Keyword – Environment
Trefwoorden – Rewilding, North Yorkshire, UK news, Environment, Trees and forests, Investments, Business, Biodiversity, Land ownership
Title – ‘People start connecting the dots’: why an investment fund is rewilding a North Yorkshire estate | Rewilding | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/joanna-partridge
Link – ‘People start connecting the dots’: why an investment fund is rewilding a North Yorkshire estate | Rewilding | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-14T11:00:41.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/14/why-investment-fund-rewilding-north-yorkshire-estate-rebalance-earth

From a high point on the hill, the North Yorkshire landscape unrolls below. The moorland above gives way to grassland, trees and then pasture, divided by the region’s traditional dry stone walls.

The view may be idyllic, but it belies the condition of parts of this land, belonging to the sprawling 1,100 hectare (2,500-acre) Broughton Sanctuary estate, near Skipton.

The area, however, is about to undergo a transformation as an ongoing rewilding project gets funding from the investment fund Rebalance Earth.

This is the latest scheme for the firm, which calls itself a “natural capital asset manager” and which aims to treat nature as critical infrastructure and something that can be invested in, to achieve environmental and economic gains.

The sweltering days experienced by much of the UK in May and record-breaking temperatures followed by heavy rainfall in June highlighted the urgency of nature restoration, says Rebalance Earth’s co-founder and chief executive, Rob Gardner.

“People start connecting the dots … There is a shift in mindset from ‘this is an episodic thing, aren’t we unlucky’ to ‘actually this is now going to happen more and more.”

The land once known as the Broughton Hall estate, located at the gateway to the Yorkshire Dales, has been owned by the Tempest family for almost 1,000 years.

The current custodian, Roger Tempest, is the 32nd generation of his family to oversee the land given to his ancestors in 1097, a time when wolves still roamed wild in England.

When Tempest inherited the estate as a child, the main house was in a state of disrepair, with “no heating and bats flying around”, he remembers, while much of the land was pasture that was suffering after years of intensive farming.

When he came of age, Tempest set about renovating the derelict former agricultural buildings, and creating a business park with modern office space. About 700 people are now employed by 50-odd companies operating on the estate, while the main house and surrounding cottages have been restored.

The main house has appeared on screen in films and TV shows, including Channel 4’s A Woman of Substance and the BBC’s Gentleman Jack. The estate also hosts year-round yoga retreats and other getaways, where participants can enjoy the on-site spa complex.

The income generated from these projects allowed other change to begin.

“We regenerated all the buildings and the architecture, and I think we were guilty of forgetting about the land,” says Tempest.

This first began to change in 2021, when he embarked on a nature recovery programme to restore the woodlands, wetlands, grasslands and meadows by planting native trees and managing habitats. This coincided with two sheep farmers deciding to end their tenancies, freeing large areas of land.

A staggering 330,000 trees have been planted in the past five years, and changes to the landscape have seen otters and wading birds such as curlews return. The pair of beavers introduced last April have also wasted little time chewing through trees and building dams and lodges to change watercourses. They have also just had their second litter and, on the day the Guardian visits, the cries of two kits are audible from the fence of their enclosure.

“We have done a lot, but all that was funded was trees,” says Kelly Hollick, nature recovery manager at Broughton, of the grants previously received.

The funding from Rebalance Earth – described as “a few million” by Gardner – will allow them to “unlock the next level of rewilding” across two-thirds of the estate, totalling about 700 hectares, adds Hollick.

Spruce trees will be felled, with native species and shrubs planted in their place to create diverse habitats. Iron age pigs and Dales ponies will also roam on fields where sheep once grazed, helping to break up the compacted earth and allow grasses and plants to thrive.

Food will still be produced on the estate, from its orchards, allotments and about 60 cattle.

The project is clearly advantageous for the natural environment, but Rebalance Earth insists it can also benefit the economy.

The company says transforming degraded land into a thriving natural ecosystem can “generate financial, environmental and social returns”.

Gardner, a City veteran who worked as an investment banker and investment director at the wealth management firm St James Place, believes money can be used “as a force for good”.

Rebalance Earth funds the restoration of large ecosystems, including rivers, wetlands and parts of the British coastline, and companies pay it for helping to prevent environmental disasters including flooding, drought and coastal erosion, which can have costly impacts on people and businesses.

The Skipton project is local to Rebalance Earth’s backer, the West Yorkshire Pension Fund, which has invested £25m in the company.

Restoring natural processes at Broughton – increasing biodiversity and helping the land hold more water – is expected to benefit the community, while the estate will also generate income from nature credits, biodiversity net gain (BNG) units and carbon credits linked to long-term carbon sequestration.

Since 2024, all new road and housebuilding projects have been required to benefit nature , meaning all such schemes have to achieve a 10% net gain in biodiversity or habitat. This means that if, for example, woodland were to be destroyed by building a road, another would need to be recreated, in the same location or elsewhere.

If developers cannot do this, they are permitted to buy biodiversity units from third parties. It is this market for BNG credits that Rebalance Earth is tapping into at Broughton, through credits that have been calculated by rewilding consultancy Ecosulis and its fintech spin-off CreditNature.

Gardner says the companies buying these credits include “national players who operate up and down the country but have [developments] nearby and a lot of businesses that are in the region, and then hyper-local ones which might even be on the [Broughton] business park”.

