13 World News Stories You Might Have Missed This Year

Posted on 25/12/2023 by Boris Clair

Over the past year, headlines in America were dominated by US politics and some world news events, including the ongoing war in Gaza between Israel and the Hamas militant group, and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine in Eastern Europe, among other things.

Still, there are plenty more international news stories that are worth your attention.

2023 saw the rise of right-wing populism with leaders like Javier Milei, who prevailed in Argentina’s presidential contest last month, winning elected office.

However, in Poland, where voters turned out to the polls in record-breaking numbers, conservatives were unable to secure enough support to stay in government, paving the way for Donald Tusk, a centrist politician who previously served as the country’s leader, to return as prime minister.

Meanwhile, natural disasters took place around the world — including in Libya, where Storm Daniel and the ensuing floods killed thousands of people, and in Greece, which recorded the largest wildfire ever in the European Union.

There was still cause for optimism though, as UK scientists made a huge breakthrough in cervical cancer research, and the sports world appears to be taking more action to increase diversity among its referees.

Here is a more detailed look at 13 international stories from 2023, which we wanted to make sure you didn’t miss.

The Rise Of Right-Wing Populism

Argentina

Far-right politician Javier Milei last month won Argentina’s presidential election, defeating then-Economy Minister Sergio Massa by over 11 percentage points, and earning the praise of former US President Donald Trump. Milei, who became popular by calling out what he described as the political “caste” on national TV before being elected to serve in Congress, has since announced shock economic measures, including devaluing the currency by over 50% and slashing ministries from 18 to 9, to stem the country’s fiscal deficit that he says is responsible for high inflation, among other things.

Argentina’s new government is also bringing in new security rules as part of an effort to crack down on anticipated protests over the austerity measures, in a move that critics have deemed “unconstitutional.”

Argentina's newly sworn-in president, Javier Milei, waves to supporters from a balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Dec. 10, 2023. — Argentina’s newly sworn-in president, Javier Milei, waves to supporters from a balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Dec. 10, 2023.

The Netherlands

The party of populist Geert Wilders won the general election in the Netherlands on November 22, delivering a shock to onlookers around the world. His party, however, will need to form a coalition to earn a majority, and Wilders has so far struggled to do so.

Wilders’ Party for Freedom had campaigned on a manifesto proposing a referendum on the country’s EU membership. An official for the Netherlands’ central bank on Monday, though, warned that a potential “Nexit” would be a “very bad idea.”

Wilders — who has previously praised Vladimir Putin but has in recent weeks criticised the Russian president, calling him a “terrible dictator” — says his country should cut off military support to Ukraine.

Slovakia Elects Left-Wing Populist With Pro-Russia Agenda

The left-wing party led by Robert Fico, who ran on a pro-Russia and anti-US agenda, won the country’s general election in October. Fico was sworn in as prime minister for a fourth time after he managed to form a coalition government with another left-wing party, Hlas, and the ultranationalist Slovak National Party.

People in capital Bratislava took to the streets to protest a plan by Fico’s government to close the top prosecutors’ office as part of a series of legal changes it wants to implement, which both the EU and Slovakia’s president have raised concerns about. Many are also worried that Fico could follow in the footsteps of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who often spars with the EU and opposes more funding for Ukraine.

Fico had resigned as prime minister in 2018 amid mass protests over the killing of an investigative journalist and his fiancée outside the couple’s home.

Poland Rejects Conservatives

Centrist Donald Tusk was sworn in as prime minister of Poland, ending the rule of the right-wing Law and Justice party after eight years. While Law and Justice won the election, its vote share decreased by nearly 7 percentage points, and it was ultimately unable to reach a deal with other parties to remain in power.

Donald Tusk forms a heart shape with his hands after he is elected as Poland's prime minister, in Warsaw, Poland, on Dec. 11, 2023. — Donald Tusk forms a heart shape with his hands after he is elected as Poland’s prime minister, in Warsaw, Poland, on Dec. 11, 2023.

The party of Tusk, who previously served in the premiership from 2007 to 2014 before becoming president of the European Council from 2014 to 2019, formed a coalition government with two other opposition parties as he vowed to restore Poland’s ties with the European Union. The EU had cut the country off the bloc’s pandemic recovery fund over concerns about the independence of Poland’s judiciary, but the bloc on Friday announced that it would be transferring 5 billion euros (£4.3 billion) of those funds to Warsaw.

‘Patriots Only’ Local Election Sees Record-Low Turnout In Hong Kong

Just over 27% of Hong Kong’s eligible voters took part in last month’s district council elections, despite the government’s efforts to encourage people to head to the polls. As the Financial Times wrote, the vote was also “an important test of the government’s ability to demonstrate public support for the political order imposed by China’s President Xi Jinping.”

Participation was down dramatically compared with 2019, when widespread pro-Democracy protests opposing a security law backed by Beijing drove a historic 71% turnout. Since then the landscape has shifted, with only those considered “patriots” in support of China being allowed to run, based on new criteria.

Candidates are now required to pass national security screenings and get nominated from government-appointed committees to be eligible to participate in races. The number of directly elected seats in district elections has also been dramatically reduced.

