Keyword – Food
Trefwoorden – Chefs, Food, Main course, Snacks, Salad, American food and drink, Vietnamese food and drink, Mexican food and drink, Chicken, Meat, Rice, Noodles, Summer food and drink, Herbs and spices, Pasta
Title – What’s the secret to a great TV dinner? | Chefs | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/anna-berrill
Link – What’s the secret to a great TV dinner? | Chefs | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-16T12:00:02.000Z
Category – Lifestyle
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/food/2026/jun/16/great-tv-dinner-summer-kitchen-aide

What are the best summer TV dinners? Mel, by email Few are as committed to teas on knees as Ella Risbridger: “It appals my parents, but I eat on the sofa just about every day,” says the author of The Kitchen Book . The key, she says, is not having to cut anything up: “One-handed cooking is a good way of thinking about it,” which is to say that Mel should be looking for meals that require only a fork, a spoon or chopsticks. “That’s easier to do in winter, because then you’ve got the likes of casseroles, soups and stews, whereas a lot of summer food is based on big sharing platters, which are not ideal, because, while you can put them on the coffee table, there’s lunging involved.” Said movement not only upsets the balance, but often also results in spillages: “I’m currently looking at a lump of bicarb sopping up a turmeric stain on my sofa,” Risbridger adds by way of confirmation.

Other considerations of the sofa supper include getting as many textures and flavours as possible into every mouthful. “Wherever you dig, you want to be getting something good,” says Zena Kamgaing, author of Dinner Time . That’s why pasta is a regular go-to: “It’s easy bowl food. On a hot day, say, I’ll do a no-cook sauce by blitzing mascarpone with sun-dried tomatoes, a little harissa and fresh basil.” Risbridger, meanwhile, is partial to US-style chopped salads, although Vietnamese-inspired numbers also feature regularly: “Invest in a julienne peeler, because that can make salad feel fancy, and put any kind of protein in it: salmon, sliced steak.” Add rice – “Cold salad and warm rice is a delight” – or deploy twirlable cold noodles. “If you’re watching telly, curtains drawn, you’re not looking for a beautiful plate,” Risbridger says. “You want the focus to be on the deliciousness, and I cannot stress enough that a Vietnamese salad is the optimum, because it’s beautiful, but not in a way that means you have to concentrate on its beauty.”

Feeding more than one mouth is where sofa meals get more complex, though, Risbridger says: “You’re negotiating the elbows in, elbows out thing, then someone gets up and you all tip.” As a general rule, anything customisable will be welcome. “I’m very committed to the taco bar as a way of life,” she adds, but fajitas work, too. “Cocktail sticks are invaluable here, because you can skewer them closed, which helps with the transition from kitchen to sofa.”

On further consideration, however, Risbridger concludes that perhaps the best answer is actually quesadillas: “There’s a recipe in my book for a herby, spinachy, cheesy, mashed chickpea situation that’s the sweet spot between healthy and pizza.” Alternatively, throw caution to the wind and just embrace the mess, Kamgaing says: “My family are massive chicken wings people, and those are great if you’re watching a movie.”

All that said, Risbridger can’t help but return to Hetty Lui McKinnon’s tomato salad with dumplings : “You can’t believe how good it is – I ate it every day for a month.” Chop a load of tomatoes, fry the same weight of freezer dumplings, then toss the two in a mix of rice-wine vinegar, soy sauce and chilli crisp, as well as grated garlic and fresh basil. “Now that’s truly the perfect summer sofa food.”

Got a culinary dilemma? Email feast@theguardian.com

Keyword – Food
Trefwoorden – Food, Food waste, Environment, Chicken, American food and drink, Snacks, Herbs and spices, Meat
Title – How to turn yoghurt pot scrapings into a marinade for fried chicken – recipe | Food | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/tom-hunt
Link – How to turn yoghurt pot scrapings into a marinade for fried chicken – recipe | Food | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-17T12:00:30.000Z
Category – Lifestyle
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/food/2026/jun/17/turn-yoghurt-pot-scrapings-into-fried-chicken-marinade-recipe-zero-waste-cooking

U sing an almost-empty yoghurt pot to marinate meat and vegetables is one of my favourite ways to prepare dinner. It’s a really simple and tidy way to marinate food that not only saves on the washing-up, it also turns a few yoghurt scrapings that might otherwise be destined for the drain into a flavour-enhancing, tenderising, waste-saving hack.

Yoghurt-pot chicken (Southern fried-style)

Fried chicken is such a treat, and with this method it also becomes really easy to make at home: minimal washing-up, no deep-frying and no wasted batter, because any excess yoghurt pot marinade and flour are turned into onion fritters that are a cross between pakoras and onion rings.

Unless it’s unavoidable, I usually shallow fry instead of deep-frying, to save having to dispose of or recycle too much oil. Any remaining oil can then be reused: simply pass through a fine sieve and store in a jar to use again with all kinds of savoury dishes.

If you don’t have a thermometer and are unsure if the chicken is cooked, after frying, transfer it to an oven tray and bake in a 190C (170C fan)/375F/gas 5 oven for a further 10-15 minutes.

