As a teenager, the actor landed her first ever job in the blockbuster film series. The experience was fun – but also led to horrendous online abuse. Now she’s back, playing a tough and surprising matriarch in the Regency smash hit

Some actors might have been a little put out to audition for the role of the beautiful young romantic lead, and instead be cast as her mother, but not Katie Leung. “Absolutely not,” she says with a laugh. “I look young for my age – as most people in the west think Asians do – but I felt really seen to finally get to play the role of a mother.” She is a mother, she points out, and anyway, the role of Lady Araminta Gun, the steely aristo who is about to rock the new series of Netflix’s Regency behemoth Bridgerton, is so delicious, who could be insulted?

Araminta, widowed, has seen off two husbands, and now she’s trying to marry off her two teenage daughters, ideally to a Bridgerton, while keeping her stepdaughter, Sophie, in her place – as a Cinderella-style servant for the family. “The showrunners reassured me that it wasn’t going to be the archetypal evil stepmother role,” says Leung. “They wanted to find the humanity in Araminta. They wanted to ensure I knew her background, her struggles, why she makes these decisions, and why she’s so formidable.”

Having spent decades trying to get elected, Nigel Farage shuns parliamentary duties for the media – and warns us of the terrors of London

Curious. Nigel Farage has devoted decades to trying to get elected as an MP. His victory in Clacton in 2024 followed seven unsuccessful attempts in other constituencies. And now he is finally an MP, he seems reluctant to spend any time in the Commons chamber. The one place where we, the public, now pay him to be.

It’s as if the reality of his new position is a disappointment. A reality check. His entire career had been a narcissistic celebration of self and it feels as though he had expected the rules of engagement to be changed to accommodate his need for constant attention. He had come to parliament to make himself heard, not to sit and wait his turn as the leader of a party with just five MPs.

Crews Hill near Enfield in north London could become a victim of Labour’s ambitious housebuilding goal

• UK construction hit by worst run since global financial crisis

On the fringes of north London is an area of garden centres, green spaces and winding country lanes that feel a world away from the capital’s urban sprawl. Tucked just inside the M25, Crews Hill near Enfield has been home to a cluster of horticultural businesses for decades, leading to it being nicknamed the “golden mile”.

Many of these small, family-run businesses – selling plants, fencing and paving – fear they will be closed down and forced to move if the government selects Crews Hill and nearby Chase Park as one of its next generation of new towns.

Chalamet’s nogoodnik ping-pong hustler character is the latest in cinema’s rich history of protagonists with shabby morals. So why the backlash?

In the new hit movie Marty Supreme, the story is pushed forward by how lead character Marty Mauser keeps making messes then, rather than cleaning them up, manages to expand their scope beyond reason. Marty is attempting to prove himself as the world’s greatest table-tennis champion, to escape his meagre mid-century New York City circumstances and achieve a dream he’s locked on to, seemingly more out of desire to achieve it than a particular love for the sport.

And just as he’s presumably blown up some natural athleticism into a monomaniacal quest, all of Marty’s misdeeds across the film escalate. He cajoles, then lies. He quickly turns a pushy request to borrow money into petty theft, which then becomes armed robbery. At one point, a little ping-pong hustle at a New Jersey bowling alley literally blows up into a gas-station fire. Marty will not accept anything less than ultimate victory, which means he will especially not accept responsibility for his actions. And we, in the audience, are invited to like him anyway, at least in part because he is played by Timothée Chalamet.

By the expansionist logic of the president and his advisers, the US is entitled to annex just about anywhere

‘We do need Greenland, absolutely,” Donald Trump told the Atlantic on 5 January, with the hand-wavy follow-up, “We need it for defence.” His adviser Stephen Miller was more aggressive still in an interview with CNN, saying: “The real question is, by what right does Denmark assert control over Greenland? What is the basis of their territorial claim? … The US is the power of Nato … obviously Greenland should be part of the United States.” His wife, Katie Miller, posted an image on X of a map of the country papered over with the US flag, with the caption “soon”. It’s hard to orientate sensibly towards things that happen on X these days: if she had posted a Grok-generated image of Greenland in a bikini, would that be more or less concerning?

Still, we’re right to be concerned. There is no comfort to be had from old-era ideas such as: “Maybe they’re just sabre-rattling about Greenland to distract from the matter of Venezuela”, or “surely the foundational principles of Nato, a defensive alliance, will prevent the US from any act of aggression towards its own allies?”

Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist

They don’t have to be expensive, they go with everything and they boost confidence – if you get the styling right

The eternal appeal of the white shirt is not just that it goes with anything, although it does. And not only that it can take you anywhere, although it can. It is not even that it never goes out of style, or that good quality versions are accessible at real-world prices, although those are true also.

A white shirt is self-confidence. It stands for it, and it brings it, and that’s the real secret. It is a superhero cloak that bestows you with this formidable power. Self-confidence is not as snazzy as the ability to fly or live for ever, but arguably it’s more practical. I don’t know why or how it works, but it doesn’t matter, because if you feel confident then you are confident. Faking it and making it are one and the same here.

Marinera has been taken over in North Atlantic with second Venezuela-linked vessel seized in Caribbean; UK confirms it gave support

• People in Greenland, share your views on Donald Trump’s comments

Meanwhile, in the UK, Nigel Farage has offered his take on Trump’s plans to control Greenland, saying it would be “outrageous” for the US to seize it from Denmark.

Farage says he agrees with Starmer that the fate of Greenland must be decided by Greenland and Denmark, not the US – but sided with Trump on “some genuine security concerns” that require further presence there.

“What I will say is this. There are some genuine security concerns around Greenland and that becomes ever more relevant with a retraction of the ice caps as we head towards the North Pole. There is a strong feeling in British intelligence circles, and many in Nato, that there needs to be a significant Nato base located directly on the north of Greenland.

At the moment, it would appear that is something Greenland is not particularly keen to do.

Exclusive: Move follows outcry over use of Grok to digitally remove clothing from images of women and children

• UK politics live – latest updates

The influential Commons women and equalities committee has decided to stop using X after the social media site’s AI tool began generating thousands of digitally altered images of women and children with their clothes removed.

The move by the cross-party committee places renewed pressure on ministers to take decisive action after the site was flooded with images including sexualised and unclothed pictures of children, generated by its AI tool, Grok.

Reform UK leader says accusations about his behaviour at Dulwich college were politically motivated

Nigel Farage has called allegations of racist and antisemitic bullying during his time at Dulwich college “complete made-up fantasies”, saying his accusers are “people with very obvious political motivation”.

More than 30 people have spoken to the Guardian as part of an investigation based on multiple accounts of racism, including Peter Ettedgui, 61, an Emmy- and Bafta-winning director, who recalled Farage growling repeatedly “Hitler was right” or “Gas them” at him when they were at school.

Remarks by US secretary of state come after Greenland and Denmark request urgent meeting over Trump threats

• Europe live – latest updates

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, says he plans to meet Danish officials next week to discuss Greenland, amid an escalating crisis within Nato over Donald Trump’s threats to take over the Arctic territory.

An urgent meeting had been requested by the foreign ministers of Greenland and Denmark, which has said that any invasion or seizure of the territory by its Nato ally would mark the end of the western military alliance and “post-second world war security”.

UK and France ready to send peacekeeping troops, PM tells House of Commons

• UK politics live – latest updates

MPs will have a debate and vote before any UK troops are deployed on peacekeeping duties in Ukraine, Keir Starmer has announced at prime minister’s questions.

Speaking after Britain and France said they would be willing to send troops if there was a peace deal, following discussions at a wider summit in Paris, Starmer was pressed by Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, as to why he was not making a full Commons statement.

Miles Cross sentenced to 14 years in prison for selling the substance to four people via an online suicide forum

A man who sold a deadly chemical online to help people kill themselves has been jailed in what is believed to be the first case of its kind in the UK.

Miles Cross, 33, pleaded guilty to four counts of intentionally doing an act capable of encouraging or assisting suicide and was sentenced at Mold crown court on Wednesday to 14 years in prison.

Schools closed and travel disrupted with Storm Goretti forecast to bring as much as 20cm of snow

About 400 homes in the north of Scotland are without power as the region struggles with Arctic weather conditions that have disrupted travel and closed schools across the UK over the past three days.

After Aberdeenshire council declared a major incident on Tuesday, and a local MP called for the military to be brought in to help with relief efforts, the first minister, John Swinney, said he would be happy to forward a request to the UK government should regional partners demand it.

Officers find murderer Matthew Armstrong, 35, in Warwickshire and Daniel Washbourne, 40, in Bristol

A convicted murderer and a second man have been arrested after allegedly absconding from an open prison on New Year’s Day, police have said.

Matthew Armstrong, 35, and Daniel Washbourne, 40, left HMP Leyhill, South Gloucestershire, between 5pm and 8pm on 1 January.

• Chivers also had long spell with Southampton

• He scored 13 times in 24 games for England

The former Tottenham, Southampton and England striker Martin Chivers has died at the age of 80. Chivers, a League Cup and Uefa Cup winner with Spurs, won 24 caps from 1971 to 1973, scoring 13 goals.

“It is with immense sadness that we announce the passing of our legendary former striker Martin Chivers,” Spurs said. “We extend our deepest sympathies to Martin’s family, friends and former teammates at this incredibly sad time. Our players will wear black armbands during this evening’s fixture against AFC Bournemouth. Rest in peace, Martin. One of the all-time greats.”

Ship has long been part of shadow fleet used to dodge western sanctions. It had no oil onboard – but was it carrying Russian weapons?

A massive, rusty crude oil tanker floating north through the Atlantic has become the centre of global interest after it was followed for days and eventually seized by US forces while Russia’s military rushed towards it.

Despite not carrying any oil, the 300-metre-long ship is clearly of value. Theories for why range from speculation that high-value Russian weapons are hidden in the hull, to the ship’s potential to become a symbolic trophy in a transatlantic power struggle between Washington and Moscow.

Arson attack that left parts of German capital in darkness for days stirs outrage over infrastructure insecurity

• Europe live – latest updates

When Silke Peters bought a crank radio and a camping stove just after the start of Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine, her husband thought she was “a little crazy”. “He put me down, only half-jokingly, as a prepper,” she said, referring to the kind of person who stockpiles in case of catastrophe.

For almost four years, the items gathered dust in the cellar of the Peters’ two-room flat in Zehlendorf, a well-to-do district of Berlin. But in recent days the windup radio – with its inbuilt torch and charge point – has come into its own during Germany’s longest power cut since the second world war.

The Voice of Hind Rajab has stunned audiences with its use of the real-life audio of a girl’s call for help after her family’s car was attacked by an Israeli tank in Gaza. Its director explains why she had to tell Hind’s tragic story

When Kaouther Ben Hania heard Hind Rajab’s voice for the first time, she was in Los Angeles airport scrolling through social media. The five-year-old’s cry for help cut through the clamour around her. This was in February 2024 and Hind had already been dead for at least a week, left to bleed out among the corpses of six of her relatives after their car was targeted by an Israeli tank, leaving it with 335 bullet holes, according to the Forensic Architecture research group.

