@font-face {
font-family: ‘Guardian Headline Full’;
src: url(‘https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Light.woff2’) format(‘woff2’),
url(‘https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Light.woff’) format(‘woff’),
url(‘https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Light.ttf’) format(‘truetype’);
font-weight: 300;
font-style: normal;
}
@font-face {
font-family: ‘Guardian Headline Full’;
src: url(‘https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-LightItalic.woff2’) format(‘woff2’),
url(‘https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-LightItalic.woff’) format(‘woff’),
url(‘https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-LightItalic.ttf’) format(‘truetype’);
font-weight: 300;
font-style: italic;
}
@font-face {
font-family: ‘Guardian Headline Full’;
src: url(‘https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Regular.woff2’) format(‘woff2’),
url(‘https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Regular.woff’) format(‘woff’),
url(‘https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Regular.ttf’) format(‘truetype’);
font-weight: 400;
font-style: normal;
}
@font-face {
font-family: ‘Guardian Headline Full’;
src: url(‘https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.woff2’) format(‘woff2’),
url(‘https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.woff’) format(‘woff’),
url(‘https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.ttf’) format(‘truetype’);
font-weight: 400;
font-style: italic;
}
@font-face {
font-family: ‘Guardian Headline Full’;
src: url(‘https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Medium.woff2’) format(‘woff2’),
url(‘https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Medium.woff’) format(‘woff’),
url(‘https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Medium.ttf’) format(‘truetype’);
font-weight: 500;
font-style: normal;
}
@font-face {
font-family: ‘Guardian Headline Full’;
src: url(‘https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-MediumItalic.woff2’) format(‘woff2’),
url(‘https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-MediumItalic.woff’) format(‘woff’),
url(‘https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-MediumItalic.ttf’) format(‘truetype’);
font-weight: 500;
font-style: italic;
}
@font-face {
font-family: ‘Guardian Headline Full’;
src: url(‘https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Semibold.woff2’) format(‘woff2’),
url(‘https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Semibold.woff’) format(‘woff’),
url(‘https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Semibold.ttf’) format(‘truetype’);
font-weight: 600;
font-style: normal;
}
@font-face {
font-family: ‘Guardian Headline Full’;
src: url(‘https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-SemiboldItalic.woff2’) format(‘woff2’),
url(‘https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-SemiboldItalic.woff’) format(‘woff’),
url(‘https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-SemiboldItalic.ttf’) format(‘truetype’);
font-weight: 600;
font-style: italic;
}Here’s the rewritten text in fluent, natural English:
“`css
@font-face {
font-family: Guardian Headline Full;
src: url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Bold.woff2) format(“woff2”),
url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Bold.woff) format(“woff”),
url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Bold.ttf) format(“truetype”);
font-weight: 700;
font-style: normal;
}
@font-face {
font-family: Guardian Headline Full;
src: url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BoldItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),
url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BoldItalic.woff) format(“woff”),
url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BoldItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);
font-weight: 700;
font-style: italic;
}
@font-face {
font-family: Guardian Headline Full;
src: url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Black.woff2) format(“woff2”),
url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Black.woff) format(“woff”),
url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Black.ttf) format(“truetype”);
font-weight: 900;
font-style: normal;
}
@font-face {
font-family: Guardian Headline Full;
src: url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BlackItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),
url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BlackItalic.woff) format(“woff”),
url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BlackItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);
font-weight: 900;
font-style: italic;
}
@font-face {
font-family: Guardian Titlepiece;
src: url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-titlepiece/noalts-not-hinted/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.woff2) format(“woff2”),
url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-titlepiece/noalts-not-hinted/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.woff) format(“woff”),
url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-titlepiece/noalts-not-hinted/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.ttf) format(“truetype”);