Serves 2

1 egg 1 tsp sea salt 1 garlic clove , peeled and grated ½-1 tbsp habanero hot sauce , to taste 1 tsp hot paprika , or cayenne pepper 1 large yoghurt pot , with roughly 4-8 tbsp yoghurt left in the pot 2 chicken legs , cut into 2 thighs and 2 drumsticks

For the coating 60g plain flour 30g cornflour 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp hot paprika , or cayenne pepper 1 tsp fine sea salt 1 tsp finely ground black pepper Frying oil (sunflower, avocado or other)

Put the egg, salt, garlic, hot sauce and paprika or cayenne in the yoghurt pot and whisk, scraping any yoghurt from the sides as you go. Add the chicken pieces, pop on the lid and give it a good shake. Store in the fridge for at least four hours, and ideally 24 (or even up to three days), shaking the pot every now and again.

Now for the coating. In a large bowl, mix the plain flour, cornflour, baking powder, hot paprika or cayenne, salt and pepper, then drop in the chicken pieces and toss to coat well.

Heat 1cm frying oil in a large, heavy-based frying pan to 180C, then lower in the chicken – the temperature will drop to about 170C, which is good for a slow, bubbling fry. Cook for six or seven minutes on each side, until golden brown and cooked through (75C or above).

If you have any marinade and flour left over, combine them and add enough water to make a very thick batter. Add some sliced onions, then fry in large spoonfuls, until golden brown, to serve with the chicken.

Keyword – News
Trefwoorden – Russia, Ministry of Defence, UK news, Military, Water transport, Politics, Defence policy, Europe, World news
Title – Why did Russian warship fire warning shots in the Channel? – The Latest | Russia | The Guardian
Author – Nosheen Iqbal
Link – Why did Russian warship fire warning shots in the Channel? – The Latest | Russia | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-17T16:47:47.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/news/video/2026/jun/17/why-did-russia-warship-fire-warning-shots-in-the-channel-the-latest

Keyword – Food
Trefwoorden – Food, Baking, Bread, Vegetables, Fruit, Herbs and spices, Cheese, Tofu, Main course, Pickling, fermenting and preserving, Rice, Summer food and drink
Title – A lemony loaf, a stir-fry and a cheeseboard pickle: Ravinder Bhogal’s courgette recipes | Food | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/ravinder-bhogal
Link – A lemony loaf, a stir-fry and a cheeseboard pickle: Ravinder Bhogal’s courgette recipes | Food | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-17T05:00:22.000Z
Category – Lifestyle
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/food/2026/jun/17/courgette-recipes-lemon-loaf-stir-fry-pickle-ravinder-bhogal

C ourgettes don’t have to be boring, thanks to their shapeshifting magic. Shave with a vegetable peeler, douse in olive oil and lemon juice and eat raw, or spiralise for noodles. Alternatively, grill until blackened, scoop out the creamy innards, and fold into tahini for a smoky dip. Courgettes are irresistible grated and turned into fritters, deep-fried or cut into thick rounds and roasted on a high heat so they caramelise, but don’t turn to mush. Finally, you can pickle them to enjoy their sunny flavour in the gloomier months.

Courgette, pul biber and preserved lemon loaf (pictured top)

The addition of grated courgette makes for a deliciously moist loaf. The dough requires no heavy kneading or proving, either, making this easy to prepare.

Prep 10 min Drain 1 hr Cook 55 min Makes 1 small loaf

300g grated courgettes 2 tsp sea salt 200g self-raising flour Freshly ground black pepper 1 tsp pul biber Rind of 2 preserved lemons , finely chopped 1 heaped tbsp fresh oregano , finely chopped 30g flat-leaf parsley , finely chopped 100g extra-mature cheddar , grated 1 egg , lightly beaten 2 tbsp whole milk Olive oil

Put the courgettes in a colander, sprinkle and massage them with a teaspoon of salt, then set aside for an hour to drain off the excess liquid. Rinse the courgettes, turn them out on to a clean tea towel and wring out any excess liquid.

Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan)/350F/gas 4. In a large bowl, mix the courgettes, flour, remaining salt, some pepper, pul biber, preserved lemon, oregano, parsley, cheddar, egg and milk to form a soft dough (be careful not to overwork the mix). Shape into a round and put on a baking sheet greased with olive oil.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the loaf is golden and makes a hollow sound when tapped. Remove, put on a rack to cool, and serve warm, cut into eight or so slices, with butter or olive oil.

Stir-fried courgettes with crisp tofu and chilli sauce

This is an addictive and incredibly quick weeknight stir-fry that makes great use of any courgettes languishing in your fridge.

Prep 10 min Cook 20 min Serves 4

125ml neutral oil , such as avocado 450g extra-firm tofu (I love the Tofoo Co’s ), torn into bite-sized chunks 2-3 courgettes (about 350g), cut into 1cm-thick rounds 5 spring onions , trimmed and cut into batons Toasted white sesame seeds , to garnish Rice , to serve

For the chilli sauce 1 tsp cornflour 3 garlic cloves , peeled and very finely chopped 2 tbsp crisp chilli oil 3 tbsp Chinkiang vinegar , or a mixture of 2 tbsp rice vinegar and 1 tbsp red-wine vinegar 1 tsp sesame oil 2 tbsp soy sauce 1 tbsp caster sugar

Start by making the sauce. In a small bowl, mix two tablespoons of cold water with the cornflour, then add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.

