Keyword – Fashion
Trefwoorden – Fashion, Women’s shoes, Life and style, Chanel
Title – ‘The absence becomes the point’: the steady march of barely there shoes | Fashion | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/ellie-violet-bramley
Link – ‘The absence becomes the point’: the steady march of barely there shoes | Fashion | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-12T16:26:43.000Z
Category – Lifestyle
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2026/jun/12/the-absence-becomes-the-point-the-steady-march-of-shoes-that-are-barely-there

W hen is a shoe not a shoe? On sale this month is a pair that seems to pose the question – the no shoe-shoe is the work of the cult brand Dear Frances and the latest in a steady march of shoes that are barely there; a take on naked dressing but for the foot.

The Balla shoe, which the brand calls a “sock shoe”, covers almost the entire foot, but also leaves it – encased but on display – in a kind of flimsy foot-cage. According to Jane Frances, the creative director and founder of the brand, it “offers a unique, glove-like fit wearability” and “takes inspiration from the delicate strength of a woman”.

It’s a hyperbolic response to a footwear moment in which toes have taken centre stage , not least via Vibram’s FiveFingers shoes . Once too horrifying for anyone but barefoot advocates, they are now increasingly spotted in the wild, from local pavements to celebrity big-hitters such as Rihanna.

When it comes to mesh shoes in particular, a lot can be charted back to 2022 and the wildfire success of Alaia’s £650 fishnet ballet flats , which set off a chain reaction of high-fashion iterations and high-street dupes.

The Alaia flats worked, according to Tiffany Hill, the founder of Trend Suite , because they “gave consumers something familiar – the ballet flat – but made it feel more intimate, lighter and slightly exposed. It was not quite a sandal and not quite a traditional flat. It sat in that clever middle ground: covered, but not covered; practical, but a little provocative.”

But if the fishnet-grade of those (and others, such as a pair of woven leather ballet flats on sale at John Lewis this season) had holes small enough to drain udon noodles, the Dear Frances sock-shoe, its virally successful predecessor, the Balla mesh ballerina flat , and other pairs at Asos , have a weave that could keep vermicelli from going down the sink.

They form a neat frame for the foot. “What we are seeing now,” says Hill, is “the foot becoming part of the styling language, almost like jewellery or skin”. She adds: “Shoes are no longer simply finishing the outfit; they are creating a small moment of tension. Is it dressed? Is it undressed? Is it elegant or strange? That ambiguity is exactly why the naked shoe feels so current.”

At the most recent Chanel show in Biarritz, barely there footwear reached its absurd zenith with heels tied to models’ feet without anything by way of the rest of the shoe in sight. Hill sees them as an “extreme fashion expression”. One, she says, “is runway provocation; the other is commercial translation”. But, she says, “they are part of the same movement: footwear being reduced until the absence becomes the point”.

Many of these shoes can be viewed as a humblebrag given success in pulling them off is generally predicated on having had a recent pedicure and/or naturally nice feet.

They also chime with a moment for toes and “toe cleavage” – it doesn’t feel coincidental that these nearly naked shoes are surfacing at a time when feet, and foot fetishes, have gone mainstream and a nice pair of feet can earn their owner thousands of pounds online. Or as “touching grass” is being championed as a real-world antidote to the frazzle and intangibility of digital life.

But these naked shoes aren’t necessarily good news for feet. Sarah Crookes, the director of Hackney Podiatry , says: “The upper of a shoe does a lot to support the foot in its function; after a long period of wearing [naked shoes] the wearer may end up with foot strain.” The thin sole doesn’t fill her with confidence, either: the “sole of a shoe is designed to offer the foot shock absorption from the concrete pavements, so the foot will feel tired from having had no support”. Particularly for anyone suffering from problems with their plantar fascia and achilles tendon, she wouldn’t recommend the shoe.

“All in all,” she says, “a unique shoe which is likely to draw attention – but from a podiatrist’s perspective, I wouldn’t recommend it as a functional shoe.” So even if you’re after the perfect weave to show off your metatarsals this summer, you might want to think again before trying to get up to a serious step-count in them.

Keyword – Music
Trefwoorden – Punk, Indie, Japan, Pop and rock, Music, Culture, Metal, Foo Fighters, Dave Grohl, Feminism
Title – ‘We weren’t allowed to meet Oasis!’: Japanese punk band Otoboke Beaver on fun, feminism and famous fans | Punk | The Guardian
Author – Daniel Robson
Link – ‘We weren’t allowed to meet Oasis!’: Japanese punk band Otoboke Beaver on fun, feminism and famous fans | Punk | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-16T11:37:26.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/jun/16/japanese-punk-band-otoboke-beaver-dave-grohl-foo-fighters

T hey say brevity is the soul of wit and few bands have as much of both as Otoboke Beaver. Playing short, sharp songs packed with equal parts ferocity and black humour, next week the Japanese quartet will play easily their biggest UK gig yet, at Liverpool’s Anfield stadium supporting Foo Fighters .

“We met Foo Fighters at an overseas festival, and again in Japan,” says vocalist Accorinrin as we chat in a music bar in Tokyo’s Shibuya district, a couple of hours before Otoboke Beaver go on stage and eviscerate an audience at the nearby O-Nest. “Dave Grohl told so many people about us, which helped us a lot. He didn’t have to introduce a nobody band like us, but Dave is always looking for newcomers and he wanted to hook us up within the music industry.”

Due in part to Grohl’s evangelism, Otoboke Beaver’s popularity has spread: along with putting out around a dozen records in various formats since they formed 17 years ago, they have opened for the likes of Green Day, Idles, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jack White, Eddie Vedder and Oasis. “I learned from those shows that amazing bands have amazing support staff,” says wild-eyed guitarist Yoyoyoshie (all Otoboke Beaver members go by mononymous nicknames like this). “Those staff are so professional, and they have such compassion for the artists they work with. It seems like a small thing, but that really left an impression on me.”

I ask what the Gallaghers were like. “We weren’t allowed to meet them. There were lots of restricted areas and black curtains were hung up when the Oasis members passed by.” How about Idles ? “So cool and friendly. They were just like a bunch of cool punk guys, and they invited us to go drinking together.”

