Rock star: Sasha DiGiulian on making history with a ‘crazy, audacious’ climb of El Capitán

The 33-year-old hit rain, lightning, snow and ice in Yosemite – and still became the first woman to ascend the Platinum route

Big-wall climber Sasha DiGiulian had spent the last three years preparing for a career-defining ascent of one of the most challenging routes up the face of the famed granite cliff known as El Capitán in Yosemite national park. All she and her partner needed was a two-week window of favorable weather. They appeared to get one on 3 November.

DiGiulian felt jolts of fear during her training, she said, induced by the sudden 2,600ft of exposure she felt as she rappelled down to practice on the most challenging sections of the iconic California peak. But her nerves calmed when ascending from the base, allowing her to focus more intently on the moves and completing each pitch – a measurement that references a length of the rope that climbers use to secure themselves to the rock.

Published: December 8, 2025, 3:00 pm

Netflix buying Warner Bros is bad news for cinema and those of us who love it | Jesse Hassenger

The proposed acquisition would see yet more of Hollywood controlled by a tech company and one that doesn’t seem to care about the theatrical experience

Did Netflix just exacerbate a bunch of seasonal affective disorders in cinephiles? Timed to ruin holidays like a round of end-of-year layoffs, the streaming giant announced plans to buy Warner Bros, a movie and television studio with a full-century legacy. It’s possible that the acquisition won’t actually go through – and if it does, it won’t be for at least a year. But the news still looms over year-end awards and list-making, and it’s going to take more than a jingle-bell heist to steal back any holiday cheer for the entertainment industry, much less halt the march of corporate consolidation and monopolization. Even more depressing: the entity that seems most able to take action against this is … another attempted consolidation. Paramount has launched a bid for a hostile takeover of Warner Bros Discovery, which would bring two big studios under one extremely Trump-friendly umbrella. This would almost certainly further cull the number of wide-release movies released each year.

Depression might not seem like a rational response, especially for anyone who doesn’t actually work in said industry. (There are plenty of reasons that various unions are making their opposition to either sale known.) Yet the news last week had hundreds of film fans posting eulogies and defenses not just of Warner Bros as a studio – which on its own includes a vast history encompassing classics like Casablanca, The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Departed, Bonnie and Clyde, The Searchers and The Matrix, among hundreds – but the very fabric of theatrical moviegoing.

Published: December 8, 2025, 4:50 pm

How to not spend a fortune during the holidays

Budgeting advice, affordable gifts and more

• This piece was originally published in the Filter US newsletter on buying fewer, better things. Sign up here to get early access to it

Each week we cut through the noise to bring you smart, practical recommendations on how to live better – from what is worth buying to the tools, habits and ideas that actually last.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. And for many of us, the most expensive. Simply thinking about the gifts that need to be purchased or the expensive flights that we still haven’t booked can feel overwhelming, to say the least.

The 23 most unique gifts under $10

The 50 most well-made and well-loved gifts under $50 in the US

Published: December 8, 2025, 6:15 pm

The 50 best movies of 2025 in the US

From astonishing docs and biopics to madcap adventures and emotional sucker punches – our critics pick the best from a spectacular year on the silver screen

• Read the UK cut of this list
• More on the best culture of 2025

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Published: December 8, 2025, 12:00 pm

The once formidable Kansas City Chiefs look old, tired and out of ideas

Patrick Mahomes has led his team to seven straight AFC Championship Games, winning three Super Bowls on the way. That run appears to be over

This is how great runs end. Not with a single catastrophic collapse, but with a slow drift towards the finish, looking old, tired and out of ideas. For the Chiefs, that sense of finality arrived on Sunday night, delivered by the Texans in a 20-10 defeat at home that felt more lopsided than the score.

For much of this season, there had been a gnawing sense of inevitability about the Chiefs. Whether judging by the eye test or the advanced data, this year’s group has been slightly better than the 15-win team who trudged through one-score victories last season, got hot in the playoffs and then were crushed by the Eagles in the Super Bowl. Even as the losses mounted this year, it felt like the Chiefs still had a run in them. If they could figure out their disjointed offense and find any juice on defense, they could sneak into the playoffs. And in a one-off game, with everything on the line, it would still be hard to look past the Andy Reid-Patrick Mahomes axis.

Published: December 8, 2025, 11:45 am

Does Pete Hegseth even believe that war crimes exist? | Sidney Blumenthal

The US defense secretary’s belief that the military should not be held to account has been a defining factor in his career

Pete Hegseth’s office is located on the third floor of the Pentagon, in the E ring, room 3E880, facing the Potomac River with a scenic view of the monuments and the Capitol. He posted a video on 5 September showing a new bronze plaque being affixed to his door reading: “Pete Hegseth Secretary of War.”

His splendid new designation, not established by the Congress as required by law, was purely notional and performative, announced by Donald Trump in an executive order that carried no legal weight, but befitted Hegseth’s self-conceit as warrior-in-chief. He now had the title to go with the tattoos: the crusader cross; “Deus vult”, or “God wills it”, the crusader battle cry; the sniper rifle against the background of an American flag; and the cross and sword inspired by Matthew 10:34: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”

Sidney Blumenthal, former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, has published three books of a projected five-volume political life of Abraham Lincoln: A Self-Made Man, Wrestling With His Angel and All the Powers of Earth. He is a Guardian US columnist

Published: December 8, 2025, 11:00 am

‘Yellow line’ that divides Gaza under Trump plan is ‘new border’ for Israel, says military chief

Eyal Zamir said Israel would hold on to current positions, giving it control of more than half of the territory

The “yellow line” that divides Gaza under Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan is a “new border” for Israel, the country’s military chief told soldiers deployed in the territory.

The chief of the general staff, Eyal Zamir, said Israel would hold on to its current military positions. These give Israel control of more than half of Gaza, including most agricultural land and the border crossing with Egypt.

Published: December 8, 2025, 8:49 pm

European leaders rally behind Ukraine in Downing Street talks

Hopes rise of a breakthrough in using £78bn of frozen Russian assets to bankroll Kyiv

European leaders rallied behind Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday night amid hopes they might finally achieve a breakthrough to allow Ukraine access to billions of pounds of frozen Russian assets.

Despite vociferous support for the Ukrainian president, who has come under heavy pressure from Donald Trump to cede territory in order to bring the war to a speedy end, there was still no agreement on the thorny question of turning immobilised assets into a loan for Kyiv.

Published: December 8, 2025, 8:02 pm

Mother of Karoline Leavitt’s nephew rejects White House portrayal of her after ICE arrest

Bruna Ferreira, who was released from ICE custody Monday on bond, denies claims that she’s an absentee parent

The Brazilian-born mother of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s nephew – who was recently detained by US immigration authorities – has rejected the Trump administration’s characterizations of her as an absentee parent.

Bruna Ferreira, who was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in November during a traffic stop in Massachusetts and was being held at a Louisiana detention center, said in an interview with the Washington Post that the White House’s statements that she had never lived with her son or spoken with Leavitt “in many years” were incorrect.

Published: December 8, 2025, 6:28 pm

Trump confirms $12bn in assistance for American farmers amid concerns over trade and high prices – live

President says farmers are ‘the backbone of our country’ and says China has committed to buying $40bn in American soybeans

In a statement, Pamela Smith said she was “deeply humbled, grateful and deeply appreciative” of her time in her role, which she described as the “greatest honor” of her career. She gave thanks to the mayor for appointing her in 2023 and supporting her throughout her tenure, which she acknowledged had been both “challenging and rewarding”.

Smith adds that “tremendous progress” has been made but the city is not at “zero percent crime” yet.

