Keyword – US news
Trefwoorden – US immigration, Ohio, US news, Ukraine, US politics, Europe
Title – A Ukrainian family built a community in Cleveland. Now, they face deportation | US immigration | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/stephen-starr
Link – A Ukrainian family built a community in Cleveland. Now, they face deportation | US immigration | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-21T14:45:33.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/21/ohio-ukrainian-family-deportation

Tamila Vashchuk and her husband, Mykola, are minor celebrities in this corner of Ohio .

The Ukrainian couple have appeared on the cover of local magazines and been invited onto morning television shows. En route to building a successful pierogi food business , they’ve met with the governor. A recent law graduate from Cleveland State University, Mykola is hoping to do his bar exams someday. Most Sundays, they volunteer at the local church.

But now, the family faces an immigration court hearing they believe could see them deported back to Ukraine , where they would struggle to treat their son’s illness and where Russia’s ferocious assault has increased in recent weeks.

Four years ago, Tamila noticed their 10-year-old son, whom they asked not to be named, wasn’t growing physically as they expected he would.

“His appetite was so low. He was not gaining weight,” she recalls.

Facing astronomical medical and testing expenses in Ohio, Tamila and her son decided to temporarily return to their hometown, Kyiv, where they knew they could get their son’s health assessed at a cost they could afford.

Before they did, Tamila made numerous trips to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Cleveland to ensure that if they left the US, they could re-enter the country without problems. She also called Customs and Border Protection officials at the Cleveland airport, from whom she received similar advice.

“We were told repeatedly that due to the humanitarian parole stamps in our passports, we would be re-admitted to the US without any issues,” she says.

But when their son’s treatment ended in Ukraine and the family came back to the US through Boston Logan international airport in December 2022, they were immediately issued with removal orders, having allegedly violated the terms of the parole, which prohibit leaving the US.

“The officer said: ‘Technically, you have broken the parole.’ Our brains were absolutely melted,” recalls Mykola, who does not face deportation, having entered the US just once.

Tamila and her son now face a court hearing, initially set for late June but which has been rescheduled for August, that could see them taken into custody and deported.

“I have two master’s degrees. We know this country. We love this country,” Tamila says. “We just want to stay here.”

If deported, the health of their child, whose daily medication to treat his hormonal deficiency must be refrigerated at all times, would be at significant risk.

All the while, several judges at Cleveland’s immigration court are noted for being especially unforgiving.

TRAC, a research center at Syracuse University, found that immigration judges based in Cleveland have been denying asylum applications at rates of more than 70% for years. The judge assigned to the Vashchuks’ case has the highest asylum denial rate in the court, and one of the highest in the country.

What’s more, the court has also become a place where ICE agents regularly detain people .

Questions sent to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) asking whether the family’s potential deportation is an excessive punishment given the health risk and potential threats to their lives from the conflict were not directly answered.

A statement from a DHS spokesperson said: “In December of 2022, Tamila Vashchuk and her son … attempted to illegally re-enter the US through Boston, without valid travel documents. They were admitted to the US in June of 2022 under the Uniting for Ukrainians humanitarian parole program but traveled outside of the US without permission and without valid travel documents. They both will receive full due process, pending the outcome of their immigration proceedings in August.”

Russia’s years-long targeting of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, which has seen its electricity generation capacity reduced by 50% due to near-nightly bombing raids, means that if they are deported to Ukraine, keeping the son’s medication refrigerated would be near impossible. On top of that, there aren’t steady supplies of the medicine.

“The doctor was saying that the supply in Ukraine is unreliable, and he has to take it until he is 18,” says Mykola.

“In our apartment building, there is no electricity, no fridge, no heating, no water.”

The Vashchuks aren’t the only Ukrainians facing mounting problems in the US. Temporary protected status (TPS) for an estimated 103,000 Ukrainian nationals is set to end in October .

Last year, the Trump administration froze the Uniting for Ukraine program, which allowed more than 235,000 people fleeing the war to enter the US. Trump has frequently criticized Ukraine and its political leadership for refusing to bend to Russia’s demands.

All the while, Russia’s assault on Ukraine has escalated.

In recent weeks, dozens of people have been killed and hundreds injured in Dnipro, Kyiv and Kharkiv in some of the worst attacks since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

All this has fueled human rights groups to call on the Trump administration to extend immigration resources for Ukrainians in the US.

A report released in February by Global Refuge, a Maryland-based non-profit, found that “Country conditions in Ukraine continue to meet the statutory requirements for TPS, including armed conflict and other extraordinary conditions that affect the ability of nationals to safely return”.

The US Department of State has categorized Ukraine as a “level four: do not travel” country due to what it calls the risk of “active ground combat, frequent shelling, missile and drone attacks on populated areas and civilian infrastructure”.

While the Uniting for Ukraine program that the Vashchuks entered the US on prevents holders from being deported, Mykola says that immigration judges have discretionary authority “and can make whatever decision they deem appropriate. I don’t know what’s going to be in the judge’s mind.”

Historically, Cleveland has been home to one of the largest Ukrainian communities in the country, which began to grow in the early 1900s as people left poverty and famine to seek work in factories. Today, the city’s suburbs are dotted with large eastern orthodox churches and, since Russia’s invasion, the community has grown by several thousand people, fueling a host of local cultural festivals.

“We work in the public school systems and we have seen every single Ukrainian student graduate on time and every single one be accepted into post-secondary education programs,” says Patrick Kearns, executive director of Re:Source Cleveland, a non-profit that works with immigrants in Ohio’s Cuyahoga county.

“They have worked incredibly hard when they get here. They’ve been nothing but a boon to our economy. It’s unfortunate to see that our policies haven’t kept pace with where they were when we [first] welcomed these folks several years ago.”

Kearns says that the bipartisan Ukrainian Adjustment Act – a bill that would give certain Ukrainians in the US a pathway to permanent residency but that’s failed to gain traction among lawmakers – should be moved forward.

“We’d like to see a comprehensive approach. They are an asset to the community,” he says.

The looming threat of deportation has made it impossible for the Vashchuk family to invest in or plan for their already successful food business. Their food production business back in Kyiv is on life support due to the war. They petitioned to have the removal proceedings dismissed, but that was denied.

“We have appealed for help from local politicians but heard nothing back,” says Mykola.

“We have parents in Kyiv, and they say this is the worst it’s been.”

