Even amid rising economic uncertainty, now is not the time to hug your job | Gene Marks

In a rapidly changing job market, it’s not necessarily good for workers to cling to their current employment

After all the employee protests over the past few years – the “great resignations”, the “quiet quittings”, the “bare-minimum Mondays” and “coffee badgings” – we have finally arrived at “job hugging”.

Amid all the economic uncertainty and the rising costs of everything, people aren’t feeling as confident as they once were. Instead of slacking off while you hunt for something better, everyone’s scared about losing their jobs. With all the news about big corporate layoffs and the ominous and still-undefined threat of AI, it’s understandable that people are hugging their jobs.

Published: February 15, 2026, 3:00 pm

Is this the world’s most eye-popping restaurant? The architectural marvel – in a Leipzig industrial estate

This extraordinary diner is the final wonder of the great Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, who dreamt it up at the age of 103. And it’s a great place for a sunset kombucha and gin

Perched among old brick buildings in an industrial neighbourhood of Leipzig in eastern Germany, a giant white sphere appears to hover over the corner of a former boiler house. Is it a giant’s golf ball? An alien spacecraft? A fallen planet?

Twelve metres in diameter, the Niemeyer Sphere is the final design of world-famous Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer and probably the most surprising creation by a visionary who valued the sensation of newness in art above all else, the result being mesmerising buildings that seem both space age and out of this world. The Sphere is like a vision from the future, dropped among used-car dealerships and construction equipment rental outlets, in a working-class neighbourhood that few tourists would ever pass through by design.

Published: February 16, 2026, 5:00 am

Trump gets the Monroe doctrine wrong. He should take a page from Bad Bunny | Ted Widmer

The US president has twisted the 1823 doctrine to suit his quest for domination. It originally had a very different vision for the Americas

Throughout Bad Bunny’s mesmerizing performance during the Super Bowl, the word “America” kept expanding, like an accordion, stretching out to embrace people of all nationalities. “Together we are all America,” his football read, and he obviously meant it, in the largest, most hemispheric sense. Near the end, after shouting “God bless America” (his only words in English), Bad Bunny ran through a long list of countries in the western hemisphere.

That inclusiveness enraged Donald Trump, who erupted on social media, and tried to take the word back, declaring the half-time show “an affront to the greatness of America”. By which, of course, he meant the United States.

Published: February 15, 2026, 2:00 pm

The 9 best winter boots for women to buy for life, vetted by pros who work outdoors

Expert picks for comfortable and durable shoes that have maintained the pep in their step – even in the biting cold

• The best winter jackets for women picked by experts – and on sale

• Eight winter clothing essentials Scandinavians swear by – from heated socks to ‘allværsjakke’

• Sign up for the Filter US newsletter

I have a confession to make: I don’t own a pair of snow boots. And after New York City’s latest snowstorm, my daily commute to the office left my socks soaked and my toes frozen.

To help you avoid my fate, I asked for recommendations for comfy, long-lasting boots from people who spend far more time outdoors than I do. They include a ski instructor, a dog sled musher and a former National Geographic “Adventurer of the Year.”

Best affordable women’s boots:
Sorel Whitney III Waterproof Winter Booties

Best women’s boots for outdoor activities:
Merrell Thermo Chill 2 Mid Waterproof Boots

Published: February 15, 2026, 3:15 pm

‘She dared to be difficult’: How Toni Morrison shaped the way we think

The Beloved author’s refusal to conform made her a hero to many – and the only black female writer to have won a Nobel prize in literature

There are many ways to be difficult in this world. You can be demanding, inconvenient, stubborn, complicated, troublesome, baffling, illegible. Black womanhood is one place where all these forms of difficulty overlap. I feel like I have always known this; I have been called difficult more times in my life than I can count. But I only began to understand – to discover the meanings and uses of – my own difficulty because of Toni Morrison.

Morrison has shaped the way we think about everything from literature to politics, criticism to ethics, to the responsibilities of making art. In 1993 she became the only black woman ever to win the Nobel prize in literature. But the facts remain: she is difficult to read. She is difficult to teach. Notwithstanding the voluminous train of profiles, reviews and scholarly analysis that she drags behind her, she is difficult to write about. More to the point, she is our only truly canonical black female writer – and her work is highly complex.

Published: February 15, 2026, 12:00 pm

Maxwell’s clemency pitch: can Epstein accomplice talk her way out of prison?

Experts question convicted sex trafficker’s motivations as she claims she can reveal ‘truth’ in exchange for freedom

When Ghislaine Maxwell refused to testify before Congress last week, she nonetheless insisted on her willingness to help.

Maxwell, who was convicted of helping Jeffrey Epstein draw teenage girls into a world of sexual abuse, dangled the prospect of revealing truth before Congress and American public – so long as she was freed from jail.

Published: February 15, 2026, 1:00 pm

EU foreign policy chief criticises ‘fashionable euro-bashing’ by US

Kaja Kallas says other countries ‘look up to us’ and rejects idea Europe faces ‘civilisational erasure’

The EU’s foreign policy chief has denied claims levelled by the US that Europe is facing civilisational erasure, rejecting what she condemned as “fashionable euro-bashing” by Washington.

Kaja Kallas also said the US was discovering that it could not settle the war in Ukraine without Europe’s involvement and consent.

Published: February 15, 2026, 4:23 pm

US teen who pushed for her father’s release from ICE custody dies of cancer

Ofelia Torres, 16, spotlighted her dad Ruben’s illegal detention last fall during Trump’s crackdown in Chicago

A Chicago teenager, whose father was detained by immigration authorities while she navigated cancer, died on Friday, a family spokesperson said.

Ofelia Torres, a 16-year-old in Chicago, had been undergoing treatment for an aggressive and rare form of cancer since late 2024. As she and her family struggled with the medical procedures, her father, Ruben Torres Maldonado, was detained by immigration authorities while at a Home Depot in October, leading to a contentious and public case that highlighted the human effects of the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown.

Published: February 15, 2026, 6:24 pm

Authorities appeal for video footage as Nancy Guthrie search enters third week with no arrests

Authorities await DNA test results from pair of gloves found near home as search continues to draw national attention

The search for Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of NBC’s Today show anchor Savannah Guthrie, has entered its third week, as investigators ask neighbors within a two-mile radius to share home video footage and authorities await DNA test results from a pair of gloves found near the home.

Nancy Guthrie was last seen on the evening of 31 January, when she was dropped off at her home in the Catalina foothills north of Tucson, Arizona, after having dinner with her older daughter and son-in-law. She was reported missing the following day, after she failed to arrive at a friend’s house to watch a church service.

Published: February 15, 2026, 8:20 pm

Searchers find missing ship in Lake Michigan, over 150 years after it sunk

Shipwreck hunter found Lac La Belle steamer, one of ‘most sought-after missing ships’, after nearly 60-year search

Searchers recently discovered the wreck of one of the “most sought-after missing ships” in Lake Michigan, that had sunk to the bottom of the lake over 150 years ago.

A shipwreck hunter and scuba diver named Paul Ehorn made the discovery after having searched for the Lac La Belle passenger steamer for nearly 60 years. Shipwreck World, a group that works to locate shipwrecks around the globe, announced on Friday that the team led by Ehorn found the wreck about 20 miles (32km) offshore between Racine and Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Published: February 15, 2026, 10:49 pm

Kim Jong-un unveils housing for families of North Koreans killed in Ukraine war

Leader vows to repay the ‘young martyrs’ who died as North Korea intensifies propaganda glorifying troops deployed to fight for Russia

North Korea has said it completed a new housing district in Pyongyang for families of North Korean soldiers killed while fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine, the latest effort by leader Kim Jong-un to honour the war dead.

