Feds yank contracts with Booz Allen Hamilton after Trump tax leak

Treasury Department ends contracts with consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton after a former contractor leaked tax returns, including info for President Trump.

How much snow did the storm bring? See lists of snowfall totals.

The winter storm bringing harsh weather to much of the U.S. dumped snowfall totals higher than 20 inches in some states. How much snow did we get?

Tories withdraw ‘mental health’ briefing about Suella Braverman after former Tory home secretary joins Reform – UK politics live

Her defection means there are now eight Reform MPs in the Commons

Keir Starmer was being interview by Beth Rigby from Sky News this morning when he defended the decision not to let Andy Burnham be a byelection candidate.

After Starmer delivered his first answer (see 10.15am), Rigby asked him to what he would say to Labour MPs who think he is being “cowardly” and just blocking Burnham to avoid the risk of a leadership contest.

Millions of people will be better off if we have the continuation of a Labour government in Wales, and if we’re able to win the government in Scotland and retain and win councils across England.

When I came into politics in 2015, the first thing I did was support Andy Burnham’s leadership campaign. The first team I worked in was for Andy Burnham. And in the job he’s doing now, he and I work closely together ..

So there’s no question of me and Andy not working very well together. He’s doing an excellent job.

The battle of our times is the battle between patriotic, Labour party, Labour government, and the division of Reform. There’s no doubt about that … In that battle, we are all fighting this.

I think everybody in the Labour party, everybody who’s a Labour MP, wants to be in that fight, wants to fight alongside all their colleagues in a fight that matters hugely to the future of our country.

US gripped by severe winter storm with snow, ice and plunging temperatures – latest news

Many alerts remain in place with power outages in some regions

• US winter storm: at least 15 people dead and 800,000 without power

• Tell us: have you been affected by the US storm?

Here are some photos that show just how severe the snow storm has been in New York:

Freezing rain that coated roads and brought trees and branches down on power lines was the main peril in the South over the weekend. In Corinth, Mississippi, heavy machinery manufacturer Caterpillar told employees at its site to stay home today and tomorrow.

It already was Mississippi’s worst ice storm since 1994 with its biggest-ever deployment of ice-melting chemicals — 200,000 gallons (750,000 liters) — plus salt and sand to treat icy roads, Governor Tate Reeves said at a press conference on Sunday.

Treasury cancels Booz Allen contracts after employee leaked Trump tax records; stock falls

Booze Allen employee Charles Edward Littlejohn also had leaked tax records of Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Tesla chief Elon Musk to a news outlet.

Donald Trump says he is sending his ‘border czar’ Tom Homan to Minnesota – US politics live

President makes announcement on Truth Social and also makes unsubstantiated claims about protests in Minnesota

As more and more Republicans call for an investigation of Alex Pretti’s killing, it’s worth remembering that Donald Trump’s call for heavy-handed immigration enforcement appeared to have already rankled a portion of his base.

A Politico poll that surveyed some 2000 adults between 16 and 19 January found that 49% of Americans believed Trump’s campaign was “too aggressive”.

Sepp Blatter suggests fans should not travel to US for World Cup

• Ex-Fifa boss shows support for boycott calls

• Security concerns over tournament have risen

Former Fifa president Sepp Blatter on Monday suggested he supports fans boycotting World Cup matches in the United States this year due to security concerns.

Blatter gave his support to comments from Swiss anti-corruption lawyer Mark Pieth, who worked with Fifa on potential reforms when Blatter was president, saying fans should stay away from the US for the tournament.

Private jet crashes at Maine airport, killing 7 and seriously injuring 1

The FAA says seven people were killed and a crew member survived with serious injuries when a business jet crashed in a snowstorm at Bangor International Airport.

‘I’d get out of bed, and oh boy, there it is’: what to know about plantar fasciitis

The ligament that connects your foot bones can cause severe heel pain when inflamed. Here’s how to avoid that

Recently, I decided to go for a jog after not running at all for more than [redacted] years. I did a half-marathon a couple of presidential administrations ago, so surely it would be fine? It was! Until the next morning, when I rolled out of bed, put my feet on the floor and felt a sharp pain in my heel.

Plantar fasciitis, my old nemesis.

Strengthen the muscles of the feet. Silverman suggests doing toe curls (with your feet flat on a towel, grip the towel with your toes and scrunch it towards your body) or marble pickups (using your toes to pick up marbles or similar objects from the floor).

Stretching. Specifically, stretching the calf muscles and the achilles tendon. Regularly stretching and massaging these areas “can help to not only assuage the inflammation, but prevent it from coming back”, says Aiyer.

Increase activity levels gradually. Allow your body to get acclimated to increases in activity levels rather than suddenly ramping up. Basically, don’t do what I did.

Wear the right shoes. Choose a shoe that’s too supportive, and your foot muscles can weaken over time, says Silverman. But choose a shoe that’s not supportive enough, and you may expose your plantar fascia to more direct trauma. Rather than sweating this Goldilocks challenge, Silverman says you should “choose footwear that matches the environment and activity”.

What Trump is forgetting: American nations have a long history of open borders | Daniel Mendiola

The US cites the ‘wisdom’ of historical immigration policy. But nation states in the Americas have spent more time with open borders than closed

Late last year, Donald Trump’s White House published a new National Security Strategy (NSS) outlining its vision for the world. At the time, the plan raised alarm for dismissing European alliances (now largely confirmed after Trump threatened Nato allies over Greenland), previewing interventions in Latin America (also largely confirmed by recent military action in Venezuela), and aligning closely with the priorities of the Kremlin.

The document also demonizes immigrants. In one widely cited passage, it even claims that “unchecked migration” has gotten so out of control that Europe is facing imminent “civilizational erasure”. On these grounds, the plan makes ending “The Era of Mass Migration” a top priority for the US.

Send Help review – Sam Raimi returns with gore-laced plane-crash survival face-off

Starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien, this gets off to a promising start, but the plot twists are derivative and the tacked-on violence descends into exasperating silliness

Sam Raimi is back with this violent black comedy scripted by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, set on a desert island where two plane-wreck survivors are facing off. It’s a movie whose entertaining initial premise and shrewd satire are finally damaged by Raimi’s need to juice everything up with spurious “horror” flourishes for the fanbase, on-brand gore eruptions that aren’t really scary and undermine the film’s believability, turning everything into silliness. The poster and promotional materials promise a “horror” film, but that isn’t really what this is. But what is it? Well, it’s a desert island parable that owes something to JM Barrie’s The Admirable Crichton and to … how to say it? … other dramas. No spoilers, but Raimi appearing to borrow from a recent Cannes Palme d’Or winner was not, as they say, on my bingo card.