Keyword – Sport
Trefwoorden – Newsletter sign-up
Title – Sign up to the Sport in Focus newsletter: the sporting week in photos | Newsletter sign-up | The Guardian
Author – Guardian Staff
Link – Sign up to the Sport in Focus newsletter: the sporting week in photos | Newsletter sign-up | The Guardian
Publish date – 2025-10-01T11:00:23.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/oct/01/sign-up-to-the-sport-in-focus-newsletter-the-sporting-week-in-photos

Keyword – Life and style
Trefwoorden – Health & wellbeing, Fitness, Life and style, Yoga, Pilates, Training programmes
Title – From riding the bus to reaching the top shelf: 18 simple exercises to prepare you for everyday life | Health & wellbeing | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/joel-snape
Link – From riding the bus to reaching the top shelf: 18 simple exercises to prepare you for everyday life | Health & wellbeing | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-21T13:00:31.000Z
Category – Lifestyle
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/jun/21/18-simple-exercises-for-everyday-life

T here are lots of movements that make you stronger and more physically capable – press-ups, squats and kettlebell swings build strength and muscle that help in a huge variety of situations. But can you get more specific? Well, yes: there are exercises that target the challenges of everyday life, whether that’s playing on the floor with your kids or bringing in the big shop. Here are the moves you may want to consider, presented by a dozen movement coaches, personal trainers and strength specialists.

To stay upright on public transport … do side planks with a twist

Plenty of people think planks are just for abs, but they’re a full-body stability exercise that helps us brace against other movements, from carrying a toddler on one hip while unlocking the front door to standing on the deck of a ship (or, er, the No 12 bus).

“Side planks with extra movement – hip dips or leg lifts, for example – teach your body to stay strong when something is trying to pull you sideways,” says Callum Roberts, the head coach at the gym Results Inc . “They train your obliques, hips, glutes and shoulder stability all at once.”

To begin, start in a classic side plank – one forearm on the floor, feet slightly staggered – then move one leg up and down .

To simplify the big shop … do the suitcase carry

Lots of coaches will tell you to do the farmers’ walk – a heavy weight in each hand – but this one-sided variation will help you carry groceries, luggage or a toolbox without leaning unnecessarily to one side, explains the trainer Jacob Siwicki . “Hold a heavy weight such as a dumbbell or a kettlebell in one hand and walk tall,” he says. “It will teach your core and body to resist tipping over sideways; almost nothing else trains this specifically.”

To entertain the kids on car journeys … work on your thoracic rotations

If you regularly occupy the passenger seat on long road trips with children, then you probably know that constantly turning around to deliver snacks, fix tablets or address arguments takes its toll – especially on your spine. “Most people are really stuck in the mid-back, so the spine ends up rotating as one stiff block rather than moving segment by segment,” says the posture and pilates expert Kerrie-Anne Bradley . “Rotating and moving the middle thoracic spine – the middle section of your back, made up of the 12 vertebrae between the neck and the lower ribs – helps to restore rotational range without loading a stiff spine.”

For a simple way to prepare, try thoracic twists : “Sit up on your sit bones [at the base of your pelvis] on your chair, with your feet flat on the floor, and imagine your head being pulled up by an invisible thread,” says Bradley. “Bring your middle fingers to touch at the centre of your chest, elbows lifted in line with shoulders, keeping the tops of shoulders down. Keep your pelvis, legs and arms fixed in this position, breathe in through your nose and rotate to the right. Let your head move with your chest, not ahead of it, and rotate only as far as you can without your hips shifting.

“Once that feels controlled, extend your arms straight out in line with your shoulders once in the rotation and turn a little further, doing a full breath in and out. Return to the centre with your arms straight out to the sides before bending them to start the rotation on the other side.”

To always win at tag … learn the Cossack squat

“This variation of a side lunge develops lateral strength, hip mobility, ankle mobility and the ability to shift your weight confidently from side to side, which are qualities that often get neglected in traditional fitness programmes,” says Autumn Noble, a personal trainer at Genesis Health Club. “Practising this lunge will help with movements such as scrambling over rocks on a hike, stepping sideways on to a crowded train or recovering from a misstep on uneven ground.”

Squat down with most of your weight on one flat foot , with your other leg extended, toes pointing up and heel on the floor. Slowly shift your weight across to hit the same position on the other side, feeling the stretch in your groin and hamstrings.

To safely put bags in the overhead locker … do wood chops

“Twisting is one of the most underrated movement patterns,” says the wellness coach Nikkii Behrens , the founder of Rare Street Pilates. “We rotate constantly in everyday life, whether we’re unloading the dishwasher, putting luggage into an overhead compartment or lifting and turning with a child. Wood chops help build strength through the core while improving mobility through the upper back. They also teach the body how to create and control rotation safely, which is something many people lose as they get older.”

You can do these with a cable or a resistance band tied to a solid anchor – or, for a slight variation, a kettlebell or dumbbell. Hold the handle low on one side of your body, then bring it upwards and across your body, twisting as you do it. Pause, then return to the start.

To mow the lawn more easily … get into bridging

“Bridging is one of my favourite exercises, because it strengthens the glutes, the hamstrings and the back of the body, which are muscles many people underuse due to spending so much time sitting – it can take time for the muscles to actually wake up and engage properly,” says Behrens. “Strong glutes are essential for all sorts of everyday tasks and they’re crucial for supporting the lower back.”

For the simplest version, lie on your back with your feet close to your bottom. Push through your heels to “bridge” your hips up in the air until your upper thighs form a straight line with the rest of your body, then pause and repeat.

To prepare for parenthood … do loaded carries

“I love variations of the loaded carry for my clients who are parents or parents-to-be – they’re great for the awkward unilateral loading involved in holding a child, a bag or a pram,” says Brian Abell, a coach at Fit Happens personal training.

Start with the “front rack” – hold a kettlebell in one hand, resting the bell part on your forearm with your elbow tucked against your ribs. Practise walking or even lunging like this and consider adding a second kettlebell – especially if you’re having twins.

To make rambling easier … learn the step vault

Full-bore parkour may feel like a bit much to take on, but the “step vault” – among its most beginner-friendly movements – is one of the safest and easiest ways to clear an obstacle that is below your chest height. “The step vault is a very natural movement and can be one of the fastest ways to vault,” says Dan Edwardes, the founder of Parkour Generations . “Take the time to train it and you’ll find it becomes an invaluable part of your basic movement skills, letting you glide over low walls, handrails or gates.” As long as you’ve got right of way, obviously.

Move towards the obstacle at a comfortable speed. Avoid taking small steps as you approach. As you get close, push off from one leg and reach out with the same hand to place it on top of the obstacle at the same time as your opposite leg comes up to step on top of the obstacle (with either the ball or the heel of the foot). Bring your trailing leg up and through the space that has been created between your body and the top of the obstacle. Keep your momentum going forward. The trailing leg then becomes the leg to touch the ground first on the other side, landing softly on the ball of the foot. Keep moving!

