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Reportage

Person in blue overalls cleaning ornate metal gate with decorative spiral patterns, autumn leaves scattered on ground, brick house visible behind.

Inside the shadowy, booming underground world of Urbex

Touching bricks — Spurred by social media success and a desire to live in the physical world, a new generation of teenagers and young people are sneaking into abandoned buildings and documenting their discoveries. Letty Cole goes fence-jumping with two Urbexers to find out more, and gets chased by security in the process.

  • Sport
  • Letty Cole
Two sumo wrestlers in blue mawashi on sandy ring, referee in yellow robes between them, crowded stadium in background

Sumo’s away day shook London. Could it ever take off?

Hakkeyoi — Touching down at the Royal Albert Hall, the Grand Sumo Tournament marked the second time an official five-day tournament has ever taken place outside of Japan. Ella Glossop investigates whether the sport could ever find mainstream success on British soil.

  • Sport
  • Ella Glossop
Green Victorian police box on urban pavement with people nearby, surrounded by trees and buildings with road signs visible.

London’s green cabmen’s shelters are filled with history. What does their future hold?

Green oases — For the city’s taxi drivers, the shelters offer a spot to rest, recharge and fill themselves at a reasonable price. But with London’s ever-shifting transportation landscape, the huts could become collateral damage, reports Fred Garratt-Stanley

  • Culture
  • Fred Garratt-Stanley
People browsing records at outdoor market stall beneath industrial building with green scaffolding and trees overhead.
© Tami Morchiladze

In turbulent Tbilisi, a radio station broadcasts through the storm

Mutant Radio — As Georgia’s political situation has fissured, its capital’s nightlife and music scenes have fostered crucial spaces for community and solidarity. Hester Underhill visits a radio station on the banks of the Kura river, spreading alternative music and culture through the city’s airwaves in the face of protests and government crackdowns.

  • Music
  • Hester Underhill
Two men working at laptops in office setting, one wearing headphones and glasses, wooden desk with bottles and papers visible.

Revenge of the nerds: Inside the Microsoft Excel Championships

The Obsessives — The revolutionary software turns 40 years old today, and since launching has transformed businesses across the world. But it also has a competitive underbelly, where behind the spreadsheets lies a world of brains, brawn and all-out bloodsport.

  • Sport
  • Ginnia Cheng
Group of young people dancing at nightclub with raised arms, purple and blue lighting, crowded dance floor.

Tension and togetherness at a rare Syrian hip-hop open mic night

Latakia levels — After half a century under a bloody dictatorship, Syria has endured massacres on an unprecedented scale in recent times, fuelled by sectarian conflict. In the port city of Latakia, Haydar Daoud and his friends spend their days making rap music, an art form mostly misunderstood by Syrians, yet an essential therapy for disenchanted youth.

  • Huck 82: The Music Issue
  • Aubin Eymard
Dark blue double-decker bus displaying "Stagecoach" branding parked on seafront road beside white railings and lamp post under overcast sky.

Inside the UK Bus Driver of the Year Competition

Terminating here — The annual tournament takes place in Blackpool, where over 100 bus drivers from around the UK are invited to show off their proficiency behind the wheel, from bus stop manoeuvres and the dreaded ‘tailswing test’, to a notoriously hard theory quiz. George Francis Lee reports.

  • Sport
  • George Francis Lee
Woman lifting barbell overhead in gym with white walls covered in photographs and documents, orange weights visible.

The UK’s oldest weightlifting gym is under threat. Can it weather gentrification?

The weight of history — The Bethnal Green Weightlifting Club has been open since 1926. Emma Fowle meets the people fighting to keep the East End institution, the history it preserves, and the community it serves alive for the next generation of strength stars.

  • Sport
  • Emma Fowle
Yellow skull icons overlaid on blurred background image with green and grey tones, scattered across frame in various sizes.

As Grindr scams in India rise, its LGBTQ+ community fights back

Red flags — Through mobilising the threat of outing queer folk, scammers are using dating apps to find targets for extortion, violence and blackmail. Mansi Rathee and Amir Bin Rafi spoke to people who have been affected, and reported on the community’s work to support victims and raise awareness.

  • Activism
  • Mansi Rathee
Crowd gathered around outdoor fire on night, silhouetted figures, flaming objects visible.

As amapiano goes global, where does it leave its roots?

Rainbow grooves — Over the past decade, the house music subgenre has exploded into a worldwide phenomenon. Jak Hutchcraft went to its birthplace of Mamelodi, South Africa, to explore its still-thriving local scene.

  • Music
  • Jak Hutchcraft

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