The ObserverWork & careersThe meaninglessness of modern work – and the pandemic – has led many to question their approach to their jobs
Bartleby is back, although no doubt he would prefer not to be. This time, Herman Melville’s reluctant Wall Street scrivener has returned in the form of TikTokers who have embraced “quiet quitting”.
Rather than working late on a Friday evening, organising the annual team-building trip to Slough or volunteering to supervise the boss’s teenager on work experience, the quiet quitters are avoiding the above and beyond, the hustle culture mentality, or what psychologists call “occupational citizenship behaviours”.
The ObserverScarlett JohanssonScarlett Johansson: I have no regrets over ad for West Bank drinks company SodaStreamDespite row with Oxfam, star is 'not swayed' by condemnation over drinks plant on West Bank in IsraelThe film star Scarlett Johansson, a former Oxfam ambassador, has questioned the charity's position on political boycotts of Israel and told the Observer that she has no regrets over her decision to promote SodaStream, a company headquartered in Israel, with a controversial factory in a settlement on the West Bank.
The ObserverRefereesYellow cards, VAR and no controversy: Rebecca Welch makes history as first female Premier League refereeThere were some boos and half-hearted chants, but she maintained quiet and calm authority when she took charge in Fulham v Burnley
It’s said that the mark of a good performance for a football referee is not being noticed. That was always going to be a tall order for Rebecca Welch, who on Saturday became the first woman to referee a Premier League match in Fulham’s 2-0 home defeat by Burnley.
Gardening blogGardensA swine of a vine: why you should plant Russian vine at your perilI have been wondering, in the style of Alien vs Predator, what would win in a showdown between Russian vine and leylandii.
In my last garden, it was a big leyland cypress that overhung my fence and overshadowed my garden that got on my wick. I had thought that my troubles were over when I moved to a garden with very little in the way neighbouring trees to block out the light.
SportblogLa LigaThe most important player in Girona’s history moved more mountains to fire up their irresistible charge in the title race
Cristhian Stuani said it wasn’t him, an old school No 9 doing what no No 9 ever does, but no one cared, not even the referee. He could have the goal, he had earned it: a hundred times over, every minute of every day, the best days of their lives.
FictionReviewThis is an exuberant look at love and life in an absurd and godless universeIt cannot be an easy thing to write a comic novel about the death of God. Still, the German novelist Daniel Kehlmann may just have pulled it off. “F” is the protagonist of a book within a book, the debut novel of Arthur Friedland, a rather disorganised buffoon who never had any success as a writer until an encounter with a hypnotist gave his life its chilly purpose: “This is an order, and you’re going to follow it because you want to follow it, and you want to because I’m ordering you, and I’m ordering you because you want me to give the order.
Kimbo Slice’s improbable ascent was one of MMA’s most intriguing plotlines. Photograph: Sipa Press/Rex/ShutterstockKimbo Slice’s improbable ascent was one of MMA’s most intriguing plotlines. Photograph: Sipa Press/Rex/ShutterstockMMAKimbo Slice, street fighter and MMA pioneer, dies aged 42 Bellator fighter with distinctive look dead of unclear causes at 42 Fighter parlayed YouTube notoriety into professional MMA career How Kimbo Slice and MMA challenge our notions of celebrity and humanity
Kimbo Slice, the bearded street fighter who parlayed his internet popularity into a mixed martial arts career and worldwide fame, has died.
Students This article is more than 1 year oldNUS president ousted over antisemitism allegationsThis article is more than 1 year oldInquiry found ‘significant breaches’ of policy, thought to refer to past comments made by Shaima Dallali The National Union of Students has ousted its president after a long-running independent inquiry into allegations of antisemitism found “significant breaches” of the organisation’s policies.
The allegations of misconduct are thought to centre around past comments by Shaima Dallali, in some cases dating back 10 years before her election as NUS president in March this year.
100 best nonfiction books of all timeTravel writingMuch admired by Graham Greene and Evelyn Waugh, Robert Byron’s dazzling, timeless account of a journey to Afghanistan is perhaps the greatest travel book of the 20th centuryAccording to Robert Byron’s Oxford contemporary Evelyn Waugh – never the most reliable witness – the future author of The Road to Oxiana used to delight in shouting “Down with abroad”. Typical in striking a pose, Byron was an aggressive Oxford aesthete of the “Brideshead generation”, a homosexual wanderer whose precocious career as a travel writer and art historian can be traced through a succession of prewar gems.
Children's booksChildren's booksThe Delirium Trilogy by Lauren Oliver - Review'The point of these books is seeing Lena grow from a timid teenage girl into one who could be a leader fighting for freedom'The Delirium Trilogy follows a teenage girl called Lena in her adventures and battles against a government that claims Love is a disease. In this society, once you reach 18 years old you are required to have an operation that "