Rachel McAdams plays nerdy Linda Liddle, a single woman living alone with a caged bird. She’s devoted to her job. She is an extremely smart researcher in a corporation, but is passed over for promotion by the charmless misogynists running the firm: useless, untalented males in Patrick Bateman suits who depend on her work. Chief among these odious sexists is new CEO Bradley Preston, played by Dylan O’Brien, a vacuous smoothie and nepo princeling whose late father, the company founder, valued Linda enough to promise her a VP position – a promise on which the hateful Bradley now smugly reneges.

How Israel is planning to build an ‘apartheid road’ – video

Israel plans to start work next month on a bypass that will close off the heart of the occupied West Bank to Palestinians and cement the de facto annexation of an area critical for the viability of a future Palestinian state. The road is a key part of the blueprint for a vast illegal new settlement in the E1 area east of Jerusalem, which would fragment the occupied West Bank. The far-right Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said the plans were intended to ‘bury the idea of a Palestinian state’

• Israel poised to start construction of bypass through heart of West Bank

• Israel pushes ahead with vast illegal settlement in heart of West Bank

U.S. carrier strike group enters Middle East region after Iran warning

The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group has crossed into Central Command, the Middle East region that includes Iran.

‘No one knows anything’: Washington Post staffers fear major cuts

Members of foreign staff send letter to billionaire owner Jeff Bezos urging him to change course

The Washington Post has consistently produced high-quality, news cycle-leading reporting over the first year of Donald Trump’s chaotic and unpredictable second administration. But that work has been produced under a cloud of uncertainty and rumors of widespread job cuts.

Those long-rumored cuts now appear to be close, with staffers expecting the ax to drop in early February – though nothing is certain. Inside the Post, staffers have tossed around estimates of potential cuts, with most exceeding 100, which would represent more than 10% of the newsroom – but no one really knows how widespread the cuts will be – or in fact if they will happen at all. The sections most likely to be affected by the cuts include sports, metro and foreign, according to staffers who spoke with the Guardian.

Replacing a manager midseason is a big call, and not as simple as it sounds | Jonathan Wilson

Liverpool and Tottenham are in different situations but face the same problem: a manager in the hot seat but few ideal options

• Sign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson here

Another weekend, another few days of soul-searching for Liverpool and Tottenham. Liverpool had been on a 13-game unbeaten run before Saturday’s defeat to Bournemouth, but nobody could claim a string of results that included home draws with all three promoted clubs was convincing. Spurs had won just two of their 13 league games before Saturday’s away draw at Burnley, which was salvaged only thanks to an injury-time goal from Cristian Romero.

For both, European competition had offered some relief – Liverpool looked very good in a 3-0 win away to Marseille while Spurs, at least in the first half, produced probably their best performance since August in beating Borussia Dortmund 2-0 – but the sad truth is that the vast majority of European sides these days simply cannot live with the physicality of the Premier League. That’s not to say that Bournemouth or Burnley are better than Marseille or Dortmund, but it is to say that the challenge they pose a Premier League side is less.

Tents pitched indoors for warmth and makeshift radiators: Ukrainians are freezing to death | Janine di Giovanni

As a war correspondent I’ve seen this strategy used before. Putin is weaponising the savage eastern European winter

In the winter of 1993, during the siege of Sarajevo, people burned books and furniture to keep warm. Water froze in pipes. Electricity vanished for the duration of the war. Children slept in coats and hats, their breath visible in dark rooms. Cold itself became a weapon of war.

I remember, when I was reporting from the Bosnian capital, seeing doctors operating by candlelight or wearing camping headlamps. I remember old people chopping wood in the park in the centre of the city until there were no trees left, then dragging it home on sledges. I remember the ground being too frozen to bury the many dead on the football pitch, which later became a cemetery. I remember a terrible, frozen day when I went to an old people’s home near a frontline and counted dead body after dead body, all frozen in their sleep.

UK military sexual abuse investigation widened as more than 500 contact police

Inquiry into enlistment medical examinations has been expanded from army to also include navy and RAF

More than 500 people have contacted police investigating sexual abuse that allegedly took place during armed services medical examinations over almost 50 years.

The investigation was launched after reports about the abuse of some recruits at army enlistment medical examinations but its scope has been expanded to include the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.

Remains of last Israeli held in Gaza after 7 October 2023 returned

Return of police sergeant Ran Gvili’s body should pave way for progress on second phase of Trump ceasefire plan

The remains of the Israeli police sergeant Ran Gvili, who was killed fighting Hamas-led militants on 7 October 2023, have been returned to Israel.

Militants took Gvili’s body to Gaza to use as a bargaining chip. He was the last of 251 people captured that day still held in the territory.

Kanye West takes out full-page ad apologising for antisemitic behaviour and denying he is a Nazi

Rapper, now known as Ye, apologises to his family and to the Black community and says he loves Jews, blaming his bipolar disorder for his ‘poor judgment and reckless behaviour’

Kanye West has taken out a full-page advert in the Wall Street Journal apologising for his antisemitic behaviour. “I am not a Nazi or an antisemite,” he wrote. “I love Jewish people.”

In a letter titled “To Those I’ve Hurt”, he attributed his inflammatory actions, including making profoundly offensive statements and selling T-shirts bearing swastikas, to his bipolar-1 disorder, which he said he developed as a result of medical oversight failing to diagnose a frontal-lobe injury sustained in a car crash in 2002.

To Those I’ve Hurt:

Twenty-five years ago, I was in a car accident that broke my jaw and caused injury to the right frontal lobe of my brain. At the time, the focus was on the visible damage – the fracture, the swelling, and the immediate physical trauma. The deeper injury, the one inside my skull, went unnoticed.

Gunmen open fire at football match in Mexico, killing at least 11

Mayor of Salamanca in Guanajuato state says attack is part of ‘wave of violence’ as he appeals to president for help

Gunmen opened fire at a football match in central Mexico on Sunday, killing at least 11 people and wounding 12, in the latest outburst of violence in Guanajuato state.

César Prieto, the mayor of the town of Salamanca in central Guanajuato state, said in a statement posted to social media platforms that the gunmen arrived at the end of a match. Ten people died at the scene and one died later at a hospital.

Videos of Alex Pretti shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis contradict Trump official claims

Footage from at least one of the videos appears to show a federal officer disarming the victim before shots are fired.

