In documentary The Pink Pill, the fight to provide access to the so-called ‘female Viagra’ exposes an industry that still discounts the needs of women Barbara Gattuso had been happily married for decades when she signed up, in the late 2000s, for a clinical trial involving a potentially revolutionary new drug. She and her husband had once had a fulfilling sex life, both pre- and post-children. But at some point during her perimenopausal years, her desire disappeared. It wasn’t stress, fatigue or relationship issues, though her lack of libido certainly contributed to those. It was more like a mysterious evaporation – like “somebody pulled the plug”, as she recalls in a new documentary on flibanserin, the experimental drug that proffered potential relief. Originally developed as an anti-depressant by the German company Boehringer Ingelheim, flibanserin had instead shown promise as a treatment for low female libido, working on neurotransmitters in the so-called “sex center” of the brain. In a video from that trial filmed by Dr Irwin Goldstein, the “godfather of sexual medicine” and a key consultant on Viagra – that revolutionary blue pill for men with erectile dysfunction – Gattuso appears nearly giddy. She was chasing her husband around again, she said. She felt “phenomenal”, like a “new woman on this drug”. She was plugged in. Continue reading...

The presenter and writer on trying to become an air steward aged seven, daytime baths, and an on-air howler Born in London, Fearne Cotton, 44, began presenting The Disney Club at 15. She went on to become a Radio 1 DJ, hosting her own show from 2009 to 2015; she currently presents Radio 2’s Sounds of the 90s. In 2017, she started the Happy Place community and now has an award-winning podcast, an annual festival and a publishing imprint. The author of bestselling personal development books, her latest, Likeable, is out next week. She lives in London and has two children with her former husband, Jesse Wood. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? Impatience. I’m not very good at waiting around or dealing with things that aren’t moving at a pace that I want them to. Continue reading...

Billy Bragg, Sarah Lucas and Kojo Koram among those encouraging people to share cultural artefacts For some people it’s a Morris Minor, for others, a beach windbreak, chicken tikka masala or Magna Carta. A new campaign is aiming to collect 50 objects that sum up Englishness in an effort to move the conversation away from reductive arguments over whether to hang a St George’s flag or not. Continue reading...

Extortionate costs, queueing in the cold and potentially life-altering injuries? No thanks. And don’t get me started on the EDM après-ski hell There comes a time in every middle-class or upwardly mobile person’s life when they will hear the following six words: “Would you like to come skiing?” My answer: absolutely not. Skiing, I have come to believe, is the emperor’s new clothes of leisure pursuits: a collectively sustained fantasy. People insist it’s magical in the same way they insist that cold-water swimming is “transformative” or small plates are “better for sharing”. At some point we forgot to ask whether any of this is actually true. Emma Loffhagen is a freelance commissioning editor and writer covering culture and lifestyle Continue reading...

How the desperate search for two missing girls in 2002 and their now-dead killer claimed its place in the country’s museum of appalling crimes The death of Ian Huntley is, perhaps, a moment to pause and remember, and not to dwell on the manner and circumstances of his killing. August 2002 is the time to return to, and the place is Soham: a pretty Cambridgeshire village that few outside the county, and possibly many within it too, knew much about before that summer. Before it happened. Continue reading...

School caretaker who killed 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in 2002 was reportedly assaulted with metal bar August 2002: the summer we watched a senseless tragedy unfold in Soham The child killer Ian Huntley has died after being attacked in prison. The former school caretaker killed Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, both aged 10, in Soham, Cambridgeshire on 4 August 2002. The girls had left a family barbecue to buy sweets. Continue reading...

WSL side’s turnover rose by 25% in year of record investment Total wage bill was £3.1m while nine directors paid £4.2m Liverpool directors earned more in pay than the combined salaries of all the Women’s Super League side’s 49 players and staff, latest accounts reveal. Liverpool Women’s total operating budget climbed by 36% for the year ending 31 May 2025, when they finished seventh in the WSL and reached the Women’s FA Cup semi-finals. Continue reading...

Her YA classic was inspired by racism in 1990s Britain. A quarter of a century later, she talks about success, death threats and getting shoutouts from Tinie Tempah and Stormzy ‘I’m useless at this bit,” Malorie Blackman laughs, shifting awkwardly in a plum-coloured jacket and smart black trousers. It is a gloomy February evening in the back room of a theatre in west London, and she is having her photograph taken, the rain pummelling the brick outside. Blackman is, by any reasonable metric, one of the most significant writers Britain has produced in the past quarter of a century – the closest thing my generation, who were raised on her books, has to a literary rockstar. And yet, she seems faintly baffled by the notion that the spotlight should rest on her for long. “I hate being in front of the camera!” Continue reading...