State media photos showed Kim walking through the new street – called Saeppyol Street – and visiting the homes of some of the families with his increasingly prominent daughter, believed to be named Kim Ju-ae, as he pledged to repay the “young martyrs” who “sacrificed all to their motherland”.

Published: February 16, 2026, 3:49 am

No evidence aliens have made contact, says Obama after podcast comments cause frenzy

Former US president clarifies ‘they’re real’ answer that he gave during quick-fire interview round

Hours after Barack Obama caused a frenzy by saying aliens were real on a podcast, the former US president has posted a statement clarifying that he has not seen any evidence of them.

In a conversation with the American podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen over the weekend, Obama appeared to confirm the apparent existence of aliens during a speed round of questioning where the host asks guests quick questions and the guests respond with brief answers.

Published: February 16, 2026, 4:50 am

Renderings show most detailed vision for Trump’s White House ballroom

Trump sparked public backlash when he abruptly began demolishing the East Wing to clear space for his ballroom

New renderings released this week provide the most detailed vision yet of Donald Trump’s proposed $400m White House ballroom addition.

The renderings, submitted by the project’s architects and released on Friday by the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), depict a vast sprawling structure, expected to be around 90,000 sq ft, from multiple angles.

Published: February 15, 2026, 3:38 pm

Intermittent fasting no better than typical weight loss diets, study finds

Researchers say limited eating approaches such as 5:2 diet not a ‘miracle solution’ amid surge in their popularity

Intermittent fasting is no better for shedding the pounds than conventional diets and is barely more effective than doing nothing, according to a major review of the scientific evidence.

Researchers analysed data from 22 global studies and found people who are overweight or living with obesity lost as much weight by following traditional dietary advice as when they tried fasting regimes such as the 5:2 diet popularised by the late Michael Mosley.

Published: February 16, 2026, 1:00 am

‘The ride was worth the fall’: Lindsey Vonn returning to US for further surgeries after downhill crash

• American fractured tibia in downhill last week

• Vonn reiterates she has no regrets over crash

Lindsey Vonn is preparing to fly back to America after she fractured her tibia in the Olympic downhill last week, according to the CEO of the US Ski and Snowboard Association.

Sophie Goldschmidt says her team’s medical staff has been coordinating Vonn’s recovery and hopes to accompany her back home to the United States. Vonn has had multiple surgeries in Italy to repair the complex tibia fracture in her left leg.

Published: February 15, 2026, 4:52 pm

Trump news at a glance: EU chief hits back after US claims of Europe’s ‘civilisational erasure’

Kaja Kallas rejects ‘fashionable euro-bashing’ by US leaders and says other countries ‘look up to us’ – key US politics stories from 15 February at a glance

The European Union’s foreign policy chief has criticised US claims that Europe was facing “civilisational erasure” and rejected what she called “fashionable euro-bashing”.

Kaja Kallas told an audience at the Munich Security Conference on Sunday that other countries looked up to Europe for its values, such as press freedom.

Published: February 16, 2026, 2:07 am

Progressive Texas organizers hail shock win as far-right Republicans left reeling

Elation as anti-extremists fight back against influence of billionaire megadonors through grassroots organizing

Chris Tackett started tracking extremism in Texas politics about a decade ago, whenever his schedule as a Little League coach and school board member would allow. At the time, he lived in Granbury, 40 minutes west of Fort Worth. He’d noticed that a local member of the state legislature, Mike Lang, had become a vocal advocate for using public money for private schools – despite the fact that Lang campaigned as a supporter of public education.

With a little research, Tackett found that Lang had received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from the Wilks brothers and Tim Dunn, billionaire megadonors whose deep pockets and Christian nationalist views have consumed the Texas GOP. Tackett published his findings on social media, and soon enough, people started asking him to create pie charts of their representatives’ campaign funds. These charts evolved into the organisation See It. Name It. Fight It.

Published: February 15, 2026, 3:00 pm

Offer to join Trump’s new era is met with growing sense of European steeliness

Talk of a stronger, independent Europe was the dominant mood in Munich amid bitter disagreement on Ukraine

If JD Vance’s thuggish speech to last year’s Munich Security Conference, directed at the solar plexus of Europe, marked the moment when a transatlantic breakup started, this weekend’s conference, in a rainy and cold Bavaria, was where the debate about the terms of the divorce settlement got under way.

Marco Rubio, the chosen Washington representative this year, is a diplomat, so he softened the Trumpian tone with references to German beer, the Beatles, Dante and the Mayflower. But his speech was a stern warning that if Europe wanted to continue on its path of civilisational decline, as this US administration sees it, America would not be interested and has different hemispheres on which to focus.

Published: February 15, 2026, 4:03 pm

Trump touts climate savings but new rule set to push up US prices

Critics accuse administration of ‘cooking the books’ by claiming US would save $1.3tn from climate finding reversal

The Trump administration claims its latest move to gut climate regulations and end all greenhouse gas standards for vehicles will save Americans money. But its own analysis indicates that the new rule will push up gas prices, and that the benefits of the rollback are unlikely to outweigh the costs.

On Thursday, the president and his environmental secretary, Lee Zeldin, announced the finalized repeal of the endangerment finding, a legal determination which underpins virtually all federal climate regulations. He claimed the rollback would save the US $1.3tn by 2055.

Published: February 15, 2026, 1:00 pm

‘It’s the most urgent public health issue’: Dr Rangan Chatterjee on screen time, mental health – and banning social media until 18

The hit podcaster, author and former GP says a failure to regulate big tech is ‘failing a generation of children’. He explains why he quit the NHS and why he wants a ban on screen-based homework

A 16-year-old boy and his mum went to see their GP, Dr Rangan Chatterjee, on a busy Monday afternoon. That weekend, the boy had been at A&E after an attempt at self-harm, and in his notes the hospital doctor had recommended the teenager be prescribed antidepressants. “I thought: ‘Wait a minute, I can’t just start a 16-year-old on antidepressants,’” says Chatterjee. He wanted to understand what was going on in the boy’s life.

They talked for a while, and Chatterjee asked him about his screen use, which turned out to be high. “I said: ‘I think your screen use, particularly in the evenings, might be impacting your mental wellbeing.’” Chatterjee helped the boy and his mother set up a routine where digital devices and social media went off an hour before bed, gradually extending the screen-free period over six weeks. After two months, he says the boy stopped needing to see him. A few months after that, his mother wrote Chatterjee a note to say her son had been transformed – he was engaging with his friends and trying new activities. He was, she said, like a different boy from the one who had ended up in hospital.

Published: February 16, 2026, 5:00 am

‘The goal has been to demystify’: how a colonial Nairobi library was restored and given back to the people

Once a whites-only enclave, the grand McMillan Memorial library is one of three in the Kenyan capital that have been transformed for the community

Down a steep, narrow staircase, the basement of the McMillan Memorial Library in Nairobi holds more than 100 enormous, dust-covered bound volumes of newspapers. Here too are the minutes of council meetings and photographic negatives going back more than a century.

