17 h. ago ‘Charisma in abundance’: why Just Act Normal is the best showcase for new talent since Adolescence

Incredible newcomers! Chickens! Jamelia! The casting director of Stephen Graham’s Netflix smash hit has done it again with this hilariously bleak, utterly unique series. The cast open upOver the last few years, we have found ourselves inundated with sadcoms. Again and again, we’ve been deluged by ostensible comedies that are so concerned with grief and trauma that the laughs end up feeling like a distant afterthought. Striking the right balance between comedy and drama takes absurd levels of effort and craft at the best of times. Doing it with a premise as bleak as BBC Three’s new series Just Act Normal is almost impossible.My hands are tied with embargos, so I have to be vague about certain plot details, but Just Act Normal is a show about three young siblings who decide to struggle on as normal after their mother – a perennially unreliable woman with substance abuse issues – disappears. Their lives are suddenly spent trying to navigate the complex systems of the adult world while ...

Culture

19 h. ago ‘The last thread connecting people to services’: why vets are risking all to care for Gaza’s donkeys

Amid the ruins and with fuel scarce, the animals provide vital transport for the injured as well as goods and belongingsIt felt like an “earthquake from the sky” when an Israeli airstrike hit the clinic Dr Saif Alden had left just minutes earlier. Alden had been treating animals hurt and abandoned amid Gaza’s destruction. They survived but the equipment and medication the mobile clinic needed to function was destroyed.Still, the team saw it as a setback, not a defeat. Alden has spent the month since the airstrike traversing Gaza to scavenge the tools needed to resume operations. Continue reading...

Events

35 h. ago Wait, is Coachella cool again? The best festival style from Charli XCX, Lady Gaga and Troye Sivan

Has Coachella, once homeland of naff LA influencers, finally turned the tide? Maybe, says Joe Bromley

Politics

36 h. ago Former Tory MP among 15 charged over bets on timing of 2024 UK election

Charges follow investigation into alleged cheating related to bets placed on when general election would be heldThe former Conservative MP Craig Williams is among 15 people, including several other senior Tories, charged by the Gambling Commission for alleged cheating connected to bets based on the date of the 2024 UK general election.Williams was the MP for Montgomeryshire and Rishi Sunak’s parliamentary private secretary, but lost the support of the Conservative party after a Guardian story about alleged bets placed on a July election just days before the date was announced. Continue reading...

Politics

36 h. ago Wait, is Coachella cool again? Best looks from festival 2025 — Charli XCX, Lady Gaga, Troye Sivan

Has Coachella, once homeland of naff LA influencers, finally turned the tide? Maybe, says Joe Bromley

Politics

37 h. ago Gambling Commission charges 15 over bets on timing of 2024 UK general election

Charges follow investigation into alleged cheating related to bets over when last year’s election would be heldThe Gambling Commission has charged 15 people with offences under the Gambling Act 2005 after an investigation into alleged cheating related to bets placed on when last year’s general election would take place.Former Tory MP Craig Williams was among the 15 charged. He was Rishi Sunak’s parliamentary private secretary (PPS), one of the former prime minister’s closest aides. Continue reading...

Politics

51 h. ago Coachella 2025 WORST dressed: James Charles and Julia Fox among stars who missed the mark during weekend one

It's that time of the year again: Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is back, and so is the A-list crowd wearing some very bizarre outfits.

Sport

56 h. ago Nova Scotia House by Charlie Porter review – a headlong rush through the turbulent Aids era

Porter’s urgent prose propels the reader into the gay scene of the 1980s and early 90s as his protagonist’s life is torn apart by the HIV crisisThe humble comma, normally so easily overlooked within a page of text, is clearly Charlie Porter’s weapon of choice for his debut novel. Here, he wields it to propel his narrative forward in the kind of urgent, endless staccato rush that sometimes requires the reader to look briefly up and away, if only to gulp at some fresh air.Nova Scotia House, the 51-year-old journalist’s first work of fiction after two books on fashion, tells the story of living through the Aids crisis of the 1980s and early 90s, and how those who survived it will be forever accompanied by the ghostly presence of those who didn’t.Nova Scotia House by Charlie Porter is published by Particular Books (£18.99). To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago Coachella branded ‘worse than Fyre Festival’ after 12 hour wait to get in

The opening night of the Californian festival will be headlined by Lady Gaga

Politics

4 d. ago Coachella 2025: desert festival balances the new and the nostalgia

California music festival to see record highs and headlining sets from Lady Gaga, Post Malone and Green DayStars such as Lady Gaga, Charli xcx, Ed Sheeran and Missy Elliott will face blazing temperatures this weekend at an unusually hot Coachella festival.The California-based festival will soar to potentially record-breaking highs of 103F (over 39C) in its first of two consecutive weekends, around 10-20 degrees higher than what’s typically expected at this time of year. Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago Black Mirror season seven review – Charlie Brooker’s thrilling satire gets its warmest, most human season ever

Tender sentiment touches instalments starring the likes of Chris O’Dowd, Rashida Jones and Paul Giamatti. But it hasn't lost its demon side – you’ll cackle with laughter at some of the chaosIt’s tough being an anthology. While other dramas set up their premise and characters and then lazily dole out a little more of the same in every episode, anthologies must constantly seek our approval anew. If critics and viewers think the latest shiny thing is a dud, they toss it into the void and deem all the expert hard work that went into it to be a waste. Even the hits are only celebrated briefly before everyone moves on to the next fresh story, ready to give it a thumbs up or down.In season seven of his collection of digital-age fables, Black Mirror writer Charlie Brooker finally cracks and, for the first time, produces a sequel to an old episode. This year’s feature-length finale, USS Callister: Into Infinity, is a straight continuation of season four’s fan favourite. But it’s the least in...

