45 h. ago Quentin Tarantino needs to stop criticising films and start making them again | Peter Bradshaw

Trolling wokesters, disparaging Paul Thomas Anderson, insulting Paul Dano the controversial director plays to type with his list of the top 20 best films of the 21st centuryDid Quentin Tarantino just put Paul Dano into the alpha league of the world’s most loved and admired movie actors?His recent insults aimed at Dano counterprovoked a flood of defensive praise, with Daniel Day-Lewis, Dano’s costar in There Will Be Blood, publicly endorsing it. But was Tarantino’s pronouncement just bluster and flex? Will he end up casting Dano in his next film – a turnaround like Donald Trump making nice with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un after pretty much threatening him with nuclear war? Or are we witnessing a kind of midlife emotional crisis in the heart of one of the most brilliant directors of his generation? I speak as a superfan with reservations. Continue reading...

Culture

46 h. ago ‘A generation lost at sea’: the desperate Rohingya falling prey to traffickers as they flee Bangladesh

Barred from work and school in Bangladesh, thousands of refugees are making the perilous voyage to Malaysia by boat – with some beaten en route to extort even more moneyMajuma Begum stayed awake until 3am waiting for her son to return from the market before accepting he was not coming home. The next day he phoned to say he was on the Bangladeshi coast, waiting to begin a boat journey to Malaysia that she had desperately tried to stop him taking.It was the start of weeks of worry for the 58-year-old, whose fears deepened when a boat carrying Rohingya refugees capsized near Malaysia in early November, killing dozens. She felt as though she could finally breathe again when he finally reached his destination. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago Britain is stuck with a failed Brexit that neither citizens or leaders want. Here are three ways to fix that | Stella Creasy

While those who defend the status quo and those who say ‘simply rejoin’ the EU are both wrong, there is a new mood and a clear opportunityBeing right that Brexit was a bad idea is no substitute for knowing what to do next. Our chance of salvaging something from the mess it created is being undermined by those selling false hope – either that Brexit can work, or that it can be easily undone. For the 16,000 businesses that have now given up trading with Europe because of paperwork, prospects remain bleak unless the government stops offering a sticking plaster and starts major surgery on our future with Europe.Forgive pro-Europeans for thinking the momentum is now with us. Labour has been slow to say what it wants from the EU reset, and slower still to acknowledge the inevitable tradeoffs required. Until the summer, ministers promised to “make Brexit work” and endlessly repeated “red lines”. Yet in recent weeks, a major study has found that leaving the EU cost the UK 6-8% of GDP per ca...

Politics

4 d. ago Britain is stuck with a failed Brexit that neither citizens nor leaders want. Here are three ways to fix that | Stella Creasy

While those who defend the status quo and those who say ‘simply rejoin’ the EU are both wrong, there is a new mood and a clear opportunityBeing right that Brexit was a bad idea is no substitute for knowing what to do next. Our chance of salvaging something from the mess it created is being undermined by those selling false hope – either that Brexit can work, or that it can be easily undone. For the 16,000 businesses that have now given up trading with Europe because of paperwork, prospects remain bleak unless the government stops offering a sticking plaster and starts major surgery on our future with Europe.Forgive pro-Europeans for thinking the momentum is now with us. Labour has been slow to say what it wants from the EU reset, and slower still to acknowledge the inevitable tradeoffs required. Until the summer, ministers promised to “make Brexit work” and endlessly repeated “red lines”. Yet in recent weeks, a major study has found that leaving the EU cost the UK 6-8% of GDP per ca...

Politics

5 d. ago Liam Delap: Chelsea handed new injury headache as striker forced off against Bournemouth

Striker facing more time on sidelines amid stop-start season

Events

6 d. ago Steve Smith on top again after he resumes Ashes rivalry with Jofra Archer | Geoff Lemon

As Australia’s batting linchpin helps hosts pull away, England’s premier paceman is yet to get him out in a TestJofra Archer versus Steve Smith in 2019 is already Ashes folklore. The atmosphere at Lord’s that afternoon was charged in all senses, a huge slab of cloud bringing darkness to the day. Fresh off a match-winning World Cup final, Archer marked his Test debut with what was then the fastest spell recorded for England. Smith was in the middle of a Bradman-hued streak of 774 runs in seven innings. All that could pause him was a short-pitched attack of building ferocity, one that finally dropped Smith with a bouncer to the neck. It was a pure duel, the kind that cause spectators genuine fear.In the immediate aftermath, and again as Archer took six-fers in wins at Headingley and the Oval, one principal idea came up in every discussion: imagine, what might he be able to do in Australia? Imagine him on a fast and bouncy track in Perth or Brisbane. It was: “I can’t wait to get you to...

Politics

7 d. ago The Ashes: How did famous Test series get its name and what's actually inside the urn?

