Thousands of No Kings events will be fueled by anger over ICE violence, the Epstein files released and a war in Iran. These protests have power

Things have changed since the last major No Kings protests, in October 2025. Back then, an estimated 7 million people poured into the streets to protest the Trump administration; this Saturday, at more than 3,000 events planned nationwide, the crowds are likely to be even bigger. In part, that’s because the Trump administration keeps pursuing more and more unpopular agendas, often with a sadism and indifference to popular opinion that becomes prominent in the news.

In January, ICE agents in Minneapolis killed two protesters – first Renee Good on 7 January, and then Alex Pretti on 24 January – who were in the streets trying to obstruct the agency’s kidnappings and voice their opposition to the Trump administration’s ethnic cleansing program. The two dead Americans were among the thousands who have become enraged at ongoing revelations of the extent and cruelty of Trump’s mass kidnapping, detention, and ethnic cleansing program, which has swept up tens of thousands of men, women and children.

The author on the Steinbeck novel that moved him to tears, how becoming a father inspired him to reread Marilynne Robinson, and the culinary comforts of James M Cain

My earliest reading memory
When I was eight, my mother bought me Stanley Bagshaw and the Short-sighted Football Trainer by Bob Wilson. I grew up thinking he was the same Bob Wilson who played in goal for Arsenal and presented sport on ITV. That wasn’t true, but it has never dampened my appreciation of this brilliant rhyming picture book, which ought to be reissued to inspire more kids to read. My sons adore it.

My favourite book growing up
The Red Pony by John Steinbeck had a profound effect on me in secondary school. I was amazed by how vividly a writer could evoke a landscape in words. It was also the first novel that moved me to tears, and stories that can do that will always stay dear to me.

Conserving the watershed of the Tana and improving farming methods is securing water supplies and livelihoods alike in a changing climate

When in 2017 David Nyoro became one of the first farmers to partner with Africa’s first water fund to conserve the watershed of Kenya’s biggest river, he received 180 high-value avocado seedlings. The 67-year-old’s farming methods had been dominated by annual crops that left large sections of his five-acre piece of land bare, increasing soil erosion and contributing to river sedimentation. “We used to lose a lot of topsoil to the river. Such loss of soil nutrients and poor farming practices meant we had less farm produce,” he says.

The avocado seedlings enabled him to grow his farm income to close to 2m Kenyan shillings (about £11,500 at today’s exchange rates), with each mature avocado tree yielding 70kg (154lbs) annually. He introduced cover crops to improve soil health and reduce soil erosion and sediment loads.

Yousef Pezeshkian’s daily social media posts reveal no state secrets, but expose questions dominating Iranian society

An Iranian keeping a diary expressing his doubts about the war’s outcome, even shedding a tear over its impact on his grandmother, might not seem extraordinary but for the fact the diarist is the son of the president.

Apart from fierce loyalty to his father, Masoud Pezeshkian, the former heart surgeon elected to the presidency in 2024 who he says he has not seen since the war started, Yousef Pezeshkian’s daily reflections on social media chart how the war effort is going, its impact on ordinary Iranians and how he believes the fight could be made more effective.

Retail sims aren’t my thing, but the tactile, nostalgic pleasures of hit indie title Retro Rewind have me yearning for the era of physical media, smoking indoors and uncomplicated geopolitics

It’s early doors, but 2026 may be the biggest bin fire of a year in my lifetime. Wars starting, then ending, then starting again in the course of a week. People running their cars on hopes and dreams because a tank of petrol costs more than the vehicle. Manospheric morons making millions. Several depressing celebrity deaths before I’ve so much as eaten my first Creme Egg of the year.

I had no idea that the antidote to my anxiety and rage would be a cheap little title, made by two French blokes, in what I usually regard as the most turgid gaming genre. Retro Rewind is the moment’s indie darling, selling more than 100,000 copies on Steam in a week. In it, you run a video rental shop in the 90s. You need to buy videos. Display them well. Drop flyers. Serve your customers. Buy more stuff. It’s no different from any other retail sim out there, and I normally shun them because I play video games to escape the boring world of work and into an exciting one of dragons, aliens, and being brilliant at sports.

Show up, speak up … and just be nice. Here is one anonymous server’s advice for a happy meal

Hospitality is in a right state at the moment, what with the seemingly never-ending shitshow of rising rents and rates, extortionate VAT, higher staffing, produce and utility costs, and all those other well-documented socioeconomic pressures (don’t mention the Bre*it word, please). So the last thing those of us who work in this beleaguered industry need right now is to be kicked in the proverbials by the very people we rely on perhaps more than anyone. And, yes, by that I mean you, our lovely customers. So here is some advice on how to avoid infuriating your serving staff.

Turn up …
Pre-Covid, most restaurants didn’t have the balls to take card details or charge for late cancellations and no-shows, but that’s all changed now (thank God). If you buy a ticket to the football or a gig, say, you’ll be out of pocket if you can’t be arsed to turn up. Why should restaurants be any different? What’s more, even if we have charged you a cancellation fee, remember that we’ve still lost out on drink sales and service charge.

As told to Bob Granleese

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

handwritten on back of photograph, "Dave Stuckly, 8th Grade"

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

De 25-jarige Spaanse Noelia Castillo is overleden in een ziekenhuis in Barcelona, nadat zij weloverwogen de keuze voor euthanasie had gemaakt. Het Catalaanse ministerie van Volksgezondheid bevestigde dat de vrouw stierf door een injectie die haar hart deed stoppen. Castillo verklaarde dat haar wens om te sterven ontstond nadat zij in 2022 slachtoffer werd van een groepsverkrachting. Hoewel ze de misdaad nooit aangaf, leidde het trauma tot een ingrijpende zelfmoordpoging waarbij ze onder invloed van drugs van het dak van een flatgebouw sprong. Sindsdien was de jonge vrouw vanaf haar taille verlamd, leed ze continu pijn en was ze aan een rolstoel gebonden. Haar vader verzette zich anderhalf jaar lang met alle mogelijke middelen tegen haar beslissing, maar het Europees Hof voor de Rechten van de Mens (EHRM) verwierp deze week definitief zijn beroep. "Ik wil nu gaan en stoppen met lijden. Punt uit," vertelde een vastberaden Castillo vlak voor haar dood aan de televisiezender Antena 3.

Voor Nederlanders, die gewend zijn aan een relatief lange en open traditie rondom zelfbeschikking, vormt de zaak-Castillo een spiegel voor een uiterst complex thema: euthanasie bij ernstig psychisch lijden. Spanje legaliseerde de praktijk pas bijna vijf jaar geleden, en Castillo is de jongste persoon in het land die er sindsdien voor koos. Het feit dat haar ondraaglijk lijden grotendeels voortkwam uit een psychische aandoening na een zwaar trauma stuitte op aanzienlijke kritiek vanuit conservatieve politici en de Spaanse katholieke kerk. Deze casus sluit naadloos aan bij het actuele Nederlandse debat over de grenzen van de euthanasiewet: hoe bepalen we de 'uitzichtloosheid' van psychisch lijden bij jonge mensen, en weegt het individuele recht op autonomie zwaarder dan de fundamentele wens van naasten om een leven te behouden?

Hoever mag de maatschappij meegaan in de wens tot sterven, wanneer deze wanhoop direct is veroorzaakt door de onbestrafte gruweldaden van anderen?

Voor deze rubriek sturen lezers een foto in van hun ouders. Deze keer stuurde Lily Wieskamp (1960) een foto van haar moeder Frederika Johanna Wieskamp-Maas (1927-1973) en haar vader Gerrit Willem Wieskamp (1930-2003).