To get something off that high shelf … master the tree-to-three

“This yoga transition builds balance that doesn’t leave you frozen in one place – it’s about control as your centre of gravity moves forward,” says Bassanti Pathak , the co-founder of Pathak Yoga. “It’s just what you need to lean forward to pick something off a high shelf.” Start in a “tree” pose with one foot tucked against the opposite leg and your hands high. Then, without putting your foot down, straighten the tucked leg behind you as you bend forward at the waist, keeping your supporting leg as straight as possible and bringing your torso and arms parallel to the ground. This pose is known as “warrior three”. If you like, you can go back to your starting position for the tree-to-three-to-tree.

To catch falling crockery … use the chest expansion

“There’s a perception that pilates is just a boutique workout for wealthy women, but that misses the entire point,” says Lesley Logan, a pilates teacher and mindset coach. “Joseph Pilates originally developed the method for men recovering from illness and war injuries. It’s not about doing pilates instead of your life or other sports – it’s about doing pilates to make everything else you do better.”

It’s also underrated for preparing you for unexpected physical tasks such as twisting to catch a falling mug. Use the chest expansion to open up your tight shoulder and chest muscles and add a neck turn to challenge your balance. With your arms by your side, hold a pair of light weights (or cans of beans, say). Bring them slightly behind you to stretch your shoulders, then look left and right. Repeat by bringing the weights ahead of you before reaching back again, trying to stretch slightly further each time.

To recapture your childhood … train slow step-downs

Remember the joys of running downhill at top speed as a child, knowing that the worst-case scenario was losing your balance and tumbling giddily through a cloud of daffodils? If that thought made your knees twinge, it’s time to take action. “Lots of people train going uphill, but nobody trains the brakes,” says Siwicki. “ Training step-downs helps in situations such as running down a steep hill at full speed, or walking up and down stairs with a laundry basket and no free hand for the rail.”

This one couldn’t be simpler: just step on to a lowish box at normal speed, then lower your trailing foot to the floor slowly ahead of you (you can also do variations where you lower your trailing leg behind or to the side). Do a few reps and repeat on the other side.

To avoid embarrassment at soft play … do the bear crawl

“Crawling reconnects shoulders, hips, trunk, hands and feet in one coordinated pattern,” says Oscar Trelles, the founder of the training company Breathing Flame . “It builds strength and control in positions adults often lose access to, without needing heavy equipment or complicated technique.” And if you’re chasing an errant toddler through a brightly coloured tunnel, it will allow you to match their pace without ending up too red-faced.

In the classic bear crawl , you keep your knees an inch or two off the ground and move each hand and its opposite foot forward simultaneously; it’s surprisingly fast once you get the hang of it. Put it into your warm-up or try it in the garden.

To prepare for five-a-side season … start skipping

“Skipping is something that lots of us stop doing after school, but it’s the perfect way to warm up our lower body and all of our jumping, sprinting and dancing muscles,” says Steve Kamb, the author of How to Try Again and the founder of Nerd Fitness. “Plus, it’s basically impossible not to smile while you do it.” If you haven’t skipped in a while, start simply, trying to keep your jumps low and quiet – then move to bouncing from one foot to the other, figure-eights – and eventually the punishing double-under , where the rope passes under your feet twice every time you jump.

To look good at the garden centre … try sandbag bear hugs

“Real life doesn’t look like the gym,” says Brian Murray, the founder of Motive Training . “Sandbags and stones – like the atlas stones you’ll see in World’s Strongest Man – are bulky, often asymmetrical and awkward to pick up and hold. For beginners who have never used one before, a bear hug carry is a good place to start.”

The bear hug carry involves holding the weight in front of you with your arms squeezed around it and one hand holding the other wrist. You could try carrying bags of compost or gravel, but if you’re after something more portable, try duct-taping together bags of builders’ sand, then throwing them in a rucksack or duffel bag. Hold the bag in a bear hug while you do squats, lunges or just walk around the house.

To get off the floor with ease … learn the Turkish get-up

“This trains the ability to move from the ground to standing with strength, motor control, balance and adaptability,” says Noble. “Getting on to and off the floor while playing with a toddler or grandchild, getting down to recover something from under the bed and crouching low to scoop cat litter all incorporate parts of the Turkish get-up.”

You can do it with a weight – the world record is nearly 119kg – but for control and balance, a clean shoe balanced on your upraised fist works just as well. Start lying down with one hand high, roll on to the opposite elbow, and use it to prop yourself up while you bring your other leg underneath you. From there, stand up, and then reverse the whole process to lie down again.

Also helpful is the no-hands get-up. This isn’t a specific movement – just practise standing up without using your hands, any way you like.

To recover gracefully … do extra-range lunges

“Forward or reverse lunges where you use a tool or an obstacle to push yourself beyond your usual range of motion build strength while improving mobility, balance and dynamic control,” says Roberts. “They’re perfect for getting up from the floor without using your hands, climbing stairs or catching yourself when you stumble.”

Start with the forward version. Lunge forward on to a small step such as a kerb or a weight-plate; this will give you a better stretch through the hips as your trailing knee brushes the ground. Push off your front heel to stand back up, then repeat on the other side.

To carry the kids in from the car … do Zercher exercises

The Zercher squat – a variation of the barbell where you hold the weight in the crook of your arms – is a favourite of Olympic wrestlers, as it mimics the positions that occur in a heated grappling exchange. But it’s also good for carrying a baby in a car seat, an older sleeping child or a very full laundry basket, says Roberts: “Any form of Zercher exercise trains awkward real-life strength – forcing your upper back, core, legs and arms to work together.” Try it with squats, lunges or even just a brisk walk.

To be ready for anything … work on your cartwheel

“Many people haven’t done one of these since childhood,” says Lara Heimann, the creator of LYT Yoga , who combines yoga, strength training and functional training in her own training system. “The practice of the cartwheel restores qualities such as lateral movement, inversion, play and whole-body coordination that many adults unknowingly lose. But these qualities are what make us remarkably capable and responsive during other physical challenges,” she says. “Plus, weight-bearing through the hands is an excellent motor skill for improving scapular [shoulder] strength and upper-body vitality – key areas that are often neglected.”

You can start very simply, with a mini-cartwheel , where your feet barely leave the floor and your hands only briefly support your weight. From there, it’s all about building confidence – and shoulder strength.

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Keyword – Games
Trefwoorden – Twitch, Games, Culture, Social media, Digital media, Media, Technology
Title – ‘Streaming gave me a space to be myself’: Twitch creators on what it’s like to grow up on the platform | Twitch | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/keithstuart
Link – ‘Streaming gave me a space to be myself’: Twitch creators on what it’s like to grow up on the platform | Twitch | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-16T08:30:16.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/games/2026/jun/16/twitch-gamer-creators-twitchcon-rotterdam

A imee Davies, better known as Aimsey to their fans, is 24 but looks much younger. Sitting in a bland meeting room above the annual TwitchCon event in Rotterdam, they’re a barely contained whirl of energy in a beanie hat and T-shirt, all smiles and lightning-fast chatter. Aimsey (who uses they/them pronouns) is also a Twitch veteran, having started streaming eight years ago at the tender age of 16. A million subscribers tune in every week to see them chaotically play Minecraft and share snippets of their life. They have grown up, from teen to young adult, carrying a vast audience with them into maturity. What is it like to experience that?