Meanwhile, the trial of Jimmy Lai, the Hong Kong media tycoon who has been in jail since 2020, started in December in what is considered a big test for the city’s judicial independence. Lai faces National Security Law and seditions charges. Lai owned Apple Daily, a news outlet critical of Beijing that authorities shut down in 2021.

Hong Kong’s government last week placed five activists who fled abroad from the city on a wanted list, claiming that they have “continued to commit offences under the National Security Law.” It announced a million Hong Kong dollar ($101,000) reward for anyone who “can provide information on the wanted persons or the related cases.” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken denounced the move as an “attempt to threaten and harass those advocating for freedom and democracy.”

Portugal Corruption Scandal

António Costa, Portugal’s longest-serving socialist prime minister, abruptly resigned last month after police raided his residence amid a corruption probe into him and other government officials, in relation to energy deals in the north of the country. These included schemes to mine lithium, build a solar-powered data center and generate hydrogen fuel.

Snap elections have been scheduled for March to elect a new government. While Portugal has resisted the nationalist wave that has engulfed other European countries in the past, Chega, a far-right party, is expected to make gains in next year’s race.

Over the weekend Portugal’s Socialists, Costa’s party, elected Pedro Nuno Santos as their new leader heading into the 2024 contest.

Costa was also reportedly being considered as a leading candidate to replace European Council President Charles Michel in the upcoming EU elections before the scandal broke.

India Cracks Down On Dissent

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued cracking down on dissenting voices in the media in 2023.

In October, Indian authorities raided the homes of several journalists from the digital news outlet NewsClick, which is known for its critical coverage of Modi’s government, and arrested its founder and the company’s head of human resources, in what human rights groups decried as an assault on press freedom. Indian officials claimed the move stemmed from allegations that the news platform was getting illegal funding from China, which NewsClick has denied.

In February, Indian authorities raided the BBC’s offices in Mumbai and New Delhi following the network’s release of a documentary that looked at Modi’s role in anti-Muslim protests in Gujarat, which left over 1,000 dead in 2002, and at his government’s track record following his 2019 reelection. The government also moved to restrict screenings of the two-part documentary and had it removed from YouTube and Twitter, the platform now known as X.

Military Coup In Niger

Niger’s military overthrew Mohamed Bazoum, the country’s president, over the summer, with Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani becoming the country’s new leader. The U.S. officially designated Bazoum’s ouster a coup on Oct. 10, announcing that it was suspending more support for Niger’s government. The Economic Community of West African States has repeatedly called on coup leaders to release Bazoum, and recently offered to lift sanctions on the country in exchange for his freedom. But Tchiani has ruled that out.

The ECOWAS Court of Justice last week ruled that Bazoum was arbitrarily detained and should be reinstated. The decision was welcomed by Bazoum’s legal team, who said that it “gives legal ammunition to those pressing for his full restoration.” While the decision is binding on ECOWAS institutions, it’s unclear how the junta will proceed.

Natural Disasters

Libya Floods

Floods that hit Libya following Storm Daniel in September killed thousands of people, with many still missing and thousands of others displaced. The coastal city of Derna was the most affected area, and the storm caused two dams above the city to break; up to that point, the dams had been holding back the floodwaters.

Protesters burned down the home of Derna’s mayor, who later resigned. And authorities targeted the media, instructing all journalists to leave the city after being accused of blocking the rescue teams’ efforts.

Residents told BBC Arabic that the government’s response was seriously flawed. They pointed to poor maintenance of the dams, the absence of a plan for where evacuated people would shelter, and conflicting stay-at-home orders and curfews, among other things.

Rescuers and relatives of victims set up tents in front of collapsed buildings in Derna, Libya, on Sept. 18, 2023.

Greece Wildfires

The blaze that burned in Greece’s Evros region this summer was the largest wildfire recorded in the EU since 2000, when the European Forest Fire Information System started gathering data. The fire — which, according to the Guardian, destroyed 96,600 hectares (239,000 acres) of forest — killed 18 people who were believed to be migrants, including two minors.

People react as they try to extinguish a wildfire in Avantas village, near Alexandroupolis town, in the northeastern Evros region of Greece on Aug. 21, 2023.

Right-wing groups in the country seized the opportunity to spread baseless conspiracy theories, accusing migrants of being behind the environmental disaster.

Major fires also broke out in other parts of Greece in July — one of the busiest months for tourism — including on the island of Rhodes, where officials performed the largest evacuation from wildfires that the country has ever recorded.

Venice Becomes First City To Charge Day-Trippers For Entry

Venice in September became the first city to authorize an entrance fee of 5 euros for travelers who visit but don’t stay there overnight, in yet another effort to curb overtourism to the popular destination. The charge will apply on peak days starting in the spring, and the measure will first be tested for 30 days.

U.K. Scientists Make Breakthrough In Cervical Cancer Research

Researchers from University College London and University College London Hospitals found that giving cervical cancer patients a short course of chemotherapy before they received standard treatment reduced their risk of dying or the disease returning by 35%, in what the lead investigator of the trial described as “the biggest improvement in outcome in this disease in over 20 years.” Researchers expressed hope that their findings could be replicated to help patients experiencing other types of cancer.

