© Philip Keith for The New York Times
As Mark Cocker approaches a landmark for the world’s oldest column in an English-language newspaper, he is still inspired by powerful encounters with nature
In the autumn of 1987, Mark Cocker sat in a field near Norwich and watched a jay burying acorns for the long winter ahead. He described the scene in his first country diary for the Guardian. Thirty-nine years on, some of those jay-planted acorns will be mature oaks now, and Cocker is completing his 1,000th diary for the world’s oldest column in an English-language newspaper.
In his next diary, he will reflect on the changing birdlife around Flint Clough, in the Peak District, where he first marvelled at rare birds aged 12 after devouring bird books in his bedroom. As a boy, he would find cuckoo, golden plover, ring ouzel and twite, a once-common bird which is now virtually extinct in England.
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© Photograph: Fabio de Paola/The Guardian
© Photograph: Fabio de Paola/The Guardian
© Photograph: Fabio de Paola/The Guardian
How a string of bizarre events led writer Linda Geddes to don her sleuthing cap and dig into a world of shadowy impersonators
It started with an entirely ordinary interaction on LinkedIn. Someone had tagged me in a post, saying how much they’d enjoyed contributing to a New York Post article I’d written about “chronoworking”. As the author of a book about circadian rhythms, it was exactly the sort of subject I might write about. Except I’d never heard of this person, let alone interviewed them.
I clicked on the link and my stomach dropped. There, above an article about people who organise their working lives around their biological clocks, was my name: Linda Geddes.
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© Photograph: Adrian Sherratt/The Guardian
© Photograph: Adrian Sherratt/The Guardian
© Photograph: Adrian Sherratt/The Guardian
If cinemas must run 20 minutes of adverts before a feature, they could at least be honest about it. Or, I have a better solution …
Do you remember the last time you were lied to? I certainly do. I was tricked by the North Finchley Vue, which sold me and my boyfriend tickets to a 7.15pm showing of The Odyssey. Guess what was playing at 7.15pm? A car advert. Ten minutes later, it was a trailer for the horror film Werwulf. Then there was an advert for Vue – as if I wasn’t already there. The film was half an hour late to its own showing when it finally started at 7.45pm.
I am sick and tired of cinemas getting away with such treachery. I don’t want to follow in the footsteps of my friend, who knows that the ads at her local run for 22 minutes so slinks in at just the right time. I shouldn’t have to do mental maths because I am being lied to by cinemas. We are all the victims of their predatory time-wasting system.
Jeffrey Ingold is a freelance journalist covering LGBTQ+ issues, music and culture
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© Composite: Guardian Design/Getty Images
© Composite: Guardian Design/Getty Images
© Composite: Guardian Design/Getty Images
The former British Vogue editor-in-chief and author on a romantic kiss on a traffic island, her school-run regrets, and a very expensive nude
Born in London, Alexandra Shulman, 68, studied social anthropology at the University of Sussex. She was a secretary at Over 21 magazine and, in the early 80s, became a journalist at Tatler. In 1990, she was made editor of British GQ and, from 1992 to 2017, she was editor‑in‑chief of British Vogue. For her contribution to fashion journalism, she was awarded both an OBE and a CBE. Her books include novels and the bestselling memoir, Clothes … and Other Things That Matter. A collection of essays, Black Coffee and Red Lipstick: Notes on Living, is out now. She is married for the second time, has a son and lives in London.
When were you happiest?
Anytime that I’m lying in the sun next to a swimming pool with a good book.
© Photograph: Mark Harrison/CAMERA PRESS
© Photograph: Mark Harrison/CAMERA PRESS
© Photograph: Mark Harrison/CAMERA PRESS
Nicole Noren says ESPN sidelined investigations into sports betting companies as gambling partnerships reshaped the network’s priorities
Earlier this week, investigative journalist Nicole Noren did something almost impossible for someone who has spent her career behind the scenes.
She made herself the story.
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© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images
© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images
© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images
The former Palace chair seeming very angry indeed about others’ opinions is just par for the course as football’s age of rage ramps up another level
Yet again the mainstream wokealorium is preachifying from its pulpitrex. It’s egregious. It’s sanctiforial. It’s a wangitude of complete retardifaction.
This has not been an easy column to write. It has been difficult, gruelling in parts, but also warm, exhilarating and at times deeply erotic. Yes. I was SAVAGED by Simon Jordan. And I’ve never felt so alive.
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© Illustration: David Humphries
© Illustration: David Humphries
© Illustration: David Humphries
For more than three decades, Michael Gove has been a leading figure in British Conservatism. As a journalist, government minister and now editor of the Tory bible, the Spectator, he has helped shape the right even as it has moved further rightwards. In the latest episode of Radical Thinking, Gove joins Aditya Chakrabortty to discuss the future of the right, his record on Brexit and austerity, and the Spectator’s position on Islam.
Aditya’s suggested reading:
To read the fruits of Michael Gove’s dalliance with the Marxism Today gang, look up his essay in a 1998 collection called The Moderniser’s Dilemma: Radical Politics in the Age of Blair.
For a slalom ride through Michael Gove’s years in power, read The Demented Dalek by the historian Richard J Evans in the London Review of Books.
To learn more about what’s become of the British right, there’s a column by me for the Guardian.
Phil Burton-Cartledge examines why Britain's most successful political party is now failing in his book The Party’s Over: The Rise and Fall of the Conservatives from Thatcher to Sunak.
Phil also writes a very good blog on British politics, which keeps a close eye on how each party is trying to marshal a coalition of voters. Here he is on Kemi Badenoch.
Geoffrey Wheatcroft offers an entertaining short narrative in Bloody Panico!: or, Whatever Happened to The Tory Party
For more on the economics of the Cameron years, this paper examines how the Tories failed to move the UK away from being a country of renters towards a country of makers. Two of its authors will join us for a podcast later in the series.
And if you want to read how Brexit may have cost the UK 8% of GDP, read this paper based on data from the Bank of England.
Finally, on the Spectator, read Nesrine Malik’s recent column in the Guardian: Why has Britain’s oldest political magazine become such a rabid cheerleader for Islamophobia?
© Photograph: The Guardian
© Photograph: The Guardian
© Photograph: The Guardian
Alan Feeney, who sat on Solihull and Birmingham councils, said there was ‘no excuse’ for his comments
Alan Feeney has resigned as a Reform councillor for Solihull and Birmingham after backlash over racist comments that were captured in an undercover investigation.
In a Facebook post on Friday, Feeney wrote: “There is no excuse for my comments. With responsibility comes accountability, and it is for that reason that I have resigned every post I hold on both Solihull borough council and Birmingham city council.”
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© Photograph: ITV
© Photograph: ITV
© Photograph: ITV
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