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

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

Tom Gauld on the perfect job – cartoon

Published: July 13, 2025, 3:00 pm

Where authors gossip, geek out and let off steam: 15 of the best literary Substacks

More and more writers are publishing newsletters – but which are worth your time? From Margaret Atwood to Hanif Kureishi, George Saunders to Miranda July, here’s our guide to the best

A peculiar aspect of the dawning of the digital age is that it has, in some respects, returned literary life to the 18th century. A hullabaloo of pamphleteers, the effective abolition of copyright – and a return to patronage networks and serial publication. In this context, then, the way in which literary writers are now turning to Substack – a platform that allows authors to send emails to a list of subscribers, and allows those subscribers to interact in comment forums – seems entirely natural.

Literary Substacks don’t follow a single pattern. For some, it’s a way of getting new work into the world, whether publishing a novel in serial form or hot-off-the-keyboard short stories; for others, it’s a way of interacting directly with readers (while building a handy marketing list); for still others, it’s a home for criticism, journalism, personal blowing off of steam, self-promotion, or a more direct version of the traditional writerly side hustle, teaching creative writing to aspiring authors.

Published: July 12, 2025, 8:01 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

To beard or not to beard is a hot topic | Brief letters

Stubble trouble | Acropolis now | Just sew story | Ambassador Ozzy | Making a point

As Toby Wood (Letters, 10 July) notes, beard lovers – pogonophiles in the Greek – deserve recognition, and Polly Hudson’s hirsute solidarity is welcome. There is a note of caution in the UK heatwave. While in Algiers in April 1882, Karl Marx had his iconic beard shaved because the weather was too hot. Just now beard wearers and allies may love facial hair a little less.
Keith Flett
Organiser, Beard Liberation Front

• Whatever her views on the Parthenon statues (Liz Truss and hard-right group accused of scaremongering over Parthenon marbles, 11 July), Liz Truss is surely the most outstanding figure in British politics when it comes to lost marbles.
Mark Lewinski-Grende
Swaffham Prior, Cambridgeshire

Published: July 13, 2025, 4:55 pm

‘This summer’s story’: sitcom Too Much gives nighties a starring role

Nightdresses are set to follow pyjamas out of the bedroom as daywear, with sales up on the UK high street

In the first episode of Lena Dunham’s new Netflix sitcom Too Much, viewers might be taken with cameos from Dunham, Jessica Alba and the model Emily Ratajkowski, or the burgeoning romance between Megan Stalter and Will Sharpe. But – as far as fashion is concerned – it’s nighties that have a starring role.

Early in the episode, Stalter wears a short frilled red nightie, with her dog in a matching design. Later, she wears a white frilled floor-length design, and it’s clear the item is something of a signature. If it’s a cute quirk for a character, it’s also in line with wider trends.

Published: July 12, 2025, 11:01 am

How to make perfect bún chả – recipe | Felicity Cloake's How to make the perfect …

Smoky, succulent pork patties, rice noodles, fistfuls of herbs and a super-savoury dipping sauce: is there a perfect way to cook possibly the perfect noodle dish? Let’s find out …

When I visited Hanoi a decade ago, I was living in Hackney, east London, an area with a large Vietnamese community, so I felt, if not quite an expert, at least a little familiar with the cuisine. But it turned out no number of nights out on Kingsland Road could prepare me for the assault on the senses that was my first meal in the city, crouched on a plastic stool by the roadside and enjoying what Uyen Luu describes as “the irresistible sweet, treacly smell of barbecued patties and caramelised pork”, all mingled with traffic fumes.

The stall in question served one thing only: bún chả, a northern speciality of juicy chargrilled pork, cold, slippery rice noodles, sweet yet deeply savoury nước chấm dipping sauce and fistfuls of aromatic herbs. “About as typical and unique a Hanoi dish as there is,” as Anthony Bourdain explained to Barack Obama over bowls of the stuff in 2016, there’s something about the way you can pick and mix the different elements to make every bite unique that makes this pure joy to eat.

