THE GUARDIAN

Exams, dating, parenting … whatever life throws our way, there will be uncertainty and surprises. The sooner we accept that, the happier we will beIf we want to build a better life, we have to be able to not know. Does that sound confusing? Perhaps you don’t know what I’m talking about? Good! That’s great practice.If you cannot tolerate not knowing, you run the risk of arranging your life so you can know everything (or at least try to), and you may end up sapping your existence of any […]

There’s a clarity about Mamdani’s message that stands in sharp contrast to most Democratic politiciansFor someone who exudes positive energy and seldom stops smiling, Zohran Mamdani certainly does provoke a lot of negative reactions.“He’s not who you think he is,” one TV ad glowered over gloomy images of the 34-year-old state assemblymember who is the clear frontrunner for New York City mayor. The ad doesn’t make clear precisely what the supposed disconnect is, but the tagline […]

What starts as a compelling satire of the film industry turns into an unconvincing schlocky mess that even Fred Melamed can’t saveNot a bad idea for a Hollywood satire here – and there’s a cameo for renowned character turn Fred Melamed, whose appearance does however have the effect of exposing how callow everyone else is on screen. Much as I wanted to like this lo-fi production, which cheekily intersperses its modestly budgeted scenes with stock footage establishing shots of the city […]

When my son was growing up, his school recorder was the bane of my life. Now it’s what I reach for at the end of a hard day, rather than a glass of wineI’m like a coiled spring after work. Shoulders tense, breath fast and shallow. Usually the sound of my laptop lid slamming shut would be followed by the squeak of a cork pulled from a bottle of red, the wine hastily sploshed into a glass, that first mouthful putting a much-needed full stop on the working day.Then, a few months ago, I came […]

Mazón faced daily calls for his resignation after flooding in October 2024 killed 229 peopleFollowing Mazón’s announcement that he would leave his post as the regional head of Valencia, questions are swirling as to what comes next.Mazón did not say if he was calling a snap election or quitting his seat in the regional assembly, which would end his parliamentary immunity. Continue reading...

About 70% of town’s olives are inaccessible without risking a potentially fatal clash with Israeli settlersAround As-Sawiya, rolling hills covered in fields and orchards rise to a horizon sharp against a pristine blue sky. It is a stunning view. But look closer and it becomes clear why the few thousand residents of this small town in the north of the Israeli-occupied West Bank say they are under siege – and why the olives are still heavy on the trees two weeks after the official date of the […]

Reform UK leader expected to promise deregulation and spending cuts as Labour and Conservatives attack policiesKeir Starmer has been “listening” to Donald Trump’s complaints about the restrictions the UK government is imposing on oil and gas companies in the UK, Warren Stephens, the US ambassador to the UK, has said.Stephens said that he thought there had been “a bit of movement” in UK policy as a result of Trump’s interventions and that he hoped that would continue.I hope that the […]

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as Opec+ pauses oil output hikes beyond December amid fears of a crude glutShares in Italian drinks maker Campari have fallen almost 3% tthis morning after Italian tax police seized €1.29bn worth of shares in the company, held by its controlling shareholder, following a tax evasion investigation.On Friday police said they were seizing Campari shares held by its controlling company Lagfin after a probe found €5.3bn of allegedly […]

Culley, 19, who was arrested on drug-smuggling charges in May, is released after plea dealThe pregnant British teenager Bella Culley has been released from a Georgian prison, where she had been held for six months on drug-smuggling charges after a plea deal.Culley, 19, who is pregnant, was arrested in May at Tbilisi airport and accused of attempting to smuggle 12kg (26.5lbs) of marijuana and 2kg (4.4lbs) of hashish into the country. She was found guilty by a Georgian court on Monday and […]

Chinese leader says ‘check if there is a backdoor’ in reply to Lee Jae Myung’s quip about security of Xiaomi devices It would take someone with nerves of steel to joke about the security of Chinese smartphones in front of Xi Jinping.Step forward the South Korean president, Lee Jae Myung, who, after being given a pair of smartphones by the Chinese leader before their state banquet at the weekend, wondered out loud if the devices were secure. Continue reading...

