Ruaridh Nicoll

Journalist, editor, and author (of White Male Heart and Wide Eyed). If a song starts "My heart is in..." I'm there. https://t.co/HLepe5Vb7i

Articles

Over a barrel: lack of sugar throws Cuba’s rum industry into crisis

1 week ago | theguardian.com | Ruaridh Nicoll

It’s a crisis that would have sent a shiver down Ernest Hemingway’s drinking arm. Cuba’s communist government is struggling to process enough sugar to make the rum for his beloved mojitos and daiquiris. As summer rains bring the Caribbean island’s 2025 harvest to an end, a recent analysis by Reuters suggests that Cuba’s state-run monopoly, Azcuba, is likely to produce just 165,000 metric tonnes of sugar this year. That compares with harvests of 8m in the late 1980s.
From drug baron’s hide-out to billionaire’s beach retreat

1 month ago | ft.com | Ruaridh Nicoll

Our small plane banks and I look down at an island like a fish hook rusting in a perfect sea.
Binario canadese

1 month ago | internazionale.it | Ruaridh Nicoll

L’antico albergo ferroviario di Toronto, il Fairmont Royal York, è a pochi passi dalla Union station, ma a gennaio questa distanza può rivelarsi insidiosa: il vento è gelido e attacca come un orso polare arrabbiato. A testa bassa io e mia moglie Camila camminiamo velocemente tra i due edifici di fine ottocento che si trovano nel distretto finanziario, fatto di grattacieli in vetro e acciaio.
Great rail journeys: the train that binds Canada together

2 months ago | ft.com | Ruaridh Nicoll

Toronto’s grand old station hotel, the Fairmont Royal York, is only a few steps from Union Station, but in January you enter the gap at...
Families fear for Cuban prisoners after Trump reneges on release deal

Jan 22, 2025 | msn.com | Ruaridh Nicoll

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Families fear for Cuban prisoners after Trump reneges on release deal

Jan 22, 2025 | msn.com | Ruaridh Nicoll

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Families fear for Cuban prisoners after Trump reneges on release deal

Jan 22, 2025 | theguardian.com | Ruaridh Nicoll

The families of Cuban protesters jailed in anti-government demonstrations are waiting anxiously to see if the government will continue with a planned prisoner release after Donald Trump reneged on a deal made last week by Joe Biden. Activists from the human rights group Justicia 11J believe around 150 prisoners have been released so far of the 553 agreed with the Catholic church.
My granny’s induction to Australia’s tennis hall of fame has proved a family journey of discovery | Ruaridh Nicoll

Jan 17, 2025 | theguardian.com | Ruaridh Nicoll

Early in December, my nephew Tom received a message on a genealogy website asking if he was related to Esna Boyd. Esna was the winner of the 1927 Australian Open, and Tennis Australia was looking for descendants because they are about to induct her into the Australian tennis hall of fame. Esna was also my grandmother, Tom’s great-grandmother. In Scotland, where we live, my family WhatsApp group lit up. It’s been an odd experience.
surprise at Biden’s last-gasp Cuba sanctions deal

Jan 16, 2025 | msn.com | Ruaridh Nicoll

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US-Cuba deal to bring release of more than 500 detainees: ‘I thought I’d never get out’

Jan 16, 2025 | theguardian.com | Ruaridh Nicoll

When Maykel González Vivero, a journalist and LGBTQ+ activist, was picked up by police during massive street protests in Cuba in July 2021, he was driven to a detention centre on the outskirts of Havana and thrown into a jail cell with dozens of others. “When I was in that cell I thought I would never get out. I prepared myself mentally,” he said. He was released that night, but hundreds of others were not.