A growing wave of women are turning to what was once seen as a surgery for men, hoping it will cure their self-consciousness about high hairlines and thinning crowns. But with treatments costing thousands and bodge jobs common, is it suitable – or even safe?

Aria, 27, first noticed her hair falling out after she had Covid in 2021. “It started receding at the temples,” she says, adding that, after two further bouts of Covid, the hair on the side of her head is now fluffy and sparse. A part-time nanny studying for a master’s in speech therapy, she hides the problem with a fringe. When she goes out, she wears a cap or headband to anchor it down, but activities such as walking in the wind or swimming feel impossible. “Even a fringe is not protective enough because at any minute someone could flick it up,” she says. “It makes me feel so vulnerable.”

Aria started watching YouTube and TikTok videos of hair transplants two years ago. Now she has decided to take the plunge herself, and in a few days’ time she will check into at a clinic in Portsmouth, Hampshire, for a procedure that will cost £5,500.

The Liverpool legend is the subject of a new film directed by Asif Kapadia on the Scot’s remarkable career in football and connection with his adopted city

‘We got the bus and went down to Sheffield to visit the supporters who were in hospital,” Kenny Dalglish says as he remembers how he spent the Monday after the tragedy of Hillsborough in April 1989. “All the players were there so we split up and they walked into different wards to see people. We were trying to give them a wee bit of confidence or belief of anything that could help them. And there was a family around a young boy’s bed and he was unconscious.”

Sean Luckett was 20 years old and one of the thousands of fervent Liverpool supporters who had travelled to Hillsborough to support the team who Dalglish managed and had played for with such sublime talent since arriving from Celtic in 1977. Ninety-seven Liverpool fans eventually lost their lives after the unbearable crush during the club’s FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest.

Contributors from the worlds of music, politics, the arts and beyond on those who helped shape their beliefs and identities

Kristen Bell’s sex podcaster and Adam Brody’s hot rabbi return with more romcom angst, while the Smile singer’s new record is a sharp autopsy of marital betrayal. Here’s the pick of the week’s culture, taken from the Guardian’s best-rated reviews

From Cornwall to the Highlands, here’s our pick of new or recently refurbished inns with cosy rooms, enticing menus and country walks from the door

Doctors at the secret facility are able to perform amputations while others monitor zigzagging drones overhead

Scrubby trees hide the entrance. A sloping wooden tunnel descends to a brightly lit reception area. There is a surgery unit, equipped with beds, cardiac monitors and ventilators. And shelves full of medical equipment, drugs and neat piles of spare clothes. In a staff room with a washing machine and kettle, doctors keep an eye on a screen. It shows the movements of Russian spy drones as they zigzag in the sky above.

Welcome to Ukraine’s secret underground hospital. The facility opened in August and is the second of its kind, located in eastern Ukraine not far from the frontline and the city of Pokrovsk, in Donetsk oblast. “We are 6 metres below the earth. It’s the safest way of providing help to our injured soldiers. And it keeps medical personnel safe,” said the clinic’s surgeon, Maj Oleksandr Holovashchenko.

Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu was meant to be sent to an immigration detention centre for deportation after assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman

A former asylum seeker who was released from prison in error after sexually assaulting a woman and a 14-year-old girl has been spotted boarding a London-bound train, Essex police said.

The deputy prime minister, David Lammy, said on Friday night Kebatu was now “at large in London” and the Metropolitan police was assisting in the search.

Crushing defeat in Welsh byelection triggers renewed outpouring of anger and concern within Labour

A wipeout for Labour in next May’s local elections would spell the end of Keir Starmer’s premiership, MPs have said, after the party suffered a crushing defeat in its traditional heartland in Wales.

Though Plaid Cymru beat Reform UK to capture the Senedd seat in Caerphilly, the result highlighted a striking collapse of Labour’s vote, prompting fears in Westminster that Labour could be reduced to third place in Wales, a loss that would leave the leader’s position unrecoverable.

Event seated guests near Parthenon marbles, which Greece wants returned, and raised £2.5m for museum

The British Museum has been accused of “provocative indifference” and “covering Greek culture in the shade of Barbie” by officials in Greece after it hosted a star-studded fundraising gala that included guests seated near the Parthenon marbles.

Days after Mick Jagger, Naomi Campbell, Alexa Chung, Miuccia Prada, Manolo Blahnik, Kristin Scott Thomas and dozens of other celebrities and billionaires paid £2,000 each to attend the museum’s inaugural pink ball, Greek officials were still incandescent over an event described as offensive by the country’s cultural minister.

Use of USS Gerald Ford along with fighter jets comes as president plots strikes against alleged cartels on land

The Pentagon said on Friday that it was deploying the United States’s most advanced aircraft carrier to the Caribbean, a major escalation in the Trump administration’s war against drug cartels that provides the resources to start conducting strikes against targets on the ground.

The move will bring the USS Gerald Ford, with dozens of stealth fighter jets and surveillance aircraft, in addition to other warships that accompany the carrier, to the coast of Venezuela as it nears the end of its current deployment in the Mediterranean.

Exclusive: Regulator has received 1,221 complaints about UK broadcasters since 2020 but found no breaches of its code

The UK’s TV and radio regulator is allowing GB News and others to “flout” accuracy rules and broadcast climate change denial, say campaigners. Instances cited include describing global heating as “the climate scam” and suggesting the government was going to introduce “enforced veganism”.

Ofcom has received 1,221 complaints related to the climate crisis since January 2020, when its searchable database began. None resulted in a ruling that the broadcasting code had been breached. In fact, only two such breaches have been found since 2007.

Buckingham Palace trying to increase pressure on prince to give up home for which he pays ‘peppercorn’ rent

Prince Andrew is reportedly in advanced talks with King Charles’s senior aides about moving out of his Royal Lodge home after a week in which his “peppercorn” rent tenancy has come under scrutiny.

Pressure has mounted on the royal family for Andrew to vacate the 30-room mansion in Windsor Great Park amid the continuing controversy over his links to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and the posthumous publication of the memoirs of the prince’s sexual assault accuser Virginia Giuffre.

Exclusive: Approach complies with law but some workers question whether it contradicts standing as ‘ethical’ retailer

The Co-op has quietly told staff to boost promotion of vapes in an effort to win back customers and sales after a devastating cyber-attack.

The ethical retailer is making vapes more prominent in stores via new​ displays and additional advertising, according to an internal document seen by the Guardian. It is also stocking a bigger range of vapes and nicotine pouches.

Administration will manage basic services ‘in cooperation with Arab brothers and international institutions’, says joint statement

The main Palestinian factions have said they have agreed that an independent committee of technocrats would take over the running of Gaza after Hamas said it had received “clear guarantees” from mediators that “the war has effectively ended”.

A joint statement published on the Hamas website said the groups had agreed in a meeting in Cairo to hand “over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a temporary Palestinian committee composed of independent ‘technocrats’, which will manage the affairs of life and basic services in cooperation with Arab brothers and international institutions”.

BNPL offers are becoming more popular but when it comes to booking a holiday or a flight, consumers need to weigh up the risks

People are missing out on vital protections by using buy now, pay later instead of credit cards to pay for holidays, experts warn.

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) has grown hugely in recent years, and holiday firms and hotel chains have been adding it to the options for payment when booking online, saying it can make trips more attainable.

The Reform UK leader is courting the crypto community in the hope it could become a campaign funding base

It is a grey morning in Shadwell, east London. But inside the old shell of Tobacco Dock, the gloom gives way to pulsating neon lights, flashy cars and cryptocurrency chatter.

Evangelists for Web3, a vision for the next era of the internet, have descended on the old trading dock to network for two days. For many, the main event is one man: Nigel Farage.

Stretching back to 2012, the government investigation into grooming gangs has a controversial history

In late 2012, Samantha Walker-Roberts took a Megabus from Manchester to London, bound for the Houses of Parliament. In an airless room in Westminster, she told Keith Vaz, then chair of the home affairs select committee, her story.

In October 2006, aged 12, she had gone to a police station in Oldham, Greater Manchester, to report that she had been sexually assaulted in a graveyard. Staff at the station were dismissive, she told Vaz, and encouraged her to accept a lift home from two men loitering near the doorway. She ended the night in a detached house in a quiet cul-de-sac, where multiple men took turns to rape and abuse her.

Daniel, a civil servant, meets Isla, a lawyer. Both are 29

What were you hoping for?
A new experience, and the chance to meet someone the Guardian thinks I’d get along with.

We arrive home from holiday to discover our pets scrapping constantly. Are they enjoying themselves? It’s hard to tell

We arrive home from our holiday to another household altogether: the oldest one, the middle one and the oldest one’s girlfriend have been in charge for more than a fortnight. The food in the fridge is strange, sourced from unfamiliar shops. The kitchen table looks like the centre of a boiler room stock fraud operation, with computer screens everywhere and power cords dividing the space at waist height. Below the sink, the dog and the cat are scrapping. After more than a year of avoiding each other, both animals have suddenly gone on the offensive.

“They fight?” I say.

William Willett dreamed up the idea of clocks going forward and back on an early morning ride in 1907

For many people, it will simply mean an extra hour in bed. For others, it’s a disruption to their circadian rhythm that can take weeks to fix.

On Sunday at 2am, clocks in the UK will go back by an hour, a practice that has been mandated by law for more than a century.

The Bafta-winning siblings bicker, fart and squeal the night away in some of the UK’s ‘haunted as hell’ hotspots. But forget the ghosts – this is really just a golden opportunity to weep with laughter

A full moon looms, a synthesiser gulps and – dun dun duuuuuuuun – we’re off to HMP Gloucester in a Skoda Octavia with Daisy May and Charlie Cooper’s NightWatch (Sunday 26 October, 9.30pm, BBC Two). Why HMP Gloucester? Because the former Victorian prison is, according to our hosts – the titular, Bafta-winning siblings behind peerless mockumentary This Country – “supposedly haunted as hell.” A fitting setting, then, for the first episode of a series that finds lifelong paranormal enthusiasts Daisy May (39) and Charlie (36) stuff their slippers into the aforementioned family hatchback and set off to spend a night bickering and farting “in some of this country’s spookiest places.”