For 20 years, populists have been blaming the ECHR for endangering Britain by offering basic protections to immigrantsIn the latest series of Blue Lights, the BBC drama about police officers in Belfast, there’s a scene where a constable insists on staying with a mentally ill man until a nurse arrives. “This is an article two issue,” the officer tells his colleague – by which he means that under article two of the European convention on human rights (ECHR), incorporated into UK law by […]

The American stepped away from the tour in 2023 to address her mental health. This year has been spectacular as she has reached two grand slam finalsThere is an air of calm surrounding Amanda Anisimova when she speaks; a palpable sense of her comfort in her own skin.In a sport like tennis that can swing its protagonists from one emotional extreme to another, week in, week out, Anisimova has worked hard to value the highs, the lows, and the moments in between, all while staying true to herself. […]

The latest in our series of writers fondly sharing their go-to mood-lifting films is a journey to the countryside with Robert Altman in chargeRobert Altman called Gosford Park – his take on a 1930s country-house murder mystery – a “Who cares who dunnit?” But he did care that Eileen Atkins, learning to play the sour cook Mrs Croft, knew how far to whisk eggs for ice cream. A woman who worked in houses of the period taught her, though Mrs Croft’s relentless contempt for her […]

Mahnoor Omer hopes the case will put public pressure on the government to make sanitary products affordable in a country where they cost too much for most womenFor a 25-year-old, seeing her name written on official papers at Lahore’s high court was daunting. But the case of Mahnoor Omer v Federation of Pakistan has now had its first hearing and Omer, a young lawyer from Rawalpindi taking on her government, has moved from relative obscurity to becoming a headline-making activist.Omer is […]

On its release in 1993, Midway’s gore-filled fighting game ushered in a new era of hyperviolent gaming that continues to influence the industry to this dayOn 9 December 1993, Democratic senator Joe Lieberman sat before a congressional hearing on video game violence and told attendees that the video game industry had crossed a line. The focus of his ire was Mortal Kombat, Midway’s bloody fighting game, recently released on the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System after a […]

One baseball win was never going to bind Canada – and sympathetic fans south of the border – together for ever. But it was sweet while it lastedThe first time the Blue Jays won a World Series, in 1992, the team’s victory parade was held on the same day as a contentious national referendum. At play that day was a suite of potential constitutional changes that had Canadians, living through a period of economic strain, regional tension, and a growing distrust of political elites, questioning […]

Hard to recreate ‘higher calling’ of England job, he saysSouthgate trying to ‘make a difference’ in other areasSir Gareth Southgate says he is not looking for a return to football management, saying it would be hard to recreate the “higher calling” he found as England’s manager.Southgate indicated he intends to focus on working with young people and helping to counter the “negative narrative” he says is found in the country. Continue reading...

Suspect was arrested after incident on Saturday evening service from Doncaster to London King’s CrossA man has been charged after a mass stabbing on a high-speed train in Cambridgeshire in which 11 people were injured.Anthony Williams, 32, from Peterborough, has been charged with 11 counts of attempted murder, one count of actual bodily harm and one count of possession of a bladed article, the Crown Prosecution Service said. Continue reading...

Asurf Oluseyi’s thriller threads a trio of stories together with Tarantinoesque swagger but choppy storytellingDirected by self-taught film-maker Asurf Oluseyi and produced by rapper Burna Boy, this Nollywood thriller brings Tarantinoesque swagger to the Abidjan-Lagos corridor. The story is a femme-first revenge spree after the three protagonists fall foul of human traffickers, and starts as a show-offy multistrand affair with chapter intertitles that are Kill Bill yellow. While the preamble […]

The once-great author revisits St Cloud’s orphanage all too briefly, in a novel that begins with an adopted girl but wanders all over the placeIf some writers have an imperial phase, where they hit the heights time after time, then American novelist John Irving’s ran through a series of four fat, satisfying novels, from his 1978 breakthrough The World According to Garp to 1989’s A Prayer for Owen Meany. Those were generous, funny, big-hearted books, tying characters he calls […]

Buffalo extended their regular season domination over Kansas City. But they know that the playoffs are another matter altogetherOf course Josh Allen didn’t take a breath in the final seconds of the latest Chiefs-Bills classic. “You never know with Pat [Mahomes],” Allen told reporters after Buffalo eked out a 28-21 win on Sunday. Bills kicker Matt Prater had earlier missed a 52-yard field goal with 27 seconds remaining that would have sealed the win for Buffalo. Even the miss was dramatic, […]

Arsenal’s run without conceding goes on, Thomas Frank plays down tensions, and Eddie Howe’s gamble backfiresFirst the P45, then the pints. Vítor Pereira could be excused for having a drink on Sunday after his departure from Wolves, with the silver lining for the Portuguese being a decent payout. It is the fourth mid-season dismissal this campaign – there have never been more permanent sackings in Premier League history at this stage of the year (3 November). And while Evangelos Marinakis […]

There is no solid scientific proof, but it would do us all good to cut back on sweet treatsIt’s a warning passed down the generations: give a child too many sweets and they’ll be bouncing off the walls. But is there any scientific proof that sugar sends us into overdrive? Not yet, says Amanda Avery, an associate professor in nutrition and dietetics at the University of Nottingham.She says there are theories linking sugar to behavioural changes. One stems from how sugar activates the […]

