New home, new outlook? What’s next for the Sundance film festival?

The final Utah edition of the hub for American independent film saw slow sales and a mixed bag of movies but a future in Colorado could bring a refresh

Sundance is over. Well, not quite. The Sundance we all know, with Robert Redford as its head and Park City, Utah, as its location, is over. The festival’s beloved founder died last year months after the festival also opted for a move to Boulder, Colorado.

But on the alarmingly snow-light ground, there was also chatter about what would become of Sundance as a whole, once the shining beacon of American independent cinema, after it entered a new phase. There were standout films as ever but again not quite enough to override concerns over what the festival now represents in a harsh new world where it’s arguably easier to make an indie (or whatever cobbling together bits of AI slop might be called) but harder to get it sold.

Published: February 3, 2026, 5:52 pm

For Valentine's Day, we asked 18 women for the best gifts they ever got

From a silk sleep mask to a smartphone printer and Dyson hair dryer, take some inspiration from these gifts approved by the women in our lives

• 24 creative and unexpected Valentine’s Day gifts for him

• Sign up for the Filter US newsletter, your weekly guide to buying fewer, better things

If you have a lucky lady in your life – be it a partner or a family member – you’ve probably racked your brain trying to find her the perfect gift for a birthday, special occasion or holiday like Valentine’s Day. Maybe you’re minutes from giving up and buying that tried-and-true beauty product she already orders on repeat, or you’re eyeing yet another fleece throw to pile on the couch. Don’t do it. Remove from cart. Let us help you find something a little more out of the (gift) box.

To shop for your favorite woman, think about what she already uses and what she has mentioned wanting in from time to time. Proving you actually listen will score you some points.

Published: February 3, 2026, 9:15 pm

Beware of ‘anti-woke’ liberals: they attacked the left and helped Trump win | Jan-Werner Müller

So-called ‘reactionary centrist’ pundits proclaimed that there was a global ‘vibe shift’ in favor of the right. They were wrong

Recent exercises in taking stock after one year of Trump 2.0 – for many an eternity of terrifying news and political traumas – tended to leave something out: the fact that, a mere 12 months ago, plenty of pundits (and politicians, for that matter) were instructing us to accept that a global “vibe shift” in favor of the right had taken place. And that, in the face of what supposedly “felt” like a landslide, resistance was pointless and “cringe”.

Well, it doesn’t feel like that today. But understanding why observers not generally in the pro-Trump propaganda business rushed to portray the spirit of the age as effectively far-right is important. A way of thinking occasionally dubbed “reactionary centrism” plays an important role; it could yet again become influential in hindering or at least holding up post-Trump radical reforms which US democracy desperately requires.

Jan-Werner Müller is a Guardian US columnist and a professor of politics at Princeton University

Published: February 3, 2026, 12:00 pm

Black sesame is growing more popular in the US. Is it actually good for you?

The nutty seed is an essential dessert flavor in Asia and is now forecasted to be a top food trend in the US this year

In many parts of Asia, black sesame is an essential dessert flavor. The nutty, mildly bittersweet seed appears in ice-cream parlors and doughnut shops alongside matcha and ube – offerings as standard as chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry are stateside, says Sophie Hung, a California-based registered dietitian nutritionist who grew up in Hong Kong.

Now, black sesame’s popularity is growing in the US, with Yelp naming it a top food trend for 2026 based on user data (searches for “black sesame matcha” are up almost 150% since 2023). Yet, beyond its appealing flavor and striking color, what exactly are you getting nutritionally when you add black sesame to your diet?

Published: February 3, 2026, 5:00 pm

This is Muslim New York: artists, thinkers and politicos on defining a new era for the city

A burgeoning set of Muslim creatives and intellectuals are thriving amid the backdrop of Zohran Mamdani’s rise. We ask 18 of them about this historic moment in New York City life

Against the backdrop of Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral rise is a dynamic scene of Muslim creatives and intellectuals who are helping usher in a new era for New York City. Their prominence represents a rebuke of the ugly Islamophobia that defined the period following 9/11, and is in many ways an outcrop of the mass movement for Palestinian rights forged over the last two years. We ask 18 Muslim New Yorkers to discuss their work and what this moment means.
How Muslim New Yorkers are changing the city’s cultural landscape

Published: February 3, 2026, 12:00 pm

‘Playing a god became a safety net’: Chris Hemsworth opens up about Thor, money and his insecurities

In the Marvel films he was unassailable, but in real life the actor says he’s more like the anxious thief he plays in Crime 101. He and its writer/director Bart Layton talk midlife angst, imposter syndrome – and Alzheimer’s

‘It’s like a therapy couch,” says Chris Hemsworth, as he takes a seat on a chaise longue in the London hotel room where we’re meeting. He laughs, but it quickly becomes clear the Australian actor is more than ready to examine his life and the image he has long presented to the world.

As Thor, the God of Thunder, Hemsworth has come to embody a certain idea of masculinity: invulnerable, assured, unshakeable. The role, which spanned nine films, put him up among the world’s highest paid actors and made him a global pin-up. Yet the confidence was, in part, a construction. “The character you see in interviews,” he says, easing into the chaise longue, “and the presentation of myself over the last two decades working in Hollywood, it’s me – but it’s a creation too. It’s what I thought people wanted to see.”

Published: February 3, 2026, 4:14 pm

Tulsi Gabbard running solo 2020 election inquiry separate from FBI investigation

Exclusive: Trump endorsed national intelligence director’s sweeping review by sending her on Georgia raid last week

Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, is running her own review into the 2020 election with Donald Trump’s approval, working separately from a justice department investigation even as she joined an FBI raid of an election center in Georgia last week.

Her presence at the raid drew criticism from Democrats and former intelligence officials, who questioned why the country’s top intelligence officer with no domestic law enforcement powers would appear at the scene of an FBI raid.

Published: February 3, 2026, 4:32 pm

New Epstein files fail to quell outrage as advocates claim documents are being withheld

Advocates call for further disclosures after Trump’s justice department released more than 3m files last week

The release of about 3m Jeffrey Epstein investigative files has failed to quell outrage over justice department officials’ handling of these disclosures, with advocates claiming potentially millions of documents are still being withheld.

Donald Trump’s Department of Justice was required to disclose all investigative files by 19 December under the Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA). While the justice department did release some documents on that date, last week’s disclosure came nearly six weeks after this deadline.

Published: February 3, 2026, 11:00 am

Trump signs $1.2tn funding bill, ending partial government shutdown

Appropriations measure will let Democrats negotiate with White House and GOP leaders over mass deportation efforts

Donald Trump on Tuesday signed legislation to end a government shutdown hours after it was approved by the House of Representatives, as top Democrats warned they will block further funding to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) if their demands for restrictions on Trump’s mass deportation campaign are not addressed.

The Republican-controlled House approved the $1.2tn appropriations measure by a narrow 217-214 vote, with all but 21 Republicans voting in favor and all but 21 Democrats against. The president signed it later in the afternoon at the White House, bringing to an end the shutdown that began after midnight last Friday, which had halted many operations at departments including defense, health and human services, labor, and transportation.

Published: February 3, 2026, 10:23 pm

Jill Biden’s ex-husband charged with murder of his wife

Linda Stevenson found unresponsive on 28 December after police responded to domestic dispute

The ex-husband of former US first lady Jill Biden has been arrested and charged with the murder of his wife, officials said on Tuesday.

William Stevenson, 77, was taken into custody on Monday and is facing a charge of first-degree murder in the death of Linda Stevenson, according to a grand jury indictment filed in Delaware.

Published: February 3, 2026, 7:18 pm

Colombian president and Trump put aside insults for amicable White House meeting

Leaders had been trading hostile remarks for months but Gustavo Petro’s visit ended with warm words from US counterpart

After months of trading insults – from “sick man” and “drug trafficking leader” on one side, to “accomplice to genocide” with a “senile brain” on the other – the first meeting between Donald Trump and Gustavo Petro ended with pleasantries, autographs and a Maga cap.

The Colombian president was received by his US counterpart for a closed-door meeting at the White House, with no press access.

Published: February 3, 2026, 11:21 pm

New York to create team of legal observers to document ICE raids

Attorney general Letitia James says observers will monitor if Trump enforcement ‘remains within bounds of the law’

New York is creating a team of legal observers that will don purple vests to monitor and record the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement officers as they seek to detain and deport migrants, the state’s attorney general said on Tuesday.

The announcement follows weeks of sometimes violent tumult in Minneapolis, where Donald Trump has deployed thousands of armed, masked agents as he tries to deport more migrants than any of his predecessors.

Published: February 3, 2026, 10:19 pm

Arizona officials say they ‘don’t know where’ Savannah Guthrie’s mother is, three days after disappearance

Nancy Guthrie was last seen on Saturday night and is believed to have been taken against her will

Officials in Arizona said on Tuesday afternoon they were no closer to finding the missing mother of Savannah Guthrie, the Today show host, three days after the octogenarian disappeared from her Tucson home – which detectives are treating as “a crime scene”.

