The Guardian

What it’s really like … to know I’m going to miss my Harvard graduation because of Trump’s travel ban

Like many other international students I have had my educational dreams suspended without reason – and learned plenty about racism and resilienceNext May, I should be walking across a stage at Harvard – my two-year-old daughter in my arms, my name called out, my doctoral hood placed over shoulders that have carried far more than academic ambition.It was going to be more than a graduation. It was to be a culmination, a reclamation. My daughter’s presence would symbolise not only my personal triumph but the very journey that led me here: discovering my own uterine fibroid when I decided to become a mother inspired my doctorate. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/jun/20/missing-harvard-graduation-trump-travel-ban

From LA to Paris, the populist right hates cities – and it’s fuelled by a sense of bitter defeat | Andy Beckett

LA was once a conservative stronghold; now the military is occupying it. Liberal cities have become targets for politicians looking to stir up their voters elsewhereFrom Los Angeles to London, Istanbul to Warsaw, cities are making rightwing populists angry. Their liberal elites, immigrants, net zero policies, leftwing activists, globalised businesses, expensive transport infrastructure and outspoken municipal leaders – all are provocations to populist politicians whose support often comes from more conservative, less privileged places.Three years ago the founders of national conservatism, the transatlantic ideology on which much of modern rightwing populism is based, published a statement of principles. One of these, surprisingly little noticed at the time, declared with some menace: “In those [places] in which law and justice have been manifestly corrupted, or in which lawlessness, immorality, and dissolution reign, national government must intervene energetically to restore order.”Andy Beckett is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/20/populist-right-cities-la-paris-military-liberal

‘It put the fear of God in the audience’: the incredible story of how Jaws changed Hollywood

As the industry-shifting blockbuster turns 50, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gary and Wendy Benchley look back on the highs and lowsHalf a century later, Richard Dreyfuss still won’t go in the water. “I have never done it, not since the film,” the Oscar-winning actor says, “because you’re totally aware of what you’re not aware of and you’re not aware of anything underneath.”The film is Jaws, whose release 50 years ago on 20 June marked a turning point in both the history of cinema and public perception of sharks. It was the movie that in effect invented the summer blockbuster, paving the way for Star Wars, Jurassic Park and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It cast sharks in the role of monsters to be feared and killed – but also stimulated interest in marine conservation. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jun/20/jaws-movie-hollywood

Brad Pitt in the paddock: how F1 the Movie went deep to keep fans coming

F1 and Liberty Media went to great lengths to assist filming, with star’s APX team embedded within the sportAfter the British Grand Prix last year the drivers took their places in the media zone to conduct interviews, with Formula One world champions Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso among them. Yet it was all but impossible not to cast a glance sideways as Brad Pitt nonchalantly strolled out to face the microphones and cameras of his own, entirely staged, media scrum.None of us in the media pack openly goggled at the fact that Hollywood’s A-list had joined the sweaty throng, because Pitt was there filming what would become F1 the Movie. And we, as with everyone else, were under strict instructions to behave normally. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/jun/20/brad-pitt-in-the-paddock-how-f1-the-movie-went-deep-to-keep-fans-coming

Hey aliens, here’s our new album! How do you follow up a 50-year-old record that’s hurtling through space?

The Golden Record – launched in 1977 on the Voyager space probes – contained everything from Chuck Berry to Chinese dialects and the sound of humpback whales. But what would we put on it today?It’s almost 50 years since one of the strangest records ever made was launched – not into the pop charts but into the farthest reaches of outer space. Known as the Golden Record, this 12-inch, gold-plated copper disc was an album compiled by astronomer Carl Sagan featuring everything from classical music and spoken-word greetings to the sounds of nature and a blast of Chuck Berry’s Jonny B Goode. Humans could enjoy it, of course, but they weren’t the target audience. Rather, a copy was placed on Voyager 1 and 2, the two space probes launched in 1977, in the hope that they would one day be discovered and listened to by an alien life form.The Golden Record came with various diagrammatic instructions on how to play it correctly. But as to what aliens might make of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto, the sounds of humpback whales and a greeting in the Chinese dialects Wu, we will never know. Both Voyager probes are still intact, currently hurtling through the Kuiper belt in interstellar space, but we are likely to lose contact with them in around a decade’s time. This means we will miss the Golden Record’s first realistic chance of being discovered – when it’s expected to pass within 1.6 light years of the star Gliese 445 in 40,000 years’ time. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jun/20/aliens-new-album-golden-record-space-voyager-chuck-berry

From heat to unrest: how five major Club World Cup storylines are shaping up

With the group stage approaching halfway, it is time to take stock of key issues surrounding the expanded tournamentThe Club World Cup is into the second round of games in the group stage, with matches across the United States showing off all that was hotly anticipated about this newly expanded tournament, as well as a few concerns.Here’s a breakdown of five major storylines we were keeping track of before the games, and where we stand. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/jun/20/club-world-cup-storylines-heat-unrest-attendances

Middle East crisis live: Ministers from Europe and Iran to hold talks; UN warns of ‘man-made drought’ in Gaza

Ministers from UK, France and Germany will meet Abbas Araqchi after White House says Trump will ‘make a decision on whether to attack Iran within two weeks’Living in Iran: how have you been affected by the recent conflict?Living in Israel: how have you been affected by the recent conflict?The French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot has spoken to the US secretary of state Marco Rubio ahead of a meeting in Geneva between foreign ministers from the UK, France and Germany and their Iranian counterpart Abbas Araqchi.The Geneva meeting is aimed at creating a pathway back to diplomacy over Iran’s nuclear programme. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/jun/20/israel-iran-war-live-updates-geneva-talks-trump-khamenei-latest-news

Children suffered record levels of violence in conflict zones in 2024, UN report shows

Surge in violations to more than 40,000 – the highest since records began in 1996 – must serve as a ‘wake-up call’A record number of children were subjected to acts of violence in conflict zones in 2024, with the number of incidents recorded rising by 25%, according to a UN report.The UN security council’s annual report on children and armed conflict found 22,495 children in 2024 were killed, wounded, denied humanitarian support or recruited for conflict. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/jun/20/violence-against-children-conflict-zones-un-report

Assisted dying set to become law in England and Wales after bill passed by MPs

Terminally ill people with less than six months to live will have right to choose procedure after approval from doctors and panelUK politics live – latest updatesAssisted dying is set to become law after a historic vote in parliament, as MPs passed Kim Leadbeater’s bill by 314 to 291 votes, a majority of 23, to legalise the procedure for terminally ill people.Keir Starmer backed the bill, which will head to the House of Lords, though peers are not expected to block its progress. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jun/20/assisted-dying-law-england-and-wales-bill-passed

Court lets Trump keep control of California national guard – US politics live

Trump’s decision to send troops into Los Angeles prompted a national debate about the use of the military on US soilDonald Trump is once again repeating unfounded claims that the results of the 2020 presidential election were fraudulent, saying that the evidence is “massive and overwhelming” but not providing any of it. The president called for a special prosecutor to be appointed to the case.He wrote on Truth Social this morning: Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/jun/20/us-politics-latest-news-donald-trump-national-guard-ice-republicans-democrats-live

Norway backs Nato’s 5% defence spending target despite Spain rejecting it as ‘unreasonable’ – Europe live

PM Jonas Gahr Støre declared Norway’s support for the 5% target proposed by Nato’s secretary general Mark RuttePoland’s EU minister Adam Szłapka, who led the country’s EU presidency from January, will become the new chief government spokesperson, prime minister Donald Tusk has announced.The move comes ahead of a broader government reshuffle after the ruling pro-European coalition’s defeat in the presidential election earlier this month. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/jun/20/russia-attacks-ukraine-odesa-drones-black-sea-europe-live

French plans to stop small boats will lead to more deaths, says charity

French charity to challenge new Channel migrant interception plans in European courtsPlans by French police to enter the sea to stop small boats carrying UK-bound asylum seekers willcause more deaths and will be challenged in the European courts, a French charity has said.Arthur Dos Santos, the coordinator of the refugee charity Utopia 56, said there would be an increase in the number of people who would take “desperate” measures to reach the UK. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jun/20/french-plans-to-stop-small-boats-will-lead-to-more-deaths-says-charity

Nigerian communities to take Shell to high court over oil pollution

Residents of Bille and Ogale in Niger delta are suing Shell and subsidiary, but company denies liabilityResidents of two Nigerian communities who are taking legal action against Shell over oil pollution are set to take their cases to trial at the high court in 2027.Members of the Bille and Ogale communities in the Niger delta, which have a combined population of about 50,000, are suing Shell and a Nigerian-based subsidiary of the company, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, which is now the Renaissance Africa Energy Company. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jun/20/nigerian-communities-shell-high-court-oil-pollution

England v India: first men’s cricket Test, day one – live

Updates from Headingley with play from 11am BSTStokes calls on England to adapt | And email Rob4th over: India 14-0 (Jaiswal 10, KL Rahul 4) Carse induces a tentative poke from Kl Rahul and the meaty edge flirts away for a four to deep third.Good morning to Guy Hornsby: Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2025/jun/20/england-v-india-first-mens-cricket-test-day-one-live

Thai PM apologises over leaked call with Hun Sen as crisis threatens to topple government

In phone call, Paetongtarn Shinawatra discusses border dispute with former Cambodian leader and calls him ‘uncle’Thailand’s prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, apologised after a leaked phone conversation with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen prompted public anger and threatened the collapse of her government.In the leaked call, Paetongtarn – daughter of the populist former leader Thaksin Shinawatra – discusses an ongoing border dispute with Hun Sen, who is known to be a friend of her family. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/20/thai-prime-minister-paetongtarn-shinawatra-apologises-phone-leak-crisis-cambodia-hun-sen

A climate crisis, a ballot, and a chance at a new life in Australia

World-first agreement that creates a visa in the context of climate change stirs hope among young people in TuvaluOn the sandy shores of Vaiaku, as coconut trees sway gently in the breeze, Tekafa Piliota sits in his small classroom and dreams of becoming a doctor. The 13-year-old, who lives in Tuvalu’s capital Funafuti, knows that would mean leaving his homeland. There aren’t any universities in the small Pacific island nation, which lies between Australia and Hawaii. The country has another problem: it is predicted to be one the first countries to become uninhabitable due to rising seas.“I would like to go to Australia to study. There is higher ground in Australia, and it might be safer during natural disasters,” Piliota says. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jun/20/tuvalu-climate-crisis-australia-visa-ballot

Israeli strikes on Iran stir anxiety in LA’s ‘Tehrangeles’: ‘We’re worried 24 hours a day’

In the diverse Iranian hub of west LA, a sense of dread over the escalating conflict is permeating the cafes and bakeriesIn uncertain times in Persian Square, in the Iranian enclave on the west side of Los Angeles, there is always hope – and ice cream.Farbod “Freddy” Papen is happy to dole out scoops of cucumber ice cream at Saffron and Rose, just as his grandfather once did in the same neighborhood affectionately known by many nicknames: Little Tehran, Tehrangeles, or Little Persia. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/20/los-angeles-little-tehran-iran-israel

The first rule is to forget your past life: Ukrainian marine tells of his three years of torment in Russian captivity

Dmytro Chorny tells of hunger, beatings and torture before a mass prisoner exchange freed him to go home to – and marry – his girlfriend, DianaDespite all they have endured, it doesn’t take much to draw shy smiles from Diana Shikot, 24, and Dmytro Chorny, 23.You could ask them about Chorny’s sweetly bungled marriage proposal the day after his release from Russia’s notorious penitentiary system, in which he languished as a prisoner of war for three years. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/20/ukrainian-marine-tells-on-russian-captivity-prisoner-of-war

