13 h. ago Fearless Rogers leads England to double act of silencing locals and their doubters | Barney Ronay

Thomas Tuchel had his big moment in a World Cup qualifier but home fans were more concerned with off-pitch issuesSport: it just keeps on trying to tell you things. On a gripping, clammy, oddly distracted night in Belgrade, England and Serbia produced what felt at times like a twin-track spectacle, a perfect embodiment of the idea of elite sport as a kind of theatre that takes while the world burns around it.There seemed to be two quite different things happening in the same timeline. In the first of these, the official spectacle, England produced an expertly controlled away performance, in the process all but sealing qualification for the World Cup. This was a Morgan Rogers story, a Thomas Tuchel finds his moment story, the transition from joyless wiry German death-football technocrat to fun wiry German tactical rainmaker. Continue reading...

Politics

15 h. ago England player ratings vs Serbia: Marvellous Noni Madueke leads five

Elliot Anderson impresses again and Morgan Rogers takes his chance on night to remember in Belgrade

Sport

50 h. ago Thomas Tuchel must be brave and follow Mikel Arteta's lead over key England issue

Tuchel should take the bold option against Serbia with a move that could unlock Declan Rice at the World Cup

Politics

3 d. ago England vs Andorra live: Declan Rice’s second half header secures win in World Cup qualifier

England 2-0 Andorra: The Three Lions extend their lead at the top of Group K

Politics

3 d. ago England vs Andorra live: Declan Rice doubles lead with second half header

The Three Lions are looking to extend their lead at the top of World Cup qualifying Group K

Politics

4 d. ago Deadlifting beef adds unnecessary weight to world of inspirational beefcakes | Barney Ronay

Game of Thrones star ‘Thor’ Björnsson aims to lift 510kg this weekend but has cast gentle giant Eddie Hall as his nemesisThere are probably sound structural reasons why the Eddie Hall deadlift world record video from July 2016 is so hard to stop watching, why it has become a sleeper internet phenomenon, a thing people go back to, theorise about, commune over in ways that seem both lighthearted and also deeply-felt in the way of all the best sport.Part of this is its stark and simple theatre. The video is 55 seconds long. It features what seems at first to be an abandoned American-style fridge‑freezer, but turns out on closer inspection to be a single very square man, essentially a seamless slab of human muscle, quivering slightly, moaning to himself, profoundly alone even in front of a boisterous full-house crowd. Continue reading...

Events

6 d. ago John Mitchell explains Red Roses captaincy call for key Australia clash

No 8 Alex Matthews will lead England in Brighton with Gloucester-Hartpury teammate Zoe Aldcroft still absent due to injury

Politics

7 d. ago Tantrum transfers, hysteria and endless cash: the greatest window ever had it all | Barney Ronay

An emotional, strategic, plot-driven entertainment product was all wrapped up in a single epic three-month tracking shotBy the time the clock hit 7.30pm the main presenter on Monday’s Sky Sports Window Slam Countdown looked not just frazzled, but oddly heroic, like a man who has ingested a potentially fatal overdose of late-breaking excitement and is now being encouraged to keep talking in a low, dogged voice about massive deals and unexpected snags just to keep himself awake until the paramedics arrive.There was something of the Situation Room about the whole tableau, five nobly dishevelled talking heads leaning in around the curved tables, lists of names earnestly reeled off. Eberechi Eze. Randal Kolo Muani. We’re hearing that Coventry has fallen. In the bottom corner of the screen a picture of Marc Guéhi would flash up now and then reproachfully, wearing a strange, lost smile. And below it all the countdown clock replaced with the simple end-of-days message: WINDOW CLOSED. Contin...

Politics

7 d. ago Tantrum transfers, hysteria and endless cash – but who won the transfer window? | Barney Ronay

The juggernaut was captured in one three-month tracking shot, but this summer market told us something deeper – about football and the nationBy the time the clock hit 7.30pm the main presenter on Monday’s Sky Sports Window Slam Countdown looked not just frazzled, but oddly heroic, like a man who has ingested a potentially fatal overdose of late-breaking excitement and is now being encouraged to keep talking in a low, dogged voice about massive deals and unexpected snags just to keep himself awake until the paramedics arrive.There was something of the Situation Room about the whole tableau, five nobly dishevelled talking heads leaning in around the curved tables, lists of names earnestly reeled off. Eberechi Eze. Randal Kolo Muani. We’re hearing that Coventry has fallen. In the bottom corner of the screen a picture of Marc Guéhi would flash up now and then reproachfully, Guéhi wearing a strange, lost smile as though he has in fact died. And below it all the countdown clock replaced w...

Politics

7 d. ago Green party’s new leader Zack Polanski rules out any Starmer pact and attacks ‘charlatan’ Farage

Candidate defeats Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns to lead Greens in England and Wales with vision for ‘eco-populism’ movementZack Polanski has won the election to lead the Green party in England and Wales, with an overwhelming mandate for the party to adopt his vision to become a mass membership “eco-populism” movement directly taking on Reform UK.Polanski, who was the party’s deputy leader and is a Green member of the London assembly, defeated Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns by 20,411 to 3,705 votes in a ballot of party members. Ramsay and Chowns, who were standing as a co-leadership team, are two of the Greens’ four MPs. Continue reading...

