This crime drama’s lead is as luminous as ever in a show that’s a cut above the norm – even if it increasingly feels like it’s retreading old ground Most crime dramas don’t even attempt to elevate themselves above their genre. Someone gets killed, suspects abound, the detectives pootle around for a bit, then the culprit is caught and everyone forgets about what they just watched. No harm in that. A select few, however, are so good they break out of their category: the likes of Happy Valley and Line of Duty do have cops collecting clues to try to nail a villain, but are so well made they leave regular crime behind and rise up to mix it with the swankiest prestige dramas. Then there are the shows that are somewhere in between. Premium genre pieces, you could call them: they stick to the template of sleuthfests that air on weeknights on terrestrial channels at 9pm, and can be enjoyed purely on that level, but they’re pushing at the edges, adding quality where they could easily not bother. Unforgotten is one; in 2024, the first season of writer Mick Ford’s Yorkshire-set series After the Flood was another. Continue reading...

Frank under intense pressure after West Ham defeat Irate supporters call for his sacking with team 14th Thomas Frank oversaw training at Tottenham on Sunday and maintained a business-as-usual front before the club’s Champions League tie against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday night – despite the uncertainty that is raging over this future. The manager’s continued employment is in the balance after Spurs’ last-gasp 2-1 home defeat against West Ham on Saturday when the club’s supporters called for him to be “sacked in the morning”. The result kept Tottenham 14th in the Premier League and continued their miserable run in the competition. They have won only two of their past 13 games in the league. Continue reading...

Saracens to play Prem champions after losing to Warriors Harlequins defeat La Rochelle to help Leicester progress Saracens will travel to face Bath in the round of 16 after being beaten 28-3 by Glasgow in their final pool match at Scotstoun. Most of the points came in the first half, with the Warriors scoring three converted tries through Ollie Smith, Kyle Steyn and George Horne while Saracens replied with an Owen Farrell penalty. Seb Stephen then rumbled over in the closing seconds of the match to secure a fourth successive bonus-point pool-stage victory for Glasgow. Their reward for topping pool 1 is a last-16 tie against the Bulls on the first weekend of April. Continue reading...

Two trains derail near Adamuz, Cordóba province, leaving scores injured, state-owned broadcaster reports Two high-speed trains have derailed in southern Spain, the rail network operator said, with reports from the country’s state-owned broadcaster that seven people had died and 100 were injured – 25 seriously. The accident happened near Adamuz in the province of Córdoba. An unknown number of passengers had been injured, RTVE said, citing civil guard sources. Continue reading...

Heckle comes during rendition of Star-Spangled Banner US president has threatened tariffs on European nations Mounting tensions between Europe and the United States moved into the sporting arena on Sunday when a member of the crowd shouted “Leave Greenland alone” as the US national anthem was sung during an NBA game in London. Actor Vanessa Williams was performing the Star-Spangled Banner before the Memphis Grizzlies faced the Orlando Magic at the O2 Arena when she was interrupted by the heckle. The intervention drew a round of applause and cheers from many in the crowd. Continue reading...

Trump lawyer Robert Garson told the Telegraph he discussed refuge for those leaving UK over antisemitism Discussions are reportedly under way within Donald Trump’s administration about the US possibly granting asylum to Jewish people from the UK, according to the Telegraph, citing the US president’s personal lawyer. Trump lawyer Robert Garson told the newspaper that he has held conversations with the US state department about offering refuge to British Jews who are leaving the UK citing rising antisemitism. Continue reading...

William Brock fatally shot Lo-Letha Toland-Hall in 2024 after wrongly assuming she was involved in plot to rob him An 83-year-old Ohio man faces sentencing on Tuesday after being convicted of murder in the shooting of an Uber driver who he wrongly thought was trying to rob him. William J Brock fatally shot the driver after wrongly assuming she was in on a plot involving scam phone calls that deceived them both to get $12,000 in supposed bond money for a relative, authorities said. Associated Press contributed Continue reading...

