Matthew Norman on restaurantsRestaurantsReviewThis place seems so pleased with itself, but it's hard to find a reason whyAuthenticity can be an overrated ambition, it struck me over lunch at the hideously named Bumpkin. One appreciates the desire of its owner to honour the restaurant's heraldic motto, "For city folk who like a little country living." But when that slice of the bucolic experience revolves around a silage farm aroma on the stairs down to the loo, you begin to wonder if he's taking it a bit too far.
Rio Tinto takes full control of Queensland alumina refinery after Russian oligarchs sanctioned | Aus
The Queensland Alumina smelter at Gladstone. Rio Tinto has taken full control after Russian oligarchs Oleg Deripaska and Viktor Vekselberg, who both hold stakes, were sanctioned by the Australian government. Photograph: Lincoln Fowler/AlamyThe Queensland Alumina smelter at Gladstone. Rio Tinto has taken full control after Russian oligarchs Oleg Deripaska and Viktor Vekselberg, who both hold stakes, were sanctioned by the Australian government. Photograph: Lincoln Fowler/AlamyAustralia news This article is more than 1 year oldRio Tinto takes full control of Queensland alumina refinery after Russian oligarchs sanctionedThis article is more than 1 year oldOleg Deripaska and Viktor Vekselberg hold stakes in the Gladstone based refiner, which has been under pressure to cut ties after Ukraine invasion
Russia steps up hostility against Turkey with war room briefing | Russia
Russia This article is more than 8 years oldRussia steps up hostility against Turkey with war room briefingThis article is more than 8 years oldForeign press and diplomats invited to hear Moscow denounce ‘Turkish elites’ for stealing 200,000 tonnes of oil a day and channelling funds to Isis
Although Turkey may have replaced the US as Russia’s rhetorical enemy No 1, the animations playing on the giant screens in Moscow’s new “war room” complex hadn’t yet been updated: they still featured the glowing red outline of North America under laser-like lines that seemed to suggest crosshairs.
Was Jesus gay? Probably | Paul Oestreicher
Cif beliefChristianity This article is more than 11 years oldWas Jesus gay? ProbablyThis article is more than 11 years oldPaul OestreicherI preached on Good Friday that Jesus's intimacy with John suggested he was gay as I felt deeply it had to be addressed Theo Hobson: Can liberal Christians shut up about gayness?
Preaching on Good Friday on the last words of Jesus as he was being executed makes great spiritual demands on the preacher.
Andy Kuczmierczyk obituary | Psychology
Other livesPsychologyObituaryAndy Kuczmierczyk obituaryMy friend Andy Kuczmierczyk, who has died aged 68 of cancer, was professor of clinical psychology at the University of Hertfordshire, and also a life coach and a poet.
Starting out on his career in the late-1970s, he studied cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) at Middlesex hospital in central London, under Victor Meyer, a founding father of CBT. Andy deployed adventurous techniques including “flooding”, which involves people with phobias being exposed immediately and directly to the things they fear most.
Cameroon 1-0 Brazil: World Cup 2022 as it happened | World Cup 2022
2 Dec 202221.30 GMTJamie Jackson was at Lusail Stadium. His verdict on a bittersweet night for the Indomitable Lions is in. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
Aboubakar stuns Brazil with Cameroon winner but sent off for celebrationRead more2 Dec 202221.13 GMTNick Ames was at Studio 54 Stadium 974 for Serbia 2-3 Switzerland. Here’s his report on the match that did for Cameroon, despite their Brazil-B-bothering heroics.
Freuler strike sends Switzerland through and Serbia homeRead more2 Dec 202221.
Kate Miller-Heidke reveals she was sexually abused as a child | Music
Music This article is more than 1 year oldKate Miller-Heidke reveals she was sexually abused as a childThis article is more than 1 year oldSinger says she was abused by her great-grandfather and that she ‘wasn’t the first or the last’
Musician Kate Miller-Heidke has revealed that she was sexually abused as a child by her great-grandfather, saying she had felt inspired by activists Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins and musician Jaguar Jonze to share her story with the world.
Otto Newman obituary | Sociology
Other livesSociologyObituaryOtto Newman obituaryMy father, Otto Newman, who has died aged 93, escaped from the Nazis in Austria on Kristallnacht in 1938. Aged 16, he had been picked up and bundled into a truck but managed to jump off and run away. The others in the truck were never seen again, and a little later Otto was able to reach London on the Kindertransport from Vienna. Apart from his two sisters, Lucy and Erika, and his uncle Heinrich, the rest of the family perished in Auschwitz and Birkenau, among them his father, Jonah, an insurance company director, and his mother, Rosa (nee Schwartzstein).
South Africa 3-2 Italy: Womens World Cup, Group G as it happened | Women's World Cup 2023
2 Aug 202310.21 BSTBut they’re not our story today, not by a long chalk. Taken simply as a game of football, what we’ve just seen was mindblowing; taken as a social, cultural earthquake, a reward for decades of pain, an expression of the human spirit and the unbeatable power of South African womanhood, it’s something different entirely, an eternal moment that encapsulates exactly why we’re here. Thanks for your company and comments; what a night!
The end of FAT: architecture's biggest pranksters call it quits boyband style | Architecture
Architecture and design blogArchitectureThe end of FAT: architecture's biggest pranksters call it quits – boyband styleThey've built schools like wedding cakes and are making a real-life gingerbread house with Grayson Perry. But the UK's most playful practice is breaking up after 23 yearsThey have built a romanesque church out of sparkly blue sequins, a school that looks like a gothic wedding cake and turned the head of Hercules into a squishy seat.