11 h. ago David Squires on after review, this week’s cartoon is a VAR special

Our cartoonist on chaos at Craven Cottage, Nicolas Jackson’s gap year and Howard Webb’s apology muffinsBuy copies of David’s cartoons in our Print ShopDavid’s latest book, Chaos in the Box: buy it now Continue reading...

Politics

35 h. ago End of the Road review – A weekend of rain reveals the resilience at the heart of this little oasis in the trees

The revellers rally when the typically sunny weekender is met with downpour

Politics

5 d. ago Blood Orange: Essex Honey review | Alexis Petridis’s album of the week

(RCA)Gorgeous melodies ground Dev Hynes’s questing fifth album, via dancefloor rhythms, indie pop and languorous funk – and cameos from Lorde and Zadie SmithDev Hynes’s fifth studio album as Blood Orange opens with a series of unexpected musical juxtapositions. The first track, Look at You, starts out with softly sung vocals over a cushion of equally soft synthesiser chords, before stopping dead, then re-emerging as almost an entirely different song: harmonies over guitar chords strummed so lazily you can hear the plectrum hitting each individual string. The second, Thinking Clean, offers a piano over pattering hi-hats: there’s something anticipatory about it, like an intro that’s about to burst into life, but when it does – complete with dancefloor rhythm – the song swiftly falls apart. The piano becomes increasingly abstract, before everything gives way to scrabbling, apparently improvised cello.It’s a lot to cram into six minutes, but anyone familiar with Blood Orange’s back cata...

Events

7 d. ago David Squires on ... Eddie Howe’s karaoke and Isak’s absurd saga

The fallout from a Newcastle v Liverpool thriller, Mr Bodycam and Arsenal veteran Max DowmanBuy copies of David’s cartoons in our Print ShopDavid’s latest book, Chaos in the Box: buy it now Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago Earl Sweatshirt: Live Laugh Love review | Alexis Petridis's album of the week

(Tan Cressida/Warner Records)With a sunlit disposition and paeans to his daughter, the mood turns lighter on the US MC’s sixth album – but the glitching, crashing beats are as esoteric as everThe launch party for Earl Sweatshirt’s sixth album was, by all accounts, a confounding affair. Some attenders came away convinced that Live Laugh Love contained guest appearances not merely by Vince Staples, but actor/rapper Donald Glover and comedian Dave Chappelle (it doesn’t, although all three contributed to a fanzine produced for the event). At one juncture, the DJ announced the arrival of “my brother, Earl Sweatshirt” before the appearance of someone who was visibly not Earl Sweatshirt – he was Asian, and apparently goes under the winning stage name Gary Underpants – performing a succession of Earl Sweatshirt songs. In the aftermath, at least one online music title didn’t seem sure whether it actually was a launch party for a new album or “an elaborate prank”: would a man whose grim world...

Politics

1 week ago Chimamanda has returned to fiction after 12 years. But is the author stuck in the 2010s?

As a talent, the Dream Count writer remains confident and commanding – but as a social commentator, Adichie seems strandedDon’t already get The Long Wave in your inbox? Sign up hereIt’s summer reading time, and I have finally dived into Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Dream Count, her highly anticipated return to fiction after a 12-year hiatus. This week, I give a review of sorts – what was most striking about the work is how it feels of a certain time, and how Adichie is an icon who sits between two eras.Feminist icon to pop culture artefact? Continue reading...

Culture

2 w. ago Green Man 2025 review – CMAT has her crowning moment in a weekend full of highlights

Festival set in the Brecon Beacons achieves that nebulous, indefinable intersection where people, music and nature coalesce

Politics

2 w. ago The Guide #204: The local dystopian TV shows captivating global audiences

In this week’s newsletter: A new wave of post-apocalyptic dramas are serving up disaster tales shaped by the cultures they come from, and the results are fascinatingI’m scandalously late to The Eternaut (El Eternauta), the Argentinian dystopian thriller that was released way back in April on Netflix. I inhaled all six episodes of the show’s first season only a few weeks ago, after a glowing review on the podcast The Watch (which was also fairly late to it, making me feel a little better about my own finger-off-the-pulseness). Anyway, it’s absolutely terrific, an end-of-the-world chiller that is vividly, realistically rooted in the socio-politics of the country in which it is set. This despite a premise that sees Buenos Aires beset by an unseasonal flurry of what turns out to be killer snow.That specificity, as anyone familiar with The Eternaut will know, is mixed into the story’s foundations. The show is based on Héctor Germán Oesterheld’s 1957 comic strip of the same name, which pr...

Events

2 w. ago Disabled people fear being "pushed out" of support service amidst £1,000 bills

People attending the Disability Resource Centre have just been told how much they will pay each week as part of a means-tested review

Economics

2 w. ago Members of Dumfries service for adults with assisted learning needs face uncertain future

One service user at Cloverglen has already lost three days of her weekly allowance following a review.

Politics

3 w. ago David Squires on the Premier League soap opera’s grand return

Our cartoonist on the wacky plotlines and big characters to look out for as the new season beginsBuy one of David’s cartoon in our Print ShopDavid’s latest book, Chaos in the Box: buy it now Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago David Squires on his boxing forebear who died on the Titanic

Our cartoonist tells the story of his great-great-uncle David John Bowen, a champion who lost his life on the way to New YorkBuy one of David’s cartoons in our Print ShopDavid’s new book, Chaos in the Box: buy it now Continue reading...

Events