Nancy Guthrie, 84, was last seen on Saturday night and is believed to have been taken against her will, Chris Nanos, the Pima county sheriff, said. Media reports on Tuesday said blood was found at the residence, and there were signs of forced entry.

Published: February 3, 2026, 7:58 pm

Netflix co-CEO grilled by US senators over Warner Bros Discovery merger

While most focused on competition issues, Josh Hawley accused Netflix of promoting trans content to children

Netflix co-chief executive Ted Sarandos faced tough questioning over whether the streamer is “overwhelmingly woke” or killing competition on Tuesday afternoon during a congressional hearing focused on its pending acquisition of the film and streaming assets of Warner Bros Discovery.

The hearing was conducted by the Senate subcommittee on antitrust, competition policy, and consumer rights. Bruce Campbell, chief revenue and strategy officer for Warner Bros Discovery, also testified in the packed Senate hearing room.

Published: February 3, 2026, 10:04 pm

Asian elephant born at Washington DC zoo for first time in 25 years

Smithsonian’s National Zoo invites public to vote for name for female calf born to mother Nhi Linh

For the first time in almost 25 years, an Asian elephant has been born at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington DC.

The 308lb (140kg) female calf was born at 1.15am on 2 February to 12-year-old mother Nhi Linh and 44-year-old father Spike, the zoo announced in a statement.

Published: February 3, 2026, 6:34 pm

Outrage in Mexico at Trump praise for ‘legendary’ 19th-century US invasion

The US president’s celebration of the 1847 conquest draws fury from Mexican leaders over ‘imperialist tone’

A message from Donald Trump celebrating the 19th-century US invasion of its southern neighbour – and the subsequent loss of more than half its territory – has touched a historical nerve in Mexico, with some seeing it as a veiled threat for future incursions.

Reacting to the US president’s statement, which described the invasion as “a legendary victory”, Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s president, said during her morning news conference on Tuesday: “We must always defend our sovereignty.”

Published: February 3, 2026, 9:18 pm

‘It’s sick’: Trump administration uses mascot called ‘Coalie’ to push dirtiest fossil fuel

Cartoon lump of coal with giant eyes was spotlighted by US interior secretary in X post saying: ‘Mine, Baby, Mine!’

The Trump administration has turned to an unusual weapon in its attempt to resurrect coal mining – a cartoon lump of coal, complete with giant eyes and yellow mining garb, called “Coalie”.

The administration’s new mascot, kitted out with a helmet, boots and gloves, was introduced in a seemingly artificial intelligence-generated picture posted online by Doug Burgum, Donald Trump’s interior secretary. “Mine, Baby, Mine!” Burgum wrote on X, adding that Coalie will act as a “spokesperson” for Trump’s “American Energy Dominance Agenda”.

Published: February 3, 2026, 10:42 pm

Don Lemon says agents sent to arrest him despite offer to turn himself in

Former CNN anchor faces charges over coverage of an anti-ICE protest that disrupted a Minnesota church service.

Don Lemon says about a dozen federal agents came to his Los Angeles hotel to arrest him overnight on 30 January, even though the former CNN anchor’s attorney had told authorities he would turn himself in to face federal civil rights charges over his coverage of an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a Minnesota church service.

Lemon on Monday told the ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel that sending the agents was a waste of resources because law enforcement would not have had to dispatch agents to follow him if he had been allowed to surrender to authorities.

Published: February 3, 2026, 1:41 pm

Trump says he is seeking $1bn in damages in Harvard dispute

US president makes further claims of antisemitism against Ivy League school amid wider dispute with higher eduction institutions

Donald Trump has announced that his administration is seeking $1bn in damages from Harvard University, the latest step in a long-running battle with the university over allegations of antisemitism.

In a Truth Social post late on Monday, Trump accused the Ivy League school of being “strongly antisemitic”, adding that Harvard president Alan Garber “has done a terrible job of rectifying a very bad situation for his institution and, more importantly, America itself”.

Published: February 3, 2026, 7:00 am

Gaza: Rafah crossing reopens under Israeli restrictions - The Latest

A small number of Palestinians from Gaza have started crossing into Egypt for medical treatment after Israel allowed a limited reopening of the Rafah border crossing. It had been largely closed since Israeli troops seized it in May 2024, cutting off a critical lifeline for those in Gaza. Around 20,000 Palestinians needing medical care hope to leave Gaza using the crossing, but only a handful have been allowed through so far. The reopening of Rafah is seen as a key step in the US-brokered ceasefire agreement as it moves into its second phase. Lucy Hough speaks to chief Middle East correspondent Emma Graham-Harrison

Published: February 3, 2026, 4:54 pm

Despite TPS stay, thousands of Haitians in Ohio face uncertainty and fear of ICE

Springfield businesses are closing and families are making contingency plans for their children

Around the same time that Springfield, Ohio, and its growing Haitian community made national headlines in September 2024, the New Diaspora Live radio station moved into a sleek new studio in a co-working building in the city’s downtown.

Haitian-Creole speakers from across the country called in, sharing tips with fellow listeners and discussing life in Springfield, the Rust Belt city of 60,000 people in western Ohio where thousands of Haitian immigrants had moved.

Published: February 3, 2026, 4:00 pm

The criminalizing of protest and dissent has a long history in America

Trump administration is accusing protesters of ‘domestic terrorism’ but this brazen tactic is as old as the country itself

When federal immigration agents shot and killed ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on 23 January, the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, wasted no time claiming to the press, without credible evidence, that Pretti had been engaged in “domestic terrorism”. Though the administration seems to be trying to soften that initial response after fierce backlash, it’s an accusation that members of the Trump administration have been leveling at wide swaths of people beyond Pretti – including Renee Nicole Good, another Minnesotan killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents two and a half weeks prior, and Marimar Martinez, who survived being shot by ICE agents in Chicago in October – as part of an ongoing strategy to criminalize dissent.

It’s a claim ICE agents themselves have started to make directly in confrontations with citizens, seemingly to try and intimidate legal observers, sometimes known as ICE watchers. In one recent video from Portland, Maine, an ICE officer told an observer to stop recording him on her phone, and when she wouldn’t, he took her information down and said: “We have a nice little database … and now you’re considered a domestic terrorist.”

Published: February 3, 2026, 3:00 pm

Butler did it: 11 years on, was the NFL’s most criticized call actually the right decision?

The last time the Seahawks and Patriots met in a Super Bowl, a dramatic interception by an undrafted rookie changed the history of both franchises

When the New England Patriots faced off against the Denver Broncos in this season’s AFC championship, Malcolm Butler was at home in Houston. He had considered attending the game in Denver or watching on TV in a No 21 Patriots jersey, which he wore in Foxboro for four seasons through the mid-to-late 2010s, but feared he might jinx the outcome. In the end, it was just him and his nerves for company.

Just as Butler was feeling somewhat at peace with that setup, and the Patriots’ prospects, a bad omen intruded: His wifi glitched, delaying the broadcast as the Patriots clung on to a three-point lead in the fourth-quarter. “I was lagging bad,” Butler tells the Guardian. “But I did get the wifi back working. And as soon as I did my phone was ringing like crazy, so I knew something was going right. It’s crazy that we’re back.”

Published: February 3, 2026, 10:00 am

Some experts say the new US dietary guidelines have ‘conflicting messaging’. Here’s who will be affected most

It will take years for changes to take effect, but children who eat school meals and seniors served by Meals on Wheels will feel the DGA ripple effects

Most Americans ignore the country’s dietary guidelines, but millions will be directly affected by upcoming changes to these recommendations.

On 6 January, after months of proclamations about seismic improvements to the country’s dietary recommendations, the US Department of Health and Human Services and the US Department of Agriculture released those updated Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA). This document – once visually presented to millennial schoolchildren as a food pyramid and to today’s zoomers and gen Alpha as a segmented lunch plate – synthesizes the latest nutritional research and offers revamped eating advice every five years.

Published: February 3, 2026, 5:00 pm

The Muppet Show review – we all deserve a brief bit of happiness right now

This starry half-hour anniversary special captures the spirit of the original TV show at points, and will delight younger viewers. But Kermit’s voice takes some getting used to …

The Muppet Show celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Or so it is alleged. Obviously this cannot be true, because it would mean that all of us who remember gathering around the television for the most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, Muppetational half hour of the week must also be … Well, anyway. Let us not dwell.

Let us remember instead the magic that ensued as Jim Henson’s creation unfurled before us, as the chaotic troupe of puppets put on their traditional vaudeville show. The permanent cast included the inimitable Miss Piggy (“I don’t care what you think of me. Unless you think I am awesome, in which case you are right”), Gonzo, the Swedish Chef, sombre patriot Sam Eagle (“Freakos one, civilisation zero”), assorted pigs (often in space), scientist Dr Bunsen Honeydew and his heartbreakingly hapless assistant Beaker (the latter granting some of us our first stirrings of true empathy), and many, many chickens. There was also a guest appearance each episode by a famous human comedian, actor or musician. It could be anyone from Julie Andrews to Dudley Moore, as long as they could be trusted to play it straight and believe in their co-stars. It was all held together, if only just, by earnest, frazzled host and stage manager Kermit the Frog and his assistant, Scooter, despite constant heckling from the exquisitely cantankerous Statler and Waldorf looking down on the show, in every sense, from their box seats.

