Lady Longfield named as chair of national inquiry after long-delayed search UK politics live – latest updates The former children’s commissioner and Labour peer Anne Longfield will chair the national grooming gangs inquiry. Her appointment is to be announced by the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, after a long-delayed search during which some victims quit the inquiry’s advisory panel amid disagreements over the chair appointment. Continue reading...

Jim Farley’s comments come as US manufacturer and Renault announce deal to make two smaller electric cars Business live – latest updates The boss of Ford has said western carmakers are “in a fight for our lives” against Chinese competition as the US manufacturer agreed a new partnership with France’s Renault. The two companies said on Tuesday that they would work together on two smaller electric cars, with the first to go on sale as soon as early 2028. They will also look at producing vans together. Continue reading...

With a sharp eye and saturated colours, Parr’s photographs revealed the world in all its eccentric glory. Here, his friends, peers and collaborators pay tribute to a master Grayson Perry, artist I’ve never really been a fanboy, but the first time I saw Martin Parr I ran up and drunkenly hugged him. I said: “I love you Martin Parr!” I couldn’t help it. He was a hero of mine. And over the years he became my best artist friend. Continue reading...

Accounts held by users under 16 must be removed on apps that include TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, Snapchat, Reddit, Kick, Twitch and Threads under ban How is Australia’s social media ban affecting you and your family? Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Australia has enacted a world-first ban on social media for users aged under 16, causing millions of children and teenagers to lose access to their accounts. Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, YouTube, Snapchat, Reddit, Kick, Twitch and TikTok are expected to have taken steps from Wednesday to remove accounts held by users under 16 years of age in Australia, and prevent those teens from registering new accounts. Continue reading...

Charles Poekel’s directorial debut has taken a decade to reach the UK, but its indie take on seasonal cinema brings low-key warmth This is a New York drama so laidback that it has taken a decade to reach the UK’s cinema screens. First released in the US in 2015, it’s an ultra-low-budget debut from first-time director Charles Poekel, set almost entirely on a 24-hour pop-up Christmas tree stall. Poekel’s style is far too authentic-indie and unaffected to get slushy or sentimental about Christmas; through his lens Christmas tree lights blink like police lights. But in its own low-key way, he pitches his film just right for a little squeeze of festive warmth. Kentucker Audley stars as Noel (it took someone in the film to joke about his name before I twigged). Noel is back for his fifth year selling Christmas trees in Brooklyn, standing outside in the freezing cold and sleeping in a not-much-warmer caravan parked next to the trees. A few customers ask about the girl working with him last year. But this year Noel is alone, broken-hearted and working the night shift. There’s a documentary feel to a lot of the scenes, customers asking pointless random questions. One woman wants the same Christmas tree as the Obamas (this is 2014). Noel looks frozen to the bone physically and emotionally; he’s weary and disillusioned, though Audley’s subtle performance makes it clear that he wasn’t always like this. Continue reading...

Their relatives might have been on opposite sides of near-nuclear war, but the US and Soviet leader’s descendants have teamed up for an intimate BBC podcast. They talk humanity, hate – and why Trump is a ‘very limited’ man In October 1962, the world came closer to destruction than at any other point in modern times. After a US surveillance plane discovered that Soviet nuclear missile sites were being built in Cuba, less than 100 miles from the US mainland, President John F Kennedy responded by ordering the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to impose a naval blockade around the island. Almost two weeks of impossible tension followed. The threat was clear. If Kennedy, or his Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, fired on their enemy, a chain reaction of global nuclear strikes and counterstrikes would have followed, plunging humanity into all-out ruination. Continue reading...

The second year of London’s Armenian film festival reflects country in flux as legacy of recent conflict with Azerbaijan hangs over attempts to strengthen ties with the west There is a point during Tamara Stepanyan’s My Armenian Phantoms when the documentary cuts to the final scene of the 1980 Soviet film, A Piece of Sky, in which the orphaned lead character, joyfully rides a horse and cart through the town that had long shunned him and the sex worker he married as social outcasts. A flock of birds are then framed gliding through the pristine blue sky above. It’s a sequence depicting the desire to overcome the forces that seek to limit and constrain which lay at the heart of the director Henrik Malyan’s new wave critique. Continue reading...

