6 h. ago M&S reveals newborn clothing essentials ready for September's birth rate peak

From baby grows to socks, M&S has revealed the new-born essentials every parent should have on their checklist.

Politics

8 h. ago World Rugby urges men to learn from women’s game on engaging with fans

‘More personality creates more stars,’ says rugby chiefSell outs expected at four weekend World Cup gamesThe head of World Rugby has urged the men’s game to learn lessons from how players at the Women’s Rugby World Cup have shown off their personalities and interacted more with fans.Alan Gilpin also suggested that World Rugby would be preparing a dossier of “great facts and stats” to show teams at the men’s World Cup in 2027 that engaging more with supporters would not take the edge off their performances. Continue reading...

Sport

9 h. ago I’m a gaming writer and I’ve already decided this is my game of the year

The year isn’t over yet, but there’s one game I don’t think will be beaten in 2025

Politics

9 h. ago Bill Belichick’s humiliating college football debut brings only schadenfreude or sadness

The greatest head coach in modern NFL history has started anew at UNC. His first game exposed flaws that will be very difficult to fixHalf a century of unprecedented success, six Super Bowl rings as a head coach, the NFL’s greatest defensive mind; all undone by 19-year-olds sprinting past missed tackles. Bill Belichick arrived at North Carolina promising to bend college football to his will, to build the “33rd NFL Program” in Chapel Hill, and prove he still had his fastball. College football laughed.As debut flops go, North Carolina’s 48-14 beatdown at the hands of TCU is as bad as it gets. Belichick’s side didn’t just lose; they were humiliated. UNC looked unprepared, undisciplined and were overmatched against a veteran team. Continue reading...

Sport

12 h. ago Little Problems – a cute detective game with no violence or victims

Shanghai-based developer Posh Cat Studio focused on the satisfying thrill of solving life’s small mysteries in this cosy crime caperAs the latest generation of 18-year-olds is about to find out, starting university is an experience fraught with minor as well as major problems. Oversleeping and missing lectures, forgetting where your study group is meeting, mislaying your books – a lot of your time is spent looking for things.It is these small mysteries that concern Little Problems, a cute detective game, in which the protagonist, Mary, must use her sleuthing abilities to make it through each day as a new student . Created by Indonesian designer Melisa, who has chosen to go by her first name only, the idea comes from her love of detective stories, but also her wish to take violence out of the genre. Continue reading...

Events

36 h. ago Mythmatch – taking on ancient Greek tech bros to rebuild a broken world

Low-budget puzzle game is also about building communities and challenging capitalism – while still looking cute and approachableOne of the most interesting trends in game design is the use of familiar mechanics and genres to explore real-world power systems and how to challenge them. Forthcoming deck-building game, All Will Rise, seeks to interest players in political activism, Compensation Not Guaranteed aims to educate players about south-east Asian politics, while MythMatch is ostensibly a puzzle game set in ancient Greece, but is also about building communities and challenging capitalism – while still looking cute and approachable.You play as Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, who is having to navigate the institutionalised sexism of Mount Olympus, here represented as a corporation infested with tech bros. In defiance, she decides to help the mortals of Ithaca build a new, more progressive world – and you do this by running around the little environments, merging items and animal...

Politics

3 d. ago New drug hailed as ‘gamechanger’ in tackling stubbornly high blood pressure

Trials of baxdrostat have produced ‘exciting’ results for people whose hypertension has proved difficult to controlDoctors are hailing a new pill for patients with high blood pressure resistant to existing medication as a “gamechanger” and a “triumph of science”.Globally, more than 1.3 billion people have hypertension. In half of them, their high blood pressure is uncontrolled or resistant to existing treatments. They face a much higher risk of heart attack, stroke, kidney disease and early death. Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago Four wheels good, two wheels bad: why are there no exciting cycling games? | Dominik Diamond

I’ve been playing Wheel World. It’s silly hipster fun, but I’d rather get on my real bike and ride. Where are the cycling equivalents of Crazy Taxi or Road Rash?I have spent a week trying to save the universe. Not by leading a hardened team of oddball veterans in an assault on a despot’s intergalactic outpost, nor by completing a series of well-written tasks to build up my warrior mage so they can defeat some ancient malignant omnipotent deity.I have done it by completing easy races on a bicycle. Sounds ridiculous? Welcome to Wheel World. Continue reading...

Sport

4 d. ago The Séance of Blake Manor – a gothic horror that explores the creepier side of Irish mythology

Developer Spooky Doorway is building a detective mystery full of Victorian spiritualism and pagan traditions, creating a lingering sense of dread that is hard to shakeThere are two types of horror – one that shocks you into more inventive ways to hide behind a pillow; and the other that creeps under your skin, quietly prickling the back of your neck and haunting you for weeks. The Séance Of Blake Manor falls into that second camp: an atmospheric take on an 1890s Irish murder mystery.You play Detective Ward, who has been sent to the titular Blake Manor to investigate the disappearance of Evelyn Deane two nights before a seance is due take place. Mystics from across the globe have gathered at the crumbling mansion to converse with the dead on All Hallows’ Eve, but are they really capable of doing what they say they can? And what was that shadowy figure? There’s more than one secret to unravel. Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago US Open’s dating show proves a double fault in search for new fans

Game, Set, Matchmaker aims to woo a pop-culture audience. But with tennis sidelined in favor of awkward small talk, it risks alienating its core supportersOn the first day of this year’s US Open, Alexandra Eala came back from 5-1 down in the third set to upset Clara Tauson in front of a rapturous crowd, Novak Djokovic rope-a-doped a fresher opponent barely half his age, Rebeka Masarova hit an overhead smash into the only racket-sized area inside the lines that would ensure she lost the point, and Daniil Medvedev all but incited a riot in the stands of Louis Armstrong Stadium while down match point.Amidst the overstimulating slate of matches, the US Open quietly published the first episode of the dating video series Game, Set, Matchmaker on their official YouTube channel. In it, host Ilana Sedaka, a figure skater and influencer, had a blind date with Ronnie, a lacrosse coach. They exchanged bright smiles and music tastes. They bonded over their love of Drake – what were the odds? Tho...