The climate crisis has made many in Britain more attuned to the risk of flooding and drought, and water is a common theme across Rebalance Earth’s other projects.

These include the creation of oyster reefs off the coast of north Norfolk, which are not for eating but for rebuilding the marine ecosystem, as well as the work with 50 north-east Cotswolds farmers to “rewiggle” the River Evenlode in Oxfordshire.

The Evenlode – like 90% of rivers in the UK, according to Rebalance Earth – was artificially “straightened” in the past by farmers as a way to drain the land to make it available for crops. However, over the years, straighter rivers have meant that water has flowed faster, causing more erosion and pushing the flooding risk downstream.

The Evenlode project is bringing back the river’s original curves so it can connect with its floodplain to help reduce flood risk, improve the soil and increase biodiversity.

After much of Britain sweltered in unseasonable heat in late May, Gardner believes that more consumers, investors and businesses are recognising climate risks. Indeed, the £3.6bn Bedfordshire Pension Fund agreed earlier this month to a 3% allocation to natural capital investments in order to expand its climate solutions portfolio.

Back in Yorkshire, Rebalance Earth’s investment will help with the “difficult bit” of rewilding, according to Alastair Driver, former director of Rewilding Britain, who has been involved with Broughton for several years.

“The hard bit is the work we are doing, holding water on the land, keeping the soil wetter for longer, that’s really tough,” he says.

Advocates of rewilding, such as Driver, say rewilding large blocks of land that sit alongside agriculture and parkland achieve the biggest transformation, as at Broughton.

“It’s really difficult to be doing things at this kind of scale, but now we’ve got this opportunity,” he says. “It’s difficult because it’s hard to find the funding and it’s hard to get permissions. We’ve now got this all in one land ownership. It’s really exciting and is going to be one of the most significant projects in the country.”

Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – Democratic Republic of the Congo football team, World Cup 2026, World Cup, Football, Sport
Title – DR Congo bring style and pride to the World Cup after wholesome welcome | Democratic Republic of the Congo football team | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/nick-ames
Link – DR Congo bring style and pride to the World Cup after wholesome welcome | Democratic Republic of the Congo football team | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-14T04:00:32.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/14/dr-congo-world-cup-houston

I t was an arrival worth more than half a century of waiting. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) players strolled into the arrivals hall of George Bush airport on Thursday kitted out in tuxedo suits and leopard-print sashes, channelling La Sape vogue for snappy dress that swept Kinshasa in the 1970s. A throng of local volunteers cheered them through and, in a climate where little can be taken for granted, their welcome to Houston was a genuinely wholesome moment.

The DRC’s squad looked appreciative although perhaps they were simply relieved to see new faces. The joy of a first World Cup since 1974, when they competed as Zaire, has been complicated by the Ebola outbreak in their homeland and a 21-day isolation period imposed by the US authorities. The players and staff formed a bubble in Belgium, playing one friendly against Denmark and being forced to cancel a scheduled meeting with Chile in Cádiz.

For all the precautions there were at least few of the difficulties apparently encountered by Senegal and Uzbekistan upon entering. The DRC are understood to have had temperatures screened before disembarking their flight, but made it in with no alarms and found a host venue keen to roll out the red carpet. They will be based in Houston for as long as their tournament continues, training at the compact SaberCats Stadium in the city’s south. Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo await on Wednesday; it is a brutally tough return to the top, but the stature of their opposition feels less important than the fact of being here at all.

“We always dreamed of this,” said Jonathan, sitting in the stadium’s main stand on Friday afternoon. “A lot of people have been waiting a long time, but we never gave up. I believe this is our time.”

He was among about 70 members of the local Congolese expat community invited to watch the team’s training session on Friday, along with a large group of local children who joined the players for photographs. Kapinga Yvette Ngandu, DRC’s ambassador to the United States, took part in a semi-formal welcome ceremony. Houston appears eager to pull out the stops and Sébastien Desabre’s side hope to ensure their hospitality extends into July.

“We need to adapt,” said Desabre when asked about any ill consequences of their disrupted preparation. “We’re focused on our work, we’re professionals and sometimes the way is not easy. It’s not a problem for us.”

The Real Betis forward Cédric Bakambu, a 35-year-old veteran of several qualifying near-misses, drew the most adulation from those looking on. The Congolese diaspora in Houston is thought to number about 10,000, if US-born children are counted; it remains to be seen how many have navigated the tournament’s prohibitive prices to watch the troubled country’s date with history.

Jonathan, who left the DRC 17 years ago at the age of 21 and lives five minutes’ drive from SaberCats Stadium, was not giving up on witnessing it at first-hand . “I’m trying to be there, I’ve got to be there,” he said. “The tickets are crazy expensive, but we’re going to have to try and do what we can for the team.”

Desabre, a Frenchman who did the rounds of 11 managerial roles in Africa before striking gold with the DRC, hopes they can do plenty for Jonathan and his local peers, as well as the millions watching back home who cannot spend the time or money on quarantining. “We are very affected [by the situation],” he said. “It’s an additional source of motivation for us to fight on the field.”

A win against Colombia or Uzbekistan would give the DRC a strong shout of progressing through Group K and potentially a last-32 meeting with England, even if Portugal prove too strong. Desabre said an African World Cup winner was “just a question of time”; it would probably be the biggest shock in football history if his players achieved it, but an experienced core, including Axel Tuanzebe, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Chancel Mbemba, will not be easily rolled over.

