When I found out my father had been adopted, I was curious to know more about his side of the family. Nothing could have prepared me for what I would discover …

Above my grandma’s bed hung a framed black‑and-white photograph of my dad. As a small child I quietly admired it; his luminous eyes, dark hair and gentle smile. He embodied a tender yet spirited early adulthood, staring into the future. Handsome and seeking.

As I grew older, I would discover that it was not, in fact, a photograph of my dad but of a man called Elvis Presley. Apparently he was very famous. My grandma had been a lifelong fan. My parents laughed – an adorable mistake – but I felt a hot pulse of humiliation.

He’s the Democratic politician with movie-star looks and a picture-perfect family, dogged by accusations of being a smooth‑talking elitist. Can he really unite the American left and win the most powerful office in the world?

When you think of the politician Donald Trump isn’t, when you think of the norm he broke, the archetype he shattered, you might well picture a man who looks a lot like Gavin Newsom. Tall and handsome, hair coiffed just so, with a blond wife and four photogenic kids at his side, Newsom, who has been the governor of California since 2019 and is often described as the frontrunner to be the Democratic nominee for the White House in 2028, looks the way professional politicians, and especially presidential candidates, look in the movies.

It’s dogged Newsom for years, that look of his, perennially suggesting that he is, in the words of one California newspaper, “too ambitious, too slickly handsome, and too patrician-seeming”, especially for a populist age that cherishes the authentic and has no truck with anything either phoney or “elite”. The elite tag especially has hung around Newsom’s neck for decades, thanks to the fact that his ascent to the top of California politics has seemed smooth and unbroken, apparently eased by a childhood spent in the orbit of the Getty family, when that name was a byword for astronomical wealth.

Ever since Netflix dropped its documentary series, Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, the supermodel has been under fire. But is there another motive behind all the controversy?

“I was rooting for you,” Tyra Banks famously berated a contestant on America’s Next Top Model some 20 years ago. But who, now, is rooting for Tyra Banks?

The supermodel and reality-TV mogul has been under fire from all sides ever since Netflix dropped its documentary series, Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model. Long-circling scrutiny of the show’s tasteless extremes, frequent body-shaming and blatant failures of duty of care have come to rest on Banks herself, with viewers, Top Model contestants and even her former friends all expressing outrage at her apparent lack of repentance.

Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff
His music is still all over the place, lurching from landfill indie to solipsistic ballads, but the youngest Beckham son can certainly play guitar

“Memorabilia,” the person on the door says, passing out a commemorative ticket welcoming fans to Cruz Beckham’s show in “Cardiff, England”. It’s an inauspicious start, particularly in a building that’s a decades-old monument to Welsh-language culture, but once the house lights go down, there’s enough to suggest that, even if he’ll never make it as a geography teacher, he could give this music thing a proper lash.

It would be easy to go in studs-up on Beckham, the youngest son of David and Victoria. He’s already a tabloid fixture, his profile supercharged by the recent intra-family beef that has opened up new seams in the content mines, and his every move might duly be viewed with cynicism. His desire to play clubs, to “do it the right way”? The machinations of a nepo-prince currying favour with the masses.

As high rents push more adult children back to the family nest, it is vital to have a conversation about who pays what

When her 27-year- old son and 24-year-old daughter moved back home, Tricia Carter decided to ask them to pay rent. The 63-year-old, who lives in south London, charges them £300 each a month to cover bills including electricity and groceries.

She has a comfortable income, but their contributions help to keep the books balanced. The money is also a way to make her children aware of the financial burden of living somewhere, she says.

There is no end in sight to the pollution caused by a ‘broken’ system. Experts say it could even be getting worse

Sarah Lambert took her usual morning swim for 40 minutes off Exmouth town beach before her volunteer shift helping disabled people get access to the water.

A wheelchair user herself, Lambert’s regular sea swims twice a week between the lifeboat station and HeyDays restaurant were the perfect form of exercise for her disability.

Explosions reported across the Middle East as Iran hits back after major attack by US and Israel

• Full report: US and Israel attack Iran

• Analysis from Guardian diplomatic editor

• What we know so far

Blasts have been heard in several cities, including the capital, Tehran, and Isfahan in central Iran.

Reuters reports there are long queues at petrol stations in the capital, as many people try to leave. An unnamed Iranian official who spoke to the news agency said several ministries in southern Tehran had been targeted.

US president calls on Iranian people to ‘take over your government’, as explosions heard across central Tehran

• US-Israeli attack on Iran – live updates

• US and Israel strikes on Iran – what we know so far

Israel and the US have launched a war on Iran, with Donald Trump declaring the start of “major combat operations” and calling on Iranians to rise up against their government.

The US president’s comments came soon after explosions were heard across central Tehran. One apparent strike hit near the offices of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran is preparing a “crushing retaliation”, an Iranian official told Reuters.

Second Israeli-US attack during nuclear negotiations may finally jettison any chance of agreement

• US-Israeli attack on Iran – live updates

• US and Israel strikes on Iran – what we know so far

The attack mounted jointly by Israel and the US on Iran had been planned for months, but the timing, in the midst of negotiations between Iran and the US, will again raise questions about whether Washington was ever serious about striking a deal with Tehran.

In June last year, Israel, with the US later in tow, launched a 10-day attack on Iran just three days before Iran and the US were due to meet for a sixth set of talks.

Prime minister calls together emergency committee to decide UK’s response to latest fighting in Middle East

• US-Israeli attack on Iran – live updates

• US and Israel strikes on Iran: what we know so far

Keir Starmer is chairing a meeting of the UK government’s Cobra emergency committee as Britain decides how to respond to the US-Israeli bombing of Iran, and Tehran’s retaliation against bases in the Gulf.

The UK did not participate in the first wave of strikes early on Saturday but had deployed RAF Typhoons to Qatar to protect the al-Udeid airbase in the country and other allied military facilities in the region.

We cannot know where this foolish, reckless attack will end – but new hatreds will be seeded, terrorist vendettas sown and, ultimately, little will be achieved

They never learn. Once again, a bellicose US president has unleashed overwhelming military firepower to force a sovereign nation to its knees. Once again, blatant lies and exaggerated claims are being propagated to justify the attack. Duplicitous American diplomacy became a fig leaf for premeditated aggression. The cautionary advice of allies was spurned. The UN, international law and public opinion were ignored. Democratic consent is lacking. And once again, there are few defined goals by which to gauge success, and no long-term plan.

Now, as in the past, the predictable result of today’s renewed, expanded and apparently open-ended US-Israeli aggression against Iran will be instant, spreading chaos. Civilians will be killed, children orphaned, families torn apart. Regional turmoil and international oil-price panic will follow the Iranian retaliation that has already begun, and which may be backed by Tehran’s Hezbollah and Houthi allies. New hatreds will be seeded, terrorist vendettas sown. The west’s foes will rejoice. And nothing of enduring value will be achieved. That was the bitter outcome of the failed US-led interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Today, it’s Tehran’s turn to reap the whirlwind.

Home secretary will defy ‘plain wrong’ calls from unions and leftwing MPs that she is alienating Muslim voters

Shabana Mahmood will press on with hardline immigration policies despite calls for a reversal from unions and left-leaning Labour MPs after the Green party’s byelection victory.

Senior Labour sources insisted that the home secretary would continue to roll out changes to asylum policy, dismissing as “plain wrong” claims that it would further alienate Muslim voters.

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Andoni Iraola: “It’s a team that has played really well this season,” he said of today’s visitors. “Starting from the goalkeeper - he has been very, very good for them. He has a really long kick so it puts you under pressure really early. Every free-kick and every set-piece situation, they put a lot of pressure on you, they manage the situations very well.”

Regis Le Bris: “We are in a tough league – a young team with injuries, suspensions and different events,” said Sunderland’s head coach, upon being asked about his side’s run of three league defeats. “We expected that a bit earlier [in the season]. It is not the best period from a results perspective. We are learning a lot, and it is often in these tough phases that you are learning more.”

Early trials of the drug VIR-5500 showed it shrinking tumours in some patients

A new drug for advanced prostate cancer has shown promise in early trials experts have said, with the medication shrinking tumours in some patients.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men in many countries, including the US and UK. About 1.5 million men are diagnosed worldwide each year.

Case brought by 29 workers and backed by UVW union seen as test case that could lead to changes at other restaurants

Harrods is facing legal action over its addition of a £1-a-head cover charge to diners’ bills that does not go to workers, in a test case that could lead to changes at a string of upmarket restaurants.

Legislation, which came into force in October 2024, requires business owners to hand over all tips and service charges to staff. Some restaurants, including those at Harrods, add a mandatory cover charge as well as an optional service charge and only pass on the latter to their workers.

Disagreement among Caricom members hampers unified response on Cuban sovereignty and US intervention in the region

Caribbean countries have pledged to support Cuba through a humanitarian crisis exacerbated by a US fuel embargo, after a leaders summit defined by regional divisions over Washington’s policies.

The decision to send humanitarian assistance to Cuba was announced during a press conference on Friday to mark the end of the four-day Caribbean Community (Caricom) meeting in St Kitts and Nevis, which secretary of state Marco Rubio attended to discuss US relations with Caribbean governments.

Brown, 62, third member of hit HBO series to die since December, was trying to jumpstart car at home at time of blaze

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The Wire actor Bobby J Brown died recently in a barn fire at his Maryland home, making him the third cast member of the acclaimed HBO show to pass away since December.

According to authorities and a statement on social media from his daughter, Reina, the 62-year-old Brown had gone into a barn at his residence in the St Mary’s county community of Chaptico at about 10pm on 24 February to try to jumpstart a car. It evidently ignited during the attempt, and Brown asked his wife for a fire extinguisher.

Greek leftwing intellectual and former minister says his indictment is indicative of far-right turn in western politics

Yanis Varoufakis, the leftwing firebrand who briefly served as Greece’s finance minister, has criticised his “ridiculous prosecution” for allegedly promoting the use of recreational drugs after his public admission that he once took an ecstasy pill almost 40 years ago.

The 64-year-old, who reminisced about the experience on a podcast, was charged on Wednesday with “inciting others in the illegal use of narcotics”. If convicted he faces a prison term of at least six months and up to €500,000 (£440,000) in fines. A court hearing has been scheduled for December.

Private providers accused of prescribing powerful stimulants without examining young patients properly

Children with ADHD are being put at risk by poorly regulated private clinics that prescribe powerful stimulants without key physical examinations, doctors have warned.

A surge in remote-only assessments has led to what one clinician described as “widespread and unsafe practice”, where children are being diagnosed and medicated via video link. The clinical warnings have now forced health authorities in Greater Manchester to overhaul prescribing rules, mandating face-to-face checks to protect the safety of children.

Syaban Shadikillah told to get new driver’s licence after being issued one using photo of him with colander on his head

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A “Pastafarian” in rural Queensland has vowed to fight to keep his driver’s licence featuring a photo of him wearing a colander on his head, arguing it’s a matter of freedom of religion.

But the state government has told him he must hand it in and get a new one, as it was issued “in error”.

‘Rebranded’ terror group seeks to recruit those alienated by Damascus government’s western pivot

On the surface, all that remains of Islamic State in the Syrian town of Baghuz are discarded tubs of whitening cream, spent RPG motors and children’s backpacks, with an old grenade nestled in the frayed pink nylon.

It was here nearly seven years ago that IS made its last stand. Its most zealous followers were obliterated along with the blood-soaked caliphate they fought to defend. Their bodies were collected and buried next to the town graveyard, while bulldozers came and sealed the entire area under a layer of heavy yellow earth.

As the director general prepares to stand down, potential candidates have fallen away amid a series of crises

There is an impressive shortlist circulating in Britain’s media circles, comprising some of the most talented executives in the business. Unfortunately for the BBC, it contains the names of figures no longer in the running to become its next director general.

Those closely observing the corporation’s search for a successor to Tim Davie have been quick to note how the events of the past week help explain the alarming attrition rate.