I am confident that the department is in a strong position and that the great work will continue, moving in a positive trajectory to combat crime and enhance public safety. Washington, DC is an extraordinary place to live, visit, and work, and I remain inspired by the resilience and spirit of this community.

I am profoundly grateful for the opportunity to serve in this capacity as Chief of Police. It has been an honor to lead the men and women of the Metropolitan Police Department, and I will always carry with the me the pride of having served this city.

When Chief Smith stepped up to lead the Metropolitan Police Department, we had no time to waste. She came in at a very challenging time for our community, when there was significant urgency to reverse the crime trends our city was facing post pandemic. Within a year of her tenure, we opened the Real-Time Crime Center.

We deployed newer and better technology. We worked with the Council to pass comprehensive legislation that prioritizes accountability. And Chief Smith got all of this done while also navigating unprecedented challenges and attacks on our city’s autonomy.

Published: December 9, 2025, 1:31 am

US supreme court appears poised to back Trump’s power to fire FTC member

Case gives court opportunity to overturn 1935 precedent that shielded heads of independent agencies from removal

• US politics live – latest updates

The US supreme court on Monday appeared poised to back the Trump administration’s argument that the president should be able to fire independent board members that for almost a century have been protected from presidential interference.

The court heard arguments concerning the legality of Donald Trump’s firing of a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) member and appeared to be split down partisan lines in favor of a historic expansion of executive power, with the conservatives – including the sometimes swing vote of Justice Amy Coney Barrett – seeming to side with the administration.

Published: December 8, 2025, 7:18 pm

Jimmy Kimmel extends contract with Disney’s ABC Network through 2027

Extension comes after Kimmel’s late-night show was suspended in September over comments on Charlie Kirk

Jimmy Kimmel has signed a one-year extension with Disney’s ABC Network and will continue to host Jimmy Kimmel Live! through at least 2027, the Guardian has confirmed.

Bloomberg first reported the news on Monday, noting that Kimmel and Disney struck a new one year extension. His current contract had been set to expire in May 2026.

Published: December 8, 2025, 9:43 pm

Bullets in Mangione bag convinced police he was CEO killing suspect, court hears

Footage shows officer said ‘It’s him, dude’ as testimony sheds light on arrest at Pennsylvania McDonald’s

Moments after Luigi Mangione was handcuffed at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s, a police officer searching his backpack found a loaded gun magazine wrapped in a pair of underwear.

The discovery, recounted in court on Monday as Mangione fights to keep evidence out of his New York murder case, convinced police in Altoona, Pennsylvania, that he was the man wanted in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan five days earlier.

Published: December 8, 2025, 10:35 pm

Texas Democrat Jasmine Crockett launches bid for US Senate seat

The two-term Texas congresswoman seeks to flip seat held by Republican John Cornyn in the GOP-dominated state

Democratic representative Jasmine Crockett launched a bid for US Senate in Texas on Monday, bringing a high-profile official to a race that may be critical to Democrats’ bold ambition to reclaim a Senate majority in next year’s midterm elections.

Crockett, one of Congress’s most outspoken Democrats and a frequent target of GOP attacks, made the announcement shortly before the state’s 6pm deadline for candidates to file the paperwork to run in the primary, due to be held on 3 March. The two-term representative of Dallas is seeking to flip the seat held by Republican John Cornyn, who is running for re-election in the GOP-dominated state.

Published: December 8, 2025, 9:16 pm

Japan tells residents to evacuate as powerful earthquake strikes north-east

90,000 people advised to take shelter after 7.5-magnitude quake, with 20 injuries reported

A powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake has shaken north-eastern Japan, injuring more than 20 people and triggering a tsunami of up to 70cm in Pacific coast communities.

The earthquake and tsunami warnings prompted orders for about 90,000 residents to evacuate their homes, although the warnings were later downgraded to advisories.

Published: December 8, 2025, 9:00 pm

Hegseth said US military should refuse ‘unlawful’ Trump orders in unearthed 2016 interview

Defense secretary’s comments recirculating amid dispute over US strikes on alleged drug boats in Caribbean

The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, stated repeatedly in 2016 on Fox News that US service members should refuse “unlawful” orders from a potential president Trump – exactly the position he called “despicable” when Democratic lawmakers said it last month.

The debate about whether US soldiers should refuse illegal orders is now at the center of a fiery political dispute over the US killings of alleged drug traffickers in boats off the coast of Venezuela and Colombia.

Published: December 8, 2025, 4:23 pm

Ex-Trump lawyer Alina Habba quits as top federal prosecutor in New Jersey

Resignation comes despite administration’s efforts to keep her in place after courts found she was serving unlawfully

• US politics live – latest updates

Donald Trump’s former lawyer Alina Habba announced on social media she is resigning as top federal prosecutor in New Jersey.

Habba’s resignation came after district and appellate court rulings found that she was unlawfully serving in the role, a powerful post charged with enforcing federal criminal and civil law.

Published: December 8, 2025, 9:04 pm

Mike Johnson strips military IVF coverage from defense bill – report

House speaker worked behind the scenes to strip provision after it was added as an amendment earlier this year

A huge defense policy bill, revealed by US lawmakers on Sunday, does not include a provision that would have provided broad healthcare coverage for in vitro fertilization (IVF) for active-duty members of the military, despite Donald Trump’s pledge to strengthen access to the procedure.

Both the House and Senate previously approved the provision, which was added to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) as an amendment earlier this year. But Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House and a diehard anti-abortion Republican, worked behind the scenes to strip the provision from the new version of the NDAA, MS NOW reported last week.

Published: December 8, 2025, 5:12 pm

US park service to offer free entry on Trump’s birthday but revokes it for MLK Day and Juneteenth

Civil rights leaders decry administration’s move to downplay Black American history and promote president

The US’s National Park Service (NPS) will offer free admission to US residents on Donald Trump’s birthday in 2026 – which also happens to be Flag Day – but is eliminating the benefit for Martin Luther King Jr Day and Juneteenth.

The new list of free admission days for Americans is the latest example of the Trump administration downplaying America’s civil rights history while also promoting the president’s image, name and legacy.

Published: December 8, 2025, 3:49 pm

Infantino’s lickspittle World Cup draw promises a tournament autocrats will love

Friday’s ceremony in Washington DC was cringe-inducing and craven enough to make football fans nostalgic for the reign of Sepp Blatter

Well, that was awful, wasn’t it? Donald Trump’s heroic victory over a field of one to claim the inaugural Fifa peace prize, on-stage banter so dead it was already fossilized, Gianni Infantino doing crowd work, and Wayne Gretzky struggling through the pronunciation of “Macedonia” and “Curaçao” in the draw’s linguistic group of death: even with the benefit of a few days’ distance it’s impossible to overstate how impressively bad the draw for the 2026 World Cup, held last Friday at the Trump-purged Kennedy Center in Washington DC, was.

“This is America, so we have to put on a show!” roared Fifa president Infantino, resembling a Sphinx cat in a borrowed suit, at the beginning of the ceremony. And put on a show Fifa did – just not one that anyone wanted to watch, least of all a desperately bored-looking Trump, who sat through Andrea Bocelli’s Nessun Dorma with the granitic joylessness that has become his default expression at each of the sporting events he’s ruined with his presence this year. Just let the man get back to the White House; he’s the president of the United States, for god’s sake, he has bathrooms to redesign.

Published: December 8, 2025, 12:44 pm

‘We’ll need to see a warrant’: the group teaching businesses a vital tool to fight ICE raids

Siembra in North Carolina gives owners fourth amendment rights trainings should federal agents show up at their door

When Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection agents descended on North Carolina last month, many local businesses were ready to push back. Posted on store- and restaurant-front windows across the state were signs reading: “private area”, “fourth amendment workplace” and “There’s always room at our table, but to enter past this point, we’ll need to see a warrant signed by a judge.”