There will be no repeat of 1974, when Zaire tumbled out with a goal difference of -14 and were mocked when Mwepu Ilunga’s decision to burst from the defensive wall against Brazil, smashing the ball upfield before a free-kick could be taken, was widely misinterpreted. “We prepared well and now we want to be well represented in this group,” Desabre said. “After 52 years, it’s really a pride, a pleasure.”

Joining the chants of “Mbote”, which means “welcome” in Lingala, Jonathan was a picture of both. “We have resilience and we really have faith,” he said.

If their early moments in Houston are anything to go by, the DRC can also boast bucket-loads of style.

Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – World Cup 2026, Australia, Turkey, Football, Australia sport, Sport, World Cup
Title – Socceroos stun Turkey as Australia’s youngsters shine in opening World Cup win | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jack-snape
Link – Socceroos stun Turkey as Australia’s youngsters shine in opening World Cup win | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-14T05:57:52.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/14/australia-socceroos-turkey-world-cup-2026-group-d-match-report

Nestory Irankunda ran to the corner flag like Tim Cahill, punching and ducking and weaving, after sending the Socceroos on their way to a stunning 2-0 upset victory over Turkey in Vancouver. The one act pulled past and future together on a night when Australia’s next generation delivered one of their best World Cup victories, to start their 2026 campaign in style.

They can thank a trio of young stars, all of whom were considered unlikely to start the match. Irankunda finished a brilliant end-to-end attack with a goal in the 27th minute, assisted by midfielder Paul Okon-Engstler. Young goalkeeper Patrick Beach – thrust into the starting side in a pre-match selection shock – pulled off a series of dazzling parries , including one in the first half that will be a contender for save of the tournament.

The Socceroos sat back in the second half as Turkey pushed for an equaliser. Dangerous winger Kenan Yildiz came on at half-time on the left flank and gave his side a new level of invention. The talented Turkish players poked and prodded with short passes around the Australian penalty area but the Socceroos held firm , reaching the final drinks break with their lead intact despite a series of near misses and heroic blocks.

Not long after the margin was doubled, when Connor Metcalfe smashed a left footer from the edge of the area as the counterattacking Socceroos streamed forward. It triggered wild scenes , the players gathered at the end of the ground marked by a huge wedge of yellow fans to celebrate this remarkable result.

Irankunda’s opening goal was a Socceroo sugar rush, cooked up by Paul Okon-Engstler. The midfielder’s lofted ball over the top was pounced upon by the scintillating forward, who took a touch inside one defender and finished coolly with a sidefooted effort, as three shirts in red and the Turkish goalkeeper converged.

They only arrived in time to watch the new face of Australian football celebrate by reviving Cahill’s goal celebration, going toe-to-toe with the corner flag. He was soon consumed by a crowd of Socceroos – including what seemed to be the entire bench – as the travelling fans celebrated like it was Kaiserslautern 2006.

There was a shock an hour before kick-off when the Socceroos’ team was announced. Irankunda’s inclusion, and defender Cam Burgess keeping Lucas Herrington on the bench, were notable. Okon-Engstler starting in midfield rather than veteran Jackson Irvine raised eyebrows. But the jaws of the 10,000 or so Australians in Vancouver were already on the floor.

Tony Popovic had selected Patrick Beach to start at goalkeeper. The 22-year-old Melbourne City player performed well against Switzerland the week before, but no Socceroo has played more World Cup matches than Ryan with 10, and the 34-year-old had been in good form for Levante in Spain’s La Liga. It meant the team, captained by 27-year-old Harry Souttar, oozed with youth. The average age was 24, and Burgess was the oldest at 30.

So their tentative start might have been expected. The first 10 minutes saw Turkey enjoy 73% of possession, as Australia largely parked themselves in their own half. Their most positive moments early came through direct balls into channels, trying to find space for Touré who was being marked tightly by Abdulkerim Bardakci.

Moments of indecision and miscommunication left hollow the players’ words earlier this week that they would start better than they have in recent matches. Despite the nervy performance, the Socceroos reached the first drinks break square. Popovic walked straight to Irankunda and Touré and with his arms addressed the pair like they were an orchestra, and he a conductor. Three minutes later, Irankunda delivered his stunning solo.

If Popovic’s selection of the young winger was vindicated in that moment, it was the turn of Beach to repay the coach’s faith barely a minute later. The young keeper stretched and with his fingertips pushed a powerful long shot from Bardakci on to the post. The evidence wasn’t initially clear whether the keeper had made the save, but when Beach punched the air in celebration, the case was closed.

Beach repeated the feat early in the second half, diving low to his right this time to save a free-kick from Arda Guler. And he delivered four or more stunning second-half saves to keep Turkey at bay in a sparkling performance signalling the arrival of a new national hero.

Keyword – UK news
Trefwoorden – Tommy Robinson, Far right, UK news, Heathrow airport, England, Police
Title – Tommy Robinson detained at Heathrow under counter-terrorism laws | Tommy Robinson | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/charlie-moloney
Link – Tommy Robinson detained at Heathrow under counter-terrorism laws | Tommy Robinson | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-13T22:08:08.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/13/tommy-robinson-detained-at-heathrow-under-counter-terrorism-laws

Tommy Robinson was detained by police on Saturday at Heathrow airport under counter-terrorism laws, after a week in which he rose to further prominence on social media.

