How to end this war | Salar Mohandesi and Ben Mabie

A once robust American anti-war movement is significantly weaker than it was in its heyday. The immensely unpopular war on Iran offers a real opportunity to rebuild it

In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson asked Congress for authorization to use military force in south-east Asia. His resolution passed unanimously in the House, and only two voices dissented in the Senate. As for the public, 77% of Americans said they trusted the government to do what is right, and more than 60% supported war.

It is common today to hear that the US war in Vietnam was unpopular, but it certainly did not begin that way. It took several years, billions of dollars, tens of thousands of deaths, and constant anti-war mobilization before Americans changed their minds.

Published: March 29, 2026, 1:00 pm

I’ve spent a decade fighting Trump. Here are six lessons I’ve learned | Saul Austerlitz

A decade ago, I knew nothing about organizing. But ordinary people are essential to fighting the rise of authoritarianism

In January of 2017, I sent a tentative email to a few dozen friends and acquaintances who I suspected were also freaked out by the election of Donald Trump, asking if they wanted to join a local chapter of an effort called Indivisible, intended to serve as a grassroots liberal counterweight to the new administration. It was frankly not possible, at that point, to know less about activism than I did.

In the more than nine years since, our group has sent an email every weekday – approximately 2,300 in total – with a single concrete daily ask for our members: call your elected representatives. Make a donation. Show up for a rally. During that span, we have knocked on tens of thousands of doors, raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, sponsored refugee families, and mobilized our friends, neighbors, colleagues and acquaintances to keep fighting for democracy.

Saul Austerlitz is the author of How to Assemble an Activist

Published: March 29, 2026, 11:00 am

My mom, the cult leader: ‘She told us what to wear, when to pray, how we would have sex. We were prisoners’

Deborah Green was a charismatic woman who established a ‘free love ministry’ in California, claiming to be a vessel for God. She was also a controlling, cruel sadist. Her daughter Sarah talks about her terrifying upbringing – and dramatic escape

Sarah Green realised things weren’t right in the religious community where she was raised when her mother forced three of its members to live in a locked shed. All three were women, disowned by their husbands, and forced to live off scraps of food. Her mother, Deborah Green, said they had been judged by God and this was their punishment. One of the women, an old family friend called Maura, was made to wear a white sackcloth dress and renamed Forsaken. The other two women were renamed Barren and Despised.

Sarah is a strong, striking woman with a keen sense of irony and a joyous cackle of a laugh. But now she’s in tears. “I felt sickened to my gut. Even though I’d been groomed and my mom told me, ‘I’m God’s oracle, so therefore I hear what God wants for everybody, and this is what they have to go through because they’re sinning’, it didn’t make sense to me.” She sniffs back her tears. “Sorry, I’m getting emotional. So when they locked the people in the shed, I’d sneak them food. I just didn’t understand why Maura, who was part of our membership, had kids, all of a sudden was being forced to live like an animal and do the most degrading things. I didn’t understand why.” Sarah is wailing, as if she’s been transported back to the little girl she was at the time. “What had she done? I didn’t see anything, and I grew up around them. So from that moment you lived in fear, because you could be the next person on the chopping block.” Sarah eventually discovered that Maura’s sin was that she had refused to beat her children.

Published: March 29, 2026, 5:00 am

Long lines, martinis and memories as LA says adieu to cherished restaurant Taix

The 99-year-old Echo Park favorite is being bulldozed for apartments – Angelenos are losing a slice of city history

I was not hungry when I arrived at Taix on Thursday night, Los Angeles’s venerable, soon-to-close French restaurant and de facto museum of a long-gone era of fine dining. I’m rarely hungry when I go to Taix. Not because I don’t thoroughly enjoy their french onion soup, the mussels, or the decadent hamburger. I’m not hungry because it’s never my first stop of the night. Taix isn’t a destination. It’s a nexus point for LA.

No one in Los Angeles ever thought it would be gone, until it was. Sunday will be the last service for a restaurant that has anchored the neighborhood of Echo Park for the past 64 years, before it is torn down to make way for a large-scale luxury apartment development. The impending closure has sparked an end-of-an-era frenzy, with lines down the street, packed tables and loyal fans pinching menus and other memorabilia for their personal collection.

Published: March 29, 2026, 12:00 pm

‘I thought, what the hell have I done?’: the people who moved abroad for love – and regretted it

Emigrating to be with your partner sounds wildly romantic, but what happens when the person is right and the place very much isn’t?

I met my wife in Queensland in 2001. She’s from Bern, but was in Australia to study marine science. She needed help collecting fish for her project, and had heard that I was handy with a spear gun. We hit it off straight away, and began our romance on semi‑deserted islands near the Great Barrier Reef.

We went on to make a life together. My wife liked Australia and eventually got citizenship, but after we had our first son she wanted to be near her family.

Published: March 29, 2026, 11:00 am

Putting the ‘lord’ in ‘landlord’: US churches step up to build housing amid shortage

The ‘Yes in God’s Back Yard’ movement sees churches across the country develop their underutilized land into affordable housing

A parcel of land behind Little Rock AME Zion church in Charlotte, North Carolina, remained mostly empty for nearly a decade before the congregation approached the city with a proposal.

The land sat unused while housing prices climbed and locals were being pushed out of their neighborhoods. So, the church proposed in 2018, why not develop housing there?

Published: March 29, 2026, 11:00 am

Iran accuses US of plotting ground assault while publicly seeking talks

Tehran says it will confront any land attack, as Houthi missiles fired at Israel signal further escalation in region

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Iran has warned the US that it is prepared to confront any ground assault, accusing Washington of secretly planning a land attack while publicly seeking talks, as the war that has killed thousands of people and caused the biggest ever disruption to global energy supplies entered its second month.

As efforts to find a negotiated conclusion to hostilities inched forward with a meeting of regional powers in Pakistan, there were signs of further escalation over the weekend as Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis entered the conflict for the first time, and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said his country was widening its invasion of southern Lebanon.

Published: March 29, 2026, 4:42 pm

Pope seems to rebuke Trump in remarks about leaders with ‘hands full of blood’

Pontiff’s unusually pointed comments come after Pete Hegseth’s prayer for violence against enemies ‘who deserve no mercy’

Pope Leo has said God ignores the prayers of leaders who wage war and have “hands full of blood”, in an apparent rebuke to the Trump administration.

The pontiff made the comments on Sunday as thousands of US troops arrived in the Middle East and days after the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, prayed for violence against enemies who deserved “no mercy”.

Published: March 29, 2026, 2:30 pm

Exhausted Palestinians struggle to put lives back together as world’s gaze fixes on Iran

Five months after a ceasefire was announced in Gaza, airstrikes are still killing civilians and the humanitarian situation remains dire

There is little left that connects Palestinians in Gaza with their prewar existence. The contours of life have become darker and far more brutal, as if the population has been stripped of its past.

“Drones never stop buzzing overhead, gunfire and shelling continue almost daily and naval boats fire towards fishermen,” said 56-year-old Ahmed Baroud, a father of five displaced in Deir al-Balah.

