IT’S A DAY of rest, and you may be in the mood for a quiet corner and a comfy chair.
We’ve hand-picked some of the week’s best reads for you to savour.
1. They killed their abusers. Should they spend their lives in prison?
Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
The New York Times and Propublica have shared the stories of a collection of US women who are serving or have served life sentences for killing their abusers. The establishment of the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act in some states means the courts are now to review punishments handed down to people who murdered their abusers to see if they accounted for the role that years of abuse played in their crimes. The question led to one woman, Lisa Wright, who had already served over 30 years in prison, being freed from prison. This article delves into the stories of the women who have since attempted to gain their freedom under Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act, the lawyers working with them, and the challenges they are facing.
(The New York Times, approx 25 mins reading time)
“Under her lawyer’s questioning, Moss described a pattern of abuse that began six months after their wedding, when her husband grabbed her by the throat and threw her against the fireplace. She recalled how, during an argument, he tried to shove a tennis ball into her mouth. How she was knocked unconscious when he once slammed her head against their refrigerator so hard that it left a dent. How he repeatedly punched her in the stomach when she was pregnant with their son. How he raped her multiple times, once with a curling iron — an assault that caused lasting injuries. ‘I bled every day for five years until I finally had a hysterectomy,’ she said. When her 4-year-old daughter from a previous marriage complained that Mike had done something to make her bottom hurt, Moss feared he was sexually abusing her little girl, too.”
2. The last chimpanzees with sign language
University of Nevada psychologists Doctors Beatrice and R Allen Gardner talk to Washoe, a female chimpanzee they taught to communicate using American Sign Language, in Reno, 1976. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
A group of chimpanzees were taught sign language in the 1960s and ’70s. Now only two are still alive, Tatu, 49, and Loulis, 47. National Geographic has chatted with the researchers involved in the sign language project to see what they make of it now, and if they’d do it again.
(National Geographic, approx 20 mins reading time)
“Tatu, the more loquacious one, has mastery of 215 signs, while Loulis can use 78. Among their favorite things to talk to their caregivers about are food and activities. Tatu is partial to cheese and enjoys a nice cup of coffee or tea, while Loulis prefers asking his caregivers to play a game of chase.”
3. “Don’t go – not with Trump in charge.“
Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
UK grandmother Karen Newtown, 65, and her husband Bill, 66, had planned the holiday of a lifetime – a roadtrip across the US. But when they tried to go home to Hertfordshire, they ended up spending six weeks in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention. Turns out Bill had overstayed a work visa years earlier and his tourist visa had expired, and despite Karen having done nothing wrong, by helping Bill pack for their holiday she was guilty by association.
(The Guardian, approx 16 mins reading time)
“Karen and Bill were shackled at the wrists , waist and ankles and bundled into a vehicle. Karen doesn’t know how long they were on the road for. ‘It just seemed to be a never-ending day.’ They arrived at Sweetgrass border patrol station in Montana in the middle of the night, and were held there for three days, sharing a cell without beds; they slept on mats on the floor, under foil blankets. ‘I was very nervous and frightened the whole time. And I was chilled to the bone – I couldn’t warm up.’ They were interviewed separately. Karen was not offered a lawyer; she wasn’t entitled to one, she says, because she had been detained, rather than arrested. She didn’t think she needed one, anyway. ‘I just thought, ‘When they listen to me, when they come to their senses, they are going to let me go.’ I thought they might escort me to the airport and put us on a plane – hopefully both of us. But that didn’t happen.’”
4. The original Wuthering Heights
The latest adaptation of Emily Brontë’s novel Wuthering Heights has received mixed reviews. The 1847 novel was, to say the least, modernised in Emerald Fennell’s movie, which came complete with an accompanying soundtrack from British pop star Charli XCX. This columnist from The New Yorker gives her two cents on how, regardless of the amount of adaptations made, the original novel’s timelessness means it will always have the last word.
(The New Yorker, approx eight mins reading time)
“A few days after Emerald Fennell’s film adaptation of ‘Wuthering Heights’ came out, a friend sent me an Onion headline about a bookseller frantically pulling classics off the shelf before Fennell enters the store. No beloved novel could be safe from the dangers of the director introducing anachronistic costumes, original songs by Charli XCX, selectively color-blind casting, and explicit B.D.S.M. scenes for its Byronic hero. In the case of ‘Wuthering Heights’, though, there was no further need to worry. The books had already flown off the shelves.”
5. The town that chose it’s football hero over a rape victim
Balmoral is a town of 280 people, in Western Victoria’s sheep farming country west of the Grampians. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
This tragic story from the Australian national public broadcaster shows how a small town turned its back on a rape victim and her family, in favour of two well-known local men. The men, one of who was the football star of the town of Balmoral in Victoria, were convicted of rape by two juries, but for many in the community this didn’t change anything. Eventually some community leaders spoke out against the support of the rapists, but for the victim’s family, the damage was already.
(ABC, approx 25 mins reading time)
“Seventeen people have provided written references in support of the two men. Brendan Thompson, a man with deep ties to Balmoral and the former president of Luke’s new football club at Leopold, stands up to read his. He tells the court Luke will be welcome to return to the club when his time is done. ‘He’d be welcome in my house as well,’ he says.”
6. Anti-vax parents
Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Seven-year-old Ethan is currently hospitalised with measles encephalitis, a complication that causes swelling and inflammation of the brain. Ethan’s parents chose not to vaccinate their fourth child against measles. Three of their four boys contracted the disease, but Ethan’s dad said the toll the infection took on his child means he is essentially paralysed. Despite this, his parents say they don’t regret their decision not to vaccinate their son.
(The Independent, approx 11 mins reading time)
“That anti-vax position is only growing under MAHA Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s anti-vaccine policies, which medical experts say have undermined public trust in immunizations by promoting unproven theories about the dangers of vaccines. Now, once-dormant measles is surging across the U.S. as vaccination rates continue to drop. Ethan and his family live in South Carolina’s Spartanburg County, the epicenter of the outbreak where cases of the highly contagious virus have exploded in recent months. There have been 962 confirmed cases in the state since the outbreak began in September 2025, surpassing the 762 cases reported in West Texas last year.”
…AND A CLASSIC FROM THE ARCHIVES…
7. Eating at the world’s worst Michelin restaurant
Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
This blogger tried what he thinks is the world’s worst Michelin restaurant, Bros’ in Italy, and the results are pretty hilarious. For €200 per person, his table was served 27 bizarre courses, from a citrus foam that had to be licked from a plaster cast of the chef’s mouth to droplets infused with meat molecules.
(The Everywhereist, approx nine mins reading time)
“It’s as though someone had read about food and restaurants, but had never experienced either, and this was their attempt to recreate it. What followed was a 27-course meal (note that ‘course’ and ‘meal’ and ’27′ are being used liberally here) which spanned 4.5 hours and made me feel like I was a character in a Dickensian novel. Because – I cannot impart this enough – there was nothing even close to an actual meal served. Some ‘courses’ were slivers of edible paper. Some shots were glasses of vinegar. Everything tasted like fish, even the non-fish courses. And nearly everything, including these noodles, which was by far the most substantial dish we had, was served cold.”
