West Ham v Leeds, Champions League battle, Arsenal to lift trophy and Guardiola’s goodbye: Premier League finale – live

⚽ 4pm BST kick-offs | Tottenham v Everton – live
⚽ Live scores | Latest table | Top scorers | Email Simon

Pep Guardiola has a chat with Sky:

I’m good. Trying to focus on the game. It’s not easy, with many things happening around it. Not just me, Bernardo and John and some people from the staff. But yeah, try to enjoy, with my family, and an amount of people that I love.

There’s a football game, and we don’t want to make a bad last game. I’d have loved to have the chance today to play against Arsenal, but there are a lot of things around.

Now is the time, I’m pretty sure. Once we announced I thought, maybe I was wrong. The past has been really good with us, but the future will be better without me. You have to have a special energy..

French Open 2026: Raducanu v Sierra; Zverev eases through on day one at Roland Garros – live

Updates from Sunday’s first-round action in Paris
French Open agrees to player talks in row | Mail Daniel

Khachanov has reached the last eight of this competition twice – Wimbledon likewise – and the last four of the other two slams. That tells us he’s got an all-court game, with the eye-test advising that he lacks the power-augmenting finesse go further. He does, though, have Gea’s number … so of course, as I type, the young Frenchman flat-bats an incredible pass cross-court to save set point. For all the difference it makes, Khachanov closing out from there to lead 6-3.

It looks a lovely day in Paris, by the way – which isn’t always the case. It’s going to be seriously hard work for those involved in tight matches, given clay-court rallies and soaring tempteratures.

Tottenham v Everton: Premier League final day – live

⚽ 4pm BST kick-off | Premier League clockwatch – live
⚽ Live scores | Latest table | Top scorers | Email Scott

… and at the risk of turning this MBM into some sort of retro-relegation compendium, here’s Gary Naylor. “I was there in 1994,” he writes of Everton’s 1994 scrape with ignominy, requiring to beat Wimbledon on the last day only to go two down after ten minutes. “It was, and is, my favourite game. You’ve got to embrace it. There’ll be Tottenham or West Ham fans feeling the same come 6pm.”

… and here are two more entertaining old articles that are extremely relevant today. Tottenham fans may wish to give them the bodyswerve, to be fair, it’s far too hot to be getting your dander up.

Middle East crisis live: Trump says blockade on Iran will remain in ‘full force’ until deal is reached

The US president’s remarks come after he said on Saturday that a peace deal with Iran was ‘largely negotiated’

In Lebanon, the civil defence agency said early on Sunday its regional facility in the southern city of Nabatieh had been destroyed by an Israeli strike.

The Directorate General of Civil Defence said the building had collapsed and a large number of vehicles and equipment had been damaged by a “direct hit in a hostile Israeli strike”.

Bolton promoted to Championship after Rodrigues doubles up in win over Stockport

With Sam Dalby’s second-half overhead kick, Bolton could start to plan their return to the Championship, a division they left in 2019 as a club in turmoil. After administration, last-minute sales, emergency loans, points deductions and a spell in League Two, they have found their way back.

Stockport, themselves a club on the rise following financial trouble that took them down to the sixth tier, were game opponents in Bolton’s second League One playoff final in three years but were overpowered at Wembley. With the score level at 1-1 after an hour, Steven Schumacher sent on Sam Dalby and by the 81st minute the substitute had stretched Bolton’s lead to 3-1 with a picture-book goal. Rúben Rodrigues’s late penalty against 10 men added gloss to the scoreline.

Russia hits Kyiv with hypersonic ballistic missile in ‘deranged’ attack

Assault hits water facility, market, residential buildings and schools, killing at least four and injuring dozens

Russia used its powerful hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile for a third time in Ukraine as part of a massive attack on Kyiv and its surrounding region that killed at least four people and injured dozens.

Russia hit the city of Bila Tserkva in the Kyiv region with the missile, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said. He described a Russian assault that hit a water supply facility, burned down a market, damaged dozens of residential buildings and several schools, as well as the Oreshnik missile strike.

Echoes of Brexit as Alberta blunders towards vote on separation from Canada

Like David Cameron in 2016, premier Danielle Smith is facing a mutinous party and has called a referendum about a referendum while vowing a ‘no’ vote

An embattled leader forced to call a referendum on separation to ward off mutiny – and then pledging to campaign against it. Allegations that prosperity had been stolen by distant elites and could be remedied with a vote to leave. Mutterings of foreign interference.

The shadow of Brexit has loomed over the prairie province of Alberta as a minority push for a vote on secedeing from Canada. And it was there again on Thursday evening when Alberta’s premier, Danielle Smith, unveiled her government’s tangled referendum question on the western province’s future – both in the gravity of the potential outcome, and in the chaotic nature of its expression:

Knicks are within one win of NBA Finals after Game 3 win over Cavaliers

• New York led the entire game in 121-108 win

• Jalen Brunson scored 30 points to lead the Knicks

• Finals appearance would be their first since 1999

Jalen Brunson scored 30 points, Mikal Bridges added 22 and the New York Knicks moved within one game of their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999 with a 121-108 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night.

The Knicks can wrap up the Eastern Conference Finals and sweep their second straight series with a win on Monday night. Knicks fans – who were boisterous throughout the night – were chanting “Knicks in four” as the final seconds of Game 3 ticked away.

Almanac: May 24

"Sunday Morning" looks back at historical events on this date.

Andy Burnham seeks advice from Sue Gray on forming future Labour government

Discussions highlight how seriously senior Labour figures are treating Burnham’s path back to Westminster

Andy Burnham has sought advice from Sue Gray, Keir Starmer’s former chief of staff, on how to manage a potential transition into Downing Street if he returns to Westminster and succeeds the prime minister.

Lady Gray is understood to have advised Burnham on how a future government could be formed as Labour’s internal succession chatter intensifies before the Makerfield byelection.

Victoria Pendleton: ‘At school I discovered the traits that make an Olympic champion do not make for a popular teenage girl’

The athlete on the joy of receiving her first bike, her lonely teenage years, and a life-changing phone call

Born in Bedfordshire in 1980, cyclist Victoria Pendleton is one of Britain’s most decorated athletes. As well as winning nine world championship golds, she won the gold medal in the sprint at the 2008 Olympics and the gold medal in the keirin (a sprint following a speed-controlled start), as well as a silver medal in the sprint in the 2012 Olympics. She retired from cycling in 2012 and is now a jockey. Her new book, The Fear Opportunity, is published on 21 May.

