General news

• How Middleton’s revival could be grist to the mill for Britain’s struggling towns

  22-10-2026 13:22 via The Guardian
  
  Turnaround initiated by Andy Burnham and led by Steve Coogan could provide blueprint for other neglected areas• Save high street by creating ‘level playing field’ with online rivals, Burnham urgedThe former England footballer Paul Scholes and the actor Steve Coogan stare out from beside a fish and chip shop in Middleton, near Manchester. Looming over a mural of the pair – and the whole town – is an enormous former cotton mill that powered its economy a century ago.The deafening looms a
  
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• South Africa v Australia: second men’s cricket Test, day five – live

  22-10-2026 13:21 via The Guardian
  Updates as the Proteas host Australia in GqeberhaPlay starts after rain forces early lunchAny thoughts? Get in touch with an email“At risk of overcooking the Shield chat,” writes Eamonn Maloney, “you don’t have to select from a bunch of mediocrities averaging 35 when it’s early in the season and the small sample size is inflating averages. Made a big ton? In you go son!”If they had more than four days between matches, you might be right, the emergency calls may be going out. Though o
  
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• England v Sri Lanka: men’s tri-series cricket one-day international – live

  22-10-2026 13:20 via The Guardian
  
  Updates from Rawalpindi, play starts at 9am BSTDoes cricket need a Ballon d’Or? | Mail Rob3rd over: England 5-0 (Banton 2, Duckett 3) Duckett survives a run-out chance after taking a quick single on the off side. He was just short of his ground when Arachchige’s throw bounced past the stumps at the bowler’s end.Another quiet over, with only one big stroke from Banton that didn’t beat the cover fielder. Sri Lanka have bowled an excellent length and England look like they want to get the m
  
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• Save high street by creating ‘level playing field’ with online rivals, Burnham urged

  22-10-2026 13:19 via The Guardian
  Exclusive: British Chambers of Commerce president tells PM to realign tax system away from favouring internet sellers• How Middleton’s revival could be grist to the mill for Britain’s struggling townsAndy Burnham has been urged by one of his most senior former advisers to tax internet sales at a higher rate than those in physical shops to help “level the playing field” for struggling high streets.As the prime minister and his chancellor, John Healey, prepare for their first budget next
  
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• Barclays boss indicates bank taxes in budget ‘bearable’ and backs Healey – UK politics live

  22-10-2026 13:15 via The Guardian
  
  CEO of Barclays tells reporters: ‘I deeply respect the responsibility that the chancellor has and he has our full support and backing’The Office for National Statistics has also published a report on the gender pay gap. It says:The gender pay gap for full-time employees has continued to decline in the UK. It was 6.8% in April 2026, down from 7.2% in April 2025. This compares with 9.4% a decade ago and 16.4% 25 years ago.Secondly, I asked Healey whether he sees the banks as making excessive p
  
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• Tour de France 2027 routes revealed with British stages, time-trials and a volcano

  22-10-2026 13:11 via The Guardian
  Wales test labelled by director as ‘Liège-Bastogne-Liège’Tour de France Femmes will conclude on Puy de DômeEdinburgh will host the most northerly Tour de France start in 2027 while the Pyrenees will provide the competitive finale of next year’s route, which was announced in Paris on Thursday, while the Tour de France Femmes will conclude on a volcano, ⁠the Puy de Dôme.A year after the race’s most southerly start in Barcelona, the Scottish capital will surpass the 2022 Grand Départ
  
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• What Chris Rock’s film Misty Green misses about Black characters

  22-10-2026 13:00 via The Guardian
  Director Rock establishes the film’s setting of Los Angeles better than the lead character, played by Rosalind EleazarIn the opening scenes of Misty Green, a new film from Chris Rock, a Black actor starts to perform her lines in an audition for the role of Andy Sachs in The Devil Wears Prada. The whimsical, pastel color palette of the scene collides with her deadpan recitation of lines meant to convey nervous excitement. If this unevenness weren’t uncomfortable enough, Misty’s nose suddenl
  
