⚽ Updates on the 8pm (GMT) kick-off at the Amex ⚽ Live scores | Top scorers | Read Football Daily Tonight’s game – please – will surely be quieter than last night’s It’s one of football’s more bittersweet accolades: the unofficial title of the Premier League’s greatest selling club. Sure, it means you’re an excellently run club, unlike most of your peers, and have an enviable scouting network. But it also means you have to constantly regenerate – Bournemouth have inevitably had a tough season – and endure the low-level frustration of watching players you discovered become superstars elsewhere. Continue reading...

Rising violence in hospitals is part of a disturbing pattern that must be addressed with actions as well as words Prof Nicola Ranger, the general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), is right to describe the rising level of violence directed at NHS staff in England as an emergency. Freedom of information requests by the Guardian have uncovered a sharp increase in the number of reported attacks in hospitals, with an average of 285 each day in 2024-25. Some of the details shared with our reporters were horrifying. One A&E nurse said that she sees weapons brandished on a monthly basis, and described two incidents in which male patients deliberately ejaculated on nurses while waiting for treatment. A consultant – now retired – said that he had been violently assaulted twice within a period of weeks. The increase in racist incidents is also gravely concerning. Because the UK’s health workforce is so diverse, and interacts constantly with the public, its members are highly exposed to rising anti-migrant sentiment. In November the health secretary, Wes Streeting, expressed shock at the impact on the NHS of resurgent “1970s-, 1980s-style racism”. Continue reading...

Blair, Putin, Erdoğan, Orbán: the names of those invited to serve say it all. And it's about so much more than Gaza The fate of the Palestinian people offers a warning about the future of humanity. When I recently visited the West Bank, Palestinians kept impressing the same point on me: Israel has turned their land into a laboratory. The technology of oppression that it has deployed – including in its genocide in Gaza – ranges from hi-tech surveillance to military drones and AI on the battlefield. These technologies have been exported to oppressive states across the world. And it doesn’t stop there. This brings us to Donald Trump’s “board of peace”, now set to rule Gaza. In the sleepy Oxfordshire village of Sutton Courtenay, where George Orwell lies buried, the ground itself ought to be shaking. This isn’t peace. It’s naked neocolonialism. Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

This simple idea has travelled around the world, bringing hope and inspiration to millions Who, when travelling on the London Underground, hasn’t gone up the escalators with a spring in their step after reading Adrian Mitchell’s Celia Celia (“When I walk along High Holborn / I think of you with nothing on”) or been soothed by Carol Ann Duffy’s Prayer? This month Poems on the Underground celebrates its 40th anniversary. Inspired by a reading of As You Like It, Judith Chernaik, an American writer living in London, conceived a plan to scatter poetry across the underground as the love-sick Orlando hangs sonnets through the Forest of Arden. Her simple idea took root below the sewers and spread to cities across the world. Poetry in Motion launched in New York in 1992, and today poems can be found on public transport in Dublin, Paris, Beijing, Shanghai, Warsaw and Moscow. Continue reading...

Esther Ghey says daughter’s eating disorder and self-harm had been exacerbated by harmful online content The mother of the murdered teenager Brianna Ghey has urged Keir Starmer to ban social media for under-16s, adding to growing pressure on the prime minister before a crunch vote on the issue on Wednesday. Esther Ghey wrote to Starmer on Monday explaining in detail how she felt her daughter’s eating disorder and self-harm had been exacerbated by TikTok influencers with whom she had become obsessed. Continue reading...

His eponymous label is renowned for its opulent, elegant take on women’s fashion and has a legion of famous fans Valentino Garavani, the designer central to pioneering Italian glamour with his eponymous fashion house, has died aged 93. “Valentino Garavani passed away today at his Roman residence, surrounded by his loved ones,” his foundation said on Instagram on Monday. “Valentino Garavani was not only a constant guide and inspiration for all of us, but a true source of light, creativity and vision,” it added. Continue reading...

US president says he no longer feels the need to think ‘purely of peace’ in letter to Norwegian prime minister Donald Trump has linked his repeated threats to seize control of Greenland to his failure to win the Nobel peace prize, as transatlantic tensions over the Arctic island escalated further and threatened to rekindle a trade war with the EU. In an extraordinary text message sent on Sunday to the Norwegian prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, the US president wrote that after being snubbed for the prize, he no longer felt the need to think “purely of peace”. Continue reading...

Malcolm Phillips, 92, is accused of abusing children at a home in Halifax between 1976 and 1994; while Linda Brunning, 66, is accused of assisting him A care home manager in West Yorkshire isolated and sexually abused vulnerable and “unwanted” children using his “unfettered access” to them over a period of almost two decades, a court has heard. Malcolm Phillips, 92, is accused of “using children for his sexual gratification” at Skircoat Lodge care home in Halifax between 1976 and 1994. Continue reading...