Progressives Who Won Thailand Election Left Out Of Coalition Government

The progressive Move Forward Party, which promised to reform legislation that bans criticism of the country’s monarchy, made a surprise win in Thailand’s election in May. But it was unable to get its eight-party coalition government confirmed after it failed to garner enough support from the unelected conservative Senate.

Pheu Thai, the populist party that came in second in the election and was originally part of Move Forward’s coalition, was then given the opportunity to form a government but chose to exclude Move Forward from its coalition. Pheu Thai said Move Forward’s opposition to the country’s royal defamation law would have made it impossible to get the required votes in parliament.

Pheu Thai also walked back a pledge to not partner with pro-military factions, with its 11-party coalition government now including two pro-military parties.

Saudi Arabia Attracts Some Of Europe’s Biggest Soccer Stars

After Cristiano Ronaldo signed with Al-Nassr in December 2022 following his departure from England’s Manchester United, Saudi Arabian soccer teams continued their quest to attract top-tier talent in Europe to their league. The league, which is funded by the country’s Public Investment Fund, spent more than $1 billion over the summer transfer window for players like Neymar, who signed a two-year contract with Al-Hilal with yearly earnings of nearly $1 million, and Karim Benzema, who got a $436 million two-year contract to join Al-Ittihad. Al-Hilal also reportedly made record offers to Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi, but the two players turned them down.

Female Referee To Make History In English Premier League

Women are due to shatter another glass ceiling this year as Rebecca Welch is set to officiate Saturday’s game between the Fulham and Burnley soccer clubs, which will make her the first woman to referee a Premier League game.

Referee Rebecca Welch is seen during a match between Benfica and Eintracht Frankfurt on Dec. 13, 2023, in Lisbon, Portugal.

Meanwhile, Sam Allison is set to officiate a game between Sheffield United and Luton on Tuesday, which will make him the first Black person to referee a Premier League game in 15 years.

This follows a pledge by the Football Association to hire 50% more referees from “historically under-represented” backgrounds by 2026.

Anthony Scaramucci Spots The ‘Total Dog Whistle’ In Trump’s ‘Poisoning The Blood’ Rant

Posted on 24/12/2023 by Boris Clair

Anthony Scaramucci took aim at Donald Trump’s recent “poisoning the blood” remarks on Friday and told CNN that the former president’s anti-immigrant rant was a “total dog whistle.”

Scaramucci, a frequent Trump critic since his brief stint in the White House, weighed in on his ex-boss’ xenophobic comments which have been condemned for echoing the rhetoric of Adolf Hitler.

“He knows exactly what he’s doing,” said Scaramucci when asked by CNN’s Abby Phillip why Trump keeps saying a phrase “lifted” from the Nazi leader.

“He puts things out there, sort of with a forked tongue. He’ll say one thing and say, ‘Oh geez, I didn’t realize that that was from that,’ but he does know that it’s from that.”

Trump has since claimed that he’s “never read ’Mein Kampf’” and, on Friday, declared that he’s “not a student of Hitler.”

The claim conflicts with a 1990 Vanity Fair story that described Ivana Trump – the former president’s first wife – noting that her then-husband read a book of Hitler’s collected speeches and kept it “in a cabinet by his bed.”

Scaramucci told Phillip that someone wrote the “poisoning the blood” speech for the former president knowing that “Hitler said it.”

“I do believe him that he has not read ‘Mein Kampf,’ OK, because I don’t think this guy has ever read a book … The joke on the campaign is that he’s written more books than he read,” he said.

H/T: Mediaite

Republican Group Sounds The Alarm On ‘Wannabe Dictator’ Trump In Scathing Ad

Posted on 24/12/2023 by Boris Clair

A Republican group opposed to Donald Trump is pointing out how the former president stacks up to dictators in a new ad.

The Republican Accountability Project’s “Dictator Donald” spot, which comes weeks after Trump said he’d act like a dictator on “Day 1” of a new administration, sounds the alarm on the former president’s 2024 campaign.

“He caused an insurrection at the Capitol and, sorry to ruin your Christmas, but he’s running again,” said the ad’s narrator, who declares that Trump is “openly running as a wannabe dictator.”

The ad goes on to display a Truth Social post from the former president who, in December 2022, called for the “termination” of articles of the Constitution.

“Trump said he would terminate the Constitution so he could be president again,” the ad’s narrator said.

“Do you know who also did that? Mussolini, Chávez, Pinochet — all of them shelved their Constitutions to centralize power.”

The ad later states that Trump plans to “purge tens of thousands of civil servants” from the government to replace them with his loyalists if he’s elected to another term.

“Authoritarian Viktor Orbán used the same tactic to dismantle Hungary’s democracy,” added the narrator before noting Trump’s “very real” chances to win the 2024 election.

“The alarm is going off, everyone needs to wake up. We have a choice between protecting our democracy or letting Trump destroy it.”

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The Republican Accountability Project said it plans to run the ad nationally via CNN and MSNBC.

The spot, part of a six-figure ad campaign, is set to run in a number of swing states — Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — on the Hallmark Channel and during TBS’s marathon of “A Christmas Story” over the holidays.

The group looks to run the ad starting Friday and through next week.