Why proposals for a shorter working week are winning over teachers and parents – despite the logistical headaches “A wonderful idea”, “Bring it on!”, “Yes!”, “Brilliant!”, “Absolutely”. If enthusiasm were all it took to change policy, a four-day week in England’s schools would be all but guaranteed. A Guardian report this week saying that the 4 Day Week Foundation has urged the government to pilot a four-day working week in schools in England and Wales to boost teacher wellbeing and recruitment attracted hundreds of thousands of readers. Continue reading...

Most of losses from bounceback loan, furlough pay and eat out to help out fraud not recovered, report finds Business live – latest updates Ministers have been warned that fraud prevention efforts are falling short across government, as a major Covid report found that fraud and errors had resulted in a £10.9bn loss to UK taxpayers during the pandemic. The report, by independent Covid counter-fraud commissioner Tom Hayhoe, found that government schemes designed to support struggling businesses and their staff were rolled out at speed with no early safeguards, resulting in huge fraud risks that cost the public purse. Continue reading...

The former world No 1 shares how a traumatic year has shaped him as a darts player and a father and insists he can recapture his glory days at the world championship “I can be a miserable bastard sometimes,” Michael van Gerwen says with a grin and a shrug as he tries to explain his new burst of optimism after a horribly testing year. “But I can also be quite positive. If you asked me this question a month ago, and we did this interview then, you would find me a bit different to today. But I feel good now even if, 100%, this has been a very tough year for me both on and off the oche.” Rather than being miserable, the 36-year-old is amiable company – which seems remarkable as in 2025 he has been through a divorce after 17 years with his wife, Daphne, witnessed the devastating effect of cancer on his father, endured intense scrutiny in the Dutch media, and struggled to regain his once imperious form with the arrows. Continue reading...

The reporter’s affair with Robert F Kennedy Jr raised a whole host of questions, few of which get answers in this pretentious memoir Did he take me seriously?” Olivia Nuzzi wonders in the midst of her infamous affair with Robert F Kennedy Jr. Nuzzi, then Washington correspondent for New York magazine, has just learned that she and the Politician, as she calls RFK in her new book, may overlap during a visit to Mar-a-Lago. Nuzzi, worried Donald Trump will catch on to the relationship and start spreading rumours, convenes an emergency meeting with the Politician to strategise. RFK doesn’t see the big deal. So, she agonises “Did he take me seriously?” and reflects that she had “little cause to consider the question before now.” Continue reading...

The Green party leader is riding high in the polls. But across the political spectrum, uncritical adulation leads nowhere fast Shortly after Donald Trump launched his first White House run in 2015, television’s Kelly Osbourne made one of her regular appearances on The View, which is basically the American version of Loose Women but doesn’t feel the need to have a cringey title. Trump had made some extremely nasty comments about Mexican immigrants, and Kelly had a rhetorical question for the other ladies gathered round the wood-effect dining table that morning. “You kick every Latino out of this country,” she sassed, “then WHO is going to be cleaning your toilet, Donald Trump?” Oooooof. The reaction from fellow panellist Rosie Perez was instantaneously negative, to the point that even Kelly realised in the moment that this needed clean-up. Apparently there weren’t any willing rubber-gloved Latinos on hand, so madam was going to have to do it herself. “I didn’t mean it like that,” Osbourne shot back. “Come on! You know I would never mean it like that! I’m not part of this argument.” A media firestorm nonetheless ensued, though Kelly declined to apologise for even the appearance of racism, I think on the basis that people like her simply are not capable of subconsciously holding unpleasant views that they accidentally reveal while making important TV appearances. Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Group that includes congressional leaders and leading intelligence committee members is traditionally briefed on major national security actions The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen Dan Caine, are expected to brief the “Gang of Eight” lawmakers on Tuesday afternoon, Reuters reports, citing two sources familiar with the plan and a Trump administration official. The “Gang of Eight” – which includes intelligence committee and Senate and House of Representatives leaders from both parties – is traditionally briefed on major national security actions. Continue reading...

