‘I can understand being brought to your knees’: Amanda Seyfried on obsession, devotion and the joy of socks

The Testament of Ann Lee is a bonkers musical fantasia about an obscure religious sect. Its star and writer-director Mona Fastvold talk fear, bonding – and not needing an Oscar

Not many actors take an interest in the audience’s aftercare. When it comes to The Testament of Ann Lee, however, Amanda Seyfried is hands-on. “Did you watch it with someone you could talk to?” she asks, tilting her head sympathetically, then dipping her full-beam headlight eyes and giving a worried look when I admit that I saw it alone. “It’s nice to process it with somebody else.”

Her concern is understandable. Whatever feelings the film provokes, indifference will not be among them. Heady and rapturous, this is an all-round odd duck of a movie, the sort of go-for-broke phantasmagoria – an 18th-century musical biopic complete with feverish visions and levitating – that was once typical of Lars von Trier or Bruno Dumont. I confess I didn’t know exactly what to make of it, but I knew I had been through a singular experience. Its director, Mona Fastvold, seated beside Seyfried on a sofa in a London hotel room, looks delighted. “That’s my favourite sort of feeling,” she says.

Published: January 23, 2026, 5:00 am

Experience: my daughters were born conjoined at the head

Seeing them separated for the first time felt like a miracle

I was already a mother of three when I lay back for my 10-week ultrasound in 2019. At first, seeing the gel on my stomach and the flickering black and white image on screen was familiar and soothing. Then I saw the look on the sonographer’s face.

She dropped the probe and ran out of the room without a word. I tried not to panic, but by the time she sprinted back in with a doctor, who looked at the screen and said, “Oh my goodness”, I was terrified.

Published: January 23, 2026, 5:00 am

How Trump’s relations with America’s biggest banking boss hit rock bottom

US president’s $5bn lawsuit against JP Morgan and Jamie Dimon follows a steady rise in tensions between the two men

Weeks after Donald Trump’s first shock election win, bosses from across corporate America were scrambling to enter the president’s orbit.

Business leaders ranging from the General Motors boss, Mary Barra, to Disney’s chief, Bob Iger, quickly signed up to a new advisory council in 2016 to help shape the aggressively pro-growth policies of this new populist politician. Among them was the head of America’s largest bank: Jamie Dimon, the chair and chief executive of JP Morgan.

Published: January 23, 2026, 12:00 pm

The pub that changed me: ‘As soon as I got behind the bar, I panicked’

What could be better than working at the Friendship Inn with my best friend, Ned? Almost anything else, as it turned out

I adored pubs. They were my natural home. And now, thanks to my best friend, Ned, I’d got a job at the Friendship Inn in Prestwich. It was the mid-1980s, and I was in my early 20s, preparing for the first shift. What could be better than working in a pub called the Friendship alongside my bezzy? And I understood drink – you left Guinness to stand, aimed for half an inch of head on a pint of bitter, and if someone asked for water with a whisky you didn’t fill the glass. Easy-peasy.

As soon as I got behind the bar I panicked. There were perhaps half a dozen people waiting to order, but it looked like a sea of thousands. The bar was particularly tricky because it was shaped like the bow of a ship. Every time I went to one side, customers started calling from the other. I couldn’t remember the faces. Nor the drinks they ordered. I took a funny turn. The faces became twisted, distorted, ghoulish, cackling manically or cursing my incompetence. I felt like Mia Farrow confronting the neighbours’ coven in Rosemary’s Baby, only thankfully I didn’t have a knife.

I poured Guinness for people who had ordered a glass of red, Budweiser for those who wanted a Boddingtons. There wasn’t a thing I didn’t get wrong. And then I broke my first glass. The crowd staring at me got more Rosemary’s Baby by the second. My bitter was headless; my lager all head. I broke another glass. I was getting dizzy, struggling to breathe. My legs were collapsing.

Published: January 23, 2026, 5:00 am

Donald Trump doesn’t want us to believe our own eyes | Steven Greenhouse

Renee Nicole Good’s killing is the latest example of the president’s outrageous – and blatant – assaults on the truth

With Donald Trump back in office for a year, it seems increasingly clear what his motto should be: “Who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?” Whether about grocery prices, January 6, Ukraine or actions by ICE agents, Trump keeps making astonishingly false statements that contradict what we can see with our own eyes.

In recent weeks, Trump has once again sought to bamboozle us into not believing what we saw – the most egregious recent example involved the ICE agent who killed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. Within hours of her death, Trump smeared Good on Truth Social, saying that the 37-year-old mother of three belonged to “a Radical Left Movement of Violence and Hate” and that she “viciously ran over the ICE officer”. Trump added, “It is hard to believe he is alive, but is now recovering in the hospital.”

Steven Greenhouse is a journalist and author, focusing on labour and the workplace, as well as economic and legal issues

Published: January 23, 2026, 1:00 pm

Alex Honnold’s made-for-Netflix free solo of Taipei 101 draws awe – and unease

The Free Solo star will attempt to climb the 1,667ft skyscraper without ropes in a live Netflix broadcast, drawing awe, ethical concern and global attention

Alex Honnold has spent the past three months training for this moment: free soloing – climbing without ropes or a harness – one of Asia’s tallest skyscrapers, Taipei 101. It is an ambition that began more than a decade ago and is now close to being realized.

The climb will be broadcast globally on Skyscraper Live, Netflix’s latest foray into live sports programming. The star of the 2019 Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo insists that climbing Taipei 101 will feel no different from any other of his ascents.

Published: January 23, 2026, 8:00 am

Economic strike in Minnesota to protest against ICE: ‘No work, no school, no shopping’

Organizers demand ICE leave state and agency be investigated for constitutional violations

• ICE protests – live updates

A “no work, no school, no shopping” blackout day of protest was kicked off by community leaders, faith leaders and labor unions on Friday in protest against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) surge in the state.

The “Day of Truth & Freedom” protest comes in the wake of the killing of Renee Good, the unarmed woman killed by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis earlier this month.

Published: January 23, 2026, 11:00 am

Starmer accuses Trump of diminishing sacrifice of Nato troops in Afghanistan

Prime minister joins MPs, veterans and relatives in condemning US president’s claim that troops avoided frontlines

• UK politics live – latest updates

Keir Starmer has accused Donald Trump of “diminishing” the sacrifice of fallen British soldiers by claiming that those who fought in Afghanistan avoided the frontlines, as the US president faced a fierce backlash from all sides of the UK political spectrum as well as the families of veterans.

Trump’s suggestion that Nato troops stayed “a little off the frontlines” in Afghanistan has resurfaced questions about his own avoidance of military service in Vietnam.

Published: January 23, 2026, 1:46 pm

Trump’s ‘pay-to-play’ politics fuel a ‘new gilded age’, experts say

Major donors reap influence and material benefits, ethics experts argue, as money and governance intertwine

Donald Trump’s “pay-to-play” governing and fundraising style is helping forge a new gilded age where many super rich donors to Trump’s Maga Inc Pac and other top Trump causes are reaping big political and financial gains, including lax regulations, federal contracts and other benefits, say scholars and analysts.

The transactional style of the US president has been a financial boon to cryptocurrency, AI and fossil fuel interests, among others, which have showered seven- and eight-figure donations on Trump’s Super Pac, inaugural committee and pet projects such as his oft-touted mammoth White House ballroom.

Published: January 23, 2026, 1:00 pm

Democratic lawmakers accuse Trump of letting white-collar criminals ‘off the hook’

Elizabeth Warren and others call for inquiry into Trump for diverting tax evasion resources to immigration crackdown

Senator Elizabeth Warren and fellow Democrats have accused Donald Trump of letting white collar criminals “off the hook” by diverting crucial resources to his sweeping immigration crackdown.

In a letter to federal watchdogs, the Democrats demand an investigation into the US president for shifting more than 25,000 personnel away from investigating fraud, tax evasion and money laundering in favour of his immigration enforcement agenda.

Published: January 23, 2026, 1:21 pm

Russia keeps up demands for Ukraine land before three-way talks in UAE

Moscow says prior talks with Washington ‘useful in every respect’ and repeats call for Ukraine to exit Donbas

• Europe live – latest updates

Ukraine, Russia and the US are to hold three-way talks in Abu Dhabi, the first time the three countries have sat down together since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 – but with Russia maintaining its demands for Ukrainian territory its military does not control.

The meeting was confirmed in the early hours of Friday morning after talks at the Kremlin between the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, the US envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Published: January 23, 2026, 10:23 am

Young will suffer most when AI ‘tsunami’ hits jobs, says head of IMF

Kristalina Georgieva says research suggests 60% of jobs in advanced economies will be affected, with many entry-level roles wiped out

Artificial intelligence will be a “tsunami hitting the labour market”, with young people worst affected, the head of the International Monetary Fund warned the World Economic Forum on Friday.

