From a darkly comic new novel to a gripping 1950s memoir – Katherine Rundell, Malala Yousafzai, Matt Haig and others appearing at Hay festival pick titles to tempt you Malala Yousafzai Activist I have loved going to the theatre ever since I saw my first musical (Matilda in London, when I was 15 years old) – and I love reading about it, too. In Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad, a British-Palestinian actor travels to the West Bank to see family and finds herself pulled into a local production of Hamlet. I was moved by the rehearsal scenes: arguments over translations, personal relationships, the question of whether a performance is even possible under Israeli occupation. To me, Hammad proved that theatre is capable of carrying weight that other art forms cannot hold. Continue reading...

⚽ Buildup to a busy day of finals action around Europe ⚽ Sign up for Football Daily | Follow on Bluesky | Mail us Here are a fe standout pieces from last night: Barney backs Tuchel’s squad: Continue reading...

Paperwork supplied by Andrew Crowley, 46, found to be made using printing methods 25 years too modern A fraudster who tried to sell fake ancient statues to Sotheby’s was foiled when his bogus accompanying paperwork was found to be written with printing methods that were 25 years too modern, a court has heard. Andrew Crowley, 46, asked the auctioneers to value three Cycladic figures and one Anatolian stargazer statuette that he had inherited from his grandfather, Southwark crown court in London was told on Friday. Continue reading...

Chancellor’s supporters urge MPs to back her if Keir Starmer is replaced, saying she is only candidate who can safeguard UK’s finances Rachel Reeves has launched a rearguard action to save her job as chancellor, telling friends she would like to stay in the post even under a new prime minister. The chancellor’s supporters have been urging MPs to back her if Keir Starmer is replaced later this year, saying she is the only candidate who can safeguard the country’s finances. Continue reading...

Manchester City are about to lose a player Pep Guardiola called ‘my weakness’ and ‘my favourite’. Who am I to disagree? Bernardo Silva is more than a footballer. He’s a time-travelling, shapeshifting superhero. He even looks like a superhero – a nine-volt battery of a man doing battle with feral giants on the pitch. In 55 years of watching football I’ve never seen anybody or anything like him. For the past decade I’ve been lucky enough to watch him turning out week in, week out for my club, Manchester City. And now it’s time to say goodbye. Some footballers are famous for having played in virtually every position on the field. James Milner, John O’Shea and Phil Neville come to mind. They tend to be solid, stolid types, as reliable as they are unimaginative. Continue reading...

The Enhanced Games promise human advancement and world records but critics fear more worrying effects On the eve of the most controversial sports event of the 21st century so far, one swimmer is explaining how it felt to take banned drugs for the first time. “I was anxious, to be honest,” says Andriy Govorov, the 50m butterfly world record-holder. “Because there’s no way back.” The 34-year-old Ukrainian points to his backside. That is where the first needle carrying performance-enhancing drugs went into his body. Then to his stomach. That one hurt less. “I don’t like needles being stuck in me,” Govorov says. “When I was younger, I would pass out when I had blood tests.” Continue reading...

From Champions League redemption to that stunner against City, we look at half a dozen memorable moments from striker’s Anfield career It was surely the worst moment of Mohamed Salah’s Liverpool career, yet the reaction said everything about his impact on the English game; the respect he had earned in his first season at Anfield. It was not just the Liverpool support who were upset to see Salah so upset, leaving the pitch at Kyiv’s Olimpiyskiy Stadium in tears, utterly inconsolable, having been levered out of the biggest game of his life by Real Madrid’s pantomime villain, Sergio Ramos. It was fans of all stripes. After the season Salah had enjoyed, what he did and how he carried himself, everyone knew he did not deserve this. There was the sense that Salah’s humility as much as his brilliance transcended tribal divides. Continue reading...

Italian is overwhelming favourite in the men’s draw while women’s event has several genuine contenders Daniil Medvedev sighed deeply. He had been asked in his pre-French Open press conference to provide some of the intel he gleaned from his spectacular last battle, yet for once he did not have much to say. Medvedev had produced a brilliant performance in the semi-finals of the Italian Open last week, eviscerating the ball off both sides and dragging his opponent off the baseline, scarcely making an error despite their incredibly physical, attritional battle. It was the best level any player had shown against Jannik Sinner, the current undisputed No 1, since the Australian Open in January. He still left the court with only one set. “It’s super tough,” said Medvedev on the challenge of facing Sinner. “Actually, any match that we saw even this year, because I think he lost only two, the only way to beat him, you need to be at your best for all four, five sets. You need to run, be strong, to serve well, to return well. Everything needs to be on the top level, because him, his game is everything at the top level.” Continue reading...

Our fans’ network reviews the season with one game to play: the highs, the lows and what they need in the summer In this age of the managerial revolving door, I’m enormously proud that the Premier League champions (man, does that sound sweet!) stand as the antithesis to that. Admittedly, “trusting the process” aged a lot of us massively, but the agony of the past three campaigns evaporated with the final whistle at the Vitality. Sure, it would’ve been great to have enjoyed the sort of free-flowing football that the Cherries produced, but you won’t find a Gooner anywhere who gives a monkey’s how Mikel got us over the line. 19 great clean sheets. In the words of Fergie, attack wins games, but defence wins titles. Season rating: 10/10 Bernard Azulay onlinegooner.com; @GoonerN5 Jonathan Pritchard Continue reading...

