3 h. ago Zainab Johnson: Toxically Optimistic review – US comic targets gun culture

Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe slick standup’s fringe debut is full of searching questions about the right to keep and bear arms‘I’ve got a gun.” Nice to be pitched, with that opening line, straight into a show declaring itself different from the others. Zainab Johnson’s maiden fringe set – although she’s already a big noise in the US – gives an account of how she came to own a firearm. It’s not an explicitly political show – if a show about gun ownership by a black, Muslim, American female is allowed to be anything but. But Toxically Optimistic does invite engagement with some searching questions about guns, their use, and the safety they supposedly ensure – even if, so poised is Johnson’s delivery, you barely notice it doing so.Hers is that particularly American style of standup that can feel too polished for UK tastes: smiling, slick and a little bit frictionless. If a British comedian tells a dating story, you can bet they’ll be the butt of the joke; when Johnson does, it’s t...

Events

3 h. ago Kristin Davis reveals what stuck out to her on her date with Matthew Perry

Davis discussed dinner party date with the late Friends star in a recent episode of her ‘Are You a Charlotte?’ podcast

Politics

3 h. ago The 'cringe' clothing item you MUST stop wearing to the gym according to Gen Z

It's a known fact that skinny jeans have long been dubbed 'millennial cringe' by Gen Z, but now there's a new wardrobe item that they've declared is out of style.

Politics

4 h. ago Rylan talks about 'wave of hate' as he says 'walk a mile in their shoes'

TV and radio presenter Rylan Clark has said that amid a "mass wave of hate" towards LGBT+ people, "real stories" about transgender people must be shown in the media

Politics

6 h. ago The herb that can help shed water weight and relieve bloating

The ancient Mediterranean herb has been cultivated for thousands of years

Politics

7 h. ago Rylan Clark calls for more stories about transgender people amid ‘wave of hate’

The BBC Radio 2 presenter spoke about the adversities faced by LGBT+ people.

Politics

7 h. ago Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes’ steakhouse is ready to open

Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes’ steakhouse, 1587 Prime, will open September 17 with reservations available starting Wednesday at 12 p.m. CST

Society

8 h. ago Google Translate will let you choose between speed or accuracy

Google Translate adds AI for fast or accurate translations and a Duolingo-style practice mode

Politics

9 h. ago Keely Hodgkinson won’t rule out making attempt at new British record in Lausanne

The Olympic champion marked her return from a 376-day absence on Saturday in Silesia in stunning style.

Politics

10 h. ago What is chaos gardening? The latest trend taking over TikTok

Chaos gardening is taking over social media, but what is it? Deryn Davidson reports

Events

10 h. ago They’re among the best in British indie. So why have Field Music become a Doors cover band?

Faced with ‘catastrophic financial doom’ in a difficult industry, the Sunderland outfit explain why imitating Jim Morrison is their way to surviveFor years, Field Music playfully toyed with the idea of forming a hybrid cover band called AC/BGs, featuring one set of AC/DC songs done in a Saturday Night Fever-style and one set of rock-heavy Bee Gees numbers. “These things are a joke until they stop being a joke,” says David Brewis, one half of the Sunderland art-pop band.Another idea made it beyond a tour bus gag to become their new side hustle: a Doors tribute band called the Fire Doors. When the band announced it on Facebook last month, they received critical questions asking: why? The band’s response was a piercingly honest multi-page statement. Brewis wrote of Field Music’s sincere love of the band, the high levels of skill required to do such a job proficiently – and how doing one tribute gig a month could help their “dire finances”, having accepted that after nine albums, they h...

Events

10 h. ago Strictly stars celebrate engagement three years after competing on BBC series

The couple started a relationship after appearing on dancing competition in 2022

Culture

10 h. ago Madison Beer sparks dating rumors with NFL quarterback after he’s spotted on her music video set

The Los Angeles Chargers quarterback was spotted at a shoot for Beer’s upcoming music video

Culture

10 h. ago This Morning's Sian Welby makes an ITV return in a high street Chanel

This Morning presenter, Sian Welby, made a stylish return to the ITV show this week as she donned a Chanel-inspired co-ord that's still available to buy from a high street store

Politics

10 h. ago Please take your seats, the carnage is about to begin: what will Quentin Tarantino’s West End debut look like?

The director has announced he’s turning to theatre, and mounting a play in London soon. The matinee coach parties may need to brace themselvesIf the last few days have taught us anything at all, then it is this: if you want Quentin Tarantino to open up about anything, invite him on to a podcast called The Church of Tarantino. This is what happened recently, and the slew of new information offered up has been remarkable.Thanks to the podcast appearance, we know which of his movies he likes the best (Inglourious Basterds), why he didn’t make The Movie Critic (it would have been too easy) and who the best director is (him, along with David Fincher). And now comes the most exciting news of all – there will soon be a Tarantino West End play. Tarantino told the podcast that “the play is all written. It is absolutely the next thing I’m going to do. We’ll start the ball rolling on it in January It’s probably going to take up a year and a half to two years of my life.” Continue reading...

Politics

10 h. ago Sky TV customers with dishes on side of house 'can get free TV'

A Sky TV expert has shared the latest update from the company about the switch from satellite dishes to streaming

Economics

10 h. ago Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest rages against the new but leaves him looking too old

The film-maker’s ‘reinterpretation’ of the Kurosawa crime drama rails against AI, online media and new hip-hop but can’t find much new to say“We’re jazz musicians,” the director Spike Lee recently said of his working dynamic with Denzel Washington in Highest 2 Lowest, a new crime thriller that marks the fifth collaboration between the two Oscar winners. “We respect Julie Andrews singing My Favorite Things, but when John Coltrane did it, you know, or when Miles [Davis] did his standard of My Funny Valentine, it’s a different thing.”The metaphor is no throwaway. Since Lee’s breakout on to the cultural scene in the 1980s, the Atlanta-born, Brooklyn-made auteur has been at pains to style himself as an outgrowth of old school storytelling traditions even as critics tarred him as a new-school disrupter. From She’s Gotta Have It to Chi-Raq, Lee has made the extra effort to venerate the athletes, artists and thinkers who have shaped his distinctly analog worldview. Highest 2 Lowest was mean...

Politics

11 h. ago ‘You can’t hear yourself think’: Kate Ferdinand on the chaos of family life

The ex-TOWIE star on her ‘crazy’ family life with husband Rio Ferdinand

Events

11 h. ago Trump administration speechwriter linked to hate speech online

Eric Lendrum, of Department of Homeland Security, likened US conservatives to Jews in Nazi GermanyUS politics – live updatesA speechwriter for the Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has come under scrutiny after he was linked to hate speech online.Eric Lendrum compared the circumstances of American conservatives to that of enslaved people and Jewish people in Nazi Germany, and in his podcast claimed that the racist great replacement conspiracy theory was “real”, the news outlet Notus reported. Continue reading...

Politics

11 h. ago Rylan Clark admits 'it is so intense' as he declares 'love' for former co

BBC Radio 2 host Rylan Clark has remained close to one of his co-stars after meeting in the early-2010s, and the pair have supported each other ever since

Politics