OpinionConsumer affairs This article is more than 1 month oldI spent half a million dollars on a three-year cruise, but the ship never turned up. Still, always be positive This article is more than 1 month oldMeredith ShayI sold most of my possessions and gave up my home in anticipation of my departure. It might sound stressful, but it was liberating When I heard about a round the world cruise last year, taking in 135 countries and docking at 375 destinations over three years, I was the first person to sign up for it.

Monarchy This article is more than 1 year oldKing Charles redirects £1bn windfarm profits towards ‘public good’This article is more than 1 year oldEnergy agreements have generated windfall that would normally go towards monarchy From the archive: How the monarchy came to own the seabed around Britain King Charles has asked for profits from a £1bn-a-year crown estate windfarm deal to be used for the “wider public good” rather than as extra funding for the monarchy.

The Big IdeasAtheism This article is more than 11 years oldNietzsche's passionate atheism was the making of meThis article is more than 11 years oldGiles FraserNietzsche's pious lack of faith led to my own conversion to ChristianityThe Big Ideas series has for several months now explored the meaning of a number of familiar intellectual phrases, among them Marshall McLuhan's "the medium is the message", Hannah Arendt's "the banality of evil" and Adam Smith's "

National parks This article is more than 3 months oldOff-duty US air force officer saves fallen climber on Yosemite’s Half DomeThis article is more than 3 months oldJoshua Haveman employed tactical combat casualty care to patch up the wounded hiker’s badly mangled legs and help him to safety An off-duty US air force flight instructor braved strong winds, hail and slippery conditions to rescue a fellow climber who had fallen about 80ft (24.

The Observer profileGuns N' Roses This article is more than 15 years oldProfileThis article is more than 15 years oldNext month, Guns N'Roses are set to release their first album of new material for 17 years. But with their troubled singer promising 'something different', can the most expensive record ever made live up to the hype?It used to be called the 'most expensive album never made' and many of reclusive Axl Rose's fans had long given up hope of it ever seeing the light of day, but the title track of Guns N'Roses' new album, Chinese Democracy, was finally released to radio last week.

Reading groupBooksThe Book of Daniel by EL Doctorow: spies, conspiracy and a clever quest for the truthInspired by the trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, EL Doctorow’s 1971 novel would prove uncannily perceptive “It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn’t know what I was doing in New York.” So begins Sylvia Plath’s novel 1963 novel, The Bell Jar. A great opening. Attention-grabbing and wrong-footing in equal measure, it immediately situates the story in the middle of one of the cold war’s most hysterical moments, in the summer of 1953.

US supreme courtUS supreme court won’t hear case over bathrooms for transgender studentsAppeal from Indiana school hoped court would not require allowing trans students to use bathrooms of their choosing The US supreme court has decided it will not hear a case centering on the debate over bathrooms for transgender students. The decision came on Tuesday despite an appeal from Indiana’s metropolitan school district of Martinsville. Martinsville school district officials hoped the nation’s highest court would not require allowing transgender students to use the bathrooms of their choosing.

Ice hockeyUSA thrash hosts Sweden to claim world junior ice hockey championshipAmericans rout hosts 6-2 to win under-20 tournamentUS avenge defeat to Sweden at under-18 worlds in 2022The United States got the revenge they desperately craved. Isaac Howard scored twice in the second period and the US beat host Sweden 6-2 on Friday to capture gold at the IIHF world junior hockey championship. Boston College’s Gabe Perreault, a 2023 first-round pick of the New York Rangers, had a goal and two assists.

‘I needed something radical to break myself out of the patterns of negative thought.’ Illustration: Anna Parini‘I needed something radical to break myself out of the patterns of negative thought.’ Illustration: Anna PariniDrugsAfter our daughter’s death I was overwhelmed by pain and anxiety. Microdosing home-grown mushrooms helped me cope It was spring when my wife’s waters broke, three months early. We rushed to hospital, terrified. If our daughter arrived now, she might not survive.

Animals This article is more than 9 months oldCalls for action on Colombia’s hippo scourge after animal dies in road crashThis article is more than 9 months oldDead creature was one of 150 descendants of four hippos imported by drug baron Pablo Escobar in 1980s Colombia has logged its first hippopotamus-caused road traffic accident after a car crashed into one of the animals at high speed, leaving the vehicle mangled and the two-tonne mammal lying lifeless and bloodied across a highway.