Cheating, Penisgate and boos for Vance: the 10 wildest stories of the Winter Olympics

Amid the triumphs, failures and broken medals in Milano Cortina, here’s our countdown of the outstanding moments that will live long in the memory

Cheating has been part and parcel of the Olympics since at least Eupolus of Thessaly in 388BC. But crooked boxers from ancient Greece never confessed their indiscretions on live television. The Norwegian biathlete Sturla Holm Lægreid did exactly that after winning bronze in the men’s 20km biathlon for his first individual Olympic medal, publicly admitting he’d two-timed his girlfriend three months earlier and calling it “my biggest mistake” in an overshare for the ages carried live by national broadcaster NRK. Lægreid’s shot appeared to have missed the target one day later when the wronged party, wishing to remain anonymous, told the Norwegian paper VG it was “hard to forgive” what he did.

Published: February 21, 2026, 8:00 am

Gisèle Pelicot on rape, courage and her ex-husband: ‘He was loved by everyone. That’s what is so terrifying’

The case against her former husband shocked the world, while her response inspired awe. As she publishes a memoir, she discusses chemical submission, the abuse hidden within her apparently perfect marriage – and why she decided to go public

At Gisèle Pelicot’s new home on Île de Ré off France’s Atlantic coast, she likes to take bracing walks along the beach in all weathers, play classical music loud, eat nice chocolate and, as a gift to each new morning, always set the table for breakfast the night before. “It’s my way of putting myself in a good mood when I wake up: the cups are out already, I just need to put the kettle on,” she says.

But one of her most treasured possessions is a box of letters she keeps on her desk. The envelopes from across the world – some sent on a prayer, addressed only with her name and the village in Provence where she once lived – piled up at the courthouse in Avignon in southern France in late 2024, when she became famous worldwide as a symbol of courage for waiving her right to anonymity in the trial of her ex-husband and dozens of men he had invited to rape her while she was drugged unconscious.

Published: February 21, 2026, 11:30 am

‘Don’t go to the US – not with Trump in charge’: the UK tourist with a valid visa detained by ICE for six weeks

Karen Newton was in America on the trip of a lifetime when she was shackled, transported and held for weeks on end. With tourism to the US under increasing strain, she says, ‘If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone’

When Karen Newton left home in late July 2025, she knew that international travellers were being locked up in immigration detention centres in the US. “I was aware,” she nods. “But I never thought it would have any impact on my holiday.” Karen, 65, had a British passport and a tourist visa. She hadn’t been abroad for eight years, and was keen for some guaranteed sun. “I really just wanted to get away from the house.”

She and her husband, Bill, 66, had an ambitious itinerary that would take them through California, Nevada, Wyoming, Montana and then on to Canada over two months. Las Vegas wasn’t to Karen’s taste: “Way too commercialised.” She much preferred Yellowstone, where they saw Old Faithful, the famous geyser, as it shot boiling water into the air, and got up close with some extraordinary wildlife. “There was a bison right next to the car. Another time, a wolf walked past.” Her eyes sparkle at the memory. “It was just amazing.”

Published: February 21, 2026, 6:00 am

Ukraine is the biggest and most consequential of all the American betrayals | Simon Tisdall

As the war enters its fifth year, it’s time for Europe to take the fight to Putin on its own terms and tell Trump to get lost

Viewed from Europe, the US’s failure to defend the people of Ukraine against Russian aggression is the greatest and most consequential of a host of recent American betrayals. It’s not just the sickening subservience shown to Vladimir Putin, an indicted war criminal and mass killer. It’s not only the victim-blaming and bullying of Kyiv into making concessions. It’s not even Donald Trump’s crass attempts to monetise the war and milk the misery of millions for Nobel glory, while undercutting Nato allies and trampling sovereign rights.

What really shocks, and hurts, is the sheer bad faith shown by a country that Europeans always counted a friend. As the 18th-century English gothic novelist Ann Radcliffe noted, “few circumstances are more afflicting than a discovery of perfidy in those whom we have trusted”. To echo Trump’s dark warning after he was rebuffed over Greenland: Europe will remember.

Published: February 21, 2026, 6:00 am

Under water, in denial: is Europe drowning out the climate crisis?

Even as weather extremes worsen, the voices calling for the rolling back of environmental rules have grown louder and more influential

In the timeless week between Christmas and the new year, two Spanish men in their early 50s – friends since childhood, popular around town – went to a restaurant and did not come home.

Francisco Zea Bravo, a maths teacher active in a book club and rock band, and Antonio Morales Serrano, the owner of a popular cafe and ice-cream parlour, had gone to eat with friends in Málaga on Saturday 27 December. But as the pair drove back to Alhaurín el Grande that night, heavy rains turned the usually tranquil Fahala River into what the mayor would later call an “uncontrollable torrent”. Police found their van overturned the next day. Their bodies followed after an agonising search.

Published: February 21, 2026, 6:00 am

Trouble in paradise? Seven surprising signs you’re heading for divorce

From never arguing to knowing exactly what the other thinks, the signs your relationship is in trouble aren’t always obvious. Experts reveal what to watch for – and how to get the spark back

You would think this is a sign of perfect harmony. Not so if you have stopped arguing completely. “Stopping disagreeing isn’t a sign of peace, it points to emotional withdrawal,” explains Simone Bose, a relationship therapist at Relate. It happens, says Bose, because couples are “likely protecting themselves from feeling disappointed or from conflict itself, but are becoming emotionally numb”. Clinical psychologist and Couples Therapy star Dr Orna Guralnik agrees, noting that “some people don’t argue because they’ve come to a state of acceptance of who each other are, but some don’t argue because they’ve given up. It’s a cold, detached form of not arguing – a resignation.” For Oona Metz, a social worker, psychotherapist and the author of Unhitched: The Essential Divorce Guide for Women, “Couples who stop arguing even when they have major disagreements are on a collision course towards either an unhappy marriage or a divorce.” This is because “unresolved issues get swept under the rug and eventually come out in some other way”.

Published: February 20, 2026, 3:00 pm

Furious Trump signs global 10% duty after supreme court issues tariff blow

President calls six justices a ‘disgrace to the nation’ while praising three justices who dissented

• US politics live – latest updates

Donald Trump on Friday railed against the supreme court justices who blocked his use of tariffs, calling them a “disgrace to the nation”, and later signing documents imposing a 10% tariff on all countries.

Trump said he would immediately sign an order increasing tariffs globally by 10% under section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 and will begin investigations of unfair trade practices allowing further tariffs. He asserted that he had the authority to impose additional tariffs under existing statutes without congressional approval.

Published: February 21, 2026, 12:04 am

Epstein files place renewed attention on US authorities’ failure to stop him

Files show accuser in 2011 provided extensive account of abuse as questions mount over why action was not taken

The Department of Justice’s release of millions of Jeffrey Epstein files has not only prompted questions about his crimes – but renewed attention on authorities’ failure to stop him after an accuser reported him in 1996.

This new cache of Epstein files has provided more insight into authorities’ familiarity with allegations against him in the years that followed, including time between his sweetheart plea deal in 2008 and federal arrest nearly six years ago.

Published: February 21, 2026, 11:00 am

US envoy Mike Huckabee says it would be ‘fine’ if Israel took all Middle East land

Rightwing Trump ally tells Tucker Carlson Israel has biblical right to land from ‘wadi of Egypt to the great river’

The US’s ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has contended to the podcaster Tucker Carlson that Israel has a biblical right to take over the entire Middle East – or at least the lion’s share of it.

“It would be fine if they took it all,” Huckabee said to Carlson during an interview posted on Friday. The Trump administration appointee and former Arkansas governor discussed with Carlson interpretations of Old Testament scripture within the US Christian nationalist movement.

Published: February 20, 2026, 10:29 pm

Iran prepares nuclear counterproposal as US considers limited military strikes

Trump orders massive buildup of naval forces in Middle East, leading to fears of an imminent war

Iran’s foreign minister has said he expects to have a draft counterproposal ready within days after nuclear talks with the US this week, while Donald Trump said he was considering limited military strikes.

The US president has ordered a massive buildup of naval forces in the Middle East, including repositioning aircraft carriers and other warships, leading to fears of an imminent war. But it is not clear if the military movements are intended as an intimidation tactic to put pressure on Iran to make concessions on its nuclear programme.

Published: February 21, 2026, 10:39 am

US citizen shot and killed by federal immigration agent last year, new records show

Shooting death of Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, in Texas was not publicly disclosed by Department of Homeland Security

Newly released records show a US citizen was shot and killed in Texas by a federal immigration agent last year during a late-night traffic encounter that was not publicly disclosed by the Department of Homeland Security.

The death of Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, would mark the earliest of at least six deadly shootings by federal officers since the start of a nationwide immigration crackdown in Donald Trump’s second term. On Friday, DHS said the shooting on South Padre Island last March occurred after the driver intentionally struck an agent.

Published: February 21, 2026, 1:11 am

‘Slow this thing down’: Sanders warns US has no clue about speed and scale of coming AI revolution

After meeting with unspecified tech leaders, senator calls for urgent policy action as companies race to build ever more powerful systems

Bernie Sanders has warned that Congress and the American public have “not a clue” about the scale and speed of the coming AI revolution, pressing for urgent policy action to “slow this thing down” as tech companies race to build ever-more powerful systems.