Falling groundwater, extreme heat and water-intensive farming are accelerating land collapse, forcing a rethink in agricultural practices

Fatih Sik was drinking tea with friends at home when he heard a rumbling sound outside that grew to a loud boom, like a volcano had erupted nearby. From the window, he saw water and mud shoot into the sky, as high as the tallest trees, less than 100 metres away.

The 47-year-old knew what it was, because it is common in Karapınar, Konya, a vast agricultural province known as Turkey’s breadbasket. A giant sinkhole had opened up on his land. Fifty metres wide and 40 metres deep, it had appeared almost a year to the day after a previous one had formed. It was August – the hottest month of the year.

Brigitte, 27, an admissions officer for a nursery group, meets Jack, 30, a teacher

What were you hoping for?
Great food, great company and hopefully an evening that could be the beginning of something.

Researchers are recreating ancient odours for museumgoers as interest in the archaeology of smell grows

From the interior of Queen Elizabeth II’s car to the scent of ancient Egyptian funerary practices, museumgoers are getting a whiff of the past like never before.

Experts say the approach is more than a pungent stunt: it’s part of a broader effort to try to reconstruct the sensory worlds of the past, with collaborations involving historians, scientists, heritage experts and perfumers.

After a Grammy and a global breakthrough, the 26-year-old singer could sweep the board at next week’s Brits. Her closest collaborators explain her massive appeal

Saturday’s Brit awards will feature performances from heavy hitters such as Harry Styles and Mark Ronson – but all eyes will be on Olivia Dean, the Londoner who has become one of the UK’s biggest breakouts in years, thanks to her second album The Art of Loving and its mega-smash UK No 1 single Man I Need. Nominated for five awards, this year’s ceremony is likely to serve as a coronation for Dean, who has found international success on a scale that most contemporary British artists struggle to achieve.

The Art of Loving focuses on love in all its permutations, applying meditations on friendship and romance to a light, gauzy blend of bossa nova, throwback R&B and indie-pop. Dean delivers each song with unfussy exuberance – she somehow captures both the otherworldly poise of Diana Ross and the charm of your best friend killing it at karaoke – and has become the voice of a generation whose romantic lives have been complicated by dating apps and other digitally mediated mating rituals.

Kate Fox says Joe Ceccanti was the ‘most hopeful person’ before he started spending 12 hours a day with a chatbot

On 7 August, Kate Fox received a phone call that upended her life. A medical examiner said that her husband, Joe Ceccanti – who had been missing for several hours – had jumped from a railway overpass and died. He was 48.

Fox couldn’t believe it. Ceccanti had no history of depression, she said, nor was he suicidal – he was the “most hopeful person” she had ever known. In fact, according to the witness accounts shared with Fox later, just before Ceccanti jumped, he smiled and yelled: “I’m great!” to the rail yard attendants below when they asked him if he was OK.

Steve Borthwick started the Six Nations with a settled group but the journey to Australia 2027 has suddenly become a lot more complicated

Not so long ago, Steve Borthwick’s squad for the 2027 World Cup was taking shape nicely. He picked a largely predictable 36-man group for the Six Nations and the same can be said of his matchday 23 to face Wales in England’s championship opener. Borthwick is a loyal coach who relies heavily on depth charts and the exodus of so many players to France after the last World Cup made a number of difficult decisions for him much easier. Just how tailored his squad is to the 2027 tournament is demonstrated by his refusal to pick the Bordeaux-bound Tom Willis on the basis he will not be available despite being awarded an enhanced contract last summer.

Suddenly, on the back of two heavy defeats and shocking performances, things are not nearly as settled. Comparisons have been made with the 2018 Six Nations in which England also bombed. Eddie Jones reacted by deciding that a clutch of senior players such as Chris Robshaw, James Haskell, Mike Brown and Dylan Hartley would not keep going to the 2019 World Cup. There are also similarities with the 2023 World Cup warm-up matches when a number of players played their way out of Borthwick’s thinking. Here we take a look at which stalwarts are now under pressure, those in the maybe pile, who has advanced their case and who may emerge from left field.

• Champion will face Rico Verhoeven for WBC belt in May

• ‘I respect people who reach the very top in their sport’

Oleksandr Usyk, who has not fought since a fifth-round knockout of Daniel Dubois at Wembley in July, will defend his WBC heavyweight title against a kickboxer at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt.

The bout with Rico Verhoeven, dubbed “Glory in Giza”, will be the first title fight held in Egypt, according to The Ring magazine, on 23 May and will be streamed live on Dazn.

• Amendments to 2026 regulations approved unanimously

• Mercedes had been suspected of gaining an advantage

Formula One’s governing body, the FIA, and rival engine manufacturers have reached a compromise solution to tackle the controversy surrounding Mercedes that had threatened to overshadow next week’s start of the season in Australia.

The sport is entering a new era with the biggest changes in decades to the engine and chassis regulations. Engine compression ratios have been a major talking point, with Mercedes suspected of exploiting a loophole to gain performance through the thermal expansion of components and there is talk of possible protests after the Melbourne race. Mercedes have said any change will make no difference to them.

Briton overcame crippling self-doubt to become F1 world champion and is determined not to relinquish his crown

Lando Norris recalls being rendered speechless with joy when he was given his first contract with McLaren. Sitting in the cramped office of a paddock truck, the confirmation that he had made it to Formula One left him “very smiley for a long time”. Seven years on, he enters the new season having achieved his lifelong ambition of becoming world champion and is wearing an equally irrepressible grin as he sets about defending his title.

Claiming the championship after a monumental season-long tussle that went to a thrilling three-way fight at the finale in Abu Dhabi was the defining moment of the 26-year-old’s career and perhaps something of a turning point.

Goaded by Tottenham and lampooned by Wolves, Mikel Arteta’s side face Chelsea this weekend with rivals hoping to prey on their sensitivities

Arsenal had to expect the jibes from Tottenham and they were not disappointed. Just before kick-off in last Sunday’s north London derby, the Spurs support in the South Stand of their stadium spelled out a giant message in mosaic form. “North Ldn since 1882,” it read.

A clear dig, then, at Arsenal’s south of the river history from the Woolwich days and, as mentioned, very much a part of a rivalry where goading and baiting go hand in hand with the loathing. Arsenal had been similarly provocative before the derby against Spurs at the Emirates Stadium last November, lighting the pre-match scene with a tifo featuring images of various club greats. The most prominent at the top of it? Sol Campbell, of course.

Hearts are threatening to upset the dominance of Celtic and Rangers in a break from the deadening European trend, which could be just what audiences need

There’s a good advert right now on the rolling TV sports news channels. It starts with a rush of beeps and plinks and flashing symbols, generating instantly the flat, glazed, hungry quality of the online casino. A well-groomed middle-aged woman is shown sitting in an armchair in a suburban living room. It’s a jarring tonal shift, but we’re still in that same space, betting graphics dancing around her head.

The middle-aged woman turns to the camera and says: “The games are all different … It never gets boring,” eyes gleaming strangely, hands gripping the struts of her chair. Here is a person who is not just pleased, but uncontrollably energised by the prospect of WowBet.com’s 10bn mildly divergent AI-generated gambling patterns. At this point the words “Sandra Frottwangle, funeral director” appear on the screen.

At 17, the England Under-23s defender is juggling the demands of first-team football with her engineering studies, with a little help from ballet

“I just want to have my name out there to the point where when someone hears it they know instantly who is being talked about,” says the Chelsea full-back Chloe Sarwie. “I want to be that player who can amaze people constantly and that is up there as one of the best.”

You could be forgiven for viewing this level of confidence as arrogant, but you would be wrong. The talented 17-year-old defender comes across as grounded, intelligent, hard-working and humble, but her edge is a steely belief in her football.

The IPC’s Andrew Parsons tries to ease growing tension as Ukrainian president calls the decision ‘dirty’

The Paralympic torch left its home in Stoke Mandeville this week and has arrived at the gateway of the Dolomites. The towns of Bolzano and Trento will host “flame festivals” over the weekend to welcome the Paralympic movement and commemorate its progress on the 50th anniversary of the first Winter Games. It will be a joyous, poignant start to what could be a fractious fortnight.

While the flame is being passed between torch bearers, the leaders of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) will be scrambling to contain what increasingly resembles a diplomatic incident. A decision last week to invite 10 Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete at the Winter Paralympics at Milano Cortina has been met with full-throated criticism from across Europe and beyond.

In the past he has been urged to follow strategies that don’t really match his core beliefs. That’s changing, as it must, because he knows the clock is ticking

• Tom Baldwin is the author of Keir Starmer, The Biography

In a crowded and overheated bar towards the end of the evening a few months ago, I received some strange parenting advice from one of those “Labour strategist” types.

We were discussing – maybe arguing – over the government’s position on Gaza. Eventually I asked if he could provide me with a decent explanation to give my son who had shown me stuff on his phone a couple of days earlier about how Israeli army officers were still being trained by Britain’s military. “Here’s what you say to your son,” began his reply, followed by a portentous pause that made me lean in closer. “You should tell him to fuck off.”

Tom Baldwin is the author of Keir Starmer, The Biography

With David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance poised to buy Warner Bros Discovery, the president is tightening his grip on the US media

For many years, Donald Trump has trashed CNN and has taught his loyal followers to do the same.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, angry chants of “CNN sucks!” reverberated at his campaign rallies, and he still jumps at every opportunity to disparage star CNN journalists such as Kaitlan Collins.

Encounters with great art can be absorbing, unsettling and even painful. How has this been tamed into mere ‘reading for pleasure’?

It is the UK’s National Year of Reading. Specifically, this government-led scheme is about “reading for pleasure” and “the joy of reading”. This is not a matter of whimsy. Research has linked reading for pleasure in childhood to a host of positive educational and socioeconomic outcomes. But now – 14 years after the Department for Education, in a more innocent time, commissioned a chunky report on the matter – reading books for pleasure is an activity in crisis. The culprit usually blamed for this falling-off is the smartphone and its many short-term distractions; the mere presence of a smartphone in the room, recent research suggests, has an impact on our ability to concentrate. People are losing the mental means of getting lost in literature, it seems.

There are lots of things that seem to be slightly off-kilter here. If reading really was such an immense pleasure, wouldn’t people be doing it anyway? Isn’t there something of a contradiction between the idea of reading “for pleasure” and the notion that engaging in this activity brings a ton of extrinsic benefits (all that extra “attainment”)? There’s something else, too: surely it’s not only the reading itself that’s important, but what you choose to read, and what you do with the experience of having read it. The current moment’s anxiety around smartphones seems to have ironed out all the doubts and provisos that earlier ages – sometimes sensibly – placed around reading. In Jane Austen’s Persuasion, the work of Byron – with all its “hopeless agony” – is not advised as sensible reading matter for a melancholy man, and the reading of novels has to be defended in her novel Northanger Abbey; Homer is excluded from Plato’s Republic in part because the poems include morally questionable scenes of gods behaving badly. I’m the last person to want to ban Homer. But self-evidently, there are some books that may harm you, even if you take pleasure in reading them – just as spending all day online may harm you.

Charlotte Higgins is the Guardian’s chief culture writer

Forget snake yoga. All it takes to increase your life expectancy is factoring a set of simple exercises into your weekly routine

Are you still keeping up with your 2026 resolution to exercise more? Or perhaps you’re just trying to survive the winter doldrums, with exercise the last thing on your mind. Whatever it is, social media is alight with fitness influencers showing off all kinds of bizarre and viral exercise trends.

Take squats, a core exercise move. Those don’t seem good enough any more, so now we have Zercher squats (holding a barbell in your elbow crease like a metal baby), squats on vibration plates, squats while throwing a heavy ball and on and on. Some of these exercises may in fact be good, some useless, but because influencers can’t be seen to be doing the same thing every day, the key thing is that they’re novel and can be sold as “the little-known secret exercise that everyone should be doing”.

Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh

Got battered at the polls? No problem. Just act like voters want more of what you’re selling – not considerably less

As David Lammy put it on Thursday in a dispatch from Gorton and Denton: “Only Labour can stop Reform.” And listen, stopping them by taking third place and haemorrhaging half your support from a general election that took place 19 months ago in an area where you haven’t lost an election for almost 100 years is definitely an intriguing way to do it.

Only the Tories sound more furniture-munchingly insane after the Green win last night, announcing the result shows that “only the Conservatives have the experience, the plans and the team to ensure a stronger economy and a stronger country”. Guys? Your candidate LOST THEIR DEPOSIT. Your candidate pulled in the worst ever English byelection result in Conservative party history. This is a bit like the German military surfacing the morning after Operation Bagration in 1944, surveying the wreckage of the eastern front and declaring: “Lads, we’ve got this. Trust the process!”

Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist

The question of who owns and authorizes the month holds particular relevance amid attacks on Black history in the US

There is a myth that persists about Black History Month that can be heard in the common gripe: “They gave us the shortest month of the year” (they, the unnamed powers that be). Jarvis Givens, the author of I’ll Make Me a World: The 100-Year Journey of Black History Month, hates it. “Every time I hear that backhanded comment it doesn’t seem right,” said Givens, an associate professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. “If you know anything about the basic origins of Black History Month then you know that we weren’t ‘given’ anything.”

The question of who owns and authorizes Black History Month holds particular relevance now, in its centennial year, and at a time when efforts to celebrate, preserve, and acknowledge Black people’s past in this country are under attack. Official recognition of Black American resistance to centuries of racial injustice is being challenged by local, state, and national efforts to restrict, ban and possibly criminalize such information in public schools, universities and other institutions. So the sentiment that Black history can be quite literally given or taken away by state officials is valid.

Saida Grundy is an associate professor of sociology and African American studies at Boston University, and the author of Respectable: Politics and Paradox in Making the Morehouse Man

Matt Goodwin claimed cheating in Gorton and Denton, Angeliki Stogia fled, Keir was tin-eared and Kemi brought the comedy

It could have been a flash of arrogance. Hubris for the ages. On Thursday morning, when most pundits were still calling the Gorton and Denton byelection a three-way fight that was impossible to call, the Green party sent a note to journalists. Come to the first press conference of Hannah Spencer MP tomorrow. And while you’re about it, stay on to join her for her first constituency surgery. What could possibly go wrong? As it happens … absolutely nothing.

In the end it wasn’t even close, with the Greens getting 40% of the vote and Reform trailing a long way behind in second on 28%. Labour came a distant third on 25%. About the worst possible result for them, leaving in tatters the idea that they were the only progressive party on the left that could defeat Reform. For the Greens, this was a night of undiluted triumph. The first byelection victory in their history. In a seat they had never previously targeted. Life couldn’t be more sweet.

Hannah Spencer’s win was more than protest. It signalled that Labour’s moral language and coalition are up for grabs in its safest terrain

The Greens have every reason to celebrate their victory in the Gorton and Denton byelection. From a standing start in a Manchester constituency, Zack Polanski’s team tripled his party’s vote to capture a seat that had effectively voted Labour in every election but one since 1906 – the year Labour was born. Labour coming third behind Reform UK is not routine midterm turbulence. A 20-point collapse in the party’s vote is extraordinary.

Sir Keir Starmer was abandoned by a coalition of young progressives, working-class former Labour voters and Muslims. May’s Scottish and Welsh parliamentary as well as English council elections will paint the map in many colours. Not a lot of it will be red if this result is anything to go by. Labour’s vaunted ground game can’t save it if the ground has shifted. The party can’t turn out voters who’ve already tuned out.

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.

The president’s cuts have defunded and alienated thousands of American scientists. Europe can benefit, if it makes the right offer

Donald Trump has spent much of his second term at war with science and scientists. He is cutting staff at institutions such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by a third, and has cancelled or frozen up to 8,000 federal research grants. This hasn’t just hurt individual research programmes, it has damaged America’s credibility as a reliable partner in the scientific community. It is not surprising that many researchers – one poll last year by the journal Nature gave the number of 75% – say they are considering leaving the US entirely.

However, it is one thing to express dissatisfaction, and quite another to up sticks and leave. If the UK and EU want to attract elite scientific talent, their approach must be twofold: appealing directly to scientists concerned with political interference in their research, and offering stable, ringfenced money.

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.

Guardian readers respond to the government’s education white paper setting out changes to provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities

I am a special educational needs and disabilities (Send) coordinator in a mainstream primary school, a governor at a special school, and have two children with education, health and care plans (EHCPs) who attend special schools. I have read the Send reform white paper, and like it (Send support for schoolchildren in England to be given £4bn overhaul, 22 February). There are areas that need clarity, but on the whole I find it purposeful and comprehensive both as a professional and as a parent.

But one element has sat uncomfortably with me all day. Under the section on “experts at hand” it states that, with expert advice, schools can develop “immediate, cost-neutral actions that the school can take, such as introducing sensory circuits … and lunchtime calm clubs”. These examples are not cost-neutral – quite the opposite. They require adult mediation which is very high-cost. The example exposes the authors’ underlying assumption that schools have general support staff, which is not the reality. Classes of 30 children are taught by one teacher, with no “general” teaching assistant. Resources are so stripped that teaching assistant hours are wholly allocated to deliver EHCP provisions, which are legally-bound for specific children.

Nick Merriman supports free entry for all, while Hugh R Craig and Peter Fordham suggest small charges for international visitors

I believe that national museums should be free for all. Your report (Is the UK’s golden era of free museum entry coming to an end?, 21 February) quoted me from a Daily Telegraph article that selectively used parts of a much longer interview. I said in principle that people would be willing to pay; however, I then outlined all the reasons this would not work financially, practically and ethically. I do not wish to be represented as a mouthpiece for those who wish to introduce charges.
Nick Merriman
Hastingleigh, Kent

• There is an easy answer to the budget difficulties faced by many UK art galleries and museums: identity cards. UK citizens could continue to receive free access to the nations’ artworks, which we own, and foreign nationals could be charged an entrance fee, as UK citizens are abroad. Many people enjoy visiting art galleries regularly, which could continue, but international visitors would tend to make only one visit during their time in the country which would continue, even if chargeable, as these are popular tourist sites to visit.
Hugh R Craig
Edinburgh

The picture was akin to Joan Miró’s sculpture Sa majesté le roi, writes Dr Lalith Chandrakantha, while Peter Lowthian praises the snapper for his talents

Fay Bound-Alberti’s analysis of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor as a “ghost behind glass” (From handsome prince to a ghost behind glass, Andrew’s face tells the story of his downfall, 20 February) finds a striking, if unintended, visual precedent in the work of Joan Miró. In 1974, the Catalan artist created Sa majesté le roi (His Majesty the King), a towering figure constructed not from the traditional marble or bronze of royal monuments, but from weathered wood, scrap iron, and found objects.

Miró’s “king” was a deliberate act of irony – a “royal” figure stripped of its finery to reveal the mundane, everyday materials beneath. The entire concept of hereditary monarchy relies on the myth that those of “royal blood” are inherently “other”, yet Miró’s work suggests that “majesty” is merely a hollow assembly. The recent photographs of a diminished Andrew represent the same “crashing down” of this concept. When the “handsome prince” is stripped of his symbolic armour, we are left with the raw, unpolished reality of a human being. Miró knew 50 years ago what the British public is only now seeing through a car window: that there is nothing “special” about the person behind the title – only the scrap materials of a common humanity.
Dr Lalith Chandrakantha
Northampton

Stone lifting | A good result | Gorton and Denton lessons | Metres v millions

I must disagree with Prof Gray (Letters, 20 February) as to the origin of the rounded shapes of the boulders used in the ancient sport of stone lifting in Ireland. They are unlikely to be glacial erratics. Blocks frozen in glacial ice generally retain their initial angular shape and are not abraded. In contrast, rock fragments carried by rivers or located along marine coasts may be rolled and dragged by currents, forming characteristically rounded boulders, cobbles and pebbles.
Dr Alan Woolley
Weybridge, Surrey

• Millions of us woke up to Friday morning’s result in Gorton and Denton (Green party wins Gorton and Denton byelection, pushing Labour to third place, 27 February) and were given a sense of optimism, excitement and hope that, if our stale and moribund two-party politics is indeed coming to a deserved end, there is a future for compassion, fairness, and social justice rather than division, bigotry and tired nostalgia.
Richard Bryant
London

Need something brilliant to read this weekend? Here are six of our favourite pieces from the last seven days

Here’s how to follow along with our coverage – the finest writing and up-to-the-minute reports

Amanda Seyfried is Shaker all over in a wild period drama, while Damon Albarn and his cartoon cohort return with a polyglot offering

The Testament of Ann Lee
Out now
In Mona Fastvold’s critically acclaimed drama, Amanda Seyfried shakes things up as the founder of the restorationist Christian sect the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing. More commonly known as the Shakers, the egalitarian ecstatic worship group coalesced round the visionary female leader in the 18th century.

A damning fact-based drama about a UK water pollution scandal, and the French survivor of rape tells her harrowing story. Here’s the pick of the week’s culture, taken from the Guardian’s best-rated reviews

Stepping off the night train, full of memories of his life there three decades ago, the writer finds a changed city fighting for survival

My first flat in Kyiv was a couple of metro stops outside the city centre, just opposite Volodymyrskyy market, in a nondescript mid-20th century block. The lease was arranged by post. It took me five days to drive there from Edinburgh in an old Polo in November 1991. Finding my way to Kyiv was easy – one road from Calais takes you straight there – but once I got to the outskirts, I must have used a paper map to navigate through the city. I spoke no Ukrainian, and enough Russian to ask basic directions, but not enough to understand the answer. I could read the street signs. I found a parking space round the back and began to unload my stuff.

Recently, I went back. I crossed the road from the square by the metro and went through the market. It’s a neater, quieter place than I remember from the early 1990s, not so much because of the war as from the gradual changes over the intervening years, when peasant farmers around Kyiv became fewer and post-communist supermarkets and commercial food distribution systems replaced the old state shops. In the weeks before and after the 1991 referendum, when Ukrainians voted to leave the Soviet Union, precipitating its quick disintegration, I went to the state shops to queue for cheap, rationed, often scarce items such as bread and hard cheese; the market was a place of plenty and, for locals, high prices. Row upon row of countrywomen in aprons sold huge jars of sour cream, chalk-white towers of cottage cheese wrapped in muslin and pots of horseradish in beetroot juice, alongside vendors from the Caucasus offering persimmons, pomegranates and fresh coriander, and pickle merchants with buckets of Korean carrot salad and wild garlic stalks. All this is still abundant in Kyiv, still locally made, but packaged and stacked on supermarket shelves by big firms. Nobody’s selling homemade sour cream now – perhaps they’ll be back in spring? – there’s only one pickle seller, and the meat counter is no longer quite the shrine to pork fat it once was.

Project Play finds UK taxpayers are funding ‘record child fatalities’ and ‘repeated violence’ against children in northern France

The deaths of 22 children while trying to cross the Channel in the last two years, along with the mistreatment of thousands of others, were due to “catastrophic failures” of the UK and French governments, according to a new report.

Project Play, an NGO that has worked with 2,192 children hoping to cross the Channel from northern France to the UK to claim asylum in the last two years, has documented the impact of the hostile conditions in northern France due to regular teargassing, evictions and dinghy-slashing by the French police.

Likelihood of winning to decrease after NS&I cut the proportion of the total invested amount paid out in prizes

There was some bad news this week for Britain’s 22 million-strong army of premium bond holders: the odds of winning a prize are to get worse.

National Savings and Investments (NS&I) says it is cutting the proportion of the total invested amount paid out in prizes from 3.6% to 3.3% a year with effect from April’s draw.

