
The Handmaid’s Tale author is joined by Emily Wilson, Ocean Vuong and Booker-shortlisted writer Rebecca Perry in celebrating the newly announced Nobel laureate
Anne Carson’s work has long been admired among poets of many countries. For new readers, I would recommend The Beauty of the Husband – direct and visceral, funny and angry and sad – or Men in the Off Hours. Delights await!
Continue reading...The combination of Iranian, Russian and Chinese aggression is deeply worrying: just how much more concerned about security should the country be?
The first time the window-rattling roar of a B-1 bomber woke me up this summer, I thought for one crazed second we were under attack. By the second time, I’d learned to recognise the sound of US planes taking off from their base at RAF Fairford for what it was: a reminder that although Britain wants no part in this war with Iran, we cannot quite escape the consequences.
We’ll feel them at the petrol pump, or in the supermarket this autumn, or in this winter’s heating bills. But living under the flight path adds an extra edge to it. The skies finally fell silent last week, but only because the bombers have been hastily summoned home after an alleged terrorist plot to attack Fairford, in which (according to the prime minister) there are “strong indications that Iran played a part”. If Fairford is now a target of war, did that threat disappear when the Americans did? Nobody knows.
Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist
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Continue reading...Oversized coats, relaxed-fit trousers and secondhand jumpers that will last for years to come … here’s how to build an effortlessly cool autumn wardrobe on a budget
• The best men’s shirts for every occasion
It’s time to pack away your weekly rotation of T-shirts and shorts and start thinking about layers.
As always, there’s no shortage of inspiration for your autumn look. The menswear shows displayed their usual styling tricks: at Prada, the exaggerated shirt cuff became this season’s unlikely focal point. Then, there are the It boys, old and new, who are always good for a sartorial steer: comedian and actor Jack Innanen is the latest addition to the roster, though Brad Pitt’s 90s looks are just as current. And that’s all before you get to the colour palette: this year, bright colours can be thrown in among the traditional rich, earthy shades.
Continue reading...The director talks about what she learnt from her mother, working with a rookie Tim Burton, and 20 years of her cult classic Marie Antoinette
Hello, I’m Cherry, I’m 14 and an aspiring film-maker. I love how your films capture what it feels like to be a young girl growing up. We hear so much about the famous men in your family, but how have the successful women in your family inspired and influenced you? Your films capture the experience of what it is to be a young girl in a way words often can’t. CherryEmma
That’s nice to hear, thank you. I feel like I got a lot from my mom about being true to yourself, following what you’re interested in and seeing the beauty in your surroundings. My mom always noticed odd details in life, so a lot of my films are made up of those kinds of things.
Your films beautifully capture the isolation of hotel rooms – spaces completely detached from a character’s past or future. If you were forced into that stillness and could choose to preserve only one cherished memory while erasing another for ever, what would they be? Malpractice1
It’s hard to pick a memory, but recently we had a party in Versailles for the anniversary of Marie Antoinette and New Order played. When they started playing Ceremony [from the soundtrack] and the lights went on, I just know that in the future when I have to remember a happy memory, that’s going to be it. Even painful memories are part of making you who you are, and you learn from them, so I can’t think of anything I would erase.
Talks between Sainsbury’s and Morrisons have set industry tongues wagging, with analysts saying the market is ripe for change
They may be two of the most recognisable brands in Britain, with a combined 188 years serving shoppers, but industry watchers agree that either Asda or Morrisons – or both – could disappear within a decade.
This week, it emerged that Sainsbury’s and Morrisons – the UK’s second- and sixth-largest supermarket chains – had held merger talks between last November and February, before the larger player decided to walk away.
Continue reading...Sacha Baron Cohen’s new film risks being outdated in a more rancorous era. But could it restore the personality-driven genre to big screens or end it altogether?
For a man whose campaign slogan was once “Keep it real”, Ali G has his work cut out in the reality of 2026. The big dog of Da West Staines Massiv was the character with whom Sacha Baron Cohen carved out his own niche of gonzo-gotcha comedy in the late 1990s – and now he’s back with new film, Ali G: Who Iz I? But it’s unclear if his great creation has gone sufficiently fallow in the collective consciousness to still operate well in real-life situations, the kind of lethal idiot who once pitched Donald Trump anti-drip ice-cream gloves. And more critically, is the Ali G satirical project – which poked at 90s multicultural mores – still relevant and funny in far more rancorous times?
It’s not just Baron Cohen’s career as an undercover operative that’s on the line. It’s the future of character-led comedy as a going concern, now that he seems to be the last man standing in this once-noble tradition – in cinemas, at least. To be clear, character comedy isn’t merely comedy with characters; it’s comedy filtered through a central persona that overlaps with the comedian playing it and whose subversive sensibility colours the entire work.
Continue reading...Inquest hears details of how three women spent their final days but why they ended their lives may never be known
Jane Adetoro and her younger sisters Christina and Rebecca Walters were “the closest sisters and the best friends”, according to their family. Devoted to their father, Joseph, whom they messaged every day, the adult siblings lived quiet lives in the flat they shared in west London and would do everything together.
When they died in May this year, it was no different. Early in the morning of 13 May, the sisters’ bodies were recovered from the sea in Brighton, hours after a taxi had dropped the three women at the beachfront.
Continue reading...Judge makes ruling after former prince brought judicial review of operation linked to Jeffrey Epstein investigation
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has won his legal challenge against Thames Valley police over search warrants used to raid his home after they arrested him.
The former prince brought a judicial review of the legality of the force’s actions and those of the central criminal court, which granted the warrants.
Continue reading...Men aged 32 and 36 detained on suspicion of trespass, causing criminal damage and entering a prohibited place
Two Latvian men were arrested in the early hours of Thursday after they were discovered inside the perimeter of RAF Molesworth, a Cambridgeshire base used by the US military and Nato for intelligence operations.
The men, 32 and 36, were picked up at 2am inside the base, in an investigation that began four hours earlier when military police discovered an abandoned vehicle outside the facility.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Letter to government says changes will unfairly remove legal protections for children in England
Campaigners are calling on Andy Burnham to abandon the core elements of the government’s overhaul of special educational needs provision in England, arguing they unfairly remove children’s legal protections.
A group of disabled children, parents and experts, led by the broadcaster Chris Packham, have written a letter calling for the prime minister to gut the plans laid out under his predecessor, Keir Starmer.
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