More than 20,000 Palestinian children were killed in two years of Israeli bombardment of Gaza, according to UN estimates. Another 82 have been killed since 10 October when a ceasefire was declared and then routinely breached. The pictures of the dead have often been published online, including those of Hind, showing her dressed in pink with a floral tiara, or smiling in an oversized academic cap and gown, but her voice also remains to haunt the world after her death.

Reading for pleasure rates are shockingly low in young people. So we should all get behind a new drive to turn them into avid readers. Why not start with books about art?

A girl on the cusp of adolescence gazes down at a book. Her left hand rests against her flushed pink cheeks, while her right clutches the pages, ready to turn to find out what happens next. She has porcelain-like skin and golden hair seemingly full of air, executed in textures that contrast with the scratchy, loose marks that make up her shirt and the book’s pages. When I look at this drawing, I am struck by how the artist, the American-born impressionist Mary Cassatt, has perfectly captured the all-consuming sensation of being submerged in a book – the feeling that the whole world is dissolving around you. For a moment, only that story matters.

Cassatt, who worked in Paris for most of her adult life when women were finally beginning to be accepted as artists (and deserving of state-funded art education), was hailed for her intimate portrayals of women and children. They are glimpses into their minds, their private worlds, yet they also emphasise intellect and ambition. Young Girl Reading is one such example. I often wonder if she is reading something like Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, published nearly three decades before, which tells the story of the four March sisters, who are figuring out their journey to womanhood themselves.

It’s either a simple yet effective way to appreciate the passage of time – or a reminder to do your own thing without pausing for explanation

Name: 365 buttons.

Age: New. This is a 2026 thing.

‘I have outtakes of them all standing up – there’s no safety equipment and they’re not hanging on to anything. They just said to me, “Hurry up, Beez!”’

At the age of 12 I was working for the Clash, handing out flyers. I looked older than I was and got to see all the punk bands before getting into reggae sound systems. Multicultural Bristol was a great place to grow up, and by the time I was 14 or 15 I’d be going out late most nights and coming home mid-morning.

Having failed the entrance exam to be a gas fitter, I enrolled on an audio-visual course – one of Thatcher’s new National Training Initiatives. I specialised in photography and started documenting all those nights out – my friends and the scenes I was already part of – offering an insider’s perspective. Photography also gave me an opportunity to explore new environments. If there’s something you’re not sure about, a camera is a good way to have a look at it, be part of it, and then learn from it.

Support for US action in the region seems to have laid the ground for regime change in Venezuela

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Hello and Happy New Year. We have started 2026 with a geopolitical shock as the Trump administration ousted Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and imprisoned him on US soil. As many western governments struggle to respond to this violation of international law, for Caribbean countries, this is not an awkward diplomatic spot but a real moment of political fear, uncertainty, and regional fracture.

One remarkable aspect of the Venezuela raid is how Trinidad and Tobago’s prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, has openly aligned with Donald Trump. Dr Jacqueline Laguardia Martinez, a senior lecturer at the Institute of International Relations at The University of the West Indies, told me that Trinidad and Tobago – one of the founding members of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), a regional grouping of 15 member countries – has “openly endorsed US actions under the pretext of combating transnational crime”. One way that has happened is through military cooperation. On 28 November, a radar appeared in a coastal neighbourhood of Tobago, described by the New York Times as “a state-of-the-art mobile long-range sensor known as G/ATOR, or Ground/Air Task-Oriented Radar, that is owned by the US Marines and is worth tens of millions of dollars.” Along with the sophisticated equipment, US military jets and troops arrived on the island, which is only 7 miles from Venezuela.

A campaign group of health professionals is urging parents to stop surveilling their children. I couldn’t agree more

News just in: the sky is blue, water is wet, and tracking our kids’ every move with phones or AirTags is causing a “deeply concerning” increase in anxiety among young people, according to more than 70 psychologists, doctors, nurses and health professionals who have come together to urge parents to “reconsider whether the surveillance childhood we are sleepwalking into is really benefiting our children”. They add: “We are implicitly telling them that the world is unsafe,” and warn that constant monitoring prevents kids learning the skills and developing the autonomy necessary to navigate real life.

“It’s so normal to want to keep our children safe,” says Clare Fernyhough, co-founder of campaign group Generation Focus. “But there is no evidence that tracking makes them any safer.”

The PM won’t call out Trump over Venezuela, and won’t commit to Europe. His refusal to choose leaves vital choices for Britain to be made by others

For an inveterate liar, Donald Trump is remarkably honest. The best guide to what he thinks is what he says. When forecasting his likely course of action, start with his declared intentions – removing the president of Venezuela, for example – and assume he means it. When he says the US must take possession of Greenland, he is not kidding.

The motives are sometimes muddled but rarely hidden. Trump likes making deals, especially real estate deals, and money. He wants to be great and to have his greatness affirmed with praise and prizes. He craves spectacle. The world as he describes it doesn’t always resemble observable reality, but there is an effortless, sociopathic sincerity to his falsehoods. The truth is whatever he intuits it to be in the moment to advance his interests and manipulate his audience.

Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist

The three remaining hunger strikers have been convicted of nothing. Yet with astonishing cruelty, ministers refuse to listen to their reasonable demands

They are far into the lethal zone. Three people who are being held in prison on charges connected with the protest group Palestine Action have been on hunger strike for 45, 59 and 66 days. A fourth prisoner, Teuta Hoxha, ended her strike this week, after 58 days. She could suffer lifelong health effects. The remaining strikers, Heba Muraisi, Kamran Ahmed and Lewie Chiaramello, could pass away at any time. The 10 IRA and INLA hunger strikers who died in 1981 survived for between 46 and 73 days. Muraisi, whose strike has lasted the longest, is, according to supporters, now struggling to breathe and suffering uncontrollable muscle spasms – possible signs of neurological damage. Yet the government refuses to engage.

It created this situation. The Crown Prosecution Service states that the maximum time a prisoner can spend on remand is 182 days (six months). Yet Muraisi and Ahmed were arrested in November 2024, and are not due to be tried until June at the earliest, which means they will be remanded for 20 months. Chiaramello, who was arrested in July 2025, has a provisional court date in January 2027, which means 18 months in prison without trial.

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist

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 new bill giving ministers the power to align trade with the EU has huge practical and symbolic value. Let it herald a new and exciting ambition

Good things may come to those who wait, but when it comes to repairing the Brexit settlement Britain was left with by Boris Johnson, the waiting has come at a heavy cost. Prices are higher, trade is weaker and our influence diminished. That is why Keir Starmer’s promise to bring forward legislation this year to improve the UK’s deal with the EU is the clearest signal yet that the era of warm words without delivery may finally be coming to an end.

Since the fanfare of last May’s UK-EU summit, progress has been glacial. The commitments trailed at the time were not abstract diplomatic wins but practical fixes people could feel. A deal on food standards and animal welfare, known as an SPS agreement, could ease pressure on supermarket prices. An energy trading agreement could lower bills by allowing the UK and EU to cooperate more efficiently in increasingly volatile markets. Yet months later, neither is in place.

Naomi Smith is CEO of Best for Britain

The Venezuela incursion is in line with this logic, made even plainer as the US eyes Greenland

When a bleary-eyed Trump explained the kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro this past Saturday, he invoked the Monroe doctrine: while the US president sounded as if he were reading about it for the first time, historians of course recognized the idea of Washington as a kind of guardian of the western hemisphere. Together with the national security strategy published in December, the move on Venezuela can be understood as advancing a vision for carving up the world into what the Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt called “great spaces”, with each in effect supervised by a great power (meaning, in today’s world, Washington, Moscow and Beijing). But more is happening than a return to such de facto imperialism: Trump’s promise to “run the country” for the sake of US oil companies signals the internationalization of one aspect of his regime – what has rightly been called the logic of the mafia state. That logic is even more obvious in his stated desire to grab Greenland.

The theory of the mafia state was first elaborated by the Hungarian sociologist Bálint Magyar in 2016. Such a state is less about corruption where envelopes change hands under the table. Instead, public procurement is rigged; large companies are brought under the control of regime-friendly oligarchs, who in turn acquire media to provide favorable coverage to the ruler. The beneficiaries are what Magyar calls the “extended political family” (which can include the ruler’s natural family). As with the mafia, unconditional loyalty is the price for being part of the system.

Jan-Werner Müller is a Guardian US columnist and a professor of politics at Princeton University

Democrats should go on the offense against Republicans, but they should also lay out a vision for renewing the promise of a middle-class life

By January 2029, Donald Trump will be capping off a nearly 14-year stretch at the helm of American politics. While he will no longer serve as president of the United States, his shadow over the future of American politics will continue to loom large across both sides of the aisle. Following Trump’s popular-vote victory in the 2024 election, the Democratic party has been forced to wrestle with what went wrong and how they can regain the support of an American majority to win back the White House. To win back Americans’ trust, Democrats have to prioritize affordability, broaden their cultural appeal, and reconnect with disaffected voters beyond their base.

Trump’s political success has long been defined by his willingness to take on elite institutions and buck convention, putting distance between himself and weaknesses in the Republican brand while simultaneously undermining advantages in the Democratic brand. He’s ignored the wrath of editorial boards and economists while offering policy ideas and messaging that speaks to what voters think.

Colin Seeberger is a senior adviser for communications at the Center for American Progress

The seizure of Venezuelan leader was induced by the prize of petroleum, but driven by spectacle, geopolitics and domestic politics

It’s all about oil. That was the reason Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan leader illegally abducted by US forces at the weekend, had given for Donald Trump’s fixation with his country. A better way to think about Venezuela is that oil was necessary but not sufficient. The presence of vast reserves made Mr Trump’s interest understandable – if Venezuela’s main export was bananas this would not have happened. But oil alone cannot explain the timing or scale of the move.

Venezuelan crude is extra-heavy as well as expensive and slow to bring online; it will not immediately transform US energy systems, nor rescue refineries that have already adapted to years without it. Instead, oil is the “prize” around which other agendas cohere. These include future profits for US firms; modest downward pressure on oil prices; depriving China of a meaningful ally in America’s backyard; putting pressure on Cuba; and US domestic political signalling in Florida. Each gain is small. But collectively Mr Trump could justify a high‑profile, theatrical – and unlawful – intervention even if the economic returns are incremental.

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.

Ministers promised a ‘change of approach’, but their new tax could tip weaker institutions over the edge

Education opens doors, and the expansion of higher education begun under New Labour means that millions of young people who would not previously have gone from school to university have now done so. From 336,000 places accepted in 1997, the total rose by 68% to 563,000 in 2022. In last year’s student experience survey, just 11% of undergraduates said that they regretted their decision to take a degree.

In an interview with this newspaper at the weekend, Prof Shitij Kapur, the vice-chancellor of King’s College London, stressed that one consequence of this increased access has been that degrees no longer confer a virtually automatic graduate job. His likening of a degree to a visa – or a “chance” rather than a guarantee – was striking, and he is right that the increased difficulties of graduates in finding suitable work must be taken seriously. Along with rising student debt and the less favourable terms now attached to loans, this tighter graduate job market explains why, having reached Tony Blair’s target of 50% in 2017, the proportion of young people now going to university has since fallen.

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.

