Vanessa Thorpe
@vanessathorpe.bsky.social
📤 631
📥 193
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The Observer’s arts and media correspondent
reposted by
Vanessa Thorpe
Simon Hattenstone
2 days ago
Beautiful piece by @TimAdamsWrites on the brilliant Observer journalist Rachel Cooke who could write wonderfully about anything, has died tragically young and will be hugely, hugely missed by so many people.
observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
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Remembering Rachel Cooke | The Observer
https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/rachel-cooke-a-tribute
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Director General and BBC news chief resign after this string of bias claims…..https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/bbc-losing-grip-warn-staff-after-bias-row
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BBC losing grip, warn staff after bias row | The Observer
https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/bbc-losing-grip-warn-staff-after-bias-row
7 days ago
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Garner on telling it straight and winning a big prize
observer.co.uk/culture/book...
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Helen Garner: ‘Writers need to have their arse kicked around the block’ | The Observer
https://observer.co.uk/culture/books/article/helen-garner-writers-need-to-have-their-arse-kicked-around-the-block
7 days ago
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reposted by
Vanessa Thorpe
Hetan Shah
21 days ago
‘Over the last 150 years, human intervention has had a disproportionate influence on nature… The paradox is, though, that by causing planetary warming, in some ways we have unleashed the full power of nature.’ Sunil Amrith talks to
@vanessathorpe.bsky.social
observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
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The prizewinning author who almost lost his nerve
This week the prestigious British Academy book prize went to The Burning Earth, a ‘magisterial’ study of mankind and its relationship with nature. Its au...
https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/the-prizewinning-author-who-almost-lost-his-nerve
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Dance steps in …https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/i-envy-people-who-can-walk-writer-kureishi-mourns-loss-of-movement-through-ballet
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Writer Hanif Kureishi mourns his loss of mobility by chor...
The Buddha of Suburbia author broke his neck three years ago – and has filmed a dance to document the aftermath
https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/i-envy-people-who-can-walk-writer-kureishi-mourns-loss-of-movement-through-ballet
21 days ago
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Convinced? I learn Delft holds the key to Vermeer’s masterpieces - and a kinder way of life
observer.co.uk/culture/art/...
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Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring finally gets a name
Historian Andrew Graham-Dixon has a radical new theory about the life and beliefs of the Dutch master
https://observer.co.uk/culture/art/article/vermeers-girl-with-a-pearl-earring-finally-gets-a-name
28 days ago
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Listening to The Archers Omnibus? Take a trip to early Ambridge…..
observer.co.uk/culture/thea...
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Haywire: an entertainingly meta take on The Archers
Plus, the squelchy sounds of rural life in Cow/Deer at the Royal Court
https://observer.co.uk/culture/theatre/article/haywire-an-entertainingly-meta-take-on-the-archers
2 months ago
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Trace back those wry, sentimental suburban settings
observer.co.uk/culture/book...
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How Raymond Briggs found his style | The Observer
Two rediscovered early works show how the beloved author of The Snowman and Father Christmas perfected his blend of the fantastical and ordinary
https://observer.co.uk/culture/books/article/how-raymond-briggs-found-his-style
2 months ago
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The Slow Newscast | The Observer
<p>Our weekly investigative show</p>
https://observer.co.uk/listen/the-slow-newscast
2 months ago
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reposted by
Vanessa Thorpe
Hetan Shah
3 months ago
Academics are very concerned that the BBC is changing access to its archival material by releasing material in an orchestrated way rather than allowing researchers to ask their own queries. Very worrying development and a good overview by
@vanessathorpe.bsky.social
observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
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Historians dismayed by ‘scandal’ of BBC cutting access to...
Critics say new limit to trove of information sounds knell for independent research
https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/historians-dismayed-scandal-bbc-cutting-access-written-archives
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observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
Or buy tickets for the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra at Cadogan Hall in London tomorrow night
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Anna Netrebko’s Putin problem looms over Royal Opera return
The Russian soprano says she doesn’t support the war in Ukraine but her Tosca this week faces a chorus of critics
https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/anna-netrebkos-putin-problem-looms-over-royal-opera-return
3 months ago
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Any loose change to donate?https://observer.co.uk/culture/art/article/the-campaign-to-save-a-very-british-sculpture
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The campaign to save a very British sculpture | The Observer
A unique Barbara Hepworth sculpture inspired by the tension of wartime London and the comfort of the Cornish coast could soon leave the country. But a pu...
https://observer.co.uk/culture/art/article/the-campaign-to-save-a-very-british-sculpture
3 months ago
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I sat through an 8-hour choral epic on a beanbag. Was it ...
