1 hour ago ‘I've always been inspired by Bond’ – 007 First Light art director on designing a Bond for a new age

In advance of today's State of Play presentation, we picked the brain of 007 First Light's art director to learn more about IO Interactive's approach to reinventing James Bond.

Politics

2 h. ago The Guardian view on fiscal rules and financial myths: Britain must stop fearing imaginary bond vigilantes | Editorial

Liz Truss fell not for borrowing, but for incompetence. Rachel Reeves mustn’t repeat the mistake with rules markets don’t demandIn 1995, Nick Leeson, a 28-year-old trader for Barings Bank, brought down the City’s oldest finance house by, among other things, betting that the Bank of Japan (BoJ) couldn’t keep rates low forever after its financial crash led to a borrowing spree. The devastating Kobe earthquake was the final blow. The BoJ cut rates, bond prices rose and his losses spiralled to $1.4bn. His bet that markets would beat Japan brought down the bank.Barings’ collapse is perhaps a spectacular example of the “widowmaker” trade, where speculators think they can outsmart Japanese authorities. They’ve ended up with egg on their face as their gamble on Japan losing fiscal control proved misguided. Japan, with its own currency and a central bank working with the government, shows how the state shapes markets, not the other way round.Do you have an opinion on the issue...

Politics

3 h. ago How the Daily Mail uncovered Angela Rayner's stamp tax dodge on her new £800k seaside home

It began two weeks ago outside a beachside café where one sharp-eyed Daily Mail reader was getting a cup of tea.

Economics

5 h. ago Tottenham: Spurs' state of the art training ground inspires 'transformative' NFL renovation project

Franchise executives were impressed with Premier League side’s facilities

Politics

5 h. ago Woman loses £5,000 to online scammer pretending to be astronaut ‘stuck in space and needing oxygen’

Victim was targeted in what police describe as romance scam, echoing a rise in online fraud worldwide

Economics

5 h. ago Loose Women's Coleen Nolan's 'silly' skincare routine left her fearing marriage would end

Coleen Nolan has opened up about the bizarre skincare routine she followed while appearing on TV show The Truth About Beauty - and joked it could have ended her marriage

Politics

6 h. ago Woman buys £5 mystery bag at car boot sale and is mortified when mum opens it

WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT: Bargain hunter Becky Chorlton admitted she felt like an 'idiot' after allowing her mum to open the bag, knowing it would likely contain some rather raunchy items

Economics

6 h. ago George Raveling, basketball Hall of Famer and man who influenced Michael Jordan’s Nike deal, dies aged 88

Raveling's family said Tuesday in a statement that he had ‘faced cancer with courage and grace’

Events

6 h. ago Family pay tribute to 'one in a million' daughter, 21, run over and killed outside shopping centre

Natasha Thorp, 21, was fatally struck by a car in Sutton Coldfield near the Gracechurch Shopping Centre shortly before midnight on August 22.

Economics

6 h. ago Forget Tomb Raider and Uncharted, there’s a new generation of games about archaeology – sort of

In this week’s newsletter: an archaeologist and gamer on why we love to walk around finding objects in-game and in real lifeThe game I’m most looking forward to right now is Big Walk, the latest title from House House, creators of the brilliant Untitled Goose Game. A cooperative multiplayer adventure where players are let loose to explore an open world, I’m interested to see what emergent gameplay comes out of it. Could Big Walk allow for a kind of community archaeology with friends? I certainly hope so.When games use environmental storytelling in their design – from the positioning of objects to audio recordings or graffiti – they invite players to role play as archaeologists. Game designer Ben Esposito infamously joked back in 2016 that environmental storytelling is the “art of placing skulls near a toilet” – which might have been a jab at the tropes of games like the Fallout series, but his quip demonstrates how archaeological gaming narratives can be. After all, the incongruity ...