‘Youths everywhere were spitting over tinny beats playing off a Nokia’: great grime photographer Simon Wheatley

He was young and broke when he became grime’s first documentarian. Then his book Don’t Call Me Urban captured the energy of the grittier first wave – and an expanded edition is finally hereIt’s an overcast Thursday morning, and photographer Simon Wheatley is doing a soft-shoe shuffle through Roman Road in Bow, east London, as a market stall blares out exquisite 70s funk. “That’s more like it,” he says, with a grin on his face. “A bit of energy.” This was once grime’s artery, its chaotic central hub, even its muse – a street Wiley once told me was “the nurturer” of local talents like him and Dizzee Rascal. And it was here, in the 2000s, that Wheatley would create a vivid and intimate document of grime in its frenzied flush of youth, and of working-class neighbourhoods like this before they became considerably more sedate. Fourteen years after the release of Don’t Call Me Urban, Wheatley’s long-sold-out photo-book from that era – once described by Vice as “grime’s Old Testament” – it is finally getting a rerelease, at almost double its original size.I have arranged to meet Wheatley outside the bougie Roman Road coffee shop that was once legendary grime record shop Rhythm Division. This leads to some confusion – there are simply too many bougie coffee shops in succession. “Back in the day it was absolutely thronging with people,” Wheatley recalls. “You’d turn a corner and down a sidestreet there’d be six guys doing an impromptu cipher [a freestyle MC-ing performance] – everywhere there were youths hanging out, wheeling around on their bikes, spitting over some tinny beat playing off a Nokia. This was the heartbeat of grime.” Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2025/jun/20/dont-call-me-urban-grime-photographer-simon-wheatley

‘You’d never make Slumdog today’: Danny Boyle on risks, regrets and returning to the undead

In 28 Years Later, zombies maraud over a Britain broken by more than Brexit. Its director discusses cultural baggage, catastrophising – and why his kids’ generation is an ‘upgrade’The UK is a wasteland in Danny Boyle’s new film. Towns lie in ruins, trains rot on the rails and the EU has severed all ties with the place. Some residents are stuck in the past and congregate under the tattered flag of St George. The others flail shirtless through the open countryside, raging about nothing, occasionally stopping to eat worms. You wouldn’t want to live in the land that Boyle and the writer Alex Garland show us. Teasingly, on some level, the film suggests that we do.Boyle and Garland first prowled zombie Britain with their 2002 hit 28 Days Later. It was an electrifying piece of speculative fiction, a guerrilla-style thriller about an unimaginable world. Since then we’ve had Brexit and Covid, and the looming threat of martial law in the US … The story’s extravagant flights of fancy don’t feel so far-fetched any more. “Yes, of course real world events were a big influence this time around,” Boyle says, sipping tea in the calm of a central London hotel. “Brexit is a transparency that passes over this film, without a doubt. But the big resonance of the original film was the way it showed how British cities could suddenly empty out overnight. And after Covid, those scenes now feel like a proving ground.” Where Cillian Murphy first walked, the rest of us would soon follow. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/film/ng-interactive/2025/jun/20/youd-never-make-slumdog-today-danny-boyle-on-risks-regrets-and-returning-to-the-undead

A man of sense and wide sensibilities, Alfred Brendel was simply the pianist of pianists

His technique was of the highest order, his performances unmatched – but it was always at the service of the music, not of his own reputationAlfred Brendel would have scorned the suggestion he was the world’s leading pianist. He would have dismissed such an accolade as banal, journalistic and ignorant. He would, of course, have been right. Piano playing, he once said, was never sufficient, even when it was faultless.Yet, for a generation of musicians, especially in Britain, where he lived the second half of his long life, this dismissal of his own greatness could itself be dismissed as false modesty. When London’s Royal Festival Hall, still at that time the capital’s most cherished classical music large venue, reopened after a long renovation in 2007, the choice of its first recitalist was a no-brainer. For his legions of admirers, Brendel was always the one. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jun/20/a-man-of-sense-and-wide-sensibilities-alfred-brendel-was-simply-the-pianist-of-pianists

‘My grandmother never used yuzu’: global gastronomy is out as Catalan chefs celebrate tradition

Top chefs in this year’s World Region of Gastronomy are looking back as they shift from avant-garde cuisine to something more homespun They revolutionised cooking worldwide with radical techniques and a highly technical cuisine of playful trompe l’oeil – but now many disciples of Catalonia’s iconoclastic chef Ferran Adrià believe it’s time to get back to their roots.Catalonia has been named World Region of Gastronomy 2025 by the International Institute of Gastronomy, Culture, Arts and Tourism and later this month 60 Michelin-starred chefs will launch a campaign to position Catalonia as a unique and exceptional gastronomic destination. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/20/catalan-traditional-food-world-region-gastronomy

The best recent crime and thrillers – roundup

Fox by Joyce Carol Oates; A Schooling in Murder by Andrew Taylor; Death of a Diplomat by Eliza Reid; Actually, I’m a Murderer by Terry Deary; Can You Solve the Murder? by Antony JohnstonFox by Joyce Carol Oates (4th Estate, £18.99)In this hefty, immersive study of gullibility, complicity and betrayal, English teacher Francis Fox is a predator, all the more dangerous for being charming enough to beguile everyone from his adoring pupils to the teachers and parents at Langhorne Academy, the smart New Jersey boarding school where – aided by a change of name – he has obtained a post after leaving his previous job under a cloud. Fox chooses his victims carefully: his “little kittens”, all in his preferred 12-to-14 age group, have literary leanings and absent fathers, and feel validated by the attention he pays them. When the parts of Fox’s body that haven’t been consumed by wildlife are pulled out of a local swamp, it falls to world-weary detective Horace Zwender to work out what’s been going on. Peppered with exclamation marks, breathless and febrile, this is an utterly mesmeric account of how one man’s crimes can affect an entire community. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/jun/20/the-best-recent-and-thrillers-roundup

We’re on the brink of a disastrous, illegal conflagration in the Middle East. Trump must be stopped | Fawaz Gerges

This is a war of choice, based on misinformation. If the US and UK join it, they risk a rerun of the Iraq debacle of 2003Like the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003, Israel’s war on Iran is neither legal nor just. It is a war of choice, not of necessity – and should the US or its European allies, particularly Britain, join in, they risk being dragged into another disastrous and unlawful conflict in the Middle East.A US military intervention would be in direct contravention of international law. Already, the US, once the architect and guardian of the international order, is now among its chief violators. Instead of pressuring Benjamin Netanyahu to end his siege and destruction of Gaza, Donald Trump has fully sided with Netanyahu and called Israel’s attacks on Iran “excellent”. He has demanded Iran’s “unconditional surrender”. Trump is considering military strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Doing so is explicitly prohibited under article 56 of the additional protocol to the Geneva conventions because of the danger of nuclear contamination.Fawaz Gerges is professor of international relations at the London School of Economics. His most recent book is The Great Betrayal: The Struggle for Freedom and Democracy in the Middle EastDo 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. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/20/middle-east-trump-stopped-war-uk-us-iraq

The internet’s nastiest gossipmonger has been exposed and guess what – he wants his privacy | Marina Hyde

If you’re not familiar with Tattle Life, congratulations. It’s a site that subjects women to relentless scrutiny, and lo and behold it’s run by a spineless manWith as much as two weeks to kill before nuclear winter sets in, many of you will be looking to road-test your new fallout suits. In which case: can I interest you in the sensational unmasking of the founder of Tattle Life? It turns out the guy who operates the radioactively toxic gossip forum is a “vegan influencer” – I think it’s one of those new types of job, dear – and his name is Sebastian Bond. From that professional description, Sebastian would never hurt a living creature – unless it’s a mummy blogger, in which case he would gut her like a pig. Metaphorically, of course! Sorry, but that is simply the price you pay for not declaring the nappies you’re unboxing on Instagram are actually sponsored.But I’m racing ahead. If you’re not familiar with Tattle Life, it’s an online forum that claims to be “a commentary website on public business social media accounts” – much in the way the torpedoing of the Lusitania was a commentary on the commercial cruise business. At one point Tattle Life was said to have 12 million monthly visitors. Which, to put it into context, is more than the Times and Sunday Times website gets, and considerably surpasses the visitor numbers of something like GB News. The other thing Tattle Life says about itself on its homepage is: “We have a zero-tolerance policy to any content that is abusive, hateful or harmful.” This is a little bit like the Racing Post saying it has a zero-tolerance policy for stories about horses, greyhounds or sports betting.Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnistDo 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. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/20/tattle-life-internet-gossip-privacy-sebastian-bond

Israel, please let aid organisations do our jobs in Gaza | James Elder

Four hundred distribution points have dwindled to four under this private and militarised ‘aid’ system. This is not how to avert a famineJames Elder is Unicef’s global spokespersonAbed Al Rahman, just a boy, carried the weight of his family’s hunger as he stepped into the streets of Gaza in search of bread. He had his father’s money, but when he saw the tide of people pushing towards a food distribution site in Rafah, hunger pulled him into their flow.Almost immediately, the site descended into chaos. Gunfire. Drones. Then in a flash, shrapnel from a tank shell ripped through his little body. When I met him at a hospital in Khan Younis – where painkillers, like food, are scarce – the 13-year-old was in agony. “I have shrapnel inside my body that they couldn’t remove,” he told me. “I am in real pain; since 6am I have been asking for a painkiller.” As he recounted the chaos, his father’s composure shattered, and tears rolled down his face. Was he going to lose his son simply because Abed Al Rahman wanted his family to eat?James Elder is Unicef’s global spokespersonDo 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. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/20/gaza-food-aid-unicef-palestinians-starve

Welcome to a new ‘gloomcycle’ of news. Here’s how to stop compulsive scrolling | Margaret Sullivan

As Americans, we need to know what’s happening so we can act. But that doesn’t mean constant online immersionThe threat of a world war. Political assassinations. Federal raids on unsuspecting migrants.There seems to be no end to terrifying news these days. In fact, it comes at us so unceasingly that numbness can set in. Or even depression or melancholy, like a black cloud over every part of our lives. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/20/trump-politics-news-gloomcycle-phone-mental-health

I grew up on American food. Trust me, it’s the last thing Europe needs | Alexander Hurst

The EU is under pressure to strike a trade deal with Trump, but an influx of mass-produced, low-quality food must be off the tableAll over European media, the take seems to be similar – that the EU is “under pressure” to conclude some sort of deal with the US in order to avoid Donald Trump’s 9 July deadline for the unilateral imposition of broad tariffs. What might be on the table in the attempt to secure that? In early May, the EU trade commissioner, Maroš Šefčovič, was already suggesting that a deal to increase purchases from the US could include agricultural products – a possibility that seems to remain even though Šefčovič later clarified that the EU was not contemplating changing its health or safety standards.Since I have failed to Abba (“Always be boldly acronyming”) and don’t have anything as good as Taco (“Trump always chickens out”) – coined by the Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong – at the ready, I’ll simply reach for the easy line: opening the door even slightly to more US food imports into the EU would leave a bad taste in all our mouths. Trump’s hostage-taking approach to trade should not be rewarded, certainly not with something that hits as close to home as food does.Alexander Hurst is a Guardian Europe columnist Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/20/american-food-europe-trade-deal-eu-donald-trump

