Mubeen Blogs

Despite the absence of Equinox all may not be lost for his country’s passionate – and patient – fans at Longchamp For nearly 20 years, Japanese fans’ dreams of a first win for their country in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe have been turning to dust in the Bois de Boulogne on the first Sunday in October. Deep Impact, El Condor Pasa and Orfevre, twice, have all hit the woodwork, but untold billions of yen have left Japan in hope only to find their way into the coffers of the pari mutuel urbain , never to return. There was huge optimism a few months ago, when Equinox strolled home in the Sheema Classic in Dubai to establish himself as officially – and still – the world’s top-rated racehorse. But the possibility – indeed, likelihood – of testing ground always weighed heavily against a trip to Paris. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/LkQbT9H

Emma Hayes’s side remain the team to beat as Arsenal, United and City try to plot a way to derail them Football is littered with teams that write themselves into sport folklore – the dynasties who dominate and pave the way for others. On the women’s side, there is Vic Akers’ quadruple-winning Arsenal (2006-2007). The imperious Barcelona, who have won four straight league titles and two Women’s Champions League trophies. Then, of course, there is Emma Hayes’s dominant Chelsea. With four successive league titles (six in total), three consecutive FA Cups (five in total) and a couple of League Cups, Chelsea remain the team to beat and with the new Women’s Super League campaign starting on Sunday the question is whether anyone can topple them. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/vwc2FKP

The artist’s Royal Academy retrospective revives her 1977 live work in which visitors pass through a naked couple in a doorway – and reveal something of themselves In 1977, in a gallery in Bologna, the artist Marina Abramović and her lover and collaborator, Ulay, stood naked in a narrow doorway, staring intently at one another, as the public squeezed between them. Last week Imponderabilia, as the piece is called, was resurrected with 37 “re-performers” for the artist’s blockbuster retrospective at the Royal Academy in London. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/p1P6ODB

Low-traffic neighbourhoods and fines also face clampdown under plans condemned by active travel groups Rishi Sunak has pledged to end “anti-car measures” as he set out a series of ideas to prioritise the needs of drivers at the likely expense of other road users such as bus passengers, cyclists and pedestrians. Outlining what he called a “long-term plan to back drivers”, the prime minister unveiled a clampdown on 20mph limits, bus lanes, low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), and the ability of councils to fine drivers who commit offences. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/qDjVHud

Schoolgirl and driver died after vehicle overturned on M53 A 15-year-old schoolgirl and a bus driver have died after a motorway crash in Cheshire that left several other children in hospital. On Friday night the girl was named as Jessica Baker by Merseyside police. Earlier they said 58 people were involved in the incident, including the two fatalities. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/Ujs2IPi

Security turned away Joie Henney’s TikTok-famous, leashed reptile Wally from Philadelphia baseball game on Wednesday Wally and his companion just wanted to see the Philadelphia Phillies play baseball against the Pittsburgh Pirates like everyone else. After all, he was an emotional support animal. He wore a harness with his name on it. He enjoyed hugs. He looked imposing at just over 5ft long, but he had never bitten anyone. He helped his handler, Joseph “Joie” Henney, with his years-long battle with depression. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/nm50qAi

Clothes the designer wore as dance student given a chic glow-up on the catwalk Everyone knows what Victoria Beckham did before she became a fashion designer. But this season, she has a whole new backstory. “From when I was three years old up until I was in the Spice Girls, I wanted to be a ballet dancer,” she said at a preview of her latest collection in Paris. “One of the things that I find so special about dancers is that even if you are travelling on the tube, you can always spot a ballet dancer – just by her posture and the way she carries herself.” The Victoria Beckham show, held in an 18th-century Parisian townhouse that was once home to Karl Lagerfeld, was a grand affair. The coming together of two superstar families, the Beckhams and the Kardashians, saw the picturesque left bank streets gridlocked with SUVs and phone-wielding fans. The Beckhams – along with Anna Wintour and the chic, makeup-free Pamela Anderson who has become a folk hero of this Paris fashion week – were

This is a common parenting dilemma, writes advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith . Find a way to hear your daughters without turning this into a proxy-fight Is it more important to validate and empathise with my teens about their difficult relationship with their dad, stepmum and stepbrother; or support him as a co-parent, even though I can see the damage it is doing? I have two teenage daughters, 14 and 16, who have a fractious relationship with their dad and his family. He approaches parenting in an authoritarian way and I can see the negative impact this has on our daughters’ self-esteem and self worth. They are delightful young people and I am very proud of how thoughtful, intelligent and individual they are – the horror stories of parenting teens are not something that I have to worry about and I have an open, respectful relationship with them. Because of this, they often come to me, together and separately, about the problems they have with their dad, stepmum and stepbrother.

Russia to increase defence spending by almost 70%; EU extends rights of Ukraine refugees to 2025 See all our Russia-Ukraine war coverage Russia said Thursday that it plans to raise defence spending by almost 70% next year, funnelling massive resources into its Ukraine offensive to fight what it calls a “hybrid war” unleashed by the west. With Moscow’s “special military operation” now approaching another winter, both sides have been digging deep and procuring weapons from allies in preparation for a protracted conflict. The announcement came as Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg and the defence ministers of Britain and France visited Kyiv , where President Volodymyr Zelenskiy lobbied for more air defence systems. Their visits came in advance of Kyiv’s first Defence Industries Forum, where Ukrainian officials were to meet representatives from more than 160 defence firms and 26 countries. International regulators are incapable of properly monitoring safety at the Russian-occupied Zaporizh

Christopher Steele’s dossier also alleged Putin ‘supported and directed’ plan to ‘cultivate’ Trump as a presidential candidate Donald Trump is suing a former MI6 officer and the intelligence consultancy he founded, high court records in England show. The former US president, who is mired in legal cases in his own country, is bringing a data protection claim against Orbis Business Intelligence and its founder Christopher Steele, who previously ran the secret intelligence service’s Russia desk. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/ASzQxhV

Fox posts 15-minute video on X after suspension by rightwing channel and says he expects to be sacked on Friday Laurence Fox has apologised to the journalist Ava Evans over misogynistic comments he made about her on the GB News channel that led to him being suspended . The actor and Reclaim party founder released a video on Thursday evening on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, acknowledging he was “demeaning” about her during a discussion on the Dan Wootton Tonight programme on Tuesday. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/PJKWqiA

