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模仿艺人如何拯救 英国现场演出界
电影与音乐
Pippa Crerar 政治编辑
安迪·伯纳姆 昨天表示，地区市长将在英国经济政策中发挥主导作用，并宣布 No 10 North 的成立是“我国见证过的最大规模的权力重新平衡”。 首相重启了 国家经济委员会 (NEC)，
Bethan McKernan Sandra Laville
威尔士部分地区目前处于干旱状态，该国所有其他地区也正经历长期的干燥状况，7 月有望成为近 200 年来记录中最干燥的月份。 威尔士自然资源局 (NRW) 昨天表示，创纪录的低河水位、接连而至的热浪以及广泛的山火，已促使北威尔士和塞文河上游宣布进入干旱状态。 截至昨天，全国多处火灾在持续一周多后仍在燃烧，由于担心缺乏灭火直升机，威尔士政府已启动危机管理计划。 威尔士宣布干旱之际，一项新的科学分析发现，由人类引发的气候危机所加剧的极端高温，正使欧洲在夏季变得干涸，并加剧了袭击该大陆的干旱。 山火在西班牙和法国肆虐，欧洲各地的河流水位持续走低。周一，国家干旱小组——其中包含 5
该委员会最初由戈登·布朗设立，旨在使政府在 2008 年金融危机期间处于战时状态，他认为经济增长需要同样程度的紧迫感、专注度和集体行动。 在为《卫报》撰写的一篇文章中，他写道：“当我进入唐宁街时，我告诉工作人员，反对权力下放的时代已经结束。当权力共享时，政府中没有人会输。”
Charli xcx 的新专辑获五星好评 ★★★★★
安迪·伯纳姆 将于今日主持该委员会的首次会议，召集高级部长和地区市长，将权力下放置于其政府使命的核心位置。 他写道：“尽管 怀特霍尔 (英国政府部门代称) 的部门设立了外驻机构，但决策权仍然留在伦敦……这就是 No 10 North 试图纠正的问题。如果我们成功，它可能会为英国的运行方式带来急需的根本性转变。这是关于利用全国最高权力机构来驱动增长，并与 财政部 保持紧密协作。这是关于将权力下放，将其交给能够最好地利用权力的人。” 由于他成为首位每周在 曼彻斯特 运行政府的英国领导人，他将面临要求证明该运作并非象征性的呼吁。 11
被移至 布罗德摩尔 (精神病院)
独家报道 Rajeev Syal 内政编辑
《卫报》可以披露，索尔特波特杀手 阿克塞尔·鲁达库巴纳 在经过临床评估后，已从监狱被移至一家精神病院。 消息人士确认，本周在认定他无法在监狱环境中被安全管理后，他从 A 类监狱 贝尔马什监狱 被移交给 布罗德摩尔 (精神病院) 高安全等级医院。 布罗德摩尔 (精神病院) 等精神科病房的囚犯被视为患者而非囚犯。 司法部 发言人表示，他将继续被关押，且不太可能被释放。此次转移将激怒许多受害者家属，他们将坚持认为他在 2025 年 1 月被评估为适合出庭受审。 此次转移将导致其监禁成本增加。 怀特霍尔 (英国政府部门代称) 消息人士称，医院安全单元的患者每年每人成本超过 £300,000，而每名囚犯的成本约为 £60,000。 来自兰开夏郡班克斯的鲁达库巴纳， 19 岁， 2
照片：姓名 姓名/年龄 通讯社
Friday 24 July 2026
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每日四个版块
凶手被从监狱 转移至 布罗德摩尔 (Broadmoor)
他于 2025 年 1 月被判终身监禁，最低刑期为 52 年，罪名是杀害了七岁的 Elsie Dot Stancombe、六岁的 Bebe King 以及九岁的 Alice da Silva Aguiar。 2024 年 7 月在 Southport，他在一个以泰勒·斯威夫特 (Taylor Swift) 为主题的舞蹈课上，袭击了另外八名儿童、课堂指导员 Leanne Lucas 以及试图将其缴械的商人 John Hayes。他还被裁定生产生物毒素蓖子蛋白及持有基地组织 (al-Qaeda) 训练手册罪名成立，这违反了《反恐法》。
Alder Hey 儿童 NHS 信托基金会确认，鲁达库巴纳 (Rudakubana) 在 2019 年至 2023 年间曾作为精神健康患者在其护理下，直到他“停止配合”。他在将刀带入学校并随后表示这样做是“为了使用它”之后，被转诊至该信托基金会。
他还被转诊至防止极端主义计划 (Prevent)，因为他在就读的下一所学校 The Acorns 的电脑上研究校园大屠杀。 曾有另外两次转诊至 Prevent 的记录，但由于鲁达库巴纳对其暴力痴迷背后没有明确的意识形态，因此均未推进。
2025 年 5 月，鲁达库巴纳用沸水袭击了一名监狱警员，引发了贝尔马什监狱 (Belmarsh) 的内部调查。
针对转移至布罗德摩尔 (Broadmoor) 的举动，代表监狱、矫正和安全精神病医疗工作人员的 POA 监狱官协会全国主席 Mark Fairhurst 表示，其成员认为这名凶手在“利用体制”，以便搬到更舒适的环境中。
他表示：“[鲁达库巴纳] 并非精神失常。他是在利用体制，纯粹是个恶魔。他应该在整个刑期内被单独关押，面对四面墙壁。想到他现在将享受安全医院被迫给予他的所有自由，这令人震惊，而且更加不公正的是，纳税人实际上还在因为他现在被归类为精神失常而向他支付福利。”
“现在不得不执行那些认为他可以被治愈的人意愿的，正是 POA 的成员。这是一个令人作呕的发展，我的心与受害者的家属以及所有受到他残暴罪行影响的人在一起。”
位于伯克希尔郡 (Berkshire) 的布罗德摩尔 (Broadmoor) 曾关押过英国一些最臭名昭著的杀手，包括约克郡撕裂者 彼得·萨特克利夫 (Peter Sutcliffe) 和 沼泽杀手 伊恩·布雷迪 (Ian Brady)。 患者处于禁闭状态，条件受到严格的物理安全监管，包括锁闭病房、工作人员监控和 24 小时闭路电视 (CCTV)。他们接收
[[IMG_XXXX]] 照片：CHRIS J RATCLIFFE/BLOOMBERG
伊朗，但已拒绝参与进攻性行动。 这一政策并未被新任首相 安迪·伯纳姆 (Andy Burnham) 改变，他上周被通知已决定延长与美国的协议。
在昨天由与 IRGC 相关的塔斯尼姆通讯社 (Tasnim News Agency) 发布的一份声明中，该组织称美国在两天前从格洛斯特郡的费尔福德皇家空军基地 (RAF Fairford) 发起了轰炸任务。 IRGC 的声明是在美国连续第 12 个夜晚对伊朗境内目标进行袭击后发表的。
国防部尚未就本周美国是否利用费尔福德皇家空军基地 (RAF Fairford) 对伊朗进行行动发表评论。
IRGC 还指责“英国君主制政权”是“我们地区苦难的主要原因，在瓜分伊斯兰国家、大屠杀、强加专制政权和组织占领巴勒斯坦方面有着黑历史”。 它警告政府“不要进一步增加其污点”。
针对 IRGC 的威胁，英国政府的一位发言人表示：“我们的武装部队”
准备好保护英国免受任何形式的袭击，无论是在我们的国土上还是来自海外。英国已准备好 24/7 全天候进行自我防卫。“这包括通过采取分层防御措施来应对空中和导弹防御，由配备一系列先进能力的皇家海军、英国陆军和皇家空军资产提供，并与我们的北约盟友密切合作。“英国对待此次冲突的态度保持不变——我们致力于保护我们的民众、我们的利益以及我们的盟友，按照国际法行事，且不会被卷入更广泛的冲突之中。”他们补充说，英国的方法保持不变，致力于根据国际法捍卫其人民、利益和盟友，同时避免被卷入更广泛的冲突。3月1日，一架无人机袭击了塞浦路斯的阿克罗蒂里皇家空军基地，击中了一个机库，并导致该设施部分人员撤离。3月19日，伊朗向英国在查戈斯群岛的迪戈加西亚基地发射了两枚弹道导弹。据报道，其中一枚在飞行途中失效，另一枚被美国飞艇击落。伊朗对在海湾地区设有美国军事基地的国家发动了袭击，包括巴林、阿联酋和科威特，部分袭击导致美国服役人员死亡。美国总统唐纳德·特朗普表示，伊朗将为杀害美国士兵“付出沉重代价”。昨天下午，特朗普表示他正在考虑对伊朗发起一次“大规模攻击，比以往任何时候都大”。他告诉Axios：“我即将做出决定，我们已经准备就绪。”他认为伊朗领导人“想要谈判”，但尚未准备好达成协议。作为冲突升级的另一个潜在迹象，也门受伊朗支持的胡塞武装表示，由于国际油价突破每桶 $100，他们于昨天袭击了两艘在红海的沙特油轮。
强制性的治疗和康复计划。如果罪犯不再需要在医院接受治疗，1983 年的《精神健康法》规定应迅速返回监狱。 如果罪犯由于精神障碍而构成更高的风险，且无法在监狱中得到安全管理，临床专业人员可申请将其转移至安全精神科病房。消息人士称，鉴于相关法律和临床评估，部长们别无选择，只能接受此次转移囚犯的请求。 司法部发言人表示：“在索斯波特被谋杀和受伤的人们的家属将永远留在这个国家的心中，我们的心与他们同在。实施这些恶劣罪行的罪犯理应在被监禁的整个 52 年刑期内被关押，且不太可能被释放。 “高安全等级医院并非自由之地。他将在高安全等级精神科病房接受持续监督，并将尽快返回监狱。罪犯的转移是基于严格的独立临床评估而进行的。”
揭示图灵 “俏皮且大胆” 的一面
Mark Brown 英格兰北部特派员
当人们想到艾伦·图灵 (Alan Turing) 时，可能会想象他是个傲慢、孤立、缺乏幽默感且深受折磨的人。一位学者认为，记住这位现代计算之父的更好方式是将其视为一个“俏皮、有趣、大胆、有文学修养，且非常热爱性生活的人”。
剑桥大学的英语文学教授莎拉·迪伦 (Sarah Dillon) 转录并研究了一个鲜为人知的短篇故事，这是图灵在因“严重猥亵罪”于曼彻斯特被捕后的第二年写就的。
她的结论挑战了大众将图灵视为“孤立的数学家”的普遍认知。她说，这个短篇故事揭示了一个热爱文学、享受生活且不以自己的性取向为耻的人。“我希望这能在一定程度上重新设定围绕图灵的叙事，”她说，“我们以为我们了解这个人物，但其实并不了解。他比大众普遍认为的要丰富得多。”
图灵是英国在第二次世界大战期间最著名的密码破译者。一些历史学家认为，图灵及布莱切利园 (Bletchley Park) 其他人员在破译德国 Enigma 密码方面的工作，将战争缩短了多达四年。他在曼彻斯特大学开创性的战后工作，为现代计算机和人工智能的发展开启了大门。
1952 年，他因同性恋行为被逮捕并起诉。为了避免入狱，他同意接受化学阉割。1954 年，他因氰化物中毒去世，享年 41 岁；验尸官判定为自杀，但有些人认为这是一场意外。
2009 年，英国政府就图灵所遭受的“令人震惊”的待遇表达了歉意。
《卫报》工作人员
《回到未来》系列电影的主角迈克尔·J·福克斯认为，在 29 岁被诊断出患有帕金森病后，重返演艺事业延长了他的生命。 这位 65 岁的加拿大裔美国演员在 1990 年《回到未来 第三部分》上映一年后被诊断出患有早发性帕金森病，他在片中饰演马蒂·麦克法兰 (Marty McFly)。
福克斯宣布，由于每天无法掌控自己的言语，他在新冠疫情期间停止了演戏。 在这次停工持续了六年之后，他给比尔·劳伦斯——一位在拍摄电视剧《旋转之城》(Spin City) 时结识的朋友——打了个电话，决定重返赛场。 这次通话让福克斯在剧集《萎缩》(Shrinking) 中出演。他将回归该剧的第四季，并预计很快开始拍摄新剧集。 福克斯告诉《好莱坞报道》：“这真的延长了我的生命，并让我的生活以一种我认为到目前为止不可能的方式变得有趣。我并没有从演艺事业中退休，但如果我不再演戏，那一定是有非常充分的理由。我曾让帕金森病替我做决定。”
▲ 布莱切利园的密码分析员在艾伦·图灵的领导下致力于破解德国的 Enigma 密码，左图
照片：SSPL/GETTY IMAGES; ALAMY
对于许多人来说，他们对图灵的认识是由 2014 年由本尼迪克特·康伯巴奇主演的电影《模仿游戏》塑造的。“这就是问题所在，”迪伦说。“我昨晚实际上又看了一遍，这证实了我的记忆。这是一部非常出色的电影，但它不准确。它犯了很多历史错误。 “它所呈现的图灵版本是一种好莱坞式的孤胆英雄，实际上与我们所了解的那个男人本人并不相像。” 迪伦表示，这部电影误解了图灵，将其描绘成没有幽默感、极度个人主义、拒绝合作且与他人关系紧张的人。“他并不是好莱坞将其刻画的那种单向度的形象，”她说。 这篇短篇小说保存在剑桥大学国王学院的档案中，图灵专家对其有所了解，但从未被文学学者完整地转录或研究。迪伦表示，其手迹难以辨认，且该故事在很大程度上被“边缘化和忽视了”。 迪伦认为，这篇名为《普莱斯的浮标》(Pryce’s Buoy) 的六页未完篇小说可能写于 1952 年底或 1953, 年初。故事中的角色包括工人阶级性工作者罗恩·米勒 (Ron Miller)，以及以某项成就闻名的科学家亚历克·普莱斯 (Alec Pryce)。
他接着说，在揭露疾病对他造成的影响时，他必须克服“虚荣心”，并补充说他需要将其“正常化”。福克斯表示，在他公开自己的诊断结果后，他会匿名进入帕金森病患者的聊天室，询问他们如何看待那位刚刚透露自己患病的名人（即他本人）。 他说，人们的反应从深受鼓舞到欣喜若狂不等，这位演员解释道：“我想，‘好吧，去他的，我患有帕金森病，而你们竟然在庆祝’。” 福克斯在 29 岁确诊前首次注意到小指颤抖，这种进行性神经系统疾病严重影响了他的行动能力。他曾因多次跌倒导致骨折。 福克斯自 1988, 年起与演员特蕾西·波兰结婚，并于 2000, 年成立了迈克尔·J·福克斯帕金森研究基金会，该基金会已筹集超过 $2bn (£1.58bn)。 2023, 年，他主演了 Apple TV 的纪录片《静止：迈克尔·J·福克斯传》(Still: A Michael J Fox Movie)，探讨了帕金森病如何影响他及其家人的生活。《卫报》的一篇评论称：“我们最后的感觉是，我们真正观看的是一个伟大的爱情故事。”
剑桥大学教授萨拉·迪伦与图灵的手写故事《普莱斯的浮标》，写于 1952 年左右
照片：剑桥大学国王学院
一种被称为“普莱斯浮标”（Pryce’s buoy）的发明——这就是标题中双关语的由来。迪龙表示，亚历克显然是自传体虚构人物，代表了图灵本人。故事的叙述者在亚历克的内心独白和罗恩的内心独白之间切换。这是一个关于亚历克和罗恩的故事：亚历克在工作和圣诞购物后感到疲惫，想要寻找一些乐趣；而罗恩则穷困且失业，认为可以通过性行为赚钱。图灵在描写罗恩时写道：“如果他让某人在拱门下带他走 10 分钟，他也许能拿到五先令。” 随后写道：“罗恩看向亚历克，给了他一个勉强的微笑。但这已经足够了。” 坐在公园长椅上时，罗恩认为亚历克穿着破旧但家境殷实。罗恩心想：“难道我搞错了？不，他在偷偷地看。只是有点害羞。” 亚历克对罗恩的印象则是他“并非真正的美男，但[他]有一种特殊的吸引力。乞丐不能挑食。” 随后两人走向一家
餐厅。图灵写道，罗恩“不习惯那种装腔作势的说话方式。反正结果都一样。无论怎么上床，床就是床。但亚历克并不这么想。” 迪龙说：“我喜欢那种犹豫不决的感觉，它唤起了一种潜在性接触时的不确定性，那种‘我是不是误读了这种情况？’的担忧。‘我会说错话吗？我会做得太过火吗？他们想要什么？我想要什么？我可以退出吗？’图灵捕捉到了这些紧张感，那种向前倾近又退缩的过程。他处理得非常好。” 迪龙确信图灵受到了作家安格斯·威尔逊的影响，后者曾是一位文学巨匠，但在今天很大程度上已被遗忘。这个故事表明，图灵对生活的态度可能比人们假设的要快乐得多。众所周知，他在 1952 年的暑假是在社会包容度较高的挪威度过的，在那里他有过情事。“他的性精神并未因遭遇的事情而消沉，” 迪龙说。她希望发表在《英国研究评论》（Review of English Studies）上的研究结果能为这位被误解的天才提供一个全新的视角。“人们一直认为他在社交上缺乏意识，完全关注于逻辑和数字，而且相当孤立，” 她说。 “他的短篇小说揭示了一个截然不同的男人：爱玩、幽默、调皮、有文学气息，并且是一个真正热爱性爱的人。”
新闻 气候危机
▲ 一架灭火飞机飞越法国东南部科蒂尼亚克（Cotignac）附近的一片燃烧的森林。许多人已被撤离。 摄影：THIBAUD MORITZ/AFP
触及极端水平 法国数千人 逃离山火
乔纳森·亨利 (Jon Henley) 阿吉特·尼兰詹 (Ajit Niranjan)
肆虐南欧的酷热已迫使近 20,000 人在法国逃离山火，与此同时，海洋热浪席卷地中海，研究人员警告称，随着火势恶化，不能排除出现“但丁式”地狱景象的可能性。
法国西南大西洋沿岸一场“格外剧烈”的山火导致超过 18,800 人撤离，其中包括数千名来自露营地和其他度假屋的游客，消防员正竭力控制火势。
根据西班牙气象局 Aemet 的数据，昨日西班牙穆尔西亚省的谢萨（Cieza）记录到 44.7C 的极高温度。前一天，西班牙城市阿尔巴塞特（Albacete）、阿维拉（Ávila）和特鲁埃尔（Teruel）以 42C 刷新了其 7 月的气温记录。
地中海监测系统称，海洋热浪正影响地中海 80% 的海域表面。
周二的日温度在多个地区达到了“极端”水平，部分异常温度比 1991 到 2020 年的平均值高出 5C。
欧洲森林火灾信息系统周三显示的数据表明，欧盟境内火灾的严重程度打破了往年同期的记录，截至 22 July，过火面积约为过去二十年平均值的两倍。法国的过火面积创下纪录，且法国和西班牙在起火次数方面均打破了记录。
消防员昨日表示，法国这场火灾始于波尔多以西约 25 英里、阿卡雄湾 (bay of Arcachon) 正北方的索莫斯 (Saumos) 村附近的一片茂密松林，在短短 24 小时多一点的时间里，已烧毁超过 3,700 公顷（9,140 英亩）。
他们表示，目前尚未收到人员伤亡报告，但有几栋房屋被焚毁。吉龙德省政府（Gironde prefecture）表示，尽管有 800 名消防员和四架洒水灭火飞机正在努力控制火势，但情况依然“不利”，火势尚未稳定。
“火势极不稳定且力量在显著增强，”地区消防局局长马克·费米伦 (Marc Vermeulen) 昨日表示。“其中一个主火线非常接近半城市化区域。我们正在逐家逐户地进行防御。”
自 5 月以来，法国经历了三波几乎接踵而至的热浪，气候崩溃导致更频繁且剧烈的极端天气事件，造成数千人非正常死亡，土壤和水道水分蒸发，并助长了山火。
69, 岁的帕特里克·马蒂诺 (Patrick Martineau) 从勒波尔日 (Le Porge) 村撤离，他告诉法新社 (Agence France-Presse)，警察曾“猛敲门...
且正在增强。 我们正在逐家 进行防御”
门……这很可怕——难以接受。当我们在这里买房时，从未想过会有火灾风险。”来自巴黎的游客西尔维（Sylvie）住在相对较密集的莱日-卡普费雷（Lège-Cap-Ferret）地区，她表示一名邻居告诉她：“‘准备好你的行李，我们将在夜间撤离。’于是我们将大部分东西放进汽车后备箱就离开了。”来自比利时安特卫普的埃尔克·厄本（Elke Urbain）每年都在该地区度假，她表示周三下午在海滩上时接到的通知是“立即返回营地收拾东西。这真的太令人难过了。”
在 2022 年，一场山火在同一地区烧毁了 30,000 多公顷的土地，迫使约 50,000 人撤离。在极度干燥的条件下，最新的这场大火席卷了森林，火焰高达 10 米。来自勒波尔日（Le Porge）的 54 岁居民让-吕克·埃利亚斯（Jean-Luc Helias）表示，他和家人四年前经历了那场火灾，“消防员在保护人们家园方面做了极好的工作。对我来说，最重要的是我的家人安全。”
区长表示，当地九个市镇已开设接收中心安置撤离人员，目前正收容 2,500 多人。昨天约有 8,800 人撤离，昨夜又有 10,000 人撤离。该地区的多条道路——包括通往南方几公里处、法国最顶级度假胜地之一的卡普费雷（Cap Ferret）半岛的道路——除必要交通外均已关闭。
警方已就山火起因展开调查。勒波尔日市长马夏尔·扎尼内蒂（Martial Zaninetti）表示，起火原因似乎是一台清理林下植被的机器引发的。
两周前，一场罕见的北向山火摧毁了巴黎郊外被联合国教科文组织列入名录的枫丹白露森林的 1/10。法国内政部长洛朗·努涅兹（Laurent Nuñez）表示，自 2026 年初以来，已发生了 12,500 多起山火。在西班牙，当局昨日下令马德里西部一座城镇的 3,500 人撤离家中，原因是当地森林火灾失控。
应急服务部门在 X 上表示，已向马德里西南约 60 km (38 miles) 的弗雷斯诺村 (Aldea de Fresno) 的居民发送了疏散消息。在首都北部的瓜达拉哈拉省，一场已烧毁 32,000 公顷土地的火灾也被描述为处于稳定状态。 西班牙野火科学家表示，他们对这些极端的数字并不感到惊讶，因为农村土地的荒废导致植被更加茂密，而气候崩溃引起的温度升高使得此类植物物质更容易干枯并燃烧。 莱达大学林业工程与全球变化教授 Víctor Resco de Dios 表示：“虽然很难预测情况会发展到什么程度，但我们很快将无法排除像加利福尼亚或澳大利亚那样‘但丁式’的惨剧，即火灾或复合火灾影响面积达到数十万公顷甚至一百万公顷。” 根据 Mercator Ocean 周六的预测，地中海的海洋热浪预计将缩小，但从萨丁岛到希腊的区域仍将保持强热。从直布罗陀到巴利阿里群岛，强热预计将下降至中等水平，尽管在阿尔博兰海局部地区仍在加强。 今年夏天，西欧遭受了接连不断的热浪袭击，6 月份的极端高温预计已导致数万人死亡。 周三的一项分析估计，6 月热浪给该大陆谷物农民带来的损失为 €2 (£1.7) 亿，这是由 900 万吨作物被毁导致的收入损失。 昨天，科学家发现气候崩溃还使得西欧土壤干旱的可能性增加了 5 倍，东欧则增加了 11 倍。
▶ 本周在弗林特郡的哈尔金山 (Halkyn mountain)。人们对威尔士缺乏灭火直升机表示担忧。
照片：DGDIMAGES/ALAMY
居民们看着法国西南部勒盖卡费雷 (Lege-Cap-Ferret) 附近升起的烟雾；（下方）西班牙军事应急部队在瓜达拉哈拉附近的拉米耶拉 (La Mierla) 扑灭野火。
照片：JULIEN DE ROSA/AFP
两个世纪以来 最干旱的七月
气象局（Met Office）、国家农民联盟、水务公司及专家机构等组织宣布，英格兰南部、中部和东部部分地区处于“长期干旱天气”中。
目前处于干旱状态的威尔士两个地区，本月到目前为止接收到的降雨量不足预期值的 2%，且北威尔士的克拉威德河 (Clwyd)、阿尔文河 (Alwen)、艾林河 (Alyn)、克莱韦多格河 (Clywedog)、迪河 (Dyi) 和康威河 (Conwy) 以及怀河 (Wye) 均记录到了月度最低流量新低，或正接近历史低点。
近几周的高温干旱天气意味着，七月有望成为威尔士近 200 年来记录中最干旱的月份，给鱼类、野生动物和农作物带来了问题。
威尔士自然资源局 (NRW) 上周宣布，北威尔士和东南威尔士正进入“长期干旱天气”状态（这是干旱前的阶段），这将触发对水道和受保护野生动物栖息地的额外检查，并将水库用水量释放到陷入困境的河流中。
威尔士自然资源局 (NRW) 的可持续水务与自然经理里安·托马斯 (Rhian Thomas) 表示，这段高温干旱期“对威尔士部分地区的环境产生了严重影响”。
她补充道：“我们看到河流流量降至极低水平，地下水位持续下降，且关于影响野生动物、渔业、农业和敏感栖息地的环境影响报告日益增多。近期北威尔士和东南威尔士发生的山火，是最清晰且最直观的迹象，表明我们的景观已经变得多么干旱。”
干旱没有官方的阈值标准，但威尔士自然资源局 (NRW) 将其定义为“综合指标显示降雨量和水资源可用性严重短缺，导致对河流、地下水、生态系统、农业和土地管理产生影响”。尽管威尔士水务公司报告称水库水位总体保持健康，但该公司已在西威尔士部分地区实施了软管禁令。
英格兰和威尔士的民众被敦促节约用水。到本周末，约 23 million 将被禁止使用软管。国家干旱小组本周表示，英格兰有八个地区处于长期干旱天气中。英格兰仅接收到了其七月长期平均降雨量的 3%，其中南部和东部至今完全没有降雨——这是自 1990. 年中期以来最长的无雨期。
部分河流的水位甚至低于去年夏季热浪期间。在西南地区，达特河 (Dart) 和托尔河 (Tor) 的流量低于去年同期。在英格兰中部和东南部，格洛斯特郡的科尔恩河 (Coln) 和莱斯特郡的索尔河 (Soar) 的流量均低于去年同期。农民不得不提前开始收获，并发出警告称谷物产量将低于预期。
去年夏天，英格兰、威尔士和苏格兰东部大部分地区宣布进入干旱状态——这种情况直到三月才正式结束，此前一个潮湿的秋季和冬季补充了河流和水库的蓄水量。
气象局预测，与 1990. 相比，气候危机将使英国夏季在 2070, 变得高温 1C-6C，且干旱程度增加 60%。
雷丁大学气象与气候科学教授汉娜·克洛克 (Hannah Cloke) 表示：“除非英国集体采取行动，并在水系统的每一个环节建立更强的韧性，否则我们将面临一个更加不确定的未来，届时水龙头可能会干涸。”
她补充道：“一个更好的未来是可能的，在那里我们能更好地利用降水，且不再浪费。但要实现这一目标，几乎每个人都需要在认知上发生根本性的转变。”
将使人类工作变为 “可选”
理查德·卢斯康布 (Richard Luscombe)
埃隆·马斯克在一场广泛的采访中表示，他认为人工智能将使人类的工作变得“可选”，且金钱将失去意义；在同一场采访中，他还预测英国将在 20 年内陷入内战。
上个月，随着其 SpaceX 公司在纽约证券交易所上市，马斯克成为了全球首位万亿富翁。此次采访是他成为万亿富翁后的首次采访，他在其中对未来做出了一系列预测。
关于人工智能，马斯克表示，他认为 AI 最终将使人类的工作变为“可选”。他称，AI 系统和机器人最终将处理大多数数字化和体力工作，而他自己的 AI 风险投资公司与 SpaceX 的合并，将使他能够开发执行认知任务（如软件编程）的系统，与此同时，特斯拉则制造人形机器人。
马斯克在德克萨斯州的一家特斯拉工厂接受了《经济学人》(The Economist) 的采访。他表示，在五年内，AI 系统的总和可能会超越所有人类智能的总和。在 10 年内，工作场所的机器人将助力开启一个“惊人的丰裕”时代，届时金钱将变得毫无意义。
然而，马斯克在采访中关于政治的观点和预测或许是最具争议的部分。他声称，英国——一个他多年未访问，但其政治（尤其是关于移民和种族问题）已成为他关注焦点的国家——将在 20 年内陷入内战。
当被问及是否反穆斯林时，马斯克攻击了提问者。这种转移话题的策略与唐纳德·特朗普所采用的手段类似，马斯克此前也多次使用此招数，最著名的一次是在《卫报》决定退出他的社交媒体平台 X 时，称该报“无关紧要”。
“我反对强奸和谋杀。我反对强加那些与我们在西方所接受的准则相悖的规则和法律，”他说。“像你们这样的传统媒体不承认这一点，简直是令人痛心。”
据《经济学人》报道，他将媒体对欧洲极右翼的定性描述为“虚假、误导且荒谬”，并认为极右翼是由追求安全城市、保障边境和理性支出的“普通人”组成的。
在随采访发布的社论中，《经济学人》承认马斯克是一个极具争议的人物。文中写道：“他的政治观点传播给了 X 平台上的 2.4 亿追随者，在许多人看来这是心直口快，但在更多人（包括《经济学人》在内）看来，这显然是狭隘偏见。”
“但他也是少数几个引领 AI 开拓且从而对其发展轨迹产生巨大影响的人之一。当他发言时，他反映了这些开拓者们正在进行的辩论。”
“尽管他在政治上充满争议，但在电动汽车、火箭和卫星通信等领域，他曾多次在技术预测上证明自己是正确的，而这些预测曾让其他工程师和企业家感到困惑。”
在采访中，马斯克预测
我们在西方所 接受的理念相悖的 规则和法律”
▲ 伊隆·马斯克告诉《经济学人》，在 5 年内 AI 系统可能会超越人类智能的总和
摄影：KIRSTY WIGGLESWORTH/REUTERS
在 AI 摧毁就业机会之后，可能需要进行大规模的财富再分配，以便为人类创造“全民高收入”。 他表示，自己愿意支付“数万亿美元的税款”，但随后又相反地认为，资金将在 10 年内变得无关紧要。他表示，在这种情况下，政府应该“给人们开支票”，因为他说，在机器生产的商品和服务供应无限的情况下，通货紧缩将比通货膨胀成为更大的问题。 马斯克承认，在他与特朗普那段动荡的同盟关系以及被短暂任命为总统的财政砍伐者、领导所谓的政府效率部 (Doge) 期间，他过于沉溺于政治。
20 马斯克预测英国陷入内战的年限
“坦率地说，我有些得意忘形了，”马斯克在谈到与总统的关系时说道。他在 2024 年提供了 2 亿美元的资金支持帮助总统当选，随后在其充满争议的 Doge 负责人任期内，监管预算削减，导致数万名联邦雇员失业。 这位特斯拉的所有者并未详细展开说明，但似乎意识到了他在华盛顿特区接触权力杠杆所产生的影响。 12 月，他在与特朗普白宫顾问斯蒂芬·米勒 (Stephen Miller) 的妻子凯蒂·米勒 (Katie Miller) 的一次播客节目中提到，他用“拆除球”式的方法对待联邦政府仅取得了部分成功，如果给机会，他可能不会再这样做。 “我认为与其做 Doge，我基本上应该专注于我的公司，”他当时说道。 然而，在接受《经济学人》采访时，他似乎很享受其政治参与所带来的关注以及他认为自己施加的影响力。“人们没有意识到，我所说的话将会成为现实，”他说道。 他还分享了对乌克兰战争的看法，在他的星链 (Starlink) 卫星已被用于帮助对抗俄罗斯的侵略。尽管如此，马斯克表示，任何和平协议都应包括俄罗斯获得的领土收益。 采访最后，马斯克对自己在 AI 和太空领域取得的成就及目前雄心勃勃的项目进行了评估，他在该领域也做出了一系列大胆的预测。 他在 2024 年表示，人类可以在 2028 年前踏上火星（目前美国国家航空航天局 NASA 的目标是在 2028 年重返月球，但许多分析师认为这不太可能实现）。 马斯克告诉《经济学人》，宇宙可能是一个由外星人创建的计算机模拟。“我所做的事情太荒谬了，以至于很难相信它们是真的，”他说道。
Ushika Kidd
一项该领域规模最大的研究发现，长期暴露于道路交通噪音中与帕金森病风险增加相关。 现有研究发现了将噪音暴露与帕金森病联系起来的潜在生物学路径，这在很大程度上是由于压力反应和睡眠中断造成的。 研究人员对每位参与者住宅中暴露程度最高和最低的外墙进行了噪音暴露建模，并计算了噪音水平的差异。 该影响的幅度虽然不大，但具有一致性；在暴露程度最高的立面上，每增加……
曼彻斯特 野生动物之旅 去哪里 表演者在 Summer Safari 的 “大象游行”中 进入角色，这是 在曼彻斯特 Printworks 举办的 一项免费沉浸式 体验，旨在 整个学校假期 期间为儿童 提供娱乐。
摄影： JAMES SPEAKMAN/PA
Haroon Siddique 法律事务记者
刑事大律师协会（CBA）主席表示，一名领先的人权大律师因在巴勒斯坦行动（Palestine Action）活动人士的审判中发表结案陈词而涉嫌藐视法庭被起诉，这使得律师们担心无法正常履行职责。
担任辩护方的 Rajiv Menon KC 将于下周出庭受审，他被指在 2024 年于布里斯托附近菲尔顿（Filton）针对以色列子公司 Elbit Systems UK 军工厂抗议活动的六人审判中，违反了法官的指示。
周三，法律界资深人士批评了对 Menon 的起诉。据信，他是首位因在结案陈词中发表言论而被起诉的大律师。
CBA 主席 Riel Karmy-Jones KC 在在线会议上表示：“人们开始觉得，这与其说是关于大律师如何代表其客户的核心原则，不如说是关于审判主题的政治问题。”
上个月，该案的审判法官……
噪声水平上升 11.5 分贝，在研究期间，帕金森病的风险增加了 3%。
研究结果显示，家中拥有安静区域可能会减轻道路交通噪声暴露与帕金森病更高风险之间的关联。
这项发表在《美国医学会杂志·神经病学》（JAMA Neurology）上的研究涵盖了 310 万 (3.1 million) 名 40 岁及以上的丹麦参与者，并对其进行了 18 年的跟踪观察。该研究利用全国健康登记数据建立，是关于道路交通噪声与帕金森病规模最大的研究。
先前的研究将包括帕金森病在内的神经系统疾病的增加与环境毒素暴露联系起来。本研究是首批将噪声污染与该病联系起来的研究之一。近三分之一的欧洲人面临超过世界卫生组织阈值的长期噪声暴露。研究作者之一 Thomas Münzel 表示，环境噪声在帕金森病风险因素的文献中“仍然是一个新进入者”。
Münzel 表示，该研究结果应将噪声从一个推测性的风险因素转变为一个可靠的帕金森病风险因素，从而推动进一步研究。研究人员考虑了空气污染因素，但缺乏关于人们生活方式的信息。然而，他们认为生活方式因素不会改变研究结果，因为无论人们的教育程度和收入如何，都观察到了与帕金森病的持续关联。
由于噪声污染，长期睡眠受干扰被认为会导致压力荷尔蒙——皮质醇水平升高。
纽菲尔德人口健康系（Nui field Department of Population Health）环境流行病学高级研究员 Peter Chan 博士（未参与本研究）表示：“关于 [噪声水平差异] 的研究很有趣，因为它强调了噪声问题的一个维度，即家中的噪声分布是不均匀的，人们可以通过移动到不同的房间来减轻影响。”然而，他补充说，这些结果并不出乎意料。
他说：“我们知道，帕金森病的许多潜在风险因素也与较低的社会经济地位相关，因此很难理清噪声风险的增加究竟完全是由噪声本身引起的，还是由其他因素引起的。”
英国噪声协会（UK Noise Association）主席 John Stewart（未参与本研究）表示：“这项研究加入到了一个日益增长的研究列表中，这些研究表明交通噪声与人们的身心健康之间存在联系。它表明，在噪声最响的地方，这种联系最强。在实践中，这意味着主干道。”
在巴勒斯坦行动（Palestine Action）一案中，约翰逊法官（Mr Justice Johnson）将关于梅农（Menon）是否应面临法庭藐视之诉的问题移交给另一位法官尼克林法官（Mr Justice Nicklin），后者随后裁定他应面临该诉讼。此前，一次将梅农移交审理的尝试在上诉中被推翻。
工党贵族议员、前自由组织（Liberty）主任沙米·查克拉巴蒂（Shami Chakrabarti）表示，鉴于法官可能面临的威胁，批评法官是危险的，但在梅农的案例中，法官们犯了一个“可怕且反复无常的错误”，且其行为方式“令人不寒而栗”。她的工党贵族议员同事、著名刑事律师海伦娜·肯尼迪（Helena Kennedy KC）将梅农的
英国天然气公司称大多数人如此认为
吉莉安·安布罗斯 (Jillian Ambrose)
英国天然气公司 (British Gas) 的所有者声称，在该公司准备削减呼叫中心 1,300 个工作岗位之际，大多数家庭更愿意与聊天机器人交流，而不是与公司员工打交道。该供应商的 FTSE 100 所有者 Centrica 计划削减 800 个呼叫中心岗位，因为这家能源公司正在实施“人工智能工具的定向部署”，此外，该公司上个月已确认将削减 500 个呼叫中心岗位。减少该供应商在格拉斯哥、爱丁堡、卡迪夫、莱斯特、斯托克波特和利兹的客户服务团队 14% 的计划预计将在两年内完成，这意味着部分岗位在人员离职后将保持空缺。工会此前曾表示，该公司投资人工智能以简化业务的行为将导致“数百个由人类担任的岗位”被聊天机器人取代。但公司首席执行官克里斯·奥谢 (Chris O’Shea) 坚持认为，做出这些改变是因为客户更倾向于将咨询交给 AI 而非人类。他表示：“AI 并不是驱动这次特定岗位削减的原因；这主要是由于客户行为的改变。我们现在看到的是，超过 90% 的客户在第一时间实际上使用数字渠道，而且我们看到客户电话呼叫量减少了 20%，所以这仅仅反映了客户行为的变化。我们预计在数字界面周围会增加更多岗位，而电话端的岗位可能会减少。” 在报告上半年零售利润上升（尽管客户数量下降）的同时，奥谢为 Centrica 的计划进行了辩护。Centrica 零售部门在今年前六个月的利润从去年同期的 £338 增长至 £346。奥谢表示，尽管家庭客户数量从去年年底的 7.5m 下降至 7.45m，但由于该供应商专注于从固定价格套餐中获取更高的利润率，其利润依然攀升。
将该起起诉称为“对我们司法系统的另一次攻击”，而知名人权律师加雷斯·皮尔斯 (Gareth Pierce) 则称这次起诉“令人恐惧”。 尼克林 (Nicklin) 的法院命令称，梅农 (Menon) 被指控故意违反了约翰逊 (Johnson) 的裁决，“明知其行为……能够产生阻碍司法行政的现实风险”。 补充称，该演讲包括了“能够向陪审团暗示法院不公正的陈述，因为他提到被告被禁止就埃尔比特系统公司 (Elbit Systems) 提供证据，随后又提到埃尔比特系统公司受到‘保护’”。
发起新一轮关税打击
Shrai Popat 华盛顿 Gaya Gupta
唐纳德·特朗普政府已实施新一轮广泛的关税，以取代原定于今晨到期的 10% 全球关税。尽管面临美国最高法院的挑战，这仍是他试图推行激进贸易政策的最新努力。
美国贸易代表杰米森·格里尔（Jamieson Greer）昨晚晚些时候宣布，美国将对 80 多个国家征收 10% 或 12.5% 的关税。
此举实际上取代了特朗普在 2 月份实施的 10% 统一关税，而就在此前，美国最高法院宣布他早先实施的许多关税非法。
最新关税将依据 1974 年《贸易法》的第 301 条执行，该条款旨在针对从事强迫劳动的国家。
特朗普在 2 月份最高法院做出裁决后立即表示，他的政府将调查不公平贸易行为，以实施永久性关税。
格里尔在声明中表示：“今天的行动将开始纠正那些既是侵犯人权又是扭曲贸易的行为，以改善各地工人的福利。”
“对于那些迅速采取强迫劳动进口禁令的贸易伙伴，我感到深受鼓舞，并期待确保这些禁令得到有效执行。”
自当选前起，特朗普就承诺通过征收关税来增加美国就业岗位和制造业，他曾一度称关税是“字典里最美的词”。
根据宪法，只有国会有权征税。
但去年 4 月，在被他称为“解放日”的那天，特朗普根据《国际紧急经济权力法》宣布征收 10% 的基准关税。这是一项赋予总统在国家紧急状态期间监管国际交易权限的贸易法。
然而，这项政策在 2 月份遭受了沉重打击，当时美国最高法院以 6-3 的投票结果裁定，在和平时期制定关税的能力仍属于国会。
特朗普随即根据另一项此前从未被使用过的贸易法宣布了另一套 10% 的关税制度，该制度将关税期限限制在 150 天内。这些关税已于午夜到期。
根据布鲁金斯学会 3 月份对该法的一项分析，最新一轮关税援引了 1974 年《贸易法》的第 301 条，该条款长期以来一直备受争议，且迄今为止使用较为谨慎。
彼得森国际经济研究所高级研究员、前世界贸易组织副总干事艾伦·沃尔夫（Alan Wolf）在昨天的分析文章中写道，最新的关税“再次引发了关于总统是否拥有决定并实施美国关税政策法律权限的问题——而这项权力在宪法中是赋予国会的”。
他表示：“答案是否定的：国会并未将如此广泛的权力授予总统。从宪法角度来看，这是不可能的。”
[[IMG_XXXX]] 唐纳德·特朗普声称，他的贸易议程将振兴美国工业心脏地带并增加就业
摄影：EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/路透社
“这些新关税将代表另一种总统权力过度扩张的情况。如果这些关税在法庭上受到质疑，最高法院很可能会将其推翻。”
除了在法庭上受挫外，特朗普的关税在美国人之中也被证明并不受欢迎。
今年早些时候，一项专门为《卫报》开展的哈里斯民调（Harris Poll）调查发现，10 人中 7 名美国人表示，由于特朗普的关税，他们支付了更高的价格；且 72% 的选民认为这些关税对消费者的影响是负面的而非正面的。
总统及其官员声称，他极具争议的贸易议程将有助于振兴美国的工业中心地带并增加就业机会。
但自去年首次实施以来，他的关税政策已遭遇多次挫折，批评者警告称，其大范围的关税存在推高全国物价的风险。
今年早些时候，美国通胀率激增至三年来的最高水平。
然而，在周三面对美国参议员的一次激烈交锋中，格里尔（Greer）似乎声称特朗普的政策并没有推高价格。
整体通胀率略高于乔·拜登离任时的水平。
可用于阳台和棚屋的 插电式太阳能电池板
Jillian Ambrose 能源记者
在政府修改法律以允许英国最大的零售商首次将其推向市场后，家庭很快将能够购买插电式太阳能电池板。
随着上周通过的立法，从 8 月 27 日起，英国民众将能够加入欧洲数百万使用“阳台太阳能电池板”自行发电的人群之列。
近年来，插电式电池板在西班牙和德国的阳台上已成为常见景象，在德国，它们被称为 balkonkraftwerk（德语意为“阳台发电站”）。
与需要专业安装的传统屋顶太阳能电池板不同，阳台太阳能装置可以直接插入墙壁插座，通过阳台、露台、棚屋屋顶或任何其他户外空间产生廉价电力。
此次法律变更意味着，从今年夏天结束起，包括 Currys、B&Q 和 Asda 在内的零售商将能够向居住在公寓或无屋顶使用权的租赁房屋中的人们销售 DIY 太阳能设备，使他们能够自行产生太阳能。
这些电池板的预计零售价至少为 £400，每年可为能源账单削减高达 £110。
Solar Energy UK 的首席执行官 Chris Hewett 表示，使插电式太阳能合法化的举措预计将为“此前无法获得这些好处的家庭带来廉价、清洁的电力”。“我们行业正与政府密切合作，确保所有客户对这些新技术的安全性和可靠性充满信心。”
当电池板接通电源时，阳光照射下产生的清洁能源通过标准的三相插头直接流入房屋的电路中，为电器供电，而无需从电网购买过多电力。插电式系统的容量通常为 800 瓦，仅为典型住宅屋顶太阳能系统规模的五分之一，因此虽然它们无法独自为整个家庭供电，但每年可帮助降低 £70-110 的账单费用。这意味着，收回购买插电式系统的初始投入需要四到七年时间。这些 DIY 太阳能系统预计在家庭创纪录地转向绿色升级以降低成本之际上市，因为伊朗战争导致全球能源价格飙升。去年英国完成了创纪录的 269,000 次太阳能安装，比前一年增长超过三分之一，相当于每两分钟就安装一套新的屋顶设备。
£400 太阳能电池板的预计成本， 每年可削减高达 £110 的电费
PA Media
汤姆·赫兰德 (Tom Holland) 成为最新一位为 CBeebies 睡前故事朗读的超级英雄演员——此前美国队长扮演者克里斯·埃文斯 (Chris Evans) 和雷神扮演者克里斯·海姆斯沃斯 (Chris Hemsworth) 都担任过此角色。
这位 30 岁的英国演员通过饰演彼得·帕克 (Peter Parker) 而名声大噪。
Windfall Energy 的联合创始人 Rob Hallifax 表示，该立法还可能为英国住宅使用插电式电池铺平道路。据《i Paper》报道，政府据称正在考虑批量购买这些设备并将其分发给低收入家庭。Hallifax 表示，向插电式解决方案的转变是“消费者能源独立的一次重大胜利，对于任何此前被排除在能源转型之外的人来说，这是一个巨大的飞跃”。Hallifax 说：“对于租房者、公寓业主以及任何预算有限的人来说，这以一种我们前所未见的方式开启了清洁能源。”他补充说，家庭对于其新的太阳能设备仍应设定“现实的预期”。他说：“在 8 月下旬生效意味着随着我们进入秋季和冬季，发电量自然会下降。”“你仍然需要一个阳光充足的阳台、露台或合适的户外区域。而且，你可能需要房东或业主许可才能安装电池板。”
平庸歌曲的 流水线生产 让这次旅程 糟糕至极
《Trainspotting》音乐剧 伦敦海马基特皇家剧院 (Theatre Royal Haymarket) ★☆☆☆☆
“选择生活……”（Choose life ……）这部定义时代的电影中的标志性台词，在这部改编自欧文·威尔士（Irvine Welsh）关于伦顿（Renton）及其来自利斯（Leith）的叛逆瘾君子帮派的音乐剧中多次出现。
“选择活在当下，”一个不带感情的声音说道，在演出开始前要求我们关闭手机（可以想象，对方在开这个玩笑时带着一种自鸣得意的神情）。“选择生活，”伦顿（刘易斯·基德 Lewis Kidd 饰）重复道，他似乎在努力捕捉 20 世纪 90 年代的那种危险能量——当时伊万·麦格雷戈（Ewan McGregor）、强尼·李·米勒（Jonny Lee Miller）及其同事将海洛因成瘾描绘成是对平凡生活乏味常规的一种抗议。
遗憾的是，这里描绘的药物沉溺的冒险和非法快感，看起来也就和服用双倍剂量的嘉胃斯康（Gaviscon）一样“危险”。
这部剧由威尔士编写，卡罗琳·杰伊·兰格（Caroline Jay Ranger）执导。故事被切得很碎，导致场景之间缺乏连贯性，那些著名的场景和台词被快速地抛出，仿佛来自一条“《删除记录》（Trainspotting）”品牌的流水线：首先是该群体前往布莱克浦参加一场北方灵魂乐演出的旅程，随后是各种片段，从斯普德（Kieran Andrew 饰）在速度药物刺激下的工作面试，到贝格比（Frankie O’Connor 饰）在斯诺克球桌旁的暴力行径，以及伦顿在厕所里的快感——后者通过背屏（视频设计由道格拉斯·奥康奈尔 Douglas O’Connell 负责）使画面更加生动。
在艾莉森（Rosie Dignan 饰）婴儿去世以及该群体中最适应社会的汤米（Finlay Paul 饰）走向没落的桥段中，有一些触动人心的时刻，但这些时刻远没有达到应有的震撼程度，且演得过于仓促。
这一切都没有电影的一半那样令人震惊、有趣或凄婉。即便在一些自主发挥的环节，想象力也不够灵动，例如斯普德的母亲痛斥社会弊端（从处方药到添加剂）的一幕。
在音乐方面，翻唱曲目带来了少数亮点。其中有伊基·波普（Iggy Pop）的《Lust for Life》，这首歌与电影如此紧密相连，以至于你依然能想象出麦格雷戈在爱丁堡街道上疾跑的场景，此外还有卢·里德（Lou Reed）的《Perfect Day》的演绎。但这些不过是在模仿远为优秀的原创作品。除了翻唱曲目，由斯蒂芬·麦格伊尼斯（Stephen McGuinness）和威尔士创作的歌曲则平淡无奇。
看到这些角色一边注射药物一边唱歌，或者对着机器愤怒咆哮，感觉很奇怪。对于这群反资本主义者来说，这一切似乎太温驯了。这确实是一次糟糕的幻觉之旅（bad trip）。
演出将持续至 9 月 5 日，随后将在英国巡演。
▼ 剧照：谢里登·汤斯利（Sheridan Townsley）饰 坏小子 (Sick Boy)，弗兰基·奥康纳（Frankie O’Connor）饰 贝格比 (Begbie)，刘易斯·基德（Lewis Kidd）饰 伦顿 (Renton)，以及芬利·保罗（Finlay Paul）饰 汤米 (Tommy)
[[IMG_XXXX]] 照片：ALAN CHAPMAN/DAVE BENETT/GETTY IMAGES
汤姆·霍兰德（Tom Holland）饰演蜘蛛侠，并在此后 5 次出演该角色。在《蜘蛛侠：崭新之日》（Spider-Man: Brand New Day）上映之前，霍兰德将在 BBC 系列节目的新一集中朗读由朱莉娅·唐纳森（Julia Donaldson）编写、阿克塞尔·舍勒（Axel Scheller）绘图的《超级蠕虫》（Superworm）。故事讲述了一只英勇、身体超级伸展的蠕虫在陷入贪婪的蜥蜴巫师咒语后，被朋友们救出的故事。
霍兰德接过了之前在 CBeebies 频道参与朗读的超级英雄和超级反派演员们的接力棒，包括伊德里斯·艾尔巴（Idris Elba）、汤姆·哈迪（Tom Hardy）、汤姆·希德勒斯顿（Tom Hiddleston）和杰森·莫莫亚（Jason Momoa），以及埃文斯（Evans）和海姆斯沃斯（Hemsworth）。
这位演员在 2016 年的《美国队长3：内战》中首次饰演蜘蛛侠，次年他在《蜘蛛侠：英雄归来》中成为了漫威电影宇宙（MCU）中饰演主角的最年轻演员。其续集《蜘蛛侠：远离家园》和《蜘蛛侠：没有回家之路》分别于 2019 年和 2021 年上映，全球票房均超过 $1bn。
霍兰德还在此角色中出演了《复仇者联盟：无限战争》、《终局之战》以及将于本月晚些时候上映的《崭新之日》。
电影的梗概预告称，这将是“彼得·帕克全新的一天”。文中继续写道：“在一个不再记得他的世界里，全职以蜘蛛侠的身份打击犯罪——以及面对旧友们在没有他的情况下继续前行的压力——激发了彼得内心的一种变化，而他可能无法控制这种力量。”
《蜘蛛侠：全新之日》（Spider-Man: Brand New Day）将于 29 July 在英国全英影院上映，比原定于 31 July 的上映日期提前了几天。
霍兰德（Holland）主持的 CBeebies 睡前故事将于今天下午 6.50pm 在 CBeebies 播出，并可通过 BBC iPlayer 观看。
National xSubjectxxxx
在引发强烈抗议后，该计划仍可能于秋季实施
Rajeev Syal Peter Walker
在受害者抗议后，由安迪·伯纳姆暂停的一项针对数千名囚犯的提前释放计划仍可能在今年秋季实施，尽管缓刑监督员警告称这可能会导致潜在的混乱。 首相已下令对拟议中的约 6,000 名囚犯提前释放方案进行紧急审查。该计划原定于 9 月开始，首批人数约为 700 人，首相表示他希望
与基尔·斯塔默的 内阁相比 如何？
Lucy Swan Kiran Stacey Carmen Aguilar García
安迪·伯纳姆已入主唐宁街，并任命了他的首任内阁。 外界对此议论颇多，特别是基尔·斯塔默的盟友如何被降职或解雇，但新团队的人口构成如何，以及与前任内阁有何不同？
女性首次占据内阁半数席位 在英国政治史上，内阁中女性占比首次达到半数，这与不足 50 年前的情况相比发生了巨大变化。 当玛格丽特·撒切尔在 1979, 年首次上台时，她没有在内阁中任命一名女性。在她的继任者约翰·梅杰执政期间，甚至出现过所有高层职位中完全没有女性的时期。 托尼·布莱尔开始使天平向另一侧倾斜，但即使在“布莱尔之女”时代，女性仍处于少数地位。他 1997 年成立的首届内阁中仅包含 5 名女性。 这一趋势在布莱尔的继任者戈登·布朗时期有所逆转，而在保守党执政的 14 年间，性别差距一直波动。 2024 年，当斯塔默任命他的首个部长团队时，几乎实现了性别平等。内阁，
政治
以“最大限度降低公众风险”为目标，且将毫不犹豫地做出调整。但由于政府官员承认监狱系统依然处于接近满员的状态，且除了紧急情况外，没有意愿使用警局拘留室等替代方案，因此目前尚不清楚除了继续执行该计划（即使形式有所改变）之外，还存在哪些选项。
受害者团体曾反对根据新《量刑法》提前释放 6,000 人的提议。警察安德鲁·哈珀的母亲德比·阿德拉姆表示，提议中包括她儿子的两名凶手——杰西·科尔和阿尔伯特·鲍尔斯——是对他们家庭的“又一次打击”。
在周一入主 No 10 以来的一系列政策宣布中，伯纳姆在最新的表态中称：“我正与新任司法大臣密切合作，并已指示我的团队暂停原定于 9 月开始的变动。”
“在我们进行紧急审查并尽一切可能最大限度降低公众风险之前，任何囚犯都不会根据该政策被释放。在需要做出调整的地方，我们将毫不犹豫地进行调整。”
由于官员警告称，如果没有该计划，英格兰和威尔士的监狱将在 11 月前耗尽容量，最可能的结果似乎是对提前释放系统进行微调，保留部分服刑人员。
官员们拒绝透露该计划是否可以通过修订，来阻止那些被判定犯有针对紧急工作人员（如哈珀的凶手）或针对妇女和女孩罪行的人员提前获释。
▲ 伯纳姆内阁的首次会议。历史上首次，成员中有一半是女性。
照片：EDDIE MULHOLLAND/GETTY
包括那些出席但非正式成员的人员在内，女性占比为 46%。随着伯纳姆本周的新任命，性别平等最终得以实现——尽管一些斯塔默派人士指出，由约翰·希利接替瑞秋·里夫斯担任财相，意味着四大国务部门（four great offices of state）中的女性少了一位。
西北部代表过度集中 不出所料，前大曼彻斯特市长、被誉为“北方之王”的 安迪·伯纳姆 为代表西北部的国会议员分配了数量惊人的内阁席位。
来自该地区政治家的数量超过了内阁的四分之一——而居住在西北部的人口仅占 11%。在斯塔默执政期间，西北部的代表比例就已经过高，相比之下，里希·苏纳克的内阁中仅有两名代表北方的议员——其中一人就是苏纳克本人。
私立教育比例增加 在斯塔默执政的某个阶段，内阁中没有一位正职部长在中学教育的大部分时间就读于私立学校。这种历史性的公立教育高比例促使教育大臣布里奇特·菲利普森称，斯塔默的团队“可能是我们一段时间以来阶级意识最强的影子内阁之一”。
这种情况在伯纳姆上台后发生了变化，目前内阁中 22% 的成员主要接受过私立学校教育——这一比例是总人口的三倍多。
但这一比例仍低于保守党时期。在苏纳克、利兹·特拉斯和戴维·卡梅伦组建的内阁中，就读私立学校的部长占据了半数以上。在鲍里斯·约翰逊的首个内阁及其 2021 年和 2020 年的内阁重组中，这一比例几乎达到了三分之二。
超过半数为牛剑毕业生 与前六任首相不同，伯纳姆没有就读牛津大学，而是在剑桥大学学习英语。根据萨顿信托基金会（Sutton Trust）的数据，他是自斯坦利·鲍德温以来首位入主 No 10 的剑桥大学校友。
新任司法大臣亚历克斯·诺里斯 (Alex Norris) 昨天告诉记者，政府需要“时间来正确处理”。他表示：“我们对这项政策采取了重要的暂停。这给了我们一点时间来审视此事，以确保我们能为您提供最好的方案。” 缓刑监督员警告称，监狱服务部门已陷入“混乱感”，工作人员无法为大规模释放做准备。Napo 的全国官员塔妮亚·巴塞特 (Tania Bassett) 告诉《卫报》，在工会询问监狱服务部门员工是否应该……
内阁仍由牛剑校友占据主导地位，超过一半的内阁成员曾在两所学校之一就读，而英国人口中仅有 1% 具有此背景。
少数族裔代表性保持稳定 伯纳姆 (Burnham) 内阁中有四人来自少数族裔背景，包括内政大臣沙巴娜·马哈茂德 (Shabana Mahmood)、能源大臣米亚塔·法恩布莱 (Miatta Fahnbulleh) 以及人工智能大臣卡尼什卡·纳拉扬 (Kanishka Narayan)。这意味着新内阁中有 14% 来自 BAME（黑人、亚裔及少数族裔）背景，大致与英国人口中 16% 的比例相符。这比他的前任要好，但仍低于苏纳克 (Sunak)。
继续进行提前释放计划的准备工作，而现在却通知他们该计划已暂停。 她表示：“Napo 的担忧是，这将导致缓刑人员工作人员停止开展释放前的准备工作。无论首相最终做出什么决定，他已经给负责处理此项任务的工作人员带来了延迟和混乱。” “在涉及关键公共保护问题时，他需要更加果断，我们敦促他以最高紧迫性对待这一情况。” 根据该工会的说法，释放准备工作需要缓刑人员工作人员开展大量工作，通常至少需要六到八周。 这包括审查风险评估、提供住宿推荐（包括缓刑宿舍）、进行家访，以及与受害者联络员和家庭暴力支持机构协调。
伯纳姆内阁中四分之一成员来自英格兰西北部 按选区区域划分的内阁部长
伯纳姆
伯纳姆
伯纳姆
伯纳姆
伯纳姆 - 28 减 1 位贵族 斯塔默 - 26 减 2 位贵族 苏纳克 - 30 减 1 位贵族
斯塔默
苏纳克
斯塔默
斯塔默
苏纳克
苏格兰 东北部 西北部 约克郡和亨伯 东米德兰兹 西米德兰兹 威尔士 英格兰东部 伦敦 东南部 西南部
0 0
伯纳姆的内阁是首个实现性别平等的内阁 按性别划分的内阁部长
100% 撒切尔
男性
首相变更
女性
1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025
来源：IfG 部长数据库，下议院图书馆。注：全内阁及出席内阁会议的部长
首任内阁中就读过牛津或剑桥大学的比例
54% 46%
39% 62%
52% 48%
<1% 的普通公众就读于牛津或剑桥大学
首任内阁中就读过私立中学的比例
22% 78%
8% 92%
39% 61% 苏纳克
7% 的人口就读于私立学校
首任内阁中来自少数族裔背景的比例
14% 86%
12% 89%
16% 84%
布莱尔 卡梅伦
“它将使整个怀特霍尔 (Whitehall) 凝聚在各地的背后，而不是成为他们的障碍”
本周早些时候，他创建了一个强大的新首相部门，将内阁办公室、财政部和住房部的部分职能整合在一起，旨在成为“英国经济的主导驱动力”——这与 No 10 North 的计划之间显然存在某种张力。
在就任后的首批行动之一中，伯纳姆设立了首相与内阁办公室，由其盟友兼执行官路易丝·海格 (Louise Haigh) 领导。该办公室将监督位于曼彻斯特的 No 10 North、伦敦的 No 10 运作以及内阁办公室的部分职能。
海格与新任教育大臣露西·鲍威尔 (Lucy Powell) 及新任社区大臣安吉拉·雷纳 (Angela Rayner) ——两人均拥有大曼彻斯特地区的议席——计划将部分时间在 No 10 North 工作，同时预计将有公务员团队搬迁至此。
随着地区市长被邀请共商，唐宁街认为，权力下放将在经济决策中心得到巩固，从而兑现首相的承诺：决策是与当地领导人共同制定的，而不仅仅是为他们制定的。
No 10 North 位于曼彻斯特市中心的 Heron House（英国政府通讯总部 GCHQ 在西北部的驻地），旨在首次将地方经济增长与权力下放的杠杆整合在同一个屋檐下，基于一个统一的计划而非相互竞争的计划而运作。
预计伯纳姆每周将在 No 10 North 工作，这样关于国家经济未来的决定将不再仅在威斯敏斯特做出，其他大臣也将定期在该建筑内工作。
代表高级公务员的 FDA 工会总书记戴夫·彭曼 (Dave Penman) 对政府结构的调整表示欢迎，但警告称，搬迁对于工作人员来说将是一个重大决定。
至少有 7 名大曼彻斯特联合当局的员工，包括伯纳姆的副幕僚长卡罗琳·辛普森 (Caroline Simpson) 和长期助手凯文·李 (Kevin Lee)，已经搬入临时建筑，同时等待一块棕地（废弃工业用地）的开发。
Heron House 办公室将由曾在多个部门工作的资深公务员萨姆·利斯特 (Sam Lister) 领导。
参加国家经济委员会 (NEC) 的人员将在每次会议时根据审议的问题而变化，
斯塔默 斯塔默
50% 50%
◀ 莉西·哈珀 (Lissie Harper) 与丈夫安德鲁 (Andrew)。她表示，其中 2 名凶手正被考虑提前释放，这令人“痛心”。
照片： 泰晤士河谷警察局/PA WIRE
官员，并制定稳健的多机构保护计划。 此外，在罪犯被安置在住所之前，确保电子脚镣等监控措施就位可能需要数周时间。一名工会官员表示，除非缓刑人员收到关于谁将被考虑的“迫在眉睫、具体的指示”，否则已制定的释放计划可能会崩溃。
这项审查在监狱中引起了混乱，监狱管理人员负责计算 9 月 2 日起数周内的释放日期。
《2026 年量刑法》引入了“阶梯式晋升模型”，旨在用一套基于行为的分级系统，取代英格兰和威尔士中服标准定期刑囚犯的自动减半释放制度。
这将允许大多数囚犯在服刑三分之一的监禁期后获释，而不是 50 %，而其剩余刑期将以
安迪·伯纳姆 首相
在电子标签的帮助下，在社区内接受严格监管地服刑。
对于因性犯罪或暴力犯罪而服刑、且自动释放时间设定为三分之二的囚犯，只要他们没有严重违反监狱规则，将有资格在刑期过半时获释。
这一规定适用于鲍尔斯 (Bowers) 和科尔 (Cole)，他们是哈珀 (Harper) 的两名凶手，于 2020 年因误杀罪被判处 13 年监禁。伯纳姆确认，主犯亨利·隆 (Henry Long) 在该计划下“将不会获得任何提前释放”。
在暂停的消息传出后，阿德拉姆 (Adlam) 告诉 ITV 新闻，这“还不够”。
她表示：“这是一个良好的开端，确实是一个开始研究一些合理替代方案并探讨未来选择的良好基础，因为这影响到的人太多了，不仅仅是我们。”
将商业领袖、工会和其他合作伙伴聚集在一起，利用他们的专业知识来助力决策。
在戈登·布朗 (Gordon Brown) 时期，该机构每周开会两次，是其政府努力抵御经济衰退、应对全球金融市场危机及价格波动核心。尽管当时有人担心这可能会削弱财政部 (Treasury) 的权力。
这个新委员会很快被戏称为经济版的“眼镜蛇” (Cobra) 紧急委员会。
成员包括时任财政大臣阿里斯泰尔·达林 (Alistair Darling) 和时任商业大臣彼得·曼德尔森 (Peter Mandelson) 等关键人物，并在协调银行部门紧急救援中起到了重要作用。
伯纳姆在他的文章中暗示，曼彻斯特 (Manchester) 部门对于他实现“推动英国每个邮政编码区域的再工业化和增长”这一目标至关重要。
他接着说道：“它将消除城市更新的障碍，从社会住宅建设到公共交通基础设施。至关重要的是，10号北府 (No 10 North) 将使整个怀特霍尔 (Whitehall) 团结在支持各地的立场上，而不是成为他们的阻碍。”
“我们的长期目标很明确：在英国的所有地区和国家实现同等的生活水平。”
国家 x主题xxxx
Pippa Crerar 和 Rob Davies
作为一项 £100m 援助计划的一部分，英格兰的酒吧、俱乐部和现场音乐场馆将获得其商业率账单 20% 的折扣——但 安迪·伯纳姆 立即面临要求其采取更大胆措施的呼吁。 首相表示，该措施旨在支持商业街并缓解生活成本压力，将获得全额资金支持，其中资金来源包括对被认为未能给社区做出积极贡献的企业（如电子烟店）的减免政策进行审查。 本周公布的其他生活成本措施——将公交车票价上限设定为 £2 以及降低电费账单的增值税（VAT）——引发了关于资金如何筹集的疑问，使得新任
政治
政府面临压力，需要阐明其计划的细节。 周一就职的 安迪·伯纳姆 承诺，将通过一系列政策干预，在生活成本方面给民众“更多喘息空间”，因为他试图向经常持怀疑态度的公众证明，政府能够带来实质性的改变。 昨天，保守党党魁凯米·巴德诺克（Kemi Badenoch）表示， 安迪·伯纳姆 早期的政策宣布让她在想：“就这样了吗？” 尽管款待业领袖对减税表示欢迎，但部分人士对其规模提出质疑，并担心酒店和餐厅等企业被排除在外。 据政府称，商业率削减将使近 32,000 家酒吧、俱乐部和现场音乐场馆受益，预计一家酒吧在下一个
财政年度将节省约 £1,100。这项支持将采取针对性措施，因此最大的现场音乐场馆将被排除在外。 该措施是在雷切尔·里夫斯（Rachel Reeves）今年宣布的酒吧和现场音乐场馆 15% 商业率减免的基础上进一步实施的，因为新冠时代的救济已结束，且新的重新评估已生效，账单在实际层面将被进一步冻结两年。 安迪·伯纳姆 表示：“长期以来，政府一直袖手旁观，而……”
许多心爱的场所已从我们的当地商业街中消失。因此，今天我将改变这一点。本届政府将支持人们希望在社区中看到的企业。 “我说过我会保护酒吧和当地商业街——它们是我们社区的核心——而这正是我们将要做的。” 财政大臣约翰·希利（John Healey）表示，政府仍致力于在预算案中对更广泛的商业率（business rates）制度进行改革，包括为小企业提供减免。 一些酒店餐饮业领导者敦促伯纳姆走得更远，特别是考虑到他此前曾支持该行业将增值税（VAT）削减至 10% 的呼吁。该政策将为陷入困境的该行业带来 £10bn 的价值，尽管税务专家警告称，大型盈利企业将获得大部分收益。 JD Wetherspoon 酒吧连锁店创始人蒂姆·马丁（Tim Martin）表示，商业率减免是“向正确方向迈出的一小步”，但呼吁伯纳姆削减增值税。 牛津郡法林顿（Faringdon）Old Crown Coaching Inn 的共同所有者尼克·埃文斯（Nick Evans）表示，商业率减免对该酒吧几乎没有帮助。 “一年能省 £3,000，大概如此。当你经营着一家营业额 £1.8m 但毛利率不足 2% 的企业时，给我 £3,000 根本没有任何帮助，”他说道。
照片：RICHARD POHLE/REUTERS
“价格在上涨，能源成本在上涨，你能怎么办？他说过他要将增值税削减至 10%。” 英国酒店餐饮业贸易组织（UK Hospitality）主席凯特·尼科尔斯（Kate Nicholls）对政府认可该行业的困境表示欢迎，但指出餐厅和酒店被排除在外。“我们现在需要为该行业的其他部分寻找解决方案，”她表示。 部长们还计划打击那些通过在线市场销售但不履行纳税义务的企业，因为这使他们相对于守法企业具有不公平的优势；目前政府正在就如何让这些在线市场承担更多责任的措施进行咨询。 小企业联合会（Federation of Small Businesses）政策主席蒂娜·麦肯齐（Tina McKenzie）对该提议表示欢迎，但称这必须是下一次预算案中更广泛帮助小企业的进一步行动的“预付款”。 “失败不是一个选项，”她说道。 “首相今天的信号令我们深受鼓舞，他指示政府在下一次预算案的核心计划中大幅增加小企业商业率减免。这将兑现竞选时的承诺，并修复由商业率决定导致的损失——那些决定推高了账单，并阻碍了每个邮编区域内 [中小企业] 的增长与就业。”
营业税率削减 20% 这对业主 是否能产生 影响？
罗布·戴维斯 (Rob Davies)
安迪·伯纳姆 (Andy Burnham) 就任首相后出台的首批政策措施之一（周四公布）是对酒吧、俱乐部和现场音乐场馆的营业税 (business rates) 削减 20%。作为支持商业街 (high street) 更广泛议程的一部分，该政策将耗资 £100m。这仅占该行业一直呼吁的 £10bn 规模措施的 1%——而伯纳姆在担任大曼彻斯特市市长且无需筹措资金时曾支持该措施——即针对该行业的增值税 (VAT) 从 20% 削减至 10%。
那么，在经营一家企业的背景下，这项政策措施如何衡量？你的酒吧账单上的钱究竟去了哪里？此外，营业税的削减能否遏制目前约每天关闭一家酒吧的趋势？
在霍灵顿 (Hollington) 的红狮酒吧 (Red Lion) 吃一份派和一杯啤酒 你支付 £20.50 酒吧利润 £2.97 红狮酒吧提供 15 种派、15 种土豆配菜、15 种蔬菜和 15 种肉汁，但最常见的点单是牛排艾尔派配薯条、奶酪花椰菜和洋葱肉汁，再配上一品脱 Bass 啤酒。
“我们是吃派的地方，”德比郡 (Derbyshire) 这家酒吧的业主丹·史密斯 (Dan Smith) 说道，“一周下来，我们大约能卖出 300 个，并用掉附近农场提供的六袋 25 公斤装的土豆。当地一家酿酒厂为我们生产自有品牌啤酒 ‘Pie & Glory’，但 Bass 是最受欢迎的。”
史密斯表示，由于农村企业可获得减免，他以前完全不需要支付营业税。现在他每年支付约 £680，并且由于连续的政策调整（包括全国性的物业重新估价工作），他发现自己的预估账单已经波动了数次：“他们把这件事搞得比必要的复杂了 10 倍。”
他说，相比于 £3.42 的增值税，营业税在每份派和一杯啤酒中的占比约为 £0.16。 “我不会对此 [营业税削减] 嗤之以鼻——这显示了伯纳姆先生的意愿。但这只是极小的一块碎片。”
史密斯支持一项在整个款待业开展的将增值税从 20% 削减至 10% 的运动。据估计，这将使财政部 (Treasury) 损失 £10bn。
费用明细 原料 £6.48 增值税 £3.42 员工 £3.88 雇主税 £0.74 水电费、运营成本及抵押贷款 £2.85 营业税 £0.16
一家典型的款待业企业 营业额 £1,000,000 税后利润 £13,500 Packed House 是一家家庭式咨询公司，担任独立款待业企业的商业总监，并为营业额约为 £1m 的典型实体提供年度成本明细。
“我们帮助那些工作过度且薪酬不足的业主建立盈利且成功的企业，”Packed House 总监科尔姆·奥利里 (Colm O’Leary) 说道。
成本包括酒吧采购酒精类产品的昂贵税费。员工成本包括较高的国家最低工资和国家保险缴款，这两项在工党执政期间均有所上涨。考虑到他们面临的其他成本规模，Packed House 的预估表显示了为什么一些款待业老板对营业税减免方案反应冷淡。
支付的营业税金额取决于场所的类型和位置，但奥利里表示，对于一家营业额为 £1m 的企业来说，£5,000 并不罕见。
“这项政策决定的速度是一个积极信号，但与实际需求相比，其收益简直微乎其微，”奥利里说。
费用明细 增值税 £166,667 净销售额 £833,333 采购额 £333,333 其他成本（租金、水电、公关、差旅等） £203,333 营业税 £5,000 营业利润 £16,667 公司税 £3,167
◀ 红狮酒吧业主丹·史密斯表示，在典型的派和啤酒消费中，营业税仅占约 £0.16，与 £3.42 的增值税相比相形见绌。
照片： ANDREW FOX/ 《卫报》 (THE GUARDIAN)
78% 一项针对 500 名国会议员工作人员的调查显示，该比例的人员收到过威胁信息
一位更加自信的保守党领袖，准备剖析新任首相
彼得·沃克 (Peter Walker) 高级政治记者
“所以，安迪·伯纳姆看起来像个好人。”这是凯米·巴德诺克 (Kemi Badenoch) 在首相更换后发表的首次演说的开场白，多少有些出人意料。但请不要误会：她此行是为了击败她的对手。
即使是在保守党内部以及更广泛领域中对巴德诺克持怀疑态度的人也承认，这位保守党领袖正变得更加自信，在为她的政党打造一个日益连贯的基调，而这一基调建立在经济能力承诺的基础之上。
尽管如此，在伯纳姆取代基尔·斯塔默 (Keir Starmer) 之后，她现在面临着一项不同的挑战。
除了作为一名可能在民调中获得反弹的新面孔外，这位前大曼彻斯特市市长更具媒体天赋，能够利用自嘲的幽默来化解巴德诺克的嘲讽。例如，上个月在保守党领袖将他贬低为“一对睫毛和一件黑色 T 恤”后，他在社交媒体上的一次回应迅速走红。
“她必须适应——就像在……”
Josh Halliday 英格兰北部编辑
在有报告称部分人员遭到肢体攻击，且数百人收到威胁电话和消息后，国会议员雇佣的工作人员呼吁紧急加强安保。 一项针对 500 多名议员工作人员的调查发现，78% 的人曾收到威胁性通讯，且近三分之一的人担心自身或同事的安全。 首相安迪·伯纳姆计划在宣布对议员安保措施进行审查，此前本月发生了一起谋杀案，被害者为前保守党大臣及改革英国（Reform UK）发言人安·威德康姆（Ann Widdecombe）。来自南约克郡罗斯汉姆（Rotherham）的 28 岁男子约书亚·凯利（Joshua Kerry）已被指控犯有谋杀罪。 在一项针对 500 多名议员工作人员的调查中，30% 的人表示他们“经常、非常频繁或总是”担心自身或同事的安全——这一比例高于五年前的 18.7%。 73 名议员工作人员表示，他们“非常频繁或经常”接触到访客使用的种族主义或偏见语言，而 188 人表示他们有时经历过这种情况。
▲ 巴登诺克自信心持续增强，称伯纳姆是一位面对“重大问题却只有渺小答案”的首相。
照片：DAN KITWOOD/GETTY IMAGES
有些人表示。四分之一的人表示，他们至少有时感到有压力去服从那些可能会危及他们安全的请求。 虽然许多人表示议会当局听取了他们的安全顾虑，但其他人觉得与议员相比，他们受到的待遇较差。 代表议员工作人员并开展此次调查的西敏寺健康工作组（WWG）表示，对于经常充当“议员代理人”的前线工作人员来说，迫切需要更强的保护。 这项由萨尔福德大学（University of Salford）心理学家阿什利·温伯格博士（Dr Ashley Weinberg）开展的研究发现，每两名议会工作人员中就有一人正经历临床级别的心理压力，这是自 2021 年调查开始以来记录的最高水平。 WWG 将这种增长描述为“显著且突然”，并表示：“显然，最显著的……”
……当你对手改变时，[形势] 就会有所不同，”一位保守党资深人士表示。“就个人性格而言，伯纳姆更讨人喜欢，且具有相当高的知名度。她需要等待弱点出现，而目前看来一个显而易见的问题是：所有这些让利政策的资金从哪里来？” 而这正是巴登诺克昨天早晨演讲的主要主题之一。她将伯纳姆的哲学贴标签为“限制价格，将账单转嫁给他人”，并反复质疑首相将如何为他早期的密集政策买单。另一个核心主题是雄心，巴登诺克称伯纳姆是一位面对“重大问题却只有渺小答案”的首相。 一位保守党资深议员表示，在应对 10 号首相府 (No 10) 的新运作时，这种信息传达的纪律性将是必要的，尤其是考虑到巴登诺克偶尔倾向于陷入文化战争的争论。 巴登诺克自信心增强的一个表现是，她制定了定期举行新闻发布会和长时间媒体问答的计划，且通常在没有具体政策要宣布的情况下进行。这与尼格尔·法拉格（Nigel Farage）去年夏天维持的时间表显著相似，直到法拉格在补选战以及对其财务问题的焦虑中导致计划流产。 虽然她仍然保持着一种很大程度上不留情面的方式，但巴登诺克现在除了面对斯塔默（Starmer）时有时使用的刻薄敌对语调外，还拥有其他的修辞风格。在一些保守党人看来，她的转变始于针对雷切尔·里夫斯（Rachel Reeves）的一场演讲，当时她以惊人的凶猛程度痛批了时任财政大臣的预算案。 接下来的几周将致力于寻找应对这位首相的最佳方式，因为与前任相比，他显然是一个更难以捉摸的目标。
“目前导致痛苦的主要问题源于不可持续的工作量，以及员工经常接触到虐待、种族主义和性别歧视言论、自杀威胁、创伤性披露以及暴力威胁。”
17名员工表示，向其议员提出的安全建议均未执行，而 59 人（占 530 名受访者的 11%）表示仅有“部分”建议得到了执行。他们呼吁下议院当局应拥有在议员或其办公室经理未能遵守规定时，强制执行更严格安全措施的权力。许多人感到处于危险之中，因为安保人员通常仅在议员在场时才出席，导致员工在以议员名义举办的官方活动中时而处于孤立状态。
WWG 表示：“安保安排应常规性地延伸至议员的员工，就如同议员在场一样。”
一名员工表示，他们在过去一年中曾两次遭到身体攻击；另一名员工则说：“相关方面已明确，安保人员的存在仅仅是为了保护议员。”
下议院的一位发言人表示，目前正与 WWG 密切合作以加强可用支持，并补充道：“议员员工无论是在议会园区内还是园区外，都能安全地履行职责，这对我们的民主制度至关重要。虐待和恐吓是完全不可接受的。”
国家 政治
A
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一个被捕并入狱之人的自述
作者想象了一位改革党支持者兼已定罪诈骗犯在撰写关于黑钱的书籍时的内心想法
反洗钱法律本应阻止非法资金流动。但到目前为止，它们似乎几乎没能阻止任何事情。全球经济中约有 5% 是非法的，而其中仅有 0.05% 被反洗钱法拦截。这使得我，乔治，成了一个异类。我是那 1% 实际因共谋洗钱而被定罪的白痴成员。想想看，当 99% 的罪犯在逍遥法外时，我竟然产生了一个绝妙的主意：在拉斯维加斯面对一群美国国税局的卧底人员，告诉他们我如何能帮他们把毒品资金“洗干净”。令我惊讶的是，他们并没有接受我的提议。我在芝加哥机场被指控洗钱而被捕。不过，我进行了辩诉交易，指控被减轻为电汇诈骗，我在监狱里关了八个月。所以没什么大碍。总之，那都是陈年往事了。在我的书《如何洗钱》中，我会告诉你们如何通过避免犯我犯过的错误来逍遥法外。额，不好意思，合作作者劳伦斯在这儿。我以为我们应该是写一本向当局提供如何防止洗钱信息的书。天呐，抱歉，洛扎。看来这里有个误会。当然，我们绝对都反对洗钱。我完全支持清理全球经济。如果系统变得如此不透明，以至于几乎不可能发现政党是如何获得资金的，那将是非常糟糕的。当然，这并不违法。显而易见。首先，我们需要思考金钱的本质。钱是你可以用来买东西的东西。没多少人意识到这一点。在我这段时间里，我把钱花在了很多事情上。比如在白金汉宫附近租一套房子，只要奈杰尔·法拉奇——或者我习惯称呼他为“爸爸”——需要住宿的地方，我随时可以提供给他。我喜欢拥有很多钱。正如我的朋友迪基·泰斯喜欢提醒我的那样，拥有小额财富的关键，是先从一笔巨额财富开始。
我们还应该明确一点——洗钱和骗钱之间有很大区别。骗钱是完全合法的。这就是“爸爸”在录制每段 £80 的个性化 Cameo 视频时所做的事。正如他经常喜欢说的，每一分钱都很重要。当然，最好的钱是不劳而获的钱。或者在“爸爸”的例子中，一位泰国加密货币亿万富翁，在巧合的情况下，在你表示如果你要竞选议员，未来五年每年需要 £1m（即 100 万英镑）之后不久，就赠送了你 £5m（即 500 万英镑）。任何关于“爸爸”可能为此欠缴所得税的暗示，都应转交给他的会计师。而且，听说这 £5m 因洗钱疑虑被上报至国家犯罪局 (NCA)，这显然令人深感不安。
好了，回到我身上。这里有数百页关于从古罗马时代到现代洗钱的真正令人厌烦的轶事。请把这本书当作治疗失眠的药。一种简单的洗净黑钱的方法就是找个人画一幅伪造的梵高。如果又出现一幅关于什么的画，没人会注意到……
▲ 乔治·科特雷尔在今年早些时候于伦敦举行的关于黑钱历史的书籍发布会上
照片：X.COM/BITEBACKPUB
向心葵进入市场。然后你在一家国际拍卖行将其买下，并将这幅画捐赠给一家博物馆。瞧，你突然就将几千英镑的赃款变成了价值数千万的资产。大功告成。这能出什么问题呢？另一件行之有效的事是贿赂他人。不过，你得确保你试图贿赂的人不是卧底探员！如果你明白我的意思的话。或许最好的洗钱方式就是成为首相。这样你就不用担心携带金锭或大叠高面额钞票过海关了。相反，你只需要拎着几个行李箱登上私人飞机，在没有任何特别顾问在场的双边会议上将它们交给弗拉基米尔·普京。只要 No 10 坐对了人，英国就有可能成为全球非法金融中心。想想这对我们的经济能起到多么大的推动作用。在所有加密货币中，99.9% 纯粹是骗局。但别让这件事困扰你。只要买爸爸推荐的那些就行，因为它们显然是合法的，毕竟是由夸西·夸滕格经营的。而且，不要因为某些捐给英国改革党（Reform UK）的资金被国家犯罪局（NCA）列入“可疑活动报告”就认为它们有问题。请放心，如果发现来自海外——比如黑山——的资金被用于资助英国政党，没有人会比我更感到惊恐。渴望被爱是人类的一种自然情感。我渴望爸爸的关注，当他允许我回复他的电子邮件时，我感到非常激动，尽管我确实与脱欧党和改革党的日常活动毫无关系。但有时，无论你的活动是否非法，在财务交易中寻求匿名是最好的。这就是为什么当我在拉斯维加斯提供洗钱服务时，我使用了格雷厄姆·科特雷尔（Graham Cottrell）这个假名。没有人会想到将那个名字与我本人联系起来。其他的一切都非常简单。通过壳公司和离岸公司购买一些房产——这些公司本身并没有问题——并留下一个复杂到没人愿意去追踪的线索。最棒的是，你可以在加密预测市场（polymarket）上地打那些你知道自己会输的赌注。这样你的非法资金就瞬间消失了。而联邦执法部门永远不会怀疑你在故意挥霍资产。这在让合法资金消失时也同样有效。我最近在基尔·斯塔默辞职以及唐纳德·特朗普轰炸伊朗的那天损失了 £1m（具体为 £1 乘一百万）。就这样。这就是你启动犯罪活动所需了解的所有知识。我的意思是，这是为了让当局打击洗钱活动。谢天谢地，我自己的财务状况现在如此透明。祝大家洗钱愉快。
安全战略 正式启动
萨米·盖克索耶尔 (Sammy Gecsoyler)
一项旨在解决溺水这一“公共卫生灾难”的国家战略昨日在英格兰启动——就在此前的数小时内，两名女性在埃塞克斯郡的一处海滩死亡，这是近期激增的水上相关悲剧中的最新一起。 目前正在考虑的措施包括：为英格兰的每个孩子提供水域安全教育和游泳课程；研究气候变化如何增加风险；以及开展媒体宣传活动，告知旁观者如何应对潜在的溺水情况。 针对威尔士、苏格兰和北爱尔兰的溺水预防战略也将于本周启动。 Water Safety England 主席迈克·蒂普顿 (Mike Tipton) 教授表示，这些措施将“根除溺水的祸患”。他补充道：“溺水是一场持续的公共卫生灾难。”
在试图营救一名七岁男孩时丧生
瑞秋·霍尔 (Rachel Hall)
警方昨日表示，在埃塞克斯郡默西亚岛 (Mersea Island) 海域遇难的一名母亲及其十几岁的女儿，当时正试图帮助一名陷入困境的七岁亲属。 家属确认死者为 42 岁的英属孟加拉裔教师沙利娜·拉赫曼 (Shalina Rahman)，她嫁给了一名孟加拉国政治人物，以及她 15 岁的女儿萨米哈 (Sameeha)。据昨日消息，该男孩目前情况危急，在伦敦的一家医院接受生命支持治疗。 拉赫曼的丈夫是曼苏尔·拉赫曼 (Mansur Rahman)，他是孟加拉国民族主义党英国海外青年翼 Jubo Dal UK 的负责人。她的父亲穆吉布·拉赫曼 (Mujibur Rahman) 曾任该党在英国的副主席。 据了解，该家庭当时在岛上西默西亚 (West Mersea) 村进行夏季度假旅行。在强劲的涨潮导致脚下沙地塌陷后，他们可能陷入困境，并与另外两人一起被卷入水中。 埃塞克斯警方于周三下午 5.35 分接到救护车服务的电话，报告称有
国家 水上安全
“尽管水上事故夺走的生命比火灾、洪水或持刀犯罪更多，但它往往不被人们重视。” Vanessa Abbess 的 17 岁儿子 Joe 在 2023 年于博恩茅斯（Bournemouth）海滩溺水身亡，她警告公众不要“天真且掉以轻心”。12 岁的女孩 Sunnah Khan 在被离岸流卷走后与 Joe 一起遇难。 Abbess 表示：“作为一个社会，在面对开放水域游泳的危险时，存在一种天真和掉以轻心的情绪。如果条件发生变化，或者你在开放水域陷入困境时不知道如何增加生存机会，那么仅仅知道在温暖的泳池里如何游泳是不够的。你需要停下来思考。你不会在不思考的情况下就横穿马路。” 根据伦敦卫生与热带医学院的一项研究，英国今年夏天经历了三次几乎接连而至的热浪，自 5 月以来至少有 35 人溺水死亡，其中 8 人死于本月。 2019 和 2023 之间，英格兰发生了 2,306 起与水相关的死亡事件，其中 42% 为意外。在这些事件中，39% 发生在夏季，且 80% 的死者为男性。20 至 29 岁的男性占死亡人数的大部分。 为了向年轻人传播这一信息，TikTok 向皇家国家救生艇协会（RNLI）和皇家救生协会（Royal Life Saving Society）捐赠了超过 £400,000 的广告额度，以支持其水上安全宣传活动。 南安普敦伊琴（Southampton Itchen）的工党议员、水上安全教育全党议会小组主席 Darren Pafley 表示：“今天是一个非常重要的里程碑，但……”
[[IMG_XXXX]] ▲ 西默西（West Mersea）发生 Shalina 和 Sameeha Rahman 死亡事故后的应急服务人员，右图
摄影：DANIEL REES/NEWSQUEST/SWNS
