Good morning \u2013 have you been in a reading rut? If so, you\u2019re not alone. \u201cThe world is increasingly distracting,\u201d the president of the American Library Association told one of our reporters this week. \u201cIt can be really difficult to get into a reading habit.\u201d<\/p>\n
One \u2013 quite intuitive \u2013 tip from the experts<\/a> is simply to read things you find interesting. They don\u2019t have to be too long: the \u201cintentional focus\u201d will still help you rest and slow down.<\/p>\n Here are five interesting pieces from the week that\u2019s been. (For anyone watching the Ashes<\/a>, you can get through most of these in a drinks break.)<\/p>\n 1. How Epstein\u2019s powerful friends normalised himJeffrey Epstein in court in 2008. \u2018If silence is complicity, the casual disdain of the elite circles he moved in spoke volumes.\u2019 Photograph: Uma Sanghvi\/AP<\/p>\n \u201cFrom British royalty to White House alumni, from a Silicon Valley investor to a leftwing academic, connections and influence were the ultimate currency for Jeffrey Epstein.\u201d<\/p>\n As Washington bureau chief David Smith writes<\/a>, emails released this week show Epstein\u2019s role in his vast network went far beyond social pleasantries. \u201cHe was treated as a trusted consigliere, a fixer whose judgment on matters of politics, scandal and personal life was actively sought by the powerful. He even sought to shape foreign policy.\u201d<\/p>\n How long will it take to read: under four minutes<\/p>\n Further reading: Moira Donegan writes<\/a> that the emails \u201creveal a disdain for morality among the elite\u201d. And as the furore around the release of more Epstein documents continues, you can find the latest here<\/a>.<\/p>\n 2. Is GenAI creating a global \u2018knowledge collapse\u2019?\u2018Local and traditional wisdom is being lost. And we are only beginning to realise what we\u2019re missing.\u2019 Illustration: Guardian Design<\/p>\n Deepak Varuvel Dennison studies what it takes to design responsible AI systems, as more and more people turn to them to learn about the world.<\/p>\n \u201cThese systems may appear neutral, but they are far from it,\u201d he writes, explaining how the processes behind GenAI models encode existing biases<\/a>, exclude marginalised knowledge \u2013 like that of oral traditions \u2013 and are creating \u201ca feedback loop that narrows the scope of accessible human knowledge\u201d.<\/p>\n Not just an AI issue: Indigenous knowledge has long been driven out by entrenched power structures, Dennison points out \u2013 GenAI just puts the process \u201con steroids\u201d.<\/p>\n How long will it take to read: about nine minutes<\/p>\n 3. A moment to shame all Australians\u2018Kardell Lomas\u2019s killing was not just a \u201cDV death\u201d. Its perpetrator was not only the man but the state that failed to protect her.\u2019 Composite: Victoria Hart\/Guardian Design<\/p>\n This week, a two-year Guardian Australia investigation revealed alleged failures by the police and coroner\u2019s court in family violence deaths in Queensland. One was that of 31-year-old Kardell Lomas, who was killed, with her unborn child, by her partner. Bodycam footage of a police callout just months before her death shows her apologising to police: \u201cI\u2019m sorry for the fuck-around.\u201d<\/p>\n Her words, Darumbal and South Sea Islander academic Dr Amy McQuire writes<\/a>, should shame every person who hears them.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a message that is sent to every single black woman: be thankful, be gracious, cower into yourself, apologise for fucking them around \u2026 She speaks as if she is the problem, when it is those around her who have made her more vulnerable to death.\u201d<\/p>\n How long will it take to read: three minutes<\/p>\n Broken trust: read, watch and listen to the full investigation here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Indigenous Australians can call 13YARN on 13 92 76 for information and crisis support. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline<\/a> is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service<\/a> is on 1800 737 732. Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org<\/a><\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Five Great Reads<\/p>\n Each week our editors select five of the most interesting, entertaining and thoughtful reads published by Guardian Australia and our international colleagues. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Saturday morning<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n 4. Did Spain\u2019s \u2018pact of forgetting\u2019 after Franco leave a new generation open to the far right?\u2018I would so love to say that Franco is dead \u2026 But today, with the resurgence of the alt-right, he is somehow still painfully present.\u2019 Photograph: Violeta Santos Moura\/Reuters<\/p>\n Fifty years after Francisco Franco\u2019s death, his legacy continues to \u201chaunt divide and confuse\u201d 21st-century Spain. After his four-decade dictatorship, the country wanted to move on as quickly as possible, and leave the past in the past.<\/p>\n But as Madrid correspondent Sam Jones reports<\/a>, the far right is once more on the march, appealing to younger voters with no memory \u2013 and scant knowledge \u2013 of Franco\u2019s violent, authoritarian regime.<\/p>\n \u201cAll these youths who now raise their arms in fascist salutes were never really taught their history.\u201d \u2013 Spanish film-maker Almudena Carracedo<\/p>\n How long will it take to read: four minutes<\/p>\n Further reading: Indifferent, nostalgic or plain pragmatic \u2026 Tess McClure explores the reactions of Indonesian gen Zs<\/a> to strongman Suharto\u2019s national hero status.<\/p>\n 5. \u2018It\u2019s like they\u2019ve opened all their trench coats\u2019Olivia Nuzzi, a political reporter known for her access to Republican figures, and Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary. Photograph: AP and Getty Images<\/p>\n The rollout of American reporter Olivia Nuzzi\u2019s memoir \u2013 in which she details what she describes as an emotional affair with Robert F Kennedy Jr \u2013 has led to her ex-fiance and former Politico correspondent Ryan Lizza airing out her alleged affairs.<\/p>\n \u201cThe mudslinging between two of the more polarising personalities in a profession filled with egos delighted a media class that revels in navel-gazing, schadenfreude and generally messy behaviour,\u201d writes Alaina Demopoulos<\/a>. \u201cOver the course of four days it had a lot of material to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n Why should I care about this? Fair question. But while Nuzzi and Lizza are not, Demopoulos acknowledges, \u201chousehold names outside the Beltway and New York media circles\u201d, all the gossip and drama is fuelling dangerous stereotypes about journalists.<\/p>\n How long will it take to read: three minutes<\/p>\n Sign up<\/p>\n If you would like to receive these Five Great Reads to your email inbox every weekend, sign up here<\/a>. And check out out the full list of our local and international newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Good morning \u2013 have you been in a reading rut? 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