Allies at war | Shakespeare on tyranny | Leicester greetings | Winter style | Road sign supplements

Not at all in the same league as a possible US attack on Greenland, but the cod wars of the 1970s between the UK and Iceland are an example of conflict between two Nato members (Analysis, 6 January). Ironically, it was largely political pressure on the UK from the US, in defence of the Nato alliance, that led Britain to concede fishing rights, ending the cod wars.
Sarah Palmer
West Malling, Kent

• As usual, Shakespeare says it better than anyone: “Oh, it is excellent to have a giant’s strength, but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant” (Measure for Measure).
Josephine Billingham
Brighton

One reader has been offered help to upgrade his royal honour, while Dr Orest Mulka suggests a way of selling honours equitably

I was intrigued to read Stephen Bates’s piece about Arthur Maundy Gregory and his role in “selling” honours (Psst: wanna buy a new year’s honour? Once it was simple. And now? Well, don’t rule it out, 30 December), as only a day or two earlier I had received an email offering to ease the process of attaining a royal honour.

When I sent evidence of having received one about 20 years ago, their response was: “Looking closer I see your CBE was awarded nearly 20 years ago, so surely you deserve an upgrade. If you are interested, we would be delighted to assist.” I haven’t pursued the offer.
Name and address supplied

Stephen Smith says psychological support must be embedded in academies for young players right from the outset

It is vital that we don’t overlook the young footballers being cut from the system at this pivotal stage of the season (From breakups to contract minefields: it’s make or break time for academy players, 31 December).

Many academy footballers have dedicated most of their childhoods to putting in thousands of hours of training, chasing a dream, only for it to be cut short when released from their contracts. At worst, we have seen young people turn to crime and self-harm, and suffer great psychological trauma.

Readers respond to the Fabian Society’s leader, Joe Dromey, describing the Green party as a threat to be countered alongside Reform

The Fabian Society’s Joe Dromey could not be more wrong in arguing that the Labour leadership should attack the Greens and Reform UK as representing “twin populisms” (Zack Polanski offering voters fantasy solutions, says head of Fabian Society, 31 December). Dromey dismisses the Green party’s support for a wealth tax as a “fantasy” policy. Yet this is a policy that eight in 10 Labour voters support. I have been campaigning for wealth taxes for years, and large numbers of Labour MPs now back such a measure.

Dromey argues that a wealth tax could not fund all the investment we need in our communities. But that is not an argument against it, but to make it part of a wider package of reforms to tackle the deep inequality that scars our society. A wealth tax of 2% on assets over £10m could raise £24bn a year. Equalising capital gains tax rates with income tax and imposing a windfall tax on the super-profits of the banks could take that total closer to £50bn.

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A new era begins for Chelsea tonight, as Liam Rosenior takes charge for the first time. No manager/head coach/performance coordinator wants to start with a derby, and while their rivalry with Fulham hasn’t been particularly fierce, Craven Cottage under the lights has been a problem for Liverpool and Manchester City already this season.

With Arsenal hosting Liverpool on Thursday, City and Aston Villa must seize the chance to apply pressure and cut back that six-point gap at the top. Pep Guardiola’s stumblers host Brighton, who recently ended a long winless run, while Villa go to Crystal Palace, who are still stuck in their barren patch.

There is no guarantee the Norwegian would restore a sense of positivity like he did first time round – and failure would be a nightmare

Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s prime candidacy to become Manchester United’s interim manager for a second time appears the latest faulty strategic move by Jason Wilcox, the club’s director of football, and the chief executive, Omar Berrada.

Solskjær, whose previous tenure at United seems to place him ahead of another favoured candidate in Michael Carrick, has to be a success. If not, Sir Jim Ratcliffe will surely file his hiring alongside the Ruben Amorim, Dan Ashworth and Erik ten Hag fiascos, for which Wilcox‑Berrada are fully or partly responsible.

• Real attendance closer to 34,000 than 62,429 announced

• Marketing push fails to attract fans to watch ailing club

West Ham’s official attendance of 62,429 for their 2-1 defeat by Nottingham Forest was almost twice as high as the number of fans who went through the turnstiles at the London Stadium on Tuesday night.

The club have an increasingly apathetic fanbase and were unable to convince a big crowd to turn out for a crucial clash in the battle against relegation from the Premier League. It is understood the real attendance was closer to 34,000 than the figure given by West Ham on their website.

• British cyclist calls time aged 33 after a 13-year career

• ‘Now feels the right moment,’ says Giro d’Italia winner

Simon Yates, one of Britain’s most storied riders and the winner of last year’s Giro d’Italia, has stunned cycling by announcing his retirement at 33.

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider said on Wednesday that he is quitting with “deep pride and a sense of peace” after a 13-year career that delivered wins in two Grand Tours, 11 elite stages and 36 professional races.

A brilliant hundred against an elite attack on a wearing pitch shows this England team can survive and evolve

Et in dystopia ego. In the midst of death, we are in life. On a throbbingly hot deep blue afternoon in Sydney, as this ghost ship of an England Ashes tour creaked towards its final dock, the fourth day of the fifth Test produced an unexpected late plot twist. Something good happened.

Jacob Bethell batted for six hours from mid-morning to close of play and scored a hundred of rare beauty at the SCG. It was an easy, crisp kind of beauty too, all classical lines and symmetry, an innings of layers and gears, of comforting rhythms, shot through with moments of balletic power.

• 40-year-old was flown to Austin after accident

• Shipley played three seasons in NFL

Former Texas star and NFL receiver Jordan Shipley is being treated in hospital after suffering severe burns in an accident on his ranch near his home town of Burnet, Texas.

According to a statement from his family, Shipley was operating a machine when it caught fire. Although the 40-year-old was able to free himself from the machine “it was not before sustaining severe burns on his body in the process,” read the statement. “He was able to get to one of his workers on the ranch who drove him to a local hospital. He was then care-flighted to Austin, where he remains in critical but stable condition.”

• Liverpool manager says team struggling to create

• ‘My teams always try to play attacking football’

Arne Slot has said it hurts his principles as an attacking coach to hear his Liverpool team described as boring but he could not entirely disagree on current form.

Liverpool have stabilised after a damaging sequence of nine defeats in 12 matches, the club’s worst return in 71 years, with a nine-game unbeaten run but are struggling to produce convincing performances. Successive draws against Fulham and Leeds have prompted further criticism of Slot’s style and resulted in the champions falling 14 points behind the leaders, Arsenal, who they face at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday.

Leader of resurgent WSL side on what he demands of players, his relationship with the hierarchy and the change that has surprised him

Tottenham have as many points in the Women’s Super League this term, at the halfway stage, as they accumulated in the entirety of last season. That sentence will offer some satisfaction to their supporters but the head coach, Martin Ho, demonstrates how serious his intentions are when he says: “We’re not even 15% of the way to where I want us to be.”

Ho, appointed in July, uses a specific word four times across the course of the conversation: “Standards.” The former Manchester United assistant coach inherited a team that had finished second from bottom and has Spurs two points off a European place, but he wants them to challenge themselves further.

Documentary makers seeking funds to finish making film of an extraordinary man and his influence on the game

After a mere 100 years the Spin, always first with the news, is finally able to reveal the details of one of the more extraordinary secrets in the history of English cricket. The story comes from the private family archives of the former Surrey captain Percy Fender, which are being compiled into a fascinating new documentary film. It has always been a mystery that Fender, who was described by Wisden as “the shrewdest county captain of his generation” was never picked to lead England. After all these years, it now appears he was blackmailed out of the job by a corrupt cricket official.

In a private audio recording made shortly before his death in 1985, Fender explains that in May 1924 he was approached “by a gentleman who was very well known in the cricket world” who, during the course of a conversation over two half-bottles of champagne in Fender’s flat at the Adelphi, offered him the England captaincy for the 1924-25 Ashes tour. Fender was an amateur, and had a day job as wine merchant that meant he would need to arrange cover while he was away on the six-month tour. The “very well known” gentleman suggested he could do it for him.

Exclusive: Getting rid of premium seats, ensuring flights are near full and using efficient aircraft could slash CO₂, analysis suggests

Climate-heating emissions from aviation could be slashed in half – without reducing passenger journeys – by getting rid of premium seats, ensuring flights are near full and using the most efficient aircraft, according to analysis.

These efficiency measures could be far more effective in tackling the fast-growing carbon footprint of flying than pledges to use “sustainable” fuels or controversial carbon offsets, the researchers said. They believe their study, which analysed more than 27m commercial flights out of approximately 35m in 2023, is the first to assess the variation in operational efficiency of flights across the globe.

Sarat Sampada founders Harjeet Singh and Jyoti Aswati say allegations are ‘baseless, biased and misleading’

Police have raided the home of one of India’s leading environmental activists over claims his campaigning for a treaty to cut the use of fossil fuels was undermining the national interest.

Investigators from India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) claim that Harjeet Singh and his wife, Jyoti Awasthi, co-founders of Satat Sampada (Nature Forever), were paid almost £500,000 to advocate for the fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty (FFNPT).

Stonewall’s corporate funding halves against backdrop of US attacks on DEI and freezing of aid for LGBTQ+ causes

LGBTQ+ charities in the UK are operating in a newly “hostile environment”, experts have warned, as the ripple effect of Donald Trump’s attacks on equalities programmes sharpens financial pressures.

The concerns come as yearly accounts submitted by Stonewall, the UK’s biggest LGBTQ+ charity, revealed corporate donations had more than halved in the last financial year, falling from £348,636 in 2024 to £143,149 in 2025.

The son of acclaimed director Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner faces two counts of first-degree murder

Nick Reiner, the son of Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner, will appear in court on Wednesday for arraignment on two counts of first-degree murder in the killing of his parents.

The 32-year-old has been in custody since last month, hours after the acclaimed director and actor, 78, and his wife Michele, 70, a photographer, were found dead in their Los Angeles-area home. Authorities allege that Nick Reiner fatally stabbed the couple.

Actor thinks derisive response to her description of divorcing Chris Martin led to her being dropped from film

The actor Gwyneth Paltrow has said she was fired from a film due to media interest in her divorce from Chris Martin in 2014.

Speaking on Amy Poehler’s podcast, Good Hang, Paltrow blamed negative headlines surrounding the separation – which the couple called “conscious uncoupling” in their announcement – for her losing a role she had been scheduled to play soon afterwards.

Across Africa, baobabs have rich symbolic meaning, but the breakneck expansion of the DRC’s capital has reduced their number in the city centre to one

The older inhabitants of Kinshasa can remember when trees shaded its main avenues and thick-trunked baobabs stood in front of government offices.

Jean Mangalibi, 60, from his plant nursery tucked among grey tower blocks, says the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s frenzied expansion has all but erased its greenery. “We’re destroying the city,” he says, over the sound of drilling from a nearby building site.

‘Everybody loses’ if production supercharged in country with largest known oil reserves, critics say

Donald Trump, by dramatically seizing Nicolás Maduro and claiming dominion over Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, has taken his “drill, baby, drill” mantra global. Achieving the president’s dream of supercharging the country’s oil production would be financially challenging – and if fulfilled, would be “terrible for the climate”, experts say.