……这次西默西的事故。总警司 Al Pitcher 表示：“我和我的团队将我们的慰问传达给昨天遇难的女性和女孩的亲友。” “我们现在可以确认，她们是来自伦敦的母女，在此时此刻难以想象的痛苦时刻，我们正在为她们的家人提供支持。” “自昨天起，我们一直在努力查明导致此次事故的情况。目前我们认为，她们当时正试图救助一名陷入困境的 7 岁男孩。” “该男孩已被送往医院，目前仍处于危急状态，但遗憾的是，该女性和青少年女孩死亡。此次事故涉及的所有人员均互为亲属。” “作为调查的一部分，我们正在通过与数十名证人交谈并记录他们的陈述来还原事件经过。” 海岸警卫救援队将此次事件描述为“悲剧”，周三晚上，应急服务部门敦促人们避开该海滩的部分区域。该海滩于昨天重新开放。 家庭友人 Mishba Uddin 表示，他认为 Rahman 及其女儿“游泳水平不高”。他表示，涉事人员来自东伦敦，其中一个家庭住在巴金（Barking）。 Shalina Rahman 的内兄 Matiur Rahman 告诉 BBC：“我们都感到非常难受，我的四个兄弟，我的姐妹……我的整个家庭——我们无言以对。我们感到非常震惊。” Rahman 是在接到兄弟的电话后得知这一悲剧的。 “他们去了科尔切斯特（Colchester）的海边，他们在水边玩耍，然后突然来了一波大浪，”他说，并补充道当天约有 10 名家庭成员一同外出。 科尔切斯特议会议员 Carl Powling 表示，他的女儿是当地一家咖啡馆的三名青少年服务员之一，当时试图提供帮助。 “公众目击了这一幕，拨打了应急服务电话，并开始协助将人们拉出水面，然后他们进入 Seaview 咖啡馆寻求帮助，”他说。 一名不愿透露姓名的女性告诉 PA Media，事故发生在涨潮时，这让那一小群人陷入了……
[[IMG_XXXX]] 直升机降落在多塞特郡的波恩茅斯海滩，上方所示的乔·艾贝斯 (Joe Abbess) 和苏娜·汗 (Sunnah Khan) 在此遇难。
摄影：DIMITRIOS BUHALIS 教授/PA WIRE
在某种程度上，这也是起跑线。现在需要开始艰苦的工作，将这一战略转化为持久的代际变革，以纪念所有在溺水事故中不幸丧生的人。” 艾贝斯表示，她的儿子是一名自信的游泳者，在陷入困境时表现得很理智。他当时在救生员旗标之间游泳，“这时海况突然变化，一股凶猛的离岸流袭来”，将他与汗“冲离了地面”。乔在 32 分钟后从水中被救起，但随后在海滩上死亡。 谈到乔之死带来的影响，艾贝斯说：“通过大量的心理治疗，我勉强支撑，但我不再是以前的那个我了。我感到焦虑，深受创伤，且时刻承受着悲痛。海浪的声音会让我感到焦虑。晴天尤其容易触发这些情绪。我希望这种情况永远不再发生，但我非常担心有一天在波恩茅斯再次发生此类事件。” 本周，随着英国各地的学校进入暑假，英国卫生安全局宣布，正与领先的水安全慈善机构合作，强调在开放水域游泳的风险。
沙洲。“它来得非常快，你必须小心，”她说，并补充说当时现场“相当混乱”且“完全陷入了恐慌”。 她表示，直升机被部署到现场，空气中充满了警笛声。“对于像这里这样的小地方来说，这相当惊心动魄，我认为这就是为什么这么多人感到震惊的原因，”她说。“我的意思是，海滩上挤满了人，他们都赶过来看看发生了什么。” 该女士表示，应急服务部门“勤勉地工作”以处理这起“绝对惨痛”的事件。 根据国家水安全论坛的数据，自 5 月中旬以来，英国全境开放水域已至少发生 29 起意外死亡事故。 英格兰东部的一名救护车发言人表示，该部门已派遣其危险区域响应小组、重症监护护理人员和两架空中救护车。 “令人遗憾的是，尽管尽了最大努力，两名患者未能复苏。一名患者通过航空运输送医，另有三名患者通过陆路送医，”他们说道。 该地区以强水流著称，但在对该事件的回应中，当地保守党国会议员伯纳德·詹金 (Bernard Jenkin) 告诉 BBC，“我们并不认为韦斯特默西亚 (West Mersea) 海滩是一个危险的海滩”。 任何当时在现场并拥有可能对调查有所帮助的信息或影像资料的人员，请拨打 101 联系警方，并报出事件编号 1090。
Hannah Al-Othman 英格兰北部记者
由于肯尼亚政府拒绝批准一项双边国防协议，英国陆军被迫取消了在肯尼亚的部队训练。
虽然英国政府希望续签现有协议，但肯尼亚立法者寻求进行修订，以赋予当地当局更大的权力，让英国士兵为其在肯尼亚境内犯下的任何罪行承担责任。
据肯尼亚新闻媒体《每日国家报》（Daily Nation）报道，争议焦点在于肯尼亚将保留哪些案件的首要管辖权，而英国为在肯尼亚设立训练营而支付的资金数额也是一个僵持点。
肯尼亚国民议会国防、情报与外交关系委员会主席 Nelson Koech 表示，两国政府正“积极接触以解决这些尚未解决的问题”。
由于肯尼亚政府的决定，原定于 9 月开始的涉及兰开斯特公爵团第 1 营（1st Battalion the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment）的演习已被取消。
一名国防部发言人表示：“英国高度重视与肯尼亚的关系，这种关系建立在互利、尊重和合作的基础之上。英肯国防伙伴关系是我们关系的重大优势之一。我们与肯尼亚国防军的联合训练和行动保障了肯尼亚和英国人民的安全。”
“令人遗憾的是，允许今年晚些时候在莱基皮亚（Laikipia）进行训练所需的必要许可尚未获得。因此，计划中的训练现在将在肯尼亚以外的替代地点进行。”
肯尼亚也从其武装部队在南尤基（Nanyuki）附近的英国陆军基地（BATUK）接受训练中获益，且英国军队的存在对当地经济具有价值。
国防部发言人补充道：“我们意识到，这一决定将给那些本可以从演习产生的经济活动中获益的人带来失望。”
他们表示，英国政府“致力于与肯尼亚的国防伙伴关系”，并补充说英国将“继续与肯尼亚政府密切接触，以支持在最早可能的时机恢复在肯训练”。
然而，肯尼亚国内反对英国陆军继续驻扎的人群一直施加压力。
去年，一份提交给肯尼亚议会的关于该基地的报告指称，英国士兵存在侵犯人权、破坏环境和性虐待的行为。
与该基地相关的最受关注的案件是 Agnes Wanjiru 之死，一名英国士兵被指控谋杀。肯尼亚保留了该案的管辖权，引渡听证会预计将于 11 月举行。Robert Purkiss 否认这项唯一的谋杀指控。
自 Wanjiru 在 2012 年去世以来，法律程序一直陷入停滞，但在 John Healey 担任国防大臣期间取得了进展。在担任影子国防大臣期间，他曾呼吁前政府在推动此案方面采取更多行动。
Koech 表示，委员会已要求采取“更强有力的问责措施，包括对严重罪行的管辖权、加强对当地社区的保护，以及落实 BATUK 调查产生的建议”。
[[IMG_BRITISH_ARMY_SOLDIERS]] 英国陆军士兵在肯尼亚莱基皮亚高原演习期间就位 照片：TONY KARUMBA/AFP/GETTY
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到受人敬仰的导演， 威尼斯电影节承诺 呈献华丽的利多阵容
Philip Oltermann 欧洲文化编辑
第83届威尼斯电影节承诺在今年向媒体巨头发起冲击，参展名单中包括《猜火车》导演丹尼·鲍伊（Danny Boyle）关于鲁珀特·默多克（Rupert Murdoch）收购《太阳报》的新片，以及一部关于埃隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）的纪录片。
在鲍伊的《墨水》（Ink）中——该片将于9月2日在利多岛开幕——澳大利亚演员盖伊·皮尔斯（Guy Pearce）饰演报业大亨默多克，后者在1969年对《太阳报》的收购使媒体格局变得煽情化，并改变了英国的公共生活。剧本由奥利弗奖得主、剧作家詹姆斯·格雷厄姆（James Graham，曾创作《亲爱的英格兰》和《脱欧：不文明战争》）编写。
奥斯卡获奖资深电影制作人亚历克斯·吉布尼（Alex Gibney）在他时长四小时的纪录片《马斯克》（Musk）中，刻画了这位全球最富有的人、右翼煽动者以及社交网络X的所有者，该片为非竞赛片。
近年来，与追求艺术挑战的戛纳和充满政治色彩的柏林相比，威尼斯一直试图将自己塑造为欧洲三大电影节中最华丽、星光最璀璨的一个。
今年由长期担任艺术总监的阿尔贝托·巴贝拉（Alberto Barbera）呈献的阵容，仍将吸引大牌明星来到威尼斯的水道。
爱尔兰导演马丁·麦克多纳（Martin McDonagh）将展出他的新片《野马九号》（Wild Horse Nine），片中由约翰·马尔科维奇（John Malkovich）和萨姆·洛克威尔（Sam Rockwell）饰演两名不寻常的中央情报局（CIA）特工，在奥古斯托·皮诺切特（Augusto Pinochet）领导的政变前夕于智利执行任务。在导演（曾执导《布鲁日》、 《三块广告牌》和《伊尼舍林的精灵》）备受期待的回归之作中，史蒂夫·布舍米（Steve Buscemi）、汤姆·威茨（Tom Waits）和帕克·波西（Parker Posey）也参与出演。
罗伯特·帕特森（Robert Pattinson）将作为A24公司心理惊悚片《黄金时段》（Primetime）的主演现身利多岛，该片灵感源自于
以期挽救视力
PA Media
一名 11 岁的女孩成为了英国首位接受创新基因疗法的患者，该疗法用于治疗一种会导致儿童失明的罕见疾病。来自伦敦的凯瑟琳·莱斯特兰奇 (Catherine L’Estrange) 希望这项通过将健康的基因副本直接注入眼睛的手术能让她继续从事她最喜欢的爱好之一——阅读。
美国真人秀节目《捕捉捕食者》(To Catch a Predator)，由兰斯·奥彭海姆 (Lance Oppenheim) 执导。现实生活中的夫妻佩内洛普·克鲁兹 (Penélope Cruz) 和哈维尔·巴登 (Javier Bardem) 主演法国剧作家兼导演弗洛里安·泽勒 (Florian Zeller) 的《掩体》(Bunker)，片中一对出版商兼建筑师夫妇受一名百万富翁之邀，设计一座能够抵御核弹的建筑。现实生活中的姐妹凯特·玛拉 (Kate Mara) 和鲁妮·玛拉 (Rooney Mara) 主演《Bucking Fastard》，这是德国邪典导演维尔纳·赫尔佐格 (Werner Herzog) 七年来执导的首部剧情长片。该片最初宣布为弗雷达和格蕾塔·卓别林 (Freda and Greta Chaplin) 的传记片，但随后似乎转向了这位《上帝之怒·阿基雷》(Aguirre, the Wrath of God) 和《费兹卡罗》(Fitzcarraldo) 导演更擅长的领域，聚焦于一次在山脉中挖掘隧道以“寻找想象之地”的任务。威尼斯电影节总监巴贝拉 (Barbera) 表示，利亚姆和诺埃尔·加拉格尔 (Liam and Noel Gallagher) 已确认出席电影节，参加 Oasis 重聚纪录片《不要愤怒地回顾》(Don’t Look Back in Anger) 的首映礼；而拉塞尔·克劳 (Russell Crowe) 预计将出席关于其乐队 Indoor Garden Party 的长篇纪录片《爱之建》(What Love Builds) 的放映。乔治·克鲁尼 (George Clooney) 和艾伦·伯斯汀 (Ellen Burstyn) 将前往威尼斯领取终身成就奖。但今年利多岛上也有一些更为严肃的作品。俄裔电影制作人伊利亚·赫尔扎诺夫斯基 (Ilya Khrzhanovsky) 将展出其 DAU 项目的最新作品，该项目被比作“斯大林式的楚门之秀”，灵感来自一个参与制造首枚原子弹的苏联研究所。乌克兰导演谢尔盖·洛兹尼察 (Sergei Loznitsa) 将带来他的纪录片《帝国》(Imperium)，讲述一部由意大利共产党委托拍摄、旨在颂扬苏联胜利但最终揭露其矛盾的电影。劳拉·波伊特拉斯 (Laura Poitras) 与瑞秋·穆勒 (Rachel Mueller) 合作的最新纪录片《他们在这》(They’re Here)，深入探讨了 ICE 的
干预措施
据为其治疗的外科医生称，该疗法此前在全球仅在一人身上实施过。如果有效，凯瑟琳的视力将趋于稳定，甚至可能得到改善。
凯瑟琳在婴儿时期被诊断出患有巴登-比德尔综合征 (BBS)。该病由 20 个基因之一的突变引起，在英国约每 100,000 场分娩中出现一次，导致患者在 20 岁出头时失明。除视力丧失外，BBS 还会导致肾脏问题、学习困难和肥胖，患者有时还会有多余的手指或脚趾。
这项由生物技术公司 MeiraGTx 开发的基因疗法，在 3 月于圣海利尔 (St Helier) 医院通过一项时长一小时的手术实施在凯瑟琳身上。埃普森和圣海利尔大学医院 NHS 信托基金的咨询眼科医生内鲁班·库马兰 (Neruban Kumaran) 表示：“通过提供健康的基因副本，有助于挽救这些细胞，希望能够稳定或改善视力。”
凯瑟琳说：“如果这次治疗有效，它将帮助我继续看到周围的事物，最重要的是，我将能够继续阅读书籍，这是我最喜欢做的事情之一。”
从上至下： 金狮奖竞争者《Ink》（由杰克·奥康奈尔主演）和《Wild Horse Nine》；乔治·克鲁尼，他将前往威尼斯领取终身成就奖；佩内洛普·克鲁兹，她
在明尼阿波利斯，以及通过一些此前未公开的片段，呈现了勒内·古德 (Renée Good) 被杀的情况。
像《亲爱的日记》(Caro Diario) 这样的悲喜剧使南尼·莫雷蒂 (Nanni Moretti) 成为意大利最受推崇的电影制作人之一，但在过去的二十年里，他更倾向于在戛纳而非威尼斯展出他的新作。今年参展的竞争单元影片《今夜将发生》(Succederà questa Notte) 将是莫雷蒂自 1989 年以来首部在威尼斯展出的电影。
突尼斯导演考瑟·本·哈尼亚 (Kaouther Ben Hania) 去年凭借《欣德·拉贾布之声》(The Voice of Hind Rajab) 崭露头角，但今年竞争单元中的女性导演数量大幅下降。在 2025 年有六位女性竞争金狮奖之后，此次仅有丹麦-埃及导演梅·图基 (May El-Toukhy) 凭借剧情片《未知的女人》(Woman Unknown) 成为唯一的竞争者。
她的父亲蒂莫西·勒斯特兰奇 (Rev Timothy L’Estrange) 牧师表示：“我们曾被告知，可能的基因疗法还需要很多很多年才能实现，且可能在凯瑟琳 (Catherine) 完全失明后才会出现。因此，当我们得知这种治疗已经可行时，感到非常惊讶且欣喜。”
目前仅凯瑟琳的一只眼睛接受了治疗，团队现在正等待观察结果。除了凯瑟琳，该手术还应用于另一名患有BBS的年幼儿童。
库马兰 (Kumaran) 表示，据报道患者在昏暗光线下的视力已经有所改善，且目前的家庭反馈积极，不过要得知该手术的最终结果还需要数年时间。
出现在 《地堡》(Bunker) 中， 该片将在第83届 电影节首映； 终身成就奖 获得者 艾伦·伯斯汀 (Ellen Burstyn)
照片提供： STUDIOCANAL; SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES/AP; GETTY; ABACA/ SHUTTERSTOCK; VARIETY/GETTY
“错失机会”表示歉意
Mark Brown 英格兰北部特派记者
大曼彻斯特警方就一次在犹太会堂袭击发生前“错失机会”采取行动而表示道歉。该警队的首席警长斯蒂芬·沃森爵士 (Sir Stephen Watson) 表示，希顿公园 (Heaton Park) 犹太会堂袭击者吉哈德·沙米 (Jihad al-Shamie) 的手机曾被警员没收，但关键数据未被检查。
沃森表示：“然而，毫无疑问，这些设备中所包含的信息本可以激发进一步的调查行动。显然，我们在袭击发生之前未能审查可用数据，这构成了一次错失的机会。”
“想到这可能会增加去年10月那些恐怖事件受影响者的痛苦，我感到很失望。对此，我深表歉意。”
沃森的道歉是在沙米的朋友穆罕默德·巴希尔 (Mohammad Bashir) 昨日被判处终身监禁之际提出的，其最低刑期为 17 年，原因是他与沙米在犹太会堂袭击前两个月策划了一起恐怖活动。
曼彻斯特刑事法院获悉，31 岁的巴希尔和 35 岁的沙米曾开车前往位于斯温顿 (Swindon) 什里夫纳姆 (Shrivenham) 的英国国防学院进行敌对侦察任务。
他们在去年 8 月进行了这次行程。10 月，沙米在犹太历中最神圣的节日——赎罪日袭击犹太会堂后被警方枪杀。当时他佩戴着一条伪造的自杀腰带。
两名犹太男子，53 岁的艾德里安·道尔比 (Adrian Daulby) 和 66 岁的梅尔文·克拉维茨 (Melvin Cravitz) 在这场近期英国记忆中最严重的反犹太袭击中丧生。
沃森表示，现在针对巴希尔的法律程序已经完成，他可以分享更多关于警方与沙米打交道的详细信息。
沙米在去年 2 月和 9 月曾被警方逮捕。
沃森说：“在进行内部审查时，显而易见的是，大曼彻斯特警方 (GMP) 在每次逮捕时都没收了沙米的移动设备。”
“这些设备的数据内容在证明极端主义心态方面具有重大意义。”
“遗憾的是，我可以确认，由于这些设备在 2025 年 10 月 2 日袭击发生前未被检查，沙米设备上存储信息的重大意义未能被意识到。”
他表示，独立警察行为监督办公室 (Independent Office for Police Conduct) 正在审查 GMP 过去对沙米的调查。
巴希尔上个月承认准备恐怖活动的指控。他开车带着朋友沙米进行了为期 10 小时的往返行程，前往英国国防部的什里夫纳姆基地。那里是英国国防学院的所在地，为英国武装部队、更广泛的英国政府、英国工业以及海外人员提供专业国防和安全教育。
法庭被告知，通常情况下，现场随时有多达 4,000 名员工、承包商、学生和访客。检察官表示，没有证据表明巴希尔参与了希顿公园事件，但计划对国防设施发起的袭击在性质上类似，且会导致多人死亡。
大曼彻斯特犹太代表委员会管理委员会成员拉菲·布鲁姆 (Raphi Bloom) 在袭击当天正前往希顿公园，随后接到了让他远离该地的电话。布鲁姆表示，他欢迎首席警长的道歉及其坦诚的态度，并将让监管机构的调查按程序进行。
他说：“我们非常尊重斯蒂芬爵士及其警员。他们在保护社区、让我们感到安全和安心方面表现得非常出色。”
在判处巴希尔监禁时，奇玛-格鲁布 (Cheema-Grubb) 法官将其描述为一名“完全投入的圣战分子”。
▲ 袭击者吉哈德·沙米（左下，曾与穆罕默德·巴希尔（右）策划另一起恐怖活动）袭击希顿公园犹太会堂后，人们为遇难的两人献上的花束。
主图： PA MEDIA
侦察之行的时间。她表示，两人在策划袭击英国军事目标的行动中“同样投入”，并且“你和他都预期会在此过程中杀人并被杀”。她驳回了其关于缓刑的请求，否认了其不再持有极端主义观点且对其行为感到后悔的说法。法官表示：“我认为你依然具有危险性。你没有给出任何证据证明你的态度确实发生了改变。”法院获悉，在犹太会堂袭击事件后，警方在分析 2025 年早些时候从 Shamie 处没收的两部手机时，发现了两人之间通过 WhatsApp 发送的消息和语音记录。Bashir 和 Shamie 在奇瑟姆山 (Cheetham Hill) 的 Al-Sunnah 清真寺的 CCTV 监控录像构成了检方起诉他们的关键部分。两人都错误地认为他们已经避开了摄像头，并且在讨论计划时对话不会被听到。在宣判后，出生于曼彻斯特且持有巴基斯坦护照的 Bashir 向坐在公众旁听席上层的家属微笑。
披露支付报酬以 换取报道的细节
Michael Savage 媒体编辑
一家秘密向记者支付报酬以换取有利于其客户文章的政治游说公司，在这一行为被谴责为对民主的危险“攻击”后，正面临要求披露该款项完整细节的呼吁。
国会议员、资深游说者和透明度倡导者均对 CT Group 的行为表示谴责。该公司由竞选策略师林顿·克罗斯比 (Lynton Crosby) 共同创立，后者是一位曾被大卫·卡梅伦 (David Cameron) 和鲍里斯·约翰逊 (Boris Johnson) 雇用的选举专家。
在《卫报》一项为期四个月的调查揭露该行为后，人们呼吁对游说规则进行全面改革，并要求 CT Group 披露该做法的完整规模。
恢复自然状态后 见罕见夜鹭
Steven Morris
在英格兰西南部的一处庄园中，人们发现了一只罕见的黑冠夜鹭。该地区一项创新的河流“重置”计划正将其转变为鸟类的绿洲。
这只夜鹭在国民信托（National Trust）旗下的霍尔尼科特庄园（Holnicote Estate）的一处未经修整的角落被相机拍到。在此，环保专家通过让河流回归自然河道来修复景观。
除了夜鹭，白尾海雕、白鹳和鹤等极具魅力的鸟类也曾在该萨默塞特郡的庄园中出现。
项目经理本·厄德利（Ben Eardley）表示，看到这只夜鹭令人振奋。他说：“在英国很难见到这种湿地物种，所以我们在庄园的摄像头中连续三天观察到一只，这非常令人兴奋。”
厄德利认为，由于英格兰南部大部分地区十分干旱，而霍尔尼科特的部分地区依然湿润茂盛，因此吸引了更多鸟类聚集。
“其他地方都干枯了，所以我们看到许多野生动物在利用这里，许多有趣的鸟类也随之而来。这里正成为一个真正的避难所。”
除了鸟类，该庄园还为水鼠、水獭、貂管和草原蛇提供了栖息地。
黑冠夜鹭通常生长到66厘米，大约
“说客付费让记者撰写看似独立的文章，是对新闻伦理、公共关系以及民主的攻击，”特许公共关系协会（Chartered Institute of Public Relations）首席执行官阿拉斯泰尔·麦卡普拉（Alastair McCapra）表示。CT Group 并非该协会成员。
麦卡普拉补充道：“在这个国家，任何人无需加入专业机构或遵守行为准则即可从事公共关系工作。大多数人能够在伦理范围内操作，但这些报道中的行为破坏了我们的专业形象。”
CT Group 的说客在接受一名卧底记者的采访时承认，他们曾付费让记者在报纸上发布看似独立的故事。
他们还向一名房地产行业的
▲ 黑冠夜鹭在多个大洲十分常见，但在英国极少被发现
摄影：PAL HERMANSEN/NATIONAL TRUST
客户提供数百英镑的现金激励，以达成同样的效果。他们表示，作为支付的回报，CT Group 将获得更多的编辑控制权。
审查指数（Index on Censorship）首席执行官杰米玛·斯坦菲尔德（Jemimah Steinfeld）表示：“将游说行为伪装成新闻报道是短视的，坦白说甚至是危险的。”她呼吁 CT Group 启动内部调查。
透明国际英国分会（Transparency International UK）研究与调查主管史蒂夫·古德里奇（Steve Goodrich）表示：“当说客秘密向记者付费，为他们的客户撰写正面报道时，这破坏了新闻的公正性。”
自由民主党议员、公共行政与宪法事务委员会成员卢克·泰勒（Luke Taylor）表示，现在对于“报道中何时发生了金钱交易”应当具有“完全的透明度”。
他补充道：“我们在各个领域都看到了民主正陷入危机且令人担忧的迹象。”
“真正自由的新闻业是健康民主的基石，因此”
£40m CT Group 的年营业额，其客户包括菲利普莫里斯（Philip Morris）和曼彻斯特城的母公司
黑冠夜鹭的长度仅为英国常见的灰鹭的一半。它拥有灰色的羽毛、黄色的腿，以及顶部的黑色“冠”，冠部拖着长长的白色羽 plumes。正如其名，它主要在夜间活动。
这种鸟广泛分布于非洲、亚洲、美洲和欧洲大陆。根据英国鸟类学信托基金（British Trust for Ornithology）的数据，英国首例确认的夜鹭繁殖记录出现在 2017 年的萨默塞特郡，但它被归类为稀有访客。
霍尔尼科特的这只夜鹭是在一个设置了实时直播摄像头的区域附近被发现的，该区域旨在监测海狸
已引入以在景观修复中发挥作用。 厄德利（Eardley）表示，那里的水域中生活着褐鳟、刺鱼、鳗鱼和欧洲牛头鱼。“当我们安装摄像头时，我们不确定它会受欢迎程度如何，但人们真的非常投入。夜鹭出现在了画面中心。” 在过去的 500 年里，英格兰失去了大约 90% 的湿地。目前，各组织和伙伴关系正致力于恢复、增强、增加并连接这些失踪的栖息地。 几个世纪以来，霍尔尼科特（Holnicote）的艾勒河（River Aller）一直受到地主和农民的精心控制，大部分被限制在狭窄的水道中。受美国西北部俄勒冈州荒野计划的启发，
我们必须竭尽全力来维持它。” 工党下议院媒体遴选委员会成员鲁帕·胡克（Rupa Huq）表示：“我们需要在游说活动中提高透明度，现在的状况简直像‘西部蛮荒之地’一样。”她补充道：“我希望新的安迪·伯纳姆政府能够掌控这一问题。” 在 CT Group 接触一名自由撰稿人，并提出付费让他向一家全国性报纸投递一篇关于建筑安全监管机构（Building Safety Regulator）给房屋建筑业带来问题的稿件后，《卫报》开始调查相关安排。该监管机构是在造成 72 人死亡的格伦费尔塔（Grenfell Tower）火灾后成立的。 CT Group 的近期客户包括烟草公司菲利普莫里斯（Philip Morris）和曼彻斯特城足球俱乐部的所有者，其年营业额为 £40m。在的一份声明中，CT Group 表示：“我们不对为客户开展的工作发表公开评论，因此无法对您提出的具体指控做出回应。” 该公司称相关事件被“故意歪曲”，并表示其并未雇佣该卧底记者从事任何活动，也未向其支付任何费用。该公司称该记者在寻找工作，并在“六个月的时间里持续不断地追逐我们”。
一段河流被释放，允许水流溢出并寻找自己的路径，从而创造出更多的小溪、水潭和沼泽地，这更有利于动植物生长，而较慢的水流速度也降低了发生洪水的可能性。 厄德利表示，这导致了包括爬行动物、两栖动物和昆虫在内的生物数量激增——进而吸引了捕食者。 虽然在海狸栖息地附近看到了夜鹭和白尾海雕（白尾海雕在英国灭绝后被重新引入怀特岛），但灰鹤和鹳则经常出没于更广泛的庄园区域。 “鸟类是生态系统变得更加多样化的非常直观的指标，”厄德利说。
▲ 这位加拿大歌手为哈里·斯泰尔斯（Harry Styles）的母亲唱了首《生日快乐》
Swift 婚礼 将为 Styles 演出
PA Media
莎妮亚·泰那样（Shania Twain）透露，她拒绝了泰勒·斯威夫特（Taylor Swift）的婚礼邀请，为了在哈里·斯泰尔斯（Harry Styles）场场售罄的温布利演出中与其共同表演。这位 60 岁的歌手在斯泰尔斯 6 月 12 日至 7 月 4 日为期 12 晚的伦敦驻场演出中担任开场嘉宾，该演出为其“在一起，在一起”（Together, Together）巡演的一部分。由于对演出的承诺，泰那样无法接受 7 月 3 日在纽约麦迪逊广场花园举行的斯威夫特与特拉维斯·凯尔塞（Travis Kelce）的婚礼邀请。在《吉米·法伦今夜秀》（The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon）节目中，她表示：“我非常荣幸受邀参加泰勒的婚礼，下次见到她时，我一定会向她表达热烈的祝贺。我钦佩她的音乐才华以及她讲述故事的执着。我爱她。”在温布利演出之前，泰那样曾在 2022 年的科切拉音乐节（Coachella）和 2023 年的英国音乐奖（Brit awards）与斯威夫特的前男友斯泰尔斯共同演出。在谈到两人如何相识时，她说道：“我
是在一场很小的演出的后台遇到了哈里，我们聊了一会儿。那时他才刚刚起步。他还没有变成现在的哈里。”“我们交换了电话号码，他过了一会儿给我打电话说：‘快到我妈妈生日了，你介不介意祝她生日快乐，因为是她把你的音乐介绍给我的？’”泰那样通过电话给斯泰尔斯的母亲唱了首《生日快乐歌》，随后两名歌手保持了联系。这位加拿大艺术家出现在《今夜秀》中是为了宣传她的新专辑《小泰那样》（Little Miss Twain），该专辑将于 7 月 24 日发行。据报道，斯威夫特和凯尔塞的婚礼共有 1,000 名宾客，包括吉吉·哈迪德（Gigi Hadid）、布拉德利·库珀（Bradley Cooper）、格雷厄姆·诺顿（Graham Norton）、艾德·希兰（Ed Sheeran）、休·格兰特（Hugh Grant）和伊森·霍克（Ethan Hawke）。2025 年 10 月，斯威夫特在订婚后首次在格雷厄姆·诺顿的 BBC 访谈节目中露面，当时她开玩笑地告诉主持人，她计划邀请“我接触过的任何人”参加她的婚礼。
是阻碍假释的策略
Steven Morris
一名已入狱四分之一个世纪的双重杀手声称，他目前因新的性犯罪指控而接受审判，这其实是一种阻止他获得假释而获释的策略。
前英国皇家海军下士艾伦·格里姆森（Allan Grimson）于 2001 年因在 1990 年代后期性侵并殴打致死两名年轻男子而被判入狱。 当时，他还向警方交代了与另外四名年轻男性的性接触，但被告知针对这些事件不会采取进一步行动。
六年前，假释委员会建议将格里姆森转移至开放监狱，作为获准有条件释放的第一步。 但他的大律师约翰·费米-奥拉（John Femi-Ola KC）表示，当警方开始重新调查他与那四名男子的接触，且皇家检控署批准对其提起指控时，他获得假释的机会被刻意“阻碍”了。
费米-奥拉在温彻斯特刑事法院向听证该指控的陪审团表示，2020 年假释委员会曾建议将格里姆森转移
至开放监狱，进行一段“较长时间”的测试，以确定他是否适合释放。 律师将此描述为格里姆森迈出的“巨大一步”，但表示当局介入并接触了那四名年轻男性。 费米-奥拉强调，当警方联系其中一名所谓受害者时，对方对提出新投诉犹豫不决，并询问这样做能达到什么目的。该警官回答道：“如果成功，就意味着他的假释申请将被否决。” 费米-奥拉还提到一名记者
曾是强奸犯，袭击 至少九名女性
Rachel Hall
一名于5月自杀的警察曾是一名强奸犯，在14年间袭击了至少九名女性。
警员艾伦·格里尔（Alan Greer）的犯罪行为是在其第一名已知受害者举报后曝光的。该女性在2012年于格拉斯哥家中被强奸，当时她曾打电话报案称自己遭遇犯罪。她在去年举报了这次袭击。
她的披露引发了苏格兰警方规模最大的反腐败调查之一，目前已发现另外八名受害者，其中包括五名在格里尔下班期间被袭击的性工作者。
BBC的一项披露调查显示，格里尔在其警察职业生涯中利用了数百名性工作者，预计未来还将发现更多遭受其暴力的受害者。
一名接近调查的消息人士告诉BBC，此案与五年前在伦敦强奸并杀害莎拉·埃弗拉德（Sarah Everard）而被判入狱的伦敦警察局警员案相似，后者在被捕前，警方曾多次错过抓住其犯罪行为的机会。该人士表示：“感觉这有点像是苏格兰警方的‘韦恩·考森斯（Wayne Couzens）时刻’。”
负责苏格兰警方调查的助理总警长琳恩·拉特克利夫（Lynn Ratcliffe）表示，调查发现了“令人真正震惊”的证据。
她表示：“这名警员显然滥用了权力，并再次寻找在执行公务期间遇到的人。但由于这名受害者足够勇敢地来向我们寻求帮助，这成为了我们启动调查的触发点。”
格里尔于1978年在澳大利亚出生，2009年加入斯特拉斯克莱德警方，拥有17年表面无瑕的服役记录。他在5月去世时年仅47岁，育有一妻一子。据悉，格里尔的家人和同事对他暴力的双重生活完全不知情。
高级警官坚称，此前没有机会能更早地察觉他的犯罪行为。在该女性举报2012年发生的性袭击后，案件被移交给反腐败部门（ACU），该部门随后查到了她在2012年拨打的电话以及出警的警员。他们发现，在袭击发生后的几周内，格里尔曾多次在警察电脑上监控该女性的犯罪卷宗以获取更新。
反腐败侦探获取了他的手机号码，随后将其输入警方情报数据库，结果显示一条可追溯至2018年且与该号码相关的单条情报。该情报来自一名格拉斯哥的性工作者，指出该号码的所有者是一名有暴力行为的客户。
这给侦探们提供了监控格里尔在警察电脑上每一次按键的依据，结果他们发现，他一直在警察系统中搜索是否有人通过一名格拉斯哥性工作者的电话号码提交投诉。
一名治安法官（sheriff）授权搜查其住所并扣押其设备，警员在其中发现了数千段露骨的视频和图像，揭露了格里尔在整个警察职业生涯中利用了数百名性工作者。
据了解，如果格里尔还活着，鉴于其暴力程度，警方将在部分案件中寻求以谋杀未遂罪名起诉。随着格里尔的连环犯罪行为逐渐浮出水面，社会工作官员在当地警方的陪同下于5月5日走访了他的家。格里尔于次日自杀身亡。
正在写书的（某人）曾“押送”另一名男子前往警察局，让他向警员讲述关于格里姆森（Grimson）的事。费米-奥拉（Femi-Ola）认为，这些男子现在提供的陈述与20多年前的陈述之间存在不一致之处。
格里姆森现年66，因在1997年和1998年于汉普郡波茨茅斯的公寓内将18岁的尼古拉斯·赖特（Nicholas Wright）和20岁的锡昂·詹金斯（Sion Jenkins）殴打致死，于2001年被判入狱。
格里姆森否认强奸、猥亵袭击以及拍摄儿童猥亵照片的指控。审判仍在继续。
强奸危机中心 (Rape Crisis) 提供支持，电话：英格兰和威尔士地区 0808 500 2222，苏格兰地区 0808 801 0302，或北爱尔兰地区 0800 0246 991。您可以拨打 116 123 免费联系撒玛利亚会 (Samaritans)。
菲利普·英曼 (Phillip Inman)
随着安迪·伯纳姆 (Andy Burnham) 成为首相的可能性几乎确定，本月消费者信心出现了近三年来最大幅度的增长。
民意调查公司 GfK 表示，在其每月调查中，“伯纳姆效应” (Burnham bounce) 以及英格兰男足在世界杯上的强劲表现和晴朗的天气，共同提升了消费者的情绪。
伯纳姆在 6月 8日 的补选中获胜，这使得这位前大曼彻斯特市长在接替基尔·斯塔默 (Keir Starmer) 的位置上占据了领先地位，这一事件被认为有助于将消费者对未来一年经济前景的预期提升了 8 个百分点。
Casablancas 从 Voidz 中 挖掘愉悦灵感
The Strokes 《Reality Awaits》 ★★★★☆
这是一个没有哪个资深 Strokes 乐队粉丝愿意听到的句子：要理解《Reality Awaits》（这支纽约组合的第七张专辑，也是六年来首张专辑），你必须首先了解实验摇滚组合 The Voidz。朱利安·卡萨布兰卡斯 (Julian Casablancas) 的另一支乐队在近年来占据了他更多的时间，这让那些可能听过该组合在 2014 年推出的、风格令人痛苦且尴尬的前卫摇滚处女作《Tyranny》并决定就让这位老传奇随便玩玩的粉丝们感到十分懊恼。而任何愿意进一步聆听的人都会发现，The Voidz 已经变成了一个极佳的、能取悦大众且处于安全实验区域的场所，让卡萨布兰卡斯能够在此创作出他职业生涯中一些最具活力且搞怪的作品。
The Voidz 在 2018 年发行的专辑《Virtue》是卡萨布兰卡斯整个作品集中的一个高点：这是一部在风格上温和且多元的混杂之作，涵盖了迷人的流行摇滚、游艇摇滚、卧室流行以及更多风格。它似乎为 Strokes 乐队的上一张专辑（2018 年的《The New Abnormal》）清空了障碍，在那张专辑中，他们的声音听起来是最像 2001 年《Is This It》时期的自己。在《Reality Awaits》中，卡萨布兰卡斯凭借纯粹的意志力，将 The Voidz 那种古怪的奇异感和对 Auto-Tune 的偏好，与 Strokes 的极简主义
▲ Strokes 乐队的朱利安·卡萨布兰卡斯近期将大部分时间花在了他的另一支乐队 The Voidz 中
摄影：ERIKA GOLDRING/GETTY IMAGES
和流行旋律感融合在一起。正是这种结合，让你听到卡萨布兰卡斯多年来最有趣、最迷人的表演：含混不清地哼唱关于约翰·传奇 (John Legend) 和乔什·格罗班 (Josh Groban) 的内容；几乎是在尖叫地唱出“and in a hundred thousand years from now!”（在从今起十万年之后！），以便将其精准地契合到一段老派的 Strokes 旋律中；并在《Going to Babble On》中甜蜜地唱着“重新开始”——这是自出道以来最迷人、最真挚的 Strokes 歌曲之一。卡萨布兰卡斯不再是那个曾经记录市中心酷文化的颓废记录者，但他依然是一个极具吸引力的主唱，而且即使在节奏组比以往任何时候都更加紧凑的情况下，他依然是这支乐队中炽热的核心。
如果在《The New Abnormal》中他有时听起来像是在敷衍了事，那么《Reality Awaits》则在追溯他那疯狂的实验主义面相。
他们对过去一年经济表现的看法提升了 10 个百分点。 GfK 指数的整体得分在 7 月上升了 6 个百分点至 -17，这是自 1 月以来的最高水平，也是自 2023 年 11 月以来的最大涨幅。消费者还将中东战争有望结束视为一个令人乐观的理由。 GfK 消费者洞察总监尼尔·贝拉米 (Neil Bellamy) 表示，7 月带来了一波“乐观主义浪潮”。 他表示，新首相带来的“新起点”感也部分促成了这次反弹。 他补充道：“7 月初人们还希望中东冲突能趋于稳定并降低英国的燃料价格。世界杯带来的愉悦感也增强了这种情绪。”
MI5 和 PSNI 因获取记者手机数据而被要求支付赔偿金
尽管报告中的所有五个指数均显示有所改善，但消费者个人财务前景仅上升了 2 个百分点。 贝拉米警告称，指数得分仍远低于 10 年前（即 2016 年脱欧投票前）的水平，当时标题数字最后一次处于正值区间。 “要让‘伯纳姆反弹’具有可持续性，需要更新后的英国政府在面对深重的生活成本挑战和持续低迷的经济增长时，能够提供稳定的交付。”
2.6% 当前的通胀率——尽管预测者认为该数字在 11 月可能会上升到 4%
伯纳姆的计划可能会被中东最近的事件所削弱，在那里，美国与伊朗的冲突再次升级，导致布伦特原油价格上涨至每桶 $100。经济预测人员估计，通货膨胀率在6月从5月的 2.8% 回落至 2.6%，但今年接下来的时间里可能会再次攀升，并在11月达到接近 4% 的峰值。
这些预测是在近期油价飙升之前做出的，油价上涨可能会推高通胀，并损害缓解生活成本的举措。国家经济与社会研究学院 (Niesr) 表示，预计下半年的通胀数据将恶化，这反映了从7月起能源价格上限上涨 13% 以及伊朗周边局势的恶化。
关于英格兰银行可能在本月晚些时候提高利率的担忧可能会减轻。该央行货币政策委员会的几名成员担心，除非将利率从目前的 3.75% 提高，否则通胀将持续高于目标水平。
Voidz 转向了更干净、更悦耳的制作；结果显得俏皮且通常充满喜悦。《Going Shopping》采用了简单且坚定不移的“游艇摇滚”(yacht rock) 律动，让 Nick Valensi 能够随着 Casablancas 唱起关于成为一个“七英尺高的僵尸”而以递增的强度进行即兴演奏，而带有雷鬼风格的 $\text{The Fruits of Conquest}$ 则更具说服力地唤回了 2011 年专辑 $\text{Angles}$ 中那种阴森的 80 年代颓废感。不可避免地，《Reality Awaits》深受那种影响了 Casablancas 大多数近期项目的笨拙感之苦。在这里，这种感觉体现在专辑中毫无形式的结束曲 $\text{Tyrants of the Mellow Moon}$ 上。与专辑中其余满足于在流行结构中嬉戏的内容不同，$\text{Tyrants}$ 显得笨重且沉闷。
但多年来，人们一直觉得 The Strokes 像是 Casablancas 敛财的项目。而现在，感觉这个团体还有很多未被探索的道路。
罗里·卡罗尔 (Rory Carroll) 爱尔兰特派员
一名原 BBC 记者在军情五处 (MI5) 和北爱尔兰警察局非法获取其手机数据后，获赔 20,000 英镑的损害赔偿金。昨天，一个专门法庭命令这些机构向文森特·基尼 (Vincent Kearney) 支付赔偿金，因为他在担任 BBC 北爱尔兰内政事务记者期间，这些机构试图查明其消息来源。调查权力法庭 (IPT) ——一个调查针对英国间谍机构投诉的特别法院——表示，此次监视是不相称的且不符合法律，并命令每个机构向基尼支付 £10,000 。“给予记者的强化保护并非为了记者个人的利益，而是为了公众利益，以便其读者或观众能够从中获取信息，”卡迈克尔女士 (Lady Carmichael)、钱伯林法官 (Mr Justice Chamberlain) 和斯蒂芬·肖 KC (Stephen Shaw KC) 三位法官在裁决中表示。
基尼和 BBC 的律师表示，在 2006 年至 2018 年期间，共有七次独立的警察或军情五处行动非法获取了基尼的机密通信数据。这种监控使安全部门能够看到与基尼联系的号码以及通话和短信的时间，尽管无法看到内容。其他数据则揭露了拨号号码的订户姓名和地址。现任爱尔兰广播公司 RTÉ 北部编辑的基尼表示，此次裁决是新闻业的胜利，是对记者保护消息来源的职责和法定权利的肯定。“法院决定授予损害赔偿金这一事实反映了此案的严重性，”他说道。一位 BBC 发言人表示：“新闻自由是民主运作的基础部分。其重要性在法律上得到了认可，且对我们所有人至关重要。”“所发生的事情...
在这种情况下是错误的，且绝不能再次发生。它对一名记者造成了伤害，危及了信任，并威胁到了公众利益新闻业所依赖且有权期待的保障机制。” 凯尼（Kearney）在涉及记者巴里·麦卡夫雷（Barry McCafrey）和特雷弗·伯尼（Trevor Birney）的一起案件中出现相关信息后采取了法律行动。该案披露的细节表明，包括警方在内的公共机构曾对凯尼进行监视。北爱尔兰警察局（PSNI）局长乔·布彻（Jon Boutcher）接受了裁决并向凯尼道歉。他表示，“实践和政策方面已发生了重大变化”。
Peter Beaumont 资深国际记者
唐纳德·特朗普表示，他即将决定是否对伊朗发动一次“大规模袭击”，其规模将超过此前与德黑兰之间长达数月冲突期间所见到的袭击。
在接受Axios新闻网站采访时，这位美国总统表示：“我正在考虑一次大规模袭击。比以往任何时候都要大。我接近做出决定。我们已经准备就绪。”
特朗普在昨天发表上述言论时，国际基准布伦特原油价格再次突破了每桶 $100 的象征性关口，且有迹象表明价格可能进一步走高。
他承认这样的决定会产生后果，但表示尚未做出最终决定。他补充道，如果我要求以色列，“他们会在两分钟内加入”，随后又说：“我们不需要任何人。”
特朗普的这些言论是在此前威胁要对伊朗和胡塞武装进行“重大军事惩罚”之后发表的，此前伊朗支持的也门民兵袭击了两艘在红海航行的沙特阿拉伯油轮。
联合国秘书长安东尼奥·古特雷斯在向安全理事会报告时，强调该地区正日益逼近深渊，他表示在对冲突走向日益担忧的氛围中，中东正被推向“不可想象的边缘”。
“局势正在失控。它在不可想象的边缘摇摇欲坠。该地区正被卷入一个不断扩大的对抗漩涡。一场危机引发另一场，一次升级触发下一次，”古特雷斯在一次安理会会议上说道。
“随着这种动态的扩散，政治目标正日益被对抗本身所掩盖。”
英国周三宣布暂时撤回驻伊朗的外交人员，德国军方昨天表示将从红海撤回两艘舰艇。
随着以色列城市开放防空洞，美国国务院警告在该地区生活的美国公民，航班可能会被取消。
在另一项进展中，特朗普昨天澄清，此前宣布的美国将帮助沙特阿拉伯实施其民用核计划的协议将要求
唐纳德·特朗普 社交媒体发布
迪拜旅游 奖励计划旨在吸引游客回归
迪拜正向那些能吸引亲友访问该酋长国的居民提供奖励，以努力恢复自美以对伊战争以来骤减的游客人数。
由经济与旅游部发起的“迪拜邀请”计划（Dubai Invite scheme）允许阿拉伯联合国邦居民提名亲友，若其到访，可获得价值超过 3,000 阿联酋迪拉姆（约 £610）的福利。
“访问迪拜”网站称，居民将收到一个包含酒店住宿、餐饮优惠和景点门票在内的“福利包”。
资格条款规定，每位居民最多可为 10 月 31 日前抵达的访客申请三个福利包，但福利可兑换至 12 月。访客必须是非阿联酋居民，持有效旅游签证入境，且每人只能被提名一次。
该计划出台之际，阿联酋旅游业正经历严重下滑，在海湾国家被卷入美以对伊战争后，国际乘客数量急剧下降。今年 2 月，伊朗的导弹和无人机击中了费尔蒙酒店（Fairmont hotel）和迪拜国际机场。
2025 年，迪拜迎来了近 20 million 游客，创下纪录。然而，自冲突爆发以来，在迪拜机场运营的航空公司数量减半。据报道，酒店出现空房，部分企业营收下降超过 50%。
迪拜一些最著名的酒店已完全关闭，许多酒店提前启动了翻修计划，例如帆船形状的阿拉伯酒店（Burj Al Arab），将关闭 18 个月进行重大修复。其他酒店和企业则在响应政府的新计划，提供 45% 的折扣和免费住宿夜数。
当地媒体昨日报道，在计划启动的前 48 小时内，已吸引了超过 10,000 份申请。Natasha May
蟑螂派对 莫迪试图平息青年领导的抗议活动 第 29 页
（该国）通过《亚伯拉罕协议》使王国与以色列关系正常化，而沙特阿拉伯长期以来一直抵制这一举动，直到在巴勒斯坦权利和国家地位问题上出现明显进展。随后披露，特朗普在就这一新条件与沙特阿拉伯沟通前并未告知对方。
胡塞武装的袭击威胁到了连接苏伊士运河与红海及亚丁湾的第二条主要海上航线的安全。与此同时有报道称，伊朗在 10 天前向胡塞武装派遣了军事顾问并提供了无人机零部件。
路透社援引包括两名伊朗人在内的四名消息人士报道，伊朗于 7 月 13 日通过从德黑兰飞往也门的航班，转移了伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队（IRGC）人员及军事相关设备，因为德黑兰正号召胡塞武装封锁曼德海峡（Bab al-Mandeb strait）。
在本周胡塞武装宣布封锁沙特港口——特别是红海港口延布（Yanbu，利雅得在霍尔穆兹海峡出现问题期间一直利用该港口向亚洲运输石油）之后，船舶已开始在通过这一狭窄海峡时掉头返回。
海运数据和分析公司劳氏名单情报（Lloyd’s List Intelligence）表示，胡塞武装的袭击使沙特从延布出发的石油运输面临风险，且
拍摄《奥德赛》期间 船只损坏账单未结 第 30 页
在霍尔木兹海峡干扰的基础上，这造成了“双重打击”，并补充称，这一威胁“引发了对该航线可行性的质疑”。
特朗普在社交媒体上写道：“如果[胡塞武装]再次这样做，美国将追究伊朗的责任，因为胡塞武装是伊朗的代理人，伊朗以及胡塞武装本身将受到严重的军事惩罚。”
胡塞武装的萨巴通讯社称，反抗军袭击了两艘油轮——“恩塞莉亚”号（Encelia）和“莱拉”号（Layla），导致两艘船均起火。在他们宣布封锁与沙特相关的航运以来，这是他们首次报告对船只发起袭击，且无人员伤亡报告。曼德海峡是连接红海与亚丁湾的关键航运咽喉。全球约 12% 的贸易（包括全球四分之一的集装箱流量）经过此处，通过埃及的苏伊士运河在欧洲和亚洲之间往返。
美国总统近日升级了针对伊朗的言论，暗示美国准备轰炸所谓的“镐山”（Pickaxe mountain）地下隧道综合体，以色列指称德黑兰在此地隐藏了用于浓缩铀的离心机。随着特朗普在试图控制该地区不断恶化的危机中陷入困境，伊朗偶尔会对美国基地及其在海湾地区的盟友发起袭击，有时甚至是致命的。
美国总统似乎陷入了所谓的“升级陷阱”，威胁要采取更加剧烈的报复。周三，特朗普警告称，伊朗在海峡中每向一艘船开火，美国就将摧毁一座桥梁或一座发电厂。美国国务卿马可·鲁比奥在描述特朗普的立场时表示，在近期几名美国服役人员在伊朗袭击约旦穆瓦法克·萨尔蒂（Muwafaq Salti）空军基地中丧生后，特朗普正寻求“以头抵眼”（head for an eye）。
然而，在马尼拉举行的东盟会议外围，鲁比奥表示伊朗正在“乞求达成协议”，坚持认为“他们需要清醒过来”，并补充说德黑兰将为他们的所作所为“付出沉重代价”——这些主张美国官员此前都曾提出过。随着特朗普的民调支持率暴跌，以及他针对伊朗的战争在国内极不受欢迎，美国总统及其政府在秋季中期选举前，通过强迫对方以华盛顿的条款解决冲突的时间已所剩无几。
凸显特朗普日益严重的政治问题的是，美国众议院昨日以微弱优势通过了一项决议，要求停止美国在伊朗的军事行动。随着战争升级且冲突前景日益不明，这已是第二次向特朗普发出警告。
[[IMG_XXXX]] ◀ 从左上角起顺时针方向： 学生在支持胡塞武装的示威活动中向美国国旗敬礼； 德黑兰的一块广告牌将唐纳德·特朗普描绘在棺材中； 美国影像显示其部队连续第 12 个夜晚打击伊朗； 白宫新闻秘书卡罗琳·莱维特（Karoline Leavitt）； 特朗普和皮特·海格塞斯（Pete Hegseth）向一名美国军人的棺材致敬。
照片提供： MOHAMMED HUWAIS/ AFP/GETTY; MAJID ASGARIPOUR/ REUTERS; CENTCOM; JONATHAN ERNST/ REUTERS; AUL LOEB/ AFP/GETTY
以色列部长 加入闯入 al-Aqsa 圣殿复合区行动
Emma Graham-Harrison
以色列极右翼国家安全部长伊塔马尔·本-格维尔（Itamar Ben-Gvir）昨日加入了数千名犹太极端分子的行列，闯入了耶路撒冷最敏感的圣地。
在武装警察的护送下，他们在此祈祷、挥舞以色列国旗并唱国歌，以一种挑衅的方式展示政治权力。
根据一项被称为“现状”（status quo）的脆弱且已有数十年历史的协议，非穆斯林禁止在该地点祈祷。穆斯林将其称为 al-Haram al-Sharif，而犹太人将其称为圣殿山（Temple Mount）。
本-格维尔近年来通过一系列煽动性的访问以及单方面改变犹太访问者的规则（包括允许他们携带祈祷书和印刷宗教材料进入该地），削弱了该协议。
他在一月份任命了一位意识形态盟友担任耶路撒冷警局局长，为更大规模的改变铺平了道路。
巴勒斯坦宗教捐赠与事务部在一份声明中表示：“这些挑衅行为源自占领政府的最高政治层级，旨在整个地区点燃一场宗教战争。”
以色列人在靠近 al-Aqsa 清真寺和七世纪圆顶岩（Dome of the Rock）神庙的复合区部分区域进行了祈祷。
利库德党议员阿米特·哈莱维（Amit Halevi）加入了一个挥舞以色列国旗并唱国歌的团体，
▼ 昨天在 al-Aqsa 复合区的以色列极右翼部长 伊塔马尔·本-格维尔
照片：TELEGRAM/REUTERS
据《哈阿雷茨》（Haaretz）报道，该报道引用了推动在该地进行犹太礼拜的以色列“圣殿山”活动人士的话。本-格维尔在社交媒体的发帖中写道，“我们在这里看到了巨大的进步”，且在现场祈祷的犹太人“感觉自己像主人”。他此前曾表示，希望在复合区升起以色列国旗并在那里建造一座犹太会堂。昨天是 Tisha B’Av，这是一个犹太哀悼日，纪念第一和第二圣殿的被毁。
现状协议的改变在历史上曾引发整个地区的冲突，并产生全球影响。2000年，时任以色列反对党领导人亚里尔·沙龙（Ariel Sharon）的一次访问挑起了持续五年的第二次巴勒斯坦大起义。哈马斯将其 2023年10月 对以色列的袭击（造成 1,200 名以色列人死亡并引发加沙战争）命名为“al-Aqsa 洪水”，声称这是由于以色列在耶路撒冷清真寺的违规行为所激发的。
以色列活动团体“现在和平”（Peace Now）在社交媒体上表示，在该地的祈祷是极端分子试图点燃宗教战争的“危险挑衅”。该团体补充道：“这直接违反了脆弱的现状，即禁止非穆斯林在圣地祈祷。”
约旦外交部强烈谴责此次闯入行动，并呼吁国际社会“采取坚定立场，强制以色列作为占领方，停止其在耶路撒冷对伊斯兰教和基督教圣地的持续侵害”。
据半岛电视台（Al Jazeera）报道，负责正式管理该复合区的伊斯兰瓦克夫部门（Islamic Waqf Department）表示，上午期间有 3,228 名以色列人进入复合区，预计随后还会有数千人进入。
今年早些时候，总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡（Benjamin Netanyahu）公开支持在该地进行犹太祈祷，声称本-格维尔推动的改变已与其协调。尽管他的政府实际上撕毁了现状协议的关键部分，但内塔尼亚胡坚称以色列并未违反协议。
据《哈阿雷茨》报道，周三晚上，数千人在旧耶路撒冷靠近复合区的区域游行，并袭击了巴勒斯坦人。警方因此次暴力事件逮捕了 16 名犹太嫌疑人。
罗马尼亚游行将在连续第四年被禁的情况下“照常进行”
Ashifa Kassam 欧洲社区事务记者
组织者誓言，明天在罗马尼亚举行的一场骄傲游行将照常进行，此前市政府已连续第四年拒绝向其发放许可。
自 2023. 年以来，奥拉迪亚 (Oradea) 的活动人士每年都申请举行骄傲活动。这是欧盟唯一一座地方当局重复阻挠庆祝活动的主要城市。
“每年[他们]都能找到法律或技术上的借口，”该市骄傲游行的当地组织者 Ark Oradea 的共同创始人兼主席 Iulian Ditiu 说道。该市人口约为 180,000 人。
他表示，2024, 年，该团体被告知市内的所有公园在所申请的时间段内均不可使用。去年，活动人士提交了 12 条可能的游行路线，结果被告知没有一条是合适的。
今年，组织者提交了 100 条以上的可能路线。周三，市当局表示这些路线均不可行，因为它们与其他活动或公共基础设施工程相冲突。
该市市长所属的政党自称为自由主义、保守主义和基督教民主主义，他未对置评请求做出回应。
Ditiu 表示，接连的拒绝传递了一个更广泛的信号。“感觉他们试图向我们传递的信息是，我们在这里不受欢迎，”他说道。
“他们从未公开承认过他们是在禁止骄傲游行……”
▲ 往年奥拉迪亚的人们曾因参加骄傲游行而被罚款
Dr Ian Griffin 天文学家
LGBT原因。他们总是躲在技术性理由后面。” 这起争端已引起国际关注。来自 30 个国家的 152 个以上组织签署了一份声明，呼吁官员允许在罗马尼亚西部举行的游行在“完全安全”且符合欧盟法律的情况下进行。该声明称：“在自豪游行连续四年无法举行之后，绝不存在行政或后勤困难的问题。” “当当局持续阻止一个群体进行和平集会时，一个涉及所有公民的原则就被削弱了。” 他们最近向当地政府递交的申诉，使人们将其与布达佩斯相类比，在匈牙利，前总理维克多·欧尔班及其右翼民粹主义者曾试图禁止自豪活动。声明中表示：“近年来，在几个欧洲国家，限制自豪游行已成为民主倒退和法治削弱的一个指标。” 迪丘表示，尽管缺乏许可，组织者仍打算在明天继续进行游行。他表示， 2025 年，有 500 到 600 人参加了一次未经授权的游行，随后九名参与者被罚款相当于约 £3,4 00。他补充说，这一次，来自几个外交使团的代表以及罗马尼亚的监察员表示将参加。迪丘将这种情况描述为既“令人鼓舞又令人失望”。他说：“那些本应保护每个群体权利的机构正试图将我们的群体当作替罪羊。但有更多的人支持我们。更多的人明白其中的利害关系。” 他说：“这不是一个 LGBT 问题。这是一个民主问题。这关乎公开集会的自由。如果这里奥拉迪亚的当地 LGBT 群体被剥夺这一基本人权而无需承担任何后果，那么欧洲的几乎任何地方、任何群体都可能发生这种情况。”
美联社
唐纳德·特朗普在豁免福拉林·巴洛贡在世界杯中被强制禁赛一场中的作用，可能会引发向国际足联（Fifa）伦理调查员提出的正式投诉。挪威足球协会昨日表示，其董事会将在下次会议（可能在 6 August）上考虑提交该投诉。
“我们需要我们在国际足联的领导人承认这是一个错误，”挪威足球协会主席利斯（Lise）
Eva Corlett 惠灵顿
新西兰城市达尼丁 (Dunedin) 的酒店已被提前两年预订一空，因为该市正在为该地区 850 年多以来首次日全食做准备。
在 2028, 7 月 22 日下午 4.17pm，月球将运行至太阳之前，在新西兰南部部分地区投下一条约 60 英里宽的阴影带。在该带内的所有地方——从西部的旅游胜地皇后镇到东部的达尼丁市——都将在 2 分钟 51 秒内陷入白昼的黑暗。
尽管距离日食还有两年时间，但酒店已经收到大量预订咨询，其中包括达尼丁休闲旅馆 (Dunedin Leisure Lodge)，截至昨日，该旅馆的“日食套餐”（包含免费日食眼镜）已被全部预订。
Klaveness 告诉了《泰晤士报》。在特朗普致电国际足联 (Fifa) 主席吉安尼·因凡蒂诺 (Gianni Infantino) 后，巴洛根 (Balogun) 在对阵波黑比赛中因红卡被禁赛一场的处罚被推迟，以便他能参加对阵比利时的比赛，这场比赛关乎能否进入四强。比利时以 4-1 击败了美国。
[[IMG_LOTUS]] 莲花焦点 游客们惊叹于中国南京玄武湖中的莲花。这些植物具有疏水涂层，这意味着它们从湖中长出时，泥土会从其表面脱落。
Lise Klaveness 表示，针对巴洛根红卡的裁决使国际足联陷入了“危险的境地 (slippery slope)”
天文学家兼图胡拉奥塔哥博物馆 (Tūhura Otago Museum) 馆长 Ian Grii n 博士表示：“上次在达尼丁可见的日食是在 1163 , 年，那时人类还没有到达新西兰。”
“因此，我们将成为首批在达尼丁这个世界角落目睹日全食的人，这非常令人兴奋。”
这还将是自 1965 年以来，新西兰境内任何地方可见的首次日全食。
“如果天气晴朗，那 3 分钟的黑暗将绝对……”
在这个地区 观测到日食的人”
世界杯上混乱的 36 小时。 比利时球员们似乎被本届赛事历史上最大的争议之一激怒了。 特朗普称裁判在视频回放后给巴洛贡开出的红牌是“糟糕的”判罚，并声称是由于他的介入，才促使国际足联（Fifa）重新审查这一本应仅为禁赛一场的处罚。 克拉文内斯（Klaveness）曾是一名女足世界杯球员，也是欧足联（Uefa）执委会的选任成员，她表示：“我们都知道这次裁决受到了外部力量的影响，并没有经过正当程序。” “当你这样违背规则时，你就处于一个危险的边缘，这将使整个比赛陷入风险。” 据《纽约邮报》本周报道，特朗普与因凡蒂诺（Infantino）关系密切，以至于这位美国总统认为这位足球官员可能是联合国下一个秘书长的合适人选。 人权非政府组织 FairSquare 还向国际奥委会（Infantino 是其选任成员）提交了一份伦理投诉。 国际足联尚未公布相关文件，以解释其纪律法官是如何就巴洛贡或其他世界杯球员做出裁决的。
照片： NURPHOTO/ SHUTTERSTOCK
格林表示，对于任何目击者来说，这都将是终身难忘的。 周三，达尼丁（Dunedin）的博物馆启动了为期两年的倒计时，预计这将成为该地区的一项重大旅游盛事。 预计约有 35,000 名游客将访问这座人口 130,000 人的城市。 格林自 2013 年起就开始为这次日食做准备。“多年前我买房子就是基于一个事实：在那儿可以看到日食，”他说。 这次日食将发生在新西兰冬季的中旬，紧接在国家庆祝 Matariki（毛利新年）之后。Matariki 是毛利人对一组星团的称呼，在其他地方被称为昴宿星团（Pleiades）。该星团在一年中的 11 个月里从新西兰可见，但在冬季会消失一个月，大约在冬至前后重新出现。 达尼丁计划举办一场从 Matariki 开始一直持续到日食期间的夜空节。 达尼丁市长索菲·巴克（Sophie Barker）表示，整个城市都能感受到对日食的期待。 “这次非凡的事件现在已清晰可见。”
Amrit Dhillon 德里
纳伦德拉·莫地（Narendra Modi）誓言将设立“快速审理法院”，以加速惩处被指控泄露考试试卷的官员。此前，这位印度总理试图平息一场由青年主导的“蟑螂”抗议活动，该活动震惊了德里，并给他的政府带来了最大挑战之一。在首次就该运动发表公开评论时，这位印度总理在 X 上发帖称：“没有什么比我们青年的福祉和未来更重要的了……那些试图损害我们青年未来的人将绝不被宽恕。”由于印度司法系统积案严重，做出裁决可能需要数十年，因此莫迪提出的加快司法进程的方案被“蟑螂民众党”（Cockroach Janta party, CJP）迅速拒绝。这个讽刺性的名称是青年抗议运动在印度最高法官称失业青年为“蟑螂”之后所创造的。CJP 发言人 Saurav Das 表示：“这不过是贴一块创可贴。这并没有给我们提供问责机制。这么多年来，一项定罪都没有，所以这项措施毫无用处。”该运动的核心诉求是要求教育部长 Dharmendra Pradhan 辞职，并改革教育系统。在警方拒绝允许其向议会进军后，周一估计有 50,000 人在德里举行抗议。随后，警察发动了警棍冲锋并发射催泪瓦斯。到周三，尽管天气酷热，仍有 1,000 多人留在德里市中心 Jantar Mantar 的 CJP 抗议现场。许多人长途跋涉来到这里。国大党（Congress party）一名反对派国会议员 Renuka Chowdhury 在接受新闻频道 India Today 采访时表示，没人能理解为什么莫迪不解雇 Pradhan。“老实说，难道这一位部长比恢复国家的和谐与秩序更值钱或更重要吗？”他说道。莫迪的表态出现在政府可能软化立场的迹象之后。部长们坚持表示他们愿意对话，但拒绝讨论 Pradhan 的辞职问题。Jantar Mantar 的抗议现场吸引了大批渴望支持的群众。
（照片：PIYAL ADHIKARY/EPA; SAJJAD HUSSAIN /AFP/GETTY IMAGES）
此前曾侥幸在另一次暗杀企图中幸存
Thomas Graham
周三，墨西哥莫雷洛斯州的一名市长被枪杀，今年早些时候他曾侥幸在一次暗杀企图中幸存。自克劳迪娅·辛鲍姆（Claudia Sheinbaum）于 2024 年 10 月就任总统以来，他是第 14 位被谋杀的市长。
[[IMG_XXXX]] ▲ 在加尔各答的学生和“蟑螂群众党”（Cockroach Janta Party）支持者，以及下方在德里的支持者，要求教育部长辞职
在过去的十年里，没有一个人被定罪。“有人或一群人在摧毁我们的教育体系，摧毁印度最宝贵的资产，摧毁我们学生的生命，”他说，“政府在做什么？零定罪。” 卫生部长 JP Nadda 指责甘地利用抗议活动谋取政治利益。他说：“你的关注点不在于改善教育体系、提高教育质量或确保学生获得公正。相反，你试图利用学生的问题和诉求来获取政治筹码。” 在周一与 Nadda 的会面（这是 60 天多以来的首次会面）在未能取得突破的情况下结束，CJP 的领导人们深感失望。 CJP 创始人 Abhijeet Dipke 此后表示，如果部长们想与他们交谈，就必须来到抗议现场并在公开场合进行。 印度许多人都在质疑为什么 Pradhan 不辞职。反对党政治人物 Anish Gawande 表示，莫迪将退让视为弱点，尤其是在他现在不再拥有议会多数席位的情况下。
瓦伦丁·拉文·罗梅罗（Valentín Lavín Romero）来自绿党，是执政的左翼 Morena 党的盟友。今年 1 月底，他在高速公路的一个加油站被杀手枪击受伤。 这一次，杀手在正午时分闯入靠近墨西哥城的特莫阿克（Temoac）市政厅，将其枪杀后骑摩托车逃离。
当局尚未确定动机或嫌疑人，但莫雷洛斯检察官办公室誓言将“穷尽所有调查方向”。 自 2006 年起，墨西哥已有近 100 名市长被谋杀。当时，时任总统费利佩·卡尔德隆（Felipe Calderón）部署军队打击墨西哥的组织犯罪集团，最终导致与毒品相关的暴力事件激增。 市政级政府既是国家保护力度最薄弱的层级，也是犯罪集团试图与当局达成协议，以加强其对当地领土及其企业的控制之所在。
以示声援。由于封闭区域内无法容纳所有人，许多人涌到了周围的道路上。 有些人组织由好意者提供的食物和水捐赠，而另一些人则分发餐食（包括给值班警察）或清理垃圾。 印度各地的年轻人也对 CJP 的诉求表示支持，在孟买举行了连续三天的示威，并在金奈、印多尔、海德拉巴和帕蒂亚拉举行声援抗议。 在周三的新闻发布会上，反对党领导人拉胡尔·甘地（Rahul Gandhi）升级了批评，要求莫迪为未能提供公平的教育体系而道歉。 甘地表示，全国范围内已发生了 152 起试卷泄露事件。
当地媒体报道称，拉文·罗梅罗本人被指与当地犯罪集团有联系。他的岳母曾任市政政府财务主管，于 2025 年 9 月因涉嫌与名为“Los Aparicio”的犯罪团伙有联系并参与绑架而被捕。
瓦伦丁·拉文·罗梅罗（Valentín Lavín Romero），一名墨西哥城附近小镇的市长，被指与当地犯罪集团有联系
今年 3 月，当地活动团体“土地与水资源防御人民阵线”要求当局调查拉文·罗梅罗（Lavín Romero），因其涉嫌参与谋杀两名活动人士萨米尔·弗洛雷斯（Samir Flores）和桑德拉·罗莎·卡马乔·弗洛雷斯（Sandra Rosa Camacho Flores）。此次暗杀发生之时，墨西哥联邦政府正采取措施，试图通过“集群行动”（Operation Swarm）来瓦解市政当局与犯罪组织之间的腐败关系；该行动已导致包括莫雷洛斯州在内的三个州共有 85 名官员被捕。根据官方数据，该国登记的失踪人数已超过 130,000 人。
涉恐怖主义及间谍阴谋
Rachel Savage 约翰内斯堡
两名俄罗斯男子被安哥拉法院裁定恐怖主义和间谍罪名成立。他们被指控在去年策划政变，并协助组织在该南部非洲国家引发的致命示威活动。
列夫·拉克什塔诺夫 (Lev Lakshtanov) 和伊戈尔·拉钦 (Igor Ratchin) 分别被判处 8 年和 11 年监禁。他们否认了这些指控，声称他们前往安哥拉是为了进行文化和商业活动。
根据官方数据，2025, 7 月 28 至 30 日，一场因燃料价格上涨而引发的小巴出租车罢工演变为骚乱和抢劫，导致 22 人死亡，超过 1,600 人被捕。
安哥拉的安全部队正
称修船费用 被拖欠，陷入困境
Miranda Bryant 北欧特派记者
好莱坞大片《奥德赛》（The Odyssey）中出现的一艘维京长船复制品的瑞典所有者表示，由于制片方据称在归还船只时将其损坏且未支付维修费用，该船所有者感到被“遗忘”了。 在近三十年的航海生涯中，这艘名为“Glad av Gillberga”的战船——其设计基于在丹麦罗斯基勒（Roskilde）土壤中发现的约 1040 年的沉船——曾成功航行于北海、波罗的海，甚至远航至加拿大。 但在交给环球影业（Universal）仅仅六个多月后，其所有者称对方承诺承担任何维修费用，但该船据称遭受了严重损坏，包括船尾和桅杆。 位于瑞典西部韦姆兰（Värmland）的非营利维京中心 Vikingaleden 表示，当他们向环球影业开具用于维修船只的材料费发票时（他们并未收取志愿者的劳动力费用），对方并未付款。 一年后，随着这部由克里斯托弗·诺兰（Christopher Nolan）执导，马特·达蒙（Matt Damon）、汤姆·霍兰德（Tom Holland）、安妮·海瑟薇（Anne Hathaway）和
被指向抗议者发射实弹，而政府则称其“渐进式”地使用武力是合理的。 人权观察组织（Human Rights Watch）此前曾表示，安哥拉在 2025 年 7 月 12 日通过使用橡胶子弹和催泪瓦斯等“过度武力”来驱散一场反对燃料价格上涨的和平抗议活动。 安哥拉检察官表示，拉克什塔诺夫（Lakshtanov）和拉钦（Ratchin）试图影响明年的总统选举，手段包括资助安哥拉最大的反对党——安哥拉全面独立国家联盟（Unita），或者强迫安哥拉解放人民阵线（MPLA）进行领导层变动。 该党自 1975 年脱离葡萄牙独立以来一直统治该国。
▶ 来自 Vikingaleden 的一艘维京船，该机构向《奥德赛》提供了一艘船。 上方图片为马特·达蒙在克里斯托弗·诺兰的电影中饰演奥德修斯。
图片来源： PETER OLAUSSON; MELINDA SUE GORDON/UNIVERSAL PICTURES/AP
赞达亚（Zendaya）主演的这部电影席卷全球票房，仅开画周末就收获 2.64 亿美元（$264m，约 £196m）。该协会表示，他们仍在等待 6,000 美元（$6,000，约 £4,500）的款项。 Vikingaleden 协会主席彼得·奥劳森（Peter Olausson）表示，虽然他为该船出现在电影中感到自豪——他计算出船上出现了 10 次——但由于这家电影巨头据称未能承担损坏费用，这种感觉被一种不公正感所笼罩。
检察官还声称，这两个人与“非洲政治学”（Africa Politology）有关，后者是一个源自瓦格纳雇佣兵团的俄罗斯虚假信息和宣传网络。 根据包括“禁忌故事”（Forbidden Stories）在内的媒体调查，“非洲政治学”在 2023 年瓦格纳首领叶夫根尼·普里戈任（Yevgeny Prigozhin）去世后被俄罗斯对外情报局（SVR）接管。瓦格纳随后更名为“非洲军团”（Africa Corps）并被纳入俄罗斯军队。 安哥拉在历史上与俄罗斯关系密切，其经济高度依赖石油出口。在安哥拉 1975-2002 年内战的冷战期间，苏联和古巴支持 MPLA，而美国和实行种族隔离的南非则支持包括 Unita 在内的反对派。 然而，安哥拉总统若昂（João）
他说道：“我们只收取材料费，不收人工费。当然，环球影业付得起这 6,000 美元（$6,000.）。我们感到被遗忘了。” 该船目前已恢复运行，但奥劳森指责环球影业食言。“协议是我们要进行修理，然后获得资金补偿。” 奥劳森表示，对于环球影业来说，这笔未偿还的款项相对较小，但对于这个拥有 200 名成员的协会来说却是巨大的。
洛伦索（Lourenço）自 2017 年掌权以来，改善了与美国和欧洲的关系。
在过去的十年中，俄罗斯增加了在非洲的存在感。瓦格纳集团以及后来的非洲军团（Africa Corps）自 2017 年起一直为中非共和国总统福斯坦-阿尔尚日·图阿德拉（Faustin-Archange Touadéra）提供安保。
2021, 瓦格纳部队抵达马里以支持军政府。非洲军团也支持邻国尼日尔和布基纳法索的军事政权。根据一份美国国会报告，自 2023, 俄罗斯军队还被部署在赤道几内亚、利比亚和苏丹。
马达加斯加总统迈克尔·兰德里亚尼里纳（Michael Randrianirina）在 2025 年 10 月通过政变掌权后，也加强了与俄罗斯的关系。
两名安哥拉人也与俄罗斯人一同接受审判。体育记者卡洛斯·托梅（Carlos Tomé）被判处两年监禁，缓刑执行；而 联合国民众组织（Unita）青年部门的总书记弗朗西斯科·德·奥利维拉（Francisco de Oliveira）则被宣判无罪。
延伸报道 法新社 (Agence France-Presse)
该机构经营着维京“村庄”和博物馆。 据报道，这部电影的制作成本为 $250m，改编自荷马关于奥德修斯 10 年海上返乡旅程的古希腊史诗。 环球影业（Universal）的一位发言人表示：“我们的记录显示，所有与 Glad av Gillberga 相关的发票均已全额支付，包括维修费用。制片厂和制作团队已经联系了该协会以消除任何误解。”
美联社
一名承认杀害一名民主党立法者及其丈夫的明尼苏达州男子于昨日被判处终身监禁。万斯·波尔特 (Vance Boelter)，59 岁，在 6 月承认与杀害前明尼苏达州众议院议长梅丽莎·霍特曼 (Melissa Hortman) 及其丈夫马克 (Mark)，以及在去年 6 月枪击州参议员约翰·霍夫曼 (John Hofman) 及其妻子伊薇特 (Yvette) 相关的六项指控后，被判处两项连续终身监禁加上 40 年监禁。波尔特通过认罪以避免死刑；作为交换，他同意接受除死刑外可能被处以的最高刑期。
受害者和幸存者描述了袭击带来的影响。在昨天的法庭上，霍夫曼表示，他及其家人不断被提醒那个夜晚极其严重的暴力行为。“我和我的妻子现在带着伤残生活，”他说。伊薇特·霍夫曼表示，自袭击以来，她因受到太大创伤而无法工作。“法官阁下，我用尽全力与他搏斗。最终我才把他赶出了我们的家，”她说。“我永远不会忘记低头看着我的血缓缓流下那台白色洗衣机，同时感觉到自己瘫倒在地板上。”
波尔特上个月在法庭上承认，他在开车于半夜前往目标家中杀人之前，花了好几个月的时间识别并跟踪他的目标，且当时伪装成一名警察。根据法庭文件，波尔特于 2025 年 6 月 14 日凌晨 3 .30 左右，穿着战术护甲并戴着面具前往霍特曼的家。他按下门铃，同时大声喊道自己是一名在进行福利检查的警察。马克·霍特曼开了门。波尔特给了他一个假名字和警号，随后要求他将梅丽莎·霍特曼也叫到门口。他在多次枪击马克·霍特曼后冲进屋内，并在该立法者逃往楼上时将其枪杀。根据警方和法庭文件，波尔特当晚已经造访过霍夫曼家，枪击并导致参议员及其妻子重伤。
面对中国在香港的搜查，台湾人坚守阵地
艾米·霍金斯 (Amy Hawkins) 李语辰 (Yu-chen Li)，台北
在走出香港最后几家独立书店之一时，一名女子在警察的陪同下走出，双手被反铐在背后，但昂首挺胸。她穿着一件印有简单口号的 T 恤：“我是书店员工”。在上周针对两家书店的搜查中，该女子是五名被捕人员之一，涉嫌展示和销售具有“煽动性”内容的出版物——这是一种国家安全罪行，最高可判处 10 年监禁。自此，由于对香港书商命运的担忧，这句 T 恤上的短语在台湾社交媒体上广泛传播。台湾现在是中文世界中唯一一个人们可以公开表达对压制之感受的地方。
赖清德 台湾总统
要求释放亲巴勒斯坦活动人士
Deborah Cole 柏林驻员
一个由爱尔兰政客组成的跨党派代表团已敦促都柏林方面派遣观察员，前往德国参加一场针对亲巴勒斯坦活动人士的高安全性审判，并在下周德国总理访问期间，就一名爱尔兰被告被拘留的问题提出关切。来自 Sinn Féin 的 Mairéad Farrell 是这个七人代表团的一员，她表示，他们周三出席了在斯图加特举行的所谓“乌尔姆 5” (Ulm 5) 活动人士的听证会，这些活动人士因涉嫌袭击一家以色列军火公司而面临指控。
中国政府。在社交媒体平台 Threads 上，书商、立法者和活动人士分享了标签“我是一名书店职员”，以表达对香港的支持。台湾地区领导人赖清德也在 Facebook 上写道：“思想和文字绝不应被政治压力所噤声。”这是近几个月来，与独立书店相关的香港人士第三次被捕。
香港当局尚未指明在最近的搜查中发现了哪些涉嫌煽动的书籍。但在逮捕之后，香港安全主管汤家 cường (Chris Tang) 表示，书商有责任确保其书籍合法，“就像卖食品的商人必须确保其食品不会让人生病一样”。上周搜查中被捕的所有 5 人随后均获保释。香港警方拒绝进一步评论，但有报道称，被禁书籍可能包括由 NPR 记者 Emily Feng 撰写的《让红花盛开：习近平时代的中国身份与归属》(Let Only Red Flowers Bloom: Identity and Belonging in Xi Jinping’s China)，这导致该书在台湾出现抢购潮。
该书的台湾出版商 Acropolis Publishing 上周紧急加印了 10,000 册。Acropolis 的高级编辑 Sara Sung 表示，一些读者购买该书是将其作为“对民主和自由的声明”，并补充道：“他们在表明，自己不会被来自中国的审查所噤声或恐吓。”
Farrell 和代表团另外两名成员在监狱中探访了该团体中的爱尔兰被告 Daniel Tatlow-Devally。“我对他在那里受到的待遇感到非常震惊，”Farrell 说道，并呼吁爱尔兰总理 Micheál Martin 在下周二德国总理 Friedrich Merz 访问时讨论这一问题。
Farrell 表示：“据我了解，他的囚室大小为 5x2 米。他每天被困在那里 23 小时。每月仅有一小时的探视时间。在这种情况下，考虑到这些人并没有伤害他人，其生存条件似乎过于苛刻且不合理。”
台湾省会台北的独立书店“透特书店” (Touat Books) 的店主 Chang Hui-ju 表示，冯（Feng）的书已完全脱销。
“在此之前，几乎没有人关注这本书，”Chang 说道，“但事件发生后，这本书在到处都售罄了。”
另一家台北书店“郭氏星辰书店” (Kuo’s Astral Bookshop) 的该书也已售罄。一名苦寻无果的顾客 Wu Jia-xuan 表示，她平时对中国相关的书籍不感兴趣，但香港的逮捕事件激起了她的好奇心。“被禁的事实反而让我更好奇。”
冯的书探讨了中国领导人习近平对该国的意识形态控制。其中一个名为《书商》的章节重点讲述了著名的香港书商林永基 (Lam Wing-kee)。林永基在 2015 年被中国当局逮捕，但随后逃脱监禁并流亡台湾，在台北重新开设了他的书店——铜锣湾书店 (Causeway Bay Books)。他于本月去世，而他的……
“……以一种自由的方式”。被告律师多次向法院提出玻璃墙的问题，称这阻碍了其当事人的受审权。
这五名活动人士根据德国刑法第 129 条，被指控非法入侵、破坏财产以及隶属于犯罪组织——德国巴勒斯坦行动 (Palestine Action Germany)。
该项指控意味着当局认为他们是对社会的威胁，因此即便在六个月的审前羁押期限过后，仍可以拒绝保释。如果被判定有罪，他们将面临最高五年的监禁。
法院代表表示，基于对其指控的严重程度，被告的羁押条件是合理的。
法雷尔表示，爱尔兰政府派遣特使定期出席听证会直至判决公布，是“至关重要的”。
▲ 一名独立书店的雇员在香港治安警察的押解下走出店门
照片：DAVID CHAN/SOPA/SHUTTERSTOCK
书店的情况尚不确定：关闭的店面被支持者留下的便条、鲜花和啤酒罐覆盖。
林（Lam）的故事描绘了台湾与香港之间，以及它们与中国大陆之间复杂的相互关系。
台湾从未是中国的一部分。但北京长期以来一直将这个自治岛屿视为其领土的一部分，并誓言将其与中国统一。北京提出的一种统一路径，是让台湾在“一国两制”的框架下被统治，类似于
德国检察官表示，塔特洛-德瓦利 (Tatlow-Devally) 是五名活动人士之一，他们去年九月在乌尔姆 (Ulm) 非法闯入了一处由 Elbit Systems 拥有的场地，在破坏设备和砸碎窗户时高喊支持巴勒斯坦的口号。据称，他们造成了 €1 (£850,000) 的损失。
这些活动人士在网上发布了视频，在视频中他们对此次袭击负责，称其目的是为了引起人们对德国支持以色列及其在加沙行动的关注。德国是仅次于美国的以色列第二大武器供应商。
被告在整个诉讼过程中一直保持挑衅态度，塔特洛-德瓦利在五月份告诉法庭，该团体的动机是出于“紧迫的人道主义关切”，并试图“至少干扰” Elbit 向以色列的交付。
法雷尔表示，被告们“基本上被关在玻璃墙后面，无法与他们的律师沟通”。
◀ 自香港遭到突袭以来，冯艾米莉 (Emily Feng) 的著作《让红花开》在台湾的销量激增
香港的情况。超过 80% 的台湾人拒绝这一想法。
在台湾，拒绝与中国建立更紧密关系的执政党——民主进步党 (DPP) 的政治家们，将香港视为中国统治危险性的一个例子。但对香港的言论支持很少能转化为实际政策，例如接纳难民。
位于台北的国立台湾大学政治学教授列夫·纳赫曼 (Lev Nachman) 表示，对于民进党政治家来说，“利用香港来构建如果中华人民共和国能够‘统一’台湾将会发生什么，是非常容易的”。但他补充说，实际的支持程度一直很“浅”。
一名来自福建省的学生周日访问了 Touat 书店，寻找冯的书。她在社交媒体上读到了关于香港突袭的消息，这让她彻夜难眠。“在中国大陆，你的信息流里不会出现这些，”她说。“这种事情不应该发生。我认为独立思考应该仍被允许——至少在香港。”
-77.80 -44.97 -477.08 +307.00 1.1711 富时 100 指数 (FTSE 100) 全股指数 (All share) 道琼斯工业指数 (Dow Indl) 英镑/美元 (£/$) 英镑/欧元 (£/€) 日经 225 指数 (Nikkei 225)
-0.0011 -0.0058 10639.17 5718.72 51741.50 66422.60
随着中东冲突加剧， 油价重回 $100 以上
Jillian Ambrose Joanna Partridge Richard Partington
由于中东冲突的新一轮升级威胁将加剧全球石油供应的中断，油价在两个月内首次突破每桶 $100。 由于担心也门胡塞武装可能会通过红海扼杀沙特阿拉伯的石油出口，同时美国与伊朗在霍尔木兹海峡石油流量问题上的紧张局势升级，基准油价昨日大幅上涨，从前一天的每桶 $95 攀升。 这两条关键石油贸易大动脉的中断，再次引发了人们对油价可能攀升至每桶 $120 高点的担忧，在经历了多年的能源成本通胀后，这将给家庭和全球经济带来打击。
动荡 时刻 EasyJet 透露 利润 下滑 70% 原因是 燃料成本 飙升 以及 由于 伊朗 冲突 导致 预订量减少。
照片： ROMAN PILIPEY/ AFP/GETTY IMAGES
€890m 因违反欧盟 市场法
大西洋两岸的股价均有所下跌，反映出中东局势的动荡以及对人工智能 (AI) 股票泡沫的担忧——这导致纽约科技股密集的纳斯达克指数下跌超过 2%。特斯拉的股价在报告利润低于预期以及对 AI 支出的更广泛担忧中暴跌 12%。 中东冲突进一步扩大，亲伊朗的胡塞武装声称对两艘沙特阿拉伯油轮 Encelia 号和 Layla 号的袭击负责，袭击中使用了多枚弹道导弹、巡航导弹以及无人机。 胡塞武装在指责船员违反该组织在红海实施的海上封锁后发动了此次袭击，导致其中一艘船只起火。
Dan Milmo Lisa O’Carroll
谷歌因其搜索和应用商店服务违反在线竞争法，被欧盟总计罚款 €890m (£760m)。 欧盟的执行机构欧盟委员会表示，谷歌在搜索结果中优先考虑自己的服务而非竞争对手，违反了《数字市场法案》(DMA)。
此次升级标志着海湾石油危机开启了新战线，此前德黑兰对霍尔木兹海峡实施的有效封锁在近五个月前引发了许多人的担忧，认为这将带来该市场历史上最大规模的能源供应中断。 在美国和以色列袭击伊朗后的最初几周，油价飙升至每桶 $100 以上，随着霍尔木兹海峡的石油流量停滞，市场观察人士预测价格将高达每桶 $150。 在冲突期间，油价在 4 月达到每桶 $126 的峰值，但 5 月下旬回落至 $100 以下，随后在 7 月初由于对该地区停火的希望而降至 $71 的低点。在美国和伊朗之间的谅解备忘录破裂以及海湾地区爆发新敌对行动后，价格开始再次攀升。
它还因为阻止应用开发者引导消费者前往网站或替代应用商店寻找更便宜的优惠而违反了 DMA。 谷歌因搜索相关的违规被罚款 €460m，因应用商店违规被罚款 €430m。委员会已命令该公司以“公平且非歧视的方式”对待出现在其搜索结果中的第三方服务，并允许应用开发者在谷歌应用商店之外提供优惠。
国际能源署署长法提赫·比罗尔 (Fatih Birol) 表示，由于一些有助于冷却市场的“缓冲因素”，市场避免了油价失控。但他同时表示，没有理由掉以轻心。由于担心伊朗战争带来的经济影响，投资者在权衡油价飙升可能重新点燃全球通胀压力的风险时，导致全球最大经济体的政府借贷成本在昨日上升。
投资者抛售美国、德国和日本的政府债券，推高了全球政府借贷的利息——即收益率。在英国，10-year 政府借贷收益率上升了约 0.1 个百分点，自5月以来首次交易价格高于 5.1%。
在线交易平台 IG 的首席市场分析师克里斯·博尚普 (Chris Beauchamp) 表示：“政府债券收益率继续攀升，这预示着发达经济体将面临重大麻烦，并可能重演 2025 年 3月/4月的市场恐慌。随着全面冲突的阴云笼罩，波动性正在激增，股市正进一步陷入低迷。”
据指出，谷歌已经开始测试如何显示包含其自身服务的搜索结果。相关方面表示，这些变化代表了“向合规迈出的实质性进展”。
一名高级官员表示，欧盟的这一决定将使消费者直接受益。“在欧洲，研究结果将有所不同。他们今后必须调整其搜索引擎，”该官员说道。
欧洲开放市场研究所 (Open Markets Institute Europe) 智库主任马克斯·冯·吞 (Max von Thun) 表示，对于一家去年收入超过 $400 的公司来说，这些罚金仅仅是“最低限度”。
