mix in
reserved pasta water if need be. You could also spread anchovy For the filling the ricotta, egg yolk, vegetarian hard
“Add a squeeze of lemon to balance joy on bread. Tish grills focaccia or 500g spinach, cheese and seasonings.
washed
the oiliness, and some pepper.” ciabatta, then smears with broken Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/
1 tbsp olive oil
Puttanesca is another eminently anchovies and their oil. “Top with 25g butter
gas 6. Butter a large ovenproof dish.
sensible way to use stray fillets, as crushed tomatoes and you’ve got 1 tbsp marjoram Spread half the bechamel in the
is the top of a pizza or onion tart. smoky tomato bread.” That will taste leaves bottom of the dish and top with half
However, when it comes to those even better once those tomatoes hit 1 garlic clove, peeled the tomato sauce. Divide the filling
bits in the bottom of the tin, it’s their stride this summer. and grated between the pancakes, then roll up.
got to be mayonnaise. Chef Ben 250g ricotta Arrange on top of the sauce, then
Tish, who is behind the menu at Got a culinary dilemma? Email 1 egg yolk cover, first with the remaining sauce,
the Princess Royal in west London, [email protected] 75g vegetarian and then the bechamel. Sprinkle
parmesan, grated,
pa
ove the extra cheese, and bake for
over
extra to serve
plus ex
m
15 minutes, until the top is golden.
YAY MEDIA AS/ALAMY

62 Diversions
QUIZ is the safety drill for what? E MOJ I SPE A K COU N T RY DI A RY

Thomas Eaton Killian Fox LV I V
What links Ukraine
9 African sacred; giant;
M
1 Which British monarch scarlet; northern bald; Guess the hero’s journey in literature y name is Oleksandr
from the emoji symbols.
had a dragon tattoo? Australian white? Ruchko and I am
2 Which city has hosted 10 Julian Assange; Dominic 1 a birdwatcher. Because
both the summer and Cummings; Alan Turing; I am 59, there are still
winter Olympics? Louis Wain? a few more months when I could be
3 Virginia Woolf 11 Gott! Welch’ Dunkel 2 called to fight in the war with Russia.
co-founded which hier!; E lucevan le stelle; Lately, I have been leading
publishing house? Vois ma misère, hélas!? birdwatching tours around the
4 What should be back in 12 32 London Bridge St; 3 parks in Lviv, my home. The tours
2061? 30 St Mary Axe; 1 Canada are for refugees from cities around
5 Which drug is named Square? Ukraine, including Kyiv and
after an ancient god of 13 Punta Gallinas, 4 Kharkiv. These people have lost
dreams? Colombia and Cape their homes and some of them have
6 Who painted himself Froward, Chile? lost family members. I’m trying
and his wife naked with a 14 Celtic; Mogul; Renegade; 5 to help them take a break from
leg of lamb? Trailblazer; Eagle? thinking about what is happening.
7 The 92220 Evening Star 15 Mars-la-Tour; Spring is the best time for
was the last of what? Gravelotte; Sedan; birdwatching here and the best
8 Drop, cover and hold on Le Mans? Rings. 5 The Wizard of Oz. thing to see is the white stork,
3 Great Expectations. 4 The Lord of the Ukraine’s national bird. It is sacred,
PUZZLES 3 N or M a symbol of spring, of babies, and
Emoji 1 Northern Lights. 2 Moby-Dick.
DRAWERS, BLOOMERS.
Chris Maslanka Identify the words that differ WARMING. 4 Which is it? PANTS, of peace, believed to protect your
only in the letters shown: house against evil.
VOLUNTEERS. 3 N or M WARNING,
Maslanka 1 Wordpool d). 2 EPU
***N*** (caution) Prussian war battles. At the moment, it is a problem
1 Wordpool ***M*** (temperature rise)
Obama; W Bush; Clinton. 15 Franco-
names for US presidents: Biden; Trump;
to watch birds with binoculars or
Find the correct definition: South America. 14 Secret Service code telescopes. Using them will cause
RACHIS 4 Which is it? north and south points of mainland suspicion, so we must use our ears
Short breaths, rubbish or and eyes instead. Sometimes that is
Canary Wharf tower. 13 Extreme
a) French drink London skyscrapers: Shard; Gherkin;
b) looting underwear (5) Samson and Delilah. 12 Addresses of all you need.
c) short-handled axe Artists, sliding My wife and I were driving back
arias sung by prisoners: Fidelio; Tosca;
by Benedict Cumberbatch. 11 Opera
d) spine of feather compartments or 9 Species of ibis. 10 Played on screen from the Carpathian mountains last
underwear (7) built by British Railways. 8 Earthquakes.
6 Stanley Spencer. 7 Steam locomotive
week, where we had gone for a few
2 E pluribus unum Flowers, embarrassing days to escape the air-raid sirens,
On the website Notes and Queries theguardian.com/notes-and-queries
Halley’s comet. 5 Morphine (Morpheus).