Published: March 29, 2026, 9:12 am

‘It’s biblical’: Maga anxiety over Iran war on display at CPAC as Trump skips event

Attendees at Conservative Political Action Conference express support and concerns amid rift over Trump’s action

Wherever you go, there you are, the saying goes. It was a lesson Donald Trump’s Maga faithful may have been reminded of last week when they gathered in a convention center near Dallas for a revival of the president’s political movement, only to find that there was no escape from the problems it faces.

The annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is usually a place of optimism, if not, triumph. It was on its stage last year that Elon Musk pumped a chainsaw in the air amid his abortive foray into clear cutting government bureaucracy, and where JD Vance named undocumented immigration as the “greatest threat” facing the United States and Europe. Trump is a regular, regaling the audience with lengthy monologues about his accomplishments.

Published: March 29, 2026, 12:52 pm

‘I’ve never seen anything like it’: Hawaii’s small farmers begin recovery after catastrophic flooding

Two kona low storms dumped up to 50in of rain on Oahu, flooding fields and submerging equipment

Eddie Oroyan’s farm was thriving when the storms hit. He and his wife had started LewaTerra Farm last year on a gorgeous stretch of land on the north shore of Oahu. They were delivering vegetables to customers in the community, selling at farmer’s markets and to local restaurants.

Then, on the week of 10 March, a first kona low storm hit the island, bringing copious amounts of water, flooding their land and wiping out crops. Nearly all their papayas were gone. And the tomatoes didn’t survive. But the couple quickly began cleaning, replanting and tying down crops, confident that they would get back on their feet shortly.

Published: March 29, 2026, 1:00 pm

So you went to a No Kings protest. Now what?

Millions of people marched on Saturday against Trump and his administration. While the single-day protest has ended, there are other ways, used in other movements throughout history, to keep the momentum going

More than 8 million people showed up across 3,300 No Kings protests on Saturday, calling for an end to the war in Iran, immigration agents in their communities and what they see as Trump’s creeping authoritarianism. Organizers say it’s the greatest number of protests in a single day in US history.

But movement scholars say social change doesn’t begin and end with one protest. It takes activism at the local and national level, and in a variety of forms, to bring about change.

Published: March 29, 2026, 5:18 pm

DHS funding freeze now longest partial government shutdown in US history

If the now-six-week partial shutdown continues after the weekend, it will become the longest of any shutdown

The shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the fourth largest agency in the US government, became the longest partial shutdown in US history on Sunday.

If the now-six-week partial shutdown continues after the weekend, it will also become the longest of any shutdown, surpassing the impasse late last year that dragged on for 43 days.

Published: March 29, 2026, 3:08 pm

US abortion rate holds steady largely due to travel and telehealth availability – report

Shift seen away from from traveling to states with legal abortion in favor of telehealth and mail-order pills

The abortion rate is holding steady in the US despite total and partial bans in some states – largely because of travel across state lines and a significant increase in telehealth appointments, a new report says.

US regulatory officials are weighing changes to the ways mifepristone, an abortion medication, may be dispensed, but they have reportedly pushed their review until after the midterm elections, given the widespread support for abortion across the US.

Published: March 29, 2026, 2:00 pm

Toxic Pfas residue identified on 37% of California produce, new analysis finds

Peaches, strawberries and grapes were almost always found to be contaminated with ‘forever chemicals’ in the analysis

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A first-of-its-kind analysis has identified Pfas pesticide residues on 37% of conventional California produce, with peaches, strawberries and grapes almost always found to be contaminated with the toxic “forever chemicals”.

The analysis coincided with the introduction of California legislation that would by 2035 fully ban Pfas from being used as active ingredients in pesticides, and require warning labels and other restrictions in the meantime.

Published: March 29, 2026, 12:00 pm

Full network of clitoral nerves mapped out for first time

Anatomy of one of least studied human organs could improve outcomes for women who have pelvic surgery

Almost 30 years after the intricate web of nerves inside the penis was plotted out, the same mapping has finally been completed for one of the least-studied organs in the human body – the clitoris.

As well as revealing the extent of the nerves that are crucial to orgasms, the work shows that some of what medics are learning about the anatomy of the clitoris is wrong, and could help prevent women who have pelvic operations from ending up with poorer sexual function.

Published: March 29, 2026, 11:02 am

Struggling humpback whale stranded for third time on German coast

Weak and sick mammal has become stuck in shallow bays and experts say prognosis ‘doesn’t look good’

The fate of a humpback whale stuck in shallow bays off Germany’s Baltic coast hangs in the balance after it became stranded for a third time.

The roughly 10-metre-long (33ft) mammal appeared weakened and sick on Sunday and was struggling to find a route back to the Atlantic when it ran into fresh difficulty.

Published: March 29, 2026, 4:27 pm

‘Double standards’: Erin O’Connor’s pregnancy photo restored to Instagram

Model posted picture of herself naked and ‘in her full power’ to celebrate Mother’s Day, before Meta removed it for breaching nudity guidelines

The model Erin O’Connor has spoken out about the need for social media platforms to apply “clearer, more context-sensitive guidelines” after Instagram removed nude photographs she had posted on Mother’s Day, celebrating her heavily pregnant body.

The photos – which have since been reinstated on the platform – were taken in 2014 when O’Connor, who is 48, was eight and half months’ pregnant with her son Albert.

Published: March 29, 2026, 3:17 pm

‘People should be scared’: convictions in US ‘antifa’ trial set dangerous precedent

Experts say verdict gives Trump officials scope to crack down on leftwing views using spurious ‘terrorism’ label

The conviction in Texas of nine activists on terrorism and other charges earlier this month sets an alarming precedent: the Trump administration can crack down on leftwing groups and label them “domestic terrorists”.

The case was widely seen as a major test of the Trump administration’s efforts to punish protesters and leftwing views. The charges came after a protest outside of an ICE facility outside of Fort Worth last year. Activists planned to set off fireworks outside of the facility in solidarity with those detained inside, traveling with a cache of automatic weapons and body armor they said was for self-defense against counter-protesters. Once they got there, a small group broke away and began vandalizing cars in the parking lot, spray painting graffiti, slashing tires on a government van, and breaking a security camera. A police officer arrived on the scene and drew his weapon at those in the parking lot, one of the activists opened fire with an AR-15 and hit the police officer in the shoulder. He ultimately survived.

Published: March 29, 2026, 12:00 pm

A costly plan will keep a steel plant in JD Vance’s hometown running. Locals are aghast: ‘It’s horrible’

Fossil-fuel burning at Ohio facility could burn longer, leaving Middletown residents to face environmental risks

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It was just a few months after moving from Louisville to Middletown, Ohio, four years ago that Vivian Adams’s six-year-old daughter’s asthma problem worsened.

“My daughter was born prematurely so she already had lung issues,” she says, “[but] it’s gotten worse. She stays sick and coughing and can’t breathe. She’s had to go on everyday medication for her asthma, plus she has a rescue inhaler.”