An opening montage offers further elucidation. “Some people want to climb Everest,” explains Charlie while a theremin trembles over footage of the actors staggering like concussed Wombles through a succession of night-time locales. “We just want to see a ghost.” “Yeah,” agrees Daisy May, peering at us over her brother’s shoulder. “We just want to see a ghost.” As do we. Alas, years of low-resolution ITV2 series in which crestfallen celebrity ghost-hunters shout “I think it was just the wind” in abandoned branches of Wetherspoons have prepared us for disappointment. Will NightWatch break with tradition and offer viewers definitive proof of the supernatural? Seems unlikely! Anyway, we must park this question, for now, at the gates of HMP Gloucester, for here is former prison manager Clive, whose sudden appearance in a deserted corridor is met with bellows of terror. “Clive?! OH GOD,” roars Daisy May from the depths of her camouflage-print ankle-length puffer coat. “We thought you were AN APPARITION.”

I was a mess of insecurities, trying to hide thinning hair, worried I was ageing too quickly. Then a scene in the TV show Kidding changed everything

Growing up, I was obsessed with Jim Carrey. I was just entering my teens when The Mask came out, and I can still picture myself watching Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls on TV one weekend afternoon, absolutely howling at the silliness of it. His elastic facial expressions, the energy, the stunts – it was the perfect tenor of humour for a young boy.

By the time I was in college, I had moved on to his more thoughtful films. The Truman Show was a favourite: still funny, but with a philosophical edge that spoke to me at the time. I loved seeing Carrey stretch into more serious roles, and as the internet made it easier to watch interviews, I came to admire him as a person, too.

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

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Jeremy Allen White channels the Boss in a hotly tipped new biopic, and Pennywise the clown returns to terrorise unsuspecting children in a spooky horror prequel series

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
Out now
The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White plays the Boss in this buzzed-about Bruce Springsteen biopic focusing on the period when he was making his 1982 album Nebraska (so, post-Born to Run but pre-Born in the USA), with Jeremy Strong playing critic turned producer Jon Landau.

⚽ News, previews and discussion before the day’s action
⚽ Ten things to look out for | And email matchday live

Watching the highlights of Leeds v West Ham (I was conducting a dinner party so missed the full shebang, sorry), I was struck by the ability of Noah Okafor on the wing. He seemed to be involved in everything good Daniel Farke’s side did and looks a cracking signing

Farke himself lauded a “win of passion and desire, togetherness and spirit”, while accepting Leeds could have been more dominant on the night.

The 1985 victorious captain at home who helped win away in 1986-87 looks forward to this winter – and picks his No 3

“I nearly got away with that didn’t I?” David Gower says with a knowing grin after I ask him for a second time whom he would choose to bat at No 3 for England in the first Ashes Test at Perth. “That’s a shame, I’ll have to give you an answer now and I’ll feel bad for the lad I don’t pick.” Forget Kramer vs Kramer or Celia Imrie trying to winkle out Alan Carr in the Traitors castle, Pope v Bethell is the only duel on the mind of English cricket right now.

As a former England captain and an Ashes winner home and away, not to mention one of England’s most stylish and successful No 3s – 2,619 of his 8,231 Test runs were scored there, as were eight of his 18 centuries – Gower is perhaps uniquely placed to comment on England’s selection quandary at first drop.

A carnival atmosphere greeted the season opener with Harlequins beating Loughborough Lightning 52-42 in a thriller

Cowboy hats, international stars and a carnival atmosphere. The Rugby World Cup may be over but the women’s rugby party rages on in England with the Premiership Women’s Rugby season beginning under Friday Night Lights at the Stoop, just across the road from where the sport’s game-changing moment happened just shy of a month ago.

If you listen closely enough, the cheers from England’s World Cup victory over Canada in September still reverberate around Twickenham. For many in the game the voices of the 81,885 fans at the home of English rugby will forever be the soundtrack to women’s rugby’s record-breaking moment. The tournament was a huge success and with England lifting the trophy, the hope is that interest will translate to the domestic season.

In none of La Liga’s 192 derbi meetings have any British players faced each other – on Sunday at last they will

The first time Barcelona came to the capital to play Madrid, in the semi-final of the Copa de la Coronación which marked the 16th birthday and ascension to the throne of Alfonso XIII in 1902, there were three Englishmen in the team. Arthur Witty, John Parsons and Henry Morris didn’t score that May afternoon at the Hippodrome, where the teams had tetanus jabs before playing and, according to one Catalan news sheet, they had been distressed at an ungentlemanly and unexpectedly partisan crowd applauding whenever they fell over and going silent when they scored, but they did win 3-1.

Barcelona, after all, had what one paper called “a significant advantage when it came to physical condition and experience”. Born in Catalonia, Witty and Parsons had been founder members of the club three years earlier; Morris, actually Enrique, was born in Manilla to an English father and Spanish mother, had played for a couple of clubs in the city where he had arrived with his family aged 10 and was essentially a ringer. And they had two Swiss players and a German as well. Founded by two Catalan brothers two months earlier, Madrid were not yet Real and hadn’t been playing long. Most of them hadn’t, at least.

• Updates from the cricket match at the SCG

• Australia all out for 236 as India seek to avoid whitewash

• Any thoughts? Get in touch with Jim on email

6th over: Australia 31-0 (Marsh 7, Head 17) Travis Head looks in dangerous form, Rana is full and driven with supreme disdain through point for four. Rana goes around the wicket and spears one into the pads but it was comfortably sliding down.

5th over: Australia 26-0 (Marsh 6, Head 13) Cat and mouse between Head and Siraj. The batter punches outside off and gets four by threading the gap and the bowler responds by beating him outside off stump. Three dots follow but Head wins the over with a punch for four that whistles to the boundary.

• Updates from the Wallabies match at Japan National Stadium

• Any thoughts? Get in touch with an email

Japan National Stadium, home of the 2020 Olympics, has absorbed plenty of moisture over the past 24 hours, and today’s match is likely to be played in persistent light rain. There is little wind to report.

As has been the case for what seems like two decades, it’s near impossible to appraise where the Wallabies are at.

The leaders host Celtic on Sunday five points clear, boosted by Brighton owner’s access to ‘the best dataset in the world’

When Hearts went top of the table during a captivating but ultimately ill-fated campaign of 1985-86, the Scottish football writer John Fairgrieve insisted far too much was being made of his team’s prominence. “This is the club that represents the capital city,” he wrote. “Not merely Stenhousemuir, Montrose, Hibernian or Arbroath.”

The dig at Hibs still makes those who frequent Tynecastle Park smile, but there was a broader truism. Edinburgh, for reasons enhanced by four decades of Old Firm championship dominance, is viewed in provincial football terms.

Perhaps taking an extended holiday after being sacked by Nottingham Forest would have been a more sensible next step for Nuno Espírito Santo. Rather than being on a peaceful cruise, he is captaining a sinking ship with his West Ham defenders playing their role by being all at sea in defeat by Leeds.

Brenden Aaronson and Joe Rodon were allowed space in the box to put Leeds two up within a quarter of an hour. Leeds faded in the second half, offering West Ham a chance to fight back but the visitors lacked quality in the final third and could muster only a late consolation goal through Manuel Fernandes. The defeat leaves West Ham second bottom of the Premier League nine games into their worst start to a season in 52 years, and their only win came against their current head coach.

Welsh voters have rejected Labour and Starmerite managerialism. By offering hope and not division we showed the populist right can be beaten

• Rhun ap Iorwerth is the leader of Plaid Cymru

Plaid Cymru’s decisive victory in the Caerphilly byelection proves that Labour’s century of dominance in Wales is over. Voters now face a clear choice between two very different futures, and Caerphilly shows that it is Plaid Cymru’s bold, inclusive vision that carries momentum.

Caerphilly was one of the safest Labour seats in Wales. Many London commentators expected the seat to fall to Reform – perhaps even hoped it would. It would have fit the narrative that post-industrial communities naturally drift to the populist right. We proved them wrong. A message built on fairness, community and national purpose resonated with voters, and a comfortable majority voted for it.

Rhun ap Iorwerth is the leader of Plaid Cymru and the member of the Senedd for Ynys Môn. Prior to being elected in 2013 he was the chief political correspondent with BBC Wales

From the raid on the Louvre to the spectacle of Sarkozy in jail, it is tempting to think France is on a downward spiral. But history tells the tale of its resilience

In the classic dinner-party scene in the film Notting Hill, Tim McInnerney’s character promises a brownie to “the saddest act here”. In response, the guests (including the glamorous movie star played by Julia Roberts) try to outdo each other with tales of their painful suffering and pathetic failures.

In our gloomy autumn of 2025, western democracies could play quite a convincing version of this game. There is the depressed United Kingdom, where Keir Starmer’s approval ratings have fallen to record lows and Reform leads in the polls. There is the deeply broken United States, where a supine opposition seems incapable of preventing Donald Trump from chopping away one guardrail after another of our constitutional order. There is Spain, where this summer a Socialist party scandal threatened to topple the fragile minority government of prime minister Pedro Sánchez.

The reaction to the Bloody Sunday trial makes it clear: those of us outside Northern Ireland just don’t understand the painful legacy of this brutal conflict

Forgive me if I’ve mentioned him before, but at moments like this I remember a news editor I worked for as a young reporter at the BBC. When it came to the interests of our audience, he said, there was a key fact to bear in mind: “The two most boring words in the English language are ‘Northern Ireland’.”

It was an attitude with a long history. In 1924, Viscount Cranbourne, the fifth Marquess of Salisbury, mused that the average English voter has “little interest in, and less understanding of, Irish affairs”. This week brought some evidence that, 101 years later, much of his observation still holds true. But a challenge to it has come from an unlikely quarter, via what might be one of the most compelling TV dramas of recent years.

Predictions of a Reform win were wide of the mark. But Labour’s crushing byelection defeat offers important lessons too

Several historic things have just happened at once in Wales. Plaid Cymru won in the Caerphilly byelection for our Senedd, with almost 50% of the vote. Reform lost. Labour collapsed. Each of those things means something significant for Wales, but it also carries valuable lessons for the rest of Britain. The message for Labour ought to be clear: standing up to the hard right can win elections.

Labour has been the largest party in Wales for over 100 years, leading the Welsh government since the start of devolution in 1999. It won the Caerphilly seat in 2021 with 46% of the vote. Four years later, it has ended up with just 11%. The drop is startling, but to make matters worse, under the new Senedd election system that will be introduced in May 2026, 11% is roughly the level where parties can be totally wiped out.