Speaking at Stanford University on Friday alongside congressman Ro Khanna after a series of meetings with industry leaders in California, Sanders was blunt about what he called the “most dangerous moment in the modern history of this country”.

Published: February 21, 2026, 4:26 am

US man on ‘Dying to Serve’ tour dies after cancer fundraising hoax accusations

Doug Ruch died in New Zealand in December after article called him a ‘conman’ but cause of death remains unknown

A US man who spoke to various media outlets about having terminal cancer and raising money to travel for community service projects died shortly before Christmas in New Zealand – the day after an article by a journalist there accused him of actually being “an alleged serial conman”.

Authorities in the US and New Zealand recently confirmed Douglas Lee Ruch, 56, died in the capital of Auckland on 18 December, months after his so-called “Dying to Serve” tour. The hundreds of thousands of dollars he raised on GoFundMe earned headlines in the Washington Post, National Public Radio and the Guardian.

Published: February 21, 2026, 12:00 pm

OpenAI considered alerting Canadian police about school shooting suspect months ago

Company behind ChatGPT last year flagged Jesse Van Rootselaar’s account for ‘furtherance of violent activities’

ChatGPT-maker OpenAI has said it considered alerting Canadian police last year about the activities of a person who months later committed one of the worst school shootings in the country’s history.

OpenAI said last June the company identified the account of Jesse Van Rootselaar via abuse detection efforts for “furtherance of violent activities”.

Published: February 21, 2026, 3:18 am

Palace would not oppose move to remove Andrew from succession

Police continue searches at Mountbatten-Windsor’s former Windsor home after arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office

Buckingham Palace will not oppose plans to remove Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from the royal line of succession, the Guardian understands, as police confirmed a search of his former Windsor home would continue over the weekend.

Royal sources indicated on Saturday that King Charles would not stand in the way of parliament if it wanted to ensure the former prince could never ascend to the throne.

Published: February 21, 2026, 11:50 am

‘Dictator vibes’ as dear leader Trump puts name and face front and center

Banner at justice department just the latest example of how president has imposed himself on daily US life

You wouldn’t be alone if you feel that the US more closely resembles North Korea these days – with giant images of the dear leader scowling down on the citizenry, and his name inscribed everywhere from public buildings to street signs, transportation hubs and self-aggrandizing monuments.

Thursday’s unfurling of a massive banner bearing the visage of Donald J Trump, the 47th US president, on the exterior of the Washington headquarters of the federal justice department was only the latest example of how he has imposed himself on every facet of American life. Some critics have called it “dictator vibes”.

Published: February 21, 2026, 11:00 am

Trump news at a glance: president lobs insults at US supreme court for striking down his global tariffs

Trump called justices ‘fools’ and ‘disgrace to the nation’ after their rebuke of his aggressive trade tactic – key US politics stories from 20 February 2026 at a glance

Donald Trump experienced a rare moment in his second term as president Friday: a loss from the nation’s highest court.

The US supreme court declared many of Donald Trump’s tariffs illegal in a sharp rebuke that topples a key pillar of the president’s aggressive economic agenda.

Published: February 21, 2026, 2:13 am

Federal judge accuses White House of ‘terror’ against immigrants in US

Sunshine Sykes says Trump administration poses threats and is recklessly violating law with its mass deportations

A federal judge has accused the Trump administration of terrorizing immigrants and recklessly violating the law in its efforts to deport millions of people.

The judge said that the White House had also “extended its violence on its own citizens”, citing the killings of Renee Good in January by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer and Alex Pretti in the same month by border patrol, both US citizens and both protesting in Minneapolis.

Published: February 20, 2026, 2:44 pm

Florida Republicans pass bill renaming West Palm Beach airport after Trump

Democrats cry foul at change to airport closest to Mar-a-Lago days after president’s lawyers trademarked new name

Democrats in Florida have condemned Republican colleagues in the state legislature who approved renaming the airport in West Palm Beach to the “President Donald J Trump International Airport”, less than a week after lawyers for Trump sought to trademark the name.

Only the signature of Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, now stands before a renaming ceremony at the airport less than six miles from the president’s waterfront Mar-a-Lago mansion and private resort club in Palm Beach.

Published: February 20, 2026, 5:41 pm

Detentions and disappearances: how ICE has driven fear into Michigan’s Arab communities

Arab Americans in Dearborn and beyond are being swept up by ICE at places of worship and work, with devastating consequences

Lorenda Lewis is so tired she can barely keep her head straight. Surrounded by her six young children at a cafe in Dearborn, Michigan, she recounts the nightmare of the past four months that saw her husband, Abdelouahid Aouchiche, an Algerian national, taken away.

It was still dark when, at about 5.15am last October, her 61-year-old husband and 12-year-old son, Abdullah, arrived at the Furqan mosque for morning prayers. Abdullah recalls his father being approached by two men outside the mosque, grabbing him and asking for his papers. After a brief conversation, he says he was allowed to call his mother and told to go inside the mosque by the agents. When she arrived minutes later, her husband and the agents were gone.

Published: February 21, 2026, 11:00 am

Tale of two nations: Andrew’s UK arrest highlights US passivity on Epstein files

In Britain, the establishment has been shaken to the core by the files. In the US, however, ‘the Epstein class’ has faced little legal or political reckoning

The contrast could not be starker. At around 8am on Thursday, British police swooped on the Sandringham royal estate to arrest the former prince Andrew after allegations that he had shared confidential material with the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. It was a seismic shock for the monarchy.

A week earlier Pam Bondi, the top US law enforcement official, was asked how many of Epstein’s co-conspirators her department had indicted, or whether she would give state attorneys general access to evidence to build further cases. She refused to answer.

Published: February 21, 2026, 12:00 pm

Sex first, dinner later: what can singles in Oslo, Berlin, Paris and Rome teach me about dating?

My fellow Brits seem weighed down by endless swiping – I went to the Europeans for a fresh perspective

Last year, I went through a breakup and threw myself into internet dating. I started experimenting with mirror selfies, and spent whole evenings trying to take artful photographs of my own bum. I agonised over my three-line bio. I even put a notebook by my bed with the Hinge prompt “most spontaneous thing I’ve done” written on the first page, so if the answer came to me in a dream, I’d have a pen and paper handy.

I’d spent my early 30s trying to cling on to a failing relationship, which had made me feel stuck in a holding pattern. As if I was fated to have a slightly different version of the same argument every night until I was dead. The thrill of scrolling on Hinge, when I first started dating, was that it felt like shopping for an alternate future. I’d pore over pictures of men cradling small dogs and swinging tennis rackets, and get high on the thought of all the tiny dogs and tennis games we would enjoy together. I started hiding my phone in a cupboard in the kitchen before I went to sleep, because when I kept it in my room, I could feel all my new lives calling to me. Sometimes, when I got up to hide it, I had motion sickness from scrolling so hard and so fast.

Published: February 21, 2026, 12:00 pm

How Jesse Jackson’s ‘radically inclusive’ vision shaped the Democratic party we know today

The civil rights trailblazer imagined a future for America in which the marginalized became the center of US politics

Reverend Jesse Jackson, the civil- and human-rights trailblazer who died on 17 February, imagined a version of America where the marginalized became the center. His was a much more progressive vision than what the Democratic party thought possible after the civil rights movement, and through Jackson’s National Rainbow Coalition – launched after his first presidential campaign in 1984 – he laid the groundwork for a new era.

“This Rainbow Coalition is the embodiment of a national politics that is radically inclusive,” Charles McKinney, a professor of history at Rhodes Collegesaid. “He was like: ‘I’ve got something for the middle class, I’ve got something for the elite, and I also have something for working-class folks. To me, that was the embodiment of his politics.”

Published: February 21, 2026, 12:00 pm

The photos that have kept former Prince Andrew in the public eye

Images include Mountbatten-Windsor with Virginia Giuffre, Jeffrey Epstein and an unknown female lying on a floor

Allegations about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s links to Jeffrey Epstein have unfolded over several years – and in several pictures. Here is how they have dripped into the public’s consciousness and kept the pressure on the royal family.

Published: February 21, 2026, 7:00 am

Blind date: ‘The best thing about her? Super easy to talk to. And pretty’

Freya, 23, a master’s student, meets Greg, 24, a civil servant

What were you hoping for?
Somebody friendly and kind, and an interesting chat.

Published: February 21, 2026, 6:00 am

‘Psychological torture’: Spanish tenants fight back against housing ‘harassment’

Court in Madrid will soon decide whether developers are using construction to force people out of their homes

When the Madrid building where Jaime Oteyza had lived since 2012 was sold to an investment fund two years ago, a local tenants’ union swiftly warned him what to expect.

First the tenants would be told that none of their rental contracts – regardless of their expiry date – would be renewed, the union said. Then, as the 50 or so families in the building grappled with what to do next, a series of construction projects would probably be launched in the building to ramp up pressure on them to leave.