Ben Jennings on Donald Trump’s dilemma over the Israel-Iran conflict – cartoon

Discover and buy more of Ben’s cartoons hereOrder your own print of this cartoon from the Guardian Print Shop Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2025/jun/19/ben-jennings-donald-trump-dilemma-over-the-israel-iran-conflict-cartoon

The Guardian view on Trump and Iran: Netanyahu’s war has no visible exit | Editorial

The US president promised to keep his country out of conflicts. The Israeli prime minister has other ideasThe maxim that wars are easy to start and hard to end does not appear to be troubling Benjamin Netanyahu. For the Israeli prime minister, conflict is an end as much as a means, extending his political survival. Under international pressure – however belated and insufficient – over the slaughter in Gaza, he launched the attack on Iran. Initially presented as essential to prevent Tehran from the imminent acquisition of a nuclear bomb, a claim running counter to US intelligence, it is increasingly discussed as the path to bringing down the regime. The defence minister, Israel Katz, has said that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, “can no longer be allowed to exist”.Donald Trump has generally seen armed conflict as a trap rather than an escape route. He said that the US would “measure our success not only by the battles we win but also by the wars that we end – and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into”. Yet his failure to achieve the Nobel-worthy peace deals he wants, and Mr Netanyahu’s manoeuvring, appear to have made him keener on US intervention. Israel wants US bunker-busters to attack the underground nuclear facility at Fordow. There is no guarantee that those would succeed. Israel’s regime-ending aspirations further undermine its claim to offer what might be called, in the term infamously used of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, a cakewalk. There isn’t a bad plan for the day after; there is no plan. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/19/the-guardian-view-on-trump-and-iran-netanyahus-war-has-no-visible-exit

The Guardian view on assisted dying: a momentous bill that needs further attention | Editorial

Kim Leadbeater has led a strong campaign, but concerns about the likely impact on vulnerable people remainThe central issue before MPs, as they decide how to vote on the latest version of Kim Leadbeater’s assisted dying bill, is how to value individual autonomy relative to collective responsibility for vulnerable members of society when making regulations around the end of life. Should terminally ill people be allowed to end their lives with medical help? If so, under what safeguards? The question remains ethically, medically and legally complex.Technological and social changes enabling people to live much longer have created challenges around the resourcing of care and experiences of ageing and dying. There are profound questions about how we manage the final stages of life – and what we owe to those living through them. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/19/the-guardian-view-on-assisted-dying-a-momentous-bill-that-needs-further-attention

Liverpool agree £40m Kerkez deal, Wirtz has medical, WSL expansion approved: football – live

Men’s transfer interactive | Women’s transfer interactiveToday’s Rumour Mill | Football Daily | And mail WillThat’s my stint over. We now go live to Will Unwin’s garden where he’ll be taking this blog to even greater levels.Rumour Mill: Plenty of hot gossip today and Liverpool are at the centre of a fair chunk of it. Could Crystal Palace’s Marc Guéhi be the one to bolster the Reds’ centre-back options? And which Premier League player could be joining Kevin De Bruyne at Napoli? Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2025/jun/20/football-news-live-liverpool-florian-wirtz-transfer-window-club-world-cup

The $10bn LA Lakers sale proves sports have outgrown even most billionaires

The Lakers’ record sale underscores how owning elite sports franchises is increasingly beyond even the wealthiest individuals, shifting power toward corporate consortiumsThe sale of the Los Angeles Lakers is many things.First of all, it is a record. The glitziest team in basketball is changing hands at a valuation of $10bn, the biggest ever for a sports franchise. Second, it is probably an excellent deal for the buyer, even at that astonishing valuation. And third, the shift in majority ownership from the Buss family to an investment group led by Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter, is something else: inevitable. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/jun/20/the-10bn-la-lakers-sale-proves-sports-have-outgrown-billionaires

Why Hugo Ekitike is hot property in the summer transfer window

The young Eintracht Frankfurt striker has rough edges but he may be the best value goalscorer on the marketBy WhoScoredAlexander Isak is a man in demand this summer. Liverpool and Arsenal have been linked with the Swede. It would take a monumental bid to convince Newcastle to sell their prized asset, and for good reason. Isak scored 23 goals in the Premier League in the season just finished; only Mohamed Salah (29) scored more.With few, if any, clubs prepared to match Newcastle’s reported £150m asking price, those keen on Isak could do worse than make a move for a striker whose style is eerily similar to that of the Sweden international. An Isak-lite, if you will. Hugo Ekitike is hot property on the forward market after he enjoyed a fine campaign for Eintracht Frankfurt, scoring 15 times and providing eight assists. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/football/who-scored-blog/2025/jun/20/hugo-ekitike-hot-property-summer-transfer-window-eintracht-frankfurt-striker

The first Lions match is about laying down a marker – but Pumas bring range of threats | Ugo Monye

Early days in a Lions camp can be nervy and everyone wants to play in Friday’s first match but Argentina provide a tough testEvery single member of the British & Irish Lions squad is in the perfect sweet spot at the moment. Blair Kinghorn aside, they all arrived into camp with a spring in their step and a smile on their face because their dreams have been realised. Speaking from experience, it is amazing how quickly you can leave national allegiances at the door.At this stage, there is no sense of what the Test team will be, no division, or feeling that you have to make do with being a midweek dirt-tracker – the thing you are probably most nervous about is who your roommate will be. You know it will be someone from a different country and my first roommate was Keith Earls. As the youngest member of the 2009 squad, he was responsible for looking after the Lions mascot and I felt like I needed to mind him. I soon realised there are few as competitive as Keith and he did not need minding at all. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/jun/20/british-irish-lions-argentina-first-match-rugby-union

Sports quiz of the week: Lions, Le Mans, Royal Ascot, Euros and Club World Cup

Have you been paying attention to the football, athletics, golf, rugby union, horse racing, darts and ice hockey? Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/jun/20/sports-quiz-lions-ascot-euros-club-world-cup-football-athletics-golf-rugby-racing-darts-hockey

‘How did I get here?’: GB basketball captain Temi Fágbénlé’s journey from shy London teen to WNBA

Britain’s driving force on EuroBasket prospects, playing alongside Caitlin Clark and the importance of a team mentality at the highest level“It’s great to be back with Great Britain,” Temi Fágbénlé says, her voice carrying the quiet confidence of a seasoned international basketball player. “I come from the WNBA but I’m glad I was able to make both work.” For the captain of GB’s women’s basketball team, balancing the demands of the world’s premier league with national team duties is a familiar tightrope walk. “I’m thankful teams see European competition as a priority for some of us. They’ve accommodated where they could.”EuroBasket, a biennial competition, is one of the biggest international tournaments in the game. It is also a qualifying metric for the Women’s World Cup and the Olympics. With the 2025 edition under way, Fágbénlé’s presence is crucial as one of the leading WNBA players choosing to play in an international tournament during the season. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/jun/20/gb-basketball-captain-temi-fagbenle-journey-from-shy-london-teen-to-wnba

Coco Gauff stunned in first match since winning French Open title

Gauff stunned by qualifier Wang at Berlin OpenFrench Open champ makes seven double faultsWang to face Badosa after career-best grass winNewly crowned French Open champion Coco Gauff was stunned on her return to action Thursday, losing to Chinese qualifier Wang Xinyu 6-3, 6-3 at the Berlin Open.The second-ranked Gauff, who won at Roland-Garros less than two weeks ago for her second Grand Slam title, amassed 25 unforced errors and seven double faults in her loss to Wang. Gauff had a bye to the second round at the grass-court tournament, a warmup for Wimbledon. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/jun/19/coco-gauff-upset-berlin-open-wang-xinyu

Football transfer rumours: Liverpool move for Guéhi? Rashford to Newcastle?

Today’s rumours are working in the gardenMarcus Rashford’s future is very much in the category of “up in the air”. The chances of him ever playing for Manchester United look slim-to-none as he will not be given a boarding pass for the club’s US tour, while a dream move to Barcelona is going up in smoke. A few Serie A clubs have had a sniff but his wages may be a stumbling block. What he really needs is a Champions League club with plenty of cash. Step in … Newcastle. The Magpies are back in the bigger time, will be eager to make a statement signing or two, and Rashford fits the bill. Liam Delap chose Chelsea over Newcastle and Eddie Howe likes to have the best English talent at his disposal, so Rashford would be an ideal candidate as an extra attacking option.It takes a brave man to move from Liverpool to Everton (and vice versa). Nick Barmby, Abel Xavier and Gary Ablett did the Merseyside double in their time and the next potential candidate is Ben Doak. The Scottish teenager impressed on loan in the Championship last season at Middlesbrough and is ready to step up to the Premier League but there is no obvious role he can play under Arne Slot. It means Doak might need to find an alternative and at least this one would mean he didn’t have to move house. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/jun/20/football-transfer-rumours-newcastle-manchester-united--marcus-rashford-liverpool-marc-guehi

Hong Kong teachers allegedly told to avoid US Independence Day events

Messages advise staff to also warn students off celebrations to avoid violating national security lawTeachers in Hong Kong have been warned to keep themselves and students away from any US Independence Day celebrations as they may breach national security laws, educators have alleged.A text message purportedly sent by the principal of a Hong Kong school to staff said the education bureau’s regional education office had reminded them “to be careful about Independence Day activities organised by the US consulate in Hong Kong, and not to participate to avoid violating the national security law and Hong Kong laws”. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/20/hong-kong-teachers-allegedly-told-to-avoid-us-independence-day-events

Rise in ‘alert fatigue’ risks phone users disabling news notifications, study finds

Publishers could see audiences uninstall apps, as some users receive up to 50 alerts a day, analysis showsIt has become a feature of modern life – millions of phones simultaneously buzz or sound the alarm as users are notified of breaking news deemed too important to miss.Now evidence is mounting that the prevalence of news alerts is giving rise to “alert fatigue”, with some mobile phone users peppered with as many as 50 notifications a day. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/jun/20/increase-alert-fatigue-phone-users-disable-news-notifications-study-finds

‘It’s life and death’: parents of baby killed at nursery call for mandatory CCTV

Nursery worker would not have been convicted of Genevieve Meehan’s manslaughter without footage, parents sayThe weekend before Genevieve Meehan died was one of the best of her short life.The nine-month-old with the beaming smile and emerald eyes was leaping through her milestones: she had taken her first tentative steps, hands clasped to her mother’s, and said her first word: “Dadda”. She tried on sunglasses and a swimsuit for their first family holiday two months later. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/jun/20/parents-of-genevieve-meehan-baby-killed-at-nursery-call-for-mandatory-cctv

Paris airshow in subdued mood after deadly Air India crash

Industry professionals gather at civil and military aircraft event further overshadowed by war between Israel and IranEvery second summer more than 100,000 aviation industry professionals gather in Paris for an airshow – a flying display crossed with a vast conference. The mood at the latest gathering this week was more subdued than usual, after the deadly crash a week ago of a London-bound Air India flight in Ahmedabad.Investigators have recovered the black box from the plane to try to work out the cause of the disaster. The aircraft maker Boeing, and GE Aerospace, which made the 787 Dreamliner’s engines, both cancelled many of their media-facing events out of respect for the families of the 241 passengers and crew who died, as well as at least 30 more people on the ground who were killed. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jun/20/paris-airshow-in-subdued-mood-after-deadly-air-india-crash

