I’m over useless skincare. But how can I take care of my face?

Enter what I call ‘no-skincare skincare’ – things that support the skin without disturbing it

Hi Ugly,

I used to love skincare, but after reading your articles and noticing how many useless products get produced, I lost faith in it.

Why is this column called ‘Ask Ugly’?

How should I be styling my pubic hair?

How do I deal with imperfection?

My father had plastic surgery. Now he wants me and my mother to get work done

I want to ignore beauty culture. But I’ll never get anywhere if I don’t look a certain way

Published: December 18, 2025, 5:00 pm

What’s going on with Donald Trump’s health? | Moira Donegan

The president’s appearance and schedule have sparked speculation – perhaps fueled in part by his political fortunes

Is Donald Trump OK?

Recently, he’s looked tired. His famous fake tan is a bit more sallow than usual and seems painted on more thickly and clumsily than it was before. He appears to nod off in front of cameras more and more often, including in cabinet meetings and press events in the Oval Office. His public schedule is light: he is often at his golf clubs, has traveled around the country less frequently than at this point in his first term, and now only rarely holds the stadium rallies that once defined his preferred style of politics. He tends to sit, even when others are standing, and has shortened his daily schedule, often not conducting official duties before noon. A New York Times report found that his public appearances have declined by nearly 40% compared to his first year in office. He sometimes disappears from public view for days as he did in the late summer, and he and his administration have released unclear and conflicting information about his health. His right hand seems to be experiencing frequent injury or discoloration – it will often be covered with a band-aid or smeared with makeup; the White House has claimed, implausibly, that he is bruised from shaking too many hands. In some images, his ankles are visibly swollen.

Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist

Published: December 18, 2025, 11:00 am

Best movies of 2025 in the US: No 2 – 2000 Meters to Andriivka

Ukrainian soldiers claw their way toward an abandoned one-street town, battling Russian artillery fire, snipers and aerial attacks, in this feat of documentary film-making and frontline reporting
• The best movies of 2025 in the US
• More on the best culture of 2025

Two thousand meters is a little over a mile, roughly the length of the Kentucky Derby, or 25 New York City blocks – a quick drive, a reasonable walk, a span very much within the realm of human comprehension. Which makes the distance in 2000 Meters to Andriivka, Ukrainian director Mstyslav Chernov’s follow-up to the Oscar-winning 20 Days in Mariupol, all the more unbelievable. Here, on this brief wooded strip of land in late 2023, Ukrainian soldiers clawed their way towards the abandoned, one-street town – a supposedly key notch in the Russian supply line – battling Russian artillery fire, snipers and aerial attacks. An advance that would ordinarily take about 10 minutes to run takes several lethal weeks.

In both a feat of film-making and frontline reporting – at the time, Chernov was virtually the only documentarian on the frontline of a conflict rife with Russian propaganda and misinformation – we experience all 2,000 meters to Andriivka as the soldiers do: inch by inch, meter by meter, a senseless barrage of carnage from seemingly everything everywhere all at once, a fever dream of first world war-style trenches and modern drone dystopia. Chernov seamlessly weaves together soldiers’ bodycam footage – harrowing first-person windows into the terror and fog of war – and his own recordings, embedded with Ukraine’s third assault brigade during what turned out to be a largely disappointing counteroffensive. Chernov managed to catch many of the soldiers, mostly boyish twentysomethings who had other plans before Russia’s full-scale invasion, in moments of downtime or reflection, in breaks from the slog. For many, it’s their last record.

Published: December 18, 2025, 12:00 pm

Sleep masks, mug warmers and mini projectors: the products our readers flocked to in 2025

We recommended hundreds of products in 2025, but these 11 really struck a chord with Filter US readers

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

By now, Spotify users have had time to sit with this year’s Wrapped results. If you were disappointed that your “top artist” was the white noise you rely on to fall asleep or that your “listening mood” was “pink pilates princess”, you aren’t alone.

The good news: you apparently have better taste in products. We’ve put our own spin on Spotify’s infamous tradition by looking back at the products Filter readers bought the most this year, and you made us proud.

Published: December 18, 2025, 8:15 pm

Ordinary Americans are fighting back against ICE: ‘We’re going to outlast them’

As Trump carries out his mass deportation operation, residents are banding together to block raids and distribute groceries

A year into his second term, Donald Trump’s pledge to stage the “largest deportation operation in American history” has already made an indelible mark on the nation.

Nearly 300,000 people have been deported, and a record 65,000 people are being held in detention centers. Aggressive raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents, sometimes with the backing of federalized national guard units, have terrorized immigrant communities from Charlotte to Chicago, New Orleans to New York. Enabled by a supreme court ruling that “effectively legalized racial profiling”, immigration enforcement has separated families, forced targeted individuals to miss work, school and doctors appointments, and caused communities to cancel festivals and gatherings.

Published: December 18, 2025, 2:00 pm

‘I enjoy fame. It’s very exposing and raw – though you pay a price’: Addison Rae, the Guardian’s artist of the year

In just two years, Rae has gone from star TikTok dancer to being Grammy-nominated for best new artist. She reflects on her critically acclaimed debut and how she’s learning to reclaim and relinquish control

No one in pop has had a year like Addison Rae. She may not be the biggest star – that remains Taylor Swift – or even the most commercially successful breakout act. But the dreamy dance-pop haze of her debut album, Addison, made her into an artist’s artist, loved by the likes of Charli xcx and Lana Del Rey – the leftfield pop acts who paved the way for someone like her. Like a pre-Brat Charli, or perhaps Sky Ferreira, the 25-year-old is the pop connoisseur’s choice, justly earning comparisons to Del Rey, her fellow Louisiana girl Britney Spears and Ray of Light-era Madonna, while knowing her way around her R&B and Jersey club. She’s up for best new artist at next year’s Grammy awards – and with Addison and its knowingly anaesthetised single Headphones On placing in the Guardian’s top five albums and tracks of 2025 respectively, she’s our artist of the year.

So it’s crazy to flick back just two years to when Rae wasn’t just a flop, but a punchline. In 2023, she released her debut single Obsessed, a perfectly average Benny Blanco-produced single that attracted disproportionate hatred because Rae was then just a TikTok star whose breezy dance videos had made her the platform’s fifth most-followed figure. The song flopped. Five months later came the AR EP: featuring a Charli guest verse – she asked to feature on a leaked demo that she loved – it made Rae a cult favourite. Last summer, she returned the favour, guesting on a remix of Charli’s Von Dutch: “While you’re sitting in your dad’s basement … Got a lot to say about my debut!” Rae taunted.

Published: December 18, 2025, 12:00 pm

Democrats release new Epstein photos ahead of DoJ transparency deadline

Images, undated and uncaptioned, include Nabokov lines written on woman’s body and show Bill Gates and Noam Chomsky

• US politics – live updates

• What we know so far about the Epstein files

Democrats on the House oversight committee have released a new batch of photos from the estate of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as the deadline for the justice department to release its files related to Epstein looms.

The images, released on Thursday, are undated and lack captions or context. Among them are photographs of what appear to be lines from Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita written on different parts of a woman’s body.