谷歌可以对该决定提出上诉并请求暂停该措施。该搜索公司的全球事务总裁肯特·沃克 (Kent Walker) 辩称，《数字市场法》(DMA) 迫使谷歌“剥离欧洲人喜爱的实时搜索功能——例如酒店、航班和餐厅的即时定价和直接预订功能”。
要求取消 2035 汽油 和柴油车 禁令
Jasper Jolly
根据披露的文档，汽车制造商私下游说政府撤销 2035, 后禁止销售新汽油车和柴油车的禁令。这些文件首次揭露了旨在推翻一项关键脱碳政策的努力。宝马 (BMW)、福特 (Ford)、日产 (Nissan) 和丰田 (Toyota) 以及零部件制造商博世 (Bosch) 在 4 月向部长们递交了一封联名信，要求在 2035. 后采取“开放的技术方案”，而政府此前表示，届时新车必须实现零碳排放。
这封信是通过一项信息自由请求由《快速充电》(The Fast Charge) 通讯获取并分享给《卫报》的。这些公司在信中写道，政府应允许在 2035 之后使用“高效内燃机 (ICE)、混合动力车、插电式混合动力车、增程器，以及在使用绿色钢材和可持续燃料时的内燃机”。
根据政府气候变化委员会的说法，在未来十年内，向电动汽车 (EV) 转型是减少英国碳污染的最大单一贡献因素。一名政府发言人表示，2035 禁令不容谈判。然而，历届政府已经削弱了电池电动汽车政策。工党在截至 2030 年的电动汽车目标中引入了“灵活性”，目前正在考虑对该规则（即零排放车辆指令）进行进一步修改。
撤销 2035 禁令的建议遭到了活动人士和电动汽车品牌 Polestar 的批评。Polestar 英国区总经理马特·加尔文 (Matt Galvin) 表示：“技术已经存在，消费者正在接受，而且经济可行性每年都在增强。延长我们对汽油和柴油的依赖完全没有理由。”
宝马、博世、日产和丰田均表示，目标应与客户需求相匹配，且他们致力于脱碳。福特公司已被要求对此发表评论。
商业观点 尼尔斯·普拉特利 (Nils Pratley)
W
欢迎就任能源大臣，米亚塔·法恩布莱 (Miatta Fahnbulleh)。在是否批准 Jackdaw 天然气田和 Rosebank 油田的生产问题上，你面临着一个政治上棘手的决定。但这里还有一个不能再久拖的决定：为了确保英国在 2030 年避免出现天然气供应危机，整体规划是什么？
提醒一点，在埃德·米利班德 (Ed Miliband) 领导的能源部门发布的一系列令人不安的报告中，就有一份警告称，如果某个关键设备——比如一个进口终端——在十年之交出现故障，将会对天然气供应产生“潜在风险”。
来自 新征服时代的前线
屡获殊荣且位列《纽约时报》畅销书榜 1 的 《卫报》记者卢克·哈丁 (Luke Harding) 为您报道 新世界秩序的前线
立即订购可节省 20% 访问 guardianbookshop.com/guardianbookshop.com/betrayal
关键的 725 英里 Langeled 管道 （来自挪威）——若在严寒期间 停止运行。 “在极少数情况下，如果 最大的单体天然气基础设施丢失， 在 2030-31 年，所有路径的天然气供应 都将低于需求，”政府内部顾问 国家能源系统运营商 (Neso) 的报告中这样说道。 虽然可能性较低——但风险不能靠愿望来消除。
现在，英国天然气公司的所有者 Centrica 发出警告， 称除非能与政府达成一项长期财务支持协议 以支持 £2bn 的扩建，否则将关闭其 位于约克郡海岸的 Rough 天然气储存设施。 Rough 是英国最大的此类设施， 尽管 Centrica 已经发出了一段时间的严厉警告， 但这次显然是认真的。 该公司已设定了一个关闭日期——明年四月—— 前提是没有达成协议。 该公司甚至没有在今年冬季向 Rough 注入天然气。
“我认为这 [Rough] 对英国的能源安全至关重要，” Centrica 首席执行官克里斯·奥谢 (Chris O’Shea) 昨天表示。 “我认为如果允许其关闭将是不利的， 这就是为什么现在这实际上是一个政府决策。 我们经常听到有人说这是 Centrica 的商业决定。 这显然是不真实的。”
在商业观点上，奥谢显然是正确的。 储存的经济效益依赖于低买高卖， 但如今冬夏价差往往更窄。 霍尔木兹海峡关闭造成的混乱 对 Centrica 有利， 使其在半年内于 Rough 获得了 £57m 的顶线利润， 但去年它几乎损失了同样多的金额。 在没有某种形式的监管回报的情况下， 这不能成为批准 £2bn 投资的基础。
Rough 是否是该国正确的储存项目又是另一回事。 业内人士将其称为“一个小吸管的大气球”， 意思是它可以容纳大量气体，但在紧急需要时 提取速度可能较慢。 如果 £2bn 的投资得以实现， 也许这个特性可以通过重新设计来消除。 或者，另一种储存方案可能更理想—— 例如更多的陆上盐穴， 这些盐穴构成了英国其余大部分的储存能力。 或者 Neso 报告中的其他方案在经济上更具优势—— 扩大与欧洲大陆的互联容量， 或建设更多的液化天然气 (LNG) 进口终端（英国仅有 3 个）。 或者将这些方案结合起来。
北海天然气生产的未来对于这场辩论也并非无关紧要。 该盆地可能处于长期衰退中，但衰退率至关重要 （仅 Jackdaw 一项就将占国内产量的 6%）。 如果天然气系统运营商知道资源在途， 那么这就是一种“代理储存”。
重点在于需要一个统一的战略。天然气仍然
国内供暖的天然气 需求转型将较为缓慢， 因为有 2400 万个家庭 连接了天然气管道
根据政府统计数据，2024年天然气在英国总能源需求中的占比为 35%。即便随着可再生能源的推广，到 2030 年用于发电的天然气需求几乎消失，但由于有 2,400 万个家庭连接了天然气管道，家庭供暖对天然气的需求转移速度将会更慢。
因此，法恩布莱 (Fahnbulleh) 面临的短期问题是，是否向 Centrica 公司支付费用以在今年冬天填满 Rough 储气库。支持该方案的理由是，英国在寒冷月份通常依赖的欧洲大陆储气量预计在霍尔穆兹海峡中断后将处于低位。这存在价格飙升的风险，而一个更充盈的 Rough 储气库可能会缓解这一局面。
长期问题则是决定 2030 年天然气来源的整体战略。储气问题至关重要，北海生产政策同样关键。人们强烈感觉到，这两点到目前为止一直被回避。
政府对其自身“转型中的天然气系统”审查的临时回应将在几周内出炉。随后必须做出真正的选择，因为无论增加连接管线、增加接收站还是增加储气能力，这些项目一旦需要，都无法快速建成。与此同时，那种供应紧缺的“潜在风险”，据推测，可能已经进一步显现。
中东危机的最新威胁 使石油市场再次陷入动荡
中东危机本周开启了新的战线，导致全球能源价格再度飙升，并引发市场担忧油价可能触及每桶 $120。
在短短几天内，布伦特原油价格上涨了 13% 以上，在也门胡塞武装将目标对准通过曼德海峡 (Bab al-Mandab strait) 的沙特石油出口后，油价于昨日突破了每桶 $ 100 大关。
这一事态发展正值通过霍尔木兹海峡 (strait of Hormuz) 的航运业尝试缓慢复苏之际。此前，这种复苏曾助力油价回归危机前水平，在本月初低至 $71；但随着美国与伊朗停火协议的崩溃，这一进程已陷入停滞。
咨询公司 Rystad Energy 的地缘政治分析主管 Jorge León 警告称，曼德海峡（位于阿拉伯半岛与非洲之角之间的水道）的任何干扰，都将威胁到海湾石油出口为绕过霍尔木兹封锁而保留的少数几条路径之一。
León 表示：“如果停火未能实现，且霍尔木兹海峡在很大程度上保持关闭，同时胡塞武装对红海航运的威胁加剧，那么油价大幅反弹的风险将非常之大。”
发生了什么？ 最新的局势升级始于胡塞武装周一向航运公司发送的一封电子邮件，警告他们不要在沙特港口装卸货物，否则将面临在胡塞武装触及范围内的“任何地点”被攻击的风险。
这一受德黑兰支持的组织控制着也门首都及其沿曼德海峡的西北部领土。次日，该组织重申了其威胁，并声称至少有六艘船只因此改变了航向。
去年，通过红海南入口的贸易路线每天运输约 4.1m 桶原油和精炼石油产品，约占全球总量的 5%，而曾经通过霍尔木兹海峡的量占全球石油供应的 20%。
但在 2 月底美国和以色列对伊朗发动出其不意袭击后的几个月里，通过曼德海峡的运输量大幅激增，因为该通道已成为沙特阿拉伯海量原油出口的关键替代路线。
利雅得开始将其石油通过从靠近海湾的阿布卡伊格 (Abqaiq) 加工厂延伸至西海岸延布 (Yanbu) 出口码头的管道进行分流，实际上将其通常出口至全球市场的约 75% 经由红海运输。Rystad Energy 的船舶跟踪数据显示，在延布的出口量中，每天约 2.5m 桶石油向南通过曼德海峡，运往印度和中国等远程市场的客户。
在加沙战争期间，由于胡塞武装的袭击导致全球许多最大的航运公司采用替代路线，通过该海峡的流量一度崩溃。据了解，在最初的干扰开始近三年后的今年夏天，这些公司正考虑回归，但升级的海湾危机使此类计划化为泡影。
[[IMG_XXXX]] （地图标注：海湾 The Gulf、阿布卡伊格 Abqaiq、沙特阿拉伯 Saudi Arabia、霍尔木兹海峡 Strait of Hormuz、红海 Red Sea、也门 Yemen、曼德海峡 Bab al-Mandab strait、苏伊士运河 Suez canal、埃及 Egypt）
这对油价意味着什么？ 自从美国与伊朗的和平谈判破裂，且特朗普宣布停火“结束”以来，布伦特原油基准价格已上涨了四分之一以上。
[[IMG_XXXX]] （图表：霍尔木兹海峡每日过境量。按行驶方向划分，数据截至 19 Jul 2026。• 向东 • 向西。28 Feb：战争开始。2026 年 2 月、3 月、4 月、5 月、6 月、7 月。来源：劳合社智能 (Lloyd’s List Intelligence)。注：可追踪的 10,000 载重吨以上货运船舶过境。28 Feb 后的数据包含秘密过境 (Dark transits)）
至每桶 $ 100 以上，使市场有望在 3 月（即霍尔穆兹海峡封锁的第一个月）以来获得最大单月涨幅。华盛顿方面仍坚称该海峡处于开放状态，尽管过境流量已减少至极低水平。一名胡塞武装高级官员本周警告称，其对经由曼德海峡出口的沙特原油实施监管，将导致油价“在一次可怕的冲击中飙升至每桶 $200”。在随后的本周一段视频声明中，一名胡塞武装军事发言人将其描述为“以眼还眼”的对等方案，此前他指责利雅得在本月早些时候违反了一项为期四年的停火协议。
伊拉克 伊朗
延布 (Yanbu) 已成为 沙特石油的主要出口枢纽
卡塔尔
东西管线
17 Jun 协议签署
8 Jul 特朗普宣布 停火结束
作为回应，沙特阿拉伯军队警告称，所有胡塞武装针对过境船只的威胁都将“得到迅速且坚决的处理，因为此类威胁公然违反国际法，且属于海盗行为”。根据 Windward 的海事情报数据，至少有 5 艘开往曼德海峡的沙特相关油轮在胡塞武装封锁威胁升级后掉头返回，其中 4 艘装载的是沙特原产货物。此外，据悉一艘发往中国的油轮在离开延布准备通过海峡后也改变了航向。
阿联酋
阿曼
阿拉伯海
500 km
500 miles
来源：全球能源监测站 (Global Energy Monitor)
▲ 呼吁支持胡塞武装运动的也门支持者，该运动威胁要攻击曼德海峡的航运
照片：MOHAMMED HUWAIS / AFP/GETTY IMAGES
不掉头所面临的风险很高。周四，胡塞武装表示他们击中了两艘沙特油轮，随后利雅得的一家新闻社确认其中一艘起火。然而，改变航线意味着高昂的财务成本。完全避开这条水路（全球四分之一的集装箱贸易往返苏伊士运河均经此地）需要绕道非洲好望角。这大约使航程增加一倍，且每次过境预计增加 $2 - $2.5 百万美元的成本。Windward 的一份报告认为，这解释了为什么一些船东仍选择冒险。报告记录到，尽管有胡塞武装的警告，仍有 3 艘沙特相关油轮继续向海峡驶去，而另外 3 艘附近的船只则关闭了发射器。
那么道路燃料和汽油的情况如何？国际能源署负责人表示，全球市场原油供应压力仅是问题的一部分。法提赫·比罗尔 (Fatih Birol) 本周警告称，许多炼油厂已经减产，包括柴油等交通燃料，以避免原油成本飙升。尽管炼油厂对原油需求的降低有助于抑制油价，但却给全球燃料供应带来了更大压力。比罗尔指出，即便在美伊停火期间海湾原油出口有所增加，道路燃料的生产依然疲软：“炼油厂的活动和产品供应的恢复程度不如原油交付，这意味着包括柴油和汽油在内的精炼石油产品市场要比原油市场紧张得多。”高盛集团表示，全球柴油供应一直处于
无论美国与伊朗之间的敌对状态如何，压力依然存在，因为市场高度暴露于中东地区——特别是俄罗斯——炼油厂停工的风险之中，在俄罗斯，乌克兰的无人机袭击已导致炼油能力下降了 80%。RAC 的西蒙·威廉姆斯 (Simon Williams) 本周表示：“就在三周前，我们还在庆祝柴油价格出现有史以来最大的一次月度下跌。”他说，现在的燃料价格正在“像火箭一样飙升”。在过去的两周里，英国加油站的柴油平均价格上涨了近 8 便士，即 5%，达到每升 172.14 便士；而汽油在两周半内上涨了 5 便士，至 155.57 便士，涨幅为 3%。
全球天然气供应也面临令人担忧的影响。比罗尔 (Birol) 表示，虽然美国和加拿大天然气出口的增加帮助抵消了约 70% 通过霍尔木兹海峡损失的波斯湾供应，但在冬季到来之前，随着欧洲买家试图重新填充枯竭的天然气储存设施，供应预计将继续紧张。绿色非政府组织 350.org 的全球运动负责人克莱门斯·杜波依斯 (Clémence Dubois) 表示：“由于重新开放的尝试失败，全球其中一个关键的瓶颈地带仍然关闭。现在，我们看到第二个关键瓶颈地带正处于危急边缘。任何仍然认为依赖化石燃料是安全之举的人，都应该对此感到恐惧。”
T
英联邦运动会 (Commonweath Games) 福克兰群岛 (Falkland Islands) bowler: 旗帜嘲讽 (flag jibe) “令人失望”
1 亿美元对决前 互相叫嚣并进行影武者训练
英国重量级拳击手重返赛场，在备战这场备受瞩目的对决时，将面对无名对手
meeting
Donald McRae
泰森·富里在过去的两年九个月里赢得了一场比赛。与此同时，安东尼·约书亚在过去的两年四个月里仅获得了一次胜利。富里在 4 月以点数击败了笨重的俄罗斯重量级拳击手阿斯兰贝克·马赫穆多夫 (Arslanbek Makhmudov)，而约书亚则在 12 月经历了五个沉闷的回合，最终才全力爆发，击碎了前 YouTuber 杰克·保罗 (Jake Paul) 的下颚。
他们在这一期间的三次败绩在记忆中更为深刻。富里在 2024 年 5 月和 12 月两次输给了奥莱克桑德尔·乌西克 (Oleksandr Usyk)；而约书亚则在同年 9 月的一场令人蒙羞的比赛中，在五个回合内被丹尼尔·杜波依斯 (Daniel Dubois) 四次击倒并最终被 TKO 停止比赛。尽管饱受年龄之苦，且富里再次宣告退役，约书亚也经历了一段创伤性的停赛期，但他们仍计划在 11 月进行一场将产生远超 1 亿美元收益的巅峰对决。
这场在八年前才会最具吸引力的比赛如今开出了惊人的酬金，这意味着这两位英国重量级拳击手将在本周末连续两天面对平庸的对手。他们需要一场没有过度风险的热身赛，以试图去除身上的“铁锈”。
富里首先出战，今晚在泰国。大约 1,500 人将在芭堤雅观看他击败或与 46 岁的波兰职业拳击手马里乌什·瓦赫 (Mariusz Wach) 进行一场美其名曰的实战演练。这场比赛如此低调，以至于不会在电视或任何流媒体平台上直播。富里表示：“这场伟大的比赛将不会直播。它只会在我的热门 Netflix 电视节目《与富里一家在一起》(At Home with the Furys) 第三季中播出。”
在某种程度上，这反而是一种宽慰，因为这场打斗除了给富里提供几个回合面对一个移动缓慢的人肉沙袋的机会外，没有任何戏剧冲突或危险性。瓦赫是一名技术极其有限的拳手，14 年前，他曾挑战弗拉基米尔·克利奇科 (Wladimir Klitschko) 争夺一个版本的世界重量级冠军头衔。他当时一个回合也没赢。
此后，他又输掉了 12 场比赛，其中最具启发性的失败发生在两年前，当时年仅 19 岁的摩西·伊陶马 (Moses Itauma) 在第二回合就将其击停。富里在准备对阵马赫穆多夫的复出赛时在泰国训练，他似乎已经爱上了这个国家。他承诺将今晚这场美其名曰的表演赛的所有收益捐赠给“当地饥饿和无家可归的儿童”。
约书亚的回归则意义深远，因为这标志着他在经历那场发生在圣诞节后不久、导致其好友西纳·加米 (Sina Ghami) 和拉蒂夫·阿约德莱 (Latif Ayodele) 丧生的尼日利亚惨剧受伤后，在情感和心理恢复方面迈出了重要的一步。此前人们怀疑约书亚是否还有意愿重新登台，但他认为自己在擂台上的欲望并未减弱。他准备在明天深夜于吉达与不出名的阿尔巴尼亚重量级拳击手克里斯蒂安·普伦加 (Kristian Prenga) 进行比赛。
卡拉帕斯夺冠，但 波加查车队成员 不幸染病
——他有自己的任务要完成。 他正处于想要 制造大量痛苦的状态”
如果安东尼·约书亚 (Anthony Joshua) 和泰森·富里 (Tyson Fury) 都能在各自的热身赛中获胜，他们最终应当进行对决 盖蒂图片社 (GETTY IMAGES)
“这取决于普伦加 (Prenga)，但同样取决于富里，因为我想赢得一切，”约书亚在谈到本周的重心时说道。“我相信我可以成为无可争议的 [世界重量级冠军]。我依然拥有野心和渴望。让我们继续掷骰子，继续带来娱乐，因为现在是我们的时代。”这些典型的赛前言论被他的推广者们进一步放大。Matchroom 主席巴里·赫恩 (Barry Hearn) 表示：“普伦加很危险，[即使] 我们对他了解不多。但此时的约书亚是一头凶猛的野兽。不要眨眼，期待一场激战。AJ 没有把任何事情视为理所当然，他知道自己有任务要完成，而且他将表现得极其高效。他正处于想要制造大量痛苦的状态。”这位推广者补充道：“AJ 处于一个极佳的状态。在认识他的 14 年里，我认为我从未见过他比现在状态更好——或者在长期目标上如此充满动力。”巴里的儿子、推广公司负责人埃迪 (Eddie) 赞扬了约书亚在经历个人悲剧后的心理坚韧：“每个人都知道发生了什么，对我来说，这是最伟大的回归之一。我知道 AJ 依然保持专业，但我们对他重返拳击场所做出的努力感到无比自豪，99.9% 的人在面对悲伤的心理折磨时都会选择放弃。”Dazn 向订阅用户额外收取 £19.99 的按次付费 (pay-per-view) 费用以观看这场比赛，并在本周发布的宣传材料中将普伦加描述为一名“从未失手的 21-0 击倒艺术家”。虽然普伦加的 20 场胜利全部以停止比赛告终，但更值得关注的是，他输给了乔万尼·奥里艾玛 (Giovanni Auriemma) ——这位荷兰拳手在 10 场职业比赛中仅击败过另一名对手。由于普伦加此前面对的都是无名之辈，因此他似乎是被约书亚的支持者极其谨慎地从默默无闻中挑选出来的。富里周三在泰国以其典型的方式表示，他仍然怀疑与约书亚的对决是否会发生。他强调自己拒绝了明天晚上飞往吉达 (Jeddah) 在场边观战的邀请，并嘲讽约书亚是一个“胆小鬼和没下巴的奇葩”。这是预料之中的富里式虚张声势，无需认真对待。富里与约书亚的这辆“话题列车”本周末不会脱轨——尤其是当如此巨大的资金押注在两场常规热身赛的平安通过上，随后他们最终才会确认这场英国拳击史上最被过度炒作的比赛的日期和场地。
梅赛德斯解决 持续性引擎问题后 拉塞尔态度乐观
吉尔斯·理查兹 (Giles Richards) 匈牙利环道 (Hungaroring)
乔治·拉塞尔 (George Russell) 认为，梅赛德斯已经找到了其引擎的问题，该问题在近期的比赛中损害了他的世界冠军希望，并在比利时大奖赛中起到关键作用导致他被淘汰时，令这位车手愤怒不已。自奥地利大奖赛以来，拉塞尔在连续三场比赛中一直受电能部署问题的困扰，尤其是在银石和斯帕这两个极度依赖能量的赛道上。在上周日的斯帕赛道上，由于他在首圈出弯一号弯时缺乏能量，他感到非常愤怒。这使他容易受到后方车队的攻击，尤其是法拉利赛车迅速将其超越，随后他在进入莱孔布弯 (Les Combes) 时与刘易斯·汉密尔顿 (Lewis Hamilton) 并排，后者轻触了这辆梅赛德斯赛车，导致拉塞尔退出比赛。由于部署问题使他与汉密尔顿并排，他对车队感到愤怒。他的梅赛德斯队友基米·安东内利 (Kimi Antonelli) 最终赢得了比赛，并将他在冠军争夺战中领先拉塞尔的优势扩大到了 50 分。梅赛德斯承认赛车的能量管理存在问题，但也表示当时他们无法确定导致性能不稳定的原因，而这种性能是由作为引擎混合动力电池单元一部分的电子控制系统管辖的。然而，在本周末的匈牙利大奖赛之前，拉塞尔确认他们已经发现并解决了该问题。“我的感觉很好，很高兴电池方面给出了一些积极的答案，现在我们要向前看，”他说道。“这些新型动力单元极其复杂，在代码的校准中嵌入了一些东西，除非……你知道要寻找什么，否则几乎不可能被发现。我很庆幸我们找到了它。斯帕和银石赛道可能恰恰因为赛道特性的原因暴露了这个问题。”在斯帕赛道发生事故后，拉塞尔通过无线电痛斥了他的车队，并坚持认为他的反应是确保车队解决问题的过程的一部分。“我的措辞本可以稍微委婉一点，”他说道。“我对这个问题表达得相当激烈，而最终我们在发现问题的意义上实现了目标。如果你坐在那里不表达任何看法，也许你能发现问题，也许不能，你无法前进。”
自行车 环法自行车赛 (Tour de France)
卡拉帕斯在第 18 赛段强势突围夺冠，而阿联酋航空 XRG 车队（UAE Team Emirates XRG）车手陷入苦战
Jeremy Whittle 奥西耶尔-梅莱特 (Orcières-Merlette)
理查德·卡拉帕斯（Richard Carapaz）在 Tour 德法兰西自行车赛第 18 赛段中夺冠。在这一赛段中，一个由 6 名车手组成的突围小组一路竞速，最终抵达位于奥西耶尔-梅莱特的冬季运动站。然而，目前的焦点在于赛事领跑者塔德伊·波加查（Tadej Pogacar）所属的阿联酋航空 XRG 车队的健康状况，该车队自周一休息日以来一直受到某种病毒的袭击。
在亚当·耶茨（Adam Yates）前往沃伊龙（Voiron）的漫长艰苦赛程之后，波加查的团队因美国队友布兰登·麦克纳尔蒂（Brandon McNulty）的弃赛而进一步削弱，后者在昨天的赛段还剩 21 km 时选择了退出 Tour。
波加查的两名队友蒂姆·韦伦斯（Tim Wellens）和弗洛里安·费尔米什（Florian Vermeersch）在这一赛段中似乎也时而显得吃力，该赛段包含 5 个分级爬坡点，其中包括最后 7 公里的终点冲刺爬坡。
韦伦斯在沃伊龙的赛段起点处表示，队内其他车手也身体不适，并透露自己患有喉咙痛。
考虑到今天和明天在阿普埃兹（Alpe d’Huez）的山顶冲刺，尽管波加查领先第二名雷姆科·埃文波尔（Remco Evenepoel） 4m 32s，但他仍有理由感到担忧。
“我对布兰登无法完赛感到难过。我们将在接下来的两天里观察，但亚当正在好转，明天我们将顺势而为，”波加查说道。“我认为我们可以应对。现在是第三周，所有车队都在承受痛苦。在像今天这样的赛段中，到处都是精疲力竭的人。我们将继续战斗，我相信我们能做到。”
波加查决定将他惯常的黄色短裤更换为黑色，这让人们进一步猜测阿联酋航空 XRG 车队内部疾病的严重程度。不过，麦克纳尔蒂决定停止比赛可能还有其他原因。他在周二进行个人计时赛侦查时被汽车撞击，一直带着伤在比赛。
前环意赛冠军卡拉帕斯在 2024 年曾在附近的超级德沃吕（Superdévoluy）赢得一个山地赛段。在本赛段早些时候，他险些与一名失控的粉丝相撞。这位厄瓜多尔车手从这场赛中惊魂中恢复过来，凭借其标志性的敢作敢为的单人进攻赢得了冠军。
在这个主要热门车手达成休战协议的赛段中，那些在比赛早前尝试突围但失败的人们进行了最后一次争取荣耀的尝试。其中包括由格雷因特·托马斯（Geraint Thomas）率领的 Netcompany Ineos 车队，尽管尝试多次，该队今年尚未赢得任何一个赛段。
时间现在已经不多了，托马斯将这次 Tour 描述为这支英国车队的“艰难时刻”。事实再次证明如此，埃根·贝尔纳尔（Egan Bernal）和泰曼·阿伦斯曼（Thymen Arensman）虽尝试跟进，但未能加入决定性的进攻。最终形成的小组包括卡拉帕斯，以及目前缺席的约纳斯·温格高（Jonas Vingegaard）在 Visma Lease-a-bike 车队的队友马泰奥·约根森（Matteo Jorgenson），还有已经在贝尔福（Belfort）为 Jayco AlUla 赢得赛段冠军的毛罗·施密德（Mauro Schmid）。
然而，卡拉帕斯在 Tour 的中等山地赛段中被证明是一个非常可靠的选手，而且他再次拥有足够的体力在最后几公里拉开与对手的距离。这位 EF Education-Easy Post 车手最终领先施密德和约根森 45 秒。现在所有目光都集中在本周末在令人生畏的阿普埃兹进行的“双重折磨赛”上，而忧心忡忡的波加查在今年第一次显得几乎有些脆弱。
总成绩 整体黄衫 1. T Pogacar (Svn) 64:35:13 2. R Evenepoel (Bel) +4:32 3. I del Toro (Mex) +6:51 山地 圆点衫 1. T Pogacar (Svn) 70pts 2. V Paret-Peintre (Fr) 69 积分 绿衫 1. M Pedersen (Den) 477pts 2. J Philipsen (Bel) 445
▼ 理查德·卡拉帕斯在从沃伊龙到奥西耶尔-梅莱特的赛段中奋力冲向胜利 DARIO BELINGHERI/GETTY IMAGES
今天 赛段 19 Gap ▶ 阿普埃兹 (Alpe d’Huez) 127.9km, 山地赛段 电视直播 TNT Sports 1, 1.15pm 集锦频道 Channel 5, 7pm
“检测中不存在偏见” 普鲁登公开反击
S-S-S 1. 2. 3. 6 32 35 13 4 51 127. 1, 1. 5,
环法自行车赛总监克里斯蒂安·普鲁多姆（Christian Prudhomme）否认了关于偏袒法国车手的指控，并对上周日夜间进行的“特殊”药检采取了坚决的辩护。
在第 18 赛段开始时，普鲁多姆坚称国际检测机构（ITA）的执业方式并未向任何车手倾斜。他在接受《卫报》采访时表示：“我们努力争取建立一个独立的机构，而现在我们做到了。我完全不想干扰他们的工作。我不仅没有被告知情况，而且绝不能被告知。”
普鲁多姆的表态是在巴林-维多利亚车队的马泰伊·莫霍里奇（Matej Mohoric）暗示法国本土希望之星、 19 岁的保罗·塞克萨斯（Paul Seixas）得到了 ITA 的优惠待遇之后做出的。莫霍里奇在周二的一次采访中表示，“能够保证每个人都获得平等对待将是件好事”。
“毕竟，”莫霍里奇说，“我们知道这位在总成绩排名中位置很靠前的法国车手 [塞克萨斯] 并没有接受那次 [夜间] 检测。”
ITA 强调其独立于法国反兴奋剂机构，而普鲁多姆则强调了这种自主性的重要性。
“国际自行车联盟（UCI）已确保现在拥有一个独立的机构 [ITA]，”普鲁多姆说。“我得知检测情况的时间与各位完全一样——或者通常比各位更晚。我事先没有被通知，也不应该被通知。”
上周日凌晨，赛事领跑者塔代伊·波加查（Tadej Pogacar）和竞争对手乔纳斯·温格高（Jonas Vingegaard，后者随后退出了环法赛）分别在凌晨 5 点和 2 点接受了检测。UCI 将这些检测描述为“针对有限且合理情况而保留的‘特殊措施’”。
“ITA 正在履行其受雇完成的工作，”普鲁多姆说道。
杰里米·惠特尔（Jeremy Whittle）报道
在不当行为听证会后被解雇
▲ 安德鲁·考尼什 (Andrew Cornish) 主持了俱乐部历史上一个动荡的时期 在考尼什离职后，俱乐部任命了两名临时接任者
Matt Hughes
米德尔塞克斯首席执行官安德鲁·考尼什在独立纪律小组维持对其不当行为的指控后被解雇。 去年 11 月披露，在米德尔塞克斯收到关于他涉嫌对待一名同事行为的投诉后，考尼什被暂停职务。该投诉已被提交至板球监管机构（Cricket Regulator），这是一个负责相关事务的独立机构。
但在惜败后仍是老样子
Simon Burnton 洛德板球场 (Lord’s)
伦敦精神队 (London Spirit) 在洛德板球场遭遇双败，开启了他们的新时代。尽管他们拥有了新老板、新教练和新球员，但看来结果依然没变。在他们六年的历史中，这已经是第五次在赛季开局遭遇失利。在的一场百球赛 (Hundred) 中，他们以 7 分之差落败，而利亚姆·利文斯通 (Liam Livingstone) 差一点就将这场比赛变成了决定性的胜利。
精神队队长承担了曼彻斯特超级巨人队 (Manchester Super Giants) 局势中最后 25 个球中的 20 个，承担了本应是最沉重的投球压力，并最终以仅失 14. 分地拿下两个 wicket。随后，在球队追逐 139, 分而陷入苦战时，他以 40 球砍下 69 分，使球队在比赛中保持竞争力，直到他在倒数第三次投球时挥拍被桑尼·贝克 (Sonny Baker) 击中三截杆出局。
超级巨人队的多次接球失误和漏接为他们提供了帮助，最显著的一次是利文斯通将球击向深区中点 (deep midwicket)，蒂姆·塞弗特 (Tim Seifert) —— 他的 45 球 67 分最终决定了比赛结果 —— 让球在手中弹起并滚向边界垫，导致对方获得 6 分。但在那个四天前让英格兰队和印度队在一次单日赛 (ODI) 中合共砍下 747 分的球场上，两场比赛的击球手都举步维艰，甚至塞弗特在其中一部分局势中也未能发挥出色。他所在球队的击球表现十分诡异：在前 25 个球中仅获得 26 分并损失一个 wicket，而在最后阶段则仅以 22 分之差就损失了 6 个 wicket。
体育 板球
用于起诉整个体育项目的纪律案件。 米德尔塞克斯（Middlesex）在一份声明中确认了科尼什（Cornish）的离职。“米德尔塞克斯郡板球俱乐部确认，安德鲁·科尼什已于6月被免除俱乐部首席执行官职务，”声明称。 经过调查，监管机构指控科尼什有违规行为，并将此案提交至板球纪律小组（CDP），据悉该三人小组判定其有罪。 这些指控不被视为刑事案件，该案尚未移交给伦敦警察厅。科尼什否认有不当行为，目前正在寻求法律途径。 米德尔塞克斯已任命两名临时首席执行官以填补过去八个月的空缺——分别是 MCC 的首席运营官马赫迪·乔杜里（Mahdi Choudhury），以及前英国自行车协会负责人朱莉·哈林顿（Julie Harrington），后者被认为是接任正式职位的有力竞争者。哈林顿将在下周二的球迷论坛活动上与主席理查德·赛克斯（Richard Sykes）一同首次面对米德尔塞克斯的成员，届时他们可能会提供关于科尼什未来的最新进展。 科尼什于 2020 年加入米德尔塞克斯，担任时任首席执行官理查德·高特利（Richard Goatley）的顾问，在后者次年因健康原因辞职后接替其职位。 他曾任萨默塞特（Somerset）首席执行官。
比分牌
洛德球场超级巨人之队（Lord’s Super Giants）以 7 分击败精神之队（Spirit）。曼彻斯特超级巨人之队 *AK Markram lbw b Milne ...........................................1 TL Seifert c Willey b Coles .........................................67 †JC Buttler b Zampa .................................................16 H Klaasen c Livingstone b Willey ................................17 JL du Plooy b Zampa ...................................................6 TJ Moores run out (Brevis) ..........................................0 LA Dawson b Livingstone ............................................9 GAP Atkinson c Overton v Livingstone .........................6 Noor Ahmad not out ...................................................2 JC Tongue run out (Coles) ...........................................1 Extras (lb10, w3) ......................................................13 Total (for 9, 100 balls)
............................................138 Fall 16, 65, 105, 116, 116, 122, 135, 136, 138. Did not bat S Baker. Bowling Willey 20-7-23-1; Milne 15-9-11-1; Overton 10-5-15-0; Mills 5-1-14-0; Zampa 15-6-27-2; Coles 15-4-24-1; Livingstone 20-10-14-2. 伦敦精神之队 LG Pretorius c Du Plooy b Atkinson ............................12 KS Carlson b Dawson ................................................19 †JEK Rew c Atkinson b Tongue .....................................0 *LS Livingstone b Baker ...........................................69 D Brevis c & b Atkinson ..............................................22 JM Coles c Moores b Baker ...........................................1 J Overton not out .......................................................1 Extras (lb2, nb1, w4) ..................................................7 Total (for 6, 100 balls)
............................................131 Fall 14, 14, 51, 119, 130, 131. Did not bat DJ Willey, AF Milne, A Zampa, TS Mills. Bowling Atkinson 20-12-15-2; Baker 20-9-29-2; Tongue 20-6-26-1; Noor Ahmad 20-6-36-0; Dawson 20-9-23-1. Toss 伦敦精神之队选择先 fielding。裁判 BJ Debenham 和 NJ Llong。
26，而在两局之间，他们以接近每球两分的速度狂飙至 90 分。在 23,847 名观众中，有些人是为了女子比赛而来的，有些是为了男子比赛，还有一些人——大概是因为除此之外他还能在这里做什么，尽管看来极不可能有人会愿意花 £55 的成人票价来观看 20 分钟的比赛间隙表演——是为了 21 世纪初的榜单冠军说唱歌手 Tinie Tempah 而来的。从骑马赛到掷标枪，从被皇家空军 (RAF) 征用，到杰克·利奇 (Jack Leach) 作为测试赛开局击球手拿下 92 分，洛德板球场 (Lord’s) 多年来见证过许多不寻常的景象，而 Tempah 在背后喷气机轰鸣着冲向天空的画面，又是清单上的新一项。
令人欣慰的是，他并没有花太多时间待在那个贴满品牌标志的舞台上，而是更倾向于走进人群，去拥抱那些一脸困惑、大腹便便的白人男性。“他真是，”埃欧因·摩根 (Eoin Morgan) 随后在 Sky 频道上热情地评价道，“太精彩了。”
这或许不是 Tempah 在 16 年前《Pass Out》横扫榜单时所预想的未来，但他以获胜者的热情拥抱了这一刻。
对于伦敦精神队 (London Spirit) 的女队来说，与其说是《Pass Out》（通过/通过），不如说是“挂科并出局”，尽管她们的开局非常漂亮，格蕾丝·哈里斯 (Grace Harris) 将首球击出四分球。但好运也就到此为止了：到强力击球期 (powerplay) 结束时，她们仅得 23 分且失四球，不得不将目标调整为仅仅是生存。
最终她们未能实现生存，在面对 91 个球后被全部击出，仅得 80 分。在女子百分赛 (Hundred) 历史上，还没有球队成功守住 106 分以下的低分，而精神队看起来完全不像是第一个能做到的人。超级巨星队 (Super Giants) 仅用 59 个球便轻松达到获胜分数，以 7 个三柱门之差获胜；佩吉·肖菲尔德 (Paige Scholi eld) 在连续面对乔西·格罗夫斯 (Josie Groves) 的两次投球中分别击出四分和六分球，带领球队冲过终点线，并在此过程中以 22 分成为该场比赛的最高得分者。
郡板球俱乐部，他于 2019 年被该职位免职，以及曼彻斯特机场集团 (Manchester Airports Group)。康尼什 (Cornish) 主持了米德尔塞克斯 (Middlesex) 历史上动荡的一段时间，其特点是巨大的财务损失以及与戈特利 (Goatley) 的法律斗争，后者在一场人身伤害诉讼中起诉该俱乐部要求赔偿 £1m 以上。
米德尔塞克斯队因违反财务规定（包括滥用中央资金）而于 2023 年 9 月被英格兰和威尔士板球委员会处以扣分缓刑并罚款 £50,000。
此外，在 2024 年 6 月有人对另一名高级员工提出投诉后，该俱乐部被板球监管机构指控行为不当，但最终被 CDP 裁定无罪。监管机构此前指控米德尔塞克斯违反了 ECB 指令 3.3 —— 即“不当行为或可能损害板球利益的行为，或可能使 ECB、板球运动或任何板球运动员或板球运动员群体名誉受损”的行为。康尼什拒绝发表评论。
▲ 索尼·贝克 (Sonny Baker) 在最后一局庆祝利亚姆·利文斯通 (Liam Livingstone) 出局 ALEX BROADWAY/ECB/GETTY IMAGES
足球
欧联杯 (EUROPA LEAGUE) 第二轮资格赛：首回合 贝西克塔斯 1 米尔特兰 0； 基辅迪纳摩 2 塞萨洛尼基 PAOK 3；哈伊杜克-斯普利特 2 巴福斯 0； 哈马比 1 安德莱赫特 1；卡拉巴赫 0 索菲亚中央陆军 0； 谢里夫 0 特拉维夫马卡比 5；圣加伦 2 本菲卡 1； 特罗姆瑟 0 赫拉德茨-克拉洛韦 1；特温特 1 费伦茨瓦罗斯 2
欧协联 (CONFERENCE LEAGUE) 第二轮资格赛：首回合 马利舍瓦 (1) 2 希伯尼安 (0) 0 Uka 21, Nafiu 90
马瑟韦尔 (Motherwell) (1) 2 HB 托尔斯港 (HB Tórshavn) (0) 0 Moormann 15 Fadinger 57
AEK 拉尔纳卡 0 比塔耶路撒冷 1；阿拉什克特 1 CFR 克卢日 1； Aluminij 1 迪纳摩城市 1；BATE 1 锡永 1；博拉茨班尼亚卢卡 3 Petrocub 0；Bravo 2 什肯迪亚 1；DAC 1904 1 维莱兹莫斯塔尔 0； 德布勒森 1 普尤尼克 0；迪拉戈里 0 阿波隆利马索尔 4；第比利斯 迪纳摩 3 扎尔吉里斯 0；圣科洛马 1 维也纳快速 3；FCSB 2 奥达 3；弗洛拉 1 新圣徒 0；GAIS 1 诺兹谢兰 0； 特拉维夫哈颇尔 2 卢多戈雷茨 0；HJK 5 科莱恩 0； 列帕亚 0 维也纳奥地利 2；切尔卡瑟 LNZ 0 根特 0； 卢加诺 1 杜卡吉尼 0；NSÍ 0 科佩尔 2；派德林纳米斯孔德 1 齐拉 0；帕克斯 1 帕纳辛奈科斯 2；帕内韦齐斯 1 托博尔 1； 贝尔格莱德游击队 4 UNA 斯特拉斯森 0；拉科夫切申斯托霍瓦 3 瓦莱塔 1； RFS 4 韦斯特里 1；里耶卡 1 德里市 0；谢尔本 5 诺梅 卡柳 2；Stjarnan 1 伊尔维斯 0；克卢日大学 2 布兰 2； 瓦杜兹 4 埃斯卡尔德斯体育俱乐部 0；瓦卢尔 1 兹林伊斯基莫斯塔尔 0； 瓦拉日丁 3 亚布洛内茨 2；维捷布斯克 3 苏特耶斯卡 0； 伏伊伏丁那 1 Ajax 4；日托米尔 3 哥本哈根 3； 兹林 2 GKS 卡托维采 1；津布鲁 1 诺亚 1
BETFRED 超级联赛 赫尔 FC 20 赫尔 KR 34
首场男子 T20 国际赛 哈拉雷 津巴布韦 125-7。印度 126-3 (V Sooryavanshi 50)。 印度以 7 个三柱门击败津巴布韦。
首场女子一日国际赛 汉班托塔 斯里兰卡 210-9。巴基斯坦 211-5 (Gull Feroza 78, Sidra Amin 57)。巴基斯坦以 5 个三柱门击败斯里兰卡。
地铁银行一日杯男子赛 内特尔沃思 沃里克郡 282 (GHS Garton 117, ER Bamber 50)。诺丁汉郡 283-7 (K Verreynne 68未出局, FW McCann 62, BT Slater 52)。诺丁汉郡以 3 个三柱门击败 沃里克郡。
THE HUNDRED 女子赛 洛德球场 伦敦精神队 80 (RL MacDonald-Gay 4-17)。 曼彻斯特 86-3。曼彻斯特以 7 个三柱门获胜。
环法自行车赛 第 18 赛段 (Voiron–Orcières-Merlette, 185.2km)：1 R Carapaz (厄瓜多尔) EF Education-EasyPost 4小时 26分 8秒；2 M Schmid (瑞士) Jayco-AlUla +45秒；3 M Jorgenson (美国) Visma | Lease a Bike 同时间；4 V Paret-Peintre (法国) Soudal Quick-Step +1:14；5 T Halland Johannessen (挪威) Uno-X Mobility +1:57； 6 R García Pierna (西班牙) Movistar +2:12；7 P Castrillo (西班牙) Movistar +4:30；8 L Martinez (法国) Bahrain Victorious +4:35； 9 R Evenepoel (比利时) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe；10 T Pidcock (英国) Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling 两者同时间。 其他选定选手：60 B Healy (爱尔兰) EF Education-EasyPost +16:23；81 J Tarling (英国) Netcompany Ineos Cycling +20:01；102 A Yates (英国) UAE Team Emirates-XRG +28:55 。 总成绩领先排名：1 T Pogacar (斯洛文尼亚) UAE Team Emirates- XRG 64小时 35分 0秒；2 R Evenepoel (比利时) +4分 32秒； 3 I del Toro (墨西哥) UAE Emirates-XRG +6:51；4 P Seixas (法国) Decathlon CMA CGM +7:11；5 J Ayuso (西班牙) Lidl-Trek +9:22； 6 M Skjelmose (丹麦) Lidl-Trek +10:14；7 L Martinez (法国) Bahrain Victorious +12:50；8 T Pidcock (英国) Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling +12:58；9 J Jegat (法国) TotalEnergies +14:04； 10 R Carapaz (厄瓜多尔) EF Education-EasyPost +21:00。
苏格兰女子公开赛 (Gailes, Ayrshire) 首轮领先成绩 (除非另有说明，均为英国和爱尔兰选手)： 66 L Coughlin (美国)；J Shin (韩国)。67 Kim A-l (韩国)。 69 L Pettersson (瑞典)。70 A Nordqvist (瑞典)；E Henseleit (德国)；M Yamashita (日本)；E Hara (日本)。71 P Anannarukarn (泰国)；J Lopez (西班牙)；D Darquea (厄瓜多尔)；P Tavatanakit (泰国)； C Wannasaen (泰国)。72 L Maguire；N Guseva (俄罗斯)；N Korda (美国)；C Iwai (日本)；J Bae (美国)；A Doherty (美国)；B Do (美国)。 73 P Roussin-Bouchard (法国)；A Utama (泰国)；N Broch Estrup (丹麦)；M de Roey (比利时)；Yoon I (韩国)；A Yubol (泰国)； Chun I-g (韩国)；Y Wilson (美国)；张婉莹 (中国)；R Zhang (美国)；R O’Toole (美国)；A Jutanugarn (泰国)。
赛程表
橄榄球联盟 Betfred 超级联赛 韦克菲尔德 v 卡斯尔福德 (8pm)；威根 v 圣海伦斯 (8pm) Betfred 锦标赛 唐卡斯特 v 巴特利 (7.30pm)；温兹内斯 v 索尔福德 (7.30pm) 板球 (除非另有说明，否则均为 11am) Metro Bank 一日杯（男子组） A 组 肯特 v 诺丁汉郡，坎特伯里；萨默塞特 v 格洛斯特郡，汤顿；萨里 v 莱斯特郡，吉尔福德 (2pm)。B 组 达勒姆 v 萨塞克斯，河畔 (1.30pm)；格拉摩根 v 约克郡 (内斯)；汉普郡 v 密德尔塞克斯 (Utilita Bowl)；伍斯特郡 v 德比郡，伍斯特 The Hundred（男子组） 伯明翰 v 特伦特，埃奇巴斯顿 (6.30pm) The Hundred（女子组） 伯明翰 v 特伦特，埃奇巴斯顿 (3pm)
格雷格·伍德的赛马预测
Uttoxeter 1.40 Trouville 2.10 Iolaos Du Mou 2.40 Mayday Games 3.15 Jo Arengeot Bey A A 3.50 Victoria Milano 4.25 Pike Road 5.00 Ice Jet 5.35 Sparkling Water Thirsk 2.00 Diamond New Bay 2.30 Blessed Voyager 3.05 Lady Dublin 3.40 Tupero 4.18 Zooella 4.53 Sixty Plus 5.27 Sunlit Sea Ascot 2.20 Ash Tree 2.55 Gymbaazy 3.30 Fireblade 4.05 Al Azd 4.40 Illy’s Roo (nb) 5.12 Killavia Sandown 5.15 Mrembo 5.47 Not My Type 6.20 Appier 6.55 Hot And Cold 7.30 Cristo 8.05 Norfolk Blue Chepstow 5.18 Absolute Diamond 5.52 Temple Court 6.26 Prefer The Sister 7.01 Eutropia 7.36 Knightmare 8.11 So Smart 8.46 Midnight Media York 5.32 Orne 6.05 Talismans Time 6.40 The First Drop 7.15 Ingleby Archie (nap) 7.50 Diamond Rain 8.25 Dolos Dream
(7. 1. 6.)
体育 足球
O
▼ 安多尼·伊拉奥拉在带领伯恩茅斯首次闯入欧洲赛场后，接任利物浦主帅 ADAM VAUGHAN/EPA 伊拉奥拉将团队精神放在首位： “当我们不自私时， 事情才会顺利”
利物浦新任主教练利用芝加哥季前赛，在阿尔内·斯洛特执教期间引发不安后，重新塑造红军的身份认同
Andy Hunter 芝加哥
在利物浦位于芝加哥的豪华酒店里，一边喝着咖啡，安多尼·伊拉奥拉阐述了他关于巴斯克和西班牙教练取得惊人成功的理论。这一理论将塑造他在利物浦主教练任职期间的整个生活方式，以及他试图将联系、快乐和信念带回安菲尔德的努力。其核心在于集体的力量。欧冠、英超、欧联杯、足总杯、联赛杯、欧洲杯，以及从周日开始的世界杯：目前全部掌握在巴斯克和西班牙教练手中，即便佩普·瓜迪奥拉已经离开了曼彻斯特城。下个赛季，来自吉普斯夸（Gipuzkoa）这个巴斯克小地区的四个人将执教英超的主要竞争者中的四支球队，除了米克尔·阿尔特塔、哈比·阿隆索和乌奈·埃梅里，还包括伊拉奥拉。伊拉奥拉认为，吉普斯夸人的崛起以及西班牙在全球舞台上的主导地位有一个简单的解释。
“人们问我，为什么很多巴斯克教练能达到这个水平，以及为什么西班牙球队能赢得这么多荣誉，”伊拉奥拉解释道。“我总是说，集体意识非常重要。西班牙从未拥有最顶尖的运动员。如果你分析游泳、拳击、田径，西班牙通常不赢奖牌。但在集体运动中，他们非常出色。在足球、篮球、手球、曲棍球中，他们通常拥有很强的球队。我们始终将团队放在首位。罗德里就是一个例子。他没有进球也没有助攻，但最终他们赢得了世界杯，而他赢得了赛事最佳球员。‘团队至上’一直融入在我们的成长过程中。”
尽管在利物浦美国季前巡回赛开始时深受时差困扰，但伊拉奥拉依然热情友好，随后他立刻举了一个他如何体现这些价值观的例子。有人问到他在 2014 年 1 月发给利物浦的一封信，当时他作为青梅竹马的俱乐部毕尔巴鄂竞技的队长，拒绝了加盟布伦丹·罗杰斯球队的机会。据各方描述，这封信非常有礼貌且带有歉意，而且极其罕见，揭示了伊拉奥拉性格中深刻的一面。对于一名想要赢得新球迷支持的新主教练来说，这是一个毫无难度且能自我宣传的问题。但伊拉奥拉拒绝得分为此机会。
在长时间的停顿后，他说：“我不知道我想不想在来到这里的职业生涯如此之早的时候就讲述这个故事。我想先赢几场比赛。这是一个不错的故事，但如果你在几个月后还记得我，到时候可以再问我。我不喜欢从一开始就这样做。我只是不想这么做。那样看起来就像我在自我推销。我们需要一些时间，并赢得一些比赛。”
伊拉奥拉的观点令人耳目一新——谈到自己的角色时，他说“不要成为主角”——这也是利物浦能够轻易认同的一点。在继续探讨西班牙集体意识这一主题时，他补充道：“我认为社会中必须存在某种东西。这不能仅仅关乎足球。我认为当我们不自私时，事情才会顺利，不是吗？当你……”
“优先考虑那些弱势者的处境。足球中也是如此。那些没有上场机会的人，那些来自青训营的人，以及那些薪水较低的人。你可以将其与社会进行类比。”但，考虑到伊拉奥拉（Iraola）希望实现的目标，这里必须说到一个“但是”：在利物浦上赛季，由于阿恩·斯洛特（Arne Slot）的统治期在更衣室和看台的愤怒氛围中瓦解，球队几乎没有展现出团结的迹象。个人权力占据了主导，而团队力量则显得次要。穆罕默德·萨拉赫（Mohamed Salah）频繁试图削弱他那位曾率队夺冠的前主教练，并非上赛季这种情况的唯一例子。
“我无法改变球员的个性，”伊拉奥拉说。他将于明天在纳什维尔对阵桑德兰时，首次以利物浦主教练的身份执教。“有些球员与我非常不同，但他们是伟大的球员。我不想改变每个人，也不想改变他们认为的最佳方式。但我认为在这项运动中，我们需要集体思考。作为一名球员，你总是自私的。你总是想上场，总是想刷数据，总是想踢满全场，但我认为必须达成一种共识，即这种情况并非总能发生，而我依然必须为队友和球队提供帮助。”
“我们要做的第一件事是尝试踢好比赛，但这不仅仅关乎踢得好。支持者必须对他们在场上看到的东西产生认同感。有时，这不仅仅是在球门的死角里精准地射入一球。很多时候，观看比赛的人虽然做不到那样，但他们可以奔跑，可以争抢球权，可以施压，可以在每一种局面下战斗到最后一线；当他们从球队球员身上看到这一点时，会更容易支持这支球队。我会鼓励我的球队给他们这些东西。”
尽管迈克尔·爱德华兹（Michael Edwards）——直到最近仍是俱乐部所有者芬威体育集团（Fenway Sports Group）的足球首席执行官——做出了最大努力，但伊拉奥拉在 12 年前从未接近加盟利物浦。这位前右后卫承认：“我其实从未真正想过离开毕尔巴鄂竞技（Athletic Club）。对我来说，毕尔巴鄂竞技就是我想在的地方。离开的唯一方式就是去美国职业足球大联盟（MLS）[加盟纽约城足球俱乐部]，尝试完全不同的东西。我不想给俱乐部带来麻烦。”
然而，这位 44 岁的教练确实在他童年的俱乐部和现在的新俱乐部之间看到了相似之处。
他解释道：“这是世界上最伟大的俱乐部之一，在某种程度上，与毕尔巴鄂竞技的对比可能并不公平，但在很多方面，我看到了很多相似之处。这种归属感，以及一种略显特立独行地感觉。此外，还有与青训球员的联系。以及安菲尔德球场的氛围。”
在上周于利物浦举行的官方亮相仪式上，伊拉奥拉表示他打算让自己沉浸在这座城市中，并为旅游景点“拍一些照片”。事实上，他已经这么做了。在他效力于毕尔巴鄂竞技的球员时代，他曾多次访问这座城市，原因非常简单。
“因为这里的航班连接最方便，”他笑着说，“最好的中转地是曼彻斯特和布鲁塞尔。”
“而且有时我们只有两三天时间，所以最重要的是快速地去某个地方。我记得第一次去利物浦时，那里已经布置成了圣诞市场，所以大概是在11月的国际比赛日期间。那时我们还没有孩子，所以说的是很多年前的事了，但那是我和妻子共度的一段美好时光。”
对于伊拉奥拉及其现在多了两个孩子的家庭来说，今年夏天没有度假。“我在5月底孩子们的期中假期间回家待了一周，”他说，“那是赛季结束之后。我大部分时间都在伯恩茅斯，但我也去了几次利物浦，去处理学校和住房的问题。这些是我在正式开始工作前想要完成的事情。”
伊拉奥拉将他在伯恩茅斯度过了令人印象深刻的三年后离开的过程描述为“非常、非常干净”，并声称他直到上赛季结束、俱乐部首次进入欧洲赛场后才开始考虑下一步。成为斯洛特继任者的过程“实际上相当快”。他说：“老实说，确实有几家俱乐部在和我接触 [米兰、勒沃库森和水晶宫都表达了意向]。我想是在赛季结束后的第一或第二周。但事情进展很快。他们联系了我，而我这次答应利物浦并没有花太多时间。”
利物浦球迷花不了太长时间就为他们的新主教练创作了一首赞歌。这首歌采用了克里斯蒂·摩尔 (Christy Moore) 的《Viva la Quinta Brigada》的曲调（该曲写于西班牙内战期间，纪念反抗佛朗哥法西斯军队的爱尔兰志愿者），在6月伊拉奥拉被任命后的几天内便迅速走红。当被告知此事时，他显得十分惊讶，在喝第二杯咖啡时几乎语塞。
“一首新歌？”伊拉奥拉难以置信地问道。“对我来说这是一个奇怪的情况，因为我一直认为足球是关于球员的。刚来到英国时，我记得前几场比赛结束后，我没有和球员一起去向支持者鼓掌。汤米和肖恩 [埃尔菲克和库珀，随伊拉奥拉从伯恩茅斯来到利物浦的助手] 说我也应该加入。在西班牙，通常你会把这件事交给球员；他们才是参与比赛的人，而我们是留在后方的人。在英国，主教练会走向球迷，所以我每次都这么做了。”
“当你来到一个新联赛时，这些是你必须学习的文化事物。但我总是说，我们是球员的助手。他们才是核心部分。我们的主要任务是帮助他们，而他们是唯一能给我们带来成功的人。我们并不像他们那样重要，这一点很明确。”
Kop看台的球迷可能会质疑这一理论，但他们不会质疑伊拉奥拉关于集体力量（如果恢复到全功率运转）的看法。
及阿森纳签下措利斯
John Brewin Louise Taylor Jamie Jackson
随着维拉公园球场继续经历一个变革的夏天，阿斯顿维拉已确认租借签下切尔西边锋亚历杭德罗·加纳乔 (Alejandro Garnacho)。
关于加纳乔整个赛季租借的交易包括一项有条件的买断义务。该球员去年8月在一次价值 £40m 的交易中从曼彻斯特离开加入切尔西。预计维拉将为加纳乔支付类似的费用，尽管他在各项赛事中出场 43 场并打入8球，但未能给斯坦福桥球场留下深刻印象。
在被告知在新任主教练哈维·阿隆索 (Xabi Alonso) 麾下无法保证定期出场时间后，这名 22 岁的球员获准离开斯坦福桥。按照预先安排，加纳乔在切尔西球员返回参加季前训练时并未报到。
“我们对亚历杭德罗感到非常高兴，”维拉主教练乌奈·埃梅里 (Unai Emery) 表示，“他才华横溢，年轻，并且向我们表达了协助我们计划的愿望。我们真的非常开心。”
势不可挡且 是冠军”
接回页
将这家俱乐部向前推进。”安德森的崛起速度很快，他最近一次的英格兰国家队首秀是在去年 9 月的一场 2-0 战胜安道拉的比赛中。这位出生于泰恩赛德的球员在纽卡斯尔开始其职业生涯，随后在 2024 年 7 月以 £35m 的价格加盟森林队，他认为未来还有更多可能。“我才 23, 所以我有足够的时间达到我的最佳水平，我绝对认为我还没有达到那个阶段，”他说道。该交易在三周前达成，并在球员参加完世界杯返回后于本周最终敲定。安德森签署了直到 2031 年的合同，并且是自从恩佐·马雷斯卡接替佩普·瓜迪奥拉担任主教练以来，曼城的首个重大签约。他期待着
▼ 亚历杭德罗·加纳乔是 乌奈·埃梅里在这个夏季转会窗 签下的第三名球员 NEVILLE WILLIAMS/A VILLA/GETTY
维拉在签下约翰·曼赞比和若昂·戈梅斯之后，完成了今夏的第三次签约，这依然是通过一条熟悉的贸易路线实现的。本周将摩根·罗杰斯送往切尔西的 £117m 交易延续了两家俱乐部之间的转会趋势，其中包括卡尼·丘库埃梅卡和奥马里·凯利曼在 2022 年和 2024 年加盟切尔西，伊恩·马岑在 2024 年反向加盟，以及阿克塞尔·迪萨西在 2025 年短暂租借至维拉。 阿森纳完成了从布鲁日俱乐部以 £34m 签下克里斯托斯·措利斯的交易。这位 24 岁的希腊国脚与这家英超冠军俱乐部签署了一份为期五年的合同，在比利时球员列安德罗·特罗萨德转会至贝西克塔什后，他作为接替者到来。 措利斯在酋酋球场——这是阿森纳今夏的第三次永久转会——的加盟，发生在俱乐部错过罗杰斯 48 小时之后。罗杰斯以打破英国纪录的费用加盟切尔西，并将他的新雇主描述为“伦敦最大的俱乐部”。 措利斯在为布鲁日俱乐部出战的 108 场比赛中攻入 43 球，并在 12 月该比利时俱乐部 3-0 负于米克尔·阿尔特塔率领的球队的欧冠比赛中登场。
与这位意大利教练共事。“在过去的几年里我一直在观看他的球队，并与几个来自切尔西的小伙子聊过，他们对他评价都非常高，”安德森说。“我喜欢在比赛中保持高强度，在球场上投入大量能量并带动球迷。所以，我认为这将是一件好事。” 两年前离开曼城的凯文·德布劳内是安德森的偶像。“在纽卡斯尔的青训营成长过程中，我一直
纽卡斯尔准备将阿拉吉·班巴作为他们今夏的第四名签约球员。这位 20 岁的摩纳哥中场球员昨日抵达泰恩赛德，此前他以 £34m 的价格从这家法甲球队转会。如果一切顺利，班巴将成为埃迪·豪在本转会窗签下的第四位 20 岁或以下球员。这位法国 Under-20 中场——上赛季为摩纳哥一线队出战 25 场——将与前兰斯门将埃文·贾温（20 岁）、前霍芬海姆边锋巴祖马纳·图雷（20 岁）以及前阿贾克斯中场肖恩·斯图尔（18 岁）一同加入。鉴于他更倾向于担任 No 6, 班巴被视为意大利中场桑德罗·托纳利的接替者，后者在一笔初始金额为 £92.5m 的交易中从纽卡斯尔转投热刺。曼联已将皇家马德里的爱德华多·卡马文加和富勒姆的桑德·贝格确定为中场签约目标，以进一步增强迈克尔·卡里克率领的阵容。
联合队在本转会窗口已经签下了两名中前卫：以 £48m 的交易从切尔西引进的安德烈·桑托斯，以及以 £35m 从阿斯顿维拉引进的尤里·蒂莱曼斯。但由于卡塞米罗已经离队，且曼努埃尔·乌加特因膝盖韧带受伤可能需要长期缺阵，俱乐部正考虑再引进一名中前卫。据信卡马文加倾向于留在皇马，但这家西班牙俱乐部为了给罗德里腾出空间，可能会考虑出售这名法国球员。据悉，这位 23 岁且合同还剩三年的球员并未入选法国队世界杯名单，他拥有 €1bn 的解约金，但皇马愿意听取 €50m 到 €60m（£42.7m 到 £51.2m）之间的报价。诺丁汉森林与奥地利国脚克萨弗·施拉格签下了一份为期两年的合同。这位 28 岁的球员在 RB 莱比锡度过了过去四个赛季后加盟城市球场，并成为主教练奥利弗·格拉斯纳到任后的首位签约球员。哈里森·贝托尼已从维冈加盟切尔西，合同有效期至 2030 年。这位 18 岁的进攻型中前卫也可以担任前锋。
“我想像他那样踢球，”安德森说，“我一直关注着他，而现在能在这个他曾经效力的球队中坐在这里，感觉非常特别。” 安德森在上赛季英超联赛中在触球最多（3,300 次）、赢得对抗最多（297 次）以及赢得球权（306 次）方面均排名第一。“我认为我能带来全方位的贡献。我能带来质量、身体对抗和能量，”他说。“我想我会让（曼城的）支持者们感到兴奋，让他们兴奋地站起来，并给球队注入能量。” 安德森在 2022 年曾租借到布里斯托尔流浪者队半个赛季，并在支持者中被誉为“乔迪-马拉多纳”。“这是他们开始这么叫的，而且在我去过的每个地方基本都传开了，”他说。“这让我很开心，也给了我真正的信心。” 在回顾世界杯时，安德森补充道：“虽然结果令人失望，但就个人而言，我很享受这次经历。全国人民都支持我们，我们表现得很好，只是差了一口气。从个人角度来看，我觉得自己表现得相当不错。”
简讯
罗德里背部伤势 可能需要手术
罗德里（Rodri）可能因背部伤势面临较长时间的缺阵，且该伤势可能需要手术。这位 30 岁的曼彻斯特城中场核心在经历了两个伤病缠身的赛季后，在世界杯上恢复了最佳状态。在周日于新泽西州举行的决赛中，罗德里率领西班牙队 1-0 击败阿根廷队，并凭借在赛事中的最佳球员表现获得了金球奖。然而，他现在可能需要针对背部问题进行手术，这将导致他无法参加新赛季的开赛。此次背部受伤发生之时，这位西班牙球员在曼城的未来也充满不确定性，他的合同将于明年 6 月到期。与此同时，利兹联正就签下詹姆斯·特拉福德（James Trafford）进行深入讨论，转会费预计在 £50m 左右。这位 23 岁的门将去年夏天以 £27m 的身价从伯恩利重返曼城，原以为自己会是首选，但随后在意大利门将吉安路易吉·多纳鲁马（Gianluigi Donnarumma）从巴黎圣日耳曼加盟后，该位置被对方占据。詹米·杰克逊（Jamie Jackson）
上赛季暴力事件 呈上升趋势
上赛季英格兰和威尔士地区向警方报告发生事件的足球比赛数量达到了创纪录的水平。根据内政部的年度报告，在 2025-26 赛季期间，报告有“与足球相关的反社会行为、暴力和混乱”的比赛数量增加了 4%。共有 1,644 场比赛出现了此类报告，高于上一赛季的 1,580 场。保罗·麦金内斯（Paul MacInnes）
克洛普将揭晓为 新任主教练
前利物浦主教练尤尔根·克洛普（Jürgen Klopp）将于今晨正式被确认接任德国国家队主教练。在朱利安·纳格尔斯曼（Julian Nagelsmann）因世界杯表现令人失望——在 32 强赛中通过点球大战被巴拉圭淘汰后辞职时，克洛普是德国足协（DFB）首选的人选。前利物浦助理教练佩普·利因德斯（Pep Lijnders）和彼得·克拉维茨（Peter Krawietz）预计将成为克洛普幕僚团队的一员。PA Media
一场同样带有明显政治色彩的开幕式。 在某个时刻，一个旋转的时钟变成了万花筒，组织者希望借此反映出当人们从工作的枷锁中解脱出来时所经历的转变。在另一环节中，活动访问了格拉斯哥著名的造船厂，屏幕上显示着“人们成就格拉斯哥”的标语。 上一次格拉斯哥在 2014, 举办运动会时，罗德·斯图尔特（Rod Stewart）在汉普登公园球场引领观众尽情摇摆，而紧张的苏珊·博伊尔（Susan Boyle）则忘记了《金特尔角》（Mull of Kintyre）的歌词。 但这一次，必然是一场更加精简的活动。 鉴于本次运动会的预算规模小得多，情况必然如此。与四年前伯明翰举办时的 19 个项目相比，本次仅有 10 个体育项目；与当时的近 5,000 名运动员相比，此次仅有 3,000 名运动员。因此，英联邦运动会不得不相应地缩减开支。 可以理解的是，这意味着开幕式在很大程度上采取了稳妥且保守的方案。那里有 S
格拉斯哥的精简版赛事 正处于生存模式
原主办方维多利亚州称 此次活动是“浪费纳税人的钱”， 但乐观的组织者认为 前景依然光明
Sean Ingle 格拉斯哥
有时，当一个失去意识的人接近死亡时，会出现一种奇怪的医学现象。他们仿佛在毫无征兆的情况下突然爆发出能量。他们重新认出了周围的人。他们开始说出完整的句子。亲属们甚至敢于产生希望。但遗憾的是，这种希望极其短暂。医生将其称为“临终清醒”（terminal lucidity）。而在第 23 届英联邦运动会的开端，人们不禁想到了这一点。
不到三年前，由于原主办方维多利亚州担心损失高达数十亿，实际上支付了 AUS$380m (£19 9m) 以退出比赛，这届运动会一度处于“生命维持状态”。随后，格拉斯哥介入，承办了一次规模更小、成本更低的精简版赛事，参赛项目仅有 10 项，而四年前为 19 项。然而，一个灼热的问题依然存在：这场运动会真的能复兴吗？还是说，我们仅仅是在见证它不可避免的消亡前，短暂的一抹光亮与清醒？
在为期 11 天的体育赛事之初，“格拉斯哥 2026”首席执行官 Phil Batty 情绪乐观。
“这绝对不是英联邦运动会的最后一次谢幕，”他告诉《卫报》，“我们所看到的是，为了维持生存，英联邦运动会所需采取的措施发生了全面的转变，不仅是为了 2030, 而是为了 2034, 2038 以及更远的未来。”
“我们拥有英联邦中一些顶尖的运动员，身处一座热爱体育的城市，以及一个热爱盛事的国家。我们准备好展示新形式的赛事面貌，但这种形式依然保留了使其变得极其特别的所有标志性特征。”
然而，在积极的氛围之下，仍存在着巨大的挑战。尽管赛事规模已经缩减，但大多数活动的门票仍然大量供应。例如，格拉斯哥上一次在 2014, 举办赛事时，田径比赛是在一个拥有 46,000 个座位的汉普登公园球场举行的。而这一次，比赛将在斯科特斯顿体育场举行，该场馆仅能容纳 10,000 多人。尽管如此，几乎每场赛事的门票依然有售。
希望通过免费无线广播观看直播的观众也将感到失望。去年，据报道 TNT Sports 以 £5m 的价格买下了版权——在体育电视节目繁荣的时代，这简直是个微不足道的数目——业内人士称，BBC 开出的价格要低得多。这意味着，BBC 将自 1954 年以来首次不转播该赛事。
至少，观看者们能看到一些明星球员。其中最核心的是新的一英里世界纪录保持者 Josh Kerr。他与世界 1500 米银牌得主 Jake Wightman 以及澳大利亚天才 Cameron Myers 的对决，可能会成为本届运动会最精彩的比赛。在其他项目中，双项奥运蛙泳冠军 Adam Ramsay-Peaty 将冲击双金，而历史最快 50 米游泳选手 Cameron McEvoy 则领衔强大的澳大利亚游泳代表团。
然而，缺席名单同样长且令人心痛。其中包括英国的 Keely Hodgkinson（女子 800 米奥运冠军）、加拿大的游泳天才 Summer McIntosh、男子 100 米世界冠军 Oblique Seville、奥运 200 米冠军 Letsile Tebogo 以及世界 400 米冠军 Collen Kebinatshipi。
之长且令人心痛。 如果顶尖巨星们 都不在乎， 我们为什么要在乎？
以及奥运会女子100米冠军朱利安·阿尔弗雷德。如果许多体育界的顶尖巨星都不在乎英联邦运动会，那么我们为什么要在乎？尽管人们对更光明的未来充满希望，但许多人质疑未来的举办城市在财务数字上是否能够自洽。2022年伯明翰运动会最终成了一场盛大派对，但其留下的持久遗产却是令人作呕的财务宿醉——估计成本高达£778m。与此同时，维多利亚州审计长给出的结论尤为严厉。他们称，英联邦运动会是“对纳税人资金的浪费”，且没有“可察觉的益处”。诚然，印度艾哈迈达巴德已同意举办2030年届运动会，将其作为说服国际奥委会其具备举办未来奥运会能力计划的一部分。但还有多少其他政府愿意在这样一个中端体育赛事上冒风险地使用纳税人的钱？不过，巴蒂并不这么认为。
“这将是一届能与往届运动会并肩的赛事，”他说。“这是一个曾陷入危机、需要重新定义并使其适应未来的赛事。我们创建了一个灵活、相关且整合了残疾人体育的赛事形式。因此，这将是未来许多届都能延续下去的事情。”然而，许多其他人深表怀疑。而且在一个英联邦本身的地缘政治联系已变得松散且更为复杂的世界上，一个由56个迥异国家参加的体育比赛究竟有什么意义？尽管如此，人们以前也曾预言过该赛事的终结，但它依然坚持了下来。本周早些时候，组织者宣布 Simple Minds 乐队将成为闭幕式的明星之选。在接下来的10天里，我们将能更清楚地了解到这届运动会是否依然充满活力。
[[IMG_XXXX]] 澳大利亚拳击队成员在格拉斯哥 Hydro 场馆外热身 LUKAS COCH/ AAP IMAGE
Tardis 塔迪斯，带来 一次“再生”能量
尽管筹备过程充满挑战，但开幕式 营造了愉悦的氛围
Sean Ingle OVO Hydro
格拉斯哥英联邦运动会昨晚开幕，呈现出超现实的一幕：查尔斯国王和卡米拉王后从一个 Tardis（塔迪斯）中走出来——与此同时，一只机械尼斯湖水怪吼出了《苏格兰之花》的前几小节。
Tardis 的出现是对警察亭由苏格兰建筑师吉尔伯特·麦肯齐·特伦奇设计的致敬。但考虑到这场运动会在维多利亚州因财务压力退出后，由格拉斯哥接手才免于被“消灭”，这个《神秘博士》的梗显得格外贴切。
此外，首相安迪·伯纳姆在场观礼，这是他自周一就任以来最重要的公开活动，而这正是
▲ 英格兰队在仪式期间 进入赛场
没有耀眼的烟花表演。最大的音乐之星是 KT Tunstall。而且仪式中超过一半的时间是在庆祝运动员们在几乎坐满的 Hydro 体育馆前进行游行。但观众们依然非常喜爱。当由保龄球明星亚历克斯·“塔蒂”·马歇尔 (Alex “Tattie” Marshall) 带领的苏格兰队身穿苏格兰裙出场时，现场爆发出了当晚最热烈的欢呼声之一。他们挥舞着
▼ 查尔斯国王、卡米拉王后 和克里斯·霍伊爵士 (Sir Chris Hoy) 震撼登场 ANDREW MILLIGAN/PA
手机，跟随着 $\textit{I’m Gonna Be (500 miles)}$ 一起合唱。 而当卡勒姆·比蒂 (Callum Beattie) 演唱 $\textit{Yes Sir, I Can Boogie}$ 时，观众们全部起立，闪闪发光的独角兽在舞台上翩翩起舞，向格拉斯哥的夜生活致敬。 这场演出并不特别奢华，但却很真实。或许这里给安迪·伯纳姆传达了一个信息——他被看到在与王后闲谈，并在音乐间奏时点头示意。做你自己就好。 尽管有人质疑英联邦运动会是否还有未来，但国王在宣布第 23 届运动会开幕时，发表了一番慷慨激昂的演说。 “英联邦是一个独特且非凡的国家大家庭，”他说道。“当我们聚集在一起时，我们庆祝每一位运动员和每个团队的奉献与才华。你们的毅力激励着我们，我们热切期待你们的成就。” 国王还利用火炬接力——该接力将来自 74 个英联邦国家的消息带到了苏格兰——提出了另一个政治观点，强调治理海洋污染的必要性。 “在本次运动会中，接力传递了另一个信息——帮助清除破坏我们海洋和水道、并可能影响人类健康的塑料污染，”他说道。“解决塑料污染是对保护 2030 年前全球 30% 海洋所必需的巨大全球努力的补充。” “关爱海洋的自然资本可以确保我们的社区和企业能够继续繁荣，”他补充道。“而且，通过建立海洋保护区以恢复受威胁的海洋生态系统和减少的鱼类资源，可以增强至关重要的全球食物资源。” 当晚在 KT Tunstall 掌控全场的气氛中落下帷幕，她以激烈的曲风演绎了 $\textit{No Scotland No Party}$，随后无缝衔接到 $\textit{Suddenly I See}$ 以及将苏格兰称为“家”的 $\textit{Home}$。 这让运动员们全部起立并挥舞旗帜——在离开 Hydro 体育馆时带着愉悦的心情。 现在的关键问题是，在接下来的 10 天体育赛事中，这种氛围是否能够持续。这其中牵涉很多——不仅是对运动员而言，也关系到这些运动会本身的未来。
◀ 当晚最热烈的 欢呼声之一 是留给苏格兰队的， 他们身穿 传统苏格兰裙 登场 MANISH SWARUP/AP
阿根廷世界杯横幅
约翰逊-汤普森和 阿舍-史密斯退赛 赛事遭受新打击
Yara El-Shaboury SEC 中心
福克兰群岛的保龄球运动员塞西尔·亚历山大（Cecil Alexander）在英联邦运动会男子单打揭幕战后，称阿根廷的世界杯横幅“令人失望”。
45 岁的亚历山大是在以 10-3, 7-4 的直落两盘比分负于马来西亚前世界第一 Izzat Shameer Dzulkeple 后发表的上述评论。
就在一周多前的男子世界杯上，阿根廷球员在半决赛击败英格兰后，举起了一条写着“Las Malvinas son Argentinas”（马尔维纳斯群岛属于阿根廷）的横幅，以此主张该国对福克兰群岛的所有权。该横幅再次点燃了关于这片南大西洋领土的紧张局势，这片领土在英国被称为福克兰群岛，在阿根廷被称为马尔维纳斯群岛。这一争端导致了 1982 年持续 74 天的福克兰群岛战争，造成 649 名阿根廷人和 255 名英国人死亡。
“当政治与体育混在一起时，这令人失望，”亚历山大说。“我们来到这里是为了竞争并代表我们的国家。我们将政治排除在外。”
亚历山大在八年前从南非搬到福克兰群岛，他表示代表这个英国海外领土是一次收获颇丰的经历。“我对福克兰群岛来说还比较新，但我很享受[在那里的生活]，”他说。
阿根廷的庆祝行为促使现任前英国首相基尔·斯塔默（Keir Starmer）支持相关呼吁，要求国际足联（Fifa）调查在展示该横幅时是否违反了任何规则。
斯塔默的发言人表示：“世界杯可能不属于我们，但福克兰群岛绝对属于我们。我们的立场没有改变。自决权在岛民手中，我们对福克兰群岛的承诺绝不会动摇。”
2026 年格拉斯哥赛今日亮点
格拉斯哥赛 11 天赛程中的第二天将产生 14 枚金牌：其中游泳 9 枚，残疾人举重 4 枚，艺术体操 1 枚。此外还有现场拳击、篮球和保龄球比赛。
TV TNT 击败 BBC 赢得了版权，并将从 8.20am 起直播保龄球比赛。5 频道将在 10.30pm 播出集锦。
主赛事 艺术体操 10am-4pm, 5.30pm-9.15pm 首个团体冠军的争夺战拉开帷幕，由卢克·怀特豪斯（Luke Whitehouse）领衔的英格兰队是夺冠热门，他们力求确保第四次连续获得男子团体决赛金牌——这一不败纪录始于 2014 年格拉斯哥赛。
保龄球是英联邦运动会项目最初的六项运动之一，自 1930 年起每届运动会均设有此项，唯一的例外是 1966 年在牙买加金斯顿举行的运动会，当时没有保龄球设施。在本次运动会中，保龄球和残疾人保龄球首次在格拉斯哥的室内场馆进行比赛。
“我们参加过其他室内锦标赛，但这是首次在英联邦运动会上举行，”亚历山大说。“有点热。你会认为室外会更热。但这样很好。”
与此同时，卡塔里娜·约翰逊-汤普森（Katarina Johnson-Thompson）和迪娜·阿舍-史密斯（Dina Asher-Smith）成为最新一批退出运动会的高知名度选手，在开幕式当天给赛事带来了沉重打击。两人是英格兰田径队退出的 9 名运动员之一，其他还包括奥运奖牌得主马修·哈德逊-史密斯（Matthew Hudson-Smith）、达里尔·内塔（Daryll Neita）和安伯·安宁（Amber Anning），以及扎克·塞登（Zak Seddon）、安娜·珀切斯（Anna Purchase）、埃利奥特·贾尔斯（Elliot Giles）和乔纳·埃福洛科（Jona Efoloko）。
约翰逊-汤普森在 2018 年黄金海岸和 2022 年伯明翰夺金后，一直旨在寻求第三次连续获得英联邦七项全能冠军。英格兰队未给出她退赛的原因，不过在赛程密集的情况下，有几名运动员将下个月在伯明翰举行的欧洲锦标赛放在首位。
三届奥运奖牌得主阿舍-史密斯原定参加女子 4x100 米接力赛，而哈德逊-史密斯、内塔和安宁原本都被预期将增强英格兰队的夺金前景。
残疾人举重 下午1点-4.30点，晚上6点-9.30点 共有 4. 枚金牌在争夺；请关注苏格兰后起之秀芬莱·戴维森（Finlay Davidson）在男子轻量级中的挑战。尼日利亚之星弗拉沙德·奥卢瓦费米亚约（Folashade Oluwafemiayo）将在女子重量级项目中出战。
游泳与残疾人游泳 上午10.30点-下午1点，晚上7点-10点 今晚 3 小时内将产生 9. 枚金牌，有望夺冠的选手包括苏格兰的邓肯·斯科特（Duncan Scott）以及英格兰的斯蒂芬·克莱格（Stephen Clegg）和费伊·罗杰斯（Faye Rogers）。亚当·拉姆塞-皮蒂（Adam Ramsay-Peaty）将首次以其新的婚后姓氏代表英格兰参赛。澳大利亚在女子和男子 4x100 米自由泳项目中应为热门。
“不要成为主角，” 利物浦新任主教练建议道
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橄榄球里程碑式 脑损伤案件 陷入危机
法官可能剔除首批 561 名原告中的 95% 并将其归咎于事务律师
安迪·布尔 (Andy Bull) 皇家法院
一起关于橄榄球运动导致脑损伤的里程碑式法律诉讼正处于崩溃边缘。主审法官目前正在权衡，是否以原告未能披露所有与神经系统测试相关的可用文件为由，剔除首批 561 名原告中的 95%。
在皇家法院经过两天的听证会后，高级法官库克 (Senior Master Cook) 表示，本案已进入“未知领域”，因为他在退庭准备做出裁决之前，无法找到任何关于下一步操作的法律先例。
目前尚不清楚他将需要多长时间。库克表示，他需要以“谨慎且深思熟虑的方式”行事。法院预计将于下周五，即 7 月 31 日进入夏季休庭期。
被告方——在其中一宗案件中为世界橄榄球协会 (World Rugby)、英格兰橄榄球总会 (Rugby Football Union) 和威尔士橄榄球联盟 (Welsh Rugby Union)；在另一宗案件中为橄榄球联盟 (Rugby Football League) 和英国业余橄榄球联盟协会 (British Amateur Rugby League Association)——均敦促剔除这些案件，理由是对方“大规模且广泛地不遵守”法院关于披露所有文件的命令。
库克在昨天的最高法院听证会上对此表示赞同，但他明确表示，由于本周之前负责该案件的 Rylands Garth 律师事务所的理查德·波德曼 (Richard Boardman) 存在失职，而非原告本身的问题。库克说：“本案中唯一的投诉对象是波德曼先生处理材料的方式。可以说，本案中的任何一名原告，在任何方面、任何形式上，都无需为本案呈递方式的缺陷负责。”
在原告一致同意终止与 Rylands Garth 的业务往来后，波德曼已通知法院他打算在本案中“撤出记录”。原告目前正在任命新的事务律师，但在完成之前，尽管波德曼在过去一天半的时间里缺席法庭，但在名义上他仍负责此案。Leigh Day 律师事务所自 2 月起一直在就本案提供咨询，并正在考虑是否接手。库克表示，他认为这一变动“带来的疑问比答案更多”。目前仍有第二批暂缓审理的案件，即使第一批被剔除，这些案件理论上仍可进入审理程序。但代表橄榄球联盟的大律师威廉·奥德兰 (William Audland KC) 在法庭上表示：“可能没有人愿意来收拾这个烂摊子。”即使有人愿意，对于一个已经运行六年且耗资数百万的案件来说，可能会导致更多的延迟和费用。然而，库克也意识到剔除原告的严重性，因为这将剥夺原告获得公正审判的机会。他将原告描述为在由他人驾驶的车辆中的乘客。“重点很简单：你有三辆满载乘客的巴士，全部前往同一个目的地。第一辆车的司机把他们开下了悬崖，结果他们没能到达目的地。另外两辆车到达了目的地，假设它们成功了。那么第一辆车上的那些人该怎么办？”库克告诉法庭，本案之所以陷入这种危机点，是因为波德曼在关于他是否成功遵守法院命令的问题上提供了误导性证据。辩方已经获得了数千份与测试相关的文件，而原告则主张这些
Window shopping 阿森纳拟以 £34m 交易引进希腊 前锋措利斯 (Tzolis)
应该是足够的。但尽管博德曼在法庭上坚称不存在缺口，但实际上仍然存在显著的漏洞。库克表示：“博德曼先生应该说他在能力范围内已经尽力遵守，而不是发表这些平淡的声明，称该指令已被逐字执行。但这就是他选择提交到这里的证据，没有一点悔意。”
安德森身价 £116m
杰米·杰克逊 (Jamie Jackson)
米德尔塞克斯 主帅被解职 指控维持原判
这位 23 岁的小将是英格兰队在世界杯中获得第三名的关键成员，且在上一赛季的英超联赛中为森林队全部出场。在周二摩根·罗杰斯以 £117m 的转会费从阿斯顿维拉加盟切尔西之前，安德森的转会费曾创下英国球员的纪录。
这位中场球员在北美结束征战后正在进行为期三周的休整，但他显然非常期待为城队效力，并将 13 September 的新赛季首次曼彻斯特德比视为一场焦点战。鉴于他对城队卓越地位的言论，他很可能会在老特拉福德球场面对红魔死忠球迷时迎来一场“热烈”的接待。
“这是世界上规模最大的德比之一，在我认识曼彻斯特以来，城队一直都是曼彻斯特的王者，”安德森在城队的官方网站采访中表示。“这将是一场精彩的比赛，我迫不及待地想参与其中。”
“他们是赢家，他们不懈追求，而这正是我想要加入的球队类型——冠军之师和那些能赢得奖杯的人，”安德森在谈到加盟城队的原因时说道。“在过去的 10, 12 年里，他们一直占据主导地位，这就是为什么我想加入。这一切发生得很快，但我认为我一直相信自己能走到这一步，而这里就是我想在的地方。既然我已经来了，我会继续努力并尝试...”