Published: February 21, 2026, 8:00 am

Relooted: the South African video game where players take back artefacts from western museums

Creators say they’re offering Africans a ‘hopeful, utopian feeling’ of retrieving objects looted by colonial armies

A new South African video game lets players take back African artefacts held in western museums in a series of heists, amid a growing campaign to repatriate treasures looted by colonial armies.

Players of Relooted become South African sports scientist and parkour expert Nomali, as she leaps and dives through museums to retrieve 70 real objects. They include an Asante gold mask that was taken by the British army when it destroyed the Asante empire’s capital, Kumasi, and is now in the Wallace Collection in London. Another object is the skull of the Tanzanian king Mangi Meli, which was taken to Germany after its colonial regime executed him in 1900.

Published: February 21, 2026, 6:00 am

A war foretold: how the CIA and MI6 got hold of Putin’s Ukraine plans and why nobody believed them

Drawing on more than 100 interviews with senior intelligence officials and other insiders in multiple countries, this exclusive account details how the US and Britain uncovered Vladimir Putin’s plans to invade, and why most of Europe – including the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy – dismissed them. As the fourth anniversary of the invasion approaches and the world enters a new period of geopolitical uncertainty, Europe’s politicians and spy services continue to draw lessons from the failures of 2022

Published: February 20, 2026, 10:00 am

CBS News is convulsing as Larry Ellison tries to please Trump | Margaret Sullivan

Recent incidents involving Anderson Cooper and Stephen Colbert suggest things are not well at the network after the acquisition financed by Trump supporter Larry Ellison

Anderson Cooper decides to walk away from broadcast TV’s most prestigious news show, 60 Minutes. Stephen Colbert takes his interview with a rising Democratic politician to YouTube instead of his own late-night show. The CBS Evening News anchor presents a misleading version of the network’s own exclusive reporting on Ice arrests. And a news producer writes a farewell note to her CBS News colleagues blaming the loss of editorial independence.

If you connect the dots, the picture of what’s happening at CBS becomes all too clear. That picture comes into even sharper focus once you recall an underlying factor: the network’s parent company is trying to get a big commercial deal done and needs the help of the Trump administration to bring it over the finish line.

Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture

Published: February 21, 2026, 12:00 pm

This Ramadan in Gaza we pray for mercy, share what we have and light a single candle for hope | Majdoleen Abu Assi

I mourn the vibrant life we lived before. But though our faces anxiously turn to the sky, our hands are joined in a solidarity that rises above hunger

Every year, Ramadan comes as a sanctuary for the soul. For Muslims like me, it is a sacred pause in the chaos of life. But this year, as a woman displaced from the familiar streets of Gaza City to a rented room in Al-Zawayda, I am searching for a peace that feels like a ghost. The world calls this a “ceasefire”, yet from my window the silence feels heavy. We are holding our breath because the fear of death has not disappeared, it has just become unpredictable.

I did not welcome Ramadan this year with the golden lanterns that once adorned our balconies. I welcomed it to the roar of bulldozers clearing the bones of neighbouring houses and with the constant buzz of the zanana, the Israeli surveillance drones, overhead. Even as we stand in prayer, that metallic humming drowns out the adhan, the call to prayer, reminding us that we are still watched and that our “calm” rests at the mercy of a sudden strike.

Majdoleen Abu Assi is a project coordinator and humanitarian practitioner based in Gaza, Palestine

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.

Published: February 21, 2026, 12:00 pm

The 60-second rule? Colour theory? Yet more ways we’re supposed to live our lives | Francesca Newton

In these times of social, political and even environmental instability, is it any wonder that we turn to influencers for instruction?

A group of young women are about to try colour analysis for the first time. One says she suspects she’s not “supposed to wear gold”, and then holds up both hands swathed in gold rings and bracelets. The video cuts to the same woman with a strip of gold fabric laid across her chest. A sad trumpet sound plays before the strip is whipped off and replaced with a silver one. “See?” the analyst says. “Way better here.” The woman says: “Yeah”, but she sounds unhappy.

Colour analysis is a method of picking out the shades that suit your skin tone. After its first life in the 1980s and 90s, “getting your colours done” found a new audience on TikTok in 2024 and has only become more popular since. This clip was one of many thrown up by my Instagram feed but it stuck with me, largely because it seemed so depressing in its portrayal of the trend as something to be endured rather than enjoyed. Directions on what you’re “supposed” or “not supposed” to wear, it intimated, should be followed even if it means sacrificing your own preferences.

Francesca Newton is a writer and editor

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.

Published: February 21, 2026, 10:00 am

Martin Rowson on the impact of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on the royal family – cartoon

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Published: February 20, 2026, 5:08 pm

Botswana’s diamond-funded health system has failed: it needs to be reformed and rebuilt | Duma Gideon Boko

As Botswana’s president here is my plan to renew this country’s beleaguered health system – and my vision for a stronger Africa

Shortages of medicine in Botswana forced me to declare a public health emergency last year. Patients went without treatment – not because health workers failed them, but because the system did. For a nation committed to universal healthcare, free at the point of use, it was a moment of hard truth.

Even outwardly strong public health systems can be fragile. As donor assistance bites across the continent, governments cannot afford to delay building resilience.

Published: February 21, 2026, 12:00 pm

The Guardian view on Trump’s Board of Peace: serving private interests more than public good | Editorial

As aid trickles into Gaza, Washington channels $10bn into a body chaired by the president. Peace in the region rests on law and sovereignty, not ego and brinkmanship

In Gaza, aid still trickles in at levels relief agencies say are far below what is required. Temporary shelters are scarce. Reconstruction materials are restricted by Israel’s controls on goods entering the territory. Conditions, say the UN, remain “dire”. The violence has not stopped: Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed about 600 people since the ceasefire began. The announcement that the US would transfer $10bn to President Donald Trump’s newly convened Board of Peace is hard to reconcile with the reality on the ground. Even worse is that Washington has paid only a fraction of its UN arrears – $160m against more than $4bn owed.

This raises the obvious question: why is a private initiative being capitalised so heavily while existing UN mechanisms remain severely cash-strapped? Funnelling state funds into a body chaired by Mr Trump suggests foreign policy is serving private interests, not the public good. The board has ambitious plans. Rafah is to be rebuilt within three years with skyscrapers. Gaza is to become self-governing within a decade. An International Stabilisation Force is expected to begin deployment, eventually numbering 20,000 troops. These are dramatic claims. But their delivery is largely notional.

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.

Published: February 20, 2026, 5:52 pm

Winter Olympics 2026: Klæbo wins historic sixth gold, bobsleigh resumes after crash – live

• Medal table | Live scores and schedule | Results | Briefing
• Follow us over on Bluesky | And you can email Billy

Men’s four-man bobsleigh In the workshop, a man carefully waxes down a sleigh. Another Canadian team next, under Dearborn, but they can’t improve on their countrymen.

Men’s four-man bobsleigh: The French have a cracking silver sled, but it all goes wrong at the start when one of the riders gets his foot stuck.

Published: February 21, 2026, 12:29 pm

‘Worst skis I ever had’: Swedish biathletes blame poor Olympic form on waxing team

• Wax technicians apologise after mass-start failure

• Sweden’s trio finish 18th, 21st and 26th in event

Sweden’s biathletes have struggled to deliver medals at the Winter Olympics and on Friday they finally ran out of patience with their waxing team, blaming a bad job on their skis for an embarrassingly poor performance in the men’s mass start.

Often among the favourites in biathlon events, the Swedes had a dismal day in the final men’s race of the Games, with Sebastian Samuelsson finishing 18th, Martin Ponsiluoma 21st and Jesper Nelin 26th in the 30-man field.

Published: February 21, 2026, 12:17 pm

USA and Canada to meet in Olympic men’s ice hockey gold medal game

• Hughes and Eichel spark US rout of Slovakia

• MacKinnon scores late to send Canada through

• Border rivals to meet for men’s hockey gold

The United States and Canada men’s ice hockey teams will play for the gold medal on Sunday’s final day of the Milano Cortina Games after both teams came through semi-final contests of varying difficulty on Friday evening, setting up a blockbuster final in the first Olympic tournament to feature National Hockey League players in 12 years.

Canada left things late in the first game, fighting back from two goals down to win 3-2 over Finland on Nathan MacKinnon’s winner with 35.2 seconds remaining. The US made far lighter work of Slovakia in the nightcap to set up the heavyweight clash, strolling to a 6-2 win after Jack Hughes and Jack Eichel scored in a 19-second span during the second period to blow things open, ensuring the Americans no worse than silver and their first men’s hockey medal in 16 years.

Published: February 20, 2026, 10:41 pm

Winter Olympics: USA’s Alex Ferreira completes medal set with freeski halfpipe gold

• 31-year-old adds to his 2018 silver and 2022 bronze

• Estonia’s Sildaru, Canada’s Mackay round out podium

American freeskier Alex Ferreira won the men’s halfpipe final at the Milano Cortina Winter Games on Friday to complete his collection of Olympic medals.

The 31-year-old Ferreira won with a third and final run worth 93.75 points, adding the gold medal to his silver from Pyeongchang in 2018 and bronze from Beijing in 2022.