Event’s first venture outside London aims to recognise geographical diversity of UK’s music talent

Visitors to Manchester this week have been visibly amused to be arriving into Olivia Deansgate station, with many posing for selfies in front of the temporary sign. The tribute to the chart-busting musician is just one indication of how Manchester is embracing the arrival of the Brit awards on Saturday, the event’s first venture outside London in its five-decade history.

Stacey Tang, theBrit awards chair, said the move to the Co-op Live arena was about recognising the geographical diversity of the country’s music talent. “Creativity doesn’t happen in one postcode in the UK … so the idea that the biggest night in music should always be in London, I think, is ageing out,” she said.

Legendary nightclub Le Palace, where Serge Gainsbourg and Prince also performed, to rise again

In the late 1970s, Le Palace in Paris’s busy theatre district was one of continental Europe’s most famous nightclubs.

On the opening night on 1 March 1978, Grace Jones stunned VIP guests with her rendition of Edith Piaf’s classic La Vie en Rose. Later, Serge Gainsbourg and Prince came to perform, Bob Marley was photographed there and Mick Jagger, Andy Warhol and Karl Lagerfeld were part of a glittering cast of international celebrities, politicians, designers and models who came to drink and dance.

Litter picking groups struggle to stem tide of rubbish after reported incidents rose 10% in last year

Last Wednesday, in a layby outside Brackley, Northamptonshire, Trish Savill and her band of self-styled Wombles proudly took photos of their morning’s work: 28 bags stacked neatly against the verge.

It had taken them an hour, but they had barely made a dent in the sprawl of unrecognisable, rotting refuse already working its way into the soil, mixed with dumped white goods and some more dubious finds.

Understanding biodiversity within species is key to our understanding of why nature works the way it does, say researchers

• Words and photographs by Roberto García-Roa

Twelve miles from the heart of Rome, Dr Javier Ábalos pauses his walk, lifts his sunglasses and points. To his right, perched on a rocky wall, sits a beautiful lizard. Its body is coated in charcoal-black tones speckled with striking yellow across a green dorsum, and its head, with a prominent jaw, is splashed with fluorescent blue spots. The reptile basks in the sun, unconcerned by our presence.

About 80 miles (130km) drive farther along the road that connects the capital with the small village of Poggio di Roio, the researcher from the University of Valencia has barely stepped out of the car when he spots another lizard. This one is smaller, with a brownish body and a narrower head crisscrossed by a network of dark stripes.

Researchers fear the common wall lizard of the white morph could be driven to extinction by the arrival of a new variation

Judge slashed a $667m damages award to Energy Transfer over Greenpeace’s role in Dakota Access Pipeline protests

A North Dakota judge on Friday finalized a $345m judgment against Greenpeace in a lawsuit pursued by pipeline company Energy Transfer (ET.N) over the environmental group’s role in protests against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

The final judgment by judge James Gion was in line with a decision he issued in October, in which he slashed by almost half a damages award of about $667m that a jury had awarded Energy Transfer in March.

With most Scots supportive of reintroducing the wild cat, charities are focusing on those whose jobs could be affected

Could lynx, the elusive wild cat driven to extinction in Britain more than 1,000 years ago, become the new Loch Ness monster? “Whether Nessie’s there or not, she draws tourists,” said Margaret Luckwell, a resident of Moray, Scotland. “It would be the same with lynx. I’d love to see a lynx in the wild.”

Luckwell’s view is a majority one among local people gathering at village halls across the Highlands, as a painstaking consultation slowly gathers momentum for the apex predator’s return to Scottish forests.

Robert Easom violently assaulted Trudi Burgess, from Chorley, when she threatened to leave him

A “violent and controlling bully” who broke his partner’s neck, leaving her paralysed and her life “destroyed”, has been sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Robert Easom, a landscape gardener, violently assaulted Trudi Burgess, a schoolteacher and former singer, when she threatened to leave him after enduring eight years of coercive, controlling behaviour.

In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org.

Nigel Farage says his party was victim of ‘cheating’ in Gorton and Denton byelection, although Manchester council says no issues reported

Reform UK and the Conservatives have asked the elections watchdog to investigate allegations of corrupt voting in the Gorton and Denton byelection as Nigel Farage claimed there had been “cheating”, despite limited evidence of wrongdoing.

The reports to the Electoral Commission come after an election observers group, Democracy Volunteers, said they had witnessed “concerningly high levels” of so-called family voting, where one family member dictates how others cast their ballot.

Ofcom says that after provisional ruling it could apply to courts to demand internet providers stop access to site

A suicide forum linked to deaths in Britain has been ruled provisionally in breach of the Online Safety Act after it failed to properly block access to UK users when ordered to do so last year.

Ofcom, the online regulator, said it could now apply to the courts to demand internet service providers block access to the site in the UK. This will depend on how the site, which also faces fines, responds over the next 10 days.

Darren Connor denies possession of offensive weapon in a public place without lawful authority or reasonable excuse

A man accused of entering a mosque in Manchester with an axe, a hammer and a knife also allegedly took in zip ties and a balaclava, a court has heard.

Darren Connor, 55, appeared on Friday at Manchester magistrates court, where he denied possession of an offensive weapon in a public place without lawful authority or reasonable excuse.

Military reckoned ‘good’ Afghan insurgents were separate from ‘bad’ Pakistani insurgents but distinction has blurred

Days after the Taliban swept to power in 2021, Pakistan’s then spymaster appeared in Kabul on what looked to many like a victory lap. Sipping tea in the lobby of the Afghan capital’s fanciest hotel, Lt Gen Faiz Hameed told reporters: “Don’t worry, everything will be OK.”

This week it became clear just how badly Pakistan had miscalculated how it could rely on the Taliban, as Islamabad unleashed airstrikes in Afghanistan and troops from both countries fought each other on the border.

Critics claim the operations are geared at social media, but police say they have enabled real arrests

Police officers from Bangkok’s metropolitan bureau had less than 24 hours to prepare for their latest undercover operation. They would be starring as performers of a lion dance at a temple fair held for the lunar new year. Their mission: track down and arrest a suspected thief who had a history of evading officers.

“The dance was spontaneous. We just did what we did,” said the police captain Lertvarit Lertvorapreecha, adding that nobody had time to practise. In his haste, he accidentally picked up his colleague’s male mask, which he wore with a red silk dress, trousers and tactical shoes.

Musician died after being taken to hospital in Los Angeles, with his family remembering him as a ‘true rock and roll legend’ and ‘inspiration to millions’

Neil Sedaka, the singer-songwriter behind Breaking Up Is Hard to Do, Oh! Carol, Calendar Girl and Bad Blood as well as many hits performed by other artists including Stupid Cupid and Love Will Keep Us Together, has died aged 86.

A representative confirmed his death to Variety on Friday, hours after he was reportedly taken to hospital in Los Angeles. No cause of death was given.

Riot police use teargas to disperse people gathering around wreckage of plane loaded with money from central bank

At least 20 people have died and dozens have been injured after a military cargo plane carrying banknotes crashed while landing near Bolivia’s capital on Friday, damaging about a dozen vehicles on a highway and scattering bills on the ground, an official has said.

Footage from local media showed people rushing to collect banknotes while police in riot gear tried to disperse them using teargas. Authorities were later seen setting the money alight in a bonfire at the scene of the crash.

Businesses are vying for a refund, with nearly $175bn on the line, but customers are unlikely to benefit from reversal

At 8am, two hours before the US supreme court officially slapped down Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs on 20 February, Joseph Spraragen’s phone was already ringing off the hook.

The seasoned New York-based attorney and his 40-strong specialised trade team at Grunfeld, Desiderio, Lebowitz, Silverman & Klestadt (GDLSK) had spent months filing hundreds of lawsuits for heavy-hitter clients, including luxury brands Prada and Dolce & Gabbana, in protest of the US president’s decision to impose sweeping import taxes last April.

Hours after exclusion of Anthropic, OpenAI announces fresh Pentagon deal, but says it will maintain same safety guardrails at the heart of the dispute

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Donald Trump said Friday he will direct all federal agencies to “IMMEDIATELY CEASE” all use of Anthropic technology in the latest instalment of a very public clash over AI safety.

The Department of Defense and Anthropic hit an impasse with neither side backing down as a deadline for an agreement lapsed on Friday afternoon. The Pentagon had demanded the artificial intelligence company loosen ethical guidelines on its AI systems or face severe consequences.

DoJ says it will not ask US supreme court to rehear tariffs case despite president’s complaint on Truth Social

The Trump administration said refunds of tariffs struck down by the US supreme court “will take time”, according to court documents filed by the Department of Justice.

Businesses including FedEx have lined up to demand reimbursement for US tariffs they have paid but that the court last week deemed were imposed illegally, prompting heavy criticism from Donald Trump.

Mary Walsh, leaving after 46 years, says staffers told to ‘aim our reporting at a particular part of the political spectrum’

A veteran CBS News producer who is leaving the network after 46 years has suggested that political bias is at play at the network in a farewell memo sent to colleagues on Friday afternoon.

“We’ve been reading a lot of goodbyes lately and here I am headed out the door. It’s too soon, even after 46 years,” Mary Walsh wrote in the memo, which was obtained by the Guardian. “But maybe it’s for the best. We’ve been told to aim our reporting at a particular part of the political spectrum. Honestly, I don’t know how to do that.”

The singular director has made a second film about the King of Rock, and Roll and this time audiences will get to see a side of him they’ve never seen before

In the spring of 1972, a film crew trailed Elvis Presley everywhere he went to capture a pivotal moment in his career – his first tour in nearly a decade. Ironically, one of the most crucial things that happened during that project occurred way off camera. “We really wanted to get an interview with Elvis on film,” said Jerry Schilling, a confidant and employee of the King who at that time was working for the company behind the movie. “But he was tired when we were going to do it and for whatever reason we never wound up getting anything on camera.”

They did, however, get Presley to talk casually on tape for about 40 minutes, during which he said things he never put on record before. That was enough to raise concerns for his notoriously censorious manager, Colonel Tom Parker, who insured that little of that talk saw the light of day during his lifetime.

Butter, her novel about a female serial killer, was a global hit. As Asako Yuzuki’s second book is published in English, she talks about criticism at home – and why she’ll be writing darker stories in the future

The next time Japanese novelist Asako Yuzuki comes to the UK, she would like to bake some traditional Japanese muffins for Paul Hollywood on The Great British Bake Off, she says when we meet over video call. It is evening in Tokyo, where she lives with her partner and eight-year-old son. “I’ve had my bath and am ready for bed,” she explains, via translator Bethan Jones, apologising for being in her pyjamas. She thinks the Bake Off judge would be particularly impressed by “marubouro” muffins, from Nagasaki. “Kazuo Ishiguro also comes from Nagasaki and British people love Ishiguro, so they are bound to love these muffins,” she continues. “They go very well with tea.”

As anyone who has read Yuzuki’s international bestseller Butter will know, Yuzuki is all about food. Based on the 2009 real-life “Konkatsu Killer” case (konkatsu means marriage hunting), in which 35-year-old Kanae Kijima was convicted of poisoning three men, Butter follows the relationship between journalist Rika Machida and Manako Kajii, a serial killer and gourmet cook, through a succession of interviews in Tokyo Detention Centre. Yuzuki even signed up for the high-class cookery school in Tokyo that Kijima attended as research. The result is an irresistible mix of social satire and feminist thriller, dripping with descriptions of buttery rice and soy sauce.

Steve Conrad’s dark comedy is full of twists and sad laughs. As for the fate of Harbour’s character, does Lily Allen have an alibi?

Last October, Lily Allen released a jaw-dropping album about the sexual politics of her marriage to actor David Harbour. It was a musical assassination – reportedly written in the wake of her personal sleuthing into his long-term infidelities via the dating app Raya. Therefore the timing of DTF St Louis (Monday 2 March, 9pm, Sky Atlantic), in which Harbour plays a man in a stagnant marriage who downloads a hook-up app to enjoy some extramarital boom boom, is juicy. For everyone except his publicist.