The Republican Accountability Project’s latest ad joins a number of its other spots aimed at Trump and GOP lawmakers who have enabled the former president’s 2020 election lies such as Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

Donald Trump Makes Absolutely Wild Claim About Joe Biden And Catholics

Posted on 24/12/2023 by Boris Clair

Donald Trump accused President Joe Biden of overseeing a Soviet-style persecution of Catholics and claimed FBI undercover spies are about to infiltrate the churches. (Watch the video below.)

Biden has described himself as a “practicing Catholic,” and is just the second Catholic president after JFK. But that didn’t stop the GOP front-runner from launching dubious allegations at his probable adversary in the 2024 election.

“Under Crooked Joe Biden, Christians and Americans of faith are being persecuted like nothing this nation has ever seen before,” Trump said in the video posted to Truth Social on Thursday.

“Catholics in particular are being targeted and evangelicals are surely on the watch list as well. Over the past three years, the Biden administration has sent SWAT teams to arrest pro-life activists. The FBI has been caught profiling devout Catholics as possible domestic terrorists and planning to send undercover spies into Catholic churches, just like in the old days of the Soviet Union.”

A leaked FBI memo titled “Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Mitigation Opportunities” was interpreted by some conservatives to mean that the Justice Department was generally targeting Catholics as domestic terrorists. Attorney General Merrick Garland called the accusation “outrageous” and said he was appalled by the memo. “Any characterization that the FBI is targeting Catholics is false,” the bureau said to Newsweek on Friday.

As for arrests of pro-life activists that Trump referred to, he may have been referring to action against alleged extremists that conservatives seemed to spin into a false narrative about a war against the religious right, as HuffPost reported in 2022.

One of the suspects, Mark Houck, was acquitted of federal charges in January 2023.

In his new video plea, Trump also urged Catholics not to vote for Biden or any other Democrat and promised to form a task force against “anti-Christian bias.” The task force would also “look at government agencies, universities, and major corporations that have adopted anti-Christian diversity, equity and inclusion programs.”

In comments made in 2021 nearly a year after his 2020 defeat to Biden, Trump complained about losing ungrateful Catholic supporters for that election. “I did a lot for the Catholics. I’m a little bit surprised that we didn’t do better with the Catholic vote,” Trump said. He added at one point he was “very optimistic that we’re going to be back.”

Donald Trump, deep in the throes of mental decline, claims that devoutly Catholic President Biden wants to send “undercover spies” into Catholic churches.

When people accuse President Biden of being too old, show them this.pic.twitter.com/dPpHDBSysl

— Really American 🇺🇸 (@ReallyAmerican1) December 22, 2023

How Labour Plans To Goad ‘Bottler’ Sunak Into Calling A Spring Election

Posted on 23/12/2023 by Boris Clair

Rishi Sunak this week confirmed what the world and his wife already knew – the general election will take place next year.

Addressing political journalists at a Christmas reception in Downing Street, the PM said the country would go to the polls in 2024, apparently ruling out January 2025, the latest date it could possibly be.

The only question that remains is whether he will go to the country in the spring or in the autumn.

Number 10 had already appeared to let slip the election date in October when a video marking Sunak’s one year anniversary as PM declared: “So what can a country achieve in 52 weeks? Watch this space.”

But HuffPost UK has learned that Labour plans to accuse the “weak” PM of “bottling it” if he chooses not to plump for a May election.

As luck would have it, local elections in England are due to take place on May 2.

The last time those seats were up for grabs was in 2021 when, thanks largely to the success of the Covid vaccine rollout, the Tories performed well.

With the opinion polls now unrelentingly grim for the Conservatives, the expectation at Westminster is that those elections will be another bloodbath for the party, reminiscent of last May when they lost over 1,000 councillors.

Why would Sunak, the theory goes, put his grassroots activists through that miserable experience only to ask them to get out on the doorsteps again just a few months later?

Holding the general election on the same day as the locals could also help to boost the Tories’ chances of saving some councillors who would otherwise have been booted out by voters, say some.

One senior Conservative said: “My preference would be for a spring election. Have a radical tax-cutting Budget in March and then go to the country. We’ve got nothing to lose so might as well.”

Keir Starmer, who visited the Tapa NATO forward operating base in Estonia this week, has urged Sunak to get on and call an election.

One ally of Keir Starmer said: “The country is crying out for change and voters are desperate for the chance to kick the Tories out.

“If Sunak doesn’t call an election for May then it just shows he’s weak and a bottler. We’ll just spend months hammering home that message.”

Visiting British troops in Estonia close to the border with Russia this week, Starmer said Labour was “ready” for an election.

I’ve had my whole team on a general election footing for some time now,” he said.

“Given the complete state of failure now in the country, there’s a real sense that everything is broken, nothing is working,” he told GB News.

“For millions of people they can’t afford to wait any longer for that general election. The sooner that is called, the better. We’re ready for it.”

The counter-argument, however, is a strong one. Why on earth would Sunak choose to have an election in May when the Tories are likely to still be anything up to 20 points behind Labour?

Former chancellor George Osborne said on his Political Currency podcast said a spring election has already been ruled out by those around Sunak.

“I’ve been talking to various people…and so all my conversations do indicate to me that they [Downing Street] are looking at the back end of next year,” he said.