The signs are part of a new fourth amendment strategy launched by the North Carolina immigrant rights group Siembra, to teach business owners their rights if federal agents show up at their door. While most Americans can name the rights protected by the first and second amendments, far fewer are familiar with the fourth, which prohibits unreasonable government searches and seizures. Siembra is working to change that, seeing the fourth amendment as a vital tool in fighting against the Trump administration’s brutal immigration crackdowns.

Published: December 8, 2025, 2:00 pm

Ignorance is BS: speaker’s stock answer on Trump’s misdeeds is ‘I don’t know’

Mike Johnson’s denials of knowledge of presidential scandals strain credulity – but may be an effective tactic

The US House speaker, Mike Johnson, has developed a go-to response when asked about something controversial Donald Trump or members of his administration said or did.

It’s some version of “I don’t know anything about that.”

Published: December 8, 2025, 1:00 pm

The seven best eco-friendly cat toys for owners who hate to waste

From wooden ball tracks to catnip bubbles, these toys are easy on the environment and enthusiastically approved by our feline tester, Juno

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

Cats may sleep up to 16 hours a day, but when they’re awake, you’d better give them something to do. I’ve had cats my entire life, and I know that without feathers to chase, balls to bat around, and posts to scratch, our feline friends often turn to more destructive outlets – like the arm of your new couch.

But many cat toys are cheap plastic impulse buys designed to last a week then go straight into the trash. Resilient cat toys are hard to come by, but I set out to find some for my favorite little orange lady, Juno. After spoiling her with a smorgasbord of test toys, I settled on eight favorites that cats and their owners will both adore.

Published: December 8, 2025, 8:15 pm

The 50 best albums of 2025

From prog cabaret and joyful jangle-pop to a rapper who rhymed ‘bonkers’ with ‘chompers’, here are the year’s finest LPs as decided by 30 Guardian music writers
• More on the best culture of 2025

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Published: December 8, 2025, 2:00 pm

‘I wanted to be one of them’: why Bring It On is my feelgood movie

The latest in our series of writers paying tribute to their most loved comfort films is an ode to the 2000 teen classic

The opening sequence of Bring It On is – in a word – unapologetic. A dozen cheerleaders scream “I’m sexy, I’m cute, I’m popular to boot” in unison – and I have yet to meet anyone (and I have tried) who has the willpower to look away.

It’s certainly not an exaggeration to say I wanted to be one of them – that is, one of the Toros, Rancho Carne high school’s premier cheer squad. But, as a six-year-old watching in north London, I was a world away from the cornucopia of herkies, suggestive dance moves and hair flips of competitive cheerleading in San Diego.

Published: December 8, 2025, 10:00 am

The one change that worked: I started bringing my own takeaway box to every meal – and sparked a mini movement

Every year, 1bn tonnes of food are wasted. I value my meals and the work that has gone into them, so I am now always prepared and ready to take home delicious leftovers

I’ve always loved catching up with friends and family over a meal out. Not only is it a chance to find out the latest gossip and what everyone’s up to, but it’s also an opportunity to try out new foods and share that experience together.

But looking back, I’ve realised that I’ve been guilty of contributing to food waste by leaving meals unfinished. Sometimes, I didn’t realise how big portions would be or I’d get so focused on chatting to everyone that I would forget to eat everything until it was time to go.

Published: December 8, 2025, 10:00 am

Ben Jennings on Trump and the Ukraine peace talks – cartoon

Continue reading...

Published: December 8, 2025, 5:59 pm

Why I am proud to be a part of the Guardian | Margaret Sullivan

I’ve found that many people I speak with trust the Guardian’s independent, mission-driven coverage of the news

• The Guardian has no billionaire or big corporate owner: funded by readers, our fierce independence is guaranteed. Please help us reach our year-end fundraising goal

On election day last month, I spent some time interviewing poll workers in New York City.

When I introduced myself to one, I told her that I write a column for the Guardian and her immediate reply was “thank you”. I was a little taken aback: people don’t normally react that way to journalists. Trust in the news media is low, and Donald Trump’s unfair cries of “fake news” and his efforts to depict journalists as “enemies of the people” have taken their toll.

Published: December 8, 2025, 11:00 am

Jeffrey Epstein’s most powerful ally was silence | Gretchen Carlson and Julie Roginsky

When abuse occurs, the first instinct is too often containment. We know this pattern because we have seen it ourselves

For years, Jeffrey Epstein conjured a kind of grotesque fascination: the private island, the powerful friends, the whispered allegations. But focusing on the lurid details of his life and eventual death obscures the far more unsettling truth his case lays bare. Epstein’s story is not really about one man’s depravity. It is about a system – legal, cultural and institutional – engineered to protect the powerful through silence. His crimes thrived not because they were hidden, but because the people who knew were coerced, encouraged or more than willing to shut up.

Silence was not incidental to Epstein’s success. It was central to it. And in this, he was hardly unique.

Gretchen Carlson is a journalist, bestselling author and internationally recognized advocate for women’s rights. Julie Roginsky is a champion of women’s rights and political consultant. Carlson and Roginsky co-founded the nonprofit Lift Our Voices, dedicated to eliminating silencing mechanisms like forced arbitration and NDAs for toxic workplace issues

Published: December 8, 2025, 11:00 am

Sydney Sweeney, Richard Linklater and Emma Thompson are up for most egregious snub in the 2026 Golden Globe nominations

Linklater is missing from the best director list despite having two nominated films, and actors including Sydney Sweeney and Josh O’Connor are nowhere to be seen. It looks like Paul Thomas Anderson’s year

• Golden Globe nominations: One Battle After Another leads the charge

• Golden Globes 2026: full list of nominations

It’s become traditional to look for the snubs in any award list – and heaven help anyone whose job it is to curate the “in memoriam” montage on the night and then the next morning apologise for the inevitable hurtful omissions.

Snubs have become a cliche of awards season commentary, but you have to wonder about the best director list of this year’s Golden Globes nominations. No Richard Linklater? This amazing director actually has two films in the “best musical or comedy” section (so I guess he can’t really be that depressed). There’s his amazingly witty and poignant chamber piece Blue Moon, with Globe-nominated Ethan Hawke playing depressed Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart, and his eerily accomplished pastiche-homage Nouvelle Vague, about the making of Godard’s classic Breathless, shot not in the boring old colour in which these events happened but in a beautifully realised monochrome – a little reverential for my tastes but still a marvellously accomplished picture. Two films in one year, and such different films. Quite a feat.

Published: December 8, 2025, 5:43 pm

Look again at the Nuzzi affair. Because when our politics and media are so debased, the joke’s on us | Nesrine Malik

There is a bread and circuses feel to this scandal. A wise public would see red flags; instead it sees entertainment

One upside of adversity is art, inspiring cultural output that seeks to process and channel suffering. “I’ll say one thing about Thatcher, some fantastic songs were written during her reign,” said the Irish singer Christy Moore once – before belting out a goosebump-raising rendition of Ordinary Man by Peter Hames, a song about the 1980s recession. That is, so far, the only upside of the publication of Olivia Nuzzi’s book American Canto, an affliction to journalism, politics and publishing: there has been some fantastic writing since it all kicked off.

Masterful reviews. Very funny commentary. Scathing analysis. But first, a summary of events for readers of this column, most of whom I assume are well-adjusted, offline people, with better things to do with their time than follow what can only be described as a niche beef. Nuzzi is (or perhaps was, keep reading) a celebrated US political journalist who had a “digital affair” with Robert F Kennedy Jr while he was running for president, broke all sorts of journalistic rules while doing so, and was fired from her job at New York magazine. RFK Jr went on to become Donald Trump’s anti-vaccine health secretary, Nuzzi has published a book about the whole affair, and her ex-fiance Ryan Lizza – another political journalist – has been dripfeeding revelations about how she cheated on him, and a litany of other personal and professional transgressions. There are no heroes here.

