The scene resembled a funeral: seven Indigenous people, overcome with tears, gathered around a loved one resting in a coffin-like wooden box. Instead of grief, however, it was a moment of celebration: the long-awaited reunion between the Tupinambá de Olivença people and a sacred feathered cloak that was taken from [Brazil](https://www.theguardian.com/world/brazil) at least 335 years ago. The relic – which the Indigenous people consider not as an object but as an ancestor – had been at Denmark’s National Museum until July, when it was sent to [Rio de Janeiro](https://www.theguardian.com/world/rio-de-janeiro). [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/sep/12/indigenous-cloak-brazil-return#img-2) Chief Jamopoty and six other representatives of the Tupinambá de Olivença people reunited for the first time with the cloak taken from Brazil at least 335 years ago. Photograph: Tiago Rogero/The Guardian It will be publicly unveiled at a ceremony at Brazil’s National Museum on Thursday attended by President [Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva](https://www.theguardian.com/world/luiz-inacio-lula-da-silva). But the first private encounter between the Tupinambá of Olivença and the cloak took place on Sunday, in an intimate moment witnessed by the Guardian. The reunion had been eagerly anticipated: after the cloak’s return to Brazil, the Indigenous group had complained that they were not initially given the chance to perform their reception rituals for the sacred relic, which they refer to in the same terms they would to a person. “We spoke to him, and he responded,” said Cacique Maria Valdelice Amaral de Jesus, 62, known as Jamopoty Tupinambá. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/sep/12/indigenous-cloak-brazil-return#img-3) About 200 Tupinambá de Olivença made the 1,250km journey from their land in Bahia to Rio de Janeiro and have been camping near the National Museum. Photograph: Tiago Rogero/The Guardian Jamopoty said the cape had returned to resolve the numerous land disputes threatening Indigenous communities across Brazil, adding: “He said we must have our lands demarcated.” She was joined in the temperature-controlled room by six other representatives of the Tupinambá de Olivença, who for about 20 minutes prayed and spoke to the cloak, which lay under an oxygen-free glass dome, as technicians carefully monitored the humidity. Jamopoty’s remarks were recorded by the documentary director Carina Bini who, with the Indigenous leader’s consent, shared them with the Guardian. “You’re lying down, but you’ll stand up. We came to visit you,” she said. “I don’t even have words. It’s the most beautiful thing I have ever seen,” she said as tears ran down her face, which was painted with the red dye of annatto seeds. Her partner, Averaldo Rosario Santos, told the cloak that its return was “a beacon of hope for all the [Indigenous peoples](https://www.theguardian.com/world/indigenous-peoples) that remain in this once-invaded Brazil”. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/sep/12/indigenous-cloak-brazil-return#img-4) Maria Valdelice Amaral de Jesus, 62, known as Jamopoty Tupinambá. Photograph: Tiago Rogero/The Guardian Tupinambá cloaks – typically made from thousands of scarlet ibis feathers – were used as ceremonial vestments by coastal Indigenous peoples, said Amy Buono, an assistant professor of art history at Chapman University. “These capes probably functioned as supernatural skins, transferring the vital force from one living organism to another,” said Buono, who has studied this cloak and 10 others still in European museums in [Denmark](https://www.theguardian.com/world/denmark), Italy, France, Belgium and Switzerland. “Tupinambá capes were some of the most sought-after artefacts in the early 16th century,” she said. Several Tupinambá cloaks were worn by the courtiers during a 1599 procession at the court of the Duke of Württemberg in Stuttgart. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/sep/12/indigenous-cloak-brazil-return#img-5) A parade in Stuttgart at the court of Duke Frederick I of Wurttemberg in 1599. Photograph: Album/Alamy The newly returned cloak was first inventoried by Denmark in 1689 as part of the collection of Frederick III, possibly after it was taken from Brazil by Dutch forces, which occupied the state of Pernambuco from 1630 to 1654. “When the cloak was taken from us, it weakened our community,” said Jamopoty. The Tupinambá de Olivença’s fight for the cloak’s repatriation began in 2000 when it was loaned for an exhibition in São Paulo. Jamopoty’s mother, Nivalda Amaral de Jesus, who was known as Amotara, visited the exhibit and [demanded its return to Brazil](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/fsp/ilustrad/fq0106200006.htm). At the time, the Tupinambá were not even officially recognised as an Indigenous people – they were even described as extinct in history books. Under pressure from Amotara (who died in 2018) and other leaders, the Tupinambá de Olivença were finally recognised in 2001 by the Brazilian government. Eight years later, the first step was taken towards demarcating their territory – an area of 47,000 hectares spanning three municipalities in Bahia. Since then, however, [the Brazilian government has made no further progress](https://cimi.org.br/2024/06/portaria-tupinamba-olivenca-governo/) in mapping their territory, which has led to land grabs by cocoa farmers and tourism developers. About 200 Tupinambá de Olivença made the 1,250km journey to Rio to receive the cloak, camping near the National Museum, which is still being rebuilt after a huge fire destroyed about 85% of its collection in 2018. The museum’s director, Alexandre Keller, said the cloak would go on display to the public when the museum reopens in April 2026. Until then, it will be available only to researchers and Indigenous people. There is no indication that any other Tupinambá cloak will be repatriated but Buono argued that they should all return to Brazil: “These capes were collected by Europeans to be displayed as curiosities and studied for their materials. “But for the Tupinambá these were, and continue to be, sacred, living forces. Their presence in Brazil will be an extremely important marker of communal identity and evidence for land rights and other legal matters,” she said.

A “ring of fire" eclipse of the sun will cross the Pacific and the tips of Argentina and Chile NEW YORK -- A “ring of fire” eclipse of the sun is coming. But only a lucky few will be in the path. The [annular solar eclipse](https://apnews.com/article/ring-of-fire-eclipse-81b8ba2d557c8f42cb90756fc4b342a9)[will be visible](https://apnews.com/article/total-solar-eclipse-eye-damage-eclipse-glasses-cb70dd4fc9caebfee4d61064bc5176b6) Wednesday over Easter Island and the tips of Argentina and Chile. Here’s how to safely watch the final [solar spectacle](https://apnews.com/article/2024-total-solar-eclipse-photos-us-0a07725f59906849b00949e43177e6d9) of the year. Solar eclipses happen when the sun, moon and Earth line up just so. The moon casts a shadow that can partially or totally block the sun’s light. During an annular eclipse, the moon obscures all but a ring-shaped sliver of the sun. That’s because the moon is at a point in its orbit that’s farther from Earth. “The moon is just not quite big enough to cover the sun,” said Carolyn Sumners at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. This eclipse will occur mostly over water in the Pacific. Rapa Nui, known as Easter Island, is in the path along with parts of Argentina and Chile. A partial solar eclipse, when the sun appears as a crescent, can be seen from several locations including Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Hawaii. Solar eclipses happen about two to five times a year. April's total eclipse of the sun dazzled skywatchers in parts of Mexico, Canada and the U.S. Looking directly at the sun can cause eye damage, even when most of it is covered. The annular eclipse is safe to spot wearing solar eclipse glasses, which block out ultraviolet light from the sun and nearly all visible light. Sunglasses or binoculars won’t cut it. Glasses should say they comply with ISO 12312-2 standards, though fake suppliers can also list this on their products. If you don't have eclipse glasses, you can still enjoy the spectacle indirectly. Make a pinhole projector using household materials or hold up a colander and look down to see an image of the eclipse projected below. Peering at the ground under a shady tree can also reveal crescent shadows as the sunlight filters through branches and leaves. Two partial solar eclipses will grace the skies next year in March and September. The next total solar eclipse won’t arrive until 2026 and will pass over the northern fringes of Greenland, Iceland and Spain. \_\_\_ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

She is one of the biggest opponents of fossil fuel on the world stage – but Susana Muhamad’s political career was sparked in the halls of an oil company. It began when she resigned as a sustainability consultant with Shell in 2009 and returned home to [Colombia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/colombia). She was 32 and disillusioned, a far cry from the heights she would later reach as the country’s environment minister, and one of the most high-profile progressive leaders in global environmental politics. Muhamad joined Shell an idealistic 26-year-old. “I really thought that you could make a huge impact within an energy company on the climate issue, especially because all their publicity was saying that they were going to become an energy company, meaning they will not be only a fossil fuel company,” she says, when we meet in the Colombian embassy in London. “I resigned the date that they decided to put their innovation money on fracking.” [](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/03/colombia-minister-susana-muhamad-biodiversity-cop16-fossil-fuels#img-2) Muhamad, centre, speaks at a press conference in 2022 on the introduction of a fracking prohibition bill to the country’s parliament. Photograph: undefined/Courtesy of Ministerio de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible Now 47, Muhamad, whose surname comes from her Palestinian grandfather, is preparing to oversee [biodiversity Cop16](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/cop-16), a summit on the future of life on Earth that will bring together leaders from nearly 200 countries in Cali, Colombia, next month. For many, she is a rising star of the environmental movement, joining voices such as the Barbadian prime minister, Mia Mottley, in putting forward an [alternative vision](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/14/world-fairer-economy-trade-inflation-debt-climate-crisis) of how the world could be, and demanding the developed world finance a just transition. “Susana is the Frida Kahlo of environmental geopolitics,” says activist Oscar Soria. “Like Kahlo, whose art challenged cultural norms and spoke of resilience, Muhamad paints a vision of ecological justice that goes beyond traditional environmentalism … an environmental agenda that is … reshaping the narrative around climate justice and biodiversity restitution.” [](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/03/colombia-minister-susana-muhamad-biodiversity-cop16-fossil-fuels#img-3) Muhamad during a visit to the Colombian embassy in London. Photograph: undefined/Courtesy of Ministerio de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible Colombia’s embassy is sandwiched between Harrods and its Ecuadorian counterpart, and the room we meet in has a front row seat to the UK capital’s wealthiest extremes. Outside, a Rolls-Royce SUV and a blacked-out BMW wait with their drivers next to the high-end department store. Convertible supercars pass shoppers swinging luxury purchases from their hands. Muhamad, representing Colombia’s first ever leftist government, is entertaining NGOs, journalists and senior British politicians – and pushing a vision of “just transition” that would resolve economic imbalances alongside the environmental. The minister has had to be careful to avoid rhetoric on global inequality that might allow her political opponents to tie her administration to more radical leftwing politicians from her region, but she is not naive to the potential pitfalls on the path to net zero. “We have to be clear that this energy transition cannot be at the cost of Indigenous peoples, local communities and biodiversity,” she [told the plenary hall](https://x.com/susanamuhamad/status/1735049874540744800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1735049874540744800%7Ctwgr%5Ec0e274aa9c8c0603b25025d40ea0c902c7a15c7e%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.climatechangenews.com%2F2023%2F12%2F13%2Fdubai-deal-ministers-and-observers-react-to-the-uae-consensus%2F) at the conclusion of Cop28 in Dubai last December after a deal to transition away from fossil fuels was passed. “In this balance between opportunity and risk lies responsibility. I want to call on everyone to keep being mobilised because intergenerational justice with this text is still at stake,” she said. Colombia [became the first significant](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/02/colombia-joins-international-alliance-calling-for-treaty-to-end-use-of-fossil-fuels) fossil fuel producer to join an alliance of nations calling for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty at the December meeting. President Gustavo Petro’s administration is pushing to ban fracking as it tries to phase out coal, oil and gas, pledging to make [biodiversity the basis of its wealth](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/09/middle-class-fear-green-policies-fuels-rise-of-far-right-colombias-petro-warns-aoe) in the post-fossil fuels era. Last month, [she launched](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-09-26/colombia-working-on-40-billion-jetp-like-climate-investment-plan?srnd=undefined&sref=T4zDKGrK) a $40bn investment plan aimed at making this vision a reality. Muhamad was one of the ministers leading efforts to include “phase out” in the final Cop28 text in Dubai – an attempt that was ultimately unsuccessful. Colombia and Brazil, under Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, have been leading efforts to end deforestation in the Amazon. [](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/03/colombia-minister-susana-muhamad-biodiversity-cop16-fossil-fuels#img-4) Muhamad with Cop28 president and UAE special envoy for climate change Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber Photograph: Juan F Betancourt Franco/Courtesy of Ministerio de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible The night before the embassy meeting, Muhamad addressed an event for the nature summit at the Natural History Museum. Standing under a blue whale skeleton and with a statue of Charles Darwin at her back, Muhamad underscored the urgency of the task, inviting the world to the “people’s Cop”. “As we decarbonise, we have to protect and recover nature because otherwise the climate will not stabilise,” she told the crowd. Muhamad has been quick to point out that decarbonisation efforts alone will be futile without the conservation of the natural world and the huge carbon sink it provides, which absorbs [half of all human emissions](https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2024/09/27/wwf_our_climates_secret_ally_uncovering_the_story_of_nature_in_the_ipcc_ar6.pdf) each year. “There is a double movement humanity must make. The first one is to decarbonise and have a just energy transition,” she said in August while announcing her vision for the conference. “The other side of the coin is to restore nature and allow nature to take again its power over planet Earth so that we can really stabilise the climate.” The scientific backdrop to October’s conference is bleak. Figures from WWF show that wildlife populations [have plunged](https://www.worldwildlife.org/press-releases/69-average-decline-in-wildlife-populations-since-1970-says-new-wwf-report) due to a mixture of habitat loss, pollution, overconsumption, the spread of invasive species and global heating. Last year was the [hottest ever recorded](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/12/2023-hottest-year-record-us-scientists). The droughts and extreme heat have brought catastrophic consequences for Earth’s forests, grasslands and oceans: ecosystems that underpin human health, food security and civilisation. Despite the warnings, the UN’s biodiversity convention has long been overshadowed by its climate counterpart, and governments have never met a single target they have set for themselves on biodiversity. [](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/03/colombia-minister-susana-muhamad-biodiversity-cop16-fossil-fuels#img-5) Cali will be the host city for the biodiversity Cop16 to be held from 21 October to 1 November 2024. Photograph: Courtesy of Convention on Biological Diversity The summit also has important domestic significance. Since Petro, a former Marxist guerrilla, announced at the climate change Cop28 in Dubai last year that Colombia [would host](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/23/colombia-names-cali-as-host-city-cop16-biodiversity-summit-aoe) the biodiversity conference, he and Muhamad have put Cop16 at the heart of the domestic agenda, hoping to use it as a chance to bring lasting peace with hold-out rebel groups in forest areas. In July, Central General Staff (EMC), a [guerrilla faction that](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/18/colombia-safe-un-biodiversity-summit-rebels-threat-aoe) rejected the country’s 2016 peace agreement, threatened the summit after a series of bombings and shootings that were blamed on the group, but [it has since](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/31/colombia-guerrillas-cop16-un-biodiversity-summit-cali-aoe) backed down on the threat. Even so, 12,000 soldiers and police offers will be in Cali to guard the conference. “It was a very strange situation, and we are also hoping to use Cop as a way to promote peace within the country,” Muhamad says. At home, her ministerial brief ranges from eliminating deforestation across the country, which [has fallen to its lowest level in 23 years](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/10/deforestation-in-colombia-falls-to-lowest-level-in-23-years), to managing [Pablo Escobar’s hippos](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/27/cocaine-kingpin-wildest-legacy-pablo-escobar-marauding-hippos-colombia), which have thrived east of Medellín since the drug lord’s death in 1993\. Muhamad bursts into laughter when I ask about the hippos and what it is like managing them, before settling into a ministerial answer. She says the African mammals are being phased out with a mixture of euthanasia, sterilisation and hippo transportation: “For us, it’s very straightforward, they are an invasive species that have been declared \[as such\] officially, not even by this government, by the last government. I agree with that assessment. We have already adopted in April this year the plan to manage the hippo problem,” she says. [](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/03/colombia-minister-susana-muhamad-biodiversity-cop16-fossil-fuels#img-6) Muhamad during a 2023 press conference to announce that some of the 166 hippopotamuses belonging to former cocaine baron Pablo Escobar will be euthanized. Photograph: Juan Barreto/AFP/Getty Images Muhamad has lived in an eco-village in South Africa with miners, worked in human rights in Denmark and lived with campesinos in Colombia when she was a student before her first “formal” job with Shell. Now, she is preparing to be a Cop president for the first time, a role that requires her to focus on consensus and make good on her decision to leave Shell. When contact by the Guardian, the company said it is to become a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050 and they are investing $5.6 billion in low-carbon solutions last year, which was 23% of our capital spending. Ultimately, she says of the vision she bought into at Shell: “I think it was greenwashing … There were people trying to push change but the regime of fossil fuels was too strong,” she says. “All of that influenced me to think that there was a more systematic change that needed to be made. And for me, the conclusion of that was politics.”