Published: February 3, 2026, 2:00 pm

The dump dinner: spaghetti is now being served straight on to the table – but why?

A raft of online videos show parents serving up dinner without a single plate in sight, to the amazement of their families

Name: Dump dinners.

Age: Horribly new.

Published: February 3, 2026, 5:25 pm

Jon Stewart on Epstein files: ‘I’m just not sure anybody is going to be held accountable’

Late-night hosts rued the lack of consequences for any rich and powerful men named in the latest batch of documents

Late-night hosts reacted to the latest batch of Epstein files, which failed to redact several victims’ names and photos while still protecting Donald Trump.

Published: February 3, 2026, 5:02 pm

Democrats have a constitutional power they aren’t using to fight back: state resolutions | Sidney Blumenthal

State resolutions are underutilized right now and could be a significant mobilizing factor for the Democratic party

The Democrats hold in their hands constitutional means yet unused to check the Trump regime’s ruthless attempt to impose a police state. That the Democrats thus far have failed to create this oppositional political center of gravity may be because the method has been lost to history, not wielded effectively for 113 years. Focused on the ICE outrages, however, this political instrument can be revived in the 16 states where the Democrats control the governorships and both chambers of the state legislatures, as well as introduced in states with mixed power.

Before the enactment of the 17th amendment in 1913, state legislators and not the voters selected US senators and regarded them frequently as their agents. It was a common practice for legislatures to send what were called “orders of instruction” urging senators and sometimes members of the House of Representatives to take a particular stand on important issues. The orders were not binding, but had significant force given the power of legislatures and political parties to decide who would hold Senate seats. These resolutions were variously called instructions, petitions and memorials.

Published: February 3, 2026, 11:00 am

Here’s why US household energy bills are soaring – and how to fix it | Mark Wolfe

Trump has prioritized fossil fuel companies over consumers, hitting the lowest-income families hardest

Donald Trump promised to cut energy prices by 50%. Instead, average electricity prices over the past year have risen by about 6.7%, while natural gas prices have increased by 10.8%. Energy prices are influenced by many factors beyond any president’s direct control, including market conditions, weather-driven demand, regional infrastructure constraints and the rapid growth of energy-intensive datacenters that are driving new system costs. Policy choices do not determine prices on their own, but they do shape market outcomes, and the direction of this administration’s energy policy has been clear.

From his first days in office, President Trump made clear that his energy agenda would prioritize fossil fuel producers over consumers. His administration moved to expand US liquefied natural gas exports, increasing exposure to volatile global markets. At the same time, it froze wind power projects that provide some of the cheapest new electricity, intervened to keep costly coal plants running, and backed the elimination of energy-efficiency tax credits that lower household energy bills.

Mark Wolfe is executive director of National Energy Assistance Directors Association, co-director of the Center on Energy Poverty and Climate and adjunct faculty at the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy at George Washington University

Published: February 3, 2026, 3:00 pm

Never forget Epstein’s little helpers – the powerful men who knew about his crimes, and helped him out anyway | Marina Hyde

I’m sorry, but this is not just a political scandal. Time to refocus on the horrific mistreatment of women and girls, and the role of these ghouls

Like a lot of women, I do vaguely care about the latest political implosion of Peter Mandelson – but I think we’re all massively more obsessed with the fact that there really was a network of incredibly famous and powerful men trying to help a known ex-con minimise and wave away his underage sex crimes. Amirite, ladies? Sure, I’m crying my eyes out about some Gordon Brown adviser having his asset-sale memo forwarded in 2009 … but at the same time I’m a whole lot more concerned about the actual Sex Bilderberg. Which, even now, our eyes seem to keep being conveniently dragged away from. Can we refocus?

We are, naturally, talking about the Jeffrey Epstein files. Since the latest lot dropped, I’ve been collating the emails from extremely famous men who actively sought to help the since-deceased underage sex trafficker trivialise his crimes in the years after his jail release in 2009. Richard Branson, Noam Chomsky, Steve Bannon, Mandelson, Andrew (obviously) – all of these men offer strategic advice, or media training, or chummy solidarity. Or, in the case of Chomsky, all of the above plus a drive-by on the notion of female victimhood. According to text signed under his first name that Epstein sent to a lawyer and publicist in February 2019, months after the Miami Herald had run an explosive series of articles laying out the scale of Epstein’s serial underage sexual abuse and the perversion of justice that covered it up, Chomsky sneered at “the hysteria that has developed about abuse of women”. Wow. Never mind Manufacturing Consent – have a read of Not Giving A Shit About Consent. I thought Chomsky cared about power and exploitative elites? Still, nice photo of him laughing it up with Steve Bannon.

Published: February 3, 2026, 2:28 pm

Elon Musk is taking SpaceX’s minority shareholders for a ride | Nils Pratley

Merger with loss-making xAI looks to some investors more like a bailout than a rocket trip to the future

• Elon Musk merges SpaceX with xAI at $1.25tn valuation

To Elon Musk’s fanclub, there is nothing to see apart from more evidence of the great man’s visionary genius. SpaceX, the rocket firm, is buying xAI, the artificial intelligence developer, and the combination of these two Musk-controlled entities is being valued at $1.25tn (£910bn). Feel the positive vibes ahead of a stock market debut due in June! The most valuable private company in history! The largest ever transaction!

Or, as Musk described it, he is creating “the most ambitious, vertically integrated innovation engine on (and off) Earth, with AI, rockets, space-based internet, direct-to-mobile device communications and the world’s foremost real-time information and free-speech platform”.

Published: February 3, 2026, 7:07 pm

I confessed a deplorable secret about motherhood to a friend – and it changed my life | Polly Hudson

The ‘mum noir’ film If I Had Legs I’d Kick You brought back the difficulties of those challenging early days of parenthood, and the conversation that freed me up emotionally

Critics say Rose Byrne gives “the performance of a lifetime” in “mum noir” film If I Had Legs I’d Kick You. She’s been nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe, best leading performance at the Berlin film festival and best actress at the New York Film Critics Circle awards. But these plaudits, and across-the-board rave reviews, are the least of what she’s achieved with this movie, hailed as a “tour de force of matriarchal fury”. Both on screen and in the promotional interviews, Byrne pulls no punches. And it’s about time. Not being honest about what motherhood is really like is the greatest disservice we do other women.

“Having a baby is like going to the moon, and nobody ever tells you that,” the actor told the Times. “But it’s hard for women to talk about. There’s a lot of shame. You don’t want to feel like you don’t love your child, but there is a grief around becoming a mother, because you lose part of yourself that you will never, ever, ever, ever, ever get back. And that’s OK. It’s OK to grieve that – in fact, we should. Because it’s a before and an after.”

Published: February 3, 2026, 1:55 pm

Now that Israel has admitted the Gaza death toll is accurate, don’t let apologists move the goalposts | Ben Reiff

Having rubbished the health ministry’s figures, they are now saying what matters is the civilian-to-militant ratio. See that for what it is

Israel’s official and unofficial spokespeople are in damage control mode after a senior military official admitted last week that Israel accepts the death toll published by Gaza’s health ministry, which currently stands at more than 70,000. This comes after two years in which Israel and its supporters took every opportunity to disparage and dismiss the health ministry’s figures, arguing that they were overblown or fabricated by Hamas.

That prestigious list of repudiators, to name just a few, includes spokespeople for Israel’s government and military, then-US president Joe Biden, US Congress, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) chief Jonathan Greenblatt, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) and any number of talking heads at influential thinktanks and policy centres. Adding credibility to their denials were prominent media outlets around the world that often described Gaza’s health ministry as “Hamas-run”, thereby encouraging readers and viewers to treat the death toll with suspicion.

Ben Reiff is deputy editor at +972 magazine

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Published: February 3, 2026, 10:45 am

It’s the Hollywood sensation we’re all enjoying: cinema megastars lured to a TV screen near you | Fiona Sturges

The stars get big audiences and complex characters to develop. We’ve lucked out in this golden age of streaming shows, and so have they

Shrinking, the TV series about Jason Segel’s Jimmy, a grieving psychotherapist who can’t stop telling patients what he really thinks, seems pretty innocuous on paper. From Frasier to In Treatment to Sex Education, there’s no shortage of TV dramas about dysfunctional therapists. What marks Shrinking out from the crowd is the presence of Harrison Ford, who plays Jimmy’s octogenarian mentor. Here we see a Hollywood megastar getting high on edibles, wrestling with his failures as a father and trying to keep a lid on his Parkinson’s symptoms. Though Segel shares top billing with Ford, the latter is the main draw and gets all the best lines.