John Tavener’s monumental Veil of the Temple promises to take us on a journey to a sacred, spiritual realm
https://observer.co.uk/music/classical/article/i-sat-through-an-8-hour-choral-epic-on-a-beanbag-was-it-worth-it
3 months ago
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Pat down the golden retrievers: Cotswolds put on high ale...
With helicopters whirring overhead and police quizzing residents, rural life is anything but tranquil
https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/first-it-was-clarkson-now-its-vance-spare-a-thought-for-the-beleaguered-cotswolds
3 months ago
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observer.co.uk/culture/inte...
#edinburghfestivaltheatre
#EIF
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https://observer.co.uk/culture/interviews/article/james-graham-britain-is-not-sure-what-its-next-story-is
3 months ago
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Who took the risk and bought this today?
observer.co.uk/news/interna...
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Grasshopper relic for sale. But was it stolen from King T...
Some argue that the artefact up for auction should be returned to Egypt
https://observer.co.uk/news/international/article/grasshopper-relic-for-sale-but-was-it-stolen-from-king-tuts-tomb
4 months ago
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For sale: battle-scarred banner that shows the allure of ...
As two union flags break auction records, we investigate the historic pull of the UK’s national standard
https://observer.co.uk/style/features/article/for-sale-battle-scarred-banner-that-shows-the-allure-of-the-union-jack
4 months ago
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Friday 13th coming - watch out for aesthetes on the streets….
observer.co.uk/culture/book...
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In the footsteps of Mrs Dalloway: taking to the street to...
Dublin marks Joyce’s Ulysses with Bloomsday every summer. So, on the centenary of the publication of Woolf’s treasured book, isn’t it time for an annual ...
https://observer.co.uk/culture/books/article/in-the-footsteps-of-mrs-dalloway-celebrating-virginia-woolfs-novel
5 months ago
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An AI app summoned up the author of The Weft of Nettles for
@hayfestival.bsky.social
Is she the future after the Data Bill?
observer.co.uk/culture/book...
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The literary battle against AI is on: ‘Real words from real people are so much better’ | The Observer
Book lovers weren’t best pleased when The Observer presented them with a new debut novel created by ChatGPT at the Hay Festival this weekend
https://observer.co.uk/culture/books/article/the-literary-battle-against-ai-is-on-real-words-from-real-people-are-so-much-better
6 months ago
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Are action films escapism or do their apocalyptic plots drive us on to the brink? Cannes, haunted by tariffs and the new world order
observer.co.uk/culture/film...
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Tom Cruise rocks La Croisette – but the real mission is to stop Trump’s movie tariffs | The Observer
Postcard from Cannes: the tariffs loom like a spectre over financial deals brokered in the plush hotel bars, “wreaking havoc”, as one industry journal puts it
https://observer.co.uk/culture/film/article/tom-cruise-rocks-la-croisette-but-the-real-mission-is-to-stop-trumps-movie-tariffs
6 months ago
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reposted by
Vanessa Thorpe
Tony Paley
6 months ago
JonathanRomney’s TV film picks in Observer New Review - Sun: THE APARTMENT (1960) Sky Cinema Cult Classics 12.20pm; Tue: BIRDS OF PASSAGE (2018) Film4 1.20am; Fri: REBECCA (1940)
@talkingpicturestv.bsky.social
3.40pm; Sat: NEW YORK, NEW YORK (1977) BBCTwo 10.40pm
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Jennifer Lawrence puts her raw
#DieMyLove
performance down to Lynne Ramsay, her dream director
@cannesfilmfestival.bsky.social
6 months ago
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Harris Dickinson
@cannesfilmfestival.bsky.social
-ahead of acclaim today for his directorial debut
#Urchin
- explains his work with East London rough sleepers and addicts
6 months ago
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Pedro Pascal urges people to fight back against a scary US regime by not being fearful and so not “letting them win”
#Eddington
@cannesfilmfestival.bsky.social
6 months ago
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The floral soul of the man who created unforgettable costumes for Audrey Hepburn and Margot Fonteyn:
observer.co.uk/style/fashio...
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Review: Cecil Beaton’s garden party | The Observer
A new exhibition reveals how the fashion photographer's stage outfits, which mesmerised the West End for half a century, were inspired by his perennials
https://observer.co.uk/style/fashion/article/cecil-beaton-and-his-uncommon-or-garden-costumes
6 months ago
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Who has what of ours - and why?
observer.co.uk/culture/art/...
