‘People can be cruel – I learned that early’: US pop star Madison Beer on child fame and fan attacks

Signed at 13 and dropped by 16, Beer’s path to stardom has not been easy. Now 26, she says she’s finally making music for herself and happy to wear her heart on her sleeve

Madison Beer may only be 26, but she is something of a veteran in the pop industry. She got her start at 13, after Justin Bieber tweeted a link to a YouTube video of her covering Etta James’s At Last, and has spent the intervening decade-plus toiling away in mainstream pop, amassing a huge gen Z fanbase in the process – including more than 60 million followers between Instagram and TikTok. It’s an understatement to say that her career has been a slow burn: the day before we speak, it’s announced that her single Bittersweet, released in October, has become her first song to reach the US Hot 100 chart, entering at No 98. When I suggest congratulations are in order, she shrugs off the achievement. “I’m obviously super excited and thankful whenever a song performs well, but I think I’m at the point where I love what I make, and I’m proud of it regardless,” she says amiably, before laughing. “Only took me like, 15 years! But it’s cool.”

Beer’s attitude is indicative of someone whose career has progressed in fits and starts, a far cry from the kind of meteoric rise that fans and onlookers sometimes expect to see in aspirant pop stars. As she prepares for the release of her third album, Locket, she is in prime position to break through to pop’s upper echelon: Her 2023 album Silence Between Songs featured the sleeper hits Reckless and Home to Another One, the latter a sorely underrated Tame Impala-inspired cut, and in 2024 she released Make You Mine, a Top 50 single in the UK which was nominated for a best dance pop recording Grammy.

Published: January 25, 2026, 10:00 am

Iran protest doctor: ‘In one street, I saw blood pooled in a gutter with a trail stretching several metres’ | Anonymous

I’ve worked as a surgeon in disaster zones. Nothing compares to the nightmare I saw in Iran’s hospitals when the state started shooting protesters

By 8 January, Iran’s anti-regime protests that began in late December had spread across the country with reports of at least 45 people killed by security forces. Over the next three days the regime appears to have instigated a brutal crackdown on protesters that is now estimated to have led to the deaths of more than 5,000 people.

By the time I reached the hospital in Tehran on Thursday (8 January) night, the sound of the city had already changed.

Published: January 25, 2026, 10:00 am

Advantage China: Trump’s tantrums push US allies closer to Beijing

In the search for stability, some western nations are turning to a country that many in Washington see as an existential threat

If geopolitics relies at least in part on bonhomie between global leaders, China made an unexpected play for Ireland’s good graces when the taoiseach visited Beijing this month. Meeting Ireland’s leader, Micheál Martin, in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China’s president, Xi Jinping, said a favourite book of his as a teenager was The Gadfly, by the Irish author Ethel Voynich, a novel set in the revolutionary fervour of Italy in the 1840s.

“It was unusual that we ended up discussing The Gadfly and its impact on both of us but there you are,” Martin told reporters in Beijing.

Published: January 25, 2026, 11:06 am

‘I was probably just as lost as my callers’: my six months as a telephone psychic

I sat there in my pyjamas, headset against my ear, and knew I was not doing the right thing

I’m not psychic. During the six months I spent working as a telephone psychic, my only supernatural gift was the ability to sound fascinated by a stranger’s love life at 2.17am. Yet for hundreds of billable hours, I sat on my living room floor wearing plaid pyjamas and a telemarketing headset, charging callers by the minute for insights into their lives. Perhaps this made me a con artist, but I wasn’t a dangerous one.

When it started, I’d recently quit my job as an editor at a publishing company to write a novel while doing telemarketing shifts from my kitchen table. Instead of knocking off a bestseller, I found myself cold-calling strangers about energy bills while gripped by writer’s block and an inconvenient yearning to have a baby.

Published: January 25, 2026, 6:00 am

Sam Altman’s make-or-break year: can the OpenAI CEO cash in his bet on the future?

Altman’s campaigning for his company coincides with its use of enormous present resources to serve an imagined future

Sam Altman has claimed over the years that the advancement of AI could solve climate change, cure cancer, create a benevolent superintelligence beyond human comprehension, provide a tutor for every student, take over nearly half of the tasks in the economy and create what he calls “universal extreme wealth”.

In order to bring about his utopian future, Altman is demanding enormous resources from the present. As CEO of OpenAI, the world’s most valuable privately owned company, he has in recent months announced plans for $1tn of investment into datacenters and struck multibillion-dollar deals with several chipmakers. If completed, the datacenters are expected to use more power than entire European nations. OpenAI is pushing an aggressive expansion – encroaching on industries like e-commerce, healthcare and entertainment – while increasingly integrating its products into government, universities, and the US military and making a play to turn ChatGPT into the new default homepage for millions.

Published: January 25, 2026, 1:00 pm

Cosy coats and blankets, iconic games: 26 products to get you through a winter storm

Affordable gear for power outages, cozy home activities and recommendations for the warmest clothing you can wear all winter long

• This piece was originally published in the Filter US newsletter on buying fewer, better things. Sign up here to read more

This weekend, it’s predicted that much of the US will experience severe winter storms. Piles of snow and below-freezing temperatures could last for much for the week.

It’s recommended to stay indoors (perhaps under a fluffy blanket while finally finishing the ambitious jigsaw puzzle you started over the holidays). And if you must venture into the treacherous weather, wearing proper gear is a must.

For an ultra-warm coat: Patagonia Down Drift Parka

To keep your toes and feet warm: Ignik Compostable Foot Warmers

Published: January 24, 2026, 5:44 pm

Minneapolis shooting: parents of Alex Pretti say Trump officials are telling ‘sickening lies’

Family releases statement saying: ‘Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs’

• Alex Pretti did not brandish gun, witnesses say in sworn testimony

• Large protests spread across US after Alex Pretti fatally shot

• Alex Pretti killing by federal agents: what we know so far

Alex Pretti, a Veterans Affairs Hospital ICU nurse, was said to be deeply upset about the Trump administration’s sometimes brutal immigration crackdown. The 37-year-old has been described as kindhearted by his friends and family (see opening post to read what his parents said about him in a statement issued after he was killed).

Dimitri Drekonja, chief of the Infectious Diseases Section at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs hospital and a colleague of Pretti, called him “a good kind person who lived to help.” Pretti was a nurse working “to support critically ill veterans,” he added.

Published: January 25, 2026, 2:33 pm

Alex Pretti did not brandish gun, witnesses say in sworn testimony

Pair testify that Pretti did not hold weapon and was trying to help woman federal agents had shoved to the ground

Two witnesses to the killing of Alex Pretti have said in sworn testimony that the 37-year-old intensive care nurse was not brandishing a weapon when he approached federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday, contradicting a claim made by Trump administration officials as they sought to cast the shooting of a prone man as an act of self-defense.

Their accounts came in sworn affidavits that were filed in federal court in Minnesota late Saturday, just hours after Pretti’s killing, as part of a lawsuit brought by the ACLU on behalf of Minneapolis protesters against Kristi Noem and other homeland security officials directing the immigration crackdown in the city.

Published: January 25, 2026, 4:04 am

‘This is what fascism looks like’: terror in Minneapolis reminiscent of civil war

Alex Pretti’s death could be a moment of reckoning for Democrats to call time on Trump waging war on his people

Wearing helmets, gas masks and camouflage fatigues, the federal agents took aim and prepared to open fire. “It’s like Call of Duty,” one could be heard saying via a TV mic, referring to a first-person shooter military video game. “So cool, huh?”