Heat the oil in a wok until very hot, then stir-fry the tofu in batches until it’s golden brown all over. Drain on a plate lined with kitchen paper. Pour away all but one tablespoon of the oil (save it to use another time) and return the pan to a high heat. Add the courgettes and spring onions, and stir-fry for two to three minutes, until they turn golden but retain their texture.

Pour in the sauce, let it come to a bubble and thicken, then add the fried tofu and stir to coat it in the sauce. Sprinkle over the sesame seeds and serve with rice.

Courgette achaar

This pickle is an extremely welcome addition in a cheese sandwich or on a cheeseboard.

Prep 10 min Drain 1 hr Cook 20 min Makes 1 x 750ml jar

500g courgettes , sliced into thin 2mm rounds (I like to use a mix of yellow and green) 1 tsp salt 1 tsp turmeric 2 tbsp rapeseed oil ½ tsp brown mustard seeds , coarsely ground 1 tsp nigella seeds , coarsely ground 1 tsp fennel seeds , coarsely ground 1/2 tsp red chilli flakes 3cm piece ginger , peeled and grated 3 tbsp soft brown sugar , or jaggery 3 tbsp white-wine vinegar

Put the sliced courgettes in a piece of muslin, sprinkle with the salt and turmeric, and leave for at least an hour to draw out the moisture.

Heat a little rapeseed oil, add all the coarsely ground spices and cook until they crackle. Add the chilli flakes and ginger, and saute until fragrant. Scatter in the sugar and pour in the vinegar, then, once that’s bubbling, turn down the heat and cook for a further six minutes, until the vinegar has reduced and you are left with a rich sauce. Throw in the courgettes, toss well and take off the heat immediately. Store in a sterilised jar, where it will keep in the fridge for up to a week.

Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – World Cup 2026, Harry Kane, England, World Cup, Football, Sport
Title – Harry Kane’s American dream begins: ‘I’m coming into this in the best way possible’ | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/davidhytner
Link – Harry Kane’s American dream begins: ‘I’m coming into this in the best way possible’ | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-17T00:30:16.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/17/harry-kane-american-dream-dallas-world-cup-england

T here has long been something about the mentality of US sports stars that has appealed to Harry Kane . The England captain sees it as something specific to them: a unique brand of never-say-die spirit. It leans into a broader notion – that anyone can achieve success if they want it badly enough, if they pursue it with all their heart. It is known as the American dream.

Kane was introduced to it all in 2011 at the start of his professional career, when the path was anything but smooth at his boyhood club, Tottenham. He had started to become interested in the NFL and there was something about the New England Patriots quarterback, Tom Brady, that transfixed him.

Kane watched The Brady 6 documentary. It told the story of how nobody wanted Brady in the 2000 NFL draft. Six other quarterbacks were taken before the Patriots made him the 199th pick. When the show came out, Brady had led the team to three Super Bowls. He would do so on a further four occasions, with Kane travelling to Atlanta in 2019 to watch the Patriots beat the Los Angeles Rams for No 6.

Brady invited Kane to the team party afterwards and there is a lovely photograph of them together, Kane wearing a Patriots replica jersey, Brady’s No 12 across the front. The pair have remained in touch ever since. But it is not just Brady, even if he is the principle inspiration. Kane follows other NFL players and other American sports personalities.

For Kane, it is the US in general. He is at ease in the country. He remembers going there on his first pre-season tour with Spurs in 2012, when the club played a game in New York and Kane was recognised in the streets. There are a lot of Tottenham fans in the Big Apple. Kane has been drawn back time and again, mainly to New York and Florida, where he loves the golf courses.

In New York, he appeared on the Jimmy Fallon show in 2022 and Good Morning America a year later when he talked of wanting to be an NFL kicker after he retired from football. He first mentioned that in 2019 and his words are worth reprinting. “It goes back to that drive to be the best,” he said. “Even if I download a game on my phone, can I be the best in the world? If you play in the Premier League and the World Cup , and you then play in the NFL, would you be considered one of the greatest sportsmen ever?”

Kane has lived his version of the American dream on the other side of the pond. The breakthrough at Spurs in 2014. The inexorable rise to become the face of the England team; the record goalscorer. The big money move to Bayern Munich in 2023. The titles with the Bundesliga club.

“People didn’t expect much from Tom Brady,” Kane says. “Seeing the way he went about his business, his journey from the start … to go on and be the greatest ever player in his sport is maybe reminiscent of me earlier in my career. In that people doubted me and I worked hard to turn that around.

“In terms of the US, it’s how open it is from the athlete and media point of view. Everyone wears their heart on their sleeve and they are maybe more honest in how they talk in the media. I enjoy being here. I’ve had good experiences in pre-season. I come here on holiday a bit to play golf. It’s been good memories.”

