{"id":615635,"date":"2026-04-18T19:12:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T19:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/615635\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T19:12:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T19:12:17","slug":"five-great-reads-a-month-in-tradwife-land-francesca-albaneses-rollercoaster-life-and-the-problem-with-six-second-hugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/615635\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Great Reads: a month in tradwife land, Francesca Albanese\u2019s \u2018rollercoaster\u2019 life, and the problem with six-second hugs |"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. We live in trying times, feels everyone who has ever lived \u2013 especially this week, I think to myself most weeks. Sometimes, however, it\u2019s better to stop catastrophising<\/a>, take the high road<\/a>, and focus on finding something good to read.<\/p>\n

Here are my picks from around the Guardian this week, digging into the world in all its messy, interesting glory.<\/p>\n

1. Death threats, danger and dread after accusing Israel of genocide\u2018I go around with cash or I have to borrow from friends or from family members\u2019 \u2026 Francesca Albanese in Geneva last month. Photograph: Jordi Ruiz Cirera\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

As Julian Borger eloquently puts it: \u201cThe untreated wound of Israel-Palestine has shown its capacity every generation to give the rest of the world a fever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Our senior international correspondent has interviewed Francesca Albanese<\/a>, UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967. Sitting in a cafe in Geneva, the 49-year-old tells him about a \u201crollercoaster\u201d existence in the wake of her March 2024 report Anatomy of a Genocide.<\/p>\n

Why has she become such a lightning rod? \u201cAlbanese was not the first person to describe the Israeli military campaign in Gaza as a genocide, but she was the first person with the initials UN in her title to do so,\u201d Borger says. She has been criticised by many, demonised by the Trump administration, and become something of a hero to others \u2013 using her public visibility \u201cnot just to condemn the Israeli government and its military, but also the constellation of western states and corporations that have abetted them\u201d.<\/p>\n

How long will it take to read: six minutes<\/p>\n

2. Dabbling in tradwife culture\u2018I was reminded how relaxing I find it to make bread.\u2019 Photograph: Alicia Canter\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

As \u201ctradwife\u201d influencer accounts grow in popularity and a slew of novels emerges to chronicle the moment, features writer Lucy Knight has spent a month finding out<\/a> what makes this culture so compelling to young women.<\/p>\n

What did she do? Read the novels, made some focaccia and went deep on the online content (of which there is \u2026 a lot).<\/p>\n

What did she find? That \u2013 as usual \u2013 it\u2019s less about wanting to make pies and have babies, and more about a yearning to escape the brutal stressors of contemporary life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem,\u201d Knight writes, \u201cis that none of the fantasies sold to women as the thing that will make their lives better actually work for most people.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Topically, there\u2019s a new Mark Fisher documentary out soon<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

How long will it take to read: about six minutes<\/p>\n

Further reading: While we\u2019re leaning into gender norms, here\u2019s a male author calling for straight male authors to rediscover writing about sex<\/a>. (Be careful what you wish for, I say.)<\/p>\n

3. \u2018Young men are allowed the grace of learning how to behave\u2019\u2018I got everything I dreamed of \u2013 when I had no ability to handle it\u2019: Lena Dunham, photographed in New York last month. Photograph: Chris Buck\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

With the release of Lena Dunham\u2019s tell-all memoir, the Girls wunderkind spoke to Emma Brockes<\/a> about what forced her retreat from the spotlight and her \u201clost decade\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust when you think no one cares, someone does something creepy, so you have to watch out.\u201d \u2013 Lena Dunham, on why she still uses aliases.<\/p>\n

The book covers a huge amount of terrain: excruciating public exposure; health and addiction struggles; creative, romantic and family relationship breakdowns; and being cancelled \u201ctoo many times to count\u201d.<\/p>\n

But life in the UK suits her: Partly, Dunham tells Brockes, because she enjoys watching British women get old. \u201cThey lean into their eccentricity \u2026 And it\u2019s not just artistic people \u2013 it\u2019s a woman who you see walking her dog on the road in the countryside in funny boots.\u201d<\/p>\n

How long will it take to read: 11 minutes<\/p>\n

Further reading: One former Dunham hater wants to say he\u2019s sorry. And if you\u2019re curious to read a section of Dunham\u2019s memoir, try this<\/a>.<\/p>\n

4. What does Orb\u00e1n\u2019s fall mean for Europe?Tisza party supporters awaiting P\u00e9ter Magyar\u2019s victory speech on Sunday. Photograph: Neil Milton\/SOPA Images\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Viktor Orb\u00e1n was stunningly defeated in the Hungarian election last weekend, after almost 16 years in power. The country\u2019s return to democracy will be hard, our panel of experts has observed<\/a> \u2013 but the impact of P\u00e9ter Magyar\u2019s decisive victory could be profound, inside the country and beyond.<\/p>\n

Zsuzsanna Szel\u00e9nyi, program director of the CEU Democracy Institute: \u201cEven entrenched illiberal regimes are not invincible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nathalie Tocci, Guardian Europe columnist: \u201cIt removes a thorn in the EU\u2019s side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zselyke Csaky, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform: \u201cThe EU needs to act fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

How long will it take to read: four minutes<\/p>\n

Further reading: Magyar understood that Hungarians care more about the cost of living than conspiracies, writes commentator Tibor Dessewffy<\/a>. But as Jon Henley reports from Europe<\/a>, it may be too early to celebrate the end of the continent\u2019s far right.<\/p>\n

5. Stop trying to optimise everything!\u2018If you were to search for things people value in their own right \u2026 you\u2019d be looking for a long time.\u2019 Illustration: Guardian Design \/ Ana\u00efs Mims\/Getty<\/p>\n

Reading helps you become a better person. Art makes you live longer! Singing helps with stress! Orgasms can \u2026 stop cancer?! There\u2019s no mistaking the ongoing trend of justifying good things with material \u201cbenefits\u201d and the writer and philosopher Julian Baggini has had enough<\/a>. This instrumentalisation, he writes, \u201cis most pernicious when it applies to things we do with and for others\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIntrinsic human goods include all the things that make life worth living without need of any further justification. To ask of them: \u2018What\u2019s the point?\u2019 would be to miss the point. They are the point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gardening, cooking, camping, swimming, campaigning, volunteer work, keeping a diary, laughing, saying \u201cthank you\u201d, learning a language \u2026 Baggini\u2019s catalogue of hijacked pastimes is also a lovely reminder of the many things that make life joyful.<\/p>\n

He really did not like The Happiness Project. Baggini recalls one passage from the 2010 book he had the \u201cmisfortune\u201d to review. In it, author Gretchen Rubin recounted hugging her husband for six seconds, or in her words: \u201cthe minimum time necessary to promote the flow of oxytocin and serotonin, mood-boosting chemicals that promote bonding\u201d.<\/p>\n

Baggini writes: \u201cI was left with the chilling image of a woman holding her husband not only out of love or affection but in order to release hormones and reduce her stress.\u201d<\/p>\n

How long will it take to read: about nine minutes<\/p>\n

Further reading: Here are 25 other books to read<\/a> completely and utterly for their own sake. (The headline suggests reading them before 25, but in my view they\u2019re good for any time.)<\/p>\n

Have a good weekend.<\/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. We live in trying times, feels everyone who has ever lived \u2013 especially this week, I…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-615635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}