Polygamous working: why are people secretly doing two or three full-time jobs at once?

Holding multiple jobs without your employer’s knowledge has boomed in the age of hybrid working. Is it a canny response to job insecurity – or a fast track to getting fired?

Name: Polygamous working.

Age: It’s really a post-pandemic phenomenon.

Visual investigation of Minnesota shooting at odds with official statements

Bystander videos verified by CBS News show the scene from multiple angles before and during the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

ICU nurse killed by federal agents "wanted to make a difference," mentor says

A former mentor of Alex Pretti, the Minneapolis man who was shot and killed by federal agents over the weekend, said he had "a lot of compassion" for his community.

La Liga’s late, late shows set up a bottom-half battle royale for survival | Sid Lowe

If there’s one thing more beautiful than a goal in the 92nd minute it is a goal in the 96th, however ugly it actually is

The most romantic line ever written was sprayed on a dirty old wall somewhere in Italy and repeated everywhere else. You’re as beautiful as a goal in the 90th minute, the graffiti goes, and this was as beautiful as it gets until it got better. The board had gone up at the Ciutat de Valencia stadium on Friday night when Elche embarked upon a move that could have come from a cartoon or a console, the final scene in a film. Escape to Victory only more so, it started the way Michael Caine planned it, all arrows and crosses and ping-ping-ping, and finished the way Pelé actually played it: a picture of perfection which earned them a 2-2 draw in the derby at Levante. Or so it goes.

From one end to the other Elche had gone, the edge of their area to the heart of Levante’s. There had been a dribble out, a dozen passes, a touch for all of them. A superb assist, three defenders sent the wrong way. And then, two minutes into added time, the finish, Adam Boayar’s astonishing overhead kick sailing into the corner to complete a goal so good it was silly, so pristine as to be almost surreal. As the Ciutat fell silent, teammates piled on and fans in the away corner didn’t so much celebrate as put their hands over their mouths and try not to laugh, barely able to believe this.

Face the Nation: Turner, Crow, Montoya-Galvez

Missed the second half of the show? The latest on...Republican Rep. Mike Turner tells "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" that although President Trump signed an executive order delaying the enforcement of a law forcing ByteDance to divest from TikTok, the app "remains a national security threat", Democratic Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado tells "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" that after former President Joe Biden's preemptive pardon of his family members that "there needs to be some guardrails put in place and some reform of the pardon process", and the Trump administration is developing an asylum agreement with El Salvador's government that would allow the U.S. to deport migrants to the small Central American country who are not from there, Camilo Montoya-Galvez reports.

Microsoft reveals second generation of its AI chip in effort to bolster cloud business

With its newest AI chip, Microsoft plans "wider customer availability" after its initial product was only used for internal projects.

Payments from Apple lawsuit are now landing in people's bank accounts

Apple users report receiving about $8 per eligible device from the settlement, based on the amount landing in their accounts.

Two British far-right activists arrested in France

Men in custody for allegedly broadcasting content likely to incite hatred from French coast

French authorities have arrested two far-right British activists in what is believed to be the first case of its kind.

An order had been issued on Friday prohibiting British activists from gathering for a planned “stop the boats” protest nicknamed Operation Overlord in the departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais. The order was due to expire at 8am on Monday but was extended for two days.

Shutdown odds grow as Senate Republicans won't remove DHS funding after Pretti killing

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York says he'll vote against DHS funding after federal agents fatally shot Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

Merz’s party vows to clamp down on Germany’s ‘lifestyle part-time work’

Business wing of Christian Democrats aims to scrap legal right to fewer hours, saying people should need permission

The business wing of Germany’s leading Christian Democratic Union party is proposing a ban on the legal entitlement to work part-time, arguing that those wishing to work fewer hours should have to acquire special permission to do so.

Currently, every employee in Europe’s largest economy has a fundamental right to carry out part-time work, with many, particularly women, often needing to do so for reasons relating to childcare or looking after elderly relatives.

Masked government thugs snuffed out Alex Pretti’s life in broad daylight | Moira Donegan

If they’re trying to eliminate witnesses, they cannot eliminate us all

His last words, spoken to a woman who had been tackled to the ground and pepper-sprayed by nearby ICE agents, were “Are you OK?” Alex Pretti was an intensive care nurse at a VA hospital; those who knew him recalled, among other things, his devotion to his elderly dog, Joule, who died about a year ago.

In bystander videos taken of Pretti’s death, he can be seen holding up his phone to video ICE agents operating in Minneapolis, and waving cars around him to avoid the officers as they attack other onlookers. After he is dragged away from the woman he was trying to help, a gaggle of ICE officers surround Pretti and force him to the ground, beating and restraining him there as he struggles to free himself.

Carney says Canada not pursuing free trade deal with China as Trump threatens 100% tariffs

Trump's rhetoric on Truth Social contrasts with what he said after the agreement between Ottawa and Beijing: "If you can get a deal with China, you should do that."

Gold tops $5,000 for the first time. How high could it go?

Wall Street analysts expect the gold rally to continue as investors pile in because of mounting geopolitical uncertainty and economic concerns.

Cruz reportedly says Trump yelled and cursed over warning of midterm election ‘bloodbath’

US senator warned that Republicans would lose elections if prices continue to rise, prompting president to respond ‘fuck you, Ted’

• US politics live – latest updates

Ted Cruz warned Donald Trump, his fellow Republican, that he would face a “bloodbath” in the November midterm elections if prices continued to rise, prompting the president to respond, “fuck you, Ted,” the US senator told donors, according to a secret recording of the private conversation obtained by Axios.

Cruz reportedly delivered the reality check to the president in a phone conversation after Trump unveiled sweeping tariffs a few months after returning to the Oval Office in early 2025. The president was unhappy, Cruz said – and yelled and cursed in a conversation with Republican senators.

Starmer defends Labour decision to bar Burnham from byelection

Greater Manchester mayor’s participation in 26 February byelection would ‘divert resources’, says prime minister

• UK politics live – latest updates

Keir Starmer has defended Labour’s decision to block Andy Burnham from standing for parliament, a move which has triggered a major backlash against the prime minister from sections of his own party.

Starmer said on Monday he and his fellow officers on Labour’s ruling executive committee had decided not to let Burnham quit as mayor of Greater Manchester to avoid triggering a costly mayoral election.