“Here lie some of the minute-by-minute recorded debates from the time British colonial powers ruled Nairobi, when it was a segregated city,” says Angela Wachuka, a publisher. Seconds later, a power cut plunges the room into darkness. “We still have a great deal of work to do,” she adds.

Published: February 16, 2026, 5:00 am

No fuel, no tourists, no cash – this was the week the Cuban crisis got real

Diplomats in Havana are preparing for an alternative Trump tactic: the country being starved until people take to the streets and the US can step in

Among the verdant gardens of Havana’s diplomatic quarter, Siboney, ambassadors from countries traditionally allied to the United States are expressing increasing frustration with Washington’s attempt to unseat Cuba’s government, while simultaneously drawing up plans to draw down their missions.

Cuba is in crisis. Already reeling from a four-year economic slump, worsened by hyper-inflation and the migration of nearly 20% of the population, the 67-year-old communist government is at its weakest. After Washington’s successful military operation against Cuba’s ally Venezuela at the beginning of January, the US administration is actively seeking regime change.

Published: February 15, 2026, 6:00 am

Katie’s story: her abusive ex-partner said ‘kill yourself’. When she did, police dropped domestic violence inquiry

After her death, police dropped a case examining Katie Madden’s former partner, despite evidence he had repeatedly told her to kill herself

• Revealed: The true toll of female suicides in UK with domestic abuse at their core

Hours before Katie Madden took her own life, she had a tense phone call with her former partner Jonathon Russell. Russell was on bail after allegedly assaulting Madden – he was banned from contacting her – but the conversation took place nevertheless.

There was a witness to the call who gave evidence to the inquest into Madden’s death. Mason Jones, a friend of Madden’s, said Russell was “vile” and “abusive”. Although Jones said he could not remember the exact words Russell used, he said: “I recall Jon saying at least once that he was in control of the town and would end her life if she didn’t do it herself.”

Published: February 15, 2026, 9:00 pm

Bud Cort obituary

American actor who starred in the 1971 dark comedy film Harold and Maude that later became a cult classic

As the death-obsessed young man Harold Chasen in the 1971 countercultural romcom Harold and Maude, the actor Bud Cort, who has died aged 77 of complications from pneumonia, set the mould for mordant bedroom iconoclasts in successive generations of indie films, from Rushmore to Ghost World to Submarine.

The film, directed by Hal Ashby, was a critical and commercial flop on release, slated by Variety as having “all the fun and gaiety of a burning orphanage” and gone from cinemas after a week. Studio executives had been uneasy about the February-to-December tryst between Cort’s character and Ruth Gordon’s septuagenarian Holocaust survivor, with more passionate bedroom material left on the cutting-room floor.

Published: February 15, 2026, 5:21 pm

Wuthering Heights rakes in $77m at global box office in opening weekend

Emerald Fennell’s divisive film is the year’s biggest opening so far, having recouped its entire estimated production budget over the opening weekend

Wuthering Heights has ravished the global box office in its opening weekend, with the new Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie adaptation taking US$76.8m (£56m, A$108m).

Emerald Fennell’s reimagining of Emily Brontë’s novel made US$34.8m in the North American box office from 3,682 locations, making it the year’s biggest opening so far.

Published: February 16, 2026, 3:21 am

Berlin film festival defends Wim Wenders after Arundhati Roy attacked ‘jaw-dropping’ comments

Berlinale head says artists should not be pushed into soundbites after author quit over president’s remarks that film-makers should ‘stay out of politics’

The Berlin film festival has issued a lengthy statement “in defence of our film-makers, and especially our jury and jury president”, after what it described as a “media storm that has swept over the Berlinale” in its first few days.

The defence follows criticism levelled at the jury, in particular president, Wim Wenders, for comments made when fielding questions about the war in Gaza. Asked during the opening press conference if films can effect political change, the German film-maker said that “movies can change the world” but “not in a political way”, adding that film-makers “have to stay out of politics”.

Published: February 15, 2026, 2:48 pm

Are we hard-wired for infidelity?

Monogamy may be held up as an ideal, but evolution has other ideas

Most of us know people in committed relationships, even lifelong marriages. And we also know stories about relationship transgressions, of partnerships tested or broken by infidelity.

As an evolutionary biologist who studies sex and relationships, I’m fascinated by these two truths. We humans make romantic commitments to each other – and some also break those commitments by cheating.

Published: February 15, 2026, 12:00 pm

The Education of Jane Cumming review – sexuality, race and a real school scandal

Berlin film festival
Sophie Heldman’s drama about two teachers accused of lesbianism by a pupil is exhilaratingly candid

Lillian Hellman’s stage play The Children’s Hour – filmed by William Wyler in 1961 with Shirley MacLaine and Audrey Hepburn – is the well-known, earnest story of two women teaching at a private girls’ school whose lives are ruined by a pupil’s malicious accusation of homosexuality: it’s one of the earliest Hollywood movies to tiptoe around the existence of gay people, albeit clearly permitted to exist on the understanding that the people involved are really not gay.

But until this moment I knew nothing about the real-life libel case from 19th-century Scotland on which it was based, which in 2013 was the subject of a study by LGBT scholar Lillian Faderman entitled Scotch Verdict: The Real-Life Story That Inspired The Children’s Hour.

Published: February 15, 2026, 5:45 pm

This is how we do it: ‘Whether it’s kinky sex in a dungeon or shopping at Costco, it’s all about our bond’

Dan and Zoe met on a train and connected instantly. Twenty years and three kids later, they’re still trying out new things
• How do you do it? Share the story of your sex life, anonymously

We have a cup of tea and a chat with the receptionist then go on to a leather-clad room

Published: February 15, 2026, 11:00 am

The key to defeating Trump? Mass non-cooperation | Mark Engler and Paul Engler

Our studies in civil resistance offer insight into the level of popular organizing needed to repel assaults on democracy

In the wake of two horrifying killings of legal observers in Minnesota, on top of the abduction of countless immigrant community members, the country has reached a turning point. Backlash against ICE’s lawlessness and aggression has reverberated so loudly that even Trump has heard it. But the effects on ordinary Americans contemplating what they would do if they lived in Minneapolis or St Paul is perhaps even more profound.

The extraordinary level of grassroots solidarity and creative resistance in anti-ICE protests in Minnesota has given people a new appreciation for the power that mass non-cooperation can have in resisting the Trump administration’s drive toward authoritarianism. And it has created an awareness of why such action is clearly needed.

Mark and Paul Engler are co-directors of the Whirlwind Institute, a social change strategy center. A new and expanded 10th anniversary edition of their book This Is An Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt Is Shaping the Twenty-first Century has just been released.

Published: February 15, 2026, 12:00 pm

As defence chiefs, we warn you today about Russia, and say this rearmament is not warmongering | Richard Knighton and Carsten Breuer

Our security is more uncertain than in decades. But by working together, and by showing strength, Britain, Germany and the rest of Europe can preserve peace

• Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton is UK chief of the defence staff. Gen Carsten Breuer is German chief of defence

• Top British and German military chiefs press ‘moral’ case for rearmament

We write today not merely as the military leaders of two of Europe’s largest military spenders, but as voices for a Europe that must now confront uncomfortable truths about its security. Through the early years of our careers, Europe was emerging from the shadow of the cold war. Governments of all political colours chose to take what was known as the “peace dividend” – investing in public services and reducing spending on defence. That was an understandable choice at the time. Now it’s clear that the threats we face demand a step change in our defence and security. European leaders, along with military and civilian officials, have just discussed necessary consequences at the annual Munich security conference.