It was understood the far-right activist, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was stopped and had his phones seized under section 3 of the Counter-Terrorism Border Security Act 2019.

Robinson used social media to claim he was detained for almost three hours and had his iPhone and Samsung Galaxy phones taken, and to ask his supporters to donate money to fund his legal defence.

A spokesperson for Robinson posted on X: “They likely want to see who he is talking to, and maybe find out who his sources are, sources who will expose politicians for their part in the rape of a generation of British girls.

“This is an attack on free speech, this is an attack on investigative journalism, nothing more nothing less.”

The 2019 act gives police officers at ports powers to stop, question, search and detain people suspected of travelling to plan, prepare and carry out hostile acts.

It was not known what the stop of Robinson was in relation to and the Metropolitan police declined to comment when approached.

Robinson, 43, has recently risen to prominence amid racial tensions across Britain, in response to police bodyworn footage showing the death of 18-year-old Henry Nowak while in police custody in Southampton.

The former English Defence League leader spearheaded protests in the Hampshire city, during which clashes between rioters and police left 13 officers and a police dog injured.

He also amplified footage of the moment when a man, believed to be a Sudanese refugee, wielded a knife over another man he had pinned to the ground in Belfast in a suspected attempted murder on Monday.

Robinson posted details of planned demonstrations across Britain and Northern Ireland on X. Elon Musk shared the post to his 240 million followers.

Robinson was previously cleared of a terror charge after refusing to give police access to his phone in July 2024, when he was stopped by officers at the Channel tunnel in Folkestone while driving a friend’s silver Bentley to Benidorm in Spain.

Robinson refused to give officers the pin to his phone during the stop, arguing the device contained confidential journalistic material. A district judge concluded he could not be sure the police stop was lawful.

Keyword – Food
Trefwoorden – Food, Vegetables, Salad
Title – Peppery perfection: 17 delicious ways with watercress – from soups and salads to sorbet and cake | Food | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/timdowling
Link – Peppery perfection: 17 delicious ways with watercress – from soups and salads to sorbet and cake | Food | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-14T09:00:39.000Z
Category – Lifestyle
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/food/2026/jun/14/17-delicious-ways-recipes-watercress-soups-salads-sorbet-cake

W atercress is among the oldest known plants consumed by humans, and claims for its medicinal powers are almost as ancient. Hippocrates grew it near his hospital for medicinal purposes; Pliny the Elder favoured it as a remedy for anxiety and coughs. At one time or another its peppery leaves have been used as old folk remedies to treat fever, scurvy, intestinal worms and baldness.

Even now, watercress maintains a reputation as a nutrient-rich superfood – the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has ranked it number 1 (with a perfect score of 100) on a list of “powerhouse” fruits and vegetables, and with good reason: it’s rich in vitamins C, K and A and antioxidants.

It does not, however, have a reputation as a versatile culinary ingredient; it’s probably best known as a soup base or a second-tier salad component. Watercress is easy to grow but highly perishable – widespread commercial distribution had to wait until the advent of the railways – and these days it seems rather less easy to come by than the decidedly blander, but much sturdier, rocket.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are 17 recipes using watercress – and only the first three are soups.

Of course there is nothing not to like about a traditional watercress soup, and Felicity Cloake’s well-considered version is a very good starting point, simple and straightforward: just watercress, onion, milk, cream, butter, salt and flour. The leaves are plunged first into boiling water and then into ice water to preserve their bright green colour.

Raymond Blanc’s watercress soup uses leeks, a potato and a bit of spinach ; Margot Henderson’s take features garlic, dashi made with konbu seaweed , and short-grain rice to thicken it.

This mussel risotto uses the same ice-water technique to retain the intense green of the watercress, which is subsequently pureed and only stirred in towards the end of cooking.

Almost any salad can be improved by the addition of a bit of watercress, but its mustardy bite is a great foil for particular flavours. Yotam Ottolenghi puts it together with lentils, asparagus and pecorino . John Torode combines watercress with apples and thinly sliced goose in a dijon vinaigrette, a recipe he says is a perfect solution to the problem of leftover goose, “which is sometimes a difficult meat to use up”.

This salad, from Love and Lemons, mixes watercress with fennel, orange segments, mozzarella, avocado and pistachio nuts . A still more intriguing, even mildly alarming combination is presented in Claire Thompson’s watercress, clotted cream and strawberry salad . You should be warned that it also contains sliced shallots and a sugary hazelnut brittle. The contrast of sweet and sharp is wholly intentional, even if it sounds like the result of a rear end collision en route to a picnic.

Watercress can offer a more refined alternative to a standard vegetable ingredient, using it where you might otherwise use spinach in, say, Angela Hartnett’s watercress and goat’s cheese tart or in place of cabbage in Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s watercress bubble and squeak .

It’s also possible to make a kind of pesto out of watercress, with hazelnuts and parmesan , in the case of Florence Knight’s tagliatelle. Tom Hunt offers a version so off piste – hemp seed, watercress, orange and blue cheese – that he puts “pesto” in inverted commas.

You can make watercress mayonnaise or tzatziki (here served with lamb). Watercress can even be fried in tempura batter – an idea, this recipe claims, that originated with the arrival of Japanese immigrants in Hawaii some years before watercress was known in Japan.

