Keyword – Opinion
Trefwoorden – AI (artificial intelligence), Computing, Technology, ChatGPT
Title – The curious case of Elias Thorne – and what he tells us about AI inbreeding | Arwa Mahdawi | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/arwa-mahdawi
Link – The curious case of Elias Thorne – and what he tells us about AI inbreeding | Arwa Mahdawi | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-17T10:00:29.000Z
Category – Opinion
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/17/elias-thorne-ai-generated-stories

Ever heard of a shadowy figure called Elias Thorne? If you haven’t, try asking an AI chatbot to tell you a story.

In recent months, tech types and researchers have noticed a weird phenomenon: when prompted to tell a story, numerous popular LLMs, including ChatGPT and Claude, will spit out a tale featuring this mysterious Elias figure.

Sometimes he’s a lighthouse keeper, sometimes he makes clocks, sometimes he’s a detective. But whatever form he takes, he features in a curious number of AI-generated stories. In May, two Cornell University researchers sampled 20,000 stories from four LLMs generated with variations of the prompt “Tell me a story” and found that the name Elias appeared in 26.5% of them . They also discovered more than 88.3% of generated stories shared the same 11 names, locations and professions, including Elias, lighthouse, keeper and clockmaker.

So what’s going on? Is Elias Thorne some sort of messenger from the future who has snuck into AI infrastructure to deliver an important message to humanity?

Alas, it’s not quite that exciting. But the ubiquity of the character does tell us some important things about how AI works and how it can be manipulated. While nobody is certain why AI is obsessed with Elias and lighthouses, the Cornell paper speculated that AI models, which are trained on large datasets, may have been instructed to “avoid references to copyrighted characters and adult content” when coming up with stories, which would mean they were pulling from a relatively small pool of inspiration. AI models also learn from each other, which results in quirks such as the Elias fixation being replicated quickly. “It’s like a virus,” one researcher told 404 Media .

Indeed, Elias Thorne is now infecting the entire internet. As first noticed by the software developer Daniel May and reported by 404 Media, the character has moved beyond the realm of AI fiction and is showing up as a byline on dubious-looking self-published books across various genres on Amazon. The character is also popping up in AI-generated YouTube videos.

Elias Thorne’s ever-widening adventures online may be indicative of a phenomenon called “ model collapse ”, which is also called “AI inbreeding”. As more and more of the internet becomes AI-generated nonsense, future AI models will learn from this low-quality slop and spit out even lower-quality nonsense. And on and on. Essentially, like capitalism, AI contains the seeds of its own destruction. But don’t dance on its grave just yet: it’ll probably destroy us first.

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist

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 – Business
Trefwoorden – Bernard Arnault, Fashion, France, Newspapers, Media, Louis Vuitton, Donald Trump, Unions, Europe, Business, Newspapers & magazines, World news
Title – Fashion tycoon Bernard Arnault accused of stranglehold over French business press | Bernard Arnault | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/angeliquechrisafis
Link – Fashion tycoon Bernard Arnault accused of stranglehold over French business press | Bernard Arnault | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-17T05:00:23.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jun/17/fashion-tycoon-bernard-arnault-accused-of-stranglehold-over-french-business-press

He is known as the “wolf in cashmere” – the owner of the world’s biggest luxury group whose brands including Louis Vuitton , Dior and Tiffany have made him one of the world’s richest people.

But Bernard Arnault , a close friend of Donald Trump, is under fire from journalists’ unions in France for buying up almost all the country’s business and economic press.

Reporters Without Borders said Arnault had a “stranglehold” on the main business titles in France after his LVMH group bought the centrist business weekly Challenges .

LVMH, whose brands include fashion, perfumes, champagne and spirits, has an array of business publications including the leading economic daily paper, Les Echos, and the business information service L’Agefi.

Reporters Without Borders and journalists’ unions have filed two different complaints over the purchase of Challenges. France’s council of state is considering whether authorities failed to properly examine the scope of LVMH’s business media ownership, and the competition watchdog is considering union arguments that the group “abused its dominant position” by acquiring Challenges.

“This is a textbook example of the loopholes in French law which fail to keep media ownership in check,” said Laure Chauvel, the head of the France-Italy desk at Reporters Without Borders.

LVMH did not comment when approached by the Guardian . But Arnault, who also owns the daily newspaper Le Parisien and the celebrity magazine Paris Match, told a senate committee in 2022 that he bought media “in the general interest”, to protect key titles and keep them alive.

Arnault’s expansion comes amid growing debate over the handful of billionaires who dominate media ownership and are reshaping the news landscape before next spring’s presidential election . The far right is polling high as Emmanuel Macron’s two terms in office near an end.

The most prominent billionaire is Vincent Bolloré , the conservative industrialist who is close to figures on the far right. He has been accused of using his powerful media empire, including the TV channel CNews , to give a platform to reactionary voices. Bolloré’s large presence in book publishing and film production has also sparked a revolt by writers and film industry insiders. He has dismissed petitions against him and said he was a Christian democrat.

Other billionaires include Rodolphe Saadé, the head of the world’s third largest shipping company, CMA CGM, based in Marseille. His growing media empire includes the rolling news channel BFM TV, the Marseille paper La Provence, the weekly La Tribune Dimanche , and La Tribune, a former business paper and now online publication which was once owned by Arnault. Journalists at La Tribune went on strike in April expressing fears for its future after a plan to move staff to a new digital arm of the group.