She starred alongside Stephen Graham in the high-octane chef film, and is back for the BBC’s adrenaline-fuelled new adaptation. Ahead of its release she talks racism, raves – and Matilda When it comes to tense, claustrophobic viewing, almost nothing matches Boiling Point. The Observer described the film – which follows a hectic London restaurant on the most catastrophic night of its existence – as “conjuring the raw experience of an inexorably accelerating panic attack.” Watching Stephen Graham battle debt and addiction as volatile head chef Andy – while his team try to contain his combustible personality long enough to finish serving customers – is an immersion in 94 minutes of brutal, jittery brilliance. No wonder another critic called it “the most stressful film of the year.” Apparently, though, it’s more fun to star in. “It’s exhilarating!” says Vinette Robinson, who plays sous chef Carly in the movie and its new four-part TV adaptation. “It’s exciting because so much of it is

Wagner mercenaries return to Donetsk front; Russia launches 44 air strikes in one day Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/gMErY0F

Party says policy of charging fee-paying schools VAT remains, and ‘doesn’t require’ removing status Private schools would retain some of their tax breaks under a Labour government, after the party backed down on its pledge to strip them of charitable status. The party said it no longer needs to end the charitable status of private schools to achieve its policy of charging 20% VAT on fees and ending business rates relief in England, as first reported by the i . Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/A4nFPV0

This documentary follows the feathered, bejewelled British women who staff the Parisian institution. Be warned: the reality is all a bit cheap and shoddy There are certain shows that make you think of the joy that must have lit up the producer’s face when news reached them of its premise. With Moulin Rouge: Yes We Can-Can!, I imagine an eager young thing bursting into the shiny office around which their boss is prowling discontentedly while chomping on a cigar, and crying breathlessly: “The Moulin Rouge … the dance troupe … they’re all Brits! And it’s run by a woman … called Janet! She’s from Yorkshire !” The prowling stops. The head turns. A smile spreads across the formerly furious face and the cigar is ground out in an ashtray made from a replica of Michael Grade’s skull. “It’s The Yorkshire Vet in Paris!” “It’s Our Yorkshire Farm in high heels!” “It’s All Creatures Great and Small with” – the voice drops to a whisper – “boobs”. How the faces of the production team must have falle

Former minister had voted with the opposition in a motion of no-confidence against Green co-leader Lorna Slater The veteran MSP Fergus Ewing has been suspended from the Scottish National party for a week. The Inverness and Nairn MSP – the son of the late SNP trailblazer Winnie Ewing – has been an outspoken critic of the party’s leadership in the past year. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/jvoMZt5

Host of celebrities to embody new assistants aimed at increasing young people’s interaction with AI Meta is to launch artificial intelligence chatbots embodied by celebrities including Snoop Dogg, Kendall Jenner and Naomi Osaka. Mark Zuckerberg made the announcement at the company’s annual Connect conference, where he spoke about new AI products at Facebook’s parent company. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/B175VPL

The politician’s robotic appearance on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins sees him punched and abused – while reciting the same old excuses. Why is he doing this again? How do we stop it? I regret to inform you that Matt Hancock is at it again. Almost a year since he gulped down a glass of liquidised meal worms on I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!, and just weeks after using TikTok to out himself as the least competent lip-syncer alive , he has chosen to continue his grimly endless redemption tour by appearing on one of television’s most grimly endless shows – Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins. Judging by the first episode, it is business as usual. He is taken to the rain-soaked Vietnamese jungle and pushed into a lake. He walks a tightrope. He gets punched in the face by a retired footballer. Someone yells at him for running “like a fucking ostrich”. He takes it all on the chin with no real emotion, good or bad, to the point where it starts to feel as if you’re watching the first 15 minu

It might have lost some sparkle since its 2014-15 peak, but the new Bake Off host’s irresistible charm has kicked things up a gear. The joyful vibes will engulf you As the nights draw in and the autumn leaves tumble from the trees, the chill of death is in the air. But one ray of sunshine still awaits us. Bake Off is back, bringing with it the best of British summertime in a bunting-lined tent. To be fully transparent, I am obsessed with baking. My sourdough starter has a name (Kenneth) and every children’s birthday cake I have baked could sit in the Louvre. To further complicate my relationship with the TV series, I spent a year at Prue Leith’s culinary school and failed my final exam because of my inability to make a puff pastry that would rise in 37-degree heat and over-salting a chicken ballotine. So, for me to come to every series and be charmed rather than triggered by the Bake Off challenges is a triumph for both my personal growth (37 degrees! Impossible!) and the show’s endu

Case follows Walliams’ exit as BGT judge after transcript surfaced of him making offensive off-air comments about contestants David Walliams has filed a case against the production company that makes the ITV show Britain’s Got Talent. The action being taken by the show’s former judge against FremantleMedia is listed as dealing with data protection, according to the BBC. No other details have been given. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/ChWO4Ya

Sheila Blanco’s son Mark died after attending a party at a ‘crack den’ with the rock star, then falling from a great height. Seventeen years on, pioneering CCTV may help her get closure Sheila Blanco has been investigating the death of her son, Mark, for nearly 17 years. She has given interviews many times since 2006 to keep her son’s name in the spotlight, in the hope that this will apply pressure where it needs to be applied. The one-off documentary, Pete Doherty, Who Killed My Son? – note that crucial comma – forms another part of her investigation. It is a sad and frustrating story, driven by Sheila’s persistence, despite a sense that people have been pulling down the shutters on her for almost two decades. There are certainly plenty of questions left to ask. On 3 December 2006, her son, Mark, a 30-year-old actor, went to the flat of a man named Paul Roundhill in Whitechapel, east London. He had posters with him for his forthcoming play, a production of Dario Fo’s Death of an Acc

The 78-year-old, the show’s oldest ever contestant, demonstrated advanced moves in the cha-cha-cha Whether you can do the splits is a favoured test of flexibility in the playground, but it’s generally assumed that most people over 40 can’t. So when 78-year-old Angela Rippon kicked her leg into a standing split on Saturday’s Strictly Come Dancing, she caused a stir among viewers. Rippon is the show’s oldest ever contestant, yet experts say her move is difficult for most younger people and highly unusual for someone her age, as the body stiffens with age, while balance and muscle strength decline. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/xlhIpFz

The gold-medal winner will run in Colchester after current Conservative incumbent set to stand down The Olympic gold-winning rower James Cracknell will stand as a Conservative candidate at the next general election. The rowing champion will run in Colchester, where the incumbent Conservative MP Will Quince is set to stand down. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/8QGIWR2

Researchers hope to analyse materials from Mars using program that can detect ‘biosignatures’ of other life forms It is the cloud that overshadows the search for alien life: for all the spacecraft sent to faraway worlds, researchers do not really know what to look for when it comes to evidence of life elsewhere. Now, scientists are claiming progress with the puzzle after training a computer program to distinguish chemical mixtures made by living organisms from those created in more prosaic processes, such as reactions between sunlight and rocks. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/nSRBvsb