font-weight: 700;
font-style: normal;
}
@media (min-width: 71.25em) {
.content__main-column–interactive {
margin-left: 160px;
}
}
@media (min-width: 81.25em) {
.content__main-column–interactive {
margin-left: 240px;
}
}
.content__main-column–interactive .element-atom {
max-width: 620px;
}
@media (max-width: 46.24em) {
.content__main-column–interactive .element-atom {
max-width: 100%;
}
}
.content__main-column–interactive .element-showcase {
margin-left: 0;
}
@media (min-width: 46.25em) {
.content__main-column–interactive .element-showcase {
max-width: 620px;
}
}
@media (min-width: 71.25em) {
.content__main-column–interactive .element-showcase {
max-width: 860px;
}
}
.content__main-column–interactive .element-immersive {
max-width: 1100px;
}
@media (max-width: 46.24em) {
.content__main-column–interactive .element-immersive {
width: calc(100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px));
position: relative;
left: 50%;
right: 50%;
margin-left: calc(-50vw + var(–half-scrollbar-width, 0px)) !important;
margin-right: calc(-50vw + var(–half-scrollbar-width, 0px)) !important;
}
}
@media (min-width: 46.25em) {
.content__main-column–interactive .element-immersive {
transform: translate(-20px);
width: calc(100% + 60px);
}
}
@media (max-width: 71.24em) {
.content__main-column–interactive .element-immersive {
margin-left: 0;
margin-right: 0;
}
}
@media (min-width: 71.25em) {
.content__main-column–interactive .element-immersive {
transform: translate(0);
width: auto;
}
}
@media (min-width: 81.25em) {
.content__main-column–interactive .element-immersive {
max-width: 1260px;
}
}
.content__main-column–interactive p,
.content__main-column–interactive ul {
max-width: 620px;
}
.content__main-column–interactive:before {
position: absolute;
top: 0;
height: calc(100% + 15px);
min-height: 100px;
content: “”;
}
@media (min-width: 71.25em) {
/ Additional styles can go here /
}
“`
This version keeps the original CSS structure and meaning intact while simplifying the formatting for better readability.Here is the rewritten text in fluent, natural English:
The main interactive column has a left border that is 1 pixel wide and light gray. On larger screens (over 81.25em wide), this border shifts slightly to the left. Inside this column, elements like atoms have no top or bottom margin but include padding. When a paragraph is followed by an atom, the padding is removed and replaced with a margin. Inline elements are limited to a maximum width of 620 pixels, and on wider screens (over 61.25em), figures with a specific role also follow this width limit.
For media sections containing a looped figure, the caption is given a higher stacking order. The loop button is positioned at the bottom right of the video, with some margin adjustments. Mute and unmute buttons are placed on the right side with padding. The caption button also has a high stacking order and is positioned differently depending on screen size. On medium screens (over 46.25em), cinemagraph figures have no maximum height restriction.
In the body section, self-hosted videos are displayed as block elements with a maximum width of 620 pixels and some margin. The video and its looped figure are centered and responsive. If the video is immersive (full-width), it expands to fill the available space with no margin. On very wide screens (over 71.25em), the immersive video can extend beyond the main column, with captions indented slightly. On even wider screens (over 81.25em), it expands further.
The design uses several color variables for things like datelines, borders, captions, and features. These colors adapt to dark mode when the user’s system preference is set to dark. Subheadings, pull quotes, and block quotes also change color based on the pillar or dark mode setting.
Finally, certain elements like atoms and horizontal rules have no padding. When an atom or horizontal rule is the first element after a paragraph or sign-in gate, the following paragraph has no top margin. This applies across different sections of the page.Here is the rewritten text in fluent, natural English:
For the first paragraph after an element atom or a horizontal rule (excluding the last one) in the body section, add 14 pixels of padding at the top.
For the first letter of that same paragraph, use the Guardian Headline font (or similar fallbacks), make it bold, 111 pixels in size, with a line height of 92 pixels. Float it to the left, transform it to uppercase, and add 8 pixels of right margin. Keep it vertically aligned to the text top, and color it using the drop cap variable (or the pillar color as a fallback).
For paragraphs that come right after a horizontal rule, remove the top padding.
For pullquote elements in the body, set the maximum width to 620 pixels.
For figure captions inside showcase elements in main content, feature, standard, and comment article containers, set the position to static and the width to 100%, with a maximum width of 620 pixels.
On screens wider than 71.25 em, change the caption position to absolute and set the maximum width to 140 pixels.
On screens wider than 81.25 em, increase the maximum width of the caption to 220 pixels.
