2 h. ago The Effingers by Gabriele Tergit review – a vivid portrait of Berlin before the Nazis

Written in 1951 and now translated into English for the first time, this family saga by the acclaimed German author recaptures a golden age for Jewish lifeIn 1948, the German Jewish author Gabriele Tergit travelled to Berlin. There, in ruins, was the city in which she was born and grew up, reported on, then chronicled in fiction. Tergit had been one of the shining lights of interwar Berlin’s flourishing journalistic scene; she had also married into one of the city’s most prominent Jewish families. In 1931 her debut novel announced her as a literary phenomenon.Then the Nazis came to power. Tergit was on an enemies list. She fled, first to Czechoslovakia, then to Palestine, and finally to London, where she lived from 1938 until her death in 1982. Never again did she call Berlin home. When she visited after the war, she found no real place in the conservative postwar German literary world – and no real audience for The Effingers, her newly completed magnum opus. A versio...

Politics

2 h. ago The Tale of Silyan review – farmer adopts stork in delightfully cockle

This story set in North Macedonia stars non-professional actors and follows ageing farmers trying to survive in a cockle-warming family filmLike director Tamara Kotevska’s previous feature Honeyland (which she co-directed with Ljubomir Stefanov), this sly, delightful film is neither a pure documentary nor a work of fiction. Instead, working with non-professional actors and a story clearly premeditated enough to earn a credit for its authors (Kotevska and Suz Curtis), this blends folk tale, improvisation and mud-caked vérité to tell the story of a contemporary farming family, the Conevs, in economically depressed North Macedonia.Sixtysomething paterfamilias Nikola and his wife, Jana, have been growing watermelons, tomatoes and tobacco on the family land for years. However, the wholesale prices have recently dropped through the soil, prompting a mini riot by irate agricultural workers who take out their frustrations by destroying their own crops. Nikola and Jana’s daughter Ana decides...

Politics

3 h. ago Prince Harry’s UK security under government review, reports say

Home Office has reportedly ordered threat assessment amid long-running row into Duke of Sussex’s safetyPrince Harry’s security arrangements while in the UK are being reviewed by the government, according to reports.Harry wrote to the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, shortly after her appointment and submitted a formal request for a risk assessment to the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec), which is overseen by the Home Office, a source close to the prince said in October. Continue reading...

Politics

4 h. ago UK rule Prince Harry has had to put up with may be set to change

Prince Harry wrote to the Home Secretary in October to request a formal review, with the Home Office now conducting an assessment for the first time since 2020

Politics

4 h. ago Win for Prince Harry as Home Office 'agrees to review his UK security arrangements'

The duke said security concerns mean it is ‘impossible’ for him to bring Meghan and their children back to the UK safely

Politics

4 h. ago The Curious Case of Mike Lynch by Katie Prescott review – the extraordinary story behind the Bayesian tragedy

A meticulously researched account of the controversial businessman’s rise and shocking demiseAt least two terrible ironies surround the death of Mike Lynch. One lies in the name of his superyacht, which sank off the coast of Sicily in the early hours of 19 August 2024. He had named the boat Bayesian to honour Bayes’s theorem, a mathematical rule that helps you weigh up the probability of something given the available evidence, which served as Lynch’s guiding light over the course of a tempestuous career. The theorem was “a beautiful key to our minds”, Lynch believed. But it was entirely incapable of predicting the outcome that morning, when the yacht capsized during a storm, killing seven people, including Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter Hannah and his US lawyer, Chris Morvillo.A second irony lies in the fact that Lynch had just come through the trial of his life, one he felt was bound to end in jail, where he thought he could die. Somehow, to everyone’s astonishment, an American ju...

Politics

4 h. ago Who, If Not Us? The Fight for Democracy in Belarus review – activists display their defiance

Collateral comedy spins out from underneath the repression and violence charted in this sobering documentary that follows three indefatigable womenThere are many symptoms of totalitarian sickness gripping Alexander Lukashenko’s Belarus. You risk being arrested for wearing red and white together, the colours of the outlawed flag of the country’s opposition movement. Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four has been banned, which seems rather on the nose. But these are just some of the more farcical elements, the collateral comedy spinning from the deep repression, violence and psychological wounds charted in this sobering film that follows a trio of Belarusian activists, starting from the pandemic through to the invasion of Ukraine.Director Juliane Tutein fashions a melancholic mood-piece which chronicles ineffectualness in the face of impregnable state machinery, and the meaning of resistance under such circumstances. Nina, who is 74, is a kind of Belarusian Batman; an indefatigable symbol of ...