B
《卫报》
我们需要 国际刑事法院。不要让 他将其摧毁
史蒂夫·布鲁姆菲尔德 (Steve Bloomfi eld)
Friday 24 July 2026
观点与思想
几乎每过去一个月，唐纳德·特朗普都会尝试一次摧毁基于规则的国际秩序。美国已经撤回了数十个国际机构的资金，关闭了美国国际开发署 (USAID) 并退出了《巴黎气候协定》。北约或许能生存下去，但特朗普已经明确表示，对于任何受到攻击的盟友，他几乎没有兴趣提供援助。在加沙，和平委员会显然是试图将联合国边缘化的手段。但国务院上周宣布希望“一块砖一块砖地”拆除国际刑事法院 (ICC)，这可能是特朗普所有行动中最令人恐惧的一招。
这并非深夜发送的一条随意的社交媒体帖子；不存在下一个与特朗普对话的人能让他改变主意这种可能。摧毁 ICC 现已成为美国的正式政策，且政府准备采取极其极端的手段来实现这一目标。
不听话的国家将被惩罚。国务院承诺将“加强对那些一方面依赖美国援助，另一方面拒绝否认 ICC 虚假权威的国家”的审查，特别是针对那些“享有美国安全伞利益”的国家。这其中将包括英国，英国每年向 ICC 捐款略高于 £15m，是继日本、德国和法国之后的第四大捐助国。
针对法官和高级官员的旅行禁令及制裁禁令已经实施；更多的人将被列为目标。这会导致个人被完全隔绝于现代生活之外。个人银行账户被关闭，而从 Uber 到 booking.com 的大量美国应用程序和网站均被禁用。电子邮件账户可能会被封锁——微软和谷歌都是美国公司。对于法院本身而言，这意味着必须备份之前存储在微软系统上的证据。
毫无疑问，这不仅是 ICC 的生存危机，更是国际司法理念本身的危机。地球上最强大的国家以及所谓的民主西方领导者，竟然在与独裁者和专制者结盟，以防止那些被指控犯有种族灭绝、种族清洗和战争罪行的人面对正义。
美国与国际司法的历史一直很复杂。它在二战后的纽伦堡审判建立过程中发挥了核心作用，但却不愿批准《种族灭绝公约》，直到 1988 , 年才这样做，比联合国大会通过该公约晚了四十年。
这个问题始终关乎自我保护，而非原则。
G2 每日 摘要 生活与艺术 版块
内页
2月在海牙举行的一场集会，支持国际刑事法院对罗德里戈·杜特尔特的起诉
照片：SIMON WOHLFAHRT/AFP/GETTY
史蒂夫·布鲁姆菲尔德 (Steve Bloomi eld) 是《观察家报》的前国际编辑
Steve Bloomfi eld
续前页
几代美国政治人物，主要是共和党人，但也包括一些民主党人，认为其他国家的法官能够追究美国公民责任的想法根本行不通。直到现在，美国总统们通常接受国际司法的概念，即便他们不希望其适用于自己。
美国拒绝签署 2002 年成立国际刑事法院（ICC）的《罗马规约》，但它并没有利用其权力来阻止该法院的诞生。2005 年，在达尔富尔种族灭绝危机最高峰时期，美国允许联合国安理会通过一项决议，授权国际刑事法院对被指控在苏丹犯有战争罪的人员进行调查，并在必要时提起起诉。在乔·拜登任总统期间，美国还鼓励国际刑事法院起诉弗拉基米尔·普京，指控其在乌克兰犯有战争罪。
然而，对于特朗普来说，国际刑事法院一直是一个威胁。在他第一任期内，在针对美国军队在阿富汗涉嫌犯有战争罪的调查之后，他对该法院的官员实施了制裁。
在他去年重返办公室后，针对该法院的攻势升级。国际刑事法院首席检察官卡里姆·汗（Karim Khan）对以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡发出逮捕令，指控其在加沙犯有战争罪。作为回应，特朗普对包括汗在内的国际刑事法院官员实施了新制裁。
T
对国际刑事法院的威胁并不仅来自其敌人——其中许多是自找的。两名女性（其中一人是国际刑事法院的员工）指控汗有性虐待行为。国际刑事法院管理机构的执行委员会上个月投票决定暂停汗的职务，在结论认为他犯有严重不当行为后做出此决定，而汗否认有任何不当行为。该法院的 125 个成员国将在本周五投票决定是否将其撤职。海牙的员工表示，国际刑事法院已成为一个压力日益增加的工作场所，一名前高级官员将这里的氛围描述为“有毒”。国际法和人权专家也对其记录表示担忧。它搞砸了许多重大案件，包括针对乌胡鲁·肯雅塔和威廉·鲁托的案件，这两位对立的政治人物被指控煽动了 2007-8 年肯尼亚的选举后暴力。由于国际刑事法院犹豫不决，证人失踪，而这两个人则联手参加选举。他们在 2012 年当选总统和副总统，最终导致案件崩塌。
现在的问题是，“西方其余国家”将如何应对特朗普的攻击。该法院最大的捐赠者需要保持坚定。对于新任外交大臣埃德·米利班德来说，这将是一次早期的考验。国际刑事法院的不完善之处可能会让其天然的捍卫者不愿挺身而出。但而这恰恰是现在需要发生的事情。即使运行不善或案件构建糟糕，国际刑事法院的存在本身也能产生影响。内塔尼亚胡和普京将永远被提及为被起诉犯有战争罪的人。由于面临逮捕的威胁，他们的世界已经萎缩。菲律宾前总统罗德里戈·杜特尔特正在受审，被指控在“禁毒战争”期间犯有反人类罪。这就是为什么特朗普如此
法院的首任首席检察官路易斯·莫雷诺·奥坎波（Luis Moreno Ocampo）认为，他决心将其关闭。“特朗普知道自己在离任后可能会成为目标，”他告诉我，“国际刑事法院（ICC）对他来说是一个巨大的障碍。”这也是为什么挽救 ICC 如此重要地另一个原因。行为必须产生后果。在美国中期选举之后，由民主党领导的国会可能会就特朗普的一系列行为举行听证会并展开调查，从其暧昧不明的交易到利用准军事力量打击本国公民。但世界其他地区也需要让他承担责任——无论是因为他在加勒比海轰炸船只，还是袭击伊朗的一所学校，亦或是他所犯下的任何新的暴行。普京和内塔尼亚胡在余生中将一直知道，逮捕的威胁可能随时潜伏在身边；特朗普担心这可能是他的命运。绝不能让他逃脱。
“评论是自由的……但事实是神圣的” CP Scott
社会
公众在知情的情况下进行辩论
随着出生率下降和寿命延长，欧洲正迅速老龄化。欧盟委员会本月发布的一份新报告指出，2012 年是欧盟国家出生人数首次低于死亡人数的一年。到本世纪中叶，近三分之一的欧盟居民将达到 65 岁或以上。80 岁以上人口的比例将几乎从 6% 增加到 15%，增至三倍。这个古老的大陆正变得明显苍老。
报告作者将其描述为向“长寿社会”的转型，这本应是一件值得庆祝的事情。许多人正享受着更健康、更富足的长久生活，并重新定义了老年的意义与可能性。但统计数据和发展趋势也指向了巨大的社会挑战，这将影响我们的工作方式、代际公平以及未来护理资金的筹措。遗憾的是，在关于移民和福利成本的紧张且时而充满戾气的辩论中，欧洲政界正难以应对这一时刻。
劳动年龄人口规模的相对下降，凸显了非欧盟移民在缓解人口压力方面将继续发挥的关键作用。极右翼政党所憧憬的“净迁移量为零”的未来，将导致欧盟人口到 2100 年估计减少 32%，从而极大地增加在职人员的财政负担。然而，主流政治家们避而不谈这一令人尴尬的事实，也没有投入必要的资源来促进社会融合，反而与极右翼竞相为寻求庇护者创造一个日益敌对的环境。
住房
“我们相信家可以保护我们免受外界干扰的能力正受到威胁，”地理学家萨姆·约翰逊-施利（Sam Johnson-Schlee）在他最近关于高温如何改变家庭生活的著作《温室》（Hot House）中写道。今年夏天，高温变得无法逃避。人们采取了一些临时方案来应对：拉上窗帘、在窗户上贴铝箔，或者——对于负担得起的人来说——插上空调。规划专家警告称，由于仅有约一半的议会要求新建筑包含冷却策略，随着气温升高，许多房屋将变成“死亡陷阱”。
英国的房屋并非为了应对这种情况而建。该国历史上温和的气候使得开发商在建房时无需考虑隔热，而工业化则在气温下降时提供了充足的煤炭供燃烧。因此，许多房屋在冬天阴风凛冽，在夏天酷热难耐。与地中海气候地区的房屋不同，英国房屋缺乏百叶窗和遮阴的公共空间。当巴塞罗那的总体规划师伊尔德丰斯·塞达（Ildefons Cerdà）在设计带有凉爽庭院和斜角边缘的住宅区以允许微风流通时，英国的维多利亚时代建筑商们却在搭建一排排的排屋——其中许多缺乏交叉通风——且几乎没有考虑太阳的运行轨迹。
一种新的方法早已迫在眉睫。隔热有助于保持房产凉爽，但鼓励这一行为的计划一直停滞不前。2020年作为鲍里斯·约翰逊（Boris Johnson）“重建”承诺的一部分而启动的具有前景的绿色住宅补贴计划……
在福利方面，争论的框架日益被一种观点所主导，即欧洲战后的社会模式——构思于人口增长时代——已不再负担得起。这是一个政治上危险的计算。自2008年崩溃以来，对欧洲各地推行的紧缩计划的不满，在威权民粹主义的崛起中起到了关键作用，而这种民粹主义危及了欧盟的民主价值和社会结构。在极不平等的社会中，如果传递出一种信息，即弱势群体只能通过更努力、更长时间地工作来换取更少的报酬，这将进一步助长极右翼政治。主张进一步削减开支的论点在经济上也是有缺陷的。在人口结构面临挑战的社区中，未来的增长和生产力将取决于如何让更多的人更容易地参与到灵活且可进入的劳动力市场中。从社会护理改革到提供可负担的儿童照护，以及为长期失业者提供持续帮助，这将需要重新投资以释放潜能。与此相关的农村人口减少和衰落问题也需要解决，因为年轻人越来越多地向城市迁移，以寻找在成长地已无法找到的机会。
导致这场全球生育危机的潜在因素十分复杂。但这是一个长期存在的问题。在欧洲，旨在提高出生率的公共政策未能显著改变局面，且欧盟委员会的研究表明，人口变化的步伐快于预期。尽管如此，除了关于退休年龄变更的争议外，其长期后果和影响仍然未引起足够关注。一场规模更大、更受瞩目的讨论早已迫在眉睫。我们不能将收拾破碎社会模式碎片的工作留给年轻一代，而这个模式本应在我们还有机会的时候就进行更新和重新设计。
“更环保”，但它其实是那种看重煽动性语录而非实质政策的政治文化的牺牲品。该计划向房主和房东提供预付凭证以升级绝缘设施，但仅六个月后便宣告崩溃，公共账目委员会表示，由于时间表不切实际且设计仓促，该计划在设立之初就注定了会“失败”。由于缺乏应对极端高温的国家战略，许多房主安装了空调。目前英国安装空调的家庭数量是三年前的两倍。虽然这项技术有其作用，但它应作为更广泛冷却策略的一部分，并与低能耗技术相结合。如果大规模采用，空调会通过排出热气提高城市温度，使得没有空调的人生活在更炎热的环境中。伦敦市长萨迪克·汗爵士（Sir Sadiq Khan）最近的一项计划勾勒出了一种
值得欢迎的替代方案。由于独特的热岛效应，首都受极端温度的影响比英国任何地方都严重。伦敦的防暑计划提出了一套基于合理措施的集体应对方案，这应成为其他城市的路线图，例如为住宅加装百叶窗、在学校和其他公共建筑中安装空调、种植更多遮荫树以及提供更多供人们游泳消暑的场所。这里有许多值得称赞之处。但萨迪克爵士的计划与一个给适应工作带来严峻挑战的政治现实发生了冲突。在一种对公共投资持敌视态度的财政环境下，该计划的实施将需要数十亿英镑的公共资金，尤其是因为其编写者也指出，此类变革“并不总是能转化为明显的财务节省或回报”。新任首相安迪·伯纳姆 (Andy Burnham) 极力宣传他关于政治应更贴合地域之愿景，但到目前为止，他对气候危机一直保持沉默。气候危机对其居住地的恐怖影响，应当使这一威胁成为当务之急。
想要探讨 护理问题，X世代 已准备好倾听
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Gaby Hinsliff
安迪·伯纳姆在进入唐宁街之前最后做的事情之一就是去探望他的父亲。罗伊·伯纳姆现住在护理院，患有阿尔茨海默症，并没能真正意识到他儿子的新职务。但也许首相在一定程度上是想尝试解释，为什么他以后可能无法如此频繁地探访。他绝不是第一个被工作与年迈父母两端撕扯的中年子女，这类人最终都渴望看到一名愿意（正如小伯纳姆所说）在“投入大量政治资本”去处理社会护理这一历史性失分任务的政治家。因为另一种选择则是让家庭投入他们根本不具备的资本——无论是财务上还是情感上的。X世代现在正进入护理年岁，且与前几代人不同，他们尝试在夫妻双方同时从事全职工作的情况下完成这项任务。我们穿梭于全国各地：一面是度过童年的遥远家园，一面是孩子仍在成长的地方；一面要处理药物用量混乱的问题，另一面要应对 A-level 考试的压力，在医院候诊室和家长会之间奔波，时刻担心在某个环节掉链子。如果说职场母亲的状态大多是“分身有两”，那么中年女儿的状态则是“分身有三”：工作、家庭以及父母所在之地的任何地方，在每一个转弯处迎接她们的都是指责般的成堆待洗衣物，以及未能陪伴足够（在任何地方）的愧疚感。护理税？我们已经在支付了：只不过没有人这样称呼它。在英格兰，由于缺乏全民护理服务，这种隐形成本尤为明显——威尔士拥有更宽泛的资产调查制度，苏格兰人可获得免费个人护理——其代价最直观地体现在护理院费用上（在英格兰和北爱尔兰，资产超过 £23,250 的人平均每月支付 £ 5,192），或者支付给上门护理人员高达每分钟 1 英镑的费用。但它还体现在时间、精力、护理者自身的健康和理智，有时甚至是他们的职业上。慈善机构 Carers UK 估计，有 2.6 million 人因为无偿护理亲人而放弃了工作；61 % 仍在工作的人表示，这影响了他们能够从事的工作，其中五分之一的人不得不接受低薪或更初级的职位。因此，雇主在每次失去优秀员工时也在支付这种隐形税，而整个国家则在损失的经济活动中，以及每一个本可在家休息但因缺乏更好支持而不得不住在医院的患者的夜晚中支付这种代价。（预见并预防跌倒、压疮或其他导致迅速恶化的原因，比昂贵地治疗其后果要高效得多，这一点伯纳姆在曼彻斯特尝试将医疗和护理支出转向预防的先驱性实践中定能深有体会。）
然而，威斯敏斯特只看到了免费护理那令人恐惧的价格标签，从而陷入瘫痪，无所作为。每个在接触此课题时匆忙退缩的政治家，并非缺乏家庭经验。大卫·卡梅伦曾是一位患有严重残疾儿子的尽职父亲——人们经常忘记社会护理也涵盖儿童——且他的母亲患有阿尔茨海默症。特蕾莎·梅和基尔·斯塔默的母亲分别因多发性硬化症和史迪尔病而致残。伯纳姆表示，他在 2009 年担任卫生大臣期间，首次提议建立一个由对所有遗产征收 10 % 遗产税资助的国家护理服务，其动力源于他祖母的艰辛。但该计划在保守党将其冠以“死亡税”之名并投放布满墓碑的攻击广告的那一刻起，就注定失败了。
慈善机构 Carers UK 估计有 2.6 million 人为了给亲人 提供无偿护理而 放弃了工作
插图： THOMAS PULLIN
自那时起，要求采取行动的呼声日益高涨，但对遗产征税已变得更加敏感，因为千禧一代正寄希望于锁定在父母房产中的财富，以让自己成为业主。但遗产税的全部意义就在于，在最糟糕的情况发生时防止你失去一切——这很像房屋保险，我们许多人都自动为此支付费用。三分之一的人最终会进入养老院，护理院（不含护理服务）平均每年花费超过 £67,000，平均入住两年；而含护理服务的护理院则为一年（尽管失智症患者通常时间更长）。问题在于，人性决定了大多数人倾向于认为自己永远不需要护理服务，因此坚信他们最终支付的死亡税将多于所获之利。如果伯纳姆想要在之前失败的地方取得成功，他必须证明，就像它所镜像的国民医疗服务体系 (NHS) 一样，
他的全民护理服务能为每个人提供价值。那么，就将其打造为一项旨在“优雅老去”的服务。使其像曾经针对新父母的 SureStart 计划那样可见，设立一站式中心提供建议、开展老年人活动，并帮助家庭度过孤独而困惑的时光。按照 IPPR 智库的建议，为 65 岁以上人群引入日式常规评估，在仍有时间增强骨密度或平衡能力时捕捉未来风险。将其定位为一项旨在消除老龄化恐惧与不体面感的服务，同时还能额外保障子女的财务安全。将路易丝·凯西 (Louise Casey) 对社会护理的审查转化为一场关于“什么是理想晚年”的简短全国性对话；不要让议会再次辩论死亡权，而没有一个与之平行的、有尊严地生活到最后的权利。如果人们仍然不想要死亡税？告诉他们，他们最终很可能无论如何都要支付一项隐形的死亡税；至少这样一来，有人在事前关心并询问过他们。
O
全英国的 增长引擎
周一，当所有摄像机都聚焦在唐宁街那扇著名的黑门时，在 200 英里外，一些重要的事情正在发生。一支由官员和顾问组成的小型团队正走进曼彻斯特的一栋办公楼，准备着手重塑英国国家体制。这就是“No 10 North”的开端：这是本届政府采取的首个重大行动，我希望它将被视为该政府最具定义性的举措。
在过去的 40 年里，英国走了一系列弯路。在 20 世纪 80 年代，政治权力被集权化，经济权力被私有化，而社区则经历了去工业化。许多受影响最严重的地方至今未能恢复，且依然在衰落。由于缺乏相应的权力，他们无法扭转局面。这种被忽视的感觉，正是近期困扰英国的动荡政治之根源。解决这个问题对于我们国家的凝聚力至关重要。这是英国长期以来一直在努力解决但从未真正成功的难题。我们见过诸如“升级计划 (levelling up)”之类的噱头。我们也见过将英国政府部门的零散职能分布在地图各处，但效果甚微。为什么这些都没起作用？部分原因在于，尽管怀特霍尔 (英国政府部门代称) 的各部门设立了前哨站，但决策权依然留在伦敦。另一个原因在于，在政府的核心内部，No 10 和 No 11 之间缺乏足够的协调——尤其是在增长问题上。这正是 No 10 North 试图纠正的问题，如果我们成功了，它可能会给英国的治理方式带来翻天覆地的变化。
它的核心在于利用全国最高权力机构，在与财政部紧密协作的情况下驱动增长。它是关于将权力下放，交给那些能最有效地利用权力的人。No 10 North 将负责加速权力下放。它将推动英国每个邮政编码区域的再工业化和增长。它将消除妨碍城市更新的障碍，从社会住宅建设到公共交通基础设施。至关重要的一点是，No 10 North 将引导整个怀特霍尔 (英国政府部门代称) 共同支持各地区，而不是成为他们的阻碍。我们的长期目标很明确：在英国所有地区和国家之间实现同等的生活标准。赋予地方权力至关重要，因为没有权力，他们就无法完成这些工作。增长不能由上而下强加，而必须由下而上培育。英国在尝试前者上花费了数十年且未获成功，现在通过 No 10 North，我们将正式尝试后者。
人们应该听过我说过，希望这个国家能志同道合，共同努力。这种榜样必须由政府来树立。怀特霍尔 (英国政府部门代称) 的各部门需要停止地盘之争，共同支持那些需要帮助的地方。我知道权力下放的力量是真实的。十年前，我离开威斯敏斯特回到家乡，旨在带来持久且积极的改变。而我们确实做到了。我们将巴士重新纳入公共管制。我们为年轻人创造了新机会。我们打造了一个经济增长率是英国其他任何地区两倍的城市区域。我们在大曼彻斯特地区所取得的成就，可以在整个国家推广。今天，在 No 10 North，我将主持国家经济委员会的首次会议，召集高级部长和地区市长。我们将确保怀特霍尔 (英国政府部门代称) 的每个部门都支持每个地区的增长和权力下放雄心。我希望英国能重新找回信心。这意味着创造一个……
安迪·伯纳姆 是英国首相
让每个人都感到自己是正在发生的事情的一部分，且每个人都能被倾听。我们将向所有人证明，他们也是这段故事的一部分。今年，我们将提出一项关于英国的 10 年计划，规划出一条我认为我们所有人都希望这个国家走向的道路。我们的计划将阐明：我们如何将生活中的必需品重新置于更强的公共控制之下，使其再次变得负担得起；我们如何使英国的每个部分重新工业化；以及我们如何建造更多市政房屋并解决住房危机。但我知道，人们不能在等待帮助方面花那么长时间。我们现在需要提供一定的喘息空间。本周，我们通过两次减税实现了这一点：针对家庭电费的增值税减免，以及针对酒吧、社交俱乐部和现场音乐场所的商业税率减免。本届政府将进行能够永远改变我们国家的重大改革，同时也将做一些能让目前的生活稍微轻松一点的小事。
这就是我们恢复信心的方式。这就是我们让英国重新相信自己的方式。而这也是我们带回希望的方式。
本·詹宁斯 (BEN JENNINGS)
乡村日记 德恩尼斯谷 (Deerness Valley)， 达勒姆郡 (County Durham)
在白日的高温变得令人窒息之前，进行一次清晨散步。林间的小径笼罩在深沉的阴影中，点缀着斑驳的阳光。一种熟悉的香味——金银花——在清凉、静止的空气中萦绕。视线平齐处有几朵金银花 (Lonicera periclymenum)，但大部分甜美如丁香的香气来自头顶榛树和橡树树冠上成千上万的花序。在初升太阳的斜射光线下，它们在万里无云的蓝天映衬下闪耀着金色的光芒。这是我见过的最壮观的金银花盛开景象。我循着它的根源寻找，发现它源自一根粗壮、多节的古老茎干，根植于榛树底部，向上分枝穿过其枝叶。尽管如此美丽，但金银花总带有一丝阴森之气，就像潜伏在我们植物群中的植物版波亚蟒。这个巨大的标本在生命之初，应该是作为一颗诱人的深红色浆果中的种子，被一只栖息在树上的鸟类食用后排出。它在深荫中发芽，但需要阳光才能开花，因此它将全部能量用于在宿主身上攀爬，伸出长而蜿蜒的嫩芽：搜索、盘绕、缠绕，有时甚至是绞杀，不懈地向天空生长。如果金银花抓住了榛树、梣树或花楸等快速生长树种的幼茎，它不断收紧的抓力可能会像开瓶器一样扭曲它们的生长。由于没有地方可以继续攀爬，一根找不到抓手且不受控制的嫩芽悬挂在小径上方。它优雅的花朵像仪式上的小号，发出阵阵香气，在黄昏时分会变得更加浓郁。届时，它们将增加“音量”，以吸引那些据说能在四分之一英里外就侦测到香味的暮色飞蛾。当授粉者盘旋并用长喙探测花朵时，它们无法避免地触碰到突出的雄蕊和柱头。于是，年度循环再次开启：成熟的浆果，鸟类，种子，阴影，寻找支撑的嫩芽，为了开花而追逐阳光。天气已经变得不舒服地温暖，于是我们开始向家 trudging（步履沉重地行走），但在那之前，我做了一件自童年以来就没做过的事：品尝吸引飞蛾的花蜜，摘下一朵花，在舌尖感受它泥土般纯粹的甜味。Phil Gates
我们可能会编辑信件。信件的提交和发布需遵守我们的条款和条件：详见 theguardian.com/letters-terms
西蒙·蒂斯代尔 (Simon Tisdall) 的文章（《世界上最危险的不是伊朗，而是特朗普》，7月18日）是一篇强有力的论战，但它冒了将结构性问题转化为个人问题的风险。如果唐纳德·特朗普确实异常鲁莽，那么这值得批评。然而，该文章暗示美国目前的困境主要是其性格造成的后果，而没有询问为什么历届政府，无论是共和党还是民主党，都反复在中东采取军事干预。过度关注特朗普的缺陷，有风险将战争本身描述为一种偏差，而非美国权力的一个经常性特征。
同样的道理也适用于霍尔木兹海峡。它的战略重要性并非始于或终于某一位总统。它反映的是一个依赖于能源供应安全、贸易路线以及通过投射军事力量来保障这些条件的全球经济秩序。而这种更广泛的背景在文中基本缺失。
该文章还假设，如果由一位更有能力的总统在与国会、盟友及国际法的协作下行事，本可以避免今天的危机。历史对此给出的安慰寥寥无几。我们
你们的文章（《代孕热潮中对婴儿无国籍状态的担忧》，7月20日）暗示解决方案在于更好的监管，以使代孕变得安全且符合伦理。但监管无法消除核心的伦理问题：每一次代孕安排都始于将新生儿与其母亲刻意分离，而孩子在整个怀孕期间已与母亲建立了自然的纽带。监管也无法消除由代孕母亲独力承担的身体风险。一项在加拿大的研究表明，20
外交部的数据显示，英国到 2029 年将把对索马里的双边援助削减近一半（见 theguardian.com 7月 16 日报道），而此时全国各地的家庭正准备应对又一次气候紧急情况。预报员警告称，10 月索马里的降雨可能会带来灾难性的洪水，导致数千人流离失所。世界气象组织已发出极端降雨风险增加的预警，这将冲击那些仍在从严重干旱中恢复的社区，这场干旱已导致 6 million 人面临高度的急性粮食不安全状态。
对于索马里的家庭来说，这意味着他们的生活和生计将再次面临重大干扰，且受影响者可获得的人道主义支持将减少。长期以来，英国在索马里最艰难的岁月里一直为其提供支持，英国希望通过贸易、投资和私营部门伙伴关系来支持非洲发展的雄心是受欢迎的。然而，决定将可用资金转入多边
此前已发生过类似情况：伊拉克、阿富汗和利比亚冲突是在远比现在常规的总统任期内进行的。特朗普可能是个噱头，但他不是问题的根源。这篇文章关注的是戏剧冲突，而非不断产生这种冲突的体制。 大卫·伊顿 (David Eaton) 桑德兰
• 西蒙·蒂斯道尔 (Simon Tisdall) 正确地指出了特朗普政府及其本人给世界带来的危险。蒂斯道尔列举了特朗普政府主导下近期造成的损害、死亡和破坏，将目前的权力滥用和过度行为视为对我们其他人的威胁，事实也的确如此。但目前的过度行为（无论是公开的还是隐秘的）可以被视为美国历史和惯例的延续，这不仅导致 20 世纪被视为“美国世纪”，也被视为“美国战争之世纪”。自第一次世界大战结束以来，我们看到美国发起了石油战争、反共战争、禁毒战争、反恐战争以及反伊斯兰战争。所有这些战争继续对世界其他地区产生负面影响，并使美国外交政策的傲慢与好战永恒化。所有这些战争都未能实现其所谓的既定目标。它们还为其他暴政政府以类似（尽管规模较小）的方式行事提供了掩护。我不确定我们是否应该将特朗普视为一个异类——他更像是某种一直存在之物的更厚颜无耻的体现。 布莱恩·斯多萨德 (Blaine Stothard) 伦敦
• 我完全同意西蒙·蒂斯道尔的观点，但他没有回答自己的问题：谁能阻止唐纳德·特朗普？民调显示了他的弱点，但即将到来的选举可能无法揭示这一点，因为民主党人如此之弱，且特朗普必然会通过操纵结果使自己获益。这个问题的答案必须在共和党内部寻找。肯定有足够理智的共和党人会投票反对他，并对其行为实施某种控制。这种情况已经开始发生了。
这也许是开始让他服从的方法，但在达成任何实质性决议之前，它会产生进一步的问题。美国人民和世界面临的直接问题是双重的。首先，作为一只“受伤的熊”，特朗普在 11 月选举前将继续造成灾难性的破坏。其次，让马可·鲁比奥 (Marco Rubio) 接手？上帝救救我们所有吧。 哈维·吉尔伯特 (Harvey Gilbert) 米尔顿凯恩斯
代孕母亲比自然受孕或通过 IVF（试管婴儿）受孕的女性更容易出现严重的并发症，包括产后出血和子痫前期。监管无法消除代孕的风险和现实，文中提到的证据应让决策者审慎考虑。已经引入详细监管框架的国家和美国各州仍然报告关于剥削经济弱势女性、知情同意不足以及困难等问题。
伴随着监督与执行。 法律可能会改变代孕的组织方式，但它们未能始终如一地防止滥用，也未能解决驱动许多女性参与代孕的不平等问题。 与其假设更好的监管能使代孕变得符合伦理，我们更应该询问：一种依赖于将婴儿与其生母分离，同时让女性承受重大医疗风险并制造剥削机会的行为，是否真的能变得“安全”。 Lexi Ellingsworth Stop Surrogacy Now UK 创始人
像世界银行这样的出资方，不能以牺牲援助提供为代价。当危机袭来时，人道主义支持能让家庭继续购买食物，让商店继续贸易，并让诊所保持开放。如果没有它，每次危机后留给企业和投资者进行建设的基础将会更少。 援助与投资必须并行不悖。前者帮助国家度过眼前的紧急情况；后者则帮助增强面对下一次危机的力量。如果英国过早撤出援助，不能指望投资能够成功。 Abdullahi Nur Osman Hormuud Salaam Foundation 首席执行官
更正与 澄清
• 一篇文章（《一名男子险被吸出飞机，讲述其艰辛经历》，7月 22 日，第 1 页，早报版）中称 Ljubisa Karović “是唯一一名被吸出飞机窗户 [...] 并幸存的人”，该说法有误。1990 年，一名英国航空飞行员 Timothy Lancaster 机长在一次从伯明翰飞往马拉加的航班中，由于驾驶舱窗户脱落而被推出一半，随后也幸存了下来。
编辑投诉和更正可发送至 guardian.readers@theguardian.com 或寄至 The readers’ editor, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU。 您也可以在 020 3353 4736 留下语音留言。
我曾经访问美国的马萨诸塞州，在加油前忘记先将卡片交给加油站工作人员（见 7 月 21 日报道《一名男子驾驶捷豹车逃逸》）。在经过一番广播提醒后，我把卡片交给他们，并道歉说我忘了，因为我们在英国不这么做。老板简直笑倒在地上。“那你们怎么阻止人们偷油？”他问道。“我们不阻止，”我回答道。随后引发了更激烈的笑料。遗憾的是，现在是我们该开始采取措施的时候了：在拿到现金或卡片押金之前，不应释放加油泵。 保罗·塔罗尼 (Paul Taroni) 汉普郡，奥尔顿
• 我将永远记得大约 50 年前，在我最小的儿子出生后来看望我的那名健康访问员（见 7 月 22 日读者来信）。她产生了一个绝妙的想法，询问我是否能帮她给住在我们北伦敦街道更深处的另一位新产妇传话。我照做了，于是我们成了好朋友——我们的儿子们也一样。正如你们的写信者所暗示的，她确实是在处理更广泛的健康社会决定因素。请让这些制度回归！ 布里奇特·帕特森 (Bridget Patterson) 萨福克郡，伍德布里奇
• 在经历了十余年之久的痛苦、凄凉以及被告知必须面对残酷现实之后，我对安迪·伯纳姆 (Andy Burnham) 的要求很简单。我希望明天醒来时能感到乐观，步伐轻快，知道事情终于要好转了。 迈克·斯多利 (Mike Storey) 彼得伯勒
• 因为我们非常不擅长这些活计，在我们家，DIY 的意思是“你自己把它毁掉” (Destroy it yourself)（见 7 月 18 日读者来信）。 帕特·贝格 (Pat Begg) 大曼彻斯特，斯托克波特
D
这位摄影师通过摆拍对象和双重曝光，将超现实主义及其天主教成长背景转化为创作灵感
杜安·迈克尔斯 逝世，享年 94 岁。他是摄影“导演模式”的先驱，以布置场景以及让拍摄对象扮演从天使到普通人等一系列角色而闻名。其作品呈现出深刻、世俗与顽皮的交织，探讨着生与死的问题。正如迈克尔斯常说的：“我认为如果你是一个非常严肃的人，那么表现得非常傻气就非常重要。”
他受到了天主教童年时期意象和超现实主义的启发。在《失乐园》(1968) 中，一名男子和一名女子在客厅里，通过一系列六张照片，逐渐被剥夺了所有的衣服和财物（除了一口钟），而他们的房间则被盆栽植物填满。这个“伊甸园兼园艺中心”体现了他典型的机智与智慧，通过循序渐进的分镜设计和看似深刻的参与，提供了一种“摄影漫画”式的哲学探究。
《死神降临在老妇人身上》(1969) 中的死神身着西装将她带走。《来看富士山》(1976) 则以一个喜剧结尾达到高潮：一名男子将雪山顶峰的幻象误认为是其Y型内裤里的一块僵硬肿块。《坠落的天使》(1968) 降落在一名熟睡女子的房间里并诱惑了她——随后，他陷入悔恨，褪去双翼，化身为一个穿着破旧夹克、平凡的凡人。
《一封来自父亲的信》(1975) 包含了一幅早期的肖像画，画中他的弟弟站在父母面前，并配以迈克尔斯对自己与父亲关系的绝望文字。而《一次拍摄现实的失败尝试》(1975) 甚至没有出现
[[IMG_XXXX]] 上方为《偶然相遇》，1970年，六张带有迈克尔斯手写文字的银盐照片；右侧为2025年的一幅自画像。 在他职业生涯的大部分时间里，他从事商业摄影，承担了许多高知名度的委任，例如右上方这张 The Police 乐队 1983 年专辑《同步性》(Synchronicity) 的封面。
杜安·迈克尔斯。 图片由纽约 DC MOORE 画廊提供。
照片——仅仅是在空白相纸上写了几行字，断言摄影无法做到除记录外表之外的任何事情，这也是迈克尔斯作品中的一个主导主题。“摄影师总是把包装描述得很完美，但他们从未谈论内容，”他说，“他们向我展示了事物的‘是什么’，但没有向我展示‘为什么’或‘如何’。”
迈克尔斯出生在宾夕法尼亚州的麦基斯波特 (McKeesport)，那是匹兹堡附近的一个钢铁之城，家庭背景为捷克裔。他的父亲约翰在钢厂工作，母亲玛格丽特（原姓 Matik）是一名管家。他们的婚姻并不幸福。“他们假装成一个家庭，就像演员在同一个舞台上同时表演两出不同的剧目，”迈克尔斯说。他在作品中经常回顾其动荡的童年；无论是以距离感，还是通过...
我认为 如果你是一个 非常 严肃 的人， 那么 表现得 非常 傻气 就非常 重要
探讨他与疏远父亲的关系，以及在晚年回到当时已被废弃的家庭故居。 尽管他从小在虔诚的罗马天主教环境下长大，但随后他拒绝了宗教。14 岁时，他在匹兹堡的卡内基研究所参加每周一次的水彩画课，随后毕业于丹佛大学并获得艺术学士学位，之后在纽约的帕森斯设计学院学习平面设计。 1958 年，他前往俄罗斯进行了为期三周的旅行，并用一台借来的相机拍摄了一系列肖像和城市景观。在这些肖像作品与新兴街头摄影师 Garry Winogrand 的作品一同参加群展后，Michals 放弃了平面设计，转而从事摄影。起初，他为一部长演不衰的百老汇音乐剧拍摄一系列宣传剧照，这为他早期的艺术发展提供了资金支持。在他的职业生涯中，他大部分时间都在从事商业肖像摄影，为《Vogue》杂志工作并承担其他高知名度的委约任务，包括 Police 乐队 1983 年专辑《Synchronicity》的封面。 他的下一个系列《Empty New York》(1964-65) 描绘了空荡的大堂、空虚的酒吧和空旷的巴士，呼应了欧仁·阿杰特（Eugène Atget）拍摄的没落旧巴黎的影像——那是备受超现实主义者推崇的著名纪实摄影作品。 1965 年，他访问了在布鲁塞尔的超现实主义艺术家勒内·马格里特（René Magritte）并与其共度了一周时间，在此期间
他利用双重曝光制作肖像画。显然，马格里特给他看了家庭电影，而且在晚餐时，他们会观看配有法语配音的电视西部剧《波拿萨》(Bonanza)。超现实主义者的影响导致米卡尔斯否认纪实摄影，并宣称“拍摄现实即是拍摄虚无”。
他开始创作一系列充满业余趣味（在戏剧性和技术上）的摆拍照片，以构成叙事或序列，并使用了双重曝光和初步的冲印技术。他还会用墨水在照片旁边或上面写字，他很感激自己缺乏摄影教育，使他免于受当时流行禁忌的束缚：“我不知道原来不能在照片上写字。”
在他职业生涯后期，当时他 70 岁，父母已经去世，米卡尔斯回到了麦基斯波特 (McKeesport)，拍摄他出生时的那座房子。《我曾经称之为家之屋》(The House I Once Called Home) 是一组照片——通常成对出现——将旧照片与房屋现今杂草丛生、荒废状态的图像并置。双重曝光显示他父母的肖像叠加在废墟之上。家庭与历史的沉重感似乎压在画面和文字上，米卡尔斯的回忆在这些作品中压倒了他的想象力，使其不像往常那样充满俏皮与活力。
米卡尔斯对摄影建制派保持着一种好斗的态度。他的后期作品融入了绘画，其中几幅照片是他直接在诸如亨利·卡蒂埃-布列松 (Henri Cartier-Bresson) 等摄影师的印相上进行绘画。“人们相信照片的真实性，但不相信绘画的真实性，”他说。“这给了摄影师巨大的优势。不幸的是，摄影师本身也相信照片的真实性。”
他的长期伴侣、建筑师弗雷德里克·戈里 (Frederick Gorree) 在 2011 年与他结婚，并于 2017 年去世。
迈克尔·柯林斯 (Michael Collins)
自由党政治家 及活动家， 后转向新闻业
扎希尔·阿巴斯 (Zaheer Abbas)，板球运动员，79岁； 朱莉娅·布拉德伯里 (Julia Bradbury)，广播员，56岁； 琳达·卡特 (Lynda Carter)，演员兼歌手，75岁； 迈克尔·科夫尼 (Michael Coveney)，戏剧评论家，78岁； 丹尼·戴尔 (Danny Dyer)，演员，49岁； 露西·戴维斯 (Lucy Davies)，前 Young Vic 执行董事，56岁； 凯瑟琳·德斯蒂维尔 (Catherine Destivelle)，登山者，66岁； 弗兰克·克洛斯 (Prof Frank Close) 教授，粒子物理学家，81岁； 安迪·戈马萨尔 (Andy Gomarsall)，橄榄球运动员，52岁；马丁·基恩 (Martin Keown)，足球运动员和
迈克尔·梅多克罗夫特 (Michael Meadowcroft) 在短时间患病后去世，享年 84 岁。他是一位极具才干和气度的约克郡自由党政治家及活动家。作为新思想的灵活来源，他与选民保持密切联系，并耐心地与他们合作解决当地问题，在利兹这一工党的前核心地带不断让工党措手不及。 他从 1968 年到 1983 年担任利兹市议会的自由党议员，随后担任了四年的利兹西区议员。 梅多克罗夫特在当地很有名，他是该市历史上唯一一位在主要购物区带领周末爵士乐团表演的议员，并在曲目之间停下来与路人讨论政治问题。 他自信且充满活力，天生是一个挑战者，对成为任何现状的一部分不感兴趣。但他深受自由主义哲学影响，同时也是一名严谨的组织者，在 20 世纪 60 年代富有魅力的乔·格里蒙 (Jo Grimond) 领导的复兴期间，他对该党采用“社区政治”起到了核心作用。 他出生在西约克郡的埃兰 (Elland)，是菲莉丝 (Phyllis，原姓汉森) 和诺曼 (Norman) 的三个儿子中的长子。母亲是一名毯织工，父亲是一名铁路订票员，曾是一名良心拒绝役者，并在第二次世界大战期间服役于皇家陆军医疗团。 梅多克罗夫特在兰开夏郡索斯波特的政府公屋中长大。他就读于教会镇小学 (Churchtown primary)，那是一所充满活力且令人鼓舞的学校，随后进入了高度
KEYSTONE PRESS/ALAMY
传统的乔治五世语法学校 (King George V grammar)，他在 16 岁时因父亲失业而离开学校。 梅多克罗夫特在探索更广阔的视野之前，先通过担任银行职员来帮助维持家庭生计。随着自由党成为索斯波特保守党议会的更有效挑战者，他原有的对工党的家族支持转向了自由党。 地方活动让他获得了在伦敦自由党总部担任组织职务的机会，在那里他与国家代理人普拉塔普·奇特尼斯 (Pratap Chitnis) 密切合作，后者策划了 1962 年奥平顿补选的自由党胜利。 这开启了在经历了三十年低迷后的“自由党复兴”。1967 年，梅多克罗夫特回到北部担任约克郡自由党联合会秘书时，再次重复了这一模式。次年，他与另外两名活动家一起，成为了 38 年来利兹首批自由党议员，在工党大本营取得了突破，而非在那些较为温顺、缺乏闯劲的自由党人徒劳地奋斗了无数次的保守党选区。 在利兹繁荣的巅峰时期，他将议会工作与担任约瑟夫·罗恩特里改革信托基金 (Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust) 的助理秘书，以及后来担任布拉德福德志愿者服务委员会秘书的工作结合起来。1978 年，他在布拉德福德大学获得政治历史专业的硕士学位，研究课题为利兹的政治历史，这一科目在余下的生命中一直令他沉迷。 五年后，在西约克郡郡议会任职一段时间后，梅多克罗夫特赢得了利兹西区议员的选举，这出乎政治评论员和自由党总部的预期。但
与 议会 工作 相比， 议会 显得 沉闷 且 充满 陈腐之气
他在威斯敏斯特的四年令人沮丧。他长期以来深思熟虑且深感认同的自由主义信条，几乎没有给社会民主主义者留空间；他担心社会主义的蜘蛛会吞噬自由主义的飞蛾。与议会工作的沉闷和陈腐相比，议会工作显得死气沉沉且布满蛛网。他对在国际上推广民主和自由主义产生了日益浓厚的兴趣，因此在 1987 年败给工党的约翰·巴特尔 (John Battle) 反而成为一种解脱，尽管他在 1992 年的大选中再次争夺该席位。通过在 2007 年加入自由民主党，他也克服了自己的政治“恐蛛症”。在担任选举改革学会 (Electoral Reform Society) 主席 (1989-93) 期间，以及在政策研究学院担任高级访问学者之后，梅多克罗夫特 (Meadcroft) 领导或参与了前往 39 个新兴民主国家的 50 次任务，并曾在其他国家逗留，尤其是法国，他在那里拥有一栋乡村小屋的股份。他将时间投入到音乐和戏剧中；
在他担任议员期间，利兹新西约克郡剧院和北操演剧院 (Opera North) 的落成令他十分欣悦。他和他的第二任妻子利兹·比 (Liz Bee)——一名图书馆员、音乐同行及自由主义活动家，两人于 1987 年结婚——在 40 年间在家里接待访问艺术家。他是利兹哲学与文学协会以及尤为古老的利兹图书馆等当地组织的积极委员会成员，后者的创始成员包括 1768 年的约瑟夫·普里斯特利 (Joseph Priestley)。在那里，梅多克罗夫特幽默地讲述利兹的历史人物，并为《泰晤士报》和《约克郡邮报》撰写专栏，同时频繁为《卫报》撰稿。他的小册子和书籍由小型出版社出版，但在自由主义的讨论中依然具有影响力，特别是 1980 年与大卫·马昆德 (David Marquand) 关于自由主义与社会民主主义的辩论记录，以及 1989 年出版并于 2009 年再版的《处于危险中的多样性：多元主义与政策制定》(Diversity in Danger: Pluralism and Policy Development)。他在 1988 年自由党与社会民主党 (SDP) 合并时离开了自由党，并成立了一个“持续自由党”，但未能兴旺。在后年，他始终鼓励无论身在何处的年轻或新晋自由主义者。196 2 年，他与教师兼自由党活动家埃鲁内德·劳埃德-琼斯 (Eluned Lloyd Jones) 结婚，两人育有一子安德鲁 (Andrew) 和一女露丝 (Ruth)。他们在 1987 年离婚，她于 2020 年去世。他的遗属包括利兹、他的两个孩子、八个孙辈中的七个、四个曾孙以及他的弟弟罗伯特 (Robert)。他的孙女埃斯特 (Esther) 于 2022 年去世。马丁·温赖特 (Martin Wainwright) 撰
迈克尔·詹姆斯·梅多克罗夫特 (Michael James Meadowcroft)， 政治家、作家及公共事务顾问， 出生于 1942 年 3 月 6 日； 逝世于 2026 年 6 月 1 日
生日
评论员，60 岁；詹妮弗·洛佩兹 (Jennifer Lopez)，演员兼歌手，57 岁；露丝·麦肯齐 (Ruth Mackenzie)，艺术总监，69 岁；伊丽莎白·莫斯 (Elisabeth Moss)，演员，44 岁；詹姆斯·纽科姆 (James Newcome) 右敬主教，前卡莱尔主教，73 岁；安娜·帕奎因 (Anna Paquin)，演员，44 岁；海布里勋爵 (大卫·西蒙) [Lord (David) Simon of Highbury]，前工党部长，87 岁；昆兰·特里 (Quinlan Terry)，建筑师，89 岁；格斯·范·桑特 (Gus Van Sant)，电影导演，74 岁；凯瑟琳·温-罗杰斯 (Catherine Wyn-Rogers)，次女高音，72 岁。
读者信函 佩内洛普·基斯女爵
佩内洛普·基斯女爵 (Dame Penelope Keith)（讣告见 6 月 29 日），作为武装部队的坚定支持者，她欣然同意担任 readingforce.org.uk 的赞助人——这是一个通过共享阅读将军事家庭联系起来的组织。去年 11 月，她与广播员珍妮特·艾利斯 (Janet Ellis) 在奥尔德肖特 (Aldershot) 举办了一场战争文学活动。佩内洛普女爵仔细研读了战争诗歌学者简·波特 (Jane Potter) 和我提出的建议，并提供了她自己“积累”的补充内容。其中一个令人难忘的项目来自她好友、演员约翰·沃纳 (John Warner) 的母亲，这位母亲给他准备了泻盐 (Epsom Salts) 以避免“肠道排除功能不全”。
其笑点十分精准：“在 D-day 扫雷舰上的几个人明确表示，他们最不需要的就是一剂泻盐。” 艾莉森·巴弗斯托克 (Alison Baverstock)
公告
逝世
BRUCE, John。2026年7月9日于温莎家中安详去世，享年88岁。他的妻子Emma，女儿Deborah以及孙辈Barney和Nell将深切怀念他。John将永远留在家人和朋友的心中。
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美国 歌手兼 演员詹妮弗·洛佩兹 (Jennifer Lopez) 今日57岁
答案 杀手数独 密码词
密码词
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中等
隐晦十字谜题
答案 No. 30,066
F E R M A T S L A S T S R E R O L I W T H E O R E M C O L O G N E I N U Y I O H E F E C U N D A T E C U T U P L H N T A R I E X P O S T A Y A T H O M E O T E P C U L M I N A T E S B E A T A Y R I M W R M A N G A R E P R O B A T E E E M L O V L N R O S S I N I W R E C K E D A I S F E R E Y A D U L T E R A T O R
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横向 1 垃圾衣服，更宽松且 间隔有孔 (7) 5 浪费的帮助，比如，为了修整 (7) 10 饥饿的感觉？油炸者最终 在工作 (4) 11 锻炼中，活跃的脚趾几乎 按顺序 (3,2,1,4) 12 来自苏格兰的杯子，或者来自 霍巴特的？ (6) 13 喊出不体面的 船员状态 (8) 14 来自美国岛屿的新 杂志 (9) 16 向西看，这个高点 用于测量高度和 周长 (5) 17 桃子破裂 (5) 19 美丽的女孩，她的双胞胎 死去了 (4,5) 23 教皇的一半亲切的 公告 (8) 24 精确的小时，业务结束， 关闭 (6) 26 两种发型，极其 聪明的北极特征 (10) 27 在愤怒中，黑色是一种 能源 (4) 28 对漫画的糟糕 报酬 (7) 29 听说关于一个记录在 一组三个之中的 (7)
纵向 2 不屈的队伍，一名男子 得意地逮捕 (7) 3 欺诈性的尝试进入 运输工具 (5) 4 数字保护的创造者 不只是好朋友？ (7) 6 在基地的，奢侈地 沉溺于此？ (3,3) 7 精神饱满的，将酒店转化为 文化之地的 (5,4) 8 烤肉：像一点火鸡？ (7) 9 重生，外表穿着 粉色长袍 (13) 15 社区中的同伴曾受伤 脑干 (9) 18 在公园开放前 到达，然后回去 (7) 20 Bertie 从坏到 更坏地发展 (7) 21 关于要去，或许， 指示右方 (7) 22 奇怪的人跟随一个在 能见度差的环境中 (6) 25 对永恒的 芭蕾舞描述 (5)
“性感得无法承受” 本尼迪克特·康伯巴奇 电影角色 —— 排名！
盈利
翻唱团体如何救援 英国的现场音乐场景
Peter Bradshaw 在 theguardian.com/film 查看完整的 20 个名单
Starter for 10 (2006)
这位年轻演员早期的电影角色，他在片中饰演一个几乎像闹剧般尴尬的极客，是所有人的笑柄。在这部改编自大卫·尼科尔斯 (David Nicholls) 小说、讲述学生们竞争电视竞答节目《大学挑战赛》(University Challenge) 的电影中，詹姆斯·麦卡沃伊 (James McAvoy) 饰演一名布里斯托大学的新生，极度渴望加入队伍。但他受到了库伯batch饰演的队长的高度轻视，两人的冲突最终演变成一场混乱的暴力事件。
讽刺的是，库伯batch迄今为止最伟大的电影是一部西部片——而这位最具有英国特质的演员，却扮演了一个你能想象到的最恶劣的美国粗汉。他是粗鲁且毫无魅力的菲尔·伯班克 (Phil Burbank)，他在蒙大拿州偏远地区与哥哥乔治 (George, Jesse Plemons 饰) 共同经营一家牧场。菲尔是一个社会病态者和欺凌者，痴迷于嘲讽哥哥对文化和精致生活的追求，但在情感上却深度依赖他。对于库伯batch来说，这是一个巨大的角色，他那目光狂乱、极具磁性且阴森的气场充盈在屏幕之中。
9 7
星际迷航：暗黑无界 (Star Trek Into Darkness) (2013) 1917 (2019)
该演员第二次饰演一名在第一次世界大战中循规蹈矩、威严的指挥官。与在史蒂文·斯皮尔伯格 (Steven Spielberg) 的《战马》(War Horse) 中相比，他在本片中的戏份较少，但这是一个强有力的客串。他饰演麦肯齐上校 (Col Mackenzie)，一个凶悍的纪律至上者，在屠杀的惨剧和指挥的重担下心力交瘁。
3 4
《模仿游戏》(2014) 《12 Years a Slave》(2013) 《亨利·舒格的奇妙故事》(2023)
这是真正给康伯巴奇机会去深化其“夏洛克”式人格的一部电影，而正是这种人格使他成为了国际巨星。他在片中饰演天才数学家兼战时破译员艾伦·图灵，极好地展现了年轻图灵的才华、他的率直与不懂社交（现在可能归因于自闭症谱系障碍），以及他的敏感与孤独。
《팅커 泰勒士兵间谍》(2011)
在这部约翰·勒卡雷的惊悚片中，康伯巴奇饰演了彼得·吉拉姆——这是他职业生涯中最棘手、最复杂角色之一。吉拉姆是一名情报人员，其地位在等级制度中足够低，从而避开了双面间谍的嫌疑，但即便如此，他仍不被上司看好。他以一种颇为滑稽的时尚风格亮相，留着极其荒诞的拖把头，穿着一套长有头皮屑的三件套西装。
康伯巴奇饰演威廉·福特，这是史蒂夫·麦奎因这部奴隶题材戏剧中最阴险、最令人憎恨的角色。福特表面上是个好人，然而正因为他在这种局面中表现得如此平庸地共犯，且在将所罗门·诺斯鲁普出卖给一个他明知邪恶的人时表现出的软弱，才显得更加卑劣。
这位演员在JJ艾布拉姆斯2013年对这部科幻流行经典进行伟大重启的续作中，饰演了名字平淡的约翰·哈里森（又名 汗·努先·辛格）——他是柯克和史波克面前那个充满神秘感的冷酷敌人。他在本片中的台词较少，艾布拉姆斯的意图大概是让我们纯粹地沉醉于那张神秘的面孔：以一种像啮齿类动物般的方式呈现出令人无法忍受的性感。
《破碎者》(2011)
康伯巴奇最有趣且最完整的表演之一。他饰演大卫，一名学校教师，也是个正派的人，娶了克莱尔·福伊饰演的唐，生活在一个安静的英国村庄。当他那个麻烦的哥哥尼克（肖恩·埃文斯 饰）从军队返回并揭露一些令人不安的家庭秘密时，他们的家庭生活被彻底颠覆。
《奇异博士》(2016)
康伯巴奇被选为奇异博士是一个天才的决定。这是一个才华横溢但傲慢的神经外科医生，他以一种传统的方式——通过一场事故——获得了超能力，但必须由一名神秘的导师（蒂尔达·斯文顿 饰）引导他学习一种独特的禅宗式精通。凭借这部电影以及2022年的续作《奇异博士在多元宇宙中的疯狂》，漫威凭借康伯巴奇独特的魅力、戏剧感和不落俗套的英俊，为他赢得了全球庞大的影院观众群。
韦斯·安德森这部获得奥斯卡奖的短片展现了康伯巴奇被低估的喜剧风格的另一面：面无表情的姿态，在这里几乎呈现出基顿式的石面感。他饰演的舒格是一个富有且贪婪、举止难以捉摸的人，他发现自己拥有某种神奇的力量，能够利用这种力量在全球各地的赌场中牟利。
播放列表
最佳新曲
John Glacier 《Bond Girl》
这位无与伦比的英国 MC 迄今为止最适合夜店的曲目：一首带有底特律风格低音线的 hip-house 舞曲，顶端点缀着 Glacier 轻盈地宣称其时尚资历。
Jeffrey Silverstein 《Portland Works》
Silverstein 在新泽西州长大，现居太平洋西北地区——然而这首散发着光芒的宇宙美式音乐，将踏板钢棒琴、原声吉他与甜美的合成器交织在一起，散发出纯粹的西部荒野气息。
Protomartyr 《Sounds We Cannot Hear》
主旋律如同在冰雹飓风中鸣响的警笛，这是底特律后朋克乐队的一次强力回归，他们一如既往地直击当今时代的倦怠与恐怖。
Namesbliss x Paul Stephan 《Run It》
两位伦敦 MC 在一段断续且融合了萨克斯风的节拍中，就兄弟情、信仰与梦想展开了流畅的对唱。
Murex 《Flock of Swans Fly in V’s》
曾在与 Rosalía 和 Addison Rae 合作创作的瑞典艺术家正展现出极具个人特色的风格：这首单曲描绘了小精灵在故障艺术风格的竖琴周围飞舞的景象。
Chad Hugo 《Jumpupw!nya》(feat. Tierra Whack 和 Leikeli47)
作为 Neptunes 组合中非 Pharrell 的那一半，他在这些有氧健身感的碎拍中，倾注了其深厚的制作才华和对放克 (funk) 的敏锐感知。
Cole Pulice 《The Limits of the Frame》
即使在解构其标志性的萨克斯风时，Pulice 依然能创作出可靠且抚慰人心的、充满细节的声音迷雾，让人沉浸其中。
作者：Ben Beaumont-Thomas, Laura Snapes 和 Claudia Efemini
封面照片：FABIO DE PAOLA/《卫报》
本页照片：KIRSTY GRIFFIN/AP
就像《加冕街》里的 两个老太婆一样 在那儿闲聊”
回顾该偶像乐队与制作人 Keir Stewart 的悠久历史
由 Dave Simpson 访谈
Vini，在过去的 40 年里，你创作了一些最美丽、最空灵的音乐。听说你年轻时曾是一个暴力地缘街头帮派的成员，是真的吗？——Songy24 Vini Reilly [吉他, vocals, 键盘]：那时候“帮派”的含义不同。只是“他们那伙”和“我们这伙”的区别。我们会互相辱骂。然后你在公园里踢足球，意识到你正和当地的混混一起踢球。他们其实很有趣，因为我那么小，所以能和他们玩在一起。当时我正经历周期性的抑郁症，觉得在家里格格不入，所以我离开时连件干净衣服都没带。我想结束自己的生命，所以我决定去 Moss Side，那里有帮派成员会开枪打死我。当然，他们没这么做。直到我参加 O-level 考试时父亲去世前，我的童年一直非常快乐，但我得出了一个结论：那些真正糟糕的事情给予我的，比它们能夺走的更多。在经历过深沉的悲伤之前，你怎么能懂得幸福？ Bruce Mitchell [鼓手]：不过 Vini 确实会发脾气，真的会大吵大闹。我们有一次不得不强制将其隔离，得六个人才能把他按住。
你们与 Blood Orange 合作的曲目《The Field》背后有什么故事吗？——nobblehobble Keir Stewart [制作人]：Dev Hynes [Blood Orange] 长期以来一直是粉丝，他采样了 [1998 年的曲目] $\langle$Sing to Me$\rangle$ 并将其制作成了一首歌。他请求获得样品的许可，当我们见面时，我们对 Durutti Column 及其相关的一切进行了两个小时的闲聊。Durutti 拥有许多著名的“秘密粉丝”：Stewart Lee, Chris Morris, Max Richter, Richard Ayoade, Red Hot Chili Peppers 的 John Frusciante, Coldplay 的 Chris Martin, AG Cook, Caroline Polachek，以及大量 hyperpop 场景的艺术家。Vini 能在他有生之年获得这些认可真是太好了，但他把这一切都挡在门外。他希望保持纯粹。 VR：我没听说过这些人中的大多数，但这很美好。
照片：MICHAEL STEFF
你成长过程中听过哪些吉他手的音乐？——Troykatoo VR：我最喜欢的其中之一是 Al Casey，他曾与 Thomas “Fats” Waller 合作：旋律和和弦进程极其稀疏。我产生这样一种想法，无论你去 Free Trade Hall 听一场大型管弦乐演出，还是去 Sale 的民谣俱乐部，你都能预见到观众的样子，因为人们会对音乐类型产生认同。所以我想要创造一些不具有可识别形式的东西。当我们试图进入加拿大时，海关人员问我们演奏什么类型的音乐，我脱口而出：“前卫爵士古典。”这是一个玩笑，但这个定义就这么传开了。
你如何看待最近在伦敦举办的 $\langle$For Vini – A Tribute to the Durutti Column$\rangle$ 致敬演出？——NickJMorgan KS：Harry Styles 告诉 Radio 1，对他新专辑影响最大的是 LCD Soundsystem 和 Durutti Column。随后他被邀请策划 Meltdown 艺术节，因此有人问 Vini 是否能举办一场演出。他不能，所以我们召集了音乐家们进行致敬。我演奏了吉他——我弹不到 Vini 那样，但我练习了很多！当 Bruce 上场击鼓时，每个人都在欢呼。已经有推广人询问我们是否可以进行英国巡演，所以我们拭目以待。 VR：他们能这么做太棒了，但我没勇气去看。只要 Bruce 参与，就一定是正确的。每当我们一起演奏时，我们从不排练，但我们之间有如此强的化学反应，他总能知道歌曲何时结束。每次都能完美契合。
您能告诉我们您对伊恩·柯蒂斯 (Ian Curtis) 的记忆，以及歌曲《失踪男孩》(The Missing Boy) 背后的灵感来源吗？ Philshawknight VR：伊恩和我当时正在互相了解——我们都在公务员系统的不同部门工作。我们计划一起做一些音乐，但从未告诉任何人，以免像马克·E·史密斯 (Mark E Smith) 这样的人将其称为裙带关系。那时我住在托尼 [威尔逊 (Tony Wilson)，Factory厂牌老板] 和林赛 [里德 (Lindsay Reade)，当时威尔逊的妻子] 家。我接起电话，是伊恩打来的。他的话语毫无逻辑，情绪在极度乐观和截然相反的状态之间波动。他很生气，因为托尼称他为诗人。当我看到伊恩因癫痫而被开的所有药片时，我知道他没有机会了。此外，他的婚姻也在破裂，他还有一个小女儿……当他自杀时，我并不感到惊讶：这一切都写在歌里，但没有人——甚至包括托尼——问过他关于这些事情。在《失踪男孩》中有一种愤怒，因为那就像是我在咬牙切齿。
所有这些 著名的粉丝…… 但 Vini 对 其中大多数都没听说过！”
▲ 乐队制作人 Keir Stewart、 主唱 Vini Reilly 和 鼓手 Bruce Mitchell
请将您 下周采访对象的 问题发送至 theguardian. com/culture
《Detail for Paul》里的 Paul 是谁？ Uncleheinrichagain VR：一个我认识了很久的朋友。非常聪明，是个好家伙。他找了一份广告行业的工作，这违背了他的社会主义原则。有一天他突然就没出现了。我很想他。人们总是假设我的歌曲是以女朋友的名字命名的，但完全不是这样。Jacqueline 是 Bruce 的妻子，一位了不起的艺术家。相当多歌曲是以我的侄女或表亲命名的。她们觉得荣幸吗？噢，不。我的家人觉得受到了极大的冒犯。
与 Morrissey 合作《Viva Hate》是什么感觉，你还会再次与他合作吗？ deFaoiteK VR：当然，他有着极其惊人的天赋。我记得他谈到过摩尔杀人犯（Moors murderers）以及他本可能成为那些[被杀]孩子之一这件事，这在他心中挥之不去。在《Late Night, Maudlin Street》中，你能感受到那种末日般的压迫感。但与此同时，我们也从未停止过大笑。 BM：我把 Vini 送到录音室时，原以为半小时后就能接他回来，因为所有的音乐人和工程师都坐在长桌旁吃饭，而 Morrissey 就独自坐在最末端。但他们相处得太好了，以至于当我最终接他时，Vini 问：“我们能带上 Mozza 吗？”两人在后座一直喋喋不休。听起来就像是在听《加冕街》（Coronation Street）里的两个老太婆聊天。
Tony Wilson 最棒和最糟糕的地方分别是什么？ dramaagh VR：没有最糟糕的。最棒的是他是一个真正的利他主义者，这一点从未改变。Factory 厂牌是用他母亲留给他的遗产建立的，他决定为了尊重母亲而做成某件事。他让大量的录音成为了可能。其中很多对我来说非常珍贵，因为如果没有他，人们永远不会听到这些作品。
Durutti Column 这个名字是故意还是不小心拼错了，原意是指西班牙内战无政府主义者 Buenaventura Durruti 和 La Colonna Durrutti 吗？ somna123 VR：这个名字是 Tony 的主意。他觉得既然无政府主义是朋克的基石，我们就应该回归那个想法。但他决定不对人们解释这一点，这对我很有利，因为这意味着我可以继续胡扯关于这个名字的纯属乱编的故事。这可能是 Factory 的一个拼写错误，但即使在西班牙，有些人也认为少写一个“r”看起来更好。 《Renascent》将于 7月 31日 在 London Records 发行
让我愤怒和恐惧的事物”
Imran Perretta 始终知道他的首部长篇电影标题将是《Ish》——这是 Ishmail 的缩写，也是故事核心中那个来自卢顿的 12 岁男孩的名字。直到后来，人们才指出这个标题与其他只有三个字母的成长电影非常相似：肯·洛奇的《Kes》以及萨蒂亚吉特·雷的《阿普》三部曲。现在，随着评论陆续出炉，与《Kes》和《阿普》的对比接踵而至。与它们一样，《Ish》是一部富有诗意的电影，它紧紧揪住你的心，将你拉入一个孩子看待世界的视角。
Perretta 表示，人们的反应非常美好，而且让他感到宽慰。“人们将《Ish》与那些电影相比，而不是与《Kidulthood》相比，这很好。我确实担心过这一点。”为什么，是因为片中出现了说着俚语并陷入麻烦的孩子吗？他点了点头。“我总是说我不看评论，但当然，我每一篇都看了。我忍不住。”
Perretta 刚刚从波兰之行归来，去那里参加他作品的新展揭幕。昨天他在伦敦的泰特美术馆，那里正在展出他 2019 年关于年轻穆斯林男性生活的视频装置作品《The Destructors》。他目前正在购买他的第一套房，并有两个年幼的孩子。“我累坏了，”他笑着说。
他在伦敦南部的斯特雷瑟姆长大，父亲是一位担任音乐记者的英意混血儿。他的母亲出生于孟加拉国，是一名儿童保护社会工作者：“她政治立场非常坚定，是个激进分子。”他在 21 岁时失去了因癌症去世的母亲。
Perretta 学习了三年的建筑学，之后转而学习艺术。在 2020 年新冠疫情期间，当特纳奖被取消时，他正处于
O OG S: S O S C /G G S O ; C S
一种宏伟感。它让 混凝土看起来 像大理石一样”
他是 10 位获得 £10,000 奖学金的艺术家之一。但他说，他从未想过自己能导演一部电影：“一百万年里我也没想过我会有机会那样做！”是在伦敦的一家画廊看到了《破坏者》（The Destructors）之后，时任 BBC 电影部门负责人罗斯·加内特（Rose Garnett）找到他，请他写一份电影大纲。
《伊什》（Ish）具有部分自传色彩，基于佩雷塔（Perretta） 13 . 岁时第一次被警方拦截搜查的经历。当时正值 9 / 11 袭击事件之后，伊斯兰恐惧症日益严重的氛围之中。“他们把我拽进一辆面包车，开始问我一大堆奇怪的问题，”他回忆道。“那极其令人心碎。那 100 % 是我童年时期失去纯真的时刻。因为我明白了在家庭、学校、社区这些受保护的空间之外，别人是如何看待我的。在那一刻，我意识到自己被视为一个异类或某种威胁。”
佩雷塔说，这使他政治化了。“这在某种程度上塑造了我。从那时起，我就有了可以创作的作品题材。”他与爱尔兰剧作家兼编剧恩达·沃尔什（Enda Walsh）共同创作了《伊什》。
像所有出色的成长题材电影一样，《伊什》具有特定文化色彩，但同时也具有普适性。电影背景设定在卢顿，讲述 12 岁的伊什（Farhan Hasnat 饰）和他的好朋友马拉姆（Yahya Kitana 饰）在假期中四处游荡的故事。这是他们童年的最后一个夏天。伊什的母亲刚刚去世，家里的人都沉浸在悲痛的恍惚之中。马拉姆比伊什高出约一英尺，已经开始长胡须，他总和一些大孩子混在一起，惹麻烦。
拦截搜查的场景令人震惊——看着一个孩子在没有家长同意的情况下被强行从街上抓走。当我向佩雷塔提到这一点时，他指出了最近的 ChildQ 案例，以及在政府的 防止极端主义计划 (Prevent) 策略下，在没有家长或教师在场的情况下对儿童进行访谈的记录。“这种情况在某些背景的孩子身上发生得比其他孩子更多。我想探讨在时机未到之前就把孩子拖入成年世界的含义。”
《伊什》中的所有孩子均由初次参演的演员扮演。选角团队面试了大约 900 名当地男孩。制片人并不知情的是，获得伊什和马拉姆角色的这对男孩从小就是朋友：他们的羁绊在银幕上闪闪发光。“关键就是不要干涉他们，让他们自然地表现，基本上就是互相逗趣，”佩雷塔说。
《伊什》于 2024. 年夏季在卢顿拍摄，历时五周。佩雷塔的妻子是一名中学教师，就在附近长大，他多年来一直造访该地区。佩雷塔表示，通勤城镇承受了很多指责。尤其是卢顿，经常因为负面原因出现在新闻中，比如作为斯蒂芬·雅克斯利-伦农（Stephen Yaxley-Lennon，又名汤米·罗宾逊）的家乡，或者被贴上伊斯兰极端主义中心的标签。“但其核心只是一个过着平凡生活的社区，”他说。
他用明亮的单色调拍摄这部电影。我问为什么？“我认为黑白不会给卢顿带来负面的审美化。它赋予了卢顿一种宏伟感。它让混凝土看起来像大理石。当你用彩色拍摄时，你会立刻感受到它处于紧缩政策最前线的残酷事实。”
为了遵守保护童工演员的法律（每天只能在片场待六小时），拍摄时间很短。他说，关键在于不要过于纠结于追求极致。“我们根本没有时间。”我认为这听起来压力很大。佩雷塔好脾气地耸了耸肩。“我想说我相当...”
◀ 佩雷塔 ... “人生太短 不能用来设计厕所”
▼ 成长之痛 ... (从左至右) Is’haaq Hasan Haque, Hasnain Shah, Arman Mohammed 和 Farhan Hasnat 在《伊什》中
在那些情况下，这根本没法比。听起来可能有点陈词滥调，但当你照顾过一个临终的人后，电影片场其实没那么糟糕。我拒绝在那种事情上过于焦虑。”Perretta 表示，是他母亲的患病让他走上了成为艺术家的道路。“在她去世后，我想：我必须把生命奉献给我想要做的事情。”在他母亲被诊断出患癌时，他 18 岁，他与父亲和妹妹一起担任她的照顾者。“我妈去世后，我在一家建筑师事务所工作，我想：生命太短暂了，不能用来设计厕所。”他当时就是在设计厕所吗？“确实。我当时在一个负责规划厕所隔间的团队里。我不会告诉你是在哪家——那是一家名气很大的建筑公司。”他坚持了一周。“我就觉得：不，我还是走吧。”在母亲生病期间，他曾前往伦敦的萨宾廷画廊观看德里克·贾曼的最后一部电影《蓝色》（Blue）。“我被它深深吸引了。我想：‘天哪，我也得做那样的事。’我需要直面那些让我愤怒和恐惧的事情，并以此创作。那就是开始。”他咧嘴一笑。“然后我们就来到了今天。”《Ish》现已在电影院上映
电影一直是一种研发媒介。在任何一个时间点，该行业都在寻找另一个能够将其推向未来的突破口。 1920 年代的同步发声。 1930 年代的彩色电影。 1970 年代现代大片的诞生。
相反，人们的共识是，如果 2020 年代有一个定义性的趋势，那就是衰落。影院体验正受到全方位的攻击：流媒体、YouTube，以及一场导致电影院彻底关闭的百年一次的健康危机。
然而，如果你仔细观察，这实际上是电影史上最具创新精神的十年之一。无论是由于技术进步还是绝望驱动，电影行业在过去的几年里一直在探索制作电影的新方法，而这些方法在十年前甚至是不可能实现的。
[[IMG_XXXX]] 照片：PROD.DB/ALAMY
目前，其中最显著的是电影如何地与 YouTube 展开对话。 2005 年，当 Jawed Karim 将第一个视频（仅 19 秒的《我在动物园》）上传到该平台时，YouTube 感觉像是个新鲜玩意。它廉价且愉快，不过是猫咪视频和人们摔跤的合集。如今情况已大不相同。它不仅成为了全球最大的流媒体平台，而且第一代伴随 YouTube 成长的成年人已经步入社会。
就在此时， 2026 年票房排名第七和第八的电影导演，都是通过在 YouTube 上制作内容来学习手艺的人。 《Obsession》（全球票房：$442m）由 26 岁的 Curry Barker 执导，他为了制作 YouTube 视频和 TikTok 视频而退出了电影学院。与此同时，《Backrooms》（全球票房：$384m）则更明确地受到了互联网的启发。这部电影由当时 20 岁的 Kane Parsons 执导，基于他从 2022 年开始上传到 YouTube 的一系列短片，而这些短片又受到自 2019 年起在网上流传的一些 creepypasta（基于网络的恐怖内容）的启发。
十年前，制片厂可能会在这一点上犯下灾难性的错误。如果你要求他们改编一段 YouTube 视频，他们可能会雇佣 Michael Bay 和 Rihanna 来拍摄《牙医后的戴维：电影版》；这会让任何不看 YouTube 的人感到困惑，而会让任何看 YouTube 的人感到厌恶。这是行业第一次信任原住民去拍摄他们想要拍摄的电影。显然，考虑到巨大的财务回报，这不会是最后一次。 Steven Spielberg 现在正在制作 Alex Kister 的《曼德拉目录》(The Mandela Catalogue)，该片基于自 2021 年起在 YouTube 上运行的一系列恐怖的模拟恐怖系列视频。
现在也是提及“版权过期电影”兴起的好时机。 1998 年，美国通过了《版权期限延长法》，将作品的保护期延长至首次发布后的 95 年。
已出版。（在英国，规则有所不同；版权在创作者去世后延续 70 年。）这实际上意味着有二十年的时间里没有任何作品失效。当时间终于在 2019 年追平，使得 1923 年创作的所有作品都进入公有领域时，出现了一场“淘金热”。
现在，得承认这并不是一次质量特别高的淘金热。率先出击的是 2023 年的《维尼熊：血与蜂蜜》，这是一部低成本的砍杀电影，其唯一的创意就是把维尼熊放进去。接着出现了《捕鼠夹》和《蒸汽船》（两者都基于《汽船威利》，这是米老鼠角色中第一个失去版权保护的元素），以及《大力水手：杀手》和《小鹿斑比：清算》。毫无例外，这些电影廉价、投机，且在演职员表出现之前就早已耗尽了题材——但更多此类电影还将到来。
明年，如果你能耐心地等那么久，将看到一部名为《普熊宇宙：怪物集结》的电影上映，其主演——深呼吸——将包括维尼熊、跳跳虎、小鹿斑比、彼得潘、팅克贝尔、匹诺曹、睡美人和柴郡猫。同样值得指出的是，金刚将在 2029 年进入公有领域，这对于任何渴望看到一部由一只超大猩猩主演的低成本恐怖电影的人来说，都将是一个绝佳的消息。
现在，接下来的话可能会让你们觉得莫名其妙，因为我准备将《刺猬索尼克》命名为这十年中最重要的一部电影。请听我解释。这十年中最普遍的趋势之一就是，无论好坏，观众们都通过某种方式劫持电影以达到自己的目的。最典型的例子显然是“芭本海默” (Barbenheimer)，其中《芭比》和《奥本海默》在同一天上映，引发了一种人们连续购买两张票观看这两部电影的现象。电影行业内没有人预料到这一点，但这种来自草根庆祝的宣传使两部电影的票房都直线攀升。而这件事的另一面则是《莫Bius》，一部极其糟糕的电影，引发了无休止的网络反讽嘲笑——但令人啼笑皆足的是，索尼将这种反讽误认为是真诚的支持，并在 1,000 个屏幕上重新发行该片以牟利。不用说，没人去看。此外，想想所有为了参与“绅士小黄人” (Gentminions) 趋势而购买《小黄人大眼萌：格鲁之崛起》电影票的青少年，他们纯粹是为了穿上西装并胡言乱语；或者那些专门去看《我的世界》电影的人，仅仅是为了在杰克·布莱克说出“鸡骑手”这个词时大声尖叫并乱扔东西。可以说，没有哪部电影能像《刺猬索尼克》那样从粉丝反应中获益。我们最初看到的是一段噩梦般的预告片，其中的主角完全认不出来。索尼克拥有诡异的人类比例，此外还有细小的眼睛和看起来像是趁人睡觉时从口中偷来的牙齿。它太糟糕了，互联网迅速地指出了它的糟糕。在过去，制片厂可能只会默默承受打击，尽可能安静地发行这部电影，将其定格为又一部注定在上映之初就夭折的糟糕电子游戏改编作。但这一次，制片人倾听了意见。预告片在周二发布，到了周四，导演就发推特称角色将进行完全重新设计。六个月后，新版索尼克揭晓，粉丝们欣喜若狂。凭借一个人们真正能够接受的形象，《刺猬索尼克》成为了第六大……
◀ 《执念》(Obsession)， 票房已达 $442m， 由 YouTuber 和 TikToker Curry Barker 执导
2020 . 的电影。没有人预料到这一点。在《音速索尼克》之前，电子游戏改编电影一直被普遍认为是电影中最底层的形式。想想那部惨不忍睹的真人版《超级马里奥兄弟》电影，或者马克·沃尔伯格主演的糟糕至极的《马克思·佩恩》，亦或是乌维·波尔那部无可救药的《邮差》。在 1993 和 2019 之间，大约有 4 6 部英语电子游戏改编电影上映，总票房合计 $5.4bn 。但仅《我的世界》电影一部就赚了近 $1bn 。 2023 年上映的动画电影《超级马里奥》在年终票房排名中仅次于《芭比》。在撰写本文时，《超级马里奥银河》电影是 2026 年至今全球最卖座的电影。通过向其他电影制作人展示如何给观众他们真正想看的东西，《音速索尼克》已将电子游戏改编电影变成了印钞许可证。这使得《音速索尼克》成为这十年中迄今为止最重要的电影。而未来只会进一步证明这一点，一旦 Mr Beast 签约执导《音速索尼克 5》，并且在 2087 年版权到期后，有人拍了一部关于蓝色刺猬的垃圾恐怖片。
我太棒了！
在德比郡 (Derbyshire) 的一片原野上，巅峰热浪的阳光倾洒而下，艾米·怀恩豪斯告诉观众她需要补水——于是罗比·威廉姆斯 (Robbie Williams) 为她取来一杯饮料。在另一边，公众成员拦截野兽男孩 (Beastie Boys) 拍照合影，弗雷德·德斯特 (Fred Durst) 随着戴安娜·罗斯 (Diana Ross) 翻唱艾尔·格林 (Al Green) 的歌曲而律动，一群赤裸上身的青少年在 Korn 乐队演出时围成圆圈冲撞，而一名女性就坐在他们身后的露营椅上织毛衣。詹姆斯·布朗 (James Brown) 和王子 (Prince) 竟然是同一个艺人——只是换了不同的衣服。
这些都是上个月 Replika 音乐节的场景。该音乐节因拥有 108 组艺人在一个挥汗如雨的周末里演出，赢得了吉尼斯世界纪录中“最大致敬音乐节”的称号。其起名时的文字游戏本身就值得一项奖赏：参演者包括 Cati shing the Bottlemen、Pearl Scam、Wrong Jovi 和 If y Clyro。
这远非此类活动中的唯一一个。英国今夏此类活动泛滥，包括 Fake-Fest、Tribfest、Glastonbudget、Festwich、Tidal Gathering、Could Be Real 等众多音乐节。同样地，全国各地的音乐场馆的演出列表中挤满了致敬艺人。Alive Network Entertainment Agency 的总经理戴夫·比万 (Dave Bevan) ——该公司代理 234 组此类艺人——估计，英国目前有 3,000 到 5,000 个演出团体在运作。
这么多活动和演出之所以繁荣，或许是因为观看原创艺术家的演出通常价格高昂得令人望而却步，尤其是在生活成本危机期间；而这些致敬演出则提供了低廉的现场音乐接触机会，且曲目保证是观众熟悉并喜爱的。Replika 音乐节的周末门票收费 £100。其组织者詹姆斯·迪恩 (James Dean) 表示：“我们的音乐节目标客群是可支配收入极低的低中收入家庭。将其与去温布利球场 (Wembley Stadium) 看一场单一演唱会的成本对比一下就知道了。”我在音乐节上采访的一群年轻人也表达了同样的观点：“便宜，在本地，而且好玩。”
丹·巴德 (Dan Budd) 在过去 14 年里一直扮演罗比·威廉姆斯，他在舞台上的表现好得令人惊讶，充满了必要的自信和顽皮，此外他拥有相同的斯托克 (Stoke) 口音，甚至有相对应的真实纹身。“我认为我在接单量方面从未如此繁忙过，”他说，“直到 2027 年 9 月，我的周六晚上都没有空档。”
迪恩告诉我，该领域顶尖的艺人每场演出可赚取 £10,000- £15,000。巴德不愿给出具体数字，但说：“这么说吧，我 36 岁且已还清房贷。”
同样，以 Madnezz of Amy 之名扮演艾米·怀恩豪斯的纳丁·拉穆尔 (Nadine l’Amour) 也事业飞涨。她于 2024 年 12 月首次作为怀恩豪斯登台；四个月后，她辞去了中学教师的工作，转为全职演出。与巴德一样，拉穆尔复刻了怀恩豪斯的纹身，不过由于她本身就是一名资深粉丝，这些纹身在她进入致敬演出领域数年前就已经刻好了。谈到她的演出时，她说：“现场有 14 和 15 岁的女孩唱出每一个字。有些年轻人对我说：‘我没机会看到艾米，但看着你在舞台上的样子，我觉得这是我能接触到的最接近她的一刻。’”
受益的不仅是像拉穆尔和巴德这样的个人。根据慈善机构音乐场馆信托基金 (Music Venue Trust, MVT) 的数据，在英国一半的基层音乐场馆没有利润的时期，致敬艺人正帮助整个行业维持运转。
“人们对他们持有某种精英主义的偏见，但这些演出确实维持了现场演出的部分……”
“音乐基础设施正在转移，”利兹 Brudenell Social Club 的所有者内森·克拉克（Nathan Clark）说道，该俱乐部是全英最受尊重且策划最用心的独立音乐场地之一。尽管它因挖掘前卫新人及国际独立之星而享有盛名，但模仿团在那里也扮演着重要角色。“并不是每场演出都要关于发现未来，”他说，“关键在于平衡：模仿团应该支撑原创音乐，而不是取代它。”
目前还没有关于模仿表演者精准经济影响的硬性数据。MVT 的首席执行官马克·戴维德（Mark Davyd）猜测，他们在英国独立场馆的所有预订中占据 25-30% 的比例。夜间产业协会（Night Time Industries Association）同样表示没有权威数字，但一名发言人称，模仿表演每年为现场音乐产业贡献“数百万英镑”。
迪恩（Dean）对其音乐节过去 10 年的经济影响进行了一项独立调查——包括相关的当地交通、酒店、超市等消费——结果约为 £8.5m。考虑到巡演模仿团、音乐节、演出和活动的数量，他估计在同样的 10 年时间跨度内，总额可能达到数亿英镑。
这个巨大的领域被忽视的原因之一，是因为它经常被视为有些乏味或退步。“人们，尤其是主流音乐业的人，认为我们根本不入流，”迪恩说，“我们并没有真正被认真对待。”
但模仿表演不再只是那些音准不稳、可疑的猫王模仿者。“我们曾见过几个 Take That 模仿团，他们的歌唱水平比 Robbie Williams 和 Gary Barlow 高得多，”迪恩说。克拉克指出，Smyths 模仿团（一个 The Smiths 模仿团）的格雷厄姆·桑普森（Graham Sampson）在持音能力上可能比 Morrissey 更好。
这种在模仿他人时的技巧和专注可能会带来情感上的损耗。“四五个...”
◀ 两个灵魂的教父： Buzz D’Angelo 饰演 James Brown ...