For immersive elements, set the width to fill the entire viewport width, accounting for the scrollbar width. On screens narrower than 71.24 em, immersive elements should behave differently (the rule is incomplete in the original).Here is the rewritten text in fluent, natural English:
The `.element-immersive` class has a maximum width of 978px. For the caption inside an immersive element, padding is set to 10px on the left and right. On screens between 30em and 71.24em wide, that padding increases to 20px. On screens between 46.25em and 61.24em, the immersive element’s max width is 738px. On screens narrower than 46.24em, the immersive element is shifted left by 10px (with no right margin), and its left position is set to 0. If the screen is between 30em and 46.24em, the left margin becomes -20px, and the caption padding is 20px.
For screens wider than 71.25em, a showcase figure inside the body or main interactive column is moved left by 160px. For screens wider than 81.25em, that left margin increases to 240px.
The `.furniture-wrapper` is positioned relatively. On screens wider than 61.25em, it becomes a grid with a 20px gap between columns and no row gap. The grid has 10 columns: the first five are for the title, headline, meta, and standfirst, and the last five are for the portrait. The rows are arranged so that the title and portrait start together, followed by the headline, then the standfirst, and finally the meta. In this layout, the first child of the headline section gets a top border. The meta section is positioned relatively with a small top padding and no right margin. The standfirst’s content has a bottom margin of 4px, and its list items are 20px font size. Links in the standfirst are underlined with a 6px offset, using a light gray color and a 1px thickness. On hover, the underline color changes to the pillar color. The first paragraph of the standfirst has a top border and no bottom padding.
On screens wider than 71.25em, the first paragraph of the standfirst no longer has a top border. The grid layout changes to have 14 columns: the first two for the title and headline, then five for the standfirst, and the last seven for the portrait. The rows are set so that the title and portrait start at 80px, followed by the headline, then the standfirst and meta together. The meta section has a `:before` pseudo-element.[data-gu-name=meta]:before {
content: “”;
width: 540px;
position: absolute;
top: 0;
background-color: var(–headerBorder);
height: 1px;
}
.furniture-wrapper .standfirst p,
.furniture-wrapper #standfirst p,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] p {
border-top: unset;
}
.furniture-wrapper .standfirst:before,
.furniture-wrapper #standfirst:before,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst]:before {
content: “”;
width: 1px;
background-color: var(–headerBorder);
height: 100%;
position: absolute;
top: 0;
left: 0.5px;
}
@media (min-width: 81.25em) {
.furniture-wrapper {
grid-template-columns: [title-start headline-start meta-start] repeat(3, 1fr) [meta-end standfirst-start] repeat(5, 1fr) [title-end headline-end standfirst-end portrait-start] repeat(8, 1fr) [portrait-end];
grid-template-rows: [title-start portrait-start] 0.25fr [title-end headline-start] 1fr [headline-end standfirst-start meta-start] 0.75fr [standfirst-end meta-end portrait-end];
}
.furniture-wrapper #meta:before,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta]:before {
width: 620px;
}
.furniture-wrapper .standfirst:before,
.furniture-wrapper #standfirst:before,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst]:before {
left: -0.5px;
}
}
.furniture-wrapper .article-header .content__labels > div,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title] .content__labels > div {
padding-top: 2px;
}
.furniture-wrapper #headline h1,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=headline] h1,
.furniture-wrapper .headline h1 {
font-weight: 600;
max-width: 620px;
font-size: 32px;
}
@media (min-width: 71.25em) {
.furniture-wrapper #headline h1,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=headline] h1,
.furniture-wrapper .headline h1 {
max-width: 540px;
font-size: 50px;
}
}
@media (min-width: 46.25em) {
.furniture-wrapper .keyline-4,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=lines] {
margin-right: 0;
}
}
@media (min-width: 61.25em) {
.furniture-wrapper .keyline-4,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=lines] {
display: none;
}
}
.furniture-wrapper .keyline-4 svg,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=lines] svg {
stroke: var(–headerBorder);
}
@media (min-width: 46.25em) {
.furniture-wrapper #meta,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] {
margin-right: 0;
}
}
.furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__social,
.furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__social ul li a span,
.furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__comment,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .meta__social,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .meta__social ul li a span,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .meta__comment {
border-color: var(–headerBorder);
}
.furniture-wrapper #meta .content__meta-container_dcr > div > gu-island,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .content__meta-container_dcr > div > gu-island {
display: none;
}
.furniture-wrapper .standfirst,
.furniture-wrapper #standfirst,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] {
