2 h. ago Damien Hirst says he used to buy property ‘a bit like Monopoly’

British artist opened up about his life and work in a rare interview

Politics

4 h. ago Voices: What Rayner’s crackdown on child benefit will really mean for middle

A leaked government memo reveals that Angela Rayner wants to stop child benefit handouts to middle-class mums. The trouble is, says Charlotte Cripps, many on her hit list might have middle-class backgrounds but can no longer match them economically

Politics

6 h. ago Sirens creator explains origins of Kiki’s strange catchphrase

Dark comedy satire is set on a lavish beach resort that serves as a playground for the super-rich

Politics

7 h. ago Original stars of Glee today – from tragic death to surprising new lives

When Glee hit screens in 2009, it became a global sensation. From tragic losses to award-winning success, here’s where the original cast members are now, nearly a decade after the show ended

Events

7 h. ago Legendary voice actor with roles in Dragon Ball Z and Fantastic Mr Fox dies as anime community pays tribute

Legendary voice actor Éric Legrand has died aged 66.

Events

7 h. ago What Rayner’s crackdown on child benefit will really mean for middle

A leaked government memo reveals that Angela Rayner wants to stop child benefit handouts to middle-class mums. The trouble is, says Charlotte Cripps, many on her hit list might have middle-class backgrounds but can no longer match them economically

Politics

8 h. ago Braveheart at 30: Mel Gibson’s gory, hokey Oscar winner plays like a biblical epic

The 1995 best picture winner is less interested in historical fact and more in rousing fantasy and makes for a telling portrait of its troubled makerFor a storied best picture Oscar winner and dorm-wall poster staple of the 1990s and beyond, it’s a little surprising how modest Braveheart’s success was when it opened in theaters 30 years ago. Though it powered through a mild opening to become a solid summer hit, on the 1995 charts it sits below Father of the Bride Part II and Congo (though congratulations are in order; it did edge out both Grumpier Old Men and Mortal Kombat). Even among other Mel Gibson vehicles from the 90s, you might be surprised to learn that Maverick, Conspiracy Theory and Payback all posted stronger numbers.But Braveheart stuck around, both in theaters and in the public consciousness. It wasn’t necessarily tipped as an awards contender at the time of release – Gibson had only directed one other movie, a small-scale drama called The Man Without a Face – but wound...

Politics

8 h. ago Little known song from the 1960s hits the charts for the first time after going viral on TikTok

American singer Connie Francis's tune 'Pretty Little Baby' - which was originally released in 1962 - has become increasingly popular on the social media platform.

Events

9 h. ago Trouble in paradise? Why wealthy homeowners in exclusive 'golden triangle' Cheshire village are furious over plans for riding school for SEND children

Several wealthy members of the Cheshire set in Over Peover claim that the plans threaten to turn a bridleway into a rat-run but the land's owner has blasted the village's 'nasty vocal minority'.

Society

11 h. ago The Rehearsal: Nathan Fielder makes genius appointment TV that may spoil you forever

In his twisted and often horrifying reality show, Fielder piles ethical grey areas on top of each other like problematic pancakes. Get stuck in!Schopenhauer defined genius as someone who aims at a target the rest of us can’t see. Which raises a philosophical paradox – how do we know they’ve hit it? I was moved to such musings while watching this week’s pick, a singular piece of art that functions unlike anything else on TV, and calls the medium itself into question. No, it’s not Police Interceptors.In The Rehearsal (Monday, 10pm, Sky Comedy), comedian Nathan Fielder blends documentary, social experiment, performance art and absurdist satire in a devised method all his own. He has ordinary people tackle emotionally fraught situations from their lives, by role-playing them with hired actors in meticulously recreated sets that mirror significant personal locations. It’s arch, but the stakes are real. The first series opened with a man who wanted to apologise to his pub quiz teamma...

Politics

11 h. ago The Rehearsal: Nathan Fielder makes genius appointment TV that may spoil you for ever

In his twisted and often horrifying reality show, Fielder piles ethical grey areas on top of each other like problematic pancakes. Get stuck in!Schopenhauer defined genius as someone who aims at a target the rest of us can’t see. Which raises a philosophical paradox – how do we know they’ve hit it? I was moved to such musings while watching this week’s pick, a singular piece of art that functions unlike anything else on TV, and calls the medium itself into question. No, it’s not Police Interceptors.In The Rehearsal (Monday, 10pm, Sky Comedy), comedian Nathan Fielder blends documentary, social experiment, performance art and absurdist satire in a devised method all his own. He has ordinary people tackle emotionally fraught situations from their lives, by role-playing them with hired actors in meticulously recreated sets that mirror significant personal locations. It’s arch, but the stakes are real. The first series opened with a man who wanted to apologise to his pub quiz teamma...