This was the scene on the streets of Minneapolis on Saturday after armed agents, wearing masks and tactical vests, wrestled 37-year-old Alex Pretti to the ground and shot him dead. The killing took place just over a mile from where Renee Good was fatally shot on 7 January, a scene that itself was less than a mile from where police murdered George Floyd in May 2020.

Published: January 25, 2026, 10:00 am

Alex Pretti killing in Minneapolis by federal agents: what we know so far

A 37-year-old nurse was shot and killed on Saturday. Much remains unknown, unclear or unconfirmed

Published: January 24, 2026, 10:49 pm

Schumer: Democrats will block funding package if it includes homeland security money

Announcement comes as anger toward DHS – which oversees ICE – intensifies after Alex Pretti fatally shot

In the wake of another fatal shooting of a US citizen in Minnesota by a federal officer, the Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, said his party would block a funding package next week if it includes money for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The announcement, which dramatically escalates the potential for another partial government shutdown, comes as anger towards homeland security, which oversees ICE, intensifies among the party after a group of federal agents violently restrained and then fatally shot 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

Published: January 25, 2026, 4:08 am

US storm cuts power to hundreds of thousands of homes and grounds flights

Snow, sleet, freezing rain and perilously cold temperatures forecast to sweep eastern two-thirds of nation

More than 700,000 households and businesses in the US are without power and over 10,000 flights are expected to be cancelled ahead of a monster winter storm that threatens to paralyse eastern states with heavy snowfall.

Forecasters said snow, sleet, freezing rain and dangerously frigid temperatures would sweep the eastern two-thirds of the nation on Sunday and into next week. Those warnings came after three people were found dead Saturday afternoon on New York City streets “from weather-related circumstances” amid the brutally cold temperatures, as the local NBC affiliate reported.

Published: January 25, 2026, 2:12 pm

Mangione’s lawyers aim to keep items police found during arrest from being used at trial

Legal expert says that if New York City judge decides against admitting these items, it could all but gut state case

As Luigi Mangione’s highly anticipated federal trial could start by year’s end, his defense team is working hard to prevent jurors from seeing some of the most incriminating evidence against him, including an alleged murder weapon.

Mangione is charged with the murder of United HealthCare CEO Brian Thompson. Thompson’s 2024 killing on a midtown Manhattan street spurred an expansive manhunt for the assailant, but also fanned the flames of public outcry over the US health insurance industry’s profit-driven practices.

Published: January 25, 2026, 2:00 pm

Democratic congressman punched in racist attack at Sundance film festival

Maxwell Alejandro Frost says attacker ‘told me Trump was going to deport me’ as police say suspect arrested

The Florida congressman Maxwell Alejandro Frost said he was assaulted by a man who said Donald Trump would deport him at a party during the Sundance film festival in Utah.

“Last night, I was assaulted by a man at Sundance Festival who told me that Trump was going to deport me before he punched me in the face,” Frost said in a Saturday post on X. “He was heard screaming racist remarks as he drunkenly ran off. The individual was arrested and I am okay.”

Published: January 25, 2026, 5:53 am

UK politicians welcome Trump’s retreat over British troops’ role in Afghanistan

Home secretary says climbdown was ‘as good as it gets’ from US president despite failure to apologise for remarks

Donald Trump’s climbdown over his claim that UK troops avoided the frontline in Afghanistan has been greeted with cross-party relief in Westminster despite his failure to apologise for remarks widely condemned as offensive and false.

In a rare clarification, the US president praised British troops as being “among the greatest of all warriors” and acknowledged that 457 had died in Afghanistan.

Published: January 25, 2026, 12:23 pm

Screen time limits for children are no longer enough, new US report finds

Experts say guidance is ‘refreshing’ as it puts more emphasis on responsibility of companies and society

The American Academy of Pediatrics has released new guidance on how to protect children’s mental health in the digital age – emphasizing the need for systemic changes as well as parental engagement that goes beyond limiting screen time.

Jessica Schleider, an adolescent psychologist and professor at Northwestern University whose lab develops digital mental health interventions, said the new policy statement was “really refreshing to see”, because it contrasts with conventional wisdom that places too much of the safety burden on individual parents. Common advice like “limiting individual youth access to screens”, or asking parents to keep tabs on their children’s every digital movement is “not only impossible, but for adolescents in particular, potentially invasive”, Schleider said.

Published: January 25, 2026, 1:00 pm

Meet ‘Amelia’: the AI-generated British schoolgirl who is a far-right social media star

The avatar, created to deter young people from extremism, has been subverted and is breaking out of niche online silos

In certain corners of the internet, on niche news feeds and algorithms, an AI-generated British schoolgirl has emerged as something of a phenomenon.

Her name is Amelia, a purple-haired “goth girl” who proudly carries a mini union flag and appears to have a penchant for racism.

Published: January 25, 2026, 9:00 am

Alex Honnold free solos Taipei 101 skyscraper in live Netflix climb

US climber takes an hour and half to scale one of Asia’s tallest buildings without ropes or a harness

The US rock climber Alex Honnold climbed one of Asia’s tallest skyscrapers without ropes or a harness on Sunday, fulfilling an ambition that began more than a decade ago and which he hoped would inspire people to pursue their own challenges because “time is finite”.

Honnold, who starred in the 2019 Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo, ascended the 508-metre (1,667ft) Taipei 101 using the skyscraper’s horizontal metal beams to pull himself up with his bare hands. The challenge had originally been scheduled to take place on Saturday but was postponed because of rain.

Published: January 25, 2026, 1:05 pm

Trump’s Greenland brinkmanship leaves leading Republicans rattled

With midterms looming some in Congress have dissented from the president – but it still falls well short of a rebellion

Donald Trump pulled back from the brink on Greenland but not before causing untold damage to the Nato alliance. The US president’s sabre-rattling may also have shaken the faith of his own Republican party.

Trump’s fleeting threat to conquer the Danish territory prompted the most strident Republican opposition to anything he has done since taking office a year ago. It came on the heels of challenges to his authority over military powers, healthcare legislation and the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Published: January 25, 2026, 11:00 am

‘We need Target to stand up’: activists in Minneapolis press retailer amid ICE arrests at its stores

Activists say the retailer has met with clergy but not spoken out against ICE or safeguarded employees and customers

While thousands of protesters marched through downtown Minneapolis on Friday to demand that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents leave the city, a smaller group of activists set their sights on a specific destination: the downtown headquarters of national retailer Target.

Dozens of clergy members and their supporters planted themselves in the atrium of the store. “Say it loud and say it clear, immigrants are welcome here,” the group chanted. “Something ’bout this isn’t right – why does Target work for ICE?”

Published: January 24, 2026, 4:00 pm

Trump threatens Canada with 100% tariff over possible deal with China

President also claims US refineries will process seized Venezuelan oil, saying ‘we take the oil’

Donald Trump on Saturday said he would impose a 100% tariff on all Canadian imports if the North American country makes a trade deal with China.

Beside that tariff threat, another Trump foreign policy maneuver to make news on Saturday involved the president announcing the US had taken the oil that was on recently seized Venezuelan tankers.