Kane’s real American dream will begin at Dallas Stadium on Wednesday when he leads England out for their World Cup opener against Croatia. It feels appropriate that it is an NFL arena, the home of the Dallas Cowboys. Albeit not as appropriate as if it were the Patriots’ Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. England play their second group game there against Ghana next Tuesday. “That’s probably the one I’m excited to go to being a Patriots fan,” Kane says. “I’ve never been to the Gillette Stadium before.”

There is certainly excitement for Kane and yet it is underpinned by conviction. There is something about the way he carries himself these days. The humility endures; a product of his upbringing, his struggles. But there is an awareness of his place in the global game, especially after the season he has had – 61 goals in 51 appearances for Bayern and a second Bundesliga title. The DFB-Pokal, too.

Kane had played in five major finals – three for Spurs, including one in the Champions League; two for England, both at the European Championship. He lost all five, failing to score in any of them. In May, he bagged a second-half hat-trick in Bayern’s 3-0 win over Stuttgart.

The 32-year-old has never been so prolific. His previous best for a season at club level was the 44 he got for Bayern in 2023-24. He is getting better with age and there is talk of the Ballon d’Or if the World Cup goes well. Of greatness. After winning nothing at Spurs, Kane knows he is viewed differently. It is a source of strength.

“There’s a different feeling, for sure,” Kane says. “For me to have that weight off my shoulders [having won things at Bayern] is important. Especially this year having the trophies and having the cup final where I scored a hat-trick – my first big moment in a final. The perception around me has probably changed in the last few years.”

Kane will win his 115th cap against Croatia, moving him to joint-third on the all-time England list, level with David Beckham, one of his heroes. Kane went to the same school in Chingford, east London. Only Peter Shilton (125) and Wayne Rooney (120) have played more for England. Of Kane’s 79 goals for his country, nine have come in the knockout rounds of World Cups and Euros. No other player in history has more than eight. Kane, on eight, is closing in on Gary Lineker’s World Cup record of 10 for England.

“I’m coming into this tournament in the best way possible; the best place physically and mentally,” Kane says. “Throughout a career, there aren’t loads of times when all the pieces of the puzzle will come together at the right moment. Talking now, I feel like I’m in that place.

“With every tournament, I always feel under pressure being the goalscorer … people expect you to score and help the team and I guess this year is no different. But I’m comfortable having that responsibility. I’m probably even more comfortable going into this year because of the way the season was for me.”

Kane dwelt for a moment on the famous photograph of him as an 11-year-old with Beckham in 2005. It was at the launch of Beckham’s football academy. Also in the picture was Katie Goodland – Kane’s future wife. “Looking back on that with me and him and obviously my wife there, who was just a friend at the time … it’s a pretty crazy picture.”

Kane’s journey with England has taken in five previous tournaments, starting with Euro 2016, and he found himself admitting that he holds on to the low points more tightly. The lowest was his critical penalty miss in the quarter-final loss to France at the 2022 World Cup.

“The downs have almost motivated me [more] to be better, going back to the last World Cup and the disappointment with the way that ended,” he says. “After the time it took me to process it all and move on, it gave me an extra bite, an extra edge to really improve and push on.”

Kane is more about looking ahead. The ultimate dream bubbles. What will be his final words in the dressing room before the team steps out against Croatia? “The messaging will be to go with freedom,” he says. “We have an extremely strong team, a physical team. That’s going to be a big aspect of our game, so go out there and use that. We’re here to go far, that’s our goal.

“The only regrets you can have coming away from tournaments is that you didn’t go for it. You can make mistakes. You can miss penalties like I’ve missed. But I don’t think those are the moments that stop you from sleeping at night.

“It’s the ones where you feel like you could have given more, you could have been a bit more free, you could have just gone for it. When you lose, you lose anyway. I’d rather lose giving it everything, showing my best abilities, whether you make mistakes or not. The message is just to be free and don’t be afraid of any outcome. Then, we’ll have a great chance.”

Keyword – Culture
Trefwoorden – Games, Culture
Title – The best games of 2026 so far | Games | The Guardian
Author – Keza MacDonald
Link – The best games of 2026 so far | Games | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-11T09:00:18.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/culture/ng-interactive/2026/jun/11/the-best-games-of-2026-so-far

007 First Light

Bond sets out to earn his licence to kill in IO Interactive’s hugely enjoyable retelling of the agent’s early years. Mixing the stealth and open environments of Hitman with the narrative drive of the Uncharted games, there are fistfights, cool cars and hi-tech gadgets aplenty. Read the full review .

Forza Horizon 6

The grand festival of car racing returns, this time bringing its automotive chaos to Japan, where bamboo forests, winding mountain roads and dense city streets play host to a wealth of driving challenges. With astonishing visuals and more than 500 beautiful vehicles, this is escapist gaming on a whole new level. Read the full review .

Forbidden Solitaire

Trapped in a hellish dungeon surrounded by monsters, your only way out is to play increasingly challenging rounds of solitaire while your sister figures out who the heck made this cursed game in the first place. A brilliant puzzler housed within a clever meta conceit. Read the full review .

