Author: The Guardian

‘The Irish just chat about everything. We love telling tales and yarning. There’s no other country where you could talk for an hour about the weather,” says Aisling Cunningham, 57, the owner of Ulysses Rare Books on Duke Street in Dublin.Sure enough, I have been here for 50 minutes and we have talked at length about everything from the biblical rains of Donegal to why more people who stop into her antiquarian bookshop end up leaving with a copy of James Joyce’s Dubliners than Ulysses itself. (Cunningham reckons it’s because the former is more accessible – although there is also the…

JOh, are you happy with the prize or frustrated with the “what ifs”? It’s a conundrum faced by the silver medalists and something some may still be grappling with after their efforts at the Paris Games, with Josh Cole and Matt Hudson-Smith having it written all over their faces in the immediate aftermath. After a near-miss, will Gold’s motivation turn into obsession?”Each athlete’s situation is different,” said Dame Katherine Grainger, a five-time Olympic rowing medalist and current chairperson of UK Sport. “I won a silver medal, which was the greatest thing ever, my first medal,” she said, recalling her success…

We never intended to have a dog, and certainly not a St Bernard. Reuben started his life in a Glasgow flat, his owners apparently unaware that he was likely to grow into a 70kg bundle of uncontrollable energy. He got through three owners in the first two years of his life, then appeared on the doorstep of our friend in a village near Glasgow with his fourth, who threatened to have him put down unless our friend took him in. She agreed, reluctantly, since she had a large dog of her own. My wife started to help by taking him…

FOn her 68th birthday in 2019, Rosa Saito decided to give herself an unusual gift. In the past year, photographers and casting agents approached her three times on the streets of her hometown of São Paulo, Brazil, each time telling her she should consider becoming a model. At first, she was dismissive of the flattery, but after months of careful consideration, she changed her mind.”No one commented on my appearance until I was 67, when people suddenly started to notice me,” she said. “It was weird, but being discovered made me realize that at this stage of my life I…

The head of the universities watchdog in England has said the “golden age of higher education” could be over and all options should be on the table as the funding crisis facing the sector is “significant”.The Office for Students (OFS) interim chair, Sir David Behan, said increased tuition fees and lifting visa restrictions on international students could help revive embattled institutions.“I think the resilience of the sector overall has been tested by a number of different forces … the global pandemic, the impact of leaving the European Union,” he told the Sunday Times.“We’ve had industrial action, the cost of living…

I Know what you’re thinking: “What happened to the sexy tire calendars? I really miss those. You’re in luck. The 2025 Pirelli Calendar is super sexy, with classy nudity/near nudity once again. Until then, the Italian Italian companies have spent years grappling with the #MeToo movement and accusations of pandering to the male gaze through ads featuring clothing.Annie Leibovitz was involved in taking these photos at one point. There are pictures of Yoko Ono, Serena Williams, Patti Smith, etc…but they’re all wearing clothes, so who cares?“#MeToo has really forced everyone to pause, which is really nice,” said Ethan James Green,…

Lyubov Antipova last spoke to her elderly parents almost two weeks ago, when she first heard rumours of a Ukrainian incursion and begged them to leave their village in Russia’s Kursk region.The threat seemed unreal – Russian soil had not seen invading forces since the end of the second world war – and Russian state media initially dismissed the invasion as a one-off “attempt at infiltration”, so Antipova’s parents, who keep chickens and a pig on a small plot, decided to stay in Zaoleshenka.Next day, Antipova saw photos online of Ukrainian soldiers posing next to a supermarket and the office…

medium sizeAx Whitlock was warming up for the pommel horse final at the Paris Olympics when his South Korean rival Xu Xiong approached him and translated a message to his phone. “It is said that he has been watching me for more than ten years and he has learned a lot from me,” the 31-year-old said. “It’s a surreal feeling to compete with gymnasts who looked up to me when I was younger!”Five days before we meet, Britain’s greatest gymnast will ride the pommel horse for the last time as the reigning Olympic champion. He wiped his hands, exhaled, and…

A friend tells a sweet story about her mother, whose London garden is one of the most beautiful I’ve seen. An émigré from Sri Lanka, she arrived in the English countryside barely out of her teens and carefully tended an unknown plant for weeks, patiently awaiting the day it would bloom. When it did, she was delighted by its bright yellow sunburst of a flower. In time she learned the name of it: dandelion.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.We remember our first encounter with some plants, but others…

Controversial 21-year-old American Hans Niemann is in London this week as his Niemann v. World series against European masters continues against England’s world number one and former Russian player Nikita Vitiugov.On Wednesday morning, Niemann won their first classic match in 48 moves, playing an impressive Anatoly Karpov-esque strategic attack. But in the second game, after creating the winning situation, he missed two easy tactical shots and had to end in a draw. Thursday’s third and fourth games were also drawn after ties.The $20,000 tournament features 6 classic races Wednesday through Friday (starts at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.), 6 quick…