Published: February 20, 2026, 8:49 pm

Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend

Tottenham’s Tudor age begins with a north London derby, Guardiola ponders Haaland’s role and Wirtz has a chance to flummox Forest

Aston Villa, third in the Premier League, chasing Champions League qualification and the Europa League title, will be expected to beat Leeds on home soil. But Unai Emery’s side have struggled of late in games where the pressure is on and the onus is upon them to be the aggressor. After exiting the FA Cup to Newcastle, Marco Bizot’s moment of madness all but ending their hopes of reaching the fifth round, it is back to league duty. They eked out an ugly win over Brighton, just the kind of result they would be happy with this weekend, but recently they also lost at home to 10-man Brentford and to Everton. Before that they drew at lowly Crystal Palace, though Oliver Glasner’s side have been a bogey team for Villa. This week Bizot apologised for his rush of blood. Which Villa will turn up against Leeds? Ben Fisher

Aston Villa v Leeds, Saturday 3pm (all times GMT)

Brentford v Brighton, Saturday 3pm

Chelsea v Burnley, Saturday 3pm

West Ham v Bournemouth, Saturday 5.30pm

Published: February 20, 2026, 12:01 am

Alysa Liu released the pressure, reclaimed her joy and turned it into Olympic gold | Bryan Armen Graham

After stepping away from figure skating, the US star climbed back on her own terms. Her journey culminated in a medal, but it was about much more than that

Alysa Liu made her way through a mixed zone teeming with hundreds of reporters at a quarter past midnight early Friday morning, an Olympic gold medal draped around her neck, the sequins in her color-coordinated dress glimmering beneath the klieg lights and crush of television cameras. The 20-year-old from West Oakland had just become the first American woman to win figure skating’s biggest prize in 24 years, drilling seven clean triples to leapfrog a pair of Japanese rivals from third place after Tuesday’s short program and gatecrash her sport’s most rarefied air. But to hear Liu tell it, her second gold in 12 days was merely a passing footnote in a Milan fortnight she doesn’t want to end.

Liu’s carefree mindset should and will be studied in the weeks, months and years after these Olympics – especially these Olympics – as a counterpoint to the results-obsessed mindsets that have shattered the mental wellbeing of so many athletes thrust into the pressure-cooker of the world’s biggest sporting event. She spoke candidly and insightfully on how her unique journey from child prodigy to burnout case to second-act skater gave rise to an indifference to scores or placements. All she wanted in the end was a chance to make the US team and share her artistry on the world stage.

Published: February 20, 2026, 3:35 pm

Crash ethics, colourful commentary and other questions from watching Winter Olympics | Emma John

Everything I still need to know after two weeks of the sublime and sometimes bizarre in Milano Cortina

Having avoided the horrific February weather by staying on my sofa for two weeks, I have embraced the Winter Olympics as a quadrennial extra Christmas holiday. It offers pine trees, baubles and the chance to gather around the TV while someone with an RP accent tells us how determined and courageous the British are.

The Olympic Games have always presented something of a paradox – on one hand, they are the peak of human athleticism, and on the other, they can look like an elite school sports day. There’s normally at least one activity that reminds you of your youth, whether it’s table tennis or trampolining. Presumably the skiing and snowboarding on display this month have felt very relatable to swathes of Surrey.

Published: February 21, 2026, 8:00 am

Charles Leclerc clocks quickest time at final F1 pre-season testing in Bahrain

• Lando Norris second fastest; Max Verstappen third

• Aston Martin completed just six laps after problems

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took the bragging rights with the quickest time at the final Formula One test before the season proper begins in Australia in just two weeks, while Aston Martin endured a horror show.

At the end of the final day of the third test, some of the cars were let off the leash to put in some runs on soft tyres with lower fuel loads and Leclerc looked very much at home as he hurled his Ferrari around the circuit in Bahrain. He set a time of 1min 31.992sec, eight-tenths clear of the second-placed McLaren of Lando Norris and a second up on Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ George Russell.

Published: February 20, 2026, 5:18 pm

‘Flattered. Thanks, JD!’: Eileen Gu claps back at Vance after criticism for representing China

• Olympic freeski star was born in San Francisco

• VP suggested US-born athletes should compete for US

Olympic freeskier Eileen Gu has responded after vice-president JD Vance appeared to criticise her choice to represent China on the international stage instead of the United States.

With five medals, the 22-year-old Gu is the most decorated female freeskier in Olympic history. She won two golds and a silver at the 2022 Beijing Games and has claimed two silvers at the Milano Cortina Games, with one more medal event set for Saturday in the halfpipe.

Published: February 20, 2026, 2:58 pm

Clapping skis to the pulpy thrash of poles: the Winter Olympics are an ASMR wonderland

The TV screen’s jazz of drags, snaps, pops, and stops during the Milano Cortina Games have shown sport at its most powder-light and loveable

The mountains always promise escape from the squalor of existence at sea level, if not a kind of purification. The fortifying ruggedness of the terrain, the apple-crisp air, the high-albedo dazzle of sunlit snow: at altitude, it seems, everything is thinned to its essence. The Winter Olympics frequently play on this mythology of purity, but rarely has culture’s quadrennial ascent up the switchbacks felt as clarifying as it has this year. Propelling us into heights untroubled by the compromises and tradeoffs that blight sport’s lower zones, Milano Cortina has delivered images so brilliant and sharp they’ve also served to expose how ugly – and morally murky – most non-Olympic team sports have become over the past four years.

As a TV spectacle, the excellence of this Olympiad has been defined as much by absence as presence. No gambling ads, no live betting odds gunking up the screen, no win percentage trackers, no janky little segments in which the hosts joke about what the prediction markets are doing: these Games have brought delight and relief to a tired public’s eyes in equal measure. Cleaned of clutter and slop, sport, it turns out, can still be a thing of wonder and mystery, agony and beauty. Who would have thought?

Published: February 20, 2026, 10:00 am

MLS 2026 predictions: Messi v Son, a Timo Werner rebirth and are Inter Miami inevitable?

The 2026 MLS season kicks off on Saturday. Our writers discuss the teams, players and story lines they’re watching this year

Messi v Son. The two best players in the league play for the two “glamour” teams on opposite coasts, and each have large and dedicated fanbases. If both stay relatively healthy and perform up to capabilities, there’s no way the race between them for some honor (Golden Boot? MVP? Both?) won’t be fascinating to see unfold. AA

Published: February 20, 2026, 11:00 am

Mikel Arteta rules out ‘bottlers’ jibe but accepts Arsenal must take title criticism

• ‘It’s not part of my vocabulary. I wouldn’t use that word’

• Arsenal visit Tottenham in Premier League on Sunday

Mikel Arteta has insisted the word “bottlers” is not in his vocabulary and that Arsenal must take criticism “on the chin” after surrendering a 2-0 lead against the bottom side, Wolves, in midweek.

With Manchester City facing Newcastle on Saturday night, the Premier League leaders could have their advantage over Pep Guardiola’s side cut to two points by the time they play at Tottenham on Sunday.

Published: February 20, 2026, 10:30 pm

Ukraine war briefing: Hungary threatens to block €90bn EU loan to Kyiv in oil row

Viktor Orbán demands Ukraine reopen Druzhba pipeline for Russian deliveries; Zelenskyy says Ukraine is not losing the war. What we know on day 1,459

Published: February 21, 2026, 3:59 am

US military strike kills three in second alleged drug boat attack this week

Move brings total number of people killed in US strikes on suspected boats since September to at least 148

The US military launched a strike on an alleged drug smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific on Friday, killing three men in its second strike this week.

“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” US Southern Command, which oversees operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, said on Twitter/X.

Published: February 21, 2026, 2:05 am

Antiques auction selling neck shackles accused of ‘profiting from slavery’

Exclusive: Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy says treating these objects as collectors’ items ‘should be looked at in horror’

An antiques auction selling chains linked to the enslavement of African people in Zanzibar has been accused of “profiting from slavery”.

Neck irons dated to the Omani-Arab dominated trade in enslaved people in east Africa, which ended after African resistance and British pressure in the late 19th century, will go on sale this weekend in Scotland.

Published: February 21, 2026, 7:00 am

‘Reimagining matter’: Nobel laureate invents machine that harvests water from dry air

Omar Yaghi’s invention uses ambient thermal energy and can generate up to 1,000 litres of clean water every day

A Nobel laureate’s environmentally friendly invention that provides clean water if central supplies are knocked out by a hurricane or drought, could be a life saver for vulnerable islands, its founder says.

The invention, by the chemist Prof Omar Yaghi, uses a type of science called reticular chemistry to create molecularly engineered materials, which can extract moisture from the air and harvest water even in arid and desert conditions.

Published: February 21, 2026, 12:00 pm

Officials investigate deadly California avalanche for possible criminal negligence

Nevada county sheriff said investigation includes learning why the ski trip was not cancelled by the guide company

Authorities are investigating whether any criminal negligence was involved in the deadly avalanche that swept California’s Lake Tahoe this week, which killed at least eight skiers and their guides while returning from a three-day backcountry skiing trip.