“I don’t think anyone at the top of the Tory party is now thinking that a spring election, a May election, is a running possibility. And even an October election is not really on the cards because they’ll be thinking of using September, October to launch what is more likely, in my view now, to be a November, December election. But it will be in 2024.”

Delaying the big day for another 12 months risks invoking the wrath of the public, however.

HuffPost UK revealed in October that polling by the More in Common think-tank revealed that three-quarters of voters want an election by the spring, with only 15% preferring next autumn.

Luke Tryl, More in Common’s UK director, said: “While it’s understandable that Rishi Sunak will want to wait as long as possible to call an election in the hope that Conservative prospects might improve, our polling suggests that waiting too long may, in fact, have the opposite effect.

“A weary public is not in the mood for a 12-month plus General Election campaign and overwhelmingly would like an election over and done with before next summer.”

Faced with the choice of near-certain defeat in the spring and an extra six months as prime minister, all logic suggests Sunak will choose the latter option.

But is he buying himself more time in the hope that something comes up to change the Tories’ fortunes or simply delaying the inevitable?

I Idolised My High School Teacher. Then I Dated Him.

Posted on 23/12/2023 by Boris Clair

At 15, I was his standout student and his kids’ occasional babysitter, unabashed in my adoration.

I looked forward to his classes with a thrill that could make me feel sick. I studied harder for his tests than I would ever study again. When he and his wife were out on dates, I would sit at his desk after their kids were asleep, beneath bookshelves full of thick spines, spillover stacks surrounding his computer, some volumes splayed open to pages littered with underlines, and think, Someday I’ll find someone like this.

I was in my late 20s and living in Brooklyn, nearly 3,000 miles across the country, when he left the desk and the house and the wife and stored all of his books in a shed outside a tiny rental cabin at the top of a cliff.

He came to New York and we got coffee and talked about God and I called him Mister. Then we exchanged writing, piles of it, and overnight knew more about each other than almost anyone.

From a distance we discussed meeting up again someday, this time for a beer.

“It’s difficult, isn’t it, to keep an imagination in check?” I asked at the end of a long email.

“A little imagination ain’t so bad,” he assured me with a winking face emoji, but any innuendo was subtle and carefully crafted ― and besides, I was never coming home.

Then the pandemic hit.

“How are you doing? Are things OK?” he texted one day in March.

“I actually came home,” I responded. And that was that.

Early on we agreed to keep it casual. We decided it was likely only for the lockdown, while the world fell apart and we were lonely. We asked “Why not?” and disregarded every answer.

We walked the woods, then the beach, then ― fancying ourselves quite quarantined in a place barely touched by the virus ― we went inside. From opposite couches, we passed a hundred hours just talking about everything: history and philosophy and the protests and Taylor Swift, later and later into the evenings, drinking my dad’s good wine from pint glasses.

When he asked if he could kiss me one night in July, sitting on the floor with our legs already touching, it felt only the tiniest bit taboo. The 20 years between us didn’t matter. He spent his life with high schoolers, and was more up to speed than I was on the trends and lingo of Gen Z. I felt desperate to reaffirm my autonomy and adulthood after moving into my parents’ guest room, and I liked confiding in a man with history, the years gathered at the edges of his eyes.

It seemed every woman my age was about to have a baby. I was behind, and now dating was against the rules and dangerous. But driving home from his house in the middle of the night, I felt interesting and boundless; I felt bad for all the women with the babies.

In August, we listened to Taylor Swift’s new album on repeat. I can see us twisted in bedsheets, August sipped away like a bottle of wine. We spent hours in bed. We took his boat out and jumped from the side. We sat close on a bench, watching constellations climb. But if what you want is a pop song, you can turn anything into a summery montage and fall in love with the lyrics. Mostly, we stayed inside doing nothing.

What started as a month-long lockdown swelled into a season, then two, then three. Our temporary tryst became less and less temporary. Trump was the president, then not the president. School was remote, then not remote. We were depressed, then not depressed, then depressed again.

At some point I bought a house, and on New Year’s Eve we lay on the floor on a mattress still covered in plastic, construction dust and power tools in disarray, fireworks popping, and it felt OK.

Looking back, it wasn’t that the student/teacher dynamic had truly dissolved; it had just gone dormant, as so many things did during the pandemic.

But it didn’t matter that I owned a house and he rented, or that my kitchen had actual wine glasses in it, or that I had dating history and he didn’t, or that I’d lived in cities around the world while he’d stayed in our small town. The badges of adulthood that confirmed we were equal weren’t enough.

As our community began to reopen, something was shifting between us. He was suddenly reiterating that he didn’t feel guilty about what we were doing, which of course meant he felt guilty about what we were doing. He was suddenly firming up boundaries. He was suddenly treating me like a child.

And more and more, I started to feel like a child. I stopped caring about whether he wanted to sleep with me. All I wanted was for him to be proud of me like he was at the beginning, from opposite couches, with no expectation. Or before that, even: when he was still Mister and we were meeting up in my city; when I was telling him about my work and he was beaming; when I was nothing but his precocious student who’d happened to grow up, and all we shared was admiration.

“There are few joys greater than witnessing a student surpass the teacher,” he’d written to me then. Now I was sitting with my legs over his, but I was flailing.