The godmother of performance art begins by telling me off: “You are early! Why are you early?” Well, you know, I just wanted to check Zoom was working – camera, microphone and everything. Also, she’s already here – she’s even earlier. “I come from communism. You have to be on time,” she says, referring to the first 30 years of her life in Tito’s Yugoslavia. “In Japan, if you’re on time, you’re late. And in Paris, if you’re early, they’re incredibly embarrassed, you know … the horse is taking shower …” What? The horse is taking a shower? “HOST. The host is taking a shower, nobody’s ready, you have to be absolutely at least 15 minutes late.” Got it. Different national, cultural and political attitudes to timekeeping and punctuality. We’ll come back to communism. Marina Abramović is at her country place in upstate New York, sitting by the window with the morning sunshine flooding in, cup of tea in hand. “Always Yorkshire Gold. I have packages of Yorkshire Gold everywhere I go. I think that definitely they have to give me some. I’m so much advertising Yorkshire Gold because it’s so tasty and flavourful.” She laughs. It doesn’t feel right speaking on a video call when over the years, in so much of Abramović’s work, she has been present and visceral and in the audience’s face. Literally in the case of The Artist Is Present, her breakthrough 2010 show, in which she sat on a chair in the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA) every day for three months while thousands queued to sit opposite her. Now, though, the artist is present only on my screen. But hey, as we’re both early, perhaps we could recreate the MoMA piece and sit in silence for a minute? I promise not to strip (as one person did). I can’t promise not to weep, as many did, overwhelmed by the intensity of the experience … “This is such a terrible idea. I hate it. Why should I do something I’ve done already? I know it’s a very iconic work but I don’t have a reason. Always I have to have a reason.” Rebuked again, and we’ve only just begun. It sets the tone for our “interview”. Abramović holds court; it still feels like a performance of sorts. It comes pouring out, with scant regard for articles (definite and indefinite), but brilliant, hilarious, sometimes preposterous, and almost entirely about Abramović, about whom she is rather pleased. Occasionally I have the audacity to interrupt to ask a question (once I find myself putting my hand up), which she might engage with, or she might dismiss as stupid. [](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/oct/08/women-give-me-babies-to-hold-im-loved-marina-abramovic-on-art-ageing-and-being-bigger-than-trump#img-2) Abramović performing The Artist Is Present in 2010. Photograph: Andrew H Walker/Getty Images She doesn’t like to dwell on the past, she says, but does talk a bit about The Artist Is Present – how she changed her entire metabolism, “like astronauts”, so she could sit there all day without eating or drinking or going to the toilet. “It was a huge commitment.” She had been performing for years, pushing her limits, exploring the power and vulnerability of her body, through mutilation, stabbing, fire. With the German artist Ulay, her collaborator and lover, they performed head-on collisions, running naked into each other again and again, and tied themselves together with their hair. But it was The Artist Is Present that catapulted Abramović to godmother status, and found a whole new audience not just for her but for performance art. A shoutout from Lady Gaga helped – the stars came out to sit with Abramović: Lou Reed, Björk, Alan Rickman. Ulay too, although they had long since separated, then fallen out, squabbling bitterly over their joint archive. But in MoMA he sat down, she opened her eyes, smiled, [wept, reached out, they held hands](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcO8_BDMMZQ), he departed. Clips of it have been viewed many millions of times; it’s impossible not to be moved. When Ulay died in 2020, they were, she says, at peace. “Our relation was a big love story. It was difficult, it was hell; when it was good, it was good, when it was bad, it was bad. He sued me, he won … I hated him. Then we met each other again. I forgave him.” Abramović has a new exhibition opening in Shanghai this week, and Ulay’s DNA lives on in some of the work. In 1988 their separation itself became a work of epic performance when they set off [walking from opposite ends of the Great Wall](https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2020/apr/25/marina-abramovic-ulay-walk-the-great-wall-of-china) of China. After three months, they met in the middle, hugged, then that was it; they were no longer together. The new exhibition, titled Transforming Energy, features more than 1,000 images from the walk. As well as a dramatic way of splitting up (this was pre-SMS), Abramović’s Great Wall walk was in part inspired by her father, who took part in the [Igman March in 1942](https://www.warhistoryonline.com/featured/the-igman-march.html), a march by the First Proletarian Brigade over the mountains from Sarajevo, in freezing conditions, to evade the Nazis. Both her parents were good communists, and attained positions in the postwar Yugoslavian government. Marina horrified her parents, lying down within a burning communist star, cutting a star into her stomach. Aged 30, she left to go and live in Amsterdam. “But my problem was really my issue with my family – absence of love, and I never was good enough. But I learned iron discipline; this is why I’m always on time maybe, hahaha. The willpower – if I have something to do, I will do whatever it takes. Because, you know, the entire \[idea of\] communism was, you have to give to the community as best you can, and this is very important.” She has been a fierce critic of Vladimir Putin and other politicians, but she is careful not to say anything about China. “I’ve tried to show my work in China for 20 years – for 20 years different museums have asked me to come. I send a proposal, they accept it, the proposals have to go to government, and each time the government said no, because of nudity or whatever; there’s so many restrictions.” [](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/oct/08/women-give-me-babies-to-hold-im-loved-marina-abramovic-on-art-ageing-and-being-bigger-than-trump#img-3) Abramović on the Great Wall of China in 1988. So what will visitors to Abramović’s first exhibition in China experience, apart from images of the walk? “Transitory objects. Not sculptures – they’re actually objects.” The performance will come from the public interacting with the material she’s using, material she encountered on the Great Wall of China. “It’s all directly related to my Abramović Method that I developed – that by doing repetitive, repetitive work, you can change your consciousness.” I ask her to describe one of these objects so I can picture it. One piece consists of five doors, each of which has a facilitator by it. “I sent my people from my institute to train them. So they’re standing in front of an iron door, a simple door, and they are slowly opening it and not entering, slowly closing it and not exiting – it’s only the action of opening and entering, but it’s three hours of that action. That’s what is so important … In the beginning you think, OK it’s amusing, and then you’re crazy, and then you’re bored, and then you want to kill me; all of this can happen. But then if you continue, the door is not a door any more. The door is opening consciousness, the door is about life, the door can be so many things, because your mind kind of gets shifted to something else.” She also tells me about a metronome that ticks only every 24 seconds and might just send you into a parallel reality. I heard there were going to be crystals. “An enormous amount of crystals,” she admits. Boxes and boxes of them shipped from Brazil. She didn’t mention them because everyone immediately associates them with “new wave, magic bullshit, all of this – it’s not about that”. She talks about how scientists have stored a huge amount of data on crystals. “So crystals condense light, electricity and memory. They’re really very powerful, and if you could connect with that you really feel it, but it’s not something that you can do in five minutes. You have to have time. You know, you don’t get muscles in the gym in one day. So you have to really stay with it, with that energy in the space for a while.” But when you talk about crystals and energy, doesn’t it sound a bit, you know, new wave, magic bullshit? “But how I can do differently? We don’t have words or language that I can invent a new way. So this is why I try not even mention crystals; just that the show is called Transforming Energy.” [](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/oct/08/women-give-me-babies-to-hold-im-loved-marina-abramovic-on-art-ageing-and-being-bigger-than-trump#img-4) Abramović, Shoes for Departure, 1991/2017. Photograph: Courtesy Sean Kelly Gallery I want to ask if there’ll be reiki healing but bottle it, I’m afraid. Which – on a different, but possibly connected, subject – is literally exactly what Abramović has done – with cranberry juice, grapeseed flour, calamus root, liquorice, fresh garlic and some other ingredients, to produce energy drops, immune drops and anti-allergy drops, all available at the [Marina Abramović Longevity Method](https://abramoviclongevity.com/) website at £99 for 100ml. I do ask her about [this unlikely side hustle](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/15/marina-abramovic-selling-moisturiser-i-dont-know-whether-to-laugh-or-cry). She says a doctor and holistic practitioner called Nonna Brenner, from Kazakhstan, treated her when she had Lyme disease, using old methods to help her energy, etc. “This is nothing to do with wrinkles; this is to do with wellbeing. And then I actually lent my name, because nobody knows about her, to sell these products. To get better, what you need to have is a strong immune system. You have to have no allergies and you have to have energy in order to live a long life. So this is just wrong criticism.” You just might not expect this kind of longevity product endorsement from the most influential feminist performance artist of the age, though. “First, I’m not feminist. I think art doesn’t have gender, and I don’t like to be in any kind of group.” OK, but it still seems quite a leap, from pushing the limits of endurance and pain in order to explore the power and vulnerability of her body, to pushing, well, wellness products for £100. Perhaps it’s not surprising there have been accusations of, whisper it, selling out? “Yeah, but it’s not my price, and I’m not getting that money anyway; I get from this 10% just to use my name. And I haven’t ever seen this money yet, because they have to invest in advertising.” Though I’m dubious of the science, the longevity stuff seems to be working: she looks great. She says she’s full of energy and working harder than ever at 77. She may be due a new knee in November, but there are no plans to slow down or stop working. “This is something that gives me purpose. There’s plenty of time to stay in the grave and not do anything. It’s horrifying the idea of \[having a\] pension, you know: sit in the front of television and wait to die. That’s not me.” She’d like to make it 100. “Because, you know, [Louise Bourgeois didn’t make 100](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/may/31/louise-bourgeois-obituary-art), Georgia O’Keeffe didn’t make 100. You really get respect after you make 100 – everybody looking at you with new eyes.” [](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/oct/08/women-give-me-babies-to-hold-im-loved-marina-abramovic-on-art-ageing-and-being-bigger-than-trump#img-5) Abramović at Glastonbury in 2024. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian She played Glastonbury this year; she’s an actual rock star. Dressed by her friend, the designer Riccardo Tisci, as a CND peace symbol, she took to the Pyramid stage and demanded – and [mostly got – seven minutes of silence](https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/jun/28/marina-abramovic-glastonbury-festival-seven-minute-silence), harnessing positive energy to act against war and violence. “I’m very proud of Glastonbury. Everybody says to me, this is suicidal, are you out of your fucking mind, the people are on mushrooms, on drugs, how can you make 275,000 people silent for seven minutes? I had to take risks, I really did. It was magical, incredible.” It wasn’t just the people there. “You know how many TV viewers we had for that? One-point-one billion. I can send you the data – that’s even more than Trump,” she says, sounding just a tiny bit like Trump, perhaps … Anyway, the point is, Marina Abramović is really, really famous. “In some countries I can’t walk without a bodyguard. In Italy, the women will run on to the street and give me a baby just to hold.” Bigger than the pope, too, perhaps? “Honestly I’m loved, it’s true, it feels really great.” I wonder if she ever thinks nostalgically back to the early days, living in a van with Ulay and her Albanian shepherd dog. “I do,” she says. And then she’s off, saying someone is making a film about them at that time, and who is going to play her, and even the van is famous now. Someone found it. It went to a museum in Lyon, also to MoMA. When she saw it there, “I understood how far I’d got, from living there, to the Museum of Modern Art. I really cried, I was emotional, I couldn’t even look at it, so much memory, this touched my heart profoundly …” That’s it: my 60 minutes, plus a couple of bonus extra ones at the beginning, are up. I must come to Shanghai to see the show, she says. Now she’s got another interview, “with Spain”. First she’s going to have breakfast – a peach, cut nicely, small slices, two spoons of yoghurt, walnuts and honey. And another cup of Yorkshire Gold. Seriously, Taylors of Harrogate, if you’re reading, you need to get in touch with her about a collaboration: 1.1 billion viewers … Marina Abramović: Transforming Energy opens at MAM Shanghai on 10 October

Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature **Barack Obama is hitting on a key issue for voters:** **the economy.** “Don’t have nostalgia for what his economy was. Because it was mine,” Obama said. Polls show voters tend to favor Trump on the economy, yearning for the time, early in Trump’s presidency, pre-pandemic, when housing and grocery costs were lower. “I spent eight years cleaning up the mess that Republicans left,” Obama said. [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-671808328f08da124b607a1b#block-671808328f08da124b607a1b) Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature **Donald Trump is now speaking at a rally in North Carolina**, mocking [Kamala Harris](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/kamala-harris), Joe Biden, Tim Walz and other Democrats. “We’re close to a nuclear war, and we don’t know who the hell is running our country,” the former president said, before an audience member shouted: “Obama!” Trump continued: “Obama, that’s another beauty. Obama, he did great, didn’t he? He did great, if you like a divided country. He was a great, he was fabulous. Obama, he was a real beauty. But under the Trump administration, we’re going to take back what is ours.” [](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates#img-2) Trump in North Carolina. Photograph: Carlos Barría/Reuters [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-671835568f087dde7205e7a3#block-671835568f087dde7205e7a3) **Speaking at a Democratic campaign office in New Hampshire,** **Joe Biden outlined the threat posed by a second [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump) term**: “He is talking about doing away with the entire Department of Education. He means it, this is not a joke. This is a guy who also wants to replace every civil servant, every single one, \[who\] thinks he has a version of the supreme court ruling on immunity to be able ... to actually eliminate, physically eliminate, shoot, kill someone who is, he believes, to be the threat to him. I know this sounds bizarre. It sounds like, if I said this five years ago, you’d lock me up. We got to lock him up – politically lock him up.” The president paused after he echoed the “lock him up” chants of Trump critics, and then added “politically”. > Biden in NH lists what Trump would do as president and says: “we gotta lock him up” and then, appearing to realize how his comments would be taken, adds: “politically, lock him up.” [pic.twitter.com/cw3X8RzKn2](https://t.co/cw3X8RzKn2) > > — Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) [October 22, 2024](https://twitter.com/AlexThomp/status/1848846678138183726?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) When Kamala Harris supporters have shouted “lock him up”, she has generally not encouraged the chants and [said the courts will handle his criminal cases](https://x.com/AlexThomp/status/1848854010201313688). “Here’s the thing about that. The courts are going to take care of that,” the vice-president recently [said](https://www.al.com/news/2024/10/what-kamala-harris-said-about-trump-when-crowd-chanted-lock-him-up.html) at a rally. Trump has [falsely claimed](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2024/06/07/biden-trump-case-connections-no-evidence/73983572007/) that Biden was behind his prosecution and conviction in his New York hush-money case and has repeatedly blamed Democrats for his various criminal cases. [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-67182e528f087dde7205e765#block-67182e528f087dde7205e765) **In her [NBC interview](https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/harris-full-interview-absolutely-the-country-is-ready-for-a-woman-president-222411845750), Hallie Jackson asked Kamala Harris** **whether she would consider pardoning Donald Trump if she** **were elected**, citing the argument some have made that clemency would “help unify the country and move on”. The vice-president responded: > I’m not going to get into those hypotheticals, I’m focused on the next 14 days … Let me tell you what’s gonna help us move on: I get elected president of the United States. Harris also said the Democrats “have the resources and the expertise” in the case of Trump trying to [subvert](https://apnews.com/live/2024-election-trump-harris-news-updates#00000192-b642-dd3b-abfa-beeabfcb0000) the election or declare early victory. She added: > This is a person, Donald Trump, who tried to undo the free and fair election, who still denies the will of the people, who incited a violent mob to attack the United States Capitol, and some 140 law enforcement officers were attacked. Some were killed. This is a very serious matter. Asked about Elon Musk’s [pledge](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/21/tim-walz-elon-musk-trump-giveaway) to give away $1m to random voters as he campaigns for Trump, Harris said: > I’m not about doing gimmicks and all of that. I think that what we have to do, and what I’m going to continue to do, is to be out in the communities. [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-671829828f08deab319f3d95#block-671829828f08deab319f3d95)  Rachel Leingang Two weeks out from election day, [JD Vance](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/jd-vance) told supporters at a rally in swing state Arizona that they need to pull their friends to the polls because the race could go either way. “Here’s the scenario that I want you to consider, and I don’t mean to give you nightmare fuel here, but I’m going to do it,” Vance said to the crowd in Peoria, Arizona. “We wake up on November the sixth, and [Kamala Harris](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/kamala-harris) is barely elected president of the United States by a 700-vote margin in the state of Arizona. Think about that. And ask yourself what you can do from now until then to make sure it doesn’t happen.” [](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates#img-3) JD Vance in Peoria, Arizona. Photograph: Ross D Franklin/AP Vance visited Arizona on Tuesday, stopping in Peoria, part of the suburban metro around Phoenix, and is scheduled to stop in Tucson, in southern Arizona, later in the day. [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump) plans to rally in the state on Thursday. Democrats have a host of campaign surrogates, including former president Bill Clinton and current president Joe Biden, on the schedule this week in the final stretch before 5 November . [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-671827548f08da124b607b02#block-671827548f08da124b607b02) **Kamala Harris has done an interview with NBC’s Hallie Jackson, as part of her ongoing media blitz**. The interview is airing in full at 6.30 ET, but here are some initial highlights. Jackson asked which concessions could be on the table on reproductive rights, such as religious exemptions. [Harris responded](https://x.com/atrupar/status/1848844260562399474): “I don’t think we should be making concessions when we’re talking about a fundamental freedom to make decisions about your own body.” She declined to entertain hypotheticals about possible compromises with Republicans, saying: “A basic freedom has been taken from the women of America, the freedom to make decisions about their own body. And that cannot be negotiable.” Harris also said she is [not concerned](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/turning-page-harris-says-america-ready-black-female-president-rcna176329) with sexism impacting the race: > My challenge is the challenge of making sure I can talk with and listen to as many voters as possible and earn their vote. And I will never assume that anyone in our country should elect a leader based on their gender or their race, instead that that leader needs to earn the vote based on substance. Asked if the “country is ready for a woman and a woman of color to be president”, Harris responded: “Absolutely … Part of what is important in this election is really not only turning the page, but closing the page and the chapter on an era that suggests that Americans are divided.” [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-671821e18f087dde7205e717#block-671821e18f087dde7205e717) **Scrutiny is growing about the [Montana](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/montana) aerial firefighting company once led by Tim Sheehy, the former Navy Seal and Republican Senate candidate who could oust the Democrat incumbent Jon Tester in next month’s election.