Politics

11 h. ago Original Sin book review: How we were fools to be fooled by Joe Biden’s people

Since this book was written we have learned Joe Biden has prostate cancer. The sad news was greeted with sympathy from all sides of the political divide, including Donald Trump. That would have been the response if, as president, Biden had declared in 2023 that he wasn’t going to run again on the basis of his age; there would have been lots of love, as there was at the start of George Clooney’s celebrated open letter to Biden in The New York Times telling him he loved him, but it was time to go.

Politics

13 h. ago Germany trumpets its reckoning with its Nazi past – except when it’s inconvenient | Hanno Hauenstein

From a media prize with a dubious pedigree to the horrors of Gaza, the establishment forgets and remembers what suits it bestGrowing up in Germany, we were taught to believe we had done better. Better than our grandparents’ generation, who swept their complicity under a thick rug of silence. Better even than our parents, whose revolts in the late 1960s rarely led to any serious reckoning with the legacy of the Holocaust.Born in the late 1980s, my generation learned about Auschwitz early on. We visited former concentration camps and studied the Nazi regime not as an alien aberration, but as a warning: this is how democracies die. Today, with the far-right AfD and ethno-chauvinism on the rise, that warning has never felt more urgent.Hanno Hauenstein is a Berlin-based journalist and author. He worked as a senior editor in Berliner Zeitung’s culture department, specialising in contemporary art and politics Continue reading...

Politics

15 h. ago Old Leatherman mystery could be solved as experts expose troubling probe into America's real

In a startling twist in the riddle, the man who led that investigation has come forth to reveal explosive details about its flaws.

Events

19 h. ago The week the Democrats’ gerontocracy problem came home to roost

Between Joe Biden’s cancer diagnosis and multiple congressional deaths, Democrats can’t ignore their age problem anymore, Eric Garcia writes

Politics

19 h. ago Family share Skegness Butlin's break from hell, with blood stains and handcuffs

Tiffany Martin went with her partner and kids to the chain's resort in Skegness, and was left fuming with the state of the accommodation and the lack of customer service

Events

21 h. ago ‘I was sure salvation lay in art’: Marina Otero on death, dance and mental illness

The Argentinian choreographer, known for working out her traumas and neuroses on stage, is bringing her provocative new work, Kill Me, to AustraliaLong ago, Marina Otero decided she would film her life until she dies, as part of an attempt to understand her pain and her preoccupation with death. “I was sure that salvation lay in art,” she says. So when she suffered a mental breakdown in 2022, the Argentinian choreographer decided to keep recording.“It seemed interesting to me, recording the darkest parts of a person,” Otero tells Guardian over Zoom from Madrid, where she is based. Continue reading...

Events

22 h. ago ‘I treasured that kit’: Leah Williamson’s Arsenal journey from mascot to mainstay

The Arsenal defender knows she must manage her emotions in the Champions League final – 18 years after she was a mascot for the equivalent fixture There is no bigger test of how Arsenal’s Leah Williamson balances the emotion of the occasion as a fan with her life as a player than a first Champions League final after years of working on her feelings when she is wearing red and white. “Do your job, Leah, and then the fan in you gets to enjoy it afterwards,” her internal monologue will run as she prepares to step on to the pitch when the Gunners take on Barcelona in Lisbon.“It’s funny, Less [Alessia Russo] was asking me about this today,” the 28-year-old says, sitting in the sunshine by the small lake at Arsenal’s London Colney training centre. “Maybe it’s age, maybe it’s having the experience of doing it in other moments. The Euros final was fairly level to this in terms of testing my ability to manage the emotions of the day and occasion. I’m just going to enjoy it. Continue reading...

Politics

22 h. ago BBC workmen ripped apart Steve Wright’s old studio in week he died, Jeremy Vine reveals

BBC Radio 2 presenter Jeremy Vine told how workmen ripped apart Steve Wright’s old studio and showed lack of compassion to older staff members

Events

22 h. ago The Mastermind review – Josh O’Connor is world’s worst art thief in Kelly Reichardt’s unlikely heist movie

Cannes film festival Reichardt’s quietist, observational style is unexpectedly successful at creating a super-naturalistic depiction of an art gallery robberyIt needs hardly be said that the title is ironic. The abject non-hero of Kelly Reichardt’s engrossingly downbeat heist movie, set in 1970s Massachusetts, is weak, vain and utterly clueless. By the end, he’s a weirdly Updikean figure, though without the self-awareness: going on the run with no money and without a change of clothes, to escape from the grotesque mess he has made for himself and his family.This is James, played with hangdog near-charm by Josh O’Connor; he is an art school dropout and would-be architectural designer with two young sons, married to Terri (a minor complaint is that the excellent Alana Haim is not given enough to do). James depends on the social standing of his father Bill, a judge, formidably played by Bill Camp, and is borrowing large sums of money from his patrician mother Sarah (Hope Davis), ostens...

Politics