44 h. ago Thursday news quiz: AI mishaps, fan fury and a tiny baby hippo

Test yourself on topical news trivia, pop culture and general knowledge every Thursday. How will you fare?Welcome to the final Thursday news quiz of the year – a small festive tradition involving the news, a handful of jokes, and the knowledge that somewhere there are 1,057 pedants limbering up to find something to nitpick. And it is a bumper 20-question edition. Thank you for quizzing throughout the year, for your comments, corrections and good-natured quibbles, and most of all for the kind messages literally hundreds of you sent the quizmaster during the Great Thursday Quiz Hiatus of 2025™, when he was off sick. It really meant a lot. Allons-y!The Thursday quiz will return in the new year and wishes you a Merry Christmas, a great festive holiday period and all the best for 2026. Sign up for First Edition to get a Thursday quiz-style quiz of the year in your inbox on Christmas Day. Continue reading...

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61 h. ago ‘She dreamt bigger than all of us’: is Timothée Chalamet really a Susan Boyle superfan?

The Marty Supreme star said the Britain’s Got Talent runner-up is one of the greatest Britons of all time – surely he’s not taking her name in vain for attentionTimothée Chalamet understands the true nature of greatness. In Marty Supreme, he plays a character loosely based on a former two-time US men’s singles table tennis champion. In A Complete Unknown, he played Bob Dylan at the exact moment he decided to reshape all of pop culture in his own image. His upcoming third Dune film is based on a book that is literally called Messiah. So when Timothée Chalamet singles out a figure for greatness, understand that the greatness is warranted.Which is a roundabout way of saying that Timothée Chalamet thinks Susan Boyle is great. Not only great, but one of the greatest Britons to have ever lived. Continue reading...

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63 h. ago 14 pop culture moments that sent the internet into meltdown in 2025

The past calendar year has seen Katy Perry shooting off to space, the ubiquity of a fluffy gremlin doll and a mind-boggling set of interviews from the unending ‘Wicked’ press tour. Ellie Muir takes a look back at the memes and pop culture moments that defined the last 12 months

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3 d. ago The Vietnam War ended 50 years ago. But its lessons live on in The Quiet American

Phillip Noyce’s political drama is a searing critique of American interventionism that feels all too pertinent todayGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailAlden Pyle (Brendan Fraser) was a “quiet American”, says Thomas Fowler (Michael Caine) to a French policeman. “A friend,” he adds, as the lifeless corpse of Pyle stares back at him with a wretched expression.This is the scene that opens Phillip Noyce’s Vietnam-set political drama before the film flashes back a few months earlier to 1952 Saigon, where Fowler, an ageing Englishman, lives leisurely as a journalist reporting on the first Indochina war. When Pyle, a young American aid worker advocating for US intervention, falls for Fowler’s 20-year-old Vietnamese lover, Phượng (Đỗ Thị Hải Yến), the jaded reporter’s tranquil existence begins to unravel.Sign up for our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago Rachael Carpani, McLeod’s Daughters and Home and Away actor, dies ‘unexpectedly but peacefully’ aged 45

The beloved Australian actor died on 7 December after a battle with chronic illnessGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailMcLeod’s Daughters and Home and Away actor Rachael Carpani has died, aged 45, her family has announced.A statement from her parents, shared by her sister on Instagram on Monday, said that the actor had “unexpectedly but peacefully passed away after a long battle with chronic illness in the early hours of Sunday 7th December”. Her exact cause of death was not made public.Sign up for our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Continue reading...

Events

6 d. ago The Trump administration keeps picking fights with pop stars. It’s a no

By using music from SZA, Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo in ICE videos, the government is playing a game of rage-baitLast week, as the Trump administration was engulfed in controversy over its illegal military strikes near Venezuela (among numerous other crises), a Department of Homeland Security employee – I picture the worst sniveling, self-satisfied, hateful loser – got to work on the official X account. The state-employed memelord posted a video depicting Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) officials arresting people in what appeared to be Chicago, celebrating the humiliation and incarceration of undocumented immigrants as some sort of patriotic achievement. The vile video borrowed, as they often do, from mainstream pop culture; in this case, a viral lyric from Sabrina Carpenter’s song Juno – “Have you ever tried this one?,” referring to sex positions – overlaid clips of agents chasing, tackling and handcuffing people, cheekily nodding to all the methods in ICE’s terr...

Politics

9 d. ago Revealed: The most common questions people ask Alexa (Some are a bit weird)

It turns out we’re using smart speakers for everything from pop culture curiosity to kitchen crisis management = and the patterns are oddly relatable

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2 w. ago Thursday news quiz: final curtain calls and fiendish questions

25 questions on notable pop culture, sporting and public figures we lost this year. How will you fare?Something a little different this week. As the year draws to a close, the Thursday quiz pauses to pay tribute to some of the notable pop culture, sporting and public figures we lost over the past 12 months, with the annual in memoriam edition. No prizes, except the chance to remember the joy they (mostly) gave us – via the medium of trying to recall obscure trivia about them. Let us know how you get on in the comments. Allons-y!The Thursday news quiz, No 226 – annual in memoriam edition Continue reading...

