23 June - The Knowledge

In the headlines

All five men aboard the Titan submersible were killed in a “catastrophic implosion”, the US Coast Guard has confirmed. A robotic diving vehicle found “major pieces” of the vessel’s pressure hull just 1,600 feet from the Titanic’s bow. Controversial voter ID rules prevented around 14,000 people from casting their ballot in May’s local elections. The Electoral Commission says the new requirements – which demand specific forms of photo identification – disproportionately affected ethnic minorities and the unemployed. Glastonbury gatecrashers have been digging Great Escape-style tunnels to sneak into the festival. Determined interlopers have also been spotted using grappling hooks and collapsible ladders to scale Worthy Farm’s 13ft-high “super-fortress fence”.

Photography

Winners of the Royal Entomological Society’s insect photography competition include shots of a mating pair of golden-tabbed robber flies; a close-up of a rain-soaked blue-tailed damselfly; a bumble bee heading towards yellow flowers; and an ant lion emerging after a rainstorm. See the rest here.

Zeitgeist

In the years after 9/11, says Michelle Goldberg in The New York Times, a conservative politician or pundit could make a good career out of “demonising Muslims”. Today, as the “battle against wokeness” has supplanted the war on terror, their “sympathies are reversing”. Republicans are now “wooing Muslim voters” by promising to “protect them from LGBTQ rights advocates”. Last week, the GOP rejoiced as the all-Muslim City Council in Hamtramck, Michigan – once hailed by progressives as a triumph of multiculturalism – banned pride flags from city property. As history shows, “nothing drives conservatives to reach out to groups they once feared as much as another group that they fear even more”.

Fashion

Jean shorts, also known as jorts, are in theory “incredibly unchic”, says the Evening Standard: a look that screams “pitmaster at the family barbecue”. But now all the “cool girls and boys” – like model Hailey Bieber, TV presenter Maya Jama and rapper A$AP Rocky– are wearing them. Google searches for the word “jorts” have increased tenfold in five years, with the past 12 months seeing the biggest spike; brands from Prada to Asos have “flooded the market with loose-fitting, three-quarter-length denim shorts”. It’s unsurprising, really: jorts are “breezy, have deep pockets and are comfortable enough to wear day and night”. It’s official – “hot jort summer” is upon us.

From the archives

This clip of a penny farthing race in London’s Herne Hill 90 years ago has racked up more than 300,000 views on Twitter. The old-fashioned bikes, known as “boneshakers”, could zip around the track at an impressive 20mph. As one user says, “they should bring that back as an Olympic sport”.

Love etc

Nearly a fifth of married American doctors are wedded to another doctor, says The Washington Post, making it the profession most likely to get hitched to their own kind. The rest of the top five – all around the 13% mark – are professors, hospitality workers, farmers, and lawyers. As for the most common pairing between different jobs: almost 10% of married firefighters are married to nurses.

Snapshot

It’s a 16th-century Catholic church that has fully emerged from a drought-stricken reservoir in Mexico for the first time. Known as the Temple of Santiago, the stone structure was first submerged when the Nezahualcoyotl Reservoir was created in 1966. It partially re-emerged eight years ago, and there is now so little water that people can walk right up to it.

Quoted

“Success didn’t spoil me; I’ve always been insufferable.”

American author Fran Lebowitz