55 m. ago Fit for TV: The Reality of The Biggest Loser review – how did television ever sink so low?

Cruelty. Contestants who have abuse screamed in their face. Cash prizes. This documentary about a horrific 00s weight-loss reality TV series in the US makes for deeply troubling watchingThe mid-2000s were a peculiar time in television. After the dubious 90s innovations of Jerry Springer in the US were followed by the UK launch of Big Brother, it was clear that using the travails of so-called ordinary people as fuel for small-screen entertainment was an idea with legs. There was a mini goldrush of sorts as programme makers realised that conflict, extremity and dysfunction would always sell – and that any human-interest subject could be shoehorned into some version of reality TV.In Britain, ITV’s The Jeremy Kyle Show began casting its malign spell in 2005. In the US, something similarly queasy (and enduring) had arrived a year earlier in the shape of NBC’s weight loss bootcamp-meets-bearpit, The Biggest Loser, which took contestants living with obesity then belittled them with humilia...

Culture

1 hour ago In the Green Heart by Richard Lloyd Parry review – neocolonial jungle fever

An intensely political story of a new father’s escape with his baby through a rainforest during wartimeRichard Lloyd Parry, a longtime foreign correspondent whose experiences of war and regime change are recorded in his remarkable 2005 memoir In the Time of Madness, can be said to know whereof he speaks. Many of that book’s issues, including the psychic damage he incurred from events he witnessed in Indonesia, East Timor and Afghanistan in the 1990s and early 2000s, are reinflected in this, his first novel.Kit and Lara live in a remote village in the deep rainforest. She works for a small, undependably financed NGO. He’s a stay-at-home husband, living for their baby daughter Helen. While Lara presents as impulsive yet practical and barely able to contain her own energy, Kit is dreamy, internalised, exhibiting a calmness that falls easily into dissociation. “This is your life,” she shouts at him shortly before they leave the UK, “a day of your life, and it requires your presence.” He...

Politics

1 hour ago ‘I’ve visited 40 European countries and this one is the most underrated’

An avid traveller who has visited up to 40 European destinations has revealed one of their favourite 'underrated' spots – and it's one of the cheapest to explore

Politics

2 h. ago Josh Barrie On the Sauce at All My Gods: Nuclear daiquiris in a temple of darkness

Praise be for this this charming sanctity

Events

2 h. ago Alison Goldfrapp: Flux review – Melody and meaning evaporate in mid

Goldfrapp said in 2023 that she wanted to challenge herself with her solo work, but she seems less edgily present here than she did with her bandmate Will Gregory

Politics

3 h. ago Limitless: Live Better Now review – Chris Hemsworth has absolutely no sense of rhythm

The Thor star’s documentary about improving his mental resilience sees him trying to learn the drums. But given how dreadful he is, promising to join Ed Sheeran on stage may have been a mistake So, you know how there was once the Era of All the Chrises? Pine, Evans, Pratt, Hemsworth. And they all looked the same, especially Pratt ‘n’ Evans and Pine ‘n’ Hemsworth (plus Hemsworth had 17 brothers who also looked the same, which felt like an unnecessary layer of complication). Then Evans became Captain America and Hemsworth became Thor and that sorted things out a tad, although Pratt ran interference as Star-Lord in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise for a bit.Anyway. Limitless is a reality-documentary sort of thing by the Hemsworth one (if you need further elucidation, he is Australian and looks like a handsome teddy bear with an unparalleled fitness regime). In the first series he investigated ways to deal with stress and shock, and how to slow the ageing process and other ills tha...

Politics

4 h. ago EV drivers warned over 5 summer habits that unknowingly drain your battery

Summer is the perfect season for enjoying your electric vehicle (EV), with cleaner air and lower costs — but an expert has opened up about certain battery-draining driving habits to avoid

Events

8 h. ago Night Always Comes review – Vanessa Kirby gets lost in poverty thriller

A woman is forced to take extreme measures to save her family home in an initially stressful yet ultimately meandering Netflix dramaThere’s been a recent overkill of stories told about the super-rich, glossy films and shows set in ostentatious houses filled with characters as superficially on trend as they are painfully out of touch. It felt like needed escapism as we crawled out of the very worst of the pandemic, with The White Lotus, Triangle of Sadness, The Menu and Glass Onion all hitting a sweet spot, but it’s grown rather tiring, as Sirens, The Better Sister and Your Friends and Neighbors have felt less eat the rich and more what if we just admired their kitchens instead.It’s become especially uninteresting as the gap between the uber-wealthy and the rest of us has widened, food prices up and empathy down. That particular anger pulses through Night Always Comes, a well-intentioned yet often inert Netflix drama based on the 2021 novel by Willy Vlautin. It’s told over one awful ...

Politics

8 h. ago Stephen King meets The Office in the best Literary Fiction out now: THE EXPANSION PROJECT by Ben Pester, WATCHING OVER HER by Jean

Anthony Cummins reviews the best Literary Fiction out now.

Politics

9 h. ago Concerns over plans for Inchinnan battery storage project as resident 'feels completely hopeless'

Lightsource bp is working on a proposal for a 400MW/2400MWh facility on land at Houston Road.

Politics

10 h. ago JK Rowling claims Sturgeon created a 'dystopian nightmare' in foul

JK Rowling has published a review of Nicola Sturgeon’s Frankly - and the Harry Potter author has not held back

Politics

10 h. ago JK Rowling blasts Sturgeon memoirs as a 'shameless denial of reality and hard facts' in scathing review

Author JK Rowling has penned a scathing review of Nicola Sturgeon 's hotly anticipated memoirs on the day it was officially launched.

Politics

11 h. ago Thousands of users’ personal data — including their IDs — were leaked from a popular male revenge dating app

A widely downloaded new app invites men to review the women they’ve dated, and asks for photo ID to verify their identity. What could possibly go wrong?

Politics

11 h. ago Trump and Putin's bromance – from 'my new best friend' to 'playing with fire'

From lovely words to social media rants, Russian President Vladimir Putin and United States President Donald Trump have had a wild relationship . . . so lets explore it

Politics

11 h. ago JK Rowling rips into Nicola Sturgeon's memoir in brutal foul mouthed review

JK Rowling has published a scathing review of Nicola Sturgeon's memoir, Frankly, on her website.

Politics

12 h. ago Thousands of users’ personal data — like their IDs — were leaked from a popular male revenge dating app

A widely downloaded new app invites men to review the women they’ve dated, and asks for photo ID to verify their identity. What could possibly go wrong?

Politics

14 h. ago Welsh rugby's giant new 20st enforcer looks to make huge difference as Tandy watches on

The Welsh-qualified lock has been signed as an enforcer in the Dragons pack

Politics

14 h. ago Truck Festival 2025 review: A raging indie rock party you don't want to miss

REVIEW: Truck Festival 2025 saw Bloc Party, Nothing But Thieves, Kasabian and Courteeners rule the roost at Hill Farm in Oxfordshire and Daily Star's Sam Huntley was in rock heaven

Events

14 h. ago 'Terrifying' horror series on Disney+ hailed a 'masterpiece' by viewers after two episodes

The prequel series explores a beloved film franchise's universe

Events

15 h. ago Florida elementary school teacher accused of drunkenly crashing car between classes

Language arts teacher Philip Scire was allegedly found unconscious inside his vehicle at Explorer K-8, surrounded by open alcohol containers

Events