York Theatre Royal Paul Hendy’s panto includes some silly surprises, well-handled audience interaction and a twinkling dame Anyone remember the bit in Sleeping Beauty with the velociraptor named Kevin? Me neither. But an incongruous dinosaur sidekick is just one of the wonderfully silly additions to this take on the fairytale, along with a daft classroom routine, some capering ghouls and a regiment of toy soldiers come to life. Now in the fifth year of its current formula, helmed by panto veteran Paul Hendy as writer-producer, the York Theatre Royal’s festive offering feels solidly bedded in. It’s reliably crowd-pleasing and family-friendly, with a string of familiar set pieces to delight those who come back year after year. We know there will be the slop scene, the ghost bench, the pun-packed comedy routine, the pre-interval spectacle. Part of the joy is in waiting for these moments and wondering what new twist will be put on them. Continue reading...

Since the supreme court decision, organisations have faced lobbying and legal threats. But trans people are protected by discrimination law too When the chief executive of the Women’s Institute said last week that she felt the organisation had no choice but to end its 40-year policy of transgender inclusion, she sounded genuinely upset. When asked on Woman’s Hour whether a debate over trans members had been raging inside the organisation this year, Melissa Green was clear that “this hasn’t been a conversation that has dominated”. Much of the pressure, she said, had come from outside the organisation. The decision followed a similar announcement from Girlguiding the day before, which will now ban trans girls from joining. Both organisations blamed the change on April’s supreme court ruling on the meaning of the word “sex” in the Equality Act 2010, but that’s far from the whole story. Really, it’s about those pressuring organisations on the basis that the case is closed, and exclusion is now legally required – when that is far from the case. Jess O’Thomson is trans rights lead at the Good Law Project and head of policy at the Trans+ Solidarity Alliance Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

Day-Lewis, who suggested Dano for his part in There Will Be Blood, praised the actor, as did Ben Stiller and Batman director Matt Reeves Paul Dano’s There Will Be Blood co-star Daniel Day-Lewis has defended the actor after he was criticised by Quentin Tarantino. The director took issue with Dano’s talents while discussing his list of the best films of the century on Bret Easton Ellis’s podcast. Tarantino said he would have moved Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2007 drama higher than No 5 had a different actor played preacher Eli Sunday. Continue reading...

Residents say incursions and raids have increased since forces first entered country a year ago after fall of Assad On the day Bashar al-Assad’s regime fell, Abu Ibrahim and his family went to sleep wondering what sort of future awaited them in the morning. They woke in a panic, to the sound of gunfire and tanks. The bullets announced the arrival of the Israeli military into the remote southern Syrian province of Quneitra on 9 December 2024. In the place of Assad militias who used to patrol the roads, bulky armoured personnel carriers filled with Israeli soldiers rumbled down the potholed streets, stopping to assure residents that they were there for their protection. Continue reading...

Make staying in feel like the main event with our pick of the comfiest, chicest nightwear around, from organic cotton to silky sets • The best electric blankets and heated throws Given we spend a third of our lives sleeping, or trying to, having a decent selection of nightwear just makes sense. As an inveterate introvert and someone who mostly works from home, I spend an inordinate amount of time in pyjamas – to the extent that I recently opened the door to my postman in jeans, only for him to remark, as though witnessing the second coming: “You’re dressed.” So, if I’m an expert in anything, it’s pyjamas. In a bid to navigate the dark, cold winter months, I’ve rounded up 24 of the best, from cosy to silky, utilitarian to fancy. Forget all the talk of party season: these are the PJs worth cancelling plans for. Continue reading...

