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Water wars are now a very real danger
đ´ Night perfume | đ¤ Japanese McDonald's | đ Trump White House
In the headlines
Donald Trump has been cleared to run for president, after the Supreme Court ruled that states cannot exclude him from the ballot. The nationâs top judges unanimously rejected attempts by Colorado and others to invoke a Civil War-era law prohibiting âinsurrectionistsâ from holding office. The decision comes as a major boost to Trumpâs campaign at the start of âSuper Tuesdayâ today, when Republicans in 15 states will vote for their preferred presidential candidate. France has become the first country in the world to enshrine the right to abortion in its constitution. French lawmakers voted 780-72 to make abortion a âguaranteed freedomâ, meaning future governments wonât be able to drastically modify existing laws that provide state funding for abortion up to 14 weeks in to pregnancy. The wet shirt worn by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice is going up for sale. The sodden smock, below, which helped establish Firth as a Hollywood heartthrob, is expected to fetch around ÂŁ10,000 at an auction of more than 60 costumes.
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Agricultural workers plant rice seedlings in Indiaâs Rishi Valley. Universal Images Group/Getty
Water wars are now a very real danger
The world is running out of water, says George Monbiot in The Guardian. To meet the growing global demand for food, irrigation needs to âincrease by 146% by the middle of this centuryâ. The problem is that our water usage is already maxed out â weâve pumped so much of it out of the ground that weâve âchanged the Earthâs spinâ. The dry parts of the world are becoming drier, with the southwestern US in its 24th year of drought. And shrinking lakes and rivers mean that freshwater species are becoming extinct at âroughly five times the rateâ of land-based ones.
This could have huge political repercussions. The Indus river, for example, is âshared by three nuclear powersâ, India, Pakistan and China, the first two of which have rapidly rising water needs. Even in âthe most optimistic climate scenarioâ, the glaciers that feed this demand are expected to shrink by almost half before 2100. India and Pakistanâs dispute around the Kashmir region is already driven in part by âwater competitionâ; as that water dries up, âsomething much worseâ could break out. Ultimately, those of us in the worldâs richer half, who get to choose what we eat, need to minimise our âwater footprintâ: peas, for example, are highly water efficient; beef is the opposite. This is a âmassive neglected issueâ that could be fatal to âpeace and prosperity on a habitable planetâ. Itâs time we stopped ignoring it.
Nature
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Night skies across the UK lit up last weekend during a âspectacular surprise displayâ of the Northern Lights, says the BBC. On Sunday evening, a solar storm triggered a âsudden spikeâ in the activity which causes the aerial phenomenon, with a vivid array of colours visible as far south as Cornwall. Borealis boffins say there is a greater chance of seeing the aurora over the next few years because of a cyclical increase in the number of sunspots â âmassive fields of magnetic pressure on the surface of the Sunâ.
Inside politics
If you ever wondered whether Donald Trumpâs White House team was on drugs, says Rolling Stone, âthe answer was, in some cases, yesâ. According to a report by the Defence Departmentâs inspector general, controlled drugs were freely available to aides across the administration, via the White House Medical Unit. One former official said the Trump White House was âawash with speedâ'; another said it was âlike the Wild Westâ, with easy access to powerful stimulants like modafinil â used by military pilots âto stay alert during long missionsâ â and anti-anxiety drugs like Xanax. As one former staffer puts it: âYou try working for him and not chasing pills with alcohol.â
Zeitgeist
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TikTokâs latest obsession involves dousing yourself in scent before you hit the hay, says The Evening Standard. There are myriad videos of âGen Zs spritzing themselves before turning in for the nightâ and the search term âperfumes for bedtimeâ has racked up over 120 million views. Itâs great that TikTokers are âromanticising their night-time routinesâ, but itâs nothing new. âThe most famous bedtime perfume advocate was Marilyn Monroe, who famously revealed that she wore nothing but Chanel N°5 Eau de Parfum to bed.â
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Annabel Lee-Ellis/AFP/Getty
My Question Time dilemma: how to define an Islamist
In the Question Time green room last week, says Tim Stanley in The Daily Telegraph, Baroness Warsi and I were arguing even before we went live. She demanded I define an Islamist: âAdmit it, you canât, can you?â âLeave it for the cameras,â I bellowed back. âI know perfectly well what it is.â I walked dramatically out of the room, turned a corner, and phoned a friend: âWhatâs an Islamist?â I know the answer, of course, but I was looking for a definition that âwouldnât get me arrested or my head cut offâ. Welcome to Britainâs multiculturalism debate. âWe conduct it behind nervous smiles.â
My mild view â that culture is more than âexotic cooking and colourful weddingsâ, and that some cultures are liable to clash â is so âunusual and distasteful to the intelligentsiaâ that when I voice it, I not only feel lonely but possibly insane. âDid I dream the 7-7 bombings? That teacher driven into hiding because he showed a cartoon?â Yet somehow the official consensus remains that âmulticulturalism works greatâ but is occasionally undermined by isolated extremists, who can come from any quarter. This was the essence of Rishi Sunakâs âstrange, vacuous statementâ after George Gallowayâs by-election win last week. The PM highlighted an endorsement Galloway received from the former BNP leader Nick Griffin, but made no mention of all those Rochdale residents who voted for him. To illustrate this on Question Time, I offered viewers a carefully worded provocation: âWere I to call Jesus a fraud,â I said, âIâd get a few angry letters. If I said something analogous about Islam, Iâd get threats of violence.â
Eating out
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When I travel abroad, says Flora Gill in the I newspaper, âI always try to visit a McDonaldâsâ. Donât dismiss me as some âuncultured simpletonâ: branches of the fast food giant are a fascinating reflection of the tastes of the country theyâre in. Japanese McDonaldâs serves the âEbi Burgerâ, which is âfilled with whole shrimpâ; in Hindu-dominated India, there are no beef dishes, so instead I tried the vegetarian McSpicy Paneer. In Belgium, I ate a McKrocket, âwhere the patty was deep fried ragout paired with a mustardy sauceâ, and in China, I had a side of porridge-like congee with my morning McMuffin.
Quirk of history
The Middle Ages wasnât all âviolence, superstition and ignoranceâ, says The Economist. There were leaps and bounds in economic and social progress across the spectrum. Between 1300 and the completion of the 72-storey Shard in 2010, the height of Londonâs skyline doubled. But in the three centuries between 1000 and 1300, it quintupled. Between the 1300s and the late 16th century, violent deaths declined by more than two thirds. And thanks to the advent of the printing press in the 1400s, between 1000 and 1600, the number of words written and printed in England went from roughly a million a year to around 100 billion.
Snapshot
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Snapshot answer
Itâs an artistâs impression of a brand new luxury island being built off the coast of Saudi Arabia. Set to open by the end of the year, Sindalah will boast a marina for yachts, high-end hotels and ritzy shops. Itâs part of the kingdomâs plan to build a âRed Sea hubâ on its northwestern shore, including a 180-kilometre linear city encased in mirrored glass known as The Line. The plans have been dismissed by some critics as a âfantasyâ, says The Times, but at Sindalah, which has been built in less than a year, they will soon be able to see the first fruits for themselves.
Quoted
âWhen I read about the lives of celebrities in our newspapers, I sometimes wish we had a Freedom From Information Act.â
English critic Theodore Dalrymple
Thatâs it. Youâre done.