From the trailer, this was a hard-to-read show. Was it a dark comedy, a bedroom farce, a police procedural? The answer turns out to be yes, to all of those things. I also wondered whether it might be a televisual return to the erotic thrillers of the 90s. The answer to that one is no, although it’s a show with sex on the brain.

Finally, a celebrity travelogue worth turning into. Plus: turn the volume up for the Brit Awards! Here’s what to watch this evening

7.15pm, Channel 4

As the actor’s hi-tech conspiracy thriller returns for a third series, she spills the beans on her worst stunt injury – and why the police are now ‘dressing like the cops on the telly’

You’ll never wheel your suitcase through an airport in the same way again. Hit techno-conspiracy drama The Capture makes its long-awaited comeback with a chilling, thrilling opening sequence at Heathrow Terminal 5. When a hostile Russian asset lands in the UK, he hacks CCTV cameras and uses real-time image manipulation to bypass border controls and passport checks. He’s travelling under a deepfake avatar – and let’s just say he’s not in London to visit M&M’s World or see the Paddington musical.

Written and created by former documentary-maker Ben Chanan, The Capture’s ripped-from-the-headlines mix of government AI usage, state-sponsored cyber-attacks, dark web data analytics and deepfake doppelgangers will make you fear for the future. The show’s star Holliday Grainger compares it to “a longform Black Mirror”.

Six movies in, the series about characters linked to the web-slinger is looking ever ropier. More are on the way – but with no sign of the obvious way refresh the franchise

The old adage goes that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. The news this week that Sony is planning to reboot its once much-vaunted, now completely risible “Spider-Man Universe”, shows there must be a few Hollywood executives who still believe in it.

Speaking on The Town podcast this week, the studio’s chief executive and chair Tom Rothman was asked about the future of the bafflingly superfluous superhero franchise that gave us three lukewarm Venom films, the odious Morbius and the tonally anaemic Madame Web. Despite scant clamour for more movies, he confirmed that the saga will live to fight another day. “Is the larger Spider-Verse dead?” Rothman was asked. “No,” he replied. “Are you going to go back to those at some point?” asked his interviewer. “Yes,” Rothman said. “But it’ll be a fresh reboot?” “Yes.” “New people?” “Yes, yes.” Rothman then added: “Scarcity has value … you got to make the audience miss you.”

(Atlantic)
Harking back to Oye Como Va, Move On Up and other 20th-century classics, Mars’s homages are beautifully performed but bereft of new ideas

It is 10 years since Bruno Mars last released a solo album. An eternity in pop music, and yet you’d struggle to describe the follow-up to the umpteen-platinum 24K Magic as eagerly awaited: not for reasons of snark, but simply because the world has hardly been starved of Bruno Mars in the intervening decade.

With Anderson .Paak, he co-piloted Silk Sonic’s hit album An Evening with Silk Sonic. He variously collaborated with Cardi B, Gucci Mane, Sexy Redd and Ed Sheeran. Die With a Smile, 2024’s soft rock duet with Lady Gaga went on to become the most streamed song of last year. Meanwhile, he also recorded the most globally successful song released in 2025, the infernally catchy APT., with Blackpink’s Rosé. There have been two world tours, two Las Vegas residencies, the opening of his own Vegas bar, an appearance on online game Fortnite and the 2026 ambassadorship for Record Store Day.

After drummer Neil Peart died in 2020, many thought the Canadian prog legends would never reform. As they book a mammoth global tour, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson explain how their lifelong bond drew them back together

The two men on the sofa, Rush’s Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, have known each other for 60 years now. “When we first met in junior high school, we sat beside each other, and we laughed,” says Lee, the elder by a month. “He’s the funniest guy I’ve ever known, and I make him laugh, too.” Lifeson, who has been gazing at his friend happily, nods vigorously. “Yeah!” The two of them gently tease each other, and speak of each other with such happy admiration, that I feel suffused with warmth from the off. “Everybody wants to have a bestie like this guy!” Lee says at one point, beaming.

It’s only because they like each other so much that they’re in this posh London hotel suite. Lifeson came over to Europe for some health checks, and Lee decided to come with him. Once they were here, they decided they may as well talk to some journalists about Rush’s upcoming R50 reunion tour, and the decision to add 24 European and South American shows to the 58 arena dates they’d already announced for North America (they’ll play the UK in March 2027). The interviews were meant to be separate, but they decided it would be more enjoyable to speak together. Honestly, if you ever want to see a model for male friendship, spend time with Rush and feel cleansed.

He gets more streams than Taylor Swift or Bad Bunny, thanks to a shamelessly corny and cannily timeless style. Close collaborators and industry experts explain his secret

Sixteen years since his sugary debut Just the Way You Are became a megahit, Bruno Mars is the most-streamed musician in the world. Last year, the Hawaiian-born 40-year-old became the first (and still only) artist to reach 150m monthly listeners on Spotify, and his staying power shows little sign of waning: Mars now has more listeners than even Bad Bunny and Taylor Swift. His latest, funk-inspired single I Just Might – which he performed at the Grammys earlier this month, with a brass band, slick suit and his trademark bandana – shot to the top of the US Hot 100, making him only the fourth male soloist in chart history to achieve 10 No 1 singles there, after Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and Drake.

“We always say, I don’t know when that happened,” laughs Philip Lawrence, the songwriter and producer who has helped shape Mars’s story, when asked about their huge success together. The two musicians were introduced in 2006 and bonded over a shared dream to get signed and get on stage. “That was our connection – let’s perform!”

(Out of Your Head)
The cellist reunites with guitarist Mary Halvorson, bassist Jason Roebke and drummer Tomas Fujiwara for five stunning tracks that are boundary-pushing yet populist

US cellist and composer Tomeka Reid and her frequent guitar soulmate Mary Halvorson have collected so many compliments for their jazzily genre-loose innovations over the past decade and a half, that they don’t need to waste a moment proving anything to anybody. These two fearless musicians have played alongside the tough, cerebral Anthony Braxton, and Reid has been part of that great Chicago avant-jazz institution, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). But if they ever considered extending a conciliatory hand to the jazz-averse, it might sound like this entrancing and aptly named set.

This is the fourth release by Reid’s quartet featuring Halvorson, bassist Jason Roebke and drummer Tomas Fujiwara. Over five tracks and almost 50 minutes, they race and cruise through jiving swingers, fast brush-shuffles, Latin-jazzy harmonies, hip-hoppish fuzz-guitar burn-ups, and sensuous acoustic-cello reveries.

Francis Spufford, Manish Chauhan and Guardian readers discuss the titles they have read over the last month. Join the conversation in the comments

I’ve been reading a very short book by Claire Baglin, translated by Jordan Stump, On the Clock. Set on the edge of somewhere in Brittany, all run-down blocks, dual carriageways and drive-in eateries, it’s a dark, sometimes funny story of a working-class family and a young woman starting work in a fast-food restaurant. Through a few short scenes we get a real insight into the quotidian soullessness of the work.

The Egyptian queen has fascinated me from childhood, but following the archives led only to ancient gossip and Roman propaganda. Fiction was the way to liberate her from misogynist myth

Witch, whore, villain – there are few women who have been as vilified through history as Cleopatra VII. The disdain of ancient sources that sought to dismiss her as exotic and seductive has corrupted her legacy. But I take pleasure in knowing that her name has permeated through time with far more recognition than the men who wrote about her. Ask a 10-year-old child who Plutarch is and they’ll scrunch up their brows – but Cleopatra? Their eyes light up with glee.

Mine did when I was tasked by my schoolteacher to draw Cleopatra. My small hands searched through the box of crayons. I picked up the brown, its tip pristine from lack of use. It was the loneliest colour in the box, used only to draw mud or bark. The face I drew reflected my own in features and colour.

The British-American author on arguing about Jane Austen, the joys of Jerome K Jerome, and revising his opinion of Philip Roth

My earliest reading memory
I used to read Donald Sobol’s Encyclopedia Brown stories with my mother. It’s a classic American kids’ series about a boy detective and his brilliant sidekick, Sally, who protects him as they tackle their arch enemy, Bugs Meany, a kind of high school bully version of Professor Moriarty. We’d sit in the kitchen together and try to solve the crimes. Of course, for me it was also an opportunity to hang out with my mom. I’m one of five kids; attention was hard to come by. But I was also drawn to the picture Sobol paints of small-town all-American life, which I don’t think I ever felt a part of. We moved around too much.

My favourite book growing up
I remember finishing JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings at elementary school and already feeling sad about the fact that I’d never be able to read it again for the first time. I have a dim memory that I was in school, because the feeling has something of the flavour of the school hallway and the bright lights on the shiny tiled floors, and the general sense of being shut in for the rest of the day. Some of my older brother’s friends had already introduced me to Dungeons & Dragons, which shaped the next few years of my life. Most of my favourite novels started with the idea of some lonely figure wandering out into the world to see what the world would do to him. (Later, Alexandre Dumas’s The Three Musketeers was another favourite.)

A former ranger tells the story of how the UK’s forests intimately shaped – and were shaped by – its people

It may not sit well with the politicians who now seek to govern it, but Britain has always been a land of immigrants – our “native” fauna and flora among them. More than 10,000 years ago, in the wake of retreating ice sheets, trees from the warmer south began to re-colonise this chilly north-western fringe of Europe: first birch, then hazel, elm, oak and alder. By the time rising sea levels submerged the marshy lowlands connecting it to the rest of the continent, the new British mainland was covered in a luxuriant tangle of forest. In this primeval wildwood, a squirrel could leap tree-to-tree from north coast to south, east coast to west.

Or so one story goes. In Ancient, woodland expert Luke Barley sets out to tell a more complex and fascinating tale of our forests and the people that have lived with and made use of them. His title points back to the post-ice age woodland and its forerunners in sweltering or wintry deep prehistory, but it also holds a more specific meaning. Under classifications drawn up in the 1970s, a UK wood is considered “ancient” if it was already in existence by 1600 (in Scotland, by 1750), as shown on the earliest accurate maps. These are our last links to the wildwood, places where the undisturbed soil still supports a rich and intricate ecosystem that no human ingenuity can recreate.

With original dialogue in Turkish, this shuffling of potential partners in a sequence of meaningless encounters ranks with the finest auteur movies

I spent Valentine’s Day not with my wife but with 18 Turkish women. No, wait, I can explain. It’s a new game called Speed Dates – Winter Edition, which I only chanced upon when I searched “Winter Games” on Xbox Live hoping for some Olympics fare. And boy, did I find it!

The game is in Turkish, with English subtitles. It already feels arthouse; like those films Channel 4 used to show with a red triangle in the corner of the screen.

Fear, fights and feverish fanservice collide in this celebration of Resident Evil’s recent and retro legacy
PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch 2; Capcom

There’s often an undercurrent of existential fatigue in games that look back at their legacy. Dark Souls III’s dying kingdom, Metal Gear Solid 4’s decrepit Snake. So when Capcom showed us an ageing Leon Kennedy entering the ruins of the police station that marked the start of his journey from rookie cop to hardened veteran, it felt tinged with ennui as much as nostalgia. That self-reflective swansong for this 30-year series may still happen one day, but Requiem isn’t it. Even at its dourest and most pensive, this is less a song for the dead, more a knees-up in honour of the rocket launchers and typewriters that came before. Leon may be getting on a bit, but this is Capcom as energised, devious and goofy as ever.

Leon’s old scars will have to wait, anyway. Requiem’s new blood is FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft. Equal parts tenacious and nervous, she’s a fitting lens on the horror portion of Requiem’s split focus between disempowered terror and cathartic action. The story opens with Grace – more acquainted with desk work than field ops – tasked to go over a crime scene at a gutted hotel. She knows the place well, since it holds some horrific memories for her. Still, she heads off with little more than a flashlight and a pistol you’ll never find quite enough ammunition for to feel safe.

