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At least eight MEPs elected for Ukip or Brexit party now known to have been focus of efforts by jailed Nathan Gill Three more British MEPs from Nigel Farage’s bloc are alleged to have “followed the script” given to a colleague who was being bribed by an alleged Russian asset, according to prosecutors, as a police investigation into the affair continues. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has named Jonathan Bullock, Julia Reid and Steven Woolfe, saying they followed the script provided to Nathan Gill by Oleg Voloshyn when giving interviews to 112 Ukraine, a pro-Russian TV channel in March 2019. Continue reading...

After blows in mid-season the British driver rallied to hold off the challenge of teammate Oscar Piastri and a stunning late run from Max Verstappen to make history in Abu Dhabi “Just want to go have a burger and go home,” was the disconsolate entreaty from Lando Norris when he felt his Formula One world championship hopes had taken a mortal blow after he failed to finish at the Dutch Grand Prix in August. Yet it was testament to the resolution he has shown all season that while down, he was far from out as he proved in going on to claim the title that he felt had slipped away. When Norris took the world championship with his third place in Abu Dhabi on Sunday he became the first British world champion since Lewis Hamilton took his last title in 2020 and, similar to Hamilton’s first in 2008, he had to show his absolute determination to close it out in what has been a rollercoaster ride for the 26-year-old. Continue reading...

Government faces setback after judge said it likely violated Comey ally’s protections from unreasonable searches A federal judge has temporarily blocked prosecutors from accessing materials from a key ally of James Comey on Saturday, making the already uphill criminal case against the former FBI director even more difficult. Daniel Richman, a Columbia University law school professor who has also represented Comey as an attorney, sued the government in November, saying that the government had unlawfully accessed materials from his computer as they charged Comey with lying to Congress. Richman is a close friend of Comey who worked at the FBI. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Groups including British Cycling call for active travel strategy to be put on equal footing with road and rail More than 50 groups connected to transport and public health have urged the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, to set specific targets for levels of walking and cycling in England, warning that plans as they stand are too vague. A letter from groups including British Cycling, Cycling UK, the National Trust and the British Medical Association says the government’s proposals for active travel must “move from good intentions to a clear, long-term, fully deliverable national plan comparable to other strategic transport programmes”. Continue reading...

Match at Craven Cottage kicks off at 4.30pm (GMT) Share your thoughts with Rob via email Hello and welcome to live coverage of Fulham v Crystal Palace at Craven Cottage. We can say without fear of contradiction that it won’t be as exciting as Fulham’s last home game, the madcap 5-4 defeat to Manchester City on Tuesday. But it should be an engaging match between two excellently coached teams. Fulham and Palace are separated by nine places and only six points, such is the congestion in the middle of the Premier League table. Despite the City defeat, Fulham have a pretty good home record: P7 W4 D1 L2, exactly the same as Palace’s record on the road. The contrast in styles – Fulham’s rhythmic possession versus Palace’s rapier counter-attacks – only adds to the appeal. Continue reading...

Israeli PM to discuss next steps with Donald Trump this month but timetable for lasting peace remains unclear Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the first phase of the UN-endorsed Gaza ceasefire plan is close to completion, and that the second phase must involve the disarmament of Hamas. The Israeli prime minister said he would discuss the next steps later this month in Washington with Donald Trump, whose Gaza proposals were codified in a UN security council resolution on 17 November. Continue reading...

Norris is 11th Briton to win title after tense third place Max Verstappen second in title race, Oscar Piastri third Lando Norris has won his first Formula One world championship with a gutsy, nerveless drive of no little bravery to seal it with third place at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. A podium was enough for the 26-year-old British driver despite Red Bull’s Max Verstappen winning and his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri taking second. Norris did exactly what was required of him in an enormously intense and high-pressure contest at the Yas Marina Circuit, including making a series of bold overtakes, with a flawless execution by himself and by his McLaren team. Continue reading...

Royal Exchange theatre, Manchester A charismatic Louis Gaunt stars as Raz Shaw’s version of the classic musical hits all the key beats with crowd-pleasing confidence Raz Shaw’s exuberant production of Singin’ in the Rain opens with nothing on stage but a coat and hat. They belong to leading man Don Lockwood (a charismatic Louis Gaunt), who taps out a quick dance before shrugging them on and transforming into his movie star persona. Immediately we’re in Hollywood, a world obsessed with appearances. It’s an apt start for a musical that pokes fun at the gap between reputation and reality. There’s Don, whose pre-Hollywood vaudeville career is at odds with his public image, and whose self-importance is quickly mocked by aspiring actress Kathy Selden (Carly Mercedes Dyer). Opposite him, co-star Lina Lamont’s on-screen glamour knocks up against her screeching voice, here delivered with squeaky relish by Laura Baldwin. The arrival of the talkies leaves the studio scrambling to save face, with entertaining if familiar consequences. Continue reading...

From nascent policy idea in one state to passing federal parliament in just days, it’s been a whirlwind journey for the world-first legislation that will take effect from 10 December In late 2023, the South Australian premier’s wife put down a book she had been reading. It was Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation. “[She] said to me you better bloody do something about this ... and then we got to work,” Peter Malinauskas later recalled in an ABC interview. Continue reading...

