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Posted by Kate Connolly in Hofsgrund

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/25/uk-schoolboys-fatal-hike-black-forest-germany-anniversary

Relatives of London pupils and German villagers mark anniversary of ‘English misfortune’ that Nazis turned into propaganda coup

On 17 April 1936, the bells of St Laurentius church in the Black Forest rang out to guide to safety a group of London schoolboys trapped in deep snow on a mountain hike gone very wrong. Ninety years on to the day, as the bells sounded again, there was hardly a dry eye in the congregation of British relatives and German villagers remembering the night that had brought together their parents and grandparents.

The people of Hofsgrund risked their lives heading out with sledges and lanterns in the deadly weather to rescue the party of 27 and their teacher after two boys, fumbling though fog and frozen to the bone, had reached a farmhouse and told its startled inhabitants there were many more of them strewn over the Schauinsland mountain.

The Daily Sketch from 20 and 29 April 1936

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/25/uk-schoolboys-fatal-hike-black-forest-germany-anniversary

Posted by Gwilym Mumford

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2026/apr/24/my-new-obsession-is-the-strange-mesmerising-world-of-chipmunks-at-16rpm

In this week’s newsletter: In an era preoccupied with overstimulation, a trio of cartoon rodents​’ slowed-down reinterpretations of pop classics offer an uncanny kind of calm

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The best album I’ve heard so far this year isn’t from this year at all. It’s from 2015 (though its recordings were made decades before that), and is a collection of sludgy, doomy covers of late-70s punk, new wave and pop perennials: My Sharona, Call Me, Walk Like an Egyptian. The guitars on this mysterious tribute album have had their pitch tuned down to a low, thick squelch, the drum beats are slow and punishingly thudding, and the vocals, while sung in a sweet tenor, have a strange, almost lobotomised quality to them. The weirdest thing of all though is who is performing: Alvin, Simon, Theodore.

OK, let’s explain. Just over 10 years ago, Canadian musician Brian Borcherdt – best known as one half of experimental noise duo Holy Fuck – bought an old 16rpm turntable, designed for playing slow-speed records such as spoken-word albums. Naturally, Borcherdt immediately started messing about with it, playing normal 45rpm records on the turntable, which slowed them to a disorienting crawl. After experimenting with slowing down a few LPs, he landed on his masterwork: the Chipmunks album Chipmunk Punk, a cynical 1980 attempt by the creators of the squeaky-voiced cartoon rodents to capitalise on the ascendant musical genre of the moment, while of course not sounding the slightest bit punk at all.

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2026/apr/24/my-new-obsession-is-the-strange-mesmerising-world-of-chipmunks-at-16rpm

Posted by Michele Tameni

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2026/apr/25/exploring-italy-forgotten-dolomites-without-crowds

Clear waterfalls, mountain meadows and high-altitude refuges are just some of the highlights of this less-visited part of the stunning range

The “forgotten” Dolomites lie to the east, far from the crowds of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo and Val Gardena. Belluno is the main gateway, two hours north of Venice by train or a drive up the A27. From here, the upper Piave valley leads into the quieter Friulian mountains. The land rises gently, opening into pasture, then stone lifting into spires above the meadows.

Traditional local councils, the Regole di Comunità, still manage the land and forests collectively here, sustaining artisans and alpine farmers in scattered hamlets shaped by shared work and resilience. Pastìn (a minced, seasoned blend of pork and beef), malga cheeses and polenta, once staples for long days in the mountains, are still shared over grappa at the end of the day. Beyond the hamlets, paths lead towards Monte Pelmo or drift into the beech woods of Cansiglio, where deer call at dusk. It’s a fine place to experience mountain culture, and these are some of my favourite places.

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2026/apr/25/exploring-italy-forgotten-dolomites-without-crowds

Posted by Molly Oldfield

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/apr/25/why-are-red-apples-sweet-and-green-apples-sour-the-kids-quiz

Five multiple-choice questions – set by children – to test your knowledge, and a chance to submit your own junior brainteasers for future quizzes

• ​Submit a question

Molly Oldfield hosts Everything Under the Sun, a podcast answering children’s questions. Do check out her books, Everything Under the Sun and Everything Under the Sun: Quiz Book, as well as her new title, Everything Under the Sun: All Around the World.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/apr/25/why-are-red-apples-sweet-and-green-apples-sour-the-kids-quiz

Posted by Neha Gohil Midlands correspondent

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/apr/25/hate-filled-videos-misogynistic-loner-guilty-racially-motivated

The 32-year-old jailed for life for a racially motivated sex attack on a Sikh woman had a collection of hate-filled uploads

John Ashby is a man who did not hide his hatred of women.

