Trump’s assault on the Smithsonian: ‘The goal is to reframe the entire culture of the US’

The president has vowed to kill off ‘woke’ in his second term in office, and the venerable cultural institution a few blocks from the White House is in his sights

On 30 May last year, Kim Sajet was working in her office in the grandly porticoed National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC. The gallery is one of the most important branches of the Smithsonian Institution, the complex of national museums that, for almost 200 years, has told the story of the nation. The director’s suite, large enough to host a small party, has a grandeur befitting the museum’s role as the keeper of portraits of the United States’ most significant historical figures. Sajet was working beneath the gaze of artworks from the collection, including a striking 1952 painting of Mary Mills, a military-uniformed, African American nurse, and a bronze head of jazz and blues singer Ethel Waters.

It seemed like an ordinary Friday. Until, that is, an anxious colleague came in to tell Sajet that the president of the United States had personally denounced her on social media. “Upon the request and recommendation of many people I am herby [sic] terminating the employment of Kim Sajet as Director of the National Portrait Gallery,” Donald Trump had posted on Truth Social. According to the post, Sajet was “a highly partisan person” and a “strong supporter” of diversity and inclusion programmes, which by an executive order on his inauguration day, 20 January, he had eradicated from federal agencies. “Her replacement will be named shortly,” continued the message. “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Published: January 8, 2026, 5:00 am

Maduro is gone, but his regime is intact. The circumstances tell a story | Alejandro Velasco

In the early fray of foreign interventions, evidence is largely circumstantial. But here the circumstances tell a powerful story

As late as Saturday afternoon, fires continued to smolder in parts of Caracas. Residents throughout the city, stunned and anxious, filled grocery stores and gas stations, stocking up before a future unknown. Everywhere the question hung in the air like the smoke still clouding Venezuela’s capital: what next?

After months of military buildup, deadly strikes at sea and a looming ground war, the United States made good on its threats to attack Venezuela in a dramatic overnight raid that ended with Nicolás Maduro in a New York City jail cell. Yet 48 hours later, little else appeared different in Caracas: Maduro’s inner circle remained in place; state institutions remained in their control; streets were calm, if tense, while authorities called on people to return to their daily lives. In other words: move along, nothing to see here.

Alejandro Velasco is an associate professor of history at New York University

Published: January 8, 2026, 1:00 pm

What is Stranger Things’s Conformity Gate craze – and why did it crash Netflix?

An online conspiracy theory has left hysterical fans believing that the Netflix show’s finale was a fake. Could Vecna still come back with a secret episode?

In recent days, my 14-year-old daughter has been exhibiting signs of becoming a conspiracy theorist. But this isn’t your common or garden Twin-Towers-grassy-knoll-moon-landings business. She has fallen, entirely and joyfully, for a conjecture known as Conformity Gate – and she is not the only one.

For the non Gen-Zers out there, Conformity Gate is the theory that the much-vaunted finale of Netflix behemoth Stranger Things, released on 1 January in the UK, wasn’t the real finale at all.

Fuelled by energy drinks and pasty from lack of sunlight, fans of the show have been beavering away in basements around the world to produce a fantastical hypothesis that the finale’s rather soupy 40-minute epilogue was all an illusion created by the show’s mind-controlling villain Vecna. A secret final episode, showing what had really happened, would be released on 7 January, at 8pm US Eastern Time (1am in the UK).

Explaining the labyrinthine intricacies of the “evidence” cited by Conformiteers would take thousands of words. Essentially, it involves some people sitting with their hands in their lap wearing orange graduation gowns, too many people wearing glasses, a roll of dice totalling seven, a dial changing colour, a wonky milkshake-timeline, strategically positioned exit signs, a woman having short hair, a door handle switching sides, a character missing some scars, and one of the characters remarking that the town of Hawkins “feels different” – hardly surprising, as it’s no longer full of murderous monsters, cracks in the earth, and a psychopath made out of tree roots.

Published: January 8, 2026, 1:07 pm

Kicking zones and a ban on losing teams: NFL playoff tweaks we’d like to see

The postseason consistently serves up enthralling football. But there are ways to make it even more compelling

No legitimate Super Bowl champion should have a losing record in the regular season. The Panthers, crowned NFC South champions at 8-9, are not an outlier. Since 2010, five teams with losing records have made the postseason. The 2022 Bucs were the first team to make the dance with a losing record since the league instituted a 17-game schedule. This season, the NFC South has done it again.

Published: January 8, 2026, 9:00 am

Then and now: one year on from the Los Angeles wildfires – in pictures

Images from the Eaton fire, which began on the evening of 7 January in the Altadena community of Los Angeles – and what remains a year later. The fire was one of several that tore through the county in a disaster that killed at least 31 people

• The LA victims still living in toxic homes

Published: January 8, 2026, 8:30 am

The Timberwolves should not play until ICE violence in Minneapolis is held to account | Lee Escobedo

A federal enforcement operation ended with a woman dead and the facts contested. The NBA cannot treat state violence in a residential neighborhood as background noise

The SUV sat motionless against a tree on a south Minneapolis street, its engine quiet, angled as if it had simply run out of gas. Except the windshield bore a small shattered star, delicate and sharp, like a snowflake pressed into glass. Cold Minnesota air leaked through the fracture, settling over the still body inside. The car became a sealed room, a thin shell holding death in place, surrounded by the stuffed animals of the woman’s children.

In the street, witnesses screamed. Not in words, but in sounds that come before language, as reality breaks faster than thought.

Published: January 8, 2026, 8:30 am

‘This is not normal’: Minneapolis on edge and angry after ICE killing of woman amid federal surge

City targeted by Trump has seen swarm of immigration agents on the streets – and residents say the tension is palpable

Edwin Torres DeSantiago received a text message on Wednesday morning as he was tracking immigration enforcement across Minneapolis – a person was shot by ICE at 34th Street and Portland Avenue.

He jumped into his car to head to the scene. Torres DeSantiago manages the Immigrant Defense Network, a group that monitors ICE activity and responds to community needs after someone is taken. He has responded to dozens of scenes in the past few months, and even more in the last few days since the federal government surged its presence in the midwestern city.

Published: January 8, 2026, 12:00 pm

Venezuela cooperating fully and US will control its oil for years, Trump claims

US president says Delcy Rodríguez’s interim administration is doing ‘everything that we feel is necessary’

The US is receiving full cooperation from Venezuela’s regime and will control the country and its vast oil reserves for years, Donald Trump has claimed.

Caracas was giving Washington “everything that we feel is necessary” and the US would remain a political overlord there for an indefinite period, the US president said.

Published: January 8, 2026, 12:07 pm

US national parks staff say new $100 fee for non-residents risks ‘alienating visitors for decades’

Advocates suing to reverse administration’s surcharge system that has led to passport checks and angry visitors

A new $100 fee for foreign tourists entering US national parks has triggered chaos and frustrating waits, with staff reporting long entry lines as citizenship checks are made and irate visitors regularly ditching plans to patronize some of America’s most cherished landscapes.

The new fee system, introduced by the Trump administration from 1 January, has caught many visitors and National Park Service (NPS) staff off-guard, with checks now having to be undertaken to assess nationality and tourists often turning away from entrances rather than pay the surcharge. The Guardian heard accounts of problems from several NPS staff, speaking anonymously, who work at different parks across the country.

Published: January 8, 2026, 12:30 pm

French and German presidents condemn US foreign policy under Trump

In separate speeches, Emmanuel Macron and Frank-Walter Steinmeier warn rules-based international order could disintegrate

• Europe live – latest updates

The presidents of France and Germany have sharply condemned US foreign policy under Donald Trump, saying respectively that Washington was “breaking free from international rules” and the world risked turning into a “robber’s den”.

In unusually strong and apparently uncoordinated remarks, Emmanuel Macron and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, leaders of the EU’s two heavyweight states, have warned the postwar rules-based international order could soon disintegrate.

Published: January 8, 2026, 3:54 pm

Musk lawsuit over OpenAI for-profit conversion can go to trial, US judge says

Judge says there is plenty of evidence to suggest OpenAI’s leaders made assurances nonprofit structure would be kept

• Business live – latest updates

Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI is to go to trial after a US judge said there is plenty of evidence to support the billionaire’s case.

The world’s richest man, who co-founded OpenAI, is suing the ChatGPT developer and its chief executive, Sam Altman, over claims its leaders violated the organisation’s founding mission by shifting to a for-profit model.

Published: January 8, 2026, 11:56 am

Senators claim UnitedHealth is withholding internal documents from inquiry

UnitedHealth says it will ‘continue to engage’ with lawmakers who began investigating their involvement in nursing home care after Guardian investigation

UnitedHealth has refused to hand over key internal records to lawmakers investigating the company’s efforts to reduce hospital transfers for nursing home residents, according to a 7 January letter sent to the company by the US senators Ron Wyden and Elizabeth Warren.

The veteran lawmakers, both members of the powerful Senate finance committee, launched their inquiry last summer following a Guardian investigation into bonuses that UnitedHealth pays to nursing homes that reduce hospital transfers for their residents. Those are hospitalizations the insurance giant would otherwise have to pay for.

