A record of what was published, when, and how it changed.

Life behind bars in Britain’s surviving Victorian prisons – photo essay

By Andy Aitchison

Dozens of prisons were built in Britain between 1842 and 1877, many of which are still in use today. For more than 20 years, Andy Aitchison has photographed behind the walls. His book Incarcerated explores how Victorian prison infrastructure has persisted, and what these old buildings mean for the people who live and work inside What is now HMP Lincoln opened at the end of the most prolific period of prison construct

Away with the ferries: exploring Switzerland’s forgotten lake district by boat

By Mike MacEacheran

The Jura and Three Lakes region is often overlooked by visitors, but on a lake-hopping adventure I discovered its gentle beauty as well as great food and wine The ferry cuts across the waters of Lake Biel, creating soft ripples, as if someone has taken a brushstroke to a blue canvas. To starboard, as we approach St Peter’s Island, are gentle mountains; to port side, lie golden fields. Straight ahead, the isle looks e

Conversations with an Executioner: a chilling classic reveals the mind of a Nazi mass murderer

By Jo Glanville

Polish war hero Kazimierz Moczarski spent 255 days sharing a cell with an SS general. Nearly 50 years after it was published, an uncensored version of his account is appearing in English for the first time In 1949, Kazimierz Moczarski, a leading member of the Polish resistance, was in his fourth year of incarceration when he was moved into a cell with two Nazis at Warsaw’s Mokotów prison. One of them was Jürgen Stroo

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An Agatha Christie classic with an impressive cast: best podcasts of the week

By Hannah J Davies

Toni Collette heads a list of familiar voices playing out the village murder-mystery. Plus, Guz Khan and Kiell Smith-Bynoe go off on some rather wild tangents Toni Collette is an eagle-eyed amateur sleuth in this big adaptation of Agatha Christie’s first Miss Marple novel. When Colonel Protheroe is found dead in sleepy St Mary Mead, suspects include his spouse, Anne, and daughter, Lettice. But as false confessions an

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Agrippa by Robert Harris review – persuasive portrait of rivalry in ancient Rome

By Sam Leith

This fictional memoir by Octavius’s right-hand man shows us bloodshed, betrayal and hectic jockeying for power If you’re one of those people who thinks about the Roman empire several times a week, Robert Harris has you covered. He follows his trilogy of novels about the life of Cicero and his one-off about the unpleasantness in Pompeii with a narrative that takes us from civil war through the assassination of Julius

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More women will die if domestic abusers leave prison early, victim’s parents warn

By Jessica Murray Social affairs correspondent

Parents of Michaela Hall, whose partner killed her after he left prison in 2021, say Probation Service cannot cope with mass release More women will die if ministers include domestic abusers in the early prison release scheme, the parents of a woman murdered by her partner shortly after he was freed have warned. Michaela Hall, a 49-year-old charity worker, was killed in her home in Cornwall, by Lee Kendall in 2021 tw

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Spotlight on UN desertification summit as it mulls how to spend $12bn war chest

By Fiona Harvey Environment editor

Extreme weather has raised the significance of Cop17 talks starting this week on tackling drought and land degradation As swathes of the northern hemisphere bake in what could be the hottest year on record, with wildfires blazing across North America and Europe and heatwaves afflicting millions across Asia, the UN’s bi-annual talks on desertification have assumed much greater importance – and have started attracting

Sabrina Ghayour’s recipes for mango and chilli chicken, sticky spring onions and latke

By Sabrina Ghayour

A sweet, tangy and spicy chicken dish that matches well with crisp fried potatoes and apricot-glazed spring onions I use this exact cooking method to make every kind of traybaked chicken, and this one is a blend of store-cupboard staples with the addition of fresh lime to push the flavour. Then, I love hash browns, röstis and latkes – give me crispy fried potatoes of any description, and I’m a happy girl – but I won’

Nothing less than radical whole-system change is required to fix the NHS's maternity services | Julia Sanders

By Julia Sanders

It’s vital that Yvette Cooper’s taskforce acts on the Amos and Ockenden reports – and puts the needs of women and families at the heart of maternity services It is hard to find the words to describe the agony for those who have experienced preventable baby loss, injury or maternal death. Understandably, families who have been through this have campaigned relentlessly for local and national investigations. Every famil

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Hayden Panettiere, actor in Heroes and Nashville, dies aged 36

By Sian Cain

Panettiere’s death was announced by her father, who called her ‘an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy’ Hayden Panettiere – a life in pictures Hayden Panettiere: an actor so magnetic that entire shows were rewritten for her Hayden Panettiere obituary Hayden Panettiere, the actor known for her roles in television shows such as Heroes and Nashville, has died at the age of 36. Pa

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Are Microsoft’s AI plans being held back by a shortage of chips?

By Aisha Down and Ed Zitron

Guardian investigation finds apparent discrepancy between what tech company has said about its AI capacity – and the number of advanced chips it has in operation The chips are quite small and some can be held in the palm of a hand. They are fundamental to the development of artificial intelligence models – and the world’s biggest technology companies need vast numbers of them to keep ahead. Microsoft is one of them.

