Nine-goal and seven-goal thrillers feature with a chaotic denouement at Anfield and a fraught Tyne-Wear derby It is rare for a centre-forward to score a hat-trick and still be disappointed, but in the 10th minute of stoppage time, Jean-Philippe Mateta has a golden chance to win this pulsating affair for Crystal Palace. He clatters the ball down to South Norwood from eight yards out. Even before that it’s a rollercoaster of emotion for all concerned. Eaglesfall 2-0 behind in the 37th minute after Junior Kroupi’s double. On 63 minutes, Mateta’s first Premier League goal of the season at Selhurst Park sparks home hope after a lengthy video assistant referee check for offside. Five minutes later, the Frenchman stretches to turn in a ball from Daniel Muñoz: 2-2. When James Tavernier rifles a low cross into the six-yard box in the 89th minute, Ryan Christie slams it in, seemingly snatching glory. There is time for Mateta to complete his hat-trick from the penalty spot before missing his late chance. Continue reading...

Faster and smarter in deed and thought, Bordeaux ruthlessly demonstrated why Top 14 supremacy looks set to continue Nothing in sport lasts for ever. Dynasties come and go and even the best fade to grey eventually. That, at least, is the theory. The stark truth in European club rugby is that France’s dominance grows stronger by the year. It is now six years since another nation won the Champions Cup and Bordeaux- Bègles’ second successive title did not feel like the last of its vibrant type. Consider the evidence. Not only is the Top 14 spawning a golden generation of domestic players, it also has the major financial clout to attract premium foreign talent. Thus it is that Tom Willis, the most penetrative forward in England, is heading to Bordeaux next season while Tommaso Menoncello, the brilliant Italian centre, is joining Toulouse. Continue reading...

Two deadly strikers, two creative forces and an all-but unbeatable goalkeeper make up our picks for the season The adulation offers a fine indication of how good the Manchester United captain has been this season. At the start, he was dragging Ruben Amorim’s interpretation of a team through matches and spent the past five months leading Michael Carrick’s unified side. Awards and records keep coming his way; winning the Football Writers’ Association player of the season award was swiftly followed by picking up a record Premier League assist tally of 21 at Brighton on the final day of the season. Considering United were very open to selling Fernandes less than a year ago, one wonders what would have happened at Old Trafford without him. “At one point I was going to leave – I won’t say where – but I would have won many trophies that season. I decided to stay not only for family reasons but because I genuinely like the club,” Fernandes told Canal 11. “But from the club’s side, I felt a bit of: ‘If you go, it’s not really that bad for us.’ That hurts me a little. More than hurting, it makes me sad, because I’m a player they have nothing to criticise me for. I’m always available for every match, I always play, whether well or badly. I give my maximum.” Fernandes brings incredible intelligence and work rate on the pitch, supported by stunning technique that has put him above his United teammates, who all feed off him. It is hard to argue that any other Premier League captain is more influential than Fernandes and United have reaped the awards. Continue reading...

The supplement is a proven sports performance enhancer, but research is ongoing and for most people it’s an optional extra, not an essential Once the preserve of bodybuilders and sprinters, creatine is now being touted as everything from a brain booster to a healthy-ageing essential. But should we all be taking it? Not quite. “There’s really substantial evidence of creatine being effective,” says Bethan Crouse, a sports nutritionist at Loughborough University. “From a sport perspective, it’s probably one of the more well-researched supplements in terms of actually having a performance impact.” Continue reading...

I survived months of bombardment before escaping. The systematic dismantling of our home has harmed every aspect of women’s lives Olfat al-Kurd is a field researcher for B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the occupied territories Since Israel’s assault on Gaza began in October 2023, I have lost my father, my brother, his wife and their daughter. They are still buried under the rubble. My house, where we lived with my husband’s family, was destroyed by Israeli bombing. In 2024, after months of bombardments, flight and displacement, I managed to escape with my family to Egypt. I’ve been living here ever since, but the memories of life in Gaza are always with me. What happened to me reflects the reality that Palestinian women in Gaza continue to face during the genocide. Since the start of the war, many women in Gaza have become sole providers. Countless numbers have been left with no protection or home, and many have lost children or their entire families. A recent UN report showed that Israel has killed more than 38,000 women and girls in Gaza during this war. A further 11,000 have sustained injuries causing lifelong disabilities. Olfat al-Kurd is a field researcher for B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the occupied territories Continue reading...

Exclusive: Exhibition to include letters, work permits and dry cleaning tickets that reveal little moments of domesticity in rock icon’s life When Jimi Hendrix lived in a bohemian London flat in the 1960s, he had little need for its kitchen as he had meals sent up from Mr Love, a groovy restaurant on the ground-floor of his building. While celebrities were downstairs, dining at heart-shaped tables and served by waitresses in hot pants, the American rock musician was upstairs, tucking into steaks and hamburgers. Continue reading...

Radiologists say ‘ballooning’ costs reflect staffing failures, forcing a reliance on lower-quality private scan reports The NHS is paying private firms record sums to analyse diagnostic scans because hospitals are too busy and understaffed to do the work themselves, research has revealed. The amount being spent on outsourced the interpretation of CT and MRI scans is “spiralling out of control” and reflects a short-sighted failure to train enough doctors, ministers are being told. Continue reading...

Two new poetry collections tackle themes of trauma, exile, resistance and love amid conflict in Gaza Poetry may not be the best response to aerial bombardment, but for many Palestinians it has become a line of defence amid the rubble and ongoing killings in Gaza. “Poetry keeps hope alive. Even in the darkest moments, Palestinian poetry continues to imagine a future,” Nazmi al-Masri, professor of languages at the Islamic University of Gaza, says at an online poetry event held by his students. Continue reading...

The club’s largest shareholder has ignored warning signs since 2022 and need only look at the fate of Leicester to see what what may be in store West Ham jumped on the relegation train in 2022. Bereft of vision at the top of the club, they failed to realise where they were heading. One internal figure was worried but his voice did not carry enough weight. There were three consecutive years of European football and there was no impending sense of doom when West Ham beat Fiorentina in the Conference League final in June 2023. Yet that glorious night in Prague is a distant memory. The Championship now awaits and, much like when the West Ham went down in 2003, this is a failure that could have been avoided with better planning. Continue reading...

The unsettling performance artist, who has made some electrifying stage shows in his time, is taking a leap into literature with an eye-opening book, In Pursuit of a Wonderful Nothing. A hard sell, he thinks There are commercial strategies to promote your first book, and then there’s what Kim Noble planned. “I asked the publishers if I could hire a digger, then go to a roundabout, dig a massive hole and bury the books under the roundabout,” he tells me, deadpan over coffee. “They didn’t think it was a good idea.” You don’t say, Kim. This is a book that has been decades in the making, Noble reports – while his conversation makes clear why previous efforts came to naught. “Someone once approached me to write a book about a show I’d made. I started to do drawings for it. But I didn’t give them to the publisher, I left them around London in public toilets, so the publisher had to go out and search for them. “And then,” he adds dolefully, “they decided to do another book instead.” Continue reading...

Dramatic coastal scenery and train rides make a winning combination. Our rail expert picks journeys over and along the sea Route Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh Which side should I sit? The right initially, then switch to left Distance 83 miles (133km) Time 2hrs 40mins Frequency 4 trains a day (2 on Sundays) Ticket £32 single Operator ScotRail Continue reading...

A road in the shopping district of Ginza was blocked off and people were taken away in stretchers About 20 people were injured at a luxury shopping complex in central Tokyo on Monday after a man sprayed a substance inside the building, officials in Japan said. A Tokyo police spokesperson said a man sprayed a substance at an ATM on the ground floor, while a local fire department official said “around 20 people were injured” after a report of a “smell”. Continue reading...

Inmates at Barinas prison allege they were peacefully protesting when prison staff opened fire, leaving some wounded Inmates at Venezuela’s western Barinas prison staged a protest on its roof on Sunday, piling flaming mattresses and calling for the removal of the facility’s director, who they accused of overseeing guards as they shot unarmed prisoners. “We want justice. They are shooting us, the guards and the wardens,” a prisoner said in a video shared by the Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons, a local NGO, on X, in which a man is seen with a bullet wound in his chest. Continue reading...

Check it out Today’s four puzzles are inspired by chess. (If you haven’t yet watched the recent documentaries on Judit Polgár and Hans Niemann, I recommend them.) 1. Oddities Continue reading...

Rail minister Peter Hendy says fast rollout shows reforms are working as questions over reliability remain South Western Railway’s newest train, wrapped in union jack-inspired Great British Railways livery, may divide opinion on aesthetics, but the interior is certainly an upgrade: air-conditioned carriages, more space and greater passenger capacity. For ministers, the fact that it is the 45th Arterio model brought into service since the SWR network was nationalised is vindication of the GBR approach. Continue reading...

A woman’s encounter with the stepfather she hasn’t seen for decades leads to a revived bond – but is it all too perfect? I blame Meryl Streep. Once she’s in your head, it’s hard to kick her out. Streep narrated the audiobook of Tom Lake, Ann Patchett’s last novel, and I’ve played it so many times I listen for the rhythm now, not the story. Or perhaps the rhythm is the story. Nothing much happens in Tom Lake, which is to say that everything happens – life happens – but ever so gently. On a cherry farm in Michigan, a mother tells her restless, world-hungry daughters the tale of a long-ago summer romance, piece by piece, as they work the harvest together. It’s Scheherazade with pie. Tom Lake is a lovely book, indulgently so. A pandemic novel that imagines the crisis as Edenic: a family thrown together with little to do but talk and remember and cherish one another. Sun-ripe fruit, rescue dogs, the future paused for one last impossible season. Some ingenue glitz; a whiff of tradwifery. A lesson – quite literally – in cherrypicking. Continue reading...

The presenter meets remarkable public figures, starting with a lovely talk with writer-actor Meera Syal. Plus, a vital deep dive into US supreme court justice Neil Gorsuch Continue reading...

Underwater beastie shows discerning moral judgment when picking off victims in this fun Norwegian action film As Greta Thunberg demonstrates, an eco-chastising feels somehow cleansing when it comes out of Scandinavia. Maybe it’s because of the idea that people there live in greater harmony with nature. It is splendidly showcased in the shape of Norway’s Sognefjord, the country’s largest fjord, in this didactic but still-enjoyable action film. Kraken could almost serve as an extended tourist promo – other than the titular beastie that is, slewing off giant crab-like lice, and emerging from the depths to administer a stern 90-minute ticking-off about tampering with nature. Marine researcher Johanne (Sara Khorami, cementing her Norwegian creature-feature credentials after Troll 2) is summoned to the Sognefjord after reports of mass salmon strandings. Her first port of call is the local fish farm run by Erik (Mikkel Bratt Silset), an old flame with whom she developed sonic delousing pods now used to keep the pens clean. But in a bid to impress Japanese investors, owner Avaldsnes (Øyvind Brandtzæg) has cranked the tech up to the max, harshing the vibe not just for the wild salmon but the fjord’s deep denizen too. Continue reading...

The tax office is quick to demand money owed and threatens fines, but is slow when giving refunds When my mother died, there was a four-year delay in achieving probate owing to financial complexities. During this time my father paid inheritance tax (IHT) on the advice of his solicitor, to prevent interest accruing. It turned out that the solicitor’s estimate of the amount was wildly out. Continue reading...

Under government’s price cap typical gas and electricity bills are forecast to rise by £209 from this summer Ministers face growing calls to cut utility bills as millions of households in Great Britain face energy cost “anxiety,” with gas and electricity costs forecast to rise to almost £1,900 from this summer. The typical dual-fuel bill is expected to climb by nearly 13% under the government’s energy price cap, adding £209 a year to household costs, in a blow to families already hit by rising prices for essentials. Continue reading...

Most people have joyful memories of playing outside as children – and now wildlife charities are urging people to ‘rewild their inner child’ Climbing trees, squelching in mud, paddling in ponds or making dens in the woods – people’s memories of playing outside as children are often vivid and, a new poll has found, overwhelmingly positive, even those who remember falling in cowpats. Almost 90% of UK adults had rosy memories of the excitement and the feeling of freedom that outdoor play had brought them, the survey found. However, almost half of adults now spend less than three hours a week in natural settings such as gardens, parks, fields or woods, according to the survey. For one in 10 it is less than one hour. Continue reading...

Paris police looking into more than 100 allegations of mistreatment by ‘monitors’ after parents’ groups said they had fought for years to be taken seriously France is facing a child abuse scandal as ‘monitors’ at dozens of state nursery and primary schools are investigated for violence, sexual assault and rape. Paris police are examining more than 100 allegations of mistreatment, physical violence and rape of children as young as three by school monitors during lunch breaks, nap times and after-school activities, prosecutors have confirmed. Continue reading...

Ulf Kristersson aims to expand state-funded IVF as Sweden grapples with lowest fertility rate since records began Sweden’s prime minister has promised to put IVF at the heart of his re-election campaign as he tries to win over female voters amid the country’s record low birthrate. Ulf Kristersson’s government recently increased the number of state-funded IVF attempts granted to aspiring first-time parents from three to six. Continue reading...

The best of these reject any ‘don’t touch’ attitude in favour of an open invitation to curiosity that might just see your toddler tell you to sit down and read a book Play cafes are not for me, but that doesn’t make me a monster. I don’t drag my toddler around museums and galleries demanding that we look at art every day of the week (what fresh hell that would be). Instead there is, I’ve discovered, a middle ground. Museums that are family oriented and fun and capable of sparking curiosity in arts and culture while they’re at it. Museums such as the Story Museum in Oxford. The place is a gem. I love it from the moment we’re given colourful wristbands that will allow us to come and go throughout the day (no pressure to power through when whining turns to wailing). Tucked away from the tourists in a higgledy-piggledy former post office and telephone exchange building on Pembroke Street, it’s full of imaginative galleries that invite you to step inside the pages of great children’s books from across the ages. Continue reading...

Two recipes that transform lunch or dinner from simple pleasures into magic moments Every day, no matter what it brings with it, gives us at least three opportunities to clock out and have a moment of pure bliss. We’re talking about breakfast, lunch and dinner, of course, and we’re not factoring in snacks and tea time, either, because those are bonus opportunities. It doesn’t need to be complicated, it doesn’t need to be a big ceremony; in fact, most days, it’s the humble little treats, the simple, delicious things, that bring us the most happiness. Honey & Co. Daily is our cafe in Bloomsbury, central London, and now also the name of our latest cookbook, and we want both of them to be a haven, a place where you can go to get a simple, delicious moment. Continue reading...