UnitedHealth did not directly respond to questions from the Guardian about the senators’ assertion that the company had failed to turn over internal documents. But it said in a statement that it will “continue to engage” with the senators and that its nursing home care program “improves outcomes” and “reduces unnecessary hospitalizations”.

Published: January 8, 2026, 3:16 pm

Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro announces re-election bid

Democrat sets stage for what many view as audition for future White House run

Josh Shapiro, the Pennsylvania governor once considered a frontrunner to be Kamala Harris’s running mate, announced he will seek a second term in office, setting the stage for what many Democrats view as an audition for a future White House run.

The 52-year-old Democrat, who has governed the crucial swing state since January 2023, made the announcement Thursday with planned events in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

Published: January 8, 2026, 3:35 pm

Berlin mayor faces calls to resign after playing tennis during city blackout

Kai Wegner acknowledged he had not been entirely forthcoming to public about his actions when outage began

• Europe live – latest updates

Berlin’s mayor, Kai Wegner, is facing calls to resign after it emerged he opted to play tennis hours after a crippling blackout triggered by an arson attack hit a large swathe of the city, and then misled the public about it.

Districts in the south-west of the German capital were gradually returning to normal after the longest power cut since the second world war as Wegner acknowledged he had not been entirely forthcoming about his actions when the outage began.

Published: January 8, 2026, 3:02 pm

Nasa considering early return of crew from ISS due to medical reasons

Astronaut aboard the International Space Station is in stable condition, Nasa said, and a spacewalk was canceled

Nasa is considering a rare early return of its crew from the International Space Station over an unspecified medical issue involving one of the astronauts, after cancelling a planned spacewalk that had been scheduled for Thursday, the agency said.

A Nasa spokesperson said the astronaut with the medical concern, whom she did not identify, was in a stable condition on the orbiting laboratory.

Published: January 8, 2026, 1:20 pm

Fema staff outraged by draft plans for deep cuts under Trump

Staff warn the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem’s, proposed cuts could weaken Fema’s disaster response

Current and former staff at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) expressed outraged over reports that the agency has drafted plans to eliminate thousands of staff in 2026 – part of a broader restructuring effort being overseen by the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem.

“The Trump administration seems determined to continue weakening the agency’s efforts to help people before, during and after disasters,” Jeremy Edwards, former spokesperson for Fema and the White House under Joe Biden’s presidency, told the Guardian.

Published: January 8, 2026, 3:28 pm

Outrage as Trump withdraws from key UN climate treaty along with dozens of international organisations

Experts decry move to leave UNFCCC as ‘embarrassing’ as president orders withdrawal from 66 international groups

Donald Trump has sparked outrage by announcing the US will exit the foundational international agreement to address the climate crisis, cementing the US’s utter isolation from the global effort to confront dangerously escalating temperatures.

In a presidential memorandum issued on Wednesday, Trump withdrew from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), along with 65 other organizations, agencies and commissions, calling them “contrary to the interests of the United States”.

Published: January 8, 2026, 2:38 pm

‘Catastrophic’: fears for families after Trump officials cut $10bn in social funds

Health department’s decision to freeze money for childcare and for families in need could lead to disaster, experts say

The Trump administration’s sudden decision to freeze $10bn worth of federal funding for childcare and needy families has not only already thrown the US childcare system into mass confusion, but could also lead to disaster for hundreds of thousands of families within weeks, experts say.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced late on Tuesday it would block California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York from drawing down money from three major social safety programs over “serious concerns about widespread fraud and misuse of taxpayer dollars in state-administered programs”. In order to access the funding, the Democratic-run states must provide the Trump administration with extensive documentation to allay the fears of fraud.

Published: January 8, 2026, 1:00 pm

‘Out with the Yanks!’: Thousands protest in Colombia as anger builds over Trump’s intervention in Venezuela

President Gustavo Petro called for demonstrations after Trump said he was interested in military action in Colombia

Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of cities across Colombia to decry Donald Trump’s threats to expand his military campaign in South America into their territory, after last weekend’s deadly attack on Venezuela.

In Cúcuta, a city on Colombia’s eastern border with Venezuela, several hundred demonstrators marched towards its 19th century cathedral waving the country’s yellow, blue and red flag and shouting: “Fuera los yanquis!” (“Out with the Yanks!”)

Published: January 8, 2026, 2:06 am

Germany’s dying forests are losing their ability to absorb CO2. Can a new way of planting save them?

Vast swathes of the country’s trees have been killed off by droughts and infestations, in a trend sweeping across Europe. A shift towards more biodiverse cultivation could offer answers

Even the intense green of late spring cannot mask the dead trees in the Harz mountains. Standing upright across the gentle peaks in northern Germany, thousands of skeletal trunks mark the remnants of a once great spruce forest.

Since 2018, the region has been ravaged by a tree-killing bark beetle outbreak, made possible by successive droughts and heatwaves. It has transformed a landscape known for its verdant beauty into one dominated by a sickly grey.

Published: January 8, 2026, 9:00 am

Seth Meyers on Trump officials justifying Venezuela assault: ‘Lamest dorks on the planet’

Late-night hosts discussed the Trump administration’s posturing over Greenland amid widespread condemnation of its actions in Venezuela

Late-night hosts mocked the Trump administration’s bullish rhetoric on Greenland after the surprise takeover of Nicolás Maduro’s regime in Venezuela.

Published: January 8, 2026, 4:19 pm

Greenland 2: Migration review – disaster sequel is disastrously self-serious

Gerard Butler returns to keep his family safe from post-apocalyptic chaos in a glum and misjudged follow-up to the superior 2020 adventure

Gerard Butler has made his fair share of sequels, but few have held as much potential as Greenland 2: Migration. The original Greenland wasn’t even a traditional hit; it was released in theaters and on VOD at the end of 2020, when plenty of movie theaters remained closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but it garnered some attention for being an unusually sober and thoughtful apocalypse movie, especially given that Butler previously starred in the likes of Geostorm. Because Greenland was about surviving a global apocalypse rather than averting one, any sequel would have to venture into the unknown with a drastically different status quo.

Greenland 2 obliges for a little while, though it also walks back some of the hope that ended the first film. The story rejoins engineer John Garrity (Gerard Butler), his administrator wife Allison (Morena Baccarin), and their now-teenage son Nathan (recast as Roman Griffin Davis) as residents of a Greenland bunker. They’re lucky to have been government-selected for entry when Earth was rendered largely uninhabitable by comet fragments five years earlier; they’re also chafing at the loss of freedom, tough decisions, and overall claustrophobia that comes with cohabitating underground with hundreds of others. (Curiously, none of them seem to have made many friends despite the close quarters.)

Published: January 8, 2026, 3:04 pm

How do I build a sense of worth that isn’t constantly slipping through my fingers?

We often peg our self-esteem on short-term goals and generic standards, advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith writes – but it’s what makes you you that others truly value

I keep waiting to feel that I’m finally enough. I’ve worked hard, am in the process of changing careers to be more of service to others, gone to therapy. I go to the gym, eat the right food, have built things I’m proud of. And yet nothing sticks. Every time I hit a goal, there’s this tiny burst of pride, then it’s gone.

Lately, I’ve noticed how tangled this has become with how I see my body. I’ve been training and eating well for ages, but I still feel ashamed when I look in the mirror, as though I’ve failed some invisible test. People tell me I look great but it doesn’t land. There’s this constant hum of “not good enough” running underneath everything, no matter what I do.

Published: January 8, 2026, 2:00 pm

Singer-songwriter Bill Callahan: ‘I’m not a craftsman – I’m more of a drunk professor who likes coincidence and mistakes’

Preceding the release of My Days of 58, the Americana legend once known as Smog discusses his Yorkshire youth, why Spotify is like the mafia and the bleak state of AI

We got married to [Smog’s] Our Anniversary. When you write songs, do you think about how listeners might carry them into their own lives, or do the songs stop being yours after they are done? Vanearle
When I wrote [2019’s] Watch Me Get Married, I thought maybe people would have that as their wedding song. But mostly it’s inconceivable what people are gonna do with a song. I don’t think about it too much because there are 100,000 places where it’s gonna live. Have I ever heard about any inappropriate uses of songs? I think having Our Anniversary as a wedding song is a little surprising, but maybe they’re realists.

As an appreciator of dub, if you could spend a week in a studio to collaborate with any dub artist at their peak, who would you go for? albertoayler
I’d have to say Lee “Scratch” Perry just because he was so crazy. He was like a little kid – just infectious excitement. I think that he would have been easy to hang out with. But also, King Tubby was such a minimalist and I’d be curious about how he determined when enough was enough – investing so much power in the fewest elements. Have Fun With God [the 2014 dub remix album of 2013’s Dream River] was very traditional – all the moves were taken from 70s Jamaican records. Maybe once is enough. But I do like the idea of recycling recorded things to make something else – that’s what initially attracted me to dub. If I did [a new remix album], I may do a chopped and screwed record.

