With Orbán gone and Meloni distancing herself, EU sanctions on trade and settlers are looking more likely It was a bad week for Israel in Europe: the country lost its staunchest regional ally when Viktor Orbán was toppled from power in Hungary, and Italy suspended a key defence pact. The shifts are likely to pave the way for new trade sanctions over state-backed settler violence in the occupied West Bank, and add to broader pressure for the EU to reconsider its relationship with Israel over its wars in Gaza and the wider region. Continue reading...

The prime minister’s leadership is still in the spotlight after Peter Mandelson was appointed US ambassador after he failed security vetting Our Scotland correspondent Libby Brooks has written this piece on how Scottish voters are being attracted to Reform UK, and how it reflects attitudes to immigration. It’s Monday evening in Aberdeen, and George Preston is wearing his union flag suit to the Reform UK rally. He joined the party in 2024 as it gained ground in the north-east of Scotland with its first councillor defections from the Scottish Conservatives. Continue reading...

Updates from the third day’s play in the latest round Sign up for The Spin | Mail James or comment BTL We’ve got ten minutes to go until play begins. The first whiff of a victory might be in Bristol where the evergreen Jimmy Anderson could well force an early win against struggling Gloucs on their home patch. The 43 year old will scent blood in the water and will be accompanied by an impressively George Balderson who scooped five wickets in the first innings. A confession, I was supposed to be covering the action from Southampton where Hampshire are now in a commanding position against the visiting Somerset, a 96 run lead with nine second innings wickets in hand – however my five year old daughter decided to get her Eric the Eagle on from the top of our precipitous stairwell earlier this morning… she’s fine, and seems to now be word perfect on the whole K-Pop Demon Hunters erm, canon - but she was before her nosedive so that’s not too concerning. I think she’s secretly pleased to kibosh my day of peaceful cricket viewing, in fact I’m suspicious… Continue reading...

The Place, London This audiovisually immersive, anime-inspired dance piece is full of stylishly fluid movement and thrilling fights and face-offs Some contemporary dance can make you feel like you need a master’s degree to even enter its zone. Yukiko Masui’s Ronin is not at all of that ilk. Take the kids (the age recommendation is 10+), take your un-arty uncle, take people who are not dance insiders, and they are not going to feel excluded. It’s a show. It is a show, even so, with its own arcana – samurai swordfighting, anime references, video-gaming – and its own mystique. And running through the switches and jump-cuts of its sundry scenes is the slender thread of some kind of metaphysical quest. Continue reading...

Police say poison detected in jar of HiPP carrots and potatoes as maker says items may have been tampered with Rat poison has been found in a jar of HiPP baby food, police in Austria have said, after a recall of the product from more than 1,000 Spar supermarkets in the country over safety fears. Police in Burgenland said in a statement that a sample from one of the 190g (7oz) jars of carrots and potatoes baby food reported by a customer had tested positive for rat poison. Continue reading...

Sol and João had a whirlwind romance and now have a baby on the way – which has changed their sexual connection for better and worse … • How do you do it? Share the story of your sex life, anonymously João has been turned on by the changes pregnancy has brought so far Sol’s pregnancy has changed the way we have sex, but I’m also attracted to the changes Continue reading...

Once a progressive outlier, Scotland is facing a political reckoning as Reform benefits from growing social division It’s Monday evening in Aberdeen, and George Preston is wearing his union flag suit to the Reform UK rally. He joined the party in 2024 as it gained ground in the north-east of Scotland with its first councillor defections from the Scottish Conservatives. Now Preston is out leafleting for the party that polls suggest is vying with Scottish Labour to become the official opposition to the Scottish National party in the Holyrood elections on 7 May. Continue reading...

Farmers and delivery firms launch new options for those seeking alternative to traditionally pasteurised product Raw milk has long been popular, as well as controversial, in the US. While health authorities warn it can carry harmful bacteria, supporters argue it is more natural, and it has also become tied to anti-government and “natural living” movements. In the UK, it is now gaining popularity, particularly among younger consumers, farmers say, as a less processed option, with new products launching to meet demand. Continue reading...

Sale of vocational training brand and million-pound executive pay deals now subject to Charity Commission inquiry When electrician Charlie Butler was contacted by City & Guilds last autumn, he received a shock. He had branched out to launch a new company schooling future sparkies in Essex, offering City & Guilds-affiliated courses and qualifications. When the representative from the training charity called, Butler was expecting a quick conversation about a small uptick in the annual fees. Continue reading...