Otoboke Beaver’s music is most easily described as punk, but that’s not really the half of it. Their songs are short but incredibly dense, packed with changes in tempo and tone, aggressive but hilariously funny. Each song is an ornate puzzle box: pretty on the surface but with intricate hidden depths to unravel.

Accorinrin sings about love and food, but also about being harassed by old perverts (Dirty Old Fart is Waiting for My Reaction), the pains of dealing with Japan’s music royalties agency Jasrac (I Put My Love to You in a Song, Jasrac), and her lack of desire to have children (I Am Not Maternal). Despite these song titles, “I never thought our songs were feminist until people said they were,” she says. “Japan has always been a male-oriented society, so it never occurred to me to be bothered by it.” Any latent frustration, she says, “naturally comes through in my lyrics”.

The band formed in Kyoto in 2009 and were fans of bands from nearby Osaka including the wildly chaotic Oshiripenpenz, whose gonzo performances are filled with unhinged surprises. “I couldn’t believe music could be like that,” says Yoyoyoshie.

As the home to Japan’s biggest comedy talent agencies, the Kansai region, where Kyoto and Osaka are located, is the humour factory of Japan; and as such, Otoboke Beaver take influence from comedy as much as music. “It’s in our DNA,” says Accorinrin. “If the songs aren’t funny, it’s no fun.” Sure enough, that night at O-Nest, Accorinrin berates an audience member for using the flash on his phone camera – “Old men who don’t know how to turn off their flash should bin their smartphones!” – and raises her middle finger to each audience member in turn: it brings to mind the jovially antagonistic routines of Stewart Lee. Not least because the audience are in on the joke: a sadomasochistic relationship that is endlessly fun to experience. Accorinrin says the band can work on a melody or lyric idea “hundreds of times, trying new things, thinking about the emotion we want to convey, and how to make it funnier or sillier”.

Otoboke Beaver’s longtime drummer Kahokiss recently left the band, leading them to rush out a three-song single and mini-tour to see her off. Their last show with her was a joyous celebration rather than a maudlin farewell, according to Accorinrin and Yoyoyoshie, and she was replaced by Emi “Leo” Morimoto, formerly of veteran Osaka band and fellow humorists Shonen Knife. Ludicrously complex basslines are handled by Hirochan.

At O-Nest they play four new unreleased songs written with Leo including Don’t Dance in Front of My Grave, which is poppy and mid-tempo by their standards, and actually very danceable. Fans are begging for more new material like this: the band’s most recent album – the 18-song, 21-minute Super Champon – came out four years ago. Poking fun at the constant nagging, one of the songs on their new single is titled Is the New Album Out Yet?

“We’re working on it bit by bit,” says Accorinrin soothingly. “Our songs take a long time to write, and we like to play live a lot, plus we’ve had a lineup change.” She laughs as she rebukes the fans once more: “We need everyone to shut up and wait.”

Otoboke Beaver play Electric Ballroom, London, 21 June; and support Foo Fighters across Europe, including at Anfield Stadium, Liverpool, 25 June

Keyword – Life and style
Trefwoorden – Australian lifestyle, Beauty, Skincare, Life and style
Title – ‘Russian’ manicures are on the rise – but experts say a lot can go wrong | Australian lifestyle | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/isabella-lee
Link – ‘Russian’ manicures are on the rise – but experts say a lot can go wrong | Australian lifestyle | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-10T15:00:49.000Z
Category – Lifestyle
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/jun/11/russian-e-file-manicures-on-rise-differences-risks

A drill with a speed of 35,000 revolutions per minute sits on Alina Huck’s orderly work station. The drill bit is the length of an almond, and as soon as it touches the client’s nail it whips up a fine dust of dead skin.

“It’s definitely a satisfying experience,” says Huck, a Sydney-based nail technician who has spent nearly a decade specialising in e-file manicures, also known as Russian manicures.

Light machinery might seem out of place in a glossy nail salon, but it is the key to an e-file manicure. Over the past year, more clients have been requesting the once-niche beauty treatment, says Huck.

E-file manicures are characterised by the complete removal of the cuticle – the drill is used to lift the cuticle up and remove any skin on the nail plate beneath. This allows the nail technician to apply polish close to the base of the nail plate, resulting in a longer-lasting manicure.

Global Google searches for “Russian manicure” have risen steadily since 2020, with searches peaking last month. There are over 250,000 videos on TikTok under the hashtag #russianmanicure, with some dramatic before and after videos of sanded cuticles clocking more than 200,000 views.

“It just looks so natural – it’s this clean look,” says Linda Vasquez, a disability accommodation services manager. Every month, Vasquez travels an hour from Wollongong to her nail technician’s salon in Penshurst in Sydney’s south.

While regular gel manis last around two weeks, Vasquez says e-file manicures can stretch up to five weeks and are better able to withstand the “wear and tear” of her job. Their longevity comes at a pretty price, however, costing between $100 and $150 in Australia, roughly double that of a gel manicure. “It’s treated more as a craft … rather than a quick service,” says Sydney nail technician Salina Basnet.

Huck says when she migrated from Kazakhstan to Sydney in 2017, most of her clients were from eastern Europe, where the technique originated. Now she has a strong local clientele who travel from as far afield as Perth for an e-file manicure.

Huck opened her current salon in 2021 and employs three full-time staff – all specialising in e-file manicures. She has noticed a “big change” in the industry, with more technicians providing the service.

Samantha Elliott, owner of Seir Beauty School in Sydney, links the trend to the popularity of “immaculate” nail plates on social media. Enrolments in Seir’s “extremely popular” Russian manicure short course rose 30% in the last year, Elliott says. “Clients are requesting more and more of a flawless finish. If you’ve got a little bit of a hangnail or a little bit of the eponychium still sitting there, your clients are not going to be happy.”

As clients tighten their household budgets , they are also demanding higher standards from beauty technicians. “To justify the financial cost, you want good results,” says Christina Anthony, marketing lecturer and consumer psychologist at the University of Sydney.

In the case of e-file manicures, it’s an “investment” in a service that is supposed to be longer lasting.

