A record of what was published, when, and how it changed.

Lanterns review – Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre’s alien-hunting superhero caper is a bust

By Lucy Mangan

Sure, it’s got evil extraterrestrials trying to detonate whole towns … but not even the almighty Green Lantern and his mesmerising protege can save this show from feeling a whole lot of meh It is my personal belief that you are starting off on the back foot whenever you’re given a superhero who draws their powers from an extrinsic item. Captain America is nothing without his shield. Elon Musk could build a metal suit

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The one change that worked: I sent myself a letter – and realised what’s missing in this world of WhatsApp

By Mabel Banfield-Nwachi

I’ve started writing to my sister, my mum, my friends … Not everyone writes back, but when we connect it’s on a deeper level than any group chat Last January, I received a letter. Most of my post was predictably boring – a statement from the water company, my credit card bill, the occasional update about my pension contributions – but this letter was different. The envelope felt heavier than the run-of-the-mill ones

Every year, humans speak less and less. That’s bad news, even if you hate mindless chit-chat

By Emma Beddington

Silent retreats are all the rage; hotel guests are embracing ‘hushpitatility’. But won’t this leave us more isolated? Are we becoming too quiet? As a joyless, intolerant shrew, my kneejerk answer is a predictable “if only” (writing this on a train full of happy holidaymakers isn’t helping). But am I wrong? I find myself confronted with evidence that people are taking the expression “ say less ” literally. A study rec

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‘Can we accept what we have done or not done?’: harrowing film follows doctors in Gaza

By David Smith in Washington

American Doctor follows three volunteer doctors as they try to save lives on the frontline and then return to the US to become advocates in congress When she wanted to confront Americans about the consequences of their actions – or inactions – in Gaza, Poh Si Teng reached for a genre with mass popular appeal: the medical drama. “Whether it’s The Pitt, Grey’s Anatomy, House, ER, even a comedy like Scrubs, you name it,

‘I had to learn how to be a feminist’: Greg Dulli on surviving grunge, shunning misogyny, and Afghan Whigs’ glorious return

By Stevie Chick

With a soulful sound and soul-baring lyrics, the Afghan Whigs rode the post-Nirvana boom to the big leagues. Their frontman explains his exploration of the male ego – and how Usher got the band back together The Afghan Whigs were always heavier than their grunge-era brethren. Not musically – their turbulent, sophisticated rock was rooted in soul and funk, and frontman Greg Dulli says the group only embraced distortio

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Swedish Chamber Orchestra/Fröst review – dance, dynamism and a wild rumpus as maverick clarinettist-conductor takes charge

By Alexandra Coghlan

Royal Albert Hall, London The ferociously dynamic SCO help Fröst drill down to the rhythmic essence of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony as well as works by contemporary composers It’s a Sunday morning, and as the Royal Albert Hall darkens and the stage is suddenly back-lit, spotlighting a charismatic figure speaking sibilantly at its centre, you’d almost swear you’d wandered into an American megachurch. But the gospel pr

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‘Fated to become a cult classic’: why Barcelona is my feelgood movie

By Ryan Chapman

The latest in our series of writers detailing their most pleasurable comfort films is a trip to 1980s Spain courtesy of Whit Stillman An hour into Whit Stillman’s 1994 film, Barcelona, the protagonist, Ted Boynton (Taylor Nichols), considers using “maneuver x” in his stalled romantic life. He’s an American working in the Spanish branch of an auto conglomerate, looking for love in the titular city’s post-Franco, sexua

‘Our new normal’: how marine heatwaves affect life in British seas

By Melissa Hobson

As warming seas push native species to cooler waters farther north, once-rare visitors have become more common ‘It sounds silly but I thought it was a person in the water waving,” says Kurt Lander, skipper of the Yellowfin charter boat, based out of Brighton. But when he grabbed his binoculars, he realised the fluttering movement he had noticed in the middle of the Channel shipping lane was a pair of sunfish. The hug

The Ego Trip by Kimon de Greef review – a bizarre tale of psychedelic toads and hair-raising treatments

By Oliver Bullough

A journalist investigates the unsettling world of a charismatic shaman and the people who trusted him Which, in your opinion, is the worst current cultural trend: social media influencers; unregulated wellness practitioners; macho manosphere posturers; psychedelic bores; cultural appropriators? The good news is that, with Octavio Rettig, the central character in Kimon de Greef’s The Ego Trip, you don’t have to choose

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Is it true that … it’s harder for women to do pull-ups?