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• Donald Trump has sold out Ukraine. He makes Chamberlain look like a man of iron principle | Simon Tisdall

  22-10-2026 13:00 via The Guardian
  Europe’s leaders can no longer trust a word that comes out of Washington. No more slaps on the wrist – we need concrete steps to punish TrumpHistorical comparisons are always inexact. No one conflict precisely mirrors another. Yet Donald Trump’s shameless appeasement of Vladimir Putin carries more than a noxious whiff of Neville Chamberlain’s failed attempt in Munich in 1938 to head off war with Nazi Germany. To be fair to the former UK prime minister – and history largely hasn’t bee
  
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• ‘Bodies, pornography and disgust’: did 2 Girls 1 Cup change the way a generation thinks about sex?

  22-10-2026 13:00 via The Guardian
  A New York theater show about the infamous viral video explores the effects of growing up with internet pornAmong the first questions posed in Two Girls, a verbatim play reconstructing the events of shock-porn video 2 Girls 1 Cup, is a seemingly simple one: “Can you describe the cup?”The cup was plastic, insists one interview subject, transparent but also red, “like you get at a pizzeria”. Another man describes the cup, with certainty, as “a tapering, slightly green glass”. A third s
  
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• Blockades, checkpoints and court action: fending off Brazil’s biofuel giants in the Amazon

  22-10-2026 13:00 via The Guardian
  After decades of violent displacement and land theft, the country’s quilombola communities are fighting backFor most of his 39 years, Josias Dias dos Santos, known as Jota, has endured degrading cycles of displacement as a quilombola, a descendant of Black people once enslaved on Brazil’s sugar cane and coffee plantations. He says his and other quilombola families subsisting in the rainforests in Pará, northern Brazil, were first forced out of their settlements by violent loggers, then by r
  
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• Macron condemns ‘seditious acts’ by ‘ultra-left’ and says he will seek to ban some protests – Europe live

  22-10-2026 12:46 via The Guardian
  French government will show ‘absolute’ determination to stop the riots, Macron saysAs we are waiting for Macron, first details of the planned police response to this weekend’s protests are emerging.Junior interior minister, Jean-Didier Berger, said that the police presence will be “20% higher” than last weekend, with reinforcements from the army, elite police forces and gendarmerie. Continue reading...
  
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• Cathinka Tandberg: ‘Spurs fans hate Arsenal. That’s how it is’

  22-10-2026 12:44 via The Guardian
  
  Norwegian forward might look to Harry Kane for inspiration on the pitch, but when north London derby comes around, she needs no lessons on what the rivalry means“It means more than just three points. It’s for the whole club. It’s for the whole place. It’s for the whole of Tottenham.” One only needs to be in the presence of Tottenham Hotspur’s Cathinka Tandberg for a few minutes to feel the passion that emanates from her when it comes to this weekend’s north London derby. As a lifel
  
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• Barclays cuts 5,000 jobs as profits jump ahead of looming bank tax; French bond yields hit fresh 24-year high – business live

  22-10-2026 12:42 via The Guardian
  UK bank says 1,000 job cuts already done with a further 4,000 to go before year end, driven by advances in AI, described as ‘icing on the cake’ by Barclays bossYou be the chancellor: play our budget game to see if you can balance the booksMaritime and port workers: how is the Middle East conflict affecting you?The French 10-year government bond yield has risen above the equivalent US Treasury yield for the first time since 2013.The French yield, or interest rate, jumped 10 basis points to 5.
  
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• Aung San Suu Kyi’s son speaks to detained former Myanmar leader for first time in five years

  22-10-2026 12:38 via The Guardian
  Kim Aris says ‘hearing her voice again means more than words can express’ amid loosening of detention restrictionsThe son of Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi has been allowed to speak to the detained former democratic leader for the first time in more than five years.“Today, I was finally able to speak with my mother, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, after more than five years. Hearing her voice again means more than words can express,” Kim Aris said in a post on Facebook on Thursday. Continue reading.
  
