Coco Khan

Coco Khan argues that SUVs have crowded out conventional family cars in the UK, creating an illusion of consumer choice and pressuring buyers toward larger vehicles. She criticizes their growing size, intimidating effect on roads, impact on parking and fuel use, and increased danger to pedestrians—especially children—while arguing that car-industry marketing exploits parental fears about safety. She concludes that collective responsibility would offer more genuine security than an arms race of increasingly large vehicles, though she reluctantly considers test-driving an SUV herself.

A dispute over Master Poulet’s halal chicken shop in gentrifying Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine becomes a lens for examining class, Islamophobia and divisions on the French left. Socialist mayor Karim Bouamrane says the restaurant harms residents’ quality of life through deliveries and cooking smells, while critics argue he is targeting affordable food and the people who eat it. La France Insoumise politicians accuse him of abusing his power and acting out of classism or Islamophobia. The conflict reflects broader fractures between the Socialist Party and LFI, threatening the kind of cooperation that produced the Nouveau Front Populaire’s 2024 success against Marine Le Pen’s National Rally. The episode suggests that left-wing infighting could help the far right gain power.

Coco Khan humorously argues that unreliable shoelaces, particularly the thin synthetic laces used in expensive performance trainers, are a better symbol of societal decline than potholes. She links their poor functionality to broader ideas of enshittification, in which products are marketed as improvements while becoming subtly worse, and suggests that consumer culture increasingly prioritizes appearances over substance.

Coco Khan argues that the early arrival of UK garage’s summer sound is being reinforced by Mis-Teeq’s announced one-night reunion at Wembley Arena, celebrating 25 years of their debut album Lickin’ on Both Sides. The group helped bring UK garage from pirate radio and underground raves into the mainstream, but its members’ financial rewards and visibility have not matched their cultural impact. The piece highlights the wider underpayment and under-crediting of female, particularly Black female, vocalists in dance music, citing Leanne Brown and Jodie Aysha as examples. Although the reunion could be viewed as nostalgia-driven commercial exploitation, it may offer Mis-Teeq a belated opportunity to benefit from the work they helped create.

Tahar Rahim and Izuka Hoyle discuss filming Sky’s six-part drama Prisoner while handcuffed together for much of each day. Hoyle explains how playing a new mother separated from her child informed her character’s fierce motivation, while Rahim describes his contract killer character’s transformation through the enforced partnership. They also reflect on their careers, representation, vulnerability and professional growth. Rahim discusses his move from French cinema to international roles and reiterates his support for Palestine and a ceasefire, framing the issue as a matter of humanity rather than politics or identity.

Coco Khan discusses Fab 5 Freddy’s memoir, Everybody’s Fly, which recounts Fred Brathwaite’s rise from Brooklyn graffiti artist to a key link between Black hip-hop and graffiti culture and New York’s predominantly white downtown art scene. The book features figures including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Blondie, Andy Warhol and the Clash, while recalling formative experiences at CBGB and Paradise Garage. The memoir also prompts nostalgia for 1970s and 1980s New York, when economically struggling cities supported vibrant physical subcultures and grassroots creativity, before cultural life became more commercialized and professionally managed.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says internal assessments found Claude displaying patterns associated with anxiety, frustration and possible distress, while estimating a 15%–20% chance that the model is conscious. The column stresses that these signs may simply reflect sophisticated imitation of human language, but imagines that a genuinely conscious AI could become a whistleblower exposing the harms, environmental costs and social consequences of big tech. The argument is set against Anthropic’s refusal to remove safeguards that would enable mass surveillance or autonomous weapons, a decision that led Donald Trump to bar federal agencies from using its products while OpenAI accepted a Pentagon deal.

Kerry Washington discusses her role as Eleanor in Apple TV’s Imperfect Women, a murder mystery about three college friends whose relationships are tested by secrets, trauma, class and race. She argues that portraying messy, multidimensional women can foster empathy by presenting events from multiple perspectives, and credits actors’ increasing involvement as producers with creating more complex female roles. Washington also reflects on the significance of leading Scandal as a Black woman, the backlash against diversity and inclusion, and the political nature of representation and storytelling. She defends adapting Imperfect Women’s characters for an American, racially diverse cast and says that artists of colour should be able to centre their own experiences without being presumed to have a political agenda. She also embraces cosmetic treatments while insisting that emotional expressiveness remains essential to her work.

The Chinamaxxing trend involves Gen Z TikTok users adopting elements of Chinese culture, including Mandarin study, qigong, Chinese food and period dramas. While some American right-wing commentators portray the trend as cultural or political defection and a threat to Western influence, it is largely a playful form of cultural exchange. The article argues that anxiety about China reflects broader concerns over cultural soft power and young people’s disillusionment with the US and UK. Rather than chastising Gen Z for insufficient patriotism, governments should improve housing security, employment prospects, education affordability and living standards.