In reality, US president’s opposition to foreign entanglements had only ever been partial Donald Trump ordered the launch of the war on Iran last Friday afternoon while on board Air Force One, as the presidential plane made its descent towards Corpus Christi, Texas. Trump was on his way to the port city to give a speech titled American Energy Dominance and had spent the three-hour flight chatting to Texas Republican politicians including the state’s two hawkish senators, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, about his options in Iran. Continue reading...

⚽ News, buildup and discussion before day’s action ⚽ Live scores | Read Football Daily | And mail us here In the first Cup game of the weekend, Liverpool got their revenge on Wolves with a 3-1 win at Molineux. The Reds suffered a shock 2-1 loss at the same stadium on Tuesday in the Premier League but bounced back last night to progress to the FA Cup quarter-finals. Andy Robertson, Mohamed Salah and Curtis Jones scored the goals to see Arne Slot’s side through. Today’s FA Cup fixtures Mansfield Town v Arsenal Wrexham v Chelsea Newcastle v Manchester City Continue reading...

Triumph Hurdle fancy loves the sea and sand at Bamburgh and his trainer is confident he can perform well next week There are several aspects of Adam Nicol’s training operation that set him apart as he prepares to send Minella Study, his stable star, to the Cheltenham festival next week. He prepares his horses on the magnificent expanse of Bamburgh beach on the Northumbrian coast, recently voted the third-best beach on the planet by Trip Advisor and with the 1,400-year-old Bamburgh Castle looming behind it. He has a 100% record at Cheltenham: one runner, one win, when Minella Study took a trial race in December. And while the overall total of nearly 200 elite athletes at his stable in Seahouses stands comparison with the likes of Willie Mullins and Nicky Henderson, all but a couple of dozen have feathers. Continue reading...

Steve Borthwick has reacted in the best way after two demoralising defeats and they need a fast start in Italy During their 12-match winning run, when England were at the peak of their powers, they were setting the bar when it came to the kicking game. Steve Borthwick’s side adapted fastest to the law changes around escorting and reaped the rewards as a result. There are plenty of reasons why that winning run has come to an end in spectacular fashion but the fact that other nations have caught up and overtaken England is a significant one. Part of the problem is personnel. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso’s absence is a huge blow in this championship and for all Henry Arundell’s qualities, he does not have the same aerial prowess. Tom Roebuck has been in and out, coming back from an injury, so England just haven’t had the same cattle. But it’s clear to me that their rivals have put in the work to get up to speed and are reaping the rewards. Continue reading...

Nusaybah Sattar and five relatives were kept off evacuation flight despite holding tickets and UK passports A British family stranded in the Middle East after being wrongly refused entry to an evacuation flight from Oman say they have received an apology from the Foreign Office, but no actual help to get home. Nusaybah Sattar, 26, from London, was in Dubai with her family to celebrate her brother-in-law’s 40th birthday when the city was hit by Iranian drones and missiles last Saturday. Continue reading...

Youthful manager on his unlikely career path with Germany and Sunday’s FA Cup fifth round trip to Fulham As a 19-year-old studying at a sports university in Cologne, Tonda Eckert jumped at the chance to work for Germany as an analyst at Euro 2012. “It was nice, eh? Take somebody who doesn’t understand anything about the game and put them in,” says the now Southampton head coach, smiling as he recalls being thrust into an elite environment. He entered the same sphere as Joachim Löw, Hansi Flick and a team of greats: Miroslav Klose, Philipp Lahm, Toni Kroos, Manuel Neuer, the list goes on. For the 2014 World Cup, Eckert was tasked with preparing a dossier on Argentina, who Germany overcame in the final. “The celebrations in Berlin were amazing, at the Fanmeile,” he says of the scenes at the fan zone by Brandenburg Gate. In the semi-finals, Germany humiliated the hosts Brazil, triumphing 7-1 in Belo Horizonte. “You know what Joachim Löw said at half-time? That he wouldn’t let anyone play in the final if they didn’t finish the second half with a sense of humility, because he knew how much it meant to Brazil, in Brazil.” Continue reading...