The Czech energy billionaire, Daniel Křetínský , who owns the parent company of the UK’s Royal Mail, is also building a French media and publishing empire. Xavier Niel, the telecoms billionaire whose partner is the chief executive of Christian Dior Couture and Arnault’s daughter, Delphine, was Le Monde’s main shareholder until he placed his stake into a trust. On a smaller scale, the Dassault family, which runs the defence company Dassault Aviation, owns the daily Le Figaro.

But Arnault, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes magazine to be around $145bn (£108bn), is by far the richest, highest profile and biggest business leader to own media in France. Born into an industrial family in the northern town of Roubaix, he began his career in construction and real estate. In 1984, he lobbied the French government to let him take control of a near-bankrupt textile company, Boussac, which owned a brand he wanted: Christian Dior. After decades of acquisitions, LVMH is the world’s most valuable luxury group.

Arnault’s clearest political stance has always been his opposition to wealth taxes. In the early 1980s, the young Arnault briefly moved to the US to avoid what he saw as the left’s hostile business environment and the socialist president François Mitterrand’s tax on the rich. While there, he cultivated a close friendship with another real estate figure, Trump.

Arnault, his wife and two of his children were the only French guests on the platform at Trump’s second inauguration as US president in January last year. Arnault said after that he had witnessed “the winds of optimism” in the US and returning to France was like a “cold shower”. He spoke out last year against calls by the left for a 2% wealth tax on all assets. He told the Sunday Times that such a move would be “deadly for our economy”.

In April, Arnault was among several top French business leaders reported to have had dinner with Marine Le Pen, of the far-right National Rally (RN). Le Pen’s party, polling high, is gaining more access to business leaders who once shunned it but now want to be heard on policy. The same month, Paris Match, owned by Arnault, ran a cover story on the RN’s potential presidential candidate, Jordan Bardella, strolling hand-in-hand with his girlfriend, Princess Maria Carolina de Bourbon des Deux-Siciles, in what was seen as a pre-election attempt to soften his image.

Journalists at Challenges and Les Echos are seeking to ensure they can keep the charters protecting their independence, which they fear is uncertain. The Challenges charter defines its centrist approach to business reporting as social, humanist and progressive, but there are fears Arnault prefers a more resolutely free-market approach.

Unions said Arnault’s group had not yet signed the Challenges charter which, unless renewed, expires next year. Les Echos’ charter is also up for renewal in 2027. Both titles have held unprecedented strike action. In 2023, journalists at Les Echos protested after the departure of their editor and management’s move to replace him.

“Bernard Arnault has in a few years effectively helped himself to the best part of the business press,” said Alexis Lévrier, a media historian at the University of Reims. “He has a near monopoly on economic news.”

Lévrier said Macron, despite election promises, had failed to legislate on media ownership and protections. He said he felt the president feared business leaders such as Bolloré or Arnault: “There is no equivalent in French history of this reversal of the relationship between economic power and political power. Economic power, which owns media, can impose its views on the political power in place.”

In 2022, senators asked Arnault about his attitude to the media. He admitted pulling advertising from the leftwing daily Libération in 2012 after it ran what he called an “aggressive” and “wrong” front page on his alleged desire to flee to Belgium to avoid tax rises. Arnault said he called the Libération editor to complain, and the advertising spend on the paper was in any case very small. He denied pulling advertising from Le Monde in 2017 because it had named him in Paradise Papers reporting on offshore tax havens.

Senators interviewing Arnault also referenced the trial of the former head of France’s domestic security services , Bernard Squarcini. One part of the charges against Squarcini related to an alleged scheme to spy on the former journalist and now MP François Ruffin while Ruffin was making a documentary about LVMH. The company paid €10m (£8.6m) in 2021 to settle the allegations it faced in the case, without any admission of wrongdoing. Arnault told a court hearing he had been “completely unaware” of the alleged scheme, and he told senators he rejected any culpability. Squarcini is appealing against his guilty verdict.

Sophie Taillé-Polian, a Green MP who worked on a bill aimed at safeguarding media pluralism by limiting the concentration of media ownership, said it was disappointing that, despite a consultation, no law had been passed under Macron. “When we have a domain as important as the business press under the care of one of the wealthiest people in both France and the world, that raises questions,” she said.

Keyword – UK news
Trefwoorden – Prince Harry, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, King Charles III, Monarchy, UK news, Invictus Games, World news
Title – Harry and Meghan to bring children to UK for first time in four years | Prince Harry | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/carolinedavies
Link – Harry and Meghan to bring children to UK for first time in four years | Prince Harry | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-17T14:26:55.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/17/harry-meghan-children-uk-first-time-four-years

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will bring their two children to the UK for the first time in more than four years, it is understood.

Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, last visited Britain in 2022 during the late Queen Elizabeth II’s platinum jubilee celebrations.

Prince Harry last year lost his battle against the Home Office for automatic police protection while in the UK, having previously claimed it was not safe to bring his family without it.

He has since been granted a full risk assessment and is awaiting a final decision from the royal and VIP executive committee (Ravec), the Home Office committee responsible for authorising such protection.

Harry intends to bring his family to an event next month promoting the one-year countdown to his Invictus Games for wounded military, which are to be held in Birmingham in 2027, after being assured that adequate security provision would be in place, according to the Daily Telegraph .

A spokesperson for the Sussexes has been contacted for comment.

King Charles has not seen his youngest grandchildren in person since 2022 and it is not known if he will meet them during next month’s reported visit.

An LA-based business associate of Harry and Meghan, who live in Montecito, California, told the newspaper there had been a “warming of the frost” between the king and his youngest son after Harry’s very public attacks in his memoir, Spare , and television interviews.

Harry has reportedly told friends in the US that he was “excited” for his children to reconnect with their paternal grandfather. The source was reported to have said: “Harry says he’s coming back before the end of the year with the children with the express intent to reunite with his dad.”

