Gaming in their golden years: why millions of seniors are playing video games

Adults over the age of 50 represent nearly a third of US gamers and are becoming more visible in the mainstream

Michelle Statham’s preferred game is Call of Duty. It’s fast and frenetic, involving military and espionage campaigns inspired by real history. She typically spends six hours a day livestreaming to Twitch, chatting to her more than 110,000 followers from her home in Washington state. She boasts about how she’ll beat opponents, and says “bless your heart” while hurtling over rooftops to avoid clusterstrikes of enemy fire. When she’s hit, she “respawns” – or comes back to life at a checkpoint – and jumps right back into the fray.

The military shooter game has a predominantly young male user base, but Statham’s Twitch handle is TacticalGramma – a nod to the 60-year-old’s two grandkids. Her lifelong gaming hobby has become an income stream (she prefers to keep her earnings private, but says she has raised “thousands” for charity), as well as a way to have fun, stay sharp and connect socially.

Published: July 14, 2025, 4:00 pm

I was on New York’s rent board. Zohran Mamdani’s ideas aren’t pie in the sky | Leah Goodridge

The Democratic mayoral candidate has faced controversy over his calls for a rent freeze. But the plan has plenty of precedent

During the New York City mayoral primary campaign, Zohran Mamdani’s proposal for a citywide rent freeze became a contentious topic. The Democratic nominee says to achieve a cap on annual rent increases for the city’s 1m rent-stabilized apartments, he would appoint members to the city’s rent guidelines board who support it. Critics decry a rent freeze as a pie-in-the-sky, unrealistic proposal.

I served as a rent guidelines board member for nearly four years, appointed by then mayor Bill de Blasio in 2018. And it’s clear this controversy isn’t just about rent freezes – there’s a larger agenda to deregulate rent-stabilized housing, under which rent ceilings prevent landlords from raising the rent too high and tenants must be offered renewal leases (unless the landlord shows legal reason not to).

Published: July 14, 2025, 12:00 pm

‘They digest externally’: the artist who creates paintings with live flies

For over a decade, John Knuth has created art using the regurgitation of flies and after he lost his home in the California wildfires, his work has a new perspective

One morning in Denver as artist John Knuth was getting his exhibition ready at the David B Smith Gallery, the police knocked on the door to check he wasn’t housing a dead body. “They said, ‘We’ve got a report of a lot of flies in here. Is there a dead body or anything rotting?’” Knuth recalls to the Guardian over Zoom.

The hundreds of flies emerging from Knuth’s gallery were actually his collaborators. For over a decade, Knuth has been creating paintings using the regurgitation of tens of thousands of flies. “When flies eat they digest externally,” explains Knuth. “They’re in a constant state of regurgitation. They land on a surface, puke up, suck it back in. Puke up, suck it back in.” After feeding the insects a mixture of acrylic colored paint and sugar water, the flies spend several weeks expelling the mixtures on to his canvases. “From that I get these really transcendent color connections.”

Published: July 14, 2025, 5:12 pm

Superman: identity crises, fascist space holograms and a super furry animal – discuss with spoilers

Has director James Gunn reinvented the superhero film – or just lovingly detonated it? Let’s have a deep dive into the new Man of Steel movie

• This article contains spoilers for Superman

James Gunn’s Superman is a curious film: so earnest, so heartfelt, and so defiantly weird it sometimes feels less like a reboot of the world’s most iconic superhero and more like an elaborate fan project. Most of us will be relieved we’ve said goodbye to the heavy metal space Jesus of the Zack Snyder years, and that Gunn has avoided paying too much retro cosplay tribute to the Christopher Reeve era. This is undeniably a Superman we’ve never seen before on the big screen: a Kal-El who’s deeply human, flawed, and more likable for it.

The new Man of Steel, played with boyish charm and the right amount of golden retriever energy by David Corenswet, spends most of the movie juggling black holes, battling clone siblings, and dealing with the looming realisation that his space dad might have been one bad day away from full-blown genocide. And yet there’s always the sneaking suspicion he would break off from all this in a second if you asked him to fix your router and play Enya until your existential dread subsides.

Published: July 14, 2025, 5:06 pm

‘Spirited and sumptuous’: why Big Night is my feelgood movie

The latest in our series of writers recommending comfort watches is a tribute to 1996’s charming restaurant-set comedy drama

“Life is meals,” observed the novelist James Salter. Big Night, Stanley Tucci’s spirited and sumptuous indie from 1996, is a film about one big meal that asks a few big questions about life, including: What is the cost of the American dream? What does food allow us to say to each other that words can’t? And what right does Marc Anthony, of all people, have to deliver one of the most charming non-speaking performances in any movie since the silent era?

Big Night follows two Italian immigrants who run a failing restaurant in 1950s New Jersey. Ambitious, high-strung Secondo (Tucci, practically hirsute) is the manager, while his brother Primo (Tony Shalhoub) is the madman in the kitchen, a purist who derides the local clientele as philistines and has begun to doubt the wisdom of coming to the US in the first place.

Published: July 14, 2025, 9:00 am

From awol to A-lister: how pop stars from Charli xcx to Addison Rae found the fun in fame again

Despite their predecessors stressing the horrors of pop success, a new cohort are hungry for it, reflecting the ambitions of spotlight-hungry gen Z and the shamelessness of Trump 2.0 life

On Lorde’s 2021 album Solar Power, the New Zealand pop star ditched fame. She threw her phone in the sea, sang “if you’re looking for a saviour, well, that’s not me” and advised looking to nature for answers instead. But her sun-bleached third album proved divisive, so much so that just a year later, she placated fans by promising she was making “bangers” again. This April, her comeback single What Was That returned to the incandescent synth-pop of her beloved 2017 album Melodrama; her new album Virgin opens: “It’s a beautiful life so why play truant? / I jerk tears and they pay me to do it.” Lorde was back roaming the streets, swapping Auckland fishing trips for New York Citi Bike rides, addicted to her phone again, playing Glastonbury at 11.30am and then disappearing to get high at Four Tet.

Where Solar Power was introverted, Virgin is hungry for experience and connection, sticky with sweat and other bodily fluids. But it’s also still preoccupied with the cost of finding fame at the age of 16 and how to carry it at age 28. The erratic album has divided critics again: is the sometimes spindly sound and lyrical status anxiety another attempt by Lorde to push listeners away? Or are the intermittent Melodrama 2.0 bangers her giving in to expectation? Ever alert to her own myth, she said recently: “I just am this person who’s meant to make these bangers that fuck us all up.”

Published: July 14, 2025, 3:07 pm

Trump does deal with Nato allies to arm Ukraine and warns Russia of severe sanctions

US president says he will supply Kyiv with billions of dollars of military equipment paid for by European allies

Donald Trump said he has sealed an agreement with Nato allies that will lead to large-scale arms deliveries to Ukraine, including Patriot missiles, and warned Russia that it will face severe sanctions if Moscow does not make peace within 50 days.

After a meeting with the Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, Trump said they had agreed “a very big deal”, in which “billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment is going to be purchased from the United States, going to Nato … And that’s going to be quickly distributed to the battlefield.”

Published: July 14, 2025, 6:24 pm

Trump encounters rare uproar from ardent rightwing allies over Jeffrey Epstein

White House claim it didn’t have list of Epstein’s alleged clients and that he wasn’t murdered has caused tumult even within administration

• US politics live – latest updates

Donald Trump managed something unusual last week. In his administration’s claim that it did not have a list of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged clients, and that the convicted sex offender was not murdered, it succeeded in upsetting the rightwing influencers and commentators – and reportedly even Trump’s deputy FBI director – people who typically champion his every move.

“This stinks. This just reeks,” was the verdict of Jesse Watters, the primetime Fox News host.

Published: July 14, 2025, 1:39 pm

Trump officials address ‘chemtrails’ conspiracy theories while spreading misinformation, experts say

EPA’s move comes as it slashes climate research funding and cuts weather forecasting and scientific agencies’ staff

Trump officials’ recent attempt to dispel concerns about “chemtrails” has perplexed and angered some experts who say the administration has itself promoted the conspiracy theory while also spreading climate misinformation.

