Keir Starmer’s plan for full state ownership marks latest chapter in Scunthorpe plant’s troubled history Full nationalisation of British Steel expected in king’s speech Nils Pratley: More questions than answers on the future Four queens – blast furnaces named after Anne, Bess (Elizabeth), Victoria and Mary – loom over the British Steel works at Scunthorpe. Within days the queens could be under public ownership, after Keir Starmer on Monday promised legislation to nationalise the plant. “Strong nations in a world like this need to make steel,” Starmer said on Monday in a speech. The prime minister was hoping decisive action would fend off challenges to his leadership. Continue reading...

We had booked a cruise for him and his carers, but we had a string of problems when we tried to change names In November 2024, I booked a cruise for my wife, myself and our severely disabled son for this July. I’d booked well in advance to ensure an accessible cabin for my son. At home, he needs round-the-clock care from a rota of eight carers, so we made extra bookings for three to accompany him. Because the care team has other commitments, I couldn’t confirm their names at the time of booking and was told to do so by this April, when the balance had to be paid. Continue reading...

Nigel Farage’s ascent to power is not inevitable, and his party’s success in the May elections will expose its major weaknesses There is no sugarcoating the fact that on the basis of last week’s elections, Reform UK is now the largest party in British politics, if only by vote share. It is still a long way from ever winning power at Westminster, but we don’t need to look far to see whether a Reform government would try to make good on its various threats – because Reform is our local version of an international wave of populist rightwing nationalism. This loosely connected movement has declared its hostility to the checks and balances that prevent democracy from becoming a tyranny of the majority, or even of those with only a plurality of support. It can be chaotic and destructive, like Nigel Farage’s beloved Donald Trump, or slow and grinding like the recently departed Hungarian government of Viktor Orbán. But we can make a reasonable guess as to what life under a Reform government might look like – and I suspect it’s something that neither you nor I would welcome. Continue reading...

Jack Archer’s gentle film follows the immensely likable Rob MacNeacail as he journeys across Scotland and Ireland in a bid to save these traditional songs of people and place There’s no word in Scottish Gaelic for “moreish” – or if there is, it slips Rob MacNeacail’s mind as he reaches for another biscuit in a church hall. MacNeacail is a Gaelic psalm singer and the eccentric star of this gentle and rather lovely film from Jack Archer that follows him on a mission to meet other singers keeping the tradition alive. Not that you’ll learn an awful lot about the history of psalm singing from this film; it is essentially an observational portrait of MacNeacail, at his home on the Scottish borders then out on the road to the Outer Hebrides, Skye, Belfast and County Cork. But no knowledge is necessary to enjoy the extraordinarily rich and textured sound of psalm singing, once practised at Free Presbyterian churches all over Scotland. It’s a community activity: one person – the precentor – sings a line of a psalm from the bible, and everyone else sings it back slowly, each with their own interpretation, at their own tempo. No instruments, just voices; like the sea, the sound comes in great swells and then retreats. It’s haunting; shut your eyes and you might be in a stone chapel in the 1800s. Continue reading...

An awe‑inspiring investigation of the untamed places and inhospitable environments in which life – besides humans – finds a way Off the coast of California, two miles down, there exist geothermal nurseries: gatherings of tens of thousands of small violet octopuses, each the size of a grapefruit. Known as pearl octopuses (Muusoctopus robustus), they congregate around hydrothermal springs which warm their eggs, allowing them to hatch in less than two years (in cold water it can take 10 years). When I want to calm my mind, I think of these gatherings, this factory of octopuses powered by the Earth’s energy that exists quietly away from our gaze, and might easily never have been discovered. How many more such worlds exist? The seafloor is just one setting in Cal Flyn’s carnival of a book, The Savage Landscape, a wondrous personal journey to locate and understand wilderness. It’s a work of extraordinary physical and narrative movement that takes us from the depths of the ocean to volcanoes and icebergs, but is also a journey into our own psyches, and the stories we tell ourselves about “wild” landscapes. Above all, it is a reminder that the places we might conceive of as empty or barren are no such thing; that within wildernesses there is abundant life, both human and nonhuman. Continue reading...

From Black debutantes to Bolivian matriarchs, this year’s Saltzman-Leibovitz prize shows the diverse subjects being tackled by the next generation of female storytellers Continue reading...

The island of Samsø offers tranquil walks, biking, birding, distillery and pottery tours, and locally sourced fare – including citrusy ants ‘We have lammerullepøllse – lamb rolled sausage – today,” says Daniel Hesseldal-Haines, chef at Det Lille Sommerhotel on the Danish island of Samsø. “It tastes better than the translation sounds. And,” he gestures towards a woman sitting by the window, “the lamb is from Camilla’s farm.” Camilla gives us a friendly wave, and my eyes fix upon her sweater, featuring row upon row of colourful motifs. Think Fair Isle but less orderly: each stripe holds a different design. “Oh, I made this,” she says. “It’s hønsestrik – chicken knitting. You can use it to tell your story – so this one is about hiking,” she adds, pointing to each section: “These are my footprints, this is my tent, my coffee flask …” Continue reading...