Harry met his father last September at Clarence House in London, their first face-to-face meeting since February 2024. The meeting was seen as a first step in improving relations between them.

During next month’s visit the duke will visit many of his remaining patronages, including WellChild and Scotty’s Little Soldiers.

Keyword – World news
Trefwoorden – China, Asia Pacific, Women, Human trafficking
Title – They were forced into marriage and abused. Now women facing exploitation in China have a glimmer of hope | China | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/amy-hawkins,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/lillian-yang,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/yu-chen-li
Link – They were forced into marriage and abused. Now women facing exploitation in China have a glimmer of hope | China | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-17T04:25:14.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/17/forced-marriage-exploitation-women-china

L ast summer, Xiaocao, a softly spoken woman in her 40s, received a tip-off that in Lüliang, a small city in China’s Shanxi province, vulnerable women were being forced into marriages. Along with another volunteer, she wanted to investigate.

After leaving Beijing, the two volunteers travelled south for hours, on trains and in rental cars. A few villages turned out to be dead ends. But on the final day of their trip, the women stopped in a county where they’d heard about a woman with learning disabilities who was “married” to two brothers. Soon, they found her.

“She could see we didn’t mean any harm, so she stopped and chatted with us,” says Xiaocao, who asked to be referred to by her nickname because of the sensitive nature of her work.

The woman ultimately declined their assistance. But her case is just one of possibly thousands across China that activists pursue in an attempt to identify and help vulnerable women who have been either abused or trafficked. Instead of advocating publicly, these activists are working behind the scenes to offer hands-on support to women they fear are being failed by the state.

In a four-part series , the Guardian analysed the changing status of women across Chinese society. The series examines how women are responding to government restrictions and shifting social and economic conditions, in different aspects of their lives.

The ‘chained woman’ incident

The trafficking and exploitation of women in China gained global attention after a case in 2022.

Every detail was shocking: A woman chained by the neck in a filthy shed . The eight children she’d given birth to. Local officials’ initial defence of her marriage to the man who had tied her up.

The case of the “chained woman”, a woman with a mental illness who was later named as Xiao Huamei, quickly went viral after being posted online by a vlogger in 2022. And despite the efforts of the authorities to contain the reaction, the incident inspired a new type of feminism in China, one that operates in the shadows.

The Chinese government says that tackling trafficking is a priority, but activists say that the government’s plans lack transparency.

In 2021, the Chinese government launched a 10-year action anti-trafficking plan that said investigation methods should be “modernised and upgraded”. In April this year, the supreme people’s court claimed the number of trafficking and abduction crimes involving women and children has declined nearly 80% since 2012.

But in recent years, China has dramatically reduced the number of legal judgments that are available online, making it hard to find details about cases or to check the official claims. Traditional social norms in rural areas mean that many cases are never reported in the first place.

A US government report published last year about trafficking in China said: “Some forced marriage cases … were mediated at the village level; these proceedings rarely culminated in a guilty verdict.”

Since Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, he has cracked down on all forms of civil society, including organisations working to eradicate sexual harassment, domestic violence and discrimination.

Despite this, new groups of women across China are taking action.

Since Xiao’s case, more and more privileged women have become willing to speak up for rural women with disabilities, a feminist activist who asked not to be named said.

The activist said that as “ anti-marriage, anti-childbirth ” attitudes become more common among urban women, many have become more sensitive to the idea that in rural areas, women are being forced into marriages and childbearing against their will.

Activists are focused on helping women whom they see as the victims of trafficking, exploitation and abuse. As well as being bought or sold into marriages, some are forced into relationships that they’re unable to consent to.

Celine Liao, a PhD candidate at the University of Washington who studies feminism in China, said that prior to the “chained woman” incident, “trafficking was not at the centre of mainstream feminist discourse” online. But since 2022, “feminists and the broader public have become significantly more sensitive to trafficking-related issues. In subsequent cases … there has been stronger public pressure on prosecutors to examine whether trafficking was involved”.

A world away from the modern, wealthy cities of Beijing and Shanghai, Xiao’s case triggered an outpouring of anger from those who saw another example of a society failing to protect its most vulnerable.

Activists have been spurred on by the sense that Xiao’s story was not unique. In February, news spread of another case. A man in the poor, mountainous region of Guangxi in southern China was discovered with a wife who had learning disabilities, with whom he had had nine children.

“I dare not call this human trafficking. I have no evidence. But I want to ask: how could a woman with intellectual disabilities ‘voluntarily’ have nine children with a man? Could she express consent?” the legal blogger Li Yuchen wrote in an article that was soon censored.

‘An indictment of the society we live in’

Women have responded in a range of different ways.

Some, like Xiaocao, physically travel to places where there are reports of exploitation, to investigate cases. Others use their spare time to monitor national anti-trafficking efforts. Some have lobbied internationally to raise awareness of the issue in China – a highly risky move in today’s climate. Nearly all of them operate under a cloak of anonymity because of the fear of retribution from the authorities, who, despite officially supporting the cause, treat independent activists harshly.

An analysis published by researchers from Renmin University found that of the more than 1,200 female victims of trafficking mentioned in judicial case files between 2017 and 2020, 20% lived with a physical or mental disability. And many cases, like the woman whom Xiaocao discovered in Shanxi, are not reported.

In February, Free Nora, a media collective that was launched in the wake of Xiao’s case, published an article marking the fourth anniversary of the case. It described it as “an indictment of the society and history we live in” and published a lengthy analysis of the government’s progress and shortcomings in protecting the rights of rural women, based on publicly available judicial statistics. It concluded that progress was “insufficient”. The article, and Free Nora’s WeChat account, were later deleted.