Chris Brown enters not guilty plea over alleged bottle attack at London club

US singer appears in court accused of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm after arrest last month over incident in Mayfair in 2023The American singer and actor Chris Brown has pleaded not guilty to attempting to cause grievous bodily harm in an alleged bottle attack at a London nightclub.Brown, 36, is accused of attempting to unlawfully and maliciously cause Abraham Diaw grievous bodily harm with intent at the Tape club in Hanover Square, Mayfair. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jun/20/chris-brown-court-alleged-bottle-attack-london-nightclub

Rare maccoa ducklings hatch at Chester zoo for first time

Four ducklings add to safety-net population of African species that is estimated to be down to 5,000 in the wildChester zoo has successfully hatched one of Africa’s rarest species of duck for the first time.It said the successful breeding of four maccoa ducklings formed part of growing efforts to safeguard Africa’s most threatened species. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jun/20/rare-maccoa-ducklings-hatch-chester-zoo

White House moves to keep costly, dirty, unneeded Michigan coal plants open

One plant produces more arsenic pollution than any other in US, and the other has been slated for closure since 2021The Trump administration is moving to keep open two Michigan coal plants that emit about 45% of the state’s greenhouse gas pollution, which opponents say is an indication of how the US president plans to wield his controversial national energy emergency executive order.Already, the US Department of Energy (DoE) has ordered the JH Campbell coal plant on Lake Michigan to remain open beyond its 31 May closure date, while the administration is expected to prolong the life of the Monroe power plant on Lake Erie, currently scheduled to begin closing in 2028. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/20/trump-michigan-coal-power-plants

Climate misinformation turning crisis into catastrophe – major report

False claims obstructing climate action, say researchers, amid calls for climate lies to be criminalisedRampant climate misinformation is turning the crisis into a catastrophe, according to the authors of a new report.It found climate action was being obstructed and delayed by false and misleading information stemming from fossil fuel companies, rightwing politicians and some nation states. The report, from the International Panel on the Information Environment (Ipie), systematically reviewed 300 studies. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jun/19/climate-misinformation-turning-crisis-into-catastrophe-ipie-report

One man, thousands of trees and heaps of determination: how regreening Guatemala transformed a village

Since 1999, Armando López Pocol and his team of volunteers have bucked the trend for deforestation, regenerating the landscape of the highlands with their Chico Mendes projectArmando López Pocol is showing off some of the thousands of trees he has planted in Pachaj, his village in the highlands of western Guatemala, when he suddenly halts his white pickup truck. Alongside an American volunteer, Lyndon Hauge, he gazes out over a charred field. Clouds of smoke are still billowing from the ground.As he walks through the ash-covered field, his optimistic speech turns to sadness and he pauses in silence to take in the barren landscape. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/jun/19/green-planet-reforestation-chico-mendes-environmentalism-regeneration-guatemala

Amazon under UK investigation over alleged failure to pay suppliers on time

Regulator says it has ‘reasonable grounds’ to suspect company breached groceries supply code of practiceBusiness live – latest updatesThe UK’s grocery industry watchdog has launched an investigation into Amazon over allegations that the retail and technology company is failing to pay its suppliers on time.The Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) said it had “reasonable grounds” to suspect that Amazon had breached a part of the groceries supply code of practice, which mandates that there should not be delays in payments made to suppliers. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jun/20/amazon-uk-investigation-alleged-failure-to-pay-groceries-suppliers-on-time

Woman appears in court charged with murdering sister in north London flat

Nancy Pexton appeared at Highbury Corner magistrates court charged with murdering Jennifer AbbottA woman has appeared in court charged with murdering her 69-year-old sister who was found stabbed inside her north London home.Nancy Pexton, also 69, appeared at Highbury Corner magistrates court on Friday charged with murdering Jennifer Abbott, also known as Sarah Steinberg, last Tuesday. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jun/20/woman-charged-with-murdering-jennifer-abbott

BBC threatens legal action against AI startup over content scraping

Letter sent to Perplexity AI but US-based firm calls corporation’s claims ‘manipulative and opportunistic’The BBC is threatening legal action against Perplexity AI, in the corporation’s first move to protect its content from being scraped without permission to build artificial intelligence technology.The corporation has sent a letter to Aravind Srinivas, the chief executive of the San Francisco-based startup, saying it has gathered evidence that Perplexity’s model was “trained using BBC content”. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/jun/20/bbc-threatens-legal-action-against-ai-startup-over-content-scraping

Pro-Palestine protesters break into RAF base on scooters and deface two aircraft

Palestine Action members break into Brize Norton airbase in Oxfordshire and spray military planes with red paintA pro-Palestine protest group has said two of its members broke into the RAF’s Brize Norton airbase and defaced two military aircraft with spray paint before escaping the site without being detained.Palestine Action released a short video on Friday morning showing two people driving electric scooters unimpeded inside the airbase at night, in an embarrassing breach of Ministry of Defence (MoD) security at a site where transport planes used by the king and prime minister can be parked. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/20/pro-palestine-protesters-deface-two-aircraft-raf-brize-norton

Netanyahu stuns Israelis by describing ‘personal cost’ of Iran war – postponing son’s wedding

Israeli prime minister prompts furious backlash for remarks in front of missile-struck hospital at height of Iran conflict Middle East crisis – live updatesBenjamin Netanyahu has evoked the spirit of London during the blitz, and pointed to his own family’s sacrifice amid the blood, toil, tears and sweat of his nation: the second postponement of his son’s wedding.The Israeli prime minister’s remarks, solemnly delivered to the cameras against the backdrop of a missile-struck hospital building in the southern city of Beersheba, set off a howl of derision that echoed around the Hebrew-language internet, at the height of a war that Netanyahu unleashed on Friday. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/19/netanyahu-son-wedding-comments-israel-backlash

Buy here now: Oasis to open series of merch stores before reunion gigs

Exclusive: first store opens in Spinningfields, Manchester, two weeks before band’s first gig in 16 years in CardiffWill the truce between the Gallagher brothers hold out? Will the most-hyped reunion in British rock history actually come off? And will fans be able to bag themselves an official Oasis tea towel?The answer to that final question, at least, has arrived. The first Oasis merchandise store will open in Manchester on Friday, two weeks before the band perform their first gig in 16 years at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jun/20/oasis-merch-stores-spinningfields-manchester-london-cardiff-edinburgh-birmingham-dublin

Viktor Orbán’s crackdown won’t stop Pride march, says Budapest mayor

Leader says LGBTQ+ gathering in Hungarian capital will go ahead even if police try to impose a government-backed banThe mayor of Budapest has vowed to go ahead with the city’s Pride march next weekend, declaring he will “come up with a plan C” even if the police try to impose a government-backed ban.Hungarian police said on Thursday they were banning the country’s main Pride march from taking place in the capital, citing recent legislation passed by Viktor Orbán’s government that prohibits the promotion of same-sex relationships to under-18s. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/19/mayor-plan-c-police-ban-budapest-pride

Expedition to ‘real home of the pirates of the Caribbean’ hopes to unearth ships and treasure

Exploration of Bahamas seabed will be first time notorious New Providence hideout has been searchedPirates of the Caribbean is a $4.5bn swashbuckling film franchise and Blackbeard and Calico Jack Rackham are among marauding buccaneers who have captured imaginations over the centuries.But almost nothing is known about the life and times of actual pirates. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/19/expedition-new-providence-bahamas-treasure-pirates-caribbean

‘If there’s a rule, he tries to break it’: the explosively colourful textiles of Sam Gilliam

A new exhibition explores the late artist’s unexpected sojourn in Ireland, where practical constrictions and the wild scenery inspired a burst of fierce creativitySam Gilliam’s artistic life was bookended by success against the odds. In 1972, he became the first Black artist to represent the US at the world’s most prestigious art festival, the Venice Biennale. He had overcome poverty and prejudice in the south to study art at one of the first desegregated universities, and, after settling in Washington, was hailed as a radical innovator within the group of abstract painters dubbed the Color School.Pushing his medium in new sculptural directions, he broke convention by taking his canvases off their wooden stretchers. His best-known colour-drenched works have an improvisatory quality, never installed the same way twice, whether they’re draped on the wall or hung tent-like from the ceiling. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2025/jun/20/sam-gilliam-artist-sewing-fields-exhibition-irish-museum-modern-art

‘No one is immune to grief’: the team turning A Single Man into a sexy, grimy, heartbreaking ballet

Musician John Grant was blown away by Christopher Isherwood’s 1964 novel, finding deep resonances in its tale of gay love and loss. Now, he’s put songs to choreographer Jonathan Watkins’s new dance adaptation“I can’t believe that somehow I was able to make it all the way to the age of 55 without having read that book!” says American singer-songwriter John Grant. “It’s a transformative book. I was just completely blown away by it; I’ve been trying to get everybody that I’ve ever met to read it.”The book Grant is telling me about, enthusing from his sofa at home in Reykjavík, is Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man, published in 1964, turned into 2009’s most stylish film by first-time director Tom Ford, starring Colin Firth, and now about to be a ballet, premiering at this year’s Manchester international festival. Grant, the former Czars frontman and now an acclaimed solo artist (with albums including Pale Green Ghosts and his latest, The Art of the Lie), is writing the new show’s songs. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/jun/20/john-grant-songs-ballet-single-man-christopher-isherwood-jonathan-watkins

The Mortician review – so queasy it will stay with you for ever

Even more staggering than The Jinx, this riveting documentary shows the truly atrocious lengths the manager of a California crematorium went to undercut his rivals. Absolutely not for the faint-heartedThe smart thing about comparing something to The Jinx is that you’re essentially daring viewers to stick with you until the very end. After all, as good as The Jinx was, it didn’t reach legendary status until its final few moments, when notorious murder suspect Robert Durst paused an interview with his microphone still on, and muttered a confession while using the toilet.The Mortician, it has to be said, is pound for pound more staggering than The Jinx. Joshua Rofé’s three-part documentary about California cremator David Sconce is a feat of construction, patiently doling out larger and larger transgressions until the whole thing becomes swamped in unimaginable horror. It’s the kind of documentary where, when the credits roll, you realise that you haven’t drawn breath for several minutes. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/jun/19/the-mortician-review-david-sconce-documentary

Double trouble: can James Gunn really make two separate Batman movies work?

