The kindness of strangers: I was hopelessly ill in China – then hotel staff offered to take my elderly father sightseeing
Before they left, the receptionist delicately straightened my father’s collar. I knew then they would be just fine Read more in the kindness of strangers series The food poisoning hit…
‘Stop telling people it’s weird’: Andrew Upton on his strange new novel, and having Cate Blanchett read it first
An allegory in the spirit of Animal Farm, the Australian playwright’s debut novel about a disfigured chicken is a fantastical fable that’s both funny and ‘a bit bleak’ Andrew Upton…
What Rumi’s magnum opus can teach us about greed and contentment in the digital age of envy | Ali Hammoud
Lessons on wealth lurk in the crevices of Rumi’s poetry – and a change in perspective can reveal its pearls of wisdom Making sense of it is a column about…
A swarm of stink bugs and a river of rats: why India’s flowering bamboo causes a crisis for humans
Every few decades mass blooming in Mizoram’s forests causes a rodent boom – and devastation to crops. The cycle is well-known, so why aren’t farmers and authorities better prepared? In…
Lizzo answers her critics: ‘I’m a fat, black, happy girl – they were always going to try to tear me down’
Three years ago, the pop star was riding high after a sellout tour. But then a slew of shocking accusations from her former dancers changed everything. Where does she go…
Caitlin Clark never asked to become a political symbol. Trump’s allies have chosen her anyway
A congressional threat to bring the DoJ into the WNBA pushes Caitlin Clark into a role she has long tried to avoid: the central figure in America’s latest sports culture…
Meet Darcy Byrne, the Labor mayor taking on pokies reform – podcast
Darcy Byrne is the Labor mayor of Sydney’s Inner West council and he’s helping lead a grassroots movement on curbing gambling harm in the community – including pushing for a…
The moment I knew: I was devising a plan to set up Martha with my friend – and realised I’d fallen for her myself
After meeting in then-Zaire in the 1980s, Steve Sherwood and Martha Meares became good friends. But when she planned to leave for England, he decided he wanted something more Find…
Adam Liaw: ‘The most famous person I’ve cooked for? Gordon Ramsay. My wife spilled a jug of water over him’
The TV presenter and cookbook author on eating from a 600-year-old plate, the time he ruined a $300 steak and why garlic crushers are pointless What’s the oldest thing you…
‘A brilliant reprieve, a unifying force’: America falls in love with World Cup
Packed stadiums, record TV viewers, and an outlet for joyous multiculturalism under attack by Trump – the tournament has taken the US by storm There were plenty of reasons to…