‘I didn’t know how to shoot’: how African men have been tricked into fighting for Russia

Exclusive: Lured by false job adverts, they are unknowingly enlisted on arrival and put in mortal danger

• Europe live – latest updates

Stephen Oduor was looking forward to starting his new job as a plumber in Russia to support his family after months of unemployment. But soon after landing in St Petersburg from Nairobi with six other Kenyans one afternoon last August, he started feeling something was off.

The man who received them at the airport drove them to a house where their luggage was taken away and they were given black clothes and shoes to wear. Afterwards, they were taken to a police station where they were fingerprinted and forced to sign documents written in Russian, a language they did not understand.

‘We get a lot of requests for it be used in sex scenes’: how Goldfrapp made Ooh La La

‘I couldn’t think of a line for the chorus – but we had just been to France. I got Baudelaire into the lyrics somewhere, too’

This song was an ode to glam rock. My older sister was really into Marc Bolan and her passion for him and his sound really rubbed off on me. I love the vocal effects and drum sounds on those old records.

U.S. officials' response to Alex Pretti shooting causes anger among some at DHS

"When we gaslight and contradict what the public can plainly see with their own eyes, we lose all credibility," one DHS official said.

Power out for hundreds of thousands due to deadly storm

Deaths and power outages were reported across numerous states due to a monster storm across much of the country.

Football Daily | Panic on the streets of north London as Arsenal freeze again in January

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Perhaps Manchester City and Liverpool cruising to recent title wins made us forget that, deep-set in the making of champions, there will be wobbles, difficulties, forks in the road. As Pep Guardiola would happily tell you now, it’s not supposed to be easy. Just look at Liverpool’s attempts to follow up last season’s serene gambol to the title. The message to Arsenal, to quote the late, great Douglas Adams, is: don’t panic. Mind, Adams also penned this passage in The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy: “What’s that, foregone conclusion then you reckon sir?” said the barman. “Arsenal without a chance?” “No, no,” said Ford, “it’s just that the world’s about to end.”

Hundreds feared dead in attempt to cross Mediterranean during cyclone

Fifty killed in one incident as Italian authorities estimate 380 people may have drowned last week

• Europe live – latest updates

Up to 380 people may have drowned attempting to cross the Mediterranean last week as Cyclone Harry battered southern Italy and Malta, the Italian coastguard has said, as a shipwreck with the loss of 50 lives was confirmed by Maltese authorities.

Just one person, who was hospitalised in Malta, survived the shipwreck, which happened on Friday.

Former NRA spokesperson on Minneapolis shooting and having firearms at protests

The Trump administration says the federal agents who shot and killed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis acted in self-defense. Video shows Pretti, a legal gun owner with no criminal record, was not holding a gun, but one was later pulled from his waistband by Border Patrol before he was shot. Dana Loesch, a radio host and former spokesperson for the NRA, speaks with "CBS Mornings" about questions surrounding the investigation, second amendment rights and having firearms at protests.

Saudi Arabia ordered to pay £3m to London dissident over Pegasus spying

High court finds kingdom responsible for hacking phones of Ghanem al-Masarir and for physical attack on him

A judge has ordered Saudi Arabia to pay more than £3m in damages to a London-based dissident whose phones were targeted with Pegasus spyware.

In a judgment handed down on Monday, Judge Pushpinder Saini ruled that Ghanem al-Masarir was entitled to compensation for psychiatric harm sustained after discovering that his iPhones had been hacked, as well as a physical attack on him outside Harrods in central London.

Ruud makes timely exit from Australian Open as Shelton storms into last eight

• Norwegian’s wife is pregnant with their first child

• Twelfth seed had faced nervy wait with due date near

Casper Ruud endured a frustrating 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 defeat against Ben Shelton in the fourth round of the Australian Open on Monday night, but the silver lining of the three-time grand slam finalist’s loss is that he will finally be able to return home.

Ruud, the 12th seed, has had one eye on events back home during his time in Melbourne owing to the fact that his wife, Maria, is pregnant with their first child and is due to give birth this weekend. Ruud had stated repeatedly that he would withdraw and immediately begin the long journey home to Norway if she went into labour during the tournament.

Nvidia set to supplant Apple as TSMC's top customer, signaling chip industry's 'changing dynamic'

The positional swap will mark a fundamental shift in the semiconductor industry, reflecting Nvidia's growing importance amid the AI infrastructure buildout.

Black cakes and branded buckets: welcome to the White House premiere for Brett Ratner’s Melania movie

Monochrome catering was all the rage at the VIP screening on Saturday for Ratner’s officially sanctioned $75m feature-length documentary about the First Lady. Have the photos whetted your appetite?

This week sees the release of Melania, Amazon’s official feature-length documentary about Melania Trump. Melania was directed by Brett Ratner, and has a reported $40m production budget. And, obviously, you’re probably not going to watch it.

Of course you’re not. Coming days after the killing of Alex Pretti by a US Border Patrol agent, an authorised vanity project about the current wife of a globally unpopular political leader – and directed by a man accused of sexual assault by multiple women (he was never charged, and denies the allegations), and whose production and release carried the smell of institutionalised media timidity – seems like just about the least appealing prospect ever. But, hey, any excuse for a party, right?

Paris fashion and Grand Bazaar gold: photos of the day – Monday

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

‘I will finish your work’: one woman’s fight for the Jewish art and letters her mother saved from the Nazis

Exclusive: Hundreds of works by the artist and poet Peter Kien have new home in UK after campaign by Judy King

They survived the Nazis, were confiscated by the communists, and for the last three decades they have been jealously guarded, bound in red tape, by a museum in the Czech Republic. Due to the attentions of an overzealous Czech customs guard and the vagaries of the British weather, a happy conclusion had been in doubt to the very end.

But last Thursday a small suitcase filled with 681 drawings, love letters, poems and manuscripts created by the Jewish artist and poet Peter Kien in the Theresienstadt ghetto in German-occupied Czechoslovakia between 1941 and 1944 finally made a blustery landing at Heathrow.

EU launches inquiry into X over sexually explicit images made by Grok AI

Investigation comes after Elon Musk’s firm sparked outrage by allowing users to ‘strip’ photos of women and children

• Europe live – latest updates

The European Commission has launched an investigation into Elon Musk’s X over the production of sexually explicit images and the spreading of possible child sexual abuse material by the platform’s AI chatbot, Grok.

The formal inquiry, launched on Monday, also extends an investigation into X’s recommender systems, algorithms that help users discover new content.

Israel has recovered the last hostage remains from Gaza

The Israeli military says the body of Ran Gvili, a 24-year-old special forces policeman killed while fighting Hamas militants on Oct. 7, 2023, has been found.