Will Hayward is a Guardian columnist. He publishes a regular newsletter on Welsh politics and is the author of Independent Nation: Should Wales Leave the UK?

As long as a third of children are living below the poverty line, the government cannot justify keeping the pensions triple lock

It’s that crucial week when millions discovered how much their benefits and pensions would rise by next April. Generally, the increase is pegged to inflation, which this month is 3.8%. Recipients will be lucky if inflation falls by April, unlucky if it rises. Because this is a Labour government, this year’s universal credit gets an extra 2.3%, the first time ever the rate will rise regardless of inflation. The day passed without much comment, yet this is a time to stop and contemplate what we, the taxpayer, the state, consider adequate to exist. How much does someone really need? What is penury? And who should we prioritise?

No government in history has ever been unwise enough to spell out exactly what standard of living, what food, heat and clothes a benefit sum should cover, for the obvious reason that it has never been enough. I used to hear Tory ministers say, “We don’t tell people how to spend their money. It’s their choice.” Labour ministers over the years tend to mumble.

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist

The singer learned early how to navigate pop feminism and the public’s insatiable appetites. Her new album bumps up against the limits of both

Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned. Though it probably wouldn’t have occurred to the 17th-century playwright who wrote those words, scorned women write absolute bangers, too.

We have been reminded as much this week by Lily Allen’s new album, West End Girl, an explicit dissection of the singer’s recent divorce from the actor David Harbour, amid already swirling rumours of his infidelity. Allen here is high priestess of W1, sucking on a Lost Mary vape as she weaves us a tragedy of loss, betrayal and butt plugs.

A Star Wars film resurrecting young Kylo Ren was never a good idea, even if Steven Soderbergh was attached to direct

Disney gets a lot of stick when it comes to Star Wars. Ever since the Mouse House bought Lucasfilm for $4bn in 2012, there have been those who blame the studio for turning George Lucas’s mythic space opera into an endlessly respawning content farm.

But let’s give them credit where credit’s due: according to a new Associated Press interview with Adam Driver, Disney did at least have the presence of mind to politely decline a film whose entire premise would have been enough to make Darth Vader himself force-choke the pitch meeting from beyond the grave. Yes, it is (or would have been) Ben Solo: The Movie, directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Driver as the resurrected Sith-Jedi protagonist of that oh-so-wonderful entry, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

Plaid Cymru’s win in Caerphilly marks more than a local upset. It exposes the exhaustion of Labour’s moral imagination – and a deeper British crisis of purpose

The Caerphilly byelection only looks local if you ignore what it represents: the quiet unravelling of the democratic world’s most successful election-winning machine. For more than a century, Labour has been the dominant party in Wales. Its grip had survived deindustrialisation, Thatcherism and even the slow death of its working-class institutions. Now that seems to be ending – not through scandal or drama, but through a lack of moral imagination.

What happened in this small valleys seat, where Labour lost a heartland base to Plaid Cymru while Reform UK menaced from the right, is the result of a Downing Street mentality that mistakes competence for conviction and caution for strategy. Welsh Labour has not helped itself – vicious infighting had left it fractured and demoralised. As Labour controls both the Welsh and UK parliaments, there’s nowhere to hide. The trouble is that Sir Keir Starmer promised change and delivered continuity. Caerphilly looks like a reckoning.

A new wave of socially engaged movies is storming the box office and changing how we think about the genre

It should surprise no one to learn that 2025 is being hailed as a golden year for horror films. All horror movies are a reflection of their time, and ours are pretty scary.

Tech dystopianism means that Frankenstein’s monster has become a byword for AI, while Bram Stoker’s Dracula has always drawn on a dark strain of English xenophobia. So it is no coincidence that these 19th-century gothic villains, stars of the earliest horror films in the 1920s and 30s, are back in cinemas with new adaptations from directors Guillermo del Toro and Luc Besson. Maggie Gyllenhaal is bringing out another Frankenstein, The Bride!, next year.

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.

Readers respond to an article by Charlotte Higgins in which she reflects on Sally Carson’s Crooked Cross and its lessons about fascism

Katharine Burdekin’s Swastika Night was first published in 1937 and, like Sally Carson’s Crooked Cross, discussed in Charlotte Higgins’s article, was ahead of the curve in predicting the effects of 20th-century European fascism (A prophetic 1933 novel has found a surprising second life – it holds lessons for us all, 18 October). The difference is that Burdekin (originally published under the pseudonym Murray Constantine) imagined a future world in which the Nazis have been in power for 700 years.

What is most striking about Burdekin’s novel is the way in which she locates the psychopathology of fascism in a form of toxic masculinity becoming increasingly familiar to contemporary readers. She anticipates, equally, the retreat of women to traditional gender roles in a vain attempt to assuage masculine pride. But where Burdekin offers hope is in her analysis of fascism as, ultimately, self-defeating.

Readers Prof Ralph Darlington and Keith Flett respond to the suggestion that the political theorist took liberties with his research

The research on which you report (Friedrich Engels ‘took creative liberties’ with descriptions of class divides in Manchester, 21 October) reads like a deliberate attempt to diminish the nature and extent of class differences that Engels observed and wrote about.

There clearly were areas of the inner city marked by extreme residential segregation, such as Little Ireland, where Engels’ companion Mary Burns lived and showed him around and informed his book. You report that the study says that “in Manchester’s ‘slums’, more than 10% of the population was from the better-off … classes”. In Moss Side and Hume in the 1970s and 80s there were some professional people living there whom I knew, but the overwhelming majority of inhabitants were working class, and many of them impoverished and discriminated against. To suggest class was not that important is surely to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Prof Ralph Darlington
Manchester

Diofel Tampoy reflects on an article about the first marine species to be eradicated by humans, the subject of a novel by Iida Turpeinen

Donna Ferguson’s piece on the demise of the sea cow (Beasts of the Sea: the tragic story of how the ‘gentle, lovable’ sea cow became the perfect victim, 21 October) was a moving read for us as young researchers and conservationists from the Philippines working to save one of its closest relatives, the dugong.

Dugongs play a critical role in maintaining healthy seagrass meadows in the Indo-Pacific region. These meadows, in turn, support marine biodiversity and serve as nurseries for many fish and invertebrates, sequester huge amounts of carbon that help mitigate climate change, and fortify coastal resilience against storms and sea-level rises.

The actor John Woodvine helped us when we were students, writes Barry Kimber

The passing of John Woodvine (Obituary, 13 October) reminded me of the time when four of us University of East Anglia students went to the Norwich Theatre Royal to see the Actors’ Company touring King Lear in June 1974.

We were early and went for a something to eat at a newly opened “burger” style restaurant with booths and partitions so you couldn’t see who was at adjacent tables – a novelty at the time. The service was very slow and we were concerned that we would be late for the theatre.

Despite president’s promise to preserve it, the eastern section of the building is now completely destroyed

The East Wing of the White House has now been completely destroyed to pave way for Donald Trump’s $300m planned gilded ballroom, just days after the administration announced it would happen and contradicting Trump’s earlier promise that the existing building would not be touched.

Satellite images on Friday showed the historic building’s eastern section reduced to rubble, to the outrage of historians, former White House officials and much of the public.

Rapper shot dead by police becomes symbol of resistance in Peru, amid wave of gen Z rallies sweeping the world

A youth group in Peru calling itself the Generation Z Collective says it will march again on Saturday in defiance of a state of emergency declared by the government this week in the capital, Lima, and neighbouring port of Callao.

Group leaders said they would be honouring Eduardo Ruiz, a rapper known as Truko, who was shot dead by a plainclothed police officer last week during a huge anti-government march in Lima.

Successive governments criticised for doing ‘virtually nothing’ to reduce risk in decade since cancer link found

Bacon and ham sold in the UK should carry cigarette-style labels warning that chemicals in them cause bowel cancer, scientists say.

Their demand comes as they criticise successive British governments for doing “virtually nothing” to reduce the risk from nitrites in the decade since they were found to definitely cause cancer.

Ukrainian leader joined ‘coalition of the willing’ in London to discuss how to ramp up pressure on Russia

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine wants the US to stay involved in efforts to end the war after a meeting of western allies in London that took place without Donald Trump.

The Ukrainian leader chose not to overtly lobby for the supply of US Tomahawk cruise missiles at a meeting of more than 20 mainly European leaders from the “coalition of the willing” but instead emphasised the need for the west to work together.

Incumbent leader, 83, is accused of cracking down on political dissent and overseeing unequal economic growth

Alassane Ouattara is seeking a fourth presidential term as Ivory Coast goes to the polls on Saturday, after a campaign in which he touted economic growth while facing accusations that he has overseen a growing intolerance towards dissent.

An estimated 8.7 million people are eligible to vote. Four candidates are challenging the incumbent, including the former first lady Simone Ehivet Gbagbo and a trio of former ministers: Henriette Lagou Adjoua, Ahoua Don Mello and Jean-Louis Billon.

Authorities report progress in controlling pests – the yellow ant invaders – that are threatening the charismatic crustaceans

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Christmas Island’s red crabs begin their famed annual migration as authorities report progress to control pests threatening the charismatic crustaceans.

More than 100 million red crabs making their annual trek from Christmas Island’s rainforest to the coast are creating a migration spectacle that occupies countless bucket lists.

Silicone wristbands worn by volunteers in the Netherlands captured 173 substances in one week

For decades, Khoji Wesselius has noticed the oily scent of pesticides during spraying periods when the wind has blown through his tiny farming village in a rural corner of the Netherlands.

Now, after volunteering in an experiment to count how many such substances people are subjected to, Wesselius and his wife are one step closer to understanding the consequences of living among chemical-sprayed fields of seed potato, sugar beet, wheat, rye and onion.

Zoe Rosenberg, a California student, is on trial over a tactic that animal rights activists consider a moral imperative. Critics say it’s a threat to the food supply

On a Monday afternoon in late September, Zoe Rosenberg, a 23-year-old University of California, Berkeley, student, emerged from a courtroom in Santa Rosa, California. Flanked by her lawyers, she moved briskly through the courthouse corridors, past more than 100 prospective jurors.

Pinned to her black blazer was a tiny metallic chicken, glinting on the lapel.

Bharatiya Janata party launches first test flight as brown haze blankets city after Diwali – but experts decry ‘gimmick’

The Delhi regional government is trialling a cloud-seeding experiment to induce artificial rain, in an effort to clean the air in the world’s most polluted city.

The Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) has been proposing the use of cloud seeding as a way to bring Delhi’s air pollution under control since it was elected to lead the regional government this year.

Statement from security adviser, sent to then prime minister, did not describe China as enemy

Rishi Sunak was the only politician to be sent a witness statement by the deputy national security adviser at the centre of a controversy about the collapse of a case against two British men accused of spying for China.

According to letters sent to the joint committee on the national security strategy, the statement from Matthew Collins in December 2023, which was sent to the then prime minister and his advisers, did not describe China as an enemy, another key element of the case.

Judge says men imprisoned over fire at site storing Ukraine aid planned terrorist campaign in interests of Russia

Six Britons acting for Russia’s Wagner group have been jailed for setting fire to a London warehouse storing humanitarian aid for Ukraine.

Sentencing the men, a judge at the Old Bailey said they had planned a “campaign of terrorism and sabotage” in the interests of the Russian state.

Reform UK leader suggests he would replace Bank of England governor if he became prime minister

Nigel Farage has suggested he would replace the governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, if he were to become prime minister.

“He’s had a good run, we might find someone new,” Farage said in an interview with Bloomberg’s The Mishal Husain show.

Yostin Andres Mosquera sentenced to life with minimum of 40 years for killing civil partners in west London flat

A man who murdered two men and dumped their dismembered remains in suitcases near Clifton Suspension Bridge has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 40 years, for his “thoroughly wicked crimes”.

Yostin Andres Mosquera, 35, killed civil partners Albert Alfonso, 62, and Paul Longworth, 71, in their flat in Shepherd’s Bush, west London, in July last year.

Analysis of DNA from teeth of troops buried in mass grave suggests soldiers had paratyphoid fever and relapsing fever

When Napoleon ordered his army to retreat from Russia in October 1812, disaster ensued. Starving, cold, exhausted and struggling with sickness, an estimated 300,000 soldiers died.

Researchers now say they have identified two unexpected diseases among soldiers who died in the retreat – paratyphoid fever and relapsing fever – which provide fresh insights into their plight.

Vilnius and Kaunas airports closed down after balloons drift into country’s airspace for third time this month

Lithuania closed its two biggest airports on Friday and shut crossings on its border with Belarus after helium weather balloons drifted into its territory, the third such occurrence in the Baltic state this month.

European aviation has repeatedly been thrown into chaos in recent weeks by drone sightings and other air incursions, including at airports in Copenhagen, Munich and the Baltic region.

Prime minister Charnvirakul cancels trip to Asean summit in Malaysia after news of the Queen Mother’s death

Thailand’s Queen Mother Sirikit, who brought glamour to a postwar revival in the country’s monarchy and who, in later years, would occasionally wade into politics, has died aged 93, the Thai Royal Household bureau has announced.

The palace said she had been hospitalised since 2019 due to several illnesses and developed a bloodstream infection on 17bOctober before passing away late on Friday.

Allegation raises further questions about death of Byron Black in execution lawyer says was ‘100% botched’

A man executed on Tennessee death row showed signs of “sustained cardiac activity” for nearly two minutes after he was pronounced dead, his attorney said in court on Friday.

The allegation raises further questions about how the death of Byron Black unfolded and will increase scrutiny on capital punishment in Tennessee.

Some drivers say vehicles using new version of full self-driving system can travel above speed limits

The US main transportation safety regulator said on Friday it was seeking information from Tesla about a new driver assistance mode dubbed “Mad Max” that operates at higher speeds than other versions.

Some drivers on social media report that Tesla vehicles using the more aggressive version of its full self-driving (FSD) system could operate above posted speed limits.

Unlicensed and potentially deadly products seized in Northampton in crackdown on illegal trade

A factory in Northampton manufacturing counterfeit weight-loss jabs has been raided and dismantled by a government agency.

Tens of thousands of empty weight-loss pens ready to be filled, raw chemical ingredients, and more than 2,000 unlicensed retatrutide and tirzepatide pens were seized in the raid, conducted by officers from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), supported by Northamptonshire police.

Scientists warn of ‘insidious risks’ of increasingly popular technology that affirms even harmful behaviour

Turning to AI chatbots for personal advice poses “insidious risks”, according to a study showing the technology consistently affirms a user’s actions and opinions even when harmful.

Scientists said the findings raised urgent concerns over the power of chatbots to distort people’s self-perceptions and make them less willing to patch things up after a row.

Former Paralympics champion says inaccessible charging points show government ‘has forgotten about us’

Campaigners including Tanni Grey-Thompson have warned that disabled drivers are at risk of being locked out of the electric car transition because of inaccessible chargers.

The former Paralympics champion and the Electric Vehicle Association England are pushing for the government to introduce standards to ensure chargers are easy to reach.

The singer has brought her seven-year music hiatus to an end with a new album, West End Girl

• Album review: West End Girl is a gobsmacking autopsy of marital betrayal
• Comment: Lily Allen’s West End Girl is funny, sexy, jawdropping – and forged in the fires of tabloid Britain

When Lily Allen released her fifth album on Friday morning, there were as many headlines breaking down the contents of the record as there were actual reviews of the music.

West End Girl, surprise-announced on Monday, appears to concern the 40-year-old British pop star’s divorce from the US actor David Harbour, who stars in the Netflix sci-fi series Stranger Things.

After announcing her Strictly exit, the presenter is said to be in advanced talks about her own chatshow

The glossy raven-black fringe, heavily kohl-lined eyes and orange tan combine to make Claudia Winkleman’s one of the most distinctive faces on British television.

Add to that her undoubted acumen when it comes to making bold moves and it can be no surprise that Winkleman is said to be in advanced talks for the next step in a broadcasting career that has been as dazzling as the Strictly glitter ball.

It’s going to be a spectacular show with nods to Céline Dion, the Spice Girls and Cher! Plus, Michael McIntyre is back with his spinning wheel. Here’s what to watch this evening

6.20pm, BBC One

Playing Fox Mulder made him a global phenomenon … then he walked away to save himself. As he stars in killer-nanny thriller Malice, David Duchovny talks art, his beef with Gillian Anderson – and going up against Jack Whitehall

Halfway through our hour-long conversation, David Duchovny slumps in his seat a little then gently chastises me. “I got tired while you were talking,” he groans. In fairness, I had been talking a lot, but only because I was trying to list everything he’s managed to do in the past year.

There’s his podcast, Fail Better, in which he’s wrung incredibly candid interviews from notoriously reticent stars like Alec Baldwin and Robert Downey Jr, more on which later. There’s his book of poetry, About Time, which came out last month. There’s his History Channel show Secrets Declassified With David Duchovny. As we speak, he’s just finished an eight-date tour, where he performed songs from the three folk-rock albums he’s released over the last decade. We are ostensibly here to discuss Malice, his new Prime Video series. Had we spoken a couple of weeks later, God knows how many new projects he would have flung himself into. In other words, no wonder he’s tired.

Tilda Swinton and Colin Farrell star in a sweaty, vibrant gambling thriller, while Tessa Thompson will slake your thirst for sexy period drama. Plus: Steve Buscemi as a serial killer and all the best scarefests for Halloween

After Conclave proved to be a ludicrous (and extraordinarily well-timed) piece of Oscar bait, all eyes were on director Edward Berger to see what he’d do next. And what he did was Ballad of a Small Player, which feels like the exact opposite of Conclave. A sweaty, vibrant, Macau-set fever dream of a thriller, it sees Colin Farrell hamming it up beyond all comprehension as an aristocratic English gambler scrambling to pay off his debts while trying to shake off Tilda Swinton, playing a woman who knows his true identity. While the results aren’t quite as satisfying as Conclave, it’s nevertheless very exciting to see a director as elegant as Berger turn his hand to something so trashy. Stuart Heritage
Wednesday 29 October, Netflix

Lauren Lyle is absolutely magnificent as an anaesthetist who flies to New Zealand for the wedding of her younger sister – only to find her dead. It’s an achingly real watch that’s bitterly funny at times

It seems at first to be your standard six-part mystery-thriller. The Ridge opens with the protagonist, Mia (Lauren Lyle, last seen in The Bombing of Pan Am 103 and as the eponymous Karen Pirie, and so good in everything) having nightmares about her traumatic childhood. She wakes to a morning routine of yoga and deep breathing – though that doesn’t seem to help as much as the opioid patch she whacks on her thigh – before heading to the local hospital, where she works as an anaesthetist and where a patient comes round during an operation, then dies on the table.

But that is only the first layer of what becomes a veritable millefeuille of a drama. For Mia then heads off to Te Koi Ridge in New Zealand to attend the wedding of her semi-estranged, ecowarrior younger sister, Cassy (Connor Amor-Bendall). As the plane takes off, Mia receives a call from Cassy begging for help. By the time the plane touches down, Cassy is missing and the townsfolk, including her fiance, Ewan Carmichael (Jay Ryan), and his best friend, Teddy (Kauri Williams), are out looking for her. Teddy finds her body at the bottom of a cliff. Did the experienced climber fall, as everyone seems willing to assume, or was she – as Mia is far more ready to believe – pushed?

Returning with his first album in four years, the arena-filling UK rapper is still such a smart, sharp lyricist as he explores a series of existential crises

As Dave notes, a few minutes into his third album, he’s been conspicuous by his absence for “a couple summers”. Four years separate The Boy Who Played the Harp from his last solo album, the platinum-selling We’re All Alone in This Together. Perhaps more strikingly, it’s been two years since he released Split Decision, the collaborative EP with Central Cee that spawned Sprinter: not just the longest-running UK rap No 1 in history, but the track that finally did the thing that it seemed increasingly unlikely a UK rap track would ever do and became a hit in the US, selling a million copies and even winding up on Barack Obama’s annual playlist. But rather than attempt to capitalise on its US success, as Central Cee did – jumping on tracks by big names ranging from J Cole to Ice Spice to Jung Kook from BTS; releasing a debut album that was announced on a live NFL broadcast, featured a plethora of American guest stars and ultimately wound up in the US Top 10 – Dave essentially withdrew from music.

It was, by any metric, a counterintuitive move, and anyone wondering why, or what he’s been doing, will find some answers in The Boy Who Played the Harp. It opens with portentous-sounding organ and a couple of verses that do exactly what you might expect an artist in his position to do: reassert his vast success and wealth – he’s “already a legend”, his home apparently comes with a “garden the size of Adam and Eve’s” and “a forest” – but that turns out to be a feint, both musically and lyrically.