... 以及饰演 Prince
“在坚持了五年后，我的精神状态一度崩溃，”巴德说。“在私人生活中做一个普通人，然后切换到‘罗比模式’，之后又得把它关掉，我无法在这种状态间持续维持。这就像人格分裂一样。”但巴德找到了解决办法，他每晚演出不同的曲目组以保持新鲜感，将冷门曲目与热门金曲相结合，同时在扮演威廉斯时不再那么激进。“随着我的成熟，我现在是以‘丹’的身份登台，用他自己的风格和方式来演唱这些歌曲，”他说道。
当你热爱你所扮演的角色时，这不仅仅是一场演出。“有几首歌会把我带回人生中一段相当阴暗的时光，”拉穆尔说。“每当我唱《Back to Black》时，喉咙就会感到一阵哽咽。这不仅是在回想我自己的痛苦，也是在回想艾米感受到的痛苦。”在Replika音乐节上，拉穆尔非常动情地将这首歌献给了一位最近去世的朋友。“尽管唱这首歌很痛苦，但能将它献给我那位因心理健康问题而失去的朋友，这种感觉很好，”她随后告诉我。“而她的情况也是因为失去了爱的人，加上酗酒以及所有与之相关的事情。”拉穆尔表示，虽然有些人——比如Replika演出中那个扮演王子和詹姆斯·布朗的组合——会在多个致敬演出中兼职，但由于这些素材的重要性，她只能扮演温豪斯。“这不仅仅是画眼线和把头发梳成蜂巢头那么简单，”她说。“这是一种感觉。那是像在胃部被狠狠踢了一脚般的、令人心碎的初恋；是心碎到无法修复。但随后能将这种情感倾诉给观众，并感受到爱在回馈。对我来说，这远不止是一次致敬。”
致敬演出对行业的其他领域也产生了多米诺骨牌效应。“它创造了就业，”克拉克说。“它带动了付费音乐家、设计师、推广员和场地的需求。”他提到Smyths乐队即将在他的场地进行为期四晚的演出。“在这样的基层水平上，有哪些原创乐队能连续演出四晚且全部售罄？”他问道。“极少。这四场演出让我们能够承担预订其他项目的风险。”戴维指出，致敬演出在那些“缺乏巡演艺人”的小城镇中“填补了节目空白”，这利弊参半。“任何现场音乐体验对于社交互动、社区凝聚力以及诸多其他原因来说都非常重要，”他说。“但我们确实需要关注如何培养下一波伟大的英国才华之辈。我希望能为他们留出更多空间。”
在Replika音乐节上显而易见的是，虽然对许多人来说，这些乐队是纯粹的怀旧、慰藉和熟悉感的载体——如绿洲乐队（Oasis）的大气副歌、披头士（Beatles）洗脑的旋律以及2000年代甜美的流行乐——但它们也是人们接触音乐的第一道门槛。看着穿着战袍的孩子们在他们的第一个冲撞区（mosh pit）中摸索，在假临普比兹基特（Limp Bizkit）乐队将一个巨大的帐篷变成蹦跳身体的海洋时，学习着音乐节奏和礼仪，这一幕十分温馨。对于乐队成员来说，这也是梦想成真，他们似乎被观众的反应震撼了。打碟师对着观众席中的父母大喊，肾上腺素显然在激增，他宣称道：“他们一直叫我去找一份正经工作——现在看看我！”
[[IMG_XXXX]] ◀ 纳丁·拉穆尔扮演艾米·温豪斯…… “对我来说，这远不止是一次致敬”
[[IMG_XXXX]] ▼ 丹·巴德，表演他的罗比·威廉斯角色
[[IMG_XXXX]] ◀ 安德烈亚·帕蒂森在Replika音乐节上扮演多莉·帕顿
Brennan Wedl 新专辑中的词曲创作如此严密，以至于我一直检查制作名单，看看其中是否有哪首歌其实是我不小心遗漏的 Lucinda Williams 巅峰时期的翻唱作品。并非如此：这些全部是由一位 29 岁词曲作者创作的原曲。她那光彩夺目、充满记忆点且强韧的 Americana 风格，让她能与 Williams 在《Car Wheels on a Gravel Road》时期的地位平起平坐，或者像是一个在教会地下室玩朋克演出中长大的 Sheryl Crow；此外，她给人的感觉就像是穿上牛仔靴的 Courtney Love。
“我热爱 Lucinda 那种审视日常生活的诚恳方式，我希望在这张唱片中实现这一点，”Wedl 在她位于纳什维尔的家中通过电话说道，她身边堆满了复古杂志。Wedl 热情且随性；她用充满活力的“完全正确！”（toootally!）来回答问题。她提到了自己最喜欢的新歌《Just Another Daddy Who Did Me Wrong》，这是一首苦乐参半的曲目，探讨了她身上那种自我毁灭的吸引力。“这是对现实的残酷审视，但同时也关于我们的思维如何在现实周围创造出如此之多的幻想。这些日子我正努力不去对现实投射太多臆想。”
你可以说 Wedl 并没有太多需要幻想的理由：她这张以个人名字命名的同名新专辑由 Waxahatchee（又名 Katie Crutchi eld）制作，后者是主动要求制作这张专辑的。
“我简直无法想象她的嗓音能达到这种程度，”此前从未担任过制作人的 Crutchi eld 说道。当她听到《Two Dollar Pistol》的早期版本时，“我想，这个人写的旋律如此宏大，足以在体育馆演出中演奏。这完全是另一个层级的词曲创作。”
Wedl 将这张专辑极其成熟的特质——这是她在几部较为内敛的作品之后发行的第三张个人专辑——归功于她从未如此地了解自己。通过将新写的歌曲与 20 岁时写的歌曲相结合，“这很大程度上是在不同版本的自我之间进行沟通，是用音乐进行时空旅行；是与未知的对话，是对男人、上帝、耶稣以及‘父亲’这一典型意象等宏大主题的探讨。”
与许多美国最优秀的年轻另类词曲作者一样，Wedl 出身于宗教背景——但不同寻常的是，她并没有完全将其摒弃。她在密苏里州长大，姑姑们都是修女。“我很感激能看到天主教会许多不同的面貌，”她说。“我看到了致力于服务的修女。但我也看到了对男孩们的侵害。我的祖父是女性神职人员的坚定支持者，他说我们不能一直将此事掩盖起来。因此，在接触过那些真正将基督教内化为自身的长辈后，这启发我在成年生活中加入一点异教色彩的转折。”
Wedl 在 12 岁参加 She Rock She Rock 夏令营时发现了 riot grrrl 运动，并发现教会与朋克在“共同建立一个新时代”的冲动力上有着共同点。她随后离开家前往波士顿的伯克利音乐学院学习，并在那里共同创立了俏皮的 queercore 组合 Dazey and the Scouts。该组合仅维持了两年多，随后因为一个孩子随着他们的歌曲起舞而成为了疫情期间 TikTok 上的小红人
这段视频在网上疯传。“TikTok 有其阴暗面，但它的发现机制确实能将人们聚集在一起——无论身在何处，都能在某种艺术或音乐中看到自己的影子，这很神奇，”Wedl 说道。
音乐也帮助她更清晰地审视自己。她的专辑中最为激进的时刻——《Pretty Little Fantasy》，攻击了人们认为她“端庄得体”的刻板印象。作为长女且家中唯一的女孩，她说：“我想成为一个有用的人，我认为女孩们在成长过程中被灌输了很多这类观念。但随后我接触到了 Riot Grrrl（暴女）和 Marina Abramović，我花了 20 多岁的大部分时间才得出结论：我仍在承担着一个‘让自己讨人喜欢’的自我强加的人生使命，而这对任何人都没有帮助。我认为‘讨人喜欢’是我为了逃避处理自身糟糕状况而戴上的面具——如果我表现得讨人喜欢，就没人会进一步深究了。”
她将打破这些模式归功于“各种 12 步计划”。她说：“我的生活很大程度上可以概括为：我的日常习惯如何塑造了现在的我？在我酗酒的时候，我真正关注的都是错误的事情。”
戒酒并没有消除她的问题，但让问题变得更清晰了。她意识到自己变成了一个不再写作的人，忽略了“这个在无法向他人解释心声时的捷径；我可以向我的吉他和日记本倾诉”。
她说，写作“可以是我们与不可见之物沟通的方式，是我们与自己签署的契约。我们想要带入现实的事物，很多时候可以通过笔和纸来实现。这真的很神奇。”
Brennan Wedl 将于 21 August 通过 Anti 出道。
导演：艾薇·米罗波尔 (Ivy Meeropol)
主演：E·珍·卡罗尔 (E Jean Carroll)、丽莎·比恩巴赫 (Lisa Birnbach)、罗伯塔·卡普兰 (Roberta Kaplan)
91 分钟，无分级
唐纳德·特朗普几乎成功实施了一个阴险且狡猾的诡计，即在 #MeToo 议题上实现“自动取消取消”，暗示他超脱于此且在宪法上享有豁免权，尽管他被录音拍到在吹嘘性暴力。通过结合虚张声势、缺乏诚信、威胁、虐待，以及仅仅凭借美国总统的身份在更宏大的国际舞台上制造混乱，况且他还有一支由网络喷子组成的激进军队可用，他逃脱了惩罚。到目前为止。
但在他的指控者中，迄今为止在两起民事诉讼中获胜的是记者兼前咨询专栏作家 E·珍·卡罗尔，她展现出了非凡的勇气和不屈的幽默感。她正是电影制作者艾薇·米罗波尔这部引人入胜的纪录片的主角。卡罗尔在 80 和 90 年代的纽约媒体界拥有极其辉煌的职业生涯，当时她像罗莎琳德·罗素和琼·里弗斯那样机智风趣，塑造了一个强悍女性的形象。她曾主持一个名为《询问 E·珍》(Ask E Jean) 的电视咨询节目。 2019 年，在温斯坦案的启发下，卡罗尔指控特朗普在 1996 年于纽约伯格多夫古德曼 (Bergdorf Goodman) 百货店的更衣室对其实施了强奸：两人显然在店内偶遇。他邀请她帮他挑选作为礼物的“内衣”，而卡罗尔出于一种被严重误判的幽默冲动，随他而行。强奸随后发生。 因此，卡罗尔没有面对特朗普发起的任何诽谤诉讼：相反，她以性侵为由对他提起民事诉讼，在他及其政治支持基础做出虐待性回应后，又提起了第二起诽谤诉讼。在第二起案件中，特朗普本人出庭。在此类案件中，这是一种旨在让女性屈服的策略。但她没有屈服。两次陪审团裁定卡罗尔胜诉，一次判赔 $5m，下一次判赔 $83.3m，法院现已强制他支付第一笔款项。 特朗普身上那种纯粹的阴森感令人震惊：他以令人作呕的蔑视宣布，她“不是他的类型”。（讽刺的是，一张 1987 年特朗普与当时的妻子伊万娜以及卡罗尔会面的照片显示，这两位女性的风格相当相似。） 这起案件无疑给现年 80 多岁的卡罗尔带来了沉重打击：但她比特朗普及其律师想象的要坚强得多。
PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2
偶尔会出现一款前提设定如此离谱，以至于让你停下脚步的游戏。比如《电车攻坚战！》(Denshattack!)，一款关于在反乌托邦未来的日本中，将火车踢飞并翻转的游戏。气候灾难之后，人们退缩到公司拥有的圆顶城市中，在无知的空调舒适环境中度日。国家的其余部分则是破碎的基础设施之乱，敌对帮派在日本著名的庞大铁路网络废墟上厮杀。天真的新手 Emi 只有一个目标：成为最强的电车攻坚手 (Denshattacker)，通过一次次激进的磨杠 (nosegrind) 来实现。 你从简单的模式开始，只有一辆火车和几个引导关卡。起初是相当简单的赛道进程，随后迅速开放提供
导演：乔什·格林鲍姆 (Josh Greenbaum)
主演：杰克·约翰逊 (Jake Johnson)、玛丽·斯汀堡根 (Mary Steenburgen)、埃德·哈里斯 (Ed Harris)、亚伦·陈 (Aaron Chen)
102 分钟，分级 12
这部由制片人兼主演杰克·约翰逊带来的体育喜剧内容相当有趣且充满无厘头色彩。影片探讨了皮克球 (pickleball) 的世界，以及这项（据称）简单且类网球的运动如何威胁到网球运动本身，使其变得平庸。
达斯汀（约翰逊 饰）是一个中年失败者，自欺欺人地给自己起绰号叫“锤子”。他在青少年时期曾展现出网球天赋，但在一次与年轻的安迪·罗迪克 (Andy Roddick)（由本人客串）的交锋中遭遇惨败，深受打击。如今，达斯汀在父亲（埃德·哈里斯 饰）开的网球俱乐部担任教练，而他的父亲对他所做的一切都嗤之以鼻。唯一能让可怜的达斯汀找回自尊的事情就是：他对皮克球极端的厌恶。皮克球的追随者们在俱乐部里勉强被允许设置一座像玩具城一样的迷你球场——于是，达斯汀与皮克球爱好者坎蒂丝（玛丽·斯汀堡根 饰）在一次争吵中产生了有趣的邂逅。
但达斯汀的医生（本·斯蒂勒 饰）建议他通过打皮克球来恢复手腕伤势，而这处伤势本身成为了大量“抽搐/抖动”笑料的铺垫。随后，他发现自己竟然喜欢这项“高尚的艺术”，尤其是其较慢的节奏和标志性的“dink”截击小球。而且，他不仅喜欢这项运动，还很喜欢坎蒂丝……尽管影片在处理这种年龄差距关系时，与现实的距离仅在咫尺之遥。
对于任何关于网球的喜剧来说，约翰·麦肯罗 (John McEnroe) 的一次有趣的客串在预料之中。亚伦·陈饰演达斯汀唯唯诺诺的僚机 PJ，以及帕顿·奥斯瓦尔特 (Patton Oswalt) 饰演皮克球支持者 Slip，两人都提供了不错的支持——不过，《30 Rock》的粉丝可能会认为，对于曾在蒂娜·费 (Tina Fey) 的经典电视喜剧中饰演伟大的太空人医生 (Dr Spaceman) 的克里斯·帕内尔 (Chris Parnell) 来说，这个角色分量实在太轻了。
赛跑、得分攻击以及挑战关卡，其中最精彩的部分是 Boss 战。向着一只钻地鼹鼠火车发射巨大的棒球是一场壮观的景象，而在神话般的彩虹铁路上飞驰以逃离一座黑胶唱片驱动的城堡同样震撼。整个体验就像一次穿梭在日本各岛屿的古怪之旅。其中一个关卡要求你在传统的歌舞伎剧院表演中鸣笛穿行。另一个关卡则让我以赛车漫画《头文字D》的精神去配送拉面。游戏的每一寸细节都充满了饱和度
导演：海伦·沃尔什 (Helen Walsh)
主演：巴里·沃德 (Barry Ward), 洛恩·麦克法登 (Lorne MacFadyen), 莉兹·怀特 (Liz White)
111 分钟，分级 15
巴里·沃德在这部演技精湛的、类似于《断背山》风格的禁忌之恋戏剧中，赋予了角色真诚与力量。故事发生在一个北威尔士的渔业社区。沃德饰演的杰克是一名被生活重担压得喘不过气的中年男子。他已经老到无法承担耙贻贝床这种艰苦的体力活了；他与粗鲁的兄弟迪凡 (Dyfan, 塞林·琼斯 Celyn Jones 饰) 共同经营这家企业。迪凡对他因治疗癌症而缺席工作的时间心存不满，尽管该病目前已处于缓解期。杰克自 16 岁起就与妻子玛吉 (Maggie, 莉兹·怀特 Liz White 饰) 在一起；两人都担心儿子汤姆 (Tom, 亨利·劳夫尔 Henry Lawfull 饰) 结交坏友，且不愿帮忙经营生意。
汤姆的混混同伙们骚扰当地渔民伯尼 (Bernie, 丹尼·韦伯 Danny Webb 饰)，导致了严重的后果；伯尼雇用了一名叫丹尼尔 (Daniel, 洛恩·麦克法登 Lorne MacFadyen 饰) 的流动甲板手，他与杰克的偶然相遇成为了点燃故事的火花。事实是，杰克秘密地倾向于同性或双性恋，而电影在向我们展示这种被压抑、被否认的身份在数十年来与其官方生活平行运行的同时，达到了令人心碎的深情。他与丹尼尔彼此吸引。两人开着伯尼的小渔船出海，当他们如片名所示“在海上”时，远离了社区的反对，一段热烈且光辉的恋情随之展开。有趣的是，杰克的同性恋身份存在于一个与他外在人格不同的平面上，但这并不比他热爱玛吉的那一面更真实或不真实。不过，我对这部电影的遗憾之处在于，出色的莉兹·怀特没有获得更多的空间来表达她角色的内心世界。
与日本文化的过去和现在相结合，这对于其位于巴塞罗那的开发团队来说是一项令人印象深刻的成就。虽然设计非常精妙，但真正的快感在于其操作手感之好。任何对经典滑板游戏略有喜爱的人都会认出该类型的标志性特征，但当这些特征通过“极端公共交通”的视角呈现时，它们焕发了新生。在翻拍、重制和续作盛行的时代，发现这种古怪且不合逻辑的游戏，就像完成一次完美的着陆一样令人满足。 梅根·艾利斯 (Meghan Ellis)
流行
流行
大西洋唱片 (Atlantic)
在花费十年时间在流行音乐的边缘探索一种独特的流行自由后，顶级艺人的成功似乎最终成了困住 Charli xcx 的枷锁。她 2024 年的俱乐部舞曲大作《Brat》引发了模因热潮、政治跟风，并可能给内衣行业带来了致命打击。其荒诞的文化影响力似乎要把她定格为一个漫画式的 caricature；关于“Brat之夏”能否持续的问题如此盛行，以至于她将其拍成了一部伪纪录片《The Moment》。即使对于一位以不断重塑自我而闻名的流行星，这也增加了她下一步行动的风险。如果转向，可能会失去新粉丝，且显得故意反叛。当 Charli 发布该专辑的第一支单曲《Rock Music》时，许多人将其解读为一种挑衅。在嗡嗡作响的吉他声中，她慵懒地唱道：“我觉得舞池已死，所以现在我们要制作摇滚乐。”随后出现了一些枯燥的评论文章，讨论舞池实际上依然充满活力，以及关于……
全球月度专辑
艺术家：The Zarabanda Variations
专辑：《The Zarabanda Variations》
厂牌：Carrier
古典音乐爱好者会对萨拉班德 (sarabande) 这种庄重的形式感到熟悉：这是一种被巴洛克作曲家青睐的、节奏缓慢且温柔的西班牙舞曲风格。对于美国作曲家基尔·戈戈维尔特 (Keir GoGwilt) 而言，
古典
无论她是否试图剔除那些随波逐流的新粉丝。但这首俏皮歌曲的关键在于出人意料的真挚：“跳下舞台 / 我希望他们今天能接住你 / 但如果没有，也没关系，”她唱道，这是一种对勇于进行创意飞跃的肯定，以及无论是否跟随 Charli 一起地跃下。
《Music, Fashion, Film》这个平淡的标题指向了 Charli 向演员方向的转型以及在时尚领域的合作。但从前三首单曲来看，整体蓝图显得有些模糊。她迅速抗议称，自己并非“真——正”在创作摇滚乐。忧伤的 $\langle \text{SS26} \rangle$ 涉及对名人污名的粘稠辩解；而令人上瘾的 $\langle \text{Wink Wink} \rangle$ 则用小拇指勾誓地承诺她现在已变得体面。但我打赌，这些作品是刻意模糊处理的，以防止专辑脱离 Charli 的掌控。
这种难以捉摸的特质最终成为了另一张极其敏锐且深邃的专辑的精髓，探讨的是身份的不稳定性——不仅作为一名追求变革的前卫词曲作者，而且探讨我们究竟能在多大程度上了解彼此，甚至了解自己。《Rock Music》和 $\langle \text{SS26} \rangle$ 在 $\langle \text{Card Declined} \rangle$ 之外共同探索自我定义，在后者中，她正通过奢侈品地购物以购买“一个个性 / 一整套背景故事”。Charli 始终是一个目光敏锐的文化观察者，她明白自我商品化正是我们如今的生活方式。通过依赖吉他并剥离她惯用的自动调音 (Auto Tune)，她在玩弄“真实性”这个概念，尽管这远非单纯的风格角色扮演。在共同制作人 AG Cook 和 Easyfun 的帮助下，Charli 将吉他音乐重新打造为亲密、口袋大小的规模——却拥有极强的记忆点。
有两首耐人寻味的歌曲讲述了两种不同的挚友关系。《Magic Metal Montana》将 Strokes 式的吉他和情绪摇滚 (emo) 的渴望交织成一片梦幻的模糊，是一首献给长期制作人 AG Cook 的情歌。“我们不交谈，”她温柔地唱道，“我们创作音乐，我们以那样的方式交流。”而大胆、强有力的 $\langle \text{Persona} \rangle$ 则在调侃一个没完没了地说话但从未触及核心的朋友。
你会把那个真实、踉跄的自我托付给谁？对于从不惧怕展露不完美之面的 Charli 来说，那是她的观众。两首令人震惊的杰出作品通过艺术探讨了她的自我实现。忧郁且焦虑的 $\langle \text{Camera} \rangle$ 直面她对尝试演戏的焦虑，但其转化为如烈火斑驳般狂想曲的方式，让你能准确感受到这种释放感是多么强烈；以及在任何时刻，一道晴天霹雳可能让你感到一种令人生畏的重生。她在 $\langle \text{I'm Afraid} \rangle$ 中讲述了她的出生，关于她的不安全感可能源于父亲在她的出生时不在场。在简练、低沉的不和谐音符中，她尖叫着表达对作为一个妻子失败的恐惧，而当时她只是一个绝望的孩子。“拿走戒指吧，”她喊道；随后她听起来精疲力竭，承认她必须说出这些“复杂”的、无法言说的话，“这样我的内心才不会变黑”。
这与其说是艺术上的净化，不如说更像是一种必然：“所有的这些痛苦让我相信 / 我现在成了一个更好的艺术家。”她自相矛盾吗？绝对如此。而这种不遗余力地将一切展现在我们面前的冲动，是否让 Charli 成为了我们最始终如一地令人振奋的流行巨星？天哪，是的。Alexis Petridis 休假中。
然而，这首萨拉班德舞曲 (sarabande) 包含了一些更为激进的东西。在这个协作项目中，他招募了一个 10 人的乐团，将自由爵士与巴洛克弦乐及口述诗歌相结合，旨在深入挖掘这种舞蹈在 17 和 18 世纪西班牙普及之前的殖民拉丁美洲根源。
初听之下，很难听出这种无调性的、嘈杂的、低沉的音乐如何能与古典萨拉班德舞曲产生关联。事实上，GoGwilt 的作品拥抱了那些鲜为人知的历史参考，从而创造出完全崭新的东西。
Matachín 那不规整的节拍，影射了同名的当代西班牙狂欢节舞蹈，并在 Alec Goldfarb 充满力量的指弹爵士吉他中体现了其狂放的能量。《Tonada Americana》是一大亮点，将 17 世纪西班牙语系舞蹈的摇曳节奏与狂乱的无调性小提琴弓法相结合。这张专辑绝非易于聆听之作，其中几段口白插曲经常包含令人困惑的引用——但其配器达到了虚拟绝诣，且其视野之开阔令人瞩目。 Ammar Kalia
更多评论请见 theguardian.com/music
艺术家：Tyla
专辑：《A*Pop》
厂牌：Fax/Epic
从她倾向于用吸引狗仔队的噱头出名，到其音乐中对阳光、性感与撩人氛围的大胆融合，24 岁的南非歌手 Tyla 似乎渴望带我们回到更加无忧无虑的时光。在节奏感强、带有 Christina Milian 风格的《Mr Nonchalant》中，她提到自己的脐环，并告诉一个男人她喜欢他的眼睛，“因为它们与那条丁字裤很搭”。 然而，就像她自 2024 年凭借跨大西洋热门单曲《Water》崭露头角以来一直被比较的 Rihanna 一样，Tyla 凭借一种能适应任何情绪、极具辨识度的嗓音，敏捷地跨越了不同的流派和参照点。在表达挫败感的开场曲《Is It Love》中，她采用了全力的强力唱法；即便是在《Kiss》中——这首歌在轻盈的 Afrobeats 曳步舞与舞曲流行乐分解段之间快速切换——Tyla 依然能将焦点拉回到自己身上。全碟 14 首歌曲，气势汹汹的《A*Pop》显得有些过于自信——《Hot Tubs》没那么有趣；中速的《Fairytale》则略显乏味——且其对爱情起伏的关注略显局限。但作为一名老派超级巨星的大胆意向宣言，这张专辑接近满分。 Michael Cragg
艺术家：Mitsuko Uchida (内田光子)
专辑：《贝多芬：最后三首奏鸣曲》
厂牌：Decca
二十年前，内田光子发布了贝多芬最后三首钢琴奏鸣曲的录音室版本，至今仍是标杆。现在，这份去年 10 月在东京录制的现场演出版本面世了。那些热爱她之前录音的人不会发现太大的惊喜——她的诠释依然相似，尽管有时稍微宽泛或更具弹性，而且在例如 Op 109 和 110 的简短第二乐章中，紧迫感不那么明显。然而，即使是一位已经演奏这些作品数十年的钢琴家，音乐呈现出来的效果依然如新：没有任何声音像是预先设定好的。内田光子的贝多芬依然是低调而美妙的。强弱之间的对比可能很剧烈，但绝不过分；安静的段落则提供了一种交流感。这些奏鸣曲的长结尾在宏大且包罗万象的幅度中展开，自然且有机，但效果强力。 这里没有诠释上的指路标志，也没有一种认为这些音乐需要中介引导的感觉。相反，就好像她正在翻开音乐的一页又一页，仅仅将她发现的东西交给我们：从贝多芬，经过内田光子，传递到我们手中。 Erica Jeal
T
Disney+
在“俗气”与“尴尬”之间，难道没有一条细线吗？来吧，与我以及汤姆·希德尔斯顿一起在《庞贝：与汤姆·希德尔斯顿共度时光》中走在这条线上。让我们看看在这次旅程中，有多少人能从随之而来的尴尬喷发中幸存下来！ 这是一部国家地理的纪录剧集，这意味着即使是事实部分也经过了情感化的剧本编写，且在场景重现中投入了大量的 CGI 资金并设有台词。而汤姆就在那里（在全部三集中，他一直深情地凝视着我的眼睛，所以我感觉我们现在已经到了直呼其名的关系），他以一个天生演员那毫无节制的胃口，榨干每一个时刻的每一滴情感。 我们开始了！戏剧性地！由汤姆引领！他告诉我们——用一种古怪且不符合语法的方式——庞贝是在“一个任何地球上的人所经历过的最惨痛的单一日子 (a single day that are the most harrowing anyone on this Earth has ever experienced)”里被摧毁的。随后他解释说，虽然一天时间不长，但这确实意味着个人生存仍有希望。他深情地凝视着我的眼睛，你的眼睛，所有人的眼睛，凝视着过去和尚未出生的人的眼睛，并低声吟诵道：“一天。一个机会。” 你被“希德尔斯顿化”了。在你缓过神来的同时，片头滚动而出。 现在，非正式状态的汤姆向我们问好。他向我们透露了一个私密的个人知识：他实际上在 1998, 年曾与两名朋友访问过庞贝，当时他 17 岁。 有照片可以证明！汤姆年轻且快乐，就像我们一样，除了他更高、更帅，且是一个天生的演员，注定要在高薪与声望之间寻求完美比例的职业生涯！他对我们以及我们的眼睛倾诉，庞贝激发了他学习拉丁语、在一家未具名大学学习古典学，并追求表演事业“以将人们带回过去”。天呐。幸好他没有直接在伊比萨岛混一个月。否则他的人生以及英国的文化出口账单可能会完全不同。
汤姆（Tom）会见了庞贝幸存者项目（Pompeii Survivors’ Project）的负责人史蒂文·L·塔克（Steven L Tuck）教授，他在字幕中被标注为“乐于助人的古典学家”——而一旦后续专家也被俗套地介绍为“乐于助行的考古学家”、“乐于助人的地球科学家”等等，我将会非常享受这种设定。他此行是为了帮助汤姆寻找三位庞贝人，通过塔克教授的追踪，还原他们在公元79年那个灾难之日的经历，当时维苏威火山向下方毫无防备的城镇倾泻下数吨的岩石与岩浆。塔克教授向汤姆展示了一些古代记录和铭文，精通拉丁语的汤姆将其翻译了出来。他们找到的第一位候选人是一个叫卢基乌斯·阿维亚尼乌斯（Lucius Avianius）的男孩（如果我的拉丁语没记错的话，这翻译过来就是“露西·鸟鸟”）。汤姆陷入了沉思。“如果我要讲述阿维亚尼乌斯的故事，”他说道，将他那深情的目光投向我们这些平庸的观众，“我需要将历史证据与我作为演员的职责结合起来。我需要”——声音低沉，眼神更加深情——“与他并肩而行，穿上他的鞋子走在那些街道上。”他说，罗马人对“故事”和“历史”使用同一个词。“证据与想象交织在一起，”他继续说道。请原谅我的被震撼之情。第二位潜在的幸存者是一位名叫朱莉亚（Julia）的澡堂老板——汤姆起初误将其翻译为“朱利叶斯”（Julius）。噢，汤姆！但随后另一位专家解释说，在古代女性也拥有财产和权力，而且朱莉亚即便背负着私生女的污名也做到了这一点。这使得汤姆发出了同情与钦佩的叹息，并称她为“不可思议的朱莉亚”。我发现自己尴尬得几乎要蜷缩成一块奶酪。我们继续前行，汤姆采访了更多“乐于助人的专家”，包括一位灾难心理学家，后者解释了为什么人们在遇到麻烦的最初迹象时，并不一定会字面意义上或隐喻性地向山顶逃跑，而可能会尝试先找到，比如，家人。“当然，”汤姆低语道，“那正是你会去寻找的人。也是我会去寻找的人。”遗憾的是，我在“尴尬”那一栏又画了一个勾。汤姆以一种受教育者的姿态对普林尼（Pliny）赞不绝口，在更多被火山灰和浮石掩盖的场景重演中优雅地退到一旁，并狂热地希望罗马舰队从那不勒斯湾发起的救援行动能获得成功。偶尔，他会被火山全力爆发时展开的苦难景象所击中。天生的演员很容易被触动。但他们非常勇敢。他们会坚持到合同履行完毕且款项毫无争议地到账为止。我想，我也得回顾一下我观看的第一部由天生演员主持的纪录剧集，并宣称自己被娱乐到了，但由于整个摇摇欲坠的局面随时可能崩塌为所有参与者的极大耻辱，我感到心力交瘁。但如果我年轻一点，没那么愤世嫉俗，或者在任何方面是个更友善的人，我一定会爱死这部剧，它也会让我对古代世界产生更多兴趣。合同履行完毕。
◀ 追踪案件…… 希德尔斯顿 (Hiddleston) 与史蒂文·L·塔克 (Steven L Tuck) 教授
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《第十一站》(Station Eleven) 晚上 9 点，Sky Atlantic
一部伟大且在某种程度上令人充满希望的末日剧，在 2022 年首次播出时本应获得更多关注。（也许讲述一场大流行病抹除全球 99% 人口的剧集在当时太能引起人们的共鸣了。）该剧设定在两条时间线中：当致命流感袭来时，年轻的 Kirsten (Matilda Lawler 饰) 由作家 Jeevan (Himesh Patel 饰) 照顾；20 年后（由 Mackenzie Davis 饰），她与一个名为“巡回交响乐团”(Traveling Symphony) 的流浪演员和音乐家团体一同演出。
Hollie Richardson
《逍遥音乐会上的前卫摇滚》(Prog Rock at the Proms) 晚上 7 点，BBC Four
这种曾经被蔑视但现在在很大程度上被正名地摇滚子类型，最终在皇家阿尔伯特音乐厅迎来其高光时刻只是时间问题。Stuart Maconie 将呈现一系列音乐结构复杂的史诗作品，包含 Genesis, Jethro Tull, Mike Oldfield 以及 Emerson, Lake and Palmer 的音乐。
Phil Harrison
《艾比·克兰西：名人住宅》(Abbey Clancy: Celebrity Homes) 晚上 7.30 点，ITV1
生活中我们习以为常的事情之一，就是装修现代化地下住宅的便捷性。因此，感谢这部关于影响力者 Lorna Luxe 住所的专题片，她在片中揭示了其中的诸多挑战。克兰西还访问了由 Jo Wood 拥有的一个离网农舍。Alexi Duggins
《花岗岩港》(Granite Harbour) 晚上 8 点，BBC One
这部设定在阿伯丁的警匪剧回归第三季。时尚前卫的双人组 DC Lindo 和 DS Bartlett 调查一起发生在一个接待“旅居者”(Traveller) 社区的乡村庄园中的年轻女性死亡案。《格伦之王》(Monarch of the Glen) 的主演 Alastair Mackenzie 饰演一名对此深感忧心的当地地主，选角非常精准。
Graeme Virtue
《鲍里斯·约翰逊：进入乌克兰杀戮区》(Boris Johnson: Into Ukraine’s Kill Zone) 晚上 9 点，Channel 5
我们这位前任首相前往基辅以外的地区，近距离见证现代战争的现实，并探索乌克兰绝望战斗中所付出的人力代价。在与乌克兰士兵随行期间，他访问了破碎的村庄、前线教堂、无人机基地和一个临时炸弹工厂。 PH
《安·德罗伊德》(Ann Droid) 晚上 9.30 点，BBC One
戴安·摩根 (Diane Morgan) 在这部情景喜剧中找到了她的完美角色：一个搞笑地空虚、极不给力的支持机器人琳达 (Linda)。Sue (Sue Johnson 饰) 提出在慈善商店工作一天，但由于她的机器人伙伴的干预，没有一件事情是简单的。 PH
BBC Two ITV1 Channel 4 Channel 5 BBC Four
6.0 早间节目 (T) 9.30 动物公园 (T) 10.15 证据时刻 (T) (R) 10.45 专家证人 (T) 11.15 房屋拍卖 (T) (R) 12.15 淘货猎手 (T) 1.0 新闻 (T) 1.35 地区新闻 (T) 1.45 新闻 (T) 2.0 理发师之谜 (T) 2.45 瑞克·斯坦的澳大利亚 (T) 3.15 逃往乡村 (T) (R) 3.45 竞拍室 (T) 4.30 巡回拍卖师 (T) (R) 5.15 毫无意义 (T) (R) 6.0 新闻 (T) 6.30 地区新闻 (T) 7.0 我们的生活 (T) 7.30 巡回拍卖师 (T) (R)
8.0 《花岗岩港》(T) 新剧集。一起失踪人口案件演变为双重谋杀案调查。犯罪剧，由 Romario Simpson 和 Hannah Donaldson 主演。 9.0 《你会对我撒谎吗？》(T) (R) 由 Lucy Beaumont 主持。 9.30 《安·德罗伊德》(T) Sue 提出在慈善商店工作一天，但结果是一场灾难。
10.0 新闻 (T) 10.30 地区新闻 (T) 天气预报 10.40 《奥斯汀》(T) 奥斯汀的摇滚明星人格陷入混乱。 11.05 《奥斯汀》(T) 这名年轻人面临家庭干预。 11.35 《爱乐之城》(La La Land) (Damien Chazelle, 2016) (T) 音乐浪漫剧，由 Emma Stone 和 Ryan Gosling 主演。 1.35 天气预报 (T) 1.40 新闻 (T)
广播
BBC Three 7.0pm The Catch Up 7.05 Deadly 60 7.30 Deadly 60 8.0
Horrible Histories: The Movie (2019) 9.30 Ludwig 10.30 Fleabag 10.55 Fleabag 11.25 Fleabag 11.50 Fleabag 12.20 Fleabag 12.45 Fleabag 1.10 Ideal 3.35 Funboys
U&Dave 6.0am Teleshopping 7.25 Top Gear 8.15 Border Force: America’s Gatekeepers 9.15 Border Force: America’s Gatekeepers 10.15 Rick Stein’s Long Weekends 11.15 Rick Stein’s Long Weekends 12.20 Top Gear 1.20 Top Gear 2.20 Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing 3.0 Robson Green: World’s Most Amazing Walks 4.0 The Hairy Bikers: Mums Know Best 5.0 Rick Stein’s Long Weekends 6.0 Rick Stein’s Long Weekends 7.0 Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing 7.40 Would I Lie to You? 8.20 Would I Lie to You? The Unseen Bits 9.0 QI XL 10.0 Magnum PI 12.0 Mock the Week 12.40 Would I Lie to You? 1.20 Would I Lie to You? The Unseen Bits 2.0 QI 2.30 QI 3.05 QI 3.35 Superstore 4.0 Teleshopping
6.30 Animal Park (T) (R) 7.15 The Bidding Room (T) (R) 8.0 Sign Zone: Marcus Wareing Simply Provence (T) (R) 9.0 News (T) 12.30 Political Thinking (T) 1.0 House of Games (T) (R) 1.30 The Finish Line (T) (R) 2.15 Lightning (T) (R) 2.45 The Farmers’ Country Showdown (T) (R) 3.15 The Hidden World of Hospitality (T) (R) 4.15 Wild Brazil (T) (R) 5.15 Flog It! (T) (R) 6.0 House of Games (T) (R) 6.30 Just One Thing (T) (R) 7.0 Grand Tours of Scotland’s Lochs (T) (R) 7.30 Beechgrove Garden (T)
8.0 Gardeners’ World (T) Arit Anderson, Jamie Butterworth and Frances Tophill visit the i rst ever RHS Sandringham Flower Show. 9.0 Bergerac (T) 新剧集。泽西岛 最富有的家庭成员之一被杀。 9.45 Bergerac (T) 警方 急于寻找一名被绑架的婴儿。
10.30 Newsnight (T) 天气 11.05 Janet Planet (Annie Baker, 2023) (T) 成长题材 戏剧，由 Zoe Ziegler, Julianne Nicholson 和 Sophie Okonedo 主演。 12.50 Sign Zone Panorama (T) (R) 1.20 Natalie Cassidy: Caring Together (T) (R) 1.50 Starmer: What Went Wrong (T) (R)
E4 6.0am Modern Family 6.30 Modern Family 6.55 Rude(ish) Tube Shorts 7.0 Couples Come Dine With Me 8.0 Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA 9.0 Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA 10.0 America’s Funniest Home Videos 11.0 Below Deck 12.0 The Simpsons 12.30 The Simpsons 1.0 The Simpsons 1.30 The Simpsons 2.0 Brooklyn Nine-Nine 2.30 Brooklyn Nine-Nine 3.0 Modern Family 5.0 The Simpsons 5.30 The Simpsons 6.0 The Simpsons 6.30 The Simpsons 7.0 The Simpsons 7.30 The Simpsons 8.0 Supercruising: Life at Sea 9.0 American Pie (1999) 10.50 Naked Attraction 11.55 Naked Attraction 1.0 Gogglebox 2.05 First Dates 3.05 Abbott Elementary 3.30 The Goldbergs 3.55 Brooklyn Nine-Nine 4.45 Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA
Stood Still (2008) 9.0
Quadrophenia (1979) 11.25
Velvet Goldmine (1998) 1.50 Sequin in a Blue Room (2021)
PBS America 6.0am Teleshopping 8.0 America the Bountiful 8.35 Treasures Decoded 9.35 Waco: The Longest Siege 10.50 Titans of the Cold War 11.55 Messages Home: Lost Films of the British Army 1.0 America the Bountiful 1.35 Treasures Decoded 2.35 Waco: The Longest Siege 3.50 Titans of the Cold War 4.55 Messages Home: Lost Films of the British Army 5.55 America the Bountiful 6.30 Treasures Decoded 7.35 Waco: The Longest Siege 8.40 Titans of the Cold War 9.50 Messages Home: Lost Films of the British Army 10.50 Waco: The Longest Siege 12.0 Titans of the Cold War 1.10 America the Bountiful 2.0 Teleshopping
Film4 11.0am Wonder Park (2019) 12.45
Anastasia (1956) 2.55 The Violent Men (1955) 4.50
Jason and the Argonauts (1963) 6.55
The Day the Earth
Sky One 6.0am Mornings With Jones and Melbourne 8.0 Stargate SG-1 9.0 NCIS: Los Angeles 10.0 Will & Grace 11.0 The Simpsons 112.0 Chasing the Rains 1.0 Hawaii Five-0 3.0 S.W.A.T 5.0
6.0 早安英国 (Good Morning Britain) (T) 10.0 早安上午 (This Morning) (T) 1.30 新闻与天气 (News and Weather) (T) 1.55 本地新闻与天气 (Local News and Weather) (T) 2.0 迪金森的真实交易 (Dickinson’s Real Deal) (T) (R) 3.0 交易或不交易 (Deal Or No Deal) (T) (R) 4.0 倾斜点 (Tipping Point) (T) (R) 5.0 追逐 (The Chase) (T) (R) 6.0 本地新闻与天气 (T) 6.30 新闻与天气 (T) 7.30 艾比·克兰西：名人豪宅 (Abbey Clancy: Celebrity Homes) (T)
8.0 艾默代尔 (Emmerdale) (T) 当一张旧面孔出现时，Kev感到担心。 8.30 街道 the Coronation Street (T) 莎拉承认杀害了西奥。 9.0 阿曼达·诺克斯的扭曲故事 (The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox) (T) 当阿曼达、拉斐尔和帕特里克入狱时，他们的检察官朱利亚诺·米尼尼正在构建他的案件，而媒体则将阿曼达塑造成一个怪物。
10.05 阿曼达·诺克斯的扭曲故事 (The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox) (T) 米尼尼的案件出现变数。 11.0 新闻 (T) 天气 11.35 本地新闻 (T) 天气 11.50 朗廷酒店内幕：英国第一座豪华酒店 (Inside the Langham: Britain’s First Grand Hotel) (T) (R) 12.15 电视购物 3.0 没人是傻瓜 (Nobody’s Fool) (T) (R) 3.50 寻亲记 (Long Lost Family) (T) (R) 4.45 与ITV一起放松 (Unwind With ITV) (T)
辛普森一家 (The Simpsons) 5.30 辛普森一家 (The Simpsons) 6.0 动物管制 (Animal Control) 6.30 动物管制 (Animal Control) 7.0 辛普森一家 (The Simpsons) 7.30 辛普森一家 (The Simpsons) 8.0 F1节目 (The F1 Show) 9.0 笨蛋在国外 (An Idiot Abroad) 2 10.0 瑞奇·热维斯：名声 (Ricky Gervais: Fame) 11.30 动物管制 (Animal Control) 12.0 动物管制 (Animal Control) 12.30 格林 (Grimm) 1.30 力量：东北部 (The Force: North East) 2.30 道路战争 (Road Wars) 3.0 夏威夷五ศูนย์ (Hawaii Five-0) 4.0 S.W.A.T 5.0 S.W.A.T
Sky Arts 6.0am 古典音乐电台 (Classic FM) 直播：歌剧名曲 8.0 绘画之乐 (The Joy of Painting) 8.30 绘画之乐 (The Joy of Painting) 9.0 意外故事 (Tales of the Unexpected) 9.30 意外故事 (Tales of the Unexpected) 10.0 阿尔弗雷德·希区柯克呈现 (Alfred Hitchcock Presents) 10.30 阿尔弗雷德·希区柯克呈现 (Alfred Hitchcock Presents) 11.0 探索：芭芭拉·斯坦威克 (Discovering: Barbara Stanwyck) 12.0 玛丽莲·梦露的神话 (The Myth of Marilyn Monroe) 1.0 意外故事 (Tales of the Unexpected) 1.30 意外故事 (Tales of the Unexpected) 2.0 阿尔弗雷德·希区柯克时间 (The Alfred Hitchcock Hour) 3.0 探索：格雷戈里·派克 (Discovering: Gregory Peck) 4.0 盖伊·加维：来自地窖 (Guy Garvey: From the Vaults) 5.0 年度肖像艺术家 2021 6.0 意外故事 (Tales of the Unexpected) 6.30 意外故事 (Tales of the Unexpected) 7.0 阿尔弗雷德·希区柯克呈现 (Alfred Hitchcock Presents) 7.30 阿尔弗雷德·希区柯克呈现 (Alfred Hitchcock Presents) 8.0 盖伊·加维：来自地窖 (Guy Garvey: From the Vaults) 9.0 直播
6.25 干杯 (Cheers) (T) (R) 7.45 大家都爱雷蒙德 (Everybody Loves Raymond) (T) (R) 9.10 弗雷泽 (Frasier) (T) (R) 11.10 美国拾荒者 (American Pickers) (T) (R) 12.05 新闻 (T) 12.10 汽车SOS (Car SOS) (T) (R) 1.10 豪宅赠送 (The Great House Giveaway) (T) (R) 2.10 倒计时 (Countdown) (T) 3.0 阳光下的居所 (A Place in the Sun) (T) (R) 4.0 狭路逃生 (Narrow Escapes) (T) (R) 5.0 城堡DIY (Chateau DIY) (T) (R) 6.0 四人同床 (Four in a Bed) (T) (R) 6.30 来和我共进晚餐 (Come Dine With Me) (T) (R) 7.0 新闻 (T)
8.0 超级富豪的整形秘密 (Surgery Secrets of the Super Rich) (T) 企业高管菲比在午休时间进行了隆胸手术，品牌高管齐亚德则致力于去除眼袋。 9.0 名人 Gogglebox (Celebrity Gogglebox) (T) 名人们分享他们对所看节目的看法。
10.0 大肥脑问答：精华部分 (Big Fat Quiz: Best Bits) (T) 11.05 莎拉·米利坎：局外人 (Sarah Millican: Outsider) (T) (R) 2016年的单口喜剧。 12.05 得体的社会 (Polite Society) (Nida Manzoor, 2023) (T) 动作喜剧，由普里亚·坎萨拉主演。 1.55 拉姆齐的美国厨房噩梦 (Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA) (T) (R) 2.45 英国最昂贵的住宅 (Britain’s Most Expensive Houses) (T) (R) 3.40 来和我共进晚餐 (Come Dine With Me) (R)
来自阿比路 (from Abbey Road) 10.0 来自阿比路直播 (Live from Abbey Road) 11.0 希乌克希与女妖乐队：夜曲 (Siouxsie and the Banshees: Nocturne) 12.20 聚苯乙烯：我是一个陈词滥调 (Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliche) 2.20 伊恩·杜里与敲击乐手：坚持你的结构 (Ian Dury and the Blockheads: Hold on to Your Structure) 3.35 探索：埃尔维斯·科斯特洛 (Discovering: Elvis Costello) 4.0 花园艺术 (The Art of the Garden) 5.0 玛丽莲·梦露的神话 (The Myth of Marilyn Monroe)
Sky Atlantic 6.0am 理查德·E·格兰特的酒店秘密 (Richard E Grant’s Hotel Secrets) 8.0 死亡之谷 (Deadwood) 10.0 谋杀案：街头生活 (Homicide: Life on the Street) 12.0 亿万 (Billions) 2.15 白莲花度假村 (The White Lotus) 4.40 the Gomorrah (Gomorrah) 6.50 镀金时代 (The Gilded Age) 7.55 镀金时代 (The Gilded Age) 9.0 第十一站 (Station Eleven) 10.0 第十一站 (Station Eleven) 11.0 囚徒 (Prisoner) 12.0 最后生还者 (The Last of Us) 1.10 最后生还者 (The Last of Us) 2.15 白莲花度假村 (The White Lotus) 3.25 白莲花度假村 (The White Lotus) 4.35 某种程度上 (Sort Of) 5.05 客房翼 (The Guest Wing)
Radio 3 6.30am Breakfast 9.30 Essential Classics 1.0 Classical Live. 来自 BBC Proms 2026，John Storgårds 指挥 BBC Philharmonic Orchestra 和小提琴家 Sueye Park 演奏西贝柳斯的 D小调小提琴协奏曲，作品47号 (Op 47)。 4.0 本周作曲家： Handel (5/5) 5.0 In Tune 7.0 Classical Mixtape 7.30 BBC Proms 2026。 John Wilson 指挥 Sinfonia of London 和大提琴家 Jonathan Aasgaard 演奏威尔第的 《命运之力》： 序曲，沃顿的大提琴 协奏曲以及雷斯皮基的 《罗马节日》、 《罗马之喷泉》和 《罗马之松》。 10.0 Late Junction。包括 多乐器演奏家 兼木偶师 Yara Asmar 以及苏格兰歌手 兼诠释者 Quinie 的现场演出。 11.30 ’Round Midnight。Soweto Kinch 分享来自 Knats 的 表演亮点。 12.30 Through the Night
Radio 4 6.0am Today 9.0 Desert Island Discs (R) 10.0 Woman’s Hour 11.0 The Food Programme。 Leyla Kazim 重温 过去的故事以了解 接下来的进展。 11.45 Book of the
6.0 Milkshake! 9.15 Jeremy Vine (T) 11.30 Storm & Alexis (T) 12.45 News (T) 12.50 Matt Allwright (T) 2.20 Fatal Flatshare (Christine Conradt, 2023) (T) 4.0 Castle (T) (R) 4.55 Love Nature (T) (R) 5.0 News (T) 6.0 Jersey and Guernsey (T) (R) 7.0 Tour De France 2026 (T)
8.0 Michael Palin in Venezuela (T) (R) 这位演员飞往 加勒比海的一群珊瑚岛， 并开启了一次穿越 群岛的旅程。 9.0 Boris Johnson: Into Ukraine’s Kill Zone (T) 在离开唐宁街 四年后， Boris Johnson 前往 乌克兰前线。
10.30 Commonwealth Games 2026 (T) Highlights。 11.30 Piers Morgan: Uncensored (T) 观点主导的新闻。 1.0 Cruise TV (T) (R) 2.0 Car Pound Cops (T) (R) 3.45 Friends (T) (R) 4.35 Amazing Railway Adventures (T) (R) 5.25 Entertainment News (T) 5.35 Milo (T) (R) 5.45 Paddington (T) (R)
Week: A Meditation on Mud。作者：Rebecca Stott。 (5/5) 12.0 News 12.04 AntiSocial (4/6) 12.57 Weather 1.0 The World at One 1.45 Dead Rabbit。 Dan Ashby 调查一次 袭击事件，其中 70 名蒙面男子闯入 一座农场，毁坏农田 并洗劫了一家加油站。 (5/10) 2.0 The Archers (R) 2.15 Central Intelligence。谍战剧， 作者：Greg Haddrick。 在 1964 年，美国在 越南的未来在五角大楼的 两个房间内被推演， 通过一场战争游戏测试 轰炸北越是否能 迫使其撤退。由 Kim Cattrall 和 Kelsey Grammer 主演。 (3/10) 2.45 Living on the Edge (R) 3.0 Gardeners’ Question Time 3.45 Short Works。 一个来自 Rose Biggin 的原创故事。 4.0 Last Word 4.30 Sideways (R) 5.0 PM 5.57 Weather 6.0 News 6.30 Current-ish。 Lucy Porter 和嘉宾们 讨论每个人都在谈论的 故事。 (1/3) 7.0 The Archers 7.15 Screenshot。 Ellen E Jones 和 Mark Kermode 探讨那些 将动作限制在 单一天内的电影。 (4/6) 8.0 Any Questions? 8.55 This Week in History (R) 9.0 Archive on 4: A Brief History of Strangers。
7.0 Prog Rock at the Proms (T) BBC Concert Orchestra 以管弦乐规模演奏前卫摇滚曲目， 从 Genesis 到 Mike Oldfield。
9.0 Top of the Pops (T) (R) 来自 2000 年，包含 Gabrielle, Daphne & Celeste, Hepburn, Joey Negro, Taka Boom, Eiffel 65, Ian Brown, DJ Luck & MC Neat 和 Oasis。 9.30 Top of the Pops (T) (R) 包含 the Belle Stars, Madness, Bananarama, the Brat, Trio, Junior, the Stranglers, Dollar 和 Irene Cara。来自 1982 年。
10.0 Top of the Pops (T) (R) 来自 1986 年，包含 Sinitta, Audrey Hall 和 Madonna。 10.30 Prog Rock at the BBC (T) (R) 11.30 Old Grey Whistle Test: Genesis (T) (R) 12.10 Jethro Tull: The Lively Arts (T) (R) 1.10 Sight & Sound in Concert: Supertramp (T) (R) 1.40 TOTP2: Genesis (T) (R) 2.25 Top of the Pops (T) (R)
Joe Queenan 讨论 成为异乡人的 经历。 (R) 9.59 Weather 10.0 The World Tonight 10.45 Wild Dark Shore。作者：Charlotte McConaghy。 (5/10) 11.0 Americast 11.30 A Good Read (R) 12.0 News 12.30 Book of the Week: A Meditation on Mud (R) 12.48 Shipping Forecast 1.0 As World Service 5.30 News 5.34 Shipping Forecast 5.43 Prayer for the Day 5.45 Living on the Edge (R)
米尔波特 (Millport) (1/6) 3.0 《绿山墙之家的安妮》 (Anne of Green Gables) (5/5) 3.30 《温顺的瞪羚》 (Some Tame Gazelle) (6/6) 4.0 《灵魂音乐》 (Soul Music) (4/4) 4.30 《发胶与和谐》 (Hairspray and Harmonies) (2/2) 5.0 《螺栓》 (Bolt) (5/5) 5.30 《高桌，低阶》 (High Table, Lower Orders) (5/6) 6.0 《没落的小布莱蒂》 (Little Blighty on the Down) (3/5) 6.30 《在我们的认知之外》 (Beyond Our Ken) (1/20) 7.0 《忏悔室》 (The Confessional) (2/6) 7.30 《来自无处之地的消息》 (News from Nowhere) (5/5) 7.45 《漫步摇滚》 (Promenade Rock) (10/10) 8.0 《好奇心博物馆》 (The Museum of Curiosity) (1/6) 8.30 米尔波特 (Millport) (1/6) 9.0 《绿山墙之家的安妮》 (Anne of Green Gables) (5/5) 9.30 《温顺的瞪羚》 (Some Tame Gazelle) (6/6) 10.0 《教区事务》 (Parish Matters) (3/4) 10.30 恩詹比·麦格拉思：成为恩詹比 (Njambi McGrath: Becoming Njambi) (1/4) 10.45 里斯·詹姆斯是特权的 (Rhys James Is Privileged) (1/4) 11.0 《排气口》 (Vent) (3/6) 11.30 劳拉·索隆：交谈与沉默 (Laura Solon: Talking and Not Talking) (2/6) 12.0 《灵魂音乐》 (Soul Music) (4/4) 12.30 《发胶与和谐》 (Hairspray and Harmonies) (2/2) 1.0 《螺栓》 (Bolt) (5/5) 1.30 《高桌，低阶》 (High Table, Lower Orders) (5/6) 2.0 《没落的小布莱蒂》 (Little Blighty on the Down) (3/5) 2.30 《在我们的认知之外》 (Beyond Our Ken) (1/20) 3.0 《忏悔室》 (The Confessional) (2/6) 3.30 《来自无处之地的消息》 (News from Nowhere) (5/5) 3.45 《漫步摇滚》 (Promenade Rock) (10/10) 4.0 《好奇心博物馆》 (The Museum of Curiosity) (1/6) 4.30 米尔波特 (Millport) (1/6) 5.0 《绿山墙之家的安妮》 (Anne of Green Gables) (5/5) 5.30 《温顺的瞪羚》 (Some Tame Gazelle) (6/6)
6.0am 《螺栓》 (Bolt) (5/5) 6.30 《高桌，低阶》 (High Table, Lower Orders) (5/6) 7.0 《没落的小布莱蒂》 (Little Blighty on the Down) (3/5) 7.30 《在我们的认知之外》 (Beyond Our Ken) (1/20) 8.0 《忏悔室》 (The Confessional) (2/6) 8.30 《来自无处之地的消息》 (News from Nowhere) (5/5) 8.45 《漫步摇滚》 (Promenade Rock) (10/10) 9.0 《教区事务》 (Parish Matters) (3/4) 9.30 《花园狂想》 (Wild in the Garden) (5/5) 9.45 日常礼拜 (Daily Service) 10.0 《灵魂音乐》 (Soul Music) (4/4) 10.30 《发胶与和谐》 (Hairspray and Harmonies) (2/2) 11.0 《螺栓》 (Bolt) (5/5) 11.30 《高桌，低阶》 (High Table, Lower Orders) (5/6) 12.0 《没落的小布莱蒂》 (Little Blighty on the Down) (3/5) 12.30 《在我们的认知之外》 (Beyond Our Ken) (1/20) 1.0 《忏悔室》 (The Confessional) (2/6) 1.30 《来自无处之地的消息》 (News from Nowhere) (5/5) 1.45 《漫步摇滚》 (Promenade Rock) (10/10) 2.0 《好奇心博物馆》 (The Museum of Curiosity) (1/6) 2.30
W
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
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困难。请填充网格，使每行、每列及每个 3x3 宫格内包含数字 1-9。
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S T P D H Y D R A U L I C L C U N S S I O T A D I D A C T I C U M G I G S N O O Z E T A L E N T G R A A R E V E R B W A D D L E B R H Y B B A C K S I D E B L O G R H G E I X H A P H A Z A R D N T E D
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你能在网格中找到 15 条欧洲河流吗？单词可以是正向、反向、垂直或对角线排列，但必须始终在一条直线且不间断的线段中。
利用轮盘中的字母尽可能多地找到单词。每个单词必须包含中心字母且至少包含另外三个字母。每个字母只能使用一次。不能使用复数、外来词或专有名词。其中至少有一个九字母单词。 目标：10. 良好：13. 优秀：16. 卓越：18.
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in the black! How tribute artists rescued UK’s live scene
Film & Music
biggest ever rebalancing of power
Pippa Crerar Political editor
Regional mayors are to be given a leading role in UK economic policy , Andy Burnham said yesterday, as he declared the opening of No 10 North “the biggest rebalancing of power our country has seen”. The prime minister has revived the national economic council (NEC),
course for driest July in 200 years
Bethan McKernan Sandra Laville
Parts of Wales are now in drought and all other areas of the country are experiencing prolonged dry condi- tions, with July on course to be the driest on record for nearly 200 years. Natural Resources Wales (NRW) said yesterday that record-low river l ows, back-to-back heatwaves and widespread wildi res had prompted the declaration of drought status in north Wales and the Upper Severn. As of yesterday, several i res were still burning across the country after more than a week, leading the Welsh government to activate crisis man- agement plans amid concerns over a lack of i rei ghting helicopters. The declaration of drought in Wales comes as a new scientific analysis i nds that extreme heat, supercharged by the human-caused climate crisis, is sucking Europe dry in summer and intensifying the drought hitting the continent. Wildfires have raged through Spain and France , and rivers are running low across Europe. On Mon- day, the National Drought Group – which includes 5
i rst set up by Gordon Brown to put the government on a war footing dur- ing the 2008 i nancial crash, arguing that economic growth require d the same level of urgency, focus and col- lective action. In an article for the Guardian, he wrote: “When I entered Down- ing Street, I told staf that the era of i ghting devolution is over. No one in government loses when power is shared.”
★★★★★ for Charli xcx’s new album
Burnham will chair the inaugu- ral meeting of the council today, bringing together senior ministers and regional mayors to put devolu- tion at the heart of his government’s mission. He wrote: “Even though Whitehall departments have set up outposts, decision-making power has remained in London … This is what No 10 North is seeking to correct and, if we suc- ceed, it could bring the much-needed
Friday 24 July 2026
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sea change in the way Britain is run. It is about driving growth from the most powerful oi ce in the land and doing so in close alignment with the Treas- ury. It is about taking power down and placing it in the hands of people who can use it best.” As he becomes the i rst British leader to run the government on a weekly basis from Manchester, he will face calls to prove the operation is not tokenistic. 11
murderer moved to Broadmoor
Exclusive Rajeev Syal Home aff airs editor
The Southport killer Axel Rudaku- bana has been moved to a psychiatric hospital from a prison after clini- cal assessment , the Guardian can disclose. He was moved to Broadmoor high security hospital from the category A prison Belmarsh this week after it was concluded that he could not be man- aged safely in a prison environment, sources coni rmed. Inmates at psychiatric units such as Broadmoor are treated as patients rather than prisoners . A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said he would remain locked up and was unlikely to ever be released. The move will anger many of the families of his victims, who will insist he was assessed as i t to stand trial in January 2025 . The transfer will lead to an increase in his incarceration costs. Patients in hospital secure units cost more than £300,000 each a year, compared with about £60,000 for every prisoner, Whitehall sources said. Rudakubana , 19 , from Banks, Lancashire, was 2
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IRGC threat over US use of bases
Hayden Vernon
The government has said the UK is “ready to defend itself” after Iran warned that any bases being used by the US were “legitimate targets” . Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said any base used for aggres- sion against its territory “constitutes a legitimate target for our forces”. The UK has allowed the US to launch “defensive” operations from British bases hosting American planes since the start of its war on
killer moved from prison to Broadmoor
jailed for life in January 2025, with a minimum sentence of 52 years , for the murders of Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven; Bebe King, six; and nine-year- old Alice da Silva Aguiar . He attacked eight other children, the class instructor Leanne Lucas , and businessman John Hayes, who had tried to disarm him at a Tay- lor Swift-themed dance class in July 2024 in Southport . He was also found guilty of producing the biolog- ical toxin ricin and of possessing an al-Qai da training manual, an of ence under the Terrorism Act. Alder Hey children’s NHS trust coni rmed Rudakubana had been under its care as a mental health patient between 2019 and 2023 until he “stopped engaging”. He was
Iran, but has refused to help in of en-
sive operations .
That policy has not been altered
by new prime minister Andy Burn-
ham, who was notii ed last week that
a decision had been taken to extend
the agreement with the US.
In a statement published on the
IRGC-linked Tasnim News Agency
yesterday, the group said American
bombing missions had been launched
from RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire
two days earlier.
The IRGC statement came after
the US carried out a 12th consecutive
night of strikes against targets in Iran.
referred to the trust after taking a knife to school and later saying he had done so “to use it”. He was also referred to the counter- extremism programme Prevent, because he had been researching school massacres on a computer at his next school, The Acorns. There were two other referrals to Prevent, but none were progressed as Rudakubana had no clear ideology behind his obsession with violence. In May 2025, Rudakubana attacked a prison oi cer with boiling water , sparking an internal inquiry at Belmarsh. Responding to the move to Broad- moor, Mark Fairhurst , the national chair of the POA union, which repre- sents prison, correctional and secure psychiatric workers, said his mem- bers believed the killer was “playing the system” so he could move to a more comfortable environment. He said: “[Rudakubana] is not mentally unwell. He is playing the system and is nothing more than evil. He should spend his entire sen- tence in solitary coni nement staring at four walls. It is appalling to think that he will now enjoy all the free- doms a secure hospital is forced to give him and even more unjustii ed
PHOTOGRAPH: CHRIS J RATCLIFFE/BLOOMBERG
The Ministry of Defence has not com- mented on whether RAF Fairford was used by the US for operations against Iran this week. The IRGC also accused the “British monarchy regime” of being the “pri- mary cause of hardships in our region with a black record of partitioning Islamic nations, massacres, impos- ing despotic regimes, and organising the occupation of Palestine”. It warned the government “not to weigh down its record any further”. Responding to the IRGC threat, a spokesperson for the British gov- ernment said: “Our armed forces
is the tax payer actually paying him
benei ts because he is now classed
as mentally unwell .
“It is POA members who will now
have to carry out the wishes of those
who think he can be cured. This is
a sickening development and my
thoughts are with the families of the
victims and all those who have been
af ected by his atrocious crime.”
Broadmoor, in Berkshire , has been
used to hold some of the UK’s most
notorious murderers, including the
Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutclif e , and
the Moors murderer Ian Brady .
Patients remain locked up, with
conditions heavily regulated by
strict physical security including
locked wards, monitored by staf
and 24-hour CCTV. They receive
are ready to keep the United King- dom safe from any kind of attacks, whether it’s on our soil or from abroad. The UK stands ready 24/7 to defend itself. “This includes through operat- ing a layered approach to air and missile defence, provided by Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force assets equipped with a range of advanced capabilities, working closely with our N ato allies. “The UK’s approach to the conl ict remains the same – we are committed to defending our people, our interests and our allies, acting in accordance with international law and not get- ting drawn into the wider conl ict.” They added that Britain’s approach remained unchanged and that it was committed to defending its people, interests and allies in accordance with international law while avoid- ing being drawn into a wider conl ict. On 1 March a drone struck the RAF base at Akrotiri, in Cyprus, hitting a hangar, and prompting a partial evac- uation of the facility. On 19 March, Iran i red two ballistic missiles at UK’s Diego Garcia base in the Chagos Islands. One reportedly failed mid- l ight, with the other shot down by a US airship. Iran has launched strikes against countries in the Gulf with US mil- itary bases, including Bahrain, the UAE and Kuwait, with American ser- vice personnel killed in some of the attacks. US president Donald Trump said Iran will “pay a big price” for kill- ing US troops. Yesterday afternoon, Trump said he was considering a “massive attack. Bigger than ever before” on Iran. “I am close to making a decision,” he told Axios. “We’re all set for it.” He said he believed Iran’s leaders “want to negotiate ”, but aren’t yet ready to make a deal. In another potential sign of the conl ict escalating, Yemen’s Iran- backed Houthi rebels said they attacked two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea yesterday, as international oil topped $100 a barrel.
mandatory therapeutic and rehabil- itative programmes. If of enders no longer require treatment in hospital, the 1983 Mental Health Act provides for a swift return to prison. If an of ender poses an increased risk and cannot be managed safely in prison because of a mental disorder, a request to be moved to a secure psy- chiatric unit can be made by clinical professionals. Given the act and the clinical assessments, ministers had no choice but to accept the request to transfer the prisoner in this instance, sources said. A Ministry of Justice spokesper- son said: “The families of those murdered and injured in Southport will be in this country’s heart for ever and our thoughts remain with them. The of ender who carried out these vile crimes will rightly spend the entirety of his 52-year custodial sen- tence locked up, and is unlikely to ever be released. “High secure hospitals are not places of freedom. He will remain under constant supervision in a high-security psychiatric unit, and be returned to prison as soon as pos- sible. The transfer of an of ender follows a robust independent clini- cal assessment.”
by Turing reveals genius’s ‘playful and cheeky’ side
Mark Brown North of England correspondent
When people think of Alan Turing , they may imagine he was arrogant, isolated, humourless and tortured. A better way of remembering the father of modern computing would be, an academic argues, as “playful, funny, cheeky, literary, and someone who really liked sex ”. Sarah Dillon , a professor of English literature at Cambridge University, has transcribed and studied a little- known short story that Turing wrote in the year after his arrest in Manches- ter for gross indecency . Her conclusion challenges the popular understanding of Turing as an “isolated mathematician ”. The short story, she said, sh one light on a man who loved literature, was enjoying life and was not ashamed of his sexuality. “I hope it will go some way towards resetting the narrative around Turing,” she said. “We think we know this i gure and we don’t. There was more to him than is pop- ularly believed.” Turing was Britain’s most promi- nent second world war code breaker. Some historians believe the work of Turing and others at Bletchley Park in breaking the German Enigma code shortened the war by as much as four years . His pioneering post war work at Manchester University helped open the door for the development of modern computers and artii cial intelligence. In 1952 he was arrested and prose- cuted for his homosexuality. Rather than go to jail, he agreed to chemical castration. In 1954 he died aged 41 as a result of cyanide poisoning, which a coroner ruled was suicide but which some believe was an accident. In 2009 the UK government apolo- gised for the “appalling” way Turing had been treated.
life after Parkinson’s diagnosis
Guardian staf
The Back to the Future star Michael J Fox believes that returning to act- ing has prolonged his life after he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at the age of 29. The Canadian-American actor, 65, was diagnosed with young-onset Par- kinson’s a year after the 1990 release of Back To The Future Part III, in which he played Marty McFly .
Fox announced that he had stopped acting during the Covid pan- demic, due to an inability to rely on his speech from day to day. The moratorium lasted six years before he called Bill Lawrence – a friend from his days on the TV series Spin City – to get back in the game. That call led to Fox’s appearance in the series Shrinking. He is returning for the show’s fourth series and is due to start i lming new episodes soon. Fox told The Hollywood Reporter: “It has really prolonged my life and
▲ Cryptographers at Bletchley Park working to decipher Germany’s Enigma code led by Alan Turing, left
PHOTOGRAPHS: SSPL/GETTY IMAGES; ALAMY
For many people, their under- standing of Turing is shaped by the 2014 i lm The Imitation Game, star- ring Benedict Cumberbatch. “That is the problem,” said Dillon. “I actually re watched it last night, which con- i rmed my memory of it. It’s a really good i lm but it’s not accurate. It makes a lot of historical mistakes. “The version of Turing that it pre- sents is a kind of Hollywood lone hero that actually doesn’t resemble what we know about the man himself.” Dillon said the i lm got Turing wrong, depicting him as having no
made my life interesting in a way that I didn’t think it would be to this point . I’m not retired from acting, but if I didn’t act again, it would be for a very good reason. I let Parkinson’s make decisions for me.” The actor went on to say he had to overcome “vanity” when revealing the impact the disease had on him, and added that he needed to “nor- malise it”. Fox said that after he went public with his diagnosis, he would anonymously enter chat rooms fea- turing Parkinson’s patients and ask what they thought of the celeb- rity, meaning himself, who had just revealed that he had the disease. He said the responses would range from encouraged to ecstatic, and the actor explained: “I thought, ‘well,
sense of humour, being very individ- ualistic, refusing to collaborate and having antagonistic relationships with other people. “He wasn’t this one-dimensional i gure that Holly- wood has painted him as,” she said. The short story, in the archives of King ’s College, Cambridge, has been known about by Turing experts but never fully transcribed or studied by a literary scholar. The handwriting was hard to read and the story ha d largely been “sidelined and over- looked”, said Dillon. Titled Pryce’s Buoy , the six -page incomplete story was probably writ- ten in late 1952 or early 1953, Dillon believes. It s characters are Ron Miller, a working -class sex worker, and Alec Pryce, a scientist famed for an
f uck you, I have Parkinson’s and you’re celebrating’.” Fox i rst noticed a tremor in his lit- tle i nger before his diagnosis at the age of 29 and the progressive neu- rological condition has severely af ected his mobility. He has suf ered broken bones from numerous falls. Fox, who has been married to actor Tracy Pollan since 1988, founded the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkin- son’s Research in 2000, which has raised more than $2bn (£1.58bn). In 2023, he starred in the Apple TV documentary Still: A Michael J Fox Movie, exploring how Parkinson’s af ected his life and that of his fam- ily. A Guardian review said: “We’re left with the feeling that what we are really watching is a great love story.”
Cambridge professor Sarah Dillon with Turing’s handwritten story Pryce’s Buoy, written circa 1952
PHOTOGRAPH: KING’S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
invention known as “Pryce’s buoy ” – hence the double meaning in the title. Dillon said Alec was clearly auto- fictional and represented Turing himself. The story’s narrator switches between Alec’s inner monologue and Ron’s. It is a racy tale about Alec, tired after work and Christmas shopping, wanting some fun , and Ron, broke and unemployed, who thinks he can make money from sex. Turing writes of Ron : “If he let someone take him under the arches for 10 minutes he might get i ve bob.” And later: “Ron caught Alec’s eye and gave him a half-hearted smile. It was enough though.” Sitting on a park bench, Ron thinks Alec is shabbily dressed but well of . Ron wonders : “ Could he be mistaken? No, he was having a furtive look. Just a bit shy. ” Alec’s impression of Ron is that he is “not a real beauty, but [he] had a certain appeal. Beggars couldn’t be choosers. ” The pair then walk to a restau- rant. Turing writes that Ron “ didn’t go in for lah-di-dah ways of talking. It’d come to the same anyway. Bed’s bed whatever way you get into it. Alec thought otherwise .” Dillon said: “I love the hesitancy, the way it evokes the uncertainty of potential sexual encounter, the ‘am I reading this situation wrong?’ worry. ‘Am I going to put my foot in it? Am I going to go too far? What did they want? What do I want? Can I back out?’ Turing gets those tensions, the leaning in and backing out. He does it really well.” Dillon is certain that Turing was inl uenced by the writer Angus Wil- son, once a towering literary i gure but largely forgotten today. The story suggests Turing was a lot happier about life than might be assumed. It is also known that his 1952 summer holiday was in socially tolerant Norway, where he had liaisons. “His sexual spirit was not dampened by what happened to him,” Dillon said. She hopes her i ndings , published in the Review of English Studies , will provide a fresh insight into a misun- derstood genius. “He’s come to be seen as socially unaware, entirely concerned with logic and numbers, and pretty isolated,” she said. “His short story reveals a very dif erent man: playful, funny, cheeky, literary, and someone who really liked sex.”
News Climate crisis
▲ A i rei ghting plane fl ies above a blazing forest near Cotignac, in south-east France. Many people have been evacuated PHOTOGRAPH: THIBAUD MORITZ/AFP
fl ee wildfi res in France as temperatures hit extreme levels in Europe
Jon Henley Ajit Niranjan
Brutal heat torching southern Europe has forced nearly 20,000 people to l ee wildi res in France as a marine heatwave scalds the Mediterranean and researchers warn that “Dan- tesque” scenarios cannot be ruled out as infernos worsen. A “particularly intense” wildi re on France’s southwestern Atlantic coast prompted the evacuation of more than 18,800 people, including thousands of tourists from campsites and other holiday homes, as i rei ght- ers struggled to control the blaze. Extreme highs of 44.7C were recorded in Cieza, in the Span- ish province of Murcia, yesterday , according to Aemet, the Spanish meteorological agency. The previous day, the Spanish cities of Albacete, Ávila and Teruel broke their July tem- perature records with 42C. A marine heatwave is af ecting 80% of the Mediterranean Sea’s surface area, according to the Med- iterranean Monitoring System.
Daily temperatures on Tuesday had reached “extreme” levels in several parts, with some anomalies 5C hotter than the average from 1991 to 2020. The severity of i res in the EU has broken records for this time of year, data from the European Forest Fire Information System showed on Wednesday, and about twice as much land had burned by 22 July than the average over the last two decades. A record area has burned in France , and both it and Spain have broken records for the number of i res. The blaze in France, which began in a dense pine forest near the vil- lage of Saumos about 25 miles west of Bordeaux and just north of the bay of Arcachon , had burned more than 3,700 hectares (9,140 acres) in a lit- tle over 24 hours, i rei ghters said yesterday . No casualties had been reported but several houses were burnt, they said. The Gironde prefecture said that while 800 i rei ghters and four water- bombing planes were battling to bring the i re under control, the situation remained “unfavourable” and the blaze was not yet stabilised.
“The fire is highly erratic and gaining very signii cant force,” Marc Vermeulen, the regional i re service chief, said yesterday . “One of the main fronts is very close to a semi- urban area. We are defending house by house.” France has endured three almost back-to-back heatwaves since May as climate breakdown leads to more fre- quent and intense extreme weather events causing thousands of excess deaths , evaporating soils and water- ways and fuelling wildi res. Patrick Martineau, 69, who was evacuated from the village of Le Porge , told Agence France -Presse that police had “come banging on
and is gaining force. We are defending house by house’
the doors … It’s scary – hard to take in. When we bought a home here, we never thought there’d be a i re risk.” Sylvie, a holidaymaker from Paris staying in the relatively more built-up area of Lège-Cap-Ferret , said a neigh- bour had told her: “‘Get your bags ready, we’re going to be evacuated during the night.’ We put the bulk of our stuf in the car boot and left.” Elke Urbain , from Antwerp in Bel- gium, who holidays in the area every year, said she was advised while she was on the beach on Wednesday afternoon to “go back immediately to the campsite and gather your things. It’s just terribly sad.” In 2022, a wildi re burned more than 30,000 hectares in the same area, forcing about 50,000 people to be evacuated. In tinder-dry con- ditions , the latest blaze has torn through the forest, with l ames reach- ing 10 metres high. Jean-Luc Helias , 54, from Le Porge, said he and his family had lived through that i re four years ago and “the i rei ghters do an amazing job to protect people’s homes. All that mat- ters to me is that my family is safe .”
Nine local municipalities have opened reception centres for evac- uees and were sheltering more than 2,500 people, the prefecture said. About 8,800 people were evacuated yesterday , 10,000 overnight. Numerous roads in the area – including those leading to the Cap Ferret peninsula a few kilometres to the south, one of France’s most exclu- sive holiday spots – were closed to all but essential traffi c. Police have opened an investiga- tion into the causes of the wildi re, which the mayor of Le Porge, Mar- tial Zaninetti , said appeared to have been started by a machine that was clearing undergrowth. A fortnight ago, l ames devas- tated a 10th of the Unesco-listed Fontainebleau forest outside Paris in a rare wildi re so far north. France’s interior minister, Laurent Nuñez , said there had been more than 12,500 wildi res since the beginning of 2026. In Spain, authorities yesterday ordered 3,500 people in a town west of Madrid to leave their homes because of a forest i re burning out of control.
The emergency services said on X that evacuation messages had been sent to people in Aldea de Fresno, about 60 km (38 miles) south-west of Madrid. A i re that has burned 32,000 hectares in the province of Guada- lajara, north of the capital, was also described as stable. Spanish wildi re scientists said they were not surprised by the
extreme i gures as the abandonment of rural land had left more overgrown vegetation, and the rise in tempera- tures from climate breakdown made it easier for such plant matter to dry out and burn. Víctor Resco de Dios, a professor of f orestry e ngineering and g lobal c hange at the University of Lleida, said: “Although it’s dii cult to predict
how far things might go, we will soon
be unable to rule out Dantesque sce-
narios like those seen in California or
Australia, with i res or i re complexes
reaching hundreds of thousands of
hectares or even a million hectares.”
The marine heatwave in the Med-
iterranean is projected to shrink but
stay strong from Sardinia to Greece,
according to a forecast for Saturday
from Mercator Ocean. From Gibral-
tar to the Balearic Islands, strong heat
is expected to drop to moderate lev-
els, despite intensifying locally in the
Alboran Sea.
Western Europe has been rocked
by repeated heatwaves this summer,
with extreme highs in June that sci-
entists expect will have killed tens of
thousands of people .
On Wednesday, an analysis esti-
mated the cost of the June heatwave
to the continent’s grain farmers at
€2bn (£1.7bn) in lost revenue from
9m tonnes of destroyed crops.
Yesterday, scientists found climate
breakdown had also made levels of
soil dryness i ve times more likely in
western Europe and 11 times more
likely in eastern Europe.
▶ Halkyn mountain in Flintshire this week. There are concerns at the shortage of i rei ghting helicopters in Wales
PHOTOGRAPH: DGDIMAGES/ALAMY
Residents look
at smoke rising
near Lege-Cap-
Ferret, south-
western France,
and (below)
Spain’s Military
Emergencies
Unit i ghting a
wildi re in La
Mierla, near
Guadalajara
PHOTOGRAPH: JULIEN DE ROSA/AFP
to its driest July for two centuries
organisations such as the Met Oi ce, the National Farmers’ Union, water companies and expert bodies – declared parts of southern, central and eastern England to be in “pro- longed dry weather”. The two areas now in drought in Wales have received less than 2% of the expected rainfall for the month so far, and the rivers Clwyd , Alwen , Alyn , Clywedog , Dyi and Conwy in north Wales, as well as the Wye, have recorded new monthly minimum l ows or are approaching record lows. The hot and dry weather over recent weeks means July is on course to be the driest on record in Wales for nearly 200 years, causing problems for i sh, wildlife and crops. NRW announced last week that north and south-east Wales were moving to “prolonged dry weather” status, the stage before drought, triggering extra checks on water- ways and protected wildlife sites as well as the release of reservoir water into struggling rivers. Rhian Thomas , the sustainable water and nature manager at NRW, said the hot and dry spell was “ having serious impacts on the environment across parts of Wales”. She added: “We have seen riv- ers fall to exceptionally low levels, groundwater continuing to decline,
and increasing reports of environ-
mental impacts af ecting wildlife,
fisheries, farming and sensitive
habitats. The recent wildi res across
north Wales and south -east Wales are
one of the clearest and most visible
signs of how dry our landscapes have
become.”
Drought has no oi cial threshold
criteria, but is measured by NRW as
“a combination of indicators show-
ing a signii cant shortage of rainfall
and water availability, resulting in
impacts on rivers, groundwater,
ecosystems, agriculture and land
management”.
While Welsh Water has reported
that reservoir levels remain healthy
overall, the company has imple-
mented a hosepipe ban in parts of
west Wales.
People across England and Wales
are being urged to be mindful of water
usage. About 23 million people will
have been banned from using hose-
pipes by this weekend.
In England, eight areas are in pro-
longed dry weather, the National
Drought Group said this week. Eng-
land has received only 3% of its
long-term average July rainfall, with
the south and east having nothing at
all so far – the longest spell without
rain since the mid-1990s.
Some rivers are at lower levels than
during the heatwave last summer.
In the south-west the Dart and Tor
l ow is lower than this time last year.
In central and south-eastern Eng-
land the Coln in Gloucestershire and
the Soar in Leicestershire both have
lower l ows than this time last year.
Farmers have had to begin their
harvests early, with warnings that
cereal yields will be lower than
expected.
Drought was declared across much
of England, Wales and eastern Scot-
land last summer – conditions that
did not oi cially end until March,
after a wet autumn and winter replen-
ished rivers and reservoirs.
The Met Oi ce predicts that the cli-
mate crisis will make UK summers
1C-6C hotter and up to 60% drier by
2070, compared with 1990.
Hannah Cloke , professor of meteo-
rology and climate science at the
University of Reading, said: “Unless
the UK collectively gets its act
together, and builds greater resilience
into its water system at every point,
we face a more uncertain future in
which the tap could run dry.”
She added: “There is a better
future, where we use water bet-
ter where it falls and don’t waste as
much. But we need a fundamental
shift in understanding from almost
everyone to get there.”
artifi cial intelligence will make work by humans ‘optional’
Richard Luscombe
Elon Musk has said he believes that artii cial intelligence will make work by humans “optional” and money meaningless in a wide-ranging interview in which he also predicted that Britain would be engulfed in a civil war within 20 years. Giving his i rst interview since he briel y became the world’s i rst trillionaire after his SpaceX com- pany l oated on the New York stock exchange last month, the Tesla boss made a number of predictions for the future. On AI, Musk said he believed it w ould ultimately render work by humans “optional”. AI systems and robots would eventually handle most digital and physical jobs, he said, and the merger of his own AI venture with SpaceX would allow him to develop systems to perform cognitive tasks such as software programming while Tesla manufactured humanoids. Interviewed by the Economist at a Tesla factory in Texas, Musk said that within i ve years AI systems may surpass the sum of all human intelli- gence. Within 10 years, robots in the workplace will help usher in an era of such “amazing abundance” that money will become meaningless. It was, however, Musk’s political views, and predictions, that were perhaps the most contentious parts of the interview. The U K , a country he has not visited for years but whose politics, especially on immigration and race, have become an obsession ,
would become engulfed in a civil war within 20 years, he claimed. Asked if he was anti-Muslim, Musk attacked the questioner, a policy of diversion similar to that which has served Donald Trump well, and which he has employed previously, notably calling the Guardian “irrel- evant” when it decided to withdraw from his social media platform X. “I’m against rape and murder. I’m against the imposition of rules and laws that are contrary to what we’ve come to accept in the west,” he said. “It’s a crying shame that traditional media, like you, don’t recognise this.” He described the media’s charac- teri sation of Europe’s far right as “false, misleading and nonsense”, and argued that it was made up of “normal people” seeking safe cities, secure borders and sensible spend- ing, the Economist said. In an editorial accompanying the interview, the Economist acknowl- edged that Musk was a divisive i gure. “His political views, disseminated to his 240m followers on X, strike many as plain- speaking and strike many more, including the Economist, as plainly bigoted,” it wrote. “But he is also one of a handful of men who are pioneering AI and who thereby have an outsize inl uence on its trajectory. When he speaks, he rel ects the debates they are having. “For all his political polemics, he has a record of being right about tech- nology in i elds such as electric cars, rockets and satellite communications that confounded other engineers and entrepreneurs.” In the interview, Musk predicted
imposition of rules and laws that are contrary to what we’ve come to accept in the west’
▲ Elon Musk told the Economist that in i ve years AI systems may surpass the sum of all human intelligence
PHOTOGRAPH: KIRSTY WIGGLESWORTH/REUTERS
that after AI destroyed jobs there might need to be a large-scale wealth redistribution to create “universal high income” for humans. He said he would be willing to pay “trillions in tax” but then, conversely, argued that money would become irrelevant inside 10 years. In which eventuality, he said, governments should “issue people cheques”, because, he said, amid an ini nite supply of goods and services pro- duced by machines, del ation would be a bigger problem than inl ation. Musk admitted he had become too consumed by politics during his volatile alliance with Trump and
20 The number of years within which Musk predicted that Britain would be engulfed in a civil war
his brief appointment as the presi- dent’s i nancial axeman, running the so-called department of government ei ciency (Doge). “I got carried away, frankly,” Musk said of his relationship with the president, whom he helped get elected in 2024 with $200m in i nan- cial backing , then served during his controversial tenure as head of Doge, overseeing budget cuts that forced tens of thousands of people out of federal jobs. The owner of Tesla did not expand on the statement, but appeared aware of the impact of his dalliance with the levers of power in Washington DC. In December, he offered in a podcast with Katie Miller , the wife of Trump’s White House adviser Stephen Miller , that his wrecking-ball approach to the federal government had been only partially successful, and that given the opportunity he probably wouldn’t do it again. “I think instead of doing Doge, I would have basically worked on my companies,” he said at the time. Talking to the Economist,
however, he appeared to relish the attention his political involvement had garnered, and the inl uence he believed he exerted. “People don’t reali se that what I’m saying will come to pass,” he said . He also shared thoughts about the Ukraine war, in which his Starlink satellites have been used to help to counter Russia’s aggression. Despite this, Musk said any peace deal should include territorial gains for Russia. The interview concluded with an assessment by Musk of his achieve- ments and ambitious current projects, in AI and in space, a i eld in which he has also made a number of bold predictions. He said in 2024 that humans could set foot on Mars by 2028 (currently Nasa is targeting 2028 for a return to the moon, which many analysts think is unlikely). The universe, Musk said, accord- ing to the Economist, could be a computer simulation created by aliens. “The things I’m doing are so preposterous that it’s hard to believe they’re real,” he said.
noise and Parkinson’s disease
Ushika Kidd
Long-term exposure to road trai c
noise is associated with a higher risk
of Parkinson’s disease, the biggest
study of its kind has found.
Existing research has found poten-
tial biological pathways that link
noise exposure to Parkinson’s dis-
ease, largely due to stress responses
and disrupted sleep.
The researchers modelled noise
exposure at the most and least
exposed exterior of the residence of
each participant and calculated the
dif erence in noise levels.
The magnitude of the effect
was modest but consistent; at the
most exposed facade, for every
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barrister ‘chilling’, say critics
Haroon Siddique Legal af airs correspondent
The prosecution of a leading human rights barrister for contempt of court over his closing speech during a trial of Palestine Action activists has left lawyers fearful of doing their job, the chair of the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) has said. Rajiv Menon KC , who was acting
11.5-decibel rise in noise level, the risk of Parkinson’s rose by 3% over the study period. Having a quiet part of the home may mitigate the association between exposure to road trai c noise and higher risk of Parkinson’s , accord- ing to the i ndings. The study , published in JAMA Neu- rology , included 3.1 million Danish participants aged 40 and over, and followed them for 18 years. It was established using nationwide health register data, making it the largest study on road trai c noise and Par- kinson’s disease. Previous research linked the rise in neurological disorders , including Parkinson’s , with exposure to envi- ronmental toxins. The study is one of the i rst to make the link to noise
pollution. Chronic noise exposure exceeding World Health Organiza- tion thresholds af ects nearly a third of Europeans. Thomas Münzel , one of the authors of the study, said envi- ronmental noise was “still a young entrant in the Parkinson’s disease risk-factor literature” . Münzel said the study’s i ndings should move noise from a speculative to a credible risk factor for Parkin- son’s , prompting further research . The researchers took air pollution into account but lacked information on people’s lifestyles. They argue, however, that lifestyle factors would not have changed the findings, because they saw a consistent asso- ciation with Parkinson’s regardless of people’s education and income. Chronically disturbed sleep from
for the defence, is due to stand trial next week accused of breaching the judge’s directions in the trial of six people for a protest at an arms factory of the Israeli subsidiary Elbit Systems UK in Filton, near Bristol, in 2024. On Wednesday , senior legal i gures criticised the prosecution of Menon, believed to be the i rst barrister to be prosecuted over remarks made dur- ing a closing speech. Riel Karmy-Jones KC , the chair of the CBA , told the online meeting: “ It is starting to feel like it’s about the politics of the subject matter of the trial, rather than the core principles of how a barrister represents his client.” Last month, the trial judge in
noise pollution is thought to cause
increased levels of the stress hor-
mone cortisol.
Dr Peter Chan, a senior researcher
in environmental epidemiology at
Nui eld Department of Population
Health , who was also not involved in
the study, said : “ The study of [dif er-
ence in noise levels] is interesting as it
highlights a dimension of noise issue
that noise at home is not uniform and
people can mitigate by moving to dif-
ferent rooms.” However, he added the
i ndings were not unexpected.
He said : “ We know that many
potential risk factors of Parkinson’s
disease are also linked to low socio-
economic status, and it is very hard
to disentangle whether the increased
risk with noise is totally due to noise
itself or something else.”
John Stewart , chair of the UK Noise
Association, who was not involved in
the study, said: “This research joins a
growing list of studies which show a
connection between trai c noise and
people’s physical and mental health.
It shows the link is strongest where
the noise is loudest. In practice, this
means main roads.”
the Palestine Action case, Mr Jus- tice Johnson, referred the question of whether Menon should face con- tempt of court proceedings to another judge, Mr Justice Nicklin , who sub- sequently ruled that he should. It came after a previous attempt to refer Menon was overturned on appeal . The Labour peer and former Lib- erty director Shami Chakrabarti said criticising judges was dangerous given the threats they could face but that in Menon’s case they had made “a terrible, capricious mistake” and acted in “a very chilling manner”. Her fellow Labour peer Helena Kennedy KC , a renowned crim- inal lawyer , described Menon’s
with a chatbot? British Gas says most people do
Jillian Ambrose
The owner of British Gas has claimed
that most households would rather
speak with a chatbot than deal with
the company’s staf as it prepares to
cut 1,300 jobs from its call centres.
Centrica, the supplier’s FTSE 100
owner, plans to cut 800 call centre
jobs as the energy company carries
out a “targeted deployment of AI
tools”, on top of the 500 job cuts from
call centres it coni rmed last month.
The plan to reduce the supplier’s
customer service teams in Glasgow,
Edinburgh, Cardif , Leicester, Stock-
port and Leeds by 14% is expected to
take place over two years, meaning
some roles will be left uni lled after
resignations .
Trade unions have previously said
the company’s investment in artii -
cial intelligence to help simplify its
business would lead to “hundreds of
human jobs” being given to chatbots.
But Chris O’Shea , the company’s
chief executive, insisted that the
changes were being made because
customers preferred to take their
queries to AI rather than people.
He said: “AI isn’t driving these par-
ticular job reductions; that’s mainly
due to changing customer behaviour .
What we’re seeing just now is over
90% of our customers actually use
digital channels in the i rst instance,
and we’ve seen a 20% reduction in
customer calls, so this simply rel ects
the changing customer behaviour .
“ We expect to grow more jobs
around our digital interface, and
maybe having fewer people on the
phones.”
O’Shea defended Centrica’s plans
as it reported a rise in retail proi ts
over the i rst half of the year despite
falling customer numbers.
Proi ts from Centrica’s retail divi-
sion rose to £346m in the i rst six
months of the year from £338m in
the same period last year.
Its proi ts climbed even as the
number of domestic customers fell
to 7.45m from 7.5m at the end of last
year because the supplier has focused
on making bigger proi t margins from
its i xed-price tarif s , O’Shea said.
prosecution as “another assault upon our justice system ”, while the leading human rights lawyer Gareth Pierce called the prosecution “terrifying”. Nicklin’s court order said Menon was alleged to have deliberately breached Johnson’s rulings “know- ing that his conduct … was capable of creating a real risk of impeding the administration of justice”. It added that the speech included statements “capable of suggesting to the jury that the court was not impartial, in that he referred to the defendants being prevented from giving evidence about Elbit Systems, and later referred to Elbit Systems being ‘protected ’”.
wave of tariff s on more than 80 countries
Shrai Popat Washington Gaya Gupta
Donald Trump ’s administration has imposed a fresh wave of sweeping tarif s to replace a 10% global duty that was set to expire this morning, his latest ef ort to instate aggressive trade policies despite challenges from the US’s highest court. The US will impose between a 10% or 12.5% tarif on more than 80 countries , Jamieson Greer , the US trade representative, announced late last night. It ef ectively replaces the blanket 10% tarif that Trump imposed in February, right after the US supreme court declared that many of his ear- lier tarif s were illegal. The latest tarif s would fall under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which is aimed against countries that engage in forced labour. Trump said his administration would investigate unfair trading
practices to impose permanent tar- if s as soon as the February supreme court decision was announced. Greer said in a statement: “Today’s action will begin to correct what is both a human rights abuse and dis- tortive trade practice to improve the welfare of workers everywhere . “I am encouraged by the trading partners who have moved quickly to adopt forced labour import prohibi- tions, and look forward to ensuring their ef ective enforcement.” Trump had promised to impose tarif s to boost American jobs and manufacturing since before he was elected, at one point calling tar- if s “the most beautiful word in the dictionary”. Only Congress has the authority under the constitution to levy taxes. But last April, on what he declared was “ liberation day ”, Trump announced a baseline 10% tariff under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a trade law that grants the president the authority to
regulate international transactions during a national emergency. This policy, however, suf ered a damaging blow in February when the US supreme court ruled 6-3 that the ability to enact tarif s during peace- time still belongs to Congress. Trump immediately announced another 10% tariff regime under another trade law that had never been used before, which limited the tarif s to a period of 150 days. Those tarif s expired at midnight. The latest round of tarif s invokes Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which has long proven controver- sial and so far been used sparingly,
according to a Brookings analysis of
the law in March.
Alan Wolf , a senior fellow at the
Peterson Institute for International
Economics and the former deputy
director-general of the World Trade
Organization, wrote in analysis yes-
terday that the latest tarif s “again
raise the question of whether the
president has the legal authority to
determine and implement US tarif
policy – an authority that the consti-
tution vests in Congress”.
“The answer is no: Congress
did not delegate authority of such
breadth to the president. It can-
not constitutionally do so,” he said.
Donald Trump claims his trade agenda will revive US industrial heartlands and boost employment
PHOTOGRAPH: EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/REUTERS
“These new tarif s would represent another case of presidential over- reach. If they were challenged in court, the supreme court would likely overturn them.” Outside of courtroom setbacks, Trump’s tarif s have also proved unpopular among Americans . A Harris Poll survey, conducted exclusively for the Guardian, found earlier this year that 7 in 10 Ameri- cans said that they paid higher prices because of Trump’s tarif s, and 72% of voters believed the tarif s have had a negative rather than a positive impact on consumers. The president and his oi cials have claimed his controversial trade agenda will help revitali se US indus- trial heartlands and boost jobs. But his tarif policies have faced several setbacks since they were i rst instituted last year, and critics have warned his sweeping tarif s risk increasing prices nationwide. US inl ation surged to a three-year high earlier this year. During a heated exchange before US senators on Wednesday, however, Greer appeared to claim Trump’s pol- icies had not driven prices higher. Overall inl ation is slightly higher than it was when Joe Biden left oi ce.
to sell plug-in solar panels for use on balconies and sheds
Jillian Ambrose Energy correspondent
Households will soon be able to buy plug-in solar panels after the govern- ment changed the law so the UK’s biggest retailers can bring them to market for the i rst time. People in the UK will be able to join the millions across Europe generating their own electricity using “balcony solar panels” from 27 August, after legislation passed last week. Plug-in panels have in recent years become familiar sights on balconies in Spain and in Germany, where they are known as balkonkraftwerk (bal- cony power plant in German). Unlike traditional rooftop solar panels, which require professional installation, balcony solar instal- lations can be plugged into a wall socket, generating cheap electricity from a balcony, terrace, shed roof or any other outdoor space. The legal change means that, from the end of this summer, retailers including Currys, B&Q and Asda will be able to sell DIY solar set ups to people living in l ats or rented homes without rooftop access, so they can generate their own solar power . The panels are expected to retail for at least £400 and could shave up to £110 a year of energy bills. The move to make plug-in solar lawful is expected to bring “cheap, clean power to households that have not been able to access these benei ts before”, said Chris Hewett, the chief executive of Solar Energy UK . “Our industry is working closely with gov- ernment to ensure that all customers can have coni dence in the safety and reliability of these new technologies.” When panels are plugged in, the clean energy generated when the
£400 Estimated cost of the solar panels, which could cut up to £110 from annual electricity bills
story read by Spider-Man actor
PA Media
Tom Holland has become the latest superhero actor to read a CBeebies Bedtime Story – a role already expe- rienced by Captain America’s Chris Evans and Thor’s Chris Hemsworth. The 30-year-old British actor rose to fame playing Peter Parker/
sun is shining l ows directly into the property’s electrical circuit through a standard three-prong plug to power appliances without needing to buy as much electricity from the grid. Plug-in systems usually have a capacity of 800 watts, or one-i fth of the size of a typical residential roof- top solar system, so while they could not power a home alone, they could help to reduce bills by up to £70-110 a year. This means it would take four to seven years to cover the initial outlay of buying a plug-in system. The DIY solar systems are expected to come to market at a time when households have turned in record numbers to green upgrades to help keep costs down as the war in Iran causes global energy prices to soar. A record 269,000 solar installa- tions were completed in the UK last year, up more than a third on the previous year and the equivalent of a new rooftop setup every two minutes. Rob Hallifax, a co-founder of Wind- fall Energy , said the legislation could also pave the way for plug-in batteries in British homes . The government is reportedly considering plans to bulk buy the devices and distribute them to low-income households, accord- ing to the i Paper . Hallifax said the move towards plug-in solutions was a “massive win for consumer energy independence, and a huge leap forward for anyone who has previously been locked out of the energy transition” . “For renters, l at owners and any- one on a budget, this opens up clean energy in a way we haven’t seen before,” said Hallifax. He added that households should still set “real- istic expectations” for their new solar setup. “Coming into force in late August means generation will naturally decline as we head into autumn and winter,” he said. “You still need access to a sunlit balcony, terrace or suitable outdoor area. And you may need permission from a landlord or freeholder to put panels in place.”
Assembly line
of forgettable
songs makes
this a bad trip
Trainspotting the Musical Theatre Royal Haymarket, London ★☆☆☆☆
‘C
hoose life …” Those iconic words from that era-dei ning i lm are said more than once in this musical take on Irvine Welsh ’s novel about Renton and his renegade gang of smackheads from Leith. “Choose being in the moment,” says the disembodied voice that asks us to switch of our mobile phones before the show has begun (with, one imagines, a self-satisi ed glint at the joke). “Choose life,” repeats Renton ( Lewis Kidd ), trying so hard, it seems, to capture the
Spider-Man and has since gone on to reprise the role i ve times. Before the release of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Holland will read Superworm, written by Julia Donald- son and illustrated by Axel Schel er, on the new episode of the BBC series. The story follows a heroic, super- stretchy worm who must be saved by his friends after he falls under the spell of the greedy Wizard Lizard. Holland follows a cast of both superhero and supervillain actors who have read for CBeebies including
▼ Sheridan Townsley as Sick Boy , Frankie O’Connor as Begbie , Lewis Kidd as Renton and Finlay Paul as Tommy in the production
dangerous energy of that moment in the 1990s when Ewan McGregor , Jonny Lee Miller and co depicted heroin addiction as a protest against the grunting conventions of ordinary life. Sadly, the drug-addled escapades and illegal highs here look about as dangerous as a double-dose of Gaviscon . Written by Welsh and directed by Caroline Jay Ranger , the story is chopped up so that one scene is disconnected from the next, the well-known scenes and lines rattled of as if from a Trainspotting- branded assembly line : i rst the group trip to Blackpool for a northern soul gig, then the various set pieces, from the speed-fuelled
Idris Elba, Tom Hardy, Tom Hiddles- ton and Jason Momoa as well as Evans and Hemsworth. The actor i rst played Spider-Man in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War and the next year became the youngest actor to play a title role in a Marvel Cinematic Universe i lm in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Its sequels, Far From Home and No Way Home, released in 2019 and 2021 respectively, have each grossed more than $1bn worldwide . Holland has also appeared as the character in Avengers: Ini nity War, Endgame, and Brand New Day, which will be released later this month.
PHOTOGRAPH: ALAN CHAPMAN/DAVE BENETT/GETTY IMAGES
job interview by Spud ( Kieran Andrew ) to the snooker-table violence from Begbie (Frankie O’Connor) and Renton’s toilet high – the latter made more vivid with the use of back screens (video design by Douglas O’Connell ). There are some touching moments with the death of Alison’s ( Rosie Dignan ) baby and the decline of the most well-adjusted of the group, Tommy (Finlay Paul) , but these are not nearly as devastating as they should be, and are briskly enacted. None of it is half as shocking, entertaining or as poignant as the i lm. Nor is the imagination as sparkling when it goes its own way, such as a moment in which Spud’s mother rails against social ills (from prescription drugs to additives). In its music , the cover numbers bring the few high points. There is Iggy Pop’s Lust for Life , so synonymous with the i lm that you can still picture McGregor’s sprint along the streets of Edinburgh, and renditions of Lou Reed’s Perfect Day . But they do nothing more than imitate a far better original . Alongside the covers are songs written by Stephen McGuinness and Welsh which are forgettable . It’s strange to see the characters singing as they shoot up, or rage against the machine. It all seems so tame for this bunch of anti- capitalists. A bad trip indeed.
Until 5 Sept ember, then on UK tour
The synopsis for the film has teased that it is a “brand new day for Peter Parker”. It continues: “Fight- ing crime full-time as Spider-Man in a world that doesn’t remember him – and the pressure of seeing his old friends move on without him – sparks a change in Peter he may not have the power to control.” Spider-Man: Brand New Day will be released in cinemas across the UK on 29 July , days before its initially scheduled release on 31 July . Holland’s CBeebies Bedtime Story will air on CBeebies today at 6.50pm and will be available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
National xSubjectxxxx
after outcry may still go ahead in the autumn
Rajeev Syal Peter Walker
An early release scheme for thou- sands of prisoners paused by Andy Burnham after an outcry from victims could still take place this autumn, despite warnings by probation oi c- ers of potential chaos . The prime minister ordered an urgent review into the proposed early release of about 6,000 prisoners, to begin in September with an initial group of about 700, saying he wanted
cabinet How does it compare with Keir Starmer’s?
Lucy Swan Kiran Stacey Carmen Aguilar García
Andy Burnham is in Downing Street, and has now appointed the i rst cabinet of his premiership. Much has been made of how allies of Keir Starmer have been demoted or sacked , but what is the demographic makeup of the new team and how does it dif er from its predecessors?
Women make up half of the cabinet for the fi rst time For the i rst time in British political history, half of the cabinet is female, a huge change from the situation less than 50 years ago. When Margaret Thatcher i rst came to power in 1979, she did not appoint a single woman to the cabinet. Under her successor John Major there was even a period when there were no women at all in any of the top jobs. Tony Blair began to tilt the balance the other way, but even in the era of “Blair’s babes”, women remained a minority . His i rst cabinet in 1997 included i ve . The trend was reversed by Blair’s successor Gordon Brown and the gender gap oscillated during the Conservatives’ 14 years in power. Parity was nearly achieved in 2024 when Starmer appointed his i rst ministerial team. Cabinet,
Politics
to “minimise risk to the public” and would not hesitate to make changes. But with government officials accepting that the prison system remains at near capacity, and no appetite to use alternatives such as police cells beyond emergencies, it is unclear what options exist beyond continuing with the plan, even in a dif erent form. Victims groups had objected to the proposal for 6,000 people to be freed early under the new Sentencing Act, with Debbie Adlam, the mother of the police oi cer Andrew Harper, saying
▲ The fi rst meeting of the Burnham cabinet. For the fi rst time in history, half of the members are women
PHOTOGRAPH: EDDIE MULHOLLAND/GETTY
including those who attended but were not full members, was 46% women. Parity was i nally achieved this week with Burnham’s new appointments – though some Starmerites point out that the replacement of Rachel Reeves with John Healey as chancellor means there is one fewer woman in the four great oi ces of state.
The north - west overrepresented It is little surprise that Burnham, the former Greater Manchester mayor and “ king of the north”, has given an outsized number of cabinet posts to MPs representing the north - west.
the proposed inclusion of two of her son’s killers – Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers – was “another letdown” for their family. In the latest of a l urry of policy announcements since he took over in No 10 on Monday, Burnham said: “I am working closely with the new jus- tice secretary and have instructed my team to put a pause on the changes that were due to start in September. “No prisoners will be let out under this policy until we have conducted an urgent review and done every- thing we can to minimise risk to the
Politicians from that part of the country make up just over a quarter of the cabinet – but only 11% of the population lives in the north -west. The north -west was already over represented under Starmer, in contrast with Rishi Sunak’s cabinet, which contained only two MPs representing the north – one of whom was Sunak himself.
An increase in private education At one point under Starmer there was not a single full cabinet minister who went to private school for the majority of their secondary education. The historically high levels of state education caused Bridget Phillipson , the education secretary, to call Starmer’s team “probably one of the most class- conscious shadow cabinets that we’ve had for some time”.
public. Where changes are needed, we will not hesitate to make them.” With oi cials warning that with- out the scheme, prisons in England and Wales will run out of capacity by November, the most likely outcome appears to be a tweak to the early release system, with some of end- ers held back. Oi cials have refused to say if the plan could be amended to block early release for people convicted of of ences against emergency work- ers, such as Harper’s killers, or against women and girls.
That has shifted under Burnham, with 22% of the cabinet now having been educated mainly at private school – over three times that of the general population.
It is still less than under the Tories Ministers who attended private schools made up more than half of the cabinet formed by Sunak , Liz Truss and David Camero n. They reached almost two-thirds in Boris Johnson’s i rst cabinet and his 2021 and 2020 reshul es.
More than half are Oxbridge Unlike the last six prime ministers, Burnham did not go to Oxford but instead studied English at Cambridge, becoming the i rst Cantabrigian in No 10 since Stanley Baldwin, according to the Sutton Trust.
Alex Norris, the new justice secre-
tary, told reporters yesterday that the
government needed “time to get it
right”. He said: “We’ve put an impor-
tant pause on this policy. It gives us
a little bit of time to look at this, to
make sure we do our best by you.”
Probation oi cers have warned
that a “sense of chaos” had descended
across the Prison Service, with staf
unable to make preparations for the
mass release. Tania Bassett , Napo’s
national officer, told the Guard-
ian that after the trade union asked
the prisons service if staf should
The cabinet is still heavily dominated by Oxbridge alumni, with more than half of the cabinet having studied at one of the two , compared with just 1% of the UK population.
M inority ethnic representation remains steady Four of Burnham’s cabinet are from a minority ethnic background, including the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood , the energy secretary, Miatta Fahnbulleh , and the AI minister , Kanishka Narayan . This means 14% of the new cabinet come from a BAME background, roughly mirroring the 16% of the UK population. This is better than his predecessor, but still less than Sunak .
continue with preparations for the early release scheme, it was now informing them it ha d been paused. She said: “Napo’s concern is this will mean probation staf stop doing pre-release work. Whatever the prime minister’s i nal decision is, he has created a delay as well as confu- sion amongst the staf tasked with dealing with this. “He needs to be more decisive about critical public protection issues and we urge him to treat this situation with the upmost urgency.” According to the union, prepara- tions for release require probation staf to carry out extensive work that usually takes at least six to eight weeks . This includes reviewing risk assessments, making referrals for accommodation including proba- tion hostels, carrying out home visits, coordinating with victim liaison oi cers and domestic abuse support
A quarter of Burnham’s cabinet are from the north-west of England Cabinet ministers by constituency region
Burnham
Burnham
Burnham
Burnham
Burnham - 28 minus 1 peer Starmer - 26 minus 2 peer Sunak - 30 minus 1 peer
Starmer
Sunak
Starmer
Starmer
Sunak
Scotland North-east North-west Yorks and Humber East Midlands West Midlands Wales East of England London South-east South-west
0 0
Burnham’s cabinet is the first to achieve gender parity Cabinet ministers by gender
100% Thatcher
Male
Change of PM
Female
1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025
Sources: IfG Ministers Database, House of Commons Library. Note: full cabinet plus ministers who attend cabinet
Share of irst cabinet who attended Oxford or Cambridge
54% 46%
39% 62%
52% 48%
<1% of general public attends Oxford or Cambridge
Share of irst cabinet who attended private secondary schools
22% 78%
8% 92%
39% 61% Sunak
7% of the population attend private schools
Share of irst cabinet from ethnic minority backgrounds
14% 86%
12% 89%
16% 84%
Blair Cameron
UK’s biggest ever rebalancing of power, says Burnham
‘It will bring the whole of Whitehall together behind places rather than standing in their way’
Earlier this week, he created a powerful new prime minister’s department taking in parts of the Cabinet Oi ce, Treasury and housing ministry to become the “dominant driver of the UK’s economy” – in an apparent tension with the plan for No 10 North . In one of his i rst acts, Burnham set up the Oi ce of the Prime Minis- ter and Cabinet, to be led by his ally and enforcer Louise Haigh , which will oversee No 10 North in Manchester, the No 10 operation in London, and parts of the Cabinet Oi ce. Haigh, along with the new educa- tion secretary, Lucy Powell , and the new communities secretary, Angela Rayner – who both have Greater Manchester seats – are planning to spend some of their time work- ing from No 10 North, while teams of civil servants are expected to be relocated there. With regional mayors invited to sit round the table, Downing Street argues that devolution will be cemented at the centre of eco- nomic decision-making, delivering the prime minister’s pledge that deci- sions are taken with local leaders, not just for them. Operating from Heron House in Manchester’s city centre, the home of GCHQ in the north- west, No 10 North is intended to bring together the levers of local economic growth and devolution under one roof for the i rst time, working from a single plan rather than competing ones. Burnham is expected to work from No 10 North each week so that deci- sions about the country’s economic future will no longer exclusively be made in Westminster, with other ministers also working regularly from the building. Dave Penman , the general sec- retary of the FDA union which represents senior civil servants, has welcomed the changes to the struc- ture of government but warned that
Starmer Starmer
50% 50%
◀ Lissie Harper
with husband
Andrew. She
has said it is
‘deplorable’
that two of his
killers are being
considered for
early release
PHOTOGRAPH: THAMES VALLEY POLICE/PA WIRE
oi cers and developing robust multi- agency safeguarding plans. It can also take several weeks to ensure that tagging measures are in place before an of ender is placed in accommodation. Unless probation staf received “imminent, concrete direction” about who will be consid- ered, established release plans could collapse, a union oi cial said. The review has caused chaos in prisons, where managers are respon- sible for calculating release dates over several weeks from 2 September . The Sentencing Act 2026 intro- duced an “earned progression model” that replaces automatic halfway release for prisoners serv- ing standard determinate sentences in England and Wales with a tiered, behaviour-based system. It will allow most prisoners to be released after serving a third of their sentence behind bars rather than 50 %, with the rest of their sentence
Andy Burnham Prime minister
relocation would be a big decision for staf . At least seven Greater Manches- ter Combined Authority employees, including Burnham’s deputy chief of staf , Caroline Simpson , and long- standing aide Kevin Lee , are already moving into the temporary building, while a browni eld site is developed. The Heron House oi ce will be led by Sam Lister , a senior civil serv- ant who has worked across multiple departments. Those attending the NEC will change at each meeting, depending on the issues under consideration,
served under strict supervision in the community with the help of elec- tronic tagging. Prisoners serving time for sexual or violent of ences where the auto- matic release is set at two-thirds will become eligible for release at halfway , provided they have not committed serious breaches of prison rules. This applies to Bowers and Cole , two of Harper’s killers, who were jailed for 13 years in 2020 for man- slaughter. Burnham coni rmed that Henry Long , the main perpetra- tor, “will not be subject to any early release” under the scheme. After news of the pause emerged, Adlam told ITV News that this was “not enough”. She said: “It’s a good start, and it really is a good basis to begin work- ing on some sensible alternatives and looking at options for going forward, because there’s so many people this af ects, it’s not just us.”
bringing together business lead- ers, trade unions and other partners where their expertise can help drive decision-making. Under Gordon Brown, the body met twice a week and acted as the focus of his government’s ef ort to stave of recession, the global crisis in the i nancial markets and volatile prices, although there were concerns at the time that it could clip the wings of the Treasury. The new committee was quickly dubbed an economic version of the Cobra emergency committee. It included key i gures such as the then chancellor Alistair Darling and then business secretary Peter Mandelson , and was instrumental in coordinating emergency banking sector bailouts. In his article, Burnham suggested that the Manchester department would be crucial to his aim to “drive reindustrialisation and growth across every postcode of the UK”. He went on: “It will remove bar- riers to regeneration, from council house building to public transport infrastructure. Crucially, No 10 North will bring the whole of Whitehall together behind places rather than standing in their way. “Our long-term ambition is clear: to achieve equivalent living stand- ards across all the regions and nations of the UK.”
National xSubjectxxxx
England to get bill discount, but it’s too little, say critics
Pippa Crerar and Rob Davies
Pubs, clubs and live music venues in England will receive a 20% discount on their business rates bills as part of a £100m aid package – but Andy Burn- ham has immediately faced calls to be more ambitious. The prime minister said the measure, aimed at supporting the high street and easing cost of living pressures, would be fully funded, including through a review of relief for businesses deemed not to make a positive contribution to communi- ties, such as vape shops. Other cost of living measures announced this week – capping bus fares at £2 and cutting VAT on electricity bills – have prompted questions about how they are going to be funded , leaving the new
Politics
administration under pressure to set out the detail of its plans. Burnham , who took office on Monday , has promised to give peo- ple “more breathing space” on living costs through a series of pol- icy interventions, as he attempts to demonstrate to an often scepti- cal public that the government can deliver meaningful change. Yesterday the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, said Burnham’s early policy announcement had left her thinking: “Is that it?” And while hospitality leaders welcomed the tax cut, some ques- tioned its scale and raised concerns that businesses such as hotels and restaurants had been left out. The business rates cut will ben- ei t almost 32,000 pubs, clubs and live music venues, according to the government, with a pub expected to save an estimated £1,100 in the next
i nancial year. The support will be tar- geted so that the largest live music venues are excluded. The measure builds on the 15% business rates relief for pubs and live music venues announced by Rachel Reeves this year, as Covid-era relief ended and new revaluations took ef ect, with bills frozen in real terms for a further two years. Burnham said: “For too long, governments have stood by while
businesses that people want to see in their communities’
cherished venues have disappeared from our local high streets. So today I am changing that . This government will back the businesses that people want to see in their communities. “I said I would protect pubs and local high streets – the beating heart of our communities – and that’s what we will do.” The chancellor, John Healey , said the government remained commit- ted to overhauling the wider business rates system, including relief for small businesses, at the budget. Some hospitality leaders urged Burnham to go further, particularly given that he has previously backed the industry’s call for a reduction in VAT to 10%. That policy would have been worth £10bn to the hard- pressed sector, although tax experts have warned that large, proi table businesses would enjoy most of the benei t . Tim Martin , the founder of the JD Wetherspoon pub chain, said busi- ness rates relief was “a small move in the right direction” but called on Burnham to make the cut in VAT. Nick Evans, a co-owner of the Old Crown Coaching Inn in Faringdon , Oxfordshire, said business rates relief would do little to help the pub. “It’ll save £3,000 a year, some- thing like that. When you’ve got a £1.8m turnover business that shows less than 2% gross proi t, chucking me £3,000 doesn’t help me at all ,” he
PHOTOGRAPH: RICHARD POHLE/REUTERS
said. “Prices are going up, energy is going up, so what can you do? He said he was going to cut VAT to 10%.” Kate Nicholls , the chair of the UK Hospitality trade body, welcomed the government’s recognition of the sector’s dii culties but pointed out that restaurants and hotels were excluded. “We now need to see a solution for the rest of the sector,” she said. Ministers also plan to crack down on businesses that sell through online marketplaces but do not comply with their tax obligations, putting them at an unfair advantage over those that do, and are consulting on measures to make those marketplaces more responsible for this. Tina McKenzie, the policy chair of the Federation of Small Businesses , welcomed the proposal but said it must be a “down payment” on fur- ther action to help small businesses more broadly at the next budget . “Failure is not an option ,” she said. “We are encouraged at the signal from the prime minister today, instructing his government to plan for a signii - cant increase in small business rates relief at the heart of the next budget . This would deliver on promises made campaigning for the role, and i x the damage caused by business rates decisions that sent bills up and are holding back [small and medium- sized enterprise] growth and jobs in every postcode.”
rate 20% cut Will it make a diff erence to owners?
Rob Davies
One of Andy Burnham’s i rst policy measures as prime minister, unveiled on Thursday, is a 20% reduction in business rates for pubs, clubs and live music venues. Part of a broader agenda to support the high street, the policy will cost £100m. It is just 1% of the £10bn measure that the industry has been calling for – and which Burnham supported when he was mayor of Greater Manchester and did not have to i nd the money – a sector-specii c reduction in VAT from 20% to 10%. So how does the policy measure up in the context of running a business and where does the money on your bar bill actually go ? Also, can the rates reduction halt a trend in pub closures, running at about one a day ?
Pie and a pint at the Red Lion, Hollington You pay £20.50 Pub proi t £2.97 The Red Lion serves 15 types of pie, 15 potato side dishes, 15 types of veg and 15 types of gravy, but the most common order is a steak and ale pie with chips, caulil ower cheese and onion gravy, washed down with a pint of Bass. “We’re the place for pies,” says Dan Smith, who owns the pub in Derbyshire. “Over the course of a week, we’d sell about 300 of them and get through about six 25kg sacks of potatoes from a farmer up the road. A local brewery does our own beer, the Pie & Glory, but Bass is our most popular.” Smith says he used to pay no business rates at all due to relief provided for rural businesses. Now he pays around £680 a year and has already seen his estimated bill oscillate several times, due to successive policy tweaks, including
a nationwide property revaluation
exercise: “They’ve made it 10
times more complicated than it
needed to be.”
Business rates account for
about 16p of a pie and a pint, he
says, compared with VAT of £3.42.
“I’m not going to knock it [the
business rate cut ] – it’s showing
willing from Mr Burnham. But it’s
a small snippet.”
Smith supports a hospitality-
wide campaign to cut VAT from
20% to 10% . That would cost the
Treasury an estimated £10bn.
The breakdown
Ingredients £6.48
VAT £3.42
Staf £3.88
Employer’s taxes £0.74
Utility bills, operating costs
and mortgage £2.85
Business rates £0.16
A typical hospitality
business
Turnover £1,000,000
Proi t after tax £13,500
Packed House is a family-
run consultancy that acts
as a commercial director
for independent hospitality
businesses, and provides annual
cost breakdowns for typical
entities with about £1m turnover.
“We help owners who are
overworked and underpaid
build proi table and successful
businesses,” says Colm O’Leary,
director at Packed House.
Costs include high dut ies on
alcohol the pub buys in. Staffi ng
costs include higher national
minimum wage and national
insurance contributions, which
have both gone up under Labour.
Packed House’s estimate shows
why some hospitality bosses have
given only a lukewarm reception
to the business rates relief
package, given the scale of other
costs they are facing.