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• Sainsbury’s expects challenging run-up to Christmas as households feel squeeze

  22-10-2026 12:33 via The Guardian
  Supermarket urges government not to ‘further aggravate’ pressure on costs for businesses in next week’s budgetSainsbury’s has warned of a “pretty challenging” market in the run-up to Christmas as households are “finding it tough” and food producers face rising costs.Simon Roberts, the chief executive of the UK’s second biggest supermarket, called on the government not to “further aggravate” pressure on costs for business in this month’s budget. He said it was “important
  
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• Blackpool, Sheffield, Milton Keynes and Wrexham shortlisted for UK city of culture 2029

  22-10-2026 12:30 via The Guardian
  Each place, selected from longlist of nine, will be given £125,000 to develop bids before winner is announced in new yearBlackpool, Sheffield, Milton Keynes and Wrexham have been shortlisted to be the UK city of culture 2029, an award viewed as a way to boost local economies, foster civic pride and, above all, have some fun.The four places were chosen from a longlist of nine and each will be given £125,000 to develop their bids before the winner is announced in the new year. Continue reading..
  
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• Russia bombards Kyiv with missiles hours after agreeing to resume talks with Ukraine

  22-10-2026 12:14 via The Guardian
  Experts say Russia is trying to destroy energy infrastructure before winter and US ‘appeasement and flattery’ will not achieve peaceEurope live – latest updatesRussia has carried out a massive “demonstrative” attack on Ukraine, bombarding Kyiv with ballistic missiles just hours after Vladimir Putin said he had agreed to resume trilateral negotiations after talks with the US envoy Steve Witkoff.Overnight, Moscow pounded the Ukrainian capital, killing at least two people and wounding 22,
  
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• Meta strikes deal with Zuckerberg to protect him from California wealth tax

  22-10-2026 12:10 via The Guardian
  Company says deal will keep its chief executive living in California even if state brings in one-off billionaire taxBusiness live – latest updatesMeta has struck a deal with Mark Zuckerberg to protect him from the threat of a California wealth tax targeting billionaires.The social media company behind Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp revealed on Wednesday night that the arrangement would keep its chief executive living in California, where its headquarters are located. Continue reading...
  
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• Who needs sleep when you can scroll through home makeover videos instead | Bim Adewunmi

  22-10-2026 12:00 via The Guardian
  I’m not talking about frenetic whole-house renovations and stripping wallpaper but the slow, thoughtful design tweaks that are perfect for bedtime viewingI have been doing more than my fair share of revenge bedtime procrastination. Night-time is when I get to have complete silence, but nature abhors a vacuum, and my phone agrees.
  Right now, all I’m watching are home makeover videos. People – usually women – try to do something new with something old, throw together all their influences,
  
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• Christiane Amanpour’s parting advice to journalists is right on the mark | Margaret Sullivan

  22-10-2026 12:00 via The Guardian
  The CNN star’s wise advice to ‘be truthful, not neutral’ should be tattooed on our soulsAfter decades as a renowned international journalist, the CNN star Christiane Amanpour is calling it a career, saying she’ll soon leave the cable network which she joined in 1983.She will be missed for the courage in war zones and forthright presentation that have made her one of the most famous names in media.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture Continue
  
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• Criminals who refuse to attend sentencing face losing prison privileges under new rules

  22-10-2026 11:47 via The Guardian
  England and Wales judges to be able to keep inmates in cells for longer or stop visits if they refuse to face victims’ families in courtOffenders who refuse to face their victims’ families in court for sentencing could be stripped of privileges or kept in cells for weeks under government changes granting wider powers to judges in England and Wales.The imposition of new prison sanctions, coming into effect next year, builds on existing laws that order offenders to attend sentencing or face a
  
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• John Anderson, five-time US country chart-topper, dies aged 71