(BMG)
Allen’s first album in seven years traces the fallout from an open relationship, but as well as being cathartic and candid, these stylistically varied songs have melodies that sparkle

• ‘I don’t make it easy for myself’: divorce and desire power Lily Allen’s autofictional comeback
• Comment: Lily Allen’s West End Girl is funny, sexy, jawdropping – and forged in the fires of tabloid Britain

It is seven years since Lily Allen last released an album. No Shame was Mercury-nominated and far better reviewed than 2014’s Sheezus – not least by Allen herself – but it was also her lowest-selling album to date. You could have taken that as evidence pop had moved on. In Britain, 2018 was a year that the well-mannered boy/girl-next-door pop of George Ezra, Jess Glynne and Ed Sheeran held sway; Allen seemed symbolic of a messier, mouthier era. Afterwards, Allen stepped away from music, concentrating instead on what you’d have to call a diverse portfolio of interests, including acting, podcasting, launching her own sex toy and selling photographs of her feet to fetishists on OnlyFans.

But pop has a habit of developing in a cyclical way. When Olivia Rodrigo brought Allen on stage at Glastonbury in 2022, it highlighted how deep her impact on the younger artist’s songwriting ran: you could trace a direct line between Allen’s splenetic, sweary Smile and Rodrigo’s similarly forthright brand of breakup anthems. And Rodrigo is merely one among a succession of younger female artists claiming Allen’s influence: Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter, Charli xcx, PinkPantheress. If Lola Young had a fiver for every time she was compared to Allen, she would never need to work again.

(Local Action)
Fiction, folk and a devastating diagnosis feature in the producer and DJ’s literary penmanship, her gentle, gothic vocals thick with morbid, magical thinking

Miss America, the centrepiece of Jennifer Walton’s stylish, painful debut record, sits us down in a hotel room near JFK airport, watching on as Walton learns that her father has been diagnosed with cancer. The Sunderland-born musician had been touring the US for the first time, drumming with indie band Kero Kero Bonito, and now grief greys everything out. Faltering piano and hushed strings accompany gothic dispatches from the tour van: “Cattle farm and broke down shack / Strip-mall, drug deal, panic attacks.”

Walton’s gentle vocals are deadpan, with the record’s tension brought by her penmanship (encompassing fiction, folksy sayings and blunt diary entries) and her sharp, surprising maximalism. Few songs this year have stronger novelistic flair than Shelly, which witnesses the killing of a deer and spirals into a petrol-laden reckoning – like Olga Tokarczuk’s Drive Your Plow lit with flickers of warped cello. Tense, quiet verses with echoing, plucked guitar segue into grand choruses, Walton’s voice digitally manipulated into something omniscient and sinister.

A rowdy debut departs from Singh’s American bolero work to revel in the chaos of atonal scrapes, cymbal splashes, wonky horns and raucous vocals

From Richmond, Virginia
Recommended if you like Cécile McLorin Salvant, Tomeka Reid, Ornette Coleman
Up next Debut album, Mean Reds, released 24 October

As the co-founder of American bolero group Miramar, vocalist Laura Ann Singh has spent the past five years minting a warm, nostalgic analogue sound, rich with Spanish-language harmonies. Her upcoming spiky solo debut, Mean Reds, disrupts that entirely. Supplanting the swaying Latin rhythms of bolero for a free jazz quartet, these eight tracks revel in atonal scrapes, cymbal splashes, keening horns and Singh’s lively vocals. Referencing avant garde pioneer Ornette Coleman’s free form improvisations as much as Joni Mitchell’s emotive lyricism, the result is a rowdy debut that launches Singh as one of the more distinctive new voices in jazz.

The actor on being called ugly, telling Johnny Rotten to F-off, and striking gold at Cannes

Kathy Burke’s mother, Bridget, died of stomach cancer when she was 18 months old; she writes that it made her “feel dead famous” in her community. She was raised by her older brothers, John and Barry, who were 10 and eight when it happened, and sometimes by their father, Pat, an alcoholic for many years, violent with it, who struggled to care for his family. Pat and Bridget had moved to London from Ireland, and the Burkes lived on an estate in Islington, where the other families played a vital role in raising and feeding the children. On his deathbed, in 1994, Pat asked Kathy to do two things: to give up smoking, and to write more. It has only taken her 30 years, she says, but she’s finally done the latter.

The entertainment industry is top-heavy with people from middle-and upper-class backgrounds who have a limited understanding of lives that don’t resemble their own. In my experience, one of the misconceptions they have about working-class life is that it is all grey skies and kitchen‑sink misery. Burke’s memoir has its painful moments, but the joy radiating from it is palpable and invigorating.

The Melbourne writer topped the New York Times bestseller list with her debut fantasy novel – but that doesn’t stop doubt creeping in

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Docklands critics have long called Melbourne’s port turned waterside suburb soulless. But for Tigest Girma it’s where her seductive ideas about vampires, university drama and Ethiopian mythology percolate.

When characters for Girma’s bestselling fantasy books aren’t “doing what I want them to do” she comes down to the water for a break and imagines the scene from their perspective. “The calming water can spark ideas for me sometimes when I’m really stuck,” she says as we begin our late-afternoon stroll.

The healing power of gardens; celebrating an abolitionist; hope in the toughest times; a gladiator romantasy and more

The Butterfly House by Harry Woodgate, Andersen, £12.99
Miss Brown’s wild garden scares most people, but when Holly discovers her reclusive neighbour’s sadness, she decides to help turn the wilderness into a butterfly haven. A beautiful, moving picture book about the healing power of gardens and community.

The History of We by Nikkolas Smith, Rock the Boat, £8.99
Via rich, dynamic paintings and thoughtful pared-back text, Smith answers the question “What does the beginning look like?” with this powerful picture book, the shared story of humanity’s first ancestors in “the fertile cradle of Africa”.

The Book of Dust trilogy is brought to a complex and fitting end as Lyra battles the Magisterium over her lost imagination

Things are falling apart in the final volume of The Book of Dust, the second of Philip Pullman’s magisterial trilogies set in a world that appears, here more than ever, as a charged and slanted version of our own. Institutions are failing, or reassembling themselves along new and disquieting lines. An unseen force “is destroying the air and the seasons”; at the same time, “money’s going bad, and no one knows why”. Power is flowing away from governments, and pooling in the offices of theocrats, the coffers of conglomerates, the hands of mobs. “Something is at work, very quietly, very subtly”, says merchant Mustafa Bey, keeping a watchful eye on the Silk Roads from his seat in an Aleppo cafe. “Things we thought were firm and solid are weakening and giving way.”

Just what that something might be, and how to counteract it, is the question that animates The Rose Field, which picks up where The Secret Commonwealth left off. This is, by all accounts, Pullman’s concluding foray into the intricately constructed, infinitely beguiling realm he first unveiled 30 years ago, with the publication of Northern Lights. It’s a realm whose geography maps on to that of this world, but whose history tacks and jibes with ours; where the humans look and think and act like us, but are accompanied by daemons, souls in animal form; where the skies are filled with witches and gryphons, but beneath those skies, buses are caught and tea is drunk, and middle-aged academics carry Harrods shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first met as a 12-year-old in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then saw again as a baby in La Belle Sauvage, the prequel with which Pullman began The Book of Dust, is now a young woman: still recognisably the spiky and tenacious heroine of the earlier books, but older, sadder, more cautious, less certain. This circumscription is amplified by her separation from her daemon, Pantalaimon – but it was also, ironically, the trigger which caused him to abandon her in the first place.

When our family board game night got cancelled, I sampled digital spins on the classics instead. I’m not sure I should have bothered – with one exception …

I don’t play video game versions of board games. Why would you? The whole point of video games is to be faster, more visually arresting, and less reliant on other humans than old games played with dice and cards. But a recent family board game night was derailed by clashing schedules and family civil war, so I spent a Saturday night trying them out on the iPhone instead.

I started with Uno because that is the old family staple. We still use the Simpsons Uno set we got decades ago. It is simple and comforting, the chicken soup of card games. The iOS version is a different consommé altogether. A three-minute time limit for each round means it is as much about avoiding mistakes as it is about tactics. I like this development, but I miss the family banter (and ruthless switching allegiances) of our real-life family version. It’s not the same spamming a silly face at MoshOnion933. Trust me. I tried.

A week with Baby Steps has made me feel like I’m losing my grip. Is this game stupid, or am I the stupid one for playing it?

Instead of doing anything normal with my life for the past week, I have been on a horrible hiking holiday with the worst man in the world. In Baby Steps, you play as a useless imbecile called Nate who has done basically nothing with his 35 years on this planet except sit in his parents’ basement and watch anime re-runs. One day he is transported, in his adult onesie, to the foot of a surreal mountain decorated with phallic imagery, and you must get him to the top by controlling his feet individually, lifting them carefully with the controller’s triggers and placing them with the analogue stick.

This is ludicrously difficult. Sometimes you’re marching up an easy slope, but you’re often edging over narrow planks, scrambling up dunes with tiny steps, or grasping rocky ledges with his toes. Over and over Nate trips and tumbles, whining piteously as he slides down a muddy slope or bank of sand, his onesie becoming increasingly soiled. Over and over, you get up and try again. Occasionally an Australian guy with crazy eyes or a pantsless donkey man with dangling genitals shows up to gently mock you and offer help that Nate, infuriatingly, refuses to accept.

In this week’s newsletter: It used to be OK for games like Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 to be just, well, OK – but today’s boom and bust economy has almost erased an important genre

It should perhaps come as no surprise that the highly anticipated horror adventure sequel Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 has fallen short of expectations. Released this week to mixed reviews, it had a tortured gestation, arriving after seven years in development via two different studios. A few reviewers are disappointed that the title dropped a lot of the complex role-playing elements of its acclaimed predecessor, while others are frustrated that you begin as a powerful elder vampire and never develop much, despite being able to earn a few extra abilities as you explore the snowy city of Seattle sucking blood and fighting monsters.

What I have experienced messing about in this admittedly flawed game, and watching my vampire-loving son play with huge enthusiasm, is that it’s enjoyably idiosyncratic and compelling. The slightly soft-focus, icy cold rendition of Seattle gives it a film noir feel, accentuated by streets lined with neon signs and lavish members’ clubs where besuited vampires play classical music on grand pianos. You can flirt with exotic bloodsuckers, you can psychically lob sledgehammers at bad guys; my son particularly enjoys making people explode by cursing their blood and then throwing stuff at them. It’s like starring in some forgotten 1990s vampire flick that has since developed an obsessive cult following.