Kristalina Georgieva told delegates in Davos that the IMF’s own research suggested there would be a big transformation of demand for skills, as the technology becomes increasingly widespread.

Published: January 23, 2026, 1:35 pm

British crown was world’s largest buyer of enslaved people by 1807, book reveals

Exclusive: Author of The Crown’s Silence tells how navy and monarchy protected slave trade for hundreds of years

The British crown and the navy expanded and protected the trade in enslaved African people for hundreds of years, unprecedented research into the monarchy’s historical ties to slavery has found.

The Crown’s Silence, a book by the historian Brooke Newman, follows the Guardian’s 2023 Cost of the crown report, which explored the British monarchy’s hidden ties to transatlantic slavery.

Published: January 23, 2026, 1:12 pm

New filtration technology could be game-changer in removal of Pfas ‘forever chemicals’

Researchers found a new way to filter and destroy Pfas chemicals at 100 times the rate of current systems

New filtration technology developed by Rice University may absorb some Pfas “forever chemicals” at 100 times the rate than previously possible, which could dramatically improve pollution control and speed remediations.

Researchers also say they have also found a way to destroy Pfas, though both technologies face a steep challenge in being deployed on an industrial scale.

Published: January 23, 2026, 1:00 pm

Nine bedrooms, seven untimely deaths: can ‘cursed’ Venice palace finally attract a buyer?

Palazzo Ca’ Dario, empty for years, has failed to find a new owner, with local legends suggesting it is jinxed

It ought to be an estate agent’s dream. Primely positioned on the banks of the Grand Canal in Venice, just steps away from the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, the storied Palazzo Ca’ Dario has shimmered on the water since the late 15th century, its elegant early Venetian Renaissance facade among the city’s most distinctive.

Named after its first owner, Giovanni Dario, a diplomat hailed a hero after securing a peace treaty with the Ottoman empire, over the centuries the palazzo has been home to nobles, merchants and even British rock music royalty. In 1908, it was painted by Claude Monet during his trip to Venice and one year later was cited by Henry James in his travelogue Italian Hours.

Published: January 23, 2026, 12:55 pm

Trump says US ‘armada’ heading to Middle East as Iran death toll passes 5,000

US president says ‘we have a lot of ships’ going in that direction and that Washington is watching Iran closely

Donald Trump has said a US “armada” is heading towards the Middle East and that the US is monitoring Iran closely, as activists put the death toll from Tehran’s bloody crackdown on protesters at 5,002.

Speaking on Air Force One as he returned from the World Economic Forum in Davos overnight, he said: “We have a lot of ships going that direction, just in case. I’d rather not see anything happen, but we’re watching them very closely … we have an armada ... heading in that direction, and maybe we won’t have to use it.”

Published: January 23, 2026, 1:07 pm

Disaster averted at Davos but world ever vulnerable to capricious Trump’s whims

President backed away from threats over Greenland but allies dare not regard avoidance of catastrophe as anything more than a respite

So deeply embedded in the realm of reality television is Donald Trump’s presidency that trying to apply any orthodox diplomatic measures of win or loss to his rumbustious appearance in Davos this week seems superfluous.

With his compulsive addiction to high-octane political drama, Trump had already achieved the improbable even before his arrival on Wednesday; transforming the normally somnolent Swiss Alpine resort into a unlikely setting for a high-noon confrontation with the US’s supposed European allies over Greenland.

Published: January 23, 2026, 1:00 pm

US health insurance executives testify before Congress about increasing costs of healthcare

CEO of UnitedHealth Group said his company will return profits earned from Affordable Care Act plans to customers

Executives from five of the country’s largest health insurance companies appeared before Congress on Thursday as lawmakers examined why healthcare has become increasingly harder for Americans to afford.

In one effort to address the affordability crisis, the CEO of UnitedHealth Group, Stephen Hemsley, announced that the nation’s largest insurance company will rebate profits made this year from its Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans to customers, while adding it was a relatively small participant in the ACA individual market.

Published: January 23, 2026, 2:18 am

The occupation of Minneapolis: how residents are resisting Trump’s ICE 'invasion' – video

Following the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by ICE agents in Minneapolis, the Guardian’s Oliver Laughland and Tom Silverstone travel to the heart of affected neighbourhoods to speak with residents who are fighting to defend their community from violence and intimidation. They embed with ICE watch groups, hear from Somali-American residents, and witness a swarm of federal agents conduct a sweep in the suburbs

Published: January 23, 2026, 11:00 am

Leaked video shows Venezuela regime’s desperate struggle to control message

Interim leader Delcy Rodríguez told influencers of US threat to kill leaders if they did not cooperate after capture of Maduro

The communications minister holds a phone up to a microphone before a gathering of regime-friendly influencers.

On speakerphone is Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, who claims that when US forces captured the dictator Nicolás Maduro, she and other members of his cabinet were given 15 minutes to decide whether to comply with Washington’s demands – “or they would kill us.”

Published: January 23, 2026, 12:00 pm

‘There are kids not going to school’: fear of ICE is keeping children from classes in Connecticut

In New Haven, where one in six residents is foreign born, children’s education suffers as they are afraid to step out

“They took her, they took her, they took her.”

Those were some of the words Cora Muñoz, the Wilbur Cross high school assistant principal, could discern while on the phone with the guardian of one of her students. As the caller sobbed and struggled to speak, Muñoz realized that immigration enforcement agents had detained a kid from Wilbur Cross, the high school she helps lead.

Published: January 23, 2026, 12:00 pm

‘It’s the sovereignty of the country’: Guinea-Bissau says US vaccine study suspended

Despite US pushback, officials in west Africa say controversial hepatitis B study on pause amid ethics concerns

US health officials insisted it was still on. African health leaders said it was cancelled. At the heart of the controversy is the west African nation of Guinea-Bissau – one of the poorest countries in the world and the proposed site of a hotly debated US-funded study on vaccines.

The study on hepatitis B vaccination, to be led by Danish researchers, became a flashpoint after major changes to the US vaccination schedule and prompted questions about how research is conducted ethically in other countries.

Published: January 23, 2026, 11:00 am

Delroy Lindo: the Sinners Oscar nominee who could make Spike Lee’s secret British weapon rather less secret

Lining up for best supporting actor in the year’s most hotly-tipped film, the Lewisham-born actor has long been a favourite of the Malcolm X director and is poised for brighter limelight

In the aftermath of the Oscar nominations, Wunmi Mosaku was heralded as Britain’s saviour after her best supporting actress nod at Hollywood’s most prestigious awards. The UK had been facing its first nomination-less year in the acting categories since 1986.

But the Sinners star was joined by a fellow cast member, Lewisham-born, Delroy Lindo, who will also be representing Britain on the big night on 15 March.

Published: January 23, 2026, 12:35 pm

Carousel review – Chris Pine and Jenny Slate are lost in static romance drama

Sundance film festival: an often lushly made yet frustratingly undercooked small town indie kicks off this year’s festival with disappointment

And so this year’s Sundance has officially begun, with grief over the loss of founder Robert Redford and its move from long-running home Park City likely to drown out the sounds of anyone talking about the first narrative premiere. It wouldn’t be the first time it has started with a whimper (unofficial opening day films have previously included misfires like After the Wedding, Freaky Tales, Netflix’s Taylor Swift doc and last year’s Jimpa) but there’s something specifically disappointing about a film such as Carousel showing at a festival such as Sundance.

It’s the sort of small, character-driven American indie that has served as the festival’s lifeblood for almost 50 years and, as the system has expanded in some ways and shrunk in others, the sort that has often struggled to make it far out of Park City. Back in 2023, a quiet, disarming and perfectly Sundance film called A Little Prayer premiered yet didn’t get released until late last summer and was seen by a precious few. The world is not kind to films like Carousel at this very moment and while I would love to see this particular subgenre flourish in the way it used to back in the 90s and 00s, it’s hard to muster up much in the way of strong feelings here.

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

Published: January 23, 2026, 4:14 am

‘Some artists thought it was too political’: can Jarvis, Damon, Olivia Rodrigo and Arctic Monkeys reboot the biggest charity album of the 90s?

Oasis, Macca and Radiohead made Help a smash for War Child in 1995. A new reboot packs comparable star power – and was partially produced from a hospital bed

When Kae Tempest was asked to contribute to a new track by Damon Albarn, which would also feature Fontaines DC frontman Grian Chatten, Tempest says he jumped at the chance. It wasn’t just the artists involved, nor the fact that it was for a new compilation benefiting War Child, called Help(2): a sequel to the charity’s hugely successful 1995 compilation Help. After seven solo albums, Tempest had begun thinking about working with others, and so the night before the recording session, he and Chatten repaired to Albarn’s studio and wrote their verses together, “responding to each other”. It seemed to work really well, he says: “A true collaboration.”

