42 h. ago ‘The best song to play at a party is the one that gets people to leave’: Sananda Maitreya’s honest playlist

Stevie Wonder rocked the singer’s 10-year-old world and he’s secretly a huge fan of the Carpenters. But what novelty song did he drunkenly sing in karaoke in Japan?The first song I fell in love withI Want to Hold Your Hand and She Loves You by the Beatles are like my villain origin story. I was two years old and have no conscious memory of life before that. I can remember walking around our little apartment in East Orange, New Jersey, singing those songs.The first album I bought I grew up in a fundamentalist Christian conservative family. Remember Footloose? It was exactly like that. No dancing, no movies, no records. My aunt bought me Stevie Wonder’s Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants and I fell in love with Send One Your Love. Continue reading...

Politics

44 h. ago 'My married lover has three women on the go – I'm being replaced by a younger model'

JUST JANE: Today our agony aunt Jane O'Gorman is dealing with a new issue from a Daily Star reader who fears she's being edged out by a love rival

Politics

5 d. ago From New Girl to Colin from Accounts: your favourite TV romcoms ever

Which TV show has the greatest onscreen kiss of all time? Which is so good it saved someone’s marriage? Guardian readers pick their most beloved romcomsTummy-flipping kisses and a chlamydia love story: TV’s best ever romcomsThe ultimate TV romcom. I still remember watching the episode with Nick and Jess’s first kiss for the first time, and in my opinion (as well, I believe, as that of many of my generation) it remains the greatest TV kiss. While Nick and Jess are the centre, the comedy between the friends and the other romances along the way mean that I never tire of rewatching. Kate, 35, Liverpool Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago Top Christmas spectacle coming to Greater Manchester for the first time with four shows

Get ready to hear songs from Love Actually and The Nutcracker like you've never before

Politics

5 d. ago 'I love horror books and here are 6 of the best to read this Halloween'

With Halloween right around the corner, there's nothing more cosy than getting under a blanket with a hot drink and scarily good book. Here are six which are great for this season...

Events

2 w. ago A moment that changed me: I stopped restraining myself – and found the love of my life

For years I tried to be the perfect girlfriend: bright, funny, engaging and fragrant. Then I stubbed my toe, and my ferocious roar of pain showed me I could be myselfIn 2008, I was in my mid-20s and single. My relationships until then had all been fun, flirty and conflict-free – which was unsurprising, given I expended so much energy on male approval.Depressingly, this seemed normal in the 00s and demanded a specific type of vigilance. As well as trying to look perfect for every date, there was also the effort of trying to be perfect: bright and funny and engaging and fragrant, but also vaguely unavailable. Endearingly kooky was OK; but I didn’t want to come across as weird. Misery and anger were off limits. I never risked showing I cared. No wonder love had failed to launch. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago ‘It’s a big question’: kibbutz residents ponder return home after Hamas attack

Two years on, Israel has said the Holit community can go back – but memories of the horrific events are still rawShir Matias wants to move back to the Holit kibbutz but doesn’t know if she will be able to bear it. Now 23, she grew up in this tiny community in Israel’s farthest south-west tip, and its flower-lined paths hold some of her happiest memories.It is also the place where her parents were murdered by Hamas gunmen on 7 October 2023, and her brother Rotem was badly injured. Their mother, Shachar, used her own body to shield him from the bullets, saving his life in a last act of love. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago A place of ghosts and memories: kibbutz residents ponder return after 7 October

Two years after Hamas attack, Israel has said the Holit community can go back – but memories are still rawShir Matias wants to move back to the Holit kibbutz but doesn’t know if she will be able to bear it. Now 23, she grew up in this tiny community in Israel’s farthest south-west tip, and its flower-lined paths hold some of her happiest memories.It is also the place where her parents were murdered by Hamas gunmen on 7 October 2023, and her brother Rotem was badly injured. Their mother, Shachar, used her own body to shield him from the bullets, saving his life in a last act of love. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago The one change that worked: I was lost in the infinite scroll – until a small ritual renewed my love of reading

My ability to concentrate diminished as I spent more time on my phone. So I started to log and learn every new word I came across, and felt my brain begin to flexAs a child I devoured books until my eyes blurred. When my GCSEs came around, I exercised the stamina of a monk, revising for hours without pause. But in recent years, I’ve watched that capacity for intense concentration dissolve into infinite scrolling on my phone. My attention span now contracts like a slug at the touch of a finger. Reading for pleasure feels less like nourishment and more like endurance training. And for someone who writes for a living, this is a professional hazard as well as something that made me sad. I wanted to restore that mental elasticity, to halt the brain rot.So, about a year ago, I made a small vow: every time I came across a word I didn’t know – whether in a novel, an article, or an overheard conversation – I would look it up and write it down. Nothing elaborate, no leather-bound journal or f...

Politics

3 w. ago Poem of the week: To a Lady that Desired I Would Love Her by Thomas Carew

The 17th-century ‘server at table’ to Charles I puts a wry spin on courtly wooingTo a Lady that Desired I Would Love HerNow you have freely given me leave to love, What will you doe? Shall I your mirth, or passion move, When I begin to wooe; Will you torment, or scorn, or love me too? Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Tim Dowling: II love books – but can’t remember anything about the ones I’ve just read

In bed I lie awake, staring at the books on my nightstand, trying to remember a single salient fact about any of themThe oldest one is recommending the book he’s just finished to me.“You should read this,” he says, handing me a well-thumbed paperback, which I turn over in my hands. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Tim Dowling: I love books – but can’t remember anything about the ones I’ve just read

In bed I lie awake, staring at the books on my nightstand, trying to remember a single salient fact about any of themThe oldest one is recommending the book he’s just finished to me.“You should read this,” he says, handing me a well-thumbed paperback, which I turn over in my hands. Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago The best Literary Fiction to read this autumn: A Splintering by Dur e Aziz Amna, We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad, Will There Ever Be Another You by Patricia Lockwood

Anthony Cummins reviews the best Literary Fiction out now.

Politics