A slight case of overblogging

Posted by Emma Loffhagen

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/may/14/frank-cottrell-boyce-calls-for-childrens-reading-to-be-treated-as-a-right-in-final-laureate-lecture

Speaking at the Royal Institution, the author and screenwriter linked falling shared reading rates to poverty, housing insecurity and social media

Frank Cottrell-Boyce has urged policymakers to treat children’s reading as a “right” rather than a parental duty, warning that Britain is failing to understand the emotional and social value of reading, as new research shows a sharp decline in daily shared reading at home.

Speaking at the Royal Institution in his final laureate lecture, The Kids Are Not Alright, the children’s laureate linked falling shared reading rates to poverty, housing insecurity and social media.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/may/14/frank-cottrell-boyce-calls-for-childrens-reading-to-be-treated-as-a-right-in-final-laureate-lecture

Posted by Presented by Lucy Hough with Jessica Elgot ; producer Sam Gruet ; senior producer Bryony Moore ; lead producer Zoe Hitch

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/video/2026/may/14/wes-walks-starmer-stays-but-has-burnham-got-the-momentum-the-latest

Wes Streeting has quit his cabinet role as health secretary and called on Keir Starmer to resign as prime minister after days of speculation. But Streeting did not launch his own challenge to trigger a leadership contest, so what could be next for Starmer’s government? And has he left the door open for Andy Burnham? Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian’s deputy political editor, Jessica Elgot

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/video/2026/may/14/wes-walks-starmer-stays-but-has-burnham-got-the-momentum-the-latest

Posted by Peter Bradshaw

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/may/14/fatherland-review-sandra-huller-thomas-mann-pawel-pawlikowski-cannes-film-festivali

Cannes film festival: Hanns Zischler stars as Thomas Mann on his 1949 tour of Germany, contending with political barbs, personal tragedy and his daughter, played by an extraordinary Hüller

Here is an impossibly elegant, poised historical vignette whose brevity and control can hardly contain its characters’ personal and historical pain. It is directed and co-written by the Polish film-maker Paweł Pawlikowski and shot in lustrous monochrome by Lukasz Zal; it is a film about exile and betrayal, the impossibility of going home and of reconciling an artist’s children to their secondary importance.

The setting is 1949 and the celebrated German novelist and Nobel laureate Thomas Mann – who fled the Nazis before the war for California exile and US citizenship – has returned home, first visiting Frankfurt (now in West Germany) to receive an award named after Goethe, whose birthplace this is. It is Goethe’s enlightened civilised wisdom and apolitical artistry Mann will pointedly evoke in his many elaborate speeches.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/may/14/fatherland-review-sandra-huller-thomas-mann-pawel-pawlikowski-cannes-film-festivali

Posted by Joseph Gedeon in Washington

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/14/us-border-patrol-chief-resigns

Mike Banks, who led Trump’s border crackdown, resigned weeks after reports of prostitution allegations

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Mike Banks, the border patrol chief who oversaw the most aggressive militarization of the US southern border in recent history, has resigned with immediate effect.

“It’s just time,” Banks told Fox News in an interview. “I feel like I got the ship back on course from the least secure, most disastrous, most chaotic border to the most secure border this country has ever seen.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/14/us-border-patrol-chief-resigns

Posted by Yuli Novak

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/may/14/palestinian-prisoners-sexual-torture-israel-backlash

Israel’s response to recent New York Times reporting detailing the horrific sexual violence inflicted on detainees seeks to silence those who assert the basic fact of Palestinian humanity

xWhat’s most shocking about the latest accounts of sexual torture of Palestinians in Israeli custody is not just their inherent horror. It is that despite so much evidence being so visible for so long, the machinery of abuse and denial continues to deepen.

Nicholas Kristof’s recent reporting on the issue in the New York Times brought important public attention to the issue. But abuses in Israeli custody have long been reported by former detainees, lawyers, doctors and journalists, and documented by human rights organizations. Since October 2023, this body of evidence has revealed a horrific reality: Israel’s prison system has been transformed into a criminal network of torture camps.

Yuli Novak is the executive director of B’Tselem

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/may/14/palestinian-prisoners-sexual-torture-israel-backlash

Posted by Denis Campbell Health policy editor

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/14/wes-streeting-vowed-fix-broken-nhs-critics-failed

NHS experts and MPs say he ‘told a good story’ as health secretary while kicking the difficult cans down the road

• UK politics live – latest updates

Wes Streeting’s 22 months in office was characterised by relentless media interviews, newspaper editorials and Department of Health and Social Care press releases. They portrayed a dynamic health secretary who was clearing up the mess he inherited in the NHS, pushing ahead with radical changes and making progress on what matters most to patients – accessing care when they need it.