Yesterday’s Golden Globes announcement was a masterclass in mispronunciation that threatens to undo every effort to internationalise awards. Why can’t producers just make their presenters practise? The day after an awards show announces its nominations, the focus typically falls on the nominees. However, yesterday’s Golden Globe nominations were a little different, because all anyone can talk about is how badly the actor Marlon Wayans mangled everyone’s name. If you didn’t see it, it was a masterclass in getting it wrong. Watching Wayans announce the Golden Globe nominations was like living through one of those anxiety dreams where you’re asked to fly a jumbo jet and realise that you don’t know what any of the controls do. If you did see it, then I’m sure your toes will uncurl eventually. Continue reading...

Press conference expected to go ahead later, Venezuelan opposition leader’s first public appearance in 11 months A press conference in Oslo with the Nobel peace prize laureate María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader in hiding, has been postponed but should take place later in the day, the Norwegian Nobel Institute has said. The press conference, traditionally held by the Nobel laureate on the eve of the award ceremony, is expected to be the 58-year-old’s first public appearance in 11 months. Machado last appeared in public on 9 January at a demonstration in Caracas protesting against the inauguration of Nicolás Maduro for his third term as president. Continue reading...

Men charged with robbery and administering noxious substance over incident at London airport on Sunday Two men have been charged with robbery and administering a noxious substance after more than 20 people were affected by what is thought to be pepper spray at Heathrow airport. Tyrone Richards, 31, and Anton Clarke-Butcher, 24, are due to appear at Uxbridge magistrates court on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Nine-year investigation paints highly critical picture of MI5’s handling of double agent Britain’s security services allowed a top agent inside the IRA to commit murders and then impeded a police investigation into the affair, according to a damning official report. MI5 helped the double agent known as Stakeknife to evade justice from a perverse sense of loyalty that outlasted Northern Ireland’s Troubles, the police investigation known as Operation Kenova said on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Kenny Alexander and Lee Feldman say regulator breached right to privacy during bid for online casino company Business live – latest updates Two gambling bosses facing criminal charges of bribery and fraud have begun a civil claim against the Gambling Commission, claiming the regulator breached their right to privacy when it warned prospective business partners that they were under investigation by HM Revenue and Customs. Kenny Alexander and Lee Feldman, the former chief executive and chair of the Ladbrokes and Coral owner Entain, are suing the gambling regulator over its actions during their abortive attempt to take control of online casino company 888 in 2023. Continue reading...

The administration is offloading gems of US architecture while redesigning the city to match the president’s values While the original architect of Donald Trump’s ever-expanding ballroom steps down and preservationists panic over the fate of New Deal murals inside the Social Security Administration building, the president gushes about painting the granite Eisenhower Executive Office Building white, “fixing” the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, and erecting his own Arc de Triomphe. To peruse the plans for a Trump-era capital district alongside the General Services Administration’s list of assets identified for accelerated disposition – the federal buildings slated for off-loading – is to discern a diagram of Trump’s values. Judith Levine is a Brooklyn-based journalist, essayist and author of five books. Her Substack is Today in Fascism Continue reading...

Bing Liu’s film is an unflinching portrait of an undocumented Uyghur immigrant and a traumatised US veteran whose fragile connection is strained by their pasts Chinese-American film-maker Bing Liu made an impression with the poignant documentary Minding the Gap about people from his home town in Illinois; now he pivots to features with this sad and sombre study of romance and life choices among those on the margins of US society, adapted from the prize-winning novel of the same name by Atticus Lish. The scene is the no-questions-asked world of New York’s Chinatown; newcomer Sebiye Behtiyar plays Aishe, a Chinese Uyghur Muslim undocumented immigrant. One day she catches the eye of Skinner, played by Fred Hechinger, a young military veteran who impulsively starts to talk to her. There is a spark between them and then something more. Continue reading...