39 h. ago Carlos Alcaraz feels he pushed Lorenzo Musetti to the limit in French Open semi

Alcaraz secured his place in Sunday’s Roland Garros showpiece after Italian eighth seed Musetti retired while trailing 4-6 7-6 (3) 6-0 2-0.

Politics

3 d. ago Ballerina review – Ana de Armas racks up the kills as she pirouettes into John Wick spin

De Armas is fun as a feisty assassin trained in ballet and martial arts, combining delicacy and violence in her quest for vengeance, with a cameo from Keanu. She doesn’t wear a tutu to fill goons with lead though That title could cause confusion. The film might accidentally tap into the Frozen customer-base, and millions of wide-eyed little girls in sparkly tutus and tiaras will show up at cinemas with their mums and dads to watch Keanu Reeves let a heavy-set gangster have it in the chops with a round from his specially customised Glock. Well, the confusion is deliberate. Here, the delicacy of ballet and the violence of martial arts are conflated. In this new spin-off feature from Keanu’s John Wick action franchise – an auxiliary episode on the timeline, between Wick episodes Three and Four, when JW was lying low, recovering from injuries – a mysterious new action-slash-classical-dance heroine called Eve now grands-jetés her way into the franchise, played by the always stylish Ana d...

Events

6 d. ago ANDREW PIERCE: Oh Kemi, you're getting too blue for the Commons

Keep an ear out for Kemi Badenoch's fruity language at this week's PMQs. I hear Commons clerks are worried that the Tory leader is pushing the limits of acceptable parliamentary language...

Politics

7 d. ago 'Badass' Ana de Armas' new film 'pushed her to limits' as she reunites with 'magical' co

Cuban actress Ana de Armas declared her 'love' for John Wick co-star Keanu Reeves, saying 'to get back on set with him after 10 years is pretty ­extraordinary and magical'

Politics

9 d. ago Jack Draper overcomes raucous French Open crowd to beat home hero Monfils

Draper into third round with 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 victoryBritish No 1 wins five games in a row to claim fourth setAs 15,000 people cheered on his pottential demise late into Thursday night, for a sustained period Jack Draper looked completely frazzled. He found himself playing a few too many drop shots, bailing out of points instead of slamming the door shut. His first serve had vacated the premises.These things often happen in Gaël Monfils’ lair, Court Philippe-Chatrier, where his magnetic personality draws his home crowd into a frenzy and his singular style plays tricks with an opponent’s mind. Despite being pushed to his limits and standing on the verge of an uncertain fifth set, Draper gave another demonstration of his mental durability by finding his way through to the third round of the French Open with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 win. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago Gertrude Stein: an Afterlife by Francesca Wade – how a literary legend was made

A thoughtful biography sheds new light on the motivation behind Stein’s masterwork, The Autobiography of Alice B ToklasWhen The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas was published in 1933, it made 60-year-old Gertrude Stein famous after decades of obscurity. The book painted a thrilling picture of life among the Parisian haute bohème in the early years of the 20th century. Picasso, Matisse, Scott Fitzgerald and Ezra Pound all made repeat appearances at the apartment in Rue de Fleurus which Stein shared with her partner Toklas. After decades of pushing language to its limits, Stein had written The Autobiography in a comparatively accessible style with jokes and anecdotes and full sentences. Or, as one relieved critic noted at the time, Gertrude Stein had finally started making sense.In this thoughtful and deeply researched book, Francesca Wade explains that the success of The Autobiography had the unintended effect of moving the focus from Stein as a writer to Stein as a celebrity. While&n...

Politics

2 w. ago Coronation Street's Daniel Brocklebank breaks silence with three

Billy Mayhew will have his final scenes aired in 2026 following a storyline that will push him to his limits

Politics

3 w. ago Partir Un Jour (Leave One Day) review – foodie musical is an undercooked turkey

Cannes film festival opening filmDreadful songs add no flavour to dreary tale of a big-city gourmet returning to her home-cooked rootsThe opening gala of Cannes can be such a gamble: a very exposed festival slot which few films need or want, and whose occupants so often turn out to be the squawking overfed turkeys of the big screen. Such a one, sadly, is this listless and supercilious musical – ostensibly on the theme of heartwarming home town values – which flatlines like a hedgehog run over by an 18-wheeler the moment the female lead opens her mouth to sing one of the film’s many terrible songs.Cécile (played by French singer Juliette Armanet) is about to open a restaurant in the big city having recently won a top-rated TV cooking show, and she is dating her colleague Sofiane (Tewfik Jallab). But when she hears that her adorable, exasperating old dad Gérard (François Rollin) has had a heart attack, brought on by the strain of running the family’s truck-stop cafe out in the boondoc...

Society

3 w. ago ‘These murders still live with me’: the show that goes inside Fred and Rose West’s ‘house of horrors’

Featuring moving interviews from the relatives of victims and chilling new footage of a handcuffed Fred locating the bodies at Cromwell Street, a new Netflix documentary pushes the true crime genre to its limitDez Chambers waited 15 years to get the news she didn’t want. All that time, she thought her missing little sister, Alison, might still be out there. Dez would watch documentaries about homelessness to see if perhaps she’d recognise a face, and even attempted the Salvation Army’s family tracing service. “It was hope,” she says from her home in the Netherlands.Hope faded one day in 1994. Calling her from the UK, Dez’s mother-in-law cried down the phone. There was panic, there was confusion, “so I had to ask her. And then she said it was in the papers that the remains had been identified as Alison.” Continue reading...

Events

4 w. ago Tom Cruise, 62, 'lines up his new girlfriend Ana de Armas, 37, for leading role in upcoming blockbuster'

The Hollywood star, 62, who was first linked to the actress, 37, on Valentine's Day, is said to believe she is 'one of the best in the business.'

Politics

last month Bank of England chief urges Starmer to 'do everything' to 'rebuild' trade with the EU after sealing deal with Trump... as Tories warn Brexit must NOT be unwound

Andrew Bailey backed deepening relations as the PM pushes ahead with his Brexit 'reset' - after sealing a damage limitation deal with Donald Trump .

Events