** [According to NBC News](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/senate-candidate-tim-sheehys-firm-promised-jobs-montana-county-s-still-rcna176439), Sheehy’s Bridger Aerospace, a company he founded in 2013, negotiated a deal with Gallatin county in eastern Montana to use its pristine credit rating to raise $160m in bonds. The county was meant to benefit from Bridger’s plans to hire more workers and build two new aircraft hangers. But the company used most of the money, or $134m, from the 2022 bond issue to pay back previous investment from Blackstone, a New York-based investment giant. Bridger’s finances have been complicated by the fact that there were fewer wildfires to fight this year and thus less revenue for Bridger. As of Tuesday, [the National Interagency Fire Center](https://www.nifc.gov/fire-information/nfn) reported 42,603 wildfires nationwide this year compared with the 10-year average of 48,689 for the same period. In [financial filings](https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1941536/000162828024036974/baer-20240630.htm) for the quarterly period that ended 30 June 2024, Bridger said it had “a substantial amount of debt” and that failure to service that debt “could prolong the substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern”. A victory for Sheehy in November could hand [Republicans](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/republicans) control of the Senate, making his connections to Bridger a vital topic as voters head to the polls. [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-67181c838f08deab319f3d34#block-67181c838f08deab319f3d34) Election day is exactly two weeks away, and today has been a frenzy of campaign activity. * **Eminem** [reportedly](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?page=with:block-6717ce9b8f08deab319f3a09#block-6717ce9b8f08deab319f3a09) will introduce **Barack Obama** when he appears in Detroit tonight, and **Bruce Springsteen** will [headline two concerts](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?page=with:block-6717d51e8f08deab319f3a7e#block-6717d51e8f08deab319f3a7e) as part of a series that will hit every swing state. * Obama also campaigned with **Tim Walz** in Wisconsin. * **JD Vance** dodged a question about whether he would strip immigrants with legal authorization of their status, at an event in Arizona. * **Donald Trump** will be in North Carolina, where Walz is holding a second event this evening. * **Trump** held a roundtable with Latino leaders but [took his time](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?page=with:block-6717ca758f08da124b607758#block-6717ca758f08da124b607758) in getting to issues of importance to the voting bloc. * **Harris** [will campaign](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?page=with:block-6717af8f8f08da124b6075f3#block-6717af8f8f08da124b6075f3) in Houston on Friday, with an eye towards picking up Texas’s Senate seat and highlighting how abortion bans have affected women in the Republican bastion. * **The US economy** [is poised](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?page=with:block-6717abac8f08da124b6075cf#block-6717abac8f08da124b6075cf) for stronger growth than many wealthy nations, the International Monetary Fund said in forecasts released today. [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-67181bb68f08deab319f3d2f#block-67181bb68f08deab319f3d2f) **Meanwhile, in New Hampshire, Joe Biden appeared alongside Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders** **to discuss his administration’s work on lowering prescription drug prices.** But the president also took a chance to issue a warning that Trump and Vance were extreme. “This is not your father’s Republican party,” Biden said, referencing Strom Thurmond, the late senator from South Carolina who famously conducted the longest speaking filibuster in opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Thurmond later moderated his stance. “People change, but these guys just keep getting worse,” Biden said of the party now. “Get to the vote. Because the nation’s democracy depends on it.” He shared an embrace with Sanders. [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-671819be8f087dde7205e6d8#block-671819be8f087dde7205e6d8)  Rachel Leingang **At an early voting pop-up location at the University of Minnesota, hundreds of students waited in line to cast ballots on Tuesday – a sign of youth enthusiasm for the presidential election.** The early voting location at the campus’ Weisman Art Museum, a one-day on-campus polling place for any Minneapolis voter, was a first-time occasion made possible by recent changes in state law to allow for pop-up polling places to help voters who can be harder to reach, like college students. “We brought the polls to them,” said **Riley Hetland**, a sophomore and undergraduate student government civic engagement director who helped plan the event. Hetland said the group has been going to classrooms and hosting tables around campus for weeks to get people registered to vote and help them make a plan to cast ballots. So far, they have gotten 12,000 voters to pledge to vote, double their goal of 6,000. **Madelyn Ekstrand** finished her class for the day and waited about an hour, all told, to cast her ballot. The 21-year-old senior said abortion access and climate change were important to her, so she was voting for Harris. She thought she’d vote early to get it done, but didn’t realize how popular the choice would be – she was glad it was so busy. “I’m happy to see people my age getting out and voting and being proactive and not waiting till the last second,” she said. [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6717f8808f08deab319f3c1c#block-6717f8808f08deab319f3c1c) The ruling upholds another order by a Fulton county judge, who invalidated last-minute rules made by Georgia’s state election board this year. The rules, which were approved by Trump-aligned members of the board, would have required all ballots to be counted by hand on election night – a feat that would probably yield results that are far less accurate than a count done by ballot scanners. The changes would also have allowed officials investigate discrepancies in vote totals and conduct “reasonable inquiries” into irregularities, without clarifying what such an inquiry entailed. The unanimous ruling by the conservative-majority supreme court did not touch on the legality of the seven rules – rather, it dismissed a request to hold a decision issued by a lower-court judge. [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-67180d1d8f08da124b607a41#block-67180d1d8f08da124b607a41) * * * #### Page 2 Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature It’s an arresting split screen: **Barack Obama**, in Madison, tells voters that when Trump and Vance are pressed to elaborate on their policies, “they’ll fall back on one answer: blame immigrants”. “He wants you to believe that if you let him round up whoever he wants and ships them out, all your problems will be solved,” Obama says. Meanwhile, in Arizona, **JD Vance** dodges a question about whether he would strip immigrants of their legal status. > JD Vance on Arizona doesn't directly answer a question about if supports stripping legal status from some migrants who are here legally and deporting them but it is pretty clear that he's fine with it [pic.twitter.com/rhAdsb7mQy](https://t.co/rhAdsb7mQy) > > — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) [October 22, 2024](https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1848823030857793811?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-67180ab38f087dde7205e659#block-67180ab38f087dde7205e659) **Barack Obama is hitting on a key issue for voters:** **the economy.** “Don’t have nostalgia for what his economy was. Because it was mine,” Obama said. Polls show voters tend to favor Trump on the economy, yearning for the time, early in Trump’s presidency, pre-pandemic, when housing and grocery costs were lower. “I spent eight years cleaning up the mess that Republicans left,” Obama said. [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-671808328f08da124b607a1b#block-671808328f08da124b607a1b) **Tim Walz has wrapped up his speech, after introducing Barack Obama.** The Democratic former president apologized for being late, saying he had an issue with his plane that forced him to drive to Madison from Chicago. “So we board the plane … and then the pilot comes in and says: ‘Sir, there’s a pile of oil leaking out of the back of the plane.’ Now, I do not know anything about planes, except for the fact that it should not leak oil. So we had a nice road trip instead, and I am glad I made it,” Obama said. [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-671803c18f087dde7205e624#block-671803c18f087dde7205e624) **Tim Walz** encouraged the crowd not to grow sanguine about the possibility of a second Trump term, saying the Republican could retaliate against him if he returns to the White House. “Here’s another reason that the stakes are so high in this election, something that I don’t think many of us have seen. You hear some version of this from the people in your life, neighbors, relatives, brothers, in some cases, who said, look, we made it through the first Trump term, we’ll get through a second. This [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump) … is far more dangerous … He is not the 2016 Donald Trump. This is a brand-new version,” Walz said. He elaborated on why he believes that: > As Kamala says, he is a very unserious person, but the consequences of putting him back in office are deadly serious. He’s talking about sending the military against people who don’t support him. He’s naming names. Look, I recognize I’m going to be at the top of that list. You think he’s stopping with me? He’s talking about you. He’s talking about using the United States military to go after people who disagree with his idiotic ideas, his unpatriotic ideas, his traitorous ideas. And he’s talking about using the military. He talks about the enemy from within. [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-671802a28f08deab319f3c7c#block-671802a28f08deab319f3c7c) After **Donald Trump** recently called **Kamala Harris** a “[shit vice-president](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/20/us-presidential-election-trump-harris-updates)”, **Tim Walz** just used similar language to describe **Elon Musk**’s enthusiastic campaigning for the former president. Musk bounded on stage and briefly got airborne at a Trump rally in the Pennsylvania town where the former president nearly lost his life in an assassination attempt in July. [](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?page=with:block-67180ab38f087dde7205e659&filterKeyEvents=false#img-2) Elon Musk made quite the entrance at Donald Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on 5 October. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP Here’s what Walz had to say about that: > So look, Elon is on that stage, jumping around, skipping like a dipshit on these things. You know it. Think about it … that guy is literally the richest man in the world spending millions of dollars to help Donald Trump buy an election. > > Now, look, they’re saying the quiet parts out loud now, because Donald Trump has already promised that he would put Elon in charge of government regulations that oversee the businesses that Elon runs. > > That’s a hell of a buy. He could spend billions to make more than $10bn on the back end. So in other words, Donald Trump, in front of the eyes of the American public, is promising corruption. That’s what he’s promising you. And you know what? I don’t believe, I don’t believe he keeps many promises, but he’ll keep that one. [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6718001e8f08da124b6079eb#block-6718001e8f08da124b6079eb) **Tim Walz** then took **Donald Trump** to task for the [staged campaign event](https://www.theguardian.com/global/video/2024/oct/21/donald-trump-makes-fries-during-staged-campaign-event-at-mcdonalds-video) he held at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s over the weekend, saying the appearance amounted to a “stunt”. “He went to a McDonald’s and dressed up as the drive-thru worker. They found him an apron his size and put it on him. And I was thinking, it is possible he mixed up his weekends and thought that it was Halloween already. He’s been forgetting things lately, as you might have noticed,” Walz said. Pressing the attack, the Minnesota governor continued: > That restaurant, that restaurant wasn’t even open. It was a stunt – fake orders for fake customers. They even staged the drive thru. We know that they won’t let you walk through the damn drive thru. We knew that. They saw that happening. > > But look, everything about this guy is fake. Everything he does is fake. Next, he’s going to be telling you he’s a cop or a construction worker because [he dances to the Village People](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/15/trump-dancing-pennsylvania-rally), so he knows the YMCA. And I’ll tell you this: so that five minutes he stood next to the deep fryer, I’ll guarantee you that’s the hardest that guy’s ever worked in his life. And that’s not a joke. [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6717ff1e8f08da124b6079e2#block-6717ff1e8f08da124b6079e2) **Tim Walz** laid into **Donald Trump** for the meandering tone of his recent speeches and for declining to debate **Kamala Harris** for a second time. “It takes stamina to run for president. It takes stamina to be president, and [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump) does not have stamina,” Walz began. “He has been rambling more than the normal rambling.” Noting that Trump has lately taken to describing his speaking style as “[the weave](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/sep/07/election-trump-speeches)”, Walz said: “We know there’s only one weave that you know anything about, and it is not this. It is not this … He’s ducks debates, but you can’t blame him. When you get your ass whipped that hard, you don’t come back for seconds.” [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6717fe1d8f08da124b6079d6#block-6717fe1d8f08da124b6079d6) **After the customary playing of Beyonc****é’s** **Freedom** **– the song used at just about every Harris campaign event – [Tim Walz](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/tim-walz) strolled on stage.** He shouted out all the Democrats who introduced him, as well as the rally attendees: “But each of you, huge thank-you. Took time out of your busy lives, you came here, you came here because you believe in the promise of America and you believe in the democracy. Thank you.” [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6717fce58f08da124b6079cb#block-6717fce58f08da124b6079cb) **Next up was Tammy Baldwin, the state Democratic senator who is locked in an [increasingly tight](https://www.cookpolitical.com/senate/race/306306) re-election battle against Republican Eric Hovde.** Like **Tony Evers** before her on the lineup, Baldwin centered her appeal to voters on her support for abortion rights and the Affordable Care Act. “Just a little bragging here: I wrote the provision in the Affordable Care Act that allows young people to stay on their parents’ health insurance until they turn 26 and I will never stop fighting until all Americans have the quality, affordable healthcare that they need and deserve,” she said. [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6717fc258f08deab319f3c42#block-6717fc258f08deab319f3c42) **Wisconsin’s Democratic governor, Tony Evers, one of the early speakers at the Walz-Obama rally in Madison, didn’t hold back when describing what a second [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump) presidency would mean.** “We know Trump and Vance will try to pass a national abortion ban, roll back access to birth control, emergency contraception and even fertility treatments. We know that they’re going to repeal the Affordable Care Act and deny coverage to folks like me and so many others here in the audience, and people you care about who have a pre-existing condition,” he said. The governor continued: > What Trump said about that – he’s got the concept of a plan. Now you take that concept for a plan and go pay a bill, it ain’t going to work. And they’re going to give more tax breaks for the ultra-rich and the big corporations instead of helping working families get ahead. And we know that a second Trump term would mean unchecked power with no guardrails to hold them back. That’s just bullshit. [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6717fad98f087dde7205e5f5#block-6717fad98f087dde7205e5f5) * * * #### Page 3 Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature **Actor Bradley Whitford – you may remember him from** **The West Wing or the many movies and television shows he’s appeared in since that series concluded – is giving a lengthy introduction for [Tim Walz](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/tim-walz) and Barack Obama in his home town Madison, Wisconsin.