Politics

4 h. ago ‘When the church door opens, it’s like a miracle’: the phone app that’s a key to Italy’s religious art

A cultural initiative in Piedmont is unlocking a trove of priceless medieval frescoes in rural churchesThe Santa Maria di Missione chapel in Villafranca Piemonte, northern Italy, stands at the end of a long cornfield. Behind it, the mountains rise gently, their outlines caressed by the sun. The colours of autumn frame the 15th-century frescoes that embellish the structure’s interior, painted by Italian artist Aimone Duce, of the Lombard school. The chapel is the municipality’s oldest religious building, serving about 4,000 inhabitants, and stands on the site of a pre-existing building dating back to 1037.Inside the small chapel, my footsteps echo softly against the walls, breaking the stillness of the surrounding countryside. The sharp scent of plaster mingles with the earthy smell of the fields outside, carried in on the wind along with the sweetness of wheat. Light filters through the narrow windows, catching the vivid hues of a fresco that depicts the seven deadly ...

Politics

5 h. ago Arsenal injury update: William Saliba, Cristhian Mosquera and Gabriel latest news and return dates

Gunners have real problems in defence ahead of clashes with Club Brugge and Wolves this week

Politics

8 h. ago Prince Harry 'review' into armed cops protection could pave way for King Charles reunion

King Charles could get to see his grandchildren Archie, six, and Lilibet, four, for the first time since 2022 after the Home Office reportedly commissioned a review into Harry's security

Politics

8 h. ago Prince Harry 'wins review' into armed cops protection paving way for King Charles reunion

King Charles could get to see his grandchildren Archie, six, and Lilibet, four, for the first time since 2022 after the Home Office reportedly commissioned a review into Harry's security

Politics

10 h. ago Is Huw Edwards attempting a comeback? Disgraced BBC news presenter poses for new professional brooding portrait as his £4.75million Dulwich home is taken off estate agent website

The fallen ex-BBC newsreader, 64, had been trying to sell the sprawling six-bedroom property in affluent Dulwich Village for more than a year, but failed to tempt buyers despite price cuts.

Economics

11 h. ago Hopes for Harry and Charles reunion as prince wins review into armed cops protection in UK

The duke said security concerns mean it is ‘impossible’ for him to bring Meghan and their children back to the UK safely but now Prince Harry's security arrangements in the UK are being reviewed

Politics

14 h. ago The War Between the Land and the Sea review – prepare to roll your eyes a lot at this fishy Doctor Who spinoff

Dodgy character names, zero subtlety, a dubious approach to female roles Russell T Davies’s show about fishfolk is entertaining – but feels like a wasted opportunity to make genuinely great TVThe fishmen cometh. Or, to put it another way – The War Between the Land and the Sea, the long-awaited Doctor Who spin-off from Russell T Davies concentrating on the adventures of Unit rather than the double-hearted man from Gallifrey, is finally here.RTD stalwart Russell Tovey stars as Barclay, an everyman figure who soon – two excellent puns incoming – finds himself out of his depth, nay a fish out of water, as he is forced to take the lead in the geopolitical crisis that surrounds him. Barclay is a low-level clerk with Unit who, through the kind of bureaucratic snafu that you may in your salad days have believed was confined to fictional romps aimed largely at children over the festive period until age and experience poured slugs into them, ends up being part of the operation sent to deal wi...

Events

14 h. ago The War Between the Land and the Sea review – Doctor Who spin

Russell Tovey and Gugu Mbatha-Raw are miscast in BBC and Disney’s last joint Whoniverse offering

Events

18 h. ago Last Days at Royal Opera: 'One of the most original operas this century'

Loosely based on Gus Van Sant’s film, which itself is loosely based on the final days of Kurt Cobain, this opera has its own special atmosphere

Politics

19 h. ago Former Arsenal star features for U21s as Gabriel Jesus makes injury return vs Man Utd

Arsenal Under-21s thrashed Manchester United 3-0 in a behind-closed-doors friendly on Saturday with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Gabriel Jesus both featuring

Events

21 h. ago Martin Parr, photographer acclaimed for observations of British life, dies aged 73

From sunbathers to Conservative clubs, Parr’s images were often in vivid colour with more than a dash of humour‘There’s something very interesting about boring’: Martin Parr on his life in picturesMartin Parr, the British documentary photographer who captured the peculiarities of the nation with clarity and hilarity, has died aged 73. He had been diagnosed with cancer in May 2021.A statement from the Martin Parr Foundation on Sunday said: “It is with great sadness that we announce that Martin Parr died yesterday at home in Bristol. Continue reading...

Events

25 h. ago Netflix The Night Agent season 3 sets release date with pulse

The Night Agent season 3 has been given a release date in a new trailer featuring Gabriel Basso and new cast members

Politics

26 h. ago Camiral, Girona: a wellness resort that even teenagers will enjoy

Hammams, golf buggies and gourmet feasts replace teenage grunts with genuine smiles – proving the wellness isn’t just in the spa, but in the atmosphere, says Rebecca Thornton

Politics