  22-10-2026 11:45 via The Guardian
  Florida-born singer-songwriter had major hits with Swingin’, Seminole Wind and Straight Tequila NightJohn Anderson, the traditionalist US country singer whose extensive body of work included five No 1 hits on the country charts, has died aged 71.The news was announced on social media by his family, who said: “To the world, he was a gifted country music singer whose voice and songs touched countless lives. To us, he was so much more. He was the heart of our family, the one who made us laugh,
  
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• Harry Kane admits wait to learn if he has won Ballon d’Or is ‘very stressful’ for family

  22-10-2026 11:13 via The Guardian
  Bayern Munich and England striker is odds-on favourite‘I try not to think about it. Obviously it is hard not to’Harry Kane would love to know now whether he has won the Ballon d’Or because the uncertainty and constant questions are driving his family to distraction. But the Bayern Munich and England striker accepts the suspense before the big reveal at the London Palladium on Monday night is part of the show.Kane is the odds-on favourite to win the prestigious individual honour after a pro
  
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• US military failed to notify UK police of drink-driving allegation against airman based in England

  22-10-2026 11:00 via The Guardian
  British authorities were unable to investigate case of Christopher Mooty, who went on to commit another offenceThe US military failed to notify British police of an allegation that one of its airmen had been drink-driving in Suffolk, preventing the British authorities from being able to investigate the offence.The failure broke a longstanding formal agreement with British police that enables the UK to investigate alleged illegality by US military personnel who are stationed in Britain. Continue
  
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• Nintendo Switch Sports Resort review – Wii Sports lives on in this effortlessly appealing collection of games

  22-10-2026 11:00 via The Guardian
  Nintendo Switch 2; Nintendo/Nintendo
  Bringing a holiday vibe and a generous selection of sport-themed games, this is exactly what you want from a family video gameWhen the first Nintendo Switch Sports brought the effortless fun of Wii Sports back into my living room in 2022, I was frankly delighted. My small children discovered the pleasure of waving a controller around in enthusiastic imitation of a tennis player, and the surprising subtlety of virtual bowling, working out how to twist the wris
  
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• In You Can See Everything, it’s Elizabeth Holmes’s partner who makes for 2026’s timeliest villain

  22-10-2026 11:00 via The Guardian
  Nathan Fielder’s conversation-igniting film on the Theranos founder finds its darkest moments in her deceptive, Charlie Kirk-loving fiance Billy EvansSecrets, lies and a shock A-list cameo: how You Can See Everything became the film of the year‘You can’t make this stuff up’: why we remain fascinated by Elizabeth HolmesIt’s likely that most audiences going into the surprise documentary smash You Can See Everything are familiar with either its nominal subject (and literal poster gal with
  
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• Big pharma accused of ‘free-riding on nature’ as global fund attracts just $7,000

  22-10-2026 11:00 via The Guardian
  The Cali Fund, set up to raise $1bn a year for biodiversity from drug companies, remains near emptyBig pharmaceutical companies have been accused of “free-riding on nature”, after a landmark biodiversity fund that invites businesses to put some of their profits back into conservation was left virtually empty.The Cali Fund set out to raise $1bn (£750m) annually, by asking companies that profit from nature’s genetics to contribute towards conservation in low-income countries. But more than
  
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• Martin Guerre review – return of Les Mis duo’s melodrama reveals a surprise new hero

  22-10-2026 10:47 via The Guardian
  Old Vic theatre, London
  Matthew Warchus directs a radical and intimate revival of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s musical about a Frenchman who flees homeSome revivals overstate their revisionism but Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s musical, which premiered 16 years after their 1980 hit Les Misérables, has had a radical overhaul here.The story, set in 16th-century France, has been restructured with new lyrics by Boublil, Annabel Mutale Reed and Paul Hodge and folkie
  
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• French borrowing costs overtake US amid budget turmoil

  22-10-2026 10:40 via The Guardian
  France’s bond market hit by another bout of selling as country recovers from weekend protestsBusiness live – latest updatesFrench borrowing costs continued to rise on Thursday, as investors fret that France’s government is struggling to pass a federal budget after public protests gripped the country.France’s bond market was hit with another bout of selling, with the difference between French and German 10-year borrowing costs – a metric for the risk premium attached to French debt –
  
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• Super Bowl contenders: are the NFL’s unbeaten teams as perfect as they seem?