The Ethiopian smashed the women’s record in Berlin, reviving the debate about the role of hi-tech shoes in athletic performance They say shoes maketh the man. But did a pair of trainers make Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa a record-breaking runner? Her shattering of the women’s marathon world record by more than two minutes – while wearing a pair of Adidas’s new Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1s – has reignited the debate about the role of “super shoes” in athletic performance. Assefa has credited her performance to “hard work over the past year”. However, speaking before the event, she also described her Adizeros as “the lightest racing shoe I have ever worn”, and said: “The feeling of running in them is an incredible experience – like nothing I’ve felt before.” Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/Mosk1VA

Blues 14th in Premier League and failed to score in three games ‘Players, when they are young, need to learn and make mistakes’ Mauricio Pochettino told Chelsea to grow up after his young side continued their miserable start to the season by losing Malo Gusto to a red card and falling to a 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea, who lie 14th in the table despite spending £1bn on signings since last year’s takeover by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, looked short of nous as they lost at home for the second consecutive game . Gusto’s red card was avoidable and Pochettino was unhappy with Nicolas Jackson, who picked up his fifth booking of the season after trying to stop Villa from taking a free-kick. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/g3Ke5IN

Carlota Ciganda wins final singles match to secure 14-14 tie ‘Does it get any better than this? This is a dream come true’ Suzann Pettersen hailed the “legends” of her European Solheim Cup team after the trophy was retained on a hugely dramatic day in Andalucía. Carlota Ciganda, a Spaniard, holed the putt which ensured a 14-14 tie with the US and the lifting of the cup by Europe for a record-breaking third time in a row. “Does it get any better than this? This is a dream come true,” Pettersen said. “We had a massive challenge ahead of us. We have created history yet again in the Solheim Cup. These girls are legends.” Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/YrFI0m4

Midfielder’s two assists were a sign of his effortless confidence, an attribute which could be crucial to Project Postecoglou Shortly before kick-off at the Emirates Stadium, James Maddison announced on Sky Sports that this was a bad time to play Spurs. Arsenal, Maddison explained with a patient smile, would be regretting the timing of this north London derby , would in effect already be afraid, already losing that small but significant battle. So, like, that’s just the way it is. Even better, Maddison explained all this while sitting in a private box decorated with a bespoke Maddison mural featuring assorted Maddison mottos and Maddison logos plus a huge picture of his own dog. “Yeah, they said you can decorate it how you want,” he explained. “My question was, where’s the line …” Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/hcKsBj5

Bruno Fernandes’s star quality: only this saved Manchester United from a fourth consecutive defeat as their patchy early season form continued. In this slump United have been shapeless, directionless, injury-plagued and forgetful of how to win. Not since Erik ten Hag’s misfiring unit reversed a 2-0 deficit to overcome Nottingham Forest 3-2 in late August have three points been theirs. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/1JMcoVW

Full-back and Henry Arundell on the wing show the side can be unpredictable and all the better for it in World Cup rout of Chile After stinking out the Rugby World Cup in their opening two matches, this England performance was like sweet perfume. Conservatism gave way to unpredictability. Straightjacket rigidity to pace and unexpected delights. And while it was only Chile, officially the worst team at this World Cup, this punchy 71-0 demolition offered a glimpse of a potentially different – and more intriguing – path for Steve Borthwick’s side at this tournament. The questions over the coming fortnight will surely centre on whether England’s coach will stick or twist, roll the dice or play it safe. But the fact they are being asked at all tells you something about this 11-try victory – and how well Henry Arundell and Marcus Smith grabbed their chance to make their case. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/38HZ5Cu

2nd ODI: England, 334-8, beat Ireland, 286, by 48 runs Jacks hits 94 and Hain 89 in impressive debuts Figures of three for 66 may not leap off the page but for George Scrimshaw, one of four debutants in an England side that swept aside Ireland after a Will Jacks special, that wickets column was manna from heaven. Presented with his cap before play by Dominic Cork, the last Derbyshire cricketer to represent England back in 2002, the wiry 25-year-old looked as if he wanted the ground to swallow him amid a harrowing start to his first bowl in one-day international cricket. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/nkb4FRQ

Game against Wales has turned into a must-win clash with Jones ignoring his vociferous critics At his best, Eddie Jones is a man in complete control. Of the narrative, of the direction of play on the field, of the hearts and minds of those who support him. But at Friday’s press conference for Sunday’s game against Wales, a game his Wallabies side now have to win after their shock loss against Fiji last weekend, Jones had the composure of a teenager on the verge of a meltdown. “As I said, I think I am 100% doing the right thing for Australian rugby and I apologise for the results,” Jones said. “I can get down on my knees and do the Japanese thing if you want me to. I can’t apologise any more guys, I am really sorry we haven’t had better results. But what I know is what we are doing is right for Australian rugby.” Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/Xvn2dMO

Party reformer was first former communist to become president and first person re-elected to post Giorgio Napolitano, the first former communist to rise to Italy’s presidency and the first person to be elected twice to the post, has died aged 98. A statement issued on Friday night by the presidential palace confirmed Italian news reports of the death of Napolitano, who had been in a Rome hospital for weeks. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/6WJFxqV

While one Times headline read like an obituary, the Sun focused on a new job rather than an ending You don’t get to the top of one of Rupert Murdoch’s UK newspapers without knowing on which side your bread is buttered. And senior editors at News UK certainly weren’t taking any risks when the ruthless media mogul announced he was stepping down as chair of Fox and News Corp. The Times ran a laudatory spread in Friday’s paper and articles online, calling Murdoch a “trailblazer hailed for reshaping media”. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/OKLR5aI

Legal firm had said Real World Portal encouraged misogyny and there was evidence to suggest it is an illegal pyramid scheme Apple has withdrawn an app created by Andrew Tate after accusations that it encouraged misogyny and could be an illegal pyramid scheme. Tate created the app, Real World Portal, after the closure of his “Hustler’s University”, which was an online academy for his fans, promising to assist them in making thousands of pounds while helping Tate’s videos on social media, which have been described as misogynistic, to go viral. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/HBGKOh1

