Latest news with #BethanMcKernan
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Six great reads: Swiss bunkers, what Alexa heard and red-pill manosphere hucksters
'It was, we were told, a case of sudden infant death syndrome interrupted. What followed would transform my understanding of parenting, disability and the breadth of what makes a meaningful life.'In this remarkable account, Archie Bland tells the story of the night his son Max nearly died and of what came next. Read more Bethan McKernan spent four years as the Guardian's Jerusalem correspondent, a period marked by the horrors of 7 October 2023 and what has followed in Gaza. As she begins her new role as the Guardian's Wales correspondent, she looked back at her period in the Middle East and how it has shaped her and her understanding of the region. Read more Switzerland is home to more than 370,000 nuclear bunkers – enough to shelter every member of the population. But, asked Jessi Jezewska Stevens, if the worst should happen, would they actually work? Read more 'In September 2016, a new presence appears in our house, squatting on the kitchen counter between the kettle and the coffee machine. It is blandly futuristic, a minimal cylinder with an LED ring that glows blue to alert us to the fact that it is ready, poised to answer our questions or carry out our instructions, as long as those instructions are clearly stated and fall within a narrow band of available 'skills'.' For nearly a decade, Alexa has been listening to Jeremy Ettinghausen and his family's questions and instructions. What had she heard? And what did it tell him about the role Amazon's smart speaker plays in so many of our lives? Read more After 380 games and more than 1,000 goals the 2024-25 Premier League season came to an end last weekend. Jonny Weeks told the story of a dramatic (in parts) season via the work of the best sports photographers in the game – including our own brilliant Tom Jenkins. Read more 'When I first met Nick in 2019, at a dating and self-improvement summit in Miami, it wasn't immediately obvious why he was paying so much money to pseudo-authority figures from the manosphere. He had looks, cash and some of the easy swagger of London done good … ' So writes James Bloodworth in his fascinating (and worrying) profile of a friend who went down the digital rabbit hole. Nick's story is a cautionary tale of what happens when someone who feels inadequate listens to the new generation of masculinity salesmen Read more
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Five Great Reads: reporting from Israel and Palestine, Alan Alda, and the boy who came back
Happy Saturday! Ted Talks are apparently getting shorter because of our attention spans, so I'd better make this brief. I'm here to take you through the good stuff from the week – and ever so quickly spare a moment for Lorde, who crashed a Lorde-themed-party here in Sydney. There are many interesting things the US actor, director and writer Alan Alda shares in his G2 interview with Simon Hattenstone – and being married for 68 years (in a divorce-ridden industry) is just one of them. The Four Seasons: the 80-year-old is back in the spotlight thanks to a Tina Fey revamp of his 1981 movie, which he marvels at. Record for a scripted TV series: Alda is best known for his role as Hawkeye in M*A*S*H. Its final episode was watched by 106 million people in the US, 'still a record for a scripted TV series', Hattenstone writes. How long will it take to read: six minutes. After four years reporting from Israel and Palestine, Bethan McKernan is returning to the UK. The Guardian correspondent reveals the grief, horror and hope that defined her time there, including in the immediate aftermath of the 7 October 2023 attacks – when 'nothing was clear at that point except that many, many more people were going to die'. The article that never was written: Three days before 7 October, McKernan was in Gaza to interview people about 'the revival of beekeeping', when she spotted what looked like a Hamas military drill in the distance. The story that ended up being covered: 'No one with an internet connection can say they don't know the truth of what has happened in Israel and Palestine over the past 18 months,' McKernan writes. How long will it take to read: six minutes. I remember the first time I encountered Alexa. I was in high school, and my friend was cooking us breakfast. We asked the Amazon device for a banana pancakes recipe. Instead, rather cheekily, Alexa played Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson. But what would happen if you asked the same device (which has significantly improved since my high school days): 'what do you know about us?' It's a question Jeremy Ettinghausen put to his Alexa, which has been his family's on-call vet, DJ, teacher, parent and therapist for years. 'Our requests ranged from prosaic to troubling and downright bizarre – there was very little we didn't ask Alexa' – Jeremy Ettinghausen How long will it take to read: six minutes. Sign up to Five Great Reads Each week our editors select five of the most interesting, entertaining and thoughtful reads published by Guardian Australia and our international colleagues. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Saturday morning after newsletter promotion Last month the Guardian reported on an online suicide forum being investigated under new UK digital safety laws. Then followed a story on Adele Zeynep Walton's family experience: how after the death of their daughter and sister Aimee, they came to learn she had been lured into a dangerous online community, and fell victim to it. The Human Cost of Our Digital World: 'Until we lost Aimee, I didn't know what 'online harm' meant,' Walton says, who has since written a book partially on what led to her sister's death. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@ or jo@ In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. Other international helplines can be found at How long will it take to read: four and a half minutes. Archie Bland's longer read on the time leading up to, during and after the near death, and changed life, of his son Max, is what I leave you with today. There are some stories that stay with you for ever. This is one of them. How long will it take to read: 15 minutes. Yes, it's worth it. Further listening: or you can listen to it, if you're on the move. Enjoying the Five Great Reads email? Then you'll love our weekly culture and lifestyle newsletter, Saved for Later. Sign up here to catch up on the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture, trends and tips for the weekend. And check out the full list of our local and international newsletters.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
An affecting account of four years in Israel and Palestine