Trump has aggressively sought to boost oil and gas production within the US. Now, after the capture and arrest of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, he is seeking to orchestrate a ramp-up of drilling in Venezuela, which has the largest known reserves of oil in the world – equivalent to about 300bn barrels, according to research firm the Energy Institute.

When rain falls on snow it creates a layer of ice that impedes feeding, which in turn has reduced herds’ birthrates

Reindeer survive typically harsh Arctic winters by using their specially adapted hooves to scrape through the snow to nibble on the lichen and moss below. But paradoxically a warming climate is making it harder for them to reach this food, and research shows it has led to a drop in reindeer birthrates.

When rain falls on snow, the snow melts and refreezes, creating layers of ice that make it more difficult for reindeer to scrape through to the fodder below. Climate records going back to 1960 show that warmer winters have resulted in more rain-on-snow events in Arctic regions. By comparing the weather data with reindeer herd birth statistics from Norway and Finland, researchers have shown that birth rates tend to drop in summers that follow winters with lots of rain-on-snow events.

Every year a Chinese-dominated flotilla big enough to be seen from space pillages the rich marine life on Mile 201, a largely ungoverned part of the South Atlantic off Argentina

In a monitoring room in Buenos Aires, a dozen members of the Argentinian coast guard watch giant industrial-fishing ships moving in real time across a set of screens. “Every year, for five or six months, the foreign fleet comes from across the Indian Ocean, from Asian countries, and from the North Atlantic,” says Cdr Mauricio López, of the monitoring department. “It’s creating a serious environmental problem.”

Just beyond Argentina’s maritime frontier, hundreds of foreign vessels – known as the distant-water fishing fleet – are descending on Mile 201, a largely ungoverned strip of the high seas in the South Atlantic, to plunder its rich marine life. The fleet regularly becomes so big it can be seen from space, looking like a city floating on the sea.

Updated government assessment says measures will now entail ‘no more than a modest increase’ for employers

Labour watering down its sweeping overhaul of workers’ rights is expected to slash the cost of the plan for UK businesses by billions of pounds, the government’s own analysis shows.

According to an updated Whitehall impact assessment published on Wednesday, concessions by ministers could reduce the cost of the employment rights bill for businesses to about £1bn.

The cost of medication was too high for thousands of CF sufferers around the world. Now a Bangladeshi company is making a generic version that will change lives

Seven-year-old Grant Leitch had an important question for his mother. He asked if his little brother, Brett, who has cystic fibrosis (CF), was going to die.

The South African family, like tens of thousands around the world, have been priced out of access to modern cystic fibrosis therapies, and if Grant had asked at the start of 2025, he might have received a less optimistic answer.

Detainees under scheme to return people entering UK on small boats told their plane tickets have been cancelled

The first flight of 2026 to return asylum seekers who came to the UK on small boats to France has been cancelled, the Guardian understands.

Detainees earmarked for the UK government’s “one in, one out” scheme who had tickets for a flight on Wednesday morning to Paris were told their tickets had been cancelled.

DC John Rigby, who is awaiting sentence after pleading guilty to charges, told he brought policing ‘into disrepute’

A Merseyside police detective who paid a 17-year-old boy for sex has been sacked and told he acted in a way “that brings policing nationally into disrepute”.

DC John Rigby has pleaded guilty to criminal charges and is on remand in prison awaiting sentence.

Authorities respond as federal officers launch major operation targeting Somali residents

Officials in Minneapolis reported a shooting involving federal agents on Wednesday, with local sources claiming that a female driver who was observing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents was shot in the face.

Federal authorities have been conducting a major immigration enforcement operation in the Minnesota city in recent days tied in part to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents.

Women gather outside factories hoping for work as the economy struggles under US export taxes

Every morning at 7am, women gather outside clothing factories in Maseru, the capital of the southern African mountain kingdom of Lesotho, hoping to be offered work. However, since Donald Trump imposed swingeing global tariffs in April 2025, those opportunities have been fewer and farther between.

Moleboheng Matsepe lost her full-time job sewing sports leggings for the California brand Fabletics in 2023. She was initially able to pick up three-month contracts, but has not had any work since September.

Washington signals interior minister must back acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, or face Nicolás Maduro’s fate

The Trump administration has reportedly put Venezuela’s hardline interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, on notice that he could be next to fall if he does not support the acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, who has been in power since Nicolás Maduro was seized on Saturday.

Reuters reported that US officials are “especially concerned” that Cabello, long seen by many as the regime’s real No 2, could sabotage Washington’s plan to keep key figures from Maduro’s inner circle in place in the name of stability while pursuing a transition and unrestricted access to Venezuela’s oil.

Board unwilling to accept hostile takeover despite $40bn guarantee from billionaire Larry Ellison

Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) has again told its shareholders to reject an “inadequate” $108.4bn (£80bn) hostile takeover bid by Paramount Skydance amid an extraordinary corporate battle to control the media conglomerate.

Paramount, controlled by the billionaire Ellison family, had sought to combat WBD’s criticism of its offer and claims it had “consistently misled” investors by saying it had a “full backstop” – a safety net to ensure it has sufficient funds – from the Ellisons.

Prime minister to ‘look closely’ at legal claims against FTSE 100 telecoms group

The prime minister has promised to review laws governing franchising agreements, in response to the case of a former Vodafone store manager whose family alleges took his own life following pressure from the FTSE 100 telecoms group.

Keir Starmer said in the Commons on Wednesday that he would “look closely” at the outcome of a high-profile legal claim against Vodafone.

Output shrank for 12th month in a row in December, while housebuilding in deepest slump since 2020

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Britain’s construction sector has recorded its worst run since the financial crisis almost two decades ago, with housebuilding mired in the deepest slump since the start of the Covid pandemic in 2020.

UK construction output shrank for the 12th month in a row in December, the longest unbroken run of declines since the global financial crash of 2007-09, although there were signs of optimism among companies, according to a monthly industry survey.

Noodle dish is nation’s favourite comfort food and source of civic pride – but it has health risks

The road to ramen paradise ends in the unlikeliest of places. At Men Endo, located in a suburban street, next to a school and a low-rise apartment block, bowls of noodles disappear in a flurry of slurps, gulps and hurried but heartfelt exchanges of appreciation between customer and chef.

On a cold afternoon in Yamagata, a city in Japan’s northeast, the wait for a seat at Men Endo’s counter is mercifully short. Inside the door, a ticket dispenser lists myriad options, from regular shoyu (soy sauce) ramen – in small, medium or large portions – to maji soba, a soupless symphony of toppings, sauce and noodles that diners are invited to mix together with their chopsticks, along with a spoonful of spicy miso.

Richard Adam and Zafar Khan knew about serious problems but failed to alert the market, UK regulator finds

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The UK’s financial regulator has fined two former executives at the government contractor Carillion for misleading investors before the construction company’s collapse eight years ago.

Richard Adam and Zafar Khan knew about serious problems in the business but failed to alert investors, the board or the audit committee, the Financial Conduct Authority found.

The Londoner from Lagos wowed the fringe with a show about language, family and cross-cultural identity. She talks about dread, dreams and her bid for ‘controlled chaos’

Before her first Edinburgh fringe run last summer, Ayoade Bamgboye put a question to her comedy friends: “How do you debut?” She recalls their advice: “You introduce yourself, and there’s a point of view. There should also be a narrative arc. And you need to establish who you are as a comedian.” This was a lot to hear. “It filled me with dread,” says the 31-year-old. “There’s this recurring thought that you can only debut once. If it falls flat, then you’re just a shit debutante, forever.”

Reader, Bamgboye avoided this fate, and then some. A fringe first-timer with a very slender comedy CV behind her, the Londoner-via-Lagos arrived at the festival with a fresh-minted show, Swings and Roundabouts, and left clutching the prestigious best newcomer award, as formerly won by Harry Hill, Sarah Millican and Tim Minchin. (She was the first Black woman to win the award.) It’s a ticket to the big time and Bamgboye is still reeling. “These past months have been very difficult, getting out of my head and out of my own way. That question of: why me, why this, why now?” Sometimes, only a cliche will cover it. “It changed my life,” says Bamgboye flatly. “I hate to say stuff like that, but it did.”

The director, who has died aged 98, permanently changed the landscape of British theatre by creating the Young Vic – and it reflected his own energetic and ever innovative nature

Frank Dunlop, who has died aged 98, never got the credit he deserved during his lifetime. He was a populist pioneer and genuine visionary who created London’s Young Vic theatre from scratch, radically changed the nature of the Edinburgh festival and, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, tried to introduce institutional permanence to New York theatre. He was also a figure of bustling energy. Even in his 90s, when I would see him on his annual return to Edinburgh, he would be talking about future projects. In fact, he reminded me of a line from a great Latin poet: “Leisure, Catullus, does not agree with you.”

The Young Vic is his enduring legacy but one forgets what an extraordinary achievement it was in 1970. It was a breeze block building created in nine months out of a former butcher’s shop, and was inspired by Dunlop’s memories of the postwar dream of a theatre centre operating under the auspices of the Old Vic. Dunlop’s Young Vic had a similar relation to Olivier’s National Theatre parent company, but it soon established its own identity. Offering lively productions to young audiences at affordable prices, it mixed classics by Shakespeare and Molière with the best of Beckett, Ionesco and Genet.

Here are the wildest theories about who is beneath the red cloak. Brace yourself for handwriting analysis, Jekyll and Hyde vibes and crucial slips of the tongue

It’s the question on everyone’s lips. No, not “Why am I half a stone heavier and in dire need of an afternoon nap?” but “Who is the Secret Traitor?” And thankfully, we’re about to find out.

The curveball new role has proved a gamechanging twist in BBC mega hit The Traitors. Swishing around Ardross Castle in a red cloak, as opposed to the Traitors’ familiar green, the Secret Traitor’s identity is unknown to contestants and viewers alike. It hasn’t just stoked paranoia in the Traitors’ turret but enabled the audience to play along at home, turning us all into armchair sleuths as we try to crack the case.

Is this big-money challenge cruel? Yes. But it’s mainly just tedious to watch these immature players and their teenage machinations as they battle for cash

The first season of Beast Games – the big-money reality challenge masterminded and hosted by internet personality Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast – prompted a lawsuit. Five anonymous contestants sued both the production companies behind the series and Donaldson himself, claiming that they had been kept “underfed and overtired”, and alleging an unsafe environment on the set of the Gladiators-ish, Squid Game-esque series (claims, of course, firmly denied by all parties). While the participants claimed they had been “shamelessly exploited” in the name of entertainment, this did little to impede the success of Beast Games, which went on to become Amazon’s most-watched unscripted series ever, garnering 50 million viewers in the month after its release.

You may well come to Beast Games with a sense that this is a slightly murky, mercenary endeavour, the $5m grand prize (“generational wealth!!!!” says Donaldson) distracting from potential ethical issues just below the surface. Weirdly, though, moral issues will probably be the least of viewers’ concerns. More than ever, in its second series Beast Games also happens to be mindless, vibeless television, flecked with Squiddy sadism but also borrowing heavily from the Love Island playbook. As they stay up into the wee hours building improbably high towers from foam blocks or playing convoluted games of dodgeball, the contestants couple up, crash out and even seek to avenge fallen players. Take Luisitin, playing to defend the honour of his wife from series one, by badmouthing her former nemesis, Karim, to anyone who will listen (“he and his brother gaslit my wife on television!”) People say things like “be careful who you trust!” and “he’s backpack boy … his girlfriend is carrying him over the finish line”. You don’t get this sort of feuding on Ninja Warrior, that’s for sure.