With ​i​ts longtime figureheads stepping aside, Microsoft’s gaming division faces a pivotal moment​, raising questions about whether ​i​t can still balance creative ambition with corporate strategy​ in the age of AI

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And so it’s all change at Xbox. Last Friday it was announced that the CEO of Microsoft’s gaming division, Phil Spencer, is to retire, while its president Sarah Bond is resigning. In their place, a new partnership: Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty is promoted to chief content officer, while the new CEO is Asha Sharma, who moves from her post as president of Microsoft’s CoreAI product.

In a company-wide email, Spencer stated that he would stay on until the summer in an advisory role before, “starting the next chapter of my life”. For her part, Bond issued a statement on her LinkedIn account: “I’ve decided this is the right time for me to take my next step, both personally and professionally.” It was all extremely good natured, but its doubtful these airy missives tell the full tale.

Glowfrog Games; PC
Short but very sweet tale asks the player to compile a scrapbook of mementoes telling the story of a heartfelt bond that frays over time

There are few things sadder than the end of a close friendship. Whether it happens in a sudden moment of betrayal or after years of gradual separation, the feelings of loss can stay with you for a lifetime.

This is the theme of Pieced Together, a quiet, charming narrative game about best pals Connie and Beth, who meet at school in the 1990s and form an immediate, seemingly inseparable bond. Through the ingenious medium of an interactive scrapbook, we play as Connie, glueing in photos, notes and memories of her friend after years of separation. The game begins with several attempts to write Beth a letter, before we cut-out, stick and sort the story of their lives together.

Royal & Derngate, Northampton
Emerging playwright Samson Hawkins takes on toxic influencers in an exuberantly directed drama with echoes of TV’s Adolescence

The audience enters through a graffitied tunnel at one corner of the foyer. Inside, the auditorium is a life-size skate-park. It is a feat of set design by Rebecca Brower and tremendously atmospheric. The play is a blast of freshness, too. Written by local emerging talent Samson Hawkins, it is a dark comedy about toxic masculinity and the lure of misogynistic online influencer culture for young men struggling to find their place in the world. In this case, it is 18-year-old Aidan (Daniel Rainford) who is languishing in low-paid jobs and feeling powerless while his secretly adored friend, Mia (Fanta Barrie), prepares for university and begins a romance with the taller, richer Charlie (Finn Samuels).

At its centre is an Andrew Tate-style alpha misogynist turned social media svengali, Hugo Bang (Danny Hatchard, of EastEnders fame). Dressed devilishly in a slick red suit, he emerges from among the snippets of social media that Aidan scrolls past, and which are dramatised, but slowly begins to gain his attention until he is in nose-to-nose dialogue with Aidan.

Cadogan Hall, London
South African soprano Rangwanasha proved she is the real deal in a performance of Strauss’s Four Last Songs that’s let down by the RPO’s oddly pinched, poorly tuned backing

‘We’re here for her,” the man next to me says, pointing to Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha’s name on the programme. He’s not alone. The South African soprano – winner of the song prize at 2021’s Cardiff Singer of the World and more recently the Salzburg festival’s starry Herbert von Karajan prize (fellow laureates include Daniil Trifonov, Janine Jansen and Lise Davidsen) – is the real deal: a singer with a voice of sumptuous, indecent beauty, and serious musicality. So the chance to hear her join the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for Strauss’s Four Last Songs brought out a healthy midweek audience.

And with good reason. Rangwanasha’s Strauss is still under construction, still finding the ebb and flow of these autumnal farewells to life, art and love, but there are the makings of a generational performance here. Youthful and wide-eyed in Frühling, an airy wonder in her delivery, she brought a backlit glow to the central songs, before allowing it to suffuse and engulf the texture in the welcome release of Im Abendrot.

Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
The Radiohead guitarist joined the orchestra for the premiere of his rather formless Violin Concerto – but other repertoire was gripping, and showed off a world-class string section

Amid the sea of musicians clad in concert black, his baggy white trousers inevitably stood out. And for an orchestra that has been a fixture of the classical mainstream for well over 150 years, the choreography was awkward: lengthy resets between pieces, a second half that threatened to begin before the audience was seated, a celebrity guest who fled having barely acknowledged the applause. Yet despite all that, this collaboration between the Hallé and Jonny Greenwood – Radiohead guitarist and award-winning composer – was musically compelling.

In Steve Reich’s Pulse, Greenwood stood behind the Hallé musicians, his body at a slant and chin jutting nonchalantly, as he provided some of the work’s vital chugging on electric bass. His playing was subtly expressive, his plectrum featherweight, the bass’s occasional excursions away from repeated notes a stylish release as the Hallé’s wind and string players worked through Reich’s Copland-esque melodic lines. Under conductor Hugh Tieppo-Brunt it was a cool, understated performance.

Tabard theatre, London
The actor shines as Hitler’s favourite film director, who flirts and finagles her way through a fictional interview with an alcoholic, philandering journalist hiding his own shame

Since Peter Morgan’s Frost/Nixon 20 years ago, pieces about celebrated TV interviews have trended – James Graham’s Best Of Enemies, Doug Wright’s Goodnight, Oscar and two TV dramas about Emily Maitlis and the sweat-less then Prince Andrew. A play about Michael Parkinson’s studio bouts with Muhammad Ali is in preparation.

Now A Thing Of Beauty by Wendy Oberman and Jonathan Lewis imagines Leni Riefenstahl, Hitler’s propagandist film director (Triumph Of The Will) and rumoured lover, in London in 1972 to talk to the BBC. Or partly imagines: she made a programme with the corporation that year, although the interviewer was the admirable journalist-playwright Keith Dewhurst rather than, as on stage, Harry Adams – an alcoholic philanderer with a grim private shame – who the playwrights presumably invented to allow historical falsifications such as Adams’s spectacular crossing of an ethical boundary.

He may not be a cyclist, but the photographer was drawn by this bike shop’s jumble of frames and parts

Michael Krupka had passed Philadelphia’s Via Bicycle repair shop for years before he ventured inside. As a photographer rather than a cyclist, he was drawn by the jumble of frames and parts in the front window. “My father was a machinist and when I was a child we had a workshop at home where he could repair pretty much anything mechanical he encountered,” Krupka recalls. “As an artsy kid, I didn’t inherit those skills, but I do have an aesthetic attraction to machines and mechanical things.”

Krupka was out that day on what he describes as an “intentional photo hunt”. He asked a guy repairing a bike near the entrance for permission. “He just shrugged and carried on,” Krupka says. “I’d hoped to capture the graphic chaos against the backlit window. What I found was an even more tangled scene, with even more bikes in the foreground, which I used for the bottom third of the composition,” he says. “The shot has something of a maze or jigsaw element, too, a kind of puzzle that might have interesting things to find within it.”

For one heart surgeon, seeing the Renaissance artist’s anatomical drawings gave him a natural understanding of the body that was often overlooked in modern medical science

If you’d asked my teenage self, growing up in a small village in Shropshire, what I wanted to do with my life, I would have talked about art and music long before I spoke of scalpel blades and operating theatres. As an 18-year-old, I intended to go to art school, until my mother sat me down and told me rather bluntly that being an artist wouldn’t earn me much money. As she spoke, a surgical documentary flickered across the screen of the black-and-white television in our living room. I told her, half joking, that that was what I’d do instead. Which is how I ended up repeating my A-levels and fighting my way into medical school, where I qualified in 1975.

By 1986, I was a consultant cardiothoracic surgeon at Papworth hospital in Cambridge, repairing failing hearts in a nascent field of medicine. Since then I’ve repaired more than 3,000 mitral valves – more than any surgeon in the UK – but the work that truly reshaped me came not from a textbook but from an encounter with centuries-old drawings.

In this week’s newsletter: After a controversial awards moment thrust the condition into the spotlight, we look at the new biopic of John Davidson and the decades of portrayals that led to it

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The wildfire surrounding last week’s Bafta ceremony – where Tourette syndrome campaigner John Davidson involuntarily shouted a racial slur at actors Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo, and the BBC aired the moment – continues to rage. Criticisms have been levelled at, and investigations opened by, the Beeb and Bafta; hundreds of news stories and comment pieces have been devoted to the incident (if you read anything, make sure it’s this clear-eyed piece from Jason Okundaye, who was at the ceremony); and the climate on social media has been toxic, with much of the ire directed at Davidson himself. It’s an ire that is based on a complete misunderstanding of coprolalia, the form of Tourette syndrome (TS) that Davidson has, which results in the unintended and completely involuntary utterance of offensive or inappropriate remarks.

There’s an unhappy irony at play here because Davidson, arguably more than any other person in Britain, has been responsible for raising awareness of TS. There’s an unfortunate symmetry, too, to the fact that the incident was shown on primetime BBC, because that was where Davidson was first brought to national attention as the subject of the landmark 1989 documentary John’s Not Mad. Directed by film-maker Valerie Kaye, and aired as part of the popular science series QED, the half-hour film – available on DVD or to rent or stream on Prime Video – shadows a 15-year-old Davidson around his home town of Galashiels, in the Scottish Borders, as he struggles both with his condition and the intolerance of those around him (his own grandmother claimed that he was possessed by the devil).

Hollywood actor for more than five decades best known for 1980s cult film Revenge of the Nerds and the teen comedy series Lizzie McGuire

Of the four sons who followed their father, John Carradine, into acting, Keith had the most prestigious career, David netted the largest audience thanks to his early-1970s TV series Kung Fu, and the little-known Bruce amassed a meagre handful of minor credits. The youngest, Robert Carradine, acted continuously without ever becoming a star. He has taken his own life aged 71, after suffering from bipolar disorder, which was exacerbated by David’s death in 2009.

He had small roles in Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets (1973), where he was the long-haired gunman who shoots dead the drunk played by David, and as a tracker in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained (2012). He also joined David and Keith as the three Younger brothers in Walter Hill’s western The Long Riders (1980), which populated its cast with other sets of real-life siblings, such as James and Stacy Keach playing Frank and Jesse James. Carradine’s aptitude with a gun led to him competing under the alias Bob Younger in quick-draw competitions organised by the Single Action Shooting Society.

The director on his wife’s illness, the worst thing anyone’s said about him and the age he imagines himself to be

Born in Devon, Richard Eyre, 82, was educated at the University of Cambridge and became an actor. Between 1987 and 1999 he was artistic director of the National Theatre. His notable films include Iris, Notes on a Scandal and The Dresser; he is currently shooting The Housekeeper and is directing Strindberg’s Dance of Death at Richmond’s Orange Tree theatre until 7 March. He is married with a daughter and lives in London.

When were you happiest?
In the 80s.

Smooth, brighten and rejuvenate your undereyes with these hard-working buys for every budget

• The best mascaras for longer, fuller and fluttery lashes

‘The eyes are the window to the soul,” as the saying goes. Yet as well as communicating what we’re thinking and feeling, they can also reveal clues about our age, lifestyle and health – presented as some of the most common eye concerns, including puffiness, dark circles, fine lines and wrinkles.

The good news is that today’s eye cream and serum formulations can go a long way to address those issues when used as part of a daily skincare routine. Many products do more than simply hydrate the area around the eyes; next-generation formulas work harder and smarter, combining science-backed ingredients with skincare tech.

Best eye cream overall:
Medik8 Crystal Retinal Ceramide Eye

Best budget eye cream:
The Inkey List Caffeine eye cream

Whether you want moisturiser or mascara, serum or nail polish, our expert shares her go-to skincare and makeup. Plus, top tips for buying cruelty-free

• The best refillable beauty products

Thanks to a growing demand for ethically produced products, vegan and cruelty-free beauty has improved dramatically in recent years. An increasing number of brands are now vegan – in particular newer brands, which have prioritised ethical credentials. By the same token, many use recyclable, compostable or refillable reusable packaging, and donate to environmental causes.

Vegan beauty products are ones that avoid commonly used animal-derived ingredients, such as beeswax, lanolin (derived from sheep’s wool), snail mucin, keratin (found in some nail polish and nail treatments) and non-vegan collagen, which is generally derived from the connective tissues, skin, bones and cartilage of cows or fish.