margin-left: -10px;
padding-left: 10px;
position: relative;
}
@media (min-width: 46.25em) {
.furniture-wrapper .standfirst,
.furniture-wrapper #standfirst,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] {
padding-top: 2px;
}
}
.furniture-wrapper .standfirst p,
.furniture-wrapper #standfirst p,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] p {
font-weight: 400;
font-size: 20px;
padding-bottom: 14px;
}
.furniture-wrapper #main-media,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] {
position: relative;
margin-top: 0;
margin-bottom: 2px;
grid-area: portrait;
}
.furniture-wrapper #main-media div div,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] div div {
width: 100%;
margin-inline: 0;
}
@media (min-width: 61.25em) {
.furniture-wrapper #main-media,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] {
margin-bottom: 0;
}
}
@media (max-width: 46.24em) {
.furniture-wrapper #main-media,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] {
width: calc(100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px));
margin-left: -10px;
}
}
@media (max-width: 46.24em) and (min-width: 30em) {
.furniture-wrapper #main-media,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] {
margin-left: -20px;
}
}
.furniture-wrapper figcaption {
position: absolute;
bottom: 0;
padding: 4px 10px 12px;
background-color: var(–captionBackground);
color: var(–captionText);
max-width: unset;
margin-bottom: 0;
min-height: 46px;
}
.furniture-wrapper figcaption span {
color: var(–headerBorder);
}
.furniture-wrapper figcaption span svg {
fill: var(–headerBorder);
}
.furniture-wrapper figcaption span:nth-of-type(1) {
display: none;
}Here’s the rewritten version in fluent, natural English:
The second span in the sequence is displayed inline and takes up to 90% of the width. On screens wider than 30em, the figure caption gets extra padding. If the caption is hidden, it becomes invisible. A caption button is positioned at the bottom right of the figure, with a circular background and no border. Its icon is slightly scaled down. On wider screens, the button shifts slightly to the right.
On very wide screens (over 71.25em), the main interactive column has a taller background element that extends above and below. Headings inside this column are limited to a maximum width of 620px.
On iOS and Android devices, the dark background and feature colors are set. In dark mode, the pillar color changes to a darker version. On these devices, the first letter of the first paragraph after certain elements is colored using a secondary pillar color. Also, the article header is hidden (height set to 0), and the furniture wrapper has minimal padding. The labels inside the furniture wrapper use bold text with a specific font family.Here is the rewritten text in fluent, natural English:
The headline uses the font “Guardian Headline Full, Georgia, serif” and is styled with the pillar color and capitalized text. On iOS and Android devices, within the furniture wrapper of feature, standard, and comment articles, the headline is set to 32px, bold, with 12px of padding below, and colored #121212.
For images in the furniture wrapper on these devices, the figure element is positioned relatively, with a 14px top margin and a left margin of -10px. Its width spans the full viewport width minus the scrollbar width, and the height adjusts automatically. The inner figure, the image itself, and any links within it all have a transparent background and the same full viewport width, with the height set to auto.
The standfirst section in the furniture wrapper on iOS and Android has 4px of padding on top and 24px on the bottom, with a right margin of -10px. Paragraphs inside the standfirst use the font “Guardian Headline, Guardian Egyptian Web, Guardian Headline Full, Georgia, serif”. Links within the standfirst, including those in list items, follow the same styling.Here’s the rewritten version in fluent, natural English:
For links inside the standfirst section of article containers on iOS and Android devices, the text color uses the new pillar color, with no background image. The links are underlined, with the underline offset by 6 pixels. The underline color matches the header border (usually #dcdcdc), and there is no bottom border.
When you hover over these links on iOS or Android, the underline color changes to the new pillar color.
For the meta section in article containers on both iOS and Android, there is no margin. The byline, byline author, author links, and meta byline spans all share the same styling.For Android and iOS, in the comment article container, the author’s name and byline text use the pillar color variable. On iOS and Android, in feature, standard, and comment article containers, the meta misc section has no padding, and its SVG icons use the pillar color for their stroke. The caption button in showcase elements is displayed as a flex container, centered with 5px padding, 28x28px size, and positioned 14px from the right. The article body on both platforms has 12px padding on the sides. For images that are not thumbnails or immersive, they have no margin, are full viewport width minus 24px and the scrollbar width, and their captions have no padding. Immersive images keep their default styling.On Android devices, when viewing the standard or comment article layout, any image with the class `element-image element-immersive` inside the article body will take up the full width of the viewport, minus the scrollbar width.