Former mentor remembers man killed by federal agents as "warm, kind and sweet individual"

Dr. Aasma Shaukat, a former mentor of Alex Pretti in the Minneapolis VA health care system, describes Saturday's fatal shooting by federal agents as "absolutely devastating and very surreal." Shaukat said Pretti was dedicated to health care and wanted to make a difference in his community.

Shutdown threat looms as Democrats pledge to block funding after shooting

Senate Democrats came out against a funding package in the wake of the deadly shooting of a Minneapolis man by federal agents, with just days until the deadline to fund the government.

Killing of K’gari dingoes in wake of backpacker’s death could create ‘extinction vortex’, expert says

Queensland government says it has already killed six of the 10 dingoes seen near the body of 19-year-old Piper James

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Dingo experts have said a decision to kill a 10-strong pack of the animals linked with the death of Canadian tourist Piper James on K’gari could push the island’s population towards extinction while doing little to protect humans.

The Queensland government revealed on Sunday it had already killed six of the pack seen around the body of the 19-year-old in a move that has angered the island’s traditional owners who have said they were not consulted.

My rookie era: scrapbooking is like creating my own sentimental time capsule

Unlike journalling, sticking glossy pictures and ribbon scraps helps me explore how I’m feeling in in a language only I can decipher

• Read more summer essentials

I had always associated scrapbooking with grandmas and bored children, so, imagine my surprise when – as a twentysomething with a Big Girl Job – I found myself enamoured of printing, cutting, and sticking random bits and bobs into a book.

If, like me, you’ve racked up a disconcerting amount of screen time, you may have stumbled across a multitude of craft-inspired social media posts made primarily by young women. Described as “junk journalling”, the hobby is distinguishable by an affinity with collecting and storing physical mementoes, such as tickets, receipts, packaging and Polaroids.

The Wrecking Crew review – Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa tear up the screen

The abundantly muscled action stars are estranged siblings avenging their father in this enjoyable action-comedy throwback

Here is a straight to streaming action-thriller-comedy that is a throwback to the kind of pulpy stupid fun fare that minted money back in the 80s and 90s. The presence of a Phil Collins banger on the soundtrack and a reference to Jean-Claude Van Damme are tells. One assumes the target audience are males of all ages with a bloodlust for highly choreographed casual violence and stunts interspersed with quips. As such, it gets the job done, plus it throws in the bells and whistles you’d expect, such as fireballs erupting in the background as characters flee the scene, scads of civilians getting killed along the way while evoking not a drop of regret from the protagonists, and estranged siblings getting in touch with their feelings about their errant, recently deceased father, and learning lessons about love along the way.

Yes, you read that last bit right, because The Wrecking Crew offers a mildly enlightened, post-therapy 2020s spin on the genre – going so far as to give one of the main characters a child-psychologist wife (Roimata Fox) who is ready to diagnose emotional dysfunction when the script requires. Otherwise, the action is dominated by Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa, playing excessively muscled, abundantly inked, initially estranged half-brothers James and Jonny, who spend the film trying to work out who killed their father Walter (Brian Keaulana) in a hit-and-run incident. James is the one with the child psychologist wife; he trains Marines and is a disciplined, solid citizen only slightly simmering with rage. Jonny, an Oklahoma-based cop, is more flamboyantly booze-sozzled, roistering and irresponsible – a classic younger brother according to all those TikTok videos about sibling birth order.

Parents, please don’t stop reading to your children – a great picture book could change their life | Sally Rippin

Picture books help children to develop their imaginations, find empathy for others and take pride in what makes them unique – all of which make for good adults

• Vote now for the best Australian children’s picture book

Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.” – Emilie Buchwald

I can’t think of a better way to start the year than having one of my books chosen in the Guardian’s readers’ poll for the best Australian picture books of all time. Come Over to My House, co-written with musician Eliza Hull and illustrated by Daniel Gray-Barnett, is a rhyming picture book that explores the home lives of children and parents who are d/Deaf or disabled. I am so proud to have been a part of creating this book, and so thrilled to see it on this list among so many extraordinary titles.

Sally Rippin is an award-winning children’s author and the outgoing Australian children’s laureate for 2024-25. The next laureate will be announced on 10 February

Former French senator on trial accused of spiking MP’s drink with MDMA

Joël Guerriau is alleged to have drugged centrist member of parliament Sandrine Josso in order to sexually assault her

A former French senator has gone on trial in Paris accused of drugging a fellow politician in order to sexually assault her, in a case that has shaken French politics.

Joël Guerriau, 68, was a centrist senator for Loire-Atlantique in the west of France in November 2023 when he is accused of spiking a glass of champagne with MDMA and serving it to Sandrine Josso, a centrist member of parliament.

Crocodile warnings as floods devastate southern Africa

More than 100 people killed and hundreds of thousands displaced in South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe

Devastating floods have killed more than 100 people in southern Africa since the beginning of the year and displaced hundreds of thousands, as authorities and aid workers warn of hunger, cholera and attacks by crocodiles that have spread with the waters.

More than 70 people have died in Zimbabwe and 30 in South Africa, where hundreds of people were evacuated from Kruger national park earlier this month after a deluge of rain.

Alex Pretti killing: Minnesota CEOs, including UnitedHealth, Target, call for 'immediate deescalation'

The Trump administration has surged federal law enforcement to the city to enforce its immigration crackdown and pursue allegations of widespread welfare fraud.

Law enforcement analysis of deadly shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis

CBS News law enforcement contributor and former Suffolk County police commissioner Rodney Harrison joins "CBS Mornings" to break down what to know about the deadly shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis that happened over the weekend.

Video breakdown of fatal shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis

CBS News has poured over videos of another deadly shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis from bystanders. The videos show agents pepper spraying Alex Pretti, pushing him to the ground, removing a gun from his waistband and then shooting him multiple times. Warning, the images in this story are graphic.

Serie A’s ‘mega tie-breaker’ leaves Inter clear but Juve catch the eye again | Nicky Bandini

Inter and Juventus exchanged remarkable home victories, while dominant Roma were held to a draw at home by Milan

Lady Gaga’s electropop banger Born This Way is 15 years old, but by the standards of some Serie A stadium DJs that makes it positively modern. Thumping out at the Olimpico on Sunday night it somehow felt timely. Roma were on the right track, baby, after a first half in which they thoroughly dominated Milan.