Published: March 29, 2026, 1:00 pm

No tuition, no grades, no power grid: why are people flocking to a ‘college’ in the middle of the desert?

Two hundred miles from LA, an off-grid community with roots in Burning Man offers an unorthodox educational experience – is Mars College the future?

A dozen writing students perched around a collection of weather-beaten couches, laptops balancing on their knees, ready to discuss their work. Next up to read was Ira Birch, a poet sporting black boots and a shag haircut.

“I told myself I was gonna share today,” Birch said nervously, looking around the circle. “But there are a lot more people here.”

Published: March 29, 2026, 3:00 pm

The OnlyFans inheritance: how its owner’s death could reshape the porn money-making machine

Leonid Radvinsky’s widow has been left with a crucial role in deciding what happens to the business that made her husband a billionaire

Yekaterina Chudnovsky, online biographies say, is a mother-of-four who “enjoys spending time with her family and teaching them the importance of giving back and helping others”. They add that Ukrainian-born Chudnovsky, known as Katie, finds sanctuary in walks on the beach.

In interviews, Chudnovsky has spoken warmly about her commitment to philanthropy, her dedication to supporting cancer research and her work as a lawyer for an unnamed global technology firm. Pornography is never mentioned.

Published: March 29, 2026, 5:00 am

How Meta’s victim-blaming failed to sway jurors in landmark social media addiction trial

Aggressive strategy and loss in the trial highlight a problem for tech firms: a widespread distrust of social media companies

When Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, sought to defend itself in the landmark social media addiction lawsuit alleging its products caused personal injury to a young user, it went on the offensive. The mental health problems that the 20-year-old known as KGM suffered since she was a child were not the result of exposure to harm on Instagram, Meta’s lawyers and public relations team argued, but instead linked to her mother’s parenting and her offline social problems.

In a bench memo filed before the trial began, lawyers for Meta quoted excerpts from KGM’s teenage text messages, personal writings and social media posts complaining about her mother. They combed through therapy notes and called on doctors to testify to examples of personal conflict. Throughout the proceedings, Meta’s communications team sent reporters repeated updates from the trial and quotes from testimony that highlighted her familial issues. Far from causing harm, they alleged that Instagram offered a helpful respite from the real world.

Published: March 29, 2026, 10:00 am

Tiger Woods’ latest brush with the law leaves questions why golf remains so beholden to him | Ewan Murray

Desire to remain relevant is understandable, but a glance at his behavioural pattern casts doubt on his PGA Tour and Ryder Cup involvement

It is a scene that has become more extraordinary with the passing of time. Plenty of sportspeople have been guilty of or admitted to extramarital capers. Only Tiger Woods appeared live on television, in front of a hand‑picked audience, to deliver a 14‑minute mea culpa on his transgressions.

American golf executives in their perfectly ironed slacks stood in sombre mood as Woods laid bare his “personal sins”. The venue, hilariously, was the home of the PGA Tour. Woods had no need to go into tawdry detail about his antics; the tabloid media had done that for him. “I convinced myself that normal rules didn’t apply,” Woods said. Sixteen years since that speech, it is worth pondering whether much has changed.

Published: March 29, 2026, 3:29 pm

Make spring cleaning easier with these 13 editor favorites for scrubbing, cleaning and tidying

From a multipurpose portable vacuum cleaner to a nearly everlasting scrubber – these products will leave your house sparkling

• Break up with your liquid detergent. Try these plastic-free laundry sheets instead

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Spring cleaning, the annual catharsis of tidying and refreshing, is currently upon us. Across the nation, closets are being reorganized, homes are being scrubbed and winter is being bade a not-too-fond farewell.

Haven’t got your personal strategy down yet? Here at the Filter, we’ve asked our editors and contributors to share their most trusted products to help you better tackle this season of sparkle. From environmentally friendly soaps, powders and scrubbers to a premium air purifier to help combat dust and allergies, we run the gamut for all your spring cleaning needs.

Published: March 29, 2026, 5:15 pm

‘The highs are extremely high – but the lows are extremely low’: when working out becomes an addiction

Pushing yourself to the limit, training through injury and choosing the gym over socialising are all signs that you may have an unhealthy reliance on exercise

At the peak of his adventuring career, Luke Tyburski was a man of extremes. The former pro-footballer, then in his early 30s, had dedicated himself to intense endurance challenges, of the sort that make a marathon look like a fun run. Beginning with the Marathon de Sables (a notorious multistage ultramarathon in the Sahara desert), he then ran the world’s highest ultramarathon at Mount Everest base camp, battled dehydration during a 100km run on a tropical island, and took on the vividly named Double Brutal Extreme Triathlon in north Wales. The endgame in all of this was a self-designed challenge, which saw him swimming from Africa to Europe, cycling through Spain and running to Monaco – 2,000km in total, in just 12 days.

Tyburski was a professional adventurer, financing his pursuits via magazine articles and speaking gigs, and even making a documentary about his quest. His whole raison d’etre was to push past his limitations, showing what a person is capable of when their mindset is strong enough. Yet, privately, he was dealing with depression, related to a loss of identity after the end of his footballing career, which took in Australia, the US and Belgium before he tried out for clubs in the UK. “Training and racing creates an escape, and the highs are extremely high,” says Tyburski. “But when I returned home from an adventure, the lows were extremely low, because I hadn’t addressed what I was running away from.”

Published: March 29, 2026, 2:00 pm

Protesters dumped a Columbus statue in 2020. Trump installed a replica near the White House

The statue isn’t about preserving history – it’s about asserting the power to rewrite it

The Trump administration recently took a position on a man with a documented record of genocide and enslavement. “In this White House,” a spokesman announced last week, following the installation of a statue on the grounds of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, “Christopher Columbus is a hero.”

It is worth pausing on that word. A hero, in the civic sense, is not merely someone whom people admire. It is someone whose story the country agrees to tell in a particular way. Heroism is a narrative decision.

Jamil Smith is a Guardian US columnist

Published: March 29, 2026, 12:00 pm

Millions of boomer small business owners will soon retire. Will their companies just disappear? | Gene Marks

It’s likely, but it also could be a boon for a new generation of entrepreneurs willing to take over established operations

Want to buy my business? It’s been very profitable. I’ve run it for more than 25 years. But no, you don’t want to buy it. Like most small businesses in this country, there’s really nothing of value here.

According to the Small Business Administration, there are approximately 33m small businesses in the US. But fewer than 7m actually employ people. The rest comprise freelancers, side gigs and independent contractors. I’m sure many of these people are making a living. But are they building assets? A brand? Probably not. If that “business owner” suddenly disappears, their business disappears with them. No one wants to buy a business like that. There’s no value.

Published: March 29, 2026, 2:00 pm

I don't know what God is. But the search keeps me grounded and feeling alive | Karen Rinaldi

I rejected the church as a teen. But I’ve lately felt called to look for God – and my understanding has changed

Two months into the pandemic, I began a practice I called “When I look for God”. With so much changing so quickly, I was looking to find space during each day when I could ground myself amidst the uncertainty. The previous five years had opened up a spiritual yearning spurred by a life-shifting moment while surfing when God became profoundly known to me. These encounters of grace began to happen with some frequency. I was both compelled and confused by this new awakening.