** “Make sure five people who you may assume are with you, make sure they make a plan and make sure they vote,” Whitford told the crowd. “Because I got news for you. If we spend the next two weeks knocking doors, manning phones, doing everything we can to get out every vote, with your help, we’re gonna win. We’re not, we’re not, we’re not moving back, we’re not going back, we’re moving forward. We’re gonna win with your help. We’re gonna hold this country up.” [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6717f6e48f08da124b60799b#block-6717f6e48f08da124b60799b) **Tim Walz** is soon to take the stage along with **Barack Obama** in Madison, Wisconsin. It’s the only joint appearance the two men will make today, though Obama will head to Detroit this evening, while Walz will hold a second event in Racine, Wisconsin. The rally comes as Obama steps up his campaigning for **Kamala Harris**, with the general election two weeks away. The vice-president is meanwhile in Washington DC, where she has taped interviews with NBC News and Noticias Telemundo that will air in the evening. We’ll let you know what Walz and Obama have to say. [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6717f4228f08deab319f3be6#block-6717f4228f08deab319f3be6) **Donald Trump has a small lead among likely voters in Georgia, [the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports in a new poll](https://www.ajc.com/politics/trump-has-a-slight-edge-in-georgia-over-harris-latest-ajc-poll-finds/LVP66TCGKJCF5CEDNUBAYU3EW4/).** He leads **Kamala Harris** with 47% support to the vice-president’s 43%, just outside the survey’s 3.1 percentage point margin of error. However, all signs point to a race that remains either candidate’s to win. Here’s more from the Journal-Constitution: > But with 8% of likely voters indicating they’re still undecided, the race could break either way as early voting enters its second week. > > Among the most telling takeaways of the poll is the stability of the race. As both campaigns pour time and treasure into Georgia, Trump’s support remains [virtually unchanged](https://www.ajc.com/politics/ajc-poll-finds-kamala-harris-and-donald-trump-are-locked-in-a-tight-race-in-georgia/C5CQ6742V5AHVIDUVQ77LQ7YMY/) since the AJC’s last poll in September. Harris’ dropped a fraction of a percentage point. The number of undecided voters has hardly budged. > > “It’s a really close race. Neither side has this in the bag,” said University of Georgia political scientist Trey Hood, who oversaw the poll. “And that makes the next two weeks even more important.” > > The poll suggests that Harris may still be struggling to woo Black voters, the bulwark of the Democratic coalition. About three-quarters of Black voters say they’ll vote for her, [far behind the 88%](https://www.cnn.com/election/2020/exit-polls/president/georgia) that Joe Biden won in 2020 when he narrowly flipped Georgia. > > That doesn’t mean those voters are gravitating toward Trump. One in 5 Black voters are undecided, while only 8% say they will cast their ballot for Trump. It indicates that Harris’ campaign, which has stepped up efforts to bolster her Black support, should be more worried about apathy than losing those voters to the GOP. > > In another sign of concern for Harris, 11% of Democrats say they’re undecided. While few back third-party candidates — the Green Party’s Jill Stein and others registered minimal support — the poll suggests she has more work to do to consolidate her base and little time to do so. [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6717f2928f08deab319f3bda#block-6717f2928f08deab319f3bda) **CBS News reports that Republican former prosecutors have asked the justice department to investigate Elon Musk’s effort to pay voters to cast ballots for Donald Trump:** > NEW: Justice Dept confirms to [@cbsnews](https://twitter.com/CBSNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) that it has received inquiry from former federal prosecutors and GOP appointees to “request that (Justice Dept) review payments that are being made by the Elon Musk-founded America PAC to voters in Pennsylvania and other states that… > > — Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) [October 22, 2024](https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1848711232573874240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) > Justice Dept confirms receipt of the letter... but declines to comment further > > The former GOP-appointed officials want a DOJ review of Musk's effort — Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) [October 22, 2024](https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1848714427551338765?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor **Josh Shapiro** made a similar suggestion over the weekend: [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6717ef128f087dde7205e584#block-6717ef128f087dde7205e584) _Donald Trump’s freewheeling, stream-of-consciousness style of delivering speeches doesn’t always hit the mark. The latest example is the daughter of golf legend Arnold Palmer, who did not like the way the former president talked about her late father’s penis, the Guardian’s [Ramon Antonio Vargas](https://www.theguardian.com/profile/ramon-antonio-vargas) reports:_ [Arnold Palmer](https://www.theguardian.com/sport/arnold-palmer)’s daughter says Donald Trump disrespected her late father’s memory by fawning over the size of the champion golfer’s penis at a campaign rally over the weekend. “Hackneyed anecdotes from the locker room … seemed disrespectful and inappropriate to me,” Peg Palmer Wears told [ABC News](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/arnold-palmers-daughter-calls-trumps-remarks-father-disrespectful/story?id=115008367) on Monday, two days after the former president publicly suggested her father was well endowed. Wears added that “people coming to these rallies” hosted by [Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump) as he seeks a second presidency “deserve substance about plans \[he\] has as a candidate”. She specifically called on him to address “some of the threats he’s made to people”, an apparent reference to how he recently suggested sending the US military against his political adversaries when voters go to the polls during the 5 November presidential election. “These are important issues that should be discussed for people when they’re getting ready to vote, and using my dad to cover over the important things just seems unacceptable to me,” Wears said. Trump was [speaking](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/20/kamala-harris-campaigns-trump-arnold-palmer) to his supporters in Palmer’s home town of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, on Saturday at a regional airport named after him when the former president suddenly invoked the genitals of the renowned golfer, an old acquaintance. “Arnold Palmer was all man,” Trump remarked. “When he took showers with other pros, they came out of there – they said, ‘Oh my God. That’s unbelievable.’” [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6717ea5a8f08deab319f3b88#block-6717ea5a8f08deab319f3b88) **Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez**, a Democratic representative from New York, did not hold back in criticizing Trump’s minutes-long stint as a fry cook at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s on Sunday, saying he was “making fun” of workers. “You’ve got [Donald Trump](https://thehill.com/people/donald-trump/) putting on a little McDonald’s costume because he thinks that’s what people do,” she said Monday at a United Auto Workers event, [per the Hill](https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4946673-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-donald-trump-mcdonalds-visit/). “They’re not trying to empathize with us. They are making fun of us. “Donald Trump thinks that people who work at McDonald’s are a joke.” Trump stopped by the fast-food restaurant for a [staged campaign event](https://www.theguardian.com/global/video/2024/oct/21/donald-trump-makes-fries-during-staged-campaign-event-at-mcdonalds-video) where employees showed him how to make fries. He then served pre-approved customers at the drive-through window. Trump used the event to needle [Kamala Harris](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/kamala-harris), whom he has claimed lied about her time working at McDonald’s during college. Trump has made these claims without providing any evidence whatsoever. [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6717e1b38f08da124b6078c8#block-6717e1b38f08da124b6078c8) **Top Senate Democrats released a [report](https://www.klobuchar.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/5/c/5cd4e6b2-a0c1-47e7-8d34-d14fe16aeb76/FC36526E37BB5D613B0A3E03F4A7BEBDCFAF19161B90821B130259F0DFA0EC0E.2024.10.22-election-night-report.pdf) today urging voters to cast their ballots as early as possible. The document also sought to answer questions about the election process.** The lawmakers – which include New York Senator **Chuck Schumer**, Vermont Senator **Bernie Sanders** and Minnesota Senator **Amy Klobuchar** – reminded voters that the outcome might not be known on 5 November as different states have varying timelines for accepting and processing mail-in ballots. Their document also emphasizes that voter intimidation, as well as violence, “is never acceptable and any attempts to suppress the vote will not be tolerated”. The report notes that under federal law, “it is illegal to intimidate, threaten, or coerce anyone in order to interfere with their right to vote”. “In our democracy, every eligible citizen should be able to freely cast a ballot in the way that works best for them and should not face restrictions or barriers to voting,” the report says. The document also appears to try addressing voters’ concerns about whether votes were safe from interference, noting that officials from both political parties have “confirmed the security of recent elections” and that the infrastructure “has never been more secure”. These statements come as **Donald Trump**, who still makes the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him, has [said](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/fact-checking-trumps-false-claims-about-voter-fraud-and-rigged-elections) that election fraud is unfolding in this race. (There is no evidence of massive voter fraud, including alleged irregularities surrounding mail-in ballots or non-citizens casting votes.) “There have been efforts to stoke fear and chaos about the election with false allegations of voter fraud,” the report said. “The American people should beware of election misinformation.” [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6717dbec8f087dde7205e4a7#block-6717dbec8f087dde7205e4a7) Election day is exactly two weeks away. Gulp. While there’s no telling who is going to win, [NBC News and CNN reported](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?page=with:block-6717b7118f087dde7205e250#block-6717b7118f087dde7205e250) this morning that **Kamala** **Harris**’s campaign is bracing for a very close election that could potentially see the “blue wall” swing states not vote as a bloc for the first time in decades. They are deploying a variety of surrogates on the campaign trail to make the case for the vice-president in the final two weeks, with **Eminem** [reportedly](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?page=with:block-6717ce9b8f08deab319f3a09#block-6717ce9b8f08deab319f3a09) set to introduce **Barack Obama** when he appears in Detroit tonight, and **Bruce Springsteen** to [headline two concerts](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?page=with:block-6717d51e8f08deab319f3a7e#block-6717d51e8f08deab319f3a7e) as part of a series that will hit every swing state. Obama will also campaign with **Tim Walz** in Wisconsin later today, **JD Vance** will hold two events in Arizona, **Donald Trump** will campaign in North Carolina, and Walz will hold a second event in the Badger state before the evening is through. Here’s what else has happened today so far: * **Trump** held a round table with Latino leaders but [took his time](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?page=with:block-6717ca758f08da124b607758#block-6717ca758f08da124b607758) in getting to issues of importance to the voting bloc. * **Harris** [will campaign](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?page=with:block-6717af8f8f08da124b6075f3#block-6717af8f8f08da124b6075f3) in Houston on Friday, with an eye towards picking up Texas’s Senate seat and highlighting how abortion bans have affected women in the Republican bastion. * **The US economy** [is poised](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?page=with:block-6717abac8f08da124b6075cf#block-6717abac8f08da124b6075cf) for stronger growth than many wealthy nations, the IMF said in forecasts released today. [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6717d6cb8f08deab319f3a9f#block-6717d6cb8f08deab319f3a9f) **Kamala Harris**’s campaign will hold concerts in the seven swing states, with legendary performer **Bruce Springsteen** to appear alongside the vice-president and **Barack Obama** on Thursday in Georgia, a senior campaign official said. The Atlanta concert is the first of what the campaign is calling the When We Vote We Win series, and is aimed at whipping up voter enthusiasm ahead of 5 November. It will continue on Monday of next week in Philadelphia, when Springsteen and Obama will appear together, and concerts in the five other swing states will be announced soon, the official said. Springsteen has backed Democrats before, and endorsed Harris earlier this month: [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6717d51e8f08deab319f3a7e#block-6717d51e8f08deab319f3a7e) **Donald Trump’s round table with Latino leaders in Doral, Miami, has just concluded. The audience livened a little as the former president turned his attention, briefly, to immigration.** He repeated baseless and often-aired claims that foreign countries, especially Venezuela, were opening their prisons to send “violent gang members” and drug dealers into the US with military weapons. He called **Kamala Harris** “a stupid person” as he falsely labeled her **Joe Biden**’s “border tsar”. His remarks segued quickly into an attack on Democrats for allegedly allowing transgender men to play women’s sports and a somewhat fanciful tale of a “a man who transitioned into, congratulations, a woman” smashing a baseball so hard it hit a female player on the head and “these young ladies said they’d never seen anything like it”. Perhaps sensing things were going off topic, event host **Jennifer Korn**, a former White House aide and executive director of the Hispanic Leadership Network, attempted to interrupt with a “Mr President … ” “I’ll leave it at that,” Trump said. “Does anyone else have anything to say?” **Robert Unanue**, the president of Goya Foods, the largest Hispanic-owned food company in the US, took the microphone for a lengthy speech praising Trump, then the event wound down with a prayer session. Honduran televangelist **Guillermo Maltonado**, founder of Miami megachurch the King Jesus International Ministry, said Trump would be re-elected because “there’s a higher assignment for him to finish with this nation”: > _God sets up kings. We’re praying for the will of God to make \[Trump\] the 47th president._ [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6717d2e38f08deab319f3a5c#block-6717d2e38f08deab319f3a5c) * * * #### Page 4 Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Detroit’s own **Eminem** will introduce **Barack Obama** during his rally in support of **Kamala Harris** this evening in Michigan’s largest city, and likely weigh in on the presidential election, CNN reports. It’s a rare public appearance by the rapper who has been synonymous with the Motor City throughout his career, and who has [occasionally condemned](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/aug/31/eminem-donald-trump-surprise-album-kamikaze) Harris’s opponent, **Donald Trump**. The vice-president is not scheduled to attend the event, which begins at 7.45pm and is one of two appearances Obama is making for her campaign today. The former president is also rallying with **Tim Walz** in Madison, Wisconsin, at 2.30pm. [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6717ce9b8f08deab319f3a09#block-6717ce9b8f08deab319f3a09) **Donald Trump hasn’t yet turned his attention to issues affecting Latino voters at his round table in Miami.** Instead he’s on a tear about the Biden administration’s policies that encourage the use of electric vehicles: > _They want to go to all-electric cars. A charging station is the equivalent of a gas pump …_ _They spent $8b for nine charging stations. It’s so out of control. They don’t want to change._ He was referring to a [slow-moving $7.5bn federal program](https://www.autoweek.com/news/a60702457/federal-funds-yield-only-8-ev-charging-stations/) that by May had yielded a small number of charging stations, but has ramped since with more than 1,000 new installations nationwide each week, [according to government figures](https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/investing-america-number-publicly-available-electric-vehicle-chargers-has-doubled). Trump is promising that if he is re-elected US businesses would continue to benefit from tax cuts he enacted in his first term: > _We gave you the biggest cut in taxes in the history of the country. We have a great foundation to build on a lot of companies coming in very fast._ At one point Trump confused **Kamala Harris**, the vice-president and his Democratic opponent, with **Hillary Clinton**, whom he beat in 2016, calling the nonexistent Biden-Clinton administration “the worst ever”. [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6717ca758f08da124b607758#block-6717ca758f08da124b607758) **Donald Trump is telling a roundtable of Latino leaders at his golf resort in Doral,** **Florida, that he expects Hispanic voters to help sweep him to victory on 5 November.** He claimed falsely that “all the polls” show him ahead among Hispanic voters in swing states, despite surveys showing [exactly the opposite](https://thehill.com/latino/4944585-harris-leads-trump-battleground-latino-voters-poll/). He kicked off the event by addressing the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, where he was campaigning yesterday. It was a “horrible event” he said, repeating debunked claims about the federal government’s emergency response. “Fema responded not well, the White House has done a poor job. They should be ashamed of themselves,” he said. Numerous politicians, including some prominent Republicans, have praised the speed at which federal resources and help reached the hardest-hit areas. Trump has yet to start answering questions, instead delivering a lengthy monologue with familiar attacks on **Kamala Harris**, **Joe Biden** and **Hillary Clinton**, whom he beat in 2016. It’s the second time in a week that the former president has addressed Latino voters in Miami. In a town hall hosted by Univision, the largest US Spanish-language network, on Thursday, Trump mostly [dodged awkward questions about immigration](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/17/donald-trump-miami-town-hall-migrants-eating-pets-comments), and repeated debunked claims that Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, were eating pets and “other things too that they’re not supposed to”. [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6717c6198f087dde7205e337#block-6717c6198f087dde7205e337) **Meanwhile, senator Ted Cruz’s campaign has hit out at [Kamala Harris](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/kamala-harris) after it was announced she would visit Texas and appear alongside his opponent Colin Allred on Friday.