As military leaders, we see every day from intelligence and open sources how Russia’s military posture has shifted decisively westward. Its forces are rearming and learning from the war in Ukraine, reorganising in ways that could heighten the risk of conflict with Nato countries. This is a reality we must prepare for; we cannot be complacent. Moscow’s military buildup, combined with its willingness to wage war on our continent, as painfully evidenced in Ukraine, represents an increased risk that demands our collective attention.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton is UK chief of the defence staff. Gen Carsten Breuer is German chief of defence

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Published: February 15, 2026, 6:00 pm

Nobody knows what would follow regime change in Iran – but what happened in 1979 offers some pointers | Jason Burke

The similarities between now and events preceding the shah’s exile are striking. The radical clerics benefited then, but who would prevail this time?

A critical moment looms for Iran, and so for the Middle East. The global consequences of any upheaval in Tehran have been made amply clear since the revolution in 1979 that ushered in the rule of radical Islamist clerics. In Oman, the Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and his team have begun indirect talks with a high-powered US delegation. Many analysts believe the gap between the two sides is too wide to be bridged, and that a conflict is inevitable. Just this weekend, having already threatened military action, Donald Trump said regime change is the “the best thing that could happen” in Iran. The tension, and risks grow higher.

The hold on Iran of those who came to power in the aftermath of the 1979 revolution is now at stake. The ultimate objective of the US appears to be regime change. This may, in fact, already be under way. In December 2025 and January 2026, the most extensive wave of protest since the early 1980s swept Iran, with hundreds of thousands taking to the streets from Mashhad to Abadan.

Jason Burke is the international security correspondent of the Guardian and author of The Revolutionists: The Story of the Extremists Who Hijacked the 1970s

Published: February 15, 2026, 6:00 am

Hungarians have had enough of Viktor Orbán. But Trump’s tailwind could save his skin | András Bíró-Nagy

Opposition challenger Péter Magyar is ahead in the polls on a promise of hope. Orbán is betting on fear of war to stay in power

After 16 years of uninterrupted power, Viktor Orbán is facing his biggest electoral challenge. For years Hungary’s prime minister has spun weak policy performance as success. The rise of a rival, Péter Magyar, and the opposition Tisza party has exposed the limits of that strategy.

The economy is stagnating, despite repeated promises of a long-awaited takeoff. Over the past decade and a half, Hungary has slipped from being one of central and eastern Europe’s strongest performers to one of its weakest. Public services, from healthcare to transport, are widely seen as neglected, and Policy Solutions surveys show that voters have noticed. Hungary is not alone in facing a cost of living crisis, but comparisons offer little consolation to voters who were assured that Orbán’s model would deliver exceptional results.

András Bíró-Nagy is a senior research fellow at the ELTE Centre for Social Sciences in Budapest and director of Policy Solutions. He is the author of The Path of Hungary’s EU Membership

Published: February 15, 2026, 5:00 am

The Guardian view on Donald Trump and the climate crisis: the US is in reverse while China ploughs ahead | Editorial

The president’s destructive policies enrich fossil fuel billionaires, while Beijing has bet big on the green transition

Devastating wildfires, flooding and winter storms were among the 23 extreme weather and climate-related disasters in the US which cost more than a billion dollars last year – at an estimated total loss of $115bn. The last three years have shattered previous records for such events. Last Wednesday, scientists said that we are closer than ever to the point after which global heating cannot be stopped.

Just one day later, Donald Trump and Lee Zeldin, the head of the US Environmental Protection Agency, announced the elimination of the Obama-era endangerment finding which underpins federal climate regulations. Scrapping it is just one part of Mr Trump’s assault on environmental controls and promotion of fossil fuels. But it may be his most consequential. Any fragment of hope may lie in the fact that a president who has called global heating a “hoax” framed this primarily as about deregulation – perhaps because the science is now so widely accepted even in the US.

Published: February 15, 2026, 5:30 pm

The Guardian view on AI: safety staff departures raise worries about industry pursuing profit at all costs | Editorial

Cash-hungry Silicon Valley firms are scrambling for revenue. Regulate them now before the tech becomes too big to fail

Hardly a month passes without an AI grandee cautioning that the technology poses an existential threat to humanity. Many of these warnings might be hazy or naive. Others may be self-interested. Calm, level-headed scrutiny is needed. Some warnings, though, are worth taking seriously.

Last week, some notable ground-level AI safety researchers quit, warning that firms chasing profits are sidelining safety and pushing risky products. In the near term, this suggests a rapid “enshittification” in pursuit of short-term revenue. Without regulation, public purpose gives way to profit. Surely AI’s expanding role in government and daily life – as well as billionaire owners’ desire for profits – demand accountability.

Published: February 15, 2026, 5:25 pm

‘That’s hockey’: Canada’s Wilson shuns Olympic tradition and brawls during win over France

• Wilson and Pierre Crinon ejected after brawl

• Fighting is rare at Winter Games

Canada’s Tom Wilson shunned tradition on Sunday, deciding to fight during his team’s victory over France in their Olympic ice hockey game.

While fighting is a regular – and tacitly accepted – part of professional ice hockey, it rarely occurs on the Olympic stage. But Wilson dropped the gloves late in Canada’s 10-2 rout of France on Sunday, tangling with Pierre Crinon, who had delivered a forearm to the head of teammate Nathan MacKinnon minutes earlier.

Published: February 15, 2026, 9:31 pm

Federica Brignone sparks Italian joy with second gold as Mikaela Shiffrin struggles

• Italian wins her second gold medal on Cortina slopes

• Sara Hector and Thea Louise Stjernesund share silver

Federica Brignone, the racing queen of Cortina, has won her second gold medal in the space of three days at the Winter Olympics. After her victory in the women’s Super-G on Friday, she won the giant slalom by just over six-tenths of a second.

As small as that gap sounds, it was an enormous margin in a race where there were only six-hundredths of a second between the three women who finished behind her; Sweden’s Sara Hector, Norway’s Thea Louise Stjernesund and Brignone’s Italian teammate Lara Della Mea. The gap between Brignone and second place was the same as that between second and 15th.

Published: February 15, 2026, 3:50 pm

Klæbo leads Norway to relay win and claims record ninth Winter Olympics gold

• Norwegian on course for six potential golds at Games

• France take cross-country skiing relay silver, Italy bronze

Johannes Høsflot Klæbo led Norway to victory in the men’s 4 x 7.5km cross-country relay at the Milano Cortina Games on Sunday to win a record ninth career gold medal at the Winter Olympics.

The 29-year-old has won four gold medals at these Games and is widely expected to take another two in the men’s team sprint on Wednesday and 50km classic race on Saturday.

Published: February 15, 2026, 12:33 pm

Femke Kok dominates 500m speed skating to end Jackson’s hopes of retaining Olympic title

• Dutch star’s years of dominance culminates in gold

• Jutta Leerdam wins silver in Dutch one-two

• USA’s Erin Jackson misses out on retaining title

Speed skater Femke Kok had admitted that anything but gold in her signature 500m race would be a disappointment after opening her Olympic account last Monday with silver in a Dutch one-two alongside Jutta Leerdam in the 1000m. On Sunday evening, she performed like an athlete insistent on leaving no room for doubt.

Kok leveraged two years of total sprint dominance into the first Olympic gold medal of her career. She blew away the field in the women’s 500m in an Olympic-record time of 36.49sec with the kind of controlled, furious circuit that has made her a three-time world champion at the distance at 25 years old.