Nevertheless, he concedes, the actual recording of Flags proved to be quite the baptism of fire. “Johnny Marr was on guitar, Femi [Koleoso] from Ezra Collective was drumming,” he laughs. “Plus, there was a children’s choir.”

Published: January 23, 2026, 8:00 am

Harry Styles: Aperture review – a joyous, quietly radical track made for hugging strangers on a dancefloor

(Columbia Records)
Styles is wonderfully loose and unhurried on the lead single to his new album, taking a bold path away from the rest of today’s mainstream pop

Now the proud owner of six Brits, three Grammys and seven UK Top 10 singles, it’s fair to say Harry Styles has elegantly sidestepped the potholes that pepper the route from ex-boyband member to solo superstar. His well-earned confidence means that rather than fill the gap between 2022’s Harry’s House and last week’s announcement of his fourth album – the confusingly-titled Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally – with various one-off releases, spurious anniversary variants or curated social media moments, Styles basically disappeared. In fact, the only sliver of excitement for his fanbase to grab on to came last September when he ran the Berlin marathon in a very respectable 2hr 59min.

Having endured the music industry at the height of its #content-heavy obsession in One Direction, there’s something old-fashioned about Styles’ absence between album eras. That’s unlikely to be accidental: since launching his solo career with 2017’s muted, 1970s soft-rock-indebted self-titled debut, Styles has cast himself as a cross-generational throwback beamed into the present, albeit one sporting fashion choices that rile gender conformists. Each album has arrived with a list of influences more akin to the lineup on the Old Grey Whistle Test than the current TikTok algorithms, while 2019’s Fine Line, Styles told us, was crafted under the influence of those vintage psychedelics, magic mushrooms.

Published: January 23, 2026, 9:50 am

Week in wildlife: a proud eagle, an adorable axolotl and a goofy seal

This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world

Published: January 23, 2026, 8:00 am

Democrats are campaigning as if the 2026 election will be fair. That’s a mistake | Austin Sarat

Trump’s remarks and Project 2025’s proposals have made the plan clear. Democrats must focus on stopping it

Last week, during an Oval Office Interview with Reuters, Donald Trump touted his accomplishments and suggested that they are so great that “we shouldn’t even have an election” in November. Not surprisingly, that comment made headlines.

But it is at best a distraction from the real threat: the United States will have elections this year, but they will not be free and fair.

Published: January 23, 2026, 11:00 am

Trump’s Greenland U-turn was spectacular. The lesson for Europe: strongmen understand only strength | Nathalie Tocci

With conflict averted for now, European leaders will be tempted to retreat to their comfort zone of cowardice. But the next crisis will soon be here

Donald Trump’s climbdown, after days of escalation during which he had refused to rule out a military attack to annex Greenland, was spectacular. In his Davos speech, Trump repeated his desire to own Greenland, claiming that you cannot defend what you do not own, only to then announce that he would not conquer the Arctic island by force. Hours later, he claimed that he had reached an unspecified deal on Greenland, and would therefore refrain from imposing additional tariffs on those European countries that had had the audacity to participate in a joint military exercise in Greenland at Denmark’s invitation.

We know neither the details of the framework agreement reached by Trump and the Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, nor whether it carries any weight, given the US president’s fickleness. But it appears that the deal, while open to discussing Arctic security, mineral rights and possibly even the sovereignty of US bases, preserves Greenland’s sovereignty within the Kingdom of Denmark. In short, this has been a remarkable U-turn.

Nathalie Tocci is a Guardian Europe columnist

Published: January 23, 2026, 11:06 am

Doomscrolling won’t bring order to the chaos. It’s OK to put the phone down and take a break | Gaby Hinsliff

Keep Calm and Carry On: that’s not how people felt as the second world war loomed. But maybe, as Trump stalks, that old slogan is finally making sense

It has become known as the “war of nerves”. An apt name for a jittery, jangling time in British history, consumed with fear of what may be coming, in which the sheer unpredictability of life became – as the historian Prof Julie Gottlieb writes – a form of psychological warfare. Contemporary reports describe “threats of mysterious weapons, gigantic bluff, and a cat-and-mouse game intended to stampede the civilian population of this island into terror”.

It all sounds uncannily like life under Donald Trump, who this week marched the world uphill to war, only to amble just as inexplicably back down again. But Gottlieb is actually describing the period between the Munich crisis of 1938 and the blitz beginning in earnest in September 1940. Her fascinating study of letters, diaries and newspapers from the period focuses not on the big geopolitical picture but on small domestic details, and what they reveal about the emotional impact of living suspended between peace and war: companies advertising “nerve tonics” for the anxious, reports of women buying hats to lift their spirits and darker accounts of nervous breakdowns. We did not, contrary to popular myth, all Keep Calm and Carry On. Suicide rates, she notes, rose slightly.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist

Published: January 23, 2026, 6:00 am

If I’d pitched Trump’s Greenland plot for Borgen I’d have been laughed at. Now we’re living his sinister drama

The only positive of this stranger-than-fiction scenario is that Greenland and Denmark stand more united than ever

• Adam Price is the creator of the TV series Borgen

As a writer of political fiction for many years, including four seasons of my TV series Borgen, I find myself in the strangest of landscapes watching Donald Trump desperately wanting Greenland like a spoilt child who has never heard the word “no”.

We dedicated an episode to Greenland in the first season in 2010 and then it became the main setting for the fourth season in 2022. Our focus on this former colony of Denmark, and its amazing Indigenous people, was motivated by one big factor. For political drama I always look for stories with emotion, and the old colonial tale of Denmark and Greenland is full of it.

Published: January 23, 2026, 1:00 pm

The greatest threat facing Britain may soon be the US – but the establishment won’t recognise it | Andy Beckett

Since the end of the second world war, all eyes have been on Russia. Yet Trump’s increasingly erratic, hostile presidency is shattering old assumptions

One of the things that the depleted, often denigrated British state is still pretty good at is persuading the public that another country is a threat. As a small, warlike island next to a much larger land mass, Britain has had centuries of practice at cultivating its own sense of foreboding. Arguably, preparing for conflict with some part of the outside world is our natural mindset.

Warnings about potential enemy countries are spread by our prime ministers and major political parties, intelligence services and civil servants, serving and retired military officers, defence and foreign affairs thinktanks, and journalists from the right and the left. Sometimes, the process is relatively subtle and covert: reporters or MPs are given off-the-record briefings about our “national security” – a potently imprecise term – facing a new threat.

Andy Beckett is a Guardian columnist

Published: January 23, 2026, 8:00 am

The Guardian view on Trump’s Board of Peace: an international body in service to one man’s ego | Editorial

It was supposed to give Gaza a future, but the US president is using it to attack the UN, international law and multilateralism

One glance at the logo of the Board of Peace tells you all you need to know. It is the globe and laurels of the UN – only gold, because this is Donald Trump’s initiative, and showing little of the world beyond North America.

The charter of the board, formally launched in Davos on Thursday, suggests that this is less America First than Trump Always. It is not “the US president” but Mr Trump himself who is named as chair, for as long as he wishes. He can pick his successor, decide the agenda and axe whomever he chooses – even if they have coughed up the $1bn demanded for permanent membership. It is the institutional expression of his belief that he is bound not by law but “my own morality, my own mind”.

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

Published: January 22, 2026, 6:45 pm

The Guardian view on toddlers and screens: more reasons to be fearful of big tech | Editorial

Growing concerns about the impact of smartphones on the youngest children must be addressed

The first UK government guidance on young children’s use of tablets, smartphones and other screens, expected in April, cannot come soon enough. The laissez-faire approach to the boom in social media, handheld devices and other digital technology was arguably nowhere less suitable than when such machines were placed in front of babies. The Department for Education’s ongoing Children of the 2020s study has found that 98% of two-year-olds watch screens on a typical day for more than two hours. Those who spent the most time had smaller vocabularies, and were twice as likely as other children to show signs of emotional and behavioural difficulties.

Correlation must not be mistaken for causation. This is still a relatively new area of research, and much remains uncertain. But the findings of a recent survey by the charity Kindred Squared, combined with observations by teachers, are highly concerning. Answers from 1,000 primary-school staff revealed that 37% of four-year-olds arrived without basic life skills such as dressing and eating in 2025 – up from 33% two years earlier.

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

Published: January 22, 2026, 6:44 pm

NFL conference championship game picks: do the No 1 seed Broncos have any chance of victory?