Nesrine Malik 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 8, 2025, 6:00 am

Trump’s new doctrine confirms it. Ready or not, Europe is on its own | Georg Riekeles and Varg Folkman

We can move from defensive crouch to position of strength but only if we use the economic cards we have against US coercion

Europe is on a trajectory towards nothing less than “civilisational erasure”, the Trump administration claims in its extraordinary new National Security Strategy, a document that blames European integration and “activities of the European Union that undermine political liberty and sovereignty” for some of the continent’s deepest problems.

Everybody should have seen it coming after Washington’s humiliating 28-point plan for Ukraine. JD Vance’s shocking Munich speech in February, in which he suggested that Europe’s democracies were not worth defending was an early red flag. But the new words still land as a shock. The security document is the clearest signal yet of how brutally and transactionally Washington wants to engage with the continent. It marks another phase in Trump’s attempt to reshape Europe in his ideological image while at the same time abandoning it militarily. US policy, the paper says, should enable Europe to “take primary responsibility for its own defence”.

Georg Riekeles is associate director and Varg Folkman a policy analyst at the European Policy Centre

Published: December 8, 2025, 5:00 am

The Guardian view on solar geoengineering: Africa has a point about this risky technology | Editorial

Sun-dimming risks putting the planet’s thermostat under Donald Trump’s control. Better to adopt the precautionary principle with high-stakes science

It is fitting that this week’s UN environment talks are in Nairobi, with Africa shaping the global climate conversation. The continent’s diplomats are dealing with the vexed question of whether it is wise to try to cool the planet by dimming the sun’s rays. While not on the formal summit agenda, on the sidelines they are arguing that it’s time to stop promoting solar geoengineering technology as a solution to global heating. It’s hard to disagree.

African nations have acted because they don’t want their continent to become a test bed for unproven schemes to spray particles into the high atmosphere to reflect sunlight away from Earth for a small, uncertain cooling gain. They point to environmental, ethical and geopolitical risks. That’s why the continent is pushing for a global “non-use” agreement that would rule out public funding, outdoor experiments, patenting and official promotion of these technologies.

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 8, 2025, 6:08 pm

The Guardian view on Britain’s post-American drift: a crisis of purpose and power | Editorial

US pressure over Ukraine has revealed Sir Keir Starmer’s limitations and a British state too hollowed out to shape events at home or abroad

The bullying of Ukraine by the Trump White House has exposed Sir Keir Starmer as a prime minister adrift in shifting geopolitics. Unable to describe Britain’s position, he managed only a hope of “lasting” peace. This reveals a British state that has been hollowed out, as well as the diminishing returns of a political order built for another age. For decades, UK leaders assumed that the US would underwrite Europe’s security; that, as Washington’s closest ally, Britain would punch above its weight; and that British institutions would stabilise order, if not justice, in turbulent times. That world has gone.

Monday’s Downing Street summit with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, threw the dilemma that Sir Keir faces into sharp relief. Mr Macron could speak of the cards in Europe’s hand; Germany’s leader could voice scepticism about American proposals. Even Mr Zelenskyy, fighting for national survival, could pithily articulate why he needed both Europe and the US. Each spoke from within a political system that, however imperfect, has begun adapting to a post-American world. Britain has not – and, under its present leadership, shows little inclination to even envision one.

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 8, 2025, 6:08 pm

Arne Slot has ‘no clue’ if Mohamed Salah will play for Liverpool again

• Head coach also insisted he is not ‘weak’ amid row

• Egyptian left out of squad for game at Inter

Arne Slot has cast further doubt on Mohamed Salah’s future at ­Liverpool by admitting that he has “no clue” whether the forward has played his last game for the club. The head coach also insisted his politeness should not be mistaken for weakness after leaving Salah out of the Champions League game against Inter on Tuesday.

Slot gave his first public ­reaction on Monday to Salah’s incendiary interview at Leeds when ­previewing ­Liverpool’s match at San Siro. He denied Salah’s claims that their relationship had broken down and said only the Egypt international knows who supposedly threw him under a bus and wants him out of the club.

Published: December 8, 2025, 8:49 pm

Notre Dame fume at ACC’s ‘shots at us’ in build-up to College Football Playoff snub

• Fighting Irish miss out season after reaching CFP final

• Athletic director says relationship with ACC damaged

Notre Dame are not taking their perceived College Football Playoff snub lightly.

After announcing the Fighting Irish would opt out of a bowl on Sunday, Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua embarked on a media tour to voice the school’s concerns.

Published: December 8, 2025, 6:10 pm

Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney sell Wrexham stake to US private equity group

Club gets boost for development of Racecourse Ground, but move comes months after it received £14m state aid

The Wrexham AFC owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have sold a stake in the company to the US private equity investors Apollo, less than three months after the football club was given £14m in state aid.

The Welsh club on Monday announced the investment by Apollo Sports Capital, part of the New York-listed investor. It did not reveal the size of the investment, but said Reynolds and McElhenney, who has changed his name to Rob Mac, would remain majority owners.

Published: December 8, 2025, 6:03 pm

Lewis Hamilton to ‘unplug from matrix’ after worst season of F1 career at Ferrari

• Seven-time world champion could not ‘wait to get away’

• First year without podium for Brit in Ferrari debut season

A despondent Lewis Hamilton said he could not wait to get away from Abu Dhabi after enduring what has been the worst season of his ­Formula One career. He finished in his lowest championship position of sixth place and is looking forward to the winter break and disconnecting from the sport as he attempts to reset and regroup.

In the final race of the season in he qualified in 16th place and finished in eighth, while the young British driver Lando Norris claimed his first world championship, the first Briton since Hamilton last did so in 2020.

Published: December 8, 2025, 11:41 am

Fernandes at the double as Manchester United ease past Wolves amid fan unrest

For Manchester United, a soothing return to winning ways to avert any sense another mini-crisis was brewing. Victories are scarcely this comfortable, even if Ruben Amorim’s side needed to navigate the briefest of scares when Wolves equalised with half-time looming. United turned on the style after the break, the manager clenching his right fist when Mason Mount made it 3-1 with a smart volley, building on goals by Bryan Mbeumo and Bruno Fernandes, who also rounded off the scoring from the penalty spot.

For Wolves, this was yet another demoralising defeat, a 13th in 15 league matches. The last time they tasted victory, in April, Matheus Cunha, who enjoyed his return to Molineux in United’s all-black strip, opened the scoring. Nine fan groups totalling thousands of supporters protested against the Wolves owner, Fosun, by boycotting the first 15 minutes. Supporters voiced their anger at the players, too. “You’re not fit to wear the shirt,” they sang, and jeered Jørgen Strand Larsen when he was taken off. There were pantomime laughs when the fourth official indicated at least nine minutes of stoppage time.

Published: December 8, 2025, 10:01 pm

Fifa to use cooling breaks at every World Cup 2026 game, regardless of weather

• Every game will pause 22 minutes into each half

• Breaks will essentially split games into four “quarters”

• Fifa said the change is in the interest of player safety

Fifa says it will include three-minute hydration breaks in each half of every game at next year’s World Cup, not just those played in hot weather.

The referee will stop the game 22 minutes into each half for players to take drinks, regardless of the temperature, the host country – the United States, Canada or Mexico – or whether the stadium has a roof and air conditioning.