Sabato de Sarno hits reset after florid years under Alessandro Michele, with minimalist precision recalling his time at Prada The Gucci catwalk show was not just a new season, it was a factory reset. This was a turn-it-off-and-on-again moment for a brand that had stopped working. With a 15-minute showcase of crisp silhouettes and elegant accessories, seven years of Alessandro Michele ’s exuberant camp were wiped clean. The first look was a long black coat, plain except for Gucci signature red-and-green stripes glimpsed on the back vent mid-stride. Some loafers had a chunky flatform sole, but lots were the classic slim-profile loafer seen in business class airport lounges all over the world but which hasn’t had a catwalk outing for a while. Kitten heels with sparkling chain-back slingbacks made for polished, grownup party shoes. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/D9te8Vw

The media tycoon wreaked untold havoc on American democracy and beyond In a chilling scene at the end of James Graham’s play Ink, Rupert Murdoch – having made his indelible mark on British media and society – slows his frenetic pace to ponder the future. He’s thinking, he says almost dreamily, of a venture across the pond – yes, perhaps something in television news. Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/ujxbD8V

From Sarah Bernstein’s absurdist novel to Jonathan Escoffery’s astonishingly assured debut, this year’s novels offered a full range of lived experience and made for an exciting shortlist • Just one British writer makes the Booker prize shortlist Any conversation about what reflects the best of world literature necessarily becomes a referendum on what literature can and should do. As chair of judges for this year’s Booker prize, I think it’s safe to say the conversations between my fellow judges and I were never dull. Adjoa Andoh , Mary-Jean Chan, James Shapiro and Robert Webb and I spoke for hours to decide on our shortlist, always going overtime. What, we asked ourselves, made a book great? Was it extraordinary prose? An uncanny vision? Was it even something definable or some more ineffable quality? The debates were often enthralling: sometimes intimate, sometimes contentious, never short of brilliant. We brought to the task a range of tastes and disciplines, which no doubt shaped

UK not a serious player in global race for green growth, says Greenpeace, while Oxfam says move is ‘betrayal’ Rishi Sunak announces U-turn on key green targets Scientists and environmental groups have expressed anger and dismay at the U-turn on net zero expected by the prime minister. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/y1Qnacg

This Indian American monster movie has interesting touches of cultural specificity but it’s a mostly familiar formula There’s a swirl of the old and the new in the hokey pre-Halloween horror It Lives Inside, a balance that could have benefited from a lot more of the latter – because when the first-time director Bishal Dutta does try to add freshness to the familiarity of formula, he manages to carve his film its own place within two overstuffed subgenres, flashes of intrigue as he veers between schlocky curse and even schlockier monster movie. A wide-releasing horror film centered on an Indian American teenager already gives the film a certain distinction. Dutta, also acting as writer, tries to thread themes of assimilation and identity through a predictable procession of mostly ineffective jump scares and slightly more effective set pieces, the film working better when it’s trying to chill rather than shock. Never Have I Ever and Missing’s Megan Suri plays Samidha, or Sam as she pr

There’s nothing long term about the prime minister diluting green policies in the hope of clinging on to power You could sense the panic when news was leaked of Rishi Sunak’s plans to water down some of his climate change targets. Instead of a controlled speech later in the week – probably somewhere with green connections: Rish! never knowingly undersells the irony – we got a hastily arranged press conference. In the very same Downing Street media centre where No 10 staff had joked about having illegal parties during the pandemic. Call it karma. Stay calm and carry on taking the piss out of the country. And breathe. Sunak strode into the room and stood in front of a lectern with a sign reading “long-term decisions for a brighter future” on the front. Gaslighting the country again. It’s getting to be a habit. He then opened his mouth. RishGPT can’t really help the entitled, nasal whine. But this time it came soaked in contempt. This wasn’t just patronising, it was the most cynical spe

Blue-sky exercise envisages four levels of membership to allow for countries having looser ties to the union A vision of a future EU with four types of membership – including an “EU lite” for countries such as the UK – has been tabled by a group of academics commissioned by France and Germany to consider future reforms. The proposal comes as the UK’s opposition leader, Keir Starmer, told France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, that he wanted to build an “even stronger” relationship between the two countries if he wins power at a national election pencilled in for next year. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/Leg9T1R

Can we really be surprised when rich and powerful men are accused of sexual abuse? There’s nothing new but the details about what the Times journalists uncovered about Russell Brand in their investigative report published this weekend. We’ve been through this so many times, the story finally uncovered of a rich or powerful or celebrated man being accused of sexual abuse for years or decades. Russell Brand says all of his relationships were absolutely always consensual. That’s the first piece of the familiar story – that they got away with it for years because one of the forms inequality takes is inequality of voice –the voice with which you say what’s happened, the voice that’s listened to and believed and respected, the voice that determines what happens. Rebecca Solnit’s most recent books are Orwell’s Roses and the climate anthology Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility, co-edited with Thelma Young Lutunatabua Continue reading... from The Guardia

From tragic cucumber jokes to whipping up some ancient Egyptian spermicide, this Amanda Holden and Dan Jones vehicle is an embarrassment from start to finish. You’ll cringe yourself inside out When discussing how to make a documentary about the South Seas palatable to the masses, the film producer Hunt Stromberg is reported to have said: “Let’s fill the screen with tits.” Those were the days, my friend, and they went on long enough for women in particular to think they would never end. But times change – and breast coverage changes, too. The desperation of commissioners to find a seemingly legitimate way to get women’s bodies on screen in this increasingly dreadful era of wokeness is becoming palpable. I feel so sorry for them. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/ZKDsXrM

One in three online daters have been ditched by emoji. But what are the symbols that spell out ‘It’s not you, it’s me’? Name: Emoji dumping. Age: No more than 15. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/8uiUrZI

Prints symbolising British summertime appear on fashion week catwalk alongside modernised version of brand’s staple product The scene before the biggest show of London fashion week was quintessentially British: an orderly queue for tea, coffee and Eccles cake. Britishness, along with trenchcoats and check scarves, is what Burberry stands for. This is surely the only catwalk show where Hollywood action hero Jason Statham, acclaimed choreographer Wayne MacGregor and Arsenal striker Bukayo Saka can be found rubbing shoulders in the front row. The first look on to the catwalk was a trenchcoat. The trench is a Burberry staple – but this had a notably slimmer cut, an elegant dropped-waist silhouette, and was black rather than beige. There were more trenchcoats to follow: some sleeveless, some leather, all of them sleek and minimal. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/PoDWe8s

The band’s co-founder – whose new book examines the emergence of post-punk in Thatcher’s Britain – on reconciling with Robert Smith and the real meaning of the dark music subculture It’s a long time since Lol Tolhurst last played drums or keyboards for the Cure, the band he co-founded in the late 1970s with his schoolfriend Robert Smith. But occasionally he still finds himself striving to explain what the songs of those early years were all about. In Margaret Thatcher’s Britain, early Cure classics such as Seventeen Seconds and A Strange Day sounded a note of existential angst in teenage bedrooms across the land. The lyrics to A Forest , released in 1979, communicate the general vibe: “The girl was never there/ It’s always the same/ I’m running towards nothing/ Again and again and again and again…” Sadly, the cathartic power of such virtuoso melancholy has not always been obvious to everyone. “In conversations I’ve had all around the world,” Tolhurst says, “the thing that’s irked me