Paramount’s 1923, showrunner Taylor Sheridan’s prequel to Yellowstone, similarly draws on Ford’s elder statesman status as it depicts a ranching family’s efforts to maintain their wealth and status during the Great Depression. Ford’s co-star is Helen Mirren, another octogenarian actor who previously appeared with him in the 1986 film The Mosquito Coast. Set in Montana, 1923 is a classy drama that makes high art of its protagonists’ craggy features along with their penchant for brutality.

Fiona Sturges is an arts writer

Published: February 3, 2026, 9:00 am

Lindsey Vonn confident she can compete at Olympics despite ‘completely ruptured’ ACL

• Vonn confident despite ACL rupture before Olympics

• Will decide after testing knee at race speeds soon

• Olympic downhill scheduled for Sunday at Cortina

Lindsey Vonn said she is “confident” she can compete at the Milano Cortina Winter Games despite revealing she has been managing a ruptured ACL, maintaining that her Olympic comeback remains on track after a crash last week raised fresh doubts over her participation.

Speaking on Tuesday, the 41-year-old American said she was approaching the final decision cautiously but remained focused on lining up for the downhill at the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre in Cortina d’Ampezzo, where the Olympic women’s alpine programme opens Sunday.

Published: February 3, 2026, 3:28 pm

Kai Havertz adds killer touch as Arsenal hold off Chelsea to book final place

When the final whistle blew, a huge wave of relief swept over this stadium. Arsenal may not have been at all convincing against a Chelsea side who caused them the occasional problem but Mikel Arteta will not care one bit. After four successive semi-final defeats, Arsenal are on their way to Wembley. At last.

After the drama of the first leg at Stamford Bridge that saw Liam Rosenior’s side travel to north London needing to overturn a 3-2 deficit, this was a much more cagey affair that was eventually settled in stoppage time by Kai Havertz’s breakaway goal against his former club. Arsenal had seemed content to keep Chelsea at arm’s length for most of the evening and rarely looked like extending their advantage until then.

Published: February 3, 2026, 10:38 pm

Are the Whitecaps about to die? Vancouver sound alarm bells amid difficult sale process

Scheduling and financial impasses at Vancouver’s World Cup stadium are leading down a road the league hasn’t traveled in over a decade

On the surface, Vancouver Whitecaps CEO Axel Schuster’s press conference last week would have felt familiar to almost any North American sports fan. Once again, a team was agitating for more money or a better stadium. Once again, local governments were at least partially to blame.

Some of his comments, though, felt more alien, and raised a question that seemed unfathomable just a couple of months ago: are the Vancouver Whitecaps about to die?

Published: February 3, 2026, 5:52 pm

Hall of Fame reportedly snubs Patriots owner Kraft alongside former coach Belichick

• New England have won six Super Bowl titles

• 2026 class will be announced later this week

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft has reportedly joined his team’s former head coach Bill Belichick in missing out on this year’s Hall of Fame class.

ESPN cited several league sources, who said that Kraft did not receive the necessary number of votes to enter the Hall. The new members of the Hall of Fame will be revealed on Thursday night, in the run-up to this weekend’s Super Bowl.

Published: February 3, 2026, 1:29 pm

‘People are dying, you have to help’: Guardiola decries wars in Sudan, Ukraine and Palestine

• Manchester City manager opens up on global conflicts

• UN reports UAE have backed Sudan paramilitary group

Pep Guardiola has spoken out against killings across the world, including in Sudan, where a paramilitary group backed by the United Arab Emirates, which in effect owns Manchester City, is embroiled in a civil war that has cost more than 150,000 lives.

Guardiola named Sudan when talking about conflicts where innocent people were dying. War crimes are said to have been carried out by both sides in the conflict. The vice‑president of the UAE, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, owns City, where Guardiola is the manager.

Published: February 3, 2026, 10:30 pm

IOC president gives clearest signal so far that Russia could be at 2028 Olympics

• Kirsty Coventry: ‘Keep sport a neutral ground’

• Ukraine sports minister hits out at Fifa president

The International Olympic Committee president, Kirsty Coventry, has given her clearest signal yet that Russia could be back for the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

A day after the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, said he wanted Russia reinstated to international football, Coventry used her opening address to the 145th IOC congress in Milan to argue that all athletes should be allowed to compete in sport – regardless of their government’s behaviour.

Published: February 3, 2026, 6:01 pm

Fans attack ‘classless’ NHL for cutting cancer donation by $800,000 after missed shot

• Successful shot would have made $1m for charities

• Social media users say event was ‘dystopian’

The NHL has received backlash after slashing a donation to cancer research by $800,000 after a missed shot during a charity promotion.

The incident came during Sunday’s game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins. Rob Higgins, the athletics CEO of the University of South Florida, was brought on to the ice to attempt a shot through a very small opening in an empty goal. If Higgins, who is a cancer survivor, made the shot the NHL said it would donate $500,000 to cancer charities; if he missed the donation would be $100,000. The event was broadcast live on Sportsnet in Canada and ESPN in the US. Higgins missed what was a very tough shot. He was then given another chance, with a guaranteed donation of $200,000 if he missed, which would increase to $1m if he scored. Higgins missed again.

Published: February 3, 2026, 5:09 pm

Cristiano Ronaldo’s no-show leaves Saudi Pro League facing awkward questions

League’s star said to be unhappy over his club’s transfer dealings and Karim Benzema’s move. Now he could face his first backlash

Jurassic Park sounded great given the spectacular beasts on display, but there was chaos after they started to do their own thing. When Cristiano Ronaldo, surely the T rex, and Karim Benzema, perhaps a velociraptor, are scoring in spectacular fashion there are headlines around the world, but the Saudi Pro League is finding out that when they start to flex their muscles off the pitch, there is even more interest and, it turns out, a real problem for the competition.

What happened on a manic Monday in the SPL should have been about what unfolded on the pitch. Al-Hilal, in first, drew with third-placed Al-Ahli. Al-Nassr won, to stay second, closing to within a point of the leaders. If Brendan Rodgers, having a whale of a time with Al-Qadsiah, wins his game in hand then four points will separate the top four with just over a third of the season remaining. It is the kind of title race most leagues would love.

Published: February 3, 2026, 5:17 pm

Human Rights Watch researchers resign after report on Palestinian right of return blocked

The organization claims the report, which finds Israel’s denial of the right of return is a crime against humanity, is ‘paused pending further analysis and research’

Two Human Rights Watch (HRW) employees who make up the organization’s entire Israel and Palestine team are stepping down from their positions after leadership blocked a report that deems Israel’s denial of Palestinian refugees the right of return a “crime against humanity”.

In separate resignation letters obtained by Jewish Currents and the Guardian, Omar Shakir, who has headed the team for nearly the last decade, and Milena Ansari, the team’s assistant researcher, said leadership’s decision to pull the report broke from HRW’s customary approval processes and was evidence that the organization was putting fear of political backlash over a commitment to international law.

Published: February 3, 2026, 4:00 pm

US shoots down Iranian drone flying towards aircraft carrier, navy says

Shahed-139 said to have approached USS Abraham Lincoln ‘with unclear intent’ as US warships head towards Iran

The US military says it shot down an Iranian drone that “aggressively” approached the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea.

The Iranian Shahed-139 drone was flying toward the carrier “with unclear intent” when an F-35 fighter jet shot it down, US Central Command said on Tuesday.

Published: February 3, 2026, 6:58 pm

California officials move forward with plans to exterminate mule deer from island

Conservancy sees nonnative species as major threat to local biodiversity, while residents rally to preserve local identity

California wildlife officials moved forward last week with a plan to eradicate a mule deer herd from Santa Catalina Island: extermination.

The plan has long pitted locals from the island off the coast of Los Angeles against the Catalina Island Conservancy, an environmental non-profit that manages 88% of the island’s terrain. The conservancy sees mule deer, which are not native to the island, as a major threat to local biodiversity, water quality and fire resilience.

Published: February 3, 2026, 11:05 pm

Collision between Greek coastguard patrol and and migrant boat kills 14

Search and rescue operation involving boats, helicopter and divers under way off the eastern Aegean island of Chios

A collision between a speedboat carrying migrants and a Greek coastguard patrol vessel off the eastern Aegean island of Chios has killed at least 14 people, the coastguard said.

A search and rescue operation involving four patrol vessels, an air force helicopter and a private boat carrying divers was under way for potential missing passengers.

Published: February 3, 2026, 10:52 pm

Zelenskyy accuses Russia of violating Trump-brokered truce amid cold snap

Moscow launched ‘terrorising’ attack on energy grid as temperatures reached -20C, Ukrainian president says

Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia on Tuesday of violating an agreement with Donald Trump to hold off from attacking Ukraine’s energy systems in the depths of a freezing winter, as its forces carried out large-scale airstrikes on Kyiv on the eve of three-way talks in Abu Dhabi.

Ukraine’s president said Moscow carried out a massive and “deliberate” attack overnight as temperatures in Kyiv plunged to -20C. It involved a record number of 71 ballistic missiles as well as 450 drones, he said, sent to destroy energy infrastructure.