Published: July 13, 2025, 12:00 pm

Ratatouille and le grand aïoli: Matthew Ryle’s classic French dishes for Bastille Day

The summery fireworks of a proper Provençal ratatouille, plus a seasonal veg-centric centrepiece based around a superbly garlicky mayo

When writing recipes, it’s good to get into the right headspace. The sky’s clear, it’s warm out (maybe not quite hot enough for my liking) and I’m sitting in the sun, possibly with a glass of rosé in hand. I’m transported to the French Riviera, and that glamorous, sun-drenched coastline, and it’s the perfect setting for two of the most summery French classics: ratatouille and grand aïoli, especially in the run-up to Bastille Day on 14 July. Ratatouille is a glorious riot of stewed vegetables, and I like to serve it with a vibrant French take on pesto. Le grand aïoli, meanwhile, is a feast of seasonal veg, boiled eggs, anchovies and plenty of garlicky mayo for dipping. Both make brilliant centrepieces, or to serve alongside your next barbecue.

Published: July 12, 2025, 9:00 am

Meera Sodha’s recipe for no-churn malted ice-cream and peanut cookie sandwiches | Meera Sodha recipes

Soft, creamy ice-cream – light on fuss and subtly salted with soy – sandwiched between peanut cookies: an all-round winner of a summer dessert

Hugh, my husband, has strong opinions about circles; he finds them satisfying to look at in any form of design. I thought he was odd until I spent some time with an ice-cream sandwich and found myself, like a car (or circle) enthusiast, fawning over the arcs and appreciating the loveliness of a double round cookie housing a cylinder of ice-cream. Unlike a car, however, you can eat the ice-cream cookie and rejoice in the crunch giving away to cold cream – and that, in my opinion, is proper satisfaction.

Published: July 12, 2025, 5:00 am

‘Workforce crisis’: key takeaways for graduates battling AI in the jobs market

Recruitment is powered increasingly by artificial intelligence but employers still want big (human) brains

• Recruiter moves to in-person assessments as candidates apply using AI

• Graduates share their job-hunting woes amid the AI fallout

ChatGPT can certainly write your university essay – but will it take your job soon after? Rapid advances in artificial intelligence have given rise to fears that the technology will make swathes of the workforce redundant.

Graduates are seen as particularly vulnerable because entry-level jobs such as form-filling and basic data entry are strongly associated with the “drudge work” that AI systems – which perform tasks that typically have required human intelligence – could do instead.

Published: July 13, 2025, 7:00 am

Cyborgs, snapchat dysmorphia and AI-led surgery: has our digital age ruined beauty?

From photo-editing apps to ‘Instagram face’, technology has radically altered the way we see ourselves. Ahead of a new exhibition at Somerset House, our critic considers the meaning of art in a digital age

It’s the artist Qualeasha Wood who tells me about Snapchat dysmorphia, “a term coined by plastic surgeons who noticed there was a shift in the mid 2010s when people started bringing in their AI-beautified portraits instead of a celebrity picture”. To resolve your Snapchat dysmorphia, you get your real face remodelled to look like the ideal version of you that artificial intelligence has perfected on your phone screen.

There is a fundamental problem with this, says Adam Lowe, whose Factum Foundation in Madrid is at the forefront of art and technology, digitally documenting artworks and cultural heritage sites around the world. When you have surgery to look like your best self as shown on a flat screen, the results in three-dimensional reality can be very odd indeed. You can feel Lowe’s sadness at the way plastic surgery botches human restoration in pursuit of screen perfection: “I have to look away,” he says.

Published: July 13, 2025, 9:00 am

Collectors can fight to pay £7m for a Birkin – but the ‘it’ handbag is no longer cool | Lauren Cochrane

As prices have ratcheted up, the bag created for Jane Birkin has lost its bohemian edge and its fashion appeal

The news that Jane Birkin’s original Hermès bag has sold for a record-breaking €8.6m (£7.4m) at auction will no doubt cause some jaws to drop to the floor. However, perhaps it should not surprise – this is a bag design that is often linked to eyewatering amounts of money. Forty years on from the prototype, it’s now less a (very expensive) symbol of style and elegance, and more a way to signal you have a lot of money and you would like everyone to know that.

A Birkin has always been expensive – about $10,000 (£7,400), according to the Guardian last year – but the complicating factor is demand. As was reported, two California residents sued Hermès for a practice known as “tying”, which means customers are expected to pre-spend a sufficient amount on other items, such as homewares or jewellery – some say up to $30,000 – before they are even put on the waiting list for a Birkin. Therefore, wearing one on your arm – to those in the know – shows you have the disposable income that not only means you can buy the bag, but also go through with this practice in the first place.

Lauren Cochrane is a senior Guardian fashion writer

Published: July 12, 2025, 10:00 am