Dear readers, the circus has left Canberra, which means we’ve reached the slow slide into 2026. Praise be. Before you dive into this week’s selection, feel free to nominate your favourite read of a somewhat lighter persuasion. I’ll be on Team Animalia (unless The Eleventh Hour finally gets its due).
1. Surviving a horror trek in Chilean Patagonia
Five hikers died in Chile’s Torres del Paine national park earlier this month after winds hit 190km/h and temperatures plummeted to –5C. Some Australians were among a group of about 30 who tried over several hours to save them. Caitlin Cassidy gets their perspective on what survivors have dubbed a “terrible, avoidable tragedy”.
Communication failures: There were no rangers in that area of the park that day due to mandatory voting in Chile’s presidential election. Police and additional backup didn’t reach the scene until about 24 hours after an SOS was first issued.
How long will it take to read: Four minutes
2. ‘Attaining nirvana can wait’
So says Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara, the controversial Sri Lankan monk who believes it is his duty to act against any threat to Buddhism. In his homeland the perceived “enemy within” is Islam – and in towns where Gnanasara has shared his anti-Muslim rhetoric, mob violence has often followed.
Sonia Faleiro got an audience with the spiritual leader turned politician in Sri Lanka, where a leader of the country’s largest Muslim political party declared: “The yellow robes are untouchable.”
Origin story: Gnanasara says he began his monastic living in cave-like dwellings in dry tropical forests. In Colombo, a very different story about Gnanasara’s past has circulated.
How long will it take to read: 12 minutes.
3. How a WhatsApp saga spiralled into two parents’ wrongful arrest
Maxie Allen and Rosalind Levine questioned the governance of their child’s school in a school WhatsApp group they set up and on social media. The school, north-west of London, was bombarded with derogatory social posts and complained to police. Six uniformed officers turned up on the couple’s doorstep, sparking a global conversation that even Elon Musk weighed in on.
Alexandra Topping catches up with some of the WhatsApp group’s members, for whom the controversy is still so fresh they agreed to speak only under a pseudonym.
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“You’re looking at other people, like, was it her? Who’s screenshotting our messages? And that itself was awful.” – Sarah (not her real name)
How long will it take to read: Four minutes.
Further reading: Sean Szeps on the hell that is a parents WhatsApp group.
4. Why the body’s ‘internal wetsuit’ matters
Desk jockeys, there’s a reason your body doesn’t move as fluidly as you like when you try to exercise – your fascia has tightened. Is there a way to use the continuous, all-encompassing network that wraps around and connects everything in the body to our advantage? Joel Snape asks the experts.
What it looks like: If you’ve ever carved a joint of meat, it’s the thin, silvery layer wrapped around the muscle.
How long will it take to read: Three minutes.
5. The ‘four narratives’ theory of the Fab Four
Another year, another remastered treasure from the Beatles’ archives. This time it’s The Beatles Anthology documentary from 1995 getting the spit and polish treatment. Why are we still picking over the entrails of a band that broke up 55 years ago? Stuart Maconie investigates the celebrated “four narratives” theory that has kept them relevant.
The ultimate chronicler? Mark Lewisohn, who since the 1980s has been combing through the vaults so studiously that the fourth narrative takes his name, is working on part two of a three-volume biography. His mission, while some of the players are still alive: “To get at the truth if I can and let the rest fall away.”
Further reading: Stuart Heritage is full of superlatives for the remastered series. Alexis Petridis reckons the “new episode” is evidence the cupboard is bare.
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