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2 w. ago British public’s verdict is in: Die Hard is not a Christmas movie

Survey also reveals Britons’ favourite festive film, views on tear-jerkers and family cinema tripsWhen Macaulay Culkin recently said he didn’t consider Die Hard to be a Christmas film – wading into one of pop culture’s most heated holiday debates – he was booed by a live audience.But it looks like the British people are behind the actor, with a survey revealing that Home Alone is the UK’s favourite festive film, while Die Hard has officially been voted not a Christmas movie. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Mammoth series two review – it is a subversive thrill to laugh at these offensive jokes

This old-school sitcom about a PE teacher who wakes after being frozen since the 70s is an impeccably deadpan send-up of masculinity. But it hits hardest when this unreconstructed man turns out to be right about life todayYou can lay the demise of political satire at the door of stranger-than-fiction governmental turmoil. You can attribute the disappearance of pop culture pastiche to a fractured zeitgeist and the thinning out of the artistic mainstream. Yet there’s no obvious reason for the scarcity of jokes about contemporary society in comedy. Maybe it has something to do with the decline of the sketch show; perhaps it’s simply because there’s far less funny stuff on TV in general (during the 2010s, the BBC’s comedy output almost halved). Whatever the reason, when we get a chance to laugh at modern mores, we should probably take it.Re-enter Mammoth, an old-school sitcom from the Welsh comedian Mike Bubbins. The 53-year-old stars as the eponymous Tony Mammoth, a PE teacher who was ...

Politics

2 w. ago West Lothian shoppers wait in huge queues as new store opens ahead of Christmas

Over 300 people turned up in their droves to The Centre, Livingston at the weekend for the opening of the pop culture retailer MINISO over four hours before the store opened.

Politics

2 w. ago Baby name expert says Charli and Zendaya are on the slide as she predicts names for 2026

An expert has predicted the baby name trends heading for 2026 - and says that pop culture names are declining

Politics

2 w. ago 'I'm a baby name expert and ancient choices and showgirls are in for 2026'

Expert Sophie Kihm, 28, has predicted the baby name trends for 2026 - and says pop culture names like Zendaya and Charli are on the decline

Politics

2 w. ago Expert predicts baby names for 2026 and Zendaya and Charli are out

Sophie Kihm said pop culture names were on the slide

Politics

3 w. ago The Vatican has given Rosalía its blessing – are the days of finger

The pop star’s experimental, religious new album has found an unlikely fan in the Vatican, writes Fiona Sturges. Could this signal a new era of papal-pop culture diplomacy?

Politics

3 w. ago How do I respond to someone who says ‘I’m not racist, but ... ’? | Leading questions

It’s important to express your disagreement: for their sake as much as yours, writes advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith. But first decide on what you aim to accomplishRead more Leading questionsHow do I respond to someone who contributes to a conversation with “I’m not racist, but ” and then inevitably proceeds to say something racist, such as talking about immigrants on benefits or getting priority for housing?I’m referring to social occasions with people that I am not necessarily close to but rather acquaintances I may bump into semi-regularly. I feel myself getting simultaneously angry and tongue-tied and I mostly sit with my frustration to maintain some sense of harmony in the group.Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Continue reading...

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3 w. ago Eggshells, onion bags and five years painting only in orange: the playful avant

The late Australian artist ‘wanted to challenge orthodoxy in everything he did’, says Sue Cramer, his wife and co-curator of a new survey of his playful, rigorous careerGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailJohn Nixon, the late Australian avant-garde artist, would sometimes save the shells from his boiled eggs and sprinkle them across blank paint, creating his own starry night. Other times he’d set himself rules, such as painting only in orange for five years. It was 1996 and he was becoming a father, so he wanted a streamlined practice – plus, what other artist was associated with orange?These anecdotes – just two among many – reflect not only Nixon’s lifelong frugality, idiosyncrasies and strategies, but his steadfast blending of art into everyday life for more than 50 years. His hardline minimalism never feels stifling or overwrought, but rigorous and playful, critical yet fortuitous.Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weeke...

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3 w. ago From Donald Trump to Taylor Swift: UK's fascination with American culture revealed

A poll of 2,000 adults found 30% know just as much about American pop culture as they do their own.

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3 w. ago Skye Gyngell was singular. She had the palate of a chef and the palette of an artist

Her commitment to food directly connected to its source shaped the tastes and thinking of a generation of cooks. We all wanted to sit next to her at dinnerSpring is a season of transition, when bare earth transforms into something alive with promise. It was also the name chef Skye Gyngell, who has died at age 62, chose for her London restaurant. She said it was her favourite season, but the truth is she embraced all four and lived them wholly.Gyngell was singular: she had the palate of a chef and the palette of an artist. Those twin gifts met in food that was painterly in its composition, delicate in its details and tuned to nature’s shifting notes.Sign up for our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Maga is in meltdown over a preppy pink sweater for men. So, what exactly is the problem? | Ellie Violet Bramley

The outrage a J Crew jumper has provoked shows that the US right’s sense of masculinity is far more fragile than it would care to admitA men’s jumper by the all-American preppy label J Crew has sent thousands of Maga Americans into meltdown. From a fashion point of view, it couldn’t be more innocuous. It’s got a crew neck. It’s made from wool. It has a Fair Isle pattern at the upper yoke. There’s nothing asymmetric about it, no fringing or tassels, no slogan blasted across the front; no “Make America Kind Again”. So what’s the big deal? Reader, the jumper is pink.The main storm broke underneath a tweet by conservative social media commentator Juanita Broaddrick, in which she asked: “Are you kidding me?? Men, would you wear this $168 sweater?” The consensus among her followers was a resounding no, and not because of its price. “No man in my family would wear it!” wrote “MOMof DataRepublican”. “My husband wouldn’t use a pink bathroom towel,” assured another. Another X user was even mo...

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