Mythmatch

Cast out by the insufferable dudebros of Mount Olympus, aspiring goddess Artemis must prove her worth by helping the mortal inhabitants of a small village. Mixing the dynamics of a match-three puzzler with a warm narrative about kinship and perseverance, this is a multilayered treat. Read the full review .

Titanium Court

A fascinating combination of match-three puzzler, tower defence game and fourth-wall-breaking stage-play, Titanium Court has you crowned queen of a faerie citadel that you must defend from its mysterious enemies, matching tiles to arrange the battlefield to your advantage and exploring the court at night. Confused? You almost certainly will be. But in this spectacularly innovative game, that’s almost the point.

Pragmata

When contact is lost with a lunar research station, space cop Hugh Williams is sent to investigate – only to discover a seemingly abandoned base ruled over by a despotic AI. With the help of a charming android child, he attempts to shut it down, hacking robots and blasting drones as he goes. An engrossing sci-fi romp with a cute parental relationship at its core. Read the full review .

Resident Evil: Requiem

Rookie FBI operative Grace Ashcroft sets out to investigate a series of mysterious deaths tied to the destruction of Raccoon City many years before. Soon, she’s being stalked, spooked and kidnapped, while series hero Leon Kennedy closes in. Combining tense stealth and barnstorming action sequences, Requiem gets to have its zombie and kill it too. Read the full review .

Saros

Colonists have gone missing on a distant planet and as part of the team sent in to find them, you must battle cybernetic creatures, explore weird fractured environments and die over and over again. Saros is an action game with style and vision, placing truly uncompromising demands on brave (foolhardy) space farers. Read the full review .

Cairn

Aava is not a normal person; she is one of those fascinating maniacs obsessed with scaling places that no human ought to reach. On her trip up this forbidding mountain, you control her individual limbs, searching for hand and footholds in the rock. The higher you get, the more urgent the question becomes: why is she doing this, and what kind of person do you need to be to follow this kind of obsession? Read the full review

Pokémon Pokopia

The latest spin-off from the Pokémon series is a delightful life simulation in which you must restore a ruined planet by building, planting and exploring – all with the help of various Pokémon pals with distinct personalities. Combining elements of Minecraft, Stardew Valley and Viva Piñata, this is a cosy yet complex adventure that brings new dimensions to Pikachu and co. Read the full review .

Honourable mentions

Mario Tennis Fever

Mewgenics

TR-49

Marathon

Pieced Together

Life Is Strange: Reunion

Keyword – Politics
Trefwoorden – Makerfield byelection, Politics, UK news
Title – Makerfield: how one small area could decide the UK's next prime minister – video | Makerfield byelection | The Guardian
Author – Sarah Ann Harris
Link – Makerfield: how one small area could decide the UK's next prime minister – video | Makerfield byelection | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-17T17:22:58.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/politics/video/2026/jun/17/makerfield-how-one-small-area-could-decide-the-uks-next-prime-minister-video

Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – Thomas Tuchel, World Cup 2026, World Cup, England, Football, Sport
Title – Tuchel may be unburdened by English baggage but he is no longer an outsider | Thomas Tuchel | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jacob-steinberg
Link – Tuchel may be unburdened by English baggage but he is no longer an outsider | Thomas Tuchel | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-17T00:30:17.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/17/england-manager-tuchel-no-longer-an-outsider-world-cup

I dentity lies at the heart of the World Cup. Who are we and how do we play? Does our academy system work better than yours? What do your coaching pathways look like compared with ours? And do you still get a bit emotional every time you watch that BBC montage of England’s penalty shootout win over Colombia at the 2018 World Cup ?

Maybe not if you happen to be Thomas Tuchel . This is not a man weighed down by the ghosts of England tournaments past. There is no missed penalty haunting this gangly German intellectual in his sleep, no costly red card in a knockout tie stalking his nightmares. For Tuchel, meaning is found merely in the pursuit of victory. At first glance there is no deeper cultural connection here and, for all the breezy talk of putting a second star on the shirt, there are times when it is hard to understand why Tuchel wants to bring an end to England men’s 60 years of hurt this summer.

Of course, winning the World Cup would look good on the CV. The attraction of the job is obvious. The rewards are vast and the players are elite. Yet even if it makes sense on a sporting level, it is still fascinating to consider the wider motivation for Tuchel given it is safe to assume he was not supporting England when they lost those semi-finals to the Germans at Italia 90 and Euro 96.

It comes back to the idea that what separates international football from the club game is playing for something bigger. For some, the aim is to go down as a legend in your own country, but Tuchel is not from England . He will not sing the national anthem when England face Croatia in their opening game in Group L in Dallas on Thursday. Will there be criticism from the usual suspects? Perhaps, but Tuchel is unlikely to care. He knows the words – “It is not so difficult,” he said with a grin – and explained that he still feels too shy to join in when the music strikes up.

Tuchel’s predecessor brought a different energy. Gareth Southgate almost treated the England job as a higher calling. He spoke about politics and behaved like a man trying to heal the nation. Southgate wrote an open letter about society’s divisions and ended up being played by Joseph Fiennes in the stage and television versions of Dear England .