Finally, two desserts from watercress.co.uk , a hotbed of watercress recipe innovation brought to you by the Watercress Company growers. First, a watercress sorbet made with granny smith apples, sugar and lemon juice, and then to finish some watercress and vanilla cake . The latter might seem at first glance like an ordinary vanilla sponge with 125g of chopped watercress in it, but that would be to overlook its powerful health properties.

Keyword – Politics
Trefwoorden – Trade policy, UK news, Japan, Keir Starmer, Politics, G7, World news
Title – UK and Japan set to agree investment deal worth £18bn | Trade policy | The Guardian
Author – PA Media
Link – UK and Japan set to agree investment deal worth £18bn | Trade policy | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-13T22:39:09.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/13/uk-and-japan-set-to-agree-investment-deal-worth-18bn

The UK and Japan are set to agree £18bn worth of investment, creating tens of thousands of jobs.

Prime minister Keir Starmer will welcome his Japanese counterpart Sanae Takaichi to Downing Street on Sunday ahead of the G7 summit next week.

More than 10 commercial and government agreements are expected to be signed including a £9bn offshore wind deal.

It will also include Rolls-Royce deepening its collaboration with Japan’s Atomic Energy Agency, Downing Street said, signing a new agreement to develop next-generation technologies.

Japanese and British business leaders will join for a discussion on future opportunities for economic growth.

Starmer said: “These landmark agreements will bring multibillion-pound investment into the UK, creating tens of thousands of new jobs and driving new developments.

“As G7 economies and close security partners, we are working together with Japan on some of the most innovative technology in the world, harnessing the best of British and Japanese research and industry to deliver growth and security to every corner of the United Kingdom.”

Discussions will also include helping UK defence firms access Japanese investment, No 10 said.

It comes after Starmer’s leadership survival plans were rocked by the shock resignation of John Healey as defence secretary over a dispute about long-term funding for the military.

Healey was joined in his exit from government by armed forces minister Al Carns, as well as two parliamentary aides, heaping pressure on the prime minister, who is already facing the threat of a leadership challenge.

Keyword – Art and design
Trefwoorden – David Hockney, Painting, Art, Art and design, Culture, LGBTQ+ rights, Sexuality
Title – ‘Suggestive toothpaste tubes shooting into mouths’: David Hockney’s winking celebration of queer life | David Hockney | The Guardian
Author – Louis Staples
Link – ‘Suggestive toothpaste tubes shooting into mouths’: David Hockney’s winking celebration of queer life | David Hockney | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-14T07:00:37.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/jun/14/david-hockney-gay-queer-sexualised-imagery-celebration

S ix decades after David Hockney painted A Bigger Splash , his most famous painting, reproductions have become a visual motif in gay domestic life. I’ve seen framed posters, prints and postcards of the work – which captures the moment after a person jumps off a diving board into an otherwise still cyan blue swimming pool – in countless gay households. In my flat, it appears on a cushion cover that I bought after seeing the real thing at Hockney’s 2017 Tate Britain retrospective .

It’s fitting that A Bigger Splash is now emblematic of this pioneer. As an out gay artist who depicted same-sex desire in his work long before male homosexuality was partly decriminalised in England and Wales, Hockney and his paintings challenged the homophobia within the artistic establishment and beyond. And he did so not through the use of highly sexualised imagery, like the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, or with the activist themes of painter Keith Haring, but by reshaping our ideas of beauty, intimacy and desire. That’s how he made the biggest splash.

In 1961, when a student at London’s Royal College of Art, Hockney painted one of the earliest expressions of queer identity in British art. We Two Boys Together Clinging is a childlike painting that shows two figures embracing – and perhaps kissing. The title, which is unavoidably written across the painting, stems from a poem by Walt Whitman that had long been embraced by gay readers for its characterisation of physical closeness and companionship between men. It’s a reference that only some viewers would understand, which was obscure enough to avoid censorship laws at the time.

Hockney’s winking way continued on Cleaning Teeth, Early Evening (10pm) W11 , painted in 1962. As the title suggests, it features two figures – presumably but not explicitly men – brushing their teeth before bed. That sounds innocent enough, until you see the suggestive positioning of two red Colgate toothpaste tubes shooting toothpaste into each other’s mouths. Again, there’s a campiness to how Hockney leaves very little to the imagination of those who are “in the know” – while still maintaining a claim of innocence in the minds of the masses. It’s an early form of the type of coding that would soon become deeply embedded within queer culture, where visual signifiers such as hankies and earrings were used to identify each other safely.

When Hockney moved to Los Angeles in 1964 – five years before New York’s Stonewall uprising launched the western Pride movement – he found greater freedom to live openly as a gay man. His work portrayed California as a fantasy land of swimming pools, immaculate green lawns, palm trees and the rolling Hollywood hills. His depictions of men – and intimate relationships – became less abstract. In Peter Getting Out of Nick’s Pool, we see a nude young man getting out of a swimming pool, with his bare cheeks the focal point of the painting. An image like this – centring the archetypal twink as a figure of male desire – was highly controversial at the time. Other images, such as 1965’s California depicts two men on lilos, floating nude on the surface of the water, while Portrait of an Artist (Pool With Two Figures) shows a clothed man peering down as another man in white trunks swims.