God has always been elusive to me. I grew up Catholic, attended church on Sundays, went to catechism. I was baptized as an infant, received my first communion at seven, and was confirmed at 11. None of this brought me any closer to God.

Published: March 29, 2026, 1:00 pm

I’m seeing more people in therapy struggling with war-related anxiety. Here’s what helps | Ahona Guha

In the face of existential anxiety it may be tempting to fret over smaller details, but there are positive steps we can take to prepare for a world that may change at any moment

• The modern mind is a column where experts discuss mental health issues they are seeing in their work

Since the United States and Israel attacked Iran, my therapy rooms have been flooded with clients talking about the possibility of a world war and the widespread perception that we stand at a perilous tipping point in history. People are dealing with this differently, with some sanguinely shrugging and accepting they can’t change matters so there’s little point worrying, while others fret and compulsively check the news. Many describe a sense of strong doom.

I too have experienced a similar awareness that the global order has changed irrevocably, with the same uncertainty as my clients are describing.

Published: March 29, 2026, 2:00 pm

Trump is contemplating the sheer folly of boots on the ground in Iran. How did it come to this? | Simon Tisdall

After the anguish of Iraq and Afghanistan, it’s almost unthinkable the US would again send troops to the Middle East – but its president is desperate and narcissistic

Concern is justifiably growing that a cornered Donald Trump will send US ground troops into combat on Iranian soil to avoid being personally and politically humiliated in a war he started, mismanaged and cannot end. Yet such a self-serving escalation, even if ostensibly limited in duration and scope, could itself prove catastrophic for him and the American people. Think what happened in previous US military interventions. In sum, he’s caught in a modern-day catch-22. Pick your own metaphor for dumb. Trump’s stumped, hoist by his own petard, stuck between a rock and a hard place, and up the creek without a paddle. The creek in question is, of course, the strait of Hormuz.

Firmly ensconced in his weird parallel universe, Trump insists the war is all but won, Iran is suing for peace and talks are making good progress. In the real world, Iran is still fighting on all fronts, Israel is still bombing, the strait of Hormuz remains largely closed, and the Iran-allied Houthi militia in Yemen has joined the war, attacking Israel and potentially blocking Red Sea trade routes. The US and Iran have each issued maximalist demands, but there is no sign of actual negotiations. They are even further apart than they were before Trump, egged on by Benjamin Netanyahu, abandoned diplomacy last month. Sometime soon, Trump will be forced to confront the huge gap between what he wants and what’s on offer. At that point he could turn to the troop buildup in the Gulf and order ground attacks.

Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator

Published: March 29, 2026, 10:56 am

A new Austen drama made me wonder: is the fate of bookish young women really so different today? | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

The Other Bennet Sister reminded me of my own self-consciousness – and worry that girls still have to play down their cleverness

To be a clever, bookish teenage girl is to spend a certain amount of time standing on the sidelines, feeling invisible to boys. When I was at school, there seemed to be a natural division: you could be smart or pretty, but you could not be both. Of course, there were girls who were indeed both, but they either intentionally dumbed themselves down or spent an inordinate amount of time trying to make themselves beautiful. (Perhaps other schools and other early-2000s teenagehoods were different, but that was the reality of mine.)

The Other Bennet Sister – a new BBC costume adaptation of Janice Hadlow’s 2020 novel telling the story of Mary, the intelligent, bespectacled, painfully shy sister to Pride and Prejudice heroine Lizzy – sent me right back to that awkward age. That’s how vividly it conjures the extreme lack of confidence that can come from being sidelined, whether by one’s peers or, as in Mary’s case, one’s own mother. Watching Ella Bruccoleri’s excellent performance reunited me with those awful feelings of shyness and exclusion, of walking with your head down in the hope that no one notices you. “Why do you walk like that?” I remember a popular, vivacious girl in my year asking me, not unkindly. She couldn’t comprehend what it meant to walk with such a lack of confidence. I wished I could borrow even a pinch of hers.

Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist and author of Female, Nude

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Published: March 29, 2026, 5:00 am

The UK’s free-to-access museums are the envy of the world. Charging for entry would be a big mistake | Karin Hindsbo

There are better ways to raise money than jeopardising a model that draws visitors to Britain and has huge benefits for the wider economy

Twenty-five years ago, the UK made the bold and generous gesture of making its national museums free to all. Suddenly, anyone from anywhere in the world could gaze at iconic works of art by the greatest artists in history without having to pay a penny. Many incredible artworks were suddenly accessible to everyone: Hepworth, Turner and Hockney at Tate Britain, and Bonnard, Picasso and Bourgeois at Tate Modern (which had both always been free) were now joined by Raphael at the V&A and Kapoor at the Walker Art Gallery, dramatic seascapes at the National Maritime Museum and bustling cityscapes at the Museum of London. And maybe afterwards they would reward the gallery by buying a slice of cake in the cafe or a print of their favourite work in the gift shop.

In the years that followed, this policy proved to be a huge success. It led to a dramatic and sustained increase in audiences. Within the first decade, visits to museums which used to charge rose by 151% – the uplift was 180% at the Natural History Museum and V&A, and 269% at National Museums Liverpool. Is now really the moment to reverse direction by charging international tourists to access our museums and galleries, as ministers are proposing?

Karin Hindsbo is interim director of Tate, and former director of Tate Modern, London and the National Museum, Oslo

Published: March 29, 2026, 12:30 pm

The Guardian view on peptides: Robert F Kennedy Jr would leave public health policy to the hucksters | Editorial

The US health secretary says he is a big fan of peptides. Many are promising drugs, but the only way to know their utility is proper clinical trials

Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, is a chaotic person, but his Make America Healthy Again (Maha) agenda tends to follow a predictable logic. Large-scale, mandatory public health interventions – such as childhood vaccine requirements – are generally treated with suspicion and undermined. Personal choice – to drink unpasteurised milk, for example – is to be unleashed, and unburdened by regulation. In theory, Maha promises freedom and autonomy; in practice it tends to replace the precautionary principle with exhortations for individuals to “do your own research”, and sidelines scientific expertise in favour of “wellness” hucksters and profiteers.

This is particularly obvious in Mr Kennedy’s recent claims that he will open up the sale of “about 14” injectable peptide drugs to the public. Peptides are molecules often used by our bodies for sending signals – so there are many kinds of peptides, and the safety and efficacy of each is a separate question. The widely used “weight-loss jab” drugs are peptides but so are the toxic compounds in snake venom that dissolve living cells. Mr Kennedy is likely to be referring to a subset of 17 peptides restricted by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2023 due to “potential significant safety risks”. None have been proved to be safe or effective for human use, so there is no clear argument for reversing the decision.