At the end of April, I stayed up straight through multiple nights reading the accounts of Blake Bailey’s gradual, insidious grooming of his young students, my throat clenched like a fist. It bothered me, even though there was no comparison to be made. The man I spent occasional evenings with had never, in my experience or to my knowledge, caused a student to feel uncomfortable.

Still, if there existed, in our community, a cult of the charismatic male teacher, he was its idol. And it did exist; I’d been a member for half my life.

The week after the news broke, I sat up in bed, arms around my knees. I couldn’t get it out of my head. We had done such a seamless job believing that our history didn’t matter, but what if we were wrong?

“What are you thinking about?” he asked, smoothing my hair. I was thinking about the comments I’d read from countless teachers about how students they met as children remained children in their minds, regardless of age ― about the indestructibility of the student/teacher dynamic. When I tried to talk to him about it, he laughed it off, then left early.

We never touched those dynamics in the bedroom. There was no shame or scandal between us, not ever, not even close, until there was. The secrecy that had been inevitable in a lockdown had come to feel illicit after it was over, and I was becoming increasingly aware of my nakedness, embarrassed. What had been irrelevant in private was not irrelevant in public.

Soon after, he invited me to a local vineyard for wine and music, and I was hopeful that it was a turning point. After so much isolation, we could finally prove that the thing we said wasn’t a secret wasn’t a secret.

The next day, my phone pinged with a follow-up text:

“OK, this is hilarious!” he started. The invite, he explained, hadn’t been for me. It was meant for someone else. “I am such a doofus,” he said.

“Fuck you,” I said.

I could have said anything else, something measured and mature, but I didn’t. It was the way it was a joke that broke me. A part of me wanted to be stabbing and juvenile because that’s how he’d made me feel, that’s what I was trying to throw back at him: Fine, you want to condescend, you want to treat me like a child? Watch how childish I can be.

I should have known that the post-pandemic public wouldn’t see us together ― that had been, after all, our expiration date from the beginning, back when the lockdown was fleeting and my life was elsewhere. But I didn’t anticipate how I’d come to rely on him, how bad it would feel to be denied by him, following the return of an external gaze.

I wanted him to be proud of me and instead he was ashamed. Both betrayed what was running molten beneath our feet, which was that, despite a year of intimacy, as soon as time was unsuspended and public life resumed, he was still my teacher; I was still his student.

And then he asked me to return his books ― not over coffee, not to his house, not in a neutral parking lot where we could hand off belongings and hug each other goodbye, but to the front office at the high school, a building I hadn’t been back to in over a decade.

He’d promoted me and now he was demoting me again, summoning me to the place where it started, where he still strolled the halls with a halo of admirers, and I was long forgotten.

Olivia Rodrigo’s debut album had just come out, and I decided to listen through it, as he and I had done with Taylor’s album the summer before. It was raining. When I got to the turnoff to my house, I kept driving. When I got to the high school, I slowed down but couldn’t bring myself to stop. Red lights, stop signs, I still see your face in the white cars, front yards… I’d gotten my driver’s license while I was in his class. I could still pick out the row where I used to park, near the track that lit up into a football field on Friday nights in the fall.

Can’t drive past the places we used to go to, ’cause I still fuckin’ love you, babe. I didn’t love him, which in a way was more disappointing than if I had. I’d loved him my whole life. Now there was a human where my hero had been.

Once upon a time, I was a child who adored a teacher for the way he challenged me. This past year, I was an adult grateful for the conversation and companionship of the same man. Now, wherever my life ambles next, I don’t need to take him with me.

Why The Original Gavin & Stacey Christmas Special Is A True Festive Masterpiece

Posted on 23/12/2023 by Boris Clair

While every year there are moans and groans about the Christmas TV schedules being packed with repeats, there’s one show that we definitely don’t mind watching again and again – the original Gavin & Stacey special.

The BBC sitcom had been running for two seasons by the time we got the first festive episode in 2008, and what a Christmas special it was.

While we’d seen plenty of interactions between the entire Shipman and West clan in the years previous, there was a real moment of joy seeing them all prepare for their first Christmas together following Gavin and Stacey’s wedding.

Not only did the hour-long episode deliver on comedy and plot, but it also highlighted all those little Christmas foibles that go on in households up and down the country come 25 December.

And while it was a burst of nostalgia having the gang back together in 2019 for the much-anticipated reunion episode, there’s something magical about the original that made it such a festive masterpiece.

Here’s why it’s a show that’s worthy of repeat viewing every December…

1. Pam’s take on Christmas cards

Pam had strong views on when to send Christmas cards

Before 2008, we were always baffled as to why some people would send their Christmas cards before December had even rolled around, but Pam Shipman imparted some serious wisdom on us that made us completely reverse our stance.

“What is the point of sending cards that arrive on Christmas Eve? They’ll get taken down in a few days. That’s why I send all mine on the first of November. Gives people seven weeks to enjoy them,” she said.

You have to admit, she has a point, right?

2. John who?

Speaking of Christmas cards, Pam and Mick also tapped into something we’ve all heard our parents say when they receive a festive greeting from someone they cannot quite place.

“Oh, look at that, ‘From John’… It could be mechanic John… It won’t be John from Ann and John.”

