At the height of the Roman empire, after its conquest of Egypt in 30BC, luxurious Indian goods suddenly became available to Europeans in unprecedented quantities. No one could resist them. So much gold and silver flowed away to India to pay for these things, grumbled Pliny the Elder, that the subcontinent had become “the sink of the … Read more
I think more than any programme on television, Grand Designs gets the closest to demonstrating the core pathology of the British psyche. You know Grand Designs (11 September, 9pm, Channel 4), which turns 25 at the start of the new series and celebrates with a compilation show that surely constitutes the easiest working day of … Read more
Going out: Cinema Starve AcreOut nowMatt Smith and Morfydd Clark play a couple beset by grief in this powerful adaptation of Andrew Michael Hurley’s dark folk-horror novel. Directed by Daniel Kokotajlo, it’s an unsettling trip into earthy, supernatural superstitions, set in rural 1970s Yorkshire. FirebrandOut nowDirected by Karim Aïnouz, this historical drama puts Henry VIII’s … Read more
It should have been an Instagram-perfect wedding image, but it turned out to be something more embarrassing. In the picturesque village of Geiranger, the jewel of Norway’s fjords and a Unesco world heritage site, Princess Märtha Louise was hurried to a tent, covered by sheets to thwart rival photographers. The photo rights of her marriage … Read more
Six years ago, on a work trip to London, James suddenly couldn’t read the text on his computer screen. It wasn’t just a glitch; looking around, he realized his whole visual field was filled with static. When he went to the hospital, he told a nurse that he had taken psychedelic mushrooms in Amsterdam with … Read more
The identities of “greedy” touts who hoovered up tickets for the Oasis reunion tour can be revealed, amid widespread condemnation of fans being exploited by ticket resale platforms. Analysis by the Guardian reveals that “secondary” ticketing platforms are advertising more than 4,500 tickets for all of the Gallagher brothers’ long-awaited UK shows – in breach … Read more
‘Earthquake at Volkswagen” ran the stark headline in the Wolfsburger Nachrichten, the newspaper serving the north German city that is synonymous with the carmaker. The news that the crisis-stricken company was weighing up the closure of factories in Germany for the first time in its history, and prematurely dissolving its 30-year-old employment protection agreement as … Read more
Ticketmaster has a dream. A dream that one day, it will be “pleased to have partnered with” your child’s school, making it “easier for you to buy tickets” to the nativity play. Which will henceforth be known as the nativity experience. But listen – Ticketmaster wants to make the whole process run more smoothly, freeing … Read more
Solar panels stand at the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in the Mojave Desert near Nevada. Photograph: Getty/Guardian Design Team Here is the biggest thing happening on our planet as we head into the autumn of 2024: the Earth is continuing to heat dramatically. Scientists have said that there’s a better than 90% chance that … Read more
Those two stark monosyllables in the title are a callback to Leigh’s debut from 1971, Bleak Moments: they lay down an uncompromising and yet also enigmatic challenge. This movie isn’t going to be an easy ride; of course not. But if it promises to reveal hard truths in their simplest and most irreducible sense, then … Read more