Six people, including the husband, were later convicted of crimes relating to Xiao’s case. The authorities launched a special operation to uncover similar incidents which resulted in the discovery of more than 1,000 missing women and children.

But efforts to investigate the problem more deeply have been quashed. Activists have noted that Chinese law criminalises the buying and selling of women, but it does not cover cases in which vulnerable women are forced into marriages.

The Chinese government did not respond to a request for comment.

For now, women like Xiaocao are limited to trying to help women on a case-by-case basis rather than pushing for more wide-ranging reforms. But Xiaocao is studying to be a lawyer to better equip herself to advocate for women and children. She believes the government has failed to take the problem seriously enough, despite the renewed push since Xiao’s case. “I don’t think it’s realistic to rely on the authorities to crack down on this,” she says.

Additional research by Lillian Yang and Yu-chen Li

Keyword – Books
Trefwoorden – Fiction in translation, Books, Culture, Fiction
Title – Collapse by Édouard Louis review – coming to terms with a brother’s death | Fiction in translation | The Guardian
Author – Charles Arrowsmith
Link – Collapse by Édouard Louis review – coming to terms with a brother’s death | Fiction in translation | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-17T08:00:26.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/jun/17/collapse-by-edouard-louis-review-coming-to-terms-with-a-brothers-death

A t 33, the French writer Édouard Louis has already seen all seven of his slim novels translated into English. In his breakout debut, The End of Eddy (2017), and again in Change (2024), he wrote about being the promising child of a poor family, the bullied gay son who became a bestselling author. Several of his other books have offered sympathetic sociological portraits of his parents: a father destroyed by physical labour, a victim of French healthcare and housing subsidy cutbacks, and a mother who, after raising numerous children in poverty, fled first Louis’s father and then, in Monique Escapes, published earlier this year, his abusive successor. Now, in Collapse, translated by novelist Tash Aw, Louis describes his eldest brother’s death, at 38, from complications relating to alcoholism.

“I felt nothing at the announcement of the death of my brother,” he begins; “not sadness or despair or joy or pleasure.” The reasons for his coldness soon become clear. His brother was violently homophobic. His drinking at one point prevented Louis from sleeping ahead of a crucial exam. After The End of Eddy came out, his brother went looking for him with a baseball bat. So when Louis talks with his mother and sister about how to pay for his brother’s funeral and admits, “yes, I would have let him be buried like a dog”, we understand why.

Collapse takes the form of a metaphysical inquest into the brother’s decline. Louis has said that the book was in various drafts a play, a diary and a manifesto – experiments that can all be glimpsed in the final product, which is a self-conscious hodgepodge of forms including witness testimony, a scripted dialogue between the author and his brother’s ghost and key scenes presented as numbered facts.

Long-term readers of Louis will be familiar with his tentative political diagnosis. His brother, ensnared in a vortex of negative social forces, stood no chance. “Your brother was above all else a victim of alcoholism,” a friend tells him. “It’s the narrative of a class destiny that you’re telling before anything else,” suggests another. But these conclusions are too pat for Louis. “My friends have clear ideas yet I don’t know, I don’t know,” he writes.

Reaching for fresh perspectives, he turns to literature: Catullus, Freud, Foucault, Joan Didion. His reading helps Louis find the distance he needs to think of his brother in new ways, and over the course of Collapse he gradually re-emerges as a kind of tragically ennobled figure. Louis describes his life in terms of “Destiny” and “Injustice” and writes of his brother’s “Wound”, a word that evokes not just the psychoanalytic work he cites but the incurable injury of Amfortas, pierced by the Holy Spear, in Wagner’s Parsifal. Though more mundane in provenance, Louis’s brother’s Wound is equally insurmountable.

The Wound is triggered by the divorce of the boy’s parents – he and Louis share a mother but have different fathers – and intensified by his father’s rejection and early death, also from alcoholism. Louis’s mother remembers a drawing his brother made as a child of “a river of blood, she never forgot the bodies or coffins that floated on the surface of an imaginary river”. The hurt never leaves. He distrusts the women he’s with; he blames his drinking on his humiliations. The Wound is a tragic flaw, an unconquerable inhibitor. “My brother’s life resembled the infinitely repeating image of a body struggling in quicksand,” Louis writes. At his death, his mother physically collapses – an operatic gesture entirely congruent with the emerging tragic scene.

Read in tandem with Monique Escapes, Louis’s latest reveals itself as the dark half of an equation that also has a more hopeful side. While his brother was unable to escape the cycle in which he was ensnared and it took his death to make a kind of redemptive sense of his life, Louis’s mother Monique has proved capable of forgiveness and growth. She sees in her son’s work how literature can be not just a form of revenge, indicting a person at their worst, but also liberating. Indeed, her escapes, as chronicled by her son, are enabled in part by his literary success – it’s to his Parisian apartment she flees; it’s the money from his writing that sets her up in her own house.

But most importantly, she retains a sense of her own destiny. “Through her, I’ve discovered the pleasure of writing in the service of someone else,” Louis remarks at the end of Monique Escapes. “I’ve become acquainted with the delight that accompanies disappearance, self-effacement, becoming just a glimpse into the story of a destiny other than my own … Nothing in literature has ever given me so much joy.” Though Louis has said that Collapse marks a close to writing his family saga, it’s hard to believe we’ve seen the end of Monique.

Collapse by Édouard Louis, translated by Tash Aw, is published by Harvill (£18.99). To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com . Delivery charges may apply.