The driving force behind Team Ninja was a game development samurai who almost always won his battles

Game designer and ex-Team Ninja boss Tomonobu Itagaki died last week aged 58. He was famous for his sunglasses, long black hair, leather jackets – and his penchant for using colourful second world war metaphors to describe game development, marketing strategies and just about anything else. A pugnacious talent, he rocked the boat and made waves in almost every aspect of his life.

Itagaki joined Japanese game developer Tecmo in 1992, as a young programmer, where he led the creation of the fighting game series Dead or Alive, the first instalment of which was released in 1996. He famously picked a long-running fight with Namco’s Tekken series, after that company’s marketing team ran an ad that he found disparaging. The resulting one-sided beef put his fighting franchise on the world stage in the early 2000s. After Dead or Alive 3, he turned his attentions to beach volleyball as a palette cleanser, before starting work on the game that would cement his legacy, a 2004 reinvention of Tecmo’s side-scrolling ninja platformer, Ninja Gaiden.

Hampstead theatre, London
Richard Greenberg’s Broadway hit finally arrives in the UK – a festive gathering that rattles along with comic dialogue and the beaming charisma of Tracy-Ann Oberman

Bing Crosby is singing, a goose is resting, and a noisy aunt is commenting on everyone’s weight: it’s enough to make you double-check your calendar. This may be October, but there’s already a giant Christmas tree in the middle of the Hampstead theatre stage, which James Cotterill’s stylish design has transformed into the Upper West Side apartment of a non-religious Jewish family gathering for the holidays.

Christmas may come earlier every year, but it has taken a while for this one to arrive: this is the UK premiere of Richard Greenberg’s Broadway hit from 12 years ago. It’s 1980, and the “ruthlessly” cheerful Julie is hosting along with her husband Ben, whose hopes for his college-age son Scotty extend all the way to the Presidency. Scotty’s earnest Harvard friend Jeff navigates his way naively around both the apparently endless rooms and the extended clan, which includes an “odd” cousin and a sketchy brother-in-law.

Artes Mundi kicks off in Cardiff as JMW hits Liverpool, Germany’s photography star unveils his latest epics and acclaimed abstractionist Wool tries not to unravel – all in your weekly dispatch

Artes Mundi 11
Six artists compete in the UK’s most global art prize, giving an internationalist picture of the moment we’re in.
• National Museum Cardiff, until 1 March

Curve theatre, Leicester
Cathy Tyson and Patrick Robinson dazzle in this knockout production of Edward Albee’s verbally violent play, full of misogynistic one-liners and tarnished souls

Edward Albee’s 1962 drama of two academic couples boozing and bruising for four hours before dawn rings with boxing imagery. Young Nick from the biology department was a college middleweight champion. One of the (possibly unreliable) anecdotes with which underachieving history don George and wife, Martha, entertain their guests involves the couple once almost slugging it out during bouts run by her college president father. Only Nick’s wife, Honey, is temperamentally noncombative.

This pugilism is fitting because Albee’s vast, verbally violent play dates from the period in the middle third of the 20th century when American dramatists – Eugene O’Neill, Arthur Miller, Lorraine Hansberry, Tennessee Williams and Albee – put their characters through 15 heavyweight rounds until bloodstained submission. Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier fought a brutal bout dubbed the Thrilla in Manila; George and Martha contest the Carnage in New Carthage, Albee’s fictional east coast college town.

As his groundbreaking opera about the death penalty comes to the UK, Heggie reflects on its enduring power and the story’s relevance in an age of division

‘But you’re so young!” Julie Andrews exclaimed on opening night of Dead Man Walking, 25 years ago at the San Francisco Opera. I had pushed my way to her through the crowded lobby to introduce myself as the composer of the opera, fearful it would be my only chance to meet my first goddess. My first singing nun.

Was I that young? It was 7 October 2000. I was 39 and this was my first opera, my long-dreamed-of “big break”. Maybe I was naive, but I felt young and the world felt full of possibility that night. Much different from the world today.

Artwork that vanished en route from Madrid to Granada seemingly never made it on to van in first place

Fittingly enough for a still life, it would appear that the small Picasso painting that triggered a police investigation after apparently vanishing while en route from Madrid to Granada for an exhibition earlier this month scarcely moved from its pickup point.

Officers from Spain’s Policía Nacional began searching for the gouache and pencil work Naturaleza muerta con guitarra (Still Life with Guitar) after it failed to arrive on a van that was bringing a consignment of loaned exhibits from the capital to the CajaGranada foundation on 3 October.

One half of the synth-pop duo Soft Cell best known for its No 1 single Tainted Love

When the synth-pop duo Soft Cell formed in 1977, Dave Ball, who has died in his sleep aged 66, made the perfect foil for the vocalist Marc Almond. Where Almond was mercurial and histrionic, Ball assumed the role of mysterious and reclusive mastermind. Almond would invariably be writhing in something black and skin-tight, possibly festooned with zips, while Ball might be wearing a suit and tie and attending soberly to his keyboard. Ball told the Guardian: “We were a weird couple: Marc, this gay bloke in makeup; and me, a big guy who looked like a minder.”

Ball’s death comes a few weeks after Soft Cell’s headlining performance at the Rewind Festival at Henley-on-Thames in August, where he took to the stage in a wheelchair. This was the result of a serious accident in March 2022, when he fell down the stairs at his south London home and broke his back, leading to a protracted stay in intensive care.

Film and TV stars are selling tickets, but director says reliance on famous names is ‘killing audiences’ intellects’

From Ncuti Gatwa in Born With Teeth to Alicia Vikander in The Lady From the Sea and Susan Sarandon in Mary Page Marlowe, there is no shortage of starry celebrities being cast for the West End right now.

It is a phenomenon happening in subsidised theatre too: Indhu Rubasingham’s inaugural season at the National Theatre features the likes of screen favourites Paul Mescal and Nicola Coughlan.

In this week’s newsletter: Inspired by a Guardian series, the sights and sounds our culture critics turn to for help when the sandman is asleep on the job

How do you sleep at night? If you’re like Hannah, a recent subject of the Guardian’s My cultural awakening column, it’s to the sound of a rat whisking eggs. The series shares stories of people who made a significant life change thanks to a piece of popular culture, and in the case of Hannah, that meant curing insomnia by watching Ratatouille. Every night for the last 15 years, at home or abroad, she switches on the Pixar classic and, within minutes, finds herself dropping off, thanks to the film’s comforting, consistent soundscape. It’s so effective, in fact, she’s never even seen it all the way through.

Hannah’s might be a bit of an extreme example, but her tale does touch on something universal: culture seems to play an increasingly important role these days in helping people nod off. Head over to Spotify, Apple Music or any of the other music streaming sites and you’ll find endless playlists promising to ease you into a deep sleep. You’ll find similar on the BBC’s radio stations: 6Music’s Dream Time, a late-night audio mix from DJ Zakia Sewell; Radio 1’s Deep Sleepscapes, which repurposes audio footage from the Beeb’s nature programming; or The Sleeping Forecast, which splices ambient and classical music with snippets from the shipping forecast. That latter series comes from Radio 3 Unwind, a new sister station to Radio 3 designed to “enhance wellbeing”, so naturally encouraging a good night’s sleep is central to a lot of their programming. There’s an entire sub-category of podcasting to send you under, too: series like Nothing Much Happens, which offers storytelling that is interesting enough to hold your attention but pitched at an intensity that won’t keep you gripped and wakeful.

Many have experienced that sinking feeling when reality falls dramatically short of expectations

A first date is unpredictable by nature. Often, you’re meeting up with someone you barely know, or have never met. Will the conversation sparkle or will it fall flat? Will they look like their picture? And what’s their name again?

It can be fun meeting someone new, no matter what the outcome. Yet it’s hard not to get one’s hopes up. Many have experienced that sinking feeling when reality falls dramatically short of expectations.

From a diagonal sleeve and a front fastening sweater to Tennyson, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz

1 In what locations are unsightly objects painted in “go away green” paint?
2 Who was Miss Shepherd, in an Alan Bennett drama?
3 In animal behaviour, short-term hibernation is known as what?
4 Used in Scotland, the Maiden was an early form of what device?
5 Which world-famous woman was an editor at the publishers Doubleday?
6 AMS is a risk in what adventurous activity?
7 Which country is ruled by the House of Hashim?
8 The Striding Man is the logo of what spirits brand?
What links:
9 Foel Cwmcerwyn; Pen y Fan; Yr Wyddfa?
10 Pearl; Chest; End; Tides; Tales?
11 Rod Laver; Philippe Chatrier; Centre; Arthur Ashe?
12 BGN; CZK; DKK; HUF; PLN; RON; SEK?
13 2 November 1936; 22 September 1955; 2 November 1982; 30 March 1997?
14 Diagonal sleeve; front fastening sweater; woollen hood; Tennyson?
15 George Lawson and Wayne Sleep; Henry Geldzahler and Christopher Scott; Celia Birtwell and Ossie Clark?

As the clocks go back, readers and writers share their favourite hacks for a brighter start to the day, from a nice dressing gown to a good stretch

• How to get cosy this autumn: 42 small, snuggly updates

The clocks go back this weekend, and while it gives us brief relief with lighter mornings, they will soon slide back into darkness. Rising before the sun is hard, as is the reduced exposure to sunlight generally during autumn and winter, which can affect our moods, sometimes severely.

But don’t panic. We asked you for all the things that get you out of bed when you don’t feel like it, and make your mornings brighter. And we’ve rounded up some of our own tips and tricks here on the Filter.

We put nine clippers to the test for every beard and budget, from a decades-old classic to waterproof and travel-friendly models

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Shaving is costly and uncomfortable, and almost everyone who can grow a beard looks better with one. This was my (admittedly rather one-sided) view when I ditched the clean-shaven look 20 years ago, but perhaps I was on to something (with the first two points anyway): I still reach for a beard trimmer rather than a razor today.

If you’re the type of person who’s always clean shaven or visits the barber frequently, you can probably do without owning a beard trimmer. For others, however, this invaluable personal grooming tool can make the difference between looking like Worzel Gummidge and maintaining a well-kept look.