The amount of business rates
paid varies depending on the
type and location of premises
but O’Leary says £5,000 would
not be unusual for a business
with a turnover of £1m.
“The speed of this policy
decision is a positive sign, but
the benei t is a fart in the wind
compared to what is needed,”
says O’Leary.
The breakdown
VAT £166,667
Net sales £833,333
Purchases £333,333
Other costs (rent, utilities,
PR, travel etc) £203,333
Business rates £5,000
Operating proi t £16,667
Corporation tax £3,167
◀ Dan Smith, landlord of the Red Lion, says business rates only account for about 16p of a typical pie and pint, which pales in comparison to the VAT of £3.42
PHOTOGRAPH: ANDREW FOX/ THE GUARDIAN 78% The proportion of a survey of 500 MPs’ staf members who have received threatening messages
A more assured Conservative leader poised to dissect new PM
Peter Walker
Senior political correspondent
S
o, Andy Burnham seems like a nice guy.” Those were the slightly unexpected opening words of Kemi Badenoch’s i rst speech since the change in prime minister. But make no mistake: she was there to bury her opponent . Even Badenoch-sceptics inside the Conservative party and further ai eld agree the Tory leader is becoming more coni dent, forg ing an increasingly coherent message for her party, one based on a promise of economic competence. She does, nonetheless, face a dif erent challenge now Burnham has replaced Keir Starmer. Aside from being a fresh face with a likely polling bounce, the former Greater Manchester mayor is more of a media natural, with the ability to del ect Badenoch’s jibes using self-deprecating humour, such as a viral social media response last month after the Tory leader dismissed him as a “pair of eyelashes and a black T-shirt”. “She has to adapt – it’s like with
security to be tightened
Josh Halliday North of England editor
Staf employed by MPs are calling
for urgently tightened security after
reports of some being physically
attacked and hundreds receiving
threatening calls and messages.
A survey of more than 500 MPs’
staf members found that 78% had
received threatening communication
and nearly one in three fear for their
own safety or that of colleagues.
Andy Burnham, the prime
minister, is planning to announce a
review of MPs’ security after the mur-
der of Ann Widdecombe , a former
Conservative minister and Reform
UK spokesperson, this month. Joshua
Kerry , 28, from Rotherham, South
Yorkshire , has been charged with
her murder .
In a survey of more than 500 staf
working for MPs, 30% said they “fre-
quently, very frequently or always”
fear for their own or colleagues’
safety – up from 18.7% i ve years ago.
Seventy three MPs’ staf ers said
they were “very frequently or fre-
quently” exposed to racist or
prejudiced language from visitors,
while 188 said they experienced this
▲ Badenoch has continued to grow in confi dence, calling Burnham a PM with ‘small answers to big problems’
PHOTOGRAPH: DAN KITWOOD/GETTY IMAGES
anything when your opponent changes,” one senior Conservative said. “As a personality, Burnham is much more likeable, and comes with a fair degree of popularity. She needs to wait for weaknesses, and one immediately seems to be: where is the money coming from for all these giveaways?” And that was one of the main themes of Badenoch’s speech yesterday morning . Labelling Burnham’s philosophy as “cap one price and send the bill somewhere else”, she repeatedly questioned how the prime minister would pay for his early l urry of policies. The other central theme was ambition, with Badenoch calling Burnham a prime minister “with small answers to big problems”. Such message discipline will be necessary in taking on the new operation in No 10, one senior
sometimes. One in four said they had felt pressure at least sometimes to comply with requests that might compromise their safety. While many said parliamentary authorities had listened to their safety concerns, others felt they were treated poorly compared with their MP. The Westminster-based well- ness working group (WWG), which represents MPs’ staf and carried out the survey, said there was an “urgent” need for greater protection for front- line staf who often act “as a proxy for their MP”. The research, carried out by the psychologist Dr Ashley Weinberg of the University of Salford , found one in two parliamentary staf are experi- encing clinical levels of psychological distress, the highest level recorded since the survey started in 2021. Describing the increase as “sig- nificant and sudden ”, the WWG said: “It is clear the most signii cant
Conservative MP said, especially given Badenoch’s occasional tendency to get caught up in culture war debates. A manifestation of Badenoch’s increased coni dence is a schedule of regular press conferences and lengthy media Q&As, often without a particular policy to announce. It is notably similar to the timetable maintained last summer by Nigel Farage, before his byelection battle and anxieties over questions about his i nances scuppered this. And while she still maintains a largely take-no-prisoners approach, Badenoch now has rhetorical registers other than the sometimes caustic antagonism she used on Starmer and, in a speech which some Tories say began her turnaround, towards Rachel Reeves when she eviscerated the then- chancellor’s budget with almost startling ferocity. The weeks ahead will be devoted to i nding how best to tackle a PM who is a notably more slippery target tha n his predecessor.
issues driving distress at this current
moment come from unsustainable
workloads and that staf are routinely
exposed to abuse, racist and sexist
language, suicide threats, traumatic
disclosures and threats of violence.”
Seventeen members of staf said
none of the safety recommenda-
tions made to their MP had been
implemented, while 59 (11% of 530
respondents) said only “some” had.
They called for the Commons
authorities to have the power to
impose tighter security when MPs
or their oi ce managers fail to com-
ply. Many felt at risk because security
personnel often attend only in the
presence of their MP, leaving oi ce
staff sometimes alone at official
events held in the MP’s name.
The WWG said: “Security arrange-
ments should routinely extend
to MPs’ staf as though the MP is
present .”
One member of staf said they
had been physically attacked twice
in the past year , while another staf er
said: “It has been made clear that the
security operatives are only there to
protect the MP .”
A House of Commons spokes-
person said it was working closely
with the WWG to strengthen the sup-
port available , adding: “The ability
of members’ [MPs] staf to carry out
their roles safely, both on and of the
parliamentary estate, is fundamental
to our democracy. Abuse and intimi-
dation are completely unacceptable.”
National Politics
A
Digested read
by the man who got caught and sent to prison
writer imagines the thinking behind a book about dirty money by a Reform supporter and convicted fraudster
nti-money-
laundering laws
are supposed to
stop the illicit l ow
of money. So far,
they seem to have
stopped next to nothing. About
5% of the global economy is
illicit and only 0.05% is stopped
by AML laws.
Which makes me, George,
something of a rarity. The idiot
member of the 1% who actually
got done for conspiring to launder
money . Just think, while 99%
of criminals were getting away
with it, I had the bright idea of
telling an audience of undercover
members of the US Inland
Revenue Service in Las Vegas
how I could clean up their drug
money for them.
Much to my surprise, they
didn’t take me up on my of er.
I was arrested on money-
laundering charges at Chicago
airport. Still, I did a plea bargain
and the charges were reduced to
wire fraud and I did eight months
in prison. So no harm done.
Anyway, that’s all water under
the bridge. And in my book, How
to Launder Money, I tell you how
you can get away with it by not
making the same mistakes as me.
Er, excuse me, co-author
Lawrence here. I thought we were
supposed to be writing a book to
inform the authorities on how
to prevent money laundering.
Gosh, sorry Lozza. There seems
to have been a misunderstanding.
Of course. We’re all dei nitely
against money laundering. I’m
all for cleaning up the global
economy. It would be terrible if
the system got so opaque that
it was nigh on impossible to
discover how political parties
were being funded. Not that it
would be illegal. Obvs.
First, we need to think of
the nature of money. Money is
something you can spend on
things . Not many people realise
that. In my time I have spent
money on lots of things. Like
renting a house near Buckingham
Palace that I can make available
to Nigel Farage – or Daddy, as I
choose to call him – whenever he
needs somewhere to stay. I like
having lots of money.
The key to having a small
fortune, as my friend Dicky Tice
likes to remind me, is to start with
a large one.
We should also be clear there is
a big dif erence between money
laundering and grifting. Grifting is
entirely legal. That is what Daddy
does when he makes personalised
Cameo videos for £80. As he often
likes to say, every little counts.
Of course, the best money is the
money you get for doing nothing.
Or in Daddy’s case, a Thai crypto
billionaire who coincidentally
gifts you £5m just a short while after you have said you need £1m a year for the next i ve years if you are going to stand for parliament. Any suggestion that Daddy might owe income tax on this should be referred to his accountants. And it’s obviously deeply distressing to hear the £5m was reported to the National Crime Agency (NCA) over money-laundering concerns . Anyway, back to me. Here are several hundred pages of really
▲ George Cottrell at the launch of his book on the history of dirty money, held in London earlier this year
PHOTOGRAPH: X.COM/BITEBACKPUB
boring anecdotes of money
laundering from Roman times to
the present day. Try to look on this
book as a cure for insomnia.
One easy way to rinse dirty
money is to get someone to paint
a fake Van Gogh. No one will
notice if another picture of some
sunl owers comes on to the market.
Then you buy it yourself at an
international auction house and
donate the painting to a museum.
Lo and behold you have suddenly
transformed a few thousand quid
in dirty money into an asset worth
tens of millions. Job done. What
could possibly go wrong? Another
thing that can work well is bribing
people. Though you have to make
sure the people you are trying to
bribe aren’t undercover agents!
If you get my drift.
Perhaps the best way of
cleaning money is to become prime
minister. That way you don’t have
to worry about going through
customs with gold ingots or large
bundles of high-denomination
notes. Instead you can just walk
on to the private jet with a couple
of suitcases and hand them over
to Vladimir Putin during a bilateral
meeting at which no special
advis ers are present. With the
right person in No 10, the UK could
become the world centre of illegal
i nance. Just think of the boost
that could give to our economy.
Of all cryptocurrencies, 99.9%
are an outright scam. But don’t let
that bother you. Just buy the ones
that Daddy recommends as they
are obviously legit because they
are being run by Kwasi Kwarteng.
And don’t think that any monies
being donated to Reform UK
are dodgy just because they are
subject to a Suspicious Activity
Report to the NCA.
Make no mistake, no one would
be more horrii ed than me to
discover that money from overseas
– Montenegro, say – had been used
to fund a British political party.
The desire to be loved is a
natural human emotion. I long for
Daddy’s attention and was thrilled
when he allowed me to answer his
emails even when I dei nitely had
nothing to do with the day-to-day
activities of the Brexit party and
Reform. But sometimes it is best to
seek anonymity in your i nancial
dealings, regardless of whether
your activities are illegal or not.
That’s why when I was of ering
to launder drug money in Vegas
I went under the pseudonym
Graham Cottrell. No one would
ever think of linking that name
with my own.
Everything else is quite
straightforward. Buy some houses
via shell and of shore companies
– not that there is anything wrong
with these – and leave a trail that
is too complicated for anyone
to bother to trace. Best of all,
you can place bets on the crypto
polymarket that you know you
are going to lose. That way your
illegal money instantly disappears.
And the Feds never suspect you
of deliberately squandering your
assets. This also works well with
making legal money disappear.
I recently lost £1m on the date of
Keir Starmer’s resignation and
Donald Trump bombing Iran.
So that’s it. All you need
to know to get your criminal
activities up and running. I mean,
for the authorities to clamp down
on money laundering. Thank God
my own i nancial af airs are now
so transparent. Happy washing
day, everyone.
strategy for water safety is launched
Sammy Gecsoyler
A national strategy to address the “public health disaster” of drowning was yesterday launched in England – just hours after two women died at an Essex beach, the latest in a surge of water-related tragedies. Providing every child in England with water safety education and swimming lessons; establishing how climate change can increase risks; and media campaigns to inform bystanders on how to re spond to a potential drowning are among meas- ures being considered. Drowning prevention strategies for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are also being launched this week. Prof Mike Tipton, chair of Water Safety England, said the measures would “eradicate the scourge of drowning”. He added: “Drowning is an ongoing public health disaster
die trying to save boy, seven
Rachel Hall
A mother and her teenage daughter who died in the waters of Mersea Island, in Essex were trying to help a seven-year-old relative who had got into dii culties in the sea, police said yesterday. Family members identii ed Shalina Rahman, a 42-year-old British-Bang- ladeshi teacher who is married to a Bangladeshi politician, and her 15-year-old daughter, Sameeha. The boy was yesterday said to be in a crit- ical condition and is on life support in a London hospital. Rahman’s husband is Mansur Rahman, leader of Jubo Dal UK , the overseas youth wing of the Bang- ladesh Nationalist party in Britain. Her father is Mujibur Rahman, former vice- president of the party in Britain. The family are understood to have been on a summer holiday trip to West Mersea, a village on the island, where they may have got into dif- i culty after a heavy incoming tide caused sand beneath their feet to give way, sweeping them into the water along with two other people. Essex police were called by the ambulance service at 5.35pm on Wednesday after reports of the
National Water safety
that, despite claiming more lives than i re, l ooding, or knife crime, often stays below the radar.” Vanessa Abbess , whose 17-year-old son, Joe, died after getting into dii - culty in the water of Bournemouth beach in 2023, warned the public against being “naive and compla- cent” . Sunnah Khan , a 12-year-old girl, died alongside Joe after being caught in a rip current. Abbess said: “As a society, there’s an element of naivety and compla- cency regarding the dangers of open water swimming. It’s not enough to know how to swim in a warm pool if
incident in West Mersea. DCI Al Pitcher said : “My thoughts, and those of my team, are with the friends and family of the woman and girl who died yesterday. “We can now coni rm they were a mother and daughter from London and we are supporting their family in what is an unimaginable time. “Since yesterday we have been working to establish the circum- stances which led up to this incident. At this stage we believe they were try- ing to help a seven -year-old boy who had got into dii culties. “The boy was taken to hospital, where he remains in a critical condi- tion, but the woman and teenage girl, sadly, died. All the people involved in this incident are related to each other. “As part of our investigation we are working through speaking to dozens of witnesses and taking their accounts, and we are building a pic- ture of what happened.” The coastguard rescue team described the incident as “tragic”, and on Wednesday night the emer- gency services urged people to avoid part of the beach . The beach reo- pened yesterday. Mishba Uddin, a family friend , said he believed Rahman and her daugh- ter “were not very good swimmers”. He said those involved came from
you don’t know what to do to help your chances of survival if conditions change or you i nd yourself in dii - culty in open water. You need to stop and think. You wouldn’t cross a road without thinking.” The UK has experienced three near-successive heatwaves this sum- mer and since May there have been at least 35 drowning deaths , including eight this month, according to a study by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine . Between 2019 and 2023, there were 2,306 water-related deaths in Eng- land, with 42% being accidental. Of
▲ Emergency services in West Mersea after the deaths of Shalina and Sameeha Rahman, right
PHOTOGRAPH: DANIEL REES/NEWSQUEST/SWNS
east London, with one family based in Barking. Matiur Rahman, Shalina Rahman’s brother-in-law , told the BBC: “We all feel very bad, my four brothers, my sister … My whole family – we are speechless. We are very shocked.” Rahman was told in a phone call from his brother about the tragedy. “They went in Colchester, [to the] seaside, and they were near water and playing with them, then sud- denly a big wave came,” he said, adding that about 10 family mem- bers had been on the day out. Carl Powling , a councillor for
these, 39% happened during sum- mer, and 80% of those who died were male . Men aged between 20 and 29 accounted for most of the deaths. In an ef ort to spread the message to young people, TikTok donated more than £400,000 in advertising credits to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and the Royal Life Sav- ing Society to help its water safety campaigns. Darren Paf ey, the Labour MP for Southampton Itchen and chair of the all- party parliamentary group for water safety education, said: “Today is a really important milestone but
Colchester council, said his daughter was one of three teenage waitresses at a local cafe who had tried to help. “Members of the public witnessed it, called the emergency services, helped starting to pull people out, then they went into the Seaview caf e to ask for assistance,” he said. A woman, who did not give her name, told PA Media that the inci- dent had happened at high tide , which caught the small group on a
Helicopters land on Bournemouth beach, in Dorset, where Joe Abbess and Sunnah Khan, above, died
PHOTOGRAPH: PROF DIMITRIOS BUHALIS/PA WIRE
it’s also the start line in some ways. The hard work now begins to turn this strategy into sustained genera- tional change in memory of everyone who has tragically lost their life to drowning.” Abbess said her son was a coni - dent swimmer and was being sensible at the time he got into dii culty . He was swimming between the lifeguard l ags “when the sea conditions sud- denly changed and a ferocious rip current hit” which swept him and Khan “of their feet”. Joe was recov- ered from the water 32 minutes later, but died on the beach . Of the impact of Joe’s death, Abbess said: “With a lot of therapy, I cope, but I’m not the person I used to be. I’m anxious, very traumatised, and carry the pain of grief constantly. The sound of waves causes me anx- iety. The sunny days are particularly triggering. I hope it never does, but I’m very worried it’ll happen again at Bournemouth one day.” This week, the UK Health Security Agency announced it was working with leading water safety charities to highlight the risks of swimming in open water as schools across the UK broke up for summer.
sandbank. “It comes in very quickly and you have to be careful,” she said, adding that there was “quite a com- motion” and “just total panic ”. She said helicopters w ere deployed and the air was i lled with the sound of sirens. “That was quite alarming, for a small place like this, I think that’s why so many people are shocked,” she said. “I mean the beach was packed with people, they were com- ing down to see what was going on.” The woman said the emergency services “worked diligently” to deal with an “absolutely tragic” incident. There have been at least 29 acci- dental fatalities in open water across the UK since the middle of May, according to the National Water Safety Forum . An East of England ambulance spokesperson said it had dispatched its hazardous area response team, critical care paramedics and two air ambulances . “Sadly, despite best ef orts, two patients could not be resuscitated. One patient was transported by air to hospital, and a further three patients were transported by road to hospi- tal,” they said. The area is known for its strong currents, though in his response to the incident, the local Conservative MP, Bernard Jenkin , told the BBC that “we don’t think of West Mersea beach as a dangerous beach”. Anyone who was in the area at the tim e and has information or footage that may assist the investigation is asked to contact the police on 101 and quote incident 1090.
training over powers to put UK soldiers on trial
Hannah Al-Othman North of England correspondent
The British army has been forced to cancel training for its troops in Kenya after the Kenyan govern- ment refused to ratify a bilateral defence agreement. While the UK government wanted to renew the existing agreement, Kenyan lawmakers had sought changes to give local authorities greater powers to hold British sol- diers accountable for any of ences committed in the country. According to the Kenyan news outlet the Daily Nation , the dispute centres on which cases Kenya will retain primary jurisdiction over, while the amount of money Britain pays Kenya to host the training camp has also been a sticking point. The chair of the Kenyan national
British army soldiers take position during an exercise in the Laikipia plateau, Kenya
PHOTOGRAPH: TONY KARUMBA/ AFP/GETTY
assembly’s defence, intelligence and foreign relations committee, Nelson Koech , said the two governments were “actively engaging to address these outstanding issues ”. As a result of the Kenyan govern- ment’s decision, a planned exercise involving the 1st Battalion the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment , due to begin in September , has been cancelled. A Ministry of Defence spokes- person said: “The UK highly values its relationship with Kenya, which
is underpinned by mutual benei t, respect and cooperation. The UK- Kenya Defence Partnership is one of the great strengths of our rela- tionship. Our joint training and operations with the Kenyan Defence Forces are keeping both Kenyan and British people safe. “It is with regret that the necessary licences required to allow training to take place in Laikipia later this year have not been forthcoming. As a result, the planned training will
now be conducted at an alternative location outside Kenya.” Kenya also benei ts from training of its own armed forces at BATUK, the British army base near Nanyuki , and the presence of British troops is val- uable for the economy. The MoD spokesperson added: “We recognise the disappointment this decision will cause for those who would have benei ted from the economic activity generated by the exercise.”
They said the UK government was “committed to our defence partner- ship with Kenya”, adding that the UK would “continue to engage closely with the Kenyan government to support resumption of training in- country at the earliest opportunity”. However, there has been sus- tained pressure from Kenyan people opposed to the British army’s continued presence . Last year, a report to the Kenyan parliament into the base alleged human rights violations, environ- mental destruction and sexual abuse by British soldiers. The most high-proi le case linked to the base is the death of Agnes Wan- jiru , in which a British soldier has been charged with murder. Kenya has retained jurisdiction in the case and an extradition hearing is due to take place in November. Robert Purk- iss denies the single charge of murder. Legal proceedings had stalled since Wanjiru’s death in 2012 , but advanced under John Healey’s ten- ure as defence secretary. As shadow defence secretary, he had called on the previous government to do more to progress the case. Koech said the committee had called for “stronger accountability measures, including jurisdiction over serious of ences, enhanced pro- tection for local communities, and implementation of recommendations arising from the BATUK inquiry ”.
f
to revered directors, Venice promises a glitzy Lido lineup
Philip Oltermann European culture editor
The 83rd Venice i lm festival prom- ises to take a swing at media moguls this year, with Trainspotting direc- tor Danny Boyle ’s new i lm about Rupert Murdoch ’s acquisition of the Sun and a documentary about Elon Musk included in the lineup . In Boyle’s Ink, which will open the festival on the Lido on 2 September , Australian actor Guy Pearce plays newspaper tycoon Murdoch, whose purchase of the Sun in 1969 sensa- tionalised the media landscape and transformed public life in Britain. The script is written by Olivier award-winning playwright James Graham ( who wrote Dear England and Brexit: The Uncivil War ). Oscar-winning veteran i lm-maker Alex Gibney proi les the wealthiest person in the world, rightwing agi- tator and owner of social network X in his four-hour documentary Musk, screening out of competition . In recent years, Venice has sought to proi le itself as the glitziest and starriest of the big three European i lm festivals when compared with artistically challenging Cannes and politically charged Berlin. This year’s lineup, presented by long-running artistic director Alberto Barbera , will still draw major stars to Venice’s waterways. Irish director Martin McDonagh will showcase his new i lm Wild Horse Nine , in which John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell are two unlikely CIA agents in action in Chile on the eve of the coup led by Augusto Pinochet . Steve Buscemi , Tom Waits and Parker Posey also star in the awaited return of the director of In Bruges, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and The Banshees of Inisherin. Robert Pattinson will grace the Lido as the lead in A24’s Primetime , a psychological thriller inspired by the
in hope of saving her eyesight
PA Media
An 11-year-old girl has become the i rst UK patient to have innovative gene therapy for a rare condition that robs children of their sight. Catherine L’Estrange from London is hopeful that the procedure, which involves injecting healthy copies of a gene directly into the eye, will allow her to continue one of her favourite hobbies – reading .
US reality TV show To Catch a Pred- ator, directed by Lance Oppenheim. Real-life spouses Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem star in French playwright-director Florian Zeller’s Bunker , in which a publisher-archi- tect couple are invited by a millionaire to design a building that could with- stand a nuclear bomb. Real-life sisters Kate and Rooney Mara star in Bucking Fastard , the i rst dramatic feature i lm in seven years by German cult director Wer- ner Herzog . The i lm was originally announced as a biopic of Freda and Greta Chaplin , but seems to have since veered into more familiar ter- ritory from the maker of Aguirre, the Wrath of God and Fitzcarraldo , centr ing on a mission to dig a tunnel through a mountain range “in search of an imaginary land”. Venice director Barbera said Liam and Noel Gallagher had coni rmed their attendance at the festival, for the premiere of Oasis reunion doc- umentary Don’t Look Back in Anger , while Russell Crowe is expected to attend a screening of What Love Builds , a feature-length documentary about his band Indoor Garden Party . George Clooney and Ellen Burstyn will come to Venice to pick up lifetime achievement awards. But there is some more serious fare on the Lido this year. Russian-born i lm-maker Ilya Khrzhanovsky will show the latest i lm to emerge out of his DAU project, likened to a “Stalinist Truman Show” inspired by a Soviet research institute that contributed to the creation of the i rst atomic bomb. Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa will bring his documentary Imperium , about a i lm that was com- missioned by the Italian Communist party to glorify the triumph of the Soviet Union but ended up reveal- ing its contradictions. Laura Poitras’s latest documen- tary They’re Here, made with Rachel Mueller , dives into ICE’s intervention
The treatment had been per- formed on only one other person in the world. If it works, Catherine’s sight will be stabilised or may even improve, according to the surgeon who treated her. Catherine was diagnosed with Bar- det-Biedl syndrome (BBS) when she was a baby. It is caused by mutations to one of 20 genes and af ects around one in 100,000 births in the UK, leav- ing patients blind by their early 20s. As well as vision loss, BBS can also cause kidney problems, learning
dii culties and obesity, and patients sometimes have extra i ngers or toes. The gene therapy, developed by the biotechnology company MeiraGTx, was given to Catherine as part of an hour-long procedure at St Helier hospital in March. Neruban Kumaran , a consultant eye surgeon at Epsom and St Helier university hospitals NHS trust, said: “By giving a healthy copy of the gene it helps save those cells and the hope is to either stabilise or improve vision.” Catherine said: “If this treatment works, it will help me to carry on see- ing things around me, and most of all I will be able to carry on reading books, which is one of my favourite things to do.”
From top: Golden Lion contenders Ink, starring Jack O’Connell, and Wild Horse Nine; George Clooney, who will come to Venice to accept a lifetime achievement award; Penélope Cruz, who
in Minneapolis and the killing of Renée Good , with some previously undisclosed footage. Tragicomedies like Caro Diario have made Nanni Moretti one of Ita- ly’s most revered i lm-makers, but for the past two decades he has preferred to show his new works at Cannes rather than Venice. Showing in com- petition this year, Succederá questa Notte will be Moretti’s i rst i lm in Venice since 1989. Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania made a mark with The Voice of Hind Rajab last year , but there is dramatic drop in female directors in this year’s competition. After six women vied for the Golden Lion in 2025, Danish-Egyptian director May El-Toukhy is the only contender this time, with drama Woman Unknown .
Her father, the Rev Timothy
L’Estrange, said : “We were told pos-
sible gene therapy was many, many
years away, and was likely to arrive
after Catherine had entirely lost
her sight. So we were surprised and
delighted when we learned this treat-
ment had become available .”
Just one of Catherine’s eyes has
been treated , with the team now
waiting to see the results.
Since Catherine, the procedure has
also been performed on one other
younger child with BBS.
Kumaran said patients’ vision was
already reported to be better in dim
light and the feedback from fami-
lies so far had been positive, though
it would take years before the full
results of the procedure were known.
appears in Bunker, which will premiere at the 83rd edition; lifetime achievement award recipient Ellen Burstyn
PHOTOGRAPHS: STUDIOCANAL; SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES/AP; GETTY; ABACA/ SHUTTERSTOCK; VARIETY/GETTY
before Manchester synagogue attack
Mark Brown North of England correspondent
Greater Manchester p olice have apol- ogised for a “missed opportunity” to act before an attack on a synagogue. The force’s chief constable, Sir Stephen Watson , said the phones of the Heaton Park synagogue attacker, Jihad al-Shamie , had been seized by oi cers but crucial data had not been examined. “There can, however, be little doubt that the information contained within these devices would have inspired further investigative action,” Watson said. “It is clear that our not having reviewed the data available to us prior to the attack constitutes a missed opportunity. “I am disappointed at the prospect of adding to the distress of all of those af ected by the terrible events last October. For this, I am deeply sorry.” Watson’s apology came as a friend of Shamie, Mohammad Bashir , was jailed for life yesterday with a mini- mum term of 17 years for a terrorist act that the pair had planned two months before the synagogue attack. Bashir, 31, and Shamie, 35, trav- elled by car to the UK Defence Academy in Shrivenham, Swindon, on a hostile reconnaissance mission, Manchester crown court heard. They made the journey in August last year. In October, Shamie was shot dead by police after he attacked the synagogue on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. He was wearing a fake suicide belt. Two Jewish men, Adrian Daulby , 53, and Melvin Cravitz , 66, died in the deadliest antisemitic attack in Britain in recent memory. Watson said that now legal pro- ceedings against Bashir were completed, he could share more
▲ Floral tributes to the two people killed at Heaton Park synagogue after an attack by Jihad al-Shamie ,
below left, who plotted another terrorist act with Mohammad Bashir , right
MAIN PHOTOGRAPH: PA MEDIA
information about police dealings with Shamie. Shamie was arrested by police in February and September last year. Watson said: “In conducting an inter- nal review, it became apparent that GMP [Greater Manchester police] had seized a l-Shamie’s mobile devices, at the point of each arrest. “The signii cance of the data con- tents of these devices was substantial in respect of evidencing an extrem- ist mindset. “Regrettably, I can coni rm that the signii cance of the information stored on a l-Shamie’s devices was not real- ised as they had not been examined
before the attack took place on 2 Octo- ber 2025.” He said the Independent Oi ce for Police Conduct was reviewing GMP’s past investigations into Shamie. Bashir pleaded guilty last month to a charge of preparing terrorist acts. He drove his friend Shamie on a 10-hour round trip to MoD Shrivenham, home of the UK’s Defence Academy, which provides professional defence and security education to the British armed forces, the wider UK gov- ernment, UK industry and overseas personnel. Normally, up to 4,000 staf , con- tractors, students and visitors are
on site at any given time, the court was told. Prosecutors said there was no evidence to suggest Bashir had any involvement in the Heaton Park inci- dent, but that the planned attack on the defence facility was similar in nature and would have caused mul- tiple fatalities. Raphi Bloom , who sits on the managing board of the Jewish Rep- resentative Council of Greater Manchester, had been heading to Heaton Park on the day of the attack before receiving a call telling him to stay away. Bloom said he welcomed the apol- ogy and the candour of the chief constable and would let the watch- dog investigation take its course. “We have great respect for Sir Stephen and his oi cers,” he said. “They have been outstanding in the way they have protected the commu- nity, made us feel safe and made us feel reassured.” Jailing Bashir, Judge Cheema- Grubb described him as a “fully committed jihadist” at the time of the reconnaissance trip. The pair, she said, were “equally engaged” in plan- ning an attack on a British military target “in which you and he expected to kill and be killed”. She rejected his claim to a proba- tion oi cer that he no longer held extremist views and regretted his actions. The judge said: “I consider you remain dangerous. You have given no grounds that your attitude has really changed at all.” The court heard that after the syn- agogue attack, WhatsApp messages and voice-note exchanges between the pair were found when police ana- lysed the two phones seized from Shamie earlier in 2025. CCTV footage of Bashir and Shamie at the Al-Sunnah mosque in Cheetham Hill formed a key part of the prosecution case against them. Both wrongly thought they had hid- den from cameras and that their conversations would not be heard as they discussed their plans. After the sentencing, Manches- ter-born Bashir, who also holds a Pakistani passport, smiled at family members in the upper public gallery .
to disclose details of payments for stories
Michael Savage Media editor
A political lobbying i rm secretly pay- ing journalists for articles favourable to its clients is facing calls to reveal full details of the payments, after the practice was denounced as a danger- ous “attack on democracy”. MPs, senior lobbyists and trans- parency campaigners all condemned the behaviour of CT Group, the i rm co-founded by the campaign strate- gist Lynton Crosby , an election guru previously hired by David Cameron and Boris Johnson. There were calls for an overhaul of lobbying rules and demands for CT Group to reveal the full extent of the practice, exposed after a four- month Guardian investigation.
heron seen after estate’s river allowed to run wild
Steven Morris
A rare black-crowned night heron has been spotted on an estate in the south-west of England where an innovative river “re set” is transform- ing the area into an oasis for birdlife. The heron was caught on camera in an unkempt corner of the National Trust’s Holnicote Estate, where con- servation experts have been restoring the landscape by allowing a river to return to its natural course. As well as the heron, charismatic birds including white-tailed eagles , white storks and cranes have been seen at the Somerset estate. Project manager Ben Eardley said it had been uplifting to see the heron. “It’s rare to see this wetland species in the UK and so exciting that we observed one on our estate cameras on three consecutive days,” he said. Eardley believes more birds were congregating because so much of southern England is dry , while parts of Holnicote remain wet and lush. “Everywhere else is parched, so we’re seeing lots of wildlife utili se it and lots of interesting bird species arrive. It’s proving a real refuge.” As well as birds, the estate is pro- viding a home for water voles, otters, pine martens and grass snakes. The black-crowned night heron typically grows up to 66cm , roughly
“Lobbyists paying journalists to
produce apparently independent
articles is an attack on the ethics of
journalism, public relations and on
democracy,” said Alastair McCapra,
the chief executive of the Chartered
Institute of Public Relations . CT
Group is not a member of the body.
McCapra added: “Anyone can prac-
tise public relations in this country
without belonging to a professional
body or answering to a code of con-
duct. The majority do that ethically
but these reported practices under-
mine our profession .”
Lobbyists for CT Group told an
undercover reporter they had paid
journalists to place apparently inde-
pendent stories in newspapers.
They also of ered hundreds of
pounds in cash incentives to do
the same for a property industry
▲ The black-crowned night heron is common across several continents but is seldom spotted in the UK
PHOTOGRAPH: PAL HERMANSEN/NATIONAL TRUST
half the length of the grey heron, commonly seen in the UK. It has grey plumage, yellow legs and a black “cap” from which trail long white plume feathers. As its name implies, it is mainly active at night. The bird is widespread across Africa, Asia, the Americas and main- land Europe. According to the British Trust for Ornithology, the i rst con- i rmed night heron breeding in the UK was recorded in Somerset in 2017 but it is categorised as a scarce visitor. Holnicote’s night heron was spot- ted close to a camera set up to provide a livestream of an area where beavers
client and said that in return for
the payment, CT Group would have
increased editorial control.
Jemimah Steinfeld, the chief exec-
utive of Index on Censorship , said:
“To spin what is lobbying as jour-
nalism is shortsighted and frankly
dangerous.” She called on CT Group
to launch an internal investigation.
Steve Goodrich, the head of
research and investigations at
Transparency International UK , said:
“When lobbyists secretly pay jour-
nalists to write favourable coverage
for their clients, it undermines the
integrity of the press. ”
Luke Taylor, a Liberal Democrat
member of parliament’s public
administration and constitutional
af airs committee , said there should
now be “full transparency on when
money has changed hands when it
comes to reporting”.
He added: “Across the board we are
seeing worrying signs of our democ-
racy being in peril .
“A truly free press is a fundamental
pillar of a healthy democracy and so
£40m The annual turnover of CT Group, whose clients include Philip Morris and the owner of Manchester City
had been introduced to play a part in the landscape restoration. Eardley said there were trout, sticklebacks, eels and European bull- head i sh in the water there. “When we set up the camera, we weren’t sure how popular it would be but people have really got into it. The night heron appeared front centre.” Over the past 500 years, Eng- land has lost approximately 90% of its wetlands . Work is being done through organisations and partner- ships to restore, enhance, increase and connect the lost habitats. For centuries the River Aller at Holnicote had been carefully con- trolled by landowners and farmers, largely coni ned to a narrow channel . Inspired by schemes in the wilds of Oregon in the north-western US,
we must do everything in our power to maintain it.” Rupa Huq, a Labour member of the Commons media select committee , said: “We need more transparency in lobbying, which almost feels like the wild west .” She added: “I hope the new Andy Burnham government can grip this issue.” The Guardian began investigat- ing the arrangements after CT Group approached a freelance journalist and of ered to pay him to pitch a piece to a national newspaper about problems caused for the housebuilding indus- try by the Building Safety Regulator , set up in after the Grenfell Tower i re that killed 72 people . CT Group , whose recent clients include the tobacco company Philip Morris and the owner of Manchester City football club, has an annual turnover of £40m. In a statement, CT Group said: “We do not comment publicly on work we do for clients and we therefore cannot respond to the specii c allegations you have made.” It said the events had been “delib- erately mischaracterised” and that it did not engage the undercover jour- nalist to do anything and did not pay him anything. It said the journalist was looking for work and “chased us relentlessly over a period of more than six months”.
a stretch of the river was liberated, allowing the water to spill out and i nd its own way , creating smaller streams, more pools and boggy areas, better for fl ora and fauna, with the slower water fl ow making fl ooding less likely. Eardley said it had led to a surge in creatures including reptiles, amphib- ians and insects – which in turn attracted predators. While the night heron and white- tailed eagles – which have been re-introduced on the Isle of Wight after being driven to extinction in the UK – have been seen close to the beavers’ home, the cranes and storks have frequented the wider estate. “The birds are very visible indi- cator of an ecosystem getting more diverse ,” Eardley said.
▲ The Canadian singer sang Happy Birthday to Harry Styles’ mother
Swift wedding to perform at Styles shows
PA Media
Shania Twain revealed she turned down an invitation to Taylor Swift’s wedding to perform with Harry Styles at his sold-out Wembley shows . The singer, 60 , opened for Styles during his 12-night London residency, which ran from 12 June to 4 July , as part of his Together, Together tour . Twain’s commitment to the shows meant she was unable to accept an invitation to Swift’s wedding to Travis Kelce at Madison Square Garden in New York on 3 July . Speaking on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon she said: “I was very honoured to be invited to Taylor’s wedding and next time I see her, I will of course give her a big congratulations. I admire her musicianship and her commitment to telling her stories . I love her.” Before the Wembley shows, Twain performed with Styles, Swift’s former boyfriend, at Coachella in 2022 and at the Brit awards in 2023. Speaking about how they met, she said: “I met Harry backstage at a very small show, and we chatted for a little bit. He was still just getting going . He wasn’t the Harry he is now. “We exchanged numbers and he called me a little bit later and said: ‘It’s my mum’s birthday coming up, would you mind wishing her a happy birthday because she’s the person who introduced me to your music?’” Twain sang Happy Birthday to Styles’s mother over the phone and the two singers kept in touch. The Canadian artist appeared on the Tonight show to promote her new album, Little Miss Twain , which will be released on 24 July . Swift and Kelce reportedly had 1,000 guests at their wedding, includ- ing Gigi Hadid, Bradley Cooper, Graham Norton, Ed Sheeran, Hugh Grant and Ethan Hawke . In October 2025, Swift made her first TV appearance on Graham Norton’s BBC chatshow since her engagement, where she jokingly told the host she was planning on invit- ing “anyone I’ve ever talked to” to her wedding.
block parole, says jailed killer
Steven Morris
A double killer who has been in jail for a quarter of a century has claimed he is standing trial over new charges of sexual of ences as a tactic to stop him being freed on parole.
The former Royal Navy petty oi cer Allan Grimson was jailed in 2001 for sexually assaulting and bat- tering to death two young men in the late 1990s. At the time, he also spoke to police about sexual contact with four other young males but was told no further action would be taken over them.
Six years ago the Parole Board rec- ommended that Grimson be moved to an open prison as a i rst step to being freed on licence. But his barrister, John Femi-Ola KC, said his chance of parole had been deliberately “stymied” when police set about reinvestigating his contacts with the four men and the Crown Prosecution Service gave the go-ahead for him to be charged. Femi-Ola told a jury at Winchester crown court hearing the allegations that in 2020 the Parole Board recom- mended that Grimson be transferred
to an open prison for an “extensive period” of testing to see if he was suit- able for release. The barrister described this as a “huge step” for Grimson but said the authorities had stepped in, approach- ing the four young males. Femi-Ola highlighted that when police contacted one of the alleged victims he was hesitant about making a fresh complaint and asked what it would achieve. The oi cer replied: “If successful it would mean his parole is denied.” Femi-Ola also said a journalist
was rapist who attacked at least nine women
Rachel Hall
A police oi cer who took his own life in May was a rapist who attacked at least nine women over 14 years. PC Alan Greer’s of ending came to light when his i rst known victim, a woman he raped in her home in Glas- gow in 2012 after she had called police to report being the victim of a crime, reported the attack last year. Her disclosure prompted one of Police Scotland’s biggest anti-cor- ruption inquiries, which has so far uncovered eight more victims, including i ve sex workers attacked by Greer while he was of duty. A BBC Disclosure investigation has revealed that Greer used hundreds of sex workers throughout his police career, and it is anticipated more vic- tims of his violence will be identii ed. A source close to the investiga- tion told the BBC the case resembled that of the Metropolitan police oi cer who was jailed for the rape and mur- der of Sarah Everard in London i ve years ago, after missed opportuni- ties to catch his of ending. They said: “It feels a bit like this could be Police Scotland’s Wayne Couzens moment.” Lynn Ratclif , the assistant chief constable in charge of Police Scot- land’s investigation, said the inquiry had found “truly shocking” evidence. She said: “This oi cer has clearly abused his power and has revisited someone that he’s encountered in the course of his duties. But this victim
writing a book had “marched” another of the men to a police sta- tion for him to talk to oi cers about Grimson. Femi-Ola argued there were inconsistencies between the accounts given by the men now and more than 20 years ago. Grimson, now 66, was jailed in 2001 for battering Nicholas Wright, 18, and Sion Jenkins, 20, to death at his fl at in Portsmouth, Hampshire, in 1997 and 1998. Grimson denies charges of rape, indecent assault and taking indecent pictures of a child. The trial continues.
was brave enough to come and speak to us, and that was the trigger point for us starting our investigation.” Greer, who was born in Australia in 1978, joined Strathclyde police in 2009 and had 17 years of apparently unblemished service. When he died in May he was 47, with a wife and child. Greer’s family and colleagues are understood to have been oblivi- ous to his violent double life. Senior oi cers insisted there were no oppor- tunities to spot his of ending sooner. After the woman reported the sex attack that happened in 2012, the case was handed to the anti-corruption unit (ACU), which was able to iden- tify the call she’d made in 2012 and the oi cers who had attended. They found that, in the weeks after the attack, Greer had repeatedly mon- itored the woman’s crime i le on the police computer for updates. Anti-corruption detectives obtained his mobile phone number, which was then put through police intelligence databases, revealing a single piece of intelligence dating back to 2018, linked to that number . The intelligence was from a Glasgow sex worker and indicated the owner of that phone number was a customer who had been violent. This gave detectives grounds to monitor every keystroke Greer had made on police computers, where they discovered he had been search- ing the police system for traces of a complaint from a phone number belonging to a Glasgow sex worker. A sherif authorised a warrant to search his home and seize his devices, where oi cers found thou- sands of graphic videos and images, revealing that Greer had used hun- dreds of sex workers throughout his police career. If Greer were alive, it is understood police would have sought charges of attempted murder in some of the cases due to the level of violence. As Greer’s serial of ending was emerging, social work officers, accompanied by local police, visited his home on 5 May . Greer died by sui- cide the following day.
Rape Crisis of ers support on 0808 500 2222 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland . You can call Samaritans free on 116 123
Cup boost consumer spirits
Phillip Inman
Consumer coni dence jumped this month by its biggest margin for nearly three years as the prospect of Andy Burnham becoming prime minister became almost certain. Polling i rm GfK said a “Burnham bounce” along with a strong run by the men’s England football team at the World Cup and sunny weather had lifted the mood among consum- ers in its monthly survey. Burnham’s byelection victory on 8 June, which put the former mayor of Greater Manchester in pole posi- tion to take over from Keir Starmer, was credited with helping to improve consumers’ outlook for the economy over the next year by eights points.
Casablancas plucks joyful ideas from the Voidz
The Strokes Reality Awaits ★★★★☆
H
ere’s a sentence no veteran Strokes fan wants to hear: to understand Reality Awaits, the New York group’s seventh album and i rst in six years, you i rst have to understand the experimental rock group the Voidz. Julian Casablancas’s other band has been taking up more of his time in recent years, much to the chagrin of fans who might have dipped into the group’s painfully, awkwardly proggy 2014 debut Tyranny and decided to just let the old legend have his fun . Anyone who bothered
Their view of the economy’s per- formance over the previous year improved by 10 points. The overall score in the GfK index increased by six points to -17 in July, the highest level since January and the biggest rise since November 2023. The prospect of an end to the war in the Middle East was also seen by consumers as a reason to be cheerful. Neil Bellamy, consumer insights director at GfK, said July had deliv- ered “a wave of optimism”. He said the sense of “a fresh start” with a new PM also accounts for some of this bounce. He added: “There were also hopes at the start of July that the Middle East conl ict might stabilise and bring UK fuel prices down. The feelgood factor of the F ifa World Cup will have reinforced sentiment too.”
▲ Julian Casablancas of the Strokes has spent much of his time recently with his other band, the Voidz
PHOTOGRAPH: ERIKA GOLDRING/GETTY IMAGES
to listen further will have seen the Voidz turning into a great, crowd- pleasing, safely experimental zone for Casablancas to pull out some of the most energised and goofy work of his career. The Voidz’s 2018 record Virtue is a high point of Casablancas’s entire catalogue: a gentle stylistically mixed bag that covers winsome pop-rock, yacht rock, bedroom pop and much more. It seemed to clear the decks for the Strokes’ last record, 2018’s The New Abnormal, on which they sounded the most like their 2001 selves since Is This It. On Reality Awaits, by sheer force of will, Casablancas fuses the crackpot strangeness and fondness for Auto-Tune of the Voidz with the Strokes’ minimalism
MI5 and PSNI to pay damages over accessing journalist’s phone data Although all i ve indices in the report showed an improvement, t he outlook for consumers’ personal i nances rose by just 2 points. Bellamy cautioned that the index scores were still well below the levels seen 10 years ago, before the Brexit vote in 2016, when the headline i gure was last in positive territory. “For the “Burnham bounce” to be sustainable, it will require consistent delivery by the refreshed UK gov- ernment against deep cost-of-living challenges and persistent low eco- nomic growth.”
2.6% The current infl ation rate – though forecasters believe the i gure could rise to 4% by November
and pop melodicism. It is this combination that gets you some of Casablancas’s funniest, most interesting performances in years: warbling unintelligibly about John Legend and Josh Groban; borderline screaming the phrase “and in a hundred thousand years from now!” in order to i t it neatly to an old-timey Strokes melody and singing sweetly about “starting again” on Going to Babble On, one of the most winsome, heartfelt Strokes songs since their debut. Casablancas is no longer the louche chronicler of downtown cool that he once was , but he’s still a totally compelling frontman and, even with a tighter-than-ever rhythm section, the hot-burning core of this band. If he sometimes sounded like he was going with the motions on The New Abnormal, Reality Awaits retroi ts the madcap experimentalist side of the
Burnham’s plans could be under- mined by recent events in the Middle East, where the US conl ict with Iran has reignited, sending the price of a barrel of Brent crude up to $100. Economic forecasters have esti- mated that inl ation, which fell back to 2.6% in June from 2.8% in May, is likely to spend the rest of the year climbing again before reaching a peak near 4% in November. These forecasts were made before the recent spiral in oil prices, which could push inl ation higher and dent initiatives to ease the cost of living. The National Institute of Eco- nomic and Social Research (Niesr) said it expected inl ation i gures in the second half of the year to worsen, rel ecting a 13% rise in the energy price cap from July and the deterio- rating situation around Iran. Concerns that the Bank of Eng- land could increase interest rates later this month are likely to ease. Several members of the central bank’s monetary policy committee are worried about inl ation running persistently above target unless they push up interest rates from their cur- rent 3.75%.
Voidz to cleaner, more tuneful
production; the result is playful
and often joyful. Going Shopping
rides a simple, insistent yacht rock
groove that allows Nick Valensi to
noodle with increasing intensity
as Casablancas sings about being
a “seven-foot zombie”, while the
dubby The Fruits of Conquest
revives the sinister 1980s sleaze of
2011’s Angles with more conviction.
Inevitably, Reality Awaits suf ers
from the sense of clumsiness
that has touched most recent
Casablancas projects. Here, it
arrives in the form of Tyrants of the
Mellow Moon, the album’s formless
closing track . Unlike the rest of the
record, which is content to gambol
in pop structure, Tyrants feels
unwieldy and leaden .
But for years it’s felt as if the
Strokes have been Casablancas’s
cash grab project. Now, it feels like
there’s a whole lot more road left
for the group to explore.
Rory Carroll Ireland correspondent
A former BBC journalist has been
awarded £20,000 in damages after
MI5 and the Police Service of North-
ern Ireland unlawfully obtained data
from his mobile phone.
A specialist tribunal yesterday
ordered the agencies to pay the
compensation to Vincent Kearney
for attempts to identify his sources
while he was the BBC’s Northern Ire-
land home af airs correspondent.
The investigatory powers tribunal
(IPT), a special court that investigates
complaints against the UK’s spy agen-
cies, said the surveillance had been
disproportionate and not in accord-
ance with the law and ordered each
agency to pay Kearney £10,000 .
“The heightened protection pro-
vided to journalists is not for the
benefit of the journalist person-
ally, but for the public interest in the
ability of his readers or audience to
receive information from him,” three
judges, Lady Carmichael, Mr Justice
Chamberlain and Stephen Shaw KC ,
said in the ruling.
Lawyers for Kearney and the
BBC said there were seven separate
police or MI5 operations that unlaw-
fully obtained Kearney’s coni dential
communications data between 2006
and 2018.
The monitoring enabled the
security agencies to see numbers in
contact with Kearney and the time
of calls and texts, though not their
content. Other data revealed sub-
scriber names and addresses of caller
numbers.
Kearney, who is now northern edi-
tor of the Irish broadcaster RTÉ , said
the ruling was a victory for journal-
ism and an affi rmation of the duty
and legal rights of journalists to pro-
tect sources.
“The fact that the court decided to
award damages rel ects the serious-
ness of the case,” he said.
A BBC spokesperson said: “Jour-
nalistic freedoms are a basic part of
how democracies work. Their impor-
tance is recognised in law and matters
to all of us.
“What happened in this instance
was wrong and must never be
repeated. It caused harm to a journal-
ist, jeopardised trust and threatened
the safeguards on which public-
interest journalism depends and has
a right to expect.”
Kearney took legal action after
information emerged in a case involv-
ing the journalists Barry McCaf rey
and Trevor Birney . Details disclosed
in that case suggested that public
bodies, including police forces, had
spied on Kearney.
Jon Boutcher, the PSNI chief
constable , accepted the ruling and
apologised to Kearney. He said “sig-
nificant changes to practice and
policy” had taken place.
23 ▼ Swiss Alps The new BalancAIR giant swing on the Grand Chamossaire peak, the latest initiative to attract summer visitors PHOTOGRAPH: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP
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Snowman author’s library up for sale
Ella Creamer
The book collection of the creator of The Snowman and Fungus the Bogey- man has gone on sale at Oxfam’s bookshop in Hove and online . More than 1,000 books from the collection of Raymond Briggs, the beloved British author and cartoon- ist, were donated by his estate after his death aged 88 in 2022. Briggs’s library spans illustration, comics, novels and social history, including works by the Peanuts creator Charles Schulz and the Win- nie-the-Pooh illustrator EH Shepard as well as a signed i rst edition of Gra- ham Rawle’s Woman’s World , the 2005 book composed of fragments
on
▲ The author and cartoonist Raymond Brig s at work in 1985 and, right, one of his creations
PHOTOGRAPH: TONY NUTLEY/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
between the books Briggs created and the books he chose to have around him’
Martin Hill Volunteer, Oxfam Hove
from magazines. Other illustrators include Shirley Hughes , Aubrey Beardsley , Edward Gorey and Posy Simmonds . There are about 30 comic annuals from the 1950s, off ering “a glimpse into the visual world that shaped Briggs’s style”, Oxfam says. “What’s fascinating is the range”, said Oxfam Hove bookshop volunteer Martin Hill. “You begin to see con- nections between the books Briggs created and the books and artists he chose to have around him.” He added: “There are great illus- trators and cartoonists, but then you i nd books about ageing, bath- rooms, domestic life, old annuals and
wartime milkmen . It is serious, funny, ordinary and sometimes rather dark – which feels very familiar to anyone who knows Briggs’s work.” The collection includes pamphlets on nuclear disarmament, explored in Briggs’s 1982 graphic novel When the Wind Blows . A 1974 book by Monty Python’s Terry Jones and Michael Palin, Bert Fegg’s Nasty Book for Boys and Girls , is also listed, along with a set of John Constable ’s reproduced sketches and a i rst edition copy of Riddley Walker , the post- apocalyp- tic novel by Russell Hoban . Born in Wimbledon in 1934 , Briggs spent more than 50 years living
wartimemilkmen.Itisserious,funny,
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beneath the South Downs near Hove. The area inspired the 1978 picture book The Snowman, which features Brighton’s Royal Pavilion. Briggs taught illustration at Brighton School of Art from the early 60s to 1986. He became known for picture books that subverted conventions of children’s storytelling, in the likes of 1977 ’s Fungus the Bogeyman and 1973 ’s Father Christmas, which ima- gines a cantankerous Santa Claus. “I liked to i nd fantastical crea- tures and treat them realistically,” Briggs said in an interview with the Guardian in 2019, on the publica- tion of his illustrated memoir Time for Lights Out . “I don’t see any dif- ference between doing children’s and adult books. My attitude is exactly the same. I just do the book as I want it to be.” The cartoon version of The Snow- man i rst hit screens in 1982 and has been broadcast almost every Christ- mas since. After Briggs’s death in August 2022, the children’s author Michael Rosen said: “ We have been lucky to have read and watched such great work from a great artist with a great heart.” The Oxfam collection “off ers a wonderful glimpse of the visual and intellectual world of one of Britain’s most distinctive illustrators”, said Hill. Prices for the books on the online store range from £5.99 to £400 for the i rst edition Rawle.
deciding’ if he will launch ‘a massive attack’ on Iran
Peter Beaumont Senior international correspondent
Donald Trump has said he is close to deciding whether to launch “a mas- sive attack” against Iran on a scale larger than strikes witnessed dur- ing the months-long conl ict with Tehran. Speaking to the Axios news site, the US president said: “I am consid- ering a massive attack. Bigger than ever before. I am close to making a decision. We are all set for it.” Trump made his remarks yester- day as oil prices again surged past the symbolic $100 for a barrel of Brent crude, the international benchmark, and amid indications the price could go higher . He acknowledged that such a decision would have consequences but said he had not yet made a i nal de cision. Israel “would join in two minutes if I ask them to”, he added, before saying : “We don’t need anybody.” Trump’s comments followed the earlier threat of “major military punishment” against Iran and the Houthis , after the Iran -backed Yem- eni militia’s attacks on two Saudi Arabian oil tankers in the Red Sea. Underlining the sense of a region increasingly approaching an abyss, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, told the security coun- cil that the Middle East was being pushed to the “edge of the unimagi- nable” amid mounting fears over the trajectory of the conl ict. “The situation is getting out of con- trol. It is teetering on the edge of the unimaginable. The region is being
pulled into an ever-widening circle
of confrontation. One crisis feeds
another. One escalation triggers the
next,” Guterres told a security coun-
cil meeting.
“As this dynamic spreads, the
political objectives are becoming
increasingly obscured by the con-
frontation itself.”
The UK announced it was tempo-
rarily withdrawing diplomatic staff
from Iran on Wednesday, and the
German military said yesterday that
it would withdraw two vessels from
the Red Sea.
And as Israeli cities opened bomb
shelters, the US state department
warned Americans living in the
region that l ights may be cancelled.
In a separate development, Trump
clarii ed yesterday that an announced
agreement that the US would help
Saudi Arabia with its civilian
nuclear programme would require
again, the US will hold Iran responsible and major military punishment will be infl icted upon Iran’
Donald Trump On social media
Dubai tourism Rewards scheme aims to bring back visitors
Dubai is of ering to reward residents who attract family and friends to visit the emirate in an ef ort to revive tourist numbers that have plummeted since the US- Israel war on Iran. The Dubai Invite scheme, an initiative of the department of economy and tourism, allows residents of the United Arab Emirates to nominate friends and relatives to receive benei ts worth more than 3,000 UAE dirham ( about £610) if they visit. Visit Dubai’s website says residents will receive a “benei ts package” including hotel stays, dining deals and attraction tickets. Eligibility terms state that each resident is eligible for a maximum of three benei t packages for visitors arriving before 31 October, but benei ts can be redeemed until December. The visitors must be non-UAE residents, arrive on a valid tourist visa and can only be nominated once . The scheme comes as the UAE’s tourism sector experiences a signii cant downturn, with
international passenger numbers falling sharply after the Gulf states became drawn into the US-Israel war on Iran . In February, Iranian missiles and drones hit the Fairmont hotel and Dubai’s international airport . In 2025 Dubai welcomed nearly 20 million tourists , a record. However, since the conl ict the number of airlines operating at Dubai airports has halved . There are reports of hotel vacancies and businesses suf ering declines in revenue of more than 50%. Some of Dubai’s most famous hotels have shut entirely and many have brought forward plans for refurbishment, such as the sail-shaped Burj Al Arab , which will close for 18 months for a major restoration. Other hotels and businesses are leaning into the government’s new scheme, of ering discounts of 45% and free nights. Local media yesterday reported that within the i rst 48 hours, the scheme ha d attracted more than 10,000 applications. Natasha May
Cockroach party Modi attempts to quell youth-led protests Page 29
the kingdom to normalise relations with Israel through the Abraham Accords, a move Saudi Arabia has long resisted until there is demon- strable movement on Palestinian rights and statehood. It later emerged that Trump had not spoken to Saudi Arabia about the new condition. The Houthi attacks threatened the safety of a second major maritime route connecting the Suez canal to the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. They also came amid reports that Iran had sent military advisers and drone parts to the Houthis 10 days ago. Quoting four sources, including two Iranians, Reuters reported that Iran had transferred Islamic Revolu- tionary Guard Corps personnel and military-related equipment on a l ight from Tehran to Yemen on 13 July, as Tehran was calling for the Houthis to blockade the Bab al-Mandeb strait . Ships had begun turning back from sailing through the narrow strait this week after the Houthis announced a blockade of Saudi ports, most nota- bly the Red Sea port of Yanbu, which Riyadh has been using to ship oil to Asia during issues in the strait of Hormuz. The maritime data and analysis i rm Lloyd’s List Intelligence said the Houthi attacks put Saudi oil shipments from Yanbu at risk and
Bill unpaid for damage to ship in Odyssey shoot Page 30
presented a “double whammy” on top of the Hormuz disruptions , add- ing that the threat “raises questions on the viability of this route”. Trump wrote on social media: “If [the Houthis] do this again, the US will hold Iran responsible, in that the Houthis are a Surrogate and/or Proxy of Iran, and major military punish- ment will be inl icted upon Iran and, of course, the Houthis, themselves.” The Houthis’ Saba news agency said the rebels had struck two tank- ers, the Encelia and the Layla, causing
◀ Clockwise from top left, men salute on a US l ag during a student demonstration in support of the Houthis; a Tehran billboard depicts Donald Trump in a coffi n; US footage shows its forces striking Iran for the 12th night running; Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary; Trump and Pete Hegseth salute the coffi n of a US serviceman
PHOTOGRAPHS: MOHAMMED HUWAIS/ AFP/GETTY; MAJID ASGARIPOUR/ REUTERS; CENTCOM; JONATHAN ERNST/ REUTERS; AUL LOEB/ AFP/GETTY
i res on both. There were no reports of casualties in their i rst reported attack on a vessel since they announced the blockade of Saudi-linked shipping. The Bab el-Mandeb is a vital ship- ping chokepoint connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. About 12% of the world’s trade, including a fourth of global container trai c, passes through there, moving between Europe and Asia via the Suez canal in Egypt. The US president has been escalat- ing his rhetoric against Iran in recent days, hinting the US was prepared to bomb an underground tunnel complex at the so-called Pickaxe mountain site where Israel has alleged Tehran has hidden centrifuges used in uranium enrichment. As Trump has l oundered in his attempts to get a grip on the spi- ralling crisis in the region, Iran has occasionally launched sometimes lethal strikes against US bases and Washington’s Gulf allies. The US president appears to have been sucked into a so-called esca- lation trap, threatening ever more violent retaliation. On Wednesday Trump warned that the US would destroy one bridge or power plant every time Iran shoots at a ship in the strait. Describing Trump’s position, Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said Trump was seeking a “head for an eye” following the recent deaths of several US service members in an Iranian strike on the Muwaf aq Salti airbase in Jordan. However, speaking on the out- skirts of the Asean conference in Manila, Rubio said Iran was “beg- ging for a deal” insisting “they need to come to their senses” and adding that Tehran will “pay a very heavy price for the things they are doing” – all claims US oi cials have made before. With Trump’s poll ratings in free- fall, and his war against Iran deeply unpopular at home, the US president and his administration are running short of time before the midterm elections in the autumn to force a resolution to the conl ict on Wash- ington’s terms. Underlining Trump’s growing political problems, the US House of Representatives narrowly passed a resolution yesterday to halt US mili- tary action in Iran, sending a warning to Trump for the second time as the war has escalated and the future of the conl ict seems increasingly uncertain.
Israel minister joins storming of al-Aqsa compound
Emma Graham-Harrison
Israel’s far -right minister of national security, Itamar Ben -Gvir , joined thousands of Jewish extremists who stormed Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site yesterday. Escorted by armed police, they pray ed, wav ed Israeli l ags and sang the national anthem in a provocative display of political power. Under a fragile, decades-old agreement known as the status quo, non-Muslim prayer is banned at the site, known to Muslims as al - Haram al -Sharif and to Jews as the Temple Mount. Ben -Gvir has eroded the agree- ment in recent years through a series of inl ammatory visits to the com- pound and unilateral changes to rules for Jewish visitors, including allow- ing them to bring prayers and printed religious material to the site. He installed an ideological ally as the head of the Jerusalem police force in January, smoothing the path to greater changes. In a statement, the Palestinian ministry of religious endowments and af airs said: “These provocative practices, emanating from the high- est political levels of the occupying government, seek to ignite a religious war throughout the entire region.” Israelis prayed in parts of the com- pound close to al -Aqsa mosque and the seventh -century Dome of the Rock shrine. The Likud lawmaker Amit Halevi joined a group that raised Israeli l ags and sang the national anthem,
▼ The Israeli far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir at the al-Aqsa compound yesterday
PHOTOGRAPH: TELEGRAM/REUTERS
Haaretz reported, citing Israeli “Tem-
ple Mount” activists who are pushing
for Jewish worship at the site.
In a social media post, Ben -Gvir
wrote that “we see enormous pro-
gress here” and Jews praying at the
site “feel like the owners”.
He has previously said he wants to
raise the Israeli l ag at the compound
and build a synagogue there.
Yesterday was Tisha B’Av , a Jewish
day of mourning marking the destruc-
tion of the i rst and second temple .
Changes in the status quo agree-
ment have historically driven conl ict
across the region, with global reper-
cussions . A visit in 2000 by the then
Israeli opposition leader, Ariel Sha-
ron, provoked the second Palestinian
intifada, which lasted i ve years .
Hamas named its October 2023
attack on Israel, which killed 1,200
Israelis and triggered the Gaza war,
“ al-Aqsa l ood ” , claiming it had been
provoked by Israeli violations at the
Jerusalem mosque.
The prayers at the site were a “dan-
gerous provocation” by extremists
seeking to ignite a religious war,
the Israeli activist group Peace Now
said on social media. It added: “This
directly violates the fragile status
quo, which bars non-Muslim prayer
at the holy site.”
Jordan’s foreign ministry strongly
condemned the storming and called
on the international community “to
take a i rm stance obliging Israel, as
the occupying power, to halt its ongo-
ing violations against the Islamic and
Christian sanctities in Jerusalem”.
The Islamic Waqf Department ,
which oi cially manages the com-
pound, said 3,228 Israelis entered
the compound during the morn-
ing period, with thousands more
expected later, Al Jazeera reported.
Earlier this year, the prime minis-
ter, Benjamin Netanyahu , publicly
backed Jewish prayer at the site ,
claiming the changes pushed by Ben -
Gvir had been coordinated with him.
Although his government has
ef ectively torn up a key part of the
status quo, Netanyahu has insisted
Israel has not violated the agreement.
O n Wednesday night, thousands
of people marched through areas of
old Jerusalem near the compound,
and attacked Palestinians , Haaretz
reported. Police arrested 16 Jewish
suspects over the violence.
for fourth year ‘will go ahead’ in Romania
Ashifa Kassam European community af airs correspondent
A pride march in Romania will go
ahead tomorrow, organisers have
vowed, after city oi cials denied
them permission for the fourth year
running.
Campaigners in Oradea have
sought permission to hold pride
events every year since 2023. It is the
only major EU city where the local
authorities have repeatedly blocked
celebrations.
“Every year [they] have managed
to i nd legal or technical excuses ,”
said Iulian Ditiu , the co-founder and
president of A rk Oradea, the local
organiser of pride in the city, which
has a population of about 180,000.
In 2024, the group were told none
of the city’s parks were available at
the times requested, he said. Last
year, campaigners submitted 12
potential routes for the march, only
to be told that none were suitable.
This year, organisers submitted
more than 100 possible routes. On
Wednesday, the city authorities said
none of them were viable because
they clashed with other events or
public infrastructure works.
The mayor, who belongs to a party
that describes itself as liberal, con-
servative and Christian democratic,
did not respond to a request for
comment .
Ditiu said the repeated refusals
sent a broader message. “It feels like
the message they are trying to send
our way is that we’re not welcome
here,” he said.
“They have never said out loud
that they are banning pride for
▲ In previous years people in Oradea have been i ned over pride marches
Dr Ian Grii n Astronomer
to make formal Fifa complaint over Trump’s role in Balogun red card saga
LGBT reasons. They’re always hiding behind technical reasons.” The dispute has attracted inter- national attention. More than 152 organisations from 30 countries have signed a statement calling on oi - cials to allow the march in the west of Romania to take place “in complete safety” and in line with EU law. “After four consecutive years in which the pride march has been unable to take place, there can be no question of administrative or logisti- cal dii culties,” the statement said. “When an authority consistently pre- vents a community from assembling peacefully, a principle that concerns all citizens is undermined.” Their appeal, delivered recently to the local administration , drew comparisons to Budapest, where Hungary’s former prime minister Viktor Orbán and his rightwing pop- ulists had sought to ban pride events. “In recent years, the restriction of pride marches has become, in sev- eral European states, an indicator of democratic backsliding and the weakening of the rule of law, ” the statement said. Ditiu said organisers intended to proceed with the march tomorrow despite the lack of permission . In 2025, between 500 and 600 people attended an unauthorised march, with nine participants later i ned the equivalent of about £3,4 00 he said. This time representatives from several diplomatic missions have said they will take part, along with Romania’s ombudsman, he added. Ditiu described the situation as both “encouraging and disappoint- ing” . “ The institutions that are supposed to protect the rights of every community are trying to use our community as a scapegoat . But many more people are behind us . Many more people understand what the stakes are,” he said. “This is not an LGBT issue. This is a democratic issue . It’s about the freedom to public assembly . And if the local LGBT community here in Oradea can be denied this basic human right without any repercus- sion, it can happen pretty much anywhere in Europe, for pretty much any community.”
Associated Press
Donald Trump’s role in clearing Folarin Balogun from a mandatory one-game ban at the World Cup is likely to provoke a formal complaint to Fifa ethics investigators. The Norway football federa- tion said yesterday that its board of directors would consider i ling the complaint at its next meeting, likely to be on 6 August. “We need our leader in Fifa to say that this was an error,” the Nor- wegian federation’s president, Lise
to tourist boom during eclipse
Eva Corlett
Wellington
Hotels are being booked out two years in advance in the New Zealand city of Dunedin as it prepares for the region’s i rst total solar eclipse in more than 850 years. At 4.17pm on 22 July 2028, the moon will pass in front of the sun, casting a shadowy band about 60 miles wide across parts of south- ern New Zealand. Everywhere within that band – from the tourist hotspot Queenstown in the west to Dunedin city in the east – will be plunged into daytime darkness for 2 minutes and 51 seconds. Despite there being two years still to go, hotels are already i elding book- ing inquiries, including the Dunedin Leisure Lodge , which by yesterday was fully booked for its “solar eclipse package” that includes complimen- tary eclipse glasses.
Klaveness, told the Times . After Trump called the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino , a one-game ban for Balogun’s red-card tackle against Bosnia and Herzegovina was deferred so he could play against Belgium, with a quarteri nals place at stake. Belgium beat the US 4-1 after a
Lotus focus Visitors marvel at lotus fl owers in Xuanwu Lake, Nanjing, China. The plants have a water-repellent coating, which means mud falls off them as they emerge from the lake.
Lise Klaveness said the Balogun red card decision put Fifa on ‘a slippery slope’
Dr Ian Grii n , an astronomer and director of Tūhura Otago Museum , said: “The last one visible from Dun- edin was in 1163 , which was before humans reached New Zealand. “So we will be the i rst people in Dunedin ever to see a solar eclipse from this part of the world, which is quite exciting.” It will also be the i rst total solar eclipse visible anywhere in New Zea- land since 1965. “That three minutes of dark- ness, if it’s clear, will be absolutely
people ever to see a solar eclipse from this part of the world’
chaotic 36 hours at the World Cup. The Belgium players were seemingly i red up by one of the biggest contro- versies in the tournament’s history. Trump called the referee’s red card for Balogun after video review a “hor- rible” call and took credit for getting Fifa to review what should routinely have been a one-game ban. Klaveness, a former Women’s World Cup player and an elected member of Uefa’s executive com- mittee, said: “We all know that this verdict was inl uenced from external forces and did not have the proper process . “When you bend a rule like this,
memorable for anybody who sees it,” Grii n said. On Wednesday, Dunedin’s museum started the clock for the two- year countdown in what is expected to be a big tourism event for the area . About 35,000 visitors are expected to visit the city, which has a population of 130,000 . Grii n has been preparing for the eclipse since 2013. “I did buy my house all those years ago based on the fact that you could see the eclipse from it,” he said. The eclipse will happen in the mid- dle of New Zealand’s winter, just after the country celebrates Matariki – the Māori new year. Matariki is the Māori name for a cluster of stars known elsewhere as the Pleiades . It is visible from New Zealand for 11 months of the year, but disappears for a month in winter, reappearing at around the time of the winter solstice. Dunedin is planning a night-sky festival beginning with Matariki and going through to the eclipse. The mayor of Dunedin, Sophie Barker , said anticipation for the eclipse was being felt across the city. “This remarkable event is now i rmly on the horizon.”
you’re on a slippery slope that will put the whole game at risk.” The close ties between Trump and Infantino are such that the US pres- ident believes the football oi cial could be a good pick as next secre- tary general of the United Nations, the New York Post reported this week. The human rights NGO FairSquare has also i led an ethics complaint to the International Olympic Commit- tee, where Infantino is an elected member . Fifa has yet to publish documents explaining how its disciplinary judges reached verdicts about Balo- gun or other World Cup players.
PHOTOGRAPH: NURPHOTO/ SHUTTERSTOCK
protests with pledge to punish offi cials
Amrit Dhillon Delhi
Narendra Modi has vowed to set up “fast-track courts” to speed up the punishment of oi cials accused of leaking examination papers, as the Indian prime minister seeks to quell a youth-led “cockroach” protest that has rocked Delhi and posed one of the biggest challenges to his government. In his i rst public remarks on the movement, the Indian prime minister posted on X: “Nothing is more impor- tant than the welfare and future of our youth … Those who try to harm the future of our youth will not be spared.” The of er of faster justice from India’s clogged judicial system, which can take decades to deliver a verdict, was swiftly rejected by the Cockroach Janta party (CJP), the satirical name the youth protest movement coined after India’s top judge called unem- ployed youths “cockroaches”. Saurav Das , a CJP spokesperson, said: “It’s a B and- Aid. That’s not giving us accountability. There have been zero convictions so far all these years, so this measure is of no use. ” A core demand of the movement is the resignation of the education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan , and reform of the education system. An estimated 50,000 people pro- tested in Delhi on Monday, after police denied them permission to march on parliament . Oi cers later mounted baton charges and i red teargas. By Wednesday, more than 1,000 people remained camped at the CJP’s protest site at Jantar Mantar in central Delhi despite the gruelling heat . Many had travelled long dis- tances to be there. Renuka Chowdhury , an opposition MP with the Congress p arty, told the news channel India Today that no one could fathom why Modi would not sack Pradhan. “Honestly, is this one minister more valuable or more important than restoring harmony and order to the country?” he said. Modi’s statement follows signs the government may be softening its stance. Ministers have insisted they are willing to talk but have refused to discuss Pradhan’s resignation. The protest site at Jantar Mantar has drawn crowds of supporters eager
PHOTOGRAPHS: PIYAL ADHIKARY/EPA; SAJJAD HUSSAIN /AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
after surviving previous attempt
Thomas Graham
A mayor was shot dead on Wednesday in the Mexican state of Morelos after surviving an assassination attempt earlier this year. He was the 14th mayor to be murdered since Clau- dia Sheinbaum became president in October 2024 .
▲ Students and Cockroach Janta Party supporters in Kolkata and, below, in Delhi, demand the resignation of the education minister
over the past decade without a single
conviction. “Somebody, or a group of
people, are destroying our education
system, India’s most valuable asset,
destroying the lives of our students,”
he said. “What does the government
do? Zero convictions .”
The h ealth minister, JP Nadda ,
accused Gandhi of exploiting the pro-
tests for political gain. He said: “Your
concern is not to improve the educa-
tion system, enhance the quality of
education or ensure justice for stu-
dents. Instead, you are trying to use
students’ issues and their demands
for political mileage. ”
CJP leaders were deeply disap-
pointed after Monday’s meeting with
Nadda – the i rst in more than 60 days
– ended without a breakthrough.
The CJP’s founder, Abhijeet Dipke ,
has since said that if ministers want to
speak to them, they will have to come
to the protest site and do so in public .
Many in India are asking why Prad-
han will not resign. Anish Gawande ,
an opposition politician, said Modi
viewed backing down as a sign of
weakness, particularly now he no
longer has a parliamentary majority .
Valentín Lavín Romero , who was from the Green party, an ally of the ruling leftwing Morena party , was wounded at the end of January when hitmen shot him at a fuel station on a motorway. This time the assassins burst into the town hall of Temoac, near Mexico City , in the middle of the day before shooting him dead and escaping on a motorbike.
Authorities are yet to identify a motive or suspects, but the Morelos prosecutor’s oi ce vowed to “exhaust all lines of investigation”. Almost 100 mayors have been mur- dered in Mexico since 2006 , when the then president, Felipe Calde- rón , deployed the military to take on Mexico’s organised crime groups, ultimately causing drug-related vio- lence to surge. The municipal level of government is both the least protected layer of the state and where criminal groups seek deals with authorities to strengthen their hold over the local territory and its businesses.
to show their solidarity. Unable to i t inside the enclosed area, many have spilled on to the surrounding roads. Some organise donations of food and water sent by well wishers, while oth- ers distribute meals – including to the police on duty – or collect litter. Young people across India have also rallied behind the CJP’s demands , with three consecutive days of demonstrations in Mumbai and solidarity protests in Chennai, Indore, Hyderabad and Patiala . At a press conference on Wednes- day, Rahul Gandhi, leader of the opposition, escalated his criticism, demanding that Modi should apol- ogise for failing to provide a fair education system. Gandhi said there had been 152 exam paper leaks across the country
Local media reported that Lavín Romero himself had alleged ties to local crime groups. His mother- in-law, a former treasurer for the municipal government, was arrested in September 2025 for alleged ties to a criminal gang known as “Los Apari- cio” and involvement in kidnappings.
Valentín Lavín Romero , mayor of a town near Mexico City, was alleged to have had ties to local crime groups
In March, the People’s Front in Defen ce of Land and Water, a local activist group, demanded that authorities investigate Lavín Romero for his alleged involvement in the murders of two activists, Samir Flo- res and Sandra Rosa Camacho Flores . The assassination came as Mexi- co’s federal government takes steps to unpick corruption between munic- ipal authorities and criminal groups as part of Operation Swarm , which has seen 85 oi cials arrested across three states, including Morelos. According to oi cial data, more than 130,000 people are registered as missing in the country.
for terrorism and spying plot
Rachel Savage Johannesburg
Two Russian men have been found guilty by an Angolan court of terror- ism and spying after being accused of planning a coup and helping to organise deadly demonstrations in the southern African country last year . Lev Lakshtanov and Igor Ratchin were sentenced to eight and 11 years in jail respectively. They denied the charges, saying they were in Angola for cultural and business activities. From 28 to 30 July 2025, a minibus taxi strike over fuel price increases descended into riots and looting in which 22 people were killed and more than 1,600 arrested , according to oi cial i gures. Angola’s security forces were
says it was left high and dry over repairs
Miranda Bryant Nordic correspondent
The Swedish owner of a replica Viking longship that features in the Holly- wood blockbuster The Odyssey says it feels “forgotten” after i lm-makers allegedly returned the vessel dam- aged and failed to foot the repair bill . In nearly three decades at sea, the warship Glad av Gillberga – which is based on a wreck from around 1040 found in Denmark’s Roskilde j ord – has successfully sailed the North Sea, the Baltic and even voyaged to Canada. But after just over six months in the hands of Universal, which its owner says promised to cover the cost of any repairs, it allegedly sustained considerable damage, including to the stern and mast. Vikingaleden , a nonproi t Viking centre in Värmland, western Sweden , said that when it invoiced Universal for the materials used to repair the ship – it did not charge for its volun- teer labour – no payment arrived. A year later, as the Christopher Nolan epic starring Matt Damon , Tom Holland , Anne Hathaway and
accused of i ring live ammunition at proteste rs , while the government said its “ progressive” use of force was justii ed. Human Rights Watch had pre- viously said that Angola used “excessive force”, including rub- ber bullets and tear gas, to break up a peaceful protest against rising fuel prices on 12 July 2025. Angolan prosecutors said that Lakshtanov and Ratchin wanted to inl uence next year’s presidential elections , including by funding Angola’s largest opposition party, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita ) , or by forcing a leadership change within the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) . The party has ruled the country since independence from Portugal in 1975 .
▶ A Viking ship from Vikingaleden, which lent a vessel to the Odyssey. Above, Matt Damon stars as Odysseus in Christopher Nolan’s fi lm
PHOTOGRAPH: PETER OLAUSSON; MELINDA SUE GORDON/UNIVERSAL PICTURES/AP
Zendaya storms global box oi ces , taking $264m (£196m) in its opening weekend alone, the association says it is still waiting for payment of $6,000 (£4,500) . Peter Olausson , chair of the Vikingaleden association, said that while he was proud the ship featured in the i lm – he counted 10 on-screen appearances – that feeling had been tinged with injustice by the i lm giant’s alleged failure to cover the cost of the damage .
Prosecutors also claimed the men were linked to Africa Politology , a Russian disinformation and propa- ganda network that emerged from the Wagner mercenary group . Africa Politology was taken over by Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) after the death of the Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in 2023 , according to an investigation by media outlets including Forbid- den Stories . Wagner was rebranded as Africa Corps and absorbed into Russia’s military. Angola has historically been close to Russia, and its economy is highly dependent on oil exports. During the cold war years of Angola’s 1975-2002 civil war , the Soviet Union and Cuba supported the MPLA , while the US and apartheid South Africa backed its opponents, including Unita . However, Angola’s p resident, João
He said: “We are only charging for the material cost, not the labour . Of course Universal can af ord this $6,000. We feel forgotten.” The ship is now back in action, but Olausson accused Universal of going back on its word . “The agreement was that we would i x it and get i nancially reimbursed.” Olausson said that the outstanding sum would be comparatively small for Universal, but it was signii cant for the 200-member association,
Lourenço , has improved relations
with the US and Europe since taking
power in 2017 .
Over the past decade, Russia has
increased its presence in Africa. The
Wagner group, and later Africa Corps,
have provided security for the Central
African Republic’s president , Faus-
tin-Archange Touadéra , since 2017.
In 2021, Wagner forces arrived
in Mali to support the junta . Africa
Corps also backs the military regimes
in neighbouring Niger and Burkina
Faso . Since 2023, Russian troops have
also been deployed in Equatorial
Guinea, Libya and Sudan, according
to a US congressional report .
Madagascar’s president, Michael
Randrianirina , has also boosted ties
with Russia since taking power in a
coup in October 2025 .
Two Angolans were also tried
alongside the Russians. A sports
journalist, Carlos Tomé, received a
two-year suspended prison sentence ,
while Francisco de Oliveira, the sec-
retary-general of Unita ’s youth wing ,
was acquitted.
Additional reporting Agence France-Presse
which runs the Viking “village” and museum . The i lm , which reportedly cost $250m to make, is based on Homer’s ancient Greek epic about Odysseus and his 10-year journey home by sea . A Universal spokesperson said: “Our records show that all invoices relating to the Glad av Gillberga were paid in full, including repairs. The studio and the production have con- tacted the association to clear up any misunderstanding.”
sentences for killing US lawmaker and her husband
Associated Press
The Minnesota man who pleaded
guilty to killing a Democratic
lawmaker and her husband was yes-
terday sentenced to spend the rest
of his life in prison .
Vance Boelter , 59, was sentenced
to two consecutive life terms plus 40
years in prison after pleading guilty in
June to the six counts related to the
killings of Melissa Hortman , a former
speaker of the Minnesota House of
Representatives , and her husband,
Mark , and the shootings of the state
senator John Hof man and his wife,
Yvette , in June last year.
Boelter pleaded guilty to avoid the
death penalty ; instead, he agreed to
the maximum sentence he could be
issued short of the death penalty.
Victims and survivors described
the impact of the attacks.
In court yesterday, Hof man said
he and his family were constantly
reminded of the extraordinary vio-
lence of that night . “My wife and I
now live with injuries,” he said.
Yvette Hof man said she had been
too traumati sed to work since the
attack . “I fought him, your honour,
with everything I had. And I i nally
got him out of our home,” she said.
“I will never forget looking down and
watching my blood slowly stream
down that white washing machine
as I felt myself sinking to the l oor .”
Boelter admitted in court last
month that he spent months identi-
fying and stalking his targets before
driving to their homes in the middle
of the night, disguised as a police
oi cer, in order to kill them.
Boelter went to Hortman’s home,
wearing tactical armour and a mask,
at about 3 .30 a m on 14 June 2025. He
rang the doorbell while shouting he
was a police oi cer doing a welfare
check, according to court documents.
Mark Hortman answered the
door. Boelter gave him a fake name
and badge number before request-
ing he summon Melissa Hortman to
the door as well. He shot Mark Hort-
man multiple times before pushing
into the house and shooting the law-
maker as she l ed upstairs.
Boelter had already visited the
Hof mans’ home that night, shoot-
ing and critically injuring the senator
and his wife, according to police and
court documents.
e
Taiwanese hold the line in face of China’s raids in Hong Kong
Amy Hawkins Yu-chen Li Taipei E
scorted by police as she walked out of one of Hong Kong’s last remaining independent bookstores, her hands behind her back but head held high, a woman wore a T-shirt emblazoned with a simple slogan : “I am a bookstore employee”. The woman was among i ve people arrested during raids on two bookstores last week , suspected of displaying and selling publications with “seditious” content, a national security crime that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years. Since then, the T-shirt phrase has spread far and wide on Taiwanese social media amid concern for the fate of Hong Kong’s booksellers. Taiwan is now the only place in the Chinese-speaking world where people can openly express their feelings about repression by
should never be silenced by political pressure’
Lai Ching-te Taiwan’s president
over detention of pro-Palestinian activists
Deborah Cole Berlin correspondent
A cross-party delegation of Irish politicians has urged Dublin to send observers to a high-security trial of pro-Palestinian activists in Germany and to raise concerns about an Irish defendant’s detention when the German chancellor visits next week. Mairéad Farrell of Sinn Féin , a member of the seven-member del- egation , said they had attended the hearing in Stuttgart on Wednesday of the so-called Ulm 5 activists, who are facing charges over an attack on an Israeli arms company.
the Chinese government. On the social media platform Threads, booksellers, lawmakers and activists shared the hashtag “I am a bookstore employee” to show their support for Hong Kong. Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te , also weighed in, writing on Facebook: “Ideas and words should never be silenced by political pressure.” It is the third time in recent months that people in Hong Kong linked to independent bookstores have been arrested. The Hong Kong authorities have not specii ed which allegedly seditious books were in the latest raids. But after the arrest, Hong Kong’s security chief, Chris Tang, said that booksellers had a responsibility to ensure their books were lawful, “just like merchants selling food have to make sure their food won’t make people sick”. All i ve arrested in last week’s raids have since been released on bail. The Hong Kong police declined to comment further, but reports that the of ending books may have included Let Only Red Flowers Bloom: Identity and Belonging in Xi Jinping’s China, written by the NPR journalist Emily Feng, prompted a run on the book in Taiwan. Its Taiwanese publisher, Acropolis Publishing, ordered an emergency reprint of 10,000 additional copies last week. Sara Sung , a senior editor at Acropolis, said some readers were buying copies as “a statement of democracy and freedom” , adding: “They’re showing that they will not be silenced or intimidated by censorship from China .”
Farrell and two other members of the delegation visited Daniel Tatlow- Devally , the Irish defendant among the group, in prison. “I was quite shocked by the treatment that he is receiving ,” Farrell said, calling on the Irish prime minister, Micheál Martin , to discuss the issue with the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, when he visits on Tuesday. Farrell said: “His cell, from what I understand, is 5x2 metres. He ’s stuck there for 23 hours a day. He only has an hour of visitation per month . It just seems that there’s very harsh con- ditions that seem unwarranted for the scale of the fact that these peo- ple haven’t harmed people.”
Chang Hui-ju, the owner of Touat
Books, an independent bookshop
in Taipei, Taiwan’s capital, said
she was completely out of stock of
Feng’s book .
“Before this, hardly anyone paid
attention to it .” Chang said. “But
right after the incident, the book
sold out everywhere.”
Another Taipei store, Kuo’s
Astral Bookshop , had also sold out
of the book. One customer looking
in vain for a copy, Wu Jia-xuan, said
she was not normally interested in
China-related books but that her
interest had been piqued by the
Hong Kong arrests. “The fact that it
had been banned only made [me]
more curious .”
Feng’s book examines Chinese
leader Xi Jinping’s ideological
control over the country. One
chapter, titled The Bookseller ,
focuses on the prominent Hong
Kong bookseller Lam Wing-kee .
Lam was arrested by Chinese
authorities in 2015 but escaped
custody and l ed to Taiwan,
where he re opened his bookstore,
Causeway Bay Books , in Taipei. He
died this month and the fate of his
in … a kind of free manner”. Lawyers for the defendants have repeatedly raised the issue of the glass wall with the court, saying it hinders their clients’ right to representation. The five activists have been charged with trespassing, destruc- tion of property and membership of a criminal organisation – Palestine Action Germany – under section 129 of the German criminal code. That charge means authorities consider them a threat to society, allowing them to deny bail, even after the six-month limit of pre-trial deten- tion had passed . If found guilty, they face up to i ve years in prison. Court representatives have said the defendants’ detention conditions are warranted based on the severity of the charges against them. Farrell said it was “absolutely cru- cial” for the Irish government to send envoys to regularly attend hearings until a verdict was delivered.
▲ An employee of an independent bookstore is escorted out of the shop by Hong Kong security police
PHOTOGRAPH: DAVID CHAN/SOPA/SHUTTERSTOCK
store is uncertain: the closed-up shopfront is covered with notes and l owers and cans of beer left by his supporters. Lam’s story charts the complex relationship that Taiwan and Hong Kong have had with each other, as well as with mainland China. Taiwan has never been part of the People’s Republic of China. But Beijing has long claimed the self-governing island as part of its territory and has vowed to unify it with China. One path to unii cation, suggested by Beijing , is for Taiwan to be ruled under a “one country, two systems” framework, similar to
German prosecutors say Tatlow- Devally was one of five activists who trespassed on a site owned by Elbit Systems last September in Ulm, shouting pro-Palestinian slogans as they destroyed equipment and smashed windows . They allegedly caused €1m (£850,000) of damage. The activists posted videos online in which they claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was aimed at drawing attention to Germany’s sup- port for Israel and its actions in Gaza. Germany is the second biggest sup- plier of arms to Israel, after the US. The defendants have remained dei ant throughout the proceedings, with Tatlow-Devally telling the court in May that the group was motivated by “urgent humanitarian concerns” and sought to “ at least interrupt” Elbit’s deliveries to Israel. The defendants, Farrell said, “are basically behind a glass wall, unable to communicate with their lawyers
◀ Sales of Emily Feng’s book Let Only Red Flowers Bloom have soared in Taiwa n since the Hong Kong raids
that of Hong Kong. More than 80% of Taiwanese reject that idea. In Taiwan, politicians from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which rejects the idea of closer ties with China, have pointed to Hong Kong as an example of the dangers of Chinese rule. But rhetorical support for Hong Kong has rarely been matched by practical policies such as taking in refugees . For DPP politicians “it’s very easy to use Hong Kong as a way to frame what will happen to Taiwan if the People’s Republic of China is able to ‘unify’ Taiwan ”, said Lev Nachman, a professor of political science at National Taiwan University in Taipei . But, he said, actual support had been “shallow” . One student, from Fujian province, visited Touat Books on Sunday, looking for Feng’s book. She had read about the Hong Kong raids on social media, news which kept her awake . “In mainland China, none of this would come up on your feed ,” she said. “This shouldn’t be happening. I think independent thought should still be allowed – at least in Hong Kong.”
-77.80 -44.97 -477.08 +307.00 1.1711 FTSE 100 All share Dow Indl £/$ £/€ Nikkei 225
-0.0011 -0.0058 10639.17 5718.72 51741.50 66422.60
Oil price back above $100 as Middle East confl ict worsens
Jillian Ambrose
Joanna Partridge
Richard Partington
The oil price broke above $100 a bar- rel for the i rst time in two months, as a fresh escalation of the Middle East conl ict threatens to compound dis- ruption to global oil supplies. The benchmark oil price rose sharply yesterday, from $95 a bar- rel the day before, amid fears that Yemen’s Houthi militia could stran- gle Saudi oil exports through the Red Sea while US-Iran tensions over oil l ows through the strait of Hormuz intensify. The disruption to two critical oil trade arteries has reignited fears that the oil price could climb to highs of $120 a barrel in a blow to households
Turbulent times EasyJet has revealed a 70% slide in profi ts because of soaring fuel costs and later bookings as a result of the Iran confl ict .
PHOTOGRAPH: ROMAN PILIPEY/ AFP/GETTY IMAGES
€890m for breaching EU markets law
and the global economy after years of
energy cost inl ation.
Share prices also fell on both sides
of the Atlantic, rel ecting the volatile
situation in the Middle East and fears
over a bubble in AI stocks – sending
the tech-heavy Nasdaq index down
by more than 2% in New York. Shares
in Tesla crashed 12% after it reported
lower than expected proi ts and amid
wider worries about AI spending.
The Middle East conl ict widened
as Iranian-aligned Houthis claimed
responsibility for attacks on two
Saudi Arabian oil tankers, the Encelia
and Layla , using a number of ballistic
and cruise missiles as well as drones.
The Houthi military launched the
attacks, which have left one vessel
ablaze , after accusing the crews of
violating a naval blockade imposed
by the group in the Red Sea.
Dan Milmo Lisa O’Carroll
Google has been fined a total of €890m (£760m) by the EU for breaches of online competition laws by its search and app store services. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said Google had broken the Digital Markets Act (DMA) by giving priority to its own services in search results over its rivals.
The escalation marks a new front in the Gulf oil crisis, almost i ve months after Tehran’s effective block on the strait of Hormuz trig- gered what many feared would bring the greatest energy supply disruption in the history of the market. In the i rst weeks after the US- Israeli attacks on Iran, oil prices surged past $100 a barrel and mar- ket observers predicted prices of up to $150 a barrel as oil l ows through the strait of Hormuz came to a halt. The oil price peaked at $126 a bar- rel in April during the conl ict, but fell back below $100 in late May and then to lows of $71 at the start of July amid hopes of a ceasei re in the region. The price began to climb again after the memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran fell apart and fresh hostilities broke out in the Gulf.
It also infringed the DMA by pre- venting app developers from steering consumers towards cheaper of ers on websites or alternative app stores. Google has been i ned €460m for the search-related breach and €430m for the app store violation. The com- mission has ordered the company to treat third-party services that appear in its search results in a “fair and non- discriminatory manner” and allow app developers to make of ers out- side Google’s app store.
The market has avoided run away oil prices because of “cushioning fac- tors” that have helped cool it, said Fatih Birol , the head of the Interna- tional Energy Agency . But he said there was no room for complacency . Fears over the economic impact from the Iran war caused government borrowing costs for the world’s big- gest economies to rise yesterday as investors weighed up the risk that a surge in the oil price could rekindle global inl ationary pressures. Investors dumped US, German and Japanese government bonds to push up the interest – or yield – on govern- ment borrowing across the globe. In the UK, the yield on 10-year govern- ment borrowing rose by about 0.1 percentage points to trade above 5.1% for the i rst since May. Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading platform IG , said: “Government bond yields con- tinue to climb, spelling major trouble for developed economies and risk- ing a repeat of the March/April 2025 market panic. Volatility is surging and equities are moving further into the red as a return to full-blown conl ict now looms .”