** “Colin Allred is Kamala Harris. They have spent the last four years working hand-in-hand against Texans and the American people with their radical policies, whether those be pushing to allow boys in girls’ sports, allowing dangerous illegal aliens to come into our country or trying to destroy the oil and gas industry in Texas,” a Cruz campaign spokesperson said in a statement. “Colin and Kamala share an agenda, and now they’ll share a stage for all Texans to see.” [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6717c2a88f08deab319f3932#block-6717c2a88f08deab319f3932) The first campaign event of the day is **Donald Trump**’s round table with Latino leaders, which is scheduled to begin now at his golf resort in Doral, Florida. Latinos are a voting bloc whose support is expected to be crucial to deciding the election, both in swing states and in states and congressional districts that will determine which party controls the Senate and House of Representatives. Ahead of the event, Miami’s Trump-supporting Republican mayor, **Francis Suarez**, [told CNN in an interview](https://video.snapstream.net/Play/7JNvB90DOPS4j96KGzJPEk?accessToken=bpu4l1t8bd12n) that he does not believe the former president’s [vows](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/17/donald-trump-miami-town-hall-migrants-eating-pets-comments) to carry out mass deportations and impose draconian policies against undocumented migrants will hurt his support with Hispanic voters: > Law-abiding Hispanics care more about having a prosperous future for themselves and their children than they do about people who are in this country illegally. And so I think there’s a misperception that all they care about is, you know, immigration. And I think … that is, frankly, somewhat racist. > > You know, I think Hispanics care more about making sure that they have an opportunity to succeed, making sure that inflation doesn’t crush them every single day as it’s done under this administration. And they’re law-abiding people, like my parents are, who came to this country at 12 and seven from – from Cuba, which is a communist country and has – and has only produced misery and poverty for its people. And they see a lot of the same rhetoric being, unfortunately, espoused by the Democratic party and that’s something that concerns them. [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6717bc7a8f08deab319f38ab#block-6717bc7a8f08deab319f38ab) **Kamala Harris**’s campaign expects **Donald Trump** to put up a strong performance in the 5 November presidential election that could break apart the “blue wall” swing states for the first time in decades, according to two reports published this morning. While neither story suggests that the vice-president’s campaign does not think it has a path to victory, the reports underscore the potency of Trump’s bid for office and the fact that the race remains essentially tied despite weeks of vigorous campaigning and fundraising by Harris and her surrogates. Citing people with knowledge of Harris’s campaign strategy, [NBC News reports](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/democrats-brace-crack-blue-wall-signs-north-carolina-slipping-rcna176046) that they are concerned that the blue wall of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania could, for the first time since 1988, not vote as a bloc in November, imperiling the vice-president’s path to the Oval Office. The campaign is also concerned that Hurricane Helene’s ravages in North Carolina and the struggles of the controversial Republican candidates for governor are undermining Harris’s chances of winning that state. Here’s more: > Recent discussions have centered on the possibility of an anomaly happening this year with just part of the blue wall breaking its way. The conversations have focused on whether Michigan or Wisconsin “fall” to former president Donald Trump while the two other states go blue, according to three sources with knowledge of the campaign’s strategy. > > Losing Wisconsin or Michigan would mean that even if Harris secures Pennsylvania – where both Harris and Trump have [spent the most time](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-harris-pennsylvania-battleground-visits-map-rcna175691) and resources – she would not reach the necessary 270 electoral votes to win the White House without winning another battleground state or possibly two. > > “There has been a thought that maybe Michigan or Wisconsin will fall off,” said a senior Harris campaign official, who stressed that the bigger concern is over Michigan. Two other people with knowledge of campaign strategy – who, like others in this article, were granted anonymity to speak candidly – also underscored deep concern about Michigan. Those people still believe that all the states are close and that there are alternative routes to victory. > > A Harris campaign spokesperson pushed back against the notion about deep concerns over Michigan, pointing to recent public polling. A [Detroit News poll conducted 1-4 October](https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2024/10/07/kamala-harris-donald-trump-michigan-poll-slight-lead-presidential-race-white-house-rfk-kennedy/75552929007/) found Harris, who was campaigning in Michigan on Monday, holding a slight lead in the state, [as did a Washington Post poll on Monday](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/10/21/harris-trump-post-schar-school-poll/). > > … > > While North Carolina is still in the campaign’s sights and Democrats maintain strong organization and leadership there, the Harris team is far less bullish about victory, four people with knowledge of the dynamics said. > > “Of all of the seven \[states\], that one seems to be a little bit slipping away,” the Harris campaign official said of North Carolina. [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/22/politics/kamala-harris-campaign-final-weeks/index.html), meanwhile, heard from top Harris adviser **David Plouffe**, who acknowledged that the race may very well remain tight right down to election day: > Historically, it would be unusual to have seven states come down to a point or less,” David Plouffe, Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign manager who now serves as a senior adviser to Harris, said of the battleground landscape. “But I think at this point, you have to assume that’s a distinct possibility.” > > Plouffe and other Harris advisers do not believe [Trump’s largely outsourced](https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/04/politics/trump-campaign-ground-game/index.html) door-knocking and other on-the-ground outreach operations can match what the national Democrats and the Harris campaign – which inherited some of the same team from [President Joe Biden](https://www.cnn.com/politics/joe-biden) – spent a year putting together. But they believe this advantage can only take them so far. > > “Democrats wish Donald Trump wouldn’t get more than 46% of the vote,” Plouffe said, referring to the national popular vote percentage the former president secured in his previous campaigns. But in the battleground states, “that’s not reality. He’s going to get up to 48% in all of these states. And so we just have to make sure we’re hitting our win number, which depending on the state, could be 50, could be 49.5.” [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6717b7118f087dde7205e250#block-6717b7118f087dde7205e250) **The Harris campaign just announced that the vice-president will campaign in Philadelphia on Sunday.** The announcement was light on details, but needless to say it’s difficult for Harris to win the White House without carrying Pennsylvania, and many Democratic voters live in and around Philadelphia. [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6717b4e48f08da124b60761a#block-6717b4e48f08da124b60761a)  Lauren Gambino **Kamala Harris** will return to Texas in the final days of the presidential campaign for an event that will highlight the stories of women harmed by the state’s strict abortion ban. In Houston on Friday, she will appear alongside the Democratic nominee for Senate, **Colin Allred,** who is locked in an unexpectedly tight race with the Republican incumbent, **Ted Cruz**. Democrats have turned their attention to the Texas Senate race, despite a long history of falling short in the Republican-dominated state. With Democrats poised to lose a seat in West Virginia and Montana appearing to slip away, their best opportunity to keep control of the Senate may run through the Lone Star state. According to a senior campaign official, Harris will travel to Texas from Georgia, two states with the most restrictive abortion laws in the country. The Democrat has repeatedly assailed [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump) for appointing the three supreme court justices who voted to overturn Roe v Wade and paved the way for a wave of new restrictions and near-total bans in Republican-led states. Harris has made abortion rights the centerpiece of her short campaign for the White House. At campaign stops, and the party’s convention, she has shared the stories of women and families affected by abortion bans, among them Texas resident **Amanda Zurawski**, who nearly died [after being denied](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/20/trump-abortion-ban-zurawski-response) an abortion under the state’s law. Zurawski, along with the family of **Amber Thurman**, a Georgia woman who died after her medical care was delayed under the state’s abortion law, have become powerful surrogates for Harris’s campaign. Abortion has been a central issue in the Texas Senate race. Allred has made Cruz’s staunch anti-abortion views a central plank of his campaign. [Polls](https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/senate/2024/texas/general/) show Cruz with a steady lead, though the race has appeared to tighten in recent weeks. While in Houston, Harris will also sit for an interview with academic turned Ted talks host and popular podcaster **Brené Brown**. [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6717af8f8f08da124b6075f3#block-6717af8f8f08da124b6075f3) On the campaign trail, you’ll hear **Donald Trump** [assail the state of the economy](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/15/trump-tariffs-price-hikes-warnings) and say **Kamala Harris** is to blame. And you’ll hear Harris [vow to lower prices](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/25/harris-opportunity-economic-plan-middle-class) for everything from housing to healthcare. There is no doubt that Americans have suffered from the wave of inflation that racked the country over the past three years, but has [recently subsided](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/oct/10/september-inflation-declines). What’s less discussed is that the US economy is, in fact, far healthier than many others. Just-released forecasts from the IMF, the Washington-based crisis lender whose economic data is closely watched from Wall Street to the White House, shows that the US economy is poised for some of the strongest growth among wealthy nations in the years to come, beating out the United Kingdom, Japan and many European nations: > IMF Growth Forecast: 2024 🇺🇸US: 2.8%🇩🇪Germany: 0.0%🇫🇷France: 1.1%🇮🇹Italy: 0.7%🇪🇸Spain: 2.9%🇬🇧UK: 1.1%🇯🇵Japan: 0.3%🇨🇦Canada: 1.3%🇨🇳China: 4.8%🇮🇳India: 7.0%🇷🇺Russia: 3.6%🇧🇷Brazil: 3.0%🇲🇽 Mexico: 1.5%🇸🇦KSA: 1.5%🇳🇬Nigeria: 2.9% > > 🇿🇦RSA: 1.1%[https://t.co/sDv9tK6YQb](https://t.co/sDv9tK6YQb) [pic.twitter.com/epCi3VT13o](https://t.co/epCi3VT13o) — IMF (@IMFNews) [October 22, 2024](https://twitter.com/IMFNews/status/1848711419002556747?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) These are, of course, just projections, and as the Guardian’s [Larry Elliott](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/oct/22/imf-upbeat-global-growth-dangers-lurk) reports, various things could undercut them – including some of the policies Trump is campaigning on: [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6717abac8f08da124b6075cf#block-6717abac8f08da124b6075cf) _The Guardian’s [Lauren Gambino](https://www.theguardian.com/profile/lauren-gambino) earlier this month took the political pulse of young voters nationwide, particularly when it came to the question of which presidential candidate to support. Here’s what she found:_ It was the height of “[brat summer](https://www.axios.com/2024/07/22/kamala-harris-campaign-coconut-memes)”. Kamala Harris was a “[femininomenon](https://www.vanityfair.com/style/story/kamala-harris-chappell-roan-femininomenon)”, electrifying a high-stakes presidential race that many of the country’s youngest voters had been dreading: a rematch between the two oldest candidates in American history. Chartreuse-blocked memes and coconut emojis [filled](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/25/kamala-harris-tiktok-memes) social media feeds. The tidal wave of young “[Kamalove](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/27/kamala-harris-young-voters-israel-gaza-jayapal)” sparked a rush of small-dollar donations and volunteer sign-ups for her days-old campaign. For an extremely online generation of young Democrats, the vibes were _so_ good. On the ground in St Louis, a cadre of young progressives were gathering for an entirely different election – one with virtually no bearing on the balance of power in Washington, but one they believed mattered deeply. There in Missouri’s first congressional district, representative Cori Bush was fighting for her [political survival](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/03/cori-bush-wesley-bell-missouri-election). Many of the twentysomethings had traveled from out of state, sacrificing summer jobs and sleeping on yoga mats to campaign for Bush in the sticky August heat. “We just stopped our lives and went to St Louis,” said John Paul Mejia, a 22-year-old student and climate activist. Mejia was there as part of Protect Our Power (Pop), a youth coalition that came together earlier this year for what he described as a “David-and-Goliath” mission to defend leftwing members of Congress against a [well-funded effort](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/20/pro-israel-groups-gaza-us-elections) to unseat them. To them, Bush, the nurse turned racial justice activist, was one of the few elected leaders who shared their sense of [urgency](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/29/cori-bush-interview-midterms-abortion) about everything from the country’s affordability crisis to safeguarding abortion access. As a newly elected member of Congress, Bush had slept on the steps of the US Capitol to protest against the expiration of a federal eviction moratorium. The action paid off: the Biden administration extended the pause. In warning about the threat to reproductive rights, Bush [testified](https://x.com/cspan/status/1443592081218277381?lang=en) before a House panel that she had had an abortion at 18 after becoming pregnant by rape. In 2023, she emerged as one of the strongest critics of Israel’s war in Gaza, a stance that reflected a groundswell of [youth dissent](https://www.axios.com/2024/10/05/gen-z-israel-pro-palestinian-protests) but ultimately imperiled her congressional career. “There’s pretty much nobody else, even members of Congress who are closer to our age, in some instances, who actually represent what our generation cares about,” Vincent Vertuccio, a 21-year-old college student and an activist with Pop, said of the progressive Squad members. “If we lose these people, even one or two, it’s a direct diminishment of our power.” [Share](mailto:?subject=US%20elections%20live:%20Obama%20ridicules%20Trump’s%20boasts%20on%20economy%20as%20Walz%20dismisses%20Republican%20nominee’s%20McDonald’s%20‘stunt’&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/22/donald-trump-christian-voters-kamala-harris-election-us-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6717a8cd8f08da124b6075a5#block-6717a8cd8f08da124b6075a5)

When rollercoaster fans speak of creativity, they speak of the old, the retired or the dead. They speak of Anton Schwarzkopf, late pioneer of the loop, and Ron Toomer, who became the first engineer to haul people up more than 200ft before sending them into a drop. They speak of Alan Schilke and [Jeff Pike](https://skylineattractions.com/about/the-team/), both slowing down now, both admired for their structures that marry timber with steel. They speak of [Werner Stengel](https://www.coastergallery.com/CP/Maverick_1.html), a living legend at 88, one of whose many new ideas was to send passengers hurtling around corners while tilted at 90 degrees. Because the work of rollercoaster creation asks for confidence of vision, the staying power to see through long projects, as well as an encyclopaedic grasp of which manoeuvres have and haven’t been tried yet, it is not a conspicuously youthful game. [John Burton](https://www.thorpepark.com/blog/introducing-john-burton/) – a self-effacing aficionado of theme parks and musical theatre from Staffordshire – is an anomaly. He was only a few years on from working as a crab feeder at an English aquarium when he was invited to create his first rollercoaster. He was given an £18m budget, a patch of damp ground, and told: make it big. He was 27. Burton had to warm to rollercoasters from a place of cold terror. Even standing near them upset him when he was young. “I used to say to my mum: ‘Don’t make me ride it,’” he recalled. Aged 12 or so, he worked up the courage to get on Nemesis, a rollercoaster at Alton Towers, a theme park near his home. Curiosity became an obsession in his teens, when he started to play RollerCoaster Tycoon, a computer game that allowed him to devise his own rides. He took the job in the aquarium while he was studying architecture at the University of Birmingham. The aquarium was owned by [Merlin Entertainments](https://www.theguardian.com/business/merlin-entertainments), a live-attractions conglomerate, the second biggest in the world after Disney. When a role came up in Merlin’s creative department, Burton, nearing the end of his degree, applied. He went through months of interviews, almost ruining himself on the train fares to London. In the end he won the job, he said, on the strength of those speculative rollercoasters he had made in a video game. Burton has an earnest and infectious belief that thrill rides ought to be thrilling, yes, but also interesting. As a Merlin employee, he rose quickly up the ranks and by 2019 he was one of the company’s leading creatives. That year, the CEO, Nick Varney, decided to demolish an old log flume at Thorpe Park, a Merlin resort near the M25 in Surrey, and to put something more attention-grabbing in its place. Burton was given the project to look after. He had just the one instruction from his bosses, to raise up a rollercoaster to a height of 213ft or more at its peak, which would make it Britain’s tallest: something that could be boasted about in future marketing materials. He knew that whatever he created might end up being a referendum on his youthful hiring and his rapid elevation. “I was relatively new,” he said, “and this was their biggest ever investment in a ride.” Working in offices around the perimeter of Thorpe Park that were scattered with gold-sequined costumes and giant eyeballs, the leftover props of forgotten attractions, Burton led weeks of meetings, trying to drum up ideas. Sometimes, if he was in London, he borrowed space at [Madame Tussauds](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2011/feb/26/madame-tussauds-why-so-popular) museum, another attraction owned by Merlin. Sitting in a storeroom among waxwork models of the royals and Mariah Carey, Burton consulted with specialist ride manufacturers, many of which are based in the US and Europe, with several clustered in Germany and its neighbour, Liechtenstein. He was searching for collaborators whose tastes matched his own. On research trips abroad, whether to California to try a rollercoaster called Twisted Colossus or to Poland for one called Zadra, Burton was always most impressed by the creations that were rewarding as well as intimidating, arranged to be savoured like meals, not simply endured like horror movies. The design of a good rollercoaster? It’s choreographed, he told me. “It’s like a West End musical, the peaks and the troughs. We’re trying to put people in euphoric moments – or keep them right on the knife-edge of euphoria – right till the moment we hit the brakes. It’s a show.” Burton was echoing his childhood hero, [John Wardley](http://www.john-wardley.co.uk/), probably the most admired Briton in the field of rollercoaster design. It was Wardley who created Nemesis, the ride that once intimidated, then inspired, a 12-year-old Burton. When he started working for Merlin, he was paired with a semi-retired Wardley to collaborate on the refurbishment of old attractions. In 2022, when Nemesis was forced to close for a season to undergo a complete replacement of the track, Wardley asked Burton to sit beside him on a farewell run. It was a symbolic moment, the young pretender and the veteran, strapped next to each other in the front seats. Wardley told me that to make it as a creator of rollercoasters, you have to be a jack of all trades, a canny manager of other specialists and their skills, something like an orchestra conductor, or a Hollywood producer. “You have to know how to create a product that will satisfy the market,” Wardley said, “that will entertain while at the same time being reliable, safe and cost-effective. You’re thinking of physicality, sensuality, limitations, how fast your ride will go, whether its G-forces will be too much or insufficient, what will it look like.” A creator must figure out how to meet all these demands as the months rush by. “Boy, I tell you what, those rollercoaster deadlines loom,” said Pike, one of the great creators of the 2000s and 2010s. Now in middle age, Pike might have been enjoying a productive mid-career if not for what he described to me, candidly, as exhaustion. “Not a lot of wriggle room when a park is basing a whole season on the introduction of a new ride,” he said. “It’s on us, as creators, and there’s nobody to fall back on. There’s no corner to hide in. It’s on you to make it work and that takes a toll. I used to be thin and handsome. Now look. I’m old and grey.” [](https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2024/oct/24/rollercoaster-designer-john-burton-thorpe-park-hyperia#img-2) The Nemesis rollercoaster at Alton Towers, Staffordshire. Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA Burton – not old, not grey, not yet – was gearing up to spend the years from 2020 to 2024 as a broker between engineers and architects, marketeers and money people, builders and operators, thrill-ride enthusiasts and those more casual ticket-holders who would one day ride and judge whatever rollercoaster he dreamed up. It would be a feat of imagination and construction that would absorb the remainder of his 20s and some of his 30s before he ever got the chance to sit down, strap in and ride the thing. Burton has a mop of fine brown hair that rises straight up from the roots whenever he is dropped from height on a ride. In such moments, he resembles a scared boy in a cartoon. At work, he tends to wear pale shirts, casual trousers and one or two pieces of silver jewellery. He also keeps to hand a collection of lanyards and name-pins that will gain him access to the various theme parks that Merlin owns around the UK and Europe. Two of Burton’s favourite musicals are [Wicked](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/sep/09/wicked-review-sydney-lyric-theatre) and [The Greatest Showman](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/dec/20/the-greatest-showman-review-pt-barnum-hugh-jackman); in professional approach, he’s more a Wizard of Oz, controlling things from behind a curtain, than he is a spotlight-hungry PT Barnum. “John’s knowledgable and personable,” said Claire Eglinton, a creative producer whom Burton brought on to his team, in part because of her background in theatre and dance. “He’s ridden a lot. Seen a lot. He knows what ’coasters have to do: make you feel you’ve stepped out of the world you’re in.” Working from home during the lockdowns of 2020, Burton started to think of what might be done with the three-peaked shape of his favourite musicals in mind. Big, splashy overture to start … a surprising, thought-provoking number around the interval … later, the soaring ballad, to send people away puffy-eyed and swollen-hearted. He thought a vertical plunge, straight down from the top, would serve well as overture. A slow, grand loop near the end ought to provide that late emotional kick. He puzzled over the middle phase of his ride for a long time, into the spring of 2021. By now Burton was in regular video calls with a structural engineer, Maurice Kremer, who worked at Mack, a construction firm based in Germany. Mack had won the contract to model, manufacture and assemble the new rollercoaster. “What do you want to feel?” Kremer would ask clients like Burton. “Tell me, and I’ll try to realise it.” Using Mack’s in-house design software, Burton and Kremer focused on finer aspects of their ride, shaping the different sections of the track – “elements”, in industry speak – that would serve as punctuation points. A dozen or more elements might be strung together to form a rollercoaster’s finished layout, each doing something different to the bodies of passengers, rotating them or righting them, speeding them up or slowing them down, lifting them up or letting them fall. Certain aspects of this design process have changed remarkably little in centuries. Robert Cartmell, the late historian of thrill rides, wrote that the first wheeled rollercoasters appeared in tsarist Russia and later in the mining hills of the eastern United States in the early 19th century. In the 1810s and 20s, in France, engineers figured out how to secure rollercoaster trains to tracks using special wheels. They figured out how to haul those trains up hills, by noisy, ratchet-secured cables. “It’s just a big energy balance,” Pike explained. “It’s high-school physics. You start with the energy you put into a train. Some of these modern ’coaster guys, they work with magnetics, they work with hydraulics, they can put energy into a train a whole host of ways. Most of us still do it with a chain – clack, clack, clack, up a lift-hill. In other words we work with gravity.” Most gravity-based rollercoasters can get up enough energy on a lift-hill to last between one and three minutes from departure to return. [](https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2024/oct/24/rollercoaster-designer-john-burton-thorpe-park-hyperia#img-3) The final stages of the Hyperia construction process. Photograph: Thorpe Park Some of the very first rollercoaster trains expended their energy on tracks shaped like figure eights. When technology and imaginative daring allowed, these tracks were given dip elements, dive elements, loop elements. The loops were pioneered by Schwarzkopf, a 20th-century impresario working out of Münsterhausen, Germany. It was his apprentice, Stengel, who led the way towards the more extreme elements we see today: the bow tie, the bat wing, the pretzel, the horseshoe, the cobra, the scorpion tail and the sea serpent, all named for their shape. Other elements have names borrowed from aerobatic aviation: the Immelmann turn, the hammerhead turn and the Top Gun stall. A rollercoaster element called the heart-line roll – a lovely example of industrial poetry – got its name from a romantic notion that passengers sent through these tight corkscrews are spun around and around their own beating hearts. Strangely, in the early 2020s, when Burton and Kremer were finishing the design of their rollercoaster, there was only one element named after a creator. The Stengel, invented by Stengel in the early 00s, is a special type of rotational turn that sends passengers around a high bank on what feels like the wrong side of the track, its outer side not its inner side. Fans love Stengels because they are thrown up out of their seats against their restraints, which creates sensations of weightlessness. When I asked Pike to describe a Stengel for the uninitiated, he soon gave up. “You’re entering it, you’re travelling up in a loop, you make a 90-degree turn as you’re vertical … Hey, you got a piece of paper?” Pike sighed. “All this was easier when it was a lot of hills and turns,” he said. “Now you’re upside down and inverted and turning sideways in ways that don’t even make sense.” He told me that when he first saw what Burton and Kremer were plotting for Thorpe Park, he thought he was looking at something from a comic book – “A kid’s ideal visualisation of what an insane rollercoaster would look like. Twenty years ago, I would have looked at their plans and said: ‘Yeah, right. Nobody’s ever gonna let you build that.’” “That”, by the end of 2021, was a still-nameless rollercoaster with a Stengel as centrepiece between a super-fast drop and a slowed-down loop, with various smaller manoeuvres connecting these main elements. Burton and Kremer kept trying to tease out and elongate the few seconds of weightlessness that the Stengel would provide. By adjusting accelerations, trajectories and shapes, could passengers be kept floating in their seats for three seconds? Could they be kept floating for four seconds? With each new tweak they inputted, the Mack software redrew the layout of the track. “It was just trial and error,” Kremer told me later. One day, Burton said, the software scrambled things around. Their elongated Stengel now ended in a diving roll that would flip passengers upside down, providing 4.2 seconds of weightlessness. “Well,” Kremer said to himself, “that’s something new.” Burton was overjoyed. He had never found maths more beautiful, he told me. Staring at this weird, untried new element on his computer screen, he felt twinges of the old terror. “Don’t make me ride it,” he thought. And this was promising. By the summer of 2022, applications had been submitted to various planning bodies, including Thorpe Park’s local council, Runnymede Borough, the members of which voted through the new rollercoaster with ill-concealed glee at a meeting in October. (“I can’t see why any councillors would want to go against this,” one official said. “Let’s have some excitement.”) A harsher scrutiny came from the online community of enthusiasts who had been able to track what Burton was up to ever since his plans entered the public domain. To try to preserve a measure of secrecy, Merlin cloaked the project in codenames. “Bauer” was a reference to Kiefer Sutherland’s character in the TV show 24, itself a reference to the deadline for the ride’s completion in 2024. “High Rise” was self-explanatory. “Exodus”, the codename that stuck the longest, had no meaning, it just sounded cool. Intrigued, enthusiasts paid especially close attention to Project Exodus’s elongated Stengel. One observer wrote on a Reddit forum that, in purely physical terms, this element was going to be trying its best to throw everybody out of their seats and over the M25. In Croatia, it might be worth noting, they call rollercoasters “trains of death”. The first rollercoaster fatality I found on record occurred in the 1880s at the Texas state fair. In the 1920s, in Pennsylvania, a woman died after standing up on a rollercoaster to adjust her dress. The following decade Omaha, Nebraska, went as far as to ban rollercoasters for a time, after a derailment in the city killed four. In the 00s, the Japanese government changed its own laws around rollercoaster safety after a derailment in Osaka. In 2010, a theme park in Rio, Brazil, was closed after a fatal accident led to manslaughter charges. In 2015, two people died on a Chinese park’s first day in business. The park never reopened and its four-loop rollercoaster was decommissioned. That was the same year as a terrible accident at a Merlin-owned park. A rollercoaster called [Smiler crashed at Alton Towers](https://smiler/%20crashed%20at%20alton%20towers/), seriously injuring five people, two of whom had to have limbs amputated. It weighs on creators, Pike said, the risk of getting things wrong. He held up an inch-thick book of international safety standards: “And that’s just for the design side, not even construction.” At least since Schwarzkopf started turning passengers on their heads, rollercoaster creators have known that the appeal of what they offer is the near-dangerous, the danger-adjacent; a succession of danger-flavoured sensations, undertaken in conditions of guaranteed non-danger. The creator makes a promise to the passenger. Whatever happens during this ride will stop happening, leaving you a story to tell. And when everything is working, what stories. [Kingda Ka](https://www.theguardian.com/travel/gallery/2007/jul/19/travel) in New Jersey is currently the world’s tallest rollercoaster at 456ft. A Ferrari-themed speedster in Abu Dhabi is the fastest, getting up to 149mph. Since it opened in 2021, consensus has formed that the dinosaur-themed [VelociCoaster in Florida](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJe42WzToFE) offers the best in-ride narrative, pairing persuasive set dressing from the Jurassic Park movie franchise with well-engineered convolutions of the body. Steel Vengeance, built a few years earlier in Ohio by Schilke, has no narrative at all. Fans know Steel Vengeance as Steve, a plain, unpretentious provider of thrills. By 2022, it was time for Burton and his collaborators to settle on a name for their own ride. Should it be something dreamy, like Shambhala in Spain? Something eccentric, like Cunning Mouse in Kazakhstan? Something faintly pornographic, like Top Thrill 2 in Ohio? There are many rollercoasters named for the metal that underpins them, not only Steel Vengeance but Steel Dragon, Steel Lasso, and Superman – Ride of Steel. Other rollercoasters are named for the racket they make: Rollin’ Thunder; Thunder Run. Rides in China tend to be burdened with names that are stiffly literal: Ten Inversion Rollercoaster, Eleven Ring. [](https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2024/oct/24/rollercoaster-designer-john-burton-thorpe-park-hyperia#img-4) A multiple exposure image of Hyperia. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian There are more than 5,000 active rollercoasters around the world, about 1,000 of which might be classed as extreme, or not for children. There are so many that the supply of feasible names is running low. Fans have started to keep helpful lists of anything decent that’s yet to be used. Burton consulted these lists with Ruth Storey, the marketing director at Thorpe Park, as they were trying to find a name. Red-haired and energetic, Storey is not a born thrill-seeker, and has sometimes found herself frozen at the front of queues for rides she knows she has to try, but can’t. “I tell anyone standing behind: ‘Just shove me.’” For a while, Storey and Burton thought about calling their rollercoaster Summit. They plotted out an intricate ski theme. Next, they thought about the name Meteor, for which they would style everything around the apocalypse. Storey said: “More thought went into naming this rollercoaster than it did for either of my kids.” They received endless suggestions from colleagues, relatives and board members. Wardley told me that it was normal for tensions to exist between the executives who front up money for rides and the creative figures they empower to vanish for years at a time, spending that money. He lamented what he saw as a board-level obsession with breaking records. “What they set as a criterion, you have to work to. But you mustn’t lose sight of the fact that you’re trying to create something that has longevity, not just something that will get in the record books for a year.” Burton told me that at one point he was reduced to drawing cartoons of happy, hovering astronauts – showing these cartoons to skittish bosses and promising that the new ride ought to feel about the same. He was as tied up in hope and faith about this as anyone. He said: “It’s a really, really long wait.” And still they needed that name. Goliath? Taken. GOAT? Plain bad. Euphoria? Too druggy. Tiny? “The focus groups didn’t get it,” Storey said. “They told us: ‘But it’s big.’” An advertising agency pitched in with OMG. “But what colour is OMG?” Burton wondered. “What story does OMG tell?” When an executive at Merlin suggested Angel of the South – a nod to the Antony Gormley sculpture in Gateshead – it was nixed by legal advisers because of copyright concerns. The notion of something winged led Burton and Storey to Icarus, which would have been perfect, they said, if not for the crashing-and-dying aspect. They kept searching, but not before a winged motif was sent to Merlin’s merchandising department, which worked to deadlines of its own. It has become an article of faith in rollercoaster creation that when restrictions are imposed, creativity flourishes. When he was making Nemesis, 30 years ago, Wardley had to position his ride in such a way that it would not be seen above the nearby trees. So, boom. He blew out the ground with dynamite and built in the hole. Pike told me the one time he felt creatively blocked was when he was given an empty field in the Netherlands and told to do whatever he liked. “There was nothing to guide me. Why turn left or right? Why go up? What’s the reason?” He ended up grabbing the nearest thing to hand, a newspaper caricature of the comedian Jay Leno, and tracing the shape of the face, jump-starting inspiration that way. Stuck with their winged motif, which was soon to be printed on gift shop souvenirs, Burton and Storey scoured the internet for inspiration. “I could have got a classics degree, all the research I did,” Storey said. They toyed with Hydra and Volantis before Burton suggested Hyperia – a water god, marginal enough to be free of narrative padding. “Brilliant,” Storey said, “we’ll write our own.” Their Hyperia would be eager for adventure but scared of water. She would make some wings and fly away. Burton commissioned a soaring orchestral theme song that would play on a loop to waiting passengers. Whenever he gazes around at people in theme-park queues, Burton privately assigns them a number that speaks to their level of presumed engagement. Level one guests are all about the ride hardware, interested in sensation only. Level two guests notice the theme that creators have sweated buckets over, and level three guests – Burton’s favourites – revel in the theme, letting themselves get swept up in a story if a creator is trying to tell them one. Level four guests do exist, but they are rarer: level four guests are other John Burtons, creators or obsessives who will notice (say) the efforts put in to make a fire extinguisher blend in with its surroundings. It is for level fours that Burton always sprinkles his attractions with meta references. He told me he knows when a ride has been created by another level four, because an inhuman degree of care will have been taken over a toilet block, a merch hut, an operators’ booth. It was for the level fours that he included a kink in the track of Hyperia, just outside the station, that would momentarily roll passengers on to their left sides even as the train beneath them curved slowly to the right: the nearest thing you might see to a joke delivered in cross-beamed steel. It was early 2023: 18 months to go. Over at Mack’s factory in Waldkirch, Germany, long sticks of rail were being milled and bent into different shapes, then fitted with crossbeams and diagonals and welded together to become pieces of Hyperia’s track. Ninety-two of these pieces were shipped to Surrey in crates, where they were put together under the supervision of Merlin’s construction team in what amounted to a massive effort of self-assembly. “It’s a big Ikea set,” Burton said; he would sometimes look out of the window of his office at Thorpe Park, through the summer and autumn of 2023, to see chunks of white-and-gold painted track lying out in a weedy car park. The first support columns were fixed deep into the ground in October. Steel track was added to the columns in segments, so that curls of half-formed banks and loops began to appear throughout November, these elements only starting to connect and make sense in the first months of 2024. Last to go up was the top piece of the lift-hill, a wide curving arc that was hoisted into place in March. Burton ascended with it, taken by crane to sign his name on the steel. Later he told me how nervous he was, a fear that had nothing to do with being up so high. “Once your ’coaster is being built, it is what is,” Burton said. “If there’s any doubt …” He trailed off. “Well, after a certain point, you can’t have doubts.” He was never very comfortable being singled out from his team for special praise and he could sometimes be defensively unromantic about the project he was overseeing. “It’s just mass transit,” he told me one day, when we were looking up at Hyperia from beneath its spiny underbelly. “A rollercoaster takes thousands of millions of people through space. Same principles as trains.” [](https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2024/oct/24/rollercoaster-designer-john-burton-thorpe-park-hyperia#img-5) Full tilt on Hyperia. Photograph: Merlin Entertainments We moved around to look at the elongated Stengel, which now