Best beard trimmer overall:
Philips Beardtrimmer 9000 Prestige

Best budget beard trimmer:
Remington Barba

Wool can last a lifetime if you know how to care for it. Here’s how to wash less, mend more, and keep your jumpers in shape

• From beeswax to baby wipes: how to make your leather last a lifetime

Wool is an incredible natural fibre. It has insulating properties, is moisture-wicking and breathable and completely biodegradable. It’s also the most recycled clothing fibre in the world, according to Woolmark, and can be recycled into “new” wool by mechanically shredding and respinning the fibres, or “unknitting” garments and using the wool again (see Rove and iinouiio for details).

Wool also has a reputation for being difficult to care for. But is it? I caught up with experts to find out the best ways to clean and care for your knitwear, so you can keep your roll necks, cardis and cable knits looking beautiful and in use for as many years as possible.

In a world where books have to vie with smartphones for attention, a brilliant ebook reader is more necessary than ever

• In the US? Check out our top-rated e-readers there

E-readers have been one of the greatest single-purpose gadgets for almost three decades. They offer an escape from technology and the endless distraction of mobile phones, despite also being tech devices.

However, that is starting to change. Colour ebook readers, for graphic novels, magazines and books, are now fairly common, and there are several models designed for note-taking. Plus, a family of these devices use Android, meaning they can run all of those apps that often distract from reading.

Best e-reader overall:
Kindle Paperwhite

Let curry cubes do the heavy lifting while the egg brings a splash of rich colour to this easy midweek meal

Back in 2020, I put some curry cubes in my husband Hugh’s Christmas stocking, and our life (particularly his) was cleaved in two: before curry cubes, and after. He took them camping and on cycling trips, and he raved about them to friends. Slowly, they became a pantry staple for us. When I have the time, I like to batch-cook my own curry sauce and freeze it, but when there isn’t time, we love this meal. It feels embarrassingly easy to make, because the cubes bring all the flavour, and also quite fancy at the same time thanks to the egg yolk. We love it, and I hope you will, too.

Join Meera Sodha at a special event celebrating the best of Guardian culture on Wednesday 26 November, hosted by Nish Kumar and alongside writers Stuart Heritage and Tim Dowling, with Georgina Lawton hosting You Be The Judge live. Live in London or via livestream – book tickets here.

Light, aromatic and endlessly sippable: the classic vesper with a Japanese twist

For something a little unexpected, try this elegant, martini-style cocktail. It’s light, aromatic and sippable, and pairs nicely with a few chunks of parmesan.

Flavio Carvalho, bar manager, Brasserie Max at Covent Garden Hotel, London WC2

You’ll have so much fun decorating this spooky, Halloween cake, you may not want to carve it up at all – well, until the first bite …

The forest has always been a place of mystery. In fairy tales, it’s where children get lost, where witches build houses made of cake, and where transformations occur in the shadow of trees. But it’s also a place of deep, loamy quiet – a world that hums with hidden life. This cake draws on that dark magic: a tender chocolate sponge, earthy and aromatic with cocoa powder and olive oil, topped with a rosemary-infused ganache and strewn with textures that nod to moist soil, fallen leaves, moss, bark and fungi. It’s Halloween baking, but less fright night and more folklore. The aim is to evoke an enchanted woodland, dark, lush and a little eerie. Serve simply, with whipped cream.

Study of the drink beloved by Hollywood reveals chemical difference in beans passed through civets’ digestive system

It is a coffee beloved by Hollywood and influencers – now researchers say they have found an ingredient that could help explain the unique flavour of kopi luwak.

Also known as civet coffee, kopi luwak is produced from coffee beans that have passed through the digestive system of the Asian palm civet. The resulting product is not only rare, but very expensive – costing about £130 for 500g.

Making a romantic connection with a stranger in real life means levelling up one’s game. The good news is, it is possible to learn how to be a good flirt

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From his birds-eye position in the booth, DJ Rakish has noticed a blue light disco effect on the dancefloor when he plays at “straightish” nightclubs. “If people aren’t already in groups, you definitely see the boys hanging around together and the girls hanging around together,” he says. There might be furtive glances here and there but, “particularly with younger people, game just doesn’t seem to exist at the moment”.

Rakish is not alone in noticing a lack of casual flirting between strangers. Clinical psychologist and UCLA professor Dr Elizabeth Laugeson says: “There is some evidence that young adults today are … engaging in less traditional dating behaviour, compared to previous generations.”

When I was younger, I valued my body only for what it could do for me. A quick jog was enough to make me see where I’d been going wrong

I have just got back from a run. I am shocked to write those words. I think it might have been a decade since my last. But I recently discovered that I have slightly high cholesterol, and I’ve been advised to do sweaty exercise regularly.

This is the first time in my life that my motivation to exercise has been my physical health. In my youth, I ran because I wanted to be thinner. I’ve also run to cure my anxiety (and written about it – I was just running away from the anxiety, not addressing it). At other times, I ran because I wanted to get better at running. This was what it meant to me then to build a better life.

You are entitled to a relationship. Just make sure your son knows he won’t be loved any less and your girlfriend won’t replace his mother

I am a 44-year-old man, with a seven-year-old son. His mother and I are divorced, and I moved out when he was three. We share custody; he is with me three days/nights a week – including part of the weekend. He is doing well at school and has varied interests. He is a very happy child and the most precious thing to me.

I have been in a steady relationship with a remarkable woman for three years. She and my son get along beautifully; he looks forward to seeing her and she loves him very much.

I was having some trouble getting the car door to open when I suddenly felt hands around my neck. A voice behind me said ‘give me your purse’

• Read more in the Kindness of strangers series

Late one evening in 1986, I had stopped at the pub with some friends for what was meant to be one drink. We’d parked in a nearby supermarket car park and I’d left my dog in the back seat with the window rolled down, thinking we wouldn’t be gone long. As my friends continued drinking, I walked alone to fetch my dog, not wanting to leave him alone any longer.

I was having some trouble getting the car door to open when I suddenly felt hands around my neck. A voice behind me said “Give me your purse”. In the grip around my neck, I could feel something sharp, cool and metal against my skin.

Great sound, decent noise cancelling and solid battery life with a novel Talk button that turns the case into a microphone

Nothing’s latest semi-transparent noise-cancelling earbuds have a new trick up their sleeves: a high-quality mic in the case that you can push a button to talk into.

This so-called Super Mic is designed for all those who want a microphone-in-the-hand experience for clearer conversations, recordings and voice notes in noisy environments. For those who talk into the bottom of their phone out in front of them, these are the earbuds for you.

It’s best to prevent their arrival in the first place – but here’s how to deal with unwelcome visitors if they appear

This is the time of year when unwanted visitors start making their way into our invitingly warm homes. We all have different tolerance levels but most of us don’t want rodents and bugs roaming round.

Customers told there is no room and sent miles away late at night, or forced to spend the small hours on the street

It seems Travelodge sometimes overbooks rooms – a policy that causes extra cost and distress and is potentially dangerous for vulnerable guests.

I am 77 and had prepaid for a room in Oxford. The hotel manager called me at 10pm to ask if I still needed it. I confirmed I was arriving within the hour.

From scrutinising sellers’ profiles and reviews to secure payments, ensure you avoid buying a fake item

When Maheen found a brand-new Dyson Airwrap for the bargain price of £260 on the resale website Vinted, she was thrilled. The seller’s reviews were all five-star, and she trusted in the buyer-protection policy should something go wrong.

Sold new, an Airwrap costs between £400 and £480, but Maheen did not suspect anything was amiss. “I had used Vinted many times and it was simple and straightforward. Nothing had ever gone wrong,” she says.

The NHS warns against using GLP-1s while breastfeeding – for the baby’s sake as well as the mother’s. But how much does that count when they’re so readily available and there’s so much pressure to ‘bounce back’?

Lydia* first started thinking about weight-loss drugs during pregnancy. “Everyone was talking about them and the advertisements were everywhere,” she says, as her baby son naps upstairs. “I remember thinking: ‘That’s how I’ll lose weight for my wedding next year.’”

When Lydia explains that most of her life before pregnancy was spent in a welter of yo-yo dieting and body dissatisfaction, I say to her that I think most of us can relate. Her pregnancy, however, brought a level of body acceptance and contentment that the 33-year-old from Wales had never had before.

Common compounds like turmeric and ashwagandha can overwhelm the liver and lead to health complications

Fernanda Thompson was a healthy 40-year-old when she began taking turmeric in 2020. Online, people were saying the pungent yellow spice could make everyone a little bit healthier. So she began putting half a teaspoon, about 2.5 grams, into her morning smoothie, hoping to reap the benefits of curcumin, the compound responsible for turmeric’s anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-oxidant halo.

“It was Covid time,” says the Florida resident, who is a stay-at-home mom, and she wanted to boost her immunity. “I was healthy. And then I guess I tried to be healthier,” she says.

What’s worse than being wet, chilly and light-deprived? Being wet, chilly, light-deprived and sick. Here are 14 ways to stave off colds and the flu – or bounce back if it’s already too late

As the weather cools, along come colds, the flu and a plethora of other bugs, often transmitted through public transport or small children. Such seasonal delights are already troubling Britain. And then there are the mental health challenges associated with this time of year. How can you avoid spending the next few months feeling unwell? Here, GPs give their advice on the best ways to stay healthy in the winter.

CBT-I is called the ‘gold standard’ for sleep disorder treatment. After 40 years of issues, could it help me sleep right?

I’ve had intense issues with insomnia and respiratory problems for 40 years – and yet, I only learned about cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) this year.

Fellow insomniacs told me about it when I was reporting a story on the link I discovered between orthodontics and sleep health during my exhaustive search for sleep solutions. Two rounds of nasal surgery in the past year revolutionized my air flow – but didn’t improve the anxious mind that still kept me awake.

Fresh from guest editing Country Life, former footballer embodies ‘rich autumn dad’ aesthetic

Does your wardrobe include a half-zip jumper and a flannel shirt? Is your fantasy car a vintage Land Rover Defender? Do you know a buff Cochin from a bantam hen? If the answer is yes, you may just be one of the style icons of the season: “rich autumn dad”.

The leader of this new style pack, known among fashion watchers as the Rads, is David Beckham, who this week was unveiled as guest editor of Country Life magazine. The former England football captain appears in the 100-year-old title in a variety of looks including a tweed blazer and corduroy trousers.