Politics

7 h. ago ArtPlay Pavilion at Dulwich Picture Gallery: You'll have to drag your children from it

Dulwich Picture Gallery has unveiled its biggest redevelopment in years with a winning focus on the youngest generation of art lovers

Politics

7 h. ago Australian embassy issues warning after tourist drinks offering at Japanese burial site

Japanese place food and drink at graves to honour their dead

Events

8 h. ago Jennifer cried and begged the nation for help after her husband was shot dead on their doorstep in a 'robbery gone wrong'... but soon, police discovered the sinister truth about what really happened

The neighbours of Jennifer, 52, and Jamie Faith, then 49, were petrified after they heard blood curdling screams coming from the couple's home in Texas in 2020.

Events

8 h. ago DAN HODGES: Angela Rayner must resign. She is a hypocrite who has broken the rules while her allies have accused us all of sexism and classism. Now we know the truth... she has to go

Angela Rayner has to resign, writes DAN HODGES. Set aside the obvious and understandable emotion. Ignore the desire. She has broken the rules. So now she has to go.

Politics

8 h. ago The truth about dexies: They're the ADHD pills some claim saved their lives from chaos. Before you try them, read this mother's startling account of what they did to her brain

'At first, it didn't seem real. I wasn't hyperactive. My mum didn't believe it. But when I looked back - the chaos, the distraction, the self-loathing, the decision fatigue - it was all there.'

Events

9 h. ago Nigel Farage urges Trump to use 'diplomacy and trade' to pressure Britain on free speech ahead of appearance in front of US politicians TODAY

The Reform leader and MP is due to say Britain has become an 'authoritarian censorship regime' after the arrest of Irish writer Graham Linehan for posting trans-critical tweets.

Politics

11 h. ago Scientists discover a 'forbidden' pulsar fleeing a supernova in a seemingly empty region of the Milky Way

From supermassive black holes to vast stellar nurseries, the distant reaches of space are full of many baffling wonders. Now, scientists have uncovered one of the most perplexing mysteries yet.

Politics

11 h. ago Ghost of Yōtei: a determined outsider seeks revenge in feudal Japan

The makers of the forthcoming open-world adventure explain how new gameplay features and an extra-resourceful sword-wielding protagonist set it apart from 2020 predecessor Ghost of TsushimaAtsu is no samurai. The lead character in Ghost of Yōtei is a wandering sellsword from a lowly family. Her sex and lack of status mean that, following the murders of her family, she has no fixed place in 17th-century Japanese society, and there is no permitted path for her to tread if she is to get revenge on the Yōtei Six, the men who killed her loved ones. As the game’s co-director Nate Fox puts it, “Atsu is not somebody who walks in to a room and people pay respect to.”Yōtei’s predecessor, Sucker Punch Productions’ 2020 sprawling open-world game Ghost of Tsushima, is the story of a samurai, Jin Sakai, who shreds his honour to defend his homeland. Jin can’t repel the Mongols attacking Tsushima as a noble warrior, but as “the Ghost”, a fear-inspiring legend willing to use any dirty tactic to gain...

Politics

12 h. ago The truth about weighted blankets and whether they help with anxiety

Celebrities and influencers swear by their calming effects, but do they deliver?

Politics

12 h. ago Farage condemns UK’s ‘authoritarian censorship regime’ ahead of giving evidence at US congress

Reform UK leader to speak about Online Safety Act at House judiciary committee; government set to announce date of budget at PMQs later Good morning. It is the first PMQs, and with the government set to announce the date of the budget today (Wednesday 26 November, if HuffPost UK is right), you would expect Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch to get stuck into a debate about the economy, and taxation.But it might end up as a free speech day at Westminster, as a result of the conflation of two related issues.On the question of civil liberties, Britain has, unfortunately, now lost her way.I will do my part, as a participant in UK democracy, to help our country find its way back to the traditional freedoms which have long bound together our two countries in friendship. In the meantime, Congress should draw bright lines: British free speech rules, applicable to Britons, are made in Britain, and American speech rules, applicable to Americans, are made in America. Continue reading...

Culture