Latest news with #FiveGreatReads
The Guardian
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Five Great Reads: ‘skimpies', going undercover with the far right, and the tragic story of Robert Einstein
Happy Saturday! Another long weekend, which means another shorter working week (for some). In keeping with the high vibes, here are some great reads to accompany a cup of morning brew. Sip and enjoy! Thor Pedersen was 12 years into his career; he had met a lovely woman and all his friends were having kids – and then he decided to set himself a challenge. He wanted to be the first human to visit every country in the world without, wait for it … flying. At 34, Pedersen quit his usual routine to spend nearly a decade on the move and wouldn't return until he was 44. Here's what he learned. Connections: 'I have found myself laughing with a complete stranger in spite of our lack of a common language. I have been invited into people's homes based on gestures alone.' How big is the world? 'It is hard to grasp the distance between London and New York when you fly. But when you travel via seven ships and several buses, it helps you to understand.' How long will it take to read: four minutes. Thomas Harding's story on the tragedy of Robert Einstein, cousin to the world-famous scientist Albert Einstein, is like something out of a second world war movie. The Jewish pair had grown up together in Munich under the same roof during the 1880s – 'you could say they were brother-cousins,' Harding writes. But in the 1930s, Hitler had placed a 'price on Einstein's head', according to London's Daily Herald, after the scientist spoke out against the Nazi regime. Escape plan: Albert fled to England and Robert moved his family to Italy, where both thought they had found safety. Tragedy struck: Then, the day before liberation, Nazis smashed down the front door to the villa (outside Florence) hiding Robert's immediate and extended family. How long will it take to read: seven minutes. Further historical reading: exposing 'the illegals': how KGB's fake westerners infiltrated the Prague Spring. There is a world rarely seen outside the bars of the mining towns around Kalgoorlie-Boulder in Western Australia. In those bars, lingerie-wearing barmaids pour pints to lonely, exhausted men working in some of the most geographically isolated communities in the country. These women are better known as 'skimpies'. After visiting Kalgoorlie during lockdown and getting stuck there, photographer M Ellen Burns earned the women's trust to capture what the job is really like. '[We] take great care of all the lonely sad men we come across in the pubs … because of skimpy women, I wonder how many men's lives have literally been saved.' – Cleo Fly-in fly-out: many 'skimpies' are Fifo workers and on a good weekend can make up to $5,000 in tips. As for Burns? She is now friends with many of the women – and never left town. 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 How long will it take to read: three minutes. Nearly 40 million people watched the first episode of the post-apocalyptic zombie show The Last of Us. The Guardian called it one of the 'finest TV shows you will see this year' in 2023. For English actor Bella Ramsey, 'life-changing is one way to describe it', Tim Lewis writes. The 21-year-old from Nottingham plays Ellie, 'the sassy and quirky but also complicated and vicious American protagonist' – and while the young actor's life has transformed since (season two is out now), they say 'people are going to want to talk to me a bit more for a couple of months. Then it'll just die down again.' Staying grounded or in denial? The A-lister still catches the tube in what they describe as a 'ripped T-shirt that needs a wash'. It's probably Prada. How long will it take to read: six minutes. Further reading: Jack Seale's season two review– Bella Ramsey is absolutely wonderful. Harry Shukman's long read about the year he spent undercover with the far right is an honest and riveting account and definitely worth your time. Working with the UK advocacy group Hope Not Hate (which campaigns against racism and fascism) Shukman infiltrated an extremist organisation, befriended its members and got to work investigating their political connections. One recurring theme: Shukman met a lot of men in pubs around London, and 'among the rank and file members of far-right organisations' one thing that really struck him was the loneliness he encountered. A sense of community: 'Isn't it great to have someone to talk to?' he heard from people at a conference in Estonia. How long will it take to read: 11 minutes. If you would like to receive these Five Great Reads to your email inbox every weekend, sign up here. And check out out the full list of our local and international newsletters.