Imagine what a relaxing and special celebration it could be if it was tailor-made just for you The modern mind is a column where experts discuss mental health issues they are seeing in their work Now is the time of year some of my clients want to talk about Christmas. As a specialist in addiction, many are seeking my help for their drinking. Continue reading...

In retrospect, I can appreciate what a big chance she took. I hope the universe has repaid her many times over Read more in the kindness of strangers series Back in 2006, I went to Canberra for a medical school interview. I figured I would book accommodation when I arrived but when I arrived, there was a big convention in town and all the backpackers hostels and budget accommodation were fully booked. Coming from Singapore, I thought perhaps I could just sleep at the airport – but quickly found Canberra airport, unlike Singapore’s, is not open 24 hours. Not knowing quite what to do and getting a bit desperate, I caught a bus into town, then started wandering towards the casino, thinking I might spend the night in a place that was open all night. That wouldn’t put me in the ideal condition for nailing an interview the next morning, but as a broke student, I couldn’t afford a pricey hotel. Continue reading...

Parcels worth £666.5m have been stolen in the UK this year, though some pranksters have found ways to give culprits their comeuppance. With Christmas deliveries arriving thick and fast, here are practical steps to take A couple of years ago, 31-year-old charity worker Nicki Wedgwood had ordered Christmas presents online for friends and family. When the packages were delivered to her in Hackney, east London, the driver left them in the lobby of her building rather than taking them directly to her flat. She spotted them as she popped out to a nearby shop and decided to pick them up when she came back. When she returned 10 minutes later, the boxes had been ripped open and their contents were gone. Wedgwood thinks she passed the thief in the hallway as she was leaving for the shop. “There was some random dude just inside the doorway, who had a Boris bike with him,” she says. She had assumed he was a guest of one of her neighbours. “I said hello to him … I think he even said Merry Christmas.” Continue reading...

Questions about the Corn Laws and habeas corpus are abstruse and unrelated to modern life – as my French husband is finding. The test should instead ask about soap operas and sandwiches What medal did Mary Peters win in the 1972 Olympics? How many Scottish ski resorts are there? Where was Florence Nightingale born? Until I got these questions as exasperated screenshots from my husband, I had no idea, like any normal Briton (it’s gold, five and Italy, apparently). They came from an app he downloaded to revise for his Life in the UK test, a prerequisite for applying for citizenship. Other recent questions have featured the divine right of kings, Hadrian’s Wall fort names and trying minor crimes in Scotland. Can the test itself possibly be this hard? We’ll soon find out: he’s taking it next week, if he doesn’t give up and go back to France instead. Much has been written about the absurdity of the Life in the UK test – it’s inaccurate, partial and sloppily worded, unfit for purpose, a “bad pub quiz” – and now it’s ruining my life (in the UK). Home is tense: my husband is tetchy because he has spent years here (he works, volunteers, pays taxes, can identify both Mitchell brothers and responds appropriately when asked “You all right?”), but now needs to prove he is assimilated by answering multiple-choice questions on the repeal of the Corn Laws. I’m mortified, partly because we’re making people pay £50 to take an absurdly hard exam – you need 75% to pass – and partly because it keeps humbling me. I’m a history graduate, but couldn’t tell you the date of the Habeas Corpus Act with a gun to my head. Continue reading...

Kyiv may be approaching its last chance to end the war with its sovereignty intact. If a peace deal includes two key elements, it should accept The negotiations over the war in Ukraine are frustrating and tragic. On the one side, a victim of aggression whose plight is more and more desperate. On the other, a brutal aggressor, willing to go to extraordinary lengths to win the war. In the middle, a transactional American president eager for a deal. It’s no surprise that so many observers have railed against the proposals recently put forward by President Donald Trump and his emissary Steve Witkoff. These proposals appear to offer much to Russia and little to Ukraine – other than an end to the violence. If the negotiations produce a plan that offers Ukraine no hope of security after the war, no Ukrainian leader will accept it. Security is the core of sovereignty, and it would be political suicide to trade Ukraine’s sovereignty for peace. Christopher S Chivvis is a senior fellow and director of the American statecraft program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Continue reading...

The actor on being an introverted extrovert, performing as a pearly queen, and becoming a single mother when her husband died Born in Beverley, East Yorkshire, in 1977, Anna Maxwell Martin studied at the University of Liverpool and trained at Lamda. She made her name with a Bafta-winning performance in the BBC’s Bleak House and has since starred in Line of Duty, Motherland and Midwinter of the Spirit, as well as numerous stage productions. She lives in London with her two daughters. Their father, the director Roger Michell, died of a heart attack in 2021. Maxwell Martin is an Action for Children ambassador and stars in their Christmas short film, Santaland. To donate, visit iamsanta.org.uk. I am five and having my picture taken at school. On my eye is a medical patch. That’s what they did to you in the 1980s if you had a squint. My dad cut my hair using a bowl, which is why it is such a tragedy. Continue reading...