The expected goals counter had them up by 1.8 to 0.02. Sure, the actual scoreboard still showed 0-0, but the way Donyell Malen kept making space for himself inside the box was enough to convince fans his swaggering debut against Torino seven days before could be no flash in the pan.

Family and friends remember Alex Pretti, the man killed by federal agents in Minnesota

There are mass protests in Minneapolis over another fatal shooting by federal agents. Alex Pretti, who was killed, was an ICU nurse at a hospital for veterans. His father said he "cared about people deeply" and participated in protests after Renee Good was killed by federal officers earlier this month.

Intense winter storm brings heavy snow, ice and bitter cold to much of U.S.

A severe winter storm impacted millions across the U.S. over the weekend with heavy snowfall, ice and record-cold temperatures. At one point, more than a million Americans were without power. Rob Marciano reports.

Nigella Lawson confirmed as new Great British Bake Off judge

The TV cook and food writer replaces Prue Leith, who has stepped down after nine seasons on the show

Nigella Lawson has been announced as the new judge on The Great British Bake Off. She replaces Prue Leith, who stepped down after nine seasons of judging contestants’ culinary creations, so she could spend summers enjoying her garden, explaining: “I’m 86 for goodness sake!”

Lawson will join the programme for its next series, the 17th, which will launch later this year. She will serve alongside Paul Hollywood, who will continue in the role he has held since the baking competition launched on BBC Two in 2010.

‘What they’re doing is the worst of humanity’: Sundance festival stars back anti-ICE protest

Elijah Wood joined protest in Utah’s Park City in memory of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, while Natalie Portman said what is happening is ‘absolutely horrific’

The Sundance film festival, which is currently under way in Park City, Utah, saw a mass protest against the two fatal shootings in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Sunday, along with high-profile interventions from major film industry figures.

Actor Natasha Lyonne was among those spreading social media posts about the protest, called “Sundancers Melt ICE”, which was called for Sunday afternoon. The organisers asked for a 10-minute “respectful” event at sunset on Park City’s Main Street to memorialise Renee Good, who was killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent on 7 January, and Alex Pretti, who was killed on Saturday by an agent of the Department of Homeland Security.

Lucas Vázquez leads way for old-timers to give Leverkusen lift-off in 2026 | Andy Brassell

Team with an average age of just under 29 finally ended their losing streak since turn of the year

The biggest cheer of the afternoon at the BayArena was a result from elsewhere. A stunning first league defeat of the season for Bayern Munich at home to Augsburg was not important in any sort of title race context – any faint thoughts of that disappeared a while back, and not just for Bayer Leverkusen. No, the shock result of the afternoon, the week, the month, the season means Xabi Alonso’s 2024 double winners remain the only unbeaten Bundesliga champions.

“You’re welcome,” said Augsburg’s English language X account, quote-tweeting Leverkusen’s acknowledgment that their record would endure for at least a season more. And if ever Die Werkself needed a lift, it was here and now. They may have stopped the rot with a single-goal win over Werder Bremen, following a run of four losses in their previous six Bundesliga matches, but it was as bare minimum as the scoreline suggested. Against similarly out-of-form opponents (more so, in fact – Bremen last won on 7 November, nine games ago), they crawled to three points. “We are very relieved,” admitted Kasper Hjulmand with laudable candour.

West Yorkshire man charged with encouraging suicide in US

Dylan Phelan accused of encouraging man in Louisiana to take his own life over video call

A British man has been charged with encouraging the suicide of an American via a video call.

Dylan Phelan, of Churwell, near Leeds in West Yorkshire, is accused of encouraging a 21-year-old man, who lived in Louisiana, to take his own life over a video call on 30 October 2024, according to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Georginia Hayden’s quick and easy recipe for roast sprout salad with anchovies and parmesan | Quick and easy

There’s lots of deep umami flavour in this crunchy, rubbly side or salad

Brussels sprouts are for life, not just for Christmas. They’re still making a regular appearance in our house, from shredded and stir-fried with chilli and spice, to roasted and dressed, as in this salad. And what a salad it is: with a caesar-esque dressing, it is crisp, salty and crunchy, and hits all the right notes. You can bulk it out, if you like, by topping it with a few soft, jammy boiled eggs cut into wedges or some shredded leftover chicken. However, it is pretty perfect as it is, as a light lunch or side.

Senators call for Alex Pretti death investigation. And, winter storm recovery efforts

Minneapolis strikes and protests continue after ICE's fatal shooting of Alex Pretti. And, states work to recover from a massive winter storm that has left widespread power outages and flight chaos.

‘It’s a farce’: families of Venezuela political prisoners still await their release

Critics believe ‘drip drip’ of releases after Maduro’s dramatic seizure an attempt by regime to ‘keep the US satisfied’

In the days after Nicolás Maduro was accused of stealing Venezuela’s 2024 election, the relatives of hundreds of protesters captured during the ensuing clampdown flocked to the Zone 7 police detention centre in search of incarcerated loved ones.

Now, after the tables turned dramatically and Maduro finds himself locked up in the US, the families have returned to demand the immediate release of every last one of their country’s political prisoners.

‘The most stressful TV experience on record’: Alex Honnold and the rise of potential death as live entertainment

Witnessing the free climber’s ascent of the Taipei 101 without ropes on Skyscraper Live was an astonishing experience. But beneath panicked viewers’ sweaty palms, there was a queasy truth about the future of television

Well, have your balls descended back out of your body yet? Netflix’s Skyscraper Live has been and gone, and it may well qualify as the single most stressful viewing experience on record. Alex Honnold’s unassisted ascent of the 508 metre Taipei 101 was an absolutely extraordinary achievement. Whether or not it represents the future of television, though, is a completely different matter.

Honnold’s work is already well-known. As the star of Free Solo – a feature documentary once again so nerve-racking that the only way to comfortably enjoy it was under the influence of industrial sphincter relaxants – he has long been the poster boy of people climbing up stuff without ropes.

Flight disruptions from massive winter storm will linger Monday

U.S. airlines canceled tens of thousands of flights and waived change fees for travelers as a massive winter storm swept across the country.

Flight cancellations top 11,000, most in a single day since pandemic

Flight cancellations are continuing to mount as the U.S. is being hit with dangerous winter weather​ from a storm moving across the country.

Classical music brings us joy and meaning. In this time of doom and gloom, we need to talk about that | James Murphy

Why do we focus on the bad news stories about cuts and crises in classical music ? Musicians are doing incredible things to engage, support and sustain us; we should tell those stories too

When did you last read a good news story about classical music?