It’s suggested that the Gunn-produced The Brave and the Bold will be set within the DCU while Matt Reeves’s sequel to The Batman will exist as a DC Elseworlds storyThere was a time when having two Batmen in your cinematic universe would have felt like a clerical error. But in James Gunn’s brave and bold new DCU, having several Bruce Waynes is increasingly looking less like an irritating glitch and more like a deliberate choice.Gunn has been clear for some time that he sees no issue with two Caped Crusaders striding into multiplexes at the same time. I have a sneaking suspicion that this is down to the fact that Matt Reeves’s The Batman – an insular, noirish, Kurt Cobain-obsessed but relatively real-world take on the Dark Knight – proved pretty popular with audiences just prior to Gunn being handed the keys to the DC kingdom. But who am I to quibble? Sure, this might be a universe destined to feature cavalcades of superheroes who exist in a magical world of shimmering cosplay, but if we can just convince the geek in the street that the Robert Pattinson version of Batman is living in a completely different, gritty David Fincher-esque rat-infested underbelly of Gotham, all will be reasonably well. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jun/20/double-trouble-can-james-gunn-really-make-two-separate-batman-movies-work

Grenfell: Uncovered review – heartwrenching account of avoidable tragedy

Bleak, enraging documentary combines firsthand accounts of the disaster with appalling record of official negligenceThe 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London which caused 72 deaths is now the subject of Olaide Sadiq’s heartwrenching and enraging documentary, digging at the causes and movingly interviewing survivors and their families, whose testimony is all but unbearable. At the very least, the film will remind you that when politicians smugly announce they wish to make a bonfire of regulations, they should be taken, under police escort if necessary, and made to stand at the foot of the tower. As for the housing secretary at the time of the tower’s refurbishment, the abysmally arrogant Eric Pickles, he was made a life peer in 2018.With the very considerable help of the housing-issues journalist Peter Apps, the film shows how the horror was created by a perfect storm of incompetence, mendacity, greed, and (that heartsinking phrase) systemic failure. The local council were keen to spruce up its brutalist, concrete (but safe) Grenfell Tower because it was a “poor cousin” and depressing property values. Decorative cladding was just the ticket and the council allowed the installation of the cheapest tiles, made of aluminium composite material which was terrifyingly flammable. A US aluminium firm’s French division sold the council those tiles; in the subsequent inquiry they were accused of suppressing their own research into how dangerous another of their products was. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jun/20/grenfell-uncovered-review-heartwrenching-account-of-avoidable-tragedy

Bride Hard review – Rebel Wilson action comedy is hard to endure

The star makes for a charmless lead in a rubbishy attempt to mash a female-led wedding comedy and an action caperIn Apple’s 2023 car crash Ghosted, things went from worse to genuinely never been this bad when the sounds of Uptown Funk erupted during another shoddily choreographed action sequence. It was a marriage so heinous that one would be tempted to think it was parody had it not existed in a film so entirely devoid of humour and self-awareness. The Chris Evans/Ana de Armas vehicle became the new nadir of the action comedy, a subgenre that has been run down into the sewer by streamers, carelessly cobbling together big stars and bad quips on an almost weekly basis.But as dreadful as it was, there was something fascinatingly dreadful about it, a cacophony of bad decisions that became almost instructive to the industry in its of-the-moment awfulness. In this week’s Bride Hard, the latest tinny genre mix to get chucked at us, when Rebel Wilson’s shoddy kitchen-based fight scene is scored to Geri Halliwell’s It’s Raining Men, you’ll be too bored to even roll your eyes, if you’re even awake at that point. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jun/19/bride-hard-movie-review-rebel-wilson

Arson, sex shops, livestreamed funerals: Wednesday’s Karly Hartzman on the wild stories in her southern gothic rock

Wednesday’s picaresque yarns are full of arson, sex shops and outcasts. At home in North Carolina, their leader explains why she likes things ‘a little bit scary’ – and what’s next after her split from bandmate MJ LendermanTo step into Karly Hartzman’s home is to see the contents of her brain shaken out. There is a fireplace mantel covered in dolls and figurines; a wooden rack filled with cassette tapes; an old doll’s house filled to the brim with fabric scraps; a few overflowing bookshelves. As the 28-year-old leader of the indie-rock band Wednesday greets me at the door, she realises a few new additions have just landed through the letterbox, some books about the history of hardcore and punk: she has been listening to both a lot and is eager to educate herself.Hartzman is a collector by nature, a habit that is also at the heart of her songwriting. Equally inspired by the southern rockers Drive-By Truckers and the shoegaze greats Swirlies, Wednesday’s sound combines heartfelt twang with walls of pummelling sound. Hartzman’s lyrics are highly narrative, inflected with striking, gnarly details. Listen to the band’s breakthrough album, 2023’s Rat Saw God, and you will hear about urine-coloured soda, roadside sex shops, accidental arson and teens getting high on Benadryl. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jun/20/wednesday-karly-hartzman-2025-best-alt-rock-album-interview

Add to playlist: James K’s downtempo dream pop and the week’s best new tracks

Right on time for the return of the chill out era, the New York producer traces a hypnotic path on an album that bobs along on sleepy breakbeats and angelic atmosphericsFrom New YorkRecommended if you like Caroline Polachek, Voice Actor, Vegyn
Up next New album Friend released via AD 93 on 5 SeptemberPull up your beanbag, light a lava lamp and crack open the Vicks VapoRub: downtempo is back. New compilation Telepathic Fish documents the 90s south London ambient night; Logic1000’s latest DJ-Kicks mix would barely register on an ECG; there’s none more languid than even the summer’s flagship pop album, Addison by Addison Rae. New York producer and musician James K has been dabbling in trip-hop – and various shades of experimental pop and club music – for more than a decade, but nonetheless, her new album, Friend, arrives right on time for summer’s wind down. (What is autumn if not the chill out room to escape the year’s most hectic season?) Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jun/20/add-to-playlist-james-ks-downtempo-dream-pop-and-the-weeks-best-new-tracks

Hotline TNT: Raspberry Moon review – love lights melodies through the fuzz

(Third Man Records)Will Anderson opens up on the NYC group’s third album, revealing an expansive articulacy to his take on 90s indie-rockThe third album by these New York-based indie-rockers rings some crucial changes. First, bandleader Will Anderson is in love, which alleviates some of the gloom that pervaded earlier records. And while the lyrics don’t amount to much on the page, when sung in unaffected deadpan and robed in artfully embellished shoegazey noise, Anderson’s elliptical poetics carry a compelling weight.Second, and more importantly, Anderson invited his bandmates into the studio to record Raspberry Moon. Where previous albums had been one-man affairs, with Anderson overdubbing layer upon layer of guitar and synth on his lonesome, the presence of other musicians in the room has shaken up the paradigm. Their trademark walls of fuzz remain, but Raspberry Moon also fields tracks such as Break Right, on which the happy/sad melodies flourish with space to breathe, and the lush Lawnmower, which is practically unplugged (save for a keening thread of feedback in the distance) and utterly lovely for it. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jun/20/hotline-tnt-raspberry-moon-review-third-man

Duo Ruut: Ilmateade review – soft psych-folk channels hazy days and snowy rides | Jude Rogers' folk album of the month

(Duo Ruut Music)The pair play with the traditions of Baltic Finnic runo song to explore the connections between the weather and emotion, giving ancient forms crossover potentialDuo Ruut (Square Duo) are Ann-Lisett Rebane and Katariina Kivi, two Estonian musicians who write, sing and play facing each other, their instrument being a single kannel (an Estonian zither). Playing with the texts and repetitive motifs of runo song, a form of traditional oral poetry specific to the Baltic Finnic languages, their music holds a glistening minimalism in its rhythms and a crossover sheen in its sound. Rebane and Kivi’s voices help – often sweet, but also sharp when required.Their ambitious second album Ilmateade (Weather Report) explores the powerful yet under-sung connections between the weather and emotion. It begins with the minute-long Intro, a track that builds gorgeously on the scratchy, dying notes of their 2021 EP, Kulla Kerguseks (From the Lightness of Gold), implying both continuity and metamorphosis.
Then we’re in Udu (Fog), lulled along on thick, beautiful clouds of shifting time signatures, before Vastlalaul (The Sledding Song) slows and speeds, glossily, through the snow. These songs are rhythmically complex and have solid, ancient roots, but fans of ambient, Balearic dreaminess and the softer sides of indie pop and psych-folk will find woozy comforts here. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jun/20/duo-ruut-ilmateade-review-estonian

Graham Norton: ‘The Bell Jar changed how I felt about books’

The TV presenter and author on discovering the beauty of Charles Dickens and why John Fowles put him off writing for 30 yearsMy earliest reading memoryI started reading because I was wildly jealous of my sister Paula, who is four years older than me. I must have been six or seven when I managed to read The Mountain of Adventure by Enid Blyton. I know she is no longer in fashion but I still remember the thrill of the world she created and the excitement of the plot.My favourite book growing upI adored the Flambards series by KM Peyton, probably because it felt slightly adult and a little bit sexy, but my absolute favourites were Grimble and Grimble at Christmas by Clement Freud. They were anarchic and knowing, in a way I hadn’t encountered before but more than anything else they were very funny. It also introduced me to the inspired illustrations of Quentin Blake. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/jun/20/graham-norton-the-bell-jar-changed-how-i-felt-about-books

Bring the House Down by Charlotte Runcie review – the joy of the hatchet job

Is giving an artist a one-star review an act of abuse? An influential theatre critic finds out in this smart story of #MeToo-era revengeWhen Jesus is pressed to condemn the woman taken in adultery, he says, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” No one does, and a lesson in critical generosity is learned. Judge not, that ye be not judged.Is giving an artist a one-star review an act of abuse – casting the first stone? Is it worse when the reviewer is male and the artist female? That’s the starting point of this entertaining and very timely debut novel from Charlotte Runcie, an arts journalist who, as a young intern, was lambasted on stage by a successful standup to whom she’d given a bad review.There was an interactive customer feedback device propped up on the bar. Tell us what you think of our service, it said, and underneath there were two buttons you could press: an angry red face or a smiling green one. Excellent or worthless, nothing in between. Review your experience, share your thoughts, recommend us to your friends, swipe left, swipe right, leave a comment, have an opinion. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/jun/20/bring-the-house-down-by-charlotte-runcie-review-the-joy-of-the-hatchet-job

How to Lose Your Mother by Molly Jong-Fast review – Erica Jong’s daughter on the worst year of her life

In this frank, exposing memoir, Jong-Fast reflects on her dysfunctional upbringing as her family falls apartIn 2023, Molly Jong-Fast had the year from hell. Her husband, Matt, discovered he had pancreatic cancer; her father-in-law, aunt and stepfather all died; and her then 81-year-old mother, the novelist and poet Erica Jong, was diagnosed with dementia. “My mother is just a body now,” she states in How to Lose Your Mother. “Erica Jong the person has left the planet.”That year also marked the 50th anniversary of Fear of Flying, Jong’s autobiographical novel. Hailed as a landmark of feminist literature, it made a star of its author, selling more than 20m copies and leading to appearances on The Tonight Show and the cover of Newsweek. The book coined the phrase “the zipless fuck” to describe casual sex. “Now think about being the offspring of the person who wrote that sentence. And pour one out for me,” writes Jong-Fast. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/jun/19/how-to-lose-your-mother-erica-jong-molly-jong-fast

Great Black Hope by Rob Franklin review – privilege and race intersect in a fine debut

A young gay Black man escapes from grief into the hedonism of upper-echelon New York, in a lyrical tale of redemptionLives can turn on one mistake. Smith’s comes when he is caught in the corner of a restaurant in the Hamptons on the last night of summer, snorting cocaine from a key. He walks calmly out with the two khaki-clad police officers, poses for a mugshot and posts his $500 bail.Smith is Black, which won’t help, but he comes from wealth, which will. So he calls his sister, who calls his father in Atlanta, who tells his mother, who collapses on the floor in shock then starts calling lawyers. Smith prepares for his court date with a series of AA meetings and counselling sessions that will make it clear that this promising young man is on the road to redemption. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/jun/18/great-black-hope-by-rob-franklin-review-privilege-and-race-intersect-in-a-fine-debut

From Street Fighter to Final Fantasy: Yoko Shimomura, the composer who put the classical in gaming’s classics