Shopkeepers charged millions of pounds, including alleged £10,000 penalty for mistake that cost firm £7.08 Vodafone incentivised its security staff to increase “clawbacks” levied on its own franchisees, as part of a programme that led to the telecoms group fining its own shopkeepers millions of pounds for seemingly small administrative errors. The policy – which included one alleged case of a £10,000 penalty for a franchisee whose mistake cost Vodafone £7.08 – involved setting “key performance indicators” (KPIs) for the telecoms group’s internal employees to collect total annual fines of £1.5m from the small business people running the FTSE 100 company’s high street stores. Continue reading...

Eighth election in five years comes after government collapse in December, with stability and cost of living key issues Bulgarians are voting in the eighth parliamentary election in five years, with the clear frontrunner, the pro-Russian former president Rumen Radev, promising to stamp out corruption and end a succession of weak, short-lived governments. Radev, a Eurosceptic former fighter pilot who has opposed military support for Ukraine, stepped down from the presidency in January to run in the election, which comes after mass demonstrations forced out the previous government in December. Continue reading...

Minor smoke damage and no injuries reported at synagogue in Harrow, after spate of similar incidents in recent weeks An attempted arson attack has been reported at a north-west London synagogue, after a spate of similar incidents. The incident at Kenton United Synagogue in Harrow on Saturday night caused minor smoke damage to an internal room but no injuries or significant structural damage, according to the Community Security Trust, which monitors antisemitism and provides protection for Jewish communities in the UK. Continue reading...

From passionate romantasy novels to premium television dramas, culture is bringing the agency, desires and interior lives of women to the fore. It’s proving good for business, but is this a permanent revolution? Do you voraciously read the pages of steamy romantasy bestsellers by Sarah J Maas or Rebecca Yarros? Or flood your group chat with breathless recaps of the latest goings-on in TV series such as Heated Rivalry or Bridgerton? Or even immerse yourself in the divisive and challenging cinematic worlds of Emerald Fennell? If so, you surely can’t have failed to notice that in pop culture, the female gaze – storytelling that highlights the meandering, textured, sublimely messy inner worlds and wants of women – is enjoying an explosion. On TV, you can see it everywhere, in the interior lives and desires taken up by Big Little Lies, Sirens or Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington’s Little Fires Everywhere. Romantasy harbours it in the shape of powerful maidens and sex in fae (fairy) realms, while Fennell’s Wuthering Heights and Promising Young Woman are marketed with the promise of converting women’s experiences into dark beauty on the big screen. Continue reading...

All good? Busy day? Small talk is a social good with a bad reputation. We dread it, but it’s vital for human connection Hi there, how’re you? How’s it going? You alright? All good? As any Briton knows, none of these questions is an inquiry into your emotional state, the material conditions of your life or your opinion on anything. Respond positively – “all good so far, touch wood” is nice – then move on to the purpose of the interaction: “I’m returning an Amazon package?” Bidisha is a broadcaster, critic and journalist for BBC, Channel 4 and Sky News Continue reading...

Deputy leader ran shell companies that reportedly did not pay tax on profits from 2020 to 2022, during which time his firm donated £1.1m to party Richard Tice allegedly failed to pay almost £100,000 in corporation tax to the benefit of his investment company, which in turn made donations to Reform UK, it has been reported. In response to the report in the Sunday Times, the deputy leader of Reform UK posted a lengthy statement on X, in which he said: “A long career with multiple businesses is bound to feature some errors. Naturally I am always happy to put things right and if numbers need rechecking, of course I will pay what is owed – be that more or less.” Continue reading...

Holiday park firms say such bookings are on the rise because of impact of Iran war on aviation Holiday companies have predicted a surge in bookings for UK summer breaks after a jump in interest from Britons fearful of flight cancellations linked to the Iran war. Summer bookings are expected to rise in the coming weeks amid warnings of possible jet fuel shortages and resulting cancellations by airlines across Europe. Continue reading...

The Charlatans frontman plays Kate Bush deep cuts in his car and loves a bit of Abba, but which scary industrial noiseniks soundtrack his sexy time? The first single I bought I remember seeking out Long Haired Lover from Liverpool by Little Jimmy Osmond when I was six. I bought it from Rumbelows on Northwich High Street – it sold washing machines, TVs, blenders and the Top 40 7-inch singles at the back. The song I inexplicably know every lyric to I’ve long been obsessed by Steve Ignorant from Crass. I’ve had various stalls at record markets over the years, and at one, this guy came up and said: “Do you really know the lyrics to all Crass songs?” He tried to catch me out by singing Do They Owe Us a Living?, but I knew them from start to finish. Continue reading...

⚽ Today’s games | Latest tables | Premier League top scorers ⚽ Follow us on Bluesky | And you can get in touch with Tom If you want to get in touch about anything and everything from the weekend’s football, you can via matchday.live@guardian.co.uk or in the comments section below the line. At the Bridge, Liam Rosenior admitted that Chelsea have a mountain to climb after a 1-0 defeat by Manchester United put another dent in their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League. Continue reading...