Think of the stories that have made the headlines in recent years: funding cuts to national opera companies, closure threats to university music departments, councils axing local provision, classroom music-making in decline.

‘Don’t they have mercy?’: A mother on losing her son in a record year of Saudi executions

Essam al-Shazly is the latest foreign national to die in a ‘horrifying’ surge in capital punishment under the rule of Mohammed bin Salman

In his four years on death row, Essam al-Shazly’s mother was his only contact with the outside world. During their daily calls she would calm his fears, control her own tears and listen to his hopes of returning home.

Speaking from the family home in Hurghada, a tourist resort on Egypt’s Red Sea coast, she says he would tell her, “Mom, I talk to you because I want to forget what I’m going through. Don’t ask me anything about prison.”

Natural gas prices hit $6 for first time since 2022 as massive winter storm sweeps U.S.

U.S. natural gas prices surged above $6 for the first time since late 2022 on Monday as a massive winter storm sweeps across the country.

Life with and without water: from riding waves to disappearing lakes – in pictures

The variety and scope of entries to the global Walk of Water photography contest reflect the intimate connection between water and humanity

Still trying desperately to cling on to your youth? Watch out: you could be a Young 40 | Emma Beddington

Millennials in South Korea are being mocked for trying too hard to follow fashion. It’s far better to accept the march of time

Apparently, South Korea’s millennials are getting ribbed by gens Z and Alpha as mercilessly as their western counterparts. The BBC explains they are getting labelled and parodied as “Young 40s”. It’s a term that used to have positive connotations – youthful and “with it” (yes, an expression no one youthful or “with it” uses) – but is now more mocking. A “Young 40” is a try-hard, clinging to a dearly held idea of their own relevance.

Some Young 40s the BBC interviewed sounded wounded and confused by their new status. “I’m just buying and wearing things I’ve liked for a long time, now that I can afford them,” one said of his skate gear and Air Jordans. “Why is this something to be attacked for?” Another felt self-conscious in interactions with younger colleagues: “I try to keep conversations focused on work or career concerns.”

Why I’m launching a feminist video games website in 2026

I’ve been a games journalist since 2007, but still there isn’t much video games coverage that feels like it’s specifically for people like me. So I’m creating a home for it: Mothership

Whether you’re reading about the impending AI bubble bursting or about the video game industry’s mass layoffs and cancelled projects, 2026 does not feel like a hopeful time for gaming. What’s more, games journalists – as well as all other kinds of journalists – have been losing their jobs at alarming rates, making it difficult to adequately cover these crises. Donald Trump’s White House, meanwhile, is using video game memes as ICE recruitment tools, and game studios are backing away from diversity and inclusion initiatives in response to the wider world’s slide to the right.

The manosphere is back, and we’ve lost mainstream feminist websites such as Teen Vogue; bigots everywhere are celebrating what they see as the death of “woke”. Put it all together and we have a dismal stew of doom for someone like me, a queer woman and a feminist who’s been a games journalist and critic since 2007.

How long do you need to spend in the gym to get strong? Less than you think

If you're procrastinating working out, here's one less excuse. Short gym sessions can be enough to build meaningful strength — as long as you push yourself while you're there.

Climber dies in roughly 300 foot fall on Oregon's Mount Hood, authorities say

A climber on Oregon's Mount Hood was found dead Sunday after witnesses said he or she had fallen about 300 feet, the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office says.

Pharrell Williams sued by former Neptunes partner Chad Hugo over alleged lost earnings

The producers who helped define the sound of pop music in the 90s and 00s are in dispute over earnings from their final album as NERD

Chad Hugo is suing Pharrell Williams, his production partner in the Neptunes, over claims that Williams owes Hugo up to $1m from their final album as NERD, 2017’s No One Ever Really Dies.

The Neptunes defined the sound of pop music in the late 90s and early 00s, producing for artists including Kelis, Britney Spears, Beyoncé, Clipse and Justin Timberlake. As NERD, they released five albums.

Weather tracker: Severe storms grip US as snow, ice and deep freeze spread

Warnings issued across 26 US states, while Portugal braces for heavy rain as Storm Joseph rolls in

The US is enduring another bout of severe winter weather, as a succession of powerful weather systems brings heavy snow, freezing rain and extreme cold temperatures to much of the country.

Twenty-six states, from Texas to Massachusetts, were under storm warnings issued by the National Weather Service over the weekend, with many alerts remaining in place this week.

1/25: CBS Weekend News

Winter storm impacts nearly 200 million Americans; Latest details after Border Patrol kills Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

Poem of the week: Song by Lady Mary Chudleigh

Words of stern moral advice to a besotted young man are delivered with a brisk and even sunny touch

Song

Why, Damon, why, why, why so pressing?
The Heart you beg’s not worth possessing:
Each Look, each Word, each Smile’s affected,
And inward Charms are quite neglected:
Then scorn her, scorn her, foolish Swain,
And sigh no more, no more in vain.

‘Embarrassed’ v ‘force to be reckoned with’: Americans on Trump’s foreign interventions

From capturing Maduro to proposing a take over of Greenland – people respond to the president’s rhetoric

As Donald Trump continues to call for the US to take control of Greenland, not long after the US captured the deposed president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, we asked people in the US what they thought about Trump’s foreign intervention and rhetoric. Here are some of their responses.

All eyes are on Rubio as he navigates the world in 2 critical roles

Rubio is the first person to hold both roles at the same time since Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in the 1970s.

Seahawks, Patriots set to meet in Super Bowl rematch

The Seahawks and the Patriots previously met in the Super Bowl back in 2015, when a last-second goal line interception by Malcolm Butler sealed the win for New England.

A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar review – survival in a climate-ravaged Kolkata

This moral thriller offers a perceptive account of specifically Indian anxieties

The title characters of Megha Majumdar’s second novel are a young man referred to only by a nickname, Boomba, and a woman known as Ma. Each regards themselves as a guardian, and the other as a thief. The reader is not asked to take sides, but instead to observe how the world makes thieves of guardians, and vice versa.

A Guardian and a Thief takes place over what is meant to be the last week of Ma living in Kolkata. She, her father and her two-year-old daughter are about to join Ma’s husband in the United States, as the recipients of prized “climate visas”. Floods and extreme heat have turned Kolkata into a city of persistent food shortages. Black marketeers hoard eggs, fruit and vegetables, while fish, previously the cornerstone of Bengali cooking, has vanished altogether. The terrifying word famine is disinterred. This is one of the many ways in which climate change has sent Kolkata forward into the past. While Majumdar’s acclaimed debut, A Burning, laid out the appalling consequences of a young woman’s Facebook post, in A Guardian and a Thief the city appears to be almost entirely smartphone-free.

