Novelist George RR Martin says RSC is ‘obvious choice’ to put on new play The Mad King, which will open after spring A new prequel to George RR Martin’s blockbuster fantasy saga Game of Thrones is to be staged this summer by the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon. The bestselling author, whose novels have been turned into a juggernaut TV franchise, said the RSC was the “obvious choice” to put on the play, Game of Thrones: The Mad King, because Shakespeare had been a constant source of inspiration to him. “Not only that, he faced similar challenges in how to put a battle on stage,” added Martin. “So we are in good company.” Continue reading...

Prop gets erroneous credit for Traitors appearance ‘Who am I to correct her? I didn’t really know what to say’ Anyone who tuned in to the celebrity version of The Traitors last year will be familiar with the former England rugby player Joe Marler. With the exception, it turns out, of Princess Anne who was involved in a case of mistaken identity during the Calcutta Cup pre-match formalities at Murrayfield last Saturday. Clearly unaware Marler had retired from rugby 15 months ago, the Princess Royal stopped for a chat with her new favourite prop while being introduced to the England team in her role as patron of Scottish Rugby. She even confided how amusing she had found him on Celebrity Traitors, which would have been fine had the player in front of her been Marler rather than another bearded English front-rower, Joe Heyes. Continue reading...

Without AI you will be a ‘weaker and poorer nation’, warns former UK chancellor two months into job at US firm The former chancellor George Osborne has warned that countries that do not embrace the kind of powerful AI systems made by his new employer, OpenAI, risked “Fomo” and could be left weaker and poorer. Osborne, who is two months into a job as head of the $500bn San Francisco AI company’s “for countries” programme, told leaders gathered for the AI Impact summit in Delhi: “Don’t be left behind.” He warned that without AI rollouts they could end up with a workforce “less willing to stay put” because they might want to seek AI-enabled fortunes elsewhere. Continue reading...

After 32 years of working in the UK, Prof Carine Ronsmans will now be required to pay £589 to return there after visiting her native Belgium. Plus letters from Michael Bulley, Reini Schühle, Dr Michael Paraskos and Dr Peter R King The new border controls being introduced for dual nationals create anomalies that will surprise no one who has followed recent Home Office policy changes (Dual nationals to be denied entry to UK from 25 February unless they have British passport, 13 February). At worst they are cruel; at best they are exploitative money-making exercises, unthought out, or the bureaucratic consequence of the introduction of digitisation. I, a Belgian citizen, have worked in the UK for 32 years. My “settled status” now allows me to travel freely between the UK and Belgium using my EU passport. A few years ago, I applied for British citizenship because I was uncertain whether my “entitlement” to live and work in the UK would be maintained after Brexit, and because I wanted to vote in the UK. I have not yet applied for a British passport because I would have to submit my Belgian one for an unknown length of time, which might prevent me from visiting my ailing 96-year-old father in Brussels. Continue reading...

Prof Eric Jauniaux explains the causes of placenta previa and placenta accreta spectrum I am the lead developer of the Royal College of Gynaecologists’ Green-top guidelines on placenta previa and placenta accreta spectrum (PAS), referenced in your article (Campaign urges NHS to improve diagnosis of potentially life-threatening childbirth condition, 18 February). I also have personal experience of placental delivery complications, as when my son was born, his placenta got stuck inside the womb of his mother after his birth (placental retention). Placental retention is due to the premature closure of the cervix after the birth of the baby, and is a leading cause of uterine atony and postpartum haemorrhage, affecting around one in 100 births. Continue reading...

The government’s curriculum review needs to be bold and cut what’s not working for young people, says Myles McGinley. Plus a letter from Prof Michael Bassey The emerging evidence on exams and mental health is alarming (More exam stress at 15 linked to higher risk of depression as young adult – study, 12 February). Exams are the fairest and most reliable way to assess what students know and can do. They provide a sense of achievement and can help to build resilience. But something is out of sync. Young people face too many GCSE exams over too short a period. As the Cambridge OCR exam board has shown, England’s 16-year-olds spend longer in exam halls than almost any of their international peers. Last year, the government committed to a 10% reduction in exam time. It’s a step in the right direction, when we need a leap. Continue reading...

Readers respond to an article by Frances Ryan on whether it is ethical to use social media apps, given they can be rife with toxic rhetoric Frances Ryan is right to point out the dangers of social media apps (Given the toxicity of social media, a moral question now faces all of us: is it still ethical to use it?, 14 February), but she also acknowledges how beneficial they can be. In my early days on Bluesky, I began questioning why I was spending time building a following. I wanted to promote my books because I believed that they had the potential to help many people, but book sales didn’t actually increase. Still, I continued. I posted Arwa Mahdawi’s powerful column about the Save Act. I was able to let countless people know for the first time how dangerous this law would be. Then a researcher friend told me that he was having trouble getting people to complete a survey on gender-affirming care. With the help of others on the platform, we were able to get many participants for him. Continue reading...