Published: January 24, 2026, 3:04 pm

Is the supreme court ready to stand up to Trump over Federal Reserve attack?

Conservative majority appears eager to hand president greater power – with one exception: the US central bank

Donald Trump has tried his usual tactics when it comes to getting the US Federal Reserve to lower interest rates: bully when persuasion doesn’t work, and then fire when bullying doesn’t work.

In an unprecedented assault on the central bank, the president has called the Fed chair, Jerome Powell, “stupid” and threatened to fire him for not cutting interest rates as quickly as Trump would like. Most recently, the justice department instigated a criminal investigation against Powell for testimony he gave about renovations at the Fed’s headquarters. Even so, the Fed has not budged.

Published: January 24, 2026, 12:00 pm

Trump’s not the first US president to fall in love with war. History shows where this is going | Peter Beinhart

In his fresh intoxication with global conquest, Trump is following an established pattern – one that promises disaster

To many observers, Donald Trump’s open bellicosity – his threats to attack Greenland and Iran, and his recent kidnapping of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro – looks like an ideological reversal. “Donald Trump betrayed his MAGA base today [by] launching a war of choice to bring regime change in Venezuela,” tweeted Democratic congressman Ro Khanna on 3 January. The day before, former Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote: “President Trump threatening war and sending in troops to Iran is everything we voted against in ‘24.” On 20 January, National Public Radio reported that “Trump supporters share confusion and anger over the president’s focus on Greenland”.

The sense of whiplash is understandable. As a candidate, Trump often denounced war. Now he is infatuated with it. But while Trump seems uniquely set on dismantling the postwar order in the service of his quest for global domination, there is precedent for his transformation.

Published: January 25, 2026, 2:00 pm

‘If you haven’t served, respect those who have’: Nato soldiers on Trump’s slurs

For those who fought alongside US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, president’s remarks have cut deep

It was shortly before dawn and Bruce Moncur was eating breakfast when the American warplane roared overhead.

The 22-year-old reservist had been stationed in Afghanistan for three weeks when the A-10 Warthog strafed the camp west of Kandahar City where and he and 30 other Canadian soldiers had spent the night.

Published: January 25, 2026, 1:15 pm

‘Emotionally devastating’: Iranians in US on regime’s deadly protest crackdown

US readers said they were feeling anxious and helpless as authorities’ brutal crackdown has left thousands dead

Recent protests in Iran have created the most serious and deadliest unrest in the country since the 1979 revolution, prompting eyes from all around the globe to shift to the Middle East.

The Guardian asked Iranians living outside the country to share their views on the current situation in the country and about the possibility of US intervention.

Published: January 25, 2026, 12:00 pm

‘I want them to feel the emotion’: the pop artist capturing the excitement of the Super Bowl

Charles Fazzino, official artist of Super Bowl LX, has carved out a unique niche with his vibrant, playful 3D creations

Eager to avoid the life of a starving artist after finishing his studies at New York’s School of Visual Arts in 1977, Charles Fazzino got some straightforward advice from his father Salvatore, a shoe designer.

“He said to me, ‘If you’re going to be an artist and you want to be successful, buddy, you better do something that’s different,’” Fazzino said. “I took that to heart.”

Published: January 25, 2026, 12:00 pm

‘She was a bitch in the best possible way’: the life and mysterious death of drag queen Heklina

The performer was found dead in ‘unexpected’ circumstances in her London flat in 2023. Why are her loved ones still waiting for an explanation?

In commemorations and memorials after her death, the view was unanimous: Heklina had been a bitch. In the world of San Francisco’s drag scene, where she made her name, this wasn’t meant as an insult. Heklina had been a legendary performer whose stage persona was equal parts raunchy and abrasive, slinging insults known as “reads” in fine drag tradition. “Yeah, she was a bitch,” recalls her longtime collaborator Sister Roma, “but she was a bitch in the best possible way.”

Seven weeks after Heklina died, a memorial for her closed down San Francisco’s Castro Street, with crowds gathering to watch the event on giant screens. Among comedy routines and performances, the city’s queer community paid homage to Heklina not just as a drag queen, but also a shrewd promoter whose long-running event series Trannyshack created a platform for countless drag artists to cut their teeth, including those who went on to become stars on the hit show RuPaul’s Drag Race: Alaska, BenDeLaCreme and Jinkx Monsoon.

Published: January 25, 2026, 12:00 pm

‘We cut through the online ocean of advice’: the rise of adult sleep coaching

As sleep hygiene becomes received wisdom, growing numbers turning to one-to-one consultants for support

Before he sought out an adult sleep coach, Thorsten had spent countless hours trawling online advice about sleep.

“I devoured advice and implemented it all,” he said. “From the moment I got out of bed, virtually everything I did was tailored towards getting a good night’s sleep the following night.”

Published: January 25, 2026, 8:00 am

Should we sell our kidneys?

Allowing payments to organ donors would undoubtedly save lives. So what are the psychological – and political – impediments?

Right now, about 7,000 people are awaiting a kidney transplant in the UK. According to NHS figures, in 2024/25 only 3,302 adult kidney transplants were performed. The charity Kidney Research UK states that “just 32% of patients receive a transplant within a year of joining the waiting list and six people die every week while waiting.”

People who experience kidney failure need either lifelong dialysis or a transplant to survive. Yet even for those lucky enough to get a transplant, that is by no means the end of the story. Kidneys from deceased donors last an average of 10 to 15 years, those from a living person 20 to 25. If (or rather, when) a transplant fails, the affected patient once again needs dialysis or a donated organ.

Published: January 25, 2026, 12:00 pm

‘What the hell happened’ to Tucker Carlson? A new book tries to find out

Hated by All the Right People is the first book to reckon critically with arguably the most dangerous media personality of the Trump age

Tucker Carlson, the podcaster and former Fox News host, once told a hostile conservative crowd that rightwing media needed to be more responsible. In a 2009 speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, he argued that publications on the right should hold themselves to a higher standard.

“This is the hard truth,” Carlson said. “If you create a news organization whose primary objective is not to deliver accurate news, you will fail.” Conservatives loved to complain about the New York Times, he added, when what they really needed was their own New York Times. The crowd jeered and booed at him.

Published: January 24, 2026, 5:00 pm

The global rule of law is not collapsing – Trump is the lone problem and he can be defeated | Simon Tisdall

The president’s approval ratings are plummeting and most Americans see him as an aberration. It is now up to them to curtail his despotic reign

Donald Trump is a monster, and a stupid one at that – as his foul slander of British soldiers who served in Afghanistan shows. His bid to seize loyal ally Denmark’s sovereign territory; his norm-shattering, profoundly ignorant speech in Davos last week; and his contemptuous bullying of UK and EU leaders have definitively demonstrated what an existential, unappeasable, unspeakable menace the 47th US president truly is.

All the post-Davos talk is about what the UK, the EU and Nato must do in future to resist and constrain Trump, and how to counter his attempts to demolish the global rules-based order. Yet a sense of proportion is required. If his policies and posturing are removed from the equation, it’s clear that the unedifying but familiar postwar world of great power rivalries and de-facto spheres of influence remains largely unchanged. Continuities outnumber ruptures. It’s also clear this crisis is not ultimately one Europe can solve.

Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator

Published: January 25, 2026, 1:27 pm

We must not let AI ‘pull the doctor out of the visit’ for low-income patients | Leah Goodridge and Oni Blackstock

Generative AI is being pushed into healthcare – and diagnostic risks may deepen the class divide

In southern California, where rates of homelessness are among the highest in the nation, a private company, Akido Labs, is running clinics for unhoused patients and others with low incomes. The caveat? The patients are seen by medical assistants who use artificial intelligence (AI) to listen to the conversations, then spit out potential diagnoses and treatment plans, which are then reviewed by a doctor. The company’s goal, its chief technology officer told the MIT Technology Review, is to “pull the doctor out of the visit”.

This is dangerous. Yet it’s part of a larger trend where generative AI is being pushed into healthcare for medical professionals. In 2025, a survey by the American Medical Association reported that two out of three physicians used AI to assist with their daily work, including diagnosing patients. One AI startup raised $200m to provide medical professionals with an app dubbed “ChatGPT for doctors”. US lawmakers are considering a bill that would recognize AI as able to prescribe medication. While this trend of AI in healthcare affects almost all patients, it has a deeper impact on people with low incomes who already face substantial barriers to care and higher rates of mistreatment in healthcare settings. People who are unhoused and have low incomes should not be testing grounds for AI in healthcare. Instead, their voices and priorities should drive if, how, and when AI is implemented in their care.

Leah Goodridge is a lawyer who worked in homeless prevention litigation for 12 years

Oni Blackstock, MD, MHS, is a physician, founder and executive director of health justice, and a Public Voices Fellow on technology in the public interest with The OpEd Project

Published: January 25, 2026, 2:00 pm

From Target to Disney, 2025 proved boycotts work. Here’s how to build on them | Michael Shank

The US was founded on boycotts of British imports. As we mark the country’s 250th anniversary, that spirit is alive and well

This year, as the United States commemorates the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding and the signing of the Declaration of Independence, it’s worth remembering the substantial role boycotts played in the American resistance and independence movement.

The founders’ sustained protest of Great Britain’s Stamp Act and Townshend Duties –which taxed printed materials, glass, lead, paper, paint and tea in the colonies – placed enough pain and pressure on British merchants and the parliament that the majority of these taxes were repealed. And while the colonists were boycotting taxed British imports, they built an alternative made-in-America marketplace in the process, becoming domestic producers of homespun clothing, paper and other necessities. This building of alternative institutions and self-reliance were an essential complement to their boycott. They divested from British goods while investing in homemade goods. Both types of actions were necessary.

Michael Shank is director of programs at the Albert Einstein Institution and adjunct faculty at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs and George Mason University’s Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution.

Published: January 25, 2026, 12:00 pm

Brooklyn Beckham and Prince Harry are the canaries in the coalmine. The children of Instagram will be next | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

A generation of overexposed children are being used by their parents for social media clout. What happens when they start to speak out?

A child is born. Before they even landed “Earthside”, in the language of Instagram, a scan of them as a foetus in utero was uploaded to a waiting audience. The room in which they will sleep – the pale pastel paintwork, the carefully curated nursery furniture – is all there, ready, waiting: an advertorial empty of its model. Then comes the photo of the baby being born, held aloft to their audience while still covered in vernix, eyes not yet open, their mother smiling, hair perfect.

From now on, their every moment and milestone is documented for the camera and monetised. That first smile, first word, first step, all mediated by a device and sent to an audience of strangers, many of whom have formed a parasocial relationship with that mother, that father, that child. The child comes to know and understand the black mirror that is regularly put in front of them. There will be days when the child happily performs for the camera; others when they push it away, when they don’t want to be filmed. A natural feeling, but one they may well have learned to suppress. Because performing for the camera makes mummy and daddy happy, although they don’t call it performing. They call it authenticity.

Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist

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: January 25, 2026, 8:00 am

AI needs to augment rather than replace humans or the workplace is doomed | Heather Stewart

Tech could lose its social acceptance unless it makes people’s lives better – and trade unions want an urgent conversation

“Who wouldn’t want a robot to watch over your kids?” Elon Musk asked Davos delegates last week, as he looked forward with enthusiasm to a world with “more robots than people”.

Not me, thanks: children need the human connection – the love – that gives life meaning.

Published: January 25, 2026, 11:24 am

Newcastle v Aston Villa, Crystal Palace v Chelsea and more: football clockwatch – live

⚽ Updates from Sunday’s 2pm Premier League matches
⚽ Jonathan Wilson: is Carrick more than the new Solskjær?
⚽ Scores | Tables | Mail Daniel with any thoughts

Oh, but here’s Rosenior, explaining that Cole Palmer isn’t fit to play today, but has a chance of making Wednesday’s trip to Naples.

He notes that the league is close and physical, but he has good players and is excited to see where the project goes – the club “demands winning in this moment”. There aren’t many days on the training pitch, but he hopes the work they’re doing with the team and with individuals are working.

Published: January 25, 2026, 2:34 pm

‘Alex Pretti was murdered’: NBA’s Haliburton among sports stars to condemn Minnesota killing

• 37-year-old shot dead by federal agents on Saturday

• Angel Reese and Ryan Clark also post about shooting

• Hall of famer Alan Page seen at anti-ICE protests

A number of prominent US sports stars have condemned the killing of a registered nurse, Alex Pretti, by federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday.

Pretti, 37, is the second person shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis in less than three weeks as protests over Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown sweep the city. Senior Trump administration officials have claimed Pretti intended to “massacre” federal officers with a handgun but video of the killing appears to contradict those claims.

Published: January 25, 2026, 1:28 pm

Carlos Alcaraz serves up lesson with Australian Open dismissal of Paul

• World No 1 claims 7-6 (6), 6-4, 7-5 victory over 19th seed

• Player been making significant changes to service motion

Carlos Alcaraz spent the final 52 minutes of his fourth-round match at the Australian Open chasing down his prey, determined to convert his two-set lead into a straightforward win against Tommy Paul.

As he worked hard to secure the decisive break in set three, Alcaraz put together a flawless serving performance. He won 86% of his first serve points in the set, landing 76% of his first serves. He did not even come close to facing a break point, losing just five service points in total. Alcaraz, the world No 1, closed out his 7-6 (6), 6-4, 7-5 win over the 19th seed Paul with an unreturned serve. He will play Australian Alex de Minaur in the quarter-finals.

Published: January 25, 2026, 12:04 pm

Pittsburgh Steelers line up Mike McCarthy as next head coach

• Steelers to turn to McCarthy after Tomlin exits role

• McCarthy won Super Bowl with Packers in 2010

• Hire rekindles link with former QB Aaron Rodgers

Mike McCarthy’s next job is set to bring him back to where it all began.

The Pittsburgh Steelers intend to hire the Super Bowl-winning coach as their next head coach, according to multiple reports, with ESPN first breaking the news. A person familiar with the discussions told the Associated Press the sides are moving toward an agreement, though a deal has not yet been finalized.

Published: January 24, 2026, 7:07 pm

Carrick has nailed quick fixes at Manchester United but is he more than new Solskjær? | Jonathan Wilson

Derby victory was undeniably impressive but how will club assess caretaker manager’s suitability to permanent job?