Silence and Cry review – deeply strange 1960s erotic ballet meditating on Hungary’s history and politics

Director Miklós Jancsó creates a bizarre psychodrama set after the fall of the 1919 Hungarian Soviet republic, encompassing postwar trauma and erotic overtones

Miklós Jancsó’s mysterious film from 1968 is a deeply strange somnambulist ballet. It shows a piece of Hungary’s political history implicitly juxtaposed with the postwar Soviet present, in which Czechoslovakia and Hungary have been crushed. The brutality of the anti-Communist powers of 1919 depicted in the film would have been an officially acceptable subject, but the indictment of brutality is clearly transferable. And it is an impenetrable psychological trauma with weird erotic overtones, like an absurdist bad dream transcribed by Kafka.

The scene is the vast Hungarian plain, with a desolate wind always blowing, on which the characters perform their roles as if on a gigantic stage; it is a single unitary space which appears to extend, Sahara-like, to the far horizon in all directions. People do not quite enter and exit in the conventional fashion, but rather can often be seen gradually arriving from an impossibly long way away, and leave by progressively dwindling to a vanishingly small dot in the distance. Jancsó’s distinctively sinuous camerawork glides and swoops elegantly around the action in a series of long unbroken takes.

Strong v swole: the surprising truth about building muscle

Traditional bodybuilding advice has been to push workouts to the point of failure, and that soreness is an indicator of effectiveness. But recent studies show there’s another way

Until pretty recently, the conventional wisdom about building muscle was that it worked via a system you might think of as “tear and repair” – the idea being that working out causes microtears in the muscle fibres, which trigger the body’s repair processes, encouraging the muscles to come back bigger and stronger.

That’s why many old-school trainers will tell you that there’s no gain without pain, and why a lot of bodybuilding advice includes increasingly byzantine ways of pushing your biceps and triceps to the point where you can’t do another repetition: the more trauma you can cause, the thinking goes, the more “swole” you can become.

Invasion Day: police investigate ‘device’ thrown into Perth crowd as huge marches held across Australia

Anti-immigration protesters clash with First Nations people and supporters in Melbourne and Canberra at otherwise peaceful rallies

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Police in Western Australia are investigating a “device” thrown into the crowd at the city’s Invasion Day rally, sparking a security scare that ended the protest.

Speaking to the media on Monday afternoon, the WA police commissioner, Col Blanch, said a 31-year-old man had been arrested after allegedly throwing the device.

Sam Darnold: after five teams and plenty of mockery, ‘Ginger Cuz’ reaches the Super Bowl

The Seattle Seahawks quarterback has endured a rocky NFL career. But in the biggest game of his career, he delivered the performance of a lifetime

Moments after clinching a Super Bowl berth, Sam Darnold strolled over for his obligatory television interview. He was thrilled; the Seattle Seahawks had just toppled the Los Angeles Rams in a 31-27 thriller. But he was also measured. Unlike receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who would follow and was teeming with emotion, Darnold simply spoke about his love for his teammates. And when asked about his improbable journey, he replied, “I haven’t really thought about it that much.”

He may not have, but the rest of us have. And whether Darnold likes it or not, his comeback story will be the prevailing storyline of Super Bowl 60. How can it not, especially after the quarterback saved what may have been the best performance of his life for Seattle’s third, and most important, tilt with the Rams this season.

Is it true that … red light therapy masks prevent wrinkles?

While there may be benefits to the treatment, anti-ageing probably isn’t one of them – which is something better left to the professionals

‘Red light therapy, where LED lights are shone on your skin, has been around for a while,” says Afshin Mosahebi, a professor in plastic surgery at University College London. But what was once an expensive treatment you’d go to a professional to receive is now becoming widely available in the form of light-up masks you can wear at home.

“Reasonable reports show that the treatment is good for wound-healing,” says Mosahebi. This is why it is recommended for inflammatory skin conditions such as acne, dermatitis and psoriasis, as it increases circulation, decreases inflammation, and improves cell regeneration.

DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton is ending her reelection campaign for Congress

The 18-term delegate for the District of Columbia in Congress and a veteran of the Civil Rights Movement has filed paperwork to end her campaign for reelection.

Do writing retreats actually work? Reader, I finished my novel in style …

The distractions of daily life can make writing a book a frustrating task, so I sought boltholes offering creative support and solitude in inspiring landscapes

The idea for my novel came in a rush: as I walked over the Thames on the Golden Jubilee Bridge in central London, the scene at the heart of it leapt out of the deep blue dusk and clung on to me until I committed to writing it into existence.

A few months later, it became depressingly clear that the half-hour snatches of writing at the end of my working day just weren’t going to get me over the finish line.

Sleaford Mods go metal detecting: best podcasts of the week

A delightfully leftfield new interview show takes Jason Williamson to dig up rusty old nails. Plus, Ant and Dec launch their first ever podcast

In this offbeat interview show, producer and host James Deacon takes a ramble through green space with a celebrity, as they attempt a spot of metal detecting and intimate chat with themed questions (“What’s one piece of gold you’ve found in your life?”). Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson is the first guest for an hour of introspection and digging up rusty nails. Works better as a visualised, rather than audio, podcast. Alexi Duggins
Widely available, episodes weekly

The Bed Trick by Izabella Scott review – a bizarre story of sexual duplicity

A brilliant analysis of the trial of Gayle Newland and the literary and social antecedents of ‘sex by deception’

In September 2015, Gayle Newland stood trial accused of sex by deception. It was alleged that she created an online identity as a man and used this character, Kye Fortune, to lure another woman into a sexual relationship, which was consummated repeatedly with the assistance of a blindfold and a prosthetic penis. The woman believed she was having sex with Kye until one day her ring caught on his hat and she felt long hair. Tearing off her blindfold, she realised her male lover was actually her female friend. As these lurid, almost fairytale details seeped out, the case went viral. “Sex attacker who posed as man found guilty” was one of the milder headlines.

The trial caught Izabella Scott’s attention because it was a real-life example of a plot device she recognised from literature. The bed trick can be found in folk stories and operas, in Chaucer and Shakespeare. Often told for comic effect, it concerns sex by trickery and deception, under cover of darkness. “The plot suggests,” Scott writes, “that, in bed, anyone might be mistaken for anyone else.”