3. Doris being ‘absolutely twatted’ before lunchtime on Christmas Eve

A relatable queen.

4. Nessa in the grotto

“Oh! Oh! Oh! Merry Christmas” was an inspired piece of writing from Ruth Jones and James Corden.

5. Gavin and Smithy’s sing-a-long

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It’s the scene that inspired James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke, and despite the fact he’s had the likes of Adele, Britney Spears and Lady Gaga join him in his car to sing along to their biggest hits, it’s still Smithy’s duet down the phone on Do They Know It’s Christmas? that remains the original and the best.

We’ve also never been able to say Midge Ure’s name the same way since.

6. The mint Baileys scene

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The scene where Gwen and Bryn share their first ever mint Baileys before boarding the coach to Essex wasn’t big or flashy, but it had a quiet comfort and poignancy about it, which Gavin & Stacey always nails so perfectly.

7. Mick’s turkey saga

Are you basting it? Are you soaking it overnight? Are you doing it the Nigella way? Or are you sticking to Jamie Oliver, because you “know where you are with him”?

Through the characters of Mick and Pete, the Christmas special managed to perfectly encapsulate the bizarre obsession and competitiveness dads have with other men about their turkeys each year.

8. The fight

Pam wasn't exactly thrilled with Gavin's news — Pam wasn’t exactly thrilled with Gavin’s news

Pam’s eruption after finding out her “little prince” was planning on relocating to Barry set off a chain of events that made this scene one of the most memorable in Gavin & Stacey history.

Not only did Alison Steadman absolutely commit to the moment, but we also saw Gwen finally stand up to Pam, Nessa threaten to “see her outside” (and Pam stupidly believe she could take her on), before Pete went toe-to-toe with Dave Coaches to defend Dawn’s honour.

Admittedly, there’s some language that we’d hope wouldn’t make it into the script in 2021, and we were very pleased when they all put the row behind them. But it has to be said, this scene shook up the dynamic between all the characters and also sent up those fights that happen in every family each festive season.

9. Pam and Mick’s royal romp

We learned that Pam’s obsession with the Duchess of Cornwall translated into the bedroom as she prepared to be “knighted” with Mick’s “special sword” while he was wearing a comedy pair of Prince Charles ears.

10. Pam’s vegetarianism comes unstuck

As “Three Steaks Pam” faced the prospect of a turkey-less Christmas after her long-standing lies about being a vegetarian, it transpired she hadn’t fooled anyone with her stance on meat – except for Gwen that is, who had bought her a vegetarian cookbook for Christmas.

11. The opening of the ‘presents’

Nessa and Dave gifted everyone a single chocolate from a box of Celebrations

Never before had we been so eager to see which Celebration someone was eating, and we definitely still relate to Smithy wrapping all his presents in tin foil for ease.

Doris gifting Gwen talcum powder, despite her still having a stack of it unused at home from previous years, was also a foible we’ve seen play out during present openings over the years.

12. The Nessa and Smithy sexual tension

Smithy didn't want Nessa to marry Dave — Smithy didn’t want Nessa to marry Dave

Years before we got the 2019 Christmas proposal, there was a special moment between Nessa and Smithy that gave fans hope that the characters would finally end up together as Smithy urged her not to marry Dave Coaches.

13. The end song

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No, you’re crying.

All episodes of Gavin & Stacey are available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

U.N. Security Council Passes Resolution On Aid For Gaza After U.S. Resistance

Posted on 22/12/2023 by Boris Clair

The United Nations Security Council on Friday passed a resolution aimed at increasing humanitarian aid for Gaza — overcoming intense resistance from the U.S. that ultimately forced diplomats from multiple countries to weaken the potential effect of the initiative.

The U.S. abstained from voting on the resolution while 13 other council members voted for it.

The resolution, proposed by the United Arab Emirates on behalf of Arab and Muslim states, focuses on helping the more than 2 million people in the territory who have been growing increasingly desperate since Israel launched a massive, U.S.-backed offensive there to strike Gaza-based militants responsible for an attack in Israel on October 7.

On Thursday, the world’s top tracker of hunger, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, said more than 90% of people in Gaza now face high levels of acute food insecurity, calling that the highest share of people facing high levels of acute food insecurity the group has ever classified for any area since it was launched in 2004.

The U.S. ― which has the power to veto Security Council resolutions ― says it believes more aid must get into Gaza faster, but President Joe Biden has been reluctant to pressure Israel, which largely controls aid flows, to take tangible steps to make that happen.

In negotiations over the just-passed resolution, American diplomats told foreign counterparts they did not want to veto it but strongly resisted language proposing limits to Israel’s military operation on humanitarian grounds and shifting oversight of aid to the U.N., a step the U.S. has supported in other war zones.

Diplomats this week told HuffPost they repeatedly assessed a U.S. veto as a near certainty. The council delayed the vote by multiple days at the U.S.’s request.

Humanitarian aid trucks enter through a crossing from Israel into the Gaza Strip on Dec. 18.

“The U.S. was at an advantage in negotiations this week because most council members believed that Washington was willing to cast another veto, despite the reputational costs,” said Richard Gowan, the U.N. director at the International Crisis Group think tank.