What’s so revolutionary about Hockney’s paintings is not just that they portray male nudity and desire, but scenes of domesticity: men swimming, showering and brushing their teeth together. This was a time when being gay was not thought of as an “identity” but defined by physical acts. In the UK, it was criminalised by a mixture of privacy and decency laws, which prevented kissing or holding hands in public, and of course the act of “buggery”. There is an obvious arousal to how Hockney’s portraits hint at sex while never portraying it explicitly, but there’s also a tenderness to them. They underlined that gay intimacy and friendship could be seen as beautiful – that same-sex desire didn’t have to be tied to loneliness or tragedy, but could be full of pleasure.

Hockney provided a meeting point between queer identity, fine art and the decorative arts. In the 1960s, Andy Warhol initially struggled to be taken seriously by the New York art establishment, which favoured more “high art” (and straight) artists such as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. Hockney’s paintings were not only overtly gay, but unashamedly decorative, too, featuring patterned armchairs and floral shower curtains.

He was influenced by his surroundings, but also his intense friendship with Ossie Clark – one of the most famous fashion designers of 60s and 70s Britain. After meeting as students at the Royal College of Art , the pair had a platonic relationship that fed into their work. When Hockney received critical acclaim for paintings that reimagined the surface of a swimming pool as a patterned textile, where flowing lines imitated the ripples of the water, he proved that “decorative” should no longer be a dirty word, or the preserve of frivolous “low art”.

Unlike gay artists such as Haring and David Wojnarowicz, whose work combined art and political activism, Hockney has always positioned himself first and foremost as an artist. (Though in 1988, he did threaten to cancel a major exhibition at the Tate in protest against Section 28.) Instead, his story is more grounded in achieving gay visibility in establishment spaces, both in the UK and internationally. From staging major exhibitions to breaking auction records , he achieved a level of success that no other gay artist enjoyed during their lifetime.

Visually, Hockney’s legacy is grounded in a hard-to-describe aesthetic – when something just looks and feels, for lack of a better phrase, “a bit gay”. Whether it’s two men floating in a pool, a wall full of portraits of his pet dachshunds or bright, saturated paintings of the Yorkshire landscape, there’s a gay sensibility – and a thrilling sense of freedom – that radiates from his work. He carried that into later decades of his career, where he explored so many different styles and mediums, from collage to video, print-making, public art and iPad drawings.

This type of reinvention, which Hockney has modelled throughout his life, is a motif – and a fantasy – that is deeply embedded in queer culture. That’s why his work is so enduring: Hockney didn’t just see the beauty in gay life, he shared it with the world.

Keyword – US news
Trefwoorden – World Cup 2026, Extreme heat, Workers’ rights, Climate crisis, Environment, World Cup, Fifa, Football, US sports, Sport, Health, Mexico, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, US weather, US news, Americas, World news
Title – ‘It’s going to be extremely hot’: workers imperiled as sweltering World Cup temperatures are forecast | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/dharna-noor
Link – ‘It’s going to be extremely hot’: workers imperiled as sweltering World Cup temperatures are forecast | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-14T10:00:41.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/14/world-cup-heat-workers

As the World Cup kicks off, labor advocates and scholars warn that the workers making the tournament possible could face serious heat-related risks.

“It’s going to be extremely hot, and you just cannot leave people unprotected or you’re going to deal with a lot of injuries,” said Jonathan Alingu, co-executive director of Central Florida Jobs With Justice, which has been calling for worker protections at the Miami games. “Or, God forbid, something even worse.”

The Fifa tournament is being played across 16 host cities, including 11 in the US. That includes southern cities such as Miami, Houston, Dallas and Atlanta, where temperatures during games could top 85F or even 90F .

The matches come as forecasts show much of the US facing above-normal temperatures. Since the World Cup was last held in North America, the planet has warmed by more than 1F.

Heat is the deadliest form of extreme weather. Workers at previous World Cups have suffered and even died in sweltering heat, and experts warn this year’s tournament could be the hottest since the first in 1930.

Thousands of World Cup workers are expected to labor in conditions exceeding recommended heat-exposure limits, putting them at risk of heat exhaustion and other illnesses, according to a study published this week .

“If you think about the delivery people, the law enforcement, firefighters, EMTs, people selling concessions or collecting tickets, a whole network of people are going to face heat-related hazards,” said Andrew Grundstein, a geographer and climatologist at the University of Georgia who led the study.

Researchers assessed historical weather conditions and wet-bulb globe temperatures, a measure of heat stress accounting for temperature, humidity and wind speed. Southern host cities pose the greatest risks, though the authors say even cooler locations should prepare for unusually high temperatures.

Risk also depends on working conditions, the study says. Stadiums without air conditioning – including venues in Miami, New York, Philadelphia and Kansas City – may be more dangerous.

Those carrying concessions or other heavy loads, performing physical labor such as construction or field maintenance, or wearing extra fabric such as mascot costumes may be more vulnerable to heat illness and injury, the study says. Staff who spend long periods in direct sunlight, including security personnel, may face elevated risks as well.

Protections

Measures such as mandated breaks and access to water and shade can help protect workers from scorching temperatures, said Jordan Barab, former deputy assistant secretary of labor at the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Osha).