There is none of that with Tuchel. His title is head coach rather than manager. He is not interested in talking about politics and his background means he is never going to become as overwhelmed by the job as Southgate was by the end of his time in charge.

Still, though, there are layers to Tuchel. As a young coach he rose through the German pressing school. He has been described as a “footballaholic” and is bright, engaging and funny. His eccentric streak appeals to England’s love of a maverick, yet the willingness to speak his mind can sometimes feel very un-English. It is hard, for instance, to picture Southgate ever calling one of his players repulsive .

“Thomas is almost Latin in the way he speaks,” the FA’s technical director, John McDermott, said in Inside England, a book about the team’s journey over the past decade. “There’s a warmth and there’s a tactileness. He comes alive when he’s speaking about the team, the players, the games.”

Tuchel did not click with the French media when he managed Paris Saint-Germain and has a reputation for being a hothead in Germany. He fell out with Joshua Kimmich at Bayern Munich and has always sounded ambivalent when talking about German football.

England is where he most comes alive. It felt right for Tuchel when he became Chelsea’s manager in January 2021 and led them to Champions League glory four months later. Lockdown measures were still in place, but the 52-year-old talked enthusiastically about wanting to discover London’s bookshops and best coffee spots. “It’s the country, it’s the humour, it’s the way of life,” Tuchel once said of his love of England as a country.

He is not putting it on. He likes zooming around the capital on Lime bikes. He has found his favourite gastropub and when he was younger he loved to pretend to be Chris Waddle “with the collar up in my garden” after watching the England winger during the 1990 World Cup.

Perhaps Tuchel’s desire to lead England to glory is not such a mystery. Unlike Fabio Capello, he gets the culture. His favourite novel? TC Boyle’s Water Music, a story about a London thief and a Scottish explorer as they seek the source of the Niger River in Africa in the 18th century. The impression is that Tuchel feels a connection with England. Asked if he is an anglophile, he says: “I can’t explain it but it felt like this from the first weeks at Chelsea. It just felt so good to be in the country and a part of the Premier League. Every day was a gift almost.

“What the league brings out of players and what the fans expect from the players, the coach made me feel very comfortable. I liked it from the first day. I cannot say often enough, it’s an honour for me to be England head coach. I feel basically at home when I land. I would say now: ‘I fly home.’ I fly home to my home in London. It feels like home when I land in London and I’m in England.”

This is more than an expensive gun for hire. Tuchel cares. The longer he stays the less he feels like an outsider.

Keyword – World news
Trefwoorden – Israel, Lebanon, War crimes, Palestine, Human rights, International criminal justice, Middle East and north Africa, World news, Law, Gaza
Title – Construction equipment multinationals may be aiding Israeli war crimes, experts say | Israel | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/william-christou
Link – Construction equipment multinationals may be aiding Israeli war crimes, experts say | Israel | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-17T13:00:32.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/17/construction-equipment-multinationals-may-aiding-israeli-war-crimes-experts

Human rights experts have alleged that six multinational construction equipment conglomerates may be aiding and abetting war crimes by supplying excavators and bulldozers to Israel, after photos and videos showed the Israeli military using their equipment to demolish villages in south Lebanon. The Guardian geolocated and verified images showing the Israeli military using excavators made by six companies – Caterpillar, Volvo, Hyundai, Doosan, Hitachi and Komatsu – to destroy homes, public utilities, shops and other structures across southern Lebanon.

Israel has levelled entire villages inside the “yellow line”, a 608 sq km area occupied by Israel along the Lebanese-Israeli border. At least 46 villages in south Lebanon have suffered heavy damage, most of it caused by demolitions carried out after the 17 April Lebanon-Israel ceasefire, according to a satellite analysis by Bellingcat.

The Israeli military said it was destroying Hezbollah infrastructure, with Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, calling for “all homes in Lebanese villages near the border” to be destroyed to “remove threats”.

However, Human Rights Watch has said that Israel’s wide-scale destruction of villages could amount to wanton destruction – a war crime. Displaced residents have watched from afar as videos show craters and vast fields of rubble where their family homes once stood.

Much of that destruction is being carried out by excavators and bulldozers produced and sold to Israel by foreign companies.

Two pictures taken by the Associated Press on 12 and 15 April in the Lebanese border town of Mays al-Jabal show excavators from all six companies among flattened houses, as well as Hyundai, Caterpillar and Komatsu excavators actively destroying homes.

Videos from the Lebanese border towns of Naqoura and Debel in April also showed the Israeli military using foreign-produced excavators to destroy homes and other infrastructure. Surveillance footage captured the Israeli military using a Volvo excavator to destroy solar panels and water infrastructure in Debel, a key source of electricity and water for the residents of the besieged town.

The Israeli military, commenting on the incident in Debel, said the actions seen in the video were “not in line with the IDF’s values”, and that the incident was under investigation.

Human rights experts said that supplying the construction equipment that enables the Israeli military to destroy homes and villages in south Lebanon could make these companies complicit in any war crimes and potentially lead to their executives facing legal consequences. Foreign companies should stop supplying heavy construction equipment to Israel until they are assured that it will not be used in war crimes, the experts said.