Published: December 8, 2025, 6:15 pm

NFL roundup: Allen leads Bills’ thrilling comeback; Chiefs reeling after loss to Texans

• Buffalo score three touchdowns in final five minutes

• Patrick Mahomes intercepted three times in defeat

• Indianapolis lose QB Daniel Jones to torn achilles

The Buffalo Bills (9-4) rallied from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Cincinnati Bengals (4-9). Josh Allen threw for three touchdowns and ran for one, and Christian Benford scored the go-ahead TD on a 63-yard interception return. Allen’s 40-yard TD rush broke his record for the longest by a Bills quarterback. Buffalo flipped the game with big plays on defense on a snowy afternoon. Benford and defensive end AJ Epenesa intercepted Joe Burrow on consecutive plays from scrimmage, leading to the Bills scoring three touchdowns in a span of 4:20 in the fourth quarter.

Published: December 8, 2025, 4:35 am

Paramount launches $108.4bn hostile bid for Warner Bros Discovery

Paramount’s bid for the entire company counters $82.7bn Netflix deal for WBD’s studio and streaming operation

David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance is not giving up in its aggressive campaign to acquire Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), launching a hostile bid for the entertainment company despite the announcement on Friday that Netflix had agreed to buy its studio and streaming operation.

Netflix’s bid for WBD’s storied Hollywood movie studio, as well as its premier HBO cable network, valued the company at $82.7bn. But it did not agree to acquire WBD’s traditional television assets, including the news network CNN and the Discovery channel.

Published: December 8, 2025, 9:20 pm

New Orleans Catholic clergy abuse survivors in line to collectively be paid $305m

Attorneys for the victims struck deal with the church’s largest insurer to increase $230m settlement approved earlier

• New Orleans Catholic archdiocese gains approval to pay $230m to sexual abuse survivors

Roughly 600 survivors of the clergy molestation scandal that drove the New Orleans Catholic archdiocese into bankruptcy have secured the opportunity to collectively be paid $305m after attorneys for the victims and the church’s largest insurer struck a deal Monday, according to some of the lawyers.

The insurer in question, Travelers, had refused to join a proposal officially approved Monday to pay $230m to the abuse survivors to effectively wrap up a bankruptcy protection case that the US’s second-oldest archdiocese filed in May 2020.

Published: December 8, 2025, 7:18 pm

Powerful wave in Tenerife leaves four swimmers dead after being swept out of ocean pool

The group were at a popular seawater pool when the wave struck, prompting a major rescue operation

Four people are dead and one is missing after a powerful wave dragged a group of swimmers out to sea while they were in a popular seawater pool along the rocky, western coastline of the Spanish island of Tenerife, Spanish authorities said on Monday.

Crews recovered three bodies on Sunday – a 35-year-old man, a 55-year-old woman and another man about whom no information was given – during a major rescue operation that used jet skis and helicopters to locate and pick up people dragged out to sea. The fourth victim, a woman, died on Monday, a day after being revived at the scene and airlifted to a hospital.

Published: December 8, 2025, 11:56 pm

Washington DC police chief resigns after less than two years

Pamela Smith, first Black woman to lead the department, quits amid battle with Trump over control of police

• US politics – live updates

Washington’s police chief, Pamela Smith, is resigning after less than two years in the role amid an ongoing battle over control of the city’s law enforcement as Donald Trump moved to federalize the Metropolitan police department.

Mayor Muriel Bowser announced Smith’s departure on Monday, praising her leadership during a period of “significant urgency” for the nation’s capital.

Published: December 8, 2025, 3:23 pm

Community outraged after California high schoolers form a human swastika

A student at a San Jose high school posted a photo of eight students lying in the shape of a swastika on a football field

A photo of eight students lying in the shape of a swastika on a high school football field in San Jose, California, has caused shock and outrage among the Bay Area Jewish community.

A Branham high school student posted the photo to social media on 3 December, and included an antisemitic quote from Adolf Hitler in the caption. A screenshot of the post began circulating on Reddit last Thursday and garnered over 500 comments. The post and the account were removed by Instagram by Friday morning, according to J., the Jewish News of Northern California.

Published: December 8, 2025, 9:58 pm

Clerk in Murdaugh murder case pleads guilty over graphic crime-scene photos

Becky Hill sentenced to probation after admitting to showing photos to photographer and lying about it in court

The former South Carolina court clerk who administered the 2023 double-murder trial of attorney Alex Murdaugh has pleaded guilty to showing graphic crime-scene photos sealed as court exhibits to a photographer and lying about it in court.

Former Colleton county clerk of court Mary Rebecca “Becky” Hill was sentenced Monday to three years of probation. Hill pleaded guilty to four charges – obstruction of justice and perjury for showing a reporter photographs that were sealed court exhibits and then lying about it – as well as two counts of misconduct in office for taking bonuses and promoting her book through her public office.

Published: December 8, 2025, 8:22 pm

Can Syria’s president turn wave of global goodwill into tangible results at home?

Sanctions, instability and external meddling are still problems for Ahmed al-Sharaa, one year after Assad’s fall

• Ddivided Syria struggles to escape cycle of violence

• The fall of the house of Assad – in pictures

If ubiquity and handshakes were the only measures of success, Ahmed al-Sharaa would be diplomat of the year.

Since he formally became president of Syria on 29 January 2025, the former leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham – a jihadist group with an al-Qaida lineage – has made a total of 21 public international trips to 13 countries. These include a visit to the UN general assembly, the climate change conference in Brazil, and numerous Arab summits.

Published: December 8, 2025, 2:30 pm

Drinking water contaminated with Pfas probably increases risk of infant mortality, study finds

Study of 11,000 births in New Hampshire shows residents’ reproductive outcomes near contaminated sites

Drinking water contaminated with Pfas chemicals probably increases the risk of infant mortality and other harm to newborns, a new peer-reviewed study of 11,000 births in New Hampshire finds.

The first-of-its-kind University of Arizona research found drinking well water down gradient from a Pfas-contaminated site was tied to an increase in infant mortality of 191%, pre-term birth of 20%, and low-weight birth of 43%.

Published: December 8, 2025, 8:00 pm

More than 200 environmental groups demand halt to new US datacenters

Exclusive: Congress urged to act against energy-hungry facilities blamed for increasing bills and worsening climate crisis

A coalition of more than 230 environmental groups has demanded a national moratorium on new datacenters in the US, the latest salvo in a growing backlash to a booming artificial intelligence industry that has been blamed for escalating electricity bills and worsening the climate crisis.

The green groups, including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Food & Water Watch and dozens of local organizations, have urged members of Congress to halt the proliferation of energy-hungry datacenters, accusing them of causing planet-heating emissions, sucking up vast amounts of water and exacerbating electricity bill increases that have hit Americans this year.

Published: December 8, 2025, 12:00 pm

White storks to make historic return to London in 2026

Species extinct as breeding birds in Britain since 1416 to be reintroduced in Barking and Dagenham as part of rewilding effort

Above the roar of traffic, the rumble of the tube and the juddering construction noise of a towering new datacentre in Dagenham, east London, will soon rise a beautiful and unlikely melody: the bill-clattering of white storks.

The birds will next year make a historic return to the UK capital as part of an ambitious rewilding effort to bring charismatic nature into busy city communities.

Published: December 8, 2025, 2:00 pm

Weather tracker: Atmospheric rivers to bring heavy rain and snow to Pacific north-west

Flood and weather alerts in place across western half of region as parts of Iraq and Iran also face significant rain

Weather alerts are in effect across the Pacific north-west this week as a series of atmospheric rivers are forecast to deliver multiple rainfall events and heavy mountain snow from western British Columbia in Canada, to Washington and Oregon in the US.