climbed hundreds of feet into the air – steep, flexed, resembling to me a giant’s upturned lip. Within the offices of Merlin, they sometimes referred to this startling new element as the Burton twist. It was an effort by Storey and others to give a memorable name to a section of the ride that was otherwise difficult to describe in marketing materials. It was also a bid to reward their team leader for his hard work. Here was an admirer of Schilke and Stengel, an apprentice to Wardley, being offered a place at the feet of creators he idolised. Only, Burton couldn’t bring himself to go along with the name. He thought the Burton twist sounded silly and boastful and he dissuaded his colleagues from using it. In April, it was time for the rollercoaster’s maiden voyage – an unmanned one. Even so, it was a big occasion for Burton and his team. Several hollow dummies, moulded from blue plastic into the shape of adults, were secured inside one of Hyperia’s trains using over-the-shoulder restraints. Through stoppered holes in their heads, each dummy was filled with enough water to make them about the weight of a real person. The train left the station and the dummies were sent on several circuits of the track. Below, engineers, ride operators and maintenance crew listened closely for what they called the “lumpy” sounds that might signal an unhappy rollercoaster. They were sniffing the air for the ferrous scent of metal filings that might signal if there was too much friction on the track. This unmanned testing phase lasted about a fortnight. At the end of each day, the stoppers would be removed from the heads of the dummies, which were then sent out on final, load-lightening runs, liquid gushing out of their heads as if there’d been some atrocious accident on board. By May, Hyperia was ready to be ridden by people. It is accepted industry etiquette that manufacturers, not clients, offer themselves as meat for the first human tests. Kremer was among the Mack employees who travelled over from Waldkirch to be on the first train. “You have simulated it a few thousand times on your screen,” Kremer told me, “then you get on and realise, oh that’s it, that’s what we’ve built.” When the engineers from Mack deemed it safe, Merlin employees were allowed to try their rollercoaster, too. One freezing morning that May, when there weren’t yet any visitors in the park, Burton finally got to sit down and strap in. He boarded with members of his team, several of whom had theatrical backgrounds, which contributed to a general sense that they were there for a dress rehearsal. “One where the theatre seats are about to start moving at 80mph,” Burton said. Years of effort, over in a minute. He couldn’t stop smiling. He couldn’t think. The overture, the interesting middle, the emotional near-finale – all of it seemed to be in there. It would take several more circuits before he could start to pry apart the elements in his mind and consider them individually. Endorphins flushed around his system. “You’re left with snapshots that you keep replaying,” he told me afterwards. “I think that’s the body starting to compute, starting to try to make linked logical sense of things.” [](https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2024/oct/24/rollercoaster-designer-john-burton-thorpe-park-hyperia#img-6) The water-filled dummies being drained after Hyperia’s daily testing routine. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian When I asked Pike to remember his first ride on his first creation, he said: “Yeah, the Kentucky Rumbler. I was super-excited, super-scared. ‘I hope this feels like I thought it would.’” Wardley told me that a veteran creator will have ridden through countless mental circuits by the time they complete a real one. “You learn to experience these rides in your mind. There might be some question marks. But if you’re very experienced, nothing should come as a great surprise.” Burton was not yet very experienced. “Some parts didn’t feel as intense as I hoped,” he admitted, “and some things felt more intense than I ever imagined.” In the days after that first ride, his scrambled brain kept returning to the elongated Stengel. Kremer and the Mack engineers had managed to stretch out the weightlessness of the Stengel to five seconds – even more than the 4.2 seconds they had promised in the plans. Burton described the element to me as an “Oh-my-goodness that doesn’t let up … No one else in the world has experienced this type of sensation in one go on their body.” Kremer told me that the element had made him feel as though he was in flight. Later that May, when the rollercoaster was opened to the public, one of the first passengers to get on was an enthusiast, Jack Silkstone, who hosts a rollercoaster-themed YouTube channel. When Silkstone hit the Stengel, he burst into tears. Online reviewers called it a good, even a great rollercoaster. By June, fans were showing up in the Hyperia queue wearing Burton’s name on customised T-shirts. Just then – like a child timing a tantrum for the maximum embarrassment of its parents – Hyperia stopped working. A train full of passengers got lodged at a sharp upward angle on the lift-hill. They were stranded for an hour, during which time a maintenance worker had to hike up with ropes to reassure everyone they were safe. The passengers eventually finished their run. Four days later, during an unmanned test that resulted from the hiccup, one of Hyperia’s trains failed to get up and around an element. The train rolled, sickeningly, backwards. There were further closures, at which point stories about Hyperia’s unreliability began to appear in the press. On 15 June, to mark the one-month anniversary of the launch, the BBC counted the number of days the ride had been accessible to the public – just seven out of a possible 27. Everybody involved in Hyperia’s creation kept using the phrase “teething trouble”. I was at Thorpe Park with Storey, one Saturday later in June, when Hyperia’s teething troubles seemed to be at their peak. Storey is a mucker-inner who usually goes about the resort with a stick for gathering litter. Today, she held a walkie-talkie and a buzzing phone, too. As marketing director, she was required to be on site as de facto disappointment manager, deciding if and when to give ticket-holders a refund. After weeks of trouble caused by mechanical failures, the weather now appeared to be against Hyperia as well. It was unseasonably windy. As Storey explained, all big rides have weather sensors fitted at their highest points. As soon as agreed maximums are exceeded (in this case, winds that would make evacuations difficult at height) a big ride must close. “People say: ‘It’s not that windy.’ I say: ‘Try going up 236ft.’” When rumours spread around the park that Hyperia would soon be back in service, people started to drift to the queueing area without being told to. Often, during that stoppage-bothered summer of 2024, people stood and waited for several hours for a ride they knew would last about 60 seconds. As Storey and I watched the line get longer and longer, I struggled to think of an equivalent experience that teenagers, seventysomethings and everyone in between might be willing to wait for, so uncomplainingly, so stubbornly. It looked like a form of hysteria to me, but then again, I hadn’t ridden the rollercoaster myself yet. I had tracked the rise of columns and crossbeams, the welding of joins, the careful north-south alignment of the hundreds of nuts and bolts that hold Hyperia together, that are checked for misalignment every day by maintenance staff using binoculars. I had read planning documents, marketing decks, acceleration charts. I had a thorough academic understanding of what Burton’s creation was prepared to do to me. But riding a rollercoaster is something like parenthood or bereavement. You can’t imagine yourself into it. Rollercoasters are one of the last hold-outs against simulation. A pilgrimage has to be made. You must find out for yourself. ‘Come on,” Burton said to me one day in July, “let’s ride.” Hyperia was operating more smoothly. Burton’s ride tally was up to 32. He had ridden Hyperia on sunny days. He had ridden Hyperia blind, scrunching up his eyes against raindrops. He’d ridden Hyperia empty and full; front, back and middle; over track that was sun-warmed or drizzle-cooled; on circuits a little sluggish and then, because of a different capricious mix of conditions, the fastest yet. If not actually riding Hyperia, Burton’s favourite thing to do was position himself near the final bunny hop to watch as passengers came tipping and gasping into the last few seconds of the brake run. Sometimes, they would be bent forwards, as far their restraints would allow, as if in folds of laughter or crushed by bad news. Sometimes, passengers returned to the station sitting straight, blank faced – processing. There were smiling passengers and muttering passengers and passengers still yelling oaths or wiping snot or tears or drool from their faces. It was rarely the same, train to train, seat to seat. Burton had been working in his office on the outskirts of the park when I found him. Now, standing up, he knocked against some costume wings that were propped behind his chair. Feathers floated around us as Burton pinned an employee’s name badge to his shirt. As we left his office and went towards the gates, I could see his mighty rollercoaster beyond: appalling drop, yawning loop, massive Stengel. Screams carried over to us on the breeze. [](https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2024/oct/24/rollercoaster-designer-john-burton-thorpe-park-hyperia#img-7) Hyperia from a distance. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian I gestured at the Stengel and asked Burton if he regretted not letting his name be attached to it. A few weeks earlier, Kremer had flown over to Surrey again to give a talk about his contributions to Hyperia. He was joined on stage by a colleague who revealed that they had their own name for the elongated Stengel back at Mack’s offices. They had been calling it a Kremerollen or a Kremer roll. That day, someone in Kremer’s audience proposed that the German name be made official, and there was an impromptu vote. There were whoops and shouts of “Yeah!” Afterwards, Thorpe Park’s website was updated to include a short history of this new element, the Kremer roll. Burton had missed his moment. When we discussed it, walking through the park, he said he was grateful for a quieter moment of acknowledgment, one that meant a lot to him personally: Wardley had recently published a book of memoirs in which he wrote of Burton: “It’s over to you.” We had reached the queue. Burton’s scribbled signature was way above us, at a height from which screaming or speechless passengers were being whipped over the lift-hill and sent towards the ground. Burton wasn’t immune to the sensory immensity of a rollercoaster. After 32 rides on this one, however, his thoughts were drifting towards the future and he was wondering what he and his team might build next. As for me, about to board, I could hardly speak. My stomach felt as if it was trying to climb up through my throat, maybe to cower somewhere in the skull. Burton walked us around the back of the gift shop, where he was recognised by an operator who waved us through some gates that were meant for disembarking passengers. We were hustled into the front two seats of the next departing train. The restraints came down; an operator fixed them in place; then, with a small jolt, we were away. I asked Burton to talk me through the elements as well as he was able to. “Lift-hill,” he said, as we rose up from beneath a canopy of trees, travelling quickly, so that soon we were higher than everything else in the park. The hollow clack of the ratchet beat steadily under our seats. “Try tensing your stomach muscles,” Burton advised. “It’s what fighter pilots do.” I began to say I was tensing everything, everywhere, already … then we were at the top. The sky seemed to bend overhead like a hood. “Vertical drop,” Burton said. And we dropped. We weren’t falling, I felt, but accelerating with sinister intent towards the ground. The blood left my head and I lost my peripheral vision to a cotton-wool border of grey. As our train buzzed close to the people in the queue, then flung us up again, Burton wheezed a few incomprehensible words. His cheeks flapped like little sails. Interesting movements were set in quick and wild opposition to one another. We were rising and turning again, pushed out at about 90 degrees as we floated through the Stengel element that was once known as the Burton twist and is now and forever the Kremer roll. I was up against my restraints, my head and torso protruding over miles of uninterrupted airspace. I couldn’t see the track or the train, only sky. As seconds go, these were five long ones. [ A day in the life of (almost) every vending machine in the world ](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/apr/14/a-day-in-the-life-of-almost-every-vending-machine-in-the-world) Burton knew better than anyone that there was no real danger. Even so, I saw him curl his shoes under the seat as though he was clinging on. “Stall inversion,” he managed to say, as we slowed and rose, drifting through a loop. “Trim brake,” he said, as we completed the loop and lurched forward in our seats. My brain had begun the weeks-long work of trying to order and rationalise what was happening. I put both hands to my forehead and kept them there as I thought about trying to put the experience into words, how the truest rendering might involve holding down the “F” key and never letting go. “Bunny hop,” said Burton, as we bounced and slowed. The train was losing momentum. “Brakes,” he said, and the train came to a stop. Follow the Long Read on X at [@gdnlongread](https://twitter.com/@gdnlongread), listen to our podcasts [here](https://www.theguardian.com/news/series/the-long-read) and sign up to the long read weekly email [here](https://www.theguardian.com/info/ng-interactive/2017/may/05/sign-up-for-the-long-read-email).

We wanted to give the old girl a good tart up,” laughs New Zealander [Neil McLachlan](https://www.neilmclachlan.co.nz/) of his six-bedroom home, a Georgian pile on the leafy fringes of the Forest of Dean. An eye-catching coral pink exterior with matching entrance columns sets the stage for his 1695 house, which he shares with his partner, Raymond Roche, and their rescue border terrier, Minnelli. Neil has been an interior designer for more than 30 years, entering the creative world at 18 when he relocated from Auckland to Paris to study in an haute couture fashion house, honing his love of exuberance and colour, while mastering the art of millinery. His father, a modernist architect, influenced his design and architectural fidelity and, despite spending a large chunk of the 1990s on TV screens as the go-to designer in the Kiwi version of _Changing Rooms_, today Neil works with clients all over the world transforming houses and hotels. [](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/nov/16/putting-on-the-glitz-a-17th-century-mansion-in-the-forest-of-dean#img-2) Neil McLachlan and Raymonde Roche with their dog, Minnelli. Photograph: James Balston For 50 years, the building was a home for men with learning difficulties before Raymond and Neil bought it. The rooms had been chopped up into dormitories, bedrooms and bathrooms, the kitchen a commercial behemoth, fire doors and alarms cluttered the woodchip and carpet-tile décor. The institutionalised edifice would have caused sleepless nights for the average house buyer but, for Neil, it was an exhilarating project. “We had such immense fun putting this house together,” he says. It took them three years to transform the building, with a painter employed every day for 18 months. The entrance gives way to a wide hallway with black-painted floorboards layered with colourful Persian rugs – a feature used throughout the house – directly into a glamorous dining room where a grand piano awaits. The pair are ardent entertainers who regularly throw dinner parties into the small hours. Neil, an accomplished pianist, has a second grand piano in the sitting room upstairs, ensuring access to the ivories in all social situations.As the only willing and able volunteer for miles around, he is also deployed as the village organist. Neil’s design calling card might be wallpaper. Almost every room boasts a different style, including Parrots of Brazil, a jungle print by Mind the Gap, which flourishes in the dining room. The starting point for Neil and Raymond was the grand tour, a historical rite of passage taken by Georgian aristocrats touring Europe and beyond, sending home purchases of exotic art, textiles and furniture to lavish their homes, with a particular penchant for chinoiserie. “Pineapples and palms were very popular,” explains Neil. “They were considered extremely grand, a decorative status symbol, nobody ate them.” [](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/nov/16/putting-on-the-glitz-a-17th-century-mansion-in-the-forest-of-dean#img-3) La vie en rose: the coral pink exterior of the house. Photograph: James Balston These motifs are reflected all over the house: a palm wallpaper decorates the master bedroom, while pineapples are papered in the dressing room, chinoiserie print cushions decorate armchairs and a Ming fabric from Pierre Frey is used for the kitchen blinds. “The references of palm trees and pineapples tie it back to the grand tour. Wallpaper is such a marvellous tool as a backdrop,” says Neil. “It doesn’t have to take centre stage, but it can highlight architectural detailing and provide a visual rigour that can be toyed with.” This visual rigour is key to Neil’s interior toying, despite a cacophony of textiles, papers, furniture and art, the house does not feel cluttered. Instead, it feels layered, as if Raymond and Neil have lived there for decades.The key to creating this is balance, says Neil. [](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/nov/16/putting-on-the-glitz-a-17th-century-mansion-in-the-forest-of-dean#img-4) Tour de force: the wallpaper in the bedroom has a palm motif, to reflect past tastes. Photograph: James Balston “The house is busy, yet you feel calm walking through it. We have so much stuff, making it all hang together is a skill. You must curate, curate, curate,” he says. Few structural changes were made, but the kitchen was a boot room and they had to fight with the planning authority to move a wall. Neil’s choice of a restrained sunshine-yellow paint articulates the 19th-century architectural arches in the renovated kitchen, while a light fixture for the ceiling was built with traditional plaster moulding to display a series of glass decanters repurposed as pendants over the island. Behind, a pair of giant reclaimed corbels invite you through the new opening into the snug. > It’s important to have fun in life... and houses must have fun, too Upstairs, the sitting room reveals wallpaper, a faux-panelling design on the ceiling rather than the walls, which are painted in Dilkusha blue, notes of russet dance in the textiles and a Hollywood, regency chandelier glitters atop. Gilded antique lamps, once owned by the Austrian royal family, guard a contemporary painting by Ross Lewis on the mantel. “We wanted a calm palette for this room, which feels suspended in the trees,” says Neil. “The blue paint offsets the landscape and the orange adds zing and warmth. It’s in the rug, the blinds and the Japanese imari plates on the wall. Even for pattern lovers there needs to be careful punctuation of calmer and often transitional areas. Wallpaper can be joyous and sophisticated, but like many things it is often best in moderation.” Mahogany furniture and the family silver soup tureens have been on their own grand tour, having been shipped to New Zealand in 1879 by Neil’s great-grandparents and almost 150 years later they have returned to the UK after Neil shipped them back. “It’s so important to have fun in life and houses must have fun, too,” says Neil. “Every new owner must go forwards, not backwards, we don’t want to live in a museum. We wanted to take the old girl on a different trip.”

