Kim Willsher

1 month ago | irishexaminer.com | Kim Willsher

In a historical spat that could be subtitled “1066 with knobs on”, two medieval experts are engaged in a battle over how many male genitalia are embroidered into the Bayeux tapestry. The Oxford professor George Garnett drew worldwide interest six years ago when he announced he had totted up 93 penises stitched into the embroidered account of the Norman conquest of England. According to Garnett, 88 of the male appendages are attached to horses and the remainder to human figures.

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Kim Willsher

The French government is seeking to take action against a TikTok group promoting extreme thinness among young women and girls. France’s minister for digital media, Clara Chappaz, has reported #SkinnyTok to the country’s audiovisual and digital watchdog and the EU over concerns that the trend is body-shaming victims into anorexia and that algorithms are targeting the most vulnerable. The hashtag has been associated with more than half a million posts on the app.

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Kim Willsher

A 27-year-old British man has died after being swept away by an avalanche at the French ski resort of Val Thorens after unusually heavy storms across the Alps. The victim, who has not been named, was reportedly at the side of a road at the lower side of the town when he was struck by a wall of snow that carried him 15 metres (50 feet) down the mountain on Thursday morning. He was taken to hospital in Grenoble with cardiorespiratory failure but died in the evening.

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Kim Willsher

In Paris’s central Place de la République, the magnificent lions at the feet of the statue of Marianne are once again covered in graffiti. Along the nearby Boulevard Saint-Martin – part of the Grands Boulevards that bisect the north of the city – the trunk of every plane tree has been crudely sprayed with a name. The front of majestic stone apartment buildings, some dating back more than 200 years, are similarly “tagged” with stylised initials or names.

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Kim Willsher

Emmanuel Macron has warned that those behind a wave of apparently coordinated attacks on French prisons and staff will be “found, tried and punished”. The president’s comments came after at least a dozen assaults on French jails in the past three days. In one attack, gunmen using automatic weapons fired at the entrance to Toulon prison in the south of France. In other incidents, cars have been set alight and there have been vandalism and arson attempts on prison wardens’ accommodation.