“This is an intriguing strategy … in an administration that, depending on agency, is actively promulgating conspiracy theories or at least conspiratorial thinking,” said Timothy Tangherlini, a professor at the Berkeley School of Information who studies the circulation of folklore and conspiracy theories.

Published: July 14, 2025, 5:07 pm

Israeli government and military clash over proposed camp for Palestinians

Military opposed to Gaza ‘humanitarian city’ plan, which a former Israeli PM has likened to a concentration camp

A feud has broken between the Israeli government and the military over the cost and impact of a planned camp for Palestinians in southern Gaza, as politicians criticised the former prime minister Ehud Olmert for warning that the project would create a “concentration camp” if it goes ahead.

The “humanitarian city” project has become a sticking point in ceasefire talks with Hamas. Israel wants to keep troops stationed across significant parts of Gaza, including the ruins of Rafah city in the south, where the defence minister, Israel Katz, says the camp will be built.

Published: July 14, 2025, 6:24 pm

New account sheds light on chaotic hours at Texas girls camp hit by flood

Adult camp leader, who died trying to save small children, waited over an hour after alert before starting evacuation

The adult leader of Camp Mystic, the Texas summer camp where 27 children and counselors died in the Hill Country floods, waited more than an hour after receiving a severe flood warning before initiating an evacuation, it was disclosed on Monday.

Richard “Dick” Eastland, who had run the popular all-girls, Christian-values sleepaway camp on the banks of the Guadalupe River with his family since the 1980s, was among the fatalities after a wall of water rushed through the camp early on 4 July.

Published: July 14, 2025, 7:54 pm

Reports of US children ingesting nicotine pouches surge, study says

Several children up in intensive care and two died amid uptick in poisonings as popularity of pouches explode

Reports of US children under six ingesting nicotine pouches – the small rectangles containing flavored nicotine that have exploded in popularity – jumped 763% in just three years, according to a study published on Monday.

Several of the children ended up in intensive care after ingesting the pouches and two children died, the report said.

Published: July 14, 2025, 5:36 pm

Wildfire that destroyed Grand Canyon lodge spread after being left to burn for days

Arizona’s governor calls for federal investigation into National Park Service’s handling of the fire, which was sparked in early July

A wildfire raging along the Grand Canyon’s North Rim that leveled a historic lodge erupted over the weekend after burning for more than a week, raising scrutiny over the National Park Service’s decision not to aggressively attack the fire right away.

Katie Hobbs, Arizona’s governor, called for a federal investigation into the park service’s handling of the fire, which was sparked by lightning on 4 July.

Published: July 14, 2025, 5:10 pm

Elmo’s X account posts racist and antisemitic messages after being hacked

Hackers also demanded the US government release more information on the sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein

Hackers gained access to the X account of the puppet Elmo over the weekend and used it to post racist and antisemitic threats as well as make profane references to Jeffrey Epstein. Sesame Workshop was still trying to regain full control on Monday over the red character’s account.

“Elmo’s X account was compromised by an unknown hacker who posted disgusting messages, including antisemitic and racist posts. We are working to restore full control of the account,” a Sesame Workshop spokesperson said on Monday. Sesame Workshop is the non-profit behind Sesame Street and Elmo.

Published: July 14, 2025, 5:14 pm

Trump says Club World Cup trophy will remain in Oval Office after tournament’s end

• US president was given trophy earlier this year

• Chelsea won newly-expanded tournament on Sunday

US president Donald Trump has claimed that the Club World Cup trophy that has featured prominently in the Oval Office will stay there, and that Fifa made a copy of the trophy that was awarded to Chelsea after their win in the tournament’s final on Sunday.

Trump attended the final along with numerous members of his cabinet and Fifa president Gianni Infantino. The pair of presidents jointly presented the trophy to Chelsea captain Reece James, with Trump staying front-and-center despite the apparent confusion of Chelsea players and the pleading of Infantino.

Published: July 14, 2025, 7:45 pm

Supreme court clears way for Trump to gut education department – live updates

Conservative justices lift federal judge’s order that had reinstated nearly 1,400 workers affected by mass layoffs

With Trump’s headache not showing any signs of going away, Politico learned that “an ally supportive of the Trump DOJ’s handling of the Epstein case, has pitched senior White House officials on the idea of Bondi and deputy attorney general Todd Blanche doing an all-questions-addressed news conference in an attempt to exhaust the press and put the story to bed.”

Maga influencer and far-right activist Laura Loomer also told Politico on Sunday that “there should be a special counsel appointed to do an independent investigation of the handling of the Epstein files so that people can feel like this issue is being investigated, and perhaps take it out of [Pam Bondi’s] hands, because I don’t think that she has been transparent or done a good job handling this issue”.

Published: July 14, 2025, 7:57 pm

US undocumented farm workers feel ‘hunted like animals’ amid Trump’s immigration raids

Ice raids have caused workers to lose hours and income, and forced them into hiding at home, according to interviews

• Undocumented builders face exploitation amid Trump raids

Undocumented farm workers feel they’re being “hunted like animals”, they told the Guardian, as Donald Trump’s administration ramps up its crackdown on immigration.

Raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) have caused workers to lose hours and income, and forced them into hiding at home, according to interviews.

Published: July 14, 2025, 10:00 am

Hundreds of detainees with no criminal charges sent to Trump’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’

Authorities have refused to release list of people sent there as Democratic lawmakers decry ‘inhumane’ conditions

The notorious new “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration jail in the Florida Everglades contains hundreds of detainees with no criminal records or charges, it was disclosed on Sunday, as lawmakers decried “inhumane” conditions inside after touring the facility.

Donald Trump has insisted that the remote camp in swamp land populated by pythons and alligators was reserved for immigrants who were “deranged psychopaths” and “some of the most vicious people on the planet” awaiting deportation.

Published: July 14, 2025, 11:57 am

Trump promised to lower energy costs – his tax bill will raise them for people in red states the most

Household energy bills in some Republican-leaning states could rise by more than $600 every year, analysis of the so-called ‘big, beautiful bill’ finds

The cost of electricity is poised to surge across the US in the wake of Republican legislation that takes an axe to cheap renewable energy, with people in states who voted for Donald Trump last year to be hardest hit by the increase in bills.

As air conditioners crank up across the US during another sweltering summer amid an unfolding climate crisis, rising energy costs will become even more severe for households due to the reconciliation spending bill passed by Republicans in Congress and signed by Trump, who called it the “big, beautiful bill”, on 4 July.

Published: July 14, 2025, 2:00 pm

A deadly 1987 flood foreshadowed the Texas disaster. Survivors ask, ‘why didn’t we learn?’

The Fourth of July tragedy was described as something no one could have seen coming. But in ‘flash flood alley’, an eerily similar event 40 years ago holds important lessons

The rain was pouring down in Texas in the early morning hours of 17 July 1987. James Moore, a reporter for a local NBC news station, was stationed in Austin when his editors called and told him to grab his camera operator and head to Kerrville, a Hill Country town about 100 miles (160km) away. They had heard reports of flash flooding on the Guadalupe River.

“We just jumped in the car when it was still dark … we knew there were going to be problems based on how much rain there was,” Moore said. En route, he got another call over the radio that told him to head instead for the small hamlet of Comfort, just 15 miles from Kerrville.

Published: July 14, 2025, 11:00 am

Arizona Democratic race for House seat highlights party’s internal debate – and previews the midterms

An old-versus-new, established-versus-insurgent dynamic is being played out among the candidates

A gen Z influencer, a former state lawmaker and the daughter of a former representative are facing off in a special Democratic primary in Arizona on Tuesday that showcases the party’s internal debate in the run-up to the midterm elections.

Longtime Arizona representative and progressive stalwart Raúl Grijalva died in office from complications of lung cancer treatment in March at age 77, leaving open a seat representing southern Arizona and its borderlands.

Published: July 14, 2025, 2:00 pm

Zohran Mamdani’s campaign proposes free childcare. Is it finally a winning policy?

A report suggests New Yorkers pay nearly $26,000 a year on childcare and Mamdani’s promise could transform lives

Maggie Stockdale hadn’t given much thought to childcare before welcoming her first child last year. But once she learned the high price of full-time daycare tuition in Brooklyn, New York, she knew she had to find another solution.