This was taken when cycling was a hobby and nothing more. My family were on holiday in the south of France, not far from Saint-Tropez. That was my first solo racing bike – it was secondhand and Dad got it custom sprayed. My twin, Alex, had one, too. We were very proud of them.

To the new couples ‘turbulence testing’ their relationships: just relax and enjoy good times instead | Emma Beddington

Holidays offering the newly-in-love stress tests are missing the point. Strife is inevitable, it’s how you deal with it over the long term that matters

‘Turbulence test” trips are a “romantic travel trend” for new couples, according to US Vogue. The magazine spoke to two women who had decided to stress-test fledgling relationships with trips, and a hotel in Charleston, South Carolina, that aims to “lean into couples’ curiosity about their connection” by offering a “turbulence test” package. It includes $100 (£74) of cocktails and a pack of conversation cards, which does indeed sound like a recipe for brewing trouble in paradise.

I can’t fault travel as a trial for new romance: coffin-sized shared spaces, upset schedules, tricky interactions, destination disappointments – and the unhelpful accepted wisdom that holidays should be better than real life when they’re less comfortable and way more expensive than staying home – make them into a Soltan-scented pressure cooker for couples. My husband and I nearly split after a horrific trip to Italy in our second year together – it started with unsuccessfully trying to hitchhike 20 miles in a thunderstorm after discovering no trains ran on 15 August and continued with a fortnight of rain, recriminations, tinned soup and cheap wine-fuelled fights.

The Democrats’ 2024 autopsy fails to confront the truth | Norman Solomon

The document is full of disclaimers and does not address fundamental issues, including Gaza and the Biden-to-Harris transition

When the Democratic National Committee finally released its autopsy on the 2024 election disaster, not even the DNC chair could defend it. “I don’t endorse what’s in this report,” Ken Martin conceded as the autopsy went public on Thursday. After several months of withholding the autopsy on the grounds of not wanting it to be a distraction, Martin fessed up at last: “When I received the report late last year, it wasn’t ready for primetime. Not even close. And because no source material was provided, fixing it would have meant starting over, from the beginning.”

In response, a former Obama speechwriter, Jon Favreau, summed up eight stages of Martin’s tortuous process that has spanned more than a year: “Promise to release autopsy; put incompetent friend in charge; incompetent friend produces incoherent product; announce you’re not releasing the autopsy; lie about why; gaslight people who ask, saying they’re the problem; face internal revolt; release autopsy.”

Norman Solomon is the director of RootsAction and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. His latest book is The Blue Road to Trump Hell: How Corporate Democrats Paved the Way for Autocracy

More than 500 children have died in an outbreak that the world is virtually ignoring

The number of cases — and deaths — in Bangladesh is staggering. As of Sunday, 528 have died, mostly children. How did this measles outbreak begin? And how is the country responding?

Recipe: Lavender and lemon poppy seed cake from "Cake Picnic"

Elisa Sunga shares how to make lavender and lemon poppy seed cake in her cookbook, "Cake Picnic: Recipes for the Love of Cake & Friends."

Mind-bending photos by anonymous cousins show the pain and dreams of Afghan women

The young women make photos that look at life — how it is, how they wish it could be — under Taliban rule. The images are on display at the Photoville Festival in Brooklyn, New York.

Spring heat, parades and an erupting geyser: photos of the weekend

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

The devil owns Amazon: big tech has infiltrated the fashion world - will we see a revolt?

Anna Wintour has welcomed the Bezoses – and their patronage – with open arms. But after a controversial Met Gala, industry insiders are less enthusiastic

The press conference for the Met Costume Institute’s spring exhibition is always a stately affair, but this year it was giving “feudal lady addresses her serfs” or perhaps “Marie Antoinette during the last days of Versailles”. Here, among the spectacular marble sculptures of the art museum’s American wing, was a beaming Lauren Sánchez Bezos, who Anna Wintour introduced as a “force for joy”, before adding that “she and her husband, Jeff, have shown with this event that they genuinely, genuinely care about giving back”. Meanwhile, in the outside world, protests against the Bezoses’ involvement had been raging for days. The discrepancy between the word on the street and the deference within the glass-ceilinged room was head-spinning.

The Met Gala has recently become a magnet for anti-excess protests, but this was its most controversial yet, owing to the $10m patronage of its honorary co-chairs, centibillionaires Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos. It was not the first time Jeff Bezos bankrolled the gala – Amazon was its lead sponsor in 2012. But this year’s event came at a moment of soaring inequality, as Bezos’s personal wealth has mushroomed and his Donald Trump-appeasing decisions have made him less popular than ever with New York City’s left-leaning fashion and arts crowd.

How to make Provençal fish stew – recipe | Felicity Cloake's Masterclass

Fish stew in the south of France doesn’t have to mean a complicated bouillabaise: bourride is a simpler and equally perfect match for a summer’s evening

Much as I love bouillabaisse, I’ve never come across rascasse, the spiny Mediterranean rockfish that’s the backbone of Marseille’s signature dish, outside its homeland. Bourride, another southern French fish stew, is a simpler affair that’s much easier to recreate here. Enriched with garlicky aïoli, it’s a lovely thing for a summer’s evening, and can be prepared ahead up to the end of step 7.

Prep 20 min
Cook 1 hr 10 min
Serves 2, generously

US voters support HIV/Aids relief – will Trump’s cuts backfire in the midterms?

Global Pepfar program has long had Republican leadership and bipartisan support, but initiative is under fire

US midterm voters overwhelmingly support Pepfar, an initiative to end HIV/Aids that also has strengthened health systems against other infectious disease threats but has come under fire from the Trump administration.

About three in four (74%) likely voters in the US midterm elections say they support funding the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Pepfar), with voters more likely to back candidates who support Pepfar, according to a recent poll. Four in five (80%) of the voters said there is a moral argument for supporting lifesaving treatment for people at risk for or living with HIV/Aids, regardless of their personal choices.

Move over, seltzer. Non-carbonated drinks are taking the spotlight

Non-carbonated alcoholic drinks like Surfside and BeatBox are stealing "share of throat" from hard seltzers, particularly among Gen Z.

Religious leaders, lawmakers push for $1 billion to secure houses of worship

There's an effort on Capitol Hill to increase funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which awards funding to houses of worship to harden their defenses. In 2024, roughly a third of those who applied actually received funding.