Published: December 18, 2025, 10:18 pm

Police investigate links between Brown shooting and killing of MIT professor

Sources say person of interest identified in attack at university and death of prominent physicist 50 miles away

Authorities said Thursday that they’re looking into a connection between last weekend’s mass shooting at Brown University and one two days later near Boston that killed a professor at another elite school, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

That is according to three people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to discuss an investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity. Two of the people said investigators had identified a person of interest in the shootings and were actively seeking that individual.

Published: December 18, 2025, 10:15 pm

Police say Nascar great Greg Biffle and family among seven dead in jet crash

• Cessna jet crashed during attempted return to airport

• Police say Biffle and family among seven fatalities

• FAA and NTSB responding to North Carolina crash

A business jet carrying seven people, including retired Nascar driver Greg Biffle and his family, crashed Thursday at an airport in North Carolina, killing everyone aboard, authorities said.

The Cessna C550 erupted into a large fire when it hit the ground. It had departed Statesville Regional Airport, about 45 miles (72km) north of Charlotte, but soon crashed while trying to return and land, North Carolina highway patrol said.

Published: December 18, 2025, 10:15 pm

Kennedy Center board votes to add Trump’s name to DC arts institution

Joe Kennedy III, JFK’s grandnephew, said he doubted the Trump-Kennedy Center name change was legal

The board of the Kennedy Center in Washington DC is moving ahead with a proposal to rename the arts and culture-focused institution, named after President John F Kennedy, in honor of Donald Trump, according to an announcement from the White House on Thursday.

If the White House move succeeds it would be called the Trump-Kennedy Center, though it is unclear if this change would be legal.

Published: December 18, 2025, 10:16 pm

TikTok signs Trump-backed deal to sell US entity to American investors

Deal with Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX, confirmed in internal memo, will allow app to continue operating in US

TikTok has signed a deal to sell its US business to three American investors – Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX – ensuring the popular social video platform can continue operating in the United States.

The deal is expected to close on 22 January, according to an internal memo seen by he Associated Press and Reuters. The TikTok chief executive officer, Shou Zi Chew, said in the memo that ByteDance and TikTok have signed binding agreements with the three investors.

Published: December 18, 2025, 11:33 pm

ICE meets snow as midwesterners fight back against Trump immigration raids

Videos show people in Minnesota and Illinois throwing snowballs at federal agents trying to arrest residents

ICE, meet snow. As federal agents aggressively raid and detain immigrants in cities across the US, people working to prevent these arrests are using the abundant snow on the ground to fight back.

In videos of confrontations in Minnesota and Illinois, people have thrown snowballs at federal agents who are trying to apprehend their neighbors, often as agents are using force or wielding weapons. In many instances, the agents then responded with more aggression, using pepper spray or teargas against protesters.

Published: December 18, 2025, 8:39 pm

Home Depot in LA installs noise machines that ‘penetrate bones’ to deter day laborers

Advocates call for removal of machines and demand that company speak out against ICE raids in parking lots

A Home Depot in Los Angeles installed three high pitch noise-emitting machines outside to deter day laborers from seeking work there, causing them to suffer headaches and nausea, advocates alleged at a press conference on Wednesday.

The Instituto de Educacion Popular del Sur de California (IDEPSCA), an advocacy organization that helps day laborers, called for the removal of these machines from Home Depot’s Cypress Park location, according to the Los Angeles Times

Published: December 18, 2025, 10:34 pm

‘Why isn’t everyone talking about Domhnall Gleeson?’ Irish actor wins first Hollywood award

The US-Ireland Alliance will give the actor the Oscar Wilde award at the event’s 20th anniversary in Los Angeles in March

After a varied career in which he has played a psychopath, a romcom heart-throb, an intergalactic warlord and a plucky newspaper editor among others, Domhnall Gleeson has won his first Hollywood award.

The US-Ireland Alliance announced that Gleeson will receive the Oscar Wilde award at the event’s 20th anniversary in Los Angeles in March in the run-up to the Oscars. It honours a body of work rather than a particular performance.

Published: December 18, 2025, 2:47 pm

Trump’s $1,776 ‘warrior dividend’ repurposed from military housing aid

President claims bonus the result of tariff revenue but stipend had already been approved in tax-and-spend bill

When Donald Trump promised a one-time $1,776 payment for 1.45 million US military workers to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence during a primetime TV address on Wednesday, he pointed to his favorite source of federal funding.

“Because of tariffs,” the US president said, along with his massive tax-and-spending bill, “we are sending every soldier $1,776 – and the checks are already on the way. Nobody deserves it more than our military.”

Published: December 18, 2025, 9:49 pm

Trump signs order reclassifying marijuana as less dangerous

Change will loosen limits on research and certain regulations but stops short of making marijuana legal

Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to move cannabis out of the most restrictive drug category, a change that would loosen limits on research and certain regulations but stop short of making marijuana legal nationwide.

“I’m pleased to announce that I will be signing an Executive Order to reschedule marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III controlled substance with legitimate medical uses,” the president said from the Oval Office.

Published: December 18, 2025, 8:02 pm

Trump critics praise Vanity Fair article for its scrutiny while allies dismiss it as hit piece

Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, spoke candidly about Trump’s inner circle and the piece made even bigger waves with its unsparing photos

• US politics live – latest updates

Critics of the Trump administration have praised Vanity Fair’s interview with the White House chief of staff, and particularly the unvarnished photographs of Trump’s inner circle that accompanied it, as overdue scrutiny of a controversial cabinet even as his allies rallied to dismiss it as a hit piece.

Over what the magazine said was 11 separate interviews by reporter Chris Whipple, Susie Wiles spoke candidly about her colleagues, describing Trump as having “an alcoholic’s personality”, JD Vance, the vice-president, as being a “conspiracy theorist for a decade” and Russell Vought, the budget chief, as a “right-wing absolute zealot”.

Published: December 18, 2025, 6:41 pm

Trump administration unveils plans to end gender-affirming care for minors

Proposal would prohibit Medicaid funds from being used to cover puberty blockers, hormone treatments or surgical procedures

• US politics live – latest updates

The Trump administration unveiled new actions aimed at eliminating transition-related medical care for minors across the US on Thursday, referring to such treatments as “sex-rejecting procedures”, a term used by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

As part of the effort, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will initiate a rule-making process that would prevent hospitals from offering puberty blockers, hormone treatments, or surgical procedures to minors if they wish to participate in Medicare or Medicaid.

Published: December 18, 2025, 6:52 pm

‘They tricked me’: Migrants were promised $1,000 to voluntarily leave the US. Some never received it

People who signed up for a US ‘self-deportation’ scheme say their payoffs were delayed, misdirected or never arrived – leaving them empty-handed in their home countries

Germán Pineda, 32, just wanted to go home.

After his arrest by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in June, Pineda, a Honduran immigrant, spent four miserable days in immigration detention at Federal Plaza in Manhattan, sleeping on a concrete floor without sufficient food or a shower. Next, he was transferred to a detention center in Brooklyn, where staff treated him like a criminal, he says, though he’d lived in the country, working as a delivery driver, for 14 years. He couldn’t even call home.

Published: December 18, 2025, 6:00 pm

Inside DoJ’s controversial prosecution of a Texas ‘antifa cell’ charged with terrorism

DoJ says a group of protesters at an ICE detention center was part of a terror cell; legal experts say case is an effort to crack down on leftwing groups and deter protesters

After the assassination of Charlie Kirk in September, Donald Trump and others pledged a no-holds barred crackdown on leftwing activists.

