What, exactly, about the drink is so distracting? The viral debate raises bigger questions about who defines ‘professionalism’

The great iced coffee debate of 2026 is the latest submission to the young-people-just-don’t-get-it discourse and, of course, it’s as polarizing as ever.

Recruiters say you shouldn’t bring iced coffee to interviews, while young people are (rightly) asking: what’s the big deal? It’s one of those conversations that makes me cringe, given just how eagerly it springs up from the generational divide plaguing mainstream culture. And as usual, gen Z are cast as the entitled morons who want to live life with no rules or responsibilities, all to the detriment of the millennials and gen X-ers who have to deal with them.

Tayo Bero is a Guardian US columnist

Meta touts safety features – but for women, the dangers of these recording devices are obvious

Imagine if every time you left the house, you couldn’t be sure that the stranger you met at a bar – or even the person walking by you in the street – wasn’t secretly recording you. It sounds like something out of a Black Mirror episode, but let’s face it, the era of wearable technology is fully upon us as everyday accessories have been developed to help track health and fitness data, receive smartphone notifications, and provide hands-free accessibility.

So when Meta announced their AI glasses a few years ago, it wasn’t too surprising that one of the biggest (and most embattled) tech companies on earth had begun cashing in on our obsession with watching others. And their AI glasses have already raised serious concerns over privacy, personal safety and even our sense of agency.

The Dialog society grades its attendees on a hidden scale, tackles issues from sex to world wars, and offers matchmaking

What would happen if roughly 200 members of the global elite gathered every year for a top secret retreat? What would they do? What would they talk about? Who would be on the guest list?

Well, data leaked by the Swiss hacktivist maia arson crimew (who also brought us the justice department’s no-fly list back in 2023) is shedding new light on Dialog, the private social club co-created by the former PayPal boss Peter Thiel and the angel investor Auren Hoffman.

Tayo Bero is a Guardian US columnist

Black women are two and a half times more likely to be murdered by men than white women are. This is a public health crisis

In April alone, at least half a dozen Black women were allegedly killed by their partners, including the high-profile cases of Cerina Fairfax, estranged wife of the former Virginia lieutenant governor Justin Fairfax, and Nancy Metayer Bowen, vice-mayor of Coral Springs, Florida. Shaneiqua Elkins survived a shooting by her husband, Shamar Elkins, that wounded her and killed seven of her children and one of their cousins in Shreveport, Louisiana.

These tragedies are shining a light on the killings of Black women and the systems that allow that violence to continue.

Tayo Bero is a Guardian US columnist

The cosmetic procedure raises concern about the tissue donation process – and our own anxieties about our appearance

There’s a buzzy new diva in the world of cosmetic injectables and she’s quick, easy to recover from … and came from a dead body.

Indeed, people are injecting themselves with fat from corpses in order to pump up their physiques, and it’s catching on more than you would think. “It’s a gamechanger,” Dr Douglas Steinbrech, surgeon at Alpha Male, a Manhattan plastic surgery clinic that’s become popular for this procedure, told the Guardian. “[Recipients] don’t need surgery. They don’t need general anesthesia. They don’t have recovery, and the pain from all that.”

It’s unclear what happened in São Paulo. But our obsessive culture has created a fraught dance between stars and their fans

Last week, the former Chelsea footballer Jorginho made a post on social media claiming that, after his daughter walked past the singer Chappell Roan’s table at a restaurant and smiled at her, a security guard accosted the girl. The security guard apparently spoke “in an extremely aggressive manner”, causing her to be “extremely shaken and [cry] a lot”.

If the story is true, it doesn’t look good for Roan. This wasn’t creepy paparazzi or red carpet hecklers; it was a child. Roan has apologized, adding that the man involved in the incident in São Paulo was not her personal security, and that she didn’t see the girl.

Tayo Bero is a Guardian US columnist

When daily life feels like a black hole of apps and feeds, it’s no surprise we crave the intimacy of physical media

Usually, my handbag is a medley of digital devices and life essentials – my phone, iPad, chargers, keys, tampons. But lately, you’re likely to also find a half-done newspaper crossword, a ton of stationery, the book I’ve restarted three times, and whatever scraps and trinkets I’ve picked up throughout the day to put in my scrapbook.

Analog is back, and it feels like we need it more than ever. In a world where getting just about anything done means being sucked into a digital black hole of apps, sign-up forms, harrowing social media feeds and carnivorous advertisers, it’s no surprise that we keep reaching back for the comfort of the physical: Polaroids, vinyl records, real birthday cards. It all helps us slow down and appreciate a world where not everything is online.

The Barbz have built a parasocial relationship with the rapper – in some cases to their own detriment

Nicki Minaj is back doing PR for Donald Trump, and it’s messier than ever. Last week, she appeared at a treasury department summit in Washington DC to show support for Trump accounts, a new kind of investment account designed to “provide eligible American children with tax-advantaged investment accounts courtesy of President Donald J. Trump”, according to a government website.

The most disappointing part of the rapper’s recent turn toward Maga, though, is how her stans – a significant portion of whom are Black and queer – are responding. After the summit, Minaj’s followers defended her online and even helped push Trump’s agenda. “In a society full of hate and division, supporting Nicki Minaj is reminding people to see past political differences and see the human in one another,” one supporter wrote. Oh brother. Minaj is a perfect example of the cult of celebrity, the dangers of modern fan culture and how celebrity worship can intersect with politics in truly dangerous ways.

Tayo Bero is a Guardian US columnist