It may only be January, but you already know this banking drama is going to be one of the year’s best shows – a daring, debauched and jaw-dropping treat

Many dramas – especially good ones – don’t become major hits overnight. Think of the likes of Game of Thrones or Succession, which needed time to warm up, and some jaw-dropper episodes (namely the Red Wedding and Kendall bumping off a waiter, respectively) to really get going. Industry is one such show – the slow-burn HBO/BBC series that firmly hit its stride in season three. Good news: season four is even better, truly top-tier television that’s surely destined for end-of-year lists, a serious feat when we’re barely a week into January.

Industry is, of course, the one about young investment bankers, the drama that initially drew comparisons with This Life, and the show where our fresh-faced grads were as likely to be hooking up with one another as they were to be stabbing each other in the back. Fast forward to season four and it’s feeling decidedly more dark and debauched, while still held together with pitch-perfect dialogue. Kiernan Shipka – here, vastly closer to Don Draper than to his daughter, Sally, whom she played in Mad Men – Max Minghella, Kal Penn and Charlie Heaton are among the big names who have joined the cast this time around. They meld seamlessly with our existing leads – the mononymous Myha’la, Marisa Abela, Kit Harington – to make something more twisted and sophisticated than viewers may be expecting. Props, too, for Toheeb Jimoh of Ted Lasso for integrating flawlessly; his jaunt over the Atlantic with Miriam Petche as Sweetpea is a treat in particular.

Jennifer Connelly plays a teenager having whimsical Alice in Wonderland-ish adventures in this 1986 family fantasy

Revived for its 40th anniversary, this is one of the most beguilingly eccentric and charming family movies imaginable. Jim Henson’s fantasy adventure mixes human actors, unmistakably Hensonian puppet creatures, and one authentic legend who goes beyond either category: David Bowie as Jareth, the spikily coiffured king of the goblins, towering over the diminutive figures the way he might if he’d been a guest on The Muppet Show. He carries off this wacky role with absolute commitment and good humour.

Labyrinth also features cherubic teen Jennifer Connelly as Sarah, a girl who is infuriated at being made to look after her baby half-brother Toby when her dad and stepmom are out for the evening. In a fit of loneliness and pique, influenced by a fairytale she has been reading called The Labyrinth, and perhaps unable to process the psychological reasons for her resentment of baby Toby, Sarah makes a spiteful wish that goblins take the infant away. This they do, and Sarah is faced with a daunting quest: she must somehow get through the labyrinth that surrounds Jareth’s castle and wrest the poor child from his awful grasp.

Barbican, London
On what would have been Alfred Brendel’s 95th birthday, some of the world’s greatest musicians performed in a relaxed and joyous celebration of an outstanding musician and benevolent mentor

Pianist, poet and polymath, at once one of music’s most rigorous intellectuals and most mischievous minds – Alfred Brendel, who died in June, was an artist of fruitful contradictions. This marathon concert, on what would have been his 95th birthday, celebrated them with warm affection.

The music reflected Brendel’s own passions, skewing towards the classical repertoire. It began with Haydn’s Representation of Chaos from The Creation; but the evening’s punchlines came later. The orchestra, an ad hoc group of Brendel’s colleagues, proteges and friends, included leading orchestral and chamber musicians – and, in the case of Brett Dean, a composer reverting to his former viola-player persona. They were enthusiastically responsive to Simon Rattle’s conducting, leaning in to surges of sound or dropping back to the softest pianissimos.

In 2025 the Doncaster-born singer-songwriter has earned two UK No 1s, three Grammy nominations and the respect of rock’s greats – and he says it’s all down to putting fans first

In November, Dominic Harrison, better known as Yungblud, received three Grammy nominations. The news that he had become the first British artist in history to be nominated that many times in the awards’ rock categories came as a suitably striking finale to what, by any metric, was an extraordinary year for the 28-year-old singer-songwriter.

In June, his fourth studio album, Idols, entered the UK charts at No 1, outselling its nearest competitor by 50%. The same month, the annual festival he curates and headlines, Bludfest, drew an audience of 30,000 to The National Bowl in Milton Keynes. In July, he played at Back to the Beginning, the farewell performance by Black Sabbath, whose frontman Ozzy Osbourne died 17 days after the gig. On a bill almost comically overstuffed with heavy metal superstars paying tribute – Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Anthrax, Slayer – his rendition of Black Sabbath’s 1972 ballad Changes unexpectedly stole the show, appearing to win him an entirely new audience in the process: the crowd at the gig skewed considerably older than the gen Z fans Harrison traditionally attracts.

Kayvan Novak revives bungling art critic Brian Badonde to interview celebrities. Plus, inside a shocking multimillion-dollar child cancer scam

Fonejacker and Facejacker prankster Kayvan Novak is back with this very silly, very Marmite series, in which he revives one of his most infamous personas: the bungling art critic Brian Badonde. Interviewees include “bodcaster” Adam Buxton and singer Ella Eyre, who – in spite of her interviewer’s shtick and inability to correctly pronounce any words that don’t start with a b – offers a candid account of her time in the music industry. Hannah J Davies
Widely available, episodes weekly

The actor first realised what music was when he heard Yellow Submarine and knows a lot of Paul Simon lyrics, but what would he put on at a party?

The first song I fell in love with
My earliest memory is walking into a room at nursery school where they were playing Yellow Submarine by the Beatles. I was captivated by the sound effects, and Lennon shouting: “Full speed ahead!” When it got to the chorus, I remember thinking: “This must be music!”

The first single I bought
When I was eight, I won a competition at school to pick a new record to play at the mini disco we had on Fridays. My teacher took me to Woolworths, and I chose Come Back My Love by [50s revivalists] Darts. The first single I bought with my own pocket money was Mull of Kintyre by Wings from a record shop in Colne in Lancashire. It was No 1 at the time, and I chose it when my dad pointed out that it was by one of the Beatles.

Drawing on his own near-death experience, the author finds a powerful intensity in this tale of a young man’s convalescence in a Cornish village

“I had to pick through the wreckage, blind at first. I had to find all the pieces of me, scattered all around, and put them back together, one by one.” Following a cardiac arrest which left him clinically dead for 40 minutes, Jago Trevarno, the young narrator of Patrick Charnley’s moving debut novel, has retreated to the Cornish village where he grew up, to shelter under the protection of his “off-gridder” uncle, Jacob.

His mother dead of cancer and his father long gone, at 20 Jago’s world seems to have shrunk to nothing but the hard daily labour of working a subsistence farm high above the rugged Atlantic coast. The life Jago had begun to construct in the city, “a runaway train” in flight from his mother’s death and everything that reminded him of her, has evaporated abruptly in the aftermath of his near-death experience. He has “gone from someone who needed to slow down, to be present, to someone having no choice about it”, and must start from scratch.

How billions of trees left their mark on an empire’s psyche – shaping ideological and literal battles up to the present day

When Sophie Pinkham opens her fascinating book with the claim that “Russia has more trees than there are stars in our galaxy”, it might seem as though she is merely using a poetic turn of phrase. But the statistic is correct: while the Milky Way is estimated to have roughly 200bn stars, Russia has something in the region of 642bn trees. Stretching from the Arctic tundra to central Asia to the Pacific Ocean, the Russian forest is vast, mighty and inhospitable. Yet while it is a source of potential danger, it is also a place of great beauty and potential riches, providing furs, minerals and rivers overflowing with salmon.

Pinkham, a professor of comparative literature at Cornell University whose last book explored the intricacies of post-Soviet Ukraine, here charts the landscape’s influence on the Russian psyche, and its imprint on history, society and literature. The forest is deeply entwined with Russian national identity – the country is often symbolically represented as a bear – yet attitudes towards it have fluctuated. Different leaders have proposed different strategies for extracting value from the land, leading to cycles of deforestation and tree-planting depending on whether the priority was boosting agriculture, building Peter the Great’s imperial fleet, extracting minerals or constructing hydroelectric dams. Politically, it has been a place of resistance and of ultranationalist rhetoric glorifying the idea of Russian self-sufficiency.

Writers and Guardian readers discuss the titles they have read over the last month. Join the conversation in the comments

Ever since my father presented me with a copy of The Unicorn, beautifully translated into my mother tongue, I have been an ardent admirer of Iris Murdoch’s. I went on to read all of her novels, plays and poetry with great enthusiasm. Before Christmas, I returned to her penultimate novel, The Green Knight, having remembered very little of it. Yet from the very first page, I was reminded why I have always loved her work so deeply: the prose is rich, precise, disciplined and meticulously detailed; the many characters are so vividly rendered that none appears two-dimensional; each experiences and processes reality in a way that feels distinct and unmistakably individual; and the pacing of events feels perfectly judged. Although the novel is threaded with philosophical reflections on goodness and love, these never feel laboured or artificially imposed. Rather, they emerge naturally as an integral part of the novel’s dense and intricate tapestry.

Young women drawn to ‘morally grey characters’ are driving a boom sparked by TikTok, Instagram and online friendships

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In a packed room in Sydney, an excited crowd riffles through stacks of stickers and bookmarks searching for their favourite characters. Another group flicks through racks of clothing, pulling out T-shirts that say “romance readers club” and “probably reading about fairies”.

A poster on the wall, with tear-off tabs, invites visitors to take what they need: a love triangle, a love confession mid-dragon battle, a morally grey man or a cowboy.

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This now venerable hardware remains an ideal platform for classics such as Minecraft and daring experiments from the brightest new developers

Now surely approaching their twilight years, the Xbox Series S and X machines nevertheless still have plenty to offer both new and veteran owners. We have selected 15 titles that show the range of what’s on offer, from the biggest blockbusters to lesser known indie gems you may have missed. Whether you’re after tense psychological horror or wild escapism, it’s all here and more.

New mind-bending puzzlers, landmark RPGs and furry multiverse adventures await you as the PlayStation 5 enters its sixth year

Entering its sixth year, the PlayStation 5 has built up a formidable library of epic adventures, button-pummelling shooters and even the odd cutesy platformer. So whether you’ve owned the machine for years or only just entered the current console generation, here are 15 titles we think you should have in your PlayStation collection.

‘There was no animation software in those days. So I videotaped my brother David running, jumping and climbing in a car park’

Programming was very open back in the 1980s. You had to teach yourself, either from magazines, or by swapping tips. When you wrote a video game, you submitted it on a floppy disk to a publisher, like a book manuscript. In my freshman year at Yale university, I sent Deathbounce, an Asteroids-esque game for the Apple II computer, to Broderbund, my favourite games company. They rejected it, but took my next effort, Karateka, a side-scrolling beat-’em-up.

In this week’s newsletter: The year’s most popular stories reveal how play, power and politics collided in the past 12 months – and what you’re psyched for in 2026

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With the best games of the year duly noted (yours and ours), I’d like to highlight some of the work we’ve done covering them. Reviewing the top-performing articles that we published in 2025, I see a portrait of a conflicted year: plenty of great works and games that captured the imagination and the world’s attention, but also growing anxiety about their place in the real world, and the political circumstances they reflect. And a lot of (justified) hand-wringing over Roblox.