With oil markets nearing the danger zone, a US-Iran deal can’t come soon enough | Heather Stewart

Global prices are approaching a tipping point that could trigger inflation, shortages and, over time, recession

If a US-Iran deal is about to be reached, three months on from the launch of Donald Trump’s Operation Epic Fury, it will not be a day too soon for oil markets, which are approaching a dangerous tipping point.

The cost of a barrel of crude on the spot market – for immediate purchase, effectively – has bounced about $100 since Iran predictably responded to the onslaught from the US and Israel by closing the strait of Hormuz.

UK judge’s decision not to jail boys for rape like a ‘rock in my face’, says victim, 16

Boys, aged 15, given youth rehabilitation orders for two separate attacks against two girls in Hampshire

A judge’s decision not to jail the teenage boys who raped two girls has been described as a “rock straight in my face” by one of their victims.

Southampton crown court heard the two boys, both aged 15 at the time, raped the teenage girls in two separate attacks that occurred on 26 November 2024 and 17 January 2025 in Fordingbridge, Hampshire.

Could nature itself hold the solution to climate change?

Technological interventions face huge financial or practical challenges, but there is another way

In 2019, my scientific research was nearly brought to an early end when my team and I published the bombastic statement that natural forest restoration was the “best climate change solution” available in a paper for the peer-reviewed journal Science.

I remember a colleague from the World Wildlife Fund advising me that this message represented career suicide. He argued that people would be furious because reducing greenhouse gas emissions was the most urgent priority. The revival of nature might help with 30% of our carbon drawdown needs, but you cannot stop rising temperatures without cutting emissions.

Bruce Springsteen is a model for how celebrities should resist Trump | Steven Greenhouse

His recent concerts are a thunderous call to fight for democracy. The nation could use more like him

The Bruce Springsteen concert I went to in Brooklyn last week was unlike any concert I’ve attended in decades. It was far more than a fabulous, joyous concert; it was also an inspiring resistance event.

From the get-go, the Boss made clear that this concert would be part of the anti-Trump resistance. It was a three-hour-long ode to the resistance and a thunderous call to Springsteen fans to step up and do more to fight for democracy and against authoritarianism. In this way, Springsteen is serving as a model for how celebrities can stand up against Trump and fight for what’s right.

Oh, our Minneapolis, I hear your voice

Singing through the bloody mist

Steven Greenhouse is a journalist and author, focusing on labor and the workplace, as well as economic and legal issues

I was punched on the school bus. Being violently bullied changed me – and affected one of the biggest decisions of my life

I’ve worked hard to leave the intimidation I experienced in the past. But when I met the man I wanted to marry, those childhood memories took me by surprise

The bullying began shortly after my fifth birthday. My family had moved from Dorset to a small village in Buckinghamshire. I started a new school in September, just before my third sister was born. It should have been idyllic. I remember everyone being excited about the new baby on the way. My school was small and set in the heart of the countryside, with playing fields bordered by woodland. It was about a mile from our new home. If the weather was good, my mother tried to encourage me to walk with her. Sometimes she would repurpose my lunchbox as a punnet and fill it with blackberries picked from the hedgerow on the way home. But she was heavily pregnant, and at the time the mother of three (soon to be four) children aged five and under. It made practical sense for me to catch the school bus.

Weird things were already happening at school. Initially I put it down to the shock of the new. The games were boisterous – my sisters and I could be rough with each other, but everything seemed to go a little further and cut a little deeper. I’d been startled by a group of girls who had reached under my skirt and tugged my knickers down to my ankles. Maybe they thought they were being funny? I just wasn’t sure whether I was in on the joke, or whether I was the joke. At first, it felt a little like being in a dream or visiting a foreign country. Almost nothing made sense to me, but I knew I was the only one who couldn’t understand, and it was down to me to work it out.

Human cages and overflowing toilets at $1m a day: the brutal legacy of Ron DeSantis’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ jail

Florida’s hard-right governor is trying to distance himself from the notorious detention center as public opinion sours

It took three days for Arianne Betancourt’s joy at the release of her father from months of detention in Florida’s notorious so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration jail to fully evaporate.

At first, she was able to overlook his shockingly gaunt appearance and weight loss, hesitant movements and moments of slurred speech. The tonic of being back in her Miami apartment, she thought, would surely hasten his return to health.

The hill I will die on: If Hollywood blockbusters must dabble in science, can’t they get the small stuff right? | Helen Pilcher

Project Hail Mary, Jurassic Park: from dino-mosquitoes to a spaceship’s roar, pointless mistakes on the scientific details make me wince

On the advice of my teenage son, I recently went to the cinema to see Project Hail Mary. The film has science in it. I am a science writer and so he was convinced I would like it.

Imagine my surprise partway through, however, when I found myself seething so hard I thought I would combust. Ryland Grace – the main character and a molecular biologist who should have known better – had just put two plastic tubes into a centrifuge NEXT to each other!

Helen Pilcher is a science writer and author of Life Changing: How Humans are Altering Life on Earth and This Book May Cause Side Effects

Gunman killed after opening fire on Secret Service checkpoint outside White House

A bystander was also wounded, but no Secret Service officers were injured, officials said. President Trump was in the White House at the time of the incident.

This is how we do it: ‘I thought I’d never want to have sex again – then I gave myself a pep talk’

When Lucia’s libido dropped, she found imaginative ways to reignite her spark with Edwin

• How do you do it? Share the story of your sex life, anonymously

I felt guilty because I love him and want to make him happy

A college degree once ensured prosperity – but gen z is finding ‘just not much out there’

Survey after survey show gen Z experiencing deep economic instability, plus eroding trust in US leadership and weakened social connections

Jes Vesconte graduated from one of California’s most prestigious art schools, did a Fulbright in Germany and got a master’s from Columbia University.

Yet Vesconte, 29, is struggling to afford everyday life. Amid freelancing and working service-industry jobs, they are now in the midst of yet another job search to supplement their income before their student loan repayment schedule begins next month.

Nurse convicted in patient's death is now a national speaker on hospital safety

RaDonda Vaught was convicted of negligent homicide after dispensing the wrong drug to a patient. She now gives speeches about hospital safety in an era of automation and artificial intelligence.

Ben Proud denies Enhanced Games will encourage young people to try doping

• Swimmer says event is in ‘safest environment possible’

• Wada, however, insists it is ‘dangerous and irresponsible’

The former Team GB swimmer Ben Proud has denied that young people will be tempted to dope after watching him in the Enhanced Games.

