29 h. ago The pop culture moments we could not stop talking about in 2025: From kiss cam chaos to the Gen Z's obsession with papal politics

Picking the moments that defined 2025 is no easy feat.

Politics

39 h. ago Swanson TV dinners and Tang: How well do you know baby boomer pop culture?

The oldest baby boomers are turning 80 in 2026

Culture

62 h. ago The Standard's big quiz of the year 2025: do you remember anything that happened in the past 365 days?

Have you been paying attention, or have you been as absent as the UK prison system’s door staff? Take our quiz to find out

Politics

4 d. ago The moment I knew: ‘Sheltering under his lavender umbrella felt like pure stardust’

After meeting while hiking the Inca trail, Jenny and Jarod’s chemistry was extraordinaryGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailIn 2011 I was in my mid-30s and had just arrived home in Kent after spending two years working and travelling abroad. I had a new teaching contract coming up in the Middle East, but there were delays with the construction of the school and I found myself with three months to spare. I decided to go and hike the Inca trail.I booked with a tour provider and on the second night, as we all got to know each other, this tall, handsome Aussie with a huge smile caught my eye. Once we hit the road, my attraction to Jarod quickly grew and it didn’t take too long – or too many beers at altitude – before we shared our first kiss.Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Thursday news quiz: AI mishaps, fan fury and a tiny baby hippo

Test yourself on topical news trivia, pop culture and general knowledge every Thursday. How will you fare?Welcome to the final Thursday news quiz of the year – a small festive tradition involving the news, a handful of jokes, and the knowledge that somewhere there are 1,057 pedants limbering up to find something to nitpick. And it is a bumper 20-question edition. Thank you for quizzing throughout the year, for your comments, corrections and good-natured quibbles, and most of all for the kind messages literally hundreds of you sent the quizmaster during the Great Thursday Quiz Hiatus of 2025™, when he was off sick. It really meant a lot. Allons-y!The Thursday quiz will return in the new year and wishes you a Merry Christmas, a great festive holiday period and all the best for 2026. Sign up for First Edition to get a Thursday quiz-style quiz of the year in your inbox on Christmas Day. Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago Coronation Street's Tanisha Gorey responds to crossover moment as fans make 'random' observation

Exclusive: The actress has reacted to Asha Alahan's Corriedale moment that fans of the ITV soaps have already been talking about

Politics

7 d. ago ‘She dreamt bigger than all of us’: is Timothée Chalamet really a Susan Boyle superfan?

The Marty Supreme star said the Britain’s Got Talent runner-up is one of the greatest Britons of all time – surely he’s not taking her name in vain for attentionTimothée Chalamet understands the true nature of greatness. In Marty Supreme, he plays a character loosely based on a former two-time US men’s singles table tennis champion. In A Complete Unknown, he played Bob Dylan at the exact moment he decided to reshape all of pop culture in his own image. His upcoming third Dune film is based on a book that is literally called Messiah. So when Timothée Chalamet singles out a figure for greatness, understand that the greatness is warranted.Which is a roundabout way of saying that Timothée Chalamet thinks Susan Boyle is great. Not only great, but one of the greatest Britons to have ever lived. Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago 14 pop culture moments that sent the internet into meltdown in 2025

The past calendar year has seen Katy Perry shooting off to space, the ubiquity of a fluffy gremlin doll and a mind-boggling set of interviews from the unending ‘Wicked’ press tour. Ellie Muir takes a look back at the memes and pop culture moments that defined the last 12 months

Politics

8 d. ago The Vietnam War ended 50 years ago. But its lessons live on in The Quiet American

Phillip Noyce’s political drama is a searing critique of American interventionism that feels all too pertinent todayGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailAlden Pyle (Brendan Fraser) was a “quiet American”, says Thomas Fowler (Michael Caine) to a French policeman. “A friend,” he adds, as the lifeless corpse of Pyle stares back at him with a wretched expression.This is the scene that opens Phillip Noyce’s Vietnam-set political drama before the film flashes back a few months earlier to 1952 Saigon, where Fowler, an ageing Englishman, lives leisurely as a journalist reporting on the first Indochina war. When Pyle, a young American aid worker advocating for US intervention, falls for Fowler’s 20-year-old Vietnamese lover, Phượng (Đỗ Thị Hải Yến), the jaded reporter’s tranquil existence begins to unravel.Sign up for our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Continue reading...