Affordable luxuries, such as specialised beauty treatments, can provide a sense of control and comfort during uncertain times, Anthony adds. “We’re not just managing finances but we’re also trying to manage our moods and our emotions because we’re feeling a bit low,” she says. “We use consumption for emotion regulation.”

Meg Elkins, associate professor in economics at RMIT, says: “If your nails are on you’re always elevated – you might not have your face on, you might not have your hair done but your nails are always on.”

For Mariya Hull, a sales representative at a non-for-profit organisation, having a fresh set of nails is a “mood booster” when she is tapping away at her computer. “It’s like little art on my nails … when I look at them, it makes me feel better,” she adds.

But Basnet and Huck acknowledge that without adequate training, e-file manicures can be a risky service. “A lot can go wrong if it’s not done properly,” says Basnet. When Vasquez’s regular nail technician went on holiday she tried another salon, with less than ideal results. “My fingers looked deformed,” she says.

The main risk is infection, explains dermatologist Theone Papps. With no cuticle to act as a barrier, yeast and bacteria may enter the nail fold, which can lead to chronic inflammation around the nail. If the nail plate has been filed down too much it may also create thinner and more brittle nails.

While Papps herself indulges in gel manicures from time to time, she recommends minimising manicure frequency, and taking breaks between sessions to let your nails and skin recover.

Light pain or irritation after a manicure could indicate a“superficial bacterial infection”, she says. Papps recommends soaking your nails in a diluted saline or vinegar solution. But her main tip for aftercare is moisturiser. “During the manicure, you’ve had a lot of physical abrasion, a lot of chemicals going on the skin … so you need to rehydrate,” she says. Something “thicker or greasy” like petroleum or paraffin works best.

An e-file session takes time to get right, with a standard appointment lasting at least an hour and 20 minutes. But not every moment is spent drilling.

Hull’s latest session took three hours, much of it spent catching up with her manicurist. After all, she says, a visit to the salon is “like coming home”.

Keyword – The Grid
Trefwoorden – The Grid
Title – From Amazon to Meta: how the world’s biggest companies are securing supplies of low-carbon energy | The Grid | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/rhymer-rigby
Link – From Amazon to Meta: how the world’s biggest companies are securing supplies of low-carbon energy | The Grid | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-03-17T15:01:56.000Z
Category – Labs
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/the-grid/2026/mar/17/how-big-tech-companies-are-securing-low-carbon-energy

The war in the Middle East this year has given us a stark reminder of how global events can have a huge impact on domestic energy prices. It follows earlier systemic shocks to global energy supplies, from the oil crises of the 1970s to the energy price spikes in 2021-2023 as the world came out of Covid lockdowns and then grappled with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

While each of those dramatic disruptions had a well-documented impact on the consumer market, power-hungry businesses and energy suppliers felt the brunt. That’s why many organisations want to fix their energy costs to avoid price spikes, flatten out the peaks and troughs or volatility and give more certainty over the longer term.

How power purchase agreements work

One way of doing this is with power purchase agreements (PPAs). Being familiar with them can give you a fuller understanding of the clean energy grid – how clean energy markets work and how these agreements help companies reduce their carbon footprint.

Put simply, PPAs lock in a long-term price at which a business or supplier can buy energy. The prices may be somewhat higher than the wholesale price, but if the price climbs they can offer significant savings. In this sense, they are much like fixed mortgages. They work for both businesses and energy providers. Businesses like to be able to forecast their costs accurately and energy generators like to be able to forecast their income.

It isn’t just rising wholesale prices that make PPAs attractive. Renewable energy is another increasingly important driver. Renewables such as offshore windfarms have huge upfront investment costs and the debt incurred raising capital needs to be serviced. Knowing there is a reliable income stream that could last between five and 20 years (the typical duration of PPAs) makes investment decisions of this nature much easier.

Sustainability reporting

But PPAs are about much more than financial risk management. Businesses and energy suppliers who use PPAs are not just buying the energy, they are buying a guarantee of origin. Thus, the environmental attributes of the project in question can enable a business or energy supplier to state that it is powered by low or net zero energy. The companies still normally get their energy from the grid but they will have a certificate saying that the amount of energy they used was generated by renewables.

This can help companies deliver more robust sustainability reporting. Likewise, it can help assure customers who are trying to reduce their own carbon footprints.

There is another benefit when it comes to PPAs and clean energy. Nowadays, energy from renewables is generally cheaper to generate than energy from gas. However, wholesale electricity prices in Britain are determined by the most expensive source of energy generation available. This is known as a marginal pricing system and means the most expensive power source, which is most often gas, determines the price for all electricity . But if a company commits to buying large quantities of renewable energy over a long period a green energy generator may also be able to offer businesses (and energy suppliers) lower prices.

There are other facets to PPAs. Some will cover energy produced “privately”. This might, for instance, be from solar panels on a company’s site or nearby and will bypass the public grid altogether.

A booming market for PPAs

PPAs have become big business in recent years. According to BloombergNEF’s Corporate Energy Market Outlook report , in 2023, private companies and public institutions signed PPA contracts to secure 46 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy to power their operations – over 12% more than in 2022. The US market, which declined slightly last year, is the biggest, followed by Europe which is growing fast. Since 2008, companies have signed PPAs for almost 200 GW of clean energy . This is more than the generating capacity of countries such as France, the UK and South Korea.

Iberdrola, the world’s second-largest electricity utility company, which owns Scottish Power in the UK, has been using PPAs for more than a decade. It is the biggest player in Europe and in 2024 signed 15 PPAs totalling 1.25 GW, an increase of 38% over 2023. It has signed PPAs in the US, UK, Spain, Mexico and Australia and its corporate clients include Amazon, Apple, Meta and Heineken. Amazon is one of the biggest corporate buyers of clean energy in the world: in 2023, it bought 8.8 GW of PPAs ; Meta bought more than 3 GW.

Recently, in the UK, Iberdrola signed a PPA with Amazon associated with the East Anglia THREE offshore windfarm, as well as another with Co-op supermarkets, associated with a photovoltaic solar plant for about 170 MW.