“Businesses carrying out activities that contribute to serious international law violations in Lebanon, such as the extensive destruction of civilian property, may expose themselves, or their individual directors and managers, to the risk of prosecution for complicity in war crimes,” said Mark Dummett, the deputy programme director and head of business, security and human rights at Amnesty International.

Dummett added that Israel’s “longer track record” of using military and civilian excavators to carry out demolitions in the West Bank, often in violation of international law, should have already raised concerns among companies continuing to supply equipment to Israel.

He said: “Any basic corporate human rights due diligence process would have flagged the risks of the company contributing to these abuses and should have triggered robust measures to ensure that their machinery and equipment were not involved in abuses.”

For decades, the Israeli military has used foreign-produced excavators to demolish the homes of Palestinians, often in circumstances that could amount to forced displacement and war crimes .

Most recently, Caterpillar has come under scrutiny after the majority of US Democratic senators voted in April to block a $295m sale of Caterpillar D9 bulldozers to Israel. Caterpillar’s D9 armoured bulldozer has become notorious for its use by the Israeli military to demolish homes and for crushing the nonviolent US activist Rachel Corrie to death in 2003 in Gaza .

Four of the six companies identified in Lebanon – excluding Hitachi and Komatsu – were named in a report by the UN special rapporteur, Francesca Albanese, as companies that profit from Israel’s displacement of Palestinians.

Evidence of their products being used to commit widely documented abuses has seemingly not given some of these companies pause. Instead, companies such as Caterpillar have signed new multimillion dollar deals to supply the Israeli military with equipment.

Now, excavators from Caterpillar and other multinationals are being used to systematically destroy dozens of villages in south Lebanon, after decades of similar destruction in Palestine .

Much of this destruction has been carried out by the placing of charges, as in the case of the town of Qantara, where the Israeli military used 450 tonnes of explosives to level structures there.

But the Israeli military has also used excavators to destroy border villages, relying on civilian contractors who bring in their construction equipment to assist with the demolitions. According to Haaretz , some contractors are paid based on the number of buildings they destroy.

The construction equipment is supplied directly to the Israeli military and to local partners in Israel, where they are sold commercially to civilian construction firms. Because the Israeli military outsources its demolition work to civilian contractors, it means that any excavator or bulldozer exported to Israel – even if not sent to the military directly – could be used to destroy homes in Lebanon or Gaza.

In the past, construction companies supplying heavy equipment to Israel have said they are not responsible for and cannot control how their products are used once they are sold.

Volvo, Komatsu, Hitachi and HD Construction Equipment – which operates the Hyundai brand – said they had internal policies to ensure that human rights were respected, including in their contracts with dealers who sell their equipment. Volvo, Hitachi and Komatsu said they had limited ability to control what customers did with their products once they were sold to dealers, while HD Construction Equipment said the equipment bearing the Hyundai logo pictured in Lebanon was not sold by them and was “entirely unrelated”. Caterpillar did not reply to a request for a comment and Doosan is no longer being produced.

However, business and human rights experts have said that pleading ignorance does not hold much weight given the abundance of evidence that their products are being used in human rights abuses.

Alreem Kamal, an international lawyer who works on corporate accountability in the Middle East, said: “The documented use of similar equipment in contexts such as Gaza means that companies cannot plausibly claim that they were unaware of the risks.

“The harm is foreseeable, and they bear a responsibility to take appropriate measures accordingly. Failure to do so may expose these companies to legal, reputational and financial consequences.”

The UN has set out guidelines for corporations under the UN guiding principles on business and human rights. Under the UN principles, companies have a responsibility to avoid causing or contributing to human rights violations, and to mitigate human rights abuses directly linked to their products.

The guidelines are nonbinding, but Sweden, Japan, and South Korea – where Volvo, Komatsu, Hitachi, Doosan and Hyundai are headquartered – have developed national action plans to implement the UN principles. The US, where Caterpillar is based, does not have an action plan.

There is a legal precedent of executives and corporations being held accountable for selling products used in human rights violations, starting with the Nuremberg trials. Thirteen directors of IG Farben, a German chemical conglomerate, were charged for selling to the Nazis Zyklon B, the gas used to murder Jewish people and others during the Holocaust.

In recent years, national courts are increasingly holding companies and their executives accountable for complicity in crimes committed abroad in conflict settings. French courts convicted the French cement company Lafarge and four former executives in April 2026 for financing terrorism for their role in paying armed groups in Syria, including Islamic State.

In Sweden, a court case is continuing against two former executives of the Swedish oil company Lundin Energy, now Orrön Energy, who are accused of complicity in war crimes in what is now South Sudan. Both former executives deny the allegations.

Kamal said: “The broader trend is clear: scrutiny of corporate involvement in atrocity crimes is growing and the impunity that has long protected them is steadily eroding.”