The Super Bowl match-up will be set this weekend as a weakened Denver take on New England and two NFC West rivals clash in Seattle

What New England need to do to win: Clean up their act. Last week against the Houston Texans, Drake Maye was blindsided too often by edge rushers Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter. The pair wreaked havoc, sacking Maye five times and forcing him into three of his four fumbles. The Los Angeles Chargers also forced two from him in the wildcard round. Denver led the league in sacks (68) in the regular season, and will be intent on causing similar damage on Sunday. But Maye can mitigate that threat if he sharpens his awareness in the pocket and takes the sack rather than rushing into impossible passes. New England’s left tackle Will Campbell is very likely to lose a couple of duels with edge defender Nick Bonitto, so Maye needs to be ready for a helmet sandwich while holding on to the ball for dear life. Simply punting and giving Denver’s second-string quarterback, Jarrett Stidham, tough field position may be all it takes to reach the Super Bowl.

Published: January 23, 2026, 10:00 am

Australian Open 2026: Norrie out, De Minaur and Andreeva advance – as it happened

British hopes in the singles ended with Cameron Norrie’s four-set defeat by Alexander Zverev, on a night when Alex De Minaur and Mirra Andreeva won in straight sets

Norrie and Zverev are going through the pre-match formalities. The umpire tells the players to smile big for the cameras. Not sure how easy that is for Norrie, given the British No 2, the last Brit standing in the singles, has lost to Zverev in all six of their previous meetings. The last time they played at the Australian Open was in 2024, when Norrie was denied 7-6 in the fifth set. But Norrie will at least take something from the fact he was able to push Zverev all the way then, and the fact that this is a night match, with slightly slower conditions, may help Norrie, because the rallies will be longer and more attritional and that’s what he loves.

Up next: we’ve got De Minaur v Tiafoe on Rod Laver and Norrie v Zverev on John Cain and Svitolina v Shnaider on Margaret Court.

Published: January 23, 2026, 1:34 pm

‘You can’t just remove the cloud’: US sprinting’s reckoning before LA 2028

Once a nearly man of US sprinting, Marvin Bracy-Williams’ ban has exposed a sport gripped by doping, distrust and whispered betrayals

Marvin Bracy-Williams dreamed of ranking in the pantheon of elite male US sprinters alongside Carl Lewis, Michael Johnson and Maurice Greene. He’s quick – 9.85sec for 100m – but his problem was he could only ever finish second: silver at the world indoors in 2014, silver at the world championships in 2022.

When he didn’t even make the USA team for the 2023 world championships he realized that, at 29, he was losing the most important contest of all, the race against time.

Published: January 23, 2026, 10:15 am

Concacaf president revealed to make $3m a year for five hours’ work per week

Victor Montagliani’s compensation is thought to be among the highest in the world for a non-club soccer official

Concacaf president Victor Montagliani is paid over $3m per year for what the organization claims is just five hours per week of work, according to the latest tax filing made to the Internal Revenue Service.

Publicly available filings, first reported by ProPublica, show that the Canadian was paid $2.1m in base compensation and an additional $893,750 in unspecified bonus and incentive compensation for the 2024 tax year. An additional $15,780 was paid in deferred or retirement compensation.

Published: January 23, 2026, 10:30 am

‘Chess Wimbledon’ opens with an environmental protest as Niemann shares lead

First round at Wijk aan Zee delayed for over an hour after protesters dump coal at venue and unveil banner reading ‘no chess on a dead planet’

Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee, the “chess Wimbledon”, has been sponsored for all its 88 years by the local steelworks, either in its previous incarnations as Hoogovens and Corus or under its current Indian management.

Its relations with the local community have previously been good, but this year protesters targeting Tata Steel drew attention to the company’s heavy use of coal by dumping two tons of it in front of the entrance, and draping a banner reading “No chess on a dead planet” over the sports hall. Play in the opening round eventually began one and a half hours late.

Published: January 23, 2026, 8:00 am

Chelsea’s Alyssa Thompson: ‘I think of this as like going away for college like all my friends did’

Blues’ record signing on adapting to English football culture, the challenge of leaving family behind and being well taught by Sonia Bompastor

Alyssa Thompson is no stranger to the limelight. Despite being only 21, her undeniable natural talent and eye‑catching career have propelled her into the headlines ever since her hometown club, Angel City, made her the first pick in the 2023 National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) draft.

The past few months, however, have provided the USA international with a different challenge altogether. A high-profile deadline day move to the English champions, Chelsea, in September meant leaving her family and the comforts of Los Angeles and testing herself overseas.

Published: January 23, 2026, 12:00 pm

Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend

Mateus Fernandes steels West Ham, Dominic Calvert-Lewin faces a homecoming and Manchester City need Marc Guéhi

• Top scorers: check out the latest standings

The absence of the wantaway Lucas Paquetá has given Mateus Fernandes a chance to take on more responsibility for West Ham. Paquetá, who is said to be nursing a minor back problem, was unavailable again for last week’s win at Spurs but Nuno Espírito Santo’s struggling side coped without the Flamengo target. They called on Fernandes to dictate the flow in midfield and the diligent Portuguese did not disappoint. Fernandes moved the ball cleverly, picked up an assist and looked like that rarest of things: a smart signing from West Ham. They will need the 21-year-old, who joined from Southampton for £38m last summer, to shine again with Paquetá looking unlikely to return against high-flying Sunderland at the London Stadium. Jacob Steinberg

West Ham v Sunderland, Saturday 12.30pm (all times GMT)

Burnley v Tottenham, Saturday 3pm

Fulham v Brighton, Saturday 3pm

Manchester City v Wolves, Saturday 3pm

Bournemouth v Liverpool, Saturday 5.30pm

Published: January 23, 2026, 12:00 am

Trinity Rodman stays in NWSL, signing record contract with Spirit

• US star will reportedly be world’s highest-paid women’s player

• Rodman turned down ‘compelling’ offers to leave

• Saga spurred debate around NWSL’s ability to keep talent

Trinity Rodman, the US national team forward, has signed a new three-year contract to stay with Washington Spirit and will reportedly be the world’s highest-paid women’s player.

The record deal, announced on Thursday, ends months of uncertainty around the 23-year-old’s future. Her previous contract – a $1.1m, four-year deal – expired in December and she was understood to have received lucrative offers from Europe, which the Spirit were unable to initially match under the NWSL’s salary cap rules.

Published: January 23, 2026, 12:46 am

New York nurses continue to strike in frigid weather as Mamdani shows support

New York mayor was joined by Senator Bernie Sanders at a Tuesday rally with nurses as strike entered second week

New York City may be experiencing some of its coldest weather of the winter, with sub-zero temperatures biting fingers and nipping cheeks, but that hasn’t prevented thousands of nurses from taking to the picket line for what is the largest nurses strike in the city’s history.

Almost 15,000 nurses who work for three separate hospital systems have been on strike since 12 January, holding out for increased staffing, better safety in hospitals, and improved healthcare benefits. The New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) has pointed to the giant pay packages that hospital CEOs have received, at a time when nurses say there are too few of them to adequately care for patients.

Published: January 23, 2026, 12:00 pm

Dramatic rise in water-related violence recorded since 2022

Experts say climate crisis, corruption and lack or misuse of infrastructure among factors driving water conflicts

Water-related violence has almost doubled since 2022 and little is being done to understand and address the trend and prevent new and escalating risks, experts have said.

There were 419 incidents of water-related violence recorded in 2024, up from 235 in 2022, according to the Pacific Institute, a US-based thinktank.

Published: January 23, 2026, 6:00 am

‘The sound of mayhem’: witness to New Zealand landslide describes ‘almighty cracking’

Alister McHardy was going out to fish at sunrise on Thursday, when he noticed a ‘mountain of soil’ at the north end of the beach at Mount Maunganui

It was the “almighty cracking” that they heard first, an unmistakable deep rumble before the mountain gave way, swallowing up caravans and cars as it collapsed at speed on the campsite below. Aerial images show the aftermath of the landslide that struck New Zealand’s North Island on Thursday – a massive piece of brown earth gouged out of the green slope, flattened roofs and a few trees sticking out an unnatural angles.

“It was almost like the air pressure changed. It was a real powerful event,” says local Alister McHardy. “It just came down, a lot of cracking and people screaming and car alarms going off … The sounds of mayhem.”

Published: January 23, 2026, 4:34 am

‘We need change, not just as young people but as a country’: Uganda’s youth on 40 years of Museveni

This month the president was reelected for his seventh term, devastating the hopes of many who fear a future of stagnation and unemployment

When Uganda’s electoral commission declared President Yoweri Museveni the winner of the 2026 general election this month, there was little surprise among the country’s younger voters. Those aged under 35 make up more than three-quarters (78%) of Uganda’s population – the second youngest population in the world – and for many, the news of Museveni’s victory confirmed what they had expected. For some, it also crushed the fragile hope inspired by the rise of the opposition leader, Robert Kyagulanyi, known as Bobi Wine.

