Issue one of the Manchester Guardian Weekly was published in the week that the Treaty of Versailles was signed, as a world rocked by conflict looked at how to create a better future. We are a long way from the hell of the world wars, but as we try to cope with modern crises, such as the climate emergency, our role remains the same: to keep Guardian readers around the world informed.
This week, in our centre pages you will find a 32-page supplement celebrating the role of the Weekly over the past century, with reports from key moments in history, archive photography, memories from readers and journalists, and classic front pages. We hope you enjoy it, however long you’ve been a reader.
As in that first edition, the past seven days have been dramatic. On Monday, on the 22nd anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong, citizens continued their protests over a planned extradition law. Some made their presence felt in a huge peaceful march, while others stormed the legislative council building. The question, asks Simon Tisdall, is how China’s strongman president Xi Jinping will respond to such a direct challenge.
Last week, world leaders including Xi had gathered in Osaka for this year’s G20 conference. Issues discussed included the US-China trade war, Putin’s denunciation of the liberal order and the baffling ubiquity of Ivanka Trump. And for one leader, Britain’s Theresa May, the summit served as a swansong on the global stage.
Our cover story this week looks behind the scenes of Canopy Growth, a multibillion-dollar cannabis company. As corporate weed looks to spread around the globe, who are the companies set to dominate this extraordinary, er, growth industry? Rob Davies travelled to Ontario to find out more.
We also feature a conversation about how to stop the climate crisis – and to change the world – with two young women who are trying to do exactly that: US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and teenage school strike pioneer Greta Thunberg. The two “met” via videolink to discuss the power of action.
Elsewhere we meet Virgil Abloh, the Off-White and Louis Vuitton designer who’s been compared to Duchamp and Warhol; Tim Burrows wonders how his home county of Essex became a national punchline in the UK and, in books, John Harris looks at the musical legacy of Britain’s industrial cities.