Conductor and pianist highly regarded for his elegant interpretations of Chopin and Liszt The Hungarian pianist Tamás Vásáry, who has died aged 92, was highly regarded for his elegance and clarity of execution in music by Chopin and Vásáry’s compatriot Liszt. His first concerts in the early 1960s, in London, New York and other major cities such as Milan, Vienna and Berlin, gave promise of a new talent that was exciting for its poetic expressivity rather than for daredevil virtuosity. That priority was maintained as his career unfolded, and although his repertoire was also to embrace Debussy, Mozart, Bach, Beethoven and Schumann, as well as the concertos of Rachmaninov and the chamber music of Brahms, it was Chopin and Liszt to which he constantly returned. Continue reading...

Campaigners say the news is a ‘crushing blow’ to patients waiting for surgeries A shortage in medical cement could lead to delays in a number of patients getting hip and knee replacements and other pre-planned surgeries, experts have said. There is a global supply issue from the NHS’s main provider of bone cement. Continue reading...

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Party withdraws all Lancashire libraries from City of Sanctuary UK programme that supports new arrivals to UK Reform UK has been criticised for withdrawing all Lancashire libraries from a scheme supporting refugees because it was not value for money – despite being free. Nigel Farage’s party said the region’s 63 libraries would no longer be part of the UK-wide Libraries of Sanctuary programme because it was not “an appropriate use of taxpayers’ money”. Continue reading...

Backing a sign of improved relations between presidents Tournament expected not to be held every two years Uefa is ready to back Fifa’s proposed expansion of the Club World Cup to 48 teams for the next edition in 2029 in a sign of improving relations between their respective presidents, Aleksander Ceferin and Gianni Infantino. European football’s governing body had opposed plans to grow the Club World Cup over concerns an expanded tournament could threaten the status of the Champions League, but Uefa is now willing to back Fifa in return for an undertaking that the competition will not be held every two years. Continue reading...

My former colleague Barry Johnson, who has died aged 67 from bowel cancer, was a skilled and much respected Guardian journalist from 1986 until 2021, during which time his roles included home newsdesk editor and chief subeditor. Those who worked with him remember his intelligence, kindness, wit and unflappable calm. Barry was born in Liverpool, the son of Molly (Muriel, nee Newbery) and Sydney Johnson. His father was a bank manager, and his mother had been a wartime land worker, a Norland nanny and then a matron at a school for blind children. Continue reading...

Kerstin G froze to death on Großglockner when Thomas P descended mountain to fetch help An Austrian mountaineer is to appear in court accused of gross negligent manslaughter after his girlfriend died of hypothermia when he left her close to the summit on a climb that went dramatically wrong. The 33-year-old woman, identified only as Kerstin G, froze to death on 19 January 2025, about 50 metres below the summit of the Großglockner, Austria’s tallest mountain, after an ascent of more than 17 hours with her boyfriend, Thomas P, 36. Continue reading...

New EP Days of Ash features songs about Renee Good, Iranian protesters and other political topics, and precedes new ‘defiantly joyful’ album later in 2026 • Alexis Petridis on Days of Ash: six new tracks that reaffirm the band as a vital political voice U2 have released their first collection of new music since 2017 – a politically charged EP entitled Days of Ash, which focuses on a series of high-profile global deaths including the killing of Renee Good by ICE agents. Good, a mother of three children who was killed on 7 January while protesting against ICE activity in Minneapolis, is the subject of the opening song, American Obituary. Continue reading...

(Island) On their first collection of new songs since 2017, the quartet have a crispness that has been lacking in their 21st-century material, as they nimbly react to shocking news stories • News: Bono lambasts ICE, Putin, Netanyahu and more as U2 release first collection of new songs since 2017 It’s nearly nine years since U2 released a collection of original material, 2017’s Songs of Experience. They’ve hardly been idle since: two tours, two films, a 40-date residency at the Las Vegas Sphere, nearly three hours of stripped-down re-recordings of old material on Songs of Surrender, plus Bono’s autobiography, which spawned a solo tour, a stint on Broadway and another film. An impressive workload by any standards. Still, you could take the gap between original albums – the longest in U2’s history – as evidence of a problem that’s bedevilled the band for nearly 20 years: where do U2 fit into the current musical landscape? Continue reading...

Russia is back in love with the Games and a return to athletes competing under their own flag at LA in two years’ time seems highly likely First came the reverberating cheers. Then a deluge of soft toys lobbed from the stands. But across the face of the brilliant Russian skater Adeliia Petrosian there was only the faintest of smiles. For now. So far at these Winter Olympics, a Russian is yet to win a medal. But there is a live possibility that could change on Thursday when the 18-year-old Petrosian, who sits in fifth after the short programme, takes to the ice again shortly after 9pm. Continue reading...