“When you’re 16 you want to tell everyone everything about you,” they say as music blares from the event below. “When I came out as a lesbian, I told the world. Every part of my identity, my mental health struggles … I thought if I could help one person feel like they weren’t alone, I wanted to do that.”

For several years Aimsey was in a relationship with another content creator, Guqqie, and it played out in front of their fanbases with very little filtering – until it ended. It’s a situation common to streamers – they’re young and naive, they build an audience through sharing personal details with few boundaries, then the pressures of endless invasive attention take a toll. “Honestly, for a long time, the lines got blurred,” says Aimsey. “Streaming would seep into my real-life friendships, where I thought the only way people would be my friend was if I could give them something – because that’s obviously how it is on a stream.”

Recently however, Aimsey has learned how to step back and be a little more guarded. “I’ve been so open all my life, but I was falling into these cracks where I was like, God, who am I? I felt like I couldn’t figure that out. I think that in the last few months something switched in my brain. I’m living a little bit more of a reserved life. I’m still myself when I stream, but I’m trying my best to keep some things private – at least for now. I surround myself with people who definitely remind me that I’m not just content.”

Fellow Twitch star Sweet Anita is older at 35 years old, but she too is a veteran, having streamed since 2018. As a sufferer of Tourette syndrome, the platform has been a kind of emancipation. “Streaming has changed me a lot,” she says. “I used to be a timid person and quite apologetic – obviously I’d learned to be after a lifetime of dealing with Tourettes. I feel like streaming really gave me a space to be myself without constantly having to apologise to people. I have a lot more fun, I reach out to more people, I’m a lot more sociable now.”

It concerns her that so many children are now listing content creator as their ambition. “When I was a kid, it was astronaut or fireman, but now they desperately want to be in my position,” she says. “But it’s a little bit of a trap because once you’re here, people don’t forget you. You could leave tomorrow and someone might continue stalking you for the next 10 years. Once you’re in, you’re in. The only difference is how much security you can afford.”

For its part Twitch recognises the vulnerability of streamers. It has set up guilds to help specific minority groups navigate the platform and communicate concerns to the executives. It has created an AI-driven AutoMod feature, which polices chat during streams to delete abusive messages. “We’ve invested heavily in moderation tools so streamers can define what safety looks like to them,” says head of community Mary Kish. “It is going to be very important to be familiar with how you can protect yourself. I’m worried about anyone who might think on a whim, I’m going to go live. You need to be prepared – you need to have mods, or at the very least, turn Auto Mod on, you need to set your community up. We have a little work to do to make sure that anyone making their first stream understands what they’re getting into.”

Tellingly, neither Aimsey and Sweet Anita have plans to stop streaming any time soon. “Honestly, my vision is I’m probably always going to be streaming,” says Aimsey. “It’s something that’s been so consistent in my life and I adore it. That could change. But I’ve got so much more stuff I want to do with Minecraft – I want to do events, I want to do more stories and role-play, and there are so many more ideas in my head that there’s no point in even thinking about stopping.”

Sweet Anita has plans to move on from video games, at least some of the time. “I used to do animal rescue before this and I haven’t done enough for animals – that’s what I’d like to do next. I hope I get to go to animal sanctuaries, I hope I get to show people endangered animals. I’d love to do some rehab again, release some wild birds, that was the core of my existence before all of this.”

The maturation of both streamers and stream watchers is certainly something Twitch itself is thinking about. A huge majority of streams used to be about playing and watching video games, but recently categories such as Just Chatting and In Real Life (IRL) have become more popular. Streamers are getting out of their home studios and taking their viewers on days out, to restaurants, on walks, and beyond – top creator IShowSpeed has been streaming while scuba diving. Shayanelhawk literally sent his Twitch chat into space.

“Right now our biggest age group is actually 25-34 because people have aged up while using it and they keep using it,” says CEO Dan Clancy. “We’ve seen this in the growing diversity of content because as creators get older, they have new interests and their community stays with them. So I think we’ll see continued diversification. I’ve often conjectured that when the so-called Twitch generation gets to 60-70, we’ll see all these knitting and crochetting streams. As you get into retirement – the issue of looking for connection that you had as a teenager comes back, because the kids have left home, you’re looking for people, for community – and you have time. As we saw during Covid, Twitch is a platform that explodes when you have time.”

The one massive gamechanger lurking on the horizon is AI. There is already a successful AI avatar streamer, Neuro-sama, a cutesy anime girl with 1 million followers. Will Aimsey be part of the last generation of human teens who’ve had the chance to become, and grow up, as streamers? They think not. “No matter what happens there is always going to be an audience for human-made things. It doesn’t matter what we do, it doesn’t matter how big AI gets, there’s always going to be people who need that human connection to feel real.”

Keyword – US news
Trefwoorden – Los Angeles, California, US news, West Coast, World news
Title – LA firefighters battle warehouse blaze amid concerns over billowing smoke | Los Angeles | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/roque-planas,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/gloria-oladipo
Link – LA firefighters battle warehouse blaze amid concerns over billowing smoke | Los Angeles | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-22T00:08:45.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/21/los-angeles-warehouse-fire

California’s governor has declared a state of emergency for the city of Los Angeles , as firefighters struggle to contain a stubborn warehouse blaze that has raged for days and blanketed parts of the city in smoke.

Gavin Newsom announced he was directing state agencies to provide “additional assistance and resources” to help battle the fire, located in the neighborhood of Boyle Heights in east Los Angeles.

“We are coordinating closely with our local partners, deploying specialized expertise, and pre-positioning critical supplies so communities have the support they need both now and throughout recovery,” Newsom said in a statement.

The blaze broke out on Wednesday, after the roof of a 500,000-sq-ft cold storage facility in Boyle Heights caught on fire. Firefighters extinguished the flames quickly, but lingering dangers within the building have made it difficult to completely stop.

Firefighting efforts continued on Sunday as the blaze burned into a fifth day. Officials confirmed they had confined the fire to “one side of the large building”, according to an update from the Los Angeles fire department. No evacuation or shelter-in-place mandates have been ordered.