Published: January 8, 2026, 3:00 pm

Matt Damon’s best films – ranked!

Ahead of his reunion with Ben Affleck in thriller The Rip – as well as his starring role in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming Imax epic The Odyssey – we run through the best work of one of Hollywood’s most reliable heroes

Matt Damon is essentially a bland dish that requires the right spice truly to zing, which means he is often at his best when playing beastly. His flagrantly nasty turn as one of the antisemitic bullies who makes prep school life hell for a secretly Jewish classmate (Brendan Fraser) offers an early indication that Damon realised this, too.

Published: January 8, 2026, 2:35 pm

ICE agents have killed – again. The Trump administration blames the victim | Moira Donegan

An agent shot a woman in Minneapolis, causing vast and needless grief. Our country is diseased – but that is not the only truth

A woman in Minneapolis has died as her neighbors fought Donald Trump’s mass deportation operation. On Wednesday morning, a group of local civilian protesters gathered around a site where several ICE agents were attempting to abduct migrants. The agents were part of a surge of roughly 2,000 deportation officers who have been sent to Minneapolis as part of Trump’s effort to persecute the Somali community there. In a disturbing incident caught on video by multiple onlookers, a woman driving in an SUV covered in bumper stickers blocked traffic on the residential road – perhaps as part of an effort to keep ICE vehicles from passing. In the videos, an ICE agent approaches the SUV, yelling: “Get out of the car. Get out of the fucking car.” He stands at the driver’s side, with his feet clear of the vehicle, and reaches into where the woman is driving. She begins to drive away, and an officer fires three shots, the last from behind the vehicle as the car pulls away from him. The SUV then crashes into a parked vehicle as onlookers scream in distress. “You did a murder, for what?” one of the protesters calls out to the agents.

The driver, a US citizen who was described by Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar as a “legal observer”, was declared dead. She died less than a mile from where George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in 2020. Her name was Renee Nicole Good, and she was 37.

Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist

Published: January 8, 2026, 2:00 pm

Trump’s Venezuela incursion has nothing to do with its freedom | Judith Levine

Trump’s actions at home tell a different story – and they parallel many of Maduro’s own repressive moves

Whatever else the US attack on Venezuela is ostensibly about – oil, drugs, communism – it’s not about the freedom of the Venezuelan people.

If Trump cared about that, he would not have lifted the temporary protective status of the roughly 600,000 Venezuelan refugees in the US, the very people fleeing the tyranny and economic instability he is now supposedly liberating them from.

Judith Levine is a Brooklyn-based journalist, essayist and author of five books. Her Substack is Today in Fascism

Published: January 8, 2026, 1:00 pm

America’s most crucial political faultline is in New York City | John R MacArthur

In New York, it’s progressives versus the party machine – and the city’s queen of tabloids offers some unexpected insight

If, like me, you’re a faithful reader of the New York Post, the election of Zohran Mamdani as the new mayor of Gotham was the best thing to happen to my native city – and to journalism – in a very long time. All through the run up to “Zoh’s” remarkable victory, the queen of tabloids outdid itself in hysterical brilliance – to such an extent that I and apparently tens of thousands of other New Yorkers were left excitedly panting for more, unable to share in the mourning that overtook rightwing commentators and pro-Trump operatives all across the land. Moreover, whether or not you voted for the Ugandan-born Muslim progressive/socialist, his improbable triumph furnished a great political education for anyone who bothered to pay attention, even if you weren’t a Post reader. Now, with Mamdani inaugurated and the unofficial municipal host of Nicolás Maduro, the deposed Venezuelan president, and his wife – jailed in Brooklyn and arraigned in federal court just a stone’s throw from city hall in Manhattan – Donald Trump’s newspaper mouthpiece is also an excellent way to make sense of the growing fissure inside the Democratic party about everything Mamdani represents.

I didn’t say that the Post’s political reporting during the final month of the campaign was worth reading because it was accurate. Beginning with Miranda Devine’s 8 October column, whose headline proclaimed “The Dems are letting Antifa take over their cities”, the paper’s leading lights made analytical hash of what was really going on inside the Democratic party. “Portland and Chicago are emerging as the epicenter of anti-Trump resistance,” she warned. “[Governor JB Pritzker] and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson are endangering the lives of ICE and Border Patrol personnel,” apparently taking their cue from the “antifa militants” of the first Trump term who “terrorized” the country during the riots that followed the killing of George Floyd. “It will be a relief,” wrote Devine, “to find out who has been funding these violent groups that appear for all the world to be Dem street militia. How else to explain years of Democrats gaslighting us and Democrat governors and mayors covering for Antifa.”

Published: January 8, 2026, 3:00 pm

As the Israeli bombs fell, my family committed an act of rebellion: we planted a garden in Gaza | Taqwa Ahmed al-Wai

Amid constant danger, each planted seed was a tiny act of resistance. As they grew, they offered us food – and a sense of achievement amid the devastation

My 12-year-old brother Mazen ran into the kitchen, shouting that the eggplants were sprouting. He held up the tiny green shoots, his hands shaking. My older brother Mohammed and I rushed outside, laughing despite the fear that had become our constant companion. Each sprout was a victory.

Before Gaza’s skies darkened with smoke and the ground shook with bombs, our garden was a lush tapestry of trees and plants, each leaf and branch woven into our family memory. Birds danced above the branches. Five ancient trees stood tall, twisted trunks weathered by sun and wind, branches heavy with black and green olives. Fruit trees filled the air with sweetness – orange, lemon, a broad-leaved fig and a small clementine.

Published: January 8, 2026, 2:00 pm

Brooklyn Peltz Beckham set an important trend. Will other men follow? | Polly Hudson

Women have been double barrelling their names since the 15th century – and now men including Adam Ramsay Peaty are finally joining them

After attempting to make his mark as a footballer, photographer and chef, at last Brooklyn Peltz Beckham appears to have secured his legacy. He will no longer be remembered as simply the nepo-baby son of David and Victoria; he’ll also go down in history as a somewhat unlikely/possibly accidental feminist activist.

It was when Brooklyn married Nicola Peltz in 2022 that he became Brooklyn Peltz Beckham, an ally who turbo-boosted a quietly growing trend. Rather than a heterosexual bride surrendering her name and adopting her husband’s as default, or double-barrelling alone, both partners take both names. It’s modern, equal and refreshing, as opposed to proper Handmaid’s Tale vibes.

Published: January 8, 2026, 11:00 am

Want to scare a Hollywood star? Just set up a fundraiser in their name | Emma Brockes

More horrifying to a celebrity than any scandal is having the public believe they’re down on their luck. Just ask Mickey Rourke

It’s a tough time to be famous in Hollywood, what with dwindling respect levels for movie stars and the inability of anyone under 35 to recognise that George Clooney’s lips weren’t always that thin or that Brad Pitt, at one time, was a thing. Add to this a painful new pitfall for celebrities; not defending their unremarkable offspring from accusations of nepotism or explaining how big a role Ozempic has played in their new look, but rather the small, horrifying possibility that in the event of a bad year, some enterprising fan or assistant will whip up a GoFundMe for them.

Most of us know instinctively that there’s nothing worse for business than admitting that business is bad. Unless you’re a parent soliciting donations to fund your Munchausen-by-proxy syndrome, or have just committed an act of heroism and are rightfully in line for a reward, being the beneficiary of a whip-round by strangers is not a good thing at all. With this in mind, one can only sympathise with Mickey Rourke, the latest dwindling star to fall victim to an act of public charity, who this week was forced to issue an extremely Rourkian statement denying all knowledge of a fundraising appeal set up in his name by one of his manager’s enterprising young assistants.

Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist

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Published: January 8, 2026, 8:00 am

Don’t dignify Trump with talk of a ‘new world order’ – there’s nothing new or ordered about this chaos | Aditya Chakrabortty

The US president’s grotesque theatrics on the world stage are an opportunistic distraction from his falling domestic ratings

Of all the commandments for living under Donald Trump, the first is always this: don’t believe him. Nothing he says can be taken at face value; everything should be fed into a polygraph. Those of scrupulous courtesy can wrap it up in red ribbon, or uncork that aphorism about how the man must be taken seriously but never literally. All the same, scratch a Trump promise and underneath will glint a pretext. Scrutinise his grand plans and you find only shabby tactics.

The Manhattan Democrat turns into a Florida-dwelling Republican; the troll who demanded Barack Obama’s birth certificate will hem and haw over releasing the Epstein files. From real-estate deals to Trump University, all that this guy swears is solid gold soon settles into so much bullshit.

Aditya Chakrabortty is a Guardian columnist

Published: January 8, 2026, 6:00 am

US actions in Venezuela put the 2026 World Cup in disgraceful company | Leander Schaerlaeckens

In 1934 and 1978, Fifa’s big event was given over to authoritarian aims. There’s no more doubt that 2026 will be the same

By 1934, it was entirely evident what Benito Mussolini was up to. Italy’s dictator had already consolidated power, colonized Libya and annexed the city of Rijeka. He nevertheless got to stage the second-ever World Cup, managing it with a heavy hand and even supplanting the Jules Rimet trophy with a far larger one. Hosting and winning that World Cup didn’t sate his expansionist appetites. By the end of decade, Mussolini would take Ethiopia, annex Albania and back Francisco Franco in the Spanish civil war.