Sarah Namubiru, 21, a university student hoping to be a teacher, says she did not vote for Museveni because of the low salaries in the teaching profession.

Published: January 23, 2026, 10:00 am

Spanish court points finger at Israel as it drops Pegasus spyware case again

Judge shelves inquiry into use of Israeli-made software to target ministers’ phones citing chronic lack of cooperation

Spain’s highest criminal court has again shelved its investigation into the use of Israeli-made Pegasus software to target the mobile phones of senior Spanish ministers, including the prime minister, citing a chronic lack of cooperation from the Israeli authorities that has violated “the principle of good faith” between countries.

The investigation began in May 2022 after the Spanish government revealed that the phones of the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, and the defence minister, Margarita Robles, had been infected the previous year with the spyware, which, according to its manufacturers, NSO Group, is available only to state agencies. It was later established that the phones of the interior minister and the agriculture minister had also been targeted.

Published: January 23, 2026, 10:38 am

TikTok announces it has finalized deal to establish US entity, sidestepping ban

Majority US-owned venture includes Larry Ellison’s Oracle, private-equity group Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi’s MGX

TikTok announced on Thursday it had closed a deal to establish a new US entity, allowing it to sidestep a ban and ending a long legal battle.

The deal finalized by ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese owner, sets up a majority American-owned venture, with investors including Larry Ellison’s Oracle, the private-equity group Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi’s MGX owning 80.1% of the new entity, while ByteDance will own 19.9%.

Published: January 23, 2026, 8:43 am

Japan pauses restart of world’s largest nuclear power plant one day after it went online

Operator says it does not know when the problem at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata province will be solved, after an alarm sounded during start-up

The restart of the world’s largest nuclear power plant was suspended in Japan on Thursday just a day after it went online for the first time in about 14 years, with the operator saying it does not know when the problem will be solved.

The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata province had been closed since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, but operations to relaunch it began on Wednesday after it received the final green light from the nuclear regulator.

Published: January 23, 2026, 12:19 am

Indonesia takes action against mining firms after floods devastate population of world’s rarest ape

Conservationists hail the ‘desperately needed’ measures and urge greater protection after up to 11% of endangered Tapanuli orangutans wiped out

The floods and landslides that tore through Indonesia’s fragile Batang Toru ecosystem in November 2024 – killing up to 11% of the world’s Tapanuli orangutan population – prompted widespread scrutiny of the extractive companies operating in the area at the time of the ecological catastrophe.

For weeks, investigators searched for evidence that the companies may have damaged the Batang Toru and Garoga watersheds before the disaster, which washed torrents of mud and logs into villages, claiming the lives of more than 1,100 people.

Published: January 23, 2026, 5:00 am

‘An environmental nuclear bomb’: documentary examines fight to save Great Salt Lake

Sundance film festival: A cautionary new film, executive-produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, warns of the devastating consequences if the Utah lake continues to disappear

The Sundance film festival kicked off its final edition on Thursday in Park City, the Utah ski enclave that has housed the independent film hub for more than four decades. Beginning in 2027, the festival will move to Boulder, Colorado, after a multi-year selection process that many assumed would end in Salt Lake City.

Utah’s largest city, a mere 30 miles from the festival center, has long hosted extra Sundance events and served as its transit center. It’s a rapidly growing metropolitan area, a mecca for outdoor enthusiasts, a major US city – and, according to a new documentary that opened this year’s festival, facing an imminent ecological crisis.

Published: January 23, 2026, 12:15 am

Thailand’s endangered ‘sea cows’ are washing ashore – pointing to a crisis in our seas

The Andaman Coast has one of the largest concentration of dugong in the world, so why are numbers falling dramatically and what can they tell us about a biodiversity warning cry

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Thailand’s Andaman Coast is home to one of the largest dugong populations in the world, with 273 of the plump marine mammals, sometimes called sea cows, estimated to be living there as of 2022. In recent years, though, more and more dead or stranded dugongs have been washing ashore. Now the Andaman Coast population may have fallen by more than half, experts say.

In late November, I travelled to Phuket, following in the footsteps of film-makers Mailee Osten-Tan and Nick Axelrod, who have been investigating Thailand’s dugong crisis over the past year for a new Guardian documentary.

The fate of the planet’s coastlines depends on how fast Antarctica’s ice sheets melt. We don’t know what’s coming

‘Every time I look at one, I smile!’: how axolotls took over the world

Labour’s warm homes plan is all carrot and no stick for UK households

Published: January 23, 2026, 7:00 am

Powerful winter storm to bring heavy snow across much of US this weekend

Storm expected to hit from south Rockies and plains into mid-south on Friday before spreading east

A powerful winter storm is set to sweep across much of the US this weekend, bringing potentially record-breaking cold, heavy snow and ice that forecasters warn could cause hazardous conditions, power outages and travel disruptions.

The storm is expected to bring “widespread heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain” from the southern Rockies and the plains into the mid-south on Friday, before spreading east to the mid-Atlantic and New England areas this weekend, according to the National Weather Service. The impact in New England will potentially linger into Monday.

Published: January 22, 2026, 8:59 pm

Man accused of plot to murder US border patrol’s Bovino found not guilty

Acquittal of Juan Espinoza Martinez in Chicago marks latest major federal prosecution to fall apart in court

A man accused of a murder-for-hire plot targeting a top US border patrol leader was found not guilty on Thursday in Chicago, the latest high-profile prosecution by the Department of Justice to fall apart in court.

The government alleged that Juan Espinoza Martinez, 37, had offered a $10,000 bounty over Snapchat in October for the killing of Gregory Bovino, the border patrol official who has spearheaded aggressive immigration operations in cities across the country. Defense lawyers argued Espinoza Martinez was sharing an innocuous social media message that did not constitute a threat.

Published: January 23, 2026, 1:43 am

Trump says he’s expanding defamation suit against New York Times after unfavorable poll

US president says his qualms over the opinion poll would be added to existing defamation lawsuit against the paper

Donald Trump has said he is expanding his defamation suit against the New York Times after an unfavorable opinion poll.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, the US president said his qualms about the Times Siena poll would be added to his existing defamation lawsuit against the newspaper.

Published: January 22, 2026, 6:16 pm

Trump sues JPMorgan Chase and Jamie Dimon for at least $5bn

US president alleges JP Morgan stopped offering him banking services in wake of January 6 attack

Donald Trump has sued JPMorgan Chase and its CEO, Jamie Dimon, for at least $5bn after accusing America’s largest bank of “debanking” him.

The US president alleged that the bank stopped offering him banking services in the wake of the Capitol riot on January 6. Earlier this month, he claimed it had “incorrectly and inappropriately” discriminated against him.

Published: January 22, 2026, 11:08 pm

NIH ends funding of research that uses human fetal tissue from abortions

Fetal tissue has been used to advance research into diabetes, Alzheimer’s, infertility and vaccines

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will no longer fund research that uses human fetal tissue obtained from “elective” abortions, the world’s biggest public funder of biomedical research announced on Thursday.

The ban marks the latest, and most dramatic, effort by the Trump administration to end research that uses fetal tissue from abortions – a goal that anti-abortion advocates, who oppose the research, have sought for years. In 2019, during Donald Trump’s first term in office, the NIH stopped funding internal research that involved the tissue and implemented a review committee to evaluate research proposals from scientists outside the government. Joe Biden ended that policy in 2021.

Published: January 22, 2026, 10:25 pm

Counter-terrorism police investigating ‘highly targeted’ attacks on Pakistani dissidents in UK

Exclusive: victims in hiding after attacks involving physical assault, attempted arson and the use of firearms

Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command is investigating a series of “highly targeted” attacks on two Pakistani dissidents living in Britain which may bear the hallmarks of states using criminal proxies to silence their critics.

One person has been arrested after a series of four attacks which began on Christmas Eve. One of the attacks involved a firearm.

Published: January 23, 2026, 6:00 am

Barron Trump told police he was ‘very close’ to alleged rape victim, court hears

Donald Trump’s son was on video call with woman when he saw a man repeatedly punch her, court told

Donald Trump’s youngest son said he was “very close” to an alleged rape victim after raising the alarm about a suspected assault against her, a court has heard.

Barron Trump was on a FaceTime video call a year ago with the woman, who cannot be named, when he saw a man repeatedly punch her, Snaresbrook crown court in Greater London was told on Wednesday.

Published: January 22, 2026, 4:44 pm

Venezuela’s Delcy Rodríguez assured US of cooperation before Maduro’s capture

Exclusive: sources say powerful figures in the regime secretly told US and Qatari officials they would welcome Maduro’s departure

Before the US military snatched Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, earlier this month, Delcy Rodríguez and her powerful brother pledged to cooperate with the Trump administration once the strongman was gone, four sources involved at high levels with the discussions told the Guardian.