The Married at First Sight rape allegations have again highlighted the ethics of reality TV. For things to change, better welfare provision is crucial When I joined the cast of Love Island in 2021, I already semi-knew that reality TV wasn’t “real”. I grew up with parents who constantly reminded me not to believe everything I saw on TV or online. But I was not fully prepared for just how constructed reality TV actually is: producers shape narratives, conflict drives engagement and contestants ultimately become part of a product designed for entertainment, rather than simply living their “reality” in the moment. After watching the BBC Panorama investigation into Channel 4’s Married at First Sight, I found myself asking a much bigger question: at what point does “good TV” come at the expense of basic human safety? Continue reading...

This stellar adaptation of James Graham’s award-winning play is a stirring take on national identity – even if not all the actors look like the real footballers. Put it this way, Wayne Rooney will be very pleased indeed To watch Dear England (Sunday, 9pm, BBC One) – the BBC’s stellar adaptation of James Graham’s Olivier award-winning play – you must first understand the incomparable damage to the national psyche that arose from Gareth Southgate missing a penalty in the Euro 96 semi-final. For those born outside England or too young to remember, imagine the apocalypse mixed with the death of your childhood pet and you’re just about halfway there. I was 11 at the time and almost three decades later still remember going to bed crying as my dad explained over my tear-strewn pillow: “This is what it is to be an England fan.” You’d better get your therapist on speed dial: the four-part fictionalised account of Southgate’s revolutionary reign as England manager begins with a real-life clip of his penalty miss. Fast forward to 2016 and England is in crisis, with the men’s squad crashing out of the Euros to Iceland while Brexit looms large. Meanwhile, Southgate (Joseph Fiennes, reprising his critically acclaimed West End role) – now middle-aged and managing the under-21 men’s team – is watching football on the TV and looking pensive. Continue reading...

Five multiple-choice questions – set by children – to test your knowledge, and a chance to submit your own junior brainteasers for future quizzes ​Submit a question Molly Oldfield hosts Everything Under the Sun, a podcast answering children’s questions. Do check out her books, Everything Under the Sun and Everything Under the Sun: Quiz Book, as well as her new title, Everything Under the Sun: All Around the World. Continue reading...

From As Nasty As They Wanna Be to Saltburn and The Full Wax, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz 1 What is the most populous city directly on the Mediterranean coast? 2 Which ruler last had a coronation in 1963? 3 What school subject, abbreviated, is plural in Britain but singular in the US? 4 Which married couple have 12 Olympic golds between them? 5 Gatsby, Gowen and Tibbs were which establishment’s long-term residents? 6 Which rodents are known as “nature’s engineers”? 7 Which act’s As Nasty As They Wanna Be was the first album declared legally obscene in the US? 8 What global climate event is ENSO? What links: 9 Avatar (LA); Dangal (Mumbai); Behind the Scenes (Lagos)? 10 Xi Jinping; Primo Levi; Angela Merkel; Margaret Thatcher? 11 Saltburn; The Full Wax; The Good Earth; taekwondoin turned boxer? 12 Acca; in-play; moneyline; prop; spread? 13 Flamingo; Lobster Trap and Fish Tail; Mercury Fountain; Trois Disques? 14 White Dogwood (11); Golden Bell (12); Azalea (13)? 15 Fates of the Guadalupe storm petrel, Socorro dove and Stephens Island wren? Continue reading...

The 2004 film Catch That Kid gave me my love of cars. But when my Formula One career stalled, I took on a dangerous job in the middle of the Indian Ocean Throughout my early teen years, my family followed a regular Friday routine that, today, feels distinctly ancient. Every week after dinner, my mother, brother and I would dawdle for 20 minutes down quiet suburban streets to the entertainment haven that was thevideo rental store. If we had been well behaved, the ultimate treat: free rein to rent a film of our choice. My mum rarely vetoed our selection, so we watched a wild range; but it was an unassuming family comedy starring child actors Kristen Stewart and High School Musical’s Corbin Bleu that would change my life for ever. Continue reading...

Increasing coastal erosion has hit communities’ livelihoods and put lifestyles under threat The remains of the road linking two towns in south Devon lie crumbled on the foreshore in a mess of tarmac, steel and concrete. The dramatic coastal road, known as the Slapton Line, has an environmentally protected freshwater lake on one side and the sea on the other, and links the towns of Kingsbridge and Dartmouth. But this year, winter storms demolished a section of the A road between Torcross and Slapton, which is at the frontline of rising sea levels and coastal erosion, fulfilling a destiny that was predicted more than 30 years ago, but that has not been prepared for. Continue reading...

The uncertain interest rate outlook is making tracker deals popular again. We look at the pros and cons of both types of loan With some experts warning that we may have to brace ourselves for interest rate rises later this year, it might seem odd to suggest considering a tracker mortgage. But, amid the economic chaos caused by the Iran war, for some people looking for a home loan or to remortgage, a tracker – where the rate you pay moves up or down in line with the Bank of England base rate – could be a good bet. Continue reading...

A new film about this corner of southern Italy reveals rarely visited villas, seismic landscapes and a ‘civilisation buried mid-sentence’ – all accessible by train One by one, the visitors descend through a tight tunnel cut through volcanic rock into the damp foundations of the Teatro Romano buried beneath Herculaneum, with the weight of 2,000 years of city above them. “This is a time machine,” the guide says, “and we are going back.” It is pitch black as film-maker Gianfranco Rosi’s camera finds torchlight catching the tourists’ transparent waterproof capes, making them appear like ghosts. Released on the streaming platform Mubi this March, Rosi’s documentary Pompei: Below the Clouds threads a needle from classical antiquity to the present day. Presented in ashen black and white, without narration or interviews, it places the viewer inside the region surrounding Naples and leaves us there, each scene presenting a place and a moment in the area’s long history. Continue reading...

Xi Jinping urges authorities to ‘spare no effort’ in rescue efforts after blast at mine in northern Shanxi province The death toll from a gas explosion at a coalmine in northern China’s Shanxi province has risen to at least 82, state media Xinhua reported on Saturday, with nine people still missing. The gas explosion happened late on Friday at the Liushenyu coalmine in Qinyuan county, while 247 workers were underground, Xinhua reported. Initial reports said eight people had been killed, while more than 200 people had been brought safely to the surface. Continue reading...

Jessica Raine and Leila Farzad star in a fun new drama. Plus, Destination X meets The Traitors in Danny Dyer and Emily Atack’s new game show. Here’s what to watch this evening 9pm, BBC One Continue reading...

‘Living archive’ will mark loss of Northumberland landmark with storytelling, sound and sculpture using saved wood A new artwork will transform preserved wood from the felled Sycamore Gap tree into a “living archive” after a public vote. The community arts charity Helix Arts and George King Architects were named winners of the vote on Saturday, after being shortlisted for a National Trust commission in March. Continue reading...

She landed a role in hit TV show Skins at 17 and went on to star in the fantasy epic. Then she was drawn towards a mysterious spiritual community. How did she end up being sectioned? • ‘This is a test. A horrible test’: read an extract from Hannah Murray’s memoir At least once a week, Hannah Murray has this one overpowering thought: “Thank God I don’t act any more.” She might be climbing her stairs, mug in hand, or at her desk opening her computer, she might be taking a casserole from the oven, or browsing the high street in the East Anglian town where she now lives. The thought will arrive along with what she describes as a sort of total bodily relief. She tries to hold on to this “I’m not an actor any more” feeling because it’s accompanied, she says, by “a real surge of joy”. It’s not just because she doesn’t have to strip for the camera any more, although there was plenty of that, starting with Cassie, whom she played aged 17 in the E4 hit show Skins, mostly in underwear. And it’s not because she doesn’t have to cope with the relentless focus on her weight, though there was plenty of that too, accompanied by questions from journalists: was she anorexic in real life? Were her parents worried about her weight? It’s not because she’s not recognised everywhere, as she was after playing Gilly in Game of  Thrones, with grown men having tantrums if she didn’t autograph their whatever or pose for a selfie. Nor is it having to negotiate which body parts she will contractually agree to show. Or contending with the highs of landing a great part followed by the lows of wrapping the shoot only to  be thrown back on to the audition carousel and told: “Please go in looking nice. They need to believe Benedict Cumberbatch could actually be attracted to you.” Continue reading...

A funky fusion dish with crisped up pasta edges, like spaghetti all’assassina, but with a Korean backbeat Today’s recipe is based on the famous spaghetti all’assassina, a dish native to Bari in Puglia. The pasta is cooked directly in the pan risottata, or risotto-style, and tomato stock is poured in a little at a time until the spaghetti is bruciata, or burnt and crisp. I won’t call the dish by its original name because that contains dried chilli and tomatoes, whereas my version features two of my favourite ingredients: gochujang, the Korean sweet and hot chilli paste, and my beloved sun-dried tomato paste. The result is killer, even if the name is not. Continue reading...

A divorcee gets blackmailed by a camboy in a bingeable twisty thriller, and the musical master’s biography is gossipy and erudite. Here’s the pick of the week’s culture, taken from the Guardian’s best-rated reviews Continue reading...

When my cat jokes are met with near silence, there’s only one thing for it … I remember the first time it happened, in the band’s earliest days. We were playing a small festival in Yorkshire, before a seated audience in an arts centre. At the end of the first song there was an unfamiliar sound, like bacon sizzling, but amplified. It took me a moment to realise it was applause. Up until that point we had mostly played in pubs, where everything we did was met with the same level of high-spirited indifference – the persistent, lively hum of people determined not to let a bit of music spoil their night out. Applause was new. Continue reading...

Colman, 31, a lawyer, meets Ben, 28, an assistant stage manager What were you hoping for? Brown eyes, decent chat, and if all else failed, a good story. Continue reading...