Keyword – Books
Trefwoorden – Books, Culture, TikTok, Dating, Life and style
Title – Booksmaxxing: how reading became sexy | Books | The Guardian
Author – Guardian Staff
Link – Booksmaxxing: how reading became sexy | Books | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-17T16:08:39.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/jun/17/booksmaxxing-how-reading-became-sexy

Name: Booksmaxxing.

Age: The next big thing.

Appearance: Thoughtful, intelligent, well-versed and highly desirable.

Are you about to tell me that reading is now fashionable? Not just fashionable – being a big reader is considered sexy.

You haven’t seen me in my reading glasses. Tinder claims that mentions of books in dating bios are up 29% overall, and up 41% for women. The dating app’s relationship expert told HuffPost that “reading is clearly having a moment”.

A moment? Really? According to research from book summary app Headway, 75% of people “find partners who read or indicate that they are well-read more attractive”.

Yes, but that’s just a thing people say to make themselves seem more attractive. Nevertheless, books are huge. See the growing BookTok community, who post reviews, discussions and recommendations about favourite books.

Looking at T ikToks about reading isn’t reading. Meanwhile, book club participation has been rising steadily in the UK. Between 2022 and 2023, book club listings on Eventbrite rose by 41%.

Book clubs aren’t fashionable. They’re for nerds. Are you kidding? Dua Lipa has a book club, Service 95. And her romance with new husband Callum Turner was sparked when they discovered they were both reading the same book.

Don’t get me wrong: I like reading books , I just don’t like talking about reading books. In that case you might be interested in a reading retreat.

Where do I have to go? Any location that gives you the time and space to read and reflect – a “bookcation”, if you will.

Are you trying to sell me on the idea that reading on holiday is now a thing? Because it was already a thing. What’s new is a holiday that whisks you to the locale of a favourite novel. According to Skyscanner, 55% of travellers had booked – or would consider booking – a holiday inspired by a particular tome.

So reading the book isn’t enough – you now have to go where it’s set ? There are also overseas literary festivals, resort book clubs and hotels with libraries.

This is beginning to sound a trifle insane. That’s booksmaxxing!

Isn’t this all coming at a time when book reading is actually in decline? Overall, yes. Since 2003 the number of Americans reading for pleasure has dropped by 40%.

So booksmaxxing is a niche trend cocooned within a much larger trend that’s heading in the opposite direction ? That’s what makes it cool.

Wrong – that’s what makes it an entirely performative exercise aimed at convincing the world you are intelligent and possess an attention span. What’s that? Sorry, I wasn’t listening. *Performatively flicks page of book*

Do say: “If anything gets people reading – even pretending to like reading – then it can only be a good thing.”

Don’t say: “Great! Now take a picture of me holding Middlemarch.”

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 – Environment
Trefwoorden – Farming, Environment
Title – Farmers: tell us how you’re coping with rising costs and extreme weather | Farming | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/guardian-community-team
Link – Farmers: tell us how you’re coping with rising costs and extreme weather | Farming | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-04T07:51:51.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/04/farmers-tell-us-how-youre-coping-with-rising-costs-and-extreme-weather

Farmers are facing rising costs for fuel, fertiliser and animal feed as a result of the conflict in Iran, adding to existing pressures on the industry.

The sector is also grappling with extreme weather after the UK’s hottest May day on record, alongside wider concerns about the impact of climate change. Europe also experienced record-breaking temperatures in late May and the UN has warned about the imminent return of El Niño – a powerful weather pattern that raises global temperatures and worsens some rainfall.

We would like to hear from farmers around the world about how these issues are affecting them. Have rising costs changed the way you farm? How have recent weather conditions impacted your business? Are you concerned about the effects of climate change on farming?

If you’re having trouble using the form click here . Read terms of service here and privacy policy here

Keyword – US news
Trefwoorden – US politics, Republicans, Georgia, US midterm elections 2026, US news, US Senate, Donald Trump, Trump administration
Title – ‘Regrettable’: Republican senator breaks with Trump after president delays Jay Clayton’s nomination for intelligence director – live | US politics | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/tom-ambrose,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/shannon-ho,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/lucy-campbell,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/gaya-gupta,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/michael-sainato,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/george-chidi,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jakub-krupa,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/joseph-gedeon,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/sam-levine
Link – ‘Regrettable’: Republican senator breaks with Trump after president delays Jay Clayton’s nomination for intelligence director – live | US politics | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-17T19:06:24.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/jun/17/trump-georgia-primary-mike-collins-jon-ossoff-midterms-g7-us-politics-latest-news-updates

Jay Clayton’s nomination hearing canceled after Trump directs him not to appear

We’re going to quickly pivot from Trump’s press conference to share that Jay Clayton’s nomination hearing has officially been canceled for Wednesday, according to the Senate intelligence committee chair, Tom Cotton.

Trump directed Clayton to not appear at the hearing scheduled for this afternoon, according to Cotton. The Republican senator, a staunch ally of the president, called the order “regrettable” in rare public criticism of Trump.

In a post on X , he wrote:

It’s regrettable that the president has directed Jay Clayton not to appear at his confirmation hearing today. Mr Clayton is a patriot and a highly qualified nominee, as the president has said repeatedly. While today’s hearing is now unfortunately postponed, I look forward to proceeding with his confirmation in the near future.

The day so far

Donald Trump abruptly derailed the confirmation process for his own nominee as the US’s top intelligence chief, Jay Clayton, early this morning , in a move that will allow the US president’s controversial selection for acting director of national security, Bill Pulte, to assume the role and remain in place for at least several weeks until Clayton is confirmed. Tom Cotton, a Republican senator and chair of the intelligence committee, initially said on X that the hearing would go ahead as planned “unless the president directs [Clayton] not to appear or withdraws his nomination”. Trump later directed Clayton not to appear and the hearing was cancelled, which Cotton called “regrettable”. My colleague Cate Brown has the story .