Actor best known for playing the suave Dr Dick Stuart-Clark in the ITV Doctor comedy series Geoffrey Davies, who has died aged 84, was a familiar face on television playing the upper-crust, silver-tongued Dr Dick Stuart-Clark in a string of ITV medical sitcoms based on Richard Gordon’ s Doctor books. The actor, whose character has nurses swooning over him, was described by a critic as “blond with good-natured blue eyes and the sort of indolent good looks that suggest cricket matches and tea on the lawn”. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/iM8yLOb

The Wallabies were shown up by their World Cup loss to leave them pondering where it leaves rugby in the country What do Emmanuel Macron and Eddie Jones have in common? Apart from them both being 173cm tall, they know what it’s like to get booed by a packed French rugby stadium. The president of La République copped a nasty reception when he opened the World Cup in Paris last weekend, and the Wallabies boss got something similar every time his face appeared on the big screen at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint-Étienne. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/A1L2XJK

The anniversary of Abramovich’s first fully tooled up side shows how the club are going backwards despite millions spent It was twenty years ago today. Or close enough, at least, to make for a startling sense of circularity. As Chelsea travel to Bournemouth on Sunday in search of their first away win since March (also, by coincidence, at Bournemouth) there might just be a spare moment in the day to celebrate an overlooked anniversary, two decades on from the most violently transformative summer in the modern history of English football. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/ybxYghW

Pool C: Wales 28-8 Portugal Dewi Lake, Jac Morgan and Taulupe Faletau also scored tries On paper, at least, this World Cup could not have started any better for Wales. Two pool games, two bonus-point wins and no suspensions to complicate the equation before next Sunday’s pivotal encounter against Australia. Warren Gatland would have definitely settled for that healthy statistical return before the squad’s arrival in France. It also made for a slightly less frantic finish than last week’s humdinger with Fiji, tries from Louis Rees-Zammit, Dewi Lake, Jac Morgan and, belatedly, ultimately easing their side home. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/Wp2gzuM

Tax cuts and cheaper fruit among Labour and National party plans to address rising cost of living pressures as people once comfortable are swept into crisis Read all our coverage of the 2023 New Zealand election A weekly treat of takeaway dinner became fortnightly, then monthly. Trips to the movies were cut. So were dentist appointments – and salads. Over the past six months, Anum Najif, 35, has found every supermarket visit “more difficult than the one before”. Power bills are “shocking”. Rent, she adds, “is that kind of topic where I really don’t know what to do or how to manage it any more”. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/xlz3bGd

Then chancellor reportedly nearly stepped down last year after breaking Covid-19 lockdown laws in 2020, according to new book Rishi Sunak was persuaded not to quit as chancellor over his fine for breaking lockdown laws after an intervention by executives working for media mogul Rupert Murdoch, it has been claimed. The claim is detailed in a book by the Telegraph’s political editor, Ben Riley-Smith, and published by the newspaper on Friday. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/LolQqXw

Diplomatic and media blitz for Labour leader will include appearances on Sunday morning political shows Keir Starmer has arrived in Canada to set out his doctrine for tackling international threats at a gathering of world leaders, the latest step in the Labour leader’s move to flesh out policy in politically turbulent areas such as immigration. Amid continued efforts by Starmer and his team to push back against the “ nonsense ” that closer cooperation with the EU would involve the UK having to accept 100,000 asylum-seekers a year, the Labour leader was in Montreal for the Global Progress Action Summit of centre-left politicians. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/dQDM5Nb

Was she a feminist icon? Or incapable of having political opinions that differed from her Nazi lover? This documentary can’t make up its mind – but it definitely thinks she made lovely clothes Were it not for the Nazi collaboration, it would be hard not to warm to the woman who declared “How I loathe passion! What an abomination” and hoped she had “helped kill off” eccentricity, even before you got to the talent that would see her rise from impoverished, brutalised, motherless child raised by nuns to global icon who built a business empire and changed how women dress for ever. Coco Chanel Unbuttoned, a film-length documentary about the life of the designer, concentrates as you might expect rather more on the fashion side of things than the involvement of Gabrielle (as she was born) with the Germans in wartime Paris. Facilitated by commentary from various experts in fashion generally and Chanel specifically – biographers, former assistants, friends and models – the film works through

Julia Garner and Jessica Henwick are both impressive in an uneasy Australia-set film toying with genre expectations but tension dissipates in the finale The hoary sub-genre that is “attractive American tourists find something nefarious on their travels” is given a vigorous polish in thoughtful thriller The Royal Hotel, a film light on exploitation and heavy on interrogation. It’s an intriguing follow-up for writer-director Kitty Green, whose last film The Assistant was a simple yet stinging drama about a young woman, played by Julia Garner, working, and cleaning up, for a predatory Weinstein-like figure. Green’s approach to the subject was defter than most, an unusual way into a story most of us already knew far too much about, and there’s a similar sensitivity here for the most part, grounding a potentially schlocky situation. Garner returns as Hanna, joined by Glass Onion’s Jessica Henwick as Liv, two women running out of money on their travels in Australia, forced to take whatever

Actor, best known for playing Wolverine, and Deborra-Lee Furness say they are pursuing ‘individual growth’ Hugh Jackman and his wife Deborra-Lee Furness have announced they are ending their marriage after 27 years. The Australian actors married in 1996 and have two children, Oscar, 23, and Ava, 18. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/XgGsRf1

The return of Kelsey Grammer as Frasier Crane comes 30 years after the original premiered, now joined by Nicholas Lyndhurst Frasier is back – and in Boston. The first trailer for the Paramount+ reboot of the beloved sitcom, a successful spin-off of Cheers, finds Kelsey Grammer’s Frasier Crane in a new city, working as a professor and trying to connect with his adult son, Freddy, played by Jack Cutmore-Scott. The 10-episode series will follow Frasier back from Seattle – the setting of the original show, which ran from 1993 to 2004 on NBC – back to Boston, where he has “new challenges to face, new relationships to forge and an old dream or two to finally fulfill”, according to a press release. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/5JyH7bu