The Guardian
18-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Five Great Reads: a KGB ‘illegal' tells all, a cold case half-solved, and ‘the Citizen Kane of rock movies'
Top of the (long) weekend to you all. I trust Australian readers marked Good Friday in the traditional fashion: by complaining that nothing was open. Before you head to the shops to restock, here are some amazing tales to pore over. A young woman's body was found hanging from a pine tree in Portbou one morning in 1990. The position she was found in suggested she could not have got there alone but her death was ruled a suicide and the mystery girl's body was buried in a mass grave at the local cemetery. A 2022 true crime program revived interest in the case. An Austrian TV network broadcast a short follow-up segment. An Italian holidaying there with relatives emailed in a tip. The next day the Austrian show's director made a call to someone who had given up looking for answers. Art imitates life: The police officer turned author Rafael Jiménez in 2017 wrote a novel, imagining the girl's story, called The Hanging Bride in the Land of Wind. How long will it take to read: Twelve minutes. From smoked salmon to award-winning cheddar, luxury foodstuffs have become hot property for UK criminals. And the thieves – sophisticated and clearly 'specialists' in artisan produce, according to the victims – are using all the methods in the online scammers' toolbox to pull off their heists. Main character energy: In the most meta moment in Five Great Reads history, the aggrieved fishmonger in this story is Chris Swales (no relation, I think). How long will it take to read: Six minutes. Making the decision to send your children to school wouldn't be an inflection point in most films but it marks the moment the hero of A New Kind of Wilderness admits he can no longer cope. The documentary follows Nik Payne, who with his wife, Maria, was raising and home schooling their children in remote Norway – until cancer claimed Maria's life. Now the remaining Payne family are touring the world's film festivals, holding Q&As after screenings. They made the mistake the first time of sitting through A New Kind of Wilderness in full. As Patrick Barkham, who caught up with Nik Payne and his three children, writes: 'Watching him grieve on film is agonising.' 'It's part of you for ever but it's not the defining part.' – Nik Payne on grief. How long will it take to read: Four 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 If your father sat you down for a chat and that was his opening line, where would you mind race to? Were your parents breaking up? Were you really adopted? Peter Herrmann, 16, was finally about to learn the reason his father detested US pop music. Turns out dad was a deep-cover KGB spy, and that conversation was the catalyst for Herrmann's recruitment by Moscow as a second-generation 'illegal'. The man codenamed 'the Inheritor' shares the story of his brief career in espionage. How long will it take to read: Fourteen minutes. Further viewing: The Americans is somehow still one of the more slept-on shows of the prestige TV era. When you read the phrase 'the Citizen Kane of rock movies', what springs to mind – The Wall? Purple Rain? The film critic Mark Kermode was in fact referring to Slade in Flame, released in 1975 as a vehicle for the band behind such misspelled glam anthems as Cum On Feel the Noize. Featuring canal-side conversations about the meaningless of life amid pintloads of grimness, it tanked upon release. On the eve of its 50th anniversary re-release, the band and film-makers reflect on its favourable reassessment. How long will it take to read: Four minutes. Sneak preview: The film's trailer suggests it may have more in common with Ken Russell's Tommy than Orson Welles. 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
11-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Housemate horrors, TikTok chocolate and a Disney heir talks Trump
Happy Saturday! Sometimes, dear readers, the best stories get hidden or lost beneath blaring headlines. This week, all five stories jumped out. And more. This could've been 20 great reads. Enjoy. Living in share houses can bring the best and worst out of people. Across eight homes and 18 housemates, Alice Wilkinson has endured it all – from the guy who washed his clothes without detergent to the boyfriend who moved in by stealth. There are moments on this list that I can only assume readers accustomed to the perils and joys of cohabitating a space will deeply relate to ... some more than others. Here are two: 'Finding my housemate's stash of ecstasy in my favourite mug': Wilkinson 'made sure it didn't happen again' by moving all the mugs she owned to her bedroom. 'Asking my housemate's boyfriend to pay rent': 'Dan was quick-witted and funny,' she writes. But after a month passed, Wilkinson realised he was staying at the share house every night. She 'found him less and less funny'. Devilish suggestion? Send this to an old housemate (if you're still friends) or your current ones – if you dare. How long will it take to read: four minutes. Billionaires including Elon Musk, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, and Charles Koch – one of the richest people in the world – all seem pretty comfortable with the fact Donald Trump is the US president. But Abigail Disney isn't like the rest. The Disney heir – one of several - has long argued for rich people like her to pay more tax. Now she is working out how best to meet the challenge of Trump, Musk and the politics of chaos. Family ties: The 65-year-old is the grand-niece of Walt Disney and says Trump is not all that different … '[He] is an inheritor,' she says. 