The 31-year-old is on a mid six-figure salary after joining the controversial event and could earn another $1.25m on Sunday night if he swims faster than the 50m freestyle world record.

Irish gangland figure fails in Dublin byelection bid for seat in parliament

Gerry ‘the monk’ Hutch comes fourth in contest won by Daniel Ennis of Social Democrats

The Irish gangland figure Gerry “the monk” Hutch has failed in his bid for a parliamentary seat in a Dublin byelection.

The 63-year-old came fourth in a contest won by Daniel Ennis of the Social Democrats, a victory for progressive politics after a campaign dominated by concerns over the cost of living and immigration.

Russia pounds Kyiv in powerful drone and missile attack

At least two people were killed and 77 injured in the attack, which included the use of a powerful hypersonic ballistic missile called the Oreshnik, which is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

‘People are like: you’re a crackpot’: how Sam Campbell became comedy’s oddball superstar

Having enjoyed breakout fame on Taskmaster and Last One Laughing, the subversive Australian comic has been handed the reins of his own, very strange sitcom. Get ready for feet animations and a character called Super-Breast …

The premise of Make That Movie, Australian comedian Sam Campbell’s deeply strange new Channel 4 series, is not easy to describe. A show-within-a-show, it stars its creator as an alternative Sam Campbell: rather than his real-life idiosyncratic standup self, he’s a pompous director whose well of inspiration has run dry. So he invites the public to share their (invariably bonkers) ideas for movies, which he and his dysfunctional crew then develop into real feature films. This all occurs within the framework of a shonky reality programme; each episode concludes with the film’s premiere. Think Changing Rooms, but instead of Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and Handy Andy renovating somebody’s living room, it’s Campbell and co bringing to life a man called Mick’s fantasy about a couple who can’t be snakes at the same time, yet one of them is always a snake.

In other words, the actual Campbell is the one who has been given carte blanche to turn his own invariably bonkers ideas into reality. He claims the production company behind the show were very hands-off – partly because they were so busy working on an animated Ricky Gervais series about cats “so we sort of got left to our own devices”. It helped that Channel 4’s head of comedy, Charlie Perkins – a longtime champion and collaborator of Campbell’s – was also “very trusting. I don’t know if she really got [the concept] when we were first talking about it. When we’d made it, I think she understood it a tiny bit more.”

‘Bringing the boys back home’: how mountain bongos Maue, Fitz, Kudu and Bon64 made their way back to Kenya

Staff at the Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy are overseeing the repatriation of ‘the shiest antelope’ from western zoos to their native east African country

“We are bringing the boys home,” says Ngenoh Erick Kibet, a wildlife officer at the Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy, as a cargo plane carrying four mountain bongo touches down on a wet runway at Jomo Kenyatta international airport.

The operation is the culmination of two weeks spent in Czechia, a first flight for Kibet, and a decades-long collective effort to rescue a species on the edge of extinction.

The 100th bongo calf was recently born at the conservancy

'Homeland Security' has spawned political insecurity since DHS was born

DHS was originally conceived in the interest of unity and harmony — and the phrase "homeland security" was originally meant to be reassuring.

Torn by war, Israelis and Palestinians tie their fortunes together

At a time when hopes are dim for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, some Arab and Jewish entrepreneurs are partnering across the divide, hoping to prove what's possible.

Trump says Iran deal reopening Strait of Hormuz 'largely negotiated,' will be announced soon

A fragile ceasefire has been in place since April 8, punctuated by skirmishes as the U.S. and Iran jockey over the Strait of Hormuz.

‘Growing up, you couldn’t play Bon Jovi – that’s what our parents listened to’: Bebe Rexha’s honest playlist

The chart-topping star makes a strong case for Livin’ on a Prayer and opts for TLC at karaoke. But which song reminds her too much of her ex to listen to?

The first song I fell in love with
When I was five or six, my mom got me the VHS of The Little Mermaid, and I would watch it over and over again. I was obsessed with the moment Ariel sings Part of Your World. There was something about wanting more, wanting a different life – even as a kid, I felt that.

The first single I bought
I remember going to a record store in Times Square, New York and my aunt buying me What a Girl Wants by Christina Aguilera on cassette tape and it was really exciting. Then the first CD that I bought myself was Just Dance by Lady Gaga which felt like a real moment of independence.

Arsenal’s party embodies the metropolitan swagger and angst of a divided city | Jonathan Liew

The crowd that gathered late into the night to celebrate on the streets reflected an idea of London where all are welcome

The mounds of detritus pile up outside Finsbury Park station, like an offering to a vengeful deity. A deity gone rogue for the evening, demanding tribute specifically in the form of empty food cartons and abandoned Lime bikes. A deity that has finally decided to break the habit of 22 years.

They approach via the familiar sidestreets, Gillespie Road, Benwell Road, Hornsey Road, the little shortcut past The Plimsoll pub. The night is cool and calm and still, the air rumbling with adoration and freedom, the sensation of chains being broken. As they reach the stadium, perfect strangers grip each other by the shoulders, bound by shared memory, shared trauma, a shared hymnbook. What do you think of shit? Tottenham! Thank you. That’s all right! A firework is let off, and then another. People are FaceTiming their relatives. People are getting selfies with Ian Wright. The crowd is hundreds, and then thousands, a lawless melee that in classic Arteta-ball tradition features plenty of jostling but no free-kicks awarded. Meanwhile, in the digital wilds beyond, the celebration police have laid down their truncheons and riot shields.

Why Kouri Richins jurors decided Utah mom was a killer

At Kouri Richins' sentencing for the murder of Eric Richins, her husband and father of their three sons, she declared her innocence to the court and to her children. But for jurors on the case, the evidence told a different story.

Why did Kouri Richins want her husband dead?

Kouri Richins published a children's book to help her sons cope with the loss of their father – then she was convicted of Eric Richins' murder.

‘AI washing’: firms are scrambling to rebrand themselves as tech-focused

PR executives say UK companies are forcing them to present ordinary automation as artificial intelligence

UK companies are performing “yoga-level” stretches to describe themselves as AI specialists in an attempt to capitalise on the buzz around the technology, public relations firms have said.

Weary communications executives tasked with securing media coverage for brands have complained that bosses in low-tech industries or running businesses that use automation but not generative AI, are increasingly demanding they are pitched to journalists as artificial intelligence companies.

