30 h. ago As asylum seekers are engulfed by slurs and lies, our leaders shrug. Truly, this is shameful | Frances Ryan

The narrative that they are a threat to women and girls has no basis in fact, but bad actors peddle it, and ministers encourage themAs anti-migrant demonstrations continued in Canary Wharf in London at the weekend, one group stood out: women dressed in Barbie pink. Holding cardboard signs drawn in bright felt-tip pen (“save our kids”), the “pink protest” marched under the banner of protecting women and girls.The crowd may have looked a novel sight, but it points to a rationale that is increasingly gaining ground this summer: asylum seekers are a danger to British women and girls.Frances Ryan is a Guardian columnist. She is the author of Who Wants Normal? The Disabled Girls’ Guide to Life Continue reading...

Politics

50 h. ago Girlfriend of tourist killed in Puerto Rico while there for Bad Bunny concert pays tribute to her ‘angel’

The shooting happened in the predawn hours at a nightspot called ‘Shelter for Mistreated’

Events

9 d. ago Lena Dunham says she wanted to make a ‘Scandoval’ film with Jennifer Lawrence and Andrew Scott

Girls star says she wanted to do ‘reenactment of the reunion in which Ariana confronts Tom’

Politics

9 d. ago From Emily in Friends to Che Diaz: the TV characters so bad that they ruined shows

One-note comic disasters, unconvincing panto villains, children who set your teeth on edge some characters are so awful they’re painful to watch. We round up the worstSometimes, all it takes to change your relationship to a TV show is one character. Viewers are all enjoying the One Day-meets-High Fidelity vibes of BBC Two’s nostalgic romance Mix Tape. However, none of them can stand the cassette-crossed lovers’ spouses. Yes, for every role that becomes a firm viewer favourite, another is reviled by the show’s fanbase. Lena Dunham’s latest creation, Too Much, seems to be entirely populated by unappealing characters.Meanwhile, Peppa Pig devotees are in a porcine pickle over the imminent onscreen arrival of a new little sister, baby piglet Evie. Cartoon swine devotees fear this gimmicky addition will upset the delicate balance of the four-way family unit that has been beloved by preschoolers for 21 years. If the oinking blockbuster ain’t broke, why fix it? Continue reading...

Culture

3 w. ago ‘Too loud’, ‘too messy’, ‘too much’ why should women be expected to shrink and shut up?

As Lena Dunham’s new show reminds us, whether they’re at work or on a date, women are expected to tone it down if they want to get on. What if they refuse to play ball?‘I can be a bit much,” a friend said to me. A group of us were in a cafe discussing the first date she had scheduled for later that day, and she was worried about how she might come across. It wasn’t the first time I had heard a woman label herself as “too much”, “intense” or “a lot”. I expect even the most feminist of women have found themselves wondering, like the newly single Jessica (Megan Stalter) in Lena Dunham’s new Netflix show, Too Much, whether they would be better off if they just toned it down.Thanks to the lingering presence of “weirdly archaic feminine ideals”, says the author Amy Key, many women still believe that being “a contained, neat person” will make them more desirable on a date, or at work, or in social situations. “That is linked to the idea of the space that you occupy too,” she adds, whether ...

Politics

3 w. ago ‘I love England so much’: From TV to pop, film to fashion, the UK is enjoying a cultural resurgence

Three decades on from Blur and Oasis, a new and more diverse wave of stars is celebrating British identityIn the opening episode of Lena Dunham’s Netflix show Too Much, a heartbroken New Yorker moves to London to live out her fantasy of British life and love stories. Jess is quickly swept up in her feelings for an indie musician, dreamily referring to him as “My Mr Darcy, my Rochester, my Alan Rickman”.Produced by the team behind Bridget Jones, Notting Hill and Love Actually, the show was inspired by Dunham’s own move to London in 2021. Continue reading...

Culture

3 w. ago I used to be scared of being a ‘difficult woman’. Now it’s a badge of honour | Jacinta Parsons

If there’s one thing that I’ve learned by talking to older women, it’s that being a ‘bad girl’ shouldn’t faze you – it should embolden youI remember the thrill I felt when someone would tell me that I was a “good girl”. I understood from a young age that, as a girl, goodness would be my supreme achievement – my calling in life. But what that looked like or how I might embody its essence took time to decode.I remember being in the back seat of our brown HJ Holden when I was young, leaving a family party and being reprimanded by my parents for my “behaviour”. I was mystified. I had no idea what I had done that had caused them such embarrassment. Had I run when I was told not to? Or had I misunderstood an instruction? Was I a “bad girl”, I remember wondering. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Netflix drops 'hilarious' movie with Too Much star as Lena Dunham series soars charts

The series boasts a number of cameos from A-list stars

Culture

3 w. ago Netflix fans 'obsessed' with new series after spotting former EastEnders star

Lena Dunham's new comedy-drama Too Much recently arrived on Netflix and soap fans are delighted to see familiar face.

Politics

3 w. ago I hate to be the scowling lesbian at the feast – but here’s what worries me about the new Austen adaptations | Emma Brockes

I love Jane Austen. But a fresh revival of the idea that what a woman needs most is to marry a man is the last thing we needWhat is the main lesson we take away from Jane Austen? I know novels aren’t manuals, but the Austen industry encourages a certain self-help approach to its products – and Austen herself was full of what we no longer call bossy opinions. From the books, there are endless shrewd judgments about how to be a woman of substance. From the screen adaptations, we learn just how nice it would be to have a big house in Derbyshire. There is the general rule of true love overcoming all obstacles. But there is also this: that there is no worse fate to befall a woman than to fail to lock down a man.Two new Austen adaptations are heading our way: a Netflix miniseries of Pride and Prejudice, and a new movie version of Sense and Sensibility. They join Too Much, Lena Dunham’s new show that riffs on our relationship with romcoms – how we use them as templates and ideals – a clear...

Politics

3 w. 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 w. ago Last of Us star's 'exquisite' period film everyone is watching

Lena Dunham's period film Catherine Called Birdy is taking the world by storm, with viewers flocking to watch the comedy as the budding actor takes centre stage

Politics

4 w. ago Where Was 'Too Much' Filmed? Behind the Scenes of Lena Dunham's London Show

Where Was 'Too Much' Filmed? Behind the Scenes of Lena Dunham's London Show  Condé Nast Traveler

Culture

4 w. ago Lena Dunham's Arrival at London Signals Celebrity Émigrés Are Losing Their Glam

Lena Dunham's Arrival at London Signals Celebrity Émigrés Are Losing Their Glam  The New York Sun

Politics