For all of these companies, these deals are tools that help them decarbonise their operations. They also ensure that long-term plans can be made and that price shocks will not happen. Increasingly, they are part of a green future that makes both environmental and business sense.

Keyword – Books
Trefwoorden – Fiction, Books, Culture
Title – Wash by Erica Wagner review – vivid portrait of a monumental American | Fiction | The Guardian
Author – Christopher Shrimpton
Link – Wash by Erica Wagner review – vivid portrait of a monumental American | Fiction | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-15T08:00:06.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/jun/15/wash-by-erica-wagner-review-vivid-portrait-of-a-monumental-american

W ashington Augustus Roebling, or “Wash”, was the chief engineer on the Brooklyn Bridge, which, when opened to the public on 24 May 1883, was the longest suspension bridge in the world. It was quite an achievement, but he didn’t do it alone. On the one hand there was his father, the austere and tyrannical John Roebling, who had designed and begun the bridge before his untimely death in 1869. On the other there was his wife, the accomplished and capable Emily, who, as well as providing moral and secretarial support, took on ever more responsibility for the project after Washington’s own health began to fail mysteriously.

Wash is something of a companion piece to Chief Engineer, Erica Wagner’s 2017 biography of Roebling. Spurning what she calls in her afterword “the clock’s time”, she has instead structured the narrative in accordance with “the soul’s time”; that is, by jumping backwards and forwards in time and place in a series of short chapters emphasising those individual moments, choices and encounters that together made this remarkable man who he was. It is a bold and engaging, if somewhat disorienting approach, giving this slender novel a vividness and intensity that might be smoothed over in a more traditional narrative arc.

The story begins in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1849. The household of John Roebling is a depressing place in which to grow up. A self-made man, now rich from his wire rope business and famous for his Niagara Falls suspension bridge, Roebling is an oppressive and exacting – not to mention parsimonious – figure. “The man who bridged Niagara, and much else besides”, remarks a bitter but awed Wash, “the very chasms tremble at his approach!” So too do his wife and children, who keep their eyes down and their voices low when in his presence, for “it was much the safest way”. They frequently go hungry; the strap is often at hand. Needless to say, Wash’s childhood is an unhappy one.

Fortunately, happiness comes in the form of two individuals: Max Andermann, a fellow engineering student, and Emily Warren, his future wife. Max is a charming and attractive figure (based on a real person, but here renamed), who shows immediate solicitude for the undernourished and overworked Wash. Tall, good-looking and well-groomed (like a “Macassar-scented bear”), he adds a new dimension to Wash’s austere existence. They open up to one another about their difficult childhoods (“Washington had never spoken to anyone in this way before”), and eventually share a kiss. Wash treasures a photograph of the two men together for the rest of his life.

Emily, too, brings wit and warmth into Wash’s life, as well as a fresh determination to succeed in a manner different from that of his father. “A new leaf. A new life. From this very moment”, he vows. The two become a sort of 19th-century power couple, running the groundbreaking project almost, but not quite, as equals. As Wash becomes increasingly unwell, Emily is more and more relied upon as “caretaker, nursemaid, secretary – and increasingly, she felt, engineer”. Wagner gives due attention to the emotional toll taken on the wife of such a man. While he holes up with his plans and his rock samples, she is left to deal with the politics and practicalities of the outside world. “Solitude was what he required,” Emily thinks to herself. “But what did she require?”

Wagner clearly has a deep personal connection to Brooklyn Bridge and to Wash himself (in her afterword she admits that as a young woman “I thought I was in love with him”). The happy result is a richly detailed and multifaceted portrait of a monumental American life. While the reader may not develop an all-consuming crush on Washington Augustus Roebling, this nuanced and idiosyncratic novel shows that his was a life worth revisiting.

Wash by Erica Wagner is published by Salt (£10.99). To support the Guardian buy a copy at guardianbookshop.com . Delivery charges may apply.

Keyword – Life and style
Trefwoorden – Dogs, Pets, Life and style, Animals
Title – ‘She’d consumed a kilo of sand’: 11 Guardian readers on the weirdest things their dogs have ever eaten | Dogs | The Guardian
Author – Gabriel Stewart and Guardian readers
Link – ‘She’d consumed a kilo of sand’: 11 Guardian readers on the weirdest things their dogs have ever eaten | Dogs | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-15T15:06:16.000Z
Category – Lifestyle
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/jun/15/guardian-readers-on-the-weirdest-things-their-dogs-have-ever-eaten

I adopted my brother’s middle-aged westie, Maggie. She did tend to eat anything unattended, but usually leaned towards actual food. One memorable day, I came home to a living room carpet covered in what appeared to be termite mounds. Maggie had consumed about a kilo of chinchilla bathing sand and a second course of sanitary towels (the ones with wings). The latter contained some kind of absorbent gel, which made the vomit sculptures impressively solid – the vet who checked her afterwards (Maggie was remarkably unaffected, and certainly did not learn any lesson) remarked that it was something of a miracle that she threw it up. If not for my carpet. Fiona, 56, works for a non-profit research institute, Fulford, North Yorkshire

I have a partially sighted two-year-old red fox labrador and a more matronly five-year-old black lab. I have a long daily commute and my dogs come with me. There wasn’t space for a cage that was big enough for both labs in the boot of my small hatchback, meaning they had free access to the whole boot during our two hours on the road. Last year, the younger one, with possible assistance, ate up all the electrics she could get to, pulling them out from under the back seat. She also ate the floor of the boot, the polystyrene around the spare tyre and the backing of the back seats. All done in relative silence during our drive until the car suddenly stopped in the middle of the road as I was driving out of a car park one morning, with all the warning lights flashing. The entire car had to be rewired, costing around £8,000. Thank goodness for comprehensive car insurance. She is no longer allowed to travel in the boot unless she’s in her cage and, thankfully, nothing she ate needed advanced veterinary attention. Rebecca, 51, veterinary surgeon and researcher, Norway

