‘It’s about loneliness, really. It was the total opposite of that “It’s Friday night, let’s have sex” macho mentality that was in most rock music at the time’ Most of the people who started the Mekons and Gang of Four were on the same fine art course at Leeds University. In December 1976 we went to see the Anarchy tour at the nearby polytechnic. I liked the Sex Pistols but the Clash, in their paint-spattered clothes, sounded particularly great. It was the first time I saw a band and thought: “That could be me up there.” Continue reading...

However, former minister tells Hay festival ‘the idea that a woman leads and it makes it better for women is not one I’ve recognised in this country’ The Labour MP Jess Phillips has described her party as “sexist” for having no permanent female leaders in its history. Asked at the Hay literary festival why Labour has never had a female leader, Phillips responded that “like all institutions, it’s a bit sexist innit”. She added that “every institution that every single person in this room works for is led by the patriarchy”. Continue reading...

The twists and turns in this saga are bewildering, but Donald Trump appears to have the cards stacked against him For those following the crisis between the US and Iran, the past few days have been bewildering. On Friday, the six-week-old ceasefire seemed doomed. Donald Trump skipped his son’s wedding to remain in the White House and was reportedly contemplating renewed military strikes on Iran. On Saturday, apprehension was replaced by optimism. Trump announced that an agreement with Iran would be concluded “shortly”. On Sunday, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, added to the hope by saying that there would soon be “good news”. Iran’s leaders soon dampened the optimism. The country’s media dismissed Trump’s social media post as propaganda, and Iranian officials highlighted several remaining points of dispute. As Tehran began revealing – in very general terms – its conception of a deal, the gap between it and Washington became even more evident. Continue reading...

As La Croisette closes for another year, here are the most memorable looks from its final week Continue reading...

Whether it’s giving florals a twist or wearing a rented number, here are our top tips for decoding the dress code • Don’t get the Filter delivered to your inbox? Sign up here The invitation thumps on to your doormat – or, as likely, into your inbox – and rather than feel excitement for the ensuing nuptials, you feel dread. What on earth to wear? Weddings are full of sartorial pitfalls. If there’s no dress code, the limitless options can feel daunting; if there is, it can feel a different kind of daunting, but with a useful guide to prevent you from feeling overwhelmed. Continue reading...

The Bank of Scotland has unveiled a £20 note featuring an image inspired by Scott McTominay’s iconic goal The Bank of Scotland has unveiled a limited-edition £20 note featuring an image inspired by Scott McTominay’s famous overhead kick. It has been created to celebrate Scotland’s return to the World Cup, and fans will have a chance to win 50 of the 100 notes in the coming weeks. The design blends traditional banknote elements with imagery inspired by McTominay’s World Cup qualifying goal for Scotland against Denmark. The team sealed their place at a first men’s World Cup since 1998 with a dramatic 4-2 win at Hampden Park in Glasgow last November, when McTominay scored the first goal with an overhead kick. Continue reading...

Figures raise questions over ministers’ plans to raise qualifying period for settled status from five years to 10 Higher-earning immigrants are less likely to remain in the UK long-term and could be further deterred from staying by the government’s planned crackdown on settlement rights, analysis has revealed. A report from the Migration Advisory Committee’s , Who Stays, Who Leaves?, follows about 900,000 journeys between 2014 and 2024. Continue reading...

Tom Kopke, from Germany, out-tumbled local hero Chris Anderson to win his third roll on hot day in Gloucestershire It was billed as the great cheese-off; a helter-skelter, bone-jarring downhill race between the all-time champ and a young upstart. After the hype and hyperbole, youth won out, as the 24-year-old German YouTuber Tom Kopke beat 38-year-old local hero Chris Anderson at the annual cheese-rolling event in the English West Country. Continue reading...

⚽ League Two playoff final at Wembley; kick-off 3pm BST ⚽ Bolton 4-1 Stockport | Follow us on Bluesky | Email Will I have a tenuous collection articles to fit all events. I went to speak to Salford’s Fabio Borini back in October. From Liverpool to Salford, it’s been a fun journey. Continue reading...

Updates from the final match of the series at Hove Sign up for The Spin | Mail James with your views Hello and welcome to the deciding T20 between England and New Zealand from Hove. It’s crackin t’flags eh? Continue reading...