Rearrange TRUE NOVELS mistakes or underwear (8) (2008 and 2022). 3 Hogarth Press. 4 when we saw about 40 storks,
to make a single word. gliding in the sky. They looked
Answers Quiz 1 George V. 2 Beijing
© CMM2022
like aristocrats, calm and sure of
CHESS Yet, Praggnanandhaa’s catastrophic blunders themselves. The area is attractive
Leonard Barden Reykjavik victory came gave away first the win, to storks because the Dniester river
courtesy of a final-round then the draw, before valley has lots of swamps and small
gift from another Indian allowing a decisive ponds which have the right food.
India’s Rameshbabu prodigy. Dommaraju checkmate in one threat. This was a good sign, I thought.
Praggnanandhaa, 16, Gukesh, 15, was two The youngest-ever GM, Despite the snow in the fields,
widely forecast as a future pawns up near the move Abhimanyu Mishra, 13, spring had arrived. Maybe they will
world-class grandmaster, 40 time control, but two continued to advance. His bring us peace soon too.
won the €5,000 ($5,400) second place tie pushed The flying bird is the ultimate
first prize at the Reykjavik 3811 Johann Hjartarson v Mats his Fide rating up to 2535. symbol of freedom. They don’t
Open with an unbeaten Andersen, Reykjavik 2022. White Praggnanandhaa will know borders, they need no visas to
to play and win. In the actual game
7.5/9. Earlier in his career, Hjartarson chose 1 e7? and the game be one of Carlsen’s seven spend winter in Egypt then return
the Chennai teenager was was drawn 35 moves later. rivals at the Oslo Esports to Ukraine. And we are happy that
the youngest international Cup, part of the Meltwater they are back safely, giving us hope
8
master, among the Champions Tour, starting for better times. Oleksandr Ruchko
youngest-ever GMs and 7 on 22 April.
the second-youngest to 6 A forced promotion to bishop is rare.
reach a 2600 Fide rating. 5 stalemate draw but 3 fxe8=B! wins.
Praggnanandhaa’s 4
now 3 fxe8=Q?? Qg2+! 4 Kxg2 is a
online win against
is 1 Qf7+ Nxf7 2 exf7+ Kh7 and
3 point, which Hjartarson missed,
Magnus Carlsen in the though it takes some time. The main
2
Airthings Masters made White’s two extra pawns will win,
him the youngest to beat 1 3 Ng6+ Qxg6 4 hxg6 Rb8 5 Kg2 and
the No 1 in a serious game. a b c d e f g h
3811 1 Qf7+! Nxf7 2 exf7+ Kf8
ILLUSTRATION: CLIFFORD HARPER

Like Puzzles? Try the new Guardian Puzzles app. Download from the App Store or Google Play
Read more: theguardian.com/puzzles-app 63
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Quick crossword
No 16,202
9 10 1 2 3 4
11 12 6 7
8 9
13 14 15 16
All solutions published next week
17 10 11 12
18 19 20 21
22 13 14 15
23 24 25
16 17 18
26 27
19
28
The Weekly cryptic By Imogen Across 12 Begin (3,5)