Having initially declared the NHS “broken” – by the Conservatives – it is six months since he first declared that the health service was now, on his watch, “on the road to recovery” – a claim he has made regularly since. He included the gist of it again – a sort of greatest hits collection – in his resignation letter to Keir Starmer at lunchtime on Thursday.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/14/wes-streeting-vowed-fix-broken-nhs-critics-failed

Posted by Guardian Staff

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/may/14/the-real-picture-behind-an-apparent-decline-in-vasectomy-uptake

Dr Gareth James of the Association of Surgeons in Primary Care says the commonly quoted decline in vasectomy numbers needs careful interpretation

Tim Burrows is absolutely right to highlight the importance of vasectomy, the anxiety many men feel about it, and the continuing imbalance in contraceptive responsibility between men and women (My first thought after having a vasectomy: why aren’t more British men having them?, 11 May). However, the commonly quoted decline in vasectomy numbers needs careful interpretation.

NHS Digital figures do not capture the full picture, because they largely exclude NHS vasectomies performed in community and primary care settings, where a substantial proportion of procedures now take place.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/may/14/the-real-picture-behind-an-apparent-decline-in-vasectomy-uptake

Posted by Guardian Staff

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2026/may/14/cambridge-university-proposed-saudi-deal-endangers-academic-freedom

Academic freedom would be compromised by a planned deal between Cambridge University and Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry, warns Jemimah Steinfeld

Your report (Cambridge University seeks deal with Saudi defence ministry despite rights concerns, 11 May) should be a lightning rod for anyone who cares about academic freedom in this country. According to it, Cambridge’s leadership has approved a proposal by the university’s Judge business school to form a “memorandum of understanding” with Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry.

While this has yet to be formalised, the idea itself is repugnant. The Saudi government is among the most repressive in the world. Last year – a bumper year for executions there – a journalist was among those killed simply for reporting. Scores more remain behind bars all for speaking out about abuses. It is hard to see how any deal with the petrol state would not come at a cost to us. Even if an agreement is fleshed out to state academic freedom would be protected, self-censorship has a terrible habit of creeping in when money is on the line.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2026/may/14/cambridge-university-proposed-saudi-deal-endangers-academic-freedom

Posted by Ben Beaumont-Thomas

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/may/14/clarence-carter-us-soul-star-who-had-hits-with-patches-and-more-dies-aged-90

Singer-songwriter, and former husband of Candi Staton, was blind from birth and had further hits including Slip Away and Back Door Santa

Clarence Carter, the US soul singer who had numerous hits including the transatlantic 1970 smash Patches, has died aged 90.

His management company confirmed his death to the Guardian, saying he died on Wednesday following complications with pneumonia.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/may/14/clarence-carter-us-soul-star-who-had-hits-with-patches-and-more-dies-aged-90

Posted by Sarah Rendell

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/may/14/liz-crake-goes-from-dentist-chair-to-grand-slam-decider-as-england-look-for-bite

• Two-cap veteran picked on bench against France

• Forward had contract but returned to dentistry career

Dentist and lecturer Liz Crake has been named on the bench for England’s grand slam decider against France on Sunday as Kelsey Clifford has been ruled out with injury.

Crake, who has two caps, was called into the squad after Hannah Botterman was ruled out of the entire Six Nations with an ankle issue. Second-choice loosehead prop Clifford picked up a leg injury against Italy last weekend and so Mackenzie Carson will start and the head coach, John Mitchell, who said he has had been forced into 20 player changes across the tournament because of pregnancy and injury, is having to test his side’s depth.

Crake, 31, did have a contract with England in the 2024-25 season but has had to turn back to dentistry for this campaign. She is not the only part-time professional player to compete for the Red Roses during this Six Nations. Christiana Balogun, who works as a recruitment consultant, came off of the bench against Italy because of an injury to Maddie Feaunati.

The Rugby Football Union has 32 full-time contracts in place for Red Roses players. Those who are not contracted get paid for the days they are in camp and a matchday fee.

The captain Meg Jones said: “The players [Crake and Balogun] are full of resilience, the way they are able to come in and switch on and switch off based on their other circumstances as well. It’s definitely probably one of those things that you take for granted when you’ve been in it [professionalism] for so long.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/may/14/liz-crake-goes-from-dentist-chair-to-grand-slam-decider-as-england-look-for-bite