Now, her care duties are split between Stockdale’s parents, who relocated from Wisconsin to help out, and her husband, who cut his hours down to part time and arranged with his employer to let him bring their 10-month-old to work several days a week.

Published: July 14, 2025, 11:00 am

‘I had a home, apartment, career’ … the Guardian’s Gaza diarist on the life he lost – and his journey into exile

The anonymous writer has seen horror after horror in the 21 months since he was driven from his home in Gaza City. How has he kept going? And does he have any hope left?

On the morning of 7 October 2023, the author of the Guardian’s Gaza diary woke up planning to play tennis. “This year I decided to take care of my mental and physical health,” he wrote in his first entry, published six days later. “This means no stress, no negative energy and definitely more tennis.”

Instead, with the news full of how Hamas had broken out of the territory, killing 1,200 people, he found himself scrambling desperately for the documents showing he owned his apartment in Gaza City, in the north of the strip. “If our building gets bombed, I need evidence that this apartment belongs to me,” he wrote.

Published: July 14, 2025, 4:00 am

No, age isn’t just a number – and the sooner we realise that, the happier we will be

It’s tempting to want to stay young for ever. But each new life stage brings gains as well as losses

Sitting in a cafe recently, I saw a poster advertising a barista training course for young people interested in a career in hot beverages. Things in the NHS being what they are, I enjoyed losing myself in a fantasy future spent standing behind a sleek, shiny machine, having witty exchanges with customers and colleagues as I skilfully poured smooth, foaming milk into silky dark espresso, tipping and turning each cup to create my own unique artworks on the coffee surface.

That was until I read the small print, which included the rather brutal definition of “young people” as aged 18 to 24. I realised, with an internal gasp, that my limited ability to pour liquid without spilling it was not the only obstacle to this career choice. There was a core personal reality here from which I had become totally untethered: the passing of time.

Published: July 14, 2025, 10:00 am

Brooklyn and beyond: Colm Tóibín’s best books – ranked!

As the Irish author turns 70, we rate his best works of fiction – from his latest, Long Island, to his emotionally wrenching ‘masterpiece’

This dispatch from what we might call the extended Colm Tóibín universe is set near the same time and in the same place as his earlier novel Brooklyn (one character appears in both books). It’s the story of a widowed woman who struggles to cope with life after love. If it lacks the drama of some of Tóibín’s other novels, the style is impeccable as ever, with irresistibly clean prose that reports emotional turmoil masked by restraint. There is no ornate showing off. “People used to tease me for it, saying: ‘Could you write a longer sentence?’” Tóibín has said. “But there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Published: July 14, 2025, 11:01 am

In Gaza, we know why Israel wants to herd us all into one camp – our lives are bargaining chips | Nour Abo Aisha

We’ve fled the attacks again and again. Now Israel plans to force us into the ruins of Rafah in order to increase pressure on Hamas

After 21 months of war, the Israeli minister of defence, Israel Katz, has proposed a new initiative to force all Palestinians in Gaza into a camp on the ruins of Rafah.

I lived west of Gaza city, just five minutes away from the beach. I used to see the waves from the roof of our house. The area was marvellous, with luxury architecture, hotels and tourist resorts.

Nour Abo Aisha is a freelance writer based in Gaza

Published: July 14, 2025, 6:15 pm

Measles cases are surging in Europe and the US. This is what the anti-vax conspiracy theory has brought us

Nearly 30 years after Andrew Wakefield’s discredited study linking the MMR vaccine and autism, we badly need an injection of rationality

It’s easy to say in hindsight, but also true, that even when the anti-vax movement was in its infancy in the late 90s before I had kids, let alone knew what you were supposed to vaccinate them against, I could smell absolute garbage. After all, Andrew Wakefield, a doctor until he was struck off in 2010, was not the first crank to dispute the safety and effectiveness of childhood vaccines. There was a movement against the diphtheria-tetanus-whooping cough vaccine in the 1970s in the UK, and a similar one in the US in the early 1980s. The discovery of vaccination in the first place was not without its critics, and enough people to form a league opposed the smallpox rollout in the early 1800s on the basis that it was unchristian to share tissue with an animal.

So Wakefield’s infamous Lancet study, in which he claimed a link between the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine and autism, going as far as to pin down the exact mechanism by which one led to the other, was new only in so far as it had all the branding of reputable research, when in fact it was maleficent woo-woo, a phenomenon as old as knowledge. It was noticeable, though, that it fell on parched ground – a lot of people were very keen for it to be true. That was partly simple news appetite: vaccines are inherently boring. Devised by humans co-operating with one another, motivated by nothing more complicated than a desire to help the species – and indiscriminately, no one baby more worthy of protection than any other – there is no animating conflict here, nothing hidden, no complexity. Is there anything more tedious than humanity at its finest? So wouldn’t it be at least piquant if it turned out to be a giant mistake?

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: July 14, 2025, 2:12 pm

I’m not keen on the Clooneys’ ‘no phones’ rule for guests | Emma Beddington

Amal Clooney says the policy allows for ‘safe and frank’ conversation. But what if you want to show George a cool meme of an anteater posing?

Would you willingly surrender your phone if you were invited to the Clooneys’? Because that’s the deal, apparently. “I now have a phone basket that I use to take everyone’s phones away!” Amal Clooney recently told Glamour magazine in a rather stilted “conversation” with the cosmetics diva Charlotte Tilbury. “It’s important to get that balance where you have time alone with your family and with your friends where people feel like you can have a safe and frank exchange,” she explained.

Hmm. I’m fine with shoes-off households (although you reap what you sow when it comes to the state of my socks or my toes). But the phone basket is reminiscent of those aggressively jocular pub signs that say: “No wifi – talk to each other.” What if you’re dealing with a family or work situation, need to hide in the loo and stroke your shiny pocket rectangle to recharge your social batteries, or want to show George a cool meme of an anteater posing? Yes, the Clooneys are the A-est of A-list, with attendant privacy concerns and young children. But if you can’t trust people to behave properly, what are they doing in your home?

Published: July 14, 2025, 10:00 am

Our Médecins Sans Frontières staff are being killed in Gaza. Why are UK ministers enabling that? | Natalie Roberts

We have warned the government repeatedly: the response has been pathetic. Britain has a duty to act morally, and stop supporting this genocide

• Dr Natalie Roberts is the executive director of Médecins Sans Frontières UK

Our colleague Abdullah Hammad was killed last week by Israeli forces as he waited to collect flour from an aid truck in Khan Younis. He is the 12th Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) colleague to have been killed in Gaza since October 2023. The Israeli-US food distribution scheme forces people in Gaza to choose between starvation and risking their life for minimal supplies. With more than 500 people killed and nearly 4,000 wounded while seeking food, this scheme has had the effect of luring desperate people in with aid, only for them to be slaughtered by the Israeli armed forces.

This is part of the genocide that is being committed in Gaza. And the UK government is complicit.

Dr Natalie Roberts is the executive director of Médecins Sans Frontières UK

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: July 14, 2025, 7:00 am

Has America learned anything from the George Floyd uprisings? | Eric Morrison-Smith and David Turner III

The response to the demonstrations fell short. But they marked the beginning of a new era that calls for action

Five years ago, the entire world changed when we saw George Floyd’s body on the pavement, a knee pressed into his neck – a murder, in broad daylight. Others might have simply witnessed a horrific incident, but Black people saw ourselves, and what it’s like to live with a knee on our necks at all times. Because George Floyd wasn’t the first – and unless we uproot this system, he won’t be the last. The police have gone so far as to remind us of this by killing more people each year since George Floyd.

But the uprisings of 2020 didn’t erupt because of one killing. They were the breaking point of centuries of violence and neglect. Trayvon Martin. Freddie Gray. Sandra Bland. Oscar Grant. Breonna Taylor. Dreasjon Reed. Ma’Khia Bryant. Ahmaud Arbery. And far too many others whose names never trended. The message was clear: we’ve had enough.