It was equally well established in 1978 in Argentina that General Jorge Rafaél Videla’s military junta, which had taken over two years earlier, was maintaining its grip on power through systematic detention, torture and murder. Still, protestations from other nations were ignored and the World Cup kicked off.

Leander Schaerlaeckens’ book on the United States men’s national soccer team, The Long Game, is out on May 12. You can preorder it here. He teaches at Marist University.

Published: January 8, 2026, 2:21 pm

Amber Glenn sets US short program record to edge Alysa Liu at nationals

• Glenn reclaims short program record at nationals

• Liu close behind as Olympic spots near decision

• Efimova, Mitrofanov lead pairs amid eligibility wait

Two-time defending champion Amber Glenn set the record for a women’s short program at the US Figure Skating Championships on Wednesday night, giving her a narrow lead over world champion Alysa Liu heading into the free skate.

Liu had broken the record mere minutes earlier with a score of 81.11 points, earning a standing ovation from a crowd packed into the home of the St Louis Blues. But then Glenn took the ice and was flawless from an opening triple axel to a finishing combination spin, earning 83.05 points, a hug from coach Damon Allen and a standing ovation of her own.

Published: January 8, 2026, 5:35 am

Trae Young traded to Washington Wizards as Atlanta Hawks move on from franchise star

• Hawks trade Young, ending eight-year partnership

• Wizards land four-time All-Star as rebuild centerpiece

• McCollum, Kispert head to Atlanta in return

Trae Young’s tenure in Atlanta is over, with the Hawks agreeing to trade the high-scoring and frequently criticized guard to the Washington Wizards for a package including veteran CJ McCollum, a person with knowledge of the move said Wednesday night.

Corey Kispert is also headed from Washington to Atlanta, said the person, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the trade had not received the required league approval. The person said the league’s trade call will not take place before Thursday. Typically, teams cannot discuss pending trades until they are approved by the league.

Published: January 8, 2026, 3:28 am

‘The club is in a mess’: Manchester United fans voice feelings before the next interim twist

Supporters serenaded Solskjær, Carrick and Fletcher among others at Burnley and staged a brief anti-Ratcliffe protest

“Jim can’t fix this,” the sign said. Bright red letters nestled on a white background, a stark contrast in an away end at Turf Moor full of dark-coated figures in front of which they were held aloft. It was small, a couple of square metres of material, maybe. But the message to Sir Jim Ratcliffe was powerful. Remember your lane, Jim? Yeah, stick in it, pal.

As Darren Fletcher, in Manchester United blazer and red tie, strolled along the touchline, flanked by tracksuited his former teammate and friend Jonny Evans, the flag flew. And then it was gone. The protest was done.

Published: January 8, 2026, 10:06 am

Chiefs say they are aware of domestic violence allegations involving Rashee Rice

• Chiefs say they are aware and in touch with NFL

• Allegations surfaced in Instagram posts Wednesday

• No police reports filed in Overland Park, Kansas

The Kansas City Chiefs said in a statement Wednesday night that they were aware of domestic violence allegations made in a series of social media posts by a former girlfriend of wide receiver Rashee Rice and had been in communication with the NFL.

The Chiefs did not mention Rice by name in their statement and said they would have “no further comment at this time”.

Published: January 8, 2026, 5:48 am

Cristian Romero takes apparent swipe at Spurs board for staying silent as team struggle

• Reference to ‘lies’ deleted from his social media post

• Captain spoken to by Frank and co-sporting director

Cristian Romero has been spoken to by Thomas Frank and one of Tottenham’s sporting directors after an apparent swipe at board for staying silent amid the team’s struggles. The captain posted a strongly worded message after Wednesday’s defeat at Bournemouth that initially appeared to accuse the hierarchy of telling “lies” before being edited to remove that incendiary reference.

What remained on Romero’s Instagram post, though, was what an apparent call for the Spurs directors to speak up. The players and Frank were again subjected to abuse by some of their fans after a latest loss that leaves Tottenham with five points from their past six matches, three of which have ended in defeat.

Published: January 8, 2026, 4:01 pm

Reece Prescod’s decision to join Enhanced Games condemned by athletics chiefs

• UK Athletics chief Jack Buckner expresses outrage

• ‘As a former athlete, I find this particularly appalling’

The UK Athletics chief executive, Jack Buckner, has described Reece Prescod’s decision to participate in the controversial Enhanced Games as “appalling”.

The former Great Britain sprinter Prescod gave a statement to the Times saying he is “very excited” to be joining the sprinting field of the event. The Enhanced Games allows the use of performance-enhancing substances and permits athletes to take substances approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), under strict supervision.

Published: January 7, 2026, 9:19 pm

‘Go back home’: Farage schoolmate accounts bring total alleging racist behaviour to 34

Exclusive: Dulwich college contemporaries say Reform leader often used antisemitic language and racial epithets

Thirty-four school contemporaries of Nigel Farage have now come forward to claim they saw him behave in a racist or antisemitic manner, raising fresh questions over the Reform leader’s evolving denials.

One of those with new allegations is Jason Meredith, who was three years below Farage at Dulwich college, a private school in south-east London. He claims that Farage called him a “paki” and would use taunts such as “go back home”.

Published: January 8, 2026, 3:08 pm

Saudi Arabia says UAE helped Yemeni separatist leader flee as crisis deepens

Riyadh says Aidarous al-Zubaidi, leader of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council, was helped to flee Yemen

Saudi Arabia has accused the United Arab Emirates of smuggling a UAE-backed separatist leader out of Yemen after he failed to turn up for crisis talks in Riyadh on Wednesday.

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said Aidarous al-Zubaidi had fled the port city of Aden for Abu Dhabi under Emirati supervision, deepening a diplomatic row between Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Published: January 8, 2026, 2:50 pm

Tech titans divided over whether to pay billionaire tax or flee California

State residents worth more than $1bn could face one-off, 5% tax to help fund education, food assistance and healthcare

A battle is brewing in California over a plan to tax billionaires – with tech titans divided over whether they should pay up, or flee the state.

Under a tax proposal that could be put to voters this November, any California resident worth more than $1bn would have to pay a one-off, 5% tax on their assets to help cover education, food assistance and healthcare programs in the state.

Published: January 8, 2026, 2:52 pm

Household burning of plastic waste in developing world is hidden health threat, study shows

The practice is ‘much more widespread’ than previously realised, researchers say, with serious environmental impact

The household burning of plastic for heating and cooking is widespread in developing countries, suggests a global study that raises concerns about its health and environmental impacts.

The research, published in the journal Nature Communications, surveyed more than 1,000 respondents across 26 countries.

Published: January 8, 2026, 10:01 am

At least two killed in shooting outside Mormon church in Salt Lake City

Dozens of people were attending a funeral inside the church as the shooting happened, police said

Two people were killed and several injured in a shooting outside a church in Salt Lake City, Utah police said on Wednesday.

The shooting took place in the parking lot of a meetinghouse of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon church.

Published: January 8, 2026, 12:18 pm

Alleged scam kingpin Chen Zhi arrives in China after extradition from Cambodia

Chen founded multinational conglomerate Prince Group that US says is front for multibillion-dollar fraud operation

Chinese television has shown footage of the US-indicted tycoon Chen Zhi being escorted by armed police after his extradition to China from Cambodia, where authorities on Thursday ordered the liquidation of a bank he founded linked to a massive “scam centre” network.

Chen, who chairs a conglomerate the US says is a front for a multibillion-dollar online fraud operation, was shown in handcuffs and hooded as he was led off a plane at a Beijing airport by black-clad Swat officers, with the state broadcaster CCTV describing him as the “leader of a major transnational gambling and fraud crime syndicate”.

Published: January 8, 2026, 2:28 pm

Masses of toxic litter pours from Rhine into North Sea each year, research finds

Citizen scientists help in University of Bonn study showing river carries up to 4,700 tonnes of ‘macrolitter’ annually

Thousands of tonnes of litter is pouring into the North Sea via the Rhine every year, poisoning the waters with heavy metals, microplastics and other chemicals, research has found.

This litter can be detrimental to the environment and human health: tyres, for example, contain zinc and other heavy metals that can be toxic to ecosystems in high concentrations.

Published: January 8, 2026, 4:00 pm

If geoengineering is ever deployed in a climate emergency, transparency is key | Ines Camilloni

We must not let geoengineering be shaped behind closed doors. Climate justice demands an inclusive approach

As the world faces the challenges of the climate crisis and critical threshold levels or tipping points may be reached soon, a disputable idea is gaining momentum as a potential solution: solar geoengineering – the deliberate reflection of sunlight to cool the planet. Advocates argue it could buy us time. Critics warn of unknown risks. Some see it as a possible emergency break if temperatures spiral out of control. Others call it a dangerous distraction that undermines meaningful climate action.