Published: February 3, 2026, 6:58 pm

US private investigator did ‘unlawful stuff’ for the Daily Mail, court hears

In case brought by Prince Harry and others, Daniel Portley-Hanks says he received about $1m for work for Associated Newspapers Ltd

A US-based private detective bought a large house in California and had $150,000 in savings “almost entirely” from work he did for the publisher of the Daily Mail, the high court has heard.

Daniel Portley-Hanks, also known as “Detective Danno”, said he received about $1m for work carried out for the Mail on Sunday, another title published by Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL).

Published: February 3, 2026, 6:12 pm

Waymo raises $16bn to fuel global robotaxi expansion

The funding round valued the Alphabet subsidiary at $126bn as company aims to expand more cities worldwide

The self-driving car company Waymo on Monday said it raised $16bn in a funding round that valued the Alphabet subsidiary at $126bn.

Waymo’s co-chief executives, Tekedra Mawakana and Dmitri Dolgov, touted the massive investment as a sign that the age of large-scale autonomous mobility has arrived.

Published: February 3, 2026, 3:07 pm

Landslides on one side, floods on the other: the Costa Rican village desperate to escape the climate crisis

With government action stalled and living in ‘inhumane’ conditions, families in San José are making plans to relocate

In Emilio Peña Delgado’s home, several photos hang on the wall. One shows him standing in front of a statue with his wife and oldest son in the centre of San José and smiling. In another, his two sons sit in front of caricatures from the film Cars. For him, the photos capture moments of joy that feel distant when he returns home to La Carpio, a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Costa Rica’s capital.

Delgado migrated with his family from Nicaragua to Costa Rica when he was 10, as his parents sought greater stability. When he started a family of his own, his greatest hope was to give his children the security he had lacked. But now, that hope is often interrupted by the threat of extreme weather events.

Published: February 3, 2026, 2:00 pm

Is Trump winning or losing his war on offshore wind power?

The US president tried to kill offshore wind projects – now four are back under construction

Construction has resumed on four offshore wind mega-projects after they survived a near-fatal attack by Donald Trump’s administration thanks to rulings by federal judges. These are being seen as victories for clean energy amid a wider war being waged on it by the Trump administration.

The windfarms are considered critical by grid planners as America faces an energy affordability crisis. Together, the four projects will contribute nearly five gigawatts of energy to the east coast, enough to power 3.5m homes.

Published: February 2, 2026, 12:30 pm

Is tyre pollution causing mass deaths in vulnerable salmon populations?

A US judge will decide if, as research suggests, a chemical tyre additive is harming endangered fish species

Last week, a district judge in San Francisco, California, presided over a three-day trial brought by west coast fishers and conservationists against US tyre companies. The fishers allege that a chemical additive used in tyres is polluting rivers and waterways, killing coho salmon and other fish. If successful, the case could have implications far beyond the United States.

Published: February 2, 2026, 12:00 pm

‘Nothing is sacred to them’: the race to save rare plants as Russian troops advance

With some of Ukraine’s most valuable biodiversity sites and science facilities under occupation, experts at Sofiyivka Park in Uman are struggling to preserve the country’s natural history

In the basement laboratory of the National Dendrological Park Sofiyivka, Larisa Kolder tends to dozens of specimens of Moehringia hypanica between power outages. Just months earlier, she and her team at this microclonal plant propagation laboratory in Uman, Ukraine, received 23 seeds of the rare flower.

Listed as threatened in Ukraine’s Red Book of endangered species, Moehringia grows nowhere else in the wild but the Mykolaiv region of Ukraine. Of those 23 seeds, only two grew into plants that Kolder and her colleagues could clone in their laboratory, but now her lab is home to a small grove of Moehringia seedlings, including 80 that have put down roots in a small but vital win for biodiversity conservation amid Russia’s war with Ukraine.

Published: February 2, 2026, 9:00 am

Disney names parks and cruises boss Josh D’Amaro as next CEO

D’Amaro will take over next month from Bob Iger, who returned to lead the media company after a bungled succession

Disney has unveiled Josh D’Amaro as its next CEO, drawing a line under a bungled succession at the top of the global entertainment conglomerate.

Bob Iger, who led the media giant for 15 years, stepped down in 2020 – only to abruptly return in 2022 when his handpicked successor, Bob Chapek, was fired as the company came under pressure.

Published: February 3, 2026, 2:47 pm

Newly released files shed new light on Chomsky and Epstein relationship

Latest communications undermine Chomsky’s earlier claims that he primarily had financial dealings with Epstein

The close friendship that Noam Chomsky maintained with Jeffrey Epstein continued being detailed extensively among millions of investigative records pertaining to the late convicted sex offender recently released by the US justice department, including Chomsky “fantasizing about the Caribbean island”.

In Friday’s tranche of documents, which built upon earlier disclosures of their close social ties, there is no specific indication that the famed academic and linguist was referring to his friend’s private Caribbean island where children were sexually abused. But the personal familiarity between the two men in that exchange is palpable, as it is in numerous other emails between Chomsky and Epstein aimed at planning more mundane social gatherings.

Published: February 3, 2026, 10:00 am

Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos stays silent as employees brace for cuts

Bezos has not publicly responded to several letters sent by Post staffers urging him to curb potential layoffs

While Washington Post employees remain in the dark about an impending round of cuts that could dramatically reshape the publication, the man that many hoped could soften or stop the blow, owner Jeff Bezos, has remained silent.

So far, three staff-organized letters sent by Post employees to Bezos imploring him to protect the Post’s robust coverage have gone unanswered.

Published: February 3, 2026, 11:00 am

Disastrous start for US TikTok as users cry censorship

New US-owned app struggled with a storm and was accused of blocking content critical of Trump – can it recover?

Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m Blake Montgomery, writing to you from Doha, where I’m moderating panels about AI and investing as part of the Web Summit Qatar.

I want to bring your attention to the impact of a Guardian story. In December, we published a story, “‘A black hole’: families and police say tech giants delay investigations in child abuse and drug cases”, about grieving families and law enforcement officers who say that Meta and Snapchat have slowed down criminal investigations. (The tech companies contend that they cooperate.) This month, Colorado lawmakers introduced a bill to compel social media platforms to respond to warrants in 72 hours.

Elon Musk had more extensive ties to Epstein than previously known, emails show

Tesla discontinues Model X and S vehicles as Elon Musk pivots to robotics

What is Moltbook? The strange new social media site for AI bots

The slopaganda era: 10 AI images posted by the White House – and what they teach us

Apple reports record iPhone sales as new lineup reignites worldwide demand

South Korea’s ‘world-first’ AI laws face pushback amid bid to become leading tech power

Can you guess our screen time? A priest, pensioner, tech CEO and teenager reveal all

Published: February 3, 2026, 2:18 pm

French headquarters of Elon Musk’s X raided by Paris cybercrime unit

Prosecutors’ announcement comes amid a hardening of European attitudes to social media firms

Prosecutors have raided the French headquarters of Elon Musk’s social media platform X and summoned the tech billionaire and the company’s former chief executive for questioning as part of an investigation into alleged cybercrime.

“A search is under way by the cybercrime unit of the Paris prosecutor’s office, the national police cyber unit and Europol,” the Paris prosecutors’ office said in a post on X on Tuesday, adding that it would no longer be publishing on the network.

Published: February 3, 2026, 7:01 pm

Meryl Streep cast as Joni Mitchell in new biopic

The Oscar-winning actor will star in the Cameron Crowe-directed feature about the singer-songwriter’s life

Meryl Streep is to play Joni Mitchell in a forthcoming biopic of the singer-songwriter directed by Cameron Crowe, according to record executive Clive Davis.

Davis confirmed the rumours surrounding the casting at his pre-Grammys party on Saturday, reports Rolling Stone. Last year, Anya Taylor-Joy was linked to the project in the role of the younger Mitchell, as was Streep’s Mamma Mia! co-star Amanda Seyfried.

Published: February 3, 2026, 4:44 pm

French prosecutors ask appeal court to keep ban on Marine Le Pen running for office

Far-right leader was barred for five years after being found guilty of extensive fake jobs scam at European parliament

French state prosecutors have asked appeal court judges to maintain a five-year election ban on the far-right leader Marine Le Pen for embezzlement of European parliament funds in a fake jobs scandal.

If the judges decide to grant the request, Le Pen would probably not be able to run in France’s 2027 presidential election.

Published: February 3, 2026, 7:22 pm

French magistrate reportedly summons two French-Israelis over ‘complicity in genocide’

Nili Kupfer-Naouri and Rachel Touitou said to be accused of trying to block delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza

A French investigating magistrate has issued summonses to two French-Israeli nationals in relation to “complicity in genocide” over allegations they tried to block the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, French media have reported.

The summonses, which reportedly mark the first time a country has considered the blocking of aid “complicity in genocide”, were issued for Nili Kupfer-Naouri and Rachel Touitou in July, Le Monde and Agence France-Presse reported.