Traders have learned to live with the US president’s rhetoric, but the EU’s measures could go beyond tariffs and into capital markets That’s how the chancellor’s luck runs these days. You arrange to open the day’s trading on the stock exchange to hail a “new golden age” for the City and bask in the sight of the FTSE 100 index above 10,000, and what happens? You have to skip off to the prime minister’s statement on Greenland. In the event, Rachel Reeves needn’t have worried about the poor optics of overseeing a terrible day for share prices. Donald Trump’s weekend threat of tariffs on eight European countries, including the UK, did not cause an explosion in the London stock market. The Footsie closed down 0.4%, which doesn’t register on the doomsday radar, although European stocks did worse. There was even a £7.7bn bid for the insurer Beazley at a fat premium. Continue reading...

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Of course one doll cannot show the breadth, richness and even pain of the autistic experience, says Dr Erin Beeston As the parent/carer of autistic children, I’m pleased that my kids have more visibility in mainstream culture with the launch of the “autistic Barbie” doll (Mattel launches its first autistic Barbie, 12 January). For the kids, they’re interested, but, given my youngest’s penchant for graffiti, “autistic Barbie” will be drawn all over and resemble “weird Barbie” in no time. I’ve found it hard to share this pleasure, having seen my academic and activist colleagues slam the doll. I completely understand their reasoning. Of course it lacks nuance to use visible accessories to represent a hidden disability. Of course one doll cannot show the breadth, richness and even pain of the autistic experience. Continue reading...

It is horrifying that victims and survivors of abuse can be traced by someone with no licence or training who is willing to take a perpetrator’s money, writes Noor Da Silva I was grateful to read the Guardian investigation revealing how perpetrators of abuse are using private investigators to further harm by proxy, exposing the unseen threat faced by victims and their supporters (You feel violated’: how stalkers outsource abuse to private investigators, 11 January). As the manager of a sexual and domestic abuse service, I see the impact of stalking on a monthly basis, not as an adjacent concern but as one of the clearest predictors of intimate partner homicide we have. Victim-survivors who disclose stalking and associated behaviours are rarely paranoid; they are often correctly identifying imminent danger. Continue reading...

Adrian Chiles’s column about dog poo left readers thinking about other types of animal excrement and etiquette Adrian Chiles traces the recent history of dog owners picking up their dog’s poo, starting from New York (I’ve been thinking a lot about dog poo, 14 January). Certainly in this country it is now possible to go for a walk in the countryside or in towns without having to watch your step. However, quite often a footpath or bridleway is made impassable due to large dumps of horse manure. Dog owners have taken on their duty to clear up after their pets, always armed with dog-poo bags. Why are horse owners and riders allowed to make much larger, smellier and long-lasting heaps of horse excrement? I can imagine that it would be inconvenient for a horse rider to dismount so as to clear up the poo, but I don’t see why the riding stables should not have this duty. I look forward to the day when walkers can enjoy the environment free of dog and horse-made hazards. Ros Ward Durham Continue reading...

Alien lifeforms | Power of prayer | Corned beef | Remembering birthdays | Celebrity old-age home Your article (Nasa moon rocket creeps to its launchpad in preparation for astronaut flight, 18 January) quotes the crew commander of Artemis II, Reid Wiseman: “They are so fired up that we are headed back to the moon. They just want to see humans as far away from Earth as possible.” I imagine that most of Earth’s lifeforms would agree. Pete Stockwell St Buryan, Cornwall • Ravi Holy’s thought-provoking article on the power and purpose of prayer (19 January) reminded me of a favourite cartoon. Two monks are sitting on either side of a chess board and about to start a new game, with one of them saying: “Right, this time praying’s cheating.” Matthew Newman Leeds Continue reading...

Chief classical music critic of the Guardian admired for writing without fear of favour Andrew Clements, who has died aged 75 after a period of ill health, was for more than three decades the Guardian’s chief classical music critic. His style was a model of critical integrity – authoritative and intelligent, sometimes enthusiastic and sometimes slightly grumpy, dry-humoured yet never showy. Music may say things that words cannot express, but he mastered the rare art of putting music into words, always using language with precision; reading him, you knew what a performance had sounded like. Best known for championing new music with tireless devotion, Andrew had much wider musical interests than many realised. Continue reading...

Tory leader says Conservatives are ‘THE party of the right’ and warns against those seeking to undermine from within Robert Jenrick’s defection does not mean the Conservatives are moving towards the centre ground, Kemi Badenoch has told her MPs in a letter that warned about people seeking to “undermine the party from within”. In a lengthy message to the MPs, seen by the Guardian, Badenoch said the party must avoid “psychodrama”, “intrigue” and damaging splits, warning that a small number of Tory staffers were briefing against the party while claiming to be Conservative sources. Continue reading...