Published: March 29, 2026, 4:25 pm

The Guardian view on Myanmar’s forgotten war: the military cosplay democracy but people demand the real thing | Editorial

Five years of brutal conflict have made the army more determined to crush opposition, and others more convinced they must resist

China promoted elections in Myanmar, while those fighting for democracy boycotted them. That tells you everything about the shift to a supposedly civilian administration in the coming days, five years after the military seized power in a coup. It appears likely that Min Aung Hlaing will swap his leadership of the army for the presidency. Whatever the details, the junta will still be running the show, and bombing civilians – just while cosplaying as democrats.

Myanmar’s suffering has been overshadowed by higher-profile wars. But the conflict-monitoring organisation Acled estimates that about 93,000 people have been killed since 2021, while the UN says that 3.6 million are displaced. The junta does not control much of the country, limiting where polls could be held. The opposition refused to take part, and others were excluded from voting because they are denied citizenship. Little wonder the main military-backed party declared a landslide victory – despite having won just 6% of the vote in a 2020 election.

Published: March 29, 2026, 4:30 pm

After 12 years, a USMNT loss to Belgium still carries a World Cup weight

The United States’ collapse in a 5-2 loss to Belgium made clear that the gap between the sides in 2014 has yet to narrow

Mauricio Pochettino was literally unmoved.

To his left and right, his assistants pumped their fists, clapped their hands, rose to celebrate. Not Pochettino. After Weston McKennie put the US ahead with an end run around the Belgian defense that freed him up at the far post to tap the ball past Senne Lammens in the 39th minute, Pochettino just sat there, stoically, hunched forward in his seat, two fingers to his mouth.

Published: March 29, 2026, 4:30 pm

Igor Tudor leaves Tottenham after 44 days with club mired in relegation trouble

• Croat failed to win a league match as interim head coach

• Spurs hope to name Tudor’s successor in coming days

Tottenham have parted company with Igor Tudor after seven games and 44 days in a desperate attempt to halt their slide towards relegation from the Premier League.

According to the club, the decision was mutually agreed. Tudor took one point from his five league matches to leave Tottenham one point and one place above the bottom three, the final straw coming with last Sunday’s 3-0 home defeat by Nottingham Forest. A previously unthinkable demotion to the Championship would be devastating for prestige and revenues.

Published: March 29, 2026, 2:40 pm

Illinois and Arizona end lengthy Final Four droughts with statement wins

• Illinois bully Iowa to end 21-year Final Four wait

• Wagler scores 25 as Illini own paint and glass late

• Top seed Arizona into first Final Four since 2001

Illinois is heading to the Final Four for the first time in 21 years, and Andrej Stojakovic made clear the Fighting Illini have much bigger goals.

“I don’t want anybody to think this is it,” he said. “We didn’t get to the Final Four just to get there. We’re coming to win two more games.”

Published: March 29, 2026, 3:13 am

F1 drivers demand urgent action after Oliver Bearman’s ‘scary’ crash at Japan GP

• Haas driver escaped with bruising after 190mph crash

• Leading figures in F1 request a safety review

Drivers and leading figures within Formula One have called for urgent action given their serious concern over the potential dangers now ­inherent in the sport after ­Oliver ­Bearman was involved in a huge accident at the Japanese Grand Prix.

The crash, caused by cars ­coming at one another at enormously ­different speeds, was described by the ­British driver as “scary” and by his Haas team principal as a lucky escape. The race was ultimately won for Mercedes by Kimi Antonelli, the 19-year-old in the ­process becoming the youngest driver to lead the world championship.

Published: March 29, 2026, 12:08 pm

‘It’s tough’: Light-on-light kit matchup, hydration breaks add strange wrinkles to USMNT loss

Viewers at home and in the stands had some trouble telling the US and Belgium apart – some players had the same issue

Saturday’s friendly between the US men’s national team and Belgium at Mercedes-Benz Stadium was played indoors, in a climate-controlled environment, on natural grass, even.

Inside the cavernous, 70,000-seat venue, the air was a perfect 72F (22C), as it always is. The stadium’s massive, 8,400-ton HVAC system is designed to cut Atlanta’s stifling summer humidity. On Saturday, they probably could’ve turned the thermostat off entirely: outside, it was a picture-perfect, comfortable spring day.

Published: March 29, 2026, 12:24 am

Caf general secretary resigns amid fallout from Afcon final controversy

• Véron Mosengo-Omba was target of varied criticism

• ‘I can retire with peace of mind and without constraint’

Véron Mosengo-Omba, the Confederation of African Football (Caf) general secretary, has resigned after repeated calls for his removal and at a turbulent time for the game on the continent.

Mosengo-Omba said he was retiring but his departure comes amid a crisis of confidence in the organisation’s leadership, with a growing fallout over the decision to strip Senegal of the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) title and calls for an investigation into alleged corruption at African ­football’s governing body.

Published: March 29, 2026, 12:59 pm

Women’s March Madness: Michigan join Texas, South Carolina in Elite Eight

• Michigan rally past Louisville to reach Elite Eight

• Texas, South Carolina cruise as top seeds hold firm

• TCU duo Suarez, Miles power into regional final

Olivia Olson scored 19 points, fellow sophomore Syla Swords added 16 and No 2 Michigan overcame a sluggish start for a 71-52 victory over Louisville in the Sweet 16 on Saturday.

The Wolverines had a 16-0 run in the second quarter to erase an 11-point deficit, their biggest, then broke a tie in the third quarter by scoring 17 consecutive points and cruising to their second Elite Eight, both in the past five seasons.

Published: March 29, 2026, 3:50 am

Ilia Malinin completes redemption arc with third straight world figure skating championship

• US star wins third straight world title after Olympic shock

• Japanese rivals Kagiyama and Sato round out podium

Ilia Malinin claimed a third straight world figure skating championship on Saturday afternoon, completing a swift redemption a month after his shock Olympic collapse with a commanding free skate.

The 21-year-old American entered the final at Prague’s O2 Arena with a commanding lead after Thursday’s short program, where his personal-best 111.29 had put him more than nine points clear of the field. This time, there would be no unraveling.

Published: March 28, 2026, 3:31 pm

Modeling industry activist calls for inquiry into how agencies ‘facilitated Epstein’s abuse’

Sara Ziff, founder of Model Alliance, said business leaders need to be hauled before House oversight committee

A top modeling industry activist has called for business leaders to be hauled before lawmakers in Washington to investigate what role modeling agencies may have played in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking scandal.

Sara Ziff is founder of the Model Alliance, a non-profit advocacy group calling for fair treatment, labor rights and safe working conditions for fashion industry workers.

Published: March 29, 2026, 10:00 am

‘Lots of people still don’t have roofs’: Jamaicans living in hardship after Hurricane Melissa

Many say they have not received support to rebuild their homes months after the storm caused unprecedented destruction

“Before Hurricane Melissa I could have navigated life, figured things out. But since its passage, everything has just been turned upside down,” said Kerry-Ann Vickers.