The Ashes is cricket's most famous rivalry between England and Australia

Politics

7 d. ago ‘It was about degrading someone completely’: the story of Mr DeepFakes – the world’s most notorious AI porn site

The hobbyists who helped build this site created technology that has been used to humiliate countless women. Why didn’t governments step in and stop them?For Patrizia Schlosser, it started with an apologetic call from a colleague. “I’m sorry but I found this. Are you aware of it?” He sent over a link, which took her to a site called Mr DeepFakes. There, she found fake images of herself, naked, squatting, chained, performing sex acts with various animals. They were tagged “Patrizia Schlosser sluty FUNK whore” (sic).“They were very graphic, very humiliating,” says Schlosser, a German journalist for Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) and Funk. “They were also very badly done, which made it easier to distance myself, and tell myself they were obviously fake. But it was very disturbing to imagine somebody somewhere spending hours on the internet searching for pictures of me, putting all this together.” Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago ‘We have to rebuild from scratch’: Sri Lankans relive the devastation of Cyclone Ditwah

Many uncertain about the future after losing everything in the country’s deadliest natural disaster for yearsWhen the rains began, Layani Rasika Niroshani was not worried. The 36-year-old mother of two was used to the heavy monsoon showers that drench Sri Lanka’s hilly central region of Badulla every year. But as it kept pounding down without stopping, the family started to feel jittery.Some relocated to a relative’s house, but her brother and his wife decided to stay behind to collect the valuables. As they were inside, a landslide hit the family home. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago France to start intercepting small boats as Keir Starmer plea to Macron leaked

French police are set to start intervening to stop small boats before passengers board them, it is believed, after Keir Starmer pleaded with Emmanuel Macron to act

Politics

2 w. ago Superclub Sankeys is back for the first time in almost a decade as new location confirmed

"There will be no VIP or phones allowed on the dancefloor - everyone is a VIP. People need to stop taking pictures and start dancing to the beat"

Society

2 w. ago Government must make ‘hard choices and change course’, CBI boss to say

Rain Newton-Smith will tell ministers and business leaders that firms are worried the UK could ‘risk getting locked in a stop-start economy’.

Politics

2 w. ago ‘So unchanged it is almost otherworldly’: the oasis town of Skoura, Morocco

For the explorer and author, the desert outpost, irrigated by water from the Atlas mountains, is the perfect place to decompressThe first thing I notice when I walk into the oasis is the temperature drop. Then, I hear the birdsong and the rustling of the palm trees. The harsh sun dims and there’s water and the smell of damp earth. It’s easy to understand why desert travellers yearned to reach these havens and why they have become synonymous with peace. I’m an explorer who’s walked through many oases with loaded camels, crossing Morocco and the Sahara on foot, but Skoura, a four-hour drive from Marrakech, is a place I visit to decompress.You may be imagining some kind of cartoon mirage oasis – a sole date palm shimmering above the endless sands. In fact, Skoura has a population of around 3,000 people living in a small town on the edge of the palms with 10 sq miles (25 sq km) of agricultural land. Many visitors to Morocco start in Fez or Marrakech and stop off in A...

Politics

2 w. ago The Ashes LIVE: Alastair Cook forced into apology as England leave Australia reeling

Cricket's oldest rivalry resumed with a bang on Friday with 19 wickets falling in a superb day's play at Perth

Society

3 w. ago JD Vance asks 'why don't Ukraine and Russia stop killing each other and start trading'

US Vice President JD Vance has spoken out as Trump’s new 28-point plan was reportedly handed across to Kyiv officials with the US President's second in command asking why don't Russia and Ukraine stop killing and trade instead

Events

3 w. ago Welcome to the Ashes, the classic cricket rivalry that never really starts or stops

Some say the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is now pre-eminent, but there is nothing more intense than Australia v EnglandIf it feels like the buildup to this Ashes series has lasted 842 days that is because it pretty much has. Test cricket’s oldest rivalry resumes on Friday inside Perth’s 60,000-seat thunderdome and with it, mercifully, comes fresh fuel for the ever-raging fire.Because on one level the Ashes never really starts or stops. Since Stuart Broad nicked off Alex Carey at the Oval on 31 July 2023 – the final act of a dramatic 2-2 draw – the sides have been tracking each other, all while their supporters chip away from afar. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago David Squires on the history, histrionics and heroism of the Ashes

Our cartoonist looks back at cricket’s biggest rivalry as we gear up for seven weeks of joy, despair and animosityBuy a Squires cartoon in our Print ShopDavid’s latest book, Chaos in the Box: get it now Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago I'm a Celeb review: Who seems pleased with themselves and who is mildly delirious

It's only just started but that hasn't stopped us asking who is already getting on our nerves as the Daily Star's TV man delves deep into the jungle

Politics

3 w. ago Man City's £12.5m star of the future might finally get what he needs

Sverre Nypan completed a season-long loan move from Manchester City to Middlesbrough in the summer but he's experienced a stop-start campaign thus far.

Economics

3 w. ago I'm A Celebrity's Martin Kemp opens up on recent chainsaw accident

Martin Kemp has shared that his chainsaw accident, that left his hospitalised just weeks before I'm A Celeb starts, was not going to stop him entering the jungle

Politics