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Can we get our Turners back? British plea to the US raiders of our lost art | The Observer
Turner’s paintings are not the only British treasures in the US: a glut of Shakespeare’s first folios are in Washington, and the teddy bear that inspired Winnie the Pooh is in New York
https://observer.co.uk/culture/art/article/can-we-get-our-turners-back-british-plea-to-the-us-raiders-of-our-lost-art
6 months ago
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Relaunch of this forgotten testimony this week
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/f...
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English writer’s forgotten ‘masterpiece’ predicting rise of Nazis gets new lease of life
Crooked Cross, Sally Carson’s ‘electrifying’ 1934 novel to be republished
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/feb/08/rediscovered-a-young-english-novelists-warning-of-the-nazi-threat
7 months ago
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The emerging shape of an upcoming campaign to target misinformation with a huge immersive theatrical event ….
www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/a...
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Toby Jones’s next campaign? Misinformation, and a huge immersive theatre show
Meera Syal also to star in London production reflecting producer’s experience of censorship in Georgia
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/apr/12/toby-jones-next-campaign-misinformation-and-a-huge-immersive-london-theatre-show
7 months ago
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New training uk money for those who prefer to stay out of the limelight
@nationaltheatre.org.uk
www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/a...
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Decline of drama at school prompts UK training drive for backstage work
The National Theatre is worried about a shortage of skills from costume designers, to set creators, to computer technicians
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/apr/13/decline-of-drama-at-school-prompts-uk-training-drive-for-backstage-work
7 months ago
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“Is Fiction the real one, or the fake one?” A whispered adult question just overheard on the staircase in Foyle’s. Discuss.
7 months ago
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How’s she looking, ahead of her silver jubillee year?
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
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Tate Modern at 25: ‘It utterly changed the face of London’
It has hosted a huge spider and a pickled shark – and despite financial pressures, there can be little doubt about the gallery’s seismic impact
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2025/mar/23/tate-modern-at-25-it-utterly-changed-the-face-of-london
8 months ago
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Suspect they could sell a lot of tickets to the trustees meetings now - hope they’ll be lively, at any rate @BritishMuseumhttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/mar/23/british-museum-is-right-to-keep-parthenon-marbles-says-new-trustee
8 months ago
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Diverting reading available at Kew’s
@nationalarchives.gov.uk.web.brid.gy
site, revealing how the “watchers” watched Philby, late of my paper
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...
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‘A clever agent’: notes from ‘watchers’ of spy Kim Philby made public for first time
A new exhibition at the National Archives in London will reveal the extent of MI5 operation to expose the British double agent who was also Observer reporter
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/22/mi5-surveillance-british-spy-kim-philby-made-public
8 months ago
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reposted by
Vanessa Thorpe
James Tapper
8 months ago
We looked at how Covid has changed Britain, and how it hasn't, for this piece today
@annafazack.bsky.social
@vanessathorpe.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...
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‘The pandemic reinforced existing inequalities – it was a magnifying glass’: how Covid changed Britain
More government borrowing, more abandoned pets, more sourdough baking. Our panel looks at the ramifications of the pandemic on education, health, arts and life in the UK
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/09/the-pandemic-reinforced-existing-inequalities-it-was-a-magnifying-glass-how-covid-changed-britain
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The first instalment of William Boyd’s new literary mystery The Jura Affair goes out tonight on Radio 4. Here he tells me how he earned his licence to thrill
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/ma...
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James Bond nightclubs, vodka, aftershave: 007 writer on the spy’s future with Amazon
As the Bond franchise heads to the online giant, thriller author William Boyd foresees a slew of spin-offs and says AI is not a threat to human screenwriters
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/mar/01/james-bond-william-boyd-spy-amazon-franchise-ai
9 months ago
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Myles Smith sings, after he makes the points to government
#TheBrits
about protecting their musical assets
9 months ago
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Jack Whitehall: Next on at the
#TheBrits
Teddy Swims, downloaded millions of times on Spotify, making literally tens of pounds
9 months ago
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Krapps from Rea and Oldman coming before
#BeckettBiennale
Footnotes tricky on news, but Rea did prerecord his voice back in his 60s, ahead of Dublin production, coming to London in April. Anyone else actually 39 who’s quietly done it in hope of being cast later?
www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...
