China revealed its vision for a greener future at the UN biodiversity summit in Kunming last week. But with confirmation that Xi Jinping will not travel to the Cop26 summit in Glasgow at the end of the month, what does the president’s idea of an “ecological civilisation” really entail? It’s a notion that it seems will be hard to realise when coal still plays such a dominant role in the economy as our China affairs correspondent Vincent Ni discovers in a report that looks at life in a mining town in Shanxi, China’s biggest coal-producing region. And worryingly, the latest economic data from Beijing showed growth was lower than expected as debts incurred by property behemoth Evergrande cast a shadow over hopes of post-pandemic recovery.
Two lives that came to tragic ends very far apart are documented by Latin American correspondent Tom Phillips and our UK reporting team. Phillips follows the perilous journey made by a Brazilian nurse north to the US, where she was found in the desert with little more than her passport. Meanwhile, the killing of the Conservative MP David Amess has shocked both Westminster and the residents of the Southend constituency he served for more than 20 years.
The National Trust has more members than any other institution in the UK, but some of them are unhappy about its recent direction. Arguments over the trust’s attempts to reckon with the colonial past and slavery connections of some its properties have become a chapter in the so-called “culture wars”. Our feature looks at how the trust is working to both celebrate heritage and interrogate the past while restoring harmony among its supporters and visitors.
Culture this week takes a look at the many portrayals of Lady Diana. The princess seems to be a constant presence on screen or stage, from a camp musical to The Crown. So much myth surrounds her real life, making her a dream blank canvas for directors and a nightmare for actors who have played her, explains Hadley Freeman.