Published: July 13, 2025, 11:00 am

The Guardian view on Europe’s Trump challenge: Brussels must hold its nerve and think big | Editorial

A renewed threat of punitive tariffs from the White House is a reminder that the EU must invest in its own values in a volatile and transforming world

As the world has grown used to Donald Trump delivering aggressive ultimatums that are then revised or watered down, the shock-and-awe effect of a presidential edict on Truth Social has somewhat diminished. On Saturday, Mr Trump unexpectedly announced that the United States would hit the European Union with swingeing tariffs on goods of 30% from 1 August. That certainly prompted urgent weekend discussions in Brussels, Paris and Berlin. But for now, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, is placing all countermeasures on hold, in the hope that what the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, described as “reasonable solutions” can be found.

Given the stakes, betting on the success of a softly, softly approach to trade negotiations remains sensible. Mr Trump’s previous imposition of 25% tariffs on European carmakers (on top of the pre-existing 2.5% rate) has already panicked German manufacturers in particular. But the president’s attempts to further batter Europe into economic submission, risking a trade war with an ally and threatening an annual €1.7tn worth of commercial activity, would be likely to trigger another market backlash if taken to the brink.

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: July 14, 2025, 5:58 pm

The Guardian view on a climate reckoning: an annual address could set a new standard for political accountability | Editorial

The energy secretary framed environmental action as practical and patriotic, not in terms of wordy ideological pieties. But holding the line won’t be easy

Ed Miliband is a target for the political right; not because he’s irrelevant, but because he’s effective. The bacon sandwich gags and “Red Ed” jokes mask a deeper unease: that Mr Miliband, with his dogged insistence on science, public investment and long-term thinking, is right. Now, as energy secretary, he has delivered what he calls an exercise in “radical truth-telling” and a stark warning to MPs that rejecting climate action is a betrayal of future generations. The language, for once, isn’t overblown. It’s belated.

By highlighting the Met Office’s annual State of the UK Climate report, Mr Miliband shows that the hotter, wetter and more arduous future we feared has already arrived. Extremes are becoming the norm: the number of very hot days has quadrupled; in the last 250 years, six of the 10 wettest winter half-years have occurred in the 21st century. Britons experience this in cancelled hospital appointments, flooded homes and hosepipe bans.

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: July 14, 2025, 5:59 pm

Trump’s presence at Chelsea’s trophy lift was a fitting coda to a misguided tournament | Jonathan Wilson

The football was at times intriguing, but the true meaning of the first expanded Club World Cup will be debated for years

• Sign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson here

For the first four weeks of the 2025 Club World Cup, there had been the danger that the tournament would soon be largely forgotten. There is no danger of that after the final. There had been unease after the 2022 World Cup final at the way Qatar inserted itself into the trophy presentation by draping a bisht over Lionel Messi, but at least the Emir kept his distance. Donald Trump, by contrast, placed himself front and centre of the celebrations – and he was soon joined by the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, who has a pathological fear of missing out, and must follow his great ally in all things.

And so we were presented with a grimly perfect image of this misguided tournament, a celebrating football team struggling to be seen from behind the politicians who took centre stage. The confusion of Cole Palmer and Reece James at Trump’s continued presence was clear. History, and not just football history, will not forget such shameless grandstanding, or Fifa’s complicity in allowing football to be hijacked by a national leader.

Published: July 14, 2025, 2:50 pm

Tour de France 2025: Ben Healy rides into yellow as Simon Yates storms to stage 10 win

• Healy becomes first Irishman in 38 years in maillot jaune

• Giro winner Yates takes his third career Tour stage win

The Bastille Day stage of the 2025 Tour de France ended with an Englishman winning in the Auvergne, an Irishman in yellow, and a French hope falling by the wayside, as Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard called a truce on the eve of the first rest day.

Simon Yates took a third career stage win in the Tour, only a few weeks after his unexpected success in the Giro d’Italia, dropping the last of his breakaway companions on the uphill finish to Puy de Sancy, while Ireland’s Ben Healy claimed the first yellow jersey of his career.

Published: July 14, 2025, 4:27 pm

Meet the Estonian amateur who started golf by accident and qualified for the Open

Richard Teder secured a major debut at Royal Portrush after a hole out in a playoff and the 20-year-old only took up the sport after his aunt won a prize

All we know already about Richard Teder suggests his Open Championship debut may provide essential viewing when he becomes the first golfer from Estonia to tee it up in the oldest major.

He qualified by holing out from 90 yards in a sudden death playoff, a euphoric scene which preceded the eating of half a doner kebab for dinner. Teder picked up golf by accident, finds the sport straightforward and learned English via YouTube. There are far more illustrious names in the field at Royal Portrush but few competitors have such a backstory.

Published: July 14, 2025, 2:00 pm

Sinner’s Wimbledon focus was unblinking on every point – Alcaraz is playing catch-up | Tumaini Carayol

Italian overcame heartbreak in French Open final and now moves on to his favoured hard courts for US Open buildup

With his hopes of a third consecutive Wimbledon title desperately fading with every point, Carlos Alcaraz sat down in his chair on Centre Court after conceding the third set of his final with Jannik Sinner and bluntly unloaded his thoughts on his team: “From the back of the court, he is much better than me. Much better than me! Much [better]! It’s like this,” Alcaraz said, gesturing with his hands to demonstrate the vast gap between his greatest rival and himself.

His assessment was not wrong. From a set down, Sinner put together a supreme performance to overturn five consecutive losses against Alcaraz and win his first Wimbledon title, avenging the most difficult loss in his career – his French Open final defeat by Alcaraz in June – at the earliest opportunity. No one in the world strikes the ball with anything close to the destructive power, cleanliness, consistency that the Italian employs to dominate on the court and he used his incessant aggression to constantly rob time from his opponent, making it so difficult for him to impose his own varied game.

Published: July 14, 2025, 3:46 pm

Jake Paul is boxing’s newest power broker. Taylor v Serrano was his proof of concept

Katie Taylor’s decisive victory over Amanda Serrano at MSG on Friday capped a watershed night for Most Valuable Promotions, who are betting big on women’s boxing

On Friday night, 11 July, Katie Taylor earned the clear-cut win that had eluded her in two previous victories by controversial decision over Amanda Serrano. Fighting before a sold-out crowd of 19,721 on the first all-women’s boxing card ever at Madison Square Garden, Taylor outboxed her longtime rival and solidified her status as one of the greatest women boxers of all time.

The evening was a celebration of women’s boxing and also marked a significant step forward for Most Valuable Promotions (Jake Paul’s promotional company), which orchestrated, produced and marketed the event.

Published: July 14, 2025, 8:00 am

The Cosmos return – with a new home, new league and old ideals

Once the glitziest name in US soccer, the Cosmos are back in Paterson, New Jersey, with a historic stadium, a grassroots ethos and ambitions to build a real club from the ground up

There’s a new New York Cosmos in town – in the town of Paterson, New Jersey, to be precise. One of the most storied names in American soccer has hit the reset button, finding a new league, a new city and a refreshed, community-first approach.

While many high-profile new teams in US sports are parachuted in at the top of their league’s hierarchy, this Cosmos revival feels different – some of that by design, some by necessity. Thursday’s announcement at the newly restored Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson offered longtime fans and curious onlookers a glimpse into this fresh direction, and the reasons behind it.

Published: July 13, 2025, 8:00 am

How the rightwing sports bro conquered America

By extension of the Trump-aligned ‘manosphere’, figures such as ESPN’s Pat McAfee have upended US culture with their brash, hypermasculine punditry

This February, Pat McAfee was broadcasting live on ESPN, the most watched sports network in the US, when he aired a salacious rumor about the sex life of a teenage college student. Once a workaday punter with the Indianapolis Colts, McAfee is now the most influential pundit in American sports with an eponymous ESPN show, who has more than 11m followers across YouTube, X, Instagram and TikTok.

To howls of merriment from his panel, McAfee spelled out the rumor centered on a 19-year-old female student at Ole Miss, a public university in Mississippi, as it was “being reported by everybody on the internet”: that the student had sex with her boyfriend’s father. “Ole Miss dads are slinging meat right now!” roared “Boston” Connor Campbell, one of McAfee’s sidekicks.