5 Fine – 1971 David Bowie album 14 Event that fails badly (6)
No 28,729 (5-4; 5,4) () 15 The Return of the ___ , 1878
8 Slope connecting two levels (4) Thomas Hardy novel (6)
9 19th-century establishment 17 Bete noire (4)
Across 16 Definite final word: leader in television
serving drug users (5,3)
1 Head appearing stoned in India, back in is Sky (9)
10 Performer (6)
the day? (5,2,3,5) 17 Protein in body once developed to limit
11 Without a struggle (6)
9 Robber gang seizing equipment (7) rising bile (8)
13 First-born (6)
10 Change down into this mean outfit (3,4) 19 Ultimately smart suit needed for
15 Inform (6)
11 In grief stop listening (3) creative activities (3,4)
16 Venting of emotion (8) Solution No 16,196
12 Better grind out time in the middle here? 21 In bombing raid perhaps, fail to wipe out
18 Highest quality (4) T U P P E R W A R E
(5,6) southern end of Scottish island (7)
19 An overdue (anag) – attempt (9) G I R A A E
13 Believe me, if you have a hearing 22 Raised mark on skin round dry
impairment … (4,2,4) blotchy area(6) R U N N I N G R E A R M
Down I E G L H L O
15 One bound to be partial to browser 23 Contemptuous expression puts playwright
1 Unanticipated occurrence (8) M U S H D E R E L I C T
(Firefox) (4) under pressure (5) R B T A S H
2 Live from day to day with
18 African is talking to whom? (4) 24 Cast finished speaking (5)
hardship (3,3) E N D A L L A D V E R B
20 Young Australian? He must be about 70! (4,6) A E A I S A
3 Counsel (6) P R A N C I N G D U L L
23 Old reptile’s power badly tore foot (11)
4 Pack to capacity (4) E D K T B N L
25 Black for one short layer of coal (3)
6 Chatty (9) R I S E R O R I F I C E
26 Parking not easy to get in van or car (7)
7 Sea creatures with stinging E O T A F D
27 Scrap broadcast about jazz (7) S T U D I O U S L Y
tentacles (9)
28 Saying pale child, name concealed, is perhaps
now 11 books ahead (5,3,4,3)
Solution No 28,723
Sudoku
Down
1 Proper wages for unhelpful official (9) O S M O S I S S O L I C I T Medium
2 Mounting a stage that is wide, making M A I I A O O H Fill in the grid so
a bloomer (7) E N R O L G A L A N T I N E that every row,
3 Length of wait spelled out in detail, maybe R I V H T G N B every column
to extremes (4,4) T I N S E L T O W N A C R E and every 3x3
4 Elbow say brownish, seen from A A R A P I N box contains the
underneath (5) A B S E N T M I N D E D numbers 1 to 9.
5 Serious consequences as that fellow E F A S E N E S
Last week’s solution
will always secure first place (4,2,3) C A R I C A T U R I S T
6 No hero takes care of a room full of S U K A T I H
the sick (6) T W I G A B H O R R E N C E
7 More than time one was put on to bowl? (7) A T W L U I L R
8 Viking raid — no help is secured by hooter (5) T O P I A R I S T P R I S M
14 Owns article one sort of dog ate, so I I I S E E N I
getting another dog (5,4) C H E E T A H R E S P E C T
22 April 2022 The Guardian Weekly *

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great and small

the road again

Eyewitness Floods uncontained

Spying crisis, penalty

Ukraine invasion, this week’s cover design 54 Photography

Twitter unveils rights plan

report to thwart Musk takeover

The Guardian Weekly 22 April 2022

Migration on agenda as 8 SWEDEN

Museum told to relinquish

22 April 2022 The Guardian Weekly

Omicron claims three lives

15 THE PHILIPPINES 17 INDIA 19 JA PA N D E AT H S

Expulsion of Rohingya Electric chopsticks mimic

22 April 2022 The Guardian Weekly

The Guardian Weekly 22 April 2022

Women’s lives in England Extinction Rebellion fossil UAE suspected of hacking

22 April 2022 The Guardian Weekly

The Guardian Weekly 22 April 2022

‘He was only 19’

22 April 2022 The Guardian Weekly

The Guardian Weekly 22 April 2022

22 April 2022 The Guardian Weekly

16 UKRAINE Gaby Hinsliff

Across swathes of territory vacated citizens forced to flee their homes,

Cleaning up the chaos willow branches crossed themselves

The Guardian Weekly 22 April 2022

Going, going some precious downtime last

Johnson still By last Tuesday, one MP had been

not a goner? 15-year-old boy. Another had caused

The Guardian Weekly 22 April 2022

22 April 2022 The Guardian Weekly

Macron and of compromise, not something vague

to win over to Madame Le Pen”, but made it clear

left’s voters “the plague or cholera” for those on

The Guardian Weekly 22 April 2022

Shanghai among its 25 million residents.

mistrust of internet censors unable to keep up.

‘zero Covid’ being dealt with, but also Beijing’s

22 April 2022 The Guardian Weekly

Network struggles pro-Russian agenda. The efforts are

disinformation tide Digital Forensic Lab, a global network

The Guardian Weekly 22 April 2022

22 April 2022 The Guardian Weekly

lations face the added threats of poi-

The Guardian Weekly 22 April 2022

22 April 2022 The Guardian Weekly

Rising prices for food and other essentials.

for gathering cided with tighter budgets at home.

The Guardian Weekly 22 April 2022

starred chefs carved out a repertoire of space-ready

turn their Some of Spain’s top chefs have

talents to brand of boundary-pushing cuisine

space food rant Aponiente proffered to Nasa a

22 April 2022 The Guardian Weekly

Dream Island profits estimated by some analysts at

race to open keirin bicycle racing together bring

The Guardian Weekly 22 April 2022

a return to a full year of conscription

22 April 2022 The Guardian Weekly

about us ible than the two sexes that we have.”