“We have radical left lunatics out there and we just have to beat the hell out of them,” Trump said after Kirk’s shooting. Top White House officials, including JD Vance and Stephen Miller, repeatedly publicly vowed that a crackdown was coming. In particular, the government focused on “antifa,”which is short for antifascist, and is not an organization but rather an ideology that broadly describes a variety of left-leaning beliefs.

Published: December 18, 2025, 2:00 pm

Canada’s population drop reflects souring of attitudes to immigration

A country known for welcoming newcomers has reversed policy as immigration becomes increasingly a partisan issue

• Canada sees large drop in population amid international students crackdown

Standing in Canada’s House of Commons in 2023, the then-prime minister, Justin Trudeau, gave an impassioned speech on the value of welcoming newcomers.

“Canadians know that immigration is one of our greatest assets. It helps us compete,” he said. “If we want to boost our economic success significantly, we need to boost immigration.”

Published: December 18, 2025, 1:09 pm

The 50 best TV shows of 2025: No 4 – The Studio

Seth Rogen’s warm, Emmy-winning comedy about a Hollywood movie company is exquisitely excruciating – and more fun than anything else on TV

• The 50 best TV shows of 2025
• More on the best culture of 2025

Oh, The Studio – how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Or at least allow me to gaze, rapt, from behind an ornamental palm tree as your vintage convertible hurtles towards yet another catastrophic Hollywood assignation.

The Emmy-winning creation of Seth Rogen and long-term writing partner Evan Goldberg, The Studio follows Matt Remick, an idealistic film executive who finds himself unexpectedly promoted to head of Continental Studios. “This could be my time!” he gasps, cock-a-hoop to find himself in charge of the company to which he has devoted the last 22 years of his life. He is, unfortunately, correct. “Film is my life,” he splutters during his tearfully grateful acceptance speech to CEO Griffin Mill (Bryan Cranston). Mill – an oleaginous sod with a spray tan the colour of a 70s ski lodge – smiles thinly. “At Continental, we don’t make films. We make movies. MOOOOVIEEEEES that people wanna PAY to see,” he explains, tightly, and Matt’s face proceeds to sink like a souffle. And it continues to sink over 10 exquisitely excruciating episodes, as his hopes for a new era of intelligent, auteur-helmed blockbusters are repeatedly marmalised by a system both frightened and angered by anything that can’t be deposited in a Swiss bank account.

Published: December 18, 2025, 9:58 am

Afghanistan’s historic Ariana cinema torn down by Taliban – in pictures

A renowned Kabul cinema that for decades attracted the city’s film fans is being demolished to make way for a shopping mall

Published: December 18, 2025, 5:48 pm

The 50 best albums of 2025: No 2 – CMAT: Euro-Country

Furiously angry and uproariously witty, the Irish singer’s third album was a high-water mark for pop, inspiring a TikTok dance craze and a triumphant set at Glastonbury

• The 50 best albums of 2025
• More on the best culture of 2025

The making of CMAT’s third album was a fraught business. Holed up in New York, writing and recording the follow-up to 2023’s Crazymad, for Me – which, despite critical acclaim and a Mercury nomination, was pronounced unsatisfactory by the singer herself – Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson suffered what sounds like a pretty terrifying breakdown. “I started actually hallucinating,” she said earlier this year. “I didn’t realise for the first two months that was what was happening, but I basically imagined the entire apartment I was staying in was crawling with insects … I went to the doctor and showed him my bites, and he said: ‘Those are stress hives; you’re mental.’”

One assumes that wasn’t exactly what he said, but you get the gist. And yet, despite its author comparing its recording to “a toxic relationship”, Euro-Country does not sound like it was challenging to make. On the contrary: it sounds like the supremely assured work of a songwriter whose powers have reached a new peak. It is, by turns, poignant, moving, furiously angry, uproariously funny and packed with incredible tunes. It strides confidently away from the country-infused style she minted on her 2022 debut If My Wife New I’d Be Dead, into territory that touches on jazz (Janis Joplining), raging alt-rock (The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station) and soul-kissed pop (Running/ Planning; Take a Sexy Picture of Me) without losing the essence of what made her successful in the first place.

Published: December 18, 2025, 2:00 pm

How do I talk to my conservative grandsons who dismiss my politics as fuzzy thinking? | Leading questions

You could try showing them the depths of what they don’t know, says advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith. Knowing what they’re missing could be a path to mutual respect

• Read more Leading questions

How do I talk to grown grandsons who have different political beliefs and dismiss mine as fuzzy thinking, since I am old?

They are conservative and believe they “pulled themselves up by their bootstraps”. They didn’t. They had parents and family and help with university. They are lovely men and kind to me, but I cannot converse with them on the issues of the day.

They have had setbacks, but nothing that makes them realise how very difficult life can be. I want to tell them that they cannot always control life, and also that I disagree with them. What can I say?

The reader’s letter has been edited for length

Published: December 18, 2025, 2:00 pm

Brendan Carr admits his FCC is Trump’s journalism police | Seth Stern and Clayton Weimers

It is clear that the FCC is not an independent agency, but an instrument of the president’s political agenda

The Federal Communications Commission chair, Brendan Carr, admitted at a Senate hearing on Wednesday that there had been a political “sea change” and he no longer viewed the FCC as an independent agency. Commissioners, he says, serve at the pleasure of the president.

In his case, that president is Donald Trump, whose face Carr wears as a lapel pin, whose agenda he loudly embraces, and who often publicly demands that Carr censor his critics, including revoking their broadcast licenses.

Seth Stern is the director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation and a first amendment lawyer. Clayton Weimers is the executive director of RSF USA, the North American branch of Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

Published: December 18, 2025, 3:00 pm

How many big names have paid the price for being linked to Jeffrey Epstein? Fewer than you might think | Emma Brockes

Remarkably, most of the men connected to the convicted sex offender have barely experienced any fallout. That says as much as the scandal itself

A couple of weeks ago, the annual DealBook Summit got under way in New York. It’s a series of public talks billed as conversations with “the world’s most consequential people”, and is part of that circuit of live events in which the worst people on Earth gather on stage to address the second-worst people on Earth, their paying audience. Hosted by Andrew Ross Sorkin, the conference was a characteristically starry affair, but in a lineup that included Charlie Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, and “changemaker” Halle Berry, it was Ehud Barak, the former prime minister of Israel and a former associate of Jeffrey Epstein, who really caught the eye.

My first thought about Barak’s appearance was: Larry Summers must be spitting. Summers, the former president of Harvard and another Epstein associate, was very much not on stage at the DealBook Summit, nor is he anywhere else in polite society right now. One can only imagine how bitter he must be feeling about the variance in fortunes of the men – and occasional woman – with known connections to Epstein. Of this list, two are dead (Marvin Minsky and Jean-Luc Brunel), one is in jail (Ghislaine Maxwell) and one has lost his house, his title and his invitation to the family Christmas (Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor). But for the rest of the prominent associates, email correspondents, birthday-card signatories, grant recipients and dinner companions of the late convicted child sex trafficker – all of whom insist that, while in Epstein’s orbit, they remained in total ignorance as to the man’s true nature – the cancellation fairy’s aim has been predictably inconsistent and wide.

Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist

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

Published: December 18, 2025, 8:59 am

This Christmas, let’s ban the world’s most miserable gift-giving game | Dave Schilling

White elephant parties – in which people are invited to steal each other’s gifts – are the last thing we need right now

Happy forced frivolity season! We have once again arrived at the eye of the storm for the holidays, where cheerfulness is mandatory and lack of goodwill towards people is punishable by stoning in the town square. Surely, I don’t have to tell you that such quaint human emotions as “happiness” and “hope” are in short supply these days. This year, of all years, no one should be blamed for plugging their ears any time Mariah Carey comes on in the lobby of the unemployment office. And yet, we carry on with the rituals of joy that seem more and more incongruous, when life feels like some never-ending episode of MTV’s Ridiculousness, where God comments on clips of the human race getting hit in the face with a plastic baseball bat.

I’m certainly making an effort to put on a pleasant facade. I’ve cobbled together some nice gifts for my friends and family. I say hello to strangers, even the ones that look like they might want to deny me my basic rights as outlined in the US constitution. And I say yes to just about every holiday party invite – save for one massive exception.

Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist

Published: December 18, 2025, 1:00 pm

The World Cup is about places and people. In Seattle, it should be about Pride | Leander Schaerlaeckens

The US host city’s resolve in maintaining its ‘Pride Match’ should be commended as exactly the sort of thing this tournament is for

There are two World Cups. The product, marketed and monetized for all it will yield, and the experience.

Only one of those is the real thing. And in one case, it’s holding strong. In Seattle, the local organizing committee long ago designated the 26 June game slated for Lumen Field as the “Pride Match” to mark the city’s LGBTQ+ pride weekend celebration.

Published: December 18, 2025, 12:00 pm

I want my sons to know masculinity can be kind – and my daughter to live without fear | David Lammy

Violence against women is a national emergency. As a minister, but also as a father, I see Labour’s new strategy as a matter of the highest priority

• David Lammy MP is the deputy prime minister, lord chancellor and secretary of state for justice

In the year leading up to March 2025, one in eight women in England and Wales had been a victim of domestic abuse, sexual assault or stalking. Almost 200 rapes are recorded every day. And on average, three women are killed by men in the UK every single week. Just pause and consider that.

There has been plenty of tough talk on violence against women and girls over the past decade – but too little action. We will deploy the full power of the state in the largest crackdown on violence perpetrated against women and girls in British history. This violence is a national emergency. And as a dad to a daughter, it terrifies me. But as a dad to two sons, it drives home that we can’t keep doing things the same way.

David Lammy MP is the deputy prime minister, lord chancellor and secretary of state for justice

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: December 18, 2025, 7:00 am

The Guardian view on the EU and Ukraine: a moment of truth for Brussels and Kyiv | Editorial

The plan to mobilise Russia’s frozen assets is morally compelling and ingenious. The problem is that its enemies will never see it that way

Morally, the decision facing the European Council in Brussels this week has been a no-brainer. Russia invaded Ukraine illegally and unilaterally. Moscow shows no sign of wanting peace. It actively threatens other countries too, including Britain. Ukraine is running out of money. Yet £184bn worth of Russian assets remain frozen in Europe, notably in Belgium. That money should therefore be mobilised to fund Ukraine. To many, this would be the enactment of a clear and present duty, proof positive that Europe can still be a heavy hitter.

In the messy reaches of the real world, however, things have not been straightforward. Law, economics and politics all managed to insinuate themselves, sometimes venomously, into the intense buildup to Brussels. Reparations can have lethal political consequences. Seizure of assets will undoubtedly face legal challenge. It is also bitterly opposed by Donald Trump, who wants the unfreezing of assets to form a key part of his pro-Russian peace plan. Mr Trump is pressing hard for a quick deal, and US and Russian negotiators are poised to meet again in Miami at the weekend.

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: December 18, 2025, 6:27 pm

Boxing was the original attention economy – Paul v Joshua is old logic in a louder digital age

Millions will tune in to watch the brash YouTuber get his comeuppance – the fight will likely go on as long as Joshua decides to let it

An undersized loudmouth disruptor arrives in Miami for a no-hope fight with one of history’s most destructive heavyweights, exploiting every available lever of new media to amplify his delusions of grandeur to mass audiences. There are mounting concerns for his mental and physical wellbeing, with doctors, commentators and former fighters openly questioning his soundness of mind and wondering whether he might end up in hospital – or worse. The oddsmakers have made him an 8-1 longshot, a price that feels almost charitable given the epic scale of the mismatch. The buildup revolves less around the favorite than around the smaller man’s mouth: his noise, his presence, and the creeping suspicion that spectacle may finally have outrun sense.

Cassius Clay wound up shocking the world back in 1964 when he made Sonny Liston quit on his stool after six rounds at the Miami Beach Convention Center. But it’s right here, on the eve of Friday night’s scheduled eight-round showdown between Jake Paul and Anthony Joshua at the nearby Kaseya Center, where those curious rhymes with the past come to a screeching halt.

Published: December 18, 2025, 5:42 pm

WNBA players authorize strike ‘when necessary’ as talks over new CBA stall

• Players vote overwhelmingly to authorize strike

• Revenue sharing and salaries remain key issues

• CBA deadline set to expire on 9 January

WNBA players have authorized their union’s executive council to call a strike if necessary, the union announced Thursday as it continues to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement with the league.

The WNBPA and league have been negotiating a new agreement for the past few months, extending the deadline a couple of times with the latest one set to expire on 9 January. The move gives union negotiators another tool to use in talks.

Published: December 18, 2025, 11:08 pm

Analysis: how prices for the cheapest World Cup tickets have rocketed

A Guardian study of past ticket prices for the men’s World Cup, compared with current 2026 figures, shows how the barrier for entry has been raised for most fans

In the past, a fan’s ability to attend a World Cup hosted in their nation hinged more on bid books than their checkbooks. For 2026 in the US, Mexico and Canada, even the least expensive tickets are a luxury commodity by comparison.

An analysis by the Guardian of men’s World Cup ticket pricing shows that amid the general rise in ticket prices for the 2026 World Cup, the most extreme of those hikes have often applied to the cheapest tickets. The analysis is based on official Fifa pricing dating back to 1994, with more robust data available starting in 2006. Prices for 2026 games are accurate as of 16 December 2025, and do not include the 1.6% of sellable tickets for each game that Fifa recently made available for a fixed $60 price.

Published: December 18, 2025, 1:00 pm

Brother of LA Rams star arrested in alleged theft of Lakers player’s BMW

• Brother of Puka Nacua among two arrested in LA case

• Vehicle tied to Lakers forward tracked to hotel valet

• Suspects released same night as investigation continues

Two men, including the brother of Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua, were arrested over the weekend on suspicion of taking a vehicle belonging to Los Angeles Lakers forward Adou Thiero without consent, according to the Los Angeles county sheriff’s department.

Authorities said deputies were able to track the vehicle – a newer-model BMW – to the One Hotel on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. Investigators determined the suspects had valeted the car and entered the hotel, where they were later identified using security footage and arrested.

