14 h. ago Drayton and Mackenzie: Men, love and money in the 21st century

Novels that dip into the lives of their characters every few years risk them seeming detached from the world or clumsily inserted into historical events. Drayton and Mackenzie, Alexander Starritt’s third novel about two mismatched friends, enters into their lives at intervals, and falls into neither of those traps.

Politics

21 h. ago Usyk defeats Dubois to become undisputed heavyweight champion once more

Ukrainian adds IBF belt to WBA, WBC and WBO titlesDubois suffers second defeat to Usyk in two yearsThe mighty Oleksandr Usyk is, yet again, the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world as he decisively defeated Daniel Dubois in the fifth round after a display as clinical as it was brutal. At the age of 38, Usyk outclassed and outfought his British rival, who is 11 years his junior, to establish himself definitively as the best heavyweight, so far, of the 21st century.The end was as conclusive as it was crushing. A sharp combination set up an opening for Usyk’s crunching right hook. Dubois crumpled to the canvas then, bravely, he rose unsteadily to his feet. But the outcome had already been decided. Usyk moved in with shark-like speed and stealth. A shuddering overhead left detonated against the already listing head of Dubois who fell heavily to the canvas, his gumshield spitting helplessly from his mouth. Continue reading...

Politics

53 h. ago The Guide #200: Get Out, Breaking Bad and the pop culture that defined the 21st century so far

In this week’s newsletter: To celebrate the Guide’s 200th edition, we look back at the films, shows, albums and more that mattered most over the last 25 yearsThe Guide is 200 issues old today – maybe not the biggest milestone, but one worth marking. So this week we’re doing just that, ending our recent miniseries on the culture of the past 25 years with a listicle spectacular.We’ve picked a piece of popular culture for each year of the 21st century so far. Which isn’t to say a definitive list of the best culture of the 21st century – the Guardian’s arts desk already did that far more conclusively than we ever could. Instead, we’ve selected 21st-century TV shows, films, plays, podcasts, artworks, albums and games that together hopefully help explain how culture has evolved in that time. Continue reading...

Politics

63 h. ago ‘People lashed out because she wasn’t a guy’: Linkin Park on nu

After the death of lead vocalist Chester Bennington in 2017, the rap-rock icons have reformed, aiming to cultivate ‘good vibes’ for a new generation of fans. Mike Shinoda and Emily Armstrong discuss backlash and rebirthIt’s been almost 25 years since Linkin Park released their debut album, Hybrid Theory. An irresistible fusion of metal, hip-hop, electronica, industrial rock and infectious pop melody, it established the Californian sextet as instant nu-metal icons and laid the groundwork for the group to become, by many metrics, the biggest US rock band of this millennium: Hybrid Theory ended up the bestselling album of 2001; its follow-up, Meteora, would also go on to rank as one of the bestselling albums of the 21st century.It’s been just 36 hours, however, since the band played their biggest headline gig to date, at a steamy and rapturous Wembley stadium. Outside, it’s still scorching, but in an icily air-conditioned hotel overlooking the Thames, Linkin Park’s co-founder, co-vocal...

Politics

3 d. ago BRYONY GORDON: We must stop falling for Instagram and the influencers with their fake lives. It will make you feel nothing but despair

In hundreds of years time, when people gather to discuss the decline of early 21st century society and the various cultural moments that led to it, I really hope that they remember to include this.

Society

4 d. ago Girls gone bad: Lena Dunham’s Too Much is just not good enough

The creator of the seminal HBO hit has followed up with an underbaked Netflix background watch, a crushing disappointment for her ardent fanbaseThere is one TV show that has been enjoyed most often, and most reliably, among my cohort in New York: Girls, the seminal HBO dramedy about Brooklyn’s downwardly mobile and highly self-important creative class of the 2010s. Though a cultural lightning rod when it aired from 2012 until 2017 – its whiteness, convincing narcissism, frank sexuality and frequent nudity all catnip for the cresting blogosphere and cyclical moral panic – Girls has rightfully settled into its status as one of the best television series of the 21st century, a foundational text for millennials as well as a biting satire of solipsistic, Obama-era striving. (Although viewers too young to remember it as anything other than canon now see the girls’ flailing – their freedom to wear terrible prints, listen to Vampire Weekend and be earnest – as something to be envied rather ...

Politics

4 d. ago ITV Love Island fans beg producers for 'whole new cast' as more couples split

Love Island fans fume "give the money charity" as yet more couples go their separate ways

Politics

5 d. ago Football Daily | Manchester City and their extraordinary £1bn agreement with Puma

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!It is well known that the birth of two global sportswear companies, Adidas and Puma, was fuelled by a family feud between two German brothers, Adi and Rudolf Dassler. After working together for 30 years, the pair fell out shortly after the second world war; Rudi founding Puma in 1948 and Adi starting, you guessed it, Adidas in 1949. What started the rift is a point of contention. The most common explanation is that Rudi had an affair with Adi’s wife, Käthe, for which he was never forgiven. Other theories suggest it was Rudolf’s increasing suspicion that his brother was behind his conscription into the German army and thus his short imprisonment by the allies.It’s unacceptable that in the 21st century, people with dwarfism are still used for entertainment at private parties, particularly when public figures are involved. The dignity and rights of our community cannot be a source of amusement under any circumstance” – Carolina Puente,...

