41 m. ago ‘One minute it’s “would you like to listen to Galaxie 500?”, the next humanity’s enslaved’: can anyone escape Spotify?

As a new book skewers Spotify’s effect on music, two Guardian music writers spent a week assessing the limits of living with and without itLaura Snapes, deputy music editor I was set the task of not listening to Spotify for a week, but Alexis, your task was much worse: only listening to Spotify-created playlists, and the songs it suggested to you based on your listening history. How did that go?Alexis Petridis, chief rock and pop critic One day in the car I just listened to nothing instead of facing it again. When it plays me songs I like, it’s not what I want to hear at that moment. That’s not to say the music it was recommending wasn’t good. One morning it played Schizophrenia by Sonic Youth. I love that song but I didn’t want to hear it then. It played me Billie Holliday’s Riffin’ the Scotch followed by My Bloody Valentine, which clearly demonstrates the great breadth of my music taste – but just because I like it all doesn’t mean I want to hear it all together. I didn’t like tha...

Politics

50 m. ago Kym Marsh says she will never marry again as she breaks silence on toyboy split

Former Hear'Say star, Kym Marsh, has opened up about her love life after splitting up from actor, Samuel Thomas, earlier this year, who is 19 years her junior

Politics

80 m. ago Love on the Spectrum star Connor Tomlinson's age and life off

Connor has become a social media star since his debut on the series

Politics

82 m. ago Amanda Holden sizzles in red hot dress for new Netflix show helping cheaters find love

TV and radio beauty Amanda Holden is set to host a new Netflix series about relationships affected by cheating, working alongside MAFS UK expert Paul C Brunson

Culture

2 h. ago Louis Tomlinson and Zara McDermott seen for the first time since confirming shock romance on romantic lunch date

The One Direction singer, 33, and Love Island star, 28, shocked fans last month when news emerged the unlikely pair had started dating.

Events

2 h. ago Inside Netflix Love on The Spectrum star Dani Bowman's CEO job and staggering net worth

The 29-year-old is a talented businesswoman

Politics

2 h. ago How Netflix turned a Black dating show loved by millions into TV trash | Nels Abbey

Pop the Balloon or Find Love is a YouTube sensation – but in a mainstream form, it’s terrible. Why does this keep happening?If you threw Blind Date, the opening scenes of Saving Private Ryan and the auction block into a blender, what you’d get is Pop the Balloon or Find Love, a weekly hour-long Black dating show on YouTube.The show was created by Arlette Amuli, an African American of Congolese origins, and her husband, Bolia “BM” Matundu, a Black Brit also of Congolese descent (he had a previous life as a UK rapper and then as a Ndombolo musician). It has become an international sensation in an age where our fried attention spans have us addicted to short videos. The format is minimalist to the point of brilliance: each week, a line of eight or so balloon-clutching love hunters line up to court and be courted by a singleton of the opposite sex they have never met before.Nels Abbey is an author, broadcaster and the founder of Uppity: the Intellectual PlaygroundDo you have an opinion ...

Culture

3 h. ago Dunelm shoppers rave over 'fabulous' £35 garden swing chair that is 'so comfy'

Dunelm's garden hammock may one of their newer lines, but shoppers are already expressing their 'love' for the must-have outdoor furniture.

Economics

3 h. ago Everything we know so far about And Just Like That... season 3, including *those* rumours about Kim Cattrall's return

Whether you love it or hate it, it's undeniable And Just Like That is one of TV's most talked about shows.

Politics

3 h. ago Gen Z crave 'meaningful conversations' and are most likely to have them with older people

A study of 2,000 adults found that Gen Z 'love' having meaningful conversations and particularly enjoy having them with people who aren't the same age.

Politics

5 h. ago Coronation Street star gives birth to first child as she shares adorable name and snaps

Coronation Street star Sacha Parkinson has announced that she has given birth to her first child with her partner Jon as she shared adorable snaps on social media

Politics

5 h. ago ‘West as we knew it no longer exists,’ warns Von der Leyen – Europe live

Wide-ranging interview addresses how Trump presidency has upended certainties over EU-US relationsUkraine’s parliament voted to extend martial law until 6 August, a senior lawmaker said, as Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country continues.Reuters reported that an overwhelming majority of 357 deputies supported the extension, which allows the country to continue mobilizing troops and suspends the election cycle. Continue reading...