'He never acknowledges it, but he wouldn't have been able to do any of the things he did without an inheritance.' How long will it take to read: five minutes. Further reading: Wondering which Trump-supporting billionaires have lost the most in the tariff turmoil? Here they are. If you haven't heard of Dubai chocolate, you're probably not on TikTok. 'Sweet, creamy, crunchy, with a chocolate shell decorated with splashes of colour and a whimsical name (Can't Get Knafeh of It), the finished product must have seemed like a winner,' writes Emine Saner. What's in it? The chocolate bar contains 'a sweet, gooey filling of pistachio cream and tahini with the crunch of knafeh', Saner describes. Who made it? Sarah Hamouda, a British-Egyptian engineer living in Dubai, who, after pregnancy cravings, birthed the invention in 2021. 'That one craving sparked a passion I never expected … I never imagined Dubai chocolate would become such a global craze.' – Sarah Hamouda How long will it take to read: four 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 Further reading: you can even DIY Dubai chocolate at home with Ravneet Gill's recipe. In Ulaanbaatar, coal fires heat almost every home. The extreme weather is driving families off the Mongolian steppes and into the capital city, where coal-fired heating has led to a health crisis. Crisis levels: The wealthy are advised to leave town to avoid their kids getting repeatedly sick. Meanwhile, incidents of carbon monoxide poisonings from people who stay and try to keep warm is rising, with more than 800 related deaths recorded in the last seven years. 'Everyone is breathing this air – the poor and the wealthy,' Dr Jigjidsuren Chinburen, an MP, oncologist and former director of Mongolia's cancer centre, said. 'We can solve it easily, we just need a good heart.' How long will it take to read: five minutes. Further viewing: How smog has become part of Mongolians' way of life. In 2021, Mark Hoppus thought he was going to die. 'And, in a way, it absolutely was so freeing,' he tells Alexis Petridis, recalling the horrors and success of his cancer treatment, and how being sick helped 'heal his friendship' with fellow Blink-182 band member Tom DeLonge. What's my age again? In what gen Zs would describe a very boomer moment, Hoppus accidentally shared a chemo selfie to more than a million Instagram followers. The musician calls it 'the best mistake I've ever made' because of the overwhelming support he received. Keep reading … for Hoppus' gleefully puerile take on how punk brought him fame, an art collection and his Beverly Hills mansion with a phallic-shaped swimming pool. How long will it take to read: five minutes. 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
04-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Five Great Reads: why people cheat, ‘liberation day' and the young men v women political divide
Top of the weekend to you all. This week has been a lot – the trailer for the Naked Gun reboot nobody needed was about the only thing that helped me crack a smile (stick to the end). After that palate cleanser, step right this way. Global research suggests there is a growing gender gap among gen Z voters, with election results showing young men are shifting to the right while young women are becoming more progressive. But is that also true in Australia? Grace Richardson, a Sydney musician and podcast producer, got a glimpse of how it might play out on a date with a man who did not 'believe' in the gender pay gap and argued feminism had gone too far. With a substantial number of gen Zs about to cast a vote for the first time in Australia's federal election, we're about to discover if Richardson's experience was a bellwether or an outlier. How long will it take to read: Three minutes. Further reading: Week one of the federal election campaign covered in depth. Donald Trump's so-called 'liberation day' has come and gone, with the US president imposing a minimum 10% tariff on imports from every corner of the globe. Perhaps unsurprisingly, chaos ensued. In his first take of what it all means for the global economy, Martin Kettle argued the 'broken' international economic model is in dire need of a reboot – but that Trump's strategy risks hurting the very Americans he claims to champion. How long will it take to read: Three minutes. Further reading: Even uninhabited islands weren't spared from the tariff hit, which was based on an 'idiotic' calculation. Professor M, 60, had been living a contented, interesting existence with her life companion for 25 years. Then she randomly encountered an acquaintance from her 20s, had sex with him in a hotel room, and promptly bought herself a vibrator to manage her newfound 'roaring libido' between meetings with the man who became her secret lover. So why do some of us explore this most risky of relationships? The psychotherapist Juliet Rosenfeld, who over four years spoke to Professor M and myriad other people who had affairs, argues 'the reasons are locked in our infancy and childhood' – a theory underlined by Professor M's behaviour when her lover froze her out. 'Consciously, it was simple: she had an adult lover. Unconsciously, she had Daddy back or, maybe, he had just never gone.' How long will it take to read: Nine minutes. Further reading: Three (or more) is no longer a crowd for the sex lives of a rising number of Australians. 