On both iOS and Android, in the feature, standard, and comment article layouts, the quotation marks before blockquotes with the class `quoted` will use the new pillar color.
Also on both platforms, links within the article body text will appear in the primary pillar color, without a background image, underlined with a 6px offset, and the underline color will match the header border. When you hover over these links, the underline color changes to the new pillar color.
In dark mode (when the user’s system prefers a dark color scheme), on both iOS and Android, the furniture wrapper in all three article layouts will have a dark background (#1a1a1a). The content labels inside will use the new pillar color. The headline (h1) will not have a background color and will use the header border color instead. The standfirst text will also use the header border color, and links in the standfirst, as well as the byline author, will follow the same styling.Here’s the rewritten version in fluent, natural English:
The author’s name in the article metadata should use the pillar color. On iOS and Android, this applies to feature, standard, and comment articles.
The icons in the metadata section should also use the pillar color as their stroke.
For showcase images with captions, the caption text should use the dateline color.
Blockquotes within the article body should be styled with the pillar color.
Finally, the main content areas of articles—including the article body, interactive content, feature body, comment body, and any element with the data attribute “body”—should all use the pillar color. This applies across iOS and Android for feature, standard, and comment articles.On Android, in the comment article container, the elements `#feature-body`, `[data-gu-name=body]`, and `#comment-body` should all use `var(–darkBackground)` as their background color, with `!important` applied.
On iOS, for both feature and standard article containers, when a paragraph follows an `.element-atom` (or a `.sign-in-gate` or `#sign-in-gate` that comes right after an `.element-atom`), the first letter of that paragraph should be styled. This applies to paragraphs inside `#article-body > div`, `.content–interactive > div`, `#feature-body`, `[data-gu-name=body]`, and `#comment-body`.Here is the rewritten text in fluent, natural English:
For iOS devices, in the comment article container, the first letter of a paragraph that comes right after an element atom, or after a sign-in gate that follows an element atom, should be styled in a specific way. The same applies to paragraphs that follow an element atom combined with a sign-in gate.
For Android devices, the same first-letter styling applies in several places within the feature article container: inside the article body, in interactive content sections, in the feature body, in sections marked with `data-gu-name=”body”`, and in the comment body. This styling is used for paragraphs that come directly after an element atom, after a sign-in gate that follows an element atom, or after an element atom combined with a sign-in gate.
The same rules also apply to Android devices in the standard article container, including the article body, interactive content sections, the feature body, sections with `data-gu-name=”body”`, and the comment body. Again, this affects the first letter of paragraphs that follow an element atom, a sign-in gate after an element atom, or an element atom combined with a sign-in gate.
Finally, for Android devices in the comment article container, the same first-letter styling is applied in the article body, interactive content sections, the feature body, and the comment body, following the same patterns with element atoms and sign-in gates.Here is the rewritten text in fluent, natural English:
On Android devices, the first letter of certain paragraphs in the comment section will now appear in white, matching the pillar color. On iOS and Android devices with comment-style articles, the standfirst section has a 24-pixel top padding and no top margin. The prose headings are set to 24 pixels in size. On iOS, the caption button has 6 pixels of top padding and 5 pixels on the sides; on Android, it has 4 pixels on all sides.
In dark mode (when the user’s system prefers it and no light color scheme is set), the following colors are used: follow text and standfirst text are light gray, while follow icon fill, standfirst link text, standfirst link border, and byline all use the dark mode pillar color. Both iOS and Android have a white background. On both platforms, the labels, headlines, and standfirst text in article containers use a font weight of 500.
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Andy Burnham was a broken man. In a pub a short walk from Parliament—which he had started calling “the madhouse”—he planned his escape over beers with three trusted colleagues.
It was late March 2016. Burnham, the MP for Leigh in Greater Manchester, had been in Westminster for 15 years. But here, in a pub on Horseferry Road free of politicians, his mood was dark.
“He was pissed off,” said Steve Rotheram, his close friend and then the MP for Liverpool Walton. In just seven months, Burnham had lost his second bid to lead the Labour Party and felt frustrated by what he saw as the “aloof” campaign to stay in the EU.