Published: July 13, 2025, 1:00 pm

Sinner reaches for the sweets and comes away with the whole jar at Wimbledon | Jonathan Liew

The Italian was overcome with joy after learning harsh lesson from his French Open defeat at the hands of Carlos Alcaraz

As a boy, Jannik Sinner was a champion skier. As he stood on Centre Court match point up against Carlos Alcaraz, perhaps some of the old skills kicked in. Skiing teaches balance, it teaches flexibility and endurance, but most of all it teaches faith. There is a moment in every slide, before friction kicks in, when the body is basically at the mercy of powder and physics. And the greatest skiers learn that this is the moment to hold your nerve. When it feels like you’re falling, keep falling. When it feels like the edge of disaster, keep going.

Three match points against Alcaraz; take two. You’ve lost your last five matches against this guy. He’s the double defending champion. The last time you played, a few short weeks ago, he came back from two sets and three match points down to win. It was one of the most dramatic comebacks ever seen in a grand slam final, and here we are again. Alcaraz saves the first match point. He saves the second. The noise level is rising to a climax. When it feels like you’re falling, keep falling.

Published: July 13, 2025, 9:01 pm

When women fight: Taylor v Serrano and the meaning of choice in the ring

The first all-female card at MSG ended with a quiet finale to a great trilogy. But its legacy is loud: a reckoning with risk, glory, and the radical idea that women can choose both

There are two salient pictures of the Katie Taylor–Amanda Serrano trilogy: Taylor walking to the ring on Friday night under the green, orange and white bars of light, her neck like a tree trunk, eyes fixed ahead with stoic grandeur as Even Though I Walk played overhead – and the image, hours earlier, of Yulihan Luna bloodied and bruised, standing beside a ring girl whose hoisted breasts had been shellacked in oil, smiling rigidly at a camera that wasn’t looking at the fighter.

That’s boxing. That’s also being a woman.

Published: July 13, 2025, 9:00 am

Fire at Massachusetts assisted living facility leaves nine dead

One person in critical condition after blaze rips through residence for seniors in Fall River on Sunday night

Nine people were killed after a fire ripped through an assisted living facility in Fall River, Massachusetts, on Sunday night, with one person remaining in critical condition in hospital.

More than 30 residents were taken to area hospitals and dozens were rescued by ladder as firefighters battled heavy smoke that filled the Gabriel House Assisted Living Residence on Oliver Street, local officials said.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

Published: July 14, 2025, 7:27 pm

First look at HBO’s Harry Potter TV series released

HBO releases first glimpse of new Boy Who Lived as cameras roll on small screen adaptation of JK Rowling’s books

HBO has provided a first glimpse at the new world of Harry Potter, as filming begins on its hotly anticipated television adaptation of JK Rowling’s beloved book series.

A photo provided by the broadcaster shows Dominic McLaughlin in character as the young wizard for the first time. The 11-year-old was selected alongside Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley and Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger after an extensive casting search among British children aged 9-11. As with Daniel Radcliffe before him, McLaughlin sports Potter’s trademark round glasses and Gryffindor uniform.

Published: July 14, 2025, 3:59 pm

About 1,500 tarantulas found hidden in cake boxes at German airport

Customs officials at Cologne Bonn airport tipped off by ‘noticeable smell’ that did not resemble confectionary

Arachnophobes beware: customs officials have released photos from a seizure of roughly 1,500 young tarantulas found inside plastic containers that were hidden in chocolate sponge cake boxes shipped to an airport in western Germany.

Customs officials said on Monday they had found the shipment at Cologne Bonn airport in a package that had arrived from Vietnam. A Cologne customs office spokesperson, Jens Ahland, said they had been tipped off by a “noticeable smell” that did not resemble the expected aroma of the 7kg (about 15lb) of the confectionery treats.

Published: July 14, 2025, 3:05 pm

US man gets life for beheading father as political statement and posting video

Pennsylvania man called for execution of other civil servants in video in which he displayed severed head

A Pennsylvania man has been ordered to spend the rest of his life in prison after being convicted of fatally shooting his federal government employee father, decapitating him and brandishing the severed head in an online video that called for the execution of other civil servants.

Justin Mohn, 33, was sentenced on Friday after a five-day trial by a judge that found him guilty of murder and terrorism charges, Pennsylvania state prosecutors said.

Published: July 14, 2025, 2:09 pm

Biden denies White House aides granted clemency without his knowledge

‘I made every single one of those,’ former president insists after claims by Trump over his use of autopen

Joe Biden has denied claims that his circle of aides acted without his knowledge when he granted a slew of pardons and commutations in the final days and hours of his presidency.

“I made every single one of those,” the former president told the New York Times in an interview published on Sunday when asked about claims that he was incapacitated and unaware of clemency decisions. Biden called the people making those claims “liars”, adding, “They know it.”

Published: July 14, 2025, 12:55 pm

Former senior coroner’s officer says Lucy Letby has suffered miscarriage of justice

Stephanie Davies says crucial details about one of the babies could have made difference to police investigation

A senior coroner’s officer who first reviewed the deaths of babies at the Countess of Chester hospital for Cheshire police in 2017 now believes Lucy Letby has suffered a miscarriage of justice.

Stephanie Davies, who was given three hours to carry out her review, was told it was key to detectives deciding to commence an investigation into the former neonatal nurse.

In her first interview, with the Guardian and Channel 4 News, Davies said she had become increasingly alarmed since December, when she learned that the hospital doctors had not reported a key medical procedure on one of the babies to the coroner at the time. She has since found the explanations of new medical experts, who have publicly contested the prosecution arguments, compelling.

Published: July 14, 2025, 3:00 pm

Indian regulator orders airlines to check Boeing fuel switches after plane crash report

Air India cautions investigation into Boeing 787 Dreamliner crash is in early stages as speculation about cause grows

India’s aviation regulator has ordered the country’s airlines to examine fuel switches on Boeing aircraft, after a preliminary report on the Air India flight 171 crash in June showed the fuel supply had been cut seconds after takeoff.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation said it had issued the order after several domestic and international airlines began making their own inspections of the locking mechanisms attached to the switches.

Published: July 14, 2025, 3:03 pm

How US immigration raids hurt summer pleasures, from berries to barbecues

In the US, hardly a food is untouched by immigrant labor – and Ice raids will profoundly affect the food labor system

From his father’s strawberry farm in central California, Tomás Diaz noticed a border patrol vehicle driving toward a field of workers. Diaz, himself Mexican American and a US citizen, yelled in Spanish: “Run for your life! That’s immigration!” As the men scattered, the agents grabbed whom they could. In the chaos, six workers escaped, and Diaz was detained for interrogation. “Why did you yell at the Mexicans to run?” an officer pressed. “No reason at all,” Diaz calmly replied.

This did not happen yesterday, but in 1953. Driven by fears of border infiltration by communists and “criminal” and “diseased” migrants, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (the Department of Homeland Security’s predecessor) carried out “Operation Wetback” from 1954 to 1957. Border patrol officers raided public spaces, workplaces and homes and formally deported about 400,000 Mexicans (hundreds of thousands more repatriated out of fear).

Published: July 13, 2025, 1:00 pm

There was a deal to fix this Alabama community’s raw sewage crisis. Trump tore it up over DEI

Residents of Alabama’s Lowndes county are still fighting for basic sanitation after Trump’s DoJ canceled a landmark Biden-era agreement

Thelma and Willie Perryman spend most days out front of their family trailer in rural Alabama, shooting the breeze while enjoying the birdsong – and making sure their three-year-old grandson doesn’t wander into the sewage-sodden back yard.

They used to barbecue on the back porch looking out at the woods on their land until a couple of years back when the contaminated wastewater seeping out from a leaky old pipe got simply unbearable. Willie, 71, ripped out the sinking porch as branches began falling off a towering old hickory tree which is now completely dead and at risk of toppling.

Published: July 13, 2025, 11:00 am

Arizona resident dies from pneumonic plague, health officials say

Death marks first recorded plague death in Coconino county since 2007 but not the most recent case in the state

A person has died from pneumonic plague in Coconino county, Arizona, the first such death there since 2007 – though officials are saying the death is unrelated to a recent die-off of prairie dogs in the area that may also be plague-related.

Health officials in Coconino county, which incorporates part of the Grand Canyon national park and lies north of Flagstaff, confirmed the death on 11 July.