Hunger increasingly used as weapon of war as ‘food-related violence’ surges, analysis shows

More than 20,000 attacks on markets, farmland and food distribution systems have been recorded since 2018

Hunger is being increasingly exploited as a weapon of war with more than 20,000 documented incidents of “food-related violence” in the past eight years, new analysis reveals.

Attacks include 1,261 strikes on markets used by families for daily groceries and 863 incidents in which food distribution systems were targeted and workers killed.

Tour groups, temporary routes and toilets: the reshaping of Rome – photo essay

Photographer Lorenzo Grifantini looks at how the Italian capital’s historic centre has gradually reorganised itself around the uninterrupted flow of visitors and the expectations projected on to it

By mid-morning, the area around the Trevi fountain is already difficult to cross. Visitors stop suddenly to take photographs while tour groups gather behind raised umbrellas, and security staff redirect the flow of people through temporary barriers placed around the monument. Nearby, souvenir kiosks sell rosaries, plastic gladiator helmets, bottled water and magnets in the summer heat.

Tourists pose for photographs in front of the Trevi fountain

Shark attack: man dies on Great Barrier Reef in far north Queensland

The 39-year-old was reportedly fishing at Kennedy Shoal between Cairns and Townsville when emergency services alerted about midday

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A man has died after a shark attack on the Great Barrier Reef south of Cairns.

The 39-year-old had reportedly been fishing at Kennedy Shoal, a shallow reef about 50km off the Queensland coast, between Cairns and Townsville.

‘My partner was cheating. I wouldn’t have told anybody else’: people who found the right friend at the right time

From single mothers to fathers of autistic children and fellow adoptees – some relationships come along just when you need them the most

Lucy Crowe and Mikayla Jolley, London

‘We’re expanding the cinematic toolbox’: AI fault lines on show at Cannes

Darren Aronofsky among proponents of using technology, while Guillermo del Toro says he would ‘rather die’

Under a white marquee on Cannes’ Croisette beach, with the Mediterranean glistening behind him and superyachts drifting across the horizon, the director Darren Aronofsky addressed an audience of executives and tech evangelists gathered for an “AI for Talent” summit.

“There’s so much pushback against AI,” said Aronofsky, who has faced criticism over his embrace of generative AI projects though his new studio, Primordial Soup, at a time when artificial intelligence has become one of the film industry’s most divisive fault lines.

‘There is profound disappointment in him’: mood in Russia turns against Putin

Increasingly isolated president is determined to press on with Ukraine war, say well-placed sources, despite ailing economy

Vladimir Putin pulled up to a hotel in central Moscow earlier in May in a Russian-made SUV, dressed casually in jeans and a light jacket. Carrying a bouquet of flowers, he walked unhurriedly into the lobby and embraced his former schoolteacher Vera Gurevich, who kissed him on both cheeks.

He then helped Gurevich into his car and drove her to dinner at the Kremlin.

Suspected gunman dies after exchange of fire with Secret Service agents at White House checkpoint

Suspect dies after firing upon agents at White House checkpoint, Secret Service says, with a bystander also injured

A gunman has been shot dead after approaching a White House security checkpoint and firing at officers, federal officials have said.

The White House, where Donald Trump was present, was briefly locked down on Saturday as the sound of a sustained volley of gunshots rang out, sending journalists in the area running for cover.

Former prosecutor calls for EU statute blocking US sanctions on ICC members

US imposed sanctions on nine judges and a prosecutor after ICC issued arrest warrants for members of Israeli cabinet

A former prosecutor at the international criminal court has called for an EU-wide statute blocking what she describes as “thuggish” and “bullying” US sanctions imposed on members of the court that are designed to send the court into oblivion.

In February 2025, the US imposed sanctions on 11 ICC officials, including nine judges and the chief prosecutor as well three Palestinian organisations, in response to the ICC decision in 2024 to issue arrest warrants for members of the Israeli cabinet, including the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Iran moving World Cup training base from U.S. to Mexico

Iran had been scheduled to train in Tucson, Arizona, but it will now move its training base to Tijuana, Mexico, just south of San Diego.

Kyle Busch's cause of death revealed by family

Kyle Busch, who won more races in NASCAR's top three series than anyone in history, died suddenly on Thursday.

What to know about California chemical tank set to explode or leak

The tank at GKN Aerospace is estimated to contain 7,000 gallons of methyl methacrylate, a volatile chemical used to produce plastics.

Passengers from high Ebola risk countries can enter Atlanta, Houston and D.C. airports

Officials have increased the number of countries in Africa at risk for Ebola from three to 10. A third entry point is open for Americans traveling from certain high-risk countries back into the U.S. Holly Williams reports.

Trump says he is close to an Iran deal and reopening Strait of Hormuz, but Iran disagrees

President Trump announced that he is close to reaching an agreement with Iran to end the conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but Iran is dismissing his assertion. Imtiaz Tyab reports.

Tank leaking hazardous chemicals in Southern California brings risk of explosion

More than 50,000 people have been evacuated due to a failing industrial tank filled with an extremely hazardous chemical that is leaking from an aerospace facility in Southern California, and it could explode. The governor has declared a state of emergency. Lana Zak reports.

Kyle Busch died of "severe pneumonia that progressed into sepsis," family says

NASCAR star Kyle Busch's family on Saturday revealed his cause of death as "severe pneumonia that progressed into sepsis, resulting in rapid and overwhelming associated complications." Lindsey Reiser reports.

Suspect dead after opening fire near White House security checkpoint, Secret Service says

A man who opened fire Saturday near a White House security checkpoint is dead after being shot by officers who returned fire, the U.S. Secret Service said. It was the third incidence of gunfire in the vicinity of President Donald Trump in the past month.

Romanian director Cristian Mungiu's 'Fjord' wins top prize at Cannes

Mungiu took home the prestigious Palme D'Or for his film Fjord, a culture-war drama set in Norway.

California governor declares state of emergency over looming chemical disaster

Order facilitates support for 40,000 people told to evacuate Orange county as responders try to divert explosion

California’s governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency Saturday in response to the looming threat of chemical disaster in Orange county.

The proclamation directs the governor’s office of emergency services and other state agencies to provide additional support to Orange county responders. The governor’s office is also making state-owned properties available to shelter the 40,000 people ordered to evacuate from the area.

Usyk rescues controversial victory against Verhoeven with last-gasp stoppage

• Ukrainian keeps unbeaten record with 11th-round TKO

• Dutch kickboxing great threatened to cause huge upset

Oleksandr Usyk, Ukraine’s unbeaten heavyweight world champion, stopped the Dutch former kickboxer Rico Verhoeven with one second remaining in the penultimate round to avoid what would have been one of the greatest boxing upsets of all time on Saturday.