Smoke has continued to waft away from the building, following the wind into other areas of the county. Residents of East Los Angeles have expressed concerns about the persistent smoke and the potential health risks. On Sunday, a haze hung over large parts of the city and landmarks such as Dodger Stadium , and the air quality index (AQI) in the region fell in the “moderate” category.

Leo Miguel, a manager at the Yia Caffe in Boyle Heights neighborhood, told the Los Angeles Times that smoke from the fire has disrupted his business.

Miguel described the air as smelling “like chemicals and plastic”, adding that conditions seem to be getting worse. “I don’t think it’s getting better,” Miguel said to the newspaper.

Newsom’s statement follows an earlier state of emergency announced by the Los Angeles mayor, Karen Bass. Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, who represents Boyle Heights, said in a statement : “This emergency declaration is crucial because Boyle Heights is not just responding to a fire. Residents have lived through days of smoke, shelter-in-place orders, disruptions to daily life, and ongoing questions about what this means for their health and wellbeing.”

An ammonia line had ruptured during the initial firefighting efforts, making the blaze more dangerous. Ammonia, a commonly used commercial refrigerant, is highly flammable and can emit toxic fumes.

Officials initially ordered local residents to shelter in place due to the air pollution and the possibility of ammonia contamination. Los Angeles city and county have opened smoke relief centers.

“The city and county have opened spaces for families seeking relief from the smoke, and we will continue working around the clock and doing everything possible to put this fire out completely,” Bass said.

Firefighters have been forced to retreat and try to contain the conflagration from a safer distance, while using air drops of water from helicopters to help put it out. Foam within the building has continued to slowly burn, according to the Los Angeles Times .

Some Boyle Heights residents with health conditions have reportedly already left the area. Ashley Campos, 18, told the LA Times that her and her family evacuated after smelling fumes in their home, which is located about two blocks from the warehouse fire. Several people in the Campos family have pre-existing health conditions, including epilepsy, asthma, and cancer.

Dodger Stadium, the home of the Los Angeles Dodgers, is also blanketed in smog, as seen in video posted to X . “The smoke from the nearby Boyle Heights warehouse fire has enshrouded Dodger Stadium in an acrid, nasty haze,” posted Ben Bolch, a reporter with the California Post. “Not sure I’d want to sit here and watch as a fan, much less play the game, unless conditions improve.”

Meanwhile, community organizations are handing out masks to Boyle Heights residents as air quality continues to suffer in the area. Centro CSO, a grassroots organization in the Boyle Heights area, posted pictures of their respirator drive to X.

Once the fire is completely put out, officials will have to remove some 85m lbs of rotted food. Officials have said they are working on the biohazard challenges potentially posed from spoiled foods such as bread, poultry, pork and beef.

Newsom’s statement said that the state has made more than 5m N95 respirator masks available for distribution, as well as air purifiers, bottled water and other supplies to assist with the emergency.

“The warehouse fire has produced significant smoke and particulate matter that may affect air quality in surrounding neighborhoods,” the statement said.

The Los Angeles fire department chief, Jaime Moore, said in a news conference on Saturday that they have taken care of the hazardous materials portion of the blaze and now they are working on the biohazard challenges.

“We have 85 million pounds of frozen food inside of this facility and the way the building has been laid out, it’s very difficult for us to get in there because there’s zero visibility inside,” Moore said. “Our firefighters are not able to just go in there and start moving pallets.”

The Associated Press contributed reporting

Keyword – World news
Trefwoorden – Iran, Mojtaba Khamenei, Strait of Hormuz, Middle East and north Africa, World news
Title – Secret correspondence claims suggest tensions at top of Iranian government | Iran | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/patrickwintour
Link – Secret correspondence claims suggest tensions at top of Iranian government | Iran | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-21T15:56:15.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/21/secret-correspondence-iranian-government-tensions-supreme-leader

A former member of Iran’s negotiating team in the previous round of talks with the US in Islamabad is facing the threat of prosecution and dismissal from parliament after he went on the main state broadcaster to reveal what he claimed were confidential letters from the country’s supreme leader.

The interview with Mahmoud Nabavian, the deputy chair of Iran’s national security council, was eventually cut off, but only after he said he had seen secret correspondence written by Mojtaba Khamenei in which the ayatollah allegedly said Iran’s negotiating team had overstepped its mandate.

An hour after the censored broadcast, the archive of the interview was removed and a senior official at the broadcaster resigned.

Nabavian’s claims were dismissed by a spokesperson for the negotiating team as old and distorted. The state broadcaster said Nabavian’s statements were “evidence of a legal violation and worthy of legal prosecution”.

Members of the camp of Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s chief negotiator at the current talks in Switzerland , called for the leaker to be identified. Centrists and reformists have long argued that the state broadcaster Irib acts as an agent for hardliners in the Paydari or Stability Front, of which Nabavian is a supporter.

The episode, apart from revealing tensions at the top of government in near real time, also appears to show that the newly appointed supreme leader has been taking a much more hands-on approach to the talks than was previously known, and has also been ordering the negotiators not to relent on the nuclear file or the immediate payment of tolls to Iran by ships in the strait of Hormuz.

Khamenei has not been seen in public or issued an audio tape, operating instead through written statements. Some reports suggest the negotiating team once had to wait a fortnight before securing his guidance on how the talks should proceed, and that he would send detailed questions to the negotiators.

In a letter to Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, that Khamenei published on Thursday, he said he took a different view on the outcome of the talks to the president but had deferred to his judgment on certain conditions.

Nabavian claimed the supreme leader had in fact set 11 conditions for continuing the negotiations, including receiving compensation from the US, maintaining the right to uranium enrichment, lifting sanctions, releasing Iran’s frozen assets and exercising full sovereignty over the strait of Hormuz, including the immediate charging of fees.

According to Nabavian, Khamenei emphasised “Iran’s monopoly on the management of the strait of Hormuz, collecting tolls from passing vessels, restrictions on enemy ships, and allocating the revenues from the tolls to the people, families of martyrs, and veterans.”

The reopening of the waterway should only happen when the US agreed to pay compensation, he ordered. The US has agreed to set up a $350bn (£264bn) development fund but has said it will not contribute.

Nabavian also claimed Khamenei wrote in a message to the negotiating team: “What was agreed upon in the Pakistan talks is completely different from what was supposed to happen and was a condition for the legitimacy of the talks, and the talks must be stopped.” He was referring to the talks in Islamabad in which the negotiating team did discuss aspects of Iran’s nuclear programme.

Later on a Telegram channel, Nabavian continued the argument, saying he has not released secret documents and was only revealing the truth.

He said that, based on the memorandum of understanding, “four issues had to be implemented before negotiations could begin: 1. End of the occupation in Lebanon and complete withdrawal 2. The release of our frozen money by America. Not borrowing from Qatar. 3. Lifting the siege 4. Temporary lifting of sanctions.”