Published: December 18, 2025, 5:37 pm

The 100 best male footballers in the world 2025 – Nos 100-11

Scott McTominay has come in at 19th in the world in our rankings and is joined by Declan Rice and Désiré Doué for places 40 to 11

• Our methodology | The top 100 female players for 2025

• 2024 edition | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012

Published: December 18, 2025, 10:05 am

Blowers: 300-1 shot becomes joint longest-priced winner in racing history

• Shock win at Exeter at record odds for British racing

• Jockey only rode winner as original rider stuck in traffic

Blowers, a horse named after the renowned former cricket commentator Henry Blofeld, earned an entry in the racing history books at Exeter on Thursday as he became the longest-priced winner ever on a British track at odds of 300-1.

Blowers finished three-quarters of a length in front of the 5-4 favourite, On The Bayou, in the card’s opening race, with James Best, his jockey, as surprised as anyone by the win as he had been drafted in as a late replacement for Ella Herbison, who was caught in traffic and missed her flight from Ireland.

Published: December 18, 2025, 1:41 pm

Myles Garrett is having a season for the ages. The Browns are wasting it

The defensive end’s pursuit of the NFL sack record defies belief, raising questions about what his perpetually rebuilding team should do about it

The NFL sack record is one of those hallowed figures in professional sports. Michael Strahan’s 22.5 lingered for two decades not because pass rushers failed to get better, but because everything has to break just right for someone to reach it. You need volume. You need game scripts. You need offenses chasing points. When TJ Watt finally tied it in 2021, it felt like he had reached the outer limit. The record had been touched, but not broken.

Myles Garrett has spent this season treating that assumption with contempt. Now, he’s a couple of plays away from history.

Published: December 18, 2025, 11:00 am

‘Money today or blood tomorrow’: EU leaders race to secure deal for Ukraine

Summit divided on idea of loan secured against Russian assets, as Belgium seeks guarantees if scheme goes wrong

• Belgian politicians and finance bosses targeted by Russian intelligence over seized assets

EU leaders are racing to secure a funding deal for Ukraine that has been cast as a choice between “money today or blood tomorrow”, but Belgium continues to oppose a loan secured against Russia’s frozen assets.

At a summit billed as make or break, EU leaders are discussing an unprecedented move to tap some of Russia’s €210bn sovereign assets frozen in the bloc days after the full-scale invasion of 2022.

Published: December 18, 2025, 5:38 pm

Man sues Tennessee county after he was jailed over meme related to Charlie Kirk killing

Lawsuit alleges that Larry Bushart’s first amendment rights were violated when he was arrested and jailed for 37 days

A former law enforcement officer in Tennessee is suing his county and sheriff after he was jailed for more than a month for posting a meme on Facebook related to the 10 September assassination of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

According to the new 30-page lawsuit filed this week, 10 days after Kirk’s killing, Larry Bushart, 61, shared a post in the comments of a Facebook post about a vigil for Kirk in Perry county, Tennessee.

Published: December 18, 2025, 2:54 pm

US prices continued to rise despite Trump claims they are ‘rapidly’ falling

Longest federal government shutdown meant data was only collected for second half of November

US prices rose 2.7% in the year to November, according to federal data released a day after Donald Trump claimed they were falling “very fast” on his watch.

The latest consumer price index, released on Wednesday morning, was down from 3% in September, and short of economists’ expectations of about 3.1% for last month.

Published: December 18, 2025, 1:40 pm

Democrats won’t release 2024 election loss ‘autopsy’, DNC chair says

Report on Kamala Harris’s loss to Trump would be a ‘distraction’ as party is ‘putting our learnings into motion’

The Democratic National Committee won’t release a review of its election loss in 2024, saying it would be a “distraction” from helping the party win going forward.

The party has been working on a so-called autopsy of 2024 since Kamala Harris lost the presidential election to Donald Trump.

Published: December 18, 2025, 6:29 pm

US announces more than $10bn of arms sales to Taiwan

Package includes medium-range missiles, howitzers and drones, and has drawn an angry response from China

• The maps that show how China’s military is squeezing Taiwan

The Trump administration has announced a massive package of arms sales to Taiwan valued at more than $10bn that includes medium-range missiles, howitzers and drones, drawing an angry response from China.

The state department announced the sales late on Wednesday during a nationally televised address by president Donald Trump, who made scant mention of foreign policy issues and did not speak about China or Taiwan at all. US-Chinese tensions have ebbed and flowed during Trump’s second term, largely over trade and tariffs but also over China’s increasing aggressiveness toward Taiwan, which Beijing has said must unify with the People’s Republic of China.

Published: December 18, 2025, 3:01 pm

Pope’s naming of New York archbishop signals continued challenge to Trump on immigration

Ronald Hicks, who endorsed message condemning ICE raids, to lead one of biggest US archdioceses

Pope Leo XIV has named a fellow Chicagoan as the next archbishop of New York, one of the biggest US archdioceses, in a signal that the church will continue its stance against the Trump administration on immigration.

The US-born pope chose 58-year-old Ronald Hicks, the current bishop of Joliet, Illinois, to lead the church in New York, replacing retiring Cardinal Timothy Dolan who has served for 16 years after being selected by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.

Published: December 18, 2025, 7:30 pm

Denmark says Russia was behind two ‘destructive and disruptive’ cyber-attacks

Intelligence service says attacks were work of groups connected to Russian state in ‘clear evidence’ of hybrid war

The Danish government has accused Russia of being behind two “destructive and disruptive” cyber-attacks in what it describes as “very clear evidence” of a hybrid war.

The Danish Defence Intelligence Service (DDIS) announced on Thursday that Moscow was behind a cyber-attack on a Danish water utility in 2024 and a series of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on Danish websites in the lead-up to the municipal and regional council elections in November.

Published: December 18, 2025, 7:19 pm

Rainfall creates crimson spectacle at beach on Iran’s Hormuz Island

Streams of soil turn sand and surrounding water red, creating sharp contrast with blue waters of Persian Gulf

Rainfall on Iran’s Hormuz Island briefly transformed the coastline of its Red Beach into a striking natural scene this week, as red soil flowed into the sea and turned the water shades of deep red.

The beach is known for its vivid red sand and cliffs, created by high concentrations of iron oxide.

Published: December 18, 2025, 12:56 pm

‘You learn tricks to reduce it’: the smart bins measuring food waste in South Korea

Digital facilities that track wastage down to the gram have brought about behavioural change among users

Min Geum-nan walks towards a metal bin beneath her apartment block in Gangdong district, eastern Seoul carrying a small bag of vegetable peelings. She taps her resident card on the reader, the lid swings open, she empties the contents and scans again and a digital screen flashes: 0.5kg.

“You have no choice but to pay attention because you can see exactly what you’re wasting,” says Min, who has lived in the complex for 15 years and watched the system arrive in 2020.

Published: December 18, 2025, 2:29 pm

AI boom has caused same CO2 emissions in 2025 as New York City, report claims

Study author says tech companies are reaping benefits of artificial intelligence age but society is left to pay cost

The AI boom has caused as much carbon dioxide to be released into the atmosphere in 2025 as emitted by the whole of New York City, it has been claimed.

The global environmental impact of the rapidly spreading technology has been estimated in research published on Wednesday, which also found that AI-related water use now exceeds the entirety of global bottled-water demand.