  22-10-2026 10:30 via The Guardian
  The early standouts have emerged. But even the best teams have flaws that can be exposed by their opponentsWho would have thought the 49ers would be here after a rough old offseason? Head coach Kyle Shanahan’s participation in training camp was limited due to a serious car crash, team owner Jed York’s visit to an Ohio trailer park did not end well, and one player after another endured serious injuries. Despite all this, San Francisco are full of positive vibes. They are top of a tough divisi
  
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• You be the chancellor: play our budget game to see if you can balance the books

  22-10-2026 10:04 via The Guardian
  See if you can do a better job than John Healey at creating a budget that keeps MPs and the bond markets onsideOn 28 October, John Healey will announce the autumn budget to parliament. As in all years, the chancellor has to strike a balance between the following:Raising the money needed to fund the services that voters demand.Keeping taxes at levels that are acceptable to voters.Persuading the government’s creditors in the bond markets that it will continue to be able to pay its debts. Continu
  
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• West End to get another lesson from The History Boys two decades on

  22-10-2026 10:00 via The Guardian
  Nation’s favourite play makes London comeback amid renewed debate about future of humanities teachingThe History Boys is to return to the West End for the first time in two decades, with a warning from its director of an “almost terminal decline” in humanities teaching in state schools.Nicholas Hytner, who directed Alan Bennett’s play at the National Theatre and its 2006 film adaptation, said the themes of education, history and the value of literature for its own sake felt especially re
  
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• Nobody Wants This review – prepare to fall in love again … with a different couple

  22-10-2026 09:01 via The Guardian
  Adam Brody and Kristen Bell’s hit romcom is still gorgeous as Noah and Joanne move in together. But if you’re thirsty for the fizz of new romance … their siblings might set hearts aflutterJust as you and your true love can’t have a second first date or another first kiss, romantic comedies can never go back. Nothing replaces the giddy spell of the movie’s opening act or the TV show’s debut season. Sure, there can be some joy and fulfilment in a fictional relationship settling down, b
  
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• You be the judge: should my husband stop letting our cat drink on the kitchen counter?

  22-10-2026 09:00 via The Guardian
  James says Tony leaving the cat’s water bowl where they prepare food is unhygienic. Should they feed their feline on the floor? You decide• Find out how to get a disagreement settled or become a jurorIt’s unhygienic. The cat will jump out of her litter box and on to the surface where we prepare food Continue reading...
  
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• Shola Ameobi: ‘I thought: how can I be most useful to Newcastle? Then the cog started turning’

  22-10-2026 09:00 via The Guardian
  
  From experiencing racism growing up in Newcastle to becoming a derby hero and now a member of the executive team, the former striker has been on a remarkable journey“There were times where I feared for my life as a kid, being harassed and chased by different groups of people,” Shola Ameobi says. “There were situations where I had to sprint to get away from groups of lads who didn’t like me because of what I looked like.”Ameobi is recalling growing up in Newcastle during the late 1980s
  
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• Proms, parties and gender politics: amazing photos from American dancefloors – and what they tell us about a changing nation

  22-10-2026 09:00 via The Guardian
  From George Balanchine to the Rockettes, the US magazine regularly ran lavish photo spreads dedicated to dance, with the myriad ways people moved their bodies holding up a mirror to the shifting timesLife magazine launched in 1936. Its aim: to show the US the world, in pictures. At a time when television was still an experimental medium, a golden age of photojournalism brought the outside world into people’s homes. Life ran weekly until 1972, spanning a transformative time in US culture. Photo
  