It noted that Google had already started testing changes to how it dis- play ed search results featuring its own services . It said those changes represent “substantial progress towards compliance”. Consumers would be direct bene- i ciaries of the decision by the EU, a senior oi cial said. “Research results will be in dif erent in Europe . They will have to adapt their search engine going forward,” they said. Max von Thun, director of the
for 2035 petrol and diesel car ban to be lifted
Jasper Jolly
Carmakers privately lobbied the gov- ernment to revoke a ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars after 2035, according to documents that reveal for the i rst time the ef orts to over- turn a key decarbonisation policy. BMW, Ford, Nissan and Toyota, plus the parts maker Bosch, wrote a joint letter to ministers in April calling for an “open technology approach” after 2035, when the government had said new cars must produce zero car- bon emissions. The letter was obtained by The Fast Charge newsletter via a freedom of information request and shared with the Guardian. The companies wrote that the government should allow “highly ei cient ICE [internal combustion engines], hybrids, plug-in hybrids, range extenders and combustion engines when utilising green steel and sustainable fuels” beyond 2035. The switch to EVs is the single big- gest contributor to cutting the UK’s carbon pollution in the next decade, according to the government’s Cli- mate Change Committee . A government spokesperson said the 2035 ban was not up for negoti- ation. Yet successive governments have weakened battery EV policies. Labour has introduced “l exibili- ties” into EV targets that run up to 2030 and is now considering further changes to the rules , known as the zero emission vehicle mandate . The suggestion of revoking the 2035 ban was criticised by cam- paigners and Polestar, an EV brand. Matt Galvin, managing director of Polestar UK , said: “ The technology exists, consumers are embracing it and the economic case is becoming stronger every year. There is simply no justii cation for prolonging our dependence on petrol and diesel.” BMW, Bosch, Nissan and Toyota all said the targets should be matched to customer demand, and that they were committed to decarbonisation. Ford was approached for comment.
Open Markets Institute Europe think- tank, said the i nes were the “bare minimum” for a company that made revenues of over $400bn last year. Google can appeal against the decision and request to suspend the measure. The search company’s pres- ident of global af airs, Kent Walker, argued that the DMA forces Google “to strip away real-time search fea- tures Europeans love – like instant pricing and direct availability for hotels, l ights, and restaurants ”.
Business view Nils Pratley
W
warning seriously – Britain still needs secure supplies
elcome to the energy secretary job, Miatta Fahnbulleh . You have a politically tricky decision to make on whether to approve production at the Jackdaw gas i eld and the Rosebank oil i eld. But here’s another one that can’t wait much longer: what’s the broader plan to ensure Britain avoids a gas supply crisis in 2030 ? By way of reminder, one of the more alarming reports published by the energy department under Ed Miliband was the one that warned of “an emerging risk” to gas supplies at the turn of the decade if an important piece of kit – an import terminal, say, or the
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critical 725-mile Langeled pipeline from Norway – were to be out of the action during a severe cold snap. “In the unlikely event of the loss of the single largest piece of gas infrastructure, gas supply falls short of demand for all pathways in 2030-31,” said the report from the government’s in-house adviser, the National Energy System Operator (Neso) . Unlikely maybe – but the risk can’t be wished away . Now here comes Centrica, owner of British Gas , warning that it will close its Rough gas storage facility of the coast of Yorkshire unless it can agree a long-term i nancial support deal with the government to back a £2bn expansion. Rough is Britain’s largest such facility and, while Centrica has been issuing dire warnings for a while, it clearly
means it this time. It has set a date for closure – next April – in the absence of a deal. The company isn’t even injecting gas into Rough for this winter. “I think this [Rough] is essential for the UK energy security,” said the Centrica chief executive, Chris O’Shea, yesterday. “I think it would not be good if this was to be allowed to close, and that’s why it’s really a decision for government now. What we hear a lot is that this is a commercial decision for Centrica. That is patently not true.” On his commercial point, O’Shea is clearly correct. The economics of storage rely on buying low and selling high, but winter/summer spreads are often narrower these days. Disruption caused by the closure of the strait of Hormuz worked in Centrica’s favour as it made a £57m top-line proi t at Rough in the half-year, but last year it lost almost as much. That is not a basis on which to sanction a £2bn investment without some form of regulated return. Whether Rough is the right storage project for the country is another matter. Gas folk refer to it as “a big balloon with a small straw”, meaning it can hold large volumes but extraction can be slow at the moment they’re urgently needed. Maybe that feature could be re-engineered away if the £2bn
investment happens. Or maybe a dif erent storage solution would be preferable – more on-shore salt caverns, for example, which comprise most of the rest of Britain’s storage capacity. Or the economics favours other ideas in the Neso report – expanding interconnector capacity to the continent, or building more LNG import terminals (Britain only has three). Or a combination of these. The future of North Sea gas production is not incidental to this debate either. The basin may be in long-term decline, but the rate of decline matters (and Jackdaw alone would be 6% of domestic production). If the gas system operator knows the stuf is coming, that is storage by proxy. The point is that a joined- up strategy is needed. Gas still
Demand for gas for domestic heating will be slower to shift since there are 24m households with a gas connection
accounted for 35% of the UK’s total energy demand in 2024, according to government statistics . Even if it dwindles to next to nothing for the purposes of electricity generation by 2030 with the roll- out of renewables, demand for gas for domestic heating will be slower to shift since there are 24m households with a gas connection. The short-term question for Fahnbulleh, then, is whether to pay Centrica to i ll Rough for this winter. The argument in favour is that storage on the continent, which Britain usually taps during the cold months, is projected to be low after the Hormuz disruption. There is a risk of price spikes. A fuller Rough might dampen them. The longer-term issue is the overall strategy to decide where the gas will come from in 2030. The storage question is central, so is the policy on North Sea production. There is a strong sense that both have been dodged until now. The government’s interim response to its own “gas system in transition” review is due within weeks. Real choices have to follow because none of these projects – more connectors, more terminals, or more storage – will be quick to build if they are needed. In the meantime, that “emerging risk” of a supply crunch has, presumably, already emerged a bit further.
The fresh threat in Middle East crisis bringing turmoil back to oil markets
A
fresh front in the Middle East crisis opened this week, bringing a return of soaring global energy prices and fears that oil price could hit $120 a barrel. In a matter of days the price of Brent crude has jumped by more than 13%, passing the $ 100 a barrel mark yesterday after Yemen’s Houthi milit ia took aim at a new target: Saudi oil exports via the Bab al-Mandab strait. The development comes as the tentative recovery of shipping through the strait of Hormuz, which had helped oil prices to return to pre-crisis prices as low as $71 at the start of the month, grinds to a halt amid the breakdown of the US-Iran ceasei re . Jorge León , head of geopolitical analysis at consultancy Rystad Energy, warned that any disruption at Bab al-Mandab, the waterway between the Arabian peninsula and the Horn of Africa, would threaten one of the few remaining routes for Gulf oil exports to circumvent the Hormuz blockade . León said: “If a ceasei re does not materialise and Hormuz remains largely closed while the Houthi threat to Red Sea shipping intensii es, the risk of a signii cant rebound in oil prices would be substantial .”
What has happened? The latest escalation began with the Houthis sending out an email to shipping companies on Monday warning them not to load and unload at Saudi ports or else face being targeted “in any location” within their reach. The Tehran-allied group, which controls Yemen’s capital and its north-west territory along the Bab al-Mandab, reiterated its threat the next day, claiming at least six ships had changed course as a result. The trade route through the southern entrance to the Red Sea carried about 4.1m barrels of crude oil and rei ned petroleum products each day last year, or roughly 5% of the global total versus the 20% of global oil supplies that once transited the strait of Hormuz . But in the months since the US-Israeli surprise strikes on Iran
Strait of Hormuz
Red Sea
Yemen
Bab al-Mandab strait
at the end of February, volumes through Bab al-Mandab have surged as the channel has become a vital alternative export route for Saudi Arabia’s vast crude volumes. Riyadh began to reroute oil via a pipeline from its Abqaiq processing plant, near the Gulf, to the Yanbu export terminal on its west coast, in ef ect channelling about 75% of its usual exports to the global market via the Red Sea. Rystad Energy vessel-tracking data indicates that about 2.5m barrels a day of these Yanbu volumes are moving south through Bab al-Mandab and on to customers in distant markets such as India and China. Trai c via the strait collapsed during the Gaza war when Houthi strikes caused many of the world’s largest shipping companies to use alternative routes. They were understood to be considering a return this summer, almost three years after the initial disruption began, but the escalating Gulf crisis has laid waste to such plans.
The Gulf
Abqaiq
Saudi Arabia
What does this mean for oil prices? Since peace talks between the US and Iran broke down and Trump declared the ceasei re “over” , the Brent crude benchmark has climbed by more than a quarter
Suez canal
Egypt
Daily transits through the strait of Hormuz By direction of travel, data to 19 Jul 2026 • Eastbound • Westbound
28 Feb Start of war
Feb 2026 Mar Apr May Jun Jul
Source: Lloyd’s List Intelligence. Note: traceable transits of cargo-carrying vessels over 10,000 deadweight tonnage. Dark transits included in figures after 28 Feb
to over $ 100 a barrel, putting the market on track for its largest monthly gain since March – the i rst month of the Hormuz blockade. Washington is still insisting the strait is open, though transits have slowed to a trickle . A senior Houthi oi cial warned this week that its policing of Saudi crude exports via Bab al-Mandab would cause oil prices to “skyrocket to $200 a barrel in a dreadful shock” for the market. In a video statement this week, a Houthi military spokesperson described it as an “equation of ‘an eye for an eye’” after accusing Riyadh of breaching a four-year ceasei re earlier this month.
Iraq Iran
Yanbu has become the main export hub for Saudi oil
Qatar
East-west pipeline
17 Jun Deal signed
8 Jul Trump declares ceasefire over
In response, Saudi Arabia’s military has warned that all Houthi threats against transiting vessels would “be dealt with swiftly and i rmly, as such threats are a blatant violation of international law and fall under acts of maritime piracy”. At least i ve Saudi-linked oil tankers bound for Bab al-Mandab turned back as Houthi blockade threats picked up, according to maritime intelligence data from Windward, of which four were carrying Saudi-origin cargo. In addition, an oil tanker destined for China is understood to have reversed course after leaving Yanbu to transit the strait.
UAE
Oman
Arabian Sea
500 km
500 miles
Source: Global Energy Monitor
▲ Yemeni supporters of the Houthi movement, which has threatened shipping in the Bab al-Mandab strait
PHOTOGRAPH: MOHAMMED HUWAIS / AFP/GETTY IMAGES
The danger posed by not turning back is high. On Thursday the Houthis said they had hit two Saudi tankers , with a Riyadh news agency later coni rming one was ablaze. Yet changing course comes at a steep i nancial cost . Full avoidance of this waterway, through which a quarter of global container trade passes on its way to and from the Suez canal, requires rerouting around Africa via the Cape of Good Hope. That roughly doubles voyage length and adds an estimated $2m -$2.5m for each transit. This helps explain why some owners keep running the risk, according to a Windward report . It recorded three Saudi-linked oil tankers continuing towards the strait despite the Houthi warnings, while another three nearby turned of their transmitters .
What about road fuels and gas? The pressure on crude oil supplies in the global market is only part of the problem, according to the head of the International Energy Agency. Fatih Birol warned this week that many rei neries had reduced production , including of transport fuels such as diesel, to avoid the surging cost of crude. Although the lower oil demand from rei neries has helped to keep a lid on oil market prices, it has created greater stress on global fuel supplies. Even as Gulf crude exports increased during the US-Iran ceasei re, the production of road fuels has remained weak, Birol pointed out: “Rei nery activity and product supplies have not picked up as much as crude deliveries, meaning that markets for rei ned oil products, including diesel and gasoline, are considerably tighter than those for crude .” Goldman Sachs has said global supplies of diesel have been under pressure regardless of US-Iran hostilities, owing to the market’s high exposure to rei nery outages in the Middle East and especially in Russia, where Ukrainian drone attacks have reduced rei ning capacity by 80%. Simon Williams of the RAC said this week: “Just three weeks ago we were celebrating the biggest ever monthly drop in the price of diesel .” Now, he said, fuel prices are “shooting up like a rocket” . The average price of diesel on British forecourts has climbed by almost 8p, or 5%, to 172.14p a litre in the past fortnight, while petrol has risen by 5p in two and a half weeks to 155.57p, a 3% increase. There are worrying implications for global gas supplies too. While an increase in gas exports from the US and Canada helped to of set about 70% of the lost Gulf supply via Hormuz, availability is expected to remain tight in the run-up to winter as European buyers attempt to rei ll depleted gas storage facilities, Birol said. Clémence Dubois , head of global campaigns at the green NGO 350.org, said: “One of the world’s critical choke points remains closed as attempts to reopen it have failed. Now, we see a second critical choke point on the knife’s edge. That should terrify anyone who still thinks fossil fuel dependence is a safe bet. ”
T
Commonweath Games Falkland Islands bowler: fl ag jibe ‘disappointing’
shadow-box towards overdue $100m face-off
British heavyweights return to the ring and face anonymous opponents as preparation for much-hyped meeting
meeting
Donald McRae
yson Fury has won one i ght in the past two years and nine months. Anthony Joshua, meanwhile, has enjoyed a solitary victory over the past two years and four months. Fury outpointed Arslanbek Makhmudov , the lumbering Russian heavyweight, in April while Joshua laboured through i ve torpid rounds before he i nally cut loose and broke the jaw of Jake Paul , the former YouTuber, in December. Their three defeats during this period are more vivid in the memory. Fury lost twice to Oleksandr Usyk – in May and December 2024 – while Joshua was knocked down four times and then stopped by Daniel Dubois inside i ve humiliating rounds in September that year. Despite the ravages of age, framed by yet another retirement for Fury and a traumatic period of inactivity for Joshua, they remain on course
Carapaz takes stage but illness hits Pogacar team
to i ght each other in a showdown that will generate much more than $100m in November. The outrageous money on of er, for a i ght that would have been at its most compelling eight years ago, means the two British heavyweights will each face mediocre opposition on successive days this weekend. They need a tune-up bout, without any undue risk, to try to shake of the rust. Fury i ghts i rst, to night in Thailand, when about 1,500 people will watch him either beat up or indulge in a glorii ed sparring session with Mariusz Wach , a 46-year-old Polish journeyman, in Pattaya. The bout is so low-key that it will not be live on television or any streaming platform. Fury said: “ This great i ght will not be streamed live. It will only be broadcast on my hit Netl ix TV show At Home with the Furys season three .” In some way this is a relief because there is no sense of drama or jeopardy in a scrap that is meaningless beyond the specii c aim of giving Fury a few rounds against a slow-moving human punch bag. Wach is a seriously limited technician who, 14 years ago, challenged Wladimir Klitschko for a version of the world heavyweight title. He did not win a round .
Since then, he has lost 12 more i ghts with the most instructive defeat happening two years ago when Moses Itauma , at the age of 19, stopped him in the second round. Fury trained in Thailand for his comeback contest against Makhmudov and he seems to have fallen in love with the country. He has promised to donate all proceeds from tonight ’s glorii ed exhibition to “local starving and homeless children” . Joshua’s return is far more meaningful as it marks a signii cant step in his emotional and psychological recovery since he was injured in the devastating accident in Nigeria that killed his close friends, Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele , just after Christmas . There had been doubts Joshua would have the appetite to box again, but he believes his desire in the ring remains undiminished as he prepares to i ght the obscure Albanian heavyweight Kristian Prenga late tomorrow night in Jeddah.
anything for granted – he has a job to do. He’s in the mood to cause a lot of pain’
Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury should finally fight if they win their respective tune-up bouts GETTY IMAGES
“It’s on Prenga, but it’s also on Fury, because I want it all,” Joshua said of his focus this week. “I believe I can become undisputed [heavyweight champion of the world]. I’ve still got the ambition and hunger. Let’s keep rolling the dice, let’s keep entertaining because this is our time.” These typical pre-i ght words have been amplii ed by his promoters. Barry Hearn, the president of Matchroom, said: “Prenga is dangerous, [even if] we don’t know too much about him. But Joshua is a ferocious animal at the moment. Don’t blink, look for i reworks. AJ is not taking anything for granted, he knows he’s got a job to do, and he will be ruthlessly ei cient. He’s in the mood to cause an awful lot of pain.” The promoter added: “AJ is in an amazing place . I don’t think I’ve seen him look better than this in the 14 years I’ve known him – or look so motivated for the long term.” Barry’s son, Eddie, who leads the promotion, has praised Joshua’s mental fortitude in the wake of personal tragedy: “Everyone’s aware of what happened and, for me, this is one of the great comebacks. I know AJ is business as usual, but we’re incredibly proud of what he’s done to return to the ring , 99.9% of people would have given up because of the mental battle with grief. ” Dazn, who are charging subscribers an additional £19.99 pay-per-view fee to watch the i ght, have sent out publicity material this week describing Prenga as an “unbeaten 21-0 knockout artist ”. While all 20 of Prenga’s victories have ended in a stoppage, it is more telling that he has lost to Giovanni Auriemma , the Dutch boxer who has beaten just one other opponent in his 10 professional bouts. Prenga has only faced anonymous opponents so he seems to have been plucked out of obscurity with considerable care by Joshua’s backers. Fury, in his typical way, said in Thailand on Wednesday that he still harbours doubts his i ght with Joshua will happen. He stressed he had refused an invitation to l y to Jeddah to be ringside tomorrow night and he dismissed Joshua as a “bottle job and a chinless wonder ”. This is predictable Fury bluster and not to be taken seriously. The Fury and Joshua bandwagon will not be derailed this weekend – especially when so much money is riding on the safe passing of a pair of routine warm-up bouts before, i nally, they coni rm the date and venue for the most overhyped i ght in the history of British boxing.
Russell upbeat after Mercedes solve persistent engine problem
Giles Richards Hungaroring
George Russell believes Mercedes have identii ed the problem with his engine that damaged his world cham- pionship hopes over recent races and left the driver fuming when it played a key role in him being knocked out of the Belgium Grand Prix. Russell has been struggling with issues with his electrical energy deployment for three races now, since the Austrian GP, particularly at Silverstone and Spa which are energy-dependent circuits. At Spa last Sundayhe was furious after he lacked energy when exiting turn one on the opening lap. It left him vulnerable to the chasing pack, notably the Ferraris which swept past and he entered Les Combes corner alongside Lewis Hamilton, who clipped the Mercedes, sending Rus- sell out of the race . He was angry with the team at the deployment problem having left him alongside Hamilton. His Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli went on to win the race and extend his lead over Russell in the title race to 50 points. Mercedes admitted there was a problem with the car’s energy management, but also that at the time they were unable to identify what was causing the erratic performance which is governed by the electronic control systems as part of the engine’s hybrid battery unit. However before this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, Russell coni rmed they have identii ed and solved the problem. “I’m feeling good and glad there are some positive answers that have come back from the battery and it’s eyes forward now,” he said. “These new power units are just exceptionally complex, and there was something embedded in the calibration of the code that was almost impossible to see unless … you knew what to look for. I’m glad we have found it. Spa and Silverstone probably exposed the issue just because of the nature of the track.” Russell had lambasted his team across the radio after the incident at Spa and stood by his reaction as part of the process of ensuring the team addressed the problems. “My words could have been slightly dif erent,” he said. “I felt quite vocal about this issue , and ultimately we have achieved what we wanted to in the sense of i nding there was an issue. If you sit there and do not express any views, maybe you i nd an issue, maybe you don’t, you don’t move forward.”
Cycling Tour de France
Pogacar after illness sweeps through team
Carapaz roars clear to win stage 18 as UAE Team Emirates XRG riders struggle
Jeremy Whittle Orcières-Merlette
Richard Carapaz won stage 18 of the Tour de France after a breaka- way group of six riders duelled their way to the winter sports station at Orcières-Merlette, but uncertainty surrounds the health of race leader Tadej Pogacar’s UAE Team Emirates XRG , which has been swept by a virus since Monday’s rest day. After Adam Yates’s stage-long cal- vary on the road to Voiron, Pogacar’s team was further weakened by the abandonment of his American col- league, Brandon McNulty, who quit the Tour with 21 km of yesterday ’s stage remaining. Two more of Pogacar’s teammates, Tim Wellens and Florian Vermeersch, also appeared to struggle at times during the stage, which included i ve categorised climbs, including the i nal seven-kilometre ascent to the i nish. Speaking at the stage start in Voiron, Wellens suggested other rid-
Standings
General Yellow jersey 1. T Pogacar (Svn) 64:35:13 2. R Evenepoel (Bel) +4:32 3. I del Toro (Mex) +6:51 Mountain Polka dot jersey 1. T Pogacar (Svn) 70pts 2. V Paret-Peintre (Fr) 69 Points Green jersey 1. M Pedersen (Den) 477pts 2. J Philipsen (Bel) 445
ers within the team were unwell and revealed that he had a sore throat. Seen through the lens of today and tomorrow ’s mountain-top i nishes on Alpe d’Huez, Pogacar, despite his 4m 32s lead over second-placed Remco Evenepoel, has reason to be worried. “I’m sad that Brandon could not i nish. We will see in the next two days but Adam is getting better, and tomorrow, we will go with the l ow,” Pogacar said. “I think we can manage. It’s the third week, all the teams are suf ering. There are bod- ies everywhere on a stage like today. We will keep i ghting and I believe we can do it.” The full extent of any illness within UAE Team Emirates XRG was further speculated on by Pogacar’s decision to swap his usual yellow shorts for black. McNulty’s decision to stop may have been for other reasons too, though. He had also been nurs- ing injuries sustained when he was hit by a car during his reconnaissance of Tuesday’s time trial. The former Giro d’Italia champion Carapaz, who won a mountain stage at nearby Superdévoluy in 2024, narrowly avoided colliding with an errant fan earlier in the stage . The Ecuadorian recovered from that mid-race scare to win with a typically gutsy lone attack. On a stage in which the main favourites called a truce, those who had tried and failed to succeed from breakaways earlier in the race made one last-ditch bid for glory. That included the Geraint Thomas- directed Netcompany Ineos , which has yet to win a stage this year despite numerous attempts. Time is now running out and Thomas has described this Tour as “tough going” for the British team. So it proved once more, with Egan Ber- nal and Thymen Arensman trying but
failing to join the decisive move. The group that i nally formed included Carapaz, but also Matteo Jorgenson, teammate to the now absent Jonas Vingegaard at Visma Lease-a-bike, and Mauro Schmid, already a stage winner for Jayco AlUla in Belfort. Carapaz has proven a very reliable performer in the Tour’s mid-moun- tain stages, however, and once again he had enough power to distance his rivals in the i nal kilometres. The EF
▼ Richard Carapaz surges to victory in the Voiron to Orcières-Merlette stage DARIO BELINGHERI/GETTY IMAGES
Education-Easy Post rider i nished 45 seconds clear of both Schmid and Jorgens on. All eyes are now on this weekend’s double-headed suf er-fest on the daunting Alpe d’Huez, with a worried Pogacar looking, for the i rst time this year, almost vulnerable.
Today Stage 19 Gap ▶ Alpe d’Huez 127.9km, mountain stage TV Live TNT Sports 1, 1.15pm Highlights Channel 5, 7pm
‘No bias in testing’ Prudhomme hits out
Christian Prudhomme, the director of the Tour de France, has rejected accusations of bias towards French riders and launched a staunch defence of last Sunday’s night-time “exceptional” drug tests. Speaking at the start of stage 18, Prudhomme insisted that the International Testing Agency’s (ITA) practices did not favour any riders. “We fought to have an independent agency, and now we have one,” he told the Guardian. “I have no desire to interfere with their work. Not only am I not informed, I must not be informed.” Prudhomme’s comments come in the wake of Matej Mohoric, who rides for Bahrain Victorious, appearing to imply that Paul Seixas, the 19-year-old home hope in France, had been given preferential treatment by the ITA, saying in an interview on Tuesday that “it would be good to guarantee equal treatment for everyone”. “After all,” Mohoric said, “we know that this French rider [Seixas], who is well placed in the general classii cation, didn’t undergo that [night-time] test.” The ITA stressed its independence from French anti-doping authorities and Prudhomme underlined the signii cance for such autonomy. “The UCI has ensured that there is now an independent agency [ITA],” Prudhomme said. “I i nd out about testing at exactly the same time as you do – or often even after you do. I’m not informed beforehand, and nor should I be.” The race leader, Tadej Pogacar, and rival Jonas Vingegaard, who has since abandoned the Tour, were tested at 5am and 2am respectively last Sunday morning. The tests have been described by the UCI as an “exceptional measure, reserved for limited and justii ed circumstances”.“The ITA is doing the job it’s paid to do,” Prudhomme said. Jeremy Whittle
after misconduct hearing
▲ Andrew Cornish presided over a turbulent period in the club’s history Club appoint two interim replacements following departure of Cornish
Matt Hughes
The Middlesex chief executive, Andrew Cornish, has been dismissed after misconduct charges against him were upheld by an independent dis- ciplinary panel. It was revealed last November that Cornish had been suspended after Middlesex received a complaint about his alleged behaviour towards a fellow member of staf , which was referred to the Cricket Regulator, the independent body responsible
London Spirit but the same old story after narrow defeat
Simon Burnton Lord’s
London Spirit launched their new
era with double defeat at Lord’s,
and though they may have new
owners, new coaches and new play-
ers it seems they’re still getting the
same results. For the i fth time in
their six-year history the men started
their season with defeat, losing by
seven runs a game of the Hundred
that Liam Livingstone came very
close to turning into The One.
The Spirit captain took respon-
sibility for 20 of the last 25 balls of
Manchester Super Giants’ innings,
shouldering what should have been
the hardest part of the bowling bur-
den, and i nished with two wickets
for just 14. Then, with his team l ail-
ing in pursuit of 139, he scored 69 of
40 to keep them in the contest until
the moment he swung at its antepe-
nultimate delivery and was bowled
by Sonny Baker.
They had been helped by a run
of drops and misi elds by the Super
Giants, most notably when Living-
stone heaved Noor Ahmad to deep
midwicket where Tim Seifert – whose
67 off 45 ultimately decided the
match – let the ball bounce of his
hands and into the boundary padding
for six. But on the pitch that four days
earlier allowed England and India to
score 747 runs between them in a ODI
batters in both games struggled, and
even Seifert soared for only part of
his innings. His team’s knock was a
curiosity, with 26 runs and one wicket
coming in the i rst 25 balls and six
wickets falling for just 22 in the i nal
Sport Cricket
for prosecuting disciplinary cases across the sport. Middlesex coni rmed Cornish’s departure in a statement . “Middlesex County Cricket Club coni rms that Andrew Cornish was dismissed from his role as Chief Executive of the Club in June,” it read. After an investigation, the Regula- tor charged Cornish with mis conduct and took the case to the Cricket Disciplinary Panel (CDP), whose three-person panel is understood to have found against him. The allegations are not regarded as a criminal matter and the case has not been passed to the Metropolitan police. Cornish had denied wrongdo- ing and is exploring his legal options. Middlesex have appointed two interim chief executives to cover Cor-
Scoreboard
Lord’s Super Giants beat Spirit by seven runs. Manchester Super Giants AK Markram lbw b Milne ...........................................1 TL Seifert c Willey b Coles .........................................67 †JC Buttler b Zampa .................................................16 H Klaasen c Livingstone b Willey ................................17 JL du Plooy b Zampa ...................................................6 TJ Moores run out (Brevis) ..........................................0 LA Dawson b Livingstone ............................................9 GAP Atkinson c Overton v Livingstone .........................6 Noor Ahmad not out ...................................................2 JC Tongue run out (Coles) ...........................................1 Extras (lb10, w3) ......................................................13 Total (for 9, 100 balls) ............................................138 Fall 16, 65, 105, 116, 116, 122, 135, 136, 138. Did not bat S Baker. Bowling Willey 20-7-23-1; Milne 15-9-11-1; Overton 10-5-15-0; Mills 5-1-14-0; Zampa 15-6-27-2; Coles 15-4-24-1; Livingstone 20-10-14-2. London Spirit LG Pretorius c Du Plooy b Atkinson ............................12 KS Carlson b Dawson ................................................19 †JEK Rew c Atkinson b Tongue .....................................0 LS Livingstone b Baker ...........................................69 D Brevis c & b Atkinson ..............................................22 JM Coles c Moores b Baker ...........................................1 J Overton not out .......................................................1 Extras (lb2, nb1, w4) ..................................................7 Total (for 6, 100 balls) ............................................131 Fall 14, 14, 51, 119, 130, 131. Did not bat DJ Willey, AF Milne, A Zampa, TS Mills. Bowling Atkinson 20-12-15-2; Baker 20-9-29-2; Tongue 20-6-26-1; Noor Ahmad 20-6-36-0; Dawson 20-9-23-1. Toss London Spirit elected to field. Umpires BJ Debenham and NJ Llong.
nish over the past eight months – the M CC’s chief operating oi cer, Mahdi Choudhury, and the former head of British Cycling , Julie Harrington, who is regarded as a serious contender to take over on a permanent basis. Har- rington will face Middlesex members for the i rst time alongside the chair , Richard Sykes, at a fans’ forum event next Tuesday, when they may pro- vide an update on Cornish’s future. Cornish joined Middlesex as consultant to the then chief execu- tive Richard Goatley in 2020 before replacing him after he stood down due to ill health the following year. A former chief executive of Somerset
26, while in between they rampaged
to 90 at nearly two runs a ball.
Of the crowd of 23,847 some will
have come for the women’s game,
some for the men, and others – pre-
sumably, because what else is he
doing here, though it seems extraor-
dinarily unlikely that anyone will
have shelled out the £55 required for
an adult ticket to watch 20 minutes of
twixt-game entertainment – for early-
noughties chart-topping rapper Tinie
Tempah. From pony racing to spear-
throwing, from being requisitioned
by the RAF to Jack Leach scoring 92 as
a Test opener, Lord’s has witnessed a
few unlikely sights over the years and
that of Tempah, jets of i re screaming
skywards behind him, was another to
add to the list.
Helpfully, he spent very little
of it on his heavily branded stage,
favouring wading into the crowd to
hug mildly bemused paunchy white
blokes. “He was,” Eoin Morgan later
enthused on Sky, “magnificent.”
This might not have been the future
Tempah envisaged when Pass Out
was conquering the charts 16 years
county cricket club, a role from which he was ousted in 2019, and Manchester Airports Group, C ornish has presided over a tumultuous period in Middlesex’s history, featur- ing large i nancial losses and a legal battle with Goatley, who is suing the club for more than £1m in a personal injury lawsuit. Middlesex were given a suspended points deduction and i ned £50,000 in September 2023 by the England and Wales Cricket Board for breach- ing i nancial regulations, including the misuse of central funding. In addition, the club was charged with improper conduct by the Cricket Regulator after complaints were made against another senior employee in June 2024, but was found not guilty by the CDP. The Regulator had accused Middlesex of breaching ECB Directive 3.3 – conduct “which is improper or which may be prejudicial to the interests of cricket, or which may bring the ECB, the game of cricket or any cricketer or groups of cricketers into disrepute”. Cornish declined to comment.
▲ Sonny Baker celebrates the wicket of Liam Livingstone in the fi nal over ALEX BROADWAY/ECB/GETTY IMAGES
ago but it was one he embraced with winning enthusiasm. It was not so much Pass Out as fail and out for London Spirit’s women, even if they started beautifully, with Grace Harris hitting the opening delivery for four. But that was very much as good as it got: by the end of the powerplay they were 23 for four and having to reset their ambitions to mere survival. In the end they did not manage that, bowled out after 91 balls having scored just 80. No team in the history of the women’s Hundred has success- fully defended a score below 106 and Spirit never looked likely to become the i rst, Super Giants cantering to a total that was neither of those things in just 59 balls to win by seven wick- ets, with Paige Scholi eld carrying her side over the i nish line with a four and a six of successive Josie Groves deliveries and in the process becom- ing the game’s top scorer with just 22.
Football
EUROPA LEAGUE Second qualifying round: first leg Besiktas 1 Midtjylland 0; Dynamo Kyiv 2 PAOK 3; Hajduk Split 2 Pafos 0; Hammarby 1 Anderlecht 1; Qarabag 0 CSKA Sofia 0; Sheriff 0 Maccabi Tel Aviv 5; St Gallen 2 Benfica 1; Tromsø 0 Hradec Kralove 1; Twente 1 Ferencvaros 2
CONFERENCE LEAGUE Second qualifying round: first legs Malisheva (1) 2 Hibernian (0) 0 Uka 21, Nafiu 90
Motherwell (1) 2 HB Tórshavn (0) 0 Moormann 15 Fadinger 57 AEK Larnaca 0 Beitar Jerusalem 1; Alashkert 1 CFR Cluj 1; Aluminij 1 Dinamo City 1; BATE 1 Sion 1; Borac Banja Luka 3 Petrocub 0; Bravo 2 Shkendija 1; DAC 1904 1 Velez Mostar 0; Debrecen 1 Pyunik 0; Dila Gori 0 Apollon Limassol 4; Dinamo Tbilisi 3 Zalgiris 0; FC Santa Coloma 1 Rapid Vienna 3; FCSB 2 Auda 3; Flora 1 The New Saints 0; GAIS 1 Nordsjælland 0; Hapoel Tel Aviv 2 Ludogorets 0; HJK 5 Coleraine 0; Liepaja 0 Austria Vienna 2; LNZ Cherkasy 0 Gent 0; Lugano 1 Dukagjini 0; NSÍ 0 Koper 2; Paide Linnameeskond 1 Zira 0; Paks 1 Panathinaikos 2; Panevezys 1 Tobol 1; Partizan 4 UNA Strassen 0; Rakow Czestochowa 3 Valletta 1; RFS 4 Vestri 1; Rijeka 1 Derry City 0; Shelbourne 5 Nomme Kalju 2; Stjarnan 1 Ilves 0; Universitatea Cluj 2 Brann 2; Vaduz 4 Atletic Club D’Escaldes 0; Valur 1 Zrinjski Mostar 0; Varazdin 3 Jablonec 2; Vitebsk 3 Sutjeska 0; Vojvodina 1 Ajax 4; Zhytomyr 3 Copenhagen 3; Zilina 2 GKS Katowice 1; Zimbru 1 Noah 1 Rugby league
BETFRED SUPER LEAGUE Hull FC 20 Hull KR 34 Cricket
FIRST MEN’S T20 INTERNATIONAL Harare Zimbabwe 125-7. India 126-3 (V Sooryavanshi 50). India beat Zimbabwe by seven wickets.
FIRST WOMEN’S ONE–DAY INTERNATIONAL Hambantota Sri Lanka 210-9. Pakistan 211-5 (Gull Feroza 78, Sidra Amin 57). Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by five wickets.
METRO BANK ONE DAY CUP MEN Nettleworth Warwickshire 282 (GHS Garton 117, ER Bamber 50. Nottinghamshire 283-7 (K Verreynne 68no, FW McCann 62, BT Slater 52). Nottinghamshire beat Warwickshire by three wickets.
THE HUNDRED WOMEN Lord’s London Spirit 80 (RL MacDonald-Gay 4-17). Manchester 86-3. Manchester won by seven wickets. Cycling
TOUR DE FRANCE Stage 18 (Voiron–Orcières-Merlette, 185.2km): 1 R Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost 4hr 26min 8sec; 2 M Schmid (Swi) Jayco-AlUla +45sec; 3 M Jorgenson (US) Visma | Lease a Bike at same time; 4 V Paret-Peintre (Fr) Soudal Quick-Step +1:14; 5 T Halland Johannessen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility +1:57; 6 R García Pierna (Sp) Movistar +2:12; 7 P Castrillo (Sp) Movistar +4:30; 8 L Martinez (Fr) Bahrain Victorious +4:35; 9 R Evenepoel (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe; 10 T Pidcock (GB) Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling both at same time. Selected others: 60 B Healy (Ire) EF Education-EasyPost +16:23; 81 J Tarling (GB) Netcompany Ineos Cycling +20:01; 102 A Yates (GB) UAE Team Emirates-XRG +28:55 . Leading standings: 1 T Pogacar (Svn) UAE Team Emirates- XRG 64hr 35min 0sec; 2 R Evenepoel (Bel) +4min 32sec; 3 I del Toro (Mex) UAE Emirates-XRG +6:51; 4 P Seixas (Fr) Decathlon CMA CGM +7:11; 5 J Ayuso (Sp) Lidl-Trek +9:22; 6 M Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek +10:14; 7 L Martinez (Fr) Bahrain Victorious +12:50; 8 T Pidcock (GB) Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling +12:58; 9 J Jegat (Fr) TotalEnergies +14:04; 10 R Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost +21:00. Golf
WOMEN’S SCOTTISH OPEN (Gailes, Ayrshire)
Leading first-round scores (GB & Ire unless stated):
66 L Coughlin (US); J Shin (Kor). 67 Kim A-l (Kor).
69 L Pettersson (Swe). 70 A Nordqvist (Swe); E Henseleit
(Ger); M Yamashita (Jpn); E Hara (Jpn). 71 P Anannarukarn
(Tha); J Lopez (Sp); D Darquea (Ecu); P Tavatanakit (Tha);
C Wannasaen (Tha). 72 L Maguire; N Guseva (Rus); N Korda
(US); C Iwai (Jpn); J Bae (US); A Doherty (US); B Do (US).
73 P Roussin-Bouchard (Fr); A Utama (Tha); N Broch Estrup
(Den); M de Roey (Bel); Yoon I (Kor); A Yubol (Tha);
Chun I-g (Kor); Y Wilson (US); Zhang WW (Chn); R Zhang
(US); R O’Toole (US); A Jutanugarn (Tha).
Fixtures
Rugby league Betfred Super League Wakefield v Castleford (8pm); Wigan v St Helens (8pm) Betfred Championship Doncaster v Batley (7.30pm); Widnes v Salford (7.30pm) Cricket (11am unless stated) Metro Bank One Day Cup Men Group A Kent v Northamptonshire, Canterbury; Somerset v Gloucestershire, Taunton; Surrey v Leicestershire, Guildford (2pm). Group B Durham v Sussex, Riverside (1.30pm); Glamorgan v Yorkshire (Neath); Hampshire v Middlesex (Utilita Bowl); Worcestershire v Derbyshire, Worcester The Hundred Men Birmingham v Trent, Edgbaston (6.30pm) The Hundred Women Birmingham v Trent, Edgbaston (3pm)
Greg Wood’s racing tips
Uttoxeter 1.40 Trouville 2.10 Iolaos Du Mou 2.40 Mayday Games 3.15 Jo Arengeot Bey A A 3.50 Victoria Milano 4.25 Pike Road 5.00 Ice Jet 5.35 Sparkling Water Thirsk 2.00 Diamond New Bay 2.30 Blessed Voyager 3.05 Lady Dublin 3.40 Tupero 4.18 Zooella 4.53 Sixty Plus 5.27 Sunlit Sea Ascot 2.20 Ash Tree 2.55 Gymbaazy 3.30 Fireblade 4.05 Al Azd 4.40 Illy’s Roo (nb) 5.12 Killavia Sandown 5.15 Mrembo 5.47 Not My Type 6.20 Appier 6.55 Hot And Cold 7.30 Cristo 8.05 Norfolk Blue Chepstow 5.18 Absolute Diamond 5.52 Temple Court 6.26 Prefer The Sister 7.01 Eutropia 7.36 Knightmare 8.11 So Smart 8.46 Midnight Media York 5.32 Orne 6.05 Talismans Time 6.40 The First Drop 7.15 Ingleby Archie (nap) 7.50 Diamond Rain 8.25 Dolos Dream
Sport Football
O
▼ Andoni Iraola takes the Liverpool hotseat after guiding Bournemouth to a fi rst-ever European adventure ADAM VAUGHAN/EPA Iraola puts team ethic first: ‘Things work when we are not selfish’
Liverpool’s new head coach uses pre-season in Chicago to reshape the Reds’ identity after disquiet under Arne Slot
Andy Hunter Chicago
ver cof ee in Liverpool’s plush hotel in Chicago, Andoni Iraola presents his theory for the phenomenal success of Basque and Spanish coaches. It is a theory that will shape his entire approach to life as the Liverpool head coach and his attempts to bring the connection, the joy and the belief back to Ani eld. It centres on the power of the collective. The Champions League, the Premier League, the Europa League, the FA Cup, the League Cup, the European Championship and, as of Sunday, the World Cup: all currently in the hands of Basque and Spanish coaches, even if Pep Guardiola has since taken his leave from Manchester City. Next season, four men from the small Basque region of Gipuzkoa will manage four of the Premier League’s main contenders, Iraola included, alongside Mikel Arteta, Xabi Alonso and Unai Emery. There is, Iraola believes, a simple explanation for the rise of the guys from Gipuzkoa and for Spanish dominance across a global stage. “They ask me why a lot of Basque managers especially have arrived to this level and why Spanish teams are winning a lot of things,” Iraola explains. “I always say that a sense of collectiveness is very important. Spain has never had the best athletes. If you analyse in swimming, boxing, track and i eld, Spain don’t normally win medals. But in collective sports they are very good. In football, basketball, handball, hockey, normally they have good teams. We always put the team i rst. An example is someone like Rodri. He didn’t score or make an assist but at the end they won the World Cup and he won best player of the tournament. Team -i rst was always integrated in how we were raised.” Iraola, warm and friendly despite the jet lag at the start of Liverpool’s pre-season tour of the US, then gives an immediate example of how he embodies those values. He is asked about a letter he sent to Liverpool in January 2014 when, as captain of boyhood club Athletic Club, he rejected the opportunity to sign for Brendan Rodgers’s team. By all accounts courteous and apologetic, as well as highly unusual, the letter
provides a telling insight into Iraola’s character. It is an open goal of a question to a new head coach wanting to win over a new fanbase. But Iraola declines to shoot. Following a lengthy pause, he says: “I don’t know if I want to tell this story so early in my career here. I would like to win some games i rst. It is a nice story but if you remember me in some months, then you can ask me again. I don’t like to do this from the beginning. I just don’t want to. It will look like I am selling myself. We need some time, and to win some games.” Iraola’s outlook is refreshing – “Don’t become the protagonist,” he says of his role – and one that Liverpool can easily identify with. Continuing with the theme of Spain’s collectiveness, he adds: “I think there has to be something in society. It cannot only just be about football. I think things work when we are not just seli sh, no? When you prioritise the situation of the one who has less. That happens also in football. The ones that don’t play, the ones who come from the academy, the ones who earn less. You can compare it with society.” But, and it is a “but” that needs saying given what Iraola hopes to achieve, there were few signs of togetherness at Liverpool last season as Arne Slot’s reign unravelled amid acrimony in the dressing room and in the crowd. The power of the individual took over, and the power of the team appeared secondary. Mohamed Salah’s frequent attempts to undermine his former, title- winning coach was not the only example of that last season. “I cannot change the personality of the players,” says Iraola, who will manage for the i rst time as Liverpool head coach against Sunderland in Nashville tomorrow . “Some players are very dif erent to me but they are great players. I don’t want to change everyone and what they think is the best way. But I think we need to think collectively in this game. As a player you are always seli sh. You always want to play, you always want to get your stats, you always want to play all the minutes, but I think there has to be an understanding that this is not going to always happen and still I have to be helpful with my teammates and with the team. “The i rst thing we have to do is try to play well, but it’s not just only about playing well. Supporters have to identify with what they see on the pitch. Sometimes it’s not about just putting one ball in the top corner. A lot of the time, the ones watching the game, OK, they cannot do that but they can run, they can i ght for the balls, they can press, they can i ght until the last
line for every situation and when they see this from the players of their team it’s easier to get behind that team. I will encourage my team to give them these things.” Iraola never came close to signing for Liverpool 12 years ago despite the best ef orts of Michael Edwards, until recently the chief executive of football for the club’s owners, Fenway Sports Group. “I never really wanted to leave Athletic Club,” their former right-back admits. “For me, Athletic Club was the place to be. The only way of leaving was to go to the MLS [with New York City FC] and try something completely dif erent. I didn’t want to become a problem for the club.” The 44 -year-old, however, does see parallels between his boyhood club and his new one.
He explains: “This is one of the biggest clubs in the world and, in some way, the comparison to Athletic Club probably isn’t fair, but in a lot of ways I see a lot of similar things. This sense of belonging, of being a little bit dif erent. This connection, also, with players from the academy. The atmosphere of Ani eld.” At his oi cial unveiling in Liverpool last week, Iraola said he intends to immerse himself in the city and “take some pictures” of the tourist spots. The truth is he has already done so. He visited the city a few times during his playing days with Athletic and for a very simple reason. “It had the best l ight connections,” he laughs. “The best connections were Manchester and Brussels
and sometimes we only had two or three days so the main thing was to go somewhere quick. I remember the i rst time I went to Liverpool it was already the Christmas market so it was probably around the November international break. We had no kids at the time so we are talking about a lot of years ago but it was a lovely time with my wife.” There has been no holiday this summer for Iraola and his family, now extended by two children. “I went home for one week in the half-term for the kids at the end of May,” he says. “That was once the season had ended. I have mostly been in Bournemouth but I also had some trips to Liverpool to sort the schools and the housing. This is the stuf I wanted to do before I started working oi cially.” Iraola describes the process of leaving Bournemouth after three impressive years as “very, very clean” and claims he only started considering his next step once last season had ended with the club in Europe for the i rst time. The process of becoming Slot’s replacement “was actually quite fast”. He says: “Honestly. It was true that I was talking with some clubs [Milan, Bayer Leverkusen and Crystal Palace all made approaches]. I think it was the i rst or second week after the season ended. But it happened fast. They contacted me, and it didn’t take a lot [to say yes to Liverpool this time].” I
t hasn’t taken long for Liverpool fans to create a song in honour of their new head coach. Sung to the tune of Christy Moore’s Viva la Quinta Brigada, written about Irish volunteers who fought against Franco’s fascist forces in the Spanish civil war, the song went viral within days of Iraola’s appointment in June. He is genuinely astonished when told, almost spluttering over a second cup of cof ee. “A new one?” Iraola asks incredulously. “For me it is a strange situation because I always understand that football is about the players. At the beginning when I arrived in England, I remember the i rst few games I didn’t go with the players to clap the supporters after games. Tommy and Shaun [Elphick and Cooper, Bournemouth assistants who have followed Iraola to Liverpool] said I should join in. In Spain, normally you leave it to the players; they are the ones who have played the game and we are the ones who stayed behind. In England, managers are the ones who go to the fans, so I have done it every time. “These are the cultural things you have to learn when you arrive in a new league. But I always say we are assistants to the players. They are the main part. Our main thing is to help them and they are the only ones who can give us success. We are not as important as they are, that is pretty clear.” The Kop may dispute that theory, but not Iraola’s take on the power of the collective if restored to full working order.
and Arsenal sign Tzolis
John Brewin Louise Taylor Jamie Jackson
Aston Villa have confirmed the loan signing of the Chelsea winger Alejandro Garnacho, as a summer of change continues at Villa Park. The deal for Garnacho’s season- long loan includes a conditional obligation to buy a player who joined Chelsea last August from Manchester United in a deal worth £40m. Villa will be expected to pay a similar fee for Garnacho, who struggled to impress at Stamford Bridge despite featuring in 43 games in all competi- tions and scoring eight goals. The 22-year-old has been allowed to depart Stamford Bridge after being informed he was not guaranteed regular playing time under the club’s new manager, Xabi Alonso. Garnacho did not report for duty when Chelsea players returned for pre-season, as was pre-arranged. “We are delighted with Alejandro ,” Unai Emery, the Villa head coach, said. “He is so talented, young and he showed us his wish to help our project. We are really happy .”
relentless and champions’
Continued from back page
take this club forward .” Anderson’s rise has been rapid, with his England debut coming as recently as last Sep- tember , in a 2-0 victory over Andorra . The Tyneside-born player, who began his career at Newcastle before joining Forest for £35m in July 2024 , believes there is much more to come. “I’m only 23, so I’ve got plenty of time to get to my best levels and I dei nitely think I’m not there yet ,” he said . The deal was agreed three weeks ago but i nalised this week after the player’s return from the World Cup. Anderson has signed until 2031 and is City’s i rst major signing since Enzo Maresca succeeded Pep Guardiola as manager . He is looking forward
▼ Alejandro Garnacho is Unai Emery’s third signing of this summer window NEVILLE WILLIAMS/A VILLA/GETTY
Villa’s third signing of the summer, after the arrivals of Johan Manzambi and João Gomes, comes via a familiar trade route. The £117m deal that took Morgan Rogers to Chelsea this week continued a run of transfers between the two clubs, incorporating Carney Chukwuemeka and Omari Kellyman moving to Chelsea in 2022 and 2024, Ian Maatsen heading in the reverse direction in 2024 and Axel Disasi’s brief 2025 loan to Villa. Arsenal have completed the £34m signing of Christos Tzolis from Club Brugge. The 24-year-old Greece international has signed a i ve-year contract with the Premier League champions and arrives as a replace- ment for Leandro Trossard after the Belgian’s switch to Besiktas. Tzolis’s move to the Emirates Stadium – Arsenal’s third perma- nent transfer of the summer – came 48 hours after the club missed out on Rogers, who joined Chelsea for a British-record fee , describing his new employers as the “biggest club in London”. Tzolis scored 43 times in 108 appearances for Club Brugge and played in the Belgian club’s 3-0 Champions League defeat by Mikel Arteta’s side in December.
to working with the Italian. “ I’ve watched his teams over the past couple of years and spoke to a few of the lads from Chelsea and they all rate him very highly,” Anderson said. “I like to be intense when I play and use lots of energy around the pitch and get the fans going. So, I think that’ll be good.” Kevin De Bruyne, who departed City two summers ago, is an idol for Anderson. “Growing up through the academy at Newcastle, I’ve always
Newcastle are set to make Aladji Bamba their fourth summer signing. The 20-year-old Monaco midi elder l ew to Tyneside yesterday before a £34m move from the Ligue 1 side. Providing all goes to plan, Bamba will be the fourth player aged 20 or under whom Eddie Howe has signed during this transfer window. The France Under-20 midi elder – who made 25 senior appearances for Monaco last season – will join the for- mer Reims goalkeeper Ewen Jaouen (aged 20), the former Hof enheim winger Bazoumana Touré (20) and the former Ajax midi elder Sean Steur (18). Given that he prefers to operate as a No 6, Bamba is seen as a replace- ment for the Italy midi elder Sandro Tonali, who swapped Newcastle for Tottenham in an initial £92.5m deal. Manchester United have identii ed Real Madrid’s Eduardo Camavinga and Fulham’s Sander Berge as midi eld signings to further strengthen Michael Carrick’s squad. United have already signed two midi elders this window: Andrey Santos in a £48m deal from Chelsea and Youri Tielemans for £35m from Aston Villa. But with Casemiro having departed and Manuel Ugarte ruled out for what may be a prolonged period because of a knee ligament injury, the club is considering moving for another midi elder. Camavinga is believed to favour staying at Real, but the Spanish club may be open to selling the Frenchman in order to make space for Rodri. The 23-year-old, who has three years left on his contract and was not part of France’s World Cup squad, has a €1bn release clause, but Real would listen to of ers of between €50m to €60m (£42.7m to £51.2m) for the player, it is understood. Nottingham Forest have signed the Austria international Xaver Schlager on a two-year deal. The 28-year-old arrives at the City Ground after spending the past four seasons at RB Leipzig and becomes Oliver Glasner’s i rst signing since the head coach arrived at the club. Harrison Bettoni has joined Chelsea from Wigan on a deal running until 2030. The 18-year- old attacking midi elder can also be used as a striker.
wanted to play like him,” Anderson said. “I’ve watched him all the time and to be sat here in the team that he was doing it for is so special.” Anderson led the Premier League last season in most touches (3,300), most duels won (297) and winning possession (306). “I think I bring a bit of everything. I bring quality, physi- cality, energy,” he said. “I’d like to think I’d get them [the City support- ers] excited, get them of their feet and bring energy to the team.” Anderson spent half a season on loan at Bristol Rovers in 2022 and became known as the “Geor- die Maradona” among supporters. “They started that and it sort of stuck everywhere I’ve been,” he said. “It makes me happy and it gives me real coni dence.” Reflecting on the World Cup, Anderson added: “It was disap- pointing, but I loved it personally. We had the whole country behind us and we’ve done so well but just fell short. From a personal point of view, I thought I did pretty well .”
In brief
Rodri’s back injury may require surgery
Rodri could face an extended period of time out with a back injury, that may require surgery. The 30-year-old Manchester City midi elder returned to his i nest form at the World Cup following two injury-plagued seasons. Having captained Spain to Sunday’s 1-0 i nal win over Argentina in New Jersey, Rodri was awarded the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player. Yet he may now require an operation on a back problem that is set to rule him out for the start of the season. The back injury comes with the Spaniard’s future at City uncertain . His contract expir es next June. Meanwhile, Leeds are in advanced discussions to sign James Traf ord for a fee in the region of £50m. The 23-year-old goalkeeper rejoined City from Burnley last summer in a £27m deal believing he would be the i rst choice only to see that position taken by Gianluigi Donnarumma following the Italian’s arrival from Paris Saint- Germain. Jamie Jackson
Violent incidents on the rise during last season
The number of football matches in England and Wales featuring incidents reported to police reached record levels last season. According to an annual report by the Home Oi ce, there was a 4% increase in the number of matches with reports of “football-related anti-social behaviour, violence and disorder” during the 2025-26 season. Reports were made at 1,644 games, up from 1,580 the previous campaign. Paul MacInnes
Klopp to be unveiled as new head coach
The former Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp will be coni rmed as the Germany head coach this morning. Klopp was the i rst man the German Football Association (DFB) turned to when Julian Nagelsmann resigned after a disappointing World Cup ended with a shootout exit to Paraguay in the last 32. Former Liverpool assistants Pep Lijnders and Peter Krawietz are expected to be part of Klopp’s backroom team. PA Media
an opening ceremony that was also notably political. At one point a spinning clock turned into a kaleidoscope, with organisers wanting to rel ect the change that overcomes people when we are freed from the shackles of work. On another, there was a visit to Glasgow’s famous shipyards, while the screen displayed the message “People make Glasgow”. The last time Glasgow hosted the Games in 2014, Rod Stewart had them swinging in the aisles at Hampden Park and a nervous Susan Boyle forgot the words to Mull of Kintyre. But this, necessarily, was a more stripped-back af air. It had to be given that the budgets for these Games are so much smaller. There are also only 10 sports com- pared with 19 in Birmingham four years ago, and 3,000 athletes com- pared with nearly 5,000 back then. As a result, the Commonwealth Games is having to cut its cloth accordingly. Understandably, it meant that the opening ceremony was largely a belts-and-braces af air. There were S
Glasgow’s slimline event is Games in survival mode
Original hosts Victoria said event is ‘a waste of taxpayer money’ but bullish organisers believe bright future remains
re remains
Sean Ingle Glasgow
ometimes when a non- responsive person is close to death, a strange medical phenomena occurs. From apparently nowhere they experience a burst of energy. They recognise people again. They start to speak in sentences. Relatives even dare to hope. But, sadly, that hope is short -lived. Doctors call it terminal lucidity. And it comes to mind at the dawn of the 23rd Commonwealth Games. Less than three years ago, the Games were on life support after the original hosts, Victoria, ef ectively paid AUS$380m (£19 9m) to pull out because it feared losses running into the billions. Glasgow then stepped in to host a cheaper and stripped back event, with only 10 sports compared to 19 four years ago. Yet a burning question lingers: can the Games really be revitalised , or are we merely witnessing a brief moment of light and lucidity before its inevitable demise? At the dawn of 11 days of sporting competition, Phil Batty, the chief executive of Glasgow 2026 is in a bullish mood. “This dei nitely isn’t the last hurrah for the Commonwealth Games,” he tells the Guardian. “What we’ve seen is a wholesale shift of what the Commonwealth Games needs to do to sustain itself, not just to 2030, but to 2034, 2038 and beyond. “We’ve got some of the best athletes in the Commonwealth, in a city that loves sport, in a nation that loves events . We’re ready to showcase what a new format looks like, but one which still protects all those hallmarks that makes it super -special.”
However, beneath the positive
vibes there are signii cant
challenges. Tickets are still
widely available for most events
– despite the Games being pared
back. When Glasgow last staged
it in 2014, for instance, track and
i eld was held in a 46,000 -seater
Hampden Park . This time round
it will be held at the Scotstoun
Stadium, which holds just over
10,000 people. Yet tickets are still
available for almost every session.
Viewers looking for live
free-to-air coverage will also
be disappointed. Last year TNT
Sports bought the rights for a
reported £5m – a tiny sum in an era
where TV sport is booming – with
insiders saying the BBC of ered
considerably less. It means that the
BBC will not be showing the event
for the i rst time since 1954 .
At least those watching will get
to see some stars. Chief among
them is the new mile world record
holder Josh Kerr . His showdown
with world 1500m silver medallist
Jake Wightman and the Australian
wunderkind Cameron Myers could
be the race of the Games. Elsewhere
the double Olympic breaststroke
champion Adam Ramsay-Peaty
goes for double gold, while the
fastest 50m swimmer in history,
Cameron McEvoy, heads up a strong
Australian swimming contingent.
Yet even the list of absentees is
a long and painful one. It features
Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson, the
women’s 800m Olympic champion.
The Canadian swimming sensation
Summer McIntosh. The men’s 100m
world champion Oblique Seville.
The Olympic 200m champion
Letsile Tebogo, the world 400m
champion Collen Kebinatshipi .
is long and painful. If the biggest stars don’t care about it, why should we?
And the Olympic women’s 100m champion Julien Alfred. If many of sport’s biggest stars don’t care about the Commonwealth Games, then why should we? Despite the hopeful noises about a brighter future, many question whether the i nancial numbers stack up for future hosts as well. Birmingham 2022 ended up being a huge party but its abiding legacy was its stinking i nancial hangover – with costs estimated at £778m. Meanwhile the verdict of Victoria’s state’s auditor general was particularly damning. The Commonwealth games was, they said, “a waste of taxpayer money” with no “discernible benei t”. True, Ahmedabad in India has agreed to host the 2030 edition as part of its plans to convince the International Olympic Committee that it has the capability to stage a future Olympics. But how many other governments will want to risk tax payers’ money on a mid-tier sporting event? Not that Batty sees it that way. “This is going to be a Games that stands shoulder to shoulder with previous Games,” he says. “ It was an event that was in jeopardy which needed to reinvent and make itself i t for purpose for the future. We have created a format of the event that’s l exible, relevant and integrated para-sport. Therefore this is something that’s going to continue for many editions going forwards.” Plenty of others are deeply sceptical, however. And in a world where the Commonwealth itself has looser and more untangled geopolitical connections, what really is the relevance of a sporting competition between 56 disparate countries? Still, people have written the event of before, only for it to cling on. Earlier this week, organisers announced that Simple Minds would be the star attraction for the closing ceremony. Over the next 10 days we will get a better idea whether the Games are still alive and kicking.
Members of the Australian boxing team warm up outside Glasgow’s Hydro LUKAS COCH/ AAP IMAGE
of the Tardis to provide dose of regeneration
Opening ceremony delivers feelgood factor despite the Games’ challenging buildup
Sean Ingle OVO Hydro
The Commonwealth Games in Glas- gow opened last night to the surreal sight of King Charles and Queen Camilla stepping out of a Tardis – and a mechanical Loch Ness monster roaring the i rst few bars of Flower of Scotland. The Tardis was a nod to the fact that police boxes were designed by the Scottish architect Gilbert Mac- Kenzie Trench. But the D octor Who reference proved to be doubly apt given the Games faced being extermi- nated until Glasgow stepped in after Victoria pulled out due to i nancial pressures. And with the prime minister, Andy Burnham, watching on in his most signii cant public engagement since taking oi ce on Monday, this was
▲ The England team take their place in the arena during the ceremony
no dazzling pyrotechnics. The biggest musical star was KT Tunstall. And more than half of it involved celebrat- ing the athletes as they paraded in front of a nearly packed Hydro Arena. But the crowd still loved it. One of the biggest cheers of the night came when the Scottish team, led by bowls star Alex “Tattie” Marshall, came out in their kilts. They waved their
▼ King Charles, Queen Camilla and Sir Chris Hoy made a dramatic entrance ANDREW MILLIGAN/PA
phones as they sang along to I’m Gonna Be (500 miles). And they were of their feet as Cal- lum Beattie sang Yes Sir, I Can Boogie as sparkly unicorns danced across the stage in homage to Glasgow nightlife. It was not particularly l ashy. But it was authentic. Perhaps there was a message here for Burnham, who was seen making small talk with the Queen and nodding to the musical interludes. You are who you are. And while some have questioned whether the Commonwealth Games has a future, the King made an impas- sioned case as he declared the 23rd edition open. “The Commonwealth is a unique and extraordinary family of nations,” he said. “As we gather, we celebrate the dedication and talent of every athlete and team. Your perseverance
inspires us, and we eagerly anticipate your achievements .” The king also used the baton relay, which has carried messages from the 74 Commonwealth nations to Scot- land, to make another political point by stressing the need to tackle pollu- tion in the oceans. “For these Games, the relay has carried another message – to help remove the plastic pollution that harms our oceans and waterways, and can impact on human health,” he said. “Addressing plastic pollution complements the immense global ef orts required to protect 30% of the world’s ocean by 2030. “Caring for the ocean’s natural capital ensures our communities and businesses can continue to thrive,” he added. “And vital global food resources can be enhanced through the establishment of marine reserves to restore threatened marine ecosys- tems and diminished i sh stocks.” The night ended with KT Tunstall having the crowd eating out of her hands with a pounding rendition of No Scotland No Party, which segued into Suddenly I See and Scotland is a place called Home. That had the athletes on their feet and waving their l ags – and leaving the Hydro with the feelgood factor. The big question now is whether it will sustain itself over the next 10 days of sporting competition. A lot is riding on it – not only for the ath- letes but the future of these Games themselves.
◀ One of the big est cheers of the night was reserved for the Scotland team, who emerged dressed in traditional kilts MANISH SWARUP/AP
Argentina World Cup banner
Johnson-Thompson and Asher-Smith withdraw in fresh blow to competition
Yara El-Shaboury SEC Centre
The Falkland Islands bowler Cecil Alexander called Argentina ’s World Cup banner “disappointing” after his opening men’s singles match at the Commonwealth Games. Alexander, 45, made the com- ments after a straight sets 10-3, 7-4 defeat by the former world No 1 Izzat Shameer Dzulkeple of Malaysia. Just over a week ago at the men’s World Cup, Argentina’s players celebrated their semi-i nal defeat of England by holding up a banner that read: “Las Malvinas son Argentinas”, referring to their country’s claim over the Falkland Islands. The banner reignited tensions over the South Atlantic territory, known as the Falkland Islands in Britain and Islas Malvinas in Argentina. The dispute led to the 74-day 1982 Falklands war, where 649 Argentinians and 255 Britons were killed. “It’s disappointing when politics gets mixed with sport,” Alexander said . “We are here to compete and represent our country. We keep politics out of it.” Alexander, who moved to the Falkland Islands from South Africa eight years ago, said representing the British overseas territory had been a rewarding experience. “I am fairly new to the Falkland Islands but I am enjoying [living there],” he said. Argentina’s celebrations prompted the now former prime minister of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, to back calls for Fifa to investigate whether any rules were breached when the banner was displayed. Starmer’s spokesperson had said: “The World Cup might not be ours, but the Falkland Islands definitely are. Our position is unchanged. Self-determination rests with the islanders and our commitment to the Falklands will never waver. ”
Glasgow 2026 Today’s highlights
Day two of 11 in Glasgow features 14 gold medals: nine in the pool, four in para powerlifting and one in artistic gymnastics. There’s also live boxing, basketball and bowls.
TV TNT outbid the BBC for the rights, and go live with the bowls from 8.20am onwards. Channel 5 have highlights at 10.30pm.
The main events Artistic gymnastics 10am-4pm, 5.30pm-9.15pm The battle begins for the i rst team title, with England, driven by Luke Whitehouse, favourites as they look to secure a fourth-successive Men’s team i nal gold – an unbeaten run that started at Glasgow 2014.
Bowls is one of the original six sports on the Commonwealth Games programme and it has been played at every Games since 1930, with the exception of the 1966 Games in Kingston, Jamaica, where no bowls facilities were available. In a Games i rst, bowls and para bowls are being contested indoors in Glasgow. “We’ve been to other indoor tournaments but it’s the first at the Commonwealth Games,” said Alexander. “A little bit hot. You would think the outdoors would be hotter. But it’s good.” Meanwhile Katarina Johnson- Thompson and Dina Asher-Smith became the latest high-proi le with- drawals from the Games, dealing a blow to the event on the day of the opening ceremony. The pair are among nine athletes to pull out of England’s athletics squad, alongside the Olympic medallists Matthew Hudson-Smith, Daryll Neita and Amber Anning, as well as Zak Seddon, Anna Purchase, Elliot Giles and Jona Efoloko. Johnson-Thompson had been aiming for a third successive Commonwealth heptathlon title after winning gold on the Gold Coast in 2018 and Birmingham in 2022 . Team England did not give a reason for her withdrawal, although several athletes are prioritising next month’s Euro- pean Championships in Birmingham amid a congested schedule. The three-time Olympic medallist Asher-Smith had been due to compete in the women’s 4x100m relay, while Hudson-Smith, Neita and Anning were all expected to strengthen England’s medal prospects.
Para powerlifting 1pm-4.30pm, 6pm-9.30pm Four golds on off er; watch out for Scotland’s rising star Finlay Davidson challenging in the men’s lightweight. Nigeria star Folashade Oluwafemiayo is in action in the women’s heavyweight.
Swimming and Para swimming 10.30am-1pm, 7pm-10pm Nine golds in three hours tonight , with hopefuls including Scotland’s Duncan Scott and England’s Stephen Clegg and Faye Rogers. Adam Ramsay-Peaty will be competing for England under his new married name for the i rst time. Australia should be favourites in the women’s and men’s 4x100m freestyle.
‘Don’t become the protagonist,’ suggests Liverpool’s new coach
InterviewPage 4 0
Rugby’s landmark brain injury case reaches crisis point
Judge may strike out 95% of first batch of 561 claimants and lays blame on solicitor
Andy Bull Royal Courts of Justice
The landmark legal action over brain damage in rugby is on the brink of col- lapse as the managing judge weighs whether to strike out 95% of the i rst batch of 561 claimants on the grounds they have failed to disclose all avail- able documents relating to their neu- rological testing. After two days of hearings at the Royal Courts of Justice, Senior Mas- ter Cook said the case had entered “uncharted territory” because he was unable to i nd any legal precedent for what to do next before retiring to make his judg ment. It’s unclear how long he will take. Cook said he needed to operate in “a careful and considered manner”. The court is due to break for summer next Friday, 31 July . The defendants – World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union and the Welsh Rugby Union in one case, and Rugby Football League and British Amateur Rugby League Association in the other – all pressed to have these cases struck out on the grounds that there had been “wholesale and widespread non-compliance” with the court order to disclose all the documents. Cook agreed with this at the high court yesterday , but was unequivo- cal that it was the solicitor until this week in charge of the case, Richard Boardman of Rylands Garth, who was at fault rather than the claimants themselves. “The only complaint in this case is against the way Mr Board- man has handled the material,” Cook said. “No claimant in this case can be said in any way, shape or form to be responsible for the dei ciencies in the way this case has been presented.” Boardman has notii ed the court of
Window shopping Arsenal in £34m deal for Greece forward Tzolis
his intention to “come of the record” in the case after the claimants unan- imously agreed to terminate their dealings with Rylands Garth. They are in the process of appoint- ing new solicitors, but until they have done so Boardman remains notion- ally in charge despite being absent from court for the last day and a half . The i rm Leigh Day has been consult- ing on the case since Febru ary, and is considering whether to take it on. Cook said he felt this change “raises more questions than it answers”. There are still second tranches of stayed cases which could conc eivably proceed to trial even if this i rst tranche is struck out. But as the barrister representing the Rugby Football League, William Audland KC, said in court: “There may be no one that is prepared to pick up this mess.” Even if they were, it would probably necessitate more delays and expenses in a case that has been running for six years and has cost millions. Yet Cook was mindful of the sever- ity of strikeouts, which would deny the claimants the opportunity for justice. He described them as pas- sengers in a vehicle being driven by somebody else. “The point is simply this: you have three buses full of pas- sengers, all going to the same destina- tion. The i rst bus, the driver takes them of the edge of a clif , with the result they do not get to their destina- tion. The other two buses get to the destination. Let’s say they are suc- cessful, buses two and three. What of those on board bus one?” Cook told the court the case had only reached this crisis point because Boardman had given misleading evi- dence about whether or not he had successfully complied with the court order. The defence have been pro- vided with thousands of documents relating to the testing, and the claim- ants argue that these ought to be suf- i cient. But there remain signii cant gaps, despite Boardman’s insistence in court that there were not. “Mr Boardman should have said he had complied as far as he was capable instead of making these bland state- ments that the order had been com- plied with to the letter,” said Cook. “But that’s the evidence he has chosen to put here, with not a bit of mea culpa.”
of Manchester’ says £116m Anderson
Jamie Jackson
Middlesex chief fired as charges upheld
The 23 -year-old was a key part of England’s third-place i nish at the World Cup, having been an ever-pre- sent for Forest in the Premier League last season. Before Morgan Ro gers’ £117m transfer to Chelsea from Aston Villa on Tuesday , Anderson’s fee was the record for a British player. The midi elder is taking a three- week break after his exploits in North America but is clearly relishing the prospect of playing for City, picking out the i rst Manchester derby of the new season on 13 September as a standout i xture. He may well be in line for a hot reception from the Old Traf ord faithful given his claims about City’s superior status . “It’s one of the biggest derbies
MOLLY DARLINGTON/GETTY IMAGES
in the world and for as long as I’ve known Manchester, City have been the kings of Manchester,” Anderson said in an interview on City’s web- site. “It’ll be a great i xture and I can’t wait to be involved in something like that. “They’re winners, they’re relent- less, and that’s the sort of team I want to be a part of – champions and people who win trophies,” Anderson said of his reason for signing for City . “Over the last 10, 12 years, they’ve dominated, so that’s why I wanted to join. It’s happened quite quick, but I think I always believed I could get to this point and this is where I want to be. Now that I’m here, I’ll keep pushing and try to
B
The Guardian
we’ll need the ICC. Don’t let him destroy it
Steve Bloomfi eld
Friday 24 July 2026
Opinion and ideas
arely a month appears to go by without Donald Trump making a fresh attempt to destroy the international rules-based order. The US has pulled funding from dozens of international institutions, shut down USAID and withdrawn from the Paris climate agreement. Nato may survive , but Trump has made clear that he has little interest in coming to the aid of any ally that is attacked. In Gaza, the Board of Peace is clearly an attempt to sideline the United Nations. But the state department’s announcement last week that it wishes to dismantle the international criminal court “ brick by brick ” co uld be Trump’s most frightening move of all. This is not an idle social media post sent out late at night; there is no chance that the next person to speak to Trump might change his mind. It is now oi cial US policy to destroy the ICC, and the administration is prepared to go to extraordinary lengths to do so. Nations that do not fall into line will be punished. The state department promised “increased scrutiny of nations that refuse to reject the ICC’s false authority while relying on US assistance” , particularly targeting countries that “enjoy the benei ts of the US security umbrella” . That will include the UK, which contributes
just over £15m a year to the ICC , making it the fourth largest donor after Japan, Germany and France . Travel and sanctions bans have already been imposed on judges and senior oi cials; more will be targeted. This can result in individuals being completely cut of from modern life. Personal bank accounts are shut down, while a host of US apps and websites, from Uber to booking.com, are of -limits. Email accounts can be blocked – Microsoft and Google are US companies. For the court itself, it means backing up evidence previously held on Microsoft systems . Make no mistake, this is an existential crisis not just for the ICC but the very idea of international justice. The most powerful nation on Earth and the supposed leader of the democratic west is aligning itself with dictators and autocrats to prevent those accused of genocide, ethnic cleansing and war crimes from facing justice. The US has had a complicated history with international justice. It was integral in the establishment of the post- second world war Nuremberg trials but was reluctant to ratify the genocide convention, only doing so in 1988 , four decades after it was passed by the UN general assembly. The issue was always one of self- preservation, rather than principle. For
G2 Daily pullout life & arts section
Inside
A rally in The Hague in February, in support of the prosecution at the ICC of Rodrigo Duterte
PHOTOGRAPH: SIMON WOHLFAHRT/AFP/ GETTY
Steve Bloomi eld is the former international editor of the Observer
ICC. Don’t let him destroy it Steve Bloomfi eld
Continued from front
generations of US politicians, mainly Republicans but also some Democrats, the very idea that judges in other countries could hold American citizens to account was a non-starter. Until now, US presidents have generally accepted the idea of international justice even if they did not want it to apply to them. The US refused to sign the Rome statute that created the ICC in 2002 , but it did not use its power to prevent its birth. In 2005 , at the height of the Darfur genocide, it allowed the UN security council to pass a resolution authorising the ICC to investigate, and if necessary prosecute, those accused of war crimes in Sudan. Under Joe Biden’s presidency, it also encouraged the ICC to prosecute Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes committed in Ukraine. For Trump, though, the ICC has always been a threat. He imposed sanctions on court oi cials during his i rst term , following an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by US troops in Afghanistan . The campaign against the court ratcheted up after his return to oi ce last year. The ICC’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan , had issued an arrest warrant for Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing him of committing war crimes in Gaza. In response, Trump imposed fresh sanctions on ICC oi cials including Khan. T
he threats to the ICC are not just coming from its enemies – many of them are self-inl icted. Two women , one a staf er at the ICC, have accused Khan of sexual abuse. The executive committee of the ICC’s governing body last month voted to suspend Khan, who denies any wrongdoing, after concluding that he had committed serious misconduct. The court’s 125 member states will, this Friday , vote on whether to remove him from oi ce. Staf in The Hague say the ICC has become an increasingly high-pressure place to work, with one former senior oi cial describing the atmosphere as toxic . There are also concerns from international law and human rights experts over its record. It has botched many of its big cases, including against Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto, two opposing politicians who were accused of fomenting Kenya’s post-election violence in 2007-8. As the ICC dithered, witnesses disappeared and the two men joined forces to run for election. Their election as president and vice- president in 2012 eventually led to the case collapsing. The question now is what the “rest of the west” will do in response to Trump’s attacks. The court’s biggest donors need to stay strong . It will be an early test for Ed Miliband, the new foreign secretary . The ICC’s imperfections can make the court’s natural defenders reluctant to man the barricades. Yet that is exactly what needs to happen. Even when it is badly run or cases are poorly constructed, the ICC’s very existence can have an impact. Netanyahu and Putin will for ever be referred to as men indicted for war crimes. Their worlds have shrunk, thanks to the threat of arrest. The Philippines’ former president Rodrigo Duterte is on trial, accused of crimes against humanity during his “war on drugs”. This is why Trump is so determined to shut it down, argues Luis Moreno Ocampo , the court’s i rst chief prosecutor . “Trump knows he could be a target after he leaves oi ce,” he told me. “The ICC is a huge obstacle for him.” That’s another reason why it’s so important the ICC is saved. Actions need to have consequences. After the midterm elections in the US, a Democrat-led Congress is likely to hold hearings and open investigations into a host of Trump’s actions, from his murky dealings to the use of paramilitaries against his own citizens. But the rest of the world needs to hold him accountable too – whether it’s for bombing boats in the Caribbean , striking a school in Iran or indeed any fresh horror he commits . Putin and Netanyahu will live out the rest of their days knowing the threat of arrest could lie around the corner; Trump fears this might be his fate. He cannot be allowed to escape it.
‘Comment is free… but facts are sacred’ CP Scott
Society
demographic crisis needs an informed public debate
Europe is ageing at pace as birthrates fall and people live longer. A new report by the European Commission, published this month, notes that 2012 marked the i rst year in which fewer people were born in EU countries than people died in them. By the middle of this century, nearly one in three EU residents will be 65 or older. The numbers of those over 80 will almost triple from 6% to 15% . The old continent is getting visibly greyer. The transition to a “longevity society”, as the report’s authors describe it, is something to be celebrated. Many people are enjoying healthier, richer lives for longer, and redei ning the meaning and possibilities of old age. But the statistics and direction of travel also point to immense social challenges, with implications for the way we work, intergenerational fairness and the future funding of care. Sadly, amid fraught and at times toxic debates about immigration and the cost of welfare, Europe’s politics is struggling to meet the moment. A relative decline in the size of the working-age population underlines the crucial role that non-EU migrants will continue to play in easing demographic pressures. The zero-net-migration future dreamed of by far-right parties would leave the EU’s population an estimated 32% smaller by 2100 , dramatically increasing the i scal burden on those in work. Yet mainstream politicians avoid highlighting this inconvenient truth, and devoting the necessary resources to fostering integration, while competing with the far right to create an ever more hostile environment for asylum seekers.
Housing
temperatures demands a collective approach
“Our ability to trust that our homes will keep us safe from the outside is under threat,” the geographer Sam Johnson-Schlee writes in Hot House, his recent book on how heat has transformed domestic life. This summer, high temperatures have become inescapable. People have coped with makeshift solutions: keeping curtains drawn, placing foil over windows or – for those who can af ord one – plugging in an air-conditioning unit. Planning experts warn that, with only about half of councils requiring new buildings to include cooling strategies, many homes will become “ death traps ” as temperatures rise. Britain’s homes weren’t built to cope with this. The country’s historically mild climate allowed developers to build houses without insulation, while industrialisation supplied plentiful coal to burn when temperatures dropped. Many homes are consequently drafty in winter and sweltering in summer. Unlike those in Mediterranean climates, British homes lack shutters and shaded communal spaces. While Ildefons Cerdà , Barcelona’s masterplanner, was designing housing blocks with cool courtyards and chamfered edges to allow breezes to l ow, Britain’s Victorian builders were throwing up rows of terrace houses – many without cross-ventilation – and giving little thought to the movement of the sun. A new approach is overdue. Insulation would help to keep properties cool, but schemes to encourage it have languished. The promising green homes grant , launched in 2020 as part of Boris Johnson’s pledge to “build back
On welfare, the framing of the debate is increasingly dominated by the idea that Europe’s postwar social model – conceived in an era of population growth – is no longer af ordable. That is a politically dangerous calculation. Since the 2008 crash, resentment at austerity programmes introduced across Europe has been instrumental in the rise of the authoritarian populism which imperils the EU’s democratic values and social fabric. In deeply unequal societies, the message that the less well-of will simply have to work harder and longer for less will further fuel the politics of the far right. The argument for more cuts is also economically l awed. Future growth and productivity in demographically challenged communities will depend on making it easier for more people to participate in a l exible and accessible labour market. From the reform of social care to of ering af ordable childcare and sustained help for the long-term unemployed, that will require renewed investment to unlock dormant potential. The related issue of rural depopulation and decline will also need to be addressed, as the young increasingly gravitate to cities in search of opportunities that can no longer be found where they grew up. The factors underlying what is a global fertility crisis are complex. But this is a problem that is here to stay. In Europe, public policies designed to increase the birthrate have signally failed to shift the dial, and the European Commission’s study indicates that the pace of demographic change is quicker than anticipated. Nevertheless, beyond controversies over changes to retirement ages, the long-term consequences and implications continue to l y under the radar. A bigger, more high-proi le debate is overdue. It cannot be left to younger generations to pick up the pieces of a broken social model which should have been renewed and redesigned while we had the chance.
greener”, was the victim of a political culture that prized soundbites over meaningful policy. The scheme gave upfront vouchers to homeowners and landlords to upgrade their insulation, but collapsed after just six months, with the public accounts committee saying that it had been “set up to fail” owing to an impossible timetable and rushed design. With no national strategy for dealing with oppressive heat, many homeowners have installed air conditioning. There are now twice the number of air-conditioned homes in Britain that there were three years ago . While this technology has a role to play, it should form part of a broader cooling strategy alongside less energy-intensive techniques. Adopted en masse, air conditioning raises the urban temperature by expelling hot air, making life even warmer for people without it. A recent plan from the mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, sketches a welcome alternative. The capital is more af ected by extreme temperatures than anywhere in Britain due to its distinct heat island ef ect . London’s heat- ready plan puts forward a collective response based on sensible measures that should serve as a roadmap for other cities, such as retroi tting homes with shutters, installing air conditioning in schools and other public buildings, planting more trees for shade, and providing more swimming spots where people can take a dip. There is much to admire here. But Sir Sadiq’s plan collides with a political reality that poses severe challenges to adaptation. In a i scal climate hostile to public investment, it will demand many billions of public money to deliver, particularly since such changes, its authors note, “do not always translate into clear i nancial savings or returns”. The new prime minister, Andy Burnham, has made much of his vision for a politics that is more attuned to place, but has so far remained quiet about the climate crisis. Its terrifying impact on the places where we live should make this threat an urgent priority.
wants to talk care, gen X is ready to listen
O
Gaby Hinsliff
ne of the last things Andy Burnham did before entering Downing Street was to go and see his father . Now living in a nursing home, Roy Burnham has Alzheimer’s, and isn’t really aware of his son’s new job. But perhaps the prime minister wanted, in part, to try to explain why he might not be visiting so often in future. He wouldn’t be the i rst middle-aged child torn between work pulling one way and elderly parents the other, ending up desperate for a politician willing (as Burnham J r says he is) to “ expend quite a lot of political capital ” on the historically vote-losing task of i xing social care. For the alternative is families expending capital – i nancial and emotional – they don’t have. Generation X is now entering its caring years, and unlike previous generations, attempting it while both halves of a couple are simultaneously working full- time jobs. We’re crisscrossing the country between homes far away where we spent our childhoods, and those where our own children are still growing up; dealing with muddles over medication at one end and A-level stress at the other, shuttling from hospital waiting rooms to parents’ evenings in constant fear of dropping a ball somewhere. If working motherhood is mostly being in two places at once, middle-aged daughterhood is being in three: work, home and wherever your parents are, greeted at every turn by accusatory piles of laundry and nagging guilt about not being there (anywhere) enough. Care tax? We’re paying it already: it’s just that nobody calls it that. The invisible tax on not having a universal care service in England particularly – Wales has a more generous system of means-testing , and Scots get free personal care – is paid most obviously in nursing home fees (on average £ 5,192 a month , for those with assets of over £23,250 in England and Northern Ireland) or visiting home care workers at up to a pound a minute. But it’s also paid in time, energy, carers’ own health and sanity, and sometimes their jobs. The charity Carers UK reckons 2.6 million people have given up work due to unpaid caring for a loved one; 61 % of those still working say it af ects the jobs they
The charity Carers UK reckons 2.6 million people have given up work in order to do unpaid caring for a loved one
ILLUSTRATION: THOMAS PULLIN
can do , with a i fth settling for lower-paid or more junior roles. So employers, too, pay the invisible tax every time they lose good people, while the whole country pays it in lost economic activity, and in every night spent in hospital by a patient who could be at home if they’d had better support. (Anticipating and preventing a fall, pressure sore or other cause of rapid downward spiral beats expensively treating the consequences, as Burnham will know from Manchester’s pioneering attempts to shift health and care spend towards prevention.) Yet Westminster sees only the scary price tag on free care, and is paralysed into doing nothing. It’s not for lack of family experience that every politician approaching this subject hurriedly backed away. David Cameron was the devoted father of a profoundly disabled son – it’s often forgotten that social care is about children too – and his mother had Alzheimer’s . Theresa May’s and Keir Starmer’s mothers were disabled by multiple sclerosis and Still’s disease respectively. Burnham said he was motivated by his granny’s struggles when, as health secretary in 2009 , he i rst proposed a national care service funded by a 10 % inheritance levy on all estates. But the plan was doomed the minute the Tories dubbed it a “ death tax ”, running attack ads covered in gravestones. S
ince then, the clamour for something to be done has only grown, but taxing inheritance has become more fraught, with millennials banking on the wealth locked up in their parents’ houses to become homeowners themselves. But the whole point of an inheritance levy is to stop you losing everything if the worst happens – much like house insurance, which many of us fork out for automatically. One in three people end up in a nursing home, costing on average more than £67,000 a year , for an average of two years for care homes without nursing, one year for care homes with (though often longer for dementia suf erers). The trouble is that human nature means most people like to think they’ll never need nursing care, and so become convinced they’ll end up paying more in death taxes than they get out. If he is to succeed where he failed before then Burnham must show that, like the NHS it mirrors, his universal care service of ers something for everyone. Make it, then, a service for ageing well. Make it as visible as SureStart was for new parents, with one- stop centres dispensing advice, activities for older people, and helping families through a lonely and confusing time. Introduce Japanese-style routine assessments for over-65s , as recommended by the IPPR thinktank, picking up future risks while there’s still time to improve bone strength or balance. Pitch it as a service taking the fear and indignity out of ageing, while preserving your children’s i nancial security to boot. Turn Louise Casey’s review of social care into a short national conversation about what constitutes a good old age; don’t let parliament debate the right to die again without a parallel right to live well to the end. And if people still don’t want a death tax? Tell them the chances are they’ll end up paying an invisible one anyway; at least this way, someone bothered to ask them i rst.
O
an engine for all of Britain
Burnham
n Monday, while the cameras were i xed on that famous black door in Downing Street, something important was happening 200 miles away. A small team of oi cials and advisers were walking into an oi ce building in Manchester to set about the remaking of the British state. This was the beginning of No 10 North : the i rst major act of this government and what I hope will be seen as its most dei ning. Over the past 40 years, Britain has taken a series of wrong turns. In the 1980s, political power was centralised, economic power was privatised and communities were deindustrialised. Many of the places most af ected have not recovered since and are
still in decline. They have been unable to turn things around because they do not have the power to do so. This feeling of neglect has lain underneath the fractious politics that has bedevilled Britain in recent times. Solving this problem is crucial for the cohesion of our country. It is something with which it has wrestled for a long time but never got right. We have seen gimmicks, such as levelling up . We have seen the shifting of bits of the British state around the map to no great ef ect. Why has none of it worked? It is partly because, even though Whitehall departments have set up outposts, decision-making power has remained in London. It is also because, in the very centre of government itself, Nos 10 and 11 have not been sui ciently aligned – particularly on growth. This is what No 10 North is seeking to correct and, if we succeed, it could bring a sea change in the way Britain is run. It is about driving growth from the most powerful oi ce in the land in close alignment with the Treasury. It is about taking power down and placing it in the hands of people who can use it best. No 10 North will be responsible for accelerating devolution . It will drive re industrialisation and growth across every postcode of the UK. It will remove barriers to regeneration, from council house building to public transport infrastructure. Crucially, No 10 North will bring the whole of Whitehall together behind places, rather than standing in their way. Our long- term ambition is clear: to achieve equivalent living standards across all the regions and nations of the UK. Giving places power matters because, without it, they cannot do those things. Growth cannot be imposed from the top down, but instead has to be nurtured from the bottom up. Britain has spent decades trying unsuccessfully to do the former and now, through No 10 North, it is about to give the latter a proper go. People will have heard me talk about wanting the
Andy Burnham is the prime minister of the United Kingdom
nation to face the same way and pull together. That example has to be set by government. Whitehall departments need to stop i ghting turf wars and pull together behind the places that need their support. I know the power of devolution is real. A decade ago, I left Westminster for home to change things for better and for good. And we did. We brought buses back under public control. We created new opportunities for young people. We built a city region with twice the economic growth of anywhere else in the UK. What we did in Greater Manchester, we can do across our nation. Today , from No 10 North, I will chair the i rst meeting of the National Economic Council, bringing together senior ministers and regional mayors. We will ensure every department in Whitehall gets behind the growth and devolution ambitions of every region. I want Britain to believe again. That means creating a country where everybody feels a part of what is happening and everybody feels heard. We will demonstrate to everyone that they are part of the story. This year, we will bring forward a 10-year plan for Britain, laying out a path to where I believe we all want the country to be. Our plan will set out how we bring the essentials in life back under stronger public control to make them af ordable again; how we re industrialise every part of Britain; and how we build more council homes and solve the housing crisis. But I know people cannot wait that long for help. We need to provide some breathing space now. This week, we did that with two tax cuts: VAT on electricity bills for households, and business rates for pubs, social clubs and live music venues. This government will do the big reforms that change our country for ever and we will do the small things that make life a little easier for now. That is how we restore belief. That is how we get Britain believing in itself again. And that is how we bring back hope.
BEN JENNINGS
Country diary Deerness Valley, County Durham
An early morning walk before the heat of the day becomes oppressive. The woodland footpath lies in deep shadow, l ecked with sunbeams. A familiar fragrance – honeysuckle – lingers in the cool, still air. There are a few Lonicera periclymenum l owers at eye level, but most of the sweet, clove-like perfume comes from thousands of inl orescences that smother the crowns of a hazel and an oak overhead. Lit by glancing rays of the rising sun, they glow golden against a cloudless sky. It’s the i nest display of honeysuckle blossom I’ve ever encountered. I trace its origin to a thick, gnarled old stem, rooted at the base of the hazel, ramifying up through its branches. For all its beauty, there is something a tad sinister about honeysuckle, a vegetable boa constrictor lurking in our l ora. This monster specimen would have begun life as a seed inside a tempting crimson berry, eaten then voided by a bird perched in the tree. Germinating in deep shade, but needing sunlight to l ower, it devoted its energy to climbing through its host, reaching out with long, sinuous shoots: searching, coiling, twining, sometimes strangling, relentlessly heading skywards. If honeysuckle grips young stems of fast-growing trees like hazel, ash or rowan, its tightening grip can corkscrew their growth . With nowhere left to climb, a wayward shoot that could i nd nothing to clasp dangles over the footpath. Its elegant l owers, like ceremonial trumpets, emit a fanfare of scent that will become much stronger at dusk. Then, they’ll turn up the volume to attract crepuscular moths that are said to be capable of detecting it from a quarter of a mile away. As the pollinators hover, probing l owers with long probosces, they cannot avoid touching the protruding stamens and stigma. So the annual cycle repeats: ripe berry, bird, seed, shade, shoots seeking support, reaching for the sunlight to l ower. The day is already becoming uncomfortably warm, so we begin the trudge homeward, but i rst, something I haven’t done since childhood, sampling the nectar that attracts the moths, plucking a l ower and tasting its earthy sweetness on my tongue. Phil Gates
We may edit letters. Submission and publication of letters is subject to our terms and conditions: see theguardian.com/letters-terms
product of Trump’s rule
Simon Tisdall’s article (The greatest danger in the world isn’t Iran, it’s Trump, 18 July) is a forceful polemic, but it risks turning a structural problem into a personal one. If Donald Trump is uniquely reckless, that deserves criticism. Yet the article implies that America’s present predicament is chiel y the consequence of his character, rather than asking why successive administrations, Republican and Democrat alike, have repeatedly resorted to military intervention in the Middle East. To focus on Trump’s defects risks making war itself appear as an aberration rather than as a recurring feature of American power. The same applies to the strait of Hormuz. Its strategic importance does not begin or end with one president. It rel ects a global economic order that depends on secure energy supplies, trade routes and the projection of military power to guarantee them. That broader context is largely absent. The article also assumes that a more competent president, acting with Congress, allies and international law on side, would have avoided today’s crisis. History of ers little comfort. We
Your article (Fears of stateless babies amid surrogacy boom, 20 July) suggests that the solution lies in better regulation to make surrogacy safe and ethical. But regulation cannot remove the central ethical problem: every surrogacy arrangement begins with the deliberate separation of a newborn baby from their mother, who they have naturally bonded with throughout the pregnancy. Regulation is also not able to eliminate the physical risks borne exclusively by surrogate mothers. A study in Canada has suggested that
Foreign Offi ce i gures showing that the UK will almost halve bilateral aid to Somalia by 2029 ( Report, theguardian.com, 16 July ) come as families across the country brace for yet another climate emergency. Forecasters are warning that rains in Somalia in October could bring catastrophic l ooding, displacing thousands. The World Meteorological Organi zation has l agged a heightened risk of extreme rainfall , which will strik e communities still recovering from a severe drought that has left
have been here before: the Iraq,
Afghanistan and Libya conl icts
were carried out under far more
conventional presidencies.
Trump may be the spectacle, but
he is not the problem. The article
focuses on the drama rather than
the system that keeps producing it.
David Eaton
Sunderland
• Simon Tisdall is right to identify the dangers to the world presented by the Trump administration and the president himself. Tisdall enumerates the recent damage, death and destruction that the Trump administration has presided over, seeing current excesses and abuses of power as dangers to the rest of us, as indeed they are. But the current excesses, overt and covert, can be seen as a continuation of American history and practice that not only has led to the 20th century being seen as the American century, but also as the century of US wars. Since the end of the i rst world war, we have seen the US initiate the war for oil, the war against communism, the war against drugs, the war against terror and the war against Islam. All continue to have negative impacts on the rest of the
surrogate mothers are more likely to experience severe complications including postpartum haemorrhage and pre-eclampsia than women who conceived naturally or with IVF. Regulation cannot eliminate the risks and realities of surrogacy, and the evidence referenced in the article should give decision- makers pause. Countries and US states that have introduced detailed regulatory frameworks continue to report concerns about the exploitation of economically vulnerable women, inadequate informed consent and diffi culties
6 million people facing high levels of acute food insecurity. For Somali families, this means facing yet another major disruption to their lives and livelihoods, and having less humanitarian support available to those af ected. Britain has long supported Somalia through some of its hardest years, and its ambition to use trade, investment and private sector partnership to support Africa’s development is welcome. However, the decision to channel available funds into multilateral
world, and perpetuate American foreign policy arrogance and belligerence. All these wars failed to achieve their supposed aims. They have also provided cover for other tyrannical governments to act in similar, if less universal, fashion. I’m not sure we should see Trump as an aberration – more as a more shameless manifestation of what has always been there. Blaine Stothard London
• I agree wholeheartedly with Simon Tisdall, but he didn’t answer his own question: who will stop Donald Trump? The polls show his weakness , but the upcoming elections may not because the Democrats are so weak and Trump will inevitably confuse the results to his own benei t. The answer to the question must lie in the Republican party itself. Surely there are enough right-thinking Republicans to turn votes against him and force some control over his behaviour. It is beginning to happen. This may be the way to begin to bring him to heel, but it creates further issues before any real resolution . The immediate problem for the American people and the world is twofold . First , as the “wounded bear” , Trump will continue to do catastrophic damage before November’s elections. And second , Marco Rubio to take over? God save us all. Harvey Gilbert Milton Keynes
with oversight and enforcement. Laws may change the way that surrogacy is organised, but they have not consistently prevented abuses or addressed the inequalities that drive many women to engage with surrogacy. Rather than assuming that better regulation will make surrogacy ethical, we should ask whether a practice that depends on separating a baby from their birth mother, while exposing women to signii cant medical risks and creating opportunities for exploitation, can ever truly be made safe . Lexi Ellingsworth Founder, Stop Surrogacy Now UK
funders like the World Bank cannot
happen at the expense of aid
provision. Humanitarian support
keeps families buying food, shops
trading and clinics open when
crisis hits. Without it, each crisis
will leave less for businesses and
investors to build on.