He questioned whether these four preconditions had been met before foreign ministry officials went to Geneva for negotiations, and further asked: “Does that mean that people should not be aware of what the imam’s orders were and why the agents disobeyed them?”

Keyword – Books
Trefwoorden – Fiction, Books, Culture
Title – The Leveret By Anna Goldreich review – a hare mends the pain of baby loss | Fiction | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/lara-feigel
Link – The Leveret By Anna Goldreich review – a hare mends the pain of baby loss | Fiction | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-22T08:00:50.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/jun/22/the-leveret-by-anna-goldreich-review-a-hare-mends-the-pain-of-baby-loss

Birth. “A detaching, a loosening of something, then the pain of it.” A small, curled and crinkled creature is wrested from that pain. But then, instead of the long-awaited cry of a newborn: silence.

This is the background of Anna Goldreich’s highly accomplished, calmly devastating first novel The Leveret, a book that asks us to see late miscarriage as the death it feels like for many mothers. Since this miscarriage, six months ago, Clare has felt everyone, including her partner Phoebe, impatiently expecting her to get on with her life. But she remains floored by loss, stuck waiting for that first cry.

In a drastic attempt at change, the couple has moved to a cottage in the rural village where Phoebe grew up. Phoebe is busy helping her farmer parents with the lambing while Clare sits in the house day after day, failing to eat. Pregnancy had been the first time Clare had developed a sense of herself as a real person with a physical body – not just the “floating head” she’d conceived herself to be. The determined physicality of the growing baby had pulled her into a more fleshy awareness of herself. Now she finds herself unreal again – until she discovers an abandoned baby hare under a hedge.

Goldreich writes the scene as a second birth, full of the pulsating life that the first birth lacked. Clare reaches through bramble thorns, “and through the pain, through the tearing, there is softness. My hand over a head, fingers spread out on a back … Her. Pulling her up from the undergrowth, though the space I have opened for her, bringing her out to meet me.” Like the stillborn baby that she nuzzled in the hospital, Clare finds herself licking the hare’s face clean with her tongue, and feels pulled back into life.

It’s an extraordinary scene, written with absolute conviction, and from this point Goldreich succeeds in making the moments between Clare and the baby hare she names Isla eerily moving, even as they become more disturbing. Goldreich keeps three simultaneous possibilities in play for the reader: the hare as a symptom of mental illness; the hare as a desperate but uncannily sane attempt at self-cure on Clare’s part; the hare as a means to access the ultimate truth that we are all creatures in need of contact with the earth. For weeks, the leveret sleeps in Clare’s arms and is carried around in a sling. Then Isla becomes wilder, and Clare desperately clings to the delusion that these are mere rebellious antics, trapping the hare in a domesticity it can’t survive as she tracks Isla’s changing height on the doorframe and talks about her mother as Isla’s “granny”.

The Leveret is a slight book in some ways. Goldreich attempts to make it polyphonic by alternating chapters from Clare and Phoebe, but the sections in Phoebe’s voice don’t take flight. There’s a suggestion that Phoebe doesn’t share the kind of linguistic eloquence Clare thinks with – that she may, indeed, not think verbally at all. This presents a literary challenge of a kind many writers have grappled with; Phoebe’s love for Clare is all the more affecting for being haltingly expressed, but the frequent line breaks in these sections feel weakly uncertain. Nonetheless, Goldreich is so astonishingly good at bringing both the original miscarriage and Clare’s relationship with the hare to visceral life that this is ultimately rather a triumphant first novel. The need for new models of our relationship to nature animates so much writing today, and Goldreich’s approach here is mischievous and elegantly undogmatic.

Ultimately, it’s up to Phoebe to claim Clare back for human love. The book leaves it ambiguous as to whether Clare has saved the hare’s life or blighted its chances; but Isla has restored to Clare some of the physical reality that motherhood had promised, and it may be that the very failure of the project with Isla is part of that. In a moment of extremity, Phoebe lets out “a strange cry from the depths of some poor creature, a hoarse sound, cutting through the wind”, allowing for a moving realisation of the mammalian physicality still possible in the love between Clare and Phoebe.

Lara Feigel is the author of Custody: The Secret History of Mothers (William Collins). The Leveret by Anna Goldreich is published by Hamish Hamilton (£14.99). To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com . Delivery charges may apply.

Keyword – Opinion
Trefwoorden – NHS, Andy Burnham, Health policy, Labour, Politics, Health, Public services policy, Society, UK news, Social care
Title – I disagree with Andy Burnham’s politics. But as former health secretaries, we both know the NHS needs to be fixed | Jeremy Hunt | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jeremy-hunt
Link – I disagree with Andy Burnham’s politics. But as former health secretaries, we both know the NHS needs to be fixed | Jeremy Hunt | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-22T05:00:50.000Z
Category – Opinion
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/22/andy-burnham-nhs-jeremy-hunt-politics

I f Andy Burnham moves from Manchester to No 10, he will be the first prime minister to have been health secretary in the history of the NHS. What might that mean for the troubled service? His commitment to social care is well known. But when the Treasury tells him there is no money, he is going to have to think hard about how to make his mark.

The UK now spends the fifth most of any OECD economy when it comes to government health spending as a proportion of GDP. That’s why health service insiders no longer say the issue is money but productivity. They have been puzzling over why, since 2020, the total number of staff across NHS England has grown by 20% but activity has only gone up by 10% . That’s part of the reason why waiting lists have remained stubbornly high and a significant part of the progress made in reducing them has come from “list cleaning” – removing people from lists who no longer need treatment – rather than actual increases in activity.

Getting to the bottom of this matters because there isn’t likely to be a lot of extra cash soon. One reason for inefficiency is poor IT, which is why, as chancellor, in my 2024 budget I gave the NHS £3.4bn for a new productivity plan that included the joining up of medical records and embrace of AI. But that won’t be enough because it won’t tackle the root cause of NHS inefficiency.

And the reason is something that the former mayor of Greater Manchester will be very familiar with. As mayor, if Burnham needed money for a big infrastructure project, he had to bang on the door of No 11 and get in a Whitehall queue.

But what he experienced in Manchester is also a daily reality across NHS England, which is the most centralised and bureaucratic healthcare system in the world: 1.5 million people are micro-managed from London with 18 monthly operational targets for hospitals and 44 “QOF” (qualities and outcomes framework) targets annually for GPs upon which their income depends. Every new health secretary is told by No 10 to “grip” the service. Every time, the response is a new target.

The result is learned helplessness by local managers. They are micro-managed to deliver “improvement trajectories”, leaving them little time for the innovations that boost productivity.