The dominant jumps racing trainer has another huge Flat prize in sight after Ethical Diamond’s sparkling successIf five wins from the seven turf events, one short of the record, felt like a standard return for European runners at the 2025 Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar, then the identity of the biggest winner of all was a huge, and very refreshing, surprise.Willie Mullins blew into Del Mar with Ethical Diamond, his first ever runner at the meeting, and left with the $2m first prize in the Turf, […]

The willingness of players to put the side’s best interests ahead of their own has fostered a sense of togetherness that has reaped rewards on the pitch When David Moyes resigned as Sunderland’s manager in May 2017, after a calamitous 10 months culminating in relegation to the Championship, he waived all entitlement to a payoff. Moyes knew he had failed but, in mitigation, he inherited a poisoned chalice, something arguably confirmed as the club swiftly plummeted into League One. Now Moyes […]

As she prepares to star in Janáček’s The Makropulos Case for the Royal Opera, the great singer explains that she does not play ‘the happy, jumping, sexy lady’Ausrine Stundyte has been in the room for just over two minutes when she looks me in the eye and declares: “I am totally not a feminist.” I am slightly taken aback. Moments earlier, I had been watching the Lithuanian soprano rehearse Leoš Janáček’s opera The Makropulos Case, which the Royal Opera is staging for the first […]

Avanti West Coast says all lines blocked due to derailed train between Penrith North Lakes and Oxenholme Lake DistrictEmergency services have been called to a train derailment near Shap in Cumbria, North West ambulance service said.The derailment, which was declared a major incident but has since been “stood down” led to four people suffering minor injuries. Continue reading...

Hamas says remains found in tunnel as other bodies yet to be recovered amid fragile ceasefireIsrael has announced that the remains of three hostages have been handed over from Gaza and would be examined by forensic experts, as a fragile month-old ceasefire holds.A Hamas statement earlier said the remains were found on Sunday in a tunnel in southern Gaza. Continue reading...

Photographer Didier Bizet has spent time documenting life in the self-proclaimed autonomous republic, which is not recognised by the international community. Its status raises complex questions about the identity of its inhabitants – Ukrainians, Russians, Moldovans and Bulgarians – in a land searching for direction and lacking a clearly defined national identityAmid the ongoing war in Ukraine and between the fragile borders that crisscross the former Soviet Union, the self-proclaimed […]

A sharp, funny and engaging autobiography from one of the towering literary figures of our ageMargaret Atwood didn’t want to write a literary memoir. She worried it would be boring – “I wrote a book, I wrote a second book, I wrote another book …” Alcoholic excess, debauched parties and sexual transgressions would have perked things up, but she hasn’t lived that way.In the end what she has written is less a memoir than an autobiography, not a slice of life but the whole works, 85 […]

At a time of austerity, and with Labour’s housing policies needing years to take effect, the public doesn’t want to hear about ministers with multiple homesAt first glance, the story might seem trivial: a bureaucratic slip-up with few tangible consequences which will soon recede from the headlines. To be sure, the scandal over Rachel Reeves’s housing situation is no Watergate. Her failure to get the right licence for her south London property, which she began renting out once she moved to […]

Camera-equipped sports shades have secure fit, open-ear speakers, mics and advanced Garmin and Strava integrationThe Oakley Meta Vanguard are new displayless AI glasses designed for running, cycling and action sports with deep Garmin and Strava integration, which may make them the first smart glasses for sport that actually work.They are a replacement for running glasses, open-ear headphones and a head-mounted action cam all in one, and are the latest product of Meta’s partnership with the […]

A new museum in Mödlareuth tells the story of how a settlement of only 50 people straddled Bavaria in West Germany and Thuringia in the eastA creek so shallow you barely got your ankles wet divided a community for more than four decades. By an accident of topography, the 50 inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet surrounded by pine forests, meadows and spectacular vistas, found themselves at the heart of the cold war. They had the misfortune to straddle Bavaria, in West Germany, and Thuringia in […]

Laced with hiking trails, the remote valley of Lower Engadine is the perfect place to reconnect with natureIn the muffled silence all I can hear is the crunch and squeak of snow underfoot. The white path ahead of me meanders skyward through forests of larch and pine, their boughs glittering with snow. When I look back, I can see for miles – an icily beautiful panorama of crags and peaks.I’m in the Lower Engadine, in remote south-east Switzerland, thanks to a tip shared by my Swiss friend […]

I was in credit but HMRC handed £2,500 over to someone impersonating me on the phone, and says I’m in debtSince January, I’ve received numerous letters from HM Revenue and Customs stating that I owe £2,500 plus interest. My accountant and I have written to HMRC explaining that my tax account is fully paid up, but have received no reply. I’ve since been chased by a debt collector.EF, London Continue reading...