Keir Starmer has played down the possibility of retaliatory tariffs on the US, after Donald Trump threatened them against Nato allies unless they support his plan to take Greenland. At an emergency press conference, Starmer said tariffs would be the “wrong thing to do”. Continue reading...

People in Adamuz rushed to help when two trains smashed into each other and say they will never forget what they saw Just after 2.45pm on Monday, a huge yellow-and-green crane lorry swung off the main road that cuts through the forested hills of eastern Andalucía and beetled down a track to begin picking up the enormous, wrecked pieces of Spain’s worst rail disaster in more than a decade. Behind it rolled a support lorry and a convoy of police cars. A few minutes’ drive away, between groves of olive and oak trees, lay the two stricken trains that had smashed into each other on Sunday night, killing at least 39 people and critically injuring at least 12 others. As investigators and Guardia Civil officers walked up and down the line by the twisted carriages, the nearby town of Adamuz was in the early stages of trying to process what had happened a few kilometres from its outskirts. Continue reading...

IOPC asked to investigate former chief constable after Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were banned from Aston Villa match The disgraced former head of West Midlands police has been referred to the police watchdog after an official inquiry found that “greatly exaggerated” intelligence was used to justify a ban on fans of an Israeli football team attending a match. Craig Guildford retired with immediate effect as chief constable of the second largest police force in England on Friday, two days after a damning report led Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, to declare she had lost confidence in him. Continue reading...

The next three weekends of relentless action will put us within touching distance of a definitive answer Cheltenham opens its doors for the final time before the festival meeting for an eight-race Trials Day card on Saturday, marking the start of a frenetic 15-day period of action during which, according to recent figures as least, trainers will apply the finishing touches to at least half of the runners and around 60% of the winners over the four days in March. And this year it will do so amid a refreshed sense of optimism, both at the track and in British jumping as a whole, that things are (finally) on the up. Continue reading...

Though Labour’s voters are more likely to be the educated middle-classes, its focus must be fighting inequality. We know Farage’s party will only enrich the wealthy Class politics is back, as if it ever went away. Robert Jenrick declares that Tories are toffs and “the divide in British politics has become Reform’s workers party versus the Tory posh party”. He says the Tories are so “out of touch” they are no longer “the party of working people, of provincial Britain, of the towns and cities”. He’s not wrong, says Prof Tim Bale, political analyst: “Reform can claim to be a disproportionately working-class party.” Considering the social class difference between the two rightwing parties, where does Jenrick belong? As a private school and Cambridge-educated former director of Christie’s auction house, is he too posh for Reform, even though he’s the son of a small businessman and first in his family to go to university? Hardly, since it’s a party founded by zillionaires. It’s a forever political mystery that low-paid/working-class voters will opt for the very wealthy with contrary financial interests. Bale points out that the Tories’ grip on power always relied on backing from a third of working-class voters. Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

What if the thing we needed more of was to do less? What if this was the year we finally learned to rest? Every new year – after the holiday glut of travel, parties, shopping and baked goods – there can be pressure to do and be more: more active, more productive, more creative, more thrifty. Maybe this will be the year I finally start meal planning or doing morning pages. New year, new me! But what if the thing we needed more of was to do less? What if this was the year we finally learned to rest? Physical rest: making sure you get enough sleep; taking naps. Mental rest: journaling; meditating; doing tasks that are not mentally taxing, like puzzles. Emotional rest: talking through feelings and experiences with a friend or therapist. Social rest: setting aside time alone to recharge; making sure you’re spending time with people who don’t leave you feeling drained. Sensory rest: spending time outdoors; taking breaks from screens. Creative rest: engaging in creative hobbies like drawing, reading or dancing. Spiritual rest: connecting to a cause or tradition that feels meaningful to you. Continue reading...

Dramatic tournament left food for thought for the 2027 edition, from the weather to the warm welcome in Morocco At the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations in Côte d’Ivoire, officiating was at its finest, with the Confederation of African Football’s video assistant referee operation setting standards that were the envy of the Premier League and several other European leagues. Sadly, refereeing standards took a nosedive at this tournament, which many associate with the abrupt dismissal of the Ivorian Noumandiez Doué as head of Caf’s refereeing department on the eve of last year’s African Nations Championship. Continue reading...

The answers to today’s puzzles Earlier today, I set you these three geometrical puzzles. Here they are again with solutions. 1. Bonnie Tiler Continue reading...

Kenny Alexander and Lee Feldman ordered to pay Gambling Commission’s costs after claim dismissed Two gambling executives who are facing criminal charges of bribery and fraud have failed in a separate civil suit against the Gambling Commission, in which they accused the regulator of breaching their right to privacy. Kenny Alexander and Lee Feldman, the former chief executive and chair of Entain, the Ladbrokes and Coral owner, sued the gambling regulator last year, over its intervention in their failed attempt to take control of the online casino company 888. Continue reading...