Medics in Liverpool say intervention is needed to save children from ‘a miserable life’ of bladder problems Children are using incontinence pads and urinating in buckets next to their bed at night due to bladder problems caused by ketamine addiction, according to the first specialist NHS clinic dealing with the issue. Medics at Alder Hey children’s hospital in Liverpool have opened the first ketamine clinic for young people in the UK in response to a surge in urology problems linked to addiction of the drug. Continue reading...

⚽ Champions League playoff first leg, 5.45pm GMT kick-off ⚽ Live scores | Follow us on Bluesky | And email Xaymaca Qarabag: Kochalski, Matheus Silva, Mustafazade, Medina, Cafarquliyev, Pedro Bicalho, Jankovic, Andrade, Montiel, Zoubir, Duran. Subs: Ramazanov, Buntic, Mmaee, Addai, Daniel, Borges, Kashchuk, Qurbanly, Bayramov, Abbas Huseynov, Cabrayilzada, Badavi Huseynov. Newcastle: Pope, Trippier, Thiaw, Burn, Hall, Tonali, Willock, Elanga, Woltemade, Barnes, Gordon. Subs: Ruddy, Ramsdale, Harris, Joelinton, Osula, Jacob Murphy, Alex Murphy, Ramsey, Shahar, Neave. Continue reading...

Actor, whose credits also included RoboCop 2, Anomalisa and Heaven’s Gate, was also an accomplished playwright Tom Noonan, the actor known for his Michael Mann collaborations, has died at the age of 74. His death was confirmed by Fred Dekker, the director of 80s comedy horror The Monster Squad which saw Noonan play Frankenstein’s Monster. Continue reading...

Consumers beware: you have to keep a forensic eye on the deals for all the services you pay for. Otherwise, like me, you’ll get shafted Idiot. More fool you. Serves you right. What did you expect? These were some of the things people said to me when I told them about something I had done, or rather not done, or rather – as I saw it – had done to me. I thought I was the victim. Others just thought me a bit of a pillock. For years I had breakdown cover with the same well-known name. Let’s call it SMBOBU Recovery. Skilled Mechanics But Otherwise a Bit Unscrupulous. I can’t tell you how long I’d been with SMBOBU Recovery because I can’t bear to look. I never had any problem with the service, not least because I never broke down. To be fair, the one time I remember calling on them, when my motorbike’s battery went flat, the bloke turned up promptly and played a blinder. He couldn’t get at the battery terminals to clip on his charger cables, so he executed a devilishly clever manoeuvre he called chopsticks. This involved poking a couple of long screwdrivers on to the terminals and clipping his clips on to them. Nice work, credit where it’s due, etc. Adrian Chiles is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Volodymyr Zelenskyy says ‘no agreement’ has been made during Ukraine-Russia peace talks taking place in Geneva. The US are brokering talks but expectations remain low - while Ukrainians continue to face Russian strikes amid subzero temperatures. Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian’s foreign correspondent in Kyiv, Luke Harding. Continue reading...

The idea of the former PM being driven by delusions of grandeur runs through Channel 4’s new documentary. Still, there is fun in seeing the world as it was There’s a funny moment towards the end of The Tony Blair Story, Channel 4’s three-part documentary about the former prime minister, in which Blair is asked to introspect about his own personality. For the previous three hours or so we have enjoyed a series of talking heads picking over his premiership. Now he breaks the fourth wall and, with something like incredulity, says what’s the point of asking him to identify his own weaknesses when all he’ll give is a “politician’s answer”. Reminded he’s no longer a politician, Blair replies as honestly as at any point in the encounter: “You’re always a politician.” It is one of the more satisfying exchanges in Michael Waldman’s series, which, depending on your view, is either a futile exercise in confirming one’s existing prejudices about Blair, or more than three hours of great telly. I’m inclined towards the latter, partly for the enjoyment it offers of being yanked back to the memory of all those old horribles. Nothing dates quicker than an out of office politician and it’s a particular nostalgia that’s triggered by footage of Robin Cook at John Smith’s funeral, or Max Hastings describing Blair’s henchmen as “absolutely ruthless bastards”, or Jack Straw being interviewed in a black velvet jacket like something from Death on the Nile. Continue reading...

Economic uncertainty drives customers to snap up 22-carat gold bars and coins or sell off unworn jewellery “With everything that’s going on in the economy and Donald Trump banging his chest against the world, we’re finding there’s no trust in the banks because we don’t know what’s going to happen,” Sandeep Kanda says. Kanda is the owner of Sunny Jewellers, situated along a stretch of Leicester known as the Golden Mile, and is a beneficiary of consumers seeking alternative investments amid the uncertainty. Continue reading...

Hard disks and magnetic tape have a limited lifespan, but storage developed by Microsoft could last for millennia Some cultures used stone, others used parchment. Some even, for a time, used floppy disks. Now scientists have come up with a new way to keep archived data safe that, they say, could endure for millennia: laser-writing in glass. From personal photos that are kept for a lifetime to business documents, medical information, data for scientific research, national records and heritage data, there is no shortage of information that needs to be preserved for very long periods of time. Continue reading...