“We’ve known for decades, if not centuries, how to protect workers against heat-related illness and death,” he said. “It’s not that hard, it’s not that expensive, but there are far too many employers who are still neglecting those precautions, and far too many workers who are getting sick and dying.”

Fifa does not directly control employment conditions, which are governed by host countries, local organizers, stadium authorities and contractors. But it can promote safety through host-city agreements, venue-operating requirements and contractor standards, said Margaret Morrissey-Basler, a senior adviser of occupational safety at the University of Connecticut’s Korey Stringer Institute who co-authored the recent study.

“It is also important for city governments and the organizations themselves to ensure these protections are in place,” said Morrissey-Basler, who is also a professor at Providence College.

In an emailed statement, Fifa said it is “committed to protecting the health and safety of all players, referees, fans, volunteers and staff”.

“Climate-related risks are assessed as part of overall tournament planning and managed in close coordination with the host cities, stadium authorities and national agencies,” a spokesperson said.

To avoid the worst heat, Fifa scheduled many matches for late afternoon and evening. Venues will also deploy cooling measures including shaded areas, misting systems and expanded water distribution, the spokesperson said.

Fifa will also implement work-rest schedules, station trained medical personnel at every match, monitor weather conditions in real time and rely on a taskforce of heat experts, the spokesperson added.

How effective these protections are will depend on implementation, worker advocates say.

“I hope, we hope, that they are able to follow through on all that,” said Luisangel Rodriguez, spokesperson for SEIU Local 1, which represents some staff at the Kansas City stadium hosting World Cup matches. “Let’s see.”

Risks remain

Labor activists fear Fifa’s efforts won’t eliminate heat-related risks. For instance, Yareliz Mendez-Zamora, an immigrant rights organizer in Miami, said even evening games could still leave workers exposed to extreme heat.

“Even if the games start after 6pm or after 7pm, here in Miami it can still be dangerously hot during that time,” said Mendez-Zamora, who serves as policy coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee.

Alingu noted that stadium workers often begin shifts hours before kick-off, potentially during the hottest part of the day. Fifa did not respond to a question about shift start times.

Some World Cup workers are unionized and may have stronger heat protections, Grundstein said. In Kansas City, for instance, SEIU Local 1 has secured guaranteed access to water, cooling towels and fans during temperature spikes at the stadium through labor-management meetings with the stadium, said Rodriguez, the union spokesperson, though he said the protections are “never enough when it gets hot”.

But many World Cup games will rely heavily on temporary contract workers who may not be acclimated to local heat, said Grundstein of the University of Georgia.

“When you live in a hot area, your body adjusts to it. You learn to sweat more efficiently, the body’s able to regulate its temperature better,” he said. “But when people just move here from a cooler area, your body hasn’t adjusted yet … which can make you more vulnerable.”

Temporary workers may also be less likely to speak up about unsafe conditions, Alingu said. He is part of a coalition pushing for heat-safety training, worker support , and cooling hubs at Miami’s World Cup matches and fan festival viewing events, where workers can access shade, water and grievance resources.

Officials from Miami-Dade county, the committee overseeing the fan festival and Fifa itself have not responded to those requests, he said. They did not respond to questions from the Guardian about the demands.

Political conditions may put a damper on efforts to protect World Cup workers from heat. Florida and Texas – both of which will host matches – have enacted state laws that explicitly ban local municipalities from mandating heat protections for workers.

“We have tried to pass ordinances that would have guaranteed protections to workers including at the World Cup, but unfortunately this state has preempted a lot of that,” said Mendez-Zamora. “That gives you some idea of how hard it can be to make sure good working conditions are in place.”

Only seven states have enforceable occupational heat safety standards, and just two of them – California and Washington – are hosting World Cup matches.

“Since there aren’t any federal regulations protecting workers against heat, in states without specific protections, workers are basically at the whim of their employers,” said Barab.

Though Osha renewed a program meant to emphasize worker heat protections this year, under Trump, the agency weakened its enforcement measures. And without a robust staff or true federal regulations, there is not much the agency can do to require employers to protect workers from heat, said Barab.

In the absence of strong protections, labor rights groups say they will continually monitor working conditions throughout the World Cup.

“We’re now in a mode of needing to observe and report what’s happening,” said Alingu. “We can’t be oblivious to the unsafe conditions and we can’t just assume things are going to be fine … not in this kind of weather.”

Keyword – UK news
Trefwoorden – UK news
Title – Far-right and anti-racist protesters clash in UK cities after Belfast riots | UK news | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/geraldine-mckelvie,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/daniel-lavelle
Link – Far-right and anti-racist protesters clash in UK cities after Belfast riots | UK news | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-13T17:30:22.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/13/far-right-anti-racist-protesters-clash-brighton-liverpool-sheffield-glasgow

Far-right marches took place across the UK on Saturday after violent unrest in Belfast and Southampton in recent days.

Several people were arrested on Saturday afternoon as far-right groups clashed with anti-racist and anti-fascist demonstrators in Brighton, Liverpool, Sheffield and Glasgow.

Homes and vehicles were set on fire in Belfast this week after Stephen Ogilvie, 44, lost an eye after a knife attack in the city on Monday evening. Hadi Alodid, 30, originally from Sudan, has been charged with attempted murder.

This week, five people were also jailed for violent disorder after riots broke out in Southampton in response to the death of Henry Nowak.