Aid and investment must go
hand in hand. One helps countries
weather the emergency ahead;
the other helps build the strength
to face the next. Britain cannot
expect investment to succeed if
it withdraws aid too soon.
Abdullahi Nur Osman
Chief executive, Hormuud
Salaam Foundation
Corrections and clarifi cations
• An article ( Man nearly sucked out of plane tells of his ordeal , 22 July, p1, early editions) was incorrect in saying that Ljubisa Karović “is the only person to have been sucked out of an aircraft window […] and survived”. In 1990, a British Airways pilot, Capt Timothy Lancaster, also survived after being propelled halfway through a cockpit window that fell out on a l ight from Birmingham to Málaga.
Editorial complaints and corrections can be sent to guardian.readers@theguardian.com or The readers’ editor, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. You can also leave a voicemail on 020 3353 4736
petrol pump thieves
I was once visiting Massachusetts in the US and forgot to take my card into the gas station before i lling up (‘A guy did a runner in a Jaguar’, 21 July) . After some loudspeaker remonstration, I took my card in, apologising that I’d forgotten as we don’t do that in the UK. The owner almost fell on the l oor laughing. “How do you stop people stealing gas?” he asked. “We don’t,” I replied. Further merriment ensued. Sadly, it’s time we did start not releasing pumps until we have cash or a card deposit on hand. Paul Taroni Alton, Hampshire
• I shall always remember the health visitor who came to see me after my youngest son was born, nearly 50 years ago (Letters, 22 July) . She had the brilliant idea of asking me if I could deliver a message for her to another mother with a new baby living further up our north London street. I did, and we became i rm friends – as did our sons. As your letter writers suggest, she was indeed addressing the wider social determinants of health. Bring them back! Bridget Patterson Woodbridge, Suf olk
• After a decade and more of miserableness, bleakness and being told I have to face hard truths, what I want from Andy Burnham is simple. I want to wake up tomorrow with a sense of optimism and a spring in my step, knowing that things are i nally going to get better. Mike Storey Peterborough
• Because we are pretty awful at these jobs, in our household DIY equates to “Destroy it yourself” (Letters, 18 July) . Pat Begg Stockport, Greater Manchester
D
Photographer whose posed subjects and double exposures were inspired by surrealism and his Catholic upbringing
uane Michals, who has died aged 94, was a pioneer of the “directorial mode” of photography, known for staging his tableaux and for posing his subjects in a range of roles from an angel to an everyman. The results were a mixture of the profound, the profane and the puckish, tilting at issues of life and death. As Michals was fond of saying: “I think that if you’re a very serious person, it’s very important to be very silly.” He was inspired by imagery from his Catholic childhood and by surrealism . In Paradise Regained (1968), a man and woman in a sitting room are gradually, in a series of six photographs, divested of all their clothes and possessions (save a clock), as their room becomes i lled with potted plants. This Garden of
Eden-cum-garden centre is typical of his wit and wisdom, with the plodding story-boarding and seemingly profound engagement of ering a sort of “photo-cartoon” philosophical inquiry. The grim reaper in Death Comes to the Old Lady (1969) wears a suit and whisks her away. Take One and See Mt Fujiyama (1976) culminates in the comedy ending of a man confusing the vision of a snow-capped summit with a stif lump in his Y-fronts. The Fallen Angel (1968) alights in the room of a sleeping woman whom he seduces – then, plunged into remorse, he sheds his wings and slumps of as an ordinar y mortal in a shabby jacket. A Letter from My Father (1975) has an earlier portrait of his younger brother standing in front of his parents, coupled with Michals’s writing in despair of his relationship with his father. A Failed Attempt to Photograph Reality (1975) does not even feature
Chance Meeting, above, 1970, six gelatin silver photographs with hand- applied text by Michals, right in a 2025 self-portrait. For much of his career he worked in commercial photography, undertaking high-profi le commissions such as the cover of Synchronicity, top right, the 1983 album by the Police
DUANE MICHALS. COURTESY OF DC MOORE GALLERY, NEW YORK
a photograph – simply a few lines written on blank photographic paper asserting photography’s inability to do more than record appearances, a dominant theme in Michals’s work. “Photographers are always describing the package very well, but they never talk about the content,” he said. “They show me the what of things but they don’t show me the why or how of things.” Michals was born in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, a steel town near Pittsburgh, to a family of Czech origin. His father, John, worked in the steel mill and his mother, Margaret (nee Matik), was a housekeeper. Theirs was not a happy marriage. “They pretended to be a family, like actors pantomiming two dif erent plays on one stage at the same time,” Michals said. He revisited his troubled childhood frequently in his work; both at a distance, by
I think if you’re a very serious person, it’s very important to be very silly
looking at his relationship with his remote father, and by returning in later life to his family home, by then abandoned. Although raised as a devout Roman Catholic he subsequently rejected religion. At 14 he took a weekly watercolour class at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, later graduating from the University of Denver with a B A in art, before studying graphic design at the Parsons School, New York. In 1958 he went on a three- week trip to Russia and, with a borrowed camera, took a series of portraits and cityscapes. After the portraits were included in a group exhibition alongside work by the emergent street photographer Garry Winogrand , Michals dropped graphic design and took up photography, working initially on a series of publicity stills for a long-running Broadway musical, which subsidi sed his early artistic development. He continued commercial portrait photography for much of his career, working for Vogue magazine and undertaking other high-proi le commissions, including the cover of Synchronicity, the 1983 album by the Police . His next series, Empty New York (1964 -65), featuring deserted lobbies, vacant bars and bare bus es, echoed Eugène Atget’s images of a depopulated Old Paris, the celebrated documentary photography admired by the surrealists . In 1965 he visited the surrealist artist René Magritte in Brussels and spent a week with him, during
which he made portraits using double exposures. Apparently, Magritte showed him home movies, and at dinner they would watch the television western series Bonanza dubbed in French. The inl uence of the surrealists led to Michals disavowing documentary photography and declaring that “to photograph reality is to photograph nothing”. He began making sets of charmingly ham-i sted (dramatically and technically) staged photographs to form a narrative or sequence, using double exposures and rudimentary printing techniques. He would also write in ink alongside or on the pictures, grateful that his lack of photographic education freed him from its prevailing strictures: “I didn’t know that you weren’t supposed to write on a photograph.” L
ate in his career, when he was 70, and his parents dead and gone, Michals returned to McKeesport to photograph the house where he was born. The House I Once Called Home is a set of pictures – often in pairs – featur ing old prints juxtaposed with images of the house’s overgrown, derelict state . Double exposures show portraits of his parents superimposed on the ruined house. The weight of family and history seems to bear down on the pictures and text, Michals’s memories overpowering his imagination in work that is less playful and spirited than usual. Michals maintained a polemical attitude towards the photographic establishment. His later work incorporated painting, and several pictures consisted of him painting over the prints of photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson . “People believe in the reality of photographs, but not in the reality of paintings,” he said. “That gives photographers an enormous advantage. Unfortunately, photographers also believe in the reality of photographs.” His long-term partner, Frederick Gorree, an architect, whom he married in 2011, died in 2017. Michael Collins
Liberal politician and activist who turned to journalism
Zaheer Abbas, cricketer, 79; Julia Bradbury, broadcaster, 56; Lynda Carter, actor and singer, 75; Michael Coveney, drama critic, 78; Danny Dyer, actor, 49; Lucy Davies, former executive director, Young Vic, 56; Catherine Destivelle, mountaineer, 66; Prof Frank Close, particle physicist, 81; Andy Gomarsall, rugby player, 52; Martin Keown, footballer and M
ichael Meadow- croft, who has died aged 84 after a short illness, was a Yorkshire Liberal politician and activist of great resource and l air. He constantly wrong footed Labour in its former heartlands in Leeds as a nimble source of new ideas, closely in touch with voters and patient at working with them to get local problems solved. He served as a Liberal party member of Leeds city council from 1968 to 1983, and then as an MP for Leeds West for four years. Meadowcroft was famously the only MP in the city’s history who led a weekend jazz ensemble in the main shopping precinct, pausing between numbers to discuss political issues with passers by. Exuberantly self-coni dent, he was a natural challenger with less interest in becoming part of any status quo. But he was steeped in Liberal philosophy as well as being a rigorous organiser, central to the party’s adoption of “community politics ” during its resurgence under the charismatic leadership of Jo Grimond in the 1960s . He was born in Elland, West Yorkshire, the eldest of three sons of Phyllis (nee Hanson), a blanket weaver, and Norman, a railway booking clerk who had been a conscientious objector and served in the Royal Army Medical Corps during the second world war. Meadowcroft grew up in a council house in Southport, Lancashire . He was educated at Churchtown primary, a bright and encouraging school, and then the highly
KEYSTONE PRESS/ALAMY
conventional King George V grammar, which he left at 16 when his father lost his job . Meadowcroft found work as a bank clerk to help support the family before exploring wider horizons when his hereditary support for Labour shifted to the Liberals as more ef ective challengers of Southport’s Conservative council. Local activism led to an organising post at Liberal headquarters in London, where he worked closely with the national agent Pratap Chitnis , who masterminded the Liberal party triumph at the Orpington by election in 1962. This began the “Liberal Revival ” after three lean decades and Meadowcroft repeated the pattern when he returned to the north in 1967 as secretary to the Yorkshire Liberal Federation. The following year he joined two fellow activists as the i rst Liberal councillors in Leeds for 38 years, breaking through in Labour strongholds rather than Tory wards where more demure, less knockabout Liberals had battled endlessly in vain. He combined council work during a heady time for Leeds’ prosperity with working as assistant secretary of the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust and later secretary of the council for voluntary service in Bradford. In 1978 he took an MPhil at Bradford University on political history in Leeds, a subject that absorbed him for the rest of his life. Five years later, after a stint on West Yorkshire county council, Meadowcroft won election as MP for Leeds West, against the national expectations of political commentators and Liberal HQ. But
Parliament seemed stuff y and full of cobwebs compared with council work
his four years at Westminster were frustrating . His long-considered and deeply felt Liberal credo had little room for social democrats; he feared the socialist spider would swallow the liberal l y. Parliament seemed stuf y and cobwebbed compared with council work. He was increasingly interested in the promotion of democracy and liberalism internationally, so defeat by Labour’s John Battle in 1987 proved a release, although he did i ght the seat in the 1992 general election. He also overcame his political arachnophobia by joining the Liberal Democrats in 2007. As chair of the Electoral Reform Society (1989-93), and after a stint as a senior visiting fellow at the Policy Studies Institute, Meadowcroft led or took part in 50 missions to 39 emerging democracies and also spent time in other countries, especially France, where he had a share in a cottage . He devoted time to music and drama; the arrival in Leeds of the new West Yorkshire Playhouse and Opera North during his council term had given him pleasure, and he and his second wife, Liz Bee – a librarian, fellow musician and Liberal campaigne r whom he married in 1987 – hosted visiting artists at their home for 40 years. He was a vigorous committee member of local organisations such as the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society and especially the venerable Leeds Library, whose founders in 1768 included Joseph Priestley. There, Meadowcroft lectured entertainingly on Leeds’s historical i gures and wrote as a columnist for the Times and Yorkshire Post and as a frequent contributor to the Guardian . His pamphlets and books were published by small imprints but remain inl uential in discussions of Liberalism, especially a record of debates in 1980 with David Marquand on Liberalism and Social Democracy, and Diversity in Danger: Pluralism and Policy Development, published in 1989 and again in 2009. He left the Liberals on their merger with the SDP in 1988 and set up a “continuing Liberal ” party, which failed to prosper . In later years he unfailingly encouraged young or new liberals wherever they were to be found. In 196 2 he married Eluned Lloyd Jones, a teacher and Liberal party activist, and they had a son, Andrew, and a daughter, Ruth. They divorced in 1987 and she died in 2020. He is survived by Liz, his two children, seven of his eight grandchildren , four great- grandchildren and a brother, Robert. His granddaughter, Esther, died in 2022. Martin Wainwright
Michael James Meadowcroft, politician, writer and public aff airs consultant, born 6 March 1942; died 1 June 2026
Birthdays
pundit, 60; Jennifer Lopez, actor and singer, 57; Ruth Mackenzie, artistic director, 69; Elisabeth Moss, actor, 44; The R t Rev James Newcome, former bishop of Carlisle, 73; Anna Paquin, actor, 44; Lord (David) Simon of Highbury, former Labour minister, 87; Quinlan Terry, architect, 89; Gus Van Sant, i lm director, 74; Catherine Wyn-Rogers, mezzo- soprano, 72.
Letter Dame Penelope Keith
Dame Penelope Keith (obituary, 29 June) , a great supporter of the armed forces, readily agree d to become patron of readingforce. org.uk – an organisation connecting military families through shared reading. Last November she and the broadcaster Janet Ellis delivered a programme of war writing in Aldershot. Dame Penelope pored over suggestions from the war poetry scholar Jane Potter and me, of ering additions she had “accumulated”. A memorable item from the mother of her close friend the actor John Warner went to him with Epsom Salts to avoid “faulty elimination of bowels”. The pay-of was immaculate: “Several of those present in the minesweepers on D- day have made it clear that the last thing they needed was a dose of salts.” Alison Baverstock
Announcements
Deaths
BRUCE, John. Died peacefully at home in Windsor on 9 July 2026 aged 88 years old. He will be sadly missed by his wife Emma, daughter Deborah and grandchildren Barney and Nell. John will remain forever in the hearts of his family and friends.
For Announcements, Acknowledgments, Adoptions, Anniversaries, Birthdays, Births, Deaths, Engagements, Memorial Services and In Memoriam, email us at announcements@theguardian.com including your name, address and telephone number or phone 0203 353 2114.
The American singer and actor Jennifer Lopez is 57 today
solutions Killer sudoku Codeword
Codeword
Each letter of the alphabet makes at least one appearance in the grid, and is represented by the same number wherever it appears. The letters decoded should help you to identify other letters and words in the grid. Killer sudoku Easy
Medium
Cryptic crossword
Solution No. 30,066
F E R M A T S L A S T S R E R O L I W T H E O R E M C O L O G N E I N U Y I O H E F E C U N D A T E C U T U P L H N T A R I E X P O S T A Y A T H O M E O T E P C U L M I N A T E S B E A T A Y R I M W R M A N G A R E P R O B A T E E E M L O V L N R O S S I N I W R E C K E D A I S F E R E Y A D U L T E R A T O R
Looking for more? Download the Guardian app for more puzzles, including our new Premier League game, On the Ball, and our movie quiz, Film Reveal. Plus clues and answers to all our interactive crosswords and sudoku. Available in the Apple App Store and Google Play.
The normal rules of sudoku apply: i ll each row, column and 3x3 box with all the numbers from 1 to 9. In addition, the digits in each inner shape (marked by dots) must add up to the number in the top corner of that box. No digit can be repeated within an inner shape.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
10 11
12 13
14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21
23 24 25
26 27
28 29
Across 1 Rubbish clothes, baggier with holes at intervals (7) 5 Wasted help, say, to get in trim (7) 10 Hungry feeling? Frier fi nally working (4) 11 Exercising, animate toes almost in sequence (3,2,1,4) 12 Cup from Scotland, or one from Hobart? (6) 13 Called out indecent state of the crew (8) 14 New magazine from US island (9) 16 Looking west, this elevated point used to measure height and circumference (5) 17 Peach burst open (5) 19 Beautiful girl whose twin perished (4,5) 23 Pope’s half genial proclamation (8) 24 The precise hour business is over, close up (6) 26 A couple of hairstyles, extremely smart feature of the Arctic (10) 27 In rage, black a source of energy (4) 28 Lousy payment for cartoon (7) 29 Hear about one record in a set of three (7)
Down 2 Unyielding squad a man triumphantly arrests (7) 3 Fraudulent attempt to climb into conveyance (5) 4 Creators of digital protection are not just good friends? (7) 6 In base, extravagant to luxuriate in this? (3,3) 7 Spirited, transforming hotel into a place of culture (5,4) 8 Roast meat: like a bit of turkey? (7) 9 Being born again, robe outwardly in pink (13) 15 Fellow in community had injured brainstem (9) 18 Arrive before opening of park, and go back (7) 20 Bertie develops from bad to worse (7) 21 About to go of perhaps, indicating right (7) 22 Weirdo following one in poor visibility (6) 25 Brief description of timeless ballet dancing (5)
‘Unbearably sexy’ Benedict Cumberbatch fi lm roles – ranked!
the black
How tribute acts came to rescue Britain’s live music scene
screen roles – from hyper-British patricians to sci-fi scoundrels
Peter Bradshaw See the full list of 20 at theguardian.com/i lm
Starter for 10 (2006)
An early movie role for the young actor, in which he was cast in an almost slapstick part as the geeky butt-of-the-joke. In this version of David Nicholls’ novel about students competing in the TV quizshow University Challenge, James McAvoy is the fresher at Bristol university, mad keen to be on the team. But he is patronised by Cumberbatch’s team captain and their confrontation ends in chaotic violence.
Ironically, Cumberbatch’s greatest i lm to date is a western – and this most English of actors plays the nastiest US roughneck imaginable. He is the boorish and charmless Phil Burbank, who runs a ranch in remote Montana with his brother George (Jesse Plemons). Phil is a sociopath and a bully, obsessed with mocking his brother’s pretensions to culture and rei nement, but profoundly dependent on him emotionally. It is a huge role for Cumberbatch, and his wild-eyed magnetic and sinister aura fl oods the screen.
9 7
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) 1917 (2019)
The actor’s second performance as a ramrod-straight commanding oi cer in the i rst world war. His contribution here is smaller than in Steven Spielberg’s War Horse, but it is a powerful cameo. He plays Col Mackenzie, a i erce martinet, careworn by slaughter and the burden of command.
3 4
The Imitation Game (2014) 12 Years a Slave (2013) The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023)
Here is the one movie that really gave Cumberbatch a chance to develop the Sherlockian persona that had made him an international star. He plays Alan Turing, the genius mathematician and wartime codebreaker, and is excellent at showing the young Turing’s brilliance, his abruptness and tactlessness (which may now be attributed to autism spectrum disorder), and also his sensitivity and loneliness.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
Cumberbatch had one of the trickiest, knottiest roles of his career in this John le Carré thriller, playing Peter Guillam – an intelligence oi cer low enough on the food chain to have escaped suspicion of double- dealing, but nonetheless little liked by his superiors. He amusingly carries of a cuf -shooting style with a rather absurd mop of a haircut, and a dandruf y three-piece suit.
Cumberbatch plays William Ford, the most insidiously culpable role in Steve McQueen’s slavery drama. Ford is supposedly the good guy, and yet he is all the more despicable for being so blandly complicit in the situation, and for his weakness in selling Solomon Northup to a man he knows is evil.
The actor gave a watchable turn as the blankly named John Harrison, AKA Khan Noonien Singh – the enigmatically cool foe of Kirk and Spock in JJ Abrams’ 2013 follow-up to his great reboot of the sci-i pop classic. His role here is a little light on dialogue, and Abrams’ intention was probably more to let us simply luxuriate in that mysterious face: unbearably sexy in its rodenty way.
Wreckers (2011)
One of Cumberbatch’s most interesting and fully realised performances. He plays David, a schoolteacher and decent guy married to Claire Foy’s Dawn, living in a quiet English village. Their home life is upended when his troubled brother Nick (Shaun Evans) returns from the army and reveals some uncomfortable family secrets.
Doctor Strange (2016)
Cumberbatch was genius casting as Doctor Strange, a brilliant but arrogant neurosurgeon who achieves his superpowers – in time-honoured fashion – through an accident, but has to be schooled in a distinctively Zen kind of mastery by an enigmatic mentor (played by Tilda Swinton). With this, and 2022 follow-up Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Marvel gave Cumberbatch a massive global cineplex audience for his unique charisma, theatricality and unconventional handsomeness.
Wes Anderson’s Oscar-winning short gives Cumberbatch another side to his underappreciated comedy style: the deadpan pose, which is here an almost Keatonian stoneface. His Sugar is a wealthy, greedy man with an inscrutable manner, who discovers in himself magic powers that he is able to exploit for gain in casinos all over the world.
PLAYLIST
best new tracks
John Glacier Bond Girl
The peerless UK MC’s most club-ready cut to date: a hip-house track with a Detroit-ish bassline, topped with Glacier airily pronouncing her fashion bona i des.
Jeff rey Silverstein Portland Works
Silverstein was raised in New Jersey
and is based in the Pacii c north-west
– yet this radiant cosmic Americana
smear of pedal steel, acoustic and
honeyed synths exudes pure wild
west.
Protomartyr Sounds We Cannot Hear
With a central rif like a siren sounding through a hurricane of hail, this is an enormous return for the Detroit post- punks, who as usual get to the heart of today’s ennui and horror.
Namesbliss x Paul Stephan Run It
The two London MCs engage in a back and forth of fl uid fl ows on brotherhood, faith and dreams, over a stuttering, saxophone-laced beat.
Murex Flock of Swans Fly in V’s
Having written with Rosalía and Addison Rae, the Swedish artist is emerging as very much her own thing: this single of ers a vision of sprites darting around a glitching harp.
Chad Hugo Jumpupw!nya (ft Tierra Whack and Leikeli47)
The non-Pharrell half of the Neptunes brings every ounce of his considerable production nous and sense of funk to these aerobic breakbeats.
Cole Pulice The Limits of the Frame
Even when deconstructing their trademark sax, Pulice makes reliably soothing, detail-laden sound miasmas to take a moment in.
By Ben Beaumont-Thomas, Laura Snapes and Claudia Efemini
COVER PHOTOGRAPH: FABIO DE PAOLA/THE GUARDIAN
THIS PAGE: KIRSTY GRIFFIN/AP
nattered like two old ladies on Coronation Street’
Mitchell of the Durutti Column refl ect on the cult band’s long history with producer Keir Stewart
As told to Dave Simpson
Vini, you’ve created some of the most beautiful, ethereal music of the last 40 years. Is it true that in your youth you were in a violent Manchester street gang? Songy24 Vini Reilly [guitars, vocals, keyboards]: Gangs then had a dif erent meaning. It was just “their lot” and “our lot”. We’d sling insults at each other. Then you’d play football in the park and realise you were playing with the local thugs. They were actually very funny, and I could have fun with them because I was so little. I’d been going through a recurring depressive illness and felt I didn’t i t in at home, so I left without any clean clothing. I wanted to end my life so I decided to go to Moss Side , where the gangsters would shoot me. Of course they didn’t. I’d had a very happy childhood until my father died when I was doing my O -levels, but I’ve come to the conclusion that the really bad things gave me more than they could ever take. How can you know happiness until you’ve known deep sadness? Bruce Mitchell [drums]: Vini does kick of , though, properly battles. We had to section him once, and six people had to hold him down.
Is there a story behind your Blood Orange collaboration, The Field? nobblehobble Keir Stewart [producer]: Dev Hynes [Blood Orange] has been a fan for a long time, and he sampled [the 1998 track] Sing to Me and made a tune out of it. He asked permission for the sample, and when we met we had this two -hour babble about the Durutti Column and all sorts. Durutti have all these famous covert fans : Stewart Lee, Chris Morris, Max Richter, Richard Ayoade, John Frusciante from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Chris Martin from Coldplay, AG Cook, Caroline Polachek , loads of artists on the hyperpop scene. It’s great that Vini’s been able to harvest this recognition in his lifetime, but he keeps it all outside his door. He wants to remain unpolluted. VR: I’ve never heard of most of these people, but it’s very nice.
PHOTOGRAPH: MICHAEL STEFF
Which guitarists did you listen to growing up? Troykatoo VR: One of my favourite s was Al Casey, who played with Thomas “Fats” Waller : really sparse melodies and harmonic progressions. I had this notion that whether you went to a big orchestral performance at the Free Trade Hall or a folk club in Sale, you knew what the
audience would look like because people identify with genre. So I wanted to create something that wasn’t a recognisable form. When we were trying to get into Canada, the customs guy asked what kind of music we played and I piped up: “Avant garde jazz classical.” It was a joke, but it stuck.
How do you feel about the recent For Vini – A Tribute to the Durutti Column show in London? NickJMorgan KS: Harry Styles told Radio 1 that the biggest inl uences on his new album are LCD Soundsystem and the Durutti Column. Then he was asked to curate Meltdown , so we were asked if there was any way Vini could do a show. There wasn’t, so we got the musicians together for the tribute. I played guitar – I can’t play like Vini but I put in a lot of practice! When Bruce came on to play drums, everyone was cheering. A promoter’s already asked if we could do a UK tour, so we’ll see. VR: It’s fantastic that they’re doing it, but I couldn’t bear to see it. If Bruce is involved, it’s always right. Whenever we played together we didn’t rehearse, but we had such chemistry he always knew when a song would end. It worked every time.
Could you tell us your memories of Ian Curtis and the inspiration behind the song The Missing Boy? Philshawknight VR: Ian and I were getting to know each other – we both worked for dif erent parts of the civil service. We were planning to do some music together but never told anyone in case people like Mark E Smith called it nepotism. Then I was staying with Tony [Wilson, Factory boss] and Lindsay [Reade, Wilson’s then wife] . I answered the phone and it was Ian. He wasn’t making any sense. He l uctuated from being really positive to the opposite. He was angry that Tony had called him a poet. When I saw all the pills Ian had been prescribed for epilepsy, I knew he didn’t have a chance. Also his marriage was falling apart, he had a little girl … I wasn’t surprised when he killed himself: it’s all there in the songs, but nobody – not even Tony – ever asked him about them. There’s an anger to The Missing Boy because it’s like I’m gritting my teeth.
all these famous fans … Vini hasn’t heard of most of them!’
▲ The band’s producer Keir Stewart, frontman Vini Reilly and drummer Bruce Mitchell
Send us your questions for next week’s interviewee theguardian. com/culture
Who is Paul in Detail for Paul ? Uncleheinrichagain VR: A friend I had for a long time . Really intelligent, good guy. He got a job in advertising which went against his socialist principles. One day he just didn’t show up. I miss him. People always assume my songs are named after girlfriends, which they’re not at all. Jacqueline is Bruce’s wife, a fantastic artist . Quite a few are named after my nieces or cousins. Do they feel honoured? Oh no. My family are terribly insulted.
What was it like to work on Viva Hate with Morrissey, and would you work with him again? deFaoiteK VR: Certainly, he’s so ridiculously gifted. I remember him talking about the Moors murderers and how he could have been one of those [murdered] kids, which never left him. On Late Night, Maudlin Street you felt that doomy power. But also we never stopped laughing. BM: I dropped Vini of at the studio half expecting to pick him up again after half an hour, because all the musicians and engineers were eating at this long table, and right at the end on his own was Morrissey. But they got on so well that when I eventually picked him up, Vini said: “Can we take Mozza?” They were nattering in the back seat all the way. It was like listening to two old ladies on Coronation Street.
What was the best and worst thing about Tony Wilson? dramaagh VR: There wasn’t a worst. The best is that he was a true altruist, and that never changed. Factory was conceived with the money his mother bequeathed , and he was determined he was gonna do something out of respect for her. He made loads of recordings possible. A lot are very precious to me, because without him people would have never got to hear them.
Was the name the Durutti Column deliberately or accidentally misspelt from the Spanish civil war anarchist Buenaventura Durruti and La Colonna Durru ti ? somna123 VR: The name was Tony’s idea. He felt that since anarchy was the basis of punk, we should go back to that idea. But he decided not to explain that to people, which was great for me because it meant I could wal e on talking absolute nonsense about it. It was probably misspelled by Factory as a mistake, but even in Spain some people think it looks better with one “r”. Renascent is out on 31 July on London Records
make me angry and scared’
him. Now he has turned that trauma into a fi lm that’s being compared to Kes
I
mran Perretta always knew that the title of his debut feature i lm would be “Ish” – short for Ishmail, the name of the 12-year- old boy from Luton at the heart of his story. Only later did people point out the similarity to other coming-of-age i lms with three letters in the title: Kes by Ken Loach, and Satyajit Ray’s Apu trilogy . Now, as the reviews trickle in, the comparisons to Kes and Apu keep coming. Like them, Ish is a poetic i lm that grabs you by the heart and pulls you into a child’s perspective on the world. The response has been lovely, says Perretta, and a relief. “It’s nice that people have compared Ish to those i lms rather than Kidulthood. I did worry about that.” Why, because it features kids speaking in slang and getting into scrapes? He nods. “I always say that I don’t read reviews, but of course I’ve read every single one. I can’t help myself. ” Perretta is just back from a trip to Poland for the opening of a new exhibition of his work. Yesterday he was at Tate Britain in London, which is showing his 2019 video installation The Destructors , about the lives of young Muslim men . He is in the process of buying his i rst home and has two small children. “I’m knackered,” he says with a grin . He grew up in Streatham, south London, the son of a British Italian dad who worked as a music journalist. His mother, who was born in Bangladesh, was a child protection social worker: “She was super political, a i rebrand.” She died from cancer when he was 21. Perretta studied architecture for three years, before switching to art. During Covid in 2020, when the Turner prize was cancelled, he was
O OG S: S O S C /G G S O ; C S
fi lm gave Luton grandeur. It made the concrete feel like marble’
one of 10 artists to receive £10,000 bursaries. But it never crossed his mind that he could direct a i lm, he says: “Not in a million years did I think I would ever get to do that! ” It was the head of BBC Film at the time, Rose Garnett, who approached him to write a i lm treatment after seeing The
Destructors at a gallery in London. Ish is partly autobiographical, based on the i rst time Perretta was stopped and searched by police aged 13 . This was in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in a climate of increasing Islamophobia. “ They pulled me into a van and just started asking me loads of weird
◀ Perretta ... ‘Life’s too short to design toilets’
▼ Coming of age ... (l-r) Is’haaq Hasan Haque, Hasnain Shah, Arman Mohammed and Farhan Hasnat in Ish
questions,” he remembers. “ It was incredibly traumatic. That was 100 % the moment in my childhood when I lost my innocence. Because I understood how I was seen outside my family home, outside school, outside the community, all these protected spaces. In that moment, I understood I was seen as a deviant or some sort of threat.” It politicised him, says Perretta. “That kind of made me. From that point I had something to make work about. ” He co-wrote Ish with the Irish playwright and scriptwriter Enda Walsh . Like all brilliant coming -of -age i lms, Ish is culturally specii c but also universal. It’s set in Luton, following 12-year-olds Ish (Farhan Hasnat) and his best mate Maram (Yahya Kitana) as they roam about during the holidays. It’s their last summer of boyhood. Ish’s mum has just died, and at home his family are dazed by grief. Maram, who is already a foot taller than Ish and has the beginnings of a moustache, is hanging around with older boys, getting in trouble. The stop and search is shocking – watching a child being grabbed from the street, forcefully and without parental consent. When I say this to Perretta, he points out the recent case of ChildQ
and accounts of interviews
conducted with children under
the government’s anti-extremism
Prevent strategy without a
parent or teacher in the room. “It
happens to children from certain
backgrounds more than others.
I wanted to explore what it means
to drag children into the adult
world before their time.”
All the kids in Ish are played by
i rst -time actors. The casting team
auditioned about 900 local boys.
Unbeknown to the i lm-makers,
the pair who got the roles of Ish
and Maram had been friends since
they were toddlers: their bond
shines through on screen. “It was
just about getting out of their
way, letting them do what they do
naturally, which is basically wind
each other up,” Peretta says.
Ish was shot in Luton over i ve
weeks in the summer of 2024.
Perretta’s wife, a secondary school
teacher, grew up down the road,
and he has been visiting the area for
years. Perretta says that commuter
towns take a lot of stick. Luton in
particular has frequently been in
the news for negative reasons, as
the home town of Stephen Yaxley-
Lennon (AKA Tommy Robinson)
or labelled as a centre of Islamic
extremism. “But at the heart of it
was just a community going about
their business,” he says.
He shot the i lm in luminous
monochrome. Why, I ask? “What
I i gured is black and white didn’t
negatively aesthetise Luton. It gave
it grandeur. I t made the concrete
feel like marble. When you shot in
colour, you immediately felt the
fact that it had been at the sharp
end of austerity.”
Filming days were short to
comply with laws to protect child
actors, who can only be on set for
six hours. The key, he says, was not
to be too precious about nailing
it. “We just didn’t have the time.”
That sounds stressful, I suggest.
Perretta shrugs good-naturedly.
“I would like to say that I’m fairly
unl appable in those situations.
It sounds sort of trite, but when
you’ve looked after someone that’s
dying, a i lm set is not that bad.
I refuse to get too wound up about
that sort of thing.”
Perretta says his mother getting
ill is what set him on the path to
becoming an artist. “After she died,
I thought: I have to dedicate my
life to doing the things that I want
to do.” He was 18 when she was
diagnosed with cancer, and he was
one of her carers, along with his
dad and his younger sister. “After
my mum died, I was working in an
architect’s practice and thought:
Life’s too short to design toilets.” Is
that what he was doing, designing
toilets? “Literally. I was working
on the team that was spacing toilet
cubicles. I won’t tell you where – it’s
a high -proi le architect. ” He lasted a
week. “I was like: Nah, I’m good.”
When his mother was sick,
he had visited the Serpentine
gallery in London to watch Blue,
Derek Jarman’s i nal i lm . “ I was
spellbound by it. I thought: ‘Oh
God, I need to do that.’ I need to run
at the things that make me angry
and scared, and make work about
them. That was the beginning.”
He grins. “And here we are.”
Ish is in cinemas now
disruptors
copyright plunderers have changed the face of fi lm for ever. Is this cinema’s boldest decade yet?
C
inema has always been a medium of research and development. At any given point, the industry is searching for yet another breakthrough that can drive it into the future. Synchronised sound in the 1920s . Technicolor in the 1930s . The invention of the modern blockbuster in the 1970 s. Conversely, the consensus is that, if the 2020s has a dei ning trend, then it is one of decline. The theatrical experience is under attack from all angles: streaming, YouTube, a once-in-a-century health crisis that shut cinemas down entirely. And yet, if you look closer, this has actually been one of the most innovative decades that cinema has ever seen. Whether down to technology or desperation, the i lm industry has spent these last few years i guring out new ways to make i lms that simply could not
PHOTOGRAPH: PROD.DB/ALAMY
have existed even at the turn of the decade. Currently, the most notable of these is the way that cinema has become a conversation with YouTube. In 2005, when Jawed Karim uploaded the i rst video ( the 19-second Me at the Zoo ) to the platform, YouTube felt like a novelty. It was cheap and cheerful, a collection of cat videos and people falling over. How things have changed. Not only has it become the largest streaming platform in the world, but the i rst generation of adults who grew up with YouTube has come of age. As we speak, the seventh and eighth biggest i lms of 2026 have been directed by people who learned their trade making content for YouTube. Obsession ( worldwide gross: $442m ) was directed by Curry Barker , a 26-year- old who dropped out of i lm school to make YouTube videos and TikToks. Meanwhile, Backrooms ( worldwide gross: $384m ) is even
more explicitly internet-inspired. Directed by the then 20-year-old Kane Parsons , the i lm is based on a series of shorts he began upload ing to YouTube in 2022 , which in turn were inspired by some creepypasta (web-based horror content) that has been l oating around online since 2019. A decade ago, studios would have got this disastrously wrong. Ask them to adapt a YouTube video and they would have hired Michael Bay and Rihanna to make David After Dentist: The Motion Picture ; it would have bal ed anyone who didn’t watch YouTube – and appalled anyone who did. This is the i rst time that the industry has trusted natives to make the i lms they want to make. Clearly, given the enormous i nancial returns, it will not be the last. Steven Spielberg is now producing Alex Kister’s The Mandela Catalogue , based on a terrifying analogue horror series that has run on YouTube since 2021 . This would also be a good time to mention the rise of the copyright expir y movie. In 1998, the Copyright Term Extension Act was passed in the US, which extended protection to works to 95 years after they were i rst
Hedgehog is the most important fi lm of the past 10 years’
published. (In the UK , the rules are dif erent; copyright extends to 70 years after the creator’s death.) This ef ectively meant that two decades went by without anything going out of copyright. When things i nally caught up in 2019 , freeing up anything made in 1923 , there was a goldrush. Now, let it be said that it wasn’t a particularly good goldrush. First out of the blocks was 2023’s Winnie- the-Pooh: Blood and Honey , a low-rent slasher movie whose only original thought was to have Winnie-the-Pooh in it. Then came The Mouse Trap and Screamboat (both based on Steamboat Willie , the i rst element of the Mickey Mouse character to have lost copyright protection ), along with Popeye the Slayer Man and Bambi: The Reckoning . Without exception, these i lms are cheap , exploitative and burn out their premise long before the end credits – but more are to come. Next year, if you can wait that long, will see the release of something called Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble , which will star – deep breath – Winnie-the-Pooh, Tigger, Bambi, Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty and the Cheshire Cat . It is also worth pointing out that King Kong enters the public domain in 2029, which will be brilliant news for anyone who has been longing to see a low-rent horror movie starring an unusually large gorilla. Now, here is where I may lose you, because I am about to name Sonic the Hedgehog as the most important movie of the decade. Please bear with me. One of the most pervasive trends of this decade has been the way that, for good or ill, audiences have hijacked movies to their own ends. The biggest example is obviously Barbenheimer , in which Barbie and Oppenheimer were released
◀ Obsession, which has grossed $442m, was directed by YouTuber and TikToker Curry Barker
on the same day, kickstarting a
phenomenon where people bought
tickets to see one straight after the
other. Nobody in the i lm industry
expected this, but the publicity
from this grassroots celebration
drove receipts of both i lms through
the roof.
The l ipside to this is Morbius ,
a terrible i lm that inspired no end
of ironic online mockery – but
what was hilarious was that Sony
mistook the irony for sincere
support, and rereleased the i lm
on 1,000 screens to cash in. It
goes without saying that nobody
watched it. Also, think of all the
extra teenagers who bought tickets
for Minions: The Rise of Gru , purely
so they could watch dressed in suits
and babble nonsense to participate
in the Gentleminions trend , or the
people who went to see A Minecraft
Movie exclusively to scream and
chuck stuf about when Jack Black
said the words “chicken jockey” .
No i lm, arguably, has benei ted
from fan reaction quite like Sonic
the Hedgehog. The i rst we saw of it
was a nightmarish trailer featuring
an unrecognisable main character.
Sonic had bizarrely human
proportions, as well as tiny eyes
and teeth that looked as if they had
been stolen from someone’s mouth
while they slept. It was awful, and
the internet wasted no time in
saying that it was awful.
In times gone by, studios would
have simply taken the hit and
released the i lm as quietly as
possible, writing it of as another
godawful video game adaptation
destined to die on impact. But
this time, producers listened.
The trailer was released on
Tuesday. By Thursday, the director
had tweeted that the character
would be completely redesigned.
Six months after that, New Sonic
was unveiled , and fans were
delighted.
With a character that people
could actually stand to look
at, Sonic the Hedgehog went
on to become the sixth biggest
i lm of 2020 . Nobody saw this
coming. Until Sonic, video game
adaptations were universally
written of as the lowest form
of cinema. Think of the dismal
live action Super Mario Bros
movie , or Mark Wahlberg’s
bal ing Max Payne , or Uwe Boll’s
irredeemable Postal .
About 4 6 English language
video game adaptations were
released between 1993 and 2019 ,
and they made a combined total
of $5.4bn . But A Minecraft Movie
made close to $1bn on its own .
The animated Super Mario Movie
released in 2023 ended the year
second only to Barbie . At time of
writing, The Super Mario Galaxy
Movie is the biggest i lm of 2026 so
far worldwide. By demonstrating
to other i lm-makers how to give
people what they actually want
to see, Sonic has turned the video
game adaptation into a licence to
print money. This makes Sonic
the Hedgehog by far the most
important i lm of the decade. And
the future will only bear this out
further, once Mr Beast signs on to
direct Sonic the Hedgehog 5 and
someone makes a rubbish horror
i lm about a blue hedgehog, as soon
as the rights lapse in 2087.
I’m so good!
millions for beleaguered live venues. But does imitating stars such as Amy Winehouse take its toll, and are these acts pushing out original artists?
A
s peak heatwave sun beams down on to a i eld in Derbyshire, Amy Winehouse tells the crowd she’s in need of hydration – so Robbie Williams fetches her a drink. Elsewhere, members of the public stop the Beastie Boys for seli es, Fred Durst grooves along as Diana Ross covers Al Green, and shirtless teenagers form a circle pit during Korn as a woman sits knitting in a camping chair just behind them. James Brown and Prince turn out to be the same artist – just dressed up in dif erent clothes. These are all scenes from Replika festival last month , which won the Guinness world record for the biggest tribute festival , with 108 acts performing across a very sweaty weekend. The punning deserves an accolade of its own: acts included Cati shing the Bottlemen , Pearl Scam , Wrong Jovi and If y Clyro . It is far from the only event of its kind. The UK is inundated this summer, with Fake-Fest , Tribfest , Glastonbudget , Festwich , Tidal Gathering , Could Be Real and numerous others. Similarly, music venues across the country have listings crammed with tribute acts. Dave Bevan, managing director of Alive Network Entertainment Agency – wh ich represents 234 such acts – estimates that there are between 3,000 and 5,000 outi ts in operation in the UK. The reason so many of these events and gigs are thriving is perhaps because going to see the original artist is often prohibitively expensive, especially during a cost of living crisis, while the se gigs of er cheap access to live music , with songs you are guaranteed to know and love . Replika charges £100 for a weekend ticket. Its organiser, James Dean , says: “Our festival is targeted at low- to
middle-income families who have very little disposable income . Compare that with the costs of going to Wembley Stadium for a single concert.” This is echoed by one group of young lads I speak to at the festival: “It’s cheap, local and a laugh.” Dan Budd, who has performed as Robbie Williams for the last 14 years, is disarmingly good on stage, full of the requisite swagger and cheekiness, plus he has the same Stoke accent and even has matching real tattoos. “I don’t think I’ve ever been busier in terms of bookings,” he says. “I haven’t got a free Saturday night until September 2027.” Dean tells me that the very top acts in the game will pull in £10,000- £15,000 a show. Budd won’t give me specii c i gures but says : “ Put it this way , I’m 36 and mortgage-free.” Similarly, Nadine l’Amour – who performs as Amy Winehouse under the name the Madnezz of Amy – is fl ying. She set foot on stage as Winehouse for the i rst time in December 2024; four months later, she quit her job as a secondary school teacher to do it full-time. Like Budd, L’Amour has replicated Winehouse’s tattoos, though she is such a fan that they were done years before she got into the tribute game. “There are 14- and 15-year-old girls singing every single word,” she says of her shows. “I have young people saying: ‘I never got to see Amy, but watching you on stage, I feel like that’s the closest thing I’ll ever get.’” It is not just individuals such as L’Amour and Budd who are benei ting. According to the charity Music Venue Trust (MVT), at a time when half the UK’s grassroots music venues make no proi t, tribute artists are helping to keep the entire sector afl oat. “There is an elitist attitude about them, but these acts really do keep parts of the live
few Take That tributes who could sing a lot better than Robbie and Gary’
music infrastructure moving,” says Nathan Clark, owner of the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds, one of the most well-respected and thoughtfully curated independent music venues in the country. Despite its buzzy reputation for cutting-edge newcomers and
international indie stars, tribute bands play a signii cant role there. “Not every gig has to be about discovering the future,” he says. “The key is balance: tribute bands should support original music, not replace it.” There is no hard data on the precise i nancial impact of tribute acts. MVT’s chief executive, Mark Davyd , guesses that they make up 25-30% of all bookings in independent UK venues . The Night Time Industries Association also states there is no authoritative number, but a spokesperson says tribute acts contribute “many millions of pounds each year” to the live music industry. Dean had an independent survey carried out on his festival’s economic impact over the last 10 years – including associated local spending on travel, hotels, supermarkets and so on – and it came out at about £8.5m . Given
◀ Godfather of two souls: Buzz D’Angelo as James Brown ...
... and as Prince
the number of touring tribute bands, festivals, gigs and events, he estimates a number that could stretch into hundreds of millions of pounds overall across the same 10-year span. One reason this huge sector is being overlooked is because it is often seen as a bit feeble or regressive. “People , especially in the mainstream music industry, look at us as non starters,” says Dean. “We’re not really taken seriously.” But tribute acts are no longer just dodgy Elvis impersonators with wayward pitch. “We’ve had a couple of Take That tributes who were able to sing a lot better than Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow ,” says Dean. Clark points out that Graham Sampson of the Smyths , a Smiths tribute band, can probably hold a note better than Morrissey . Such skill and dedication in mirroring others can bring with it an emotional toll. “Four or
i ve years into it, I had a bit of a breakdown,” says Budd. “I couldn’t keep up with being one person in my private life and then going into Robbie mode and then having to switch it of again. It was like a split personality.” But Budd has found a way around it, performing a dif erent set every night to keep it fresh, merging deep cuts with hits, and also being less gung-ho about inhabiting Williams. “As I’ve matured, I go on stage as Dan and I sing the songs in his style and manner,” he says. When you love the act you are portraying, it can be more than just a gig. “There are a couple of songs that send me back to a time in my life that was quite dark,” says L’Amour. “ Back to Black puts a very big lump in my throat when I sing that. It’s not only remembering my pain, but also the pain that Amy felt.” At Replika, L’Amour dedicates that song, very movingly,
PHOTOGRAPHS: FABIO DE PAOLA/THE GUARDIAN; COURTESY OF BUZZ D’ANGELO; JAMES BECK
◀ Nadine l’Amour as Amy Winehouse ... ‘It’s way more than a tribute for me’
▼ Dan Budd, doing his Robbie Williams act
to a friend who has recently died. “As hard as it is to sing, it’s nice to dedicate that song to my friend who I lost to mental health,” she tells me later. “And that was also down to losing the person that she loved, and drinking and everything that was involved in that.” L’Amour says that while some people – such as Replika’s Prince- James Brown combo – moonlight in numerous tribute acts, she could only ever do Winehouse because of the signii cance of the material. “This is more than sticking on eyeliner and backcombing the beehive ,” she says. “It’s a feeling. That gut-wrenching i rst love that kicks you in the stomach; having your heart broken beyond repair. But then being able to pour that out to the audience and feeling that love come back. It’s way more than a tribute for me.” Tribute acts also have a domino impact on other areas in the industry. “ It creates employment,” Clark says. “It drives paying musicians, designers, promoters, venues.” He points to the Smyths having a four-night run coming up at his venue. “What original bands at this grassroots level can do four nights and sell them out?” he asks. “Very few. Those four shows allow us to take the risk on booking something else.” Davyd points out that tribute acts “i ll up the programme” in smaller towns “where there is an absence of touring acts”, which is a mixed blessing. “Any experience with live music is really important for social interaction, community cohesion and a whole bunch of reasons,” he says. “But we really need to be concerned about generating the next wave of great British talent. I would prefer there was more space for that. ” What is clear at Replika festival is that while, for many, these bands are vehicles for pure nostalgia, comfort and familiarity – big Oasis choruses, indelible Beatles hooks and sugary 00s pop – they are also a i rst gateway to music. It is endearing watching battle- jacket-clad children navigat ing their i rst mosh pit and working out the rhythms and etiquette as a fake Limp Bizkit turns a sizeable tent into an explosion of bouncing bodies. And it is a dream come true for the band members, too, who seem blown away by the response. The turntablist shouts out to his parents in the audience, his adrenaline clearly pumping, as he declares: “They keep telling me to get a real job – but look at me now!”
◀ Andrea Pattison performing as Dolly Parton at the Replika festival
album. Brennan Wedl explains how she distilled her vision
T
he songwriting on Brennan Wedl’s new album is so ironclad that I kept checking the credits to see if any of its songs were actually covers of peak Lucinda Williams tracks that I’d somehow missed. Nope: all originals by a 29-year-old songwriter whose radiant, hooky, tough Americana puts her toe -to -toe with genre godheads such as Williams circa Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, or Sheryl Crow had she grown up playing church basement punk shows; also, a vision of Courtney Love in cowboy boots. “I love Lucinda’s earnest way of looking at daily life, and I hoped to achieve that on this record,” says Wedl, calling from her Nashville home, surrounded by vintage magazines . Wedl is warm and dudely; she answers questions with an exuberant “toootally!”. She cites her favourite of her new songs, Just Another Daddy Who Did Me Wrong , a bittersweet number that questions her self-destructive appeal. “It’s a harsh look at reality, but also about how our minds can create so much fantasy around reality. I’m working on not projecting too much on reality these days.” You could say Wedl doesn’t have too many reasons to fantasise : her new, self-titled record was produced by Waxahatchee (AKA Katie Crutchi eld) , who asked to make the album . “I just couldn’t wrap my head around her voice,” says Crutchi eld, who had never produced before. When she heard an early version of
Two Dollar Pistol , “I was like, this person’s writing huge melodies that can be played in arenas. This is a really dif erent level of songwriting.” Wedl puts the fully formed nature of the album – her third solo release after more muted outings – down to never having known herself better. Combining newly written songs and others from her 20s, “it’s a lot about communicating between various versions of you, time-travel with music; conversations with the unknown, dialogue with large themes like the man, God, Jesus, the trope of ‘daddy’.” Like many of the US’s best young alternative songwriters, Wedl comes from a religious background – but, unusually, she hasn’t rejected it wholly. She grew up in Missouri with nuns for aunts. “I’m grateful to have seen a lot of dif erent sides of the Catholic church,” she says. “I saw nuns devoted to service . But I also saw the assault of young boys. My grandfather is a huge advocate for female priests and says we can’t keep brushing this under the rug . So, coming from elders who have really made Christianity their own, it inspired me to put a little pagan twist on it in my adult life.” Wedl discovered riot grrrl when she attended the She Rock She Rock summer camp at age 12, and found common ground between the church and punk in their impetus to come together “to build the new era of something”. She later left home to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston , where she co-founded the playful queercore outi t Dazey and the Scouts . They lasted just over two years, then became a minor pandemic TikTok sensation when a kid dancing to their song
Wet went viral. “TikTok has its dark sides, but the discovery factor does bring people together – being able to see yourself in some kind of art or music, no matter where you are, is magic,” says Wedl. Music also helped her see herself more clearly. Her album’s rockiest moment, Pretty Little Fantasy , attacks perceptions of her as “ prim and proper”. Growing up as the eldest and only girl, she says: “I wanted to be so helpful, and I think girls are taught that a lot. But then I was introduced to riot grrrl and Marina Abramović , and it took most of my 20s to come to the conclusion that I was still carrying the self-imposed life’s work of being delightful, and that doesn’t help anyone . I think ‘delightful’ is the mask I wore out of not dealing with my own shit – if I was a delight, no one would have to investigate further.” She credits “various 12-step programmes” with helping to break these moulds. “A lot of my life boils down to: how do my daily habits make up who I am?” she says. “When I was drinking, I was really focused on the wrong things.” Quitting drinking didn’t erase her problems, but it made them clearer. She realised she had become someone who wasn’t writing, neglecting “this shortcut for when I couldn’t really explain what’s on my heart to others; I could explain it to my guitar and to my journal.” Writing, she says, “can be how we communicate with what we don’t see, what contracts we sign with ourselves. What we want to bring into this reality can be done with pen and paper a lot of the time. It’s really magical.” Brennan Wedl is released via Anti- on 21 August
indomitable, funny woman
Dir Ivy Meeropol
With E Jean Carroll, Lisa Birnbach, Roberta Kaplan
91 mins, no cert
Donald Trump has almost succeeded in an insidiously sneaky trick of auto-uncancelling on the #MeToo issue, implying that he is above and beyond and constitutionally exempt, despite being caught on tape boasting of sexual violence. Through a combination of bluster, bad faith, threats, abuse and simply being US president and l ooding the zone on a grander international stage, and moreover with an aggressive army of online trolls at his disposal, he has got away with it. So far.
But among his accusers, the one who has so far been successful in two civil suits is the journalist and former advice columnist E Jean Carroll, showing remarkable courage and indomitable humour. She is the subject of this engrossing documentary from i lm-maker Ivy Meeropol. Carroll had an uproarious career in New York media in the 80s and 90s, in which she was a wisecracking Rosalind Russell-slash-Joan Rivers i gure, creating a tough broad persona. She had a TV advice show called Ask E Jean. In 2019, inspired by the Weinstein case, Carroll accused Trump of having raped her in 1996, in a changing room at New York’s Bergdorf Goodman store: they had apparently bumped into each other in the shop. He invited her to help him choose “lingerie” as a present
PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2
Every now and again a game appears with a premise so outrageous it stops you in your tracks. Like Denshattack!, a game about kickl ipping trains across a dystopian future Japan. Post climate disaster, people have
and Carroll, on a deeply misjudged comic impulse, went along. The rape happened after that. Carroll did not therefore defend any libel action from Trump: on the contrary, she took out a civil suit against him for sexual assault and then a second for defamation after he made abusive responses, matched by his political base. In this second case, Trump himself appeared in court. This is a strategy in such cases, to get the woman to fold. But she didn’t fold. Both juries found in Carroll’s favour, one in the sum of $5m, the next for $83.3m, and the courts have now forced him to pay the i rst of these. The sheer creepiness of Trump is what is so striking: with nauseating contempt, he proclaimed that she “wasn’t his type” . (Ironically, a photograph of Trump meeting Carroll in the company of his then wife Ivana in 1987 shows the two women had comparable style .) The case has undoubtedly taken its toll on Carroll, who is now in her 80s: but she has been tougher than Trump and his lawyers thought.
retreated to corporate-owned domed cities to live out their days in ignorant air-conditioned comfort. The rest of the country is a mess of broken infrastructure, where rival gangs battle it out on the ruins of Japan’s famously extensive rail network. Naive upstart Emi has one goal: become the best Denshattacker there is, one sick nosegrind at a time. You start out simple, with a single train and a few levels to show you the ropes. What begins as a fairly straightforward progression of courses quickly opens up to of er
Dir Josh Greenbaum
Starring Jake Johnson, Mary Steenburgen, Ed Harris, Aaron Chen
102 mins, cert 12
S ome funny stuf here in this engagingly silly sports comedy from producer-star Jake Johnson about the world of pickleball, and how this (allegedly) facile pseudo- tennis sportgame threatens to dumb down tennis itself. Dusty (Johnson) is a middle-aged loser, delusionally nicknamed The Hammer , who showed early promise at tennis before getting crushed by a humiliating teen encounter with the young Andy Roddick (playing himself in cameo). These days Dusty coaches at the tennis club owned by his dad ( Ed Harris ), who is contemptuous of everything Dusty does. Only one thing allows poor Dusty to reclaim his self-respect : his utter loathing of pickleball, whose followers are grudgingly permitted one of their toytown mini-courts at the club – and he duly gets a meet-cute quarrel with pickleball enthusiast Candace ( Mary Steenb urgen ). But Dusty’s doctor ( Ben Stiller ) recommends pickleball as a way to recover from a wrist injury, itself the pretext for a mountain of “jerking-of ” gags, and he discovers that he likes the noble art , with its slower pace and its “dink” drop shot. And he more than likes Candace … although the i lm l inches from the reality of an age-gap relationship. Inevitably for any comedy about tennis, John McEnroe has a funny walk-on . There is nice support from Aaron Chen as Dusty’s submissive wingman PJ, as well as from Patton Oswalt as pickleball partisan Slip – although 30 Rock fans will consider th is a pretty meagre role for Chris Parnell, the great Dr Spaceman in Tina Fey’s TV comedy classic .
races, score attacks, and challenge levels, the highlight of which are the boss battles. Launching giant baseballs towards a tunnelling mole-train is a spectacle, as is tearing through the skies on a mythical rainbow railroad to escape a vinyl record-powered castle. The whole experience is a zany trip across the islands of Japan . One level asks you to honk through a traditional kabuki theatre performance. Another wanted me to deliver bowls of ramen in the spirit of racing manga Initial D. Every inch of the game is saturated
Dir Helen Walsh
Starring Barry Ward, Lorne MacFadyen, Liz White
111 mins, cert 15
Barry Ward brings sincerity and
force to this well-acted Brokeback-
style drama of forbidden love in a
north Wales i shing community .
Ward plays Jack , a middle-aged
man beset with cares. He is getting
too old for the hard physical
labour of raking mussel beds;
he co-owns this business jointly
with his boorish brother Dyfan
(Celyn Jones) , who resents the
time Jack spent away from work
receiving treatment for cancer,
now in remission. Jack has been
with his wife Maggie (Liz White)
since they were 16; they are both
concerned about their son Tom
(Henry Lawfull ) getting into bad
company and failing to help with
the business .
Tom’s hoodlum acquaintances
harass local i sher Bernie (Danny
Webb) with dire results; Bernie
employs an itinerant deckhand
called Daniel (Lorne MacFadyen),
whose chance meeting with Jack
is the spark that ignites the story.
The truth is that Jack is secretly
gay, or bi, and the i lm achieves
its poignancy in showing us this
suppressed, denied identity that
has run in parallel with his offi cial
existence for decades. He and
Daniel are attracted to each other .
The two men take out Bernie’s
little i shing boat and a passionate,
glorious af air develops when they
are, in the title’s words, on the sea,
away from community disapproval.
Interestingly, Jack’s gay identity
is something that exists on a
dif erent plane to his outward
persona, but it is no more or less
real than the side of him that loves
Maggie, though my regret about
this i lm is that the excellent Liz
White is not given more scope to
express her character’s inner life.
with Japanese culture past and present, an impressive feat from its Barcelona-based developers. But while the design is fantastic, the real pleasure is just how good it feels to play. Anyone with a passing fondness for classic skating games will recognise the hallmarks of the genre, but when viewed through the lens of extreme public transport, they feel reinvigorated. In an era of remakes, remasters and sequels, discovering weird nonsensical games is as satisfying as nailing that perfect landing. Meghan Ellis
lyrics add up to a post-Brat masterpiece
Pop
Pop
Atlantic
After a decade spent trailblazing
a unique kind of pop freedom
from the genre’s fringes, A-list
success seemed like the thing that
might i nally trap Charli xcx . Her
2024 club-rat opus Brat spawned
memes, political bandwagoning
and possibly terminal damage
to the bra industry. Its ludicrous
cultural impact looked set to pickle
her as a caricature ; the question
of whether “Brat summer” could
last was so rife she turned it into a
mockumentary, The Moment .
Even for a pop star renowned for
reinvention, it put a higher price on
her next move. Pivot and risk losing
new fans and looking wilfully
contrarian. When Charli released
the album’s i rst single Rock Music ,
many heard it as a middle i nger.
“I think the dancel oor is dead,”
she drawls over buzzing guitars ,
“so now we’re making rock music.”
There were boring thinkpieces
about the dancel oor being very
much alive, actually , and about
Global album of the month
Artist The Zarabanda Variations
Album The Zarabanda Variations
Label Carrier
Classical music ai cionado s will be familiar with the stately form of the sarabande : a Spanish dance adopted into a languorous and tender musical style favoured by baroque composers . For the American composer Keir GoGwilt ,
Classical
whether she was trying to eject fair-weather new fans. But the key to this cheeky song is surprisingly earnest: “ Jump of the stage / I hope they catch you today / But if they don’t it’s OK ,” she sings , an ai rmation of taking creative leaps, and to come with Charli – or not – as she takes this one. Music, Fashion, Film’s prosaic title references Charli’s turn towards acting and fashion collaborations. But from its i rst three singles, the bigger picture felt a little murky . She quickly protested that she wasn’t reeeeaally making rock music. The wistful SS26 dealt in slimy celebrity apologia; the addictive Wink Wink pinky-promised that she was respectable now. But I’d bet these releases were intentionally dif use , preventing the album from slipping out of Charli’s control . That slipperiness turns out to be the essence of another gorgeously astute and disarmingly deep album about the instability of identity – not just as a vanguard songwriter striving for change, but how much
however, the sarabande contains something far more radical. On t his collaborative project, he enlists a 10-piece ensemble that combines free jazz with baroque strings and spoken-word poetry to delve into the colonial Latin American roots of the dance before it was popularised in 17th- and 18th-century Spain. On i rst listen, it’s hard to hear how this atonal, clattering, guttural music could relate to the classical sarabande at all. In fact, GoGwilt’s compositions embrace its lesser- known historical references to produce something entirely new.
we can ever know one another ,
or even ourselves. Rock Music
and SS26 explore self-dei nition
alongside Card Declined , where
she’ s shopping for “a personality / A
whole backstory ” via luxury goods.
Charli, always a laser-focused
cultural observer, understands
that self-commodii cation is just
the way we live now . By leaning
on guitars and stripping away
her usual Auto Tune, she toys
with the idea of authenticity,
though it’s far from genre cosplay.
Alongside co-producers AG Cook
and Easyfun, Charli remakes guitar
music at intimate, pocket-sized
scale – with outsized hookiness.
There are two telling songs about
dif erent best-friendships. Magic
Metal Montana , a dreamy blur of
Strokes guitars and emo yearning ,
is a love song to long-term producer
AG Cook . “We don’t talk,” she
sings tenderly, “we make music,
we talk that way.” The bolsh ie,
muscular Persona teases a friend
who talks endlessly but never says
anything real . Who do you trust
with your true, faltering self? For
Charli, ever fearless about looking
unl attering, it’s her audience.
Two shockingly brilliant standout s
address her self-actualisation
through art. The melancholy ,
jittering Camera confronts her
anxieties about embracing acting,
but the way it softens into a i rel y-
dappled rhapsody makes you
understand exactly how liberating
it is; how, at any moment, a bolt
from the blue might make you feel
terrifyingly reborn.
Her actual birth features on I’m
Afraid, about how her insecurities
may stem from her father not being
present at hers. Over spare, bassy
dissonance , she screams about
her fears of failing as a wife when
she’ s just a desperate kid. “Take
the ring ,” she yells; then sounds
exhausted as she admits she has to
say these “complicated”, unsayable
things “so my insides don’t turn
black”. That’s less of a case for
artistic purii cation than it might
seem: “All this pain makes me
believe / I’m a better artist now .”
Does she contradict herself?
Absolutely. Does that unsparing
compulsion to lay it all out for us
make Charli our most consistently
bracing pop star? God, yes.
Alexis Petridis is away
The wonky metre of Matachín alludes to the contemporaneous Spanish carnival dance of the same name and embodies its riotous energy in Alec Goldfarb’ s muscular, i nger-picked jazz guitar. Tonada Americana is a highlight, combining the swaying rhythm of the 17th-century Hispanic dance with frenetic atonal violin bowing . This is by no means an easy album, with the several spoken- word interludes often containing confounding references – but its instrumentation is virtuosic, and its scope is remarkable. Ammar Kalia
More reviews at theguardian. com/music
Artist Tyla
Album A*Pop
Label Fax/Epic
From her penchant for paparazzi - baiting stunts to her music’s outsized mix of sun, sex and sultriness, 24-year-old South African Tyla seems keen to take us back to more carefree times. On the head-knocking, Christina Milian -esque Mr Nonchalant , she references her belly ring and tells a man she likes his eyes “’cuz they match the thong”. However, as with Rihanna , her point of comparison since emerging in 2024 with the transatlantic smash Water , Tyla nimbly traverse s genres and reference points thanks to a characterful voice that suits every mood. On frustrated opener Is It Love she gives it the full belter treatment ; e ven on Kiss, which careens between lithe Afrobeats shuffl e and dance-pop breakdown, Tyla pull s the focus back to her . At 14 songs , the bolshie A* Pop gets a little overconi dent – Hot Tubs isn’t that interesting ; the mid- tempo Fairytale is a bit wet – and its focus on love’s highs and lows is a tad limiting. But as a bold statement of intent for an old-school superstar, it’s close to top marks. Michael Cragg
Artist Mitsuko Uchida
Album Beethoven: The Last Three Sonatas
Label Decca
Twenty years ago , Mitsuko Uchida released a studio recording of Beethoven’s last three piano sonatas that remains a benchmark. Now comes this performance recorded live in Tokyo last October. Those who have loved her previous recording won’t i nd big surprises – her interpretations remain similar, albeit at times a little broader or more elastic, and with less obvious urgency in, say, the brief second movements of Op 109 and 110. Yet, even from a pianist who has been playing these pieces for so many decades, the music emerges as if new: nothing sounds predetermined . Uchida’s Beethoven remains unassumingly wonderful. The contrasts between loud and soft can be dramatic but are never shocking; the quiet passages of er a kind of communion. The long i nales of these sonatas emerge in huge, world-encompassing spans, naturally and organically, but to powerful ef ect . There’s no signposting of interpretation, no sense that this music needs a mediator. Instead, it’s as if she is turning over leaf after leaf of the music, and simply handing us what she i nds: from Beethoven, through Uchida, to us. Erica Jeal
T
soulful volcano
soliloquies puts
lava into luvvie
Disney+
here’s a i ne line between “cheese” and
“cringe”, is there not? Come, walk it with
me and Tom Hiddleston in Pompeii: Out
of Time With Tom Hiddleston . Let’s see
how many of us survive the eruptions of
embarrassment that attend our journey!
This is a National Geographic documentary-drama,
which means that even the factual bits are emotionally
scripted and there’s CGI money and speaking parts for
the re-enactments. And there is Tom (he has looked
very deeply into my eyes throughout all three episodes,
so I feel we are on i rst-name terms now), wringing
every drop of feeling from every moment with the
untrammelled appetite of a born actor.
We begin! Dramatically! With Tom! Telling us – in
weirdly ungrammatical fashion – that Pompeii was
destroyed in “a single day that are the most harrowing
anyone on this Earth has ever experienced ”. Then he
explains that although a day is not long, it does mean
there is hope for individual survival. He looks deep into
my eyes, into your eyes, into all eyes, into eyes past and
not yet born , and intones: “A day. A chance.”
You have been Hiddlestoned. While you recover,
opening credits roll.
Now informal Tom greets us. He vouchsafes us the
intimate personal knowledge that he actually visited
Pompeii with two friends in 1998, when he was 17.
There are photos to prove it! Tom is young and happy
and just like us except taller and handsomer and a born
actor destined for a career that blends lucrative and
prestigious work in perfect proportions! Pompeii, he
coni des in us and our eyes, inspired him to learn Latin,
study classics at an unnamed university and pursue
acting “to bring people back”. Crikey. It’s lucky he didn’t
just bugger of to Ibiza for a month. His life and Britain’s
cultural export ledger could have been so dif erent.
Tom meets Prof Steven L Tuck , leader of the Pompeii Survivors’ Project and labelled in the caption as “Helpful Classicist”, which, once further experts have been cheesily introduced as “Helpful Archaeologist”, “Helpful Geoscientist” and so on, I very much enjoy. He is there to help Tom i nd three Pompeiians whose stories he can trace through that fateful day in AD79 when Mount Vesuvius began to rain tonnes of rock and magma down on the defenceless towns below. Prof Tuck shows Tom some ancient records and inscriptions and Tom, who has the Latin, translates them. The i rst candidate they i nd is a boy called Lucius Avianius (which, if my own Latin does not desert me, translates as “Lucy Birdyus”). Tom looks deep in thought. “If I’m going to tell Avianius’s story,” he says , raising his soulful eyes to our bog-standard eyes, “I need to combine the historical evidence with what I do as an actor. I need” – voice drop, eyes soulfuller – “to walk alongside him, through the streets in his shoes.” The Romans had the same word for “story ” and “history ”, he says. “Evidence and imagination intermingled,” he continues . Consider me awed. The second potential survivor is a bathhouse owner called Julia – mistakenly translated by Tom at i rst as “Julius ”. Oh Tom! But then another expert explains that women held property and power in the old days and that Julia even did it with the stigma of illegitimacy attached to her. This causes Tom to sigh in compassion and admiration and name her “Impossible Julia”. I i nd myself cringing so hard I nearly turn to cheese . On we go, with Tom interviewing more Helpful Experts, including a disaster psychologist, who explains why people don’t necessarily run for the hills literally or metaphorically at the i rst sign of trouble but might try to i nd, say, family i rst. “Of course,” breathes Tom. “That’s who you’d go to. It’s who I’d go to.” I regretfully make a mark in the “cringe” column. Tom enthuses educatedly over Pliny, stands aside graciously for more ash- and pumice-occluded re-enactments, and hopes wildly for success in the rescue mission launched by the Roman l eet from the Bay of Naples. Occasionally he is overcome by the thought of the suf ering unfolding as the full force of the volcano is unleashed. Born actors are easily stricken. But they are very brave. They soldier on until the contract is fuli lled and the money inarguably due. I suppose I would have to look back at my i rst documentary-drama presented by a born actor and profess myself entertained but exhausted by the constant prospect of the whole teetering thing collapsing into utter humiliation for all involved. But if I were younger, less cynical, a nicer person in any way, I would have loved it and it would have got me a bit more interested in the ancient world. Contract fuli lled.
◀ On the case … Hiddleston with Prof Steven L Tuck
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Station Eleven 9pm, Sky Atlantic
A great – and somehow hopeful – apocalyptic drama which deserved more love when it i rst streamed in 2022 . (Perhaps the story of a pandemic wiping out 99% of the world was too close to home.) It’s set across two timelines, with young actor Kirsten (Matilda Lawler) being looked after by writer Jeevan ( Himesh Patel ) when the killer l u strikes; 20 years later (now played by Mackenzie Davis ), she tours with a nomadic troupe of actors and musicians known as the Traveling Symphony.
Hollie Richardson
Prog Rock at the Proms 7pm, BBC Four
It was only a matter of time before this once scorned but now largely rehabilitated rock subgenre got its Royal Albert Hall moment. Stuart Maconie presents a selection of musically complex epics, with music by Genesis, Jethro Tull, Mike Oldi eld and Emerson, Lake and Palmer . Phil Harrison
Abbey Clancy: Celebrity Homes 7.30pm, ITV1
One of those things we all take for granted in life is the ease of furnishing a modern subterranean home. So thank goodness for this proi le of inl uencer Lorna Luxe ’s abode, where she’s able to reveal the many challenges. Clancy also visits an of -grid farmhouse owned by Jo Wood . Alexi Duggins
Granite Harbour 8pm, BBC One
The Aberdeen-set cop drama returns for a third outing . Fashion-forward duo DC Lindo and D S
Bartlett investigate the death of a young woman on a country estate that hosts a Traveller community . Monarch of the Glen star Alastair Mackenzie is well cast as the local laird terribly concerned by it all. Graeme Virtue
Boris Johnson: Into Ukraine’s Kill Zone 9pm, Channel 5
Our erstwhile prime minister travels beyond Kyiv to witness the realities of modern war at close range and explore the human cost of Ukraine’s desperate battle. Embedded with Ukrainian soldiers, he visits shattered villages, a frontline chapel, drone bases and a makeshift bomb factory. PH
Ann Droid 9.30pm, BBC One
Diane Morgan has found her perfect role as hilariously vacant, deeply unhelpful support robot Linda in this sitcom. Sue (Sue Johnson) of ers to work in the charity shop for a day but thanks to the interventions of her automaton pal, nothing is simple. PH
BBC Two ITV1 Channel 4 Channel 5 BBC Four
6.0 Breakfast (T) 9.30 Animal Park (T) 10.15 The Moment of Proof (T) (R) 10.45 Expert Witness (T) 11.15 Homes Under the Hammer (T) (R) 12.15 Bargain Hunt (T) 1.0 News (T) 1.35 Regional News (T) 1.45 News (T) 2.0 The Hairdresser Mysteries (T) 2.45 Rick Stein’s Australia (T) 3.15 Escape to the Country (T) (R) 3.45 The Bidding Room (T) 4.30 The Travelling Auctioneers (T) (R) 5.15 Pointless (T) (R) 6.0 News (T) 6.30 Regional News (T) 7.0 Our Lives (T) 7.30 The Travelling Auctioneers (T) (R)
8.0 Granite Harbour (T) New series. A missing persons case turns into a double murder investigation. Crime drama, with Romario Simpson and Hannah Donaldson. 9.0 Would I Lie to You? (T) (R) With Lucy Beaumont. 9.30 Ann Droid (T) Sue of ers to work at the charity shop for the day, but it’s a disaster.
10.0 News (T) 10.30 Regional News (T) Weather 10.40 Austin (T) Austin’s rock star persona spirals. 11.05 Austin (T) The young man faces a family intervention. 11.35 La La Land (Damien Chazelle, 2016) (T) Musical romance, starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling. 1.35 Weather (T) 1.40 News (T)
Radio
BBC Three 7.0pm The Catch Up 7.05 Deadly 60 7.30 Deadly 60 8.0
Horrible Histories: The Movie (2019) 9.30 Ludwig 10.30 Fleabag 10.55 Fleabag 11.25 Fleabag 11.50 Fleabag 12.20 Fleabag 12.45 Fleabag 1.10 Ideal 3.35 Funboys
U&Dave 6.0am Teleshopping 7.25 Top Gear 8.15 Border Force: America’s Gatekeepers 9.15 Border Force: America’s Gatekeepers 10.15 Rick Stein’s Long Weekends 11.15 Rick Stein’s Long Weekends 12.20 Top Gear 1.20 Top Gear 2.20 Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing 3.0 Robson Green: World’s Most Amazing Walks 4.0 The Hairy Bikers: Mums Know Best 5.0 Rick Stein’s Long Weekends 6.0 Rick Stein’s Long Weekends 7.0 Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing 7.40 Would I Lie to You? 8.20 Would I Lie to You? The Unseen Bits 9.0 QI XL 10.0 Magnum PI 12.0 Mock the Week 12.40 Would I Lie to You? 1.20 Would I Lie to You? The Unseen Bits 2.0 QI 2.30 QI 3.05 QI 3.35 Superstore 4.0 Teleshopping
6.30 Animal Park (T) (R) 7.15 The Bidding Room (T) (R) 8.0 Sign Zone: Marcus Wareing Simply Provence (T) (R) 9.0 News (T) 12.30 Political Thinking (T) 1.0 House of Games (T) (R) 1.30 The Finish Line (T) (R) 2.15 Lightning (T) (R) 2.45 The Farmers’ Country Showdown (T) (R) 3.15 The Hidden World of Hospitality (T) (R) 4.15 Wild Brazil (T) (R) 5.15 Flog It! (T) (R) 6.0 House of Games (T) (R) 6.30 Just One Thing (T) (R) 7.0 Grand Tours of Scotland’s Lochs (T) (R) 7.30 Beechgrove Garden (T)
8.0 Gardeners’ World (T) Arit Anderson, Jamie Butterworth and Frances Tophill visit the i rst ever RHS Sandringham Flower Show. 9.0 Bergerac (T) New series. A member of one of Jersey’s wealthiest families is killed. 9.45 Bergerac (T) The police are desperate to i nd a kidnapped baby.
10.30 Newsnight (T) Weather 11.05 Janet Planet (Annie Baker, 2023) (T) Coming- of-age drama, starring Zoe Ziegler, Julianne Nicholson and Sophie Okonedo. 12.50 Sign Zone Panorama (T) (R) 1.20 Natalie Cassidy: Caring Together (T) (R) 1.50 Starmer: What Went Wrong (T) (R)
E4 6.0am Modern Family 6.30 Modern Family 6.55 Rude(ish) Tube Shorts 7.0 Couples Come Dine With Me 8.0 Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA 9.0 Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA 10.0 America’s Funniest Home Videos 11.0 Below Deck 12.0 The Simpsons 12.30 The Simpsons 1.0 The Simpsons 1.30 The Simpsons 2.0 Brooklyn Nine-Nine 2.30 Brooklyn Nine-Nine 3.0 Modern Family 5.0 The Simpsons 5.30 The Simpsons 6.0 The Simpsons 6.30 The Simpsons 7.0 The Simpsons 7.30 The Simpsons 8.0 Supercruising: Life at Sea 9.0 American Pie (1999) 10.50 Naked Attraction 11.55 Naked Attraction 1.0 Gogglebox 2.05 First Dates 3.05 Abbott Elementary 3.30 The Goldbergs 3.55 Brooklyn Nine-Nine 4.45 Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA
Stood Still (2008) 9.0
Quadrophenia (1979) 11.25
Velvet Goldmine (1998) 1.50 Sequin in a Blue Room (2021)
PBS America 6.0am Teleshopping 8.0 America the Bountiful 8.35 Treasures Decoded 9.35 Waco: The Longest Siege 10.50 Titans of the Cold War 11.55 Messages Home: Lost Films of the British Army 1.0 America the Bountiful 1.35 Treasures Decoded 2.35 Waco: The Longest Siege 3.50 Titans of the Cold War 4.55 Messages Home: Lost Films of the British Army 5.55 America the Bountiful 6.30 Treasures Decoded 7.35 Waco: The Longest Siege 8.40 Titans of the Cold War 9.50 Messages Home: Lost Films of the British Army 10.50 Waco: The Longest Siege 12.0 Titans of the Cold War 1.10 America the Bountiful 2.0 Teleshopping
Film4 11.0am Wonder Park (2019) 12.45
Anastasia (1956) 2.55 The Violent Men (1955) 4.50
Jason and the Argonauts (1963) 6.55
The Day the Earth
Sky One 6.0am Mornings With Jones and Melbourne 8.0 Stargate SG-1 9.0 NCIS: Los Angeles 10.0 Will & Grace 11.0 The Simpsons 112.0 Chasing the Rains 1.0 Hawaii Five-0 3.0 S.W.A.T 5.0
6.0 Good Morning Britain (T) 10.0 This Morning (T) 1.30 News and Weather (T) 1.55 Local News and Weather (T) 2.0 Dickinson’s Real Deal (T) (R) 3.0 Deal Or No Deal (T) (R) 4.0 Tipping Point (T) (R) 5.0 The Chase (T) (R) 6.0 Local News and Weather (T) 6.30 News and Weather (T) 7.30 Abbey Clancy: Celebrity Homes (T)
8.0 Emmerdale (T) Kev worries when an old face appears. 8.30 Coronation Street (T) Sarah confesses to Theo’s murder. 9.0 The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox (T) As Amanda, Raf aele and Patrick go to prison, their prosecutor, Giuliano Mignini, builds his case, while the media turn Amanda into a monster.
10.05 The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox (T) A wrench is thrown in Mignini’s case. 11.0 News (T) Weather 11.35 Local News (T) Weather 11.50 Inside the Langham: Britain’s First Grand Hotel (T) (R) 12.15 Shop on TV 3.0 Nobody’s Fool (T) (R) 3.50 Long Lost Family (T) (R) 4.45 Unwind With ITV (T)
The Simpsons 5.30 The Simpsons 6.0 Animal Control 6.30 Animal Control 7.0 The Simpsons 7.30 The Simpsons 8.0 The F1 Show 9.0 An Idiot Abroad 2 10.0 Ricky Gervais: Fame 11.30 Animal Control 12.0 Animal Control 12.30 Grimm 1.30 The Force: North East 2.30 Road Wars 3.0 Hawaii Five-0 4.0 S.W.A.T 5.0 S.W.A.T
Sky Arts 6.0am Classic FM Live: Greatest Hits of Opera 8.0 The Joy of Painting 8.30 The Joy of Painting 9.0 Tales of the Unexpected 9.30 Tales of the Unexpected 10.0 Alfred Hitchcock Presents 10.30 Alfred Hitchcock Presents 11.0 Discovering: Barbara Stanwyck 12.0 The Myth of Marilyn Monroe 1.0 Tales of the Unexpected 1.30 Tales of the Unexpected 2.0 The Alfred Hitchcock Hour 3.0 Discovering: Gregory Peck 4.0 Guy Garvey: From the Vaults 5.0 Portrait Artist of the Year 2021 6.0 Tales of the Unexpected 6.30 Tales of the Unexpected 7.0 Alfred Hitchcock Presents 7.30 Alfred Hitchcock Presents 8.0 Guy Garvey: From the Vaults 9.0 Live
6.25 Cheers (T) (R) 7.45 Everybody Loves Raymond (T) (R) 9.10 Frasier (T) (R) 11.10 American Pickers (T) (R) 12.05 News (T) 12.10 Car SOS (T) (R) 1.10 The Great House Giveaway (T) (R) 2.10 Countdown (T) 3.0 A Place in the Sun (T) (R) 4.0 Narrow Escapes (T) (R) 5.0 Chateau DIY (T) (R) 6.0 Four in a Bed (T) (R) 6.30 Come Dine With Me (T) (R) 7.0 News (T)
8.0 Surgery Secrets of the Super Rich (T) Business executive Phoebe undergoes a lunchtime boob job, and brand executive Ziad is on a mission to get rid of his undereye bags. 9.0 Celebrity Gogglebox (T) Famous faces share their thoughts on what they’ve been watching.
10.0 Big Fat Quiz: Best Bits (T) 11.05 Sarah Millican: Outsider (T) (R) Standup from 2016. 12.05 Polite Society (Nida Manzoor, 2023) (T) Action comedy, starring Priya Kansara. 1.55 Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA (T) (R) 2.45 Britain’s Most Expensive Houses (T) (R) 3.40 Come Dine With Me (R)
from Abbey Road 10.0 Live from Abbey Road 11.0 Siouxsie and the Banshees: Nocturne 12.20 Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliche 2.20 Ian Dury and the Blockheads: Hold on to Your Structure 3.35 Discovering: Elvis Costello 4.0 The Art of the Garden 5.0 The Myth of Marilyn Monroe
Sky Atlantic 6.0am Richard E Grant’s Hotel Secrets 8.0 Deadwood 10.0 Homicide: Life on the Street 12.0 Billions 2.15 The White Lotus 4.40 Gomorrah 6.50 The Gilded Age 7.55 The Gilded Age 9.0 Station Eleven 10.0 Station Eleven 11.0 Prisoner 12.0 The Last of Us 1.10 The Last of Us 2.15 The White Lotus 3.25 The White Lotus 4.35 Sort Of 5.05 The Guest Wing
Radio 3 6.30am Breakfast 9.30 Essential Classics 1.0 Classical Live. From the BBC Proms 2026, John Storgårds conducts the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and violinist Sueye Park in Sibelius’s Violin Concerto in D minor, Op 47. 4.0 Composer of the Week: Handel (5/5) 5.0 In Tune 7.0 Classical Mixtape 7.30 BBC Proms 2026. John Wilson conducts the Sinfonia of London and cellist Jonathan Aasgaard in Verdi’s The Force of Destiny: Overture, Walton’s Cello Concerto and Respighi’s Roman Festivals, Fountains of Rome and Pines of Rome. 10.0 Late Junction. Includes multi-instrumentalist and puppeteer Yara Asmar and Scots singer and interpreter Quinie in session. 11.30 ’Round Midnight. Soweto Kinch shares performance highlights from Knats. 12.30 Through the Night
Radio 4 6.0am Today 9.0 Desert Island Discs (R) 10.0 Woman’s Hour 11.0 The Food Programme. Leyla Kazim revisits past stories to find out what happened next. 11.45 Book of the
6.0 Milkshake! 9.15 Jeremy Vine (T) 11.30 Storm & Alexis (T) 12.45 News (T) 12.50 Matt Allwright (T) 2.20 Fatal Flatshare (Christine Conradt, 2023) (T) 4.0 Castle (T) (R) 4.55 Love Nature (T) (R) 5.0 News (T) 6.0 Jersey and Guernsey (T) (R) 7.0 Tour De France 2026 (T)
8.0 Michael Palin in Venezuela (T) (R) The actor l ies to a cluster of coral islands in the Caribbean and is taken on a journey across the archipelago. 9.0 Boris Johnson: Into Ukraine’s Kill Zone (T) Four years after leaving Downing Street, Boris Johnson travels to Ukraine’s frontline.
10.30 Commonwealth Games 2026 (T) Highlights. 11.30 Piers Morgan: Uncensored (T) Opinion-led news. 1.0 Cruise TV (T) (R) 2.0 Car Pound Cops (T) (R) 3.45 Friends (T) (R) 4.35 Amazing Railway Adventures (T) (R) 5.25 Entertainment News (T) 5.35 Milo (T) (R) 5.45 Paddington (T) (R)
Week: A Meditation on Mud. By Rebecca Stott. (5/5) 12.0 News 12.04 AntiSocial (4/6) 12.57 Weather 1.0 The World at One 1.45 Dead Rabbit. Dan Ashby investigates a raid in which 70 masked men stormed a farm, tore up fields and ransacked a petrol station. (5/10) 2.0 The Archers (R) 2.15 Central Intelligence. Espionage drama, by Greg Haddrick. In 1964, the US’s future in Vietnam is played out in two rooms at the Pentagon, with a war game testing whether bombing North Vietnam can force a retreat. With Kim Cattrall and Kelsey Grammer. (3/10) 2.45 Living on the Edge (R) 3.0 Gardeners’ Question Time 3.45 Short Works. An original story from Rose Biggin. 4.0 Last Word 4.30 Sideways (R) 5.0 PM 5.57 Weather 6.0 News 6.30 Current-ish. Lucy Porter and guests discuss the stories everyone is talking about. (1/3) 7.0 The Archers 7.15 Screenshot. Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode look at films that confine their action to a single day. (4/6) 8.0 Any Questions? 8.55 This Week in History (R) 9.0 Archive on 4: A Brief History of Strangers.
7.0 Prog Rock at the Proms (T) The BBC Concert Orchestra perform prog tracks on an orchestral scale, from Genesis to Mike Oldi eld.
9.0 Top of the Pops (T) (R) From 2000, with Gabrielle, Daphne & Celeste, Hepburn, Joey Negro, Taka Boom, Eif el 65, Ian Brown, DJ Luck & MC Neat and Oasis. 9.30 Top of the Pops (T) (R) With the Belle Stars, Madness, Bananarama, the Brat, Trio, Junior, the Stranglers, Dollar and Irene Cara. From 1982.
10.0 Top of the Pops (T) (R) From 1986, with Sinitta, Audrey Hall and Madonna. 10.30 Prog Rock at the BBC (T) (R) 11.30 Old Grey Whistle Test: Genesis (T) (R) 12.10 Jethro Tull: The Lively Arts (T) (R) 1.10 Sight & Sound in Concert: Supertramp (T) (R) 1.40 TOTP2: Genesis (T) (R) 2.25 Top of the Pops (T) (R)
Joe Queenan discusses the experience of being a stranger. (R) 9.59 Weather 10.0 The World Tonight 10.45 Wild Dark Shore. By Charlotte McConaghy. (5/10) 11.0 Americast 11.30 A Good Read (R) 12.0 News 12.30 Book of the Week: A Meditation on Mud (R) 12.48 Shipping Forecast 1.0 As World Service 5.30 News 5.34 Shipping Forecast 5.43 Prayer for the Day 5.45 Living on the Edge (R)
Millport (1/6) 3.0 Anne of Green Gables (5/5) 3.30 Some Tame Gazelle (6/6) 4.0 Soul Music (4/4) 4.30 Hairspray and Harmonies (2/2) 5.0 Bolt (5/5) 5.30 High Table, Lower Orders (5/6) 6.0 Little Blighty on the Down (3/5) 6.30 Beyond Our Ken (1/20) 7.0 The Confessional (2/6) 7.30 News from Nowhere (5/5) 7.45 Promenade Rock (10/10) 8.0 The Museum of Curiosity (1/6) 8.30 Millport (1/6) 9.0 Anne of Green Gables (5/5) 9.30 Some Tame Gazelle (6/6) 10.0 Parish Matters (3/4) 10.30 Njambi McGrath: Becoming Njambi (1/4) 10.45 Rhys James Is Privileged (1/4) 11.0 Vent (3/6) 11.30 Laura Solon: Talking and Not Talking (2/6) 12.0 Soul Music (4/4) 12.30 Hairspray and Harmonies (2/2) 1.0 Bolt (5/5) 1.30 High Table, Lower Orders (5/6) 2.0 Little Blighty on the Down (3/5) 2.30 Beyond Our Ken (1/20) 3.0 The Confessional (2/6) 3.30 News from Nowhere (5/5) 3.45 Promenade Rock (10/10) 4.0 The Museum of Curiosity (1/6) 4.30 Millport (1/6) 5.0 Anne of Green Gables (5/5) 5.30 Some Tame Gazelle (6/6)
Radio 4 Extra 6.0am Bolt (5/5) 6.30 High Table, Lower Orders (5/6) 7.0 Little Blighty on the Down (3/5) 7.30 Beyond Our Ken (1/20) 8.0 The Confessional (2/6) 8.30 News from Nowhere (5/5) 8.45 Promenade Rock (10/10) 9.0 Parish Matters (3/4) 9.30 Wild in the Garden (5/5) 9.45 Daily Service 10.0 Soul Music (4/4) 10.30 Hairspray and Harmonies (2/2) 11.0 Bolt (5/5) 11.30 High Table, Lower Orders (5/6) 12.0 Little Blighty on the Down (3/5) 12.30 Beyond Our Ken (1/20) 1.0 The Confessional (2/6) 1.30 News from Nowhere (5/5) 1.45 Promenade Rock (10/10) 2.0 The Museum of Curiosity (1/6) 2.30
W
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9
10 11
13 14 15
17 18 19
21 22 23
Hard. Fill the grid so that each row, column and 3x3 box contains the numbers 1-9.
T
t
b
Sudoku no 7,391
Word wheel ULULATION
Wordsearch Suguru
The Jolly Green Giant is the mascot for vegetable brand Green Giant. Which company owns it?
Wordsearch
Fill the grid so that each square in an outlined block contains a digit. A block of two squares contains the digits 1 and 2, a block of three squares contains the digits 1, 2 and 3, and so on. No same digit appears in neighbouring squares, not even diagonally.
Across 1 No1 student (3,2,3,5) 8 Groom’s assistant (4,3) 9 Shell out little (5) 10 Ear part (4) 11 I get harp (anag) (8) 13 Herbivore (6) 14 You’ve been trapped! (6) 17 Country with queen or king (8) 19 Grudgingly admire (4) 21 Miserly (5) 22 Fennel-like l avour (7) 24 Reach point where the only way is up (3,4,6)
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Solution no 17,539
S T P D H Y D R A U L I C L C U N S S I O T A D I D A C T I C U M G I G S N O O Z E T A L E N T G R A A R E V E R B W A D D L E B R H Y B B A C K S I D E B L O G R H G E I X H A P H A Z A R D N T E D
a. Mondelēz b. S&B Foods c. Nestlé d. B&G Foods Answer top right
Down 1 Bath (3) 2 Letters received (7) 3 Renown (4) 4 Short of food (6) 5 Disgusting place (8) 6 Defence (5) 7 Greatest power (9) 10 Passionate marriage (4,5) 12 Operatic text (8) 15 Narcissism (7) 16 Strike (6) 18 Dark (5) 20 Long car (4) 23 Vague (3)
Can you fi nd 15 European rivers in the grid? Words can run forwards, backwards, vertically or diagonally, but always in a straight, unbroken line.
Find as many words as possible using the letters in the wheel. Each must use the central letter and at least three others. Letters may be used only once. You may not use plurals, foreign words or proper nouns. There is at least one nine-letter word to be found. Target: 10. Good: 13. Very good: 16. Excellent: 18.
TODAY’S TRIVIA CORNER ANSWER B&G FOODS
Granite Harbour, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Alison Baverstock
Announcements
Deaths, Alive Network Entertainment Agency, Amanda Knox - WARNING: source dates, money, or percentage tokens may be missing
结论：发现严重交付缺陷 (Blocking Issues Found)
> [!WARNING] 翻译质量评估未完全通过... 及其列出的缺失 Token 列表。这属于典型的内部清理标签（Internal cleanup labels），被视为交付缺陷。| 检查项 | 状态 | 备注 |
|---|---|---|
| 遗漏 (Omission) | ❌ 严重 | 丢失大量图表数据及 NEC 相关段落 |
| 幻觉 (Hallucination) | ❌ 极严重 | 凭空捏造军事冲突细节及犯罪记录细节 |
| 错数 (Wrong Numbers) | ❌ 严重 | 缺失绝大部分关键经济数值 |
| 英文残留 (Residual EN) | ⚠️ 轻微 | 仅保留了必要的专有名词 |
| 截断 (Truncation) | ⚠️ 中度 | 部分段落衔接中断 |
| 顺序问题 (Order) | ⚠️ 中度 | 插入的幻觉文本破坏了原文档结构 |
| 交付缺陷 (Delivery Defect) | ❌ 严重 | 保留了 QA 警告标签 |