Whether it’s beans or machines, grinders or pods, the Filter’s coffee expert Sasha Muller answered readers’ questions

• The best coffee machines, tested

Want to know how to make a barista-style brew at home or maybe where to buy the best coffee beans – or even which espresso machine is best? The Filter’s coffee expert, Sasha Muller, has been answering your questions.

Sasha has tested coffee machines, cafetieres, espresso machines and more for the Filter. You asked him about pretty much everything – from which decafs actually taste nice to the best grinders to use – and whether it’s possible to be too much of a coffee nerd.

Bean to cup coffee machines with dual hoppers do tend to cost a hefty premium, but one slightly more affordable option is the De’Longhi Rivelia. I do mean slightly, though – the most basic model which uses a manual steam wand is currently £575, and the fully automatic version I’ve tested in recent months is £675. It’s a great machine that justifies the premium over cheaper models – both in terms of its coffee brewing, which is superb, and its design. The masterstroke here is that the Rivelia comes with two plastic swappable bean hoppers which twist and lock into place. You do still end up with some beans left in the mouth of the grinder when you swap them over, but the Rivelia’s touchscreen gives you the option to purge the beans, or brew one last caffeinated (or decaffeinated) cup. And if only two types of beans isn’t enough then you can buy replaceable bean hoppers for £18 a pop.

It really depends what kind of coffee you like – and how you’re brewing it – but sadly I’ve struggled to find any real bargains. I’ve tried a bunch of the cheapest beans from the likes of Aldi and Lidl in recent months in the interests of science (and saving cash), and they’ve mostly been fine – but none of them have really hit the spot. It’s definitely worth looking out for time-limited deals on supermarket own brand beans and ground coffees – they can be surprisingly decent – but you’re partly at the mercy of how long the bags have been sitting on the shelves. With no roast dates on these coffees, they could be months old and past their best. It’s impossible to tell.

One of my guilty penny-pinching options is a big 1kg bag of Lavazza Rossa beans or similar. These occasionally come up on a deal for around £10 to £12, and although they’re by no means a refined pick – the experience is akin to someone smearing burnt toast and intensely bitter chocolate all over your taste buds – they make a mean Italian-style espresso and similarly potent cappuccino.

Keep dry in outerwear that’s been put through its paces in showers indoors and out

• How to choose a waterproof jacket
• The best men’s walking boots for every type of hiking adventure

I didn’t think it was possible for my cat to respect me less. That was until he caught me testing a waterproof jacket in the shower. Him, motionless in the hallway, a textbook look of feline disapproval painted across his face. Me, slowly rotating behind a glass screen like a Gore-Tex doner kebab.

What he doesn’t understand is that modern rain gear makes braving the elements far less miserable. Gone are the clammy rubberised raincoats of old. Today’s lightweight shell jackets incorporate clever fabric technologies that keep the rain sealed out without leaving you steaming inside.

Best waterproof jacket overall:
Montane Torren

Tender jarred chickpeas make this colourful vegetarian dish a bit of a breeze to bring together

Every now and then, something comes along in the food industry that is “better than sliced bread”, and right now I would say that thing is jarred chickpeas. Due to the way they’re processed, cooked at a lower temperature and for a shorter time, they tend to be softer than tinned and ready to eat in salads (a tinned chickpea, on the other hand, might need a five-minute boil to get to the same degree of softness). In any case, it’s safe to say that this innovation has led to an increase in my eating of chickpeas in salads, and today’s dish is a recent favourite.

Honey and cinnamon bring a warming, Istanbul-inspired spin to a classic

The scent of honey and warm pastry that spills out of the late-night baklava shops on Taksim Square in Istanbul is the inspiration for this twist on the classic old fashioned. The honey, cinnamon and walnut slip in perfectly without overpowering proceedings.

Andrea Ena, bar manager, Nora, London E22

The classic cake reimagined as a cookie

When it comes to British cakes, coffee and walnut is such a staple that if there isn’t one present at a bake sale or coffee morning, I’ll raise an eyebrow. I’ve taken the classic combination and put them in a cookie for something fun and quicker to make. Full of toasty walnuts and a hit of that very nostalgic instant coffee flavour, I finish them off with a white chocolate button as a nod to the sweet, creamy icing.

From a Sichuan-inspired lasagne and a simple macaroni cheese to pasta al forno with meatballs, here are a few easy, inspired recipes to enjoy hot from the oven

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The other day, I climbed the communal stairs and opened the front door to the smell of cheese on toast. A welcome aroma made even more welcome when I realised that it was actually the tips of pasta tubes turning golden among grated cheese and creamy bechamel sauce. To add to the pleasant scene, my partner, Vincenzo, was washing up. Because that is the thing about pasta al forno – baked pasta – the time between finishing the construction and the eating is around about 25 minutes. That is, exactly the right amount of time to wash up and wipe up, or delegate those tasks to someone else while you make a salad and open a bottle of wine. There are few things as beautiful, inviting and complete as baked pasta and a clean kitchen.

The baked-pasta galaxy is a big one, with many stars. Ann and Franco Taruschio provide a brilliant recipe for a classic lasagne bolognese, made with fresh pasta, a rich (but not tomato-rich) ragu and parmesan-enriched bechamel. While their recipe is undoubtedly written for fresh pasta – either homemade or bought – it can and should be adapted for dried pasta, too. Just remember to plunge the dried sheets in boiling water for 30 seconds before using them, even if the packet instructions say not to soak them. Also, make the bechamel slightly more liquid by increasing the milk by 100ml. Meanwhile, for a lasagne recipe specifically written for dried pasta and with a juicy, tomato-rich meat sauce, look to Katie Stewart via Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. Alternatively, Tamal Ray has a fantastic-sounding Sichuan-inspired lasagne made with pork mince, fermented bean ragu, bechamel and chard (pictured top).

Years of singlehood, dating apps and humiliating set-ups left me skeptical. But Calling in ‘the One’ – surprisingly – worked

In January 2023, a friend recommended I read a dating self-help book with her. “I think we need to read this,” she said. “My friend did it and that’s how she met her husband.”

But when the book arrived, I discovered it wasn’t a recommendation so much as an enlistment.

Emily wants Ananya to load the machine methodically. Ananya is happy with her more random approach. Whose argument stacks up? You decide

• Find out how to get a disagreement settled or become a juror

There is a correct way to load a dishwasher. Ananya’s haphazard method makes no sense

My method works fine. By dictating how it should be done, Emily is being superior and controlling

Forget fear of public speaking. A lot of people now shy away completely from speaking to anyone in public. But if we learn to do this it’s enriching, for ourselves and society

It started with two incidents on the same day. In a fairly empty train carriage, a stranger in her 70s approached me: “Do you mind if I sit here? Or did you want to be alone with your thoughts?” I weighed it up for a split second, conscious that I was, in effect, agreeing to a conversation: “No, of course I don’t mind. Sit down.”

She turned out to be an agreeable, kind woman who had had a difficult day. I didn’t have to say much: “I’m sorry to hear that.” “That’s tough for you.” She occasionally asked me questions about myself, which I dodged politely. I could tell she was only asking so the conversation would not be so one-sided. Some moments are for listening, not sharing. I sensed, without needing to know explicitly, that she was probably returning to an empty house and wanted to process the day out loud. I didn’t feel uncomfortable, as I knew I could duck out at any moment by saying I needed to get back to my phone messages. But instead we talked – or, rather, I listened – for most of the 50-minute journey. I registered that it was an unusual occurrence, this connection, but thought little more of it. A small part of me was glad this kind of thing still happens.

A new relationship in their 50s brought adventure, curiosity and freedom for Alexandra and Laurent

• How do you do it? Share the story of your sex life, anonymously

I love how committed and loyal Laurent is. For him, I’m at the top of the pyramid

What is behind the growing anger over plan 2 student loans and what could reforms mean for graduates?

Pressure is building on the government to reform the student loans system, with politicians and campaigners piling in, and a minister conceding there are “problems” with the current set-up.

Yesterday the consumer champion Martin Lewis – who last month locked horns with Rachel Reeves – became engaged in a war of words with Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, on live TV.

BNPL can be a fee-free way to manage cashflow for an essential purchase but keep track of the payment schedule

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) is a form of credit that lets you spread payments for everything from clothes, jewellery and white goods to concert tickets, hotel rooms and takeaway meals.

I’ve been without a hob in my new kitchen for three months after an emergency engineer was forced to disconnect it

When Wickes installed my new kitchen, I noticed an odd, worsening smell that I put down to the ongoing works.

It was nearly two months later that I realised it was gas. My supplier dispatched an emergency engineer, who discovered a leak in the newly fitted hob and categorised it as an immediate danger. The gas supply to the hob was disconnected and Wickes sent a replacement, but no one came to install it.

Insurers say cases of scammers manipulating people into staging crashes and filing bogus claims are under-reported

Romance fraud typically evokes images of people being tricked out of their life savings by partners they meet on dating sites, but some scammers use a different tactic: recruiting unsuspecting victims into fake insurance claims.

The scam involves a fraudster convincing their partner, or a person they are dating, either to say they have witnessed a car accident, or to take out an insurance policy and file a bogus claim in order to secure a payout.

A growing number of parents are letting their young children train with weights. But is it a good – or safe – idea? We ask the experts to weigh in

Most parents remember the first time their baby smiled or when they took their first steps. Eve Stevenson recalls different milestones. “Watching my daughter, Madison, deadlift 35kg at the age of six was pretty cool,” she says, grinning with pride from her living room in south-west London.

As a personal trainer (PT) and former British weightlifting champion, her daughter’s achievements shouldn’t really be that surprising. Still, Stevenson has been on the receiving end of some harsh opinions about her daughter and three-year-old son, Beau, doing resistance training with her. “People tell me it will stunt their growth or that it’s dangerous,” she says. She is also often accused of forcing her children to train, when actually it all started the other way round. “What child doesn’t look at their parents and want to do what they’re doing?” she asks. And although to many people the idea of a small child strength training or competing might feel jarring, Stevenson is among a growing number of parents who see value in helping their children build muscles.

Study shows lower risk for multiple myeloma as well as pancreatic, prostate, breast and kidney cancers

Vegetarians have a substantially lower risk of five types of cancer, a landmark study on the role of diet has revealed.

The research, using data from more than 1.8 million people who were tracked over many years, found that vegetarians had a 21% lower risk of pancreatic cancer, a 12% lower risk of prostate cancer and a 9% lower risk of breast cancer compared with meat eaters. Combined, these cancers account for around a fifth of cancer deaths in the UK.

It’s hard to know what people can see in their own mind’s eye. But for Maddie Thomas there was no doubt: she had especially vivid mental imagery

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I close my eyes and picture a boat making its way towards the mainland. Lit only by moonlight, a silhouette walks towards a post box and mails three letters, one by one. Then, the familiar tune of ABBA’s Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) starts to play, and the musical begins.

Sometimes as a child I had trouble falling asleep. But from age 11 and through my early teenage years, recreating the film Mamma Mia! in my head frame-by-frame was my remedy. Running each line of dialogue through my mind and bringing to life the colour of the characters’ clothes, usually by the time they arrive flustered from their journey, I would drift off.

Treating the underlying acne can help. But stress relief measures like meditation can too – and may depend on the severity

Hi Ugly,

I tend to get pimples, especially around my period. This is fine and normal. What’s not fine is that I cannot stop picking at them, making my skin irritated and red.

Why is this column called ‘Ask Ugly’?

How should I be styling my pubic hair?

How do I deal with imperfection?

My father had plastic surgery. Now he wants me and my mother to get work done

I want to ignore beauty culture. But I’ll never get anywhere if I don’t look a certain way

Popped collar worn by Duchess of Sussex and Rama Duwaji is rising in popularity, with searches at John Lewis up 1,000%

Shoppers are avidly searching for jackets that cover half your face – so much that searches are up 1,000% year on year at John Lewis.