By Kate Lloyd

The differences in body types does mean that, on average, women find the exercise more difficult – but that’s not the whole story Pull-ups are a bodyweight exercise where you hang from an overhead bar, usually with an overhand grip, and pull yourself up until your chin clears the bar. “They’re a great upper-body exercise,” says Prof Leigh Breen, a specialist in muscle physiology at the University of Leicester. “They

My generation had no voice on Brexit – but Burnham gives the young fresh hope on Europe | Ceira Sergeant

By Ceira Sergeant

Brexit didn’t create all the problems young people now face, but renewing close ties with Europe will give us so many opportunities I was 14 when the UK voted to leave the EU. Too young to vote, but not too young to understand that a decision was being made that would affect the rest of my life. In many ways, Brexit was my political awakening. It taught me that politics matters, because decisions made by people in po

Brandon Flowers: Thrasher review – Killers frontman’s country pivot is a rootin’ tootin’ cowboy-bootin’ hoot!

By Shaad D'Souza

(Island) Even a couple of bafflingly misguided social commentary songs can’t detract from the joys of Flowers’ classically full-throated commitment to the Nashville bit Here are three immutable facts about Brandon Richard Flowers: he was born just outside Las Vegas, Nevada. He is 45 years old. And he never does anything by halves. When he and his band the Killers debuted in the early 2000s, as disaffected New York co

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‘Paul McCartney asked for my autograph!’ Su Pollard on Hi-de-Hi! and her amazing celebrity encounters

By Emine Saner

Even after half a century in the limelight, the actor can still surprise. Who’d have guessed she went clubbing with Freddie Mercury? Or that she watched Blair and Brown strike their fateful deal at Granita? A quick run-through of some of the 20th-century icons that Su Pollard has met. Paul McCartney? “Absolutely fabulous,” Pollard says. “He was sat leaning against a wall, next to Linda.” She does a great impression o

British Gas paid me £38,000 by mistake, and I can’t give it back

By Anna Tims

It said that was what I was due after I submitted a claim for £300 for energy exported through my solar panels British Gas paid me more than £38,000 by mistake, then had no idea how to reclaim it. I receive quarterly feed-in tariff (Fit) payments for energy exported by my solar panels. In May, I submitted a claim for £300, based on my meter reading, and I received an email stating that I was due £38,611.59. Continue

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Life behind bars in Britain’s surviving Victorian prisons – photo essay

By Andy Aitchison

Dozens of prisons were built in Britain between 1842 and 1877, many of which are still in use today. For more than 20 years, Andy Aitchison has photographed behind the walls. His book Incarcerated explores how Victorian prison infrastructure has persisted, and what these old buildings mean for the people who live and work inside What is now HMP Lincoln opened at the end of the most prolific period of prison construct

Away with the ferries: exploring Switzerland’s forgotten lake district by boat

By Mike MacEacheran

The Jura and Three Lakes region is often overlooked by visitors, but on a lake-hopping adventure I discovered its gentle beauty as well as great food and wine The ferry cuts across the waters of Lake Biel, creating soft ripples, as if someone has taken a brushstroke to a blue canvas. To starboard, as we approach St Peter’s Island, are gentle mountains; to port side, lie golden fields. Straight ahead, the isle looks e

Conversations with an Executioner: a chilling classic reveals the mind of a Nazi mass murderer