Veteran MP says ‘time to put country before party’ citing Conservative position on Chagos Islands The Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell has joined Reform UK, the party has announced. Rosindell, the MP for Romford since 2001, said on X that he had joined the Conservative party at the age of 14, inspired by the principles advocated by Margaret Thatcher but that “the time has come to put country before party”. Continue reading...

Fires blaze through 8,500 hectares, forcing 50,000 people to evacuate as firefighters struggle to extinguish flames Wildfires raging across central and southern Chile have killed at least 15 people, scorched thousands of acres of forest and destroyed scores of homes, authorities said, as the South American country swelters under a heatwave. Chile’s president, Gabriel Boric, declared a state of catastrophe in the country’s central Biobío region and the neighbouring Ñuble region, about 500km (300 miles) south of Santiago, the capital. Continue reading...

UK prime minister holds phone call with US president as European leaders scramble to protect Danish territory Keir Starmer has told Donald Trump he is wrong to threaten tariffs against Nato allies to try to secure Greenland, as part of a flurry of diplomatic calls intended to tackle the crisis. The UK prime minister spoke to the US president on Sunday, as well as to Mette Frederiksen, the Danish PM, whose country’s territory includes Greenland, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, and Mark Rutte, the Nato secretary general. Continue reading...

Live updates, 8pm GMT, 3pm ET kick-off at Foxborough Nix out for season after Broncos’ win | And mail Graham Hi and hello football fans, welcome to the divisional round of the NFL playoffs aka the best weekend in footballTM. A distinction that is the best kind of cliche, totally apt and one you never get tired of hearing. How could it not be? The best eight franchises are duking it out for a chance to fight for a Conference crown, what is not to love? Well, if you are involved with the Denver Broncos then losing your starting quarterback Bo Nix for the AFC Championship game with a broken ankle is definitely sub-optimal. Things went a little better for the Seattle Seahawks, meanwhile, who will be absolutely delighted with how comprehensively they dominated the San Francisco 49ers (again) over in the NFC. Tonight’s action takes us to frigid Foxborough for a titanic matchup between the Houston Texans and New England Patriots. Kick-off is at 2pm CST/3pm EST/8pm GMT. Continue reading...

Unai Emery did not hold back. In his programme notes – at least the words were attributed to him – the Aston Villa manager turned to caps lock. “THIS MATCH IS CRUCIAL,” he said, spying an opportunity. After Arsenal and Manchester City dropped points, a golden chance to return second and cut the leaders’ advantage to four points. Everton, however, had other ideas and approaching the hour Thierno Barry pounced on a Emiliano Martínez fumble after a Pau Torres lapse to condemn Villa to a punishing defeat. They are almost unheard of around here, this only a third home league defeat since the start of last season. For David Moyes, who bounced back from the setback of Jake O’Brien’s first-half header being disallowed because an offside Harrison Armstrong was deemed to be interfering with play, this was a major triumph. For Villa, this threatened to be a frustrating afternoon from the moment Merlin Röhl clinked a post inside 11 seconds and things went from bad to worse when John McGinn was forced off after 18 minutes. McGinn’s departure seemed to disrupt Villa, already missing another trusty pillar in Boubacar Kamara, who Emery conceded could be sidelined long term with a knee injury. The former Everton midfielder Amadou Onana was absent owing to a hamstring injury. Continue reading...

Prada tailoring rejects ‘American corporate masculine power’, and Dolce & Gabbana is criticised for all-white cast Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, the two designers behind Prada, are well aware that fashion is about more than clothes. However, backstage after their menswear show in Milan on Sunday, the duo admitted that the volatile present moment is a difficult one to translate to a collection. “You talk about the world now,” said Prada “or you talk about fashion … The two things together, in this moment, are difficult.” The collection was, therefore, “uncomfortable”. Rather than meaning the clothes were not pleasant to wear – this is luxury fashion, after all – there were disparate elements put together in the same outfit: the top of a red sou’wester over a trenchcoat, for example, or a yellow scoop-neck jumper with cuffs of a shirt falling out the sleeve. (There were also some useful unexpected styling tips, such as wallets stuffed in a back pocket, or brightly coloured shoe laces). Continue reading...