Before he was two, my dog Spotty ate my garden lawn sprinklers (hoses and all), creating a maze of trenches. He ate 12 lawn lamps, a palm tree, all his mattresses (some in 30 seconds) and a few rugs, two of which were so entangled in his ears, legs and snout they had to be removed at the veterinary clinic (with a scalpel). The cherry on the cake was when he ate two wasps’ nests on two different occasions and, again, was taken to the veterinary ER, where he was the terror of the incredible vets there. Whenever they heard my car horn, they knew Spotty was coming with some weird emergency. He lived happily until 13, passing, against all odds, of natural causes. Isabel Tallysha-Soares, university professor, Portugal

The first “old dog” we adopted was a 16-year-old drahthaar named Carter. He wasn’t in great shape when we got him from the shelter, and we didn’t know anything about his previous life. We learned very quickly that he was fully capable of opening drawers and doors, and had most probably lost his sense of taste. Before we learned how to “Carter-proof” our home and my handbags, he ate several tampons, my menstrual cup and a shea butter soap (he didn’t make any bubbles and luckily didn’t get sick at all). He went on to eat my wallet, including my credit card. Aurélie Viard-Tebby, 43, dog adopter, É cuisses , France

My staffie Rupert, a rescue dog, decided to eat my reading glasses. I found the chewed-up frames, one arm and only one lens. Rupe showed no ill-effects. Staffies are insanely tough, emotional, daft but loyal dogs, so I guess he thought chowing down on my specs was a way of showing his devotion to me. Stephen Holloway, retired, East Anglia

When my children were little, I always made their birthday cakes. A particular favourite was a sofa-shaped Madeira cake, covered in pink fondant icing, with a Barbie doll arranged to sit on it. A neighbour asked if I would make one for her daughter, who was turning three and obsessed with Barbie, which I duly did. I remember the doll (a Florida Barbie complete with sunglasses). My neighbour was thrilled when she had the preview. I had to do something for my ageing parents at the time the party started, so I left the cake on the dining table and gave my husband instructions about how to get it to the party, along with our children. When I arrived, about half an hour after everyone else, I was horrified to see a supermarket cake with a transfer image of a Barbie doll face on top. I hissed at my husband, “What did you do with the actual cake?” He then revealed that our recently acquired rescue staffie, Macy, had polished off the whole thing – Barbie, sunglasses and all – and he had made a mercy dash to the local supermarket to be able to arrive with some kind of Barbie cake, rather than disappoint a three-year-old child. I was relieved that my neighbour had actually seen the cake, so that I didn’t look like a letdown merchant. Gil Sewell, 65, chief people and culture officer at a mental health NGO, Auckland, New Zealand

My driving licence fell out of my wallet and my dog Disco, a collie-cross rescue, must have found it. When asked what had happened to my old licence, I had to claim, “My dog ate it.” He also ate the F11 key off my computer keyboard. Fortunately, I had a spare. I think the common thread to these items is that they were things that I handled frequently. The F11 key controls the volume on my PC. James Skene, 48, computer programmer, Auckland, New Zealand

Our dog, a jack russell, has attempted to eat so many weird things it’s hard to narrow down the list: innumerable varieties of footwear (socks, slippers, shoes, boots, baby booties – he’s not proud), the slipcover from an old sofa, an entire bottle of baby aspirin, the stuffing and squeakers from squeaky toys, you name it. His most revolting food preference is rabbit poo. Our back yard teems with rabbits, so there is an abundance of poo. He leaps upon it with a gleam in his eye, like a little old gourmand who has spotted a bowl of beluga caviar. We retch, he grins. Anonymous, Minneapolis, US

On a walk one day, our sprocker spaniel puppy, Ozzy, picked something up, crunched it and swallowed it. It looked suspiciously like a shard of terracotta, about 3in long and 1in wide. Kind of like a piece of broken flowerpot. I took a few deep breaths and repeated to myself, “Don’t be silly, it was probably just a crunchy brown leaf. Why the hell would a dog eat a piece of terracotta?” It was only a couple of days later, when picking up a poo, that I noticed something sharp had torn the poo bag. I investigated and found three eye-wateringly sharp 1in-square pieces of terracotta in an otherwise uniform dog poo. Even though one of them appeared to have come out sideways, my oblivious adolescent dog did not bat an eyelid. Rai Fuge, 41, care worker, Launceston, Cornwall

We rescued Prince Harry from a pet shelter when he was one. He was skin and bones, and had many behavioural issues as he had been abandoned twice, including issues around food – it was obvious he had gone really hungry. At first we would only leave him alone for five minutes, but gradually built this up to one hour. However, when we forgot to hide the TV remote, we would come home to find it eaten. We’ve bought at least six new ones. One day we did hide the remote but he was obviously looking for something to chew. He jumped up high (around 1.6 metres) and took the phone intercom mouthpiece off the wall and ate it. Harry is a tall boy. Edward, campaign leader, Barcelona, Spain

I have a small-medium mutt dog named Freddy Krueger, after her little velociraptor claws. A strange mix of breeds, ranging from chihuahua to Australian cattle dog, she was a feral desert puppy picked up with one sibling by a rescue. No one knew how long they had survived the Sonoran desert on their own. Due to her peculiar start in life she has always had peculiar habits, particularly with regards to food. All these years later, she still can’t resist scavenging whenever she’s outside. The weirdest thing that I have seen her eat is habanero peppers, fully ripe and fresh off the vine. I was at a friend’s house for lunch in the back yard when I noticed Freddy kept disappearing into their bushes. We realised that she was sneaking into the undergrowth of the pepper patch to pluck fresh habaneros off the plants and scarf them down. I have no idea how many she gleefully consumed that day. All I know is she cannot be trusted around pepper plants any more. Shockingly, she never experienced any digestive upset after her pepper binge, nor anything else she’s ever eaten. She should be studied for science. Sarah, 36, student and education assistant, Canada

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 – Football
Trefwoorden – World Cup 2026, World Cup, Football, Sport, US sports, New York, US news
Title – ‘The perfect job’: meet the fans being paid to watch all 104 World Cup games in Times Square | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/ed-aarons
Link – ‘The perfect job’: meet the fans being paid to watch all 104 World Cup games in Times Square | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-16T10:00:07.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/16/the-perfect-job-meet-the-fans-being-paid-to-watch-all-104-world-cup-games-in-times-square

W hen Kevin Kotoko heard that he had been selected as one of Fox’s chief World Cup watchers he had no hesitation in accepting. What self-respecting football fan could turn down the opportunity to be paid $50,000 (£37,000) to take in all 104 games at this World Cup, after all?