He had served in the governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, but now he was caught in the crossfire of an internal war raging under Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. His confidence was draining faster than the midweek pints.
That night at the pub would lead Burnham to Downing Street a decade later. After some convincing, he agreed to leave Westminster and run for the newly created role of Greater Manchester mayor, while his “best mate” Rotheram headed for Liverpool.
View image in fullscreen: (From left) Steve Rotheram, Jeremy Corbyn, and Andy Burnham arriving at the Hillsborough inquest in Warrington in 2016. Photograph: Peter Powell/PA
On Monday, the day after the World Cup final, the football-mad former altar boy who once described himself…Framed as “one of the lads,” he is set to become Britain’s seventh prime minister in ten years. His inner circle can hardly believe he has made it to No. 10—a feeling Burnham himself likely shares. “I thought when we left [Westminster] it was over,” Rotheram said of his friend’s leadership ambitions. Did Burnham think the same? “Yeah, I think he probably did.”
In early summer 2016, Burnham had announced his plan to leave parliament, and chaos was unfolding around him. He was in Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet, and colleagues were resigning en masse over the leadership. “We were all in a private world of pain,” recalled Gloria De Piero, a fellow shadow minister.
At one point, almost the only shadow ministers left were Corbyn’s closest allies—Diane Abbott, John McDonnell, and Jon Trickett—and, oddly, Burnham, who was not a natural political ally of the fiery left-winger.
Cleverly, the Leigh MP positioned himself as a mediator between Labour’s warring factions and publicly refused to join the revolt. Colleagues remember him showing up to an “unbelievably fractious and very hostile” meeting of Labour’s ruling body, the national executive committee, and pleading with all sides to find common ground. “He is a party loyalist, but he never agreed with Jeremy’s politics,” said De Piero.
Yet some saw Burnham’s refusal to resign—leaving him oddly isolated—as a sign of his political opportunism: if he wanted to become Greater Manchester mayor, he needed the support of the thousands of Corbyn supporters who had joined the party under the new leader.
“He didn’t want to alienate his allies, and he didn’t want to be seen as opposing Jeremy. It doesn’t take a political genius to see why that was the case,” said one close Corbyn ally during his leadership.
On June 26 of that year, Burnham publicly distanced himself from the growing rebellion, tweeting: “I have never taken part in a coup against any leader of the Labour party, and I am not going to start now.”
However, he was involved in a kind of plot. Just four days after that tweet, according to newly uncovered documents seen by the Guardian, those close to him helped draft what became known as the “Corbyn declaration”—a promise to the Labour leader that his policies would continue if he stepped aside.
It never took off, and it’s unclear if Corbyn ever found out about Burnham’s role in the plan. But those around the leader already viewed him with caution. After all, Burnham had recently lost a leadership contest against Corbyn and then, according to those in the room, privately insisted on bringing his campaign manager, Labour MP Michael Dugher, into the shadow cabinet. Dugher was no fan of Corbyn and was soon sacked for “poisonous” briefings against the Labour leader.
“He was definitely not the most difficult of the non-Corbynite members of the shadow cabinet,” said a senior Corbyn ally. “Trust is maybe too strong a word, but he was definitely more agreeable.”
To some, Burnham’s careful neutrality was an example of his tendency to follow “what he thinks is expedient and based on political calculation, rather than following his own principles.” He would no doubt believe the infighting betrayed the worst instincts of Labour—a party he felt had left him and millions of others behind. Still, it showed a flash of his political ruthlessness, a trait he would display again years later. But for now, he was heading north.
Nearly a year later, on the morning of May 6, 2017, came Burnham’s second act. He became the first directly elected…Andy Burnham was elected Mayor of Greater Manchester, marking what he called the “dawn of a new era” in a victory speech at Manchester Central convention centre. He told supporters that politics had been “too London-centric for too long.”
The following Monday morning, Burnham received a hero’s welcome from around 200 staff at the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, based in the Grade II-listed Tootal Buildings.
However, the reaction from the region’s ten council leaders was less enthusiastic. None of them had supported him for the role, with most backing the veteran Labour MP and interim mayor, Tony Lloyd. Richard Leese, the leader of Manchester City Council, was a major political figure in Greater Manchester, and his endorsement carried weight. He supported two candidates: Lloyd and Labour minister Ivan Lewis.