With Balenciaga’s new range embracing a term that the fashion industry once shied away from, the era of quiet luxury may finally be over

Is luxury an £8m Birkin bag? Logging out of social media? A Japanese toilet with a pre-defecation misting function? A three-figure lipstick? A morning bath? Or even a £9,000 stainless steel coffin that looks a bit like Elon Musk’s “luxury” Cybertruck?

Chipping into the conversation this month is a £1,590 cotton hoodie with a faux fur-trimmed hood by Balenciaga, emblazoned with the word itself with the brand’s name scrawled into the Y’s cursive tail. Worn by Gwyneth Paltrow in the latest issue of British Vogue as she chops a pineapple in the very luxurious marble kitchen of her Hamptons home, the hoodie is the gag in the scene – but is it funny, or just obscene? Are you in on the joke?

Knitwear isn’t just for cosy weekends. Try your favourite jumper with contrasting textures and tailored outerwear

This footwear has gone from being niche and functional to a fashion favourite. Caitlin Cassidy explains it to Cait Kelly

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Caitlin, I am a big proponent of not yucking someone else’s yum. But this is testing me. What are on those girlies’ feet?

They’re toes, Cait. They’re toes. More specifically, toes encased in rubber to create a kind of foot-glove-trainer.

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Your top tips for inns that serve delicious meals, from mussels on a Scottish island to homemade pies in North Yorkshire
• Tell us about your favourite vintage shopping destination – the best tip wins a £200 holiday voucher

There are not many pub lunches that require a trip across the Atlantic, but to reach Tigh An Truish (a 30-minute drive south of Oban), visitors must cross the 250-year-old Bridge over the Atlantic – Clachan Bridge, which links the west coast of the Scottish mainland to the Isle of Seil. This transatlantic journey is well worth it for delicious and lovingly presented local fare (think Argyll venison and mussels brought into Oban harbour). The pub bustles with visitors and locals, while the adjoining restaurant is a warm space to coorie in from the wild west coast and enjoy the stunning views down the Clachan Sound.
Calum Hamilton

A couple’s dream home on Scotland’s rocky west coast is an audacious, Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired feat of architecture

Building a bold new contemporary home directly on the British coastline is a tall order. Aside from the logistics of designing a house that functions successfully in such an unforgiving setting, planning permission is likely to make it a nonstarter. But on the shore of Loch Long on the Rosneath peninsula, 40 miles north-west of Glasgow, John MacKinnon and his wife Laura found a way to make it work for their house, Rock Cove. While the area is wild and ruggedly beautiful, its history has long been intertwined with the military and was once a brownfield site, home to disused Ministry of Defence huts and garages, overgrown and strewn with rubble.

Back in 2008, MacKinnon had bought a property on the same site, a 1940s cottage that had been repurposed as a navy signalling station. MacKinnon has a deep-seated passion for design, and worked closely with architect Stuart Cameron of Cameron Webster to completely reimagine this humble property as a modernist beach house, Cape Cove. He then began contemplating what could be done with the scruffy space alongside his new home.

My epic rail journey to some of the continent’s most creative and edgy cities mimics a cruise – I hop on and off, eat too much and soak up the culture

The people queueing for the Eurostar at London St Pancras station, rushing in from the rain in hoodies, look noticeably less enthusiastic than the usual holiday crowds. But then, we aren’t heading to the usual hot, heady holiday destinations of Spain or the south of France, but boarding a train to north-east Europe. For me, it will be a journey of more than 1,000 miles – via Amsterdam, Berlin and Warsaw to Vilnius – visiting some of the coolest capitals in the north. At least in terms of temperature.

As England sweltered this summer, and Spain reached a hellish 46C, it made sense to head away from the heat on what is now fashionably being called a “coolcation”. I left in August, with a suitcase full of jumpers.

We explore the Roman, Tudor and Indian delights of Leicester, the textile and religious heritage of Paisley, and the radical history of Nelson, the only town named after a pub

• Where tourists seldom tread, parts 1-18

Academics, journalists and pundits talk at great length about the conundrum of overtourism; the ready-made solution is simply to swerve the crowds. These three towns are regional centres where you will never need to queue, but will come away culturally stimulated and historically enlightened.

Big, blousy show-stoppers are all very well, but species tulips offer longer-term benefits and come in array of hot colours

Nearly three months after moving in and we’re still surrounded by boxes. Somewhere, possibly in the cellar or maybe the shed, there is a brown paper bag of bulbs I lifted from the old garden. Traditionally, I plant them in December – partly because life is always too busy, but also because as well as being cool, London autumns are increasingly wet, so that this helps stave off rot.

There’s something enticing about a second-year tulip. Anyone after big, blousy show-stoppers will replace their bulbs every year, and come April I will dutifully like their Instagram posts. But with my garden currently a wasteland, it feels almost perverse to insert the opulence of brand-new botanical tulips – like putting a wedding hat on when you’re in your PJs. Should I find my bag of older bulbs, anything they offer up will be a little more muted, but, crucially, free.

Fiona says her sister should update the tableware in their shared flat, but Mara believes her mismatched aesthetic is authentic and sustainable. You get to twist the knife
• Find out how to get a disagreement settled or become a juror

I can’t cook with blunt knives and present food well on chipped plates. I want us to live like adults

Every piece in my kitchen has a history. Matching sets are sterile, and my style is more sustainable

Anyone whose life deviates from mainstream expectations gets this, writes advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith. Perhaps you could play with different ways to describe it

• Read more Leading questions

I’m 54 years old and, although I was married for 22 years, I’ve been single for the past 14. I did remarry briefly a few years ago, but that chapter was short-lived.

At this stage of my life, I feel genuinely content. I’m on my own, but by no means lonely. I have a fulfilling balance between work and personal life, and I’m deeply grateful for my three daughters and my grandchildren, who bring me joy and purpose.

Tina Frundt is one of Washington DC’s most experienced specialists in protecting children from sex trafficking. Many of the youths she supports are targeted and exploited on social media platforms, which give traffickers unprecedented levels of access to their victims. Fighting to break this cycle, Tina works closely with law enforcement, social workers and parents to create an environment where some of America’s most vulnerable children can feel safe again

Born in the 1930s, the former Lady Annabel Vane-Tempest-Stewart flourished in a world that celebrated aristocratic rule-breakers. What does her story tell us about how Britain has changed?

If the sitting Marquess of Londonderry died tomorrow, and in so doing bestowed a ladyhood on his 15-year-old granddaughter, would you ever know? Would you be able to find the great houses of Britain on a map, and connect them to their owners? It wouldn’t be true to say that the press has stopped covering the aristocracy, since the Telegraph diligently covers the great estates, but the discussion now comes framed by the idea of meritocracy, which is objectively pretty ridiculous. So the Hon Nick Howard told the Telegraph a fortnight ago, “If my son wants to take over [Castle Howard], he’ll have to pass an interview,” while other great estate owners stress their role as rewilders, ecowarriors or, at their most traditional, conservationists. These days, if you’re proud of heritage simply because you own it, you’re expected to keep quiet about it.

Lady Annabel Goldsmith, who died at home on Saturday at 91, lived through an era, by contrast, in which aristocracy and wealth were extremely public. And she was its emblem, displaying a different facet in every decade.

He has already turned the Oval Office into a wrestler’s changing room. Now the president is building a place so gilded Nero would feel at home. Why did he pick an architect whose speciality is Catholic churches?

As if truffling thuggishly in pursuit of the Nobel peace prize wasn’t enough, the spectacle of bulldozers ripping into the White House is yet more evidence of Donald Trump’s unstinting quest for epic self-aggrandisement. Having decreed the East Wing not fit for purpose – namely, his purposes of swank and show – he plans to replace it with a faux classical bulletproof ballroom, capable of seating up to 650 partygoers.

Renderings show a vast, glacially white aircraft hangar of a structure embellished with an ornate coffered ceiling, gilded Corinthian columns and drooping gold chandeliers. Nero, who conceived the original domus aurea, would feel right at home. Costing $250m (£187.5m), a sum to be extracted from sycophantic donors, Trump’s ballroom is one of the most grandiose White House projects to be implemented in more than a century, as he strives to bend the building – and US architecture more generally – to his will.

Joint prayer in Sistine Chapel is symbolic act of rapprochement between Catholic church and Church of England after centuries of division

Almost every British schoolchild is taught that Henry VIII, the swaggering Tudor king driven by lust and his quest for an heir, broke away from the Roman Catholic church in 1534 after the pope refused to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon.

Henry created the Church of England, appointed himself its supreme governor, divorced Catherine and married Anne Boleyn (who lasted just three years before she was beheaded for treason).

We want to hear from UK parents with experience in temporary accommodation about the impact on their lives, family and schooling

More than 172,000 children were living in temporary accommodation in England at the end of June, according to new quarterly official figures released last week.

That represented an 8.2% rise on the same period last year. There are now more than 130,000 households households living in temporary accommodation in England, the figures showed.

We’d like to hear people’s experiences of incidents of violence while working in NHS hospitals

According to the Royal College of Nursing, incidents of violence against A&E nurses have almost doubled over the last six years, often due to people being frustrated at waiting so long for care. Incidents include nurses being punched, spat at and pinned up against a wall.

We would like to hear from NHS staff about their experiences of seeing or being the victim of violence in hospitals. What happened and was the incident reported? If the police were involved, what was the outcome?

A report has asked why women in tech are leaving their jobs and why those still in the sector are not progressing at the pace they should

The Lovelace Report 2025 in collaboration with WeAreTechWomen has found that between 40,000 and 60,000 women leave the UK’s tech sector every year, costing the economy an estimated £2 billion to £3.5 billion annually.

They either exit the industry altogether or move to a new tech employer. An estimated £1.4 billion to £2.2 billion is lost every year from women leaving the industry, with “another £640 million to £1.3 billion squandered from the churn of women switching employers for a new tech role”, the report added.

We would like to hear how price rises have affected your spending habits

Price rising are increasingly causing us to think twice about purchasing small luxuries, from meals at restaurant chains or pubs, to takeaway coffees and supermarket treats. As Gaby Hinsliff puts it, “ordinary things increasingly feel to ordinary people like guilty extravagances”.

With this in mind, we would like to hear how price rises have affected your spending habits. Have you foregone any small luxuries?

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The Louvre heist, daily life in Gaza, Russian strikes on Kyiv and sumo in London: the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists

Warning: this gallery contains images some readers may find distressing