Balwant Singh calls for regulatory intervention after Halima Begum was forced out as chief executive An Oxfam trustee has resigned from the charity’s board over claims of governance failures and “cruel and inhumane” treatment of the organisation’s former boss. Dr Balwant Singh said he had “lost confidence in the board’s governance, integrity, transparency and accountability” a month after Halima Begum was forced out as chief executive. “These failures are now sufficiently serious and systemic to warrant external regulatory intervention,” Singh said. Continue reading...

Iran’s president makes comment in response to speculation Donald Trump is planning to assassinate or remove Iran’s supreme leader Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, warned on Sunday that any attack on the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would mean a declaration of war. In an apparent response to speculation that Donald Trump is considering an attempt to assassinate or remove Khamenei, Pezeshkian said in a post on X that “an attack on the great leader of our country is tantamount to a full-scale war with the Iranian nation.” Continue reading...

Next few weeks will show if Trump overplayed his hand with EU over Greenland levies, as calls grow for bloc to trigger untested anti-coercion tool Europe live – latest updates As the sun set over the port of Limassol in Cyprus, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, last Thursday used a tried and tested formula to describe the United States – calling it one of “our allies, our partners”. Only 24 hours earlier, Denmark, an EU and Nato member state, had warned that Donald Trump was intent on “conquering” Greenland, but the reflex at the top of the EU executive to describe the US as a friend runs deep. Trump’s weekend announcement that eight countries that have supported Greenland would face tariffs unless there was a deal to sell the territory to the US was another hammer to the transatlantic alliance, mocking the notion that the US is Europe’s ally. The eight countries include six EU member states, as well as Norway and the UK, the latter unprotected by the much vaunted “special relationship”. It suggests that Europe’s strategy of flatter and appease the US president has failed. Continue reading...

Reform UK leader has decried ‘globalist’ event but this year hopes to meet Donald Trump for Greenland talks For years he has derided the annual gathering at Davos as a smug and conspiratorial meeting of enemies of the nation state. But this week, Nigel Farage will himself be rubbing shoulders with the “globalists” he has so reviled. Farage’s itinerary at the Swiss ski resort remains unclear, although his Reform UK deputy, Richard Tice, said on Sunday he hoped Farage would get a chance to speak to Donald Trump, who is also attending the event run by the World Economic Forum (WEF). Continue reading...

Tariff threats over the Arctic island expose the limits of coercive diplomacy. Europe’s united response and pushback shows fear is fading For all Donald Trump’s bluster about restoring American strength, his attempt to bully European allies over Greenland reveals a deeper weakness: coercive diplomacy only works if people are afraid to resist. Increasingly, they aren’t. And that is a good thing. Bullies often back down when confronted – their power relies on fear. Mr Trump’s threat to impose sweeping tariffs on Europeans unless they acquiesce to his demand to “purchase” Greenland has stripped his trade policy bare. This is not about economic security, unfair trade or protecting American workers. It is about using tariffs as a weapon to force nations to submit. The response from Europe has been united and swift. That in itself should send a message. France’s Emmanuel Macron says plainly “no amount of intimidation” will alter Europe’s position. Denmark has anchored the issue firmly inside Nato’s collective security. EU leaders have warned that tariff threats risk a dangerous downward spiral. Even Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, seen as ideologically close to Mr Trump, publicly called the tariff threat a “mistake” – adding that she has told him so. Continue reading...

Errors in measuring microplastic pollution can be corrected. Public trust in science also needs to be shored up It is true that science is self-correcting. Over the long term this means that we can generally trust its results – but up close, correction can be a messy process. The Guardian reported last week that 20 recent studies measuring the amount of micro- and nanoplastics in the human body have been criticised in the scientific literature for methodological issues, calling their results into question. In one sense this is the usual process playing out as it should. However, the scale of the potential error – one scientist estimates that half the high-impact papers in the field are affected – suggests a systemic problem that should have been prevented. The risk is that in a febrile political atmosphere in which trust in science is being actively eroded on issues from climate change to vaccinations, even minor scientific conflicts can be used to sow further doubt. Given that there is immense public and media interest in plastic pollution, it is unfortunate that scientists working in this area did not show more caution. Continue reading...