Restart of operations will be a relief to those stranded but may not dispel doubts raised by past week about key transit hub After nearly a week of uncertainty, airspace closures and very limited flights, news that hundreds of thousands of passengers around the world were hanging on for emerged: the Gulf-based carrier Emirates was restarting operations in earnest despite the US-Israel war on Iran. Those relieved by the restart will include the UK’s Foreign Office, after its travails in organising delayed rescue flights out of neighbouring Oman. Continue reading...

Omission of presidents of Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, however, exposes failure of US president’s ‘theatrical’ doctrine, say experts Donald Trump will welcome the leaders of at least 10 Latin American countries to a palm-dotted golf resort in Miami on Saturday as the president continues his quest to transform the US’s standing in the region and outmuscle China. Since returning to power last year, Trump has launched a dramatic – and at times deadly – crusade to, as the Pentagon chief, Pete Hegseth, put it, “reclaim our back yard”. Continue reading...

In an extract from his book, Philippe Auclair reveals the influence of mother, Fayza, and prominent women on the Mbappé image and brand The Mbappés did their utmost to keep outsiders at arm’s length from the outset. The agents – dozens of them – who approached them to become Kylian’s representatives ever since the eight-year-old was making fun of defenders twice his size with Bondy were rebuffed. The financial advisers who offered to broker sponsorship deals met with the same response: father Wilfrid would take care of his son’s sporting career, mother Fayza of all the rest, with Kylian having the final word in any decision involving his future, be it on or off the field; and so it has remained to this day. Kylian does not have a Fifa-registered agent. Nobody but the closest members of his family gets a cut from the deals he signs with clubs or commercial partners. This is not to say that nobody else is involved in the projet. Luís Campos, sporting adviser for the clubs owned by Qatar Sports Investments after fulfilling a similar role for Lille and Monaco, remains a trusted confidant, as he’s been since playing a central role in smoothing the difficulties the young Kylian encountered at Monaco. Former L’Équipe journalist Bilel Ghazi, who, though unlicensed by Fifa, has been working with players like Rayan Cherki (whom Kylian’s mother Fayza also represented for a short while), has provided media guidance to the Mbappés. Neither Campos nor Ghazi are part of the inner circle, however. Continue reading...

In a park overlooking the city, I ran into a group of young people chatting and joking. As the bombs fall, fragments of life remain I was at work last Saturday when I heard the blast. Since that moment, the world has been turned on its head. The school called asking me to come and pick up my child. I rushed to the metro and headed north in a carriage filled with anxious people calling their loved ones to ensure their safety, melancholy etched on their faces, uncertainty metastasising from one to another as they checked the latest news on their mobiles. This is the second time within a year that Israel has decided to go for a war of choice with Iran, but I suppose that is the new normal. Israel has long enjoyed a unique position of near-total impunity when it comes to harassing Palestinians, and now the green light to aggression seems to extend to its unending wars and spreading of terror across the region. And it feels different this time. The pretence that there is some level of precision in the strikes is gone. Instead, the attacks appear indiscriminate, with targets ranging from schools to hospitals, from police stations to urban amenities – all hit with a level of might that seems aimed at demolition, total destruction, the flattening of the city. Continue reading...

Oscar favourite insists she is a ‘lover of cats’ after telling podcast about ultimatum she once gave to now-husband If Jessie Buckley fails to win the Oscar for best actress next week it will be a sign that cat lovers have got their claws out. The Irish actor is the runaway favourite for her performance in Hamnet, but in recent days has stumbled into a controversy over a stated antipathy to cats. Continue reading...

Kimi Antonelli finishes second in qualifying in Melbourne Lando Norris sixth after running over Mercedes cooling fan George Russell claimed pole position for the Australian Grand Prix, the opening race of the new Formula One season, with an ominously dominant run for Mercedes. Russell and his teammate Kimi Antonelli locked out the front row with their nearest competitor Isack Hadjar in the Red Bull almost eight-tenths of a second behind the pole time in third place. The British driver and Mercedes were in a class of their own at the front of the field but there was a disastrous opening for the four-time world champion Max Verstappen who crashed out before he had even set a timed lap. Continue reading...