Published: February 15, 2026, 6:48 pm

2025 NFL predictions revisited: Seahawks blindsided us, but we were right about Jets

We didn’t see Super Bowl LX coming, but some of us were early believers in Ben Johnson’s Bears, Trevor Lawrence’s Jaguars and the fallibility of the Chiefs

It doesn’t take long for the egg the start dripping from our faces. The early September headline accompanying our 2025 NFL predictions – Will it be Mahomes, Jackson or Allen in the Super Bowl? – was the ultimate hedge. After all, what were the odds that one of them wouldn’t emerge from the AFC?

Then there was the reality. Mike Vrabel’s dramatic turnaround of New England. The Bears transforming from worst-to-first in the NFC North under Ben Johnson. The first-half magic of Daniel Jones. The successful pairing of Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Sam Darnold.

Published: February 15, 2026, 11:00 am

Love is in the big air for Ukrainian skier after reaching Winter Olympics final

• Kateryna Kotsar gets engaged at end of qualifying run

• ‘It was so cute … it’s two really huge things for me’

For most athletes, qualifying for your first Olympic final would be more than enough excitement for one night. But the Ukrainian freeskier Kateryna Kotsar’s evening was just getting started.

Having made the big air final, Kotsar then wrote “freedom of memory” on her glove to protest against the ban of her compatriot Vladyslav Heraskevych for wearing images of slain athletes on his helmet. And a Valentine’s Day she will never forget took another surprise turn when her boyfriend, Bohdan Fashtryha, then dropped to one knee and proposed.

Published: February 15, 2026, 10:09 am

Eden Hazard: ‘I’m more of a taxi driver than a football player now, but it’s OK’

Former Chelsea and Real Madrid idol wants merely to be remembered as ‘a good player and a funny guy’ after a career of multiple titles – and spats with Mourinho

If Italy is a boot, Lecce sits right on the heel. It is here, deep in the countryside a few kilometres outside the baroque city, that the noise of the Bernabéu and the intensity of Stamford Bridge feel like a lifetime ago. The setting is rustic, quiet and slow-paced: a stark contrast to the frenetic energy that defined Eden Hazard’s career on the pitch.

It has been almost three years since he stopped playing, and the silence since his retirement at 32 has been notable. After an injury-hit spell at Real Madrid brought a premature end to a dazzling career, Hazard did not seek the spotlight. Surrounded by vineyards rather than defenders, slumped in an armchair, he seems entirely at peace, remarkably comfortable with his life after football.

Published: February 15, 2026, 8:00 am

Eberechi Eze inspires Arsenal to emphatic FA Cup victory against Wigan

It has been a testing few months for the man who scored the winner for Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final last season. But after being substituted at half-time during the disappointing draw with Brentford on Thursday, perhaps this competition could help to breathe new life into Eberechi Eze’s Arsenal career.

As well as providing assists for Noni Madueke’s and Gabriel Martinelli’s goals – albeit against a poor Wigan side languishing in the League One relegation zone – the England midfielder’s swagger was back for the first time since he scored a hat‑trick in the north London derby in November.

Published: February 15, 2026, 6:51 pm

China hopes for a bumper lunar new year as world’s biggest migration begins

Year of the horse signals optimism and opportunity, with authorities keen that the extra day of holiday this year provides an economic boost

Chinese officials are hoping that this year’s extra long lunar new year holiday will provide a boost to the country’s economy, where increasing domestic spending has been identified as a key priority for the year ahead.

The government expects a record 9.5 billion passenger trips to be made across China during the 40-day spring festival period, up from 9 billion trips last year. Hundreds of millions of people will be crisscrossing the country to make what is often their only trip home to see their families for the Chinese new year celebrations.

Published: February 16, 2026, 1:10 am

EU’s deportations plan risks ICE-style enforcement, rights groups warn

Crackdown on undocumented people could lead to home raids, surveillance and racial profiling, 75 organisations say

More than 70 rights organisations have called on the EU to reject a proposal aimed at increasing the deportation of undocumented people, warning that it risks turning everyday spaces, public services and community interactions into tools of ICE-style immigration enforcement.

Last March, the European Commission laid out its proposal to increase deportations of people with no legal right to stay in the EU, including potentially sending them to offshore centres in non-EU countries.

Published: February 16, 2026, 5:00 am

Ukraine war briefing: Drone attack on Russian port sparks fires ahead of fresh peace talks

Facilities damaged at Taman port while power and water disrupted in Odesa as new round of trilateral talks to begin on Tuesday. What we know on day 1,454

A Ukrainian drone strike ignited fires at one of Russia’s Black Sea ports, officials said on Sunday, ahead of fresh talks aimed at ending the war. Two people were wounded in the attack on the port of Taman in the Krasnodar region, which damaged an oil storage tank, warehouse and terminals, according to regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev. Falling debris from Russian drones, meanwhile, damaged civilian and transport infrastructure in Ukraine’s Odesa region, officials said, disrupting power and water supplies. The attacks came ahead of another round of US-brokered talks between envoys from Russia and Ukraine on Tuesday and Wednesday in Geneva, days before the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.

Ukraine has agreed with European allies on “specific packages” of new energy and military support for Kyiv by 24 February, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday. He had said earlier after a meeting of the so-called Berlin Format of about a dozen European leaders in Munich that he had hoped for new support, including air-defence missiles. “I am grateful to our partners for their readiness to help, and we count on all deliveries arriving promptly,” Zelenskyy said, adding that Russia had launched about 1,300 attack drones, 1,200 guided aerial bombs and dozens of ballistic missiles at Ukraine over the past week alone.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Russia was hoping to win diplomatically what it had failed to achieve on the battlefield, and was banking on the US to deliver concessions at the negotiating table. But Kallas told the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Sunday that key Russian demands – including the lifting of sanctions and unfreezing of assets – were decisions for Europe. “If we want a sustainable peace then we need concessions also from the Russian side.”

Zelenskyy suggested at the Munich conference earlier that there were still questions remaining over future security guarantees for his country. He also questioned how the concept of a free trade zone – proposed by the US – would work in the Donbas region, which Russia insists Kyiv must give up for peace. He told the conference the Americans wanted peace as quickly as possible and that the US team wanted to sign all the agreements on Ukraine at the same time, whereas Ukraine wanted guarantees for the country’s future security signed first.

Russia will not end the militarisation of its economy after fighting in Ukraine ends, the head of Latvia’s intelligence agency said. “The potential aggressiveness of Russia when the Ukraine war stops will depend of many factors: how the war ends, if it’s frozen or not, and if the sanctions remain,” Egils Zviedris, director of the Latvian intelligence service SAB, told Agence France-Presse on the sidelines of the Munich conference, which ended on Sunday. He said lifting current sanctions “would allow Russia to develop its military capacities” more quickly.

Slovak prime minister Robert Fico accused Ukraine of delaying the restart of a pipeline carrying Russian oil to eastern Europe via Ukraine in order to pressure Hungary to drop its opposition to Ukraine’s future membership of the European Union. “We have information that [the pipeline] should have been fixed,” he said after meeting US secretary of state Marco Rubio in Bratislava on Sunday.

Russian army chief Valery Gerasimov visited Moscow’s troops in Ukraine and said the Kremlin’s forces seized a dozen eastern villages in February, the defence ministry said. The claims could not be independently verified.