But first: I wanted to extend heartfelt thanks to everyone who reads this newsletter and the rest of our work at the Guardian. If you’ve enjoyed our coverage, do consider supporting us to do more of it – either through a recurring or one-off contribution. Without your support, none of the great journalism we produce would be possible. Thank you for being with us in 2025, and I hope you stick around to watch me slowly lose my mind working overtime in the buildup to Grand Theft Auto 6’s release in November 2026. (Finally).

Abbey theatre, Dublin
Barbara Bergin’s tale follows four families through strikes in the slums, the Easter Rising, the early years of independence and the HIV-Aids crisis of the 1980s

In Barbara Bergin’s epic “losers’ history” of Dublin, street names tell their own story. Tosser’s Pot leads to Cutpurse, then from Pokes Alley to Kiphouse Row. For the residents of the inner-city tenement building where the action opens in 1880, choices are starkly circumscribed and lives are cut short by poverty, disease or violence.

Covering 100 years of life in this house, the narrative traces four families, their lives intertwined through generations, with trauma recurring – to women in particular – echoing the spirit of Seán O’Casey. The historical backdrop is outlined in broad brush: from strikes in the slums to revolution and war, through the early years of the independent state, to the heroin and HIV-Aids crises of the 1980s.

At Abbey theatre, Dublin, until 31 January

Duke of York’s theatre, London
Sheridan Smith’s disconsolate housewife seeks refuge in a fantasy world, in Alan Ayckbourn’s critique of the emptiness of married life

Susan is not the first woman battling inner demons in her middle years that Sheridan Smith has taken on for the West End stage. Before Alan Ayckbourn’s disconsolate housewife here, there was her superlative Shirley Valentine, navigating middle-age wobbles by setting sail for the island of her dreams, and John Cassavetes’ Myrtle, in Opening Night, more brittle and inebriated in her midlife malaise.

Susan is, like Shirley and Myrtle, in a mentally fragile state. That is partly because she has taken a knock to the head with a garden rake, which has triggered an alternate, hallucinatory world. This, at first, seems like a refuge from the emotionally deadened real life she shares with vicar-husband, Gerald (Tim McMullan), dour sister-in-law, Muriel (Louise Brealey), and rebel son, Rick (Taylor Uttley) who has refused to speak to his parents since joining a sect in Hemel Hempstead.

After a record-breaking season, big stars and big revivals hope to lure in New York audiences over the next 12 months

The year 2025 found Broadway at an inflection point – New York theater finally fully rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, as the 2024-2025 season became the highest-grossing of all time, with $1.89bn in tickets sold thanks in part to a new generation of stars and fans. But with a record box office came record ticket prices, as Hollywood stars from Denzel Washington to George Clooney commanded sums pushing four figures for orchestra seating. This year feels relatively less Hollywood-y, though no less starry, with a healthy mix of revivals, new material and buzzy transfers on the calendar. Here are 12 of the most anticipated Broadway shows in 2026.

Barbican Hall, London
In a programme of early 20th- and 21st-century music, it was in the contemporary works that the new cohort of teenagers were most impressive

It’s rare to hear an orchestra’s first public performance. It’s even rarer when that performance takes place barely a week after the players first met. But that’s the seemingly impossible ask for the teenagers of the National Youth Orchestra, whose annual cycle begins in earnest just after Christmas, building up to a three-city UK tour before term. It’s a bracing start to the year for anyone whose post-festive achievements have been largely sofa-based.

Indeed, 2026’s Shimmer programme is less festive glow than urban heat-haze, inviting us into the sun-bleached Spanish streetscapes of Debussy and Ravel, wriggling with dances, festivals and life.

Service attended by singers, animal rights activists and public figures including far-right leader Marine Le Pen

Brigitte Bardot, the film star turned animal rights activist, has been laid to rest after a funeral service in Saint-Tropez attended by her favourite politician, the far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

Bardot died aged 91 at her La Madrague villa on 28 December. Her funeral was held at the Notre-Dame de l’Assomption church and broadcast on large screens across the town.

Harte, who was been Aurora orchestra’s chief executive since 2009, replaces Kathryn McDowell

The London Symphony Orchestra has announced that John Harte will be the orchestra’s next managing director, replacing Dame Kathryn McDowell, who steps down after 20 years in the role at the end of the summer.

Harte has been chief executive of Aurora Orchestra since 2009, where, alongside principal conductor Nicholas Collon and creative director Jane Mitchell, he has built the group from a startup into one of the most successful and innovative new British arts organisations in recent decades. Prior to his role with Aurora, Harte worked for the British choral label Collegium and completed a doctorate in Middle Eastern history at the School of Oriental and African Studies.

Video game spinoff was the highest-grossing film of the year at £56.88m as the sector continued its recovery after Covid

The UK and Irish box office has recorded its best annual performance since the Covid pandemic, with A Minecraft Movie ending 2025 as the highest-grossing film of the year.

Figures released by box-office analysts Comscore show that box office revenue in the UK and Ireland totalled £1.07bn, an increase of 1% on 2024’s total of £1.06bn. At the same time there was a slight decrease in the amount of films released: 1,092 in 2025, compared with 1,124 in 2024.

In this week’s newsletter: Stranger Things’ climactic showdown is the latest pop culture spectacle to feel like its been ported straight from a console. The industries’ reciprocally influential relationship can be to everyone’s gain

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It had begun to feel like an endurance test by the end, but nonetheless, like the sucker I am, I watched the Stranger Things finale last week. And spoiler warning: I’m going to talk about it in general terms in this newsletter. Because approximately 80% of the final season comprised twentysomething “teenagers” explaining things to each other while using random 1980s objects to illustrate convoluted plans and plot points, my expectations were not high. After an interminable hour, finally, something fun happens, as the not-kids arm themselves with machine guns and molotovs and face off against a monstrously gigantic demon-crab. Aha, I thought – the final boss battle!

The fight was like something out of Monster Hunter, all scale and spectacle with a touch of desperation. For a very long time, video games sought to imitate cinema. Now cinema (and TV) often feels like a video game. The structure of Stranger Things’ final season reminded me a lot of Resident Evil: long periods of walking slowly through corridors, with characters exchanging plot information aloud on their way to the action, and occasional explosions of gunfire, screeching monsters or car chases. Those long periods of relative inaction are much more tolerable when you’ve got a controller in your hands. I am all for TV and film embracing the excitement, spectacle and dynamism of video games, but do they have to embrace the unnecessary side-quests and open-world bloat, too?

As his 30th birthday loomed in Greece, Steve MinOn sent a letter to his parents in Australia. Then he waited.

• Read more summer essentials

While day-drinking ouzo in a spiderwebbed taverna on the Greek island of Paros, I decided to write a coming-out letter to my parents. I sealed it in a surface mail envelope, moistened a ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΔΗΜΟΚΡΑΤΙΑ (Hellenic Republic) stamp with my aniseed tongue and posted it.

It was the 1990s and I had only just relocated from Australia to London with Nick, my boyfriend at the time, and Julie, a good mate. We had gone across to Greece for a holiday, island-hopping, catching ferries on a whim, knowing nothing about the places we were visiting except that backpacking there was cheap.

Engaging in creativity can reduce depression, improve immunity and delay ageing – all while you’re having fun

For some reason, we have collectively agreed that new year is the time to reinvent ourselves. The problem, for many people, is that we’ve tried all the usual health kicks – running, yoga, meditation, the latest diets – even if we haven’t really enjoyed them, in a bid to improve our minds and bodies. But have any of us given as much thought to creativity? Allow me to suggest that this year be a time to embrace the arts.

Ever since our Paleolithic ancestors began painting caves, carving figurines, dancing and singing, engaging in the arts has been interwoven with health and healing. Look through the early writings of every major medical tradition around the world and you find the arts. What is much newer – and rapidly accelerating over the past two decades – is a blossoming scientific evidence-base identifying and quantifying exactly what the health benefits of the arts are.

Trying damp or dry January? Enjoy the buzz without the booze with our pick of the best hangover-free beverages

• The best no- and low-alcohol wines

Was your Christmas a little too merry? Maybe you’re giving Dry January a go; maybe you fancy trying more zebra striping (alternating alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks) this year; or maybe you want to steer clear of alcohol for a while for health reasons. Whatever the motivation, many of us will use the new year as a chance to re-evaluate our relationship with booze and look for alternatives to the hard stuff.

Luckily, the low- and no-alcohol category is increasingly better; these days there’s no excuse to serve you a sad lemonade just because you’re the designated driver. The world of low-alcohol beer is particularly excellent, with loads of brilliantly brewed lagers, pilsners, stouts and ales that are just as exciting and tasty as their alcoholic counterparts. Spirits are good, too, with delicious agave-based liquids and dozens of gin-adjacent spirits I’d be happy to drink in a 0% G&T. Wines can be more challenging, I find, but there are some that taste more than passable, and sparkling wines, teas and the like are often excellent.

They may be small, but toothbrushes can create mountains of waste. Experts reveal how to clean and care for them and extend their life

• The best electric toothbrushes, tested

If toothbrushes were sentient, they’d complain about their lot in life. Their thankless existence involves repeatedly cleaning one of the grimmest parts of the body, then being thrown out once their bristles are insufficiently effective. Or, in the case of electric toothbrushes, decapitated before resuming their duties with a fresh head.

This relentless cycle is essential for hygiene reasons: an ineffective brush can lead directly to tooth decay and gum disease. However, given the big dual crises of our time – climate and cost of living – it would certainly help for toothbrushes to last a bit longer. So what can we do to maximise their longevity without sacrificing dental hygiene?

Our reviewer sheds some light on adding brightness to your mornings with the best dawn simulation alarms, from Lumie and Philips to Hatch

• The best sleep aids recommended by experts: from blue light-blockers to apps to help you nap

To wake each day in darkness is a plight you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy, yet that’s what many of us do routinely throughout winter. Getting up in the dark decouples our life from our circadian rhythm (our body clock), with bodily processes such as cognition and metabolism put to work before they’re fully prepped.

Thank heavens, then, for sunrise alarm clocks. These “dawn simulation” devices glow with gradually intensifying brightness as your wake-up time approaches, kickstarting your circadian rhythm before you get out of bed. For many users, this results in a happier, healthier start to the day.

Best sunrise alarm clock overall:
Lumie Bodyclock Glow 150

Best budget sunrise alarm:
Momcozy Sunrise Echo

Taking umbrella testing to the extreme; organisational hacks for the new year; and Jess Cartner-Morley’s January essentials

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How naive I was, during the car journey to Mam Tor, to wonder whether it would be windy enough for testing umbrellas on this Peak District hill’s 517-metre summit.

It was blowing a gale – or more accurately, a “near gale”, if weather apps are to be believed – and the three of us who rendezvoused at the triangulation point could barely stand in one place.