Events

8 d. ago Rachael Carpani, McLeod’s Daughters and Home and Away actor, dies ‘unexpectedly but peacefully’ aged 45

The beloved Australian actor died on 7 December after a battle with chronic illnessGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailMcLeod’s Daughters and Home and Away actor Rachael Carpani has died, aged 45, her family has announced.A statement from her parents, shared by her sister on Instagram on Monday, said that the actor had “unexpectedly but peacefully passed away after a long battle with chronic illness in the early hours of Sunday 7th December”. Her exact cause of death was not made public.Sign up for our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago The Trump administration keeps picking fights with pop stars. It’s a no

By using music from SZA, Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo in ICE videos, the government is playing a game of rage-baitLast week, as the Trump administration was engulfed in controversy over its illegal military strikes near Venezuela (among numerous other crises), a Department of Homeland Security employee – I picture the worst sniveling, self-satisfied, hateful loser – got to work on the official X account. The state-employed memelord posted a video depicting Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) officials arresting people in what appeared to be Chicago, celebrating the humiliation and incarceration of undocumented immigrants as some sort of patriotic achievement. The vile video borrowed, as they often do, from mainstream pop culture; in this case, a viral lyric from Sabrina Carpenter’s song Juno – “Have you ever tried this one?,” referring to sex positions – overlaid clips of agents chasing, tackling and handcuffing people, cheekily nodding to all the methods in ICE’s terr...

Politics

1 week ago Revealed: The most common questions people ask Alexa (Some are a bit weird)

It turns out we’re using smart speakers for everything from pop culture curiosity to kitchen crisis management = and the patterns are oddly relatable

Politics

2 w. ago Keir Starmer holds crunch talks with Donald Trump at 'critical moment' for Ukraine

The Prime Minister spoke with US President Donald Trump, along with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz as the White House pushes for a quick end to the war

Politics

2 w. ago The View star Whoopi Goldberg’s amusing moment with guest while talking about menopause

Joy Behar told the comedian she should ‘be past menopause by now’

Politics

2 w. ago Ukraine at ‘pivotal moment’ as Zelensky prepares for London talks, says minister

Cabinet minister Pat McFadden said Ukraine’s security and self-determination would be ‘at the heart’ of the leaders’ discussions.

Politics

2 w. ago Drew Barrymore slammed for invading Michelle Pfeiffer's 'personal space' after awkward interaction goes viral

Pfeiffer, 67, appeared on Barrymore's show this week. But one moment from the interview has sparked immense backlash for the talk show host, 50.

Events

2 w. ago Furious reaction in the Manchester United dugout spoke volumes vs West Ham

Man Utd drew 1-1 with West Ham in the Premier League and here are the talking points and moments you might have missed from the game.

Politics

2 w. ago Alison Hammond reacts to Prince Harry viral video after supporting him for years

Prince Harry superfan Alison Hammond has reacted to a hilarious moment about her between the royal and US talkshow host Stephen Colbert.

Politics

2 w. ago Thursday news quiz: final curtain calls and fiendish questions

25 questions on notable pop culture, sporting and public figures we lost this year. How will you fare?Something a little different this week. As the year draws to a close, the Thursday quiz pauses to pay tribute to some of the notable pop culture, sporting and public figures we lost over the past 12 months, with the annual in memoriam edition. No prizes, except the chance to remember the joy they (mostly) gave us – via the medium of trying to recall obscure trivia about them. Let us know how you get on in the comments. Allons-y!The Thursday news quiz, No 226 – annual in memoriam edition Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Russia ‘ready’ for war with Europe, Putin says as peace talks with US begin

Russian president accuses European powers of preventing peace in Ukraine as he meets with Witkoff and KushnerRussia-Ukraine war – latest news updatesVladimir Putin has accused European powers of preventing peace in Ukraine and threatened that Russia was ready for war as Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, arrived for talks at the Kremlin on Tuesday evening.Moments before the closed-door meeting with Witkoff and Kushner, Putin made a series of hard-edged remarks. Speaking to reporters, he accused European governments of sabotaging the peace process and said that “European demands” on ending the war in Ukraine were “not acceptable to Russia”. Continue reading...

Politics