Trump also responded to criticism of his ceasefire deal with Iran, warning at the G7 summit that he was prepared to go back to dropping bombs and insisting the deal did not require the US to pay even 10 cents to Iran. Here’s Patrick Wintour’s report .

Senior US officials dictated the memorandum of understanding with Iran to journalists after days of secrecy. According to the officials, the draft agreement includes a new “minimum” standard for down-blending of highly enriched Iranian uranium and has provisions to ensure the “territorial integrity” of Lebanon after Israel’s continued attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanese territory. In return, the US will move to waive, but not eliminate, some wide-ranging sanctions against Iran once the deal is signed. The US draft of the agreement also secures toll-free passage of the strait of Hormuz for only 60 days, and it does not preclude fees in the future, the officials said. The accord, which Trump said today is “not final”, is due to be signed on Friday in Bürgenstock, Switzerland.

The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged for the fourth time this year after its first meeting under new chair, Kevin Warsh, a Trump appointee who has taken over the central bank during a tumultuous time for the US economy. Here’s Gaya Gupta’s report .

Fed begins Warsh era by keeping rates on hold, but sees hike later this year

And we have that now. The Federal Reserve has left interest rates unchanged for the fourth time this year after its first meeting under new chair, Kevin Warsh , a Donald Trump appointee who has taken over the central bank during a tumultuous time for the US economy.

“ Economic activity is expanding at a solid pace despite elevated uncertainty that owes, in part, to the conflict in the Middle East ,” the Fed’s open market committee said in a short statement. “ Productivity growth and capital investment are strong. Job gains have kept pace with the workforce, and the unemployment rate has changed little .”

The Fed was widely expected to keep rates at a range of 3.5% to 3.75%, where it has remained since December.

The Fed also removed in its monthly policy statement the easing bias, which previously a signal that indicated that the central bank was looking for further opportunities to make a rate cut as their next rate change. Last month, three Fed governors dissented over the inclusion of this easing bias.

Warsh begins his four-year term as chair at a time when the US economy has been rattled by heightened inflation and geopolitical uncertainty .

A sharp spike in energy prices caused by Trump’s war on Iran has pushed inflation to 4.2% – the highest level the US has seen since 2023 and far from the Fed’s 2% target. Though the announcement of a ceasefire deal between the US and Iran sent oil prices tumbling to a three-month low, it will likely take months for energy prices to return to prewar levels.

Meanwhile, hourly earnings dropped to a seasonally adjusted 0.7%, indicating that price increases have stripped out wage gains over the past year.

But it’s unclear whether higher inflation will ever convince a majority of the Fed’s 12 voting members to call for a rate increase. Core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, has increased only mildly, to 2.9% from the year prior. The country’s labor market has also remained relatively strong, with the unemployment rate holding steady at 4.3%.

Even as Americans continue to balk at higher prices, Trump has continued to advocate for lower rates but said last week that he doesn’t “want to have a big influence” on Warsh .

“ Kevin is fantastic, and I want him to do whatever he wants, ” Trump said in an interview with Meet the Press on NBC News, while also reiterating his desire for a rate cut.

Kevin Warsh is due to hold his first news conference as chair of the Federal Reserve shortly, following his first federal open markets committee meeting in the role, where he is expected to announce where the Fed sees interest rates going.

Before that, we expect the Fed to release a policy statement alongside its rate decision, and economic projections for where policymakers see interest rates going over the coming years.

Senior US officials dictate US-Iran memorandum to journalists

Senior US officials have dictated the memorandum of understanding with Iran to journalists after days of secrecy.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to read the draft, which Iran has not released, ahead of a formal signing ceremony set for Friday in Switzerland.

According to the officials, the draft agreement includes a new “minimum” standard for down-blending of highly enriched Iranian uranium and has provisions to ensure the “territorial integrity” of Lebanon after Israel’s continued attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanese territory.

In return, the US will move to waive, but not eliminate, some wide-ranging sanctions against Iran once the deal is signed .

The US draft of the agreement also secures toll-free passage of the strait of Hormuz for only 60 days , and it does not preclude fees in the future , the officials said.

The accord is due to be signed on Friday in Bürgenstock, Switzerland. The Associated Press reports that it also envisions Iran receiving at least $300bn to rebuild after the war, citing leaked copies of an interim agreement that officials say broadly matches the document.

Trump’s Department of Labor claims without data that states defrauded government

Keith Sonderling sent letters to 53 states and US territories demanding action to “combat waste, fraud and abuse” within the unemployment insurance program, threatening to withhold administrative funds from states for the first time history .

“We are officially putting governors on notice,” said the acting US secretary of labor. “The American people will no longer tolerate the blatant waste, fraud and abuse of their hard-earned tax dollars – no state should allow it either. If states allow it, they will suffer the consequences. This department is no longer afraid to use every lever available to ensure taxpayer money is protected.”

The agency did not provide data on fraud or alleged fraud in unemployment systems, but highlighted three Democratic-led states – California , New York and Illinois – and made claims about each.

The agency says California owes $20bn to the federal government for a loan during the Covid-19 pandemic. California has struggled paying off the loan, as the state did with a similar federal loan received during the 2008 economic recession, due to the current setup of how employers are taxed to fund unemployment. The unemployment payroll tax system in California has been unchanged since 1984 at a taxable wage ceiling of $7,000 on a workers’ wages and maximum tax rate of 5.4%, leaving the state with insufficient funds to cover its unemployment reserve while legislators on both sides of the political aisle have been working to try to resolve the issue.