Jess Cartner-Morley’s January style essentials: from posh slippers to French-Girl hairpins

‘Will save on money and arguments’: 21 home organisation hacks for shared households

The best concealers: eight favourites for camouflaging blemishes and dark circles – tested

‘Extraordinary – a great alcohol alternative’: the best supermarket kombuchas, tasted and rated

An easy and ingenious way to use up odd bits and pieces of root veg

The dry-salting fermentation method used to make sauerkraut works brilliantly on almost any firm vegetable, so you can happily explore beyond the traditional cabbage. I had a couple of carrots and a piece of squash that needed saving, so I turned them into a golden kraut with ginger, turmeric and a little orange zest for brightness. Use whatever you have to hand and let the ingredients lead your creativity.

A warm, silky soup and a nourishing and flavourful stew to help get you through the colder weather

bowl of creamy red lentil soup feels like pure comfort – warm, silky and deeply satisfying. The lentils cook down into a smooth, golden blend, their gentle sweetness enriched by sauteed onions, garlic and a touch of spice. A drizzle of dukkah oil brightens things up, making it perfect for January. Then, a Levantine chickpea stew with aubergine and tahini, which is so nourishing and full of flavour. Tender chickpeas simmer slowly in a rich tomato base until they absorb the sweetness of onions, garlic, and the gentle warmth of cumin. Fried aubergine melts into the stew, and its smoky softness gives each spoonful a lush texture.

Top tips from a roster of experienced curry-makers, from adding a dollop of yoghurt to experimenting with pastes

I want to make more vegetarian curries, but most call for a tin of coconut milk and I’m trying to cut down on saturated fats. What can I use instead?
Jill, via email
Coconut milk brings silkiness and sweet richness to curries, and also mellows spices, so any substitute will likely change the nature of the dish. That said, if you really want to avoid the white stuff, Karan Gokani, author of Indian 101, would simply replace it with vegetable stock. Another easy swap (if you’re not averse to dairy) is yoghurt, says John Chantarasak, chef and co-owner of AngloThai in London, which is handy, because “that’s normally hanging about in the fridge”.

Not all curries involve coconut milk, however, and it’s these that perhaps offer a better solution to Jill’s conundrum. “Once you get past that idea, you go into two realms,” says Sirichai Kularbwong of Thai restaurant Singburi in London, by which he means wet and dry curries. The latter involve frying curry paste (“usually containing dried chillies”) and seasoning with fish sauce (“in Jill’s case, a vegan fish sauce”), tamarind and sugar. “The consistency of the sauce is never thin, and you pair it with root vegetables and flat beans, and eat alongside rice,” he adds. Meanwhile, a favourite wet curry that doesn’t call for coconut milk is gaeng om, made with “a simple curry paste of garlic, chillies and lemongrass boiled with good veg stock and seasoned with vegan fish sauce”. Veg-wise, to that base you’d typically add pumpkin, mushrooms, maybe pak choi.

Got a culinary dilemma? Email feast@theguardian.com

Served with mustard aïoli, crisp chickpeas and a quick-pickled red onion and parsley salad, these root veg fritters make a satisfying dish that’s ideal for a weekend brunch

I’m a sucker for a rösti, and I truly believe it makes the best breakfast, brunch – or any meal, really. This one leans into the amazing varieties of root vegetables we have at our disposal, and it is especially stunning when layered and presented with all of the other elements: a bold mustard aïoli, crisp curried chickpeas, and an easy parsley and red onion salad that is quick-pickled to provide an acidic finish to a satisfying dish.

Ferment: Simple Ferments and Pickles, and How to Eat Them, by Kenji Morimoto, is published by Pan Macmillan at £22. To order a copy for £19.80, visit the guardianbookshop.com

In Vallejo, California, ‘trad sons’ report feeling trapped by family obligations, slim job prospects and the fear of violence – leaving little room for romance

Are boys becoming men later? In recent decades, the markers of adulthood have shifted for young American men: they are almost twice as likely to be single, less likely to go to college and more likely to be unemployed. Most significantly for their parents, they are also less likely to have fled the nest, with the term “trad son” springing into social media lexicon in recent months. In the 1970s, only 8% of Americans aged 25 to 34 were living with their parents, but by 2023, that figure had jumped to 18%, with men more likely to live at home than women, according to a Pew survey.

But not everywhere in the US has the same rates of adults living in their familial home. The living arrangement is least common in the midwest and most common in the north-east. Topping the list was Vallejo, where 33% of young adults live with their parents. How were they making it work?

Bored, lonely and emerging from lockdown, a less-traditional relationship was just what I was looking for

We were just two midlifers in our 50s who met back in 2020 using a popular dating app. Bored, lonely and emerging from lockdown we jumped at the chance for an outing. We had our first date at a trendy, dimly-lit Japanese restaurant and bar in Sydney’s Surry Hills. By our second lychee martini, we became aware of some mutual connections that we knew and discovered that we had actually grown up in the same place.

There was an immediate feeling of familiarity and a shared sense of humour that clicked without effort. We were in no rush for anything too serious. In fact, it would take another five outings, including antique-trawling for some 70s-inspired crockery, before things would develop into more of a romantic connection.

Valerie and Max have discovered the secret of maintaining an active sex life in your 70s – and are happy to pass on their tips

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

I’ve actually found that age has affected sex in a very positive way. Now I can have five orgasms in a row

Your friend fears dependency and wants to regain control. Is there someone you can talk to about your own feelings?

I am in my 80s and an old friend has several health issues. She will probably die in the not too distant future due to the inoperable cancer she has been aware of for some years.

She has two adult children, with domestic and career problems of their own, but she sees them frequently, and I know them both.

The firm that is holding the files has gone out of business, and complaining may take months

My dad died in July in harrowing circumstances. Our probate application was close to being finalised by our solicitor.

Then this month we received an email from the solicitor, Samuel Phillips Law, to say it had ceased trading. No explanation was given.

It allocated my NI number to a stranger who has died, and will not process my pension top-up request as a result

HM Revenue and Customs allocated my national insurance (NI) number to a stranger who has since died. It therefore now insists that I am dead and so will not process my pension top-up request.

I’ve had this number since 1991 when I moved to the UK for six years to work.

Fraudsters use phishing to steal card details, which fund a spending spree using Apple Pay or Google Pay

You get a call from your bank and the informed voice asks to you to confirm the personal details they have on file, which you do. You are then asked whether you bought something at an electrical retailer recently for £120 and spent £235 in Birmingham, but neither transaction rings true.

The caller tells you they have blocked the payments but they must now secure your account, and say they will send you a notification to approve, or a code to pass on to them. You feel under pressure to protect your money, so you do what is asked.

From cheaper shopping to tax and travel cash, there is a host of resources to help you out. We pick some of the best

Money is central to many people’s new year resolutions – whether it’s trying to save more, organising what you have already, or improving your spending or saving habits.

If you have promised to tackle your finances this year, there are lots of tools and apps that can help you achieve your goal. Here are 26 to help you in 2026.

Though most nosebleeds are mild and benign, they shouldn’t happen. Experts weigh in on when to see a doctor

If you frequently experience nosebleeds, you might come to regard them as nothing more than a messy inconvenience.

Yet, even though most nosebleeds are mild and benign, they should not happen “if everything inside the nose is healthy”, says Dr Patricia Loftus, an otolaryngologist at the University of California, San Francisco.

The boundaries between work and leisure are being blurred, but it’s vital for your health to learn how to turn off. Whether you do your job from home or not, here’s how to reset and reclaim your private time

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Marilyn Monroe once said: “A career is wonderful, but you can’t curl up with it on a cold night.” Only these days, you can. The march of technology, the rise of hybrid and remote working, and an increasing culture of presenteeism (working longer than contractually required, or when sick) have blurred the boundaries between work and leisure.

Research by Business in the Community (BITC), a UK-based responsible business network, shows that 55% of employees feel pressed to respond to calls or check emails outside work, while high workloads drive two in five to work overtime. Yet switching off from work when you aren’t working (psychological detachment, to give it its scientific name) is vital not just for your health, but for productivity.

Respiratory infections are more common in winter, but it’s largely because we spend more time indoors in close contact with other people

Is spending too much time outside on chilly days to blame for coughs and runny noses? Not exactly. “Colds are more common in the winter, but it’s almost certainly correlation, not causation,” says John Tregoning, a professor in vaccine immunology at Imperial College London.

One marginal factor is that UV light can kill viruses. Sneezing outside in the summer, for example, may expose viral droplets to sunlight, which can deactivate the virus, while faster evaporation causes it to desiccate. But the main driver is behavioural: in colder months, we spend more time indoors with poorer ventilation and in closer contact with others.

Water bottles are the ‘perfect environment for bacteria to grow’ – as we’ve seen from the horror pics on social media. Follow these steps to stay clean

Environmentally friendly and convenient, reusable water bottles are on the rise. But on social media, people seem confused about how to clean them, and post horrifying pictures of mold growing inside.

Water sourced from a municipal water supply is likely very clean, explains Kelly Reynolds at the University of Arizona, who studies water quality and disease transmission.

Exfoliating, plumping and hydrating, the best products will leave your skin glowing without costing a fortune

Lactic acid – always the bridesmaid for the more hyped glycolic acid – is my first choice of alpha hydroxy acid for all manner of reasons. It exfoliates without stripping or stinging (its bigger molecule size makes it particularly well tolerated by even sensitive skins), can stimulate collagen and ceramide production to firm, plump and protect mature skins, has antibacterial properties for more problematic ones, and binds with water to keep every type more hydrated. Lactic also imparts an unmistakable glow to the complexion and deflakes rough areas brilliantly.

I’ve always loved it, but have rarely been so spoilt for choice. Beauty Pie’s new Youthbomb Extreme Retinal Triple Renewal Serum (£49 to members) is their best formula in some time, which goes some way to justify its high (for Beauty Pie) price point.

In politics, clothes matter – as the mid-market formal wear favoured by the new, young New York mayor testifies

Growing up in London in the 00s, I was surrounded by suits. On City boys darting around the Square Mile. In Hyde Park, where Arab dads in baggy suits kicked footballs with their children in honeyed light. At school, where cheap grey suits were our uniform. The suit has always been a costume of seriousness that signals powerfulness and performance; all the things I was apparently supposed to want if I ever intended to become a “man”. But until recently, my generation seemed to wear them less and less, and they had all but disappeared from my consciousness.

Then came the newly elected New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, who was sworn in at a private ceremony dressed in a sober black overcoat, crisp white shirt and an Eri silk tie from New Delhi-based designer Kartik Kumra of Kartik Research – styled by US fashion editor, Gabriella Karefa-Johnson. Buoyed up by an ingenious campaign, he caught the imagination of the world like no other New York mayoral candidate of recent times. But whether he was throwing his hands in the air at a hip-hop club or at a premiere party for the film Marty Supreme, one thing on his campaign trail rarely changed: he was almost always in a suit. Loosely tailored, modern with soft shoulders, yet conventional and ordinary, his is a typically middle-class millennial suit – well, as typical as it can be for a generation that rarely bothers to wear one.

Ease yourself into a routine again with relaxed silhouettes, cosy fabrics and slipper-adjacent footwear

Whether Vinted’s to blame or TikTok’s to thank, people are flocking back to car parks in search of secondhand bargains. How did the car boot get hip again?