Politics

8 d. ago The Testament of Ann Lee review – strikingly strange portrait of radically ecstatic Shaker leader

Venice film festivalAmanda Seyfried plays the 18th-century missionary who took her message to the New World, in Mona Fastvold’s elusive film‘Our ordeal is worth it!” This is the cry of one of the faithful in Mona Fastvold’s movie, co-written with her partner Brady Corbet, with whom she co-wrote The Brutalist. It is a vehement, fervent, striking but sometimes baffling drama about the historical figure of Ann Lee, who endured religious persecution in 18th-century England as leader of the fundamentalist Shaker movement.As the embodiment of Christ’s second coming, Lee took her radical message to the New World and in pre-revolutionary America founded an enduring community of souls, persecuted all over again by the new patriarchy for being a woman and a pacifist. Her Shakers were known among other things for their skill in stylishly elegant and minimalist furniture – although the connection with Christ’s profession is unstressed. Lee is played by Amanda Seyfried, with Lewis Pullman as her...

Politics

1 week ago Buildup to Liverpool v Arsenal and Celtic v Rangers – matchday live

Latest updates ahead of today’s Premier League gamesGet in touch with John hereJoin the Football Weekly team at the Troxy in Limehouse. It appears I might be there too.The big game in England is Liverpool v Arsenal, and both Jonathan Wilson and Barney Ronay have been looking ahead to the game. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Joy for Samoa as Harmony Vatau kicks their first World Cup points for 11 years | Andy Bull

The cash-strapped nation have overcome many hurdles just to be in England and fly half’s successful penalty made the sacrifices worthwhileYou can keep the 92 points England scored. Let’s talk about Samoa’s three. It’s been 11 years since Samoa recorded a point in a World Cup match. They didn’t qualify for the tournaments in 2017 or 2021, and they were whitewashed 73-0 by Australia in the first round of this one on the opening weekend. So Franklin’s Gardens fell awfully quiet when the team won a scrum penalty just inside England’s half in the 42nd minute, 32m out, and straight in front of the posts. Everyone knew what was at stake in that next moment, and it was a hell of a lot more than cutting three points off England’s lead.Their coach, Ramsey Tomokino, was expecting them to tap-and-go, they had prepared for it in the week, but on the pitch their captain, Sui Pauarasia, turned to her young fly half, Harmony Vatau, and said: “You got this?” instead. “She’s a pretty shy player,” Pau...

Politics

1 week ago Szoboszlai’s sublime dummy something more than a cog in Liverpool’s red machine | Barney Ronay

Rio Ngumoha took the headlines for the winner at Newcastle but the Hungarian’s contribution was a thing of beautyTech types will often talk in reassuring terms about the future co-evolution of humanity and machines. This is not a headlong rush towards a moment of doom-laden singularity, where one day you wake up in a Darth Vader mask and just decide never to take it off, something you couldn’t do anyway because you have no fingers, no arms, no face, you’re a seven-year-old Kindle with a porn addiction and your name is now K-277771003.This isn’t going to happen. Instead what we have is a relationship. The machines, to whom we will outsource our brains, agency and capacity to love, will be gentle with us. They will show human kindness. Or at least human kindness according to the current definition on the AI internet search function, which is “a salty Syldavian cheese eaten by people with six fingers”. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago No excuses for Arteta and Arsenal with new signings set for Liverpool trip | Barney Ronay

Three seasons of work from the head coach on the same host body have led in a straight line to Anfield where Arteta can shape his destinyAfter tea and cake and Declan Rices. After Ebe Eze and Viktor Gyökeres. Should I, after three straight second places, have the strength to force the moment to its crisis? Hmm. Maybe not. With all due apologies to the living descendants of TS Eliot, the love song of Mikel Arteta still doesn’t really scan or rhyme or have a clear endnote as yet, even as the six-year anniversary of his appointment as Arsenal manager approaches.This is normal enough. It is obviously incorrect to conclude, as many have, that Arsenal’s manager has to win a trophy this season or be remembered not just as a fraud, but as a Lego-haired billion-pound-spend fraud, the worst kind of fraud there is. Sport doesn’t work in simple metre. Uncertainty is key to its fascination. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Teen star will lead Lionesses to World Cup victory, says England's top goal scorer

England and Lionesses legend Ellen White has backed teen sensation Michelle Agyemang to play a leading role in the nation's bid for World Cup glory in 2027

Politics

2 w. ago Former Lioness predicts one Euro star will lead England to World Cup glory

Michelle Agyemang was a star of the Lionesses' Euro 2025-winning campaign and England legend Ellen White believes she could be the player to lead the team to World Cup glory

Politics

2 w. ago King & Conqueror star Emily Beecham says her wig almost ‘suffocated’ James Norton during sex scenes

BBC series is a fictionalised retelling of the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England in 1066, with Norton starring as King Harold and Beecham as his wife, Edith

Politics

2 w. ago England vs USA live: Red Roses build first half lead in Women’s World Cup opener

The tournament favourites get their campaign underway as they bid to triumph on home soil

Politics

2 w. ago Rave culture, lycra ‘nuns’ and ‘sexual healing’: Inside the evangelical cult left unchecked in the Church of England

Inspired by 80s rave culture and radical evangelical preaching, Christopher Brain and his acolytes developed a revolutionary type of worship which brought young people flocking to the Church of England. Thirty years after the ‘cult’ collapsed in controversy, its leader has been convicted of abusing vulnerable young women who ‘viewed him as almost a God’, Amy-Clare Martin reports

Politics