The only issues were that he would have to watch every match in a custom-built viewing cube in the heart of Times Square and let his employers know that he wouldn’t be coming in for work the next day. “I quit my job,” admits Kotoko, a Liverpool fan who is from Florida and was working as a waiter in a restaurant. “I found out on Thursday that I had won the competition and so I told them on Friday that would be my last day!”

He is sharing the giant fishbowl for the next six weeks with Austin Franklin after they were selected from thousands of applicants who uploaded videos on social media pitching for the role. Both are expected to “create social media content, record their reactions, and engage with fans” throughout the tournament as part of the deal.

According to Franklin, who describes himself as an influencer from Philadelphia, it has been a surreal but enjoyable experience so far.

“It has really felt a bit like being on the Truman Show,” Franklin says. “I forget at times that we’re here. I’m watching a game for minutes and then I look over at Kevin and I see people on top of me. It’s like: ‘Oh my God!’ There’s 30 people watching us, watching games, most of the time. It is a weird experience.”

Kotoko adds: “We’re trying to stay authentic in the process of the job, I guess. So it’s finding that balance between making sure we’re engaged with the game, but also showcasing what we’re doing.”

Their presence in one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares has certainly attracted plenty of interest. One curious onlooker was overheard asking whether they are living in the cube for the whole tournament, while Franklin reveals that the most common question they have been asked is where do they go to the toilet. “I like the idea of finding it,” Franklin says. “That’s kind of fun for me. I’ve got 15 minutes to be, like, ‘all right, let’s see where I can find me a bathroom today.’”

There are facilities at the swanky hotel both are staying at around the corner, with food inspired by each participating nation also being served up inside the cube. When the Guardian visited for the opening match of the tournament between Mexico and South Africa , there was a carnival atmosphere outside as the co-hosts swept to a convincing victory and both watchers partied on the streets afterwards.

“There was a woman who sat right behind me in one of those chairs for the entire 90 minutes, and I went up to her and said: ‘Thank you so much for your time’,” says Franklin. “I gave her a big hug, and she told me about how she was born in Mexico, moved to New York , and used to watch all the Mexico games with her dad. Her dad passed away a few years ago, so I was like: ‘You’re going to make me cry’. So now I’m like that’s a team that I want to do well. You feel this connection and that’s what the World Cup is all about.”

Both have high hopes for the United States too after their excellent start against Paraguay . “I think the expectation is they can get into the quarter-finals at least. Then, who knows?” says Kotoko. “This is our golden generation so I think you should put that pressure on them.”

The unprecedented and unrelenting schedule of the expanded 48-team tournament means this will be a marathon and not a sprint. For the next three weeks there are four games every day stretching across three time zones as the group stages continue and both are fully aware of the challenge that schedule will pose.

“I think it’s just, like, trying to feed ourselves and making sure that we’re trying to keep the energy up, making sure we’re taking care of ourselves,” says Kotoko, who is also hoping that Ghana can make an impression at this World Cup, having been born there.

“I mean, I’m sitting on a couch, watching football. It’s pretty fun,” says Franklin. “There is something about the spirit of the World Cup that takes over. We have pretty much the perfect job.”

Keyword – Life and style
Trefwoorden – Life and style, Technology, Smartphones, Data and computer security, Mobile phones, Telecoms
Title – Readers reply: Experts say we should use passkeys, but can a smartphone pin really be safer than a password? | Life and style | The Guardian
Author –
Link – Readers reply: Experts say we should use passkeys, but can a smartphone pin really be safer than a password? | Life and style | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-14T13:00:45.000Z
Category – Lifestyle
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/jun/14/readers-reply-experts-say-we-should-use-passkeys-but-can-a-smartphone-pin-really-be-safer-than-a-password

I ’ve been struggling to get my head around the idea that a passkey, which can be a pin on your phone, or facial recognition, can be safer than using a complicated password and two-factor authentication.

I get that having something unique to your device, not stored on a company’s server, is unphishable and less hackable by cybercrims, but what if your phone is nicked and someone guesses the password? And what if you lose your phone?

Sorry if that sounds simplistic, but I am genuinely stumped to understand why the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre and others who know about these things are so sold on passkeys. Can anyone who’s used them enlighten me? Martin Avis, Chester

Send new questions to nq@theguardian.com .

Readers reply

The question is legit and deserves a proper answer. First, passkeys are safer than passwords simply because login using a password is vulnerable to a hacker anywhere in the entire world, while a physical passkey is vulnerable only to a hacker who can steal your phone (as the crypto used by a passkey is out of reach of hacking by anyone but state actors – and they don’t need to hack your bank account). Second, when someone steals your phone, you tend to notice very quickly and can cancel (revoke) your passkey on your accounts; if your password login is hacked, you may not notice for a long time. No security system is perfect, but passkeys are still a good step up compared to a password. wyldfam

Passkeys are good, strong protection – much better than passwords. Create a 10-digit pin on your phone from random numbers and remember it so it’s second nature. On an iPhone, turn on “Stolen Device Protection”. [On Android, it’s Identity Check.] And if you’re really serious about security, enable iOS’s “Lockdown Mode” [or Android’s “Advanced Protection Mode”]. That’s my opinion. TechGirl

Passwords are built on an inherent weakness known as a “shared secret”. That is, your password must be “shared” between you and the website you’re accessing. This is so your password can be sent to the website and verified when you login. The problem with this is that if a server is hacked and your data is stolen, your password can be lifted from the hacked data and reused by the hacker without your knowledge.

