90 m. ago No forgetting my encounter with two giants of the stage | Tim Lewis

Old pals Ewan McGregor and Michael Grandage prepare for their new play, My Master Builder, by chuckling about everything that could go wrong and hasFor today’s Observer New Review I had the not-exactly-onerous assignment of spending an hour with the actor Ewan McGregor and director Michael Grandage, as they prepared to put on a new play, My Master Builder, in London’s West End. The two men go way back, and mostly they were cracking each other up with knockabout old stories – much of which there wasn’t room for in my article. McGregor recalled one of his first roles on stage, as Orlando in As You Like It, and how when Simon Callow – multiple Olivier and Bafta award winner – played the part in 1979, he walked out on stage at the National Theatre only to promptly forget the first line of the play.“If you’re a woman and you’re about to have a baby, everybody tells you nightmare stories about childbirth,” said McGregor. “And when you’re an actor about to do a play, everybody tells you te...

Politics

2 h. ago The hidden garden shaped like a teddy in one of Cardiff's best parks

Uncover Cardiff’s hidden jewel – a perfect family day out in the Welsh capital

Politics

3 h. ago Kae Tempest review – a brave, intimate set where the personal is political

Village Underground, LondonThe laser-focused spoken-word performer returns to the musical stage with new tracks focusing on their identity, but wider concerns are never far away“This has been a performance piece about how technology is going to be the death of us all,” jokes rapper, poet, author and playwright Kae Tempest as a keyboard player and a technician wrestle with malfunctioning equipment. We’re just two tracks in; Tempest assures us that if the electronics are not back up soon, they’ll do the whole show a cappella.They could, too. The teenage Tempest cut their teeth battle-rapping in south London, turning to slam poetry when more direct avenues into hip-hop refused to open easily to a young, blond slip of a thing. You suspect they have never wasted the opportunity when handed a mic. Given Tempest’s extended output over more than a decade of albums, works of fiction, poems, plays and nonfiction, with prizes and accolades for many of them – you can’t imagine them ever being a...

Politics

4 h. ago 'I ate Tim Martin's Wetherspoons order – my mouth was on fire and one thing was missing'

EXCLUSIVE: What happens when you go to Wetherspoons three times in a day and eat every meal there? Well you're set to have quite a blissful day sampling some of the finest pub grub

Events

4 h. ago What happened when shamed doctor was confronted on his doorstep

Dr Daman Sharma, a tribunal heard, groomed and sexually harassed patients and workmates for more than a decade was 'given the benefit of the doubt at every stage of his career

Politics

4 h. ago Anne Hathaway's ageless beauty! Hollywood icon looks younger than ever at 42 as she leaves fans in awe... but what's the secret to her youthful complexion?

Throughout all of her Hollywood stardom, Anne, now 42, has barely aged a day and still looks almost identical to her red carpet days in the early 2000s.

Politics

5 h. ago Man makes threats to kill Donald Trump – next second the cops are at his door

Glen DeCicco was arrested by Jupiter Police Department after they were made aware of a Facebook post which was deemed threatening towards the President of the United States

Events

5 h. ago What is up with car door handles these days? | Dave Schilling

Why is everything computerised, automated or impossible to turn off these days?I believe, deep in my soul, that car companies’ number one goal in life is to ruin the experience of driving. I don’t have any direct evidence of this conspiracy to rob us of the pleasure of the open road, other than the cacophony of beeps, blips, bloops and blops that greet us in the latest models. Oh, and the screens. Every year, they try to find a new place to glue a touchscreen in a car, like Pizza Hut hunting for more orifices to stuff cheese into one of their pies.Everything is computerized, automated or impossible to turn off. According to surveys of new-car buyers by the market research firm Strategic Vision, satisfaction with car controls plummeted by 23 percentage points in the last nine years. The whiz-bang gizmos foisted on the North American car buyer have devolved from the glorious, life-saving back-up camera to gesture controls that allow you to turn an invisible knob to crank up the volume...

Politics

5 h. ago Sara Pascoe: ‘I still identify as an infertile, childless woman’

The standup used to joke about not having kids, but then she had IVF and found herself an ‘eroded’ mother of two. Now she’s back with a show about motherhood in her 40s – but don’t expect any cute parenting storiesMy favourite Sara Pascoe joke is her imaginary riposte to people asking if she’s going to have kids. They mean well, these prying parents – they just don’t want her to miss out on a life-enhancing experience. The thing is, the comedian has had some life-enhancing experiences of her own. “But I have never, ever said to anybody: ‘Oh, have you been on QI? Ahhh, you should go on QI!’” she insists, settling into her archly patronising pep talk. “No I didn’t think I wanted to be on QI until I was on QI, and then it was like I looked back and my entire life had been leading up to me being on QI. Yes it’s very tiring being on QI, but it’s so worth it. I just wouldn’t want you to leave it too late and they’ll have stopped making it!”As a skewering of smug, insensitive acquaint...