For that reason, I hope that as prime minister Burnham would consider a much bigger structural reform. First, he should scrap all national targets. It’s something I wanted to do as health secretary as soon as we got back to hitting targets that were being missed – something that sadly never happened. Second, Burnham should look at devolving responsibility for the NHS in different areas to the locally elected mayors who are now being rolled out across England. That would follow the regional model used in Sweden and Denmark, both of which have universal systems but with much better outcomes than the NHS.

But we don’t have to look abroad to see how this would work. We don’t have national targets for the number of A-level passes in maths or physics but instead give state school heads a high degree of autonomy. Accountability comes through Ofsted inspections and the publishing of exam results. And the result? England now has the highest reading standards in the western world.

A hospital in Barrow-in-Furness faces different challenges from one in central London. A rural integrated care system serving dispersed communities faces different pressures from one serving a large metropolitan population. There should be national standards, including maximum waiting times, but maximum autonomy in delivering them.

Manchester was supposed to have this with “ Devo Manc ” in 2016. But national targets remained. Hospital bosses were accountable not to the mayor but to NHS England. The impact was far less than originally hoped.

Now is the chance to finish the job. And if, at the same time, social care were handed to mayors in the areas where it is not already within their remit, it would help improve that too. Governments have been trying to break down the barriers between the two services for years. Now it might finally happen. It wouldn’t, of course, solve the funding problems in social care but it would help in other ways, not least by making it much easier for hospitals to end “bedblocking” by discharging patients promptly.

There are many issues on which I profoundly disagree with Andy Burnham’s soft-left worldview. But on this we might just agree. Both of us have sat on top of the pyramid as health secretaries and seen how difficult it is to make an enormous system responsive to patients. Both of us have wanted to be the health secretary who finally “fixed” the NHS from the top – and found we could not. But as prime minister, this is something Burnham really could do. It would turn the NHS from the world’s most bureaucratic health service into its most innovative one. And what other options are there in a world where there is no extra money?

Jeremy Hunt served as secretary of state for health, later secretary of state for health and social care, from 2012 to 2018

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here .

Keyword – World news
Trefwoorden – Colombia, Americas, World news, The far right
Title – Far-right millionaire wins Colombia’s razor-tight presidential election | Colombia | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/tiago-rogero
Link – Far-right millionaire wins Colombia’s razor-tight presidential election | Colombia | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-22T00:27:07.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/21/far-right-millionaire-abelardo-de-la-espriella-wins-colombia-presidential-runoff

The Trump-admiring far-right millionaire lawyer and self-styled “outsider” Abelardo de la Espriella has won Colombia’s presidential runoff, defeating the leftwing senator Iván Cepeda.

With 99.99% of ballots counted in the preliminary vote tally, De la Espriella had secured 12.96m votes, or 49.66%, just 250,830 more than Cepeda, who received 12.7m votes, or 48.7%. A further 1.6% of ballots were cast blank.

The margin was narrower than in the first round three weeks ago, when De la Espriella had beaten Cepeda by 673,000 votes.

De la Espriella’s victory marks a sharp swing back to the right after four years under Colombia’s first and only leftwing president, Gustavo Petro, who was barred by the constitution from seeking re-election and therefore backed Cepeda as his successor.

The result is also being seen as further evidence of a wave of far-right candidates sweeping presidential elections across Latin America , after recent victories by Nasry Asfura in Honduras and José Antonio Kast in Chile, while Keiko Fujimori currently leads the vote count in Peru.

Like them, De la Espriella also received the endorsement of the US president, Donald Trump – although only after winning the first round. Trump shared news of the Colombian’s victory in a brief social media post, writing: “He Won, BIG!”.

In his victory speech in Barranquilla, on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, where both his law firm and campaign headquarters are based, De la Espriella promised to respect the constitution.

Although he said during the campaign that he would “disembowel” the left – a remark he later described as merely a figure of speech – he said that he will be the president of “all Colombians”.

“I want to speak especially to those who did not vote for me … Your rights, even if you did not vote for me, will be respected. Your opinions will be heard. You will never have to fear thinking differently,” he said from behind bulletproof glass, as he had throughout the campaign.

In a video posted by the US Republican congresswoman María Elvira Salazar after the result, De la Espriella said: “To solve Colombia’s problems, we need to build a very close alliance with the US, which is not only our main trading partner but also our most important strategic ally in the fight against organised crime.”

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, posted that he had spoken with De la Espriella to congratulate him: “The Trump administration looks forward to working closely with your incoming administration to advance regional security cooperation, end illegal immigration to the United States and strengthen our economic ties. Colombia’s best days are ahead,” he wrote.

When Petro leaves office in about six weeks, only Mexico, Brazil – which will hold elections in October – Uruguay and Guatemala will remain under leftwing governments in the region.

In a post on social media, Petro alleged irregularities in the preliminary vote count released by the National Civil Registry, the independent public body responsible for organising Colombia’s elections.

Petro also wrote that he would only recognise the outcome of the official scrutiny process, which is expected to take about two more days. “No president can be declared yet. It is the scrutiny process that determines who the president is,” he said.

In the first round, the president also alleged fraud in the preliminary count without presenting evidence, drawing widespread criticism from election experts. The difference between the preliminary count and the official tally was less than 0.1%.

Following Petro’s lead, Cepeda declined to recognise the preliminary results and, likewise without presenting evidence, said in his speech that a team of lawyers from his party was “proceeding to challenge 33,000 polling stations across the country”. He added: “Once the final scrutiny result is produced and the corresponding verifications have been carried out, we will recognise the official result that emerges from that scrutiny process.”

There were protests by Cepeda supporters: in Cali, Colombia’s third-largest city, demonstrators burned US flags and clashed with police. In the capital, Bogotá, hundreds gathered outside Corferias, the country’s largest polling station.

In his victory speech, De la Espriella called on Petro and Cepeda to respect the result: “Refrain from unleashing social unrest”.

In a campaign dominated by the violence that has once again engulfed the country , De la Espriella prevailed on a promise to adopt an iron fist approach against criminal groups.

Although security indicators remain far below the extraordinarily high levels recorded in the decades before the landmark 2016 peace agreement between the government and most of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the past year has been the most violent since then.

The president-elect, who will take office on 7 August, has pledged to build 10 maximum-security “mega-prisons” and kill criminals “like rats and cockroaches”.

Calling himself “El Tigre” (The Tiger) and having never held public office, De la Espriella has vowed to make a complete break with Petro’s “total peace” plan of negotiating the dismantling of all criminal groups.

After four years of fits and starts – during which analysts say some armed factions took advantage of temporary ceasefires to continue expanding – the government managed to disarm the first criminal group only on Thursday , one with just 99 members, while experts estimate that more than 27,000 people belong to Colombia’s many criminal organisations.