The WBC title fight at the Pyramids of Giza was considered a mismatch but Verhoeven, whose sole previous professional boxing fight was 12 years ago, tore up the script in mind-boggling fashion from the opening bell and had looked set to win.

Possible gunshots heard from White House: CBS News reporters

Several shots were heard from the White House property on Saturday. Aaron Navarro reports from the location after Secret Service told him to get down immediately.

5/23: CBS Weekend News

Shots fired near the White House; thousands evacuate Southern California toxic leak zone.

George Russell steals F1 Canadian GP pole from Kimi Antonelli on feisty day

• Mercedes lock out front row; Russell fastest by 0.068

• McLaren’s Norris third and Piastri fourth; Hamilton fifth

George Russell took pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix to set up a fascinating battle with his Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli who was in second in Montreal, after the pair endured a feisty flashpoint having clashed with one another on track in the sprint race that preceded qualifying.

Russell put in an inch-perfect lap of the circuit Gilles Villeneuve, as the very last of the cars on track to steal it in what was a gripping session, ultimately beating his teammate by just six-hundredths of a second to ensure Mercedes maintain their unbeaten record of five poles from five races this season.

Trump says U.S. is "getting a lot closer" to agreement with Iran

U.S. officials and negotiators were discussing a process to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, sources briefed on the conversations said.

Cristian Mungiu wins second Palme d’Or at Cannes for child abuse drama Fjord

English-language debut by Romanian director who triumphed in 2007 with 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days takes top prize

Nineteen years after his searing abortion drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days won the top prize at the Cannes film festival, Cristian Mungiu’s English-language debut, Fjord, has repeated the trick.

The film – which stars Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan as Romanian religious parents who relocate to Norway, where they find themselves accused of child abuse – makes Mungiu, 58, the 10th director to have received two Palmes, following Alf Sjöberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Bille August, Emir Kusturica, Shōhei Imamura, the Dardenne brothers, Michael Haneke, Ken Loach and Ruben Östlund.

Iran say Fifa has approved World Cup base camp switch from US to Mexico

• Federation chief says team will train in Tijuana

• Iran had planned for Arizona base before war

• Move is said to resolve potential visa issues

The president of the Iranian football federation said Saturday the team’s World Cup training base has been moved to Mexico from the United States after getting approval from Fifa.

Mehdi Taj, president of the Iran Football Federation, announced the decision Saturday in a statement issued by the federation’s media relations official. FIFA has not confirmed the move.

The moment I knew: I’d quit my job and was newly single – then he smiled and I felt like I was home

When Monika Ruggerino broke a restaurant lamp – a favourite item of the charismatic chef Antonio – she had no idea it would change the course of her life

• Find more stories from the moment I knew series

Early in 2015 I was helping my friend organise her 30th birthday. She’d decided on the function space above a favourite little restaurant, Verde in Darlinghurst, Sydney.

A few weeks ahead of the celebration we went in for a tasting. It was the first time I’d seen the head chef and owner, Antonio. He was older than us and so handsome that once he’d sat us down and gone off to get something, my friend and I realised we were both blushing. His Calabrian charisma was undeniable and his smile took my breath away.

My body is fat, not wrong: how body neutrality – not positivity – helped me shed a lifetime of shame | Jasper Peach

If I’d been taught this way of thinking as a child, I can’t begin to imagine how much easier things could have been

In 1981 the CD was born and so was I. Both arrivals were surprising and have drifted in and out of fashion ever since. As a baby, my majestic “chonk lord” status was cause for celebration and an indication of prosperity. But from a young age I noticed that my presence seemed to offend other people. When I was seven, I remember asking to have a go at skipping, after having turned the rope for everyone else. One child enlightened me on why I couldn’t: I was too fat to skip.

Children learn hierarchy from adults and then their peers. Who belongs, who doesn’t and why. My classmates learned from adults to see me as something to mock and despise. Even my own well-meaning father once sat me down and told me that nobody would love, trust or employ me due to my body shape. This didn’t shock me; I’d already picked up what everyone was putting down.

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UK records hottest day of year as forecasters warn of more extreme heat

Temperature reaches 30.5C in Kent as amber health alerts issued before bank holiday temperatures rise

The UK has recorded its hottest day of the year so far, with temperatures reaching 30.5C in Kent as forecasters warned more extreme heat could follow over the bank holiday weekend.

The temperature in Frittenden also marked the first time since 2012 the UK has reached 30C in May, according to the Met Office.

Gisèle Pelicot tells Hay festival she has found love and trust again after rape ordeal

French campaigner was drugged by her ex-husband and sexually abused by dozens of men over almost a decade

Gisèle Pelicot has described the moment she fell in love and was able to trust again after her rape ordeal orchestrated by her former husband in France.

Pelicot, 73, waived her right to anonymity during the trial of Dominique Pelicot, who was jailed for 20 years in 2024 for drugging and raping her and allowing other men to sexually assault her while she was unconscious, over almost a decade.

Speaking at the Hay festival in Wales on Saturday, she said she never thought she could trust a man again before meeting her partner, Jean-Loup Agopian.

The campaigner said: “It’s something that I didn’t think could happen, especially at my age, first of all, I didn’t really want to fall in love, but life decided otherwise.

“We met, our trajectories crossed at one moment and I met this young man of 73… You see, you can fall in love at any age, it happened to me, it can happen to you, I’m convinced of it.

“I didn’t think that I’d be able to trust a man, but it’s what happened to me, so you see that everything can be allowed in life, you must never despair.”

Pelicot appeared at the festival to discuss her memoir A Hymn to Life and was interviewed on stage by Lady Kennedy.

She said that “society has got to wake up” on the issue of violence against women, and that it’s an “appalling evil that touches all borders”.

Trump administration to require most green card applicants to leave U.S. first

The Trump administration on Friday announced a sweeping policy designed to make it harder for immigrants already in the U.S. to get permanent residency.

Stephen Colbert returns to TV in appearance on local Michigan station

A day after his last episode of “The Late Show” on CBS, Colbert found his way back to a television hosting gig for one night.

NASCAR star Kyle Busch dies at 41 after a severe illness, his family says

Kyle Busch's family earlier Thursday announced he had been hospitalized with a "severe illness."

