2 h. ago ‘One minute it’s “would you like to listen to Galaxie 500?”, the next humanity’s enslaved’: can anyone escape Spotify?

As a new book skewers Spotify’s effect on music, two Guardian music writers spent a week assessing the limits of living with and without itLaura Snapes, deputy music editor I was set the task of not listening to Spotify for a week, but Alexis, your task was much worse: only listening to Spotify-created playlists, and the songs it suggested to you based on your listening history. How did that go?Alexis Petridis, chief rock and pop critic One day in the car I just listened to nothing instead of facing it again. When it plays me songs I like, it’s not what I want to hear at that moment. That’s not to say the music it was recommending wasn’t good. One morning it played Schizophrenia by Sonic Youth. I love that song but I didn’t want to hear it then. It played me Billie Holliday’s Riffin’ the Scotch followed by My Bloody Valentine, which clearly demonstrates the great breadth of my music taste – but just because I like it all doesn’t mean I want to hear it all together. I didn’t like tha...

Politics

5 d. ago Skunk Anansie drummer Mark Richardson shares cancer diagnosis: ‘Please get checked out’

Rock musician urged his followers to take up ‘easy’ checks to see whether they were at risk

Science

7 d. ago Skunk Anansie’s Skin announced as keynote speaker at The Great Escape 2025

Exclusive keynote conversation will take place in Brighton this May

Politics

1 week ago Danielle Lloyd shows surgery scars as she updates fans after huge health diagnosis

Celebrity Big Brother star Danielle Lloyd has updated fans on her skin cancer journey after announcing the shocking news last month - with her now showing off her new scar

Science

2 w. ago Skunk Anansie to headline The Independent’s stage at The Great Escape Festival

Rare intimate performance will take place a week before the release of the band’s first album in nine years

Politics

3 w. ago Video games can’t escape their role in the radicalisation of young men | Keith Stuart

Those of us who spend our lives gaming can no longer deny knowledge that our online communities are awash with disturbing hate speech and violent rhetoricThere is a lot of attention on young men and toxic masculinity at the moment. It’s about time. The devastating Netflix drama Adolescence, about a 13-year-old boy accused of murdering a girl after being radicalised by the online manosphere, has drawn attention to the problem through the sheer force of its brilliant writing and a blistering lead performance from teenager Owen Cooper. This week, former England football manager Gareth Southgate gave a speech about the state of boyhood in the UK, specifically about how young men, lacking moral mentors, are turning to gambling and video gaming, thereby disconnecting from society and immersing themselves in predominantly male online communities where misogyny and racism are often rife. There has been some kickback in the gaming press to the idea that games have provided a less-than-ideal ...

Politics

3 w. ago Symptoms of skin cancer as Katherine Ryan shares second melanoma diagnosis

The comedian had been given the all clear previously, but has announced that her skin cancer returned in a mole on her arm.

Science

3 w. ago Katherine Ryan reveals second skin cancer diagnosis after being given all clear

It's the second time the comedian has faced skin cancer as she made the announcement to listeners of podcast Telling Everybody Everything.

Science

last month ‘I escaped one gulag only to end up in another’: Russian asylum seekers face Ice detention in the US

Exiles fleeing Putin’s repression in Russia and other post-Soviet states find a harsh welcome when arriving statesideFor most of the four years of Joe Biden was in office, citizens of Russia and other post-Soviet states seeking asylum in the US were generally released into the country while they awaited hearings on their claim in immigration court.But since last summer, many have been detained upon entering the US, and some of them have been held for more than a year, lawyers, activists and detainees say. Some children have been separated from their parents. Continue reading...

Events