Vickers was three months pregnant when Hurricane Melissa demolished parts of her home in the coastal town of Black River, in St Elizabeth, west Jamaica, last October. Nearly six months on, Vickers, 25, is still struggling to get support to rebuild her house and is distraught that her baby will arrive in a home without a secure roof.

Published: March 29, 2026, 6:00 am

‘Visible from space’: why Spain has the world’s biggest concentration of greenhouses

Andalusia houses ‘Europe’s vegetable garden’ – a laboratory of development and innovation producing vegetables for all of Europe

Europe’s vegetable garden is in Andalusia, southern Spain. It is so vast that it can even be seen from space: if you open Google Maps and look west of Almería, you will see a white patch that looks like a glacier, but as you zoom in, you realise it is the highest concentration of greenhouses in the world. More than 30,000 hectares (74,131 acres) of land are covered in plastic, a geometric labyrinth five times the size of Manhattan, where 3.5m tons of vegetables are produced every year – from tomatoes to cucumbers, peppers to courgettes, aubergines to melons – enough to feed half a billion people and generate a turnover of more than 3bn euros.

Workers prepare peppers inside the Hortamar cooperative, a fruit and vegetable producers’ organisation in Roquetas de Mar, founded in 1977, that now has more than 240 members and sells throughout Europe, the US and Canada.

Published: March 29, 2026, 7:00 am

Israeli strikes and US troop buildup put Pakistan’s peacemaker role under pressure

Islamabad is attempting high-wire diplomacy between US and Iran, but Israel could spoil any chance of success

Intensifying Israeli bombing of civilian targets in Iran and an expanding US military force in the Gulf are casting a dark shadow over Pakistan’s hopes of hosting peace talks between Iran and the US.

Pakistan is attempting high-wire diplomacy, using its relative neutrality as a country with good relations with Iran and the US, to provide a venue for negotiations. It is not a player in the Middle East and does not host any American military bases, so it does not bring the baggage of other potential regional mediators.

Published: March 29, 2026, 6:00 am

Goodbye Graaff-Reinet: South African town’s name change stirs racial tensions

Minister’s decision to ditch town’s colonial-era identity and honour anti-apartheid activist divides residents

A South African town is divided over changing its name from the colonial-era Graaff-Reinet to Robert Sobukwe, after the anti-apartheid activist, in a debate that has inflamed racial tensions.

Petitions have been signed, rival marches held and a formal letter of complaint sent to the sports, arts and culture minister, Gayton McKenzie, who approved the name change on 6 February.

Published: March 29, 2026, 4:00 am

JD Vance leads CPAC poll for next Republican presidential candidate

Vice-president received about 53% of votes at Conservative Political Action Conference held in Texas this year

One of the biggest conservative gatherings in the US ran a poll showing vice-president JD Vance is the top choice this year to be the next Republican presidential candidate.

The poll from the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), released on Saturday, was taken during this year’s gathering. About 53% of the more than 1,600 attendees who voted in the poll chose Vance, Reuters reports. Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, came in second with 35%.

Published: March 28, 2026, 11:25 pm

James Tolkan, known for his roles in Top Gun and Back to the Future, dies aged 94

Tolkan, known for portraying authoritarian figures, died ‘peacefully’ in Lake Placid, New York, his agent said

James Tolkan, known for his roles as an authoritarian figure in the Back to the Future and Top Gun films, has died. He was 94.

Tolkan died Thursday in Lake Placid, New York, where he lived, his booking agent, John Alcantar, said Saturday. A brief obituary published on the Back to the Future website said Tolkan died “peacefully”, but no cause of death was given.

Published: March 28, 2026, 9:50 pm

Officials at Florida’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ must give attorneys access to clients, judge rules

Authorities must also provide detainees access to free and private legal phone calls and allow lawyers to visit unannounced

A federal judge ruled on Friday that officials at Florida’s state-run immigration jail, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz”, must give attorneys better access to their detained clients.

The order by federal judge Sheri Polster Chappell, from the middle district of Florida, said facility officials must provide access to confidential, private, free and unmonitored outgoing legal telephone calls from people detained in the facility. Polster Chappell also ruled that attorneys are allowed to make unannounced visits to see their clients, bypassing the facility’s pre-scheduling requirement.

Published: March 28, 2026, 6:04 pm

Michigan student disciplined for protesting against war on Gaza reaches settlement with school

Teenager alleged she faced racism from teacher who told her to ‘go back to her country’ for refusing to stand for pledge of allegiance

A Palestinian middle school student in Michigan who was publicly admonished for refusing to stand for the pledge of allegiance as part of a personal protest against the war on Gaza has settled with her school district following a lawsuit around her first amendment free speech rights.

The teenager, identified as DK in court documents, said she faced racism from a teacher at the West Middle school in Canton, Michigan, after she did not participate in the pledge. The teacher reportedly told DK to “go back to her country”, Fox 2 Detroit reported.

Published: March 28, 2026, 8:59 pm

Funeral held for three journalists killed by Israeli strike in Lebanon

Lebanese government calls the killings a ‘blatant war crime’ while Israel says primary target was a Hezbollah ‘terrorist’

• Middle East crisis – live updates

A funeral has taken place in Lebanon for three journalists killed by an Israeli strike on Saturday, after the Lebanese government called the killings a “blatant war crime”.

Ali Shoeib, of the Hezbollah-owned al-Manar television station, and Fatima Ftouni and her brother and cameraman Mohammed Ftouni, of the pro-Hezbollah outlet al-Mayadeen, were killed in the strike targeting their car.

Published: March 29, 2026, 2:33 pm

Sugar high(st): more than twelve tons of KitKat’s ‘new chocolate range’ stolen in Italy

Thieves made a break for 413,793 units of the company’s new F1 line bars which could cause shortage before Easter

A large shipment of KitKat bars was stolen while in transit to distributors, a major candy crime right before the Easter holiday that could cause shortages for customers.

The truck carrying 413,793 units of a “new chocolate range”, about 12 tons of chocolate bars, was pilfered while driving through Europe on 26 March, Agence France-Presse reported.

Published: March 28, 2026, 8:38 pm

Thousands march against far right in London in biggest ever multicultural protest

More than 100 charities, campaign groups and trade unions marched in a show of unity against far right politics

• Together Alliance march – live updates

Tens of thousands of people gathered in London to march against the far right in the biggest multicultural demonstration in UK history.

Organisers claimed half a million people had travelled to the capital for Saturday’s Together Alliance march. Police estimated the turnout was closer to 50,000, although they admitted it was difficult to judge the number due to the widespread nature of the crowd.

Published: March 28, 2026, 5:29 pm

Police in Paris foil attempted bomb attack outside Bank of America building

Incident in the city’s 8th arrondissement reportedly involved a homemade explosive device

French police prevented an apparent bomb attack outside a US bank in Paris on Saturday when they arrested a man about to set off a homemade explosive device, officials and sources close to the case said.

The incident occurred at about 3.30am (0230 GMT) in front of a Bank of America building in the city’s 8th arrondissement, a couple of streets away from the Champs-Élysées.