She sets bizarre challenges for comedians like Ed Gamble and Lou Sanders. Plus: what’s the link between Trump and wrestling? Here’s what to watch this evening 9pm, U&Dave Mel Giedroyc hosts this cheerful gameshow in which teams of comics are placed in themed rooms that, via physical and deductive tasks, they must race to escape. The contestants (who include Ed Gamble, Lou Sanders, Nish Kumar and Chloe Petts) get their sea legs with a fishing challenge, complete with pungent seaside smells and oysters to shuck. Their general ineptitude constitutes most of the fun. Phil Harrison Continue reading...

Health secretary’s soft-right credentials put him at a disadvantage even with reduced membership under Starmer UK politics live – latest updates “Country first, party second” is a mantra Keir Starmer and his cabinet have repeated since being in opposition, seeking to draw a dividing line between Labour and their Conservative predecessors’ inclination for self-destruction. But party members do matter in politics – and a key problem for Wes Streeting, one of those with ambitions to succeed Keir Starmer, is that many of Labour’s do not like him. Continue reading...

The BYD factory being built in Szeged, Hungary, is facing scrutiny after reports of EU labour laws being violated among the Chinese migrant workforce Multilingual signs in most airports in the EU opt for English, but in Hungary, there is also Chinese, making it easy for migrant workers flying in to staff China’s first electric car plant in Europe – due to open in 2027. The third language was introduced in 2019 as the recently ousted leader Viktor Orbán embarked on a “comprehensive strategic partnership” with China, positioning himself as its most reliable friend in Europe. Continue reading...

Since the start of the current conflict, more than 20,500 Ukrainian children have been taken by Russia It looks like a typical teenager’s bedroom: football shirts on the wall, crumpled clothes on the floor, exercise books open on the desk. But it is a work of political art, intended to evoke the empty rooms of more than 20,500 Ukrainian children unlawfully taken to Russia. The work was on display on Monday at the headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels, as delegates from 63 countries and international organisations gathered to discuss how to bring Ukraine’s children home. “It’s essentially a way for someone to step into Ukraine without having to actually travel there,” Isaac Yeung, a co-creator of the installation, said. Continue reading...

Buttermilk-marinated lamb with fresh peas and broad beans, a classic Sicilian aubergine dish, and a vegetable-stuffed Roman spring stew Spring is arguably the most exciting time for a chef, or cook. The long – really long – winter has come to an end and, as the shadows shorten, the list of ingredients lengthens: peas, broad beans, wild garlic, spring lamb … It is where nature comes into her own, because, as if by design, all of its bounty goes together in the most wonderful, natural and understated way. Continue reading...

Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman offer experience and political craft, but to reap the benefits, the PM himself will have to change There comes a time, in the dying days of a relationship, when you start to become irritated merely by the sound of your partner’s breathing. It’s not kind, and it’s not necessarily rational, but it is what it is. Nothing they can do is going to fix it, and nothing they say makes it better – even if they suddenly start promising to do all the things you’ve been begging them to do for years. It all just seems too little, too late. And that is roughly where the parliamentary Labour party now finds itself with Keir Starmer. His response to the bloodbath of last week’s local elections, in which he brought back Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman as advisers while promising something bigger and bolder than the creeping caution of the 2024 manifesto, was a promise to change aimed squarely at the MPs threatening to oust him and yet somehow it seems only to have deepened the frustration. Most would love nothing better than to get closer to Europe, as he promised; many have been screaming for months that, as he acknowledged, people are crying out for change to come faster. And the back-to-the-future appointments of two more New Labour veterans, to a team already groaning with survivors from the more successful 1997 to 2010 Labour governments, at least shows an understanding of where the plumbing is blocked. Continue reading...

Anti-graft agencies say Andriy Yermak suspected of participating in criminal group that laundered $10.5m in housing project, which he denies ownership in Ukrainian authorities have named Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s powerful former chief of staff as a suspect in a major corruption investigation, a move likely to pile pressure on the president’s office at a sensitive moment in the war with Russia. Kyiv’s political class was rocked by a wide-ranging probe last year that had fuelled public anger and prompted the ex-top adviser and Zelenskyy’s right-hand man, Andriy Yermak, to resign. Continue reading...

Absence of big US films heralds renewed focus on international cinema that underpins festival’s reputation For decades, Cannes has occupied a unique place in the cultural imagination – not just as the world’s most prestigious film festival, but as Hollywood’s most glamorous overseas outpost. From Grace Kelly on the Croisette, Quentin Tarantino and Uma Thurman at the Pulp Fiction premiere, Julia Roberts walking barefoot up the red carpet, to Tom Cruise shutting down the Riviera with fighter jets overhead, Hollywood has made its mark on Cannes. Continue reading...