Published: December 18, 2025, 11:15 am

‘Uniquely evil’: Michigan residents fight against huge data center backed by top tycoons

Locals band together in David v Goliath battle against facility they say would jack up bills, increase pollution and destroy area’s character

A who’s who of the nation’s most powerful politicians and tech tycoons are forcing through a proposal for a massive data center in rural Michigan as locals from across the political spectrum have come out in force against it, with one calling it “uniquely evil”.

Saline Township, Michigan, residents fear the $7bn center would jack up energy bills, pollute groundwater, and destroy the area’s rural character. The 1.4 gigawatt center would consume as much power as Detroit, and would help derail Michigan’s nation-leading transition to renewable energy.

Published: December 18, 2025, 12:00 pm

How climate breakdown is putting the world’s food in peril – in maps and charts

From floods to droughts, erratic weather patterns are affecting food security, with crop yields projected to fall if changes are not made

Experts have warned that the world’s ability to feed itself is under threat from the “chaos” of extreme weather caused by climate change.

Crop yields have increased enormously over the past few decades. But early warning signs have arrived as crop yield rates flatline, prompting warnings of efficiency hitting its limits and the impacts of climate change taking effect.

Published: December 18, 2025, 7:00 am

White House says US would be ‘lucky’ if Trump stayed for third term

Comments follow reports that US president discussed idea with constitutional scholar Alan Dershowitz

• US politics live – latest updates

The US would be “lucky” if Donald Trump remained in office for a constitutionally prohibited third term, the White House has said following revelations that he discussed the possibility with the lawyer and constitutional scholar Alan Dershowitz.

The bold assertion came despite successive polls showing plunging approval ratings for Trump amid widespread discontent over his administration’s economic performance and lingering controversy over his links to the disgraced late financier and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Published: December 18, 2025, 3:52 pm

Trump Media announces $6bn merger plan with fusion power company

TMTG, which owns president’s Truth Social platform, unveils link-up TAE Technologies to respond to AI boom

Donald Trump’s loss-making social media business has announced plans to merge with a fusion power company.

Trump Media and Technology Group, owner of the US president’s minnow Truth Social platform, unveiled an extraordinary merger worth more than $6bn with TAE Technologies, combining its social media operation with a vast bet on the AI boom driving a surge in energy demand.

Published: December 18, 2025, 1:58 pm

CDC officials urge US flu vaccination after record child deaths last year

Americans told ‘time to get vaccinated is now’ as concerning mutation of influenza virus circulates in US

Officials are urging doctors to vaccinate their patients and provide flu antivirals after deaths among children reached record highs and as a concerning mutation of the virus circulates in the US.

“Influenza activity is increasing in the US. The time to get vaccinated for this season is now,” Timothy Uyeki, the chief medical officer of the influenza division at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said in a call with clinicians last week.

Published: December 18, 2025, 12:00 pm

Rob and Michele Reiner’s cause of death released by medical examiner

The Reiners’ bodies were discovered on Sunday at their home in Los Angeles. Their son Nick was later arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder and has since appeared in court

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner has released reports stating the cause of death of the film director Rob Reiner and his wife, the photographer Michele Singer Reiner.

Both are listed on the organisation’s website with the cause given as “multiple sharp force injuries” and “homicide” stated as the manner of death. The date of death, which had been the subject of some speculation, is given as Sunday 14 December.

Published: December 18, 2025, 10:36 am

Facebook tests charging users to share links in potential blow for news outlets

News organisations fear move could hit newsrooms and other media publishers by stopping users sharing their content

Facebook is testing a system that charges users for sharing web links, in a move that could prove to be a further blow to news outlets and other publishers.

Meta, the social media platform’s owner, said it is carrying out a “limited test” in which those without a paid Meta Verified subscription, costing at least £9.99 a month, can only post two external links a month.

Published: December 18, 2025, 6:14 pm

Copenhagen’s ‘ghetto law’ may be unlawful, EU court rules

ECJ ruling brings hope to area of city targeted over high percentage of residents with ‘non-western’ backgrounds

Residents of a Copenhagen neighbourhood that became an international symbol of a law in Denmark known as the “ghetto law” have said they are confident they can overturn the legislation in the Danish courts after the top EU court ruled that it may be unlawful.

The controversial law, dating from 2018, allows the state to demolish apartment blocks in areas labelled “parallel societies” by the government, where at least half of residents have a “non-western” background. Formerly, the government referred to these neighbourhoods as “ghettoes”.

Published: December 18, 2025, 5:19 pm

Don’t hold back, swearing can boost performance by lowering inhibitions, study finds

Study finds dropping an expletive can raise confidence and help people push harder during physically demanding tasks

It may not be in keeping with the festive spirit, but if you find yourself dropping the F-word while wrestling a Christmas tree up a flight of stairs, scientists say you could be on to something. A study has found that swearing can enhance physical performance by lowering inhibitions and pushing the brain into a “flow state”.

“In many situations, people hold themselves back – consciously or unconsciously – from using their full strength,” said Dr Richard Stephens, a psychologist at Keele University who led the research. “Swearing is an easily available way to help yourself feel focused, confident and less distracted, and go for it a little more.”

Published: December 18, 2025, 2:21 pm

Brazilian president vows to veto bill cutting Jair Bolsonaro’s prison term

Lula acknowledges his decision to uphold 27-year sentence could be overridden by conservative lawmakers

Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has promised to veto a bill passed by congress to reduce the prison term of Jair Bolsonaro, the former president who was sentenced to more than 27 years in prison for masterminding an attempted coup to overturn the 2022 elections.

Lawmakers passed the bill late on Wednesday after it was approved last week by the lower house. On Thursday, Brazil’s leftist president – who, investigations showed, was the target of an assassination plan as part of the coup plot – acknowledged his veto could be overridden by the largely conservative congress.

Published: December 18, 2025, 4:12 pm

‘Criminally below the radar’: readers on their best underrated Christmas films

After Guardian writers picked their favourite lesser-known festive movies, readers shoutout Klaus, The Ref and more

I thought a real modern hidden gem is All Is Bright starring Paul Rudd and Paul Giamatti as two down-on-their-luck Christmas tree sellers. It’s perfectly played by both, with Rudd putting in, not his usual “puppy dog everyone wants to be your mate” role but a sarcastic turn, complementing Giamatti’s Christmas grinch. More a black comedy (by Hollywood standards), it’s an excellent film. Andyouwillknowme

Published: December 18, 2025, 10:04 am

Emily in Paris season five review – Minnie Driver is just what this campy masterpiece needed

TV’s greatest guilty pleasure is back – and it’s still a total hoot! Prepare to gorge yourself silly on it over the holidays along with the mince pies. You know you want to …

‘Turn off your brain and jump!” So says London geezer Alfie (Lucien Laviscount) to ex-girlfriend Emily’s best pal Mindy (Ashley Park), as they flirt their way through a racy dance scene. It could, of course, be an instruction to viewers of season five of Emily in Paris, too. Once pilloried for its Anglophile tendencies and surface-level commitment to la culture française, the fluffy dramedy about an American in Paris helmed by Lily Collins has – over the past five years – become one of TV’s greatest guilty pleasures: a fancy fever dream of great clothes, strapping love interests and a constant karaoke soundtrack courtesy of Park, a Broadway star whose contract clearly dictates that she sing at least five times per episode. The clothes are less outlandish this time around, but still aspirational – lending the show a strand of Sex and the City DNA (they also share a creator, Darren Star).