Published: February 3, 2026, 4:59 pm

‘Crime is a disease. Meet the cure’: Sylvester Stallone’s self-serious cop movie is ludicrous fun

Cobra’s politics are definitely on the iffy side and it takes itself very seriously indeed – but there’s absolutely no reason for you or I to

“Crime is a disease. Meet the cure.” With one of the funniest taglines in cinema history, how can you possibly resist revisiting Sylvester Stallone’s violent, ultra-earnest cult action movie Cobra, which turns 40 this year?

Marion “Cobra” Cobretti (Stallone) is a tough LA cop who plays by his own rules. Sporting aviator shades, a matchstick in the corner of his mouth and a gun emblazoned with a cobra, he takes on criminals with a steely dedication to violence and wisecracks, and an aversion to due process that would make Charles Bronson blush.

Published: February 3, 2026, 2:00 pm

Ashes and Diamonds review – Poland faces bleak postwar realities in Andrzej Wajda’s 1958 masterpiece

Polish fighters contemplate their future in Wajda’s 1958 film in which the war’s end, far from being a cause for celebration, marks a crisis of identity for their country

The title of Andrzej Wajda’s 1958 film is taken from lines by the Polish Romantic poet Cyprian Norwid: “Will there remain among the ashes a star-like diamond, the dawn of eternal victory?” They are words imbued with bleak irony and disillusion; a pair of lovers in this movie discover them written in a ravaged church and have difficulty deciphering them, and also cannot decide where their loyalties and future lie as the second world war comes to its chaotic end. Are the diamonds of future law-abiding peacetime prosperity under communist rule – that is, effective rule by those who started the war invading Poland in league with the Nazis – preferable to the ashes of wartime suffering which at least offered certainty and purpose?

The scene is a provincial Polish town on VE Day, 8 May 1945. Across the continent, there are complex and unresolved feelings under all the celebration, nowhere more so than in Poland, the historic centre of the European war. Maciek (Zbigniew Cybulski), Andrzej (Adam Pawlikowski) and Drewnowski (Bogumił Kobiela) are three fighters in the home army resistance movement, patriotically opposed to communists as much as Nazis. They consider their mission in no way halted by the end of the war, but they have just grotesquely bungled their latest task of assassinating Communist party apparatchik Szczuka (Wacław Zastrzeżyński); lounging around and sunbathing before the hit, they accidentally kill two innocent young people.

Published: February 3, 2026, 1:00 pm

The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford review – Peter Mullan gives weight to quirky Scottish dramedy

The formidable Mullan delivers a tender performance in Sean Robert Dunn’s first feature, playing a cranky local historian obsessed with his obscure, unscrupulous ancestor

Peter Mullan brings his formidable presence to this quirky dramedy from first-time feature director Sean Robert Dunn: he is angry and weary, disillusioned but kind-hearted, someone who got his feelings hurt a long time ago … but wouldn’t dream of making a fuss about it.

It’s Mullan who gives weight and flavour to a film that might otherwise be a bit watery and unsure quite how sharp a sting it wants to deliver.

Published: February 2, 2026, 3:24 pm

Requiem for a film-maker: Darren Aronofsky’s AI revolutionary war series is a horror

The once-lauded director of Black Swan and The Wrestler has drowned himself in AI slop with an embarrassing new online series

If you happen to find yourself stumbling through Time magazine’s YouTube account, perhaps because you are a time traveller from the 1970s who doesn’t fully understand how the present works yet – then you will be presented with something that many believe represents the vanguard of entertainment as we know it.

On This Day … 1776 is a series of short videos depicting America’s revolutionary war. What makes On This Day notable is that it was made by Darren Aronofsky’s studio Primordial Soup. What also makes it interesting is that it was created with AI. The third thing that makes it interesting is that it is terrible.

Published: February 2, 2026, 12:11 pm

Meryl Streep is as withering as ever in first full-length trailer for Devil Wears Prada 2

Promo for the much-anticipated sequel, in which Streep is reunited with Stanley Tucci, Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt, clocks up 2.8m views in nine hours

The first full-length trailer for The Devil Wears Prada 2 has been released, and given more details on David Frankel’s hotly anticipated follow-up. In the promo, Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly and her right-hand man Nigel, played by Stanley Tucci, are seen reuniting with Anne Hathaway’s Andy and, later, Emily Blunt’s Emily.

Priestly remembers neither, nor even her habit of referring to all her fashion magazine assistants as Emily – presumably on account of her withering alpha-editor status rather than, say, dementia.

Published: February 2, 2026, 11:13 am

Iron Lung review – YouTuber Markiplier crash lands with big-screen sci-fi horror

Online gaming legend Mark Fischbach writes, directs and stars in this feature about a convict on a vague intergalactic mission – but his barebones production has nothing to show

William Goldman’s old showbiz maxim continues to apply that nobody knows anything. Independently financed horror movie Iron Lung has been smuggled into multiplexes without the usual promotional hoopla, where it was keenly awaited by the massed followers of its Hawaiian writer-director-star Mark Fischbach, better known as YouTube gaming legend Markiplier. Many of us have long sensed culture is making a decisive break with the analogue in favour of the (perhaps terminally) online and Fischbach’s film makes that paradigm shift not just visible but visceral; it feels not unlike spending 12 hours on Twitch with all the curtains closed.

Though Markiplier is approaching the horror genre from a notionally fresh angle – by adapting Dave Szymanski’s eponymous space-submarine sim – he lands on the narratively rusty idea of an astronaut straying beyond his depth; this is Moon in dimmer light. Beset by ominous rumbles and mounting doubts about the state of mankind, the begrimed and squalid craft singlehandedly piloted by Fischbach’s straggle-haired convict Simon is indistinguishable from the average teenage bedroom. Our hero staggers round this intergalactic deathtrap completing vaguely specified missions – ram this, repair that, download something or other – like a harassed dad ticking off his Sunday to-do list. In this, Simon proves more proficient than Fischbach’s offscreen self, who is either stumped by or oblivious to the film’s fundamental issues.

Published: February 2, 2026, 1:00 pm

‘Charisma is a form of psychosis’: inspiring Eric Clapton, having kids at 70 … the irreverent life of post-punk puppeteer Ted Milton

He crossed paths with William Burroughs, Terry Gilliam and Spitting Image while whipping up almighty grooves with his band Blurt. Now 82, he’s back on tour – and bracing for a warts-and-all documentary made by his many children

The big bloke in the khaki suit speaks quietly these days. We are nestled in the corner of Ted Milton’s studio above a rehearsal space in Deptford, London, cocooned by record boxes, poetry books, plus a single big, bright suitcase, and I have to nudge the recorder closer to pick up his voice. Milton – a saxophonist, poet, countercultural survivor and one-time avant garde puppeteer – is 82, and uses a couple of sticks to get around, yet he is once again going on the road across Europe with his long-running band Blurt, as well as releasing a new album with his duo the Odes.

Today, he is making record covers destined for the tour merch table with the help of his old woodblock setup. “That orange suitcase?” he points across the desk. “I just bought it.” He booms out a massive laugh, as if to prove he still has the lung power to command a room. “I’m a fetishist about luggage. I know how to survive touring. Haha!”

Published: February 3, 2026, 2:00 pm

The Grammys riled Donald Trump – but the big winners were chosen for their music, not politics

The president called the ceremony ‘garbage’, but in reality it was a celebration of artists whose commercial success was matched by boundary-pushing boldness

Donald Trump, it seems, did not much enjoy the 2026 Grammys. Shortly after the conclusion of the ceremony’s live broadcast in the US, there he was on Truth Social, calling it “the worst”, “garbage”, “unwatchable” and threatening to sue host Trevor Noah.

Perhaps that was the reaction the Recording Academy wanted. You could, if you wished, divine a certain Maga-baiting intent not just in the decision to give the album of the year award to Bad Bunny – a Puerto Rican who attracted criticism from the Trump administration after he was booked to headline the SuperBowl LX half-time show – but the choice of the Buena Vista Social Club, a Broadway hit based on the 1997 album of the same name featuring veteran Cuban musicians, as the best musical theatre album: the latter two weeks after the New York Times reported that Cubans settled in Florida are being deported in record numbers.

Published: February 2, 2026, 3:06 pm

Birdwatching with Sean Bean: best podcasts of the week

From Lord of Winterfell to lover of ornithology, the actor reveals his lifelong love of birding as host of a hugely listenable podcast. Plus, a gripping investigation into the police

On the face of it, picking Ned Stark as the host of the new series of their podcast seems odd. But it turns out he’s been a birder since childhood, who crams in birdwatching between acting gigs. He’s warm and honest in his first podcast, chatting to fellow ornithology lover Elbow’s Guy Garvey about spotting different species while working abroad, recognising bird song and the meditative joy of watching the feathered creatures. Alexi Duggins
Widely available, episodes fortnightly

Published: February 2, 2026, 7:00 am

The Good Society by Kate Pickett review – the Spirit Level author takes stock

A whistle-stop tour of the greatest hits of progressive policy fails to take account of a central conundrum

If you’ve written a successful book based around one big idea, what do you make the next one about? Back in 2009, Kate Pickett’s The Spirit Level (co-authored with Richard Wilkinson) argued that inequality was the ultimate cause of almost all our social problems, from obesity and teenage pregnancy to violent crime; more equal societies, they claimed, had better outcomes across the board. While criticised – as most “big idea” books are – for overstating the case and cherrypicking evidence, they struck a chord, and some aspects of their thesis are now mainstream.