Published: March 28, 2026, 3:30 pm

‘Serve, smile, procreate’: Yesteryear author Caro Claire Burke on the rise of the tradwife

As her dark debut about a tradwife who wakes up in the past is made into a film by Anne Hathaway, the novelist explores the sinister truth behind the barefoot influencers

Gingham dresses, linen aprons; toddlers smiling toothily out from their perch on a perfectly cocked hip. And the mothers holding these babies? They’re beautiful, obviously. They speak in a whisper. Their skin tone is varied in the exact range and spectrum of honey.

Tradwife. It’s a frilly word, the kind that holds a gun to your head and demands you say it in sing-song. The media coverage of the phenomenon has been as breathless and decidedly feminised as the term itself. I have yet to find an article on the topic that was not written by a woman, which feels ironic, given that the term – as well as the vision therein – was originally coined and circulated by men, born out of the dank, murky caves of online “incel” forums, where anonymous usernames set forth the deeply unoriginal vision of a wife who would do everything the real women in their lives refused to do: manage the house, give birth to children, have sex on command, and most importantly, ask nothing in return.

Published: March 29, 2026, 11:00 am

‘Soon publishers won’t stand a chance’: literary world in struggle to detect AI-written books

US release of horror novel Shy Girl cancelled and UK book discontinued after suspected AI use, as publishers feel ‘cold shiver’

Recently, the literary agent Kate Nash started noticing that the submission letters she was receiving from authors were becoming more thorough – albeit also more formulaic.

“I took it as a rise in diligence,” she said. “I thought it was a good thing.”

Published: March 29, 2026, 9:00 am

‘A full-circle moment’: why Stephen Colbert is an enticing fit for Lord of the Rings

The Late Show host is co-writing a new JRR Tolkien adaptation to be produced by Peter Jackson

Typically, when a famous comedian ventures into writing, it’s in service of a book of humorous essays or a screenplay for a starring vehicle. Stephen Colbert, the comic actor turned beloved talkshow host, is preparing a more unusual pivot: he’ll be working on the screenplay for a new Lord of the Rings movie, to be produced by franchise impresario Peter Jackson, who directed the original trilogy of films based on the JRR Tolkien fantasy novels, as well as a trilogy based on Tolkien’s book The Hobbit. To casual viewers of his about-to-end Late Show on CBS, or those who remember his years as a contributor to Comedy Central’s irreverent The Daily Show, this might seem like an odd fit; Tolkien isn’t known for his satirical edge. Colbert, however, is known for his love of Tolkien – among other things.

Befitting his eventual gig as a political satirist, Colbert was born in Washington DC, the youngest of 11 children in a Catholic family that subsequently lived in Maryland and South Carolina. The family suffered a major loss in 1974 when two of Colbert’s brothers and their father were killed in a plane crash. Colbert was only 10 and became withdrawn after the tragedy, retreating into books – especially fantasy books like the works of Tolkien – and games like Dungeons & Dragons, which he played heavily for four years. This provided some early training in acting and improvisation without him entirely realizing it. “For somebody who eventually became an actor, it was interesting to have done that for so many years, because acting is role-playing,” he told the AV Club in 2006. “You assume a character, and you have to stay in them over years, and you create histories, and you apply your powers. It’s good improvisation with agreed rules before you go in.”

Published: March 28, 2026, 9:00 am

Portobello: how can this TV show about the mafia and a mind-controlled parrot be so wildly dull?

This HBO series about Italy’s top TV host (and his feathered friend) getting embroiled with the mob sounds genius … and yet it’s troublingly tedious

Had a little wager with myself this week, regarding whether HBO Max’s new series is about the west London vintage market, a mushroom, or a coastal suburb of Edinburgh. Even spread-betting, I got cleaned out. Portobello is actually the true story of Enzo Tortora, former host of Italy’s top TV show, who was falsely accused of being a member of the Camorra. How was I supposed to guess that?

At its height, Portobello the variety show had a staggering audience of 28 million, a national cross section from nuns to prison inmates. Among the latter, Giovanni Pandico: a froggy-looking Camorrist and clinical paranoid who becomes fixated, Stan-like, on Tortora. He believes he communicates with the presenter via telepathy, as well as mind control of a parrot which guest-stars on the show. Bizarrely, the mob criminal posts Tortora 20 lace doilies to sell on his show (in a segment actually called Portobello Market, which really spun me out).

Published: March 28, 2026, 7:00 am

Pop maverick Robyn on sleaze, snobbery and dating during IVF: ‘When there isn’t as much at stake, sex becomes more fun’

The Swedish musician decided to pursue motherhood alone, and found it came with a surprising sexual awakening – a story she lays out on her new album, her first in eight years

Robyn sits silently, eyes closed, for what feels like a full minute. “Wow,” she says. “This is really deep” It has been eight years since this elder stateswoman of alt-pop released music. She is talking about how, since then, her life has fractured and reassembled. The 46-year-old Swede’s previous album, Honey, was finished in the afterglow of repairing her engagement to director Max Vitali. Now, she’s no longer in that relationship, she’s raising a three-year-old son, Tyko, whom she had by IVF, on her own, and she has also reckoned with the scars of her own childhood, growing up in an exploitative music industry.

We meet in a breezy attic above a recording studio in London to talk about her new album, Sexistential – an ode to letting your guard down and feeling things deeply. “Defending my right to be myself and be vulnerable,” she says. She’s wearing biker boots and a mesh hoodie, and has tucked a bomber jacket, two overflowing handbags and a black leather sailor hat into the nooks and crannies of the sofa as if constructing a nest around herself. She’s thrilled to be back. “I’ve never released an album as a parent, so it’s really exciting to work.” She laughs, flashing a chipped tooth. “When I do get time for myself, it’s liberating and fun.”

Published: March 28, 2026, 6:00 am

Tom Gauld on embracing the short novel – cartoon

Published: March 29, 2026, 3:00 pm

I thought I’d been coping with my sister’s death – a Taylor Swift song showed me I hadn’t

As I sat in a park during the pandemic, listening to the Evermore album on my headphones, one song finally released the grief that I’d pent up for five years

When the pandemic hit in 2020, it had been five years since my sister, Emily, had died. She had lived with cystic fibrosis her whole life, yet we were a close, tactile family. We laughed, hugged and sang often. When Emily died, relatively suddenly, aged 30 (I was 27), I coped with it as well as anyone could. In fact, I prided myself on how outwardly resilient I seemed: I spoke to a therapist, started a new job. I poured myself into a packed diary and a big city.

It wasn’t until time stopped, in a way, in 2020, that I really sat with my grief. I was forced to – made redundant like so many others that summer, my days had no shape. Like many people living in city flatshares, my one little freedom was a daily walk.

Published: March 28, 2026, 7:00 am

The Guide #236: Is celebrity casting a cynical marketing stunt or does it help to democratise theatre?