“Quite a lot of people took a cynical view that he had run for leader twice and lost, and that he needed to go do something else,” said one council leader. Burnham annoyed them during the mayoral campaign by describing the role as a “cabinet-level job that needed cabinet-level experience,” which was seen as an insult to those who had spent their careers in local government. To some, it came across as arrogant. The Stone Roses anthem “This Is the One” was played during his manifesto launch.
“People would say: he doesn’t understand the job he applied for, he doesn’t understand what local government was,” a former council leader said. “It was a cynical view that people had developed from a distance, and I don’t think it was fair.”
As a gesture of goodwill, Burnham asked Leese to be his deputy mayor, keeping the most powerful council leader on his side. “I don’t think he would have asked me to be deputy mayor if he had been holding a grudge,” said Leese. “I take that as a real sign that Andy wasn’t interested in old battles—he wanted to get things done.”
Having spent his early political career under New Labour, Burnham took some time to move away from those habits as mayor. Council leaders said his meetings often ran late because he would start with a “monologue” about a particular issue. “Early on, he didn’t distinguish between public and private meetings, so the showbiz style he used in public meetings he’d also use in private ones,” said one former colleague.
Burnham was known for his poor timekeeping. His weekly meetings with council leaders often ran over by an hour or more. More than once, at least one leader would abruptly walk out at exactly 12 o’clock. “He’s late for everything,” said one former colleague. “The diary was more of a guide than a minute-by-minute military plan.”
Shortly after 10:30pm on 22 May 2017, Burnham was at home watching Newsnight, the BBC’s flagship late-night news programme, still in his sweaty football kit after playing his regular five-a-side match, when his phone rang. It was Rotheram. He let it ring, and then a second call. When Rotheram called a third time, Burnham answered. “Andy, Andy, my girls are in Manchester and we’ve been told a bomb’s gone off at the arena,” Rotheram shouted. The Liverpool mayor had been in a meeting with a senior US diplomat when his wife, Sandra, called him in a panic.
Burnham told his friend the loud bangs were probably pyrotechnics. Then another call came through—from Ian Hopkins, the chief constable of Greater Manchester Police. Hopkins told him it was a bomb and that there were multiple casualties at Manchester Arena. Burnham told Rotheram to get his girls out of Manchester as quickly as possible.
That night, a suicide bomber killed 22 people, mostly children, and injured hundreds more at an Ariana Grande concert.The trauma is still etched into Manchester’s memory.
To this day, it takes visible form in the cuddly toys, portraits, and love-heart balloons left in a corner of Manchester Victoria station, which connects to the venue, and in the countless worker bee tattoos that became a lasting symbol of the city’s unity. Burnham was among those who queued to get one.
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The Glade of Light memorial honors the victims of the 2017 terrorist attack at Manchester Arena. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian
Less than 24 hours after the attack, hundreds of people gathered quietly in Albert Square in the city center, bathed in spring sunshine. For many, the vigil will be remembered for Tony Walsh’s powerful reading of his poem This Is the Place, which lifted a fragile city back to its feet: “We won’t take defeat and we don’t want your pity / Because this is a place where we stand strong together / With a smile on our face, Mancunians forever.”
David Walker, the bishop of Manchester, stood beside Burnham on the podium, knowing this would be a defining moment for both the mayor—just two weeks into the job—and the city itself. “It was a turning point,” Walker said, praising Burnham’s natural ability to connect emotionally with a large audience, a skill that can’t be taught by spin doctors.
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Andy Burnham lays flowers in tribute to those who lost their lives in the terror attack in 2017. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images
“That’s absolutely crucial, and I think he gets that,” Walker said. “He knows how to be in that moment, fully present with people, understanding that he can make a difference. Until then, these kinds of terrorist attacks had often been divisive, and communities struggled afterward. I think we did it differently in Manchester.”
After the worst possible start, Burnham found his footing as mayor. His flagship promise was to end rough sleeping in Manchester by 2020, and he nearly cut it in half. But by last year, Britain’s housing crisis had pushed homelessness to record levels, and the number of people on the city’s streets had crept back up.
His proudest achievement by far is the Bee Network, which brought buses back under public control for the first time since the 1980s, capped fares, and connected the region’s messy public transport system. According to colleagues, it took some convincing to get him on board with the plan, but once he was, he went full speed ahead. Now it’s a central part of his vision for government.