Events

6 d. ago King Charles and Queen Camilla pay recovering Pope Francis surprise visit

British royals wish pontiff well in recovery from pneumonia during their state visit to ItalyKing Charles and Queen Camilla paid a surprise private visit to a convalescing Pope Francis on Wednesday afternoon during their four-day state visit to Italy.The royal couple visited Francis, 88, at his home in Casa Santa Marta in Vatican City, where he is recovering from a serious bout of pneumonia in both lungs. An official audience had previously been removed from the royals’ schedule due to the pontiff’s ill health. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Glastonbury 2025: 100 free festival tickets up for grabs as payment plans close

Vodafone are once again set to be the official ‘charging’ provider at Worthy Farm in 2025.

Politics

6 d. ago Love, Charlie: The Rise and Fall of Chef Charlie Trotter review – kitchen tyrant’s story

Celebrity chef who took Chicago by storm in the 90s and noughties, but at a price, in solid if slightly unsatisfying documentaryA chef is yelling at an underling: “I will kill your whole family if you don’t get this right!” The chef is Charlie Trotter, but he is filmed not at work, but for a scene in My Best Friend’s Wedding; Trotter’s cameo in the 1997 movie played up to his reputation as a tyrannical perfectionist. He opened his eponymous restaurant in Chicago aged 27, swiftly becoming a rock-star celebrity chef. In 2012, Trotter dramatically closed the kitchen on its 25th anniversary and died a year later of a stroke aged 54. This documentary about him is a solid if slightly unsatisfying portrait, lacking real depth or flavour.Trotter was born into a wealthy family (raised on hotdogs and meatloaf, jokes his mother). Mostly self-taught, he got an education in gastronomy by eating his way around Europe. In 1987 he opened Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago, bankrolled by his father, Bob, ...

Politics

7 d. ago American academic held in Thailand charged with insulting monarchy

Paul Chambers detained under strict lese-majesty law, which can lead to 15 years in jail on a single chargeA prominent American academic has been detained in Thailand after being charged with insulting the monarchy, a rare case in which a foreign national has fallen foul of the country’s strict lese-majesty law.Paul Chambers, who specialises in civil-military relations and democratisation in south-east Asia, was denied bail on Tuesday and is being held at Phitsanulok provincial prison in northern Thailand, his lawyers said. Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago ‘The king of jewellers’: V&A charts the rise of Cartier in new exhibition

Exhibition will explore relationship between British royal family and French jeweller, with more than 350 pieces on displayIt’s the museum that has explored the history of underwear, the death of the suit and the glamour of Italian fashion. Now the V&A is turning its attention to Cartier with an exhibition of more than 350 jewellery pieces including gobstopper-sized diamond rings and dazzling tiaras.The exhibition charts the evolution of the French jeweller across fashion, design and craftsmanship since the turn of the 20th century. The V&A’s existing jewellery collection is one of its most visited galleries and the Cartier story is already proving popular. Tickets for the first six weeks of the show, which starts on Saturday, have sold out. Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago The King of Kings review – Charles Dickens retelling of the Jesus story does a serviceable job

The famous author tells his son and their cat the story of Jesus in this mixed-bag family animation, voiced by an impressive cast This syrupy cartoon account of the life of Jesus (voiced by Oscar Isaac) is narrated, with consummate weirdness, by Charles Dickens (Kenneth Branagh). It’s in fact based on a story Dickens wrote for his children (and wasn’t published until 1934, decades after his death). The idea is that Dickens is telling the story of the New Testament to his young son Walter (Roman Griffin Davis) and Walter’s impish cat, explaining to the King Arthur-obsessed Walter how Jesus was the real King of Kings and all that. And so we see Walter and Charles, in their mid-19th-century garb, wandering through scenes of JC’s life nearly two thousand years earlier, from the nativity to the crucifixion – much like Scrooge and his spectral buddies in A Christmas Carol as they wander through past, present and future Christmases. It rather drags out what is already a pretty long running...

Politics

8 d. ago Next's 'perfect' for summer events dress is so flattering it's guaranteed to get 'lots of wear'

"Lovely dress and perfect for summer events. The material will help to keep you cool, and it's pretty good for festivals and days on the beach"

Politics

9 d. ago Man charged after allegedly attempting to open plane door on flight to Sydney

Australian federal police say the man, 46, allegedly tried to open the rear emergency exit door of the plane from Malaysia on SaturdayElection 2025 live updates: Australia federal election campaignGet our afternoon election email, free app or daily news podcastA Jordanian national has been charged after he allegedly attempted to open the doors of a Sydney-bound plane mid-flight.Australian federal police (AFP) say a man, 46, allegedly tried to open the rear emergency exit door of the plane, travelling from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Saturday night.Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletter Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago King Charles will have to tone down support for net zero after Badenoch says 2050 is ‘impossible’

Constitutional expert says Tory leader’s break from political consensus over target for greenhouse gasses will require monarch to choose his words carefullyKing Charles will have to temper his public support for net zero after Kemi Badenoch broke the political consensus over the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions.Senior royal sources have conceded that the 76-year-old monarch, who has spent more than half a century highlighting environmental challenges, will have to choose his words more carefully now that the Conservatives under Badenoch have said it will be impossible for the UK to hit net zero by 2050. Continue reading...

Politics