The problem Manchester United have – after 13 years and seven managers of failure – is that for whatever action they take now, there is a bad precedent. Keep Michael Carrick on, and it’s just another Ole Gunnar Solskjær situation. But replace him and, for almost whoever they appoint – be it a Premier League veteran, foreign maestro, renowned past-his-best winner, Red Bull-adjacent gegenpresser, austere Dutchman or Portuguese ideologue – they have done it before and it hasn’t worked. It’s almost like the biggest problem at the club isn’t the manager.

Carrick’s start was undeniably impressive. There was pace and zip and creativity. The relief of players being released from the 3-4-2-1 was akin to one of those videos of cows being allowed back into the pasture after being kept in a barn over the winter. Who could possibly have predicted that Amad Diallo would excel as a right-sided forward, or that Bruno Fernandes might thrive as a No 10? United didn’t just beat Manchester City 2-0; they hammered them.

Published: January 24, 2026, 8:00 pm

Donald Trump will not attend Super Bowl because it’s ‘too far away’

• Trump tells New York Post he will skip Super Bowl

• NFL stands by Bad Bunny amid rightwing backlash

Donald Trump said he will not attend next month’s Super Bowl in northern California, citing the distance to the game, amid an ongoing culture-war backlash over the NFL’s choice of half-time and pre-game performers.

Trump told the New York Post he plans to skip the 8 February championship game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara because the trip is “just too far away”, adding that he would have considered attending if it were a shorter flight. The decision means Trump will not repeat his appearance at last year’s Super Bowl in New Orleans, where he became the first sitting US president to attend the NFL’s showcase event.

Published: January 24, 2026, 6:53 pm

Ally Sentnor at the double as USWNT crush Paraguay on Rodman’s return

• Sentnor scores twice as USA trounce Paraguay 6-0

• Rodman captains US, scores in return after injuries

• Turner debuts with goal; US face Chile on Tuesday

Trinity Rodman, fresh off signing a contract with the Washington Spirit, scored and the United States had five second-half goals in a 6-0 rout Paraguay on Saturday.

Ally Sentnor added a pair of goals and Reilyn Turner scored in her debut match for the United States. Croix Bethune and Emma Sears also scored.

Published: January 25, 2026, 1:01 am

Arne Slot says Liverpool ‘ran out of energy’ in defeat at Bournemouth

• Head coach highlights away game in Champions League

• Slot questions fixture list after difficult away trip

Arne Slot conceded his side ran out of steam in defeat at Bournemouth, after Amine Adli’s 95th-minute winner condemned Liverpool to a first loss since November. Liverpool pulled level from 2-0 down late on courtesy of Dominik Szoboszlai’s sensational free-kick, but Bournemouth responded impressively and Adli struck a winner from a long throw with almost the last kick.

The Liverpool head coach felt the referee, Michael Salisbury, should have played more second-half stoppage time taking in substitutions and video assistant referee checks but admitted he feared a Bournemouth winner. “I think it is safe to say they could have scored 3-2 a little bit earlier,” Slot said, alluding to chances for the Bournemouth pair Evanilson and Ryan Christie. “A few of our players ran out of energy and I cannot even criticise them for that because two days ago [three] we had to play an away game. We’re the only team that played in the Champions League that has two games in between.

Published: January 24, 2026, 9:42 pm

Trump news at a glance: groundswell of anger at second fatal shooting by federal agents in weeks

Protests erupt across US after American citizen Alex Pretti shot dead, as video shows he had been holding a phone and not a gun, contradicting federal claims – key US politics stories from 24 January

US federal law enforcement officers fatally shot an American citizen in Minneapolis in the second such killing in less than three weeks, sparking major protests in cities across the country.

Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old registered nurse living in Minneapolis, was shot dead after being sprayed with a chemical agent and wrestled to the ground by federal agents when he appeared to come to the aid of a person being shoved to the ground by an officer.

Published: January 25, 2026, 4:02 am

US immigration agents detain two-year-old Minnesota girl: ‘depravity beyond words’

DHS detain a toddler and her father on Thursday and fly them to Texas before returning child on judge’s order

Federal immigration agents detained a two-year-old girl and her father in Minneapolis on Thursday and transported them to Texas, according to court records and the family’s lawyers.

The father, identified in court filings as Elvis Joel TE, and his daughter were stopped and detained by officers around 1pm when they were returning home from the store. By the evening, a federal judge had ordered the girl be released by 9.30pm. But federal officials instead put both of them on a plane heading to a Texas detention center.

Published: January 24, 2026, 1:38 am

Google AI Overviews cite YouTube more than any medical site for health queries, study suggests

Exclusive: German research into responses to health queries raises fresh questions about summaries seen by 2bn people a month

• How the ‘confident authority’ of AI Overviews is putting public health at risk

Google’s search feature AI Overviews cites YouTube more than any medical website when answering queries about health conditions, according to research that raises fresh questions about a tool seen by 2 billion people each month.

The company has said its AI summaries, which appear at the top of search results and use generative AI to answer questions from users, are “reliable” and cite reputable medical sources such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Mayo Clinic.

Published: January 24, 2026, 5:00 pm

Russia launches ‘brutal’ attack on Ukraine as peace talks continue

Kyiv says Moscow used 396 drones and missiles in ‘another night of Russian terror’ on second day of talks in UAE

Russia launched a major drone and missile attack targeting Ukraine’s two largest cities, Kyiv and Kharkiv, early on Saturday, as US, Ukrainian and Russian negotiators met in the United Arab Emirates for a second day of tripartite peace talks.

“Peace efforts? Trilateral meeting in the UAE? Diplomacy? For Ukrainians, this was another night of Russian terror,” the country’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said after the latest Russian assault on critical infrastructure.

Published: January 24, 2026, 3:01 pm

‘Disheartening’: US justice department slashes funding to programs combating child sex trafficking

Prosecutors say cuts to funding and training limits their ability to bring child predators to justice

The US Department of Justice has slashed funding and training resources for law enforcement working on investigations and prosecutions of sex crimes against children under the Trump administration, which limits their ability to carry out this work.

Major cuts include the cancelation of 2025 National Law Enforcement Training on Child Exploitation, due to be held in Washington DC in June. The conference is an annual event that provides technical training to prosecutors, state and federal law enforcement officers on investigating online crimes against children.

Published: January 24, 2026, 12:00 pm

Health groups sue EPA over insecticide that causes testicular damage in rats

Groups say EPA did not adequately consider adverse health effects to children when it approved the pesticide

Public health groups are suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over its approval of a Pfas “forever chemical” insecticide that industry research found likely reduces testicle size, lowers sperm count and harms the liver in rats.

The pesticide, isocycloseram, is used on food crops and could especially threaten children and developing fetuses, but the EPA did not factor those risks into its safety assessment, said Nathan Donley, environmental health science director with the Center for Biological Diversity, a plaintiff in the suit.

Published: January 24, 2026, 2:00 pm

Latest ChatGPT model uses Elon Musk’s Grokipedia as source, tests reveal

Guardian found OpenAI’s platform cited Grokipedia on topics including Iran and Holocaust deniers

The latest model of ChatGPT has begun to cite Elon Musk’s Grokipedia as a source on a wide range of queries, including on Iranian conglomerates and Holocaust deniers, raising concerns about misinformation on the platform.

In tests done by the Guardian, GPT-5.2 cited Grokipedia nine times in response to more than a dozen different questions. These included queries on political structures in Iran, such as salaries of the Basij paramilitary force and the ownership of the Mostazafan Foundation, and questions on the biography of Sir Richard Evans, a British historian and expert witness against Holocaust denier David Irving in his libel trial.