More than 200mm (8ins) of rainfall is expected across the western half of Washington state and north-west Oregon by Friday, with between 100-150mm expected in cities such as Seattle and Portland. About 400mm are possible on the western side of the Cascades, while more than a foot of snow is expected above 1,800-2,100 metres.

Published: December 8, 2025, 12:05 pm

Golden Globe nominations: One Battle After Another leads the charge

Sinners, Hamnet and Sentimental Value also key contenders for first major awards ceremony of the season, while Bradley Cooper, Sydney Sweeney and Brendan Fraser among those snubbed
• Full list of nominations
• Peter Bradshaw’s take
• The best films of 2025

At present, the mantelpiece of Paul Thomas Anderson remains strikingly light on major trophies. Despite being responsible for some of the films widely acknowledged to be the best of the century so far, including There Will Be Blood, The Master and Phantom Thread, the writer-director is yet to win an Oscar, Golden Globe or more than one Bafta (original screenplay for 2021’s Licorice Pizza).

This year’s Golden Globe nominations suggest this is about to change, with his counterculture epic One Battle After Another leading the pack of nominees with nine mentions on the shortlist, including for best comedy or musical, best director, best original screenplay, leading actor for Leonardo DiCaprio, leading actor for Chase Infiniti, supporting actress for Teyana Taylor and two chances to scoop supporting actor – for Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro. Jonny Greenwood’s score was also recognised.

Published: December 8, 2025, 1:55 pm

Divided Fed ponders US interest-rate cut at end of tumultuous year

Markets expect final rate cut amid pressure from Trump as Jay Powell urges central bank to proceed with caution

A divided Federal Reserve meets this week to decide whether to cut interest rates, the US central bank’s last meeting before the end of a tumultuous year.

The US central bank faces a number of unique challenges as it weighs its latest interest-rate decision.

Published: December 8, 2025, 12:00 pm

‘Performance is inherently vulnerable’: Kristen Stewart says acting is ‘unmasculine’

Actor questions why male ‘method actors’ are held in such high regard, whereas female actors are just seen as ‘crazy’

Kristen Stewart has claimed that acting is “unmasculine” and “inherently submissive”, and that male actors developed “the method” to compensate.

In an interview with the New York Times, Stewart was asked about Marlon Brando’s performance in the 1978 film Superman, and after saying she hadn’t seen the movie said that his apparent inability to pronounce the word “Krypton” correctly was “painful”. She added: “Performance is inherently vulnerable and therefore quite embarrassing and unmasculine. There’s no bravado in suggesting that you’re a mouthpiece for someone else’s ideas. It’s inherently submissive. Have you ever heard of a female actor that was method?”

Published: December 8, 2025, 12:04 pm

Ex-Honduran president thanks God – and Trump – for drug-trafficking pardon

Juan Orlando Hernández thanked the Lord for being ‘a free man’ and then Trump for ‘changing my life’

Former Honduras president Juan Orlando Hernández recently thanked God and Donald Trump – in that order – for being pardoned by the latter of a drug trafficking conviction won by federal US prosecutors less than two years earlier.

Speaking in a video posted to social media and referring to the US president, Hernández eventually said Trump “changed my life, and I’ll never forget that”. But first he praised God, saying in Spanish, “You saw the injustice and suffering, and in your infinite mercy you helped us.

Published: December 8, 2025, 1:10 pm

False claims Afrikaners are persecuted threaten South Africa’s sovereignty, says president

Cyril Ramaphosa says theories, promoted by Donald Trump, ‘conveniently align with wider notions of white supremacy’

White supremacist ideology and false claims that South Africa’s Afrikaner minority is being racially persecuted pose a threat to the country’s sovereignty and national security, the country’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has warned.

Since taking office for his second US presidential term in January, Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed without evidence that South Africa’s government is seizing land and encouraging violence against white farmers.

Published: December 8, 2025, 4:50 pm

Social media use damages children’s ability to focus, say researchers

Study of 8,300 US children suggests social media may be contributing to a rise in ADHD diagnoses

Increased use of social media by children damages their concentration levels and may be contributing to an increase in cases of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, according to a study.

The peer-reviewed report monitored the development of more than 8,300 US-based children from the age of 10 to 14 and linked social media use to “increased inattention symptoms”.

Published: December 8, 2025, 3:02 pm

Ancient Egyptian pleasure boat found by archaeologists off Alexandria coast

First-century luxury vessel matches description by the Greek historian Strabo, who visited city around 29-25BC

An ancient Egyptian pleasure boat that matches a description by the first-century Greek historian Strabo has been discovered off the coast of Alexandria, to the excitement of archaeologists.

With its palaces, temples and the 130 metre-high Pharos lighthouse – one of the seven wonders of the ancient world – Alexandria had been one of the most magnificent cities in antiquity. The pleasure boat, which dates from the first half of the first century AD, was 35 metres long and constructed to hold a central pavilion with a luxuriously decorated cabin.

Published: December 8, 2025, 9:00 am

Far-right National Rally ‘not a danger’ to France, Sarkozy claims

Nicolas Sarkozy’s new book, The Diary of a Prisoner, is being released this week – and also details the time he spent in jail

The former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has said Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) party is “not a danger” to France, and he would not support a united front of parties against Le Pen at the next election.

In his new book, written at a “small plywood table” in prison where he recently served 20 days of a sentence for criminal conspiracy, Sarkozy said many of his former supporters were now potential Le Pen voters, and he appeared to include the RN in his vision of a broad French right.

Published: December 8, 2025, 5:59 pm

‘A producer grabbed me, and I thought, Oh, for God’s sake’: Patricia Hodge on sexual harassment, drugs – and being in her prime at 79

Until she reached her 50s, the actor was a constant presence on stage and screen. Then the offers disappeared. Now, as her renaissance continues, she is taking on Mrs Malaprop in The Rivals

After six decades as an actor, Patricia Hodge says she still gets nervous before a play opens. “I think nerves are always the fear of the unknown,” she says. “Particularly with comedy, where there is no knowing how the audience will react: you’ve got to surf that.”

We meet on a sunny winter morning at the Orange Tree theatre in Richmond, south-west London, where Hodge is about to appear in The Rivals, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Richard B Sheridan play, in which she plays the ironic – sorry, iconic – Mrs Malaprop. “You’re sort of in a tunnel, your entire being is focused on this,” she says. She was here in rehearsals until 11pm the night before. Today, she is sitting at a table with a large coffee. Does she enjoy this bit, the putting together of a play? “I think it’s love-hate actually. The process is really why I do theatre.” She says she finds it energising, “but it’s also very trying, and you just don’t want to be left with your own limitations”.

Published: December 8, 2025, 5:00 am

Golden Globes 2026: full list of nominations

All the nominees for the awards ceremony due to take place on 11 January, the 83rd edition of the film and television gongs

• Golden Globe nominations: One Battle After Another leads the charge

• The best films of 2025

Best film – drama
Frankenstein
Hamnet
It Was Just an Accident
The Secret Agent
Sentimental Value
Sinners

Published: December 8, 2025, 2:24 pm

Jim Caviezel to play Jair Bolsonaro in ‘heroic’ biopic

Actor, who starred in The Passion of the Christ, will play the disgraced ex-Brazilian president in film written by his one-time secretary of culture

Jair Bolsonaro, the former Brazilian president now in prison for plotting a coup, is getting the biopic treatment.

Jim Caviezel, who played Jesus in Mel Gibson’s 2004 film The Passion of the Christ, is reportedly filming a “heroic” portrait of the rightwing ex-politician in secret. Dark Horse, directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh and written by Mário Frias, who served as secretary of culture under Bolsonaro, started shooting three months ago in Brazil, where Bolsonaro served as president from 2019 until 2023. He was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison in September 2025 for leading a criminal conspiracy to stop his leftwing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, taking power, though his supporters deny the allegations and have compared the prosecution to the “lawfare” allegedly faced by Donald Trump before he was re-elected.