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 Supporting losing teams is tough enough (Canberra Raiders fans, I see you), so what's it like playing for one? In the NBA, where the regular season stretches to 82 games, bad teams usually know they're making up the numbers 30 games in. But players can't turn off the TV in disgust – they still have to turn up to work. As a grizzled veteran told a promising rookie when he felt his debut season going down the gurgler: 'Rook, there ain't no Ls or Ws on them cheques.' The secret of success: Scott Williams, who spent three years winning titles with the 90s Chicago Bulls, says all NBA players are talented but success is about attitude. 'There was nobody that had more intensity and stronger will and a passion to work than Michael Jordan,' Williams says. 'Everyone has to come along if the superstar is doing it.' How long will it take to read: Three minutes. Further reading: Why some terrible NBA teams are intentionally terrible. Looking good on Instagram has its drawbacks – just ask the 600-odd residents of Bibury, home to some of England's most photographed terraced cottages. Hordes of tourists turn up daily, wave their smartphones around until they've nailed the perfect selfie, then get back on the bus for the next destination. Some business owners are delighted; many residents are less than enthused. Playing the part: Staff members at a Bibury pub say they are often treated like actors in a living theme park. How long will it take to read: Three minutes. 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
22-03-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Fuel is essential, snacks are not: how living costs are hitting Australians' petrol station impulse buying
When Australians pay for petrol, they are exposed to an assortment of chips, chocolates, lollies and drinks designed to trigger an impulse purchase. But business owners have noticed that an increasing number of motorists are no longer buying snacks, as cost-of-living pressures spark a change in consumer behaviour that is denting sales of traditionally popular items. 'When consumer sentiment is off and people are not feeling good about the economy, our non-fuel sales drop; we've certainly seen that over the last 18 to 24 months,' says Mark McKenzie, the chief executive of the Australasian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Association. 'Fuel is an essential product, but coffee, muffins, chips, chocs and drinks that go with it aren't.' Shares in Viva Energy, the petrol supplier that operates the Shell service station network, have halved over the past 12 months, dragged lower by weak sales for store products in a trading environment the company describes as 'challenging'. Shares in Ampol are down almost 40% over the past year, pulled down by losses at its oil refinery operations. But the petroleum company also recently reported a slide in non-fuel shop income. Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads Unplanned purchases are an important revenue stream to service station owners, given the profit margin on a pack of Twisties is about double that of fuel, although petrol is sold at much higher volumes. The pullback in impulse buys is most evident when fuel prices breach $2 per litre, according to McKenzie, because that pushes the cost of a typical 50 litre refill past the $100 mark. 'That three-figure sum really focuses their attention on whether they can afford a coffee with their fuel,' says McKenzie. 'It triggers something in the consumer's mind and they become far more reluctant to purchase non-essential items.' Research company IbisWorld notes the same trend is hitting standalone convenience stores, with a reduction in foot traffic and inflationary concerns deterring impulse purchases. Store owners have also had to grapple with the vape ban and illicit tobacco sales luring their customers away. 'Rough trading conditions have battered convenience stores in recent years,' IbisWorld says. 'Stores are struggling to entice customers, who are less likely to engage in impulse purchases and are instead opting for less costly options when grocery shopping.' The challenges are prompting petrol station and convenience store owners to revamp their businesses, with many offering ready-made meals to entice value-conscious shoppers. 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 The move taps into the 'trading down' trend of Australians looking for more affordable meals amid persistent living cost pressures. To entice non-petrol purchases, service stations are increasingly offering eat-in cafe items and hot meals as part of a road house-style fit-out. Others have partnered with chains, including Boost Juice, or have carved out a niche to ensure they become a destination venue with plenty of repeat customers. Hollie Fox says her family-owned business near the Gold Coast airport has protected itself against a downturn by offering products that customers can rarely find at a service station. 'We're not really a petrol station any more; we're sort of a grocery store selling fuel,' says Fox, from The Fox's Pantry. The business offers organic produce, as well as homemade meals like chicken curry with a bone broth base. It stopped selling cigarettes just over a year ago, and is close to getting rid of its big brand soft drinks altogether. 'We've only got one door left of traditional drinks, such as Coca-Cola and Sprite, but we're very close to making the switch because we've got so many alternatives,' says Fox. 'It takes a bit of time to educate customers, so we change things slowly, otherwise people freak out.'