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• Is this Prince Harry or David Brent in The Office? Either way, we’re watching a masterclass in awkwardness | Emma Brockes

  22-10-2026 09:00 via The Guardian
  The wayward prince and his wife seem to be aiming for a reboot – searching for purpose, but not self-awarenessYears ago, I was in Washington DC when Prince Harry blew through on an official engagement. He was 28, with a full head of hair, a slightly louche gait and a public image that, on a tour of the Senate led by a baffled-looking John McCain, caused people to lose their minds.Senate staffers stood five deep to get a glimpse; women materialised from every corner, more glamorously dressed fo
  
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• Take a stroll between Japan’s past and present – in pictures

  22-10-2026 08:00 via The Guardian
  Giada Ripa’s ambitious project combines archive photography from the 1860s, a modern dominatrix – and the story of a relative who became a muse to 19th-century artists and intellectuals Continue reading...
  
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• ‘I wanted to create the female version of a man’s suit’: how Roland Mouret’s Galaxy dress took over the world

  22-10-2026 08:00 via The Guardian
  One the most famous dresses of this century, it was worn by royalty and A-list celebrities in the noughties. Its latest fans are Maga women. Here, the designer, and former mentor to Victoria Beckham, reveals the story behind itThe story of one of the most photographed and ripped-off dresses of the last 50 years came together with a simple zip. It was 1998; the designer Roland Mouret had shown his first collection at London fashion week and was looking for a way to produce good clothes at speed.
  
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• Female Life on Planet Earth by Laleh Khadivi review – a mother’s secret past in the Iranian revolution

  22-10-2026 08:00 via The Guardian
  A woman living in California discovers her mother may have been a merciless enforcer of the Islamic revolution, in an intriguing novel of inheritance and identity“It’s a little scary, isn’t it, inheritance?” That’s what Heti, the protagonist of Laleh Khadivi’s latest novel, remarks to a “soccer mom” as they watch their daughters play. “We don’t get to choose what we inherit. Or what we pass on.” Heti, who lives in Los Angeles, is Iranian-American and works for an accountan
  
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• 10 nightime attractions around the UK this autumn

  22-10-2026 08:00 via The Guardian
  The clocks go back this weekend, so embrace the longer nights with these family-friendly activities and events, from a stargazing festival to moonlit crazy golfLegend has it that Faskally Forest – the Pitlochry location of Scotland’s most famous sound and light show – steals an hour from time itself every 25 years. This year marks a quarter of a century since the first Enchanted Forest, and the theme taps into the legend: Stop the Clock: The 25th Hour. The trail is a mystical, atmospheric
  
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• TV tonight: Leo Reich’s new London sitcom especially for gen z

  22-10-2026 07:20 via The Guardian
  It’s the first episode of this relatable mid-20s-houseshare comedy. Plus: will Paul McCartney take the Mercury prize? Here’s what to watch this evening10.05pm, Channel 4Comedian Leo Reich has created the great British sitcom for generation Z. “It just feels like everything is over,” says 23-year-old unemployed Ethan, rather unbearably, as he and his best mates from uni, Abi (Emily Fairn) and Sam (Olive Gray), leave their shared house. As they bounce around London trying to figure their l
  
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• Airbnb guests freed from chores involving ‘significant effort’ under new global rules

  22-10-2026 07:17 via The Guardian
  Accommodation platform acts after long-standing guest complaints over doing dishes, taking out rubbish and stripping bedsAirbnb hosts will no longer be able to ask guests to strip beds or wash dishes under the accommodation platform’s new rules.The changes, which apply to Airbnb reservations covered by the platform’s global policy, including bookings in Australia, will come into effect on 20 November and limit chores imposed on guests. Continue reading...
  