Establishment will give training in AI and other skills, more than a decade after David Cameron axed previous school Ministers will bring in a new “school of government” for senior civil servants to train them in AI and other skills – more than a decade after David Cameron axed the previous college for Whitehall. Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the prime minister, will announce the new body in a speech on Tuesday setting out the government’s plans to “rewire” the civil service for modern times. Continue reading...

⚽ Afcon final updates, 7pm GMT (8pm in Rabat) kick-off ⚽ Jonathan Wilson on this Afcon | Follow us on Bluesky Sometimes a tournament’s greatest strength can be its greatest weakness. In part because of the excellent playing conditions, this has been an Africa Cup of Nations devoid of shocks. The better teams keep winning. There has been a lot of good football, but not a huge amount of memorable football. And the consequence is that, in the final, we have the two best teams, or certainly the best team in north Africa against the best team in sub-Saharan Africa: the hosts and World Cup semi-finalists Morocco against Senegal, who have reached three of the past four Afcon finals. Continue reading...

Adjustments to the plans to limit jury trials face a major obstacle, writes Janet Carter; plus letters from Kirsty Brimelow KC and Paul Keleher KC Your article on a possible U-turn for magistrates to sit with a judge in a proposed “swift court” throws up a major obstacle (Plans to limit jury trials in England and Wales may be watered down after backlash, 12 January). Where are these additional magistrates going to come from? The magistracy is the linchpin of our criminal justice system and it is already stretched. Recruitment of suitable volunteers is not easy. The commitment is high, and the criteria are quite properly tight. In January 2022 there was a £1m campaign to recruit 4,000 new magistrates. By April 2024, only 2,008 new magistrates had been appointed. The success rate of applicants in the year ending March 2025 was only 22%. Continue reading...

Madhan Street reflects on the language used to talk about Robert Jenrick’s defection and Dr Anthony Isaacs calls for cooperation to counter a Conservative/Reform alliance It was striking to read about Kemi Badenoch’s dismissal of Robert Jenrick from the Conservative party, which included quotes attributed to Westminster insiders (‘Not so clever after all’: how Robert Jenrick was ejected before he defected, 15 January). “We knew we had to act immediately. If we challenged him first, there was a risk of him going straight out and doing it anyway”; “Badenoch left it to her chief whip, Rebecca Harris, to phone Jenrick, a move which one ally described as ‘delicious’”; “Jenrick’s clever-dick people, they’re not so clever after all”; “She’s blown him up with his own grenade, very decisive, no pissing about, fair play to her”. Continue reading...

Readers reflect on the writer’s legacy after the publication of his last regular weekly column for the Guardian after 41 years on the staff How much I shall miss Martin Kettle, even while I disagree with him (The world of today looks bad, but take hope: we’ve been here before and got through it – and we will again, 15 January). Last August, hundreds of union flags were fastened to our streetlamps overnight and without permission. Demonstrators at our market clock with a Palestinian flag were regularly abused. So, in the first week of January, some Quakers hosted a meeting of political and religious leaders to discuss the growing incivility of political discourse. The pro-Palestinian group leader was followed by the Reform parliamentary candidate. Then various contributors from other parties and local churches spoke at length about what we had in common. A retired diplomat concluded that Britain is resilient. We are still more tolerant than most others. . The local vicar emphasised a “clear, common concern to express differences with tolerance and kindness”. There was no point in holding a plenary, so the final 20 minutes, we all spoke to our neighbours about why we had come and what we had learned. Frozen winter turned to thaw. Geof Sewell Thirsk, North Yorkshire Continue reading...

Why prolific poster Sam Nair decided it was time to kick the doom-scrolling into touch As a past follower of Marie Le Conte (AKA the Young Vulgarian) on X, I read her column on leaving the platform with interest, complete empathy and self-reflection (To anybody still using X: sexual abuse content is the final straw, it’s time to leave, 12 January). I joined X – or rather, Twitter – in 2007 after reading a Guardian article on the five next hit websites. Needless to say, most of the others have been forgotten. I was bored in my uni halls and it sounded the most interesting. Continue reading...