97 m. ago Radiohead’s music about alienation makes feeling alienated feel less alienating

Standing in the crowd at the sold-out reunion tour, long-time Radiohead fan Lucy Jones is reminded once again of what it is that makes this band so special

Politics

3 d. ago ‘I fled Africa to safety in the UK – Starmer’s migrant crackdown means I could be sent back’

Shams Moussa says despite a change of government in his home country, he’s feel like an ‘alien’ as he condemned Labour’s plan to return refugees as part of a planned overhaul of the asylum system

Events

1 week ago Cheapest Radiohead tickets for rare UK shows and where to buy them now

Radiohead are on their way to London to perform a string of shows at their short residency slot.

Politics

1 week ago 'I have no sensation in my penis and feel like a alien during sex'

A man who hasn’t been able to feel anything in his genitals since he was a teenager says he is ‘sleepwalking through life’ and needs to take drastic action to fix his debilitating condition

Politics

2 w. ago Celebrity Traitors icon Claudia Winkleman's body is 'made of crepe'

The host of Strictly and Celebrity Traitors, Claudia Winkleman, says 'it feels alien' as she attempts to fix her long-term health issues

Politics

2 w. ago Radiohead review – bards of the apocalypse return for a brutal bacchanal

Movistar Arena, MadridPowered by a pounding rhythm section, the crowd dance to even the tricksiest drum patterns at Radiohead’s first gig in seven years – one that demonstrates the pure joy this band can bringAlmost 10 years have passed since Radiohead released a new record, and more than seven since they were last seen on stage. Living through that period has felt like moving further and faster into the future that their songs often sounded so worried about. Animal-borne diseases and invading armies, bomb shelters and endless rainstorms, falling skies and collapsing infrastructure – ’twas all foretold in the lyric sheets of the ever-fretful Thom Yorke.His reputation as a soothsayer has probably been overstated as the band’s myth has grown in their absence, but if the frontman is a genius (the jury is still out and may never come back in, their verdict deferred more by politics than musicianship) then he’s hardly the only monumental talent in the lineup. For all the brilliant record...

Politics

2 w. ago Radiohead review, Madrid: A transcendent return for one of our most radical rock bands

More than seven years since their last gig, the British group are emphasising their decades-deep closeness by playing a career-spanning set in the round

Politics

2 w. ago Radiohead fans ‘incredibly excited’ for band’s first live show in seven years

Crowds gather outside Movistar Arena in Madrid for first concert of European tour that sold out in minutesAn hour or so before the sun rose over Madrid, Francesco Puddu staked out a prime spot in front of the city’s hulking Movistar Arena. He was among the first Radiohead fans to arrive at the venue, buzzing with expectations for the British band’s first live show in seven years, kicking off a 20-date European tour.“I’m incredibly excited. Like, I don’t think it’s real,” said the 27-year-old, who had travelled from Italy. “It’s been so long that even if they play the same song 20 times in a row, I’ll be happy.” Continue reading...

Culture

3 w. ago Dead and Alive by Zadie Smith review – essays for an age of anxiety

From cultural appropriation to gender, Smith nails the politics of creativity. But on actual politics, she is less assuredAccepting a literary prize in Ohio last year, the novelist Zadie Smith described “feeling somewhat alienated from myself, experiencing myself as a posthumous entity”. Smith is only 50, but there is indeed something of the afterlife about the material gathered in her new book, which bundles various odds and ends from the past nine years: speeches, opinion pieces, criticism and eulogies for departed literary heroes – Philip Roth, Martin Amis, Hilary Mantel.In Some Notes on Mediated Time – one of three completely new essays in the collection – Smith recalls how the “dreamy, slo-mo world” of her 1980s childhood gave way, within a generation, to the “anxious, permanent now” of social media. If you lived through that transition, you don’t have to be very old to feel ancient. When this estrangement is compounded by the ordinary anxieties of ageing, cultur...

Events