However, when it comes to the UK, there is an awkward problem, both for Pickett and for economists like me who, while not entirely convinced by The Spirit Level, would still like to see a more equal society. In the first chapter of Pickett’s new book, inequality is once again the root of all (social) evils: “if you know a country’s level of inequality, you can do a pretty good job of predicting its infant mortality rate, or prevalence of mental illness, or levels of homicide or imprisonment”. By contrast, she argues that GDP or GDP growth are very poor measures of overall welfare. Pickett then goes on to list the ways in which the UK has become a worse place to live since 2010 – higher child poverty, flattening life expectancy and child mortality, more people in prison.

Published: February 3, 2026, 7:00 am

White River Crossing by Ian McGuire review – colonial greed drives a doomed hunt for gold

The author of The North Water vividly captures bleak beauty and brutish appetites on an 18th-century expedition into the frozen wilds of Canada

It was Ian McGuire’s second novel, The North Water, longlisted for the Booker prize in 2016 and later adapted for television, that established his reputation for savage historical noir. A professor of American literature at the University of Manchester, McGuire specialises in the late 19th-century realist tradition; at its best his work blends the unsparing violence of Cormac McCarthy with a bleak lyricism reminiscent of Welsh poet RS Thomas.

Both The North Water, set onboard a whaling ship dispatched from Hull to Baffin Bay in 1859, and The Abstainer, inspired by the hanging of three Irish rebels in Manchester a decade later, probed the grisly underbelly of Victorian imperialism, harsh worlds where a “man’s life on its own is nothing much to talk about”. In White River Crossing, McGuire travels across the Atlantic and back another 100 years to the Prince of Wales Fort, a remote trading post of the Hudson’s Bay Company in what is now northern Manitoba. Founded by royal charter in 1670 and granted sole right of trade and commerce across some 1.5m sq km of territory, the British venture was established to exploit the indigenous fur trade, but investors also hoped for other profitable discoveries, particularly silver and gold.

Published: February 3, 2026, 9:00 am

Poem of the week: The Secret Day by Stella Benson

Writing towards the end of the first world war, the poet, novelist, journalist and suffragist Benson here dreams of a secure peace

The Secret Day

My yesterday has gone, has gone and left me tired,
And now tomorrow comes and beats upon the door;
So I have built To-day, the day that I desired,
Lest joy come not again, lest peace return no more,
Lest comfort come no more.

Published: February 2, 2026, 10:00 am

Rebel English Academy by Mohammed Hanif review – a sure-fire Booker contender

This funny and subversive novel reckons with life under martial law in late-70s Pakistan

Mohammed Hanif’s novels address the more troubling aspects of Pakistani history and politics with unhinged, near-treasonous irreverence. His 2008 Booker-longlisted debut, A Case of Exploding Mangoes, was a scabrously comic portrait of General Zia-ul-Haq in the days leading up to his death in a suspicious plane crash in 1988. Masquerading as a whodunnit, it was a satire of religiosity and military authoritarianism. Dark, irony-soaked comedy that marries farce to unsparing truth-telling was also the chosen mode for other vexed subjects, from violence against women and religious minorities in Our Lady of Alice Bhatti to the war machine in Red Birds.

Hanif’s prickly new novel confirms his standing as one of south Asia’s most unnervingly funny and subversive voices. The story kicks off right after ousted socialist PM Zulfikar Ali Bhutto is put to death by army chief turned autocrat Zia. Following the execution, disgraced intelligence officer Gul has been posted to OK Town, a sleepy backwater where he “would need to create his own entertainment and come up with a mission to shine on this punishment posting”.

Published: February 2, 2026, 7:00 am

Marwan Barghouti, ‘Palestine’s Mandela’, to publish book from prison

Unbroken: In Pursuit of Freedom for Palestine is a collection of writings by the Palestinian political leader, who has been held in Israeli prisons since 2002

A collection of writings by the imprisoned Palestinian political leader Marwan Barghouti will be published in November, bringing together prison letters, interviews, personal material and documents from the last three decades of Barghouti’s political life and incarceration.

As deadly attacks on Gaza continue despite a nominal ceasefire, the 66-year-old is seen by many as the best hope for a leader of any future Palestinian state.

Published: February 3, 2026, 3:49 pm

‘Pain is a violent lover’: Daisy Lafarge on the paintings she made when floored with agony

Suffering from a connective tissue disorder and enduring endless calls to try and get benefits, the poet and novelist turned to painting – resulting in work that could change perceptions of disabled people

Daisy Lafarge was lying on the floor in excruciating pain when she started her latest paintings. A severe injury, coupled with a sudden worsening of her health, had left her unable to sit upright, while brain fog and fatigue made reading and writing impossible. So the award-winning novelist and poet fell back on her art school training, using the energy and materials she had to hand to create impressionistic paintings of her surroundings – her cat Uisce, her boyfriend’s PlayStation controller – alongside unsettling imagery of enclosed gardens and flowers decaying.

“Making the paintings was a way of coexisting with pain,” says the 34-year-old. “I was on my living room floor in agony for a few hours, but I wanted to get something out of that time. I’ve always been fascinated by artists and writers who turn limitations into formal constraints. I see the paintings as my attempt at that.”

Published: February 3, 2026, 3:54 pm

‘I was still black the next morning’: Halle Berry says Oscar win didn’t change her career

The actor says her historic 2002 best actress Oscar did not open doors in Hollywood, as studios remained wary of stories led by black performers

Halle Berry, the only black woman to have won the best actress Oscar, says her 2002 victory “didn’t necessarily change the course of my career”.

Speaking to The Cut’s Monica Corcoran Harel to promote new drama Crime 101, Berry said that she anticipated the victory, for Lee Daniels’ Monster’s Ball, would mean “there was going to be a script truck showing up outside my front door”.

Published: February 3, 2026, 10:04 am

Abandoned houses! Cows stuck in trees! The place full of secrets – in pictures

Pia Paulina Guilmoth and Jesse Bull Saffire spent seven years sniffing around discarded boxes and junk shops in order to paint this peculiar portrait of their home

Published: February 3, 2026, 7:00 am

A romance fraudster ruined my life – how I survived two years with a psychopath

At first, Mike made Tamsin feel good about herself – and his love-bombing led her to leave her family and resign from her job. Soon she had lost her car, phone and all her money

Tamsin met Mike in the summer of 2022. He was a mechanic in a garage that she walked past twice each day between home and work. After a while, he’d call out “good morning” or “good evening” and she’d wave and smile back. Then the exchanges got a little longer. (“Hard day?” “Looking forward to dinner?”) Six months later, Mike and Tamsin exchanged numbers.

Within two years, her life was wrecked. She had left her marriage, lost her home, quit her job, and sold her car and her phone, spent all her savings and racked up tens of thousands in debt. (Under her current repayment plan, it will take another eight and a half years to pay back her creditors.) Tamsin’s story seems scarcely credible and she is mortified to have to tell it. She stumbles through, piles of notes on her lap and a support worker from Victim Support at her side. Every few minutes, she breaks off to say, “It sounds so stupid”, “I sound like an absolute nutter” or “Where was my head?” In truth, she spent two years in the company of a psychopath, a master manipulator. He is in prison now, serving a 22-year sentence, but not for romance fraud, or anything involving Tamsin. Her experience, police have told her, “would not stand up in court”.

Published: February 3, 2026, 5:00 am

The pie and mash crisis: can the original fast food be saved?

There used to be hundreds of pie and mash shops in London. Now there are barely more than 30. Can social media attention and a push for protected status ensure their survival?

Outside it’s raining so hard that the sandwich board sign for BJ’s pie and mash (“All pies are made on the premises”) is folded up inside. The pavement along Barking Road in Plaistow is a blur through the front windows and deserted, and there are only two customers in the shop. Another sign – this one on the counter – says “CASH ONLY”.

Card machine companies often tell proprietor Nathan Jacobi that he’s missing out by not catering to customers who favour cashless transactions. “They’re the ones missing out,” he says. “Cos they ain’t getting pie and mash.”

Published: February 3, 2026, 10:00 am

‘The most rejuvenating sleep of my life’: 12 products our writers rely on for rest each night

From the comfiest sleep hoodie to one of the fanciest face masks, reviewers share what actually helps them hit the hay

• The best sleep masks in the US: I spent six weeks testing 24 masks, and these are my favorites

• Five common sleep problems, solved by experts

• Sign up for the Filter US newsletter, your weekly guide to buying fewer, better things

Getting a good night’s sleep is a personal struggle for many of us. Here at the Filter US, we noticed that a lot of you are interested in all things sleep. From our coverage of the best sleep masks to these Coop adjustable pillows, many readers are obsessing about the best products to help them get some shuteye.