Rodríguez, who was sworn in on 5 January as acting president to replace Maduro, and her brother Jorge, the head of the national assembly, secretly assured US and Qatari officials through intermediaries ahead of time that they would welcome Maduro’s departure, according to the sources.

Published: January 22, 2026, 12:55 pm

Ari Lennox: Vacancy review – the R&B sophisticate’s loosest and most fun outing yet

(Interscope)
On her third LP, Lennox balances jazz-soaked tradition with flashes of unruly humour and a surefire viral hit

Ari Lennox is one of contemporary R&B’s premier sophisticates, preferring a palette of lush jazz, soul and 90s hip-hop over the more genre-fluid sound pushed by contemporaries SZA and Kehlani. But a few songs into her new album, Vacancy, she makes it eminently clear that tradition and wildness can coexist, with fabulously sparky results: on Under the Moon, she describes a lover as “vicious / Like a werewolf / When you’re in it” and proceeds to howl “moooooooooon” as if she is in an old creature feature.

Vacancy, Lennox’s third album, is far and away her most fun, and if it isn’t quite as ingratiating as her 2022 Age/Sex/Location, it makes up for it with canny lyrics and an airy, open sound. Cool Down is a reggae/R&B hybrid that practically feels as if it is made of aerogel, and which pairs its summery lightness with witty lyrics telling a guy to chill out. On Mobbin in DC, she pairs lounge-singer coolness with withering come-ons (“You know where I be / This ain’t calculus / No ChatGPT”), while the strutting Horoscope, with its hook of “That boy put the ho’ in ‘horoscope’,” is as surefire a future viral hit as I’ve ever heard.

Published: January 23, 2026, 8:30 am

Ryan Coogler’s Sinners has administered an almighty smackdown to critical favourites One Battle and Hamnet

Coogler’s vampire thriller swept the Oscar nominations over Chloé Zhao’s tearjerker and Paul Thomas Anderson’s counterculture thriller. This genre-defying drama about the black experience could now rule awards season
• Full list of nominees
• Sinners becomes first film in history to earn 16 Oscar nominations

Agree with them or not, these Oscar nominations deliver a pert slap to the accepted assumptions of awards season. The industry had been expecting landslides for classy upmarket fare such as Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet, Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, and also for Josh Safdie’s delirious comedy Marty Supreme. And that’s what they got.

But perhaps no one expected these titles to get quite as colossal a smackdown as they got from Ryan Coogler’s vampire drama thriller Sinners: a violent, high-energy fantasia about racism, music and the black experience, which has soared ahead with 16 nominations – the most for any film in 97 years of the Academy Awards. Whatever happens on the night itself, Ryan Coogler has made Oscar history.

Published: January 22, 2026, 5:45 pm

Sundance 2026: the 10 films not to miss at this year’s festival

The first Sundance without founder Robert Redford and the last to take place in Park City, Utah, will see new films starring Natalie Portman, Ethan Hawke and Courtney Love

This year’s Sundance film festival will be notable for a major first as well as a major last. It’ll be the first to take place without its founder, Robert Redford, who died last September at the age of 89, and it’ll be the last to take place in Utah, where it has been since the very beginning back in 1978.

Emotions, which are often on display regardless thanks to films often ruthlessly designed to elicit them, will be high, with events planned to commemorate a figure who helped create a launchpad and then an ecosystem for American indies. But while saying goodbye to both Redford and Park City will be front and centre, Sundance isn’t Sundance without a roster of films to also get attenders talking. Last year, it felt like that chatter was less effusive than usual because while there were films that continued evoking conversation throughout the year (Sorry, Baby, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, Train Dreams, Lurker, Twinless, pretty much every documentary premiere) there were more that either died on arrival or crawled toward a slow death months later.

Published: January 22, 2026, 3:11 pm

‘The emotion you get from the game is insane’: the Roy Keane bust-up film leading a new type of football movie

Saipan, about Keane’s infamous World Cup row with manager Mick McCarthy, has become a hit film in its native Ireland – as it opens in the UK screenwriter Paul Fraser explains how he aimed to avoid the mistakes of the past

The best bit of football action in Saipan happens on a tennis court. The forthcoming movie about the schism between Mick McCarthy and Roy Keane that led to the latter departing the 2002 World Cup before it started does not attempt to recreate any of the action from the tournament. In fact, it largely takes place in a decrepit hotel. But we do get one exception: Keane, played by Éanna Hardwicke, practising alone in the grounds. At the back of a court, the sullen, spartan athlete stands as a ball is fired up and over the net towards him. He tracks it with his eyes, opens up his right foot, takes the ball on his instep and kills it dead. And with that, his sporting bona fides are confirmed.

Saipan is a movie about masculinity, about men and their egos. It’s also about an era in Irish history; the roaring of the Celtic tiger, where questions of national identity came to the fore. What it’s not, really, is a movie about football. Which might be a canny choice, because while the world’s most popular sport only continues to grow its audience, football’s track record on the big screen is, how shall we say, like Manchester United after Sir Alex.

Published: January 22, 2026, 7:00 am

Add to playlist: the Regency-styled 80s synth-pop revivalism of Haute & Freddy and the week’s best new tracks

The LA-based pop duo are sending a jolt through TikTok with maximalist songs that emote wildly in every direction

From Los Angeles
Recommend if you like Erasure, Chappell Roan, Jade
Up next Debut album Big Disgrace out 13 March

Just when you think pop is finally moving away from the synth-heavy 80s sound, another thrilling new act comes along to say: “Nope!” With shades of Erasure and a good dollop of theatre kid energy, Haute & Freddy are the Regency-styled freaks sending a jolt through TikTok. Their latest single Dance the Pain Away is the year’s first true banger, a dazzling sad-pop production that bursts through the January gloom, thrusts a spritzer in your hand and drags you to the dancefloor.

Published: January 23, 2026, 12:00 pm

Dijon review – a dense and dramatic forest of futurist sound from Grammy-nominated R&B auteur

Brixton Academy
Nominated for producer of the year for his album Baby and work with Justin Bieber, the US musician’s passion and experimentalism shine in this daring performance

Dijon may have sold out two nights at Brixton Academy, but the first feels more like the audience are witnessing a joyous jam session between friends: musicians who are totally attentive to one another and unabashed in their passion.

Following an extensive US tour of his acclaimed album Baby – and ahead of next weekend’s Grammys, where he is up for producer of the year thanks to his work with Justin Bieber – the US singer-songwriter clutches the mic as if it’s giving him life, seemingly preoccupied only with the sounds surrounding him. His music is a kind of lo-fi but densely produced R&B, but his setup here is the stuff of electronic prog rock, with soundboards and decks, a vast array of synthesisers, a live kit, electric guitar and bass, a violin and backing vocals. That ambition is matched by the setlist: 21 songs in two hours played in quick succession.

Published: January 23, 2026, 12:58 pm

Tessa Rose Jackson: The Lighthouse review | Jude Rogers' folk album of the month

(Tiny Tiger)
Moving from dream pop to acoustic clarity, the Dutch-British songwriter delivers her most personal record yet where loss is transformed into something quietly powerful

The warm sounds of folk guitar provide the roots of Tessa Rose Jackson’s first album under her own name, time-travelling from Bert Jansch to REM to Sharon Van Etten in every strum and squeak. The Dutch-British musician previously recorded as Someone, creating three albums in dream-pop shades, but her fourth – a rawer, richer affair, made alone in rural France – digs into ancestry, mortality and memory.

The Lighthouse begins with its title track. Strums of perfect fifths, low moans of woodwind and thundering rumbles of percussion frame a journey towards a beacon at “high tide on a lonesome wind”. The death of one of Jackson’s two mothers when she was a teenager informs her lyrics here and elsewhere: in The Bricks That Make the Building, a sweet, psych-folk jewel which meditates on “the earth that feeds the garden / The breath that helps the child sing” and Gently Now, which begins in soft clouds of birdsong, then tackles how growing older can cosset the process of grief. Her approach to the subject is inquisitive, poetic and refreshing.

Published: January 23, 2026, 9:00 am

Havergal Brian: The Gothic album review – Ole Schmidt tames a vast, eccentric score

LSO/Schmidt
(Heritage)
A 1980 live recording reveals the Danish conductor’s assured handling of a colossal symphony – a balance of architectural clarity and gothic extravagance

Havergal Brian has often been looked at askance, his vast gothic symphony approached like climbing Everest – merely because it’s there – rather than taken seriously as a milestone in 20th-century British music. For the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth, the Heritage label has brushed off this 1980 BBC live broadcast from the Royal Albert Hall under Danish conductor Ole Schmidt, the fourth recording of the complete work to enter the catalogue.