The new president, by contrast, has promised a return to full-scale military confrontation that has done little to curb violence in the past, and said he will seek US support for airstrikes against coca plantations. Colombia is the world’s largest producer of cocaine, and drug trafficking is the main driver of the country’s violence.

Born in the capital, Bogotá, but raised on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, De la Espriella rose to prominence as a criminal lawyer representing the leaders of a group at the heart of the decades-long armed conflict: the paramilitaries , private armies created by rightwing landowners to fight leftwing guerrilla groups.

Later branching out into liquor, real estate and menswear businesses, and fond of showcasing a lavish lifestyle on social media, he announced his presidential bid in July last year, a month after the rightwing senator and presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe Turbay was shot during a campaign event – he died two months after the attack .

Though long associated with Colombia’s rightwing political establishment through his legal career, De la Espriella presented himself as an “anti-establishment” candidate, following the example of many other far-right leaders who have risen to power across the region in recent years.

His vice-president will be the economist José Manuel Restrepo, who served as finance minister under Petro’s conservative predecessor, Iván Duque. The president-elect said that Restrepo would be responsible for implementing the plan to shrink the state by 40%.

They will take office with a minority in congress and what many analysts see as a deeply divided country after the most polarised election in years, in which the two candidates failed to agree on holding a single debate and instead traded a barrage of insults.

Keyword – Culture
Trefwoorden – Australian television, Australian theatre, Culture, Stan, Television, Stage
Title – Heather Mitchell: ‘I got the biggest reaction for playing Donald Trump – but I really enjoyed playing Bill Clinton’ | Australian television | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/emma-joyce
Link – Heather Mitchell: ‘I got the biggest reaction for playing Donald Trump – but I really enjoyed playing Bill Clinton’ | Australian television | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-20T20:00:14.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2026/jun/21/heather-mitchell-interview-australian-actor-stage-screen

You’re in a new TV show called The Killings at Parrish Station, playing a detective who is plagued by an unsolved mystery. What do you think is life’s greatest mystery?

I don’t want to say anything too obvious, like death, but it is such a mystery. It’s hard not to sound like a cliche, [but] the greatest mystery is: how does it all end?

Speaking of death, and it’s a bit morbid, but what song would you like played at your funeral?

Oh, that’s not morbid. My dear friend James Valentine died recently, through voluntary assisted dying; knowing his family so well, joy is the word that kept coming up, so I do not find the idea of death morbid.

But the music I’d like? Oh, far out, I have thought about this, but I’ve never really come to a … I am drawn to songs that my sons love rather than what I love, and one son loves Teeks, the Māori singer. But my father used to play the steel guitar and sing American folk songs; I’ve got a recording of one of his. I’d like that played, I think.

You’ve just finished touring RBG: Of Many, One, in which you play not only Ruth Bader Ginsburg but three US presidents – along with 29 other characters. Which president did you enjoy being the most?

I certainly got the biggest audience reaction for Trump, but I must say I really enjoyed Clinton. Because of the way Suzie [Miller ]’s written it, there’s humour in his conversation and that southern drawl. It’s a lot of fun, and I suppose it’s the longest scene I’ve got with any of the presidents; Clinton and Ruth are sort of getting to know each other before she’s chosen to be on the court. Also, people react so much to what they believe his relationship with Hillary was all about.

Is it true you found yourself brushing your teeth like Ruth ?

In the first season, yes, but not any more. We’ve done more than 300 shows, and in the first season I found it very hard to stop speaking like Ruth, because I was still trying to get the language and the voices, so even in my non-theatrical hours I was practising her movements. I found myself driving like an old lady, for example, but I am now completely able to switch her off.

You met your husband, Martin McGrath, shortly after a seeing a tarot reader, who told you you’d meet a man . Have you returned to a tarot reader since?

Yes, in fact, because of that. Once our relationship began and we were definitely going to be together, I said, “let’s go and see someone, it was really fun”. We went to a woman in Melbourne, who had turquoise eyeshadow on. She was scary, and I’ll never forget it. She did Martin first and said all these amazing things about him – and I was kicking him under the table, going, See? Isn’t this great?

Then she turned to me and said, “Why don’t you go out for a walk, Martin, I’ll talk to Heather now.” She put her arm around me and said, “There’s not much to her, is there?” and then said to Martin, “Never mind, where did she go wrong?” I just panicked and looked at him, like Don’t leave me, don’t leave me .

He did go for a walk, and she said one terrible thing after another – telling me that I was going to ruin his life – and, anyway, that was my last time.

You made your professional acting debut aged 22 in Sydney Theatre Company’s production of Henry IV, Part 1. What’s the most overrated Shakespeare play?

Oh, I don’t know if any of them are overrated. I mean, I think the ones which are usually held in the greatest esteem, or seen the most and produced the most, are pretty magnificent plays – the Scottish play, Hamlet. Overrated? I mean, this will be controversial: I’m not as crazy about Twelfth Night.

If you could be any animal, what would it be?

I’ve always identified with a giraffe. That long neck, their head being so far and small compared to their body; it’s hard for them to get down on the ground, but they can. They seem to overcome their extraordinary physical challenge in order to reach the high leaves and yet still be able to get down. I just find something about giraffes so magical and wonderful.

Are you still making toast art for your co-stars and is there a superior bread for your canvas?

Yes I am. I did 65 toasts of every crew member on a show called Dalliance, that I’ve just co-produced and will be coming out later in the year through Paramount. I stayed up all night for a week [to complete them].

I won’t mention the label, but the whitest, most sugary, oldest fashioned bread is excellent for a portrait because you don’t want to get too many pockmarks – you don’t want raisins in it, for instance. But for a landscape, I love nothing more than a rough sourdough.

A Vegemite gallery in Victoria asked if I could do some Vegemite on toast for their gallery, and that was a lovely reaction. I’m hoping some bread company just offers me free bread!

What film do you always return to, and why?

I return to films that are sometimes connected to my childhood, or are the first films I’ve seen – things like It’s a Wonderful Life, which we watch at Christmas. Citizen Kane.

We watched Muriel’s Wedding again recently, which I had forgotten what an amazing film that is – how wonderful and joyous and fabulous.

Hugo Weaving is a friend of yours, but also your most notable on-screen lover, in the recent Love Me and in the 1984 series Bodyline. What’s Hugo’s most annoying habit as a co-star?

Oh darling, as if he has one! He’s so nice to everyone. He’s so lovely to the crew, so lovely to everybody. He’s annoyingly nice. He’s annoyingly lovely, which is why he’s so beautiful to work with too. He’s just annoyingly pleasant and present and lovely. He’s such a wonderful actor, but he’s such a wonderful person. It’s almost annoying how fabulous he is.

Heather Mitchell appears in The Killings at Parrish Station, which premieres on Stan on 24 June