In fact, the rapist, who was sentenced this week to life in prison with a minimum of 14 years for a racially motivated sex attack on a Sikh woman, vented his misogyny online for all to see.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/apr/25/hate-filled-videos-misogynistic-loner-guilty-racially-motivated

Posted by Wendy Frew

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/apr/25/middle-east-crisis-live-witkoff-and-kushner-head-to-pakistan-for-iran-negotiations

Iranian foreign minister has landed in Islamabad but his ministry says there will be no direct negotiations with the US envoy

While US envoys head to Islamabad in the hope of renewing peace talks with Iran, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza began voting Saturday in municipal elections in a first vote since the Gaza war, marked by a narrow political field and widespread disillusionment.

Nearly 1.5 million people are registered to vote in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, as well as 70,000 people in Gaza’s Deir el-Balah area, according to the Ramallah-based Central Elections Commission.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/apr/25/middle-east-crisis-live-witkoff-and-kushner-head-to-pakistan-for-iran-negotiations

Posted by Simon Hart

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/apr/25/boris-johnson-keir-starmer-prime-minister-leadership

For all his sins, Johnson didn’t sacrifice others to save himself. That’s not leadership – and Starmer may learn that all too soon

• Simon Hart was government chief whip from 2022 to 2024

Sitting at the back of the public gallery watching Olly Robbins give his evidence to the foreign affairs select committee hearing on Tuesday felt horribly like the summer of 2022 all over again. Back then, the prime minister, Boris Johnson, had seen off numerous attacks on his integrity – most of them from Keir Starmer, for what it’s worth – mainly on the back of Partygate, but with the final blow being struck by the resignation of the little-known deputy chief whip after allegations of sexual misconduct.

The similarities are not lost on anyone like me who has witnessed all of this from relatively close quarters. In Johnson’s case, the main plank of his defence was either that he had been told nothing at all, or that what he was told (by officials or advisers) was selective at best. The trouble was that no one really believed him. He was PM and with that came the expectation that irrespective of the whys and wherefores, the buck had only one place to stop.

Simon Hart was government chief whip from 2022 to 2024, and is author of Ungovernable

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/apr/25/boris-johnson-keir-starmer-prime-minister-leadership

Posted by Pamela Gordon

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/25/my-husband-and-son-titan-submersible-christine-dawood-what-happened

Christine Dawood found herself trapped on the ship, waiting for signs that the Titan submersible carrying her family would surface. She talks in detail for the first time about those harrowing four days

Walking into Christine Dawood’s kitchen, it’s impossible not to be drawn to the model Titanic in the centre of the room. Sitting in its own glass-fronted cabinet, the Lego ship is almost 1.5 metres long, constructed of 9,090 of the iconic plastic bricks. Dawood’s 19-year-old son Suleman spent almost two weeks building it. “People are always a bit shocked to see it,” she admits. “But what was I going to do? Break it up? Hide it away? Suleman put all those hours in. He’d been fascinated with the Titanic since we went to a huge exhibition when we lived in Singapore.“

I went to that same exhibition when it came to London, and remember marvelling at the china dinner plates that had survived intact; the unused lifejackets that had failed to save someone; the sheet music belonging to the orchestra who had supposedly bravely played even as the ship went down. Instead of a ticket, you were given a replica boarding pass with a real passenger’s name on it. At the end, you could find out who survived and who didn’t.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/25/my-husband-and-son-titan-submersible-christine-dawood-what-happened

Posted by Guardian Staff

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2026/apr/25/half-man-to-olivia-dean-the-week-in-rave-reviews

Richard Gadd presents a bruisingly intense dissection of masculinity, and the soul-pop chanteuse heads out on tour. Here’s the pick of the week’s culture, taken from the Guardian’s best-rated reviews

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2026/apr/25/half-man-to-olivia-dean-the-week-in-rave-reviews

Posted by Esther Addley

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/25/simple-dog-walk-scandal-hit-peter-mandelson-refuses-to-hide-away

Former US ambassador and Labour peer joins a long line of people who have gone out to meet awaiting paparazzi head-on

For a man at the centre of a storm that has rocked the political establishment, Peter Mandelson has spent the week looking remarkably relaxed. Day after day, as MPs have grilled civil servants over who knew what when about the former US ambassador’s security vetting, and police continue to investigate serious allegations over his own conduct, Mandelson has stepped out of his Regent’s Park mansion and pottered across the road to take his dog for a walk.

Smart-casually dressed in jeans and a jumper and holding in front of him a plastic ball-thrower, he has set off for the park like a weekending solicitor on his way to an egg and spoon race. There have been occasional small smiles for the photographers at his gate, but no comment. The message appears to be: I am insouciant, normal. Not in prison.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/25/simple-dog-walk-scandal-hit-peter-mandelson-refuses-to-hide-away