Nowak, an 18-year-old student, was arrested in error over false racism claims while dying of stab wounds inflicted by Vickrum Digwa, a British Sikh. The protests took place earlier this month, shortly after Digwa was jailed for Nowak’s murder.

On Saturday, a protest was held in Sheffield by Raise the Colours, which describes itself as a “grassroots movement for unity and patriotism” and campaigns against illegal immigration.

South Yorkshire police said five people were arrested. Four men have been accused of public order offences, while another was arrested on suspicion of assault. A 17-year-old boy was detained after an alleged attack on an emergency worker.

Supt Charlotte Bloxham said the force’s operation was “complicated by a counter-protest group which did not adhere to conditions in place”.

However, she added that officers “were able to safely manage the protest and counter-protest throughout”.

In Brighton the anti-immigration group South East Patriots and counter-protesters from an event called Carnival Against Fascism took to the streets.

South East Patriots said it was calling for stronger border control, enforcement of immigration laws, and the deportation of illegal immigrants.

More than 20 anti-racist groups took part in the counter-demonstration, including the DJ Fatboy Slim. They said they were coming together to “ensure a united resistance” and to show “the far right are not welcome in Brighton”.

Footage of minor skirmishes between the two groups circulated on social media, with tensions concentrated around Brighton railway station.

The far-right demonstrators, many of whom were draped in the flag of St George and the union jack, were contained by the police on Terminus Road, which runs alongside Brighton railway station. Counter-protesters faced off with them through the gates of the station, with both groups trading insults and songs.

A Sussex police spokesperson confirmed that officers had arrested a man on suspicion of breaching the peace and assaulting a police officer. Another man was detained in relation to an alleged public order offence in a separate incident at the same protest, the force said.

In Liverpool, protesters clashed in the Walton area of the city, as rightwing groups led chants calling for mass deportations. Merseyside police said they had arrested a man on suspicion of breach of the peace.

The unrest took place as Andy Burnham said the UK was on a path towards the “poisonous” politics of the US under the current Labour leadership.

During a campaign speech on Saturday, the mayor of Greater Manchester said discourse was becoming more polarised and “communities don’t work together any more”.

Burnham, who hopes to return to Westminster in next week’s Makerfield byelection, asked people attending the speech: “Does anyone here feel that we can just stay on the path that we’re on as a country?

“It doesn’t feel doable, does it? It doesn’t feel that we’re heading in the right direction. It doesn’t feel like we’re heading to better lives for people.

“Things are getting harder, and politics is getting more polarised, and the path we’re on, if we are not careful, is a path towards the politics of the United States of America, a polarised, poisonous politics where people in communities don’t work together any more.”

Also on Saturday, rival protesters clashed in Glasgow after thousands descended on the city for a “reclaim our streets” demonstration organised by Stand Up to Racism.

The anti-racism protesters gathered near a significantly smaller group of counter-protesters who were fenced off from the main group by police.

Some in the counter-protest group performed what appeared to be Nazi salutes as the two groups gathered in the city centre.

Most of the counter-protesters, who were almost exclusively men, wore balaclavas or other face coverings.

The scene became tense as police tried to contain counter-protesters who had attempted to breach the barriers.

Projectiles, including drink cans, were thrown towards the Stand Up to Racism group, while an egg appeared to be thrown towards the counter-protesters.

Some of the counter-protesters waved union flags, and others Israel flags, while the anti-racism side waved Palestinian, Ukraine and Scotland flags.

Keyword – World news
Trefwoorden – Philippines, Earthquakes, Asia Pacific, Marine life, World news, Environment
Title – Deadly Philippines earthquake found to have raised seabed by up to 2 metres | Philippines | The Guardian
Author – Agence France-Presse in Manila
Link – Deadly Philippines earthquake found to have raised seabed by up to 2 metres | Philippines | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-14T11:07:18.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/14/philippines-earthquake-raised-seabed-costal-uplift-coral-exposed

A powerful earthquake that killed at least 61 people in the Philippines this week raised the seabed by as much as 2 metres (6.6ft), exposing coral and harming marine life, the country’s environment department has said.

At least 40 people are still missing after the 7.8-magnitude quake off southern Mindanao island on Monday, according to updated tolls from the disaster agency.

Residents first reported the geological phenomenon known as “coastal uplift” two days after the quake, which extended the shoreline by as much as 200 metres in some places, the environment department said on Sunday.

A shifting of the Cotabato trench “pushed upward part of the coastlines of Sarangani and Davao occidental [provinces] … exposing the bottom of the sea that was originally submerged”, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said. “Approximately 2m [metres] was the mapped uplift.”

The trench, which lies as close as 50km (31 miles) off the coast of southern Mindanao, is the site of frequent seismic activity, including a “swarm” of thousands of mostly small earthquakes recorded in January.

A team dispatched to the area had “found that long stretches of shoreline, coral reef and seagrass beds have been exposed”, the environment department said.

An official who spoke to Agence France-Presse on Sunday said they could not yet say precisely how wide an area had been affected, given the size that would be needed to survey. Images released by the department’s regional office showed a large swathe of exposed coral, with dead fish and other aquatic life lying on top.

“These exposed corals and seagrass beds had begun dying off alongside their resident organisms such as reef fishes, eels, clams, and shells,” it said.

Residents initially reported the changes to the seabed out of concern that they might be poisoned by the fumes from decaying sea life.