Published: February 16, 2026, 1:50 am

‘Right about everything’: Liz Truss tweets photo of meeting with Trump

Unclear how encounter between Britain’s shortest-serving PM and US president was initiated and how long it lasted

After spending time and resources crisscrossing the Atlantic to cultivate the support of the Maga faithful, Liz Truss has finally got the prize she apparently craved: a photo with Donald Trump.

Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister tweeted a photo on Sunday showing her in the company of the US president at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.

Published: February 15, 2026, 7:09 pm

‘I was so scared’: US trial witnesses allege Alexander brothers worked together to rape women

Real estate agent brothers Tal, Oren and Alon Alexander – known as ‘closers’ – are on trial in New York for sex trafficking

In their time as real estate brokers, the Israeli-American Alexander brothers – twins Alon and Oren and older brother Tal – were known as “closers”, the salesmen who could a get a sale over finish line, often to wealthy hedge funders who were then making hay in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.

Their technique, one real estate expert explained outside the 26th floor of the federal court house in lower Manhattan last week, was based on the sense that the property salesmen “were just like their clients” – young, eager and successful. Kim Kardashian and then-husband Kanye West, Jared and Ivanka Trump were clients.

Published: February 15, 2026, 3:00 pm

Rallies held across the world in support of Iran’s anti-government protesters

Reza Pahlavi, son of the last shah, tells 200,000 in Munich he is ready to lead Iran to a ‘secular democratic future’

Hundreds of thousands of people have taken part in rallies around the world to show their solidarity with anti-government demonstrators in Iran whose continued protests have been met with brutal and deadly repression.

On Saturday, Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last shah, addressed a crowd of 200,000 people in Munich, telling them he was ready to lead the country to a “secular democratic future”.

Published: February 15, 2026, 4:47 pm

At least 12 Palestinians killed and several hurt in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza

Israel says strikes were in response to Hamas violations of ceasefire as Hamas calls attacks ‘massacre’ of displaced people

At least 12 Palestinians were killed and several more injured across the Gaza Strip on Sunday as the Israeli military said it carried out airstrikes in response to ceasefire violations by Hamas.

The Gaza civil defence agency said five people were killed and several others hurt when an airstrike targeted a tent sheltering displaced people in the northern city of Jabaliya.

Published: February 15, 2026, 5:52 pm

California’s billionaires pour cash into elections as big tech seeks new allies

As Gavin Newsom departs, ultra-wealthy flex wealth and influence to fight regulation and keep the boom going

Tech billionaires are leveraging tens of millions of dollars to influence California politics in a marked uptick from their previous participation in affairs at the state capitol. Behemoths such as Google and Meta are getting involved in campaigns for November’s elections, as are venture capitalists, cryptocurrency entrepreneurs and Palantir’s co-founders. The industry’s goals run the gamut – from fighting a billionaire tax to supporting a techie gubernatorial candidate to firing up new, influential super political action committees (Pacs).

The phenomenon squarely fits the moment for the state’s politics – with 2026 being the year that Politico has dubbed “the big tech flex”.

Published: February 15, 2026, 1:00 pm

A new diagnosis of ‘profound autism’ is under consideration. Here’s what parents need to know

Category describes people who have little or no language, an IQ of less than 50 and require 24-hour supervision

When it comes to autism, few questions spark as much debate as how best to support autistic people with the greatest needs.

This prompted the Lancet medical journal to commission a group of international experts to propose a new category of “profound autism”.

How many children met the criteria for profound autism?

Were there behavioural features that set this group apart?

Published: February 15, 2026, 11:41 pm

The greening of career education: US students learn new skills as climate crisis intensifies

Some districts are adding programs in clean energy and sustainability, while one state is infusing environmental lessons into culinary education and construction

On one end of the classroom, high school juniors examined little green sprouts – future baby carrots, sprigs of romaine lettuce – poking out of the soil of a drip irrigation system they built a few weeks prior.

On the opposite end of the room, a model of a hydropower plant showed students how the movement of water can stimulate electrical currents. In this class in South Carolina’s Greenville county school district, students primarily learn about one topic: renewable energy.

Published: February 15, 2026, 1:00 pm

In Minneapolis, Native American patrols keep watch – and see history repeating: ‘We are still being chased’

The American Indian Movement was established in Minneapolis more than 50 years ago in response to police brutality. After ICE agents flooded the city this winter, neighborhoods reprised citizen patrols

Outside the Pow Wow Grounds coffee shop in Minneapolis’s Native American cultural corridor, a group of watchers huddled around a small firepit. Some cuddled into heated camp chairs, as others grasped steaming cups of coffee as they scanned the intersection for ICE agents.

A volunteer periodically monitored a local chat group for reports of ICE agents in the area. Foot patrollers equipped with heated handwarmers and orange whistles were dispatched throughout the neighbourhood, and watchers with cars took off in pairs.

Published: February 15, 2026, 2:00 pm

US boards second oil tanker in Indian Ocean after it fled Venezuelan raid

Pentagon tracked sanctioned Veronica III from Caribbean Sea after it left Venezuela on day Maduro was captured

US military forces boarded another sanctioned tanker in the Indian Ocean after tracking the vessel from the Caribbean Sea in an effort to target illicit oil connected to Venezuela, the Pentagon said on Sunday.

Venezuela had faced US sanctions on its oil for several years, relying on a shadow fleet of falsely flagged tankers to smuggle crude into global supply chains. Donald Trump ordered a quarantine of sanctioned tankers in December to pressure the president, Nicolás Maduro, before Maduro was apprehended in January during a US military operation.

Published: February 15, 2026, 4:30 pm

Gus Lamont: police return to South Australia home of missing four-year-old in search for new evidence

Gus went missing on 27 September from Oak Park Station, where South Australia police have begun a two-day search for clues

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Police have returned to the home of missing four-year-old Gus Lamont to search for new evidence after identifying a suspect in his disappearance.

Gus, short for August, went missing on 27 September 2025 from his family’s remote sheep station, sparking one of the biggest and most intense searches in South Australia’s history.

Published: February 16, 2026, 1:54 am

Fast-spreading measles outbreak takes hold among under-10s in north London

UK Health Security Agency urges parents in Enfield to get their children vaccinated as Easter holiday travels approach

A big measles outbreak in north-east London is affecting unvaccinated children under the age of 10, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has confirmed.

UKHSA previously reported 34 laboratory-confirmed measles cases among children who attend schools and nurseries in Enfield from 1 January to 9 February, with some requiring hospital treatment.

Published: February 15, 2026, 7:37 pm

UK’s top prosecutor says ‘nobody above law’ amid claims against former prince Andrew

Director of public prosecutions says he is confident police would examine any evidence of potential misconduct

The UK’s top prosecutor has said “nobody is above the law” amid growing pressure on police to fully investigate Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s links with Jeffrey Epstein.

Thames Valley police said earlier this week they were in discussion with the Crown Prosecution Service over allegations of misconduct in public office against the former prince.

Published: February 15, 2026, 7:24 pm

‘People want to help’: Canadians rally round Tumbler Ridge after school shooting

Tragedy has prompted a wave of support for town from neighbouring communities and across country

When Jim Caruso heard the news of the school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, he knew immediately he needed to be there. He packed his bags and boarded a plane for the community 700 miles away. “I wanted to be here to bring some level of comfort,” he said. “I wanted to hug people, pray for them and, most importantly, to cry with them.”

