Britain’s first black female MP faced hostility from the media and political establishment from the start. Nearly 40 years on, she is still not giving up. By Andy Beckett Continue reading...

We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.This week, from 2021: During the second world war, Chinese merchant seamen helped keep Britain fed, fuelled and safe – and many gave their lives doing so. But from late 1945, hundreds of them who had settled in Liverpool...

Gardens could be part of the solution to the climate and biodiversity crisis. But what are we doing? Disappearing them beneath plastic and pavingIn my 20s I lived in Manchester, on the sixth floor of a block of council flats just off the A57, or Mancunian (Mancy) Way. A short walk from Manchester Piccadilly station and the city centre, it was grey,...

For 40 years, Amit Shah has been at Narendra Modi’s side – his confidant, consigliere and enforcer. Today he is India’s second-most powerful man, and he is reshaping the country in radical ways. By Atul Dev Continue reading...

From the 1960s, baby brokers persuaded often Indigenous Mayan women to give up newborns while kidnappers ‘disappeared’ babies. Now, international adoption is being called out as a way of covering up war crimes. By Rachel Nolan Continue reading...

As an anaesthetist prepares a brain-dead patient for organ removal, he reflects on the need for compassion in a donor’s last hours• This essay was originally published as Last hours of an organ donor on aeon.coThe patient was dead before I even saw her. She had been in a car accident. Now she was scheduled for organ donation. To estimate operative risk,...