The Nevada county sheriff’s office said on Friday said that they notified the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Osha), which regulates workplace safety, of the active investigation.

Published: February 20, 2026, 11:24 pm

Why is South Korea angry that Yoon Suk Yeol wasn’t sentenced to death?

The former president was found guilty of leading an insurrection and sentenced to life imprisonment with labour, a punishment that some have called a ‘failure’

On Thursday, former president Yoon Suk Yeol was found guilty of leading an insurrection and sentenced to life imprisonment with labour over his failed martial law declaration in December 2024.

When he received his sentence, hundreds of his opponents cheered outside the court. But the mood quickly shifted to disappointment and anger.

Published: February 21, 2026, 12:10 am

‘A joyful day’: final piece of Sagrada Familia’s central tower put in place

Completion of glass cross brings Antoni Gaudí’s church to maximum final height of 172.5m, 144 years after work began

The final piece of the central tower of Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia has been laid in place, bringing the church to its maximum final height 144 years after work began.

After several days when it has been too windy to work, the upper section of the 17 metre-high four-sided steel and glass cross was winched into position at 11am on Friday, completing the tower dedicated to Jesus Christ. At 172.5 metres, the Sagrada Familia, to which the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí devoted the later part of his life, is Barcelona’s tallest building and the world’s tallest church.

Published: February 20, 2026, 4:09 pm

Hamas reportedly holds leadership vote at critical moment for militant group

New head will face decisions crucial to movement’s future, such as how far to cooperate with Trump’s Gaza plan

Hamas has reportedly begun holding leadership elections among its members at a time when the militant Palestinian movement faces imminent decisions which will be critical to its own continued existence and the potential for peace in Gaza.

According to the BBC and press reports in the Gulf, Hamas members in Gaza have already voted. Those in the West Bank, in Israeli prisons and the diaspora are also expected to cast ballots for delegates to the movement’s 50-member general Shura council, which ultimately chooses its politburo and a new interim leader. The process could last weeks.

Published: February 20, 2026, 6:09 pm

Survivor of financial abuse invited to advise ministers after Guardian report

City minister Lucy Rigby acts after woman faced repossession of house burned down by controlling husband

A woman who was nearly killed by her abusive husband has been invited to advise the government on measures to support victims of financial abuse after the Guardian highlighted her story last weekend.

Francesca Onody was left homeless and penniless when her husband doused their cottage with petrol while she and her two children were inside. Her husband, Malcolm Baker, died when the property exploded.

Published: February 21, 2026, 7:00 am

Floreana giant tortoise reintroduced to Galápagos island after almost 200 years

Subspecies driven to extinction by hungry whalers returns after ‘back breeding’ programme using partial descendants

Giant tortoises, the life-giving engineers of remote small island ecosystems, are plodding over the Galápagos island of Floreana for the first time in more than 180 years.

The Floreana giant tortoise (Chelonoidis niger niger), a subspecies of the giant tortoise once found across the Galápagos, was driven to extinction in the 1840s by whalers who removed thousands from the volcanic island to provide a living larder during their hunting voyages.

Published: February 20, 2026, 9:00 pm

Trump’s EPA to roll back rule limiting hazardous mercury from coal plants

Environmental groups warn that weakening air toxics and mercury standards will lead to higher health-related costs

The Trump administration announced on Friday it would roll back air regulations for power plants limiting mercury and hazardous air toxics at an event in Kentucky, a move it says will boost baseload energy but that public health groups say will harm public health for the most vulnerable groups in the US.

Donald Trump’s EPA has said that easing the pollution standards for coal plants would alleviate costs for utilities that run older coal plants at a time when demand for power is soaring amid the expansion of datacenters used for artificial intelligence.

Published: February 20, 2026, 5:01 pm

How ‘smog capital of Poland’ saved 6,000 lives by cutting soot levels

Kraków’s ban on burning solid fuels plus subsidies for cleaner heating has led to clearer air and better health

As a child, Marcel Mazur had to hold his breath in parts of Kraków thick with “so much smoke you could see and smell it”. Now, as an allergy specialist at Jagiellonian University Medical College who treats patients struggling to breathe, he knows all too well the damage those toxic gases do inside the human body.

“It’s not that we have this feeling that nothing can be done. But it’s difficult,” Mazur said.

Published: February 20, 2026, 6:00 am

Ohio mayor arrested on voyeurism charges after allegedly sniffing girl’s underwear

Claims against Wesley Dingus came from teen who had been staying at his residence and hid camera in bedroom

A Republican mayor in Ohio is facing criminal allegations after authorities say he was recorded on a concealed camera smelling an underage girl’s underwear.

An incident report from the Richland county sheriff’s Office details the accusations against Wesley Dingus, 48, who serves as mayor of Butler. The claims came from a juvenile who had been staying at his residence.

Published: February 20, 2026, 10:12 pm

California bill would ban ICE agents from being near polling sites

Legislation responds to concerns that immigration officers could interfere with voting during November midterms

A bill introduced this week by California lawmakers would ban federal immigration agents from being stationed outside polling places, responding to concerns that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers could interfere with voting during the November midterm elections.

The legislation was introduced on Thursday by state senator Tom Umberg and co-authored by state senator Sabrina Cervantes. Umberg said the measure aimed to safeguard voters from “ruthless intimidation” near polling locations.

Published: February 20, 2026, 9:39 pm

History redressed: Melania makes her mark, in a fashion, with Smithsonian gown

First lady is first in more than 100 years to have two inaugural gowns in museum’s popular collection

Her husband has described it as “OUT OF CONTROL”, a place where “everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been”.

But Melania Trump, the wife of US president Donald Trump, declared a temporary ceasefire in hostilities with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington on Friday – with the help of a silk gown, diamond brooch and headless mannequin.

Published: February 20, 2026, 7:20 pm

Texas congressional candidate with extremist views backed by hard-right donors

After tech billionaire Peter Thiel and others donated to Jace Yarbrough’s campaign, Donald Trump endorsed him

A rookie congressional candidate in a nine-way Texas primary has received the imprimatur of wealthy hard-right donors including tech billionaire Peter Thiel, Claremont Institute board chair Thomas Klingenstein and Charles Haywood, who once expressed a desire to be a “warlord”, according to new Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings showing early donations to his campaign.

In a recent candidate forum, Jace Yarbrough unapologetically staked out a series of extremist positions, saying that critics may call his approach to politics “bigoted and backward and oppressive and Nazi-ish”, but that he is “past trying to placate that in any way, shape or form”.

Published: February 20, 2026, 12:00 pm

‘We can see that courage’: Greece recovers long-lost photos of Nazis’ May Day executions

Culture ministry hails ‘exceptional historical importance’ of prints that show resistance fighters’ final moments

In his book-filled office, Vangelis Sakkatos took in the images of the men lined up before a firing squad. The executions on May Day 1944 have haunted him since he was a boy.

“Their heroism was the stuff of myth,” said the veteran leftist, casting his eyes over the photographs that have dominated Greece’s press in recent days with a mixture of fury and awe. “The years may have passed, but I haven’t forgotten.”

Published: February 21, 2026, 12:00 pm

UK ‘working with US’ to analyse impact of supreme court’s ruling against tariffs

Government ‘expects privileged trading position’ to go on as EU ‘seeks clarity’ over Trump administration’s next steps

Britain and the EU said they were assessing the implications of the US supreme court ruling against Donald Trump’s global tariffs, while business groups reacted to the court’s announcement with caution.

A spokesperson for Downing Street said: “The UK government is working with the US to understand how the overturning of Donald Trump’s tariffs by the supreme court will affect the UK but expects our privileged trading position with the US to continue.”

Published: February 20, 2026, 6:34 pm

UK clinical trial into puberty blockers on hold after medicines regulator steps in

Recruitment of children for study delayed after MHRA warns that participants should be no younger than 14

A clinical trial into puberty blockers for children has been paused after the medicines regulator warned it should have a minimum age limit of 14 because of the “unquantified risk” of “long-term biological harms”.

Discussions between the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the trial sponsor, King’s College London, will begin next week to discuss the wellbeing concerns, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said on Friday evening.

Published: February 20, 2026, 9:26 pm

‘The costs could rise’: Austria manslaughter ruling could alter climbing in Europe

Amateur climber’s conviction over girlfriend’s death could put people off activity, say experts

• Climber convicted of manslaughter after leaving girlfriend on Austria’s highest peak to seek help

The decision of an Austrian court to convict an amateur climber of manslaughter after he had left his girlfriend behind to die on an Alpine peak in winter is certain to be examined closely throughout Europe.

In his decision in Innsbruck, the judge, Norbert Hofer – a climber, and an expert in Austrian law relating to the mountains – ruled that the “galaxies-wide” disparity in experience and skills between Thomas P and his late girlfriend Kerstin G meant he had been de facto acting as her mountain guide “as a favour” despite no financial arrangement having been involved.

Published: February 20, 2026, 4:23 pm

My cultural awakening: Operation Mincemeat taught me how to cry – now I sob at everything

A musical number about a woman’s letter to her husband on the second world war frontline unlocked my ability to blub – and made me a happier person

I am sure I must have cried as a child, but by the time I was a teenager it had stopped. It was probably a boarding school thing. Very stiff upper lip. My parents are not the most emotionally available human beings, either. I like to tease them by saying: “I love you.” You can see the panic in their eyes. They will normally say: “All right then, bye.”