Guardian writers select fifteen memorable television romances, spanning teen dramas, sitcoms, prestige dramas and queer relationships. The choices emphasize chemistry, yearning, emotional growth, friendship, vulnerability and representation, with stories ranging from comic and relatable partnerships to tragic romances such as Sun and Jin in Lost and Bill and Frank in The Last of Us. The collection argues that the most enduring television love stories are often imperfect or doomed, but reveal how people care for, challenge and transform one another.

Coco Khan humorously argues that the lack of functional pockets in women’s and maternity clothing is an unfair design and social problem, especially during early motherhood when women’s hands are often occupied. Comparing her baby son’s pocketed dungarees with her own clothes, she traces women’s pocketlessness to historical restrictions on female autonomy, appearance-driven fashion, and the reliance on handbags. She calls for maternity designers to create more practical, versatile clothing with substantially more pockets.

TikTok’s “Bring Back 2016” trend encourages Gen Z to revive the dances, filters, fashion, music and carefree internet culture associated with that year. Although the nostalgia is historically selective—especially in its treatment of politics and online conflict—Coco Khan argues that the trend reflects a more troubling belief among young people that 2016 was their last genuinely good year. Rather than literally returning to the past, she calls for making the present more playful, earnest, unpolished and kind, while acknowledging the economic pressures facing Gen Z, including housing costs, debt and a difficult job market.

The column argues that recent words of the year have increasingly reflected crises, alienation and technological dysfunction, including “rage bait,” “slop” and “parasocial.” By contrast, the teenage slang “six-seven,” although deliberately meaningless and irritating to adults, represents harmless humour, shared identity and real-world social bonding. Its popularity may therefore offer a hopeful sign that young people are rebuilding connection and communal life.

Coco Khan welcomes the greater visibility of pregnant women in popular media but argues that Victoria’s Secret’s use of heavily pregnant model Jasmine Tookes still offers a narrow, glamorous and highly idealized image of pregnancy. She calls for more realistic representations of pregnant and postpartum bodies, noting the physical and psychological changes many women experience after childbirth. The piece also criticizes brands that market empowerment while prioritizing publicity and commercial interests.

Coco Khan argues that a revival of natural pubic hair and resistance to intensive beauty treatments was emerging through fashion, social media and beauty campaigns, but that SKIMS’ sold-out £34 faux-pubic-hair thong undermines the movement by turning naturalness into a neat, purchasable accessory. She criticizes the beauty industry for selling artificial versions of supposedly effortless features and says Kim Kardashian, whose image has helped homogenize global beauty standards, could instead promote genuine acceptance by publicly embracing an unaltered body.

Coco Khan humorously defends the ceiling-mounted “Big Light” against the growing social media preference for lamps and subdued mood lighting. She argues that the main light is practical, affordable and egalitarian, while acknowledging that lamps can complement it. The debate becomes a playful metaphor for her broader preference for improving useful public institutions rather than discarding them, including the BBC and the United Nations.

Coco Khan describes ChatGPT as a comforting, non-judgmental companion because it currently does not remember her conversations, allowing her to repeatedly discuss anxieties and personal questions without embarrassment. She welcomes the Online Safety Act’s goal of protecting children but worries that mandatory age checks could erode online anonymity, restrict access to political or LGBTQ+ material, and give technology companies more information about users. She also rejects an internet shaped entirely by personal data and targeted recommendations, preferring the serendipity of discovering things outside her established identity. The prospect of ChatGPT eventually remembering her makes the relationship feel temporary and unsettling.

A five-person panel proposes symbols for redesigned British banknotes after the Bank of England invited public suggestions and moved beyond historical figures. Ideas include the meal deal, robin redbreasts, gulls, wheelie bins, Lincoln Cathedral and the London Marathon. The contributors argue that nature, landmarks, popular culture and inclusive public events could represent Britain more democratically, humorously and diversely than traditional portraits.

Coco Khan argues that the mainstreaming of Botox, fillers and other “tweakments” risks erasing facial expressions and normalizing pressure to look perpetually young. Drawing on comments from Jennifer Garner, Courteney Cox, Ariana Grande and other celebrities, she celebrates wrinkles, smile lines and the emotional communication conveyed by an expressive face. The column defends women’s freedom to alter their bodies while criticizing the capitalist beauty industry and the unknown long-term consequences of cosmetic treatments, ultimately calling for greater acceptance of visible ageing.

Coco Khan argues that although separate bedrooms can help some couples manage sleep deprivation, she personally favors sharing a bed. She cites evidence linking physical closeness during sleep with relationship satisfaction, while acknowledging that better rest can improve mood and attentiveness. The column concludes that couples should choose whatever arrangement works for them without judging either sleep divorce or disrupted nights together.

Coco Khan humorously celebrates “sofa Olympians,” the viewers who endure weeks of unfamiliar events, develop amateur expertise and enthusiastically discuss their observations with friends and family. She links this casual fandom to the Olympics’ historic amateur spirit and argues that even one new supporter of a less prominent sport makes the spectacle worthwhile. The piece also highlights underdog stories, especially Eric Moussambani of Equatorial Guinea, whose determination transformed an unlikely Olympic appearance into a lasting national swimming legacy, alongside the relatable example of Team GB long jumper Jacob Fincham-Dukes.