Published: July 14, 2025, 3:34 pm

Coroner identifies suspect who police say shot dead two at Kentucky church

Suspect, who was shot by police and pronounced dead at the scene, wounded a state trooper before fleeing to a church and shooting four people

A suspect shot and wounded a state trooper near a Kentucky airport on Sunday before fleeing to a nearby church, killing two women and wounding two men, and later was fatally shot by police.

On Monday the shooter was identified by a coroner as Guy House, 47. At 11.36am ET on Sunday, House opened fire near Blue Grass airport in Lexington and wounded a state trooper, according to authorities.

Published: July 14, 2025, 2:45 pm

Heavy rain in Texas halts rescue efforts as officials warn of further flooding

State authorities believe more than 160 people could still be missing as flash flood warnings remain in Kerr county

More heavy rains in Texas on Sunday paused a weeklong search for victims of catastrophic flooding along the Guadalupe River and led to high-water rescues elsewhere as officials warned that the downpours could again cause waterways to surge.

It was the first time a new round of severe weather had paused the search since the 4 July floods, which killed at least 129 people. Authorities believe more than 160 people may still be missing in Kerr county.

Published: July 13, 2025, 8:37 pm

DoJ drops charges against Utah doctor accused of destroying Covid vaccines

Michael Kirk Moore accused of distributing at least 1,937 false vaccination cards and administering saline to children

The US Department of Justice dropped charges on Saturday against Michael Kirk Moore, the Utah doctor accused of destroying more than $28,000 worth of government-provided Covid-19 vaccines and administering saline to children instead of the shot.

Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, announced the news in a statement on the social media platform X, saying the charges had been dismissed under her direction.

Published: July 13, 2025, 2:01 pm

German doctor on trial for allegedly murdering 15 patients in his care

Defendant accused of using deadly cocktail of drugs and of setting fire to many victims’ homes to cover up evidence

Hearings have begun in the Berlin trial of a German palliative doctor accused of murdering 15 patients in his care using a deadly cocktail of sedatives and setting fire to many of their homes to try to cover up his crimes.

Prosecutors have charged the 40-year-old defendant with 15 counts of “murder with premeditated malice and other base motives” and are seeking a life sentence, which in Germany usually amounts to 15 years in prison.

Published: July 14, 2025, 4:39 pm

Europe urged to raise plight of Iran’s political prisoners in any future talks

Rights activists say Tehran’s crackdown must be on agenda in any talks on future relations between Europe and Iran

Iranian human rights groups are urging MEPs and European governments to escalate the issue of Tehran’s mistreatment of political prisoners, arguing that the crackdown on internal dissent must be on the agenda in any talks about future relations between Europe and Iran.

The Iranian foreign ministry appears to be in no rush to stage further talks with the west without clear US assurances that it will not be attacked again.

Published: July 14, 2025, 7:01 pm

‘Humanitarian city’ would be concentration camp for Palestinians, says former Israeli PM

Ehud Olmert says forcing people into camp would be ethnic cleansing, and anger at Israel over Gaza war is not all down to antisemitism

The “humanitarian city” Israel’s defence minister has proposed building on the ruins of Rafah would be a concentration camp, and forcing Palestinians inside would be ethnic cleansing, Israel’s former prime minister Ehud Olmert has told the Guardian.

Israel was already committing war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank, Olmert said, and construction of the camp would mark an escalation.

Published: July 13, 2025, 6:14 pm

Indian film board criticised for cutting ‘overly sensual’ Superman kisses

Viewers complain that board allows violence and misogyny in Indian films but not a smooch in a Hollywood release

As Indian cinemagoers watched the latest Superman film, many noticed something was amiss. On two occasions as the superhero leaned in for a kiss with Lois Lane, the film suddenly jumped forward, cutting to the aftermath of an embrace.

India’s censor board had deemed the kissing scenes, including a 33-second smooch, to be “overly sensual” for Indian audiences and demanded they be cut from the film before its cinematic release.

Published: July 14, 2025, 1:42 pm

DJ Nick León on Rosalía, regional Latin club sounds and rejecting success: ‘I was losing my edge’

Early success left the Miami producer feeling risk-averse. He quit touring to discover his muggy, magical sound – and accidentally scored another hit with Erika de Casier

A few years ago, Nick León made a hit. Not a hit hit, like a Drake/Sabrina/Taylor hit, but a hit in certain circles. His single Xtasis, made with the Venezuelan producer DJ Babatr, was one of the defining club tracks of 2022. Named track of the year by Resident Advisor and a staple at parties throughout the summer and autumn, it launched León from his status as one of Miami’s most interesting underground DJs into the international club circuit.

“It was like, we’re hitting the ground running – we’re gonna be touring and DJing all the time, and there was this mission of spreading the music that so many people have been playing already, from Latin America and the US,” León recalls of this period, sweating through his tie-dye T-shirt in an east London cafe in June.

Published: July 14, 2025, 11:07 am

Futra Days review – esoteric sci-fi romance offers lovers time-jump ‘happiness heists’ to save relationships

A man gets catapulted into the future to help him understand the future of his crush, but the sloppy chronology and gratuitous stylistic touches leave this film a little too infatuated with itself

With studio projects abandoning Los Angeles as a shooting location, it’s the low-budget crowd that are still holdouts, presumably out of necessity. Futra Days is another in the line of esoteric films about overheated Angeleno creative minds that the pandemic seemed to encourage; the likes of the hermeneutic sci-fi Something in the Dirt or family found-footage He’s Watching. But running time-travel rings around a dysfunctional relationship, Ryan David’s sophomore effort is just a bit too infatuated with itself.

Jaded record producer Sean (Brandon Sklenar, looking like Chris Evans and Glen Powell spliced) is wondering whether a new crush on thrift-shop worker and aspiring singer Nichole (Tania Raymonde) will go the distance. So he signs up to a “happiness heist”: being catapulted into the future by an experimental time-travel clinic run by Dr Felicia Walter (Rosanna Arquette) whose medical qualifications seem, well, questionable. After replacing his future self, who is in the process of walking out on an exasperated future Nichole, he decides to try to reboot their relationship.

Published: July 14, 2025, 12:00 pm

Summer loving: how America fell head over heels for Love Island

The all-consuming dating competition has become the most talked about show of the summer in the US even as it suffers viewer disinterest in the UK

On the surface, there wasn’t anything particularly different about this season of Love Island USA.

It’s another hot idiot parade. The villa is the same, overly lit and filled with dumb neon signs, looking like it was exclusively decorated by Target (the contestants are still obliged to call it beautiful as they enter, leaving audiences wondering if they are told by producers to do so). There is the same introduction of personalities that at first seem complex and different, only for everyone to fall into a high school trance once they start vying to be chosen. There is the same suspension of any kind of reality for the most part, in which the contestants rarely discuss the real-world implications of their lives, such as their jobs and living situations.

Published: July 13, 2025, 1:27 pm

Flesh and Code is an utterly jaw-dropping listen: best podcasts of the week

Brace yourself for the staggering tale of Travis, who has both real and bot wives. Plus, the wickedly gossipy duo of Graham Norton and Maria McErlane are back

This staggering tale of people falling in love with AI chatbots is baffling, tragic and terrifying. It’s full of jaw-dropping moments, as hosts Hannah Maguire and Suruthi Bala speak to Travis who “married” a bot despite already having a real-life spouse. There’s also the vulnerable teenager whose “companion” spurs him on to an attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II (which ends with him being charged with treason). Alexi Duggins
Wondery+, episodes weekly

Published: July 14, 2025, 6:00 am

‘Is Peter Gabriel in my vocal range? I don’t care. I’m singing it at karaoke’: Xzibit’s honest playlist

The rapper, actor and TV presenter wakes up to Run the Jewels and starts the party with Snoop Dogg, but which legendary hip hop anthem inspired him to become a musician?

The first song I fell in love withFight the Power by Public Enemy from their Fear of a Black Planet album touched my soul. Hearing the vibrant production on that record is what really inspired me as a child to become a musician. I listened to it so much, I nearly wore it out. It was crazy.

The first single I bought
Ruff Rhyme (Back Again) by my friend King T on cassette tape from Tower Records in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It has the Ruff Mix remix on the B-side, and to this day he and I fight about which is best.