The Department of Labor also claimed that New York loses an estimated $2m per day in unemployment insurance fraud and improper payments, but did not differentiate between the two. They also cited that Illinois has improper payments of $320m, at a rate of 14%.

Legislators in the halls of the Georgia state capitol are saying that the Georgia house speaker has announced that the state will not engage in redistricting during the special session that began today.

Legislators were called to the capitol by Governor Brian Kemp to manage a legal problem with QR codes on ballots that lingered over from the regular session, and tacked on redistricting as an additional effort.

That effort appears to have been quashed after Republican lawmakers questioned the political risks ahead of what is expected to be a bruising general election in a swing state.

More to follow.

Why did Trump delay Clayton’s nomination? He wants the controversial Save America Act passed

Going back to Jay Clayton’s postponed nomination, Donald Trump said he would not approve the renewal of Fisa section 702 without passage of his Save America Act , which would require Americans to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote, a provision critics say would strip millions of Americans of their right to vote, the Associated Press reported.

Trump has previously said the controversial act would deliver his Republicans a “guaranteed” win in November’s midterm elections.

With Trump’s approval rating dropping, polls show that his party will struggle to keep their ‌slim control of the House and Senate when Americans head to the polls this year.

Trump says he is looking forward to a “very special” dinner with Macron as he wants to see the Palace of Versailles, because it “has a lot of gold”.

He then says he hopes Europe will “find its way ” , as it is “having a lot of hard times” with energy and immigration.

And curiously, Trump also thanks Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping for staying neutral on Iran, saying otherwise “they could have made it much more difficult for us”.

‘I think they both want to do something,’ Trump says after talking to Zelenskyy and Putin

Meanwhile at the G7 press conference, Trump has moved on to Ukraine .

He says he had “a productive conversation” with Ukraine’s Zelenskyy and then Russia’s Putin on the phone.

He suggests “something is going to happen”, as he says Russia is losing more soldiers than Ukraine.

He says he had “a very good conversation” with Putin and “a very, very good conversation with Zelenskyy”.

“ I think they both want to do something. They just don’t know how to do it.”

He then swiftly moves on to international aid and the Ebola outbreak in Africa.

What’s at stake with Clayton’s delayed nomination? An expired powerful surveillance power

The Associated Press has succinctly summarized the stakes of the intelligence director nomination, and why even Republicans are wary of Trump’s interference in today’s hearing:

Hanging in the balance is not only the director of national intelligence, but also section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa) , which permits spy agencies to collect without a warrant the communications of targeted foreigners located outside the United States.

National security officials across both major political parties have for years described section 702 as vital for gathering intelligence that can disrupt terror attacks and espionage operations, though some lawmakers and civil liberties advocates have raised concerns over the government’s use of information about Americans that is incidentally collected through the program .

Clayton’s Senate confirmation hearing was expected to be fast-tracked because of the program’s lapse. Democrats had said they would not renew Fisa until Trump withdrew the selection of Bill Pulte.

Trump’s post suggested that debate to revive section 702 could be indefinitely postponed.

GOP senator: ‘mistake’ to cancel Clayton hearing, blames administration for not ‘dialing the president in’

The Republican senator Thom Tillis , who is retiring from his North Carolina seat at the end of his term in 2027, told Punchbowl reporter Laura Weiss that Jay Clayton was on track to have a good hearing before Donald Trump interfered with the proceedings.

“Now we’re in a posture where it may be the reason 702 doesn’t get reauthorized,” Tillis said. “That’s a mistake.”

But Tillis also doesn’t think Trump is intentionally creating an issue. “I think somebody’s not dialing the president in to the complexities of what he’s done.”

It’s worth noting a slight sense of Trump’s frustration with Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu as he says he “gets a little excited sometimes”, and they “have a little dispute over Lebanon”.

“Bibi, you don’t have to knock down a building every time somebody walks into it that’s from Hezbollah,” he says.

Meanwhile, Trump is still on Iran.

He says the deal will be signed shortly; maybe tomorrow, maybe Friday.

Jay Clayton’s nomination hearing canceled after Trump directs him not to appear

We’re going to quickly pivot from Trump’s press conference to share that Jay Clayton’s nomination hearing has officially been canceled for Wednesday, according to the Senate intelligence committee chair, Tom Cotton.

Trump directed Clayton to not appear at the hearing scheduled for this afternoon, according to Cotton. The Republican senator, a staunch ally of the president, called the order “regrettable” in rare public criticism of Trump.

In a post on X , he wrote:

It’s regrettable that the president has directed Jay Clayton not to appear at his confirmation hearing today. Mr Clayton is a patriot and a highly qualified nominee, as the president has said repeatedly. While today’s hearing is now unfortunately postponed, I look forward to proceeding with his confirmation in the near future.

Keyword – Life and style
Trefwoorden – Life and style, Sex, Relationships
Title – This is how we do it: ‘We act out our fantasies with costumes, music and props’ | Life and style | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/olivia-ladanyi
Link – This is how we do it: ‘We act out our fantasies with costumes, music and props’ | Life and style | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-14T10:00:40.000Z
Category – Lifestyle
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/jun/14/this-is-how-we-do-it-we-act-out-fantasies-with-costumes-music-and-props

Edward, 60

When I dreamed about Jane in a latex catsuit, we had one made

When I met Jane through a dating website 22 years ago, I wasn’t looking for anything serious. As the single father of a troubled teenager whose mother left when he was a child, my life was stressful and dating wasn’t a priority. I came away from our first date thinking Jane was lovely, but there were no sparks and I didn’t expect to see her again. But when I found myself with a day off, I phoned to ask if she wanted to go for another coffee. I’m glad I did, because what we have is much deeper than a spark: it’s a love that just keeps growing.