Two stellar performances add weight to Netflix’s uneven retelling of the story of Diana Nyad, who swam from Cuba to Florida at the age of 64 In the Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo , directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin came upon a doozy of a character in Alex Honnold, an unhinged, unsupported climber with little regard for his own mortality. It was a perfectly terrifying and fascinating film, the nightmarish sight of Honnold hanging from the edge of a 900-metre rock seared into the brain of anyone who saw it. The pair were able to film every hair-raising moment of his record-breaking climb, the ethics of which were smartly explored within the movie, and it turned an extreme sports documentary into an immersive, edge-of-seat thriller. But their lack of on-location involvement in their follow-up, the Thai cave doc The Rescue, gave it a drier, less dynamic feel, an anonymous assemblage of clips telling a story we all knew a little too well. Nyad, their narrative debut,

Court filing alleges president’s son illegally obtained and possessed weapon after falsely declaring he was not a drug user Federal prosecutors on Thursday indicted Hunter Biden on gun charges after a plea deal with the president’s son fell apart in July . A court filing in the US district court in Delaware alleged Biden, 53, illegally obtained and possessed a Colt revolver in October 2018 after falsely declaring that he was not a user of, or addicted to, narcotic drugs. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/aw6lJZs

Actor, 82, said her new role as an alien in the sci-fi series has made ‘an old woman very happy’ Miriam Margolyes will feature in one of the 60th-anniversary episodes of Doctor Who that will air this November, the BBC has announced. Margolyes, 82, who has appeared in Blackadder, Babe and the Harry Potter films, will be the voice behind the Meep – or Beep the Meep – the furry and seemingly adorable alien adapted from the Star Beast comic strip in a special for the series. The creature will feature in an episode with the same name. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/cd5ljft

Greater Manchester police becomes latest entity to fall victim to this kind of hack The Greater Manchester police force has become the latest entity to fall victim to a now well-established form of cyberattack: the ransomware hack. GMP said on Thursday a third-party supplier holding information on its employees had been breached. It is understood that data potentially exposed in the hack included the details of officers’ name badges such as ranks, photos and serial numbers. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/jaQBurZ

Informality is all that matters now. Even ‘Regards’ is old-fashioned and boring, according to a new survey Name: “Yours sincerely”. Age: Roughly 300 years old. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/fiJDwIq

This is a cudgel to try to create the false impression that Biden’s misdeeds, if any, are equal to Donald Trump’s When the House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, announced an impeachment inquiry into President Biden on Tuesday, he subverted the normal procedures for doing so. Typically, the House would have to vote on whether to open an informal impeachment investigation: McCarthy just announced it, unilaterally, calling a press conference to say he was “instructing” the House to open such an inquiry. Maybe the procedures don’t matter, as the optics, more than the substance, seem to be the point of the impeachment. Faced with electoral prospects that have been deeply compromised by the massive political backlash following the reversal of Roe v Wade and the almost comically superlative corruption of the likely Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump – who has now been criminally indicted four times – Republicans need to create a stench around Biden comparable to the one that follows T

This heartfelt documentary follows Luke Davies as he goes on a fascinating journey of heritage, family and love – and inadvertently takes his mum to the place he was conceived With a title like that, Stranger in My Family carries the whiff of an airport-bookshop thriller, or a true-crime podcast, or one of those Harlan Coben-type Netflix series stuffed with vaguely recognisable faces who make terrible decisions at every turn. Surprisingly, it turns out not to be any of those things, but rather an emotionally intelligent and affecting one-off documentary about identity and belonging. Luke Davies is a 30-year-old man who grew up in Rochdale, thinking that his parents were his biological parents, and that he was white – until he did a DNA test to trace his heritage, and found far more questions than he did answers. Luke is clearly close to his mum and dad, Liz and Gary, both of whom appear throughout this film. Their son is a credit to them, and whenever they sit down to chat with him,

Company says he only disclosed ‘a small number of historical relationships prior to becoming CEO’ The chief executive of BP has resigned less than four years into his tenure after admitting that he failed to fully detail relationships with colleagues. Bernard Looney , who has spent his entire career with BP, has departed the £88bn company immediately in a surprise move. On Tuesday night, the company informed investors that Looney “did not provide details of all relationships and accepts he was obliged to make more complete disclosure”. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/T8QvA4R

Board will now consider permanent residents of the US and those who have made it their ‘longtime primary home’ The board that administers the Pulitzer prize announced on Tuesday that it will expand its eligibility requirements to consider authors, playwrights and composers who are not US citizens. The prestigious award for books, drama and music, which had previously been open to just US citizens, will now consider permanent residents of the US and those who have made the US “their longtime primary home”, according to a press release on behalf of the Pulitzer prize board. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/prd6MyB

Years before You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) made him a star and LGBTQ+ hero, Sylvester’s music was very different. His pianist recalls their astonishing sessions together in San Francisco On Fridays and Saturdays after midnight in the early 1970s, in a movie theatre in San Francisco’s Little Italy, a 22-year-old would walk on its stage and sing. Wearing high platform shoes, glamorous vintage clothes and accessories, and a glittering turban or pompadour wig, he performed the torch songs and blues of early-to-mid 20th-century America, music far away from the futuristic sounds that would later make him famous. Eight years before his hi-NRG anthem You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) became a global disco hit – and a landmark moment for LGBTQ+ artists in pop – Sylvester’s musical career began at the Palace Theatre in North Beach, San Francisco, accompanied by his pianist friend Peter Mintun. Mintun taped their intimate rehearsals, and this month underground label Dark Entries have released the

From Sudanese refugees risking death to enter Poland to Latvians honouring fallen Russian soldiers, this is a fascinating, and upsetting, look at existing alongside the invaders of Ukraine It is a folly to judge a book by its cover and, by the same logic, to dismiss a two-part documentary based on its title. Still, Living Next Door to Putin seems particularly egregious, evoking a wacky sitcom akin to the notoriously shortlived 1990 comedy Heil Honey I’m Home! , in which a Jewish couple find themselves living next door to Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun. Instead of being a highly problematic farce, Living Next Door to Putin is an insightful, delicately handled portrait of eastern Europe’s anxieties and the ramifications of existing on the potential frontline of Vladimir Putin’s westward expansion. While Ukraine is engulfed in warfare not seen in Europe since the second world war, the journalist Katya Adler spends this two‑parter looking at the practical and existential impact this has on

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Tories wheeled out the one man who can always be counted on to fill blank space with dead air It was all as clear as mud. There was plenty of outrage – of course there was: there always is when MPs have plenty time on their hands. Politicians are always happy to fill the vacuum in government with outrage. Outrage that China had allegedly set up a top operative to spy on both Alicia Kearns and the security minister, Tom Tugendhat. Outrage that China had so little respect for the UK that it allegedly only bothered to send one of its wet-behind-the-ears interns to spy on parliament. Outrage that the spy might not even be a spy. He has yet to be charged with any offence after being arrested in March. He says he is completely innocent. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/uaBmVt9

