1. ‘The right has won the family’: why are there so few lefty momfluencers? Illustration: Guardian Design / Getty Images
In the United States, the most popular mom content tends to be rightwing trad wife propaganda or just apolitical – pushing progressive creators out of the algorithm. Kady Ruth Ashcraft explored why. Also, in a special three-part essay series, published last weekend, Robert Topinka looked at how liberals and progressives have “lost the internet” and what they can do to turn things around.
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2. The pie and mash crisis: can the original fast food be saved? Photograph: Alicia Canter/The Guardian
There used to be hundreds of pie and mash shops in London. Now there are barely more than 30. Can social media attention and a push for protected status ensure their survival? Tim Dowling put away his knife and spoke to some of the keepers of the pie and mash flame.
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3. This is Muslim New York – a non-exhaustive list of the artists, politicos and entertainers driving the city’s new era Composite: Amir Hamja / Guardian Design
Against the backdrop of Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral rise is a dynamic scene of Muslim creatives and intellectuals who are helping usher in a new era for New York City. Their prominence represents a rebuke of the ugly Islamophobia that defined the period following 9/11, and is in many ways an outcrop of the mass movement for Palestinian rights forged over the last two years. Rhana Natour asked 18 Muslim New Yorkers to discuss their work and what this moment means.
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4. A romance fraudster ruined my life – how I survived two years with a psychopath Composite: Guardian Design; ccahill/Getty Images
“Tamsin met Mike in the summer of 2022. He was a mechanic in a garage that she walked past twice each day between home and work. After a while, he’d call out ‘good morning’ or ‘good evening’ and she’d wave and smile back. Then the exchanges got a little longer. (‘Hard day?’ ‘Looking forward to dinner?’) Six months later, Mike and Tamsin exchanged numbers. Within two years, her life was wrecked. She had left her marriage, lost her home, quit her job, sold her car and her phone, spent all her savings and racked up tens of thousands in debt.”
Anna Moore explored how “one-person romance fraud” is becoming better understood – even if the police aren’t taking it seriously.
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5. ‘She worked like a maniac’ … Meet the design genius who could even make roadworks look good Photograph: Neil Spence/Alamy
Airports, road signs, typefaces … Margaret Calvert revolutionised how Britain looked and her brilliantly clear designs are still used today. “There was also no such thing as graphic design back thent was just called commercial art,” she told Catherine Slessor.
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6. ‘They’re taught that showing feelings is shameful’: eight reasons men don’t go to therapy – and why they should Illustration: Nathalie Lees/The Guardian
When it comes to talking therapy, men don’t come easily, and when they do seek help in a crisis, they can disappear as suddenly as they arrive. Yet male vulnerability is clear – men report lower levels of life satisfaction than women and make up three-quarters of suicides and problems with addiction. So why are men still so reluctant to talk? Clinical psychologist Dr Stephen Blumenthal explored eight key reasons.
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