My gran died when I was about 18, and I was sad, of course, but in terms of tears there was nothing, no water. I never cried at movies. I didn’t cry on my wedding day, nor at the birth of either of my daughters. It never alarmed me. I actually thought I might have underactive tear glands. Looking back, it was probably all about control.

Published: February 21, 2026, 7:00 am

The week around the world in 20 pictures

The arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Ramadan in Gaza, Russian airstrikes in Odesa and flooding in France – the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists

Published: February 20, 2026, 6:44 pm

Oscars bellwether, British awards or both? The identity dilemma facing the Baftas

Few UK nominations this year as industry tries to balance attracting global attention and celebrating homegrown projects

It may be billed as Britain’s premier film awards, but when nominations for the Baftas were announced last month, the lack of British representation in the top categories was hard to ignore. Just one British actor, Robert Aramayo, appeared in the leading actor category, while there were no British nominees at all for leading actress (the UK-based Irish actor Jessie Buckley notwithstanding).

The supporting categories fared little better, with Peter Mullan and Emily Watson the sole British nominees. Of the films themselves, only one British co-production, Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet – about Shakespeare and his wife Agnes’s grief over the loss of their son – made it into the best film race.

Published: February 21, 2026, 12:00 pm

Scrubs: the cast’s chemistry is still so sparky it totally carries this zinger-packed comeback

Dr Cox is still electrifying, the original cast’s interactions are a joy to watch, and after a couple of episodes it finds its tone – making it just the comfort TV we need right now

It is possible to believe contradictory things. For instance, I believe TV’s reliance on reviving old shows is a risk-averse, creative regression. On the other hand, I love it. I particularly love it when fictional characters have visibly aged. There’s a broken humanity that you don’t get with flawless, collagen-rich skin. You sense you could talk to them about your sciatica and they’d get it.

I got that feeling with the new series of Scrubs (Disney+, from Thursday 26 February), a show I once mainlined on E4. Scrubs was as comforting as tea and toast. Surprisingly malleable, too. In its bones, it was a coming-of-age workplace bromance between junior doctors JD and Turk, played by then newcomers Zach Braff and Donald Faison. Their chemistry was the show’s anchor, balancing sassy racial harmony with irreverence and heart, as they bore witness to universal human drama. But is it healthy enough to survive resuscitation, more than 15 years after its last episode aired?

Published: February 21, 2026, 7:00 am

‘The trick is not being so annoying that people hate you’: is awards-show hosting the toughest gig out there?

From the dire Hathaway and Franco double act to the charming Fey and Poehler combo, the choice of MC is vital to a show’s success. With Alan Cumming set to helm the Baftas on Sunday, here’s what he needs to know

No modern film awards show is complete without a wisecracking host, who has the tricky job of compering the evening, bringing people on and off stage in rapid succession, keeping a restless audience entertained, and coming up with a decent comedy routine themselves. Hence the attention that is paid to the annual announcement of the Baftas, Golden Globes and Oscars hosts; they are gigs that can flourish in the cultural memory, such as Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s multiple turns at the Golden Globes, or become infamous, such as Anne Hathaway and James Franco’s double act at the Academy Awards in 2011, which saw them castigated as “children” and “spectacularly unwatchable” by the media.

In December, the Baftas announced that Scottish actor Alan Cumming was to host of the 79th edition of the event, which takes place on Sunday; he takes over from fellow actor and Scot David Tennant, who occupied the berth in 2024 and 2025. Tennant was given a middling review for his efforts last year by the Guardian’s Gwilym Mumford, who called him “a game host, a willing song and dance man, but he definitely needs more help from whoever’s writing his gags” – but that was glowing compared with the notices that arrived for Absolutely Fabulous star Joanna Lumley after her turn in 2019; in an article headlined “Is Joanna Lumley the worst Baftas host of all time?” the Guardian said: “Watching it on TV was excruciating. Not only were the jokes bad, but the Bafta audience responded with a total, ominous silence.” Following the Lumley debacle, Bafta managed to claw back some credibility by hiring Graham Norton in 2020 (“a safe pair of hands”) and a well-reviewed Rebel Wilson in 2022 (“rescues Baftas”).

Published: February 20, 2026, 4:15 pm

Psycho Killer review – delayed satanic serial slasher is devilishly dull

The writer of Seven commits the sin of boring us with this bland horror which should have stayed in development hell where it belongs

When a script has passed through multiple hands over an almost 20-year period, one assumes it must have something magnetic enough to keep it within the Hollywood ecosystem and out of the trash. Of course, it’s also assumed that there’s probably something a little cursed about it too but when it finally does get made, the curiosity factor is sky high. Psycho Killer, written in the mid-2000s by Seven’s Andrew Kevin Walker, has had its share of almosts over the years. In 2009, Fred Durst was set to direct. In 2010, Eli Roth was set to produce. In 2011, production was set to begin. In 2015, it was supposed to get German funding. But each iteration found a snag, and it took until 2023 for the film to finally get made.

Three years later, it’s now finally getting released by 20th, AKA Disney, with longtime producer Gavin Polone making his directorial debut, an answer to the question of “Why this?’ quietly arriving in 1,000-plus cinemas.

Published: February 20, 2026, 5:00 pm

Spanish-speaking Bad Bunny stirs lost Latin identity among Brazil’s music fans

Puerto Rican singer sells out concerts in Portuguese-speaking Brazil with breakthrough ‘anti-American agenda of emancipation’

There is a saying in Brazil that Brazilians realise they are Latin only when they travel to the US or Europe.

Among the many reasons for this is that the largest country in Latin America is also the only one in the region where Portuguese is spoken rather than Spanish.

Published: February 20, 2026, 8:00 am

Add to playlist: the seance-worthy dancefloor music of Miles J Paralysis and the week’s best new tracks

The enigmatic Bradford producer is moving into eerie new territory informed by folklore and delivered with a tangibly menacing low end

From Bradford, UK
Recommended if you like Adrian Sherwood, Kris Baha, Guerilla Welfare
Up next New EP Don’t Forget the Ritual released on 28 February

Miles J Paralysis maintains a low profile, with just a handful of releases available on Bandcamp and a sparse, faceless Instagram presence. The enigma suits the music he has been making and sharing under the alias since early last year: dark, dubby and complete with obscure vocal samples and titles such as Always Liked Scarecrows and Cursed Moor.

Published: February 20, 2026, 12:00 pm

Hedera: Hedera review | Jude Rogers' folk album of the month

(Cuculi)
The Bristol-based folk ensemble travel widely on their first album, exploring global influences with sparkling, springlike warmth

Hedera are a band of five tightly knit friends – violinist Lulu Austin, violin/viola player Maisie Brett, violinist/double bassist Beth Roberts, accordionist/harpist Tamsin Elliott, and clarinettist Isis Wolf-Light – named after the Latin botanical term for ivy. The group’s debut album combines influences from Bulgaria to Bali, Ireland to Georgia, and establishes its mood of knotted, hypnotic locked groove from its opening track, Sterretjie (named after an Afrikaans word for the coastal tern bird, which also means “little stars”). Brett’s violin passes the track’s melody to Wolf-Light’s clarinet and Elliott’s accordion with a bright, sparkling swiftness.

Many other moments of joy, lithe and spring-like, lift these 12 tracks. Roberts’ waltz about a Cornish meadow, Mayflies in June, travels from minor key to major and back again, buoyed along by Elliott’s harp-playing. (Elliott similarly impressed on 2023’s So Far We Have Come, her Anglo-Egyptian album with oud player Tarek Elazhary.) Sekar Jagat (Balinese for “flower of the universe”) twitches sweetly into life on prepared harp and plucked strings, then makes hay with a melody originally written for gamelan; on Shen Khar Venakhi, a 1,000-year-old Georgian hymn that survived Soviet purges, all five women’s voices join together in a dense, glowing mass.

Published: February 20, 2026, 9:00 am

Hen Ogledd: Discombobulated review – a manifesto for collective action from Richard Dawson’s folk-rockers

(Domino)
Featuring taunts in Welsh, ‘bard rap’ and spirited jigs, the British quartet’s ragged, rich music underpins their vision for change

What do you do when the world’s falling apart? Take to the streets? Run to the hills? The latest album by this British folk-rock quartet suggests that a blend of fantasy and realism can provide a better way of living.

Their best-known member, Richard Dawson, addresses Facebook-dwelling flag-fiends on Dead in a Post-Truth World – “the mythical country you claim allegiance of is gone / It was never here” – his grave tone offset by Rhodri Dawson’s Welsh taunts in a nursery-rhyme melody. Between the euphoric singalong choruses of Scales Will Fall, Dawn Bothwell delivers what she calls “bard rap” – a steady vocal flow somewhere between spoken word and hip-hop – to decry capitalism and celebrate grassroots resistance. Another stunning, whirling chorus led by Sally Pilkington sits at the heart of End of the Rhythm, a spirited jig that lays out a manifesto for collective action. That collectivism is in the music itself: ragged yet richly populated arrangements of guitars, sax, trumpet and more, with plenty of guests (including children on flute and vocals).