Events

5 h. ago Coronation Street actress gives birth to first child as she shares sweet name

Former Coronation Street star Sacha Parkinson - who is best known for starring as Sian Power in the ITV soap - has revealed she has welcomed a baby girl named Sadie

Politics

6 h. ago Mum, 41, found dead in bed after telling husband 'I love you'

Deanne Clarke, 41, was found unresponsive in bed

Events

7 h. ago Coronation Street star announces birth of first child sharing first photos and adorable name

Sacha Parkinson has announced the birth of her first child in a sweet social media post

Culture

7 h. ago Coronation Street star reveals she's given birth to first child with adorable post

Coronation Street star Sacha Parkinson has given birth to her first child as she reveals her daughter's sweet name

Politics

7 h. ago Brit paralysed in Benidorm after glass of wine at dinner is 'coming home'

Robert Atkinson, 67, known as "Benidorm Bob" to his friends due to his love of the popular Spanish resort town, was holidaying there when he found himself paralysed and unable to walk

Politics

9 h. ago ‘I love this man for saving my life’: Michael Watson’s unbreakable bond with Peter Hamlyn

The neurosurgeon saved the boxer’s life in 1991 and since then the pair have become close friends“This man is my hero,” Michael Watson says simply as he turns to Peter Hamlyn, the neurosurgeon who saved his life and carried out seven operations on the stricken boxer’s brain in the aftermath of his fight against Chris Eubank in September 1991. “We are like family, me and Peter, and we have unusual banter. Peter says I’m a little bit dark to be family.”Watson chuckles at his friend’s quip but, having interviewed Watson multiple times before and after the fateful bout that pushed him close to death, and having spent the morning with Hamlyn, I sense an essential truth. The brain surgeon and the boxer share a deeply compassionate intent to help each other. Continue reading...

Politics

9 h. ago ‘I hated my body and wanted a different one’: Penn Badgley on dysmorphia, sex scenes and playing a serial killer

He has been starring in the hit Netflix show You, as the psychopath Joe Goldberg, throughout his 30s. As the actor says goodbye to the role, he reflects on celebrity, controversy and masculinityEarly morning in Penn Badgley’s house has the reassuringly normal noisy chaos that comes with a young family. The actor is in his New York home, preparing to talk about murder and manipulation, while listening out for signs that his wife, who is pregnant with twins, needs help getting their four-year-old son out of the door. She does; he excuses himself, and disappears for a few minutes. If Joe Goldberg, the serial killer Badgley portrays on the hit Netflix series You is controlling, devoid of love and unable to form relationships, Badgley appears to have created a life that looks the opposite.His time as Goldberg – the role that has been his highest-profile after his big break on another hit series, Gossip Girl – is about to come to an end. The series’ fifth and final season is about to air,...

Events

9 h. ago The Stolen Girl review – you will forget this enjoyably preposterous thriller within five seconds of finishing it

Is this fast paced drama – featuring Holliday Grainger and Ambika Mod - about a kidnapped child enjoyably daft or just nonsense? Luckily, it has enough chutzpah and style to mean you don't ask too many questionsI do love a premise that is sheer simplicity, yet yields potentially infinite terror. I’m in, I say! Have at it! So I settled in for a right good terrify, courtesy of The Stolen Girl (adapted by Catherine Moulton from the 2020 thriller Playdate by Alex Dahl). It begins with a mother letting her child go for a sleepover with a new girl at her school and arriving to pick her up the next day to find only a cleaning lady there – who explains that this is just a holiday let and that the last family there have gone. “Dum-dum-daaaaah,” I hope you are saying, otherwise you are in entirely the wrong mood for this stuff.Denise Gough stars as Elisa, mother of the missing girl, Lucia (Beatrice Cohen). Then there’s Jim Sturgess as Lucia’s father, Fred, and Holliday Grainger as Rebecca, mo...

Politics