Politics

6 d. ago PS Plus Essential September 2025 games announced as Stardew Valley and Psychonauts 2 arrive

The PS Plus Essential September 2025 games have been announced, and it's a big month for the service with the likes of Stardew Valley and Psychonauts 2 joining the lineup

Politics

6 d. ago Football quiz: test your knowledge of the game’s most remarkable phone calls

Following Mikel Arteta’s claim that Eberechi Eze called him to ask about an Arsenal move, here are more examples of the humble telephone’s big role in football Continue reading...

Sport

6 d. ago Keeper is the ecological ‘fever dream’ where you play as – checks notes – a lighthouse

Double Fine’s latest is a whimsical action-adventure that takes inspiration from real-life biology as much as cult fantasy movies from the 1980sKeeper is staking a bold claim to be the oddest game ever published by Microsoft. The setting is weird: an iridescent, far-future imagining of New England where organic and non-organic matter mingle in strange, alchemical ways. And the characters are undeniably quirky: one is a bird called Twig whose beak is made from driftwood. Strangest of all: you play as a lighthouse that has inexplicably become animate, sprouting tiny, spindly little legs to carry its wibbling, wobbling body.In the sea of action-hero young men and, to a lesser degree, women, the lighthouse stands out as an unlikely star. Creative lead Lee Petty is a little fuzzy on the details of how it came to be. Rather, he talks about the creation of the protagonist as he does the broader action-adventure experience: as if it rose out of his subconscious. Despite the ostensible absur...

Politics

6 d. ago What scoreline has occurred most in a football gameweek? | The Knowledge

Plus: long title droughts in capital cities, a meeting of (very) young minds and the ultimate pass masterMail us with your questions and answers“Seven of the nine matches in Ligue 1 last weekend finished 1-0,” notes Liam Togher. “That’s 78% of the games. Has there ever been a more common instance of one specific scoreline in a single gameweek?”This is a question that George Graham would love, and Chris Roe has done the hard yards to find an example that can beat the above though, alas, it doesn’t involve the Arsenal team of the late 1980s who made 1-0 scorelines famous. Continue reading...

Sport

7 d. ago Kai Havertz ruled out of Arsenal and Germany games and may need surgery

Forward sustained knee injury at Manchester UnitedArsenal must sell to pursue Leverkusen’s HincapiéKai Havertz will miss Arsenal’s showdown at Liverpool on Sunday and Germany’s World Cup qualifiers next month, with a decision yet to be made on whether the forward needs surgery on a knee injury.Havertz picked up the injury during his substitute appearance against Manchester United on the opening Premier League weekend and did not feature in Arsenal’s 5-0 win over Leeds on Saturday. Mikel Arteta said Arsenal were not sure how serious it was and that they would conduct more tests “to explore the issue a little bit further and decide what we’re going to do”. Continue reading...

Sport

7 d. ago Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater review – cold war chaos reborn with cinematic swagger

PC, PS5, Xbox; KonamiKonami’s lavish remake of Hideo Kojima’s PS2 masterpiece swaps in slick controls and stunning visuals, but leaves the eccentric espionage drama as gloriously unhinged as everA wise fictional character once said that war never changes, and if you play Snake Eater, you’d be hard pressed to argue. A remake of 2004’s cold war PS2 classic, Konami has dropped the three from the title and replaced it with a delta – but, make no mistake, this is the jungle-roaming jaunt almost exactly as you remember it. Without Hideo Kojima at the helm, Konami has sensibly not meddled with any story beats of this madcap masterpiece, instead pouring its energy into lavishly rendered art and adding slicker modern controls.Still, if there’s any PS2 title that can pass as a modern release, it’s Metal Gear Solid 3. Shifting the series into the great outdoors, Kojima squeezed every last drop of power out of Sony’s ageing console – sending Naked Snake slithering across the jungle. To contempo...

Events

8 d. ago Exact dates Scottish uni students can get their hands on must

Heading off to university in September? Then get all the essentials for less with Aldi's upcoming range.

Politics

8 d. ago PS Plus Extra and Premium September 2025 reveal date, predictions and when you'll play the new games

The PS Plus September 2025 announcement is on the horizon, and predictions are flying in thick and fast as to what could be included. Here's everything you need to know.

Politics

1 week ago 9 of the most exciting titles we played at Gamescom 2025 that are well worth looking forward to

Gamescom 2025 is currently well under way - and we've been hard at work playing all the show's most interesting titles.

Events

1 week ago England v USA: Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 opening game – live

Pool A updates from 7.30pm BST at Stadium of LightWomen’s rugby prepares for liftoff | Mail Alex“It’s only natural there’s some nerves,” says John Mitchell, England’s head coach. “The wait is over, now we can let our rugby do our talking on the pitch.” He’s keen to play down expectations, pointing out every team starts equal.Mitchell has done his best to take his pressure off the players in the buildup, repeatedly pointing out that New Zealand are the world champions; that England must take this crown. Trying to engineer a challenger mindset, naturally. Continue reading...

Sport