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Asking prices for newly listed homes in UK’s richest borough fall by £100k in one month

By Rupert Jones

Fierce competition in some areas of London means landlord purchasers are making successful lowball offers The average price of a home coming up for sale in Britain’s richest borough has dropped by almost £100,000 in a month as fierce competition among sellers in many areas prompts some to slash their price expectations, data shows. The property website Rightmove said that for Britain as a whole, average newly listed

‘His ache is real’: Bob Dylan and more on the wild genius of honky-tonk hellraiser Gary Stewart

By Garth Cartwright

Worshipped by everyone from Willie Nelson to Joe Strummer, the country star with the amazing voice imploded in a blaze of guns, knives, drugs and infidelities. What’s behind his astonishing posthumous rediscovery? ‘He sings like a man arguing with destiny. It sounds like the ache is real, that the ruin is real,” Bob Dylan tells me. “There’s a cracked truth there. What’s unsettling about him is that he sounds like he’

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Coping with 54C heat: Delhi slum diaries detail living in extreme temperatures

By Suchitra in Delhi

With heatwaves now recognised as disasters, personal testimonies are key to a new project that looks to protect those living in the most cramped districts of India’s capital Every summer evening, Gulshan follows the same routine. She washes the floor of her one-room home several times so it cools a little for her four children to sleep on. Last summer, the family saved enough to buy a desert cooler, which uses evapor

Italy’s mythic ‘month off’ in August was hard won. It would be good for us all | Jamie Mackay

By Jamie Mackay

The villeggiatura, a month-long break, was popularised in the 1960s when trade unions were strong – and so was economic productivity On the Riviera di Ponente, sandwiched between the glitzy resort towns of the Ligurian coast, sits the Albenga plain. Dotted with campsites and bungalows, the area developed during Italy’s postwar boom as an affordable refuge for workers to escape the smog of nearby industrial cities lik

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Blackbox review – a legendary escape from slavery is told with magic tricks

By Mark Fisher

Underbelly, Edinburgh The story of Henry ‘Box’ Brown, who succeeded in mailing himself out of bondage, is recounted rather than fully dramatised Henry “Box” Brown is wrapped up in chains when he has an idea to claim his freedom. As inspiration hits him, actor Josiah Alpher flexes his muscles and, miraculously, the chains appear to pass through his neck. Magic! It is a neat visual metaphor for a true story that seems

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‘It’s been very tough’: hope of progress in gruelling battle against south Wales wildfire

By Bethan McKernan Wales correspondent

Efforts of emergency services and military in Blaenavon appear to be working but there are fears for the future More than three weeks after it began burning and two days after the military deployed to the area, there is hope that the huge wildfire on the hillside above the Eastern valley town of Blaenavon may finally be coming under control. Emergency workers and soldiers described a gruelling battle against the deep

Can exercise really help improve my sex life?

By Keren Landman

Here’s what experts say about how sex and exercise are linked, and whether the type, timing and intensity of movement matter Here’s a reason to put your sneakers on: exercise can improve your sex life. It’s not necessarily about changing how your body looks, or being strong enough to swing from the chandelier. Regular movement improves smaller, less visible bodily functions that increase your desire and capacity for

Kindness of strangers: The day of my mum’s funeral, the saleswoman at the stationery store made me feel less alone

By Helen as told to Katie Cunningham

Because I’d visited so often to print things, she made me feel that someone had witnessed the journey I was on, all the way through to its difficult conclusion Read more in the kindness of strangers series Mum’s disease progressed slowly at first, and then in a really big rush. After years of battling early onset Parkinson’s, in 2015 we were suddenly told she only had six months left. I was living in Brisbane, Austra

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‘Absolutely manic’: hot weather puts unprecedented pressure on Greater Manchester police

By Hannah Al-Othman North of England correspondent

Force has seen busiest month in its history, with heatwaves putting added strain on criminal justice system On England’s hottest day of the year so far, Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester was thronging with pedestrians, many clutching ice-creams or cold drinks as they passed through the town centre. Officers from Greater Manchester police were also out in force, some in plainclothes, some stationed by a facial-r

Readers reply: How is it physically possible to continue breaking sporting records?

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The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts This week’s question: Is it inevitable that consumerism will literally fill up the planet? Obviously, progressions in sports clothing technology must make a small difference to the abilities of an athlete – but how on earth is it physically possib

‘It was barbaric. I was crying my eyes out’: why are so many women left in agony by routine womb examinations?

By Anna Moore

There are more than 70,000 hysteroscopies every year in England alone. The NHS calls them ‘low complexity’ – yet a shocking number of patients complain of inadequate pain relief and medical staff who refuse to take them seriously In February this year, Beth Harris sat in the day surgery waiting room of her local hospital and tried to steady her nerves. She was there for a hysteroscopy, in this case to remove a fibroi

How to make quesadillas – recipe | Felicity Cloake's Masterclass

By Felicity Cloake

A cook-your-own adventure meal, with all manner of fillings and servings to explore The Mexican equivalent of a cheese toastie, but even quicker to make, these are the perfect summer holiday or weekend lunch, because everyone can choose their own fillings and help cook. Plus, this recipe is just a jumping-off point – once you’ve mastered the method, you can fill them with anything you like … grated chocolate and mash

‘Why did it become personal?’: furore over plans to expand Kent oyster shack

By Daniel Boffey in Whitstable

James Green’s oyster company owns a chunk of Whitstable’s shoreline but success has not brought affection from residents The clink of glasses and the lapping of the tide was punctuated by giggling toddlers and the slurp of oysters at tables populated by people gently sizzling on a baking day on the Kent seaside. But James Green, of the Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company, had the demeanour of a man who had found grit i

Dining across the divide: ‘At one point she said, “I don’t want to offend you, but you seem quite privileged”’

By Erica Buist

A trainee accountant and a company director had differing views on opportunities for young people, but could they find common ground on the new prime minister? • Want to meet someone from across the divide? Click here to find out how Margaret, 22, London Occupation Trainee accountant and part-time arts producer Continue reading...