Passkeys don’t have this weakness. A passkey is (very simply) a really complex value that’s used as a start for a mathematical calculation, the result of which is sent to the website. This mathematical result is then verified to have come from only your passkey using a totally different complex value. The beauty is that your passkey is never sent to the website (only the result is), so if the website is hacked, your passkey can’t be stolen and can’t be reused. Passkeys are stored in your phone, laptop or password manager and unlocked using a simple pin or biometrics, so they’re super easy to use, while still maintaining that highly secure underlying technology. There are more benefits to using passkeys, though being easy to use and “unphishable” are the most obvious ones. If given the choice, pick passkey every time. gh05ted

I really can’t understand these answers. I tend not to use things I don’t understand. My passwords are partly written on a piece of paper. The accounts they refer to are on a separate piece in a different place written in a way only I could make much sense of. I do use two-factor authentication where required or available. I don’t use a password manager. Good luck if you can hack that. I’m very suspicious of all this. I suspect it is software companies trying to self stuff we don’t need and making things more complicated than they need to be. dannytheclown

The whole subject seems very confusing. My initial understanding of passkeys, after Microsoft suggested their use on my PC, was that they were simply supposed to be a convenience, because they were easier to enter then passwords. Recent publicity now indicates that they should be more secure because they are tied to hardware and cannot be used remotely by hackers. On the other hand, you may be able to sync them between devices, which seems to introduce possible vulnerabilities.

Between fingerprints, pins, passwords, passkeys, password managers, two-factor authentication via apps or text messages – not to mention Google, Apple or Windows offering to save and enter your passwords (and passkeys?) automatically – getting security right is a minefield for Joe (or Joanna) Bloggs. Getting access to your system again if it crashes and you have forgotten key passwords after years of letting it log on itself is also a severe risk. GordonLiv

I’ve resisted using a passkey because it is tied to a single device. What happens if I want to access my bank account and I’m away from my desktop? Then I need to have passkeys on my laptop and maybe on my phone as well. In the latter case, my security only becomes as secure as my phone (which can easily end up in the hands of others). What happens if I have lost access to all of my devices and need to get money urgently? So I am continuing to use a password. Every high-value site has its own very different password, which is not stored in a password manager, but in my memory. And on a bit of paper, which I can take with me when travelling – but that has the information in an incomplete, coded form, so would be useless to anyone else. It’s not as strong as a passkey tied to a single device – but it’s unlikely to leave me stranded. Jiminoz

Ugh. I think back to my childhood and younger adult life when your “password” was your signature. We didn’t ask for this complicated world – we were told life would be so much easier when we logged on to do this or that. We had no choice in any of it and now look where we are. The burden for protecting ourselves from the life we didn’t ask for falls directly on to us. And of course, it’s our fault when we get hacked. To that end, I’ll stick with my password manager. ElleWoods

Since September 2024 , the US National Institute of Standards and Technology has stopped recommending “enforcing arbitrary password complexity requirements such as mixing uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and special characters. Instead, the focus has shifted to password length as the primary factor in password strength”. The web comic XKCD explains why passphrases are better than passwords. mu5epen7ra

When I die, how do I ensure that my executor can access my passkey to control my accounts? BarnerCobblewood

In reply: Use a password manager and store the “root of trust” on a physical piece of paper and store it in a safe place. Storing a “root of trust” for your password manager means storing sufficient information to regain access to your password manager account, even if you lose all your devices. Typically, it includes long and random recovery codes. For example, 1Password generates an “emergency kit” as part of the initial setup. This is a pdf you physically print out for exactly this purpose. A relative or executor can use the emergency kit to re-establish access to your password manager and all its data. jmsgwd

I was going to tell you all how I use passwords, but now that I’ve read all the comments I’m scared to reveal anything. Goldgreen

Keyword – World news
Trefwoorden – Sweden, Europe, World news, The far right, Migration
Title – Sweden votes to back laws reinforcing its immigration crackdown | Sweden | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/ashifa-kassam
Link – Sweden votes to back laws reinforcing its immigration crackdown | Sweden | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-16T04:00:44.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/16/sweden-votes-to-back-laws-reinforcing-its-immigration-crackdown

Sweden’s parliament has voted to escalate the country’s crackdown on immigrant rights, backing laws that allow authorities to revoke residency permits based on a vague criteria of bad behaviour and obliging most public sector workers to report anyone suspected of being undocumented.

The new legislation comes ahead of parliamentary elections in September, pitting the centre-right government, which currently depends on the support of the far-right Sweden Democrats to govern, against a far right that has said its intent is to create one of Europe’s most hostile environments for non-Europeans.

Late on Monday, parliamentarians voted to pass the so-called “good behaviour” law, which would cover pending and future residents but also be applied retroactively to many of the country’s current residents.

“Anyone ‌who doesn’t make the effort to do the right thing shouldn’t be able to count on staying,” Sweden’s minister of migration, Johan Forssell, said in March when he proposed the bill.

While the law does not specify the types of behaviour that would be deemed unacceptable, the government has previously mentioned examples such as unpaid debts, failing to pay taxes, criminality, and links to extremist organisations.

The task of reviewing permits would fall to the Swedish migration agency, and any decisions can be appealed against.

The law has been fiercely criticised by opposition politicians and rights groups, who have described the criteria as arbitrary.

“This would lead to the risk of residence permits being denied or revoked based on behaviour that was neither illegal nor punishable for Swedish citizens,” Amnesty International noted recently .

The Stockholm-based group Civil Rights Defenders said the legislation “undermines the rule of law”. In a statement it added: “The good behaviour law leaves people in uncertainty about what actions or expressions can be used against them.”

The country’s parliament also voted to narrowly back a contentious, so-called “snitch law” that will require many public sector workers to report anyone they believe is undocumented.

Critics of the new law, which passed with 174 votes in favour and 172 against, have long warned that it will negatively impact migrants’ physical and mental health while also significantly increasing the risk of racial profiling.

“It is a cruel, ineffective policy and opens up the Pandora’s box of snitching – a trademark of authoritarian states,” said Jacob Lind, a postdoctoral researcher in international migration at Malmö University, in a statement.

“Today’s vote will have devastating consequences for undocumented migrants who will be further pushed into the margins of society as their access to rights is restricted.”

After widespread criticism, teachers, doctors and social workers have been exempted from reporting obligations. Employees of tax authorities and employment and social insurance agencies, however, are among those who would have to notify police when they have reasons to believe they have been in contact with people who do not have residency papers.

Louise Bonneau of the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants, described it as a “serious setback for human rights” in the country.