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world Continue reading...

Alan Milburn, who is leading review commissioned by government, says current strategy ‘going in wrong direction’ Labour has failed to tackle soaring youth unemployment and must launch a “system reset” involving a fresh attempt to overhaul health and disability benefits, a report commissioned by the government is to warn. Alan Milburn, who is leading a review into why almost a million young people are not in education or work, said ministers had so far responded with a series of disjointed jobs programmes. Continue reading...

Tehran says ‘contradictory statements’ from US and Israeli interference hindering negotiations Iran has poured cold water on suggestions that a deal with the US is imminent, pointing to the confusion in US positions and Israeli interference as key factors in why a complete agreement is proving difficult to secure. Speaking at the weekly foreign ministry press briefing, Esmail Baghaei, the spokesperson for Iran’s negotiating team, also said future management of the strait of Hormuz was a matter for Oman and Iran to reach agreement on, and that it was not tolls that were being proposed but “fees for navigational services”. Continue reading...

The battle for the top four in Italy was overshadowed by violence in Turin, where Juve joined Milan in missing out The stage was set for a grand finale: five games to settle season-long battles at either end of the Serie A table. Top spot was decided – Inter claimed their 21st Scudetto at the start of this month – but there were four teams contesting two Champions League berths, while Lecce and Cremonese fought to escape relegation. All of them would play simultaneously. Or at least, that was the plan. Among these five games was a derby between Torino and Juventus. As kick-off approached, supporters clashed close to the stadium. One, a 36-year-old Juve fan named Marco Leonardo Basoccu, was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery after suffering a head wound. Continue reading...

Scientists say record-breaking heat is a reminder of how climate crisis is affecting lives The fierce heat sweeping Europe over the bank holiday weekend has beaten the UK’s all-time temperature record for May, with highs of up to 35C still to come on Monday afternoon. A temperature of 33.5C was recorded at London’s Heathrow on Monday lunchtime, according to provisional data from the Met Offfice, beating the previous May record that was set in Camden Square in 1922 and reached again in Tunbridge Wells and Regent’s Park in 1944. Continue reading...

Links between Trump Organization and Ivanishvili family for Tbilisi skyscraper raise new conflict of interest concerns A Trump Tower planned for the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, is to be built on land currently part-owned by the son of the US-sanctioned leader of the country, according to official records. The proposed skyscraper, a joint venture between a local consortium and the Trump Organization, which is managed by the US president’s sons, Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, will be on a plot whose current registered owner is the International Charity Fund Cartu. Continue reading...

Simple and spicy, this dish is adaptable enough to become a firm favourite with all the family – and it will fill lunchboxes the next day, too This is one of those rare dishes that I can make both for us and for the children – reserving the kimchi topping and chilli peanuts for the adults, of course. I also like to add the kimchi just before serving for freshness (this helps to keep all the good stuff in it from deactivating, too). Leftovers are excellent in lunchboxes the next day, so it’s well worth making the full quantity and popping the excess in the fridge. Continue reading...

Leicester Square theatre, London The comic delivers gags about her life and neighbourhood with choice descriptions and brutal punchlines ‘What comes out of here,” says Fatiha El-Ghorri, indicating her mouth, “and this” – how she presents to the world – “don’t match.” From that contrast – a kindly-seeming woman in a hijab peddling gobby East End standup – this Taskmaster graduate and rising standup star draws much of her comic power. She’s a British Moroccan Muslim from Hackney, where she grew up getting mugged three times a day and learned how to handle herself. Touring show Cockney Stacking Doll offers us a tour of her world: her divorces and online dating; her family; encounters on the buses and streets of London, all addressed with a blunt lack of sentimentality and a robust sense of her own ridiculousness. Perhaps the show is over-reliant on the brutal punchline: too many gags conclude with “you fink I’m playin’ wiv you, bruv?” or an even less compromising “they punched him in the fucking face”. El-Ghorri might retort (and does, in what she calls her Ted Talk section at the end of the show) that she’s had to be tough to get where she is, where so few people like her are invited to be. Fair enough. And there’s plenty of wit here – see her choice description of the Broadway Market neighbourhood in which she was raised as now all “kefir, lidos and polyamory”. Touring until 17 December Continue reading...