On Tuesday, a shooter opened fire in the town’s secondary school, killing eight people, most of them young children. It was one of the deadliest attacks in Canada’s history and has left the country reeling.

Published: February 15, 2026, 5:34 pm

‘From misfits to bullies’: how America’s Next Top Model became toxic

It was the reality show that aimed to disrupt the fashion industry but, as a shocking Netflix docuseries details, it also became part of the problem

Even for those who didn’t watch the show religiously, there’s a scene in America’s Next Top Model that has broken through from reality TV infamy to hall-of-fame virality.

It’s when Tyra Banks, model-turned-TV-mogul, loses her temper in spectacular fashion at contestant Tiffany Richardson, after misunderstanding her post-elimination response as something to be read as ungrateful. “I have never in my life yelled at a girl like this!” she screams. “When my mother yells like this, it’s because she loves me. I was rooting for you, we were all rooting for you, how dare you!”

Published: February 15, 2026, 10:02 am

Watson season two review – a Sherlock Holmes spinoff full of naughty wit

It is like House meets Elementary for this show about the sidekick of Conan Doyle's detective, who investigates a different medical mystery each week – when he isn't having tastefully lit horizontal time

Go to 221B Baker Street and the Sherlock Holmes fans you meet there will be American, not British – and while the BBC’s Sherlock might be the most famous Holmes revival on TV this century, the US has us beat when it comes to volume. Stateside telly responded to Sherlockmania with Elementary, which relocated Jonny Lee Miller’s Holmes to New York and made Watson and Moriarty female, but was in many ways a more faithful sleuthfest than the overblown Benedict Cumberbatch show and ran for scores more episodes. Long before that, the biggest drama in the world was House, which was set in a hospital but featured a mercurial genius solving baffling mysteries – once the House-Home-Holmes penny dropped, you knew you were watching Sherlock in disguise.

Watson is the latest attempt by US network television to keep the Conan Doyle canon firing, and it’s a straight cross between House and Elementary. Morris Chestnut is Dr John Watson, who is an American practising medicine in present-day Pittsburgh, but is also a war veteran who, when the show aired its first season last year, had just finished a stint cracking crimes in London with Sherlock Holmes. Showrunner Craig Sweeny, formerly a writer/producer on Elementary, gave his new Watson a litter of eager doctor pups who, like the gang who used to trail around behind Dr House, were always a step behind their boss when it came to working out which arcane condition was about to kill that week’s patient.

Watson aired on Sky Witness and is available on NOW in the UK, and Paramount in Australia.

Published: February 15, 2026, 10:00 pm

Nightborn review – Rupert Grint bringing up a monster baby

Dark forces give new parents more than they bargained with in this unsubtle Finnish horror from Hanna Bergholm

Finnish director Hanna Bergholm made a witty and unnerving baby-body-horror movie with her 2022 debut Hatching about a creepy giant egg, a complex, psychologically plausible study of family dysfunction in which the idea of fertility plays an important part. And now … she has given these ideas a retread with this programmatic and unsubtly acted film, a scary movie about a monstrous newborn that is very much less interesting and original than Hatching; the paganism is cliched and the element of black comedy – so often the alibi for not being scary in films like this – is really not all that funny. The face and body of the screeching VFX model devil-baby itself is mostly never shown to the audience, an omission that does not seem disturbing but rather an admission that this prop wouldn’t look convincing in plain sight.

Saga (Seidi Haarla) and her stolid British husband Jon (Rupert Grint) have come to live in Saga’s dilapidated family home in the remote Finnish forest, planning to fix it up so that it can be a lovely place to bring up what they hope will be a big family. (Fixing up this place would in the real world take a couple of years while they lived somewhere else, but they more or less manage it unaided in about two weeks.) Saga is obscurely moved and excited by the vital subterranean forces throbbing in the dark depths of the forest that surrounds the house. They have passionate sex there but the resulting baby is a brutal, hirsute, bloodsucking troll that destroys Saga’s marriage and happiness.

Published: February 15, 2026, 6:33 pm

Rosebush Pruning review – dysfunctional rich family move in strange circles

Jamie Bell and Elle Fanning lead a starry cast in this clumsy satire that provides little fascination in a wealthy family’s suffocating lives

Since Jesse Armstrong’s Succession and Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn, wealthy, spoilt, dysfunctional siblings are the new rock’n’roll, and now here is a film from Greek screenwriter Efthimis Filippou (co-author of Yorgos Lanthimos’s Alps and Dogtooth) and directed by Karim Aïnouz. It is a weird-wave contrivance concerning a messed-up US plutocrat clan living in Spain, freely remade from Marco Bellocchio’s 1965 film Fists in the Pocket. Their bizarre and cartoony secrets, involving sex abuse, manipulation and self-harm, are satirically symptomatic of capitalism and the patriarchy, and how the rich, however entrepreneurial and smart, create a next-gen class of useless drones, on whose behalf all this wealth has supposedly been accumulated. I have to admit to finding it heavy-handed and clumsy more often than not, although there are some good performances, notably from Jamie Bell and Elle Fanning.

A strange extended family lives in a luxurious modernist house; the father (Tracy Letts) is a blind widower haunted by the memories of his late wife (Pamela Anderson) who was savaged by wolves in a nearby forest. His grownup children, infantilised by wealth, all live there: highly strung Robert (Lukas Gage) has epilepsy, and is entrusted with supervising his father’s horse riding; Anna (Riley Keough) is a talentless singer-songwriter; and Ed (Callum Turner) is a would-be fashionista. First among equals is Jack (Jamie Bell), who has the intimate honour of helping his father with his nightly teeth-cleaning; their mother’s teeth were always dazzlingly white.

Published: February 15, 2026, 7:03 pm

Tom Gauld on the modern romance novel – cartoon

Published: February 15, 2026, 4:00 pm

The kindness of strangers: my new couch was stranded outside – then a burly gym guy helped move it upstairs

I was frantic – I had to get the couch inside before my parents arrived. Out of desperation, I drove to a nearby gym

• Read more in the kindness of strangers series

I’d bought a nice new couch after my labrador chewed through the first one. But I didn’t put it in my apartment straight away. My plan was to swap the old couch for the new one right before my parents came to visit from overseas, so the dog wouldn’t have a chance to destroy it before their arrival.

My apartment was upstairs and the new couch was in storage on the ground floor, so I hired removalists to swap the two couches the day my parents arrived. They took the tattered old couch down – but didn’t carry the new one up. Instead, they left it on the street for anyone to grab, and were gone before I had the chance to correct them.

Published: February 15, 2026, 2:00 pm

I thought my powerlifter father was the strongest man in the world. But a secret steroid addiction took him – and us – to the brink

He didn’t look like a stereotypical ‘drug addict’, but when he fled to South Africa with all our savings it was obvious that is what he had become

When I tell people that a drug addiction nearly killed my dad, I know what most of them are thinking. Heroin. Crack. Maybe meth or ket. Those substances that steal your soul and slowly wreak havoc on your body. They’re imagining Trainspotting; too-skinny frames and protruding hip bones, the physical effects of addiction that are impossible to miss.

But that isn’t how it played out in my family.