Research into solar geoengineering is advancing, including exploration of techniques such as stratospheric aerosol injection, which would involve spraying tiny reflective particles into the upper atmosphere to mimic the cooling effect of volcanic eruptions, and marine cloud brightening, which aims to enhance the reflectivity of low-lying marine clouds. While stratospheric aerosol injection is not being conducted, these technologies are being studied with increasing urgency in the global north. In the global south, however, they remain largely invisible to public discourse and policymaking.

Published: January 8, 2026, 11:00 am

Fly-arousing orchid and zombie fungus among 2025 botanical and fungal finds

Scientists also name an overlooked snowdrop growing in the UK and a fruit that tastes like banana and guava

A zombie fungus that springs from a trapdoor and a flame-like shrub named after the fire demon in the Studio Ghibli film Howl’s Moving Castle are among the species of plant and fungi named by scientists in 2025.

A list of 10 “weird and wonderful” new species was compiled by scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens (RBG), Kew and their international partners, who together named 125 new plants last year. The list also includes an orchid whose flowers look bloodstained and attract sexually aroused flies, and a beautiful snowdrop that had been hiding in plain sight in UK gardens.

Published: January 8, 2026, 12:01 am

We study glaciers. ‘Artificial glaciers’ and other tech may halt their total collapse | Brent Minchew and Colin Meyer

How might we prevent sea-level rise? Satellite-based radar, solar-powered drones, robot submarines and lab-based ‘artificial glaciers’ could all play a role

Sea levels are rising faster than at any point in human history, and for every foot that waters rise, 100 million people lose their homes. At current projections, that means about 300 million people will be forced to move in the decades to come, along with the social and political conflict as people migrate inland. Despite this looming crisis, the world still lacks specific, reliable forecasts for when and where the seas will rise – and we have invested almost nothing in understanding whether and how we can slow it down.

Societies must continue to focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but it’s increasingly clear that the world needs to do more: we need to predict the future of the world’s ice with precision, and to explore safe, science-backed methods to keep it from melting away.

Published: January 7, 2026, 11:00 am

Two weeks on, questions linger over targeting and impact of US airstrikes in Nigeria

Very little information has been shared about strikes in Sokoto state

Two weeks after the US carried out Christmas Day airstrikes in north-west Nigeria on what it described as Islamic State fighters, questions remain over the specific group that was targeted and the operation’s impact.

In the aftermath of the strikes, Donald Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform that “ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians” were hit with “numerous perfect strikes”.

Published: January 8, 2026, 5:00 am

Reality TV star Spencer Pratt launches LA mayoral bid on wildfire anniversary

Pratt, who lost home in Palisades fire and has been vocal critic of city leaders, says system is ‘fundamentally broken’

Reality television personality Spencer Pratt is running to be the next mayor of Los Angeles.

Pratt announced his campaign on Wednesday at a rally to mark the first anniversary of the deadly Palisades fire.

Published: January 7, 2026, 11:17 pm

US immigration agents linked to spike in shootings under Trump administration crackdown

Data compiled by news non-profit the Trace shows 14 firearm incidents and more uses of force cases

Federal immigration agents have been involved in a sharp rise in shootings in recent months, coinciding with the Trump administration’s expanded immigration enforcement efforts.

Under Trump’s crackdown, immigration officers have been connected to 14 shootings, according to data compiled by the Trace, a non-profit newsroom focused on gun violence in the US.

Published: January 7, 2026, 8:55 pm

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to shut down and publish final edition in May

Newspaper’s closure follows two decades of financial losses totaling over $350m and legal ruling favoring its union

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has announced it will cease operations, with its final edition scheduled for 3 May.

The decision to shutter the newspaper – with its origins dating back to 1786 – was disclosed on Wednesday by Block Communications, the newspaper’s parent company based in Toledo, Ohio.

Published: January 7, 2026, 8:47 pm

Revealed: the crypto entrepreneur linked to illegal weight-loss drug operation

Exclusive: Haul of illicit products led by medicines regulator was described as world’s largest of its kind, but no arrests have yet been made

Wedged between an air-compressor service and an auto repair shop on a Northampton industrial estate is an undistinguished red-brick unit that was, until recently, the base for a major illegal weight-loss drug operation.

In late October, enforcement officers arrived here for a two-day raid, seizing thousands of unlicensed Alluvi-branded weight-loss pens, raw chemical ingredients, manufacturing equipment, packaging materials and £20,000 in cash. Some of the pens were labelled as containing retatrutide – a powerful GLP-1 agonist still in clinical trials, unapproved for medical use but widely hyped online as the next Mounjaro.

Published: January 8, 2026, 1:22 pm

French farmers stage protest in Paris to oppose EU-Mercosur trade deal

Tractors overran police checkpoints to reach city centre in pre-dawn protest organised by Coordination Rurale union

French farmers in tractors have blocked roads around the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe in protest at an imminent EU trade deal with South American countries that they say will create unfair competition.

The farmers blockaded motorways outside Paris on Thursday and dozens of tractors overran police checkpoints to reach the city centre in a pre-dawn protest organised by the Coordination Rurale union.

Published: January 8, 2026, 1:05 pm

Man who threw boy off Tate Modern balcony sentenced for attacking nurses

Jonty Bravery given 16-week term for attack at Broadmoor psychiatric hospital where he is serving life sentence

A man who threw a six-year-old boy off the Tate Modern’s 10th-storey balcony has been given a 16-week jail sentence after attacking two nurses at Broadmoor hospital.

Jonty Bravery, 24, was found guilty of assaulting Linda McKinlay and Kate Mastalerz after he kicked one in the thigh and clawed at the face of another in September 2024.

Published: January 8, 2026, 11:23 am

Studies link some food preservatives to higher diabetes and cancer risk

Of 17 preservatives studied, higher consumption of 12 of them linked with increased risk of type 2 diabetes

Higher consumption of some food preservatives is associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and cancer, two studies suggest.

The findings, published in the medical journals Nature Communications and the BMJ, may have important public health implications given the ubiquitous use of these additives globally, researchers said.

Published: January 8, 2026, 5:00 am

His & Hers review – this glossy thriller is ideal new year TV

This six-part adaptation of the bestselling 2020 novel about a murder investigation is twisty, absurd and bingeable. It’s great January viewing

A woman lies bloodied and twitching her last on the bonnet of a car parked deep in a wood. Another woman arrives home bloodied, gasping with fear and for wine, and starts scrubbing her hands before clearing her flat of – well, everything.

A female voiceover intones that there are two sides to every story. “Which means someone is always lying.” Absolute nonsense, obviously, but it sounds great and more importantly it confirms what we were hoping: that we are in the presence of a glossy, efficient adaptation of a bestselling thriller and it is time to switch off our brains and enjoy (unless you are the type who likes to try to solve the mystery before the characters do, in which case, Godspeed and let me know where you get the energy from).

Published: January 8, 2026, 8:01 am

Sébastien Tellier: ‘I thought I’d be famous after Eurovision - but nobody noticed’

The musician’s elegant electropop marked him out as one of the ‘cool French dudes’, before an attempt to literally crash the Song Contest fell badly flat. Now back with an adventurous new album, he talks about the man who stole his identity and why he doesn’t care for ‘good taste’

A few years ago, a stranger stole Sébastien Tellier’s identity. The impostor – sporting the musician’s trademark sunglasses and beard – posed as the Frenchman at fancy parties, nabbed free clothes from Chanel (Tellier used to be an ambassador for the brand), and even held meetings with bosses from Hollywood studios (Tellier has dabbled in soundtrack work). “He [also] took a lot of drugs like ketamine in front of a lot of people,” Tellier continues with perfect nonchalance from his Paris home, sunglasses and beard present and correct. The crime was only rumbled when a confused woman got in touch to tell him she’d been partying with “Sébastien Tellier” in France only to see on Instagram that the real Tellier was playing a gig in Belgium.

This experience has been alchemised into pop gold via Copycat, a sparkly synthpop workout on his upcoming eighth album, Kiss the Beast. “My name you steal it / Hat and success,” Tellier croons for the song’s chorus over a chunky bassline, disco strings and synths that crackle and spark like fireworks. It’s typical Tellier, mixing the serious – things got so bad with the impostor that Tellier was briefly forced to show his passport at the school gates when collecting his two small children – with the playfully naive.

Published: January 8, 2026, 8:00 am

Girl Taken review – Alfie Allen is incredible in this twisty tale of teen abduction

This tale of a family dealing with a kidnapped daughter is a deeply engaging, psychologically complex thriller that is a cut above the rest

A summary of Girl Taken is disheartening; a teenage girl is abducted by a man she trusted and kept for his own grim purposes in a remote secret location, and must use her wits to survive the depravities and maybe one day escape. But in full, Girl Taken, like the 2016 book Baby Doll by Hollie Overton on which it is based, is something much better. It takes the neglected parts of such stories – the sadder, quieter, far less titillating and voyeuristic aspects of what it means to take a person out of her home, her world and her life, and away from those of the people who love her – and fleshes all that out instead. It makes for a slower burn, but a much more deeply engaging and psychologically complex thriller than we customarily expect from such a setup, and – in asking what it really means to survive an act of profound violence – harrowing in a more valuable way.