Politics

5 h. ago This 35p buy from Aldi or Tesco is key to clearing weeds off your drive

It's such a simple and effective way to get the job done

Politics

7 h. ago ‘The cabbage seemed isolated and alien’: Ieva Gaile’s best phone picture

A lone vegetable stranded in a world of plastic transformed a trip to the supermarket into a photo opportunityIeva Gaile didn’t expect to take a photo on her trip to the supermarket. The lawyer, who lives in Vilnius, Lithuania, was working from home on the day and had popped next door for some lunch. When she spotted the errant cabbage placed atop a towering stack of water-bottle pallets, her reaction was instant.“Since I began photography I’ve developed a habit of always observing my environment for interesting shots, andI thought it was beautiful visually,” Gaile says of this image, shortlisted in the Object category at the Sony World Photography awards 2025. “I liked the play of colours and repetition of green, and the contrast of textures: the wrinkled and imperfect surface of the cabbage against the synthetic shine of the plastic bottles.” Continue reading...

Politics

8 h. ago Mark Bonnar: ‘I wanted to be a historian, then a drummer, and then I just wanted to be employed’ | Q&A

The actor on how an aside about sex became big news, getting let off for weed, and crying at advertsBorn in Edinburgh, Mark Bonnar, 56, studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. In 2017, he won a best actor Bafta Scotland for his role in Unforgotten, and his other TV work spans Line of Duty, Catastrophe and the Netflix series Department Q, which is released in May. His films include Ridley Scott’s Napoleon, Operation Mincemeat and Last Breath, which is out now. He is married to actor Lucy Gaskell, has two children and lives in Hertfordshire.What is your greatest fear? That we’re all going to hell in a handcart and Trump is driving. Continue reading...

Politics

8 h. ago I'm living a nightmare after thieves raided our garden... here is the lie I have to tell my young daughter

A young mother has spoken of her 'nightmare' after her beloved pet was stolen and sold online by thieves.

Politics

8 h. ago Are paedophile hunters heroes or dangerous vigilantes? Troubling questions arise after a string of men were driven to suicide before being charged with any crime

A string of vigilante paedophile hunters have been arrested and even jailed for crimes - including Tim Heron (pictured) who was found to possess an indecent image of a child.

Events

8 h. ago Marketing’s ‘woke’ rebrand has ultimately helped the far right | Eugene Healey

Our industry must reckon with how we’ve trivialised activism by turning it into comms strategy – only to abandon itNobody likes to admit we need marketing, but the discipline has always been necessary to match people with the products and services that fulfil their needs and desires.It started simply enough, with us focusing primarily on brands’ features and tangible benefits. But as consumer society evolved, we moved on to symbolic benefits: identities, lifestyles. Finally, we began selling values: an ideology that hit its zenith between 2015 and 2022 in the era of “brand purpose”.Eugene Healey is brand strategy consultant, educator and creator Continue reading...

Economics

9 h. ago My message from prison: Just Stop Oil may be ending civil disruption, but the struggle must go on | Indigo Rumbelow

We forced the government to take some action, but still it closes it eyes to the impending climate collapse. A new method of confrontation is neededIndigo Rumbelow is co-founder of Just Stop Oil. She is currently on remand in HMP StyalAfter three years, Just Stop Oil is ending its campaign of non-violent civil disruption: we are hanging up the high-vis. But this does not mean the resistance is over. Sitting here in a prison cell in HMP Styal, I am still demanding an end to oil and gas. Every prison key that rattles, every door that is bolted shut, every letter that is read by the prison staff – it all reminds me that 15 Just Stop Oil supporters are currently locked up for refusing to obey governments whose climate inaction is frankly murderous.There has been some progress. The Labour government was elected last year on a manifesto including the pledge that they will “not issue new licences to explore new [oil and gas] fields”. This is a victory for civil resistance and the climate m...

Events

9 h. ago The spring walk near Greater Manchester with mysterious ruins, hidden lakes and secret gardens

Explore a magical landscape and round off the walk with a visit to a beer garden with incredible views

Sport

9 h. ago 'I visited the hidden garden centre café offering riverside views of the Medlock Valley but I struggled to find them'

I could not explore the hidden oasis, but I got a prison-esque wall, hotel lobby jazz and a decent sausage out of it instead

Politics

10 h. ago ‘I didn’t start out wanting to see kids’: are porn algorithms feeding a generation of paedophiles – or creating one?

More than 850 men a month are arrested for online child abuse offences in England and Wales. They come from every walk of life: teachers, police officers, doctors, TV presenters. And the numbers are rising every year. How did this happen?Andy was enjoying a weekend away with his wife when it happened. “My neighbour phoned me and said, ‘The police are in your house. They’re looking for you.’” He didn’t need to wonder why. “You know. You know the reason. I was petrified when I got that call. It wasn’t just the thought of other people knowing what I had done; I also had to face myself, and that is a sick feeling – it is guilt, shame.”Andy had been watching and sharing images of children being sexually abused for several months before the police appeared at his door. He tried at first to keep it from his wife: “I was afraid she would ask me to leave. I wouldn’t have blamed her if she had.” Continue reading...

Politics

10 h. ago South Africa's Garden Route with children: Holiday heaven... or road to hell?

Could a family trip to South Africa be the perfect escape from London’s winter gloom?

Politics