In this age of crisis, technology is pulling us apart. At its best, journalism can bring us together again, writes Guardian editor-in-chief Katharine Viner

I have a confession to make. It has taken me years to write this article.

For a long time, I have felt that something was missing in the public conversation about human connection and community and how they are being eroded. And yet I haven’t been able to articulate it. Thinking and writing have become harder. It’s as if the neurons in my brain don’t connect with each other in quite the same way. I go to check a fact and get instantly diverted by a hundred other distractions on my phone. I find myself unable to devote time to thinking and writing like I used to.

Austrian capital mulls expanding tram network and park-and-ride car parks in effort to reduce private vehicle use

When Leonore Gewessler hops on the underground trains and street-level trams that run like clockwork across the breadth of Vienna, she appreciates the ease, affordability and time she “gets as a present” instead of idling in traffic. But Austria’s former climate and transport minister is also aware that cars still dominate the capital’s streets. She says good public transport is just the “precondition” to changing how people move around the city.

Vienna’s network of trains, trams and buses have long been the envy of other European cities – let alone car-centric North American ones – but automobiles are still used for a quarter of journeys. In other capitals famed for world-class public transport, such as London, Paris and Prague, even higher use of cars has frustrated doctors and campaigners demanding cleaner air and safer streets.

In a rare interview, the director has said he wants to do justice to Homer’s ‘original non-linear narrative’. How will that translate on screen?

• New trailer for Nolan’s The Odyssey released online

The excitement around Christopher Nolan’s forthcoming film of the Odyssey has been taken up a notch this week with the launch of a new trailer and the director appearing on Stephen Colbert’s US chatshow to give a rare interview.

With fresh information emerging about the film, which is scheduled to be released on 17 July, it’s worth taking stock of what we know about Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s ancient Greek epic, starring Matt Damon as Odysseus. And how faithful to the original poem is it likely to be?

The leader of the Green party has faced antisemitic attacks, and yet his thoughts on the subject don’t count as far as the rightwing UK press is concerned

The surge of the Green party has emphasised an iron rule of British politics: those on the left cannot be treated as legitimate political actors. A case in point came at the weekend, when the Green party leader, Zack Polanski, was interviewed by Sky News’ Trevor Phillips, who barely concealed his contempt.

Two weeks ago, in an interview with Haaretz newspaper, Polanski was asked what the Green party’s response was to the recent wave of attacks against Jewish sites in the UK. His response: “I’m concerned about rising antisemitic attacks. We saw arson attacks on ambulances, for instance, and we know that, increasingly, Jewish communities are feeling unsafe. Now, there’s a conversation to be had about whether it’s a perception of unsafety or whether it’s actual unsafety, but neither are acceptable.”

Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Stagehands poured Coca-Cola on the floor, Ewan McGregor waved his lightsaber, and people did unspeakable things with the film’s Oscars at the post-awards-ceremony party. Director Baz Luhrmann, Jim Broadbent and more recall filming the record-breaking movie

Moulin Rouge! was a whirlwind of a film, an extravagant assault on the senses that reinvigorated the musical. The doomed love affair between Satine (Nicole Kidman), a glamorous cabaret star and courtesan, and Christian (Ewan McGregor), an impoverished English poet, in turn-of-the-century Paris plays out in feverish song-and-dance numbers made up of medleys of iconic pop songs.

By the time it was released in 2001, the Australian director Baz Luhrmann had already perfected his signature style with Strictly Ballroom and Romeo + Juliet – a blend of frantic editing, over-the-top visuals and contemporary music. Moulin Rouge! – the final film in his Red Curtain trilogy – took this up a notch.

The author has become acutely aware of how the climate crisis is affecting women – and, in her new book, she argues that it’s time for mainstream western feminists to join the dots

Natasha Walter is halfway through explaining how she came to be politically radicalised when a young woman approaches the cafe table. We two middle-aged women look like “the most trustworthy people here,” she says, so could we watch her baby while she grabs a coffee? Like the solid citizen she is, Walter doesn’t take her eyes off the pushchair parked by the cafe steps for the next five minutes, though all we can see of the occupant is a tiny swinging foot. Sorry, where were we? Ah yes, the groundbreaking feminist writer who famously argued in her 1998 book The New Feminism that Margaret Thatcher had broken down barriers for women was explaining why she no longer really believes it’s possible to be rightwing and a feminist, as Theresa May or Amber Rudd insist they are.

“I can’t support just any woman getting into power, because I think a system that leaves too many women in the shadows – that condemns too many women to poverty or worse – is not a feminist system, and I don’t think you can call yourself a feminist if you’re going to prop up that system,” she says, eyes still glued to the baby for whom we are briefly responsible. “It’s not my kind of feminism.” Her younger self, she admits, would have thought her too uncompromising. But something in her seems to have hardened, facing a world she sees as threatened by the rise of far-right authoritarianism on one hand and a climate emergency on the other. “In the past I always wanted to be a broad church, I always thought any woman can be a feminist, but now I really am feeling … maybe I’ve been radicalised.”

Statements casting doubt that agreement is close follow Trump’s threats to escalate bombing if Iran doesn’t agree deal and IRGC suggestions the strait of Hormuz could reopen

The UK work and pensions secretary, Pat McFadden, has warned that job losses “could happen” in Britain due to the economic impacts of the Iran war.

He said the UK economy was “going in the right direction” at the start of the year and unemployment figures for February showed a decline. He added that interest rates were expected to come down and the markets were pricing in cuts during the course of the year.

British crew member among those evacuated from MV Hondius, which is now heading for Canary Islands

• Europe live – latest updates

• What is hantavirus?

Three people with suspected hantavirus, including a British doctor, have been medically evacuated from a cruise ship.

The British crew member, along with a Dutch colleague and another passenger, were taken from the Dutch-flagged cruise ship MV Hondius for onward travel to the Netherlands, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.

Councillor announces plan to withdraw from government-funded programme in run-up to May elections

• UK politics live – latest updates

The Reform-led Lancashire county council will withdraw from the government’s refugee resettlement scheme, one of its cabinet members has said.

Councillor Joshua Roberts announced plans for Lancashire to leave the scheme, which would make it the first local authority to do so.

Sarah Schloegl was unable to board flight home from Spain as 11-month-old had invalid documentation under new rules

A British woman from Aberdeen has been stranded abroad after her 11-month-old baby was prevented from boarding a flight because of new rules regarding dual nationals.

Sarah Schloegl was refused board on a Ryanair flight from Alicante last week after she went to Spain for a short break with her Austrian husband, Philipp, their three-year-old daughter and 11-month-old baby.