This week's long reads

Support the Guardian Support us   Fund independent journalism Wild things: back to nature, and Ozzy Osbourne lives! In this week’s newsletter: what rewilding looks like and partying with celebrity impersonators Photograph: Jonathan Perugia/Gaia Visual for Nattergal ‘It makes your heart sing’: can a pioneering project show that rewilding really works? | Patrick Barkham Intensive farming has all but destroyed England’s ancient woodlands and freshwater wetlands. On a farm in Lincolnshire, a radical aristocrat hopes to show there’s money in protecting nature. Patrick Barkham visited over the course of four years to watch thistles bloom – and wildlife return. Illustration: Guardian Design/Getty ‘I can sense Sinatra enter my body and exit my lungs’: all aboard the celebrity impersonators’ cruise | Mina Tavakoli Writer Mina Tavakoli joined Marilyn Monroe, Walter White, Ozzy Osbourne and other tribute artists on a cruise where imitation is its own art form. What happens when you get older – and thinner – than the celebrities you used to personify? Inside this week’s long read Nature writing is a long game, but what is it like to follow a story for four years? We asked Patrick Barkham about his research on a remarkable rewilding project This story has been a long research journey, did you expect it to turn out as it did? It has been a lovely privilege to be able to follow a rewilding project from the beginning and watch what happened next at Boothby Wildland. Rewilders always say they don’t know what is going to happen – and don’t plan for any particular species to flourish – and I certainly had no idea. Naively, I expected there to be more immediate “action” but trees grow slowly, at least at first. Then again, after that first walk across this desolate landscape, I think the 2022 me would’ve been amazed by how much (small) wildlife was buzzing around there in 2026. Turning agricultural land over to weeds was obviously painful for some local people. Did you find you were sympathetic to them? I think it’s important to hear all voices. When you’ve grown up with farming, it is often painful to see hard-won cultivation being abandoned. I certainly have sympathy for Amanda Dixon, who farmed the land with food and nature in mind, and struggles with the idea of abandoning cultivation. Smashing up land drains that were put in by previous generations looks almost decadent to some, although one Boothby volunteer who helped break them up said his dad had laboured to put them in, and appreciated the all-too-human irony of this: one generation undoing the work of another – it’s just life. Your camping trip in a field of thistles sounded pretty grim. Is the touristic benefit of rewilding overstated? I actually enjoyed the surreal bleakness of it – thistles can be beautiful and full of insect-life when you’re a tourist! – although my son Ted complained when I dragged him for a very prickly walk. Rewilding pioneers have thriving tourism businesses, and the visitor numbers at Knepp in West Sussex just keep rising. When beavers arrive, British rewilding certainly becomes a more compelling visitor attraction. But once dozens of estates and farms have a similar offer, I imagine that the exceptional tourism benefits will subside. Rewilding campsites might become more like everyday farm campsites – a useful additional income for landowners but not their raison d’etre. This week’s audio long reads How did Mexico’s president become the world’s most popular leftwing leader? Leave no trace: how a teenage hacker lost himself online ‘He liked that people were scared of him’: my year unpicking fantasy and reality with a veteran of Italy’s football ultras Listen to the Audio Long Read on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or in the Guardian app   From the archive Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian A funeral for fish and chips: why are Britain’s chippies disappearing? | July 2023 Plenty of people will tell you the East Neuk of Fife in Scotland is the best place in the world to eat fish and chips. So what happens when its chippies – and chippies across the UK – start to close? Tom Lamont travels the coastline and meets the stars of yesterday’s fish suppers. Photograph: Adam Gasson/Alamy ‘The Silicon Valley of turf’: how the UK’s pursuit of the perfect pitch changed football | June 2021 They used to look like quagmires, ice rinks or dustbowls, depending on the time of year. But as big money entered football, pristine pitches became crucial to the sport’s image – and groundskeepers became stars. As we wait for tonight’s kickoff, William Ralston gives the lowdown on what makes a perfect pitch. What else we’ve been reading I have been preparing for the England v Norway World Cup quarter-final by reading this interview with the Norwegian football enthusiast Karl Ove Knausgård. David Wolf, editor A Pentecostal couple from Minnesota who refused to seek medical care for their desperately ill baby were charged with murder. For the Atavist, Alex Ronan tells a staggering story of how religious fundamentalism takes hold, in a controlling patriarchal dynamic, and rips a family apart. Riveting. Clare Longrigg, deputy editor For a certain kind of nerd, the prospect of listening to the Times columnist Patrick Maguire and Guardian Long Read contributor Will Davies talk about Burnhamism is the ideal way to pass an hour. Yohann Koshy, deputy editor   … there is a very good reason why not to support the Guardian Not everyone can afford to pay for news. That is why our website is open to everyone. But – if you can afford to do so – here are three good reasons why you might consider becoming a Guardian supporter today: 1 Your funding means we can be completely independent 2 High-quality, trustworthy journalism is a public good 3 You can support us however you like Help power the Guardian’s journalism at a time when misinformation is rife online and good news can be hard to find. It could be a one-off payment or a regular monthly amount of your choice. Thank you. Support us   Get in touch If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email thelongread@theguardian.com Manage your emails | Unsubscribe You are receiving this email because you are a subscriber to The Long Read. Guardian News & Media Limited - a member of Guardian Media Group PLC. 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