Published: February 20, 2026, 8:30 am

Georgi Gospodinov: ‘Jorge Luis Borges gave me an exhilarating sense of freedom’

The Bulgarian Booker winner on the letter he wrote to JD Salinger, the allure of Homer’s Odyssey and the magic of Thomas Mann

My earliest reading memory
I was taught to read quite early, at five or six, probably so that I would sit quietly and not be a nuisance to the adults. And it worked. Once I’d entered a book, I didn’t want to come out. I remember how Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Match Girl turned my heart upside down. I was living with my grandmother at the time, and I cried under the blanket, terrified that one day she, too, would die.

My favourite book growing up
I read greedily and indiscriminately, picking books at random from my parents’ library. Thomas Mayne Reid’s adventure novels were favourites, especially The Headless Horseman. Jack London’s Martin Eden, too. Clearly, the idea of being both a hero and a writer appealed to me. Writers were not usually heroes. I also loved a textbook on criminology, which explained how to make invisible ink, what traces criminals leave behind, and so on – matters of extraordinary importance to any 10-year-old boy.

Published: February 20, 2026, 10:00 am

I’ll Be the Monster by Sean Gilbert review – are they fantasists or psychopaths?

The dark past of a seemingly perfect couple is gradually revealed in this observant debut of obsession and control

Glimpse them chatting in a restaurant or posing on Instagram, and you might think they have it all. The pair live in London but often travel, drawing the eyes of other guests, their skin glowing, their limbs artfully at ease. She writes affirmations on hotel stationery; he claims to taste notes of bark and tobacco in his chianti. As Sean Gilbert’s dark, observant debut opens in Istanbul, this apparently perfect couple bicker and sweat, for secrets lurk behind their facade – and one of them might be murder.

An unexpected reunion gets their sightseeing off to a shaky start. The unnamed narrator and his wife, Elle, have not seen Benny for 15 years when they cross paths outside the Hagia Sophia. An irksome university acquaintance who has become a second-rate rapper, Benny has the grip of a limpet. As the trio browse stalls and pull on saliva-slicked shishas, talk turns to the past.

Published: February 20, 2026, 9:00 am

The QuickShot II joystick review – 80s clicks and waggles lovingly recreated

The updated QuickShot II brings retro gameplay into the modern era while preserving the no-frills button smashing and endearing flaws that fans loved

Nostalgia is big in the modern games industry. It’s ironic that the most technologically obsessed art form on the planet is just as watery-eyed about the past as cinema and music. And to prove it here is the new version of the legendary QuickShot II, a plasticky joystick from the early 1980s that wasn’t even that good the first time round. It was, however, cheap and it resembled an actual fighter plane control stick with its multiple fire buttons and ergonomic shaft. If you wanted a rugged and precise controller you’d go for the Competition Pro, but that one didn’t let you pretend to be in Star Wars or Airwolf. Plus, the QuickShot II had suckers on its base so you could stick it to your cockpit control panel – sorry, I mean MDF computer table.

The new QuickShot II from Retro Games and Plaion Replai is almost an exact replica in terms of its dimensions. You can grasp it in your fist and wrap your thumb and forefinger around its large red buttons. Yes, you can stick it to your table; the designers have even included the original auto-fire switch at the rear for players who weren’t prepared to hit the fire button repeatedly while playing Green Beret.

Published: February 20, 2026, 11:30 am

The Guide #231: ​How the ​hunt for the ​next James Bond ​became the ​franchise’s ​best ​marketing ​tool

In this week’s newsletter: The race to crown a new 007 has become its own long‑running spectacle, turning the search for​ Bond into an event as big as the films themselves

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Callum Turner’s turn as James Bond lasted at most a couple of weeks. No sooner had he been enshrined as frontrunner to succeed Daniel Craig, than he was nudged from the DB5 driver’s seat by the latest heir apparent, Jacob Elordi, installed as the new bookies’ favourite after his smouldering, highly profitable performance in Wuthering Heights. Smarting somewhere in the background is Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who seemed locked in for the job a couple of years ago, enjoying the backing of former 007s Pierce Brosnan and George Lazenby, but now seems to have fallen out of favour. And don’t forget the succession of other dead cert Bonds now banished to the back of the odds market: the long-rumoured likes of Tom Hardy and Idris Elba (both now likely to have aged out of the role); Theo James; James Norton; Josh O’Connor; Harris Dickinson; Bridgerton’s Rége-Jean Page; and approximately 5,000 other predominately British actors who have enjoyed box office success/led a successful TV drama/look good in a tuxedo.

On and on the hunt goes. Five years after Craig’s final outing, one that left absolutely no wriggle room for his return, and not far off a year since Denis Villeneuve was pegged as director of the next, still-untitled instalment, the next 007 has still not been found. Or if he has (and it seems certain to be a he), everyone involved in the Bond operation is keeping characteristically tight-lipped about it.

Published: February 21, 2026, 7:00 am

More than just McSteamy: Eric Dane was masterful in Grey’s Anatomy – the real man of everyone’s dreams | Anna Spargo-Ryan

Dane was initially only contracted to appear in one episode of series. He starred in a further 138, revolutionising the show along the way

• Eric Dane, Grey’s Anatomy and Euphoria star, dies aged 53

Eric Dane, one of the most handsome men DNA has ever fabricated, has died at 53, just a year after announcing his ALS diagnosis. We just lost Dawson Leery, and now this. It’s a tough time to be a millennial.

It goes without saying: Dane was very good looking. Even in the 2000s, which treated us to a glut of ridiculously handsome TV stars (Chad Michael Murray, Jared Padalecki, Milo Ventimiglia), he was breathtaking. The voice. The eyes. The soul patch. Oof.

Published: February 20, 2026, 8:18 am

An Unknown Woman: how I discovered a hidden tragedy tied to Russia’s most famous painting

It caused a scandal in imperial Russia, then became a staple of popular art in the USSR. But when I spied a copy of Ivan Kramsky’s portrait in the film Sentimental Value, it opened a door to an untold case of life imitating art

Sentimental Value is one of those films you have to watch very closely. In the Norwegian director Joachim Trier’s latest work, which swept the board at the European film awards and is nominated for eight Baftas and nine Oscars, stories are hidden in closeups, half-tones and peripheral objects. Some of these stories are so well hidden, in fact, that they aren’t even apparent to the people who made the film.

In one scene, roughly an hour in, the camera glides down a corridor, and suddenly there she is: a woman’s portrait on the wall. Anyone who grew up in the Soviet Union and later Russia between the 1950s and 2000s, like me, would recognise her instantly. She has been endlessly reproduced: as prints, embroideries, portrait medallions, even on boxes of chocolates. In Britain, people may have encountered her on the covers of various editions of Anna Karenina.

Published: February 20, 2026, 7:00 am

‘He loved showing his bum. Loved it’: the subversive genius of Kenneth Williams

The actor, comedian and raconteur, who would have turned 100 on Sunday, could play humble or haughty, cheeky or Chekhov – but always stole the show

When standup comic Tom Allen received Attitude magazine’s comedy award last year, he used his acceptance speech to salute the subversive wits who paved the way for freedoms now enjoyed by queer people in Britain. Joining Oscar Wilde and Noël Coward on the list was an actor and raconteur singled out by Allen as “a big hero of mine”, and feted by everyone from Orson Welles to Judy Garland, Maggie Smith to Morrissey.

“I wanted to mention Kenneth Williams because he was so profound,” Allen tells me. “And yet, because he was also funny, that profundity hasn’t been acknowledged. As a child, I connected with his outsiderness. Rather than trying to fit in, he went in the opposite direction. Not only did he not apologise for being different, but he was queer in every sense, truly at odds with the world in which he found himself.”

Published: February 20, 2026, 5:00 am

‘Doubling down on meat’: is the UK’s love affair with vegetarian food over?

McDonald’s, Wagamama and others scale back plant-based choices in the UK in favour of ‘high-margin’ meat-led dishes

In 2021, vegetarianism and veganism were booming and menus reflected it. Restaurants and fast-food chains rapidly expanded their meat-free offerings, racing to meet growing demand from diners. McDonald’s launched its first plant-based burger, joining a wave of operators embracing non-meat options.

Fast forward to 2026 and the landscape looks markedly different. Last month, the fast food chain announced it was axing most of its vegetarian range – sparing only its McPlant burger – owing to weak sales. Wagamama has removed some vegan dishes from its menu, while Domino’s has also scaled back its plant-based options. The final Veggie Pret, a standalone concept store from the high street sandwich chain that started in 2016, closed in February 2024.

Published: February 21, 2026, 6:00 am

How the beaches, culture and people of Corfu hit me for six

A cricket match kindled my love affair with the Greek island, inspiring both a literary festival and my new novel

This is not where you would expect an article about one of the Mediterranean’s most beautiful islands to start. It’s the tail end of winter, 2021. Kensal Green Cemetery in west London: the imperial mausolea canted and crumbling, low clouds dissolving into rain. We are still  in that  strange phase of the pandemic when we are masked, newly aware of our bodies and the space around them. We are here to bury Nikos, a man who for me, for many, was the incarnation of Corfu.

