Playbooks, plagiarism and a pig’s head: new claims surrounding a star Cambridge professor
Jason Arday was regarded as an academic superstar, but then questions about his work prompted scrutiny of his backstory and counterclaims of racism
The Guardian view on the Lovell telescope: budget cuts to physics are bad science and worse politics
Editorial: Funders have picked a damaging fight with scientists and the public. They should reconsider their plans
Relentless UK heatwaves turn ‘green and pleasant land’ brown
Visible impact of warming climate is impossible to ignore across landscapes that have been starved of rainfall
First Australian mass mortality event suspected as deadly bird flu virus rapidly escalates among native birds
Helicopter surveillance finds dead and dying greater crested terns off South Australian coast as H5 virus spreads
The pro-Israel lobby has swayed US presidents since Truman. It must end with Trump
Our new book tracks the growth over nearly eight decades, of the most powerful foreign policy lobby in US history
Braiding used to be low maintenance and budget-friendly. What happened?
Every time I get my hair done, I find myself confronted with rising costs, and dizzyingly long maintenance regimes
Why The Polygamist is so much more than trash TV and a guilty pleasure streaming hit
Deemed Africa’s first Netflix success, the show’s appeal is rooted in a universal story: what people tolerate for love and money
A ​decade on the Iberian ​frontline​ has shown me that Europe’s ​climate ​emergency​ is ​impossible to ​deny
What once felt exceptional now arrives with grim regularity​ all over the continent and it will only get worse
‘We can’t make it better again’: what Europe’s wildfires tell us about the climate crisis
In this week’s newsletter: As France and Spain battle huge fires in this summer of relentless heat, will it be enough to spur us to take action?
Late entry

At 58, conductor Andrew Davis has only just got round to tackling Wagner. And where better to do it than the composer's own Bayreuth theatre?

From Böhm to best

At his own fireside Bayreuth, James Fenton wonders if he is a Ring-recidivist as he tackles Wagner

The depths of the noble Rhine

1876: The Bayreuth festival opened tonight with the prologue to Das Rheingold. The audience numbered over 1500, who had come, pilgrim-like, from all parts of the world

Is there a tenor in the house?

This year's Bayreuth festival had to contend with disappearing singers and booing audiences. Erica Jeal reports

The twilight of the Wagners

The descendants of Germany's most controversial composer are battling for control of his Bayreuth festival. The result may change it for ever, says Martin Kettle

Of gods and men

Tom Service is blown away by Das Rheingold and Die Walküre at the Bayreuth opera festival

Vicious cycle

Bayreuth's latest take on the Ring fills Tom Service with wonder and despair.