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts What are the biggest life lessons? Things like how to navigate uncertainty, or what clothes never to wash together? What are the best life-enhancing secrets – big or small – that took years to discover and now need to be shared? Campbell Norris, by email Send new questions to nq@theguardian.com. Continue reading...

Eldest son of Donald Trump makes speculative comments during tirade against Volodymyr Zelenskyy and EU Donald Trump may walk away from the Ukrainian war, the US president’s oldest son has said in comments to a Middle East conference. In a lengthy tirade against the purpose of continued fighting in Ukraine, Donald Trump Jr also said Ukraine’s “corrupt” rich had fled their country leaving “what they believed to be the peasant class” to fight the war. Continue reading...

A selection of the best images from around the world this weekend Continue reading...

Match at the Amex kicks off at 2pm (GMT) Share your thoughts with Daniel via email Hurzeler makes two changes to the team that lost midweek, Welbeck and Rutter replacing Tzimas and Gruda Nuno introduces Paqueta, back from suspension, along with Rodriguez, Summerville and Kilman, with Potts, Soucek, Wilson and Magassa dropping out. On the other hand, this is very, very grey – John Major Spitting Image puppet grey – and the least said about the double collar the better. Continue reading...

Parr said his brightly coloured, closely observed pictures of British life were ‘disguised as entertainment’ but they became hugely popular Martin Parr, the British documentary photographer who captured the peculiarities of the nation with clarity and hilarity, has died aged 73. He had been diagnosed with cancer in May 2021. Known for his acute observations of the English class system, Parr’s images covered sunbathers and Conservative clubs, village fetes and coffee mornings, often in vivid colour and with more than a dash of humour. His iconic 1986 photobook The Last Resort: Photographs of New Brighton captured working-class holidaymakers in the Wirral, Liverpool and helped mark a sea change in British documentary photography, from the gritty, black and white style of the past towards a cheekier and more colourful style. Continue reading...

Shakespeare’s Globe, London Meticulous direction and an excellent cast bring to life the story of Geppetto and the puppet he crafts from wood ‘Fast is FUN!” bellows Pinocchio as he tears about the stage, testing the limits of his newly animated legs. It’s a handy edict for anyone adapting the many moralising, terrifying and bizarre episodes within Carlo Collodi’s 1883 novel. Charlie Josephine and Jim Fortune’s new family musical takes heed, barreling out of the blocks to cover an impressive chunk of Collodi’s story while swapping its darkness and finger-wagging for heartwarming lessons and boisterous humour. In a narrow-minded Italian town (hammily chorused “mamma mias!” kick off the blissful silliness to come), free-thinking inventor Geppetto is an outcast. His ticket to adventure arrives as a piece of talking wood, which he plans to craft into a fortune-winning puppet. Pinocchio, of course, has other ideas. But here, the puppet’s journey to boyhood isn’t just about learning what makes us good, but what makes us human. His scrapes along the way are born not out of wickedness but curiosity and impulsive energy – perfectly captured by the three puppeteers animating Peter O’Rourke’s simple wooden design (including Lee Braithwaite, who gives Pinocchio a voice wild and wonder-filled), and by Josephine’s book, which sees Pinocchio firing off life’s big questions only to interrupt the answers with yells of “I’m hungry!” Continue reading...

Captain says his dressing room ‘isn’t a place for weak men’ Coach McCullum says England ‘overprepared’ Ben Stokes has admitted that the way England have folded in key moments during the first two Ashes Tests has led him to question the character of his players, and insisted: “A dressing room that I am captain of isn’t a place for weak men.” After Australia won the second Test in Brisbane by the same eight-wicket margin with which they secured the first, Stokes suggested the telling difference was that the home side had been superior in the “moments in the game where the heat is on and the pressure is really, really cooking” whereas his players “have all been guilty at moments [of] letting the pressure, the occasion, the circumstances, get to us”. Continue reading...

Judiciary says a criminal case has been opened after online images showed a number of unveiled female competitors Judicial authorities in Iran have arrested two organisers of a marathon held on an island off the country’s southern coast after images emerged showing women taking part in the race without hijabs. The arrests on Saturday come as the authorities face increasing criticism from ultraconservatives who accuse them of inadequate efforts to enforce a mandatory headscarf law for women amid fears of growing western influence on the Islamic republic. Continue reading...

Daniel Andreas San Diego, now 47, is fighting extradition from the UK amid accusations he set off three pipe bombs in 2003 Twenty-two years ago, a dark-haired, bespectacled young man vanished off the streets of San Francisco. Daniel Andreas San Diego, a 25-year-old information technology specialist, diehard vegan and animal rights activist, was the FBI’s main suspect in a series of pipe bombings that exploded in front of the headquarters of Chiron Corporation and Shaklee Corporation, two Bay Area companies, in August and September of 2003. Communiques attributed to the Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade were posted to the website of an animal rights magazine, claiming the attacks were carried out to highlight both firms’ alleged work with Huntingdon Life Sciences, a British research company that conducted tests for pharmaceutical, biotechnology and other chemical companies and had drawn the ire of activists on both sides of the Atlantic opposing its tests on animals. Continue reading...