To help fuel this not-so-drowsy enthusiasm, we asked a bunch of our contributing writers about the products they rely on to get some rest. What we got were some personal insights into some of the sleep hangups we all face, and some fantastic tools to help, including comfy pillows, white noise machines (sound machines), earbuds, face masks and more. There’s even a Snuggie-like wearable blanket on the list.

Published: February 2, 2026, 5:00 am

The pet I’ll never forget: Cocolo, the donkey who arrived unexpectedly at our door

An offhand comment from my mother meant we suddenly owned a donkey. I loved him – but was embarrassed when I had to ride him to school

I was four when Cocolo accidentally became part of our family, so my memories are a bit patchy and predominantly sensory (I still remember the pleasant feel of his furry ears). But my mum has filled me in on the details.

We’d gone to live in Jerusalem for a year as my dad was doing some work over there. For a Sunday treat we sometimes went to the American Colony hotel for a buffet lunch, and on one such occasion Mum was chatting with the doorman. A man was passing in the street leading a donkey, and Mum casually told the doorman that she’d always wanted a donkey.

Published: February 2, 2026, 11:00 am

Do you like cat photos? Are you constantly distracted? You’re probably actually quite good at focusing: 10 myths about attention

Every second, 11m bits of information enter our brains, which then efficiently prioritise them. We need to learn to work with the process, rather than against it

It’s believed that we have about 50,000 thoughts a day: big, small, urgent, banal – “Did I leave the oven on?”. And those are just the ones that register. Subconsciously, we’re constantly sifting through a barrage of stimuli: background noise, clutter on our desks, the mere presence of our phones.

Every second, 11m bits of information enter our brains. Just 0.0004% is perceived by our conscious minds, showing just how hard our brains are working to parse what’s sufficiently relevant to bring to our attention.

Published: February 2, 2026, 5:00 am

Is it true that … coffee aids digestion?

Caffeine can improve the digestive system and lead to better gut health, but try to avoid it after noon or if you have irritable bowels

Is sipping a coffee after a heavy meal actually good for helping you digest it? “For some people, absolutely,” says Dr Emily Leeming, a dietitian at King’s College London. “But it’s not always a good idea.”

Caffeine stimulates the gut, increasing muscle contractions, she says, which for many people helps food move through the digestive system “at a nice pace” before being excreted.

Published: February 2, 2026, 8:00 am

Grammys red carpet 2026: Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, Huntrix and more – in pictures

Musicians step out in ruffles, feathers and trains as the red carpet sees the return of the ‘free the nipple’ movement

• The winners, the losers, the performances – live

• List of winners

• Nominations in major categories

Published: February 2, 2026, 1:09 am

Miso mystery: red, white or yellow – how does each paste change your dish? | Kitchen aide

Our experts unpack the power of miso paste, and the unique flavour profiles you need for your home cooking

What’s the difference between white and red miso, and which should I use for what? Why do some recipes not specify which miso to use?
Ben, by email
“I think what recipe writers assume – and I’m sure I’ve written recipes like this – is that either way, you’re not going to get a miso that’s very extreme,” says Tim Anderson, whose latest book, JapanEasy Kitchen: Simple Recipes Using Japanese Pantry Ingredients, is out in April. As Ben points out, the two broadest categories are red and white, and in a lot of situations “you can use one or other to your taste without it having a massive effect on the outcome of the dish”.

Salty, savoury miso is (usually) made by steaming soya beans, mashing them with salt and koji, then leaving to ferment. “And the age is what changes the colour,” says Anderson. “White miso is not aged for very long – three to six months – and so it retains that beany, beige/yellow colour and tastes fresher, while red miso is aged for six months or longer, resulting in a darker colour and more funk.” The parallel Anderson often draws is that of a mild cheese and an aged or mature cheese. “Gouda is a good example,” he says. “It can be quite mellow and salty, but as it ages it develops a buttery, caramelised flavour.”

Got a culinary dilemma? Email feast@theguardian.com

Published: February 3, 2026, 1:00 pm

Houseplant hacks: can oats and Epsom salts pep up a plant?

Social media suggests that the combination is a superfood for tired plants. The reality is mould, gnats and the sour smell of rot

The problem
Once you tumble down a houseplant rabbit hole online, suddenly everything in your kitchen starts to look like fertiliser. Using oats and Epsom salts sounds wholesome, thrifty; breakfast for you, breakfast for your plants. But does it help?

The hack
The idea is that oats break down and enrich the soil, while Epsom salts (magnesium sulphate) top up magnesium to keep leaves green and glossy. Social media says a spoonful of each will pep up tired plants without the need for proper feed.

Published: February 3, 2026, 10:00 am

Slow train to Turin: a winter journey through the Swiss Alps to Italy

By travelling during the day on scenic routes, travellers can soak up spectacular landscapes before taking in Turin’s cultural heritage

Is there a better sensation for a traveller than when a train speeds out of a tunnel? The sudden flood of light, that howling rush of air. Clearly, it’s not just me who thinks trains are the new (old) planes, with 2025 having seen a 7% rise in UK train travel, and more Europeans than ever looking to hit the rails.

It’s late December, and I’m heading out on a slow-train journey across the historic railways of the Swiss Alps and the Italian lakes. It’s a trip of roughly 1,800 miles (2,900km), crossing five countries, almost entirely by scenic daytime trains.

Published: February 3, 2026, 7:00 am

My rookie era: I signed up for ballet on a whim. I still can’t tell my left from my right

Over 16 weeks of weekly classes, my glutes are stronger, my calves shapelier and – to my surprise – I have a growing sense of rhythm

• Read more summer essentials

There are just over 20 of us lined up against the walls of a large, square room and I am offended by how many people’s hands are raised. Our ballet teacher has just asked the class who has prior dance experience. This is an absolute beginners course on the foundations of classical ballet and, a single catastrophic line dance lesson aside, it is also the first dance class I have ever attended. I am in the minority.

As we take the barre, it quickly becomes apparent that not being able to tell my left from my right will be a significant deficit over the next 16 weeks. This, however, is a tertiary concern. For now my two biggest worries are my feet. After a series of flexes and points I will later come to learn are tendu, they are cramping so badly it feels as if they have been stomped on.

Published: February 2, 2026, 2:00 pm

Shock, awe, death, joy and looting: how the Guardian covered the outbreak of the Iraq war

In spring 2003, exuberance at the fall of Saddam was swiftly followed by a descent into deadly chaos. Whether moving independently or embedded with troops, Guardian reporters witnessed the violence on the ground

The allied attack on Iraq began on 20 March 2003. The Guardian’s 4am edition on Friday 21 March carried the headline: “Land, sea and air assault.” The report was by Julian Borger in Washington and Rory McCarthy in Camp As Sayliyah, on the outskirts of Doha, the capital of Qatar. It opened: “The ground war began in Iraq last night as British and American marines stormed beaches on the Gulf coast in an assault on the south-eastern city of Basra, while explosions lit up Baghdad under a heavy bombardment by cruise missiles.”

The first British fatalities came shortly afterwards when a US helicopter crashed in Kuwait, killing all on board. Suzanne Goldenberg’s front-page report from Baghdad revealed that only two hours after the decapitation effort, Saddam Hussein himself had made a defiant appearance on television. A Guardian leader stated that the plain fact was this first “surgical strike” had missed its mark. Even had it reached its target, it would have been difficult to applaud. “State-ordered assassination sets an abominable precedent that encourages unwelcome emulation … The US must tread carefully – for the legal and moral grounds for this war are already very shaky.”

Published: February 3, 2026, 5:00 am

Lisa Bloom on the fight for Epstein’s victims: ‘So many powerful men were enablers’

The US lawyer on her fearsome reputation, the criticism she faced for advising Harvey Weinstein, and how 40 years of legal experience did not prepare her for the Epstein files

If Lisa Bloom had been advising Peter Mandelson or the then Prince Andrew before their calamitous attempts at reputation-salvaging television interviews, she would have encouraged them to listen beforehand to Jeffrey Epstein’s victims – or, at the very least, to their lawyers – to understand something of what the women endured.

“Or even just watch some of the powerful documentaries that have been made, centering the victims, telling their stories,” Bloom says, pausing for a moment, closing her eyes and shaking her head to convey silent incredulity. “I’d have wanted them to become really enlightened about it. But you really can’t instil compassion in someone if they don’t have compassion. It’s hard to implant it in there.”

Published: February 2, 2026, 5:00 am

‘Sure enough, it’s gone’: Brooklyn venues targeted for mass phone thefts during concerts

Scores of live music fans in New York’s hip borough report having their phones stolen during live music shows

During a December visit to see family in his home state of New York, Zander Cammarata, who now lives in Berlin, purchased a new iPhone because they cost less in the United States. He then went to see one of his favorite bands, Silverstein, a post-hardcore emo group, in Brooklyn.

By the time he flew back to Germany, he was again using his old phone.

Published: February 2, 2026, 1:00 pm

A grounded ship, a frozen waterfall and dragon lanterns: photos of the day – Tuesday

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

Published: February 3, 2026, 1:51 pm