From ancient China and Paris’s Latin Quarter to ‘Han shot first’, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz 1 The slogan “Han shot first” protested against the re-editing of which film? 2 The boundaries of the North, East and West Ridings met at which city? 3 What is the smallest species of UK crow? 4 Which notorious Disney film was based on stories by Joel Chandler Harris? 5 Which precursor of the UN was established by the treaty of Versailles? 6 Rama IX ruled which country from 1946 to 2016? 7 Which singer and pianist was born Eunice Waymon? 8 What military force was the BAOR? What links: 9 Ancient China; California; Nagasaki; Latin Quarter of Paris; Rome? 10 Alert (possible); warning (expected); severe warning (risk to life and significant disruption)? 11 Covalent; ionic; metallic? 12 Bakelite; french fries; internal combustion engine; saxophone; standard map projection? 13 Ade Adepitan; Ian Dury; Frida Kahlo; Joni Mitchell; Itzhak Perlman; FDR? 14 Bligh’s ship; Olympus Mons location; Panthera leo; Via Lactea? 15 Isabella of France and Margaret of Anjou; Chester Burnett; Jordan Belfort? Continue reading...

In this week’s newsletter: Our annual recap of the must-see series spread across Apple TV, Netflix, Disney+ and more • Don’t get The Guide delivered to your inbox? Sign up here Streaming services: there’s a lot of them (with yet another, HBO Max, on the way later this month) and everyone seems to be signed up to different ones, making recommendations a challenge. Step forward the Guide’s fourth edition of A Show for Every Streamer (previous versions can be seen here, here and here), which does exactly as it describes. As is tradition, we’ve tried to avoid series that everyone has been nattering about (unlucky, Heated Rivalry), and instead spotlight less heralded, more surprising picks, starting with … Apple TV | Drops of God … a Japanese-American-French drama about warring wine experts, of course. A curious one, though it does fit in with Apple’s penchant for high-end subject matter. After a first series that saw the daughter of a deceased French wine expert face off against his Japanese mentee for ownership of his multimillion-dollar wine collection, season two – which arrived in January – sees the two team up to investigate the mysterious origins of a bottle of red from dad’s collection. Continue reading...

Mountain hikes, river swims and centuries-old traditions appeal to the whole family on a trip to the Balkans ‘Uno, Uno, Uno No Mercy!” the six-year-old son of our hosts for the day bellows while leading my boys, 10 and 12, into his dimly lit corrugated iron home. I let out a little sigh of relief. The popular card game is a much-needed icebreaker as ominous clouds close in on the remote stan (the Albanian word for a shepherd dwelling). Despite the language barrier, much laughter and consternation soon spill out of the darkness, just as hail hammers down on the tin roof. Dogs bark, chickens cluck and sheep bleat as the thunder grows louder, and we all – our eight hosts, seven guests and one guide – shelter in the tiny kitchen, the living room-cum-bedroom (now Uno parlour), or on the veranda. It’s day two of a seven-day trip with Undiscovered Balkans, crisscrossing between Albania and Montenegro on foot and by car. Having always wanted to hike the Peaks of the Balkans trail, a 119-mile (192km) hike linking Montenegro, Kosovo and Albania, I jumped at the chance to sample this new guided itinerary. Combining some of the region’s most famous hikes with gentler excursions for kids, such as a day experiencing life as a shepherd, or visits to remote swimming spots, it seemed a novel alternative to our usual “get a map and hope for the best” approach to hiking holidays. Continue reading...

Five multiple-choice questions – set by children – to test your knowledge, and a chance to submit your own junior brainteasers for future quizzes ​Submit a question Molly Oldfield hosts Everything Under the Sun, a podcast answering children’s questions. Do check out her books, Everything Under the Sun and Everything Under the Sun: Quiz Book, as well as her new title, Everything Under the Sun: All Around the World. Continue reading...

My sexuality had to be hidden from my friends, my parents, not to mention the authorities. Then I found freedom at house parties and one song that sums up me finally being able to be myself I was raised in Tehran, under the Ayatollah’s sharia law and daily watch of Basij – the “morality police”. My parents fell in love with the Islamic Revolution when I was a baby and welcomed life under its strict religious rules. The Ayatollah’s face stared down from the walls at home, a daily reminder of what was expected and what was forbidden. This included being gay, but by my teenage years I knew I was different from my peers, and began hiding my sexuality from my parents and the world outside. The other side of life under the regime was that there was little room for celebration: happy events, even religious ones, came with inherent guilt while frivolous outside influences, including western music, were considered dangerous. And so I was in my mid-20s before I went to my first real party: an underground gathering that would become my gateway to a hidden, gay Tehran. Continue reading...