Los Angeles is slowly coming to terms with the destruction wreaked by this month’s wildfires. Gabrielle Canon revisited the Palisades neighbourhood, where one of several major fires blazed last week, to speak with residents whose homes were destroyed. She heard stories of great loss but also of resilience, as communities make plans to recover together. Architecture critic Oliver Wainwright wrote a compelling piece explaining exactly why LA was and always has been so susceptible to wildfires, and what needs to be done to protect it as the climate emergency means that they become more frequent and intense. And this excellent piece by Oliver Milman on Trump’s response to LA was a reminder that, with the new leaders of the world’s richest nation in the mood to increase fossil fuel production and pull away from climate accords, we’re likely to see more of these apocalyptic scenes. This, wrote novelist Francine Prose, is our future even if we don’t want to see it.
France, and the world, are still coming to terms with the impact of the Dominique Pelicot trial. Angelique Chrisafis has chronicled the trial from start to finish and last week she wrote a stunning interview with Caroline Darian, the daughter of Gisèle and Dominique Pelicot. Darian spoke to her about the “crushing double burden” of being the child of both victim and perpetrator.
Ruth Michaelson and Obaida Hamad reported from a building in Damascus that had been a headquarters for Bashar al-Assad’s brutal security apparatus. There, former staff were being encouraged to turn in themselves and their weapons to Syria’s new rulers in return for a piece of paper acknowledging their surrender.
Our series on PFAS “forever chemicals” revealed the eyewatering sums it will cost to clean them up, as well as revealing how the chemicals industry is borrowing from the big tobacco playbook in a bid to stave off regulation. We also revealed that residents of Jersey have been recommended bloodletting because of the levels of toxins coursing through their veins.
Annie Kelly spoke to Sam Pordale, who shared his story of having to flee Afghanistan with no money, belongings or companions for our gripping How we survive series. A lot has been written in the UK about migration and small boats, but this was a rare, in-depth and moving account of what it is like to spend six days in rough seas, doubtful as to whether you will live to reach your destination.
“Neither warehouse nor mausoleum,” can the British Museum recover from its omni-crisis? Charlotte Higgins’s long read was the fruit of more than a year’s work, drawing on immense knowledge and many interviews to reveal new sides to the troubled institution. The profile doubles as a portrait of the nation: “a sprawling, chaotic reflection of Britain’s psyche over 300 years”. It was accompanied by David Levene’s fantastic behind-the-scenes picture gallery.
I loved this piece by Lanre Bakare, our arts and culture correspondent, on why his home city of Bradford is, despite lacking the swagger of Manchester or the sheen of Leeds, well worthy of being the UK’s city of culture for 2025.
Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff told the story of Fiona Holm, whose former boyfriend was convicted of murdering her, in the absence of a body. It’s a moving profile of a much-loved woman, as well as an exploration of why some of the 170,000 people who go missing each year get wall-to-wall coverage, yet so many are overlooked.
Our Australian Open coverage has been terrific, both on and off the court: from looking at the now worthless tennis ball NFTs that Tennis Australia has quietly walked away from, to the jubilation over Hady Habib – the first Lebanese player of the Open Era to reach a grand slam tournament – and who Australia’s large Lebanese diaspora got behind in a big way. Nour Haydar interviewed him for the Full Story podcast and Mostafa Rachwani spoke to his cousins from Sydney about the joy of seeing him play.
I was in Manchester this week to announce a new exhibition about the role that transatlantic enslavement played in shaping the city. The free exhibition opening in 2027 is a collaboration between the Guardian and the Science and Industry Museum, developed with African-descendant and diaspora communities. The exciting project will have a lasting legacy, with a new permanent schools programme and permanent displays in the future.
I enjoyed Barbara Speed on how women’s contraception seems to have taken a step backwards; Xaymaca Awoyungbo’s lovely piece about taking pride in his name as well as his weariness at years of people getting it wrong; Alaina Demopoulos on the gen Z women discovering the life and career of Joan Baez in light of the new Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown; Gabrielle Chan on how her community rallied round when her farm in rural Australia caught fire; Jonathan Liew on non-league Tamworth nearly beating Tottenham in the FA Cup; and Sophia Smith Galer on TikTok, a platform that has many flaws, but which few would dispute has democratised the visual internet.
One more thing …The New Zealand drama serial After the Party is a stunning TV show, superbly written and with one of the best acting performances I’ve ever seen from Robyn Malcolm. It’s subtle and unsettling and makes you question yourself throughout.