Published: February 15, 2026, 12:00 pm

My husband has started a friendship with a woman he used to work with. Am I right to be worried? | Ask Annalisa Barbieri

It’s possible this is a platonic relationship, but your concerns are valid and your husband isn’t providing any reassurance

My husband and I are in our 60s. We have been married for 40 years, some of it happily, some not so much. Our children are grown up and gone, and we have recently retired. Some of our tensions over the years have been around my husband’s tendency to be undermining and belittling. He claims not to understand why I might find certain things upsetting, yet refuses to engage with couples counselling (apparently I would tell lies). We have muddled through and mostly get on well now, though he dislikes most of my friends and siblings, and won’t socialise with them. To be fair, he is self-contained and doesn’t seem to need friends in the way I do – he has one friend.

A few months ago, an ex-colleague got in touch with my husband and asked to meet for coffee. They met, had a long lunch, and my husband mentioned a few weeks later that they were arranging to meet again as he had enjoyed the catchup. I was a bit thrown. I found it odd that she couldn’t confide in her partner or friends, but my husband exploded and we had one of our worst, most vicious arguments in years. He accused me of not wanting him to have friends (the opposite is true) and threw up the fact that I have platonic male friends; true, but my male friends and I go back 30-plus years and we don’t meet one-to-one. This just feels a bit out of character and potentially inappropriate.

Published: February 15, 2026, 6:00 am

No swiping involved: the AI dating apps promising to find your soulmate

Agentic AI apps first interview you and then give you limited matches selected for ‘similarity and reciprocity of personality’

Dating apps exploit you, dating profiles lie to you, and sex is basically something old people used to do. You might as well consider it: can AI help you find love?

For a handful of tech entrepreneurs and a few brave Londoners, the answer is “maybe”.

Published: February 15, 2026, 7:00 am

Facing meltdown? Over 75% of people suffer from burnout - here’s what you need to know

Does it only affect weak people? Is work always the cause? Burnout myths, busted by the experts

Once, after surviving yet another round of redundancies in a former job, I did something very odd. I turned off the lights in my room and lay face-down on the bed, unable to move. Rather than feeling relief at having escaped the axe, I was exhausted and numb. I’m not the only one. Fatigue, apathy and hopelessness are all textbook signs of burnout, a bleak phenomenon that has come to define many of our working lives. In 2025, a report from Moodle found that 66% of US workers had experienced some kind of burnout, while a Mental Health UK survey found that one in three adults came under high levels of pressure or stress in the previous year. Despite the prevalence of burnout, plenty of misconceptions around it persist. “Everybody thinks it’s some sort of disease or medical condition,” says Christina Maslach, the psychology professor who was the first to study the syndrome in the 1970s. “But it’s actually a response to chronic job stressors – a stress response.” Here we separate the facts from the myths.

Published: February 15, 2026, 6:00 am

‘You think: Do I really need anyone?’ – the hidden burden of being a hyper-independent person

Self-reliance is often encouraged over asking others for help in the modern world. But doing everything yourself can be a sign that you are scared of intimacy

When a relative was seriously ill and in intensive care for more than a month, Cianne Jones stepped in. “I took it upon myself to be that person in the hospital every single day – chasing doctors, taking notes, making sure I understood why they were doing things.” It was so stressful, she says, that at one point her hair started falling out, but she ploughed on.

It was Jones’s therapist who gently questioned whether she was going to ask for help. Jones laughs. “The hair falling out didn’t suggest to me that I needed help, it was somebody else looking in and saying that.” She has a large, close family who would have helped immediately – and did, once Jones asked – it’s just that it didn’t occur to her to ask. “I had taken that role on: ‘I’m just going to get everything done.’ I just took off, and that was it.”

Published: February 15, 2026, 5:00 am

‘The most quietly romantic town we have ever visited’ – the enduring charm of Chiavenna, Italy

Writers from George Eliot to Goethe put this Lombardy town on the map, then it fell out of fashion. Today it makes a picture-perfect alternative to the Italian lakes

The ancient settlement of Chiavenna, in Lombardy, near Italy’s border with Switzerland, was once well known among travellers. “Lovely Chiavenna … mountain peaks, huge boulders, with rippling miniature torrents and lovely young flowers … and grassy heights with rich Spanish chestnuts,” wrote George Eliot in 1860.

Eliot wasn’t the only writer to rhapsodise about this charming town. Edith Wharton described it as “fantastically picturesque … an exuberance of rococo”. For Mary Shelley it was “paradise … glowing in rich and sunny vegetation”, while Goethe described it as “like a dream”.

Published: February 15, 2026, 7:00 am

Readers reply: can you acquire courage?

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions ponders how to overcome fear and do what is needed

This week’s question: what would be the most socially useful way to spend a billion dollars?

Is it possible to acquire courage if you don’t have it? I was moved by the recent story of the Australian boy who swam to land for several hours in rough waters to raise the alarm that his mother and siblings had been swept out to sea. Despite his exhaustion, he then ran several kilometres to find a phone.

But I’m also thinking of the lesser demands for courage – such as standing up to a friend, or family member, or tackling a company that’s ignoring your polite requests when you’re suffering from its actions. Or I also wonder how people do certain jobs that, to me, require buckets of courage: starting a business or any other sort of professional risk-taking; reporting from a war zone like Lyse Doucet or Jeremy Bowen. Or just being a police officer knocking on the door of a suspect and not knowing what is on the other side.

Published: February 15, 2026, 2:00 pm

How to make the perfect chicken massaman – recipe | Felicity Cloake's How to make the perfect …

Thai cuisine’s most delicious curry is also its most complex. Thankfully, our resident perfectionist is here to help you master your massaman

Bickering pleasantly over the menu in a Thai restaurant with my family recently, I realised I was unable to explain exactly what a gaeng massaman was, beyond the fact it was probably a safe bet for those concerned about the three chillies next to the green curry (a dish I first tackled for this column back in 2010). The gap in my repertoire was explained later when I opened David Thompson’s pink bible of Thai Food and learned that “a mussaman curry is the most complex, time-consuming Thai curry to make”. The fact the esteemed Australian chef also describes it as “the most delicious” is scant comfort given I’ve just promised my editor I’ll make at least six of the things … but then I remember how incredibly tasty it is, and knuckle down to my research.

Though the first recipe dates from 1899, massaman, whose name suggests an association with the country’s Muslim minority, probably dates back to the 17th century, and reflects either Persian or Malaysian influence, or perhaps that of the Indian and Middle Eastern spice traders who travelled through southern Thailand on their way to China. It’s unusual in its use of dried spices like cumin and cinnamon, bay leaves and cloves alongside more classic Thai aromatics like lemongrass and galangal to create a richly savoury gravy that cloaks the protein and potatoes like a warm hug direct from Bangkok. Straightforward enough if you have a Thai specialist nearby, it’s still more of a weekend project than a weeknight dinner, but a very worthwhile one nonetheless.

Published: February 15, 2026, 1:00 pm

What would be the most socially useful way to spend a billion dollars?

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts

• Read this week’s readers’ reply. Can you acquire courage?

I’ve always thought it would be good to acquire an old warehouse in every town throughout the land and convert it into low-rent community workspaces for artists, local charities and small businesses getting off the ground. A kind of people’s WeWork. What would others do with a humungous, but not unlimited, pile of dosh to benefit society? Roland Freeman, West Yorkshire

Post your answers (and new questions) below or send them to nq@theguardian.com. A selection will be published next Sunday.

Published: February 15, 2026, 2:00 pm

Street festivals and a steam train: photos of the weekend

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

Published: February 15, 2026, 2:41 pm