As she brings her new show, Dragons, to the UK, the innovative choreographer discusses shaking off traditional norms and how shaving her head helped her find her own energy Ochre wall, plum table, turquoise vase, a spray of pink, red and white flowers – all of it fades into the background in the presence of Korean choreographer Eun-Me Ahn. It is just past breakfast time at a modern hotel in Amsterdam, where her company is performing, and she easily outshines our tasteful decor as she gives me a twirl to show off today’s outfit: white dress printed with giant daisies, fluorescent lime net skirt, scarlet trousers, pink flip-flops – and a smile that beams like the sun. The woman before me may be 60 years old but I can readily see her as the endlessly energetic little girl who, she tells me, never stopped, never slept, and would make up little dance dramas every day. It was colour, in fact, that first brought Ahn to dance, at the age of five. “Usually in our society we wear black, grey,

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George Ford’s drop goals and a solid defensive display against Argentina needs to be the start of a red rose renaissance It is amazing the difference one decent result can make. On the train south from Paris on Saturday, the carriages had been packed with pessimistic England fans bracing for more trouble and strife. Suddenly every single one of them is cheerfully contemplating potential quarter-final opponents and daring to believe a rousing red‑rose renaissance is materialising beneath a clear blue Mediterranean sky. Let’s just say that was not the universal mood in the immediate aftermath of Tom Curry’s red card when every white-shirted supporter will have had a familiar sinking feeling. World Cups can be shaped fundamentally by the tiniest of misjudgments and here, apparently, was another classic case study. What all concerned, including Argentina, underestimated was England’s resolution and desire to stand up and fight rather than bow to the supposedly inevitable. Continue readi

The actor makes a convincing big screen comeback as a man visiting his family for the first time since transitioning, but effective moments are offset by clunkiness Dominic Savage’s work tends to focus on people, usually women, facing some form of disruptive challenge to their everyday life, specific and stressful and never anything but utterly believable. He drew out Gemma Arterton’s greatest performance in 2017’s Toronto premiere The Escape as a deeply unsettled woman wanting out of her responsibilities as wife and mother. His Channel 4 anthology series I Am… has introduced a range of characters at an intersection, from a devastating Vicky McClure grappling with her partner’s emotional abuse to recent Bafta winner Kate Winslet as a mother struggling with a daughter crippled by social media addiction. His preference for often mundane naturalism, with dialogue usually improvised, has teased out grounded, unshowy performances and unusual, instinctive choices from stars often not as acc

The Oscar-winner is reliably commanding as Lee Miller, who went from fashion to war photography, but she struggles to lift a by-the-numbers drama A passion project almost a decade in the making, Lee is the kind of stodgy biopic that feels of a time far before that, a bullet point-ticking list of events gussied up to be an actual movie. The life it’s focused on, that of model turned second world war photographer Lee Miller, is an undeniably interesting one, but it’s only in the briefest of moments that the film justifies why it’s a narrative endeavour rather than a documentary and every one of those moments comes courtesy of its lead. Attached to the project since it was officially announced back in 2015, Kate Winslet makes for a formidable Miller, lifting the film out of anonymity on her shoulders. It’s not hard to buy her as a woman who boasted the looks and then the resolve to go from magazine shoots to the battlefield, a seductive and steely performance that keeps chugging along e

Rivals meet in US Open final for second time in three years Send Bryan at tweet at @BryanAGraham or email him Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s Andrew Lawrence’s look back at Coco Gauff’s big win yesterday. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/jQUBvTC

2nd ODI: England, 226-7, bt New Zealand, 147, by 79 runs T20 specialist hits 95 to press case for World Cup squad England were 55 for five, a fourth consecutive defeat against New Zealand on the cards, World Cup prep looking a little bit all over the shop. And then came Liam Livingstone. The T20 star searching for 50-over success found joy as an inbetweener, hitting an unbeaten 95 in a 34-overs-a-side contest as England won the second one-day international at the Ageas Bowl by 79 runs. Livingstone’s innings headlined a total of 226 for seven after steady mizzle in Southampton delayed the start and forced a shortened contest, not ideal as both sides looked to cram in another ODI lesson before the major show next month. Two days on from his hundred in Cardiff, Daryl Mitchell and his heavenly straight drive briefly threatened for New Zealand but England’s attack squeezed from the other end and levelled the series 1-1. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/h0k1zJM

England 27-10 Argentina Controversial red card for Tom Curry after only three minutes Beneath the beautiful curved roof of this wonderful arena, a 14-man England finally gave their long-suffering supporters something to cherish. The Rugby World Cup in France is only a couple of days old but it will take something extra special in the weeks ahead to eclipse this effort in terms of backs-to-the-wall resilience and good old-fashioned bulldog spirit. England also had George Ford, who in terms of shaping a Test match enjoyed the most satisfying big game of his career. The Sale fly-half was world junior player of the year in his youth but here, on the ultimate stage, he surpassed that achievement by scoring all his side’s points in a kicking performance even Jonny Wilkinson would have found hard to match. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/gb3GFej

Two men detained under Official Secrets Act amid spying allegations against researcher linked to senior Tory MPs Two men have been arrested under the Official Secrets Act amid allegations that a parliamentary researcher spied for China. The researcher is understood to have had links to several senior Tory MPs, including the security minister, Tom Tugendhat, and the foreign affairs committee chair, Alicia Kearns. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/B1JUTbZ

Gauff and Sabalenka meet for title at Flushing Meadows Send Bryan a tweet at @BryanAGraham or email him Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s Tumaini Carayol’s look at Coco Gauff on the brink. On Saturday, the teenager from Georgia will bring her new-found perspective to her biggest match on home soil. It will be brutally difficult. Not only is Aryna Sabalenka the toughest player in the world right now, the new No 1 when next week’s rankings are published, but it feels as if she may have exorcised her biggest demons during this tournament. The race for the No 1 ranking seemed to weigh heavily on the Belarusian as she failed to take multiple opportunities to catch Iga Swiatek earlier this year. She particularly struggled to compose herself in major semi-finals. She was 1-5 in her career and had lost so many comprehensive leads until Thursday night’s incredible comeback win from 0-6, 3-5, 0-15 down against Madison Keys. For Gauff, who will be the underdog, the only