It’s a crisp Sunday morning in south-west London. Tucked within rows of terrace houses, the playground of a primary school has been transformed into an outdoor treasure trove. Tables are filled with stacks of books and board games; clothes hang from metal racks or are piled into boxes which are strewn over a hopscotch. It’s the 10am opening of Balham car boot sale. A modest queue filters through the entrance: families, pensioners, fashion influencers, TikTokers.

Three friends – Dominique Gowie, Abbie Mitchell (both 25 years old) and Affy Chowdhury (26) – arrived an hour earlier, to set up. They are selling at a car boot for the first time, enticed by the growing hype circulating on social media. “If you go out and say: ‘Oh I bought this at the car boot,’ I think it’s actually cooler than saying I bought this on Asos,” says Dominique.

The festive season can stretch waistbands and wallets to breaking point. Here’s our pick of boltholes for a new year reset – each with a spa and rooms for under £160 a night

Virginia Woolf described the South Downs as “too much for one pair of eyes, enough to float a whole population in happiness”. So where better to head at this time of year, when our happiness levels are traditionally at their lowest ebb? Striding across the rolling chalkland towards the teetering sea cliffs buoyed up by a stiff breeze is the perfect antidote to the January blues. And if there’s a cosy hotel bar with an open fire waiting for you at the end of the walk, so much the better.

This 14-mile section of the Sandstone Trail crosses an ancient landscape of hills, woods and ridges, bookended by two fine old inns

Deep in the heartland of rural Cheshire, there’s a wind-scoured ridge of sandstone that hides a two-storey cave known as Mad Allen’s Hole. Here, on the flanks of Bickerton Hill, it is said that in the 18th century a heartbroken man called John Harris of Handley lived as a hermit for several decades.

As locations to weather the storm of romantic trauma go, this – I mused as I stood above it on a crisp winter’s day – certainly takes some beating. Offering a panorama of nine counties of England and Wales from its entrance, I could spy the white disc of Jodrell Bank Observatory glistening in the sunlight, while the peaks and troughs of the Clwydian range appeared like a watermark in the distance.

On a running pilgrimage in the land of my forebears I was blown away by the scenery – and even more so by the warmth of the people

As a long-distance runner, I had always wanted to use running as a means of travel, a way to traverse a landscape. I’d heard of people running across Africa, or the length of New Zealand, and the idea of embarking on an epic journey propelled only by my own two legs was compelling. I had just turned 50, and some might have said I was having a mid-life crisis, but I preferred to envisage it as a sort of pilgrimage – a journey in search of meaning and connection. And the obvious place to traverse, for me, was the land of my ancestors: Ireland.

Most summers as a child, my Irish parents would take us “home” to Ireland, to visit relatives, sitting on sofas in small cottages, a plate of soda bread on the table, a pot of tea under a knitted cosy. Having been there many times, I thought I knew Ireland, but, really, I knew only a tiny fragment.

Climbing, skiing and paddleboarding also feature in our round-up of this year’s charity challenges

SwimQuest’s annual Isles of Scilly challenge is a 15km island-hopping swim, broken into five sessions with walks in between. The longest swim is the 6km leg from St Agnes to Bryher; the shortest is 600 metres from Bryher to Tresco; and the island walks in between are no longer than 45 minutes. Swimmers can opt to complete the challenge in one tough day, or space it out over two – there is a party after both events.
Entry is £299 for the one-day challenge on 20 September or £379 for two days (17 and 18 September), no minimum fundraising, scillyswimchallenge.co.uk

The sight of my work, torn and singed but still legible, made me realise the importance of translating and protecting stories – so they remain when everything else falls away

In the rubble of a collapsed apartment block, a single image stayed with me: a book I had translated from English to Persian, lying half-buried in dust and ash. Its cover was torn and smudged, its pages curled and singed, but it was still legible. Still speaking.

Two days earlier, on 13 June 2025, missiles from Israel began striking Tehran. There were no sirens, just sudden, violent blasts. The internet was completely cut off. I was in my apartment, translating Jhumpa Lahiri’s Translating Myself and Others – a book about what it means to transport words across languages, and the ethics and anxieties of inhabiting another’s voice. As buildings fell, I sat editing a text that argued, in its quiet way, for the endurance of meaning.

See how quickly giving up treats will help you hit a target – and a trick that can speed it up

• New year money: 26 tools and apps to help you sort your finances in 2026

As Tuesday marks the official end of the Christmas season, it is time to start thinking about those new year resolutions in earnest.

Savings are at the heart of many people’s pledges – whether it’s building up an emergency fund to cover disasters, or putting money aside for a short- or long-term goal. Cutting down on unnecessary spending is another popular promise.

Inkpen, Berkshire: The felted mouse choir, the sleeping fawn … a lot of it has meaning to us. At least the greenery goes up in a blaze of glory

By the time you read this, we’ll be taking down the Christmas decorations. I don’t like to let them go. I love the mischief of the days and nights over Christmastide. They sit outside ordinary time, disappearing and extending of their own accord. I enjoy the historical ambiguity over when Twelfth Night falls: the 5th, or this night? I don’t want to be pressed by traditions or superstitions, making up my own ways to say goodbye to the festive period – yet still, I’m wary of them.

We used to cut our tree from the estate we lived on, but in recent years we’ve chosen one from Willis Farm, high on the downs, where they’re grown sustainably, with wildlife in mind. Ours is a colourful tree. Each bauble has meaning and I’m sorry to see them go. Some are from childhood; a treasured wooden goose, and a beaver nestled in a walnut shell, came from a Christmas shop in Banff, Alberta, bought on a day off from ranching in 1989.

Repurposing old potting mix can be good for the plant and the planet – but how do you know whether to re-use or replace?

The problem
Repotting often leaves you staring at a pile of old potting mix and wondering: “Should it go in the bin, the garden, or back into another pot?” Reusing soil feels thrifty and sustainable, but tired potting mix can contain compacted roots, harbour pests and be drained of nutrients. So how do you know when to refresh and when to replace?

The hack
Old soil isn’t always bad soil. Most potting mixes lose structure and nutrition over time, but they can often be revived with a bit of care. If the mix smells musty, contains mould or has signs of fungus gnats, it’s best to discard it. But if it’s dry, healthy and crumbly, you can usually bring it back to life.

Dying is a process and in a person’s final hours and days, Nickie and her Threshold Choir are there to accompany people on their way and bring comfort. Through specially composed songs, akin to lullabies, the choir cultivates an environment of love and safety around those on their deathbed.  For the volunteer choir members, it is also an opportunity to channel their own experiences of grief and together open up conversations about death.

Full interview with Nickie Aven, available here

Maga media used to hate US foreign intervention – now some are cheering it on

“I’m not going to start a war. I’m going to stop wars,” Donald Trump said after declaring victory on 6 November 2024. It wasn’t his first pledge to disengage the US from foreign conflicts, and Trump’s top allies in conservative media and the “Make America Great Again” (Maga) movement have all rallied to his pledge to “put America first”.

Now that the US president seems to have broken his pledge by launching an invasion of Venezuela, not to mention threatening future actions against Cuba and Colombia and potentially Greenland, some have reasonably wondered whether Trump’s supporters in Maga media would hammer him for that inconsistency.

They can hurt more than broken bones or pancreatitis. But with the right drugs and therapies, relief is possible from this debilitating and often misunderstood condition

It was a dreary Monday morning in September 2016, and I was working as a teacher, trying to settle a new year 7 class, when a sharp pain bloomed behind my right eye. It was followed by quick jolts, like electric shocks. As each class came and went, the pain eased and then returned with greater intensity. Four times that day I left a teaching assistant with worksheets and ran to the school bathroom to douse my face with cold water. I took ibuprofen, paracetamol, aspirin, but the pain remained unbearable.

The headaches appeared repeatedly that autumn, and again in spring, and soon formed an annual pattern. September and October were the worst, then February and March. I could predict the routine: aura in the shower, early twinges on the train, full-blown agony in class by 9.30am. In late 2019, a GP finally referred me to a neurologist and I was diagnosed with cluster headaches.

Twenty-five years after I revealed the practices of the industrial food giants, the profits – and dangers – of mass producing meat and milk have only grown

Cats have long been kept at American dairy farms to kill rats, mice and other rodents. In March 2024, a number of barn cats at dairies in the Texas panhandle started to behave strangely. It was like the opening scene of a horror movie. The cats began to walk in circles obsessively. They became listless and depressed, lost their balance, staggered, had seizures, suffered paralysis and died within a few days of becoming ill. At one dairy in north Texas, two dozen cats developed these odd symptoms; more than half were soon dead. Their bodies showed no unusual signs of injury or disease.

Dr Barb Petersen, a veterinarian in Amarillo, heard stories about the sick cats. “I went to one of my dairies last week, and all their cats were missing,” a colleague told her. “I couldn’t figure it out – the cats usually come to my vet truck.” For about a month, Petersen had been investigating a mysterious illness among dairy cattle in Texas. Cows were developing a fever, producing less milk, losing weight. The milk they did produce was thick and yellow. The illness was rarely fatal but could last for weeks, and the decline in milk production was hurting local dairy farmers. Petersen sent fluid samples from sick cows to a diagnostic lab at Iowa State University, yet all the tests came back negative for diseases known to infect cattle. She wondered if there might be a connection between the unexplained illnesses of the cats and the cows. She sent the bodies of two dead barn cats to the lab at Iowa State, where their brains were dissected.

We’d like to hear from people in Greenland on their thoughts about the US president’s renewed call to take over the territory

Speaking aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Donald Trump doubled down on his claim that Greenland should become part of the United States. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” Trump told reporters.

We’d like to hear from people in Greenland on their views on Trump’s renewed call to take over the autonomous territory. You can share your views below.

Whether your question is about exercise, eating, or general wellness, post it below and we’ll put a selection to our panel on the night

There’s no bad time to take a more active interest in your health, but the new year, for lots of us, feels like a fresh start. Maybe you’re planning to sign up for a 10k or finally have a go at bouldering, eat a bit better or learn to swing a kettlebell. Maybe you want to keep up with your grandkids — or just be a little bit more physically prepared for whatever life throws at you.

To help things along, Guardian Live invites you to a special event with public health expert Devi Sridhar, journalist and author Mariella Frostrup, and health and fitness columnist Joel Snape. They’ll be joining the Guardian’s Today in Focus presenter Annie Kelly to discuss simple, actionable ways to stay fit and healthy as you move through the second half of life: whether that means staying strong and mobile or stressing less and sleeping better.

Perhaps you have been living with friends for many years, or live in a commune

Do you have what could be described as unusual living arrangements?

Perhaps you live in communal housing, or a commune or with extended family.

We’d like to hear from people in the UK, under the age of 30, about whether they’re managing to put money into a pension scheme – or cannot afford to

With 150,000 people in the UK now having student loan debts of more than £100,000, tenants spending 36.3% of their income on rent and the cost-of-living crisis still having an impact – young workers are having to make sacrifices from cutting holidays or not paying into a pension scheme.

If you’re under 30, we’d like to hear about your pension scheme arrangements. If you don’t pay into a pension scheme, we want to know why. How much do tax and student loan repayments affect your ability to pay into a pension? How about rent and the cost of living? How do you view retirement? Do you have any concerns?

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