Economics

7 d. ago ‘It’ll always need humans’: former Wimbledon line judge laments the Hawk

Pauline Eyre once judged serves from the likes of Jimmy Connors and has watched this year in exasperationThe cloth cap and blazer-wearing line judges of Wimbledon are as much an icon of this famous old sporting event as the manicured lawn courts. But this, the 138th tournament in its storied history, was the year SW19 took a leap into the 21st century – replacing some of their judges with an electronic line-calling system that was supposed to put an end to human error.Now, as the sun sets on this new era at Wimbledon, many of the headlines have been about just that. Mistakes have been blamed on the people operating it, much to the ire of players forced to replay points that were sabotaged by the faltering Hawk-Eye. Continue reading...

Events

8 d. ago We live next to a derelict theme park plagued by ravers and anti

For over a decade, a medieval theme park has lay derelict, decaying and rotting. As indictments of 21st-century Britain go, Chorley's Camelot theme park is hard to top.

Politics

8 d. ago NHS in Scotland 'stuck in analogue age' as health boards shell out millions on pagers

Labour claimed the continued reliance on the devices proved the SNP Government was failing to equip the NHS for the 21st century.

Science

1 week ago Seeking bulldozer drivers to demolish Gaza: how a genocide is being outsourced | Arwa Mahdawi

The systematic destruction of Gaza is hardly a secret. Now, the IDF is posting Facebook ads for bulldozer operators to help demolish the stripOmer Bartov is an Israeli-American historian and one of the foremost scholars on genocide in the world. He has spent over 25 years teaching a class on the subject. He deals with atrocities for a living, analyzing some of the very worst things that human beings are capable of. And yet even Bartov has said he can’t bear looking at some of the excruciating images coming out of Gaza any more.What’s happening, Bartov says, is unprecedented in the 21st century. “I don’t know of any comparable situation. Recent estimates show that about 70% of the structures in Gaza are either completely destroyed or severely damaged,” Bartov says. “The argument that the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] is conducting a war in Gaza is simply cynical, there is no war in Gaza. What the IDF is doing in Gaza is demolishing it. Hundreds of buildings are being bulldozed every we...

Politics

1 week ago Don’t Look Back In Anger named UK’s most played Oasis song of the 21st century

A list of the top 10 most played Oasis songs on UK radio and TV from the past 25 years have been compiled by the music licencing company, PPL.

Politics

2 w. ago ‘You can’t pause the internet’: social media creators hit by burnout

Their jobs are seen as glamorous but the new reality for many is workplace stress and ‘complete fatigue’The life of a social media creator can be high in glamour and status. The well-paid endorsement deals, the online followers and proximity to the celebrity establishment are all perks of the industry.But one hidden cost will be familiar to anyone coping with the 21st-century economy: burnout. The Guardian has spoken to five creators with a combined audience of millions who have all experienced degrees of workplace stress or fatigue. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Meet the billionaire American beauty lighting up Wimbledon: Emma Navarro hates talk of her family's money... and she's looking for love!

US star Emma Navarro, who was raised in New York, boasts a personal fortune so vast that the tournament's prize money would be like short change to her.

Society

2 w. ago This Morning star Tom Swarbrick reveals 'sliding doors' moment he auditioned for iconic UK comedy

The programme is one of the most successful comedy shows of the 21st century

Events

3 w. ago Charli xcx at Glastonbury review – a thrilling hostile takeover by a pop star at the peak of her powers

Other stagePlaying to a dizzyingly huge crowd, for many this is Saturday’s true headlining set: a bawdy and uncompromising icon playing alone with no frillsFor my money, one of the best pop tours of the 21st century was Kanye West’s Yeezus tour. Like the album it was supporting, the Yeezus tour was abrasive and minimal and totally spectacular: West stood in front of gigantic bright-red screens and blasted arenas with some of the harshest, most acidic sounds ever considered mainstream. That tour was unrelenting and uncompromising and, as a result, totally compelling.Charli xcx’s Brat tour may be the only clear successor. It is a show whose main components are a curtain, a few stadium strobe light rigs, and one star whose vision is so specific and so well realised that the “necessities” of an A-list pop show – dancers, set pieces, etc – suddenly seem like crutches for anyone less in tune with themselves. This makes sense, given that Charli is also our clearest successor to West himsel...

Politics

3 w. ago Kneecap at Glastonbury review – sunkissed good vibes are banished by rap trio’s feral, furious flows

West Holts stageFrom Rod Stewart to Keir Starmer, no one is safe from the Irish group’s ire, as the weekend’s most talked-about set became a mosh-heavy, provocation-filled meleeMosh pits and mayhem: Kneecap play Glastonbury – in picturesIt is perhaps worth recalling Kneecap’s appearance at last year’s Glastonbury, a lunchtime set in the Woodsies tent that saw the band widely acclaimed as bringers of boozy, edgy hilarity, complete with songs called Get Your Brits Out and Rhino Ket. Twelve months and some provocative onstage comments about Palestine and Conservative MPs later, they’re both folk devil and cause celebre, whose appearance at the festival is the most hotly debated of 2025 – both the prime minister and the leader of the opposition have had strong opinions about it.It’s a perfect example of how quickly stories can become overheated in the 21st century: vastly more people now have a opinion about Kneecap than have ever heard their music, which is, traditionally, a tricky and...

Politics

3 w. ago I was a Question Time panellist on an episode that left viewers LIVID

Last Thursday's episode saw the YouTuber, Katharine Birbalsingh, Jack Thorne, Peter Kyle, and Lord Willetts discuss on challenges growing up in the 21st century.

Politics

3 w. ago Home Bargains shoppers 'love' £8 waved bowl 'just like' bestselling £30 version

Decor fans who love the latest viral trend can save with Home Bargains' version

Economics