Football’s paradox: the game is ever more team-oriented on a tactical level while many fans are now obsessed by individuals The journalist in the seat next to mine at Portugal’s 6-1 win over Switzerland at the World Cup – French, late 20s – had been shooting some video content outside and arrived just after half-time. Portugal were already 3-0 up and, with Gonçalo Ramos replacing Cristiano Ronaldo in the starting lineup, playing by far their best football of the tournament. The reporter was devastated. He wanted to see Ronaldo. That Portugal had improved without their star player was of no concern to him. When Ronaldo came on after 74 minutes, he couldn’t have been more excited if he had been a teenager watching The Beatles at the Cavern Club in 1963. He gasped, he howled, he trembled with a frankly disturbing intensity. Ronaldo did almost nothing, but when he put the ball in the net from an offside position and indulged the crowd with a slightly half-hearted “ Siiiiuuuu! ” celebra

Prime minister says example set by schools will not necessarily have to be followed by other public buildings Rishi Sunak has defended his government’s decision to shut down schools because of problems with crumbling concrete, as he aims to use this weekend’s G20 summit in New Delhi to draw a line under another bruising week in office. The prime minister told reporters on the trip to India that his education secretary, Gillian Keegan, had done the right thing in ordering 147 schools to shut buildings made with aerated concrete, after officials became concerned about structural defects. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/tz2AKrQ

Restaurateur Jeremy King returns to 20 Arlington St, where Diana, Madonna and Mick Jagger dined It was once a favourite haunt of the fabulously rich and the unquestionably famous: Diana, Princess of Wales, and Princess Margaret were regular diners; Mick Jagger and Liz Taylor, too. Now the site of London’s Le Caprice restaurant seems ready to open its doors again, three years after it closed. And it will be under familiar management. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/4jNzoAB

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‘Goblin mode’, situationship and pyrocumulonimbus among 3,000 new entries to the ninth edition Get our morning and afternoon news emails , free app or daily news podcast Situationship, Barbiecore and “spicy cough”: these are among the 3,000 new entries in the latest update to the Macquarie Dictionary. Emphasising that dictionaries are in a constant state of playing catch up, Macquarie’s managing editor, Victoria Morgan, says a number of pandemic-era and more recent colloquial nouns have trickled into the ninth edition of Australia’s collection of vocabulary . Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/UZ2unmY

Crumbling buildings, a lack of space inside them and the high turnover of staff paint a picture of the parlous state of the prisons service While the sheer extent of decrepitude in the nation’s schools uncovered by the crisis over aerated concrete might have been an eye-opener to some policymakers, a story that highlights the parlous state of the prisons service will have surprised almost no one. There are two main problems with prisons, which while interlinked are not entirely down to the same causes: the crumbling state of the prisons themselves, and the lack of space inside them. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/uDRThKi

Environmental and community groups have filed lawsuit as the water body shrinks from overuse, hastening its demise Environmental and community groups have sued Utah officials over failures to save its iconic Great Salt Lake from irreversible collapse. The largest saltwater lake in the western hemisphere has been steadily shrinking, as more and more water has been diverted away from the lake to irrigate farmland, feed industry and water lawns. A megadrought across the US south-west , accelerated by global heating, has hastened the lake’s demise. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/kjuxBVH

Gods! Dragons! Horned helmets! Swords! Valkyries! The 15-hour apocalyptic epic is about to explode onto the Royal Opera stage. But what’s the best way to tackle ‘the ultimate opera’? Wagner doesn’t mean what it used to. Google “Wagner” today and you’ll be up to speed with the Russian private army ’s exploits well before you read about Hitler’s favourite composer. In fact “Wagner” is as likely to suggest the 2010 X Factor contestant as the maverick German genius who, after handing out grenades on the Dresden barricades in 1848, sought to liberate opera from its Italianate shackles by means of Gesamtkunstwerk – or “total works of art” – and thereby free humans from lives of spiritless toil and demeaning leisure. Chief among Wagner’s total works of art is the 15-hour operatic tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen, which the Royal Opera House begins to roll out next week . The first instalment, Das Rheingold, will be conducted by Antonio Pappano in his final season as Covent Garden’s music

The players to watch, the teams to back and how to tell a ruck from a scrum as the tournament kicks off in France Is it already time for another World Cup? The men’s Rugby World Cup is indeed upon us, four years after the last one, and the William Webb Ellis trophy is the prize. Rugby is people with big muscles and tight shorts smashing into each other, right? You’re thinking of rugby league, the 13-a-side version. Rugby union is a far more nuanced contest of skill, strength and tactical cunning. And people with big muscles smashing into each other, but 15-a-side. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/t6rFV04

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New digital billboard project by For Freedoms to launch in response to the rise of hate toward the Jewish community Nuance isn’t usually a byword for propaganda, but the latest public art campaign from non-partisan artist collective For Freedoms is filled with images that mesmerize and bewilder. The new series, The Highest Form of Wisdom is Kindness, is a response to the surge in antisemitism in the US and whose name derives from the Talmud, features works by a dozen artists – Jewish and non-Jewish – including Deborah Kass, Joel Mesler, Ruvan Wijesooriya, and MacArthur Genius photographer Carrie Mae Weems. The project will launch on digital billboards in eight American cities in early September, in advance of the Jewish high holidays. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/7W4HF5B

A new book, The Circulating Lifeblood of Ideas, looks at the expansive collection and defining criticism of the ground-breaking art critic “Steinberg was looking at copies of famous works, and how they helped reveal the artist’s choices and intentions,” said Holly Borham, an expert in art prints and a curator at the Blanton Museum of Arts in Austin. Bohman spoke with me about how the art critic Leo Steinberg, who broke ground in the 1960s with his ideas about pop art and Renaissance masters, arrived at his discoveries through his giant collection of art prints. “Those prints helped him to get new insight into artists like Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci,” she said. “He uncovered the intentions of the original artists by looking at prints, and that helped him become a towering figure in art history.” Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2FM9UPe

The de facto ban on building onshore wind sites has been lifted, but experts say they remain at the whims of ‘quixotic decisions by local councils’ Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/hdLDFJU

The reshuffle, thought to have been deftly managed by Sue Gray, made a shadow cabinet heavy with stalwarts from the Blair-Brown era When Keir Starmer put the final touches to his shadow cabinet reshuffle over the summer recess, his thoughts were not just on who would help propel Labour into government at the next election, but who could run the country if they are successful. His top team now includes three MPs who served in the last Labour cabinet – Ed Miliband, Yvette Cooper and Hilary Benn – at least four who were ministers under Tony Blair or Gordon Brown and three, including self-proclaimed Blairites Peter Kyle and Liz Kendall, who were special advisers. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/fXoHJLc