Written over eight years and completed in 1927, the work was inspired by the magnificence and eccentricities of the gothic age, Brian’s idiosyncratic response ranging from guileless melody to wickedly complex polyphony. The 35-minute part one is a persuasive three-movement symphony all on its own, but it’s the challenging, hour-long setting of the Te Deum that demands the listener’s concentrated attention. Influences include Bruckner, Berlioz and Sibelius.

Published: January 23, 2026, 7:00 am

Ali Smith: ‘Henry James had me running down the garden path shouting out loud’

The Scottish author on a masterclass from Toni Morrison, the brilliance of Simone de Beauvoir and the trim novel by Tove Jansson containing everything that really matters

My earliest reading memory
Apparently I taught myself to read when I was three via the labels on the Beatles 45s we had: I remember the moment of recognising the words “I” and “Feel” and “Fine”. It took a bit longer to work out the word “Parlophone”.

My favourite book growing up
Sister Vincent taught primary six in St Joseph’s, Inverness, and was a discerning reader with very good taste, plus the kind of literary moral rectitude that meant she removed Enid Blyton from the class library because she believed Blyton’s books were written by a factory of writers. In 1972 she and I had a passionate argument when the class was choosing a book to be read out loud to us and I championed Charlotte’s Web by EB White, with which I was in love. Sister Vincent put her foot down. “No. Because animals speak in it, and in reality animals don’t speak.” I recently reread it for the first time since I was nine, and it moved me to tears. What a fine book, about all sorts of language, injustice, imaginative power and friendship versus life’s tough realities. Terrific. Radiant. Humble.

Published: January 23, 2026, 10:00 am

Custody: The Secret History of Mothers by Lara Feigel – why women still have to fight for their children

Feigel uses her own experience as a starting point to examine the past, present and future of separation

This book about child custody is, unsurprisingly, full of pain. The pain of mothers separated from their children, of children sobbing for their mothers, of adults who have never moved on from the trauma of their youth, and of young people who are forced to live out the conflicts of their elders. Lara Feigel casts her net across history and fiction, reportage and memoir, and while her research is undeniably impressive and her candour moving, at times she struggles to create a narrative that can hold all these tales of anguish together.

The book begins with a woman flinging herself fully clothed into a river and then restlessly walking on, swimming again, walking again. This is French novelist George Sand, driven to desperate anxiety as she waits to go into court to fight for the right to custody of her children. But almost immediately the story flicks away to Feigel’s own custody battle, and then back into the early 19th century, with Caroline Norton’s sons being taken away in a carriage in the rain by their father.

Published: January 23, 2026, 9:00 am

May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry review – a dazzling puzzle-box of a debut

The plight of a reluctant medieval king is glimpsed through scattered pieces of the past, in an ingenious novel that asks how much we can really know about history

In a medieval palace an unnamed king chafes under the new and unsought burden of power. His uncertain fate plays out in the present-day imagination of an unnamed curator of unspecified gender, who has been employed by the palace to dress some of its rooms for public viewing in the wake of an undescribed personal tragedy.

It’s likely that you’ll either be utterly intrigued or deeply put off by that summary of poet Rebecca Perry’s debut novel, May We Feed the King, a highly wrought puzzle-box of a book which deliberately wrongfoots the reader at every turn. However, the intrigued will find that it richly rewards those who approach it with curiosity – just not in the ways we as readers (and as interpreters of stories in any form) have been trained to expect.

Published: January 23, 2026, 7:00 am

Children and teens roundup – the best new picture books and novels

Caring canines; daring donuts; a golden monkey; a boy from another planet; a dark take on Little Women and more

The Good Deed Dogs by Emma Chichester Clark, Walker, £12.99
Three very good dogs’ attempts to help others keep backfiring with chaotic consequences – until they pull off a successful kitten rescue in this exuberantly charming picture book.

Auntie’s Bangles by Dean Atta and Alea Marley, Orchard, £12.99
Everyone misses Auntie, especially the jingle of her jewellery; but eventually Theo and Rama are ready to put on her bangles and dance to celebrate her memory. A sweet, poignant picture book about loss, joy and remembrance.

Published: January 23, 2026, 12:00 pm

‘It’s the underground Met Gala of concrete murderzone design’: welcome to the Quake Brutalist Game Jam

Quake Brutalist Jam began as a celebration of old-fashioned shooter level design, but its latest version is one step away from being a game in its own right

A lone concrete spire stands in a shallow bowl of rock, sheltering a rusted trapdoor from the elements. Standing on the trapdoor causes it to yawn open like iron jaws, dropping you through a vertical shaft into a subterranean museum. Here, dozens of doors line the walls of three vaulted grey galleries, each leading to a pocket dimension of dizzying virtual architecture and fierce gladiatorial combat.

Welcome to Quake Brutalist Jam, the hottest community event for lovers of id Software’s classic first-person shooter from 1996. First run in 2022, the Jam started out as a celebration of old-school 3D level design, where veteran game developers, aspiring level designers and enthusiast modders gather to construct new maps and missions themed around the austere minimalism of brutalist architecture.

Published: January 22, 2026, 12:00 pm

Seductive stitches, Warhol in Nottingham and an Italian giant’s igloo sculpture – the week in art

Jessica Rankin sews up painting, arte povera’s Mario Merz comes in from the cold and Andy Warhol brings pop to the Midlands – all in your weekly dispatch

Jessica Rankin
This New York artist’s abstract works hover between embroidery and painting and have a seductive, lyrical beauty.
• White Cube Mason’s Yard, London, 28 January to 28 February

Published: January 23, 2026, 12:00 pm

Zach Bryan’s anti-ICE song drew ire from Trump officials. Is country music waking up?

Emerging stars are starting to critique Trump’s immigration crackdown – defying the genre’s legacy of conservatism

Thanksgiving did not go the way that Frank Ray had anticipated.

The country singer had invited his family up from Texas to Tennessee for the holiday, with plans to deep-fry a turkey, explore Nashville, and take in a show at the Grand Ole Opry. But on Thanksgiving morning, Ray received an unsettling call: TSA had flagged his sister’s husband, Juan Nevarez-Porras, at El Paso international airport due to insufficient documentation required to fly.

Published: January 22, 2026, 4:00 pm

Styles guide: is Harry’s album Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. grammatically correct?

The follow-up to 2022’s Harry’s House boasts an esoteric title – but experts say ambiguity might be the goal

We don’t know much about Harry Styles’s first album in four years beyond its title – and it’s already causing some grammatical consternation.

The follow-up to 2022’s Grammy-winning Harry’s House is a bit more esoterically named: Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. In an era when fans clinically investigate every aspect of pop stars’ lives, it was perhaps inevitable that Styles’s choice of punctuation would draw scrutiny.

Published: January 22, 2026, 12:00 pm

Arctic Monkeys release first new song since 2022 to benefit War Child

Opening Night will appear on HELP(2), a charity compilation out in March which also features Olivia Rodrigo, Depeche Mode, Pulp and more

Arctic Monkeys have released Opening Night, their first new song since 2022 album The Car, with proceeds benefiting the charity War Child.

Opening Night is taken from HELP(2), a sequel to War Child’s 1995 album Help, which brought together A-list music names to raise £1.2m for children affected by conflict, including Radiohead, Blur, Sinéad O’Connor and the Smokin’ Mojo Filters (a supergroup of Paul McCartney, Noel Gallagher and Paul Weller).

Published: January 22, 2026, 3:14 pm

‘Walking in the Lake District drizzle rewired my head’: readers’ life-changing trips

From the jungles of Colombia to sailing in Croatia, our readers reflect on the life lessons travel has taught them
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I did a circuit of the Old Man of Coniston in the Lake District on a grey, drizzly weekday in October and it quietly rewired my head. I’d been running on always-on mode, and that climb forces you to slow down and breathe properly. From the Coppermines valley up to the ridge, then along the rocky summit and back via Goat’s Water, it’s rugged without being showy. The weather kept the crowds away, and the low cloud made the tarn feel like a secret. I came home muddy, soaked and weirdly calm, and started making space for long walks again.
Brandon Kindell

Published: January 23, 2026, 7:00 am

Feel your feelings and reconnect with past passions: how to recover from burnout

Recognizing the physical and psychological tells is half the battle, says author Emma Gannon

• How to start … anything: expert tips for trying something new

What do you do when you come to a hard stop? When work has got too much, even friendships feel like a drain and you feel like you simply can’t keep going with your life as it currently is?

For Emma Gannon, the answer was extreme but non-negotiable: an entire year of nothing – or close to it. Gannon, the London-based author of fiction, nonfiction and the Hyphen newsletter, burned out with a bang in late 2022. While on a spa weekend with a friend, she had a panic attack, her first ever.