* Waves crash over the harbour wall during Storm Bert Photograph: Chris J Ratcliffe/Reuters  [](https://www.theguardian.com/news/gallery/2024/nov/24/monkey-festival-and-stormy-seas-photos-of-the-weekend#img-1) * Demonstrators wear scarves over their faces with the words ‘Not one less’ as they take part in a rally before the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women Photograph: Andrew Medichini/AP  [](https://www.theguardian.com/news/gallery/2024/nov/24/monkey-festival-and-stormy-seas-photos-of-the-weekend#img-2) * Mohamed Adow, director of the thinktank Power Shift Africa, speaks to the media during the Cop29 UN climate summit Photograph: Peter Dejong/AP  [](https://www.theguardian.com/news/gallery/2024/nov/24/monkey-festival-and-stormy-seas-photos-of-the-weekend#img-3) * People place candles at the National Museum in Kyiv to commemorate the Holodomor genocide Photograph: Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA  [](https://www.theguardian.com/news/gallery/2024/nov/24/monkey-festival-and-stormy-seas-photos-of-the-weekend#img-4) * People take part in the colour festival, which celebrates unity, diversity and inclusivity Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images  [](https://www.theguardian.com/news/gallery/2024/nov/24/monkey-festival-and-stormy-seas-photos-of-the-weekend#img-5) * Fuel station workers play cricket on a deserted road blocked with shipping containers, before a protest by supporters of the jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party Photograph: Aamir Qureshi/AFP/Getty Images  [](https://www.theguardian.com/news/gallery/2024/nov/24/monkey-festival-and-stormy-seas-photos-of-the-weekend#img-6) * A man covered in dust after being rescued from the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut’s Basta neighbourhood Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters  [](https://www.theguardian.com/news/gallery/2024/nov/24/monkey-festival-and-stormy-seas-photos-of-the-weekend#img-7) * People carry their belongings on a makeshift raft after a fire ripped through hundreds of houses in a slum area Photograph: Jam Sta Rosa/AFP/Getty Images  [](https://www.theguardian.com/news/gallery/2024/nov/24/monkey-festival-and-stormy-seas-photos-of-the-weekend#img-8) * Carabinieri walk in St Peter’s Square Photograph: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images  [](https://www.theguardian.com/news/gallery/2024/nov/24/monkey-festival-and-stormy-seas-photos-of-the-weekend#img-9) * A child rides on a carousel at a Christmas market Photograph: Sébastien Bozon/AFP/Getty Images  [](https://www.theguardian.com/news/gallery/2024/nov/24/monkey-festival-and-stormy-seas-photos-of-the-weekend#img-10) * People in traditional costumes participate in the Lusheng folk musical festival Photograph: Xinhua/Rex/Shutterstock  [](https://www.theguardian.com/news/gallery/2024/nov/24/monkey-festival-and-stormy-seas-photos-of-the-weekend#img-11) * A hummingbird feeds on lavender flowers Photograph: Zuma Press /Alamy  [](https://www.theguardian.com/news/gallery/2024/nov/24/monkey-festival-and-stormy-seas-photos-of-the-weekend#img-12) * Monkeys eat fruit and vegetables during an annual monkey festival Photograph: Patipat Janthong/Reuters  [](https://www.theguardian.com/news/gallery/2024/nov/24/monkey-festival-and-stormy-seas-photos-of-the-weekend#img-13)

Silvana Marques was one of thousands of Brazilians who flocked to São Paulo’s most famous art museum one afternoon last week. But the 51-year-old teacher wasn’t there to marvel over fog-filled London landscapes at Masp’s new Monet retrospective. She had come to join a protest heaping scorn on [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump). Beneath the museum’s brutalist hulk, Marques spotted a cardboard effigy of the US president and took a picture with her phone before the Trump dummy was set on fire. “_Laranjão safado_,” which translates as big orange dirtbag, she wrote under her photo on Instagram. Nearby, demonstrators hoisted a red banner into the air which read: “Nice try Trump. But we’re not afraid.” The rally was a response to Trump’s decision last week to launch a politically motivated trade war against South America’s biggest economy in an attempt to help his rightwing ally, the former Brazilian president [Jair Bolsonaro](https://www.theguardian.com/world/jair-bolsonaro), avoid jail. Bolsonaro could face up to 43 years in prison if found guilty of masterminding a botched coup attempt after losing the 2022 presidential election. He is expected to be convicted and sentenced by the supreme court in the coming weeks. On 9 July, Trump wrote to Brazil’s leftwing president, [Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva](https://www.theguardian.com/world/luiz-inacio-lula-da-silva), to demand that the charges against Bolsonaro be dropped and announce he would impose 50% tariffs on Brazilian imports until they were. “\[This\] is a Witch Hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY!” thundered Trump, long Bolsonaro’s most important international backer. The US president apparently expected his intervention to improve the outlook for Bolsonaro, 70, who is already banned from running in next year’s election. Bolsonaro’s senator son, Flávio, urged Lula’s administration to immediately cave in to Trump’s ultimatum by offering his father an amnesty from prosecution. Flávio Bolsonaro likened Brazil’s predicament to Japan’s at the end of the second world war when the US’s B-29 bombers blasted it into submission. “It’s up to us to show the responsibility to avoid two atomic bombs landing on [Brazil](https://www.theguardian.com/world/brazil),” he said. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/16/trump-brazil-tariffs-ultimatum-backfires-bolsonaro-lula#img-2) Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro in March 2020. Photograph: Alan Santos/Brazilian presidency/EPA But a week after Trump’s tariff announcement, the ploy seems to be backfiring badly. The move has reinvigorated Bolsonaro’s leftwing rivals, given Lula a bounce in the polls and prompted a wave of public anger, largely focused on the Bolsonaro clan who have spent years portraying themselves as flag-loving nationalists. “Jair Bolsonaro couldn’t care less about Brazil. He’s a phoney patriot,” the conservative Estado de São Paulo newspaper fumed [on Tuesday](https://www.estadao.com.br/opiniao/bolsonaro-o-patriota-fajuto/), excoriating the ex-president’s apparent willingness to throw his country to the wolves if it meant saving his own skin. The newspaper’s editorial board instructed conservatives to pick their side: “Brazil’s or Bolsonaro’s. The two paths are diametrically opposed.” Eliane Cantanhêde, a columnist for the Estado de São Paulo, saw three motives behind Trump’s “indecent proposal”. He hoped to boost far-right fellow travellers in South America; retaliate against Chinese involvement in the region after the recent Brics summit in Rio; and do a personal favour to Bolsonaro’s son Eduardo, who has spent recent months lobbying officials in Washington after going into self-imposed exile in the US. But Cantanhêde believed Trump’s “megalomaniac” move had boomeranged, handing Lula a golden opportunity to recover slumping public support by posing as a nationalist defender of Brazilian coffee producers, orange growers_,_ cattle ranchers and plane manufacturers in the face of Bolsonaro’s anti-patriotic and self-serving sellout to Trump. “Lula was on the ropes,” Cantanhêde said, highlighting the leftist’s falling ratings and growing doubts over his ability to win a fourth term next year. “Now he’s all smiles.” She said Beijing – Brazil’s biggest trade partner – would also be celebrating as Washington further damaged its standing in the region. “Trump is pushing the whole world into China’s lap,” Cantanhêde said. Nicolás Saldías, a Latin America analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, agreed Trump’s pro-Bolsonaro intercession was a boon for Lula, who has taken to wearing a blue cap bearing the slogan “Brazil belongs to the Brazilians”. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/16/trump-brazil-tariffs-ultimatum-backfires-bolsonaro-lula#img-3) Lula wearing a ‘Brazil belongs to the Brazilians’ baseball cap. Photograph: Ricardo Stuckert/Brazilian presidency/Reuters Saldías, who is Uruguayan-Canadian, recalled how Trump’s threats to annex Canada upended its recent election, helping Mark Carney’s once flagging Liberal party keep power. He suspected Trump’s trade war on Brazil would have a similar “rally around the flag” impact for Lula – in the short-term, at least. “For Lula this is going to be helpful,” Saldías said, noting how his ratings had already risen and looked likely to rise further. “This changes the game because now he’s going to be seen as the defender of Brazilian nationalism, a kind of progressive nationalism.” Having spent months dreaming that Trump may help save their leader from prison, the Bolsonaros appear to recognise they have scored an own goal. One source close to the ex-president’s family told Reuters: “The thrill of catching Trump’s attention soon curdled as the Bolsonaros realised the crushing weight of the tariffs tied to their cause.” On Tuesday, Bolsonaro [insisted](https://www.poder360.com.br/poder-brasil/bolsonaro-diz-que-tem-o-poder-de-resolver-o-tarifaco/) he opposed the tariffs, which he blamed on Lula’s “provocation” of the US, and claimed he could fix at least part of the problem if given “the freedom to talk to Trump”. Silvana Marques, the protesting teacher, was adamant the Brazilian authorities should not yield to “crazy” Trump’s demands and let Bolsonaro off the hook. “We cannot allow this to happen,” she said, remembering the dire consequences of failing to prosecute the military leaders behind Brazil’s 1964-85 dictatorship. Like many Brazilians, Marques took a dim view of how – as she saw it – the Bolsonaros had encouraged Trump to wage economic war against their own country. “They’re a family of traitors,” she said. “And the Americans must be thinking: are we really going to have to pay 50% more for the things we import from Brazil just to defend this worn-out old horse?”

My tone wavered between enthusiasm and concern. “Is that a great black-backed gull,” I asked. It was a cold December morning, and I was cruising along the interior roads of Boston’s Logan international airport in a white pickup truck. At the wheel was Jeff Turner, who, among other duties, oversees efforts to control wildlife at the airport, including making sure that errant gulls and other birds don’t stray into flight paths and cause an accident. He glanced toward the harbor and confirmed that a lone great black-backed was indeed mixed in with a few herring gulls. There is nothing remarkable about spotting this species on the shorelines of Boston. But it sure is fun to gawk at them. They’re gluttonous omnivores that will devour rats, rabbits and rotting garbage, and they can be obnoxiously loud and territorial. > We always go heavy on harassment. And then the last resort is lethal Jeff Turner They’re also enormous: the largest of all gull species with wingspans that top out at 5.5ft (1.7 metres), a feathered Goliath that no pilot wants to see perched near a runway. We spent a moment admiring it while commercial flights taxied behind us and roared overhead. “When you see one sitting next to a herring gull, it’s crazy just how much bigger it is,” Turner said. “Surprisingly, we don’t see a lot of black-backed strikes. The majority of our gull strikes are herring gulls.” With that, he parked the truck, walked over to a silver-barreled air cannon set up on a small platform in a patch of grass, and let it rip. The _whompfff_ of the blast made me flinch and sent the gulls scattering. We got back in the truck and rolled onward, looking for more loitering birds to harass. Every day, birds and airplanes collide. The Federal Aviation Administration recorded approximately 19,000 such incidents across nearly 800 US airports in 2023. In total, those strikes cost airlines an estimated $461m. The issue has been in the headlines in recent months following a string of high-profile bird strikes. Korean officials found the remains of Baikal teals in both engines of the Jeju Air flight that crashed in December and killed 179 people (the extent to which the animals contributed to the crash remains under investigation). In February of this year, a hawk obliterated the nose of an Airbus A320 in Brazil. Then in March, a FedEx cargo plane made a fiery emergency landing in Newark, New Jersey, after one of its engines ingested a bird and started spewing flames. Two weeks later, a bird rocketed through the windscreen of a private airplane in California, injuring the passenger and precipitating another emergency landing. [](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/21/airports-planes-bird-strikes#img-2) Firefighters try to extinguish the fire around the wreckage of a TAM Brazilian airlines A320 passenger aircraft that crashed on 17 July 2007 while landing at Congonhas airport in São Paulo, Brazil. Photograph: Everton de Freitas/AE/AFP/Getty Images Turner’s team, which includes five technicians and a contracted United States Department of Agriculture wildlife biologist, is responsible for minimizing the likelihood of such calamities at Logan. They use pyrotechnics and air cannons to scare away birds and do whatever they can to make the landscape as unappealing as possible – be it cutting the grass, draining standing water or ripping up berry-bearing bushes that might attract flocks of peckish blackbirds. When all else fails, the technicians have shotguns in their trucks. “We always go heavy on harassment,” Turner explained. “And then the last resort is lethal.” The goal, after all, isn’t to kill birds. It’s to keep them away from airplanes. That’s a daunting task at Logan, where an average of 1,200 flights come and go each day. The airport sprawls across 2,400 acres (971 hectares) with water on three sides. During spring and fall migration, managing birds here is like defending against swarm warfare. “The fact that we’re surrounded by water is a huge challenge … If you’re \[a bird\] flying down the coastline and you see this,” Turner said, gesturing to long stretches of grass on one side and the shallows of Boston harbor on the other, “it’s a whole different habitat.” Turner has worked at Logan since 2010. The most unexpected animal encounter during that time was with a ticked-off otter whose powerful bite left “five or six holes in my hand”, he said. Coyotes make occasional appearances in the winter, as do snowy owls, for which Turner depends on a skilled volunteer who carefully traps and relocates them. On a few occasions, deer have turned up near the runways: “The most incredible part,” Turner said, is that the deer swam to the airport from the surrounding harbor islands. A breezy conversationalist, Turner’s eyes never stopped scanning the perimeter of the airport. He pointed out brants, common eiders, a merlin, and bucket loads of gulls. As we drove on, we saw Canada geese congregating near the water and a few dozen European starlings zipping around further inland. Canada geese are famously associated with bird strikes thanks to the heroics of Capt Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, who in January 2009 safely landed an Airbus A320 on the Hudson river after hitting a flock of geese in what’s been dubbed the “[Miracle on the Hudson](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jan/16/us-airways-plane-crash-lands-on-hudson)”. But European starlings can be every bit as dangerous. [](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/21/airports-planes-bird-strikes#img-3) Passengers in an inflatable raft move away from US Airways Flight 1549 that went down in the Hudson River in New York City, on 15 January 2009. Photograph: Bebeto Matthews/AP “They just undulate everywhere and when you harass them they split and come back together,” Turner said. Starling murmurations are such a threat that Turner’s team erected a trap made of wood and chicken wire with a one-way entry point at the top and food and water below. Pity the technicians who have to “dispatch” the trapped birds by snapping their necks. If that sounds grim, it may help to consider the tragic history of European starlings at Logan. For several years prior to meeting Turner, I had been researching a book on Roxie Laybourne, a scientist who pioneered the field of forensic ornithology while working at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Her career took an unusual turn on 4 October 1960, when a flight taking off from Logan hit an enormous flock of birds and crashed into the water, killing 62 people. It was unprecedented and terrifying. Investigators needed to know the type of bird that caused the crash, so they sent some of the remains down to the Smithsonian. Laybourne and her boss sorted through the pieces and found enough feathers to confirm that starlings were to blame. [](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/21/airports-planes-bird-strikes#img-4) Roxie Laybourne (front) and fellow staffers in the Birds Collections at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in 1992. Photograph: Chip Clark/Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Division of Birds, Smithsonian Institution In the following years, bird strikes caused more fatal airplane crashes: in 1962, tundra swans downed a commercial flight over Maryland, killing all 17 people on board; and in 1964, astronaut Theodore Freeman died after his training jet careened into a flock of snow geese near Houston. To establish new safety standards, engineers and regulators needed to know what types of birds were being hit most frequently and how much those birds weighed, so they turned to Laybourne for help. Using her microscope and the Smithsonian’s vast collection of research specimens, she developed ways of identifying birds by analyzing the microscopic structures of feathers. She went on to apply her skills to criminal investigations, including murder and poaching cases, but more than anything focused on aviation, identifying the remains of more than 10,000 airplane-struck birds. Nowadays, most airlines voluntarily report bird strikes and send the splattered animal bits they recover to the Smithsonian’s Feather Identification Lab, run by Carla Dove, who trained under Laybourne. The lab works with the FAA, the US air force and the US navy, and identified more than 11,000 bird-strike remains last year, dozens of which of which were collected in Boston. Most bird strikes cause no damage whatsoever. But every once in a while, things go awfully wrong and that’s what keeps Turner on his toes. His job is a never-ending, always-evolving risk-benefit analysis in which mundane tasks such as trimming the grass can be a catch-22. Whenever the mowers go out in the summer, he explained, huge amounts of barn swallows come swooping in for the buffet of insects that get kicked up in the process. “We don’t want the bird strikes, but we gotta cut the grass,” he added, playing up the damned-if-you-do nature of it all. In this line of work, even the most well-intentioned actions can have undesirable consequences. He offered up the example of Boston harbor, once one of the most polluted harbors in the country. After decades of clean-up efforts and programs to reduce sewage overflows, the water is swimmable and it’s a legitimate environmental success story. While Turner loves seeing such progress, the wildlife manager in him laments the fact that better water quality means more productive shellfish beds, which in turn means more gulls. “The gulls have adapted to it,” he said, pointing to shards of oyster shells on the side of the road. “They’re taking them out at low tide, dropping them on the pavement or on the runways, and cracking the shells open to have a nice little feast. It’s a pain.” With air traffic increasing at Logan and pretty much everywhere else, Turner is a realist who knows that bird strikes are a problem that cannot be stopped, only mitigated. “It’s inevitable that something’s going to happen,” he said. “And we just do everything we can do to make sure it’s not going to be one of those catastrophic strikes.”