Published: December 8, 2025, 5:42 pm

‘It’s been called the greatest hip-hop film ever’: how we made cult graffiti classic Wild Style

‘I handed a guy a starting pistol for a stick-up scene. But instead he reached into his car and took out the sawn-off shotgun you see in the movie’

I was part of the New York graffiti artists the Fabulous 5, who were primarily known for painting whole subway cars on the Lexington Avenue line. Lee Quiñones was the group’s Michelangelo. I’d been running with Jean-Michel Basquiat and wanted to take graffiti art into art spaces. I thought that an underground independent film could tell our story in the way we wanted.

Published: December 8, 2025, 3:02 pm

‘He’s a son of a bitch – but he’s usually right’: why did Seymour Hersh quit the film about his earth-shattering exposés?

He is the prickly, hotheaded journalist who uncovered the My Lai massacre in Vietnam and torture at Abu Ghraib prison. Finishing Cover-Up, a film about his astonishing life and countless scoops, was never going to be easy

One morning last month, Seymour Hersh set off to buy a newspaper. The reporter walked for 30 minutes, covered six blocks of his neighbourhood, Georgetown in Washington DC, and didn’t see a single sign of life. No newsstands on street corners selling the glossies and the dailies. No self-service kiosk where you can slide in a dollar and pull out a paper. “Finally, I found a drugstore that had two copies of the New York Times in the back,” Hersh recalls. He bought one for himself. He can’t help but wonder whether anybody bought the second.

Hersh was born in Chicago in 1937, the year the Hindenburg airship blew up and the aviator Amelia Earhart disappeared over the Pacific. That makes him a man of hot metal, the media’s ancient mariner, with metaphorical newsprint on his fingers and a cuttings file that reads like an index of American misadventure. Hersh has been a staff writer at the New York Times and the New Yorker. He’s broken stories on Vietnam, Watergate, Gaza and Ukraine. But the free press is in crisis, newspapers are in flux and investigative journalism may be facing a deadline of its own. “I don’t think I could do now what I did 30, 40, 50 years ago,” says the now 88-year-old. “The outlets aren’t there. The money’s not there. So I don’t know where we all are right now.”

Published: December 8, 2025, 5:00 am

Heated Rivalry: this horny gay ice hockey drama has everyone talking – but is it any good?

HBO’s new show is part of a wave of gay-themed romance – from Heartstopper to Red, White and Royal Blue – that desexes gay men just enough to make them palatable, like pets for young women

Even before it dropped on HBO Max last month, this new drama series about two horny gay rival ice hockey players shagging each other off the rink while fighting for sporting supremacy on it was generating its own steam. Perhaps it was creator Jacob Tierney’s terse response to questions of his leading actors’ sexualities while on a recent promotional tour. Or that the show is based on a series of concupiscent novels by Canadian writer Rachel Reid that centre hockey (!), and which ride the current trend for “hate-to-love” romance driving the kids crazy. Actually, it’s probably just all the hot gay sex.

Because Heated Rivalry does get heated. One minute aloof Russian player Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) is making eyes at meek local champion Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams), the next they’re wanking in the shower together. Then getting blowjobs in classy hotel suites. Pretty soon, the boys are going at it hammer and tongs – broken at regular intervals by months-long ellipses, waiting for the hockey circuit to bring them back into each others’ arms. This is also convenient for sexual tension, which would otherwise have to be developed through character and dialogue.

Published: December 8, 2025, 2:00 pm

The Dead of Winter by Sarah Clegg audiobook review – haunting Christmas tales

An esoteric blend of folklore and festivity reveals the lesser known, dark side of Christmas, from horse skulls and Yule cats to Icelandic ogres

Christmas nowadays tends to revolve around family, food and a furtive visit from a pot-bellied stranger down the chimney. But in The Dead of Winter, the historian and folklorist Sarah Clegg reveals a lesser known side to the festive season, unearthing unsettling midwinter traditions and stories that fell out of favour in the Victorian age.

Subtitled The Demons, Witches and Ghosts of Christmas, the book opens with Clegg embarking on a pre-dawn walk to a graveyard on Christmas Eve. She is recreating an old Swedish tradition called årsgång, or “year walk”, which is said to offer glimpses into the walker’s future along with “shadowy enactments of the burials of anyone who will die in the village this coming year”.

Available via WF Howes, 4hr 21min

Published: December 8, 2025, 3:00 pm

Conan O’Brien serves up a Beatles geekfest: best podcasts of the week

The big-name US talkshow host goes all Fab Four superfan in this historical take on the lives of John, Paul, George and Ringo. Plus, Naomi Fry delivers a rich deep dive into The Doors’ legacy

The popular show’s two-part special on the Fab Four has, bizarrely, prompted its Beatles sceptic co-host Dominic Sandbrook to refuse to appear. But his mega-starry replacement is Conan O’Brien, in for an engaging chat with Tom Holland through the career of John, Paul, George and Ringo. Their USP? Says Holland: “We’re a history podcast rather than a music podcast so we need to make the case that the Beatles are significant historically.” Alexi Duggins
Widely available

Published: December 8, 2025, 7:00 am

The Effingers by Gabriele Tergit review – a vivid portrait of Berlin before the Nazis

Written in 1951 and now translated into English for the first time, this family saga by the acclaimed German author recaptures a golden age for Jewish life

In 1948, the German Jewish author Gabriele Tergit travelled to Berlin. There, in ruins, was the city in which she was born and grew up, reported on, then chronicled in fiction. Tergit had been one of the shining lights of interwar Berlin’s flourishing journalistic scene; she had also married into one of the city’s most prominent Jewish families. In 1931 her debut novel announced her as a literary phenomenon.

Then the Nazis came to power. Tergit was on an enemies list. She fled, first to Czechoslovakia, then to Palestine, and finally to London, where she lived from 1938 until her death in 1982. Never again did she call Berlin home. When she visited after the war, she found no real place in the conservative postwar German literary world – and no real audience for The Effingers, her newly completed magnum opus. A version was printed in 1951, but to little acclaim; only recently has a critical rediscovery in Germany established Tergit as one of the country’s major authors. Now, thanks to an excellent translation by Sophie Duvernoy, The Effingers is appearing in English.

Published: December 8, 2025, 9:00 am

The Curious Case of Mike Lynch by Katie Prescott review – the extraordinary story behind the Bayesian tragedy

A meticulously researched account of the controversial businessman’s rise and shocking demise

At least two terrible ironies surround the death of Mike Lynch. One lies in the name of his superyacht, which sank off the coast of Sicily in the early hours of 19 August 2024. He had named the boat Bayesian to honour Bayes’s theorem, a mathematical rule that helps you weigh up the probability of something given the available evidence, which served as Lynch’s guiding light over the course of a tempestuous career. The theorem was “a beautiful key to our minds”, Lynch believed. But it was entirely incapable of predicting the outcome that morning, when the yacht capsized during a storm, killing seven people, including Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter Hannah and his US lawyer, Chris Morvillo.

A second irony lies in the fact that Lynch had just come through the trial of his life, one he felt was bound to end in jail, where he thought he could die. Somehow, to everyone’s astonishment, an American jury had acquitted him and his co-defendant on all 15 counts of fraud.

Published: December 8, 2025, 7:00 am

‘I’m a prisoner of hope’: Olafur Eliasson on using art to bring us together to save the world

Inside Presence, the Icelandic-Danish artist’s epic new show in Brisbane, what you see changes based on where you stand or how you look – crucial when it comes to tackling the climate crisis

I gasp as it comes into view: an enormous sun looming above, its surface roiling with what looks like thousands of tiny atomic explosions. It seems to notice me as well: when I stop, it stops too. It’s both awe-inspiring and unnerving.