The U.S. was widely criticised for vetoing a Security Council vote for a humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza earlier this month; nearly all other countries on the council and the overwhelming majority of U.N. member states support that idea.

The final language ― which directs the U.N. to quickly establish a new aid coordinator position ― drew mixed reviews.

Russia and China, which also have veto power at the council, threatened on Thursday night to bar the resolution because they deemed it insufficient, a Muslim diplomat told HuffPost.

Still, some observers expressed hope the appointment of a coordinator will be a way to pressure Israel to allow in more assistance and praised the resolution’s calls for adherence to international humanitarian law.

“I understand some Arab diplomats think that the text is too weak, and it is certainly incredibly convoluted at certain points. But it also creates some opportunities for [U.N. Secretary General Antonio] Guterres to try to reinforce U.N. humanitarian operations in Gaza,” Gowan told HuffPost.

Louis Charbonneau, the U.N. director at Human Rights Watch, said the passage of the resolution should push all parties involved to change course to address the crisis.

“The U.S. needs to ensure that Israel implements it. Israel must immediately stop the atrocities ― no more collective punishment, no more starving and unlawfully bombing civilians,” Charbonneau said in a statement. “The council sent a clear message to Palestinian armed groups to end indiscriminate rocket attacks and release all civilian hostages. The Israeli military should also restore essential services for Gaza and allow humanitarian aid to reach all those in need.”

On Friday, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas Greenfield rejected the idea that the resolution was too weak, calling it “a strong step forward.” The U.S.’s Gaza policy of largely unchecked support of Israel has complicated the position of Thomas-Greenfield and her team, U.S. officials recently told HuffPost.

“Linda Thomas-Greenfield and her team were effectively able to play the good cop with other council members, nudging them towards a deal, while everyone feared that Biden would play bad cop and insist on a veto,” Gowan said, saying the U.S. was able to “extract a lot of concessions.”

He noted that the UAE ― a close American partner ― faced particular pressure to reach a workable compromise because their term on the council will soon end. Meanwhile, “the Russians were pretty obviously looking for a way to force the U.S. into a veto.”

“The U.S. did genuinely make some concessions of its own, although mainly on points of language such as the use of the word ‘cessation,’” relating to the prospect of continued fighting, Gowan added.

Earlier in the day, a U.N. expert made a striking warning about the ramifications of Israel’s ongoing campaign, raising the specter of permanent displacement for millions of Palestinians.

“As evacuation orders and military operations continue to expand and civilians are subjected to relentless attacks on a daily basis, the only logical conclusion is that Israel’s military operation in Gaza aims to deport the majority of the civilian population en masse,” Paula Gaviria Betancur, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, announced. The majority of people in Gaza are themselves descendants of Palestinians who were forced out of their historic neighborhoods amid the establishment of Israel in 1948.

These Are The UK’s Favourite Christmas Songs And No, Mariah Isn’t Number One

Posted on 22/12/2023 by Boris Clair

We are just days away from Christmas and now that we know that Wham! officially beat Sam Ryder to the coveted number one spot, we can reveal the UK’s favourite Christmas songs ever and it turns out that despite all of our memes, Mariah Carey somehow isn’t the number one fave.

Yes, according to research conducted by digital headphones magazine Headphonesty, which looked at Google search data to determine which of Spotify’s top 100 songs are most loved by Britons, we don’t give our top slot to the popular favourite.

In fact, the song that hits the top of our charts… technically, arguably… isn’t a Christmas song.

With a winning 32,621 average searches per month, Somewhere Only We Know by Lily Allen is the UK’s favourite Christmas song. To be fair, it is the biggest Christmas song of the 21st century by a British artist but we’re still surprised to learn that it beats all other Christmas classics.

The most popular Christmas songs in the UK

Following closely behind at number two is of course, Mariah Carey Classic All I Want For Christmas Is You but then, and maybe it’s just me, they get a little weird.

Coming in at number three is the soulful hymn Silent Night followed by Jingle Bells, and Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree.

it’s worth noting, then, that only one of the top five Christmas songs in the UK actually came out this century.

However, recent research from CSGO Luck reveals that globally, people have a touch more taste. Sorry.

New streaming data reveals that Wham!’s 1986 hit Last Christmas is the highest-earning and most streamed Christmas song that has been released in the past 50 years.

The Wham! classic is followed by All I Want For Christmas is You, Ariana Grande’s Santa Tell Me, Michael Bublé’s rendition of It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas and Sia’s Snowman.

Commenting on these findings, a spokesperson for CSGOLuck said, “Social media once again has revealed its power, as you would expect more classic Christmas songs to rank within the top 10. Most of the songs in the ranking have been, to some extent, trending on TikTok or Instagram, resulting in a surge of streams.”

I think I’ll stick to our girl Mariah.

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1. Pam’s take on Christmas cards

2. John who?

3. Doris being ‘absolutely twatted’ before lunchtime on Christmas Eve

4. Nessa in the grotto

5. Gavin and Smithy’s sing-a-long

6. The mint Baileys scene

7. Mick’s turkey saga

8. The fight

9. Pam and Mick’s royal romp

10. Pam’s vegetarianism comes unstuck

11. The opening of the ‘presents’

12. The Nessa and Smithy sexual tension

13. The end song

The most popular Christmas songs in the UK