Lily and Abby (played with depth and delicacy by Tallulah and Delphi Evans) are twin 17-year-olds, on the cusp of – well, everything really, as you are when you are happy teenage girls. We meet them on the last day of the summer term. Lily is set to enjoy the summer with her lovely boyfriend Wes (Levi Brown, who was so extraordinary in 2024’s This Town) and partying, and Abby is laying plans to go to university. She is the star pupil in Mr Hansen’s English class (“You can start calling me Rick now” he says as the final school bell goes) and the popular young teacher has always encouraged her ambitions.

Published: January 8, 2026, 5:00 am

What’s to like? Why you can hate Timothée Chalamet’s character and still love Marty Supreme

Chalamet’s nogoodnik ping-pong hustler character is the latest in cinema’s rich history of protagonists with shabby morals. So why the backlash?

In the new hit movie Marty Supreme, the story is pushed forward by how lead character Marty Mauser keeps making messes then, rather than cleaning them up, manages to expand their scope beyond reason. Marty is attempting to prove himself as the world’s greatest table-tennis champion, to escape his meagre mid-century New York City circumstances and achieve a dream he’s locked on to, seemingly more out of desire to achieve it than a particular love for the sport.

And just as he’s presumably blown up some natural athleticism into a monomaniacal quest, all of Marty’s misdeeds across the film escalate. He cajoles, then lies. He quickly turns a pushy request to borrow money into petty theft, which then becomes armed robbery. At one point, a little ping-pong hustle at a New Jersey bowling alley literally blows up into a gas-station fire. Marty will not accept anything less than ultimate victory, which means he will especially not accept responsibility for his actions. And we, in the audience, are invited to like him anyway, at least in part because he is played by Timothée Chalamet.

Published: January 7, 2026, 9:47 am

Eric Lu: Schubert Impromptus album review – mature and mesmerising

(Warner)
In this recording of the eight Impromptus, some of Schubert’s most profound music, Lu cements his place as a serious talent

Eric Lu was a worthy if controversial winner of the Chopin international piano competition in October, having won the Leeds event seven years ago: how many springboards should one pianist seek? What is certain is that this latest Schubert recording, following on from his release of the late sonatas late in 2022, reveals a rewardingly mature, un-egotistical approach to the eight Impromptus, some of the composer’s most profound music.

Lu is very much attuned to the way in which Schubert creates overarching structures, conjuring a mesmerising feeling of stasis with music that’s alive with detail under the surface – in his performances of several of them, time really does seem to stand still. Right from the lonely opening of Op 90 No 1, he draws the ear in with the scope of his phrasing: even though his playing can be weightier than some, his lines go on and on into the distance and corners are smoothly turned, with the dramatic passages growing out of what has come before. Perhaps these performances aren’t yet quite distinctive enough to make this recording top choice in a crowded field, but they certainly back up the Chopin judges’ decision: Lu is a serious talent.

Published: January 8, 2026, 3:00 pm

The Cribs: Selling a Vibe review | Alexis Petridis’s album of the week

(PIAS)
The Jarman brothers’ ninth album adds a little 80s pop sheen to their distorted guitars and confident songwriting, while always sounding exactly like the indie stalwarts

Last summer, the BBC broadcast an eight-part podcast called The Rise and Fall of Indie Sleaze. Its third episode heavily featured the Cribs’ bassist and vocalist Gary Jarman talking about his band’s first flush of mid-00s fame. It centred on their 2005 single Hey Scenesters!, from which the episode also took its name. It was a curious choice: on close examination, Hey Scenesters! wasn’t a celebration of what some people unfortunately dubbed the New Rock Revolution so much as the sound of Jarman and his bandmate brothers poking fun at it.

There was the peculiar dichotomy of the Cribs in a nutshell. They were a band so of the mid-00s moment that they were nearly signed to a record label founded by Myspace. But they always seemed slightly apart from the scene. They were certainly less voracious in the pursuit of mainstream success than contemporaries Razorlight or Kaiser Chiefs: “A cash injection, a nasty infection – don’t regret it,” offers a song from their ninth album, Selling a Vibe, with the pointed title Self Respect. They were more in tune with what their sometime-producer Edwyn Collins called “proper indie” from a pre-Britpop age, when “indie” indicated not a predilection for skinny jeans and trilby hats, but something set apart from the mainstream that viewed the attentions of Top of the Pops and the tabloid press with deep suspicion and balanced limited commercial ambitions against artistic freedom. It was a point underlined by the kind of artists who gave them co-signs. Quite aside from the former frontman of Orange Juice, there was Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo, Johnny Marr – who briefly joined the Cribs, co-writing 2009’s Ignore the Ignorant – and the late producer/engineer Steve Albini.

Published: January 8, 2026, 12:39 pm

Add to playlist: the mysterious chillout milieu of False Aralia and the week’s best new tracks

Somewhere between record label and artist project, False Aralia harks back to microhouse and dub techno with its deep, detailed productions

From San Francisco
Recommended if you like Rhythm and Sound, Ricardo Villalobos, Vladislav Delay
Up next Double LP from Topdown Dialectic released in spring

False Aralia disappears into a misty gulch somewhere between record label and artist project. It’s ostensibly a label, where each EP has a different named artist, and each sleeve, designed by Nick Almquist, features a different abstract expressionist monochrome doodle. But all the tracks are numbered, not named, and each EP is actually the work of just one producer, Izaak Schlossman (credited as IS), joined by a changing cast of collaborators.

Published: January 8, 2026, 12:00 pm

The Long Shoe by Bob Mortimer audiobook review – typically quirky cosy crime

Surreal humour and sharp performances from Diane Morgan and Arabella Weir alongside the comedian himself bring his tale of an unemployed bathroom salesman to life

Matt Giles, the thirtysomething protagonist of The Long Shoe, is having a run of bad luck. Shortly after losing his job as a bathroom salesman, he learns that he and his girlfriend Harriet are being evicted from their flat. Can life get any worse? Apparently, it can. Matt finds a note from Harriet saying she has left him and that he shouldn’t contact her. But then he receives a call from a stranger offering him a job that comes with a luxury apartment, leading him to wonder if his fortunes are turning.

Perhaps Harriet will come back if she knows they have a fancy new home. The third mystery novel from comedian Bob Mortimer comes with his trademark quirky touches including a talking animal in the form of Matt’s cat, Goodmonson, and whimsical metaphors; for Matt, trying to place a familiar face is akin to “trying to find a mouse’s handbag in a builder’s skip”.

Published: January 8, 2026, 3:00 pm

‘For a moment, only that story matters’: my plan to reignite the all-consuming love of books

Reading for pleasure rates are shockingly low in young people. So we should all get behind a new drive to turn them into avid readers. Why not start with books about art?

A girl on the cusp of adolescence gazes down at a book. Her left hand rests against her flushed pink cheeks, while her right clutches the pages, ready to turn to find out what happens next. She has porcelain-like skin and golden hair seemingly full of air, executed in textures that contrast with the scratchy, loose marks that make up her shirt and the book’s pages. When I look at this drawing, I am struck by how the artist, the American-born impressionist Mary Cassatt, has perfectly captured the all-consuming sensation of being submerged in a book – the feeling that the whole world is dissolving around you. For a moment, only that story matters.

Cassatt, who worked in Paris for most of her adult life when women were finally beginning to be accepted as artists (and deserving of state-funded art education), was hailed for her intimate portrayals of women and children. They are glimpses into their minds, their private worlds, yet they also emphasise intellect and ambition. Young Girl Reading is one such example. I often wonder if she is reading something like Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, published nearly three decades before, which tells the story of the four March sisters, who are figuring out their journey to womanhood themselves.

Published: January 7, 2026, 5:06 pm

The Oak and the Larch by Sophie Pinkham review – are Russia’s forests the key to its identity?

How billions of trees left their mark on an empire’s psyche – shaping ideological and literal battles up to the present day

When Sophie Pinkham opens her fascinating book with the claim that “Russia has more trees than there are stars in our galaxy”, it might seem as though she is merely using a poetic turn of phrase. But the statistic is correct: while the Milky Way is estimated to have roughly 200bn stars, Russia has something in the region of 642bn trees. Stretching from the Arctic tundra to central Asia to the Pacific Ocean, the Russian forest is vast, mighty and inhospitable. Yet while it is a source of potential danger, it is also a place of great beauty and potential riches, providing furs, minerals and rivers overflowing with salmon.

Pinkham, a professor of comparative literature at Cornell University whose last book explored the intricacies of post-Soviet Ukraine, here charts the landscape’s influence on the Russian psyche, and its imprint on history, society and literature. The forest is deeply entwined with Russian national identity – the country is often symbolically represented as a bear – yet attitudes towards it have fluctuated. Different leaders have proposed different strategies for extracting value from the land, leading to cycles of deforestation and tree-planting depending on whether the priority was boosting agriculture, building Peter the Great’s imperial fleet, extracting minerals or constructing hydroelectric dams. Politically, it has been a place of resistance and of ultranationalist rhetoric glorifying the idea of Russian self-sufficiency.