“The so-called exemptions for healthcare, schools and social services don’t offer sufficient protection: in practice, information will flow between service providers, agencies, and immigration authorities,” she said, meaning some would probably avoid contact with healthcare professionals altogether.

Her view is backed by Swedish researchers who, following interviews with public servants, warned that the law would, in effect, turn public employees into border police.

They cited the example of a mother who delivers a child with the help of a midwife; while the midwife is exempt from reporting, they would need to register the baby with tax authorities, who could then report the family to police.

The Swedish government has long defended the measures, arguing that they are needed to ensure that those who are not legally allowed to stay in Sweden can be sent to their home countries.

The new reporting requirements have few equivalents across Europe; Finland has long been considering whether to expand such obligations, while in Germany, social welfare offices have for two decades wrestled with reporting requirements.

In 2012, the UK’s Theresa May introduced the “hostile environment” policies that sought to limit access to work, benefits, bank accounts, driving licences and other essential services for those who could not prove they had the legal right to live in Britain.

It later emerged that many who were in the UK legally were unable to prove their status and that the Home Office was frequently misclassifying legal residents as immigration offenders, leading the National Audit Office to conclude in 2018 that hostile environment policies did not provide value for money for taxpayers.

On Monday, the European Public Services Union pushed back against the idea that workers would be forced to act as informants, with Jan Willem Goudriaan of the union saying that now was not the time for a “new witch hunt”.

Instead, he called for governments to be reminded that “public services would cease functioning without migrant workers in Sweden and many EU member states.”

The new law would fuel a climate of “suspicion, fear and racism,” he added, while also threatening people’s fundamental right to asylum. “It merely legitimises the far-right, who are all too happy to see their wildest dreams of mass surveillance, detention, and deportation come true at the expense of public service ethics.”

Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – World Cup, World Cup 2026, Football, Sport, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Qatar, Australia sport
Title – Could Asian teams be catching up with Europe at this World Cup? | World Cup | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jonathanwilson
Link – Could Asian teams be catching up with Europe at this World Cup? | World Cup | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-15T14:47:35.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/15/could-asian-teams-be-catching-up-to-europe-at-this-world-cup

D aichi Kamada’s late equaliser for Japan against the Netherlands on Sunday did not merely mean that the scoreline more accurately reflected the game. It also extended to four the unbeaten run of teams from the Asian confederation against Europe at this tournament. There is a degree of contingency to that record, and nobody should draw definitive conclusions from the first week of a World Cup, but equally if there were a shift in the power dynamics of world football, it might look a bit like this.

The tone was set on day one with South Korea’s victory over Czech Republic . It perhaps shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anybody who saw their qualifying playoff semi-final against Ireland that the Czechs would be so ponderous and lumbering, a side that understood the value of dead balls and long throws and little else. But still, the ease with which South Korea passed their way around them was striking. If Son Heung-min had been the player he was three or four years ago, the Korean victory would have been far more emphatic.

The other AFC win over Europe saw Australia beat Turkey . Again, nobody could really claim that this Turkey, who dragged their way to qualification with 1-0 wins over Romania and Kosovo in the Uefa playoffs, really represent the pride of Europe. Nor was there any great sense that they’d been outplayed by Australia. Rather, Turkey had 30 shots but came up against an inspired goalkeeper in Patrick Beach, who made eight saves. But still, Australia had a smart gameplan that worked, and it wasn’t quite the smash and grab the stats may make it appear.

Qatar’s draw with Switzerland can be attributed less to clever strategy. They sat in, seemed content to keep the score down and got away with it as Switzerland wasted chance after chance. Even the goal Switzerland did score – via a first-half Breel Embolo penalty – was controversial, the semi-automated offside apparently breaking down at the key moment. Miro Muheim’s injury-time own goal gifted Qatar a point, but it was not one they had ever looked likely to achieve. Switzerland had 26 shots to Qatar’s six and, on another day, could have won by three or four. So, again, it would be hard to portray that as a victory that demonstrated any sort of Asian superiority.

The really intriguing game was that draw between Japan and the Netherlands. Even without three key players in Kaoru Mitoma, Wataru Endo and Takumi Minamino, Japan are highly fancied and they showed exactly why. There have been two real heavyweight clashes so far in this World Cup: Brazil v Morocco and the Netherlands v Japan. Both finished level. In both, it was the up-and-coming side who probably shaded the game. And in both cases, the up-and-coming side seemed to be playing the style of football more usually associated with their opponents.

Morocco played with a fluency and verve, confident in possession, a pleasing smoothness to their passing. Japan interchanged positions and, although they had only 40% possession, there was a purpose and precision to their attacks that was redolent of the Dutch at their best. But crucially, there was no sense of inferiority.

That’s something the Japan coach, Hajime Moriyasu, has stressed over the past few months. He is worried that his side have a mental block about progressing further than the last 16 and has chosen to address it by speaking of his side as potential champions. That may be a psychological ploy to jolt his players through the last-16 barrier but equally, if the Netherlands are contenders, why not Japan?

The left wing-back Keito Nakamura, who scored the first goal, was one of two Japan starters to achieve a 90% pass accuracy, along with the defender Hiroki Ito. Kamada was aggressive and intelligent in the centre of midfield. Junya Ito came off the bench to offer creative edge. The 23-year-old Zion Suzuki may live up to predictions that he will be the best ever Japanese keeper. If there was a slight disappointment, it was the centre-forward Ayase Ueda, who struggled to impose himself, but he showed at Feyenoord last season just how effective he can be.

AFC teams have in the past perhaps been guilty of lacking belief against Uefa sides, but no longer. Japan celebrated the equaliser as any side that has snatched a draw should, but the disappointment when they fell behind was clear. First and second in this group play second and first in the Brazil, Morocco, Scotland, Haiti group. It’s an indication of how far both Morocco and Japan have come that it’s not at all clear that it would be easier to face them than Brazil or the Netherlands.

Four games are nowhere near sufficient for grand sweeping statements, but perhaps the best Asian sides are drawing closer to Europe.

This is an extract from Soccer Desk: World Cup edition, a newsletter from the Guardian US that will run regularly during the tournament. Subscribe for free here.