7 h. ago ‘One kid at a time’: How children’s books on male friendship could combat toxic masculinity

From Margaret McDonald’s Glasgow Boys to Nathanael Lessore’s King of Nothing, boys take centre stage in this year’s Carnegie-winning titles. Let’s hope that the male protagonists persuade more boys to pick up a bookThis year’s Carnegie medals for children’s writing, awarded on Thursday, brought to light an unexpected trend. At a time of widespread public anxiety about the decline in boys’ reading habits and the rise of the toxic influencers of the online “manosphere”, male friendship and masculinity were front and centre on the shortlist.The winner, Margaret McDonald’s superb debut, Glasgow Boys, tells the story of the relationship between two looked-after children on the threshold of adulthood who process trauma in different ways. Banjo’s aggression and Finlay’s avoidance could be seen as two models of dysfunctional masculinity. Luke Palmer’s Play, also on the shortlist, tells a story of male friendship which touches on rape culture and county lines drug gangs, while teenage gang m...

Events

7 h. ago Overlooked Netflix war film hailed as 'natural crowd pleaser' telling 'ignored' story

Kerry Washington stars in The Six Triple Eight, which is a historical war drama that tells the remarkable true story of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion

Events

12 h. ago ‘I was one of the few people able to document it’: shooting the Black Panthers – in pictures

From bustling Free Huey rallies to private moments smoking with Angela Davis, Stephen Shames’s photographs tell the revolutionary organisation’s incredible story Continue reading...

Events

27 h. ago 'How I brought down one of the UK's most powerful crime lords'

Former Daily Mirror Crime Correspondent Sylvia Jones tells the gripping story of how she went undercover to snare 'untouchable' gangster John 'Goldfinger' Palmer

Events

55 h. ago Harvard hired a researcher to uncover its ties to slavery. He says the results cost him his job: ‘We found too many slaves’

When the extent of the university’s involvement with slavery was unearthed, a scholar tracking descendants of enslaved workers was suddenly firedJordan Lloyd had been praying for something big to happen. The 35-year-old screenwriter was quarantining in her apartment in North Hollywood in June 2020. Without any work projects to fill her days, she picked up the novel Roots, by Alex Haley, to reread.The novel tells the story of Kunta Kinte, Haley’s ancestor, who is captured and sold into slavery in the Gambia and then brought to Virginia, where he is forced to labor on a plantation. It was adapted into an Emmy-award winning television series in the 1970s, and while reading it again, Lloyd thought to herself, “Wouldn’t it be nice if they could make another Roots?” Continue reading...

Politics

55 h. ago 'All time favourite' war film with 'greatest actor' now streaming for free on ITV

Henry V was written and directed by Kenneth Branagh in his feature directorial debut

Culture

61 h. ago ‘Like a tattoo on my heart’: Michael’s story of indefinite detention as told to Natasha Brown

In the final piece from the Refugee Tales series, Michael tells his story to Natasha Brown

Politics

3 d. ago Marlee Matlin tells her story in an intimate and groundbreaking documentary

Trailblazing deaf actor Marlee Matlin opens up in the new documentary “Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore.”

Politics

3 d. ago Fans have just days to watch 'masterpiece' war film with 'greatest ever actor'

The Bridge on the River Kwai is set to leave Amazon Prime Video imminently and fans of the 1957 war film are being urged to watch it now before it's too late

Events

4 d. ago Viewers left 'in tears' over disturbing documentary about 'most evil reality show ever'

BBC The Contestant tells the story of a Japanese man who was unknowingly being filmed live while he was locked up alone in a room for a whole year in the hopes of winning ¥1 million

Culture

5 d. ago Peaky Blinders and Outrageous share a big character fans might have missed

Outrageous tells the story of the Mitford sisters

Politics

6 d. ago 14 memorable photos telling story of the 90s, from Britpop to cyber pets craze

The 90s was a memorable era, filled with intense highs and crushing lows.

Culture

6 d. ago Ordinary Love by Marie Rutkoski review – some of the best sex scenes I’ve read this year

In this page-turning romance, teenage sweethearts reunite as thirtysomething womenSex is notoriously difficult to write. Some authors avoid it entirely; even those who have been called great can come a cropper. Which is why I want to start this review by saying that the sex scenes in Ordinary Love are some of the best I have read this year, and that Marie Rutkoski has a facility for writing physical intimacy that can elude even some of our most gifted authors. Her voice has been compared to that of Sally Rooney. I don’t see much of that in this novel beyond a Rooneyesque ability to write sex well, but that is a talent worth noting.Ordinary Love is a queer romance that tells the story of Emily and Gen, teenage sweethearts who break up in college and reunite in their 30s, their paths having diverged dramatically. Emily marries Jack, who is wealthy and emotionally abusive. When she sees Gen again, she is in the process of leaving him for the second time (the novel opens with ...

Politics

7 d. ago Red Path review – Tunisian drama tells traumatic story of Islamic State’s horrific cruelty

Based on the true story of the brutal murder of a teenage shepherd, Lotfi Achour’s sombre film honestly attempts to encompass the unbearable grief suffered by the familyA low cloud of misery and horror settles on this sombre movie from Tunisian writer-director Lotfi Achour, inspired by a brutal event in his country from 2015. A teenage shepherd called Mabrouk Soltani was murdered and beheaded on Mount Mghila in central Tunisia by members of Jund al-Khilafah (“soldiers of the caliphate”), the Tunisian branch of Islamic State, which habitually hides out in that remote, rugged region. They videoed their grotesque homicide, claiming the boy was an army spy and ordered his terrified 14-year-old cousin, who was with him, to carry the severed head back to his village as a brutal “message” – and this boy obeyed, in a stricken state of trauma that can only be guessed at. This horrifying event was to assume the status of national scandal in Tunisia two years later when the victim’s elder brot...

Events

7 d. ago Netflix's 'spectacular' period drama with perfect Rotten Tomatoes rating

The Netflix series is set in the 13th century and tells the story of the famous explorer Marco Polo, and the time he spent in the court of Kublai Khan

Events

9 d. ago Philip Barbaree and his incredible US Open story straight out a movie as he tells all about extra special caddie

Barbaree Jr was still savouring the moment to remember for a lifetime

Events

1 week ago Ruth Jones is up for playing the lead character in her fourth novel on screen

The 58-year-old actress released By Your Side in May, which tells the story of a divorced, plus-sized Scottish woman called Linda

Politics

1 week ago Amazon Prime viewers 'in tears' after watching 'devastating' war film

The war film still has people talking years after its release

Politics

1 week ago Marjorie Taylor Greene rips Trump Mideast policy saying ‘Americans don’t want to bomb Iran’ for Israel

Greene says Israel’s ‘secular government’ has been telling ‘the same story’ on Iran for the ‘past 20 years’

Politics

1 week ago Families of dead Air India Flight 171 passengers to be offered £86,000 in compensation

As British passenger Vishwash Kumar Ramesh tells the story of his miraculous survival amid the Air India Flight 171, it has emerged that families who lost loved ones in the crash will be offered £86,000

Society