Yolanda Saldana Feliz was stabbed 40 times by Miguel Angel Florentino, after Lauris Saldana’s emails to Met police went unanswered Lauris Saldana has visible scars on her face, neck, arms, hand – and many, many more hidden beneath her clothing. They are a reminder of the horrific attack in 2022 at the hands of her ex-partner that she narrowly survived, an attack in which her mother, Yolanda Saldana Feliz, was killed. It was an unlawful killing that would have been preventable, a coroner ruled, had the Metropolitan police taken Lauris’s domestic abuse case seriously. Had they come to her aid when she repeatedly begged them for help with evidence her estranged husband was a violent stalker, her “superhero” mother would probably still be alive today. Continue reading...

Playing a piano tuner with super sensitive hearing, Woodall’s relationship with Hoffman is a tender highlight in this unforced crime drama Leo Woodall’s breakout TV roles in The White Lotus and One Day offered a megawatt charisma, but for his biggest film role to date he dims it to a soft glow with gentle performance opposite Dustin Hoffman as one of a pair of New York piano tuners. And what a pair they are; they are a real pleasure to watch in an easy, unforced drama that mixes romcom moments with a relaxed crime thriller. It’s like the Safdie brothers in chill out mode. Woodall plays Niki, a tuner with exceptionally sensitive hearing who constantly wears earplugs to block out the deafeningly loud world. Niki works for veteran tuner Harry Horowitz, played with irresistible warmth by Hoffman. It’s highly skilled work but a running joke in the film is that rich clients treat them like odd job men – would you mind just unblocking the loo while you’re here? Continue reading...

Ever-growing influence of social media and AI means such ideas spreading at faster rates than before, experts say Hantavirus and Ebola outbreaks carry with them familiar attendants in the US: extreme conspiracy theories about a planned pandemic, or “plandemic”, designed to upend midterms elections or push new vaccines or any one of a myriad of wild ideas. Ebola, which the World Health Organization warned Friday is spreading rapidly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and poses a “very high” risk at the national level. In the upside-down world of conspiracy theories it could be a bioweapon, a financial plot, or a scheme to extract national resources. Continue reading...

Manager’s deal allows for summer parting of ways Scott Parker and Gary O’Neil of interest to West Ham West Ham are expected to part company with Nuno Espírito Santo after their relegation from the Premier League. The manager has been called in for talks with the board and discussions are likely to end with the Portuguese leaving. Nuno refused to talk about his future after West Ham’s descent into the Championship was confirmed on Sunday. The former Nottingham Forest manager’s three-year deal contains a clause that allows West Ham to sack him without paying compensation. Nuno is also free to walk away. Continue reading...

We are spending billions to help families with childcare, but I fear profiteers are denying them the full benefit. I’ll put a stop to that Bridget Phillipson orders review of hidden childcare charges hitting parents Britain is facing a family crisis that politicians do not talk about nearly enough. Birthrates are now the lowest since records began. More and more young people are delaying having children – or deciding they simply cannot afford to have a family at all. When you look at the cost of raising children today, it is easy to see why. Families are feeling the pinch. Many now spend more than £250,000 raising a child to the age of 18. For many parents, the pressure starts long before school, with childcare costs that have risen far faster than wages for years. Bridget Phillipson is secretary of state for education, women and equalities 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...

Dominic Grieve says people are ‘perfectly entitled’ to ask Richard Hermer for review of teenagers’ sentences Appeal judges would be unlikely to criticise the attorney general, Richard Hermer, if he asked them to review “unusual” non-custodial sentences handed to three teenage boys convicted of raping two girls, one of his predecessors has suggested. Dominic Grieve, who also served as home secretary, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the goal of rehabilitating offenders – particularly younger ones – needed to be balanced with providing deterrence. Continue reading...

Research shows cost of crime for each affected business was on average £83,000 in past year Nine in 10 retailers based in rural locations have been victims of crime in the past 12 months, according to research, underlining the widespread impact of the rise in shoplifting and theft even in more remote parts of the UK. Rural retailers include farm shops as well as stores selling machinery and other equipment. The financial cost of crime for each affected retailer was on average £83,000 during the past year, according to a survey carried out by the commercial insurer NFU Mutual. Meanwhile, one in 20 victims said crime had cost them more than half a million pounds. Continue reading...