Published: January 24, 2026, 2:00 pm

Gas explosion and fire in New York apartment block kills one and injures 14

Fire department was responding to report of gas odor in Bronx building when explosion occurred during frigid night

A gas explosion sent fire racing through the top floors of a high-rise apartment building in New York City early on Saturday, killing one person and injuring 14 others as temperatures plunged into the single digits overnight, authorities said.

Firefighters responded shortly before 12.30am to the 17-story New York City housing authority (Nycha) building in the Bronx, where people were seen leaning out of windows calling for help as flames engulfed parts of the top floors, officials said.

Published: January 24, 2026, 2:36 pm

Arrested Louisiana priest was accused of ‘inappropriately touching a child’, report says

Korey LaVergne was jailed on three counts of indecent behavior with a juvenile and was released after posting bail

The arrest of a Roman Catholic priest in south-west Louisiana occurred after local authorities were told that the clergyman had “inappropriately touched a child” over the course of a year, according to investigators’ initial report on the case.

The Guardian obtained the report Friday through a public records request, a week after the sheriff’s office of Acadia parish, Louisiana, booked Korey LaVergne with three counts of indecent behavior with a juvenile.

Published: January 24, 2026, 11:00 am

Dingoes on Australia’s K’gari island to be euthanised after tragic death of Canadian tourist Piper James

Queensland government says pack linked to 19-year-old’s death pose ‘unacceptable public safety risk’ as Indigenous traditional owners say they were not consulted

The dingo pack linked to the death of Canadian tourist Piper James on Australian island K’gari will be destroyed, the Queensland government has announced.

Environment minister Andrew Powell said on Sunday that an entire pack of 10 animals would be euthanised.

Published: January 25, 2026, 6:04 am

Myanmar military proxy expected to win landslide in widely denounced election

Voting ends in month-long poll derided internationally as sham designed to cement army’s grip on power

Voting in Myanmar has ended with the military-backed party expected to win a landslide victory after a month-long election that has been widely derided as a sham designed to cement the army’s grip on power.

The junta leader, Min Aung Hlaing, has rejected criticism of the vote, saying it has the support of the public and presenting it as a return to democracy and stability.

Published: January 25, 2026, 10:55 am

Syrian and Kurdish forces agree to extend ceasefire as threat of war looms

Ceasefire to be extended for one month to allow transfer of suspected Islamic State members from Syria to Iraq

The Syrian government and Kurdish forces agreed to extend a ceasefire on Saturday, according to Syrian diplomatic sources, temporarily staving off a looming war between the two sides in the north-east of the country.

Sources told Agence France-Presse the ceasefire would be extended for “a period of up to one month at most”, citing the need to facilitate the transfer of suspected members of Islamic State from Syria to Iraq.

Published: January 24, 2026, 12:47 pm

‘A lot of fear’: the families bearing brunt of Sweden’s immigration crackdown

Many of those moved into an asylum return centre have held jobs for years and can speak the language

“Sweden did this for us,” said Sofiye*, making a supportive scooping up gesture with her hands. “And then, bam.” She dropped them to the ground.

Sofiye, who has three children, arrived in Sweden from Uzbekistan as an asylum seeker in 2008, and for much of that time she was able to build a life in the Scandinavian country. The family lived in a flat in a Stockholm suburb and Sofiye worked for the municipality in the home help department. She learned Swedish and her children went through the Swedish school system. Her youngest son was born in Sweden and her 18-year-old son, Hamza, who is studying in college to be a technician, doesn’t know life anywhere else.

Published: January 24, 2026, 2:00 pm

Josephine review – Channing Tatum is a knockout in shattering drama of lost innocence

Sundance film festival: taut and emotionally intelligent drama follows the aftermath of an eight-year-old witnessing a horrifying sexual assault

Josephine, the titular character of Beth de Araújo’s stunning second feature, is eight years old. Played by equally remarkable newcomer Mason Reeves, Josephine likes playing soccer with her dad Damien (a phenomenal Channing Tatum), with whom she is close – the film’s crisp, near wordless opening minutes, which shift seamlessly from Josephine’s perspective to third party co-conspirator, running with the pair through San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, swiftly convey a tender, playful bond: supportive, teasing father and innocent child.

That’s about all we know of Josephine – all we need to know, really – before seeing the incident that ruptures her youth. Having run ahead of her father at the park, Josephine alone witnesses the brutal rape of a female jogger by a man in a distinctive aqua polo. Much to the audible shock of viewers at the Sundance premiere, de Araújo rejects the ellipsis now de rigueur in movies handling sexual assault, how much of post-MeToo cinema – Promising Young Woman, She Said, Women Talking, last year’s Sundance standout Sorry, Baby – have skipped over or elided the actual assault, de-emphasizing violence and allowing viewers to fill in the blanks.

Josephine is screening at the Sundance film festival and is seeking distribution

Published: January 25, 2026, 3:27 am

The Moment review – Charli xcx struggles through defanged Brat summer satire

Sundance film festival: There’s a smart idea at play here, with the star playing a hellish version of herself fighting against corporate forces, but there’s not a lot else

In April 2025, the pop singer Charli xcx posted a TikTok reflecting on nearly a year of her seminal album Brat: “It’s really hard to let go of Brat and let go of this thing that is so inherently me and become my entire life, you know?” she said. “I started thinking about culture, and the ebbs and flows and lifespan of things … ” She acknowledged that over-saturation is perilous, and that maybe she should stop, but “I’m also interested in the tension of staying too long. I find that quite fascinating.”

The frank, informal admission fit with Brat, a pop culture-shifting album that channeled, with stunning immediacy, the imperious ego and bristling insecurity of an artist keenly aware of her own precarious level of fame. Her ambivalence was understandable – Brat rapidly turned Charli, who spent over a decade as a fixture of pop’s so-called middle class, into a main pop girl, an artist played at midwest sorority weddings and used by a US presidential campaign. But her interest in “the tension of staying too long” also felt a little trite, the type of smart-sounding musing that dead-ends in self-awareness. Brat summer was heady, hedonistic, fun – a meme, an aesthetic, a vibe, a moment. That said moment passes? Well … yeah.

Published: January 24, 2026, 7:12 pm

Leviticus review – queer desire is a deadly curse in haunting horror

Sundance film festival: Conversion therapy has gory results in a smart and surprisingly romantic debut feature from Australian writer-director Adrian Chiarella

Something rather nasty is unfolding in Sundance horror Leviticus. If you asked the god-fearing residents of the isolated Australian town at its centre, they would say it’s the curse of homosexuality, quietly infecting the youth. If you asked the gay teens themselves, they would say it’s something far more horrifying.

In writer-director Adrian Chiarella’s indelible debut feature, queer desire is not only a danger to one’s safety from the bigots that you live, work and pray with, but it’s also a supernatural affliction. We first see teens Naim (Joe Bird) and Ryan (Stacy Clausen) as they engage in a clandestine hang, that familiar dance of a play-fight leading into a kiss. For Naim, it’s a new world opening up, a reason to believe there might be something to be happy about in an otherwise dull new town with his warm yet clueless single mother (Mia Wasikowska). But when Naim sees Ryan engaging in a similar tryst with Hunter (Jeremy Blewitt), the son of the local preacher, he allows his heart to overrule his head and does something he’ll live to regret.