But, unlike SATC – whose spinoff And Just Like That devolved into a mindless mess – Emily in Paris is free of any baggage, and at liberty to be as silly as it fancies. Much of season five doesn’t even take place in Paris, as our leading lady continues to mix business and pleasure in Rome with cashmere heir Marcello (Eugenio Franceschini). “Ciao and ni hao!” says Mindy, who has rejected a job as a judge on Chinese Popstar (“I’d rather be judging people in real life than on TV”) and is now headed to Italy, just in time to help Emily and her crack marketing team with some #sponsoredcontent (read: singing inside a giant martini glass). Also in town is Alfie: cue an inadvisable fling between the two that instantly breaks all the rules of girl code.

Published: December 18, 2025, 8:01 am

The 50 best albums of 2025

The year’s finest LPs as decided by 30 Guardian music writers – from a slip’n’slide through British club culture to a New York garage rock band in their 20s
• More on the best culture of 2025

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Published: December 18, 2025, 2:01 pm

Au Pairs frontwoman Lesley Woods: ‘We were the antithesis to all that boy-meets-girl stuff’

Her post-punk trailblazers were a key influence on riot grrrl. Now, after decades working as a lawyer, she is taking the name – though, contentiously, not the rest of the band – back on the road. ‘I haven’t given the best of me yet’, she says

At the height of her music career in the early 1980s, Lesley Woods got accustomed to dealing with irate men. As the singer and guitarist of Au Pairs, the Birmingham post-punk four-piece, she recalls “guys being aggressive purely because you were a woman on stage”. At one show, the band were on the bill with UB40 and the Angelic Upstarts, only the latter didn’t turn up. “So the audience, who were 95% skinheads, were gobbing at us and throwing anything they could get their hands on – which included a bin.” Was she scared? “No, I was bolshie back then. I just went to the front of the stage and said: ‘You missed.’”

After the band split in 1983, Woods hoped her days of dealing with overt misogyny were behind her. But then she retrained and became a lawyer. “When I came to the bar [in the 1990s], women couldn’t even wear trousers. I used to get men saying: ‘What colour knickers are you wearing today, Lesley?’ It’s better now, but back then law was way worse than music in how it treated women.”

Published: December 18, 2025, 8:00 am

A Mind of My Own by Kathy Burke audiobook review – an honest and hilarious memoir

The no-nonsense comic actor and author further cements her status as a national treasure with her trademark gobby one-liners

A lot of terrible things happen to Kathy Burke in her memoir, though you won’t find her mired in self-pity. Burke was a toddler when her mother died from stomach cancer, meaning she has no memory of her. In the Islington council flat where she grew up, she shared a bedroom with her alcoholic dad who would give up booze only to fall off the wagon and, at his worst, became violent. When a stranger on the estate called her ugly in front of her friends, she cannily deflected the insult with laughter. “I’m the best dancer at the ugly bug ball though,” she hooted, and did a little dance.

Burke would find her tribe on London’s punk scene and, in her teens, got the acting bug and a place at London’s Anna Scher Theatre school. This put her on the path to a brilliant and varied acting and writing career that saw her appearing in comedy sketches with Harry Enfield and French and Saunders, being called a genius by Peter Cook and taken by Luc Besson’s private jet to collect the prize for best actress at Cannes film festival for Gary Oldman’s 1997 film Nil By Mouth. There, much to her chagrin, she found herself “accepting a bellini cocktail from Harvey fuckface Weinstein”.

Published: December 18, 2025, 3:00 pm

Freezing Point by Anders Bodelsen review – a prescient classic of cryogenics

This resurrected Danish novel about a man who is ‘frozen down’, awaking in an Orwellian dystopia two decades later, is inventive, funny and all too timely

In the Danish author’s uncannily prescient novel, first published in 1969, the year is 1973 and Bruno works as a fiction editor for a popular weekly magazine; his talent for generating story ideas makes him indispensable to his authors. Invited for dinner at the home of one of them, Bruno finds himself seated next to a woman named Jenny, a struggling ballet dancer with a gloomy aspect and no sense of humour. Bruno is drawn to her nonetheless, and finds himself inventing stories about her. The following day, he is admitted to hospital to undergo tests: a small lump on the side of his neck has raised some concerns. Bruno cannot help feeling the two events are somehow connected.

It comes as little surprise to Bruno when he learns he has cancer. The doctor in charge of his case, Josef Ackerman, offers a choice: he can either undergo the gruelling and fallible radiotherapy currently prescribed for his disease, or he can become a pioneer in a new, radically experimental treatment programme in which patients are “frozen down”, remaining in a state of suspended animation until such time as medical science has advanced sufficiently to offer a cure.

Published: December 18, 2025, 7:00 am

Karts, cakes and karaoke: the eight best party games to play with family this Christmas

Whether your household is in the mood for singing, driving, quizzing or shouting, here are our top choices for homely holiday fun

Multiplayer hand-to-hand combat games are ridiculously good fun and there are plenty to choose from, including the rather similar Gang Beasts and Party Animals. I’ve gone for this one, however, which lets everyone pick a cake to play as before competing in food fights and taking on mini-games such as roasting marshmallows and lobbing fruit into a pie. If you ever wished that the Great British Bake Off was ever-so-slightly more gladitorial, this is the game for you.

Published: December 18, 2025, 11:00 am

Jimmy Kimmel on Trump’s speech: ‘Surprise primetime episode of The Worst Wing’

Late-night hosts recapped Trump’s national address and further insights from chief of staff Susie Wiles’s interview

Late-night hosts discussed – or ignored – Donald Trump’s surprise primetime address and dug further into the explosive new interview the White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles.

Published: December 18, 2025, 4:42 pm

Film-maker Mstyslav Chernov: ‘I kept seeing Ukraine as a victim of this invasion – I wanted to tell another story’

The documentary-maker on new film 2000 Meters to Andriivka (the Guardian’s No 2 film of 2025), being on the Oscar circuit with 20 Days in Mariupol and filming on the frontline

Adrian Horton: I know you were showing your prior film, 20 Days in Mariupol, to western audiences when you began working on this film. What brought you back to the frontlines?
Mstyslav Chernov: What brought me back was not speaking to the audiences, even, but just coming out of Mariupol, we were so devastated and so scarred by what happened. And then we went off to Bucha, where we saw more war crimes. And then I went to Kharkiv, my home town, which was bombed every day, just as Mariupol was. So even when we were starting to edit 20 Days in Mariupol, I was already looking for a story that would be, in a way, a response to that feeling I had, of devastation and helplessness. I kept seeing Ukraine as a victim of this brutal invasion, and I wanted to tell another story which would have an opposite direction – to show some sort of agency, some sort of strength and response to that violence, when Ukrainians push back.