Published: January 7, 2026, 9:00 am

Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles review – remastered 1997 classic is even more politically resonant now

PlayStation 4/5, Nintendo Switch/Switch 2, Xbox, PC; Square-Enix
This landmark role-playing game remains a revolutionary tour de force

At first glance, Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles, first released in 1997 and now available in newly remastered guise, does little to separate itself from other boilerplate fantasy fiction. There is a hero, Ramza – an idealistic nobleman with luscious blond hair who cavorts about the medieval-inspired realm of Ivalice in search of high adventure. But quickly, and with narrative elegance, the picture complicates: peasant revolutionaries duke it out with gilded monarchists; machiavellian plots plunge the kingdom into chaos. Ramza must navigate this knotty political matrix, all while experiencing his own ideological awakening.

There is a strong case to be made that Final Fantasy Tactics tells a better story than the landmark Final Fantasy VII (which saw Cloud Strife and a ragtag bunch of eco-terrorist pals taking on the shady megacorporation Shinra). And with our real-world political focus shifting from the looming threat of the climate crisis to the more pressing rise of fascism (though the two are inextricably linked), one can make the argument that Tactics is now also the more timely game.

Published: January 8, 2026, 10:00 am

The 15 best Xbox Series S/X games to play in 2026

This now venerable hardware remains an ideal platform for classics such as Minecraft and daring experiments from the brightest new developers

Now surely approaching their twilight years, the Xbox Series S and X machines nevertheless still have plenty to offer both new and veteran owners. We have selected 15 titles that show the range of what’s on offer, from the biggest blockbusters to lesser known indie gems you may have missed. Whether you’re after tense psychological horror or wild escapism, it’s all here and more.

Published: January 7, 2026, 10:00 am

Fungi: Anarchist Designers review – a perverse plunge into mushroom mayhem, from stinkhorns to zombie-makers

Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam
They have poisoned emperors, taken over insect brains and survived atomic bombs. This Dantean journey through fungal hell is riveting – though frogs may disagree

Sylvia Plath’s poem Mushrooms is a sinister paean to the natural world. Her observations on fungi are freighted with foreboding, noting how “very / Whitely, discreetly, / Very quietly” they “Take hold on the loam, / Acquire the air”. The poem ends: “We shall by morning, / Inherit the earth. / Our foot’s in the door.”

Plath’s ominous ode from 1959 forms the opening salvo in an exhibition dedicated to fungi’s creepy omniscience. Far from merely getting a foot in the door, the door has been blasted off its hinges by fungi’s preternatural capacity to reproduce, spread, evolve – and annihilate. How they thrive with a perverse intensity on discarded, dead and dying things, impelling the cycle of decay and regrowth. As coprophiliacs, necrophiliacs and silent assassins, they are legion, and have been around for over a billion years.

Published: January 8, 2026, 2:03 pm

With Venezuela, Trump has achieved his dream of making his own 80s action movie

Given his rise during the ego joyride of the 1980s, it’s no shock that Trump’s foreign policy is to emulate that decade’s belligerent cinema

The box office barnstormer of 2026 arrived early this year. A sleazy banana-republic dictator flooding the American streets with blow. The over-the-border Delta Force extraction squad sent to pluck this schmo out of his impregnable fortress. The bronzed tough-talker who’s firing an RPG up the tailpipe of the international rules-based order – but who gets the job done. Call it: Caracas Thunder.

Sounds like a bit of a throwback, you might be thinking. But, judging by his press conference after the US military’s abduction of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, Donald Trump seemed to have finally achieved his dream of directing his own 80s action movie.

Published: January 8, 2026, 11:30 am

Dolly, Dreamgirls and Daniel Radcliffe: the biggest Broadway shows of 2026

After a record-breaking season, big stars and big revivals hope to lure in New York audiences over the next 12 months

The year 2025 found Broadway at an inflection point – New York theater finally fully rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, as the 2024-2025 season became the highest-grossing of all time, with $1.89bn in tickets sold thanks in part to a new generation of stars and fans. But with a record box office came record ticket prices, as Hollywood stars from Denzel Washington to George Clooney commanded sums pushing four figures for orchestra seating. This year feels relatively less Hollywood-y, though no less starry, with a healthy mix of revivals, new material and buzzy transfers on the calendar. Here are 12 of the most anticipated Broadway shows in 2026.

Published: January 7, 2026, 10:03 am

Women behind the lens: six of our most striking images from 2025

A few of our favourite photographs taken by women from the global south and capturing moments of everyday life and art

Published: January 7, 2026, 7:00 am

My rookie era: I used to be too timid to change a tyre. Now I build my own bikes

Figuring out how to diagnose and fix a problem myself generated a sense of satisfaction powerful enough to get me up a medium-sized hill

It wasn’t until Covid lockdowns that I became a regular bike rider, but it has become one of the joys of my life. Nothing melts away a stressful day like whizzing down a hill; not having to think about petrol prices, one-way streets or parking spots does wonders for my mood.

When it came to maintenance, though, my attitude was decidedly timid. If something worked, that was good enough for me – how it did so was simply none of my business. Strange noises and glitches were things I figured would either go away on their own or deteriorate into something I’d hand off to an expert. I’m not proud to admit I’ve walked my bike half an hour to a bike shop to fix a puncture more than once; my chain was perpetually caked in gunk because I thought even looking at it the wrong way might break something.

Published: January 8, 2026, 2:00 pm

How a TV interior designer is helping revive a remote Scottish island

On Ulva, in the Inner Hebrides, Banjo Beale and his husband are transforming a rundown mansion into their dream hotel, while another adventurous couple have created a charming bothy for hardier folk

Ulva House is a building site. There are workmen up ladders, hammering, plastering, but I leave my muddy walking boots by the door. There’s no central heating or hot water and Banjo Beale and his husband, Ro, have been camping out here for weeks, but he greets me, dazzlingly debonair, in a burnt orange beanie and fabulous Moroccan rug coat.

The 2022 winner of the BBC’s Interior Design Masters, who went on to front his own makeover show Designing the Hebrides, Banjo’s vibe is more exuberant Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen than quizzical Kevin McCloud. His latest project with Ro, the transformation of a derelict mansion on the small Hebridean island of Ulva into a boutique hotel, is the subject of a new six-part series, airing on BBC Scotland. I’m here for a preview of the finished rooms.

Published: January 8, 2026, 7:00 am

I tested 26 packing cubes on 14 trips – here are best ones to travel smarter

Eagle Creek, Amazon and Away sell compression cubes that can help maximize space next time you travel

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Packing cubes can turn travel prep from chaotic to calm. Not only do these compact, zippered pouches help you sort and organize your clothing, but they can also prevent overpacking, as you’re forced to think about what you actually need on a trip. Suddenly, that cramped carry-on has space for an extra pair of shoes or souvenirs.

As a product editor and reviewer for over 20 years, I have tested many packing cubes and luggage of all sizes as part of my job, but also for personal travel. I use them to make trip-planning less stressful.

Published: January 7, 2026, 8:15 pm

‘Motion is lotion’: how to really look after your shoulders

As we age, we naturally lose mobility. But there are some steps we can take to keep these joints healthy for longer

• Read more summer essentials

You’re clinging to the overhead strap on a packed bus during rush hour when the driver suddenly slams on the brakes. As the crowd surges, your arm jerks back and your shoulder takes the full force of the momentum. It’s times like these one is grateful for a strong and healthy shoulder.

“If you’ve got a strong and mobile shoulder, you have the control to reduce the risk of anything [bad] happening,” says Dr Josh Zadro, a physiotherapist and senior research fellow at the University of Sydney.

Arm circles: Large, controlled circles in front of your body.

The wall slide: Face a wall and slide your hands up as high as possible.

The overhead reach: Stretch your arms to the ceiling to counteract the forward hunch of computer work.

Published: January 7, 2026, 7:00 pm

Art could save your life! Five creative ways to make 2026 happier, healthier and more hopeful

Engaging in creativity can reduce depression, improve immunity and delay ageing – all while you’re having fun

For some reason, we have collectively agreed that new year is the time to reinvent ourselves. The problem, for many people, is that we’ve tried all the usual health kicks – running, yoga, meditation, the latest diets – even if we haven’t really enjoyed them, in a bid to improve our minds and bodies. But have any of us given as much thought to creativity? Allow me to suggest that this year be a time to embrace the arts.

Ever since our Paleolithic ancestors began painting caves, carving figurines, dancing and singing, engaging in the arts has been interwoven with health and healing. Look through the early writings of every major medical tradition around the world and you find the arts. What is much newer – and rapidly accelerating over the past two decades – is a blossoming scientific evidence-base identifying and quantifying exactly what the health benefits of the arts are.