Leviticus is screening at the Sundance film festival and is seeking distribution

Published: January 24, 2026, 8:13 pm

I Want Your Sex review – vampy Olivia Wilde almost saves Gregg Araki’s tame dom-sub romp

Sundance film festival: As a provocative artist using sex to wield power, the actor is electric but the writer-director’s return to his campy, dayglo roots is largely underwhelming

While Sundance is traditionally focused on the importance of looking to the future of American film, a lineup filled with more first-timers than any other major festival, this year has been all about looking back. There are misty eyes over the loss of founder Robert Redford along with host state Utah and also for the many films that have premiered here over the years. Alongside more retrospective screenings than one usually expects, even the new films have a touch of old Sundance to them.

On opening day, Rachel Lambert’s small-town drama Carousel conjured up memories of quiet character-driven indies of the late 90s and early 00s and then, on a Friday full of packed-out premieres, I Want Your Sex took us back to the era’s more in-your-face acts of provocation, made by renegade outsiders who would have otherwise struggled to find a place in the industry. It’s the new film from Gregg Araki, a film-maker who was at the forefront of this particular wave, one of Sundance’s most loved enfants terribles. He’s premiered most of his films here, from “heterosexual movie” The Doom Generation to magnum opus Mysterious Skin to all-time stoner comedy Smiley Face to 2014’s misbegotten drama White Bird in a Blizzard, his last film until now.

I Want Your Sex is screening at the Sundance film festival and is seeking distribution

Published: January 24, 2026, 4:15 pm

My cultural awakening: A Queen song helped me break free from communist Cuba

Listening to Brian May’s multi-tracked epic on a battered cassette player when I lived in repressive Havana inspired lit a spark of rebellion inside me

Throughout my childhood and teenage years growing up in 80s Cuba, Fidel Castro’s presence, and the overt influence of politics, was everywhere – on posters, on walls, in speeches that could last four hours at a stretch. The sense of being hemmed in, politically and personally, was hard to escape.

I had been raised to believe in communism, and for a long time I did. I even applied twice to join the Young Communist League, only to be rejected for not being “combative” enough: code for not informing on others. Friends were expelled from university or jailed for speaking too freely and my family included people in the military and police, so I had to be careful not to endanger them. But amid that stifling conformity, something else had begun to take hold.

Published: January 24, 2026, 7:00 am

Green Dot author Madeleine Gray: ‘Chosen family is big in the queer community’

Madeleine Gray has followed her hit debut with a sharp take on complicated parenting. She discusses love, sex and famous fans

Madeleine Gray remembers the first time she had an inkling that her debut novel might become a big deal. When she received news of her advance from her agent, she was “expecting a pittance”; the number was in the six figures. “I thought: holy fuck, there’s been a mistake,” the 31-year-old author laughs. “By the time Green Dot was published last autumn, it had already been hailed as one of the most anticipated novels of the year, and was quickly beloved, drawing comparisons with Bridget Jones, Fleabag and Annie Ernaux. Nigella Lawson and Gillian Anderson posted praise for the book.

Were those celebrity endorsements exciting, I ask her. “I’m gay,” she replies, her enthusiasm leaping through the screen; “are you kidding?! I follow Gillian on Instagram, obviously.” When she saw Anderson post a selfie with the book, “the scream that came out of me was primal”.

Published: January 25, 2026, 12:00 pm

Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus: ‘Bass players are just cool. We’re the one that brings it all together’

The bass player and singer on naming his chickens, selling his Banksy and surviving cancer

You used to keep chickens named after women from Blink-182 songs. Which was your favourite?

There was Wendy, Holly, Josie … I forget the others. We lived in London, but also had a 25-acre farm out in Somerset with a Georgian farmhouse that was built in 1750. A guy from the British Beekeeping Association, who worked at the local church, would come over and help me open up my hives and harvest the honey. It was crazy how much honey we got – up to 150 jars a season. It was the best honey I’ve ever tasted.

Published: January 24, 2026, 7:00 pm

‘A long time coming’: table tennis world hails Marty Supreme-fueled boom

Once dismissed as a basement game, table tennis is enjoying an unlikely US revival as the Oscar-tipped biopic Marty Supreme collides with a wave of new players

For decades in the US, table tennis has lived a double life: one of the most widely played sports in the country, yet still dismissed by many as a basement pursuit. Now, unexpectedly, it is having a cultural moment.

The release of Marty Supreme, a film steeped in obsession and myth, and loosely based on postwar American table tennis champion Marty Reisman, has pushed ping-pong into the pop-culture mainstream – just as US Major League Table Tennis sells out matches, clubs report growing interest, and younger players pick up paddles for the first time.

Published: January 24, 2026, 8:00 am

‘Displaying the cloth like this showed its true beauty’: Aung Chan Thar’s best phone picture

A beautiful lake, gorgeous fabric: how could the Myanmar photographer resist?

When Aung Chan Thar was 25, he was selected to represent Myanmar as part of Asean Centre for Biodiversity’s (ACB) Young Asean Storytellers programme. A cohort of 20 young artists and writers visited Asean Heritage Parks in their own countries to tell stories of biodiversity, nature and culture.

Aung first travelled to Inlay Lake Wildlife Sanctuary, known for its floating gardens, in 2022. “The Intha people live around the lake and build floating houses: structures made from bamboo on stilts,” Aung says. “Fishing is a common occupation; they use their feet to paddle their boats. So is the production of colourful cloth.”

Published: January 24, 2026, 11:00 am

‘To say I was the favourite would imply I was liked’: Mark Haddon on a loveless childhood

As a bookish child with a distant father and a disapproving mother, the Curious Incident author retreated into a world of his own. Looking back, he asks what it means to lose parents who never showed you love

When I see washed-out photographs of English life in the 60s and 70s – cardiganed grandmothers eating roadside picnics beside Morris Minors, pale men sunbathing in shoes and socks on stripy deckchairs, Raleigh Choppers and caged budgerigars and faux leather pouffes – I feel a wave of what can’t properly be called nostalgia, because the last thing I’d want is to return to that age and those places where I was often profoundly unhappy and from which I’d have been desperate to escape if escape had been a possibility. Why then this longing, this echo of some remembered comfort?

Is it that, as children, we live inside a bubble of focused attention that gives everything inside a memorable fierceness? The way one could lie, for example, on a lawn and look down into the jungle of the grass to see earwigs and woodlice lumbering between the pale green trunks like brontosauri lumbering between the ferns and gingkos of the Late Jurassic. The way a rucked bedspread could become a mountain range stretched below the wings of a badly painted Airfix Spitfire. Or do objects, in their constancy, provide consolation in a world where adults are unpredictable and distant and unloving?

Published: January 24, 2026, 9:00 am

10 of the best retreats in Europe to soothe mind, body and soul

Change your life – or just kick back and relax – by connecting with nature, trying a creative workshop, or taking a yoga course somewhere beautiful

Playfulness is at the heart of the Art and Play holiday, based on a farm outside the Bay of Kotor. A family-friendly retreat designed to reignite joy and reconnect with the inner child, it’s one for solo travellers and couples as well as parents with kids. There are creative sessions on everything from dance to painting, as well as time to enjoy the farm – feeding the animals, collecting eggs or helping harvest vegetables for farm-fresh meals. Excursions include hikes to hidden beaches, kayaking and trips to Kotor and Budva, but there’s time to chill by the pool too; evenings are for board games, music and campfires. Accommodation ranges from camping and glamping to cabins, a treehouse and restored farmhouse.
Seven days from £695, children 5-12 £350, under-fives free, includes brunch, dinner and snacks, 3 May and 23 August, responsibletravel.com

Published: January 25, 2026, 7:00 am

Lajuana is 89, with the body and mind of someone decades younger. What are the secrets of the superagers?