The song I do at karaoke
In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel. Is it in my vocal range? I don’t give care if I’m singing it right. I’ll do my best.

Published: July 13, 2025, 8:00 am

Men in Love by Irvine Welsh review – the Trainspotting boys grow up

Three decades on from the author’s breakthrough debut, why are we still trapped in the Trainspotting moment?

It has been more than 30 years since Irvine Welsh published Trainspotting. To put that in perspective, it’s as distant to readers today as Catch-22 or To Kill a Mockingbird would have been in 1993. If you are anything like me, that doesn’t feel quite right. Because even at such a historical remove, there remains something undeniably resonant, something curiously current, about Welsh’s wiry, demotic, scabrous debut.

In part, this is explained by the sheer scale of Trainspotting’s success. It was one of those genuinely rare literary events, wherein a critically acclaimed, stylistically adventurous book catches the cultural zeitgeist to such a degree that it also becomes a commercial sensation, going on to sell over a million copies. Its cultural salience was further compounded by Danny Boyle’s cinematic adaptation, one of the highest-grossing UK films of all time, a visual intervention that seemed to crystallise the aesthetics of Britpop – high velocity, high audacity, high nostalgia.

Published: July 14, 2025, 6:01 am

Poem of the week: Poem in which I’m a transnational drug smuggler by Bethany Handley

A sharp and witty look at the treatment of people with disabilities conveys its anger with arresting artistry

Poem in which I’m a transnational drug smuggler

Published: July 14, 2025, 11:12 am

A Year With the Seals review – what to know about the elusive sea creature

A science journalist delves deep into our sometimes fraught relationship with these intelligent animals

‘There is no creature born, even among the greater apes, which more resembles a human baby in its ways and its cries than a baby grey seal,” wrote the ecologist Frank Fraser Darling in 1939. Seals’ large eyes, the five digits of their flippers, their lanugo – the soft down with which they (and sometimes we) are born – all erode the mental barriers we erect between ourselves and our marine cousins. According to Faroese legend, there are even seals, known as selkies, that can shed their skins, assume human form and live undetected among us.

The selkie myth is just one that appears in the Maine-based science writer Alix Morris’s compelling book, which explores seals’ fraught relationship with culture, the economy and our imaginations. She charts the varied and conflicting ways in which we conceive of these creatures: as reviled competitors for fish, magnets for great white sharks, or defenceless human children who “weep” when distressed.

Published: July 14, 2025, 8:01 am

Irvine Welsh: ‘I’m often astounded that any relationships take place these days’

The follow-up to Trainspotting sees Renton, Begbie and co settling down. The bestselling author explains why now is the perfect time for romance

I was born in the great port of Leith. Stories are in my blood; listening to them, telling them. My family were typical of many in the area, moving from tenement to council scheme, increasingly further down the Forth estuary. I was brought up in a close community. I left school with practically no qualifications. I tended towards the interesting kids, the troublemakers. All my own fault. I was always encouraged to be more scholarly by my parents, who valued education. But I left school and became an apprentice technician, doing a City & Guilds course. I hated it. I was always a writer: I just didn’t know it. I cite being crap at everything else in evidence.

It’s why I’ve never stopped writing stories about my youth and my go-to gang of characters from Trainspotting. Their reaction to events and changes in the world helps inform my own. They’ve been given substance by people I’ve met down the decades, from Leith pubs to Ibiza clubs.

Published: July 13, 2025, 11:00 am

‘The way a child plays is the way they live’: how therapists are using video games to help vulnerable children

Minecraft and other creative games are becoming recognised as powerful means of self-expression and mental health support, including for traumatised Ukrainian refugees

Oleksii Sukhorukov’s son was 12 when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. For months, the family existed in a state of trauma and disarray: Sukhorukov was forced to give up his work in the entertainment industry, which had included virtual reality and video games; they became isolated from friends and relatives. But amid the chaos, his boy had one outlet: Minecraft. Whatever was happening outside, he’d boot up Mojang’s block-building video game and escape.

“After 24 February 2022, I began to see the game in a completely different light,” says Sukhorukov. I discovered that Ukrainian children were playing together online; some living under Russian occupation, others in government-controlled areas of the country that were the targets of regular missile attacks; some had already become refugees. And yet they were still able to play together, support one another, and build their own world. Isn’t that amazing? I wanted to learn more about how video games can be used for good.”

Published: July 14, 2025, 9:00 am

‘People here are as strong as concrete’: the stunning architecture of war-torn Kharkiv

A new architectural guidebook was written as a love letter to the Ukrainian city – then Russia started bombing it. How will this home to Tetris-like offices and daring curved cinemas be rebuilt?

When the Derzhprom building erupted on to the Kharkiv skyline in the 1920s, it must have seemed like an impossibly futuristic vision. Standing like a gleaming white concrete castle, it curves around the circular plaza of Freedom Square in the city’s centre.

Built as the state industry headquarters of what was then the capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, it looks like a three-dimensional game of Tetris, a mighty nest of chunky oblong forms stacked, rotated and interlocked to form a colossal administrative pile. Striding across three city blocks, and towering almost 60m high, it was the tallest office building in Europe for several years, its humungous floor plates connected high up in the air by thrilling sci-fi skybridges. It was far ahead of its time, prefiguring the brawny brutalist complexes that emerged in western Europe and the US half a century later.

Published: July 14, 2025, 5:00 am

Wireless festival review – Drake’s disjointed three-night headline run smacks of desperation

Finsbury Park, London
An all-star lineup of supporting turns – including, astonishingly, Lauryn Hill – show up to bolster the beleaguered megastar, but this is a very scrappy affair

The announcement of Drake’s three-day headline set for Wireless’s 20th anniversary met with a mixed response. Having been eviscerated in a rap beef with Kendrick Lamar, he had seemingly lost all street credibility. Plus, three consecutive sets from one artist could be overkill. On the other hand, what better way could there be to mark the occasion? No artist is more emblematic of the interface between British and American music that is so central to Wireless (despite Drake being Canadian). And the triptych curation around his various artistic personae seemed like genius: the swoon-worthy Casanova, the menacing rapper, the Black diaspora-surfing chameleon (or “culture vulture”, if you’re a Drake-sceptic).

Friday at the festival has an R&B focus, revealing rising star Kwn and the delightfully bluesy Leon Thomas. Summer Walker is somewhat garbled and listless. And then, after collaborator PartyNextDoor bores us to death for 20 minutes, Drake arrives, throwing it back with the 2011 heartbreak classic Marvin’s Room. The surprise army of R&B all-stars he brings on is incredible: Mario, Bobby Valentino, Giveon, Bryson Tiller; Lauryn Hill’s appearance is astonishing, despite the glaring audio issues that occur in the transition from Nice for What into Ex-Factor. It is a clear statement of Drake’s standing among the greats, an assembling of allies.

Published: July 14, 2025, 10:17 am

Are a few people ruining the internet for the rest of us?

Why does the online world seem so toxic compared with normal life? Our research shows that a small number of divisive accounts could be responsible – and offers a way out

When I scroll through social media, I often leave demoralized, with the sense that the entire world is on fire and people are inflamed with hatred towards one another. Yet, when I step outside into the streets of New York City to grab a coffee or meet a friend for lunch, it feels downright tranquil. The contrast between the online world and my daily reality has only gotten more jarring.

Since my own work is focused on topics such as intergroup conflict, misinformation, technology and climate change, I’m aware of the many challenges facing humanity. Yet, it seems striking that people online seem to be just as furious about the finale of The White Lotus or the latest scandal involving a YouTuber. Everything is either the best thing ever or the absolute worst, no matter how trivial. Is that really what most of us are feeling? No, as it turns out. Our latest research suggests that what we’re seeing online is a warped image created by a very small group of highly active users.