Fresh out of wedlock and in the mood for some fun? Join your newly single sisters in the glow-up to end all glow-ups ‘Sorry babe I’m a divorced mum on a buffet of magnesium glycinate, ashwagandha, peptides, and sertraline, covering a mortgage alone during late stage capitalism, idgaf about your opinion anymore,” wrote Meghan McTavish, an Australian divorce-fluencer, who went viral a couple of years ago because, even after her split, her parents refused to take down her wedding photos. This might be the core of hot divorcee energy: an unvarnished devil-may-care spirit that seems to have captured the cultural moment this summer. So, of course, you’re wondering how this differs from the brat, last year’s aspirational muse – who also, emphatically, did not care what the world thought (though if you’re still confused about the difference between that and 2024’s hot girl summer, I suggest you go back in time and take last year’s module again). Continue reading...

Friedrich Merz’s criticism of the US president was not a solo run. It was born of the realisation that US leverage has slipped Friedrich Merz’s criticism of Donald Trump last month reflected more than a moment of personal candour or a split between Berlin and the White House. It pointed to a broader shift under way among European leaders. Increasingly they are willing to publicly confront the Trump administration on issues ranging from Iran to Ukraine and European sovereignty. The Trump administration’s ever-more erratic policies and the belief that they necessitate a more forceful response partly explains this shift. Mujtaba Rahman is the managing director for Europe at Eurasia Group, a political risk research and consulting firm Continue reading...

After a series of deaths on the beaches of Brittany, one bereaved family set out to prove the foul-smelling bloom was to blame When her phone rang at around 5pm on 8 September 2016, Rosy Auffray was still at work. It was one of her daughters, distressed, calling to tell her that their father, Jean-René, had not come back from his daily run. Only the family dog had returned, alone and exhausted. Rosy rushed back home. When she arrived, Rosy noticed that the dog was behaving bizarrely: she refused to walk, then collapsed under a bush. Her fur stank of rotten eggs, of overflowing sewers. Rosy knew where that smell came from: the mudflats roughly three miles from the family home in Brittany, where seaweed had been accumulating and putrefying. The soggy, decomposing seaweed stretched for miles along the shore, sometimes as much as five feet thick, killing other plants and suffocating fish and small birds. Continue reading...

The annual gathering at Koovagam is rooted in an ancient poem. Five trans attendees talk about what the event means to them in light of a controversial change to the country’s gender recognition law The summer air is thick with dust, sweat and the scent of jasmine. In Koovagam, in southern Tamil Nadu, more than 100,000 people have gathered for one of India’s most distinctive festivals. Transgender women from across India, arrive in bright silk saris and gold temple jewellery, their hair oiled and braided with flowers. For nearly 18 days, the little town swells into a city of devotion, culminating in rituals that blur the boundaries between myth and reality. The Koovagam festival pageant winner displays her rings Continue reading...

Hundreds of four-year-olds among ‘extremely overweight’ patients at 39 specialist centres since 2021 More than 6,000 children living with obesity, including hundreds as young as four, have required treatment at specialist NHS weight-loss clinics, new figures reveal. NHS England data, published for the first time, underlines the scale of the growing childhood obesity crisis. Continue reading...

Usually joyous song contest ‘a little bit sad’ this year, says one expert, with rows over Israel and costs to the fore It was meant to be the crowning moment of a seemingly never-ending success story: the 70th anniversary of the world’s biggest and ever-expanding live music event, held in a city steeped in history both dramatic and musical. But as Vienna gears up to host this year’s Eurovision song contest, which starts on Tuesday and culminates in Saturday’s grand final, euphoria will be hard to come by outside the power ballads performed onstage. Continue reading...

French president reaches out to new allies after setbacks in relations with his country’s former colonies in west Africa A French-African summit held every few years since 1973 is taking place in a non-francophone country for the first time on Tuesday as Emmanuel Macron tries to rebuild France’s role on the continent after setbacks in its former colonies. More than 30 heads of state and government are meeting in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, for this year’s iteration of the summit. Named Africa Forward, it is being seen by analysts as an attempt by France to court new allies. Continue reading...

Aditya Chakrabortty on the Labour leader’s predicament – and if he may be the last prime minister of the two-party system In these highly polarised times, dunking on the prime minister – and this PM in particular – is the one thing that seems to unite people in fury, disappointment and loathing. So as he rolled his sleeves up to address the nation on Monday morning, after one of the worst election results in Labour’s history, Keir Starmer had quite the job on his hands. The Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty was watching – and wincing. “There are times when I watch Keir Starmer promising he’s going to change,” he said. “He looks to me like a guy on the verge of divorce, holding flowers from the nearest petrol station and saying: 'Trust me. Honestly, it’s going to be different this time. Honestly, love, stick with me.’” But why does there seem to be such antagonism towards the Labour leader – and can anyone guide the party out of the mess they have found themselves in? Continue reading...

Eileen Wang, 58, mayor of Arcadia, agreed to plead guilty over the felony count brought by the justice department Eileen Wang, the mayor of a southern California city, resigned suddenly on Monday after the US Department of Justice (DoJ) announced she had been charged with acting as an illegal foreign agent of China. Wang, 58, agreed to plead guilty to the felony count and could face a sentence of 10 years in prison. Continue reading...

Since Russian invasion, about 20,500 children have been unlawfully deported or forcibly transferred to Russia or Russian-held territories in Ukraine. What we know on day 1,539 Continue reading...