AH: And that was when Mariupol was already out? What was that dissonance like for you – being on the Oscar circuit, then filming on the frontlines?
MC: That was when the theatrical release started in July. It was the same time as Barbie and Oppenheimer, and it was the same time when we had dozens and dozens of Q&As for the wider public. It was when the first receptions and red carpets started. But of course, at the same time, the frontline was on fire. Ukraine was fighting this counteroffensive. And I would go from those places in the United States, in the UK, in Europe, these beautiful, peaceful cities, back to Ukraine – fly to the border, get a car, get a train, get another car, get in a trench. And in that trench, I would see a world that was so different. It would be like another planet, or 100 years backward in time. That collision of two worlds – I just tried to express it. I tried to comprehend it, how we live in a world where both war and peace and humanity and violence exist. And so 2000 Meters to Andriivka naturally became a film about distances, not just about the reality of war, not just about the humanity of people who are pinned down in those foxholes. But also about the distance between Europe and Ukraine, between Ukrainian society and people in the trenches. Hopefully that comes through.

Published: December 18, 2025, 9:35 am

Dogs, drones and tight trunks: LensCulture Street Photography awards – in pictures

From aerial footage of an Indian pilgrimage to portraits of Romanians in bear costumes, this year’s awards featured stunning images from the streets of 23 countries

Published: December 18, 2025, 7:00 am

‘Collusion does not require a dictatorship’: István Szabó on his Nazi actor masterpiece Mephisto

As his 1981 film is rereleased, the director talks about his Oscar-winning fable about an actor’s Faustian pact with the Nazi party – and its new relevance

At the 54th Academy Awards, in 1982, Chariots of Fire was imperial, and Katharine Hepburn broke records. Less remembered today is a darkly brilliant European film about a stage actor in Nazi Germany that went home from the ceremony with the best international feature prize. Mephisto, directed by István Szabó, was the first ever Hungarian film to do so.

“The moment took me by surprise,” remembers Szabó, 87, four decades later. “I didn’t expect it.” Visibly elated on the live broadcast as he took to the stage, Szabó today says that he “knew this award wasn’t just mine, but also Brandauer’s”, meaning the film’s electrifying lead actor, and the largely Hungarian crew “who contributed with their talent to the making of the film”.

Published: December 18, 2025, 6:00 am

How to eat, drink and be merry – while pregnant – at Christmas

Some traditional treats may be off the menu, but there are plenty of alternatives for a festive feast

For a festival with childbirth at its religious heart, it is perverse how much of our traditional Christmas spread isn’t recommended for pregnant women. Pre-pregnancy, this was not something I’d clocked. I was the soft cheese supremo, canape queen – at my happiest with a smoked trout blini in one hand and a champagne flute in the other. Then one day in October, two blue lines appeared on a test result and everything started to change: my body, my future and most pressingly my Christmas.

Don’t get me wrong: no present under the tree can match the gift I’ve got in store. But as a food writer who loves this season, I can’t think of a worse time to be nauseated, exhausted and forbidden by the NHS to eat, drink or do my favourite things to eat, drink or do in winter. I have no alternatives for saunas, skiing and hot baths. I do, however, know enough chefs, bartenders, retailers and producers to create a Christmas feast that is full of wonder, joy and within the NHS guidelines.

Published: December 18, 2025, 11:00 am

You be the judge: should my husband stop calling all sweet things ‘buns’?

Parveen doesn’t know if she’s getting a sponge cake or a burger bap, but Joe thinks she needs to embrace his northern-isms. You decide who is sweet and who is sour
• Find out how to get a disagreement settled or become a juror

Joe says ‘buns’ covers all sweet things in the north, but I worry he’ll bring me home a burger bun

Regional differences in language are all part of the fun – plus, surely sugar is sugar?

Published: December 18, 2025, 8:00 am

Why west Cornwall is the perfect place to mark the winter solstice

With ancient standing stones and modern midwinter festivals, the West Penwith peninsula is a land of magic and mystery

The light is fading fast as I stand inside Tregeseal stone circle near St Just. The granite stones of the circle are luminous in this sombre landscape, like pale, inquisitive ghosts gathered round to see what we’re up to. Above us, a sea of withered bracken and gorse rises to Carn Kenidjack, the sinister rock outcrop that dominates the naked skyline. At night, this moor is said to be frequented by pixies and demons, and sometimes the devil himself rides out in search of lost souls.

Unbothered by any supernatural threat, we are gazing seawards, towards the smudges on the horizon that are the distant Isles of Scilly. The clouds crack open and a flood of golden light falls over the islands. My companion, archaeoastronomer Carolyn Kennett, and I gasp. It is marvellous natural theatre which may have been enjoyed by the people who built this circle 4,000 years ago.

Published: December 18, 2025, 7:00 am

Thursday news quiz: AI mishaps, fan fury and a tiny baby hippo

Test yourself on topical news trivia, pop culture and general knowledge every Thursday. How will you fare?

Welcome to the final Thursday news quiz of the year – a small festive tradition involving the news, a handful of jokes, and the knowledge that somewhere there are 1,057 pedants limbering up to find something to nitpick. And it is a bumper 20-question edition. Thank you for quizzing throughout the year, for your comments, corrections and good-natured quibbles, and most of all for the kind messages literally hundreds of you sent the quizmaster during the Great Thursday Quiz Hiatus of 2025™, when he was off sick. It really meant a lot. Allons-y!

The Thursday quiz will return in the new year and wishes you a Merry Christmas, a great festive holiday period and all the best for 2026. Sign up for First Edition to get a Thursday quiz-style quiz of the year in your inbox on Christmas Day.

Published: December 18, 2025, 6:30 am

‘We wanted to take action’: US toy company fights back over Trump tariffs

Learning Resources is suing the administration, claiming the president’s tariffs are illegal – and millions of dollars are on the line

The conveyors whir in the massive warehouse, boxes gliding at fast clip, filling up with toys ready to be shipped out for holiday gifts across the country. They make their way to shipping trucks, nearly full with hundreds of boxes by the afternoon of a recent Thursday.

The 364,000 sq ft warehouse in the suburbs outside Chicago is just one of Learning Resources’ investments in the US. The company and its affiliated brands employ more than 500 people. They make about 2,000 different products, mostly educational toys such as children’s binoculars, cash registers and learning games.

Published: December 18, 2025, 12:00 pm

‘Pretty birds and silly moos’: the women behind the Sex Discrimination Act

In the 50 years since equal rights for women were enshrined in UK law, the campaigners have been reduced to caricatures, or forgotten. But their struggle is worth remembering

Celia Brayfield was at her desk in the Femail section of the Daily Mail’s Fleet Street office when an editor called her over. It was July and Wimbledon had started. “He said: ‘We want you to go down and get into the women’s changing rooms and report on lesbian behaviour.’ One didn’t normally swear at that time but I declined. That was the attitude then,” she told me.

From the late 1960s until the early 70s, Brayfield was one of a small group of female journalists working on women’s pages in newspapers. “We were dealing with everyday sexism on an unbelievable scale,” she said. “You learned to wear trousers or take the lift because if you took the stairs someone would try to look up your skirt. But then you couldn’t go to a lot of press conference venues in trousers. In the Savoy, for example, women in trousers weren’t allowed.”

Published: December 18, 2025, 5:00 am

An adopted polar bear cub and Christmas in the Holy Land: photos of the day – Thursday

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

Published: December 18, 2025, 1:22 pm