Published: January 7, 2026, 5:00 am

Share your health and fitness questions for Devi Sridhar, Mariella Frostrup, and Joel Snape

Whether your question is about exercise, eating, or general wellness, post it below and we’ll put a selection to our panel on the night

There’s no bad time to take a more active interest in your health, but the new year, for lots of us, feels like a fresh start. Maybe you’re planning to sign up for a 10k or finally have a go at bouldering, eat a bit better or learn to swing a kettlebell. Maybe you want to keep up with your grandkids — or just be a little bit more physically prepared for whatever life throws at you.

To help things along, Guardian Live invites you to a special event with public health expert Devi Sridhar, journalist and author Mariella Frostrup, and health and fitness columnist Joel Snape. They’ll be joining the Guardian’s Today in Focus presenter Annie Kelly to discuss simple, actionable ways to stay fit and healthy as you move through the second half of life: whether that means staying strong and mobile or stressing less and sleeping better.

Published: January 7, 2026, 11:35 am

Jess Cartner-Morley on fashion: like a superhero cloak, a white shirt gives you formidable power

They don’t have to be expensive, they go with everything and they boost confidence – if you get the styling right

The eternal appeal of the white shirt is not just that it goes with anything, although it does. And not only that it can take you anywhere, although it can. It is not even that it never goes out of style, or that good quality versions are accessible at real-world prices, although those are true also.

A white shirt is self-confidence. It stands for it, and it brings it, and that’s the real secret. It is a superhero cloak that bestows you with this formidable power. Self-confidence is not as snazzy as the ability to fly or live for ever, but arguably it’s more practical. I don’t know why or how it works, but it doesn’t matter, because if you feel confident then you are confident. Faking it and making it are one and the same here.

Published: January 7, 2026, 2:00 pm

Sali Hughes on beauty: why lactic acid is your ultimate skincare hero

Exfoliating, plumping and hydrating, the best products will leave your skin glowing without costing a fortune

Lactic acid – always the bridesmaid for the more hyped glycolic acid – is my first choice of alpha hydroxy acid for all manner of reasons. It exfoliates without stripping or stinging (its bigger molecule size makes it particularly well tolerated by even sensitive skins), can stimulate collagen and ceramide production to firm, plump and protect mature skins, has antibacterial properties for more problematic ones, and binds with water to keep every type more hydrated. Lactic also imparts an unmistakable glow to the complexion and deflakes rough areas brilliantly.

I’ve always loved it, but have rarely been so spoilt for choice. Beauty Pie’s new Youthbomb Extreme Retinal Triple Renewal Serum (£49 to members) is their best formula in some time, which goes some way to justify its high (for Beauty Pie) price point.

Published: January 7, 2026, 10:00 am

‘Brilliant for work-life balance’: how Britain is embracing the ‘workation’

Research finds growing trend of employers letting employees work remotely to free up more holiday time

Katherine first caught the bug when she visited Australia a couple of years ago. The flights were expensive, and it was a once in a lifetime opportunity, so she asked her manager if she could extend the trip by two weeks, and work remotely from her friend’s house.

That was her first taste of a “workation” – combining working with a holiday – and she loved it. She now regularly arranges petsitting in different places so she can visit family, friends and new cities for long weekends without spending extra.

Published: January 8, 2026, 1:00 pm

My favourite family photo: ‘I bucketed 30 years of tears that day – then smiled my smiliest smile’

After more than three decades together, Simon Hattenstone and his partner Diane Taylor decided to have a civil partnership. It was a beautiful celebration before the shock of the pandemic

Diane and I had been living together for more than 30 years, and our children were 28 and 26 when we got civilled. We’d never wanted to get married. It seemed a bit too pipe and slippers. It also felt like tempting fate. We were really happy without being married, so why change things? And you can’t have more of a commitment than children. But we always said if they introduced civil partnerships for heterosexual couples, we’d get civilled.

I think friends assumed we did it primarily for tax reasons – to ensure that if one of us died, the other wasn’t left in the shit. There was an element of that. But more importantly, we actively wanted to get civilled. It actually felt really romantic – tying the civil knot as an expression of love after all this time together. It was such a beautiful day, in every way. 3 January 2020, just after civil partnerships had been legalised for opposite-sex couples, and we almost made history. We were only the fourth heterosexual couple to be civilled in Haringey. Get in!

Published: January 8, 2026, 5:00 am

The place that stayed with me: I fled the Greek Islands to chase a letter home

As his 30th birthday loomed in Greece, Steve MinOn sent a letter to his parents in Australia. Then he waited.

• Read more summer essentials

While day-drinking ouzo in a spiderwebbed taverna on the Greek island of Paros, I decided to write a coming-out letter to my parents. I sealed it in a surface mail envelope, moistened a ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΔΗΜΟΚΡΑΤΙΑ (Hellenic Republic) stamp with my aniseed tongue and posted it.

It was the 1990s and I had only just relocated from Australia to London with Nick, my boyfriend at the time, and Julie, a good mate. We had gone across to Greece for a holiday, island-hopping, catching ferries on a whim, knowing nothing about the places we were visiting except that backpacking there was cheap.

Published: January 7, 2026, 2:00 pm

A moment that changed me: in the bombed-out ruins of an apartment block, I saw a book I’d translated

The sight of my work, torn and singed but still legible, made me realise the importance of translating and protecting stories – so they remain when everything else falls away

In the rubble of a collapsed apartment block, a single image stayed with me: a book I had translated from English to Persian, lying half-buried in dust and ash. Its cover was torn and smudged, its pages curled and singed, but it was still legible. Still speaking.

Two days earlier, on 13 June 2025, missiles from Israel began striking Tehran. There were no sirens, just sudden, violent blasts. The internet was completely cut off. I was in my apartment, translating Jhumpa Lahiri’s Translating Myself and Others – a book about what it means to transport words across languages, and the ethics and anxieties of inhabiting another’s voice. As buildings fell, I sat editing a text that argued, in its quiet way, for the endurance of meaning.

Published: January 7, 2026, 6:55 am

What are Trump’s real options for gaining control of Greenland?

The White House has said using the US military is always an option, but few analysts believe it a likely one

• Europe live – latest updates

The Trump administration has said repeatedly that the US needs to gain control of Greenland, a mineral-rich, largely self-governing part of Denmark with foreign and security policy run from Copenhagen.

The White House has said using the US military is “always an option”, but few analysts believe an armed operation is likely and France’s foreign minister has said the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has ruled out the possibility of an invasion.

Published: January 7, 2026, 6:08 pm

The LA wildfire victims still living in toxic homes: ‘We have nowhere else to go’

A year after the Eaton fire, residents returning to Altadena confront lingering contamination and little official clarity

One year on from the Eaton fire, long after the vicious winds that sent embers cascading from the San Gabriel mountains and the flames that swallowed entire streets, a shadow still hangs over Altadena.

Construction on new properties is under way, and families whose homes survived the fire have begun to return. But many are grappling with an urgent question: is it safe to be here?

Published: January 7, 2026, 11:00 am

More gen Z men live with parents in this city than anywhere in the US. How do they date?

In Vallejo, California, ‘trad sons’ report feeling trapped by family obligations, slim job prospects and the fear of violence – leaving little room for romance

Are boys becoming men later? In recent decades, the markers of adulthood have shifted for young American men: they are almost twice as likely to be single, less likely to go to college and more likely to be unemployed. Most significantly for their parents, they are also less likely to have fled the nest, with the term “trad son” springing into social media lexicon in recent months. In the 1970s, only 8% of Americans aged 25 to 34 were living with their parents, but by 2023, that figure had jumped to 18%, with men more likely to live at home than women, according to a Pew survey.

But not everywhere in the US has the same rates of adults living in their familial home. The living arrangement is least common in the midwest and most common in the north-east. Topping the list was Vallejo, where 33% of young adults live with their parents. How were they making it work?

Published: January 7, 2026, 1:00 pm

People living in the US: what do you think about Donald Trump’s threat to take control of Greenland?

What is your reaction to Trump’s territorial ambitions?

Donald Trump has renewed his calls for the US to take control of Greenland. It comes after the removal of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, on Saturday.

We would like to hear what people in the United States think about Trump’s intervention in Venezuela and his latest threat to take control of Greenland. We’re particularly interested to hear from people who voted for or previously supported the Trump administration. What is your reaction to his territorial ambitions?

Published: January 7, 2026, 2:57 pm

People from Venezuela and neighbouring countries: share your reaction to US raid

We’d like to hear from people in Venezuela, as well as from neighbouring countries mentioned by the Trump administration, about how they are responding to recent US actions

As Donald Trump prepares to make his first public appearance since Venezuela’s former president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, appeared in a US court and pleaded not guilty to all charges, there is growing international concern over the shock US military operation in Venezuela, which the UN human rights office has said undermined a fundamental principle of international law.

We would like to hear from Venezuelans, both in the country and abroad, about how you are feeling in the wake of these events – either positively or negatively – and what concerns or hopes you have for Venezuela’s future. You might want to share how this is affecting you personally, your family, or people you know on the ground.

Published: January 7, 2026, 10:22 am

Stranded whales and an anti-drone gun: photos of the day - Thursday

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

Published: January 8, 2026, 1:43 pm