With a four-decade career beginning at Capcom in the 8-bit era, Shimomura is one of the most acclaimed names in gaming. She recalls her early struggles – and explains why her beloved classical music fits best with RPGsAlfred Hitchcock, David Attenborough, Harold Pinter, Stanley Kubrick, Ridley Scott, Hideo Kojima – these are just a few of the recipients of the Bafta fellowship, the highest honour the academy can bestow. Japanese composer Yoko Shimomura is the latest to receive the accolade; one of only 17 women and four Japanese people to have done so. She is also the first video-game composer to be recognised by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and the first composer recognised at all since John Barry in 2005.It is with good reason that the academy has honoured her. Shimomura is an icon. You’ll know her music from Street Fighter, Final Fantasy, Super Mario, Kingdom Hearts, Legend of Mana, Streets of Rage and more than 70 other games she has contributed original compositions or arrangements to. Her 37-year-long career has seen her record at Abbey Road Studios, have her music played by symphonic orchestras around the world, and work in genres ranging from rock to electronica, ambient to industrial, pop to opera. And yet Shimomura seems unchanged by her success. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/jun/20/yoko-shimomura-interview-composer-street-fighter-final-fantasy

‘We’re all connected – but it’s not the connection I imagined’: Hideo Kojima on Death Stranding 2

The legendary video game designer discusses directing actors in LA from Japan, how Mad Max inspired his career and the unique reason why he wants to go to spaceHideo Kojima – the acclaimed video game director who helmed the stealth-action Metal Gear series for decades before founding his own company to make Death Stranding, a supernatural post-apocalyptic delivery game this publication described as “2019’s most interesting blockbuster” – is still starstruck, or perhaps awestruck. “George [Miller] is my sensei, my God,” he proclaims gleefully.Kojima is visiting Australia for a sold-out chat with Miller, the creator of the Mad Max film franchise, at the Sydney film festival. The two struck up an unlikely but fierce friendship nearly a decade ago, and Kojima says that, as a teenager, the first two Mad Max films inspired him to become a movie director and thus, eventually, a video game maker. At the panel later, Miller is equally effusive, calling Kojima “almost my brother”; the Australian even lent his appearance to a major character in Kojima’s latest game, Death Stranding 2. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/games/2025/jun/19/were-all-connected-but-its-not-the-connection-i-imagined-hideo-kojima-on-death-stranding-2

The Maga-flavoured faux pas that shook the games industry

Splitgate 2’s Ian Proulx thought his Musk gag was funny – but what it revealed was the major blind spots still in the businessOne thing most game developers can agree on in the modern industry is that it’s hard to drum up any awareness for your latest project without a mammoth marketing budget. Last year, almost 20,000 new titles were released on the PC gaming platform Steam alone, the majority disappearing into the content blackhole that is the internet. So when a smaller studio is offered the chance to get on the stage at the Summer Games Fest, an event streamed live to a global audience of around 50 million people, it’s a big deal. Not something that you want to spectacularly misjudge.Enter Ian Proulx, cofounder of 1047 Games. His short slot at the event earlier this month had him walking on stage with a baseball bat to promote the online shooter Splitgate 2 by announcing that he was “tired of playing the same Call of Duty every year”, while wearing a cap bearing the slogan “Make FPS great again”. It did not go well. Gamers and fellow developers criticised his decision to diss another studio’s game as well as his politically charged use of a Maga/Trump meme, especially with anti-ICE protesters being beaten and arrested just across town. Proulx defended his actions, denying that his use of the cap slogan was political, but four days later he made an apology via X explaining: “We needed something to grab attention, and the honest truth is, we tried to think of something and this is what we came up with.” Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/games/2025/jun/18/pushing-buttons-maga-splitgate2-summer-games-fest

Beyond Mario Kart World: what else is worth playing on Nintendo Switch 2?

Nintendo has slept on new games for its new handheld but clockwork-puzzle murder missions, an RPG reborn and a beefed-up Yakuza 0 are the highlights from other developersThe Nintendo Switch 2 certainly makes a strong first impression, but once that gadget limerence begins to fade, it’s down to the games to stave off any creeping buyer’s remorse. We all know that Mario Kart World is undoubtedly a multiplayer masterpiece, and original Switch games from Pokémon Scarlet/Violet to Zelda have been updated to look amazing on the new console, but there’s otherwise a severe lack of Nintendo-made launch games for the Switch (beyond the £8 tech demo, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour).Thankfully, other developers have stepped in to fill the gap, releasing a bunch of updated versions of games that have been out on other consoles for a while. What should you pick up when you’re tired of Mario Kart World? Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/games/2025/jun/18/mario-kart-world-nintendo-switch-2-yakuza-0

Post your questions for music legend PP Arnold

Ahead of her Glastonbury performance, the First Cut Is the Deepest singer will be taking on your queries about her star-studded careerShe’s the singer with iconic 60s hits such as The First Cut Is the Deepest and Angel of the Morning, who has been called on as a collaborator by some of the biggest names in British music. And as she gears up for a performance at this year’s Glastonbury festival, PP Arnold will be answering your questions.Born into a family of gospel singers in Los Angeles, Arnold could have easily never ended up in music: by the age of 17 she was a mother-of-two in an abusive marriage. But she auditioned for Ike and Tina Turner and was hired as an Ikette, fleeing her husband to perform backing vocals on tour and in the studio, with Tina becoming a mentor. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jun/19/post-your-questions-for-music-legend-pp-arnold

‘Death is complicated and kaleidoscopically beautiful’: Jerskin Fendrix on his emotional new album – and life after Oscar success

The British composer broke into Hollywood as Yorgos Lanthimos’s go-to guy on Poor Things and more. But his heart remains in Shropshire – the backdrop to his ambitious, grief-stricken latest recordThe sun is shining, birds are tweeting and a river gently flows just yards away as Jerskin Fendrix tells me about his love of growing up in Shropshire. “It was so gorgeous and majestic,” he says, sitting in the garden of a friend’s house where he spent a lot of time in his youth. “It was nature, forests and hills and then just normal teenage life. The combination of this numinous, big landscape and getting wasted in a cornfield with your mates listening to Kanye West on a Bluetooth speaker while seeing a massive sunset.”Such vivid scenes fill his latest album, Once Upon a Time … in Shropshire. The opening track, Beth’s Farm, captures an idyllic scene where animals roam and rural teens party. “I thought it was a really nice symbol of this naive innocence,” he says. “Trying to get across how bucolic and heavenly this was before it starts to get corrupted.” Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jun/19/composer-jerskin-fendrix-interview-new-album-once-upon-a-time-in-shropshire

‘What are you trying to incite?’ Billy Porter asks thorny questions with This Bitter Earth

The Cabaret and Pose star is making his UK directorial debut with Harrison David Rivers’ play about love and activism. We join rehearsals with Omari Douglas and Alexander LincolnWhen Billy Porter talks, people listen. They have no choice. The actor, fresh from a stint as Emcee in the London run of Cabaret, and about to reprise the role on Broadway, speaks in a poised, purposeful, regal fashion. Each word is selected with care and weighed in his hand as if it were an avocado in the fruit and veg aisle, the gaps between words so lengthy that it isn’t always clear when he has finished speaking. Seated around the table in the south London studio where Porter is overseeing rehearsals for This Bitter Earth, which marks his UK directorial debut, are the playwright Harrison David Rivers and the actors Omari Douglas (It’s a Sin) and Alexander Lincoln (Emmerdale). Everyone maintains an attentive silence while Porter is speaking, until there can be no doubt that he has completed his thought.“The … beautiful … part of this play,” he says, easing his feet out of a pair of marshmallow-soft cream-and-ebony moon boots and nudging them to one side, “is we get to watch two people who love each other try … time … and time … and time … and time again … and they never give up … on themselves … or on love. There is hope … We don’t have to be divided. Having conversations that are complicated is what makes the healing happen … without blame … without shame.” Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/jun/19/billy-porter-this-bitter-earth-rehearsal-interview

Rodin’s rowdy rival: Medardo Rosso, the anarchist who brought sculpture into the modern era

A new retrospective shines a light on the turn-of-the-century Italian artist, one of the art world’s most obscure yet revered figures, whose legacy was eclipsed by his contemporariesIf you ask art dealers and auctioneers about the legacy of the turn-of-the-century sculptor Medardo Rosso, you are likely to be met with a uniform reply: “Medardo who?” There’s no judgment here. I’ve worked in and around the art world for 20 years, and until recently I hadn’t heard of Rosso either.In artists’ ateliers, however, Rosso has long been a familiar and revered name. Auguste Rodin, the father of modern sculpture, was his champion and friend until the pair’s fallout. Émile Zola was a fan. The playwright Edward Albee owned a version of his sculpture Enfant Juif; French poet Guillaume Apollinaire described him as “without a doubt the greatest living sculptor”. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2025/jun/19/rodins-rowdy-rival-medardo-rosso-the-anarchist-who-brought-sculpture-into-the-modern-era

Crashing out: how gen Z adopted the perfect term for our unstable era

Overwhelmed by stress and social media, young people are finding new language to describe the inevitable irritation and anger that ensue ...Name: Crashing out.Age: Psychologically ancient, lexically new. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/jun/18/crashing-out-gen-z-perfect-term-unstable-era

The shorter man’s search for love: ‘One woman cried when I told her how tall I am’

Tinder is trialling a height filter, following in the footsteps of some other popular apps. What is behind the ‘6ft fixation’ in dating – and could it be scuppering the chance of true connection?Height is often seen as a dealbreaker when it comes to romance, particularly within heterosexual relationships. But when Tinder recently said that it was trialling a feature that allows some premium users to filter potential matches by height, it quickly proved controversial. “Oh God. They added a height filter,” lamented one Reddit thread, while an X user claimed: “It’s over for short men.”“I’ve experimented with not putting my height on my dating profile, or lying about it just to see, and the number of likes I get shoots up massively,” says Stuart, who is in his 50s and from the Midlands. “I know I get screened out by the majority of women from the off.” At 5ft 7in (170cm), Stuart is just two inches below the UK and US male average height of 5ft 9in, but a height filter would probably prevent him from receiving as many matches. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/jun/18/the-shorter-mans-search-for-love-one-woman-cried-when-i-told-her-how-tall-i-am

Helen Goh’s recipe for oat shortcakes with honey-roasted apricots and almond cream | The sweet spot

Crumbly, summery, cobbler-style sandwich biscuits that you’ll make again and againThese buttery oat shortcakes are crisp on the outside, tender within and just rustic enough to feel inviting. Filled with honey-roasted apricots and a fragrant almond cream, they make a fabulous pudding; berries macerated with sugar and a splash of orange juice or Cointreau would also be delicious. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2025/jun/20/oat-shortcakes-recipe-honey-roasted-apricots-almond-cream-helen-goh

Cocktail of the week: Prawn on the Lawn’s matcha whisky sour – recipe | The good mixer

A whisky sour with an earthy, verdant slantThis gloriously green drink matches the bright mood of early summer, when the countryside is bursting with verdant life. If you like, halve the amount of whisky and replace it with 25ml amaretto, for a sweet, nutty twist.Maddy Slack, bar and restaurant manager, Prawn on the Lawn, London N1 and Padstow, Cornwall Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2025/jun/20/cocktail-of-the-week-prawn-on-the-lawn-matcha-whisky-sour-recipe

Rachel Roddy’s recipe for mini babas al rum | A kitchen in Rome

Oozy, boozy miniature cakes to enjoy with a kick of caffeineSomeone I know and admire very much, and who seems in excellent health at between 82 and 89 years old, has an espresso and a mini baba al rum every day at about three o’clock – except Sundays, when he has ice-cream. Every now and then, I join him and we then walk for a bit (there is nothing like a caffeine-baba spring in your step), and congratulate each other for not smoking while both wishing that we had a cigarette.In Poland, the word “baba” can refer to a variety of baked goods, and one in particular is made with rye flour and sweet wine. Baba al rum came about thanks to the greediness of twice king of Poland Stanislaus Leszczyński, who, exiled in Lorraine, thought his kougelhopf too dry, so asked for it to be soaked in rum. This inspired his pastry chef to perfect the dish and, in turn, subsequently inspired other pastry chefs, like baba dominoes. It is a project, though, and remember to chill the eggs. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2025/jun/19/mini-babas-al-rum-recipe-rachel-roddy

How to turn unripe stone fruit into a brilliant Japanese condiment – recipe | Waste not

Stubbornly unripe stone fruit are common in UK supermarkets, but it turns out they’re just the thing to turn into a classic, Japanese-style fermentUmeboshi is a puckeringly sour and umami-rich Japanese condiment made with ume, an Asian plum that’s closely related to the apricot. It’s usually made with ripe but firm fruit, which aren’t all that dissimilar to the under-ripe and slightly flavourless apricots and plums found in most UK supermarkets and which make a great British stand-in for ume. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2025/jun/18/umeboshi-recipe-turn-unripe-stone-fruit-into-japanese-condiment-recipe-apricot-plum-peach-umeboshi-ferment-zero-waste-cooking

What’s behind the return of mini-me dressing?

