“In is in. Out is out.” These very direct words were uttered this week by German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble, who slammed the door on Britain retaining access to the single market if it votes on 23 June to the leave the European Union.
The edition of the newspaper just finished is our last chance, because of publication deadlines and delivery dates, to go in-depth on the UK vote on membership of the European Union. So we’ve brought you a special report of some six pages, ranging from news, to interviews, to feature writing and columns for debate. Owen Jones and Matthew d’Ancona both do a beautiful job of capturing the arguments and the issues on our Comment spread.
We’ve stepped outside of London, to the Kent coast, the valleys of Wales and to the industrial heartland of Sunderland to see what Britons are thinking, and which way they’ll lean.
With the leave side gaining favour in the latest opinion polls, this referendum has become the decision of a generation. It will impact the world’s fifth-largest economy and the EU’s second-largest. And though it may not mean the end of western civilisation (as European Council president Donald Tusk recently suggested). I have no doubt that, in some small measure, an out vote would touch many around the world.
Inside the paper we report on the massacre of 49 people in an Orlando nightclub that catered to the LGBT community with a page of news and a deeply thoughtful comment piece, penned by the Guardian’s Gary Younge. For more breaking news related to this story, please do check theguardian.com by clicking here.
From Peru, we report on a presidential win by 77-year-old former Wall Street banker Pedro Pablo Kuczynski. From Turkey, we analyse draconian new laws that have resulted in a significant setback for democracy. In Rome, we look at the anti-establishment politician who is becoming known as the clean-up candidate, and will most likely become mayor.
On the environment front, Iceland finds a way to turn carbon dioxide into stone, diplomatic efforts are underway to win Russian support for a conservation zone in Antarctic’s Ross Sea region, and light pollution is robbing us of a connection with the night sky.
You set the agenda on our letters page with thoughts on the Great Barrier Reef, mob rule, Islamic State and the essence of inner grit. We welcome letters for publication, which you can email to weekly.letters@theguardian.com by clicking here.
This week’s Review details the bloody end to Cairo’s youth uprising in a wonderful piece of writing from the Guardian’s long-read section.
Discovery explains how a probe called Juno could solve the riddles of Jupiter.
On the books pages, a yogi goes to Hollywood as we review the life of a socialite who brought yoga to the west.
And over four pages of culture coverage, we meet photographer Jacques Henri Lartigue, the man who froze life’s moments, consider the role of the understudy, and review art in London, opera in Rome and a recent cinema release.
On the Notes & Queries page, we pose this burning question: when is a cake a cake, and when is it not? This is something your GW team has heard colleagues on the nearby food magazine desk debating over several weeks, and we thought you’d like to get in on the act. Send your answers to weekly.nandq@theguardian.com by clicking here.
Some of you may be aware that I am born and raised a Canadian (and also hold a British passport courtesy of my Yorkshire parents). So it’s no surprise that my favourite piece in this edition visits the US-Canada border towns of Beebe Plain, in Vermont, and Stanstead, in Quebec. There was a time when children played with few cares and neighbours walked freely across the street that is also the international border. No longer. I grew up within eyesight of America, as did so many other Canadians. But when it comes to the movement of people across boundaries, nothing stays the same forever, it would seem.
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