“We will ensure all parts of the UK are able to take greater public control of essential services, like water, housing, energy, and transport, learning from the model that has transformed our bus networks here in Greater Manchester,” he said in a speech at the People’s History Museum last month, wearing the yellow Bee Network logo as a badge of honor on his jacket lapel.
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The yellow Bee Network buses and trams began running in 2023. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian
It was during the Covid-19 pandemic, however, that Burnham took on a new public persona. “Covid was a turning point,” said a council leader who worked alongside the mayor during this period. “That’s where he managed to define himself.” As Britons struggled through confusing and intermittent lockdowns, Burnham was rarely off the television, speaking out against Boris Johnson’s government. He hadn’t been invited to Whitehall’s Cobra meetings—the government’s main crisis response system—so the media became his megaphone.
Andy Burnham stands up for local communities during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown
A defiant speech outside the city’s Bridgewater Hall, near the site of the Peterloo massacre, earned him the title “king of the north.” For the first time, he was seen as speaking for much of the country as he criticized the government’s top-down restrictions.Andy Burnham speaks outside Bridgewater Hall in Manchester after talks with the government about new lockdown restrictions fell through. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian
Three men who had been drinking nearby stumbled upon the outdoor press conference as they left the pub. They told one of Burnham’s colleagues they had never voted Labour and probably never would, but they supported the mayor’s fight against the lockdown.
When Nicholas Watt, a journalist from BBC Newsnight, asked Burnham a tough question suggesting he was just showing off, the three men angrily booed. They were fully behind Burnham. “That was the moment I realized: Andy has appeal beyond the Labour party brand,” the colleague said.
This took Burnham to a new level of political fame. His face appeared across Manchester in murals by artist Stanley Chow, a beer called King of the North IPA was created in his honor, and the navy worker’s coat he wore for the Bridgewater Hall speech—which he calls his “second division” jacket, usually worn to watch Everton football club on weekends—went on display at the People’s History Museum.
View image in fullscreen: Andy Burnham is reunited with his ‘king of the north’ jacket after it was acquired by conservators at the People’s History Museum in Manchester. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian
He enjoyed the attention, DJing at club nights, visiting countless charities, and giving his phone number to strangers who needed his help. He read most of his press coverage and sometimes texted or called journalists when he thought they had written something unfair—a habit he still has today.
He felt most comfortable when out meeting people, one former adviser said: “He liked being in the north. He liked that, unlike in Westminster where you’re just the current secretary of state for a government department, the Greater Manchester system was built to support him.”
Early in his first term as mayor, Burnham said his second act as a politician was about showing “the real me.” Westminster, he added, “makes a fraud out of you.” Now, as he begins his third act in a job he has wanted for decades, will the real Andy Burnham step forward?
Frequently Asked Questions
Here is a list of FAQs about the article The Manchester years how Burnhams reinvention as the king of the north paved his way to No 10
BeginnerLevel Questions
Q Who is Andy Burnham and why is he called the King of the North
A Andy Burnham is the Mayor of Greater Manchester He got the nickname because he strongly champions the interests of Northern England especially after clashing with the UK government over issues like funding and transport
Q What does the article mean by his reinvention
A It refers to how Burnham changed his image He went from being a Londonbased Labour MP and government minister to a powerful local leader who is seen as a voice for the North separate from Westminster politics
Q How did being Mayor of Manchester help him become a candidate for Prime Minister
A It gave him a highprofile platform By successfully handling local issues he built a strong personal reputation and a loyal following making him a credible national leader
Q Is this article about him running for Prime Minister right now
A The article discusses how his time in Manchester has positioned him as a potential future Labour leader but it doesnt necessarily mean hes actively running at this moment Its about his longterm political path
IntermediateLevel Questions
Q What specific actions in Manchester helped Burnham gain national attention
A Key moments include his public disagreement with the government over COVID19 lockdown tiers for Manchester his campaign for a cleanair zone and his leadership after the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing He also pushed for the Trafford Centre devolution deal
Q How did his role as Mayor differ from his previous role as an MP
A As an MP and minister he worked within the national party system in London As Mayor he has direct control over local budgets transport and police allowing him to act more independently and visibly for one region
Q What is the main criticism of Burnhams King of the North persona