NASCAR star Kyle Busch hospitalized with severe illness, family says

Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch has been hospitalized with a severe illness and won't compete at Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend, his family said.

New breed of political prisoner arises in Britain as anti-protest sentences rise

More people are being jailed in England and Wales as a result of acting to prevent climate breakdown and the war in Gaza, research reveals

Britain has created a new breed of political prisoners through the systematic incarceration of people acting to prevent climate breakdown and the annihilation of Gaza, a report claims.

The research by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and the protest group Defend Our Juries says that custodial sentences for acts of direct action or civil disobedience were once rare but are now being imposed with increasing length and frequency.

Trump's justice department scrubs its website of news releases about January 6 defendants

Department of Justice acknowledges removal of information about criminal cases related to 2021 US Capitol rioters

The Department of Justice is acknowledging it has removed from its website news releases about criminal cases related to the 6 January 2021 Capitol attack, calling the information about the prosecutions “partisan propaganda”.

The purge of news releases documenting criminal charges, convictions and sentencings is the latest step by the Trump administration to dramatically rewrite the history of the assault on the US Capitol, when hundreds of supporters of Donald Trump stormed the building in an effort to halt the congressional certification of his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

From high BMI to the ‘GLP-1 look’: how weight-loss jabs are changing the face of beauty

Experts say exponential growth in the use of drugs such as Wegovy is shifting our perception of what is attractive

Mona Lisa is the most famous portrait ever painted and millions of people flock to the Louvre to admire her enigmatic smile every year.

As well as being beautiful, Mona Lisa was, according to some experts, also seriously overweight. Now they are asking how that leaves our notions of artistic beauty in an era of weight-loss drugs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro, arguing that in future, “GLP-1 face” could become the subject of modern depictions of artistic beauty.

Details emerge on sudden illness that led to Kyle Busch's shocking death

More details are emerging about the sudden illness that led to NASCAR legend Kyle Busch's shocking death at 41.

Tulsi Gabbard resigns as director of national intelligence as Trump considers new strikes on Iran

Tulsi Gabbard announced her resignation as director of national intelligence on Friday as the U.S. prepares for a fresh round of military strikes on Iran despite the current ceasefire.

Spirit's collapse, high fuel prices test limits of summer vacation spending

The unofficial start of the summer travel season on Memorial Day weekend will show just how much travelers want to fly and how much they're willing to pay.

Move over matcha lattes: horchata is cold, creamy and coming to a menu near you

The sweet drink is a staple in Spain and Mexico, and it’s being served around the UK as an iced beverage and even in desserts. Here’s how to drink it

Having lived through the “matcha revolution”, I’ve become used to giving unfamiliar drinks a go. From bubble tea to pumpkin-spiced lattes, coffee tonic to ube frappes, I’ll try anything twice and – compared to those beverages – horchata feels like a more palatable prospect. The refreshing yet creamy cold drink from Spain and Mexico is often compared to cereal milk, which has also gained popularity as a flavour in its own right and is increasingly cropping up on menus elsewhere.

Last month, Starbucks announced that, in the US, an iced horchata shaken espresso would be returning to its summer menu (this year joined by a new horchata frappuccino), having outperformed all previous seasonal iced shaken espresso beverages by an impressive 44%. In the UK, where horchata is less commonplace, I started spotting “dirty” versions, with added espresso, on coffee shop menus, alongside “dirty chai”.

U.S. expects record-setting travel despite high gas prices

Nearly 40 million Americans are expected on the roads for Memorial Day weekend, AAA estimates, despite the highest gas prices in four years.

This US island is home to flora found nowhere else. Now, a wildfire threatens extinction

Firefighters are racing to douse flames on California’s Santa Rosa Island as experts express concern for unique habitat

On the south-eastern corner of Santa Rosa Island lies a grove of a few thousand Torrey pine trees, some of them more than 250 years old. The only other place on earth where these gnarled pines exist is in San Diego county, but biologists classify the two groves as different subspecies. So when a rare wildfire broke out on Santa Rosa Island late last week, firefighters raced to keep it from spreading into the grove, where it threatened to consign the island’s Torrey pines to extinction.

So far, they appear to be succeeding – even as the 18,000-acre fire has torched nearly one-third of the island’s surface. But biologists who have studied Santa Rosa Island’s unique ecology are watching anxiously as the fire continues to burn a part of the island that is home to six plants found nowhere else on the planet.

Côte d’Ivoire wary of jihadist threat in north 10 years on from major attack

Threat of jihadism continues to lurk along borders with Mali and Burkina Faso

These days, when she is not organising the annual International Day of Reggae celebrations in Côte d’Ivoire, Rose Ebirim picks up litter scattered on the beach in the historic port town of Grand Bassam, 25 miles east of Abidjan. Both activities have become a form of therapy since the time she saw someone die.

“13 March 2016 was a Black Sunday for me,” she said.

‘It’s just not safe. It’s not OK’: can Married at First Sight ever be risk-free?

Many contestants have a positive experience on the reality show, but others say the format is unsafe

It was about 1am. After a day of relentless filming in which he had met and “married” a stranger, the Married at First Sight UK cameras stopped rolling and Adrian Sanderson was left alone with his new TV partner.

“Honestly, I’ll never ever forget that feeling – it was so difficult,” he says. “When those producers leave you and you’re, like: ‘I’m alone – I don’t get this. How is this about to happen?’ It would be daunting for anyone. You’re exhausted by this time.

‘You can’t control everything’: the rise in plastic surgeons asked to create ‘AI face’

Growing numbers of people are seeking improbable cosmetic surgery based on chatbots’ recommendations

Plastic surgeons are increasingly concerned about the rise of “AI face”, as more and more clients arrive in their offices with unrealistic AI-generated visions of what they want to look like.

Dr Nora Nugent, a cosmetic surgeon from Tunbridge Wells, has seen this first hand. Clients have started coming to her office with photos of themselves beautified by AI and a false expectation that those results are achievable with surgery. She is also the president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, and says many colleagues are having similar experiences.

‘Canada is handing people over to ICE’: refugees rejected at border face US detention

As Canada tightens asylum rules, refugees reuniting with family say they were turned over to ICE and jailed for months after failed border claims

As each day in US detention passes, Markens Appolon can feel the life he had dreamed of slipping away.

The 25-year-old fled Haiti to escape the rampant gang violence that upended his university studies in economics, and planned to join family in Montreal.