In this week’s newsletter: From singers to YouTube stars and TV hosts, more famous faces are treading the boards. Some insiders think it’s killing the industry, but for others it opens up theatre to a wider audience

• Don’t get The Guide delivered to your inbox? Sign up here

Timothée Chalamet might have smirked his way out of an Oscar. Sabrina Carpenter might have been roundly snubbed at the Grammys. But there’s one place both would be welcomed with open arms: the UK theatre scene.

It seems we can’t get enough of celebs on stage (acting chops preferable but not mandatory). This week alone, London’s West End features Stranger Things star Sadie Sink, singer Self Esteem and Strictly cutie pie Johannes Radebe. Meanwhile, Mischa Barton, best known for playing Marissa Cooper in the 00s TV series The OC, is touring the UK and Ireland in a new adaptation of James M. Cain’s crime novel Double Indemnity.

Published: March 28, 2026, 7:00 am

I’m 18 and don’t feel physically attracted to anyone. How can I ever have children? | Ask Annalisa Barbieri

Take your time. Often we need to find out who we are before we can know what, and who, we really want

I’m 18 and have been at university for a few months. Being here has made me realise certain things about myself, including my struggle to desire a relationship. I’ve never been in one and don’t believe I’ve ever been physically or sexually attracted to anyone. I know I am still young, but I’m worried this will never change. Since going to uni, I’ve been around friends and others experiencing intimate relationships or discussing feelings which I can’t relate to or understand. I believe I am straight, but then again, as I haven’t felt anything towards the opposite sex, I have questioned that.

I am quite an anxious person, have often felt quite out of place in social situations, especially the last few years, and wonder if this is all linked. One of my biggest goals in life is to have children, and I’m worried it may be hard due to how I’m feeling.

Published: March 29, 2026, 6:00 am

My search for the perfect Sachertorte in Vienna

The luscious chocolate and apricot torte is the stuff of legend in the grand, old world of Viennese coffeehouses. But which makes the tastiest?

I’m on a tram on Vienna’s Ringstrasse as towering facades, columns, statues and domes drift past, each more ornate than the last. Here, the State Opera; there, the Austrian parliament, built in the Greek neoclassical style.

As I gawp, I shove cake in my mouth. After all, Vienna isn’t just the city of music, or lavish architecture. Thanks, in part, to its centuries-old coffeehouse culture, it’s also one of Europe’s finest pastry destinations. Cake (or more precisely, torte, kuchen or Mehlspeisen) has its own day here – “Sweet Friday”, the most delicious of Catholic customs, when meat dishes are replaced with sweets. I have been introduced to it via the medium of Marillenknödel – apricot dumplings.

Published: March 29, 2026, 7:00 am

This is how we do it: ‘My orgasms have become more intense since I had a baby’

Sandra and Roy are adapting to sex as new parents, from postpartum pain to acting fast when they have a private moment
• How do you do it? Share the story of your sex life, anonymously

Sex was a reminder that I’m still me. That this identity still exists, which is really important because you do lose it a bit, especially in the early weeks of becoming a mother

Published: March 29, 2026, 10:00 am

The kindness of strangers: An online forum user shipped me a car radiator, saving me from financial ruin

Other commenters helped me diagnose the problem. When I couldn’t afford the solution, someone I knew only by his handle offered to pay

• Read more in the kindness of strangers series

As a pensioner, money is always tight, so I was distraught when the secondhand car I’d recently bought began overheating. I took it to three or four different mechanics, none of whom were able to diagnose the problem.

Desperate, I searched online for solutions. On car forums, several commenters suggested tackling the potential problems that would be cheapest to fix, in a process of elimination. Having replaced the thermostat, radiator coolant, engine oil and filter, and transmission fluid, the principal suspect was down to the radiator. So I contacted my carmaker, who quoted me $1,200 for a replacement – way more than I could afford, as I only had $500 left in the bank. I was hit with the sinking feeling that I had just blown my life savings on a lemon.

Published: March 29, 2026, 2:00 pm

Readers reply: American football takes for ever. In which other sports do you spend most of your time not playing the game?

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts

• This week’s question: has a call for ‘restraint’ ever put a stop to war?

I read that the average NFL match lasts for three hours, but the clock runs for only one hour. Are there any other sports, games, pastimes or other activities that involve more dead time than actual game time? Alice Holliday, Lancashire

Send new questions to nq@theguardian.com.

Published: March 29, 2026, 1:00 pm

Down on your luck? How behavioural neuroscience could help

The latest research suggests there’s far more to good fortune than mere accident

When the founder of Panasonic, Kōnosuke Matsushita, was asked what quality he valued most in job candidates, his answer baffled everyone: whether they were lucky. Not their credentials, not their intelligence, not their experience. Luck. For years, this anecdote struck me as charmingly eccentric – the kind of thing a titan of industry gets away with saying because nobody around them dares to laugh. Then I began studying the neuroscience of fortunate people, and I stopped laughing, too.

What my research has revealed is that luck, far from being a roll of the cosmic dice, operates through identifiable patterns of brain chemistry and behaviour. The consistently lucky are not blessed by fate. They are running different neurological software – and the remarkable thing is that this software can be installed.

Published: March 29, 2026, 11:00 am

‘They feel true’: political deepfakes are growing in influence – even if people know they aren’t real

AI images of people – such as women in military contexts – are making money and serving as propaganda, researchers say

Online content creators are not just building fake images and videos of prominent public figures, they are also fabricating people and using them in military contexts, which can make them money and even serve as effective propaganda, according to artificial intelligence researchers.

Some of these online avatars are sexualized images of women wearing camouflage garb that have generated a significant audience and helped create an idealized image of political figures like Donald Trump, even if the viewer knows the content is not real, according to experts.

Published: March 28, 2026, 11:00 am

‘Canadians don’t want to come here any more’: anger over Trump squeezes US border businesses

Shops and restaurants once bustling with tourists now struggle for survival as Canadians think twice about crossing the border

On a warm March weekend in the American border town of Lewiston, New York, bakery owner Aimee Loughran is putting the finishing touches on a special order: a state trooper badge-shaped cake for a local officer’s retirement party.

It should be the last task of a busy Saturday at her Just Desserts shop, which sits just 20 minutes north of the rushing waters of Niagara Falls. Dotted with cafes, restaurants and historic buildings from the 1800s, the Lewiston strip is usually catnip for tourists, including the Canadians whose homes can be seen from the banks of the nearby Niagara River.

Published: March 28, 2026, 9:00 am

‘The era of invincibility is over’: the week big tech was brought to heel

Ruling that Meta and YouTube deliberately designed addictive products marks possible watershed moment for social media

The young woman at the heart of what has been called the tech industry’s “big tobacco” moment was on YouTube at six and Instagram by nine. More than a decade later, she says, she still can’t live without the social media she became addicted to.

“I can’t, it’s too hard to be without it,” Kaley, now 20, told a jury at Los Angeles’ superior court. This week, five men and seven women handed down a verdict on the design of two of the world’s most popular apps that vindicated Kaley’s position.

Published: March 28, 2026, 6:00 am

Palm Sunday, surfers and swan boats: photos of the weekend

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world

Published: March 29, 2026, 12:20 pm