As more parents dress like their kids – and more children dress like grownups – some are asking if our offspring have become style inspirations … or even accessoriesThe Princess of Wales and her 10-year-old daughter, Princess Charlotte, seemed to have shared not just a carriage but also outfit notes at trooping the colour last weekend, since they were both wearing neighbouring blues on the colour wheel. They do it a lot, this so-called “mini-me dressing” – via tartans and tiaras, nautical details and nifty colour accents.She’s not the only one. Kim Kardashian does it with her kids, Beyoncé does it with Blue Ivy. In fact, it tallies with the whole vibe of nepo babies, who are now appearing in the public eye wearing outfits that are sartorial embodiments of the relationships that will privilege them for life. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2025/jun/19/mini-me-dressing-parents-dress-like-kids

Sali Hughes on beauty: want your makeup to last all day? A setting spray could be the answer

New setting mists that provide a cool and comfortable finish are perfect for summerI have never known a category soar as suddenly as setting spray. It existed for aeons, with the best of them (Urban Decay’s All Nighter, £29.50, which still has second-to-none longevity) rarely threatened by anything new. But countless sprays have launched in the past year, all of them promising to significantly increase the lifespan of makeup.There’s an argument that “fixing sprays” and “setting sprays” have different purposes (locking down makeup versus providing a more unified, less powdery finish, respectively), but I dismiss it because it’s based on the generous assumption that the marketeers who name products according to popular Google search terms give a hoot for semantic nuance. Here, I mean sprays that do all of the above, drastically reducing makeup fade and wear, even during dancing, hot flushing or perspiring. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2025/jun/18/sali-hughes-on-beauty-how-to-makeup-last-all-day-setting-spray

Jess Cartner-Morley on fashion: finding the perfect summer jacket

This season’s three hot looks: the barn jacket, the leather blouson and the haute anorakThe summer jacket is one of the trickiest bits of your wardrobe to get right, because nobody really wants to wear one. I mean, isn’t summer supposed to be lovely and warm? Isn’t that sort of the whole point of a summer wardrobe? Sandals and shorts exist to celebrate carefree, balmy days. Sunshine is the raison d’etre of a sundress. The very existence of a jacket is a summer buzzkill. But you need one. Sorry, but you do. Seasons are unpredictable, heatwaves break, darkness brings a chill. So you definitely have to put some thought into a summer jacket unless you want your fabulous summer outfits to end up hidden beneath some random hoodie you grabbed off the banister.Your summer jacket needs to do two things. It needs to keep you warm and dry when the weather turns chilly or wet. And somehow, at the same time, it needs to keep your summer vibe bouncing along, rather than kill the mood. Like I said: tricky. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2025/jun/18/jess-cartner-morley-fashion-finding-the-perfect-summer-jacket

Scared of shorts? Here are 53 perfect pairs for every occasion

Are boxers the new beach dress? Are bermudas really back? And is wearing shorts to the office ever OK? Here’s how to prepare yourself for the great unveilingHappy shorts season. Not happy for everyone, though, is it? It’s probably not a stretch to say that for many of us, wearing shorts is up there with getting into a swimsuit or showing your feet for the first time that year. A watershed moment of dread that, unlike most scary things – eating out alone, caring what other people think – only gets worse as you get older.But it’s also summer, and sometimes only shorts will do. Plus, this year, there really is something for every leg. Culottes are back, except they’re structured and called bermuda shorts – and you can even wear them to work. So are 1970s sports shorts, if your summer reference is more Ridgemont High. It’s not unseemly to wear boxer shorts, especially if you’re on the beach, just try them in seersucker – or if you prefer the freedom of a skirt, how about a skort? Hate all shorts? Try jean-shorts or “jorts” – they’re better than they sound. Here is a foolproof guide to getting over shorts fear. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/thefilter/2025/jun/15/best-shorts-summer-men-women

These evangelical men saved sex for marriage – they weren’t well prepared

Scores of Christian men have been raised on ideas of abstinence and ‘purity’ – what does that mean for their sex lives later on?Like many people, reaching the age of 40 inspired Matt to do some self-reflection. He had achieved many hallmarks of adulthood: a college degree, a career he enjoyed, and two beloved dogs. But he’d never had a relationship, or even a sexual partner.This weighed heavy on him; he craved the experience of a deep romantic connection and wondered how it might feel to be in love. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/jun/17/evangelical-sex-marriage

‘I feel like a drug dealer’: the parents using black-market melatonin to help their children sleep

Desperate dads meet in car parks to exchange packets; exhausted parents slip it into their kids’ drinks; families waiting months for prescriptions buy it ‘off label’. But is it worth the risk?The first time I gave him a gummy, I thought, ‘Oh my God, have I killed him?’ He just passed out in front of the TV. That never happens.” Jen is remembering giving her son, David, six, melatonin to help him sleep.  She got them from a friend, a paediatrician who gave them to her own child. “It was sort of hilarious. She had half a tub of gummies, and her husband met my husband in a car park near a roundabout to hand them over, like some underhand black-market deal.” Her tone is light, but in fact she and her husband were becoming increasingly desperate for sleep. “They were like gold dust.”By meeting in the car park to exchange the gummies, the husbands weren’t breaking the law, exactly, but they were stepping into a legal grey area. Melatonin is a synthetic version of the sleep hormone that occurs naturally in our bodies, rising at night in response to darkness and helping us get to sleep. It isn’t strictly illegal in the UK, but it is a prescription-only medication, and it can only be prescribed to children by a paediatrician under a specific set of circumstances, usually for children with a diagnosis of autism or ADHD. The rationale for this pathway is so that the paediatric specialist can rule out any potentially physical causes or underlying disease relating to the sleep disorder. Side-effects can include drowsiness the next day, nausea and feeling dizzy. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/jun/15/parents-black-market-melatonin-gummies-children-sleep

My mother-in-law is still driving despite a near miss. How can we stop her?

Accepting you can no longer do things is a huge deal, so this will need to be handled very sensitively• Every week Annalisa Barbieri addresses a problem sent in by a readerMy mother-in-law is still driving. After a near miss a few months ago, we told her she was no longer to drive with our children in her car, and we were grateful that she immediately agreed – but also puzzled that she didn’t consider stopping altogether.A year ago she developed cataracts and was told to stop driving. She coped well, using her free bus pass and walking, which she doesn’t mind doing and knows is good for her health. However, when the cataract had been treated, the doctor told her she could drive again. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/jun/15/my-mother-in-law-is-still-driving-despite-a-near-miss-how-can-we-stop-her

From tradwife to radwife: abandoning perfection in favour of the ‘good enough’ life

No they don’t cook from scratch, sometimes forget the sunscreen and often miss work deadlines, but at least their kids are wearing secondhand clothes … Meet the new gen of radically normal mumsMost mornings, I’m woken at 6am by my alarm (the baby crawling on to my head). I stretch, go downstairs, fill a bowl with iced water and, the theme of Transformers playing in the background, write my journal (a list of emails-I-forgot-to-reply-to). I drink hot water with cider vinegar to regulate my blood sugar levels, followed by tea using the baby’s leftover milk. Dragging a chilled jade gua sha spoon across my face in an attempt to reverse the ageing process, I then make my young sons’ porridge. While they eat, I plunge my face into the iced water until I can’t breathe, and begin my three-step routine (two La Roche-Posay serums followed by SPF). Some mornings, I run. Others, I cry into a coffee, albeit one made with organic milk, before taking a mushroom gummy to take the edge off the day. My partner and I divide childcare dropoffs – we’re late for both and broadly OK with that – and each have one day a week with the youngest.This is my routine. You might think it’s elaborate and weirdly specific, and you’d be right. Yet we live in an age of routines shared online, often in pursuit of some sort of personal optimisation – I’m aiming for somewhere between writing 2,500 words before breakfast (Anthony Trollope) and 5am cold plunge (fitness guru Ashton Hall). And however elaborate my morning seems to you, to me, it is nothing compared with the pernicious routine of the tradwife. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/jun/14/from-tradwife-to-radwife-abandoning-perfection-in-favour-of-the-good-enough-life

I lost weight and now people treat me better. How do I reconcile this? | Leading questions

It’s easy to resent being treated better because of how you look, advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith writes. Try to notice who has treated you the same all alongRead more Leading questionsI am a woman who has been fat since I was about eight; I am now in my early 50s. I have been on Ozempic for almost two years. I have lost almost 50 kilos and can now do a whole lot of things that I wasn’t physically able to do before, which is great. But people treat me differently now. I had my work review and I am doing less but got feedback about how much more I am doing. I have been asked if I am looking to date, and even if I am thinking of having a child, both questions I never was asked when I was bigger. I didn’t think people treated me badly before, and still don’t, but now I am seeing that there is a difference. It is not comfortable for me. I am not at risk of putting the weight back on but how do I navigate the difference in how people are treating me?Eleanor says: A lot of people notice this after losing lots of weight. You get spoken to in a different key. People turn on a switch you didn’t know they had. For some people this feels great. For others it’s unnerving: to feel so newly visible and yet somehow so unseen. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/jun/19/i-lost-weight-and-now-people-treat-me-better-how-do-i-navigate-this

I ditched the gym and you can too – here are six ways to get fit without it

Whether you enjoy ‘rucking’, walking, running or making your own sandbags, life after winding up your monthly membership can be your healthiest and happiest everAfter almost two decades of regular gym-going, I’ve finally cancelled my membership. The reasons for this are many and varied – I’m trying to save money, gym music is terrible these days, everyone seems to have forgotten how to share the equipment – but the main one is, I think it may actually make me fitter.Working for Men’s Fitness magazine for almost 10 years, I got to try out every trend, workout style and fitness event I wanted, and I noticed something interesting: quite frequently, the people with the fewest resources were in the best shape. I’m not including Hollywood actors in this, but otherwise, it’s often true: powerlifters working out in unheated concrete sheds get the strongest, runners who stay off treadmills get the fastest, and people exercising in basements have a focus rarely seen in palatial upmarket gyms. Browsing through photos from when my own gym membership was (briefly) paused during Covid lockdowns, I look … if not quite like Jason Statham, then at least his off-brand office-party equivalent. I might not have had the best cardio of my life – even social distancing couldn’t convince me to run more than three miles (5km) at a time – but I was certainly lean. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/jun/15/i-ditched-the-gym-and-you-can-too-here-are-six-ways-to-get-fit-without-it

Garmin Forerunner 970 review: the new benchmark for running watches

Premium sports tracker adds built-in torch, smartwatch and accuracy upgrades, plus useful new training tools, but costs far more than rivalsGarmin’s new top running watch, the Forerunner 970, has very big shoes to fill as it attempts to replace one of the best training and race companions available. Can a built-in torch, a software revamp and voice control really make a difference?The new top-of-the-line Forerunner takes the body of the outgoing Forerunner 965 and squeezes in a much brighter display, useful new running analytics and more of the advanced tech from Garmin’s flagship adventure watch the Fenix 8. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jun/19/garmin-forerunner-970-review-running-watch-sports-tracker-smartwatch-torch

Electrolyte sachets are everywhere – but will they cure a festival hangover?