Published: January 22, 2026, 5:00 pm

Are Lola Blankets worth it? We found a dupe for a third of the price

The faux fur Lola Blanket has a heart-touching story – and a $275 price tag. We tested a cheaper and just-as-soft dupe

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• The best bath towels in the US, from fluffy to quick-drying – tested

Lola faux fur blankets have conquered Instagram, TikTok and even New York fashion week. Promising “life-changing softness”, the company charges an eye-watering $275 for a throw-sized blanket. Are they worth it?

To cut to the chase, no. The more complex answer is that Lola blankets do have some advantages over the competition, but many of the features and claims put forth are pretty overblown. And for less than half the price, you can get something that’s just as good.

Published: January 22, 2026, 8:15 pm

You be the judge: should my husband stop quoting song lyrics during serious conversations?

Randy thinks throwing in a line or two lightens the mood. Taylor says it’s an avoidance tactic. You decide who’s out of tune

• Find out how to get a disagreement settled or become a juror

He will throw in lines from songs during serious conversations – it is an avoidance tactic

Yes I should tone it down, but a lyric can lighten the mood and there’s one for every occasion

Published: January 22, 2026, 8:00 am

My rookie era: I once feared water and frizz, now I’m embracing my curls

I was surprised by the dormant ringlets springing to life as I hunched over the basin, squishing in conditioner to define each tendril

• Read more summer essentials

My housemate has a special phrase for some of my old photos: “Ima’s whiteface era” – hair seared straight down the middle with brassy blond highlights.

Where I grew up, in a regional coastal town, the gold standard was sandy blond beach babe.

Published: January 22, 2026, 7:00 pm

Consider the optics: why men have fallen back in love with spectacles

Slim frames and tinted lenses are reshaping how men present themselves. Glasses have become the must-have accessory – even if you don’t have a prescription

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Last spring, Tom Broughton, founder of eyewear brand Cubitts, was asked to comment on a meme that was going viral, that featured a pair of his company’s ‘Plimsoll’ frames. The small, delicate, and slightly round unisex shape had been worn by British actor, Jonathan Bailey, in leaked stills from the 2025 movie, Jurassic World Rebirth – and had been dubbed by the internet as a pair of ‘slutty little glasses’.

“It all just blew up,” remembers Broughton, noting how the brand struggled to deal with the sudden demand for what had become the sexiest specs on the market. A subsequent capsule collection, made in partnership with Bailey’s LGBTQ+ charity the Shameless Fund, sold out almost instantly, too. Thousands of pairs were gone in minutes, and after multiple restocks, “we’re maybe down to our last 15 pairs,” adds Broughton. Nearly the entire run was bought by men.

Published: January 23, 2026, 7:00 am

Plant trees, bushes and evergreens now to give your garden structure

In a less flowery garden, you can spot the gaps more easily – and fill them with bare-root plants at this time of year

This time last year we were about to put our old flat on the market – the first proper garden I had as a gardening adult. The one that taught me so much, where I made compost for the first time and cut peonies from the bare roots I’d ordered as soon as we exchanged contracts on the place. Where I painted the back wall pink and strung up lights and held parties and watered the ground with cheap prosecco; where I planted a tree for my newborn son, and lay beneath it with him in languid, too-long summer afternoons, trying to make sense of motherhood.

Anyway, every time I’d show estate agents around our two-bed flat, they’d conjure unconvincing compliments about our airing cupboard, before sticking their head cursorily out the back door and saying: “Oh, it’s winter, no gardens look good in winter, no buyers will be expecting it to look nice,” and I’d seethe.

Published: January 23, 2026, 11:00 am

Going beyond the surface in the Karst plateau: exploring the new cross-border geopark in Italy and Slovenia

GeoKarst is a new EU-funded project highlighting a unique landscape of caves, gorges and medieval villages near Trieste

Our guide turns out the lights and suddenly there is nothing. Just total darkness, the sound of gentle dripping and a creeping feeling of unease. The switch is flicked back on and the shadowy world that lies deep beneath the Karst returns. I’m in Vilenica, thought to be the first cave in the world ever opened to tourists, with records of visitors dating back to 1633. It’s a magical sight: a grand antechamber sculpted through erosion, filled with soaring stalagmites and plunging stalactites streaked in shades of red, terracotta and orange by iron oxide, and dotted with shimmering crystals.

Vilenica is just one of a network of thousands of caves located in the Karst region of western Slovenia and eastern Italy, which is known for its porous, soluble limestone rock. Above ground, this creates a distinctive landscape, filled with rocks bearing lined striations and pockmarked by hollows known as dolines, where the limestone has collapsed underneath. But below ground is where it’s really special, with enormous caves, sinkholes and subterranean rivers. Later in the day, I visit the region’s other main visitor cave, Škocjan, where I’m amazed to see an underground river thunder through a chamber almost 150 metres high. It’s an almost surreal sensory experience, with the rush of the rapids echoing around the walls.

Published: January 22, 2026, 7:00 am

The pub that changed me: ‘It taught me not to be obnoxious’

This ancient Scottish tavern was a raucous, cross-generational hangout where everyone – young and old, locals and tourists – sang themselves hoarse to Fairytale of New York

This is said to be one of Scotland’s most haunted pubs, but for me it’s haunted with happy memories, the ghosts of hazy nights out, the spectre of my younger self, and of course the cantankerous clergyman who stalks its walls from beyond the grave.

Published: January 22, 2026, 5:00 am

No more sad sandwiches and soggy salads: here’s how to make a proper packed lunch

While we’re slogging through the long, dark days of January, a little preparation can make your midday meal a source of comfort and joy

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Even if you have no truck with Blue Monday, Quitter’s Day or any of the other new-year wheezes concocted by enterprising marketeers, the last weeks of January can feel like a bit of a confused slog. Seasonal colds and lurgies abound. The weather is generally at its rain-lashed and blackly overcast worst. Well-intentioned attempts at self-improvement or abstemiousness are starting to creak in the face of a desire for whatever scraps of midwinter comfort we can find.

Nowhere is this more apparent than when it comes to food and, more specifically, the daily puzzle of how to have something nourishing as a working lunch. These can feel like lean days in more ways than one – characterised by tax payments or a painfully slow creep towards the first payday of 2026. And that’s only more apparent now that, after the remote working and pyjama-clad Zoom calls of the post-pandemic era, lots of us have returned to the office for at least the bulk of the week. Even as someone who effectively eats out for a living, there have been plenty of times when I have stood up from the desk of my chosen workspace (often one of the oversubscribed tables at the British Library) with no real plan and wandered aimlessly, only to end up forking out for some insipid sandwich, tepid heat-lamp soup or tray of indeterminate vegetable mulch that is both expensive and unsatisfying.

Published: January 22, 2026, 1:10 pm

‘Open the gates’: riots, fires and escape attempts as Syrian army takes over IS camp

Director of al-Hawl camp describes chaotic scenes as Kurdish guards fled and government fighters arrived. Will Christou reports from al-Hawl

The children crowded the wire fence, waiting for the guard to turn his back, and made a break for it. They pumped their little legs furiously but did not make it far in the squelching mud, and were quickly chased back inside, grinning and joking to their friends in Bosnian as another guard scolded them, his rifle swinging by his side while he wagged his finger.

Their mothers, foreigners who travelled to Syria to allegedly join Islamic State (IS) and its blood-soaked caliphate, stood silently behind them. Each had their belongings packed in a bag beside them, ready to leave at a moment’s notice.

Published: January 22, 2026, 5:18 pm

‘I ain’t goin nowhere’: Gullah Geechee people fight off developers with a historic referendum

A citizen referendum, only the second of its kind in Georgia history, seeks to block a zoning amendment

Ire Gene Grovner stood behind his house on a recent morning, between chicken pens on one side and rows of winter collard greens on the other, holding a knife and skinning a raccoon splayed across a wood post.

“The meat is good roasted,” Grovner said. He pointed to the collards, a burst of green in the winter cold, and the chickens, with their eggs. “If you ain’t lazy, you can live good here,” he said, referring to Sapelo Island off the coast of southern Georgia.

Published: January 22, 2026, 5:00 pm

‘Not a typical day’: makers of Macron’s sunglasses deluged with demand

At Davos the French president wore a pair of shades made by Maison Henry Jullien to cover up a burst blood vessel in one eye

The world leaders and company executives meeting in Davos this week were meant to be discussing the most complex and alarming geopolitical crisis most could remember.

Instead, all eyes were on Emmanuel Macron.

Published: January 22, 2026, 1:30 pm

Huge waves and a Mark Carney high-kick: photos of the day – Friday

The Guardian’s picture editors select some of the most powerful photos from around the world

Published: January 23, 2026, 1:43 pm