I was so moved by Bethan McKernan's article on her time as the Guardian's Jerusalem correspondent over the last four years ('I worried I might start finding it normal. But I never did' – what I learned as the Guardian's Jerusalem correspondent, 29 May). Her experience of feeling a 'maddening cognitive dissonance' in Tel Aviv/Jaffa from seeing people 'out and about, doing pilates, walking their dogs, as if everything was fine – when just 50km down the road, on the same stretch of the Med, was an open-air prison' is exactly how I felt when I first visited Jerusalem in 2018 after spending time in the West Bank. I had decided to take my young family there to show them where my Palestinian father grew up under the British Mandate and see if we could find the home he'd lost in 1948. But I was also keen to ensure my children had a balanced view and understood the whole story, educating them about what the Jewish people had been through. I had come from Jordan via Bethlehem and Ramallah and been so touched by the generosity of the Palestinians I met who, despite living under very difficult conditions, were such wonderful hosts, inviting my family in to chat and share delicious home-cooked food. But arriving in lush Jerusalem from the barren West Bank, where Palestinians are treated like cattle, penned in by the wall and multiple checkpoints, was a striking contrast. After walking a few steps through the centre of Jerusalem with its gleaming shops, surrounded by people ostensibly living their best life, I broke down and cried at the injustice of it all. Growing up in London, people would sometimes tell me they were going on holiday to Israel. 'Have you been?' they would ask. 'It's wonderful.' They didn't know my background, but I was left shocked that they only saw one side of it. What I loved about Bethan's article is that over the last four years she has immersed herself in life there and deeply felt the positions of both Israelis and Palestinians. If we are going to make progress and reach a fair outcome, we have to put ourselves in each other's shoes and deeply understand each other's LucasLondon Jonathan Freedland describes Hamas's actions on 7 October 2023 as 'slaughter', while Israel's bombardment of Gaza ever since is just 'killing' Palestinians (A biblical hatred is engulfing both sides in the Gaza conflict – and blinding them to reason, 23 May). The difference in outrage portrayed in these words reflects the lack of equivalence between the life of an Israeli and that of a Palestinian which has been at the heart of the conflict since the MatthewsLondon Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
The Guardian
09-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Guardian expands coverage with new Wales correspondent
The Guardian has appointed Bethan McKernan as Wales correspondent, as part of its ongoing commitment to deepen coverage outside London. McKernan, who returns from reporting in Jerusalem, is the first person to be dedicated to Welsh news in over a decade for the title. Editor-in-chief Katharine Viner has focused on broadening the Guardian's journalism outside the capital during her ten-year tenure. As part of the ongoing commitment to provide coverage across the country, the Guardian in the UK has reporters based in Scotland, Manchester, the North-East, the Midlands, the South-West and now Wales. Will Hayward will also continue in his role as a regular Guardian columnist on Wales. McKernan has anchored the Guardian's reporting of the Middle East and the events that have unfolded in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories since the October 7 attacks. Having worked in the region for 10 years, her experience, judgment and contacts have been at the heart of the Guardian's impressive and comprehensive journalism on a difficult and complex story. Speaking of the appointment, editor-in-chief Katharine Viner said: 'I'm delighted that the Guardian is to have our first Wales correspondent in many years, and that someone of Bethan's calibre will be in the role. Expanding our coverage of Wales is part of our ongoing commitment to increasing on-the-ground reporting across the UK: we now cover Britain outside of London much more fully, with journalists based in Scotland, Manchester, the north-east, the Midlands, the south-west and now Wales. 'We believe we have a responsibility to understand local communities and report on the issues that impact them, which often differ significantly from those facing Londoners. Wales is a crucial part of the British story, as well as having a distinct identity, politics and culture of its own, and Bethan could not be better placed to report on it.' Bethan McKernan said: 'I'm delighted to be coming home to Wales. I am returning after a decade working in the Middle East as a different person, and Wales is a different country to the one I left. We're a year out from the Senedd elections and Wales' political sphere is changing fast, which has implications for the rest of the UK too. The country's traditionally rock-solid support for Labour has collapsed, while Plaid Cymru's independence movement and the far-right Reform party are both surging. 'Wales is so often neglected in the national conversation and the ways its government, society and culture differ from the rest of the country often misunderstood. I'm looking forward to helping change that, building on the Guardian's track record of rigorous public interest reporting.' -ends- Notes to editors Guardian News & Media press office: About the Guardian Media Group Guardian Media Group is amongst the world's leading media organisations. Its core business is Guardian News & Media (GNM), publisher of one of the largest English-speaking quality news websites in the world. In the UK, Guardian Media Group publishes the Guardian newspaper six days a week, first published in 1821. Since launching its US and Australian digital editions in 2011 and 2013, respectively, traffic from outside of the UK now represents around two-thirds of the Guardian's total digital audience. The Guardian also has an international digital edition and a new European edition that launched in 2023, with an expanded network of more than 20 European correspondents, editors and reporters. Last year, the Guardian also appointed its first-ever Caribbean correspondent, a South America correspondent and two Africa correspondents.
The Guardian
08-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Israel's plan to ‘conquer' Gaza
On Monday, Israeli officials announced they are planning a new military offensive in Gaza, with aims of 'conquering' the land and establishing a 'sustained presence' there. 'The offensive is called Operation Gideon's Chariots,' Bethan McKernan, the Guardian's Jerusalem correspondent, tells Lucy Hough. 'It's designed to make sure that there is an indefinite Israeli presence in the strip. That implies that there is no day after the war now. 'Up until Monday, there'd been no official declaration from Israel that they intended to seize and occupy the entirety of the Gaza Strip. But we can see from what they're doing that that was the intention, right? Little by little, more and more of Gaza has been taken up and seized as military buffer zones.' For Palestinians, this has been their fear since the beginning of the war. 'There's this really core Palestinian political principle, which is called sumud , which translates basically to steadfastness,' Bethan says. 'And it's about the Palestinian connection to the land, to your olive trees, to your home, and about how refusing to leave your home, even during the occupation, whether that's the West Bank or Gaza … this act of staying is, in itself, a very important part of sort of passive resistance.' Support the Guardian today: Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