I had spent my 20s trying to find the perfect Greek island, hopping from the well-trodden (Mykonos, Santorini, Cephalonia) to the more obscure (Kythira, Symi, Meganisi). None quite matched the vision I had dreamed into being as a child, when I segued from Robert Graves to Mary Renault, then to Lawrence Durrell and John Fowles. Greece was an idea before it was a place: freedom and deep thought, a constellation of sand, salt and thyme.

Published: February 21, 2026, 7:00 am

The best milk frothers in the US for everything from lattes to hot chocolate

You don’t need a $4,000 espresso machine for velvety cafe-quality microfoam

• The best instant coffees: we tested 24 US varieties from powders to pastes

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At your local cafe, your barista probably whips up your morning brew using a double boiler espresso machine that includes a very capable steam wand for those perfect cappuccinos, cortados and lattes. But not every coffee enthusiast is an espresso enthusiast or wants to devote the counter space to a contraption to make it, and all of the myriad other ways of preparation have one thing in common – they don’t include a device capable of steaming milk.

If you’re using a moka pot, Aeropress or even instant coffee, a stand-alone milk frother can get barista-quality microfoam, and then some. Unlike a steam wand, the right stand-alone frother can churn out hot foam for tea and cold foam for iced drinks, and it can even whip egg whites, emulsify dressings, mix protein powders into shakes and whip cream, and up your hot chocolate game. It’s a tool you might want to add to your kitchen, even if you already have an espresso machine.

Published: February 20, 2026, 3:15 pm

‘Tastes like Play-Doh’: the best (and worst) chocolate bars, tasted and ranked

We held a blind taste test of the best chocolate bars in the US – from Hu’s vegan bar to a crowd-pleasing dark chocolate from Theo

• The best (and worst) protein bars in the US, taste tested

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Finding the perfect chocolate bar is a bit like dating. Some bars are an acquired taste, while others are love at first sight.

Luckily, and perhaps overwhelmingly, good chocolate only seems to be getting better. One in six new chocolates now claim to be “premium”, according to some recent research. Grocery shelves across the country carry artisanal, fair trade, organic, bean to bar, handcrafted, single origin, you-name-the-buzzword chocolate.

Best milk chocolate bar:
Endangered Species 48% Cocoa

Best dark chocolate bar:
Theo 70% Cacao

Published: February 20, 2026, 4:21 pm

More polish, less panto: brands push ‘real clothes’ at London fashion week

British labels move focus from innovation to style as names drop off show schedule owing to financial pressure

“London fashion has leant too much into being theatrical. Drama is great, but style is a huge piece of why we buy fashion,” said Mario Arena, the creative director of Joseph, at its first catwalk show in eight years.

Arena has a subversive idea to re-energise London fashion week. More polish, less pantomime: clothes that sell, rather than clothes that scream.

Published: February 20, 2026, 3:07 pm

Meet the colour of the moment: apple green

The increasingly popular shade has appeared on fashion week catwalks and award season red carpets

On the fashion colour wheel, green has long carried a reputation for being “tricky” – a shade that clashes with others and flatters only certain skin tones. Yet this year, a particular apple green has been steadily gaining popularity. It has appeared on catwalks and even on the red carpet, defying the old adage that red and green should never be seen.

Arriving at the Berlin film festival, Pamela Anderson wore an apple-green wrap by Carolina Herrera over a dress in tonal pinks and greens. Amal Clooney chose a green gown by Versace for a Golden Globes afterparty, while Rose Byrne wore green Chanel for the ceremony itself. With award season in full swing, there is speculation the shade could make a strong showing at the Baftas this Sunday.

Published: February 20, 2026, 1:15 pm

Flip it and reverse it: what JFK Jr’s backwards cap signals today

​T​he backwards cap, a 90s accessory once dismissed as juvenile​, is emerging as the latest shorthand for laid‑back confidence

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Within the first 20 minutes of Love Story, Ryan Murphy’s new take on the often tumultuous relationship between John F Kennedy Jr and Carolyn Bessette, the youngest son of the former US president is depicted wearing five different caps. They include a Kangol flat cap as he cycles to a newspaper kiosk in uptown NYC to read the latest headlines about himself, a Yankees cap as he runs topless on a treadmill and a navy baseball cap as he joins his mother, Jacqueline, for dinner, where she promptly reminds him “no hats at the table, please”.

For Kennedy Jr, hounded by the paparazzi and tabloid press who nicknamed him “The Hunk” and more often than not “The Hunk Who Flunked”, you might think this penchant for peaked caps was thanks to the fact that they let him go somewhat incognito. But he preferred to wear his backwards, pulling the cap downwards over his signature flop of lush black hair, and leaving his full face on view.

Published: February 20, 2026, 7:00 am

Meera Sodha’s recipe for rhubarb and custard trifle

Nostalgia and comfort combine in abundance in this retro dessert that’s strictly for kids of all ages

The first time I had rhubarb and custard together was in a boiled sweet from a big jar in my mum’s corner shop. You could flip the sweet in your mouth and rub the flavour you wanted with your tongue. Too tart? Flip to the custard side. Too creamy? Flip again. It was one of the best ways to spend 10 minutes as a seven-year-old in the early 1990s. A few decades on, a lot has changed. Mum no longer has a corner shop, I don’t love boiled sweets any more, but eating rhubarb and custard is still a fantastic way to spend 10 minutes (at the very least).

Published: February 21, 2026, 6:00 am

Which rock group’s name was inspired by a sewing machine? The Saturday quiz

From thorn, seat, shout and stew to Bruno Mars and Bette Midler, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz

1 What, in Spain, is the world’s largest Renaissance building?
2 Which rock group’s name was inspired by a label on a sewing machine?
3 The body produces about 2 million what every second?
4 What is the only non-US team to win baseball’s World Series?
5 Who did Violet Gibson try to assassinate in Rome in 1926?
6 Financially, what rose from £85,000 to £120,000 in December 2025?
7 Which bird can dive to depths of more than 500m?
8 The Sonderbund civil war in 1847 was what country’s last military conflict?
What links:
9 Thorn; seat; shout; stew?
10 Nicole Kidman; Bruno Mars; Bette Midler; Jason Momoa; Barack Obama?
11 Circular orders; rectangular information; triangular warning?
12 Hannah Montana: The Movie; Lara Croft: Tomb Raider; On Golden Pond; Paper Moon?
13 Argentina; Mexico; New Zealand; Qatar; Senegal; Spain?
14 Black; brown; Philippine forest; Polynesian; ricefield?
15 John Flamsteed (1675) and Michele Dougherty (2025)?

Published: February 21, 2026, 7:00 am

Does natural deodorant pass the sniff test? The Becky Barnicoat cartoon

Continue reading...

Published: February 21, 2026, 6:00 am

How long can crocodiles stay under water without breathing? The kids’ quiz

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.

Published: February 21, 2026, 7:00 am

‘Al-Aqsa is a detonator’: six-decade agreement on prayer at Jerusalem holy site collapses

Israeli police raid compound, arrest staff and curb Muslims’ access as Ramadan begins

A six-decade agreement governing Muslim and Jewish prayer at Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site has “collapsed” under pressure from Jewish extremists backed by the Israeli government, experts have warned.

A series of arrests of Muslim caretaker staff, bans on access for hundreds of Muslims, and escalating incursions by radical Jewish groups culminated this week in the arrest of an imam of al-Aqsa mosque and an Israeli police raid during evening prayers on the first night of Ramadan.

Published: February 20, 2026, 9:32 am

Whistles are a symbol of resistance amid Trump’s ICE crackdown. Some say they hurt more than they help

The instrument has strengthened community ties, but some organizers say whistles can create panic or confusion

Over the past year, whistles have become a symbol of the collective resistance of ordinary people standing up to federal immigration enforcement. As the Trump administration expands its immigration crackdown to cities and towns across the US, people are relying on whistles to warn their neighbors about the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

But not all activists agree on their efficacy. Some organizers, including those in rural areas of the US, say that whistles can heighten panic in the communities they serve. Others say they can create unnecessary confusion for children, the elderly and those with disabilities.

When a few grassroots organizations across the country, from Washington state to Maryland, posted on social media about their decision to keep whistles out of their activism, a debate exploded online. But scholars of social movements say that tactical adaptability is a healthy part of organizing, as coalitions emerge, coalesce and continue to transform to meet the needs on the ground.

Published: February 20, 2026, 12:00 pm

Tell us your highlights from the Winter Olympic Games 2026

As the Winter Olympic Games enter their final weekend, we would like to hear your favourite moments

As the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics enter their final weekend, we would like to hear about the moment will stay with you. Wherever you are, what was your favourite moment and why?

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Published: February 20, 2026, 2:16 pm

Milano Cortina Winter Olympics 2026 in all its finery – in pictures

Aside from capturing the action, our photographer has also trained his lens on some of the natty outfits that have been on display at the Games

Published: February 21, 2026, 8:00 am