By Jo Glanville

Polish war hero Kazimierz Moczarski spent 255 days sharing a cell with an SS general. Nearly 50 years after it was published, an uncensored version of his account is appearing in English for the first time In 1949, Kazimierz Moczarski, a leading member of the Polish resistance, was in his fourth year of incarceration when he was moved into a cell with two Nazis at Warsaw’s Mokotów prison. One of them was Jürgen Stroo

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An Agatha Christie classic with an impressive cast: best podcasts of the week

By Hannah J Davies

Toni Collette heads a list of familiar voices playing out the village murder-mystery. Plus, Guz Khan and Kiell Smith-Bynoe go off on some rather wild tangents Toni Collette is an eagle-eyed amateur sleuth in this big adaptation of Agatha Christie’s first Miss Marple novel. When Colonel Protheroe is found dead in sleepy St Mary Mead, suspects include his spouse, Anne, and daughter, Lettice. But as false confessions an

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Agrippa by Robert Harris review – persuasive portrait of rivalry in ancient Rome

By Sam Leith

This fictional memoir by Octavius’s right-hand man shows us bloodshed, betrayal and hectic jockeying for power If you’re one of those people who thinks about the Roman empire several times a week, Robert Harris has you covered. He follows his trilogy of novels about the life of Cicero and his one-off about the unpleasantness in Pompeii with a narrative that takes us from civil war through the assassination of Julius

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More women will die if domestic abusers leave prison early, victim’s parents warn

By Jessica Murray Social affairs correspondent

Parents of Michaela Hall, whose partner killed her after he left prison in 2021, say Probation Service cannot cope with mass release More women will die if ministers include domestic abusers in the early prison release scheme, the parents of a woman murdered by her partner shortly after he was freed have warned. Michaela Hall, a 49-year-old charity worker, was killed in her home in Cornwall, by Lee Kendall in 2021 tw

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Spotlight on UN desertification summit as it mulls how to spend $12bn war chest

By Fiona Harvey Environment editor

Extreme weather has raised the significance of Cop17 talks starting this week on tackling drought and land degradation As swathes of the northern hemisphere bake in what could be the hottest year on record, with wildfires blazing across North America and Europe and heatwaves afflicting millions across Asia, the UN’s bi-annual talks on desertification have assumed much greater importance – and have started attracting

Sabrina Ghayour’s recipes for mango and chilli chicken, sticky spring onions and latke

By Sabrina Ghayour

A sweet, tangy and spicy chicken dish that matches well with crisp fried potatoes and apricot-glazed spring onions I use this exact cooking method to make every kind of traybaked chicken, and this one is a blend of store-cupboard staples with the addition of fresh lime to push the flavour. Then, I love hash browns, röstis and latkes – give me crispy fried potatoes of any description, and I’m a happy girl – but I won’

Nothing less than radical whole-system change is required to fix the NHS's maternity services | Julia Sanders

By Julia Sanders

It’s vital that Yvette Cooper’s taskforce acts on the Amos and Ockenden reports – and puts the needs of women and families at the heart of maternity services It is hard to find the words to describe the agony for those who have experienced preventable baby loss, injury or maternal death. Understandably, families who have been through this have campaigned relentlessly for local and national investigations. Every famil

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Hayden Panettiere, actor in Heroes and Nashville, dies aged 36

By Sian Cain

Panettiere’s death was announced by her father, who called her ‘an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy’ Hayden Panettiere – a life in pictures Hayden Panettiere: an actor so magnetic that entire shows were rewritten for her Hayden Panettiere obituary Hayden Panettiere, the actor known for her roles in television shows such as Heroes and Nashville, has died at the age of 36. Pa

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Are Microsoft’s AI plans being held back by a shortage of chips?

By Aisha Down and Ed Zitron

Guardian investigation finds apparent discrepancy between what tech company has said about its AI capacity – and the number of advanced chips it has in operation The chips are quite small and some can be held in the palm of a hand. They are fundamental to the development of artificial intelligence models – and the world’s biggest technology companies need vast numbers of them to keep ahead. Microsoft is one of them.

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