SHOCKING: 34 | Mind Blowing Facts

Is it time to recognise Afghanistan’s Taliban government?

Debate about whether to officially recognise the Taliban has intensified after a senior UN official said the intergovernmental agency was ready to take “baby steps” to engage with Afghanistan’s caretaker regime. 

The Week · May 26, 2023

Martin Amis: literary wunderkind who ‘blazed like a rocket’

A “blazing, once-in-a-generation talent”, Martin Amis “provoked, inspired and outraged readers ... across a literary career that set off like a rocket, and went on to dazzle, streak and burn for almost 50 years”, said Boyd Tonkin in The Guardian.

The Week · May 26, 2023

Russia moves tactical nuclear weapons into Belarus blaming ‘Nato aggression’

Moscow has started moving nuclear weapons into Belarusian territory, in response to what it called a “sharp escalation” on its western border.

The Week · May 26, 2023

Gwen John: Art and Life in London and Paris review

The Welsh-born painter Gwen John is generally remembered as a “fragile”, isolated figure, said Mark Hudson in The Independent. Neglected for some time after her death, John (1876-1939) was rediscovered in the 1980s, when she was reassessed as a reclusive talent overshadowed by two “bombastic male egos”: her brother, the…

The Week · May 26, 2023

The Week Unwrapped: Irish alcohol, world weather and British schools

Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days. With Abdulwahab Tahhan, Holden Frith and Felicity Capon.

The Week · May 26, 2023

Exorcists ‘may be helping’ the Devil

Exorcists may be inadvertently helping the Devil, according to a pastor. Dan Delzell said that “demon-bashers” could be “a useful weapon in Satan’s arsenal”, reported the Daily Star. The pastor, from the Redeemer Lutheran Church in Papillion, Nebraska, US, said that the Devil might be “unfazed” by the efforts of…

The Week · May 26, 2023

Tina Turner: five things you might not know about Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll

Tina Turner, commonly dubbed the “Queen of Rock ’n’ Roll”, has died at the age of 83 following a long illness.

The Week · May 25, 2023

Anna Karenina review: ‘fluid and febrile’ adaptation of Tolstoy’s classic novel

This entertaining co-production of “Anna Karenina”, which transfers from Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum Theatre to Bristol Old Vic next month, “began as a dare”, said Fergus Morgan in The Stage. The British-Russian director Polina Kalinina was complaining to the Scottish writer Lesley Hart that Russian literary texts typically “suffered from staidness…

The Week · May 25, 2023

Does Labour now have the upper hand on immigration?

Net migration to the UK reached a record high last year, opening the Conservative Party up to criticism that it has broken its 2019 manifesto pledge to “take back control” of borders and reduce numbers of migrants.

The Week · May 25, 2023

Rolf Harris: Hiding in Plain Sight review

In a 2006 interview to celebrate receiving his CBE, Rolf Harris was asked why he was so popular. “I guess it’s because I’m real,” said the entertainer, whose death aged 93 was reported this week. “I’m not putting over a huge, phoney facade. The bloke you see up on the…

The Week · May 25, 2023