Why do some people age better than others? Five extraordinary individuals – who scientists are studying – share their tips

Lajuana Weathers is determined to be the healthiest version of herself. She starts each day with a celery juice, is always trying to increase her step count, and meditates daily. Weathers is also 89 years old. And she has no plans to slow down. “I wake up in the morning and feel blessed that I have another chance at a day of life,” says the grandmother of six, and great‑grandmother of six more, who lives in Illinois in an independent living facility for seniors. “I look at my life as a holistic entity, and in that life is my physical, social, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. I have to take care of all of those. That’s what I like about the ageing process. All the clutter of raising children is out and I can concentrate on the wellness of me.”

Weathers is a superager. This isn’t a self-proclaimed label, but one backed up by science – she is part of the SuperAging Research Initiative at the University of Chicago. To qualify for the study, you have to be over 80 years old and have memory performance that’s at least as good as the average 50- to 60-year-old. There are about 400 superagers enrolled across North America.

Published: January 24, 2026, 6:00 am

Do dryer balls actually work? Yes, if you treat them like reusable dryer sheets

We tested side-by-side loads of laundry with and without dryer balls, and while not every claim panned out, they’re still worth buying for softer, nicer-smelling clothes

• Break up with your liquid detergent. Try these plastic-free laundry sheets instead

• Sign up for the Filter US newsletter, your weekly guide to buying fewer, better things

Whether you’re renting or simply a homeowner on a tight budget, it’s common to feel stuck with whatever clunker of a dryer lurks in your closet or basement. That’s why upgrades like dryer balls can be a tempting purchase: an inexpensive bag of tennis-ball-sized spheres promise faster drying, less energy use, softer clothes, and even less static cling – just by tossing them in with every load.

But is any of that true? I’ve been a professional product reviewer for over a decade with a focus on laundry: testing washers, dryers, detergents and gadgets like sonic cleaners and color catchers. I decided to put the claims of dryer balls to the test. And while they don’t live up to every promise, they’re still well worth adding to your laundry routine.

Expert-recommended wool dryer balls
Handy Laundry Wool Dryer Balls

Essential oils for fresher smelling laundry
Positive Essence Spray

Published: January 24, 2026, 8:15 pm

The moment I knew: ‘He put down the camera and asked permission to kiss me’

Susan Hayes and Craig got to know each other through an online game. When they finally met in person, it felt like a real-life romance novel

• Find more stories from the moment I knew series

When 2023 rolled around, I was ready for a change. I’d spent the Covid years locked down in Victoria, Canada. I had quit my day job at the end of 2019 to write full-time and travel, only for the world to shut down.

During those long, lonely years, I kept myself distracted by playing an online game. Nothing fancy, just a phone game about surviving a zombie apocalypse. It was a bit of fun and a way to connect with people from around the world. One of those people was a fellow named Craig.

Published: January 24, 2026, 7:00 pm

Blind date: ‘He referenced the “six seven” meme. We’re two generations too old for it and I had no idea how to react’

Toby, a data analyst, meets Liam, a civil servant. Both are 29

What were you hoping for?
I wanted to go in with no expectations.

Published: January 24, 2026, 6:00 am

I heard the news on the radio: my parents and sister had died in a helicopter crash. How would I survive their sudden loss?

I was 16 when the course of my life changed, and for years I was unable to speak about about what had happened

I am lying in bed listening to the radio at my boarding school as my roommate is getting dressed. As she walks out of the door she says, “See you at breakfast – don’t be late.” I’m about to get up when the early morning news comes on the radio, and I hear the announcer saying my parents’ names.

By the time my roommate arrives at breakfast, everyone has heard. My friends run to be with me. The housemaster and his wife stand in the corridor outside my bedroom, not allowing anyone in. All they can hear are my screams and the smashing of furniture. It is beyond comprehension, but then everything from now on is beyond comprehension.

Published: January 24, 2026, 12:00 pm

Could a surfing retreat in Morocco conquer my fear of the sea?

The process of learning to catch a wave is an all-consuming activity that can prove to be a powerful therapeutic tool

I can’t remember when my terror of waves began in earnest. Maybe it was a singular incident that triggered it, like that monster wave in Biarritz, France, almost 20 years ago that body-slammed me on to the seabed, taking all the skin off my chin.

More likely is that my transition from fearless to frightened had been more of a slow creep, and a perfectly rational one when you consider the danger of riptides, hidden rocks, sharks and concussion. But for me, I feel it goes deeper. Almost inevitably my job will have had something to do with this. Nearly two decades of working as a journalist reporting on the very worst things that human beings can do to other human beings in a wide array of contexts has definitely eroded my sense that I can keep myself – and others – safe from harm in a dangerous world.

Published: January 24, 2026, 7:00 am

Tim Dowling: the dung men are here. The tortoise is out. Surely it’s not spring already …

I see the manure sellers as part of some lost and deeply English tradition, which is why I prefer my wife to deal with them

I am in the kitchen watching the dog and the cat fight when the tortoise suddenly appears. Or to put it another way: I watched the dog and the cat fight for a while, until it became tiresome; the next time I looked up – possibly 15 minutes later – the tortoise was also there. That’s what I mean by suddenly. In real terms, the tortoise doesn’t do anything suddenly.

“Where have you been?” I say, even though I know the answer. I haven’t seen the tortoise in six weeks, but I’m certain he’s been butted up against the left rear leg of the sofa for that whole period.

Published: January 24, 2026, 6:00 am

‘The invisible man’: Joe Biden has disappeared in almost every way – except in Trump’s daily commentary

The 46th president largely exists as Trump’s foil, with his successor blaming him for the country’s woes

In bitter cold beneath the US Capitol dome, he walked to a marine helicopter and shared parting words with Donald Trump. Then, arriving at Joint Base Andrews, Joe Biden offered farewell remarks to his loyal staff. “We’re leaving office,” he said, “We’re not leaving the fight.”

But, one year later, Washington, and the world, have mostly moved on from the 46th president. Biden, 83, has been writing a lucrative memoir, planning a presidential library and fighting prostate cancer. He was once the most powerful man on the planet, but now Biden’s public appearances have been scarce and his influence has palpably diminished.

Published: January 24, 2026, 1:00 pm

What else can be done to force Trump’s DoJ to release all the Epstein files? Legal experts weigh in

The deadline for Trump’s justice department to release the files came and went, but experts say there are still options

For months, the 2025 news cycle was dominated by the disgraced financier and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

Public outrage over the continued secrecy surrounding Epstein investigative files – which Donald Trump failed to release fully early in his second term, despite campaign promises – was growing.

Published: January 24, 2026, 1:00 pm

Minneapolis shooting protests and a free solo in Taipei – photos of the weekend

Warning: this gallery contains sensitive images.

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

Published: January 25, 2026, 11:33 am