Marketed to ‘party people’ and touted as a faster route to hydration than water, electrolytes are in the middle of a boomThe tickets are bought, the line-ups have been announced and it’s nearly time to drag last year’s tent out of the cupboard for a wipedown – and to evict a few dead earwigs. And this summer, there’s one more festival accessory that partygoers won’t be travelling without: electrolyte tablets.Touted as a faster route to rehydration than water, and a way to replace vital salts lost during heavy drinking and partying, the focus on festivals is the latest twist in a global boom for electrolytes, as everyone from triathletes to YouTubers sings the praises of these super-hydrating mineral supplements. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/jun/15/electrolyte-sachets-everywhere-cure-festival-hangover

Penthouses with a private terrace for sale in England and Scotland – in pictures

From an historic building in the heart of the city to a seaside complex inspired by an ocean liner Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/money/gallery/2025/jun/20/penthouses-with-a-private-terrace-for-sale-in-england-and-scotland-in-pictures

Get a fan and shut curtains: how to keep your home cool in a heatwave

Opening (and shading) your windows is vital to keeping the heat at bay. And turn things off and take a cool showerIt’s tempting to throw the windows open all day in the hope of a breeze, but when it is really hot outside, you only let in hotter air. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2025/jun/20/how-to-keep-cool-uk-heatwave-tips

You be the judge: should my colleague stop bringing cakes into the office?

Amina says the constant influx of baked goods is too much. Ruby says she’s just trying to bring joy to the workplace. You decide who should bake offFind out how to get a disagreement settled or become a jurorI’m not saying we should have no cakes ever, I just think we should stop assuming cake is always welcomeBringing cakes in shows we care and adds a little joy to the office. I’m not force-feeding anyone Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/jun/19/you-be-the-judge-should-my-colleague-stop-bringing-cakes-into-the-office

A local’s guide to the best eats in Turin

Birthplace of vermouth, grissini and espresso, the north Italian city is a fitting host for the annual World’s 50 Best Restaurants ceremony on 19 June. But you don’t need to have deep pockets to enjoy its great food sceneMany renowned dining destinations have hosted the annual “food Oscars” – the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. This year is the first time the honour goes to Italy, with Turin, capital of Piedmont, holding the ceremony on 19 June. Although Emilia-Romagna is usually regarded as the country’s food capital, Piedmont has a proud gastronomic tradition, with white truffles, rice, chocolate, pastas and cheeses, not to mention wines such as barolo and barbaresco.Greener than most Italian cities, Turin, the former capital of Savoy and briefly capital of Italy, also has elegant piazzas, royal palaces, possibly Europe’s biggest outdoor market and the wide Po River for strolling, cycling and kayaking. It is where vermouth (see below), grissini breadsticks and espresso coffee were invented. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/jun/19/locals-guide-best-affordable-eats-restaurants-turin

Waska: the cost of spiritual healing in the Amazon

The plant medicine hayakwaska (ayahuasca), marketed as a mystical shortcut to healing and enlightenment, is an example of what the Indigenous storyteller Nina Gualinga, sees as commodification and extractivism in the Amazon. Nina is from the Kichwa people of Sarayaku, Ecuador, and she speaks with the memory of her shaman grandfather about the ongoing cultural appropriation, environmental destruction and marginalisation of her people, questioning our very relationship to the Earth and the quest for healing Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/video/2025/jun/17/waska-the-cost-of-spiritual-healing-in-the-amazon

How the earth shook for nine days and nobody knew why – video

An unprecedented planetary-scale seismic event caused the earth to vibrate for nine days straight back in 2023, but the reason why was unclear. Scientists initially had more questions than answers, labelling the event an unidentified seismic object and undertook a mammoth scientific collaboration across multiple countries and institutions to get to the bottom of what really happened. Josh Toussaint-Strauss looks into the mystery at the heart of this scientific investigation Entire Earth vibrated for nine daysThe original study conducted by Svennevig et al. (2024) and published in Science Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/science/video/2025/jun/19/how-the-earth-shook-for-nine-days-and-nobody-knew-why

Poison in the water: the town with the world’s worst case of forever chemicals contamination

When a small Swedish town discovered their drinking water contained extremely high levels of Pfas, they had no idea what it would mean for their health and their children’s futureIf Agneta Bruno closes her eyes, the soapy smell takes her back to childhood. Cycling home to the barracks where she lived with her father, an air force major, she would whiz through patches of snowy-white foam near the entrance of the base. The foam resembled the bubbles you get in the bathtub, just thicker. “I had to lift my feet up to avoid getting wet,” Bruno told me.Aqueous film-forming foam (Afff) is a miracle of firefighting: it’s highly effective in putting out flammable liquid fires, such as those caused by jet fuel spills. Chemicals in the foam create a stable blanket over liquid fuel, trapping the flammable vapours and extinguishing the fire. At the air force base in Bruno’s home town of Kallinge in Sweden, firefighters were trained to douse flames using the foam. New recruits came every few weeks, so the training sessions were pretty constant. Afterwards, the foam would soak away into the sandy soil and disappear. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jun/19/world-worst-case-of-pfas-forever-chemicals-contamination-kallinge

Spy ships, cyber-attacks and shadow fleets: the crack security team braced for trouble at sea

As international tensions mount and hackers grow more sophisticated and audacious, the Nordic Maritime Cyber Resilience Centre is constantly monitoring the global threat of war, terror and piracyShips being taken over remotely by hackers and made to crash is a scenario made in Hollywood. But in a security operations room in Oslo, just a few metres from the sparkling fjord and its tourist boats, floating saunas and plucky bathers, maritime cyber experts say not only is it technically possible, but they are poised for it to happen.“We are pretty sure that it will happen sooner or later, so that is what we are looking for,” says Øystein Brekke-Sanderud, a senior analyst at the Nordic Maritime Cyber Resilience Centre (Norma Cyber). On the wall behind him is a live map of the ships they monitor and screens full of graphs and code. Two little rubber ducks watch over proceedings from above. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jun/18/shadow-fleets-cyber-attacks-and-spy-ships-the-crack-security-team-braced-for-trouble-at-sea-nordic-maritime-cyber-resilience-centre

Tell us: what questions do you have about the impacts of smartphones on children?

Whether you’re a parent, teacher, or just someone curious about the long-term effects, we’d like to hear your questionsA quarter of three- and four-year-olds in the UK now own a smartphone, but the impact of that is still being understood. From endless scrolling to constant notifications, smartphones expose children not just to their friends and classmates, but to a world of advertising, influencers, and algorithms. But how is all of this shaping how children see themselves, relate to others, and develop emotionally?In a video series on our It’s Complicated Youtube channel, we’re speaking to experts to explore how smartphones might be affecting children’s mental health, attention, self-esteem and relationships. Are social apps making kids more anxious? What happens when children are targeted by ads that shape their sense of identity from a young age? What do we know, and what don’t we yet understand, about growing up in a world where you’re always online? Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jun/13/tell-us-what-questions-do-you-have-about-the-impacts-of-smartphones-on-children

Tell us: what poem would you choose to read at a wedding?

We would like to hear what poem you would read - or have read – at a wedding and whyWeddings are constantly being reinvented, from small to huge, camp to Star Trek-themed. But many of us are still reading out the same old Shakespeare sonnets.Have you come up with an alternative? What do you think are the best poems for modern marriages? We would like to hear what poem you would read – or have read – at a wedding and why. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/jun/14/tell-us-what-poem-would-you-choose-to-read-at-a-wedding

People in Australia: tell us your experiences with IVF

After a second embryo implant bungle at Monash IVF, the industry is being scrutinised amid concerns the for-profit model isn’t always putting families firstAfter a second embryo implant bungle at Monash IVF, the entire industry is under new scrutiny amid concerns the for-profit model doesn’t always putting families first.Experts worry that clinics might be pushing extra IVF cycles that have little chance of working, and add-on treatments that lack evidence of their efficacy. There are also concerns that people don’t always understand how quickly their chances of a successful pregnancy drop with age. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jun/14/people-in-australia-tell-us-your-experiences-with-ivf

Tell us your favourite new podcasts of 2025 so far

We would like to hear about the best new podcasts you have listened to this year so far and whyWe would like to hear about the new podcasts you have particularly enjoyed listening to so far this year.Is there a podcast from this year that has you rapt? Are there any new releases that you would recommend? Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/jun/13/tell-us-about-your-favourite-new-podcasts-of-2025-so-far

Sign up for the First Edition newsletter: our free daily news email

Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you through the top stories and what they meanScroll less, understand more: sign up to receive our news email each weekday for clarity on the top stories in the UK and across the world.Explore all our newsletters: whether you love film, football, fashion or food, we’ve got something for you Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/global/2022/sep/20/sign-up-for-the-first-edition-newsletter-our-free-news-email

Sign up for the Football Daily newsletter: our free football email

Kick off your afternoon with the Guardian’s take on the world of footballEvery weekday, we’ll deliver a roundup the football news and gossip in our own belligerent, sometimes intelligent and – very occasionally – funny way. Still not convinced? Find out what you’re missing here.Try our other sports emails: there’s weekly catch-ups for cricket in The Spin and rugby union in The Breakdown, and our seven-day round-up of the best of our sports journalism in The Recap.Living in Australia? Try the Guardian Australia’s daily sports newsletter Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/info/2022/nov/14/football-daily-email-sign-up

Sign up for the Feast newsletter: our free Guardian food email

A weekly email from Yotam Ottolenghi, Meera Sodha, Felicity Cloake and Rachel Roddy, featuring the latest recipes and seasonal eating ideasEach week we’ll send you an exclusive newsletter from our star food writers. We’ll also send you the latest recipes from Yotam Ottolenghi, Nigel Slater, Meera Sodha and all our star cooks, stand-out food features and seasonal eating inspiration, plus restaurant reviews from Grace Dent and Jay Rayner.Sign up below to start receiving the best of our culinary journalism in one mouth-watering weekly email. Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2019/jul/09/sign-up-for-the-feast-newsletter-our-free-guardian-food-email

Sign up for The Long Wave newsletter: our weekly Black life and culture email

Nesrine Malik and Jason Okundaye deliver your weekly dose of Black life and culture from around the world Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/global/2024/oct/16/sign-up-for-the-long-wave-newsletter-our-weekly-black-life-and-culture-email

A giraffe operation and a Juneteenth parade: photos of the day – Friday

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/news/gallery/2025/jun/20/a-giraffe-operation-and-a-juneteenth-parade-photos-of-the-day-friday