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Diaries at the ready: Samuel West lined up to star in Beckett play... in 2036
In a world first, the actor will feature with a recording of his younger self in the time-lapse drama Krapp’s Last Tape
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/feb/09/diaries-at-the-ready-samuel-west-lined-up-to-star-in-beckett-play-in-2036
9 months ago
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Honoured for a career of “changing the temperature” on stage with her lighting, Paule Constable - usually ihiding in the dark
@whatsonstage.bsky.social
9 months ago
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Get your teeth around a stick of Saltmouth rock now at
#TheDoubleAct
courtesy of
@perkinp.bsky.social
, if you fancy a brilliant end of the pier show
@arcolatheatre.bsky.social
and then strap in for a hellish funfair ride that Orton and Pinter would queue for
10 months ago
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I was relaxing in the comparative lack of sparkly glamour at the human-faced
#BestsellersAwards
, despite Dolly Alderton’s super silver jumpsuit, then StanleyT showed up
10 months ago
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Bear Hunt, the next adventure: Good to hear these two reunited on the airwaves on Radio 4’s Today this morning, as well as on the page again finally
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
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‘It will be jolly nice’: illustrator Helen Oxenbury, 86, on preparing for her first solo show – and a new book with Michael Rosen
Acclaimed for her work on children’s books, the artist is teaming up again with her collaborator on Bear Hunt
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2025/jan/12/it-will-be-jolly-nice-illustrator-helen-oxenbury-86-on-preparing-for-her-first-solo-show-and-a-new-book-with-michael-rosen
10 months ago
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reposted by
Vanessa Thorpe
Roo Stenning
10 months ago
'It is everything art gets a bad name for and everything I love': Damien Hirst and Cornelia Parker on choosing artworks for schools
@vanessathorpe.bsky.social
:
www.theguardian.com/global/2025/...
#TOK
#TheArts
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‘It is everything art gets a bad name for and everything I love’: Damien Hirst and Cornelia Parker on choosing artworks for schools
Antony Gormley and Bridget Riley also pick works to be shown on high-res displays, thanks to a drive to put art at the core of the secondary school cultural syllabus
https://www.theguardian.com/global/2025/jan/11/it-is-everything-art-gets-a-bad-name-for-and-everything-i-love-damien-hirst-and-cornelia-parker-on-choosing-artworks-for-schools
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reposted by
Vanessa Thorpe
Martin Bright
11 months ago
It’s taken 25 years, but
@vanessathorpe.bsky.social
has finally come around to the joys of family history…
add a skeleton here at some point
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reposted by
Vanessa Thorpe
Helen Barrett
11 months ago
Spotify Wrapped exec version.
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reposted by
Vanessa Thorpe
BlueDot
11 months ago
It all started with Reagan many years ago. When he deregulated the media, he gave the purveyors of lies, conspiracies, and misinformation the freedom to do and say whatever they wanted.
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reposted by
Vanessa Thorpe
Libby Brooks
11 months ago
"There’s a real ambition to create the best work that we can, & make sure that Scottish work is seen as exciting as work in London”. Glasgow's Citizens theatre to reopen in 2025 after major refurbishment, as new artistic directors take over across Scotland
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024...
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Citizens theatre in Glasgow to reopen in 2025 after major refurbishment
Venue’s return after delays and soaring costs will usher in ‘exciting phase’ in Scottish theatre, says artistic director
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/dec/22/citizens-theatre-glasgow-reopen-2025-major-refurbishment
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reposted by
Vanessa Thorpe
Frances Ryan
11 months ago
“Welcome to Britain’s Victorian Christmas, where volunteers in Santa hats fulfil the basic functions of the state.” For my last column of the year, I wrote about the increasing charity drives this time of year and what it says about the country.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
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Welcome to Britain’s Victorian Christmas, where volunteers in Santa hats fulfil the basic functions of the state | Frances Ryan
There is something inescapably bleak about a nation that relies on charity appeals to fix its social and economic problems, says Guardian columnist Frances Ryan
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/dec/23/britain-victorian-christmas-charity-state-social-economic-problems
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reposted by
Vanessa Thorpe
Jason Hazeley
11 months ago
This is how the weather forecast was illustrated on BBC TV in 1966.
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Bluesky: I will be joining my colleagues at the Guardian and Observer who are on strike for 48 hours. I will be back at work on Saturday morning. For more information please follow
bsky.app/profile/gonu...
and @NUJofficial, or visit
nuj.org.uk/savetheobserver
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https://bsky.app/profile/gonuj.org
11 months ago
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