In the early years, Jane offered me an escape from my stressful home life. We’d go for walks, to cafes and galleries, have fantastic sex, then return to our ordinary lives – her as a single mum, me as a single dad.

We moved in together after five years, and got married after 11. Now the kids have grown up and left home, it’s just the two of us. We’re no longer embarrassing parents kissing in the kitchen, and for the first time, sex can be spontaneous. There have been dinners that have ended up in the bin because all we want is each other.

A couple of years ago, I started experiencing erectile dysfunction. I miss the physical connection that comes with penetration, but it hasn’t affected our closeness. It upsets me more than it upsets Jane, but it just means we have to be more inventive.

I think of sex as playtime and have a vivid imagination. If I have a sex dream, we’ll often turn it into reality. When I dreamed about Jane in a latex catsuit, we had one made. The anticipation – having it measured, made and delivered – was as exciting as the outcome. My only worry is that the fantasies are always mine. Under the covers, I ask Jane about hers, but I haven’t found anything yet.

Jane, 58

The buildup is as important as the sex itself – even if it’s just going for a walk with nothing under my coat

Edward and I are very different – he’s creative and quirky; I’m analytical and vanilla. When he wakes from one of his vivid, lucid sex dreams, he’ll suggest we try it out. He desperately wants me to have fantasies of my own, but he’s got enough for the both of us – and when I try to think of one, it never seems interesting. Anyway, I already get so much pleasure from fulfilling his fantasies.

We storyboard, act out and film the scenarios that Edward invents with costumes, music and props. The buildup is as important as the sex itself. Even if it’s just going for a walk with nothing under my coat, planning the route and deciding where to park the car is all part of it. When Edward tells me what to wear, it’s a rush knowing how much it turns him on. It’s a real confidence boost knowing your husband is still physically attracted to you at 58.

The erectile dysfunction doesn’t bother me, but it really upsets Edward. He worries about the future, fearing it will never work again.

When we got together, when I was 36, both of us were coming out of broken relationships. After my husband left out of the blue, I lost confidence and, alone with two young children, I thought I’d never date again. It took a lot of talking to be reassured that I wasn’t going to be left like that again.

Two decades later, the sex is better as we now know what turns each other on. But I feel closest to Edward when we’re out walking together. The other day, I was cycling back from town and felt so excited to see him. We find constant delight in each other, and that’s only increased over the years.

Keyword – Life and style
Trefwoorden – Cycling, Life and style, London
Title – Naked cycling: is it ever acceptable to ride a rental bike in the nude? | Cycling | The Guardian
Author – Guardian Staff
Link – Naked cycling: is it ever acceptable to ride a rental bike in the nude? | Cycling | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-16T14:51:29.000Z
Category – Lifestyle
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/jun/16/naked-cycling-ever-acceptable-rental-bike-nude

Name: World Naked Bike Ride.

Age: 22.

Appearance: A global celebration of potentially crushed genitalia.

Is it World Naked Bike Ride again already? Where does the time go? Well, the World Naked Bike Ride event in London already happened, last Sunday. I can’t believe you missed it.

Always the naked bridesmaid, never the naked bride. Don’t worry, though, because the repercussions of World Naked Bike Ride will carry on for weeks to come.

Really? Why’s that? Primarily because everyone is freaking out about the, er, let’s call them consequences of sharing a saddle with someone who has ridden it in the buff.

Oh. Oh . Yuck. I’m afraid so. Apparently, of the 1,000 cyclists who rode naked through the streets of London at the weekend, about half of them were using rental bikes. As such, social media is quickly filling up with people hyperventilating about saddle hygiene – issues such as sweat and fungal infections have been mentioned.

Well, World Naked Bike Ride sounds absolutely disgusting. That’s the thing, it really isn’t. This is the 22nd year that it has taken place in London, and nudity is always an optional aspect. People can take part fully dressed if they like.

Ah, World Ride a Bike With All Your Clothes On. That’ll grab the headlines. It’s held for an important reason, too.

Which is? Safety. In big cities that are dominated by cars, cyclists are physically vulnerable. Doing it with all your bits flapping around highlights this vulnerability as strongly as possible.

Why hasn’t there been this much fuss about it before? Oh, there has. Six cyclists were charged with public indecency when the event took place in Chicago in 2005. A man was removed from the event in Canterbury in 2015 after becoming too visibly excited. Last year, the Reform MP Lee Anderson called it a “freak show”.

That sounds like all the excuse I need to support it, then. However, this is the first time that hygiene has been used as a weapon. The rise of cycle hire schemes means that bikes now belong to everyone.

So now cyclists are also vulnerable to catching chlamydia from a saddle? No: from an infection control standpoint, the risk of catching a disease from a bike previously ridden by a naked person is vanishingly small.

Have the rental bike companies said anything? A spokesperson from Lime – one of the biggest e-bike rental companies in London – told the Metro: “As with any ride, we ask that people leave our bikes in the condition they’d want to find them. For safety reasons, we’d always encourage everyone to wear appropriate clothing when cycling.”

Do they at least clean them? According to the Metro, Lime bikes are “regularly” pressure-cleaned with recycled rainwater.

So it’s fine then? No, of course it’s not fine! It’s gross! Next time World Naked Bike Ride happens, bring your own bike. Or pop a shower cap over the saddle.

Do say: “Please leave your bikes in the condition you found them.”

Don’t say: “Drenched in someone else’s sweat.”

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