Six great reads: the boomer housing gap, the voice of the very online left and the genius of Martin Parr

1. ‘He made the mundane magnificent’: Martin Parr could make a chip shop as mighty as a cathedral

Martin Parr at his Only Human exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, London, in 2019. Photograph: Nils Jorgensen/Shutterstock

Last weekend Britain lost its “national photographer” with the death of Martin Parr. Among the powerful tributes we published to Parr was the photography writer Charlotte Jansen’s, who wrote that Parr “understood that the fluorescent glow of a chip shop could be as revealing as a cathedral; that the colour of a plastic beach bucket could anchor the entire mood of a nation”.

• ‘I drunkenly hugged him and said I love you, Martin Parr!’ Grayson Perry, Don McCullin and more on Britain’s national photographer

• A career in pictures

• Martin Parr obituary

_{Read more}

2. I used to report from the West Bank. Twenty years after my last visit, I was shocked by how much worse it is today

A woman walks along a devastated street in the West Bank. Photograph: Zain Jaafar/AFP/Getty Images

The long read published former Guardian journalist Ewen MacAskill’s sobering account of his first trip back to the West Bank in 20 years, having reported from there for during the second intifada. 

_{Read more}

3. It’s still not OK, boomer: younger Americans are flailing – and mad as hell

Illustration: Glenn Harvey/The Guardian

J Oliver Conroy’s essay on why millennials can’t buy homes was fascinating, an in-depth and sobering overview of generational inequality in the US. Nearly half of millennials can’t afford to buy their own home yet US baby boomers are the richest cohort in the history of the world.

_{Read more}

4. ‘Nnena Kalu was ready for this – nobody else was’: how her Turner prize victory shook the art world

Nnena Kalu at her exhibition at Cartwright Hall Art Gallery in Bradford. Photograph: James Speakman/PA

This week, Nnena Kalu became the first learning-disabled artist to win the Turner prize. As Kalu has limited verbal communication, the next morning Charlotte Higgins talked to her facilitator Charlotte Hollinshead, who explained exactly why her victory is so seismic for the art world and the rights of disabled people.

5. ‘I love when my enemies hate me’: how Hasan Piker became one of the biggest voices on the US left

Hasan Piker at home in Los Angeles. Photograph: Philip Cheung/The Guardian

Every day the American influencer broadcasts a marathon Twitch stream, airing his views to his three million followers. It has led to fame – and some fear – in a country ever more politically divided. Steve Rose spoke to him to find out why he’s unfazed by the noise, even hate, that often surrounds him.

_{Read more}

6. ‘Men explicitly loving men is so threatening to the status quo’: why are gay male pop stars being shut out of the music industry?

Olly Alexander, Lil Nas X, Khalid and Vincint. Composite: Guardian Design; Invision/AP; Richie Talboy; Getty Images; Reuters

Not long ago, artists such as Lil Nas X and Olly Alexander were ruling pop. But success has stalled as acts face industry obstacles and rising homophobia. What now, asked Jeffrey Ingold.

_{Read more}