Published: July 13, 2025, 1:00 pm

Terrible night’s sleep? Here’s how to make it through the day – and maybe even enjoy it – one step at a time

Coffee or no coffee? Almond croissant or exercise snack? Early night or bedtime as usual? You’ll be grateful you made the right choices

Ah, sleep – “nature’s soft nurse” to Shakespeare, “the foundation of our mental and physical health” to the less poetically minded neuroscientist and podcaster Andrew Huberman. By now, you hopefully know that getting a consistent seven to eight hours of shuteye is crucial for everything from your short-term decision-making to your long-term health, and you’re familiar with all the usual advice on getting it (have a consistent bedtime, make your bedroom really dark, no double espressos at 9pm). But one question that’s considered less is: what if you have one restless night? How do you best get through the day – and what can you do to avoid a single interrupted slumber snowballing into several? Let’s take it one hour at a time.

When you first drag yourself out of bed, it’s tempting to click the kettle straight on – but should you hold off your first hot drink of the day until you’re a bit less bleary-eyed? Increasingly, influencers advise delaying your first hit of tea or coffee for anywhere between 30 and 90 minutes after you wake up – the rationale being that caffeine mostly works by blocking the brain’s receptors for a molecule called adenosine, which ordinarily promotes relaxation by slowing down neural activity. Adenosine levels are at their lowest when you wake up, and so in theory, you might be “wasting” your first brew of the day by glugging it when there’s nothing for the caffeine to block. This seems plausible, but it’s also worth noting that caffeine’s effects take about 10 minutes to kick in, and it’s about 45 minutes before levels peak in the bloodstream. Caffeine’s also not just good for getting you going: if you’re planning a workout or a morning walk, it can help things along by producing feelgood endorphins and increasing the amount of fat you’re able to burn. Some people suggest that waiting a while before your first cup helps to avoid afternoon drowsiness, but according to an evaluation of the scientific literature published last year, “There is no evidence that caffeine ingestion upon waking is somehow responsible for an afternoon ‘crash’.”

Published: July 14, 2025, 4:00 am

The one change that worked: I was such a fussy eater, it limited me – now I try one new dish a week to reduce my food fear

Mayonnaise still makes me feel like I’m dying, but I’ve learned to love parmesan. And at least I’m making an effort

I’ve always been a fussy eater. As a child, I ruined many family dinners because my overly particular palate meant I would simply refuse to eat a range of dishes. Certain ingredients would make me heave and throw tantrums. My brothers loved lasagne, but it rarely made the dinner table as I couldn’t stand cheese, and bechamel triggered a phobia of white sauces (mayonnaise is my No 1 hate). And don’t even think about making tuna sandwiches around me: the smell alone would make me burst into tears.

I often joke that being a fussy eater has made me feel more like a second-class citizen in this country than my blackness or my sexuality as a gay man. And I’m only being half unserious. Fussy eaters are often derided, belittled for only enjoying chicken tenders and fries, with questions about why we can’t just “grow up” and get over our aversion to certain foods.

Published: July 14, 2025, 10:00 am

Women in the US: if you’re single, tell us why

We’re keen to hear from women in the US why they are single, what they are looking for in a partner and whether they’ve given up dating

Based on Census Bureau historical data and Morgan Stanley forecasts, 45% of prime working age women (ages 25-44) will be single by 2030 – the largest share in history and up from 41% in 2018.

We’d like to hear from single women in the US why they are single, how they’re feeling about not having a partner and whether they are still looking for one.

Published: July 14, 2025, 11:23 am

The kindness of strangers: she bought a new sim card for my mum and installed it on her phone

Dad was in hospital in Spain; Mum couldn’t speak Spanish and didn’t know how to contact me, so I reached out to an expat community on Facebook

• Read more in the kindness of strangers series

One week before I was due to fly to Sweden to see my son get married, I got a frantic, jumbled message from Mum. My elderly parents were desperate to attend the big wedding but as they were both in their 80s, they’d decided it would be more comfortable to take a cruise ship from Australia to Europe than to fly. They’d set off two months before the rest of us.

Mum’s message asked me to call her. “We’re being thrown off the ship,” she wrote. “Your father’s in an ambulance – I think it’s pneumonia. We’re somewhere in Spain.”

Published: July 13, 2025, 8:00 pm

This is how we do it: ‘I role-play as her rumpled gardener, who comes in and throws her on the bed’

Elaine’s four marriages had only ever involved missionary. Then she met Brian, who introduced her to a whole new world of fun and experimentation
• How do you do it? Share the story of your sex life, anonymously

Being with Brian has been an eye-opening experience – a very good one

Published: July 13, 2025, 10:00 am

Alice Zaslavsky’s buttery brussels sprouts with apple and smoked pork belly – recipe

Salt, sweetness and speed are key to bringing out brussels’ best, says the cookbook author. Here she adds apple and smoked pork for a show-stealing side dish

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Have you heard of the five monkeys experiment? It’s an apocryphal demonstration of how behaviours and beliefs can be adopted and perpetuated, long after the OG reasons for them fade. I’m pretty sure they could’ve just used humans and brussels sprouts as a metaphor instead.

Like most veg of medieval origin, brassicas, of which sprouts are a baby-cabbage-y-version, were grown for hardiness and weather-resistance. As a result, the flavour skewed bitter, and the texture, tough and oftentimes woody.

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Published: July 14, 2025, 3:00 pm

Five beef patties, four cheese slices, bacon, lettuce, tomato … Burger King’s sumo of a burger enters the ring

Japan’s limited-edition Baby Body Burger packs in 1,876 calories and tips the scales at nearly 680g. Will it defeat our reporter?

Japan can legitimately claim to be home to some of the best food on the planet. But it usually has little appetite for supersizing it.

That changed on Friday with Burger King’s gargantuan but curiously named Baby Body Burger, tipping the scales at nearly 680g (1.5lb). As part of a collaboration with the Japan Sumo Association, whose July wrestling tournament has just started, the burger checks in at 1,876 calories. Sumo wrestlers would only need about four of these to get their average daily caloric needs; a mere mortal would need just one to one-and-a-half. And, at ¥2,590 (£13.05), it’s nearly twice the price of a one-patty Whopper with cheese.

Published: July 14, 2025, 12:05 pm

Rukmini Iyer’s quick and easy recipe for cashew rice bowls with stir-fried tofu, broccoli and kimchi | Quick and easy

A great speedy bowl meal that is wholesome, tasty and a success with all the family

These were an absolute hit with my children, albeit minus the cashews, and as any parent with toddlers who refuse to let their food touch other food will know, that’s a breakthrough. It’s well worth making the whole quantity here, because any leftovers are perfect for fried rice the next day – just make sure you cool the rice after making it, then refrigerate immediately and reheat until piping hot the next day.

Published: July 14, 2025, 12:00 pm

Is it true that … it’s harder to build muscle mass and strength as you age?

Getting fit can be more difficult as you grow older, but a few tweaks to aerobic and resistance training can have a positive impact and reduce the risk of disease

‘Your muscles become less responsive to exercise with age,” says Professor Leigh Breen, an expert in skeletal muscle physiology and metabolism at Birmingham University. “It’s not as easy to gain muscle and strength as when you were younger.”

But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth the effort. “The idea that exercise becomes pointless past a certain age is simply wrong,” he says. “Everyone responds to structured exercise. You may not build as much visible muscle, but strength, cardiovascular health, brain function and protection against non-transmittable disease all improve.”

Published: July 14, 2025, 7:00 am

Why is the number of first-time US homebuyers at a generational low?

Young Americans are holding off on buying a home, with the average age in 2024 being a record high of 38

A cornerstone of the American dream is drifting out of reach.

The estimated number of first-time homebuyers in the US dropped to a little more than 1.1 million in 2024, according to data from the National Association of Realtors shared with the Guardian: the lowest level since the NAR started tracking new buyers, in 1989.

Published: July 13, 2025, 10:00 am

Troops, terror and tears in Los Angeles as Ice raids show no sign of slowing

Raids have left residents of LA’s MacArthur Park scared to go to trusted local businesses – and outside in general

It was an extraordinary show of force, displayed in a mostly empty public park.

On 7 July, a convoy of federal agents descended upon Los Angeles’s MacArthur Park – in the heart of a predominantly immigrant neighborhood. Chaperones from a summer camp hurried children indoors, as protesters and media rushed to the scene. It was unclear whether immigration officials actually arrested anyone that morning.

Published: July 13, 2025, 11:00 am

Bastille Day and a swan census: photos of the day – Monday

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

Published: July 14, 2025, 1:26 pm