Keyword – Opinion
Trefwoorden – The super-rich, Income inequality, Elon Musk, Inequality, SpaceX, Global economy, Economics, Economic policy
Title – Is it bad that Elon Musk has a trillion dollars? Yes, and here’s why | Ingrid Robeyns | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/ingrid-robeyns
Link – Is it bad that Elon Musk has a trillion dollars? Yes, and here’s why | Ingrid Robeyns | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-17T04:00:21.000Z
Category – Opinion
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/17/is-it-bad-that-elon-musk-has-a-trillion-dollars-yes-and-heres-why

I t was bound to happen eventually: Elon Musk has become the planet’s first trillionaire . Until recently, economists who spoke about “trillions” were describing the GDP of the largest economies or the accumulated value of bequests on their way to the heirs of today’s billionaires. The term is not often used in daily conversation, let alone to describe the wealth of an individual.

But now we have entered a new phase of the oligarchic era. Previously, when we described the wealth of the world’s richest billionaires, it was understood as a few hundred billions. Three years ago, the value of Musk’s total assets was estimated to be about $250bn. The pace at which it has increased is mind-boggling – and so is what it represents.

We need to know two things about trillionaires: what a trillion dollars exactly stands for , and why this level of wealth concentration is dangerous.

A trillion is $1,000,000,000,000 – or “12 zeros”. Macroeconomists may understand the significance of this number, but most of us don’t. That’s why, when I wrote about a book about the need for a cap on personal wealth, or “limitarianism” , I proposed the concept of “an equivalent hourly wage”, the wage that one needs to earn to accumulate a fortune. In other words, in the case of Musk, what wage would he have to be on to amass a trillion dollars? The answer is that, even if he worked 70 hours a week from age 20 to 75 and took no holidays, his pay rate would need to be about $5m an hour. By way of comparison, the median hourly wage in the US is just under $25.

Why is such wealth concentration a problem? One reason is fiscal fairness. The economist Gabriel Zucman has shown that billionaires pay much lower effective tax rates than others. This is because our legal systems contain so many possibilities for tax avoidance – for instance, by shifting financial flows between the different countries in which their companies are active, by making use of loopholes in the law, or by putting their wealth in tax havens.

For decades, neoliberal economic thinking has urged us to accept cuts in the tax rates of the richest on the basis that eventually their wealth will trickle down. The claim has been that everyone benefits from the rich becoming billionaires – and now trillionaires. But even the IMF has by now accepted that this is not true . It is an optimistic ideological myth to ensure we stop worrying about widening inequalities.

A second argument against billionaires and trillionaires is wastefulness. There is no point in an individual having so much money, and it is scandalous, given that many people die prematurely or live stunted lives with very few opportunities, simply because the richest take the lion’s share of the wealth that we as societies produce together. A less unequal distribution of wealth in the world would allow humanity to address crucial global challenges such as global heating, while 99% of the global population would live better lives (and perhaps the 1%, too, given the corrosive mental health effects and social isolation that tend to come with extreme wealth). And the richest would still enjoy very nice lives.

But perhaps we should focus most of our attention on the third reason against billionaire and trillionaire wealth, and that is the harms it creates. Extreme wealth concentration undermines democracies. It comes with massive greenhouse gas emissions and environmental harm that are not needed to live a dignified life. These harms lead to social problems, and even economic damage because disproportionate corporate power risks making the economy less fair and competitive.

A focus on harm is alien to the dominant thinking about money, which is built on the assumption that when it comes to wealth accumulation, the sky is the limit. But we need a paradigm shift when it comes to thinking about the negative effects of extreme wealth concentration.

As the world’s richest person, Musk is a clear example of these dangers. He made the largest donation in history to a presidential campaign, spending around $290m on Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. He then used the power and influence to create the “department of government efficiency” (Doge), wreaking havoc in the US civil service. Musk has dismantled USAID , the agency that funded and operated a wide range of humanitarian and development programmes, including rapid interventions to prevent famines. Scientists have estimated that due to the closure of USAID, more than 14 million lives will be lost by the end of 2030, including 4.5 million children under five.

Extreme wealth concentration stands for extreme power. And Musk is using that power, including via his social media platform X, to amplify racist and xenophobic sentiments. He enables the spread of fear and violent rhetoric, thereby fuelling irrational anxieties that drive voters to the radical right. He has meddled in Europe’s internal politics, boosting the far-right AfD in Germany, for instance, and calling the UK prime minister a criminal.

The ultimate danger is the so-called oligarchic endgame theory, whereby power is concentrated among the super-rich. Governments, captured by the richest, then do everything to protect the privileges of this group and its supporters. Democracy itself is at risk if the rigid social hierarchy implied by this concentration of power among the wealthiest comes to pass.

If we want to prevent this from happening, we will have to find ways to curb current levels of wealth concentration. And not just Musk’s trillion. We need initiatives such as the extreme wealth line project that aim to find out, based on the available scientific evidence, the threshold at which wealth begins to cause harms, and where to place the “wealth line”, just as we use the “poverty line” to determine what an adequate income is for people to live on.

But it starts with understanding why billionaires and trillionaires are not a sign of success, but of a dysfunctional system that is harmful to all our lives.

Ingrid Robeyns is a Belgian-Dutch economist and philosopher, and the author of Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth