Author: The Guardian

Turning 36 isn’t much of a milestone for most, but for me it marks a decade since the year that will always divide my life into a “before” and “after”. I was 26 when my dad died of cancer. Three months later, my mum died of a brain aneurysm. Suddenly, I was an adult orphan, selling up the family home where I’d grown up, eradicating the safety net I’d known all my life.What really amplified the enormity of this loss was being an only child. Of course, having siblings isn’t a guarantee that grief will be shared or lessened –…

After missing Wimbledon for three years due to injury and the coronavirus, Murray returned to SW19 after receiving a wild card. While he was encouraged by his fitness and won two matches against Nikoloz Basilashvili and qualifier Oscar Otte, he was frustrated with the way the match ended as he was comprehensively beaten 6-4, 6-2 In the third round, No. 10 seed Denis Shapovalov won 6-2. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian Source link

In the past week, since Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) stormed into its daunting lead in the first round of the French parliamentary elections, a menacing graffito has appeared in my neighbourhood in Paris, on a busy street corner between the boulangerie and the wine shop. Written in black, in a clear and steady hand, it reads “Les nerfs sont tendus, les Fachos seront pendus” – “Nerves are being stretched, the fascists will be hung”.As France has advanced towards the runoff second round of the elections, life has been quietly humming along in the quartier – Euro football matches in the cafes,…

SundayBerlin to GelsenkirchenThe early morning train arrived in Bochum only half an hour late, which was basically a knee-jerk victory considering the current state of German railways. A friend came from London to watch England play Slovakia. It was his first experience of England at a major tournament, and as we piled into a crowded tram and headed towards Gelsenkirchen, his bewildered eyes reminded us how strange the whole ritual of football travel is. Overcrowding, forced intimacy, loud masculinity, and you quickly get used to the sight of people peeing on leaves. “Fat guys in polyester shirts smell bad,” my…

Three years ago, around this time as summer came with its wasps and heat, I wrote about the return of sex. We were just leaving lockdown – do you remember those days? Of hope and fear, when we had spent many months considering things like the importance and nuance of touch, the mysteries that were other people, the many conflicting facts of a strange, warm body? The adult world was preparing to step feverishly out of its house into the arms, beds and cars of other people, soft and diabolically gorgeous in a way only a pandemic really allows; their…

FMinutes into Thursday night’s exit polls, no one was saying anything. About a dozen of Keir Starmer’s closest and longest-serving aides gathered at the back of the living room and turned to hug each other. Some sobbed as painful exhaustion was mixed with relief and joy.More intense emotions unfolded before their eyes. Starmer, his wife Vic, and their two teenage children lined up on the sofa to watch TV as if they were reenacting the beginning of the cartoon series The Simpsons. They tried to show they were relaxing in the fancy house Starmer had borrowed from a friend. Their…

Lie-in or early start? It depends on the season. If it’s summer, I’ll be up early to do open-water swimming at 9am at a nearby lake. I know, I’m a lunatic, but compared to years of getting up at 3.40am for BBC Breakfast I class that as a lie-in. In winter it’s a proper lie-in and my husband will bring me a cup of tea in bed.Sofa or sweat? I’m an activity addict so, after my swim, it would be a dog walk in the hills, culminating in a pub lunch.Roast out or in? Could be either. But if we’ve…

The ideal backup is talented but unspectacular, ready to step into the top job but content to never do so.At the 30th annual Essence Culture Festival in New Orleans, Kamala Harris, wearing a drab suit that matched her chair, made staccato, technical comments about U.S. policy needs. Harris spoke here in 2019 as a candidate in the Democratic presidential primary, trailing fewer than 10 reporters.Instead, on Saturday, Harris, dressed in a bright teal suit and flanked by an army of reporters that more than quadrupled in size, addressed a standing-room-only crowd in a room that holds more than 500 people.…

The question My problems are my lack of success in my own life. I’m a 35-year-old man and I’ve been with my partner for 12 years. I fell into waiting tables after school and stayed there and now find myself on a low wage in a directionless job. A couple of years ago, I had an affair. My partner and I separated for a while, but are now back together.I have real feelings of failure and resentment about my partner’s successful career. I have a “what the hell” approach to life, maybe because I got what seemed like a large…

Alex de Minaur declares himself a lucky man as he heads into week two at Wimbledon from the comfort of his armchair.The Australian number one has eased into the second week of a grass-court Grand Slam for the second time, having previously only needed a straight-sets win to ease into the tournament.After Lucas Pouille withdrew due to injury, “The Devil” has never been rewarded with an easy win in his 74 Grand Slam singles career and believes this is the easiest experience he has ever had heading into the final stages of his career. of.While many of his opponents, including…