UK needs ‘national consensus’ over rejoining EU, David Miliband says

Ex-foreign secretary urges reset at ‘higher dosage’ after officials revealed to have pitched single market for goods

Britain needs a “national consensus” about rejoining the European Union, David Miliband has said, in response to revelations that the UK government pitched the creation of a single market for goods with the EU to the bloc.

The former foreign secretary, who is now president of the International Rescue Committee, said he thought the UK needed a reset of its relations with the EU at “a much higher dosage” than the government was planning.

‘If something goes wrong, you can’t simply surface’: Maldives tragedy shines light on dangers of cave diving

Experts warn about the risks of cave diving without proper training, planning and specialised equipment after deaths in Vaavu atoll

The diving tragedy in the Maldives – which claimed the lives of four Italian divers inside an underwater cave, followed by the death of a Maldivian navy diver – has renewed warnings from experts about the risks of cave diving without proper training, planning and specialised equipment.

On Thursday, the Divers Alert Network (DAN), which coordinated the complex search and recovery operation at the Dhekunu Kandu dive site in Vaavu atoll, announced all the divers’ dead bodies had been recovered.

‘It’s as if Arya, my great dane, is contemplating time and memory’: Johan Van Aarde’s best phone picture

The South African photographer says this image of his ‘soulmate’ evokes feelings of sadness and longing in him

Arya the great dane was two years old when this image was taken. She was at home in Pretoria, South Africa, with Johan Van Aarde and three other dogs. “It was May 2021, which is our winter season,” van Aarde says. “The courtyard doors that lead to our pool would usually be open, but as the sun and the moon exchanged places and we started getting cosy inside, I closed them.”

That evening, as he prepared dinner, Van Aarde noticed Arya sitting on the sofa, gazing into the distance. “It was as if she was contemplating time and memory, admiring the reflection of the moon on the pool,” he says. “Great danes are majestic creatures with gentle souls who communicate their thoughts with their facial expressions – and, oh boy, do they tell a story.”

The best books to read in May: new paperbacks from Ocean Vuong, RF Kuang and Nick Clegg

Looking for a new reading recommendation? Here are some must-read paperbacks, from a campus novel to a history of language

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The show might go on: what happens to late-night TV without Stephen Colbert?

The end of The Late Show, an American institution since 1993, leaves those still surviving within the format wondering what the future looks like

• Share your favorite memories from The Late Show With Stephen Colbert

In a way, it’s a shock every time the biggest talkshow hosts assemble into their “Strike Force Five”, the podcast-born group consisting of Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers and John Oliver. No, the shock isn’t the lack of Greg Gutfeld, the highly viewed Fox News talkshow host who has nonetheless only ever been funny as a punchline unto himself, and was playfully name-checked on the final episode of Colbert’s The Late Show, after the deposed king of late-night was informed the highest-rated host was getting the boot. (“They’re canceling Gutfeld?!” he cried in fake panic.) The real repeated surprise is the realization that there are (or were) five major late-night hosts still standing.

OK, even before Colbert got the axe, it was actually four: Oliver hails from a weekly perch on HBO, which, given similar jobs held by Dennis Miller for nine years and Bill Maher for 24, seems likely to last for at least 200 seasons. But still: four big-name network talkshows? In this economy?! Strike that down to three, now that Colbert’s tenure is officially over, and his David Letterman-founded late-night franchise with it. Though Colbert is the exact wrong one to cull – the group’s best interviewer, strongest comedy bona fides, and highest-rated show to boot! – it’s hard to argue that network TV is in need of the late-night chatshows that used to be such a major status symbol and, presumably, cash cow. Though the shows are notoriously expensive (such that CBS was able to claim that their king of late-night also lost money), they must have once generated substantial revenue, given the amount of jockeying the 11pm-and-beyond slot inspired throughout the 1980s and especially 90s.

‘I laughed out loud dozens of times’: authors choose books to make you fall back in love with reading

From a darkly comic new novel to a gripping 1950s memoir – Katherine Rundell, Malala Yousafzai, Matt Haig and others appearing at Hay festival pick titles to tempt you

Malala Yousafzai
Activist
I have loved going to the theatre ever since I saw my first musical (Matilda in London, when I was 15 years old) – and I love reading about it, too. In Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad, a British-Palestinian actor travels to the West Bank to see family and finds herself pulled into a local production of Hamlet. I was moved by the rehearsal scenes: arguments over translations, personal relationships, the question of whether a performance is even possible under Israeli occupation. To me, Hammad proved that theatre is capable of carrying weight that other art forms cannot hold.

Dear England: James Graham’s rousing, joyful football drama will make you cry and shout at the TV

This stellar adaptation of James Graham’s award-winning play is a stirring take on national identity – even if not all the actors look like the real footballers. Put it this way, Wayne Rooney will be very pleased indeed

To watch Dear England (Sunday, 9pm, BBC One) – the BBC’s stellar adaptation of James Graham’s Olivier award-winning play – you must first understand the incomparable damage to the national psyche that arose from Gareth Southgate missing a penalty in the Euro 96 semi-final. For those born outside England or too young to remember, imagine the apocalypse mixed with the death of your childhood pet and you’re just about halfway there. I was 11 at the time and almost three decades later still remember going to bed crying as my dad explained over my tear-strewn pillow: “This is what it is to be an England fan.”

You’d better get your therapist on speed dial: the four-part fictionalised account of Southgate’s revolutionary reign as England manager begins with a real-life clip of his penalty miss. Fast forward to 2016 and England is in crisis, with the men’s squad crashing out of the Euros to Iceland while Brexit looms large. Meanwhile, Southgate (Joseph Fiennes, reprising his critically acclaimed West End role) – now middle-aged and managing the under-21 men’s team – is watching football on the TV and looking pensive.

A Kristen Stewart heist movie gave me a thirst for adventure - I found it as an engineer on a remote oil rig

The 2004 film Catch That Kid gave me my love of cars. But when my Formula One career stalled, I took on a dangerous job in the middle of the Indian Ocean

Throughout my early teen years, my family followed a regular Friday routine that, today, feels distinctly ancient. Every week after dinner, my mother, brother and I would dawdle for 20 minutes down quiet suburban streets to the entertainment haven that was the video rental store. If we had been well behaved, the ultimate treat: free rein to rent a film of our choice.

My mum rarely vetoed our selection, so we watched a wild range; but it was an unassuming family comedy starring child actors Kristen Stewart and High School Musical’s Corbin Bleu that would change my life for ever.