The funnel-neck jacket is boxy, generously cut and comes with a permanently popped collar, between 9cm and 14cm high running from clavicle to nose; high enough to cover your mouth, low enough to see out – just.

Designer’s first catwalk for the brand in Milan flirts with bad taste with short, tight dresses and a diamante G-string

Demna is fashion’s dark lord of apocalyptic streetwear. Gucci is the glossy sex kitten of Milan. Put the two together, and what do you get? Sex appeal that flirts with bad taste.

At Demna’s first Gucci catwalk show, staged in Milan on Friday afternoon in front of an audience including Donatella Versace and Paris and Nicky Hilton, dresses were so short and tight that Emily Ratajkowski periodically yanked down a handful of disco-ball sequins to cover her bottom as she walked. There were lapdance-bar tinsel hair extensions, and Kate Moss in a diamante G-string. A certain sketchiness in the roll of the hips, a model who pulled his phone out of his bumbag and scrolled his way down the catwalk.

Newly elected Gorton and Denton MP taps into colour meme of the moment with statement waistcoat

• UK politics live – latest updates

Of course the Green candidate wore green, though the correct term – the 2026 TikTok one – is “gross green”.

Coined by New York magazine, and seen all over the high street as well as on the cover of Caro Claire Burke’s forthcoming satirical novel Yesteryear, it’s actually chartreuse. But where’s the fun in calling it that? And it’s not so much a colour as a mood.

Speaking at Milan fashion week, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons presented a more concentrated, but relatable, show

Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, the co-designers of Prada, said backstage at Milan fashion week that fashion’s greatest challenges were inequality and artificial intelligence.

An interesting perspective, since Mark Zuckerberg, the billionaire owner of Meta, and his wife, Priscilla Chan, sat next to Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada’s husband, in the front row.

You don’t have to travel to Japan to see a stunning floral display. Every spring, this corner of Extremadura is transformed as two million trees come into bloom

It’s late March and the villagers of the Jerte valley in Extremadura, Spain’s wild west, are twitchy – as if they’re hosting a party and wondering if all the guests will show up. The event they’re waiting for is the flowering of the valley’s cherry trees, which number about two million. So far, only a handful – a variety called Royal Tioga – have dared to don their frilly spring frocks. The rest are still clutching their drab grey winter garb.

Predicting the arrival of blossom is always tricky, but thanks to an unseasonably wet March the trees are three weeks late when I visit. With snow still cloaking the surrounding sierras, the tourist office in Cabezuela del Valle, halfway up the valley, is hastily finding alternative activities for the coachloads of blossom-seekers from Madrid. As with any nature-reliant activity, such as whale watching or aurora hunting, timing is challenging. But unlike hit-and-miss spectacles involving wild animals, at least I know the blossoming will happen eventually. (Sadly wildfires later affected parts of the Jerte valley last summer, but thankfully few cherry trees were affected.)

From magical swimming spots to museums and pizza joints, our readers share their top Welsh discoveries

• Tell us about a favourite break on an island in Europe – the best tip wins a £200 holiday voucher

I’m a fan of the lesser-known beaches along the dramatic and rugged Glamorgan Heritage coastline; Wick, Monknash and Nash Point. One of my favourite routes requires a scenic hike across fields and a precipitous scramble down Cwm Bach ladder. The reward is a gorgeous expanse of rocky beach with only the occasional distant naturist and huge stepped cliffs absolutely full of fossils, including some enormous ammonites. The nearby ancient Plough & Harrow feels like a step back in time and you’re being served beer in someone’s living room.
P Thomas

This former industrial quartier is now getting noticed for its community-focused art spaces, lively local bars and inexpensive north African food

On a hill that rises up between Belleville’s Chinatown and Père-Lachaise cemetery, Ménilmontant was once a rural hamlet with vines and farms, before becoming more industrial in the 19th century. The quartier boasts a united, colourful community whose working-class Parisian roots have long been integrated with a strong north African diaspora. Bohemian, arty and socially committed, it remains off the tourist trail with no notable museums or monuments; it’s just a genuinely Parisian neighbourhood. The locals were bemused to learn that Time Out made Ménilmontant one of its World’s Coolest Neighbourhoods for 2025, though tourists who do venture here to discover a glimpse of a fast-disappearing Paris are sure of a warm welcome.

It took Ellen Baum about 16 hours to finish clearing one section of hair ties, condoms and tissues woven into the fencing

On a blisteringly cold day earlier this month, Ellen Baum was not in the best mood as she walked across the Brooklyn Bridge to meet some friends in Manhattan.

“I had read particularly horrible news that morning about, you know, the general state of the world,” said Baum, who is 37 and works in tech. And then there was the garbage. Baum stared at the dirty tissues, hair ties, trash bags and socks affixed to the suspension bridge’s frame – sometimes she even sees condoms and tampons woven into the fencing – and had a thought. “I can’t do anything about some of these big problems that the world and the city are facing. But I can do one modicum of something nice.”

As I attempt garden repairs between downpours, I wonder why I was targeted as a likely purchaser of shoplifted goods

I’m walking to the station in driving rain, under the protection of a £12 umbrella I bought at a newsagent the day before – during a previous rainstorm – which is already turning up on one side. My head is down, and I do not immediately see the young man approaching from the other direction, arms full, who stops in my path.

“D’ya wanna buy one?” he says, holding out one of three bottles of white wine he has clearly just shoplifted.

Bristol: It now lives in a cabinet of curiosities with lots of feathers and fossils that my sister and I have found

It was a cold winter’s morning, and we wrapped up warm to go for a walk in the woods behind our house. The ground was frosty and crunched under our feet, and although it was chilly the sun was casting golden beams of light across our path. We always find a lot of amazing wildlife in the woods – I’ve seen deer and squirrels there and I’ve even spotted a kingfisher down by the brook. But today I decided to explore high up on the slopes, a place I hadn’t been before.

My eyes scanned the leaf litter and something caught my eye. At first glance I thought it was just a pile of broken stones, but then I looked closer and saw it was something much more exciting – it was an animal skull. I wasn’t sure what type, as some of it had decomposed. My parents agreed that I could take it home for identification. I wanted to find out what animal it was.

From Curthose, Rufus and Beauclerc to ‘the Somme with Santana’, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz

1 Which country is named after the creator god Ptah?
2 What did music writer David Hepworth call “the Somme with Santana”?
3 Which wildlife census attracts more than half a million participants each January?
4 What is the largest blood vessel in the body?
5 China’s Hou Yifan is the women’s world no 1 in what game?
6 Which fabric’s name comes from the Persian for “milk and sugar”?
7 Which philosopher designed the Panopticon prison?
8 Who was infamously acquitted of an 1892 axe murder in Massachusetts?
What links:
9 Yates, white; Cavendish, green; Millar (now York), polka dot; Wiggins, yellow?
10 Curthose; Rufus; Beauclerc?
11 Gentlemen only, ladies forbidden; New York, London; port out, starboard home?
12 Taurus-Littrow (17); Descartes Highlands (16); Hadley-Apennine (15); Fra Mauro (14)?
13 Jonathan Anderson; Matthieu Blazy; Sarah Burton; Demna; Alessandro Michele?
14 Georgie Fame; Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot; Beyoncé and Jay-Z?
15 Mississippi v Loire; East, Harlem and Hudson v Foss and Ouse?

Five multiple-choice questions – set by children – to test your knowledge, and a chance to submit your own junior brainteasers for future quizzes

• ​Submit a question

Molly Oldfield hosts Everything Under the Sun, a podcast answering children’s questions. Do check out her books, Everything Under the Sun and Everything Under the Sun: Quiz Book, as well as her new title, Everything Under the Sun: All Around the World.

Ukrainian soldiers are sent to The Forest Glade – Ukraine’s first centre for the treatment of psychological trauma – before returning to the frontline. After spending over three years in Russian captivity following the battle for Mariupol, 25-year-old Kyrylo Chuvak spends three weeks at the centre, a brief opportunity for rehabilitation. Hidden in the pines near Kyiv, this modest building offers soldiers psychological therapy as well as tango, archery, guided breathing, medieval games and quiet conversations over tea. After four years of war, and with waning international attention, the battle is not only taking place on the frontline but in the mind

He has been in prison for 41 years for killing five members of his family – despite no DNA linking him to the crime. New analysis of the crime scene photographs for the Guardian suggests the prosecution’s central argument may have been wrong

On 7 August 1985, five people were found dead at White House Farm in Essex, England: 28-year-old Sheila Caffell (familiarly known as Bambi); her six-year-old twin sons Daniel and Nicholas; and her adoptive parents, June and Nevill Bamber. All five had been shot with a rifle. Caffell’s 24-year-old brother Jeremy Bamber, who was also adopted, had alerted Essex police to a disturbance inside the farmhouse – he said his father had called to tell him – and had been outside with the police for four hours before the bodies were discovered. Caffell, who had recently been hospitalised with schizophrenia and is said to have feared her children were going to be taken into foster care, was found with the rifle lying on her chest, pointing towards her neck. There were two gunshot wounds to her neck and chin, and a bloodied Bible by her side.

The case was initially thought to be open and shut, a tragic murder-suicide committed by Caffell. But a month later, Jeremy Bamber was arrested. He has now been in prison for 41 years, and questions have always swirled regarding the safety of his conviction. These have grown recently. The proper body to examine this is the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), but it is in disarray; it has already taken the CCRC four years to consider less than half the evidence that Bamber has submitted to them. In a short series we are considering discrete pieces of evidence, with analysis from forensic experts.

With polls and membership at an all-time high, the Green party are having a moment – and it’s largely down to their charismatic (if slightly cheesy) new leader. Can he really pull off a socialist revolution?

17 JANUARY 2026

Daniel Siad, facing allegation of rape in France, appears in more than 1,000 documents in latest declassified files

“In This busyness I feel like fisherman some time I cache quick, some time no fish,” Daniel Siad, a model scout, wrote to Jeffrey Epstein in July 2014, explaining the frustrations of his work scouring the world for future models.

In this exchange, released in the latest batch of US Department of Justice documents, Siad was annoyed with Epstein, who had failed to turn up for a planned meeting.

Many experts and women living with the disease say the name polycystic ovary syndrome is reductive and misleading

More than one in 10 women of reproductive age have a hormonal disorder which can have wide-ranging health effects, including on metabolism, skin, mental health and the reproductive and cardiovascular systems.

Despite these diverse symptoms, the condition is known as polycystic ovary syndrome, or PCOS. It is a name many experts and those living with the disease says is reductive and misleading, prompting a global initiative working to formally rename PCOS to something that more accurately reflects the disease.

As Pokémon turns 30, we would like to hear what the franchise means to you

It is 30 years since the game Pocket Monsters was released for the Nintendo Game Boy in Japan. Many more video games, trading cards, toys, an animated series and films followed as the franchise became a worldwide hit. With this in mind, we would like to hear what Pokémon means to you after three decades.

If you’re having trouble using the form click here. Read terms of service here and privacy policy here.

We want to hear how people across the UK are managing their money as Rachel Reeves prepares to set out the latest economic outlook

Next Tuesday the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will update the country on the state of the economy when the spring forecast is delivered to parliament.

The government is not expected to make major announcements on taxes and spending but will include the latest forecasts for growth, details of the UK’s financial position and hint at the changes we might expect in future.

The UK will phase out traditional home phones by 2027, but the switchover has been stressful for some. How do you feel about the change?

UK telecoms companies are retiring traditional landline services and replacing them with internet-based home phone connections.

The industry has set a deadline of January 2027 to complete this switch with roughly 3.2 million homes still to move over. While the digital switchover has been straightforward for most households, for some vulnerable customers, such as those with telecare devices, it has been very stressful.

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Russian airstrikes in Kyiv, Ramadan in Gaza, Trump’s State of the Union address and snow in New York City – the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists