Amy Redford thanks fans for ‘love and support’ but takes issue with ‘AI versions of funerals, tributes and quotes from members of my family that are fabrications’ Robert Redford’s daughter Amy Redford has criticised the proliferation of artificial intelligence tributes to her father, who died in September, calling them “fabrications”. Redford posted a statement on social media in which she thanked fans for their “overwhelming love and support”, adding: “It’s clear that he meant so much to so many, and I know that my family is humbled by the outpouring of stories and tributes from all corners of the globe.” Continue reading...

After decades of terrorizing civilians in the name of fighting terror, the White House is trying to do it with even less oversight For the last two months, US forces have amassed outside Venezuela and carried out a series of lethal strikes on civilian boats. The Trump White House has ordered these actions in the name of fighting “narco-terrorists” – a label apparently applicable to anyone suspected of participating in drug trafficking near Latin American coastlines. More than 80 people have already been killed in these pre-emptive strikes, and war hawks are calling for expanded military action to depose the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro. Watching this play out, I am reminded of a passage from the geographer Stuart Elden’s award-winning 2009 book, Terror and Territory. In discussing how to study the “war on terror”, Elden observed that it did not make sense to study terrorism as something unique to non-state actors. Daniel Mendiola is a professor of Latin American history and migration studies at Vassar College Continue reading...

A vibrant community tradition to theatrically restage a decisive moment in their independence struggle is vital to Panama’s Guna people Beyond the written word and photographic evidence, how does one keep history alive? For the Guna people of northern Panama, community theatre emerges as a potent form of cultural documentation and preservation. This vibrant documentary directed by Duiren Wagua, who hails from the same Indigenous community, traces a vital tradition that breathes life into monumental events from the past. The year 1903 marked the separation of Panama from Colombia. But with this independence came fresh conflicts, as the new Panamanian government refused to recognise Tulenega Shire, an autonomous Indigenous territory formed in 1870. The Guna people were subjugated under racist laws designed to erase their culture and pillage their land of resources. In February 1925, the local population, women included, took up arms in what is known as the San Blas rebellion against Panama’s soldiers, a courageous fight that brought about independence for the region. Continue reading...

Militias are coercing, bribing and kidnapping young people in remote areas to be fighters, drug sellers, informants or sex slaves In spring last year, Ana’s* friends began to disappear. Members of an armed group had begun recruiting children in her village in Colombia’s north-west region of Norte de Santander, promising them food, money, mobile phones and motorcycles. “They began taking all of the young people, the boys and the girls, my friends from school. I was so scared, I had to shut myself away,” says Ana, then 14. Continue reading...

Stereotypes that centre mens’ worth in their work are strangling sensible debate, and letting down women too Finn Mackay is an academic and the author of Female Masculinities and the Gender Wars First it was mechanisation threatening our jobs, then AI and now this: the Great Feminisation is taking over the workplace. Well, that’s according to American journalist Helen Andrews, who popularised this thesis in a speech to the National Conservatism conference in Washington DC. The idea is that too many women in the workplace, and in positions of power, has led to the dominance of stereotypical feminine values, to the detriment of everyone. Girly things like conflict resolution rather than manly plain speaking, fussy HR departments, or a lack of healthy aggressive competition, have all created an imbalance in the workplace and in the world, suppressing stereotypical masculine values. Andrews fears for her sons and their future in the feminised world that she believes threatens us all. Finn Mackay is the author of Female Masculinities and the Gender Wars, and a senior lecturer in sociology at the University of the West of England in Bristol Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

I can’t dance. Not even a little bit. But the terrible moves my friends mock are an antidote to the racing heart and quivering breath that arrive in my more anxious moments The first time I started dancing at home was a happy accident. I’d just had a terse conversation with an ex, and my body was reacting in its usual way: racing heart, quivering breath and trembling fingers. I needed to calm down. Looking around for quick fixes in my flat – my bed, some stale chocolate digestives and a packet of cigarettes – I settled on the kitchen radio, which had been humming faintly in the background all morning. Tuned to BBC Radio 6 Music, it was playing a disco track I didn’t recognise. But the beat was steady and intermingled with the sounds of tambourines, synths and drums. I turned up the volume, and then my body was moving: limbs swinging, feet tapping, hips wiggling. I continued into the next song, leaning into the feeling and becoming more animated to the sounds of another upbeat 70s track, imagining myself on a crowded, sweaty dancefloor. It was all very silly. But by the third song, my anxiety had melted away. I was smiling. And I felt more like myself again. Continue reading...

After getting dropped by a major label, the Leonard Cohen-influenced south Londoner kept going, and has now won fans in Rosalía, Sabrina Carpenter and more. But writing for the Bard is the best of all, he says Three years back, Matt Maltese was in a casual co-writing session with some friends. Out of it came a song called Magnolias, a stripped back piano ballad about imagining his own funeral. “I didn’t think anything of it,” he says. “And then two years later, we heard some quite bizarre whispers that Rosalía had somehow heard it.” It was true: six months ago, Maltese was sent the Spanish pop star’s demo of the song. He tried not to get too excited, even when, a few weeks back, a blurred-out photo of a Rosalía album tracklisting appeared online. “On the WhatsApp group we were like: I think that says Magnolias!” Magnolias ended up as the final track on Rosalía’s new operatic masterpiece, Lux: one of the most talked-about albums of the year, currently sitting in the UK Top 5. Maltese first heard the finished song the day the album came out, when he’d got back to London from a US tour. “I took a long jet-lagged walk and listened to the whole album to contextualise it. It’s extraordinary.” On Magnolias, Rosalía changed some words, he says, “and dramatised it incredibly. It’s exquisite. It’s a gift from someone, somewhere, that it fell into her lap.” It’s all anyone has wanted to talk to him about since. “I’ve had a lot of follow backs on Instagram,” he smiles. Continue reading...

Embassy’s employment of Gila Ben-Yakov Phillips is potentially violation of UK sanctions law, say experts The British embassy in Tel Aviv may have broken both UK sanctions law and UK government security policies by employing an Israeli citizen who owns a home in an illegal settlement in occupied Palestine, legal experts have said. The embassy’s deputy head of corporate services and HR, Gila Ben-Yakov Phillips, moved to Kerem Reim in 2022. She listed a house she bought there as her home address on financial documents at the time. Continue reading...

Peter Kyle defends government as Reeves faces criticism about pre-budget briefings ahead of Wednesday announcement According to extracts from her speech released overnight, Kemi Badenoch is going to use her speech to the CBI this morning to sugges that the employment rights bill is more of a threat to business than tax rises. She will say: When I visit business and ask them what most causes anxiety, yes, they do talk about the tax burden. But the single most complained about measure in this government’s programme is not a tax rise. It is the employment rights bill … Nobody did more to hammer business and employees than Kemi Badenoch did as business secretary. Her Tory party crashed the economy – leaving firms and families saddled with sky-high interest rates, rocketing energy costs, and higher prices. Yet they still haven’t apologised. The Conservatives are clear: they’ve declared war on workers. Badenoch already described maternity pay as ‘excessive’ and her cruel plans would mean a return of fire-and-rehire and quashed wages for workers, while she drowns business in red tape all over again. The business secretary, Peter Kyle, has just told Today that he “refutes” the assertion that three months of endless leaks, briefings and speculation about which taxes will rise in the Budget has harmed the economy. The governor of the Bank of England is clear that it has. Continue reading...

Arsenal v Chelsea was watched by only 71,000 viewers Saturday noon kick-off believed to be a factor in drop-off The Women’s Super League is concerned about the broadcast slots allocated by its main rights partner, Sky Sports, this season after only 71,000 people watched televised coverage of the flagship fixture between Arsenal and Chelsea this month. The average audience on Sky Sports Main Event was 55,900 – lower than the 57,000 attendance at the Emirates Stadium – with a further 15,100 viewers tuning in on Sky Sports Premier League. The corresponding fixture last season attracted an audience of 732,000 because it was free-to-air on the BBC and took place during the men’s international break. Continue reading...

Blazes that smoulder in the permafrost, only to reignite, are extending fire season though winter, leaving vegetation struggling to recover In May 2023, a lightning strike hit the forest in Donnie Creek, British Columbia, and the trees started to burn. It was early in the year for a wildfire, but a dry autumn and warm spring had turned the forest into a tinderbox, and the flames spread rapidly. By mid-June, the fire had become one of largest in the province’s history, burning through an area of boreal forest nearly twice the size of central London. That year, more of Canada burned than ever before. The return of cold and snow at the close of the year typically signal the end of the wildfire season. But this time, the fire did not stop. Instead, it smouldered in the soil underground, insulated from the freezing conditions by the snowpack. The next spring, it reemerged as a “zombie fire” that continued to burn until August 2024. By then, more than 600,000 hectares (1.5m acres) had been destroyed. Continue reading...

The moon becomes the witty image of an isolated and contemptuously neglected elderly relation Missing You Continue reading...

The latest in our series of writers highlighting their all-time favorite comfort films is a 2012 indie romcom that begins and ends on the November holiday I’ve watched this movie almost every November for about the last 10 years. It’s something of a rarity, a film about Thanksgiving, celebrating the awkward in-between holiday in a sea of clearcut Halloween and Christmas classics. Stuck in Love is an indie romcom from 2012, the directorial debut of writer-director Josh Boone, who would later go on to make The Fault in Our Stars. It boasts a stacked cast featuring Greg Kinnear, Lily Collins, Nat Wolff, Jennifer Connelly and Logan Lerman (and smaller roles for Kristen Bell, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Glen Powell, as well as a cameo from author Stephen King). The movie follows Bill Borgens (Kinnear), an unhappily divorced novelist who fosters his two teenage children’s literary ambitions by encouraging them to write – though he hasn’t written in years since becoming a divorcee – while he obsesses over his ex-wife, Erica (Connelly), who has since remarried. Continue reading...

US and Ukraine say they have ‘updated framework’ for peace plan after weekend talks in Geneva US and Ukraine promise ‘updated’ peace framework after criticism of pro-Russian points in original plan European Council president António Costa said he spoke with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy “to get his assessment of the situation” ahead of today’s informal EU leaders’ meeting on Ukraine on the sidelines of the EU-Africa summit. “A united and coordinated EU position is key in ensuring a good outcome of peace negotiations - for Ukraine and for Europe,” he added. Continue reading...

Blow to leftist coalition government of prime minister Pedro Sanchez, who appointed Álvaro García Ortiz in 2022 Spain’s chief prosecutor announced his resignation on Monday after the supreme court found him guilty last week of leaking confidential information in a case involving a leading opposition figure’s partner. The unprecedented case is a blow to the leftist coalition government of the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, who appointed Álvaro García Ortiz in 2022 and has repeatedly defended his innocence. Continue reading...

Our muscles, bones and organs are held together by a network of tissue that influences our every move. Is there a way we can use it to our advantage? Fascia, the connective tissue that holds together the body’s internal structure, really hasn’t spent all that long in the limelight. Anatomists have known about its existence since before the Hippocratic oath was a thing, but until the 1980s it was routinely tossed in the bin during human dissections, regarded as little more than the wrapping that gets in the way of studying everything else. Over the past few decades, though, our understanding of it has evolved and (arguably) overshot – now, there are plenty of personal trainers who will insist that you should be loosening it up with a foam roller, or even harnessing its magical elastic powers to jump higher and do more press-ups. But what’s it really doing – and is there a way you can actually take advantage of it? “The easiest way to describe fascia is to think about the structure of a tangerine,” says Natasha Kilian, a specialist in musculoskeletal physiotherapy at Pure Sports Medicine. “You’ve got the outer skin, and beneath that, the white pith that separates the segments and holds them together. Fascia works in a similar way: it’s a continuous, all-encompassing network that wraps around and connects everything in the body, from muscles and nerves to blood vessels and organs. It’s essentially the body’s internal wetsuit, keeping everything supported and integrated.” If you’ve ever carved a joint of meat, it’s the thin, silvery layer wrapped around the muscle, like clingfilm. Continue reading...

A young Austrian Jew hides out in the nightclub scene in this 1930s-set drama based on a real story – and inspired by countless other tales of Jews in exile in Europe It is 1938 and the Austrian Anschluss is unfolding. In Vienna, the Jewish Knoller family must make some hard choices. While one brother is sent to stay in America, younger sibling Freddie (Lucas Lynggaard Tønnesen) must fend for himself as his parents opt to stay behind – a choice that is clearly not going to end well. While the film cuts back and forth between periods, we see Freddie on a death march with other Jewish prisoners in one timeframe, and trying to make his way to the UK via France in another. In the westward-bound section, Freddie ends up in Paris, broke and desperate but eager for a bit of glamour all the same. An encounter with raffish but slippery Christos (Fernando Guallar), another immigrant, results in Freddie securing a job in the Opéra neighbourhood persuading Nazi soldiers with his perfect fluent German to come to a nightclub he and Christos work for. This is how he hopes to raise enough money to pay for forged papers. What follows tracks closely to dozens of similar stories about Jews in exile in Europe during the second world war, compelled to keep their identities secret, and while the film is in fact based on the story of a real-life Freddie Knoller, the cliched treatment rather drains it of the plausibility it needs to make it distinctive. Continue reading...

Conchologists, and citizen scientists team up to seek out endangered mollusc species along River Thames It is tiny, hairy and “German” – and it could be hiding underneath a piece of driftwood near you. Citizen scientists and expert conchologists are teaming up to conduct the first London-wide search for one of Britain’s most endangered molluscs. The fingernail-sized German hairy snail (Pseudotrichia rubiginosa) is found in fragmented patches of habitat mostly along the tidal Thames. Continue reading...

Senior UK police officer says AI is accelerating violence against women and girls and that technology companies are complicit One in four people think there is nothing wrong with creating and sharing sexual deepfakes, or they feel neutral about it, even when the person depicted has not consented, according to a police-commissioned survey. The findings prompted a senior police officer to warn that the use of AI is accelerating an epidemic in violence against women and girls (VAWG), and that technology companies are complicit in this abuse. Continue reading...

The most successful quarterback of all-time approached his playing career with ruthless focus. He could do with the same intensity in his retirement projects Tom Brady played for 23 NFL seasons with a single, maniacal goal: to become the greatest quarterback who ever lived. He achieved it. Now, in retirement, Brady has dabbled in everything. He calls games for Fox. He’s building chimneys in Birmingham. He’s flogged crypto. He’s spreading America’s Game to Riyadh. He has a thriving YouTube account. He cloned his dog. Brady’s post-playing portfolio has been diverse, or aimless, depending on your perspective. Side hustles are one thing. But running a pro franchise is not a part-time job. Along with his other roles, Brady is also the de facto football czar of the Raiders, the most hapless team in the league. Continue reading...

Spurs punished for negativity, Dyche’s gameplan downs Liverpool and Wharton’s quality shines through again Top scorers: check the latest race for the golden boot Amid Liverpool’s deepening crisis and the growing scrutiny on Arne Slot, it is only right that Nottingham Forest’s role in it is given some attention and acclaim. Back-to-back league wins at Anfield for the first time since 1963 deserves recognition, as does the willingness of Forest’s players to embrace the gameplan of the third different managerial voice they have heard this season. Sean Dyche’s instructions were implemented to perfection as Liverpool disintegrated. “We changed the tactical side today,” said Forest’s recently appointed manager. “I told the players: ‘We’re not passing it, we are going long, because Liverpool were going to press the life out of you’ – which is exactly what they did at the start. We dealt with that quite well and we mixed it tactically, which is credit to the players.” Forest’s tactics may have been straight out of the Dyche playbook but they were also encouraged, inadvertently, by Slot, who has regularly told opponents how to play his Liverpool team this season. He has meanwhile not found any solutions. Andy Hunter Match report: Liverpool 0-3 Nottingham Forest Match report: Newcastle 2-1 Manchester City Match report: Arsenal 4-1 Tottenham Barney Ronay: Eze finds his own plane just above ground level Match report: Leeds 1-2 Aston Villa Match report: Fulham 1-0 Sunderland Continue reading...

Lyric Hammersmith, London A sinister giant computer and a meat-eating headmaster have a sinister plan for shy Jack and his schoolfriends. Meanwhile, the Fairy Godfather has the hots for the dame This is not your bog-standard Jack and the Beanstalk. In Sonia Jalaly’s version, the story has been picked up and dropped into a school in Hammersmith, run by the meat-loving monster Fleshcreep (John Partridge, who wears a salami-printed suit). There’s no giant either; just a colossus computer system hidden in the sky, built to wipe children’s brains of all their imagination. It’s all good fun and games, but at times you long for a little familiarity. Still, with the truly wonderful Fairy Godfather (Jade Hackett) at the front and centre of this production, it would take a real Scrooge not to be taken in by all the festivity. Hackett combines wizardry with wisdom to serve up one of the most commanding turns I’ve ever seen on a panto stage. Continue reading...

In western Chad, villagers are desperately trying to hold back the sand as the climate crisis wreaks havoc on one of the hottest countries in the world On the ochre sands of Kanem, the neat vegetable gardens and silver-green palm trees of Kaou oasis stand out, incongruous in this desert province of 70,000 sq km in western Chad. Oases such as this, on the edge of the Sahara, have sustained human life in the world’s deserts for thousands of years. Globally, an estimated 150 million people rely on the water, arable land and access to trade networks they provide. But in Chad, such oases are disappearing fast. Continue reading...

Its popularity is as enduring as its fabrics – and it allows men to age stylishly without worrying about their waistlines. One collector delves into the reasons the ordinary clothes of workers past live on in men’s wardrobes today We’ll never know who designed much of the workwear worn by the labouring classes of yesteryear. But they might well be bemused that the ordinary garments they cut generously, to allow movement while operating a machine or driving a train, are now highly collectible and sought after – worn by men who do little more than swivel on an office chair. If you’ve not noticed the prevalence of the dull tan of the Carhartt barn jacket or the triple-patch pocket of the chore coat, then perhaps you’ve been living in a cave with no signal to receive Instagram ads. Marks & Spencer is abundant with chore jackets and, in this year’s John Lewis Christmas advert, the dad has his suitably saccharine emotional moment wearing one, too. Continue reading...

The fingerprints of Russia and Saudi Arabia are all over the decision text in Brazil. But a group of nations led by Colombia and the Netherlands offer hope Genevieve Guenther is the founding director of End Climate Silence The 30th conference of the parties (Cop30), the annual climate summit of all nations party to the UNFCCC, just ended. Stakeholders are out in the media trying spin the outcome as a win. Simon Stiell, climate change executive secretary for the UN is, for instance, praising Cop30 for showing that “climate cooperation is alive and kicking, keeping humanity in the fight for a liveable planet”. But let us be clear. The conference was a failure. Its outcome, the decision text known as the Global Mutirão or Global Collective Effort, is, in essence, a form of climate denial. In 2023, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) determined that the world had already developed, or planned to develop, too much fossil fuel to be able to halt global heating at 2C. It acknowledged that the capital assets built up around fossil fuels must be stranded – that is to say, abandoned and not used – if warming was to be limited to 2C. But the Cop30 decision text ignores all this. Indeed, it never even mentions fossil fuels. Genevieve Guenther is the founding director of End Climate Silence, and the author of The Language of Climate Politics Continue reading...