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• Thursday news quiz: Liz is absurd, Apu finds words and a bloke steals a bird

  22-10-2026 07:00 via The Guardian
  Test yourself on topical news trivia, pop culture and general knowledge every Thursday. How will you fare?The Thursday quiz is aware of standard international units of time, such as the Liz Truss (49 days) and the Scaramucci (11 days). Now a new unit of measurement has entered the chat: the Zacharia (five days). But whatever arbitrary length of time the world invents to measure chaos, political downfalls or social media meltdowns, the Thursday news quiz remains resolutely fixed. It is always sev
  
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• ‘This isn’t greenwashing’: thousands of butterflies surprise experts on restored West Sussex farmland

  22-10-2026 07:00 via The Guardian
  Rare small blues and dingy skippers among species found on former wheatfields two years after start of transformation under commercial nature projectAn “amazing” abundance of 5,290 butterflies, including rare small blues and dingy skippers, has appeared on land that was barren wheatfields just two years ago.The speed with which nature has bounced back at Halnaker Hill farm in West Sussex has surprised experts after 133 hectares (330 acres) of intensively farmed land were turned into a commer
  
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• Strongmen like Trump would destroy the planet out of pure spite – and Brazil shows we’re all in peril | George Monbiot

  22-10-2026 07:00 via The Guardian
  If Flávio Bolsonaro is elected, Brazil’s ecosystems will face collapse. The ruling class would rather burn the world than share it with the poor
  However grim the trajectory might seem, I’ve always believed that sense will ultimately prevail. As the great perils of dismantling the living world become increasingly obvious, even the most rapacious exploiters must come round. Nobody wants to live on a dead planet, do they?There are – or were – signs that this wasn’t just wishful thinking.
  
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• Rachel Roddy’s recipe for chicken with citrus and oregano | A kitchen in Rome

  22-10-2026 07:00 via The Guardian
  This dish of chicken in a lipsmacking citrus and oregano sauce has been handed down through many generations of Roman restaurateursIf you look through the window of Piatto Romano between 10am and midday, there will almost certainly be two, maybe three people at the round table trimming vegetables: chicory, artichokes, poppy greens, amaranth. After midday, the crates and trimmings will have been cleared away and the table will now be home to trays of bright-green boiled vegetables and, maybe, bak
  
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• AI firms say UK has a year to head off datacentre protests before construction is threatened

  22-10-2026 07:00 via The Guardian
  Exclusive: Nvidia, Microsoft and Cisco taskforce urges ministers to offer areas greater benefits from tech infrastructure amid fears of US-style oppositionAI companies have told ministers they have 12 months to head off public opposition to datacentres in the UK or risk US-style protests that could threaten their construction.Successive dry summers and rising energy bills are increasing public scrutiny of plans for the huge computer warehouses that are used to train and run AI models, says a sub
  
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• Country diary: From Mexico’s Day of the Dead to a Shropshire allotment | Paul Evans

  22-10-2026 06:30 via The Guardian
  The Marches, Shropshire: Symbolically a flower of the ancestor-honouring Mexican festival, the dahlia appeals to the British gardener’s appetite for the spectacularGardeners are a deviant lot. Despite our passion for wildlife gardening and the drive to be sustained by, and share, our own fruit and veg, our appetite for novelty, aberrancy and even the spectacularly monstrous is insatiable.Take a look at this. The flower is the size of a plate and the brightest orange, like Mark Rothko’s paint
  
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• ‘Wow, logging that as a microaggression!’ Sophie Duker on trolling masculinity, lesbian cruises and her stripper fantasy

  22-10-2026 06:00 via The Guardian
  The standup on the bizarre gifts she’s received from fans, the intoxicating power of being an author and manifesting her ‘fiercely intellectual slutty grandma’How did you get into comedy?
  If you want anything badly enough, the best way to get it is to feign absolute indifference while pouring in 110% effort. I was telling outrageous jokes about colonialism in tiny pub rooms five nights a week alongside a rotating lineup of lunatics and sexual deviants, all the while gaslighting myself into
  
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