The vice-president has endured his most humiliating – and damaging – week as his boss’s fall guy. How much more can Maga’s great hope take? For a would-be president, JD Vance has an unfortunate habit of getting into fights he cannot win. Three losing battles in the past week – with Iranian negotiators, Hungarian voters and Pope Leo – brought censure, humiliation and mockery raining down on his head. None were of Vance’s choosing. All were fought vicariously on Donald Trump’s behalf. The vice-president is paying a high price for sycophantic loyalty to his boss. His poll ratings are plunging. His Maga succession hopes falter. He suffers by association – although his own inflammatory statements and misjudgments often make matters worse. Yet amid growing doubts about Trump’s mental health and fitness to govern, Vance remains the White House’s next-in-line. Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator Continue reading...

The opera – about the hijacking of a cruise by the PLF who murder a Jewish American wheelchair user – has been subject to protests and accused of romanticising terrorism. Why was the film-maker so desperate to stage it? In a rehearsal room perched above the labyrinthine backstage of Florence’s starkly contemporary Maggio Musicale Fiorentino theatre, Luca Guadagnino is showing the women of the chorus how to make a second-act entrance. Dressed in a slouchy cardigan and slacks, the Italian director runs forward and stops short at a line of tape indicating the rim of the stage. A little out of breath, he turns past stretching dancers to conductor Lawrence Renes and asks if he minds the sound of stamping feet. “I never mind when we hear them talk, walk, breathe,” Renes says. “It’s live theatre.” Better known for films like After the Hunt, Challengers and Call Me By Your Name, Guadagnino still sometimes punctuates stage rehearsals with instinctive cries of “Cut!” and “Action!”. But today he is directing an opera. It’s his second ever and his first in more than 15 years – and a highly controversial one to boot. The Death of Klinghoffer, a 1991 opera with music by John Adams and libretto by Alice Goodman, has sparked accusations of antisemitism whenever and wherever it has been performed. It depicts the 1985 hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro by the Palestinian Liberation Front, their murder of disabled Jewish American tourist Leon Klinghoffer, and the grief and rage of his wife, Marilyn. The story is placed in a historical, even mythic, context. Continue reading...

Exclusive: George Robertson calls on officials to identify the ‘fit and willing’ in UK’s 95,000-strong strategic reserve The Ministry of Defence has lost track of military veterans they intend to recall at a time of national danger, according to a key government adviser. About 95,000 former soldiers and officers are in the strategic reserve but it is claimed that officials have failed to maintain a full record of their contact details. Continue reading...

Filings suggest manufacturers’ lending arms have massively underestimated bill from FCA’s £9.1bn redress scheme Carmakers are under pressure to drum up £3bn to cover payouts for motor finance scandal victims after failing to adequately prepare for a UK-wide compensation scheme that is due to begin this summer. Company filings show the lending arms of big vehicle manufacturers including Ford, BMW, Stellantis and Volkswagen may have massively underestimated the final costs of the financial regulator’s £9.1bn redress scheme. Continue reading...

Breakthrough prize in Life Sciences awarded to team who developed Luxturna therapy, which helped a patient see their child’s face for the first time A married couple who met over a dissected brain and went on to create the first approved gene therapy for blindness have been awarded one of the most lucrative prizes in science. Molecular biologist Jean Bennett and ophthalmologist Albert Maguire share the $3m (£2.2m) Breakthrough prize for life sciences with physician Katherine High for the 25-year-long project, during which the couple adopted a pair of dogs they had treated for blindness. Continue reading...

Staff at outlets critical of Tehran have faced chilling intimidation and violence, amid calls for greater protection and support Iranian journalists working in London say they fear for their lives after a recent spate of threats and physical attacks, which they blame on a Tehran regime intent on silencing Persian-language news media such as BBC Persian and Iran International. On Wednesday, the London offices of Iran International, a news channel that opposes the regime in Tehran, were the target of an attempted arson attack, with an “ignited container” thrown into the car park of a neighbouring building, according to the Metropolitan police. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Former Scottish Labour leader says she feels more scared as a lesbian today and calls for a kinder debate on transgender issues Kezia Dugdale, the former leader of Scottish Labour, says she is now “quite scared” as a lesbian in Britain and has started to feel nervous holding her wife’s hand in public. Speaking to the Guardian in Edinburgh on the announcement of her appointment as the chair of Stonewall, the LGBTQ+ charity, she said it was “completely possible” gay rights in the UK could be eroded with the rise of rightwing populism. Continue reading...