In the mirrors around the glowing orb, I spot Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson – globally renowned for large-scale installations that challenge your sense of perception – posing for selfies with the crowd.

Published: December 8, 2025, 2:00 pm

Elif Shafak named new president of the Royal Society of Literature

The British-Turkish writer was elected after a vote among the society’s fellows, with outgoing president Bernardine Evaristo describing her selection as ‘terrifically inspired’

Novelist Elif Shafak has been named the new president of the Royal Society of Literature (RSL), taking over from Bernardine Evaristo as she reaches the end of her four-year term.

British-Turkish writer Shafak, the author of novels including The Island of Missing Trees and There Are Rivers in the Sky, was announced in the role on Friday after a vote among fellows at the society’s AGM on Thursday.

Published: December 8, 2025, 1:12 pm

Judi Dench says she ‘can’t remember what I’m doing tomorrow’ but can still recite Shakespeare

The actor has said she is increasingly facing problems with her memory as well as failing eyesight, struggling to remember appointments or see faces

The actor Judi Dench has spoken about her worsening eyesight and increasing memory problems, saying she struggles to recall immediate appointments – but is still able to remember reams of Shakespeare.

“I can’t remember what I’m doing tomorrow, I swear to you,” she told the Radio Times; her assistants then confirmed that she does sometimes require such help.

Published: December 8, 2025, 11:55 am

‘Kids can’t buy them anywhere’: how Pokémon cards became a stock market for millennials

A surprising economic bubble is making it hard for anyone to buy Pokémon cards – especially children

Pokémon has been huge since the late 90s. Millions of people have fond memories of playing the original Red and Blue games, or trading cards in the playground for that elusive shiny Charizard (if your school didn’t ban them). The franchise has only grown since then – but, where the trading cards are concerned, things have taken an unexpected and unfortunate turn. It’s now almost impossible to get your hands on newly released cards thanks to an insane rise in reselling and scalping over the past year.

Selling on your old cards to collectors has always been part of the hobby, and like baseball cards or Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon cards can sometimes go for thousands of pounds. However, the resale market for Pokémon has climbed so high that even new cards are valued at hundreds, before they’ve even been released. The latest set, Phantasmal Flames, had a rare special illustration Charizard that was being valued at more than £600 before anyone had even found one. When a pack of cards retails at about £4, there’s a huge potential profit to be had.

Published: December 8, 2025, 10:00 am

‘It has to be genuine’: older influencers drive growth on social media

As midlife audiences turn to digital media, the 55 to 64 age bracket is an increasingly important demographic

In 2022, Caroline Idiens was on holiday halfway up an Italian mountain when her brother called to tell her to check her Instagram account. “I said, ‘I haven’t got any wifi. And he said: ‘Every time you refresh, it’s adding 500 followers.’ So I had to try to get to the top of the hill with the phone to check for myself.”

A personal trainer from Berkshire who began posting her fitness classes online at the start of lockdown in 2020, Idiens, 53, had already built a respectable following.

Published: December 8, 2025, 12:48 pm

Is it true that… you should take vitamin C when you’ve got a cold?

The vitamin has many benefits, but research shows that people who take it are just as likely to get the sniffles as those who don’t

‘Vitamin C is important for your health in lots of ways,” says Daniel M Davis, the head of life sciences at Imperial College London. It is a strong antioxidant, helping protect cells from harmful unstable compounds that arise from toxins and pollution. It helps the body absorb iron, and is also used in the production of collagen. “But the idea that taking high doses of vitamin C – or drinking lots of orange juice – will stop you catching a cold, or help you recover faster, is a myth.”

Davis, the author of Self Defence: A Myth-Busting Guide to Immune Health, explains that the popular belief in vitamin C’s cold-fighting powers has persisted for more than 50 years, “pretty much solely because of the evangelical view of one man: Linus Pauling”.

Published: December 8, 2025, 8:00 am

A new start after 60: I moved on to a boat, fell in love – then opened my own restaurant

After a lifetime of working for others, Rich Baker threw caution to the wind. The result was a national award for his pizza and a surprising surge in confidence

When his kimchi fiorentina pizza won a national award, Rich Baker knew he was turning a corner. It was 2023. Baker was 60. He and his wife, Sarah, had made the kimchi themselves and their win put Flat Earth Pizzas, the east London restaurant they had launched the previous year, on the map.

“My life has changed so much,” Baker says. “A lightbulb has lit up inside and given me energy, and that energy has given me something that is quite amazing: a sense of confidence and a sense of fulfilment.”

Published: December 8, 2025, 6:55 am

‘When the church door opens, it’s like a miracle’: the phone app that’s a key to Italy’s religious art

A cultural initiative in Piedmont is unlocking a trove of priceless medieval frescoes in rural churches

The Santa Maria di Missione chapel in Villafranca Piemonte, northern Italy, stands at the end of a long cornfield. Behind it, the mountains rise gently, their outlines caressed by the sun. The colours of autumn frame the 15th-century frescoes that embellish the structure’s interior, painted by Italian artist Aimone Duce, of the Lombard school. The chapel is the municipality’s oldest religious building, serving about 4,000 inhabitants, and stands on the site of a pre-existing building dating back to 1037.

Inside the small chapel, my footsteps echo softly against the walls, breaking the stillness of the surrounding countryside. The sharp scent of plaster mingles with the earthy smell of the fields outside, carried in on the wind along with the sweetness of wheat. Light filters through the narrow windows, catching the vivid hues of a fresco that depicts the seven deadly sins – a theme often revisited in medieval iconography.

Published: December 8, 2025, 7:00 am

Britain’s most desirable home: why it’s probably not what you’d expect

Forget sprawling mansions or quirky architecture, Zoopla’s most-viewed listing in 2025 was notable for being relatively affordable and surrounded by countryside …

Name: Britain’s most desirable home.

Age: Newly crowned.

Published: December 8, 2025, 4:08 pm

Nutcracker stocking fillers: Brian Levy’s recipe for sugar plum and coffee cookies | The sweet spot

A rich, buttery crumb, a hint of bittersweet coffee, a spot of icing and a cherry on top … better gift them before you scoff them

These festive cookies are inspired by The Nutcracker’s Land of Sweets sequence, in which coffee and sugar plums are two of the flavours used to conjure a fanciful world of decadent diversion. Anything from a hard candy to a candied fruit can qualify as a “sugar plum” and, in the case of these cookies, the sugar plum is represented by the amarena cherry. Coffee’s bitterness balances the sweetness of the fruit and the rich butteriness of the dough, while the oat flour adds a dash of shortbread-like delicateness.

Brian Levy is the author of the Formal Assignment newsletter and Good & Sweet, published by Avery at £35.99. To order a copy, visit guardianbookshop.com

Published: December 8, 2025, 6:00 am

‘I’d defend our nation’: Poles prepare for growing threat of war

From digging trenches and building walls, to learning survival skills, Poland is increasingly aware of risks posed by its eastern neighbours

Cezary Pruszko still remembers the civil defence training of his Communist-era schooldays – map reading, survival skills, and a sense that the danger of war was real and ever present.

“My generation grew up with those threats. You didn’t have to explain why this mattered,” said the 60-year-old Pruszko, as he refreshed those skills at an army base outside Warsaw on a recent frosty Saturday morning. With dozens of other Polish civilians, he toured a bomb shelter, fitted gas masks and practised striking sparks from a flint to start a fire.

Published: December 8, 2025, 5:00 am

Dinosaur bones, a nuclear reactor and vintage cars: photos of the day – Monday

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

Published: December 8, 2025, 1:36 pm