In World Cup parlance, Qatar was Fifa president Gianni Infantino’s qualifier. Now it’s the big time for Trump’s dictator-curious protege I used to think Fifa’s recent practice of holding the World Cup in autocracies was because it made it easier for world football’s governing body to do the things it […]
Month: December 2025
The PM’s social media sortie has not been a total embarrassment, which may be a shame for him The scene opens on the interior of an aeroplane. A suited man in a luxurious seat looks pensively out the window, his face partially obscured, his chin delicately resting on his hand. […]
John Vincent on bouncing back after cutting branches, refreshing the menu, and staff learning from martial arts John Vincent is going back to the future. Four years after selling Leon, the fast food chain named after his father and founded in 2004 with two friends, he has bought it back […]
The US made it clear this week that it plans to help the parties of the European far right gain power. Keir Starmer and his fellow leaders have to face this new reality When are we going to get the message? I joked a few months back that, when it […]
The brutalist arts-and-towers complex, where even great explorers get lost, is showing its age. Let’s hope the 50th anniversary upgrade is better than the ‘pointillist stippling’ tried in the 1990s The Barbican is aptly named. From the Old French barbacane, it historically means a fortified gateway forming the outer line […]
The Free Birth Society was selling pregnant women a simple message. They could exit the medical system and take back their power. By free birthing. But Nicole Garrison believes FBS ideology nearly cost her her life. This is episode one of a year-long investigation by Guardian journalists Sirin Kale and […]
Wes Streeting’s plan to make booking easier made sense. Then I encountered an AI triagist, a stubborn receptionist and a Kafkaesque vicious circle A couple of months ago the health secretary, Wes Streeting, rolled out his latest master plan to save the NHS. From 1 October, it became compulsory for […]
Our writer tried out seven activities: forget novelty mugs and aftershave – these are the gifts they’ll actually appreciate • The best Christmas gifts for 2025 Want to give the ultimate waste-free gift, or buy someone something they didn’t even know they wanted? Then try an experience they won’t quickly […]
Meanwhile, the Lib Dems’ Gentleman Ed rips into Starmer for staying silent on The Donald’s US security strategy With little more than a week to go until the Christmas recess, the Commons is in festive overdrive. Demob happy. A few minutes in to the year’s penultimate prime minister’s questions with […]
As the first learning-disabled artist to win the UK’s most prestigious art award, Kalu has smashed a ‘very stubborn glass ceiling’. Her facilitator reveals why her victory is so seismic – and the secrets of her party playlist The morning after the Turner prize ceremony, the winner of the UK’s […]